The time has come for another round of DVD releases from Australia’s second favorite government owned TV channel – SBS. The following handful of releases are all hitting digital and physical shelves on October 2 courtesy of Madman.
The Killing – The Complete Season 3 $39.95 DVD
This is the final season of the critically acclaimed Danish crime drama, starring Sofie Gråbøl as the famously well jumpered Sarah Lund. The series begins as Sarah is enjoying a new job and a new home, but her 25 year anniversary of service with the police is disturbed by a seemingly random killing at a Copenhagen scrapyard. With the financial crisis at its peak Sarah is drawn into the darker side of life once again, forced into a web of political intrigue where billionaires and prime ministers alike are at play.
Wildest Islands – Season 1 $29.95 DVD
The islands of the world are home to some incredibly diverse ecosystems, boasting examples of the rarest species and the most extreme landscapes. Wildest Islands takes a tour of five different island locales including the Hebrides of Scotland, the Galapagos isles and Sri Lanka. The wildlife aren’t the only locals that are put under the spotlight. Many of these islands boast long standing indigenous populations who have adapted to island life in a way unique to their homeland.
Black Mirror – The Collection $34.95 DVD
Returning to the dark side of home releases is Black Mirror, a collection of stand alone satirical dramas that cast a sharp eye over the way technology has invaded our lives during the last decade. In part written by Charlie Booker (Dead Set), Dark Mirror aims to be different, funny and challenging, all in one easy package.
Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Nation $29.95 DVD
Curry Nation, as it turns out, is actually the UK. Madhur Jaffrey makes her return to television after 17 years away from the screen, touring the UK and examining it’s long lasting love of Indian cuisine. Over ten episodes she visits local Pakistani, Indian, and Bangladeshi communities and tries to figure out why it is that the Brits are so obsessed with curry. Fans take note – there are cooking tips to be had here as well.
EA have released a detailed blog post on the topic of the ‘Battlelog’ for their upcoming first-person shooter Battlefield 4. Fans of Battlefield 3’s ‘Battlelog’ have reason to be excited as the popular feature will be returning once again in Battlefield 4.
Battlelog is of course a great feature that enhances the experience of Battlefield in countless ways. It serves as a true and genuine companion to the gameplay experience on show in Battlefield 4.
For more details on the Battlefield 4 ‘Battlelog’ you can check out the full lowdown at the official Battlefield Blog. Be sure to let us know what you think of the ‘Battlelog’ in the comments section.
Is This a Zombie? of the Dead Studio:Studio DEEN Publisher:FUNimation Format:DVD Release Date: September 24, 2013 Price:$64.98 – Available Here
Overview Zombies have become quite the popular trend lately, as they have invaded every aspect of entertainment. Countless zombie movies are made every year, zombie novels are written, zombie artwork is created and I bet there is even zombie music out there somewhere. However where almost every entertainment form sees zombies as shuffling, rotting creatures seeking human flesh, only in anime do you see zombies that live a day to day life like anyone else, or as close to it as possible. With Is This a Zombie?, the review of which can be found here, we were introduced to the life of such a zombie and now that FUNimation has brought the second season, Is This a Zombie? of the Dead, to North America, is it worth continuing the story?
Story For those who don’t know, Ayumu Aikawa may appear just like anyone else on the surface, however after running into a mysterious girl named Eu and being murdered by a serial killer, he has been resurrected as a zombie in the service of Eu, a necromancer from the Underworld that wields so much power that her words are capable of bringing about destruction if she were to speak.
As such, Ayumu accepts his new life with Eu living in his house as he tries to cope with becoming a zombie, only to see his life thrown for an even bigger loop when he encounters a Magical Garment Girl named Haruna as she fights against a strange beast known as a Megalo. After defeating the creature himself, Ayumu also finds himself absorbing Haruna’s abilities and becoming a Magical Garment Girl, giving him the abilities to wield a powerful magical weapon and also dress in drag the entire time.
Throughout the first season viewers are introduced to many characters that become part of Ayumu’s life, such as a new live-in vampire ninja by the name of Sera, another vampire ninja he accidentally marries at school all while facing down a dangerous threat from Eu’s past. The reason for all of this backstory is pretty simple and that is because Is This a Zombie? of the Dead picks up shortly after the final events of the first season took place.
After defeating the King of the Night and reuniting with Eu, the story continues on with Ayumu living the life of a normal zombie high schooler with a vampire ninja, a necromancer and a magical garment girl living at his house. Living such a life can be hard on one’s nerves and when Ayumu meets a drunken young girl dressed in a white gothic lolita outfit in his school, he becomes convinced that she is simply a creation of his stressed psyche.
Unlike the first season, there is no major running plot line throughout the majority of Is This a Zombie? of the Dead outside of the one involving the aforementioned girl named Chris. A few plot points are carried over from the past, such as Haruna’s missing powers and the various jobs the vampire ninjas have to do to get by, but nearly everything else is focused on developing the girls in Ayumu’s harem and Ayumu’s relationship with them.
Ayumu’s life is thrown into disarray quickly after the events of a Megalo fight leave him incapable of erasing the minds of those who saw the event, making him an international cross dressing celebrity overnight. This running gag lasts for over half of the season as Ayumu deals with his new found celebrity and the reactions of his classmates to his revealed cross-dressing fetish, though oddly enough ignoring how a talking gigantic squid attacked their classmates and had to be killed by Ayumu.
As mentioned before, outside of that plot point/running gag, most of Is This a Zombie? of the Dead develops the characters a bit more as some of Eu’s past is detailed a little bit more and the feelings of both Sera and Saras are fleshed out. In fact, while it was hinted at at the end of last season, Saras’ feelings for Ayumu are developed the most as she goes past someone simply obsessed with his delicious derriere to someone who cares a bit about his feelings as well.
The rest of the developments with the cast take place over the course of numerous hilarious situations that the group is placed into as they go from working at a cosplay maid café to a mixer with a dangerous old enemy to celebrating at a school festival with a disastrous outcome. In a way, Is This a Zombie? of the Dead feels more like a slice of supernatural life series at this point than one with a solid storyline with decently developed characters and plenty of ways for the story to go.
While still funny at times, Is This a Zombie? of the Dead’s actual storyline episodes, not counting the two OVA episodes 00 and 11 which mostly focus on fan-service and one off storylines, is limited to only ten episodes and unfortunately little is done to actually create a satisfying story here. You see, I say satisfying because while a storyline is introduced the anime ends at an unbelievable point in the story.
While it is always possible that it may be rectified sometime in the future, the storyline involving Chris, who eventually turns out to be the strongest magical garment girl in existence, and her plans or even motivations are left completely out to dry. Ayumu may take his first few steps to handling Chris but instead the series just decides to end itself with an whimper that, while a bit interesting as it examines Ayumu’s feelings about his new life, leaves much to be desired.
That isn’t to say that Is This a Zombie? of the Dead isn’t enjoyable, as that would be the farthest thing from the truth. The numerous sight gags, running jokes and hilarious interactions between the diverse cast of characters still makes for great comedy paired alongside a ton of fan service. Sadly numerous jokes does little to make up for the unfinished feeling of Is This a Zombie? of the Dead.
Visuals Oh boy, well let’s talk about the basics first. Is This a Zombie? of the Dead is a rather brightly colored and varied anime with numerous characters that are nicely detailed and actually go through a number of different outfit changes throughout the series, keeping things fresh. Their faces are generally expressive enough for comedic purposes, but there are noticeable drops in the quality of these facial expressions often throughout this season, and I’m not talking about the changes in art style for comedic effect either. Environments are nicely handled and, while less action packed than the first season, the few fights that do take place are still nicely animated and look great.
That being said, let’s move on to the cheesecake. Is This a Zombie? of the Dead is bursting at the seams with fan-service. Surprisingly enough, there is almost no female nudity in this season as Ayumu usually is the one spending time naked much to his dismay. Instead, the fan service comes from the numerous lewd outfits and poses that the girls are placed in over the course of the series. The characters with large breasts are often almost spilling out of their tops or in tight clothing, giving viewers something to enjoy while not going directly towards nudity.
Audio The cast from the first season has returned to provide the English voice work for Is This a Zombie? of the Dead and this remains rather impressive. The cast of characters is nicely handled by their English voice actors and they continue to keep with the original theme of the Japanese version of the anime where, in Ayumu’s delusions and this time in the post-credit ending sequences, Eu is voiced by a different voice actress every time, though it is worth noting that her main voice actress, Cherami Leigh, does have a few speaking parts this time around.
The series’ background music is forgetful at times but it is worth noting that there are a few enjoyable insert songs that are kept in the original Japanese while songs sung by the characters, such as Haruna or Saras, are dubbed into English and sung by that character’s voice actress. This season’s opening theme is “*** Passionate” by Iori Nomizu and provides a nice action packed opening while the ending theme “Koi no Beginner Nan Desu” by Rie Yamaguchi, the Japanese voice actress for Ayumu’s classmate Taeko, highlights the female members of the cast and also offers a bit of comedy.
Extras While Is This a Zombie? of the Dead’s bonus features may be a bit slim at first glance, since there are your standard inclusions such as a textless version of the opening and ending songs, a US trailer, trailers for other FUNimation releases and also two episode commentaries but there is also a special video commentary for the first episode.
The video commentary features Cherami Leigh, the main voice actress for Eu, Austin Tindle, the voice of Ayumu, Morgan Garrett, the voice of Sera, and Jad Saxton, the voice of Haruna. This video commentary is a nice little bonus as it is rarely done by the company and it even opens up with a gag where the characters all dress a bit and act like the characters they voice.
As for the normal audio commentaries, there is the episode 4 commentary which features Anthony Bowling, the voice of Orito, Caitlin Glass, the voice of Saras, Morgan Garrett, the voice of Sera, and finally Brittney Karbowski who voices Yuki. This commentary is packed with voice actors and is very fun to listen to as they make various jokes about the series and the characters. The final commentary is for episode 10 and features Jad Saxton, Austin Tindle, and the director Jerry Jewell.
Overall Is This a Zombie? of the Dead manages to continue to provide a hilarious and fan-service laden series teeming with supernatural entities. However where the first season had plenty of action, character introductions and a meaningful plot, Is This a Zombie? of the Dead only manages to deliver on the part where these characters are developed further. The lack of any actual storyline progress, or anything even close to a conclusion, holds the series back despite the many elements that make it memorable.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Funimation will be releasing the anime Oni-Ai to retailers in North America this December, but instead of having an English dub the series will only be available with subtitles.
The company made this announcement last Wednesday; stating that the decision for a sub only release of Oni-Ai will give them an indication on whether to venture into more English subtitle releases in the future.
“It will inform us as to whether it is a viable option for titles in the future that would otherwise not get released at all. In other words, we’re looking into ADDING more releases, which is a good thing!”
Funimation informed their fans that they will still be releasing dubbed anime, and encourage them to support their favourite shows through the use of legal streaming sites.
Oni-Ai will be available as a DVD/Blu-ray combo and will include all 12 episodes plus all 6 OVAs. Let us know what you think about this release by leaving a comment down below.
With Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII still a ways away, Square Enix have revealed an extended version of the previously shown TGS trailer to showcase the conclusion of the XIII trilogy. The video showcases Lightning as she accepts the new mantle of “The Saviour” destined to rescue souls from the encroaching chaos and destruction. We once again see Caius Ballad, tired of life and longing for his own end. Heavy stuff. Also shown is a much darker Snow Villiers, threatening to face Lightning herself if she tries to stop him.
It has also been revealed that, in addition to her Cloud Strife attire, Lightning may choose to done the iconic pink ribbon and dress as Aerith Gainsborough. The outfit comes complete with flower basket, staff and, possibly, the ultimate white magic: Holy. The reveal trailer also shows an all too familiar scene, though in what context is unclear.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is set to hit PS3 and Xbox 360 in Japan on November 21st, North America on February 11th, Australia on February 13th and Europe on February 14th. Waiting for the end to come…
Orborun Developer:Tiny Lab Productions Publisher:Bulkypix Platforms: iOS (iPod Touch/iPod/iPad) – Reviewed on iPad Release Date: 19th September 2013 Price: $1.99 – Available Here
Overview Robots are cool, everybody likes robots. Some have guns, some can fly, others can even transform…Orbot can do that last one. Kind of. Welcome to Orborun, to a world wherein one plucky little robot races through courses, unleashing the true potential of being a ball.
He’s really on a roll
Gameplay Roll. It’s just that simple. Tap into Orbot’s natural abilities as a spherical object and spin onwards through a number of courses. The further you progress, the more complicated the courses become. The game provides you with two control schemes to handle Orbot: tilt or touch. Allowing you to play with as much physical movement as you want, some or none.
The goal of the game is to receive the highest possible score, represented by a star based ranking system. Ranging from one star to three star rankings, collecting enough will unlock extra levels to complete. In order to build up said score, a number of coins are scattered across the courses. Also spread amidst these are special coins which gain you a higher point score. In the way of obstacles, the game gives us glass. Literal glass panes that are placed lovingly along the course. Blue coloured glass grants you points, whilst red coloured glass slows you down, damaging your finishing time.
Time to make it
Completing levels also nets you Zetium. This wonderous element allows you to purchase levels not yet unlocked. However, there is one more thing that Zetium can buy, that most longed for object: Orbots. Along with the default, the game includes two additional robot models: Jumpy Orbot and Lightning Orbot. These two forms have their own unique skills, namely jumping and speed respectively. Additionally, with the coins that you collect along the way, you can customise your own little Orbot. Along with basic white, the game provides eight different skins to spruce up Orbot.
Stay on target
Visuals and Audio The game has a fairly simple visual style. It presents a clean atmosphere, through the use of colours such as white and light blue. This notion is continued through the visuals of the environment…or lack of environment. Each track is set hovering in the centre of a very spacious cube shaped room, detailed with a simple grid pattern. The sparsity of the surroundings draws attention to the key elements of the game, namely collectables and Orbot itself, rolling ever onwards…until the end of the course. Occasionally, Orbot will mix it up a little and run for a time, showing just how much easier it is for a ball shaped robot to roll.
The soundtrack possesses a chill, techno kind of vibe. The fairly subtle sounds aren’t intrusive to the game, nor do they draw your attention from the visuals. It is, quite simply, background music. The tempo of the music doesn’t create an air of speed as much as one of casual progression. The game also a few sound effects, letting you hear a satisfying ping when you pick up a collectible, and a terrible shatter if Orbot should crash.
The end is near
Overall Orborun is a fun venture into the run and roll style. The game itself isn’t particularly stressful, being more about skill and collection than raw speed. Collect coins, gather Zetium, buy more Orbots and do the whole thing again. Though the courses themselves are fairly short, the game makes up for it in sheer numbers. Haste, the first world, has thirty levels by itself, along with six bonus levels for you to test your mettle in. All in all, Orborun is a fun game that you can pick up and play whenever you feel like rolling around.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Prepare to head down the rabbit hole, behind the looking glass and into the magical world that is Wonderland, as Disney Interactive have launched their latest game; Alice in Wonderland: A New Champion. The game draws heavy inspiration from the recent film and tasks players with helping Alice to defeat the Red Queen in a point and click adventure-style game.
The game will have a familiar cast of characters like Alice, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat, all of whom appear in their 2010 film iterations. The game also contains some breathtaking locations like the Mad Tea Party and the White Queen’s Castle.
So get ready to solve riddles and help Wonderland survive and flourish in this exciting fame, which is available now on iOScompletely free (and coming soon to Android). You can check out the game’s trailer below, and if you need more Alice in Wonderland in your life, then check out the Wonderland Maze Toy Box that has been put out for Disney Infinity. Don’t forget to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Alice in Wonderland news as it becomes available.
Since Disney Infinity’s Toy Box Submission Contest was a resounding success, the folks over at Disney have decided to do it again. This time, players are tasked with designing the best (and most extreme) sporting arena in the Disney Infinity Extreme Sports Challenge. So get your creative caps on players, and start designing the most radical (do people still say radical?) sporting arena you possibly can!
To help get the creative juices flowing, Disney have also released another five free Toy Boxes for players to download and try out. This time the Toy Boxes are;
Tron Highway – Race a Light Runner, battle enemies, navigate mazes and find hidden paths to get to the end of the broken highway.
Sugar Mania– Take King Candy’s Royal Racer for a sweet spin on a Sugar Rush-inspired racetrack.
Monster Rally – Pull off a series of tricks in a side-scrolling stunt show spectacular.
Cosmic Platformer – Compete with friends on an obstacle course that’s out of this world.
It’s a Trap!– Pay close attention to get through these puzzling rooms. Beware of traps and double jumping!
As of now, this brings the total number of DLC maps up to 25! What a huge number, and there are many more to come down the line. You can check out the other four previously released map packs here; Map Pack 1, Map Pack 2, Map Pack 3, Map Pack 4.
So will you be entering the Toy Box Challenge this time round? Let us know in the comments below, and if you haven’t done so already, check out our review of Disney infinityhere. As always, remember to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Disney Infinity news as it becomes available.
A scant 60 days since Ubisoft’s Spartacus Legends has launched on consoles, and since then has become the quickest growing free to play game on consoles. However, the developers are not done, as Tournaments have now been announced as an imminent add-on for the game.
When they launch by the end of Spring, the Tournament Series will pit gladiators against one another to determine the 1 true Champion of Capua. Players who participate in the tournament will be given special in game rewards such as; gold, limited edition equipment and exclusive gladiator titles, including “Champion of Capua.
Spartacus Legends has become the fastest growing free to play game in console history, and to showcase just how impressive that is, the guys over at Ubisoft have put together a little infographic to show you the levels of violence that a game can achieve in just two short months. Check out the infographic below and remember that for all the Spartacus Legends news as it becomes available, be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
Here we are again for another round of CC Comic Zone, the place where we come to talk about all things Comic, Manga, Graphic Novel and anything within Illustrated Media. In this CC Comic Zone I want to talk about the Evil Counterparts of our favourite heroes and main characters. I’ll explain why I like the idea of Evil Counterparts within story-lines and why I feel like they should be in every, if not most, Comics, Mangas and Graphic Novels. Now without further delay, let us begin!
Every good protagonist has a fairly similar antagonist to “almost” best them in every way, I say “almost” because it’s not often that we’ll see these types of characters win against the heroes. This is an extremely old trope that you’ll notice within a great deal of western comics as a separate character that the protagonist will have to fight against, for example; Superman and Bizarro. That is the most purest form of this trope in my opinion. We see it so much yet I don’t believe audiences have gotten sick of it because writers seem to find different ways of having them in their stories without it getting to cliché or just down right annoying. I, for one, happen to like the idea of an Evil Counterpart, they’re always a lot cooler than any protagonist because essentially they’re the same but with more freedom because they’re evil, it also makes for some really cinematic fight scenes which is always a plus!
– Nega-Scott is defeated by Scott. or is he? –
Spiderman has Venom who is basically a bigger, better, more savage version of Spiderman. Now Venom never really “gets” Spidey but he does come close a great deal of the time and that’s because they’re so similar and it stands out more in this example than a lot of others. Because the symbiote we know as Venom was originally attached to Peter Parker, his Spider Senses don’t see Venom as a threat, Venom is just seen as another part of Spiderman so it makes it so much easier for the big guy to sneak up and “attempt” to take the web-slinger down. That’s a very physical example of an evil counterpart. Graphic Novels like Sharknife also use this kind of thing. Sharknife’s, basically, one and only big enemy is OrcaSword. One is red, one is black. One uses a knife, one uses a sword. It’s really fun to see because they’re equally matched which eliminates the whole “protagonist always wins” factor.
– Spiderman VS Venom –
Yes, Western comic writers do use this a lot but that’s not to say that our friends in the East don’t do the same! A lot of Manga have these characters, so many that I probably couldn’t even recall them now, I probably don’t even know half of them. The difference, I’ve noticed, is that Manga stories seem to have Evil Counterparts that are not actually seperate characters from that of the protagonist, instead they’re like “shadow beings” or “dark versions” of the characters we love. Ichigo from Bleach is a huge example of this with his Hollow form both being part of him and part of his sword. Naruto has one too when he’s learning to use his Tailed-Beast powers correctly. These types of characters only pop up now and again and they’re used as more of a “learning” process for particular characters. It’s like the physical representation of “overcoming your demons”.
– Ichigo goes up against himself, Hollow Ichigo –
Sometimes it’s switched around, for example; jackie Estacado (from The Darkness) is the user of The Darkness which, for all intents and purposes, is an evil power, well his enemies are the Angelus. The name makes them sound real nice and peaceful and fighters for justice and all that is good but, in The Darkness, they’re the evil ones and our protagonist is Jackie who uses The Darkness. It’s a nice little “switcheroo” and it takes audiences by, not so much surprise, but interest. There are different types of Evil Counterparts though, there’s the physical opposites, the inner evil versions of a character, there are characters who are similar enough to be considered counterparts there are so many I could talk about. Hit up our comments section below this article and let me know about your favourite characters and their Evil Counterparts. I could really go on for days and days but I wont, instead I’m going to list a few of my favourite protagonists and their Evil Counterparts:
– Wolverine and Sabretooth (Marvel)
– The Hulk has The Red Hulk (Marvel)
– Scott Pilgrim has Nega-Scott as well as Gideon Graves (Scott Pilgrim)
– Goku has Vegeta and, in The Tree of Might, Turles (DBZ)
The Killing – The Complete Season 3
Wildest Islands – Season 1
Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Nation
