Funimation has opened pre-orders for its Dragon Ball Z: Rock the Dragon Collector’s Edition DVD Box Set. The collection includes the original broadcast version of DBZ with the Canadian voice cast and the “Rock the Dragon” opening sequence.
The DVDs will contain episodes 1-53 plus the three movies Dead Zone, The World’s Strongest and Tree of Might. Since it’s a collector’s edition they’re including a 48-page hardcover art book showcasing characters, history and tropes from the classic anime series.
You can pre-order it from Rightstuf who are currently offering it for $59.99 while its regular price is $99.98. This seems like it shouldn’t be missed by fans of the series, particularly if you loved the original “Ocean Dub” voice cast.
Did you guys know that a new Superman movie is coming out? No not the animated Superman Unbound, but a live-action film called the Man of Steel. I know there is one coming out because it seems that every time I turn on my computer there is a brand new trailer, TV spot, or preview video to remind me. Warner Bros. seems absolutely adamant on letting every SINGLE person in the world know that Man of Steel is coming out soon. Over the weekend the film and game publishing behemoth (you guessed it) released the TENTH TV spot for the film.
Just last week when the ninth TV spot was released, I made the comparison to an episode of The Simpsons and how many of us are gluttons, devouring every morsel we get and still demanding more. While that seems to be the way the world is nowadays, with us as viewers never being satisfied until we have seen all there is to see, I’m just beginning to worry that with all the trailers, teasers and TV spots that Warner Bros. might be reaching a point where they are beginning to kill off the buzz for their film. I mean, between all the promotional material there is almost 16 minutes of footage out there and that is more than enough for people to piece together a good chunk of the plot. I personally am still giddy with excitement for the film, but at the same time I am almost as interested to see if the abundance of promo material has helped or hurt ticket sales.
For those who are interested, you can check out TV Spot #10 below, and if you want to check out the rest of them you can head on over to the Official Facebook Page. As we gear up to the Man of Steel’s release, we will be covering as much as we can (even though it sometimes seems like the WB is giving us more than we can handle) so be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
Nordic Games have released a unique teaser in the form of a free, browser-based interactive graphic novel which serves as a prequel for the upcoming The Raven – Legacy of a Master Thief adventure game. You can view the literary adventure here or through the Android app for mobile devices.
“It’s a free gift from us at Nordic Games,” explains Peter Hercher, Product Marketing Manager. It aims to “provide a deeper understanding of who the Raven is, what motivates him and will help players piece together parts of the story that they’ll hear about when playing through the main game out this summer.”
The first chapter of The Raven will be out for the PSN and Xbox Live Marketplace on July 23. The second and third chapters are set for release on August 27 and September 24, respectively. The season pass is now available, too, allowing access to all three chapters for £16.79 and saving players 20% off during the pre-order phase.
The Raven – Legacy of a Master Thief is a ‘whodunnit’ adventure tale set across 1960s Europe. Players follow The Raven’s trademark black feather clues to capture the thief and to protect a legendary sapphire, the “Eye of the Sphinx” on its journey from Switzerland to Egypt.
‘Krieg: A Meat Bicycle Built For Two’ is viewable at the bottom of this article. 2k Games gave us the following accompanying text;
What goes on inside the mind of Krieg the Psycho? Why did he become a Vault Hunter in the first place? Do his pecs, in fact, have pecs? Find out the answers to all these questions in this original Gearbox short film. If you haven’t taken him out for a (meat)spin yet, I highly recommend it. Absolutely bonkers.
Just remember, they made the meat spin reference, not us… our collective conscience is clear. Also check out the gallery of screens and artworks below if you haven’t bought the content yet; they may just entice you.
Some nightmarish news for Nintendo and the industry in general, as a team going by the name Gateway have announced successful hacking of the Nintendo 3DS. Gateway have produced a video showcasing their latest creation booting 3 bootleg ROMS, including Luigis mansion, claiming it to be the world’s first 3DS flashcart, with seemingly no other legitimate use than to download and play illegally obtained games.
The video proof that was released clearly shows 3 different games being run, both in 3D and 2D modes, and both without the use of an original game cartridge. While Console modding is nothing new to the industry, it has always tried at least, to remain hidden behind the guise of homebrew rather than piracy. These flashcarts, which have plagued Nintendo from the DS launch, are deceptively crippling due to the tiny size of the game software and lack of skills required for installation.
Whilst reading through many of the forums, especially those exclusively Nintendo based sites; it is good to see a backlash from many within the gaming community, and certain hatred towards companies such as Gateway who see nothing wrong with making vast profits out of someone else’s hard work.
Touted as “the most battle-friendly RPG ever created”, Pocket Army has been slowly but surely built over the last two years for the iPhone, iPad and iTouch devices..
Developed by Pine Entertainment on a modest budget, the free iOS app rewards hours of addictive grinding for a slew of upgrades and a gradually satisfying experience. Here’s a humble set of features:
Tons of soldiers, weapons and gears. (Especially after many updates)
Online and Offline gameplay
Chunk of levels in a big world map
Player vs. player system/Invite a friend to become your soldier
Grab it on the iTunes App Stores here and see how much time you can lose in this army-raising, soldier-upgrading RPG.
For more info follow the developer’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida recently took to Twitter to address rumours that all PlayStation 4 games have been mandated by Sony to be playable via the Vita’s Remote Play;
@MrDaWe Yes, it's true unless the game requires specific hardware like the camera. It will be great to play PS4 games on PS Vita.
This functionality will surely provide a huge boost in sales for the PS Vita – the handheld has not exactly been selling like hotcakes since its launch. How is it possible to play such a high-end title like Killzone: Shadow Fall, for instance, on the device? Well, the image is compressed and scaled down to the Vita’s native 960 x 544 resolution using the PS4’s in-built h.264 video encoder. The console then transfers the game to the Vita via your wi-fi connection, although image quality issues won’t be much of an issue at all; any can be simply resolved through much higher-bandwidth video. The localised nature of the network also allows the input latency to be considerably minimised.
The first visual for the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Studio Ghibli’sKiki’s Delivery Service has been revealed. The image which can be seen above features Kiki herself with broomstick in hand.
It has been confirmed that 16 year old Fuka Koshiba will play the lead-role of Kiki. The picture above features Koshiba in full costume for the role. Koshiba has stated that in order to prepare for the role of Kiki she swung a wooden sword 200 times a day.
Filming is now underway on an island in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan. Takashi Shimizu – the man behind The Grudge – is slated to direct the movie. Stay tuned for more information on the live-action Kiki’s Delivery Service as it comes to light.
This may come as a huge surprise to many, but retail sources of MCV‘s claim that the Xbox One is tracking ahead of the PS4 in pre-order number in the UK.
Apparently, one store stated that in the 24 hours after the Xbox One Reveal event, Microsoft‘s next-gen console pre-order numbers surpassed the 3 months worth of Sony‘s PlayStation 4 pre-orders. However, it should also be noted that there was a spike in pre-orders for the competitor on the same day, showing that there are some people with common sense left in this community, who actually waited to see what was on offer from both sides before making a cash commitment.
Looks like we know where the UK stands and that internet opinion isn’t necessarily the be all, end all.
Dusk Maiden of Amnesia Studio:Silver Link Publisher:Sentai Filmworks Format: DVD, Blu-ray (Reviewed) Release Date:June 4, 2013 Price:$69.98 – Available Here
Overview Ghost stories are often told to frighten young children or even terrify adults and the entertainment industry has taken advantage of human nature’s fear of the unknown to create multiple horror stories about demons, psychos and ghosts. However what happens when a ghost story isn’t meant to terrify but meant to be something else entirely? Based off of a manga series which started back in 2009, Tasogare x Amnesia began airing in 2011. Now Sentai Filmworks has brought the series to North America under its new name, Dusk Maiden of Amnesia. Does a ghost story with a twist offer something memorable? Let’s find out.
Story Seikyou Academy is a long standing private school which has been expanded upon over many decades, creating something of a labyrinth. Modern school buildings and hallways connect to traditional Japanese wood buildings and some parts of the school have dilapidated to the point where no one uses them anymore. Since the school is rundown in so many areas and has quite a lineage behind it, many ghost stories have been created about parts of the school.
One brave, or perhaps foolish, boy named Teiichi hears the rumor of a ghost living in an old part of the school and goes to investigate it. Upon doing so he finds that this ghost is not only real, but she is also a teenage girl named Yuuko Kanoe who has taken quite the liking to him. After quite the flirtatious first day with this spirit, Teiichi discovers that Yuuko has no memory of her life or even why she died in the first place. She isn’t too concerned with this, as Teiichi is the first person in sixty years which has acknowledged Yuuko’s existence and she delights in touching, teasing and being with him but when he finds her body, Teiichi insists upon finding out more about Yuuko.
Teiichi and Yuuko form the Paranormal Investigation Club to try and uncover more about Yuuko’s mysterious past and by doing so the club is soon joined by the enthusiastic Momoe Okonogi who loves ghost stories, but has no idea that Yuuko exists and Kirie Kanoe. Kanoe’s last name is familiar thanks to the fact that she is the granddaughter of Yuuko’s younger sister and because of this, she is aware of Yuuko’s presence and she realizes that there is a far darker spirit lurking the halls of the academy. What secrets lie in wait for the group as they look into Yuuko’s past?
Upon starting Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, the first thought that will likely cross a viewer’s mind is that it is a simple harem series. Three girls who are charmed with the male lead that selflessly helps those around him and allows himself to be teased relentlessly by the harem lead is almost a textbook definition of a harem. However this series actually manages to surpass the basic harem romantic comedy structure by placing an intriguing well-written plot as the main focus of the series.
The mystery of Yuuko’s past and her death is slowly unveiled over the course of the series but nothing is blatantly obvious. Thanks to the fact that Yuuko has been haunting the school for over sixty years, many of the ghost stories the group comes across were simply actions that Yuuko performed while she was bored. In fact, there are a number of psychological elements at play throughout the series alongside the supernatural, mostly introduced through Kirie. However for every dead end in the mystery, a little more light is shown upon Yuuko’s past, leading up to an emotional and draining reveal that can be hard to stomach.
The series isn’t all horror however, as it’s romantic element still plays a major part in Dusk Maiden. While a bit haremesque, it is clear from the beginning that Yuuko is the main girl of the series. She begins the series with a childlike glee of being touched and interacted with, so much so that she enjoys teasing and flirting with Teiichi to rather extreme level. However as it progresses and their emotional connection deepens, even the smallest interactions between the two is heartwarming to the point of tears in the final episodes of the series.
We’ve talked about a lot of themes so far and a lesser series likely would have struggled to balance these themes properly. However in Dusk Maiden everything is written so well that it creates a fluid series that works so well. While comedic at numerous points, the comedy is never forced to break tension of ruin a suspenseful moment. There is plenty of horror, romance, drama and love to be had in Dusk Maiden as Yuuko’s past is revealed and it all combines into a series that is simply unforgettable.
Visuals Creating an atmospheric world is something that many anime are capable of doing. However many of these worlds are simply fantasy lands or a basic school setting which are rather generic. While Dusk Maiden does take place in a school setting, Silver Link has crafted an atmospheric world that works wonders with the plot and setting of Dusk Maiden. While I usually discuss the characters first, the true highlight of the series’ graphics department is the world itself. Through nice uses of coloration and subdued tones, there are numerous moments throughout the series that are stunning, especially in Blu-ray.
As for the characters themselves, they are nicely handled and have some wonderful facial animations. Yuuko is obviously the highlight here and she receives quite a bit of low-level fan service throughout the series. Her pale complexion and often traditional dress forms a nice comparison with the rest of the cast. It is also worth noting that the series enjoys the use of visual effects such as screen narrowing or highlighting of specific parts of a scene which is something that only a few series have managed to pull off successfully and Dusk Maiden uses these to great effect.
Audio With Dusk Maiden of Amnesia Sentai Filmworks has provided both the original Japanese voice track as well as a newly recorded English dub with this release. Both voice casts are nicely handled in this series and thanks to the limited number of main characters the cast fits their parts nicely. The English dub also does a nice job of handling the numerous emotional scenes throughout the series, with Emily Neves’ Yuuko and Clint Bickham’s Teiichi working well together.
As for the series’ soundtrack, Dusk Maiden of Amnesia sports an impressive collection of background music. Often with anime series the background music simply works as filler and is often forgetful. However with Dusk Maiden each song is played during a fitting scene with a wide range of tunes that fit dramatic scenes, comedic scenes and even the creepy sequences as well. As for an opening and ending theme, the opening song “Choir Jail” by Konomi Suzuki is wonderful and fits the theme of the anime perfectly while the ending song “Calendrier” by Aki Okui has a more emotional impact and receives a bit of variation a couple of times in the series.
Extras Sentai Filmworks actually went far above your standard bonus feature expectations with Dusk Maiden of Amnesia. Sure this release contains your standard clean opening and ending animations as well as trailers for other Sentai products but alongside these bonus features we have an extended version of Episode 12 which adds a little bit to the episode that was cut due to broadcast time.
Alongside this there is a full length OVA episode, which some claim as Episode 13, that takes place after the events of Episode 12 but the OVA is more comedic than anything else as it sees the cast return to simply tracking down ghost stories that existed in the school and more antics between Yuuko and Kirie. Also contained on this release are episode commentaries by the original Japanese voice actors for the series. There are commentaries for all thirteen episodes and they have been subtitled for the viewer’s enjoyment and are a nice addition.
As I mentioned before, Dusk Maiden of Amnesia features an amazing soundtrack and Sentai has included this amazing soundtrack with this release as two soundtrack CDs have been bundled with this release. There are a few re-used pieces of music that are played with different instruments and it is worth noting that for some reason, the opening theme “Choir Jail” is not included on these CDs. However the vocal versions of “Calendrier” and “Requiem” are included on disc. As an added bonus a paper insert includes the translated lyrics for both of these songs.
Overall Dusk Maiden of Amnesia doesn’t seem like a lot from its initial episode which seems like the beginning of a romantic comedy laced with harem antics. However it quickly develops into something far more than that. The small cast of characters work so well together and the story is exceptionally well-written to the point that all of the drama, suspense and mystery feels right at home alongside comedy and romance. Sporting a stellar English dub and a nice collection of bonus features, Dusk Maiden of Amnesia is a ghost story that transcends it’s limitations and becomes a truly superb anime.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
