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Infinite Stratos Review

April 15, 2013

Infinite Stratos
Studio: 8-Bit
Publisher: Madman Entertainment
Format: DVD (Reviewed), Blu Ray
Release Date: March 20, 2013
Price: $59.95 – Available Here

Overview
Infinite Stratos began as a light novel series written by Izuru Yumizuru, with illustrations provided by Okiura, though the mantle of illustrator has since been taken up by CHOCO. The series itself is a harem romantic comedy…that also happens to include mechs. Somewhat of a shift from other mech anime, focusing on romance more than robotic combat but hey, why not?

Story
Infinite Stratos is centred in a world where weaponised mechanical exoskeletons, named Infinite Stratos (IS), exist. Due to the threat of the Stratos, the governments of the world penned the Alaska Treaty, prohibiting their use for military roles and requiring equal distribution of the technology throughout all countries. Eventually an international fighting tournament, the Mondo Grosso was created, for countries to show their skill and machinery to the rest of the world. However, due to the IS only being able to be piloted by women, the world underwent a shift into a female dominated society.

10 years later… Cue Ichika Orimura, our protagonist and the only male ever capable of piloting an IS. Ichika is thrust into a prestigious IS Academy where the worlds best gather to learn the ways of piloting in the hopes of contending in the Mondo Grosso…and hooking up with Ichika. Seriously, the minute he steps into the academy literally every single girl wants him, with the exception of his older sister who also happens to be his teacher (though her interest in him is disputed by some of the love struck students). Despite being one of the most oblivious, and apparently charismatic, protagonists of all time, Ichika is not very skilled with an IS, though over the course of the series his abilities do improve and sway more than a couple of girls over to his side. As the series progresses Ichika gains a harem of girls all vying for his affections and not subtly either. The school may as well be called Fanservice Academy.

Oh yeah, there’s mechs to. For a series set in a world of robotic invention there aren’t as many fight scenes as you’d expect. The ones that exist are done well but they are few and far between, even then most sum up to a battle vying for Ichika’s affections. Hell, one pilot even blasts through a concrete wall when yet another girl enters the romantic fray.

Whilst there is some insight into the characters themselves it’s done with very broad strokes. There’s generally a flashback narrated by a character explaining their past and motivations then, nope that’s it. You do understand the characters more for the experience but it seems a tad shallow, a majority of their personality comes from their unwavering devotion to this one guy they met a few days ago and their hatred of competition. In their IS combat, the sole reason they attend the academy? No, that would be crazy. In their attempts to quite literally force themselves onto a guy? Now you’re getting it.

Admittedly there is something going on regarding the Stratos themselves, but that plot is pushed into the background. Two fights are based upon the concept of the IS system being used for literal combat, but that’s it. That could have been investigated a lot more thoroughly in the series, it just felt like a wasted opportunity for some much needed Stratos action, but hey, I mean all you need is love right?

Visuals
The animation in Infinite Stratos was done well. The characters moved quite fluidly, even in the non-action romantic scenes, emphasising their personalities well. The bulk of the compliments go to the fight scenes. Using a combination of CGI for the Stratos themselves and traditional animation cells for the pilots, the series does a great job of conveying the speed and less restricted movement style the Stratos have compared to traditional mechs. The CGI was done exceedingly well, most of the time you don’t even notice it, trust me it’s a compliment. There are a few occasions where it’s obvious that CGI is used for both Stratos and characters, though this is generally for wide angle shots where the characters aren’t actually fighting. The environment itself was also rather picturesque, featuring sunny beaches, artistic architecture and a few Japanese inspired areas, even the Academy dorm rooms were designed to look like fancy hotel rooms.

Audio
I watched the English dub of Infinite Stratos and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The voice actors did a great job of playing their characters and expressed genuine emotion, something that doesn’t always happen in anime dubs. They sounded angry, nervous, happy or just plain insane. Something I was also particularly interested in was the accents. Yep. I haven’t actually seen too many series where a character has an accent from their country of origin. It definitely adds character to the mass of love struck females when amongst them is English, French and German accents. It’s a credit to an anime when you can close your eyes and still know who’s talking. The music was good too, it matched well with the overall upbeat theme of the anime. The J-Pop opening and ending themes were used a few times throughout the show itself and they just kinda fit with the whole relationship side. There were some instrumental pieces used, most notably was the theme used in the climactic battle, full of trumpets and orchestral vocals, it really set the mood for a fast paced final battle.

Extras
The DVD features a few extras, mostly commentary from the Japanese voice actors on a few of the episodes. Also featured were two live action pieces: a filmed airing of Infinite Stratos Radio (two of the Japanese voice actors doing a radio show) and a behind the scenes where another of the voice actors interviews series director Yasuhito Kikuchi, before the series was released. The main extra would have to be the included OVA (it isn’t featured in the extras menu, but rather plays straight after the final episode) which is set after the series. Also included, of course, is textless versions of the opening and ending themes.

Overall
Look, as much as I talked about the imbalance of romance to combat, and boy is there one, Infinite Stratos really isn’t a bad series. The fight scenes are done well and the Stratos themselves are awesome armour mech suits that are different from a majority of series out there. Even though some of the dialogue was pretty corny it was voice acted well enough that it was still interesting to watch. The main problem is that the series seems somewhat shallow and full of missed opportunities that could have made it great. Granted it is still a series for those who prefer romance and comedy (and a large quantity of fanservice), there’s still a little bit of action thrown in. Basically, you should definitely watch this series if you want to see a bunch of anime girls fawn over a guy, with varying degrees of intent and severity. But hey, even if that’s not your thing the series itself isn’t too bad.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Season 1 Part 1 Review

Travis Bruno

April 15, 2013

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Season 1 Part 1 Review

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Season 1 Part 1
Studio: J.C. Staff
Publisher: FUNimation
Format: DVD
Release Date: April 16, 2013
Price: $64.98 – Available Here

Overview:
Whenever a spin-off of a popular series is announced, many fans begin to worry about the quality of said spin-off. Could said spin-off overshadow the original work or could it be a terrible cash-grab by the studio? No one knows and it is always a risky endeavor. A Certain Scientific Railgun is a spin-off form the stellar A Certain Magical Index series and now that FUNimation has released the first part of Season 1 in North America, does Railgun offer a great experience on its own?

Story:
Those familiar with A Certain Magical Index may recognize the name Mikoto Misaka and rather than following the life and events occurring around Kamijo Toma, the story of Railgun focuses almost entirely on Misaka and the girls that she is friends with. Knowledge of the Index series isn’t necessarily required to understand the events of Railgun, however those who have enjoyed Index will be able to recognize various characters, though it is worth noting that, at least in Part 1 of Railgun’s first season, the storyline has not caught up to any of the events that occur in the Index series, meaning everything portrayed here occurs before Toma meets up with Index. However Toma does appear and play a minor role in Railgun, so newcomers to the franchise may miss out on the this prequel-style relationship building.

Anyways, Mikoto Misaka is one of only seven level 5 Espers and she is nicknamed the Railgun due to her control of electricity and ability to fire objects at such a high rate of speed that they turn into destructive projectiles capable of destroying anything she wishes. Despite being a level 5 Esper, Misaka is friendly with those around her and has become friends with another girl who attends the same middle school as her, Kuroko. Despite Kuroko’s obsessive and possessive nature when it comes to Misaka, Kuroko introduces Misaka to her other friend and co-worker in Judgement, Uiharu who also introduces the level 0 girl Saten to the group. Thanks to various events, Misaka, Kuroko, Saten and Uiharu become fast friends and the story of A Certain Scientific Railgun follows the various events around this group of girls.

Similar to Index, Railgun follows a rather formulaic approach to storytelling, however unlike Index where the drama took dark turns and the story progressed between large story arcs and mini-arcs in-between, Railgun follows a more episodic format that feels more slice-of-life with bits of action thrown in here and there. You see, Uiharu and Kuroko are members of Judgement, which is an organization that protects the peace of Academy City by arresting criminals that use their Esper abilities to commit crimes.

Between solving cases and taking down criminals, the series focuses on the girls themselves and the fun times that they spend together. While this means that the series isn’t as plot heavy as Index, Railgun manages to pull this off quite nicely thanks to the charming personalities of the girls. Kuroko’s exuberant perverse actions towards Misaka aside, each of the girls interact well with one another and even Kuroko’s comedic fan-service can be welcoming at times.

While most of Season 1 Part 1 lacks focus by functioning on an episode to episode basis, it becomes clear that the number of Esper related crimes has been on the rise and Judgement’s database of Esper users has become increasingly unreliable when gauging the levels of these criminals. As such, when rumors of a “Level Upper” begin to circulate, Judgement and the girls may be in for more than they bargained for, especially when one of their own falls victim to the device.

Interestingly enough, Part 1 of Railgun’s first season ends rather concisely with no cliffhanger, though with Part 2 being released the same day as Part 1, this wouldn’t have been an issue anyways. That being said, the story of Part 1 offers a decent introduction to the girls by presenting viewers numerous episodes with cute girls doing cute things as well as humorous character interactions and then offering various dramatic situations that culminate in a master-scheme that highlights some of the sinister science taking place in Academy City.

Visuals:
A Certain Scientific Railgun was originally animated back in 2009 and thanks to various issues on the Japanese side of things, FUNimation was forced to delay the release of the series for a few years before this eventual 2013 release. Despite being animated four years ago, the series is impressively handled at times. It is worth noting however that the release is fairly inconsistent with its visual quality, with some sequences being impressively well animated and the character’s being highly detailed and shadowed well, while other sequences can be rough looking, like J.C. Staff had issues allocating funding for specific episodes.

That being said, the action sequences are often the most impressive and real care has been given to making sure that the environments are impressively detailed. Fans of the original Index series will be able to recognize various areas and it is worth noting that Railgun features some of the most adorable facial animations I’ve seen. It is interesting to note that while some may find that Railgun contains a high level of fan-service, it is actually quite tame with no actual nudity. Usually this fan-service is delivered by Kuroko’s actions towards Misaka or Saten’s actions towards Uiharu, but it remains light and humor based so few should find issue with it while fan-service lovers will appreciate these moments, especially since they are often quite hilarious.

Audio:
As one may expect from a FUNimation release, A Certain Scientific Railgun: Season 1 Part 1 has been given a complete English dub and the company has provided the Japanese voice track as well. The voice actresses and actors from Index have retained their character roles for Railgun while the new characters have been voiced well enough, though Brina Palencia as Saten does take some getting used to. It is interesting to note that while the English dub is nicely handled, the original Japanese voice work is very impressive, especially when it comes to Kuroko’s original voice actress Satomi Arai, so viewers may want to listen to both tracks to appreciate the series.

As far as background music goes, there are a number of themes that are played during suitable moments in the series but they tend to be very forgetful. That being said, the opening theme, “Only My Railgun” by fripSide is a joy to listen to and I found myself watching the opening theme and listening to the song for every episode thanks to the song alone. The ending theme, “Dear My Friend” by Elisa is a nice soft ending theme focusing on the girls, but it is fairly unimpressive.

Extras:
The bonus features offered for A Certain Scientific Railgun Season 1 Part 1 are pretty much what fans have come to expect from a FUNimation release. We have a clean version of the opening and ending themes, trailers for other FUNimation products and two episode commentaries.

The first commentary is for Episode 3 and it features the aforementioned Brina Palencia, the voice of Saten, and Cherami Leigh who voices Uiharu. These two discuss Uiharu and discuss the various events that take place during the episode. While not very comedic, it is nice to get a look at what these two thought of the series.

As for the second commentary, this time for Episode 6, we have Brittney Karbowski the voice of Misaka and Alison Viktorin who handles the voice of Kuroko. The two talk about the episode in a manner similar to the other commentary and also discuss the relationship between the characters they voice.

Overall:
A Certain Scientific Railgun may not be as plot heavy as A Certain Magical Index, but Part 1 manages to offer a mostly light-hearted experience that still has its share of drama mixed in with a charming cast of characters. In fact, the four main girls and their interactions with one another are the biggest highlight of Railgun. With Part 1 ending things on a rather solid note after successfully introducing the cast and having viewers fall in love with them, the biggest question is, what will viewers find in the second half of season one?

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Another Announced By Hanabee

Benjamin Webb

April 15, 2013

The anime series, Another, has been recently acquired by the anime publisher Hanabee here in Australia. This was brought to our attention via a press release that we had received a little earlier today, however, fans of the company that were in attendance at the Melbourne Supanova event will have heard this announcement at a panel at the event.

The events of Another take place when a student in the class is killed suddenly and unexpectedly. However, instead of accepting this loss, the class and its teacher decide to carry on as usual, allowing the deceased student to graduate along with the class. Around 26 years later a new student joins this class and notices that it isn’t quite normal.

The series, Another, will also be having a Blu-Ray Disc and Digital Video Disc release, which is great for the modern Anime fan as most Anime is best suited for High Definition displays in the modern era.

To quote the Press Release –

SYNOPSIS
Denying Death Is a High Stakes Game
In 1972 Misaki suddenly passed away. The student’s death was so unexpected that the classmates and teacher had decided to pretend the incident never happened, allowing for Misaki to continue attending class and graduate with them. But in doing so they had unwittingly set a curse upon the school.
26 years later, Kouichi Sakakibara transferred into the very same class and it is clear something is amiss. A tense atmosphere has engulfed them and the answer may lie in the hands of an aloof classmate who no one appears to be aware of.

The release looks like it will be filled with special features, such as the following:

FEATURES
DVD & BluRay Release
Dual language – English dub & original Japanese audio.
OVA included.
Clean Opening & Ending

Another releases on the 3rd of July, 2013 in Australia and New Zealand. Be sure to check in stores around the date to grab your copy.

Tomb Raider – Oni Warrior Battle Trailer

Zac Elawar

April 15, 2013

Tomb Raider – Oni Warrior Battle Trailer

It’s been over a month now since Tomb Raider‘s release (and our review), and the team at Crystal Dynamics have been reflecting on their own personal favorite moments from the game.

About 10 days ago, we shared with you a video of the “Scaling the Zigurat” gameplay segment – Crystal Dynamics’ most memorable climbing-section in the game. Now, we have their favourite combat sequence; the “Oni Warrior Battle” – one of the most intense combat stages of the game against the mysterious Oni, where we experience just how dangerous Lara Croft can be after being hardened by her tumultuous journey.

The trailer, which you can view below, is narrated by Animator at Crystal Dynamics, Kym Brainard, and shows Lara entering the Chasm Stronghold to take on a horde of Oni warriors: guardians of the Sun Queen Himiko and protectors of the island of Yamatai. Also, all launch exclusive DLC is now available on the PSN Store and Steam, so visit your respective client to download a range of weapons packs and multiplayer characters, including the cunning Scavenger Scout and Hitman: Absolution themed weapons.

Attack On Titan – Breaking the Walls of my Mind

Frank Inglese

April 15, 2013

Attack On Titan – Breaking the Walls of my Mind

The first episode of the Attack On Titan anime series came out two weeks ago which means there has only been two episodes released which means for two Sundays in a row I’ve just kind of sat there filling with these things called emotions, they’re kind of weird and make you feel stuff and anime usually doesn’t make me feel stuff, not like Attack on Titan does. Truthfully. Now, I never read the manga and I had no idea about this anime until a fellow Capsule employee Luke Halliday shared his first impressions of it and mentioned I should give it a whirl and see how I like it; it’s safe to say, I flippin’ like it! Out of the few Spring Anime releases I’ve been watching, Attack On Titan would, without a doubt, be my number one favourite title.

Like I mentioned above, I’ve never read the manga – hadn’t even heard about it until about a month ago – so I’ve come into this entirely fresh, not knowing what to expect from the series, and assuming weird and odd things about it judging by just pictures and screenshots, so as you can imagine Attack On Titan hit me like a tonne of bricks. A lot of fans, like Luke, followed the manga; they know the story, they know what to expect and their only deal breaker is that the series may not do the manga justice but two episodes in and from what I’ve heard it does it some damn justice!

I actually happened upon the manga just the other day while in a book store and did a little flicking through – I saw some things, some things I wanted explained and I was tempted to buy the manga right there on the spot (which God knows I’ll end up rushing back to buy soon) as it looked fantastic! I was comparing the anime and manga in my head, piecing together what’s what and I really didn’t have to do a lot of that because, visually, the anime hit the nail right on the head! I, somewhat, regret flicking through the manga because now I’m anticipating things and trying to figure out what’s coming and what the hell is going on with these Titans and a single Titan in particular that I happened to see (you manga fans will know exactly what I’m talking about).

Attack On Titan is doing the same as what Fullmetal Alchemist did to me. You barely see an anime or manga take to a European style in such a fantastic and hard-hitting way. Honestly. It’s so unique and great and I love it, which says a lot because I usually hate anything not set in the present or future (just a shitty personal preference). They are similar, I think, on the fundamental basis that they know how to shock and impress you in such unique ways. You ask any normal person how they would kill something big, I guarantee they’d say something like “Ugh, big guns ‘n’ shit?” – not in Attack On Titan! Who the hell would’ve thought about using grappling hooks to take down giants? Not me!

The lore and mythology behind it all is a big hitter for me, the word Titan alone is enough to send shivers down a character’s spine and you can really feel that while watching this. Emotion is key in Attack On Titan, when a mother is given an arm, the only thing left of her son after fighting these monsters, and she screams and cries in distress and sadness you want to do the same! At least I found myself feeling like crap after watching that, which really isn’t a bad thing, I’ve seen countless animes that couldn’t show that kind of emotion, hell, I’ve seen live action movies and series that couldn’t put that emotion across. It’s things like THIS that put animes like Attack On Titan and FMA across the line.

Crows Explode – First Trailer Released

Frank Inglese

April 15, 2013

Crows-Explode-Zero-Screen-01 — **Bancho Badass and lead of Crows Zero I & II, Genji**

If you’re a Bancho Buff like me you’ve been waiting for the next Crows movie to be released since the ending credits of the last Crows movie. That’s dedication! Now while we don’t have a movie release we have a pretty sweet trailer release for the latest addition to the series titled Crows Explode.

Now if you’re unaware of this series it all started with Hiroshi Takashi’s manga by the same name that spawned 2, now 3, movies and it all kind of revolves around the same thing; “If that guy is better than you beat his face in until he’s no longer better than you”, basically the students, and I use that lightly, of Suzuran fight to become top dog, fighting people of higher ranking so you can keep climbing and become king of Suzuran, It’s your typical Bancho Brawler that, as a genre, isn’t too typical. As an extra note it seems as though Takashi Miike will be stepping down and replaced by Toshiaki Toyoda for this film.

Crows Explode takes place a month after the events of Crows II and introduces the new casts of fighters to enter the school after former main characters Genji and Tamao have graduated and moved on. The protagonist, played by Masahiro Higashide, this time around is a transfer student Kaburagi or “Desperado” as it states in the trailer. Taichi Saotome plays the first-year student Ryohei “Joker” Kagami who, like most other students, aims to reach Suzuran kingship. Yuya Yagira will play third year student Toru “King” Gora who seems to be this years highest ranked fighter. Not many fo the previous cast will return but once you watch the video you’ll get a gist of who’s coming back and who’s totally moved on.

Jump down below and watch the featured video of the first trailer for Crows Explode and then head down below that to our comments section and drop us a line.

Dead Sushi Review

Thomas Hellier

April 14, 2013

Dead Sushi
Studio: Office Walker Inc.
Publisher: Madan Entertainment
Release Date: 4th November 2012
Price: $24.95 Available Here

Overview

Surely this section is redundant when the film is called “Dead Sushi.” It’s about zombie sushi, okay? Don’t ask too many questions. What you do need to know is that it’s by the infamous Japanese kitsch director Noburo Iguchi. Iguchi’s films include classics such as “Zombie Ass,” “Mutant Girls Squad” and “RoboGeisha.” As a part of the Fundoshi Corps (a collective of vile Japanese film makers comprised of Yoshihiro Nishimura and Yukihiko Yamaguchi) you can expect Iguchi to bring a solid splattering of blood, followed by boobs and capped off with laughs.

Story

Keiko (Rina Takeda) is a failure in her father’s eyes. Not only is she a terrible sushi chef, she has a vagina as well. Snapping under the pressure of being unable to live up to her father’s reputation as a sushi prodigy, Keiko runs away from home to take a waitress position at a failing spa and sushi restaurant. Here she finds little relief, the owners as well as the other waitresses hate her for being clumsy. The only staff member who warms to Keiko is the cleaner, Mr Sawada (Shigeru Matsuzaki) who sees her potential as a great sushi chef.

When the staff of the Komatsu Pharmaceutical company arrive they bring with them the sins of their industry, which is reflected in their inability to properly appreciate fine sushi. Their malicious and unethical practices has garnered the retribution of a scorned employee, Yamada (Kentaro Shimazu). When the company President (Toru Tezuka) is taken hostage by Yamada, Nosaka (Takamasa Suga) shoots him in an attempt to save the boss’ life. Little did they know that Yamada had secretly injected his pet squid with a contagious reanimation serum that would turn anything it bites into a vicious killer… alongside granting the power of flight and some other whacky powers.

“Dead Sushi” has a surprising amount of depth to it yet none of it can be found in the story. A lot of effort has gone into the cinematography, to the point where there are layers on layers of nods to kitsch aesthetics. Unfortunately little of that consideration was applied to constructing a unique story. Not that the story is bad, or that it has massive holes in it, it’s just not as complex as what we can expect from either the Fundoshi Corps or other gore parodies made by active participants within the genre. Iguchi himself points out the subtle differences between “animals attack’ genre films and “monster mashers,” so why not use that knowledge to inform the script writing process?

The characters all have interesting agendas that run parallel to the action, framing the killing spree in a real world scenario. Without building the film around these relationships “Dead Sushi” could have lost both its pace and its intrigue within the first 30 minutes. Luckily each character manages to stay focused on both the fighting and their objectives to the end, allowing the audience to dodge an easily misfired bullet. The sushi effects being as unimposing as they are the time we spend with the characters is far more important to the tone of the overall film.

Frustratingly “Dead Sushi” takes way too long to ramp up the action. Other films by Iguchi set a cracking pace from the start and don’t let up until the last brain has exploded. My best guess is that he wanted the comedy and the relationships well established before he got to the splatter to make the movie more palatable to an audience that may not enjoy gore as much as he does. Broadening your audience isn’t necessarily a bad thing though I think some of his fans are going to feel like he’s gone in half-cocked for this one. That being said, of the Fundoshi Corps, Iguchi has always been the more childish one. It was Yoshihiro who went in for the “so hardcore it’s ridiculous” approach.

Visuals

The visuals are surprisingly intricate for such a schlocky film, although all the effort has gone into making that kitsch tone feel authentic. Iguchi is channeling a different vibe here than some of the more visceral films he’s worked on. “Dead Sushi” feels like it should have been produced by Troma due to the severe lack of cyborg mutations. Yoshihiro did do makeup and special effects on this production however you can hardly tell. Most of the special effects are either puppets or added in later as opposed to the buckets of blood you may be expecting. Instead of physical blood squibs a lot of the splatter is digitally added in during post-production. I’m not complaining though, it was the right aesthetic choice to make.

Most of the non-splatter effects are prosthetics, puppets and fishing wire. The mutated sushi looks hilarious. No one is going to be frightened by the sight of them. There are a few effects that some might find shocking but compared to other films of this ilk the gore is relatively tame. It’s possible that this is another attempt at broadening the audience which I feel hasn’t negatively impacted the film in this case. They’re all still well executed, producing the exact impact they were designed to. Let’s be honest, there’s not much you can do to sushi to make it frightening so you may as well go absurd.

Oddly enough, it’s the cinematography that’s really interesting here. “Dead Sushi” is filled with great framing along with a bright colour palate. Tight cutting and lots of fast zooms show that this is a well polished film and that everything you seen on screen was intended. If there were any doubts about the professionalism on display simply because of the content then the editing and composition should quash those sentiments. When you’ve been making genre films for most of your career you’d hope to have got this stuff down. Cinematographer Yasutaka Nagano has not only got it down, he clearly has tonnes of fun doing his job.

Audio

Why does everything need to swoosh? In a scene where Keiko is apologising for her clumsiness the only sound effect in the whole 10 minutes is her bowing. It sounds like shes performing a spin kick or something and I found it really distracting. That’s splitting hairs, I know, but jeez, chill out with the swooshing already. Otherwise the soundtrack is faultless. Without sound effects a lot of the set pieces would look cheap. “Dead Sushi” has certainly covered its bases here, showing once more that the guys behind the project are no amateurs.

Extras

Of all the tacked on extras I’ve watched recently, these were the least offensive. At least the trailers were for movies that I hadn’t just watched. Although, if you haven’t watched the trailers for “Dead Sushi” they’re well worth a look. The only other feature was an 11 minute making of where Iguchi talks about some of his genre inspirations and Rina Takeda looks really confused about what she’s got herself into. If you’re a fan you’ll enjoy this segment despite its painfully short length. Naming it “The Making Of” is a bit deceptive, it would be better titled “Ideas We Had About This Movie While Making It.”

Overall

If you’re looking to get into some of that famous Japanese craziness but don’t know if it’s for you, this would be a good litmus test. You certainly won’t be as offended as you would be if you started with “Mutant Girls Squad” or “Tokyo Gore Police.” Fans of Iguchi can expect the same style of toilet humour that epitomises his contribution to the Fundoshi Corps but may be disappointed that he doesn’t take it as far this time. Kitsch aficionados will probably want to add this film to their collection, there’s certainly enough moments here to justify the purchase. “Dead Sushi” delivers exactly what’s written on the menu, which is probably all that it’s required to do for most people interested in picking this film up.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Hakuoki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ Record of the Jade Blood Review

Benjamin Webb

April 14, 2013

Hakuoki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ Record of the Jade Blood Review

Hakuoki: ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ Record of the Jade Blood
Studio: Studio DEEN
Publisher: Hanabee
Format: DVD
Release Date: Out Now
Price: $59.99 (Buy Here)

Overview

Hakuoki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ Record of the Jade Blood is the second season of Hakuoki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~. The series revolves around a girl named Chizuru and her band of pretty men called the Shinsengumi.

The events of the first season was covered in my review that can be found here. The second season follows nearly directly after the first and my full impressions can be seen below.

Story

The events of Hakuoki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ Record of the Jade Blood take place nearly immediately after the events of the first season of the series. In this season of the series, the Shinsengumi must fight in a war, while also dealing with the new threat of demons. This is also in combination with the even more immediate danger presented by man made demons known as Fury.

Very frequently in the series, however, is that whatever immediate storyline action that is occurring at the time will often be sidelined in favour of some cheap melodrama. Now in my review for part 1, I said that this was an issue as well. However, in this part of the storyline, it is a problem that has been turned up to 200% and, as such, is approaching nearly laughable levels.

What was even worse about this release is that, even though it kind of directly follows the events of the first, there isn’t a sense of direct continuity because the final scene in the first season is never referenced at all. This is quite annoying because it left the impression that I wasn’t actually watching the following season, but probably a season further down the line. It took research to learn that this was not the case.

I also feel that the story in this season of Hakuoki was an excuse to dress up the already rather fetching male cast in even more fetching outfits. Now, not only are the pretty boys, pretty, but they are almost erotically so. Only they’re as sirs, instead of gimps. I mean, did the cast really have to be dressed so dashingly to fight in what is ultimately a war? From a story perspective, this is rediculous considering that (even though most of the story spends its time avoiding battle in the battlefield) the main characters are actually fighting battles with dangerous weapons on actual battlefields.

It is incredibly evident that the story in the second part of the Hakuoki saga was designed with a female audience in mind. This is because, throughout the story, you can see blatant Mary Sueism on the main character, as well as having this kind of harem thing where every male character fills some kind of specific role to service the one female character. As a male viewer, this left me feeling alienated and quite disengaged with the series. I figured that I could at least fall back on the battle sequences like with the first season, but no, each fight was depressingly broken up by melodramatic nonsense.

Ultimately, unlike the first season, I just could not engage with this half of the series. It was quite boring and the way they ramped up all the worst parts of the first season made this an almost unbearable watch. Female fans will probably enjoy this.

Visuals

Hakuoki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ Record of the Jade Blood retains the same visual style as the first season. This is good because it keeps things familiar for the home viewer. And not only that, it’s actually a pretty good visual style.

While I wish I could compliment the fight scenes in this half of the series, they were just too broken up by pointless melodrama to really count on. The only real fight scenes are the important ones, and they’re fluid when there is actual combat going on.

For fans of the pretty boys, the boys are now prettier. While I would have preferred their pretty samurai outfits, their pretty British sir clothing is even prettier. I’m sure that the target audience of this show will be swooning from their chairs after copping an eyeful of these beautifully, magnificent, not-so-manly looking men. If I was a woman, my pants would probably be off after seeing those costumes.

Audio

Unlike the opening theme of the first season, the second was quite atrocious. I mean, for a series about samurai, you would think that having a wild west sounding opening would be an atrocious of music. And hey, it was. What was even worse was the accompanying opening video showing a samurai on horseback, further cementing the horrible western theme.

The voice cast from the first season returns on the English dub for this series, but unfortunately I don’t have an ear for Japanese, so I couldn’t tell you if the same cast was present for the second half. Once again, I still disagree with the choice of cast in the English dub and the Japanese dub is clearly superior. While the English dub is bearable and watchable, if you can even on an off day listen to Japanese Audio, I suggest you do so with this release.

The music was largely forgettable in this season, I mean not only from an Opening and Closing theme perspective, but also from a general background audio perspective. This is a horrible thing for a show that is already lacking to not be doing well.

Extras

Hakuoki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ Record of the Jade Blood is a very bare-bones release when it comes to extras. Unlike the first season of the series, it does not contain any trailers for upcoming releases. It does, however, retain the clean opening and closing extras. Also included is a pretty swell artwork in the back of the cover featuring two of the shows prettiest males. Pin the cover to your walls ladies.

Overall

Hakuoki ~Demon of the Fleeting Blossom~ Record of the Jade Blood is a series that somehow manages to take what was bad about the first season and then accentuate on that with the second. While it’s understandable that the target audience probably enjoyed that aspect, as someone sitting on the edge of that audience, it made things significantly worse. If you’re a fan of the Shinsengumi, female or have a thing for very pretty boys and melodrama, then this release is for you. Anyone else, avoid.

Super Little Caves Review

Frank Inglese

April 14, 2013

Super Little Caves
Developer: Record Set Shed
Publisher: Philip Bemis
Platforms: iPhone (Reviewed), iPod Touch, iPad
Release Date: Out Now
Price: $2.99 – Available Here

Overview:

Little Caves has had quite a run, there’s been a couple updates and each time the game has gotten better and better, reception of the game has not yet gone down after the release of an update so it’s safe to say people are really liking this game. It’s an Independently developed game and I guarantee all the Indie game fans out there would’ve played and enjoyed this. Mazes have never been this funky!

Story:

Super Little Caves is one of those games that seemingly has no story, well, little story; you’re a fly who hears of the capture of Princess Luna Moth so, like a good little fly (yep you’re a fly), you set out on an amazing adventure through caves, canyons, underground caverns and a whole bunch of weird and wonderful places to find her, save her life, bring her back and maybe have her fall in love with you. It’s a typical hero story that’s in a setting like you’ve never seen and that’s what makes this game great. Now as you go through the game you start to talk to different animals and creatures and soon realise that each and every one of them has a little story of their own, from lost friends to deep insecurities to miniature apocalypses, it kind of makes you feel worldly in a way and actually makes you want to play through their little tasks and missions, you feel as though you’re actually helping them. You spend most of your time wandering but you come into contact with so many things that makes it feel like more than just wandering and meaningless gaming.

Visuals:

Along with the Audio the Visuals that Super Little Caves sports are, in my opinion, what makes this game awesome. You’re put in this incredibly colourful, incredibly vibrant and just, seemingly, everlasting, 8-Bit world that just blows you away. Look at some points it seems as though there is too much detail and you can easily become lost or even slightly disoriented (within the game), that mixed with this everlasting vibe the frustration can easily build while hitting walls you couldn’t clearly see or sliding down paths you didn’t know were paths but, and it’s a big but, after playing this game for a while you DO tend to get around that, learning what’s what and learning from mistakes is the key to getting over this wall.

Audio:

I haven’t been this impressed with a chip tune sountrack since Hotline Miami. The music seems to slide between genres and tones with such ease and in a way that doesn’t get you feeling annoyed but really impresses you. The BGM goes through the waves from eerie to chirpy to funky to intense, it continues to change and evolve depending on the situation. Now there isn’t much else to the audio of this game apart from the odd sound effect and the chatter notes when talking to NPCs but I felt as though you really didn’t need it because the music did so much to over compensate for the lack of other sounds.

Gameplay:

So it’s pretty simple; you fly around as a fly with the use of a control pad which pops up wherever you decided to touch the screen and that’s about it really. There’s no combat, there’s no A button or B button, just a control pad and a little, tiny, fly. So basically the entire game involves you flying through tiny cracks and cave systems, meeting NPCs who gives you little tasks (or big depending on who you talk to) and you just have to go around and complete them. It sounds really simple and, yeah, it is but it kind of just works. The game has you using your big brains to solve different types of puzzles at different difficulties, what I didn’t like was that there was no indication or hint as to where you could search or look or do, now that would be ok if the map wasn’t so damn big, you spend a very long time going back and forth between places you don’t even have to be and yet sometimes they intend to have you fly back and forth but because of your previous thoughts you assume it’s got to be close to your current location. Let’s just say this game will definitely get to you. It would’ve been helpful to have a mission indicator too, just something that you could click and it could remind you what exactly you were doing. I played this game every spare minute I had, 5 or 10 minutes at a time, and if I wasn’t constantly thinking about the game when I wasn’t playing the game I felt that I lost track of it but, once again, this IS a puzzle game and it puzzled the hell out of me at some points! Manoeuvring through this game is fairly hard at first but after an hour or so of playing this game you tend to get a good grip on it all and it starts to get a lot more enjoyable from there. Remember: Learning and remember your surroundings is the key to enjoying this game!

Overall:

This game is a must have for any puzzle freak out there! Long, thought out mazes will definitely keep you entertained, if not overly hooked on this game for hours on end. If you’re not the biggest fan of games that make you think (much like me, just quietly) but are still a fan of well-made games that look good and sound good and restore your faith in the indie development world than this game is also for you. If you’re easily frustrated and tend to throw things around you when upset still play this game but I suggest maybe playing it on someone else’s iPhone we don’t want any of YOUR valuables destroyed. So go and check out this game if you’re even the slightest bit interested because it’s a fun game that’ll definitely keep you occupied for hours.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

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