The newest anime distributor in Australia Hanabee have today announced several new title acquisitions at the Supanova Expo in Brisbane. Hanabee announced the following titles for distribution throughout Australia and New Zealand:
Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge (Season 2)
Ef: A Tale of Melodies
Alien 9
Bakemonogatari
The means in which each title shall be released is currently unknown. Hanabee noted that more details on the distribution of these titles will follow. They also promised more title announcements at Supanova Adelaide.What do you think of these titles being licensed by Hanabee? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Fafner: Heaven & Earth Studio:Xebec Publisher: FUNimation Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo Release Date: October 30, 2012 Price:$34.98 – Available Here
Overview: Back in 2004 a series was created by the name of Fafner and the anime was brought overseas to North America only a year later courtesy of the now defunct Geneon Entertainment. Since then FUNimation not only rescued the license to re-release the original series, the review of which can be found here, they have also acquired the rights to the anime’s follow-up movie, Fafner: Heaven & Earth. Now while the original series may have been generic to a point, does this movie fare any better?
Story: The story of Fafner: Heaven & Earth picks up two years after the final battle at the end of Fafner where the brave forces of Tatsumiya fought against the very core of the Festum invasion. With nearly two years of peace, the pilots and the rest of the people of Tatsumiya have begun to relax and return to a normal life despite Kazuki still waiting for the return of the missing Soshi and the mental scars everyone must bear from the horrible battles they faced.
However this peace is suddenly shattered when a new form of Festum appears and starts attacking the island with a new set of tactics that mimic those used by the military forces of the island. As the pilots return to the fight with a few new faces, a mysterious ship appears at the island and within it contains something they have never seen before. A Festum in human form. This Festum tells the humans that he is a messenger from Kazuki’s lost friend Soshi.
While this new Festum has appeared and begun living amongst them in an attempt to learn more about simple human life, other Festum continue to attack and lay waste to the island and it’s inhabitants. The people of the island have a critical choice to make, either work with this human-like Festum and try co-existing with the creatures or face being ground to dust by the constant attacks of the Festum forces. What will happen as the battle against the alien Festum continues?
Now it is worth noting that very little explanation is given regarding the events leading up to this movie, so it is essential that the viewer has seen the original series before trying to watch this, for if they were to try they would be so deep in the dark almost nothing in the series would make sense. That being said, Fafner: Heaven & Earth already has one thing that makes it a major improvement over the television series. A faster pace.
The original Fafner series was incredibly slow paced with any plot points taking multiple episodes to work themselves out. Now while it may have been a twenty six episode series, the story ultimately fell flat with more focus on overly-dramatic scenes than anything else. However with the Fafner: Heaven & Earth movie length limitations, viewers are instantly thrown into the middle of things with plenty of action sequences and a number of new developments to wrap their minds around.
Perhaps the most interesting part of watching the Fafner: Heaven & Earth movie is seeing the new Festum human interact with others and come to grips with various human emotions. While there is still plenty of drama for the returning cast of characters, witnessing this character undergo these experiences is something unique and worth watching.
That being said, Fafner: Heaven & Earth provides a rather solid series of events that lead up to the next final battle, though even those who’ve seen the original series may lose track of the story thanks to the fact that it still poorly delivered despite the faster pace. However with a few new twists and the difficult choices that Kazuki must make throughout Fafner: Heaven & Earth the movie holds itself together well enough throughout its hour and a half air time.
Visuals: it is very interesting to see the jump in quality that Fafner: Heaven & Earth sees now that it was created back in 2010 compared to the 2004 television series. It also helps that Studio Xebec, the same studio for the original series, has returned and spent a lot more time making sure everything presented in the movie is impressive.
There are plenty of quality fast-paced action sequences which are now presented in glorious HD and the mechs and Festum have never looked better. It is worth noting that the character designs have remained the same, so this means that they retain their relatively generic appearances but since the overall quality of the animation has improved, the character designs are more tolerable this time around.
Audio: Now one thing that any fan should know is that the original Fafner series was dubbed back in 2004 by an entirely different company. This means that now in 2012, FUNimation has had to try and bring back a cast of voice actors who haven’t worked on this project in eight years. Unfortunately only one member of the cast returns so there are some differences in the casting, on the other hand the new cast does do a great job selling the story and voicing the characters by not only doing their best to match the original cast but putting more effort into their performances than the original cast.
That being said, a Japanese voice track is still available for those who prefer that route. As for the background music in Fafner: Heaven & Earth it is rather generic with standard music tracks that viewers will feel like they have heard a million times before. Unfortunately the same can be said for the movie’s theme songs performed by Angela only the one dramatic insert song is worth listening to and really helps the scene have a deeper impact, while her other songs sound similar to many other action-type songs in the past.
Extras: As far as bonus features go, Fafner’s movie is rather scarce. There are your standard promotional materials such as trailers for various FUNimation releases, a trailer for the movie and a selection of commercials that were aired in Japan before the movie’s premiere, as well as a commentary track.
Considering the only thing in this release is one singular movie, the commentary track is actually the full length of the movie which means you will be listening in to Jeol McDonald, the director and voice of Misao and Micah Solusod who provides the voice for Kazuki talk for a full hour and a half. The commentary is rather informative as the two discuss the difficulties of working with an already established product with a new cast, their starts in the industry and more. It is certainly an interesting listen and is mildly comedic and the amount of information provided with this extra-long commentary is something that cannot be found in your standard twenty-four minute commentaries.
Overall: Fafner: Heaven & Earth is still plagued by a number of issues that resounded within the Fafner anime series, but a few small issues have been resolved to make the experience enjoyable despite these flaws. Returning fans will be eager to see what will become of the cast now that two years have passed and the newly introduced human Festum provides a new and enjoyable plot point. While it may contain some very high quality battles, Fafner: Heaven & Earth resolves a number of problems but still falls short of standing out from the rest of the pack, but not by as much as before.
Roccat Isku Manufacturer: Roccat Platform: PC Price: $89.99 USD Find a Dealer Here
As a writer, a good keyboard is worth its weight in gold. We spend hours on these things, typing away as we practice our craft. As a PC gamer, a good keyboard is just as important. We also spend hours on these things, using fewer keys at much higher repetition. Thankfully, the latest technological space race in the PC Gaming peripheral market is the humble keyboard. There are plenty of options to choose from, a far cry from the old days of the beloved grey IBM keyboards.
Roccat’s new top of the line gaming keyboard is the Roccat Isku. It is an illluminated rubber domed type keyboard with medium height keys, eight physical macro keys, a large wrist rest, and eight media keys. It features a powerful set of drivers and it is the first Roccat keyboard to support the Roccat Talk feature. Paired with a Roccat Kone[+], Kone Pure, or a Kone XTD, the two devices are able to work together to create macros that can perform functions on both devices at the same time.
Physically, the Roccat Isku is a large keyboard. Although not nearly as large as the venerable monster sized original Logitech G15, the Isku takes up a lot of physical space with its large non-removable wrist rest. Those with small desk areas will need to measure their free space ensure there is enough room for both the keyboard and mouse. The angular looking keyboard itself is a mixture of glossy fingerprint absorbing black plastic with a textured wrist rest. The wrist rest is at a perfect angle for comfortable typing marathons. The bottom of the keyboard has channels in the plastic to assist in cable management and extremely grippy materials. Even with the keyboard feet popped out, I found the keyboard did not move a millimeter in regular usage.
Typing on the keyboard was an extremely enjoyable experience. Although I consider myself a fan of mechanical keyboards, I found transitioning from the extremely low actuation forces of Cherry MX Blue switches to the Isku to be rather pleasant. The force needed to depress the keys are slightly higher than the Cherry MX Blue mechanical switch, but are still within a comfortable range to allow for fast and comfortable typing for extended periods of time. The keys feel extremely sturdy and do not have the loose feeling of cheaper keyboards. I personally did not find a major difference typing with the medium key height and a regular key height. However the shorter height provides a smoother aesthetic look and may be more familiar for those who mainly work on laptop keyboards.
A small touch that I really appreciated was the home key ridges. Traditionally ridges are placed at the F and J keys to help touch typists find their home keys. On the Isku, an additional ridge is located on the W key. I have extremely small hands so reorienting my keyboard hand after physically moving my hand to reach the 6 key is always a difficult problem when playing RPG games like Torchlight or World of Warcraft. This extra ridge on the W key made it extremely easy to find my way back to gaming home keys without having to quickly glance down on the keyboard.
The keyboard lighting is lighter blue, probably closer to a dark powder blue than the more traditional royal blue lighting. There is a physical button that allows users to cycle through five different brightness settings, but the driver software provides a slider to set the keyboard from 0-100% brightness. Additionally, the level of lighting after a set period of idle time can be set to save power or lower the amount of light in a room if you sleep in the same room as the keyboard. I found the brightness levels to be bright enough to be obvious without ever getting bright enough to be distracting. I really appreciated the ability to turn off the keyboard when the computer is left idle.
There are five keyboard style macro keys on the far left of the keyboard and three mouse style keys right underneath the space bar. Additionally, the Caps Lock key has been completely removed in favour of an Easy Shift key. Yes, let me repeat this brilliant miracle that should have been done years ago. The caps lock is removed from the keyboard. Let that sink in for a moment. No more accidently doing the internet equivalent of standing up in the middle of a coffee shop and SCREAMING TO THE WHOLE WORLD WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY followed by a sheepish apology for accidently depressing the caps lock key. I absolutely love this. I cannot figure out why on earth manufacturers have not removed the Caps Lock keys from keyboards sooner. For those who still feel the strange need to have a caps lock key, one can be easily macroed to one of the many macro keys on the keyboard.
The Easy Shift key effectively doubles the possible amount of macros available then turns every letter and number key on the left hand side of the keyboard into a macro button. This provides a grand total of 36 macros all easily in reach of the left hand. Additionally, the 8 media keys and all twelve function keys can be bound to more macros. The amount of options on macro key placements the Easy Shift key brings is a God send for button intensive games such as World of Warcraft PvP. I found with most traditional macro keyboards, the more macro buttons added, the further distance my small hands has to travel to hit said macro key and the longer it took me to reorient myself. By being being able to macro all the keys around my WASD key, I found myself suddenly able to react quicker and recover faster from drifting from my default hand position. Unfortunately, those who favour the directional arrow keys are out of luck as the rest of the keyboard keys are not programmable.
The keyboard supports five different profiles loaded up at the same time and can record macros on the fly with an easy macro record button. The keyboard is also paired with the excellent Roccat drivers. For those who are using a Roccat Talk supported Kone mouse, an extra Roccat Talk driver will need to be downloaded to allow the mouse and keyboard to interact. Having both devices allows the Kone’s Easy Shift button modify macros on the Isku and vice versa. As an added bonus, the Isku can macro keys to temporarily lower then sensitivity of the mouse to make finer adjustments while sniping long distances. Although it was a little strange to me that only the keyboard could bind such a key, the ability to do so was a pleasant bonus.
The driver software is a little intimidating at first glance. The amount of things that can be adjusted, tweaked, and fiddled with is absolutely impressive. Once I got over the initial intimidation, I found a powerful macro editor that allowed for automatic profile switching based on .exe’s being launched. Macros can be finely tuned in a regular recording mode that can be triggered with a keyboard press or through the drivers. The advanced macro editing provides a macro editing UI that will be immediately familiar to anyone who has used an audio editing or creation program or a video editor. Within the drivers, it is possible to disable the right and left Windows key, the application key, the tab key, and the left shift keys. This is set to a per profile basis. Finally, sound feedback can be enabled on the drivers. The Roccat voice heard in all their advertising can declare which profile number is selected on profile changes, announce the beginning of an on the fly macro recording, and call out countdown timers. Although this can be a little gimmicky at times, I appreciated having the audio cue as an assurance that my game specific macros were loaded correctly. I have been floored by the quality of Roccat’s drivers for the Isku. It is hands down possibly the best driver software I have experienced to date.
My only disappointment with the Roccat Isku is that it is not a mechanical keyboard. Although the Isku is priced competitively to similar keyboards both mechanical and domed, I believe there is a large growing market for mechanical keyboards. The Isku’s features would lend itself well as a mechanical keyboard, even at the cost of a higher retail price for a mechanical Isku. Roccat has created a sturdy keyboard that is visually appealing, solidly built, pleasant to type on, has enough macros to appease the biggest addict, and a killer driver set that has set the bar where other driver software should be compared against.
Steven Spielberg’s groundbreaking masterpiece Jurassic Park is returning to cinema’s next year in 3D! Not only has the classic been fully digitally remastered, but now the three-time Academy Award-winning prehistoric horrors has entered a new dimension…..just like Star Wars did early this year. For those n00bs and younglings out there who have no idea what Jurassic Park is, it’s the most awesome concept ever – a park filled with dinosaurs. Oh yeah and it also has a pretty cool logo. Make sure you check out the trailer below and see what all the fuss is about!
Jurassic Park will hit cinemas (again) on April 5, 2013.
Madman Entertainment have dropped a major bombshell with an extensive list of anime titles having now been licensed by the company for distribution throughout Australia and New Zealand. During their panel at Supanova Brisbane 2012, Madman revealed that the following have been licensed:
K – Streaming each Wednesday on Screening Room from November 14th. Physical release in 2013.
Sword Art Online – Streaming currently being confirmed. Physical release in 2013.
Magi: Labyrinth of Magic – Streaming each Monday on Screening Room from November 12th. Physical release in 2013.
Blast of Tempest – Streaming currently being confirmed. Physical release in 2013.
Hellsing: Ultimate V-VIII – DVD and Blu-Ray release in March 2013.
Blood C – Release of some kind in 2013.
K-ON! The Movie – Part of Japanese Film Festival. Physical release in 2013.
Bleach The Movie: Hell Verse – DVD and Blu-Ray release in March 2013.
FATE/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works – DVD and Digital release in March 2013.
It is certainly an impressive list of titles acquired by Madman for release. Be sure to let us know your thoughts on these title acquisitions in the comments section below.
Sharknado is a film about you guessed it – a tornado filed with sharks! From The Asylum, makers of Sharktopus and Dinoshark, the film is set to be released next year and this B- film is sure to blow us away! As you can see by the teaser art displayed, it’s looking pretty bad ass. The synopsis of the film goes as follows:
When a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, thousands of sharks terrorize the waterlogged populace. And when the high-speed winds form tornadoes in the desert, nature’s deadliest killer rules water, land, and air.
Sharknado will be flying onto DVD and the Syfy channel in 2013.
There comes a time in every man’s life that after playing Resident Evil 6 you need to find out who, what, where and why certain things come together. And for this man, that time has come. After completing Resident Evil 6 on professional, collecting all the emblems scattered throughout the four chapters in the game, stepping into the shoes of the hunters and hunting agents down and ripping their throats out, then teaming up with randoms on-line and taking down both J’avo and Zombies in mercenaries mode, plus unlocking all the achievements 1000/1000 just wasn’t enough for me.
I needed to know more, I wanted to know more! Especially about the eight major characters in the game, and who they were modelled after. So I strapped on my trusty BSAA jacket given to me by the legendary Chris Redfield and went out into the scary virtual world called the internet in search of these answers.
I wasn’t able to find out how to make the C-Virus but this what I did find instead:
Leon Scott Kennedy was face modelled after Bart Votila:
Helena Harper was face modelled after Natasha Alam
Jake Muller (Albert Wesker’s) was face modelled after Bradley Dodds
Sherry Birkin was face modelled after Sara Fletcher
Chris Redfield was face modelled after Reuben Langdon
Piers Nivans was face modelled after Adam Crosman
Ada Wong was face modelled after Ty Brenneman
Dereck C. Simmons was face modelled after Rocco Spinelli
There certainly is quite a strong resemblance between the real life actor/models and the characters in the game. With this part of my burning desire for answers resolved, I can put this behind me and move on to bigger things. What could be bigger than Resident Evil 6 you say? Well you’ll have to check back soon and find out!
It looks like the making of Star Wars: Episode VII has been set to lightspeed!
Rumours have been confirmed that Academy Award writer Michael Arndt is to write the full screenplay oft Star Wars: Episode VII. For those wondering if Arndt will treat the series well, his credits include screenwriter for Toy Story 3, the upcoming Oblivion and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. If that’s not enough, he also won an Academy Award for Little Miss Sunshine, so I think it’s safe to say it’s in good hands! Ardnt is also a notable fan of the franchise as he has publicly lectured about the merits of the franchise.
There have been rumours surfacing that Ardnt plans on including Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker in the script, implying Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford may get screen time but this of coarse is all unconfirmed.
Star Wars: Episode VII is set to dominate theatres in 2015.
Paramount Pictures AU have released a 90 second, official Australian trailer for their upcoming comedy film, The Guilt Trip.
The Guilt Trip will be released here in Australia on January 24th, 2013, and stars Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen as Mother and Son. Rogen’s character, Andy Brewster, invites him Mother on a road trip after coming to the conclusion that she is lonely and might benefit from this adventure as he goes cross-country, selling his newest invention. It will be the first lead role for Barbra Streisand since The Mirror Has Two Faces in 1996!
We previously posted the full length official Australian trailer, which you can see here. Now, to view the new 90 second trailer, watch the video below! And remember, to stay up to date on future The Guilt Trip news, be sure to visit and like Paramount Pictures AU’s Facebook page.
Paramount Pictures AU have released a new poster for their upcoming drama, Flight, starring the revered Denzel Washington.
The poster, which you can see to the right, now features the updated Australian release date of January 31st. For those who are unfamiliar with the Robert Zemeckis directed film – the first live-action film that he has directed since Cast Away in 2000! – here is the official updated synopsis:
“In this action-packed mystery thriller, Academy Award winner, Denzel Washington stars as Whip Whitaker, a seasoned airline pilot, who miraculously crash lands his plane after a mid-air catastrophe, saving nearly every soul on board. After the crash, Whip is hailed as a hero, but as more is learned, more questions than answers arise as to who or what was really at fault and what really happened on that plane?”
Flight was released in the U.S. on November 2nd, and has received some very positive reviews. Below are both the official Australian 90 second and full-length trailers.
90 Second Australian Trailer
Full Length Australian Trailer
For future updates on Flight, keep an eye on us at Capsule Computers and go ahead and like the Paramount Pictures AU Facebook page.
Paramount Pictures AU have released a new poster for their upcoming drama, Flight, starring the revered Denzel Washington.