Episode 39 – Life changing Anime
The hosts of the Anime Addicts Anonymous Podcast discuss the anime that have helped shape their lives.
The hosts of the Anime Addicts Anonymous Podcast discuss the anime that have helped shape their lives.
Reviews: Adolescence of Utena, D.N.Angel, Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad
Impressions: Mayoi Neko Overrun!
Chris from SHAFT joins the addicts to talk about anime movies, what we like about them, the role they play, where they are good, and when they are bad.
Reviews: Appleseed ExMachina, Eve no Jikan, Cowboy Bebop, Metropolis
Love AMVs on YouTube and want to honor your favorite anime with your own? We discuss the ins and outs of AMV making from those who’ve been there. What to do, and what NOT to do.
Reviews: Ouran High Host Club, Macross Frontier and Gunslinger Girl
Impressions: 11eyes and Kuchu Buranko
Ever had so much passion for your geeky/nerdy/otaku ways that you just wanted to break out into song? Well you don’t have to but you can still get the satisfaction. Matt Myers from the L33t Str33t Boys, joins the hosts for some discussion.
Reviews: Kindaichi Case Files (by Matt from L33t Str33t Boys), Decendants of Darkness, Spice and Wolf 2 and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, and Angel’s Egg
Have you ever been thinking to yourself how much fun it would be to watch anime with others who are equally addicted? Well we’re here to assure you that it not only is fun but also to give you tips on how to start your own anime club!
Reviews: Mushishi, Kara no Kyoukai and Piano no Mori
Impressions: Higurashi no naku koro ni Rei
Firstly, thank you Vic Mignogna for helping out the Anime Addicts! We have a line-up of important news, like a Dragon Ball MMORPG, and Eureka 7 in theatres. Then a discussion on fanfictions and dubbing with our friend Hatake. Following this, Chiaki is leaving for the “mothership”, as Valentine lovingly puts it, Japan! She gives the run-down of things to know before you go.
Reviews: Big Windup, Baccano! and Welcome to the NHK
Impressions:Basquache and Taishou Yakyuu Musume
Hey triple A community, its me Devil Survivor, the most interesting man on the AAA Network, and I’m finally back with a new blog entry. Today I’m going to shine the anime spotlight on the 1980’s classic mecha show Aura Battler Dunbine. Dunbine was directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, who is best known for directing the original Gundam series and a lot of other great anime series. Dunbine was the first fantasy\mecha series which inspired other series such as Escaflowne. It ran for 49 episodes and spawned three OVA sequels; Aura Battler Dunbine: Tale of Neo Byston Well , Tales From Byston Well: Garzey’s Wing, and The Wings of Rean. However, it should be noted that all three are considered to be of inferior quality to the original series. Let’s get into the story.
The setting for the story is in the parallel world of Byston Well which is kind of similar to 16 century Europe, but with one major difference; Aura technology, which allows machines to be built using life force as a power source. Chief among these machines are the Aura Battlers, insect like robots with great destruction power. The story centers around Sho Zama, a Japanese motocross racer who one night is pulled into Byston Well by a magical fairy called a Ferario to serve as pilot of a Aura Battler called the Dunbine. One of the several monarchs in Byston Well, Drake Luft has been maneuvering for sometime to attempt a power play and seize control of the surrounding kingdoms. Part of his plans involve transporting people from Upper Earth, including Sho, because they have strong aura power. Another person brought down to Byston Well to pilot a battler is Todd Guinness , the trash taking, racist, ace pilot from Boston. He becomes the main rival for Sho. Burne Bannings is Drake’s right hand man and the general of his forces,however he does not have must in the way of piloting skill. Sho eventually discovers the evil intent of Drake’s plans and defects to a group led by a noble opposed to Drake, named Nie Givun. Among this group is another person kidnapped from Upper Earth, Marvel Frozen a former cop from Texas. They along with their allies embark on a guerrilla war against Drake and to gather other kingdoms in an alliance to thwart the ambitions of Drake. After a long war in Byston Well, the story shifts to Upper Earth at the mid point of the series. Some people have criticized the series for the slow pacing in the Earth arc, but for me I think the second half of the show moves along fine, albeit with some rough spots.
Overall, Aura Battler Dunbine is a classic piece of mecha anime and one of better works of Yoshiyuki Tomino, which is saying a lot considering all the exceptional shows he has created and directed. I really enjoyed in when I watched it in 2009. So I would recommend it to any fan of mecha or fantasy anime. You can find reviews of each episode on the MAHQ website at this link: http://www.mahq.net/animation/dunbine/abdunbine/dunbinetoc.htm
Until next time, say addicted my friends.
Devil_Survivor
Hey all, today I’m going to write something that I hope will cut through all the fanboy nonsense on both sides of the video game fandom surrounding the 3DS and Nintendo. I’ll probably get called a Sony hater(fanboy?) depending on your perspective, or maybe a member of the Nintendo Defense Force, whatever that is. What I’m a member of is the Truth and Fact Defense Force, and you can call me Admiral Animosity. So let us descend into the matter at hand and explore the subject content.
OK our story starts in February of this year as the 3DS was about to be released in Japan, and I was debating about whether to buy one or not. I had my DS lite since 2007, so it made sense to buy the next generation system instead of one the other DS models. Now if I was someone with a DSi or DSiXL then I don’t think I would have bought one before the price drop. The when I looked over the features of the system, the 3D without wearing glasses, dual cameras, on board software, and much better internet over the DS, it seemed a reasonable price to a person with a an old DS system.
Now its time for some straight talk, I borrowed the bus from Chris from Gundamn, if you listen to that show you might get that joke. Let’s talk about the things Nintendo did wrong with the 3DS launch. The most glaring one of them being the insanely high price set at 249.99. If you look at every other handheld systems Nintendo every released- from Gameboy to DSiXL- not one has come within at least 80 dollars of the 3DS launch price. WTF Nintendo!!! Add to that the reports I came across about the estimated production cost of the 3DS which is set at 101 U.S.$ for the raw materials for each unit, add in other costs such labour, marketing, packaging, and R&D, and I would think the cost would not be north of 150 dollars per unit. Yet they were trying to sell it for over 100 dollars more than cost. Sure it has sold millions, but they are only so many fanboys out there who blindly buy anything the company puts out. This dried up after a bit and this gives the reason for the price drop. The next thing of note is the launch titles, which are mostly third party crap and there was not one from any of the mainline Nintendo franchises, with the possible exception of Pilot Wings but that’s a bit of a stretch. Its ironic as soon as a Zelda game rolls out on the 3DS it becomes the second bestselling game so far for the system, selling over a million copies since June 16. That’s the power of beloved decades old franchises and why they should that be included in all hardware launches. This last one is kind of questionable and please tell me if you think I’m being unfair, but releasing a new system not long after you have released a new version of your current system, which is much cheaper than the brand new system, is not the smartest of business strategists.
To contract the negative things, let’s look at the things that were done right. Dropping the price was the best thing that Nintendo could have done, as the 169.99 price is more in line with the historical pricing of the past Nintendo handhelds, and in a cash scrapped world its better for the average consumers to afford. Bringing Netflixs on to the 3DS was a smart and innovative move as it makes it the first handheld with this capability. The on-board software is far and beyond what the DS had in its various forms. The addition of a dedicated virtual console for the 3DS is also attractive if your looking for a trip done nostalgia lane.
Finally, let dispel some crazy claims by Nintendo trolls and other fanboys. I have seen a number of claims, for instance that somehow the 3DS is like the Virtual Boy(if you don’t know what that is it was an attempt by Nintendo in 1995 to create a 3D system, it had a black stand which mounted a red device you put your eyes up to and that displayed the 3D graphics and the input was a controller that was some what similar to the future Gamecube controller). Now it only ever sold 770,000 units and after multiple price drops it was taken off the market after less than a year, so a by the sales comparison is completely ridiculous. Supposedly the Virtual Boy was not to be released in the form it came to market in and the creator had planned to refine the design, and this was because The higher ups at Nintendo wanted to focus all the resources of the company into the N64, so one wonders what could have been if the system had been given the resources that was earmarked for it. The other major claim that has been shouted from the forums by haters is that somehow because the 3DS hasn’t sold up to Nintendo lofty exceptions( The company wanted to sell 16 million within a year), and needed a price edit so early on that this somewhat means the end of the company itself. HAHAHA!!!!!!!! Pause, Laugh, Breathe,…..OK sorry I was just laughing out loud at that total nonsense. Nintendo is worth something like 85 billion dollars, its the third most valuable listed company in Japan, and its the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners MLB team(I know that team sucks, but still an MLB franchise). Also there is the fact Nintendo will be the first company out with its 8th generation console, the Wii U and from reports its like combining the Wii with the PS3 or XBOX 360, in other words power graphics with innovative game play. Also the Wii U is also reported to be “significantly” more powerful than PS3 or the XBOX 360. Yes, the the company’s revenue is down by a lot over last year, however this can attributable to the fact the Wii is near the end of its life cycle(the Wii U is suppose to launch in 2012 sometime) and most people who are going to buy one have done so already. The 3DS hasn’t been selling as well as they and hoped, but looking at the new sales figures it seems things are on the upswing for the system. Its also rumored the system will getting a redesign similar to the DS lite. So relax fanboys and haters alike, the sky is not falling on Nintendo, it fact I say the future looks bright.
If you want to see a gallery of two of the hottest Japanese girls ever, known as the hardware girls paste this link, I put one in the feature image:
http://www.hobbymedia.it/30477/nintendo-3ds-sexy-gallery-di-julie-watai-la-nostra-giapponesina-preferita
you will need to then go to this site and download some files that allow Windows to view .mpo files and install them and view away on your 3DS or PC: http://www.munsil.com/MPO_registry.html
Leave luck to heaven,
Devil_Survivor
I’m a little annoyed at myself for not writing something sooner, but now I have time so I will crank out 2 or 3 entries and save the others for the coming days. Here I’m going to talk about one of the longest running anime out there and one that definitely should get more airplay, Legend of the Galactic Heroes. It spans a 110 episodes in the main series, two movies, and two side stories(one with 52 episodes). Its based on the series novels by Yoshiki Tanaka of the same name and has a cult following. So let’s a explore the extremely complex world of LOGH.
The story is set in the far off time of the 35th century in which humanity has migrated out into the galaxy and terraformed thousands of worlds. For the past 150 years, two large star empires, the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance, have been at war without either side being able to gain the upper hand for very long. The story features two main characters from each side, Reinhard von Musel from the Galactic Empire, a brilliant strategist who is often looked down on by other officers because he is the brother of one the Kaiser’s concubines, and Wang Wen-li of the Free Planets Alliance, kind of a guy caught in the law of unintended consequences as he never wanted to a strategist and just wanted to be a military historian. The story follows the lead up to a new war between the two powers, its eventually end, the aftermath and the manipulation of the conflict by Phezzan,a neutral third power, and the shadowy and very creep Earth Cult, which is bend on having all humanity return to the nuclear war ravaged Earth.
There are several notable things about LOGH and enduring themes at play in the series. The entire franchise is either an original video animation or a film. There has never been a official English language version, sub or dub, released anywhere, but there are fansubs out there. LOGH has almost no female characters in the main cast, especially in the Empire as it appears that there is not one single women in the Empire armed forces, and because of that fact this show is often called a huge yaoi fest which is true to some extent I guess lol. Commercialization of the series is very minimal outside of VHS\DVD\Blue ray releases and only a few model kits exist. Huge battles of tens of thousands of ships are the norm and something not seen in many series. The series has a massive cast with hundreds of named characters and the show helps keep track of them all by displacing the names when the characters appear on screen. This is a ultra violent series, maybe because it started in the 1980’s, but it none the less keeps on keeping on as evidence by the numerous close quarters combat battles and death scenes during ship to ship battles. A discussion of which system of government is better, either a autocratic monarchy or a democracy, is the central theme. The merit of a person is a persistence theme as Reinhard struggles against the familial connection system of the Empire to gain the power he seeks to save his sister and overthrow the Goldenbaum dynasty. Reinhard also recruits a lot of talented castoffs throughout the series, who for one reason or another angered the establishment. Personal ambition or lack there of enters a lot into the series and the consequences it has for a person and the people around them.
I really love this show, it just maybe the best space opera out there for its complex characters and very socially and politically conscience story lines. I would recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of shows with political plots in them, like Code Geass for example, or anyone that is a fan of a show with good characters and good character development.
Cheers,
Devil_Survivor
So I thought it would be appropriate for my first game review to be my namesake, none other than: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. This game is part of the long running Shin Megami Tensei series and its the first of the series that I have had the pleasure of playing. It also has the title of the first of the series to be released outside of Japan. Devil Survivor received very good reviews averaging an 8 out of 10. So let’s now take a look at the specifics of the game.
Background Story:
In Devil Survivor you are a high school student, who is referred to as Hero and who you give a name too at the beginning of the game, who is about to enter his third year of high school and the game begins with you meeting your friends to hang out in downtown Tokyo. One of your friends is late and he explains your cousin gave him three new Comps, DS looking devices that are very popular with the Japanese, and he hands you one and tells you that your cousin has modified the Comps with a new program he wrote. Then you get an email on your Comps from something called the “Laplace System” and it makes some dire predictions about the future including a lock down of Tokyo. Soon the Japanese Self Defense Force announces a lock down of a large area of downtown Tokyo. Soon Hero and his friends discover that the Comps have an intriguing ability to summon demons and battle other demons. The main characters are then attacked by demons and became aware that the modified Comps allow humans to fight demons on an equal footing and defeat the demons. They then embark on a journey to uncover the mystery surrounding the lock down and ultimately escape from this nightmare.
Game Play:
Devil Survivor is a tactical role playing game and plays much like similar games such as Final Fantasy. You have a team of three characters, but with a slight difference that human character is part of the team along with two demons. You can have up to four teams at one time on the battlefield, however you might have many other playable team leaders in your party. As for demons, you can carry up to 24 in your Comp. One of the coolest features of the game is the ability to fuse your existing demons with ones you can buy in auctions or that you acquired other ways into more powerful demons. There are two types of battles you will encounter; ones that are plot related and free battles. Free battles are pretty simple they just allow you to fight some enemies to gain experience to level up and earn some money to buy more demons in auctions. The plot related battles are more involved as the ones you choose will influence which character’s ending you will get at the conclusion of the game. These are called “paths” and every major character has one. The two times I played the game so far I got Yuzu(Hot chick in the pink with the very large boobs) ending and Gin’s ending(Gin is the badass in the tie that owns his own bar). There are other events which are non-battles that advance the story as well, you can tell them from battles because an icon appears next to them with a red exclamation mark and say “battle”, pretty easy to tell apart I know :P. The game is broken up into 7 days and each event you do moves the clock forward 3o minutes, so beware of this if you want to level up some more before moving ahead in the story.
Personal Comments:
I really enjoyed this game a lot, its exactly what I like in a role playing game. The game has a deep and richly realized story with many twists and turns, characters with good development(yuzu and mildori are annoying at certain points), and a simple and easy to learn combat interface. The replay value is high as there are many different endings depending on the path you decide to take. The game places the fate of you and your friends in your hands and its up to you who lives and who dies, it almost gave me a god complex lol (P.S. I’m not as crazy as I seem). I’m excited about the sequel that is coming in fall, and will review it when it comes out. If your looking to buy this game, I would go with the new version called Devil Survivor: Overclocked, which adds an 8th day to the story. I’m going to buy it for my 3DS(I was dumb and brought it at the high price early on, but I’m looking forward to my 20 free games from the virtual console and will get Netflixs soon on it). I give Devil Survivor 4.5 of 5 big boobed anime girls.
Ok that’s all for now. Not sure what I’ll review next, I’m I need to jump into Catherine because I know so many people on this site love that game.
Cheers and Beers,
Devil_Survivor