Unlimited Review Works

Defendor

2010-06-02T22:54:00.011+01:00

In the slew of comic book movies/vigilante stories that have been appearing on the silver screen, a la kick-ass, the losers, and the recent addition to the Boondock Saints franchise, one movie, though left mostly unnoticed, stands out from the bunch in the questions it asks and the

emotions it evokes. This movie is Defendor ("or", not "er") and it tells the tale of Arthur Poppington and his life as a construction worker/vigilante in the streets of a crime-ridden city. During the day, he carries on as an average joe construction worker, but at night, he becomes Defendor: protector of justice and punisher of drug pushers and wrongdoers.
The roller coaster ride of a movie takes you through Defendor's search for the evil mastermind, "Captain Industry", an ambiguous character created by Defendor that plagues the streets with drugs, guns, and all sorts of other illegal activity. Defendor's tyrade starts when he catches a crooked cop participating in not-so-savory activities with a young prostitute, played by Kat Dennings, and proceeds to throw marbles at him and then beat him with a WWII trench club - which are part of his ghetto-rigged assortment of spy tools and crime fighting apparatus.

The story continues as he runs into the same cop again, and begins to unravel a growing

crime syndicate. Now from this description, you could be describing

any

vigilante/crime fighting movie, but there are a few things that Defendor brings to the table that bring some fresh perspectives to a classic plot. The first is the mental state of the main character, which is not psychopathic or clouded with visions of ultimate justice. Instead he's rather mentally handicapped due to drug abuse of his mother - as we discover later on. This presents the scenario of a man who does not necessarily know the difference between what's acceptable and what's not in society, so all he knows is that he wants to punish the bad guys because they did something wrong. This is brought to light very well in the interview segments of the movie, which happen with a clinical psychologist, Dr. Park, played by Sandra Oh, in which he is being evaluated for mental stability after the destruction of local dry cleaners.

These segments are interlaced into about the first three quarters of the movie and provide more insight into his motives, which are surprisingly simple and honest, throwing the perspective of his actions into a completely different light. It's really the impressive way Woody Harrelson plays the main character, that brings the underlying plot devices to life. While slightly handicapped, he still functions as a regular individual in society and interacts well with others, he merely shows more of a sheltered personality that is mixed with the pure sense of justice than a child has, that bad guys get punished and good guys punish them.

As much as I've already described, you can only really get an idea as to what this movie is

about by watching it, since it's hard to really delve into the psychological phenomenons and statements that the movie makes without creating spoilers. Yet another interesting aspect of the movie is the way it presents comedy. In the beginning, some of Defendor's antics are just genuinely amusing, even though they are usually mixed directly with tragedy at multiple points during the movie, giving the same actions multiple meanings and thus changing Defendor's motivation as the plot progresses. As underrated as this movie was, it's really something everyone should watch, whether you're looking for a good chuckle, good drama or even something that invokes some thoughts at the end, this movie will satisfy in many different ways.

Rec - The Animation

2010-04-27T19:03:00.011+01:00

Even though the blog has been fairly dead lately due to a lack of interest from the original writers, I was watching this show for the first time in a while, and i felt a need to tell someone about it. so here is my review for the 2007 animated short series, Rec.

Rec is an under appreciated short series that came out in 2007 which tells the cute tale of a blossoming voice actress and a typical Japanese salary man and how they are brought together through all kinds of circumstances.

The anime was created in 2006 as an adaptation of the ongoing manga by the same title. It was produced by shaft animation studio (insert lines about production studio, history, voice actors, tidbits, about length)

The series starts with our male lead being stood up for a date by a woman from his work, who turns out to be out of his league anyways, and instead he is met by an eccentric red headed woman who speaks in lines from old Audrey Hepburn movies. Through much finagling, they end up in the movie together, where the girl, Aka Onda, reads every line of the subtitles, much to the mans chagrin. Even after they go their separate ways, they continue to be drawn together by almost every happenstance possible.

As the series is short, I'll try not to go into too much detail, but Rec tells not so much a beautiful, but rather a cute and easy to relate to, story of the mixture between love and life that makes both more than a sticky situation. The characters develop fairly believably, myself being able to relate to the characters feelings more than once.

Another note to make about this show is the interesting peek into the world of Japanese voice actors, as Aka goes through the process of becoming a popular voice actress from nothing. It was also interesting to see the scenes with the voice actors working in the studios, as it is a surreal way to look at the cartoons that we watch everyday. going back to the topic of manga, the entire series, 9 - 12 minute episodes, only covers the first volume of the manga, of which there are currently 6, and it has not ended yet, though the 7th is speculated to be the last if the 6th isn't already.

Regardless, the age of this show suggests that there wont be any subsequent seasons as well as giving the suggestion that the anime was little more than a late night plug in to support the manga, which is serialized in a magazine. It is worth mentioning that if you do like the show, you will definitely want to read the manga from the beginning, as there are some key changes with characters and design that tell a slightly different, and most of the time more humorous, story than the anime.

As you might figure, the manga is very quickly paced, considering the entire series is fir into approx 190 pages. This fact and the addition of significant fan-service make the manga a much easier to stomach than the show which can drag briefly at times. Between the two, i would definitely suggest watching the anime before you start reading the manga (and you should do both) so when you read it, you can get involved in THAT universe, not the altered one presented in the anime.

Regardless of how you do it, Rec is definitely a great quick watch if you're in the mood for some light romantic comedy.

Until the next time,

~XBlackMacgyver

Dead Or Alive: Online

2010-03-29T22:27:00.010+01:00

Hi there! I just happen to have more time than I thought I'd have... you think I'd invest some time into visiting the city I am currently in? WRONG! I've been starving for 17hours now... I think that's good though, because it doesn't really hurt... ANYWAY...

I've been using my time wisely ...or so I would like to say, but I surely am not doing so.
I discovered Dead Or Alive: Online - an sort of online roleplay game which has some nice typical Dead Or Alive gameplay - for PC on Saturday. And even though I knew that my laptop would barely be able to run it, I put it onto the laptop and took it with me. Just before I left I played some quick matches on my home computer ... it ran flawlessly and amazingly well! The graphics really impressed me since it seemed more detailed than Dead Or Alive Ultimate 2 - don't know about Dead Or Alive 4, since I didn't really got to play it... but this one is certainly interesting.
In the following I'll try to summarize my impressions as well as give you an idea of how the game works and where you can get it.

What I'll be writing about:

What's DOA:O at all?
Installation of the game
Registration
DOA:O, Windows 7 and "GameProtect" (GameGuard anyone?)
Interface summary
What you can and can't do
DOA:O - releases in Japan, NA, EU?
Communities
Conclusion

Okay. Let's start right away.

What's DOA:O at all?
Dead Or Alive: Online is an official "MMORPG" which is all about fighting in the DOA universe online. You level your avatars, which in turn can play various fighters you might know from other DOA-titles (2 and 3 mostly). By buying better items for real money (or the one you earn from fights) you can improve your fighters as well as your main avatar.
Basically you get to play some of the characters from DOA universe on your PC - which is cool, but of course there is a counterside too: you have to level and have a certain gear (if possible). However: if you just want a fighting game you can play against NPC (or players), you should keep reading.

Installation of the game
The installation is easy. You just download the client, install it, start the launcher, update the game and run. Oh right .. and you have to have an SDO-account (registration is free of charge) for login data. After that you launch the game, login, create your basic avatar and pick your starting fighter.

You can get the most up-to-date client from here.

Registration process.

Go here.
Click the left most box (as shown in the image)
Now you have to enter your desired username and password to create the account. You have to confirm your password too - I suggest you take a look at the second image to the right.
After that you click the button there and the registration should be completed successfully. Don't forget to note your username and password as well as a custom number (if one is displayed at all).

Dead Or Alive: Online, Windws 7 and GameProtect
As some of you might have already guessed, this online roleplay game is protected by a similar anti-cheating mechanism that tries to protect Aion, Lineage 2 etc... it's not GameGuard, but GameProtect is probably developed by the same people.
Before the newest release DOA:O had trouble running under Windows 7. However I managed to run it successfully on Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit as well as Windows 7 Professional 32bit. You might want to start the client.exe located in the subfolder "FINAL" so that you don't have to start the launcher each time and have it look for updates ... you should update the client every now and then though in order to keep it up to date and compatible.
If you manage to get past the login screen and pick a server, but are not able to connect to it and the only button that's available closes the game - you most likely have an outdated client.

Interface summary
It's an easy to use interface. However: due to the huge language barriere - I don't understand a word - it's hard to figure out what's there... and later on you have to remember all the buttons and messages. Or find a source where you can get an idea.

What you can and can't do Let's be honest... this game is interesting, but there's a lot you can't do. For instance: you have the MMO-part, which can be quite annoying. Then you have the problem that you don't understand everything because of the language. The item shop is a bit annoying as well. The biggest annoyance (but not unexpected): you can't play against your brother or sister, you can only play one person at a time in front of the client.
However: you finally can play Dead Or Alive on the PC without being embarrassed about the quality of the actual fighting scenes. You also experience the gameplay you have when playing Dead Or Alive 3 or 2. The graphics might even surpass those.
Finally it's an interesting idea of online fighting against each other - let's hope for a European or American release of this game.

DOA:O - releases in Japan, NA, EU?
This game was stated to be launched right before the Olympics in Bejing 2008... yet the first availabe version was released later in 2009. To the information I've found so far about (possible) release dates, it states that the Japanese release will come first - most likely in 2010. After that it might come to the US or EU.

Communities
So far I've only found Russian communities on this. For instance: doa-online.ucoz.ru and doaonline.forum-bb.net. It's thanks to them that I've managed to get this game running and at least understand the plain basics about it, since I couldn't manage to find any good DOA:O sources in English (if you find some, please let me know).
As to the communities on the server: it's hard to find anyone except the Chinese people on there. Maybe it gets better as you advance, but I am level 10 now and the only fun I get at the moment is the idea of having DOA on PC and sort of getting outfits or at least finding out how they work. It's told that outfits sort of "wear out" so you have to "renew" them for the money you earn during your fights - or with the item shop.

Conclusion
This game is definitely worth a try if you are not afraid of the language. If you are, you should at least keep track of the game and try it once it hits the US and/or EU market. The DOA hidden within the game is truely beautiful to look at and renders surprisingly fast even on my laptop with an integrated graphics adapter. Of course it's not decent quality, but it works and is playable ... it's even better on my home PC.
Oh and get yourself an arcade stick or a gamepad, because even if it's possible to control your character using the keyboard, I think it's simply unbearable. You should get yourself a gamepad for this (I am using the XBOX360 gamepad for Windows, wired).

Don't hesitate to post any comments or questions and I'll do my best to answer them as soon as possible. Have a good night.

Some more images:

Keep in mind, that these screenshots were taken on my laptop, which doesn't have a proper 3D accelerator. If you had a nice ATI or nVidia graphics card and played this, it'd be perfectly fluent as well as even more beautiful (the reflections or rays or anti-aliasing).

(Warning: THIS GAME IS NOT A GAME!)

2010-03-27T10:20:00.013Z

The Nintendo DS has been a great time waster for me. On the bus, during work, during school, after I quit work, after I dropped out of school, and long after I could no longer afford to ride the bus, I still love to pick it up and play it. Its probably the system that does the best job of distracting me from the horror of my own existence for an hour or two now and then.

But in all seriousness, I love it. Although it just so happens that one of my favorite games on the system is in fact not a game at all. And I would not reccomend it to gamers. Read more to find out what it is.

The non-game I'm talking about would be the Korg DS-10 Synthesizer Emulator. Or synthesizer synthesizer (cause it synthesizes the function of a synthesizer! Haha, get it?). To anyone buying a portable system today, I'd reccomend the DS (along with the Neo-geo Pocket Colour, but thats another VERY LONG post) because of its awesome selection of games, inclding 2D and music games. Which I love. But the KORG DS-10 is not a music game, at least not one in the sense that Guitar Hero: On Tour or Elite Beat Agents are. Actually, the DS-10 Might be completely unique in videogame history in that it is probably the ONLY game that is also a real musical instrument. The guitar hero guitar or Donkey Kong bongos don't count. Why did I decide this? Simple. No one could ever seriously write a song or put on a concert using a rock band mic or DJ Hero controller ever. But they could with the DS-10.
But its this same uniqueness that makes the "game" so hard to reccomend to people, even though I absofuckinglutely love recommending games to anyone who will listen to me. The DS-10 has no tutorial to speak of, zero learning curve, and no one to hold your hand and walk you through how to make music. It is, for all intents and purposes, a REAL synthesizer. And you will be just as confused sitting down in front of it as you would sitting down in front of a real synth.

Which is why I'd only suggest a purchase to people who have either played a synthesizer, or have some other musical background. I've played guitar and bass for years, and buying my copy of the DS-10 at a used game store for 9$ has inadvertently led to me drooling over pages on musiciansfriend.com advertising KORG Radias synths on sale at $1199.00. USD. It took a long time to get used to, but I am now familliar with what once were esoteric terms such as LFO filters and oscillators. And thats a good thing.

For all you DSi owners out there, good news! A new version was recently released here in the west, which takes advantage of the DSi's surplus processing power and doubles the number of synths and drum machines (among other things) to give you more features. Owners of a DS or DS Lite can really just stick with the old versions though.

Anyways, I'll embed a few videos here to show you what people have managed to do with the DS-10, but just don't expect to be able to buy a copy and start immediately generating your own masterpeices. This may sound condescending, but for a while the "game" will probably just frustrate you.

-futtigue

Armored

2010-03-25T17:11:00.006Z

Armored is pretty standard Hollywood action fare. It doesn't try and do anything spectacularly different or new, but it manages to be a relatively pleasing film if you want some decent action with a fairly good narrative and a cast that performs reasonably well. It’s a somewhat typical heist-gone-wrong film with a tiny twist to the traditional tale, but one which has been seen before.
Early in the game there was a refreshing performance from Laurence Fishburne, rather than the usual broody and somewhat dark characters I seem to see him playing, he actually laughs!

The chemistry between the main gang in the film was decent, typical boys club mentality until everything goes wrong, and it all works well, although it comes across as being somewhat standard and predictable.
Jean Reno was, in my opinion, woefully under-utilised, and there were some moments where Columbus Short didn't quite succeed, but for the most part he managed a solid lead performance, if not spectacular. The writing allowed a degree of sympathy for his situation and while the writing managed to explain his feelings, the acting didn’t always manage to fully explore the role and mentality of the character and there were scenes where Short almost seemed uncomfortable.

The story was well told, and relatively engaging despite the predictability, and the character narratives and decisions were explained fairly well so the whole thing managed to feel cohesive and detailed enough that it all made sense. It even managed to throw in a typical feel-good ending, to a point, although it by no means detracted from the overall tone of the film, but again it was a somewhat clichéd finale which helped make the film feel somewhat uninspired.

There isn’t a huge amount to say other than if you are looking for a moderately entertaining B movie level film with some nice action, it fits the bill. It’s not a non-stop thrill ride, but it has enough action and some thought provoking scenes, it didn’t really go wrong anywhere. It kept itself short enough that it didn’t ever feel like it was dragging on, but never managed to escape from being average.

Cop Out

2010-03-23T22:26:00.010Z

Even though this blog has only been up and running for a couple days, you may notice that I have a tendency to watch animated works over live action film, and that pattern will most likely follow far into the future, however I came across a movie today that gave me no reason not to see it.

From director Kevin Smith, and starring my man, John Mcl-excuse me, Bruce Willis, and my second favorite black comedian of all time, Tracy Morgan, comes the 2010 comedy film, Cop Out.

As the movie begins, we are introduced to some slightly irregular NYPD officers as they interrogate a suspect in a drug operation in only the classiest of fashions; with Tracy Morgan impersonating an insane cop killer and spouting every cheesy line from every action movie you can think of, bewildering and scaring the subject into confession in grand fashion.

The story progresses as the cops fail to apprehend the drug bust and are put on a 30 day suspension with no pay, hindering Bruce Willis from being able to support his own daughters wedding. This causes him to sell an ultra rare baseball card in order to obtain the money, which lands them in the middle of a freak robbery and gets them caught up in the thick of the drug operation they had just tried to bust.

The movie brings a surprising, yet compatible list of characters to the silver screen, including Guillermo Diaz, who has graduated as of late from his comedic roles in the 1999 classic "Half Baked", as well as his appearances on the "Chappelle Show", to more serious, and still drug related roles as a drug dealer in the HBO series, "Weeds", and as a drug lord in this movie. Also featured is none other than "The Stiffmeister" himself, Seann William Scott, perhaps best know for his role in the original American Pie movies. In Cop Out he plays a whimsical, parkour stunting robber who accidentally gets tied up in the mix, providing some of the most comedic scenes in the movie.

While Seann delivers on all fronts, Tracy Morgan does not fail to please. His unique style of humor vibes very well with Bruce and the rest of the shows cast, making almost every scene funny, from a giggle to rolling on the floor, while never breaking the mood of the movie, which is another aspect of the movie that i liked.

Cop Out never claims to be a serious movie or a cop drama, and it never is, however, the balance of comedy and action and story is very well handled in every situation, always keeping the viewer entertained and moving along. The humor may not be for everybody. If you are someone who enjoys more intellectual or clever humor, then Tracy probably wont tickle your funny bone the way you had hoped, but if you are searching for a movie with that, you probably wouldn't go near one associated with this man. The jokes are often ones that rely on ridiculousness and the occasional low-brow crack to stay afloat, and sometimes even more distinguished people just need to break down and laugh a little at the over-earnest silly type antics that this cop duo provides.

Oh, and just because this is a comedy, don't think that means that Bruce Willis is just along for the ride. He still provides the hard cop element with just enough balls worked in to amplify the partnership that just seems to click between the two main characters.

The movie Isn't something that should be watched too seriously, and as thus, it cant be rated as a serious movie, but it does what it sets out to do very well. Make people laugh, blow things up, and tell a good story.

I wouldn't pay for a full price ticket, but I'd be more than happy to drop 6 or 7 dollars on a matinee, or pick it up on DVD when it comes out. So go give Cop Out a watch if you want to see one of the better comedies this year has offered so far.

PS this review was a bit longer than i expected it to be, so I apologize if i rambled at any point. Please leave us a comment to let us know how we're doing!
~Black Macgyver~

Another Minion for Our Ranks!!!!

2010-03-22T22:58:00.003Z

Today we introduced a new reviewer, who i have known for only a little while, but trust me, if you want to know anything about Canada, Rush, Fender basses, or obscure video games, this is your man. He goes by the name of Futtigue, and he is here to enlighten all of us with his arcane knowledge. You can check out his first review of the game Jet Set Radio Future right here. We're glad to have you Futtigue!

Toradora! SOS - Connoisseurs Banzai

2010-03-22T21:59:00.023Z

A little pre-review banter, I lied! Actually, while I said I wouldn't be reviewing until next weekend, I saw this and just had to say something about it, so I decided to do sort of a mini-review, if you will. So without further adieu, here it is:

You will rarely see me review DVD extras or shows that can only be categorized as "moe", but just this once, I will make an exception for the cuteness and humour that is Toradora SOS. This show was released as a DVD extra in the Japanese release of the hit show, Toradora!, and features the main characters in a very tastefully stylized chibi-form discussing foods, and having a competition each episode about the said food.

While none of the 5 minute episodes bear any relation to the plot of the actual show, the well developed characters are out in full bloom, so it would benefit the watcher to have seen the original series beforehand. For as little as I've written about the show, I've pretty much described the entire miniseries, as there is not plot that carries over form one episode to another, and the focus of the show isn't in doing anything but making a fun little extra.

The biggest appeal is the animation and the characters. The chibi-style designs are just so darn cute, featuring not only a very well done super-deformed style, but also the addition of the characters animal references developed through the show, which just add to the cuteness, especially in Taiga's character.

Ill try not to get too fanboyish, so I'll move on to the other thing that appealed to me in this mini series, and that is the very well educated culinary histories of the food featured in the episode. Being someone who considers themselves to be fairly cultured in food, even i learned some fun facts that i found very interesting.

In saying that this series is funny, i don't necessarily speak of laugh out loud humour, but rather a lot of giggle humour that comes form the characters actions and great directing, as they never break from their established characters.

The whole series ends up being just over 20 minutes, so its a great quick watch, and i think that anyone who has a basic understanding of Japanese culture can get a good chuckle out of this. So until next time (not making promises anymore ;D), This is The Black Mac, signing off.

PS: the torrent can be obtained at a great website called tokyotosho.info, but i wont link to the torrent directly to keep them damn suits off our tails!

~Black Macgyver~

Jet Set Radio Future - XBOX

2010-03-22T20:58:00.013Z

I am so excited right now. I HAVE to tell you all about this game. Its one of my favorites. Seriously, like, top five. Right up there with Earthbound. If you havent already read the title of the post, then I'll tell you the name of the game right now: Jet Set Radio Future.

If you've played the game before, then the first thing you've noticed about my review so far is that the first image I've used is not in the game. Nor is it on the box. In fact, it's the interior of the hard-to-find Japanese soundtrack CD. If you're wondering about my choice of screenshots to introduce people to the game, then I'll be straightforward: it is incredibly hard to use a screenshot to convey the dynamic beauty of JSRF. It's even harder to find a good quality Youtube video that doesn't have some ten-year-old shouting over top of the footage, so you'll just have to try it for yourself.

So by now, those unfamiliar with this series of games are probably wondering, what it's all about? Well then, let me ask you, do you think graffiti is cool? Yeah? Well, what about rollerblades? I know, kind of lame, but these ones run on electricity (or something)! Neat, eh? Wait, I'm not done. Ever want to fight a tank? What about a Harrier Jump jet, or an attack helicopter? Or choke two dozen police officers to death using spraypaint? Well, in JSRF, you can do all those things!

Ok, maybe that description wasn't very good, but that's because it's hard to classify JSRF into an existing genre. It takes place in a future, somewhat dystopian, Tokyo, where you take control of a gang of oppressed teenagers who rise up against the police and rival gangs using nothing but spraypaint. It combines elements from action games, platformers, sports games, even rhythm games. And in this great mashup of differing and previously very seperate gameplay mechanics, nothing is overlooked.

The one main reason to play this game is the sheer sensory overload you'll experience. The game world is beautifull. You start off small, but a couple hours in you'll be grinding vertically up hundred foot telephone poles overlooking a massive ravine filled with crumbling pre-fabricated houses, attempting to clog the air intakes of an assault helicopter to get it to crash into the empty skyscrapers nearby. Jet Set Radio Future's predecessor, Jet Grind Radio (a game I'll review seperately in the future) was one of the first games ever to utilize cel-shaded graphics (a feature, like quick-time-events, far over-used and often ignored). The result is nothing short of stunning. The draw distance is relatively large for the XBOX, and the game universe is extremely detailed and infinitely charming, but let's not forget the soundtrack.

You have probably never heard of these songs or artists before, but after you finish the game you will probably go looking for a soundtrack torrent. All of the songs are original, and fit the mood of the game perfectly. In fact, if the game had no soundtrack at all, I would probably have hated it. The music plays such an integral role in your experience with Tokyo-To (their name for the future Tokyo) that it is impossible to imagine the two seperately. With the exception of one song about a birthday cake (trust me, you'll wish you'd never heard it) every song on the soundtrack is excellent, and for its time the tracklist was gigantic, but what about the gameplay?

While not as important as the visual and audio impact of the game, the mechanics are pretty solid. The grafitti controls have been simplified from the prequel making the game playfaster and more fluidly, if a little bit easier. Some of the acion sequences involving multiple police officers may get a little repetetive, and the endless hunt for that one graffiti youve missed can be very frustrating, but it doesnt have too much of a detrimental effect on the fun you'll be having. There is one level that WILL piss you off, as hunting for graffiti tags to spray over while jumping from the roofs of skyscrapers and trying not to fall hundreds of feet to your death can get old pretty fast. So can the hunt for the skipped tag when you inevitably miss one, but that level is the exception to the rule, with the rule being an overall great gameplay experience.

The game was bundled with SEGA GT 2002 and given away as a pack-in with the XBOX, and as such it is now extremely easy to find and incredibly cheap. I myself have three copies; the most expensive being 5$ and the cheapest being 2$ from EB Games (GameStop for you Yankees out there). If you already have an XBOX, there is NO EXCUSE to not have this game yet.

For those who don't, it might just be worth buying one. I myself bought an XBOX just to play this game, and now the systems can be found used for around 20$. When you put that together, you might spend 25$ to pick up a game and working XBOX, which is far cheaper than any new title coming out for the 360 or PS3.

And speaking of the 360, it IS backward compatible. Barely. There are some graphical glitches, some serious slowdown, and the map is basically unreadable. And without the map, forget it. The aforementioned skyscraper level will take you a month to finish without it. I'd reccomend simply finding (or borrowing) an original XBOX . They're cheap and easy to find. What's your excuse?

-futtigue

(Also, if you're interested in the game, check out this site with some amazing fan art. It's some of the best I've seen, and it really shows you the love from the fanbase for this awesome series.)

Oppai Volleyball

2010-03-22T18:17:00.011Z

I approached Oppai Volleyball with a degree of apprehension. The title seems pretty clear cut, but the movie itself turned out to not meet my preconceptions (thank you DoA: Extreme Beach Volleyball). It started off slightly cheesy and somewhat reminiscent of Green Green (a particularly lewd anime), replete with nosebleed scene and dirty jokes thanks to the flexibility of the Japanese language, but possibly, somewhat fortunately, that didn’t entirely set the tone for the rest of the film.Not having any knowledge beforehand of a majority of the actors in the film, nor the crew who put it together, I was rather disappointed in the palette and quality of the production. While it somewhat fits the feeling of the setting, 70s Japan, the overall picture seemed rather bland and uninteresting. There was a very restricted palette when it could have been a much more vibrant and exciting film. The title suggested something which would titillate (pardon the pun), but what it ended up being something that matched the look of the film, somewhat flat and lifeless, but not without its quirks and value.

The story plodded on at a somewhat tedious pace in many parts, although it was very well contained within the film, but it never really managed to excite. It was a somewhat typical coming-of-age film; some middle school boys obsessed with boobs and doing all they could to get their hands on and/or get a look at some. The film did continually hammer home this point, sometimes to a great deal of excess, and in the end it got somewhat boring. Yes, the film is called Oppai Volleyball, and yes, it’s about breasts, but it could have been so much more interesting.

The focus on breasts left the main male characters being rather underdeveloped. Only twice was any consideration given to character backstory, once from the main character, and it worked relatively well to build up motivation for her actions, and once for one of the boys. The rest of the group was left to be a gang of typical “boys will be boys” kids having their fun. That’s not to say the supporting cast wasn’t in place, but they were never used. Kojima Fujiko played a female classmate, and had she been given more to work with I believe could have added a lot to the interaction of the boys with the wider world. Instead they were boxed into obsessing about ‘oppai, oppai, oppai’ and their relationship to the rest of the school was only briefly explored.

That’s not to say it was a terrible film, but it was a let down. There seemed to be potential for something interesting to be done with the story. While it seemed to follow a pattern that I would compare to Cool Runnings, it was nowhere near as funny, and lacked the poignant ending which made Cool Runnings so great. As a coming of age film, it managed to show a single aspect of development of the main characters, but left a degree of emptiness in the viewer because there was little involvement with most of the characters. Not having seen a great deal of coming of age films, I couldn’t say how it fits in with the genre, but it felt like a somewhat cheap TV movie without the correct implementation of the story, and ended up being a bit of a drag despite its relatively compact 100 minute runtime. It’s not a film full of thrills and spills, and it won’t make you laugh all that often. If you are looking for something engaging and gratifying to watch, this is not it, but it’s still a film which, if viewed with the right approach, is watchable. Haruka Ayase manages a reasonable performance as the lead, but the balance of the film seems to let the story down, and it feels like it’s not entirely sure what it is trying to achieve with the material.

Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise

2010-03-21T20:29:00.006Z

This movie is like a time portal, bringing you back to the days of Gainax before Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann , Before FLCL, and even before Neon Genesis Evangelion, back to 1987, when Gainax was still a fledgling corporation still struggling to make it in the emerging days of anime. After their first major debut work, "Otaku no Video" in 1985 and its sequel in 1986, comes the first full length movie to come out of the studio in 1987. Wings of Honneamise is a beautifully animated, 2 hour long movie that was and is hailed as a classic in the world of anime. Despite this, it is still largely unknown due to the more popular series that came out soon after such as "Gunbuster" and "The Secret of the Blue Water", which both experienced a great deal more of success.

The story starts with our protagonist, Shirotsugh Lhadatt, and his downhill life in the much maligned Japanese Space Force. The space force in the early parts of the movie is made up of nothing more than some lazy crew members and a few old men with seemingly hollow dreams and ideas about space. Shirotsugh ends up meeting a religious woman in town one day and developing a crush for her, which he pursues to varying degrees of success through the movie. In order to impress her, Shirotsugh voulenteers to be the first man to be put into orbit on an unmanned satellite, and while the movie had dragged for the last 30 minutes, it is at this point where it finally begins to take off, as he goes through rigorous training, gains national appeal and fame, and becomes involved with political scandal, and ends up finally having to realize who he really is.

The reason I even came across this movie is because it has been recently remastered and re released on Blu Ray in Japan, and if there's one word for it, it is "beautiful"Through the whole movie, everything you see is accompanied by beautiful landscapes, detailed action scenes and well drawn character models. If you would need a reference as to the style and amount of detail, the closest film that i can think of would have to be "Akira". Some of these scenes are so well done, i just paused the movie and stared for a minute before resuming the movie.

One thing i noticed as well was the distinct lack of sound effects due to the time when the film was made and the status of a production company doing something like this right out of the gate, it's not surprising that certain parts of production were cut back. The movie has a very basic and obvious theme, that applied more at the time in japan than it does now, but it can still be interpreted by all, which makes it very accessible.

The thing that makes this movie fairly inaccessible, however, and is most likely the reason that it did not do as well as the following endeavors by Gainax, is because of the pacing. When you're watching this, it will seem like the movie is over in the middle of the movie and before that, as well as sometimes after the middle, it just drags incessantly, and anyone who isn't conditioned to anime, I believe would have a hard time staying awake or staying focused on this entire movie.

Another thing to note is that this movie only has an end in the most basic of senses in that it completes the story. However, it doesn't resolve any of the questions or sub-points that the plot evokes throughout the movie. Instead, the last 5 minutes are a completely irrelevant acid trip that says nothing towards the rest of the movie. While many of these flaws are easily excused due to the conditions under which the movie was produced, i would really like to see Gainax go back and patch this one up.

My final thoughts on this are that you should give it a watch if you want to understand where anime was in the early days, and what founded a lot of what we have today.

EDIT: Also, for anyone who is thinking about watching this movie, while it is older, it is not family friendly, there is some brief violent nudity that is related to the story, but it's still there. So just fair warning for anyone who's gonna seek this one out.

This will most likely be my last review for about a week, but never fear, great things await!!!

~Black Macgyver~

Summer Wars

2010-03-21T15:47:00.019Z

Summer Wars was last years summer blockbuster for the ever-growing Japanese Blu-Ray market selling over 50,000 copies and topping even the much anticipated re-release of Evangelion that came out not long before it.

The movie is set in the beautifully realized countryside of the Japanese city Ueda, located in the prefecture of Nagano.

The story is simple enough; a girl, Natsuki Shinohara, recruits another boy from her school, Kenji Koiso, to come on vacation with her to her families house in the country to serve unknowingly as her fiancee before her historically prominent family, the Shinohara clan.

Now, this is where the movie takes a turn for the better. Where most shows would have taken this situation and exploited the typical wacky hi jinks and over-played love story, Summer Wars introduces a refreshing plot to the tired scenario. In this world, there is a massive social networking site known as "Oz" that functions akin to programs like Second Life and the Japanese social networking site, Mixi, and it is used by virtually everyone who uses technology. it can be accessed by phone, computer, TV, GPS, or even the Nintendo DS Lite that makes many a shameless cameo in this movie. Through the program you can do virtually anything you like; shop, play games, even pay your taxes.

The movie starts out with the protagonist, Kenji, doing part-time work as a code monkey on the social networking site Oz due to his unheard of skills in mathematics, is sent a cryptic text message of rows and rows of numbers forming a mathematical code. He of course solves the equation and sends it back. The next day, Oz is found to be extremely corrupted and no one is able to access their accounts anymore, and Kenji is plotted as the criminal of the whole fiasco. I won't get into too much more detail, as it really is a movie that one has to experience, but the rest of the movie is spent describing the family drama that unfolds as well as defeating and discovering the true purpose of the infection in Oz.

The well executed story and directing aside, this movie is simply beautiful. The attention payed to every detail is astonishing, from the countryside all the way down to a recognizable remote for one of the TV's. The animation style is very reminiscent of "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" due to the overlap in one of the major animators, and the cg elements come from the same vein as those seen in shows like "Eden of the East", where instead of having animated objects on solid backgrounds, every element of the background is animated and interacts individually with one another.

The character designs are also beautiful, while not typifying any age or over-stylizing any body type, the characters are real and believable. What makes that fact so amazing is that the Shinohara clan is no small family. There are a total of 26 characters, notwithstanding the main characters, who all feature unique personalities, many lines of dialogue, and interact with the plot. This is another example of the extra effort that has been put into realizing the story to its fullest potential, and it shows.

While the story and movie have been designed and marketed as a kids movie, the story leaves something for the older crowd as well. It speaks to the dangers of over-reliance on technology and the social networking sites of today, as well as the current state of Japanese culture where the old way of life is quickly being dissolved into the modern era. The film does a great job of showcasing how Japan must hold onto it's traditions while continuing to advance in all the facets of modern life.

All in all, the movie delivers on all fields; very well choreographed action scenes, beautiful landscapes and settings, a great message that couldn't be more relevant, and most importantly, it is one of the more accessible films that i have seen come from the land of the rising sun in a while. For anyone considering getting into anime, or merely wanting to watch a good movie, Summer Wars is definitely worth the watch.

~Black Macgyver~

Battlefield Bad Company 2

2010-03-21T13:03:00.008Z

Intro

Well, I will be talking about the new Battlefield, Battlefield Bad Company 2 (BFBC2) and show that some EA games, which can be over-advertised, can really be good plain fun. I was somewhat surprised to see how good BFBC2 turned out to be. There is always this fear going around EA's games, when making a big rattle about them, that they will end up being really bad (like NFS Undercover). All in all, this game is really good so let's start with the gameplay....

Gameplay

The gameplay is the most important thing this game has to offer, the pure style FPS like COD uses (if I must compare them), is really entertaining. In the single player, the AI of the opponents is much improved over previous games. There are vehicles to drive (amphibious and ground vehicles), and there's even a mission where must escape from the enemy, while blazing with grenade launchers and watching the road so you don't fall off a cliff. But, the best part of the game is that almost everything can be destroyed. For example if the enemy is in a house, you sneak under the house and blast him through the floor with a shotgun. This destruction allows much more tactical flexibility, so you don't end up with such repetitive linear gameplay. As seen in this picture... The gameplay gets a solid high score.

Graphics

The graphics are superb. The main focus was placed on the destructibility of course, but if you're more than a plain FPS kinda guy, you can indulge in the variety of environments anc locations you get to destroy; from moist swamps and jungles to blazing cold winter hills, the game really shows itself off well and the engine is very capable. You have to pay the price of course, and the price is a dual core CPU, at least 2GB of RAM and a decent graphics card (recommended you have 512MB RAM). You cant expect to play such a game with a 4 year old computer... The graphics also get a solid high mark, and you can enjoy yourself blowing stuff up!

Sound

The sound is really atmospheric. In the jungle you will hear the birds and wildlife, guns firing, your teammates yelling. There is a great combat atmosphere which really immerses you in the game. With great sound and good attention to detail, it's hard not to commend the developers for what they have done.

Conclusion

This game is really something. I wholeheartedly recommend it, and blasting your opponents while chatting with your teammates and having a laugh is great fun. Even if you aren't totally into FPS games that much (I prefer RPG type games and still enjoyed it immensely), you will get a lot out of the game for the price of admission.

Written on:3.21.2010 Written by:Damir Tomac a.k.a. K-H-Schneider.

Shangri-La Animation

2010-03-21T12:37:00.001Z

Shangri-La

Introduction

With this review I`m going to try to give you an idea of this anime. I will try to either separate my own opinion from the facts or at least make it visible for you, so that you always know whether I`m suggesting something or whether it`s a matter of fact. I`m also trying to spoil as little as possible; however a review is almost always a bit of a spoiler and hence you should decide on your own whether to keep reading or not. If you are going to watch the anime anyway I`d suggest you don`t read this review.
I started to watch this anime, because I had an opportunity to get my hands on a 1080p HDTV (by O-L]) rip. At first I wasn`t even sure whether I`d drop this anime or not, but as the story and the characters developed, I decided to continue. I didn`t regret this, because it got better almost at the half of it (around episode 10).

Story and characters

As the short description on aniDB says, the story is set in a - arguably distant - future where Tokyo became a forest that absorbs carbon dioxide. There is a tower city called Atlas, which is considered a last resort for the Japanese people. Unfortunately there is trouble and hence it doesn`t seem that the politicans are interested in "rescuing" all the people from the poisoneus forest.
The story revolves around a group of people who call themselves "Metal-Age". This group helps the people, who are not in Atlas yet and thus suffer from diseases, starvation and other problems. You might compare that group to Robin Hood ("take from the rich ones and give it to the poor ones").
Kuniko Houjou is a skilled girl amongst that group. She`s very energetic, tries to think positive and of course a bit naive. At her side there are Momoko and Mi-ko, who are both transsexual. They often make jokes about it - which is one of the comedy aspects of the anime. Another one is Takehiko, who`s the tough guy in the group. He`s responsible for quite a few funny actions as well - yet the anime manages to not drift into "trash-comedy". Comedy, action and a bit of romance and horror are all neatly mixed and the series itself tries to keep the balance for as long as possible. This however doesn`t mean that there are no exceptions: there`s quite a bit of violence (not necessarily involving blood) which can seem disturbing at times, and yet funny at others.
The story seems to be standing still for about 10 episodes, while the viewer is getting to know the Metal Age and their problems as well as Atlas. The viewer also has a lot of time to understand Kuniko`s character. Near the middle of the series the anime starts out to uncover more and more secrets of Atlas while also revealing characters and their positions within the world (I can assure you that you might not expect the way things turn out). At the end - near the end - the viewer can almost feel Kunikos thoughts and feelings himself. Yet the end is another turn of events; I guess it`s better you find it out for yourself though.

Audio and visuals

While Range Muratas art is very impressive on paper, it`s somehow not that impressive in the anime itself. Especially the eyes of many characters seem to be very uncommon and sometimes even "out of place". This put aside the characters look pretty usual - except that there are no real schools where Kuniko comes from, yet she`s wearing a school uniform. The backgrounds - while staying often the same - are of high quality and level of detail. Overall it`s a mix of the streets you might already find nowadays with some futuristic thoughts (especially in Atlas). This is not a bad thing - just something you have to get used to (which you got plenty of time for).
All characters are easy to distinguish, because of their unique appearance and the way they behave.

Takahashi Mikako did a wonderful job on lending Kuniko her voice. I think the voice is very convincing at all situations. Same goes to all the other characters. At some of the characters you can`t really conclude what they think at some moments (Lady Mikuni for example) - it`s hard to tell whether she does things on purpose or not.
The music is also very good. It always matches the scenes and the current mood and atmosphere. The two soundtracks (you can find them both on cdjapan.co.jp) contain all the music from the anime as well as the opening and the ending. However there`s an opening single, which has the full version of the opening and the karaoke as well some other song and karaoke version.
You can`t really compare the soundtrack to other soundtracks, because some pieces are very unique (especially those with soft backing voices); there are happy and sad / melancholic tracks on it.

Note on the particular rip (by O-L)

The rip is done very well. There are (almost) no blocks whatsoever, the audio is clean and the subtitles are alright. The files are about 578mb each, the framerate seems variable - the opening seems to have a higher framerate and thus has some blocks.
The video stream is in full-HD (1920x1080, progressive) with an average of about 3Mbps, h264-coded.
The audio stream is 48kHz, MP4A at 128kbps. The quality is very good in my opinion.

Opinion

In contrast to many people I know, who think this anime "sucks", I think the anime is quite good. Even though the setting as well as the overall story is a bit predictable, it`s still a joy to sit and feel with the characters.
As to the characters: the most important thing about them is that they really don`t look like one another. They are different and you can see it with every word they speak and every movement they make.
While it took me 3 tries to finish the first 10 episodes, I "rushed" the rest of them within one day. This isn`t a lot, but considering the fact that I had to work and prepare stuff at home it`s quite a way.

If you`re looking for action and an interesting story with lots of different and small jokes, a show where you have really atmospheric moments you almost feel the wind on your face, and you don`t mind the slow development at the beginning - this is definitely an anime you should take a look at. It has a nice story, interesting and really different characters (even though they are made off some stereotypes), nice visuals and good animation as well as nice and matching music and convincing voices.

Hope this review helped. I am always open to any suggestions which could help to improve my reviews (this is my first one). Please excuse my English as it`s not my first language and therefore might lack some words or even some sense. I`d be happy to know if this helped you decide or not.

Take care and have fun ^_^;
Aoi.

P.s.: yes, it's a repost of the review I've written for anidb.net (I'm npsdivstar :P just for reference).

IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!

2010-03-21T00:02:00.001Z

Born out of the sudden machinations of three godlike beings fated to meet in the dark depths of IRC chat rooms who have united to form the new higher echelon of reviewing technology from our internets to yours. Our founder, known only to man as Lonyo, will be covering mainly live action films, while Aoi, and myself, Black Macgyver, will cover the fineries of visual media to the west and beyond. follow us on our journey through all things visual!!!!!

EDIT: also, joining our ranks is Ishmayeck who will cover whatever he wants to because that's how we roll.

~Black Macgyver~