Hisui’s picks:

• It Might JUST Cross the Finish Line in Time
  After it began all the way back in December of 1994 it seems that the Evangelion manga is finally on its last volume. That means they MIGHT just finish before the reboot movies are over. But it is Yoshiyuki Sadamoto so we shall see what happens.
• I come to bury Bandai, not to praise it.
  • The Gentleman on Gundamn! give their analysis of Bandai pulling out of the US market.
  • The AWO crew and some special guests do the same. 
• The Horn of Manga Gondor
  The ANNCast had on Carl Horn who is one of the most knowledgeable people working in manga in the US. He has plenty of stories about the growth of the industry as well as some juicy behind the scenes info. Plus he is one of the few old timers that still has a genuinely upbeat attitude. Just a delight to listen to.
• Rage Against the Intelligent Flying Machine
  We got some new designs of mecha and characters from Eureka Seven: AO. The most amusing part to me is all the people complaining that female pilots means this will be a harem show.
• Type-Moon News Roundup
  • Here Comes the Bride: The only question is when will we get a figure of the alternate costume for Caster.
  • Even More Saber: Everyone can feel free to buy this for me.
  • Fate/Fake Saber
  • The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
  • The New Fate/Zero Opening (This is not really the New Fate/Zero Opening)

Narutaki’s picks:

• Love Scars
  Special for upcoming Valentines Day, Comics Alliance has a new series “Love Hurts” which features some of the most hilarious (and creepy) romance comics of the past. All brought to you by the very funny Chris Sims. It is a shame this column will not continue after the holiday!
• GO ETU!!!
  At least Adidas understands my love for Giant Killing! They are releasing a slue of apparel from uniforms to scarves (do want!). It is all limited edition so I’m not sure I’ll ever get my hands on it though.
• Monsuno Killed the Dinosaurs
  According to the press release for this new Nickelodeon animated series. Evil alien DNA, end of the world, monsters, sounds like a series worth giving a shot later this month.
• NOT Disney’s Snow Queen Film
  This is a trailer for a new Russian re-telling of their classic story, coming out at the end of 2012. It is the first major CG production for them and looks pretty impressive. Since the trailer is in English, hopefully that means it will see a wider release and not just be available to film festivals throughout next year.
• Let’s Pretend There is an Incredibles 2
  With this concept art it isn’t too hard to let your imagination run wild. We all want a sequel to Pixar’s most sequelable (?) movie, but still any plans for it elude our watchful eyes.
• Is Marvel’s Public Image Spiraling Out of Control?
  There has been a lot of bad press for the company lately and with mounting lawsuits, complaints, and outcry things don’t seem to be getting better. The big two have always had shady dealings marring their past but it isn’t in the past at all. Just this week Marvel demanded $17,000 from the creator of Ghost Rider for profiting from his creation. Then in an interview Marvel’s publisher tried to tell us that they do not do crossovers, nope never, which is just plain strange and not true. It doesn’t seem like a big deal perhaps, but lying to your fanbase makes them question why you did so. The more we learn about the company, the less people are willing to ignore these things and at some point they may be pushed too far.

A most amusing cross over:

Filed under: All Points Bulletin, Editorials Tagged: Disney, Eureka Seven, Fate/Extra CCC, Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Zero, Giant Killing, Marvel, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Pixar, Type-Moon ]]> http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/12/all-points-bulletin-neoclassical-romanticism/feed/ 2 reversethieves hisuicon narutaki sep-pic hisuicon http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/11/fateget-licensed/ http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/11/fateget-licensed/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:30:30 +0000 reversethieves http://reversethieves.com/?p=18797 ]]>

This is an open letter to any companies that are either currently localizing visual novels or are interested in getting into that market.

Imagine this. Some company like Manga Gamer or JAST USA that already adapts Japanese visual novels into English wants to bring out Fate/Stay Night. It is a highly demanded title with a ravenous and dedicated fan base. The problem is the licensing price on a high-profile game like Fate/Stay Night is equally high to the point where it would need to sell more copies than any other visual novel ever has in the English-speaking market to break a profit. Despite the number of people who say they would pay there is a readily available fan translation of the game from Mirror Moon so the question always is how many of them will actually buy anything. I know there are manga that English publishers won’t pick up because they feel the scanlations make them worthless to license. How many people will buy a game they already played for free?  I am sure many companies have run the numbers and discovered that the risk to reward ratio is far too great to take a chance on the title. As it is it might not even be viable at all. I myself can’t blame them. They just want to keep the lights on.

But now that Kickstarter has created a viable method of getting funding and support to what would otherwise be high risk niche projects. I wonder if a title like Fate/Stay Night could be viable. I am not going to even pretend like I am an insider. I don’t know what the licensing fee on visual novels are nor how much the assorted overhead costs are with releasing a title like Fate/Stay Night. Even with a Kickstarter it might still be ridiculously prohibitive to even attempt such an undertaking. But I feel a well orchestrated and promoted Kickstarter just might be able to make this a feasible idea. It removes a good deal of the risk involved in licensing such a big named title and lets the companies involved get a real sense of how many people would buy such a title before any money exchanges hands. It is a great time to run a kickstarter for such a project and a title like Fate/Stay Night will definitely get people talking. No one is assuming you are every going to raise Double Fine money but you could easily make Barbara money. And that just might be the boost the game needs to actual make it to its English-speaking fans.

I can’t help but be fascinated with this idea. If any one has any idea of how to make this happen let me know. If any company wants to take this idea I am leaving it on the table. If any company was toying with the idea before I wrote this post then I am showing that it has some support. Otherwise if you support this idea just leave a comment below and pass this post around to show this idea has support among the fans.

Narutaki’s picks:

• 13 Years After Women in Refrigerators
  A collection of articles reflecting on what has happened in comics since Gail Simone’s now infamous Women in Refrigerators site. Have women characters in comics gotten anywhere since? I found the reflection on Ms. Marvel particularly amazing in just how much has happened to one character. 
  
• Do You Believe in Sherlock?
  Apparently there is a movement going on and I’m just disappointed that I haven’t seen any of this in New York City! This article breaks down what’s been happening since the end of the second season of BBC’s Sherlock, warning for spoilers. Is it a brilliant viral marketing campaign or a grassroots love for the series, we may never know.
• Visit All These Awesome Bookstores
  I know I want to! Every time I go on a trip, I’ll consult this list to see if I’ll be near any of these. Not too many in the United States unfortunately.

Hisui’s picks:

• Now This is What it’s Like When World’s Collide
  Kazuo Koike and Gen Urobuchi chatted with each other and an audience online during Kazuo Koike’s Nico Nico Character Cram School. Ko Ransom provided ANN with a summary of the chat which provided insight into the writing styles of both authors. There were also a good deal of Puella Magi Madoka Magica questions and Kazuo Koike also discussed his upcoming magical girl series. The fact that Madoka is so oddly influential nature in the anime community is still a bit odd to me but so be it.
• Mo Robos Mo Problems
  I finally caught up of episodes of the VEEF show.
  • Booby Trap: This episode says it is about Stratos 4 but its true nature reveals itself after a brief Stratos 4 review. (Because there is no way you can talk for over three hours about Stratos 4.) It is about a war as old as the battle between the Zentradi and the Supervision Army.
  • More Valkyries than Valhalla: An overview of Valkyrie toys through the years. The podcast mostly focuses on the iconic VF-1 Valkyrie but also touches on many of the other toys in the Macross Universe as well.
  • In Memory of Clan Smoke Jaguar: Battletech is the American mecha franchise. It is also an incredibly complex tactical role-playing game that has spawned a slew of multimedia spinoffs. This is Andrew’s second attempt to tackle the beast and this time he has backup.
• Type-Moon News Roundup
  • Preview of a Holy Night
  • Not Sure HOW These Two Go Together
  • The Grand Reopening
• The Cognitive Dissidence is Tearing My Brain Apart
  Come … to … Hooters … for … Valentine’s … Day … parfaits … and … Hello … Kitty.
• I Found Out This Week That Not Everyone Has Seen This
  A vital piece of your Internet education.
• I am Interested in This
  The newest 07th Expansion game is entitled Rose Guns Days and will be set in 1947. Curious to see what that will be about.

I believe!

Filed under: All Points Bulletin, Editorials Tagged: Battletech, Macross, robots, Sherlock, Type-Moon ]]> http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/05/all-points-bulletin-parfaits-in-refrigerators/feed/ 5 reversethieves narutaki hisuicon sep-pic narutaki http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/03/ongoing-investigations-case-155/ http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/03/ongoing-investigations-case-155/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:30:22 +0000 reversethieves http://reversethieves.com/?p=18488 ]]>

All good things must come to an end and so I wrapped up Carnival Phantasm season 3. Last week I wrote about Fate/Prototype but it was just an extra added in with the last disc of Carnival Phantasm. Otherwise the last 4 episode stick to the comedic tone of the rest of the series. We start with the best new episode right out of the gate. The Holy Grail Grand Prix is just amazing. The Lion-Go will win your heart with its cuteness, Gilgamesh pops in during the middle to ruin everyone’s day (like he always does), and it is nice to actually see Assassin get to participate in a sketch. A good deal of joke time bombs in this episode. The Akiha story is straight out of Take Moon with Kohaku up to her normal tricks but the Brainwasher Detective skits that end the episode were the star of the show. The third episode is a Final Destination homage all around Lancer and his Kenny like tendencies. The final episode wraps everything up with the conclusion to the dating plan from the first disc and a round-up of all the pieces of the Type-Moon universe. While they were not voice acted they included characters from Fate/Zero, The Garden of Sinners, the Mobile Site, and even Notes. I am sad to finish Carnival Phantasm but maybe one day down the road we will get another season after a few more games come out. Surely Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, Fate/Apocrypha, and maybe even Girls’ Work will warrant revival of the carnival.

Thermae Romae came to an end just after three episodes. But a delightful three episodes they were. In each subsequent adventure Lucias spent more and more time in Japan soaking up the culture. Because he celebrates each new experience in Japan with such enthusiasm, it spills over to the audience (maybe because so many of us non-Japanese fans long to go as well). And each time he returns to Rome things get weirder from smelly bandits to being courted by the emperor to a village of baths. Perhaps a few more episodes wouldn’t get stale but I definitely think they let the series go out while it was still a quirky surprise and that’s a good thing.

And so I finally put another Pretty Cure show under my belt with the conclusion of Suite Precure. Suite Precure distinctly had its ups and downs. It was an enjoyable little series but it has some distinct flaws. It is hardly the low point in the series but it is never be the pinnacle of the series as well. I did not have any problem with Cure Muse like some people did. I would go as far as to say she was one of the most clever parts of the series. The ending was fairly standard but enjoyable. There was a good bit of back and forth between the Cures and Noise. He did not just pummel them until their last second victory. Both sides got some good shots in during the last few episodes. The sooner they got Noise to be in his true form the better it was because as dorky little bird it was hard to take him seriously as the main villain of the series. Some of these scenes with him manically laughing were very silly when he was still P-chan. No matter what anyone tells you Hibiki’s ultimate attack is not Suite Session Ensemble Crescendo Finale but in fact psychoanalysis. Sh goes all Jungian on Noise in the end to finally defeat him. It also looks like she defeats him with the Brofist of Ultimate Friendship™ when the pull back during the climax. I was surprised the last episode was all falling action. While the Pretty Cure shows always have a little finale they don’t usually spend the whole episode on it. Still with all that time the Kanade, Ellen, and Ouji love triangle goes completely unmentioned let alone resolved. Overall I enjoyed the series despite some missteps. If you want to see Pretty Cure at its best watch Heartcatch but if you just want a solid little magical girl show then watch Suite Precure.

I took a look at the Johnnie Walker Keep Walking Studio 4C promotional video. A surreal dreamlike setting unfolds before us where things change and morph before you. It is a beautiful, vibrant piece of work though I can’t really say what is has to do with Whiskey.

After two separate recommendations I decided to check out some iOS games. Patz recommended Tiny Tower while Chaos Theater named dropped Where’s My Water. Both of them do a great job of being little time killers in their own way. I first heard about Tiny Tower due to the Zynga controversy but I only started playing after Patz suggested I try it out. It is much like SimTower but simplified for the hand-held experience. You construct a little building that has housing and shops using their profits to expand your tower. It is perfect for a hand-held device because you can play it for less than a minute if that is all the time you have but you can also sit down just kill some time if you want as well. You can update your shops and then put it down and not look at it again for hours or you can micromanage things if you just want to kill time. I really enjoy naming the little business even if you don’t have to.  It is free to play bu there is also in-game money that can be purchased. I am not sure why you would ever spend money on the game unless you were impatient but I suppose that is what this whole free to play game model is based around. The other game is the Where’s My Water demo from Disney. It is a clever little puzzle game. You try to dig tunnels so that the water can flow to a cartoon alligator so he can take his shower. The same starts of very simple but slowly adds new obstacles and tools as the game goes on in classic puzzle game tradition. Soon there is acid, poison water, locks, and other various complications. The learning curve is gently sloped so you always feel challenged but never overwhelmed. A great little distraction and like Tiny Tower it has the perfect quick burst of entertainment for its given platform.

The 4-6 Magic Kaito Specials aren’t really all that memorable. Episode 5 has a some good Kaito thievery as well as that sweet magic he is able to surprise you with. But 4 and 6 feature a new witch character prominently and it throws me off a little. Kaito’s magic is the world of illusion and sleight of hand, and both he and Conan employ plenty of super science, but actual mystic abilities just seems weird. These were mostly done as a 15th anniversary project so I’m not sure if there will be more of not. If not they didn’t go out on a particularly high note either.

Hisui’s picks:

• Just Accept that You Will Never be Ed Chavez
  The Eeeper’s choice podcast is back from its recent hiatus. Philip teams up with Ed Sizemore to look at Kingyo Used Books after shooting the breeze about the manga industry in general.
  
• Random Fact: My Brother Keeps a Raise Dead and a Swamp in His Wallet at all Times
  Chaos Theater talk about the most famous collectable card game of them all, Magic: The Gathering. So many memories, so many booster packs. What colors did you play back in the day? Heck, do you still play it today?
• If you Kickstart Me Up I’ll Never Stop
  The Manga Out Loud podcast looks at the use of Kickstarter to fund manga publishing and the community’s reaction to the Barbara project. I don’t agree with a lot that is said in the podcast but it is an interesting discussion. Ed also did an overview of the big events in manga during 2011 just before that.
• We Might not Get a U.S. Release of Turn A But We Can Take Solace in This
  If you were ever curious what Kunio Okawara designed Turn A Gundam would look like you don’t have to wonder anymore.
• This Says so Much about Gundam Fandom
  A diagram of the “winners” and “losers” involved in the romantic relationships of the various Gundam series.
• Type-Moon News Roundup
  • A well made Fate/EXTRA and EF – A Tale of Melodies mash up video
  • Some Fate/Zero Cafe exclusives 
  • Even more cafe news
  • Luna Haruna chosen to sing the ending of the 2nd season of Fate/Zero

Narutaki’s picks:

• Animation’s Annie Awards Streaming on February 4th
  This is considered Oscar night for animation!
• A Reasoned Opinion of Piracy’s Place in Comics
  Illegal downloading has come back around to be a topic again what with SOPA/PIPA on people’s minds it is no surprise. This time its American comic fans talking about the industry. David’s response takes on the accusation that piracy is the main reason comics, particularly superhero comics, have taken a dive in profits.
• ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION Album Coming Out in the U.S.
  Their first ever stateside release will be a greatest hits album. They’ve contributed to plenty of anime series so expect those songs and more.
• Self-Publishing Comics Through Amazon
  Apparently it is working, and working big for one 16-year-old. Her comic was even out-selling major titles at the holidays. I haven’t gotten to read any comics yet, but her website shows of her artwork better than the interview article.
  
• Re-branding Logos for Video Game Characters
  This is actually a double re-branding since he took already established logos but used them in a creative way for a myriad of characters.
• Megaupload Closes, Toonzaki Sees Online Views Rise 20%
  There isn’t a true way to equate these two occurrences but 4kids has made the connection.

Another look at something special from Turn A Gundam:

Carnival Phantasm has come to an end. The grand Type-Moon cross over even ended with some little cameos by the cast of Fate/Zero, Kara no Kyoukai, the Mobile Site, and some rather minor Type Moon characters. The they even gave some love to Notes with V/V. But at the very end after the credit a mysterious woman picks up the phone to introduce the bonus movie. This woman is Sajyou Ayaka who is the original protagonist of an early draft of Fate/Stay Night. To celebrate the end of Carnival Phantasm the extra goes back to the origin of the Type-Moon universe with Fate/Prototype. This video is an animated version of some of the notes to the original unfinished story that would be used to make Fate/Stay Night.

There are some major changes that this prototype story went through before it became the game known as Fate/Stay Night. The most famous change is that originally Saber was a man and the young witch known as Ayaka Sajyou was his master. Takeuchi Takashi felt that visual novel fans would not like to play as a female protagonist to the genders were swapped. Ayaka Sajyou seems like a mix of Rin and Shiro with a bit of Enjou Tomoe thrown in for good measure. She is much more powerful and knowledgeable than Shiro but she has his softhearted nature while having the gloomy edge of Enjou. Also the religious theme around the Holy Grail War are much more pronounced. All the Masters have a different choir of angel they are connected to and the Grail itself has far more of a twisted Christian connotation. In fact the final secret Avenger style Servant is the Beast itself. Rider is certainty a new man and his master is equally different (as much as we might have wanted Shinji to be bed ridden.) Phahn Sancraid is definitely a creepy priest like Kotomine but he looks and feels creepy in his own unique way. Also while Saber was involved in a former Grail War this time his Master was Ayaka’s sister and she was not a very nice person.

On the other hand you also see many of the seeds that would go on to make Fate/Stay Night what it is. The basic framework is unmistakable. The structure and cyclic nature of the war is the same. The hidden tainted nature of the grail is still in the background. Ayaka and Saber’s relationship clearly went on to inspire Rin and Archer’s relationship. Also taking Ayaka and combining her with Misaya Reiroukan gets us the Rin we know in Fate/Stay Night. Saber’s tragic participation in a previous iteration of the war with his new’s Master’s family is also the same. Gilgamesh is still the same Gilgamesh. Also Saber’s battle with Gilgamesh was giving me vibes from the Saber and Rider’s battle from the Fate route.  Gilgamesh looks a bit more primitive but he is still spamming swords and wearing golden armor. He is still an arrogant king of nonconsensual relationships only this time he wants Ayaka instead. Lancer also looks different but he is still Cu Chulainn. I am sure being Lancer is still suffering. He even hunts down Saber’s master impaling them through the heart as the catalyst for summoning her servant. That results in a first meeting of Master and Servant that would be reproduced in Fate/Stay Night. And as the Type Moon wiki points out Manaka Sajyou looks like evil baby Arturia Pendragon.

It is fascinating to see how Fate/Stay Night morphed to become the visual novel we see today. While the basic structure might be the same you can see the initial concept went through many changes when it was adapted to another form of media. In the end I am somewhat divided. Part of me would love to see this expanded into its own series. Seeing how everything would have originally played out if it had stayed as a linear novel would be a great insight into how Nasu has changed as an author. There seem to be some very interesting concepts here that never made it into the final product. At the same time I wonder if these changes were not made for very good reasons. It is easy to forget the value of editing that takes a messy raw concept and refines it into a more complete product when done correctly. Maybe many of the ideas and plot that were changed were changed with good reason. Without the adaption we would not have the sexy sex machine that is Rider. Then again that scene of Ayaka getting out her witches’ broom seemed pretty cool as well. Overall while I would buy a full length Fate/Prototype series it would not break my heart if it were never made. This is a good enough sample for now.

I have finally completed my final play through of Fate/Extra. Having completed it with Caster I feel like I have closed out the game. While I did not go through every scenario possible in the game I think I saw the optimal amount of possibilities. I would be interested in a few tiny details like using Saber with a female protagonist or taking Archer through Rani’s route but those little details are what YouTube is for. In this final post on Fate/Extra I just wanted to give my thoughts on playing as Caster. I mean how could I not play the game as the cute little fox goddess even if that is dangerously close to furry country.

I will admit I tore through this play through whereas I savored the other two. The third time around I had to put in cheat codes because there was no way I was legitimately grinding through the game a third time. I love Type-Moon but I am not crazy. It was sort of fun playing through the game as a level 99 god. You can actually win several battles are supposed to either come to a draw or have you be outright slaughtered. Winning them never changes to plot but it does get you some bonus dialog as a pat on the back for your accomplishments. That said it was still quite obvious that Caster is the hard mode. That is not to say that she is worthless because at times she is a wrecking crew. The problem is she is really slow to power up and definitely a glass cannon. When you start the game she is definitely the weakest character you can pick. She does not deal much physical damage, she has paper-thin defense, and it takes awhile for her to get the spells she needs to rip things apart. When you have her full complement of spells she is a monster but no matter how high level you get her she is always fragile and cannot absorb too much damage. But her basic spells are a nasty one two punch as they do their standard damage and can stun the opponent if you choose wisely. If you set things up correctly she can tear into even the toughest opponents. I took out Saver in 1 round with a level 99 Caster and Ryougi Shiki without breaking a sweat. She is challenging but rewarding to play.

Caster is a cutie-pie little vixen with a deceptive appearance. She seems like an airhead but she is someone who will just as easily deceive, set up, and then assassinate everyone around her in a way that would make the Count of Monte Cristo slightly uneasy. She is definitely designed to have a mixture of Yamato Nadeshiko loyalty, ditzy charm, and vengeful possessiveness. It does give her an amusing appeal if a bit on the moe wish-fulfillment side of feminine appeal. She is definitely the most openly affectionate and playful Servant as well as the most sexually aggressive.  A bonny boom boom body does not hurt with features on the safe side of anthropometric. She was a refreshing sorbet after the sarcastic Archer. The most surprising part of her past was her connection to Twice H. Pieceman. It was set up in advance but like everything involving Pieceman I wish they had investigated it more. I also wish Caster was in other mediums as well. Her careful Machiavellian plotting combined with her harmless demeanor would make her an interesting character in a title outside of a tournament RPG.

That is it for Fate/Extra. I definitely got my money’s worth in the 3 play throughs I did. I admit that I certainly used the skip dialog button quite a bit in my third time through but Caster’s charm made it worth my time. I now have three max affection Servants to import into Fate/Extra CCC if that ever comes out. I hope that the game did well enough that Aksys Games considers picking up the sequel. I can’t wait to see how your characters transfer over and what rewards you get for playing the previous game. I can never get enough of the Fate universe.

That is all the time we have for this week. Send in your questions for either Grail-kun or Love Detective Hisui and they will answer them as soon as possible.

I have been occasionally playing the little treasure that have come from Comic Market 81 including the two anime fighting games I cared the most about, those being Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code and Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross. Far be it from me to even pretend to be a serious Type-Moon critic but I must complain about Melty Blood. Playing both games back to back makes me realize that Melty Blood SERIOUSLY needs to upgrade their sprites. If you compare the crisp HD sprites of Ougon Musou Kyoku to Melty Blood’s wonderful but outdated character graphics the difference is so noticeable. I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy playing the new Melty Blood. Adding the new selectable fighting styles and added characters is very much appreciated. But I would rather the next addition of the game make minimal additions to any game play (which is already quite good) and instead work on the graphics. It would take a great game and modernize it into a spectacular game.

I realize that this is partially a selfish and very complicated request. Upgrading sprites is a major undertaking and fighting games are loathed to change the artwork on sprites that already work unless they have no other choice. The infamous example was the use of the outdated Morrigan spite until Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. I also know that French Bread would probably wish to spend more time and effort on the graphics for the artwork of their own original property game, Under Night In-Birth. It might be a somewhat selfish request but it is one I make anyhow. I know it is a serious investment but it is one that I think would result in an equal amount of returns.

While this is slightly delayed I have finally got through my second play through of Fate/Extra this time with Archer, a female protagonist, and taking the Rin route. Essentially I changed everything you could change to see how much it actually effected the story and how the game played out. If you are looking for a proper review of the game you just check out my first article about my Saber playthrough. That has more analysis of the game proper. This is just a supplemental look at the viability of a replay and what bits of nuance I got out of using Archer. This review took about a month longer than it should have as I swear the universe did everything up to including making it so my PSP would no longer read UMDs to prevent this review. Le sigh. But here it is.

First of all while it is a nice option to play as a female protagonist in Fate/Extra as far as I can tell it is the one choice that has the smallest effect on the game. I am glad to see that you are going to make the protagonist be so much of an avatar you might as well let both sexes have a chance to be represented. But sadly unlike say Persona 3 Portable changing your gender does not change the way the game plays. You don’t get any different plot choices and most of the dialog goes completely unchanged. It also makes all the servants and a few other characters in the game strongly bisexual as they will develop romantic feelings for you regardless of your gender. I do find that a bit amusing. I am sure that pleases the yuri fans but the yaoi fans can get a little for themselves as well.

I will state this plainly. There is no way you can mistake Archer from Fate/Extra being anyone BUT Archer from Fate/Stay Night. He makes references to fighting in another Holy Grail War in a school setting, he recognizes Shinji and Rin but mentions her knew much different versions of them, makes a an off-handed reference to the traditional Saber we all know and love, and even has the same appearance, powers, and back story as the traditional Archer. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands. I am not sure why some people seem to insist that this Archer is not necessarily the Archer from Fate/Stay Night. While I am not sure the story of how he become a Counter Guardian counts as canon outside if this iteration of the franchise it is clear who he is supposed to be. If nothing else this means that Archer is the servant to play as if you are a fan of the original story. No one else will even come as close to the number of in jokes and references as picking EMIYA as your servant.

Playing as Archer at times feels like a whole new experience and other times feels exactly the same as playing as Saber. The big difference is the dialog. Any time the your servant speaks there is always a very distinct tone in their dialog. If you picked any line as just read it off with no other context you could tell who the line is from. Where as every statement from Saber is grandiose but affectionate all of Archers conversation is filled with sarcasm and ruggedness. Also Saber is without a doubt easy mode. Anything that Saber does with ease takes Archer a good deal more work to do. Archer’s real ace in the hole is Seven Rings of Heaven as it can just ignore one attack. But other than that he is just harder to play.

The same thing thing is true with the alternate servants when you do Rin’s path. While the dialog is different with other opponents the mechanics of what you have to do are exactly the same. How you transverse the levels, gather matrix information, and even get help from your female companion is identical. Lil’ Ronnie and her Lancer are even crazier and far creepier than Monji Gatoh but I miss the True Ancestor. I was a bit more conflicted when fighting Rin in Rani’s path but I enjoyed your little romance/friendship with Rani more. The servants on Rin’s path were far easier as a breezed through those battles despite the fact that Archer was not anywhere as powerful as Saber. But if you pick Archer as your servant you MUST take the Rin path. His reactions to Rin in-person and when you are alone are priceless. The amount he purposefully does NOT say is just as hysterical as what he does say. I am curious what he says in those moments if you take the Rani path but they can’t be as wonderful as his dialog for Rin. Also he has the One-True-Mana-Exchange-Scene™ in this route.

The biggest thing that is added to a second play through is you can fight Shiki Ryougi as a secret boss. As is the tradition with all secret bosses she is far harder than anyone else in the game. After my level 55 Archer died against her the 4th time I just cheesed her by rushing to get out Unlimited Blade Works so I could spam her with Fake Spiral Swords and used a bunch of elixirs so I could do that for 3 rounds. You get a useful little item from beating her= that lets you cancel your opponents next move but it mostly only useful if you are going for a 3rd playthrough. Shiki is a nice Easter egg that explains the presence of Touko in the game but all in all she is mostly just an Easter egg.

So the real question is if it is worth playing the game a second time. My answer is yes and no. There is a good deal of new dialog and story if you play a second time. The game makes sure to reward you for playing  with new elements and things to discover. Even the servants who were the same react differently to the companion you choose to fight at your side. But other than that the game itself plays exactly the same. Everything is mechanically unchanged. Also the grinding is far more annoying the second time around. I enjoyed the fact that you kept the learned patterns from the last game but it did not make the time killing the same monsters again and again any more interesting. They really should have just let you keep your levels from them last playthrough so you could focus on the story. I could tolerate as the hardcore Type-Moon fan but I see most people getting sort of frustrated. But you have to grind like that if you want to take out  Shiki at the end. I would say the second play though is worth it but I would play something else in between play playthroughs as it might help take the edge off doing the same thing twice in a row and let you just enough the changes with a little distance. I will do a hopefully shorter little follow-up article about Caster. I am sure I will have a lot less to say but I feel I should mention how she plays and what I think of her character.

Narutaki’s picks:

• Samurai Pizza Cats Figure Appears!
  Possibly the most unexpected figure announcement I can imagine.
• Darth Vader and Yoda Burgers
  I am rather surprised this burger promotion is only at the European-based fast food chain Quick. I am perplexed about the Darth Vader bun but also what is on top of the Yoda burger, marshmallows?
• How We Should Be Living Today According to Ladies Home Journal of 1900
  What an amazing article full of clear parallels to the future as well as dual ideas of wild fantasy or constrained imagination. Some of my favorites include: Most of Central America joining the U.S.; people who can’t walk 10 miles will be considered weaklings; and people that expose food to human contact or if the food is stale will be arrested.
• The Magic Tree House Anime Movie
  Despite being based on the extremely popular U.S. children’s book series, The Magic Tree movie will probably only see a Japanese release. Author Mary Pope Osborne talks about how the project came to life in this article. Honestly I hope minds are changed so it can have a winder release; it looks very fun and faithful.
• The U.S. Government Debates Whether the X-Men Are Human
  In real open court! The discussion came about because of different taxes on toys vs. dolls. The ironic thing about this is if you know anything about the X-Men then you know the series often deals with discrimination, but in the trial Marvel argues they aren’t humans, they are mutants, for greater tax breaks.
• Trailer for Tintin in 2D
  This remade trailer uses the audio from the new film with clips from the 90′s animated series. Nicely done!

Hisui’s picks:

• Type-Moon News Round Up
  • Gen Urobuchi is Writing the Fate/Zero Drama CD
  • The Type-Moon New Year’s Greeting
• Japanese Justice League
  An amusing little collection a fictional Japanese Justice League drawn by Cliff Chiang. A great little pastiche for American comics fans as well as old school anime fans. The visual kei Joker is amazing.
• This Link is Mostly to Make My Roommate Happy
  Atlus just put out a new Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 trailer. It is Megami Tensei and a strategy RPG mixed into one. It is sure to be popular just like the first game in the Devil Survivor Megami Tensei spinoff series. There is also a new trailer for the Vita version of Persona 4 that is coming out in Japan as well.
  
• Otaku queue better than John de Lancie.
  Bad puns aside there are some amazing time-lapse photographs of the line into Comiket 81. Nothing gives you a better impression of how many people attend until you see that line move. And it moves insanely orderly. I am sure once you get inside that order breaks down instantly but that is a different matter.
• Modern Retro Gaming
  Artists in a Swedish gaming magazine cook up their versions of screenshots from 2-d version of modern games complete with an era appropriate feel. They have everything from a Full Throttle styled Brütal Legend to Bayonetta as a shoot ‘em up.

It has been way too long since I thought about Samurai Pizza Cats.

Filed under: All Points Bulletin, Editorials Tagged: Fate/Zero, Justice League, Persona, Samurai Pizza Cats, Star Wars, The Magic Tree House, Tintin, Type-Moon, X-Men ]]> http://reversethieves.com/2012/01/08/all-points-bulletin-25/feed/ 2 reversethieves narutaki hisuicon sep-pic narutaki http://reversethieves.com/2012/01/03/manga-of-the-month-january-2012/ http://reversethieves.com/2012/01/03/manga-of-the-month-january-2012/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:30:15 +0000 reversethieves http://reversethieves.com/?p=17927 ]]> Take Moon (テイクムーン) by Eri Takenashi

With Carnival Phantasm just wrapping up I decided I might as well spotlight it’s origin. Take Moon was a little comedy anthology that Eri Takenashi of Kannagi fame wrote while she was still at Type-Moon (not that she fully left as she is doing the character designs for Girl’s Work.) It took the mostly serious characters from Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night and puts them in utterly comedic situations to play out their personalities in as exaggerated manner as possible. So Arcueid goes from eccentric vampire to am undead blonde airhead while Saber is portrayed less as a hungry young swordswoman and more as a bottomless pit. But it is all done in a loving manner. It has the lighthearted feel and spirit of fandom present in an amateur doujinshi with the polish of a professional manga. The first book is all Tsukihime characters where as the second book add in skits from Fate/Stay Night. You can tell that Eri Takenashi has a bit off a soft spot for Arcueid and Ciel but almost everyone gets a turn in the spotlight. Even Hanei Misawa and Bazett Fraga McRemitz get some screen time.

I will warn readers that the manga has two major barriers. The first is it assumes that you know the Nasuverse characters inside and out. No real effort is made to introduce the characters or their worlds. Eri Takenashi not only assumes you have played all the Type-Moon games but that you also know the fandom in-jokes surrounding the games. You don’t just have to know who Kohaku is but know her mad scientist persona that she has gained outside of the main games. The second barrier is the fact there is no official English release and the second volume has never been fan scanned. I think it would be neat if someone picked it Take Moon considering the increased interest due to Carnival Phantasm and its short length but I am not holding my breath.

Speaking of Carnival Phantasm the instant question is, “If I watched Carnival Phantasm is there any reason for me to read Take Moon?” The answer is of course. While some of the stories are pretty much a direct interpretation most of the stories have been modified. The anime adds in characters that were introduced after Take Moon was written like Riesbyfe Stridberg or Red Saber but throws some characters like Arihiko Inui and Zouken Matou from main character roles to minor cameos. Heck the whole Phantasmoon skits from the anime are based on one page of a longer and very different Phantasmoon story in the original manga. Both have stories unique to their iteration as well. I mean if nothing else you don’t want to miss out on the Mystic Eyes of Breast Enlargement. It is a delightful little piece of fun for fans of Type-Moon and Eri Takenashi alike.

• Learn more!
• Get it!

Hisui’s picks:

• Type Moon News Roundup
  • Comic Market 81 Roundup: All the loveliness you can buy at the Type-Moon table at Comic Market 81.
  • And the secret movie with the limited edition 3rd Season of Carnival Phantasm is Fate/Prototype. There is also the latest version of Melty Blood in there as well.
  • And if you are chilly you can get a Fate/Zero Assassin Hoodie.
  • Mahou Tsukai no Yoru gets some delicious screenshots as well.
• The Toys of Comic Market
  • Wonderful Nendoroids: Sakura Shinguji from Sakura Taisen and the Princess of the Crystal from Penguindrum are getting little plastic versions of themselves soon. The article implied there might be more Sakura Taisen figures on the way. I hope we can get a Gemini Sunrise Nendoroid as well.
  • Figmas as well: Irisviel von Einzbern from Fate/Zero and Princess of the Crystal get some bigger figures as well.
• Speaking of Comic Market
  Crunchyroll News has an interesting article with scans from a Comic Market catalog from 1986. At the same time that was going on I suppose the Ushiromiya family was having a bit of a hard time at the annual family conference.
• Enter the Chaos of the King of the Cave
  Chaos Theater looks at the Gonzo classic (yes that Studio Gonzo) Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. They also look at the sacred cows of adapting materials from one medium to another. And so it is not a total sausage fest they also have Kristina Pino from Tomopop. Oh and for Patz I will also mention their review of the Uncharted series.
• Out With the Old and in With the New
  The mecha men of Gundam celebrate the old year and look forward to the new year when it comes to animated robots from Japan.
• Welcome to Rock and Roll Night! Welcome to Rock and Fight!
  Why has no one licensed Penguindrum? Until that fateful day you can get the Triple H CD. Also for all the fans of classic rock I have the original Rock Over Japan By ARB.

Narutaki’s picks:

• Read an Excerpt from The Winds of Winter (Next Book in A Song of Ice and Fire)
  I think it goes without saying that this chapter is certainly a spoiler for anyone who hasn’t finished A Dance With Dragons. That being the case, I’m not going to say anything beyond I’m excited for the next book. Another excerpt is supposed to be released with the paperback version of A Dance With Dragons.  This also makes me feel good about the schedule of the book.
• New Project from Time of Eve Creator
  As a big fan of Time of Eve this was a great Christmas present. The new work, that doesn’t have many details yet, will be called Sakasama no Patema and see release sometime in 2012. We do know it is a boy-meets-girl story but creator Yoshiura also describes it as very strange. The promo art looks very nice!
• Codename: Kids Next Door One Piece Tribute
  A fun, little unexpected surprise comes with the new digital U.S. version of Weekly Shonen Jump.
• Tintin Technology and the Future of Cinema
  This is a really fascniating article, mainly for learning about how this movie was filmed. Beyond motion capture they created a “virtual studio” which allowed Spielberg to pick and choose props/etc. while also decided on filming angles without the usual restrictions of animation.
• NIS Licenses All Four Seasons of Natsume Yuujinchou
  I’m really starting to love this company.

The red string of fate connects us all:

I have made another guest appearance on The Digital Bug’s Visual Novel news podcast, the Eroge Bus. This time I go on to talk about the one subject that seems to be the most natural choice for me: Type-Moon. It is more an overview than a dissertation so I mostly touch a little on the history of the company and their more famous titles. If you were hoping for a lecture on Akasha, the Throne of Heroes, and Tohsaka Nagato you will have to request I come back for a more in-depth episode. Greg and I also chat about the latest news in the visual novel industry. Greg is the expert. I mostly make silly commentary. But it is a great podcast to see what is going on in the US and Japan when it comes to eroge.

Eroge Bus Episode 6

Best Anime of 2011
(Can Anything Top Utena?)

Fate/Zero by ufotable I don’t think anyone who has been to the site more than twice is super surprised this is here. It has Saber in a suit. It won automatically. Everything else unnecessary but appreciated. I know some people can’t stand the show because it can often have characters explains their motivation, plans, and magical systems in loving detail but that I love about the series. But at the same time when the fights go down they are pretty amazing. Even just that short confrontation between Berserker and Archer will put some hair on your chest. The animation can look OVA quality at points and is usually a visual feast even when it is simple conversation. I know I am pretty prejudiced towards loving the show but Fate/Zero expertly crafted and deserving of the position.

Runner up: Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai by A-1 Pictures There was just something about AnoHana that was gripping. Once I found out that Menma was a ghost I was compelled to discover what had happened that drove these seemingly inseparable friends apart. This could be seen as the anime version of the Big Chill. It was a great mix of comedy and drama that always focused on the characters more than the supernatural conceit.  The ending had some minor flaws but I think it came to an excellent emotional climax.

 Mawaru Penguindrum by Brain’s Base Ikuhara directs anime so infrequently, that alone is reason enough to celebrate. But he has gone further by creating another intriguing, mysterious, and surreal show in tune with his masterpiece Revolutionary Girl Utena. As we explore fate, life and death, sacrifice, society, and human connections it is all done with streamlined style and brilliant design. Penguindrum is a visual treat as much as it is mind-bending. The show never feels concrete and as you go on you feel less and less sure what to believe, it makes for one heck of a journey. The way Ikuhara has constructed the story of Penguindrum makes paying attention to the details key in watching; each episode is intimately connected to everything that has come before it. This also makes the prospects of a marathon rewatch very enticing.

Runner up: Tiger & Bunny by Bandai This was a close second for creating an anime about superheroes that Japan and the rest of us embraced happily. The combination of reality television, down on his luck hero Wild Tiger, and a lively cast and relationships gave it an extra kick while it played its hero tropes to the hilt.

Anime Man of the Year
(Can Anyone be Cooler then Spike Spiegel?)

Kotetsu T. Kaburagi from Tiger & Bunny As Narutaki mentioned Tiger and Bunny was one of the most entertaining shows of the season. At the same time it was the main character that really sold so many people on what otherwise seems like a very silly sounding anime. Wild Tiger is an anomaly in the often youth oriented medium by virtue of being an older character who has a daughter. He is a wonderful mixture of serious and lighthearted. Kotetsu is the classic white knight superhero while at the same time he is also a complete goofball. But when the chips are down he is always reliable and it does not feel like the writers are cheating to let him win. He is just a fun character that is easy to root for.

Daikichi from Bunny Drop Daikichi distinguishes himself in the very first episode, this is a guy you feel for and root for because he has a good heart even if he doesn’t always know what he is doing. As he quickly find himself over his head he is honest about it but also truly find in himself the desire to help give Rin the best life he can. His situations as surrogate father are very simple and normal but his relationship with Rin is what is inspiring thanks to plenty of humor. I realize now writing this that both Hisui and I picked single dads who are good intentioned idiots.

Anime Woman of the Year
(The Part where Hisui Picks Someone other than Saber so it is Slightly Interesting)

Chiharu Harukaze from Hayate no Gotoku! Chiharu Harukaze might seem like an unusual choice but I think she wonderful character. At first she seems a rather bland character. Aika Kasumi and her appear a few times in the first season of Hayate anime but they don’t get many speaking roles.  She seems like a straight-laced almost boring glasses girl. As the series goes on we learn that she moonlights as a maid and is actually a rather hardcore otaku. She is not as extreme as Nagi but she easily keeps up with her friend. I like her friendship Nagi as they play off each other well. If nothing else she is a great female otaku character that I think actual female anime fans can relate to. She has really grown on me as a character as she brings a nice feeling to the series.

 Survival Strategy (aka Princess of the Crystal) from Mawaru Penguindrum From her jaunty cap, to her catchphrase “survival strategy,” to her transformation sequence, to her theme song, to her telling everyone they will amount to nothing this lady is on a mission though she is as cryptic as they come. If nothing else, she makes one heck of a first impression. I, like most others I think, started calling her Survival Strategy since her name remained elusive. She drives the major portions of the plot including finding that mysterious object the “Penguindrum” and she has an even more important place as things unfold. A mascot of the show as much as the penguins, Survival Strategy is utterly unforgettable.

Best Retro Manga Release
(Everything Old is New Again)

Princess Knight by Osamu Tezuka I might have some problems with Tezuka’s storytelling in Princess Knight but overall it a triumph for this manga to be released in English. While it was not the first shojo manga its impact on shaping the genre in undeniable. It has long been this often referenced but hardly seen piece of manga history. It’s influence on The Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena is invariably brought up when those shows are discussed. It also made cross dressing and gender politic an inseparable part of girls comics in Japan. It is great to see this series in an easily accessible format for an English audience. It is a boon to scholars and historians of manga as well as anyone just interested in the origins of manga.

Sailor Moon / Codename: Sailor V by Naoko Takeuchi Sailor Moon was my first experience with manga, having started watching anime the couple years prior. Those TokyoPop editions still sit pretty in my collection, but there isn’t a fan around that hasn’t hoped with all their being for a new translation and release to see the light of day. Even though it was a long time coming, Kondansha picked a good time to bring it back out for English readers following the new editions in Japanese with new art and color pages. If that wasn’t exciting enough, along side came the much coveted Sailor V for the first time in English. These are beautiful books with plenty of nostalgia that makes you excited for more releases from Kodansha.  

Worst Thing I Watched
(Can Anything be Worse than Akikan!?)

Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere by Sunirse By the fact that I have Type-Moon and Toaru Majutsu no Index shows winning awards on this list shows that I have a fairly high tolerance for long stretches of exposition in my entertainment. But Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere actually broke me of all people. The confusing back story of this universe is vomited up constantly by the narrator but none of it sticks. It does not help that none of the back story  makes any sense. The fact that the characters range from goofy, to loathsome, to just plain racist adds insult to injury. The main character is Ataru Moroboshi with everything removed that makes Ataru fun. Even the guy with the Dig-dug hat could not save this series. There were a few painfully boring series this year but Horizon takes the cake by making a fantastical premise completely banal.

Yuruyuri by Dogakobo There are always a few shows that end up on our new season watch list that we are more than likely going to hate, but we give them a chance. So that explains why I even watched this show in the first place, it was a bad plan. Not only is it a boring premise of girls in a club that does nothing, but there is the added editions of horrible personalities, loli fan-service, sibling obsession, and that was just the first episode.

Favorite Opening
(The Best Way to Start an Episode)

Mawaru-Penguindrum Opening 2: “Boys, Come Back to Me” Mawaru Penguindrum is visually stunning series an its opening is no exception. It is just a gorgeously designed opening that is simple but memorable. Both openings are filled with spoilers but they are represented in a way that only makes sense after the series is over. That alone is a testament to the planning that went into the show. At the same time it works as his lively superflat opening that introduces the show and gets you ready for the unique Penguindrum experience. I mostly picked the second opening as the song as it seemed a bit peppier to me. The second opening also builds on the symbology of the first opening which is a nice touch.

Gosick Opening 1: “Destin Histoire” This juxtaposition of a modern song with Mucha-inspired illustration is a straight up winner. The way the animation moves makes it look as if a storybook has come alive. On top of that the flatness of the art gives it a theatrical feel. The opening as hints at things to come so it is fun to look back on it and pick out all the little things.

Favorite Ending
(The Perfect Ending to an Episode)

AnoHana Ending 1: “Secret Base ~The Thing you Gave Me~ (10 years after Ver.)” Endings tend to be the lesser sibling to their big budget older sibling, the opening. The animation is invariably cheaper and sometimes you can almost feel the lack of effort. But the ending of AnoHana perfectly captures the mood of series in a way that few endings do. The song has a mixture of melancholy and joy just like the show and the visuals perfectly accompany this mood while remaining sweet and vibrant. The song’s catchy nature tops off everything perfectly.

Bunny Drop Ending 1: “High High High” Childhood drawings and imagination come to life with this soft pop song. Bright and colorful, naive renderings of dreamscapes and rabbits engulf Rin as she explores. The melody is perfect after an episode full of sweet and melancholy lessons and realizations.

Thing I Wish People Would Stop Talking About
(The Topic that Makes You Instantly Close Twitter)

Ben-to by David Production Ben-to is a small horse that does one maneuver competently but nothing else (aka known as a one trick pony). The problem is I don’t even think it does that one trick is done all that well. But for some reason it seemed to be a show that even some rather cynical anime fans looked forward to each week. I know that certain people can be starved for original ideas in their anime but you must have some meat on that idea for me to be interested. The odd little cult around his show really perplexes me. So when people would tear down other shows to build this one up it was just bizarre and sort of insulting to the shows I liked.

How much everyone would change Gundam AGE Few series get as much flack as anything in this long running franchise. Not only that, everyone also has to play backseat director/producer/writer/etc. on every little thing. But God forbid they stop watching the show, no that would just be stupid.

Series I Unexpectedly Liked
(Cheddar Cheese and Apple Pie)

Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth by Satelight Moe is such a strange animal. While I do not instinctually hate anything with moe in it I have grown wary whenever I see a show with moe character designs. Yune’s small frame and hyper cute design did make me arch my eyebrow at this show. The slice of life feel of the story did not help. Thankfully Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth rises about your first impressions. It is a delightful historical piece that has a relaxed feeling while still having enough story and character growth to feel rewarding. It is a mellow show that is vibrant enough to hold my attention. It also avoid being creepy which also could have easily tainted the whole experience. An extremely pleasant surprise.

Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% by A-1 Pictures This title seemed like a doomed prospect before I watched it, in fact checking out the first episode was just supposed to be a lark and yet it was ridiculously entertaining. Heavy emphasis on ridiculous. Norio Wakamoto voices the headmaster of the idol training school and even sings a little in the first episode, yeah that’s what kind of ridiculous I’m talking about. The romances all center around a girl with the creepiest eyes ever and each one plays out like over the top soap opera storylines. Who knew a reverse harem dating sim could be this much fun.

Best Manga News
(Not the Licensing of Yankee-kun to Megane-chan but Still Pretty Good)

Vertical Saves Shonan Junai-gumi and Picks Up GTO: Shonan 14 Days Who does not love GTO? Only demons and fools. Sadly while Shonan Junai-gumi is filled with hot-blooded yankee action it never got the love in the U.S. that its sequel did. So when Tokyopop went out of business it seemed like we would never see the end of the tale of Onizuka and Danma. Thankfully Vertical swooped in and saved the series. On top of that they also picked up the latest adventures of GTO as well. If the series does well enough they has hinted that they might go back and license rescue anything else TokyoPop translated of Tohru Fujisawa’s works dealing with the great teacher. That would even be more remarkable so you should go out there and buy all the Onizuka you can from Vertical.

Manga Companies Jump Into the Digital Distribution There had been toes dipped in the water previous to 2011, but this year saw a boom of activity that will hopefully set a great pace for what’s to come. This advance is necessary and as titles start to speed up the prospect of coming closer and closer to the release of Japanese books becomes not so impossible a dream.

Best Anime News
(Not the Licensing of Legend of the Galactic Heroes but Still Pretty Good)

A Certain Magical Index Film Green-Lit I know that the U.S. fandom seems to at best have a love/hate relationship with A Certain Magical Index (as in they love to hate it) but I genuinely like the series. If there was any sort of light novel market in the U.S. I would just follow this series via the original books. But unless you are a mega popular franchise like Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist it seems like you can’t give away most light novels in English. So the only way for me to continue in the strange world of magic and science in Academy City is when they adapt Touma’s adventures in an anime. I am glad to see that they are continuing to adapt the series and hope that the film can help create a third season. I want to see that World War III Arc.

Redline Getting Theatrical U.S. Release Maybe this doesn’t quite make up for waiting for this film since 2009, but it certainly softens the blow. If you’ve seen this movie, and loved it, you know it will look amazing on the big screen; a total immersive experience. It also gives the opportunity that other random people who aren’t anime fans will see Redline and realize its fantastic-ness. And since it is getting a theatrical release, Oscar nomination would be a possibility in 2012.

Funniest Series
(Funny in a Good Way, not a M.D. Geist Way)

Carnival Phantasm by Lerche I will fully admit that Carnival Phantasm is hardly for everyone. It demands a near encyclopedia knowledge of the Type-Moon universe but at the same time the good nature to see the characters involved made out to be very silly. As a fan of Type-Moon and Eri Takenashi this series was a match made in heaven. Some of the jokes are a bit over done but they move quickly enough from joke to joke that I never minded too much. When Taiga makes a reference to the Japanese opening of the 90′s X-men cartoon I knew no other series could go in this spot.

Fireball Charming by Disney This is the prequel to just plain ole Fireball with the same humor but a little less sleek character design for Drossel. She still sports expressive hair and never fully understands the things she learns. Despite being a wierdsville fest of puns and misunderstandings, you can see parts of the story proving it takes place before.

If anyone is a long-term visitor to the blog they will remember way back in the day when the blog started we used to put top 5 lists on the bottom of each post. In fact the collected page of top 5 list was the most popular section of the blog for the first year of site’s history. As I was riding the train home from Manhattan yesterday I had a thought. Why not bring back ye olde top 5 lists as occasional mini-posts. People love them because they are easily digestible and they are not that hard to do. Win win. So of course I bring them back in the most predictable way possible.

This year has been a great year for Type-Moon fans. Fate/Zero on TV, Carnival Phantasm being awesome, wonderful figures being released, Fate/Extra being released in English, and so much more. I decided to take my favorite 5 moments from this year’s Type-Moon bonanza. For better or for worse they are not just pictures like this.

5. Kayura Tsurugino dresses up like Saber in the Hayate movie

The newly introduced Kayura Tsurugino is a consummate cosplayer in Hayate the Combat Butler. So in the movie she whips out several different costumes including Iron Mask from Mobile Suit Gundam F91 and Haruhi Suzumiya. But the most important outfit she has is her Saber cosplay. It was simply delightful to watch her get into hijinks at the closed space amusement park dress liked the King of Knights. Sadly when things get really bad we discover that her Excalibur is merely cardboard. Thankfully the Pink One with Masamune was there to save the day. That whole sequence  made an already delightful movie even better.

4. Fate/Apocrypha is reborn

It seemed like all was lost. Fate/Apocrypha was originally supposed to be an online game set in the Fate Universe. There were a whole slew of Servants and Masters written up by various authors and artists for the game but then it was canceled and it seems like all that work would merely be a footnote mentioned in artbooks. But the 7th Type-Moon Ace announced that Fate/Apocrypha would be reworked in a novel. Yuichiro Higashide was tapped to write the novel. He did write Bullet Butlers so I am cautiously optimistic as I have mostly heard good things about that visual novel. If nothing else it will just be good to see William Shakespeare the Caster brought to life.

3. The moment you realize exactly who Archer is in Fate/Extra

Fate/Extra is set in an alternate universe where the Holy Grail War takes place inside an alien supercomputer on the moon. So when you see a red Saber who is nothing like the traditional King of Knights, Sakura as a school nurse, and Rin being a terrorist it seems like everything you know is wrong. But then a certain Sarcastro in a red coat makes references to a Holy Grail War that also centered around a school and a similar but different Rin you suddenly realize that this Archer is the same Archer from the main Fate/Stay Night series. It is like seeing an old friend from home unexpectedly in the middle of a foreign country.

2. Rider unleashes Ionioi Hetairoi

Rider and Waver have undoubtedly become the break out duo in Fate/Zero with their Odd Couple dynamic. But the moment that most probably solidified Rider as a pure badarse was during episode 11. Rider, Saber, and Gilgamesh find themselves surround by a small army of Assassins. What seems like what will be a long battle royal quickly turns into a momentary slaughter when Rider unveils his ultimate Nobel Phantasm, the Ionioi Hetairoi. It turns out that Rider can summon all the soldiers that fought with him as minor Heroic Spirits. His men quickly make mincemeat of the Assassins earning him a place in the heart of many a Type-Moon fan.

1. Saber the Waitress

Carnival Phantasm has had so many wonderful moments this year. Kohaku being Kohaku, the many deaths of Lancer, and anything involving the Tiger Dojo were all wonderful moments. But the best moments all come from the 8th episode where Saber decides to work part-time at the Ahnenerbe. It is both a loving tribute to Saber and anyone who has had to do any sort of waiting tables. What starts of as a good sketch becomes sublime when Saber has finally had enough. You too will want to shout, “ALTER! ALTER! ALTER!”

The episode marks the end of season 1 of Fate/Zero. The show is going on a planned break for the winter and will not be back until April. I don’t think that the break could have come at a better time as someone who is episode blogging this series alone. If I were just watching this series for fun I could watch the second half right now and not break a sweat. But there is something tiring to me as I try as I do this episodes alone. If I did not absolutely love the material like I did I don’t think I could keep up with the schedule. I appreciate this little break so I can have my Saturdays free again for a bit before going back into the breech.

Caster and Ryuunosuke are clearly the villain characters of the series. Someone like Kayneth or Tokiomi might have unsavory methods and personalities but you can see how they view themselves as the heroes of their own stories.  But up until this point Ryuunosuke seems like someone who should be on the way to the store to pick up moustache wax. Evil moustache wax. But as Caster and Ryuunosuke look over the remain of their hidden base that was cleansed with some righteous fire they get into a bit of a philosophical debate. I think Gen Urobuchi saw that if he did not add a little depth to these two they would come off completely one-dimensional.

We have already seen that Caster believe that god is a cruel puppet master that hates humanity. Therefore any and all blasphemy is a strike again the evil overlord of mankind who cares not for man beyond his suffering. Ryuunosuke on the other hand has come off as quiet on the philosophical front finally lays out his worldview. In his opinion God loves man. But he loves man like an author loves his characters.  Good and evil are unimportant. What matters is the drama and power of your actions to entertain him. The louder and more bombastic your life the better. If you do good it must be legendary and if you do evil it must be as wretched. Everything is beautiful. The grander the action the greater it is regardless of its intent. This little conversation helps these two come off as a little more than just stock villains. They are still a bit cartoonish in their loathsomeness but at least they have a reason for it.

At the same time we tie up another mystery of motivation.  Rider and Waver step out on the town to do a little shopping. After Waver has a dream about the life of Iskandar he seems even more awkward than usual. Rider is a man of endless ambition, gusto, and bravado but lives for simple pleasures as well. Waver on the other hand seems a meek man whom lives for a more pretentious variety of petty and selfish wishes. If the grail summons a Servant that reflects the soul of his Master than why did these two miss-matched fellows come together.

Wow. If people did not think Waver was full of moe his little “Why do you  need pathetic little me?” speech pretty much sealed that title. Waver seems to wonder why someone as pathetic as him would get someone as powerful as Rider. Rider acknowledges that Waver might not be great now but that they both started off as small men. What matters if they both dream of things greater than themselves. They both reach beyond what others might consider in their grasp.  Rider lives for exploration and conquest. In a way so does Waver. Rider knows that if Waver lives through this war he has greater things ahead of him. This is just his first step to being a better man. And as he grows so shall his dreams.

The season ends Caster going all out by summoning what seems to be a star-spawn of Cthulhu to wreak havoc on the city. This abomination is being powered by Caster but as it starts to eat people it will be able to fuel itself. So Rider, Saber, and Lancer all agree to team up and destroy this thing while they can. They need to expose Caster at the center of the evil sea food platter and let Lancer’s magic destroying spear obliterate Caster’ grimoire and hopefully banish this beast before it is too late. Rider will attack from the air, Saber will attack from the water, and Lancer will wait on the shore for his chance to strike. Just as they go in battle we end season 1. I will note that like Jesus it seems that Saber can walk on the water and swim on the land.

Now THAT is a place to end a season. Lovecraftian kaiju, F-16s, and a battle royal with all the Servants and Masters all about to be unveiled. It gets you anticipating the day that season 2 starts with a triumphant return. They tied up a few loose ends with some good character moments but enticed you for the bloodshed that will come next season. April just can’t come soon enough. I will see you all again then. Until then let us just cross our fingers for a Fate/Hollow Ataraxia anime announcement and play some Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code. Cheers!

If anyone read this article on Sunday and has come back they will notice I just edited it. ToastCrust thankfully pointed out that Fate/Zero is 13 and not 12 episodes long this season. That explains SO much about the pace of this episode. So I decided that everything in the middle of the post is fine but I had to update the introduction and conclusion if for nothing else so it looks a little nicer in the archives. Hey I can still use the opening next week as it is no less true next week than is today. Otherwise this would have rather anticlimactic for a final episode.  It would be like having your cliff hanger season finale be the infamous soccer episode of Eureka Seven. While important things happen in that episode and revelations are made it would still feel a bit odd to end at that point. What would leave you with this burning desire to finish the next season? Thankfully this is just the penultimate episode and the series will end the season with a major confrontation with Caster.  Until then it is time for Kirei to do some soul-searching (or more exactly an examination of his lack thereof) and Irisviel to be filled with tragic illness.

The first Servant has been eliminated and so the original deception at the beginning of the war has become a reality. This time Assassin truly has died. But that does not mean that the other participants can rest on their laurels. There are still plans to be made and a prize to be won for killing Caster. So Saber and Irisviel relocate to a new base of operations while Kirei learns that his role in the Holy Grail War is not over.

Now that the number of Servants has gone from 7 to 6 the most dangerous players are stepping up their games. Tokiomi seems to think that the war is pretty much wrapped up. With the intelligence he has gathered he seems not to fear anyone but Rider and now that he knows the King of Conquerors powers he assumes it is only a matter of time before he wraps up this little conflict. Kiritsugu on the other hand still see most of the remaining Masters as a threat worth worrying about. But he is most perplexed by Kirei’s acti0ns. If Kirei was just supposed to act as recon with Assassin why did he stick his neck out to fight when they seems like a completely useless tactical decision. Kiritsugu knows there is something more to Kirei but he has no idea what that is.

At the same time there is someone who knows the deal with Kirei even more than Kirei himself. Kirei says that he is glad to be out of the Holy Grail War as now he can be protected by the church. But Gilgamesh sees the truth. Gilgamesh sees a man who says he knows nothing of pleasure but knows exactly what bring joy to this priest. Gilgamesh sees a man who says he has no wishes in his heart but know what he truly longs for in his heart. Gilgamesh knows that Kirei enjoys suffering. That Kirei is happiest when committing sacrilege. But Kirei still considers himself a man of the cloth. He still feels that what makes him happy is a sin. And so at the end of the episode when Kirei regains his command seals Gilgamesh knows exactly why he is back in the fight. Kirei is a twisted man who needs a Servant. Gilgamesh is a twisted Servant who need a more interesting Master. All that is left is for both parties to realize their mutual compatibility. Gilgamesh gives need to give him that little push to betray his mentor.

Now that Einzbern castle has been compromised Saber and Irisviel must relocate themselves. Any fans of Fate/Stay Night will instantly recognize this their new base of operations will eventually become Shiro’s house. It might be a little run down now but is clearly the same place. As they look around Saber notices that Irisviel is not herself and it is revealed that the homunculus is not feeling quite well. She plays it off that she is just feeling ill but being a magical construct she can not run the local doctor. Irisviel seems like she being honest but she is holding back on a vital detail. She is not merely sick. She is falling apart. As the vessel for the Holy Grail as each Servant dies she lowly unravels as a human being and starts to become the Grail. Ilya dealt with this better than her mother but only because they went out of improve on her after her mother’s design. But clearly Irisviel will only get worse as the war goes on slowly becoming less and less herself as the Grail erupts out of her.

Those who played Fate/Stay Night will also remember that Saber is summoned by Shiro in the shed of this house. A neat little nudge and the wink is they show us that while Irisviel was working here it was her who created that magic circle that is later used as the point in which Saber arrives on the scene of the 5th Holy Grail War. That is a bit of retcon. I assume that circle originally was either supposed to be just a visual effect, something Kiritsugu made after the war, or something Shiro made practicing in the shed. Despite that I think it is a clever wink and a nod and therefore I approve of how it ties to two series together.

This episode is a nice little breather between the death of Assassin and the battle royal that will go down around Caster. Oddly enough episode twelve did not really set up that fight but they also had no need to. The previous few episodes have shown that everyone is getting ready to stop Caster’s reign of madness. What these episodes do is set up some of the subtler things going down in the next season. Kirei’s sudden but inevitable betrayal as well as Irisviel’s equally unavoidable demise. I do have to say it was unexpected to see Kirei was actually struggling with his darkness. I had assumed any allegiances he had were all an act. Apparently he did have something approximating a conscience at one point. You learn something new every day. That said the next episode is the last episode we shall see for a while so hopefully they end on a spectacular note.

I’ve started playing Professor Layton and the Last Specter which is the start of the prequel arc featuring the first meeting of Layton and Luke. Since this is the case, the game begins with Layton meeting his new assistant Emmy who quickly became a favorite of mine. She is a new addition with her high energy and physical nature. At times she even acts as the audience to the strange happenings making comments like these villagers are so weird and the like. And it is a good thing I fell in love with her quickly, I just started a new chapter where she has broken off from Layton and Luke to go solo in London. So far the story has been in line with previous games which is a positive; I’ve been able to deduce small mysteries but the Specter remains elusive. The town seems more sprawling complete with canals and boat transportation but like the last two games it tends to box you into a path and only lets you explore at its discretion which I always take issue with. Puzzles are Layton puzzles and nothing has stood out though there does seem to be more real math than before. I’m happy to say the car path mini-game is back, but made way better because it is with trains! I haven’t gotten to London Life yet. If you’ve seen the movie Eternal Diva you know a little more about this game, but I’m looking forward to now go back and watch it with a fuller knowledge.

Mass Effect is a series that has a rich back story and world building aspects that can be totally ignored if you wish to play the game as a straight sci-fi action game. I being a Type-Moon fan of course am the sort of person who will pour over all the in-game encyclopedia entries and journals. So that fact alone won the game major bonus points with me. That aside I think the game lives up to all the praise the fans give to the series. It has a solid plot that you can play through fairly quickly if you skip all the side material. But half the fun is all the side missions you can do. The main plot line maybe be the entrée but the side dishes are equally important to the meal in its entirety although you might not want to do all the silly collect all the tchotchkes missions like I did. But the cool thing is so many of your decisions carry over to the next two games be it huge decisions you make in the main plot line or little choices you make in side quests. It gives you a reason to seek out missions just so you can impact the world as opposed to just collecting more money and experience. Knowing that the people you kill or tasks that you accomplish carry over give every decision you make a satisfying weight and consequence. The dialog and charterers are not War and Peace or Citizen Kane levels but you will get attached to most people and the writing is usually pithy. The morality system is one of the best for a modern video game. There are still some kick the dog ridiculously evil choices but most of the time picking the renegade choice is an acceptably gray moral decision. It makes playing the path other than the white knight choices viable to people who don’t just shoot the scientists in Half-Life because it is cool. As for the two biggest complaints I always hear about the game I agree with one and did not really care about the other. The Mako is sort of annoying as everyone says it is. It’s hardly unbearable but it is clunkier than it needs to be. When you are moving along it is fine but when you spend 10 minutes getting from one location of the map to another when is should have taken 30 seconds because of the terrain you quickly understand why people were glad they removed the tank driving from everything but some optional missions in the second game. The other major complain it’s the inventory system. I thought that about 90% of gear you pick up was just vendor trash but I did not find it that hard to deal with even on the 360. I just wish the shops were not just filled with random inventory as opposed to a fixed stock. I almost always had mediocre to poor armor because of this. Those flaws aside Mass Effect was pretty amazing. I beat it in about a week and missed quite a bit of sleep due to it keeping me up. If you any sort of American RPG fan it is worth trying it out.

The Zelda Skyward Sword comic with just five pages looks gorgeous but is really neither here nor there. It just leaves you wanting it to build upon what was done. Maybe once I play the game I’ll feel like it is a nice little intro.

I may be behind on some of my shows due to playing Mass Effect but I have kept up with Kamen Rider Fourze. It is still the goofy  Jojo’s Part 4 Kamen Rider it has always been. They finally have the team all assembled so they had their first real throw down match with a Boss character. Gentaro Kisaragi is still going along being an entertaining moron with a heart of gold. His character really exemplifies the appeal of the show. This is important because when the show goes into serious drama mode the Japanese acting makes the melodrama feel really odd and amateurishly cheesy. When they concentrate on the action or comedy it is sometimes surreal but always entertaining. I was slightly surprised by the big reveal in episode 13. It was a decently well executed reveal for a show that is normally so goofy. It is a fun little show that always manages to put a smile on my face. Worth checking out even if your are not normally a fan of tokusatsu shows. It has a strong charm that just cannot be denied.

I just discovered the Bad Machinery webcomic (sorry I don’t read many webcomics!) and I’ve fallen in love. I began with the current story Murder She Writes which doesn’t require prior knowledge to make you laugh and try to solve the spoof on the classic setup of a group of people stranded in a snowstorm where murders begin happening. Lottie our young sleuth is wonderfully odd and awkward. The artwork adds quirk to its already humorous trappings. What stands out for me is how well this comic does single pages with a beginning, middle, and end but also connects to the overarching story; it feels very satisfying rather than needing the whole thing at once in order to enjoy it.

And as soon as Carnival Phantasm Ex Season was translated I downloaded and watched it. It is the longest episode of Carnival Phantasm so far. It did make me realize one thing. I don’t really know all that much about Bazett and Caren’s actual personalities. Since Fate/Hollow Ataraxia still has not been translated I actually know them much more for their silly doujinshi personalities than who they actually are in-game. I wonder how odd it will be to play Fate/Hollow and see them how they were actually meant to be portrayed after seeing them as nothing but goofballs for so long. Still every time I see Bazett I have to wonder why she does not have more of a fan following. If it were not for Saber I am fairly certain I would be firmly on team Bazett. I am sort of amazed how much mileage they are getting out of this Phantasmoon joke but I think it needs to end here. Even I who have supported the Phantasmoon joke so far am beginning to wonder if they have any idea of when enough is enough. I wonder if I were a bigger Arcueid fan if I would change my tune or not. But to counter that they have a good deal of Robot Chicken style mini skits which work a bit better. Also the more Aozaki Aoko the better. Miss Blue is always wonderful. Now all that is left is to wait for the third season and the new version of Melty Blood for the PC.

Hisui’s picks:

• Christmas has Come Early!
  Sai-zen-sen delivered a Christmas gift I did not even know I wanted. But man it is nice. Gen Urobuchi, Kinoko Nasu, Izuki Kougyoku, Simadoriru, and Ryohgo Narita played a table top RPG for 6 nights under Makoto Sanda as the Game Master. Now they are compiling transcripts of the role-playing sessions in January. I can’t say how hyped I am for that. That is a pretty amazing writing team and as someone who can still converse and table top RPGs I have played years ago I would love to see these transcripts turned into and anime. I will probably talk more about this during the week as a little post. There is just too much to say in a little APB.
• Everything You Were Afraid to Ask about Macross Video Games and More!
  The invaluable interfering Andrew and Renato look at almost every Macross video game ever made with its merits, flaws, and how fits into Macross history. I am sure they missed some obscure WonderSwan release that some uber-nerd will complain about but it is the most complete guide you will get.
• Why Can’t Narutaki Have More Brave Police J-Decker Toys?
  Also Andrew and Arshad look at the Brave series and its curious lack of toys. While there are a good deal of merchandise for GaoGaiGar it seems the rest of the Brave series goes without.
• I’m Only Buying These to Help Japan. Really.
  The Good Smile Company is making cheerleader versions of Saber and Rin with part of the sales of each figure going to disaster relief in Japan. There is also a cute Waver figure in the fan made figure world and they plan to make a Rider figure as well.
• Archer is Bringing Sexy Back
  They also unveiled the character costumes for Fate/Extra CCC. I am ever exited to see what they do with this game. I am pleased with the … pleasantness of Caster’s new outfit. Hopefully the game itself will be just as good.
• Pandora’s Box Has Been Opened
  Shout! Factory is releasing the three series in the Transformers franchise that were only broadcast in Japan. These are “slightly”  controversial in the English-speaking Transformers fandom but I would like you to point me to the series that is not. I am curious to see how The Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce, and Victory are received now that they are in an easy to purchase from.
  

Narutaki’s picks:

• Manga Awards in France
  As you probably know, the French consume a hefty portion of the international manga market. They also get some wildly different titles from us in the U.S. These nominees for the Festival International de la Bande Dessinee will give you a good idea. And of course it once again shoves in our faces how they get Saint Young Men and we never will.
  
• Interview with Brave’s Brenda Chapman
  Brenda is the original creator of Brave and helmed the project as director but was replaced because of “creative differences.” You don’t get any better answers on that question but you do get backstory for the film. There is also a Part 1 of the interview where she talks about her time at Disney and other projects.
• Gunpla Builders World Cup in Japan
  I’m sure it will come as no surprise that the representatives for Japan in the World Cup are freakin’ ridiculous. The sets they build for the mecha are an added bonus of amazing. 
  
• Twin Earth Found!
  Well, kinda, it the planet discovered that is most like our own (so far). It is 600 light years away! There are still many unknowns about the planet like whether it is mostly rock, gas, or liquid but it is still one of those cool finds that gets you giddy with science-fiction possibilities.
  
• The X-Men is the Next Logical Step
  Brain Michael Bendis has announced he is exiting as writer for Avengers/New Avengers in the summer. I can’t imagine anyone else writing New Avengers, which he formed, probably because no one else has. This Op-Ed is about speculating that he will move over to writing X-Men which he has yet to do. I am really excited about this possibility thanks to the article and it softens the blow about New Avengers a bit. Now let’s just hope this article was predicting the future!
  
• Behind the Scenes of Arthur Christmas
  This in-depth talk with the creators went a long way in making me want to see this film. From visual technique to the life of the story, everything is touched upon. This might be my next favorite holiday film!
  

Let us not forget that Japan is still rebuilding and readjusting after earthquake:

Filed under: All Points Bulletin, Editorials Tagged: Arthur Christmas, Brave, Fate/Extra CCC, Gundam, Gunpla, New Avengers, Red Dragon, robots, The Veef Show, Transformers, Type-Moon, X-Men ]]> http://reversethieves.com/2011/12/11/all-points-bulletin-022/feed/ 1 reversethieves hisuicon narutaki sep-pic hisuicon http://reversethieves.com/2011/12/10/fatezero-tv-011-rider-is-the-greatest-raoh-tribute-character-ever/ http://reversethieves.com/2011/12/10/fatezero-tv-011-rider-is-the-greatest-raoh-tribute-character-ever/#comments Sat, 10 Dec 2011 23:09:01 +0000 reversethieves http://reversethieves.com/?p=17568 ]]>

Nothing says based on a light novel like three mortal enemies who are trying to kill each other having a leisurely garden party as they discuss philosophy over a barrel of wine. Only a light novel would have such a long conversation in the middle of a war. But don’t worry. This episode is nor completely a roundtable think tank on what it means to be a king. Rider unveils his greatest trump card and it is quite a doosey. Also the first Servant falls in the Holy Grail war and it is oddly enough not Caster who lives to commit atrocities another day. In the end there was a huge heaping of  Saber this episode so I was a happy camper even if she was rather emotionally tormented the whole time.

After Kayneth‘s assault is seems that Einzbern castle has another invader. But this invader has come for conversation and not murder. Rider gathers the three Kings of the war to discuss why they think themselves worthy of the Grail. The larger than life King of Conquerors, the penitent King of Knights, and the haughty King of Rapists Heores meet over some vino. Each gives their reasons for needing the omnipotent power of a true wish and how it ties into their philosophy of leadership. But an unexpected party crasher cuts the debate short as Rider shows the best way to deal with an army of assassins.

Rider storms in the front door on his chariot and Saber naturally assumes that she will have to thrown down with Rider. But when she arrives downstairs she find Rider still in his civvies with a cask of wine. It seems that Iskander has not given up on his wish to end the Holy Grail War with as little bloodshed as possible. And so they head off the garden to talk with everyone BUT Rider still greatly uneasy. You can tell that Waver and Irisviel are innately aware of how vulnerable they are compared to their super-powered servants even when there is no violence going down.

Iskander proves himself a Bro for all ages and cracks open the only size portion of human wine fit for a Heroic Spirit. Saber then proceeds to show him that she can drink like one of the boys. Since she used to have to spend most of her free time with the Knights of the Round Table in her days as King Arthur she surely developed a legendary tolerance. Rider wishes to discuss what it means to be a King worthy of the Holy Grail. He proposes that if one of them can clearly prove that they are the most worthy then the others will perhaps bow down and let the victor claim his prize. But that means that one more King must be in attendance. So enters Gilgamesh.

If Waver and Irisviel were worried before then they are terrified now that the Golden King has come to chat. Rider and Saber have both proven themselves as honorable souls but Gilgamesh is the kind to kill you as quickly as most people would squash a bug. But Gil seems willing to play along to see what the other two have to say. While they might be pretender kings in his eyes they are at least interesting frauds. Plus it surely beats sitting on his hands waiting for Tokiomi to finally let him make a move. But the thing he will not stand for is Rider’s barrel of Two Buck Chuck. He then shows that he can pull more than just weapons from the Gate of Babylon. He also has treasures like the finest spirits in the world as well. Apparently this also means that when Gilgamesh was drinking all of Tokiomi expensive alcohol he was doing it more to stick it to his boring Master because he has a near infinite supply of nectar quality drinks at his disposal.

According to Gilgamesh he is not in the Holy Grail war because he needs the Grail as much as he does not want anyone else to have it besides himself. If all the best things in the world are his then obviously the Grail should be his as well. All these other fools are thieves who will be punished for their arrogance. Gilgamesh’s philosophy is simple. He does not rule because he is the smartest, the strongest, or the boldest. He rules because that is simply the way of the world. The sun rises in the east, gravity makes all objects fall at 9.8 m/s², everyone and everything eventually dies, and Gilgamesh is always the pinnacle. That is just how things are. Since his rule is innate then everything he does is innately correct. He simply cannot see himself as being wrong.

Past that point Gilgamesh lets the other two talk to amuse him. We learn that Rider’s goal is simple. He wishes to live again after the Holy Grail War. He is not just content to win this battle. If he wins he wishes to live again in the modern world. Saber sees this as selfish. Rider agrees but in his opinion that is what makes a king great. A king must be selfish to be a true king. In return for the populace serving to the whims of their absolute ruler they reap the benefits of a champion who will do everything to make their nation great. Rider sees a proper state as a symbiotic relationship but with one that clearly and absolutely has him at the top.

Saber on the other hand see the king as a servant of the people. While she has the position it is a heavy burden. The king has the most power but also the most responsibility. The king asks for countless sacrifices from the people but in return must make their life a life of sacrifice as well. We see the burden on her in Fate/Stay Night as well her wish to have another been chosen by Caliburn. But Rider calls her on her story. While she had noble ideals her valiant self-sacrifice meant that there was none of herself in her rule. You can see that this idea shakes her to her core. In fact it goes to explain much of her reaction to Shiro and his fanatical devotion to saving everyone at the expense of himself. She sees Shiro making the same mistakes she did and is angry that he is just as blind to the costs.

In the middle of the discussion of the qualification of a king comes a major disruption. Beforehand the Assassins came in smalls cells and mostly observed their fellow Servants. Tokiomi saw his chance with two servants apparently unprepared and Gilgamesh at the ready. He has Kirei attack with all the remaining Assassins. So it seems the heroes are outgunned even with Gilgamesh remaining a neutral party. What Tokiomi did not know is that Rider has an army of his own. He summons his greatest Nobel Phantasm a reality marble called Ionioi Hetairoi. He summons all the soldiers under him as Alexander the Great. Each member of his army acting as a minor Heroic Spirit in their own right. So while the Assassins are a small battalion of killers Rider’s army is a full field army that is an order of magnitude larger. They quickly make mince meat of the Assassins without even breaking a sweat.

Am I the only one who thought it was obvious that Rider was inspired by Raoh from Fist of the North Star? They are both ultra powerful physical warriors who are like giant upright bears made of muscles upon muscles. They both have legions of crack warriors in a world of endless desert. They both live life without regret and believe in the rule of the strong. And the both have demonic black horses that are just as fearsome as they are. I half expected Rider to whip out some Hokuto Shinken in this battle.

Two notes about Rider’s amazing Nobel Phantasm. The first is the long black-haired man seen above in the Ionioi Hetairoi. Eva_sama noted that he looks like Lord El-Melloi II. Lord El-Melloi II is the name that Waver goes under during the time of Fate/Hollow Ataraxia so it might actually be Lord El-Melloi II. Since Servants and Nobel Phantasm exist outside of the flow of time it is possible for his army to have soldiers from ANY TIME. Even followers from the future. Remember that Archer from Fate/Stay Night is actually from an unspecified time in the future so why can’t Rider’s soldiers come from the future as well. The last note is maybe Rider’s Nobel Phantasm shows he is not as greedy as he might first appear. I think that he wants to live again because that also means that his army can live again too. As he said in his speech to Saber sometimes the greed of the King can lead to the benefit for the people. This is the clearest example of that.

With the first Servant officially killed the drinking party has ended. Rider notes that he is disappointed in Saber and no longer see her as a King. He mentions her waking from her dream which is extremely profound in relation to her ending in the Fate scenario. Gilgamesh on the other hand only seems to be intrigued by her relentless philosophy and states that he has his eye on her as another wonderful treasure he wishes to own. The episode then ends with an interesting bit of foreshadowing as Saber mentions a certain knight who left the round table.

I don’t know what other people thought by I loved the conversation between Rider and Saber in this episode. It gives an amazing amount of insight into the pain that Saber carries in her chest. It shows how she lived a selfless life and continually regretted her decisions. As someone who lives with an unusual amount of needless regret it showcases why I have have an affinity for her. With that out-of-the-way there is only one episode left for this season. I had originally thought the season would end with the showdown with Caster but I am now wondering if they will save that battle for the beginning of the second season. Either way I can’t wait to see how they cap of this amazing cour.

As I stated when I went to the Vertical wine tasting event The Drops of God is one of those unusual manga that has an effect on the world outside of the otaku domain due to its ability to effect the wine market. That fact alone made the series something I had to check out. To put the manga in perspective it is somewhere between Bartender and Yakitate!! Japan. The main storyline distinctly has a tournament set up. To inherit his father’s insanely expensive wine collection Shizuku Kanzaki has to defeat his father’s adopted son Issei Toomine in a contest to identify 13 wines. Also they like to do the super visual descriptions of the wine like the bread tastings in Yakitate!! Japan but far more sedate and refined manner. The characters in The Drops of God will be much more likely to compare a wine to a famous Renaissance portrait than a series of Galaxy Express 999 gags. But overall while there is a healthy amount of humor the series is far more of a drama than a comedy. Also all the characters are adults with careers so no plucky young teenage protagonists. On the other hand while is is not as sedate as Bartender most of the stories do not seemed centered on just the battle on the inheritance. There sare a good amount of other stories outside of the main plot line that still involve wine. It has many of the healing stories that something like Bartender has but at the same time there is more urgency and drama. Also with a set number of wines as part of the competition you always feel that progress in being made. With some manga you can always be left wondering if you will ever see the end of the story. With the drops of God you clearly see a beginning and an end with with clear demarcations of progress. Toomine Issei is quite the turbo douche. He of course has the money, connections and wine knowledge that should instantly make him the winner. The fact that he does things like taste soil from all over France to give him an edge does not hurt. He would make a great slimy 80′s romantic rival. Shizuku starts off the series with almost no knowledge of wine as he rejected the world of his famous wine critic father. But he does have the abilities of a supertaster thanks in part to harsh flavor training as a child. He befriends an attractive young trainee sommelier named Miyabi Shinohara who supplements his knowledge of wine with her own training. Together they have enough knowledge to challenge Issei. If you are interested in manga for an older audience or in alcohol related manga it is definitely worth a look.

Wonder Woman issue 2 cements this story as one of the more awesome in the New 52. We continue to deal with a much more mythology based plotline than anything resembling superheroes (with the exception of Wonder Woman’s outfit). We glimpse Olympus, make it back to the island of the Amazons, and get further entrenched in the soap opera that is the love lives of Greek gods. The art really pushes this new feel a long way being both dark yet highly saturated. This is the first time I’ve ever been real into Wonder Woman, and I like it!

The Carnival Phantasm Ilya’s Castle Special is such an unusual beast. It is a bonus anime based of the Ilya’s Castle minigame from Fate/Hollow Ataraxia. In fact it is pretty much a Let’s Play video of the game. Like any entertaining Let’s Play video it all comes down to the commentary that accompanies the video. The draw of this is all the Fate/Stay Night voice actors are here narrating their characters. But their narration is very silly.  Most of the talking is done by Saber and Shiro but everyone gets in some quips in. There are some references to Red Saber, Fate/Zero, and Lancer’s habit of always dying. I will note that I was frankly unaware that Ayako Kawasumi was capable of delivering her lines so fast. You would think she was John Moschitta, Jr. the way she was going on about Mapu tofu. If Carnival Phantasm was already Type-Moon fans only than this bars anyone is not crazy hardcore from even looking at it. It was fun but hardly for everyone.

In the first issue of Supergirl, she spends the majority fighting battle armored dudes; in the second issue, she spends the majority fighting Superman. Again the fight looks awesome, but now it has a little more depth. Still we are left no closer to understanding what is going on. We do come to realize that Supergirl is a woman out of time, somewhere along the way time shifted and Superman is left wi3th the dubious honor of telling her their homeland is gone. The last page hints at further conspiracy so hopefully we get more of that in the next issue.

The Fishman Island Arc is just winding down in One Piece. The main purpose of the last arc was to get the crew back together after the time skip and send them into the New World. This arc was mainly here to show off everyone’s new powers and really demonstrate how they have gown since we last saw them. After the Baroque Works Saga Oda set up the Luffy and Bellamy fight to show how Luffy had grown by taking down this supposedly notorious captain with one punch. In the same way the New Fishman Pirates acts as the same barometer for the whole crew this time.  There are none of the typical life of death struggles we usually see in One Piece. Hody Jones and his crew go down fairly quickly showing that Straw Hat’s training for two years was very effective. I was a little disappointed that while Nico Robin and Nami did some fighting they did not really get the same time in the spotlight that their male crew members got. For same Oda. For shame. Hopefully they will have a bigger role in the next arc. It also seems that Jinbe has turned down his offer to be a member of the Star Hat crew but the arc is not over yet so there is still time for him to have a change of heart. I am curious to see what Robin has to say the Poseidon. The reveal of the true nature of this ancient weapon was undoubtedly the most unexpected revelation in the arc. Still I enjoyed this arc and can’t wait to see what happens when the crew enters the New World proper. I am assuming we will see at least one of the Supernovas because you can’t throw out a bunch like into the story and not have at least one waiting at the opening of this new frontier.

I had the pleasure of watching The Fantastic Mr. Fox which I already knew I’d like. Based on the book by Roald Dahl it already had a great story base. The movie is quite droll and witty so at times it makes you forget it is a children’s tale. The film follows Mr. Fox who after finding out his wife is pregnant gives up his life as a thief. After many years suppressing the urge he decides he wants to go on one was hurrah stealing from the three best (and nastiest) farmers in the area. This of course causes more of stir than intended for him, his family, and his animal neighbors as the farmer’s plot revenge. There are a little of stories going on while Mr. Fox goes through his mid-life crisis including the coming of age of his son (who is a bit of weirdo) and his nephew. It is a family adventure is the true sense but everything works out in an unexpected fashion. The fact that George Cloony lends his voice to Mr. Fox gives him a whole new dimension.

Narutaki’s picks:

• LEGO for the Holidays
  I spent a good portion of my weekend decorating my place for Christmas. Sadly, I did not have a giant LEGO Christmas tree but now I have a goal!
• Lost Disney Film Found
  A short of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was recently discovered in a UK film archive, it was thought lost forever. The one of a kind film will go up for action later in December. It would great if it was made available online for viewing.
• Everyone Draws Tiger and Bunny
  No one can get enough of this crime-fighting duo! Manga-ka from Asuka magazine and various others have posted fan-art from the popular TV series. I would love to see an artbook collected of famous artist interpretations of Tiger and Bunny.
• Intro to CLAMP and Gackt’s Project Streamed
  Their live show collaboration MOON SAGA Yoshitsune Hiden will be on USTREAM on December 5th. There aren’t a whole lot of details about it beyond that.
• House of Five Leaves on DVD
  FINALLY! FINALLY!! And it wasn’t Funimation who finally made good on this show, but rather NIS America. This also means a very special limited release with artbook coming out in March.

Hisui’s picks:

• Robot Wars, Nothing More than Robot Wars
  Some movies are so powerful that one podcast cannot tackle them alone. Robot Was requires the combined powers of the The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and the The Veef Show. They look at a low budget live action movie with robots fighting each other. What is lack in budget it makes up for in heart. Sounds like more mecha than Michael Bay’s Transformers films. Zing!
• Alto gets to hang out with Hikaru and Basara
  The gentleman at Gundamn! also take a crack at the newest Macross Frontier movie. A good look a the merits and flaw of the movie. You can tell that they are all of team Sheryl Nome so their reaction to the end of the love triangle is predicable. They also have their normal mix of news and an extended feed back session. That is an enviable amount of feedback.
• Dave and Joel vs. Video Games. Video Games Did Not Stand a Chance.
  The fastest martial arts practitioners make a guest appearance on the ANNCast to round up the year in video games. Dark Souls, Xenoblade Chronicles, Deus Ex: Humn Revolution, Skyrim , Uncharted, and more is discussed. A nice look at the busy time in the video game season.
  
• Always be prepared with Fate/Zero
  I am mentioning that they are making a line of Fate/Zero Swiss army knives. Mostly because it is less depressing than taking about the price of the Fate/Zero box set. Also on a less depressing note is seems that Fate/Apochrypha is going to be a novel.
• Something to Smile About
  The first pictures are already available for the new Pretty Cure show Smile Precure! It looks charming and they are relevaing the 5 members of the team right off the bat. I will warn all Pretty Cure fans. The less you expect this show to be Heartcatch the happier you will be.

Again, finally a House of Five Leaves DVD release!

With Gen Urobuchi as the writer of Fate/Zero we all should have known that Rin Tohsaka’s adventure would involve murder and mayhem despite the fact that she is just in elementary school. But since Rin Tohsaka has the magical plot armor of being alive in the original story she can’t get too injured or else there would be a major time paradox. All of her friends at school on the other hand are fair targets. The little kids like Kotone are in far greater danger. And we have seen that Fate/Zero is more than willing to have little kids explode into little chunks as a catalyst for spells. I will warn people who hate filler episodes. While a very important event happens at the end of this episode most of it is just Rin and her minor incursion into the 4th Holy Grail War. It does give you some good insight into characters in both the prequel and the sequel but overall it is mainly just a curious little side story.

Children are disappearing all over Fuyuki City. And when they are found what remains of them is not fit for an open casket. There is only one detective that can get to the heart of this arcane mystery. It is not Kojak or the CSI team. Their detective work may be flawless but their magic is nonexistent. The only person who can stop these magical crimes against children is a child herself. It is time for Rin Tohsaka, Magical P.I. to get to the bottom of this. Justice wears thigh-highs but is only waist-high.

I am amused that the episode tries to build up all this dramatic tension for this mysterious magi working in their lab undoubtedly on some sinister project. At the same time just by the name of the episode I knew the camera would eventually just reveal that it was a tiny zettai ryouiki mistress doing something less than malicious. She is working in her father’s lab trying to infuse mana into gemstones and failing miserably. Anyone who played Fate/Stay Night will know that while  she is missing up due to her lack of formal training she eventually gets VERY good at this skill. Also the Tohsaka family signature magic is all about gem crafting and she is a great magi of the Tohsaka family. She has a good deal of potential now but not a great deal of experience. So she is going through gems like potato chips. But then she is caught red-handed.

After the opening we jump to see that as much as she might make fun of Shiro it seems that Rin likes to play a hero of justice herself. When her classmate Kotone is being bullied she step in and defends her like a champion. At first I wondering if this girl was Yukika Saegusa or Ayako Mitsuzuri as they are both Rin’s friends (or in Ayako’s case frenemy) in Fate/Stay Night and I never remember either of their names. But apparently Kotone is a Fate/Zero original character. I was a lot more convinced that she might bite the dust when I realized that she was long longer protected by temporal plot armor. But Rin has made a new friend. But then again authors love to kill new friends.

Say what you will about Tokiomi Tohsaka but those gems his daughter are breaking are incredibly expensive. In Fate/Stay Night Rin makes a big deal that she has to live incredibly frugally just to be able to afford 10 gems of magecraft quality when she fights in the 5th Holy Grail War. I don’t think many parents would be that calm about their children casually practicing with such expensive reagents. Instead of giving her a major tongue lashing (or a lashing in general) he guides her through the process making a mana infused gemstone while at the same time making a beautiful crystal unicorn in the process. While his haughty demand for elegance come through you also get a warm and genuine fatherly guidance as he teaches  his daughter. It is a good scene for explaining why he acts like an emotionless and calculating monster towards his opponents he can be someone who Rin completely admires when she is older.

When the Holy Grail War starts lie we saw in the first episode Rin and her mother are going to be shipped off to live with the Zenjo family. I don’t think it is ever stated but the Zenjo family is Rin’s mother family. Rin wants to help her father but clearly he does not want his family in such a dangerous place. As always we also see creepy old Kirei Kotomine in the shadows. Rin tries to learn some advanced magic to be of use to her father in hopes of being able to stay with him but just winds up biting off a bit more than she can chew with a trapped grimoire. Her father saves her in time and gives her a magic seeking compass that is so very clearly a MacGuffin. But it is another good scene of him being a gentle teacher with his daughter.

When Rin’s friend goes missing back in Fuyuki City she learns that there have also been a series on grisly serial murders of children. So Rin runs away to find her friend and hopefully save her before it is too late. She goes off with her portable and reusable detect magic artifact to do some Nancy Drew legwork like she was elementary school Harry Dresden. While dodging the cops she stumbles upon Ryuunosuke Uryuu acting like the Pied Piper of Hamelin as he gathers up hypothesized children for a twisted ceremony. She tracks him down to a bar in hopes of learning what evil deeds he is up to. She apparently does not have much danger sense at this age like Shiro as well. I will say that apparently ufotable’s work on Kara no Kyoukai pays off as now they animate creepy streets very well.

Rin finds three things in the underground saloon. The first is her missing friend Kotone is alive but held captive in a trance. The second is a bunch of other children in a similar state. And the third is a lot of trouble as Uryuu has found another child to add to his bloody tea party. Rin proves that even as a child she is brave and spunky. She is not being taken by Uryuu without a fight. She she jumps around and throws things at him she then goes for the bracelet. At first this seems like a very BAD idea as she beings to fall under the sway of the bracelet.  But after remembering her mistakes with gem crafting she overload the bracelet with mana. If that seems a bit convenient but it is important to remember that while she has only had a minimum of training she is a once in a life time prodigy. She has an insane amount of magical circuits and an elemental affinity of: all of them. She might not be well versed in spells and lore at this age but her output when pushed is far greater than any average adult spell caster.

And so Rin smashes the hypnotic device, injures the evil Master, leads an escape, and disappears before the fuzz can get there. But it seems that while Caster did not intervene in the bar he will take the greatest prize when she is alone. Or so he would think before a timely save by Kariya and his swarm of magical insects. Caster wisely retreats to avoid Kariya and Berserker who are far more dangerous that a tiny lady sorcerer.

Kariya delivers Rin to her mother and then declares he will win the Grail War and return Sakura to where she belongs. Clearly he is overlooking the fact that to do that means he has to kill her husband. I think he assumes that she hates her husband for giving away Sakura much more than she actually does. Another case of participants in the war moving ahead with their own desires and ignoring the desires of those they care for. Another set up for tragedy. I will say the fact that Rin and Aoi are on the red side of the park in light while Kariya is on the green side with darkness is a well framed scene that speaks volumes.

Well considering that this was a Gen Urobuchi joint the ending was surprisingly happy. Rin saver her friend who seemed as good as dead and save   a whole bunch of other children in the process. In the end not much happened. Uryuu lost some mana reserves for his Servant but beyond that this was most a breather before the last two episodes. Still as a fan of Rin I don’t mind seeing what she was doing in this episode. My roommate had no problem with this as well. It gives some good insight to who she would become in Fate/Stay Night. Also it sets up the disconnect between Aoi and Kariya which is vitally important. But with two episodes left it looks like we can settle into the big confrontation with Caster. That should be fun. Lets end the season with a BANG!

Leonardo B. Harwey is the climactic boss of Fate/Extra. You fight one more Master during the falling action of Fate/Extra but so much of the game is building up to facing Leo in the final round that he is clearly the climactic boss. Through out the game he is built up as naive tyrant. He has grown up his whole life being told that he will rule over a perfect world where there will be a place for everyone and everyone will be in their place. And he will be at the top of that hierarchy like he was the Kwisatz Haderach.

His actions are never malicious. He merely assumes the position of  tyrant because it is the only path he has ever known and does everything in the game without a hint of conscience. At first he seems like a simple character. A character that is so pure being raised in an almost Skinner Box like environment that his evil and sociopathic actions are just as pure. He does evil and heartless things because he has never learned that such actions could ever been construed as anything but the correct choices. But as I played the game I wondered if there was deeper social commentary in his character.

After playing a bit of Fate/Extra I began to wonder if Leo is partially a critique of modern Japanese leadership and society. It seems like a ridiculous idea at first. But consider the world of Fate/Extra that the Harwey controls. It is a stagnant highly hierarchical world where knowing your place and doing what you are told in the most effect manner is strictly enforced. On top of that the parts of the planet under Harwey control have a suffocating lack of innovation and horrifically low birth rate. These can all be seen criticism often levied at modern Japanese society and the leadership that keeps such broken systems in place. I think it would add an interesting dynamic to the game if this were the case.

I will admit that beyond what I mentioned there is not a horrific amount in the game to back up my theory. I can’t really think of any overtly political statements by Kinoko Nasu in any other material he has written. But he is only the scenario writer so it theoretically could be some added sub text by one of the ground level writers. Also Leonardo B. Harwey is pretty darn European when you get right down to it. If they were going for such a statement would they not have made him Japanese. It does make we wonder if such subtext exists is it entirely coincidental. Fate/Extra being a Japanese product means that such concerns might naturally flow into a story through no deliberate effort of the writers to make a statement. In the end I am bringing it up more as a talking point to anyone who has played the game more than a proposal for my graduate thesis. I am curious to here anyone else opinion on the character and if you think he represents anything more than curious foil for the main character.

Hisui’s picks:

• Even seeing it be made I don’t believe the 7 foot paper craft Gundam
  It is a 7 foot tall Gundam only made of of paper. That is sort of insane. Even with crazy software to help you out putting togeather such a project it is still a colossal undertaking.
  
• Either the Perfect Union or an Unholy Fusion. Take you Pick.
  As anyone who plays on the Internet will tell you the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom can be a bit insane and rather annoying at times. But sometimes their energy can be a positive thing. It seems there is a fan project to make a Phoenix Wright style detective game using the Friendship is Magic charterers. The developer videos make it seem like it might actually be rather fun. I am curious to see how it plays out.
• It is Only Matter of Time Before We Get Neco-Arc: The Movie
  It seems that another Type-Moon April Fools post has become a reality. This time the “Room of the April Witch” story will get a CD release as voiced by Maaya Sakamoto. I assume they are making this into a real project because it was far more serious than the Type-Moon wresting league or Necoarc Evolution.
• Let hope for some of those wonderful Tohou hits
  Looking around for Umineko music to listen to I happened to stumble upon that little number. It is a mashup of the Tohou Project and opening to Ougon Musou Kyoku. Just to balance out the universe I also present this little gem. Also for all the Marisa fans.
• A look at the Noire Sci Fi Future
  Chaos Theater reviews two somewhat under-recognized neo-noir sci-fi films, Gattaca and Dark City. If you have not seen both films you might want to give them a look before the podcast as they don’t hold back with spoilers. They also talk about the phenomenon of gaming elitism via MW3.

Narutaki’s picks:

• Womanthology Preview
  The first images from Womanthology do a lot to further the anticipation for this book of comics by all female artists. There is great variety in the pieces shown everything from gritty, shadowed pages to cartoony line drawings.
• LEGO Daily Planet
  I sometimes think I’ll like anything if rendered in LEGOs. Still the Daily Planet with Superman being attacked by Brainiac is rather impressive.

Speaking of Ace Attorneys:

While no one goes into long speeches about how once the Holy Grail War is over they are going to finally settle down with their cute fiancee like they have always promised a few people do things that should tell you they are not going to survive even if you did not see Fate/Stay Night. I will warn people this is a build up episode. While we have a brief skirmish and the burning of the corpses of tortured children this is mostly a set up  to the final three episodes. I assume the build up will continue into part (if not all) of the next episode. But we have another heavy Rider and Waver episode so I know there will be many people rejoicing. Also if I get 10 times the normal hits I usually do for this post I will assume it is all the power of mega moe moe Waver at the top. People love their moe moe Waver Velvet.

Everyone who fought last episode is licking their wounds. There were no decisive victories but a good deal of gravely wounded combatants. Lancer’s and Saber’s group both have a bit of infighting as members are divided on how to proceed next. At the same time Waver tracks down the lair of Caster but gets a very different series of confrontations than the ones he expected.

Lancer starts off dead. Never a good sign for him. It turns of it was just a flashback to his time as Diarmuid of the Love Spot and his life filled with love, betrayal, and regret. We don’t get the full story but we know he died for loving a woman who was to be married to another and that it weighs on his soul. But the person having the flash back is the now immobilized Kayneth who has a rather nasty disagreement on who shall be Lancer’s master from here on in. Clearly the already somewhat infatuated Sola-Ui has entered the territory of the obsessive and dangerous. One has to wonder how much of her attitude is due to Lancer’ love spot and how much comes form her already somewhat cold attitude towards her fiancee. Wherever it comes from she willing to play hard ball to be in charge. In her defense is not like Kayneth is ready to march right back out to the battlefield. The only problem is Sola-Ui is not really ready for combat as well seeing how unstable she is. Eventually Kayneth relents if for no other reason than Sola-Ui shows she is going to get those command seals one way or another. Big blood drenched death flags for this group all around.

The most interesting thing to me about this section was the fact that even after that Kayneth’s peek into Lancer’s memories he still does not understand why his Servant is fighting in the Grail War. It should be clear to the audience that Lancer is fighting in penitence for what he did in life. This time around he wants to properly serve a Master without love getting in the way. But Kayneth is unable to understand such a dream. His own selfish desires make such a selfless wish outside his comprehension. But it seems history wishes to repeat itself despite Lancer’s best intentions. If you ever get a choice of which weapon to study you may wish to stay away from pole arms and spears despite their reach if the Fate Universe is any indicator.

While clearly doing better than Team Lancer it seems that Team Saber could be more harmonious. Maiya has survived but is out of commission for at least a few days. Saber wishes to pursue Caster before more children are hurt but Kiritsugu knows with everyone gunning to kill him for the extra command sea. In his opinion it is better to finish off the wounded Master before his group can recover. Saber wishes to do what is immediately right where as Kiritsugu feels he is looking at a long-term view or righteousness. It is all about sacrificing the good of the few if it can benefit the many. And so Saber and Kiritsugu part again without truly talking and with neither of them understanding the heart of the other. Clearly conversations like this one will only sting Kiritsugu more after the war is over.

It’s emotional black mail time! With Kayneth crippled and no longer able to use magic Sola-Ui tries to get Lancer to follow her. While Lancer may have never liked his Master’s fighting style and bad attitude he was the person he was summoned to obey. And it seems again that a love triangle is drawing him towards doom. But with a promise that they are now all fighting to heal Kayneth Lancer reluctantly decided follow his new master. But if the last part did not raise enough death flags this is surely the Grim Reaper’s kiss for all three of them.

But back in the Odd Couple sitcom that is the Mackenzie house we find Rider has not only gotten the pants he needed but made friends with the cover family because he is heroic spirit filled with charisma. But after comedic interlude we have to get down to serious business. Using alchemy and a few careful deductions Waver is able to determine the location of Caster’s layer. After some moe moe moments from Waver we find Rider announcing that now is the time to strike. Waver wants to follow Kiritsugu’s plan that says that charging a spell caster in this domain is a very foolish idea. But Rider being a man’s man knows that today’s intelligence maybe be rubbish tomorrow. Also that no one gets style points for playing is safe all the time. So the pair rides the Gordius Wheel into the sewers.  In the Fate/Zero quickly produced licensed video game this would be the prerequisite annoying sewer level.

The duo finds that Caster is no longer home but that his handy work is still lying around. Rider having seen many a battle field has the stomach for the horrors that await but despite all his bravo Waver is staggered by the brutal carnage of the innocents around him. But is his moment of shock some of the Assassins attempt to remove one Master from the competition. Rider quickly dispatches two of them and now their cover is blown. We clearly see that the Inverse Ninja Law is in full effect because Rider takes out Assassins like they were made of paper-mâché (and not a very magical paper-mâché at that. ) Oddly enough the most important part of this trip into the sewers was the growth of Team Rider. Waver got some healthy shocks to the system about the nature of the war and both Master and Servant have a little more respect for the others ability.

In the end Tokiomi is trying to do his best Dr. Claw impersonation. He sits in a darkened room with his face obscured talking about the fact that while his minions failed to complete their mission they may have gained enough information to defeat the heroes next time as part of their TRUE PLAN. That is some dialog you expect to hear from the leader of  M.A.D. even is he never refers to Rider and Waver as heroes. But we see that Gilgamesh’s words still resonate in Kirei‘s head. When your supposedly loyal but somewhat dodgy lieutenant has thoughts like that it is major death flag for any shadowy manipulator.

Oh man. A certain type of fan is going to have a field day next week. I guess they can talk about more than Ilya now (but I would prefer if they did not). It seems that Rin is going to try to help her dad in her battle. I know that my roommate might actually qualify to be Tohsaka fan #1 much like I am Saber fan #1 so I am sure he will be in heaven next week. Other than that I think it will be a little break in the tone before the bloodshed that will come with the final two episodes of the season. Still with people like Uryuu in the preview it will not be all be a candy land of happiness and joy in the next episode despite the younger version of the mistress of the zettai ryouiki running around.

Carnival Phantasm Season 2 has an all Saber related episode. Therefore Carnival Phantasm Season 2 is rated A++ with a side order of extra credit. But with all my horrible blatant prejudice aside Carnival Phantasm continues to be a series of in jokes piled on top of each other. There is some good material that does not rely on the mythology but there are few people who would be able to sit through what would otherwise be rather incomprehensible episodes otherwise. This set of episodes really favors the Fate side of things. Episode five is mostly Berserker running around wreaking havoc.  Episode six is sort of dodgy since it mostly revolves around the fact that Shinji often beats and rapes Sakura while Rider does her best to protect her in a faux soap opera. It is really is a dark type of humor that could easily turn people off. Episode seven is the only split episode with the first half being about Arcueid making okonomiyaki and the second half being about Caster’s love life. I wonder if this skit is enough to make people actually like Caster. Unlike Sakura she has never really been hated but mostly just ignored.  The eighth is all about Saber so I naturally enjoyed it immensely. They thankfully end the Phantasmoon story for the most part in episode 6. It was never that long but they were stretching what was originally a one page gag pretty far as it were.  I assume we will get one more Phantasmoon skit in season 3 but I think the break will go do it a world of good. Lancer continue to be the Kenny of the series dying in every episode. I have more to say but maybe I will save it for its own post. Other than that: ALTER! ALTER! ALTER!

 In volumes 27-28 of Kekkaishi we finally get confirmation, at least in part, of what Karasumori’s deal is. 27 is mostly battling the witches spell which threatens not just the sacred site but the surrounding city. But big surprises occur when Yoshimori is able to harness the mind-emptying technique that we’ve been so curious about. Along with this comes the reveal of his new familiar which leans towards creepy. Since all of this involves the head of the Organization and every major player I can only assume we have entered the final arc of the series. I still feel as though Yoshimori’s family has secrets lurking in its depths but we’ll have to wait and see.

I have been keeping up with Guilty Crown up to the seventh episode because I can watch it at work. I have an easier time keeping up with anything I can watch during lunch. Comparisons to Code Geass aside I think the main problem with Guilty Crown is it is a fairly standard show that happens to be misplaced in the noitaminA time slot. It would hardly save it from its harshest critics because there are some distinctly wonky parts about the series and some major flaws in the series. I just think some of the anime fans in the middle would be a bit more lenient on the shows flaws if it were not in such a high profile slot. That said while I think the show is OK I can’t say that that I am loving it. Shu Ouma is growing to be a better character as the show goes on but he hardly sells the show out of the gate and I know his slow growth is hardly going to win him many fans. I can’t say I am too annoyed with the cast but also none of them really stand out as being very compelling either. Oh wait. Daryl Yan is pretty annoying whenever he shows up.  He is just such a cliche psycho villain but without any style or class. Sort of the worst combination. If I were not able to watch this show at lunch I don’t think I would be as up to date with it. The logic of the show can be off a bit and things sometimes happen more for dramatic reasons than logical ones. But there are shows like Maken-ki and C3 I could also watch on Nico but I don’t even bother to waste my lunch time with them.

 Swamp Things’ second issue really starts to show its horror-side with more gruesome scenes and zombies showing up. That didn’t really endear this issue to me, nor did the heavy exposition. But I did get a better understanding of what is happening, the first issue had an intriguing ending. And while originally this didn’t seem like an origin story, that has changed so we are actually still without Swamp Thing after two issues.

After watching the first seven episodes of Un-Go I am still not sure what I think of the show. The show is an excellent primer of why Knox’s rules exists. Un-Go routinely has Shinjuurou Yuuki break Knox’s sixth rule by having Inga use her ability to force anyone to answer any one question. While  Shinjuurou can’t just randomly ask the suspects questions until they break it does often feel like some of his solutions are undeserved. And that is exactly why Knox’s rules exists. Whenever you break the rules you run the risk that your mysteries seem arbitrarily solved or just unfair. I am curious if anyone has read the original Meiji Kaika Ango Torimono-cho novel this series is very loosely based on.  Does the detective in that story have supernatural help as well? Other than that I keep watching mostly to see that ties together Shinjuurou and Inga and what exactly is Rinroku Kaishou’s agenda. How well all those things come together will determine the strength of the series in the end. Episode 6 also introduced what could be a Professor Moriarty to Shinjuurou’s Holmes with a criminal who has his own spirit. That could also add some good spice to the series.

I watched the first two episodes of the rather bizarre magical girl show Kawaii! JenNy which uses Barbie-like dolls along with robot and bear toys in a stop-motion format. The three girls go on missions in a Charlie’s Angels style to protect the sweets of the town from Sister B and her minions, some of which are Teddy bears dressed in military outfits. It is very silly and young as one can imagine with slapstick humor especially from the constantly foiled Sister B. The girls are very fashionable and it is based on a real doll that is the Japanese Barbie.

Narutaki’s picks:

• Happy Birthday, Mickey Mouse!
  The 18th was Mickey’s 83rd birthday!
  
• New Trailers
  
  • Pixar’s Brave
    I love it already! It is fantasy, it has a cool female protagonist, the animation looks breathtaking. June is much too far away!
  • The Hunger Games
    If you aren’t looking forward to this, well then I am sad. I was a big fan of the book and by the look of things they are staying true to the vision. I felt less happy with the second and third books, but for right now I can just revel in the fantastic going into work bringing the first to life on the big screen.
  • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
    I always like Daniel Craig so I was interested in this, but after seeing the trailer I’m very excited. A big international bestseller, which I haven’t actually read yet, but looks to be a stunning mystery.
• Tiger and Bunny Get Films
  Many of us have been wondering where this surprise phenomenon of the year was going next and now we have an answer. There is no mention of the story, but we can all just be happy they are happening. Is it too much to ask for a Sky High focused movie? And the internet can hopefully stop complaining about the CG since this will presumably have a film budget?
  
• Toy Story Fashion
  These Toy Story inspire fashions from Japanese designer bossini 系列 are pretty rad. I especially like the Slinky Dog muffler!
  

Hisui’s picks:

• Is This the Last Song for Macross Frontier or Will There be an Encore?
  The Veef and Dkun discuss the second Macross Frontier Movie: The Wings of Goodbye. Filled with discussion of the changes from the TV series, the resolution of the love triangle, and of course robots, robots, robots. They go over the entire plot in detail so be warned that there is no spoiler they do not touch upon. I might actually get off my duff and send in a voice message to ask a question I think should be addressed but overall it is a great overview of the movie.
• Time to Add An Intellectual Rapists Into Your Fighting Game Repertoire
  At the Winter Comic Market 07 Expansion will be releasing two new additions to the Umineko series. There is another fan disk of short stories called Umineko no Naku Koro ni Hane. I’m hoping there are some more answers in Hane but I am not going to hold my breath. They are also releasing an upgrade to the Umineko fighting game called Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross. Erika Furudo, Dlanor A. Knox, and Black Battler will be available from the start and Lambdadelta, Bernkastel and Willard H. Wright will be available for download later on. Glad to see 34-tan and Wright in the mix. There are still some great characters they could add. Gaap and more of the older Ushiromiya family members would be cool.
• On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!
  Everyone has been talking about Redline. In fact it was just the topic of a recent Podlabor. For awhile the only way to see the movie was to attend a few select shows around the world, import the Japanese home video release, or use some Edward Teach like methods. But before the US Blu-ray and DVD release you have a chance to see the movie in a theatrical setting in New York and Los Angles. If you live in either area it will definitely be worth a look as Redline is an action spectacle that will definitely benefit from being on a big screen.
• The Best/Worst Fate/Extra review
  A little comic that “reviews” Fate/Extra after the artist got to play a sneak preview. It is rather amusing in what the reviewers chooses to talk about and what the reviewer decides to leave to others. I like the family of Sabers.
• The Modern Japanese Psyche Through Slang
  A look a 60 of the most popular phrases and slang in Japan from 2011. A great list if you know scholarly Japanese but want to familiarise yourself with a bit more with of the colloquial terms being thrown around. Unsurprisingly many of the terms have to deal with the fallout of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

In hopes of his own movie!

An episode that is nothing but people trying to put massive holes in each other from start to finish. Hopefully this will calm the audience’s blood lust for a while. We also see a whole new side to certain characters who might not have seemed to be warriors doing some pretty awesome combat maneuvers. I will warn everyone that there was no Rider and Waver in this one. I want to let certain people down easy so they know what they are in store for. Don’t worry. I am sure when it comes down the real showdown with Caster we shall see the King of Conquerors in his full glory. But the King of Knights content is sufficient for me to be happy. And that is all that should really matter to anyone.

Battles everywhere. Kayneth and Kiritsugu are locked in a battle of guns vs. quicksilver. Irisviel and Kirei duel with alchemy and martial arts. Oh and Maiya is there too. Lancer and Saber fight against Caster and his demonic calamari horde. If you ever wondered why Einzbern castle always looks so dilapidated in Fate/Stay Night here is the reason why.

Irisviel like a Higlander style immortal can sense the quickening of another intruder through the use of the wards on the castle. But this time she knows it is the most fearsome Master in the war: Kirei Kotomine. And so both women fleeing the castle decide to stop and fight the church assassin. Both women clearly have a great affection for Kiritsugu and a good deal of knowledge of how dangerous Kirei is. Irisviel’s conversation makes it very clear she is far more aware of Maiya’s relationship with Kiritsugu than it would have first appeared. It is a nice bit of added complexity on her first very naive seeming demeanor. She is still clearly a child of a sheltered life but a bit more insightful than she would first appear to be. Sort of a Lacus Clyne style character in that respect. I do love me some Lacus so I do not mind this.

Kayneth is obviously not a baseball fan because he seems to have no understanding of how a changeup works. If someone is working really hard for you to understand a pattern it is clear that they WANT you to get that pattern so when the real killer pitch comes you are expecting the pattern and not the deathblow. Right off the bat we learn that the Kiritsugu’s antique gun,  Thompson Contender, is clearly his magical magnum as it punches a hole right through Kayneth’s magical shield. This sends Kayneth on a rampage as he was actually hurt by Kiritsugu’s petty tactics. And so Kayneth falls into the trap hook, line, and sinker.

For anyone who only watched the anime and never played the Fate/Stay Night visual novel, or saw what Ciel could do in Tsukihime, might find kung-fu death ninja Kirei a bit odd. But in the Heaven’s Feel path after Kirei loses both of his servants he proves that he learned his lessons well as a demon hunting assassin for the church. He goes and fights Zouken and True Assassin by himself and makes a surprise appearance as the last boss in a martial arts battle to the death at the end of the path. Maiya has some good tricks and knows her way around a fighting knife but she is no match for a magical black belt who also just happens to be a bit bullet proof. Maiya might go down quickly but Irisviel then proves that she is more than just a white mage. She not only has monofiliment wire but can shape it into familiar than can attack and restrain someone. I think she just went up a level of coolness on the Daryl Surat scale. But Kirei quickly proves his kung-fu is stronger than Irisviel alchemy.

Surrounded by an endless horde of demons Lancer and Saber quickly determine the only way out it to destroy Caster’s Nobel Phantasm. The only path to victory is obviously a Suikoden style combo attack. Saber uses Invisible Air to make a wind tunnel that Lancer dashes through to strike Prelati’s Spellbook with Gae Dearg. The anti-magic properties of the spear are enough to slice through Caster’s wards and disrupt his demon army but not enough to prevent the book from regenerating. Man that would be a great maneuver in any RPG. It almost makes you sad Saber and Lancer can’t fight back to back all the time. Caster then escapes using the time honored ability of villain teleport. Lancer then realizes that his master is near death. Saber knows that the person who is about to kill Kayneth in none other than her own Master. While she could occupy Lancer for enough time for Kiritsugu to kill Kayneth thereby getting rid of both Master and Servant at the same time she honorably stays her blade in payment for Lancer’s deeds in her defense. And so the two warriors part vowing to properly finish their fight later on.

But while Lancer is doing well outside the castle his Master is not doing as well. With his body hurt and his pride even more damaged he rampages through the castle looking not only to kill his opponent but slowly and sadistically snuff the life out of the Magus Killer. But that is exactly the plan. When Kiritsugu whips out his standard one-two punch of automatic weapons and then the Thompson Contender he has a little extra punch in it. We see that Kiritsugu mentor, Natalia Kaminski, made special bullets for him. When they hit a magi they cut and the reform their magical circuits in a way that not only do major bodily damage but also permanently fry the circuits. This means that even if they heal they cannot access mana. It would be like being a RPG mage with a MP of zero. But before Kiritsugu can deliver the finishing blow Lancer comes to the rescue. While it would not be that hard for Lancer to kill Kiritsugu he merely saves his Master out of respect for Saber and her honorable actions from before. Unlike Game of Thrones playing by the rules of fair play do benefit you from time to time in the Nasuverse. (Just don’t count on that all the time. Especially if you are a Lancer.)

As a quick note on Origins for anyone who did not extensively research Kara no Kyoukai. Natalia bring up the term but hardly explains it. In the Nasuverse everyone has an Origin. An Origin is a concept that defines a person’s being. Sort of like a True Name that expresses who they are and where they excel at. In Fate/Stay Night Shirou’s origin is Swords so he excels at the  creation and usage of swords to the point where he can create the reality marble Unlimited Blade Works which should normally be beyond his means. Kiritsugu on the other hand has an innate ability to cut and bind things including magical circuits. That is a bit more useful than Kokuto Azaka’s origin of Taboo.

And so if Rider and Waver did not create enough yaoi doujinshi potential we have the hate-sex angle with Kirei’s obsession with Kiritsugu. He obviously assumes that Kiritsugu has the same hollow life that causes him to search for meaning alone in the darkness. Therefore Irisviel must have some other reason to put her life on the line for Kiritsugu. If Kiritsugu is empty like him no one should love him. This difference clearly explains he complete and utter hatred for Kiritsugu in Fate/Stay Night even after he is dead and his obsession with destroying Shiro. Hatred and obsession is milk and honey to a certain breed of fujoshi. But before he can continue his interrogation Assassin informs him that Saber is on her way so he gives the silver-haired homunculus a parting gift of some black keys in the abdomen.

Speaking of Shiro we learn that Irisviel has one hidden trump card much like Kiritsugu’s future adopted son. She has Avalon implanted in her so as long as Saber in near he she has amazing regenerative abilities. But Kiritsugu has sworn her not to tell anyone that she has this ace up her sleeve. And so everyone has survived Kotomine’s assault but it is clear he is not be taken lightly.

A good blood pumping episode. Still no killing blows have been delivered but Kayneth is clearly not doing to well. Fortunately for Lancer he has a back up Master. But until your dead and buried you are still in the game so don’t count out Kayneth. But obviously problem number one is Caster. Although he was beaten back, he is still out there, and there is still a price on his head, so everyone will be gunning for him. We have also not seen Tokiomi and Kariya for a while so hopefully they will step up their game. I look forward to the fall out of this episode and I am still scratching my head as to the contents of episode 10. I am just SO curious what that is going to be about.