Disney buys Marvel

Holy Cross-over Batman... wait, wrong comic company.

Disney announced today they are going to buy Marvel for $4 Billion dollars!

Fanboy's are freaking out, expecting to see Micky Mouse in Punisher comics. Of course this will never happen, other then some comic meant for children (which Marvel has done before). So it's really no big deal.

Except.........

THE SPIDER-MAN RIDE AT UNIVERSAL!!

Will Disney demand it be removed? Will they put it up in Disney World? Disney and Universal Studios have always had an amicable relationship, realizing the existence of each other only helps each other, kind of like a symbiote if you will, so I doubt anything will happen. But still it makes me worry a little.

The only thing greater in existence then the Spider-Man ride, is the entire country of Japan.

Please Disney do not let anything happen to the Spider-Man ride at Universal Studios.

Source: MSNBC

Update: It looks like the deal was finalized for the sum of $4 Billion. Frankly that's a heck of a deal considering the properties that Disney Got. Spiderman Alone is probably a $2 Billion Dollar business. Also the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Disney has no plans to change current deals with other studios regarding the properties; i.e. Fox and X-Men, Sony and Spiderman, Paramount and Marvel Studios. ~Critic

Source: WSJ

Pleo Busts a Move...

Hatsune Miku Performance Method Revealed!

We have posted previously on the up coming "Live" concert performance of Hatsune Miku, everyone's favorite virtual idol. What was most intriguing was how they would pull off the stage pretense of the character. Apparently they went "Half-Gorillaz." There were no live instruments or a backing band, but they did have a Giant screen projecting Miku's image and performance. My question now would be, was it truly "Live" i.e. did they have the synth making the music in real time? Or, was it pre-recorded, and everyone was duped into watching a movie?

Gundam Unicorn to be 6 50 min OVAs (My Take)

This was already posted by my partner in crime, but I'd like to make give my 2cents. I'm glad that they've finally settled this. Though I am disappointed that it won't be a series. It's still going to get a world-wide simultaneous release, which is good. I was hoping it would be a full series, and Sy-Fy would pick it up and show it. Oh well, baby-steps. :)

Inglourious Bastards: A Mini Review

All I can say it was awesome. It reminded me of Kill Bill in it's pacing and structure. Though this is probably one of the most chronologically succinct of all of his movies to date.

Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa was absolutely incredible. He's a true sociopath, he has no feelings or empathy for the actions he's taken. He brings home the idea that the truest evil would be unrecognizable in a crowd. There is no doubt in my mind that he deserves an Oscar for his performance. It's also no doubt in my mind that the film will probably get nominated because anything to with the Holocaust always get nominated.

My only complaint is that it does portend the viewpoint that all German soldiers were Evil Nazi Jew Killers. Most German soldier were just that soldiers. They were fighting for their country as asked. Most were not Nazi's most didn't even know about the Holocaust until after the war. Now they were complicit in the institutional racism that existed in Nazi Germany, so there is a bit of "Guilt by Association" in that respect.

Overall though it's not a huge deal for me, it's a movie, but we all know there are some dumb and gullible people in this country who have absolutely no knowledge of History beyond their own birth. Case in point a retarded girl sitting three seats down from me who didn't know how to whisper asked her boyfriend "Why did he shoot them?" when the German Soldiers killed the family hiding under the floor. I mean really?

Inglourious Bastards is a definite must see...

Andrew WK to release an Album of Gundam Music in Japan

I'm defiantly no Andrew WK fan. I thought "Party Hard" was one of the most retarded songs ever to exist. It also didn't help that it was included in Madden 2003 so I had to endure hearing it over and over again. That said, he's huge in Japan. He release a disk of Andrew-WKized classic anime music in 2007 to "Thank his Japanese Fans." The Album did include a hard rock version of the original Gundam Theme. Bandai has tapped him to release another album of all Gundam music for the 30th Anniversary. The Album will include English rock version of many of the classic Gundam Pop Songs, as well as Hard Rock version of the instrumental work.

It does have an awesome cover...

Source: ANN

(Also, I know this is old news at this point, but I've actually been busy at work lately. My apologies.)

Japanese Robotics Scientists create RODEM Scooter.

You know there was some Akira geek on that engineering team...

Source: Psyorg

Microsoft hates Black People

Or I guess Microsoft Poland hates Black People.

Notice the original image, from Microsoft's English site on top and then the image under it, from their Polish one.

They decided for some unknown reason, the black guy had to go, and a horrendously done Photoshop chop was done, placing a white guy on the head of the black guy.

Besides the fact, the angle of the white guy's head is off, they didn't even bother to change the color of the guy's hand!

Also, the black/white guy is using a Macbook in a Microsoft ad.

Source: Engadget

My Alma Mater premiering Eva 1.0

The University of North Texas is having a free screening of Evangelion 1.0 tonight at 6:00.

UNT is close to the Funimation head office, and when I lived there, and had my college job at Blockbuster, Funi voice actors would come in all the time. Back then they were all about Dragonball. Tiffany Vollmer, the voice of Bulma in the American dub, would always come in and buy the newest Dragonball Z video game.

But I digress. I'm glad to see UNT premiering this, makes me proud of the old Mean Green.

Also, the pic above is obviously not from Eva. 1.0, but Misato four years older in Evangelion Anima.

Source: Funimation

Gundam Unicorn to be 6 50 min OVAs

Basically I just wanted an excuse to post this trolling picture.

But as the headline says. They will be released on Blu Ray and DVD in 2010.


Source: ANN

Evangelion Anima

Today, I am here to raise awareness of an amazing little project happening in Japan involving Evangelion.

No, I'm not talking about the "Rebuild" movies. I'm talking about Evangelion Anima. If you are an Eva fan you might have heard of this, but perhaps not. Evangelion is my world, and I just heard about this yesterday.

Evangelion Anima is a "light novel" series being serialized in Japan as we speak. It started in 2007 and continues to this day.

The plot of Anima is a Evangelion otaku's wet dream. It is an Alternate Universe take on the end of the original TV series. The conceit being, what if Kaji had been successful and actually twarted SEELE from destroying NERV. The plot goes from there and Instrumentality is shut down before it can even take off, along with SEELE (going into hiding I believe).

Flash forward four years later, and here is where I don't really know anything else. My assumption from the art is that SEELE returns with new mech's to take on NERV and the UN.

What this does is turn Evangelion into a limited one Angel at a time, into a more serialized mech wars type show, thus giving it a much longer lifespan then the impending third impact. Of course this sacrifices the psychological aspect of the show, but we got that in the original series, EoE, and now in "Rebuild". If I want that I can go to those at any time (and I will, again, and again, and again). This gives a little more light hearted affair that I can enjoy without worrying which of my favorite characters will be mentally destroyed this week.

The legitimacy of this work in the grand scheme of "Evangelion Canon" is what fans are in dispute over. Of course it isn't Anno, so fans are calling it glorified fan fiction. However, the sentiment seems to be that only works by Hideki Anno, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto can be remotely considered canon. The flaw in this thinking is Sadamoto.

Sadamoto was the character designer for the original series, and Rebuild. He then went on to do the Manga version of Evangelion, which now gives him cred as a co-creator of Evangelion and near the same exalted level as Anno. But people forget he only reached that because he had a part in the original series, and then made an original work based on Eva that was pretty darn good.

Now, the author for Anima is Yamashita Ikuto, who was ALSO involved in the original series and Rebuild, just as Sadamoto was, as the mech designer. This is the guy who made Evangelion Unit 01. So I think that gives him some street cred. On top of that in this book he is playing to his strength, mech design and mech fights. Sadamoto's manga is praised because it goes more into depth with the characters, that he designed. Again, playing to his strength. Now Ikuto is doing the same with the mech's and fans are trying to make it seem not as legitimate. It is on the same level in my opinion.

Also, for some reason, Evangelion is seen as a franchise that can only have alternate stories if handled by the original team. Stories not made by them tend to get ignored. And this is usually for good reason (see Angelic Days, or Shinji Ikari Raising Project). However, when you look at a series like Gundam that has a million shows, most of which are handled by different authors, it makes you wonder why Evangelion is played so close to the chest. Why hasn't the series attempted to branch out more. I'm partially playing devil's advocate here, because personally I really don't want an Evangelion Franchise, like a Gundam Franchise. Over saturation can easily kill a property.

But a couple of things like Anima can come out every few years, and I think that is good enough. What I would really like is to see Anima animated. In OVA form perhaps, just for the hard core. And I don't think that is too out of left field. Gundam Unicorn is being made into a full on series, and it started in much the same way. Also, Gainax is doing a pretty good job promoting Anima in Japan. They display giant art boards of the new Eva mech designs in public places, they have a deal with Bandai to make models and figures based off the series. There is even an article where some guy named "Hideki" (though it can't be confirmed as Anno 100%) says he supports the project. Which if it is Anno, that is a HUGE endorsement.

I just went through all that conjecture for something I haven't even read, because I can't, and that is the entire reason I made this lengthy post. Currently there is no one translating the book. Maybe ADV will pull out of their slump and bring this to the States, or maybe some fan translation is in the works I just don't know about. Regardless someone needs to get this translated.















Super Evangelion Unit 01


















Asuka is now 17... legal in Texas.


















By far the hottest picture of Rei I've seen. She looks good in black.



















Shinji, 17, takes a cue from Kaji's fashion sense.



If you want RAW's of the books thus far, EvaGeeks has been keeping tabs on it with downloads like the ones seen in this post.

EvaGeeks Forum

Gundam 30th Anniversary!

Gundam Unicorn? Fanfiction.

Giant Gundam statue? Giant model kit.

Now THIS is what I'm talking about.

Nissin Noodles are releasing special edition noodle cups to celebrate Gundam's Big 3-0.

Finally Bandai understands the fans demands for a proper Gundam 30th celebration.

Source: Animenation

Looks like I have to get into the Tales games

Looks like PS3 owners get a little something extra in their Tales of Vesperia port.

DLC of Sgt. Frog! Complete with his voice.

Of course this is only confirmed for Japan right now, and I'm sceptical this will come to the states, but if it does, consider me a Tales of Vesperia fan.

Source: Kotaku

Nothing to see here....

I intentionally didn't submit this post but somehow it showed up after Critic went on a posting binge, so please look away....

BANDAI Channel to start Streaming in US, Europe and Asia.

All I can say is awesome. I guess they weren't lying about simulcasting Gundam Unicorn, but I was hoping for a Broadcast Simulcast; baby steps. According to Nikkei Business Publications' ITpro; Bandai channel recently switched from using WMV to Flash, which should ease transition as Flash is a better streaming format. I'm curious if this will have any effect on the Semi-Autonomous US distributor Bandai Entertainments forays into the Streaming world. The biggest difference I suppose is the Bandai Entertainment's YouTube channel currently only broadcasts shows that already have US DVD distribution rights.

Now all we need is Animax...

Source: ANN

Have a 6 Story House and $$ to Burn? How about a 59ft Eva Poster...

To celebrate the 2,000,000 viewing of Eva 2.0; a 59ft poster of EVA 02 is being auctioned off in at the Yahoo Auction's Japan. It's about 3 Ft Wide and is made of Weather Resistant Vinyl. The Auction will benefit the Japan Committee for Vaccines. It is currently hanging from the 109-2 Department Store in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Source: ANN

Import Game of the Month: Super Robot Wars Impressions

Seeing as how Sengoku Blade hasn't been delivered yet, I decided to dig through the slew of used games I bought in Japan and start playing through them.

First on the list is Super Robot Wars F for the Sega Saturn. I picked this game up along with its sequel in the bargain bin for 164 Yen (or about $1.70).

My initial impressions, when I first got it was that it was unplayable and boring. At that time I hadn't bothered to find a translated game script and I didn't even make it far enough to get to the battles. But once you have those two items in hand, you have yourself quite a good game.

First of all, any hardcore Gundam fan needs to play these games. I am not that familiar with all the billion Gundam shows so many of the characters and references are lost on me, as Gundam characters take up 70% of the cast. At the start of the game Char is in hiding and Amaro is in charge of your squad. That is about as deep as my Gundam knowledge goes. Then in chapter 3 Heero shows up, and is a pain in the ass to kill (unless you have Getter Robo armed and ready).

Which brings me to the other, "non-Gundam" side. The other half of the characters are "Super Robo" mechs, and so far, they are much more over powered, as you might expect. I am much more familiar with those types, and while they are dispersed throughout the game, I get excited when one of them shows up, accompanied by their awesome "70's anime" theme songs.

So far this has provided some slight balancing issues. I guess the train of thought is since there are so many more Gundam's, they are your front line, and the Super Robo's are your trump card. Which so far has worked fine.

The gameplay is pretty straight forward SRPG. You are presented with a grid, which is just a map, and all the player's characters are represented by boring icons of each mech's head. This was originally what turned me off of the game, because I figured the entire game looked like that with cut scenes disbursed intermittently. However, the game is much more akin to something like Fire Emblem or Advance Wars as when you go into battle (after a slight annoying load time) you get a side view of your mechs in super deformed style duking it out. The animation seems more on par with high end Super Nintendo graphics, but I love that type of style so I am quite fond of these little battle sequences. Also when you kill an enemy unit, they explode in an impressive fiery death, along with a blood curdling scream. It's quite rewarding.... every single time.

But be aware, there is a LOT of Japanese text. If you can't put up with that, it might get annoying. It takes very little time to figure out what each of them commands do, but the thing that is the hardest to keep straight are all your attacks. It is necessary to learn what each of the commands do, most importantly your beam weapons.

That is the one thing the Gundam's have on everyone else. Beam Canons have potential to do massive damage to your foes, so you are going to want to know where that thing is at all times.

When you start the game you create your own character. And I don't know if the mech they give you is the same for everyone's game, or if it is randomly generated, but it is completely awesome. It sort of looks like Epyon, except black. I really hope they make model kits of this mech because I need to own it. NEED TO.

This game also gives me reason to start buying Gundam model kits, just to have my favorite Super Robots Wars mech's without knowing anything about the show they are from. Another little cool Extra Feature in the game is a Kareoke mode, which plays the main theme from all the shows in the game, sans vocal track, while a little animation plays using the SD character from that show. There is nothing quite like singing "Cruel Angel's Thesis" while watching a cute little SD Evangelion tear apart an equally cute SD Angel.

I'll give more impressions once I finish the game but right now I am really enjoying it. It is dated to be sure, and many games (and I'm sure later games in the series) have improved on all of this games faults, but when reviewing older games it is sometimes necessary to look past these. The main point is that it still ages well and it still playable by today's standards, which can't be said for many retro games. A used copy is super cheap on ebay, so if you are into SRPG or mech anime it should be a no brainer.

Awww, Gundam Unicorn not comming to TV (Maybe)...

Newtype magazine has posted a correction to a story in their most current issue that casts some doubt that Gundam Unicorn will be coming to TV; possibly going to OVA route. Further More ANN reports:

The Sunrise anime studio itself had not specified the release format of the project, and Bandai President and CEO Kazunori Ueno said in April that "there are no plans to broadcast [another Gundam] television series in 2009."

Overall this is and isn't surprising. I seriously doubted that they could make a September 2009 release when Bandai didn't even announce it was green lit until March. What is surprising is the announcement that they weren't going to bring it to TV. They had already stated they were planning a global simultaneous release of the show; which would only make sense if they were planning on releasing it on TV in Japan.

All of that said, it would be odd for Bandai to have two competing Gundam Series vying for the hearts and minds of the Gundam fans at the same time. Gundam 00 is still going strong, and will have a theatrical movie coming out in 2010. I just couldn't imagine Bandai putting out another TV show, that would compete for both mind-share and merchandise, to sit along side Gundam 00.

What holds Gundam fans together is their love of all things Gundam; competing shows would case the fanboy's heads to explode. There would probably be riots in the streets, as the UC fanboys clashed with those johnny-come-lately CE fanboys. An Army of Char's marching down the street Breaking windows, and beating up those Yaoi 00 guys. I kid, I love 00, for the exception of Setsuna and Lock-on, the rest are a little Yaoified.

To me this is all indicative of what seems to be the complete bungling of the whole Gundam 30th anniversary celebration. It just seems they forgot it was coming up and threw everything together in March. Look at the Past anniversaries. 5th Anniversary brought Zeta Gundam, 10th anniversary brought Char's Counter Attack. They sort of celebrated the 20th anniversary for a whole 5 years, which brought us Gundam X, Gundam Wing, G Gundam Fighter, and Turn A Gundam. The Odaiba Statue is cool and all, and the Concert and Expo are great Ideas, they just seem a little lacking for something as important as 30 years of Gundam. What's most upsetting was Tomino was completely ready to make another Movie, and they didn't even ask him.

Source: ANN

Sony's Party-Shot Dock

When we was in Japan last year, one of the main landmarks we made sure to go to was the Sony Store in Tokyo. Other than embarrassing myself by feeling compelled to yell "It's Over 9000!!!" when that particular scene came up on the DBZ Burst Limit; the most fun I had there was playing with the Sony Cybershot camera that was setup with smile detection. It was sitting on a tripod in the middle of one of the busiest rooms taking pictures of all who were happy walking by. Now the Sony's BIONZ smile detection is nothing new, it's been around in their point and shoot cameras for a while. This though was my first exposure to it and it was a neat little trick. Walk towards the camera with a frown, then all of the sudden smile, and *Click*. It couldn't be fooled either.

As a Companion to a couple of new Cybershot Cameras Sony has announced the IPT-DS1 Party-shot. The Party-Shot is essentially a motorized dock that mounts to any tripod. It can pan 360 degrees and can tilt 24 degrees. So you can set it up at your next party, it will automatically move like a little Doppler antenna taking sneaky pictures of anyone actually having fun at your party. It's a really neat idea, great for large parties or weddings. I doubt I'll buy one, but it's something to look forward to.

See it in action --> CNET

New Astroboy Trailer...

I'm looking forward to the new Astroboy Movie. I wouldn't call myself an Astroboy fan, but I really like Imagi's work on TMNT. I've heard they have pretty much had to put the whole studio in hock to finish the film. So at the very least I hope they makes money, it would be a shame to lose one of only independent animation houses left in the US.

Man Guilty of Groping Minnie Mouse

To prove that weirdos don't only exist in Japan, a man today was found Guilty of Groaping Minnie Mouse; or at least the woman in the Minnie Mouse Costume.  The incident happened earlier this spring at Disney World.  He apparently grabbed her boob through the costume, she pushed him away.  For the Burgoning Furry this doesn't seem like the best course of action.  All the guy had to do was go to a Furry Con and he could have gotten all hot and bothered in a furpile (shudder).  

Source: Orlando Sentinel    

As Though There Wasn't Reason Enough to Watch DB Kai...

I'm actually fairly exited about Dragon Ball Kai.  Like many my age, I was initially introduced to the wonders of Japanese animation by the Dragon Ball Z run on Cartoon Network back in the Early 2000's.  I actually never minded the filler episodes, but to many they were infuriating.  Dragon Ball Kai will take the 250 episode run of Dragon Ball Z and cut it down to about 100 episodes, no Filler at all, and it will be HD.  As if that wasn't Reason enough Aya Hirano has just signed on to play Dende, that little ball of Namekian Awesome Incarnate, (or maybe that's Awesome Reincarnate since he was brought back to life once).  

Source:ANN

Gundam Fans are Crazy

More proof that the Gundam Otaku is a cut above your everyday run of the mill Otaku.

Yoshifumi Takabe a factory worker in Japan burnt his house to the ground (and presumably tried to burn himself and possibly his mother but failed), because his mother got rid of all his Gundam figures.

Takabe is 29 years old, so he is a year older then I am now which means I have one more year before I reach the "crazy threshold" of Otakuism.


Source: ANN

First it's SyFy, Now It's The Shack...

I swear to god, I wish Marketing people weren't clueless idiots. When it was announced six months, or so, ago that the cable stalwart of geekyness was changing it's name from SciFi to SyFy; I was flabbergasted. Their reasoning was so stupid and so cliche I had to make sure I wasn't watching an episode of The Office. I can only imagine what the meetings were behind the scenes at NBC with the marketing people were like. We want branding that is "Hip" and "In the Now." We want to be "proactive" in capturing the "Synergy" (Sy?) of today's "Dynamic" and "Changing" Markets. Do they really think people are this stupid?

Now we have The Shack. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the exact same marketing firm sold this pile of crap to RadioShack that sold it to SciFi. Let's be honest here, RadioShacks problem isn't their name or their brand image, it's the fact they sold out. If you loved electronics and loved doing things with electronics yourself RadioShack was your home away from home. Sometime in the last decade they thought that market was dieing, so they went all-in on consumer electronics. They missed their golden opportunity because they could have owned the Hobby and Custom PC markets. That Market was already theirs back in the 80's. If they had seized that market, instead of playing Johnny-Come-Lately to the Consumer Electronics biz we wouldn't be buying our computer parts from New Egg, Tiger Direct, or Fry's. The world doesn't need another place to buy an Iphone cover or cheep ass portable DVD player, what the world does need is a convenient place to buy a 10 ohm resistor, or a new Video Card or CPU.

I will make a bold prediction this "The Shack" marketing pitch and rebranding won't work, and RadioShack will be declaring bankruptcy and go the way of Circuit City in less than two years.

Retro Game of the Month

I'm going to start a "Retro-Game of the Month" feature to justify my recent obsession with buying old games.

The first game (or series I suppose) is Gunbird.

For those who don't know (I was one of them), Gunbird was released here in the states for the Playstation called Mobile Light Force. It is infamously know for being one of the sloppiest localization efforts of all time.

Basically the American distributor didn't want to bother with translating any Japanese text, so they cut out ALL the Japanese text. This included cut scenes, animated openings, and, to my horror, all the endings.

Let me explain why this is so horrifying.

If you are a fan of vertical shumps, like I am, you know they have the stigma of being hard as hell. I recently took to Mobile Light Force because, after playing Ikaruga, it was a lot more forgiving. It had it's hooks in me. And while it never got impossible, it did get frustratingly hard at times, so you can imagine how I felt that after beating it, all I got was giant white text on a black background that said: "The End".

I was even more upset to learn that Gunbird has not only one ending, but a different ending for each character and endings for each paired up characters (If you are playing it two players). That is a lot of endings, for them to just wipe their hand across the board and so, "No thanks!"

However, you can go to the vgmuseum and look up all the endings. But I advise you to do this ONLY if you have beat it. You are cheating the rest out of accomplishment if you look at them without feeling the need to bash your controller on the ground.

That beings said, I instantly fell in love with the game play of it. I've been looking hard for a good vertical shump lately and haven't found one that stuck until Gunbird. Luckily they made a sequel for the Dreamcast, actually called Gunbird 2 with everything intact. At least I hope so, I haven't beaten it yet.

Which brings me to my next issue. I took to the first one because, while still challenging, it is a lot easier to beat with just one person then a lot of other shumps out right now. Gunbird 2's difficulty is a lot more in line with more modern shooters. Though it is still accessible and still within the realm of possibility to beat.

In any case if you are a fan of shumps I can't recommend this series enough. I haven't even gotten to the humor, which comes in spades. Fans of Parodius will most likely love this game.

Also if you are a Darkstalkers fan (like me), Morrigan is a playable character in Gunbird 2. Thanks Capcom!




Next time I'll keep with the shooters theme and review a game with some of the Gunbird characters in it, though horizontally this time called: Sengoku Blade

RIP John Hughes

Today John Hughes' films are iconic windows into life as a teenager.  His stories are timeless opuses to Pain and anguish feeling like one doesn't fit in.  Most if not all Teenager's feel this way at some point, even it is only in their mind.  I wasn't a Teenager in the 80's so for me his movies had much less impact on me than "Can't Hardly Wait", "Ten Things I Hate About You", or "American Pie."  That said those movies wouldn't have even existed had it not been for John Hughes, he may not have invented the "Coming of Age" genre, but he mastered it.  Linked below is a great article from a woman who as a teen became John's Pen-Pal, and how that relationship affected her life.  It's a great tribute to the man to defined a genre for a generation.  

Sincerely, John Hugues  by Alison Byrne Fields

      

The Balance of Terror

The Balance of Terror is probably my number one favorite episode of Star Trek TOS. The Story centers around a Rouge Romulan starship who has wondered into federation space. It is a battle of wills and strategy between Kirk and the Romulan Captain. My favorite part is that it is essentially a submarine battle in space, which is what a real Space Battle would be like. Even if you aren't in to Trek it's a good episode to check out.

UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!

CONFIRMED!

The new Fate/Stay Night movie is taking the most badass storyline from the Visual Novel: Unlimited Blade Works.

The movie will premier at Tokyo's Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro.

Source: ANN

I <3 Voltron (Opening)

I can only hope that in the proposed Voltron Movie that they hire Peter Cullen to do a similar opening to the movie.

I've gone back recently and tried to watch Voltron, and it is pure crap. It's funny how when I was a kid it seemed so awesome, but looking at it now it is junk. There is no way around the fact that Macross/Robotech was a superiror show in both content and animation. That said the Voltron Opening Sequence was one of my absolute favorites from back in the day.

I can't have a Voltron Post without posting...

Video Games | Robot Chicken Voltron

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Tailenders

New anime about a race car driver who gets in an accident and has his heart replaced with the engine of his car. I can't decided if that premise wreaks of everything that is wrong with anime today (i.e. just taking out of left field concepts and throwing them together) or if it sounds totally awesome.

Anyway he gets barred from racing, and finds some fringe racing league that lets you get away with things like having an engine for a heart.

The trailer looks beautiful and I'm already in love with the art style. It looks "Gurren Lagaanie "
enough to be able to able to pull off the ridiculous premise with some highly stylized artwork.

I'll give it a look when it is released.

Source: Animenation

Who is sexier? Part II

In celebration of the Fate/Stay Night movie announcement it is time to answer that age old question that has baffled mankind through the ages (other then if a frog can tap dance (yes I realize no one caught that reference)):

Who is the sexier Fate/Stay Night girl, Saber or Tohsaka Rin?

Of course there are MANY other fine ladies in Fate/Stay Night, but I can't stand Sakura, so she is right out, and Illyasviel von Einzbern is probably way to young to talk about as being sexy (but she still beats Sakura). Caster, hardly ever shows her face, and when she does, it isn't anything to write home about. That leaves Rider, who gets a heavy, heavy nomination for third place, but she isn't one of the main girls so she just can't compete. Sorry snake lady, but you do hold a special place in my heart.

Alright lets get down to it. This is a tough, tough competition. Unlike with the previous battle between Rei and Asuka (which I realize was more flame bait then actual provoked thought), it really is clear cut Asuka is sexier, and Rei is more classical beauty, or elegant.

If that is the criteria, then Rin would be sexier, being the default Tsunadre character, her sassy attitude gives her the sexier edge.

But, Saber is much more in touch with her sexuality, and in the Visual Novel in particular (and to a hinted degree in the anime) it is a way for her to refuel her power. Of course she isn't some wild women in bed, and when her and Rin actually do the deed together, Tohsaka takes the dominate role. But by default I think that makes Saber sexier, in that she is the object of desire by both Tohsaka and Emiya.

Alright, alright, this is getting a little dirty now, so let me reel it back a bit. After all, the sex is only part of the original Visual Novel and is only implied in the anime, and non existent in the PS2 adaption. So take that out of it.

Saber is a warrior, a fighter who tries to exude no sexuality at all. But I think that by definition makes her the sexier, and more attractive character because you constantly want to see through her walls she has put around herself, and when those walls come down (rarely) that is when you see her vulnerable side, where she blushes at embarrassment.

Tohsaka Rin on the other hand, still just seems sexier though. She's feisty and tough as nails too, and it is also nice to see her vulnerable side as well, but I think her overt experience is a slight turn off. But that is just me. At the end of the day I think I like her overall character better then Saber.

It doesn't help the fact that in the original VN each girl has her own respective path, where you see a deeper side of each character. Which maybe that deserves a look as well.

Saber ends up just being a fling. Despite her circumstances, her warlike nature can never allow her to live a normal peaceful life. So she would forever be that "summer romance" type girl that you never forget, but had to live without.

Tohsaka proves to be the type of girl that you can spend your whole life with, and even be the type of girl you turn yourself into a God for just to avenge her honor. That is pretty powerful stuff. But does that make one sexy?

It's still a tough call. By the strictest definition of the word I normally would go with Tohsaka Rin. However, as stated above with Saber, once the armor is gone, and you see her softer side you go from seeing her as a fighter, into a beautiful women almost instantaneously. You are overcome with her sexuality which was absent only moments before, and her power to seduce is intensified.

Yep I think Saber wins it by a nose. Hell, her sexiness was even enough for Tohsaka to question her own sexuality and switch teams. That alone I think proves Saber wins in a sexy fight.

Congratulations Saber, you are The Zeonic Front's Sexy (2D) Woman of the Month.

Bad News Everyone...

The Original voice talent is coming back to Futurama for the Just announced new season.  I pretty much assumed this was a ploy by Fox to let them know that they were "Replaceable" even though they aren't.  I would have loved to see the fan revolt if this had actually come true.  

[AICN]

I am the bone of my sword....

Fate/Stay Night Movie! The teaser image shows a bunch of swords. If you have read the visual novel you know this is a reference to Unlimited Blade Works. This is also means a bag full of awesome.

Personally I loved the visual novel, but I could not make it though the anime. Just something about it put me off. I think I would have liked it more if they just stuck with the Fate storyline and not try to mix the other two story lines up with it. In any case it is generally accepted that the anime is based on the Fate scenario.

Currently, the Fate/Stay manga is directly based on the Ultimate Blade Works story line in the VN. This makes me fear for the movie slightly in that, perhaps they are going to cover each of the storylines in a different medium. Fate on TV, UBW in manga, which means the movie would be Heaven's Feel.

I'm not a huge fan of Heaven's Feel mostly because I can't stand Sakura, but the story itself is really good, and really really dark. So I have mixed emotions if that is the case.

Personally I am betting on Unlimited Blade Works for the movie. It is by far the most accepted story line of the three and has the best action of the three and would make a great action packed film.

So who knows what to expect, but I'm glad it is being made, after the bad taste the anime left with me.

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