Thursday, April 28, 2011

Megami Magazine April '11

Another magazine that I bought only for the extra, Megami Magazine April '11 issue.

The wanted extra was a Weiß Schwarz promo card:

"New challenge! 765 Pro" card, using iDOLM@STER anime designs.

The other extra was a reversible long poster:

Swimsuit Madoka from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica...

..and swimsuit loli-Nanoha from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

As always the magazine includes lots of small posters of scantly clad anime women:

Sexy Homura, the same picture of the cover. She's my favorite character from the series.

iDOLM@STER poster featuring Hibiki, Miki and Haruka in maid uniform.

And the rest of the magazine is not really interesting, since Megami tends to be a massive pin-up collection of recent anime, most of them I don't even follow.

The only interesting thing is the character designs for iDOLM@STER anime.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Newtype March '11

More delayed reviews, this time Newtype March '11 issue:

As I said previously, I rarely buy magazines unless it have a nice extra or groundbreaking news. The reason of this purchase was the former, because it contains this clear folder:
A Takeuchi drawn clear folder featuring Saber, Arcueid, Shiki and both Neko-Arcs.

There is another clear folder included featuring Index, Mikoto and Kuroko from To Aru Majutsu no Index. I didn't watched the anime or read the novels, but maybe I'll give it a try since the Misaka Sisters are kinda similar to Serio...

The magazine contents are the usual entries about current and soon-to-come anime. Worth of mention are:

Fate/Zero anime adaptation. The airing date will be this year.

Kiritsugu and his voice actor Koyama Rikiya.

I didn't mentioned before, but iDOLM@STER will also have an anime adaptation! This time the story will follow the games, unlike the aberration that was the mecha filled Xenoglossia...
No date yet.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica was the only anime I watched this season (not counting Fireball Charming). It was a great series, and if is not by Aoki Ume's character designs (that I don't really like much) this anime would be in my top ten...

And a Carnival Phantasm poster. No new info, just this poster.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Doujinshi loot

This is a really late review of the doujinshi received in early march:

Most of them are c79 releases from the authors I follow.

In detail:
Kikuta Kouji works (circle King Revolver): Mata Rider-san ni Nukareteru (Rider), Dopyu! to Atsumare Hana no Power (Cure Sunshine from HeartCatch PreCure!), Oppai Kikou (Selvaria from Valkyria Chronicles) and BunnyHo, featuring bunny versions of Rider and Saizaki Minori from the manga Hokenshitsu no Shinigami.

Milk Angels 1 by Kakyouin Chiroru from circle Kuro Yuki. Is the follow up of his previous titles Milk Hunters and Milk Masters, but this time moving on to the cast of Fresh Precure!

Enikki Recycle 15 compilation of A1 (Initial-G) blog entries and the bonus book Ryuugu Komachi de Dokki Doki, featuring short haired Asuza and Iori from iM@S 2 plus a 3 pages collaboration by Nekoi Mii featuring Miki.

Tsukiwani from Circle Nuruma-ya works; Dai-chan Yaku Mousou, featuring Daiyousei, Rumia and Keine and his first non-ero work Alice no Tanjoubi, starring Alice and Marisa.

T-Moon Complex EX, the latest work by Shirotsumekusa of circle Crazy Clover Club, a bonus calendar and the 4 pages omake book Arcueid Complex 0.1.

This time he didn't had enough time to do his Fate vs. Tsukihime crossover, and did a gag doujinshi of Fate/EXTRA instead. I'm glad about it, because he's much better at gag situations.

Yuzuki N' (circle Lv. X+) stuff. A doujin based in her commercial work Another World called Another Another World and the C79 releases: the Amagami books Watashi no Itoshi no Wanko-kun (featuring Ayatsuji Tsukasa and Morishima Haruka), Soen Rihoko (starring Sakurai Rihoko) and the short and Valkyria Chronicles 3 centered Omake no Rakugaki Hon.

Super Kotori Time Soushuuhen Vol. 1 from circle Konton Lady Studio. This circle is formed by two artists Tee (drawings) and DIT (story) and is focused in IDOLM@STER works. They have another circle, Chaotic Otome Studio, for their non-ero and non-IM@S works.
This is the compilation of their previous works, starring Otonashi Kotori having erotic delusions with the IM@S girls. Tee drawings are really good and his works was in my wishlist for a while, so this compilation was an instant buy.

Takemura Sessyu works from the circle Chotto Dake Aru Yo. I knew the author for his commercial work Take on Me, but it was his first IDOLM@STER doujinshi that caught my attention. Haruka to Chihaya to Producer is, as the name suggest, a competent story about Haruka, Chihaya and Producer. The girls act a bit bitchy for my tastes, but the drawings are good looking. And totally not expected, X is a futanari orgy with Ryo as the special guest. I can tolerate futa in very small doses, so I'm not sure if I want to keep buying Takemura's works...

And Mahou Shoujo Soushuuhen 2 by RAITA from circle Zettai Shoujo. I already bought the previous compilation in 2006, and I patiently awaited for this.
Mahou Shoujo
is an original story about a series of magical girls fighting sex fiends. As usual, RAITA's drawings are great and keeps improving.

Sasaki, the main heroine, in her first appearance (2003).

And this is Sasaki most recent design.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

More iDOLM@STER 2

I finished THE iDOLM@STER 2 three more times since my previous post.


My second playthrough was with Yukiho. Unlike Takane, her story is pretty good. She overcomes her fears and becomes more confident. At the end, she sings a self composed song called "First Step".

Since I got her good ending and not the true one, she only sang half of the song and she will finish it when the Producer returns from Hollywood.

Third playthrough with Chihaya. Her story was also good, taking aside the miraculous recovery of her throat injury thanks to the spirit of her deceased little brother that appears in form of a swallow (??).

I managed to get the true ending, that ends with the Producer going to the brother's gravestone, thanking him and asking permission to take Chihaya to Hollywood.

The third playthrough was with Haruka. She screws an audition versus Jupiter team due overwork, but at the end she becomes a great leader. Somewhat boring story...

I did a serious scheduling mistake and was unable to win one of the special festivals, so I got the good ending, when you promises her that you'll return and become her Producer again.

I got an A rank with Yukiho and S rank with Haruka and Chihaya.

So far, my best results with Chihaya.

Most likely I'll do one more entry about the game once I completely finish it.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Kara no Kyoukai Ongaku Shuu

Sorry for the lack of updates. As expected, I'm using all my free time to play iDOLM@STER 2.
I received this at the same I received the game, so I almost had forgotten that I bought it.

Kara no Kyoukai Ongaku Shu (music collection) is the first commercially available cd containing the BGM of the Kara no Kyoukai movies. The tracks were already available in the cd included in the limited edition dvd's but this is the first time sold as a stand alone.

It contains 2 discs, with a total of 18 tracks. It seems like way too few to contain all the movies, and the reason is that most of them are a medley of all the music for each movie and are around 10-15 minutes long each one.