I'm back

Well, after an over a year long hiatus I'm finally back.

I was planning to make a comeback in May 11th, to make it exactly one year break, but I'm quite busy and didn't have the time until now.

To tell the truth, my otaku culture motivation is still a lot less compared when I first began this blog, and nowhere as much as it was in my consumerism peak (in the early to mid 2000's). Compared with myself 10 years ago, now I hardly watch anime (one series per season at most), almost stopped to purchase manga at all (when once I was following over 20 titles monthly), and the time I spent in videogames became less than 10 hour per week. The global economical situation doesn't help either, and the time when an euro was 170 yen was long ago...

Perhaps I must be growing too old for this, but that doesn't means that I no longer have stuff to show in this blog! In fact, the list is too large that I'm sure I'll be missing things.

I'll try to sort it by genres, the fist being:

VIDEOGAMES

The games I purchased since my last update, 15 in total.

For PC, the English version of  Saya no Uta published by Jast USA. Is my favorite VN and I was planning my purchase back when I was living in Japan but was too expensive for such a short game. I decided to buy it in English when was first announced to support western publishers when they release quality titles... they only took 2 years for an already translated and short VN...

For PS2, the regular edition of Melty Blood Actress Again. I purchased the limited edition years ago, but because the regular edition had another cover it was on my wishlist for a while.

For XBox 360, Muv-Luv Twin Pack. I was planning to purchase the PS3 release of Muv-Luv and Muv-Luv Alternative, but then I found the XBox pack with the same price for ONE of the PS3 games and includes a Figma Kagami Sumika as well. And since my XBox is my most underused console ever (purchased only to play iM@S) is a nice way to add value to it.

For the PSP, the limited box of Fate/EXTRA CCC. The game is still unwrapped, so I can't say much...

For the PS3: 428 Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de, Aquapazza, Dream C Club Complete Edipyon! and Dream C Club ZERO Special Edipyon!.
I already bought 428 for the Wii several years ago, but I was unable to play it with my unmoded PAL Wii. I was interested because of the bonus scenario written by Nasu and drawn by Takeuchi that surprisingly was the weakest scenario of the game. I really wanted to do an extensive review + summary when I just finished it (a year ago), so maybe I'll decide to do it sometime now that I'm back.
Aquapazza is a fighting game featuring Leaf/Aquaplus characters, so is like the official version of The Queen of Hearts doujin games by Watanabe Seikakusho (now French Bread). I used to like Leaf a lot and I like fighting games, so it was a no-brainer purchase.
I was interested in Dream C Club games back when was announced for the XBox, and the games where way better than I expected, if you put aside the somewhat creepy setting of a hostess club simulator. Maybe I will do a review as well...

For the PS Vita, Fate/stay night Realta Nua. With this I bought Fate/stay night for the 6th time (3 for PC: limited, regular and DVD versions and 2 for PS2: limited and budget versions) despite not having a Vita nor planing to buy one anytime soon. At least I was able to play the extra game included as a bonus, Tobitate! Chojikuu Toraburu Hanafuda Daisakusen, in the PSP.

For the PSP, the 3 versions of The Idolm@ster Shinny Festa.To tell the truth I didn't play any of them that much and the only interesting bit besides the OVAs included (that act as an opening for each game) is the brief appearance of the iM@S Cinderella Girls idols as a collectible boosts.

And finally for the NDS two games; 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Love Plus +.
I was interested in 999 mainly because the designs of Nishimura Kinu and because the writer was Uchikoshi Kotaro (writer of the excellent Ever17). I ordered it when the sequel was announced (fearing that it will became hard to find) and I ended with a reprint version. I liked a lot the whole premise and some of the fictional themes of the game, but for me the ending was a bit lacking and the "plot twist" was too similar to the Ever17 one...
And Love Plus +, that caught my attention before the release date. I've been playing this every day a bit for almost one year and it became the permanent cartridge in my NDS. My girl of choice was Manaka.

And to finalize my videogame review, last September Kubooka Toshiyuki visited Spain. He is one of my favorite character designer (I talked a bit about him in this post).

I was struggling what to bring to get it signed, and finally I decided on the first iDOLM@STER for the XBox (the cover for the second one was not made by him):

BLU-RAY & DVD

Not really that much I bought this last year, and most of it is still unopened.

-Fate Zero Blu-ray Disc Box II. Still unopened.

-TYPE MOON Fes. Blu-ray Disc Box. Also still unopened.

-Gurren Lagann Movies DVD's. Spanish edition, unopened.

-Evangelion 1.11 Blu-ray. I already bought it in DVD, but since now I have 2.22 and 3.33 in Blu-ray I bought this one in Blu-ray as well)

-Evangelion 3.33 Blu-ray. After the hype I had with the previous movie, I'm not sure if I liked this one. I need to see the last one to properly judge.

-Zettai Junpaku: Mahou Shoujo Blu-ray Disc. RAITA's self published short movie based in his original doujinshi series. Too bad is so short (less than 6 minutes), because the voice cast and the animation is great. PV below.


And that's all for today. I'll keep posting more as soon as I can.

Type-Moon Ace 7

Released in mid December and received almost 3 months ago, this is the review of Type-Moon Ace Volume 7.

The cover and a good part of it is focused in Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, including a demo cd of the game and a phone strap of Aoko as extras.

The Aozaki Aoko (Mahoyo version) phone strap. Is very small and a bit on the ugly side if you look at it closely.

Over 20 pages are focused in Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, that will be released (at last!) in a couple of days. The demo cd contains a few non correlative chapters. I played it and besides the excelent use of the kinetic effects and the neat soundtrack, I was largely unimpressed by the contents... Well, I have the game pre-ordered and shipped by EMS, so if customs doesn't screw me again I'll be playing the full game in a few days and I hope it doesn't turns into a complete let down.

A few pages are also covering Carnival Phantasm (the last volume was released shortly after the release of this magazine). In the picture, a short interview to the voice actors of the Neco-Arcs.

A bunch of interviews related to Fate/Zero, that last week began to air the second season. In the photo, the first part of the interview to Takeuchi Takashi (original character designer) and Sudou Tomonori and Ikariya Atsushi (character designers for the anime).

Interview to Koyama Rikiya (voice actor of Kiritsugu) and Oohara Sayaka (voice of Irisviel).

Four pages covering Fate/EXTRA CCC, an alternate (and supposedly darker) take of the first Fate/Extra. In the picture, a mysterious version of Sakura that seems to have a major role and a still unnamed pink-haired girl with horns and tail. The relase date is a very vague "Spring 2012".

A Fate/Apocrypha chapter written by Higashide Yuuichirou starring the loli Assassin (Jack the Ripper) and her Master Rikudo Reika. I don't like the idea of Fate/Apocrypha at all (is a rejected project for a reason), so I hope it doesn't turn into something bigger than an sporadic chapter in each T-M Ace...

And the rest is the manga section. As usual it includes special chapters of the regular series plus one-shots chapters of diverse origin. Some of the most interesting are:

All Around TYPE-MOON by Bsuke. An accidental meeting between both Sabers.

Melty Blood special chapter by Kirishima Takeru. Satsuki got the short stick yet again and dosen't appears in the covers of Melty Blood X that have only 2 volumes and featured Sion and Riesbyfe.

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya by Hiroyama Hiroshi. This special chapter is focused on Mimi, excited by the series of events she lately saw... By the way, Prisma Illya will have both a 3rd manga series and an anime version!

Fate/Extra extra chapter by Robina. The main character turns into a girl, but Saber is more than happy with this turn of events.

Carnival Phantasm 3rd Season & Fate Prototype

Released in the past Comic Market 81, here's Carnival Phantasm 3rd Season review.

The contents are:

• Box to contain all 3 seasons and the bonus attachments
  
• Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code PC game
• Carnival Phantasm 3rd Season (both Blu-ray and dvd versions)
• Fate Prototype Blu-ray
  
• Prototype material artbook
  
• C81 exclusive hand towel
  

3rd Season consist again in four episodes, but unlike the previous seasons only "Loli reversion" part of episode 10 was based in the original TAKE-MOON, the rest are new material

Like the other 2 seasons, both Blu-ray and dvd discs are included, no subtitles and the special audio commentary this time is made by Mahoutsukai No Hako characters Hibiki, Chikagi and Keitai-san.

The last part of the last episode acts as an epilogue, and gathers almost all the Type-Moon cast at Ahnenerbe.

My favourite characters from Tsukihime, Kara no Kyoukai, Fate/stay night and hollow ataraxia sharing the same table.

Mahoutsukai No Hako characters at last making an appearance. It's kind of weird that only appeared here, considering they work at Ahnenerbe.

The special bonus if you purchased it at TYPE-MOON both at Comike was a large hand towel (one of those used in Japan during summer to wipe the sweat) with the ending illustration.

Since is very long (20 cm x 225 cm) I was unable to fit it in one picture.

The anime this time was bundled with Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code for PC:


Actress Again Current Code was the improved arcade version of Actress Again for PS2, tweaking a few movements and including "new" characters, and this is the improved-improved version for PC

The only "completely new" character is Powered Ciel, a playable version of Executioner Ciel (that was a non-playable mid boss in Re-Act) and Archetype:Earth now uses her own sprites instead of reuse the ones from the regular Arcueid so can be considered "new". Some stages, like the one in the pic, are also new.

Characters exclusives from the PS2 version are playable as well, like school uniform Akiha and Ryougi Shiki.

The box can hold all 3 seasons, Melty Blood AACC and all the books (Catalogue, CP Dokuhon and Prototype material)

And the last bonus included is a twelve minutes Blu-ray featuring Fate Prototype, a short clip based in the original draft that Nasu wrote in his high school years that was the base of Fate/stay night.

The main character Sajyou Ayaka summoning a male Saber.

Since the main character was female and most (if not all) of the servants were male in the original draft, Takeuchi suggested to change the gender of the main characters to fit in a H visual novel, so Ayaka became Shirou and King Arthur became the female Arturia.

Prototype material includes the script of the anime and a basic bio for each character with rough sketches by Takeuchi.

The main heroine Sajyou Ayaka, a below average magus with low self-esteem. It was retconned to have blue eyes intead of black (as appeared in Character material) so it gives her a not-so-gloomy look.

Saber true identity is King Arthur. Chilvalrous yet more carefree than female Saber, was first summoned in the previous war by Ayaka's sister Manaka, but betrayed her in order to save Ayaka.

Reiroukan Misaya, Lancer master and prototype Rin. Her personality is a mix between Rin and Luviagelita, and uses black dogs as familiars.

Like the final version Lancer, prototype Lancer true identity is Cu Chulainn, and pretty much have the same personality.

Archer true identity is Gilgamesh. This Gil is not as much as prepotent as the final version, and have traits of Emiya Archer in his personality. He wants Ayaka as his woman.

Rider identity is Perseus. His master was terminally ill and used all the command seals to make Rider fully human and during the story he acts as a normal student going at the same school as Ayaka and at the same time acts as a master disguised with a mask.

Sajyou Manaka is the sister of Ayaka, and have a similar role to Illya (a seemingly inocent young girl that is in fact much older and ruthless). Summoned Saber 8 years ago and reached the Grail, but after seing the corruption of both the Grail and Manaka, Saber killed her. Resurected like Kotomine by the Grail, now is the master of Beast (similar to Avenger) and a yandere towards Saber.

TYPE-MOON manga

A few weeks ago I decided to update the TYPE-MOON related manga that I follow all at the same time at CD Japan, except for the ones that were too recent (like Fate vol. 17) and some of them that they didn't have in stock (like the last 4 volumes I'm missing of Shingetsutan Tsukihime). And to think that while I was living in Japan buying manga was SO easy...

Anyway, the list:

-TAKE MOON Sakuhin Shu Special Edition by Takenashi Eri
-Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei! volumes 2, 3 and 4 by Hiroyama Hiroshi
-MELTY BLOOD volumes 8 and 9 by Kirishima Takeru
-MELTY BLOOD X volumes 1 and 2 also by Kirishima Takeru
-Fate/Zero volumes 1 and 2 by Shinjiro
-Fate/Extra volume 1 by Robina

And now a bit more in detail:

TAKE MOON Sakuhin Shu Special Edition is the limited reprint of the original TAKE MOON volumes that I already have (and I talked a little bit about them here) in one big tankoubon instead of two.

The reason of the re-purchase is because includes a dvd called Carnival Phantasm EX Season, an extra episode that includes some gags that didn't make the cut to the regular OVAs.

Cute ashamed Bazett.

My only grudge is that is a dvd instead of a Blu-ray, and now that I'm getting hooked at watching anime with blu-ray quality, dvd quality is an eyesore...

The manga doesn't includes anything new (besides two pages of Takenashi thanking her fans and TYPE-MOON), but the paper is of much higher quality than any normal volume.

The multicolored Ren's chapter. The quality of the paper is not visible in photos, but the page is more white than usual.

A mini-booklet called TYPE-MOON Artworks is also included, that features color illustrations by Takenashi.

Random page.

Most of the illustrations already appeared (also in color) in the first pages of the previous edition of TAKE MOON.

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei! volumes 2, 3 and 4 by Hiroyama Hiroshi.

Until now I only managed to buy the first volume almost a year ago and the limited edition of the volume 4, so now I bought the volumes 2 and 3 and the regular version of volume 4 (because of the different cover).
A pleasant surprise that I found is that in the volume 2, the bonus chapter featuring the cross-over with Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha was included! I missed the chance when was released in the Comp Ace and I thought it was lost forever (or pay an absurd amount of money for it).

Nanoha and Illya.

MELTY BLOOD volumes 8 and 9 and MELTY BLOOD X volumes 1 and 2 by Kirishima Takeru. With this Melty Blood manga is totally over, no new arcs after this. Is a shame because despite I didn't liked that much at first I found it rather enjoyable at the end.

The first 6 volumes included the main story (Sion vs Wallachia) and the volumes 7 to 9 included all the half-joke scenarios (Miyako, Mecha-Hisui, G. Akiha...)

Miyako was the main heroine in the second arc.

MELTY BLOOD X was not based directly in the Melty Blood games, so in an original arc starring the Back Alley Alliance formed by Sion, Riesbyfe and Satsuki. Is a non serious arc like the Miyako one, were the main characters are forced to climb a pyramid-like house made by mistake by Sion.
Even if it was not based in any story arc from the game, it included some characters that didn't appeared in the previous volumes.

The short appearance of the tsundere White Ren

Actress Again final boss Dust of Osiris.

Fate/Zero volumes 1 and 2 by Shinjiro.

It covers until the battle royale of Saber, Lancer, Rider, Archer and Berserker. I don't have nuch to say besides that the male characters looks quite ugly, and some females (like Maiya) looks weird as well.

Berserker vs Saber

And finally Fate/Extra volume 1 by Robina.
Robina did a Fate/Extra one shot for the Type-Moon Ace 6 (that is included in this volume) and that escalated to a whole series. The pace is pretty quick, in one volume they are already fighting against Archer, and for now I like it better than the game.

Main characters are the male MC and Saber.

Archer, Caster and female MC appears in some extra pages, quite unhappy for not being the main characters.