September 23, 2009

ANICON: Anime, Console and Online Gaming Convention

ANICON: Anime, Console and Online Gaming ConventionWhat: ANICON: Anime, Console and Online Gaming Convention
When: October 11, 2009 (Sunday)
Where: Megamall Megatrade Hall 3
Activities: Maid Cafe, Cosplay, Art Contests, Matsuri Area, Anime Toy Displays, Console Games, Game Demos, Online Games among others

ANICON: Anime, Console and Online Gaming Convention as the name suggests is practically about games. I guess there'll be the usual stores that sell their wares every convention here in Manila, and I'm also guessing that there will be very little stuff to buy as I see the goods all the time.

Then there'll be the usual cosplayers who make the area barely walkable and very noisy. Oh and I'm speculating on very large booths that will occupy more than half of the venue. Very large booths on MMORPG who will be giving away installation CDs, posters and stickers when you sign up.

Otakai has been invited to do a display during this convention but no one really took the initiative to start a committee that will organize this. (The reason is mainly because this will be a gaming convention and it was on such short notice -- August! Haha!)

Am I going? If I don't have anything planned, yes. I'll be stuffing my bag with more posters of MMORPG characters that I know nothing of, amass installation CDs of online games that I don't intend to play take pictures of cosplayers who are dressed up as god-knows-who and browse through the shops whose items I already have memorized.

Despite my seemingly reluctant and negative post, I still am looking forward to going to ANICON and hopefully, I can get some hauls!

September 17, 2009

Fushigi Yuugi on my DS!

Fushigi Yuugi DSSo I was late in finding out that my favorite anime of all time, Fushigi Yuugi (by Yuu Watase), has been made into a game for Nintendo DS. It was released last June 25, 2009 by Idea Factory. Finally! There's an FY game that I can actually play. I missed the first two games on PS2 and since I don't own a PSP, I didn't play the game made for it either.

It's quite awesome that there are two games in one cartridge (or rom *wink*). One focuses on Fushigi Yuugi itself, with Hotohori and Tamahome and I think I'm going to cry again as I saw that scene where Nuriko was dying while watching the promo video. So there's that and the other game has Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden as its plot. To be perfectly honest, Fushigi Yuugi Suzaku still holds the number 1 spot in my heart~ more than any of Yuu Watase's works.

There are two versions to the game - the difference of which is that the limited release includes a drama CD. So the regular version's the one pictured above while the limited looks like this:
Fushigi Yuugi DS LimitedBummer though that it's in Japanese! Why do they make the best anime games in Japanese only?! Can't they (the developers) understand that there are international fans too??

Either way, I'm still going to play it and just hope that someone comes up with a full translation that I can follow lol X3

Here's the trailer:


The regular Fushigi Yuugi and the limited Fushigi Yuugi are on sale now~

Oh and game development companies, please do release your games in English!!

September 13, 2009

Crows Zero - More than just the fights

crows zeroI recently got hooked to reading Crows and Worst - a manga by Takahashi Hiroshi. It's pretty much about different gangs of students from different schools fighting for the heck of it. Very amusing, to say the least.

So I was searching for more Crows and Worst goodies when I stumbled upon a Crows live action movie entitled Crows Zero.

Crows Zero tells the story of Takiya Genji, a newcomer in Suzuran (aka the "School of Crows"). He tries to conquer and unite Suzuran under one faction (GPS) - a feat no one has done before, no matter how much it was tried.

The movie focuses on how he wins over the different leaders of the school who refuse to follow Serizawa Tamao, a leader of the Serizawa faction who's almost close to conquering Suzuran.

No spoilers here okay? The movie is a delightful watch so I wouldn't want to ruin the fun.

First off, since I'm new to the whole Crows X Worst scene, I'm pretty much confused as to when Crows Zero's plot actually happened. Why the confusion? I'll elaborate and hopefully, someone who's well-versed in Crows X Worst can enlighten me about this.

There are two characters (at least from what I remember) that appear in both Crows and Crows Zero: Rindaman and Bandou.

In Crows, they're both seniors already - at least Bandou is - but then again, it has been said that Rindaman has stayed in school for quite some time.

In Crows Zero, from what I understood, they both are seniors also, unless I understood wrong. Bandou however, is introduced as a top-ranking officer from the group The Front of Armament; he was also introduced in the same light in Crows.

Genji (protagonist, Crows Zero) enters Suzuran in his final year of high school - so that would make both Rindaman and Bandou seniors too, right? Bouya (protagonist, Crows) enters Suzuran in his second year of high school, making Rindaman (not sure about this) and Bandou his seniors.

*And yes, explaining this just confused me more.*

I so love the fight scenes and the sporadic comedy here and there (yay Maki!). Watching through all the fights that they participate in, I was kinda wishing I had my own gang who loved and enjoyed fighting more than anyone else. A gang who thought that fighting isn't just about the violence, the superiority...but it's about fighting for friends, your school and uh... being on top everyone else XD

Crows Zero stars Oguri Shun as Genji and Yamada Takayuki as Serizawa. It's directed by Takahashi Miike and was released last 2007.

It's definitely a must-see for those who just loves endless (and technically meaningless lol) fights. Oh and great-looking bishounen too! Yiiii Izaki!!

A Very Happy Birthday to Me!

Worst mangaSeptember 12 marks the day when I get to be another year older. No birthday hauls yesterday as I had to work lol.

Later today however, there will be a convention - Cosplay Mania 2009 - at SM Megamall. Some toy stores will be there as the owner of Wasabi Toys sent me a text message asking if I'll go. I probably will just for the heck of it...given that I'm already done with work and have had enough rest. (It's already past 3AM as I write this.)

Thanks to everyone who greeted me: family, friends, my extended Otakai family as well as some online acquaintances!

September 3, 2009

New Berserk Anime?

Apparently, these are leaked photos of another adaptation of Miura Kentaro's Berserk. They supposedly came from an employee of Studio 4°C but I dun really know if these are for real. The next four images show Gutts, Casca, Puck and Zod.

Let me live in District 9!

I guess this post is totally unrelated to anime and the like but I would just like to rave: DISTRICT 9 IS AWESOME!!!

I watched it with the boyfriend last Saturday after the mini EB with the Otakai peeps (where I forgot to bring my cam). We were really excited to watch after seeing the intriguing trailer early last month.

Let me just say that District 9 isn't anything like your normal, everyday, run-of-the-mill alien movie. First of all, the setting is in Johannesburg, South Africa. How atypical is that?? So all the actors are from there or Nigeria - as the plot called for Nigerian gangs. I'm having a bit of a problem recalling our main hero's name which is German/Dutch-sounding. Their English sounded a bit weird too, especially to me who grew up watching American movies. It's okay though, it's not like they aren't comprehensible or anything. (One word that we found very amusing was the "F-word" which sounded a lot like "fok" and they kept repeating it over and over throughout the movie.)

It's also quite hard to believe that District 9 was made with a budget of only $30M. The effects certainly seemed to cost more than that. The baby alien looked so cute too!! (I'm kinda hoping they'd release a figure of it - and hoping harder it wouldn't cost anything like some Leader Class Transformers or something.)

Okay so enough raving about D-9.

In other news, I got myself 3 new SD Gundam Sangokuden. Okay, the boyfriend got it for me. Our house is still undergoing renovation (it's been 3 months already!!) so majority of my toys and figures are at the boyfriend's place. Before I even got to inspect my new hauls, they were whisked off far north.

My memory of my haul that day ~ picture courtesy of ryanrocks of Otakai