Monday, April 30, 2018
The Movie Announcements Aren"t Over: SHIROBAKO Announces Anime Movie in the Works!
What You Need to Know:
- Saturday, there was an event held for Shirobako in Musashi Sakai in Tokyo. There, it was announced, at the very end of the festival, that Shirobako is coming back again for another round in the anime world. This time, the series is getting revived in the form of a movie!
- At the announcement, studio and producers stated that production on the movie has just started and that it was going to be a while before we could see it in theaters.
- Shirobako received a two cours anime adaptation in Fall 2014 and Winter 2015. There are two volumes of a manga for it as well as one light novel.
Source: P.A. Works Official Twitter
Yes! Yes! Yes! Keep these announcements coming!
Yet another? I am thrilled for the future of anime!
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What are Idol Anime? [Definition, Meaning]
Nagareboshi
Long before K-pop was relevant and the concept of manufactured artists was suddenly accepted, Japan was churning out these “idols” for decades. They were meant to showcase many different types of talents and personalities suited for excellent roles. It was the non-japanese singer, Sylvie Vartan who coined the term “idol” and before anyone could say it again, it was being applied to anything cute and female, though occasionally, men took the title as well. The 1980s is when the idol craze really took off and people were clamoring to follow major acts. The 1990s saw them die out a bit before supergroups Morning Musume & Speed suddenly jumped into the spotlight. Then they were singing anime songs, getting more and more exposure, deals, commercials, acting roles and more before taking off. The founding of Johnny’s also pushed male idols back into the spotlight tapping a market that women suddenly had massive amounts of money to pour into. Nowadays, you have supergroups like AKB48 which has a revolving door of members via their audition and research students along with their graduation, that have more or less taken over. However, there are still other groups like Momoiro Clover, S/mileage, and more, including “sister groups” to AKB48, that still manage to be popular and relevant to this day. Recently, in the last 5 to 10 years too, digital idols have really taken off. Groups like iDOLM@STER & Love Live! sell tens of thousands of copies of singles and their concerts, which actually use the real artists for them, are always packed to capacity.
Idol anime are the reflection of the good in idols. The anime feature girls, usually faced with some sort of issue, where singing can be used to overcome their problems or help them reach a goal to become top idols in Japan. Almost all idol anime feature songs with catchy beats, lyrics about love or supporting each other and loving their friends, and of course, a good dance number or two. The other good aspect of idol anime is that they encourage and foster new friendships by showing people growing together as well as befriending people who they normally might not approach or work together with all for the sake of music or through the power of music.
Love Live! Sunshine!!
- Episodes: 26
- Aired: Apr. 2006 - Sept 2006
Chika Takami is just another girl. She has no real standout qualities and hasn’t really participated in anything with school. Sounds like the perfect person to form a club! After being inspired by µ’s, a group from the first Love Live!, Chika sets out to for a new school idol group and save her school, Uranohoshi Girls High School. Chika is having problems though until she meets Riko, a new transfer student who is extremely talented at the piano. While rallying against the student council president and supreme tsundere, Dia, Chika works hard to form Aqours with the goal in mind of not only winning Love Live! the competition, but also revitalizing her high school and her hometown.
We skipped over the original Love Live! School Idol Project, which is the precursor–but not the prequel since the stories are different–due to Sunshine!! being more well-received. Chika starts out with nothing but a dream, but before long, she is able to realize this dream with eight other girls who all share the same goal of boosting attendance to their high school as well as winning. Love Live! Sunshine!! does a very good job of keeping a very upbeat tempo while facing struggles and setbacks. Including a major one at the end of season one, and another towards the middle of season two. Even in the face of hardships that would easily discourage many, Chika and the girls put smiles on their faces while working even harder to achieve their dreams. This is yet another standout point of idol anime. Another final item is that each of the girls comes with a different personality stereotype, hair color, and even sometimes a catchphrase zura. Finally, something very unique about this anime is that through the influence it has had, it has actually revived the local economy to a certain extent as fans flock to see the real places captured in the anime.
Love Live! Sunshine!! PV:
Something that idol anime are often pegged for is an incredibly happy story with extremely unrealistic elements. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but when the biggest issue that idols face is maybe winning a contest or not, most fans don’t necessarily resonate with something that big. Idol culture is known for what we said above, but it also has a very dark underbelly on stage and off stage in reality. As real idols are expected to be these visions of purity with no experience with romance or sex and shy away from it, when real life ones are caught with a boyfriend or a sexual encounter, this leads to them being labeled a whore or slut–mind you, when male idols do it no one says a thing, but hey, sexism is alive and real, my friends–and then eventually dragged through the mud where they could be fired or pressured heavily into quitting. The auditions are rigorous and what you do not see is that for every group that has succeeded, there are about 50 in the background who did not. There is another anime that really shows how hard some idols do have to work just to be noticed not necessarily become a success.
Wake Up, Girls!
- Episodes: 12
- Aired: Jan 2014 - Mar 2014
Please note that there is a prequel movie to this. Essentially, Wake Up, Girls! is about the story of an entertainment company in Senai called Green Leaves Entertainment. While it was once a great gig, recently it has fallen on hard times. In fact, since the last group quit, they do not have even a single good act signed to their names! So what do they do? The boss has a manager go out and recruit girls. Anyone with a pulse would do if they seem cute enough. So they get a group together and get ready for debut. After a mediocre debut though, their agency’s president runs off with all of the money that the girls had worked to raise. The future of the group seems to be hanging in the balance until a mysterious person puts up the cash with very high stakes. From there, the stakes get higher and higher. However, their former president comes back and manages to get the girls back into the spotlight! Well… sort of. They end up working it out, only to have a rival group that stands up to them and creates massive drama over a former member of theirs who is now part of WuG!. Drama only escalates further for the girls, but can they manage to make it to greener pastures?
Wake Up, Girls! is brutal for an idol anime. Just the sheer fact of showing the girls not succeeding right out of the starting gate is a great look at how idol anime might not always be rainbows and happiness. In fact, the girls face a new crisis or problem every couple of episodes! Nothing is going smoothly for them and it really shows. Girls are placed in massive auditions, told to learn moves, given next to zero feedback before told “okay, you can leave now. Thanks, number blah blah.” It’s brutal and cutthroat and many people do not see how dark people can be to each other. It’s a great look at reality if you are interested!
Wake Up, Girls! Trailer
The iDOLM@STER SideM
- Episodes: 13
- Aired: Oct 2017 - Dec 2017
315 Production is a brand new agency that is looking to specialize in making idols out of people who have left or held former major positions. These new idols are former doctors, lawyers, surgeons, pilots, attorneys and more! They each have a reason for being an idol, and so now, they are going to realize their dreams!
Finally, we have a look at the other side of the iDOLM@STER franchise. The female one is booming and massive, and last year, producers realized that women have money as well and funneled funds into making a male anime. It’s literally like watching the female version of idol anime, except there are men, the songs are deeper and the lyrics are slightly different. However, the sales are through the roof because iDOLM@STER SideM is selling like hotcakes right now. Women ate this series up after it managed to capture their hearts with ridiculous drama, cute lyrics, and of course, appealing personalities and visuals. Nothing though, would capture their hearts more than seeing legions of cute boys and handsome men sing about their love for their female fans. Don’t take our word for it though. Be sure to check it out!
The iDOLM@STER SideM PV
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Sunday, April 29, 2018
Intragames" Latest creation, Survive! Mr. Cube, is Out NOW for PlayStation 4!
What You Need to Know:
- The awesome folks over at Intragames are excited to bring Rogue-lite action fans a new title to try out for the PlayStation 4! Titled "Survive! Mr. Cube", main character Mr. Cube has to escape from an unknown mysterious world in order to get his life back.
- Most of the elements in the game are randomly selected when starting from the beginning after the permanent death of your character which means there is no way of retaining any sort of progress from your previous character except the golds you’ve earned. To give players a tip of advice, the players rather kill the character on purpose until finding good geared character
as each characters in this game have different weapons, HP and SP level. - In order to survive until the end, the cube character should be enhanced. There are hidden treasure chests in every stage containing Max HP up, Max SP up, HP recovery up, Agility Enrichment items which gives the players to higher chance to survive once they obtain them. Are you up for the challenge and hungry to survive? Then download Survive! Mr. Cube today!
Source: Official Press Released
It looks really spooky since all the images are dark. Seems real challenging.
I"ll definitely try it. I love a good challenge!
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Latest Nintendo Downloads
Featured Content
Nintendo eShop - Nintendo Switch
- Jotun: Valhalla Edition – Jotun: Valhalla Edition is a hand-drawn, action-exploration game set in Norse mythology. You play as Thora, a Viking warrior who died an inglorious death and must prove herself to the Gods to enter Valhalla. Explore vast regions of Norse Purgatory to find runes to unleash the jotun, giant Norse elementals. Fight them using only your massive two-handed axe, the blessings of the Gods and your skills. Jotun: Valhalla Edition launches April 27.
- Light Fall – Explore the Forgotten World of Numbra to uncover your mysterious past and save the land and its inhabitants from an imminent threat. In this land of eternal night, you will rely on your Shadow Core to brave the many challenges and foes standing in your way. Do you have what it takes to survive in perilous Numbra?
- Sonic Forces (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch) – Join the uprising! Save 40 percent on Sonic Forces until 8:59 a.m. PT on May 7.
DLC Updates
- Splatoon 2 Update Now Available – Nintendo has dropped some fresh (and free!) new content for the Splatoon 2 game on the Nintendo Switch system this week! After downloading a major new update (Version 3.0) to the Splatoon 2 game, players will have access to a huge amount of new content. This includes the addition of more than 100 pieces of new and returning gear, new songs, the introduction of a challenging new X Rank for the top-performing players in Ranked Battle, weapon balance adjustments and the return of Callie of the famous Squid Sisters. For more information about this free update, please visit the official Nintendo customer support site.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Version 1.4.0 Update – The Version 1.4.0 free update, which will be available later today, includes the ability to recruit and resonate the Rare Blade T-elos from the Xenosaga series after clearing the main game story. Get full update notes at the official Nintendo customer support site.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Expansion Pass: Rare Blade Pack – Expansion Pass owners can now receive the first additional Rare Blade from the Expansion Pass, Poppibuster! Learn more about the Expansion Pass here: https://xenobladechronicles2.nintendo.com/dlc/.
Activities
- My Nintendo – Nintendo Labo Creators Contest – Make, Play and Discover with Nintendo Labo! Create your masterpiece using a Nintendo Labo kit and a Nintendo Switch system, then post a video or image of your creation to the My Nintendo – Nintendo Labo Creators Contest official site. The winning My Nintendo members will each receive
a Nintendo Labo Variety Kit or Nintendo Labo Robot Kit
a Nintendo Labo Creators jacket
a framed award certificate signed by Nintendo Labo developersTheme Shop on Nintendo 3DS
No new themes in the eShop this week, but be sure to check back every week for updates!
Nintendo eShop Sales
Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Great deals this week! Check out the full list of deals available this week at http://www.nintendo.com/games/sales-and-deals.
That NEO GEO Ghost Pilots looks really cool and challenging! May grab that this week!Drago Dino certainly caught my eye this time around. Another purchase in the books.
Saturday, April 28, 2018
Funimation Acquires "Attack on Titan" Season 3!! BIG NEWS!!
What You Need to Know:
- The awesome team over at Funimation announced today its acquisition of Season 3 of “Attack on Titan,” one of the top global anime franchises and a fan favorite with North American audiences from the moment it first premiered in 2013. As part of its agreement with Kodansha, Funimation has secured the international rights to home entertainment, video on demand and broadcast distribution of the series in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The new season will premiere this July in Japan.
- Produced by Wit Studio in cooperation with Production IG, the “Attack on Titan” (“Shingeki no Kyojin” in Japanese) anime series is adapted from the New York Times best-selling manga series by Hajime Isayama about the last of humanity fighting to survive against man-eating giants called Titans. To date, there are a total of 25 volumes in the manga series with an estimated 74+ million copies in print around the world.
Source: Official Press Release
OMG CHRISTA!! She"s coming back stronger!!
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The Swords of Ditto [Game Review]
Javier Garcia
A nostalgic, roguelike experience that harkens back to the days of SNES Zelda
- System: PC, PS4
- Publisher: Devolver Digital
- Developer: Onebitbeyond
- Release Date: April 24, 2018
- Pricing:$15.99
- Rating: E 10+
- Players: 1-2
- Genre: Action, Adventure, RPG, Indie, Roguelike
- Official Website: http://www.onebitbeyond.com/
Specs (Minimum)
OS: Windows 7/8/8.1/10 x86/x64
Processor: Intel Core i5-3210M (2 * 2500) or equivalent
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Intel HD 4000
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Storage: 1 GB available space
Processor: Intel Core i5-3210M (2 * 2500) or equivalent
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Intel HD 4000
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Storage: 1 GB available space
You are the hero of prophecy that is destined to fight against the evil witch, Mormo, in an endless battle throughout time. Good and evil will clash time and time again. And, it must be you who rises up to vanquish her relentless conquest for world domination otherwise humanity falls into chaos.
Fans of action RPGs, roguelike games, exploration, and SNES Zelda-inspired designs and music will not want to miss this game. It"s been such a long time since we"ve played a game that contains elements of so many excellent titles from the past while not taking itself too seriously. Swords of Ditto marks Onebitbeyond"s first entry into the video game world. Their motto is short but concise: focused on creating unique gameplay experiences for consoles and PC. Even though this is their first title, they"ve managed to strike a perfect balance of engaging gameplay, unique experiences each time through, and a narrative that is self-aware and uses that to its advantage. This is game that classic action RPG fans needed but didn"t know they were missing.
As soon as you jump into The Swords of Ditto you"ll feel right at home. You"re woken up by a guide who tries to remind you of who you were in a past life. You race to collect the legendary sword that marks the return of the Sword of Ditto (you). As soon as you touch it, your power returns to your body and your memories come flooding back. This is when you realize that you must strike down Mormo lest she takes the world and plunges it into eternal darkness and chaos.
You"ll fight through underground layers, find ancient ruins, learn about the gods that inhabited the world, collect artifacts, level up your stats, and accumulate mini-quests all while preparing yourself for the final showdown against Mormo. It"s a tale as old as time. The hero rises up to confront the ultimate darkness in the world. But, The Swords of Ditto uses roguelike elements to make this game fun and refreshing each time you play. Make no mistake, your character will die and cease to exist if your health points are completed depleted. However, you will be reincarnated and be born 100 years into the future. You"ll see the ramifications of your absence from the world and Mormo"s activities left uncheck. You"ll have the chance to continue your journey with experience and levels remaining intact.
While you"re on this adventure, you"ll also have a time limit placed on your activities. You have four days until the destined battle against Mormo and her forces. You"ll have to discover various ways to extend time if you hope to collect all of the items and experience that will ensure your victory over evil. Or, for the truly brave, you can skip all of the exploration and questing and head straight for Mormo"s dungeon. You can confront her head on if you think you"re ready for it. The choice is yours. You decide how the narrative unfolds and how deep you want to explore this game.
The other thing to keep in mind, and it"s quite a big detail, is that you can tackle all of the game content with a partner. The Swords of Ditto offers local multiplayer functionality. You and a partner will control two characters who will be on screen at the same time defeating hordes of minions and solving puzzles throughout various dungeons and caverns. The game will create instances and fights accordingly. Puzzles and monsters will be generated for 1 or 2 players depending on how you choose to play the game. We always say, "the more the merrier", so grab a buddy and enjoy the wide range of content that this game has to offer.
The Swords of Ditto - Gameplay Trailer
The basic plot was mentioned up above, but let me flesh it out a little bit more. Mormo is, seemingly, an immortal witch that is resurrected every 100 years to plunge the world into darkness. But, at the same time, a prophesied hero emerges to fight her in an eternal struggle of good versus evil. This heralded warrior is known as The Sword of Ditto. Once the champion for justice emerges and retrieves his magical sword, he has four days to prepare himself for the encounter with Mormo. This is ostensibly a never-ending cycle. These two beings are destined to oppose one another for all eternity.
Besides this standard narrative, there are hints early on that the world used to be inhabited by an ancient race. They were known as the Arcadians. These beings had a peaceful empire that gave rise to incredible technology and spanned the entire world. But, eventually, a civil war broke out and almost resulted in the complete annihilation of the human race. A complex system of Trial Chambers was constructed by the Arcadians. They were used as a way to test themselves upon coming of age. These chambers house powerful artifacts known as the Toys of Legend. Thus, they are linked to the Sword of Ditto"s unending quest to strike down Mormo.
Though there are archaic runes that give evidence of this ancient empire, there are even older stories of gods who used to live among men. Their connection to the Arcadians and to the Sword of Ditto is not currently known. But, learning about that forgotten period of history may be the key that leads to ending Mormo"s reign of terror once and for all.
Now, of course, it"s time for the juiciest part of any review, the gameplay. We were quite surprised when we came face to face with Mormo within the first five or so minutes of playing the game. We gained first-hand experience of just how powerful she is and how easily she can decimate us, the Sword of Ditto, if we don"t take the necessary precautions. There"s a surprising moment that takes place early on. We don"t want to spoil it for you, though it"s readily available if you"ve watched or read pre-release playthroughs and reviews.
Those "necessary precautions" are standard RPG elements such as accumulating experience, leveling up, increasing your stats with accessories, and finding powerful items. You gain experience as you hack through zombies, floating skulls, venomous plants, and a myriad of other enemies. Your stats are increased once you"ve gained enough experience to reach the next character level. At the same time, you"ll gain access to sticker slots. Stickers are purchasable items that affect your stats as well. They can be as straightforward as increasing your attack and defense. Or they can be more specific, such as receiving less damage from certain elemental attacks or only buffing your character during certain times of the day. The powerful items in this game as known as Toys of Legend. You"ll find those after completing dungeons and their corresponding bosses. Lucky for us gamers, all the enjoyable aspects of classic action RPG games are found in this one. There are even side quests that you can find by speaking to NPC"s. They"re not necessary, the game leaves the amount of investment you want to put in this game completely up to you, but we recommend you take care of these because the rewards are worth it.
Time plays an interesting role in this game. It"s constrictive in nature, but not concrete. It can be extended and manipulated if you explore around enough and uncover some secrets. You"ll need to accumulate as much time as possible because four days, in-game time, does not feel like very much at all. Time is also used as a means of wiping the slate clean if you happen to die during a playthrough. If your health score drops down to zero you die and start a game all over again. You are reincarnated as a new hero. Your newly reincarnated body keep the toys and experience that you accumulated in your previous playthrough. You will, however, have to unlock new waypoints that are traversable with the help of a magical kazoo so a bit of backtracking will take place. The game will fast-forward 100 years into the future with Mormo remaining unopposed throughout all of that time. The world will change in appearance, different dungeons and caverns will emerge, enemies can become stronger, and other things will have definitely changed since the last Sword of Ditto walked the earth. Starting over doesn"t feel repetitive though because of how the game explains your absence and because some things will roll over to your new character once you retrieve the Sword.
The music and art directions are nostalgic and upbeat. You"ll often hear melodies that will remind you of playing A Link to the Past for the SNES or other RPGs from around that era. The upbeat tracks are not the only ones we enjoyed. There are also tunes that sound mystical yet comforting. The synth instruments combined with the beats can be very relaxing and provide a sense of discovery and awe. We love how when the weather changes and gets darker the music change in mood drastically and I feels very eerie. Each area and scene of the game has music catered just for it that ties in so well with the overall aesthetic and atmosphere of the game. The artwork is simple and definitely cartoony, think of Adventure Time, but it doesn"t feel overly childish or corny. It strikes a reasonable balance of classic RPG-inspired designs with a modern twist. Overall, the combination of music and art feels flawless and a joy to experience. Often times, games will have a certain character or stage design that just seems awkward or unfinished. Other times certain art styles can be explicitly jarring to induce a certain emotional effect. We can"t think of a recent game where we felt as comfortably engaged and immersed in gameplay as we have with The Swords of Ditto.
Overall, we had a uniquely enjoyable experience with this game. The gameplay was solid with all of the essential RPG elements. Controls felt tight and responsive. (Not to mention we had absolutely no issues plugging in a PlayStation 4 controller.) The nostalgia factor was off the charts. Roguelike elements were present and handled masterfully. Comedic banter and one-liners were meta and surprisingly made us chuckle a few times. Just remember that this is a Roguelike game. So, don"t expect to keep your single character and all of your items for the entire playthrough (at least not your first playthrough). If you do that, you"ll have a great time with this one.
If we had to pick something that disliked about this game, it would have to be that hit detection felt a little off at times. One enemy type, in particular, gave us a hard time. There"s floating trio of ghost heads that are enveloped in energy that injures you if they make contact with your body. Most times, it would take several slices of our sword to deplete their life points. But, a few times our sword just whiffed through the heads and they ended up chunking out our health instead. It was a little bit annoying. Besides that, there"s not really much to complain about.
If you it isn"t perfectly clear by now, though it probably is, we had a blast playing this game. It"s one of the best games we"ve had the privilege to review so far this year. We recommend it to our readers here and to anyone who is a fan of Roguelikes, RPGs, and adventures games. You won"t want to miss this one! Thanks again for taking to the time to read our review. Hopefully, you"ll let us know what you think of this game in the comments below or by tweeting at us. Have a wonderful day and we"ll see you in the next one!
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