A Parody OP of Attack on Titans / 進撃の巨人

A tongue in cheek humor inspired by Attack on Titans (2013). Hahaha!

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Captain Harlock / キャプテン・ハーロック The Movie (2013) Trailer is Up.

Just look at the lush CG. Reportedly it is the most expensive Toho Studio movie to date - USD$30 million estimated so far. Soon at the cinemas around Fall 2013.

Looks cool.

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First Trailer of Kaze Tachinu / 風立ちぬ (2013)

Hayao Miyazaki's newest movie, Kaze Tachinu first trailer now out. I can't wait to see what is going to be since Kotaku article said it is adult friendly and kids find it boring. Means it is for adult audience which is a very good news to me.

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Hataraku Maou Sama is Doing Very Well on Sales

The charming little series, Hataraku Maou Sama make quite an impression on Bluray sales in Japan, breaking the normal barrier for 1st volume.

At number 8, 1st volume of the series already sold 11,192 copies so far in July 8th - 14th time period. If the sales is sustained then sequel is a very likely prospect. I will not be surprised if the 2nd season will be announced end of this year or 2014. Time will tell.

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New "Chuunibyou Demo Koi Shita!" movie trailer

As title says, here we go:



Looks great, this charming Kyo Ani series have a movie treatment, guess it is not too shabby in the market. It is a recap of the series from main female character with some additional scenes. Coming soon on 14th September 2013.

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ufotable is Doing Another Fate Related Project?

Oh...kay, before I got too excited, Typemoon's fan  favourite studio, ufotable announced that they will do a project based on Fate/Stay Night saga. So far, not much is known, it can be from a reboot of the series (which I am very doubtful ) to a new series on the last route of Fate/Stay Night visual novel, Heaven's Feel which many people considered as the best of all routes (I hope is this one). Or some parody chibi-fied gag based on Fate universe.

Needless to say, as a fan, I welcome this development very much.

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Review on Pacific Rim (2013). Spoilers AHOY!

Okay this is it. SPOILERS warning for Pacific Rim (2013).

Pac Rim (2013) delivers on gigantic scale in terms of action and sheer size, especially Battle of Hong Kong which going non stop for 30-40 mins straight of pure mecha vs monster action. I mean old timer mecha/kaiju fans will immediately spot few homages such as Serizawa Scale (a direct nod to Japanese scientist who killed Godzilla in 1950s movie) and the striking resemblance of Striker Eureka to VF-1 Valkyrie Battriod Armored/ Armoured from Macross , complete with missile barrage system. Needless to say, the old Mazinger Z and Tetsujin 28 Rocket Punch which is used by Gipsy Danger in smacking Leatherback for good old fashioned American punch make me guffaw and giggle with unrestrained joy.

The monsters themselves are nod to Japanese famous monsters such as Rodan (Otani) or even Baltan (Onibaba), the nemesis of Ultraman. Heck few battles are settled with good old fashioned sword finisher, a homage to Japanese superhero mecha signature finisher. The last boss, Slattern, a category 5 on Serizawa Scale is quite scary and imposing - a worthy opponent of tried and tested Gipsy Danger in the last brawl underwater.

The mecha/monster did not disappoint at all, as I said earlier, I was crying with joy at the sights - cheering and hollering like a kid, complete with punching in the air as the Jaeger and Kaiju going for smackdown.

Yes, the glorious scene of Gipsy Danger slapping Otani silly with a ship is a sight to behold too. 

Aesthetic wise, Gipsy Danger reminds me of US industrial war machine image like B-17 or M4 Sherman - tough, reliable and industrial funk feel. Striker Eureka is the most modern, sleek looking - you can feel it has iPhone inside it as one of the instruments. Very Gundam feel, as if it is designed by Katoki Hajime. The Russian's Cherno Alpha is the personification of Soviet style brutal, simple engineering like T-34 merged with RBMK nuclear reactor. The Chinese Jaeger is very agile and practical but a bit bare on its range. So is Cherno Alpha which leads to their destruction as the Kaiju actually evolved and learning on how to fight them. Unpredictable and well equipped Gipsy and Striker managed to survive because it did not rely on one sole technique to destroy the Kaijus.



Personally I would love if there is more scenes of absolute destruction like Man of Steel but at this point, I can't complain too much.

The composer of HBO Game of Thrones, Djawadi is delivering a catchy soundtrack for the movie - each Jaeger have their own signature leitmotif, Cherno Alpha with vocal male orchestra singing in gloomy Gregorian, Crimson Typhoon resounding big drum music and the cowboy like swag theme for Gipsy Danger.

Character wise....okay....the hero guy is kinda meh to me. When I look at him, I am just not convinced that he is a badass mecha pilot. He looks more like office worker than a Jaeger pilot. His partner, Mako have problems to give full emotion to her lines, she is trying her best to enunciate her lines which is not bad but at the cost of emotional range that she could have deliver. The little girl in her memories is more convincing than the adult version. Idris Alba as Marshall simply rocks, he is the backbone of human side in the narrative. This man commands respect and presence in all of the scenes that he is in. The crew of Striker Eureka have an interesting Aussie accent, I think some of my Aussie friends will cringe hearing them speak. Their presence is okay, serves as a foil to returning Jaeger pilot hero in the movie.

The scientist duo is the comic relief, they adequate enough for what they supposed to be. Other Jaeger crews of Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon is not given enough time, I wish they have some human scenes in the flick. I believe it will make their deaths more poetic and human.

Ron is Ron, he exudes cool charisma all the time. His role is pretty small but still important, I believe he might be key character in the sequel. A big maybe. I chuckled at most of his lines, he is funnier than the scientist duo IMHO.

I just don't get why some people trying so hard to compare this film to Evangelion, it is totally different like comparing a durian to fried chicken. Pac Rim story is about desperate humanity in face of relentless Kaiju attack, battling it out in giant mechas whereas Evangelion is a psychological drama with broken people insulate themselves in giant titans, cutting themselves off from humanity and slowly weans into connection or rejects it thru EVA. Different feel, different beast altogether.

Overall, maybe biased but I would consider this movie as the best in 2013 summer blockbuster. This is the only movie that make me go nuts and cheering in the cinema since long, long time. Anime mecha otakus must watch this, this is the movie for us as Hideo Kojima asserted. This movie worth multiple rewatch because it is just so awesome.

Just go and watch this already!



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Awesome video of exoskeleton, newest in Japan.

Awesome demo video of power exoskeleton concept from Land of Rising Sun.

More here. 

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Psycho Pass Season 2 is Confirmed

Charting a reasonable sales on BD, Production I.G decided to give Psycho Pass another go at Anime Expo on 6th July 2013, confirmed by the CEO of Production I.G, Ishikawa.  Right now, script development and production is underway as this entry is written.

Sales chart average for Psycho Pass is moderate, about 5000 copies sold for each volume so far.

To put things in benchmark perspective, popular mainstream anime series like Sword Art Online average is around 24,000 - 25,000 copies each volume. Each BD volume is priced around 6000-7000 yen each. (MYR 180-210)

For Japanese domestic market, anime series must pass the magical barrier of 3000 units on average to have a chance for sequel.

Ironically the director,  Katsuyuki Motohiro is actually squeamish on the violence level in the series, he will never allow his kids to watch this one. However he wanted to work with Gen Urobochi very badly after he watched Magica Magi Puella Madoka (2011) and Fate Zero (2011-2012) so he go ahead with the script. He encouraged the voice actors to add in quirks into the characters themselves.

So far no news if Urobuchi is back but the chances is high that he will. I think the main villain will be the system itself, Sybill. And what is going to happen to Yayoi's lesbian relationship or the unresolved sexual tension between Akane and Kogami? Questions abound.

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Trailer for Knights of Sidonia is Up!

Ah a serious mecha show is coming! Wohooo! Sadly not enough details yet. 

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Something I completely agree with Miyazaki Sensei.

In this article, the famous animator expressed how frustrated he was with voice acting in Japan, too many try to sell themselves instead of making the characters work. And his particular pet peeve which I agree completely is the ear piercing cutesy voice tendencies in current anime scenes.

His latest work, Kaze Tachinu is coming soon to theaters at Japan on 20th July 2013.

Read this for full detail. 

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A New Poster Magica Puella Magi Madoka Movie 3 plus the Release Date.

I am more interested in this one since it is supposedly new story of Madoka. You can see the release date too.

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Why am I interested about Free?

No, no, I am not going to watch this swimming anime. But the real reason I am interested is....

The bottomline is always Blu Rays because this will make or break a studio. The ex-director of Haruhi was completely broken after his series, Fractale completely bombed at the sales (Vol 1 only sold like 900 plus units in 1st week).

For benchmark, most series will get sequels if the 1st volume release breach 4000 units in 1st week.

This is why I looking at the sales of this series with great interest. First time Kyoto Animation is aiming specifically at female audiences with series of this nature. Can they reverse the failure that they suffered for Nichijou?

Time will tell.

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Final thoughts on Suisei no Gargantia

Being a loyal fan of Gen Urobochi, I always look forward to watch any work of his since days of Phantom of the Inferno game. Gargantia is no exception.

For this series, I have to admit that I love his portrayal of the world that is torn between technology advocate (Continetal Union) and transhumanist movement. However some episode I felt is a bit too slow - the belly dancing is one despite its role as foreshadowing of what is coming in excellent episode 9. I really wished they focus more on the space Nazis, the Galactic Alliance. So many questions still around like the fate of them after the failed all or nothing assault on Space Hideauze. Did the transhumanist have any trace of humanity left after so many years of change?

But those are not important since the focus in on Ledo/Red's step into new world and reacquire his humanity after the disconnect that he felt in episode 1. Chamber can be said like a doting parent, shielding and cultivate the pilot in guise of Pilot Support System and the AI decided to eject his "children" in the final fight, it is like a  real farewell between a charge and the guardian.

The real ride starts in episode 11 and ends with cliched but nevertheless sensible 13 when determinism versus choice (the commander mecha Striker and Ledo/Red's Chamber). In the duel, the machines even still debating about what makes a human, right at the last moment.

There is going to be 3 more OVA/OADs bundled together with the Bluray, it is merely expanding on other characters like Ridget or Bellows. But I do wish they will talk post episode 13 or at least a glimpse into the space war between 2 sides.

What is your next story, Urobochi Sensei?

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