For two full years, Yui, Mio, Ritsu and Tsumugi have worked together to keep Sakuragaoka Girl’s High School’s struggling Light Music Club alive, and along the way they’ve begun to build a reputation as real rock musicians, especially since the previous year’s addition of underclassman rhythm guitarist Azusa!!  But as a new school year begins, there are new and scary challenges ahead. With four fifths of the club graduating at the end of the year, replacement members have to be recruited.  There are college exams to prepare for.  There are colleges to choose.  And there are friends to prepare to say goodbye to.  But no matter what happens, they’ll have their faculty adviser and secret former Death Metal guitar/vocalist Sawako Yamada there to help them in her own unusual way, especially since she’s now their homeroom teacher as well!!  And most of all, they’ll have each other.  Because the group of amateur musicians who barely knew each other has become much more than just a band, and by the time this school year is over, they’re going to achieve something so amazing it requires multiple exclamation marks!!  Get ready to be blown away as the girls from K-ON! rock on!!

Sentai will release the series on DVD and Blu-ray later this year.

[Source: ANN]

Toyotomi Hideyoshi is defeated, but feudal Japan isn’t safe yet. The fallen villain’s most loyal and lethal minion – Ishida Mitsunari – is obsessed with carrying on Toyotomi’s legacy of violence in the name of vengeance. Ishida brutally cuts a bloody path across the countryside, even as Tokugawa Ieyasu attempts to rally Date Masamune, Sanada Yukimura, and the nation’s other warlords toward an era of harmony. Unfortunately, for peace to finally be achieved, the fires of war must be unleashed once more. With Japan’s fate hanging in the balance, one of the most epic, over-the-top battles in history begins in Sengoku BASARA – Samurai Kings: The Movie!

Funimation also announced it had picked up the anime series Level E, based on the manga by Yu Yu Hakusho author Yoshihiro Togashi.

Currently, there are several hundred species of aliens on Earth, and humans are completely oblivious to their existence! One day an amnesic alien prince crash lands on the planet, and all hell breaks loose! Now the universe’s greatest mind, with the worst personality, has become Earth’s biggest royal pain.

There are twisted tales and twisted tales, but few are as twisted as poor Sado’s, who’s just realized that he actually likes being made miserable. Of course, knowing that only makes him more miserable, which in turn… well, you get the idea. Desperate to break the circle, Sado volunteers for a special club where he hopes he can work through his issues only to discover that the other members have equally… complex… issues to deal with.

For example, the hyper-aggressive club president Isurugi not only has a violent fear of cats, but also believes herself to be a god! Then there’s Yuno, who’s terrified of men; the Nurse, who forces other people to perform cosplay; and Hayama, Sado’s best friend and a compulsive cross-dresser, who’s also the girl that Sado is infatuated with.

Review:

What do you get when you take several characters that have stock issues (afraid of men, likes to be beaten, crossing dressing, etc) make it so over the top that it is ridiculous, and throw in some generic character design?  You get the series MM!  Now there is nothing wrong with characters having issues because we all have them, but you have do present these issues in a way that comes off as interesting and to an extent (though this hard with anime) have some originality to it.  With the case in MM! what we get an is over the top take with issues which is nothing wrong with that at all but it is done in a way with this series that it goes from funny a little bit to be annoying and frustrating by the end of the series.

Why does it get more annoying as it goes along?  It gets more annoying because we have seen all of them (well maybe not the loli genius who wants to make everyone perverts I do not think I have seen that done) before and we do not change much from the status quo within the series or the genre.  The only fresh take here is Taro’s masochistic tendencies, which are so over the top it is memorable and funny every time we see it come to life.  The show does a few parodies of several anime shows that are easy to get even if you are new to anime and are the funniest part of the series.

We do get a bit of background information on most of the cast into why they have these phobias or issues it is done in such a way that you can see some of these come a mile away.  Even though we get some background information here on this not everyone gets development and leaves more questions than answers for some of the cast members.  Even more the antics of the cast as the series gets along in the later episodes.  Isurugi who initially wants to help Taro with his masochism problem later decides to beat him more of the sake of beating him.  While Isurugi gets less, likeable it is even worse for Taro’s mom and sister who wants his penis so bad it is incest and it is done is such a way that they are unlikeable.  With the exception for a few cast members most of the cast is unlikeable to the point that you just want to slap them for being who they are.

Produced by Xebec the art and animation is average as a whole.  The character designs are interchangeable and the background art nothing special.  I have to give credit through where credit is due and mention that Taro’s facial expressions are memorable when he goes into masochistic mode.  In a surprise even by Xebec standards the fanservice is tame compared to some of the other shows that they have developed over the years (some of their more well titles are Ladies Vs Butlers, Kanokon, and Rin ~ Daughters of Mnemosyne).  The fanservice is mostly jiggling breasts, some cleavage and with one panty shot appears in the whole series, and that does not happen until the last episode.

The OP and ED are upbeat, have a lot of energy to them, and are the best music the series has to offer.  The music during the episodes however is generic and forgettable.

Score: 2/5

Pros: Taro’s facial expressions, the humor in the parodies
Cons: Most of the cast, just about everything else the series has to offer.

MM! is available from Right Stuf

MM is also streaming on Anime Network

Plot Synopsis: “Life isn’t easy in feudal Japan… especially since the aliens landed and conquered everything! Oh sure, the new health care is great, but the public ban on the use of swords has left a lot of defeated samurai with a difficult career choice! This is especially true if they’re not particularly inclined towards holding a day job, which is why Gintoki Sakata’s opted for the freelance route, taking any job that’s offered to him as long as the money’s right.

Unfortunately, in a brave new world filled with stray bug-eyed montsters, upwardly mobile Yakuza, and overly ambitious E.T. entrepreneurs, those jobs usually don’t pay as well as they should for the pain, suffering, and indignities endured!”

I started watching Gintama last summer because it was on Crunchyroll and I was bored, and now it’s pretty much the only reason I have a Crunchyroll membership, though I’m only about 100 episodes into it at the moment. While it is a funny show most of the time, it does have it’s downsides, namely whenever it does a serious story and becomes a boring drama show, except for the Benizakura arc. That was a serious that was pretty good. But yeah, when it brings its A game its hilarious. One of my favourite things from recent memory would be an episode where the spirit in Gin’s sword tries to teach him and his group its ultimate attack only for Gin and co. to ignore and annoy him until he gives up, while at the same time a goddess, naked with hair covering her boobs, tries to teach the Shinsengumi an ultimate attack and they arrest her for public indecency.

Since I like the show so much I figured I might as well finally buy the DVDs. Eerily enough, right after I ordered this set Sentai announced they would be releasing the movie, and it comes out on my birthday. So things worked out pretty great for me. Hopefully they’ll release more of the series eventually.

Purchase Gintama at RightStuf

I do not care if you play western games, JRPGs, or Japanese games that play like western games, or western games that play like Japanese games. This news is of importance to all of you.

Some of you may vaguely recall the decision a while ago by the U.S. Supreme Court where video games were ruled an art form. This means that the National Endowment for the Arts can sponsor specific games, as well as games are subject to the same ideas as art-they don’t have to conform to moral standards as much.

Now, such a decision was helped by the outspoken gaming community who wanted to defend their medium, and wanted their medium to be accepted. They wanted to see games straddled with less regulation so that they could grow as an artistic medium.

Now, if you live in the U.S. the first thing I suggest you do is register to vote. Then, you should go to the Video Game Voter’s website and join them to show your support for games as a medium.

The thing is, though, gamers are a pretty giving community. Despite what you will run into on any multiplayer game in a public server, a lot of gamers put forward a positive image through various organizations, such as Child’s Play.

For those not in the know, Child’s Play is a charity that seeks to help out hospitalized children through donations from the gaming industry and gamers.

Other events, such as Desert Bus For Hope, run game events that seek donations from people watching or helping to raise money for Child’s Play. Yes, by the time you read this, Desert Bus has ended. They raised nearly $400,000 for Child’s Play.

And how much did Child’s Play bring in in 2011? They raised a little over $3.5 million U.S.D. That is over $3.5 million from the industry and gamers who care.

But it isn’t all just donations from companies and events like Desert Bus for Hope. Consider the upcoming game, Rule of Cool. They are in the beta phase currently, and in the beta phase alone, they raised $13,000 for Child’s Play. For those not familiar with the game, it is an indie (independent) game developer who is making a game where all proceeds from the game go to Child’s Play.

Yes, the game costs money. Actually, it is free at the moment. They used a pay-what-you-like system, where you pay what you want or can to get the game. It is now free for a short while, but they will soon be doing another donation drive for the core book. For some money that goes to charity, is it not worth buying the game? Even if you do not play it much, you at least made a charitable donation and got something for it.

But it isn’t all charities. Perhaps some of you are fans of the absolutely great classic games Grim Fandango and and of the Monkey Island games. Old fashioned adventure games with lots of character and a good storyline. They were amazing games at the time, and still are amazing games. The people behind those games wanted to make a new adventure game. Nobody would take on the project, as companies figured it would simply be money lost. So, they went to kickstarter to raise $400,000 to develop a new game.

As I write this, there is 25 days left, and the money sits at $1,907,083. Almost 2 million dollars raised to fund the type of games people want to play. If you liked Grim Fandango or any of the Monkey Island games, you can support Double Fine Adventures here.

I will admit to not being the biggest fan of pure adventure games. But, I am a fan of games a s a medium, which is why I will be donating to Double Fine, and why I will be picking up Rule of Cool.

That was all I had to say. In the end, if you like games in general, please show your support for them. Register with Video Game Voters, or donate money to Child’s Play. Support Desert Bus next time it comes around, or buy Rule of Cool or donate towards the Double Fine game or others that appear.

By supporting games, we in turn get better games. And in the end, isn’t that win-win for everyone involved?

Yes. Yes it is.

May 15th

Cat Planet Cuties Complete Series DVD/Blu-ray Liminted Edition
D.Gray-man Season 2 Complete Set DVD (S.A.V.E.)
The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake DVD/Blu-ray (Live Action)

May 22nd

Dragon Ball Z Kai Season 1 DVD
Dragon Ball Z Kai Season 1 Blu-ray
Dragon Ball Z Kai Season 2 DVD
Dragon Ball Z Kai Season 2 Blu-ray
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood OVA Collection DVD/Blu-ray

May 29th

Black Cat Complete Series DVD (S.A.V.E.)
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple Season 2 Complete Set DVD (Anime Classics)
Shiki Part 1 DVD/Blu-ray Limited Edition
Shiki Part 2 DVD/Blu-ray

Having spent the last ten years of his life studying under a mysterious sorcerer, Shiro Emiya has become a Magi, a sorcerer who has summoned a “Servant,” a mystical female warrior of incredible power named Saber, to stand together in the ultimate test of sorcery and magic: the Holy Grail War.  But Shiro’s own feelings for Saber may conflict with their goal.  For to win the contest means to take the risk of losing everything, even as he also begins to empathize with members of the rival battleteams.  For while seven teams will enter the battle, only one will leave, and the winners will receive the prize of the Grail itself and their greatest wish granted.  Will that wish be worth the price Shiro must ultimately pay?  The battle is on in FATE/STAY NIGHT – UNLILMITED BLADE WORKS!

Sentai will release the god-awful film on DVD and Blu-ray, and will be dubbing it because I guess they really want to piss away money on this thing.

The point I’m trying to make here is that this movie suuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

May 1st

Psychic Squad Collection 1 (Sub-only)

May 8th

Get Backers Complete Collection DVD
Guin Saga Complete Collection DVD
Guin Saga Complete Collection Blu-ray

May 15th

Book of Bantorra Collection 1 DVD

May 22nd

Planzet DVD
Planzet Blu-ray

May 29th

Gintama: The Movie DVD
Gintama: The Movie Blu-ray

Plot Snyopsis: “Tobias, Mary, and Sakuya are way into the The World. Together, they form an inseparable group, grinding toward the break of day and running dungeons in search of the artifacts of adventure. But when the trio becomes lost in this virtual labyrinth, a chance encounter with the mysterious entity known only as Hermit will change their lives forever. There’s an eerie darkness spreading across The World, and once you stumble in, you may never make it out.”

I don’t have a great deal of experience with the .hack franchise. I briefly played the first game that came out however long ago, but none of its sequels. I played all three .hack//G.U. games, and had the misfortune of reading the .hack//G.U. manga and watching the .hack//G.U. Trilogy movie, both of which were god awful. I also saw a few episodes of .hack//SIGN and .hack//whatever the one that went with G.U. was called.

Fortunately, .hack//Quantum doesn’t really require you to know anything about the franchise, from what I’ve seen so far. There are a few nods to past series/games in some of the character designs, but nothing that will leave you completely lost. Plus, if you haven’t watched/played any previous .hack, you probably won’t sigh disappointedly when they once again go with a, “something in The World is putting players in comas,” plot-line. Friggin’ comas man. But yeah, I got this because it was $20 and I am mildly interested in the franchise.

Purchase .hack//Quantum at RightStuf

Vindictus is set in a fantasy town, and is the precursor to Mabinogi. However, while Mabinogi is somewhat light and happy in tone, Vindictus throws most of that away for a happy exterior covering a shell of weird horror and creepy revelations.

As this is an MMO, I’ll start off with the character classes. Each has some text description in the selection screen, which saved the developers from having to characterize several characters through gameplay and interaction with friendly non-player characters. It’s acceptable in this situation, as characterization through gameplay and NPC interactions is essentially an insurmountable task. However, interaction with the NPCs does reveal a lot about them as a character and the world you are playing in. It also turns most of the NPCs into interesting characters in their own right.

Classes: Each class is gender locked, as is typical of overseas MMO games. Each class also has a name instead of a class label. There are currently four player characters released, with a fifth planned.

Evie is the mage type character. She uses a staff, but can later use a scythe. She can also use powerful spells like reverse gravity, and she can summon golems from the landscape. She is the weakest character in terms of health, but her mana shield can save her, and her powerful attacks means a staff Evie is pretty much THE best character to solo run any mission. However, that assumes you have the skill to use her that well. She is easy for beginners to grasp, but can be harder to master, which can be a problem in larger battles if the Evie can’t support the rest of the team. While she is the best to solo run missions, she is best for solo runs of missions below her level, as missions at her level will find her against enemies that can kill her pretty easily, or pretty much instantly kill her. Her abilities will also usually not be high enough in rank to take on the big boss, and the recharge on her abilities can make it even harder.

Fiona is a more tank-type character. She uses a sword and shield, although later she gains a hammer, and even later, she gains the ability to use large shields. She has lots of armor, and lots of defensive skills that allow her to be good at soloing missions as well as a really useful addition to any team. Her counterattacks also allow her to stun bosses, and her blocking skill can even stop the charges of some of the strongest bosses.

Lann is best described as the rogue. He carries two swords, or later, two spears. He can cause massive amounts of damage every second, and has reasonably high health. He is a class best suited for a really experienced player, as anyone short of that will find themselves dieing over and over. He is not good at solo missions, as he dies pretty effectively. He can also be annoying paired with another character, as they will often find themselves having to revive the Lann on their team.

Karok is pretty much a giant. He is some monstrous character that uses a pillar as his weapon. Basically, the first one is a tree, and later ones are things like monument gravestones and stone columns. His other weapon the he eventually learns to use is the Cestus, which is basically big metal or stone or whatever gloves that he bare-handed fights things to death with. Honestly, I don’t have a Karok of high enough level to have them, and I don’t play Karok often enough to get to that level, and they were released just recently.

The final character is Kai, who seems to be an archer. He is not yet released.

Well, the backbone of any MMO game is the combat. Sadly, the combat in Vindictus, while fun at first, gets pretty repetitive. Combo building is simple and intuitive, and abilities like dodging, combat rolling, or teleporting allow you to jump into and out of the range of bosses and attack quickly. And that is how pretty much every battle will play out Some bigger bosses can make it much harder, but pretty much every boss has a pretty easy to see attack pattern, so it merely becomes an execution challenge to defeat the boss. It becomes especially annoying when you need to gain an item which is gained by hitting a certain spot on the boss with a spear. Like the gem on the arm of one boss. Sometimes, you need those items for a quest, which is especially annoying.

It dangles abilities and weapons in front of you as the carrot to get you to move along. At level 24, you gain your alternate weapon, and access to the abilities that come with the alternate weapon. For example, Evie can use mana amber to dodge attacks, which surrounds her in a giant crystal that can be knocked around without her receiving much or any damage (based on the strength of the boss.) When she gets the scythe, her Mana Amber is replaced with a teleport ability. And instead of being able to sue a heal spell, she can now use a very easy combo to steal health from an attacked enemy.

All classes gain their alternate weapon at level 24.

At level 40, there is a special title you get for making it that far. Which isn’t really worth it, given how few quests there are around level 37-40, so getting that far required grinding a battle over and over to get enough xp. Either it is a clever system to find only the most dedicated players, or just they couldn’t think of anything else to put there and put a title as acknowledgement that yes, there is not a lot to do, so here is a small thing you get for getting past the few quest section of the game.

Like any MMO, there is a basic story to set up a reason why you should travel to various dungeons and kill x number of monster z. In this one, it is because the Fomors 9which seems to be an alliance of various monsters seen in every fantasy game) have attacked the people and you must defeat them. Actually, they are vicious and do attack human settlements, but you actually fight against them to fulfill the prophecy that when all the evil Fomors are dead, the humans as a whole will move onto the heaven place where the Goddess is. The greatest supporter of this is the pretty cute NPC Tieve, who is also the oracle. Just to recap: the cutest character in the game is also the biggest advocate of the mass genocide you will commit.

Really, that ends up being Fridge Horror, as you probably won’t notice it all at first until you go get a snack and stop to think about the latest development in the story.

Other characters include a Ice Queen, who you melt somewhat, a military commander and a hero who rides around on a dragon. And one of the later quests is to show the townspeople how useful and needed the dragon is so they will not be as angry with the dragon droppings it leaves around the town.

There are some minor inconsistencies, but pretty much all of them have to do with limitations in the game itself and the game world. Spoiler alert: One later battle is called Colhen in Flames, and the starting town has been attack and is being burned down, and you must defeat the boss monster. And then yo go back to Colhen, which is still there. It would be unreasonably hard to have the starting town destroyed for some people, but there for others, which is why things like that are only done in persistent world games, where player(s) advance the plot, and actions are permanent. Games like that will either be single player, or they will have people start out learning the beginner stuff from a specific person in an area that can’t be reached before being dropped into the game world.

Oh, and speaking of other tidbits, at level 42 you can start the quest chain to learn with Dark Knight or Paladin abilities. Dark Knight is a transformation that gives you immense attack power, while Paladin gives a defense boost, and other things that best help your team. Actually, each ability is best paired with a specific character, so there isn’t really much choice. DK is best for Evie, as she can kill a boss in a VERY short amount of time, while still being able to heal and assist her teammates, and Paladin does not give her a heal boost or other team assist abilities, so DK allows you to help your team by becoming the main attack force. Paladin is good for Fiona, as she an boost her teams’ defense, while boosting her own defense and allowing her to save her team from the boss. Fionas usually spend a lot of time blocking and counterattacking, not directly attacking a boss, and they and their team benefits best from Fiona being a paladin. Lann benefits from DK best, as it boosts his attacks and allows him to cause much more damage before dieing, while Paladin boosts his defense, which isn’t to useful for a class that is purely offense. Karok is pretty good for a Paladin, as while he is an attacking character, he also has abilities that allow him to grapple larger bosses, and some bosses, he can simply grab and start punching. Paladin best allows him to grapple a bigger boss and helps his team to best defeat it.

One of the biggest problems Vindictus has is player retention. The ability system works by giving you some points every so often for free, so you can just not play for a week and have enough points to rank up an ability. Plus, at around level 50, it becomes hard to find people to join in on battles you need. At level 60, it becomes even harder. If they patch it to give new battles and a max level of 80, then the high level players will come back and rang up to the max, before disappearing again. Some high level players remain around a lot, but they are usually assisting lower level teams in massive raid battles. The problem there s that with how hard it can be to find someone to run a battle with you, most players disappear at the higher levels simply because running a battle becomes such an infrequent task, they may as well wait and use the gained ability points (which they get much more often at the higher levels) to give hem free ranks in their abilities and allow them to be much more powerful when they do manage to get into a battle.

Obviously, you can choose whatever you want, but I am just laying down the suggestions for what works best for what class.

Score: 4/5 good

Pros: interesting story, interesting character, fun to play. Big bosses, interesting battles, fun challenges.

Cons: spends a a bit too much time at times being not fun at all. finding people to assist in battles above level 60 is like pulling teeth from a herd of cats.

Suggestion: buy it. Just kidding, Nexon games are free to play. You should at least try it out, it is pretty worthwhile. You may not want to stay with it, but that is okay. While Nexon games are free to play, and not even pay to win, they do sell purely aesthetic items such as inner armor (underwear) and dye containers that allow you to color your armor, as well as some other things that do not affect gameplay, life fishing poles for if you want to fish (or you can spend some gold instead of real dollars on the harpoons.) However, they do allow you to complete a bunch of free offers, trials, and other things for the NX points (to buy stuff) so you don’t need to spend your hard-earned cash.

You can get the game here: Vindictus.nexon.net