Kishin Hishou Demonbane

The return of the Innocent Blade!

Fate/Extra Caster route finished!

Continuing Fate/Extra which was in my PSP games backlog(ugh i have too much) where i left at 4th week in-game months ago. Over one week i am marathoning the game from my last save which i used Caster after clearing the game once with Archer. Unfortunately fighting through the Holy Grail War with our lovely Magical Fox Girl is really hard as expected and seriously i don't recommend playing as Caster in your first playthrough because you will find yourself Ragequit all the time.

However Caster's is definitely the more interesting route out of the 3 playable servant in which she is one of the more flirty and playful character in Fate/Extra. In Male Protagonist playthrough, there are plenty of innuendos with the interaction of Caster with main character and Caster seems more than eager to spend some "tender moment" with her beloved master. Her story gets more interesting near the end of the game which is around week 6 if you pull things right because her route is something in game which is closest to Dating Sim. Nevertheless i would recommend to go through Caster's route at least when you play Fate/Extra though using her in the first playthrough is still not recommended. This is because you will have hard time to survive in the dungeon against less predictable opponents as caster has different playstyle compared to Saber or Archer and needs more careful planning in the battle. But Caster gets more powerful later in the game especially after she gets Merciful Sky and her passive skill which makes the dungeon more bearable and make the boss fight quite a breeze. In the end Caster's route is basically Hard mode of Fate/Extra with more rewarding experience(if you don't do it in the first playthrough).

Waifu GET!(or maybe not lol)

Robot Damashii Composite Ver Ka Ξ / Xi Gundam

While Bandai is unlikely to release the Plamo kit of Xi Gundam anytime soon, they still didn't forget this guy and decided to announce the release for Robot Damashii treatment. Previously Xi Gundam see itself in Gundam Fix Figuration lineup where it is packed with Penelope as one package though it is unlikely to see the same treatment again this time. From the leaflet information,, the Robot Damashii will be the improvement version of the previous GFF and stands 18cm tall which is roughly 1/144 scale of the model. The Xi Gundam RD will be sold in Tamashii Web Shop just like Byalant, while there is no confirmed release date year, the RD probably cost more than 7000 yen when it is released due to its size. Xi Gundam is well known to be one of the first MS(technically Penelope is the first) in UC Era with proper midair flight capability due to Minovsky Craft and piloted by Hathaway Noah in Hathaway's Flash rebelling against EFSF. if you are interested, my previous Mechatalk cover some more detailed information about Xi Gundam.

Chogokin Fate/Zero Archer Gilgamesh

We have got some Gilgamesh Figurine back then but we rarely have the one in the battle form. Finally Bandai decided to release an Action Figure of Gilgamesh under Chogokin lineup along with Saber as a commemoration for Fate/Zero anime. There is no price tag announced for Gil yet but we can expect that he will be more expensive than Saber which is tagged for 7500 yen.  From the prototype model, Gil is equipped with his trusted Ea which is one of the few Anti-World Noble Phantasm. There is a good chance that Gil's armor can be cast off like Armor Plus lineup but it is not certain yet. Gilgamesh is probably my favorite servant in Fate series because He have really cool personality despite his arrogance. If Fate/Extra CCC ever got translated probably i will try to get Gilgamesh as my first servant in the game playthrough.

1/100 EF-2000 Typhoon

After some teaser by Kotobukiya around mid of this year, now they finallized the release date of the kit. With the price of 5880, Typhoon will be set for release around February next year which is roughly the same time around with Shiranui UN version release on this year. The kit is more expensive compared to average Muv-luv kit on the same scale due to the inclusion of Mk-54 Rifle and we can probably expect some improvement compared to the previous lineup. EF-2000 is one of 3rd Gen TSF comparable to Takemikazuchi mainly used in Europe and first saw in action in Rain Dancers sidestory from Alt Chronicles 0. The Typhoon version that kotobukiya released would be the Cerberus Team version which are one of the West Germany TSF team stationed in Great Britain border fighting against BETA. I am still undecided to get this kit since it doesn't include the Longsword variant that Typhoon used and it is likely that Koto will release some other Typhoon variant later next year.

Last Raven Zinaida Route cleared!

I am currently playing Last Raven on my PS Vita which works really well which i still use my PSP control scheme. After i finished 3 out of 5 possible route, i think myself that i am ready to take on Zinaida's route. By far Zinaida is probably the hardest(and cheapest) AC boss that i have ever faced, way harder compared to Ofanim or IBIS. But just like other opponent in Armored Core, if you know what are you doing, then you will have no problem. After hundred times of shameful defeat, i finally take her down with Medium build AC with Close ranged weapons and EO core which is particularly helpful. While her Railgun seems intimidating,  Zinaida's pulse rifle is the one that you need to watch out for since it can tear down your AP in blink of seconds but fortunately she won't use it much. After Zinaida's route i am planning to do Pulverizer 2 route which will make the 5th playthrough that i did in Last Raven.

Fang of the Sun Dougram

Over 6 months i have been marathoning this mecha classics after seeing this series being highly recommended by fellow /m/an. At first i got some difficulties getting into the series due to aging animation and at some point i think is Dougram is about cavemen fighting with robots. However this early work of Ryousuke Takahashi, the creator of Votoms turns out to be one of the hidden gem in mecha animation history. Dougram revolves around a group of youths called Fang of the Sun who waged guerilla warfare against Earth Federation fighting for a Earth colony planet's independence named Deloyer. The main character is Crinn Cashim who is the son of most powerful man of Earth who decided to separate his way with his Father and become the lead pilot for the Fang of the Sun.

On the surface, Dougram seems to be rather underwhelming due to lacking visual appeal and mediocre mecha action. The story of the series is better than Votoms despite being slow paced and the political aspect is a top tier one comparable to Legend of Galactic Heroes. There are some really well written character in the series mainly due to the political stunts they pull like Dr Samalin, Denon Cashim and definitely Lecoque who is really awesome dude which he would have made a great team with Job Truniht from LOGH. If the first Gundam is considered to be the pioneer of Real Robot genre, then Dougram is responsible for revolutionizing it since Dougram contribute some major elements for the genre that has been used constantly on mecha series. The major gripe of this series is that the series have 75 episodes which some people will find it to be challenging to get it through and slow paced story. If you are a diehard mecha fan, you will miss some great stuff if you haven't watched Dougram since it is arguably the best Takahashi's work when it comes to story. I would really love to see if there is Seinen version of Dougram since this series theme doesn't mix really well with Kid's anime. After Dougram i think i will move on to Panzer World Galient which is another Takahashi's work.

MG Tallgeese announced!

From the Japan Hobby Show this month, Bandai finally announced the MG kit of Tallgeese after all this years to be released on January next year with the price tag of 3800 Yen. With the Tallgeese release, the EW lineup is finally completed at lasr! Probably the kit will look slightly different compared to original lineart since it is EW version which the other Wing Gundam team got new design for their Gundam. Tallgeese is probably one of the strongest variant of Leo which is one of the few MS that can rival the 5 Gundam in one on one combat despite being an older model. The downside of Tallgeese is that this MS is really hard to pilot like a wild horse which have caused some of the pilots died from piloting Tallgeese including Wufei's late wife. Again i won't be getting this kit unless i cleared significant portion of my kits but this is a great buy for those who have been looking for MG Tallgeese for all these years.

PS Vita GET!

I have been eyeing for PS Vita since its start and waiting for good chance to buy it. With the recent Little Big Planet bundle i finally decided this is the time for me to get one of this PSP successor. I bought the bundle from JB-Hifi for $300 which got the best offer at the moment compared to other retail store in my place. For $300 you get the PS Vita LBP Bundle with overpriced accessories pack and FIFA 13. I got Little Deviants instead of FIFA since the game run out of stock which is better for me since i don't play soccer games. At the moment i am getting Wipeout 2048 and Touch my Katamari for my Vita Gaming library, but i am  also looking forward to US release of DJ MAX Technika tune which is probably the main reason i am getting a Vita right now. I hope Vita will live up to its expectation and possibly surpass older brother, PSP which have satisfied me for years and given me the best portable gaming experience.

Gunslinger Girl ends

One of the few manga that i followed since its publish and finally i have read the chapter 100 which marks the end of the series. The bittersweet end fits Gunslinger Girl theme perfectly which revolves around physically crippled girls who got their second chance to live as cyborgs doing government dirty errands.While there are some misconceptions of this series from some people as GSG uses young girls as the main character, i would say the manga got pretty good story as well as decent political stuff yet really dark for a Shonen series. If you haven't read this manga, go read it and you will probably like this series as it goes great drawing as well. By the way recently, one of the main heroine of Gunslinger Girl got figma treatment which is definitely good news for the fans.