Solatorobo: Red the Hunter

At first i thought this game is a furry game with robot but turns out more than that and i can see why Xseed decided to bring this game to western shore. Solatorobo is probably one of the DS game that is released near the end of DS lifecycle that got really good production value. I am not into furries, in fact i avoid them like plague and i like Solatorobo because it is genuinely good game. The story is typical JRPG and quite lighthearted. In the game you play as Caninu(Canine + Inu) hunter called Red whose daily hunter life changed when he encountered a Felineko(Feline + Neko) called Elh who made a contract with Red to Seal the great Beast Lares before it plunge the world to calamity. The gameplay is rather simple where Red piloted robot called Dahak and Judo throw people around. Also the storyline is divided into 2 parts where the first part feels like whole tutorial.

What i find really charming from this series is the world setting which is just vibrant and colorful, a good one for a JRPG game. I find the mecha designs are very cool as well but quite underused and somehow the mecha kinda reminds me of Tron Bonne and Bumpy trot. As for music they are very good for a DS games and have some feel of .Hack along with it. My gripe for this game is that all of the good stuff in the games are underused and the game is too easy even the final boss is pushover. If Cyberconnect ever plans a sequel for this game i would say it is quite easy for them to pull it off considering the potential of the series are not fully used yet. I will probably play this game until i get the Dahak Omega which is the picture below and going to get Tail Concerto a try.

Super Robot Chogokin GaoFIghGar

It is bound to happen when Genesic GaoGaiGar got its SRC that GaoFighGar will eventually get one as well. Rather late for pre-release post but the SRC will be released on July this year with the price tag of 7500 yen, not as expensive as Genesic but still costly for an SRC. GaoFighGar is Gai's new mecha after Mamoru left Earth with Galeon and capable of purifying Zonder Metal without any problem. The mecha debuted in GaoGaiGar 8 Episodes OVA and saw its rule rather short but aesthetically, GaoFighGar is one of the cooler mecha in the series while still look rather modest. I recalled in Alpha 3 GaoFighGar is still very good Boss Killer despite lacking of any ALL attacks. If you like GGG i would say GaoFighGar would be on the high priority list to get for the SRC.

The World God Only Knows final chapter

Since the last Arc i know things are not going well for this series but i didn't expect The World God only knows would be concluded in sunch really disappointing way. While i don't mind with who Keima ending up with in the series, it feels the story from the last few chapters just fast forwarded and skipped plenty of important details which is the primary reason i see the conclusion for the series to be unsatisfying. I guess the publisher decided to stop the serialization which is why we got such abrupt ending though i suppose it is bound to happen when the author dragged an arc too long. In the end TWGOK ends up like those mangas that interrupted midway and failed to make a significant impact itself. Let see how the Author will cope with this and how the next work will fare any better

Flower

There have been some debates for years already whether game is capable to become an art form and in my opinion, a handful of them can be considered to be an art but indeed majority of games can't be considered as one. One of those game that i considered to be artistic is Flower, a simple title yet offers immersive even though short experience and powerful message. The gameplay is very straightforward, you control a flower petal and try to bloom other flowers in the stage and getting bigger in the process. Throughout the game, Flower try to deliver message about the relationship between human and nature and i feel the wish that this game contains is that someday the relationship between human and nature would be more harmonius than the present which is not that ideal. Flower is quite similar with Journey which is another game developed by the same company as they share the common theme which i believe to be Life, Death and Rebirth though Flower heavily emphasized on the Life part where as Journey focus on the latter aspects.
 
For me an art is a crystallization of human expression manifested in physical form which contain a strong emotion or a wish and Flower fits very well in this description which is why i consider it as a work of art. For a game to be an art it can only rely with its visual and audio to deliver the message which is abit tricky and that's why most of the games are just merely entertainment. If you only like intense action game you probably will not like Flower but if you look to unwind yourself and seek tranquility in game i think you will appreciate this game. I still feel 6 stage is abit short for Flower since i feel alot more can be explored with this game as the medium for instance an oriental stage with interactions of the water ripple with the contrast between past and present would be interesting to see. If you like Flower you may try Zen Bound which got different gameplay but works wonder!

Toukiden thoughts

I have tried numbers of similar games to Monster Hunter over past few years and now Toukiden goes into the list as well. I have just finished the story mode few days ago and at the moment is halfway through the multiplayer mission. I am a Spear user since i was a Lancer in MH and i find the weapon is the most versatile weapon in the game for any role and i use SPT mitama since i loved to break Oni parts and this mitama is the best for this task.

 I have tried Ragnarok Odyssey, God Eater and Lord of Arcana but in my opinion Toukiden beats them all when it comes to the potential to be a real contender to MH and even surpass it if given couple of years. While the gameplay mechanics is nowhere as solid as MH, Toukiden took all of the good things from the previous MH clones and improvise on them which are shown in the form of their core gameplay like Mitamas(which are similar to RO cards but less tedious) and then AIs which are even more competent than God Eater which was pretty good already as well as cool but not too flashy combat compared to Lord of Arcana. The main weakness of Toukiden is the lack of content which is rather expected  considering the effort spent on the first game is mostly focused on how things works in the game and after you finished Chapter 5 things are abit repetitive as the game have introduced all of the Onis variation by the time you finish the storyline. However i would say Koei Tecmo is already pretty much on the right track for this game considering the first God Eater is even less perfect than Toukiden and once a expansion title is released the game will show more of its worth. Most people forgot Toukiden is just first iteration of the series and it can't compete with MH yet as the later have come a long way before it reached the position up until now.

What i wish for the future expansion or possible sequel is more Onis obviously as well as more AI partners so it would be merrier as well as more variation of the Mitama Spells and lastly less wackier end game armors. Give Toukiden 2 or 3 years and i believe it will be a serious contender for Monster Hunter.

Even the series got really adorable Mascot!

Supersylph Yukikaze

I watched the OVA years ago which is beautifully animated though rather hard to follow and afterward i decided to get the Novels which have 2 volumes translated so far as i heard good things about them. Took me a year actually to get to read the novel but certainly this novel is well written one. The setting is your basic Humanity against Alien but what makes Yukikaze unique is the design of the Alien themselves which are called JAM in this series. Unlike most Aliens, design JAMs are not vicious looking creature like Zergs or Tyranids but instead in the novel they are deoicted as rather enigmatic beings, While Humanities managed to fight a stalemate fight with JAMs it appears that the Aliens are much sinister than they appear to be which is why they are rather appealing. Just like the OVA, Yukikaze focus on relationship between Rei Fukai and his seemingly sentient plane Yukikaze herself which feels like a romance between human and machine.

The first book is rather episodic roughly about Rei's daily life on Faery, the planet where the war with JAMs are being waged on and then the 2nd book takes up on the pace where one of the JAMs sinister plan begin to take place. For this series i wouldn't say it is appropriate to compare which works is superior but the Novel and the OVA goes hand in hand where the Novel served as the the foundation for the series and the OVA complements it. I heard there is 3rd book from the series which is untranslated yet but i hipe it will be translated one day

B-Daman Bakugaiden Saint Dragon

Back when i was a kid around 4th grade i was collecting B-Daman toys which were robot plastic model kits which you had a small B-daman to put on the ball like cockpit. And today i was digging back my old toys and saw the particular toys which was the Yellow Robot that can be combined with other 2 Robots to form a giant robot which i used to have all 3 of them. This makes me dig the net and found what i was looking for and decided to write this post. It turns out the robot toys are from particular B-daman series called Bakugaiden and it seems there is another item to be put on wishlist. This particular set called Saint Dragon have 4 robot model from White, Blue, Yellow and Black bomber can be combined together to form a dragonlike mech named Saint Dragon. By this time this product is really rare and going to cost a kidney to get one either on Ebay or Mandarake costing about more than $100.

I think i will try to find this toy when i go to Hongkong and didn't care if it is bootleg due to rarity status because these toys means alot for me when i was a kid and partially drives me to get into plastic models. First i think i am going to watch the B-daman Bakugaiden no matter how silly the series and if anyone knows where can i get this toy for reasonable price, please let me know but it would be even better if Takara Tomy decided to reissue the kit one day. Before i stopped writing at this post, here is the giant robot that i said to be the combination of the 3 robots which is called Saint Blaster.

RAH Hei Darker than Black

Up until now my impression with Darker than Black is not the best especially due to 2nd season but we can still admit the series did have characters like our favorite Chinese electric batman, Hei. There is not much DtB merchandise but at least they got a very good physical representation of this lead character from the series. The figure was released back in 2011 by medicom the creator of Real action heroes series and it cost like more than 20k yen to get one but i think it is well worth the price. I think if i ever go to Japan, this is one of the item that i will look for there considering the market price for a piece of RAH Hei will cost you an arm and a leg to get which you can have a look on Ebay. Hei kinda reminds me with the protagonist from Nitroplus VN called Kikokugai, Kong Taoluo who got couple of close similarities. What do you guys think?

Chinese electric batman predecessor?

Lone Wolf and Cub

One of the great japanese classic manga and it think it is one of the best too in depicting Edo era. Lone Wolf and Cub tells the story of a ronin Ogami Itto and his son Daigoro who went on a quest of revenge against great samurai clan of Yagyu who have dishonor and killed Itto's clan due to power hunger as Itto once held the esteemed position of Shogun's executioner. Ogami Itto is Chuck Norris in Edo era as throughout his adventure in 27 volumes anyone who face against him are dead which some of them are good people. What makes this manga special apart from the vibrant depiction of the Edo era is how Bushido is depicted in the series which is easier for reader to understand along with great doses of tragedy. This is one of the must read classic manga if you appreciate them and Sabu to Ichi torimonohikae is one of the closest title that is similar to this one.

Wonderfest 2014

I think it has been couple of years already i do limited coverage for Wonderfest which is one of the major event where the companies in hobby industry showing some future release for their products. I always pay attention to Kotobukiya and maybe Megahouse or Bandai and as always lots of stuff to be shown but not the one i look forward to. Shingeki no Kyojin and Nintendo as well as Kancolle products are shown a lot  in the wonderfest.

 
From Kotobukiya section there are couple of new SRW kits from OGs2 but no Masoukishin. It appears Kotobukiya will be going to release AS Belial kit as Laevatein follow up soon which indicate there is a chance that FMP series will be reignited in some way  considering Z3 is coming up which Bandai also even prepare a Metal Build for Laevatein. Muvluv got some new 1/144 kit but for non scale, Takemikazuchi got 1.5 version which probably address the issues of the former version. The upcoming Frame Arms is also being displayed which are 2 knight esque model which indicate that Frame Arms are likely to take different directions than it used to be.

I was expecting Sentinel going to show their new RIOBOT lineup but i guess they plenty already last year. Megahouse is going to release something for Orguss which is likely to be action figure and as for Max Factory, i am quite surprised that they catch up with Dougram lineup quite fast as numerous grunt units models are shown. The notable one is Soltic and Iron Foot which is the MP version of Dougram. Guyver figma is confirmed for this year at long last and Archer from FSN is getting figma though i am not too interested due to the figure size. That's all my coverage for this year's wonderfest and hopefully i will still do the next year.

Kingdom/王者天下

One of the hottest manga at the moment which i have followed since the first translation came out. While a little bit over the top, this manga shows that history and shonen genre could make an epic tag team duo. Kingdom or Wangzhen Tianxia tells about the 7 warring states era in China in the perspective of a youth named Li Xin about his journey to become Great General under Heaven and unite whole China with Qin banner. Kingdom is not the first manga that tells a story about Warring states era, but possible the most epic one yet. The manga still very far off to finish since it still few decades before Qin dynasty arise which means more potential for more epic moments as long as the mangaka keep focused though the current arc is already so epic. Chinese histories runs really deep and make a very good story, with Kingdom hopefully we will see more manga cover the history of China other than 3 warring kingdoms which Genghis khan's tale would be a great start. I would recommend to stick with the manga because the anime got terrible 3D battle animation. If you like Kingdom you may check Bokko which covered the same period though different genre and i had given my opinion before which you can check here

Raystorm 1/144 R-Gray 1

I am never good at Shoot'em up or STG game but i do play some of the series due to the plane design and these genre were part of my childhood. One of the STG title that catches my eye is Ray series which are published by Taito back in 90s which i played Raycrisis the most. A few while ago Kotobukiya released a model kit for the plane model from Raystorm which is called R-Gray1 in the game which is the standard model of the plane used in every Ray series. What makes Ray series different with other shooters is that it have lockon system which you can destroy offscreen targets to make them stop shooting or coming to shoot you on the screen, The main fighter in the series use standard bullet and laser cannon to shoot offscreen opponent. I only just played Raystorm recently on my Vita through PS1 Classics which is a blast. As for the kit, it is quite expensive costing more than 5000 yen base price but if you experienced modeller, i think this kit is a good one to build. Personally i find the base color of the model is too bright and i think if i ever got one of this kit, i will make it in 2P colors. Speaking of STG game, 90s is the best time and i played Psikyo's title alot and Dreamcast got plenty of them as well. Though i wished PSN had more STG games other than the PS1 classics which i hope Ikaruga will show up someday.

Gundam Build Fighters, Ongoing thoughts

  I have considered to share my thoughts about Gundam Build Fighers when it finished as usual with other anime but i will just do it now before any possibility of disappointment when the series ends which i hope it won't. I would say this is one of the recent gundam anime that made me smile(and giggle abit) especially with the episode 15 which is the best episode yet. Gundam Build Fighters feel like Danball Senki in terms of story structure considering it is aimed to the young audiences but unlike Age i think Sunrise pull it off properly this time by not alienating the older fans because the more you have seen previous gundam series, the more satisfied you will be as Build Fighters pays homage to all previous series(except Age). I still feel that Build Fighters could help some more G Gundam which would make Build Fighters even more awesome but so far the series is still good. It really feels that the team who animate the series have good passion in mecha or gundam at least considering Obari also joining in which makes the impression "from the fan to the fan". As for characters i like Kawaguchi, Fellini and Dallara who are just awesome as they shown some passion in the fight and does not rely on too many gimmicks with their gunpla. Never like Nils and Iori/Reiji because they the opposite of the characters that i find likable considering these characters are aimed for young audience as self-insert. As long as Build Fighters does not get way over the top i think it will be really enjoyable series for the Older fan and while i am not a big fan of Wing Gundam, i will get MG Wing Fenice which is likely considering Bandai is churning out Build Fighters MG model which Fenice should get one due to the popularity.

If you could pilot your gunpla like in the Build fighters, which model would you like to use? i would be using High Mobility Gyan or Marasai with beam naginata and Zeta gundam i have to pick a gendum

Blue Gender

This is one of those few animes that got interesting concepts but the ending totally ruined the series and make it forgettable. Marathoned the series on December and i can see how Blue Gender got its reputation of grimdarkness and how it ties with Muvluv series. From what i know Ryosuke Takahashi served as the creative director for Blue Gender but he is not the main director in charge which is why i can see the outcome of the series. The story of the series basically about humanity fighting giant insect creature called Blue(basically mix of Radam and Starship troopers bug) to reclaim Earth as their home with some kill'em all and gore thrown here and there.

Blue Gender really strong lead heroine and protagonist with good potential as well as great Real Robot mecha concepts. I think that the concept of the main heroine regaining her humanity while the protagonist slowly losing his is an interesting one but Blue Gender didn't properly pull it off until the end to make any impact. Also another problem from the series, is that it kills way too many side characters for any good story development which at least have some of them survive until the end. The first half of the series is done quite well but from the second half, Blue Gender slowly decline and the ending probably drive the last nail to the coffin. The movie could have create a change but in the end it is even worse than the TV series.

As the header of this post implies, Muvluv does take plenty of inspiration from Blue Gender, mainly for the TSFs and BETAs. The Assault Rifle, Servo Arms and couple of bits from TSF are based on Armor Shrikes parts and you can see F-22's spiky kneecaps is a homage to Armor Shrikes in a way. While Blue doesn't have many similarities with BETA when it comes to appearance, the concept does. From the Hives and how BETA make humans as their raw material is likely inspired from Blue Gender, i think that Sadogashima Hive Spire is also inspired from this series as well. There is one Blue strains that is probably the inspiration for Ruitare or Destroyer class which i can't find the picture but it is shown in the early episodes. With this much similarities you can see how Blue Gender influence Muvluv and in a way you can say that Muvluv is the more commercially successful version of Blue Gender. Unfortunately from Alternative onwards, the series have been stagnating too much.

Blue Gender probably makes a good SRW material with gruntish mecha like Votoms and the OP theme definitely will make an awesome theme in SRW. I still wonder why there are no single plamo or two ever comes out from the series. If you like Muvluv, i think Blue Gender worth to have a watch to see one of the series source inspiration.

Assault Gunners

A mindless fun 3rd person mecha shooter in PS Vita