(Matsuri Hino – Viz Shojo Beat)

Cross Academy maybe a normal school by day, but at night it is far from it.
At twilight the day class and night class cross paths and all havoc breaks lose. That is because the night class is an elite group and they are all extremely beautiful.
But the night class has a dark secret. The only people that know this secret are the head teacher and his adopted children Yuki Cross and Zero Kiriyu.
They are known as the guardians and it is their job to protect the Night class’ secret; the night class is full of vampires.

Yuki Cross has no memory of her life prior to the moment she was saved from a vampire attack 10 years earlier by the night class president Kaname Kuran.
Because of her relationship with Kaname, Yuki believes that vampires and humans can coexist peacefully but her partner Zero doesn’t quite share that sentiment.

Whilst the story is cliché in places and the whole vampire/human romance theme has been done to death the story still manages to be interesting and paces itself well enough leaving at least one surprising twist in its wake.
The story focuses primarily on 3 characters. Yuki Cross the story’s heroine, in traditional shojo style she isn’t really capable of the job she’s been given and is saved more often than she actually saves anyone.
Then there are the 2 candidates for her affections. Her partner in guarding the Night class and protective adoptive brother Zero Kiriyu who thanks to his past creates most of the story’s angst. The second candidate is the big vamp on campus and night class president Kaname Kuran.

The art is particularly eye-catching a very important feature in a shojo manga. In true Matsuri Hino style her work is beautiful and girly with a gothic edge.
Being a shojo manga the target audience is the female population. However if you are interested in some easy reading vampire/ romance fun then this is maybe the manga for you.

Also by Matsuri Hino – MeruPuri (Viz – Shojo Beat)

Story - 6/10 – I’m trying not to be biased, I really like the story but it isn’t deep and it’s not really anything we haven’t seen before.
Characters – 7/10 – I’m pretty happy with how the characters were developed. In the beginning it felt like jumping in at the deep end, but give it a couple of chapters. I thought Zero was particula rly well done, possibly better than our heroine.
Art – 8/10 – Hino Matsuri really does have gorgeous artwork! To be honest any book with art like that I’d be quite tempted to buy regardless of the story!

At long last, around 8 months I believe since word got out that a version was in development it has been released! For those who don’t know what this will actually do, here are the official features…

Features

* Play ANY region of Wii or GameCube game on ANY Wii.
* Easy to use.
* No console modification required.
* Doesn’t invalidate warranty.
* Play games never released in your region.
* Play local games on your imported console.
* 100% unofficial.

The last point is quite funny as Nintendo wouldn’t make sure a product official! I actually own a US Nintendo Wii so would test this out as its annoying not being able to take advantage of sales and rentals over here because of it…

If you have a US Nintendo Wii, then pop over to Datel’s website here and place your $19.99 order!

There has been rumours for as long as I can remember for a live action Akira movie to be made. Many fans were in uproar claiming that the 1998 classic should remain untouched, however with Warner Brothers recently re-securing the rights to the movie it seems they are finally being serious about the project. It will now be split into two movies and will follow the original Manga volumes rather than using the animé as a blueprint. No actors have been mentioned yet for the roles however other bits of information has been released.

Directing the mammoth task will be Ruairi Robinson, an irish filmaker in his debut title along with another debutant Gary Whitta who will pencil the screenplay. It will be interesting to see how much of a budget Akira will actually gain considering both Ruairi and Gary are still green to the movie industry. One thing is for certain, the fans will not be best pleased if it fails to be anywhere near the seminal Anime.

I shall be keeping an eye on this and hope it won’t die a death like the Evangelion Live Action project before it…

To be honest I don’t know an awful lot about this game however I’ve just found out that it supports Head Tracking. Those who keep an eye on YouTube might have come across this video by Johnny Chung Lee. The video below explains what Head Tracking basically does and is worthy of your time.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw[/youtube]

Now EA’s Boom Box game, headed by none other than Stephen Spielberg has unveiled a cool Easter Egg in the game. Hopefully the setup for this is much more easier and indeed games actually start using it on the Wii.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd296bxdi30[/youtube]

It would be pretty cool to see this used on First Person Shooters as you would be a lot more immersed into the gameplay and can actually start to sway or dodge attacks. Maybe this in a boxing game too could work… Could be an idea for Wii Sports II…

Now this is pretty cool. Its a simple interface to what is quite a complex engine to make things work in real time and the creative possibilities for multiplayer are near endless. The premise is simple - Draw anything you want and it gets converted into a tank. By placing more drawn items on the same piece of paper, tank tracks are made, guns added and possibly much more. Watch the video to see it in action!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=denLFS2SxXE[/youtube]

It’s similar to a DS game Drawn to Life however since this is on the PS3, the scope can only grow bigger and indeed they are aiming at the demograph correctly, one that Nintendo currently has sown up. If Sony play their cards right they could capture the imaginations of children and parents by using technology to come together in the living room. I would like to see this idea further expanded though and hopefully available via PlayStation Network or as a budget PS3 game with other engines bar the Tank War one illustrated.

Still, as a demo, it is very cool indeed.

While watching some animés recently, it is pretty funny how certain scenes can be totally mis-interpreted. So I thought I’d just run a small feature every now and again whenever I find such a scene. Here’s one from DragonBall Z: The Deadzone.

Just what is Kami-sama thinking about when he looks at Krillin?!

Ah, DragonBall Z, the series which has gained as many fans as haters but is firmly established in the history of animé. This movie was released way back in 1989 in Japan and was released uncut stateside in 2005 but was it worth the wait?

Not really.

DragonBall Z: The Deadzone plot is quite thin but then this is typical fair for such an animé. Goku’s son, Gohan, is kidnapped by Garlic Jr’s henchmen as he plans to gather all the DragonBalls to wish for immortality. With this new found power Garlic Jr wants to take revenge for his father’s defeat by the hands of the mighty Kami-sama by overthrowing Earth by ruling with terror. Goku, fresh from his fishing trip then sets out to save his son and avenge his wife’s defeat by the evil henchmen.

Akira Toriyama’s trademark style is ever evident and even now is instantly recognisable which is always a hallmark of great design. The animation however is quite rough around the edges however one cannot complain so much considering its age. The DVD comes with both the English and Japanese audio soundtrack and this review was done whilst watching the English Dub. While I know many will be screaming in outroar right now for me watching something dubbed I find that the English cast suit the characters much more.

In the Japanese soundtrack Goku is voiced by seiyuu Masako Nozawa, who does a good job at conveying the emotions, however her voice isn’t deep enough and doesn’t create the ‘manly’ image Goku should possess, considering he is supposed to be the strongest fighter in the universe. Sean Schemmel as Goku does a more convincing effort and the rough, coarse tones of Christopher R. Sabat as Piccolo is forever remembered and suits the character superbly.

With typical DragonBall Z style, many moments in the animé appear very camp with many cheesy moments, even though they are unintentional. From the way Krillin says ‘Goodbye’ as he leaves in a camp tone (English dub, the Japanese soundtrack has a more suitable ‘Goku…’) to the names given to the special moves to power up like ‘Tooti Fruity’ from one of the henchmen. The action in parts are well choreographed however the ending was a bit soft but sets things up for future movies as it is the first in a total of thirteen movies!

In all DraqgonBall Z: The Deadzone is one for the fans only as the material hasn’t aged well.

The highly anticipated movie Batman: The Dark Knight will have an additional bonus release direct to DVD to coincide with its launch. The name of this DVD? Batman: Gotham City.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuSwj5ok24k[/youtube]

An animated version of the Batman universe is akin to what was done with the Matrix (Animatrix). The interview that is almost 10 minutes long covers many aspects and how they will be handling this project. It will be a six part anthology within the timeline of Batman Begins and Batman: The Dark Knight and each segment will be written by different people confirmed as Josh Olson, David Goyer, Brian Azzarello, Greg Rucka, Jordan Goldberg, and Alan Burnett.

Each segment, much like Animatrix, will have their own art style and animation to reflect the expression of art and direction imposed by their teams. Interestingly there is a rumour that Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paranoia Agent) will be directing one of the segments for Batman: Gotham City. If this proves to be true, it will be interesting to see the results of the collaboration.

(Story: Seimaru Amagi/ Art: Tetsuya Koshiba - Tokyopop)

Kurumi Ayaki is all set to retire from the police force. She is about to get married and wants to start concentrating on family. However due to financial problems she ends up revoking her notice, but instead of her old position as a traffic warden she is given a job the police chief describes as a ‘baby-sitting job’
Kurumi is sent to work for Inspector Kozaburo Himuro, her new boss is the best there is, but due to unknown circumstances he has shut himself off from the world and is devoid of emotions, oh and he never leaves his basement.
Because he never leaves his basement Kurumi is assigned the task of being his eyes and ears on the street keeping in contact with him via mobile phone. However due to his lack of emotion his assistants tend not to stick around for longer than a month.
Obligingly Kurumi takes the job, it starts out as a struggle but as she gets to know Himuro and learns of his past she is determined to see the job through and fix him.

Apart from the uniqueness of the work situation this is your typical detective story with a hint of a love story. I’d say its target audience is an older male’s; it is described as an action, mystery and has panty shots a plenty. That’s not to say the female audience won’t enjoy it, I thoroughly enjoyed it thanks to the investigations, relationships and unique situation of the main characters.
Some of the volumes are marked as ‘explicit content’ and I must say I did find some of the scenes rather disturbing, for those scenes I tended not to spend too much time on them, the story and mystery that is Himuro kept me going. He really does start off as emotionless, putting Kurumi in dangerous situations without batting an eyelid. It’s for his character I needed to continue and reading to find out why he was like that and if he would change.
As for Kurumi she is quite stupid even for a manga heroine, but she does learn and it’s her kindness and determination that stop her character from being completely annoying.
Her supposed fiancé on the other hand is more of a joke than anything, he is constantly trying to get Kurumi into bed, one begs to ask the question why is she with him?
In terms of character development Kurumi and Himuro are done very nicely, the other characters don’t fair so well, Kurumi’s Fiancé starts off as a shallow perv and by the end he is still a shallow perv, but then this doesn’t really hinder the story as such as he is more of a side character than anything. His main purpose seems to be to show us how much better Himuro is and to provide us with laughs.

The art in the manga really isn’t that eye catching, but as its story doesn’t rely on beautiful bishonen drawing it’s readers in this isn’t too much of a problem. By the end of the volume 10 the art has progressed nicely, but it is still not on par with many other manga’s out there.

Story – 7/10 – There is a continuing back story regarding Himuro’s past and his relationship with Kurumi, which is extremely interesting, but as you’d expect with a detective drama the story is mainly comprised of a new investigation every manga or 2.
Characters – 9/10 - Whilst the rest of the cast weren’t developed so well, I thought Kurumi and Himuro were progressed well enough for this to deserve such a high rating. Himuro in particular changed immensely.
Art – 4/10 – Whilst it’s far from being the worst art I have seen, it’s also far from being the best. The art does get better as it goes on, but still nowhere good enough for it to be on par with the likes of other mangas I have reviewed. It does have a certain kind of appeal though.

Remote was toned down and made into a PG friendly Japanese Drama in 2002 starring Koichi Domoto as Himuro and Kyoko Fukada as Kurumi.

If you like this see also – Kindaichi Case Files/ Tantei Gakuen Q (written by the same author)

Thanks to its clever viral marketing on MySpace and countless other websites devoting to the movie, J.J. Abrams’ ambitions homage to monster flicks takes a new step further by providing an unique viewpoint on a giant creature destroying Manhattan.

The film begins as if someone is watching a videotape that has been found after a mysterious incident in New York City, codenamed ‘Cloverfield’. We briefly see images of a young good-looking couple, Robert Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) and Elizabeth “Beth” McIntyre (Odette Yustman) before we realise that someone has taped over their day at Coney Island with footage of Rob’s leaving party, before he heads off to Japan.

However, during the party there’s an attack on New York by an initially unseen monster and everyone runs for the streets, just in time to witness the head of the Statue of Liberty come crashing to the ground. With one of his friends still filming – Hudson “Hud” Platt (T. J. Miller) – in the same style of the Blair Witch Project, Rob and his friends risk their lives to rescue Beth before attempting to flee the city.

The action sequences in Cloverfield are pretty intense with echoes to the chaotic moments that followed 9/11, with buildings crumbling to rubble and panic in the city streets. The use of a video camera shot from the victim perspective is a distinctive step of documentary events as it unfolds. Sure, the camerawork might cause some viewers to become ill with the constant shaking and movement but in the age of Web 2.0 and YouTube, the director – Matt Reeves – handles the central concept extremely well, perfectly capturing the sense of fear and mayhem, while maintaining exactly the sort of breathless pace that you’d expect if you were fleeing a giant monster.

Cloverfield is certainly frightening that you left thinking that this attack could happen… The only criticism is all that running and screaming doesn’t provide enough characterisation or dialogue. In addition, we don’t get any back-story on why this monster is here in New York City stomping, eating and causing as much damage as possible.

Despite that, the film is superbly directed with some skilful use of editing – from the happier times of Rob and Beth to the horror of his close friends dying one by one… Cloverfield is an enjoyable thriller that adds a modern twist to the Godzilla-style monster movie, though it’s slightly let down by its characters and plot.