Tokyo Majin dvd review

In most ways the first five episodes of Tokyo Majin resemble other dark, graphic supernatural action series involving a team of individuals brought together by their powers and circumstance to combat paranormal threats. Like X, Ten Tokyo Warriors, and several others, the heroes come from diverse backgrounds, have diverse powers generally in tune with their natures, do not necessarily get along with each other, and fit comfortably within well-established archetypes. While it may emphasize its horror aspect a bit more than most, such a slant is too common in the genre to give this series any separation. The one place where Majin does distinguish itself from other titles of its ilk – in its propensity to insert goofy moments – cannot be considered a plus. The creators go through all of this effort to establish an effectively dark and edgy environment only to disrupt it with random silliness like the nature of Anko's first appearance, her being bottled up in a large vase later in the volume, or the ridiculously caricatured appearance of Daigo's wrestling team. Sure, Hellsing Ultimate gets away with a similar approach, but in that case it fits better because of the high-spirited nature of the series; for all its graphic content, it isn't meant to be taken entirely seriously. This one, contrarily, relies too heavily on its serious content for its credibility and plot progression to tolerate the inanity it has. This becomes increasingly apparent later in the volume when Anko, whose overzealous “get the scoop” efforts make her one of the primary sources of comic relief, gets into a situation which radically changes her demeanor, thus pulling her out of that role. (Whether this will be a temporary change or not remains unclear at the end of the volume.) The only place where the humor does work is in the behavior of the teacher Maria, but that may be because her behavior is more a reflection of her attitude than an outright attempt to be funny. Occasionally disjointed storytelling and storyboarding also presents a problem. Dropping viewers into the middle of the story and using the second or third episode to fill in the backstory is a common structure in anime series that often works well, but the first episode throws out so many things without explanation or adequate context that it becomes a confused jumble. At other times the story jumps around too much without adequately connecting scenes, and in some places shots are outright missing; for instance, late in episode 4 Komaki is shown standing upright on her own in one shot, then is inexplicably being cradled in a teammate's arms on the ground when the perspective on the same scene changes. The writing does have some upside, however. While the principle characters may not appear at first to be anything more than the one-dimensional role-players required for the parts, as the volume progresses the female side of the roster gradually starts to demonstrate more depth than that. This becomes most evident in what happens to Anko, but the tomboyish Komaki also shows some insecurities (and possibly suppressed feelings) beginning with episode 5 and Aoi eventually reveals that there may be more to her than her idealistic, irritatingly spineless persona; how someone as unassertive as her became student council president remains to be explained, but flashbacks suggest that she has some lingering Serious Issues shaping her character. Maria offers a lively but not over-the-top addition as the homeroom teacher, and fellow teacher IMAGI has yet to reveal where his eccentricities may be leading. By contrast, the annoyingly rude Kyouichi is still locked firmly into his brash delinquent role, Tatsuma never seems to do much except play along as needed, Daigo shows little character beyond being sweet on Komaki, and Kisaragi behaves like an arrogant jerk towards everyone except Aoi. It could, of course, just be that their turns haven't come up yet. Beyond the aforementioned caricatures, character designs favor stylized faces, slightly angular looks, and hairdos with sharp edges. So many different characters have stray strands of hair sticking out that it must be some kind of weird fashion statement. None of the designs beyond possibly Aoi and Daigo impress much, nor does the background art, and all of the visuals have a dull haziness to their coloring which makes it seem like one is viewing the series through some kind of filter. The animation, which often looks stiff and only barely supports the action scenes, also fails to impress. No fan service will be found here, but the graphic violence and occasional English obscenities in graffiti warrant a TV-MA rating. “Eclectic” may not be a strong enough word to describe a musical score that wanders all over the map. The hard rock songs by ACID that serve as the opener and closer may seem to set the tone, but only in the episodes about the demonic guitarist do heavy rock themes prevail. In other places classical music pieces and violin solos predominate, while still others rely on electronica numbers and standard spooky themes. It could be praised for being flexible or criticized for being unable to settle on a unifying theme, depending on the viewer's point of view. ADV's English dub features a handful of seasoned veterans sprinkled amongst a principle cast light on experience but not lacking for talent. Casting and performances fit fine with the originals, with the voice of the doctor at the end of episode five actually sounding better in English due to having the deeper, throatier (and possibly electronically lowered) sound one would expect of someone so big. English scripting stays reasonably close. Nothing beyond previews clean opener and closer can be found amongst the Extras, so purchasers must content themselves with five full episodes. Based on its first volume, Tokyo Majin shows at least some potential as a decent supernatural action series which may be headed towards some real character developments. It must prove that it can sort out the problems it shows in its first five episodes, and decide whether it wants to be a lighter or more dedicatedly horrific tale, before meriting a recommendation, however Overall (dub) : B- Overall (sub) : B- Story : B- Animation : C+ Art : B- Music : B+ + Varied but effective musical score, presents horror overtones well. − Not consistent on tone, lackluster animation, writing flaws. review by : Theron Martin, Nov 27 2007 .

Eidos Montreal boss divulges first real info on the just-announced sequel

Deus Ex 3 is using the new engine powering the Tomb Raider revival, the boss at Eidos Montreal has revealed.

"We chose the Crystal [Dynamics] engine because we plan to help develop this engine more and then share it back with the rest of the company, the other Eidos studios. Having that technology from the start gives us a great advantage and foundation for our coders - there are no doubts about the approach, and we have few uncertainties", Stephane D'Astous has told Develop in an interview.

"We just want to all work together on improving the same technology as we develop our game".

Speaking generally about Deus Ex 3, D'Astous admitted that it's "an incredible title to be working on" and a major challenge as a first project for the newly established Eidos Montreal studio. But he was keen to try and reassure us it's in good hands.

"All the developers working on Deus Ex 3 pretty much know the series inside and out - coming here, they were pretty aware of the opportunity and what they could do", D'Astous explained.

"We did our research to find out what worked well, what people enjoyed about it - especially the first game. The second was a success in the eyes of some, but had some ups and downs, so we've tried to identify what worked well in that game.

"Most importantly, we're extracting what worked well and can be applied now. In the five, six years since that series arrived technology has changed significantly and we have to be careful - we don't want to create more of the same. Instead we've identified the features that can be transposed well onto new technology that arrived several years later.

"It's a big mandate we have received - and we take it very seriously", D'Astous added.

The critically acclaimed Deus Ex is regarded by many as the finest PC game ever made, although sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War failed to live up to expectations.

Deus Ex 3 was confirmed earlier this week, the confirmation accompanied by a teaser trailer.

[Source: Develop]

Courtesy of CVG

Metal Gear Solid 4 needs to be a million-seller on day one in order to recoup its heavy development costs

Most game companies would be happy if a game reached 1 million in sales during its lifetime. But MGS4 assistant producer Ryan Payton told Reuters that Konami's highly-anticipated sneak-and-destroy title will need to hit that milestone on day one due to high development costs.

Payton and Konami are confident in reaching that goal.

"We're telling our fans that if you want to play Metal Gear Solid 4, you have to buy a PS3," Payton said. "...The PlayStation brand has always been good to us, and we're pretty bullish on the PS3."

Despite Konami's confidence, Sony Computer Entertainment America's Peter Dille said that Sony has been anticipating the end of the third-party exclusive.

"We understand publishers are needing to recoup their investment," he said. "From our perspective, as long as the games aren't going exclusive to other platforms, PS3 gamers are not actually losing anything."

To date, just two PS3 games have broke the million mark.

Currently, MGS4 is a third-party exclusive title for PS3, which limits its sales considerably. Worldwide, the console has sold over six million units, around half of the total amount of Xbox 360, a console that could potentially host MGS4 on a technical level.

However, one shouldn't underestimate the Metal Gear fan base. There's an enormous amount of interest surrounding the title, particularly in the US, and with the recent PS3 price cut, the console's installed base is experiencing an uptake in sales.

Source: Next Generation

Japanese Man Arrested for Stealing 101 Manga Volumes

Yōichi Yonehata, a 23-year-old unemployed man, was charged in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward on November 14 for stealing 101 volumes of manga. The suspect reportedly said, "I'm in deep debt, so I was going to resell the books back to used bookstores." He is suspected of stealing Detective Conan, Hana Yori Dango, and other manga worth about 60,000 yen (US$500) from the Tsutaya's main Edogawa store on November 3 between 4:20 and 4:40 p.m. He allegedly took about 50 volumes out of the store in a plastic bag, hid them in a parking lot, and then went back to get more. He was caught when a nearby bicycle store's employee spotted him. Source: Jiji Press, Asahi Shimbun

Shadow hearts covenant art

cute shadow heart 'CHIBI'. you guys should play this game, it's very artistic one !

Ghost from cemetry

Ghost from cemetry, hmm... i like this series, i actually don't know when will michiru make this one as a manga !, i will try to ask her !

Trio bunny and Weird Whirly

TRIO bunny arts



Weird Whirly arts

Try to check our wallpaper section , you can find wallpapers of these weird whirly ! enjoy

Shikamaru love letter

shikamaru got his first love letter from temari ! hehehe.... she is hiding behind the tree

Konoha Alchemist

a spin over of two famous anime, naruto and FMA they exchange costume !

Star heroes

star heroes cute character. check this out !

Michiru

Michiru's is busy with her school !

Michiru's pet detective

michiru said to once that she wanted to be sketched in form of a cute character, and then she finally drew it. so basically these picture resembles michiru and her friends. I think they are just like pet detective !

Random creature

these picture are random sketch, michiru really likes random sketch, but when she is preoccupied on something, her sketch will be related to that thing !

Peruyan's family

veronika's family i think, hmmm i will ask michiru about this

Invader

A cute little witch, nice works

Persona Character gallery 2

Continued from before. enjoy. and i hope that after you look at these picture, you get curious with persona and shin megatensei series, believe me, We recommend that SAGA

Persona Character gallery 1

Persona 3 is totally ROCKS !!!! this sentational and controversial game has just accepted in us and uk ! congratulation ATLUS

Room decoration sketch !

These room sketch inspired by Sandy's house from Spongebob squarepants series. Who knows, I can create an adventure game with michiru's artworks...JUST WAIT ~!

Funny Hybrid artworks

A lot of funny creature in funny Hybrid series, actually you can see our wallpaper section to check a funny hybrid cute colorful wallpaper. enjoy

Fantastic swirdle new arts

fantastic swirdle is one of michiru's old artwork, just give her a lot of time to make this one into manga series ! hehe.. keep up the good work michiru ! support us ANIMEGAMECOMICAW

Crazy coral

crazy coral creature. hmm very creepy creature. michiru's arts

Costume mania

A cute drawing of costume. inspired by geppeto's doll in shadow hearts covenant game

Otaku Nation: Anime's Effect on American

The modern age of Anime arrive in Japan in the 1960s, and over the course of the next decade or so boomed into the giant robot, space battle genre bender that we would soon recognize as the anime of today.

Evolving over the next 30 years or so, it reached a peak where it could begin to overtake and become an integral part of other cultures, much like the Hollywood of the 1930s quickly grew to encompass the rest of the world and inform their pop culture. In the same manner, American pop culture becomes increasingly informed by the trends and cult response to anime.

Anime first appeared in the US market in the 60s with shows like Kimba the White Lion and Astroboy. However, the national consciousness as to where these shows came from as well as the poor marketing of the shows made them forgettable and rather than a jumping in point, they act as a nostalgic reminder.

When Speed Racer arrived, the beginnings of a true consciousness that Japan was creating something new and exciting began to set in. The popularity of Speed Racer was never that of its American contemporaries, but it created in a set fanbase the willingness to devour newer offerings later on in Starblazers and Robotech (a convoluted perversion of multiple animes, but still a relative success in the states). Still, the affect was mostly underground.

In the 1980s, the introduction of Beta and VHS made it possible to join together with friends and watch more varying forms of anime. Truly it was the technological revolutions of the coming years that would make it truly possible for anime to perforate the American entertainment bubble. When Akira arrived in 1989, the effect was palpable. Receiving only a limited American screen release, few saw it in initial release, but the copying of VHS tapes and word of mouth made it something of a cult sensation. Those that knew of Akira were fans for life, eagerly awaiting their chance to partake more and more of the growing trends out of Japan.

For Japan’s part, this era was a period of major expansion, a veritable boom in the business. The 1980s saw the success of shows like Gundam and Dragon Ball overgrow the national consciousness and become runaway sensations. The explosion of the manga industry before hand, with serializations of works by Akira Toriyama and Katsuhiro Otomo in the early 80s simmered in the youth of Japan and finally seeing the commercial possibilities of these works, creating in the process a major conglomerate of companies in the Akira Committee to bring the massive budget of Akira to fruition.

By the 90s anime was the mainstream in Japan, and the result was the ramping up of production and increased output of shows. In part because of the simple, streamlined art style, multiple artist were able to work on a single project and create on episode a week for years at a time, resulting in monumental runs such as the case of Dragonball (156 episodes) and Dragonball Z (276 episodes). The ability to serialize and turn a story into something that millions of youths would tune into each and every week made companies billions (of yen) and secured the kinds of commercial sponsorships and funding necessary to undertake incredible projects that would require vast sums of money to complete.

Back in America, a few executives were beginning to see the effect these shows were having in Japan. Slowly and very carefully they began taking the most popular, Dragonball Z and Sailormoon for example and finding timeslots very early in the day, before the daily retinue of American cartoons, testing the waters of marketability. In 1995, the trickle of anime into the states was just that, a relative trickle. Sailormoon aired every morning in syndication, but chopped up and missing key seasons to relate the endings of important storylines. Dragonball Z ran an equally mild run early on Saturdays in syndication that was abruptly cut when the rights to the show were lost by the initial company and purchased by Funimation.

All the while, works from Japanese masters like Hayao Miyazaki were being overlooked, passing unnoticed through limited release in the states, while making him a God of his craft in Japan. All the while companies like Manga, Funimation, and Viz were buying up licenses and releasing little known, untraceable shows that no one knew the origin of. The shows were treated poorly, often dubbed and cut up to match American audiences. Viz even launched the first Anime magazine in 1993 with Animerica, primarily reviewing their own products but still giving a view of the culture that no one knew anything about.

But, in 1995, the release of the shows in America along with the premiere and rave reviews of Neon Genesis Evangelion in Japan, Otaku interest abroad began to spike. Otaku is a bid of a misnomer as it’s a bit of an insult in Japan, a mean spirited way to call someone a nerd. Here though, it generally means a purveyor of Japanese pop-culture and with the Otaku so in style right now it’s less of an insult than a clique. The import and fan subbing of shows began in earnest via VHS editing software that few if anyone had access to. The early 90s was a time of massive growth of interest in the little known import of Anime though, and the American marketplace wasn’t slow to react.

In 1997, television networks made broad sweeping moves to bring shows to the mainstream. The Sci-Fi channel had always had a small niche in its latenight line up for cult classics like Vampire Hunter D, but Warner Bros finally brought the genre to primetime. Funimation finally got their licensing figured out and Dragonball Z saw its triumphant return to the Cartoon Network, with new episodes to follow a year and a half later. And in 1998, a little known video game for the Gameboy exploded in the American market, bringing along with it its entire arsenal of marketing ploys, including the overwhelmingly childish, but enormously popular Pokemon anime. Finally, children across the nation were gluing themselves to the television set as earnestly as their Japanese counterparts had for nearly a decade before hand.

Miyazaki’s new film played to better reception, receiving a proper release via Miramax. Princess Mononoke was a success in the terms of the time, even receiving the coveted two thumbs up (let alone a review at all) from Siskel and Ebert. Films began to arrive in America more liberally, still finding limited release, but release at least. And the shows began to pour in. At the time, the fansub scene was more or less the only way to get access to some of the more obscure titles being released in Japan. But as the market boomed, so did the licensing by major companies, and it actually started to become illegal to fansub certain shows because they might be released by a company eventually.

Thus began the final and full assimilation of Japanese pop culture into American. The DVD format sped up the process, as more episodes of a show could be packed into a disc than a VHS and production costs plummeted, removing a lot of the financial risk of an untested foreign product in the American marketplace. Cartoon Network debuted its Toonami afternoon cartoon slot, in which they featured anime that had been around for a little while, but managed to appeal to a much larger demographic and spread the word about these great story driven cartoons from across the ocean. An entire generation grew into the growing popularity and became entranced by the epic storylines, amazing storytelling and ability to show in a cartoon what many considered adult themes and much more mature perspectives on things like competition and personal success. The Japanese ability to cross genre and the extremely high production values that started to go into shows made in the late 90s and beyond meant amazing shows that appealed not just to children but to adults and beyond.

What started as a crossover, slowly began to actually change the way in which American’s marketed their television to children. Shows with more adult content appeared, and in some cases emulated the Japanese format. The writers at Pixar crafted brilliant, more maturely themed cartoons without the silly musicals of Disney past, and Disney even dissolved their tried format in favor of more mature, complete stories. The devolution of American quality in cartoons though as they attempted to match the output meant even more Japanese entries in the market. Now, if you turn on Fox kids in the morning you’ll find over half of the shows on are animes. And Cartoon Network still presents multiple entries themselves, with more mature offerings in their Adult Swim block late at night. Spirited Away won the Oscar for best animation in 2003 and South Park, the quintessential American barometer of cultural trends at first knocked the trend with their Chinpokemon episode, later to embrace it (while still mocking it) via changing their own art style in the Weapons episode just a couple years ago.

Nowadays, you’ll find anime oriented t-shirts everywhere, an entire aisle devoted to DVD releases in Best Buy (compared to the one row only seven years ago) and the success of the Anime Network, a channel solely devoted to Anime programming. Magazines like Newtype, a Japanese trade magazine for the Anime industry is now translated and released in America every month with previews of new shows, and American directors like James Cameron are looking to direct live action versions of manga like Battle Angel Alita.

Now, we see new releases from Japan within six months, and the fansub community has to scramble to keep up with what’s legal and what’s not legal to offer via their online services. The internet itself has made it a huge community, where a show can be recorded on Japanese television, ripped and subbed, then uploaded within a couple hours for the world to view. There’s no lay over, and new shows are immediately available. And it’s evident in the universities too. Japanese is one of the most sought after languages, filling up immediately with a yard long waiting list every year, and more sections being added every year.

Japanese pop culture managed to tap a certain perspective that American counterparts were unable to do themselves and in so doing, cornered and grew in a market that few thought existed in America.

I'm a self avowed unemployed writer, working on semi-constant basis to try and overcome the need to go and work a real job. I've written more than 200 articles and reviews and am constantly scouring the internet for any and all excuses and methods to make myself less dependent on corporate pay days. Visit my website at TheChatfield.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anthony_Chatfield

Crytek still not ruling out its FPS on Xbox 360 and PS3, explains how it would shape the game for console

Crysis dev Crytek has revealed that a success for the super-hyped shooter on PC would urge it to seriously consider delivering console versions of the title.

"...first we want to see how the game is received, publicly and critically... We believe it will be received at least as strong as Far Cry. I hope personally a 5% average increase... That would give us an argument to [say], 'OK, let's see how we can bring Crysis to consoles,'" Crytek boss Cevat Yerli has told Game Informer in an interview.

Yerli explained that Crytek's CryEngine 2 is running on consoles right now, so there's no reason why Crysis couldn't be brought over, although he said currently "there is no development on consoles."
Big Screen, Main Screen

However, that didn't stop him talking about how the developer would go about porting the FPS and shaping it for console platforms.

"In order to make Crysis's gameplay [on console] you would have to make a derivative Crysis and optimize it for the Xbox 360 and PS3. In fact, if we do it, we'll optimize it for each platform," he said.

He continued, "If we would bring it to console we would keep the sophistication. We would just make it so people could play it with the joypad and that it would be a great time. We would not dumb down the experience. We would make sure people stay completely immersed. The AI and our gameplay dynamic is our heart. We can't change that. If you change that, you lose Crysis."

"So you have to work it on the UI level, on the level design, but do not change the heart. If the game is too difficult, make sure the UI can compensate for it. Or if the AI is too difficult make sure the level design offers more leeway and covers for the player.

"But the core gameplay is intensive, smart and still challenging."

[Source: Game Informer]

Courtesy of CVG.

comic - Hair exchange

Michiru has just created a strip manga guys, here is 2 pages comic strip called "Hair Exchange", this one is inspired by the infamous manga Full Metal Alchemist. Have a take look.

comic - How to defeat star shaman

ok all of you, this is one page comic called "How to defeat star shaman ", it's inspired from anime/manga shaman king. enjoy

Own self sketch Just a picture

ok , this one is michiru own self sketch charater art, she really wants to created a manga based on her own self and her friends in form of cutes char, well let's hope that she creates it.

Pet edge Distant Pet sketch(cover)

guys, here is a sketch art made for distant pet, well maybe you might call it a manga cover, call it whatever you wish, there are lila, zere, ichizen and akao, distant pet chapter 3 still in progress, i hope that i can release it a couple next day just wait guys.

Princess Nine DVD review

Coming in 2008, Realbuzz Studios (a division of religious publisher Thomas Nelson) is slated to print a sports rarity amongst AmeriManga titles. A female softball team title w/faith based content called “Hits & Misses”. No, it’s not the faith based content that is rare (they’re doing it this September to surfing with Goofyfoot Gurl after all), it’s the whole Bball (or in this case Sball) slant of the title that is rare.

I don’t know about you but I can’t name even a half a dozen female driven Bball slash Sball (Baseball slash Softball) titles with a full female lead cast out there besides Princess Nine and 2008’s Hits & Misses. It’s just not coming to me, not at all.

This title in particular is a pre-”hiccup” (pre ADV’s reorganization some years ago) ADVFilms title, put out in the start of the 21st Century (2001 to be precise). 9 girls, 9 dreams, and a whole lot of barriers between them and their final dream to compete against male dominated teams in one particular “house” of the game. One special home of regional baseball that is the target “hit” of this slowly rising girl’s team.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Ryo is the daughter of a legendary baseball player, who is set to drop out after Junior High (Middle School + 9th Grade) to help her mom run the family restaurant. Faith, however, seems to have other plans for her as her skills with baseball are about to be scouted by a woman with a dream.

She runs an elite girl’s school, and heard about Ryo playing for her hometown’s small time baseball team (male) and giving the older gents a hand with their game. After watching her come in at the end of a game (on request by the coach) to help stave off a particularly powerful opponent, this powerful woman’s dream becomes set in her mind as she plans to go full steam ahead with establishing a female baseball team in her school with this girl as the pitching centerpiece of her dream.

This, of course, isn’t going to go well as the mindset stubborn board of male/female members seem hellbent on stopping her, which becomes a problem later in the series as her team forms up and the real battle for acceptance truly begins. But first, before she can send the invite (or approach the board with her dream) she has to put her future pitcher through a few tests (without her knowledge) to make sure she’s the one (which ends up with a screwball thrown into the mix because despite having rigged the event with fake “enemies“ and a fake “umpire“ (who becomes the girl‘s coach) she doesn‘t anticipate the arrival of a certain male who is the batting counterpart to Ryo, one who can hit as well as she can pitch).

Once she is certain of Ryo‘s qualifications (which happens by Episode 2) she’s ready to go to the carpet with her own board members (of which she is the leader of) and put forth her ambitions for a girls‘ bball team (setting herself up to be rivals with her school’s own Principal and lacky Vice Principal).

But having a girl’s baseball team in this girl’s school she will, and out goes the special invitations to school at her school to her prime prospects in exchange for each girl to join the baseball team in turn. Ryo, after much soul searching, talking to her mother, and a Field of Dreams moment with her dad’s spirit, jumps in and decides to take the school up on it’s offer by going over to the interview to join the school (and thus the school’s baseball team). This doesn’t go well as she ends up accosted by same male from the challenge who… well… you’ll see.

Of course since this isn’t Looney Tunes and Ryo can’t be the whole team (thus be the “Bugs”) it’ll look like our female leader needs to get more members of the team. This, if anything, is the major flaw with Princess Nine (and might keep you away from it). It’s a nice story, filled with the purity of the sport we really haven’t seen in such a long time, but it is also painfully slow. Gathering the nine isn’t quick, and it won’t be done this DVD. In fact by the time the 9 are gathered, and all obstacles are overcome enough so the girls can hit the field? Guess what! The series is well on it’s way to being over by the time all that is accomplished (and this series has a full season’s worth of episodes to be counted!)

It’s this slow but steady pace that might not appeal to you, especially if you’d like to get to the baseball action and see the team swinging and throwing hard against their male rivals.

Also, there’s a romance involved here, and a love triangle that suddenly happens when Ryo is accosted a lot by her male counterpart (a male youth with superior hitting skills to rival her pitching skills which I talked about above)… where was I… oh, right, he accosts her in front of his “girlfriend”, the daughter of the female with the dream to create her own baseball team, a tennis star who somehow ends up becoming the 2nd Princess of the nine before the end of the DVD (but not before totally throwing a fit and challenging Ryo to a baseball duel during her interview day at the school).

As the DVD rounds towards the end we have a coach, 2 players… maybe more before the end of the DVD (but you’ll have to watch) and the start of a dream. Just a start. Next DVD let’s see how much closer the dream comes as the search continues for more Princesses to join the ranks.

Otherwise the series is near flawless.
All around (animation, Japanese voice acting, musical scoring, storyline and plot) are all great.
The characters are lovable and I like how it all is put together.
However the story is slow, and once we get to the point that the 9 are all together and ready to roll the series seems to be practically over. That can’t be good.

If you don’t mind the slow pace of the story, and want to see a purity to baseball the MLB can’t deliver (no matter how hard they try) then Princess Nine may be the shot in the baseball arm you’ve been looking for.
However if you’re hot on girl vs. guy baseball and don’t want to wait the long time for the circumstances to finally align in just such a way for it to happen, and then be short as the series is on it’s way to being over once it’s done? Well then… Princess Nine might not be for you after all.
Either way if it’s still available you should be able to nab some DVDs from Right Stuf for a really really cheap price from their bargain bin… if they’re, you know, not completely sold out by now.

Otherwise Princess Nine DVD Volume 1 gets 4 fastball specials out of 5.

-- David Rasmussen 14th Sep 07

source : animeboredom

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THE SUMMER OF SUPERMAN!

June, 2008, marks the 80th anniversary of the debut of Superman, created by two guys in the Glenville section of Cleveland. Isn’t it time Cleveland embraced its most famous son?

In all the world, only one city can brag that it is the home of Superman, yet Cleveland is strangely silent. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created the character in Glenville where they lived, but there are precious few reminders left today. Even more rare are the city's recognition of the feat.

What would it take to get some kind of celebration going in Cleveland? We have had celebrations with statues of pigs, dogs and guitars all over the place, how about a summer where area artists are invited to create an homage to the Man of Steel in whatever media they like?

Imagine paintings, statues, pictures, films, flags, songs and things my feeble imagination can’t come up with, on display around the city? There could be special exhibits of Superman-related items, an IMAX movie at the Great Lakes Science Center, maybe even a comic book convention like they have in many big cities.

We could have lectures on the importance of Superman to literature and the arts. There could be a Superman tour of Cleveland that would include a drive past Siegel’s old home on Kimberly Avenue. Fans would come from all over to take a moment and look at the house where two young boys created a story about a baby boy who came from far, far away. And consider how that idea has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry.

source : newsarama.com
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