Newsletter, Vol 15, 2005

Editor-in-Chief – Jessi Silver - jessi@gonein60fps.net

---------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
---------------------------------------------------------------

*News
   -Industry News Bites
   -MAS News
*Features
   -Jessi's Rom Corner
*Reviews
   -Nausicaa DVD
   -Battle Royale Manga
*Entertainment
   -Games
*Industry
   -DVD Release Dates

---------------------------------------------------------------
News
---------------------------------------------------------------

Industry News Bites

Anime: Not Just Cartoon Conflict

This is an interesting LA Timesarticle which discusses both the future of the Anime industry, and draws comparisons and contrasts between two famous directors; Hayao Miyazaki and Mamoru Oshii.

Read here.

Young Americans Revel in Japanese Pop Culture

This is a fairly short article from Yahoo which talks about the recent “boom” in Japanese pop culture, and focuses more specifically on the recent Katsucon convention.

Read here.
Courtesy of Anime News Network.

Interview with Tiffany Grant

www.animeondvd.com recently published a humorous interview with ADV voice actress Tiffany Grant, who has played such roles as Asuka in Evangeleon and Kaorin in Azumanga Daioh.

Read here.
Courtesy www.animeondvd.com

In-Game Advertising may do away with pesky MMORPG Monthly Fees

Well, maybe not totally, but this article talks about the growing trend of product placement in games and what this might lead to in the future.

Read here
Courtesy www.ign.com

Nintendo on Possible Copyright Violation

The Korean MMO game “Wiki”, with its cel-shaded characters and environments, bears a striking similarity to Nintendo's “Legend of Zelda: Windwaker”, and Nintendo is taking notice. Judge for yourself.

Read here.
Courtesy www.ign.com

Top
Leave a Comment
---------------------------------------------------------------

MAS News

Nothing much has changed in terms of MAS News since last week, however the SBAM is still on the horizon, so anyone who won't be out of town for Spring Break should keep thinking up good ideas of what to show and what multiplayer game would be good for the tournament. There'll probably be a message board thread for suggestions eventually, so keep your eyes open for more info on that.

I'm also looking for more respondents to the short answer topic I posed last week, since I only got one so far. If you've forgotten, the question was “What is the most amusing MAS moment that you remember?” There have been plenty of hilarious moments at club, I'm sure you guys can remember something :) Entries will be printed in a future issue.

I'd like to remind everyone of the comment button at the bottom of each entry. Please use them to give feedback, I like to know that you're reading and whether you think some changes would make the newsletter better.

Oh, and there's also a little contest going on right now. In the entertainment section, there's a word scramble game. The first person who emails me with all the correct de-scrambled answers (or who answers with the most correct) gets a home-made prize from me. Good luck.

Top
Leave a Comment
---------------------------------------------------------------
Features
---------------------------------------------------------------

Jessi's Rom Corner
Bizarre Japanese NES games most people have never seen...

In order to play the games featured on Jessi's Rom Corner, you can download the Nester emulator (for Windows) here.

This week I'm featuring two games that have nothing going for them except that I think they're hilarious. The first game is called “Magical Doropi”.



Magical Doropie is as far as I can tell, the story of a witch (hehe, you can tell that from the title screen). The game itself is very basic. You have a set of powers to use on your enemies, from your normal charge beam wand, to freezing ice shots, to the ability to produce magical witch brooms out of thin air. Hmm, I think the gameplay reminds me a little of something...



Oh right, this game is extremely close to the Mega Man series in gameplay and graphical quality. In fact, Doropie looks an awful lot like the little blue man himself in both her appearance and the way that she moves. Though she does have the ability to shoot upwards, which is something I always wanted to have in Mega Man.



In any case, Magical Doropie is actually quite a bit more difficult than it first appears, and should keep you occupied for quite a while. It's pretty self-explanatory in terms of game dynamics, so even if you don't know any Japanese, you shouldn't have any trouble playing it.

---Download Magical Doropie

The second game on the list is “Castle Excellent”, which I decided to play because the name was just silly enough to catch my eye. Though I wouldn't call it exactly “excellent”, it is a nice diversion and pretty good for such an old game.



The gameplay is incredibly simple here. You walk around, kill beasties with your sword, collect colored keys and unlock the corresponding doors, and make your way from room to room through the castle. The only thing that makes this difficult is that the game physics are kind of dumb, but what can you expect from a game from 1986?



If you've got some time to kill, see how far you can get!

---Download Castle Excellent

Well, that's all for this week. If you know of a game you'd like featured here, email me at jessi@gonein60fps.net. I probably have whatever NES game you're looking for.

Top
Leave a Comment
---------------------------------------------------------------
Reviews
---------------------------------------------------------------

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind DVD
Reviewed by Mark McPherson
Length: 116 minutes
Year created: 1984
Content: Contains violence.

Man has always had a bitter rivalry with nature. In Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, years have past since mankind went all apocalyptic and nature currently has the advantage. Poisonous toxins and fungi consume entire jungles and threaten to destroy all of mankind. Mankind is currently divided into kingdoms and the luckiest of the bunch is the Valley of Wind, which is closest to sea. Among all the villagers is Princess Nausicaa, a charming and decisive girl. When an airship from the warring kingdom of Tolmekia crashes into their valley, the villagers uncover an egg of an ancient beast that is said to be responsible for the current state of the Earth. The Tolmekians eventually arrive to claim the prize, but not before they kill the king and start stripping the valley of resources. Since the egg is too big, the Tolmekians decide to stay in the Valley of Wind which upsets many of the villagers. The princess of the Tolmekians, Kushana, decides to take Nausicaa and a few of the villagers as hostages back to her kingdom, but is ambushed in the sky by a fighter from Pejite. Nausicaa acts decisively in order to save the hostages, Kushana and the fighter from Pejite which is shot down after the attack. Deep into the forest, Nausicaa meets the pilot Pejite pilot named Kurotowa and journeys with him back to Pejite. When they arrive, Nausicaa eventually uncovers a plot by the Pejites to destroy the ancient beast in the Valley of Wind by unleashing waves of Oms (large slug-like insects) upon the valley. It is up to Nausicaa to save the valley and the mankind from total annihilation.

The main draw of Nausicaa, for me, was the main character. She is decisive, strong and fearless, but is also caring, emotional and wants to restore harmony between man and nature. Nausicaa’s settings from the forests of toxins to the clouded skies are extremely beautiful. It should also be noted that there are a number of battles that take place in Nausicaa involving every form of weaponry including swords, rifles, machine guns, airships, gliders and even spiritual powers. The insects, the warriors of nature if you will, are all very cleverly designed. The Oms in particular show their emotion through their many eyes. If they are blue, they are gentle. If they are red, run for the hills. I like this design as it actually gives some personality to the insects and proves that they are not much different from humans as they are kind and blinded by hate. The animation, for a 1984 production, has aged well. My favorite scene where the animation really shines is where the ancient beast rises from the ground and slowly starts to come apart. My only real quarrel with the film is the soundtrack. Don’t get me wrong, Joe Hisashi has composed an exceptional score for this film, but there are some tracks that were obviously synthesized and that is probably the only element of the film that shows its age. Overall, Nausicaa is definitely a must for any anime feature collection.

DVD Review:
For this DVD, Disney has once again brought in an all-star voice cast. Alison Lohman does an excellent as the voice of Nausicaa giving the right amount of emotion to the character. Patrick Stewart definitely stands out for his role as Lord Yupa. Uma Thurman also fits the bill of Kushana, as she does have a bit of villain quality to her voice. There are also some exceptional performances from Edward James Olmos as Mito and Mark Hamil as the Mayor of Pejite. The only voice that felt pretty average was Tress MacNeille as Obaba.

The majority of the extras are on the first disc. The standard extra I have come to expect from Disney’s Ghibli releases is the Behind the Microphone extra. Some may not care for it, but I found it interesting to hear what these voice actors think of Miyazaki’s work. The standout extra here is a documentary on the birth of Ghibli and it’s success over the years up to Mononoke. I had no idea Miyazaki had such a hard time pitching these ideas. There is a lot of useful information in this piece such as how Totoro was only approved as a double-bill with Grave of the Fireflies or how Ghibli was actually a mispronouciation of an Italian word. The last extra on the first disc is a couple of Japanese trailers. The second disc features complete storyboards. These are pretty much standard on the other Ghibli DVDs currently being released, but I still find them extremely interesting.

Pros: Epic storytelling; rich and imaginative environments; likable characters; beautiful animation.
Cons: Soundtrack shows signs of age.
Grade: A+

Top
Leave a Comment
---------------------------------------------------------------

Battle Royale (manga)
Reviewed by Mark McPherson
Length: 15 volumes
Year created: 2000
Content: Contains extreme violence, gore, nudity, sexuality and adult situations.

Orphan Shuuya Nanahara has his life pleasant life turned upside down has he and his entire ninth grade class is transported to a deserted island to take part in “The Program”. The Program is a reality TV show in which an entire ninth grade is pitted against each other. The rules are simple. A collar is attached to each student’s neck and if they venture into danger zones marked on their map, try to escape or just plain piss off the military personal controlling this little game, the collar explodes. The object of The Program is that the students must kill each other off until one remains. If there is not one student left after the three day time limit, all the collars explode. Some weekend, eh? Shuuya, having witnessed his childhood friend Yoshitoki killed off first by the new teacher heading The Program, decides to form a group opposed to playing this game. Starting with Noriko, a girl who Yoshitoki had a crush on, Shuuya decides to protect her the way he did Yoshitoki. They try to convince others to stop killing, but are not trusted among some students. The two are soon aided by Kawada, a student who has played this game before and lived to tell about it. The three set out to find other students who do not want to kill each other, while still protecting themselves from those who want to kill them.

Battle Royale is based off of the popular book that was later adapted into a film. The manga is definitely not a direct adaptation of the film, considering the manga was released before the film. In the film, Battle Royale was referred to as a government act to help reshape society. The manga takes a different approach by turning the game into a reality TV series. This makes a lot more sense and also hits closer to home. Another element I found superior to the film was the amount of character development. Just about every character in the manga has a background story that is told. So when these characters actually die, you do feel more for them. In fact, there is a side-story at the end of each manga about a particular character’s past. The teacher who is commanding the game is more of a fat slob who enjoys the sight of these teens slaughtering each other, almost like a child rapist. This makes him less of a misunderstood character like in the film, but it does make the students fear him when he whips out a gun in class and doesn’t hesitate to start picking off students. However, the manga isn’t perfect. One of the questionable elements of the manga is the art style as the character designs range from realistic to cartoon-like. There are some moments where the characters heads are disproportional to their bodies, but this is mostly in the designs of small children during flashbacks. Despite these oddities, I liked the art of Battle Royale as many of the death and close up scenes have spectacular detail. The manga is also able to get away with a lot more content including the gore and sex. There is one side-story on Mitsuko about how she seduced a boxer to drug him and ruined his career.

Even if you have seen the film version of Battle Royale, the manga is definitely worth reading as it takes many different approaches to the storyline and characters. There is more drama and emotion outside of the shock value at witnessing these students die, although you will get plenty of that as well. Overall, I found Battle Royale an entertaining read that I believe is worth picking up.

Pros: Compelling story and background stories; loads of character development; convincing concept.
Cons: Varying character designs; disproportional characters in some scenes.
Grade: A-
Final Word: Could Battle Royale be the next American reality show? Only time will tell.

Top
Leave a Comment
---------------------------------------------------------------
Entertainment
---------------------------------------------------------------

Word Scramble
Each garbled phrase is the title of an anime movie or series, see if you can figure them out (the capital letters should help you a bit).

1.utFluaeP aoFmlflc nMfiu
2.iucfah iehWld oa lfstneyt oNaVae
3.Ht iremueprDna V
4.oKzj onabYm oie
5.ySrcde
6.xalSg caEe
7.oo eLsrfo dWorcaRsd
8.i n aosVlHnfmitoeil
9.rntnPAaag eoia
10.l rniaoSMoo

The first person to email me with all correct answers (or the person who emails me with the most correct answers) gets a special home-made prize from me at club. Note: some of the answers are pretty old series/shows, and a couple are ones that we're watching this semester, so that should be a nice hint for you :) Good luck!

Top
Leave a Comment
---------------------------------------------------------------
Industry
---------------------------------------------------------------

DVD Release dates for next week, thanks to the folks at www.animeondvd.com

03-01-2005 Boogiepop and Others (of 1) Right Stuf International, Inc
03-01-2005 Case Closed: Case 04 Vol. #05: Dubious Intent (of 5) FUNimation Productions
03-01-2005 Daichis Vol. #2 (of 3) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
03-01-2005 Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 7) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
03-01-2005 Divergence Eve Vol. #1 (of 3) ADV Films
03-01-2005 DNAngel Vol. #3 (of 7) ADV Films
03-01-2005 Gokusen Vol. #3 (of 3) Media Blasters
03-01-2005 Ikki-Tosen Vol. #4 (of 4) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
03-01-2005 Kaleido Star: New Wings Vol. #1 (of 6) ADV Films
03-01-2005 New Getter Robo Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 4) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
03-01-2005 Spiral Vol. #3 (of 6) FUNimation Productions
03-01-2005 YuGiOh Vol. #28: Back to Battle City (also w/box) (of 0) FUNimation Productions

Top