MAS Newsletter, volume 16, 2005

MAS Newsletter editor-in-chief - jessi@gonein60fps.net

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Table of Contents
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*News
   -Industry News Bites
   -MAS News
*Features
   -Jessi's Rom Corner
*Reviews
   -Shadow Hearts: Covenant
   -Porco Rosso DVD
   -Genshiken Anime
*Entertainment
   -Doctor Pandora: Episode 2
   -Word Scramble Answers
*Industry
   -DVD Release Dates

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News
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Industry News Bites

Cartoon Network and Adult Swim to Become Separate “Networks”

At the end of this month, ICv2 reports, the popular Adult Swim time block on Cartoon Network will split and become its own network. This will be to Adult Swim's advantage, since being measured separately in Nielsen ratings will put it at the top in its time slot amongst viewers ages 18-34.

Find more info here.

Free Clip of Cromartie Dub Episode 1 Online

www.animeondvd.com reports that the first 15 minute ep of Cromartie is available for free online for your perusal. Check it out and see if they did a good job on the dub.

Find more info here

Interview With Mike McFarland

www.animeondvd.com also has an interview up with Mike McFarland, voice actor and one of the directors of the English version of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Find more info here.

Metal Gear Solid 4 to be Departure from Trilogy

Just some news for you Metal Gear Solid fans about what's to come in this series now that the first trilogy has been completed and Hideo Kojima is now taking on a less hands-on role.

Find more info here. Courtesy of www.ign.com.

Uematsu Discusses Past, Present, Future

www.rpgamer.com recently published a report about famous Final Fantasy music composer Nobuo Uematsu. The article contains lots of insights about changes in the game music industry over the last 17 years.

Find more info here.

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MAS News

First of all, a big thanks to Stef for her Shadow Hearts: Covenant review this week. You too can have your review or article featured here, just email it to me and it can be featured in an upcoming issue. It's good practice for writing, and everyone will see how productive you are :)

Also, we have a new affiliate site. As you will see on the sidebar, we now have a link to Eric's video game news and review site, www.gonein60fps.net, so go view his site, read the reviews, and leave him lots of nice comments.

Spring Break is almost here, and with it comes the excitement of the Spring Break Anime Marathon of which we have spoken many times here at the MAS Monitor. There is a planning meeting for this event, as well as any April events, on Monday, March 14th in the Moos Tower Cafe. This is the Monday of Spring Break, in case you were wondering.

Also, Anime Detour is a mere week away; hopefully you are all planning to make an appearance and help support our local convention. I may be walking around dressed as an NES cartridge, in case anyone is wondering.

I also must announce the winner of last week's Word Scramble contest, Matt:

Congrats! Matt won a handmade Pokute sculpture created by yours truly. All of you reading out there should keep your eyes peeled, I plan to have a contest about every two weeks with similar rewards.

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Features
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Jessi's Rom Corner

This week on Jessi's Rom corner, I'm fulfilling a friend's request by featuring the NES classic, Metal Gear.



If any of you out there are fans of the Metal Gear Solid trilogy which appeared beginning on the PS1, take note: this is the game that started it all. Here we're introduced to Solid Snake, Big Boss, and mad stealth action in the jungle. Snake begins the game with just his fists, his wits, and a tranceiver which should be familiar to fans of the games. With it, he receives helpful instructions and warnings from other members of his team.



In addition to fighting enemy soldiers, Snake also has to deal with guard dogs, tanks, pits that open in the floor, and rooms which are filled with poison gas. Oh, and if you have a taste for some good Engrish, the original English translation has a bit of that for you too.



Metal Gear is a fun, if difficult game; one in which sneaking by enemies is often the best policy. If you're interested in the origins of your favorite stealth games, it should be a fun play-through for you.



To play Metal Gear you will need the Nester Emulator
and the Metal Gear Rom.

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Reviews
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Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Reviewer: Stef Benham

Some things just get better with age. Prime example: video game developer Sacnoth. Built from ex-Squaresoft employees, it entered into the market in 2000 with an RPG titled Koudelka, which featured some of the best graphics on the first Playstation and a fantastic story but suffered horribly from a very poor battle system, weapon system and, it could be said, its voice acting. It must have done something right, because just a few years later, they released another game, Shadow Hearts, which was more akin to a side-story than a direct sequel. It carried over the good graphics and story strengths of Koudelka and then added a whole new battle system to take care of that pesky combat from its predecessor. The new Judgment Ring system was a stroke of genius; players have to time their button presses as a swinging arm sweeps through colored pie sections on a disc causing their characters to do their pre-chosen actions. Time your button presses just right and you could hit even smaller areas of these pie sections called "strike areas" which give your character more attack power or healing, depending on which action you want them to perform. Shadow Hearts was a much welcome improvement, and for fans of the first game, it was a satisfying turn on the Koudelka world.

Then last fall, we were hit with Shadow Hearts: Covenant, the sequel to Shadow Hearts. This game, as the ones before it, takes place in an alternate history. (Koudelka took place in Wales in 1899, Shadow Hearts in 1914, I can't really remember, and Shadow Hearts: Covenant in 1915). World War I is slowing gaining momentum. In the small town of Domremy, there's supposedly a demon killing soldiers who enter. Karin, a German officer, and Nicolai, a cardinal from the Vatican, are sent in to investigate and remove the resistence. However, instead, once they discover that the demon is actually a man (in fact Yuri, from the first SH game), Nicolai uses a relic called the Holy Mistletoe to seal of Yuri's powers of Soul Fusion and get Yuri out of the way while Nicolai makes his way towards world domination. Even worse, the curse will also destroy Yuri’s soul. So it turns out Nicolai isn't such a good guy after all. Karin and Yuri team up with a couple of the locals and head out to take care of Nicolai and the secret society to which he belongs.

As with the first two Sacnoth games, SH:C does not disappoint in the graphics department. CG movies are few and far between in this game, but the in-game cut scenes are on the level of Square-Enix or Konami games (thinking of Final Fantasy and Xenosaga in particular). The voice acting and music is pretty well done, and there are a few great performances as well as annoyances. You can finish the game in just under 40 hours, unless you wish to engage in the more engrossing side quests. The game systems are pretty simple to learn and there are also tutorials at the very beginning stage and a compiling 'help' section in the menu for anyone who needs answers.

The battle system still uses the Judgment Ring with only changes to character abilities. With this installment (as well as the previous SH), you can set each character to Auto-Ring as well, which lets them perform actions without any timed-pressing on the part of the player. However, the characters do far less damage or healing and the battles get really boring without the Judgment Ring to liven things up. Each character develops their own special moves during the course of the game. Yuri uses his good 'ol' Soul Fusion to change into demon forms with assigned elements and abilities. Karin performs a few special sword moves she learns from the script of a play. Blanca, the wolf, learns new abilities by challenging other wolves across the globe. Princess Anastasia takes photographs of monsters which she can use to summon them into battle later. Joachim, the vampire trained as a professional wrestler (yes, the game is supposed to be funny at many times), uses some good old wrestling moves. Lucia, the fortune teller, uses tarot cards and aromatherapy to cast magic and perform special attacks. Kurando, the samurai, also uses Soul Fusion. And Gepetto, the puppeteer, uses his marionette Cornelia to cast magic spells which you learn by giving a freaky effeminate French tailor some pictures of nearly-naked muscular men so he'll make dresses for Cornelia.

There's also an added strategy to combat. Besides being able to use special moves or equipping crests to cast magic, if your characters are close together on the field, they can perform combos. This requires that you hit all the sections of the judgment ring and then press a randomly generated button to initiate the combo. Then another character takes their turn immediately after and the damage is added to what was done by the previous character in the combo. Perform a successful combo with all four party members, and there's a nice finishing move. (I have never completed a combo with all four characters, partially because it takes too much to time all those button presses perfectly, and partly because I'm too lazy for such a tactical approach.)

The story itself takes has a few more villain changes then I could stomach for one game, but besides that, the story is engrossing. One thing about the SH games is that it mixes a great deal of drama with comedy and does it well. Dramatic moments are dramatic and comedic moments are comedic, both very much so. (I've had to pause the game at times because I was laughing too hard to hear the dialogue. At the same time, the ending made me want to cry. A lot.)

Simply put: SH:C is an RPG done right. It improves on the weaknesses of the games before it and when compared to other games out there, it has a whole (but not radically) different flavor.

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Porco Rosso DVD
Reviewed by Mark McPherson
Length: 93 minutes
Year created: 1992
Content: Contains violence.

The year is 1929 in the Mediterranean where aerial pirates crowd the skies and prey on boats. When the pirates attack, the people turn to Porco Rosso (Crimson Pig), an ace pilot from World War 1 who has been cursed with the body of a pig for some unexplained reason. Porco, however, is far from being a superhero that comes to save the day as he only saves people for money. When Porco and the air pirates aren’t shooting at each other, they usually hang out at a bar run by the lovely French singer Gina. One day an American pilot trying to become an actor by the name of Donald Curtis enters Gina’s place and becomes infatuated with her singing voice. At the same time, he signs up with the air pirates to take down Porco Rosso and become a celebrity. Later on, when all the air pirates team up to plunder a cruise ship, they issue a message to Porco that they’ll be coming for him. Porco decides not to stick around and head for Italy, but not before runs into a dogfight with Curtis. Porco’s engine is shot in the fight and crash lands. Having fooled Curtis into believing he finally beat the legendary pilot, Porco hauls his ship to his old friend and mechanic Piccolo. Piccolo, however, gives the job of repairing the ship to his 17-year-old granddaughter, Fio. Porco refuses to let Fio work on his plane because of her age and gender, but he changes his mind after seeing how long and hard she works on building his plane. Porco needs to leave in a hurry as the Italian government has a warrant for his arrest, but Fio decides to tag along to collect on the money he still owes Piccolo and to help repair his ship if it is damaged again. Fio, however, has taken a liking to Porco and their relationship begins to develop. Porco returns to the Mediterranean for a final duel with Curtis.

Porco Rosso is definitely one of my favorite Miyazaki films as there isn’t any real deep message to the movie. It’s just a fun loving action-adventure film for the whole audience. Porco himself is very calm, cool and distant character, but he also gets embarrassed, angry and gets in a good laugh once in awhile. Although I found Fio’s character a little stereotypical, she does bring some much needed energy and innocence to the film. Curtis is you’re standard villain. He’s Texan, cocky and tries to steal away Gina so they can make movies in Hollywood. Even if he is a villain and you can delightfully boo at him the whole way through, Curtis does know when he is beat and also shows as much cunning talent in the air as Porco. The animation is nothing short of quality Ghibli. The air-to-air combat sequences are amazing to watch. One of the most memorable scenes from the film is where Porco has a flashback to when he passed out in a battle and dreams of his plane floating on the clouds as a stream of all the planes shot down in wars flies overhead. The very light music and absence of sound effects really make this haunting scene very beautiful. Joe Hisashi once again delivers a terrific score along with a brilliantly composed song sung in French by the actual actress of Gina. My only complaint with this film was Porco’s actual curse. It is never explained why he has turned into a pig and it just feels like this is an element of the film that could’ve been eliminated. While the curse does affect how he and others view his personality and there is a payoff in the end, this feature doesn’t really need the curse as Porco is interesting enough without having to grab our attention with his pig-like character design. Overall, Porco Rosso is a film filled with humor, love, rivalry and tragedy and I couldn’t ask for anything more. As it was stated in the trailers, “This is what it means to cool”. I highly recommend this anime feature.

DVD Review:
Once again, Disney rolls out the big-star voice talent. First, we have Michael Keaton as the voice of Porco. He definitely sounds different from the original Japanese voice actor, but he sufficiently fits the character. Another top name voice talent is Brad Garret (Everybody Loves Raymond) providing the voice of the lead air pirate, Boss. Garret definitely fits this character since he looks and sounds so much like Boss.

Among the voice talent interviews, there is a short interview on the first disc with Ghibli film producer Toshio Suzuki. Suzuki gives us some of his comments on the film as well as what it is like to work with Miyazaki, but that is about it as the interview is relatively short. There are some trailers as well that advertise the film as if it were Casablanca and, of course, the second disc includes complete storyboard sequences which I absolutely adore.

Pros: An action-adventure anime for all ages; interesting and likable characters; awesome air-to-air combat sequences; beautiful animation.
Cons: The film could have done well without the pig curse.
Grade: A+

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Genshiken
Reviewer: Jessi Silver
Length: 12 Episodes

“Genshiken”, the story of a college club devoted to the appreciation of “Modern Visual Culture” (in this case being anime, video games and manga), is an anime in to which all of us can probably relate. Not only is the entire show filled with a lot of humor and multiple references to different anime and games, but the series is filled with a lot of heart and comes across as more down-to-earth than most of your average anime.

The series begins as anime fan Kanji Sasahara enters college. At the school's college club fair he shows some interest in both the manga and anime clubs, but seems put off by each. However, once finding out about the “Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture” or “Genshiken” (a hybrid of both the manga and anime clubs) he decides to check it out.

The rest of the series follows Sasahara's progress of being accepted into the club, as well as introduces the different club members and different aspects of their otaku-ness. One thing that I really liked about the show is how thorough it was in delving into the behavior of Japanese otaku. There are episodes about Comic Market (or “ComiFes” in the case of the show), doujinshi (both creation and purchasing), cosplay and others which paint a fairly complete picture of the life of an otaku.

One thing that I really enjoyed about the series was its ability to portray the geekiest of people as endearing characters. Even though the male members of Genshiken each have their own personal deviancies (Madarame fancies himself the “hero” of an H-game, for example), the characters are just round enough for us as the viewers to laugh at their foibles rather than feel put-off by their perverseness. When the future of the club's existence is threatened more than once by a vindictive student council, I as a viewer actually worried along with the characters.

The production values of the show are above-average if not top-notch. The animation is clean and all the characters have a very distinct look, which I liked a lot. The style is also not overly-cute, which was a plus (though the characters in “Kujibiki Unbalance”, the anime series which the characters all follow religiously throughout the series, are definitely more standard anime fare).

I would recommend “Genshiken” to just about anyone, because its “slice-of-life” style and varied characters aren't aimed at any particular group of fans. Though it has some mild humorous sexual content at points, none of the humor is what I would classify as “crude” or “offensive”, so this is also a great series for anyone sensitive to those kinds of things.

While fansubs of “Genshiken” are no longer being distributed, the show has been licensed by Media Blasters, and hopefully DVDs of the show will be available soon.

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Entertainment
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Dr. Pandora Episode 2: Vendetta
By Mark McPherson

A man was wheeled quickly through the hallways of the university. He was placed on an operating table in the operating room. Doctor Pandora entered, quickly put on a mask and gloves and began to open the man up as other doctors surrounded the patient.

“Human nature is something we cannot avoid. Even though our species has advanced so far in the many years we have occupied the Earth, we still give into our own instincts. We still eat meat, we still make war and we are still much afraid of the world we have built for ourselves. Even if in an advanced society where we now know the dangers of meat, the consequences of war and the facts of the world, we still give in. This poor fellow gave into humanity’s sin of gluttony. Some meat had become lodged in his digestive track. The meat that I extracted from his body, however, was something that should not have caused this man to die.”

Mr. Desolk walked into Doctor Pandora’s office with a box. Doctor Pandora had his eyes in a microscope.

“What do you have there, Desolk? Another one of your pigs died from a disease?” asked Pandora, not taking his eyes away from his microscope.

“You have to see this,” Desolk said, dumping the content of the box onto the lab table behind Pandora.

“Damn it, Desolk, you can’t keep dragging your dead animals into my lab just because you can’t take good care of your livestock. You run a professional meat company, you should know better.”

“Just look at this thing.”

Doctor Pandora turned around with a heavy sigh. He walked up to the lab table and looked at the dead animal. What Pandora saw was something that looked like a cross between a turtle and a pig.

“What is this? Some kind of hybrid?” asked Doctor Pandora.

“I’m not sure. I found this creature on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.”
“This may be a new undiscovered species.”

“Is it edible?”

“I’ll have to run some tests. Maybe I can clone this creature from his DNA.”

“Now, hold on, Pandora. I found this creature first. You can do all the experiments you like, but I want the bragging rights.”

“I get the picture. I do all the research then you get to name and market the beast as the next best thing to steak. Alright, I’ll play my part behind the scenes, but whatever may happen with this creature once it is in your hands, it becomes you responsibility. Anything goes wrong; you will have to deal with it on your own. Understood?”

“What’s with the attitude?”

“You are one of the laziest, most irresponsible people I have ever known. I don’t know how rich your parents were or how many people you screwed to get you where you are, but you do not deserve your current position.”

“A simple ‘I hate you’ would have done just fine.”

“Just get out of my lab and let me do my research,” said Doctor Pandora, tossing the dead body into an aquarium tank.


The next day, Doctor Pandora began his experiments on the creature with his assistants Gregory Lang and Howard Degas. They spent weeks studying this beast. After they had studied the bone and muscle structure of the specimen, they were able to clone the creature into a male and female specimen. Both of them required a large diet in order of them to have energy. Doctor Pandora was eventually able to get the two specimens to breed. The female specimen gave birth to three children through a 2 week pregnancy. With the babies separated, Doctor Pandora was able to move on to the more vital experiment key to Mr. Desolk’s business: the edibility test. Through these tests, Doctor Pandora had made a breakthrough discovery. When eating the meat from the female, the human subjects would feel an unexplainable feeling of cheerful bliss. The male meat, however, acted as a sexual stimulant. Doctor Pandora decided that this creature required further research.


Weeks later, Mr. Desolk walked into Doctor Pandora’s lab with three men in suits. Doctor Pandora sat hunched over his lab table, refusing to take his eyes off the microscope.

“I told you, Desolk, the research isn’t complete yet,” said Pandora, still looking through the microscope.

“Oh, I’m afraid it is over, Pandora. I heard about your little discovery.”

Doctor Pandora looked up from his microscope. “Desolk, we still know nothing on how these creatures are able to do this.”

“That doesn’t matter. Those little creatures are going to become the #1 meat on the market.”

“This is dangerous. We still don’t know the side-effects of the meat.”

“Oh, but you do,” Desolk said, reading a sheet of paper he pulled from his pocket, “your tests displayed that the meat contains 3 grams of fat and zero cholesterol.”

“Don’t you get it? This isn’t normal.”

“It can be voodoo for all I care. The point is we are taking control of the creature and all of the research.”

“You can’t do this,” Doctor Pandora shouted as he lunged towards Desolk. Pandora was stopped in his tracks as the three men aimed their pistols at him.

“I already have the authorization from the university, but we can do this hard way if you prefer.”


In a matter of months, the creature was dubbed by Desolk Industries as the Bliss Beast. The meat was marketed accordingly with the male meat dubbed Sensual Bliss and the female under the title Cheerful Bliss. Just as Desolk had predicted, the low fat and zero cholesterol made the Bliss Beast the top selling livestock on the market. Eventually the Bliss Beast meat was made into links and strips. The Bliss Beast was dominating the food market.


Doctor Pandora, Doctor Lang and Doctor Degas sat in the lounge of the university. All of them were silent as they drank their coffee. Doctor Sakti entered the room.

“Hello boys. How are you all doing?”

None of them spoke.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

Doctor Pandora turned on the TV to an advertisement for Bliss Beast strips. “THAT is what’s wrong,” Pandora answered.

“All that hard work and the creature was still a mystery to us,” said Doctor Degas.

Doctor Pandora turned off the TV and threw the remote at the wall.

“But, Doctor Pandora, I thought you didn’t care what would happen with the creature once it was in the hands of Mr. Desolk,” said Doctor Lang.

“That was before I found out that the meat of those creatures is much different from any other animal. Desolk has no clue what he is getting into and neither do we,” said Pandora.
Doctor Sakti let out a light laugh. “You guys worry too much. Some things just can’t be explained through science.”

“For instance, science can’t explain how you haven’t found the right man yet,” said Doctor Pandora, taking a sip of his coffee.

“For your information, Pandora, Allen and I have been going out for three months and I think he is ready to pop the question tonight. So, I’ll see you boys later. Hope you can make it to the wedding,” said Doctor Sakti with a light smirk on her face as she left the room.

“It looked like she was directing that towards you, Doctor Pandora,” said Doctor Degas.

“Were you and Doctor Sakti in love at one time,” asked Doctor Lang.

“That was a long time ago, Gregory. A very long time ago,” said Doctor Pandora, taking another sip of his coffee.


Sakti was in her apartment with Allen as they enjoyed a dinner of Bliss Beast steaks.
Allen looked into Sakti eyes. “I noticed you served Sensual Bliss tonight.”

Sakti let out a small giggle.

“Joanna, there is something I’ve been waiting to tell you and I think now is the right time,” Allen said as he took out a small box from his pocket.

Sakti smiled with delight, awaiting Allen’s next few words.

“Joanna Sakti…will you mar—mar---.” Allen’s face began to make irregular expressions.
“Allen? Are you choking?”

Allen hopped up on the table and pounced on Sakti.

“Allen, stop it! You’re scaring me!”

Allen’s mouth began to foam with saliva as his eyes widened.
Sakti kicked Allen off of her. Allen proceeded to smash through the window, fall two floors and fall dead in the street.


Doctor Sakti stormed into Doctor Pandora’s office the next day while he was doing some paper work. She pushed a stack of papers off the table in anger.

“What did you put in it?” asked Doctor Sakti.

“Put in what?”

“Something in the Sensual Bliss meat made Allen turn into a rabid beast and kill himself. What was it?”

“How should I know?”

“You’ve hated Allen since the day I met him.”

“Even if I was jealous, I wouldn’t go that far.”

Doctor Sakti ran to the side of Doctor Pandora’s seat and held a knife to his neck. “Then what caused him to kill himself?”

“You said it yourself. Not everything can be explained through science.”

Mr. Desolk entered the room. “Oh, but you are going to, Doctor Pandora.”

“Can this wait?” asked Pandora with a knife still held to his throat.

“You stay back, Desolk, or I’ll slit his throat,” said Doctor Sakti.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that, Ms. Sakti. Unless you want your grey matter splattered all over Pandora’s desk.”

Doctor Sakti looked behind her, out the window, to see snipers aimed at her.

“You’d be surprised at what you can buy with Bliss Beast livestock,” said Desolk with a grin. Mr. Desolk’s cell phone rang. He opened it up and put it to his ear while still pointing his gun at Doctor Pandora. “Is it another one? Okay, tell the paramedics to send him this way,” said Mr. Desolk, putting his phone away, “Well, Pandora, you’ll have your first test subject in a matter of moments.”


“Time of death, 2:49pm,” said Doctor Pandora taking off his surgeon mask, “take that meat out of him. I’ll be examining it later.”

“What caused him to die?” asked Degas as he walked with Pandora out of the operating room.

“I can’t be sure until I examine his entire intestines, but even then there will be more questions than answers.”

Mr. Desolk confronted Pandora in the hallway. “What exactly blocked his intestines?”

“It’s too early to say, but his cholesterol was about average. I can, however, say that his death had something to do with that meat,” said Pandora, scratching his chin.

“How do you plan to fix the problem?”

“I’ll need one of your Bliss Beasts to study.”

“You have it, but I expect to see results. Otherwise you’ll be facing an early retirement.”

“How dare you speak to Doctor Pandora like that,” shouted Doctor Degas.

Mr. Desolk held a gun up to Doctor Degas’ face and was just about ready to pull the trigger.

“Desolk, I don’t appreciate you whipping that thing out in this university. Besides, no amount of money or livestock will cover up the murder of a doctor,” said Pandora.

“You just do your research,” said Desolk as he walked off.


Doctor Sakti sat in her apartment crying as she continued to eat Cheerful Bliss chips. She flipped through the TV channels as she wiped her tears away. On the floor lay several empty bags of Cheerful Bliss chips.
“Why don’t I feel cheerful? What is wrong with me? Allen, why did you have to die?”
Suddenly, Sakti felt a sharp pain her brain. It continued to grow more painful as she reached for the phone and dialed 911. The operator came online and asked her what the problem was. Doctor Sakti tried to reply, but the sharp pain in her cranium prevented her from making out words. She eventually passed out from the pain.


Doctor Pandora sat in his dimly lit lab while he was on the phone.

“How many bags did you find? Yes, I believe the side-effects of the meat have something to do with over consumption. I don’t know exactly why! Look, just recall all the damn meat until I find out what the problem is, Desolk. Unless you want your consumers howling for your blood,” shouted Pandora as he hung up the phone.
Doctor Pandora walked over to the specimen inside a pen.
“Just what are you?”
As Pandora looked into the eyes of the Bliss Beast, he began to nod off and eventually fall asleep on the floor.

Pandora dreamt the image of the Bliss Beast in his mind and heard a voice.
“You have every right to be angry with me.”
“What? Are you talking to me?”

“Yes. I can communicate through your subconscious.”

“Please, you have to tell me. What exactly is in your body that creates bliss?”

“To be honest, we do not know. All that we know is that our species has caused the downfall of every creature to ever walk on this earth before you humans.”

“I know this has to stop, but what do you expect me to do?”

“You must destroy our race before your society crumbles. I’ll leave the logistics to you.”

Doctor Pandora awoke on the floor of the lab. He looked over at the sleeping specimen in the pen. Pandora ran to the phone and dialed a number.
“Hello, Doctor Lang? Get a hold of Degas. There is much to be done.”


Desolk sat in his corporate office enjoying his Cheerful Bliss steak. A man in a suit entered.

“Mr. Desolk, it seems that Doctor Sakti from the university has regained consciousness.”

“I see. Have her silenced.”

“But, sir, she doesn’t even remember her name, let alone what she was eating that caused her coma.”

“I said kill her! I am not taking any risks. Oh, and do have the chef send up another Sensual Bliss steak with extra sauce.”


Doctor Pandora and Doctor Degas drove down a lonely road in the evening.

“You’re sure this chemical will not harm humans,” Doctor Pandora asked Degas as he drove the car.

“Yes, it will only destroy the Bliss Beasts. We can send it straight through the vents,” said Doctor Degas, “By the way, how come you didn’t invite Doctor Lang?”

“He is too important to be brought on such a dangerous mission. Besides I want him to keep an eye on Doctor Sakti.”


Doctor Lang walked down a hospital hallway carrying flowers. “I have to tell her how I really feel.” He walked into Doctor Sakti’s room only to discover her dead with the black suit assassin by her bedside.


Doctor Pandora answered his cell phone in the car. “This is Pandora.”

“Pandora, its Lang. A man in a black suit pulled the plug on Sakti. He is after right me right now. I think he is working with Des--.”

Lang’s voice was interrupted by the sound of gunshots. The phone went dead.

“Degas, you’ll be venting that gas into the plant on your own,” said Pandora.

“Why? Where are you going,” asked Degas.

“Just go,” snapped Pandora as he stopped at the plant.


Desolk sat in his office, sweating and continuing to eat his meal.
Outside his corporate office, Doctor Pandora drove his van straight into the building and proceeded to shoot the guards after stealing a pistol from the guard he ran over.


Doctor Degas released the gas into vents of the plant and watched from above as all Bliss Beasts in the pens began to collapse. He smiled with delight as he turned around to face the barrel of gun.


As the elevator in the corporate office climbed to the top floor, Doctor Pandora emptied the clip from his pistol and loaded in another full of bullets. The doors opened and Doctor Pandora rushed through the empty hall. As he rushed towards Desolk’s office at the end of the hall, he could feel the sound of heart beating faster and faster he drew ever closer to the room, burning with hatred over the loss of Doctor Sakti and Doctor Lang. He kicked the door in to the office. The room was dark with no lights on, but Pandora could make out Desolk sitting in his comfy office chair behind his big desk.

“The darkness won’t save you now,” said Doctor Pandora to Desolk.
Doctor Pandora walked towards his desk and turned on a lamp. Pandora discovered Desolk was dead. His eyes were wide open, blood was drooling out of his mouth that was crammed with meat and some blood was draining out of the back of his head onto the floor. Doctor Pandora fell to the floor as he threw up at the site of Desolk’s corpse. Pandora could hear a security team getting off the stairs. He looked towards the door and put the barrel of his pistol inside his mouth.


“We are a bitter species. We are slaves to our desires and our emotions. It is something we cannot run from because it is in our nature. Humans put desires ahead of their priorities and let their emotions cloud their judgment. Will our society ever evolve from our primitive human urges? Can we as a society control our nature of lust, gluttony, greed and war or will we let them consume us? We can speculate, but we cannot answer. Some questions cannot be answered and that is what we the fear most.”

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Answers to last week's word scramble

1. Full Metal Panic Fumoffu
2. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
3. Vampire Hunter D
4. Kaze no Yojimbo
5. Scryed
6. Excel Saga
7. Record of Lodoss War
8. Violinist of Hameln
9. Paranoia Agent
10. Sailor Moon

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Industry
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DVD Release Dates courtesy of www.animeondvd.com

03-08-2005 Angel Blade Vol. #1 (of 1) Anime 18
03-08-2005 Black Jack Collection 2 (of 2) Central Park Media
03-08-2005 Black Jack Vol. #7 (of 7) Central Park Media
03-08-2005 Boys Over Flowers Vol. #10 (of 12) Viz, LLC.
03-08-2005 Bubblegum Crisis OVA Vol. #2 (of 4) AnimEigo
03-08-2005 Chrono Crusade Vol. #4 (of 7) ADV Films
03-08-2005 Cyber City: Final Collection (of 1) Central Park Media
03-08-2005 Cyberteam In Akihabara Vol. #3 (of 6) ADV Films
03-08-2005 Cybuster Vol. #3 (of 6) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
03-08-2005 Gantz Vol. #2 (of 13) ADV Films
03-08-2005 Gravion Zwei Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 3) ADV Films
03-08-2005 Initial D Vol. #10 (of 0) TOKYOPOP
03-08-2005 Koi Kaze Vol. #1 (also w/box) (of 3) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
03-08-2005 Noir Vol. #1 (WMV HD Format) (of 7) ADV Films
03-08-2005 Paranoia Agent Vol. #3 (of 4) Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.
03-08-2005 Patlabor TV Vol. #10 (of 0) Central Park Media
03-08-2005 Project Arms: Second Chapter Vol. #4 (of 0) Viz, LLC.
03-09-2005 Tree of Palme (of 1) ADV Films

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