When you get a villain like Maximilian in Valkyria Chronicles, you know talking to him has to be exciting. Matthew Yang King doesn’t disappoint with this awesome interview, so make sure to check it out!

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Today’s show is one that I, and probably many other Fans, have been looking forward to for months now. Based on the OVA based on the music video based on the Supercell song “Black Rock Shooter,” today we look at the long awaited Black Rock Shooter!

If you haven’t already (which I don’t know how because it’s been played on The Fan numerous times,) listen to the song, preferably with the music video. The OVA tells the story of the three main girls and their connection to BRS’s world, and the series is going to give the story from their first meeting and onward (plus it’ll make sense of the insanity that is BRS.)

I really don’t have words for the opening scene. Black Rock Shooter fights a giant being of some sort in her world in a field of spikes. And there’s a really big eye.

Back on Earth though, it’s the first day of junior high for Kuroi Mato, a very observant and hyperactive young girl. While looking at the roster for her class, Mato notices a girl named “Tiny Bird’s Game” (oh annoying Japanese word puns…) Somehow Mato’s friend Kotari Yu also believe’s this is the girl’s name.

At home Mato reads her favorite book, “The Tiny Bird and the Colors.” In her world, BRS finishes up her whatever she was doing with the giant eyeball and leaves the spike field.

After calling the girl Tiny Bird’s Game, Mato gets corrected that her name is read as “Takanashi Yomi.” Yomi turns down Mato’s conversation and leaves class. In the halls Mato and Yu are pulled into the counselor’s office. The counselor is going to be “that one super cool adult who’s like a big kid but still has sagely advice” character apparently and invites them to drop by anytime if they have problems or want coffee.

After school and clubs, Mato sees Yomi at a crosswalk and after the two realize they share a love for “The Tiny Bird and the Colors” and go to her house. Unfortunately Yomi’s friend Izuriha Kagari shows up and mentally torments Mato in an attempt to get her to leave, which works very well. Later that night Kagari reminds Yomi that only she can be her friend and no one else.

This is where sense starts to be made of BRS’s world. Another girl, strongly resembling Kagari in both looks and behavior, lures BRS into her toyroom and then releases a mechanical beast to attack her. Fortunately for BRS: drills, spikes, and saws apparently don’t kill her. Though she still goes through the same amount of pain from these things.

The next day Mato goes to the counselor to talk about Kagari. The counselor tells her that it’s okay to be hurt by what Kagari did, but it won’t last because she isn’t the one really getting hurt, “someone else” gets hurt for her (which if it isn’t obvious yet means BRS is getting tortured by the other-world Kagari to take the hurt of Mato.)

Mato finds Yomi in the art club and insists on becoming friends with her, regardless of Kagari. Both worried and touched by this, Yomi agrees. BRS is then shown being double-team attacked by Kagari’s other world counterpart and a mysterious girl possibly resembling Yomi.

“I’ve been such a fool in my life, repeating the same circle over again. All those times have passed, passed, passed and lost.“

Clover is the tale of a psychic girl and a former black ops soldier who embark on a journey together through a Steampunk setting. They both carry heavy burdens of love and loss that bisect in an unexpected way as they outrun armed forces that want them stopped by any means necessary.

Sue and Kazuhiko

Characters
Kazuhiko Fay Ryu – a former black ops agent who was dragged back into the force to complete one final mission.
Sue – the world’s only four-leaf clover, making her the most powerful psychic. Grew up solitary in a room with mechanical animals as friends until she made contact with Ora.
Ora – a singer and Kazuhiko’s girlfriend, now deceased. Has strange ties with Sue.
Gingetsu – a black ops soldier and former two-leaf clover.
Ran – one of two remaining three-leaf clovers. Lives with Gingetsu (take that as you will).

Ran (left) and Gingetsu (right) are separated by a wall with ornate windows

Setting
Like with any CLAMP story, the setting deserves some exploration. This is a world where teleportation is equivalent to a taxi service and a strange shadow government works to control and contain psychics.

The Steampunk setting is bleak and fantastical: full of dark contrasts and fascinating machinery. Even the armed robots that guard Sue look like cute, fluffy animals in clown suits. The world works in its own manner and is unforgiving of readers who have trouble keeping up.

Ora doing what she loves most: singing

Strongest Character
Taken as I was with Ran, Ora is undeniably the strongest character. She has the most powerful effect on the other characters and acts as silent motivation for Sue’s journey. She evokes the most sympathy as the story unfolds: the story works backwards, first showing her as dead and terribly missed and then working back to a compassionate mentorship towards Sue and absolutely in love with Kazuhiko.

Twin three-leaf clovers: Ran (C) and A

Strongest Scene
This one is a toss-up between Ora’s death and Ran’s final meeting with his creepy twin brother. From the beginning of the story, we know Ora is dead. So when the tale works backwards, we are prepared for the fact that she is not long for this world. She even reveals to the reader that she is a one-leaf clover: a psychic whose only ability is to know the exact day she will die.

That day approaches and she is tense. Her love for Sue and Kazuhiko gets expressed so strongly that the recipients begin to worry for her. Despite all this, she still gets on stage to perform and accept her fate.

Meanwhile, in his own story, Ran is revealed as a three-leaf clover: one of two in this world. The other remaining is his twin brother as the death of the third three-leaf hangs over their heads. It’s no secret that A, Ran’s twin brother, killed off the third clover and Ran escapes his glass prison to avoid a similar fate.

Walls don’t keep a powerful psychic back for long as A ventures into the world to capture Ran. And in typical CLAMP fashion, A is the creepy-maybe-in-love with-his-brother type who wants to keep Ran forever. Their confrontation is a bloody one sprinkled with plenty of psycho as Ran tries to talk his brother down from a fit of titanic proportions.

CLAMP’s art style remains the same with Sue, but changes with Ora

Art
It’s CLAMP: the girls are skinny and wispy and the men have tiny heads and huge shoulders, and yet it all still looks so beautiful. Although, Ora is definitely all lady: she has a curvy figure, powerful facial expressions and huge lips.

The pretty art is made even more beautiful by the full-color, glossy, gallery pictures sprinkled throughout the book. The artist obviously loves her own work and is aware that fans want to see more.

The cover of the omnibus, as published by Dark Horse

Cover Art
Everything on the cover is fitting: a full-color picture of Sue surrounded by clovers of different leaf-varieties. Sue looks rather sweet and mild as she sits there without boots on. However, the picture isn’t as stunning or evocative as the full-color gallery pictures inside the book.

I’d like to just make a mention here about paper quality: the gallery pictures are printed on glossy paper, which in the publishing industry is a very expensive commodity. The paper for the actual comic is the highest quality I’ve ever seen: it’s thick, smooth photo paper that will maintain its bright white color indefinitely. A lot of love went into this omnibus, and no expense was spared for the materials.

If more manga publishers went this route, these books would last forever, but publishers would quickly run themselves bankrupt with the unnecessary expenses. So thank you, Dark Horse, for publishing this at top-quality and proving that you really care about the quality of your manga.

Back Cover Summary
The summary tries its best to make sense of the puzzle that is Clover. Guys, I’ve read this story three times over and I’m still not sure I get it. The summary explains things in plainer terms while using brilliant, descriptive words. They call this world “baroque” and “retro-tech,” which are always nice terms to see being used.

Dark Horse goes so far as to explain that this story was republished as an omnibus in celebration of CLAMP’s 20th anniversary and that they included lots of never-before-seen extras. It gives the impression that Dark Horse really admires the stories it publishes.

An example of the bizarre architecture

Who Will Enjoy This?
Fans of obscure and confusing Sci-fi should adore this story. It’s like a giant riddle that only ever reveals little pieces at a time. The story expects you to keep up and if you get left behind, well, that’s your own fault.

Limited character attachment is built and though many characters are explored they’re never explored quite deeply enough on an emotional level for me.

Also, this story is adult. Ora sits on Kazuhiko’s lap often and sexual references are batted around with ease. This isn’t naughty like Chobits: it’s just like hearing adults speak.

I think this story is meant to appeal more to men because of the strong action aspects and slightly raunchy dialog. However, CLAMP remains purely CLAMP in its themes and characterization. Also, “Kazuhiko Fay Ryu”? Fay? Did you run out of names, CLAMP?

Regrets
CLAMP, although I commend your effort with these roses, I can no longer imagine a working relationship between us. I’m grateful you still find it in your heart to care by presenting me with something so lovingly packaged.

However, this story shows me that you still think you’re too good for me. We have different interests, different loves, and no amount of pleading will change that.

It was wonderful to see this side of yourself once again. It has opened me to consider that maybe we can be friends. But it will be many years before I can bring myself to trust you again.

Kicking off what promises to be an awesome month of music, we’ve got something pretty recent just for you! Jump right into to Guilty Crown!

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I’m guilty, pardon the pun, of not keep up with this particular series. I love what I’ve seen, which I can mostly describe as Code Geass if Code Geass was awesome and the main character wasn’t a huge jerk. It’s got a majorly epic production cast, not the least of which is Supercell. Known through most of the mainstream anime world as an awesome composer, every bit of music in this series is absolutely beautiful. The opening is no exception, and is what hooked me to watching and will keep me watching even after it swaps out. It draws you in with the quick line of Engrish, and then becomes epic. The whole song feels like an orchestral performance, building up to the final crescendo. Not knowing a single thing about music, it’s very interesting thing to hear, and I love the whole thing.

Like I said before, there’s a lot of build up to the song. It starts off nice and slow, but gets so much more intense. I’m not sure why I keep telling you about it, you can hear it for yourself. Anyone familiar with Supercell knows they also mess around with some Vocaloid stuff, but this is actually the first time I’ve heard anything associated with them with actual performed vocals. Whoever is singing this song has an absolutely beautiful voice.

A nice thing about the animation for My Dearest is that is shows you a lot, with actually ruining too much. I’ve seen too many spoiler openings over the years, but this one does a nice of job at telling everything and nothing. Which of these are the main fighters? Who’s the bad guy? Why is there a Gundam? None of these are given away, and require you to watch the series to know, which is something that most openings should do. They’re supposed to hook you, not tell you everything before you’re ready to know it.

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QUESTION TIME! What’s your favorite thing about the opening? Be it the song, singer or the entire thing all at once because you can’t decide, let me know!

Wanna see how cool Guilty Crown is for yourself? Lucky for you I have it linked right here!

Wooooooo! This review marks one year since I first started writing for The Fan, with my first game review for the site about Devil Kings first being posted back on February third of last year. It’s been an awesome year writing for you guys, with lots of fun reviews and fun side content just for you! I think this calls for a bit of a celebration! So brace yourselves, as we’re going to take a look at a new game that came out over the holiday season every week for the rest of the month, plus one or two pieces of side content just to top it off! But enough of me blathering on, let’s get to the real reason why you guys are here: the review.

For the first week I want to take a look at Saints Row: The Third, the latest and almost certainly silliest entry into the franchise. It’s kind of hilarious how a game with a mature rating can have so much unabashedly childish humor in it. From the preposterous dildo sword weapon to the Tank Skydiving mission ala The A-Team (the movie, not the show), everything about this game is totally over the top and ridiculous, to the point where I’ve heard many critics complain about how absurd it is, saying that the game is a step backwards from its predecessor. And you know what, in a cynical sort of way, they’re right. Whereas Saints Row 2 felt more like a different take on the Grand Theft Auto games, The Third lacks their emotional depth, trading out meaningful character relationships for cheap gags and over the top stunts. Heck, one of the main characters from the previous games is killed off within the first mission just to give the characters motivation to take out the other gangs. I can fully understand why some fans of the original series might be upset by the direction this game has taken, as it has thrown all sense of reality out of the window in return for a bit more preposterousness. But as for me?

I loved every freaking second of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good story. If you read my Mass Effect reviews from last month you’ll know that I place a lot of value on character interaction and how it can drive a narrative. Heck, a large part of the reason why I like RPGs so much is because I place so much value on a game’s story. But even I have a reptilian part of my brain that enjoys the simpler humor that Saints Row: The Third represents. Riding a civilian like a skateboard down a sidewalk where I transition into a nut punch to rival gang member, before taking out a cop with a giant purple dildo and jacking a passing limo with a flying kick through the windshield is a preposterous scene; but dang if it isn’t fun! This game has embraced the ridiculous, and it is glorious in its idiocy. From the over the top weaponry, to the awesome luchador wrestling moves at your disposal, to the fact that you have a designated nut shot button, everything about this game is designed for you to have as much perverse pleasure as is physically possible.

But what makes this goofiness so much fun isn’t just the over the top antics in and of themselves, but the fact that they’re executed flawlessly. I don’t often talk about controls in reviews unless they actively sabotage me during game play, but suffice to say that the controls in Saints Row 3 are both incredibly tight and easy to pick up. I had a friend come over who had never played a Saints Row game in his life, and within minutes he was reveling in the game’s hijinks, each button press representing a new fun way for him to interact with his surroundings. I actually found the driving controls to be superior to its Grand Theft counterpart, with more intuitive drifting and turbo controls along with tighter steering all around. Even the boat and flying controls were acceptable, to the point where I actually found myself flying around the world map a lot despite my normal dislike for any sort of aerial vehicle in these games.

Then again, this was probably helped by the fact that the game lacks the sense of scarcity that seems to permeate the start of most Grand Theft Auto games. What I mean by this is that in GTA you have to earn your equipment; anything more powerful than a pistol is an investment, and if you are unfortunate you can lose all of your equipment at any time due to an accidental arrest. This forces you to ration your supplies, only busting out the big guns in situations where they are necessary until later in the game. Saints Row 3 says eff that noise, and immediately starts you off with an airstrike as one of your three starting weapons. And once you have picked up a piece of equipment you can never lose it due to the game’s upgrade system, meaning there’s no additional fear of death holding the player back. Ammo is incredibly inexpensive, to the point where I went on a killing spree right after I got my first hand gun outside a weapon shop and actually made more money than I spent on supplies by a large margin (not to mention the huge cache of guns I gathered. What was that game? Use the pistol? I’m sorry; I was too busy using my sniper rifle I jacked off of a rival gang’s helicopter.)

This brings us to another interesting point: the game’s upgrade system. It’s actually kind of amusing as to how they set this system up, as for the first seventy percent of the upgrades it’s really not too game breaking. Sure you can boost your health and ammo capacity amongst a variety of other things, but it never really renders the game too easy. No, it’s not until you reach the end of your level up cycle, level 50 in particular, that you can well and truly break the game. I don’t know who decided that the jump from twenty percent damage reduction to invincibility was a good transition, but it breaks any challenge the rest of the game had almost immediately. Fortunately it takes a while to reach such heights, so the main story is safe so long as the player doesn’t go around rampaging on the side too excessively. Still, it would’ve made more sense to keep a gradual upgrade system to the end in my opinion, as once you reach level 50 the game no longer offers any sort of challenge to the player, meaning no replayability outside of starting a new save.

On another note, the game’s visuals are actually rather well done, with a clean, almost cartoony style that only serves to emphasize the game’s lack of emphasis on realism. It still takes advantage of the current console generation’s graphical abilities, giving the game world a crisp presentation without any sort of slowdown or obvious pop ins. This is great, as many of the longer missions have you traversing a large chunk of the world map, and due to the lack of popping in you can really get a sense of the game world’s scale as you explore. Throw in a few exotic locales such as the always amusing virtual world taken straight out of a Tron parody and the Gangsters in Space set and you have enough going on visually to keep the player engaged at all times.

This visual aesthetic is only complimented by the game’s excellent audio. As always the game provides a fun selection of radio stations for when you are travelling around, with a wide variety of musical genres and amusing sketches available for your listening pleasure. But the game actually goes farther than just this, using music in order to build a sense of atmosphere during key scenes. The most obvious example of this is the game’s prolific use of Kanye West’s “Power” at dramatic moments, but another great example comes towards the end of the game, where during a potential rescue mission the game starts blaring “I Need A Hero” by Bonnie Tyler. These moments really stood out to me, as in the later case it actually influenced my choice during said mission!

For once I’d like to finish this review by looking at the game’s story, as while the game may not take itself too seriously I still enjoyed the story a great deal. Watching your character rise up against the gangs of Steelport and take over, dealing with each of the faction’s leaders as you progressed through the game was truly satisfying for me, as I felt as though I was making tangible progress each time I took out one of the gangs. Something about taking over a world’s map really strikes a chord with me, and seeing it included in this game after its disappointing absence in GTA 4 pleased me greatly. Long story short, I was intrigued enough by the story to not only go through and complete it, but I enjoyed my experience so much that I then went out and achieved one hundred percent completion on my save file before finally calling it quits. Heck, my biggest gripe about the game’s story isn’t about how ridiculous it is, but the fact that it’s too short! I should not be able to reach 100% completion of an open world game in less than 30 hours.

Yet despite this criticism I highly recommend this game if you’re looking for a fun open world title where you can turn your brain off for a bit and just relax. I had a blast playing it, and if you enjoy these sorts of games I can pretty much definitively say that you will as well. And hey, at the very least it’ll serve to tide you over until the eventual release of GTA V! The co-op mode alone has the potential to provide players with hours of additional content, and the main story mode is worthy of at least a rental. Easily one of my favorite games released in 2011.

Next week we’ll take a look at yet another new release, starring everyone’s favorite nocturnal hero. But until that time this is Bargain Gamer, logging off!

Direct from Canada, Cathy Weseluck joined us in the Korner. With her awesome ability to voice younger males, you’ve probably heard her in such popular things as Death Note and My Little Pony! Check it out for yourself!

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Welcome to a special manly compensatory update of the Owl in the Rafters! As promised, in light of two weeks of girly updates and an upcoming lovey-dovey valentines day special, I’m taking this week to motivate you to man up and muse over some macho manga, manly anime, and virile video games, so step back and watch me flex my biographer biceps, my anime adductors, and my gamer glutes as I tackle all manner of masculine media. In case I lost you in the alliterative deluge, I’m talking about covering manga, anime, and maybe a game or two with notoriously over the top “manly” nonsense; hot blooded heroes, raw willpower overcoming the forces of evil and physics, and muscles coming out of each ear as far as the eye can see.

Other than giving a little breakdown of the plot and premise on top of a little background as I usually do, I’d like to grade this week’s selection of titles on a 1-to-5 scale of manliness based upon manly art, design, characters, story, and of course action. So, keep an eye out for my flex count at the end of each series overview. Don’t worry, you’ll know it when you see it.

So, to get things oiled up, my first pick is the second entry in the gag comedy and international super hero parody series, Kinnikuman (lit. “Muscleman”), more likely recognized in America for the localized identity Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy. The series as a whole and the story of its two major protagonists centers on a world where all popular super heroes are real. (or at least some vague parody equivalents of them) In such a world there exists a planet of beings from whom all great supermen both Japanese, American, and otherwise are supposedly derived, the Muscle Planet.

In a bizarre parody of Superman’s origin story, Ultraman’s iconic head blade, and the costumed antics of Japanese pro-wrestling blended together with the classic comedic stylings of a 1970s gag manga, the original 1979 series began with the first Kinnikuman, son of the King of Muscle Planet, accidentally abandoned on Earth and raised as a (more or less) normal human being before pursuing a career as a super hero. Among all the great heroes of Earth however, Kinnikuman is the one notorious failure, blessed with an Ultraman-like power to grow to enormous sizes and combat giant monsters, yet often unable to defeat even the weakest of opponents. The early series starts as just a comedy series playing up common gag scenarios as well as a variety of super hero jokes centered around the life of the unlucky, unattractive, and unsuccessful protagonist, but around 30 chapters in shifts gears towards being a sports series with a world wide giant hero wrestling competition filled with hilarious stereotypes representing various nations. (It may be hard not to mix them up but those are the super heroes on the bottom, the wrestlers in the top left corner, and the joke to the right.)

The plot teeters back and forth between sports competitions, climbing fight ladders, and the occasional return to episodic super heroics but always with a healthy dose of comedy in the mix. Over three hundred chapters later, the super wrester angle with a comedy twist proved more popular than the comedy angle with the hero twist and the first series ends as an outright action series. When the second series picked the franchise back up it begins the story of a second generation of intergalactic, international super hero wrestlers training to take the place of their predecessors and defeat an evil wrestling league with a distinctly American pro-wrestling flavor.

Some of you may be just a little too young or too new to anime to remember it, but there was a brief time during the early 2000s when the company known as 4kids actually wasn’t infamous for producing over-localized garbage, but pretty darn reliable for releasing localized comedic gold. I’ve mentioned one such instance when I briefly covered Fighting Foodons in a different themed article, but Ultimate Muscle may be 4kids’ finest achievement, second only to milking the Pokémon franchise half to death.

Other than just dodging some of the more obvious racial issues, 4kids managed to rework a bulk of the script in Ultimate Muscle to something genuinely funny that managed to not only replace the uniquely Japanese sense of humor with an appropriately Western equivalent, but even managed to shoehorn in an astonishing amount of crude and borderline adult humor, as well as a large number of pop culture references that outright soared over the heads of the intended audience in place of what had otherwise been bland, and generic shounen action series banter. Quite a drastic difference from the company’s more recent reputation for excessive censorship.

I’d like to point out most prominently the change of the character Gazelleman, a fairly normal character with no particularly special comedic qualities into Dik-dik Van Dik, combining a breed of tiny deer native to parts of Africa and the Middle East with American 1960s TV celebrity Dick Van Dyke, effectively creating a joke that no child watching would have understood and so could only have conceivably been intended to solicit giggles over the word Dik being spoken in rapid succession in regular conversation: He was also voiced by Eric Stuart, who I’ll just assume by this point is best known as the voice of Seto Kaiba. To hammer the point home however, this is 4kids we’re talking about, ADDING the word “dik” to a script among countless other not so subtle word games that get thrown around like the writers were playing a game of monkey in the middle with their audience.

Considering that the final product of the American Ultimate Muscle that ran on the Fox Box was filled with random wacky slapstick, outdated pop culture references, deliberately goofy voice acting, some liberal use of meta-commentary, and all around nonsensical and crude humor, Ultimate Muscle was basically a “Kinnikuman the Abridged Series” 4 years before LittleKuriboh was ever a name anyone knew, and 5 years before Y!tAS actually got around to being any good. Subsequently that means 5 years before the bandwagon’s baggage capacity got maxed out as every talentless anime fan under the sun and their little brother decided to grasp the wrong end of the comedic s(ch)tick and started the long long line of god awful “abridged” series out there today, most of which STILL don’t seem to understand the basic definition of the word “abridged”. That’s also 6 years before Team Four Star got around to making the only other decent abridged series out there.

So, when it all really boils down, I give Ultimate Muscle (That is Ultimate Muscle in particular and not the original Kinnikuman or the Japanese Kinnikuman Nisei) a 3 out of 5 flexes on the muscle scale for manly action, manly character design, and story that shifts between goofy comedy and manly coming of age tale. The art is acceptable and muscles abound, but when it comes right down to it, nothing special, and while the characters are extraordinarily amusing they tend to fulfill their roles as comedians before their roles as heroes.

Inching slowly away from the comedic end of things the next title I want to cover is Baki the Grappler, a series notorious for its art. Originally run in Weekly Shounen Champion starting in 1991, the series has been ongoing since but divided into three separate titles: Baki the Grappler, Baki (aka New Grappler Baki to help avoid confusion), and the ongoing Baki: Son of Ogre. Of the three, only the first installment, Baki the Grappler, has seen animation, one OVA and two 24 episode television series, both of which were dubbed and released in NA by Funimation but as a single 48 episode long series under the title Baki the Grappler.

The story follows the titular hero, Baki Hanma, a young man born and raised waist deep in martial arts. His father is, Yujiro “The Ogre”, a man famed as the world’s strongest martial artist, and the man that Baki has sworn to defeat in combat, take the title of, and ultimately kill with his own two hands. To that end, Baki has departed from the traditional realm of martial arts and developed his own style that incorporates both existing fighting styles as well as mimicry of animal behavior in the attempt to trump his father’s wide range of martial arts mastery.

The plot of the series is expectedly straight forward: Baki seeks out and fights stronger and stronger opponents, going through all the necessary power up and preparation training before each major fight. As Baki steam rolls his way through fights we also get little glimpses into his personal life, learning why he wants to kill his father, that he has a half-brother with similar goals and aspirations, and just what becomes of Baki’s mother, a woman caught in the conflict of two inhumanly powerful men.

Aside from being a popular, long running and ongoing manga series, I did mention that it has built some notoriety for its art style. Artist Keisuke Itagaki is himself a martial artist as well as a former serving member of the Japanese Self-Defense Force, but his depiction of the human anatomy has very often come under criticism for his wildly exaggerated musculature. His art style is consistent enough in its bizarre proportions and muscular definition that I can only assume it to be entirely intentional, as his illustrative work in the novel series Ga-Rou-Den would suggest. Personally I would like to think that his art style is a throw back to the look of classical Japanese Ukiyo-e wood block print and their depiction of samurai as well as spirits and monsters.

What all boils down to is a manly art style, depicting all around manly characters, doing manly things in a manly story, but with just a twinge of unintentional humor as a consequence of the bizarre anatomy. A hearty four of five flexes on the muscle scale for all around manly excellence.

Sticking to the unintentionally comedic slant of things but nudging the manly slider a little away from to totally insane end of the scale, I’d like to say just a little something on Masahiko Takajo’s Violence Hero: Riki-Oh. A fairly popular manga with two English release OVAs Riki-Oh is generally better remembered as the source material for a notoriously bad hong kong live action film adaptation, Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky.

In all adaptations the story follows its eponymous main character and his survival in a post apocalyptic world as he breaks his way out of a high security prison after slaughtering a number of yakuza members in retribution for the death of a child (the role is fulfilled by his girlfriend in the movie), a conflict that leaves him with five bullets permanently embedded in his body.

I really wish I could show some of the action of the manga, seeing as it is the best part of the manga, but the whole selling point to the action has always been the absurd and grotesque gore and violence. Even beyond the villains’ extreme measures in torturing and brutalizing the many innocent victims that Riki tends to avenge rather than rescue Riki himself displays time and time again his own disgustingly inhuman strength as he literally punches holes in people, blowing chunks of bone and guts across the pages. There are, of course, other less practical uses of bizarre body horror, such as the prison warden who keeps breath mints in his glass eye, so in lieu of any inappropriate gore I’ll just leave you with that.

Frankly the story is hardly entertaining by itself and the action while fun boarders on too goofy even to enjoy. Some of the more inventive approaches to the gory action are strangely admirable in their own way, however. The classically hot-blooded men’s manga style shows itself not only in the art but in the characters and the many side character backstories of good honest men trying to find a place to live peacefully in a corrupt world. There’s really not much to be said about the manga or the film’s impact or history as there’s next to nothing to go over. So, while brief, my assessment of Riki-Oh gives it a flex for character, flex for action, and flex for art and design for another four out of five score.

I think it is fair to say that I can’t really end this article without bringing up Hokuto no Ken, A.K.A. Fist of the North Star, or Dragon Ball Z in some capacity. So, considering that more or less every/any anime fan out there worth his/her spit now’days knows Dragon Ball Z, whether it was something he/she enjoyed or not, between the two of them I’ll have to pick Fist of the North Star.

Originally run in Fresh Jump as a one-shot by Tetsuo Hara in 1983, and run in Weekly Jump as a serial title that same year with help from manga author Bronson, Fist of the North Star quickly grew to be one of Jump’s flagship titles during the 80s along side other big hits like Dr.Slump, Captain Tsubasa, Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, City Hunter, and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. (I will come back to that last one in particular a bit later.)

The Fist of the North Star franchise and its many spinoffs and side-stories take place in a Mad Max inspired post apocalyptic 199X and generally center around the kung-fu film heroics of the last heir to a deadly, ancient, and mythical martial arts style, Hokuto Shinken, as he wanders the barren wastelands, dispensing brutal justice on the many warlords that have taken control of the grim future as he goes.

Rather than go into any real depth about Fist of the North Star itself, or even the 2004 OVA New Fist of the North Star I’d like to touch on closely related entry in Tetsuo Hara’s library of work: Fist of the Blue Sky. As the title would hint at, Fist of the Blue Sky is indeed related to Fist of the North Star, a prequel in fact.

Tracing back the lineage of the Hokuto Shinken martial arts school to 1930s Shanghai China, Fist of the Blue Sky saddles follows the uncle (older brother of the father) of Fist of the North Star‘s protagonist, Kenshiro, also named Kenshiro, Kenshiro Kasumi. (The …North Star Kenshiro is in fact named after his uncle, the …Blue Sky Kenshiro.)

Kasumi is a retired assassin once wrapped up in Shanghai’s elaborate criminal underground as an assassin without peer. Sick of the callous politics of the Triad’s gang wars, Kasumi retreated to Tokyo Japan where he settled down as a university professor for a time until he happens upon a chance reunion with an old friend at the start of the story and learns that virtually all of his friends in Shanghai have been slaughtered. Thus begins Kasumi’s vendetta rampage over the Shanghai underworld.

With the original Fist of the North Star series having already drawn heavily upon cliches, archetypes, and other elements of the classic 1970s kung-fu film formula, Fist of the Blue Sky quite predictably sticks to the same track, but cranks the volume up a few notches. Like the original series Fist of the Blue Sky also hosts a large cast of inhumanly large, muscular, and down right unusually shaped villains on top of its exotic selection of fictional and fantastic martial arts styles.

If you didn’t already know, the entire gimmick of the Hokuto Shinken martial arts style is that it takes the concept of qi and bodily energies behind acupuncture to what I’m reluctant to call the “logical” extremities of its use in fiction. Where as real world belief in qi flow suggests that if the direction and path of flow as well as pressure, and release points of this mystical energy can be understood, they can then be used, and/or abused to promote physical wellness as well as sickness, cramps, paralysis, and other internal effects. Hokuto Shinken’s fictional applications force one fighter’s qi into the pressure point(s) of his opponents, causing an immediate overflow. The ultimate effect? Exploding heads. Exploding heads everywhere.

I assume you would understand as much from what I’ve said, but I’ll say it plainly for clarity’s sake: Fist of the Blue Sky, as well as Fist of the North Star, are very bloody, gory, violent series. I don’t expect that to dissuade anyone, but it’s worth saying. The series might be better known for their manly heroics, and modern audiences may not be the type to bat an eye at a little blood and guts but it really isn’t a series I’d expect many parents to be perfectly ok with showing to younger kids. Still not nearly as absurd as some of what you’d find in Riki-Oh.

All in all, for continuing the long running franchise’s reputation for brutal action, manly characters, and general hot-bloodedness, and for adding an extra twist of of genre savvy kung-fu film elements, mobster drama, and of course for Tetsuo Hara’s iconic, rough, gritty art style, I give Fist of the Blue Sky a 5 out of 5 flexes on the muscle scale for manly art, manly story telling, manly characters, manly action, and of course manly character design.

As a sort of honorable mention before wrapping this up, I’d like to point out that I had to really wrestle with the decision of whether or not to include Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure in this article. Ultimately I chose against it -obviously since I’m making this honorable mention instead of an overview- as it would be better saved for a Hirohiko Araki article all its own. That way I can take the time to give the series and its author due credit as more than just a collection of manly men doing manly things.

I actually really have to apologize, other than just dropping Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure I had initially intended to cover a couple more shows and a game or two (namely the Cho Aniki side-scrolling bullet hell series and the bizarre and flamboyant wiiware title, Muscle March) but at the rate I’m going this article would be a little too long by the time I finished covering a fifth show. Instead I’ve chosen to cut the selection down, omitting all of my video game choices. (But who knows, a certain video game reviewer might be able to cover me with those at some point.) So, while I hate to cut short our time together, it just can’t be helped. I’ll be back following Valentine’s day with a romantic holiday special with an extra special twist of geek added to it. Until then, remember to stay manly, 91.8 fans!

As an important citation: The somewhat bizarre pictures featured above and at the very start of this article are actually part of artist, Yasayuki Sakura’s Power Sculpture: KABUTO PROJECT, which uses the iconic horn of the Allomyrina dichotoma, Japan’s native species of rhinoceros beetle -an iconic emblem of the traditional gambling over insect fights- as a symbol of strength while exploring the power behind the human figure.

Welcome one and all to an evening of music that haunts the soul, puzzles that challenge the mind and a mystery that will tantalize your innate hunger for excitement. Delve into one of the earliest cases of his career and join me for an evening of puzzles in this New Years edition of Molly Rants-a-lot!

I hope that got your attention, because you’ll need to be at the top of your solving game as we follow our intrepid duo, Hershel Layton and Luke Triton, through a bizarre case of music, myth and eternal life. However, leave that stylus on the shelf, because we’re solving this Blue’s Clues style. Get comfy in that thinking chair. This film rightfully boasts features pulled directly from the popular game series, puzzle music and all and the way they worked them into the plot was pretty ingenious, though to a fault. The attention to detail is all there, but like any good thing, missteps were taken but its nothing more than a trifle.

Where better to begin than from the very beginning. Here we are neatly tying the ends of a Big Ben mystery, Don Paolo modeling his latest impossible disguise and gogo gadget. What better way to kick off this film than to go about things the way we know best, ditch Flora (again) and chase a crazed Paolo off a bridge. Now turn things back a good three years. Luke is still wet behind the ears and Layton still has his spunky, camera-toting, a**-kicking assistant, Emmy under his employment. If you’re asking me who Emmy is, I’ll point you in the direction of the latest Layton game, “The Last Specter” to answer some lingering questions. Though the series of events that transpire follow “Specter”, having the game under your belt is hardly necessary.

You can get along just fine with previous game knowledge alone. Just remember, it’s three years before “Curious Village”, there’s a villain switch (introduced in “Specter”) and there is a reliable female protagonist. Actually, Emmy’s a great addition to the team and the dynamic between Luke and Emmy is adorable like that of a couple of siblings. But for the record, Luke is the Professor’s APPRENTICE NUMBER ONE! Now that that is cleared up, let’s get on with the show.

The basics of the mystery are spoon-fed to us within minutes so allow me to move through this bit with swiftness. Layton and company find themselves at the opening night of the Crown Petone Theater’s production of Oswald Whistler’s, The Eternal City, starring Layton’s former student, Janice Quatlane. A young girl approaches Janice claiming to be Whistler’s deceased daughter, Melina. If that wasn’t enough, this odd child claims to have the “gift of eternal life”. This odd one is also the “adopted” child of Oswald Whistler. Got it? Moving on.

The mystery lies in the story of the lost city of Ambrosia. Think Atlantis. Seriously. Alright, not exactly. Wait no. Yeah, its like Atlantis. A lost city that has been found and…… Ok fine, not like Atlantis. Ambrosia’s beloved queen died of an illness just moments before a cure was presented. This cure was elixir of eternal life. Taken by the inhabitants of Ambrosia, the queen’s followers live on to see the rise of their queen once more. But is this all really important?

Now, let’s get down to business. This film was fun. Period. For Layton-fans such as myself and Bismarck, this was an amusing walk-about with elements we both highly appreciated. In-action puzzles complete with live puzzling music allowed the viewer to join in on the solving fun along side Layton and Luke. “Puzzle 0-0-1″ was enough to set off our boundless excitement. Watching these beloved games come to life made the first twenty or so minutes a real treat. By this point, however, things got way out of hand.

We’ve got our puzzles, what could possibly go wrong? Just about everything, actually. Avoiding spoilers at all costs, I’ll leave you to sleuth out where this film went terribly nutty. Think back to the games. In about 10 to 13 chapters we are handed a number of arbitrary side stories and random clues that don’t come together to create a cohesive mystery until the climax of the final chapter. It takes between 12 and 20 hours for a normal person to complete the story of the games. In the time it takes to get through the prologue of the games, plot twist after plot twist comes down upon us like a barrage of dodge balls. These plot devices are more or less unnecessary, but they up the action and make for an exciting watching experience.

The resolution to the plot was uncharacteristic to the Layton games and (like the ending to “Last Specter”) put Disney’s “Atlantis” to shame. My temptation to just unpack this entire film and spoil everything there is to be spoiled is strong. If you thought time machines were unLaytonesque, just wait for this. Kidnappings, crazed composers, evil archaeologists, mind-controlled wolves and sharks, unnecessarily complicated robot mansions and just 4 labeled puzzles (and 2-3 plot related and entirely unrelated puzzles). Where this film overshot in writing and lacked in cohesive composition (i.e. loose ends, unexplained motifs such as said sharks) they made up for in small tokens of appreciation towards the franchise’s loyal fans.

Plot related chaos aside, not all was lost. The musical tie-ins were genius. The game NPC cameos made the viewers key into even the simplest background scenarios (can you spot them all?). Not to mention one of the best McGyver moments Layton has had to date (yes, right up there with his slot-machine coin gun from “Unwound Future”). After a pack of wolves chases Layton and company into a tool shed, Layton points out that they have stumbled into yet another puzzle that will grant them means of escape. Chain-saw powered helicopter is definitely the first thing I thing I think of upon entering a tool shed.

Oh wait, I’ve got just one more qualm and I just can’t let this go. Alright, so, here we are watching Layton watch an “Opera”. Problem number 0-0-1. This is no opera under traditional standards. By no means is it operatic, but it wasn’t a musical either. The only one who sang and danced was Janice. I guess you could say this show was merely a distraction. Problem number 0-0-2. There is one song in the entire show. To my understanding, traditional operas are performed in any feasible language, but there was something generally awkward about a main character who speaks in English and sings only in Japanese. Understanding that time and funds were of the essence, they couldn’t have just bothered to translate and re-record the song? It was an odd bump in an otherwise smooth road. The song itself is beautiful, but if you’re going to dub, go all the way. End of “just one more qualm”.

Upon watching “Eternal Diva” for the first time, I couldn’t help but ask myself “why so many arbitrary elements? Sharks? Wolves? Giant detachable boat-theater? One word: Grosky. Grosky of the Yard takes the cake for most absurd Layton character design: the impossible anatomy with the general lack of knees, bullet-proof barrel chest and ever-stay pompadour. The whole purpose of the boat and shark infested waters was to give Grosky something to do even if that something is to gracefully swan dive into the water, wrestle a few sharks, appear at the end of the film in time to arrest the baddie. Best. Pompadour. Ever.

So was I vague enough for you? I hope I have piqued your interest enough to partake in this film. Despite a few glaring draw backs, I loved this Layton edition and was worth the $20 at Kinokuniya. Do not fret if you haven’t completed “Last Specter” (which I hadn’t until just yesterday). The film sets itself up in a way that any viewer, familiar with Layton or otherwise, can easily enjoy the plot, its characters and the very aspects that give the games its charm. Give it a shot, new and returning fans, and let me know your thoughts! I myself give this film a B for Layton fans, A- for the rest of us.

Boy, I’m happy to be back! The past number of months have been chaos, but they have given me the wonderful opportunity to pick up some more little treasures to share with all! If there is something you want me to review, let me know! I wish you all a happy and safe New Year! Stay sane, my friends.

Bibbles out, once more.

One of the most interesting parts of bargain gaming is looking at the way that game prices fluctuate based upon sales, popularity, availability, and whether or not sequels are coming out. Mass Effect 2 has only been out for about 2 years and is widely regarded as one of the best science fiction games ever released (as can be seen from looking at the game’s metacritic score), but because of the impending release of Mass Effect 3 you can get it for less than twenty bucks with relative ease. I’m going to cut to the chase right now and say that if you liked Mass Effect then you should definitely pick this game up. It’s a solid third person shooter as it is, and the story telling has only improved since the first game, with even more interesting character interactions and more impactful moral decisions. And that’s not even taking into account the fact that it builds off of Mass Effect, allowing the player to import their character from the first game along with the impact all of their original decisions made and some of their perks from the original game. The question really isn’t if fans of the original game should pick this game up, but if there’s enough here to bring newcomers into the series as well.

The story is an interesting place to start, as it leads off with what in most games would be a total copout for a sequel, aka killing off the main character in the first few minutes. Yet Mass Effect 2 surprised me by immediately resurrecting Shepard and using the destruction of your ship as an excuse to go out and assemble a new team, a decision I ultimately have to respect. Most of the game revolves around you assembling your team for the inevitable suicide mission against the Collectors, and it plays out beautifully as you are forced to gather up your rag tag group. Comprised of a mix of both new and old faces, this is exactly what I wanted from the original Mass Effect, as you are given the ability to explore your allies’ back stories at your leisure. The fact that all of the character’s have their own loyalty missions is another commendable aspect that I’ll touch on in a bit, but the added emphasis the game puts upon your team and the relationship you build with them throughout the game really sold this title for me.

The game also houses an impressive array of interesting NPCs for you to interact with, ranging from former teammates/love interests such as Ashley and Liara to fun cameos like a reference to the Rachni Queen from the first game and the return of the Council. But the most interesting NPC has to be the introduction of the Illusive Man. Love him or hate him, he provides a fascinating foil to Shepard, as he simultaneously represents the best and worst that humanity has to offer. It is because of him that Shepard is resurrected and is given the chance to fight back against the Reapers once again, yet at the same time you can’t shake the fact that he is a pro-human extremist who would go to any lengths in order to ensure humanity’s dominance in the galaxy. He is one of the characters I am most interested in seeing return in Mass Effect 3, as depending upon your actions in the final mission he could emerge as either a powerful ally or a vindictive enemy.

And with that we come to the story moment you’ve all been waiting for (well, Jinn’s been waiting for it at least), the game’s final mission, aptly named “The Suicide Mission”. A bit ironic really, as what with my horrible completionist gaming tendencies I went in so over prepared that I could’ve only died if I went out of my way to do so. But the way that this final mission is presented is fascinating, as there are four different factors that come into play as to who survives the endeavor. The loyalty of your crew members, how quickly you respond to the final mission, whether or not you bothered to upgrade the Normandy, and your placement of your allies throughout the mission all factor in to who lives and who dies. Come in prepared and choose your placement wisely and it’s entirely possible to come out without losing a single character. Screw up and every single one of the crew members you’ve gathered, interacted with, and grown attached to throughout the course of the game can and will end up dead; and it will be all your fault. It’s a fun conclusion that builds off a point I made in my Mass Effect review, in that your decisions in game actually have a significant outcome within the game this time around. Unfortunately I can’t go into depth without reaching massive spoiler territory (territory I fear I have probably already reached), but it is a welcome change regardless.

This change can also be seen within the game’s moral choice system, the most obvious example being the new paragon/renegade prompts that now show up in the middle of conversations. Now you can provide medical treatment to a dying civilian in the middle of a conversation or kill your opponents with a well placed shot to an exposed gas tank underneath their position, all with a click of your mouse. This added a sense of tangibility to your moral decisions, as suddenly they were having a direct impact on how interactions played out, allowing the player to feel like their decisions actually mattered. This factor is only heightened by the way the game changes how your companions interact with you depending upon your choices, allowing you to forge closer bonds with them depending upon your stance. This was a great improvement over the original game’s system, and when you combine it with the residual effects from the first game it really leaves the player with the feeling that they are making a difference. Whether or not that difference is a positive one though… well, that’s up to the player.

But enough about the narrative elements, let’s take a look at how the actual game play mechanics have evolved. Well, foremost in my mind is the fact that the two gripes I had from the original title, the Mako driving sections and inventory system, have been totally replaced. Not fixed mind you, but getting rid of them altogether is preferable to keeping them I suppose. You now have very limited control over your inventory, with only a handful of different weapons and armor pieces available for you to customize your character with. I suppose the upgrade system makes up for this a bit, as it allows you to actually modify your character’s stats and abilities directly, but the problem is that this upgrade system relies very heavily on the game’s new resource system.

And we can’t touch on the resource system without looking at what the developers decided to replace the Mako driving sections with, now can we? You see, in order to gather resources in any sizable quantity you have to go to random planets and scan them with your cursor, launching probes whenever you find a deposit you deem worthy of collecting. You can also discover side missions by finding transmissions on a planet’s surface and launching a probe to investigate, but this happens so infrequently that I feel that it can be safely discounted. Long story short, while I’m glad that the developers realized that the Mako sequences were some of the least popular aspects of the original game and decided to do something about it, I would’ve rather seen it overhauled or dropped completely rather than have to deal with these irritating probes. It is incredibly tedious to scan a planet for that one resource you need (cough, platinum, cough) while your ship is fit to bursting with all of the other now useless elements. The designers either needed to tweak this segment to put more of a balance on what minerals were available/necessary in order to make this acceptable (a vendor that let you exchange one material for another would’ve been nice). But at the very least it’s an optional part of the game, though if you want to pimp out your ship and characters as much as possible it’s an unfortunate necessity.

I also feel that I should touch on the game’s aesthetic elements this time around, as while Mass Effect’s graphics were solid for the time it should be no surprise that the sequel has upped the ante in terms of in game visuals. I played it on the PC, and I have to say that the different worlds and enemies were all impressive to look at, with the space battles towards the beginning and end of the game being a true joy to watch on the higher graphical settings. Add in some excellent voice acting for all of the characters and a atmospheric soundtrack and it’s clear that this game has benefited from its prequel’s success.

Finally, the third person shooter game play has also been tweaked as well, and it is this change that irritated me more than anything else. Everything else was an improvement over the original (yes, even the probes) or at least managed to maintain the status quo. But whoever decided that it was a good idea to implement an arbitrary ammo system into the game after the first game had no ammo constraints whatsoever needs to be smacked in the face. Maybe if they had addressed it with more than a passing phrase it would be more acceptable to me, but after playing the original game with one weapon I just can’t get over this. At the very least they could’ve given the player the option to choose his load out before missions (aka, I know I’m going to use my sniper rifle a lot, so I leave my heavy weapon behind in order to carry extra sniper rounds, etc.), otherwise it just feels like an arbitrary restriction. I ended up using the machine pistol a lot towards the end of the game, my least favorite of my four weapons, just because it was the only gun I had with a large quantity of ammo. But I have to admit that it does add an extra layer of tension to combat, as I needed to conserve my rifle rounds through extended fire fights if I was going to deal with the harder enemies. Even if it does feel horribly out of place.

Despite this “flaw”, my final verdict for this game should really come as no surprise. As I said in the beginning of this review, this game is a must play for any fans of the original Mass Effect. It improves upon the original game with a more dynamic story, better character interactions, and improved game play, making an already solid title into a truly amazing game. Even if you haven’t played the original Mass Effect I still highly recommend this title as the superior version, and the game is set up in such a way as to be easily accessible even to newcomers to the series what with Shepard’s death in the beginning causing you to effectively start from scratch. This game is easily one of the best third person shooters I’ve ever played, and at its current price and with the sequel right around the corner I highly recommend picking it up. If only so you can join me on the upcoming game’s four player co-op missions!

Until that time this is Bargain Gamer, logging off.