I know it’s not technically anime, but it’s a big thing in the animation world and something that I was really looking forward too. I wanted to wait a bit to let to the show get a good head of steam, but finally I talk about the newest Nickelodeon project and latest entry into the Avatar series, The Legend of Korra. Enjoy!

Best,

Phil Bohn

Background Story

The story in Devil Survivor 2 is a bit different then in the first game as the story this time takes place in different locations around Japan and in the first game you were locked down in Tokyo the whole time trying to escape.  Again your a boy in high school, this time a third year high student instead of a second year student,  who is coming back from an exam at school with his two friends. When at the subway station, they receive an email on their phones from a website that shows a video clip  depicting their deaths in  an explosion in the near future. The three students are able to avoid their imminent deaths because of a warning from an avatar from the site and then a train comes crashing and they run for cover. As they wake demons appear and a battle begins, after defeating the demons  the students form a contract with the demons and become demon summoners. Soon after the heroes encounter a mysterious government agency known as JP’s that is trying to protect the remaining Japanese cities that haven’t been completely destroyed by the disaster that  has struck Japan.  They ally with JP’s in order to find out what is behind the disaster that has befallen Japan  and find a way to survive.

Gameplay

The gameplay hasn’t changed much from the last game which used a turned based system combat system on a grid of squares. The combat system also featured teams of three, two demons and one of the human characters, and the game allowed you to use up to  4 teams at once.  You can carry up to 24 demons in your party at any one time and a great feature of this game is the ability summon a new demon if one of your demons lose all its hit points. Another feature from the first game is ability to create more powerful demons by fusing two less powerful demons. A new twist has been added to this feature called the demon compendium which saves all demons used or created in the fuse application, and for a price you can immediately summon that demon back to your party as long you have a free space. A completely new feature is called the Fate System which is a social relationship system that uses a 0 to 5 scale to rate the bond between the main character and the other characters. The benefit of having a high level bond with another character is that it grants you certain special abilities  that can only be used with that character.  Again present is the branching story lines like other SMT games, although it seems like there are as many  paths as was in the previous game.   The demon auction also still in the game, but is less important now with the demon compendium in the game.

Graphics and Cutscenes

The graphics in some ways are not much improved from the original game. The environments looks more detailed and the bosses look quite nice. However, some of the artwork from the first game was reused, but if you haven’t played the first one then you probably won’t notice that. The cut scenes are where the game shines  because the first game doesn’t have nearly as many as DS2. The cut scenes all look graphically bright and vibrant. Overall the game is an improvement in most areas in terms of graphics.

Audio and Music

The game’s soundtrack is exceptional, which is a hallmark of any of the SMT games.  Each song seems to fit the scene its being played in. The sound effects for the different demon attacks and other actions fit nicely with the overall feel of the game.

Closing Comments

Comparing this game to the original devil survivor it holds its own, while bringing some new gameplay elements to the table. I think Atlus could have put some more effort into making some more new artwork for the character interactions instead of just reusing some of the character models from the first game. Overall, the game is improvement over the first incarnation. One final note, if you haven’t played the first game yet, don’t worry because you can jump right into this game because the two stories have no bearing on each other at and are completely separate stories in effect.   

Cheers and Beers,

Devil_Survivor

Hello everyone! It has been a long, LONG time since I have posted and I apologise. Basically to give you the short version of the story: internet became bad, writer’s block, eventually lost internet connection, got new internet connection, doesn’t have writer’s block, is happy panda.

Anyway let’s get on with the blog!

I have awesome news that I’m sure any Irish reader will love. And European fans to an extent.

Makoto Shinkai, the man who has brought some of the most gorgeous films of the 21st century(Pictured above with a cat), will be in Dublin, Ireland to present his latest movie Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below on the 2nd of July(Of course I’m going ) and then in Paris, France and Hanover, Germany arond the 9th of July.

I haven’t seen Children who Chase Lost Voices yet so if I go up to him to thank him for all the movies he’s made no doubt there will be tears in my eyes and he will just stare at me confused…That’s a story to tell future generations I will try my damned best to be at the event and I will write up about it for sure

Another thing I will be, hopefully, going to my first anime convention this year! I’ll be going to Nom-Con in Dublin and they have announced Tiffany Grant as a guest! Asuka fanboys rejoice! And yes I will write about that too I’ll be doing a lot of writing essentially Sorry for lack of content but it was beyond my control. Looking forward to getting back into this lovely community…A lot of podcasts I need to catch up on.

Oh well, until next time, Peace out Anime Addicts!

It finally premiered!! This is one of the most exciting things for me and hopefully for some of you as well. Enjoy, as I talk about the first episode of Eureka Seven Astral Ocean.

Best,

Phil Bohn

This took about maybe an hour I would say between thinking of what I have, looking at what I have, and cheating by looking up my Anime-Planet account to see what I have again, I was able to compile a list of my “notable” top 10 that I think most people can agree with. So with this, ill state the anime and give a brief piece of dialogue about the show. So, where we go!!

#10:

Macross: Do You Remember Love

I am not much of a Macross fan, I mean I like it an all, but it has never really been a big fascination for me. But, I do enjoy this movie quite alot, even after seeing both versions of it (The Japanese version and the “Celebrity JUST FOR KIDS ENGRISH HACK DUB of it” aka “Macross: Clash of the Bionoids”). I’ve only seen half of the original TV series (the Robotech version) so I knew the characters and the setting, but the movie is a retelling of the TV series, in which I have to say it did a really good job of it. The action, battles, soundtrack and characters are enjoyable to see, and this movie gets all the praise it receives from fans over the years. This was also directed by Noboru Ishiguro, who recently passed away, but will not be forgotten. Speaking of Ishiguro’s works…

#9

Megazone 23 OVA’s

With the passing of Noburo Ishiguro, this is one series (0ther than Macross) that fans have come to know and love over the years, especially fans that saw this in the Regan era. It is without question that of the 3 OVA’s made, part 3 is the black sheep of the series, and the other 2 are REALLY GOOD!! Part One is the classic for me, its enjoyable, entertaining, and overly 80′s in its own right. Part Two I have to say is probably my most favorite, but by a hair. It is more 80′s (no doubt) than the first one, but has that same energy as the first one in terms of story, characters, you name it. This does however tie to the first OVA and completes the story in a pretty good way I should say. So, lets move on to number 8…

#8

Gall Force Series

If you are familiar with 1980′s sci-fi anime as much as I am, this is something I could count as an “essential” to see. The Gall Force series is pretty much 3 movies-OVA’s-ish, followed by more OVA’s in separate series that depict a world where women fight aliens trying to destroy them in some galactic battle, and its totally kick-ass to see!! They each got their own character traits, problems, female bickering, you know, how girls really are, but all included in space with robots and aliens and stuff. I found this out by starting out as a Kenichi Sonoda fanboy (still am today) and I am glad I did. So, let’s move on to number 7…

#7

Project A-ko

Originally to be part of the Cream Lemon hentai series, this stood out as one big entertainment-fest of high action animation into 90 minutes of your time. With little inside jokes to anime series and movies along with giant robots, your typical cat-fight around a city wide Humans vs Aliens battle, it has everything you need to enjoy this piece of 80′s treasure to your hearts content. It is so wacky and crazy I just don’t want to spoil anything about it for you, just check it out yourself.

#6

Crying Freeman

There is no other anime I have seen so far that has made me cry in sadness over an almost naked assassin and his almost naked assassin “to be” wife fighting other assassin clans in this 6 part OVA series (based off the manga). When I finished this OVA, I wanted to cry out of sadness into a pair of boobs because this OVA taught me to cry when killing your foe when you really don’t want too. The animation and story changes per OVA (some of which has great animation and others kinda “ehh”) but my god, I felt so sad watching this, and it felt so great. You may take this as a depressing anime, when in reality its like every other action anime out there with knives and blood, only this time, you can feel ok to let your manly tears roll down your cheeks when seeing Freeman decapitate some guys head off, because he was doing it already. Not to spoil this, but go see it. Ok, so what do we got for our number 5…

#5

Goku: Midnight Eye

You know, in my last review, I have already stated my love of this OVA. To be honest, I only have this on here because I want to represent Kawajiri somewhere on this list. Sure, I could have added something else, but you know what, I didn’t want to.  If you read my last review, you know already know about this and how great it is. But for those of you who didn’t, this has CYBERNETIC-MOUTH-LASER-SHOOTING-MOTORCYCLE-HANDLEBAR-PINKHAIRED-EXOTIC-DANCERS!! Oh yea, and tons more stuff, that I kinda forgot, because the girl is all I can think about at this time. OOOOKAY, number 4 is…

#4

Gunbuster

Without a doubt, this has to be Gainax’s best OVA/possibly anime ever made. This was a project that Anno worked on, but guess what, it was not like Evangelion at all!! This is however, more of a somewhat prototype of what Evangelion would be one day, which some characters you see in this do resemble the personalities of Shinji and Asuka. But this ain’t Eva, because its in space, and with giant robots, and people find the courage to get their butt’s in gear and make a difference in their lives to save the freakin galaxy!! And there’s some nice boob bounces in this, just FYI. Yea, go see this, its 6 episodes, you can’t go wrong there. So whats for number 3…

#3

Golgo 13: The Professional

This is the man that should have won that stupid character battle that AAA podcast made up, heck, every list forever as matter of fact. It is said that if Golgo isn’t killing someone, he is having sex with tons of ladies, and if isn’t having sex with tons of ladies, he is killing someone. He is the man that make James Bond look like a pussy to the world (and with Roger Moore, more like an newborn at an infant ward), the man that has been involved in every major event in history from the past 40 years, and then man that can re-populate the earth after he killed everyone on it if he got paid too, of course with dozens of women ready to take his “special weapon” with glee. But none of that happens in this movie, when its about him taking down a bizillionare oil tycoon dude. So, number 2 is…

#2

Fist of the North Star: The Movie

Fist of the North Star can be debated as probably the second best story ever told (or maybe the best, who knows). This is really about a guy who was out to take revenge when his douchebag “karate master best friend” took his girl and left him for dead in the post-apocalyptic wastelands of the future year of 199x. The movie turns out to beso much more when our hero Ken”Mad (as hell) Max”Shiro has to fight his fellow brothers in arms of Hokto-Shinken to get his woman back (its totally different in the series). But if you want an introduction to the series, this movie is it. Its an hour and a half or so of your time well spent. So, were down to number 1, and I wonder what that could be…

#1

Bubblegum Crisis

I am not going to lie, this is my favorite anime series as of now and hope to be down the road. Call it favortism (shoot, it totally is) but this has had a soft spot in my heart to rock me to the grave. When the Japanese made this in the 1980′s, they thought the future would have betamax tapes, engrish letters on signs, and robots running amok in this cyberpunk future. Despite this series flaws (yes it has them ill admit), It is my true love, and I cannot hide that fact from anyone. The music, characters, fans, people, toys, other side series (that all depends really) has made this OVA series unique for me in many ways. I will get around to reviewing this on here one day, but that will come at a special time.

There are some honorable mentions, because this was a hard list. So here they are:

Zeta Gundam: It seems to be getting hate now, but it took me a long time to watch/collect/finish this series, and I was pleased how it ended. But truth be told, the 0080 OVA is the best Gundam out there (well until Unicorn finishes).

Armored Trooper Votoms: This is a great series and good OVA side stories to add with it to keep the series very engaging. I wanted to add Armored Hunter Mellowlink to this list, but it does belong with Votoms IMO, even though it has such great potential to be more well known.

Akira:”HOLD ON NOW, WHY DIDN’T YOU ADD THIS ANIME ON YOUR LIST ITS THE BEST ANIME EVER ARE YOU INSANE OR SOMETHING YOURNOTANANIMEFANBLALLKASSDLFHALSKDJFOALSSDFLWEUIRYUOIWQWHR,BNXV,HBHIUAYKJQBWERIUJ!!!!”

- My expected response from today’s anime fan.

If you are one of these people, shut up ok. Akira is something that is on everyones list, forever, till its forgotten about or till the world blows up. I like Akira, shoot I have the movie on BluRay and on VHS (from Pioneer) and have seen it a few times in the past decade or so. But this is my list, and adding Akira just seems so generic these days when it comes to “BESTAHNIMEZEVAR” list. But, the manga is better, so read that instead.

MD Geist: … its not that bad, honestly. If you have heard my comments on the bloggers review podcast I do on this site, then you know where I stand on this. I like MD Geist, I enjoy how bad it is, and I enjoy the entertainment I get from it. And there is nothing wrong with that in my book, because it’s not hurting you or anyone else.

Riding Bean: This is one of my favorite OVA’s out there when it comes showing people anime. I feel I could show this to people who don’t know to much about anime or think they can’t get into it to see that this isn’t any different from any other movie they have seen 1098798079876 times over. Its 45 minutes of an animated “exploitation” movie, that is all that it is. If Bean Bandit was black, it wouldn’t change anything other than the name to “Chocolate Bean Brown: Mutha of a Bandit”.

Dirty Pair: I haven’t finished this series, but this is something that is essential to anime fans from that time. From what I have seen, pretty good, its all about 2 girls that destroy more than what they can save while working for a company that hasn’t fired them yet. Hey, it makes the show even better, so check it out.

So that is my list, and I feel pretty good about it, and I got something in this month so that is always good…kinda. See yea guys next time!!

Hello there, everybody. I’m back after quite a hiatus that I explain in the video, so I won’t waste time on that here. I talk about the Spring Anime lineup for this year and one in particular that I’m super-excited about: EUREKA SEVEN AO! WOOOOOOOOO! So anyway, here we go.

PS. I found what was on fire in the video. woot!!

Best,

Phil Bohn

On April 1st, 2012 [ADULT SWIM] aired a prank talking about bringing back Toonami for a single night. This “prank,” may have actually been a test to see how many viewers would tune in to see it. See
this video will explain what I am talking about.

Currently, There are many fan site such as Neotoonami, which was brought up on a past episode of AAA, trying to get many old fans to help get Cartoon Network to bring it back. You can even go it http://www.toonamiaftermath.com/ and watch a Ustream that airs anime that used to be on Toonami for FREE!

look at this as well:

[adult swim] ‏ @adultswim

#BringBackToonami We’ve heard you. Thank you for your passion and interest – stay tuned.

What we need now is to help in the quest to bring back Toonami! Cartoon Network and [ADULT SWIM] need to hear our voices now if we want our anime back on the air, so go to the links below and help in the cause! LET’S ALL HELP TO GET TOONAMI BACK!

P.S. Remember to tweet #BringBackToonami !!

http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/feedback/index.html
http://www.adultswim.com/footer/contact/index.html
http://www.facebook.com/CartoonNetwork
http://www.facebook.com/adultswim
http://twitter.com/cartoonnetwork
http://twitter.com/adultswim

~~Z-ComiX

Links:
The Globe and Mail Article

Globe and Mail Video

Recently a trailer for a new short series by both Toyota and Studio 4°C, who are known for there work on such projects like The Animatrix and Berserk, was released online.  The new short series is entitled PES: Peace Eco Smile and will be about a group of aliens who come to earth and learn about family, love and other subject matter.  It looks to be a somewhat comedic series, but i’ll let you judge from the video posted online:

This is a quote from the Anime New Network article about the series:

The comical shorts center around PES, a traveller from space, and NaSuBi, a mysterious life-form who is enamored by the charm of Earth. They immerse themselves in the Tokyo neighborhood of Kichijōji and learn about kindness to people, the value of loving, and the importance of the little happinesses in life. [1]

The series looks to be very well animated with an semi-abstract art style. Still, I looked at the video and saw that a lot of the clips looked the same, as in that they might be recycling clips in the short. Also, the series to me looks like it is just a large advert for Toyota. The trailer seems to revolve around the car raither than any sort of plot in my mind, which kind of pulled me out of it. The soundtrack was really good though, and if we leave aside the Toyota influence this might be a good series. only time till tell my friends so look out for this short in the near future!

~~Z-ComiX

LINKS:

[1]ANN Article: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-03-23/studio-4c-toyota-web-anime-trailer-streamed

~~Z-ComiX