In today’s update: .hack//G.U. media blitz scooped, Etna and Flonne cosplay, xxxHolic anime site grand opening, Ray TV characters, Touhou game news, and May PVC offerings from Alter (Nanoha, Sei) and Megahouse (Yoruichi, Rangiku). An update so well-rounded it’s practically spherical.
Media Side
- .hack//G.U. is a multimedia extravaganza, consisting of a manga, cell phone contents, a TV anime (26 episodes, entitled .hack//Roots and scheduled for launch on TV Tokyo April 5th, filling the time slot currently held by Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl. OP by Ali Project), a radio show, and the obligatory PS2 game coming in May courtesy of Bandai. That’s not all, apparently, but it would no doubt destroy our minds to gaze at the fully unveiled collossus that is the G.U. media monolith in a single news installment.
- A pleasant transition away from G.U. in all of its awful glory, ITmedia presents Etna stabbing a man with a pitchfork. Flonne is there too.
- Clamp fans rejoice: TBS’s official xxxHolic TV anime site is now fully open.
- Black Jack fans can rejoice as well, as Ray TV has character profiles up at its official site. Meat bun hair + glasses for the win.
- A Rozen Maiden Traumend original drama CD will be released on February 22nd.
- STG “Shoot the Bullet”, the C69 Touhou Project release from circle Shanghai Alice, is now available for preorder from Toranoana with shipment scheduled for mid to late February.
- Doujin soft maker ClassiC Shikou Kairo will be releasing Crescent Pale Mist in mid-March, a title in a genre dubbed “original”. Looks to be something of a 3D shooter from the screen shots.
- In handheld gaming news, Naruto is coming to the PSP on March 30th in the form of Naruto: Narutimate Portable.
- February 13th will see the release of a Rune Princess artbook from Princess Soft. [enterbrain site]
- Yesterday was cold. Really cold, for the Kanto area. It was 2 degrees Celcius in Tokyo. Think of that, and look at this picture. Her smile? Frozen in place.
- Check out the comments section of this post for a great review of the Ar Tonelico “Blue Disc” vocal OST, courtesy of VanRaily. Sounds like this one is a must-have.
Ero Side
- New Site Launches / Release Announcements
- Studio e.go’s My Fair Angel DVD Edition
- Black Package’s Sentakuya Shin-chan
- Black Rainbow’s .fuck Complete (and separate package versions)
- We’ve Got Movie Sign!!
- Silver Bullet’s Setsuei
- Sample CG
- Beenyan’s Chikan Kizoku
Feng’s Aozora no Mieru Oka - Ninetail’s Kikaijikake no Eve
- Squeez’s Hono-oh no Haramase Jinsei
- Art’s Costume Player
- FlyingShine’s Omana 2 [official site]
- Lost Script’s Sabae no Oh [official site]
- Light’s Imitation Lover [official site]
- Beenyan’s Chikan Kizoku
- Wallpapers
- Hayate x Blade (not ero)
- Talisman’s February wallpaper
- Ankh’s February wallpaper (Valentine girl alert)
- Kadokawa’s Fragments Blue
Hobby Side
- Big news today from Alter, as they scoop two May-release PVC figures sure to please opposite ends of the chest spectrum: Nanoha from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s, and Sei from Bakuretsu Tenshi. After waiting through their earlier Jo and Meg releases this is a kit I may finally succomb to… Want more / better resolution pictures? Amiami is happy to oblige. [Nanoha] [Sei] Alter is also producing a set of Idol Master “trading mascots” due out in early April.
- Not to be upstaged in today’s figure news, Megahouse comes out swinging with a pair of Bleach PVCs due out in May: Yoruichi and Rangiku. Yoruichi would normally take the cake here, but Rangiku wins out through a better rendered face, pose, and more than a passing similarity in garb to Koyori, with all of its attendant implications. I’m not sure if they would release an 18+ figure based on a manga property serialized in Shounen Jump, but hey, we can dream…
- Akiba Blog scoops Goodsmile’s Neko Arc pending its advance release at Wonder Festival on February 19th; Akibajin has a review of Bandai’s recent Hawke Sisters trading figure set (from SEED Destiny) online, along with display scoops of Yamato’s upcoming Ureshiko PVC from Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo, their original Bunny Girl Lydia PVC, and Kotobukiya’s April / May (re)release schedule. Oh, and this 60-centimeter Saber doll.
- Akibajin reviews the rare secret Yumi Sayaka figure in the Dynamic Heroines trading figure set released a few days ago. Oppai!
- Amiami has gallery shots online of Bandai’s upcoming SEED Heroines vol. 8 trading figure set, due out in May.
Incise Soul‘s latest top image pushes so many buttons it’s hard to know where to begin. If anyone can find a high-res version of this I will personally be in your debt.
I downloaded a demo for Crescent Pale Mist a while back. It’s not really a shooter, but more like a high-speed Castlevania with some shooter elements mixed in it. At least, that’s the impression I got from it.
I didn’t know any Japanese when I first downloaded the game (and I still don’t know that much), so I don’t know everything the game offers. At its heart, it’s a 2.5D platformer in which you make it to the end of the stage and kill the boss. You have throwing blades and a sword, plus a set of special moves. And in typical doujin fashion, there’s a heavy emphasis on speed and combos.
Boss fights (or at least for the one boss featured in the trial version) are pretty hectic, and it’s here where a lot of the shooter-style elements come into play. There’s some sort of “mana saturation” going on in these fights, which allows you to jump ad infinitum or even fly while avoiding the many things the boss is throwing/shooting in your general direction.
There’s some other stuff that you can do, too, but since I couldn’t read the manual I couldn’t figure out how to do it. A pretty fun game overall, though.
Wasted opportunity on the Nanoha figure.. Where’s the magic circle and swirly pink lights? At least have a magic circle on the base. *Sigh*
Awaits the figurine based on this picture of Nanoha ->
http://img.kukaionline.com/c/res/192.html#204
Oh god yes! That Rangiku figure is perfect. When will we see an Isane, though? :(
oh man, I MUST GET that Sei and Rangiku! Why did i check today’s news?! ;_; :P. thanks and no thanks shingo XD.
Ah, dammit! So much for the budget. Rangiku, Yoruichi, and Sei it is.
>>VanRaily
Sounds like fun. Also sounds like a game I’d be terrible at. :( I’m mildly curious as to how the music stacks up against say, the Touhou titles, though.
>>LK_LoA
I’m afraid you’ll be waiting a long time for a figure based on a fan illustration. And I’m curious as to how you’d render “swirly pink lights” in PVC… I’d agree that it’s a somewhat dull figure as is, but then again I’m not much of a Nanoha fan.
>>Port
If Megahouse continues with Bleach the way they’ve been going with SEED and Destiny, eventually the whole (female) cast should be filled out. If I were to guess I’d say it’s probably just a matter of time.
>>R8
I know how it feels… I am so very sorry. :(
>>bakaboobie
I’d be more tempted by the Yoruichi if she were in a sexier pose, but as it is I don’t think this particular rendition plays to her strengths, alas. Good for the pocketbook, at least. :/
awesome, more megahouse bleach figures. i have all the one piece and bleach megahouse figures released so far. time to continue the collection and burn more money ^^
I was pretty poor at it myself, which is the case with most doujin games I play. As for the music, I don’t remember–it’s been too long since I’ve played. It might have been synth rock.
Is there an English-language website better than hlj.com for finding the Megahouse Bleach figures? So far hlj doesn’t have any of them, and I see nothing about them getting any in the near future.
Port, do you mean the older ones or the upcoming ones? HLJ sold out the previously released ones a long time ago.
>>Port
Good question. I’m not up on my English-language distribution services, but I’m sure someone can direct you to any one of the various (few) HLJ alternatives that are out there. With that said, I’m often faster in listing new items than HLJ is (and by “me” I mean “the figure sites that I browse to compile these updates”); these Bleach figures are a major release from a major brand based on characters from a major anime/manga property, so you can bet they’ll show up on HLJ soon. I’d also recommend checking for the comedy misspelling option (“Shibobu” :911: nevar forget).
[edit] I assume you’re referring to the new figures mentioned in this post.
yea, if you’re referring to the new ones. i highly recommend preordering them since the Bleach figures are amazingly popular and they’ve been selling out very fast. i always preorder them.
if you’re referring to the old ones, make sure to avoid the bootlegs that are floating around in legit online stores. they are quite rare now. especially the first wave.
Ok, I’ll just need to keep checking HLJ, then. I was concerned that they would not stock the upcoming ones because I didn’t see any older ones on their site, but the popularity explains why. I must have at least Rangiku, so I will preorder the second I see her available.