Today’s Updates
- Figure Review: Alter’s Franco il Nero (Kuro no Franco)
- Taki Corp. announces Ikkitousen nurse trio
- Goodsmile presents To Love-Ru Lala, Kiminozo Mitsuki
Other headlines, ero news below:
Spring 2008 Anime: Tower of Power
Gonzo has one of the spottier anime track records among of late, but if there’s one thing they deserve respect for it’s their willingness to risk innovation on the business side. This season they’re presenting two of their new shows (Druaga and Blassreiter) viewable online at Crunchyroll, subtitled in English, on a “pay what you think it’s worth” basis. Whether this will be an effective solution to the fansub dilemma I don’t know, but right now Gonzo seems to be the only one trying to bridge the gap. I just wish Crunchyroll didn’t feel quite so much like it was written and coded by a Harvard MBA who majored in marketing to tweens…
Druaga no Tou ~ the Aegis of Uruk
- Production Studio: Gonzo
- Genre: Fantasy, online RPG
- Original Concept: Namco’s Druaga no Tou
- Director: Chigira Koichi
- Chief Writer: Gatoh Shouji
- Character Designer: Hakua Ugetsu (concept), Takaoka Junichi
- Doujin Potential: fair to middling
- Figure Potential: quite decent, based on Bakuten precedent
The Full Metal Panic tag team of writer Gatoh Shouji and director Chigira Koichi returns to Gonzo with this anime adaptation of the classic Tower of Druaga franchise. The Hakua Ugetsu designs are what initially caught my eye, but with some decent production values and the team of talent they have assembled I have high hopes that this will be the best Gonzo title since Last Exile. Maybe.
Iizuki Tasuku’s Queen’s Gate Iroha
We first brought news that doujin illustrator par excellence Iizuki Tasuku would be producing a Queen’s Gate volume featuring Iroha from the Samurai Spirits franchise back in February, and ever since I’ve been eagerly anticipating the volume’s April 18th release. I managed to get ahold of a copy a day early, and I’ve got to say this is a very nice book indeed. If you’re a fan of Iroha, Tasuku, or beautiful crane girls reincarnated as ninja maids to serve and protect their husbands, this is definitely an item worth investigating – J-List has it available right now (don’t believe the page, it’s actually in stock) if you’d like to support HD with your purchase.
The World’s First Dorodere
Luca from Ar Tonelico 2 spawned a new permutation of the moe archetype: dorodere. HD crack web developer Jetfuel explains:
Dorodere: a new term for a character who’s dorodoro on the inside (messed up and disturbed), but deredere on the outside (sweet and affectionate). This term seems to have been coined particularly to describe Luca Truelywaath of GUST / Banpresto’s opus Ar tonelico 2, which I may or may not be currently writing up in my first Heisei Democracy column. Thanks to Hatena blog After Seven for the explanation; asking Luca herself didn’t yield a very satisfying answer…
Look for Jetfuel’s new moe console game themed HD column soon!
Figure Recommendations
- Max Factory’s Ruka (Luca) from Ar Tonelico 2
- Orchid Seed’s Onna Kenshi Feane
(HD Review) - Comic Gum’s Pearl Black Ryomou Shimei
(HD Review) - Orchid Seed’s Gekkou no Carnevale Anna
(HD Review) - Miyabiya’s Bible Black Takashiro-sensei
(Imari Review) - U-Art’s Mogudan Kanu Unchou
- Alter’s Kuro no Franco (Franco il Nero)
(HD Review)
Ero News
- Rune’s Haruruko gets a sequel, Haruruko Sanjou
- Happoubi Jin’s Kanojo x Kanojo x Kanojo gets new sample CG, sample voices, popularity poll
- INO’s Otome Function gets character and system updates
- Propeller’s Chrono Belt updates everything
- Eromanga Shoujo Sect to be OVAified
I mentioned that first one as an excuse to use today’s thumbnail. :3
DLsite Recommendations (how to buy)
- Eroi yo Saeki-san – ero 3D animation featuring Bible Black’s Saeki Kaori
- Yarisugi! Swimming School – AskRay/Bosshi illustrated doujin game
- Yaritaiko 2 – CG collection by Aoi Nagisa
- Nikujokukan – Gundam 00 parody doujinshi from Studio Parm
Dorodere, I think that’s perhaps the term that best describes the class of girl I am! Astounding, the otaku world generates once again what the English language fails to articulate!
Wonderful, yet another dere variant XD My Luca is somewhere in the mail, fell head over heels with her design and couldn’t resist even though I know nothing about her character. She certainly looks like a dorodere type!
Dorodere! Very accurate term for Luca Truelywaath, since her dorodoro-ness isn’t apparent until you start diving into the Infelsphere. Very fitting for her character, and I’m glad to see that she’s the first dorodere! Now I feel like replaying Ar tonelico 2 again and going down Luca’s path. ._.
In other Luca-related news, my figure is also on its way, and I definitely can’t wait to get it. I just love the sculpt and the overall quality.
Otome Function has really excellent artwork.
Ah bastards! When will ATLUS license Ar Tonelico 2 for the US? The dismal sales of the first probably didn’t help, but I’m sure they can make up for that with the incredible sales of the megaten games, right? Right?
I’d say that GONZO’s one of the few Japanese anime companies that readily tick people off.
I’ve been a (sometimes unfortunate) witness to half of their works. They range from sexist and anti-man (Vandread, Rosario + Vampire) to heartfelt despite pressure (Chrono Crusade, Trinity Blood) to “NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!” (Black Cat, Glass Fleet).
A lot of the pro-otaku garbage -some of it also comes from GONZO- the world is better off without. But what this company does; this company does well. Whether it’s the fanservicy otaku crap the otaku like, or the “shounen crap” that’s hated by otaku but liked by everyone else.
Concurrent releases along with the manga releases also helps.
>>PorcelainePriss
I wonder what kind of “dere” I’d be. Erodere or something, most likely. -_-
>>byaku-chan
I’m regretting choosing Gekkou no Carnevale Anna over Luca this week. Hopefully she’ll still be around when I have some disposable income again… :(
>>Hemisphere
I want to play AT2 even more now as well! I’ve been hearing tales of all the awesomeness over the past several months as my friend slowly makes his way through it and I must say it sounds amazing.
>>Al
Heartily agreed! It’s the one game I’m waiting on a release date for these days with bated breath. I’m guessing we probably won’t see it until late June or July at the earliest, given that May’s releases are pretty much locked at this point. I’ll be keeping a close eye out for any news.
>>unangbangkay
I hope Atlus does the right thing and licenses AT2. I bet they’d please the majority of fans just fine if they didn’t bother recording English voices and just stuck with the Japanese voice track / English text translation, but then again that might doom it to niche status even more surely.
>>Tyrenol
I’m not rabidly anti-Gonzo these days, it seems they’re capable of quality work when they get the right people together. My favorite show from them is still probably Last Exile, and they have produced a fair amount of incomprehensibly bad stuff, but I’m cheering for them this season simply for trying something new in terms of content delivery. Here’s hoping it works out.
That’s not really too far off the mark about Crunchyroll: it was started by guys working at Hotornot who were encouraged by their bosses to try out their own startups, and so they pretended to be dumb college kids and started making money off (at first) anime piracy. I have to give them that it’s a brilliant business plan.
Wow, that “Yarisugi! Swimming School” demo game was awesome. I’m tempted to buy the thing, even though it’s only in Japanese.
>>Sub
I don’t know if I want to live in a world where bad spelling and grammar are integral parts of a successful business plan, but if it means Gonzo will live to produce more shows about people who slay with the click of a shutter I can’t complain too much.
>>Anonymous
I picked up the package version back when it came out and I can definitely recommend it regardless of your level of Japanese. The game mechanic is simple and it’s refreshingly free of plot – just lots of great Bosshi ero. :3
I made a mistake. What I meant to say was: “GONZO’s one of the few Japanese anime companies that DON’T readily tick people off.”
Not like $unrise, KyotoAnimu, Gainax, SHAFT, and the creators of dumb moe animu.
(Althougt it seems that more anime this Spring Season is focused on “Shonen Jump” titles.)