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Queens Of The Pwn Age's Interests
General
Why must it be so difficult to get your hands on good anime in the UK?! Seems like even if the shops do have the whole series, without any gaps, and in boxes that arn't caked in dust and cracked all to hell they will be charging anywhere from £20 to £30 pounds for every dvd. That's like £20 at least for four smelly episodes! That's like £5 an episode. THAT'S LIKE $10 AN EPISODE PEOPLE! It's a real burden on the old pocket and also hurts one's mentality when you consider just how many pizzas you could buy for that. (erm... two, probably.. pizzas cost too much as well come to think of it). So com'mon DVD propriters! Stop this nonsense! Don't just stock episodes 7 to 11 or something bizarre like that! And stop charging the world for Anime!
One good example of doing it right was HMV in Glasgow, that sold me every single Heat Guy J ever made, in a nice box, for £10. KUDOS TO YOU HMV! you did well! But the rest of you? You all get the
FAIL
Television
Good news everyone! The second tamagochi movie is coming out! "Eiga! Tamagotchi Uchū Ichi Happy na Monogatari!?" will be opening in Japan on the 20th of December. Personally the Queens of the Pwn Age would much prefer to stick forks in their eyes than see this.. but hey, what ever floats yer boat!
Last Saturday it was announced that Dark Horse comics have secured the rights to make the comic version of : Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project, the game that allowed you to raise your very own Shinji Ikari, whiney little git that he is, and maybe not screw him up quite as bad in the hopes that he migh tcry a little less and blow things up a little more. We arn't certain how well this will translate into a manga, but time will most certainly tell!
Did you know there was a sequel to Appleseed? If you are into anime you probably did, but it's news to us! Just last month Appleseed Ex-Machina, the sequel to the ever popular appleseed, was released in the EU, and another sequel to appleseed, vexille, slipped out unexpectedly, like a well lubricated poo, at the beginging of this year!
not Anime news, but news none the less! Andrea turned 24 this week! A night of drunken fun left us all nursing aching hangovers, and Andrea made a new friend in the form of Munny, pictured here.
Basically he is a paint it yourself doll! Any ideas on how to paint him to look totally kick ass would be totally appreciated!<br
We will be back to what we know next week, the art of knowing everything there is to know about video games, but for the meantime, we hope you enjoyed the anime special! :D
WTF? NO GAMES REVIEWS? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?
Becalm yourself dear reader, there is a very good explanation. No doubt you know that the past few weeks have seen the QOTPA obtaining both Metal Gear Solid 4 and Super Smash Bros Brawl and giving them both shining 10/10 reviews on our hallowed page. Well, both games have proven so good that neither Kenny nor Sean have actually played anything else since obtaining both these mighty monoliths of gaming joy. ONOZ! you may shout, no new reviews this week.
So instead of fobbing you fine peeps off with old reviews the QOTPA put their collective heads together and EUREKA, an idea was formed. As a treat leading up to the QOTPA’s trip to Japan this year (look forward to our Japan-special in the coming weeks) and also as a salute to all our anime-loving readers, we present THE ANIME SPECIAL! That’s right, The QOTPA will be reviewing each of our fave animes for you folk, so get down and check it out. We promise that normal service will resume next week (maybe).
KENNY
Freshly arrived from his time machine Kenny wants to ask the whole world if they love him now that he can dance!
ANDI
having beaten the camera man around the head with his own leg Andi was thrilled to see that the clever camera, in a bid to save it's own life, took a picture of her wonderful new shoes on the way down. Ooooo, New Shoooooooes.
SEAN
Sean indicates to us not only his love for Full Metal Alchemist, but how incredibly huge his hands are! Not many people can properly showcase an entire anime series but simply placing them on the palm of their hand. Incidentally Sean's hands appeared as hand doubles for Dave Grohl in that foo Fighters video.. yanno.. the one with the dude who has huge hands. That one.
When a Boar God turned Demon decides to take out his understandable, though misdirected, angst on the home of Ashitaka, the last Prince of the mysterious Emishi people that the rest of the world thinks are already all dead, Ashitaka decides he isn’t gonna take it lying down. Unfortunately, as any traveller to Japan is warned when exiting the aircraft, battling Boar Demons can result in death, injury, or, worst perhaps, cursing. No I don’t mean swearing one’s tit’s off, I mean getting cursed. Like those Gypsies always threaten to do when you refuse to buy the dead flower they are trying to force into your hand whenever you go into the city centre, only there is less spitting and chanting involved. Cursed by the touch of Nago the Boar God cum Demon of rage (Isn’t it nice when you can use the word ‘cum’ and NOT be talking about sex? See.. because the connotations are still there and you know that the next few sentences will be completely lost on the reader, it’s like when you watch a political debate and they start talking about cleavages in the current political blah blah blah blah. Who knows what the cleavages are in, everyone is now thinking about boobs) Ashitaka is banished from his home town and sets forth to find out what made this once noble God turn into a spiteful old wanker who still manages to find other peoples suffering a laugh riot even when his only remaining eye is decaying at super accelerated speed in its socket. Nice.
And so begins Princess Mononoke, and I do mean begins, because all of that happens in what could easily be considered the intro to the movie. Princess Mononoke is, and I know this word gets bandied around a lot... but I really mean it this time, an epic. Not in the literal way, we aren’t looking at Brechtian alienation and poor character development here! More in the modern understanding of epic: every character, no matter how minor is treated as though they are the only character we should care about, each individually deep and crammedfull of character, even if they only appear for minutes. Packed with themes that are larger than just the concerns of one person and less over done and trivial than just “saving the world”, and with a plot that takes us from intimate conversations in quiet rooms, to heart breaking set pieces ( like Ashitaka taking his leave from Iron Town, bleeding to death with San, Princess Mononoke herself, slung over his shoulder), to moments of sheer fantasy and the Bizarre (The meeting between Moro, the giant talking wolf God and the Boars, intent on revenge for their fallen brother Nago), to massive battles to quiet moments of personal epiphany as we follow the various quests of each of the characters through Ashitaka as they try to either protect or kill the Forest Spirit.
Princess Mononoke reaches inside of you and finds that little part of your being, the part that believes that there maybe could be a bounty hunter fox out there flying a space ship in an attempt to kill a giant floating monkey head, the part that believes there might be giant sentient robots out there somewhere in the galaxy locked in an eternal war, the part of you that thinks maybe it matters if a kid gets rejected by his mother because the first time she goes to hug him he turns into a rabbit. It finds the part of you, the hidden little part buried deep by the aggressive confrontational nature of our everyday lives, that’s still just a child. The part that still wants to believe in magic, just a little bit. Even though we know it’s silly....
The scenery is beautiful, the music could pierce the most stony of hearts, and where other animes or movies would explain how their characters feel, and what we should feel towards them, Princess Mononoke just tells us the story and lets us make up our own mind. It’s weird to think that what many would think of as a cartoon manages to achieve so much more than a great many live action, mega budget, movies.
Because Ashitaka acts as our guide in a sense throughout this movie, and his mission is to see through eyes “unclouded by hate”, there is an ambiguity regarding good and evil with no faction playing the part of the definitive ‘bad guy’. Lady Eboshi Gozen wants to kill the Forest Spirit, which will make the animals that live within it gods no more and merely animals, which sounds like a bit of a bad guy motive! To make it worse she wants to do it because the animals stand in the way of progress, keeping her from the valuable iron held under the mountain. However her kindness, generosity and the fact that she rescued lepers and prostitutes from horrible lives adds layers to her character that make it impossible to label her purely “evil”. The character of Jigo, the hunter, could easily have been portrayed as simply evil, as he hunts the forest spirit to claim its head for the Emperor, who believes it will grant him immortality, thinking about his own personal gain for presenting the Emperor with such a gift, but scenes early in the movie when Jigo helps Ashitaka for no apparent reason other than the fact he seems like he could use help indicate another dimension to his personality. Even the characters you would expect to be “good” aren’t as clean cut, with the forest spirit himself often taking lives when you would expect him to save them, Moro the wolf God frequently threatening to bite Ashitaka’s head off, the Boars behaving in a headstrong and often stupid fashion and even the title character, Sen, exhibiting stubbornness and occasionally childishness. Much like Full Metal Alchemist, which Sean is talking about a bit later, it makes you think about what right and wrong really is... or if it really exists at all.
Not to forget the best character of course! Yakul, Ashitaka’s red elk! This guy is the bomb. He doesn’t do much in the movie, just sort of carries Ashitaka about and looks cool, but I still think I might start up the Yakul fan club. He seems to enjoy chatting a lot as well, but only does it when no one is watching, cunning little elk!
If you don’t watch anime , and I know lots of people don’t having been put off by bad experiences in the past... after all there is a lot of utterly shit anime out there, then I beg you to give it another chance and start with Princess Mononoke. If you love it like I do then maybe you could ease into other Ghibli movies.. like Spirited away, Nausica, Howl’s moving castle or the more recent Tales from Earthsea. Then take the dive and grab yourself some Neon Genesis, Full Metal Alchemist, Elfen Lied or Deathnote. Anime can be great if you can just carefully steer around the Negimas and the Narutos. Sorry.. I hate Naruto :P please don’t lynch me! I don’t wanna spoil the story of Mononoke, so I won’t, but I do encourage you to pick yourself up a copy and find some time to enjoy it. It’s a ten out of ten for me!
Who I'd like to meet:
So this week instead of doing our usual gaming thing we’ve decided to review Anime! Why you ask? In truth... I do not know. I just sort of got given the information, ran to my computer and immediately decided to review DEATH NOTE, far too excited to ask any questions!
When pondering the enigma there could be many reasons:
1: to show our interests don’t just lie in video games (hehehe as IF) which pretty much just left cartoons and booze (and for the record: Jack Daniels gets 10/10!)
2: It could be the guys soon-to-be appearance at Auchinawa prompting giving this anime thing a bash!
3: Or it could be because now that Kenny has Smash Bros and Sean Metal Gear Solid they have forgotten that any other games exist...
But ANYWAY! On to DEATHNOTE. It’s a fabulous tale, that seems to be based in modern day Tokyo and in the life of a teenage student named Light. He’s a very intelligent character if some what bored by reality. But not to worry, his life is soon to change as he picks up the Deathnote , a black note book in which if you write someone’s name they will die. If you write how you want them to die within 46 seconds then they will die that way, or if you don’t then they simply die of a heart attack.
At first Light becomes somewhat of a reluctant hero, simply putting in the name of a criminal on the news to ensure it works. Later, after realising that the Deathnote is not some kind of practical joke, he goes a little... power mad. But in an adorably emo way. And decides to rid the world of all criminals and shape it into a much more peaceful and structured place...
Where he will be God.
Not too much to ask for, given the circumstances! Once many of Tokyo and the rest of the world’s criminals die of heart attacks things start to look a little suspicious. And that is where our next main character enters, the highly skilled anonymous detective known only as L. L and Light seem evenly matched, both in intelligence and determination, but this is where Light starts to become a little less heroic and instead starts knocking off anyone who opposes him.
This would be a good time to mention that in order to kill someone with the Deathnote you need to picture there face when you write their name. This avoids the potentially deadly misunderstanding of the wrong John Smith suddenly keeling over, or, to put it more simply, it ensures you are killing the right person and not just someone with the same name. As L is a very secretive anonymous (like super anonymous... total hermit, no one knows his name, no one knows his identity, the doctor that pulled him out of his mother was probably immediately shot in the head. That kind of anonymous) detective this begins the race for both to discover the other’s identity and destroy them.
The story is epic, clever and goes just a little too far with the dramatics (EMO) but offers great comedy relief through my as yet unmentioned favourite character Ryuk, the Shinigami death God and rightful owner of the Deathnote, who becomes a somewhat willing companion to Light. His abnormal appearance, outrageous behaviour and bizarre desire for apples of all things seems to balance out the overly dramatic attitude of both L and Light.
This is quickly becoming one of my favourite Animes, having just started watching the series. In fact it’s become a race to watch the whole series before the movie is released! Yep, live action movie coming out the 28th of July check it out here : http://www.4digitalmedia.com/deathnote/
The Anime is most defiantly worth watching, and is animated spectacularly, and it’s really nice to see modern Tokyo in an anime! The settings and the characters are all absolutely perfect, so i’m gonna give it an 8/10, falling short of a perfect 10 because sometimes the emo just gets a little overboard! Also: It’s only major down fall is the habit of over explaining everything.. all the way through the plot things that are remarkably obvious just get explained to DEATH leaving you sitting there screaming at your TV “I GET IT! COME ON! MOVE FORWARD!”, the action in it, seeing as it’s about a book who kills people, has been a little limited. However, I have just started watching the series, so I’m sure it will pick up.
However, in light of the up coming live action... which I am just wetting my pants in anticipation of... I am gonna bump it up to a 9 out of 10. Featuring the tasty Kenichi Matsuyama starring as L. So if you are reading this Kenichi,(and of course you ARE) I think you’re lovely (don’t tell Kenny :P ).
Emo’s! Everywhere I look they assault my senses. Whiney, pre-pubescent, floppy-fringed, tight-jean wearing nancies who deserve a good slap. Seriously, the next one who happens to get in my way is taking a headfirst trip through the concrete. And nowhere does this seem to be more prevalent than the humble world of Anime. Gravity-defying fringes are coupled with pretty boy looks and major emotional deficiencies to craft a breed of protagonist that I just want to hack apart with a chainsaw. Their either amoral, whiney bitches (Light from Death Note), total sissies who don’t want to pilot huge mechs because daddy doesn’t love them (I’m looking at you Shinji Ikari, I mean who doesn’t want to pilot multi-storey machines of destruction, ya nonce!), have some very tedious reactions to femal attention when it is lavished upon them (Keitaro Urashima anyone?) or just look like total retards in a bid to look dark and mysterious (C’mon Amon, we know you can brood, but can you do anything else?). This has always been a major road-block in my appreciation of anime, who I think concentrates too much on these pretty-boy twats instead of cool things like Huge Mechs and badass fighting.
However, there is one anime that really gets me, and has had me loving it no matter how many times I watch it. It’s characters are fantastic, it’s story intelligent and shocking, it’s actual physical appearance stonkingly brilliant. No, it doesn’t feature giant mechs unfortunately, however it does have a huge suit of armour that is capable of punching the living crap out of you AND stealthing in a manner that I find both surprising and hilarious. The series is of course the lovely Full Metal Alchemist and it and I have enjoyed a long and awesome love affair.
FMA centers around a country known as Amestris in which alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques, resulting in different technological developments. Alchemy in the FMA universe is slightly different from what classic alchemy is in reality, it is in fact closer to magic and sorcery, although all the lore maintains it is purely scientific. It uses an alchemy circle and base components and materials to create other things with similar structural properties.
The main characters of this story is Edward (Ed) and Alphonse (Al) Elric, two young and gifted Alchemists. Early in the story their Father vanishes and leaves their Mother, Trisha Elric, to raise them. Years later their mother dies of a fatal disease, which proves devastating for both the young protagonists. They learn of Human Transmutation, a forbidden art in which one attempts to create a human who had died. However, this attempt failed, ultimately resulting in the loss of Edward's left leg and Alphonse's entire body. In a desperate effort to save his brother, Edward sacrifices his right arm to affix his brother's soul to a suit of armour. After that, Edward's left leg and right arm are fitted with two sets of automail (a type of advanced prosthetic, mechanical limb) created for him by his close family friends Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako. The series is then about the two boys attempts to find a way to reclaim both Al’s body and Ed’s limbs.
What I love about FMA is it’s characters. Gone are the wankish, Anime stereotypes and in are relatable characters who are all superbly fleshed out and compelling. I love both Ed and Al: although terrible events seem to follow them like a hungry dog, they remain ever-vigilant and intent on their goals and really hold the series together. Ed is a fantastically funny and relatable individual, who proves to be an excellent and emotional lead (emotional, not emo, the guy had his limbs torn off for gawd’s sake) and Al, although only a child inside the giant armour, is an instantly likeable character. I love their relationship with each other, constantly driving forward and only thinking of each other, although they are prone to spates of sibling rivalry and mock-fighting (a fantastic bit in the series is when he boys are on their way to the lost city of Ishbal, they fall out over Ed’ impetuous nature and start using alchemy to beat the snot out of each other). From the beginning where they are just small kids to the end of The Conqueror of Shimbalia (The FMA movie and series finale) you root for the boys to win, and never once do they become irritating.
And they are but two amidst a whole cast of brilliant characters. From the boys antagonists The Homunculi (soulless sub-human creatures created when a Human Transmutation fails, i.e.: all the time), the boys original alchemy teacher Izumi Curtis and her huge but gentle husband Sig, to their allies in the Amestrin Military which Ed joins such as the eternally funny and likeable Major Hughes, Colonel Roy Mustang and his loyal team, to the utterly Brilliant Major Armstrong (more on him later), every character is incredibly well developed and no character is truly bad or wholly good (well, except maybe Kimbly; The Crimson Alchemist, but I’ll talk about him later) and although there are A LOT of characters, no one of them is just a faceless drone or characterless shell.
The main plotline in FMA is the boys quest to seek out the Philosophers Stone: a mystical stone that hugely amplifies an alchemists powers and allows them to ignore the law of Equivalent Exchange(essentially an alchemist cannot create without first sacrificing something of equal value, i.e., to make a wooden chair an alchemist would need the necessary mass of wood and materials). They believe that by finding this stone, they can reclaim what they lost the fateful night they tried to revive their Mother. Unbeknownst to the brothers, the Homunculi are also looking for the stone and will stop at nothing to retrieve it. Things are compounded by the fact that Amestris is almost always in a state of civil war, and soon a vast conspiracy is revealed by Ed and Al. All in all, it’s just several excuses to have cool events occur relentlessly, and as I’ve already said, I love it!.
Much like Neon Genesis (although nowhere near as symbolist or heavy going), FMA has many sub-themes running through it: the concept of playing God, and if people have power does that mean they should use it. It also highlights the importance of family and friends, and the brothers love for each other no matter the odds is hugely touching. Also, FMA shows quite a chilling and scary similarity to today’s current affairs (although entirely unintentionally I might add) with the military superpower of Central invading less powerful and deeply religious settlements such as Lior and Ishbal. It also looks at the nature of what is right and wrong, and how there is no real good or evil, just varying shades of grey. The only characters who dont seem to follow this is a character known as Kimbly, a psychotic alchemist who see’s humanity as pointless and revels in the slaughter of his fellow man and Barry The Chopper; a serial killer who seems to kill just for the joy of it. Although these characters are still interesting (I actually really like Kimbly because of how demented he is) they don’t have any real back story and aren’t as cool as the other characters.
My favourite characters however are awesome, and they couldn’t be more different if they tried. My first favourite is the character of Scar.
Scar is a nameless Ishbalan, whose people were wiped out by the Amestris Military in an act of wanton genocide. As such, Scar is on a religious war against the military, focussed primarily on State Alchemist (such as Ed, Roy Mustang, Armstrong etc) and although he appears at first to be a villain, I think he is absolutely brilliant. Yes, he kills and maims the State Alchemist but only because he see’s it as the ill of his God and revenge for his people and his slain brother. He later vows to not kill the Alchemists and instead sets out to help the people of Lior in their struggle against the military. He is stunningly complex and tragic, and at no point does he think of himself as a good man. He knows that he has sinned and simply works to try and make that sin worthwhile. When he finally exits the series, it is one of it’s saddest moments, and still makes me feel all melancholy inside. Meanwhile at the opposite end of the spectrum is my second favourite: Major Alex Louise Armstrong.
Armstrong’s brilliant. No seriously, I find it hard to compose words on how awesome he is. Another State Alchemist (The Strong Arm Alchemist), he watches over the boys in their quest, and acts as one of the major good characters (although he did act in the Ishbalan massacre, giving him a slight hint of dark tragedy). However, he is also hugely comedic and acts a s source of mirth that I’m a total sucker for. He will burst into tears or joyous praise given the right situation, and embraces others in an effort to console them. Because he is an extremely strong character, this usually causes others great personal injury. Armstrong is very proud of his strength and of his muscular physique, frequently taking off his shirt so that he can flex for others' benefit (with his classic quote “How can you doubt the integrity of a man whose muscles can do THIS!!!”). He also has the tendency to "sparkle"; when first appearing in a scene or taking off his shirt, pink stars radiate from his body. Despite his humorous tendencies, Armstrong can be very serious when the situation calls for it. He is not fond of violence and will try to end conflicts peacefully, and will break down and cry if an innocent person is killed. All this makes him a loveable and brilliant character. However, he does enter into a battle with Scar early in the series to protect Ed and Al, and serves as one of the highlights for me.
The way in which FMA is drawn and sound tracked is also awesome. I am actually listening to the FMA OST’s whilst typing this, and just like all music related to Square (one of FMA’s producers) it is awesome. Ranging from sadness to humour, tense orchestral symphonies to moments of J-Rock awesomeness (Rewrite by Asian Kung-Fu Generation is a particular highlight) the soundtrack is wonderfully composed and suits the series down to a tee. Also, the actual physical animation is superb, and suffers none of problems that some earlier Anime’s did (NGE’s classic funding problems for example). It’s always smooth and each character is lovingly drawn and coloured. The actual alchemic lore itself is all based on actual alchemy, with many of the circles and arrays used bearing striking resemblances to teachings of ancient alchemy (albeit with a modern Japanese twist).
All in all, I love Full Metal Alchemist. It has everything I love about anime that I love (bar giant robots, but then again nothings perfect) and none of the bits I hate (pretty emo-boys, anthropomorphic animal people and tentacle sex). I would advise you to purchase and watch it, and if you already have then do it again. In fact I’m off to watch it now. Adios!
TRAILER
Andi mentioned it in her review, it's the live action version of Deathnote, and with the 28th of july as it's release date it seems a lot more likely than that Evangelion movie that we all heard so much about!
Your Crisis Core review was Awesome! I was laughing the whole time! It was entertaining and yet very informative! Loved it! Keep doing more reviews! I am definitely going to check them out! Also, let me know if you are ever out in LA!
So you guys are pro by reviewing two obvious greats in anime history. :] Whether you want to consider FMA or Death Note the second one, because hands down Princess Mononoke is epic. You know at first I didnt fancy FMA too much, and after playing the video game...well Im sure you know how much it sucked :P. But it grew on me, and i watched the movies etc and love it now. Death Note was an easy infatuation for me :D However I've only read the manga (i rather manga above anime), but it's still epic and I love how the movies are live action. ^^ Cool reviews guys!
