Metro Comic Convention 2010

This popular arts convention used to be known as Manila Comic Con. This year, they brought in the Filipino comic artists that previously worked for Marvel and the veteran komikeros.

The Metro Comic Con also celebrates DC's 75th anniversary. Other features included Magnavision's character design contest, a cosplay competition and many other treats for attendees.

My COMM311 class (for my PhD studies) attended this event because we wanted to study the communication environment of cosplayers. Since this isn't centered on Japanese animation and games alone (many of the seminar topics are centered on Marvel, DC and Filipino komikeros), I wrote about this event at skysenshi.com. Visit the blog entry for more photos and the rest of our Metro Comic Con experience.

Blade of the Immortal

Genre: Martial Arts/Jidai Geki
Parental Guidance Recommended
2008 Hiroaki Samura (author), Koichi Mashimo (director), Asano Dojo Fukkokai, Bee Train, Production I.G

SHOPPING:

Blade of the Immortal DVDs Blade of the Immortal Books Blade of the Immortal Music Blade of the Immortal Toys Blade of the Immortal Posters Everything Else

Edited Manga Cover Description:
Manji was a master swordsman who assassinated his own corrupted lord. Granted immortality by the 800-year old traveler Yaobikuni, Manji made a deal: he will slay one thousand evil men in exchange for the release of death...

He stumbles upon Rin, the daughter of Asano, head of the Mutenichi-ryu dojo. Both of her parents were murdered by Anotsu and his followers. Now Rin has enlisted Manji's aid to avenge her parents' death...

(13 episodes)

Assassin of the Day. >>> by skysenshi
I have never read the manga, but my siblings -- both Thundersenshi and Darth Paul -- gave it rave reviews. I can imagine that translating it from one medium to another, considering the differences in both the conceptual and design process involved, would entail a lot of modifications. But I'm not going to delve too deeply into that since I haven't encountered it in its original form.

Blade of the Immortal is very violent. As in, blood-out-of-everyone's-guts-and-brains kind of violent. Nevertheless, like many interesting samurai tales out there, the telling is very rich in history. The kind that would keep you watching because you want to find out more about the characters' backgrounds. That's the thing. The manga version is more intricate, more detailed, and obviously more substantial. How they managed to slap all that into a 13-episode series brought up a lot of questions in my head. True enough, my sister confirmed that they cut off many of the interesting subplots.

All these resulted in an anime that featured monster-of-the-day themes. In this case, it's assassin-of-the-day. Manji deals with one killer after another in an almost random fashion even though his only purpose for the entire run is helping Rin get her hands on her parents' murderer. I don't necessarily get why Anotsu's followers keep wanting the duo's heads when Anotsu himself appears to be apathetic. The ending also doesn't seem to be able to bring any closure, though strangely enough, I felt that it was apt. The only thing missing is closure for Manji himself.

I had just read my sister's old review of the manga and it seems like her complaint about the women looking too much alike has been solved. The women in this anime are very distinct. The artwork and animation are likewise still beautifully done.

The Blade of the Immortal series is not so bad but I'm guessing many of the die-hard manga fans might not be too happy about this.

Individual Rating: Art/Animation 10; Story 7; Characters 8; Sounds 9

Mars

Genre: Shoujo, Drama
1996 Fuyumi Soryo, Kodansha, TOKYOPOP

SHOPPING:

Mars Manga Mars Live Action (Sometimes available)

Amazon.com Product Description:
Popular Rei and shy Kira are worlds apart, until one fateful day brings them together. Rei stumbles upon Kira in the harassing hands of her sleazy art teacher and saves the quiet girl from his clutches. And when the jock plants a kiss on a statue of Mars in the studio, Kira finds herself drawn in and even summons up the nerve to ask him to model for her but problems already lurk on the horizon. Vicious upperclassman Harumi has had her sights set on Rei for a long time, and is not about to let go now. One of the most popular teen girl manga series in Japan, Mars is a drama that will meet the demand of the growing female comic-reading market.

Heartwarming, despite the serious overtones. >>> by skysenshi
It's not often that I read shoujo manga these days, unless they're funny like Nodame Cantabile or intriguing...like Mars. If I went by the cover summary, I would not even pick this up. It was my sister's brief (and shocking) summary that captured my interest.

Despite the the high school setting and the young ages of the protagonists, Kira and Rei's histories are very dark. In fact, the artwork itself -- defined by airy and gentle strokes -- contrasted heavily with the theme. The manga starts out very light; the seriousness gets deeper with every volume. It's also quite fascinating to find that Rei isn't your typical bishounen. He's not very smart and his plans for the future are shaky at best. This is not to say that I actually approve of boys like this, but the situation made me curious enough to wonder how this comic book will turn out.

Kira isn't your regular bishoujo character, too. I understand her initial hatred of men. Like I mentioned earlier, her background is very dark. I'm also quite surprised to find myself thinking that she's a strong character, resilient in her unquestioning support of Rei. I don't usually like meek girls, especially one that's as helpless as Kira. Maybe that's one of Fuyumi Soryo's talents, making her characters likable in spite of their flaws.

In a nutshell, Mars could make for a good telenovela. Perhaps this is why the Taiwanese picked it up and made a live action version starring Vic Zhou and Barbie Hsu (both actors are of the Meteor Garden fame).

Individual Rating: Art 10; Story 10; Characters 10

Final Fantasy XIII (Girls on the Couch Review)

Girls on the Couch Talk:
Final Fantasy XIII

I just thought of having a different format for this particular review since I experienced playing Final Fantasy XIII with a group (the girls of ABMA61). I was attending their exhibit -- on official business -- when they approached me with the question, "What do you think of Final Fantasy XIII?"

Since I don't own a PS3 (Boo me!), I told them that I just wanted to see Lightning, the game's protagonist, and that I was girl-crushing on her. So they invited me over to one of their overnight sessions at Angeli's condo. Angeli (girl at the leftmost side of the couch) was insisting that the game is good, while Hanna (girl with dyed green hair) said that it was nothing more than eye candy. Juju (girl in the middle) insisted she was interested in something else. They would not stop bantering, exchanging opinions rather passionately so they turned to me. They wanted to know what I *really* think.

Two Saturdays later, they picked me up at Star Mall. There were about five of us, with Ice being the only dude in the car. When I thought of the Girls on the Couch review format, I was joking that maybe Ice could be our resident butch (he could pretend to be a girl that looks like a boy).

Anyhoo, these are the highlights of our gaming experience.

Hanna: See? All you do is just mash the circle button repeatedly.

Angeli: But the paradigm shift makes it interesting!

Me: *button mashing my way through* Um...I'm getting bored. When do I get to the paradigm shift? Better yet, when do we get to the meat of the game?

Juju: After you finish the first 10 chapters.

Ice: *imitates Vanille's voice in the background* Kyaaa! Uh-huh!

Hours later...

Juju: Let's just look at the character profiles.

*Everyone screams at the sight of Lightning turning her pretty head.*

Hanna: Since we're all getting bored, can we just go and look at Fang's profile?

Juju: Let's! Please! I wish we had a professor that looked like that.

*Everyone screams at the sight of Fang turning her handsome head.*

Ok. Here's how I summarized everyone's thoughts.

Battle System: If you thought that Final Fantasy XII bred lazy gamers, you can begin to imagine how much lazier you'd become with this game. It really is just circle button mashing. I also immediately noticed that the FF victory theme had been completely changed. (Bye bye Nobuo Uematsu?) In the 90s, people complained that FFVIII didn't feel like an FF game, but at least FFVIII retained many of what defined the previous FFs. One of them is music.

Audiovisuals: Speaking of music, we suppose the creators were veering away from the classic FFs but the sounds here are not as memorable as the ones done by Nobuo Uematsu. Sorry. As for the visuals? Everything is breathtakingly beautiful but...I swear Final Fantasy XIII is a monument to the 3D modelers' ego. (Sorry, I know that job's not easy but this is a game...)

 

Gameplay: What gameplay? Walking, circle-button mashing, and watching lots and lots of cut scenes do not constitute gameplay. Even the summons, though more interactive, have been relegated into this boring routine. We also pitied Shiva. I personally don't see anything cool about turning her hotness into a motorcycle that unappealing Snow sits on. Plus, everything's just so linear!

We think they forgot the actual game. This is a shame. We were happy that a kick-ass female character finally gets to play lead (Terra does not count), only to find out that a supposedly better Final Fantasy XIII (Versus) is coming out. Its lead is male.

I hope he's gay like Firion. (Skysenshi wants vindication.)

Oerba Yun Fang. Is probably the only reason I'd get Final Fantasy XIII for collection purposes. She reminds me somewhat of FFX-2's Paine, except they finally did something about the scary gothic getup.

Anyway, if you're still interested in knowing more about Final Fantasy XIII, you can read more about it in this section of the Fridge.


Credits:
Screenshots courtesy of Amazon.com
Girls on Couch illustration by Hanna Angelica Ong
Final Fantasy XIII is copyright 2009 of Square Enix Co., Ltd.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable

Genre: Role Playing Game
Platform: Sony Playstation Portable (PSP)
CREDITS: 2010 Atlus. Screenshots courtesy of Amazon.com.

SHOPPING:

Persona Video Games Persona-related DVDs Persona Strategy Guides Persona Music Persona Etc. Everything Persona

Amazon.com Product Description:
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable is a single player, AI team-based RPG that brings the thought-provokingly addictive fun that made Persona 3 a runaway hit on PlayStation 2 to PlayStation Portable (PSP). The game contains most of the content from the original Persona 3 as well as some elements of Persona 3: FES, and features the new and crucial abilities to play as a female character and to directly control your teammates in combat. Additional functionality includes Skill Cards, part-time jobs, one-button menu shortcuts, streamlined team equipment changes and shortened load screens optimized for PSP.

Story: A teenager who was orphaned as a young child returns to the city of his/her childhood. Shortly after transferring to Gekkoukan High School, he/she is attacked is attacked by Shadows/creatures that feed on the minds of their victims. The assault awakens his/her Persona, Orpheus, his/her only chance at defeating these creatures of the night. He/she soon discovers that he/she shares this special ability with other students at his new school. From them he/she learns of the Dark Hour, a hidden time that exists between one day and the next, swarming with Shadows. He/she joins the Special Extracurricular Squad (SEES), and with his/her new friends, confronts this evil threat.

Preview >>> by skysenshi (06.20.2010)
Because of my busy schedule, I never got a chance to sit down and play this on the PS2. In fact, I have missed a lot of PS2 games ever since 2005 (the year I entered my master's). Juggling work, school and exhibit calls demanded that I carry a PSP or a DS, should I want to keep gaming.

The sad part is I loved Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. That was one of the best games I have ever encountered. Plus, I totally dig the fact that it had a female protagonist, cub reporter Maya Amano, and interesting supporting characters in the form of Urara and Baofu. Well, it's been said that this Persona 3 for the PSP will have an alternate angle: You can now play as a female character. That alone is reason enough for me to get this come July.

The following features are listed in Amazon.com:

• Classic, thought-provoking Persona RPG gameplay in which players construct wieldable physical manifestations of their thoughts through their social interactions with characters in-game, later taking these into team-based battles against Shadow enemies in Tartarus.
• Contains almost all the content from the original PS2 Persona 3 game, and elements from Persona 3: FES.
• Significant improvements over earlier games including Skill Cards, part-time jobs, and ability to directly control your teammates in battle.
• The important new ability to play as a female character, giving the player a whole new perspective on the events of the game and providing a dramatic impact on the game's intricate social dynamics.
• Improved playability permeates every aspect of the gameplay experience. One button menu shortcuts, streamlined team equipment changes, incredibly short load times, and other tweaks and enhancements create an ideal pace for portable gaming.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable is slated for release on July 2010 for the Sony PSP. You can read more of this game's features here.