Monster Hunter Community Event with Ryozo Tsujimoto

Anyone who is a fanatic about Monster Hunter can tell you how loyal company Capcom is to their fans. Apart from sponsored events around London offering never before seen previews, help from the experts and chances to win exclusive merchendise. Their latest community event, held at the Capcom Europe offices in London offered even more to long-time fans of the franchise.

Upon entering the fabulous reception we were greeted by the zombie mascot and Jake who escorted us to the hustle and bustle of 120 gamers getting there streetpass on. After a few competitions for Japan-exclusive plushie meat  (vacuum sealed for freshness) , people were left to their own devices to mingle with other fans, play co op quests on big screen or on the 3DS’s.

It hadn’t been made clear what was going on but all the gamers were so engrossed in their quests it didn’t matter. I inquired to the plan of events and was pleased to find out that the Executive producer of monster hunter Mr. Ryozo Tsujimoto would be joining us!

After much suspense, he entered and we all made an orderly queue, people brought along their Monster Hunter art books, games, DS consoles to get signed and Ryozo san was more than happy to oblige. After everyone’s trinkets got signed we all gathered to have group photos, and there were a lot of us to squeeze in.  With Ryozo san being so kind to get photos with everyone, he bid us a farewell. We then grilled the Capcom representative for information on the new Monster Hunter and then were left to our own devices.

A great opportunities to catch up with fellow online hunters! Hopefully Capcom will arrange more community events in the future as this was spectacular with a great turnout!

Article originally written for Parallax Play.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity Review

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Axew is a RPG style video game following the perspective of the Pokemon rather than the trainer. The games features the Pokemon navigating through a randomly generated dungeons using turn-based moves, trademark of Mystery Dungeon games.

These games are based in dungeons, where a floor map is randomly generated. In the dungeons, players fight other Pokémon while obtaining items, and finding steps to the next floor. Similar to Ertian Odessey and Guided Fate Paradox, this is not a style of RPG I like but I appreciated the animation and story.

At the beginning you choose a Pokemon to be Pikachu, Oshawott, Tepig, Snivy, or Axew, then you chose another Pokemon to be your sidekick. The game really utilises the 3DS' capabilities instead of the usual 2D sprites.

The story begins with you waking up as a Pokemon (of your choice) you bump into your partner (of your choice) and you run a farm together, I mean piece of land and it's all very romantic and you have to hire other Pokemon to make your land liveable and it means you have to go to the Mystery Dungeons to get gems and chase mean Pokemon. There are moral dilemmas in this game, Pokemon love to rob you. They add lots of popular Pokemon into the story and you pretty much have an easy ride.

The game also uses the 3DS' camera and sensors for the players to find round objects and turn them into portals, I haven't quite mastered it, it has to be obviously round, so checking people on the train is not advisable. The portals aka Magnagates need to be unlocked, and act as gateways to new dungeons.

The game features both free and paid downloadable content, in the form of additional dungeons. You can also go to the official site and play mini-games to unlock passwords to receive special items in the game too. The game has changed from its predecessors and is a great stand alone game to buy, people new to Pokemon can pick it up and play. It has an easy to use interface though walking through the dungons is a bit sluggish for my liking.

If your a Pokemon fan and enjoy more focus on them this would be a game to get, because of the difficulty. It's aimed at a younger audience, though that isn't to say you wouldn't find a challenge in the dungeons. The story is simple with comical conversations and lots of trait Pokemon behaviours. You can really appreciate the lush backgrounds and 3D Pokemon going about their day in the game. this is more for people who like more action than story.

East Side Stories: Otakus in Love

Otakus In Love and Love Strikes! were recently part of the East Side Stories touring film festival by the Japan foundation at the ICA London and other locations.

Where: ICA London/ Belfast/Bristol/Dundee/Edinburgh/Newcastle upon Tyne/Nottingham/Sheffield
When: 31 January to 27 March 2014
Website: http://www.jpf-film.org.uk/
[rating=7]

Otakus in love (Koi no Mon) follow's tramp, or more accurately low maintenance Mon Aoki (Ryuhei Matsuda) - a mis-understood 'manga artisan' who can’t seem to hold down a steady job. Mostly due to his run down appearance and his stubborn belief that one day his art will actually sell.

The problem is that his concept of manga isn't a comic strip, he arranges and paints rock in wooden boxes which freaks most people out. One day as he follows a hand drawn map on his hand which wasn't too clever as the rain washes most of it off. He bumps into Koino Akashi, she promptly maims Mon with lethal stiletto heel as he reaches for a beloved rock and he proceeds to arrive late at his new part time job at Tsugino Happy Inc.

Coincidentally she also works at Tsugino Happy Inc. The boss is perpetually-enraged at Mon's lateness and poverty stricken look and fires him at his welcome party after Mon reveals his love for manga. Koino immediately becomes fascinated as she is a full bred otaku, and if you watch the film you will find out to what extent.

Thus begins their topsy-turvy 'relationship' complete with mandatory cosplay and panty shots. Imagine getting lucky with the girl of your dreams. This film has, as one of Koino’s fans would put it, “a gift for reckless plot twists” with lots of slap stick humour and geeky references. It's great to see an infusion of over the top otaku moments contrasted with the hatred of Mr Happy and Marimoda at the job trying to tear down Mon's beliefs and talent.

Director Suzuki Matsuo is best recognised internationally for  Ichi the Killer. Matsuo dabbles in playwright, stage direction, novels, columns, essays, and occasional manga artist. Otakus in love was his debut as a film director. His adaptation of Jun Hanyunyuu's manga is fast-paced and vibrantly whatever the mood of the character. Ironically Matsuo himself plays the most laid back character of the manga bar boss.

If you're looking for a film with two hours of geek culture, this is it. From 2004 you can feel it's a bit outdated but some of the references are classics so it wouldn't matter anyway. There are a wide array of characters from the odd circus troupe or band housemates who live with Mon to the quirky people hanging around the manga bar.

Kawaii corner: Kekiko

Photo by Caroline Mound Photography

I asked the founder of the company Amy Leung why she chose pandas.

"Pandas are my all time favourite animal. They are cute, huggable and just adorable fluffy creatures. This is why I chose to have them as my mascots. So far I have a girl panda, Keki, and a boy panda, Kiko, both who I'd like to feature on tote bags, t-shirts and stickers in the future."

Amy the founder of Kekiko has been planning this new store for a year now and has finally introduced it to the world during the MCM Expo weekend 2013. The online store is now up and running  you can visit it at: www.kekiko.com

The headgear were the top sellers at the Kekiko stall, these included the kitty and bunny ears, the tokidoki snapbacks and the bunny ear beanie hats. Everyone loved them and thought they went well with almost any outfit. Amy had also hand made some cute panda bookmarks and little hair pins that were received very well at the expo.

Our favourite items Kekiko sells include:

Molang

Molang is a small and lovable animal.  He’s very curious and a big dreamer. Molang loves to have fun and to make/give/blow kisses. But what he loves the most is to eat strawberries. As soon as Molang catches a whiff of this fruit, its cheeks turn a little pinker and its eyes shine a little brighter. A very kawaii large size Molang Bunny born and bred all the way from Korea! Soft and cuddly and awaiting your love.

Kawaii White Sheep Hand-Warmer Plush Toy Cushion

Keep your hands warm during those cold nights or mornings with these adorable little fluffy sheep hand warmers. Great as gifts or to use as a cushion. Really soft to cuddle. Each comes in a different colour, equipped with its own little scarf. This is one of the most useful things I discovered on Kekiko's site especially for Britain's chilly winter. Keep warm and kawaii with this top product!


Bunny Ears Beanie Hat

This hat is crafted in polyester, featuring a chunky knit design, bunny ear embellished to the crown and a turn-up brim with a ribbed edge. At just $14.00 you can free the J-fashion diva in you  in Black, Navy, Rose Red Beanie, Light Grey colours, why not get a few.

Handmade Kawaii Kitty Ears

Release your inner kawaii neko with these adorable, super soft and fluffy kitty ears. Great for dressing up or everyday use. Simply clip on and go. As you can see these clip on ears won me over with there small but authentic design. For a bargain price of $6.20 two. Comes in bunny style too.

Amongst the headgear and plushies Kekiko also offers a variety of stationary, keyrings, and phone cases with Molang on them too. Great fashionable items and presents for friends. Kekiko bring adorable goodies all the way from Japan and Korea to your doorstep.

FInd updates and giveaways via here Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Kekiko

Anime Key To World Peace Campaign

Tis the Season to be jolly, but Christmas doesn't eradicate the horrors of the world. That is why there are so many organisations pulling resources and donation together to help keep children off the street., feed the hungry stop people from freezing to death and that's just in the UK Abroad we have war, starvation, abuse, slave labour and how ever many more I can't count on both my hands. We have a nice organisation that will actively try to to use Anime as a key to world peace.

Anime Key To World Peace Campaign

This campaign has one goal, use the influence that anime has all over the world to bring people in every country together. Their thoughts is that if people can find thing in common with anime they can start putting their difference aside little by little and become friends.

This all came about when Founder Scott Young accidentally friend requested the wrong person while looking for Chelly from Supercell band and instead addedt a girl from Equador who was a fan of Supercell and had a fan profile.  That got him thinking what if we could bring people together around the world. This little mistake  turned out to be a bigger project and he is still good friends with the girl too.

After consulting a few friends: Tyler, Chris, Sorro, and Ryan they thought what if we could start a page with anime fans to come together around the world and share their views and learn from each other and make friendships through it. So far that has been working well we have over 500 members in first 10 days and Tyler got the idea of holding a winter anime picture event who ever can have the best winter anime pic wins an admin spot.

Although we know its not an easy task and a lot of people will be doubtful that it will work. But if we can bring enough people together from this generation we can do it. As one day our generation will take over, and when that happens this page will be our greatest accomplishment to unite the world.

The group promotes itself to other anime dedicated websites and ask's every member in group to do as much posting as possible because you can't get stuff in common with people if you post anything. And the second thing Leader Scott Young ask's of them is anyone they know invite them to page and ask them to do same thing. So that everyone comes together. As well as trying to get hold of local tv stations to put it put there so everyone locally can do same thing as well.

This is a nice community, so that people who have no one to turn to can look to for distraction or solace in friends and anime. I myself turn to a few favourites to lift my mood when work is unbearable or when people shove you on a train to get to the last available seat. It's a notion that hopefully can promote peace and happiness in an otherwise cold world.

Some of the members comments on the group -

"I'm from the Anime Key To World Peace Campaign. The simplest way for me to put this is that I've always been bothered by people who choose violence when there could be a peaceful solution. I also believe that we may have found a peaceful common ground between people. And that as time passes hopefully we'll become even more well known." Christopher Craig

"I must say I enjoy being in this group. For once people actually like my posts. I haven't seen any life changing animes but people have suggested some funny ones." Tyler Dehoff

"This group allows me to take a different approach to anime. Bringing peace isn't a bad idea or a false step for this group. I have to say that any anime can be life changing, depends on how that person takes it." Sorro Santo

Show your support or lose yourself in some great anime:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/594255707302738/

Baitfighter at Playnation Games

Since we last visited the fresh new look of M&M Games, Playnation Games have been busting a move with lots of events. Utilising their 2nd floor as the Games room, you can pay £2,50 to play retro games all evening or enter Card game tourneys or play casuals, streetpass whatever your heart desires.

If there are events going on for £2.50 you get the opportunity to share your passion for games in a big community. Their latest collaboration features youtube sensation Baitstaition for Baitfighter at Playnation Games. The lads behind this challenge gamers to instant knock out leaving with their dignity in tact or with bragging rights over all.

Upon arriving around 7.15pm all the tournament spaces had been filled already, I could hear a cheering crowd from upstairs, this event had attracted lots of the local gamers to try their skills against the hyped up Bait-fighters.

Confirmed games included:

Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade edition (XBox 360)
Street Fighter: The movie (playing on XBox)
Mortal Kombat 3: SNES
Super Smash Bros. (GC or N64 tbc)
Street of Rage 2 - vs. and co-op (Megadrive)
WWF Smackdown 2 (PSX)
WWF No Mercy (N64)

They also had Street Fighter X Tekken, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Marvel Vs Capcom 2 and 3, 3rd Strike (online edition) and BlazBlue:CF for play after the main tournament, plus any other games Playnation could magic up.

You were welcome to bring your own sticks/Pads, there will be a couple floating around for use, but if you don't bring your own, you get what you're given and no moaning about equipment, if you lose take it like a man. A gallery for Perfected losers was made so everyone could have their time to shine and everyone had a  lot of fun.

Not being a Streetfighter fan I enjoyed my luck at Soul Caliber on Dreamcast, and who is my challenger? Non other than Foolish Overloard aka Tom from Anime Picks. He put up a good fight but no one could defeat my Xianghua and Lizard man team.

Watch our video with interviews from the people behind Baitstaition and Playnation games.

Video Review: Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness

My casual Fuka Cosplay

I'm pleased to announce the doods from my previous IGN pub quiz article, see their mug shot here.
Josiah, Cheryl, Arfaaaaaaaan and a few more cool peeps are working on a games website, well I say 'working on' Josiah is the mastermind behind building the site, the rest of us contribute. It's nice we can all bounce off ideas of each other and one member is even Australia.Here's my first game review off my favourite Japanese role playing game series Disgaea <3 p="">
In Parallax Play 's debut video review, Aisha Anime (aka me) checks out Disgaea D2 for PS3 from NIS America, Inc. Doooood! I like the series so much I even cosplayed as Fuka the protagonist from Disgaea 4 :D

http://parallaxplay.com/video-review-disgaea-d2-a-brighter-darkness/

Fuka from Disgaea 4

Find my detailed review on Animepicks.co.uk  here -
http://animepicks.co.uk/2013/10/game-review-disgaea-d2-halloween-special/

Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby In 8-bit Land Review

Regular Show is an American animated television series created following the lines of Adventure Time. Created by J. G. Quintel for Cartoon Network which premiered September 6, 2010, the series revolves around the lives of two friends, a blue jay named Mordecai and a raccoon named Rigby who are introduced at the beginning of the game.

You have 16 levels of  head banging 2D platforming to look forward to in Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby In 8-bit Land, it is that frustrating. With the famous Super Mario Bros. platforming games you enjoy a simple story line, not forgetting the goombas. Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby In 8-bit Land on the over hand is seriously, frustratingly hair pulling difficult with no quirky commentary which was lacking from this game.

To go into detail about how hard the game is, there were multiple instances where I was killed by an off-screen enemy (glitch?) or narrowly missed a jump that looked reachable. You are then left feeling deceived and having to plan different strategies then to make the jump rather than jumping. There’s a difference between a good challenge, and difficulty for difficulty’s sake. Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby In 8-bit Land feels like a troll game with everything put in to enrage you. Great to motivate you to take up the sport of boxing.

Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby In 8-bit Land follows typical gameboy retro platform games. However, following the times, this isn’t nostalgic, it is almost a copy of Mario Bros. You jump on snails to continue and collect dollar bills with the addition of switching characters. If you switch characters you then have increased skills. For example, Mordecai is taller so has better jumping ability and reach, whereas Rigby is small but fast, so more likely to dodge enemies and crawls through tight spaces.

Both are needed to fully explore each area of 8-Bit Land. Levels themselves are all fairly large, so there’s a decent amount of exploration involved. The backgrounds are nicely drawn with great colours and graphics for a 2D game.

Three gold VHS tapes are hidden about in each stage, giving you the momentum to look around as you can back track on levels. There’s a timer too, and finishing levels in a speedy manner gets you bonuses. The timer is a catch 22 as you try to speed through the game which means instant death, you have to time your jumps and take a slow pace to survive and keep your sanity.

However, avid Regular Show fans will find plenty to like here. They have incorporated some of the amusing characters from the show as big bosses. Two notable ones are the Flock of Geese and the Destroyer of Worlds.

The story though is not apparent, they literally get sent a game, flip a coin to see who plays first. The story fits in with the lazy character personas from the show. A narrative and voice over-style game from the great star cast from the show would have been better fitting, coupled with this an RPG-style game would work much better with the original series. These points won’t deter loyal fans and anyone who likes to torture themselves with exceedingly hard games.

London MCM Expo 2013: The Highs and Lows

Tara Platt, Yuri Lowenthall voice actors XD

(Originally this article was written for Anime Picks.)London MCM Expo 2013 really out did themselves as an expo for providing great anime guests this year including:

• Wit Studio (Attack on Titan, Hal)
• Ryo Mito (Saint Seiya Brave Soldiers)
• Kunio Hashimoto (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z)
• Hideo Baba (Tales of Symphonia Chronicles, Tales of Xillia 2)
• Hiroshi Matsuyama (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle)
• Troy Baker (Voice actor, Joker, Bioshock, Last of us, Trinity Blood, Tekken, Tales of Vesperia)
• Richard Craig Smith (Voice actor, Bruce Wayne, Assasin’s Creed, Tekken, Tales of Vesperia)
• Yuri Lowenthall ( Voice actor, Naruto, Obscure)
• Tara Platt (Voice actor, Tekken, Naruto, Obscure)
• Ellyn Stern ( Bleach, Patlobar, Ghost in the Shell)
• 
  

One of the main highlights of the convention was the attendance of the creators of Attack on Titan, Wit Studio. We managed to get hold of the very busy guys to talk to them about the series, some changes, the music and their new anime Hal. Listen/watch our inteview with Wit Studio here.

Wit Studio

As much as everyone is willing to queue hours to meet their idols, it didn’t end well for everyone sadly. Unless you followed specific people on Twitter, aka Yuri and Tara who posted their signing schedules for everyone to come see them. It became a mission to find the stall to queue, or if you needed to get a wristband and timings. This is something companies need to liaise with MCM about so that MCM have a schedule to release to customers. These changes need to be made known before or on the day. We had many reports coming in of attendees missing their chance to meet certain guests including Wit Studio. The chances of this Japanese team returning is unpredictable.

My highlight was participating in the League of Legends UK cosplay meet, it was an experience I enjoyed through finding the ‘Fringe’ section on the London MCM Expo 2013 site. This page is a must for cosplayers, it has a list of all cosplay meets on all three days with locations, times and even links to Facebook groups. Especially since we have so many cosplayers attending the Eurocosplay awards that we need somewhere universal for people to connect through. Then the official Konami Cosplay competition where Konami sought out cosplayers to cosplay as Konami characters. A lot of Snakes surfaced with a Raiden, Female Dracula and myself as a retro character, Viki from Suikoden.

Check out the great photos taken by the Konami Uk team photographer Ace: http://www.konami.co.uk/mcm-expo-gallery-day-1

The lows were seeing the poor organisation of staff. Sadly there were reports of bad behaviour towards people in wheelchairs, no facilities or allowances were made to make them comfortable. Being in crutches and fighting my way through thick crowds of cosplayers, I can relate. Luckily the attendees were polite and understanding but looking at the MCM group from the amount of complaints shows the lack of training with London MCM Expo 2013 staff/volunteers.

Yugioh life size playing board

What added further insult to injury was if you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, dockland staff were confiscating cosplay weapons. With no justification cosplay weapons or props were taken away and destroyed. This is alarming, as London MCM Expo is known for cosplay, and staff around the area should come to recognise this. However precious works of art and hard labour were taken away and destroyed un rightfully. Please comment us with any updates on this controversial issues.

Our favourite stalls this time round include:

Good Smile Company

Founded May 1st 2001, Good Smile Company is a Japanese manufacturer of hobby products such as the Nendoroid and figma product lines. In addition to production and manufacturing, its business includes design, marketing and distribution. They have come back to the UK after two years as unsure of their popularity, this time around I personally made sure they knew how popular their products are. Releasing a new line of Attack of Titan figmas and an exclusive Europen Sakura Miku.

Watch our Interview with Mr O about GSC and figuring out a fake here..

Pixiebunny.com

Launched by fashion icon and lolita Pixie late who has sold various products in the past but know has her own Pixie Couture line. The many facets of Tokyo street fashion have influenced her shop’s cute, fun and unique aesthetics. Pixie believes that style is a combination of makeup, hair, clothes and accessories, which is why Pixie Bunny strives to be your one stop shop for the hottest kawaii looks and trends. Pixie Couture sprinkles a bit of magic and fairy dust to whoever wears it. The debut line focuses on the preppy cute look of Japanese school uniform (seifuku) and plaid patterns because she adores that look. The shop currently stocks quality Japanese cosmetics, fashion accessories as well as one of a kind hand crafted fashion goods but there will loads more to come!

Facebook: facebook.com/PixieBunnyShop

Sheep hand warmer from Kekiko!

Kekiko.com

Kekiko’s founder also has a passion for pandas like Anime Picks. She sells cute stationary and fashion items, one of the popular ones being the car ear clips, light and real for kids and adults to enjoy for casual day or cosplay. The online store should be up and running by the end of November, you can visit it at: www.kekiko.com. The headgear were the top sellers at the Kekiko stall, these included the kitty and bunny ears, the tokidoki snapbacks and the bunny ear beanie hats. Everyone loved them and thought they went well with almost any outfit. Pandas are Amy’s all time favourite animal. They are cute, huggable and just adorable fluffy creatures. This is why she chose to have them as her mascots.

Watch our compilation video here.

Podcast went Visual

Alex, myself and Orun

The podcast I've been hosting since April has now reached 33 episodes and to mark this 33rd one we went visual. Yeah we're blank voices no more we're loud and proud at the Playnation Games studio ^_^ Well it's the games room but we turn it into a makeshift studio !

Weirdly enough for podcasts the sell by date is by episode 15, we've doubled it and changed platforms, I don't know if that's good or bad. One of my friends said he listens as a podcast is convenient for him to download to his ipod and then listen to on his journey to work so he may stop listening when we go video
-_-

What does one do? We'll we recorded a mini teaser video taster and hopefully the listeners approve? Check it out for yourselves, please feel free to send suggestions on how to improve it!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAnimeUkShow?ref=hl
Twiiter: @animeukshow
Latest ep on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgbBcHW6KWo&feature=youtu.be