So far the Neptunia franchise has been three mediocore RPGs and a passable IDOLM@STER parody—so my hopes weren’t the highest going into its first strategy RPG. But let me tell you, there is a lot to love in Hyper Goddess Faith Noire: Ultra Goddess Black Heart—even with its impressively complicated name. Good – Characters and…
The newest game in the Neptunia series stars some of the most well-known game franchises reimagined as anime girls. But the character designs are far from the only shout-out to these series. You should see some of the special attacks. When I think of the Yakuza series, the first thing that comes to mind is…
Back at the start of the spring season, as I wrote short summaries about all the season’s then upcoming anime, post-apocalyptic tale Black Bullet was one of the anime I was most looking forward to. However, less than two episodes in I could already see that it was failing to live up to its interesting…
Tokyo ESP is the story of a teenage girl with the power to phase through solid objects and a teenage boy with the power to teleport who decide to become superheroes. So while I wouldn’t have been surprised by an X-Men cameo, I certainly didn’t expect the Ghostbusters to show up—especially as villains! In all…
In the past, the Neptunia series has taken the form of turn-based JRPGs and an idol simulator. Now, the newest game moves the series into the realm of tactical strategy RPGs. Join us as we see how this game full of game-series-reimagined-as-anime-girls plays. Hyper Goddess Faith Noire: Ultra Goddess Black Heart was released for the…
This week marks the start of the second season ofRWBY, the fairytale and anime-inspired web series by the crew over at Rooster Teeth. But as a single new episode left me wanting more, I decided to try out the fan game RWBY: Grim Eclipse Based on the series’ “Red” trailer, the hack ‘n slash survival…
I have watched some depressing anime in the past, but none have been quite on the level of the bottomless pit of despair that is M3: The Dark Metal Good – A Different Kind of Mecha Anime M3 is the story a group of a people living on the border of the Dark Realm—a bubble…
I am no stranger to the Neptunia video game parody franchise with its anthropomorphic personifications of game systems, companies, and series. However, one thing has always freaked me out when playing them: the characters’ constantly heaving chests. In the Neptunia games, the story is largely told with visual novel-style cutscenes—i.e., 2D anime-style drawings of the…
This last weekend in Japan saw the release of When Marnie Was There, the newest film from the acclaimed Studio Ghibli. It is an excellent tale of friendship and family all set against the backdrop of an incredibly personal supernatural story. Good – A Supernatural Mystery When Marnie Was There is one of those movies…
The Neptunia series has a long history of turning video game consoles and companies into anime girls for their games. But the new spin-off game, Hyper Goddess Faith Noire: Ultra Goddess Black Heart, takes it a step further and gives famous Japanese game franchises their own anime girl treatment. [Note: As the names of these…
This past anime season didn’t have too many series that featured video games or gaming culture. However, the ones that did are eminently gif-able. No Game No Life Mekaku City Actors Nanana’s Buried Treasure Ping Pong Special thanks to TAY author FruityDrinksfor helping me find these gaming moments. Kotaku East is your slice of Asian…
Regular readers of my reviews know I love character and thematically driven anime—but that’s not to say I don’t enjoy a good, straight-up adventure when I come across one. And that’s exactly what Chaika: The Coffin Princess is. Good – A Solid Fantasy Adventure After the defeat of the evil emperor, the world has transitioned…
For decades, Gundam has had some impressive side story games that explore the war in the original Gundam. So you’d think an HD collection like Gundam Side Stories would be a godsend—and it would be if it were more than just an inept play on your nostalgia. Good – A New Gundam Side Story When…
You like Gundam? Do you have time to kill on some simple flash games? Then, boy, do I have the site for you. Japanese blog Kenkouna Seikatsu (Healthy Life) is about two things: Macromedia Flash and Gundam. Thus it has over a dozen Gundam flash games from across several genres. It’s got action games, quiz…
Huh, would you look at that, Twitch is still playing Pokémon. They’re all the way to Black and White 2. The 600+ viewers are far from what it once was but it’s still pretty impressive. They also have random matches of Pokémon Staduim 2 running that people can bet on. Watch live video from TwitchPlaysPokemon…
When I talk with older anime fans, the biggest complaint I hear is that everything has become nothing but moé, angsty, high school, love-harems. They claim they want exciting action shows with an adult cast and grown-up stories. To those people, I say this: “Blade & Soul is the anime for you.” Good – A…
Sword Art Online is an anime series about 6000 players trapped in a VR MMORPG. So what could be more apt than playing a Sword Art Online game with the Oculus Rift VR headset? About a week ago, Oculus Rift had a booth at Anime Expo 2014. There you could try out an official demo…
There have been a lot of Gundam side story games over the past few decades and many of them are now quite hard to find. Thus comes the PS3 collection Gundam Side Stories which reimagines these classic games with a modern engine. Let’s see what it looks like in action. Gundam Side Stories was released…
An isolated human colony ship is on the run from aliens and the only effective defense they have left are giant robots. No doubt, you’ve heard similar setups before; but Knights of Sidonia plays the situation completely straight—from the real world physics to the societal implications. Good – A Society Built for Space One of…
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