The panel started very strongly, and I feel I have to give the panelists top marks for their ambitious introduction, which clearly showed that they had put a lot of thought into the content that they wanted to cover. Also praise-worthy was the miniature AMV that one of the panelists put together which set the tone of the panel as a whole — exploratory but still humorous.

The panel hit on a number of different points — the use of magical girls as a allegory for puberty, an examination of gender relations presented in the show, altruism, the existence of the Ubermensch and role of a deity (if there is one) in the shows universe. All of the individual points were well presented, in particular during the altruism and "Where is God?" sections where the panelists had some very good exploratory discussions amongst themselves. I would have greatly enjoyed more instances of this as opposed to the sections where the three panelists took turns handing off the same argument between each other. The panel certainly had enough meaty content to live up to it's name and presented it in an approachable, engaging manner.

Sadly, this is the part where I write up a small laundry-list of niggling issues I had with the panel, none of which "ruined" the presentation but taken together weakened it. Primary among my irritations was the over-use of PowerPoint slides — at some points the panelists exhibited my pet hate habit of reading directly off of the slides and not adding anything to the text on screen. This, combined with the aforementioned lack of debate between the panelists left some very interesting points relatively unexplored. The slides also contained numerous typographical errors — not a major issue in itself but combined with previous niggles was indicative that the content presented could have done with an additional critical look to shore up the arguments presented and provide a more "solid" talk overall. In particular the lack of a proper conclusion before the floor was opened up for Q&A at the end of the panel left me feeling somewhat unfulfilled.

An additional misstep was taken in the middle of the panel when the audience was asked to respond to a small question — sadly this did not go as planned as instead of answering the question participants instead rushed the mic to present their own theories and have miniature discussions with the panelists. This took a lot of the momentum out of the discussion and it never fully recovered.

To be frank, I did not expect great things from this panel — rather cynically I presumed the discourse would be at the level of message board chatter and I was very pleased to be proven wrong. The panelists here have some very good ideas and discussion points tobring to the table, and if they can take what they currently have and iron out the kinks then they will have a very robust and intriguing panel.

This new story has a welcome improvement from the previous volumes in that all of the strange events of the story directly affect the first-person narrator Kyon. You get to watch his sarcastic outlook get put through the wringer instead of having him relate events that are happening to others, leading to much more engaging prose overall. It provides a welcome change from having the main character be a disaffected observer of bizarre events yet again and allows for some interesting development of his character and motivations throughout the book. The rest of the characters also receive their fair amount of the spotlight, and you learn a little more of the interrelations between them.

The plotline, which I am trying to skirt around in case of spoilers, moves along at a reasonable pace and answers all reader questions, but notably stumbles at the climax of the books events. Shortly after the climax, which for me made perfect sense and opened up some exciting possibilities, the author calls the book to the halt so he can clearly spell out the events that occurred just in case you weren't paying attention. This cheapens the ending a great deal, as instead of merely hinting as to the outcome a great big red arrow was instead used to point it out. Kyon further dwells on the climax in the final pages, adding big flashing lights to the sign saying "This is what the ending means, doofus!"

I feel I should mention here that the majority of the plot itself is highly engaging and enjoyable, and it is only because the way the climax is handled is such a noticeable drop in quality compared to the rest of the book that I feel the need to bring it up. The characters are still enjoyable to spend time with, the events presented are interesting, and the whole story is an page-turner even when you take into account its errors. There is one further sin the book commits, but that will need a bit of explanation.

If you watch anime you may be familiar with characters saying "That Person" instead of using someone’s name as a way of increasing tension in a plotline, or just to draw events out. It is usually used poorly, and sadly Disappearance falls into this trap as well. The first time it happens in the book it is actually used sparingly and to some decent dramatic effect, however it is used again later on across four whole pages when it would have been best to not bother with the gimmick. Given that the reader should have already figured out who the person in question is in this second instance, having so many mentions of "that person" in bold text at such a key point in the story ruins the tension that has been building and left me rolling my eyes.

For readers of the previous Haruhi books, Disappearance will feel like a comfortable continuation of the series with nothing truly earth-shattering but a lot to love nonetheless. Those who have not read the previous books may find themselves adrift somewhat as while the prologue does a great job of catching you up on the principle characters and setting, the story proper draws on a lot of elements expanded on in previous volumes. The book will still be a nice, enjoyable read, but will not be as engaging for fulfilling overall due to the lack of prior knowledge. If you have already watched the TV series, then this may well be a good place to start if you were put off of reading the first three volumes as you had already seen the events in animated form.

I have not seen the theatrical version of the story, and I am now even more excited to see it after reading the book, but I have to wonder how the movie can have a run time (2 hours, 45 minutes) longer than the amount of time it took me to read the source material.

One last thing I want to bring up is that I really like the colorful presentation of the paperback edition of the book, which along with the earlier volumes now has a vibrant little corner on my bookshelf next to some drably presented sci-fi.

Barring a few preventable mishaps, Disappearance is a great read and I utterly devoured it during my commute to and from work. I would recommend it to anyone, even if they had never heard of the series or anime as a whole.

[Highly Recommended]

This review is based on a retail version purchased by the reviewer.

Each story is wonderfully crafted, effortlessly introducing you to the new main character so you connect with them instantly each time, often with just a single panel. One such story shows you a girl staring listlessly at the split ends in her hair, and suddenly you are right there with her for the duration for her tale.

From there on you are hooked, each panel containing just the right amount of (or lack of) art, speech and action to keep you fully engrossed. Like having a door opened to find a tiny snowman with cigarettes for arms, with nothing else to clutter the page in between. The easy flow of the storytelling on the page is remarkable, as you'll find your eyes being drawn to the right place each time by the layout of both the panels and the items contained within. This helps the art pull off some amazing shifts in perspective to get you right into things without noticing how much the viewpoint has shifted.

All this helps you enjoy the stories on offer effortlessly, and break down any barriers between you and the drama playing out on the page.

The main theme the manga explores is that of thwarted dreams or expectations, and how the colorful cast of characters deals with them, or fails to do so entirely. The storylines contain just the right amount of grit and texture to give them depth without needing a cumbersome back-story to the issues that are presented, and at the same time they give you something meaty to chew on. The characters feel like actual people who have lived rather than blank slates who only begin to live when they are drawn. It's very refreshing in general to read something that is not just about dreams coming true but instead about opportunities lost, or times when things have slipped away. It also manages to avoid feeling grim for the sake of it, maintaining a very welcome air of absurdity whether in the form of death taking the likeness of a crow, or a turtle climbing out of its shell to escape it's owner. Everything presented as part of the human characters feels instantly relatable and, if it hits close to home, rather personal. Well, except the whole thing with the turtle. I would probably need some form of therapy if that happened to me.

Not all is sunshine and rainbows, however. Reading a whole volume in one sitting, even with its amazing pacing, can get very wearing due to the poignancy of emotion that is on display. There is only so much biting realism I can take before it begins to cause my soul to ache and thoughts to turn to happier things, and for this reason I would recommend spacing out your reading of World. Another problem is that the stories can begin to feel predictable as you are immersed by the atmosphere of the manga. After a few pages of a new story you can guess how events will play out in a vague sense. This sucks a lot of the magic out of the stories and so is best avoided by putting the book down for another day.

There is also some confusion surrounding the overarching plotline, or perhaps lack of one. Multiple times even in this first volume you will see characters recur, but in their new appearance the situation will have changed and so any previous experiences with the character have to be thrown out in favor of the new story being told. When this first happens it is very disorienting, and I found myself exclaiming "Heyyyy, wait a second! Wasn't she supposed to be in a band now?" before I realized what was happening.

So would I recommend it? Sure. World is a solid and very enjoyable manga to read, for me because it feels like a more manageable version of the Inio Asano I know from reading Solanin. It is also the first manga Asano published (Note: according to Wikipedia and other research) so it is useful to see the author's development from here into his later works.

World is a welcome shot of reality packaged just right to prevent it from hurting if things strike too close to home. You'll come out of reading it feeling a little wiser, if perhaps wearier.

[Recommended]

This review is based on a retail copy purchased by the reviewer.

Bayonetta (Platinum Games/Nex Entertainment): It’s hard to come up with a fitting opening line to fully encompass the wonder that is Bayonetta, but here goes: Bayonetta is a game where you play a nine-foot-tall woman who wears clothes made out of her own magical hair, has control over time, can summon massive demons, and spends her time destroying hundreds of freakish angels in order to do something or other. I don’t remember the plot very well — while hilarious and a great way to string the action together, it is so insane that your mind rejects it the second you stop playing. Bayonetta is what is known in the trade as a “Character Action Game” — somewhat like Devil May Cry, God of War, that sort of thing. That means a third-person camera, a combo system using different weapons including ground and aerial moves, quick time events, and button-mashing special attacks. Except, Bayonetta is the only game of this genre I have enjoyed, let alone completed twice over. The controls feel so tight and accessible, saving you from being constantly being reminded that there is a plastic knob in between you and the game. The game also has a great sense of fun all over, in its level design, enemies, and weapons. (Even the in-game shop will make you crack a smile when you visit.) The sheer amount of love put into the game shines through especially well in the final levels, during which I could not stop grinning for the entire two-hour session.

A side note: make sure to play the Xbox 360 version of this game, as the PS3 version has some horrible loading issues that rapidly suck the fun out of it.

Extra Bonus Item! (Likely to annoy Evan! This is done in the name of beefing out the amount of anime in the year-end picks.)

Baccano! (Brain’s Base): Seriously, go and read my Anime Secret Santa post on this series. After reading it, it should come as no surprise to learn that as soon as I had moved into my new house I unpacked Baccano! to re-watch it. To be precise, it was the fifth thing I unpacked, coming after the sofa, the DVD player, the TV and the kettle (for tea, of course). My love for this series only grows as I watch it this second time, and I heartily recommend it. (Ed. Note: Baccano! was released in the UK during 2010.)

Baccano! is also recommended by Ani-Gamers editor Evan "Vampt Vo" Minto.

See Also:

• Baccano! Anime Secret Santa Review (2010)
• Baccano! review (2008)

	: "Hmm, I want to watch both Eden of the East and Baccano! - what to do?"
	: "Hey, Hey Elliot!"
	: "What's that?"
	: "Hey there!"
	: "What the?"
	: "Hey there, Elliot, we think you should watch Baccano!. That would be for the best."
	: "Why?"
	: "Well, look how happy we are! Don't you want to find out why we are happy, and be happy yourself?"
	: "I guess..."
	: "Do it!"
	: "Agh! Okay, okay."
	: "Excellent....."

It went something like that. What I present here is more something of a trip report than a full review.

Now onto the show itself. Having watched the main 13 episode series, I have come to regard Baccano! as a series of victories and small wonders, furnishing the viewer with a massively entertaining show that manages to satisfy without outstaying its welcome or stretching too far.

I will admit that until sitting down and watching it I have avoided all discussion or reviews of Baccano! (Including the Ani-Gamers review) as whenever someone has mentioned the show they have taken pains to point out that almost anything is a spoiler when it comes to the shows twisting plotline. I even avoided reading the synopsis on the back of the DVD set before watching. (I'm glad I didn't—whoever wrote the one on the Manga UK DVD set appears to have been drunk.)

To outline the show: set primarily in the early 1930s, Baccano! follows the exploits of a wide range of characters in both Manhattan and the transcontinental express train "The Flying Pussyfoot" as they all go about their personal business. The narrative jumps between different time periods and different characters with such frequency that the show's creators saw fit to make much of the first episode a primer for what is to follow. For most of this episode, Norio Wakamoto (with full R-rolling in effect) and his assistant prepare the viewer by discussing in a broad sense the different time periods, settings and characters that you are going to spend the following 12 episodes with, as well as showing the viewer some juicy snippets of what is to come.

This initially flummoxing first episode nearly turned me off of the show. It felt like a warning, telling me "Hey, if you aren't down with whatâs going on now maybe you should just give up and put this back on your shelf. Oh, here is a quick cut of a young boy getting shot in the head. Bet you're interested now, eh?" Then, at the end of the episode something awesome happens (that I won't spoil) and I was hooked.

To cut to the chase, the plotting works marvelously. The highest praise I can lavish on Baccano! is that even with all the switching of character, time period and setting, the entire plotline comes together into a coherent whole that is massively satisfying, like watching a good detective story. The timing and placement of character and time zone transitions feels meticulously thought out and perfectly judged to maintain viewer interest without causing confusion or irritation. When transitioning between different time periods the show will throw up a black static image with the year that the following events take place in - the genius of these cuts are that they act as welcome breathing spaces in the action, heightening tension. The presentation reminds me an awful lot of the Guy Ritchie film Snatch (2000), which also uses multiple viewpoints to weave together a coherent and thrilling tale. I was worried towards the end that Baccano! would contract a fatal case of "Dumb Anime Ending" syndrome, but I was proven completely and wonderfully wrong. The ending was not bombastic or laden with sudden twists, but was immensely satisfying and ties the disparate plotlines up wonderfully.

The characters themselves also do a lot of the lifting when it comes to drawing you into the story, in part because there are so damn many of them but also because they are genuinely interesting. One particular character is called Jacuzzi Splot, and when I first saw him, i hated his guts. He had a dumb tattoo, a whiny voice, and a melancholy outlook on life. His one redeeming feature was that listening to Japanese voice actors try and pronounce "Jacuzzi" was endlessly amusing. But after a few appearances I began to root for the guy as his development on screen was so engaging and interesting to watch. This happens a lot with the characters â you might not like them, but you come to understand them through their actions. I can honestly say that Baccano! is one of the few shows that have had me rooting for a mass murderer. Multiple mass murderers, in fact.

Not only are the characters interesting because of their actions, but they also look great. Everyone is stylishly drawn and with a great deal of care, something that really helps out not only in learning names but also in deciphering expressions and intentions of the cast and helping you connect with them. This ability to empathize with the characters really pulls you in, and I feel is best outlined by two of its best characters, Isaac and Miria. I love these two, so very much. Isaac and Miria are a pair of loud, boisterous, idiotic and immensely lucky thieves and the fact that they feel like believable characters while acting in such an absurd manner for their entire time on screen is a credit to the series. They are used just the right amount â too little and they would become a throwaway gimmick, too much and they would take over the show and ruin the magic.

I mentioned that the characters were stylish before. In fact the whole series is damn stylish. Every character, backdrop and action has style in spades. What makes this work is that the style is completely cohesive and well thought out to work as a single whole experience: no sudden SHAFT-style insanity, no winks at the camera, no snickering to itself behind the stage curtains. Every element presented on screen has a purpose and it was put there to contribute directly towards viewer enjoyment, drawing you into a coherent world that has a tangible feeling of authenticity to it.

To sum up my thoughts on Baccano!, after the end of the 13th episode in my third non-stop viewing session, I stood up to retrieve the DVD from the disc tray and thought to myself: "Wow. That was really enjoyable. I wish more things were made this well." I only regret I waited until I had to be pushed by Santa to actually sit down and watch it!

[Highly Recommended]

This review is based on the Manga UK DVD box set, purchased by the reviewer.

The doctor who takes Shogo on as a patient is rather troubled by this and so decides that a suite of tests and treatments are in order, including a terrifying session of electroconvulsive therapy. It is during this therapy that Apollo's Song introduces it's key element that sets it far apart — the Goddess. Taking the form of a massive female statue she scolds Shogo for his hatred of love and forces him to confront the root of his problem. Then, as a punishment for his transgressions against the sanctity of love, Shogo is condemned to a never-ending series of trials — over and over he must come to know love, but every time it is within his grasp it will be snatched away from him. The more cynical among those reading probably just laughed and yelled “Oh, just like real life then!” out loud.

What follows this proclamation is a series of discrete tales that follow the template that the goddess outlines — each time, Shogo comes close to being cured but is ultimately thwarted, usually in a harrowing fashion. You would think this pattern would get dull, but there is another facet to the story; you are never fully sure what is “real”, or what is a dream, a hypnotic suggestion, or even if Shogo is actually dead or alive for the majority of the manga. The different trials Shogo experiences also have their own back-story and love stories within them, further muddying the waters about what is taking place in reality and what is confined to his imagination. Even the ending of the story is wonderfully ambiguous and ends on a rather depressing note for Shogo, but leaves it up to the reader to decide what the ending entails.

I am a massive fan of this sort of reality-bending fiction and so Apollo’s Song scores lots of points with me, enough to make me overlook some of its nagging flaws. The biggest among these is the repetition of the individual stories within the overall plot arc — as mentioned before, they all follow the exact pattern that the Goddess outlines. In addition, some of the stories are instantly forgettable, and even on my fifth reading I am confronted with entire chapters I had completely forgotten and am beginning to forget even as I write this review. Another, more egregious issue is that Shogo himself is an unpleasant dick who keeps undoing his own character development. While this can be seen as a normal human character flaw, especially for someone as seriously ill as he is, it can become exasperating after he fails to even attempt to reform himself for the umpteenth time in the face of great pressure to do so.

This frustration with Shogo is eased by getting know him through the art, with all emotions laid bare on the page for you to see and feel as you read. Simply put, the facial expressions and body language in the manga are among the best I have seen. At one key moment in the story an entire page is set aside at time for a single facial expression of sorrow — a powerful moment hammered home by a very simply presented image. The rest of the art (especially the layout) is equally superb, with many nice touches and unique pages added to keep you interested. The emotional highs and lows (mostly lows, in this case) are wonderfully captured on the page, with each moment given time to breathe over multiple pages and clear layouts to heighten the impact. The main triumph of the art is that each separate story told within the overarching plot looks and feels like its own separate series. You can tell from a glance what the setting feels like and how it differs from every other story presented in the manga.

While I pointed out some flaws earlier in this review that may sound like deal-breakers to some, I am still a fan of Apollo's Song due to how much it rewards revisiting. While not a short book by any stretch of the imagination, the story is just the right size to pick up and read for the hell of it without without the investment of time that MW or Ode to Kirihito demand. Due to its very powerful message and reality-bending storyline, each reading can give you something new to chew on.

I have read this story in a multitude of personal states and attitudes towards love — while happily in a relationship, in a failing relationship, and shortly after a break-up, and each time it has given me something new to think about and an uplifting feeling despite its grim storyline.

[Recommended]

This review is based on a retail copy purchased by the reviewer.

The library itself is also very streamlined, with six titles available, each with one to two volumes available at present. These titles are Viz's biggest, such as One Piece, Dragon Ball and Naruto. Each series also has the first chapter available to preview for free, which is a welcome feature. The title-browsing interface is very simplistic and I hope that this is developed further as more titles are added — while the interface works fine for six series it could quickly become cluttered and difficult to navigate as more are added.

As a gift, the first volume of Death Note is available to download for free to users who sign up for new accounts (at the time of writing). Downloading is as simple as pressing the appropriate link and letting the data come to you — however sadly this is marked with a few problems. First of all, there is no downloads menu — the only indication that anything is happening is a sluggish blue bar pasted at the bottom of the volume cover which you can sit and watch creep across the screen. You cannot view a volume that is being downloaded, something that is easily possible on other (sadly less scrupulous) manga viewers. You are still free to navigate around the app, but the experience is noticeably slower and there is a lack of anything else to actually look at while you wait. Exiting the app causes the download to reset, which is irritating but is perhaps more due to the fact that iPads are still running iOS3.2-OS4.2 and multitasking will not be available until some time in November according to Apple. Re-entering the app automatically restarts the download, which is a nice touch, but as downloads don't show up in your library until they are finished and there is no downloads pane, it’s a rather long-winded process to determine how your download is doing. For my part, I went and played with my cats while the download was ongoing.

One thing I want to quickly praise here is the error messages. This sounds like an odd thing to mention, but each time I ran into an error with the app (not often), the message presented was clear, direct, and to the point. When I bought and downloaded Volume 1 of Bleach to test the purchasing system there was an error with the download. The message that appeared reassured me that all was well, nothing was lost, and I only had to restart the app. This extra effort is greatly appreciated, as when errors of this sort occur it can be bewildering as to where your money and content have gone.

So, enough of all of this infrastructure stuff — what about the actual comic-reading part of the app?

First of all, the image quality looks fine. Even when zoomed in the pages look clear and legible with no artifacts in sight. Holding the iPad in landscape mode creates a two-page spread that mimics a physical manga volume, while holding it portrait gives you a view of a larger single page. Both work well and are comfortable to read — the biggest compliment I can give is that I happily read the entire first volume of Death Note and Bleach with no major issues.

One nice thing that made me laugh is that the generic "you are reading the wrong way!" advisory message you find on the last page of manga volumes pops up when you try and turn the first page as if you would a western book. These touches show Viz has been thoughtful when constructing the app.

There are still small niggles with the presentation, however — reading landscape introduces a small time lag in-between page turns as the app renders the next two pages ahead of you, and skipping to a distant portion of the volume causes the app to tick over for a noticeable amount of time before displaying the desired pages. However, It should be noted that this behavior was only apparent when I stress tested the application.

Another small complaint with the manga viewing, at least with Bleach, is the massive size of the spine margins present on the pages — in either landscape or portrait view they take up a not-insignificant portion of the screen and once you see them you can't help noticing that they are there. Cropping these would really benefit the reading experience.

Prolonged reading was comfortable on the eyes, but sadly not on the arms — the iPad is still just a little too heavy to be fully comfortable as a reading device, but this is a fault of the hardware and not Viz.

A quick note here on the price: US $5 a volume at present. This feels, to me at least, a very fair price to charge with the caveat that I expect purchases to carry over onto other digital platforms as they become available. I see no reason why not as your purchases are tied to the Vizmedia.com account you have to create when you start using the app.

All in all, the app does what it says on the proverbial tin, in an approachable and streamlined manner. I have no real complaints that would prevent my continuing to use the app, other than a frank request that they port it to other territories ASAP — if this was available natively in the UK I would gladly use it to finally buy and read One Piece. The series is just too big at present to buy in physical format due to the sheer bulk of the books.

I hope Viz continues to improve the app; adding more and a greater variety titles would be a great start, but adding in community interaction such as forums, reviews and such would really boost interactivity and provide something to do while waiting for downloads to complete. For now, though, it’s a great start.

[Highly Recommended]

Note: This review is of the first publicly available version of the Viz Media iPad app, and thus the app itself is liable to change via updates and patches. Please also note that this app is only available at present within the US and Canada — being in the UK I had to obtain the app via gray market means which, while relatively easy, should only be attempted if you are fully aware of the possible drawbacks of such an approach.

First of all, we are told very few solid details about about Yotsuba’s origin, and even her father is rather sketchy on the particulars. We know she is an orphan (as outlined in Chapter 6), but when pressed for details her dad tells us that he “met her while overseas, and just kinda started looking after her”. Fuuka fills in for the reader here by admitting that she doesn't really understand, but then something much more interesting happens (a thunderstorm) and the topic is dropped as Yotsuba runs outside to play in the rain. The main theory paraded around about this can be seen in a well distributed piece of fan-art that shows Yotsuba as a ragged orphan in a war-torn country. Whether this is anywhere near the truth, or even if there is a canon answer, is unknown.

We don't even know for sure what Yotsuba’s age is, and she and her adoptive father even have a confused conversation about it when buying a bike. Any mention of a mother goes right over Yotsuba’s head without comment, and the manga then typically shifts to a different and much more fun topic. It is refreshing to have a character without any parental issues present in their personality, and this makes it a lot easier to relate to the nostalgia present in Yotsuba&!. After all, no one wants to be reminded of the bad stuff in a whimsical tale.

Linking in with her origin is Yotsuba’s appearance. Many characters, especially incidental ones, question whether she is a foreigner upon first meeting her, a not unexpected reaction given what little we know of her origins, and also how she acts. There is an additional reason as well — her trademark green four-pigtailed hair. While crazily colored hair is nothing new in anime or manga, the world of Yotsuba&! is grounded in real life, and no one else has their hair in such an outlandish hue or style. Characters even marvel at the bizarre style, further re-enforcing how much the energetic little girl differs from the norm.

Then there are the more mundane, common sense reasons that make Yotsuba stand out. She never tires of looking for adventure each and every day, is enthusiastic about absolutely everything, and is for the most part impeccably behaved apart from the odd, endearing, and quickly forgiven mischief . Yotsuba is the perfect little friend to explore the world with, a fountain of endless curiosity and enthusiasm that makes the world a better place. Even her tantrums are (mostly) well founded, in stark contrast to normal children. (I remember being a selfish little brat myself when I was five-ish.)

Yotsuba is an outsider in her own manga, and it is because of this that the reader never gets sick of her antics. We don't know much about her, and don’t care to find out beyond the basics presented as it may disrupt the warm fuzzy feeling that the manga provides. Hell, what if Kiyohiko Azuma went crazy one day and decided that Yotsuba’s origin is that she is a 1,000-year-old vampire stuck in a tiny body? All the fun would leave the title faster than air out of a popped balloon.

Knowing nothing about Yotsuba lets us get on with the very important business of enjoying her company in her magical, whimsical adventures full of cardboard robots powered by money and flower cupids. It’s much better this way.

Now, onto the anthology itself. The file size is rather dinky (9 MB, to be exact). While this is great for quick downloading on the move, the image quality suffers from this small size as zooming in even a little on the pages makes image compression readily visible. The size of the images that make up the anthology are rather small, resulting in massive margins around the pages on the iPad and noticeable amounts of unused space even on the smaller iPhone. This fact, combined with the previously mentioned issue of being unable to turn pages while zoomed in, makes reading the magazine a chore.

Another much more irritating issue is that both the translation and the editing feel lazy. The former is at least functional despite its poor use of punctuation, but the typesetting of the dialogue and sound effects feels very poorly handled and is detrimental to enjoyment of the magazine. All the text is presented plainly, sound effects outside of speech bubbles are untranslated and there is nothing to differentiate between sound effects and dialogue that are placed inside bubbles. The actual presentation of the content feels like an afterthought.

But what about this content then?

Quadrifoglio 2 (By Takeshi Okamoto)

The longest of the individual contributions, Quadriofoglio follows the genius mechanic Yotsuba (no relation to the adorable character from the manga of the same name) as she joins a university car racing club and helps out at her family garage. I must admit I had severe flashbacks to Initial D while reading this due to the very impressive, photo-realistic drawings of the cars, and thankfully the people didn't look half bad either and were an engaging bunch to read about. The main problem I have with the series is a lack of any feeling of motion either within or between the separate panels, making it feel more like a series of stills than an ongoing, unfolding drama. In a manga about things that go “Vrooom!” around a track very fast this saps some of the fun out of it. Still, it’s a fun read and I would be I happy to see how it develops in further chapters. Searching for information of its predecessor (Quadrifoglio) has left me empty-handed, sadly.

Kurogane (By Nanami Shizika)

So, let me outline the premise here: loser guy meets hot dense girl out of nowhere and has to live with her, and she inexplicably likes him. If you just passed out as a result of how generic that sounds, then you know how I felt reading it. The series even ticks the additional otaku bait box of having a trap turn up in the first 10 pages. Sadly the clunky translation hurts this series, making the main expository pages of this chapter read like a garbled mess and so I’m not sure if the premise has anything going for it. The art looks serviceable enough (especially the breasts of the main female character), but in general the whole package is woefully forgettable. It does however have the best sound effect in the anthology: "Hug!!" Two exclamation marks! Wowzah.

Nobunagirl (By Taro Matsumoto)

Time for brutal honesty: Nobunagirl has terrible, awful art and is hard to take seriously. Both lineart and shading are all over the place and panels that should be badass inspire more laughter than awe. The plot jumps from a demon infested Warring States era featuring Oda Nobunaga into an even weirder sci-fi setting which has very little thought or care put into it. The last panel is so bizarre it has to be seen to be believed: a young girl riding on the back of a terribly drawn ripoff of the alien from ... Alien (1979). I think I uttered "Are you serious?" while reading it. Skip this.

Kago Mania (By Shintaro Kago)

For me, the promise of content from the surreal mind of Shintaro Kago (who is called a "fantastic idea cartoonist" in his own bio) was the "killer app" that pushed me over the edge when buying this anthology. Imagine my surprise when the content supplied had much higher quality drawings than his usual fare, but then also imagine my disappointment when I discovered that he had only four pages in the magazine! Each page is a single, full-page image of a surreal idea given flight, and while I enjoyed them, it was all over too soon. What a shame.

Overall, I feel conflicted about Comicloud. While I love the idea and dearly wish for it to find an audience, the content just isn't there yet. Over half of the 80 pages delivered are skippable and the rest feel cheapened by the small image size and poor typesetting.

Personally I am looking forward to the next few issues to see how the magazine develops, and hope that the hard work and enthusiasm that the editors clearly have for their product pays off.

[Bad]

This review is based on the Kindle release, purchased by the reviewer.

In the case of Black Rock Shooter (or BRS, as it will now be known for the sake of brevity), this structure is a bit of a mixed bag. The animation's two halves comprise an idyllic school day story on one hand and a fantastical action flick on the other. I went into this full well expecting to love the half made of bombastic crazy action and hate the flat school day crap but it soon turned out to be the exact opposite. The parts set in reality show a poignant, if slow to start, exploration of friendship and jealousy, while the action portion is a limp, boring attempt at being badass that forgets to engage the audience.

What is the cause of this discrepancy then? In short, it is the lackluster animation quality that persists throughout. More than once I checked the integrity of my copy to ensure I was not missing anything due to video/DVD player issues. While the individual frames look fine quite often it feels like frames are missing from the timeline, making the animation flow look cheap and nasty overall. This became obvious to me in one scene where the main character fumbles with a hot piece of toast fresh from the toaster. Both the toast and her hands teleport from one place to another in pursuit of each other; this made the scene look absurd and broke me out of the viewing experience. This issue exists throughout, though during the quieter and more measured slice-of-life segments it is much less of an issue due to the obvious lack of action. During the other half of the OAV, the supposedly action-packed half, the laziness in the animation really hurts the presentation. Action scenes appear poorly thought-out and lack any snap or pop in the proceedings — instead of drawing you in, the fight scenes leave you feeling like a bemused bystander watching something mildly bizarre happen, such as a pensioner dancing at the bus stop. Even things that should be bad-ass will leave you feeling nothing due to the cheap and distracting skips in animation, the Michael Bay-style camera angle shifts, and the slow pace of the action.

Something else that irked me about BRS was the music. In short, I can't remember a single note of it. Every track is utterly forgettable and as soon as it stops playing you are left with nothing. For something born from the seething crazy morass of the Vocaloid fandom, surely they would be able to rope in some decent musical talent to bolster the soundtrack? Well, apparently not.

One last annoying thing, just to get it out of my system — the last scene of the OAV, the "stinger" if you will, is the same kind of inane cheap shot as was used in the closing scene of the US Godzilla film. I'm surprised a narrator didn't suddenly burst in bellowing "Everything is safe now... Or is it? DUN DUN DUN" when this scene played out.

So, what did I actually like? Well, as mentioned before, I found myself enjoying the slower, school life half that was used for character setup. As it develops, this plotline begins to take on a very effective, melancholic feel that reminded me a great deal of 5 Centimeters Per Second and The Girl who Leapt Through Time. This was especially true in regards to the themes expressed, reflecting on the distance that can grow between people through the passage of time or inaction. The great shame of this is that as soon as it looks like the emotional storytelling is starting to get going, the two plot arcs converge, the story transitions to the other half you have seen play throughout the OAV, and the story ends. As blasphemous as this may sound, perhaps this film would have been better served with a strictly linear narrative, with the emotion-heavy first half able to carry to action-based second half.

Did I enjoy it? I suppose so, although I was dangerously close to shutting off the OAV multiple times due to sheer indifference at what was occurring. I almost wish that the crew behind the animation could be given a second go at making this product to do justice to all the hype and expectation, but that's not how the world works. Would I watch a second episode? Sure. Would I watch this one again? Probably not.

[Passable]

This review is based on a DVD release, purchased by the reviewer.

The movie was wonderful. Utterly wonderful. I’ll save you the gushing attempt at a review and simply say the characters enraptured me completely and it had complete control of my heart-strings after five minutes.

Not everyone loved it. Some people, including the club chairman, left outright or started to gossip amongst themselves and were tersely asked to leave. One rather irritating specimen gave a theatrical yawn before strutting out, adding “Well, have fun kiddies!”

I don’t remember any of these people. I didn’t have much interaction with them in the anime club or outside of it.

The people I do remember were those who remained until the end of the film. Once the credits ended and the harsh, cheap lighting came back on I sat with a core contingent of survivors, most of whom I got to know over my time in the anime club and while I was at university in general.

Sat is the wrong word however — I was hunched over, sobbing like crazy. I cry easily at films, and Tokyo Godfathers did the emotional equivalent of running over my heart. To my left was a man who looked much like a bear due to his amazing beard — he was having a hard time holding back his own tears and give me a spare tissue. This dude became one of my best friends at university and we still stay in contact as best we can. To my right was someone gently patting my shoulder and managing to remain somewhat stoic, although she admitted later that she cried once she was out of sight of the congregation. We later entered into a rather rocky romantic relationship but remained good friends to this day. The rest of the room, approximately ten people, I became at least good acquaintances with over time. Perhaps we had undergone a shared experience, although no one ever pointed it out.

The president of the club came in, said “See you next week!”, and took her DVD player home. I came back the next week and the rest of my first two years of university, my faith in animation restored by the film. I made some solid friendships, some of which remain to this day and all of which helped me through the uncertain period while I was starting university.

Satoshi Kon made my life better, and for that I am eternally thankful.

Dropping the irreverent tone, the real news story is that Irrational Games, creators of SWAT 4 and the original Bioshock, have released a teaser trailer for their upcoming game Bioshock Infinite. The trailer follows on from a low-key teaser site campaign hosted on www.whatisicarus.com and a behind-closed-doors presentation in New York earlier this week. Large quantities of additional media have now been released about the game, in particular on Joystiq, who also have an interview with studio founder and creative director Ken Levine. From details that have been released, the game is set in 1912 onboard a floating city called Columbia, held aloft by comically large hot air balloons.

On a personal note, I must say that I find myself ambivalent towards this announcement as I am not very enthused by the environments presented in the trailer, and have been unimpressed overall by previous entries in the Bioshock series. In addition, the game is not scheduled to be released until 2012, and between now and then there are many other video games that I am personally much more excited by.

*A person I follow on Twitter and fellow Ani-Gamers writer, Mitchy D.

The first problem that can be solved by digital distribution is availability. There are two parts to this, because I can't help overcomplicating things.

Part number one: Retail availability can be a double-edged sword. Every few weeks I make a circuit of the two remaining manga booksellers that exist where I live and pick up things that interest me. This has led to some wonderful impulse purchases I would not have otherwise made, but as time has gone on this practice has declined just as the available space for manga has shrunk within these stores. More often it poses an issue — you see fragmented series missing volumes you wish to purchase, or only the very latest volumes of something you may be interested in. Ordering in copies can, depending on the service, be a royal pain and the time until delivery is often worse than shopping online.

Talking about online, these same issues are amplified in the digital bookstore, where ordering out-of-stock items is often a lot less transparent and impulse purchases are all but non-existent. I don't know about you, but most of the suggestions that Amazon offers me on its front page are for books I have already purchased from other vendors. Still, this shows that their system works.

With a digital product there is (barring a freakish technical fault) no such thing as “out of stock”, or “available in 7-14 weeks” — just a digital file on a server that is waiting for me to fork over my cash. While you lose some of the romance and physicality of a brick-and-mortar store, the instant and obvious availability of stock makes for a much easier purchasing experience overall.

The second part of the availability issue comes in when a manga is no longer in print, or hard to find. You may end up having to pick up volumes from many different places, both from physical bookstores and online counterparts, and trying to order unavailable volumes can be a lottery. I’m sure many of you can think of a time you have heard an exciting series described to you by a friend, enemy, or podcast with the soul-crushing words “Oh, but it’s hard to find now” appended on the end. Wouldn’t it be nice for there to still be an option available to obtain the series while still ensuring that the publisher feels the love?

For a personal example of this problem, I had a hell of time picking up Buddha recently. While not strictly scarce, the wildly fluctuating availability of individual volumes in the UK made picking it up for a reasonable (i.e. RRP or less) price a hellish endeavor. I ended up ordering it from four separate places, one of which was a bookstore in Croydon who did mail-order but had no e-mail and so I had to phone the (very pleasant) shop assistant.

How nice would it have been to simply press a big button on a digital delivery service labeled "Buy Series"? I would have done that in a heartbeat.

A digital option would also have cut out a big additional cost and inconvenience of manga purchasing — physical delivery. Instead of waiting 3-5 working days and/or paying a varying sum for delivery, the manga can come direct through your Internet connection at minimal cost. This immediacy would allow for an even greater volume of impulse purchases — something I am already highly susceptible on the iTunes Store and on Steam.

The next, and main, reason is amazingly boring and a bit obvious: Manga made from dead trees takes up space. Once you start a collection, the amount of space needed tends to skyrocket. I currently own the first 6 volumes of Fullmetal Alchemist, and while I would love to continue reading the series, I have no space to house it. I already have two full bookcases, and purchasing a long series like FMA would cause me no end of headaches trying to find a home for it. Note that this does not mean that I will stop buying physical manga volumes, but I have to be more selective about what I buy, especially longer series.

This leads me to a secondary item — while I enjoy reading Fullmetal Alchemist, I am not desperately chomping at the bit to devote the not-trivial amount of money and shelf space to the rest of the series. With this current state of affairs, I have no (legal) method of reading the series and the publisher is missing out on the money I would happily pay them for a digital version.

These are all issues with the current model that can be remedied by a digital marketplace, and would not displace my existing desire to buy physical copies. I haven’t even started to talk about ways that manga could be enriched and enhanced in a digital marketplace, but that is within the scope of a different article.

Editor's Note: Digital Manga Publishing is currently running eManga, a site offering digital distribution of manga through a rental system.

Plants vs Zombies HD

If you have already played the PC version of this PopCap-developed game, odds are you’ve already bought this version too.

Plants vs Zombies is a streamlined take on the "tower defense" genre, wherein you place aggressive plants in your back garden to fend off invading hordes of humorous zombies who are after your sweet, sweet brains. The game oozes charm, and looks even better on the iPad than it ever did on my PC, primarily because the graphics have been optimized for a single screen resolution rather than the innumerable screen resolutions of monitors. Another thing optimized for the iPad is the interaction; controlling everything directly through the touchscreen makes the game much easier and more pleasant to interact with than using a mouse. Like the original, PvZ has a perfectly tweaked learning curve that eases you into the many different gameplay facets that keep the experience fresh for level after level. The only problem is that once your opening strategy is perfected, the game can feel excruciatingly dull running through the same motions every time and you will find yourself wishing for a "speed up" button.

The game is priced at £7, and so can be said to be rather pricey, but considering the amount of hours you can sink into it and the high production values, I would say it is well worth a go.

[Recommended]

Strategery

No, that name is not a typo, honest. Strategery is, as you may guess, a strategy game in the vein of the board game Risk. You invade regions with troops, conquer them, and then place more troops down in your captured regions in preparation of the enemy counterattack. The main draws of the game are its neat, clean art style and randomly generated maps. Every game map looks subtly different, and there are a few options available when starting that slightly alter the way the game plays

Strategery feels well made, moving along at a brisk pace you could never achieve with a physical war game, but this is where my praise ends. The strategy core of the game feels rough and unrefined, lacking any advanced planning potential due to the basic blocky maps it draws. With its current mechanics, every game boils down to making the biggest blob of a county possible and then throwing obscene numbers of troops with no fear of effective counterattack. This inevitability sucks a lot of fun out of repeated play, especially as there are few options available that would spice this up. Including continents or encouraging conservation of troops would go a long way to solving these issues.

Sadly I have been unable to test the online multiplayer as there is no matchmaking and I could not manage to con anyone into playing with me directly. Local multiplayer works fine, but the game boils down to the pattern described above.

While the game includes both an iPad and iPhone version together, I would suggest spending your time and money elsewhere.

[Bad]

Words With Friends HD

For those who have never heard of this before, Words With Friends is a competitive 2-player version of scrabble where you send moves back and forth between each other in a way reminiscent of play-by-email strategy games.

The game handles everything effortlessly, including in-game chat, a complete and accurate dictionary and very nice presentation throughout.

Anyone who has played the iPhone version: yes, it is the same as the iPhone version with an updated interface and shinier graphics. Yes, it is well worth your money even if you forked out for the iPhone version. You can use the same account and play games between both devices.

I heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoys word games but can’t get people to sit still long enough to play a tabletop version of Scrabble. If you fancy it, you can play against me; my username is "Elliotpage."

[Highly Recommended]

Geared HD

Geared is a wonderfully simple puzzle game wherein you use a set of gears to link a moving starter gear up to one or more target gears. More gameplay twists are added at welcome intervals to help keep things fresh, and the difficulty curve is exceptionally well tuned. The game has grown considerably since I first bought it on the iPhone and now sports 150 levels as well as a helpful level skip function for when you get really stuck. The graphics are clean and simple, allowing you to concentrate on the puzzle. It even has a very nice win chime once you complete a stage, an encouraging little extra when you have spent 5 minutes staring blankly at the screen.

Geared HD is cheap as hell and amazingly addictive. I can attest to its grabbing power as both my parents love playing it and getting my iPad back from them once they start playing is like drawing blood from a stone.

[Highly Recommended]

Let me know in the comments if any of you find these helpful, and perhaps I'll check out another batch of iPad games.

Once the children reach their 14th birthday they are taken unawares for a "Maturity Check", administered by a central computer. The Maturity Check functions as testing and preparation for the child's adult life, with some of the intricacies left unexplained to preserve the mystery of it. Sounds an awful lot like puberty, doesn't it? The main difference is that the Maturity Check doesn't cause hair to suddenly appear in new places, and if anything it makes the characters immaculately drawn hair even more lush. During this enforced coming-of-age the child is told that their childhood was a fabrication produced for the sole purpose of providing them with a healthy emotional background and that their early memories are to be wiped.

This forces an identify crisis onto the children, one which is intended to clear the way for training that will form them into pure subjects willing to work for and perpetuate the Superior Domination Order, with the aim of restoring the now-ravaged planet Earth under the guidance of the Mother Computer.

It is worth noting here that the phrase "Mother Computer" would, at the time that To Terra was written, have sounded utterly outlandish and more than a little disturbing. While computers these days are benign things you have on your desk, in 1977 the microprocessor had only recently been produced, ARPANET was new, and the CRAY-1 supercomputer was the machine to beat. This new technology would surely have had a vague air of magic and threat, and to hand over the most basic of human interactions — the creation and care of children — to such constructs would feel abhorrent.

Firstly, I want to focus on those characters in the story who I believe most closely mirror how "normal" people such as you or I would react in the SD system: Seki and Sam. Both undergo the typical SD upbringing and we meet them early on in the story as classmates of Keith Anyan on a educational station having recently undergone the Maturity Check.

Seki is an intelligent child, though he is earmarked for greatness and is prideful and arrogant as a result. He is emotionally sensitive and coupled with his outspoken distaste of the SD order he is considered a troublemaker and, even worse, a potential telepath. The source of his discontent is very basic and understandable; Seki resents the SD system for stripping him of his childhood, clinging onto the angelic memory of his mother despite knowing it was a fabrication. This grief accelerates Seki's frustration with his situation playing second fiddle to Keith and causes him to act in an increasingly impulsive manner to try and assert himself as an individual and to validate his upbringing. These actions spiral out of control, eventually leading to his death. For being intelligent and sensitive, the SD order drove Seki to self-destruction, wasting a potentially world-altering person due to its deception.

On the other end of the spectrum, Sam is dead average. He squeaks passes in his exams, neither dissents or swears by the regime that produced him, and doesn't sweat the small stuff. His main responsibility is to his friends, and sticks by Keith through thick and thin. An upstanding citizen, he graduates with average grades and takes a job as a space trucker, something that sounds even more boring than normal truck driving. Through this job he comes to meet the Mu and in particular the main protagonist Jomy, who he was childhood friends with. Faced with a filthy telepath, Sam acts upon the information that the computer education has drilled into him and freaks the hell out, attacking Jomy in a fit of primal fear. Jomy is horrified how his old friend has been warped and over-reacts, causing a massive explosion and injuring Sam.

We are later re-introduced to Sam and find out that this encounter has left him crippled at a mental age of 14. All the ingrained fear is gone, replaced by a much more carefree outlook. While this may be a bit of a stretch, I believe that this shows that the overbearing influence of the Maturity Check, illustrating that the computer education had left Sam without the mental tools to cope with adult life. The shock encounter caused him to revert to a simpler time without the choking influence that had warped him into a form so horrifying to Jomy.

Jomy, the main protagonist of the story, also goes through the normal SD upbringing experienced by Sam and Seki, and like them he is abducted at 14 to undergo the Maturity Check. For him, however, things change when he is rescued by the leader of the Mu and made their new leader. Faced with so much responsibility and hostility from both the SD order and from his own people, it would make sense for Jomy to seek a return to the halcyon days of his youth, even while knowing that it was a fabrication. For the majority of the story he tries to bring happiness to the Mu by creating a stable home for them, free from the overbearing computerized system that hunts them.

Following a major tragedy Jomy finally heeds his predecessors' imperative to bring the Mu to their homeland of Terra and to destroy the computer system that is warping humanity.

The first step on this journey is for Jomy to put his own past to rest by attacking his old childhood world and destroying the computer that oversees the Maturity Checks there. It it only with the destruction of that machine that Jomy matures both as a person and a leader, shouldering his burdens and doing what must be done to save. Not just his own people from the oppressive Mother Computer, but humanity as a whole as well.

One of those burdens is Tony, who is the product of the first natural birth among the Mu, and an exceptionally powerful telepath. Brought up with utmost love and care by his mother Carina, he is overcome with grief when she dies. The resulting shock causes him to overreact and accelerate his physical growth in order to be of greater use to Jomy, the young leader who encouraged his birth and whom he now regards as his family. This change makes him as an abrasive, irritable person who is still very much a child emotionally, traits exaggerated by being the cornerstone of the Mu military due to his immense psychic power. This combination of personality and ability causes Tony and the few others like him in the Mu population to be treated as outcasts. They eventually leave the Mu to begin a dreamlike existence among the stars, having grown up too fast without the grounding to cope with the harsh reality they live in.

Finally, there is Keith Anyan, who is perhaps the most interesting of all of the characters in To Terra. Keith is the result of a more advanced version of the SD program — he is engineered to have a theoretically perfect genome and grown in a tank until 16 under the direct care and attention of the educational computer. He cannot recall his childhood, something which sets him apart from his school friends, and when he discovers the truth there is an initial shock at the confirmation but no great change or revelation takes place. This is, in my mind, because there is no subterfuge involved. Instead of having an illusionary childhood life stripped from him, Keith is left to ponder his existence as someone created for the express purpose of leading the SD order. While he does follow orders of the computer, Keith develops throughout adulthood, free of any anxiety or doubts lingering in his mind about his origins. In the end, it could be argued that Keith has the fewest issues with his childhood, primarily because he did not have one in the strict sense, and he had no other alternative but to adjust to his circumstances. He spends a large amount of time reflecting on the people he has met throughout his life, allowing these events to affect him rather than being a prisoner to his childhood and the computer overlords that he starts to question as time carries on.

With all this out of the way, what was Keiko Takamiya trying to say? I submit that the message is that there should be no lies in childhood, as this only causes mal-adjustment and traps people in a cycle of trying to reconcile reality with what they experienced and viewed as fact, thus stunting their development. In this story the computers are one thing used to provide and enforce this lie, but they could be swapped out for any real-life examples that you care to produce, such as an overbearing Nationalistic agenda. Even now, many years after publication, this message feels very relevant and lacking in due consideration, making the series all the more important to read and reflect on.

While vibrant and detailed, the art is completely ruined by rampant overcrowding. Characters, and their humongous heads, fight for precious little space against speech bubbles as well as all background elements or props in panel. The end result is a very hard-to-read mess that leaves you exasperated and grasping for clarity instead of laughing. In a more whimsical moment I imagined the art bursting out of its tight square confines and using the full page instead of the 4-panel model, something I believe would have benefited the series. In the infrequent moments when this does happen, the overall flow of the manga is a lot more enjoyable.

But perhaps I have it wrong. Maybe the series is not supposed to be amusing, but instead endearing — "moé", perhaps? After all, the manga is serialized in a seinen (young adult male) anthology in Japan. The all-female cast of cute, strangely-proportioned girls are all instantly forgettable despite multiple attempts to differentiate them from one another and establish them in the mind of the reader. There are two splash pages in the first volume alone dedicated to introducing the cast and their individual traits in the most straightforward manner possible, but even these failed to make an impression on me. I can say that, without hyperbole, I would put the manga down for five minutes to make some tea and in that short time I would forget the names of the entire cast. Part of the problem is that they are all so archetypal and bland that it is hard to take them seriously or bother taking notice of them. There is the tomboy, the nervous one, the childish one, the mysterious one, and the other one so nondescript that I can't even remember what her archetype is — let alone her name. All this made it exceedingly difficult to bring myself to become invested in the characters’ antics on the page or care about the lackluster jokes they made.

Finally, there is the possibility that the series is instructional, using the characters and attempts at humor to help you learn real-life artistic techniques. Sadly this falls victim to the ham-handed art and some downright confusing dialogue, which leaves you unsure as to whether the advice is sincere or not. This is not helped by multiple author notes imploring the reader not to take the artistic advice seriously.

All these problems quickly left me baffled, uninterested in the manga, and unable to determine the actual point and audience of the series.

It is hard to find more to say about GA, despite having read both volumes multiple times to ensure I was not missing anything. The whole series feels horribly confused, unsure of what it wants to do and unable to provide any enjoyment as a result. Had I been in my right mind I probably would not have bought these volumes, but then again hindsight is always 20/20. I really can't recommend it to anyone, and it should serve as a warning to people to keep a calm head on your shoulders when you are in a convention Dealers' Room lest you too end up buying a clunker of a manga.

[Terrible]

The extraneous elements removed from this adaptation are many in number, but none are worth mourning the loss of. The main beneficiary of this trimming is, rather surprisingly, the quieter moments in between the massive robot battles which have greater deal of clarity and impact due to the tighter writing. In particular, the fluctuating relationship between Shinji and his father is explored in a new depth, making it a much more tangible element in the storyline than simply a sterile case of “whiny brat hates his asshole dad.” One downside of this compression is that the relationships between Shinji and Rei/Asuka lose much of their subtlety. At some points the movie feels like it has switched genre to a harmless harem comedy show following a love triangle of socially useless robot pilots.

The film itself looks utterly amazing, with almost mind-wrecking detail lavished into the art and the robot models in particular. The Angel designs have had a complete overhaul and some pivotal examples have been re-worked with almost sick levels of care. The fights themselves sport amazing CG animation and are utterly engrossing in how they are presented for the most part — unlike other recent films that shall remain nameless. You can easily follow the fight and appreciate the overall tide of the battle, drawing you in. Fans of the original, who may think they know how every fight turns out, will be met by some surprising variations that keep the film feeling fresh and punish you for assuming that it is merely a remake of the original series. While the music during the quieter moments follows the previously used themes and leitmotifs from the TV show, the fight scenes have an all-new pulse-pounding score that amplifies the impact of the action to explosive levels.

It’s not without flaw though — there are times when the movie loses its way and forcibly ejects you from the experience. Most notable of these is the entirety of the first fight scene, which feels very roughly conceived and edited. You are introduced to a new character, mecha, and setting, but are never given time to absorb and appreciate what is being shown on the screen. I, for one, have no clear recollection of what the new Evangelion featured in this battle even looked like! One particular gripe, and one I assume will be fixed for the DVD/BD, is that most of the characters in this scene speak in mumbling "Engrish" at a level just barely louder than the surrounding battle.

Thankfully this poor presentation does not infect the rest of the film, but then neither does the newly introduced character. Strangely, she only appears and interacts with the principal cast twice for the entire rest of the film. While the things she does are important to the overall plot, you can’t help but feel that she was roughly shoehorned into the proceedings by an over-eager intern who would burst into meetings waving his new character design around. I imagine him saying something like:

“Duuuuuudes! You gotta include her; she has glasses and a ponytail! Plus, she has a bigger chest, so we can use her for the trademark Gainax Bounce!” At which point everyone cheered and went out for a round or five of drinks.

When they got back from having nine drinks each, the staff set to work on my personal pet peeve of the entire movie: CG people in the background of scenes. It wrenched me out of the film entirely to see tiny, stiff polygonal people from Quake 2 stuttering in the background of scenes that needed to include some humans for atmosphere. I hope they fix this for the inevitable revised version as in this theatrical version it looks just plain cheap and nasty.

These small flaws are all utterly forgotten, however, in the exuberant blur of activity that is the last 30 minutes or so. At this point the movie stops joking around and ramps every setting it can up to 11, utterly destroying any doubts you may have had festering about the film or the direction of the series overall. In remaking what was already a pivotal part of the original TV series, the creators went all out in providing a mind-blowing ending that left the cinema audience cheering through the end credits. I dare not spoil a single second of it, but I implore you not to leave your seat until after the credits are done or else you will miss the single craziest thing of the entire film, one which bodes well for the two that are to follow. I already can't wait to get my hands on the Blu-ray version so I can see it all again.

[Highly Recommended]

This review is based on a theatrical version of Evangelion 2.0 shown at the London BFI Cinema as part of its Biannual Anime Weekend. Admission and all related expenses were paid for by the reviewer.

First things first, this application is only available for the iPhone and iPod touch — no other handset types are covered so it you just bought a shiny Android (or any other mobile OS) device you are out of luck. Sorry!

First, the purchasing and downloading system is very slow, and it often takes multiple attempts to confirm your purchase of a new volume. The app then takes an irritatingly long time to download your purchased content and has a tendency to fail to complete a download. These frequent failures are infuriating; it is a blessing that the application can resume partial downloads otherwise I would have quickly given up on using it. Due to these frustrations I tend to only download new issues of the magazine when I am work, where I can abuse the powerful wireless connection to get issues in a quarter of the time with fewer errors. A minor note to add here is that, without fail, each time I have downloaded a new issue I have received “Download failed” error at 99% complete only to have it show up, completed, in the program.

The second major problem with the program, and one that is entirely out of the hands of the publishers, is that while the app is downloading you are unable to do anything else on your device. Remember, no multi-tasking on iPhone OS! (At the time of writing, using OS 3.2) This includes viewing already downloaded issues. Add this to the frequent failures experienced while downloading and the entire process begins to become more and more unappealing.

With all that technical rigmarole out of the way, how does it perform when you view the manga you have downloaded? Very well, actually. I must admit I was rather dubious about viewing manga on the iPhone screen as I presumed it would involve an awful lot of moving the page to view the art in detail. I was pleasantly surprised to find that you can read a full page in the portrait orientation quite easily, although the finer details are lost on the more lavish titles included in the magazine. Zooming in/out and moving around the page are smooth and responsive and feel no more obstructive than using a physical book. There is a small delay when displaying a new page as the program loads the image, although this only manifests should you have your device playing music at the time and does not impact the viewing experience. It is also easy to confuse the application at times — should you accidentally turn the page, any attempt to stop it will confuse the program and you have to wait for the transition to complete before making any additional movements on the touchscreen. This may be an issue of an idiotic user however, as I am rather clumsy and tend to use the app while on a bumpy commute.

So far it feels like I am griping, but all of my complaints are incidental points - slip-ups on the path to greatness. The simple fact that this app exists and that it works as intended is a small marvel. For the equivalent of $1 you get a sizeable chunk of manga from a range of Tezuka's works, some of which may be difficult to get a hold of where you live. I personally have never seen a physical copy of Adolf, and the opportunity to read it in any form is wonderful even with the niggling issues attached. Plus — and this is a definite positive for me — it will not clutter your already overloaded bookshelf.

[Passable]

NOTE: At the time of writing, the iPad is not available in the UK, and so I have been unable to review this app on this new platform. The iTunes store lists that Weekly Astro Boy Magazine is compatible with the iPad, however. If you are lucky enough to have an iPad, please try the free version of this app and let us know how it is in the comments below!

This review is based on the March 2010 version of the iPhone application, purchased by the reviewer.

Thankfully this kind of crowding never became a major issue, due in part to the 16+ age requirement that the convention enforces. This age requirement is starting to spread among fan-run conventions in the UK, and as someone old enough I heartily endorse this measure. It helped to set a much more mature, measured tone for the convention, as well as a marked lack of idiotic “Hug me” signs and random glomping. From talking to staffers it appears that this move was made in order to prevent insurance costs from crippling the convention, so don't think this was an act of ageism!

While some of the convention rooms were rather small, the events within them were excellent. The main defining event of the convention, and something I want to see stolen and put on at all anime conventions, was something called “Build-a-Mecha.” Provided with a basic set of materials such as cardboard, tape, pens and wallpaper, different teams were tasked to build a robot shell around one of the team members. The whole thing was great fun, with lively joking and a great sense of humor throughout. Not to brag, but my team won the event. Shout-outs to Zelly, Caroline, Chris, and Guy, my teammates! You can see our horrific entry, “Ravager, Warrior of Love”, below.

Another of the stand-out events was "Kita's got Talent?!," a send up of the recent trend of reality talent shows that are on UK TV. This differed from the usual "Omake" event at conventions as none of the sets were anime-based, and because it was actually good. I could write a whole additional review of this single panel, but it would just be a thousand words of me gushing about how pleasantly surprised and genuinely entertained I was by the event.

Some fan-run panels were available, such as the “Cosplay On the Cheap” panel, the “Metal Gear Solid Fan Panel”, and more than a few boisterous quiz events. All those I attended were good fun, well presented, and well received by the audience. Personally I would have liked to seen more on the timetable, but the practice of putting on a panel is not as widespread in the UK as it is elsewhere, sadly.

I also presented my own panel “Anime You Should See”, to introduce fans to a wide variety of well-regarded anime. (Credit to Geeknights for the name.) This was my first time putting a panel on and I was nervous as hell, especially as there were a few difficulties with the equipment and the timing of the event. Despite initial nerves the panel went over well, and at one point I remember mimicking the signature “Piston Punch” move from Big O to an amused crowd. Rather predictably, some experienced fans attended (not the target audience!) and after the panel gave me some very solid advice for developing the presentation. One kind person even bought me a drink, which shows you the friendly atmosphere of the convention.

There were a number of problems early on with event scheduling, including for my own panel, due to one simple issue: The printed con guides that staffers handed out at registration were out of date mere hours after the convention started. One inspired idea that the convention had was to provide a constantly updated copy of the timetable in xhtml format on the website, which was a great help when planning what events to attend. However as not everyone present at the event had a smartphone like myself, there was some confusion with events until halfway through Saturday. At this point updated color-coded printouts of the revised timetable suddenly appeared next to every set of doors and convention room and all confusion was dispelled.

The convention staffers handled registration (usually a horrific rigmarole at UK cons) with the utmost efficiency. The staff even put on an impromptu pre-registration session the day before the convention started, and I was one of the lucky 50 people who were present for this.

The hotel staff was helpful for the most part, with the notable exception of the cleaning staff. These brave souls were also acting as room checkers for the duration of the convention to prevent over-capacity hotel rooms. I am not against room checks in principle (and will admit I have stuffed a room with extra people at other conventions to lower the price of the stay), but they border on insulting when they occur at 7:45 in the morning. We were then told to vacate the room, along with our hangovers, so that the staff could start cleaning. There was no budging on this demand.

A good measure of a con is how willing people are to return next year. At the bombastic closing ceremony the staff announced next year’s convention date and venue to roaring applause. I have to admit that this is a masterstroke — get people when they are most pumped and sell them on the next event. Kitacon was, without a shred of hyperbole, the best convention experience I have had to date, and I cant wait for next year!

I honestly don't have anything against harem comedies — done well they can be really funny, and it is a shame that most examples of the genre, like this show, are lazily produced. The harem itself is full of forgettable interchangeable characters orbiting the most useless excuse for a person ever created. Every piece of lackluster comedy falls flat or comes off as creepy, as do the show's frequent ecchi elements, which feel forced and pandering to an embarrassing degree. You may have already seen the animated gif of the main heroine “taste-testing” a banana, which is so blatant in its pandering that you’ll want to bury your head in your hands.

Even together these elements would not normally be enough to make me run away from a social gathering, but the final straw is that the show is entirely without charm of any kind. Utterly devoid of any hint of love, warmth or thought in the final product, it is clear that the creators of Girls Bravo did not give a damn about what they were creating.

This show is a truly wretched piece of garbage you should stay away from as best you can.