In what is assumed to be contemporary Tokyo, the Tsutsumi Housing Complex has experienced a series of unexplained deaths over the last three years. Responsible for the string of death is an old man, called “Old Cho” by his neighbors, with a child-like mind and strong extrasensory powers. His motives are that of a child — he sees something he wants, and takes it at the expense of the life of the owner. This may seem a spoiler, but despite the mystery tone of the narrative's first half, it is clear to the audience who is responsible very early on. The first half deals with the investigation of one of Old Cho's recent victims, switching between different members of the team encountering befuddling clues and strange events. Tensions deepen as a policeman and the head detective become the next victims. Simultaneously, another story unfolds as a young girl, Etsuko, who also has unexplained powers, becomes aware of the old man's actions. The situation escalates as “Old Cho” reacts defensively to the threat of another being with similar powers. Midway, the story shifts from the slower paced mystery to a frenetic sequence of events, leading to a violent telepathic showdown between Cho and Etsuko.

The investigation angle is played throughout, but ultimately adds little to the narrative. It is intended as a way to explore the mystery of the unexplained deaths, helping the audience piece together facts over time, but it would have been more effective if the audience weren't already aware of the culprit's identity. Furthermore, the activities that prompt the climactic confrontation and eventual resolution are entirely independent of the investigators. Etsuko recognizes Old Cho's powers without any prompting from the investigation, as she just happens to notice his silent manipulations while playing in the park one day. It would have been more sensible to focus on developing Etsuko and exploring the mind of Cho, downplaying the investigative element.

As for Etsuko, the audience never really gets to learn much about her, making her more plot device than person. Where the graphic novel truly succeeds, however, is in the latter half, the battle between Cho and Etsuko. The pacing rapidly accelerates, and becomes an unrelenting feast of manga action as the two wreak havoc in their attempt to destroy the other. This confrontation is one of the better action sequences in manga, without any of the messy linework or problematic pacing that often hurt the flow of such scenes. The final pages are absolutely brilliant with an eerily low-key finale that highlights the theme of the mysterious mind of children.

This hyper, telekinetic thriller defines Domu, and leaves little room for anything else — Otomo's tale doesn't use the story as a platform to tackle issues with any significant depth. That said, he does utilize some interesting concepts throughout, but as setting and not commentary. For example, link between a child's mind and psychic powers is the central theme of the story, but Otomo didn't really explore this until his work in Akira. Still, setting is an important facet of a story, and used effectively in Domu to develop the atmosphere of his work. Inspired by Otomo's own experience moving to Tokyo, the apartment complex in Domu evokes the feelings of congested urban life. In an interview with Yomiura, Otomo commented on the people living in a recently developed public housing complex, saying that they "never seemed to adapt to this sort of crowd urban living, but they found themselves trapped in that world." That feeling comes across very well in Domu, and serves as an effective backdrop for the story.

Domu is very much in the tradition of science fiction short stories, such as those found in “zines” like Amazing Stories and Analogue Science Fiction. This style of SF generally de-emphasizes characterization in order to focus on ideas. In the case of Domu, this is the battle between two extrasensory “children.” My attraction to Domu most likely comes from to my fondness for this mode of classic science fiction. Otomo weaves a clever narrative comprised of Old Cho, the subtle noir-esque atmosphere surrounding the apartment complex, and the captivating energy of the explosively violent climax. One strength of the lack of relatable characters is that there isn't really much impact when they are killed; this may sound like a bad thing, but I appreciate that I can enjoy the story for what it is without being weighed down by emotionally manipulative drama. My only significant complaint is that I wish the investigative aspect were better weaved into the overall narrative.

As expected of Otomo, the artwork is incredible. The character designs stand out against manga's tendency toward over-the-top designs; Otomo's story is populated by everyday Tokyo residents who are appropriately plain, but readily distinguishable from each other. I find it amusing that, simply by resembling ordinary people Otomo's designs seem out of the ordinary in manga. Outside of character design, the visuals are extremely capable at presenting the feel of the story. During the slower-paced beginning, the level of detail is adequate and realistic in a way that doesn't really push the reader forward or force the reader to slow down and carefully examine the scenery. Many of the more dramatic scenes take place at night, when Otomo utilizes high black and white contrast to maintain a consistently foreboding atmosphere. Many panels in these night scenes feature well-formed lit apartments that create geometric visual interest and highlight the urban claustrophobia. As the pacing increases during the battle, the artwork elevates to a cinematic feel with further gorgeous night scenes and thought-out aesthetic composition that adds a certain stark beauty to the rampant urban destruction.

The entirety of the manga is highly readable, with a level of visual clarity that allows the reader to easily follow the story without ever getting dragged down. Panels instantly fixate the reader's eye on the key detail, and even the scenes of destruction are structured in a way that the reader doesn't get lost in speed lines and rubble. Otomo often uses sharp contrast and minimal shapes to create panels that are instantly comprehensible for an energetic reading of the plot, but are designed with enough artistic merit to reward a slower re-reading. According to Frederick L. Schodt in his classic text Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, manga is a medium meant to be digested quickly. While there are many titles that seem to disagree with this assertion, if this is accepted as an ideal for the medium, then Domu is a demonstration of Otomo's mastery of the “language” of manga — balancing clear readability with high-quality aesthetic design.

Dark Horse's 2001 release is long out of print, but you can find an inexpensive copy online. Ebay currently has copies up for the startling prices of upwards of $45 and one Amazon listing shows even higher. However, I discovered that Domu is listed on Amazon twice, with the second featuring much better prices — as low as $1.65 for a copy described as “dirty” and another for $13.99 that claims to have been kept in a protective sleeve, “since day 1.” Domu is completely worth picking up for fans of Otomo and dark speculative fiction who enjoy works outside of hard sci-fi. Many anime fans demand high characterization to be a focal theme to enjoy a piece of writing, but Domu absolutely excels at what it is trying to be — a strong example of short story comic writing that is able to capture a compelling atmosphere and engaging action in a tremendously fun way.

Medium: Manga (1 volume) 
Author: Katsuhiro Otomo
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Mystery
Publisher: Kodansha (JP), Dark Horse (US)
Serialized in: Young Magazine (JP)
Demographic: Seinen
Release Date: 1982 (JP), 1995 (US)
Age Rating: Not Rated (we'd say about 16+, though)

Like an ant can lift, Conker can drink 10 times his weight in beer. Unlike an ant, Conker will soon be staggering about and puking every few paces after he downs that final glass or chugs the keg dry. Though to be fair, I’ve never seen a post-work ant (lies). So why tolerate this lightweight? Well, once Conker’s starts imbibing, he’s not gonna stop. In the immediate, this is a good thing. Conker can be convinced to buy rounds when it’s not his turn, and he is an animated conversationalist, with a wry sense of humour to boot. Even when things go sloppy and Mr. The Squirrel opens up his shorts to relieve his bladder from all that beer (despite the presence of company or lack thereof), Conker can keep his drinkin’ buddies safe from fire imps and rock monsters by turning all that ingested yellow liquid into ... pressurized yellow liquid. So why welcome him back to your table? Didn’t I just mention he can save you from fire imps ... with his pee?! The squirrel spites his liver ... for you, and you don’t appreciate him? Sheesh.

Well, consider this: all that drinking costs. To replenish that cash (and with it, memories and time) of which he's been duped, Conker will need to earn some dough. Being menaced by an operatic mountain of poo? All conker needs is a gas mask and his trusty B button. Have a dinosaur that needs to be hatched? Sacrificed? Either way, Conker needs the cash just enough to get it done. Vampire bat needs feeding? Conker’s in the know! Hornets made off with your bee hive (yet) again? Conker’s willing to infiltrate THEIR hive to get it back for you! Nazi teddy bears want to be Nazi teddy bears? %@*& that ^#$&! Conker'll show ‘em what-for! So use him. Abuse him. So long as he has a weakness for beer and a need for cash, Conker will be the one living adventure after adventure, racking up stories to slur while wearing the crown at the bar of great drinkers. 

Frequently cited — somewhat inaccurately — as the series that sparked the entire shōjo (girls comic) style, Princess Knight is also particularly notable for being one of the many manga for girls but written by a man. At the time there were very few women in manga, so it was expected for men to write comics for girls. However, many of the female manga artists who came to prominence in the 1970s, known collectively as the Showa 24 Group, would later cite Princess Knight as one of the series that inspired them to make their own manga.

Sapphire, the protagonist of Princess Knight, is both hero and heroine, since the mischevious angel Tink accidentally gave her both a boy and a girl heart before she was born. Since she is the heir apparent to the kingdom of Silverland, Sapphire's gender is quite important; women can't inherit the throne! To prevent the nasty Duke Duralumin's idiot son from becoming prince, her family raises Sapphire as both boy and girl, and she spends part of the day fencing and fighting, and another part picking flowers and talking to woodland creatures. God sends Tink down to Earth to fix his mistake and get back Sapphire's boy heart.

Meanwhile, beneath the facade of her princely life, Sapphire longs to fully embrace her girl side, and even wears a blonde wig to a carnival, wherein she meets the dashing Prince Franz Charming. But things go awry when Charming and Sapphire engage in a tournament as princes, and the nasty Duke Duralumin poisons Charming's sword in an attempt to kill Sapphire. A few hijinks later and the king is dead, Charming is accused of murder, and Sapphire's identity is revealed. She loses not only the throne, but her freedom as well: she and her mother find themselves locked in jail by their own people. For the remainder of these two thick volumes, we follow Sapphire's journey to regain the throne, win the love of Prince Charming, and escape the wiles of not only Duke Duralumin, but also Madame Hell, an appropriately named devil woman who wants to steal Sapphire's girl heart and give it to her own daughter.

Some critics have celebrated Princess Knight for its subversion of traditional gender roles, but ironically this is precisely where the manga fails to connect. Perhaps by the most liberal definition of the term, Vertical could claim that this is Tezuka's "proto-feminist" masterpiece (as they do on the back cover), but it hardly applies to a story in which Sapphire's girl heart gives her the ability to pick flowers and her boy heart gives her the ability to swordfight. I fact, in many cases she loses one heart or the other, and Tezuka makes it very clear that without the boy heart, she loses all of her strength and will to fight. (Get ready for gripping lines like "Oh no, I feel weak all of a sudden. I feel like my boy heart's been sucked right out of me! Oh, I'm so scared!")

The second volume features a bit more criticism of traditional gender roles, portrayed with classic Tezuka bluntness via a group of women who lock themselves in a castle and fight off the men in order to protect Sapphire. The most striking moment of this scene is when Sapphire — equipped only with a sword and her girl heart — fights off a villain she could only defeat previously when she had both hearts. Here it seems that Tezuka is making a more direct correlation between her fighting ability and Sapphire herself (rather than her gender), but it's such a long time coming and it comes from so far out of left field that it seems almost accidental.

The gender commentary isn't the only place where the presentation and pacing leave their marks, though. The entire manga runs at a breakneck pace, and major developments occur at such a striking speed that it can be difficult to keep up. Futhermore, when introducing characters, Tezuka wastes no time in explaining straight to your face exactly how they feel about everything, without the slightest hint of subtlety. For instance, within the first few pages of Sapphire meeting the pirate captain Blood, not only has he professed his instantaneous love for her, but she has introduced herself with the brilliant line "I promise I'm not a shady person."

Despite a whirlwind of events surrounding her, watching the eponymous Princess Knight can be downright boring. She's certainly not a passive Dinsey princess, but generally things happen to Sapphire, and she rarely does anything herself, making her little more than an object for the plot to bounce off of. Indeed, at one point near the climax she is bedridden, waiting for other characters to bring her the help she needs. Madame Hell's daughter Hecate, a hip, rebellious young devil girl who opposes her mother's plan to marry her off to Prince Charming, is a much more interesting heroine, and suffice it to say that a character named "Prince Charming" hardly ranks among Tezuka's most layered protagonists.

The comedy is the one aspect of Tezuka's style that remains consistently on-point in Princess Knight. There are lots of one- or two-panel visual gags that punctuate the action just long enough to induce a chuckle before he gets back into the main story, and they have the same sort of non-sequiter, anachronistic charm that we've come to expect from the author. None of this is all that surprising, since in the early 1960s Tezuka was still largely writing for children, and was still known for his gag antics.

This, of course, extends equally to the art, which falls much closer to Astro Boy (1952) than later works like Ode to Kirihito (1966), which makes sense considering that Princess Knight's original run was concurrent with Astro Boy (Tezuka reworked the series for a 1963 rerelease, the version used for the Vertical edition). While its overall tone is reminiscent of Astro Boy, it achieves an appropriately fairy-tale aesthetic through the use of super-clean lines, simple, bubbly shapes, and generally lighter tones. Readers may also notice that, in addition to the overwhelming Disney influence on the designs of the characters and backgrounds, Tezuka also takes cues from early shojo adventure comics like Katsuji Matsumoto's The Mysterious Clover (1934).

Princess Knight is, quite frankly, a baffling read. It seems to fly by even faster than Astro Boy, but unlike the richly established world and characters of that series, this feels more like a clumsy pastiche of Disney fantasy-adventure films. What's more, the gender commentary is bluntly feminist at best and downright sexist at worst, and the entire work feels largely purposeless. It pains me to say this, but I can't recommend Princess Knight unless, like me, you feel the need to plumb the depths of Osamu Tezuka's English-language catalog. Perhaps in its time Princess Knight may have captivated its young audience, but today it serves as a reminder that even a god makes mistakes every once in a while.

Here Tezuka begins to experiment with full black page backgrounds and a cinematic zoom effect, with each successive panel getting smaller and smaller (or larger and larger) to simulate a film camera. After one such zoom out and another zoom in, we have moved in both time and space to Lyon, France. The year is 1939, and Lamp has sold his father-in-law's scientific research to the Nazis. As if Acetelyne Lamp's typecast villany isn't established enough, Tezuka has now convinced us that he is not a man to be trusted. His wife is heartbroken.

Zoom! Cut! It is now seven years earlier, and Zephyrus is introducing her boyfriend, Lamp, to her father amid a field of flowers. He would like to marry her, and her father happily acquieces. Zoom in on butterflies, cut to two arms in a bedroom, the lights dimmed. They are in Nice, in the winter of the same year. For two pages here Tezuka shows us the intimacy of these two lovers with nothing more than a series of horizontal panels, framing their arms as they talk. Lamp is having financial difficulty and wants to sell Zephyrus's father's research. Her arm shrinks away from his.

More black panels bring us to Lyon in 1940, where Lamp informs his father-in-law that, on the Nazi's orders, he is sending him to work for them. In a page exclusively composed of vertical panels, Lamp moves from the bottom of the panel to the top, and we see him speaking down not only to Zephyrus's handicapped father, but to her as well. He is an ambitious, ruthless man, completely in control of the situation.

Another cacophonous black page takes us from Zephyrus's father's suicide to the birth of a baby to Locarno again, in 1940. Canted shots of trains show Zephyrus's frantic flight.

Finally, we come to rest in 1943, on a small island near Guadalcanal. A caretaker rushes back to Zephyrus's bedside, watching as she relays her final words to her daughters. They must destroy money, law, and men in order to get revenge on the father who destroyed their lives. Zephyrus passes, and we zoom away from her crying children and finish the story on one final black panel.

In just 24 pages, we see the beginning, middle, and end of a marriage, with time and space jumbled up in the subjectivity of memory. In the hands of a clumsier manga artist, such temporal and aesthetic changes would surely be confusing, but it is a testament to his genius that Tezuka is able to tie it all up into a fast-paced, digestible, and entertaining package.

This post is a part of the Osamu Tezuka Manga Moveable Feast (MMF), a week-long celebration of the manga work of Osamu Tezuka, hosted by The Manga Critic. Check out the extensive archive for this week's MMF at The Manga Critic.

Half of the game is spent trying to reunite with Malik, and the other half is spent dealing with the surrounding evil. I don't know whether PoP: TFS felt easier due to my lengthy replay of its predecessors or if the new game is just inherently easier, but the lack of a hard difficulty (even after beating the game on a very easy-feeling Normal) may be a clue. Puzzles are sparse and, aside from the select few that subtly require the use of the Prince's Djinn-given powers, can be figured out in a couple of moments upon the first encounter. Similarly, the acrobatic paths required to navigate all the maps are so obvious that one could either compliment the camerawork for guiding the player or chide the level designers for offering up such an unambiguous environment. That said, the acrobatics (which I'll get to later) are what make this game ... especially when you take the fighting element into account.

The games comprising the Sands of Time trilogy have always walked a delicate balance between acrobatics and combat, leaning to one side or the other in any given iteration.  PoP: TFS is no different but rather attacks the issue in a different way. Here, the Prince faces off relatively frequently against hordes of up to around 20 enemies, most of whom don't require more than two sword blows to finish off, whereas the previous games had the player simultaneously facing, at most, five or so moderately challenging opponents. The difference is rather brilliant: make the battle element that of a button-masher to let the player feel accomplished in having dispatched so many minions while saving the real effort and time for the subsequent navigation. While the button mashing does get a bit tedious, there is a semi-decent variety of enemies, a few different combat moves, as well as ice, fire, and wind spells that can make each onslaught different enough to avoid becoming totally stale.

But acrobatics are the bread and butter of PoP: TFS. While the path the Prince must take may be all too easily discernible, that does not mean the path itself is easy. The Prince gains the power of the Djinn and with it can rewind time as well as freeze the flow of water to make it a navigable surface. A specific Djinn, Razia, also gives the Prince her familiarity with the now crumbled kingdom so that broken pieces may be made whole once more (but only one section at a time). Combine those aspects with already familiar movements, like wall running, pole swinging, ledge climbing, and bird hopping, and keeping track of what button does what can become your own worst enemy within maps intricately constructed to test dexterity (the Prince's as well as your fingers’).

Controls are spot-on, but some of the Prince’s moves feel unrealistic (compared to the earlier games).  These range from being able to run straight up a wall after jumping to it, running up walls after hanging statically from some exposed part of it (protruding stone or ledge), and bird hopping.  The action used to accomplish the latter is reminiscent of the 2008 PoP game: a power of flight aspect that just feels entirely out of sync with the rest of the physics in PoP: TFS.  Easily, programmers could have just added another bird onto which the Prince could jump or bring the ledges a little closer.  Believable or not, the gameplay is very fluid, even if it seemed to lag a bit, and the in-game camera, usually the bane of the series, is almost never an issue.

Steve Jablonsky's musical score is both appropriate to the theme of the game and complementary to each level's beautifully rendered aesthetics. My favorite touch regarding the latter is the random placement of sandstone statues, formerly living palace guards, that continually try to hold fast slightly open doors or otherwise stand and lie frozen in place. Their presence adds an eerie ambiance to a palace worn away with an omnipresent evil (sand) that wisps through those same crevasses. However lovingly crafted, cutscenes still smack of the earlier titles’ blocky renderings at times. Given the history of criticism behind the voice acting, it is also worth noting that Yuri Lowenthal reprises his role as the well-humored, sarcastic Prince from PoP: The Sands of Time and PoP: The Two Thrones.

I was so engrossed with the gameplay of PoP: TFS that it felt disappointingly short ... especially with the terse ending. The story is one big action movie cliché, but it's one that's fun to take part in and shares a good deal of elements with the original Sands of Time series. Sadly, PoP: TFS falls short on heart and introspective depth, making it akin to a deleted scene or bonus featurette rather than its own story. The insulting nature of this perceived brevity is compounded by the game’s only other mode of play: an Arena wherein the only wave of opponents consists of an eight-course serving of butter. I picked this title up on a whim one day at Best Buy for $20. If I had paid any more, I think I would have felt ripped off, but Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is definitely worth your time to rent (or buy if the price is right).

While the TV series wasn't quite perfect, it was a great proof of concept for Kamiyama as an original storyteller, and I was excited to see how he would finish the epic story that the series started. Unfortunately, the first Eden of the East movie, subtitled The King of Eden, stands as proof that getting an original story right takes a lot more than some slick directorial work and clever scripting.

It's been six months since the events of Eden of the East. The "Noblesse Oblige" game, in which 12 unwitting victims (called Seleção) have been burdened with ten billion yen, a concierge that uses that money to carry out their every whim, and an obligation to "save Japan," is still in progress. The remaining Seleção, those who were not killed or otherwised removed from the game during the series, are still trying to track down the "Supporter," the one player among them who supposedly kills each Seleção when their funds run out. Takizawa, the quirky young man who served as our protagonist for the TV series, has gone missing, and his records show that he gave an order to his concierge to turn him into the "King of Japan," an order that apparently involved wiping his memory and giving him a new name (again).

Our story opens with Saki, a recent college graduate whose budding romance with Takizawa flung her into danger during the Eden TV series, trying to track him down in New York City. From the get-go, I was stunned by Kamiyama's attention to detail. New York looks spot-on, from the EZ-Pass toll booths to the NYC Taxi logos to the diffused lights in the windows of apartment buildings. Yusuke Takeda's (Giant Robo, Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex, Gankutsuou) art direction strikes a delicate balance, creating scenes that are believable, but not so photorealistic that they're distracting.

It's that sort of delicacy that characterized Kamiyama's work on the TV series as well, and it follows through to the film. Takeda's backgrounds mesh perfectly with Kamiyama's screenplay and Satoru Nakamura's (Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex) animation direction, which focus on a sort of slightly cartoonish realism. City streets look like real city streets, characters talk about taxes and politics like real people, and technology works the way real technology works (with some exceptions). There is comedy to be had among the drama, however, and this adds that splash of silliness that keeps the film from going too deep down the rabbit hole.

He may have the execution perfectly mastered, but a flawless genius Kenji Kamiyama is not. While each piece of the story is compelling in its own right, they never really mesh into a cohesive whole. Furthermore, the central conflict is never clear, since the most threatening villains are either off doing things unrelated to the main characters, are shown to be harmless fools, or are turned into good guys! In the end, there's not much to actually be worried about, since the protagonists are never in any real danger.

Look at this! I've gotten six paragraphs into this review without mentioning that amnesia is the most lazy way to start a follow-up to a popular TV series. Once they meet back up, Saki and Takizawa's relationship ends up being essentially the same as it was at the end of the show, so amnesia doesn't even seem to be a way out of some inescapable plot cul-de-sac. Building on the existing character relationships and simply moving ahead with new challenges would have made for a much more interesting film, and I don't really understand why Kamiyama didn't go down that route.

FUNimation's dub is a little overacted at times, as was the case for the original Eden of the East, but some of the more subdued roles, like Saki (Leah Clark), Takizawa (Jason Liebrecht), Hirasawa (J. Michael Tatum), and the sultry concierge Juiz (Stephanie Young) convey the tone of the story quite well. Unfortunately, the occasional odd deliveries mean it's going to be tough for non-anime fan types to take this seriously, despite the very Hollywood-style premise of the series.

The true finale comes in the second movie, so I will reserve my judgment on the entire series until I see it. However, The King of Eden is a weak follow-up to the already somewhat unsatisfying TV series ending. While it continues to prove that Kenji Kamiyama is a competent director who can construct beautiful ambiance and believable character relationships, the movie also seems to pull away the curtain on his seeming inability to tie up a complex, original narrative. Unless you're someone who really loved the TV series, this film's not for you.

Despite being irked at the lack of introduction and discussion, I initially fell into a state of humored awe. There’s just so much giant robot anime out there ... and the panel didn’t even reach its end! No wonder there wasn’t any time for intros (as frustrating as that was). After 10 or so openings, however, I felt a wearing tedium akin to being accosted by a friend whose notion of in-person entertainment is the sharing of endless Internet memes. While thorough in their acquisition of material, the panelists could’ve made a go of being more selective by grouping openings into trends and showing one example per group per time period and then discussing possible reasons for the noticeable differences.

After coming to terms that there would be no explanations, I sat back and tried as adeptly as possible to discern the evolutionary path myself. There was more than enough on which to comment, but among the things I found fascinating was the gradual swing in focus from violence to teamwork as saving grace. Within even this over-simplified observation there is much to expand upon: operator interaction with singular robots in the various recurring violent and teamwork eras, focus on detailed technological aspects of the robots themselves, form, weaponry, setting, fictitious and real word historical framing, etc. Alas, with but a minute or two of fury to note so many aspects, I simply put down my pen and enjoyed the relentless onslaught of visuals with the rest of the lip-syncing, bouncing crowd. And for the first panel on opening day of the con, maybe that’s all I needed.

Credit goes to yosefu2 for posting all the above clips to YouTube.

Click here for more of our Zenkaikon 2011 coverage

Despite all the bad news, it would seem that Japan's strict building codes and mandatory earthquake/tsunami training has been an incredible boon in ensuring the safety of their citizenry. While the death toll is certainly horrific at the moment, it would undoubtedly have been at unthinkable levels had Japan not been as prepared as it was. On that note, The New York Times is running an eye-opening story on Japan's anti-earthquake measures, which is a must-read for anyone interested in the implications of this disaster.

Plus, charitable organizations around the world have quickly mobilized to provide relief to the people in Japan suffering due to this unforeseen disaster. Most notably, the American Red Cross has been heavily promoting their SMS service, which allows you to easily donate $10 to Japanese earthquake relief by texting "REDCROSS" to 90999. (The organization also has a donation page on their site, where they can take larger donations by credit card or other payment methods.)

For more information on ways to help the Japanese people affected by the earthquake, visit the website Causes Exchange, which has a very helpful list of charities that are accepting donations toward the cause. (Big thanks go out to Anime Diet for providing the list, and for their swift coverage of the disaster.)

Meanwhile, Anime News Network is maintaining a massive list of anime/manga industry members who have checked in to confirm that they are OK in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. Notable names so far include Mamoru Hosoda, Kenji Kamiyama, Tite Kubo, and Hideo Kojima.

Longtime anime convention personality Walter Amos has confirmed via a Facebook post that "Noboru Ishiguro (Space Battleship Yamato, Macross), Artland Studios, and all its staff are OK." Artland staffer Yuko Suguro sent Mr. Amos the following message today:

Thank you for checking out [sic] on us! Artland is fine and so is Mr. Ishiguro. There were [sic] no damage in the building, and no one got hurt. We are working regularly from today, but everybody is a bit nervous because of the continuous after shake [sic]. I think everything will be back to normal by Monday.

If you have any news or stories about the earthquake, or if you have suggestions for ways that people can get involved in helping those affected by it, please leave us a comment on this post or send an e-mail to evanm [at] anigamers [dot] com. As new developments or suggestions come up, I will update this post with the new information.

EDIT 1: Vertical, Inc. Marketing Director Ed Chavez confirms in a Twitter post today that Mari Morimoto, Japanese/English translator for such manga as Dragon Ball and Naruto, is safe after leaving an evacuation center in Sendai with her mother.

[Sources: US Geological Survey, Business Week, Reuters, Anime News Network]

"Traitor’s Keep" is all about back-story. By way of an assassination attempt, the monarch comes to learn of Ravenscar Keep (the aforementioned prison) and that it has long been used by at least the two previous rulers: the current hero's brother, Logan, and mother. Given Logan’s predisposition towards military might and his hard-line tactics towards the general populous, one can imagine what types of people he incarcerated there ... namely revolutionaries, like the present monarch (though less successful), who’ve been seething ever since their imprisonment. While touring Ravenscar, players learn of a plot betwixt three pathologically fixated inmates, each of which (gasp) constitutes a quest, and one of whom fills in some blanks about how Albion transitioned to its industrial state.

While "Understone" presented little challenge to players who had already leveled-up their character by way of completing the game, "Traitor’s Keep" introduces new enemies as well as a few variants on some favorite beasties that manage to evoke some mildly impressive battles (some of which are more inventive than tough and vice-versa). In addition to the new clockwork creatures (beetles, exploding dogs, and psychotic automatons), there are rainbow-licious hobbes, extra-hollow hollow men, and (my favorite) drunken balverines. There are humans to fight as well, and being in a prison seems to have honed their group-based fighting skills a bit.

If there’s a weakness to "Traitor’s Keep," it’s the obvious moral choices. Kudos are deserved for including them at all, but the few choices that are presented are so heavily weighted that there is absolutely no ambiguity concerning where the hero’s yea or nay would place him or her in an opinion poll...a shame given Hobson’s prominence throughout the earlier portion of the DLC. More decisions affecting the public-at-large would have been terrific, especially if they came to learn of the prison despite attempts at secrecy. That could have at least added a feeling of political pressure.

Most importantly, "Traitor’s Keep" brings the funny. Sight gags and great writing as well as Fable in-jokes found scrawled across myriad notes and letters abound throughout this DLC. Supplement all of the above with four new outfits (three collected and one given) and one robot dog (non-exploding) to call your very own, and the 560 MS points it takes to purchase this quest seems a pittance for the experience.

[Highly Recommended]

This review is based on downlodable content purchased by the reviewer.

This problem is even worse, however, in that the people talking to you don’t clarify what it is you’re supposed to be doing. You can travel through nearly three of four areas, not knowing where you are, before discovering what purpose you have in being there. It is confusing, disorienting, and oftentimes frustrating. I had to replay the game’s first several chapters just to understand what the point of it was, and such a thing should not be a problem.

While the storyline itself comes off as being somewhat poor, the elements that bring the story to life are very well executed. Isaac now speaks throughout the game, and his dialogue fits him quite nicely. He is obviously a man who is perturbed by his past, and his experience with the Necromorphs comes through in his dialogue. He is a survivor with nothing to lose, and he reveals this through his conversations with the remaining survivors on the Sprawl. His messages and video logs are oftentimes hard to hear, however, even with the volume turned up, and subtitles are almost necessary to catch everything Isaac and the other people are discussing. Sound effects during the course of the game are both well produced and well timed, somewhat making up for lost words.

The first Dead Space was known for its horrific images and gruesome, nightmarish areas. While Dead Space 2 delivers on its horrific images and enemies, the game isn’t as scary as its predecessor due to an increased amount of action sequences. There were only a few places where I jumped in fear, and never once did I hesitate to enter a room. It could be because Dead Space fans know what to expect, but it also comes from Isaac’s attitude mentioned earlier. He has experience and a lack of care towards survival; he is going to get the job done, and to hell with whatever comes his way. Another reason for this is the game’s increased difficulty. Even after mastering Dead Space 1, I found Dead Space 2 to be quite the challenge, and given that there are now up to five difficulty options available, it is easy to assume that the producers were specifically aiming for an action-type game. Guns and armor (which are now specialized, individual suits rather than upgrades to a single suit) can be purchased at the store, and newer weapons have some nicely added effects. Melee is also much more impressive this time around, as Isaac’s swings and kicks are fluid and effective. In conclusion, all this combined means that enemies are less scary but tougher to deal with.

The environments in Dead Space 2 are gorgeous. Instead of crowded, packed-in hallways and gray, metallic facilities, the Sprawl is filled with facilities, such as a train station, a daycare center, and a shopping mall. Areas are much more open, and the amount of detail placed into the different objects adds a unique touch to the game’s overall quality. Lighting is particularly effective, as Isaac’s shadow and flashlight are very well defined, and the images located on the various televisions, monitors, advertisements, and stores all hint towards a much more peaceful time. Players can easily picture people living in such an environment, and to see it now overrun with Necromorphs and covered in blood is tragic. When navigating these areas, an upgraded locator module becomes extremely useful. Instead of just pointing Isaac in the right direction, the new locator shows objectives, stores, benches, and save stations, making it easy to navigate when one gets lost in the often-twisting hallways of the Sprawl. Another upgrade used for traveling is the capability for 360-degree movement in zero-gravity zones. Instead of jumping from one wall to the next, Isaac can now fly in any direction he wishes, using his boots to travel quickly.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the game is Isaac’s dementia, which plays a huge role in the story. Nicole appears in the form of a ghoulish corpse from time to time, talking to Isaac over her death and his guilt, and the images he sees due to his dementia are perhaps the most horrifying elements to the game. It is clear that Isaac is haunted by his dead girlfriend, and her appearances reveal a darker side to Isaac’s thinking. His conversations with Nicole, as well as the terrifying visions that accompany her appearances, add an element to the story that will stick with gamers.

Overall, Dead Space 2 is an enjoyable game. While the plot doesn’t go very in-depth this time around, the gameplay itself is smooth, fun, and a bloody mess. Players watch the return of Isaac Clarke and his haunted visions, and with five difficulties to master, there are plenty of opportunities to get all weapons, suits, logs, and achievements. And hey, if the single player mode sounds boring, why not play with friends online? The game also has a multiplayer aspect, where online gamers can either carry out a mission as a human or attempt to stop all humans as a Necromorph.

[Recommended]

This review is based on a retail version 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)

Twin Spica (Kou Yaginuma): This story of a young girl pursuing her dream of becoming an astronaut is easily the best manga I have read this year. Asumi, a 13-year-old girl, has always wanted to be an astronaut like her mother was. The interesting thing about this goal is that her mom died in a rocket accident when Asumi was a baby. Twin Spica is a character drama at its core, as Asumi has to deal with various relationships with others as well as her own personal development. As expected, her father has trouble supporting her ambition to follow the career that lead to his wife's death, and she has to deal with a group of new classmates at the space training academy. There is also a mysterious boy with a Lion mask on that appears to be a figment of Asumi's mind. Twin Spica tells a heartfelt story with an extremely likeable lead. Asumi is very sweet, but has more depth than the typical cutesy anime girls. The astronomical elements add a realistic science fiction aspect to the story that enriches the experience without becoming tacked on “sci-fi.” The artwork is simplistic, but becomes more refined as the artist, Kou Yaginuma, progresses. Twin Spica has four volumes out and is off to a strong start. I find it to be an extremely compelling read, and another great release from Vertical, Inc.

Twin Spica is also recommended by Ani-Gamers editor-in-chief Evan "Vampt Vo" Minto.

Ayako (Osamu Tezuka): While Japanese readers were introduced to Ayako in January of 1972, Osamu Tezuka's classic work of historical fiction arrived in the English-speaking world just this year, courtesy of publisher Vertical, Inc. and translator Mari Morimoto. Fans of the so-called "god of manga" (known for Astro Boy and Black Jack) will find him at his darkest point yet, as he weaves a dramatic yarn of deceit and suffering, set in post-war occupied Japan and centering around a young girl trapped by her own family in the storehouse cellar for 23 years. Despite its whopping 704-page single volume, Ayako is a gripping tale from start to finish, sure to leave even the most steadfast of Tezuka fans drained by the time they reach its powerful conclusion.

See Also:

• Ani-Gamers Podcast #033 – Daryl Talks Mass Effect, part 1 & part 2
• Ayako review

House of Five Leaves (Manglobe): Though focused on a group of thieves and a lone ronin, House of Five Leaves is less about action than growing to understand personal reasons behind past actions and present conditions. The main character is a samurai turned woebegone bodyguard who is hired into a den of thieves that kidnaps people for ransom, under the auspice of humanitarianism. The art is a bit jarring at first, with fish-like faces adorning otherwise realistically drawn bodies, but there's no denying the animation's beauty via color contrasts and use of darkness or its direct reflection of the story's pacing, which is slow and utterly character driven. All the above characteristics contribute to the sense that this is not an anime aimed at kids but rather the adult viewers of the noitaminA block in which it appeared.

See Also:

• Fable III review

Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale (EasyGameStation): Capitalism Ho! Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale was certainly a surprising hit this year. The premise for the game is simple: you owe a lot of money and need to make it back through market manipulation and dungeon crawling. The gameplay is fairly basic at its core, but offers many different characters to explore various randomly created dungeons in search of fame and fortune. The item shop portion of gameplay takes a bit of getting used to, as the deadlines are a bit harsh, and the amount of options available to wisely spend your time and manipulate the market can make one’s head spin at first, though all these concepts are slowly introduced, as to provide a continual challenge throughout the game. Much of the game’s charm comes from the character interactions and dialogue. I often found myself laughing out loud at many situations, something rare in games these days. If you’re looking for a different kind of RPG, you should pick up Recettear, currently on sale on Steam for $9.99 for the PC.

Click here for all the 2010 Staff Picks posts.

The gameplay itself is immersive, as there is no heads-up display (HUD) in Dead Space. Instead, Isaac’s items, maps, health, and ammo are displayed via holographic menus that do not stop time, meaning that enemies can still be attacking you when you decide to check your inventory. The game is much scarier in this sense, as there is nothing along the border of the screen to distract gamers from the sights and sounds within the Ishimura. Added to this is the concept of 3D exploration, in which you can jump from wall to wall in zero-gravity areas. This means that you can travel from room to room (only in designated areas) by jumping from wall to wall, but it also means that enemies can come from nearly any angle.

Dead Space's combat is rather well done, as it sticks to both the story and its horror roots. The battle system is termed “strategic dismemberment,” which is the process of shooting off a Necromorph’s limbs until he is dead. If you shoot off an arm, it runs towards you. Shoot off a leg, it crawls until it catches up to you. Shoot off the head, and it flings its arms around in a frenzy. Players have to be careful to conserve ammo during runs, so it is important to shoot where it hurts most, which changes for each enemy. All of the weapons fit the storyline, amazingly enough, as it is easy to see that the weapons used were tools made available to the miners when they worked. The Pulse Rifle goes a little against this, but weapons such as the Flamethrower or the Cutter could have just as easily been used to cut and mine rock as they are to kill Necromorphs.

The graphics and sounds of the game are quite impressive; lighting and shadows in particular make for a pretty creepy atmosphere, and the sheer amount of blood and gore found in the corridors, along the walls, and in the rooms of the Ishimura is enough to make your skin crawl. One room specifically comes to mind: the one in which you find your first weapon. In blood above a dead body is written the words “Cut off their limbs.” Images such as these are everywhere and never seem to become any less scary.

Music and sound effects are also extremely well executed. The former intensifies as players get closer and closer to either an enemy or an objective (in most cases, both), and rather than dying off when a player decides to back away, it merely softens, keeping its edge while not ruining the moment. You can also hear the Necromorphs crawling and breaking through vents and air ducts in a majority of the rooms, yet finding them can often be difficult. I have encountered more than a few rooms in which I was afraid to enter due to the sound of an enemy’s presence on the other side.

A rather interesting aspect of the game is the treatment of outer space. Isaac goes outside into space on several occasions, and the producers do a fantastic job in creating a completely different environment. When Isaac enters space, his suit switches modes in order to accommodate his intake of oxygen. Graphics become a mixture of blues and grays, and all sound is practically wiped out. Instead of hearing enemies or bullets, players will hear the sound of Isaac’s heart beating and breathing. It is creepy, particularly when you begin running low on oxygen, as Isaac’s breathing becomes labored, indicating it is time to use an oxygen tank.

Dead Space is a fantastic mixture of science fiction and horror, plain and simple. While your allies could have played a bigger role in the storyline, the plot is a detailed and ultimately satisfying one with some nice twists involved. Enemies and gameplay remain scary throughout the entire game thanks to well done graphics and sound designs, and the fighting style is both immersive and brutal. Players obtain some pretty nice items after beating the game and can run through a second time with all the items and weapons obtained through the first run, making it fun to play through several times. Those intensely involved in the series have other avenues to explore, including the animated movie Dead Space: Downfall (2008) and the Wii game Dead Space: Extraction (2009). Dead Space 2, the official sequel to Dead Space, is set to be released January 25, 2011.

[Highly Recommended]

This review is based on a retail copy of the Xbox 360 version purchased by the reviewer.

Boy Meets Manga

My introduction to One Piece hardly has any of the nostalgic glory of old-time anime fans' origin stories, as it starts sometime in 2003 or so (right in the heart of the mid-2000s manga boom). One of my middle school teachers passed out a Scholastic book catalog, and in it, glaring at me with all his silly intensity, was Yugi Moto from Yu-Gi-Oh! It was an issue of Viz's Shonen Jump, on sale in my school's catalog!

Naturally, after my experience with these cool Japanese cartoons on Cartoon Network's Toonami block (a frequent stepping stone for mid-'90s anime fans), I was excited to get my hands on the mysterious black-and-white comic book versions of the stories. Though I was hardly a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh! as a series, I was instantly hooked by two manga running in the magazine: Naruto and One Piece. They particularly grabbed me because I had never seen anime versions of them, unlike most of the titles in Shonen Jump.

Shortly after my first time reading One Piece (somewhere in the middle of Volume 2's Buggy Arc), I scrambled to pick up as much manga as I could get my hands on. I picked up the first two volumes of the terrible .Hack//Legend of the Twilight and received One Piece Volume 2 for my birthday. And with that, I was officially a fan of rubber-man Monkey D. Luffy and his crew of oddball pirates.

As a child of the Dragon Ball Z generation, I really felt a connection to Oda's Toriyama-inspired characters, stories, artwork, and sense of humor. Everything in One Piece, from the fights to the characters' dreams, is exaggerated, filled with a passion unparalleled by the actions of real people. For a wide-eyed middle school kid, new to the vast world of anime and manga lurking under the Toonami-glazed surface, Oda's powerfully kinetic yet inherently accessible work was just the kind of thing to propel me into full-fledged fandom.

And propel me it did! 2004, the year that marked my post-One Piece anime/manga obsession, also marked the creation of an overly ambitious little anime fan site called Anime Paradise, which would later become the Ani-Gamers you see today.

Boy Leaves Manga

It's pretty clear at this point that One Piece is one of the defining works of my personal manga fandom, but why did I stop reading it after all the passion I had invested into it? It's very simple, actually.

At AnimeNEXT 2008, I pushed my way to the nearest manga vendor and started rifling through the books on the table. As I had done for the past few years, I picked up the latest volume of One Piece (14 in this case) and got ready to buy it. But then it hit me. Looking at the volumes on the table, I took note of the books that I would then have to buy after Volume 14. I thought it over in my head — "One Piece isn't even finished yet in Japan, let alone in the US. Heck, I don't even know when this Baroque Works Arc is going to end. It could be ten more volumes for all I know!"

So, on that day, I made the fateful decision, on behalf of my wallet, to stop buying One Piece. Of course, since I am strongly opposed to manga piracy (har har), reading it online is out of the question, so that means I effectively decided to stop reading the series, period. Since then, Viz Media's American run of One Piece has reached 55 volumes, and it still hasn't ended in Japan. After re-reading the volumes I bought years ago, I really miss the Straw Hat Pirates and all their crazy adventures, but the prospect of restarting my collection is a daunting one.

Indeed, that's the ultimate tragedy of the paying fan of any long-running, ongoing manga series; continued dedication to your favorite story requires an inordinate amount of money and shelf space. Nevertheless, the boundless motivation of Luffy and his comrades serves as a reminder of the importance of doing what you love, regardless of the obstacles in front of you. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll finally follow Oda's wisdom, pick up One Piece Volume 14, and start this old journey up once again.

• Check out the rest of this month's One Piece-themed Manga Moveable Feast posts!
• Read Matt Blind's explanation of the Manga Moveable Feast

Plus, FUNimation's dub uses some surprisingly accurate British accents to help geographically and historically place the story in Victorian England. The voices don't always work — namely Brian Mathis, who weaves in and out of an Italian accent for the villain of episode 2 — but even some of the weaker performances like Monica Rial's Cockney accent manage to produce moments of comedy.

These two (predictably) self-contained episodes center around Sebastian's dazzling butler abilities, as he shows up all of the manor's servants with his masterful preparation of dinner and ... fighting prowess. In fact, the inclusion of fight scenes highlights the most important thing about these first few episodes of Black Butler — they combine straight-up visual gags with black comedy, creepy gothic macabre, light drama, and A-1 Pictures' best imitation of BONES-style (Fullmetal Alchemist) action scenes. The result is a fun, creepy, and exciting pastiche that never leaves you without a dull moment, despite its tendency to careen between styles.

Granted, this is just based on a limited preview, so the show could easily let me down after more than two episodes. Regardless, the beginning of Black Butler is undeniably entertaining; it may feature a pretty-boy butler being pretty, but his Golgo 13-esque ability to effortlessly complete any task, no matter how gruesome, makes for fun times, and the variety of comedic styles is sure to please nearly anyone.

Look for Black Butler on DVD from FUNimation Entertainment on January 11, 2011, and check it out with English subs right now on FUNimation's video portal, Hulu, and Anime News Network.

This preview is based on a complimentary screener DVD provided by FUNimation Entertainment.