New Touhou Characters!

With the official release of Touhou 13.5 ~ Hopeless Masquerade and the demo of Touhou 14 ~ Double Dealing Character released at Reitaisai in Japan today, new characters have surfaced (well, sort of...) in Gensokyo.

Up first is The Expressive Poker Face, Hata no Kokoro.

 

Kokoro is the final boss of Hopeless Masquerade. She is a Menreiki (don't know that is, and didn't find anything on the internet. I'm sure more information will surface soon). Kokoro has the power to manipulate emotion.

The next pieces of artwork you will see are ZUN's own, so if you feel the quality is lacking compared to the one above, that would be the reason why.

Anyway, the first boss of Double Dealing Character: Mermaid Living in Fresh Water, Wakasagihime.

As you may have noticed, she is a mermaid. She lives in the Misty Lake, and has the ability to grow in power when she's underwater. That's about all I know of her for the time being.

The midboss and boss of the second stage is the Bizareness of the Rokurokubi, Sekibanki.

She is a Rokurokubi, and a weird one judging by her title. Also, she has the ability to make her head fly... No idea on that one, personally.

The final character introduced in the Double Dealing Character demo is The Bamboo Forest's Loup-Garou, Kagerou Imaizumi.

If you know French, I think, you would have already worked out that Kagerou is a werewolf. Naturally, this means her ability is to transform into a wolf on the night of the full moon. She is the boss of stage 3.

Nintendo's E3 Nintendo Direct and MCM Comic Con Stuff

So, after the short but sweet Wii U Nintendo Direct, the next one will be the big E3 one. Nintendo have confirmed that it will be the first chance for everyone to see the new 3D Mario game, the next Mario Kart and the new Smash Bros. Just those three alone will make it worth it, but there will be other games as well.
Maybe we'll get more information on Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, or even a proper title for Monolith Soft's 'X'.
There will probably more details on 3DS games. If I had to guess, maybe release dates for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2 and Bravely Default: Flying Fairy. I also think both of those titles will be changed somewhat for US and EU releases, but we'll have to wait.
Anyway, the Nintendo Direct is due to take place on June 11th, at 3PM BST. I'll definitely make an effort to watch it.

Now for the MCM Comic Con stuff. After queuing for quite literally two hours, my family and I entered the convention hall. As a result of the queue, I missed out on the panels I wanted to sit in on; definitely gonna get an early entry ticket for the one in October, methinks. Actually, I would have done so in the first place if my Mum and youngest brothers hadn't decided to go along as well.
Anyway, stuff I brought. Well, I made a beeline for the Manga stall (Manga being the name of the company that distributes anime in the UK... yeah), where I brought Bleach the Movie 4: Hell Verse, Black Rock Shooter: The Complete Series and One Piece Collection 1. Here's an interesting thing about One Piece; it hadn't been available in the UK till around now (released officially on the 27th May, available early at the MCM Comic Con). The same had been the case for Dragon Ball Z as well, so Manga got both of them licensed, and have been releasing a season every two months. I believe up to season seven is available now, with two more to come... Don't quote me on that.
It seems that Manga are going to release the One Piece collections every two months; each one has around twenty-six episodes, I think. Unlike Dragon Ball Z (I have season one...), I will try and stay on top of that particular collection.

Anyway, the next stall I visited was the MVM Entertainment stall. That's where I picked up Rozen Maiden: Ouvertüre and Ga-Rei Zero. 

As for manga, I picked up new volumes of Soul Eater and Fairy Tail. I was hoping to get the next volumes of A Certain Scientific Railgun, but I couldn't find the fifth one anywhere... six and seven were available, though. However, I have now ordered volumes five, six and seven from Amazon, bringing me up to date. I should have tried to pick up more Bamboo Blade manga, but that completely slipped my mind... I might do so after I get paid again, however.

Other purchases I made at the convention included a Laughing Man t-shirt (from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - a sort of smiley face logo with the phrase "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."), a pack of A Certain Scientific Railgun playing cards, Pocky and a couple of other sweet treats, and a statue of Homura Akemi from Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

With a little looking around on the internet, I was able to find the news that I missed from the anime industry panel. Manga have acquired the license for Attack on Titan, and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works will be released on August 26th. MVM and Anime Limited had licensed and re-licensed a few anime, but it wasn't anything that intrigued me.

So, yeah, it was a pretty good day, and as a result of buying stuff from Manga's stall, I got entered into a raffle to win a load of anime related goodies.

Wii U Nintendo Direct

Well, today's Nintendo Direct was rather short.

Anyway, first up was the announcement of a new Mario & Sonic game. It will probably be called something like Mario & Sonic at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. It looks pretty nice, although I haven't really played any Mario & Sonic games since the first one.

Next up was the reveal that Nintendo and Sega have formed a partnership for the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and the next game, Sonic: Lost World will be released exclusively on Wii U and 3DS.

Game & Wario will be released on June 28th. I'll probably get this one, and that's about all I have to say on the matter at the moment.

Resident Evil Revelations will be released on the Wii U on May 24th, but I think everyone knew that already. I have the original 3DS version, so I won't be getting this... plus, I'm saving my money for the London MCM Comic Con.

New Super Luigi U, a sort of expansion pack for New Super Mario Bros. U will be released on the Wii U eShop on June 20th. There will also be a standalone version launched on July 26th, for anyone who doesn't have an internet connection or New Super Mario Bros. U.
A new character is available for multiplayer, as Mario is nowhere to be seen. The character is Nabbit, who can't power up, but can't get hurt either. I imagine bottomless pits will still do him in, though.

The Wonderful 101 has a launch date of August 23rd, with more information being made available between now and that time.

Pikmin 3 was probably the main draw of this Nintendo Direct. The three new characters seen in the screenshots have been named: Alph, Brittany and Charlie. They are on a quest to bring food back to their home planet, and since the fruit in the Pikmin's world is larger than they anticipated, they enlist the help of the Pikmin to acquire it.
There will be several methods of control available, from the GamePad to the Wii U Pro Controller to Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Pikmin 3 is due for release on 26th July.

Now, this Nintendo Direct wasn't as great as the 3DS one, and I'm sure many people will agree. However, Satoru Iwata did state that it would be focusing on titles released this year, and we've been given release dates for games that seemed to be constantly pushed back.
Next month is E3 as well, with the promise of a Nintendo Direct to showcase what Nintendo have coming up. So whilst this was by no means the greatest Nintendo Direct, I feel it was just a prelude to greater things.

New Nintendo Direct Incoming!

On Friday 17th May, Nintendo will be streaming a new Nintendo Direct. It is set to focus upon the Wii U.
I hope that it is as good as the recent 3DS one; announcements of several new titles would make me happy.
Actually things I hope to see: more information on Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, more on Monolith Soft's 'X', a release date for the HD Wind Waker. Details about the Smash Bros. 4 would be nice, and maybe a sneak preview of what Nintendo are offering at E3.
Actually, I can see this Nintendo Direct being the last one for this half of the year, what with E3 next month I believe. Although Nintendo won't be holding a big conference, I very much look forward to what they will be announcing through Nintendo Direct around that time.
Also, as a side note, Nintendo Unleashed will be at the London MCM Comic Con, showcasing both 3DS and Wii U games. Playable Wii U games will be Game & Wario, Resident Evil Revelations, Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut, Rayman Legends, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Coaster Crazy Deluxe, Toki Tori 2, Cloudberry Kingdom and The Cave.
The playable 3DS games will be Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Project X Zone, Mario Kart 7, Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move, Super Little Acorns 3D Turbo, 3D Space Harrier, Luigi's Mansion 2 and Cut the Rope.

So, Nintendo Direct tomorrow at 3PM UK time, the finale of Doctor Who the day after and then the London MCM Comic Con on the 25th May. I've got a decent time ahead of me, by the looks of it.

Ace Attorney 5 Confirmed for UK!

So today, I discovered that the next game in the Ace Attorney series is going to be released outside of Japan. I've only played the first three games, but they were pretty damn good, in my opinion. This sort of gives me an excuse to acquire Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney and Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies features the return of the spiky-haired protagonist in the title. There are new characters as well: Phoenix's new assistant Athena Cykes, and Winston Payne's younger brother, Gaspen. Apollo Justice makes a return as well. Oh, and the same judge is still there.
I would like to see Maya Fey return, although that might not happen until Phoenix Wright vs. Professor Layton gets released (if it gets released outside of Japan, that is...)
Unfortunately for some, the game will only be released through the Nintendo eShop. Whilst this isn't a problem for me (thanks to an SD card with more memory), I imagine there are a few who would prefer a physical copy... and the question of the price is one thing that could decide on how many people buy this.
I may wait a little while before getting this game, since I would like to see Apollo's story, so I don't spoil anything. Technically Ace Attorney Investigations isn't part of the main series, which is why the newest game is known as Ace Attorney 5. Still, more Ace Attorney suits me fine, even if it isn't quite the same as trying to get a not guilty verdict.
Although there is the slight issue of Ace Attorney Investigations 2 not being available outside of Japan... 

14th Official Touhou game announced

On May 11th 2013 at 5:00AM JST, ZUN announced the fourteenth official Touhou game. Its English title will be Double Dealing Character. A 3-stage demo will be made available at Reitaisai 10 on May 26th.
All I know at the moment is that there are three playable characters. Two of them are Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame, of course. The third is making a return as a playable character after a fairly long absence; Sakuya Izayoi, the Perfect and Elegant Maid from the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
The story involves the protagonist's weapons acting odd (not sure how knives can act odd, but whatever...) and youkai rebel (as they tend to do...). It seems the protagonists will be choosing whether to take their weapons in hand to fight the youkai, or cast their weapons aside. This being Touhou, I can't really imagine the protagonists allowing youkai to run freely causing havoc.
Also, the next Touhou fighting game, Hopeless Masquerade is set for release at Reitaisai 10 as well.

London MCM Comic Con

I will be attending the London MCM Expo Comic Con at the end of this May. I will be the redheaded guy with glasses who won't be cosplaying - don't bother looking out for me!

Anyway, I thought I would take the opportunity to write some stuff about what's going on there, since I haven't really posted much in a little while.

The main attraction for me is effectively what is a market for anime, manga and video game based goods. I have plans to pick up a few new volumes of manga, some anime DVDs, and some useless stuff I would never need. Oh, also Pocky.

Another thing that holds my interest is the opportunity to play new video games, particularly Nintendo ones. However, at the time of writing, there has been no news about games publishers appearing... still, I'm certain that there will be a few.

There are always special guests at this event, and this year is no exception. I really only have interest in one at the moment, but I'm sure more will be announced. The list so far looks like this:

Mark Meer - The voice of Commander Shepard from the Mass Effect series of video games.

Brad Bell - Cheeks from Husbands

Jane Espenson - The producer of Once Upon A Time

Keegan Connor Tracy - Blue Fairy/Mother Superior from Once Upon A Time

Raphael Sbarge - Archie Hopper/Jiminy Cricket from Once Upon A Time

Remi Aubuchon - Producer of Falling Skies

Drew Roy - Hal Mason from Falling Skies

Sarah Carter - Margaret from Falling Skies

Shinichiro Watanabe - Director of a few mighty fine anime series: Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo among them

Camilla Luddington - Voice of Lara Croft from Tomb Raider

Daniel Sharman - Isaac Lahey from Teen Wolf

Crystal Reed - Allison Argent from Teen Wolf

Jessy Schram - Karen Nadler from Falling Skies

Christian Taylor - A writer whose works include Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Teen Wolf, Lost and others

Ashley Miller - A writer whose works include X-Men: First Class, Thor, The Fantastic Four and others

Rob Van Dam - A WWE wrestler

Holland Roden - Lydia Martin from Teen Wolf

The Dead Lay Waiting - A metal band, promoting their comic

Barrett Foa - Eric Beale from NCIS Los Angeles

Renee Felice Smith - Nell Jones from NCIS Los Angeles


If you hadn't guessed, Shinichiro Watanabe is the only special guest I have any major interest in, although I guess the writers also hold some intrigue for me as well.

There will be loads of cosplayers as well. Some of the costumes are amazing with highlights from previous years being a Captain Jack Sparrow who could have actually been Johnny Depp and a really convincing Ryuk from Death Note.

Anyway, I will be going, and returning with a whole bunch of stuff that will take up more room. I'm quite looking forward to it.