Xavier-kun's Arcade Style Fighting Game Rampage:King of Fighters XIII

Konnichiwa!!

Hey its Xavier-kun here with the second installment of my arcade style fighting game series of reviews and its a doozy that's right
 the classic Completely anime styled game is back with  the 13th installment and I know, I get the same kinda

feeling when you see 13 because you know there has to be a few more 18 to be exact(not counting remakes/hd versions) but aside from the big number its there for a reason so lets get it on. hehhehheh

Story
The story behind King of Fighters is pretty good although it has one of those story's that are separate from the arcade mode. To get the real story mode that incorporates all of the characters instead of just character-character relationships there is a story mode which is like a visual novel instead of a fight some then watch/read a cut scene it's just straight words which is OK if you need a manga to read because it feels like a book but slightly better(not as good as an anime or a manga but ok-ish all the same)
Now with the story that comes with arcade mode, it's really good because you learn about the love-hate-I'm gonna rip you limb from limb, relationship that all the characters have with each other so it gets you really knowing the characters.

Graphics
The graphics for King of Fighters is really really Really good. Why 3 "really's" you ask, because of all the anime artwork!All of character designs are done in anime style which is really awesome because come on what can't anime art make better? It's a scientific fact that anime makes the world a better place to live in. Another tidbit is that the art is all done in pixels which makes could make you think the game would look kinda

Right? But that couldn't be further from

see the difference?


Balance
The balance for King of Fighters is really close to street fighter but with a little more aerial combo accessibility so that opens a few more combo ideas to float in your head.

Characters
Well he we are again with the lack of character difference being pretty clearly evident in this game it makes want to just walk across the ocean, to the developers headquarters and just

...everywhere...everywhere...EVERYWHERE!
It honestly gets on my last nerves when company's make games with characters that all fall into a couple of categories and to make it worse the characters are put into teams that play relatively the same, almost like each character covers for the others weaknesses which would be cool if it was a tag team game but of course not its choose the order of your team, and play each character to their deaths.

9/10-Great game,Great Graphics 50-50 Characters

Joe-San's Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Review

 

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! By: Akira Amano 

Ciaossu.  Sup guys?!  Today I'm reviewing one of my personal favorites.  This Shojo style Shonen Manga is done by my favorite author/illustrator, Akira Amano and ran in Shonen jump.  It has 409 chapters and has an anime with 203 episodes (Apparently its just on hiatus not quite sure).

Story/Plot

The story is set in Naminori, Japan.  It follows a nonathletic unpopular absentminded middle school-er Sawanda Tsunayoshi or as he's called loser Tsuna.  That is until the day a hitman named Reborn comes to his house.   Reborn tells Tsuana that he is next in line to head the worlds most powerful Mafia family.  Tsuna isn't convinced, but Reborn becomes his tutor to train him to become a good mafia boss.  Reborn helps lift Tsuna's status from loser to cool  (somewhat).  This brings Tsuna new friends, but it also gets them caught up in the mafia business.

ART
I really like the more shojoish style brought to this shonen Manga.  It gives the Manga an interesting atmosphere.  It goes good with the story and the charecter design is pretty cool, although sometimes the faces look kinda weird.   Overall there isn't much bad stuff to say about it though. Nice job Amano-Sensei.

Final Remarks   
Reborn is a great example of what can happen when you mix styles for the better or worse.  Although the story line is the classic strong guy trains weak guy into a BOSS (Literally).  It is still very entertaining despite its rushed conclusion.  Still a must read.

John-San Eats Asian Stuff!

Home-made Sushi!

In this one, I hire a sushi chef!

Enjoy!

Blaine-san's Anime Review: Naoki Urasawa's Monster

Naoki Urasawa's Monster

Naoki Urasawa masterfully puts together a highly psychological anime, after the hit manga. This series has multiple instances where the story could go right over your head, unless you fully stay involved in the story line.

The main character Dr. Kenzo Tenma starts out as a brilliant neurosurgeon at a massive hospital. He has a bright future only if he kisses up to the main people of the hospital.

The story really begins when a young man named Johan Liebert is rushed to the hospital with a bullet  in his head. The director of the hospital sends Dr. Tenma to go to work on the Mayer even though Johan came in first. Dr. Tenma saves Johan, so the mayer dies. This starts Dr. Tenma's spiritual journey with the idea of all men being created equal.

This belief later leads to Dr. Tenma's journey to end Johans life because any person who is in Johans life in any way is killed because all Johan wants is to be a fake person. Meaning, all proof of his existence is erased.

Additional info:

Director-Masayuki Kojins

Writer-Tatsuhiko Urahata

Music-Kuniaki Haishima

Studio-Madhouse

Licensed-Siren Visual/Viz media

Network-NTV

English network -Super channel, Syfy, Chiller

Original run date-April 6, 2004-September 27, 2005

Episodes-74

Additional info from Wikipedia 

Xavier-kun's Arcade style video game rampage!:Super Street Fighter Arcade Edition PS3

Konnichiwa

Hey its Xavier-kun here with my first post for the series of reviews on arcade style fighting games because I love how they play and the overall amazingness and otaku swag. So to start it off will be one of the newest installment of a classic Street Fighter series
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alright so here is how I'm gonna break this whole review thing down: Graphics, Balance, Story and Characters.

Story
The story behind Super Street Fighter Arcade Edition is that the evil S.I.N. corporation that wants to complete a mysterious project by holding a tournament to lure the strongest fighters to use them.
So everyone goes through the tournament fighting for a variety of reasons until you fight your rival which includes a motive that ties in throughout the series i.e. Cody and Guy having a history spanning from the Final Fight series or Rufus and Ken who have nothing to do with each other rather than Rufus is full of himself.

Graphics
The graphics are pretty amazing despite earlier versions being in anime style:(super street fighter turbo 2)
So missing an anime touch to the art style which really disappoints me because that pulls the overall otaku friendliness level down, but the graphics are still great and cell shaded.

Balance
The balance in Super Street Fighter Arcade Edition is really good although this game definitely is a big step up from something along the lines of Marvel vs Capcom 3,Persona 4 Arena, or anything with a simpler combo system. There is definitely a required amount of playtime and tutorial time to really get good at the game, so it's time consuming but well worth it when your so amazing online.

Characters
The character roster is pretty amazing standing at 39 characters (4 exclusive to arcade edition) each with a style of their own. The only let down with games like this that have such huge rosters is that the characters can be broken down into "classes":Simplistic(Ken/Ryu) Grapple(Hakan/Zangief) Distance(Dhalsim/Vega) and + Characters(Balrog/Blanka). So cool with 4 types of characters but when you play games like Persona 4 and BlazBlue with completely different characters (although rosters less than 1/2 the size of SSF)that require individual time/effort to master it disappoints to see the lack of originality that goes into each character.

8/10-Great game but really lacks character originality

Xavier-kun's game review: Arcade style fighting games galore!!

KONNICHIWA AND GOMENASAI

Well hey there guys well first thing is that I am super sorry for not posting anything on the blog for a while so John-san has been holding us up for a good while and we will definitely be posting more otaku stuff not just food reviews (although ramen is super good). So basically what I'm about to do is make a series of posts within the next few days about(hence the title) ARCADE STYLE FIGHTING GAMES!!! Why? because they are amazing and a good portion of the best come from japan so HA!. Well that's all for now will post the first review in the next hour or so and I really need lots of recommendations of Japanese or anime style fighting games(may make a few exceptions for American ones...maybe).
well since this post is severely lacking pictures I'm gonna improvise.strongest soul eater character PERIOD

John-San eats some Ice Pops!

Ice Pops!

John-San again!

I eat some really good Japanese popsicles.

Yeah.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKk0hgw-eP8