Heart-pounding first column! Rankarana's shocking debut!

Hey, I’m Rankarana. Or Ranka, but not of the high-score table variety, ohohoho~

This is pretty much just a placeholder. Originally, I was planning to upload my first Bootleg the Cheap column, but an issue popped up with the images, as they were too big for Blogger.

Over a thousand MBs too big >_>.

Anyway, in order to prove that I exist, here's a short introduction (which I'm sure will be basically be repeated later on in my other ramblings). I'm younger than most of the other people both on this blog and in the fandom, which not many people usually get, for whatever reason. I'm generally either very enthusiatic or very caustic, or, somehow, both simultaneously.
I adore my animu and mango, maybe not so much these days, but I certainly make time for series I find great. I love giant robots, which actually really weren't part of my childhood, but they've grown on me in the last three years. My favourite series are probably RahXephon (BAAAW), Astro Fighter Sunred (HAAAW) and, currently, (though I'm still watching it) Kemonozume (GOOOORE)... and maybe Hanayako Maid Team ~La Verite~ if I'm trying to annoy someone.
I'm a big toy collector, mostly of robots, with no real pattern to my collection other than 'that looks cool/is cheap, I'll buy it.' My hobby has somewhat ruined my finances, but was it worth it? ...I'll have to think about that. My large collection of Megazords is also taking up plenty of my living space, but that's life, no? And I do adore good and funky bootlegs. Good and funky, man, good and funky.
I used to be an avid gamer but that's slipped away recently. I'm currently playing the awesome CHOU SOUJOU MECHA MG, which is Nintendo doing a mecha game meets WarioWare. It's beyond incredible, and when you're controlling a transforming ninja form that breaths fire, you do feel like the King, something that Evony never did.
Also, big Kamen Rider fan here. Not so much of other toku, but Rider is better than a Hadron Collider! Especially Ryuki, in all its' grim, child-scarring, battletastic glory.

Well, not much else to say right now, other than showing you awesome Indian Rider action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKFhiE3NxbI

HERO! HERO HONDA! DHAK DHAK GO!

Hey! Long Time No See! How are things?

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1762/gottabeatkanako.jpg


Another wondrous strip by Mr. HBK.


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Today, I'm fielding two game reviews. First up, is Pokemon HeartGold!


This is the best Pokemon game since the original Gold/Silver/Crystal. 


It's got all the stuff that made those games so fun. Daily and weekly events, swarms, a cellphone, two regions. And to make things better, it's really pretty-looking on the DS. There's even CG cutscenes for Ho-Oh or Lugia depending on your version. 


And, even though the titles say "Gold" and "Silver" the extra storyline stuff (Like Suicune's role and Eusine) are here. 


Hell, even the Pokewalker, which I said would be the most retarded free accessory ever, is kinda neat. It's similar to the Wii Fit in that it actually encourages kids/manchildren to run around to train a pokemon and catch some rare ones. 


All in all, I give this game a 9/10.


Oh, and the in-game Arceus event is freaking insane. Seriously, go Youtube it or something. It's beyond weird. 


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Next up is Infinite Space.




This is a neat little gem. Visually, it looks a bit like Starfox 64 (Sounds a bit like it too). 


It's a strategy RPG where you must maintain your crew of space adventurers and travel through the vastness of space. Fighting pirates and whatnot. 


The story is supposedly based on Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke, but I'm not really seeing it at this point. 


The ships look pretty cool though. I don't know who the mechanical designer was for this, but (s)he did a good job on this. 


My only complaint is that sometimes, nothing seems to hit the enemy. Ever. I've lost a few fights because, despite all my customizations to fire control and CIC and the like, I can't seem to land more than a few week-sauce hits. 


I'll give this one a score when I beat it.


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This week was Scott Pilgrim week.


We got a book announcement, a trailer and even a look at the game. 


Best news about the film though? That Beck is doing songs for it. Not just any songs either, one of them is Launchpad McQuack!


But boy, was the trailer amazing. It's easily the most faithful-looking comic book movie adaption ever at this point. 


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I really hope the Sentry goes away soon. Or the Void or Bob Reynolds or whatever the fuck he is now.  He was cool for a while, but now he's just annoying. 


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Here's a new segment I call "RETRO-ASS GAMES".




My first entry is some old survival/horror game from Sammy called Galerians: Ash. It's from 2002 and is for the PS2.


Now, it's the sequel to a game called Galerians. Never played it, but I saw the pretty awesome CG movie version on MTV a few years ago. 

In this game, you play as a drug-addicted ESPer named Rion Steiner. Well, a clone of him who's mind mixed with an AI. It's a bit odd. 


The antagonist is a gay ESPer/AI named Ash. He's also a nuclear fusion reactor. 


Yeah.


The combat is really cool though. You take drugs to boost your psychic powers. You've got electricity stuff, a shield, pyrokinesis, telekinesis, the usual stuff. 


The graphics aren't bad either. A little stiff maybe (Rion's dodge rolls are just awful), but the cutscenes are cool.


Voice acting's OK. But the effects and music are too damn loud. It makes it hard to hear the voice-acting. 


Really, this game is pretty much Akira + Scanners with a dash of The Matrix thrown in. Which is pretty cool. I mean, you pop pills and make people explode with your mind! Why didn't this game take off? Hell, it's even got two guy-on-guy kiss scenes for the yaoi-loving. 


This was an OK game for the whopping $2.99 I payed for it.


Verdict: 6/10


Graphics are good for it's time. Plot's neat, but it suffers from a terrible camera, poor sound design and bad level design. Not too bad of a level design or that bad of a camera, but bad enough to make a dude frustrated. 

Art, 'Tis a Glorious and Wonderful Thing, Is It Not?

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/2213/itisapurpouslyinasupici.jpg

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HBK drew that up. He's doing strips for Der Panzer (As he has given this blog a nickname as well as art).

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First things first.... I love me some bargains. Two weeks ago, I got all of Cowboy Bebop for $10 dollars. And all the discs work and everything. This week... I got all but the last volume of Nadesico for $7.36. Ah, the days of my youth... Like the scent of lemon. Except, my "youth" is really just like 3 or 4 years ago. 

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Here's a quick review of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, since I've actually beaten it now. The game was great. The new gameplay and the logic system really carry this game. It does have some... faults though. 1. Shi-Long needed more screen time. 2. Calisto's voice was terrible. Seriously. Was there a man doing her voice? 3. Fay wasn't a very interesting character. To me at least. 4. The final case really drags the game to a grinding halt. It's a wee bit long, and some of the arguments/testimonies are really friggin' odd. 

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The World Ends With You is the best game I've missed. I really feel guilty about not contributing to this game's sales back when it mattered. I mean, I really dug everyone about this game. Even the almost too busy battles. Also, the soundtrack is now my favorite video game soundtrack of all time. It's even passed Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword as my favorite. 

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They might be making a DS remake of Cybuster. You don't know how long I've dreamed of this exact thing. I've always wanted to play a better version of this game. The ROM was OK. but it never wanted to work right for me. Most ROMs don't want to. So I tend not to play them. But no more! Hopefully. It's all rumors and heresay for the moment. When Famitsu comes out next week, I'm sure I'm gonna scream so loud everyone will here me, because I'm reasonably certain some SRW is being announced at least. 

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The Clone Saga remake was grand. It removed pretty much everything I hated about the original. Also, Ben Reilly's coming back. I don't care what the haters say, I always dug the Scarlet Spider. 

Oh, and Ultimate Comics: Avengers #5 won't appear at my bookstore. I don't know why. I hope it gets in soon.

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Last, but definitely not fucking least: HOKUTO MUSOU IS COMING TO EUROPE. WHICH IS GREAT FOR RANKA AND HBK. But, more importantly, it means it's probably coming to America too. So... I WA SHOCK. Oh, and I'm probably already dead too.

EDIT: Comic was being a bastard. Now it's just the link.

EUREKA!!

There's gonna be another new poster besides Ranka. His name is HBK and he says he's gonna cram my blog with moe. I'm scared.

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Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is a fantastic game. It's got a hilarious script more cameos and references to the previous games than you can shake a stick at and tons of nice, new gameplay mechanics. Nothing is still as satisfying as yelling "EUREKA!!" or "OBJECTION!!" at the top of my lungs at two in the morning. I'm indifferent to Miles' new sidekick. She's just a ninja version of Maya.

Also, Cammy Meele will haunt my dreams for years to come. That grin... That FUCKING GRIN!!

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This month's Ultimate Spider-Man was great. It finally revealed what the hell was going on with Rick Jones. He can teleport.

And the current artist on Amazing Spider-Man is amazing. His name is Marcos Martin and I just love his art. It really reminds me of Steve Ditko's stuff.

It seems like Ultimate Avengers just keeps getting delayed. Also, please don't let New Ultimates suck. I mean, I know it's probably gonna... But I can dream can't I?
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I'm re-watching Kamen Rider Agito.... I don't remember the first couple of episodes being so boring. I was literally put to sleep by the first episode. That shouldn't be happening. Ever.

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I also started reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I've never actually read any of his novels. I've read a ton of Sandman and a lot of his other comics though. So far, it doesn't disappoint. Which is a big thing for me because I normally don't like fantasy novels.

I also want to read Northern Lights/The Golden Compass to see what all the fuss was about. I mean, I just watched the movie and I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't a bad movie at all. Hell, Nicole Kidman was downright scary in it.

A New Ally. Oh, and I'm an Addict.

Well, someone else is gonna be posting her besides me. His name is Rankarana. And he will talk about AM Driver, model kits, toys and bootleg toys. And probably some of the same stuff I talk about (Toku, scifi toys and anime and stuff.)

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OK, first off. I am addicted to Pokemon. I re-beat LeafGreen in just over 24 hours. Now I'm slogging my way through Emerald. Why? Because I'm farming to make a new team. The team I've had since I was a wee lad no longer suits me. Plus it sucked hard. So, I'm working on some new ideas.

Also, there were two new Pokemon unveiled last week that are the first Generation V Pokemon. Zoroa/Zorua and Zoroark. Dark fox Pokemon. Zoroark looks pretty neat. I guess he's supposed to be this generation's Lucario.

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Marvel finally gave us Captain America: Reborn #6. God I love Brian Hitch's artwork. But I hate waiting extra time for it. This was a great mini-series though. Cap and the Avengers VS Giant Android Red Skull was awesome.

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Gundam Unicorn's first seven minutes were put onto the net. A-freaking-mazing. The art was absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to buy this. It's good to finally have some new UC Gundam.

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I need the Red Frame Kai model kit. Desperately. Mainly because it's the first actual Red Frame variation kit ever. I mean, we get Blue Frame Second L, but no Red Frame Powered? Horseshit I say!

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And, as a sequel to my post about "erotic" manga. I present: Anime porn that was mistakenly put next to Daiguard at the video store. It was called D15. I think.

It was about some lady at college, and, if I read the back of the box correctly, she was neither a she or a he. She.... had a penis.  And the box art.... it was a girl groping a very moist girl. There was a puddle of yellow liquid under her.

WHAT THE HELL MAN!? I thought putting Ninja-themed porn in with the martial arts films was bad at FYE. But damn. Putting something like that next to an awesome anime like Daiguard? I feel bad for any kid looking for a normal anime who accidentally finds this. Oh, and I feel bad for me and my friends when we found this.

Smallville Finally Rocks Again.

First off, thanks to Rankarana for informing me that the "weird full-color lesbian manga" was called Maka Maka. I guess.
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I haven't watched Smallville since it moved to Fridays. But I did watch last night's episode. Man was it cool.

They had Checkmate in it. And Pam Grier (That's Foxy Brown!) as Amanda Waller!

The JSA were cool too. Michael Shanks was cool as Hawkman, but his deep voice was weird.

Dr. Fate's eyes bugged me a bit.

It was nice to see the Martian Manhunter's true form, if only for a brief moment as well.

It was just nice to see some more fantastical comic book elements in Smallville. I mean, we've had some other characters from the comics show up, but the JSA? Now that was a good move.

The overall story was good too. The villain was really lame though. Icicle? There had to have been cooler villains out there to use. Good God that was a shitty, unintentional pun.

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Good God, Xenosaga is boring. I keep trying to play it, but I can't do it for long. I'm 7 hours in and it just hasn't grabbed me at all.

It doesn't help that the plot is so out there it hurts.

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On the literary front, Stephen King's Needful Things is really good. It reminds me of The Tommyknockers  due to the whole "Otherworldly force makes townsfolk insane" thing.

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Robot Damashii Side [YOROI] Daan of Thursday. 'Bout damn time GunXSword got some love.

And not one, not two, but three Side [MS] RX-78 types! Animated series version, modern version and "modified" version, which looks vaguely reminiscent of the version from Gundam: The Origin.

Now if only Side [VF] mecha could actually transform...

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Well, I'm out of shit to talk about. Go away now.

Terrible "Erotic" Manga I Find At The Bookstore.

First off, this stuff is nowhere near as bad as anything I've found on 4chan.

Second off, it's really off-putting.


The first manga I'm gonna talk about is Gay's Anatomy. It was tucked in with the American comics originally when I stumbled upon it. Since then, it's something of an inside joke among my friends.

It's about two doctors who fuck nonstop. I mean it. It's awful. It's..... creepy because it always looks like rape. ALWAYS.

Yes, I thumbed through it. All of my friends have. It's our rite of passage, so to speak.
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Next up is one called "Kimikiss". I think. I may have that wrong, but whatever.

This manga taught me that all soccer played in Japan is co-ed and it looks suspiciously like sex.

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There was one manga we found that was 200 pages or so of gay elf and fairy sex. No plot. Just sex. It was way more graphic than I thought was allowed in a bookstore. Wanna know what manga it was next to? MEGAMAN. It was next to a children's manga.

TERRIBLE.
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Another one we found was some full-color manga about lesbians. It was also really graphic. I can't remember the title at all.

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The sad part is that someone apparently bought the one about the elves and fairies. Someone bought that. Who would want to read that? Who would find that arousing?

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Now that I'm done talking about crappy manga, it's time to talk about some good stuff.

Gundam 00F is one of the manga I'm re-reading now and I still love it. I love Tokita's artwork. I love the mechanical designs too. I even own the Astrea Type F2 from this series. It's my favorite model kit.

Pluto is also a great read. I love Urasawa's works. I could read this for hours. And on occasion, I have.

I also found the old Pokemon Adventures manga that I read as a youth. Good times. I've been going back over it since HeartGold is a month away.

Stay tuned next week for the awful anime I spy at the video store!