Hokuto Musou Ken!

I may be in the minority, but I enjoy the Dynasty Warriors games, known in Japan as the Musou series.  Though most people find the games tedious, I enjoy the wholesale slaughter of thousands by my hand.  Now, Koei has brought their significant death toll simulator to an intellectual property that is perfect for it:

Fist of the North Star

The game, entitled Hokuto Musou, is seeing a Japanese release sometime next spring.  Needless to say, this game needs to be brought to the States.  We missed out on the awesome fighting game that Arc System Works released in arcades and on the PS2.  I'll be damned if another Fist of the North Star game doesn't come here.

This is not the first anime game from the Musou series.  Koei released Dynasty Warriors: Gundam (Gundam Musou) a couple of years ago (didn't really care for that one, though).  Since that one came Stateside, I've got my hopes riding on this game doing the same.

As a taste of the violence to come, here's the recently released teaser for the game.

Omae wa mō shindeiru...

The Demon Hunters of Kaiser Crowbar's Crypt of Doom

Halloween has only been a recent phenomenon in Japan, but has quickly become very popular.  Despite this, Japan has a longstanding penchant for horror.  Most of their horror stories center around ghosts and spirits, as is evidenced by such popular movies as Ringu and Ju-on and video games such as the Fatal Frame series (which are some of the scariest games I've ever played).  In the late 80s and into the 90s, there has also been a fascination in anime and video games on demon hunters.  A lot of these anime (and some of the games) made it to the states and became one generation's first glimpse at the world of anime (myself included).  So I decided to take a look back at some of the anime and games from the past 20 years that focused on demons and the people who hunt them.

One of the most successful anime studios, Madhouse, cranked out these supernatural anime like nobody's business during those days.  Features such as Demon City Shinjuku, Wicked City, Devil Hunter Yohko, Vampire Hunter D, and Phantom Quest Corp. were staples of the anime section of any movie store (Devil Hunter Yohko was actually ADV Films' first release).  All of these were made by Madhouse.

Though Madhouse was the most prolific, others made supernatural anime as well.  Most notable was Devilman, based on the manga by the legendary Go Nagai, it focused on Akira Fudo, a timid young man who is encouraged by his friend to fight demons.  In order to do this, Akira becomes possessed by one of the strongest demons in Hell, Amon.  Only his pure heart keeps Akira in control and allows him to transform into Devilman, an amalgamation of Akira's will and Amon's strength.  Another one, Tokyo Revelation, is based on the Shin Megami Tensei video game series (which I'll get to in a minute).  A young man discovers he can control demons using a computer program that works much like a summoning spell and wreaks havoc with his demonic tools until a childhood friend tries to stop him.

All of these demon hunting movies do share certain characteristics:  Blood, Violence, Sex, and Nudity.  Not all of them are the same, though.  For instance, Devil Hunter Yohko does have nudity and sexual situations, but little to no blood and gore, while Wicked City is dark and gritty with plenty of sex, violence, gore, even a rape scene.  Phantom Quest Corp. is probably the tamest, as it's primarily a comedy.  There is some sexual innuendo and a short flash of breasts, but it doesn't get graphic.  Then there's series such as LA Blue Girl and Urotsukidoji, both of which are notorious for their "tentacle porn."

As if anime wasn't enough, Japan had quite a few video games that involved demon hunting.  A lot of them were based off of some of the anime I've already mentioned.  I know that, Devil Hunter Yohko and Devilman have been turned into video games.  The most recognizable series, though, is Shin Megami Tensei, which was originally based on a novel about summoning demons through a computer.  The first games, were released on the Famicom, when the series was just called Megami Tensei.  They added "Shin" to the title when they started making them for the Super Famicom.

One of the first games from the franchise to reach the states was Persona for the PS1.  It's not technically part of the SMT series, it's more of an offshoot.  The main difference was that, instead of summoning demons with electronics,  each of your party members summoned a "persona," a sort of archetypal being that arose from their personality, that would cast spells to defeat demons.  It achieved a cult status when it released and the sequel came out for the PS1 as well.  Persona was one of the first series of SMT based games to have each game brought out to the States (The Digital Devil Saga series and the Raidou Kuzunoha games also have been completely released in the states, but Persona was made before them).  Along with the different series, standalone games, such as Nocturne for the PS2 and Devil Survivor for the DS, were released.  Each of these games have gotten critical praise for their innovative RPG elements, fascinating premise and themes, and their art and design.

So now that you have seen how they do horror on the other side of the Pacific, check some of these games and anime out (except for Urotsukidoji, unless you have a thing for girls being raped by psuedopods, freak).

Kaiser out

Games You Should Know About (But Probably Don't)

This is a new feature I've wanted to try out for a while. There seems to be video games that go unnoticed in America, whether it's because they don't have the same recognition as the games that come out from the big companies or they're made for a niche audience that only the hardcore would appreciate. Either way, these games don't get the appreciation they deserve. Remember when Prince of Persia: Sands of Time came out and no one picked it up at first. Now, you all know about it. And who can forget Beyond Good and Evil? If you don't know about BG&E, get off your ass, go to your nearest used game retailer and pick up a copy. I actually gave this game as a present to my nephew for his birthday one year. He had no idea what it was, but when he played it, he went apeshit over it. Anyway, I'm not going to talk about those two games right now, as POP has got enough recognition and Ubisoft listened to fans of BG&E and are working on the sequel. Today, we begin with a series of games that originated on the Game Boy in 1991 and not only became a huge success in Japan, but helped bring a resurgence of interest in the genre of anime that inspired the games. Which genre? Only the God-King of Japanese animation... GIANT ROBOT ANIME The series is called Super Robot Taisen, also known as Super Robot Wars and SRW for short. This is actually a series of Tactical Role-Playing games that spans two decades and multiple systems, both console and handheld. I actually discovered this series when I purchased an old Japanese gaming magazine at a Japanese festival. When I saw the game in the pages, I was floored. Why? Because these games feature characters and robots from just about every giant robot anime that came out. Everything from Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, and Mobile Suit Gundam (which were the three franchises featured in the first game and stalwart staples of the games, thereafter) to Evangelion, Nadesico, Full Metal Panic!, and Gravion has been featured in these games. Hell, even King of the Beasts GoLion (which kids in 80s America would come to know as Voltron) is in there. What does this mean? There's a shitload of gian robot mayhem in there. But before you ask me, "If it's just a turn based strategy rpg, doesn't it tone down the awesomeness that comes from watching the anime. To this, I tell you hell-to-the-no. A lot of strategy rpgs, like Shining Force, for instance, had battle animations that played out the individual blows that came between combatants. I must say, never before have I seen battle animations so kick ass as the ones in SRW. Just take a look: That's just from one attack. Imagine that happening all the time. I know that some people may whine, "but that stuff slows down the gameplay and gets repetitive." Seriously, if you're not into sweet battle animations full of giant robots and kick ass music, then this game wasn't made for you. Shut up. I'm usually not that big a fan of turn based strategy rpgs, to be honest, but this is just too fucking awesome to pass on. Now before any of you want to pick these games up, know this: Most of these games are never coming to America. Why? Most of these shows have been released in America by different companies. Can you imagine trying to work with all of these American companies to secure the rights to each and every one of these anime. It would be shitloads of red tape and shitloads of dollars just to get permission to localize the game. So if you want to get some of these games on the PS2, which, by the way, has the most visually impressive battle animations, you'll need to tweak your PS2 to play Japanese games or buy a Japanese PS2. Fortunately, the Nintendo DS has no region coding on their systems, allowing you to play Japanese games without any hassle. There are a couple of SRW titles available for the system, but the latest one seems to be giving no love to the original three series that started it all. No early Gundam, no Getter Robo, and only Mazinger Z is available (no Great Mazinger) is there to represent the old school. But there is hope. Atlus got the rights to release a few of the SRW games in the States that are under the Original Generation title. The first two, Original Generation and Original Generation 2 for the Game Boy Advance, do not include any characters or giant robots from any of the anime series, but features an original cast and new robots. While it does not have the appeal of pitting your favorite giant robots against each other, it still has great battle animations and is still a satisfying fix for any giant robot aficionado. Atlus is soon releasing their first SRW game for the DS. Entitled OG Saga: Endless Frontier, it actually takes a departure from the rest of the games. It was co-developed by Monolith Soft, the guys who made the Xenosaga games. Instead of a strategy rpg, this one is more along the lines of Monolith's other game, as it plays like a standard rpg, but each character individually does combo attacks to beat the bejesus out of the enemy. I never played Xenosaga, but I did play Xenogears and it sounds a lot like the gameplay in that. Also, no giant robots. They're all a little taller than people, but no giants. There is, however, a few characters from other games that do make an appearance. Reiji Arisu and Xiaomu from Monolith Soft's other awesome game, NamcoXCapcom, show up as well as KOS-MOS, the robo babe from Xenosaga, as playable characters. Now that you know about the series, see what you can dig up for it. Check out places like Play-Asia.com, where you can find the imports. The Original Generation GBA games you can find on Amazon.com and OG Saga: Endless Frontier comes out the end of the month (already got mine pre-ordered). And if you already know about this series, then take comfort in knowing that, somewhere out there, there is a kindred soul who knows about the awesome games that are out there, waiting for people to look past the veneer of tried (sometimes tired) and true established franchises on the shelves and be daring enough to try something different for a change. For only when we decide not to buy the same old shit again and again, do we challenge game companies to bring us these overshadowed titles that you should know about (but probably don't). Until next time, Kaiser out

Savage Anime Apocalypse

Anime is one of those great mysteries of life. The origins of anime are lost in the mists of time, but it probably had to do with some Japanese gods fighting... oh, I don't know, giant monsters and the Japanese people said, "That's fucking awesome." So they filmed it and that's how Godzilla and all those kaiju films came about. Then, when the gods and monsters found out they were being filmed, they got all camera shy and didn't want to fight without a better contract. But the gods had a shitty lawyer, so they just went off into the heavens to consume the Holy Pretz in peace. After the disappointment from the gods, the Japanese decided to draw their own badass fights using mystical technique known only to the wisest of sorcerers as animation. Now, America had already had animation, but that's because they stole it from the gods. It wasn't as good as the real thing and the guy who stole it got punished by being chained to the Eternal Shark as it swam for eons in the Sea of Rusty Knives. Anyway, Japan's animation was the real deal. Not only was it awesome, but it accurately depicted the average life of the Japanese. Everyone used their big robots to fight the demon overlord who ruled all of Japan and all the women had huge titties. Makes you want to move to Japan right now. It was such a huge hit, that they decided to bring it to the US to show them how much better it was over there. When I saw my first anime, I kept begging my mom to let us move to Japan. She said that robots and titties were not a good reason to move anywhere. Shows what she knows. Eventually, a large schism divided anime into two genres: Shonen anime (anything with robots, breasts, lasers, breast lasers, laser breasts, missles, breast missles, and any brutal martial arts, which may involve breasts) and crappy anime. Shonen anime is, by far, the superior genre, as crappy anime involves girls trying to have romantic relationships with other boys, sometimes, by dressing up and pretending to be a boy and it's all about deep emotions and shit. Needless to say, crappy anime sucks. To prove how awesome Shonen anime is, they decided to make pornographic anime and call it Hentai, which is japanese for, "Let's see some fucking." Hentai is characterized by women with even larger breasts than usual walking around, waiting for some guy to rip off their clothes and make her ride the Tokyo Tower. Sometimes, there's robots in there, but giant robot sex is kinda weird, unless it's two giant women in armor suits licking each other's gargantuan nipples. Then, it just kicks ass. Not to be outdone, crappy anime took the porno route too. What resulted is the greatest abomination known to man. I speak, of course, of Yaoi. Yaoi, which is japanese for, "Permanently Blinded by Cock Swordfight," is when two guys get naked and play fucked up games with each other, like "Whack-an-Ass" or "Bobbing for Scrotums." Not only is Yaoi a revolting sausagefest, it's also boring as hell. No robots. No violence. And titties? Boy, did you ever get off at the wrong street. Just guys kissing other guys - I don't want to see that. Fortunately, Shonen anime is still the predominant genre. Although, there are other types of anime that don't neatly fit into either category. Enter Hayao Miyazaki, a genius in the medium. He creates movies that are works of art. Sure, there may not have lots of violence or gratuitous amounts of hot, busty women, but he brings something special to his work: engaging characters, wonderful storytelling, beautiful artwork, and inspiring musical scores. Each Miyazaki movie is a masterpiece. I can't help but get a little misty eyed every time I watch a Miyazaki film. Don't think that I'm a pussy because of that, though. Anyone who is not moved by Miyazaki's films is a souless douchebag. Anyway, that's the history of anime. I leave you with an intro to two of my all-time favorite Shonen anime. Enjoy.