A date with Destiny

Sup,

First aired in 2005, 'Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Destiny' is the follow on series to the hugely popular, and truly awesome, 'Gundam: Seed'. It's not very good. It's what Joey was to Friends.

Now, before I go and completely trash this series I want to point out that I've sat through this 50 episode horror three times. The first time was back when it was released in 2004 when the fan subbed versions started hitting the internet. Back in 2004 I was hammered all the time but I seem to remember the series being pretty good, but maybe this was because I was hammered every day. My second outing with Destiny came a few years later when I bought a cheep fan subbed version from ebay. I was sober throughout. It wasn't quite what I remembered. At all. It was, in fact quite bad. And since then I've never really wanted to return to it.
Since my second date with Destiny my Gundam collection has grown considerably. It's always annoyed that I never got round to buying myself an official copy of Destiny, so the other week I spent a stupid amount of money on the Destiny box sets, parts one and two. This is the first time I've ever regretted buying something before I've left the shop. But never the less, my collection is nearing completion. All that remains is Igloo 2 and Gundam00 when it hits English shores.

In a previous post I remarked about the state of the FMA box sets and how freaking awesome they are and how Funimation went all out to make sure your money was well spent. Unfortunately I can't say the same for Beez Entertainment and the Destiny box sets.

Both boxes are pretty hefty things. Each contain five dvd's with five episodes each. Now, I've never had a box set quite like these. Every other box set I've ever had has either been a type of slip case that either covers the dvd case, or leaves the spine of the box showing, or it's been a box that unfolds on itself. The Destiny dvd box is like a little house. It's a box with a door, and a pretty feeble door at that. And the box is far too big for the dvd's, there's room for a book or episode guide or something but no. Nothing, just wasted space.
When I first saw the box in the shop a 'flyer' type thing in the shrink wrap says:

DVD Box Content -

• 5 DVD's with slipcases
• Detailed Characters and Mecha Files
• Textless opening and ending
• Beez Trailers
  

Got the dvd's, don't know what the slipcases are. I originally figured that the 'detailed character and mecha files' would be a book / brochure job, hence why the box was so big. Nope, they are just extras on the dvds. And I've looked at all these 'files' and believe me, they are not detailed. And plus, the boxes are so big they look out of place on the shelf.

But anyways, on to the series itself. I've been making notes throughout this third viewing. Here we go...

Set in C.E.73, Destiny picks up two years after the events of Gundam Seed. Episode one begins during the battle for Orb from 'Seed'. The Freedom Gundam is taking a part in this battle. We see the Freedom fire a shot which causes an explosion on a nearby hillside. On the hill, Shinn Asuka is fleeing the fight with his family. Stopping to fetch his sisters mobile phone, Shinn gets blown down the hill. His family are caught in the blast and die. He joins the military and becomes the pilot of the Impulse Gundam.

Two years later, Athrun, going under a stupid alias Alex Dino, and Cagalli as the representative of Orb are visiting Armoury One to meet with the Zaft forces chairman Durindal. Three 'extended', the Destiny equivalent of a cyber newtype, infiltrate the armoury and steel Zaft's three new Gundam units, the Giah, Chaos, and Abyss. Shinn jumps into the Impulse and bam, thats episode one in a nut shell. A promising first episode.
I don't really know where to start with this because there are so many points I want to cover but I guess I'll start with the mecha designs. The mecha in Destiny look really poor. Now, you can disagree with me if you want, but the Impulse and Destiny Gundam's hurts my eyes when I look at them. I mean, Impulse looks like a clown with all its changing colours, and Destiny looks like a really colourful bird. They just look silly. The Legend is the Providence, Strike-freedom is the Freedom with a bit of gold paint here and there. As for Athrun's mobile suit, the Infinite Justice, well they gave up designing that when they drew up the Aegis in Gundam Seed. I'm being quite serious, if you look at all Athrun's mobile suits from the start of Seed, them being the Aegis, Justice, Savior and finally the infinite Justice, they all look pretty much the same. And don't even get me started on the pink Zaku... Eugh...

MAQH has a full list of the Destiny mecha designs.

The only decent designs in the whole show are the suits that made cameo appearances from the original U.C. series, the Zaku, Gouf, and the Dom. In fact, the Gouf Ignited was probably the best design in the entire of the show. I really liked that suit.

The Gouf Ignited

One of the main things that annoyed me in this series is the amount of flashbacks used. Now, I'm more than happy for a flashback to be used if it's needed but holy hell, I've never seen so many flashbacks used in one series. I mean, in the episode where Stella dies I remember there being two flashbacks to things that had happened in that episode. I must of seen Cagalli's father burn to death at least ten times, and that happened in Seed, not Destiny. Really, I'm not stupid, and it's insulting to the viewer to have so many flashbacks. The whole show could easily have been cut by at least five episodes if they'd taken out all the pointless flashbacks.

And while I'm on about cutting down a few episodes, lets talk about stock footage. Stock footage, in my book, is footage that is used over and over to save time on animation and production. For example say, in Scooby Doo when the gang is always running down that same hallway every episode. Well, Destiny has stock footage, and they really over used it. For most of the show I felt like I was watching the same battle over and over, and I was more than sick of seeing the Impulse's launching sequence. Like every time the bloody thing launched. Core splendor, chest piece, leg piece... every time. In say, Victory Gundam, or Double Zeta, the transforming units let you sit through the same sequence a few times, but then they'd stop showing it to you, because you know what its going to do. And if they did need to show it you again, they'd never use the same stock footage.

And when did all the characters turn into whimps? At the end of Seed, Cagalli was kicking some serious ass in the Rouge. What, just because she's the representative of a nation she has to turn into a whimp? In nearly every scene she appeared in she was either being pushed around or she was crying. Captain Ramius seemed to be lacking her spine and the whole story between her and Mu just got stupid. MU DIED OK!! THE MAN DIED IN AN EXPLODING STRIKE GUNDAM!! (yeah, ok they went back and fixed the ending so it appears he survived, but instead of doing that, they should of just gotten some better writers for Destiny).

Cagalli about to whimp out

I don't know, this series has so much wrong with it. The dubbing in places is just awful and Arthur's stereotypical British accent pissed me right off. Every other episode seems to be a recap of something that happened the episode before, the characters never really seem to 'get going' and two of my favorite characters from Seed are barely even mentioned. What happened to you Yzak? Where were you Dearka? I constantly felt like the series was trying to pad itself out. Just putting on a fancy light show to detract from the fact that this series was quickly made to please the fans. It was like, all the things that were awesome in Seed, got way too over done in Destiny and because of that it made the show fall flat on its ass. Of course, the fact that the show had a shit story and it was constantly borrowing the good bits from other Gundam series (E.g. Shinn and Stella is for Destiny what Kamille and Four is to Zeta) didn't help it either. For me the plot was constantly darting all over the place, and I never really got a feel for who the main protagonist was ment to be. It's all over the place.

@SoulBroRyu, of MAHQ.net has this to say on Destiny:

"Gundam SEED Destiny is to Gundam SEED as Tranformers: Revenge of the Fallen is to Transformers. So much potential. So much disappointment."

To be honest, Destiny has a promising start but if you're a Gundam hardcore then no, watch it once then just leave it be. Put it to one side and walk away.

@BenGP02

A franchise milked like a cow

Sup,

It's been over a decade since Ash Ketchum and Pikachu left Pallet town on his quest to become a Pokemon Master. Did Team Rocket ever really blast off? Did Brock ever open his eyes? Did Pikachu ever evolve? And most importantly, did he manage to catch 'em all??

Um... apparently not.

The TWELFTH feature film in the long running franchise, 'Arceus: To The Conquering of Space and Time', managed to rack up 2,384,198 pre-sold tickets before its release on July 18th, earning itself a place int eh Guinness book of records. That's 2.3 MILLION pre-orders for a Pokemon film.

Nintendo must be laughing all the way to the bank...

I remember seeing the original series and the first couple of films, but after that Pokemon, for me, just slipped away and died in a corner. I played Pokemon fire red on the Gameboy and I enjoyed it, but I honestly can't believe that Pokemon is still alive and kicking.

Nothing like milking a franchise.

@BenGP02

U.C. 0096 - The Year of the Unicorn

Sup,

When a movie adaptation of the Gundam Unicorn novels was announced earlier this year I nearly wet myself with excitement. Seriously. The 'light novel' series that has never seen western shores except through fans translations is finally making its way over here in winter of this year as a part of the 30th anniversary celebrations.

I don't know a great deal about Unicorn, other than it is set in Universal Century 0096, three years after the movie 'Char's Counterattack'.

A full list if the mobile suits and characters featured in the movie can be found here.

An English website dedicated to the Unicorn world can be found here. With summaries on the novels and character bio's, this website is pretty cool. It is, however, still in development.

As well as a few magazine scans of the mobile suits and the characters there is not much else out there except for these three little films. The first two are Japanese advertisements for the novels, but they show a small amount of animation, which I assume is from the movie. The third of these films is a 'Unicorn Preview' which shows stills that recap the history of the Universal Century from 0079 through to 0093. The last minute of this preview is full on Gundam Unicorn animation. Fuck me does it looks amazing. This baby is planned for a worldwide release too. I can not wait.

Advert #1


Advert #2


U.C. History / Unicorn Preview


@BenGP02

Madhouse and Marvel is looking promising

Sup,

A while ago the animenewnetwork announced that comics giant Marvel were to be teaming up with anime production company Madhouse to create a Marvel anime based on some of their most popular characters. It was announced that the two would be appearing at the San Diego Comic-con festival that is taking place this week.

Over the years, Marvel have been responsible for much loved characters such as the X-Men, Iron Man, and Spiderman, while Madhouse studios have created mastrerpieces like Trigun, Card Captor Sakura and Final Fantasy 7: Last Order.

Art work that was released prior to the festival looked interesting. The two pieces both showed the Iron Man.
With the festival now all but over, two trailers have been released. The first showing the Wolverine, and the second showing the Iron Man.

Wolverine Teaser


Wolverine looks... um... different. I'm not gonna jump on the band wagon and say 'WTF MAN?! WOLVERINE WITH LONG HAIR? WOLVERINE FIGHTING SOME CRAZY AS FUCK DEMON MADE FROM BATS??' because I like to give things a chance. Logan has taken on board a whole new look, and while this is unlike any version of Wolverine we've ever seen before, I have a feeling that this is going to be really interesting.

Iron Man Teaser


Iron Man on the other hand looks crazy good. Nothing short of an amazing trailer. The animation style reminds me of Batman: Gotham Knight, which is no surprise as Madhouse produced both the Killer Croc and Deadshot sections of the mini-series. The villan looking guy with the captain's hat and the eye patch reminds me of Dilandau from Escaflowne.

Personally, from a first glance I think that Iron Man looks slightly better than Wolverine but hell, they both look good. Gonna be keeping an eye on these as the months go on. In any case, it looks far better than the Halo anime.

The first season of the Marvel anime will premier on Japanese TV next spring.

@BenGP02

MS Gundam: Battlefield Report 0081

Sup,

Got a trailer here showing the soon to be released PS3 exclusive title 'Mobile Suit Gundam: Battlefield Record, U.C. 0081'. Announced ages ago, this title was originally thought to be another series and left fans dissapointed when it was announced as a PS3 exclusive, although I think that the announcement of the animated Gundam: Unicorn movie soon got rid of the disappointment. As with the statue in Obadia, Battlefield Record is to commemorate 30 years of the Gundam franchise.


Taking place two years after U.C. 0079 and the 'One Year War' of the original series, Battlefield Record will, as far as I can tell, see the Earth Federation squadron 'Phantom Sweep' facing off against the Zeon remnant force 'Invisible Knights'. Both sides will have a full cast of characters. Phantom Sweep is headed by commander Hughes Courand, who will also undoubtedly be out Gundam pilot, while the Invisible Knights have Erik Blanke, who I can see being an Anaval Gato type character from 0083.
I can tell that I'm going to like this game already as it will have a story that will follow on from the U.C. series and connect the gap between 0080 and 0083, in the same way that 'The Force Unleashed' bridged the gap between the old and new Star Wars sagas.

The main mobile suit for 0081 will be the RX-78-7, an upgraded version of the original RX-78-2 from the famed 0079. The design for the RX-78-7 is based on the RX-78-7 7th Gundam from MS-Variations original mech design series by mech artist Kunio Okawara.

The animation cut scenes seem to blend seamlessly with the CG game play and reminds me very much of the series MS: Gundam - The 8th MS Team, which was set during the one year war. Even though I don't yet own a PS3, this game looks amazing. As a Gundam fan I can't wait both for the story line, and to actually play it, although a western release date has yet to be announced.

Even if your not a Gundam fan, I think you'll agree that it looks pretty amazing. Heres the trailer.



@BenGP02

We’re Autobots. We’re from Cybertron, a planet far from Earth.

Sup,

I was born in the 80’s and I remember Transformers being HUGE. I owned some of the toys and a few of the story tapes and books. I vaguely remember watching a few of the shows and enjoying them, but I never became one of the diehard fans. The Transformers never earned that place in my heart.

In 2007 I went to see Michael Bay’s live action Transformers movie and, I’ll be honest, I thought it was a good film. Some good CG and a pretty decent storyline made it a pretty enjoyable few hours. I remember the Transformers hardcore getting all pissed about the mecha designs and ranting that the Transformers didn’t get enough screen time. At the time I really didn’t get it, couldn’t they just accept that the franchise had been updated for the modern world?

Well a few months ago I was at the local supermarket, scanning the DVDs looking for a bargain. What should I find but the original first Transformers series in full. Five English pounds for 19 episodes of stupid one liners and horrendously bad one on one fight scenes? Yes please.

It was at this point I was suddenly made aware that in all my years of being a mecha anime fan, even though I own all the Gundam series and after sitting through episode after episode of Lynn Minmay singing that god awful song in Macross, I had never seen the original, generation 1, Transformers series.

I felt kinda bad. How could I call myself a mecha anime veteran if I hadn’t even seen Transformers? So after handing over my money I became the proud owner of Transformers G1.

Without comparing to the 2007 movie, here is what I think. For the 1980’s, the story was, and still is fantastic. A war between robots on a robotic planet that sees both good and bad robots travel to Earth, then after four thousand years get revived to carry on the fight whilst trying to find away to travel back to the homeland. It’s pretty good, and the fact that the series still comes across in 2009 as well as it did 1984 is quite a feat. I know that there have been re-incarnations of the Transformers in recent years, Armada and the quite terrifying looking Transformers Animated being two of them, but I honestly believe that the original series is far better, and it would be able to hold its own with the kids in this day and age.

Now I think I know what the hardcore fans meant. The live action movie was missing something, and that something was everything that the Transformers stood for. The series has action, comedy, suspense and an exceptionally good story. Michael Bay gave the Transformers a right royal anal raping. Seriously, everything that makes the Transformers what they are is forgotten and is instead replaced by some worthless collage humor, a terrible script and pretty bad acting.

Transformers has taken the path of Gundam. Amazing anime, horrendous live action film. Although I still think that Transformers live action is an enjoyable couple of hours, and way better than the disaster that was Mobile Suit: G-Savior, the original series completely rips it to shreds.

If you’ve never seen the original then I recommend you go and watch it. It’s old but god dam is it awesome.

Follow me on twitter @BenGP02

SHHHHH... Mr Penny is getting annoyed...

Sup,

This is a picture of The National Gallery in London. A stunning building and awesome feat of architectural engineering. This beautiful building was suggested by John Nash in the early 1800's. In 1831 a commission was put to architect William Wilkins, and the building was completed in 1838.

Wilkins originally intended the building to be a 'Temple of the Arts, nurturing contemporary art through historical example'. Over the years it has become the home to mind-blowing masterpieces. The work of such geniuses as Monet, Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Seurat, Constable and da Vinci, among many many more, can all be found here as 'resident' works, with hundreds more on loan from other galleries. The National Gallery is a national treasure. A truly wonderful, eye opening place.

Unfortunately, in 2009, the gallery is facing a BIG problem.

DUN DUN DUHHHHHHHH.......

In front of the gallery, situated at the base of it's steps, is Trafalgar Square. Laid out by Charles Barry in the early 1840's just after the compleation of the gallery. The square is home to one Nelson's Column, four fountains, four 'car sized' lions, hundreds of artists, musicians, and performers, thousands of tourists and millions of pigeons. A beautiful place that has been enjoyed by the public for over one thousand years. Recently however, this public place has become the home to one or two public events.

• Welcoming home England's 'World Cup winning' rugby team
• VE day ceremonies
• New Years celebrations
• Political rallies
  
• Anti-war and peace demonstrations

Unfortunately, some people don't seem to like the increasing number of events. I say 'some people', just one man really.

Enter Mr Nicholas Penny, art historian and Director of the National Gallery. He is also a man who is so concerned by the "bloody awful" state of London's famous square that he would rather have the roads re-opened and the traffic return.

In a 2008 interview with The Telegraph titled "We must take risks" he is called "that rare thing - a legendary scholar and supremely gifted curator". I'm not saying that he isn't, I'm sure he knows more about art than I could ever hope to know.

In the same interview when asked by journalist Richard Dorment what is was that attracted him to this position, he says "In this office, I am at the heart of things. When I try to work here at the weekend, there is continual noise from Trafalgar Square: I really feel as if I am in the centre of a great city."

He has this week been ranting to The Times about the noise coming from the events held in the square.

Hypocrite.

In the corners of Trafalgar Square are four plinths. Atop of three of them are statues, while the fourth has been empty since 1841 due to insufficient funds for a fourth statue.

Mr Penny's rant comes in the wake of an installation by visual artist and sculpture Anthony Gormley, which puts plinth number four to good use. Each hour, a person stands on top of the plinth to become a 'living sculpture'. A genius idea. In contrast to the other three statues, the plinth in the north west corner has become a constantly changing picture. Not only is this piece of art contrasting to the statues, but also to the calm and quiet in the gallery.#

Untill the 14th October you can view a live stream of the instalation here.

Mr. Penny's rant is not directly aimed at the installation itself, but rather at the crowds that it and other public events are drawing.

Now I don't know about you, but to me any public event can be classed as art. From a music festival to political rallies, from cheering sports heros to celebrating the war dead, it is all art. The sheer organising of such events is itself an art. Outside an art gallery on such a beautiful square is the perfect place for any celebration of the arts.

"Levels of civil behavior are incredibly low. People are riding the lions and climbing on the reliefs of Nelson's Cloumn... A lot of people find it rather extraordinary that a temple of art should be surrounded by abandoned beer cans and litter" continues Penny to The Times.

Ok, fair point. Why should anybody have to put up with discarded beer tins and people defacing such beautiful architecture? But don't instantly go about blaming this on public events. Aren't these events organised with this in mind? Do people not get hired to clean up? Does London city council not employ people to clean the streets?

Here's what I suggest. If the crowds are too noisy for you then

1. move your office.
2. install double glazing.
   
3. go outside and see what all the fuss is about.
4. realise that new crowds are being brought to the doorstep of the gallery.
   
5. accept the fact that the square is a public place and put your skills to better use elsewhere.

It amuses me that Mr. Penny's neighbour and the Director of National Portrait Gallery, Sandy Nairne, told The Times "I think it's a tremedously good thing. It has transformed the Square. It has transformed The National Gallery".



If you enjoyed this post then please leave a comment!

Follow me on Twitter! @BenGP02

Shattered memories... part two

Sup,

I'm going to list a few things from the Ocarina of Time manga, and if you remember them happening in the game please let me know.

• Ingo getting brainwashed by Twinrover?
• Ganondorf wielding a katana?
  
• Shadow Link being defeated in Kakariko village?
• Gerudo's invading Lon Lon Ranch?
• Young Link meeting a Young Zelda in the Castle Town?
• The Shadow Temple not existing?
  
• Young Link spending hard earned rupees to rescue a baby dragon? A dragon that then grows up to become Volvagia, the fire temple boss? Then a tearful Link screaming 'REMEMBER ME!!' at the dragon before chopping his head off?

If these things happen in the game that I know and love please let me know, because I don't remember them. Yes, this series is full of what I can only describe as bullshit. What was once a wondrous tale of a world being devoured by evil and a young mans struggle to re-awaken the six sages of time and restore a world to a time of peace, what was once an epic journey has been reduced to childish jokes, generic anime sweat drops and terrible writing. Now, people might try and defend it by saying that the writing may have been changed slightly during translation, blah blah blah... No, that one won't work today. It's very rare now days that things are changed completely during translation.

I was trying to imagine what the series would be like if I was someone who had never heard of the Zelda series. I imagined that I would hate these books. The story doesn't make any sense. It's all been chopped and changed. Decent bits of a genius story have been removed only to be replaced by freaking stupid bits. Like, when in the game did the Great Deku Tree have a baby? I seem to remember him dying from a curse, and then once the curse was broken the Great Deku Sprout begins to grow. And these books have been released on the Vizkids label. These books are meant to be read by kids and presumably get them into manga. How can a story that makes very little sense possibly make kids want to carry on reading?

The entire story has been split into two parts, which Viz media decided to cram into two volumes. Part one, 'Ocarina of Time' consists of six chapters, while part 2, 'Hero of Time' has nine chapters.
In these 15 chapters was I supposed to relive 40+ hours of game play? Was I supposed to feel connected to these characters in the manga? Because i didn't. I remember the ending of the game bringing me to tears almost. By the time I reached the end of book two yes, I was ready to cry...

These books are so radically different from the game it's untrue. All the suspense, mystery, and darkness has been lost somewhere. That thing that grabs you from the beginning of a book or game, well whatever that thing is, its missing from these books. For example, book one opens with this one page. ONE PAGE.


The game opens like so...
(you'll have to be happy with screenshots I'm afraid)

There are another seven books out by the same folks that cover The Legend of Zelda, Majora's Mask, both the Oracle of Seasons and the Oracle of Ages, The Four Swords and The Minish Cap, all of which I assume are going to be just as bad as The Ocarina of Time. No I won't be buying them.

Just for good measure here is the fantastic ending to Ocarina of Time. Enjoy!




@BenGP02

Shattered memories... part one

Sup,

The year was 1998 and I was twelve years old. I went down to the local video shop and purchased a copy of 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' for my Nintendo64. Hell yeah! I remember being so excited about this game. It had been given so much hype you just couldn't help but be excited, and with good reason. This game had it all. Action, adventure, monsters, dungeons, sword fighting, saving the princess from the evil dark lord, and one of the most compelling story lines I have ever come across. I swear, over the years I have put more hours into Ocarina of Time than I have into any other game. I've completed it more times than I've watched all the Gundam series put together. I got all the bottles. I got all 100 golden Skulltulas. I defeated Ganondorf using the Gorons Hammer and wearing the Iron Boots.

Yes, like many gamers out there The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has a special place in my heart.

So the other week I was in the great British city of York and I just happen to stumble into a comic book store by the name of 'The Traveling Man'. To be honest, I was just browsing. Perusing the titles, not expecting much at all. Maybe a model kit, perhaps a new t-shirt, or maybe even a dvd or two. I wasn't prepared for what I found.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME - THE MANGA. Jesus Christ, talk about an impulse buy...

'Akira Himekawa' is the name of the manga company responsible for this abomination. It is made up of two women A. Honda and S. Nagano and I am quite sure that they have never even held an N64 controller, let alone played Ocarina of Time.

The protagonist of the Zelda series is the hero of time, known only as Link. He is himself a legend. One of the most memorable things about Link, other than his trademark green tunic and hat, is that Link has always been mute. He has never uttered a single word, unless you class those disgusting CDi games or that shocking late 80's cartoon. So it's reassuring to know that the two ladies did their research and gave Link a voice again, knowing that it had worked wonders for him in the past... Eugh...

Inside the cover one of the ladies writes:

'Link's adventure begins!! There are hardly ever any main characters that are so strong, cool and kind!...'

These qualities, among many others, come from the fact that Link has no voice. He never has had, so why oh why did they decide to change a winning formula? The voiceless hero is able to express himself via his little looks, his little gestures, his gasps and above all by his actions. Also, the fact that he is mute adds a sense of mystery to him, which in turn adds to the atmosphere. I'm sure this could of been achieved through comic panels. You know what they say, if its not broken...

The lady continues to write:

'...I poured lots of love (insert heart symbol) when I drew this manga!'

Insert lots of love? Hells bells. It's a cooking pot bubbling over with love. Now, I know that all the Zelda series, especially Ocarina of Time, has always had an underlying theme of love and romance. Everything does, from Stargate to King Kong, there will always be that ever present message of love. But that's not the sort of love I mean. So much 'love' has been poured onto this that it is cute. It is sickly cute. Ok, so it has been released by VizMedia on their VizKids label, but Christ, when was the Zelda series ever cute? Even 'The Wind Waker' on the Gamecube with its cartoon visuals and kooky humor was never 'cute'.
Don't get me wrong the art work is incredible. It's detailed beyond belief - at this point i'll have to take back what I said earlier about them not researching. The villages and towns have been lifted directly from the game. Items, weapons and characters look just like they should. But the whole thing has lost the darkness, the grittiness and the suspense that the game had. If I stopped playing the game I'd be on edge waiting for the next chance to play it. If I stopped reading and never went back to the novel then I really wouldn't care about the fate of Hyrule. It's been given a shot of 'that generic anime look'. And in doing so, parts of it look stupid.
I'm gonna leave part one here. In part two I'll be looking the length and the ways that such an epic adventure such as Ocarina of Time can be squashed down into two graphic novels. I'll also look at the actual story and some of the truly bizarre changes that have been made, and I'll take a look the similarities and differences that the manga has to the video game.

Follow me on Twitter! @BenGP02

Kiki - the most adorable cat in the world

Sup,

I HAVE A KITTEN!!!!! It's a little boy cat. Untill we visited the vet today we thought that he was a little girl cat, hence why we called him Kiki, but by the time we found out thats its a male, the name Kiki had already stuck.

We have named him Kiki after the Studio Ghibli movie 'Kiki's Delivery Service'.

As i'm writing this he is sat on my shoulder watching me type. He is ADORABLE!!!!! He's black and white and can fit in the palm of your hand. He has the cutest meow ever, tiny paws, tiny claws, and a little black mark right under nose.

Here are some pictures of her playing in the garden. Enjoy!!!







I will upload a video later.

EDIT: Here's that 'oh so cute' video...

Enjoy!!



@BenGP02

Halo 3 on a screen bigger than my house. Really.

Sup,

I have never played Halo 2 or 3. Never really wanted to. The Master Chief never really did it for me. I played Halo1 on the PC and wasn't exactly blown away.

However, Logan Westbrook, on the forums over at The Escapist Magazine posted this. Halo3 being played on the new eleventhousand square foot screen at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium.



Yes, this screen is bigger than my house. Believe me, even I would happily sit down for a Halo session on that gigantasaurus. Imagine Dynasty Warriors: Gundam on there? Twould be awesome.

@BenGP02

Standing the test of time

Sup,

I like to re-watch things. In my book, things with re-watchability are generally good. When I buy things, I like to think that my purchase will not be a 'one time wonder'. I like things to 'stand the test of time'. I don't want the things I've spent my hard earned money on to sit gathering dust on some shelf. Not only will this of been a waste of my money, but I'm not getting the most out of my purchase.

On occasion, however, after either listening to a foolish recomendation, or seeing a trailer that makes something look way better than it actually is, I have let the occasional series slip through the net. In this instance, it was the old scenario of 'awesome trailer, not so awesome series'.

Enter 'Silent Mobius'.

So imagine, it's 2001 and I'm waiting for my NTSC-VHS version of Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz to fall through the post box. I'd spent nearly £40 to get it imported and I was major phyched. It arrives, and like all VHS tapes there were trailers before the main feature. Silent Mobius was one of these trailers.

The trailer was basically the opening credits with a voice over and a few extra clips thrown in for good measure.



WOW! TALK ABOUT AWESOME!! Magic circles, a huge sword looking thing, lasers, guns, space ships, and hot women kicking some alien ass! All set to some freaking awesome tune. Cool? Yes sir, yes indeed.

Like a flash, I rang up the local anime shop. Ordered the full series, and like another slightly slower flash, one month later the full 26episodes of awesomeness arived. Watched it, enjoyed it, put it to one side, forgot about it.



Fast forward eight years to 2009. It's credit crunch time and the chances of buying new anime is looking pretty slim. I come across Silent Mobius in a box, lying there like a tramp in a subway, looking up at me begging for spare change, or in this case, the chance to be watched just one more time.

I made it to disk three of six. I think episode 12... maybe. I didn't care, I'd lost all interest. It was something to do the main character not wanting to face her destiny, and her father opening the gate to another world, and the recapping of stuff we'd already seen... yada yada etc etc...

This series isn't bad, because I remember it being good. But... I don't know, it's just not as good as I remember it. The characters were just a little bit shit, and the story is slow. Really, really sloooow. Perhaps I should pick up the manga?

I mean the manga was released in 1991, the TV anime had it's run in 1998, and then was released by Bandai in 2000. So when picked it up in 2001 it was already quite old, but now its almost 20 years old, and to be honest, it's just not managed to live up to what I remember. For me, I think I'm bugged by how Mobius has tried to take too many genres and mash them all together. Magic, the occult, sci-fi, comedy, romance. Silent Mobius is like taking a little bit of City-cyber: Oedo 808, a chunk of Ghost in the Shell, a smidgen of Tenchi Muyo, a dollop of Neon Genesis: Evangelion, taking out the good bits, chucking them in a blender and snorting what ever freakish concoction is left. A real bad trip.

@BenGP02