Join sisters NinJaSistah and Pandalicious and the rest of the ESH Crew each day as they discuss video games, tech gadgets, anime, manga... pretty much everything within the geek chic lifestyle.
From Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PC game reviews, previews, news, and gushings to audience questions and rumor mill seeding galore you'll find it here at ESH!
A new MMORPG is ready to Kamehameha your PC! That's right, just when you thought it was safe to put down your scouter, a Korean MMO carrying the Dragonball name (and designs by Akira Toriyama) has arrived!
Judging from the trailer, you will have quite a few classes to choose from, and you will also be able to play as male or female. The current races include Saiya-jin, human, Namekian and even Buu! Namekians, of course, are only male,but Buus are both female and male.
There are many questions left unanswered about Dragonball Online, the topmost being "Is this going to be available outside of Korea?" For now, the answer is "No." Now don't go crying in your Capsule Corp tissue just yet. Hopefully DBO performs well enough to expand into other markets.
This year saw a wide range of great Anime Music Videos showcased at Anime Boston. Let's take a look at some that shined brighter than most.
Let's first look at this year's best in show: ForeverZeroo's "Dragonball Z - The Silent Movie"
Although some may claim that this is a bit of a knockoff of TeamFourStar's "Dragonball Z Abridged" series, you have to admit the concept of the video is original. The usage of both the "Chibi Moon Piano Suite" from "Sailor Moon" and the transformation of a colorful show into a sepia added more to the feel of a 1920s silent flick, and the usage of that era's vernacular with a mix of our current one gave off a wonderful sense of humor for fans new and old of the Dragonball series to enjoy.
The next one we'll look at is Dianafuse's "Soul Eater - Evil Walks."
First off what a perfect song for "Soul Eater": Brian Johnson's vocals and Angus Young's trademark guitar riffs mixing with images of Medusa and Arachne will run chills down anyone's spine. (The image of Medusa behind the blood-dripping moon while Brian screams "Evil walks behind you!" fit so good it's almost scary.) The second verse of the song sounds as if it was written specifically for the Arachne character. Granted the editing isn't picture perfect, but having lyrics that piece together so well with the imagery it makes up for that in such a big way.
Number three on our list is sideswipe147's "Modern Major Clusterfuck."
Maybe it's because I just saw "The Pirates of Penzance," but this was my personal favorite of the night. Gilbert & Sullivan probably never intended for their showstopping number to be synched with Roy Mustang, but it didn't stop the AMVer for proving that it could be. This wasn't even in competition, and many of those around this Duck thought this was Best in Show; and I had to agree. It's silly, catchy and possibly one of the best AMVs I've seen in the longest time.
The Final one on our lists is DaiKun Productions' "Stranger Than Death Note."
This was the Best Comedy winner, and there's good reason for that. Casting Light Yagami as Emma Thompson as Karen Eiffel and Spike Spiegel as Will Ferrell as Harold Crick were picture perfect. However I spoke with some of my colleagues, and they felt that this wasn't a Comedy AMV (even though its concept was humorous). I guess the people who thought it was a comedy outranked the ones that thought it wasn't.
To close off this article I would like to present to you the best skit from Anime Boston 2009's Masquerade: Celebrity Jeopardy!
I'm sure that the majority of anime fans already know that there's a Dragonball live action movie around the corner.Here's the funny part. The majority of THAT majority is dreading the hell out of it, me included.
With the recent outbreak of comics and cartoons making the jump to the big screen, it was only a matter of time before Dragonball was called to the forefront. The powers that be even managed to procure a couple of my favorite big name actors such as Ernie Hudson, Chow Yun-Fat, and also James Marsters from the Buffy and Angel series. What saddens me is that these guys will forever be attached to what I see as almost a sure flop.
I'll admit that the action looks cool and that alone would probably seal it for me if I wasn't a big fan of the Dragonball anime. Check out the international trailer for Dragonball Evolution coming in 2009 and tell me your initial thoughts. I just hope this doesn't turn out to be a 90-minute movie with Gohan charging his "kamehameha" for 75-minutes of it.
Another Monday brings with it another new podcast episode from the land of ESH, and this one is all about Dragon Ball.
Pandalicious kicks off the episode with her thoughts on Dragon Ball. MagicMysticGrl steps up to the plate with her take on Dragon Ball Z witch then descends into a Saiyuki/DBZ compare and contrast tangent... mmm, yummy. Then NinJaSistah jumps into the fray relating her experiences with the Blue Dragon XB360 demo, opinions on the drawing style of Akira Toriyama, and the universe of anime to video game cross-over titles.
It's madness as usual on this episode our podcast. If you don't believe me, take a gander at the non-selected episode titles:
Pandalets, Poo, and Pink Shirts Dragonball Made a Monkey Out of Me His Rod Was Extended When He Fought I'm Gonna Kick Your Ass If You Eat My Meatbun Mystical Balls That Summon a Dragon? Riiiight New Testament 1.5 - Jesus: The Teen Years Go! Go! Go! How To Name a Dragonball Character We Save The Earth Then Go Bowling on Thursday Night My Name Is Vegeta! My Father Is Vegeta! I Come From Vegeta! I Eat Steak Vegetas
-- And last, but not least --
That Coiled Brown Thing Isn't A Snake, But It's Close