Shopping Guide
As a fan there’s nothing scarier than a Hollywood remake. We’ve all fallen victim–our favorite title gets hacked to bits by some studio executive and the resulting mess looks absolutely nothing like the beloved original. On the other side of the Pacific, Japan’s entertainment industry has distilled the art of the adaptation into a science. It’s simple, really. Find a popular title and spin it into a manga, anime, video game or light novel that stays as faithful as possible to the source material to spread the fan base while keeping the existing one happy.
There’s no company deeper in the media mix than Kadokawa Corporation. They’re the parent company of ASCII Media Works who publish the Dengeki line of magazines that cover the otaku trifecta–Dengeki PlayStation for video games, Dengeki Bunko Magazine for light novels and Dengeki Daioh for manga. This past March 16 weekend Dengeki held a pair of exhibits at the Belle Salle and UDX Building in Akihabara and we went to scope the upcoming titles, trends and tech.
Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax
2D fighters are ready for their comeback match. Capcom kicked off the revival with HD versions of their classic titles “Street Fighter 2,” “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” and “Darkstalkers 3″ which Arc System Works followed up with “Persona 4 Arena” and “GUILTY GEAR Xrd.” Now Ecole Software and French Bread, the developers behind the smash-hit indie fighter “Melty Blood,” are teaming up with SEGA to enter the ring with “Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax.”
The title pits the biggest names from the light novel imprint against each other to finally answer the question of who would take who in a fight. The current roster features eight characters including Asuna (“Sword Art Online”), Kuroyukihime (“Accel World”), and Mikoto Misaka (“A Certain Magical Index”) with nearly double the number of assist characters to call on mid-match ala “Marvel VS Capcom.” The show stopper is only available in Japanese arcades for now, so cross your fingers for a home port!
Comic Walker
Manga eBook readers have a short and sordid past. They all start out with promise only to reveal fatal flaws, be it bizarre pricing policies, denying ownership of the digital copy, or, worst of all, lackluster content. Kadokawa is looking to change all of this with their Comic Walker app. It’s free, it’s in multiple languages–Japanese, English and traditional Chinese–and will feature 200 different titles, 40 of which will be translated in time for the March 22 launch. Did I mention that it’s free?
The iPhone demo on display had a crisp resolution that let me read the page without needing to pinch and zoom. Aside from being a breeze to use, there will also be an option to pick and choose titles to edit your own custom magazine. The experience was enjoyable enough to motivate me to finish “Neon Genesis Evangelion” and catch up on “Gundam: The Origin”–assuming I don’t get sidetracked by the recommended titles and rookie artist showcase.
PlayStation Vita
“Freedom Wars” trailer:
Sure, the PS4 might have been the most powerful piece of hardware on the floor, but its big processor wasn’t enough for people to take their hands of its little brother. While the PlayStation Vita limps along overseas, at home it’s supported by a dedicated fan base who want nothing more than to band together with four friends over local multiplayer and take down colossal creatures.
“Soul Sacrifice” and the recent sequel “Soul Sacrifice Delta” are breakout hits that helped dull the blow dealt when “Monster Hunter,” the handheld’s biggest seller, became a Nintendo exclusive. Now the upcoming “Freedom Wars” has maneuvered itself in position to push the surge forward. People were lined up for nearly an hour to get hands-on with the game and its Ibara thorn whip, a grappling hook weapon that lets you swing through the streets like Spider Man or lasso bio-monsters to the ground. Japanese gamers prefer titles that you can take on the go as opposed to home consoles, and now even the game mechanics are letting them stay mobile.
Girl Games
“Kamigami no Asobi: Ludere deorum” game opening movie:
Japan still has a ways to go in terms of gender equality, but at least the entertainment industry is closing the gap. Dating simulations were once a male-dominated genre. No more! Otome-ge, literally “maiden games,” are romance sims designed for girls and feature a cast of dreamboats that make boy bands look like brutes in comparison.
Otome-ge have been around since the mid 90′s but are finally starting to make their way into the mainstream thanks to a recent string of anime adaptation including the reverse harem “Brothers Conflict” and the over-the-top comedy “Uta no Prince-sama.” See, media mix does work! If the clip above gives you butterflies in your stomach, take your maiden voyage this spring with the TV anime version of “Kamigami no Asobi: Ludere deorum.”
Nico Nama Live Webcast
Japan may not have invented Internet trolling though they’ve taken it to the next level–snark is now a spectator sport. Nico Nico Douga, Japan’s answer to YouTube, offers a live-feed service where viewers can leave comments that scroll across the screen in real time. This results in some epic, though mostly harmless zingers.
The event’s streaming press releases drew out the critics as they either locked arms in virtual fist pumps at new release announcements or booed boring guests. First person shooters are a hard sell in Japan, so the PR team behind the Western developed Nazi-killing extravaganza “Wolfenstein: The New Order” thought they could win over the audience with a lineup of female guests with more experience modeling than gaming. Bad idea. Or maybe it was a great idea–the trash talk was more entertaining than the table’s banter.
Yet all this free time can be harnessed for good rather than evil. Nico Nico is a hot spot for new culture, be it Vocaloid, DIY electronics or web celebrities. Come see what the kids have been cooking up when the Nico Nico Chokaigi convention opens its doors at the end of April.
Source: MTV 81
Source article written by David Kracker
