Difference Between Manga and Anime 1

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Difference Between Manga and Anime

Everyone has a preference for their favorite series.  Some people like sitting down and reading and some people love watching their characters in motion on TV or their favorite mobile device.

I do love reading a good manga and then seeing those characters' true colors (all puns intended) on my laptop.  Often times, either medium takes liberties with itself.  Sometimes the manga comes first or the anime comes first.  Normally, in my experience, manga often carries on the story after the anime ends.  I remember the filler ending and characters created for the last arc of the Gantz anime. The anime's, not following the source material and forced to end soon, last arc seemed pretty lazy and the characters more 2-d dimensional than most Gantz characters.

The Gantz manga ended last year.

As of right now, I am reading The Betrayal Knows My Name manga.  I am enjoying the extra information that was put into the manga.  The manga offers benefits in having the author devote some of the pages to what she went through in order to make the manga.

For a lot of manga, there are side stories put in to flesh out the characters further, or the manga is allowed to expand more on the characters in the main story.  Yuki in The Betrayal Knows My Name gets to explain why he is good at martial arts, and Yuki and Zero in Vampire Knight manga get individual entertaining stories.

So which one do you prefer: manga or anime?

Posting Bi-Weekly Now

Hello guys.  I've been working a lot of temp jobs lately.  The current temp job that I am taking, will probably end some time in November.  To make sure that I have time for video games, anime/manga, and life, I decided to start posting every two weeks (instead of weekly).  

Up next on the review list is an anime that I believe everyone should watch, no matter what kind of anime they are in to. 

www.ofanimeandvideogames.com

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore Review

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore 

Long, long ago there was a time where anime and western cartoons never dared to mix with each other.  Iron Man: Rise of Technovore is the result of  screenwriter Brandon Aumas, while in Japan, getting a call from Marvel to participate in a special project.

Ezekiel Stane is the villain in this anime/marvel hybrid.

The story relies on on the watcher's knowledge of the Marvel universe (particularly Avengers and of course Iron Man).  Characters like Black Widow, Hawk Eye, and Tony Stark's wife is in this movie.  For anyone who is not a fan of Iron Man or Marvel lore, then this movie is not for you and is easily skippable.  In fact, I forgot I saw the movie a two hours after watching it.  

Iron Man's satellite is under attack by a strange alien like being  who desires to get revenge on Iron Man.  That being is called Ezikeo Stane who appears to want revenge for the death of  his father.  Ezikeo uses a strange suit similar to Iron Man but the suit is organic and is thus too advanced for Iron Man to figure out at first.  Tony Stark must find information on and the whereabouts of Ezikeo Stane in order to stop his planes; while being chased by Black Widow and Hawk Eye.

This non campion adventure reads like another day in the life of Tony Stark.    Characters sprout exposition in order to explain information or Ezikeo sits in a white room spewing hazy dialogue. There's no sense of danger, nobody important dies and I could see everything that was going to happen coming a mile away.  This movie is another day of Tony Stark.

Expecting this, I was hoping to shut my brain off and just enjoy the film much like I watched the Avengers, but I hardly felt any enjoyment in the movie.  Anime and Marvel fans should stay away from this movie unless being a masochist is your thing.

EVO 2014

It's been a LONG time since I posted anything on this website.  Well, life tends to get in the way.  After heading to the popular and yearly fighting game competition EVO Championship, I wanted to update this blog again.    We all know how skilled the players are at EVO (well...most of the players are skilled. I did play against a button smasher in my pools), I spent a lot of weeks practicing for my Injustice Gods Among Us tournament.

I did decently, going 2 and 2 for my first time (in lamest terms, I lost 2 matches and I won 2 matches).  

Aside from competing in video game competitions, I walked around the venue and purchased a variety of artwork, arcade stick parts, and many other things.  

Jin From BlazBlue

Plenty of artists, modders, and game designers take advantage of the large crowds at EVO and sell a variety of work.  

This lady will be designing the artwork for my arcade stick

Ball tops are avaiable on http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/

It is nice being able to buy arcade stick parts without the need to pay for shipping.  There are more pictures available on my various Facebook pages: Ice Angel Gaming (Let's Play). Dark Siren Games (Indie Game Development), and Icy Blue487 (vlogging). 

One of the best things about EVO was not only competing but also talking to various well known people such as Chris G and Devil May Spy.   It was nice finding out how many people are aware of me as a serious gamer in competitions (my handle  is "Ice Angel").  It is very important to treat EVO like other majors but with a better stage.

This is not even half of the Evo audience

Even so, I felt like going to Evo was a dream of some sort.  I had a lot of fun and hope to go again.  One thing I will do for next year, is go one or two days a day before EVO.  I was hit with jet lag upon arriving and slept a lot, thus missing the potential for more Injustice casuals and meeting more people.  There were people from all over the world and a lot of different languages spoken.  Maybe I will cosplay as Jin for the Blazblue tournament.  

Facebook pages: Ice Angel Gaming (Let's Play). Dark Siren Games (Indie Game Development), and Icy Blue487 (vlogging). 

Space Dandy Review by Anime and Video Games

What to say about Space Dandy?  For the most part, Space Dandy is about a dandy guy in space names Dandy, an alien cat named "Meow", and Dandy's robot named QT.  Dandy is an alien hunter, constantly going from planet to planet, searching for rare aliens and turning them into the Space Registration Center.   When Dandy's not alien hunting, he is spending his time at the Hooters like restaurant, Boobies (probably the main reason why he's always broke).

Space Dandy was the first anime to appear on American TV before premiering on Japanese television in January 2014.  Watching Space Dandy, I'm reminded of the randomness and inconsistencies of a majority of American cartoons.  There is no on going storyline in Space Dandy.  Antagonists like Dr. Gel and Admiral Perry are after Dandy, believing the guy is the key to the future of the universe.  They pursue Dandy constantly but Dandy never finds this out throughout the series.

Space Dandy is an anime where the watcher can shut their brain off and have fun.  Some episodes end with Dandy, Meow, or QT dieing at the end of an episode or stranded on another planet.  The next episode starts and all three of the characters are perfectly fine and have no memory of what happened last episode.  Dr. Gel has a gagged statue of Liberty on the front of his ship for Heaven's sake.  

Boobies is probably the reason Dandy is broke

Despite the lack of story, the artwork is impressive and Space Dandy does a great job of making fun of anime tropes like fanservice and the special protagonist.  Space Dandy's art is impressive and can not be mistaken for another anime's artwork. Viewers will love seeing the themed planets like the underwear planet and plant planet.   

Space Dandy is currently still airing on Adult Swim and is available on Amazon's Instant video and as a Japanese box set with English subtitles.  There is currently a manga out at the moment.  For those that watch Space Dandy will get a good laugh, others who miss out won't miss much.

www.ofanimeandvideogames.com

First Impressions: Anime Pirates

You love One Piece?  You ever wanted to fight alongside Luffy?  You desire to become King of the Pirates?  I sort of have the game for you.  That game is called Anime Pirates!   Anime Pirates is obviously a One Piece MMORPG browser game.

Trailer 

Anime Pirates is pretty colorful and the players will get a chance to run into various characters from the One Piece series.  As someone who is not a fan of One Piece, I could recognize quite a few of the popular One Piece characters.  Any video game based on a particular franchise can be enjoyable despite someone not being a fan of the material (seeing non-anime fans enjoy the daylights out of Gundam Extreme VS Full Boost comes to mind).

Anime Pirates is meant to be played at leisure or not played at all.  There is an auto feature which allows the player to click on the quest and have the player auto walk to the quester.  I then obtain my quest and beat the crap out of my opponents.  The battles are pretty boring.  I set up my crew in the formations that I desire and watch them auto fight the battle for me

The only control that I had in battle was with selecting the formations of my crew on the battlefield and giving them their equipment.

Going Deeper

The more I played, the more options opened up to me.  I obtained more crew members, a ship, and the arena.  I also noticed the game is latent with grammar errors.  If you're like me and tried let's playing this game, then reading obviously grammatically incorrect sentences was a bother.  Every few levels, gave me a change of scenery and the option to fight in the arena.

This is a browser game.  It probably did not take much time to make.  Strangely, I found myself wanting to play more to see what options I was going to get next.  Anime Pirates is available on pirates-anime.com

Me Let's Playing Anime Pirates 

Gundam Extreme vs Full Boost Review by Anime and Video Games

Disclaimer: I have not played Gundam Extreme VS Full Boost the predecessor Gundam Extreme Vs.

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 Let's face it.  There are not many good video game adaptations of anime or manga.  Gundam Extreme VS Full Boost manages to blow such thoughts out of the water.  Gundam Extreme VS Full Boost is an arcade game featuring a majority of Gundam characters from all over the Gundam universes.   Pick your favorite gundam pilots from either Gundam Wing, the original gundam, or  recent Gundam series like Gundam Extreme or Gundam Unicorn.

What I Like

This game is a love to the Gundam franchise.  Each and every Gundam in this game plays differently.  Some gundams like YAMS-132 Rozen Zulu (from Gundam Unicorn) can do some heavy zoning and Extreme Gundam Leo's Type (from Gundam Extreme) can transform into various gundams from previous Gundam series.  

Players can also choose between an offensive burst or a defensive burst.  These abilities can change the tide of battle quickly.  Add to the fact that some gundams can be killed in one shot and causing an instant game over and players have to be strategic during matches. 

When choosing team combinations, players can find some compatibility with gundams they never thought they would be compatible with.  Or players could just fight alongside their favorite Gundam pilots or mechs. 

Arcade mode had me picking through various toy figurines  (something Gundam is well known for) in order to pick which opponent or boss I wanted to fight.  Playing alone, I got to fight alongside a Gundam series protagonist's vs the protagonist's antagonists.

What I Don't Like

Like most versus games.  The computer is as dumb as a sack of potatoes.  Those epic battles in Arcade mode would have been funner if my companion was smart and didn't either die or do absolutely nothing.  I often forgot that I had a teammate while playing arcade mode all the way to the final boss, Extreme Gundam (Gundam Extreme).  This game is best played with living breathing people, either online or offline.  

This game also suffers from low frame rate.  If there are too many blasts on screen, the game tends to slow down.  This is problematic when Gundam Extreme Vs Full Boost requires quick reaction times.

Other than those problems, Gundam Extreme vs Full Boost is a fun game.  Due to the game being Japanese only, only a few words are in English.  Those with limited knowledge of Japanese or willing to do some trial and error will have no problem navigating through the game.  Anyone who loves Gundam or has watched a few Gundam series should take a look at this game.  

                                                                                   

Of Anime and Video Games