Capcom Re-Confirms Big Upcoming Announcements

Keeping in line with what they said earlier, Capcom is now confirming that their big announcements will start to roll in come October 15th. I really cannot for the life of me figure out what these could be, but I bet you anything the 360 is going to seeing some more extremely strong support from the company.

Will Dead Rising 2 and Lost Planet 2 be given a mention? No clue. Everyone I know is hoping to hear a Street Fighter 4 announcement from Capcom this week. Personally, I don't know what I want to hear. Some increased PS3 support would probably brighten up my day.

[Via Kotaku]

[ADVANCE]

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land Trailer

I don't think I'm ever going to get over that title. OK, so, quick intro for the uninformed: Yesterday, during their annual press briefing, Nintendo revealed that in addition to several "indie" games being developed (according to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, over 100 titles have been pitched so far) for Wii Ware, big-name developers were also going to be putting some of their key franchises on the game.

The first developer showing this degree of support is surprisingly Square Enix, with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land. Chronologically, the game is set after the original Crystal Chronicles, and is about a king who lost his kingdom due to the events of that game. He now has these magic crystals, and is using them to rebuild it.

The game's teaser site is up and can be accessed here. The Young King and the Promised Land is described as a "country building RPG". The title will cost 1500 Wii points and will be available in Japan in March '08, debuting along with Wii Ware itself. IGN has a list of a few of the Square staff working on the game, and the lineup looks extremely promising. You have Motome Toriyama of Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy X-2 fame, who is acting as game director, Kenichiro Yuji from Front Mission Online, and Toshiyuki Itahana and Kumi Tanioka from previous Crystal Chronicles games acting as art supervisor and composer respectively.

I think it's insanely cool that Wii Ware is capable of supporting more than just simple, casual games. Nintendo might really be onto something here, and I truly do see the service eventually besting Xbox Live Arcade if this is the kind of support we're going to be seeing. Hopefully, the strong Wii Ware games will keep on coming over the next couple of years, because really, I see no better platform to be creatively experimental on.

[ADVANCE]

Annual Nintendo Conference 2007 Reveals Much

Nintendo's annual press briefing recently took place, and IGN and Ge-maga magazine have all the juicy info. While there are a ton of awesome announcements that came out of the briefing, I'm going to mention the ones that really stood out in my mind, and deliver a few words expressing what I feel about them.

- DS finally getting a Fire Emblem game: About time. I'm not really all that excited about the one on Wii, and a portable Fire Emblem sounds excellent.

- Wii has a 51% female user base: Holy shit. That really is quite an achievement. Not just because of the whole "more female gamers" thing, but also because it shows that people other than your average 28-year old male gamer are indeed getting into gaming.

- Upcoming DS download station allows for demo downloads at home: Again, about time. I wonder how they're going to deal with storage issues on the DS though. Frankly, this is quite exciting. DS software, especially, would benefit a lot from user feedback.

- Monster Hunter 3 being developed for Wii: Hooooly shit. Considering this was initially a PS3 exclusive, and is now on the Wii, it's safe to assume that Capcom is the first in a line of developers starting to see extremely viable opportunities for bigger franchises on the system. Seeing as how PSP sales of all things spiked due to Monster Hunter, I'd love to see what it does for the Wii.

- Square Enix developing Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land for Wii Ware: OK, 1) That is a huge name. Write a freaking novel, why don't you? 2. About time you announced that hard drive, Nintendo. It does exist, right? Right?

- Nintendo making big plans to increase online usage of the Wii: I'll see it when I believe it.

An excellent set of announcements overall. I am so relieved that the Wii Ware channel isn't just going to be digital warehouse of casual/indie software. Don't get me wrong ... the indie aspect of Wii Ware is what excites me most about it, but it's excellent news that big-name developers will also be taking advantage of it. Take into account this story from a couple weeks ago, and you get the impression that Wii Ware might actually be pretty popular with several developers, especially considering that the need for a publisher is offset. This, of course, means far more creative freedom.

Check out the full blog coverage of the event over at IGN and Ge-maga at the links at the start of this post. Some very interesting stats concerning the Wii and DS were reported, and Wii Fit was demoed at the event as well. Now, if only they would demo that hard drive...

[ADVANCE]

First Impressions: Blue Drop

Blue Drop! One of the few shows that really caught my eye when the fall schedule was made public. Sad to say, I'm not as optimistic about it as I was before watching the first episode. What optimism I had before was merely blind. I'm not saying this to discredit the show, It's just that we'll need to see more of it to decide whether it's going to be good or not.

The design and animation were satisfactory, as was the music. The story is where things get shaky. For starters, this is a drama. All serious, no comedy! But that's not to say you won't ever laugh. Before watching Blue Drop, I was really expecting some mecha action as that is supposedly one of the genres attributed to this show. It wasn't absent, but we need to go deeper into the story for us to see really how fleshed-out that aspect of the show is.

Story:

The protagonist is Mari Wakatake, a young girl, presumably in her early teens. It seems up until the point of time Blue Drop starts, Mari has lived a rather sheltered life with her grandmother. I'll go ahead and state that Mari has somewhat of a "bratty" attitude. Her grandmother appears to be wealthy, and yet some circumstance has come due to which she begins to worry about Mari and sends her off to a rather prestigious school for girls. This school is for students that come from wealthy families and students that are very intelligent. Of course, Mari, being naïve decides that her grandmother is tired of her and is trying to get rid of her.


On her way to this school, Mari sees a girl standing on some rocks jutting out from the ocean. As they are driving down the road a flock of, what I assume to be seagulls comes out of no where and surrounds this young girl -- much to Mari's amazement.

They arrive to an eerily vacant, but beautiful and elegant school administration building. In a meeting with the two head directors of the school, we learn that it is a holiday and everyone is away until the evening. The directors also learn that their newest pupil has a very sour and disrespectful attitude. One would assume that could be easily overlooked, but we are at a high-class educational establishment after all. After the meeting, Mari's escort quickly drives off and she is then left all alone and looking as if abandoned.

Michiko Kōzuki, a girl donning glasses and a sun hat and one of the few people on the campus, is then asked by the director of the school to give Wakatake a tour of the campus. Mari has other plans. She didn't like this school to begin with and quickly decides she doesn't plan on making her stay at the school very long. She doesn't have to run very far before she realizes that she doesn't exactly have a place to run away to, which Michiko points out.

Mari is then escorted to her dorm. She meets another girl, the girl she saw in the ocean on the way school. Hagino Senkōji is her name, and she warmly extends her hand to Mari to greet her. As soon as she touches Mari's hand, something strange happens: her eyes turn blue and Hagino seems to lose control of herself and attempts to choke Mari. In the middle of the attack, she regains control of herself and lets Mari free. I'm not a female so I don't really understand why Mari, who is frightened and angry, grabs flowers sitting in a vase on the desk by the bed and throws them at Hagino. (The reasoning of women is something that has always intrigued me, and scares me even more, especially when it comes to young women.)

Michiko who returns from having left earlier accompanied by a rather plumb girl whom is introduced as the head of the dormitory, comes back to an awkward scene with two girls standing in the middle of the room with flowers scattered across the floor. Mari then spends the rest of the day talking with Michiko outside.

That evening, Mari is then introduced to the rest of the dormitory at dinner. We then learn that Hagino is a second in command of the dormitory and she attempts to greet Mari again. The following events that happen are most likely due to the entire room consisting of teenage females. The estrogen pretty much explodes across the entire room. Mari slaps Hagino's extended hand and then picks up a cup of water and throws it in Hagino's face, drenching her. Three girls then jump from their tables and attack Mari in defense of Hagino. A brawl breaks out and a counselor quickly puts an end to it and punishes the girl.

That night, a hungry Mari notices someone sneaking out of the dormitory. She follows. It's Hagino. Her eyes are blue and something ominous arises from the ocean. We are then left with a shot of Mari whom is very confused and very afraid.

The Bottom Line:

I won't blame you if you skipped down to the conclusion of this impression. The bottom line is Blue Drop is a bit too dramatic for my tastes. I do have faith things will shape out in future episodes. If that isn't the case, I will find myself very irritated. This could be the start of a deep and well developed story as much as it could be the start of a boring soap-box drama. I will say I'm not very enthused about watching the next episode. I suppose I 'm being a typical male, wondering where the action is. I was expecting it and I even demanded it at one point. Maybe it will come, maybe not. As things stand, I really don't see myself being motivated enough to finish this series, even if it's only thirteen episodes. I will keep my eye on Blue Drop, just in case.











Ending:

[ADVANCE]

Interview With President of Madhouse Studios

Earlier this morning, I came across a fairly interesting interview with Jungo Maruta, president of Madhouse -- the studio that produced the Death Note anime, among other things.

Due to the fact that the interview was conducted by a Brazilian anime journalist, the English isn't the best, but it is far from incomprehensible. Here's a short excerpt:

Which was biggest success title of the studio?

"Success" can be interpreted many ways, but we can say that Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D, Death Note, Nana, Metropolis, Paprika, Tokiwo Kakeru Shojo are titles well-known.

Many Japanese publishing companies have its proper producers or agreements with specific studios. Has Madhouse some specific contract with some publishing company in Japan?

We have relationship with all publishing companies. Recently, we have produced more titles based KODANSHA and SHUEISHA publications.

[Full Interview Here]

[ADVANCE]

Impressions: Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon

Rune Factory for the Nintendo DS is developer Marvelous Interactive’s latest offering in their long line of Harvest Moon games. This one, subtitled “A Fantasy Harvest Moon”, is exactly what it sounds like: a farm simulation that incorporates fantasy elements to make for a highly enjoyable role-playing experience … provided you’re into that kind of thing.

Rune Factory is far from your standard DS “training” game. If you’re new to the variety of software available on the DS, be sure to note that this is a game which requires time, patience and lots of dedication. It isn’t a casual game, and neither is it one that spells out what you need to do every step of the way. If you plan on picking up Rune Factory, be prepared to thoroughly read the game manual to get your bearings.

That isn’t to say the game can’t be played in short bursts. It’s still a portable title, and the game allows you to save at any point you like, provided you can make it back to your farm in one piece.

For those of you who have played the Harvest Moon games before, there’s absolutely no need for introductions. You’ll be right at home with Rune Factory, and might even find this to be the best game in the series to date.

That’s because Rune Factory has a lot more to do than most Harvest Moon titles before it. The farming, combat elements, dating-sim aspect and excellent presentation make this a must-buy for anyone who has enjoyed its predecessors.

Gameplay:

Rune Factory begins like your run-of-the-mill JRPG, with your main character arriving hungry and exhausted at the town of Kardia. With no memory of your name or who you are, you collapse outside the house of a farmhand by the name of Mist. Soon enough, Mist takes you in (for whatever reason), provides you with a place to stay, and requests that you help her run her farm in return.

Following this, the game’s focus turns to running your farm and making money. Money can be made by planting crops, fishing, mining for materials, and shipping goods at the end of the day. Each of these activities looks simple enough at first, but you soon discover there’s an enormous layer of intricacies beneath each one. Like every Harvest Moon game before it, Rune Factory allows you to plant different vegetables in different seasons, and depending on how well you care for them, the quality of seeds you use, and the amount of money you invest in your farming, you will either end up with money coming out your ears or find yourself having a tough time making ends meet.

Just to give newcomers an example of the game’s farming mechanics, any piece of land must be ploughed before you can farm on it. Once it is ploughed, you have the option of planting seeds in it, following which; you’ll find yourself having to water them every single day (except on rainy days). Depending on the quality of seeds you used (something that the game allows you to improve over time), the amount of money you make from selling the resulting will vary. You can then, even proceed to cook a variety of dishes with the crops you have grown.

During this time, you also have the option of fishing, mining in caves, rummaging through fields that haven’t been ploughed for salvageable items, cutting wood and gathering material to expand your house and furthering your relations with the townsfolk.

Speaking of whom, the people of Kardia are extremely lively and varied. Natsume has done an excellent job of bringing the town to life, with buildings that range from libraries to bathhouses to pubs to blacksmith shops and inns. Really, the amount of detail and care put into making the Rune Factory world seem real shows. Every building in the game is accessible, and serves a purpose in one form or another. Whether you want to increase your knowledge at the library, buy groceries from the local shops, replenish your health at the bathhouse, or simply visit friends at their homes, you’ll find yourself with a ton to do any given point in time.

As stated before, the game also incorporates dating-sim elements, which enable you to further your relations with the townsfolk. While you can only increase your level of “friendship” with the male characters in the game, you have the option of increasing your “love” level with the women, which eventually governs which of the cute ladies in town you end up marrying. While it may sound like a tacked-on feature, marriage has always been a big part of the Harvest Moon games and this time around is no different. The feature adds yet another layer of activities to keep you busy with throughout the game.

Of course, the major addition this time around is that of combat. As stated before, you play the role of an amnesiac boy in Rune Factory, and while it isn’t quite clear who he is, you’ll find yourself starting to put two and two together soon enough. The fantasy elements in Rune Factory add significantly not only to the plot of the game, but also compliment its farming elements in an excellent manner.

The game allows you to adopt and breed monsters, which you can then train to help out with your daily chores at your farm. Different types of monsters can perform different activities, and soon enough, you’ll find yourself needing to take advantage of this feature to make your day-to-day farming activities more manageable, in order to free up time to explore the game’s lands.

Of course, exploration is by no means easy … or safe for that matter. The game consists of multiple caves, each one filled with monsters and items. In order to defeat them, you need to be at a level capable of taking them on. While you could just swing your sword around and mixing it up with your enemies up, close and personal, there are several more efficient (and fun) ways to do the same. This is where magic comes in.

The town library allows you to read various books on magic as they are made available and learn different skills that make your monster-hunting a more enjoyable and satisfying experience. Progressing through these caves is the only way to further the game’s plot and figure out what your role is amidst the monster invasion, so you’ll definitely find yourself making preparations to do so in your spare time.

Presentation:

Rune Factory’s presentation is the one aspect of the game that really helps it stand out. Gone are the “kiddy” designs of past Harvest Moon games. Rune Factory sports an awesome anime-inspired look that features well-drawn background art, and polygonal models that help bring the game’s world to life. This is probably one of the better examples of 3D done right on the DS, as the ingame models aren’t too big, and thus, extremely aliased like those of Final Fantasy III. The game does a good job of blending 3D art, hand-drawn sprites and textures to make for an extremely refreshing look.

Another aspect of the game’s presentation that really stands out is the inclusion of voice-acting. While not every line in the game is spoken, characters do greet you verbally, and certain other lines are spoken out loud as well. Once again, this goes a long way toward bringing the game’s characters to life. While not every game benefits from voice-acting, Rune Factory is one that has definitely managed to take advantage of it.

Overall, Rune Factory is an excellent purchase for fans of the Harvest Moon games. It’s portable, it’s engrossing, looks great and offers plenty more to do. On the other hand, if you’re new to the world of Harvest Moon, or even more “traditional” games on the DS, consider picking this one up just so you can see for yourself the amazing amount variety and fun it has to offer.

While the game is clearly not for everyone, just about anybody who has the patience and is willing to invest the time in it will not be disappointed.

[ADVANCE]

First Impressions: D.C. II: ~Da Capo II~

Another season! Another batch of fresh new anime! A total of twenty-five new shows are lined up for this fall season, so watch FWA closely as we will be be writing our impressions for most of them. To start off the batch that I am covering, we have D.C. II: ~Da Capo II~. Just so you know, the Da Capo series was originally a visual novel! Since then, it has expanded into another visual novel, a manga, three drama CDs, and an anime that is now on its third season. Da Capo II is essentially the third season even though II is in the title. The reason for this is that the "second" season consisted of lost "episodes" from the first season's story.

I have never watched, read, or played anything from this franchise. Now is actually the first time I've even heard of this series. If you know me you know I don't like things to be stereotypical or clichéd -- something pretty much every anime romo-com seems to do very well. So, am I biased towards anime with these genres? Yes, indeed! But not to an extent that I won't give something new a chance.

So does D.C. II set itself apart from the rest? As a matter of fact, it does. Da Capo II has a fantasy element in play which most romantic comedies don't. I am certain that had I watched the previous fifty plus episodes from the other seasons of the anime, I'd most certainly be more familiar with how fantasy plays its role in this show. For now, I will just remain ignorant to that aspect. Much hasn't been shown yet in regards to fantasy and magic; all that has been displayed is that the main character seemed to conjure up some food for his hungry little sister when they were late getting ready for school. I'm sure more will be displayed the deeper we get into the story.




The Story:

And as for the story, we start out in a dream. This dream belongs to one Yoshiyuki Sakurai. The dream is about him and a girl standing by a cherry blossom tree at sunset and this girl confessing her love of Sakurai to him and a then asks him to date her. Sakurai then wakes up from the dream, looks at his clock and realizes he will be late for school if he doesn't hurry up and begin preparing for the day. He is greeted by his "sister", Yume Asakura, who, as I have already stated, is hungry since their older sister, Otome Asakura, had already left for school and didn't fix breakfast for them.

It is festival time at school, so all the students seem to be taking it easy; Sakurai especially, which he is scolded for by his class representative. We are then introduced to Sakurai's friends: Suginami, Wataru and Koko Tsukishima. Koko is a childhood friend of Sakurai and has a crush on him. Surprised? I wasn't.



The rest of the episode consists of these people engaging in the festival activities. Koko's awkwardly stylish friends are also present and are pressuring her to confess to Sakurai. Since they were childhood friends, the girls easily pursuaded Sakurai to escort Koko around the festival. Yet, they acted like best friends rather than a boyfriend and girlfriend which made the whole situation feel very awkward for Koko.

The end of the day approaches and Koko's friends distract Sakurai's friends away so that the two can be alone. You should know what happens next. Sakurai remembers his dream and those exact same events unfold before his eyes. He does except her confession and has a very confident look about him probably due to the dream he had that morning.



The Bottom Line:

The story was typical. The only thing that may have landed a hook in me are the mysterious stairs Sakurai sees in the closet of his principal's office. The animation was full and fluid, as was the art style. I did not like the way the female students were designed; the hair, the uniform, the face, the whole lot.

Will I be watching it? I have a full plate already. I'm going to go ahead and say 'probably not'. A lot of shows similar to this one are coming out, so I'd scout around and see what you like best before you make up your mind about Da Capo II. Unless you're a romo-com freak, or a fan of this series already, you are probably already watching it.







Opening:

Ending:

[ADVANCE]

First Impressions: CLANNAD

Our first "first impression" of the new season just so happens to be one of the most anticipated shows of this season both in Japan and in the romance corner of anime. Clannad is Key and Kyoto Animation (The animation company behind Haruhi, and Lucky ☆ Star) newest production, and already it's living up to its predecessors AIR and Kanon.

Tomoya Okazaki is viewed as a delinquent by his classmates due to always being late for classes, but really, he's a nice guy. He's good friends with Sunohara who like Tomoya is always late for class. For an intro on the rest of the characters, let's advance!

Nagisa is shy, partially due to her having a weak body, to the point she missed so much school she was held back a year. She may be the main Female protagonist in this story, but it's still to early to tell. She was interested in joining the drama club but, it was disbanded last march when the members stopped going. Tomoya and Nagisa are now trying to rebuild the drama club.

We are also introduced to a number of side characters. The Fujibayashi twins for starters. Ryou and Kyou Fujubayashi are, from what we can see, polar opposites, Ryou is timid and Tomoya's class rep, where as Kyou, is VERY aggressive, and protects her sister. Next we have Toyomo, who is a ridiculously strong girl; she beats the crap out of 3 bikers in 3 seconds in the episode. We also meet Nagisa's family -- Who are totally insane -- and are possibly introduced to this show's trademark word "Guu~". Also we meet Tomoya's father, whose been drowning himself in booze and gambling ever since his wife died in a car accident.

Thats all for now, we have the OP and the ED --which is too damned cute-- for the series below as well as screenies!

Another Take:
By: Jak Cadden

Overall, I liked Clannad. Now, I'm not a fan of the whole tennis-ball sized eyeballs thing going here, but overlooking that, the show is pretty solid. What do you expect from Visual Key. The show does intrigue me. Some sort of sci-fi or fantasy events are amiss and I'm really curious to find out what they are. Tomoyo Sakagami was awesome. Nagisa's parents -- particularly her dad -- were hilarious. And, oh yeah, the main character still manages to be emo despite him coming off as the mischievous type. He has every reason to be like that though.

OP:

ED:


Screenies:

[ADVANCE]

Special A Getting Anime Treatment

This is the best anime-related news I've heard in the past few weeks. For those of you familiar with manga, Special A is going to be getting the anime treatment in the not-too-distant future.

Issue 21 (on sale October 5) of Hakusensha's Hana to Yume shōjo manga magazine has announced that Maki Minami's high school manga S.A (Special A) will be animated for Japanese television. The manga focuses on Hikari, a headstrong girl who enrolls in an elite academy and joins the school's special class ("Special A") to compete with Kei, a childhood rival who is actually in love with Hikari. The manga first began in Za Hana to Yume bimonthly magazine in 2003, but moved to its biweekly Hana to Yume sister publication in 2004. Viz Media will release the first English-translated volume on November 6.

While no dates have been announced just yet, knowing that Special A is getting animated is good enough to keep me tracking news on the series for the next few months. While working at the group that scanlated Special A, I used to read the series religiously.

Of course, the has now been licensed by Viz. Hopefully, they'll pick up the anime, too. This one's a no-brainer.

[Moon Phase via ANN]

[ADVANCE]

Front Mission 2089 (DS) Trailer

Front Mission 2089 for the DS. More evidence of Square's decision to stand firm behind the DS, or another overnight get-rich-quicker to fund their PS3/360 games?

Too bad there's no actual gameplay footage in that trailer. I like the character design a fair bit. It reminds me of the Black Lagoon manga for some reason.

[ADVANCE]

Itagaki on Creating Globally Appealing Games

Tomonobu Itagaki means business. He isn't one to fool around or pull any punches. The man calls it as he sees it. No mercy. Of course, what else would you expect from the famously outspoken head of Team Ninja? When it comes to game development, Itagaki-san knows exactly what he's doing ... even if what he's doing isn't very conventional.

Considering the first Dead or Alive was on the Sega Saturn, and both of Itagaki's first 3D Ninja Gaiden games were on the Xbox, you'd think his choices when it comes to supporting gaming hardware couldn't get any stranger. And that's where you'd be wrong.

As everyone with a DS is probably well aware by now, the next Ninja Gaiden game will be gracing the system, and will be fully stylus controlled. It may sound crazy, but it's really one in a long line of ideas that has kept Itagaki-san and Team Ninja highly competitive on a global basis. Says Itagaki in an interview with Gamasutra:

In Japan, there is a saying "kachoufuugetsu", which is "flowers, birds, wind, and the moon." That basically is a vague summary of things that human beings might find appealing. You look at a flower and say, "Oh, this is beautiful." You look at a bird that can fly, whereas humans can't, and we see it as a symbol of freedom, something to aspire to. The wind, you know, if you were to have a cool wind blowing, that would help to convey your mood at that moment. And looking at the moon, you may think that not only is it visually beautiful, but it may bring to mind things like wanting to see the moon, wanting to go to the moon, and wanting to know what's there. That sort of inquisitiveness.

So, I think that if you look at those key human emotions that cross national boundaries, and don't rely on the circumstances surrounding each country, then it's relatively easy to make a game that can be enjoyed anywhere.

Just prior to this, Itagaki-san commented on the tendency of American developers to create games that they think the public wants ... something that, in his opinion, keeps them from releasing software that truly enjoys a worldwide appeal.

You can check out the full interview with Itagaki at the link above. From the differences in PSP and DS design to creating high quality visuals for games, the talk covers it all. This is by far the most interesting interview yet with the man, and definitely a recommended read for Team Ninja enthusiasts.

Screencap courtesy of Gamasutra.

[ADVANCE]

More Gurren Lagann On The Way!

Gainax has some very interesting new pictures in regards to some sort of new project that will take place in the Gurren Lagann universe. What it is exactly, still remains a mystery. It might be a prequel, sequel, or a complete spin-off. Looking at the pictures it is of my personal opinion that this series takes place before the events of the original show. We see many characters that were killed or defeated in Gurren Lagann, specifically Lord Genome and his four generals that were overcome by The Dai-Gurren Brigade. We even see a picture of the bottom half of the titular mech; the Gurren or something that looks very similar. Gurren Lagann had a deep story and history that built up to the most current events in the series, so it would make sense to explore the past a little bit.

Honestly, I'm very intrigued by the whole idea ... whatever it is. I'd love to see the previous events that led up to the original show, such as the first battle between Lord Genome and the Anti-Spirals. I'd even love to see the history behind Kamina and his father. That was something I expected to be uncovered in the original series, and it was to a certain extent, but it didn't go into great depth. I'd also like to know how the Lagann and the spiral key came to be in the place where Simon had originally found them, thus kicking off his whole adventure to overcome all that oppressed the human race.

I have many more questions to ask, especially with all of these new pictures. Doing a quick translation doesn't seem to answer any of them, so we'll have to wait for a more professional translation in the mean time, to gather any more relevant information from what is currently available on Gainax's website. And of course, we will definitely post it once it any more info in available. Gurren Lagann is one of the best shows I've seen in quite a while, and I am even debating as to whether it is one of the best shows I've seen period.

[Source: Word of mouth from our friend Gia]

ADVANCE for more pictures.

[A group of humans in an underground village.]

[Wide shot of an underground village.]

[Wildlife of Earth.]

[More wildlife.]

[Speculation - What looks like Ganmen hunters,
similar to the Bachika family in the original series.]

[Thymilph, Viral, and some beastmen eating.]

[Lord Genome and three of his Four Holy Generals;
Cytomander, Adiane, and Guame]

[Beastmen, and what looks like some humans watching a screen.]

[Two characters are what seems to be repairing/refueling Ganmen.
Those red glasses and blue hair look awfully familiar.]

[Something that looks similar to the Tepplin,
only in a thriving city instead of a deserted plain.]

[A Ganmen that looks very similar to Kamina's Gurren.]

[A new character and a beastmen eating.]

[ADVANCE]

TGS 2007: Rygar: The Battle of Argus

Ahh! Our first glimpse at the Rygar for Wii. I will go ahead and be honest and say I am somewhat impressed. Some of the cut-scenes, animations and the voice over work left more to be desired but the gameplay ... THE GAMEPLAY looks pretty awesome. I never played the old school Rygar so I don't really know if this can live up to its predecessors or not. But the combat and ... just how stylish it seemed to be really caught my eye.

Will I be picking up this game based solely on this trailer alone? Probably not! I will be keeping my eye on this game though.

[ADVANCE]