Geekscape Unboxes: The Loot Anime February 2017 Crate!

by Natalie KipperMarch 1, 2017

Gather ’round because it’s time for another Loot Anime unboxing! February’s theme, “Together,” celebrates the bonds shared between friends and family. Although, if you were going by the poster, box art, or phone charm, you might guess it was a “Piracy”-themed box. The series represented this month are One Piece, Mr. Osomatsu, Haikyū!!, and The Boy and The Beast.

The art for February’s poster is illustrated by Cotton Tan. I genuinely believe that the poster leaned too heavily on their item from the pirate anime, One Piece. As a standalone, I didn’t get a “together” vibe from the poster. It was lovely and fun to look at but that is about it. Out of the five items in this month’s crate, four are exclusive. The odd one out is the One Piece figure.

The first item I cracked open was The One Piece Film: Gold Luffy figure, manufactured by Banpresto. It came in a colorful box of relatively large size.

Unfortunately, some assembly is required. The paint job on each of the pieces looked fine when I removed them from their packaging. I will say that putting the figure together was a bit of a hassle. Not on par with a Gundam kit clearly but still more than I anticipated.

Even after Luffy was set into one piece (no pun intended), I could not for the life of me get the figure to stay on its stand. The pegs were too far apart for the placement of the holes on the feet. I eventually gave up which is why you see one of the stand’s naked pegs in the photo.

Loot Crate seems to be into promoting light novels. This is the second month in a row that the included book is a novel rather than a manga. This isn’t a complaint, just an observation. I am actually in favor of this trend. In any case, February comes with The Boy and The Beast light novel.

Next up is a blind bag phone charm from the series Mr. Osomatsu (Osomatsu-san in Japan). You had a chance of getting one of the six Matsuno brothers paired with a food item that represents their personality. And… that is as much as I know. The truth is, I don’t follow the series and with six identical siblings, I think the odds of me figuring out who mine is is slim. Do you know who he is? Please post in the comments!

This month’s apparel item comes to us from the highs school volleyball series, Haikyū!! In case you are wondering, the writing on the shirt says,” Haikyū!! Karasuno High School vs. Shiratorizawa Academy.”

As you would expect, the monthly phone charm ties in with poster art. I noticed that the Loot Crate logo on mascot Yume’s pirate cap is outdated. It was changed mid-February.

The inside of the Loot Anime box transforms into a pirate den diorama for the One Piece figure. Well, when I say “transform,” I mean “open and turn on its side.” Still cute, though.

The “Together” Loot Anime crate felt a little lopsided in terms of theming, with all of the promotional material only really tying into just one of the items. Individually, the items were fine as far as it goes but this wasn’t my favorite of the crates I have received.

March’s theme is “Future” and will feature items from Ghost in the Shell: Arise, Psycho-Pass, Kiznaiver, and Clockwork Planet.

If this unboxing has you interested in subscribing, you can get some money off of your first Crate either by following this link or entering “Geekscape” into the promo code area upon checkout.

[This unboxing was based on a sample provided by Loot Crate. All opinions are my own.]

‘One Piece Burning Blood’ Kicks It Into Fourth Gear!

by Josh JacksonJanuary 6, 2016

One Piece fans can tell you that there’s never been a shortage of games featuring the Straw Hat Pirates. Yet, the series manages to have a certain longevity thanks to each game typically being significantly different from the one before it. After releasing with a solid Dynasty Warriors style game with One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 last summer, the crew is jumping back into the fighting arena with the announcement of One Piece Burning Blood.

Featuring Luffy in his Gear Fourth transformation, alongside a cast that spans the entire series, this fighting game promises to give players a wide variety of combo possibilities, both thanks to its hard hitting combat system and the three on three game play. Considering that the developers at Spike Chunsoft are no strangers to designing anime fighting games, it’s looking like Burning Blood is in good hands. If you need further proof, see the game in action and decide for yourself in the trailer and screenshots below!

Releasing on both PS4 and Xbox One in June, PS4 owners will have the chance to pick up this sweet looking collectors edition featuring Whitebeard. For anyone who preorders, you’ll also get two mystery fighters that have yet to be revealed.

Are you ready to set sail once again? Let us know in the comments!

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 59 – ‘What The Hell Happened To 2015?!’

by GeekscapeStaffJanuary 2, 2016

Join Derek, Josh, Juan and Shane as they discuss the last week in video games!

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This Week:

Mostly spoiler free discussion of Star Wars: Episode VII.

Namco-Bandai announcements.

Project X Zone.

New One Piece game announced.

God Eater game coming to the west.

Skylander’s Amiibo’s getting released individually.

Valve servers had a data breach over the holiday.

Tim Schafer and Double Fine Studios are doing some shady stuff over at FIG crowd funding.

Our Games of 2015!

Battlefront.

KOTOR.

Metro 2033: Redux.

Star Wars Force Awakens Disney Infinity.

Fallout 4.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Listener Mission Objective:

What is your favorite Star Wars game of all time?

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Geekscape Games Reviews ‘One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3’

by Josh JacksonOctober 2, 2015

Name: One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3

Platforms: PS4, PS3, PS Vita, PC, (Reviewed on PS Vita.)

Publisher: Namco Bandai Games

Developer: Omega Force

MSRP: $59.99 (PS4), $49.99 (PS3, PC), $39.99 (PS Vita)

If there was one thing that I learned last year, it was that I REALLY like Warriors games… With the right coat of paint. After giving up on these types of games years ago, it wasn’t until I was taken in by the Legend of Zelda universe in Hyrule Warriors that I fully understood the joys of taking on thousands of enemies single handedly. The reason for my change of heart was simple: playing with generic soldiers or characters based on historic Japanese figures was boring. Playing as characters I recognize and have an attachment to on the other hand, is way more exciting! Keeping this in mind, I loaded up One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, the Warriors title based on the long running One Piece anime and manga series, (though I’m sure that goes without saying,) with the expectation of wiping out waves of enemy pirates with some crazy, over the top attacks as the Straw Hat Crew. In that sense, it delivers and then some, but won’t do much to sway non-fans of either the anime, or the genre.

Like previous games in the Musou genre, Pirate Warriors 3′s main focus is making you feel like an unstoppable monster as you take your favorite pirate and begin tearing apart entire armies with your various skill sets. While being so powerful is always satisfying, games of this nature tend to get repetitive quickly as limited combos, similar characters and a lack of growth tends to sap the fun from the novelty. This is less of a problem with One Piece, because even though complaints about repetitiveness still holds true, this version does a great job of masking it with a large variety of highly varied characters. Whether you’re rapid punching the Marines into submission as Luffy, showing off your series of stylish kicks as Sanji, or anyone in between, each of the 37 unique characters, (not counting the variations of the same characters post time skip,) feel distinct enough to keep the combat fresh as you experiment with new combos. As you play, each character will gain EXP that extends their combo trees as well, so the more you play, the more the possibilities open up. It’s not much different than what you start off with, but I found mixing up my game plan and finding ways to empliment new attacks into my repitoire was one of its highlights.

When you’re not beating hundreds of enemies simultaniously, you’ll be defending your friends and territory thanks to the light strategy elements present in the genre. Some missions will task you with protecting a particular partner, while others will ask you to find certain items in the field. Oftentimes, defending land that’s being protected by your allies while claiming enemy territory through sheer force will help reduce the amount of enemies on the field, which is often key to winning your latest battle. The best missions however, are when you have to go up against an opposing general with abilities similar to yours. Sure, the AI is rarely challenging, (on the first run at least. Multiple hidden difficulties force you to think before you act,) but it’s still fun to go against someone who’s considered more of an equal, and less of a glass cannon like the rest of the fodder.

But when your own skills won’t be enough to ensure victory, you can always rely on your friends to lend a hand. By introducing the new Kizuna Rush attack, up to three of your CPU controlled partners can join in to create a huge, screen clearing onslaught to destroy your opponents with. By building up the Kizuna Meter by having your partners help extend your combos, these are some of the most over the top attacks you’ll find in the game, and they’re oh so satisfying to pull off. And when you want a little more intellegence to go with your partner’s assistance, you can jump in either online or locally, and wreck stuff up with a friend.

If online isn’t your thing, there’s plenty to do by yourself. Pirate Warriors 3 is highlighted by its extensive story mode, which takes both single and multiplayers through the beginnings of the series, (when Monkey D. Luffy recruits Zoro to be the first official member of the Straw Hat Pirates,) past the time skip and up to the most recent storylines with an original ending to cap it off. If you’ve kept up with the series off and on, you won’t have any trouble following along with the story missions, which do a good job of setting up each scenario with limited time both before, during and after missions, all of which are fully voiced by their Japanese actors. Outside of the actual storytelling portion, the in game content is strong, with unlockable coins and side objectives which can be used to unlock characters, abilities and upgrades for your crew. As what I see as a way of rewarding fans of the series, some of the story sensitive objectives have certain details hidden until you complete the stage. If you found them on your first run, congratulations, you know what you’re doing! If not, then the objective becomes spelled out on a second run, making it easier for beat em up fans who aren’t as well versed in all that is One Piece.

The real meat of the game however, is in the Dream Log, a type of mission mode that has players choosing whatever character they like and taking on specific challenges, which usually leads to some of the best unlockables. Ranked in difficulty based on how high your level should be, each completed island will branch off to others, which usually leads to an increase in difficulty. By alternating between Story and Dream Log, grinding is kept to a minimum, (while still necessary to an extent,) to keep up with the more demanding challenges, but is rarely too tough to handle, (again, until the harder difficulties are unlocked.) It’s a well balanced, properly tiered method to unlock content over time, which helps keep the addiction factor up even after the game play gets stale.

Unfortunately, the stale game play is Pirate Warriors 3′s biggest flaw. No matter what the coat of paint is, and no matter what ways the developers mask it with its character variety, you’re still mostly just mashing buttons for hours on end. That’s not to say it isn’t fun, especially if you’re a fan of One Piece, but the experience is likely to wear thin before you’ve beaten every Dream Log Island, seen every Story Mode cutscene, and before you’ve bought all of the many unlockable items with the money earned in battle. It’s a flaw that’s hard to stamp out since the repitition is part of what makes the genre what it is, but it’s still worth noting that if you’re not a One Piece fan, and especially if Musou games bore you to death, this won’t do anything to change your mind.

In the end, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 is a hidden treasure in the world of Warriors style games. The large cast, character variety, varied missions and trove of unlockables will keep fans of either the franchise or the genre playing for hours on end, eithe with a friend, or by themselves. At its core however, it’s the same kind of game we’ve been playing for almost 15 years, so if the unique style of the game doesn’t do it for you, or if you were burnt out on the genre long ago, you’re not going to find anything here to change your mind. Other small nitpicks, like it not feeling like a big enough evolution from its predecessors, or not allowing all modes to work with online play, do little to detract from the overall fun factor, making Pirate Warriors 3 a journey One Piece fans will do well to embark on.

tl;dr:

+ One Piece and the Musou genre make a great combination, with rewarding, over the top attacks.

+ Mission and character variety keeps the game fresh for longer than expected between the Story and Dream Log modes.

+ The story is well told, easy to follow and manages to stay concise, never letting the player feel lost, even if they haven’t kept up with the 800-ish chapters of the manga.

+More unlockables than you’ll ever need.

+ Local and online co-op!

– Still repetitive, even if it has longer legs than most games in the genre.

– Doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from other Musou games outside of the One Piece name.

– Not all content is online compatable.

Final Score: 4/5

Geekscape Games Reviews ‘J-Stars Victory Vs.+’

by Josh JacksonSeptember 30, 2015

Game: J-Stars Victory Vs.+

Available For: PS4, PS3, PS Vita, (Reivewed on Vita.)

Publisher: Namco Bandai

Developer: Spike Chunsoft

MSRP: $59,99 (PS4), $49.99 (PS3) and $39.99 (Vita, digital only.)

Importers went crazy back in 2014 when J-Stars Victory Vs. hit the Japanese PS3 and Vita. This crossover fighter that brought together Shonen Jump’s most popular franchises and characters into one explosive package was never expected to arrive outside of Japan. Much like Jump Superstars for the Nintendo DS, we figured licensing issues would be tough to sort out, especially for a niche title such as this. Yet, Namco Bandai surprised us late last year when they announced that not only would the game receive a Western release, but it would include an extra game mode and a PS4 release as well! Now dubbed J-Stars Victory Vs.+, characters from Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, and so many more franchises will finally get to brawl in the West. Now that the title has come and gone, was it worth the wait?

J Stars uses a somewhat basic model for its fighting mechanics, which typically take place as a two on two showdown with a third character acting as support. Standard matches end once the first team reaches three KO’s, but can vary depending on how many people are fighting in that particular battle. On the surface, every character is essentially the same, with a weak, strong, and special attack button making up their offense. Special moves cost meter, which can be charged up at any time, while tapping the block button right before you’re hit results in a teleport behind your opponent, leaving them wide open. I mean sure, you could just block, but absorbing too many hits will result in a guard break, with no choice but to accept your incoming punishment. Double jumps, dashing, and the ever important lock on button round out the game’s basic functions, with these three moves being especially vital since it would be easy to get lost in the game’s mostly large 3D arenas. Nothing sucks more than getting ambushed because you had no idea where the enemy was.

Using a unique momentum meter that constantly fluctuates as the fight goes on, once one team shifts it all the way to their side, the team will be able to activate their Victory Burst, a temporary state where their attributes are slightly boosted. More importantly however, is that players can choose to sacrifice time in this state in exchange for an Ultimate Attack, your character’s strongest ability that has the potential to do HUGE damage to the opposing team. Great for when you’re behind in a battle and need to shift the tide of battle, or when you’re dominating and want to put an exclamation point on your win, watching these animations, (and the resulting destruction,) is often rewarding.

As I mentioned, at first glance, each one of the 39 playable characters has similar combos and team attacks, making the core mechanics feel repetitive quick. What fixes this however, is that most characters have special properties that usually reflect their powers from their respective properties. For example, Goku and Vegeta can both charge up their second meter just as fast as their first, (as opposed to most of the cast’s meter gain slowing down after the first one is filled,) and once maxed, results in a Super Saiyan transformation. Naruto absorbs and stores his energy all at once, doubling his meter after risking precious seconds being completely vulnerable, can switch to Sage Mode, giving him the option to throw his Rasenshuriken, and gains a completely different move set during a Victory Burst with his Nine Tails Mode! Yusuke will revive in his demon form at no cost if KO’d during Victory Burst, but will immediately fall once it ends, while Seiya will sport his golden armor… The list goes on and on. So while the depth of the mechanics might not be all there, the special traits of each character still keep most of the cast varied, especially for fans who follow these Jump properties closely.

Then again, what good are the fighting mechanics if we don’t mention the modes? J-Stars has a variety of ways to put this fighting to the test, including Free Battle, Arcade, Victory Road, Online and J-Adventure Modes. Most of these are your standard fighting game affair, with Free Battle letting you fight against the CPU or your friends locally with custom conditions, Arcade, where you fight a series of enemies with increasing difficulty, (though this game’s version has a variety of tracks to take on set by how hard it is to at the start, much like Mortal Kombat), and Online, where you fight friends and strangers alike in this strange space we call the Internet. Just expect lag. And rage quitting. And no penalty for those who quit while those who stay get no reward. If you couldn’t tell, Online isn’t worth the trouble.

While these staple features are all well and good, most of the game’s unique single player content comes in the Victory Road and J-Adventures modes. In Victory Road, players will pick a team and take on themed battles against the CPU, where you’ll have to meet certain requirements during battle to earn a 100% clear rating on each fight. As you progress, the fights will continuously alter their settings and completion conditions, so it’s constantly asking you to approach battles differently. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t actually tell you what the challenge conditions are until AFTER the fight, so that bit of forced replayability will likely have completionists playing through each fight more than once.

J-Adventure on the other hand, starts off strong, but wears out its welcome for far too long. Choosing between one of four paths led by either Luffy, Naruto, Toriko or Ichigo, each story follows these characters as they navigate Jump World, a land where all these characters exist in the same universe. While attempting to assemble a team of fighters to win an upcoming tournament, each path leads to different partners, support characters, and missions to find on the world map. Using a ship to traverse the world, (which gains enhanced mobility as the story progresses,) players will earn precious currency to unlock new ship parts, characters, and J-Cards, items that can tweak the attributes of your team, while leveling up their fighters. Unfortunately, this is a case of too much of a good thing. Each story is so long that it’s unlikely that players will be able to get through one path, let alone all four. The camera is too close to your ship, often leading to accidental battles against opposing ships in the environment, and with no way to back out of them once their triggered. What’s worse, is that once your main objective in the story mode is complete, a whole new plot point opens up, extending the game even farther when you’ll likely be tired of the adventure mode by then, kind of like certain Shonen Jump stories that drag on 500 chapters past what should have been their ending point. Even though I had fun playing J-Stars, the combat is too shallow to maintain interest for that long, especially when you’re forced to play as the same three characters for the majority of these adventure sections.

So is J-Stars the dream crossover that Playstation fans have been waiting for? Not exactly, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of fun to be had. Between the huge character roster, the unique abilities for each fighter, lots of goods to unlock and plenty of modes to use them in, fans of at least a few of these properties will surely enjoy picking their favorite manga fighter and pit them against an opposing team. Yet, the shallow core mechanics, the overly drawn out story mode that’s seemingly mimicking the 700+ chapter stories from the Shonen Jump books, poor online and artificially lengthened content is sure to be put off some people. If you’re an anime or manga fan, you’ll surely have a great time with J-Stars Victory Vs.+, but everyone else would do well to get their fighting fix somewhere else.

tl;dr:

+ A huge roster that will surely satisfy the Shonen Jump faithful.

+ Unique abilities for most of the cast, adding a feeling of authenticity to their portrayal.

+ A good amount of modes to play around with.

+ Tons of unlockables, including characters, ship parts, and customizable cards.

– The core mechanics are shallow, forcing most of the characters to feel identical from a basic combo standpoint.

– Story mode is far longer than it should be, failing to keep an already repetitive experience interesting for long.

– Some modes like Victory Road are artificially lengthened by withholding challenge requirements, while the rest of the modes don’t offer anything new.

-Online is a mess.

Final Score: 3/5

SDCC 2015: ‘One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3’ Doesn’t Care About Continuity, And Its Better Off For It!

by Josh JacksonAugust 3, 2015

As you could probably tell from our E3 preview of One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, if you’re a fan of the long running manga and anime series, and ESPECIALLY if you’re a Dynasty Warriors player, you can’t go wrong with the upcoming Musou game. Featuring over 35 characters spanning the hundreds of chapters from the series, there’s going to be plenty to dive into while setting sail for the Grand Line!

Following the story from the very beginning, players who missed part of the One Piece lore and dedicated fans who want to relive the series’ greatest moments will have something to look forward to from its massive campaign. But what if you don’t want to wait for hours to be able to wipe out armies as Ace, Shanks or any of the Straw Hat Pirates post time skip? Luckily for us, that won’t be a problem.

During our playthough of the Comic-Con build, we were able to play as the above characters and more during Luffy’s first fight against the Navy. When asked, we were informed that regardless of where you are in the story, you or your partner can choose anyone who’s unlocked at that point. Much like Hyrule Warriors before it, the game aims to give players the freedom to use who they want regardless of whether or not silly things like a sense of time, or the CPU already using that character gets in the way. Whether or not you’ll need to complete the stage at least once before being given free reign was unclear, but one way or another, we’ll have our chance to screw with the One Piece timeline.

What say you, One Piece fans? Let us know in the comments, and tell us whether or not you’re going to be chasing down the ultimate treasure when One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 launches for the PS3 and PS4 on August 25th.

E3 2015: ‘One Piece Pirate Warriors 3’ Continues To Prove That ‘Dynasty Warriors’ Makes Everything Awesome.

by Josh JacksonJune 30, 2015

Look, if you’ve played any of the One Piece Pirate Warriors games, you don’t need me to tell you what to expect. Even if you haven’t, but played anything from Hyrule Warriors to Dynasty Warriors, this upcoming game based on the insanely popular manga series is going to be more of the same. With that said, this is far from a bad thing, since it’s been proven time and time again that the wackiness of Luffy, his crew, and his enemies lends itself quite well to destroying hundreds of enemies at a time. Promising to be a bigger, more realized version of the entire One Piece experience, our hands-on time showed that it’s on a path to do just that.

As you would expect from any type of Warriors game, this 3D beat em up will have you choosing from one of the many characters introduced across the hundreds of episodes One Piece has aired. Covering everything from when Luffy first set sail from Fushia Village to the latest story arc in Dressrosa, and told through a 3D comic book/cell shaded hybrid visual style, it’s safe to say that you’re going to be playing this for a VERY long time.

Naturally, all of this story content is amplified by the huge amount of people, (and reindeer,) you’ll be able to take down entire armies with. From the main crew consisting of Luffy, Zoro, Chopper, Nami and the like, all the way through Shanks and Ace, and new characters like Sabo, Donquixote, Doflamingo and Fujitora, you’ll never have a time where you feel like the game is too short on characters. If one isn’t enough, you can even take a partner with you into battle, triggering screen clearing special and double team attacks when the right conditions have been met. Did you expect anything different from an anime title?

As you progress, the main goal is to travel across the map and capture bases, which usually involved beating down waves of enemies until a boss shows up. Objectives change as the game progresses, with the hopes of keeping the repetitiveness to a minimum. Even then, if you’re a One Piece fan, (and seriously, what are the chances you’d be reading this if you weren’t,) then it’ll be its own reward to see your favorite characters on screen, using their insane abilities to do what they do best. And based on the episode count, it’s definitely fighting, not actually finding treasure.

If you’re not a fan of these kinds of games, it’s not likely that Pirate Warriors 3 will change your mind. However, if you love the anime, love beat em ups, or love games with a ton of content, then this latest One Piece title is shaping up to be worth setting sail for. Make sure to stay tuned as more details emerge, and be sure to check back for all your gaming coverage!

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 is set for a Summer release on the PS3, PS4 and Steam.

E3 2015: ‘J Stars Victory Vs.’ Is The Anime Brawler We’ve Written Fanfics About!

by Josh JacksonJune 24, 2015

Due to how licensing works, it’s rare that we get the crazy anime crossovers that Japan plays fairly often. When J Stars Victory Vs. was released for the PS3 and Vita last year, it was one of those times that we were thankful that those systems are region free, since there was no way this game was coming to the West.

Right?

By some small miracle, the stars aligned to make J Stars Victory Vs. + a reality for us Western and European fans. Pitting the likes of Goku from Dragon Ball, Yu Yu Hakusho‘s Yusuke, and Naruto from, well… Naruto, some of Shonen Jump’s biggest heroes and villains clash in this 3D fighting game. As I’m not one to pass up witnessing a miracle in person, I got to check out a demo of the localized build at Namco Bandai’s E3 booth and find out how it’s coming along.

Taking place in a variety of iconic locations from each series, battles consisted of two on two matches with a third character acting as support. Having a full 3D space to fight in, players will have to take cover behind structures, keep an eye on their opponent and attack fast, since each character will have a variety of ways to take down their opponents. Being able to lock on and dash towards your target closes what can be a considerable distance between you and your enemies down quickly, and making sure to charge your energy to unleash weak, strong and area attacks were the biggest keys to victory, especially when this power can ultimately unveil each character’s transformed state. Including Goku’s Super Saiyan, Naruto’s Sage Mode, and Kenshin drawing his sword, new, more powerful abilities become unleashed, destroying your enemies, (and the environment,) in the process.

On the subject of victory, winning is achieved in a slightly different way in Jump compared to most fighters. Rather than simply KO both teammates, your pair of fighters fills their win gauge every time they defeat an enemy. Three victories result in a win, so one partner can lose all three times and blow it for their team. It’s a good thing single player hands you a CPU teammate to blame when things don’t go well, but you might want to apologize in advance to your friend if you lose during a co-op match.

With the final version featuring over 50 characters from over a dozen series’, any anime fan, and ESPECIALLY Shonen Jump enthusiasts will want to mark June 30th on their calendar. J Stars Victory Vs. + will be available for PS3, PS4, and PS Vita with online and offline play, an adventure mode that ties these worlds together, and an arcade mode that’s exclusive to this “plus” version! Check back for more details on the rest of the roster, and our more in depth impressions once we’re able to play the full game!

Geekscape 324: Maxxin’ Out With Tom Pinchuk!

by JonathanMarch 23, 2014

It’s been a while since comic book writer Tom Pinchuk has been on Geekscape! Luckily, we correct that oversight in this episode in which Tom drops by to talk to us about his new comic book Max Steel: Haywire, coming soon from Viz Media! Tom also educates us on the differences in some of the various conventions as Con Season starts up and also about the cultural and narrative differences between Manga and traditional US comic books! Also, when is a character’s internal dialogue too much…?

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:34 — 34.1MB)

‘One Piece’ Retrospective Can Be Yours For Free!

by Kari LaneNovember 21, 2013

Fans and users of VIZManga.com (digital manga website) and the VIZ manga App are in for an early Christmas present; the One Piece Retrospective! This digital edition celebrates an important milestone as “One Piece has become the world’s top selling manga series of all time with over 345 million copies in print!”

The special digital retrospective for the pirate adventure series created by Eiichiro Oda will be given as a free premium to all currently registered VIZ Manga.com and VIZ Manga App users, as well as to new members that sign up between November 21st and 27th. Fans can sign up at VIZManga.com and also explore ONE PIECE volumes available for digital download through the VIZ MANGA App for the Apple iPad®, iPhone® and iPod® touch, and Android-powered smart phones and tablets (including Kindle Fire).

The ONE PIECE Digital Retrospective features five exclusive, full color art spreads, as well as a comprehensive collection of covers for all 69 ONE PIECE volumes. The edition also features a personal interview with creator Eiichiro Oda and one-shot STRONG WORLD, the manga short where fans will find out what the world of ONE PIECE looked like over 20 years ago in a time before Luffy was even born. The ONE PIECE Digital Retrospective will only be available digitally for fans for a limited time.

Readers are invited to catch the latest ONE PIECE manga chapters, released in English on the same day as their Japanese counterpart, in the pages of VIZ Media’s digital WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP digital manga magazine. ONE PIECE anime episodes also currently air in North America on Adult Swim’s Toonami as well as on VIZAnime, VIZ Media’s own free website for streaming anime content, and other outlets including FUNimation.com, HULU.com, and OnePieceOfficial.com.

If you are not familiar with this title, here is the synopsis of this fun story!

As a child, Monkey D. Luffy dreamed of becoming King of the Pirates. But his life changed when he accidentally ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, an enchanted Devil Fruit that gave him the ability to stretch like rubber. The only drawback? He’ll never be able to swim again – a serious handicap for an aspiring sea dog! Years later, Luffy sets off on his quest to find the “One Piece,” said to be the greatest treasure in the world…

Not familiar with the VIZ Manga App? Read on to learn more about this awesome service! Also, you can read my previous article here.

The free VIZ Manga App continues to be the top application for reading digital manga and features a massive library of the most popular series in the world. Through the innovative VIZ Manga digital platform, registered users are able to use one account to access their purchased titles across more devices than ever. The platform features a massive library of the most popular manga series in the world, with over 1,700 volumes across more than 170 different series. All manga volumes are generally available for purchase and download in the U.S. and Canada within the application starting from $6.99 (U.S. / CAN) each.

For more information, please visit VIZManga.com or www.VIZ.com/apps.

Download the free VIZ Manga App for your Android and iOS devices at www.VIZ.com/apps.

Kari’s Corner Interviews: Neon Alley Program Manager Kevin Kleinrock

by Kari LaneOctober 13, 2013

Fall is in full swing and you know what that means? New fall shows! VIZ Media is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its 24/7 Neon Alley anime channel this month! Neon Alley is a service that is available to fans across North America via the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) and PlayStation®Network, the Xbox 360® and Xbox LIVE® and via PC/Mac web access. They also announced the launch of the new “Catch Up” feature for Xbox and PS3.

The Neon Alley fall season starts THIS Friday, October 18th and includes the highly anticipated high definition return of Ranma ½ to North America along with the exclusive dub premiere of Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic. Additional premieres this season include Gurren Lagaan, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Revolutionary Girl Utena, along with the latest episodes of ongoing favorites Bleach, Naruto Shippuden, and One Piece.

To learn more about this cool site we interviewed Program Manager Kevin Kleinrock!

What is your involvement with Neon Alley?

I was brought in originally as the Program Manager. VIZ had been working on the idea of Neon Alley for quite some time and then decided to bring in someone to tie all of the pieces together and get the channel launched. That was when I joined the company in Spring of last year.

Once the channel launched in the Fall, I transitioned into the role of Program Director and moved from the mostly project management side into managing the day to day of the network overall. Throughout the day I’ll be involved with the technical side of things, marketing, production, business development – my involvement is rather widespread at this point.

What is so special Neon Alley?

Neon Alley is a truly unique and amazing platform in the awesome anime space. First, we are the only linear 24/7 all English dubbed, all uncut and uncensored anime experience. While there are a plethora of on-demand services out there for subtitled and dubbed content, we have built a unique anime lifestyle channel. Not only can you sit back and have the programming delivered to you without having to know what’s hot, but you can be exposed to both classic anime you may not have seen and new series that being a member of the channel will give you a first chance to see.

Beyond the top notch programming itself, every minute of the channel is designed for the anime lifestyle. Every commercial is for something anime or entertainment-related. We bring you convention information and coverage. We bring you weekly news on new releases and top 10 lists for anime, manga, digital manga and video games. We have trivia interstitials and weekly sweepstakes and prize giveaways. And even with our implementation of our new Catch Up feature, our linear stream delivers an extremely special experience unlike anything else available to anime fans.

What is the Catch Up feature and why did you implement it?

The Catch Up feature is to allow members to do just that – catch up! As I was just talking about, the only thing missing from Neon Alley was a way for our members to easily catch up on a show they may have missed due to not being in front of their screen when a particular episode was on. Now, with Catch Up, episodes are available on demand the day after they debut on the channel for at least one week. This includes our movies as well. So now, members can choose to watch the live stream on our schedule, or Catch Up on their schedule.

Why does Neon Alley not include all past episodes?

Neon Alley is not an on-demand platform. We’re a linear platform that now brings our members a chance to catch up on anything they may have missed. If you look at other services, like say Hulu Plus, most series there feature a rolling number of episodes as well. And they ARE an on-demand platform. The feature is meant to be a compliment to the linear channel which remains our primary service.

How do you go about selecting your fall line-up?

As with every lineup, we aim to bring the best in uncut and uncensored English anime from across the spectrum of genres and studios. Our Fall lineup includes series and movies from VIZ, FUNimation, Aniplex, Sentai, Nozomi. It includes the world premiere of the English dub of MAGI: THE LABYRINTH OF MAGIC, two popular series in PUELLA MAGI MADOKA MAGICA and GURREN LAGAAN, and two classic series in REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA and RANMA ½. This will be the first time RANMA ½ is available in English in HD. Plus, Neon Alley remains the only place to see a world premiere dub episode of NARUTO SHIPPUDEN every week! We’re also adding a brand new live action show to our Sundays, which have featured anime and kung fu movies, as sci-fi and comic book influenced pro wrestling brand CHIKARA debuts on the network. And these are just our premieres. Our full fall lineup includes over three dozen more series and movies. It’s a veritable buffet of anime – but we’re talking all killer, no filler anime. Series like BLEACH, ONE PIECE, INUYASHA, DEATH NOTE, BLUE EXORCIST and movies like the NARUTO SHIPPUDEN films, the BERSERK: THE GOLDEN AGE ARC film series, and so much more. Everything available as part of our 24/7 live stream and in Catch Up.

Which show in the fall line-up are you most excited about and why?

That’s way too hard of a question to answer! We only select shows for the network that WE would watch ourselves so each series has a special place in our hearts. I’m excited to finally have an English dub of MAGI: THE LABYRINTH OF MAGIC. And, from what I have seen – and heard – it’s a great dub! I’m excited that we are bringing fan favorites PUELLA MAGI MADOKA MAGICA and GURREN LAGAAN to the channel. And, I’m really excited that we are starting to bring the classics to Neon Alley with the addition of REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA and RANMA ½ – especially with RANMA now in HD! So truthfully, I’m excited about the entire line up!

I noticed you included some older shows like Utena. What made you go with including new and old shows in your fall line-up?

Neon Alley is about bringing the best in anime, whether it’s a world premiere or if it’s a classic. Great anime stories are timeless and series like REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA and RANMA ½ will never be out of style. It gives us a chance to see these series again and fondly remember the first time we saw them, but it also enables us to expose these series to a whole new generation of anime fan who were not following the genre when RANMA ½ debuted in the late 80s or UTENA came out in the late 90s. That’s what is so great about having full control of our own network and programming – great shows will find their way to Neon Alley regardless of studio, genre or how old a particular title may be. We bring our members the newest of the new and the classics all at the same time.

Besides the new fall line-up, what is next for Neon Alley?

Our focus will always remain bringing the best in 24/7 English dubbed uncut and uncensored anime. So we will continue to work to acquire the best series, and while doing so, we’ll also be working to expand the lifestyle experience that is Neon Alley. Neon Alley truly is an anime experience like no other and continuing to develop the pieces that make the channel exactly that remain a focus of ours. Aside from that, we will continue to focus on expanding awareness of the channel and our one week free trial that is available at NeonAlley.com. Anyone in the U.S. or Canada with a computer, PlayStation 3 or XBOX 360 can try the channel out for themselves and get immersed in the unique anime lifestyle experience of Neon Alley.

To check out Neon Alley click here! Be sure to tune in for the exciting fall lineup starting Friday October 18th!

Toei’s ‘One Piece’ is Coming To Neon Alley and PS3 This Fall!

by JonathanAugust 22, 2012

This is great news for me! ‘One Piece’, aka the anime that everyone is telling me to check out, is coming to Neon Alley this Fall. From the press release I just received from Viz Media, “Neon Alley is a new 24-hour dubbed & uncut anime channel launching this fall on the PS3, and is the first platform designed to be studio agnostic! Programming will include weekly exclusive premieres of the best anime titles fans love, alongside a mix of new cutting edge titles they didn’t know they were missing!

‘One Piece’, based on the massively popular manga by Eiichiro Oda, follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy on his quest to become the king of all pirates! With his intrepid crew, he journeys to find the greatest treasure on Earth, the Legendary One Piece!

Well, sign me up! Wait… I own a PS3. I’m already signed up!