A Sakura Wars game is FINALLY getting a North American release... and it's Sakura Wars V. Yes, V. As in, Five. I dunno... In my humble opinion, V is the best of the games, and it has the best cast. But it was also the least popular on the "main" franchise games in Japan, or so I've heard. And frankly I'm surprised that V is going to be the first game translated into English, as opposed to one of the more classic games with more recognizable characters. Really, it's not like V's graphics and gameplay were much of an improvement over IV, and IV had both the classic Tokyo and the popular Paris cast of characters together, so... Huh. How weird.

And also apparently Fate/Unlimited Codes will be translated and released for the PSP in North America. Despite the fact that neither Fate/Stay Night (the original game) nor Fate/Zero (the novels) have gotten any official translation whatsoever. I mean, I know that the Fate/Stay Night anime was released in North America, and that maaaaay be enough for gamers to make sense of Unlimited Codes... at least until the Fate/Zero characters start showing up and screwing with the storyline. Bwuh?

And then there's this crap.

Dude.

Dude.

I love cute things, and I love dogs, but I haaaaaate the mameshiba commericals, because they are flippin' TERRIFYING.

Jesus F. Christ just LOOK AT THIS OH MY GOD it will give you nightmares!!! And that's sooooo not even the worst one.

I am still in the midst of working on the Soul Eater Scanspam Post that Ate the World. Until that shizbit is ready to post, however, here's a selection of random scans that I've been hoarding on my hard drive. There's a mixture of Teh Pretty and Teh Brain-Breakage behind this cut.

( Cuuuuuut! )

Good morning, internet!

I am still on vacation with the lovely meiousei. But while we were in Tokyo, I finally bought a new scanner, as the old one was on its last legs. In order to properly inaugurate said new scanner, here's some high-res scanspam for y'all.

( Behind the cut: Ah! My Goddess, Sakura Wars, Fate/Unlimited Codes, and Soul Eater. )

Aaaaand that's it for this scanspam post. The quadruple-whammy of Animage, Animedia, Newtype, and GanGan are all going to hit the streets in a mere two days, though. I will try to have relevant Soul Eater scans posted in a timely fashion. But no promises, as I am still officially ON VACATION for the next week.

Tagged by xhoshichan!

Rules - That for 8 days you have to post something that made you happy that day. Tag 8 people to do the same~!

Things that made me happy today:

1. Being reminded, many times throughout the day, of how totally awesome my friends are. Seriously, you guys - thank you for all of the birthday warm fuzzies and gifts!!!

2. Cleaning out my refrigerator. Don't laugh. This makes me happy.

3. Discovering that there are hidden Fate/Zero characters in Unlimited Codes. Um, so, like... Amazon.co.jp, where exactly is my copy that I pre-ordered months ago?! Hey meiousei, we could totally battle each other when you come visit me next month, assuming that my copy actually arrives at some point.

I tag anybody who wants to do this, because it is awesome. ^___^

So. Kadokawa's new Specialized Super-Glossy Super-Expensive Magazine (TM) is Type Moon Ace, a magazine devoted to, you guessed it, Type Moon-created franchises.

(For those of you who don't know, Type Moon is a doujinshi-group-cum-legitimate-publisher that creates novels, manga, games, and animated works that usually center around incredibly kick-ass women. And they are also responsible for some of the finest porn currently available in the Japanese market, nay, the world.)

( So here's what the first issue of Type Moon Ace looks like. WARNING: SUPER IMAGE-INTENSIVE! )

And well, that's it. Overall, it was a really good bargain for only 780 yen. I have no idea if this magazine is going to be monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, or what. But I do know that I will be buying the next issue.

So... Kara no Kyoukai. Anybody ever heard of it? Flist? Apparently it's a Type Moon property from the late 1990's, which will be turned into an animated movie this year. I only became aware of it because all of the Big Three magazines this month came with promo materials for the movie, including some lovely pullout posters. All I can say for sure right now is:

A) It's Type Moon, therefore the hype machine is already going full steam ahead;

B) It's Type Moon, so the female cast will probably, as usual, be diverse and awesome and there be at least one or two totally kick-ass strong women; and

C) It's set in the same universe as Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night which means potential cameos, yay. Apparently both Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night contain references to Kara no Kyoukai, but having never read Kara no Kyoukai I had no idea.

This is an insanely complete fansite in English, with a detailed synopsis of each section of the novel, and translations of the teaser sections. Here's the official site for the movie with an online trailer already. And the Wikipedia entry, for completeness.

In other news, the first Fate/Zero novel is due out on Saturday. (!!!!! already?????) When I first heard about the project I thought that it was a prequel game, but no, it looks like it will actually be a series of light illustrated novels. And the identities of the missing two servants have been confirmed: Caster is Gilles de Rais/Bluebeard (and apparently appropriately psychotic in the novel), and Beserker is "The Black Knight." Also, I fail at katakana (or maybe Japan just fails at phonetics, period), and the identity of Assasin is not Hassan ibn Ali. It's actually Hashshashin. Whether "Hashashin" counts as one person or many people remains to be seen. Or maybe it's supposed to be Hassan-i-Sabah. But didn't they already use Hassan-i-Sabah in Fate/Stay Night? Yes, they did. He was the "True Assassin" that Shinji's grandfather summoned after Kojirou was killed. Or something.

So nope, no women this time, except for Arthur. And only two (only two!) of the Masters are women. When I looked at the promo materials and the official website, there was one Master whom I thought was a woman, but apparently is just an effete man. Woe.

However, "The Black Knight" or "Hashshashin" could perhaps turn out to be women. THEORY: WHAT IF THE BLACK KNIGHT IS MORDRED?! OMG OMG OMG.

Thank you meiousei and novel_tea for the lovely Christmas/birthday gifts!

And in geek news today... At Comiket 71, an official announcement was made about Fate/Zero, a prequel to Fate/Stay Night.

Of course, we'll get to see Arthur and Gilgamesh a lot, since from Fate/Stay Night we know that they played a huge role in the previous war. Also appearing will be Alexander/Iskander, Diarmaid o'Dubhne, and Hassan ibn Ali. Two of the hero roles have yet to be revealed, but seeing as so far Arthur is the only woman in the group, I really do hope that they get some female characters to fill the other two roles. In the original Fate/Stay Night, the ratio of female to male heroes was three to four, which isn't bad.

The southeast Asian pantheon is still noticably absent in this games's lineup of mythological heroes. Woe.

For human characters appearing in the game, we will get to see, of course, young!Kotomine and young!Kiritsugu, as well as Rin's parents, Ilya's mother, and another new Master character who looks like a really snappily dressed, gun-toting, femme fatale. Do check out the Material/Zero promo sketchbook in the post linked above; the character designs for Fate/Zero look amazing, particularly Alexander, Diarmaid o'Dubhne, and Rin's parents. I also love Arthur in her androgynous-yet-sexy butler uniform.

I am SO GEEKING OUT ABOUT THIS. Of course, I fear that Type Moon may be spreading themselves too thin, what with the post-holidays delay of Fate/Stay Night Realta Nua and all. But as long as they keep providing the good crack, it's all good.

Edit 2007: Updated info here.