Football Director DS

There are so many different types of Football games these days: there’s the standard ones that you can play with a group of mates and just virtually kick a ball around -- the sort of ones which are trying to train you to think like a footballer -- and then the football management type games. Football Director DS is the final one of these genres, and what makes it unique on the DS at the moment is that it’s the only one that’s available.

Unlike its overcomplicated counterparts, Football Director DS does not require a degree in spreadsheet management, and certainly does not require an expert knowledge of football. This sort of inaccessibility has lead the Football Manager series to falter as of late. As this title is for the Nintendo DS, it’s very open and just requires the player to have some basic management skills and a little bit of cunning.

Football Director DS is only licensed for English football teams, which means if you want to play in the Scottish League it’s not possible without editing a lot of the data in game. Fortunately, there’s a very high level of customisation in Football DS, which allows the player to change almost every part of the game to suit their taste. If many hours are going to be ploughed into this title, then it’s certainly worth doing. Fortunately, there are also a lot of European teams, game reports and cups in the title, so with over 3,800 players to choose from, customisation is the key of this game.

The player will take control of the daily work of managing a successful football team, as well as taking a role on the pitch by organisation of tactics and even substitutions. Fortunately, the match-day presentation is optional, and it makes the game feel like more than just a spreadsheet. However, loyalists to this niche genre will not enjoy that element to the game. The daily work as a club director includes bidding for players on the transfer market, setting the team’s tactics for future games, working the players hard by organising grueling training sessions, as well as dealing with the matches themselves.

All the information that you require on a day-to-day basis on Football Director DS is handed to the player in the first few screens of play. Although it can take a few moments to collect ones thoughts and work out where to go next, fortunately this sort of stoppage is minimal after a few minutes of play due to the intuitive and simple interface.

Although the interface is simple, the data provided is expansive and tracks all of the players through each match and will give a comparison chart to how they’re doing match by match and in comparison to other members of the team. This allows the player to set a realistic price tag above their head when they try and sell him on.

However, it can be a little over simplistic with restrictions on fairly basic areas of play, such as not easily being able to change the football player’s positions in the tactics option. Changing players from an attacking winger or just a central midfielder is impossible, as they’re all midfielders. This limits the amount of depth and realism in play.

Fortunately, those small niggles are made up for by the very simple user interface, which makes someone who isn’t particularly interested in football games able to play and run a successful team. However, for many more advanced players, these sorts of restrictions will remind them of earlier Football Manager type games.

Final Verdict - 7/10
This is a good throwback to Football Manager games of old, and there’s much more to come from this franchise with little wrinkles to be ironed out in future titles. A solid title, and a fun way to spend several hours: winning football matches.

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Volume 2

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Volume 2

Format: Anime DVD
Release: 08th December, 2008
Rating: 12
Publisher: MVM Entertainment

7

The market for big busty fan-service animes has really shrunk in recent years. However, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue should quench the thirst of many fans that adore that type of anime and as with Volume 1, it should also quench the thirst of those who want a storyline as well.

Picking up where Volume 1 left off, Volume 2 continues to show the journey of Maia Mizuki and her employment at the Nereids agency. Volume 1 introduced many characters into the fray, the Branch Manager, Rena, Shizuka and Gloria. Maia is only just starting to get used to fulfilling the demands of the customers who approach the Nereids agency, which vary from acting as rent collectors, cat rescuers to crime fighting units and bounty hunters.

Volume 2 starts by introducing a new character into the already expanded cast. A former convict, and a deadly marital arts expert attempt to try and rejoin the Nereids agency. Yu Park, however, has her license to rejoin Nereids declined by a somewhat annoyed Police Detective; Yu Park had to serve time for causing injuries to more than 20 people, and causing damage to the local area in the attempt to capture petty criminals.

To try and get back Yu’s license, Rena attempts to seduce the Detective and use her womanly ways on the poor man. However, terrorists storm the floating restaurant and attempt to use both the Detective and Rena as hostages. Unfortunately for the terrorist, Rena is able to contact the agency and get Yu to save everyone on the boat. This infuriates Gloria who wanted to shoot all of the criminals onboard the craft but arrives just a bit too late.

This Volume also reintroduces Maia’s friend, who managed to get employment at the prestigious Ocean Agency, as they are out for a meal together. Unfortunately, her hire car is stolen and whilst reporting the crime at the local station she bumps into her Nereids’ team members and is caused some embarrassment. Whilst Maia is telling Rena about the theft of the hire car, the Detective who had previously been saved by the group turns up and Rena manages to get a contract from him to get the cars back.

After a stake out the group are able to find the convicts, who use high-tech ways of stealing cars and threaten to kill Maia as they take her hostage. Fortunately for Maia they crash and she manages to secure her friend’s car and get the reward money. This is good as they then have to all pretend to really respect the Line Manager as his daughter is doing a school project on him.

To make things more interesting the group go to a deserted island, this is so he can “catch” a criminal, who turn out to be Gloria and Yu dressed up. His daughter is devastated and runs away, straight into a black market for penguins. Maia, the Branch Manager and his daughter are all captured and are used as hostages so the rest of the group can’t save them.

Whilst speeding off to kill the Branch Manager’s daughter, he manages to jump onto the back of the boat and knock the criminal into the ocean. This shows his daughter that he’s not entirely useless and this memory of the Branch Manager is destroyed in the next episode where he is removed from the room for commenting on someone’s cleavage on TV. The amazing Maia has to help a racing driver, who is an old friend of Shizuka.

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Volume 2 is a lighthearted comedy show. The animation quality is just as good as the first volume, and the characters are really beginning to be fleshed out in this volume. Although some characters, such as Gloria really are two-dimensional. The skimpy costumes continue in this Volume, with Yu’s battle costume looking similar to a bondage outfit and nearly the ultimate fan-service for Rena.

As with the last Volume, the voice acting continues to be great on both sides of the language pool. Although Yu’s acting is a little distant and although she’s meant to be a distant character, it sounds more bored than anything else.

» Final Score

7

Volume 2 continues Daphne in the Brilliant Blue’s light-hearted comedic storyline. Taking jabs at itself and it’s own character design along the way, it’s an amusing and easy show to watch.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Format: Anime DVD
Release: 08th December, 2008
Rating: PG
Developer: Madhouse
Publisher: Manga Entertainment
10

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is the official international release title for the adaptation of the Japanese novel written by Yasutaka Tstusui in 1965. The novel is a classic youth story, and has been adapted various times over the years. This adaptation was produced by Madhouse, and with Saotoko Okudera as the screenplay producer. It’s taken more than two years for this title to come out in the UK, so long in fact that in July this year it was on television on one of the various anime channels in Japan whilst I was there!

The story follows a normal, but slightly tomboyish, schoolgirl called Makoto Konno who lives in central Tokyo. She has no sense of time keeping and is consistently only just on time for school, after having to rush to school almost every day. More often than not causing some form of commotion along the way. She has two good friends Chiaki Mamiya and Kosuke Tsuda, both of who are admired throughout the school by the girls – something that Makoto seems oblivious to.

Whilst running a little late, Makoto is reorganising the notebooks in a classroom on one of the upper floors, while she is doing this in a rush she falls over and lands on something that hurts her arm. She thinks nothing of it, as she is more concerned with wondering why she thought someone was in the room with her. She then ran off, as she was late for baseball with Chiaki and Kosuke.

She soon discovers that she is able to travel through time if she puts herself into a certain situation, and uses this ability so that she is able to avoid awkward confessions of love, stop being late, get perfect grades and to just generally enjoy herself. She also uses her ability to match make her friend and someone who fancies him. However, all of this time travel soon starts to show negative effects with a boy who ends up making the mistakes that Makoto makes due to different circumstance. This boy is under increasing stress and then attacks some of the other students at the school; this causes Makoto to revaluate what she is doing.

During this period she is visiting her aunt a lot more than usual, her aunt advises Makoto that she believes she is leaping through time. Although Makoto keeps on travelling back in time, she talks to her aunt whenever she is confused, who never questions what she’s doing and always continue to give solid advice. No one questions this; however, it does imply that she was the girl in the prequel to this story.

Eventually Makoto discovers a tattoo on her arm that never used to be there. She soon realises that this is the number of leaps that she’s got left, and in the attempt to save her friend Kosuke and his girlfriend from dying she uses her last leap; unfortunately she is not successful. However, time freezes and Chiaki tells her that he is from the future and he is searching for a painting, and is now stuck in this time because he’s used his last leap to save Kosuke.

Makoto is devastated by this and is also devastated because the boy she loves has just disappeared. This is because he explains everything about the future and time travel to her, which he is now allowed to do. Fortunately owing to Chiaki’s time travel Makoto has one left, which she uses to go all the way back to the start of this entire adventure and starts all over again. She confronts Chiaki early on and then tells him she knows everything, and that he has to go back to the future and she’ll secure what he came to the past for.

The animation is simple, but distinct and is visually a treat. The backgrounds are realistic, colourful and well planned. Although the character designs are a little on the basic side, this contributes to the overall feel of the film. The leaps through time are entirely different to everything else in the film. They show a strange world of digital clocks and are depicting time continuing to move forward while Makoto goes backwards. The qualities of these scenes are second to none and have clearly been well planned ahead.

The understated music score by Kiyoshi Yushida is perfectly suited to the bittersweet story. The music is at no point overused, and owing to it’s minimal usage it makes the touching moments that bit more poignant. It’s rare in motion picture for music to be used so well, and in this case less is certainly more.

The English cast is brilliant. The English cast all have passion and acting in their voices and at all points they are believable and not just “going through the motions”. Even minor character such as Makoto’s sister or the poor stressed out boy, they all sound real. The Japanese cast are equally brilliant, so fortunately there’s no reason to have to choose between either cast – it’s just personal preference this time.

» Final Score

10

This touching, bittersweet and understated film is a brilliant adaptation of the original novel. With a clever screenplay, brilliant animation and a great voice-acting cast this is a must for all anime lovers. Easily on par with many Studio Ghibli releases.

Haibane Renmei Box Set

Haibane Renmie Box Set

Format: Anime DVD
Release: 01th December, 2008
Rating: 12
Publisher: MVM Entertainment

10

Haibane Renmie, otherwise known as Charcoal Feather Federation, is the finalised product from an ill-fated dojinshi series entitled The Haibanes of Old Home. The legendary Yoshitoshi ABe, who also created the Serial Experiments Lain series, created this superseded manga and anime series. This ambitious series deals with various themes, and owing to its easily misinterpreted storyline, it’s been debated heavily since its release.

Based in a long forgotten area called Glie, the Haibane are a group of people, similar to angels, who have been mysteriously born into the town. Bound by the walls of the local area, and intricate traditions that occur on a day-to-day basis. A Haibane does not earn money; however, they work for very specific areas in the town in exchange for free residence at Old Home or the Abandoned Factory as well as being given a book – where they log their expenses. Any product that they do decide to buy has to be either second hand, or unwanted by standard humans. Along with many other rules, the Haibane Renmei strictly regulates this lifestyle, which is an organisation, which oversees the life of the Haibane and much of Glie.

No one from Glie is allowed to leave, and the only people who are able to enter and leave are traders called the Toga; the Toga are not allowed to speak when inside Glie, but speak with only one member of the Haibane Renmie in a form of complex sign language.

There are many characters throughout the show; however, the main two protagonists are Rakka and Reki. Rakka is part of the opening scenes to the show, which is a double scene as Rakka is inside the pod where the Haibane are born. The other side of the scene shows Reki and the other members of Old Home finding the pod and preparing the area for her eventual birth. All Haibane are born from a pod, and should have a distinct memory of the time that they spent in the pod, along with a sense that they used to live somewhere else and have family. The dream that they have in the pod becomes their name; however, whatever name they do have they later find has additional meanings.

The Haibane are not born with wings initially, or with halos either. The wings develop after the first day of their birth, this incredibly painful experience is made worse by the fact that a terrible fever develops at the same time, which miraculously disappears the night after the wings have developed. The Halo is made by the Haibane, using a special type of metal that’s developed from inside of the Walls of the town.

Rakka manages to build bonds very quickly with everyone, and particularly so with Reki and Kuu. Kuu is the youngest “adult” Haibane, and has always felt the need to prove to everyone that she’s an adult. She is the first Haibane in five years to take her Day of Flight. The Day of Flight is when a Haibane has reached a point in their life in the town when they are able to leave the town. To the Haibane in the town this is a sad event, as it’s likely that they will never see this person again.

Rakka has to overcome this sorrow, whilst trying to save Reki from herself and understand the world around her. Not to mention come to terms with loosing Kuu and then understand that things change all the time. She also discovers that not everything is as it seems in the area, and that although everyone looks angelic and happy people are harbouring deep secrets and sins. All of these realisations ultimately lead to a level of depression that has to shed aside so that she is able to aid a friend in need towards the end of the series.

This seemingly easy storyline becomes very complex when more of the details are unveiled and there’s a strong sense of history and character development from the main characters. There’s clearly much more to be told about the history between all of the characters, and the cast is vast. With a cast of this size, it’s easy to loose track of who is who, fortunately all of the characters are unique and it’s easy to distinguish them apart.

Fortunately the quality of the writing and the designs of the characters are also echoed in the animation quality, which is to a good standard, and the background and general design of the towns and scenes are stunning. With expansive and wide views, it’s clear that a lot of thought and effort has been put into making the town look as real as possible.

The accompanying soundtrack is really what sets Haibane Renmei apart from many others in its respective genres, as it’s emotive, vivid and pure. The music compliments all scenes of the series, and in fact the lack of music or sound effects at some points only heightens the interest in the show. Fortunately the quality of the Japanese and the English cast is matched, and works well with the original music for the show. It’s just a shame that it’s only in 2.0 surround sound and not 5.1.

There are plenty of extras in this box set, such as credit less opening titles, the original Japanese opening, art galleries, episodes previews, and trailers. All of these are worthwhile additions to the box set.

» Final Score

10
This beautifully crafted, emotive, insightful and touching anime is a necessary staple. Although it’s not perfect, its simplicity intertwined with complex storylines makes it a worthwhile show at all times.

Goth Volume 1

Goth Volume 1

Format: Manga
Release: January, 2009.
Rating: 18 (Adult)
Publisher: TOKYOPOP

8

To be a Goth is to be a member of a rich and substantial subculture that pulls on various influences from throughout history. A Goth cannot be categorised as someone who enjoys the dark side of life, someone who enjoys death or someone who is always miserable and depressed as they are merely a few areas of the wider subculture. As such, for this name to be used as a title of a novel, and subsequently a manga is ambitious.

Illustrated by Kenji Ooiwa from Otsuichi’s original Goth novel, the first thing that Itsuki Kamiyama noticed about Yoru Morino was her hands. The clear sign of scars across her wrists informed him immediately of what type of person she was, and her infinitely pale skin made them even more noticeable. Kamiyama wants those hands, but not the girl. This horrific thought is the start to a very strange friendship between the pair.

With a strong draw to one another, Kamiyama and Morino soon discover that they both have a fascination with death, torture and sick crimes; that make normal people turn away. These crimes touch the darkest parts of their souls and make them feel like they can truly experience life and live. Goth is made up of six stories, each one depicting a different type of death, and dealing with the fascination that the lead characters have with murder and suicide.

However, this fascination with death and suicide is never eluded to be wrong. Throughout the six stories the pair manage to find themselves dealing with people who all ultimately end up regretting their murders in some respect. The regret of being caught is naturally the first, and that is swiftly moved on from by the regret of killing a loved one and the regret and guilt of lying.

Throughout the manga, darkness is used as a theme to heighten the macabre feeling of the characters. Although there is some horrific violence in Goth, the violence is not overused at any point. In fact, the conservative use of illustrating the violent crimes heightens the sense of horror when the occasional images arise. The images themselves are normally against a black backdrop and have little shading, the type of murder is shown clearly and the wounds are detailed.

The two most haunting images are towards the beginning and the end of the novel respectively. The first is a woman, who has been entirely mutilated, with her head in another part of her anatomy, maimed breasts and eyes in her hands. Whilst the second is the other haunting image is that of asphyxiation by hanging, which is unusually against a clear backdrop.

At no point can this be defined as high art; however, the artwork is drawn to a strong standard and the artist knows when less is more. Unfortunately, the story itself is stripped bare from the original novel. Throughout the lead character Kamiyama seems to instinctively know who the murderers are, and where to go to catch them and to save Morino. Morino appears to always be at the centre of most murder and kidnap plots, and Kamiyama seems to have the best luck at catching criminals. As the storyline has been stripped back, sometimes the plot can feel a little contrived and convenient.

» Final Score

8

Goth is a frighteningly horrific owing to its almost real life events. Although it has been stripped down a lot from the original novel: “Goth A Novel of Horror” by Otsuichi, the manga manages to capture the essence of the book. At most points sympathy is felt towards the murderers, which in itself makes the manga more evil.

Starship Operators Volume 3

Starship Operators Volume 3
Format: Anime DVD
Release: 01 December, 2008
Rating: 12
Developer: MVM
Publisher: MVM

8

In 2005 a series based upon science fiction novels of Ryo Mizuno was created. The series was animated by J.C.Staff and aired on TV Tokyo in Japan. This anime had no manga to base its story around, and the sci-fi novels of Mizuno were just the basic concept for the plot. For this reason, Starship Operators at the time didn’t seem to have a lot of press or hype around it.

There is a long and extensive backstory involved with Starship Operators. As a sci-fi anime, the series takes place in space and is about the 73rd class of the Defence University of the Planet Kibi. After returning home from their maiden voyage on the Amaterasu, they find that their home planet has been invaded and is now being governed by the upper powers of the Henrietta Alliance of Planetary Nations. On the demands of the new rulers, the original crew of the ship disembark; however, the student cadets decide that they will battle against the tyranny of the Henrietta Alliance.

As such they immediately leave their home planet and declare the Amaterasu a self-governed nation in exile. To make sure that the entire universe is aware of what is happening, they allow the Galaxy Network to fund the operation and are filmed with their every move being broadcast universe wide. With the former Prime Minister of Kibi, Minister Tatsuma Marmiya on board the ship has to protect itself and the exiled leader of their former world.

Naturally Henrietta are not happy with this and automatically declare war on the Amaterasu, who are forced to warp to a neutral location outside of the control of the various Alliances and Federations of the universe. During their stay in the neutral area they are challenged to a battle, downgraded to a pirate ship, face civil wars on the planets they land on and have ever-longer battles with Henrietta and the Earth Alliance.

The volume starts off with our heroes just appearing after they warped away from their last battle to try and survive. At this point the Prime Minister is no longer on board and is using every trick in the book to make the universe aware that the various corrupt Alliances and Federations in the Universe are unfairly attacking them. Unfortunately when the Amaterasu warps away they take a ship with them and are forced to continue battling.

The finale is stung with elation and desperation from the crew as they try to unravel the complex political battles that make various battleships that appear to aid them turn up. There are a lot of emotions between the cast, and along with the rapport that’s built between the crew of the Amaterasu there’s also a lot of sorrow for the amount of deaths that occurred on the ship.

Strangely for a series of this type, it’s not particularly fast paced, which is a welcome change. Of course there are a lot of young, attractive people on board from both genders, although there are far more women around than men. Starship Operators has a lot of tactical and technical discussion throughout, and it attempts to try and make the viewer connect with the show. This has been done successfully and it’s easy to get sucked into the show and think along the same lines as the crew on board the ship.

Along with the strong and slightly unusual storyline, the animation quality is pretty good. At all times the characters are distinct, with decent tones and do not appear entirely out of proportion like many other shows in this genre. The animation is smooth, and is all in the same style as the rest of the show. There are no random CGI moments that look out of place from the rest of the animation, and this could easily have happened as it occurs on many sci-fi shows from anime to live action.

The voice-acting cast have done a solid job as well. A few questionable voice actors have been cast, such as the Prime Minister, who sounds not only forced, but also disinterested. Aside from the few odd choices, the English cast have done a stellar job. They emulate the Japanese voice cast in a similar style, and the emotions and names of the characters have all remained intact. Fortunately the subtitles appear to be of a decent quality. There are no dubtitles in this show, which could have happened owing to the age of the show now.

Disappointingly both the English and Japanese tracks are only in 2.0 Sound, not 5.1 that is commonplace along many shows of this type. However, the extras such as the opening and closing tracks with no text, music videos, trailers and a few other little things more than make up for this.

» Final Score

8

A strong conclusion to a well-written show, it leaves itself open for a sequel as very little is concluded. It’s an essential for any sci-fi lover, especially those who want a little depth with their space-fighter action.

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Volume 1

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Volume 1
Format: Anime DVD
Release: 24th November 2008
Rating: 12
Developer: MVM Entertainment
Publisher: MVM Entertainment

7

Just a few years ago there was a big burst in the fan-service genre of girls, guns and busts. Fortunately the genre subsided; however, a new series has been released in the UK entitled Daphne in the Brilliant Blue. This series does not follow the same formulaic storylines as many other fan-service anime.

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue is set on a future Earth, although not too far ahead in the future, where Climate Change has managed to melt all of the polar ice caps. This has, as scientists predict, left the majority of the world under water and the little land that is left is inhabited by the richest of the rich in the world. The rest of the populace of the world live on floating cities; which along with the Earth’s resources and climate is run by the Ocean Agency. This prestigious agency is where the protagonist of the series: Maia Mizuki tries to get employed by. There are a number of entrance exams, and she tries to enter with her friend. It would seem that it’s a sure win for her to be the latest member of the Ocean Agency.

Much to her own surprise, and the surprise of others, she does not manage to secure a position with the prestigious agency. This comes as a huge blow to Maia as not only is she unemployed – she is now homeless and at 15 as well. At the start of the series we see that Maia is signing the papers of her home back over to the local agency as her Grandfather, who she lived with, has recently passed away. As a homeless, unemployed teenager nothing is being done to help her so she is advised to go “Down Town” to where the action is.

Whilst she is down town she comes across the Nereids. The Nereids are an agency that helps people retrieve missing items: from money, to possessions to cats stuck in trees. This agency is primarily run by four people, the Branch Manager, Rena, Shizuka and later on in the show Gloria. The Nereids are after a criminal, and Maia manages to get her caught up with this gang and is used as a bargaining weapon twice in as many days. The leader, Rena sees some potential in Maia, and offers her a job at the agency. She immediately declines the offer; however, upon reflection she accepts the offer to find that she already has a room clean and tidy for her arrival.

The scarcely clothed women manage to bribe Maia into joining their group and she manages to bungle her way through the various jobs that are given to her until Gloria shows up and tries to teach her the “better” way of getting jobs done. Gloria has some internal issues with the rest of the girls, and her “better” way of doing things actually end up costing her more of what she loves the most — money.

Throughout the show the areas are intricately designed, with the initial under water scenes being carefully planned out. Even to the point where there are instruments that help people breath underwater and these are seen being put into the characters mouths. The actual storyline is very believable and everything falls well into place. The down town area is a little disappointing as from the incredibly modern sea area, and the more expensive area dominated by the Ocean Agency is very futuristic, the down town area looks typically 20th Century. With the tenements, casinos and other “bad” things all grouped together.

Even down to the way the characters are done in each area has been well planned; the characters in the posher end of town seem to be nicer and better educated. Whereas the poorer people are not only harsher, but they aren’t as articulate it would appear.

Fanservice is the name of the game in these types of animes, and Daphne in the Brilliant Blue is no different. The girls at the Nereids agency are already in very tightly fitting, scantily clad clothing. However, when it’s time to battle they actually remove clothing leaving only their modesty lightly protected. This is turned into something of a joke in the anime, with our lead character Maia not being able to fit into the costumes due to her normal sizing.

Throughout the show the cast have acted well, focusing on humour as much as drama to portray the message and not to become too clichéd. Both casts have done a great job, however, Maia does seem a little too frail in the English version of the show. Although both the Japanese and the English cast have passion in their voices and it’s a solid performance by all. The sound quality is also very good, and it’s loud even at low volume.

The quality of the animation is high, and the overall production value is strong too. Some of the characters are a little on the plain side, but they are all distinct and vibrant with great textures and shades being used throughout.

» Final Score

7

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Volume 1 is a great addition to the “girls with guns” genre. A lighthearted, but fun, anime that has plenty of fan-service; however, it’s not done to the point where it becomes embarrassing or creepy. This is a great addition to any anime cabinet.