Archives for category: mecha

The Reverse Thieves are a blogging duo made up of the stylish Narutaki and the indomitable Hisui. With a detective theme they report on and analyze all aspects of anime and manga fandom with the hope to promote critical analysis and an overall love of Japanese pop culture. Their complementary eclectic tastes, over all positive attitude, and emphasis on character studies make their reviews a unique voice in the blogging community. The duo can frequently be found puttering around East Coast anime conventions and presenting panels on a wide variety of subjects. They also like to orchestrate large-scale projects that bring together various elements of the blogosphere and the fan community including the Otaku Diaries and the Secret Santa Project. You can visit them at http://www.reversethieves.com.

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It’s not even Christmas yet, but for me 2010 has already got off to a good start. January 1st sees the publication of my story Havana Augmented – a tale of globalization, celebrity gamers, augmented reality and non-existent mech battles. If you have an interest in video games, science fiction or anime then hopefully you’ll enjoy it – you can check out a brief extract below.

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Something a little different today – something not directly related to anime or manga – but something I’m pretty sure you’ll agree is pretty damn cool.

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With the anime industry facing recession and accused of creative stagnation, a common recent tactic has been to take two well established genres and weld them together, often with questionable results. Satellite StudiosBasquash! pulls the same move, merging sports drama and mecha action to depict a futuristic world where basketball is played with giant robots.

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The first thing about Shinji Aramaki’s Viper’s Creed to grab my attention when scanning through last season’s schedules was that it is a mecha series that deals with life within a Blackwater style Private Military Company, or PMC. Set in the crumbling, flooded Fort Davia, a fictitious city attempting to rebuild itself after the devastation of global warming and a subsequent world war, it follows a squad of ‘Blademen’ – mecha pilots employed initially by Arqon Global Security (AGS) to defend the city from rogue, discarded automated weapons. However, as the plot unfolds events become far more complex, with the main characters finding themselves embroiled in conspiracy and the object of hatred from a dissatisfied public.

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(Note: This is the third and final part of an ongoing review of RideBack. Read the first and second parts.)

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(Note: This is the second part of an ongoing review of RideBack. The first part can be read here and the final part here.)

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There was a point, just a few minutes into the second half of the first episode of RideBack, when I finally decided that it was the first show I’d seen worth following this year. As the main protagonist races her fusion of motorcycle and mecha through her college campus, her skirt bellows in the wind and we hear a passer-by shout “I saw her panties!”. But we, the audience, see nothing. It’s a brief moment, but one that speaks volumes about the series’ intentions.

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Here we go – the final set of art books I picked up in Tokyo, and by far my favourite purchases from there.