Mother fucking Ninja Pirates. That’s right. This game has it all, including the aforementioned unholy union that basically sidesteps one of the most heated arguments in all of internet history. And when those ninja pirates board your ship and you and some buddies stab their faces off with swords and shields, you will know this game is the pinnacle of awesome. Castle Crashers is an old school beat em’ up. Think Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and that Dungeons and Dragons arcade game where you needed to kill that damned troll with fire. There’s nothing terribly new here, but the game takes all the great parts of old and adds some new twists to revitalize what is quite possibly one of the most unappreciated genres of the past 5 - 10 years. The art style is absolutely gorgeous, with sharp clean, and colourful 2d animation and the music, a mix of techno/ambient/industrial beats (which can all be found for download here) just adds to the unique and quirky style. Not to mention half the guys in this game know how to headbang.

As you progress through the game you gain experience, collect gold, score princesses, find pets and discover new weapons to beat your enemies to a bloody pulp with. Gold can be spent in random shops, pets do all kinds of random things (like bite the heads off your enemy!) and experience levels you up. You get points every level to invest in Strength (+damage), Magic (+magic damage/area of effect), Defense (+health/armor) and Agility (+speed/bow). While this looks great at first, it became pretty clear that the game is skewed toward magic. If you invest in your strength, everything 1m in front of you should be dead. Defense should increase a players ability to revive a fellow castle crasher. Agility should make you stab faster than a disgruntled house wife. These are minor gripes, but it kind of felt like there was only one way to grow your character. Also, some of the pets are more useless than tits on a man (sea dragon, I’m looking your way).

But those are minor quibbles. This is the best $15 you could ever spend. Don’t make excuses. If you own an Xbox 360, get this game. End of story.

 Makoto Tateno’s Hate To Love You is the author’s first BL work; she would later go on to pen the very-popular-but-unread-by-me Yellow. All in all it’s a work that may not be terribly memorable on its own, but is a promising start as a first effort.

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Wonderella: I’m a great role model! It’s everyone else who sucks. Have you *seen* Spawn? He looks like someone sprayed acid on his face and put it out with a goddamn backhoe. Plus, he’s Canadian. Next question.

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CowboyAndy: Would you care to tell us about your background and how you
got into artistry, writing, and webcomicery?

Justin Pierce: I’ve been drawing since I was a kid, like most people in this dog-and-pony
show, I’d imagine. I’ve worked in graphic design for about eight years
now, and have been doing comics almost as long.

My first webcomic, Killroy and Tina, was nothing like Wonderella. It was a
longform serial comic and as such, it moved at a snail’s pace and the
payoff didn’t balance the effort, so I closed off the story as best I
could and ended it about a year ago. Looking back I’m glad I did so,
though I realize there are a few perturbed Killroy and Tina readers out
there.

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The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya series has more merchandise coming out than most people know what to do with. Towels? Check. Pillow cases? Check. Porno parodies? Got you covered.

For those of us you who aren’t as…adamant as the hardcore fans like me who has all those things, there are traditional items readily available, such as action figures. Japanese company Max Factory has launched a new line of figures known as figma, combining both a high number of articulation points as well as a high quality sculpt. The first in this new line of 5 inch figures is Yuki Nagato.

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Title: The Non-Adventures of Wonderella
Artist/Writer: Justin Pierce
Site: http://nonadventures.com
Updates: Saturdays
Rating: 9/10

Your planet was destroyed long ago, you have been given somewhat awesome powers by a vaguely Greco-Roman godhead, and there is a giant alien hypnotizing the populace of your city with spores. What do you do?

Any normal hero would send the creature back where it came from with a few bruises before making a witty remark or telling the reader to buy war bonds. Wonderella is not a normal hero, and would much rather spend her time watching sitcoms or playing “Hello Kitty the Home Version” than be bothered with dealing with threats from beyond and it couldn’t be any more entertaining.

The Non-Adventures of Wonderella by Justin Pierce is exactly what the title describes. The titular character faces fewer challenges from her archenemies, such as a clown with attention issues and a Nazi that’s a stone cold bitch, and more challenges from things like dating, awkward social situations, and catty comments. It’s a welcome change from a lot of the super hero humor readers are used to seeing and doesn’t focus on the usuals, like bizarre applications of super powers (Superman using his x-ray vision to look into the womens’ locker room? How droll!). In fact, Wonderella barely has any powers at all outside of enhanced strength and durability. She can’t even fly (though she can jump “hella high”), which is just one of many sources of bitterness for her.

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A month and a bit ago, Seven Seas was giving away books in exchange for reviews to various anime blogging personalities. I signed up on a whim, but didn’t expect much out of it, given I’ve been quite vocal about my displeasure with Seven Seas in the past. Yet, upon coming back from my spring break, I found a little book in my mailbox. Yes, I was one of the ten lucky, lucky men to get Ballad of a Shinigami. Reviews had to be in by March 31st. It is now April 12th. I was too busy watching Kodomo no Jikan DVD rips, sorry. Anyways, review time.

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Every once in a while when I get a Borders Rewards coupon, I find that none of the series I’m collecting have the next volume in stock. When that happens, I start browsing the shelves looking for shrinkwrapped yaoi.

And that’s what happened last weekend, when I picked up Ritsu Natsumizu’s Love Bus Stop. I had never heard of the author, but the cover illustration spoke to my fondness of salaryman yaoi, and the title was silly enough to catch my curiosity.
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To be honest, I was quite worried about watching Shuffle! again for the first time in almost three years. If you’re not already aware, I have something of an adamant fanaticism towards the franchise, but since the show’s conclusion back in early 2006, my passion for it has been kept alive through buying merch of questionable taste, playing the games with little knowledge of Japanese, and generally fanboying over it. Shuffle! Memories, a short recap of the show which aired in 2007 brought it all back to me in digest form, but I actually stopped watching that because I wasn’t a fan of how it was cut together. That, and I also called into question whether or not I still liked the series. Thankfully, upon completing this first disc, I can gladly say this show is just as wonderful as a I remember it being.

Story is, Rin Tsuchimi is the object of many a girl’s affection. His adoring childhood friend Kaede pampers him daily; his senior Asa teases him lovingly at every turn; the princesses of the World of Gods and World of Demons, Sia and Nerine, want to be his bride and a certain deadpan loli called Primula is inexplicably attached to him. In other words, he has quite the harem on his hands. These early episodes focus on introducing the cast, the world in which they inhabit and then they get started on fleshing out each girl one-by-one come episode three. It’s pretty standard harem/bishoujo game adaptation fare, but its beauty lies in the execution.

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Well here it is, in all its unadulterated glory. We take no responsibilty for the content of this production.

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