Transcend Gaming

Playing games and moving on! Plus, news!

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Best of 2016 in Anime

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Honey's Anime - Websites You're Looking For

The Best Place for Anime Enthusiasts! News, guides, reviews, recommendations, character bios, we have it all!

take this quiz to see which fire uuser in anime you are!

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Toyota Motors doing drifting demonstrations with the spectators in the passenger seat! #awesome #japanese #toyota @josh_bigg

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Hideo and I. Yup, the beginning of a great relationship! (In my dreams!) Lol *sigh* -_- #hideokojima #mgsv #tgsforlikes

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Another year, another Tokyo Game Show! Let's play! #tgsforlikes #japan #videogames

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BasedGamer Interviews Tony Polanco During E3 2015 | The Koalition

BasedGamer Interviews Tony Polanco During E3 2015 | The Koalition

Hello Everyone, I would to share this great interview about the how some writers for some big name gaming media site are somewhat full of them selves and don’t know what it really is to be a gamer. The video below with an interview from my friend and mentor (colleague for a few years in the past) Tony Polanco. He is the main reason I got into the gaming industry media scene by becoming a writer.…

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LittleBigPlanet 3 Gameplay - The Unbiased Gamer

LittleBigPlanet 3 Gameplay – The Unbiased Gamer

Hello Everyone, It surely has been a very busy few months for as I am busy at work every single day. When I get off from work all I want to do is relax with my wife, and play some video games. This is something that I have meant to do for a while (ever since I started this site, really), and now I have some time to do so. I will be trying to post some gameplay videos of my wife and I, or just me,…

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Sumo finals in Japan! Today is an important day for Japanese fans. I'm happy to be apart of this tradition!

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is Here Hello Gamers, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is now available! Make sure to get your copy today!

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Whether you like it or not, despite what would really happen in real life, parents in most anime play almost no part in the main protagonists’ life, mostly being out-of-town. Most of these parents, if they exist, play only comic relief roles and are irrelevant to the plot. Heck, some of them have their very own “plot”, if you know what I mean! wink wink

To commemorate the upcoming Mother’s Day, (wipe that nosebleed, dammit) we are going to pay tribute to the 5 most influential mothers in anime. Entering massive spoiler territory here, so please take note.

Carla Jaeger (Attack on Titan)

She may have died in the very first episode, but her violent and shocking death set the stage for the blood-soaked spectacle that is Attack on Titan. She accepted her own death, entrusting her son, Eren and adopted daughter, Mikasa to Hannes before facing her ultimate fate: crushed in the mouth of a gigantic Titan. This turned Eren’s fear into hatred and that, in turn, fueled further his desire of wanting to kill all the Titans. In a way, you could say that she is pretty influential for someone who died within 20 plus minutes of a show. Now, where is that piece-of-shit father?

2. Trisha Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist/ Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

Oh, them feels are strong with this anime. It not only gave us the Chimera dog/Nina and Maes Hughes incident, but in the first anime (Fullmetal Alchemist), we were also shown how Trisha Elric was such a great mum. Heart-warming and all, yes, but she died.

Not only did she die, but in the first anime, the homunculi Sloth also took the form of the Elric brothers’ dear mother. Yes, touching reunion should have commenced, had the monster in the form of Trisha not try to kill them! Like it or not, the death of Trisha casted a huge shadow on the anime(s) and influenced the course of the anime as much as any other main character would have. Like how Maes Hughes is to Roy Mustang, Trisha taught the Elric Brothers one thing no one else could teach them: How life is precious.

Saki Arima (Your Lie in April)

  Now, this is a controversial pick. If you watched KimiUso, you would know, in Kousei’s imagination what a horrid mother he had, always beating him up and not allowing him freedom. You may have even hated her for being so strict. Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. However, if one were to look at this not from Kousei’s perspective and memories, but from the mother’s perspective, we would see that Saki Arima was in fact, just a normal mother would became increasingly desperate after knowing of her terminal illness. In a bid to groom her son, Kousei, into a world-renowned pianist so that he could make a living, she became the perfectionist mother you have come to hate. However, at the core of it all, she is still the same mother who loved and cared for Kousei. Thus, we are reminded that mothers are also human beings and make mistakes, so appreciate them when they are still alive.

Nobuko Izumi (Parasyte: The Maxim)

Okay, at least this mother lasted long more than 3 episodes. Nobuko Izumi, depending on how you look at it, played an important role in the beginning of the story. Willing to sacrifice herself to save her son, Shinichi, she placed herself in front of boiling oil to prevent it from falling on young Shinichi. Even though arguably she is not as influential as the other afore-mentioned mothers to their respective stories, you could see her motherly love oozing out from the little things that she does. And of course, she died too.

Anna (Garo: The Animation)

Despite not knowing how she looked like and literally knowing her only by name, she continues to haunt the nightmares of her son, Leon Luiz. And no wonder. She literally dies while trying to give birth to little Leon back then. Nope, she did not die because she was bodily weak and couldn’t stand the shock of childbirth. It was because she was being burned at the stake due to her being accused of being a witch when she gave birth. Talk about nasty afterburns after a childbirth! In a dark anime like this one, it’s only befitting that our main protagonist has a bad-ass mother like her. Now that I think of it, Anna actually reminds me of the Terminator.

Do you have any anime mothers that you wanna pay tribute to this Mother’s Day? Feel free to discuss them on the comments below! Also, don’t forget to pay tribute to your actual mothers in real life too!

Happy Mother’s Day!!

5 Great Mothers in Anime That Influenced A Great Story Whether you like it or not, despite what would really happen in real life, parents in most anime play almost no part in the main protagonists’ life, mostly being out-of-town.

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Arguably, the most hyped up anime series of Spring 2015 is Studio WIT produced Owari no Seraph, also known as Seraph of the End. And for the anime fandom, there is plenty of stuff to hyped up about. First of all, Studio WIT, an I.G Production subsidiary company that is behind this anime, is also the studio behind the unarguable 2013 “anime-of-the-year” Attack on Titan. This prompted everyone ranging from AoT fans to casual bystanders to start branding it as the next Attack on Titan of 2015, with almost everyone getting aboard the hype ship. There is also the awesome looking visuals that we get from the PVs which fueled the hype even more. Needless to say, Owari no Seraph started out with a ‘BANG!‘, although it is yet to be seen whether it will live up to the hype or fizzle away into the darkness to be forgotten and abandoned.

So, before we go on, here is the one of the promotional videos released.

Anyway, no matter what the outcome, it looks damn good, so why not?

  Owari no Seraph revolves around an alternate universe in which, the human civilization was wiped out by a virus of unknown origins, leaving only the children alive. Almost immediately after the epidemic which effects were sudden and immediate, leaving behind a catastrophe of wreckage and havoc, a group of humanoid beings with superhuman abilities calling themselves ‘vampires’ appear and began taking the children as livestock to feed themselves.

Among these children were Yuuichirou Hyakuya, a boy who harbors extreme hatred for the vampires and wants to start a revolution to kill them all. Him being an orphan, he stayed in an orphanage before the incident. There, he was extremely hostile towards everyone and is an anti-social person. We were also introduced to Mikaela, Yuuichirou’s “brother” only by name and not by blood, who is always around to “love” him and “care” for him.

Don’t get the “wrong” idea, ok? It’s a kind of brotherly love. You won’t understand it. wink wink

Anyway, during an attempted escape from the world controlled by the vampires,  Yuuichirou’s adopted family from the orphanage was horribly murdered by a vampire lord before his eyes. After witnessing such horrible tragedy, he manages to escape after shooting the vampire lord in the head. Outside, he was taken into custody by Guren Ichinose, leader of Japanese Moon Demon Company who offers Yuuichirou training and the power to kill all the vampires.

Does Yuuichirou remind you of someone?

Not wanting to spoil anything, given that this is only a preview of the show, in my opinion this could potentially be a good show, or even a great show. But…

The question that we should be asking, is whether or not this show lives up to the hype?

This anime has an awful lot of plot points, twists and turns just around the corner. Just sometime ago, when I finished the third episode, I was beginning to think that this anime is getting very predictable but by the end of the fourth episode, it turns out that there is more than meets the eye.

The series looks as if it would be quite predictable, even to the casual anime audience as it uses existing tropes and stereotypes to form and build up its plot line. In a way, we tend to predict the outcome of the story after only catching glimpses of the whole picture. In other words, it tries to make you jump the gun before throwing you off-guard, with a twist in the story along the way.

Whether or not that is a good thing though, is yet to be seen and will only be made known when the series ends. After all, as people say, “there is a fine line between genius and insanity.” The same applies to being perfect and being a complete disaster.

Now, the series has to tread carefully. It has the potential to make it all the way, but a slip of the hand can cause the series to blow up in its face.

As a conclusion, if anybody were to tell you that this show is good or bad, don’t listen because no one can predict the outcome at this point in time just yet. This series should be kept in view for the time being as it has quite the potential. The story looks promising despite the initial slow start. The main characters appear rather one-dimensional, though I could imagine the characters’ development being more drawn-out once the main story arc kicks in. The animation throughout is very consistent, and so far, there was no dip in the quality of animation. The music, on the other hand has been compatible enough to compliment the series. However, there are no outstanding tracks just yet.

If you are looking for the next big thing this season, look no further. This could very well be the anime of the season but it could also turn out to be one of the biggest disappointments in 2015. So if you want to watch this, keep in mind that it could go both ways and watch it with low expectations.  You never know, this could very well be a great anime, or otherwise.

Till the next post, Cheerio!

Note: Don’t ever look up this anime in Wikipedia. It will spoil you so much that you will never be able to enjoy the anime anymore. And also, look out for the plethora of clues to the twists coming in the first episode. A lot of clues are in the details, like the surnames, maybe?

Preview – Owari no Seraph – Attack on Titan Succesor? Arguably, the most hyped up anime series of Spring 2015 is Studio WIT produced Owari no Seraph…

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By now, I have watched at least one episode of so many anime released in the Spring 2015 anime. And to be entirely honest, I have a feeling that this season is as dull as heck. Unlike last year’s spring season that brought us outstanding anime series like No Game, No Life and Haikyuu! among many others, this season’s anime seems to be bland and rather dull in comparison. Aside from Kekkai Sensen and Arslan Senki, I find myself losing motivation to catch up, or to even finish the first episode of some anime that was available.

Here is a preview of one of the shows that I find slightly more bearable than the others. I introduce you to:

Gunslinger Stratos: The Animation

Based on a third person shooting arcade game by the same name, the anime revolves around a normal looking high school student, Kazasumi Tohru. He is peace-loving and prefers less violence. He is also the target of affection by his childhood friend, Katagiri Kyoka. She is the kind of character that you can relate with the many conventional female protagonists out there with the “Notice Me, Senpai!” attidute while Tohru is the dense and kind male protagonist that was all the rage back 4 to 8 years ago.

One day, after some foreshadowing and some other plot points that were also anime stereotypes, Tohru and Kyoka stumbled upon a gateway that transported them to our time in Tokyo. There, they fell right into a high-octane gunfight between two groups of people. While escaping, Tohru and Kyoka stumbled upon *gasps* his doppelgänger who tries to kill him. After attempting (unsuccessfully) to attack his doppelgänger with a paintball gun (internally sighs mournfully), he was then rescued by some kid who then proceeded to tell them how the world is now under threat and how they must save the world de bla bla bla…

Okay, it’s by no means, intriguing or thought-provoking but at least, anyone watching could hope for some epic fight scenes given the plot setting, but then again, what for? The action scenes were not only bland and unsatisfying, having it all just revolve around gunfights and shooting is uninteresting and comparably boring.

When I personally look for anime to watch, I look for good story, an interesting one at the very least. Otherwise, good characters design. If not, I can just look for awesome action scenes or at the very, very least, good music. Yup, even good music can be enough.

However, I can’t even find anything like that in the anime. For an anime based off an arcade game, I never expected some great story but at least, give me something good, will ya?

There are many flaws in this anime, one of them being taking itself way too seriously, then throws us off-balance using some lame old moe/cute/kawaii joke. That in itself is way enough reason for me to skip this show altogether.

For the lack of better anime to watch, I tried enduring longer than two episodes, but still the artstyle and the ‘not-so-epic’ fight scenes failed to win me over. I fail to see any potential in this series, which is very sad because the epic fights in the arcade promotional video was very enthralling.

Unlike the anime series, the arcade game made short work of the boring ‘save-the-world’ back story and immediately drop the viewers into a world of epic battles, gun fights and awesome 3D-maneuvers, which is awesome in its own right. I’m pretty sure whoever looking forward to this after playing the game would be bored to death after that lengthy back story and boring fights.

And so, my recommendation? Skip it, even though it may show some potential in the beginning, but honestly, I couldn’t care less about the series anymore. Watch it, only if you have absolutely nothing better to do.

Till the next preview, Cheerio.

Preview – Gunslinger Stratos – A Boring Season Ahead? By now, I have watched at least one episode of so many anime released in the Spring 2015 anime.

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Phew~ I must say there are tonnes of stupidity out there in the Internet. In Youtube, you have Pewdiepie, which after watching him play some stupid horror game, I swear my IQ was halved by a two-quarters. That Swedish asshole, him, that’s what. Look! My grammar is now in tattas. Hah! Get it? Tatters? There’s also theuselessweb.com, which is utterly useless except for bringing you to another, totally fancy website. But useless.

Then, there’s the stupidity of social media. Do I even need to elaborate? With exception of a select few who enjoys watching random domestic pets doing random, adorable or otherwise downright annoying acts of  insolence against a roll of toilet paper or against a windscreen of a car, we all find the need to escape the Internet once in a while. Trying to escape? Tired of the same memes over and over again? No worries, ’cause you can NEVER ESCAPE!!!! (cue evil laughter and severe coughing)

Anyway, it’s not as if stupidity only exists in the Internet. Stupidity is in the veins of humanity, it’s in our genes. We can’t escape it. Don’t worry, you just have to let the idiot inside of you out once in a while. Not to let your idiot self get bored and throw tantrums, I present to you the anime of the stupid: BAR Kirawase Yasai.

It’s an anime about vegetables.

 TALKING, UNLIKABLE VEGETABLES.

As kids, there are vegetables that we dislike a lot, namely Brussels Sprouts. In fact, there are shows and cartoons that depict some vegetables as the most disliked vegetable of all time, going out of their way to make characters dislike the vegetables so much that they’d specifically come out with an elaborate plot to blow all the world’s Brussel Sprouts into space.

But what if these hated vegetables have a life of their own? What if they are sad because they are hated?

BAR Kirawase Yasai adapts artist Daisuke Kimura‘s four-panel manga of the same name, the story centers on vegetables that children hate, everyone hesitates to eat, and are smelly. In the manga, we are introduced to these vegetables as they visit a bar to share drinks together while they talk about their worries. Doesn’t sound funny to you? Really? Found it unamusing? You mean, I have bad taste for watching this? Huh? Really? Really???

Yes, thank you. I hate brinjals (aka eggplants) too, thank you very much. Anyway, one episode of this anime is only approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds only so don’t worry. In fact, the ending song takes up 30 seconds of it. So, the jokes are like one-off so, it’s like an appetizer before you have your meal, in this case, start a ten-hour marathon of Gintama or heavy stuff like Fate Stay/Night or Clannad.

So yeah, just a recommendation. Well, if you find cats and dogs rolling on the ground amusing and fascinating, then don’t tell me you think this is stupid.

And I hate celery too. That one’s for you, mum!

Oh, no. She’s coming. S-s-shouldn’t have said that out loud. For now, I’ll go into hiding.

This is Noble Six, signing out. Cheerio.

Preview – BAR Kirawase Yasai – AAAHHHHH!!! TALKING VEGETABLES!!!! Phew~ I must say there are tonnes of stupidity out there in the Internet. In Youtube, you have…

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Sentai Filmworks has been busy for the past few months. They have managed to acquire licenses for several new anime that have released for Spring 2015. We will be covering a few of them here, with several more coming in the next couple of posts. Check to see what Sentai Filmworks has in store for you!

Starting things off, Sentai Filmworks has acquired the licenses for some of the most anticipated series for Spring 2015. They are as follows:

“THE LABYRINTH OF GRISAIA” AND “THE EDEN OF GRISAIA”

The Labyrinth of Grisaia and The Eden of Grisaia are adapted from the very popular Grisaia series of visual novels from Front Wing. Both series will continue the story from the first season of The Fruit of Grisaia. The Labyrinth of Grisaia will come as a 60 minute special, with The Eden of Grisaia being a regular 30 minute episodic series. Mihama Academy will once again be the focal point, a school built like a prison to keep its students within. Things change when Kazami Yuuji arrives as the first ever male student, throwing the once orderly school days into disarray.

Both anime have already begun airing and are living up to the hype. Check them out if you haven’t seen it yet!

  “UTA NO☆PRINCESAMA REVOLUTIONS”

Next up is Uta no☆Princesama Revolutions, which is the third entry to the Uta no Princesama story and continuing the romantic comedy musical, directed by Makoto Hoshino and animation production by A-1 Pictures.

They graduated from Saotome Academy, made it to their masters course, survived the wrath of their seniors and competitors QUARTET NIGHT, and even won the coveted Newcomer Award! But just when you thought the song and dance was done, Nanami and the boys of ST☆RISH are back for another round as their journey to the stars builds into a crescendo.

Now that the talented composer and her six leading men are finally out on their own in the world of entertainment, they have more to prove than ever as the competition grows even fiercer and the performances even flashier! When a new opportunity arises, they’ll have to prepare themselves for the ultimate challenge as their skills are once again put to the test. Will Nanami and ST☆RISH finally make it to the top or will they fall flat against the competition?

Uta no☆Princesama Revolutions is currently airing and is quite the show that will have girls glued to the screen! Lol

“FOOD WARS! SHOKUGEKI NO SOMA”

Food Wars has to be one of my favorites anime for Spring 2015. Adapted from the original works of Shun Saeki (who is know for his ecchi illustrations) and Yuto Tsukuda. The series is a comedy show with wonderful displays of food/cooking in a somewhat ecchi experience when visualizing the tastes of each food dish created by the main character. Food Wars is a tournament series that pits a promising young cooking prodigy against a class of potential master chefs in a boiling hot battle to see who will reign supreme in the cooking arena!

Yoshitomo Yonetani is be directing the series, with series composition duties going to Shogo Yasukawa. Character designs is provided by Tomoyuki Shitaya, with music by Tatsuya Katou. Animation production is handled by J.C. Staff, known for their work on A Certain Magical Index.

This series is currently airing and is definitely something everyone should check out!

“IS IT WRONG TO TRY TO PICK UP GIRLS IN A DUNGEON?”

Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? is adapted from the original work of Fujino Omori, this fantasy romantic comedy series attempts to answer the question in its own title as one young adventurer seeks to meet the perfect girl in a labyrinth filled to the brim with mythical beasts and monsters.

Yoshiki Yamakawa will be directing the series, with series composition duties going to Hideki Shirane. Character designs will be provided by Shigeko Kimoto, with original character designs belonging to Suzuhito Yasuda. Art direction will be handled by Toshiharu Misutani, and animation production will be done by J.C. Staff.

The series is currently airing and already has fans raging over the lovable, corky, and beautiful Hestia! Check it out if you get a chance!

Sentai Filmworks – Spring 2015 Anime Pt.1 Sentai Filmworks has been busy for the past few months. They have managed to acquire licenses for several new anime that have released for Spring 2015.

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AnimeJapan 2015 - Video Walkthrough

AnimeJapan 2015 – Video Walkthrough

Transcend Gaming had the privilege of attending AnimeJapan in Tokyo last month. It took awhile to gather all the videos we had taken to make this OK video walkthrough for you all! The only thing about this video is that it’s a bit shaky and wobbly at times.

This is because of all the people who were present during this huge event in Tokyo. AnimeJapan has to be the biggest expo/convention we have…

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Star Wars Teaser Trailer -2

Star Wars Teaser Trailer -2

Star Wars, the film that has changed the way we look at space and adventure in almost all aspects of the film industry when it released, has received a new teaser trailer for the upcoming film.

Star Wars: The Force Awakensteaser #2 has just released and it looks marvelous! The trailer shows a better look of the action scenes in the film and provides clearer insights of what we can expect from the…

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