Be Back in a Week

Hey readers, sorry I don't have anything to review today. But I will have 2 reviews for next week! Please look forward to them! Also, to my US readers, have a safe Labor Day weekend! :)

Yuri Anime Review: Queen's Blade Season 1(Blu-Ray)

***SPOILERS AHEAD!***  ***NSFW IMAGES AHEAD!***

 

A 2009 ecchi anime series, Queen's Blade is actually and adaptation of a series of visual combat books. The story takes place on the great continent of Gainos where every 4 years a tournament known as Queen's Blade is held to determine which woman will rule the continent next as queen! We follow Leina Vance as she sets out from her kingdom to avoid becoming the next countess as well as to follow in the footsteps of her mother and become a powerful warrior. Along the way, she encounters( and fights) several strong and unique female fighters who all vie for a chance to become queen! Like Strike Witches, Queen's Blade has a very large cast of powerful and beautiful women and almost all of them are lovable! From all-powerful warriors like Claudette Vance(Leina's older half-sister), to a scheming and silly angel named Nanael, to the shape-shifting Melona(who shoots acid from her breasts! :D).

Leina Vance

Claudette Vance

Elina Vance

Melona

Risty

Nanael

Shizuka

Tomoe

Echidna

Menace

Airi(one of my favorites!)

Nowa

Alleyne

Irma

Ymir

Cattleya

Melpha

Aldra(current queen)

Like i said, pretty big cast! O.O Despite there being so many characters, all the girls get there chance in the spotlight, where we learn part of there pasts, there personalities, desires, and reasons for fighting in the tournament. Of course some of the girls are still more interesting than others. :P The action itself is pretty decent. The animation quality for the show is pretty good. The girls are beautiful to look at and the environments and world they inhabit look great. Some of the fight scenes are more fun to watch than others. Not too bad but more could have been done with the battles. There is definitely room for improvement on the action front.

 

Perhaps the best part of all(at least for me anyway XD) is the fanservice! There is a TON of female nudity, panty shots, suggestive poses and more throughout the series! Queen's Blade nearly ventures into hentai territory at some parts! :D Of course the copious amounts of fanservice may be off putting for some, so Queen's Blade is not for everyone.

Just a sample! You're welcome! :D

Since this is an ecchi anime with an all female cast there HAS to be some yuri! Thankfully it is not always played as just fanservice. Several of the girls have real feelings for each other that develop pretty well over time, especially in season 2(more on season 2 in the future). Of course some of the yuri is just for silly fun, such as Elina's lust full advances towards her older sister Leina!

*Note: Yuri pairings n Queen's Blade I support!

-Leina x Risty

-Echidna x Leina

-Tomoe x Shizuka

-Elina x Leina

-Airi x just about anybody

-Nowa x Alleyne

And this being a fanservice series there has to be yuri kisses! Three to be in fact! :D

Awesome! XD

To top off the fun cast of characters is a very strong cast of voice actresses! Some of the best in the biz in Japan lend there voices to the leading ladies and really help the characters to stand out and shine!

As for the US Blu0Ray release itself, color me impressed. The picture quality is pretty amazing and looks great on a high definition display. The sound is good provided you have surround sound. They also packed in the bonus OVA episodes as an added bonus! A pretty sweet deal I'd say! Sadly i have no comment on the dub. I'm a sub person all the way!

Overall season 1 of Queen's Blade is pretty good. We are introduced to the world and the characters at a steady pace, the animation quality is pretty awesome, the fanservice and yuri is damn fun! The only knocks against it are the OK action sequences and the fanservice not being for everyone. But for everybody else this will be a fun series to watch!

 

 

Queen's Blade Season 1(Blu-Ray) overall score: 8.5/10

Queen's Blade Season 1(Blu-Ray) Yuri score: 9/10

Video Game Review: Final Fantasy 4 Interlude(PSP)

***SPOILERS AHEAD!***

 

Final Fantasy 4 Interlude is a brand new game in the FF4 series. It is a brand new short story made exclusively for Final Fantasy 4 The Complete Collection to bridge the gap between FF4 and it's direct major sequel, Final Fantasy 4 The After Years.

Set roughly 1 year after the events of the original FF4. Interlude follows Cecil, Rosa and there friends continue the task of rebuilding there world after it had been ravaged by the war in the previous game. Cecil and Rosa are married and now rule the Kingdom of Baron as king and queen. As they rebuild there shaken realm and reforge once shattered alliances, A mysterious woman begins running around the world searching for the elemental crystals. Cecil and friends set out on a journey to find out the identity of this girl and her reasons for wanting the crystals. Considering this game was made only as an extra to help bridge the events between FF4 and The After Years, the game is over all VERY short! The story will last at best no more than a few hours and is not that difficult.

 

Gameplay wise, everything is the exact same as in the original FF4. Being a small in-between story that is to be expected. Nothing new or groundbreaking but still charming and fun. Refer to my review of Final Fantasy 4 for the details of the gameplay for Interlude. ;)

 

The same can be said for the graphics and presentation. Same old-school style graphics overhauled for the PSP and the same remixed soundtrack. Nothing new but still good. :)

 

That's all that really needs to be said about this game. The short story won't last you very long, only a few hours at best, even shorter for true FF4 veterans. The gameplay is the exact same as in the original game. Nothing more, nothing less. There are also no extras to this game to speak of. But so long as you just take it in conjunction with the other games on the UMD(PSP disk format) and don't expect a whole lot you will find some enjoyment in this mini adventure! :) Plus the story is still important to the whole package! ;)

Final Fantasy 4 Interlude(PSP) score: 7.5/10

FanBoy's Favorite Tunes: Strike Witches Season 1

FanBoy's Favorite Tunes: Final Fantasy 4

Hello readers! This will be a new feature to the blog! Whenever I review an anime or game with a great soundtrack I'll post some of my favorites in a new segment called FanBoy's Favorite Tunes! :D I hope you all enjoy the music!

Yuri Anime Review: Strike Witches Season 1(Blu-Ray)

***SPOILERS AHEAD!***   ***NSFW IMAGES AHEAD!***

Originally starting out as a series of magazine articles, Strike Witches has exploded in popularity and has been adapted into various light novels, manga, video games, and of course anime! Throughout the franchises history all the novels and manga and short stories have followed various groups of girls and the anime is no different! The story of season 1 of the anime follows the all-female cast of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, known also as the Strike Witches! Set in an alternate reality version of World War II all of humanity has united, using women with powerful magical abilities, known as Witches, as the strongest line of defense against a powerful alien race known as the Neuroi.

Neuroi

Witches the world over use special, highly advanced technology they wear on there legs that allows them to fly through the skies with ease and also enhances there magical abilities. These devices are known as Striker Units.

Striker Unit(plus panties! XD)

The anime follows Yoshika Miyafuji as she joins the 501st to help stop the Neuroi from invading Britannia(Note: all nations in the Strike Witches franchise are the same as the real world ones. The only difference are the names. For example, Britannia is Britain), as well as to search for clues as to the possible whereabouts of her supposedly dead father. Along the way she meets and befriends all the members of the 501st, who are all fun and interesting in there own unique way!

 

Miyafuji Yoshika(Fuso aka Japan)

Mio Sakamoto(Fuso)

Lynette Bishop(Britannia)

Perrine-H. Clostermann(Gallia aka France)

Gertrud"Trude" Barkhorn( Karlsland aka Germany)

Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke(Karlsland)

Charlotte "Shirley" E. Yeager(Liberion aka United States)

Francesca Lucchini(Romagna aka Italy)

Aleksandra "Sanya" Vladimirovna Litvyak(Orussia aka Russia)

Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen(Suomus aka Finland)

Erica Hartmann(Karlsland)

 

That is quite the cast of leading ladies! O.o Despite the huge cast the show does a very good job of giving everyone there chance to shine in the spotlight to give us a chance to really get to know them and we get to know them pretty well! :D Despite the big focus on the girls, there is no shortage of great action in this show! Due to the alternate WWII setting and with the series taking place in 1944 there are tons of references to vehicles, weapons and historic battles from WWI. The Striker Units themselves are based on real world WWII fighter planes from each Witch's home country! The series does a very good job of catering to military aficionados such as myself! ;)

 

Of course, this being an anime with an all female cast, there is TONS of fanservice to be had! :D All women in the Strike Witches universe run around without wearing anything to cover the lower half of there bodies! The most cover they might have are skirts and tights! Needless to say pantie and breast shots abound in almost every scene! XD This is pure heaven for fanservice freaks like myself! ;) Adding a level of cuteness to it all is the fact that all Witches have an animal familiar.When a Witch activates her powers or puts on her Striker Unit she will grow animal ears and a tail pertaining to the type of animal familiar she has! Each animal fits in with the personality of each girl but at the same time it is just too damn cute! :P Of course this being a fanservice laden show filled with pretty girls there is bound to be some yuri! Even better is the fact that the yuri is not just used for service, there are some very strong hints of mutual feelings between many of the girls. Sanya and Eila are probably the most well know and beloved of the yuri couples in the whole franchise and there interactions with each other show off some very strong mutual feelings between them! :D Yoshika herself seems to have a thing for Lynette, as well as a thing for breasts in general! Lynette seems to also have a thing for Yoshika! Minna appears to have hidden feelings for Mio, Lucchini and Shirley are pretty attached for each other and Lucchini also has a big thing for breasts! Perrine also has a hardcore stalker lust for Mio! The yuri is very strong in this series! 

Despite the heavy service, the series has a lot of heart! The setting is unique and interesting, the action is fun, the girls ooze with great personalities, and the yuri is awesome if admittedly light in season 1. The animation quality is pretty good and consistent throughout the series and the voice acting(in Japanese anyway) is top notch with some of the biggest Japanese voice actresses in the business lending there voices to the girls of the 501st! As for the US Blu-Ray release itself the series looks damn good in 1080p and the show sounds great in Dolby TrueHD for both language tracks. Though again, I prefer to watch the series with the Japanese voice track on! :P Sadly the release comes with only one extra. Episode 12 comes with a bonus audio commentary from the US cast of Strike Witches. It is pretty interesting but they could have added so much more to this release. It IS Blu-Ray after all!

All in all this is one fun, solid, action packed, fanservice filled show! There is just about a little of everything here to please everyone! Season 1 does a great job of setting up the premise and introducing us to the large cast of girls! While it may not be a series for everyone, I can't help but recommend that you give this series a try! This show is just plain fun!

Strike Witches Season 1(Blu-Ray) overall score: 9.5/10

Strike Witches Season 1(Blu-Ray) yuri score: 8.5/10(for now >D)

Neuro