Category Archives: General

JGaming – Is Steam Otaku?

Posted by Mindez on 2011年12月23日 – 15時32分
Filed under General, Professor Layton, Video Games
Tagged as , , , ,

o·ta·ku
(noun)
1. an avid collector or enthusiast, esp. one who is obsessed anime, video games, or computer and rarely leaves home.
2. (In Japan) Young people who are highly skilled in or obsessed with computer technology to the detriment of their social skills.

As a writer on this blog, sometimes I have to make judgement calls and skew my interpretations of the above definition. This site was set up as a general place for us to post about anything anime-related or video-game-related, or about Japan in general. As far as I know there’s no clear ‘line’ as to what does and doesn’t belong on here. So as a gamer, I’m always wondering if something belongs on here. Pokémon? Definitely otaku. Layton? Yep. Steam sales? Well it’s certainly video-game related, but it’s nothing to do with Japan at all. So I’d guess probably not, right? But then someone makes a post about Minecraft and I’m all confused again.

So you know what? I’m a gamer, and as long as I’m still alive, Steam sales belong on this website dammit! This is my section, I can do what I want with it! Hmph.

December 19th marked the beginning of this year’s winter Steam sales! Almost every game on Steam has a massive chunk taken out of the price, and every day until January 1st, 12 games get their price reduced even more. A bunch of games have added achievements to go for, and there’s even a chance to win the prize of EVERY SINGLE STEAM GAME for participating. Now that’s a prize I want to win. (If only for that Railworks 3 DLC worth $1545.96).

To commemorate this occasion, throughout the sales I’ll be making a video on my youtube channel highlighting the deals, talking about the games and generally handing out my recommendations like candy. Steam sales are traditionally times that all gamers unite to give Valve all of their money. Because Steam deals are just *TOO GOOD*. I’m not going to be posting any more about this on CollectiveOtaku, the purpose of this post is just to drive people towards them and let them know they exist! So here’s the link to today’s entry, day 5 of the Steam sales! Future editions (and past editions) can be found on my Youtube channel here!

 

Incidentally, you may wonder why I’m calling this section ‘JGaming’ for this update. “But oh great and powerful Mindez!” I hear you cry, “This has nothing to do with Japanese Gaming! Surely you should call it WGaming or something!” To which I respond “Oh, there’s a reason, Billy. There’s definitely a reason.”

And there is, for the second reason I made this update today was because today I discovered that I will be getting a Japanese 3DS and an import of the Japanese 3DS Professor Layton game, レイトン教授と奇跡の仮面 (Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle), for Christmas this year. So I feel justified in calling this section the ‘JGaming’ section. (Actually, I’m calling it JGaming because I can call it whatever I want! It’s not like this blog has editors or anything.)

This will probably be my last update before Christmas, so have a happy Christmas. And think of me playing my new Layton game as you sip your eggnog and watch domestic disputes break out in houses up and down the country this Christmas day. …All families have those at Christmas, right?

The Mindez Review – Hayate no Gotoku: Heaven is a Place on Earth

Posted by Mindez on 2011年12月18日 – 18時53分
Filed under Anime, General, Japan

On Friday, almost 4 months after the 58-minute-long Hayate no Gotoku movie, Heaven is a Place on Earth, was released in Japan, it was finally released on DVD. Within hours of it coming out, fansub group Commie were the first to get it subbed. Despite being a slightly cut down version (With the extended Blu-Ray release slated for February 2012), it’s finally out for the western world to see. Potential movie spoilers ahead in this post!

Hayate no Gotoku: Heaven is a Place on Earth

The Hayate series has always been a bit of a mess of timelines and characters, with season 1 taking liberties with seemingly random manga selection and season 2 attempting to fill in the gaps where manga has been skipped over. It’s good to see that the movie carries on this tradition, with random new characters such as Tsurugino Kayura, Nagi’s friend and devoted cosplayer (Which helps them immensely when it comes to filling in their ‘random references to other anime’ quota) and Suirenji Ruka, a dance idol from the manga who appears purely to sing the opening theme. And to make the timelines more confusing, this was actually Kayura’s first appearance. In recent chapters of the manga, she is introduced as a new character for the first time. So to summarise, the second half of the first season ran alongside the second season, but before the current manga and after the first half of the first season, and the current manga is running before the movie but after the two anime seasons. Everyone follow that? Me either.

The movie is, as you may expect from Hayate no Gotoku, pretty formulaic. The entire cast of main characters is persuaded to go travel into the countryside for a few days, Nagi gets bored, the characters get lost and find themselves in trouble. The particular brand of trouble this time being a carnival that Nagi, Kayura and the Hakuou Three Amiga manage to get trapped in as everybody outside the carnival forgets about their existence. Cue Hayate desperately trying to remember about Nagi and Nagi desperately trying to find a way out. And of course, this being Hayate no Gotoku, we can’t avoid lots of blatant misunderstandings between Hinagiku/Maria and Hayate. And of course, this being Hayate no Gotoku, they couldn’t resist putting some Hinagiku fanservice in. However, unlike the OVA, the fanservice was very sparse and not at all distracting.

In its favour, the ending payoff is definitely worth the build up, something that is incredibly important. I definitely feel that it was worth watching as a viewer of the series, for some teasers into Hayate’s past and some awesome and well made scenes towards the end. There are some great scenes throughout, mostly with Hinagiku (Despite not being a big Hina fan myself). But conversely, it didn’t feel like this needed to be a movie. This would have been a fantastic two-parter in a season, but it didn’t hold up spectacularly well on its own (Something that I think the producers realised as it was released in theatres as a double bill with Mahou Sensei Negima!: Anime Final). Bottom line is that if you enjoy the series, watch it. But if you haven’t seen Hayate, this is probably not the best place to start.

For that reason, I rate this movie 8/10. On par with the second season, no better nor worse, it can just be thought of as a quick mid-season two-parter episode. Roll on season 3!

JGaming – Pokémon plus Samurai? Sign Me Up!

Posted by Mindez on 2011年12月18日 – 04時22分
Filed under General, Japan, Pokémon, Video Games

Back in November, Nintendo made the announcement that a new Pokémon game would be announced before the end of the year. Yesterday, they followed through with that and now we know what the next DS Pokémon title is going to be. Is it Pokémon Gray, like everybody thought? No, in fact they have very clearly stated that there will not be a Pokémon Grey. In fact, it’s not even a new game in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, or the Pokémon Ranger series, or a sequel to any of the standalone Pokémon games.

I can just imagine the pitch meeting. Everyone sitting around thinking of ideas. One guy suddenly snaps his finger and goes “Got it! Pokémon in FEUDAL JAPAN!” to which Tsunekaz Ishihara jumps up and shouts “Yes! This man is a genius!” and then there would be some brofists and high fives and they’d order pizza or something. I have a pretty good grasp of how these kind of meetings go, I think.

So without further ado, the trailer for Pokémon + Nobunaga’s Ambition on the Nintendo DS.

The game is slated for release some time in Spring 2012 in Japan. No immediate plans for a US/EU release. The game is a crossover between the Pokémon franchise and the Nobunaga’s Ambition franchise. Both have a significant number of games in their respective series’, and both are fairly popular in Japan. I can’t really say much for the popularity of Nobunaga’s Ambition outside of Japan, being from the UK we’ve actually never had a Nobunaga’s Ambition game, so I’d only heard of the series when this was announced. But it seems like an incredibly weird and incredibly unexpected crossover.

So, Nobunaga’s Ambition is a turn based strategy game where you have to conquer land, build armies and use them to battle your enemies. Pokémon is a game where you roam the world collecting cute monsters and use them to battle your enemies. So I guess there’s a FEW similarities – They’re both bloodthirsty battling simulators. Yeah, that pretty much sums up Pokémon.

From the looks of things, the gameplay seems very closely modelled off of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, and in my opinion it probably will turn out to be simply Pokémon Mystery Dungeon with an overarching storyline set in feudal Japan. Which I don’t think is by any means a bad thing, I’m a fan of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games and I do think that it’s the story that lets those games down, so this definitely has the potential to take a good idea and making it better. And I think this game definitely has potential. I’ll certainly be importing it since it’ll probably take numerous years to see a European release.

And who knows, maybe next year we’ll see Pokémon + Professor Layton or Pokémon + Phoenix Wright. I could definitely see Layton and Phoenix Wright being awesome Pokémon trainers.

What I’m Watching (Winter 2011 Edition)

Posted by Navarr on 2011年1月18日 – 20時19分
Filed under General

Alright everyone, so the last time I made one of these posts was AWHILE ago, and I’m trying to get Collective Otaku back up on its feet again, so here we go with another What I’m Watching.

  • Angelic Layer (2/26)
    I am very much aware that this is a very, very old anime and I am finally watching it.  I took a liking to it after it was recommended by a close friend.
  • Gosick (2/?)
    This is an anime about a little girl who is crazy good at solving mysteries, no matter how crazy they are.  It feels like Umineko no Naku Koro Ni but without actual magic being involved.  It may not be original, but I’m still looking forward to the next episode.
  • Lilpri (40/?)
    Why am I watching this.. why can’t I stop.. what’s wrong with me? ;A;!
  • Kimi ni Todoke, Season 2 (1/13)
    I LOVE ♥ Kimi Ni Todoke, as does one of the singers for Puffy Ami Yumi.  There is no way in hell I’d miss the second season.
  • Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? (2/12)
    This anime is completely ridiculous.  It seems its only purpose is comedy.  All the situations in it are entirely outrageous.  I don’t recommend it.
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magika (2/?)
    Wow.  Maybe I’m just a SHAFT fanboy, but I love what they’re doing with this one.  I definitely recommend you pick it up.  It is fascinating for a Mahou Shoujo anime.  As Blog好き says, its full of SHAFT being SHAFT.
  • Naruto: Shippuuden (194/?)
    WHEN WILL THE FILLER END?!
  • Onii-chan no Koto nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne! (2/12)
    The title is a mouth full, but it looks like it will be interesting.  Its about an adopted girl’s love for her brother, of whom she loved before she found out she was adopted.  Very ecchi.  She does not have pure intents at all.  Mostly humour based, this one.  Much different from OreImo.
  • Pokémon Best Wishes! (15/?)
    DON’T JUDGE ME!!!!
  • Sora no Otoshimono: Forte (2/12)
    Yes, I’m late picking this one up, but I enjoyed the first season.  Its pretty much just for the humour.  There is no good reason to watch this series.  Its just funny.
  • Tegami Bachi Reverse (15/25)
    Tegami Bachi, I love you! ^_^;;  GAUCHE?! DOKO DESU KA, GAUCHE?! v.v!
  • Toaru Majutsu no Index II (14/24)
    If I could love the Toaru series any more, I would.  owo;;  Index + Railgun = ♥

こ・ん・に・ち・は！熊軍平野です～

Posted by Navarr on 2010年2月26日 – 19時28分
Filed under General
Tagged as , ,

Herro Everybody, its me, Navarr!

I realized today that I hadn’t yet posted an introductory post for myself, despite having (almost all) of the other writers on this blog throw one up.

So Here I am!  I’m definitely an Otaku, so much so that a lot of trolls like calling me a weeabo.  But that ain’t nice, y’all hear?

I love Animé and the Language more than anything though, and if you haven’t figured that out yet, you’re definitely going to by the content of my posts.

So, what do I have in store for you?  That’s a good question that neither I nor the other writers know yet.  But, You should look out for more posts on anime from me.  =)

Wait, I’m supposed to write about what I like..?  Ugh, I’m so horrible at this.. but, I guess I can tell you one thing.

I love Catgirls

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

I think its self-explanatory.

Hello from me!

Posted by Camisado on 2010年2月7日 – 03時39分
Filed under General

Well, it’s taken me long enough.

Hello, I’m Camisado, sometimes known as geeq_chiq or anotherHoLiC. I have been a fan of…this sort of thing…since Pokémon was released on TV here about ten years ago. I live in the UK, where it’s getting less and less difficult to find manga and anime (finally!), but I am a more mature fan now and try not to obsess.

Most of the time I’m at work, where I work in technical support and am getting a qualification while I work. When that’s done, hopefully by April this year, I’ll be doing an honours degree with the Open University. I’m bringing this up now so you know why I’m so quiet in future. It’s going to be about two hours of work, five days a week, for four years. xD;

Okay, so I’d say my favourite game series’ are Pokémon and Zelda, though I also enjoy a bit of Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. …you can tell I’m a Nintendo fangirl. I collect Pokémon plush toys, particularly Pichu and the second-gen starters. I also help run a small Pokémon board.

Anime/manga-wise, I enjoy a lot of CLAMP like Magic Knight Rayearth, Tokyo Babylon (but not so much X/1999) and ×××HoLiC. I recently watched the ×××HoLiC movie – A Midsummer Night’s Dream – so I should be able to review that as my first real post! (And if you’re interested, no, I’m afraid I’m not quite as interested in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle). ×××HoLiC Kei is soon to fall into my hands, too, so look out for that.

Calamity at it’s Best

Posted by fatalrain on 2010年2月7日 – 01時22分
Filed under General
Tagged as , , ,

Greetings, the name’s Amanda Calamity, but I also go by ASH (which is intended to be in CAPS) and I pretty much will allow anyone to call me anything.

I’ve always had a love for anime, though for many years I had no idea what it was called. My first anime was Pokémon like many other anime fans, but I started to really get into it when I watched good ol’ adult swim. Afterwards, I found a thing called “the anime network” which was “on demand.” For those of you that don’t know what in the hell “on demand” is, well…it’s basically a program that comes with digital cable in which you can watch videos whenever you want and a lot of the shows/movies are free. (I’m horrible at explaining things). Anyway, back to my point, I started to watch all sorts of other anime and thus here I am today, eight years later.
My favorite anime currently is Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) and my favorite manga is RE:Play. Why am I telling you this? I dunno. It’s not like you really give a hoot. It just felt necessary to tell you.
I have a rather wheird sense of humor.

I’m not like a lot of other “Otaku” where I download anime, buy thousands of swag items and make pairings of characters that show no possibility of being together EVER. I also try to stay away from the really popular anime and watch something different.

Besides anime, I love Japan in general. I love the language, the culture and music. The one thing I am not too fond of is it’s food, considering I don’t like seafood ><

I don’t feel like talking about myself anymore because it feels awkward and you’re probably tired of reading about me. :D

Hope you don’t find me too boring in the future,  <3~ Amanda Calamity

Hello World, Mindez Style

Posted by Mindez on 2010年1月28日 – 18時50分
Filed under General

Hello World!

I’m Mindez, yet another contributor to this fine new blog. And this is the traditional ‘Hello World!’ introductory post that’s expected of me.

So, a bit about myself! I’m Mindez online, Daniel in the offline world. I’m from the UK, England specifically. Currently studying Computer Science in my second year at Manchester University. I have Twitter here, email here, and a probably very poorly maintained and out of date MyAnimeList here. Actually, looking at it, it doesn’t look too far out. Yes, it is extremely short.

I’d consider myself the otaku newbie around here. I’ve seen far less anime, read far less manga and probably know far less Japanese than anybody else here. Well, let’s put it this way, I’ve just spent a good few minutes making myself a translation guide to the categories of this website and now I’m sitting back in mild pride while simultaneously knowing that nobody would be impressed. Well I am.  Er, I’m getting a bit sidetracked aren’t I. That’ll probably happen a lot. I tend to forget where I am mid-sentence and just kind of go with wherever it takes me.

At the moment I’m watching バカとテストと召喚獣 [Idiots, Tests and Summoned Beasts] as recommended on this blog, some random other series’s as and when I feel like them, and I’m always happy to hear recommendations. I’m here as the newbie to learn after all.

So that’s basically it for my introductory post, if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go free up some space on my external hard drive so I can go on an anime downloading spree soon. Hoorah!

Mindez.

Name Change

Posted by Navarr on 2010年1月27日 – 11時35分
Filed under General

こんにちは、みんな！

We’ve undergone a name change and the URL will be changing with it within the next few days.  I am no longer writing for 日本へ行こうか but WE are going to write for Collective Otaku!

This site will probably stay small, but who cares?  We’re all going to have fun.  I’m still welcoming authors onboard, so look out for introductory posts (as always)!  If you’ve subscribed to the RSS please unsubscribe for the moment (let me get Feed Burner setup first).

I’m fairly sure that we’re going to cover *everything* Otaku.  Games, Anime, Manga, Japan, Japanese, and anything else we can think of!

So, welcome aboard and thank you for joining us on our journey. ^_^

千里の道も一歩より(せんり　の　みち　も　いっぽ　より) – A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step

Konnichiwa!

Posted by 雪・松田 on 2010年1月27日 – 05時47分
Filed under Anime, General

I’m Alex, my friends call me Yuki; I’ll be posting here every now and then with information, tid-bits and quirks about Japan, sometimes about anime, sometimes just randomness. Check out my bio, or better still my own blog or website, if you would like to know more about me.

And on a more relevant note, my recommended Anime for today is: Hetalia (it’s also my Favourite anime).