[13] Cosplay Blues

console

< Piro >

"hazukashii..."

Tuesday - September 12, 2000

I know that Monday's comic might have gone over a few heads - a half-dozen in-jokes and a spoof that only makes sense if you are an anime fan or have familiarity with some of the more bizarre things on Japanese TV. If you were confused, I apologize. I figured that it was enough of a site gag that people would at least find it amusing. :) Not that largo in a bunny suit isn't adorable... :P

This, of course, is one of the problems that we are facing with megatokyo - how do we make a comic that most everyone will 'get'. Largo and I come from different worlds - I barely understand some of his gamer stuff, and he shakes his head at some of my obsessions. I guess it is the common ground that tie it all together... not really sure what the common ground is, other than a certain level of a not-so-mild mental condition. ^^;;

First off, I've mentioned Kidou Senkan Nadesico a number of times in the past few weeks. It's a anime that aired on TV back in 1996, and has become a cult classic of sorts. The show had many spoofs and internal jokes and poked fun at anime fandom within the context of the show. The 'Naze Nani Nadesico' bit was a attempt by the captain (Yurika, who wears the bunny suit in the original) to lighten the mood of the crew on the ship. Ruri, who was there to describe in detail the technical aspects of the ship itself, doesn't really find the 'kids show' setup amusing, but goes along anyways. Ruri worship is not an uncommon thing, and she still ranks #2 even 4 years later in Animage polls. I was a little surprised how well Piro fit into the roll of Ruri... for some reason i think this should worry me. Nadesico is available in the US from ADV films. The translation is very good, tho I would still recommend the subtitled version (I've talked a few times with Dan, the guy who did a excellent and thoughtful job translating the series).

Cosplay is another oddity in the world of anime. Basically, it involves dressing up as your favorite character when you attend conventions. It's almost turned into a sport both here and in Japan. Often cosplayers have little skits that they will perform on stage for prizes that are awarded later. Weird stuff, but a lot of fun. Monday's comic really could be considered a cosplay, as Largo is dressed up in Yurika's outfit, and Piro is dressed up as Ruri (hm, the kitty outfit... hmmm..... sorry, no, that might not be a good idea... ^^;;) Some good sites to check out for cosplay picks would be Mokkori and Fansview, which are at least in english. :)

But then, perhaps it went too far:

Speaking as a Nadesico overrabid fanboy...
This is wrong!@$!# all wrong$#$! Largo should not be in the bigass bunnysuit ;.;
it's just wroooooooong ;.;

heheh. Sorry Chris. ^_^ The idea of embarrassing one of my characters is not new. In the pic linked to above i lost my head and put Saeko-chan (in normal garb here) in a Card Captor Sakura outfit from the second season. No, i wasn't on drugs when i came up with the idea... poor Saeko...^^;;

Oh, and another little tidbit - just found out from Tsubasa that the new True Love Story official site is up. Check it out. Finally, some more info on TLS3!

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< Largo >

"AfterLucas"

Tuesday - September 12, 2000

[Largo] - 00:09:00 - [link here]

We've been getting some email asking about making a MegaTokyo banner or button to link to us, so for those that haven't seen we have put a banner and a couple buttons on our links page.

I was visiting my local CompUSSR this weekend and an idea suddenly hit me. After being unable to find out who threw it at me, I looked down and picked up the idea and have now placed it in today's rant.

With all the hype flowing around about remaking Metroid, I've been thinking about classic games in general and games that would really be great to bring back. Like when I talked about Metroid in a previous rant, I think some things should stay dead if they can't be brought back with the original spirit of the idea. I used to think this meant that a remake was impossible since any change with a game that dated would result in ruining the spirit of the game. However, as a articulate reader pointed out with only the four words of "Fsck'n Metal Gear Solid", I've determined that so long as some the original feel and ideas that created the game remains, a lot can be done.

So, if I had the power to resurrect one game franchise what would it be? I decided to solve this question the best way possible, so I cleaned out my closet. In the depths therein I found a old friend I haven't seen in many years, I found - Afterlife. Afterlife was developed by Lucasarts during the days when their games were always a hit, before the dark times… before Force Commander. For those who don't remember this game, or never played it. It was a simulation game, specifically it was a god simulation game. Basically you were assigned by the powers that be to manage a heaven and a hell (at the same time) for all the souls who would enter the afterlife. There each soul would either go to heaven or hell, and once there they would need to receive their respective rewards or punishments. The challenge of the game was building rewards and punishments to meet the needs of each soul. The game had a Simcity feeling of resource management and gameplay. If you needed a new type of punishment, you simply picked one of the seven types; greed, gluttony, pride, etc. and painted it down on the tiles, then overtime the punishment will grow a lot like a building would in Simcity.Part of the charm of the game was you had both very good and very evil aspects under your control. There was no politically correct nonsense found in this game, it was what it was, a god game.

The game was way ahead of it's time, and if memory serves me, back then it ran way too slow on my 486. After installing it on my Athlon 850 - I've determined the game now runs very smooth. The game had two advisors in it, a sophisticated demon of sorts who advised you on hell's problems and a cute cherub angel chick who advised you on heaven's business. On a unrelated note; I wish I could find out who the voice actress was for that angel girl.

The game was great, everyone on it's devel team should have felt immense pride when it was completed, but from all the reports I have read and can remember, it only enjoyed modest success and so a sequel was never made. I have to give them credit though, they had a unique concept, and did a great job with it… and maybe it's just me - but Afterlife is still fun to play, after installing it tonight I began to remember why I fell in love with this game in the first place.

Ah, If only Lucasarts could bring this classic back with a sweet new version.