Dave's Otaku Talk

PlayStation Network: Thoughts and Reactions During The Attack

2011-05-19T22:12:00.001-07:00

Hello, everyone! Dave back here and as you all know that PlayStation Network is back and up and running properly with "advanced security technology" on the network, but the question is... is it gonna be attack for months to come? I'll talk about that later on but right now let me share some thoughts and reactions during the attack on PSN...

It's been tough for all of us users who want gaming back into their own hands. Hell, I was pissed off when I found out that it happened since 4/20 (St. Pinhead's Day), nothing but total dissapointment for them not stating this issue early but it finally became clear that millions of PSN users got hacked using stolen passwords, hashed credit card numbers, e-mail addresses, personal information, etc. But this was only outside of the US according to sources like G4, Tech Crunch and also PlayStation Blog. Since the attack on the network, millions of PSN users were damn furious about it, I read a comment one day and this user said "f*** this, I'm gettin' a 360" and to be quite honest folks, it doesn't matter what service you're on to play online games. I'm an avid online gamer myself, and I merely don't give a crap and I have both PSN and Xbox LIVE accounts individually when I get online but the only difference is I have to pay for online service in Xbox LIVE so no way in hell I would pay for it, that's why I bought a PS3 in the first place and I don't care if it doesn't have "cross game chat" the feature that millions of PSN users want, a Facebook or Twitter app for PS3, I just love gaming that's it because us gamers... Gaming matters, no matter what conservative person from the media says otherwise (some of you may know where I'm comin' from) or no matter what people say in particular. One of the reasons I'm saying that is because when I was 17-18 years old at that time, all I focused on was school and reaching for the moment that I've been proud of throughout my history, of course I wasn't easy to make friends with because I became this uptight person because I followed a conservative news media that I'm not allowed to mention, and to be quite honest with you all that I'm over it, I don't care anymore and I wish that everyone whom I knew, would forgive me for what I did.

But anyways, I know it was out of subject haha let's focus on this PSN outage. According to the PlayStation Blog that was posted on May 2nd or 3rd I think that they said "some services will be back online next week", but once again it got hacked, this time it was the SOE (Sony Online Entertainment). They immidiately shut down all the SOE online gaming services and the games that are developed by SOE including Bejeweled 2, EverQuest, and even DC Universe Online. Few days later since the SOE attack, a conference was held in Tokyo and they immidiately apologized to all PSN users worldwide for the incovenience and all. They also talked about a customer appreciation program which was a very smart move to make, some don't like it, that you can have 2 free full PSN games once the PlayStation Store is back which I think it will be May 24th according to one source that I found, those games including Dead Nation, inFamous, LittleBigPlanet, Super Stardust HD and WipEout HD + Fury. A 30-Day trial subscription of PlayStation Plus, or of you're an existing PS+ subscriber, this package will give you an additional 30 day extension. Also 30 days of Music Unlimited for Qriocity subscribers, so yeah pretty cool stuff right there ladies and gentlemen and I'm very grateful for them to pull the right card in my opinion. But what they've should have done is that they should have stuck with a free download because some people complained that they want an add-on for CoD: Black Ops online map pack, and I don't have Black Ops for sure I only have Modern Warfare 2 so have at it. May 14th, PlayStation Network was back and up and running with a system software update v3.61 that us users took immidiate action on and we realized that it would be online in several states starting in the eastern territory and California, I'm like "this is great, guess we'll have to get online Sunday... DAAAAAAMMMMMNNNNN IIIIIIIIIITTTT!!". The following day when Sony relaunched PSN, we immidiately changed passwords, so urgent that Sony shut down the account management site for PSN users stating that "users are changing passwords at the same time" and they can't handle all the ISPs and all that so it went back up again like 2 days ago so glad that's a relief for them, lucky for me I changed my password when services were back online at around 2 o' clock in the morning (May 15th) and yeah I couldn't sleep during that time because I was watchin' some movies on HBO and Showtime.

Now my last question is that is PSN gonna be attacked for months to come? All I have to say is if you think that your information was hacked and possibility of identity theft, Sony stated that they will email us PSN users to enroll an identity theft protection program. Be aware of what you put on there, your info, credit card, etc. My advice is don't do it, just buy a PSN card that's it and as for personal info, just type in some random 5 digits and a bunch of random letters as your address that's what I did haha.

So that's that I mean hopefully they'll explain all of it at E3 next month and maybe they'll pull out an excellent card this year regarding features and expectations on PSN what people want out of it.

That's all I got for tonight, from Texas... this is Dave sayin' so long and game on, my friends!

PlayStation Network outage update

2011-05-01T21:58:00.001-07:00

Hello, ladies and gentlemen Dave here with the latest news on the PlayStation Network's outage update. Last blog, I sounded pissed off because of the outage and why would someone do this, this and that... Anyway, PSN will be available this week (at least we hope so) but with the availability to manage your account and change your password with the new system software update (which will be announced soon) once the service is up and running again. In addition to that, the "Welcome Back" program will be initated once PSN is back according to the official PlayStation Blog. If you paricipate (PSN users) the campaign, you will receive offers such as a free download from the PlayStation Store, a free 30 day trial of PlayStation Plus (a PSN subscription service), and also Music Unlimited from Qriocity (a music online service from Sony) which PSN users will receive a 30 day trial using it.

IDK what to say but I think this outage was the longest time that left PSN users outraged and disgraced that the fact that this group of morons hacked into the service just for full of fun of it. Have you or anyone else you know, ever heard of this quote "You call it piracy, we call it freedom"? I know I'll keep my opinions to myself but if ya wanna speak out on this, hey be my guest e-mail me at david_pineda2000@yahoo.com and maybe it'll show up on my next D.O.T. blog whenever I'm on. But anyways, if it comes on this week... Maybe it's time that I move on up instead of shootin' people off in Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops, I'm talking about fast and furious (Apocalypse style!!). You'll have my answer soon enough but that's all I can say about this blog, and funny that I haven't watched new anime in a while but I've seen some of the few good ones including the old school Pokémon (1st generation), and also one of my favorites D.N. Angel and Kurokami, also InuYasha haha all right well this is Dave and I'll smell y'all later.

-C. David Pineda-

D.O.T. ALERT!!! - PlayStation Network is DOWN!

2011-04-24T22:54:00.000-07:00

Hello, ladies and gentlemen this is a D.O.T. Alert, and unfortunately us as gamers and online gamers in particular, we are very very upset with this whole PSN undergoing maintenance thing and it was down since Thursday April 21st of last week. Since that time, the hacking group called Anonymous promoting Operation Sony in their YouTube video, but unfortunately they weren't involved in the situation. But once again George Hotz, aka GeoHot was somehow involved with the whole PSN hacking, now I don't know about this whole hacking thing to be quite honest here but let me just say this that how in the hell would these pinheads do such things!? Why are they doing this!? and what's the whole point of all this!? Those are the three questions you'll make for yourself. Now according to the official PS Blog, they issued this latest statement

"We sincerely regret that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been suspended, and we are working around the clock to bring them both back online. Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.

We thank you for your patience to date and ask for a little more while we move towards completion of this project. We will continue to give you updates as they become available."

All I can say is just total f***ing bullshit!!! You know, when I read this statement I was pissed and I can't believe how it happened to be quite honest 'cause there's a a quite few of us gamers who like to have fun and compete with others but on the dark side however somebody's a damn party pooper or some group, let's just put it that way. But I'm sick and tired of these pinheads already with their hacking, piracy, free speech lunacy. You know what they say, freedom isn't free!

Rant on Motorstorm Apocalypse delayed date

2011-03-28T22:36:00.001-07:00

Now, I'm pretty upset right now but this rant does not necessarily reflect those in the people of Japan and the tragic event that happened 3 weeks ago.

As I was saying, I am pretty upset right now and so outraged that the fact that the latest Motorstorm game called Motorstorm Apocalypse is delayed here in the US, Australia, and other countries. Now recently, Sony announced that MSA will release in the UK in the end of March so that's a relief for them but for us here in North America, how in the hell that it would be delayed here because of the tragic event in Japan!? I've waited for this game since Sony had announced that bitch in their E3 press conference!! All I know is that if it's unreleased, I'll definitely be pissed off and maybe sue Sony in particular because us MS fans we've waited for so long, we've seen the trailers, the interviews, and videos. They're all badass and why would they do this???!!! All because of that one tragic event that impacted us, and they went extreme on it on not releasing those games not just MSA. I hope they release it soon and I'm ready to kick ass in those games. BRING THE APOCALYPSE TO US!!!!

America's Greatest Otaku

2011-02-28T22:07:00.001-08:00

The same people who publish and licensed imported manga in the US. Not just manga but anime and soundtracks as well such as various Final Fantasy soundtracks, not all of 'em (or OSTs) comes a new kind of experience, Tokyopop's latest and first web series is called America's Greatest Otaku. It starts off by a group of panelist who made it into the Otaku Six, the ones who know about all things anime, manga and other asian pop culture. They get to go to all kinds of different places, including conventions and interview the ones who is much competitive for example like if I had a million anime banners displaying in my room, collections of anime and action figures, artwork, or anything that's otaku related I would be America's Greatest Otaku (which that'll never happen anytime soon haha). If that person wins, he or she will take a trip to Japan and a whole other prizes to name a few (I gotta watch the first episode again).

Now, I ain't no scientist but I pretty much know a little bit of Otaku myself maybe like 35% of it almost but believe me when I say I can learn it, I can learn it. But how other people portray us as being geeks and be stupid idiots about it and more importantly, when they distort everything about Otaku I got a little advice to those non-otaku people. As far as we're concerned, and some of you know where I'm going with this... YOU LOVE IT... OR BY GOD YOU LEAVE IT!!

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Sony's official statement regarding pirated software, circumvention devices and hacking

2011-02-18T19:41:00.000-08:00

As a loyal gamer speaking, I may be the last person to agree with this statement. Maybe a lot of you don't agree whether or not you're a Sony fan or not but either way they're making a comeback once again as usual but more like an urgent message I should say to all those hackers who want users to cheat online, for instance Modern Warfare 2, just to get some payback to other gamers like if some person wanted to offer you steroids just to make you stronger than anybody else. According to the official PlayStation Blog, just recently they, like I said, made a statement regarding hacking and pirated software...

Notice: Unauthorized circumvention devices for the PlayStation 3 system have been recently released by hackers. These devices permit the use of unauthorized or pirated software. Use of such devices or software violates the terms of the “System Software License Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System” and the “Terms of Services and User Agreement” for the PlayStation Network/Qriocity and its Community Code of Conduct provisions. Violation of the System Software Licence Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System invalidates the consumer guarantee for that system. In addition, copying or playing pirated software is a violation of International Copyright Laws. Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently.

To avoid this, consumers must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems.

I know some Xbox 360 users boost out of the game, especially some good shooting games that they keep sucking the fun out of which is really really irritating to me and to other gamers, but the Xbox 360's cool I'm not gonna bash on it, I like 360. But I do know this that I admit I lost most than I do winning in Modern Warfare 2 on PSN, but cheating out of it isn't worth it ladies and gentlemen. I play real and genuine online gaming, whether these hackers like this or not I'm going to continue gaming on with other gamers/competitors and when I say this... I'm the most cocky avid gamers you'll ever compete when it comes to gaming, and I'll be damned of someone juices and hacks into the game, I'll report every single one of those users who will likely be banned like a nail in the coffin. You talk about me being serious, trust me you haven't seen anything yet... REAL GAMERS DON'T CHEAT!!!

"Gotta Catch 'Em All!!"

2011-02-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! logo

The 14th season of Pokemon is right around the US corner, folks. "Pokemon Best Wishes!" also known as Black & White in the US will air on Cartoon Network tomorrow at 9a/8c. Now I'm not here to talk about a review over it but here's my take on the series itself... Q&A style!

Were you a fan of Pokemon growing up? "Haha, what person in this generation wouldn't like Pokemon? To be honest I am a fan of Pokemon myself when it aired on syndicated television stations on September 1998 before Kids WB had aired it. I remember watching the first season and it was very very very fresh even though now I know why several episodes from the first season didn't make it in the US because of controversy and all so yeah LOL."

Speaking of controversy, and you talked about it last year, can you tell us in your own words about the Pokemon controversy itself? "Ugh, where do I begin... Well pretty much for many reasons especially the episodes from the first season that wasn't shown again in the Japan area, banned episodes but still aired in several countries... Not only the episodes, but the Pokemon creations and the concept of it. For example like Pokemon battles, you can tell it's really awful but it's nothing like animal fighting, nobody dies they just faint for Christ's sake, haha. That was one of the major aspects in the series because the creator of Pokemon (Satoshi Tajiri, also co-founder of Game Freak) didn't want to promote too much violence of the concept itself because after all it's specifically towards children of ages 7-13 (maybe I'm wrong). Also the Pokemon, for instance Jynx... Had some controversy on that Pokemon because it looked like 'blackface' when it was introduced on an episode titled 'Holiday Hi-Jynx', I don't know which episode number but eh whatever, haha. I would like to talk all about it, but I suggest you look it up on YouTube, Google, or whatever you can find."

Did you like the old Pokemon series better than it is right now? "Hell yeah I loved the old series, haha. I do watch the current episodes every now and then on Cartoon Network but I think the current Pokemon series is a bit of a joke but the RPG games from the series are still fresh, and it's not what they've already experienced, believe me I've played the recent Japanese import of Pokemon White Version on the DS."

Have you played the first Pokemon Red & Blue versions back then? "Oh my gosh, how can I forget the good ol' Pokemon games from the Game Boy? I remember my cousin had both versions of the game, pretty badass and he didn't pretty much get it, my brother didn't get it and I was the only one who pretty much studied it online and what XP and PP's are, all that junk haha. So I played around with it myself and trained all Pokemon whether it was Bulbasaur, Squirtle or Charmander that I chose from the Professor Oak's lab when I first boot up the game. Now a days, we can pretty much CHEAT out of the game like getting Pokemon to a higher level, how you can purchase Master Balls on the Pokemart place, the sky's the limit if you know how, folks haha."

Have you played Gold or Silver or Crystal? Any others? "Crystal was my favorite one in my opinion because Suicune's badass in the game other than Entei or Raikou. Now, you can pretty much say that I was very very competitive when it comes to Pokemon back then, one time I battled my best friend Dimas, he beat me up twice I'm not gonna lie. He was pretty good with Ho-Oh, IDK if he had that Pokemon when he used to battle me with. Not only Big D, but my cousin as well and I beat the living hell out of him twice or 3 times haha."

All right, folks that's all the time I have for this post. Got a comment or opinion on this post, e-mail me at David_pineda2000@yahoo.com. Catch you folks next time and keep on gamin'!

-C. David Pineda-

A Look Back at SNK's Neo Geo System Itself

2011-01-24T10:26:00.000-08:00

From the life, death and resurrection of the company SNK... The Neo Geo was absolutely fantastic than any other console back then, bigger than Super NES, and Sega Genesis (my opinion) with this fantastic system which is called the Advanced Entertainment System (AES for short).

Now the AES pack also had different packaging with the gold package meaning that it includes two arcade style controllers insead of one and others are included that you see on the picture. In my opinion, SNK did a great job as far as the controls and the games as well and they come in a huge cartridge compare to the Super Nintendo cartridge, it's about like 2x the size bigger than a SNES cartridge and the graphics of the Neo Geo AES were identical as the arcade version (which is the MVS = Multi Video System) which I'll talk about it next. Also it had a memory card which you can, of course, save your games and take it to the arcade and finish where you started and some Neo Geo games were capable of doing that including Magician Lord, I don't know about other games as we speak but I can tell you all that it was one hell of a system. Since it's launch in 1991 in the US, the AES cost $600 and the games cost $200 which was very very expensive back in the day and this is the console as some people say that this was definitely "arcade at home".

The Neo Geo Multi Video System had like different arcade cabinets where you can have 1, 2, 4 or 6 games all in one cabinet using the MVS ROM (Read-Only Memory) cartridge.

What's interesting on both the AES (top) and the MVS (bottom) cartridges is that they're both the same size but the only difference is that you can't use the home version to play in the MVS version so think of it as a region lock with the Nintendo game and a Famicom game, same game but just different boards and the MVS cartridge itself had screws so you can adjust it and tweak with it.

That's my take on the Neo Geo system and it's hardware and next time I'll take on the games and what I've played so far in the Neo Geo system. This is Dave sayin' stay safe, God bless y'all and enjoy your rest of your day! Keep on Gamin'!!!

-C. David Pineda-

After Burner Climax - Game Review

2011-01-03T08:43:00.000-08:00

Hey, folks Dave here and I'm gonna talk about one of the most treasured franchises in Sega's history, this is the After Burner Climax video game review!

One of my favorites that I played in the arcades since it first released in mid 2006 and I didn't know it was gonna be on the PS3 so I bought it the first time on the PlayStation Store for a low price of $4.99 for a limited time and I think you can get this for the 360 as well for less Microsoft points.

In the immortal words of the Angry Video Game Nerd... This game kick your ass 'til diarrhea comes out your d***! After Burner Climax has over 20 stages that you can play, the controls are very good and it's kinda short for those of you who want to have fun and just have a great time with it just beating your friend's score online when you connect your PSN or XBL account and see what they did. In the home console version, the EX option is available but you would have to unlock them. EX options are like cheats, something out of a service mode when you set up the arcade or whatever, one of them including unlimited missles and one including free play instead of running out all your limited credits and there's others as well so it's really really cool if you guys are into the After Burner franchises, you'll love this one believe me, haha.

I give that game 4.8/5 so top that suckers!!!

That all I can give you guys 'cause I have nothing else to say but I'll post a video real soon and you can find me on Facebook at facebook.com/raiderrebeldave713. 'Til then ladies and gentlemen, as always stay safe God bless y'all and have a wonderful day!

-C. David Pineda-

The Tester Season 2, Episode 7 - Review

2010-12-14T17:51:00.000-08:00

It's good to be back in Dave's Otaku Talk, ladies and gentlemen. Let me start off by saying that Dave's Report (my other blog site) is officially on the shelf with other blog series that I've done because I know that I am much of a laid back kind of person and not wanting to do blogs every day about the same old subjects and talking down to this particular event or person so who knows I mean Dave's Report will be coming back in the near future. With that said, folks and especially to you PlayStation fanboys... The Tester so far this season is good, but rather yet interesting because this one person (Big Fazeek) who's showing unsportsmanlike conduct throughout the 6 episodes and finally he got eliminated because of it.

Now onto the latest episode, there were 4 contestants left in the competition (Scooter, Cheska, Mo Chocolate, and Gaymer) and they were at this TV game show like stage where they need to know the knowledge of all things PlayStation, but not only just that they throw in a couple of U.S. History references which we all know is interesting in our middle school and high school times. 3 people had ganged up on Mo Chocolate 'cause they say he's really not "PlayStation" material and all and I strongly agree because... well if you haven't seen The Tester lately and you have a PS3 or a PSP Go (recommended, unless if you have a regular PSP model and have a memory stick that has more memory), be sure to download it right off of the PlayStation Store guys. I give episode 7 of The Tester 4 out of 5.

All right, well guys that's all I can say about this and we can't believe it's been a year so far and it's about to come a close. Also, I'll be updating my new banner for this site such as a new logo (maybe) and our partners. So 'til then, folks God bless y'all and have a safe and chilly night. Thanks!

-C. David Pineda-

D.O.T. Weekend Edition (11/6/10)

2010-11-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend edition is presented by Stardust Gift Shop, your valuable source for anime, manga and cosplay!

All right, now I'm gonna talk about a few things on what's going on in today's gaming world. To you Xbox 360 fans, as you know it has a system software update including new and unique features like how to use the new dashboard screen and how you can move around and browse the dashboard menu using Kinect and stuff and to me that's really cool, and I own a PS3 but it doesn't matter, and they have the newest addition to the video marketplace is ESPN which you can watch your favorite live sports and video highlights on some of your favorite sports and events that are happening around the world for example like the FIFA World Cup (which was already took place in South Africa, oh well... 4 more years)

PlayStation Network users who own a PS3 (me, of course), The Tester Season 2 is out and the premiere was absolutely fantastic even though one competitor didn't wanted to be in the competition because he's only good at shooting games and sports games. Talk about one dude who doesn't own every video game out there to date, haha. Also, Hulu Plus will be available to all PSN users w/o having to have the PlayStation Plus subscription, you can watch TV shows, movies and documentaries if you have a subscription to access all episodes and movies using Hulu Plus.

OK, let's talk about a few things that I'm gonna do that's otaku-related, if I'm lucky and I turned the application in just now. Well, I recently signed an application to volunteer at the upcoming events called the Japan Festival, it's gonna be held at the Hermann Park in Houston, TX on April 9th and 10th of next year so I'll be really looking forward to work with my partners at SGS. I know they're not gonna expect me to be all on top but I'm gonna try and do my best and volunteer with others, and I'll have more on this very soon.

That's all I'm gonna say on this and check out my latest Cosplayer of The Week interview article that I posted in this blog with one of the most highly recognized cosplayer, YouTuber and singer. Nonetheless, I'll talk to y'all later and stay in touch.

-C. David Pineda-

Cosplayer of The Week - Traci Hines

2010-11-02T22:53:00.000-07:00

All right, it's my latest Dave's Otaku Talk's addition... Cosplayer of The Week with one and only Dave and my first interview, she's the most highly recognized cosplayer up in California, a singer, a YouTuber and former AnimeTV panelist Traci Hines, and Traci thanks for joining me on this exclusive interview as a loyal anime fan and cosplayer.

Traci: No problem Dave, thank you so much for having me! (-:

Dave: Don't mention it LOL so Traci, when did you started cosplaying at conventions?

Traci: I would probably say I started cosplaying back in 2005. I had a Sailor Venus costume from Halloween and wanted to wear it to my first con: Anime Expo! I was hooked after that. But I've lived to dress up in costumes my whole life, I started making costumes for myself in high school.

Dave: Wow, that's awesome! Did you make all Sailor Moon characters or just a various work of costumes?

Traci: Some of my very 1st cosplays were my 2 favorite Sailor Scouts, Venus and Mercury, but both weren't really custom, and I've always been a Disney girl, so no, not all Sailor Moon, but Sailor Moon costumes were kind of my "gateway drug" into cosplay, now this was way back in the day before I knew what good cosplay really was, haha. My costumes were pretty janked, but they were some of my first so I was pretty excited to wear them nonetheless. Mercury was thrown together with pieces I already had at home, a blue cheerleading skirt from my cheer squad wardrobe, a white tee, felt for the sailor collar, ribbons, and a can of spray blue paint for my then short blonde hair. Then I upgraded and bought a Sailor Venus costume off eBay that was a disaster too. It came in a size 13 I was a size 1, and it was all non-stretch satin (??!!!!) even though I ordered the bodysuit in a 4 way stretch matte leotard fabric. So messed up. But I took it to a tailor, had it re-sized and wore it anyway. I am actually in an upcoming Sailor Moon cosplay group now and will be wearing a really amazing Sailor Mercury costume this coming year. It's my chance to redeem myself in the name of the moon!

One of my other early costumes was Alice in Wonderland, which I did make myself. Believe it or not I still wear it to this day! XD

Dave: Wow, you did climbed up the ladder to be a good cosplayer even though you had a little ups and downs I guess from the designing to actually making it even better am I wrong?

Traci: Well, I still don't really consider myself that great of a cosplayer, in the creating sense at least I definitely excel most in the areas of makeup, hairstyling, wig styling, modeling and character acting & singing the actual performance side of cosplay, (I think I'm probably more known online for my performances in cosplay, rather than my actual skill for designing anything) and in all honesty, I'm really not all that handy with a sewing machine or needle and thread! I do my best though, and what I lack in skill, I think I make up for in my meticulous attention to detail, my artistic eye, and choosing talented people to work with in regards to photography, and other designers/seamstresses/cosplayers I might enlist to help me complete anything I am unable to with my skill level. I'm a perfectionist, so even if I can't do something myself the way I think it needs to be done, I ask a talented family member or friend for help, or commission someone that can help me make it happen. Sometimes I have to wait and save up until I can afford to commission pieces I want. It might take me an entire year to finish one costume, but that's the price I am willing to pay to have a dream costume made just the way I see it in my mind's eye! I do love doing detail work though hand sewing sequins for hours, painting, bedazzling, etc. That's the fun part! That's how my own personal cosplays get created. Of course I also have many photos of me in costumes where I am simply modeling a costume that a designer has created and I had very little or nothing to do with the creation of the costume. I wish I could say I create all my own costumes, but I'm just not that good! I'm lucky to have modeled for designers like Lisa Fabio and Lillyxandra (JoEllen Elam) who make the most beautiful costumes I've ever seen! All the costume credit on their creations/shoots goes to them!

Dave: Wow, even I don't know how to design a costume 'cause I'm more of a graphics designer more than designing clothes, haha. All right, now what was your first anime show that you watch?

Traci: Sailor Moon

Dave: That's awesome, I have to admit I did watch Sailor Moon as my second anime that I watched, now let's talk about AnimeTV for a minute here. Now you were a great panelist along with Yamamoto, Vee and Pitts on ATV. What was it like being a part of that show and how did you get the part?

Traci: Thank you! Being on AnimeTV for Season 2 was a lot of fun. It was a great excuse to fit more anime into my week, and everyone had really interesting points to make and angles on the shows we reviewed. I'm not accustomed to actively analyzing the anime I watch after I watch it, I pretty much just tune in for the pure entertainment value, and music, so I think it was good for me to learn to delve a little deeper. ATV introduced me to titles I probably wouldn't normally try out, like Claymore, (which is now among my very favorite shows)! I got cast by auditioning and screen testing for the spot-probably much like the other panelists. I'd like to think I was cast because they needed an "everyman" amongst the panelists, everyone on the panel was so knowledgeable about Otaku culture, and, I think, really come from a place of expertise when it comes to anime, but I am more of a casual watcher. I sure as heck love my anime, don't get me wrong, but I don't live, eat, breathe and sleep it. (Not saying the other panelists do, but I know for a fact they are more knowledgeable about the genre than I am, and that's okay! I think that's what set me apart.) Anime is a fun addition to the other forms of entertainment media that take up my free time. I think I stood for the more casual otaku, and hopefully there were some people out there watching that were able to relate to me and my slightly more general outlook. I also think I represented the cosplay and music otaku on the panel, since those are some of my favorite areas to delve into in regards to the Otaku culture.

Dave: Yeah, I agree with you on what you said about anime itself. I mean my friends that I met from high school brought me back into anime full force. All right now do you read any manga, if so what's your favorite manga series?

Traci: I am avid manga reader! My favorite of all time is Ceres, by mangaka, Yuu Watase. I love all her work. I also count Nana, Princess Ai, Absolute Boyfriend & Ah! My Goddess! as some of my other longtime favs. I tend to read and watch a lot of the same titles.

Dave: Oh, I see. To be honest, I'm trying to get into anime again and I pretty much have been a Manga Cow (a person who reads Manga but doesn't purchase it), I've read parts of Soul Eater and Slayers. All right any final thoughts before I wrap this up?

Traci: Well, my brand new single just came out last month-it's called Fantasy, and I'd love it if your readers would check it out! As much as I love cosplay, acting and modeling, Singing is my biggest passion, so this is pretty exciting stuff for me! It's an original of mine, and (hopefully!) a lot of fun to listen to! It's available on iTunes, Amazon & Shockhound now!

Dave: All right, well that about wraps it up for Cosplayer Of The Week, and if you want to hear Traci's latest album called "Fantasy", it's available now and if you want to know more about Traci, visit her Facebook page, and check out her official website. Oh and didn't I tell you folks that she's a model as well for Hot Topic, hahaha well it's been a privilege talking with you on our interview and thank you so much for joining me and God bless you.

Traci: Thanks David, you too.

This has been Cosplayer Of The Week, now if you wanna know how it works. I suggest you should go to the Cosplayer Of The Week tab on my blogsite for rules and information.

-C. David Pineda-

A Look Back at Splatterhouse

2010-10-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

All right, folks before I get to that I just want to say that we're still in development with the whole "Cosplayer of The Week" article that I haven't published but hopefully I'll keep everyone in mind that I'll be publishing it on the spot anytime soon so hang in there, folks.

Now, let's take a look back at one of the original classic games that Namco put out and that's the bad boy that you see above, Splatterhouse. Now, I haven't played the original Splatterhouse in the arcades nor Sega Genesis but from what the critics are saying, they admit that this is an awesome game in their books and later on in this subject I'll be talking about the newest Splatterhouse game (obviously it's a remake of the original, IDK if it's true or not).

Now, Splatterhouse is a sidescrolling beat 'em up video game in which the player controls Rick, a parapsychology student who is trapped inside West Mansion. After his resurrection by the Terror Mask, Rick makes his way through the mansion, fighting off hordes of creatures in a vain attempt to save his girlfriend Jennifer from a grisly fate. Players of this game will also recognise a number of western horror film influences, such as Friday the 13th and Evil Dead 2, maybe I'm wrong.

But nonetheless, the series had 3 of the original games that were in the '90s back then and you can unlock these games in the new Splatterhouse game, which is added with a little "WICKED AWESOMESAUCE"!! I've seen some of the footage at E3 a while back and it looks amazing with all the blood, gore, violence, and even some weird but yet scary looking creatures. This thing has it all and from what I've heard, the new and remake Splatterhouse game will come out eventually in the third quarter of this year 2010 so look out for it, play the demo at least (IDK if it will be a demo for it).

That's all I got to say on this subject but I'll have the Cosplayer of The Week up and running, folks so I'm not gonna pull the plug on it yet. 'Til then folks stay safe, God bless you and have a wonderful night!

-C. David Pineda-

A look back at Sega Dreamcast

2010-10-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

Sega Dreamcast was one of the most beloved consoles that Sega put out in my opinion but despite it's loss in the console wars, I'll be talking about it and I'll be talking about one of the best selling games in Dreamcast Sonic Adventure... Q's and A's style!

When did the Dreamcast came out? According to the sources that I discovered, it came out in September 1999 in the US with exclusive titles such as Sonic Adventure (of course), Power Stone, Soul Calibur, and Hydro Thunder. Most of the people admit that it did end with a colossal failure from Sega because it did compete directly with other consoles that were in the 6th generation console era such as the Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo Gamecube, but the Dreamcast wasn't good enough because it didn't have much more technical specs and what not that the other consoles had.

What do you think about their games? Oh, I never bought one or had one but I've played it in Sears a couple of few years back including Hydro Thunder, one of my personal favorites, and Sonic Adventure. Sonic Adventure, I thought it was awesome because it was Sonic's first 3D debut that Sega put out but although it did lack the speed that we'd seen Sonic in previously. Crazy Taxi is one of the games that you can never drop the controller on because it's addicting and fun by picking up people and go where they want to go and stuff before time runs out, that was really cool.

Did it had accessories for the Dreamcast? Like any other console, yeah it had a few accessories that you would have to buy seperately, like the memory card that has it's own LCD screen, a D-pad and both A & B buttons which include minigames that you can play via your memory card that looks something like this below...

and it had others as well as the keyboard and mouse, a microphone, and some steering wheel controllers and light guns and what not.

Why did the Dreamcast end in failure? Well, for many reasons I mean I just talked about it previously but it's because that Sega and other third party publishers such as EA Sports, EA Sports didn't want to make a game for Sega Dreamcast because of the Sega Saturn's failures on the market. Also it didn't work real well with Sega's SegaNet, an online service subscription and IDK anything about it so I'm not gonna talk furthermore on it. Also, piracy was popular at the time when most computer hackers ripped off images through the GD-Rom and copy/burn it in the CD-R via the serial port or the modem of the Dreamcast (IDK about other consoles) and now a days, independent companies still make games for the Dreamcast as we speak but as of now, over 10 million units were sold.

All right, folks that's all I have to say on this subject. I'll be back with a few updates but 'til then stay safe, God bless y'all and have a wonderful day!

-C. David Pineda-

Anime Review - DearS

2010-10-11T23:02:00.000-07:00

DearS is based on a manga written and illustrated by Banri Sendo and Shibuko Ebara under their pen name Peach-Pit and it was published by MediaWorks (now merged with ASCII) in Japan. The anime has like only 13 episodes (it was published by Geneon, licensed by NBC Universal) and I've seen 'em all and it's actually one of the weirdest anime that I've seen in my opinion compared to Negima!?, and Elfen Lied (although it did lack the parts of... you know the detail). The word DearS, actually combines with 2 words (or portmanteau I should say) "dear" and "friends" as a Japanese tradition, as what I've been told by a few friends that I know.

The story begins with an alien escape pod, which it popped out of the UFO that was crashed at the bay, and inside was an alien type of person. Which it finally stated that the city decided to call them DearS and granted them a warm welcome to a planet that we call Earth.

The main character is Takeya Ikuhara, your average type of high school student who basically has a complaint or a problem with aliens and it started back when Neneko (a childhood friend) and Takeya were young and they were seeing a sci-fi movie that made Takeya scared and such and Takeya always gets into trouble when helping his friends and such for talking about adult movies and such. But it became clear that Takeya saved a DearS person/alien named Ren Ren Ren Nagusaran Rensia Ruroonren Nakora (レン•レン•レン•ナグサラン•レンシーア•ルロオンレン•ナコラ), or Ren for short and she's basically like a little kid who can't understand something that Takeya or anyone else says. Since Ren started living with Takeya, she calls him "master", which she has to ask permission by Takeya whenever Ren wants.

The other character in the series is Miu, the other DearS but she's well intelligent and well more open-minded when it comes to volunteering other people, she had a "master" before but he died in a gunshot, I assume (forgive me). Despite her personality, but she can be really mean sometimes and talk some sense out of people including Ren and Takeya. She also gives orders to Khi (a male DearS who gives the orders of the antagonists of the series).

The antagonists in the series are Rubi and Xaki. Rubi is a second-in-command of the DearS colony who basically gives orders to Nya to retrieve Ren but Nya is always wandering around and basically doing nothing, which kinda reminds me of Shichimi from the Negima series. Xaki is a "biter" who was sent by the DearS colony to retrieve Ren if Takeya doesn't want to be Ren's slave so to speak (ugh).

Takeya's teacher, Mitsuka Yoshimine, she's more of a showoff to other students than to rather teach in class and she gives out these provocative assignments that are adult related and YES you guessed it, folks... In scenes, she always embarrasses her students and exposing her half naked body (100x ugh).

It's kinda interesting but yet AWKWARD when Ren refers the Yen money as "balls" and they throw a lot of sexual references and there is partial nudity so kids, if you're reading this... This won't be the one for you to see it. I give DearS 8 out of 10, good but weird but still I liked it (don't get any ideas, you hear) 'cause a women who's a hardcore anime fan taught me into watching this series so there you have it.

That's all I got to say on this DearS review, I'll be back with more reviews to discuss and maybe I'll discuss some interesting topics that a few of you might like that's all otaku related but 'til then stay safe, God bless y'all and I'll talk to y'all later!

-C. David Pineda-

Latest D.O.T. Update

2010-10-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

This blog is presented by Stardust Gift Shop

All right, now to those of you who are new to this blogsite. I'm currently under development over with the reviews and stuff 'cause what I heard I got some few negative feedback over readers and ladies and gentlemen consider this, I don't need people to run my blogs, I tell it like it is!

Now with that being said, I am officially partners with an anime store called Stardust Gift Shop owned by the McFarland's, which of course Kat & Krista are my friends from that store and we've met since I was a senior at my old high school. Although, I have not seen it but I've heard a bit about it so there you have it folks. I am proud to have these guys on board, and once again I would like to thank the owner of S.D.G.S. for giving me the opportunity to design the logo specifically to the sake of our anime fans. I will be reviewing DearS, as a matter of fact I'm doing it right now so hopefully, I will stay and touch with y'all here and on Facebook and MySpace, and on PlayStation Network (ID: rr_713). 'Til then stay safe, God bless y'all and have a wonderful night.

-C. David Pineda-

A Look Back at the Super Nintendo's Super Scope

2010-10-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

This bad boy is absolutely one of my personal favorite peripherals and I say this in a good way, folks. There are like over 10 games compatible with the Super Scope, most of 'em is required I assume, which of course is the game "Super Scope 6", comes with 6 games modes in each game which is Blastris and LazerBlazer. Battle Clash, Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge, X-Zone (which to me it was kinda boring, nothing personal), Yoshi's Safari and many more.

Like the NES Zapper, it actually (of course) has a cord that you can connect to the system but the Super Nintendo's Super Scope is a wireless light gun and it holds like 6 AA bateries (maybe I'm wrong), also it needs a receiver which you can connect it to the system and you would need to play these games in a standard TV screen (or CRTs), you can't play it on an HDTV, plasma or an LED TV folks which y'all already know that by now.

The controls of this peripheral are awesome, you have the CURSOR button which you can select a power-up while you're in battle in Battle Clash, for example. You have your FIRE button and the TURBO switch which if you turn the TURBO switch on, hold the FIRE button and just let it rip and also the PAUSE button as well. When it first came out, it included with the Super Scope 6 game and all on one package was worth $60 back in the day which was a very sweet deal for me when I bought it back in '96.

That's all I have to say on this subject, next time I'll be talking about the Sega 32X, which all of you know it sucked with too many add-ons for the Genesis. 'Til then folks stay safe, God bless y'all and have a wonderful weekend.

-C. David Pineda-

Elfen Lied - D.O.T. Review

2010-09-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

I've talked about this before but if you guys haven't read this review on Facebook, here's my Elfen Lied review rev. 2 of this note.

The main character in the series is Lucy, a diclonius girl who had some terrible memories including the one that her classmates were picking on her, making fun of her horns and such and she bonded with a dog who was killed by a group of bullies in her school and she kills them after that. The other character's name is Nyu, a split personality of Lucy that developed after a .50 BMG round ricocheted off the metallic helmet encasing her head. Mostly she acts like an infant/little kid and forgets that she's diclonius (which I'll get to that later) but mostly she's been friends with Kohta (a second protagonist in the series) ever since they were young.

I'd probably keep more details to myself and watch the series for once... I loved the music from the series, I almost burst into tears when the Lillium music box started playing in the background I mean I would think of losing a friend of mine, or just being lonely.

Now, about what I said about the word Diclonius (the people who have horns or cat ear looking things), Nyu/Lucy, Nana (another character from the series) and also the main antagonist (almost) from the series Mariko. Their powers involve the usage of invisible arms, known as "vectors" that can grasp and impact things as if they are solid, but also become insubstantial and pass through objects. They can slice objects as well, which is how Diclonius kill their victims. Vectors usually have a limited range of a few meters, but the length varies between Diclonius; Nyu/Lucy's vectors are able to extend to 2 meters; Nana's can reach 5 meters , and Mariko's are the longest, with a range of 11 meters.

I'd give this series 6.5 / 10, definitely worth a watch, you might not like it for those who despise nudity or graphic material but mostly it's a lot of blood, more killing which I expected to be except the part about graphic material.

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, I'll give more new anime reviews anytime soon and don't forget that coming soon there will be a new short blog segment of mine called Cosplayer Of The Week. For more information about that please contact me via Facebook or e-mail me at David_pineda2000@yahoo.com but 'til then stay safe, God bless y'all and have a wonderful day. Thanks!

-C. David Pineda-

The Tester Season 1 Recap + Review

2010-09-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

PlayStation Network's original reality series did very well with improved hits on the PlayStation Store and on the PlayStation Home Theater and with season 2 right around the corner, let me take you back to season 1 of The Tester where 11 competitors have one opportunity to become the new PlayStation game tester and a $1,000 contract signing bonus.

Now if nobody knows what game testers do, if you do that's OK, testers always play these games 24/7 and not only will they play these games but to spot bugs/problems and also spell checking, movement, just about anything that they can do but they can't tell anybody who's a friend, or a partner at school, on what they're working on (DUH!)

Now the first season of The Tester, like I said, did very well and when the first time I saw this I was like "OK, it didn't make any sense" but I realized that's what they need to do in order to become successful with all these challenges like syncing in with their teammates as they communicate with each other in a challenge where it was so awkward to me at first and it's called Live Action Role Playing (or LARP for short), and these competitors put on their costumes and shit and I was actually surprised when the first team didn't do very well on the 4th episode I think it was, where the leader didn't do anything instead she had one of her teammates do all the work and she was eliminated on the following day. On the last episode, 3 people remained standing as they were challenged one of the most toughest challenge they ever face and if you haven't seen the first season and don't own a PS3, too bad too sad for you my friend, hehehehe. If you own a PS3 and haven't seen the first season, well you can always download it on the PlayStation Store for free.

I'd give the first season of The Tester 8 out of 10, good season and an awesome cast members. That's all I really got to say on this topic, ladies and gentlemen but if you want more reviews and my newest addition of my very own Cosplayer Of The Week (coming soon), check out on my blogsite at davesotakutalk.blogspot.com if you guys are on Facebook but 'til then stay safe, God bless y'all and have a wonderful day. Thanks!

-C. David Pineda-

Killer Instinct - D.O.T. Review

2010-09-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

We all remember this game as one of the most authentic classic fighting games ever made by Rare 'til this day and Rare hasn't made another Killer Instinct game in over 14 years since Killer instinct 2 was out in the arcades and also Killer Instinct Gold for the N64. Ever since there was rumors about them making another Killer Instinct game, in fact there was a teaser track on the latest Killer Instinct game all across the game review sources and on YouTube and basically the gamers are desperate for another K.I. game but enough about that here's an exclusive review on the first Killer Instinct game, ladies and gentlemen.

All right, now the storyline begins with a mega-corporate group/organization called Ultratech and organized a tournament called Killer Instinct, and the fighters (which are the characters that you can choose from) are destined to become #1 by climbing up the ladder and facing some tough fighters along the way like Fulgore, Orchid, Spinal, Sabrewulf, Cinder, T.J. Combo, Riptor, Thunder, Glacious, Jago and of course the unstoppable Eyedol, which he is a final fighter, and also a hidden playable character than can be unlocked using a cheat code by choosing Cinder in the fighter selection menu, wait 'til the versus screen is displayed and enter the following cheat by holding Right and quickly press L, R, X, B, Y, A. This storyline is similar to Mortal Kombat, bottom line and like I said before that this game is the most authentic fighting game since Nintendo had the "Play It Loud!" era going on but with Rare holding Microsoft's power since 2001, things will never be the same ever again. Rare = SELLOUT!!!

I give Killer Instinct 9.8/10 AWESOME VICTORY! Definitely an awesome game and 'til this day, I play it every now and then. Also the music is absolutely amazing, so amazing in fact that the game also includes a bonus CD called Killer Cuts and I own both of those items in my collection.

All right, now that I got that under control, next time I'll be talking about the preview of this year's Oni-Con here in my hometown Houston, TX but 'til then, ladies and gentlemen... Stay safe and of course, count your blessings.

-C. David Pineda-

Knuckles' Chaotix - D.O.T. Review

2010-09-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

From the depths of 3D elements and the 32 bit graphics, to the most ridiculously awesome Sonic spin-off Knuckes' Chaotix was the best selling game in the Sega 32X system/add-on for the Sega Genesis. Despite the fact that the 32X sucked with the most boring games that we'd seen, Knuckles' Chaotix is one of the best, bottom line and here's my personal review, this is the latest edition of the Dave's Otaku Talk Personal Game Review.

Now to be honest this is a fun game, but this is nothing compared to the Sonic series but it is a spin-off, the main character of course is Knuckles the Echidna, and along with other characters Vector the Crocodile, Charmy Bee, Espio the Chameleon, and the other one that looks like Sonic but this one's an Armadillo and IDK what's his name but I think his name's Mighty if I'm correct. The story takes place in a world called Newtrogic High Zone and there's like 5 stages, and each stage has 5 zones that you need to complete and also, instead of the Chaos Emeralds, they're actually called Chaos Rings, the colored rings that look like f*#$ing Fruit Loops, of course if you have 50 or more rings in possession, tag the finish point and you'll get into a bonus stage by going into the giant ring that's above the CLEAR line.

Now the gameplay is awesome but it lacks one thing, you notice the rings that they're holding? say you're playing as Knuckles and you want to get to the next stage, you'll need to have a partner along the way and if you wanna know how it works, just play the game and follow the simple tutorial as you go throughout the first level or start the tutorial when you first start the game. I give Knuckles' Chaotix 8.1/10 fun game, better gameplay, and some good music but other OST music in it are so annoying.

That's it for my D.O.T. Personal Game Review, thank you guys for reading this and be here next time for another edition of Dave's Otaku Talk where I'll be reviewing one of the most popular fighting games since Nintendo campaigned their ads "Play It Loud!". But 'til then, stay safe and count your blessings.

-C. David Pineda-

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - D.O.T. Review

2010-09-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

Now, to those of you who haven't heard of the series it's based on a comic published by Oni Press and the illustrator & writer behind it all is Bryan Lee O'Malley. When I first heard about this series, it kinda draw my attention because one of my friends from Memorial High School (we met at Guthrie Center) is a huge Scott Pilgrim fan and when I first played the game as a demo on the PS3. Absolutely phenominal with all the 8-bit animation and the best of them all is the music so ladies and gentlemen, this is my own personal review of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game!

The storyline takes place in Toronto, Canada (of course) and Scott Pilgrim immediately falls in love with Ramona Flowers, but going down the line if Scott wants to date Ramona... Ready for this? Scott has to take out The League of Evil Exes, which are the 7 evil exes, and the leader is kind of a scientist. Which kinda reminds me of the Megaman series, Megaman has to beat the 6 bosses that are on each stage and he has to beat the evil Dr. Wily right? Also throughout the whole game, you'll find some random stages, for example a secret stage that's literally a rainbow road where you beat the flying piggy banks to collect money, and also you'll find some of the familiar items or references like Super Mario Bros., River City Ransom, TMNT, all these classics that you grew up with is basically there I mean I have nothing to say or maybe I'm going crazy.

In the game, you'll get to pick 4 of the characters which one of them, of course, is Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers, Kim Pine or Stephen Stills and also there are 2 characters that can be unlocked, one is Nega-Scott and the other one that's an unknown character. The enemies in the game are pretty hard to beat like you repeatedly punch or kick them like 15 times or do a combo, and also the character movement is REALLY slow, of course when you double tap the directional buttons it'll go faster but I really didn't like the controls at all but still a fun game.

The music is f*@#ing awesome! No questions asked I mean with the 8-bit music to the electric guitars, this game has it all! The music was done by Anamanaguchi, they are a chiptune punk band that completely rocked mostly the core classic gamers (Me, in particular) because they have the ability to hack the NES & Game Boy's music notes and all but it is very awesome and they did a good job with the whole music of this game. I would love to talk about the movie, but unfortunately I didn't see the whole thing 'cause my little cousin had to go to school the following day so hopefully when it comes out soon, I'll review it and if you guys haven't seen my logo for the first time, here it is below...

It can only come from the phenomenal mind, the GREAT mind of Dave Pineda (That's ME ^_^) and this is my latest D.O.T. logos that I've ever done with the whole Japanese kanji words which means I believe is "Deibuotakutōku" and it was my first try by the way so I just have to give it full credit on my first go at it with the whole Japan kanji words. Thanks again you guys for reading this and I'll talk to you soon.

-C. David Pineda-

Gone, but not forgotten? - A look back on AnimeTV

2010-09-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

You may have heard or remember it or not but I'm sure many of you guys have seen it before, it's a weekly podcast that was on Revision3.com and on their website (season 1) their last episode of ATV was they had to make a change with the segments and all that around, if you haven't seen the "last episode" of ATV here's the link.

All right so here's what the show's all about, it's about a group of panelist reviewing anime, manga, asian pop culture and video games. Also they do on-location segments (not a whole lot since their switch to Revision3), Fanplay, which I'll talk about that during this subject, and also they all review one anime that they watch so it's really awesome.

Now, I wanna talk about the Fanplay segment, and it's gonna draw attention to people who cosplay (costume play) and all at conventions but Fanplay is all about you. You get to be a guest appearance on AnimeTV, how did you design this particular cosplay, why you like it, what kind of character do you like and what character that you designed is from what series... Well, how can I put this? For example if a friend of mine dresses up as Mario, he would submit his Fanplay video on how did he design it and what character is this from and also why does he like this costume. That's basically it and in the end of your video, make sure you add "You're watching AnimeTV, AnimeTV GO!".

Since their last episode on Revision3, they went hiatus (which means a podcast or a TV break) for 3-4 months but according to AnimeTV's website they said that ATV is re-organizing again and they would be back in the fall. So for those of you who want to see the previous episodes, I provided both links to Revision3 and the official ATV website above and also their last episode on Rev3. Will they be back? Who knows.

The first season of Pokemon - Real Life Controversy

2010-08-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone's aware that there are some banned episodes that were taken out by the US licensed company 4Kids Entertainment, some were banned worldwide because it's portraying cartoon violence, gun use, "tele-boobies" (which by the way that was an 18th episode of the original Japanese series. On June 24, 2000, a newly produced English-language version of the episode aired on Kids' WB! as "Beauty and the Beach". Promoted as a "lost episode" special presentation, it has only received one rerun and has not yet been shown elsewhere.), and even 9/11 influences. Ladies and gentlemen, here's today's Otaku Headlines

First, let's talk about the worldwide removals... shall we? OK, here it is... in December 16, 1997 there was an episode ("Dennō Senshi Porygon", literally "Computer Soldier Porygon") where Pikachu stops some vaccine missiles with its Thunderbolt attack, resulting in a huge explosion that flashes red and blue lights.Although there were similar parts in the episode with red and blue flashes, an anime technique called "paka paka" made this scene extremely intense, for these flashes were extremely bright strobe lights, with blinks at a rate of about 12 Hz for approximately 4 seconds in almost fullscreen, and then for 2 seconds outright fullscreen. At this point, viewers started to complain of blurred vision, headaches, dizziness and nausea and a japanese TV group who owns Pokemon (TV Tokyo) basically apologized to the whole people in Japan. Wow, and I didn't knew that because we never seen a Porygon, or Dratini on the first season of Pokemon at that time.

Season 1, Episode 4 This episode is titled "Challenge of The Samurai" of the Indigo League series of the original Pokémon series. Even though this episode has since been aired almost worldwide in multiple languages, it has been banned in South Korea for cultural reasons. Apparently, the "samurai" that Ash battled in the episode caused a semi-cultural clash in South Korea, and has since been banned there.
Despite this setback, this episode continues to air worldwide as we know it. (YEAH!!)

Season 2, Episode 52 This episode is from the Indigo League series of the original Pokémon series. This episode is the first to feature a new Pokémon called Jynx whose character design is suggestive of being in blackface. The episode "Holiday Hi-Jynx" aired on Kids WB!, and not everyone was happy with the new Pokémon. A woman named Carole B. Weatherford wrote an article about Jynx, saying it was racist to Black people, and soon after, the episode was removed from rotation. Also, this caused other episodes involved with Jynx to be banned. Nintendo ended up changing Jynx to purple to keep the racism rumors down. Even though they changed Jynx, future episodes ended up showing Jynx as it is, and episodes which has Jynx as a main character are usually banned. One of those known episodes is "Kōri no Dōkutsu!", known more commonly as "The Ice Cave". How dumb would these guys say that back at that time, come on it's only a dang Pokemon for Christ sake! I'm so sorry but geez :p

Episodes removed by 4Kids Entertainment OK, here's where it gets even interesting, especially in a weird way and I'm not gonna rant or anything, I'm just gonna say it how it is.

"Beauty and the Beach" is the 18th episode of the original Japanese series. On June 24, 2000, a newly produced English-language version of the episode aired on Kids' WB! as "Beauty and the Beach". Promoted as a "lost episode" special presentation, it has only received one rerun and has not yet been shown elsewhere.

In this episode, the female characters all enter a beauty contest. Team Rocket also enters, with James donning a suit with inflatable breasts. One scene of the episode involved James showing off his artificial breasts for humorous effect, taunting Misty by saying, "Maybe when you're older, you'll have a chest like this!". In one scene, he puffs up his breasts to over twice their original size. When it aired dubbed in 2000, all scenes of James in a bikini were edited.

A continuity problem created with this episode's removal is due to a flashback in "Hypno's Naptime", where Ash is mistaken as a mother's son, and he remembers his own mother winning the beauty contest (incidentally, the flashback was originally from "Pokémon - I Choose You!" and was changed in the dub).

"Miniryu no Densetsu", or "The Legend of Dratini", was the second episode to be banned by 4Kids Entertainment. This was the 35th episode of the original Japanese series. It was possibly banned because guns are repeatedly pointed at people threateningly at several points in this episode, and warning shots are fired. This may or may not also be banned because of a scene where James and Meowth hold a police-style interrogation. In the scene Meowth wears a mustache that looks like Adolf Hitler's.

The removal of this episode leads to continuity problems, as Ash captured 30 Tauros in this episode. The Tauros appear in later episodes, even being used in Pokémon Tournaments by Ash, with only one episode that briefly alludes to where they came from. Brock also caught a Tauros, but it was caught with one of Ash's Safari Balls, making it technically one of Ash's 30 Tauros.

Ironically, several cast members have revealed that this episode was in fact purchased and dubbed into English by 4Kids, but the episode was held back by the censors and has never aired. This would explain why clips from the episode have been used in several music videos produced for the 4Kids dub. Though it is uncertain that 4Kids actually dubbed this episode as Eric Stuart confirmed that they didn't dub it at all. Despite this there is a Korean dub of this episode.

Episodes that were removed after the September 11th attack in 2001 Now I'm not gonna mention or say anything in this subject either but I'll tell you the episodes that were removed after 9/11

-"Tentacool and Tentacruel"
-"The Tower of Terror"
and finally
-"A Scare In The Air"

Now, I wouldn't say that this is my first time doing this but ladies and gentlemen, this show was a huge, huge influence in the otaku world at that time and it still is today. With Pokemon video games, trading card games, toys, the sky is the limit. Even though the critics will spot a controversial scene, quotes or characters portray as someone controversial in some episodes, they always do and there's nothing for us to stop it, the only way that we can do is leave them be.

Got any anime recommendations that I can review soon? e-mail me at David_pineda2000@yahoo.com thanks again folks for reading this and remember the reviews doesn't stop here.

-C. David Pineda-

Thoughts & Minds on Kurokami

2010-08-07T16:35:00.000-07:00

Kurokami is based on a Korean based manga named "Black God", and the anime is done by Sunrise and it's licensed by Bandai Entertainment. Wonderful series, but a sad ending to it and here's my thoughts and minds on the show itself...

Obviously it's a 23 episode series in 2 seasons, one was a special episode IDK if it is an OVA or not but overall you'll like the characters in the story. It takes place in Tokyo, obviously and there's actually 3 people who look the same and it's called, what they call the Doppeliner System. What that is is that one of three people with identical bodies and minds who share the same fate. Every normal human being begins as a doppeliner. If two of them meet, they die. The remaining luck and fate of the two go to the remaining person, called The Root, giving them unimaginable good luck. In the anime, this system was revealed to be a curse placed on humans by the Masagami and I'll talk about the Masagami later on in this subject.

The main characters in the story are Keita Ibuki (voiced by Jason Griffith who voiced as Sonic & Shadow The Hedgehog in Sonic X, also a 4Kids TV promo announcer), a character with a horrible past because his mother was killed by a Hit & Run accident. Kuro (voiced by Laura Bailey who voiced as Anko, Toki, Ayame & Konan in Naruto) who's a tera guardian meaning a God-like beings charged with maintaining the balance of existence. However, they can become corrupt which result in conflicts between them. Also Akane (voiced by Julie Ann Taylor who voiced as Lirin & Rin in Bleach) along with Kuro's pet Punipuni (voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas who voiced as Leo from Fullmetal Alchemist) who obviously doesn't appear in some episodes.

Both Keita & Kuro are pretty well bonded throughout the whole series even though Keita treated Kuro like trash in the first 3-4 episodes I assume but they have a connection, in other words "SYNCHRO". What that is is that a person who's into a pact from a tera guardian, they exchange hearts in order to sync with each other so if a tera guardian who's in battle, and I know it's gonna sound familiar to you guys but a person needs to tell his/her main partner (ex. tera guardian) what to do before the person's tera runs out. Sound familiar?

Along the way, they meet up with the Tribal Ends (season 1), The Kaionji group, and also the Masagami who created the Doppeliner System (season 2) who are basically the antagonist people along with Kuro's brother Raichin, which he is a central antagonist through all the whole series and a person who wants to create faith, hospitality and a new world (which he did in Season 2) is Daichi, he was Keita's best friend during their junior high school years. The Masagami are those angel & devil-looking creatures that has a same voice as the other when they talk and get this... I'd rather not say a spoiler BUT you should watch this series hehehehe...

I'd give Kurokami a 9/10 Great series but I promise you, you won't like the ending and if you haven't seen this series, go ahead and watch it at crunchyroll.com and you'll find other anime as well, most of them are in subs but a few are dubbed versions like this series that I talked about.

Got any anime/manga recommendations or an opinion that I talked about, e-mail me at David_pineda2000@yahoo.com and give me a piece of your mind of what I talked about just don't be a blooter when talking to me. The spin doesn't stop here because Dave says so!!

Rocket Knight Adventures - Game Review

2010-07-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

OK guys, I wanna talk about this game exclusively for the Sega Genesis, I've playing this game for a long time and I still know the basics of it and IDK if you guys have played it before, it's called Rocket Knight Adventures, it was released here in North America on June 16, 1993 and it's developed and published by Konami (folks behind Contra, Sunset Riders & lots of other good games back then). The gameplay is often a side scrolling platform, with linear runs through levels. The player is able to jump, attack with Sparkster's sword, either directly or by "shooting" energy forward when swung, or charge up their rocket pack and go flying in one of the 8 standard directions, depending of the direction the player presses (if no direction is pressed, Sparkster performs a stationary spinning attack). Levels are occasionally switched up with alternate styles of gameplay.

Some levels are horizontal scrolling shooters (akin to Gradius, often with in-level references to that game), while one level has the player control a large machine to duel with Axel Gear. The difficulty levels in the game are differently presented in each regional version of the game. Both the Japanese and European versions have two difficulty levels accessible normally via the options menu, while in the American version four are enabled by default.

But above all, ladies and gentlemen it's a good game, I have no rants about it I just love it. Also, there's a new Rocket Knight game for the Xbox 360, PS3 and the PC. I've played it on the PS3 and it looks OK, not a whole lot to it but I really liked the original one better especially the second game of R.K.A.

Anime Review - Kurokami

2010-07-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

Akane, Kuro w/ Punipuni and Keita

Now I've seen 3 episodes so far and it's actually pretty good and Kuro-kami (黒神) means Black God by the way, ladies and gentlemen. It's based on the seinen manga that's published by Square Enix in Japan and Yen Press in the US and the anime itself is produced by Sunrise (the folks behind InuYasha) and they make good anime series as well as Cowboy Bebop and Gundam.

Now the main character in the series is Keita, he is a 19-year-old independent and struggling freelance computer programmer who, with two of his friends, is developing and trying to sell a video game program to big-time video game companies in Tokyo. While trying to stay afloat and survive financially with money being given to him by his 21-year old childhood friend Akane Sano. (In the anime, he is an ordinary high school student.) He has a chance meeting on one night with a high Mototsumitama named Kuro while eating alone at a ramen stand. He gives her his dinner, a bowl of ramen, and tries to protect her when she is attacked in an ambush by an unknown Tera Guardian. Keita loses an arm during another fight between Kuro and another Tera Guardian, but Kuro is able to save his life by exchanging his arm for hers since she has enhanced healing abilities like all Mototsumitamas. (In the anime, his heart is injured and their hearts are exchanged instead.) This creates a contract between them, which makes her more powerful than before. However, Kuro warns Keita that they need to be together all the time because her heart will become necrotic if it is away from the main body. As Kuro stays with Keita and gets acquainted with him while meeting with other Tera Guardians and their human masters, they are targeted by the strongest Tera Guardian clan of the East, the Shishigami (Lion God) Clan in an attempt to kidnap Akane and bring about the destruction of the coexistence balance, which Tera Guardians are supposed to protect. Meanwhile, Keita is determined to find out why his mother died after seeing her double as a young boy and to find out who is responsible for trying to destroy the coexistence balance on Earth.

If you want to watch this series, head on over to crunchyroll.com/kurokami but until then, my otaku no tomodachi (otaku friends), talk to you later!

-C. David Pineda-

COMIC-CON GOERS BEWARE!! (D.O.T. Alert!)

2010-07-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

To YouTube users who saw my link in the description board, you're in the right place but to those who are into otaku and cosplaying... Let me introduce you to your new enemies!

You may have seen these people in the streets, and also picketing funerals of soldiers here in this country and they also post signs like God Hates Fags, Thank God for AIDS, Thank God for IED's, etc. I'm talking about the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas who are just disgraceful to us! Now I live in Houston, TX but I know some parts of the story that will blow your mind about them. First, here's a "music video" that's basically disturbing...

Ugh, just disgraceful and let me say this and understand what I'm telling y'all, WBC are a no good lousy son of a bitches! That's exactly what they are and how they picket soldiers funerals I'll never know but they're no good bastards for what they do for calling out people who don't even know and don't have a motive to be hateful against and they ought to burn in hell for it! They can take their town and shove it because nobody in this earth cares about WBC!!

But anyways, here's a .pdf file and spread the word out to people and call out the Westboro Baptist Church!
http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/20100707_San-Deigo-Comic-Con-July-22.pdf

To those who don't have Adobe Reader, here's the full article uncourtesy of WBC:

"Comic Con is an excuse for whores to wear skimpy get-ups (as if they don't already) without censure & for emulating rebels to compare costumes. Yikes. Put away your action figures & get about the business of serving your God. You fail as a human being because you shun your only obligation in this life: "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (Eccl. 12:13). Here is a frightening picture of this doomed generation: "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister (america), pride, fulness of bread, & abundance of idleness was in her & in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor & needy" (Eze. 16:49). You idolaters have far too much time on your hands! Get on with some sober obeying; the time is short.
You have sinned away your day of grace & so enraged your Creator that you’re now seeing His condign wrath poured out on you continually.

You should be mourning for your sins, begging forgiveness of the Sovereign God of Eternity. Instead, you rebel further, curse God with your every breath, & ask “what is our sin?” Mal. 3:13. The day of your destruction is upon you, even as you vainly seek comfort in the frivolities of this life.

YOU’RE GOING TO HELL."

There's Westboro Baptist Church for you guys, they're a bunch of goons!!

Anime Review: Angel Beats! (part 2)

2010-06-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

My otaku friends, I just watched the other half of the episodes of Angel Beats! and it's really mind blowing but I'll talk about that later but first let's get things started on part 2 of the review itself.

On the 12th to the last episode of the series, the girls of Girls Dead Monster and many other SSS members decide to pass on, Otonashi and the others continue to fight off the other shadows, which are increasing in number. Meanwhile, Yuri explores the Guild and comes up against many shadows. She gets ensnared by one and becomes an NPC, but she manages to fight it and returns thanks to Otonashi, Kanade, Hinata and Naoi, who have come to aid her. While they fend off the shadows, Yuri comes across a computer room where all the stolen computers are, and she meets a strange boy who talks about the programmer of the Angel Player software, which manipulates the world. The boy tempts her with the prospect of being God of the world herself, but Yuri declines for the sake of her friends and destroys all the computers. As she rests from destroying them all, she has a vision of being forgiven by her siblings before waking up in the infirmary where Otonashi, Kanade, Hinata and Naoi are waiting.

On the final episode, Three days after the shadows incident, only Otonashi, Yuri, Kanade, Hinata and Naoi remain, the other having already passed on. Per Kanade's idea, they hold a graduation ceremony, where they thank each other for their support. After the ceremony ends, Naoi takes his leave. Yuri makes her peace with Kanade before she leaves, followed shortly by Hinata. With Otonashi and Kanade left, Otonashi suggests that they could stay together to help others who come into the afterlife world, revealing in the process that he is in love with her. Kanade is hesitant to respond, as her one regret was never saying thanks to Otonashi, whose heart kept her alive in the real world due to the donor card he left behind when he died. Kanade thanks him and disappears in his arms, as Otonashi cries over the disappearance of his newfound love. Otonashi passes on shortly after. In the real world, Kanade is humming "My Song" when Otonashi happens to pass by and recognizes the melody. When Kanade turns to walk away, Otonashi chases after her to tap on her shoulder.

It was one of those series that touched my heart, and I think it will touch yours as well. Angel Beats! is one of the best anime that ASCII Media Works and Aniplex has ever made with an amazing soundtrack and storyline, it is by far the best that I ever watched, in my opinion. Like I said in the first part, I'd give that S.O.B. 9.5/10 NO QUESTIONS ASKED!

-C. David Pineda-

Dave's Otaku Talk (6/24/10)

2010-06-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here I am, ladies and gentlemen with another edition of my talk on the otaku world so if you expect the things that I would recommend you watch, read, or play, you're in the right place!

Onto the anime that I watched recently... As much as I loved some of the old school anime that I grew up on I would definitely bring it to you ladies and gentlemen. I recently watched like 9 out of 70 episodes of Cardcaptors and the latest episode that I watched is called "Double Edged Sword" *SPOILER* Sakura, usually cheerful, is forlorn by Syaoran's confidence and obviously superior skill. Rika and Tomoyo take Sakura to a shop to try to cheer her up. The three each buy brooches and return to Sakura's house for tea and pudding. When Rika puts on her brooch, The Sword takes control of her and attacks Sakura with a sword. Syaoran saves Sakura who refuses to attack Rika and stops him from attacking her as well. Using Illision to distract Rika, Sakura is given the chance to capture Sword. The next day, Syaoran is dismayed when he sees Sakura offer a gift of chocolate to Yukito, and quickly gives sweets of his own. Tomoyo has to explain to Sakura that Syaoran is "interested" in Yukito just like Sakura is. *END OF SPOILER* It's awesome when Sakura uses Clow Cards to draw the best weakness and if she sees trouble around every corner that she goes, she would immediately capture the card by defeating the best card that she already captured like Pokemon, for instance but as far as the storyline goes, there's not a whole lot to it but for those who haven't seen this series, I would recommend you watch it on JustDubs.net

Onto the video game side, ladies and gentlemen who are reading this right now I've completely blown my mind that the Video Game Speed Runs would be back and would run DaveMeister Network moving again, and I said this many times so I would definitely shut up about that, but anyway I've done some speed runs over Super Mario Bros. in like 5-6 minutes AGAIN and it's so easy to pass and skip through levels throughout the game that really anyone could do it (my uncle's one of them and he still knows the controls), if they know how. Also, ladies and gentlemen from the vintage video game collection that I got (for what is worth) I recently played Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team for the Nintendo Entertainment System (not Super Nintendo) with a friend of mine and we never get tired of playing it, sometimes we can be assholes towards ourselves but above all it's a good game that Rare (a UK company headquartered in Twycross, England, who's currently partners with Microsoft) had and was one of my personal favorites since I was like 11 years old including my all time fighting games in the arcade and in the Super Nintendo, Killer Instinct. It was so badass that they had to include a bonus CD called Killer Cuts and I still listen to it.

That's it for my Otaku Talk, but the spin doesn't stop here... Drop a comment, or if you have personal opinions, rants, etc. it's better to leave me an e-mail message and my e-mail address is David_pineda2000@yahoo.com. Thank you ladies and gentlemen for reading this and I'll talk to y'all later!! PEACE!!

-C. David Pineda-

Sony E3 2010 Press Conference Recap (Q's and A's style)

2010-06-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

Same as last time, did you or did you not like the presentation of what they showed at their press conference? Most of it all, PlayStation is getting more bigger and they have with so many good titles in development along with EA Sports games and PlayStation Move games that will be on sale later this year and next year. But above all that, I know in my heart that they're going to try things with the latest content with PlayStation Network, and so far they have today with today's presentation.

From everything that they love about PlayStation, what did you like most about the presentation? I like their PlayStation Move game demonstrations including Sorcery, which it will come out next year, and Tiger Woods PGA Golf 2011 on the PS3. PlayStation Move, again the same thing with Nintendo's Wii remote and nunchuk controllers, it's really not that bad for those who are really getting into games that are more active and motivating (if you catch my drift) but to me in my opinion, and I apologize for those who like this accessory, to me it sucks now a days. Period. Also, I liked the advertisement campaign for the PSP I mean they pretty much haven't talked about PSP games in advertisements and so forth I mean I don't like the PSP that much, I'm not saying that it sucks or nothing like that but I'm not use to it but hopefully I will.

Did they announce some new PSN content onto the PS3? Obviously, not a whole lot to be honest but they did announce a new membership which you can get exclusive discounts from the PlayStation Store, get full games for free (I think that's what they said, IDK), and also you get exclusive access content as well on the PS3. It's called the PlayStation Plus, now it's similar to Xbox LIVE Gold Member subscription and a 1 year subscription of the PlayStation Plus cost almost $50, and if you want a 3 month subscription it will cost you only $17.99. It will soon take effect later this month.

Did you like some of their latest titles that were shown on the presentation? Well, most of it and at when they were showing their last preview... I was in shock and one of my favorite car combat games of all time since the PS1 era is finally dominating PS3 full force, and by that folks I'm talking about their latest Twisted Metal installment, it looks fantastic and wicked awesome with online matches and stuff and I hope I'll get that next year when it hits shelves in 2011. Gamers, BEWARE!!!!

That's it for today's edition of Q's and A's but the spin doesn't stop here. Drop a comment, or if you have any opinions on what I've talked about, e-mail me at David_pineda2000@yahoo.com.

-C. David Pineda-

Microsoft's E3 2010 Press Conference Recap (Q's and A's style)

2010-06-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Did you or did you not like the Microsoft's E3 2010 Press Conference? Well, for the most part I have enjoyed it and they're making it bigger than ever with Xbox 360 along with their content like Xbox LIVE, Facebook, Twitter, and also their newest family... Kinect, an accessory which allows you to speak, selecting the content you want by freely moving your hands instead of the controller. So I liked it for the most part and I'm a Sony owner by the way and obviously to me it's a shame but I know Sony is gonna compete with Microsoft respectfully.

What do you like the most about the presentation? Oh just the games that they showed except the kiddie stuff like "Kinectimals", something like that but not only that I heard that ESPN is now on Xbox LIVE which means you can actually see their sports coverages straight out of your 360, also the one that I like the most is the VideoKinect, which allows you to video chat with others on Xbox LIVE or Windows Live Messenger so it's awesome.

When you saw Call of Duty: Black Ops for the first time, what's your reaction to that? I'm like "this is the real deal for those who like shooting games and play online and such" and that's what this game is all about. When I saw it for the first time, it looks awesome and although it's not developed by Infinity Ward I can tell you that much but who knows I mean if it's a good game, I'll definitely buy it for the PS3 when it hits stores November 9th of this year.

What do you think about the new Halo Reach? Ugh, do I really have to say this in front of these "Hail-O" fans I mean screw Halo, it's for military people I mean real Marine forces in the game... that's total BS!! LOL I'm just kidding, for the most part I did enjoy the preview of it, and it looks absolutely amasing I mean I watched the press conference on G4 at a friend's house and it looks great I mean the HD picture, graphics, detail, everything that you love about Halo is there for you.

Were you surprised that they announce the new Xbox 360 that actually has built-in Wi-Fi and also 250GB of memory? How can I put this... YES, it did surprised me but let me just say this I mean I own a PS3 (not really, it's my brother's) and I would never replace it with a console that's new I mean it's pretty much the same games, but with games that are only for the console themselves. However if Sony pulls a really good card on this year's E3, not only games but the online content as well, I can pretty much live with it that's all that matters because you look at the Xbox 360, they have social networking community applications such as Last.fm, Facebook & Twitter and also Microsoft's owned Zune. Why not do it for the PS3, you know? (except Zune 'cause it's Microsoft) But that's just me, IDK if anyone's gonna agree or disagree with me on this but I think Sony has to make an impact, if they wanna create new content, they have to start but unfortunately it takes time I mean I know it's not gonna appear in a heartbeat I mean they're just gonna have to put on a little effort but I'm looking forward to watch the Sony Press Conference and also Nintendo as well (if it's not gonna bore me to death like they did at last year's E3).

That's it for today's edition of Q's and A's but the spin doesn't stop here. Drop a comment, or if you have any opinions on what I've talked about, e-mail me at David_pineda2000@yahoo.com.

-C. David Pineda-

Anime Review: Angel Beats!

2010-06-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

Otonashi, Yuri and Kanade/Angel

As much as I love talking about this anime that I recently watched and it's not finished yet BTW, I would like to give y'all the latest anime review to see that I'm no bad person and not that tyrant that anybody thinks. Angel Beats! is one of the most beautiful anime series that Aniplex has ever made, you take a look at it it's a wonderful story that these individual characters had their own past and their own personal problems but I'm gonna talk about that later but first let's talk about the story itself...

The story takes place at a modern heaven world where every person is presumed dead but there at this college/high school-like place and the main character is Otonashi, he doesn't know if he's dead or not even though he admits that he's alive, and this girl named Yuri enlisted him into the SSS (Shinda Sekai Sensen in other words, Afterlife War Front) which she founded the organization to rebel against God for the cruel fates of the SSS members that they had experienced in life. Along the way, Otonashi meets up with some of the SSS members as well to fight against Angel, who has those weird genetic powers and sometimes she's known as Kanade Tachibana, which she means no harm but now a days she uses powers to help the SSS members out of trouble, it totally reminds me of Elfen Lied with Nyu as her good side of Lucy, very friendly and all and Lucy as a bad side of Nyu who kills everybody who's on her path and such, and BTW ladies and gentlemen, if you haven't seen it, you gotta watch it, it's very cool and epic at the same time, especially the manga as well but trust me it is nothing compared to Elfen Lied, I can tell you that right now.

Anyways, back on topic here... Also in the series, 1/4 of the SSS members who are girls are in a band called GirlDeMo (Girls Dead Monster) and perform in the cafeteria where it has all the tables and an auditorium-like stage and I to admit, the soundtrack of it all is fantastic especially I like the song called "Thousand Enemies", absolutely awesome!! If you guys wanna listen to it, be my guest...

Girls Dead Monster - Thousand Enemies

(Japanese Lyrics)
fukigen sou na kimi to sugoshite
wakatta koto ga hitotsu aru yo
sonna furi shite tatakau koto ni hisshi
itsu made mo kaenai de koori no you ni
natsu no hizashi atsukute mo tokezu ni ite ne
kitto saki ni utsukushii hyouga ga aru yo
katachi aru sonna kokoro dare datte kizukeba motteru kimi mo motteru

onaka ga suite arukenaku natte
wakatta koto ga hitotsu aru yo
yaru beki koto sakiokuri ni shite yaritai koto bakka yatteru
gohan tabete tatakau shitaku shi yo
itsu made mo mottetai yo hagane no you na
donna mono mo toosanai ganko na iji o
kitto ima mo tachitsukushite mamori no tochuu
yukute ni wa kazoekirenai
teki ga ite atashi o matteru kimi ni mo matteru

mayotta toki ni wa kokoro no chizu o atashi ni misete hoshii
sore nara yukisaki sugu wakaru kara
jibun ja wakaranai dake

saa sa susumou ikutsu mo no kakehashi
itsu made mo issho da kara koibito no you ni
natsu no hizashi atsukute mo hanarezu iru ne
kitto saki ni soudai na keshiki ga matsu yo
sono toki wa tamatte ita sono kimochi zenbu kiite yaru
atashi mo motteru kimi ni mo kikasu tappuri kikasu

(English Lyrics)
Passing the time with you when you're in a bad mood,
There's one thing that I've learned.
You're just pretending to be like that and desperately fighting.
Don't ever change yourself like the ice does.
Even if the summer sun's rays are hot, don't melt away.
I'm sure that just ahead, there's a beautiful glacier.
That kind of heart with a shape -- if they'd realize it, all people have them. You have one too!

Hungry and unable to keep on walking,
There's one thing that I've learned.
I'm putting off the things I should do and just doing what I want.
I'll eat my food and get ready to fight!
I want to have this forever -- as strong as steel,
A stubborn spirit that won't let anything through.
I'm sure that even now, it's in the middle of standing still and defending.
Countless enemies are in my way
Waiting for me, waiting inside of you, too

When we're lost, I want you to show me the map in your heart.
In that case, we'll know the way to go soon.
I just can't figure it out alone.

Come on, let's move ahead across any number of bridges.
We'll always be together like lovers,
So even if the summer sun's rays are hot, we won't be apart.
I'm sure that just ahead, a magnificent landscape awaits.
When that time comes, I'll ask you about all of your stored-up feelings
I have those too. I'll tell you about them, too. I'll tell them all to you!

It's a good song, obviously no doubt about it but for once, ladies and gentlemen enjoy this series where you don't have to download it via BitTorrent like AnimeFTW for example. I know things are tough when it comes to paying the big price watching the anime series because I've heard rumors that Bang Zoom! Entertainment will stop dubbing the anime series that are in Japan right now, in 2011 but I'll have that in mind soon enough.

The score of Angel Beats!, I'd give that S.O.B. 8.5/10 excellent, not a whole lot to it but until then, ladies and gentlemen... I'll have another anime review anytime soon.

-C. David Pineda-

Dave's Otaku Talk (6/9/10)

2010-06-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hello ladies and gentlemen of the D.O.T. Nation, this is Dave's Otaku Talk where I talk all things anime, manga & video games, and of course other stuff that I would highly recommend you to watch, play or read so sit in the chair and read this latest blog 'cause this week's edition of Dave's Otaku Talk starts NOW!

Some people might haven't recognized this anime in a long time, no I'm not talking about Pokemon nor Yu-Gi-Oh, but I recently watched like 6 out of 70 episodes of the series called "Cardcaptors", it's based on a shojo manga series written and illustrated by CLAMP (the folks behind the anime series, xxxHolic) and it aired on Kids WB (currently The CW 4Kids) from 1998-2000 so it has been a while for me to go back and watch it and I thought it was great, if you haven't seen it... SHAME ON YOU!!

Next, I recently watched the third episode of Blood+ and so far it's good, and I'm not gonna tell anybody for those who haven't seen it so y'all are gonna have to see it for yourselves, for those of you who have watched this series, don't give me a spoiler on what's gonna happen at the end, please. Now, onto the anime movies and so far I've seen Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow and I thought it was excellent with the whole storyline and all that I mean if you haven't seen this movie, I would recommend that for most people no questions asked.

Onto the video games that I've played recently, now most of you don't know this game or maybe you do, it's a badass game from the folks at Rare, it's called Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64 and I played it from time to time but the levels can be a pain in the ass, no lie. But it's a good game, better than GoldenEye 007 in my opinion but Perfect Dark Zero for the Xbox 360, it's way better and I played it at a friend's house not too long ago.

Also I did a speedrun over Star Fox 64 once again and I played it perfectly (almost) and if you guys haven't seen my speed run over this game, here it is folks!

Yup, that video was originally taken on August 2nd of 2009 at my best friend's house and we did a mini-production called DaveMeister Network and this year folks, we will start taking action real soon!!

That's my Otaku Talk, but the spin doesn't stop here! Drop a comment or if you wanna know more about this new site, please don't hesitate to ask just e-mail me at David_pineda2000@yahoo.com. Thanks again, ladies and gentlemen for reading this and I'll talk to y'all later!!

-C. David Pineda-

Dave's Otaku Talk (6/2/10)

2010-06-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

Let me start off by saying, welcome to my own anime blog that I've anticipated to talk about for months now and since I've watched 3 of the completed series and already reviewed all of 'em (Negima!?, Elfen Lied and Vampire Knight), but there's more much to come, my friends so just sit back and read this blog!

Now, yesterday I've been watching and I'm still finishing the anime series called Angel Beats! which is on animeftw.tv and let me say this to all of the people who think I'm sort of an anti-piracy guy, I mean I know that all anime licensees here in the U.S. are definitely trying to bring out the best product out there I mean I'm not trying to exploit it but for once I have to pay the big price if I wanna support anime and all otaku goods here so I mean I know Funimation Entertainment is really strong and they took out all the series that are licensed from that company out of all the fansub websites like Mazui, AnimeFTW, Anime Kraze, etc. So, ladies and gentlemen if you're gonna support it, pay for it. Period. Also, I have been watching Blood+, and I saw 2 episodes of it so far and it's really good as far as I'm getting into it because I've been looking back at my old message board from Facebook where some of my friends gave me a whole lot of anime series that I would watch, a recommendation sort of speak and I thank you guys for it! But back on topic, Blood+ it's a cool anime series, it takes place, well it is initially sets in present day (September 2005) in a town called Okinawa City, on Okinawa Island, near the US Kadena Air Base. The main character is Saya Otonashi, she's a well known teenage girl adopted and living with amnesia, with a horrible past to remember and she goes out killing some beast-like creatures that the US military is trying to find. But above all that, ladies and gentlemen it is a good show, great stuff and if you're into manga, you should definitely read it as well.

Onto the video games I've played recently, IDK about you guys, if anybody owns a PS3, I've been playing CellFactor: Psychokinetic Wars demo on the PS3, it's sort of a twist on Halo sort of but I haven't got the full game so hopefully I'll buy it on the PlayStation Store if I have more money real soon. But I've been playing that and also I did like 3-4 triple kills so far in Modern Warfare 2 online with the new add-on content that I bought 2 months ago I think and also I've been playing Illusions of Gaia for the Super Nintendo, I never liked role-playing games but like I said before for those that read my notes previously, I'm familiar with Pokemon, and that's the kind of an RPG game that I play most of my spare time. Also, that leaves me to my favorite party game of all and that's Mario Party 2 for Nintendo 64, I played it with my cousin Daniel the other day and I told him "Alliance, or no alliance... somebody's gotta win here or else I aughtta cut ya in half!", but anyways back on topic here... Mario Party 2 is a game that I'm familiar with out of all Mario Party games that I played except Mario Party 8 for the Wii, I've never played it and I never wanted to. Period. But it's a fun game, and you guys know that and I gotta tell all of you that I'm sort of an asshole towards other players because when you are playing with me, bad things will happen to all of you so BEWARE!!

That's all the amount of notes I can give you but the spin doesn't stop here, drop a comment if you have AIM, Google, etc. or e-mail me at David_pineda2000@yahoo.com and I'll be more than happy to respond but don't be a blooter when writing to me. That's it for my Otaku Talk and I hope you guys enjoy my new blog site especially for you all Otaku fans in the universe and join my D.O.T. Nation by simply following this site on the right side of the page. Thank you so much and I hope y'all enjoyed Memorial Day on May 31st by remembering the brave men and women who have defended our freedom.

-C. David Pineda-

The Revolutionary Blog Series Begins!

2010-05-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome, my fellow Otaku friends to my very new blog series and that's Dave's Otaku Talk. Basically what that is is that I'll be writing anime, manga and video game reviews and also I'll be giving you a piece of my off-time of what I've been watching or playing lately so it's kinda cool so hope you'll check this out and spread the word about this site because I'm kinda screwed if you guys don't like it so I hope you do.

It all started when I got back into watching anime (it's a long story) and my first anime that I've watched on the first day of January this year is Negima!?, and you guys heard me talk about that on Facebook and also my other blog site called Dave's Blog and I reviewed over 3 anime series that I've finished so far including Elfen Lied & Vampire Knight. Now, I do watch AnimeTV so I'll talk a little bit about that too and maybe watch the main anime series that the ATV panel is talking about. Above all that, guys... I'm gonna try things and if it's successful, I'll do the best I can to try and give it out to you guys because I'm doing this for you guys who love anime, manga & video games and that's what I'm gonna do. Now I know what people are saying, I'm not using this just to impress you guys but I'm using this just for the general audience of people who are really into it and for those who haven't heard of it in their lives I mean I'm a giver, not a taker LOL but anyways hope you'll like it and I'll give out my first note on the third day of next month.

-C. David Pineda-