My Deer Friend Nokotan/Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan [ANIME FIRST IMPRESSIONS]

For most of you, there won’t be any need to introduce My Deer Friend Nokotan, as the marketing for it made it an instantly popular memetic trend, thanks to the incredible trailer, it coming from studio WIT and promising a non-sensical humour reminescent of Nichijou, especially as one of the legendary scenes in it was the “school principal VS deer wrestling match”.

The “shikanoko dance” itself made it reach meme heaven, go super-viral, as it resonated beyond well with the internet anime communities, all months before the first episode was aired and available on streaming via many popular services. And Crunchyroll.

Not bad for what was originally a fairly unknown manga by Oshioshio, author of Sakura Maimai but better known today (kinda) as the character designer for popular V-Tuber Amane Kanata.

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Summer Of EDF: Checking In, Metal Slug Tactics and the Promise Of Deer

Just a quick post to inform you i plan to have an EXPRESSO review of EDF 6 somewhere in late July/early August (the game comes out westward July 19th), i’m finalizing my thoughts on the Metal Slug Tactics demo that was made available on Steam, and also that i’m aware of that “girl deer hybrid” anime that has spread the brainrot meme animedance of the moment, i’m actually gonna cover it, if nothing else because the marketing team did a bang up job at making it a viral sensation months ahead of its actual broadcast.

And it might actually live up to the Nichijou vibes it gives off.

I also have an announcement for August… but i’ll reveal it later in July, maybe mid-July.

Melee May will tag in for Musou May

So yeah, as promised, instead of the usual Musou May, this year will focus on the more typical beat em up games, going from some licensed tie-in “trash” to the more forgotten dephts of the PS2 backlog, and evena fairly recent entry in the “pants em up” subgenre.

Image is for mystification purposes only, covering Smash clones would be fun but i really don’t have neither the time or the expertise at the moment.

Spy X Family: Code White (2023) | Alpine Capers

So, the Spy X Family movie, which feels kinda odd to see release in most territories (EU and english speaking ones) now in late April, as it debuted Dicember 2023 in japanese theathers, an and it’s very easy to notice it was meant as a winter/Christmas release, because of it taking place in a faux-Switzerland-esque city and the tone of a winter holiday vacation.

Not having watched further than Season 1, i was a bit worried to accidentally spoil myself, but this is a non-canonical original story…… that actually doesn’t even really need you to have watched Spy X Family at all, as it introduces the main characters and quickly explains the gist (which i won’t for time’s sake) anyway, you will miss some context for some side characters, but there’s nothing that you can’t catch on the fly by watching the movie.

The plot has the Forger family go into a vacation in the nearby alpine and Switzerland-esque town of Frigis in order to get the recipe for a cake that will make Anya pass the cooking exam at her prestigious school, in turn advancing her career and letting Lloyd get closer to the target of the secret operation he undertook and formed the family for.

But things go south when Anya accidentally gets imbroiled with the army and discovers their plan to undo the fragile peace between non-East Germany and non-West Germany…

It’s a fun time, but it could have been easily a 2 parts long special episode instead, very little feels “cinematic” until deep in the second act, but even in terms of animation quality there’s little (some brief dream sequences, mostly) that feels like this “needed” to be a movie.

Still quite cute and wholesome as is the series itself, but nothing really impressive either way.

Yuru Camp/Laid Back Camp Season 3 [FIRST IMPRESSIONS]

So, why are we doing a first impressions of the new season of Yuru Camp, a series i’ve covered extensively on here and one of my favourites of ever?

As in, i usually have the review when the season is over, but i was so pleased by the movie and so busy i forgot Season 3 was scheduled to come out, but as i remembered it being planned for a “winter release”…. i was surprised when a friend of mine told me the first episodes were out.

Then i remembered why i wasn’t as hyped as i would usually be, the fact the third season was not gonna be animated by C-Station, which is a yellow flag, and that it was gonna have a different director, Shin Tosaka, whom previously directed some episodes of many anime series (from Busou Shinki to some Beyblade series, and more recently The Slime Diaries, the spin-off of That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime) and some OVAs and ONAs.

Even before i made some research, it still was not a good sign, but i did watch the first 3 episodes (it’s streaming on Crunchyroll), after hearing of fans lamenting some issues, so here it goes.

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One Piece Pirate Warriors 4: Additional Episode 3- Path To The King Of Pirates PS4 [DLC REVIEW]

So here we are, the actual final piece of PW 4 DLC content that isn’t playable characters.

(i’m taking the educated guess of not expecting more content in any shape since there’s a digital Ultimate Edition package of all PW4 content on sale, and given TK’s track record, when they use/release the “Ultimate” edition of something means they’re done with a game)

(FIY, this isn’t the last time i will cover Pirate Warriors 4, i have a final impression/re-review/addendum in the works but i’m waiting to see if they plan to keep doing more Character Passes at a later date or not, i doubt so – see the above paragraph as to why – but then again Xenoverse 2 is still getting a lot of DLC content in a somewhat regular fashion, with no signs of stopping)

The final piece of the Special Log mode offers – alongside the final Soul Map that adds the advertised & expected batch of new skills to unlock and stats upgrades – what’s basically a post-game gauntlet of challenges.

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One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 – DLC Pack 6 PS4 [REVIEW]

So yeah, this is the final DLC characters batch for Pirate Warriors 4.

Almost can’t believe it.

“Almost” because people datamined the game and basically were able to learn beforehand with great accuracy what the new DLC characters would be, which is especially true for the final pack, Legends’ Dawn, one that indeed is dedicated to the old guard of One Piece big cheeses characters, with Gol D. Roger, his second-in-command Rayleigh and “younger Garp”.

In a way, Roger does feel weird to have a playable character this soon, i would have reserved him as a post-game unlock for Pirate Warriors 5, as in we barely even know bits of his moves and fighting style, but he has been a fan favourite and it will be at least 5 more years (if more, given PW 4 released in 2020) until we see the next PW installment, so yeah it kinda makes some sense.

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Godzilla GB [REVIEW] | Chibizilla Made A Maze

the lesser known but far funnier PAL cover of the game.

Yep, the one you might remember as part of the AVGN Godzilla episode, with the Godzilla chibi sprites, Puzzle Bubble-esque music, we’re doing this Godzilla game this Giant Monster March, because why not after downing shitty licensed affair such as – but not limited to – the PS3-PS4 Godzilla game?

Curiously, this isn’t an entirely random game, per sé, as this Game Boy title is actually a port of the MSX title Godzilla-kun by Compile (yes, the same company that would become Compile Heart and crank out Neptunia titles by the dozens), done by Compile themselves, and the game in turn was based on Godzilland’s merchandise line that had chibi versions of Big G and the various kaijus.

The only differences between the original japanese GB release and the localized American & European ones is the rescue target, as in the original japanese version various monsters kidnap Godzilla’s girlfriend, Bijira (which was apparently a thing), and the western one they kidnapped his son, Minilla, and trapped him in a maze.

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Dungeon Meshi/Dungeon Food/Delicious In Dungeon [ANIME FIRST IMPRESSIONS]

I feel like i’ve sang the praises of Ryoko Kui’s manga “Dungeon Meshi” before on these pages, but regardless, i’m gonna say it again, it’s one of the best goddamn manga series i’ve red in YEARS, it has a devoted following that just keeps growing, and i was super giddy to finally see the anime adaptation, even more as it’s handled by TRIGGER, peculiar choice of animation studio.

So here i am after watching the first 4 episodes (the series it’s streaming on Netflix), it’s more than enough to put down some first impressions.

But first, the premise, as the title clues you in but not completely.

In a high fantasy world, adventurers, merchants and all kinds of people are drawn to an unique, everchanging dungeon, and the protagonists party there finally manage to prep up and fight the elusive Red Dragon lurking in the inner depths of the dungeon.

They fumble it, and one of the magician, Falin, sacrifices herself to save the others, getting eaten by the dragon in the process. The party mostly dismantles, but the elf Marcille and the half-ling Chilchack remain alongside the paladin Laios, Falin’s brother, as he wants to head back into the dungeon immediatly and try to save Falin before she’s digested by the dragon.

Problem is, time is of the essence, so Laios improvizes a plan to avoid wasting precious time on gathering money for supplies and foodstuff: they’re gonna eat the monsters they defeat while exploring the dungeon. They are also joined by a peculiar dwarf living in the dungeon, Senshi, whom apparently has already experience in “monster cuisine”..

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One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 – Additional Episode 2: Koby’s Combat Chronicle PS4 [REVIEW]

Another episode/mini-mode, and this one too based around the new DLC characters included in the DLC character pack that released as the same time as the additional episode, this time around Coby/Koby, one of the older One Piece characters that’s also notable for its incredible glow up and comeback later in the series, and a demonstration of Oda’s amazing long game, where in most shonen mangas it would have been simply one of the first characters Luffy meets in his adventure, the kind that’s basically forgotten after it fulfills its purpose, and never, ever appears again.

As with the first one, the episode introduces the second Soul Map to further increase the characters stat beyond the previous cap, improve existing skills and unlock some new ones, which include stuff like buffing attack while your combo counter is high, or more unique ones like converting/consuming the coins you collects into health directly.

Where Yamato’s Adventure was a time attack mode that forced you to fight hard and fast so to keep the mission/adventure going and hopefully actually finishing instead of getting a time out, Koby’s Combat Chronicle is more a survival mode, where you undertake various missions as you can, with some special ones with more unique or new objectives, all on the same life bar.

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