Weekend Wall 4

Yes I know... I missed a week, but all the previous wallpapers were so good, you could do without another one for just one week. Hope it'll never happen again, but I can't promise anything...

This time it's a monkey! Oh noes! Another one for Funky Monkey I guess... Visit his blog!!! It's great fun!

Click image for full view

Titled Angel Yamazaru, kudos go to another deviant 0Effe0 an Italian with lots of creativity and talent! Thankies for this cute piece of art! Check more of his work HERE!

Save YouTube Vids

Mad cause you can't find a way to save your favourite video clips from YouTube and other similar sites with such embedded media? Thanks to the magic of the internet, I present you with the solution! The only thing you need to do is visit the page with the video you want to save, paste the address on the appropriate bar in KeepVid and download it! Simple as that! To try it click HERE!

Things to do before and things to remember :

1. First visit this site and download the FLV player. It's the player you 'll need to use in order for the videos to have playback on your PC. It's a small programm with extra options for anyone who has knowledge of video tweaking. It is free, but do feel free to donate to the creator if you find it useful.

2. Check that the video you just downloaded (even titled as get_video) has the .flv extension. It's the type of files these embedded videos come as. If not, simply change the name and add .flv at the end.

3. For those who would like to convert .flv into other video type files I recommend .mov. It worked fine with one I did try to convert, but as I'm clueless when it comes to conversions, if you know a way to do so easily and have any software to suggest please do so!

Bureaucracy sucks...

I would really like to take the opportunity and apologize to anyone who might care about my blog and its updates, my foremost goal was and is to make them regular and on specific dates (like the Top 3 Tunes and Weekend Wall) but I had been angsting a lot all week. This is not another one of my "presentation posts" as I like to call them, this is just a post on me as a person. I'm a really stressful guy and I feel that I'm being pulled from all directions these days. I have a thesis to begin, I've only gathered net info so far, I have as many as 3 papers to present till the end of April, another one which is due next week and one that is 200 pages long, and that's handwritten... So I wanted to start with what I thought would be the easiest thing of all these I've got to do: Go to the local bus agency and gather info for my thesis from there, info ranging from the simplest to the most detailed like specific financial data. No such luck. To think that I didn't go prepared would be wrong! I called 3 different people working there, from secretaries to members of the board and the idea I got was: "Come over to discuss with us and we 'll gladly give you what you need". Well, I did go, to the 5th floor, to the 3rd floor, back to the 5th and then... surprise! to the 4th. All I got was a blank A4 paper. Apparently, you need to fill in a request form. And they didn't even give me a proper request form! Only the blank, I repeat, A4 paper. Gentlemen, I've got a whole pack of A4 papers here in my room! Hundreds of them! To top all that, they weren't even disclosing info like with which advertising company they work. Gotta hate them bureaucrats... I think my head is about to burst open, my brains will become mush and I'll become a baldy much sooner than I thought (and that was in a year or so). How can I NOT be stressful??? Hope tomorrow's meeting with my thesis professor goes well... IF she hasn't forgotten about it... ¬_¬"

Top 3 Tunes (22-28.03)

Random order this week, though Juanes easily is No.1 since I even searched for the lyrics to sing along without any knowledge of Spanish whatsoever! Jason Mraz was recommended by Gina once again, thanks! ^_^ He kinda reminds me of Matchbox 20 tunes, a band which I love! Oh, I was listening to Vacuum's 1996 song I Breathe a lot too. I was reminded of it from a TV ad. Such a nice song! So here they are!

No.1 : Juanes - La Camisa Negra

No.2 : Jason Mraz - The Remedy (I Won't Worry)

No.3 : Vacuum - I Breathe

PeterPan - Mungkin Nanti

Here's the PV and the english translation of the song Mungkin nanti (meaning "Maybe later" in English). Once more thanks to Gina for sending me the song and the lyrics' translation!

I would just like to say
Maybe for the very last time
Just let go of everything
I guess this is the time
Maybe you've changed
Maybe the feeling is lost

Chorus:
Should we meet again
Please don't ask about the feelings that i left behind
About what we left behind

Leaving your dreams behind
Open your heart to the times we had together

Maybe you've changed
Maybe the feeling is lost

Chorus x 2

Don't you ask again
Just keep all your regrets with you
Just forget all the love you gave me

Top 3 Tunes (15-21.03)

Unfortunately I couldn't find any cover art for these songs except for my no.1 favourite this week, but it was so small I wouldn't bother putting it up. I really owe a HUGE THANK YOU to my friend Gina, who sent me this week's 1 and 2, songs which I haven't stopped listening to ever since I got them. Gina, next week I'll totally include the rest of the songs on my list! My ipod nano is infused with eastern tunes once more, but not Japanese as one might think. We've got PeterPan, an Indonesian band, really famous there and in Malaysia, Jason Lo, with a catchy english tune (yay people! You 'll at least be able to understand this one!) and a personal uplifting favourite, Henna, sample of which is heard during the opening of the show "Megalicious Chart Live" on greek channel MEGA. So, here are this week's faves! I'm sure you'll love them!

No.1 : PeterPan - Mungkin Nanti

No.2 : Jason Lo - Operator, The Line Is Dead

No.3 : Cameron Cartio feat Khalid - Henna

Onimusha : Dawn of Dreams

Peace lasted just fifteen years before Japan once again awoke to a blood-red dawn. The demons had returned and once again the Onimusha had to rise and fight together...

A new dawn, a new hero, a new enemy...

* Onimusha is back – the epic series returns in a new form with dramatic action sequences that see you battling in stunning, true three-dimensional arenas for the first time.
* Partner swapping system – choose from four heroes to partner Soki, the lead Onimusha, throughout the game. In battle, choose and control the two simultaneously, switching between them at any moment, for strategic advantage.
* Upgrade your heroes with new powers and weapons – each has their own strengths, weaknesses and fighting styles to discover and master.
* You can now rest between missions at the base camp, using the break in action to power up characters and obtain information from allies that will help with future missions. It is also possible to go back and retry previously cleared stages from the Camp – depending on the ally you choose, previously impassable barriers may open up the way to new items.

* Can you survive the new Tests of Valor? At certain locations within the game a Test of Valour mini-game will be triggered. The objective to each these tasks will be displayed on the screen before the mission starts and completion will earn you new and rare items…
* With a brand new graphics engine, Dawn of Dreams continues with the Onimusha tradition of outstanding graphics and pushes the PS2 to its limits.

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Presentation from the Capcom site. Screenshots taken from Eurogamer.

OK! I'm sold! I'm going downtown in a few hours and getting my hands on a copy of the fourth game in the Onimusha series. It came out just yesterday and for just €44,99 it's a bargain! With over 20 hours of gameplay and me being a fan of the series, I couldn't live without it :P

Weekend Wall 3

Another week out, well nearly, I've been sick since Sunday, staying inside all these days, and I CAN'T WAIT to get rid of this stupid week!

Click image for full view

smashmethod, with his wallpaper You Must Believe Me, creates a spooky cemetery scenery, but dresses it with a heartwarming pink sky. I really like the letters going round the... mysterious guy in the middle. An evoker maybe?

Find more of smashmethod's works here.

Brokeback Lego

Click image for full view

Just something I found online. Funny huh? Enjoy and feel free to comment! Ahhh... the sweet Lego memories! xD

Greek choice for Eurovision

Superstar of Greece, Anna Vissi, performed 4 different songs tonight, before an ecstatic audience.


First choice, after the voting of both a committee and viewers' "televoting", with a percentage of 47.79%, Everything, hopes to bring a second no.1 to Greece.

Lyrics were written by the world renowned artist Anna Vissi herself and music by Nikos Karvelas.

The other 3 songs, Welcome to the Party, Who Cares About Love, Beautiful Night, gathered 26.33, 13.72 and 12.16% of the votes respectively.

Like her T-shirt wrote, when she came out to perform the winning song, a soothing ballad, EURO VISSI ON!

Here are more info on this year's Eurovision Song Contest held in Athens, Greece and Anna Vissi.

Go Greece! o(^0^)o

Monkey Majik - Around the World PV

If you didn't already know, PV stands for "promotional video", basically the video clip which comes out with every hit single in Japan. Now, all you non-Japanese fans, don't worry!

Monkey Majik may be a band famous in Japan, but consists of Canadian brothers Maynard and Bliase and two Japanese artists tax and DICK. You won't hear any weird mixture of languages and accents and I'm really sure you 'll enjoy this song as much as I am enjoying it these weeks. Their PV is whacky and all this surrealism excites me as I'm sure you 've noticed already, so give it a click and see if I'm right or not on liking this clip and this song!



Care for more info on Monkey Majik? Their official site (in japanese) is here.

Top 3 Tunes (08-14.03)

This week's tunes include 2 monkeys and a singer whose song is featured in a videogame with jungles (maybe it will even include a monkey!). Coincidence? This reminds me of my friend Funky Monkey and his new blog! Check it out!

No.1 : Monkey Majik - Around the World


No.2 : Angela Aki - Kiss Me GoodBye (featured in Final Fantasy XII)


No.3 : Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor

Please take notice that these are simply songs that I particularly like these days and don't always follow any chart in particular whatsoever, though they all hold high positions in the japanese and UK charts.

Happy listening for yet another week! ^_^

Evil - "To kako"

"What the hell is going on in this f***ing city?" asks the poster. But you know what this means.

All hell breaks loose in Athens. Yeap, I didn't expect myself saying something like this any time at all. The "Evil" is spreading faster than the tickets for Athens' summer olympics were sold. Beware the flesh hungry walking dead, they lurk in every corner! In a particularly cult scene from this, the first ever Greek zombie movie, a bunch of zombies terrorize a traditional "greek taverna". In stills I've seen from the film, Athens never seemed more deserted. I'm not providing any stills of actual action scenes from it though, since they can really be shocking.

Expect a splatter movie of massive proportions, not in budget terms, but in a gore-fest kinda way. Blood and organs abundant. George Noussias' Evil (To Kako) first shocked the people of my own city, Thessaloniki, during last year's 46th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF) in November.

It's scheduled for a wide theatrical release in Greece this Thursday, March 16th.

According to Twitch, it will also have a North American premiere at the 15th Philadelphia Film Festival (PFF) on April 3rd at 5:00 p.m., and a subsequent screening on April 5th at 9:45 p.m. and April 8th at 5:15 p.m..

For more info, feel free to visit the official site! Beware! NOT for the faint of heart! Consider yourselves warned!

Utada Hikaru - Keep Tryin' PV

This one is for none other than Labb ^_^ Hope you like it little one! :) Oh ok and everyone who likes Utada Hikaru like I do! I fell in love with her music ever since I heard the opening to the original Kingdom Hearts "Hikari". So, this is her latest single's PV! Enjoy minna! :)

P.S. Something happened tonight online so this goes to all supposed friends: Thanks for acting like you did. I'm just glad I'm a better person. Whoever wants to ask me something, please feel free to do so and don't rely on insults. I'm straightforward you know...

Tsubasa Chronicle : Torikago no Kuni no Himegimi

The Princess of the Birdcage Country, is merely 30 minutes long, just a bit longer than a regular Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle anime episode. It ties in with the xxxholic movie as these two were screened together.



In this "episodic" movie, Syaoran, Sakura, Kurogane and Fye (and Mokona too) drop from the sky in a new country filled with forests and light, where every person has his own bird. The princess of this country is hiding from her evil uncle, who wants to consume everything in darkness.



I was never fond of the TRC anime in the first place, so this movie didn't really make any difference.




The plot is not seemless, leaving behind great gaps and bringing forth questions about the events unfolding and the motives behind each action. The animation quality is higher than most of the anime episodes, but seems quite inconsistent at points.



As you might have guessed, battling the darkness (in someone's heart) is the main message, a theme overused in anime. In my opinion, Kingdom Hearts, the video game, handles with this theme way better.

The anime series is already at 26 episodes and with the successful completion of its first season, another 26 episodes for the second season are scheduled to begin airing April 29th.

Weekend Wall 2

This is one of the best moonlit wallpapers I have found. It really makes your PC screen be doused in moonlight!

The girl looks like Princess Tomoyo from the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle anime. A post about the Tsubasa movie mentioned before will be up by tomorrow. Enjoy the great visuals this flowery scene has to offer and get lost in the melancholy of her eyes.

Click on image for full view!

P.S. I don't remember where I found this one, probably on hongfire again, although it says candy-chan in the bottom so.. kudos! ^_^"

xxxHolic : Manatsu no Yoru no Yume

The title translates to Midsummer Night's Dream, a new movie from CLAMP based on its famous xxxHolic manga.

The story goes as follows: A young girl, seemingly distraught, reaches witch Yuuko's house for help. She can't enter her old house, even though she has the key to it. In return for the help, she has to give something of the same value to Yuuko. In return, she, her trusted Watanuki, a young student with a sixth sense and Doumeki, his fellow classmate, with an ability to repel bad spirits although he can't see them, will go to investigate what's wrong with the mansion.

Once they set foot there, they find themselves among other guests, all of them collectors of sorts. Who is the host and what is wrong with the ever changing house? Will the trio be able to get to the bottom of this?

The movie was richly animated, though at times it felt the drawing style changed abruptly into something more surreal and dream-like. That's what I liked about the movie most. The trio's figures are rather tall and slim with elongated limbs, like the style from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.

In fact, the movie was screened together with the Tsubasa Chronicle Movie and coincides with it at some point. Also a must-hear, the ending song, Sanagi (meaning pupa, chrysalis), performed by Suga Shikao, has already grown on me.

The anime series based on the same manga, will begin airing in Japan April 7th. Make sure you don't miss it! Judging by this movie it will be mystifying and funny all the same.

Top 3 Tunes (01-07.03)

First week of March is near its end and I've single-picked my favourite tunes!

All of them are alternative or rock sounds this week. Wanted to choose songs from similar categories.


No.1 : Placebo - Song To Say Goodbye

Released just yesterday worldwide!
From their upcoming album Meds (out March 13th! For more info click here!)

No.2 : Stereophonics - Maybe Tomorrow

Taken from the 2003 album You Gotta Go There to Come Back, also in the Crash movie soundtrack!

No.3 : Hyde - Season's Call

Hyde is also a member of the famous Japanese-Rock band L'arc~en~ciel and this is his latest song, featured as an opening in the anime Blood+ and is currently no.1 in Japan according to the Oricon Weekly Single Chart.

Happy listening! ^_^

Crash

Crash... What can I say about this movie? We were awed by the amount of racism going round in America. Then we thought we could see ourselves in those people's situations. I mean, racism is all around us. A veil of protection we throw over ourselves, a garnet of spite, in order to survive. Because the world today is not a peaceful place. Not a paradise. Men and women of different backgrounds and origins, portrayed the real people out there, people we meet every day and scorn if they happen to have a different color. Come to think of it, it was a win for noticing and accepting the difference in others. Not everyone who's different is a criminal. Not everyone who speaks a different language is an enemy. Sometimes friends take the form of people we would never think of. It may not be our country club co-member, it may as well happen to be our gardener. This movie had me riding on the fast lane, lashing me with images I could relate with. All of us can. We don't have to make contact with others only when our cars collide. Highly entertaining as much as teaching.

It was a Crash course of endurance.

Oscar winners

The 78th Annual Academy Awards called curtain almost 2 hours ago. The whole world "Crash-ed" tonight. But first let's look at this year's winners in order of announcement:

Actor Supporting: George Clooney for Syriana
Visual Effects: King Kong
Animated Feature: Wallace & Grommit and the curse of the were-rabbit
Live Action Short: Six Shooter
Animated Short Film: The Moon and the Son: an imagined conversation
Costume Design: Memoirs of a Geisha
Makeup: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Actress Supporting: Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener
Documentary Short: A Note of Triumph
Documentary Feature: March of the Penguins
Art Direction: Memoirs of a Geisha
Original Score: Brokeback Mountain
Sound Mixing: King Kong
Honorary Oscar: Robert Altman
Original Song: "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from Hustle & Flow
Sound Editing: King Kong
Foreign Language Film: Tsotsi
Film Editing: Crash
Actor Leading: Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote
Cinematography: Memoirs of a Geisha
Actress Leading: Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line

Screenplay Adapted: Brokeback Mountain
Screenplay Original: Crash

Directing: Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain

Best Picture: Crash

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Yes... As you can see, all ended... with a bang. Crash, not a huge success in the box-office (honestly, not one of the movies nominated this year in the Best Picture category managed to gather the crowd of the ones in previous years), already on DVD around the world, won the night and snatched Brokeback Mountain its crown. There was this talk about Crash surprising everyone in the end and not letting, what fans of the notoriously credited as a "gay-western", Brokeback Mountain make a stand with its homosexuality theme.

I started the night binge-eating on pizza and burgers, drinking Coke and then stuffing myself with a delicious cheesecake made by my friend Zoe. Having time to kill, we had already rented Crash (coincidence? :P) and were astounded by its theme and performances.

Then we had fun watching the red carpet arrivals, where Felicity Huffman looked stunning (better luck next time Felicity I think you deserved to win, although Reese had to go through hoops to learn to talk with a different accent, sing and play a particular musical instrument), amazed at the appearance of none other than Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter and Jamie Foxx's sister.

Then... drumroll... it was time for the real thing. We had readied our printable ballots and marked our guesses for the wins. Not everything worked out as... planned. I mean who would have guessed some guys from... "the hood" would win the oscar for best song! It sure was catchy though!

By the end, I knew it wouldn't be the same movie winning best director AND best picture.

I had marked Paul Haggis and Brokeback Mountain. But it was Ang Lee and Crash.

SIMS 2 : Open for Business

March 3rd was the day this SIMS 2 expansion pack would have supposedly been released. I didn't see it in the stores on Friday though.

Last afternoon, I was wondering what could make me kill time before I went to the cinema (watched Capote, maybe I'll do a little review on that one after the Oscars tonight), but also make me have a fun time. My sisters were in the living room playing The Sims on PS2, whining 'cause their Sim lost her job after skipping work for the second time in a row and how now they should start over from the beginning since they saved the game on the second day of skipping work. So it was Game Over, over and over again...

Then it struck me...

After formatting my PC some months ago, I hadn't thought of installing The Sims 2 on it again before summer. This game is so time-consuming and "alluring" that I need to be taken away in a straightjacket! What better way to spend 3 hours of my life! Well almost 1h was spent on installing the game from the 4 CDs, downloading and installing the patch for the original game, installing the University expansion pack and doing the same for its patch. Then I created my mother and sisters, or at least close counterparts of them, because only once have I strained myself enough to sit down and tweak every single detail to get the Sim to look almost identical to a person. Used the motherlode cheat, gathered Simoleons to move to a better house and quit after saving my progress.

This whole process got me so much involved in the "Sim creating" routine, I wanted to go out and buy the two expansion packs I'm missing. Nightlife and Open for Business. I was even thinking of spending my precious euro (instead of easily "earned" simoleons) on the Holiday Pack for holiday decorations and paraphernalia... Yes... I must admit it... I AM THAT crazy...

Oh well, to my disappointment, there was only the DVD version of the SIMS 2 original game on the shelves. No traces of any expansion. When I go shop crazy, I get furious if I don't find what I intended to buy in the first place. I'm now hoping to perform my "big-spender" move on Tuesday, since here in Greece, tomorrow's a holiday. This makes me wonder when a holiday expansion pack will come out like in the original SIMS game...

Open for business will let your slacker of a Sim (don't tell me you play this game without the money cheat!) create his own "thriving" (? you' re the boss!) business. It can be a lemonade stand (for the younger ones), a boutique, beauty salon, shops, delis and bakeries! Plus many more if you 've got the brains for business. Hire and train employees, promote or fire them. Help customers and make your name famous in the neighbourhood. Hone your skills and make a fortune while turning your "hobby" into a profit-geyser! There's a multitude of things one can do in each SIMS game PLUS with 125 new items it will never be the same again!

I know what I'm gonna do with it! Cheat my way into the industry and become the best. Plus create a new and improved adobe for my very own look-alike Sim! The days should start having 48 hours instead of 24! There's not enough time!

Weekend Wall

I chose to post some of my favourite wallpapers I find online from time to time, with links to their full version. So if you like them, they 're a click away ^_^

This week's favourite is Serenity. Kudos to whatsfoolycooly on hongfire.com! Great work! (or find!) Anyways, its a great scene and it has remained my wallpaper for the longest time ever!


Click on image for full view!

Transamerica

"Bree, a pre-operative, male-to-female transsexual, holds down two jobs and saves every penny so that she can pay for one last operation that will make her a woman at last. One day, however, she receives a strange phone call. It appears that on the other side is Toby, apparently her son, who must be the product of a somewhat clumsy sexual encounter years ago when she was a man. He stays in New York, incarcerated. Bree flies from Los Angeles to New York in order to get the boy out of jail. At first she is reluctant to do so, but her therapist convinces her to face up to her past. The boy is handed over to her without a word of explanation and Toby believes the woman to be some Christian missionary determined to convert reprobates to Jesus; Bree sees no reason to clear up the misunderstanding. However, she finds out that the boy just wants to escape from her and hitchhike to Los Angeles. She persuades him to accompany her back to the west coast, secretly planning to leave him at his stepfather's along the way. Toby is happy to take her up on her offer." Summary written by Shemek on imdb

I watched this movie last night. Felicity Huffman, of the Desperate Housewives fame, already with SAG and Emmy Awards for her work on that show, shatters the image of the series-actor, making another outstanding performance in Transamerica. Although Reese Witherspoon is said to be the most likeable to win the Oscar, I'll be rooting for Huffman. She did win the Golden Globe for this movie.

Along the film, with all the situations she had to go through physically and mentally, I could totally connect with her character and feel Bree's pain. To tell you the truth, it was excruciating at some point. I rarely break a tear in movies, but I cried rivers at one particular scene.

Not saying that Bree as a character is likeable and an all around good person, she is sneaky and secretive around her son on purpose and puts her own ideals above everything else. She's selfish alright, but when she meets her parents at one point in the movie, you feel how much rejection a person like Bree has suffered through the years.

The movie has been nominated for 2 Oscars, one for Huffman as a Leading Actress, the other for Dolly Parton's song "Travelin' Thru" and has gathered another 10 wins & 9 nominations!

One tagline says it all: "Life is a journey. Bring an open mind." Do so and enjoy a great performance in a low budget road movie about love, rejection and finding one's true self.

Hellsing Ultimate OVA 1

Speaking of the Disgaea anime (see post below), I just finished watching another anime. Hellsing Ultimate, a new OVA series produced by Geneon, re-introduces Alucard to the world. Who is Alucard you say? An all powerful vampire, tamed centuries ago by an occult organization called Hellsing. The organization's trump card, as he is referred, awakens after years of slumber, when Integra Wingates Hellsing, later to become the organization's strict director, bumps onto him while hunted down by her own uncle, who wants the organization for himself after Integra's father dies. Fast-forward a few years and England is plagued by vampires and a horde of their once human underlings, ghouls. The Hellsing Organization is there to help take care of trouble, moving all over the country dispatching Alucard to do their dirty work.

In an english village is where this story continues, a village which has its very own vampire posing as a priest, having already "turned" almost all non-virgin people into foul ghouls. Having vampiric abilities such as regeneration, sharp eyesight and swift moves, Alucard makes dust of all the ghouls with his special bullets, although they shot him like there's no tomorrow. Soon, he comes to face the real threat, but the village's vampire captures a still human policegirl hostage. He uses her as a human shield, but Alucard doesn't waste enough time to shoot right through her and dispose of the badguy. He did ask her if she was virgin though *giggle* :P She starts having hallucinations while on the brink of death, but Alucard bites her and turns her into a "Draculina". This only works on virgins, that's why he asked her such a thing ;)

The girl wakes up in a room and learns the truth about her new "draculian" nature. She's accepted in the organization and soon teams with her now "Master" Alucard, to go kill some other vampire weaklings. Her master informs her of her newly acquired abilities and she proves to be quite capable for a rookie in the field of vampire killing. Word of mouth spreads accross the country and around the world and the Vatican realizes they have a new competitor for the crown of vampire killers. The Hellsing Organization.

Alexander Anderson, "paladin" of the top-secret organization "Iscariot", Section 13 of the Vatican, wants to show them there's no need for others in this game, even more so when these others are "monsters" like the ones the Vatican has been hunting down all this time. We learn that Anderson has underwent some sort of modification and Alucard realizes he is a "Regenerator". He even calls him a freak of nature! LOL! Decapitating Alucard after stabbing through his "sidekick" the policegirl with holy bayonets, Anderson seems all powerful.

Sir Integra herself, decides to go help her team from being exterminated and confront the "paladin". In the mean time, the girl had tried to take her master's head and escape, but the whole place has been "holy-barriered" by Anderson. Soon the head itself speaks to her: "Drink my blood and become a true vampire, Seras Victoria. Sign this unholy contract." (or something along these lines). The director of Hellsing arrives at the last minute and at the same time they all witness Alucard's remarkable regeneration ability, reconstructing his whole body and shooting at Anderson. The latter makes his escape in a flutter of pages from what looks like a Bible, disappearing.

Alucard asks Seras why she didn't drink his blood and she says she thought something would end if she had done such a thing. Hmmm, makes you wonder what, right? Then Integra asks her loyal Alucard why he saved the girl in the first place. He says it was something other than lust or loneliness. "Sentimentality, huh?" wonders Integra, as Seras runs after her Master. He doesn't call her by her name saying someone like her is only a policegirl to him. Ouch... Then the moon is shown in the beautiful night followed by a mysterious dark figure with glasses and a demonic smile saying: "Gentlemen, let us continue with our plan. For war. For the next war. For the war thereafter. " Rather inviting for the second OVA, don't you think?

This new Hellsing anime adaptation is closer to the original manga by Kouta Hirano, unlike the changes made to the 13 episodes series by Gonzo in 2001. There are rumors that the manga's prequel, still being written by Hirano and titled The Dawn, will also make it to the OVA series. The next OVA is out April 5th and for more info you can go to the official Geneon site by clicking here.

The Disgaea Universe

First there was Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, where you guided the demon prince Laharl and company, through stages filled with quirky monsters and other demons, in order for him to take his rightful place on the throne after his father's death. Get ready to immerse in a whole new "Netherworld", together with Etna, his... trusted servant, a huge array of extras (it does feel like a movie, since each stage is referred to as a Chapter with greatly scripted fun dialogues) and an angel hell-bent on stopping our hero! All these, plus more than 40 hours of gameplay, made Makai Senki Disgaea, as is its original Japanese title, a huge success in the East. Interesting enough, the game did sell pretty good in the US market as well, and in 2004 found its way to Europe. That's when I grabbed myself a copy, since I wanted to know what all this hype was for. The magical world of Disgaea won me over and soon I was obsessed with creating a whole army of demon subordinates of every class imaginable, in order to help my Laharl in his quest. The battle and character creation system take a bit of time getting used to, mainly due to their originality, but this strategy-RPG is sure worth your time!

Such a success wouldn't be without its own spawn of spin-off titles. Thus, Nippon Ichi, the developers of the original, continued their trend in original strategy game-making, with Phantom Brave and Makai Kingdom. Although I have the first, it's gathering dust... Don't blame me! I haven't found the time to play yet another engaging game such as Disgaea.

Me being an anime freak that I am, I was in a whole new world of excitement when I found out Makai Senki Disgaea the anime is almost ready for the Japanese audience! Spanning across 12 episodes, it's based entirely on the first game as the bonus DVD released a few days ago indicates. First episode is stated to air April 5th on Chiba TV (info from anidb.net). Of course it was soon to happen, since all big gaming franchises are turned to anime and vice-versa, even more so when they look, sound and feel like one throughout gameplay!

But that's not all! Fans of Disgaea rejoice! Disgaea 2, now out in Japan, is making its way to the states in August! Unfortunately, there is not a European release date yet. The surprise is that the main characters of the original game, will be taking supporting roles, giving the lead to Adel, a 17 year old boy from the world of Valdime. This world of his has been cursed by the Demon Lord Zenon and all its people turned to demons! The mysteriously single unaffected, Adel, growing more in strenght each day, sets out to revenge his family turning to demons, banish this curse off his land and defeat the Demon Lord. Not without help, as Rosalind, Zenon's own daughter, mistakenly summoned by Adel's mother, will accompany him in this new adventure. Expect more of the awesome gameplay and humor, as well as newly introduced characters and innovations. More info on the game in the official website (in japanese)! Oh yes! Of course expect the return of the zombie-penguins! Prinny team, GO!

Don't forget!

The original Disgaea game is out round the world since 2004!
Makai Senki Disgaea anime starts in April! So tune in anime fans!
Disgaea 2 out August 2006 in the US. Out in Japan NOW!