Pressure Cooker

This weekend I'll be locking myself in The Sanctum and doing a sprint to finish my art chores for Siglo Passion. I've been putting it aside because of other matters for far too long. It's do or die for two days to finish all the remaining pencils, inks, colors and lettering. Well, I work best under pressure, I've always said. Here's a chance to put my money where my mouth is. I finish it all this weekend or I don't finish it at all.

I will, of course. Promise.

Dot's Entertainment


Mmm... many colors...

For the longest time I thought that Dippin' Dots was just your regular ice cream with candy sprinkles or whatever. Well, I was wrong of course. It took an episode of Oprah for me to find out that the 'dots' are actually individual ice cream scoops/spheres that have gone through a super-freezing process. So it's pretty cool to have this cup of dots and see the little things stick to your spoon and feel them roll in your mouth. The flavors are interesting, and apparently you can pick several flavors to put in your cup. It's an interesting take on your usual ice cream.
However, it's a bit pricey, but I guess it's a nice treat every now and then. Or something for someone who loves cute things in their mouths. Heh.

Bodyguard

That's what I look like today, since we all have to get dressed up formal for the arrival of a VIP at the workplace. So, break out the barongs and shine those shoes! Well, at least I'm wearing my new DMs, so that's fine. The black pants are kinda iffy, but I'd rather wear them now that have to lug them around until the big hooplah tonight. I gotta put myself in a mingling mood for tonight. Heh.

My Kind of Game

Evil Genius by Vivendi Universal is one of the hottest upcoming games on the PC right now. The premise is simply awesome; you don the white lab coat and monicle of an underworld mastermind, ready to take over this little mudball with your armies of thugs, sleazy femme fatales, crazed hitmen and the weirdest schemes this side of Dr. Drakken. Yep, you get the play the evil genius, via a hilarious RTS/Strategy game. Though this kind of twisted anti-hero theme isn't totally new- Dungeon Keeper had you as the master of a dark stronghold, breeding goblins and demons as you strive to do away with any party of adventurers and goody-goody knights that come wandering in. But the novel theme of being a James Bond-esque baddie is so choice... finally, we can all live out our megalomaniacal fantasies as our own image of Ernst Stavros Blofeld and SPECTRE... and this time, YOU get to torture 00's to your pleasure. Mehehehehehe.... MMmmm... I wonder if this game comes with laser-beam equipped man-eating sharks? HOHO...

Band of Brothers videogame


Retake German-occupied Carentan in the amazing WWII FPS, Brothers In Arms.

Last night, before turning in I decided to take a look at the free dvd included with the latest Official Xbox Magazine. I looked at the only feature on the disc I haven't seen yet- a demo video on Brothers In Arms. Now, I am the first person to say that I really am not a fan of first-person shooters, but the BIA demo simply blew me away.

If you are one of the many who watched and gaped at the gritty, realistic and gripping action in the World War II era HBO mini-series, Band of Brothers, you may like this game. It's a FPS set in Europe during the Normandy Landing, specifically in the City of Carentan. In the Band of Brothers series, Easy Company participated in the taking of this strategic town... but in Brothers In Arms, you don't have a whole batallion at your disposal. The game is a squad-based shooter, with you at the helm of two fire-teams; crack American GIs who are tasked with taking back Carentan from the Germans, one house at a time if need be.
Aside from controlling your own personal character, Major Baker, you will also be responsible for six other soldiers- the members of your two assault teams. If the prospect of having to control multiple characters in the thick of a firefight with Nazi stormtroopers sounds like a nightmare, take heart; your boys aren't stupid, and have enough A.I. and army tactics training to take care of themselves for the most part, seeking cover wherever it is available, shooting at enemy soldiers and giving each other covering fire. All it takes are simple commands for you to deploy your men into various positions.

I watched the video, often with open-mouthed amazement at the detail, the incredible sound effects, and the realistic action being portrayed onscreen. I watch as the programmers move their men to flank a group of well-dug in Germans, laboring to fight their way to a bombed-out house with a machine gun nest on the second floor. An improperly-covered street crossing results in a stinging death of one fire team member, but the GIs take out Nazis in vengeance. The team leader himself, controlled by the player, is finally able to get to the back of the house after taking out several more nazis in a cool firefight. But again, an ill-advised decision. Instead of taking an easy shot and killing the nazi machinegunner on the second floor from afar, the player sends in his two GI buddies to storm the house. Both team members are killed trying to get up the stairs. The player finally brings down the enemy but the cost is far too high.
Once in control of the machine gun, it seems all done deal as Krauts fall to the withering automatic fire. But suddenly, a German tank rolls in through the wall of a nearby farm, and more GIs begin to fall. The armored Panzer directs it's fire to atop the house and suddenly, abruptly, everything turns red...

DAMN. That was incredible. The graphics, the sound, the gameplay... It was like something out of Band of Brothers. And it was a GAME. But little wonder- the team, Gearbox Software, spent a lot of effort to capture the actual sights and sounds of World War II Carentan, down to the streets and houses and layouts of the many battle arenas. They even have a retired veteran on their staff! This game really seems to look, feel and sound authentic, and I am intrigued.

The last time I felt like this was during my first time playing the classic Medal of Honor for the old PSOne. I'll see about getting myself a copy of Brothers In Arms when the game ships this October. Some good ol' fashioned guy-action to go with the DOA girls on the Xbox. Heh.

Mega Phone Lust


My future phone: The Sony Ericsson P910.

Yet again, phonelust rears its ugly head. An officemate of mine got himself a spiffy new P900, and it's the first time I really got to look at the model up close. Of course, there's no way in the world that I am replacing my 7610 with the P900... the memory is much too small- it only supports Memory Stick Duo, which has a max capacity of 128 MB. But I have to say I love the HUGE screen. It makes it a natural wonder to play my fave Symbian app, Smartmovie on. Even just videos recorded with the P900 look a lot better, and can be viewed fullscreen at any time.
Well, while the P900 is not tempting me, its upcoming predecessor IS. The Sony Ericsson P910 is the smartphone's successor; a slight hardware and software-upgraded model which is basically a P900 with a much better screen (262K as opposed to the 65K of the P900), added QWERTY keyboard and best of all, upgraded memory capacity. The P910 has about 96 MB combined onboard memory, and it is compatible with Memory Stick PRO, which has capacities reaching into the 1 Gigabyte or more capacities. A GIG of data space. DAAMNN!!! That's a whole lot of videos, music, pictures and data to carry with you.
Just think. 1000 MB means literally dozens of anime episodes anytime, anywhere. The whole LOTR trilogy could fit with tons of space to spare. Whole seasons worth of entertainment in your pocket. Hours of trailers and game videos. Countless PORN. Heh.

And it's coming. The P910 is slated to come to Philippine phone shops by next month or so from the official source, Sony Ericsson. I am not sure, but rumors have already been spreading of local P910 sightings already (and some bigshots at the Telecom companies probably already have it by now). Well, I haven't seen any yet in the ol' haunts. Not yet.
But really, it's not like I can buy one at the drop of a hat... It's bound to come at an UNHOLY price, and the price of a 1 Gigabyte Memory Stick won't be something easy to swallow, either. Especially when I have projects like K.I.A. and Angel Ace in the works. No, this is something that I have to dream about for the time being, but I'm almost certain that if I change phones again, it'll be for this monster.

If and when I have the means... we'll see. Mmmm....

The Art of Anticipation

What's often a lot better than movies? The trailers, of course.

Sometimes, or more often than not, watching these slickly edited spots entertains us in the several minutes they appear than the hour and a half of the actual movie. It's funny to look at the early movie spots and see that it wasn't always like this... good trailers didn't really start appearing until the nineties (I think), and it really took off with the magnificent trailer to the Stallone movie, Cliffhanger.
The Cliffhanger spot was, and I believe still is, the benchmark for trailer magnificence. It was also the first film, I believe, to start the style of setting the trailer to the tune of classical music or orchestral scores.
Set to such epic music, we were treated to a hodgepodge of cuts showing the story of Walker (Sylvester Stallone at his 90s best), a rugged mountaineering expert as he has to battle what appears to be a gang of hi-tech thieves led by Qualen (John Lithgow, years and years before he shrinks to play Lord Farquaad in Shrek). The images are spectacular and intense- life and death battles, heroes running amidst hails of gunfire, helicopters crashing, thugs approaching menacingly and death-defying leaps into seeming oblivion. DAMN. After watching the CF trailer, how could you NOT want to watch this film?

Well, in the end the trailer WAS a lot better than the actual film... while Cliffhanger wasn't a horrible film in any case, it paled in comparison to the spot that preceded it. Perhaps the trailer was TOO good.

These days, epic movie commercials come one after the other. The last great trailers I've seen were ALL from the Lord of the Ring flicks. Lots of poseurs and wannabee epics in between. Maybe someday someone will revolutionize how trailers are made again. Or maybe not.

If you don't remember the greatness that was the Cliffhanger trailer, you can download the whole thing here. It's pretty big, but worth revisiting to get the ol' blood pumping again. Heh.

Scares Sell

Incredibly enough, the campy "Horror-reality" TV show Nginiig: The Hidden Files is now available on VCD. It seems that this show has proven to be a hit to Pinoys, having apparently found the niche of providing Filipinos with creepy scares every week. Despite the thoroughly irritating interface with teen-star hosts and hokey psychics, Nginiig shows off creepy vignettes of hauntings which are actually quite well done in terms of production values- a step above the classic Magandang Gabi, Bayan Halloween Specials I used to wait for every year.
Which brings me to a bit of an epiphany. Scares sell... I wonder if it would be cool to have a scary manga series? Something like the Ghosts At School anime on Animax. What comes to mind first is my old, old, old unpublished title, Smoke and Mirrors, which was about an eccentric and beautiful psychic and her new assistant as they hunt supernatural cases. Another possibility is to just continue doing Nikki Alfar's K.C. Strange, our already-published street-smart detective and mystic. Or maybe, I should just do something totally new.

Well, whatever. We'll see what we can do after I tidy up my plate.

Wandering with Anime


Quirky animated samurai action.

I posted about this short but cool series before, and have recently rediscovered it for conversion to portable viewing. Tsukikage Ran, or Wandering with the Wind, is a 13-episode samurai action anime starring a duo of mismatched but formidable heroines. Ran is a female samurai- beautiful and inexplicably invincible with the katana, and about as alcoholic as they come. She basically just seems to travel aimlessly throughout ancient Japan, with little more than her sword and unquenchable thirst for sake in her possession. Trailing this mysterious warrior woman is Myao, a young girl and expert in the Cat Style of Kung Fu. Thoroughly talkative, inquisitive and impulsive, Myao strikes up a more or less one-sided friendship with Ran at the start of the series, but eventually the stoic samurai woman livens up to her since she usually has money to spend.
The series is basically an animated version of samurai dramas popular in Japan- one shot episodes that basically has Ran and Myao getting involved in some evil plot or oppression. The show invariably ends with the two femme fatales thoroughly kicking butt and cleaning house.
Despite having anb old-style look to it, Tsukikage Ran is surprisingly well-animated, with the action-packed finales of each episode showcasing the heroines' individual fighting styles excellently- Ran with her lightning-quick killer slashes and samurai stances, and Myao with her super-quick acrobatic Cat-Fu.

The series doesn't seem to have any far-reaching plot, nor does it try to explain much of Ran and Myao's motivations. As the title says, they're pretty much just going with the flow, letting themselves go wherever the wind blows. But when it comes to exterminating some baddies, nobody dispenses justice quite like these two. Tsukikage Ran is a nice, understated but surprisingly cool show to catch every now and then... light and quirky anime action that's fresh as a breeze when the time is right.

Spent

Right after lunch, instead of lolling aroung luxuriously in The Sanctum, I had to dress up so I could go with my sister and her kids. I had to have my PC fixed since it conked out a few days ago, apparently having a broken fuse or power supply. The PC is still my media center and art workstation, so I can't let it stay broken for long.
So I got to Greenhills at a relatively early time. The repairs cost about 1K, so it wasn't too bad... though I have to get an AVR unit to prevent my fuse from shorting out again. And maybe a new extension cord since the old one's acting iffy. Nothing really new at the Black Market... no sign of the Inu Yasha finale yet, or any new games of note. But I DID get Cold Mountain on DVD for my mom.

Anyway, I got doused a bit by rain, which is pretty irritating since we had THREE umbrellas in the car, and me and the driver didn't bring a single one since it didn't look like rain. Funny... usually the downpours start late in the afternoon. I have a suspicion that the rain just came early to annoy me. Bah.

Anyway, the PC should be fixed and I should be doing pages for Siglo: Passion tomorrow. The Cable TV's on the fritz- totally horrible signal because of some repairs being done... I hope it doesn't last too long. I missed my Detective School Q!!! DARN!!!

Oh well. The night's young. Let's see what I can do with the remainder of this day.

Revision of the Jedi


The revised ending in the just-released Star Wars DVDs has Hayden Christensen's younger Anakin replacing the older version played by actor Sebastian Shaw. HOLY revisionist, Batman!

I'm no stranger to revisions. I've personally revised my own comics project, Angel Ace at LEAST four or five times. And of course, the more recent Angel Ace Again comics are a remake of the original Angel Ace story. But I operated under the anime/manga principle of having a different take on the same characters for different medium- If Angel Ace the original issues were the OAVs, the Again books are the TV series adventures of Angela Gale and friends.
Well, it seems that George Lucas himself is quite the re-writer of cinema. But for him, it's not a remake as much as it is a correction. With the magic of digital retouching and CG, Lucas has gone out of his way to change the the original Star Wars Trilogies to fit with the more recent SW prequels. Purists and fans of the original films will scream bloody murder and FOUL, but the deed is done. Fortunately, aside from restoring much of the glory of the old films, the actual changes aren't as pervasive and numerous as once feared.

1. There are Gungans cheering on Coruscant once the Empire is defeated. "Weesa Free! Weesa Free!"

2. Temeura Morrison's voice is now given to Boba Fett, although we never see his face in the original trilogy, as should be.

3. Ian McDiarmid now replaces the old Emperor (said to be the biggest change).

4. A new Jabba the Hut replaces the awkward 1997 version

5. Luke Skywalker's girly scream is removed from the scene where he jumps off from Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back.

6. And, of course, actor Sebastian Shaw (The Black King?) is replaced in the ending by Hayden Christensen, though gladly he still retains his scene as the aging Darth Vader (sans eyebrows).

There are lots more changes and little details throughout. Why the young Anakin in the ending? Is it because the Jedi keep their forms once they die AS Jedi? So Darth Vader gets to be young and virile in the afterlife while Obi Wan stays Alec Guinness old. Is that fair? Hmmm.
I really can't say what I feel about the changes. On the one hand, it's pretty creepy how Lucas can just do that, changing stuff for his whims- Well, it's HIS anyway and he has the frickin' millions to spend on it. On the other hand though, it's making the saga new and updated to the next generation. All I can say is, hold on to those old Star Wars VHS and DVDs of the original films if you want your version true to the original.

Well, at least Lucas didn't update the Obi-Wan and Darth Vader fight in New Hope new acrobatic moves, as we feared he would. Heheh.

Info and News from Ain't It Cool

Never Final


Vincent gets to shine in his own game...

If you thought the upcoming Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is the last word in the FF7 franchise, you're dead wrong. There's a lot of life brewing in Square's most beloved FF world aside from the sequel movie to the PS classic. In the pipes is a cellphone-based game called Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis, which puts players in the boots and suits of members of The Turks, the feared hatchetmen of the powerful Shinra Electric Power Company. Players actually form a network and can aid each other through play with their cellphones, battling monsters and going on operations just like in an action RPG. This game was first supposed to be for Japan only, but it has now been approved for release in the US and other countries. Will it reach here in the Philippines? Who knows.
Another release in the FF7 vein is Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, a game that will star the popular character Vincent Valentine, former Turk-turned shapechanging superbeing/gunner. It's not yet known what the game is all about, or even how it's going to play. But it will surely be something to look at once FF7 fever hits again with the release of Advent Children.

Eyes Wide Shut

Just a scant couple of years ago, all I had to give me information about upcoming things like movies, comics and videogames were magazines, which came loaded with news and stuff that's at LEAST a month or so late in itself (that's the reality of print). These days, when I need to find out the latest developments with my interests, all I have to do is surf online and I can literally see the up-to-the-minute latest developments in the thing I'm looking for, thanks to BBS Groups, Forums and Special Interest Websites.
The CRAPPY thing is, you now actually FEEL every single SECOND and HOUR and DAY of waiting. And when you wait, things happen. For example, I'm waiting for the next Dead or Alive game, Dead or Alive Ultimate, and it's SUPPOSED to come out in a couple of weeks. Then someone on the message boards posts that the game's going to be delayed a month. No proof, no official confirmation... just some asshole posting that some guy in some company told him so and so. And NOW, everyone's getting antsy and worried about a possible delay. Including ME!!! AAAARRRGHHHH...

It's a double-edged sword, this age of hi-speed communications and world-wide networks. We learn about stuff faster, quicker and deeper. But we still have to wait and wait and sweat it out all the same. In fact, we sweat it out more these days. That's the price of knowledge... paranoia and obsession. Darn. I should just keep myself busy with stuff and just lay off the lurking and the surfing... it's not like I don't have tons of stuff to do. Sigh.

The world may have gotten smaller, but it still turns just as slow. Heh.

Second Run

I picked up the second trade paperback of the acclaimed Runaways comic by Marvel last night. The title is all about a group of super-powered teens who find out one night that their parents are super villains. The ensuing chase, the development of their powers and relationships, the uncovering of their folks' true intentions and the possibility of a traitor in their midst makes this title one of the more sought-after books these days.
Unfortunately, like a growing bunch of other recently-purchased comics, it will have to go on the waiting list while I try to sort out my schedule. I've got a deadline tighter than a pair of shrunk-to-fit jeans looming on me, and I think I have to break out the adrenaline syringe to get myself cracking on it. Now THAT'S going to be a run...

The Death of 2-D?

Capcom calls quits on 2-D fighters
Noritaka Funamizu, the creator of Capcom's legendary 2D fighting series Street Fighter has left Capcom to begin his own games studio. Funamizu's credits also include recent Capcom classics such as Resident Evil Outbreak and Monster Hunter, but it seems that the 2D fighting scene is where he belongs.
Capcom announced that after Capcom Fighting Jam they will not produce any more 2D fighting games, and perhaps it is this which has led for Funamizu to decide to leave. Currently, his new company Craft and Meister have no games in development, and are looking for more recruits. It'll be interesting to see what they produce.
Source: NewsOr

Now THIS is a downer. Even in these days of 3-D games and lifelike polygons, there will always be a certain mystique and grace to 2-D, sprite-based characters. And no other 2-D fighter is as great as the Street Fighter games. If this news item is true, then I guess Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike was IT. It's sad to think that there may not be a Street Fighter 4 in the near future, but who knows? SNK-Playmore is still around as a 2-D games advocate, but without Capcom it just isn't the same. But if there's anything sure about the videogaming world, it's the fact that nothing is for sure. I'm hoping for more 2-D shoryukens somehow, someday.

But give me a my Ibuki in 3-D and I'll be happy as a clam. heh.

Black and White and Yellow and Red


YES, it's Sin City. YES, it's Jessica Alba.

Ever since comic books started becoming movies, I always thought that somehow, someway despite the change in medium there are things that the film version should not compromise. That's why movies like the X-Men films, Daredevil and the upcoming Elektra movie come up way too short for the hardcore comic geek in me. The LOOK. YES, Cyclops, we WANT to see yellow spandex. Where is the DAMN red ninja costume? If you're not going to capture the look and feel of a comic, why even take from the comic at all?
Well, it seems at least that comic fans will soon be seeing a graphic novel jump out at them seemingly from page to celluloid without much change, at least in visual style and graphic punch. I just watched the first footage from the upcoming Sin City translation, and it... looks... brilliant. Black and white for most (except when the Yellow Bastard or the Lady in Red appears), the film looks to be a VERY faithful recreation of the series of graphic novels... and it SHOULD, seeing as how Frank Miller (master of Sin City himself) is on board with director Robert Rodriguez to bring the blood-spattered, leather-bound, bullet-riddled, black-and-white stories of crime and passion to onscreen life. I haven't read much of the series, but I know of it, and now I just may get into it.

Check out a glimpse into the comic-book crimeworld of Sin City here in this Comic Con Promo and revel in the starkness of glorious MP4 (So grab the latest Quicktime before you try). Man, this is going to be something to look forward to.

Xbox Under Fire

Last night I acquired a copy of Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders for the Xbox. Whereas the original KUF was a mediocre and unbalanced fantasy RTS and Warhammer clone, the xbox game looks pretty special. Instead of the usual god's eye view, you're much closer to your units, and you control heroes and major fighters surrounded by their troops as they march into battle. The graphics are pretty amazing, with detailed character models despite having to show literally dozens of warriors onscreen, making for some spectacular battles between dark elves, knights and orcs. It's sort of like the Dynasty Warriors games, but with a fantasy twist and an RTS sensibility. So far, I haven't been able to wage any campaigns yet, but I'll post comments once I conquer a few kingdoms.

Farewell


Will there be a happy ending someday for these two? For now, a happy status quo will have to suffice.

Today, the final episodes of the Inu Yasha anime were shown in Japan. The one-hour special, The Bond Between the Two, Using the Shard of Shikon, ends the anime run, though the actual saga of the half-dog demon, half human warrior, the girl from the present and their allies is not yet over. Naraku and his spawn are still out there, and the final battle is still to be fought.
The IY manga itself is still running, and winding down as well to the finale. There's still a great possibility, if not a certainty, that the anime will continue in some shape or form someday. It's been a great run, and I can easily say that the Inu Yasha anime's quality has been excellent from beginning to end- 167 episodes, and all great. Take a bow, dog-boy and company. It's been great.

Tekken the Motion Picture

Another retro anime I found on the DVD bins is Tekken: The Motion Picture. This came out years ago, during the prime of the videogame's popularity, and I hate to say it but it really didn't do much good for the franchise. The overall quality is iffy, about the same level as the lamentable Tekken Forever comics that came and went with a whimper. The anime version takes the basic Tekken story of fighter Kazuya Mishima (He of the HEAVY eyebrows) seeking revenge on his billionaire father Heihachi, for throwing him off a cliff when he was a boy. The venue for the whole story is a remote island where fighters vying for the billion-dollar prize battle until the lone survivor emerges to face Heihachi himself in a final duel.
Tekken 2 character Jun Kazama is a nature lover and environmentalist/secret agent working with an international agency tracking down the Mishima Zaibatsu's evil plots. When they detect some traces of forbidden genetic engineering back to Mishima, they send Jun and a cocky kung fu cop Lei Wulong (another Tekken 2 veteran) to join the fighting tournament. Jun's main motivation in joining though is finding Kazuya, whom she met as a child, and steering him away from killing his father in cold blood- and falling to the DARK SIDE.

You really have to watch the ENGLISH DUB to fully appreciate how lame this feature is. Among the hilarious elements shown are Heihachi catching a thrown tomahawk with his MOUTH and chewing it to pieces, villain Lee Chaolan talking with a lisp, a plan to sell genetically-engineered INVISIBLE DINOSAURS as the weapon of the future!

With the fights being short or often one-sided or unsatisfactory, popular characters such as Paul Pheonix, King and Yoshimitsu limited to mere cameos (the Boxing Kangaroo had more exposure) and lots of silly monologues about martial arts mumbo-jumbo and preachy talk from Jun about a bobcat and a rabbit, this feature is something that fans of the game would rather just forget ever happened.
But like the Street Fighter movie, I think it's still great to see for a laugh, every now and then. And it's a good way to bring down Namco a peg or two in case they ever become too popular. Heh.

Female GTO


Gokusen the anime.

Kumiko Yamaguchi isn't your usual young lady. At 23 years old, she's quite attractive and naturally pretty, but she dresses unfashionably, keeps her hair in ponytails that make her look younger, wears glasses and views the world in an optimistic (if often naive) way. When she is hired to teach math in an all boys' school, she's thrown at a class of delinquents and bullies who would like nothing better than to force this geeky-looking new teacher to quit.
But unknown to the students and faculty of the school, Kumiko is the 4th generation heir to a notorious Yakuza family, and she's no stranger to handling threats and attack. So when she gets riled up, Kumiko breaks out the Yakuza tactics and doles out some school justice in her own way. Adding to the frenzy is Kumiko's own Yakuza family, who try in their own twisted fashion to 'help' Kumiko. But Kumiko has to walk a fine line and keep her past a secret, or her dream to live a good, honest living will all be for naught.

While Gokusen's general storyline is similar to the more popular GTO (teacher with a shady past teaching delinquents), there are quite a few significant differences. Eikichi Onizuka was a biker gang member- Kumiko is an actual Yakuza heiress- sorta like O-ren Ishii from Kill BIll- and packs a mean punch and a kick when she deals with her own 'family' of thugs and scoundrels. Second, Gokusen is set in an all-boy's school, and Kumiko is a GIRL, so these add in a lot of different factors, such as love interests and dealing with situations in specific ways. And of course, Kumiko's a pretty sober and level-headed character- at least until she switches to Yakuza mode- and then she's all street criminal tough and savvy.
The animation is pretty good- exceptionally so, I'd say... and the art style has that more Japanese-sy look (characters actually look Japanese) instead of the usual anime big-eyed mold. While most of the characters look like caricatures, at least Kumiko herself is pretty and pleasing to look at, if in a slightly geeky, offbeat way.

After watching the first two episodes, I came off with a positive feel for this series, and I'll probably check out the rest of the episodes soon... or at least make it a point to watch the show on Animax later this month.


The anime is based on a live-action drama series. Here's the LIVE version of Kumiko... Gosh she's cute.