Tag: Naruto

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FUNIMATIONCON 2020 [Panel News]: Four-Alarm Blaze!

“Monsignor” Travis Moody
@TravMoody

Typically every year at San Diego Comic-Con, I make sure to check out the back-to-back — and usually late night — animation panels, Funimation and Crunchyroll (which I will highlight tomorrow from Anime Expo Lite!). But with COVID-19 causing more harm than a mere cancelling of nerd conventions, I decided to just relay the news to you this year via press release. There’s no reason to rate/review a panel you physically can’t attend! (But that may change later when the actual SDCC @Home takes place in a couple weeks).

With the virtual FunimationCon 2020 holding it down this weekend for the anime powerhouse (click here for schedule/attendance information!), they opened up with Funimation’s industry panel, and rightfully so. Host Lauren Moore did a nice job this morning relaying the latest on the streaming service’s new and returning series, upcoming theatrical releases, and expansion of Funimation to Latin America.

Perhaps the biggest news of the block was that all 220 episodes of the original Naruto series subbed and dubbed will launch on Funimation in North America on July 6, and the next batch of One Piece dubbed episodes are coming in August to digital storefronts.  Also announced were the returning and continuing series Fruits Basket Season 2, Fire Force Season 2, No Guns Life Season 2 and new series including DECA-DENCE (which I may peep a screening for in just a bit), By the Grace of the Gods, Higurashi: When They Cry – NEW and Akudama Drive all coming to the service.

Lauren also noted exclusive products in THE FUNIMATION SHOP, including Dragon Ball Z Funko Pop Ultra Size Shenron, and Exclusive Dragon Ball Super Funko Pop Kale and Caulifla two-pack. And starting today, the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Part One Standard Edition Blu-ray is available for pre-order. Aniplex of America is partnering with Funimation Films to distribute the new highly anticipated Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train in theaters. More information on that coming soon. Yes!

Funimation, which is currently available in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, will expand to Mexico and Brazil in Fall 2020. Funimation also announced it would offer select subtitled and dubbed anime series in Spanish and Portuguese.

Returning and Continuing Series this Summer (North America)

  • Fruits Basket Season 2
  • Fire Force Season 2 premieres July 3
  • Black Clover
  • One Piece – Simulcast continues
  • Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld Part 2 premieres July 11
  • No Guns Life Season 2 resumes July 9 with Episode 13
  • The Millionaire Detective – Balance: UNLIMITED resumes Simulcast on July 30 with Episode 3
  • APPARE-RANMAN! resumes Simulcast on July 24 with Episode 4
  • A Certain Scientific Railgun T – SimulDub™ resuming
  • Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater returns July 28 with Episode 4
  • Bungo and Alchemist -Gears of Judgement- returns July 3 with Episode 8 

New to Funimation’s Streaming Service in July 2020 (North America)

  • SUPER HXEROS premieres July 3
  • DECA-DENCE – July 2020
  • Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! premieres July 10
  • Lapis Re:LiGHTs premieres July 4
  • Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation Season 2 (Subtitled) premieres July 7. All of Season 1 (subbed) will be released on same day as Season 2 premieres

Coming to Funimation 2020 and 2021 (North America)

  • By the Grace of the Gods – Fall 2020
  • Akudama Drive – October 2020
  • Adachi and Shimamura – Fall 2020
  • Higurashi: When They Cry – NEW – Fall 2020
  • Maesetsu! Opening Act – Fall 2020
  • Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World – Fall 2020
  • Ikebukuro West Gate Park – Fall 2020
  • Dropout Idol Fruit Tart – Fall 2020
  • MARS RED – 2021

-Travis Moody, with press release info from Funimation’s partners

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THE GEEKDOM GAMESCAST [Season 2, Episode 4 – Zoom Edition]: Here We Go.

Microsoft is bringing the Xbox 20/20 vision with reveal events each month for the Series X, while Sony finally unleashed some next-gen news with its the all-new PlayStation Studios (and, today, showed just what the Unreal Engine 5 can do on the PS5).

Your homies Myke Ladiona and Travis Moody — The Geekdom Gamescast! — finally get Zoomin’ too (with a shout to Robert Bexar on the additional images!), breaking down all the hot gaming news and recent releases for the first time ever in video format…

https://youtu.be/74tQqFXY1lQ

We also hit the concrete with Streets of Rage 4, cover the newest events swirling around The Last of Us Part II, share our thoughts on story DLC for Mortal Kombat 11, get pumped for Yakuza titles on Xbox, and even list our favorite Star Wars video games of all time!

May the Force be with you, always, no matter what day it is in May. Catch us next week for our Final Fantasy VII Remake spoilercast!

-Travis Moody & Myke Ladiona

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MY HERO ONE’S JUSTICE / NARUTO TO BORUTO – SHINOBI STRIKER [Anime Expo 2018]: Class is in Session.

“Monsignor” Travis Moody
@TravMoody

My Hero Academia is arguably the most popular anime series out today, and Bandai Namco was swift enough to prepare a video game tie-in for this Fall. While my hands-on time with My Hero One’s Justice at E3 and Anime Expo has proven to be more “treat” than “trick” for this October 26th release (PS4, Xbox One, PC and.. Switch!), one has to wonder why an anime with such a timeless story and character development has been relegated to open arena fighter. Eh, probably the same reason we’ve only been seeing The Avengers and X-Men lately in the same types of games: they’re easier to make. My Hero Academia is the Avengers-meets-X-Men of the anime world, so, perhaps Byking was thinking they had some larger-than-life heroes here to deal with. With nineteen confirmed playable, they may…

My second go’round with this game at Anime Expo was better. Hell, the best rounds of three I had with a fellow colleage was so fantastic I wish we had burned the footage and blasted it on YouTube. Jump Force may be taking all the hype — and its visuals super-wowed me at E3 — but My Hero might be the next Dragonball FighterZ, and mostly because of its unique pace. While you’re not able to tag in and out like the aforementioned game (your 2 partners are, sadly, there for shoulder button support only), the open maps will drive players toward more strategy; taking certain angles in combat and recovering, planning defense is more important than stringing a zillion button combos together. This makes MHOJ accessible to diehards of the show no matter how casual the fighting gamer, while keeping EVO wannabees thrilled with each character Quirk (Tomura Shigaraki‘s will even turn your PS4 controller to dust) and intense level destruction.

My Hero One’s Justice should wind up one memorable field trip with the sticks.

Warning: This is my first time playing an official Naruto game (I played as Naruto himself in Bandai’s 3D fighter, Jump Force). Thus, I have nothing of the past to compare to. What I can say about Soleil’s Naruto To Boruto: Shinobi Striker is that it’s surprising fun. The only mode made available to weebs at Anime Expo this past weekend was a Capture The Flag. I’m usually not the biggest fan of such a mode, but, in this case, it was I — Sasuke — who mostly had the flag, and after 5 or 6-minutes of getting my laissez faire ass kicked, the learning curve was quick. I was pummeling the opposition in our 4-on-4 matches quite handedly. Getting off a combo of rooftop-tailing highkicks, leaping ninja stars, and screen-shattering supermoves was a joy. The graphics for this supposed online-only affair were a very cartoonish cool. Colors popped on the screen.

While other players/YouTubers recalled some server stability problems, I had no such experence at #AX2018. Since I had no microphone to communicate either, there wasn’t any team chit-chat; that said, my experience chumming up next to 3 peeps I never met before wasn’t an issue. The game moves fast and frantic, and fights get intense once someone takes possession of the flag. Moving from rooftop to rooftop in the modernized Hidden Leaf Village was easy, with the type of verticality found in Crackdown. Bandai Namco will have an beta open in a few weeks that will last into early August. Expect Sarada (with Sage Mode) and Mitsuki (healing, the Uchiha Shuriken Jutsu Spring Storm attack) to join the fray. Shinobi Striker launches on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 31st.

-Travis Moody

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JUMP FORCE / SOUL CALIBUR VI [E3 2018]: Anime Fight Club.

“Super Saiyan” Moody
@TravMoody

With the newest anime fighter from Bandai Namco, I got the best of both worlds at E3 2018–having, yesterday, a pair of hands-on matches at the Xbox E3 Showcase, and, today, learning more detail with a roughly 20-minute behind closed doors panel at Bandai Namco. Both got me psyched for the game.

Jump Force is a stupid name, but fun as heck; if you like super saiyan super powers exploding all over the screen in a massive 3D arena fighter, this one’s for you. This one will be for a lot of anime fans, really, since Jump Force will have fighters from multiple manga staples such as the Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, Death Note (Not playable yet, but Light Yagami and Ryukand were revealed at the trailer’s end) and more — hopefully Tokyo Ghoul, Bleach, One Punch Man, Yu Yu Haksuho, and My Hero Academia. I swear this game was a fuckin’ Facebook joke of mine about potential DBfZ DLC! Nuttier, these wildly popular anime doodZ can come together license conflict free due to the game being based on the weekly Shonen Jump manga. Slick. Real slick…

The only two levels we had to choose from in this early demo were the French Alps and New York’s Times Square. As mentioned, both stages are huge.. setting the stage for more strategic thought and calculation than the more confined, hyper warp speed, super tag action of Dragon Ball FighterZ. But while the two games are different in direction, they both pack the same level of pair-up power. Team-ups are nowhere near as frequent, as least in this early impression, but the vast spaced allow for much more verticality; the Matterhorn stage sorta reminded me of an epic brawl from Final Fantasy XV, just without all the swords, weapons, and slowdown. Hi, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm!

The art style was told to us as a mesh of human realism and Jump manga. Stages depict intense, far less cartoony landscapes while the characters look rougher around the edges, but only slightly; of course Namco wants weebs to recognize these awesome characters without criticism. The game is a blast to play, although it’s yet to be seen how the roster, story and online play hold up. For now, 2019 is just too far away. 3.75/5 Shonen Jump Bibles.

-Travis Moody

Artez “The Aztec” Bailey
IG @aztecstudiosla

After being on break for a few years, Soul Calibur is coming back strong. It’s a series that started out as Soul Edge, and now — 20 years later — Soul Calibur VI looks better and more over the top arcadey than ever. After getting some VIP hands-on time at Bandai Namco with my favorite character, Taki, of course, and watching a preview video, I’m excited and ready.

Xbox One X and PS4 Pro heads will love to hear that SC6 looks great in 4K, especially the game stages, has new fighting combos and an in-depth story mode; also, when your swordfigher fill up their battle gauge and you pull of string of combos, it’s similar to the rage attack in Tekken 7 — but without having to take a lot of damage to use it. Counter attacks and Guard Impact parries felt great at stopping combos; and, so goes the trend, Critical Edges are special action slow-down cutscene moves that can give you the advantage with the correct counter button. The demo host declared that this only makes the game slightly more inviting to n00bz, but Soul Cal vets shouldn’t be worried as Critical Edges and Soul Charges can only be used at critical moments of a fight.

And lest we not forget that, much like past installments when we had special bonus characters like Link, Spawn and Kratos, this time around we’re equiped with fan favorite Geralt of Rivia, also voiced by the game’s same actor Doug Cockle. Hopefully there’ll be a few more surprises in store for what appears to be the top contender for Fight Game of the Year. 4.75/5 Bibles.

-Artez Bailey

Be sure to look out for Bandai Namco’s Soul Calibur VI on October 19th, 2018.