Thursday, February 28, 2013

Classic Review - Air: The Motion Picture

NOTE: Please keep in mind that this review is old, so while some editing has been done to make it read a little more timelessly, a lot of it is obviously dated. As such, where some things may be noted as 'spoilers', they probably no longer are.

And now for the final review on the Air franchise, I give you Air: The Motion Picture. I'll go ahead and warn you now - there may be slight spoilers in this review, as it'll be hard to comment on the movie without discussing the differences between it and the series. However, I'm going to do my best to keep them to an absolute minimum.

Fairy Tail - Chapter 7: The Weak Point of a Mage

Synopsis: The smaller Vanish Brother notes that the mages of Fairy Tail think highly of themselves, which the larger brother confirms saying they do hear about them a lot. However, they agree, a mage is still a mage, and are no match for professional mercenary soldiers. Natsu taunts them by lighting fire spelling 'Come on' on his finger tips, saying that he can take them both at once. The brothers don't like him looking down on them like that, but remain calm and attack. The smaller sweeps at Natsu with the pan, which Natsu dodges, only to be grabbed by the larger brother and thrown into a bookshelf and through a wall. Natsu grabs a stair's railway, but the smaller brother pursues him. Natsu has to dodge the pan again, and lands on the next floor down - apparently where the maids had attacked them and still lay - asking if it's okay for them to break their employer's house like this.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Naruto - Chapter 622: To the Other Side

Synopsis: A young Madara demands to know the name of the other boy, who says he is Hashirama, but cannot give his surname. Madara is unsure about him, but says he'll skip the rock perfectly this time. The way he throws the rock makes Hashirama sure that Madara is used to handling shuriken. Madara manages to make the rock skip a few times, but it still falls in halfway in. Madara freaks and blames it on Hashirama who stood behind him. Hashirama is immediately dejected and apologetic, and Madara apologizes saying he didn't have to take it that far. Hashirama says that he didn't know Madara had such annoying overreaction tendencies, and Madara retorts that he can't tell if Hashirama is a good guy or a jerk. Hashirama laughs and says that at least they know for sure which of them is better at skipping rocks. The two trade remarks again, ending in Madara telling Hashirama to go away, but stops him from doing so in the end.

Bleach - Chapter 528: Everything But The Rain

Synopsis: After being hurled out of the inner Soul Society by Nimaiya, Ichigo finds himself in front of his home back in the living world, and back in his normal human body. He thought he'd left his body at Urahara's shop, and starts to call for him, but quickly realizes that Urahara is still in Hueco Mundo. Realizing that it must have been his father, who is still hiding things from him, Ichigo runs off, just as Isshin opened the door to let him in.

Second Full 'DBZ: Battle of Gods' Trailer Released

While other Battle of Gods news has continued to trickle out at a pace that's neither slow nor fast, a new 'trailer' for the film was first hinted at a while back in the form of another talk-show type airing in Japan. Nothing else came out of it however until now, and the second full-length trailer is out and glorious! Check it out for yourself!

Dragon Ball Multiverse - Page 674

Synopsis:  Raichi is shocked to hear that there are actually going to be Saiyans at this tournament, and the Varga ambassador tells him that there should be a lot of them from various universes there, considering that they're strong and love to fight. Raichi immediately changes his mind and decides to take part in the tournament after all, unable to believe that there are still Saiyans alive. Tapion is surprised, and Raichi says he'll take part because it seems his wish has not yet become reality after all. Tapion doesn't know what Raichi wants, but tells him that he's a good person, so he hopes his wish comes true. Raichi scoffs at being called a good person.

Thoughts: Darn, I was really hoping for an over-the-top comedic reaction from Raichi, but I guess he's grim-serious to a fault. Not surprising really, but still.

You'd have thought that the idea of alternate universes would immediately make a scientist like him think that maybe there's Saiyans out there as well, but I'm assuming he's just become so jaded by it all that his brain never clicked in that direction.

I almost feel bad for Tapion, because I think in the near future, he's going to get a really nasty awakening about Raichi's true nature. On the flip side though, Raichi here certainly seems at ease with where he is as a person, so...he's actually kind of cool in a way.

Classic Review – Air: Complete Series Review

NOTE: Please keep in mind that this review is old, so while some editing has been done to make it read a little more timelessly, a lot of it is obviously dated. As such, where some things may be noted as 'spoilers', they probably no longer are.

Back again with another review finally, this time on a title I've heard about a lot but just now got to see myself. I've been told that I'm a bit of a moe nut, and whether this is true or not varies on your definition, but let me tell you this right now - if you've been avoiding Air simply because you don't like moe, you are depriving yourself one of the better anime I've seen in a while.

Fairy Tail – Chapter 6: Infiltrating the Duke of Evaroo's Mansion!!

Synopsis: Using Happy's 'Wings' magic to fly to the roof, Natsu asks Lucy why they have to sneak in. Lucy says that because what they're doing is basically robbery, they have to sneak in, despite Natsu's complaints that this isn't what he'd planned at all. Lucy says they can't just go blasting their way in because the Duke isn't a 'villain', but is an influential, albeit annoyingly perverted, man, and if they mess up the military will take action. Natsu brings up Lucy wanting revenge, and she says that she'll hide his shoes in addition to them burning the book, which Natsu and Happy find incredibly petty.

Enter the Dragon Ball Sub Thoughts

What's that, the new weekend installments aren't enough new awesomeness coming in March for you? Well, how about one more new old thing.

Starting up on Friday, March 1st - one day before even the weekly installments start - the 'Dragon Ball Sub Thoughts' will be coming to The Fandom Writer.

Weekend Specials Announcement II – AMV Sundays

As you read over in our first announcement, I've decided to bring a little bit of that old weekend joy back into our lives, by starting up some brand new weekly installments for this blog.

While Saturdays will be dedicated to the Hotties among us, Sundays will make up for my little male fantasy indulgence by giving you something a little more 'artistic'. Sort of. Usually.

Starting March 3rd, 'AMV Sundays' will become a new weekly installment showcasing various totally awesome AMVs. Brand new ones that you'll get to experience for the first time ever, old classics that you'll get to see all over again, and even the option for submitting new options for me to blog about here.

So if you're a fan of great fanmade music videos, drop on by and see what the good blogger has left for you to enjoy.

Weekend Specials Announcement I – 'Hotties' Saturdays

The weekends have always been a special time for a lot of people. For kids, it's the awesome break from a week of school that you need to keep going; and as adults, it's often the days you get to get out of work (though obviously, that's not the case for everyone).

In my continuing attempt to bring even more of my fan projects to one location, as well as give you even more awesome and varied content to read, I've decided to tap into that wonderful feeling of the 'weekend', by introducing two new special 'weekly' installments for you to look forward to.

Introducing 'Classic' Reviews

In the interest of having even more great content to put out here, I have decided to introduce a new kind of review that you can look forward to seeing occasionally. The terminology may be a bit more confusing than you think though, so as such I am first posting this blurb as an explanation. This is a guideline for this blog alone.

A 'Classic' review will be something that I have already previously written and may have even been hosted on a previous blog of mine or a friend's, that I feel is still something of interest for this latest pursuit. The term 'Classic' in front of the review will only mean that this is an old review that has just been re-posted here, rather than a statement on the product in the review itself.

Because of it being a previously done review, some parts of it may not be up-to-date compared to stuff I'd write anew now, so please go into them with that in mind.

Hopefully this explanation is straight forward enough to follow. Keep on the look out for more things to come!

Nickelodeon Renews TMNT For A Third Season

At an upfront presentation in New York yesterday, Nickelodeon announced that it has renewed it's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series for a third season! For fans of this incarnation, this is indeed great news (especially in light of the more disappointing revelations concerning the live-action movie that have come out recently...).

It might seem a little weird to greenlight a third season when the first season hasn't even finished airing yet, but it's seemingly not that crazy in the realm of how the industry works. Even earlier than this, Nickelodeon had already renewed the series for a second season obviously, and that news came out before the series had even premiered.

What makes this news truly fabulous though is that it means the TMNT as a brand must really be doing wonderful numbers for Nick. It's not surprising given how great the series has been so far, but on top of that, the toys are flying off the shelves (which is very important for a show like this one); there's video games on the way; and with the first DVD having come out yesterday as well, it seems this series is going to continue to do great things for the brand.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Fan-Made Tribute to Jim Henson's Dinosaurs

Not everyone remembers the early 90's television show, 'Dinosaurs', from Jim Henson Productions, but almost everyone that does remembers it extremely fondly, including myself. The show is truly one of the best sitcoms to have ever come out, and had some of the most amazing puppeteer work ever done by the company, which is saying quite a bit. The show is definitely a 'cult' favorite, and one that is well deserving of it's status.

Fairy Tail - Chapter 5: Day Break

Synopsis: After thinking about it, Lucy decides that this job seems like it should be pretty easy, and Happy asks why she's so gung-ho about it when she didn't like it at first, to which she says it's because it's her first job. Lucy also says she's confident in her sexiness, so pulling one over on the perverted duke should be easy - however, she's still going to be taking most of the reward, at an 8:1:1 ratio, though Happy misunderstands and thinks she means she's only taking a 10% of it.

Fairy Tail - Omake 1: Happy's Little Job

Synopsis: One of Happy's favorite things is fish, and one day while looking at the request board at the guild, he found the perfect job for him. There was a 30,000 jewel reward to catch the extremely rare HanezaCana winged fish, which is considered a delicacy. As a bonus, the person who completes the assignment will get to eat the fish with the client.

Fairy Tail - Chapter 4: Stellar Spirit of the Canis Minor

Synopsis: The chapter opens with Lucy noting exactly where Fairy Tail's headquarters is before mentioning that she's found a place to rent that, while expensive, is in a convenient location for her. As Lucy gets out of a comfortable bath and looks over how nice her apartment is, she is stunned when she returns to her room to find Natsu and Happy there, eating her food. She kicks them both and demands to know why they're there, to which Natsu simply explains that Mirajane told him and he wanted to come visit her, despite Lucy's repeated pleas for him to leave. Natsu picks up some papers off of Lucy's desk which she immediately takes back and again demands he leave.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Fairy Tail - Chapter 3: The Salmander, The Monkey, & The Bull

Synopsis: After a page brief re-cap of how she got into this situation, Lucy is shown to still be inside of Horologium back in the Balkan's lair, as it hyperly dances around her. It still seems happy to have a woman, when suddenly Horologium disappears saying that time was up, and leaves Lucy alone with the monster.

About Dragon Ball GT: Revised

Dragon Ball GT: Revised is a fanfiction by Kaboom, dedicated to taking materials from Dragon Ball GT, but crafting them to be much more enjoyable and accurate to the source material than the show itself ever was. To quote another friend of mine, 'GT is full of great ideas, it just had horrible execution', and that's what this story strives to fix.

The story starts out mostly the same, with lots of familiar events still in place such as Goku being wished into the body of a child, his going into space with Trunks and Pan, and the search for the Black Star Dragon Balls – but there are lots of changes both major and minor to make the series much more enjoyable, such as a more satisfactory origin for the Black Star balls to begin with.

In addition to the main story, Kaboom occasionally draws and posts new artwork based on and/or inspired by his fan-fiction, character bios, downloadable copies of the story, and other such things to add to the story. There's also a side story, 'Cataclysm', which details the new origin of the Black Star Dragon Balls, with some interesting past characters being involved.

The story is still ongoing at a very irregular pace, but each addition is well worth the wait when it finally comes. You can read the main story here, while 'Cataclysm' can be read here. For even more GT Revised goodness, you can follow along with Kaboom's updates over in it's official-unofficial thread on Kanzenshuu forums. Be sure to leave a good review of the fic if you enjoy it!

Dragon Ball Multiverse - Page 673


Synopsis: Tapion is informed that if he wins the tournament, he'll be able to wish his brother back to life. Enthused by this prize, he immediately signs up, but Raichi declines. Tapion asks him why since he's much stronger than he is, as well as being able to use his ghosts, but Raichi says that he's achieved his goal and has no wish to dream now. The Varga visitor says that's too bad, as Tapion inquires about who else is participating. The Varga is unsure, as they are among the first to be visited, but most likely it will be an eclectic mix of Kaio-shin, Frost Demons, and...Saiyans.

About Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden

Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden (or MNT Gaiden for short) is a TMNT-based fan-comic written and drawn by 'Tigerfog', and it first began back in 2004. The basis of this comic comes from multiple sources, but the main influences coming from Tigerfog herself are from the orignal Mirage comics - with lots of story and character elements coming from that - and the 2003 cartoon series, which seems to be what her designs for the Turtles are based on.

The story however takes a much darker and tragic turn from the start however. When Master Splinter receives a cursed sword in the mail, everything begins to go wrong very quickly, escalating into a fight that leaves each of the Turtles broken, and missing one of the most important people in their lives - forever.

All of that serves only as a prologue however, with the main story taking place years later, with the Turtles as adults (hence the lack of 'Teenage' in the title). Still broken and driven apart, events begin to conspire to force the brothers back together, not the least of which is Renoir, a new younger mutant turtle who has some complications of his own - like seeming to remember having been a human boy before he was seemingly killed by a wild mutant turtle.

Where will all of this lead? You'll have to read from the beginning to find out, and you can do so from here. Or if you want more direct information about the series from Tigerfog herself, here is the information page.

Page updates for this series are not extremely regular or set to a certain standard, as Tigerfog is often updating prior pages with fixes to be even better than they were before. As such, I can make no promises on how often there will be new pages to review. I'm as eager for more as you are!

To read this story from the very beginning, you can use the archive on the main MNT Gaiden website.

About Dragon Ball Multiverse

It occurred to me after posting the first page review for this fan comic that, while I can assume people will know what Naruto is and what to expect if they'll be reading a new chapter review on that, that I can't assume everyone here will know what a fanmade comic is going to be about if I start from the middle. So while I can't pledge myself to back-reviewing any of this yet (but may do so with a future fan-fiction review), I didn't want to just leave everyone hanging either.

So while this one is going up after the first page review, all other fan-made story-based materials will have this as their first post before any reviews come, so that you'll have this to backtrack to if you're interested in the story but haven't already started following it.

So with that said, here's a quick crash course on 'Dragon Ball Multiverse'.

Dragon Ball Multiverse is a long-running fan-comic that was started by two French fans, with the story done by Salagir and the art (originally) done by Gogeta Jr., who has since bowed out and the 'main' comic will be continued with a new artist. The comic also has several 'side-stories' that are done throughout the release, focusing on background stories of various characters, as well as some side-story fanfiction.

The story of Dragon Ball Multiverse takes place after the end of Dragon Ball Z (ignoring GT entirely), where a group of bird-like aliens approach our heroes on Kami's Lookout, to invite them to the biggest tournament the universe – and many others – have ever seen. Naturally they agree to attend, and lots of foes both familiar and unknown, from various different backgrounds and coming from alternate universes, come out of the woodworks. There are many different incarnations of familiar characters, such as a Goku that never hit his head; a Krillin who has become the strongest and 'master' character; and even a universe where Vegito never de-fused and Bra is a powerful fighter in her own right.

Throwing together chaotic elements like this will only breed trouble however, and dark forces do seem to be on the move beneath the veil of the tournament. What will happen in the end is unknown, but it's sure fun to read along and find out.

The pace of new releases is relatively well done with normally a new page every two-to-three days, though occasionally the story still feels really drawn out as a result of this method.

You can read this entire story from the beginning on the official site.

New 'Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods' Tidbit & FLOW Music Videos

The highly anticipated release of the new Dragon Ball Z movie, 'Battle of Gods', is fast approaching as we move closer to that March 30th release date, and thanks to the hard-working folks at Kanzenshuu, we now have a bit more information on the movie - though it may or may not be mentioned in the film itself.

In a somewhat separate news item, the original manga by Akira Toriyama is being released in Japan in a full-color version, so far comprising the entire 'Saiyan Arc' in three volumes, with more to come later. Each of the volumes contains a Q&A section towards the end, and thanks to a translation by Hujio over there, we now have this info in particular to work with.

"Q7: Why is Kaiō’s planet so small?

A: The fact is, it was destroyed by the God of Destruction!!
It used to be so big that its diameter was about 100 times that of Kaiō’s current planet. Apart from the size it was completely the same as it is now, with nothing but grassy fields and roads. Kaiō-sama enjoyed his hobby, driving, but then one day Birusu, the God of Destruction, stopped by and they played a video game together (it was a car racing one). Birusu lost, and so the planet was destroyed by the peeved God of Destruction. Kaiō then took a large leftover fragment, whittled it down to a sphere, and built a road on it so that he could have fun driving there. This became Kaiō’s current planet."


I for one absolutely love this information, as it feels like such a Toriyama answer...though the fact that it's a new movie mention in an otherwise unrelated product, one can't help but wonder if this was somewhat planned as well.

As one other final bonus, we now have music videos for the FLOW cover of 'Head Cha La', which will serve as the opening to the film, as well as 'HERO' which will serve as an insert song. Those are courtesy of fogdark on the Kanzenshuu forums, whom I believe uploaded them as well as posted them.

Those music videos can be viewed here and here, and are a great way to hear the songs in better quality than what we had before. While I find the 'Head Cha La' cover to not be FLOW's best work, 'HERO' is a pretty catchy song.

That sums it all up for now. For more news on stuff like this that you can't see here, head over to Kanzenshuu proper to read it first-hand for yourself.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Fairy Tail – Chapter 2: The Master Appears

Synopsis: Lucy marvels at how huge the headquarters is, before entering with Natsu and Happy. Inside, a large crowd of people are eating, and Mirajane (the female mage from Lucy's magazine) is acting as waitress. A man with a pompadour calls her over and blows a heart-shaped smoke ring for her, and asks if she'll go on a date with him. Exasperated, Mirajane does a hand motion, and transforms into the image of the man's wife, asking about her, and the man backs off.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Dragon Ball Multiverse - Page 672


Synopsis: The battle with Hirudegarn finished, Tapion lives a peaceful life with the monster sealed completely inside of him, traveling far and wide and meeting many people. He visits Raichi often, but while Tapion has moved on and become more cheerful, Raichi has not, because revenge doesn't stop hatred. One day, a spaceship lands to greet the two 'heroes'...

Megan Fox Joining the Cast of TMNT?

Michael Bay has posted to his official site that, to quote -

"TMNT: We Are Bringing Megan Fox Back Into The Family"

- basically very heavily implying that the actress will have some part in the the upcoming film for which Bay currently only serves as producer rather than director. The first female role that comes to mind is obviously April O'Neil, so...yeah. Count me worried about how this will turn out now.

'Digimon: The Official Second Season' Extras Announced

The highly anticipated release of Digimon: Season Two (often referred to by it's original Japanese title of 'Digimon Adventure 02') is fast approaching, and as such, Flatiron Films has finally announced what extras we can expect to see on this release.

In addition to all 50 'season two' episodes (dub only) spread across 8 discs, there will be a 36-page 'character guide' booklet, as well as a gallery (presumably on the last disc) of more than 40 'Villain' sketches.

The previous 'Season One' release also had a booklet that was mostly art of the characters, each Digimon's many forms, and some basic (sometimes incorrect even via the dub) information about them all, so I'm expecting this booklet to be much the same. Curiously enough, the back of that booklet also had translated lyrics for the original Japanese opening, first ending, and Evolution insert song, so I'm curious to see if that will happen again on this one as well.

The set is currently up for pre-order on many sites, but at a retail price of $79, I for one am waiting until I can find a good sale to snag this at a cheaper price.

Fairy Tail – Chapter 1: Fairy Tail

Synopsis: Inside of a large building, a black haired woman named Urrutia rolls a crystal ball up and down her arm, somehow breaking and mending it again and again. Across a table, a shadowed figure named Sieglein tells her to stop playing around during the meeting, but she complains that she's bored. A blue haired male complains of his own boredom, causing outrage with an old man who wants to know how they became council members in the first place, to which the male says it's because of how strong their magic is. Another unseen face hushes them both, saying that the Magic World has many problems, but their main problem at the moment is 'Fairy Tail'.

TMNT: Springtime for Donatello

Author: Gyt Kaliba (Myself)
Medium: Fan Fiction
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Status: Complete
Length: 3 Chapters
Synopsis: Donatello's crush on April always leads to his brothers' teasing, but things are about to change. Donnie has managed to get April to agree to hang out with him, just him, on Valentine's Day no less! The problem - Donnie forgot that's what day it was. Can he pull together a plan to win April over in time, or is he about to make a fool of himself?
Comments: Just a little self promotion here, rather than a review or an update of any sort, as this is my own fanfic, it's completed already, and I just want to get the word out. You can read all about this in the various author notes on the fic itself, so I'll be brief: This fanfiction was written as an extra 'gift' of sorts to my beloved girlfriend, Areia, for Valentine's Day this year. I had a lot of fun writing it and getting into these characters' heads, and I look forward to doing it again someday, though I'm not entirely sure at what time that will be. So, please read, review, and let me know what you think.

Mission Status -0-

This is the first of what will be many listings of what I'm currently working on, as things go by. Rather than making you stay posted to one particular page for this, I'll do a new post whenever the status of something changes.

These are the manga series I am currently all caught up on, so that you'll see the latest chapters (from this point forward) reviewed here as they come out. Next to the title, you'll see the pace at which I should be covering it.

Bleach – Weekly
Naruto – Weekly
One Piece – Weekly
Soul Eater – Monthly
Soul Eater Not! – Monthly

After that, these are the series that I'm also all caught up on, but their releases seem to be far more irregular, so I can't make any predictions on how often I'll get to cover them. They are also titles I'm all caught up on, as far as I can be anyway.

Futari Ecchi
Zetman

Finally, this is the series I'm currently working on reading from the very beginning. My goal is to eventually be caught up with it so that it will join the ranks of those series I'm able to do reviews of the latest chapters with.

Fairy Tail

Moving away from manga, next are the TV shows that I'm able to watch off of TV. I'm currently really behind on this front, so there's really only one title that will be focused on here, and it's going to be hard to stay fully up to date with it, so please bear with me.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 series)

Then there are the fan-produced things (fanfiction, fan comics, fandubs, etc.) that I currently follow, that you'll occasionally see new posts about as well. Most of these it's hard to keep track of when something new is coming, so these should be considered somewhere between regular and irregular entries.

Dragon Ball Multiverse (Fan Comic)
Dragon Ball GT: Revised (Fan Fiction)
Magical Starsign Fandub (Fandub)
Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden (Fan Comic)

That just leaves my own current writing projects, fanfiction and original. There's nothing to report on here yet that's current, but I will have another post shortly about a fanfiction I did recently finish writing. There are major plans in the works on this front, but I have to keep a tight lid on it all for now.

So, that's our status as of now. Keep checking back for more new stuff.

Welcome to 'The Fandom Writer'

If you're anything like me, you'll find that a good chunk of your life and your time resolves around entertainment of various kinds. Most people are like that I think, but then there are those of us that take it to the next level – the level of 'Fandom'.

What is a 'Fandom' though, you might wonder? You've probably seen one before even if you haven't realized it, and you're probably a part of one even remotely. Think to all of the Harry Potter fans that had to have that last book the minute it hit shelves; remember the Star Wars fans that still debate which trilogy was better; think of all those cosplayers at Comic-Con. Fans who make their favorite fantasies a part of their every day life – that is a fandom.

My name is Eric Morrison, AKA Gyt Kaliba. For years now, my various fandoms have been a huge part of my life. I'm always striving to find new ways to give back to it all, and now that I find myself an aspiring writer, I'm ready to focus my whole into that pursuit. Here, you'll find reviews and news blurbs about things that I'm currently enjoying (or sometimes not enjoying), hints about projects I'm working on, praise of other people's efforts in fandoms, and much, much more.

This isn't my first go-around with blogging, I'll admit, but this time I plan to stick to it, at least semi-regularly. Stick around, I hope you'll enjoy what's coming.