I think combining two well known and LOVED Australian icons should put the message across quite clearly.
Dear Owners of Smash Bros. X/Brawl and Nintendo,
I hate you. Unless you send me an NTSC Wii and a copy of the game, in which case I will love you forever and give you much praise and adoration (and/or sexual favours, subject to certain terms and conditions*).
Sincerely,
Some guy from Australia
P.S. Nintendo still hasn’t announced a PAL territories release date. I hate all your Dutch/French/Italian/Spanish speakers (Will probably add Chinese to that list in a few year’s time).
*Only if you’re Jessica Alba or Noriko Sakai^.
^From 10 years ago.
In some unrelated, ‘too long; don’t read’ anime musings, I have been catching up to Bamboo Blade and Minami-ke, and I really regret not watching these when they first became available.
Bamboo Blade is a comedy that makes great use of its characters (who are all 2-dimensional, but that is a great thing in a comedy) and never relies on fanservice or sex jokes, something I don’t remember ever seeing in an anime. Even Doraemon used (or started, I guess) the “Oops I accidentally walked into a girl taking a bath and now I’m beaten up so you should laugh!” gag, which is gladly absent here. Kirino is my favourite out of the Blade Bravers, as she has a very funny and lovable personality. She’s particularly adorable when trying to fulfill her captain duties. Plot is weak here (worst MacGuffin EVER), but when was the last time there was a comedy with an outstanding plot? If someone can recommend one to me I would really like to check it out.
Minami-ke has a great variation on the “boy accidentally walking into girl taking a bath” gag. It is a good comedy too, but in stark contrast to Bamboo Blade, it’s about as twisted as they come. There’s a boy who cross-dresses as a girl to get close to the girl he likes, but ends up really, really enjoying the cross-dressing. There’s also a girl who… wait, do I really need to say anymore to convince you that it’s warped? Yeah, didn’t think so. If you don’t think the whole trap thing is funny, everyone whose last name is Minami are great too. However, like Ichigo Mashimaro, the show can rely a little too heavily on the inconsiderate, crazy one to drive the humour, and for some people that may be a turn-off.
Additionally, both shows have above average production value, so there’s plenty of eye candy here for you to enjoy. Okawari jumped the shark in terms of this, but it’s still not terrible. My only major complaint is the silhouette pedestrians, who help Asread save money and, at the same time, lend the show a nice mystery/horror touch. I have trouble thinking of any other two genres that work as well together as comedy and mystery/horror… oh wait, maybe ANYTHING works better than these two! Frankly, I’m mystified/horrified by this choice. The colourful cardboard cut-outs used in any number of other comedy would work better than these. Oh, and people have anime hair colour now. Not a major complaint, but 100% natural is preferable, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If you have been giving these series a pass, seriously reconsider your choice. They’re both great, and anyone can enjoy them, which makes them great entry level anime to watch together with your non-anime-watching loved ones. Beware a certain character named Hosaka though; in the words of Maki, きもちわるい.
17 Comments
Lolololololol, gonna play it tonight at a tournament and get my copy tomorrow.
You do know there’s a wii freeloader that just came out. That should allow you to enjoy the game even if it’s not out in your country.
Dak22: I only pirate things that I don’t think is worth my money, and Smash Bros. Brawl will be worth every cent, and more.
That’s not pirating; that’s just importing =P
The only problem is that if Nintendo disables the Freeloader through a firmware update, then you’re down some $60-70 USD (after including tax and shipping).
Baah, it’s not like Dutch is a language on SSBB. D=
IcyStorm: I just think Brawl is a game that I should get legitimately. It’s one of those principle things.
Also I’m expressing my annoyance at the months long delay of PAL titles in general, if we get them at all. It’s especially annoying living in an English speaking country, seeing as a game that I’m perfectly capable of playing is delayed for me simply because it must needs some extras that I can’t benefit from (but is vital to others). The PAL/NTSC protectionist theory shouldn’t even stand anymore, seeing how every TV that you can buy now supports both.
Likewise: My bad, I mean German. I keep thinking that Dutch means German because Dutch is so similar to Deutsch.
I get mine midnight tonight you poor poor digger. I hope Nintendo realizes how Important the PAL territories are, but I guess they really wanted to focus on capturing the North American Market. It’s not like Sony or MS have given the PAL territories top priority either, if I recall correctly the PS3 and DS were region free so at least they are in some ways moving in the right direction.
I also see that you have been utterly broken by Mako-cakes…
Lupus: Well that’s what a freeloader is for, to play imported games on your wii.
Icy Storm: They’ll probably release another version if that happens. I mean the Gamecube didn’t have the same problems and Datel still released more than one version IIRC.
Crusader: Hopefully in the future nintendo will do that, but it’s too late right now and thankfully people are trying to find ways around that ie. freeloader etc.
my goodness.. that is just too much.
dak22: That screws over people that bought it before, unless Datel is willing to replace copies for owners.
Lupus: I’m crying right now. My GameStop’s tournament was postponed because they didn’t check with mall security beforehand. In just about 30 minutes I was supposed to have my hands on Brawl… now I have to wait another 12 hours T_T
Icystorm: it’s just 12 hours. I’ll be lucky to get it in 12 weeks.
You know, the only bad thing about Brawl is how much sleep time it has taken away from my life. I feel really, REALLY tired, and I even went to sleep early last night. It wasn’t enough. I think I played too much and slept too little yesterday.
You know, the only bad thing about Brawl is how much sleep time it has taken away from my life. I feel really, REALLY tired, and I even went to sleep early last night. It wasn’t enough. I think I played too much and slept too little yesterday.
Same here. My brother and I played through the Subspace Emissary in only two sittings as soon as I snagged the midnight release.
My body absolutely refuses to move today. But I’m happy. Oh, so happy.
My condolences to the PAL-standard guys. But for what it’s worth, at least you guys will get Mario Kart Wii first.
Seriously man, I feel your pain to every inch Nintendo rams up our arses with its neglect. It’s times like these when I hate the Internet.
GYAA!!! That game is soo fun!!! When you receive it, have fun! Ike is the greatest character btw.
All of you who own/has played it: *sniff*
Hige: It’s not just Nintendo though. Every company does it, because of the time it takes to localise the game for all the PAL territory languages. I guess it can’t be helped, I’m just peeved that they keep this PAL/NTSC region coding thing, since it really fucks over people in Britain her English speaking ex-colonies
This is why people mod. It’s legal in Australia too.
Bah I hate regioning!
It’s the reason I’m such a pirate…. one of the reasons.