All Otaku Magazine Issue 12

1 st January 201 5

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VALENTINES Issue 1 2

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SA's Biggest Online Otaku Magazine

L eg o B a t m a n 3 : B ey o n d G o t h a m

The Gamer Tokyo ESP Blood Lad Ocha Nigosu Attack on Titan and more...

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Dennis Ritchie: Father of the Internet Tabletop Special

Wo r l d o f Wa r c r a f t : L o r d s o f D r a en o r Ex p a n s i o n

Cosplay Profile: Saiyuki Kashuri

#121

Underground Farming

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Barakamon

All Otaku has r

Xas well as 5 other PC game Black Lime range, including:

Final Cut: Death on the Silver Haunted Legends: The Bronz Resurrection: New Mexico Lara Gate: The Lost Talisman Love Story: Letters from the P

Don’t forget to visit our social pages.

This Competition ends on the 2nd of 2

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reached 2000

All Otaku and Apex are giving away Sherlock Holmes Crimes and Punishments

es from the

r Screen ze Horseman

n Past

To E n te r v i s i ts o u r h e re a n d we b si te you r fa vo te l l u s wh a t of th e se au ri te a n i m e we co u l d s o n i s a n d b you th e eg se n d i n g h a m perr.e a t

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. f February 201 4 3

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February

Contents Sections

Features

5 Editor's letter Best Anime Picks of 201 4 1 0

6 Anime Sector Shinmai Maou no Testement 1 2

Anime Release Schedule Anime Reviews

Barakamon 1 4

1 8 Manga Sector Tokyo ESP 1 7

Manga Release Schedule Manga Reviews

Blood Lad 21

26 Film Sector Ocha Nigosu 22

Film Release Schedule Film Reviews

Attack On Titan Manga 24

32 Gaming Sector Predestination 30

Game Release Schedule Gaming Reviews

Dracula Untold 31

44 Tech Sector HearthStone 38

Tech Release Schedule Tech Reviews

World Of Warcraft: Lords of Draenor 40

52 Cosplay Sector Underground Farming 48 Cosplayer Profile Cosplay Buys Cosplay How To's

60 Culture Sector

Denise Ritchie 50 Cosplay Profile: Saiyuki Kashuri 54 LARPing 58 Meru Cosplay Picnic 61 Tonkatsu 64

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Š201 2-201 5 All Otaku. All rights reserved 4

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Letter from the editor

By Leena Swarts

After a fine holiday in which I had some very much needed rest, we are back on track with the first issue of All Otaku Magazine for 201 5!

As many of you know, we lurk around in the corners of the conventions and picnics with our aspiring paparazzi happily snapping away at cosplayers, stores and their owners, artist and well pretty much any and everything we feel like. This year however, we would like to kick it up a notch by actually trying to be involved a whole lot more with the people who go to

these events. We want to shake your hand, and tell you what a great costume you made, or chat a little about your shop and the stuff you sell.

We also want to find out what makes you excited and what you enjoy when, well just being geek.

So, to all of our avid readers, here is my new years resolution.

First off, I don't have one, and I'm not making one. Get over it, I think it's a crappy habit anyways. :P Moving right on, (didn't expect that did you) we are going to try and host some

competitions for you guys, get some more advertising done for the budding business out there and just generally try to be as awesome as we can.

If at any time we do not live up to your expectations, you are welcome to come and tell us that, but I need to warn you beforehand, we have trained martial artists in our ranks, and we are not afraid to use them.

Enough rambling, I hope you enjoy or first release for 201 5!

Feel free to leave us some comments on our FB page!

Contributors Ceo and Chief:

Joannah Stewart

Editor:

Leena Swarts Bill "Salazar" Masuku Faure Teggin Gareth Duff Douw "Dk" KotzĂŠ Grant Wilson Trisha Ramrathen Ernst Ace Uchiha Buys Adam Ligocki Shane Reaper Sahil Lala Adam Ligocki Derek John Scott Richard Ware

All Otaku Magazin is owned and published electronically by All Otaku.

Copyright 201 2-201 5 All Otaku. All rights reserved.

No part of this electronic magazine may be reproduced without the written consent of All Otaku.

Requests for permission should be directed to: info@allotakumag.co.za

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Minions:

ANIME SECTOR Our Anime sector covers highly advanced classes in the intricasies of magic and adventure management. The teachers are highly trained with enough power to destroy the planet. Yes, some of them have tentacles, but we don't care.

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Anime 6 Sector February 201 5

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Release Schedule Anime releases for February and March 201 5 Toei Animation

Golden Time

Leviathan The Last Defense

Ben To

February 1 , 201 5

February 3, 201 5

February 3, 201 5

February 3, 201 5

Diabolik Lovers

Space Brothers

Engaged to Love, the Chunibyo & Unidentified Other Delusions

Reideen

Brothers Conflict OVA

Patlabor The New Files OVA

February 1 0, 201 5 February 11 , 201 5 February 1 7, 201 5

A Certain Magical Index

Anime de Hozuki's Wakaru Cool headedness Shinryounai ka OVA

February 24, 201 5 February 24, 201 5 February 24, 201 5 February 1 0, 201 5 February 1 7, 201 5 February 1 7, 201 5 February 1 3, 201 5

Free!

Eternal Summer Special

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

March 4, 201 5

March 6, 201 5

Omoide no Marnie

Saki: Shin Gekijo- Gugure! Hori-san to Papa no Iu Trinity Koto o Episode of ban Initial D: Kokkuri-san MiyamuraSeven OVA kun Kikinasai!: Side-A: Legend 2- Specials Ijin-tachi to Kuro no Tousou no Haru Tanjoubi

March 1 8, 201 5

March 1 8, 201 5

Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai Picture Drama

March 26, 201 5

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High School Hitsugi no Gekijouban YamadaDxD: Oppai, Chaika OAD Kyoukai no kun to 7-nin no Majo Kanata: Tsutsumima Kako-hen su!

Haikyuu!!

OAD

March 1 0, 201 5

March 23, 201 5

March 1 0, 201 5

March 25, 201 5

March 1 4, 201 5

March 25, 201 5

Senran Yama no Kagura: Susume 2 Estival OVA Versus – Festival Eve Full of Swimsuits March 26, 201 5

March 27, 201 5

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March 1 5, 201 5

March 25, 201 5

March 1 8, 201 5

March 25, 201 5

By:Trisha Ramrathen

Previews and Reviews Anime reviews and previews for February and March 201 5

Nanami Momozono

Aldnoah Zero 2 Released: January 1 0, 201 5 Author(s): Gen Urobuchi (original creator) Katsuhiko Takayama (series composition)

Released: January 5, 201 5 Author(s): Akitaro Daichi

Nanami Momozono accidentally becomes Aldnoah Zero is a story the Earth deity at a of war between the shrine near her school, people of Earth, and the previous deity, Mikage, passes on his “Martians”, who are humans that relocated to Mars, when duties to her. To aide her in her godly duties, after astronauts on the Apollo 1 7 mission Nanami has the help of two attendants and a discovered an enchanted utility which later became surprisingly handsome fox familiar named Tomoe. known as “Aldnoah” and gave them a superior The second season which began airing in January status. Season 2 of this anime picks up with the 201 5 picks up where season 1 left off, with Nanami ongoing war, and the descent of more “Martian” still trying to strengthen her powers while also soldiers onto Earth, with the sole intent of with her feelings for Tomoe and trying to exterminating all Earthlings. Aldnoah Zero 2 began dealing gain the acceptance of the other deities. There is its run on 11 January 201 5. also the introduction of what appears to be new villain who has some past ties to Tomoe, which indicates some major trouble for the human Earth deity, Nanami.

Death Parade Released: January 9, 201 5 Author(s): Yuzuru Tachikawa

Tokyo Ghoul S2

As we all know, after death humans either go to heaven or hell, however in Death Parade, there is one additional possibility: Queen Decim. This is a bar run by the mysterious Decim, and is a place where some people go to immediately upon their death. In this bar, Decim challenges people to the Death Game, where they wager their lives, and during which their true natures are revealed. Decim the ultimate authority in deciding who wins and who loses, and also, who lives and who dies...

Released: January 8, 201 5 Author(s): Chūji Mikasano

Ken Kaneki is an ordinary college student who lives in Tokyo, a city gripped by the fear of “ghouls”. These mysterious ghouls are human-like creatures that devour the flesh of other humans. Ken meets a young lady named Rize at a cafe that he frequently visits, but little does he know that his entire life is about to change drastically. Season 1 of Tokyo Ghoul ended after 1 2 episodes in 201 4, with season 2 beginning its run in early January 201 5.

Click the images above to view the trailer 8

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The All Otaku Podcast is live and we want you to tune in. Come join us as we discuss the latest anime, manga, games and geek stuff.

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B e st An i m e of

201 4

B y Douw “D.K” Kotzé

It’s a new day, a new year and the time when you can expect some new and epic Anime series to come your way. Though, we are not about to let 201 4 slide without looking back at what it has given us. There are a lot of Anime that were probably the highlight of the year to a lot of people. I mean, a lot of people have been quite excited (understatement) about Sailor Moon Crystal that started airing in 201 4.

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Akame ga Kill This is a dark action fantasy Anime that follows a girl named Akame. She was bought, brainwashed, and raised by the Empire as an assassin. Together with the infamous group of assassins called Night Raid, Akame and Tatsumi set about correcting the corruption within the empire.

yet). Naruto Shippuden has enlightened its readers and viewers into the past of certain characters. The Anime also revealed a character many of us probably didn’t see coming and going the way he did. The Anime was said to be at the point where there will be no more filler arcs.

One Piece DRAMAtical Murder It’s the Anime adaptation of Nitro + CHiRAL’s boys-love adventure game.

The story centres the young man named Aoba who lives with his grandmother on the island Midorijima. He works in a junk shop in the island’s Former Resident District after Toue builds the Platinum jail resort on part of Midorijima and forces residents to move. Aoba is content with his simple life, but gets pulled into mysterious events unfolding on the island. It’s especially a good Anime to watch if you like them bishie boys.

Speaking of Anime with bishie boys in it, Free! Eternal Summer splashed into 201 4 and I don’t think it disappointed it’s fans though. If they were aiming for feels, that sure is what the fans receivedXespecially after it was over.

Meanwhile in Dressrosa, Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates are still going strong and you know Luffy, he’s not gonna stop until he becomes The King Of The Pirates in One Piece. I still love watching and reading One Piece. Looking at how far they have come, the animation style definitely has changed since its debut.

Sword Art Online II Sword Art Online has come across as another Anime that’s about people taking to virtual reality gaming. I have no problem with that though as I do love Anime and Gaming. It does however give everyone more variety into the whole Gaming/Virtual Reality Gaming Anime series. It’s still considered a great Anime, but it also has a fast paced plotline.

Sword Art Online II still seems to be an Anime loved by many.

Tokyo Ghoul The suspense horror/dark fantasy Anime set in Tokyo, which is haunted by mysterious “ghouls” who are devouring humans. People are gripped by fear of these ghouls whose identities are masked in mystery.

Kaneki who is an ordinary college student encounters a girl named Rize. She is powerful ghoul with an insatiable appetite.

Little does he know that meeting her will change his fate overnight.

Persona 4: The Golden Animation Speaking of whichXIf you’re into keen on entering the “New Game +” option, then check out Persona 4: The Golden Animation

Naruto Shippuden For the ongoing Anime I must say that 201 4 certainly had its pretty epic and feelsy moments. Naruto might have ended in the Manga, but the Anime continues (mostly because it hasn’t reached the last Episode opposite the last Manga Chapter

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Test text

Shinmai Maou no

TESTAMENT

The first light novel volume cover clearly illustrates that there is more going on between Mio and Basara than a step-sibling relationship.

Shinmai Maou no Testament (The Testament of Sister New Devil) is originally a Japanese light novel series, which was turned into a manga series, and as of January 201 5 will be aired as an anime show. The story follows high school student Basara Tojo, who is suddenly informed by his father that he is remarrying, and along with a new step-mother, Basara shall be getting 2 step-sisters named Mio and Maria Naruse. His father then leaves for a while, leaving Basara alone with his step-sister. The sisters’ true forms are revealed to Basara, and as it turns out, Mio and Maria are actually a newbie Demon Lord and a succubus.

The world of Shinmai Maou no Testament is divided into 2 main groups, namely the “Hero Tribe” and “Demons”. The Hero Tribe and Demons had been at war for many

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years, until the powerful demon Wilbert became the Demon Lord and ended the war. His daughter, Mio Naruse, is now in line to be the next Demon Lord, but has not awakened her immense powers whith Maria Naruse being Mio’s younger sister and guardian. Through some accidental means, Basara reverses a “Master and Servant Contract” and makes Mio his servant.

Basara and his father, Jin, are former members of the Hero Tribe, who left the village five years before the beginning of the story. Due to being Hero Tribe members, both Basara and Jin have inhuman strength and a host of other abilities. Upon discovering the true identities of Mio and Maria, a fight

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ensues, in which Basara shows the girls his true power as a former Hero. Instead of taking down the demons, Basara asks the girls to leave the house for deceiving him and his father. Basara later shows up and saves the girls from a couple of demons that are sent to kill them, telling them afterwards that he will always protect them. While I haven’t read the light novel series, I am keenly anticipating the anime in 201 5 as the manga is quite interesting. In typical Japanese ecchi style, these 2 step-siblings will undoubtedly develop strong romantic feelings for each other and possibly fall in love. The only good thing about that is that in this story, they are step-siblings (that is what Basara is initially told) and not actual blood siblings (like other manga and anime series),

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which is just gross. There also appears to be a love triangle that has formed between Basara, Mio, and Basara’s childhood friend, who also happens to be a member of the Hero Tribe. So if you’re like me and enjoy some romance in anime and manga, then this is a good read because it will be interesting to see what happens when the opposing forces find out that 2 of their members are in love (let’s face it, they are going to fall in love). It will also be really fun to watch Mio awaken her true demonic powers and kick some demon butt.

It’s seems like a great anime to look out for, but hopefully the anime leaves out the more ecchi scenes, because if I wanted to see a guy fondle a big-breasted girl, I would just watch hentai.

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By: Trish

As a writer it is extremely difficult to find inspiration to churn out material at will. I often find myself sitting and pondering for hours, sometimes even days, about what I could write, or how I could write about a specific topic. It took me almost a week to get down to writing this review, because for the life of me, I could

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his work unoriginal and mediocre, Handa’s father sends him to rural island to calm down and locate his own sense of calligraphy. At first Handa-kun tries his utmost to focus on his calligraphy, but soon finds Handa Seishū is a 23 year old village life getting in the way. He master calligrapher. After punching meets many new and interesting the director of a gallery for calling characters, mostly school kids, and not figure out how to get it started.

And that’s when it hit me! I am (like millions of other artsy-fartsy, creative people out there) just like Handa Seishū from Barakamon.

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develops an especially strong bond with a 6 year old girl named Naru Kotoishi. Handa-kun soon finds himself spending more time with the village kids (who are on summer vacation) and learning many new things both about life and himself (like realising for the first time that he is allergic to cats).

Handa-kun discovers what a festival is like for the first time, something that is quite common all over Japan.

He soon finds himself having a lot of fun in the village, and even relaxing, which quickly helps him to find inspiration to do his own calligraphy. While his calligraphy style develops slowly throughout the story, you can see that he is inspired by the beauty of the ocean and the simplicity of village life. Any creativelyinclined person can tell you that nature and relaxation often multiplies inspiration almost tenfold.

Handa-kun finally admits that he is enjoying writing.

This anime series is beautifully illustrated, with the landscapes drawn attractively and beautifully matching the flow of the story and characters. In addition, the contrast between Handa and Naru’s characters make the story more interesting and illustrates how people can learn from others and grow, even if those others are little children. Naru is actually voiced by a child name Suzuko Hara, and her incredibly adorable voice adds to the cuteness of Naru!

I think the story would have been more of a romance had Naru been Handa’s age, as the two become extremely close through the duration of the anime.

However, I personally enjoyed the fact that she was a little kid, because it demonstrates how children can have a profound effect on anyone, and that sometimes, their innocence can help adults unearth and work through their own issues.

Naru-chan reaches out to Handa-kun, depicting the idea that in this story, she is his saviour and helps him overcome his stress and rigid personality.

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Naru unwittingly teases Handa, but at the same time, her innocence helps him overcome his quick temper.

(Junon-Boy refers to “Pretty Boy” in Japanese culture, something Naru picks up from the older girls) Naru’s will for adventure and fun and her free-spirited nature is charming and brought a smile to my face. It made me nostalgic, remembering my own crazy, adventure-filled childhood. In her own natural way of life, Naru helps Handa overcome his snobbish city behaviour, and her brutal honesty (that can only come from a child) immensely aides him in overcoming his anger and impulsive reactions to criticisms of his calligraphy.

Naru is not the only person to help Handa in the village.

There are many other school kids that he interacts with, especially, Miwa Yamamura, Tamako Arai, and Hiroshi Kido.

Handa ends up helping Miwa and Tamako with a calligraphy project they have to do for school, and by helping them, he re-learns the basics of calligraphy.

Handa also becomes known as “Sensei” in the village, and is hired by many villagers to do some basic signwriting for them. By doing these odd jobs, Handa learns to overcome his newly-found fear of doing a bad job (which came about after hearing the negative comments about his work in Tokyo).

I really enjoyed this anime, and was quite saddened by the fact that it is only 1 2 episodes long. It was a fun, easy-going anime, which helped me to understand that everyone has insecurities about their work, even creative people like calligraphers and writers. The anime teaches us that criticism of one’s work is not a bad thing, and can be used to improve the work being done. It is definitely a series that I would recommend people to watch, especially if you are looking for something fun and light-hearted.

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Otaku Issues Is Anime's movement into the mainstream making it less enjoyable?

On his eternal quest for truth, justice and more pokeballs the intrepid Urahara-sensei, master of the barbed word and the cruel machination has come to a question that has plagued the hardcore anime fan for many years now. Is the mainstream ruining anime?

First of all allow me to nail my colours to the mast as hard as possible. In my opinion making anime more mainstream is not going to destroy the industry, it won’t even destroy the quality of productions coming out of Japan, no media has ever been ruined by more attention, it’s only on those attempts to localise where the original intent of the piece is ignored, that we start having issues.

Let’s also start by making this clear anime has always been in the mainstream. In Japan, where all anime is made, it has been a part of every day programming since the late 70s, the stigma of the Saturday morning cartoon is long gone from the minds of eastern audiences and as a result anime catering to all tastes and flavours is already being made, there is no need to defend it.

Anime in Japan is not some minority culture thing and while there are always those who take it too far, going to the extremes and becoming the legends of the Otaku culture, there are many more who see it as a part of daily life. Anime is on TV at all hours of the day and night aimed from children to middle aged adults. We are long past the point where being in the

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mainstream will ruin everything if Also as the money starts to flow in there was ever anything to ruin. we get a lot of good things coming out of it too, studio Ghibli may be Much like gaming the western incredibly popular in Japan but the anime culture has it’s roots in the studio wouldn’t be enjoying as much nerd culture of the 80's and 90's western interest if Disney and in America at least these corporation hadn’t taken to people were the ostracised by the redubbing their films with usually dominant mainstream culture. It’s a well chosen voice talent then I’m sad reality but that sense of almost certain that there wouldn’t be exclusion has left a nasty aftertaste as many people exposed to these that as nerd oriented becomes more excellent films. accepted those same nerds who Add in the fact that - as anime has were ostracised feel their precious become more common we’ve also pastime is being taken away from had an increase in quality them. This is stupid and quite localisation companies like Sentai frankly if your nostalgia is so easily filmworks and Funimation who try to harmed you needed help before be as close to the source material anime viewing became so easy. as possible and help us avoid hastles like those that threatened I think the single largest reason that Live Action Akira or the terrifying this myth that the “mainstream” prospect of another Dragon Ball ruins everything is allowed to run Evolution hitting theatres. free is that people mistake well intentioned mistakes for deliberate In all honesty it’s pretty clear that Malice. Most people acknowledge aside from a reactionary minority that the dub jobs done by studios that claims that the mainstream is like Manga in the UK and the late stealing their toy, anime is already unlamented "4Kids" in the US were mainstream. Now suck it up and atrocious at best and living deal with it. vivisections of the work where it’s living heart was ripped out and - Urahara-sensei served as an entrée at the next dinner party, but I would argue that without Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh and the myriad hyper violent manime of the 1 980s most anime fans wouldn’t have a common foundation in western cultures. The fact is that those initial introductions may have been hamfisted, badly dubbed messes, but many of us have them as our first introductions to this wonderful world of anime.

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Tokyo

ESP Tokyo ESP is a breath of fresh air to a relatively stagnant season that spawned it...

Unlike everything else I've had to review this year I volunteered to watch this show from beginning to end.

Also, unlike Tokyo ghoul which comes from the same season as the series Tokyo ESP is actually about its supporting cast. While Rinka is definitely the centre of the anime she is not the only character to get screen time - in fact my favorite scenes are with Rinka's ex-cop father, who in addition to being the most merciless teacher she ever had, is also the character I really wanted to see succeed. That and his powers allowed him to control magnetism - he's like Magneto only with more muscles. Honesty now that I think about it a lot of the characters in this show could be characters from the X- men. Heck the show even has a man with psychic powers named "The Professor".

That said, while the anime appears to be taking a few footnotes from Marvel Comics, the story actually appears to be taking heavy chunks out of Raiders of the lost Ark. (trust me you'll know it when you see it) If I had one criticism for the series it would be the ending - which I will not spoil here. Let's just say they clearly want a second season and leave it at that (another trait that seems to have in common with Tokyo Ghoul) From a technical perspective this series looks brilliant it has crisp character design and you can always see the expression of a character clearly.

The bright colors and Surreal effects created by the CGI fish and whatever the heck the flying penguin Peggy is supposed to be, really blends well with the traditional animated backgrounds and after Tokyo ghoul the vibrant colors really make you enjoy the series.

Music is the standard fare a lot of electro pop and guitar riffs that are really entertaining but this series did not have me out of my chair except during the big orchestral suite at the end.

To conclude I highly recommend that you check the series out if you haven't already, in a year that seems mostly about sequels - original property that draws you in as well as Tokyo ESP does, deserves all the attention it can get.

By: Urahara-sensei

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MANGA SECTOR Our Manga sector covers some very tired looking dudes with creepy looks and worn to the nub pencils. We know they will ultimately start the zombie apocalypse, so we will begin preparations soon. Well, maybe after this cup of coffee.

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Manga 1 8 Sector February 201 5

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Release Schedule Manga releases for February and March 201 5 Blood Deadman Wallflower, The Graphic Blockade Wonderland Novel 34 Battlefront Volume 7 Volume 7 (Manga) US February 3, 201 5

February 4, 201 5

Dragonar Academy Volume 5

Gantz Dawn of the Jormungand (Manga) Volume 34 Arcana Vol. 1 0 (Manga) Vol. 01

February 1 0, 201 5 February 1 0, 201 5 February 1 0, 201 5 February 1 0, 201 5 February 1 0, 201 5

Magi Hayate the I Am Alice: Neon Combat Body Swap Volume 1 0 Genesis in Butler Evangelion Volume 25 Wonderland Volume 1 4 Volume 3

Tiger & Bunny Volume 6

Samurai Cardfight!!

Executioner Vanguard, Omnibus Volume 5 Volume 4

February 1 0, 201 5 February 1 0, 201 5 February 1 0, 201 5 February 1 0, 201 5 February 1 0, 201 5 February 11 , 201 5 February 1 7, 201 5

Devils and Realist Volume 4

Naruto Claymore D.Gray-man Dragon Ball Volume 69 Volume 26 Volume 6 (3-in-1 Edition) Volume 8

Oresama Teacher Volume 1 8

February 1 7, 201 5 February 24, 201 5

March 3, 201 5

March 3, 201 5

March 3, 201 5

March 3, 201 5

March 3, 201 5

New Lone Wolf & Cub Volume 4

Girls Und Panzer: Little Army Volume 2

Knights of Sidonia, Volume 1 3

Oh My Goddess!

Volume 47

Kokoro Connect Volume 3

Strike Witches: OneWinged Witches Volume 2

Accel World Volume 3

March 4, 201 5

March 1 0, 201 5

March 1 0, 201 5

March 11 , 201 5

March 1 7, 201 5

March 1 7, 201 5

March 24, 201 5

A Certain Magical Index Volume 2

Alice in the The Devil Is Puella Magi Blade of the Soul Eater Sword Art Fairy Tail 47 Country of A Part-Timer Immortal Volume 25 Oriko Online: Vol.1 Joker: The Volume 31 : Magica Fairy Dance Nightmare Final Extra Volume 3 Trilogy Curtain Volume Volume 3 March 24, 201 5

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March 24, 201 5

March 24, 201 5

March 25, 201 5

March 31 , 201 5

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March 31 , 201 5

March 31 , 201 5

Previews and Reviews Manga reviews and previews for February and March 201 5 The Gamer

The Tower of God

Released: 201 3 Author(s): Sung San-young

Released: February 6, 201 5 Director(s): The Wachowskis

There truly is nothing like a good manhwa title, honestly.

And The Gamer is no exception to this standard.

Han Jee-Han, a normal high school student, suddenly develops a special power where his entire world is shifted into a game-like setting. He can see the power levels of people, look at the stats of a seemingly normal item, get abilities, and even level up! Follow Han Jee-Han as he discovers how to use this power, and maybe even where it came from. The chapters being released regularly for a full year now and have led Han deeper into the gaming world.

While a typical gamer now-a-days is locked into either the shoot-em-up FPS games or their MMORPG taking down towers and the such, the games that this series mimics are closer to adventure games or JRPGs (Final Fantasy). But somehow the seriousness of those gaming genres is watered down into hilarious moment of Han getting notifications for mundane things that he is aware of naturally, like his mood changing.

The story centers around a boy called Twenty-Fifth Baam, who has spent his life trapped beneath a mysterious tower. Chasing after his only friend, he manages to open a door into the Tower, and must now face challenges at each floor of this mysterious tower as he tries to find his companion. The Tower is a mysterious structure that is completely enclosed and hosts many unique environments. It is permeated by an element called "Shinsoo", which has strange properties. It is inhabited by many different intelligent species. It is uncertain what the world outside the Tower is like.

Each floor is composed of three layers: an external Outer Tower which serves as the residential area, an Inner Tower where Regulars are tested, and a Middle Area, which acts as a network linking each floor. In order to ascend the tower, Regulars are required to pass tests on the lower floors.

Witchcraft Works Kaichou Wa MaidSama!

Released: June 201 0 Author(s): Mizunagi Ryuu

Released: February 2008 Author(s): Fujiwara Hiro

The main character (Takamiya, Honoka) is a regular student whose only problem seems to be that he sits next to Kagari, Ayaka, the school's #1 beauty. Yet when a falling part of the school's building is about to send him to the afterlife, it was her who came to his rescue. Except, she was dressed as a witch, carrying him in her arms and floating on a broom. She continues to protect him using her fire magic until the attempt on his life ends. She tells him it is her mission to protect him, and that now she can finally protect him openly.

Why was Takamiya attacked, who asked Kagari to protect him, and why does she refer to him as "my princess"?

Brilliant and overachieving, Misaki Ayuzawa is the President of the Student Council at Seika High School, formerly a boys' school.

Unfortunately, most of the students are still male and stuck in their slovenly habits, so man-hating Misaki really socks it to 'em in an attempt to make the school presentable to attract more female students. But what will she do when the sexiest boy in school finds out that after school, Misaki works in a maid cafe. This series has been going for 7 years and it is still charming, the art is beautiful and the main characters have a lot to offer. While the story may be about a some what feminist cafe Maid it is still rather light hearted in its message.

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By: Bill "Salazar" Masuku

Blood Lad Staz is one of the toughest vampires in the demon world. But unlike his ancestors, he finds being a vampire to be a serious pain in the ass and prefers to spend his time watching anime and playing video games instead, before anything he is a full-blown otaku!

When a Japanese girl named Fuyumi wanders into his territory, Staz cannot hide his excitement at finally meeting a living human from his favourite culture.

Unfortunately, Fuyumi dies after being swallowed by a monster, leaving her bare soul behind. Staz vows to Fuyumi that he will bring her back to life by any bloody means necessary.

Blood Lad takes us on a comical yet action packed journey that is filled with familiar and unfamiliar monsters of legend and lore.

Written by Published by

Yuuki Kodama Kadokawa Shoten Englishpublisher YenPress Demographic Magazine Original run 2009 – ongoing Volumes

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Seinen Young Ace September 4, 1

Everything from zombies, to dragons litter the demon world, and attention to detail is not spared on even the most insignificant characters. The art matches the story telling perfectly with its shonen style of art.

While the characterization of many recurring characters is not as indepth as we would have liked the main cast are fleshed out with backstories that help you understand the way they are and how their current

relationship will move forward without delving too deep into specifics.

In particular the relationship between Staz and his brother, while he appears to be an antagonist and does everything he can to make Staz’s life a living hell. A look at their past exposes his true nature.

The manga was popular enough to have been animated. But awkwardly only 1 0 episodes were originally aired ending in the middle of an exciting arc, with many

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big reveals to the plot that it left fans thinking that the anime was made as a teaser for the manga; seems to be the logical and fair and sanity-maintaining explanation.

Overall, a must read for anyone into the supernatural, fighting comedy genre.

Ocha Nigosu BAD BOYS DRINK TEA TOO

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BAD BOYS DRINK TEA TO Ocha Nigosu which literally translates to "Bad Boy Drinks Tea", is a manga that falls into the ever popular theme of reforming delinquents.

While it is not as common as fish out of water, or the coming of age theme; the prevalence of delinquency in Japan has this being a very relatable topic for the "slice of life" genre which focuses on events happening to everyday folk rather than the supernatural of which we have come to expect from manga in general.

The bad boy is actually very misunderstood character, the story follows the high school delinquent Masaya Funabashi, better known as "Devil Ma-kun" who is trying to reform his image by joining the Japanese tea ceremony club. His fearsome and devil-like appearance scares timid characters and infuriates other delinquents, and this contrast in relationship dynamics makes the character development interesting to follow. He himself is learning to be more cultured after joining the tea club in his high school. Coupled with his frightening appearance is his devastating physical prowess which is within the bounds of believable strength but made out to be near supernatural comparative to the rest of the characters he interacts with in the tea club and

school.

This story is one of the stranger titles I’ve picked up, not for its comical moments, action or drama, but for its sincerity which is well portrayed through each character. Everyone is true to who they are, despite what society expects of them - which is a deep social lesson. Together with teaching readers who aren’t familiar with the importance and prestige behind Japanese tea culture. The art work is compelling and does a great job illustrating the reforming delinquent’s saga. Good for expanding your readership tastes while not straying too far into unknown ground.

Volumes: 11 Chapters: 1 09 Status: Finished Published: Aug 1 0, 2007 to Oct 1 6, 2009 Genres: Comedy, School, Shounen Authors: Nishimori, Hiroyuki (Story & Art) Serialization: Shounen Sunday

By: Bill Salazar Masuku

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Atta ck on Ti ta n Shingeki no kyojin is arguably one of the most interesting manga currently being produced. Its overwhelming sales in recent years after the release of the anime, sparked an unprecedented amount of readership worldwide.

Single-handedly the most emotionally gripping story in terms of setting the idea of fear and helplessness in the reader by depicting an era where the entirety of humanity has been forced to hide within walls as they cower from beings known as titans. While the titans vary in size they more often than not tower over humans, with most being shoulder height with 2 storey buildings.

But what truly injects fear into our system is the fact that the titans solely eat humans. Ignoring all other forms of fauna and flora as they advance towards the last surviving humans, not for hunger or for survival but for simply predatation. Closer to forces of nature rather than monsters – mankind's only hope of fighting titans are the story’s focal group, the Recon Corps equipped with blades and 3D-maneuver gear that allows they to move swiftly through the air using pressurised grappling hooks.

Despite shingeki no kyojin being the most popular manga out now, having recently knocked One Piece off the place of number one in sales volumes. SNK is popular for its suspensive plot and mystery rather than its artwork. In this department SNK is surprisingly terrible.

With little detail in the characters’ appearance it is often difficult to determine who is who when reading panels briskly. Fortunately, like all manga artists who run for a long time the artwork has steadily improved as each monthly chapter has been released. Notably it is evident that the original author has borrowed imagery from the anime to help develop a reader friendly style.

As far as recommendations go, it goes without saying that at some point you must read Shingeki no Kyojin and be pulled into the world of the titans and watch the conspiracies unfold.

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By: Bill Salazar Masuku

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C o m i n g J u n e 2 0 1 5 ...

All Otaku Magazine Issue 1 2

Film SECTOR Our Film sector covers ghosts, adventures, time travel and spoons. No, not the type they had in the matrix. Real spoons that will not bend... Not even for Neo.

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Film26Sector February 201 5

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Release Schedule Movie releases for February and March 201 5 Jupiter Ascending

The Seventh Son

February 6, 201 5

February 6, 201 5

February 6, 201 5

The Last 5 Years

Hot Tub Time Machine 2

The DUFF

SpongeBob: Lambert & Sponge Out Stamp of Water

February 6, 201 5

Pass the Light

Fifty Shades Kingsman: The Secret of Grey Service

February 6, 201 5

February 1 3, 201 5 February 1 3, 201 5

Jane Got a McFarland, USA Gun

Russell Madness

The Lazarus Effect

February 1 3, 201 5 February 20, 201 5 February 20, 201 5 February 20, 201 5 February 20, 201 5 February 21 , 201 5 February 27, 201 5

The Vatican Tapes

Focus

Maps to the Stars

Outcast

Deli Man

February 27, 201 5 February 27, 201 5 February 27, 201 5 February 27, 201 5 February 27, 201 5

Paranormal Cinderella Activity: The Ghost Dimension

Unfinished Business

March 6, 201 5

March 6, 201 5

In the Heart Just Before of the Sea I Go

The Divergent Series: Insurgent

March 1 3, 201 5

March 1 3, 201 5

March 1 3, 201 5

March 20, 201 5

Serena

While We're Young

A Little Chaos

It Follows

Home

March 27, 201 5

March 27, 201 5

March 27, 201 5

March 27, 201 5

March 27, 201 5

Merchants of Doubt

The Coup

March 6, 201 5

March 6, 201 5

March 1 3, 201 5

Do You Believe?

Get Hard

March 20, 201 5

March 27, 201 5

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Chappie

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By:Joannah Stewart

Previews and Reviews Movie reviews and previews for February and March 201 5 Big Hero 6

Jupiter Ascending

Released: November 201 4 Director(s): Don Hall, Chris Williams

Released: February 6, 201 5 Director(s): The Wachowskis

From the same studios as we got "Wreck it Ralph" and "Frozen" comes a tale of a young prodigy called "Hiro Hamada" who, with his friends get catapulted into danger when a devastating event occurs in the city of San Fransokyo. Together with his friends and the help of an inflatable robot called "Baymax" they set out to help the citizens of their hometown. Using his crazy intellect, Hiro transforms his friends into a band of high-tech heroes called "Big Hero 6". It is a tale of adventure, friendship and some neat gadgetry, and considering where it is coming from, not to be missed.

Jupiter Jones was born with the stars themselves predicting that she was destined for greatness. Now in adulthood she is faced by the everyday reality of a day job and a streak of bad luck. This all changes the day that Caine, a genetically engineered exmilitary hunter tracks her down and gives her a glimpse of the destiny that she was meant for. Jupiter was born a royal, with an inheritance that will shake the stars. She has but to claim her place in the empire.

Into the Woods

Seventh Son

Released: December 201 5 Director(s): Rob Marshall

Released: December 1 7, 201 4 Director(s): Sergei Bodrov

This is the story of a baker and his wife who are cursed Based on a novel called The by a witch . In order to lift the Spook's Apprectice this is the curse, the baker and his wife first installment of "The must acquire four rare items.

Wardstone Chronicles" by Joseph Delaney.

A cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow Seventh Son is about Thomas Ward, a seventh son of a seventh son. This gives him the ability to see things that others as corn and a slipper as pure as gold. In a wonderful combination of classic fairy tales, the movie takes an alternate can't and leads to him being taken in by a "Spook" or look of both the pre- and after effects of the tales whilst demon/witch hunter. delivering a stunning performance. Have a look at what As the apprentice of a Spook, Thomas is faced wih his first happened after Jack cut down the beanstalk, after Cinderella challenge when his mentor leaves and an evil witch, Mother married her prince, after Red riding hood was visited by the Malkin, escapes her centuries old confinement. wolf and after Rapunzel was set free from her tower.

Click the images above to view the trailer

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After much procrastination I finally sat down to write this article a day before it was due.

Generally this is a bad thing, if you don't know what to write then the movie must have been bad.

But in this instance that is not the case, in fact, this movie was great!

Predestination A movie that will take you entirely by surprise, and that is a good thing.

Its so great that I would dare say it is one of the best movies to come out of the time travel genre in the last 1 5 years. The problem though is where do you start when the film you just watched was a completely closed circate that has many beginnings and ending through out.

A good place to start would be with the synopsis, the synopsis being one of the most decieving parts of the film. You are lead to believe that this film is going to be an action packed futuristic version of "The Bourne identity", with secret agent time travellers stopping criminals through time.

The reality is further down the rabbit hole than that, much further. This film revolves around a temporal agent who is sent back in time to stop a criminal called the "Fizzle Bomber".

Desguised as a bar tender he meets a young man(John) who writes "confession stories" for money.

John proceeds to tell him the story of how he was born a girl, left at an orphinage, and became a candidate for a female space program. He explains that after meeting a young man, who resembeled his current self, that she fell in love and later fell pregnant, leading to her ultimate sex change.

When his story is done, the time traveller offers John the chance to kill the man who stole her heart, explaining that he believes this man to be the Fizzle Bomber and John accepts. Only to go back in time and find out that he himself is the man that she fell in love with.

By:Joannah Stewart

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This plot twist has many implications on the rest of the story but it is all brought together so well, explaining the process that every person goes through when dealing with selfidentification. The movie has a subtle yet complex point to make about the way that we see and treat ourselves and was pulled off briliantly.

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By:Trisha Ramrathen

Dracula Untold A film with all the wibbily wobbly timey wimey things you could ever need.

Gary Shore’s Dracula Untold depicts one of mythology’s most feared, yet loved horror creatures as a man with the desire to protect his family and kingdom. The 92 minute spectacle meshes the mythology of Bram Stoker’s Dracula with the history of the Prince of Wallachia (Transylvania), Vlad III or Drăculea a.k.a Vlad the Impaler (Dracula).

According to historical accounts, Vlad III was held as a political hostage by the Ottomans, during which time he was educated and trained. In order to remain at peace with the Ottomans, Transylvania was required to pay a tribute to the Sultan. However, Vlad resented the Ottomans, and rebelled against them, starting a war. Vlad received his nickname “The Impaler” for his affinity for impaling his victims on high stakes.

becomes a fearsome warrior where he earns the nickname “The Impaler”. On his return to Transylvania, he is restored to his throne, marries a beautiful woman named Mirena (Sarah Gadon) and fathers a son. His small kingdom lives in peace for years until the Sultan demands that he send 1 000 young boys to be trained as Ottoman soldiers, including Vlad’s son. By refusing the Sultan’s request, Vlad begins a war between the two nations. Desperate for the power to defeat the Ottoman army, Vlad heads to the feared mountain near his kingdom where, it is rumoured, lives a horrific creature.

The priests call this creature a vampire: a demon who drinks the blood of humans. Vlad is given the blood of the Master Vampire (Charles Dance) and is immediately endowed with the supernatural Luke Evans stars as Vlad Tepes III powers he needs. He is warned a.k.a Dracula, the Prince of however, that if he gives in to his Transylvania, in Shore’s re-imagining bloodlust and feeds within 3 days, of Vlad the Impaler, who is known to then he shall remain a demon for all be the inspiration behind Bram eternity.

Stoker’s horror novel Dracula.

Following the historical account of Shore’s retelling of the birth of “The Imapaler” the movie begins Dracula intertwines both the with the young prince, Vlad, at an historical legend of Vlad III and Ottoman camp where he is educated Stoker’s imagining of the bloodand trained as a soldier and sucking vampire, making a pretty

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decent story. He did tend to focus more on the history than the myth which was a tad bit disappointing. As someone who has read Stoker’s Dracula numerous times, I was looking forward to seeing more slashing and horror as opposed to the love fest presented by Shore.

While it was sweet to see a more humane side to Dracula, one that loved and valued his family and people above and beyond all else, it was disheartening to watch one of mythology’s most infamous fiends being reduced to a mere loving and caring mortal. Despite this, anyone who is interested in watching this film should not be expecting a retelling of Stoker’s story but rather a fresh take on the legend of Dracula.

Trisha Ramrathen

/10

Gaming SECTOR Our Gaming sector covers headshots, chainsaw killing sprees, and numerous fish slaps, all while looking at up and coming titles in the gaming industry. If you want to borrow my sniper rifle, that will be $50 please...

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Gaming 32 Sector February 201 5

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Release Schedule Game releases for February and March 201 5 There Came Criminal SpongeBob an Echo Girls: Invite HeroPants Only Platforms: Platforms: Win, Mac, Lin, PSVita PS4, XBOX February 1 , 201 5

February 3, 201 5

Resident Evil: Revelations 2-1

Total War: Attila

Platforms: PS3, PS4

Platforms: Win

Platforms: DS, X360, PSVita

February 3, 201 5

American Truck Simulator Platforms: Win

Evolve

Platforms: Win, PS4, XBO

Story of Seasons Platforms: 3DS

Kirby and Dead or the Rainbow Alive 5: Last Curse Round Platforms: WiiU

Platforms: Win, PS4, XBOX, PS3,

February 1 0, 201 5 February 1 0, 201 5 February 1 3, 201 5 February 1 7, 201 5

Blackhole

Platforms: Win, Mac, Lin

The Order: Dragon Ball XenoVerse 1 886 Platforms: PS4

Platforms: PS3, PS4, X360, XBOX

Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires Platforms: Win, PS4, XBO, PS3

February 1 7, 201 5 February 1 7, 201 5 February 20, 201 5 February 20, 201 5 February 20, 201 5 February 24, 201 5 February 24, 201 5

htoL#NiQ: Hyperdevoti Resident Under Night Resident Screamride Zombie Evil: In-Birth Evil: Army Trilogy The Firefly on Noire: Goddess Revelations Exe:Late Revelations Diary Black Heart 2-2 2-3

Platforms: PSVita

Platforms: PSVita

Platforms: PS3, PS4

Platforms: PS3

February 24, 201 5 February 24, 201 5 February 24, 201 5 February 24, 201 5

Platforms: PS3, PS4

March 3, 201 5

Platforms: XBOX, X360

March 3, 201 5

Platforms: PS4, XBOX, Win

March 6, 201 5

Resident Tokyo Code Atelier Battlefield Bladestorm: DmC: Evil: Twilight Name: Shallie: Hardline Nightmare Definitive Alchemists Revelations Ghosthunter S.T.E.A.M. Edition 2-4 s of the Dusk Sea Platforms: Platforms: Platforms: Platforms: Platforms: Platforms:

Platforms: PS3

PS3, PS4

March 1 0, 201 5

March 1 0, 201 5

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

Project CARS

Platforms: PS4, XBOX March 1 7, 201 5

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Platforms: Win, PS4, XBOX

March 1 7, 201 5

PS3, PSVita

March 1 0, 201 5

3DS

Win, PS3, PS4, X360,

March 1 3, 201 5

March 1 7, 201 5

The Bloodborne Awakened Fate Ultimatum

MLB 1 5: The Show

Platforms: PS3

Platforms: PS4

March 1 7, 201 5

March 24, 201 5

Platforms: PS4, PS3, PSVita March 31 , 201 5

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PS3, PS4, XBOX

March 1 7, 201 5

Amplitude

Platforms: PS3, PS4

TBA

PS4, XBOX

March 1 7, 201 5

Previews and Reviews Gaming reviews and previews for February and March 201 5 LEGO Jurassic World

World of Tanks Released: 1 2 August 201 0 Publishers: Wargaming

Released: June 201 5 Publishers: Warner Bros.

Interactive Entertainment, TT Games, The Lego Group

Following the epic storylines of Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, as well as the highly anticipated Jurassic World, LEGO Jurassic World is the first videogame where players will be able to relive and experience all four Jurassic films. The game will be available in June for the Xbox One all-in-one games and entertainment system; the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system for Microsoft; PlayStation4 and PlayStation3 computer entertainment systems; PlayStationVita handheld entertainment system; the Wii U™ system from Nintendo; Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system; and Windows PC.

TERA (The Exiled Realm of Arborea)

Rugby 1 5

Released: January 25, 2011 Publishers: Gameforge, Gameforge Berlin, Ubisoft, Naver Corporation, En Masse Entertainment

Released: November 21 , 201 4 Publishers: HB Studios

Developed by Bluehole Studio and published in North America by En Masse Entertainment, TERA (The Exiled Realm of Arborea), is an award-winning MMORPG for the PC platform that takes the fight beyond the genre’s traditional point-and-click combat systems with enhanced aiming, dodging, and tactical timing to create an intense and rewarding combat experience. Explore a vast fantasy world rich with history, lore, and danger. Battle epic monsters and make new friends and allies with a vibrant online community with like-minded adventurers navigating the social, political and economic structures within the world of TERA. With over 1 7 million registered users globally, TERA continues to gain traction with fans through its active community and support

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World of Tanks is a massively multiplayer online game developed

by Belarusian-Cypriot company Wargaming.

The focus is on player vs. player gameplay with each player controlling an armored vehicle, which may be a Light, Medium or Heavy tank, tank destroyer, or selfpropelled gunThe player takes control of a single armored vehicle of his or her choosing, and is placed into a battle on a random map, though map selection may vary with different game modes. The player has control over the vehicle's movement, firing, and can communicate with other players through typed or voice chat. World of tanks has become very popular and even debuted as an eSports game at the World Cyber Games 201 2.

Rugby 201 5 simply isn’t a great game. Truth be told it probably isn’t as terrible as some make it out to be, but it simply does not deliver to the wants and needs of the average gamer who loves Rugby.

To the game’s credit, Rugby 201 5 has variants of many important club and provincial sides in addition to numerous international sides, including lesser known ones like Namibia. The issue is that they are very clearly variants. You will not find the Stormers or Western Province here. Instead you can select the team “Cape Town”.

You will also find that the players you are familiar with are not available, and the players in their stead are unrecognisable. Even though this is almost certainly due to licensing hurdles, little effort was made to address the issue.

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Come join our Game South Africa's premium casters

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Click the linkMagazine to findIssue out1 2more All Otaku

Table top gamers

In the interest of starting a new semi-regular article around tabletop gaming here is the first installment of All Otaku Mag’s Tabletop. Gaming communities across South Africa are going from strength to strength and with so many awesome new games coming out all the time we are truly living in the golden age of tabletop. I hope to bring you a brief review and rating of two or three games per week, some new and some old but all awesome.

BETRAYAL AT HOUSE ON THE HILL Betrayal is an older game that went out of print and has come back thanks to massive demand by the fans. If you are a fan of horror then this will be right up your alley. It is a co-operative game with a twist. Players start out with a unique character and health meter (the meter gauges a player’s health /strength / sanity / intelligence). As the game commences the board is only a single room and players must explore the derelict and spooky house on the hill to build the board. This is the essence of a modular game; players create the board through their decisions. During this first phase of the game all players are on the same side, merely trying to find their way through the haunted house and gather items and weapons. Eventually certain conditions will be met and the game really kicks into gear!

When these “conditions” are met a scenario is triggered. There are fifty unique scenarios in the game each with its’ own spine chilling story. From zombies to serial killers to werewolves and even aliens the replay value here is massive. The player who triggers the condition is then designated the “betrayer” and he must leave the room in order to read his role and win conditions. This remains unknown to the remaining players who also have their own win condition.

For example; in a game we played recently the “betrayer” was a diabolical killer who had buried alive a person in the basement. We had to get to the basement and dig this person out. The betrayer had to get to the basement and nail the coffin shut. It is a race against time and the items you gathered and how well you have explored the mansion will determine the winner.

I absolutely love this game and whole heartedly recommend it to everyone.

POWERGRID Powergrid is also an older game in the German style (Funkenschlag) and will appeal to traditional boardgamers and beancounters. It has a great mechanic but also a few drawbacks.

Essentially each player is attempting to buy power stations and use them to power buildings across the map. Think of it as monopoly but with a twist; you need to power your buildings in order to win.

Each round of the game has multiple phases. Players begin by bidding on power stations against each other in an auction (this can get pretty heated as a power station that may cost around 1 0 bucks is suddenly skyrocketed to 50 as two players square off against

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each other to get it), then players need to compete to buy resources to use those power stations and lastly players need to place their buildings that they will power across the map. As you can see there are multiple ways for the strategy in this game to get pretty deep and it often involves a lot of creativity.

Having played this game twice in the space of one week I can say I do enjoy it but find that it can get slightly drawn out. Both games went on a lot longer than I expected (mostly due to people taking their sweet time to make a decision; an egg timer to force them to keep it under a minute is suggested). But on the positive side it doesn’t get boring as the multiple phases are all equally entertaining. Another great thing about the game is that it is so well balanced that even if one player falls behind early or one player pulls ahead the ending of the game is almost always neck-and-neck between all players.

NETRUNNER Netrunner is a great card game that I have only had the opportunity to play once so this review may be a bit thin. It is a “Living card game” (LCG) so unlike a “Trading card game” (TCG) there is only one core set that all players own and build decks from. This is much more affordable (and in my opinion infinitely better) than the need to buy endless booster packs to construct a good deck (Magic / Yu-Gi-Oh).

In Netrunner one player takes on the role of a futuristic corporation and the other player the role of a runner. During the game the corporation will try and advance “agendas” and the runner must stop them by stealing them. Boardgame geek explains the rules as follows:

ROUND-UP That’s it for the first edition of All Otaku Mag’s Tabletop. If there are any games you would like us to write about please send and email to info@allotakumag.co.za.

We have created an All Otaku Meetup group (www.meetup.com/ALL-OTAKU/) and will throwing some tabletop events in the near future. If you are part of a tabletop community in your area and want your crew featured on the website please drop the us a line either on the site or on facebook.

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“Corporations seek to score agendas by advancing them. Doing so takes time and credits. To buy the time and earn the credits they need, they must secure their servers and data forts with "ice". These security programs come in different varieties, from simple barriers, to code gates and aggressive sentries. They serve as the corporation's virtual eyes, ears, and machine guns on the sprawling information superhighways of the network.

In turn, runners need to spend their time and credits acquiring a sufficient wealth of resources, purchasing the necessary hardware, and developing suitably powerful ice-breaker programs to hack past corporate security measures. Their jobs are always a little desperate, driven by tight timelines, and shrouded in mystery. When a runner jacks-in and starts a run at a corporate server, he risks having his best programs trashed or being caught by a trace program and left vulnerable to corporate countermeasures. It's not uncommon for an unprepared runner to fail to bypass a nasty sentry and suffer massive brain damage as a result. Even if a runner gets through a data fort's defenses, there's no telling what it holds. Sometimes, the runner finds something of value. Sometimes, the best he can do is work to trash whatever the corporation was developing” The game is critically acclaimed with a very active and awesome community. Having met the guys in Cape Town I am really excited to get my teeth into this one. I am also told there is a large and friendly community in Johannesburg so hopefully we can see some intercity tournaments in the future.

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World of warcraft : Warlords of Draenor Expansion By: Leena Swarts

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New Character Models

WoW has been around for a long time. It is no secret that the fan base has dwindled over the years, mainly due to players becoming tired of “more of the same” mentality. Yes, the expansions are numerous, and the lore just keeps expanding, but somehow the feel of the game doesn’t change. The stats have become silly, the dps output have become a joke, and the raid bosses are laughable. Grind, grind, grind.

Like all MMO’s, Wow was no different, just more polished.

So, Blizzard has put it all on the line with Warlords of Draenor. Arguably the last expansion of Wow, but they have been saying that for a while.

HoweverX They have made some serious corrections to the game that pulled back a huge amount of players. For those of us who have been playing since “vanilla” or “burning crusade”, a lot of us would agree that the “Wrath of the Lich King” expansion was probably Blizzard’s crowning achievement when it came to wow expansions.

The game was, well for lack of a better term, just fun. The stats were well balanced, the holy triad were well balanced, and the raids were both fun and challenging.

So now let’s fast forward to the latest expansion. Warlords of Draenor impresses from the word go. The story just sucks you in and refuses to let go. I have to admit, if there is one thing that they did right this time around, it was to make “you” feel part of the world. The quests, the progression, and oh man, those cut-scenes just keep you on your toes and keeps you going. When the dust finally settled, I was standing in my own garrison and I was happy. There are only a few games that I have played to date to which I can make

that kind of claim. Gone is the never ending days of grinding to level up. Gone is the dreary, feet dragging experience of getting your character up through the last levels in the expansion.

Ok, so let’s have a look at some of the new goodies and features in the expansion. The biggest change you will see is undoubtedly the garrison. Every player has one, and it is like, to quote Tony Stark “HomeX just moreX me”. The buildings in your garrison is completely your choice, and there are some very nice choices to add to the experience of the game.

These buildings can also be upgraded to the third level, with each upgrade providing some nice and unique benefits to your garrison. I think that since most of the player base has the best and most expensive mounts already,

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that the garrison is the new gold sink. *winks* Speaking of flying mounts, there are none thus far in the expansion.

Flying mounts are amazing to have, but it does leave you feeling a little “detached” from the world.

Staying land bound keeps your sense of size firmly rooted and keeps you from feeling that the world is actually pretty small. It does also mean that if you want to go anywhere, you might have to slog through a couple of mobs to do so. Pro’s and con’s? Yeah, there is a bit of both in there. The garrisons are much more than just buildings and upgrades though.

There are followers to recruit, missions to go on, assaults to lead, defending your garrison against attacks, just a whole lot of fun to be had all in all.

So let’s get back to end game content. The expansion is still pretty new, and most players are still gearing up for the end game raids, with most of us still in the heroic dungeons farming for gear. Not much has changed on that bit, but Blizzard has made some very generous changes in the way we get gear for our characters. Instead of doing the dungeon over and over for a single item like in the past, every boss will drop something specific to your character, if it has something in its loot tables. Well the first time around anyways. Which means that when you do the dungeon for the first time, you will probably get between two and four upgrades for your character. If you use the looking for group system, this will not stop after the first run through, only if you keep in the same group.

Neat huh?

after the first part of the expansion.

I, for one, sincerely hope that they do. It keeps the game interesting and keeps players playing, which in turn keeps them funded and producing more stuff. Everyone wins right?

In conclusion, if you are a Wow player that has lost their way, have a look at Draenor. It has a lot of positive things going for it. If you are a new player looking for an MMORPG, well Wow is pretty much still the best on the market, and with Draenor out now, it will most likely retain that spot for some time.

By Beleran

Speaking of dungeons, it all comes back to stats, which is another huge change that they brought to the latest expansion. Everything got scaled down again to pretty much “Wrath of the Lich King� standards.

The dps output looks pretty much the same as back then, the tanks actually have to do damage mitigation again, and the healers have their work cut out for them.

This makes dungeons fun again, because it is no longer just a race to get through and you actually have to use some strategy to get to the end.

The heroics are especially hard at this stage.

Looking forward though, I guess I am keen to see if Blizzard will try and keep the dungeons as challenging as they are now, or if with the increases in gear stats, players will be able to just face roll the dungeons as they always have

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LEGO Batman 3:

Beyond Gotham Douw “D.K” Kotzé

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is the latest LEGO game of our favourite DC caped crusader. My favourite DC hero (not the one the people deserve, but the one that the people need) and it’s developed by Traveller's Tales, for the Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U and iOS. Yes, that sure is a really, really, really wide range of availability right there. You really don’t have a reason not to get thisXit’s available on practically everywhere. Okay, not everywhere, but you get the point. Let’s not forget that the game is also available for Mac via Steam. It is the third instalment of the LEGO Batman game series and a direct sequel to LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes.

This game might have the name of Batman, but it calls for yet another crossover story-line of the DC Universe.

To be honest, the name “Batman” does wonders for the selling of merchandise and games.

Batman and everyone else are doing what they do bestXkind of. Things soon start to go in a downward spiral and your usual suspects of this crime-related tragedy are none other than those same two guys that have a number of team-up cooperation behind their criminal records. The Joker is back and Lex Luther seems even more determined to get back at our DC Super Heroes. Brainiac is also in the villainous picture

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as is other familiar villainous faces. What is their plan?

I’m not gonna tell ya, but it’s more in the lines of World DominationXas always. Well, a stolen ice cream isn’t really worthy of a super hero crossover, right?

WaitXyou’re actually thinking about it?

Get your hands on the game and play through another epic LEGO Batman game. Build stuff and kick LEGOcrime butt. Play as many familiar and unfamiliar faces through the DC history. Play as your favourite Heroes and Villains. You’ll even be able to play as Adam West.

Yes, the legendary Adam West himself who starred as Batman from the 1 960’s Batman T.V series and movie.

Comedian and talk-show host Conan O’Brien will most likely be there as well, seeing as he had a superhero of his own, thanks to DC Comics. You’ll be able to play as many other characters as well, including Alfred, Aquaman, Bane, Bat-Cow ~pausing and waits for that to sink in~, Batgirl, Batman, many different versions and variations of Batman, Bat-Mite, Bruce Wayne, Robin, Dick Grayson, The Joker, Lex Luther, Flash, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Miss Martian, Nightwing, Shazam, Superman, Superboy, Supergirl and many, many, many more!

DLC Content should include a fan-designed character that was the winner of the game’s contest.

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Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire It's Pokémon. I'm sorry, but there's very little else to say about this title that you couldn't say of the title it's remaking from 1 2 years ago. That said it is very nice to go back to Hoenn and re-experience arguably the weakest generation of this franchise.

For those not familiar with Pokémon a game series that hasn't changed very much in 1 5 years and even lace since the advent of this game's originals. Pokémon is a game in which you hunt down wild Pokémon capture them in tiny balls and being train them to fight in your own futuristic arena cockfight until eventually you become the greatest master of them all (or get bored and wander off to play something else).

eventually culminating in a battle in which you must face down a Titan who can drown the world or one that will burn it.

Finally off the you've become a champion you must help some scientists save the world from a killer asteroid. In other words a typical Pokémon Game.

Pokemon on a route before moving to the next, a must for the completionist who has to grab all 71 8 of the little monsters that are running around the absolutely gorgeous 3D Hoenn environments.

Unfortunately the gremlins of Hoenn pull the game down, if you want to go exploring Hoenn you will need to Yet despite all I have just said I have 2 HM slaves to handle all the adore this franchise with nearly new caves and undersea places. every fiber of my being. Pokémon is Still if you want a fun experience you just fun, the basic mechanics haven't can't really go wrong with Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire ORAS are remakes of the original Pokémon changed much since Generation 3 (the generation that inspired these 7/1 0 ruby and Pokémon sapphire that remakes) but that just means of a were released for the Gameboy easy to work with and ORAS is Pros. advanced in 2002/2003 and easily more user friendly than Lots of pokemon to catch because they are remakes I will previous installments like X and Y. Beautiful environments probably be more harsh on them New features incorporated this Great places to explore. than I would an original entry like X. generation such as reliable wireless These games tell the story of a Cons. young boy or girl arriving in Littleroot multiplayer, super training and Pokemon-amie return although sadly It's Ruby and Sapphire with pretty Town and being expected to go off they still have their Kalos themes graphics and have an adventure in the woods and have been rammed into one Exploration requires too many HMs with wild animals. Along the way menu when they previously Hoenn pokedex is a little boring. they will be accosted by villains occupied three show a little sign of wearing spiffy uniforms (that match the color of your game) that without laziness. And now joining this is the -Urahara-sensei doubt have the stupidest motivations "dexnav" feature which allows potential trainers to find all the of any villain team in this franchise,

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Tech SECTOR Our tech sector covers microbits and nanobytes, pieces of soldering iron and our little gadget that lets us peek into the future.

No, you can't have it.

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Latest Updates Tech updates for February and March 201 5 Google to Stop the sale of Google Glass

Twitch creates Music media Library from streamers

Google has recently announced that they will discontinue the sale of Google Glasses until the company can develope a more affordable version with a better look.

Since it's creation in 2011 twitch TV has given a lot to the community, creating an opportunity for gamers and video fanatics alike to get their work out there.

Glass sales will go on hold to the public on January 1 9.

But one thing the network has struggled with is the copyright laws pertaining to audio and music clips used by some of the sites many followers. Twitch is required to mute any video that has a copyright infringment leading to many disgruntled users.

Google will still be selling a version the product to companies that have found uses for it in their offices, stores and factories.

"By the time Glass returns to the consumer market, it will face more competition from other wearable computing devices, including a line of smart watches that Apple plans to begin selling this spring.

In a Thursday blog post, Google likened the Explorer edition of Glass to an infant learning how to walk.

"Well, we still have some work to do, but now we're ready to put on our big kid shoes and learn how to run," Google said. " - The Times of India

The Twitch Music Library is a growing list of pre-approved music that twitch clients can use on their new and old videos wth out fear of being muted.

Five-mile Hyperloop test track in Texas

Nintendo pulls away from Brazil Japanese videogame leaders, Nintendo, have decided to hit the pause button when it comes to exporting their releases to Latin America.

"We are pausing on Brazil while we look for a sustainable (distribution) model," says the company's general manager.

According to Nintendo the decision has been made due to high import rates and a lack of local Nintendo manufacturing facilities in South America.

"We are going to go back to the drawing board to create a totally new model," said Van Zyll, adding that current stocks should satisfy demand through the end of the year.

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However, with the service now being owned by Amazon, they have taken new steps towards stopping copyright infringement but giving it's users access to the new Twitch Music Library.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla took to Twitter on the 1 5th announcing plans to create the first five mile Hyperloop in which companies and students can test their pods.

Musk first broached the idea of Hyperloops 1 8 months prior but has been rather quiet about it until now. The goal is to eventually build the Hyperloops across country with capsules inside that travel 800mph. That is 300mph faster than a commercial jet plane.

The CEO says that a system like this will cost a quarter of what it would take to build a highway, and consume 1 /20th the materials that a railway line would. Elon says that this will impact the price of travel dramatically, making travel far more affordable.

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By: Joannah Stewart

Underground Farming Could our food be grown underground in the near future?

Thinking back, I remember a time when foods grown in a factory was seen as a bad thing. People believed that growing food outside of it's natural "habitat" was bad and that no nutrients could be gained from it. It was unnatural, far too clean, would cost a fortune and quite frankly it was the most absurd thing we had ever heard.

In today's society however, I would like to believe that is not the case any more, not only do we have enough information on agriculture to do this but we also have ways of reducing the power usage to sustain these kinds of farms.

The Benefits of Alternative Farming: - Lower Carbon Emissions - Uses 70% less water - Uses three times less electricty - Takes up far less space - Uses little to no pesticides - Immediate access to freshly picked produce - Yields 250% more produce - Better Taste - Promotes economic growth

Over 8 years ago a company called Pasona O2 began the research and implementation of "urban farms", they planned to use underground and indoor spaces to grow crops using Hydroponics and Aeroponics. Originally the facility was created to teach the unemployed how to farm but it soon became much more. With the help of energy efficient LED's and temperature control, Pasona O2 now grow 200 different species of plant over 1 000 square meters of building.

Pasona O2 is not the only group cottoning on to the idea of Urban Farming. A company in the UK called Zero Carbon Foods recently started Growing Underground, an urban farm 33 meters under Clapham, London.

This is all fine and well, and a lot of you may be thinking that this is just some marketing ploy to get people to buy a specialised product.

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Organic farming for the free loving hippie.

"THE FUTURE IS NOW. THE FUTURE IS GROWING UNDERGROUND."

Aeroponics

Hydroponics Hydroculture Geoponic

- the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium.

- a subset of hydroculture and is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil.

- the growing of plants in a soilless medium, or aquatic based environment.

Plant nutrients are distributed via water.

- and geoponics refer to growing plants in a normal soil. Contract to hydroponics and aeroponics.

But in reality underground farming is not only a solution lifespan. Because these food sources are in the heart of to the waste produced by conventional farming,it is also your city or the surrounding area they can be picked entirely human-friendly . and processed in a day and sent out immediately for delivery, we as consumers will no longer receive food This method of farming uses 70% less water and 3 that has been in transit for days on end. times less electricity than conventional farming, underground crops can be grown year round without Now I know that I may be sounding a little nutty right stopping and creates 250% more produce than a now so I am going to stop right here. I believe I have normal farm. Due to the controlled environment the made my point and hope that I have given you plants are grown in there is no plant diseases and no something to consider. We are lucky to be alive in an need for pesticides, making the entire operation organic age where these sort of things are even possible, sure it and healthier for human consumption. Regular may not be the future most of us where hoping to be underground farming would lead to major advances in born in to, but we are the generation that will get to agriculture and essentially boost the global economy, watch that future unfold, and hell, we may even be the creating more jobs and allowing rural areas to feed ones who make that future happen. themselves.

There is also the added benefit of a longer food

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Dennis Ritchie

By Douw “D.K” Kotzé

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Dennis Ritchie. Better than Steve Jobs. The inventor of the internet. Dennis Ritchie, the man who deserved so much more credit than he received. Some people called Dennis Ritchie the “Godfather of Programming”.

“Ritchie was under the radar. His name was not a household name at all, butX if you had a microscope and could look in a computer, you’d see his work everywhere inside.”

These days you’ll hear people praise and admire the people who have brought us some of the greatest things in technology today. Born on 8th of November 1 970, Tom Anderson is the American co-founder of the social networking website MySpace. Born on

can. Do you think he could have done it if there was no Dennis Ritchie though? Would we have internet or computers like today if there was no Dennis Ritchie?

Dennis Ritchie was known for creating the C programming language, with a long-time colleague Ken Thompson –the Unix operating system. Ritchie and Thompson received the Turing Award from the ACM in 1 983, the Hamming Medal from the IEEE in 1 990 and the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton in 1 999. Ritchie was the head of Lucent Technologies System Software Research Department when he retired in 2007.

He was also the “R” in “K&R C” and commonly known by his username “dmr”.

success of Steve Jobs as standing on the shoulders of Dennis Ritchie. After all, where do you think would computer technology be without Dennis Ritchie?

Your iPhone would probably still be the “Iwill use my telephone”. You’re iPad would probably still be the “I-will use my notepad”. We would all be in the “i-Human” generation instead of the one that has Apple technology. In the end, the real “techno giant” that we lostXwas Dennis “The Godfather of Programming” Ritchie.

The Man Who Helped Us Create a Better Future.

1 4th of May 1 984, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer, internet entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Facebook.

Steve Jobs of course was an American entrepreneur, marketer, inventor, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. Believe it or not, but this guy you probably never heard of has contributed more than the above mentioned, that you probably have heard about. In fact, Dennis Ritchie has contributed more than Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and even more than Mark Zuckerberg has ever contributed to the modern digital age combined.

It was once said that Dennis Ritchie’s contribution to the human race overshadows all other inventors and scientists working in the 20th and 21 st centuries. That’s kind of a huge statement, right? Think about it though.

It’s pretty impossible to walk on our Earth these days and not find some form of technology that has not been affected in some way of Dennis Ritchie’s work.

The C language is widely used today in application, operating system development, and its influence is seen in most modern programming languages as well. Unix has also been influential, establishing concepts and principles that are now precepts of computing.

When Steve Jobs passed away, people mourned the passing of a “giant” in the technological industry and the media covered more about him than they probably should have. Not too long afterwards, Dennis Ritchie passed away. The media seemed uninterested. The world seemed like they just didn’t give a damn in a way. A lot of people voiced their reactions to this and pointed out how Steve Jobs didn’t deserve all the extra unnecessary media coverage. A few people in particular referred to the

Apparently, there is this thing they called the “inevitable Dennis Ritchie vs. Steve Jobs”.

Well, let me do something different and break a few things down for ya though. Steve Jobs has been known to bring Apple from near bankruptcy to profitability by 1 998, he has given us a lot of expensive stuff that most of us can’t afford and some of which people

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Dennis Ritchie: Full name: Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie Born: September 9, 1 941 Died: c. October 1 2, 2011 – at the age of 70 Nationality: American Fields: Computer Science Instititions: Lucent Technologies, Bell Labs Education: Harvard University Known for: ALTRAN, B, BCPL, C, Multics, Unix.

Notable awards: Turing Award (1 983), National Medal of Technology, IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal (1 990), Computer Pioneer Award (1 994), Harold Pender Award (2003), Japan Prize (2011 ).

Steve Jobs: Full Name: Steven Paul Jobs Born: February 24, 1 955 Died: October 5, 2011 – at age 56 Education: Reed College (dropped out) Occupation: Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO, Apple Inc. Co-founder and CEO, Pixar. Founder and CEO, NeXT Inc. Years active: 1 974-2011 Net worth: US $8.3 billion (July 201 0) Board member of: The Walt Disney Company, Apple Inc.

Cosplay SECTOR Our Cosplay sector covers Cosplay tools, cookies, interesting techniques on using said cookies, and ultimately how to put your cookie to best use when sitting for the fourth hour in front of you sewing machine and your knees are killing you.

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By: Joannah Stewart

Cosplay Buys This is a list of must-have things to own as a cosplayer and where to get them. As a new cosplayer it is hard to know what tools to buy and how to use them.

Since this is our first article of this kind lets start with the basics of sewing.

Sewing Kits

Materials

A sewing kit is a cosplayer's pride, it is a collection of bits a bobs that you cannot do without. A sewing kit should consist of needles (in various sizes), a pair of sewing scissors, different coloured thread, a tape measure, pins, and a few buttons.

Aditional items such as zips, ribbon, punches, patterns, material scissors, embroidery hoops, thimbles, seam cutters, stamps, sheers, stuffing, boning, pattern paper, etc, can be added to your collection. The list goes on and the more you learn about these items the more you will come to appreciate the tools you are working with.

Material is one of my favourite things about seemstressing. Each material has a life of it's own and can add a lot to the cosplay you are creating. Choosing the right material or collection of materials is crucial to any item of clothing you make.

Certian materials do not go well with others as they have different thread counts and shrink rates so you will have to ask some one at the haberdashery if the materials you are working with go well together. Other than that the materials that you use are entirely up to you and you will probably spend a good few hours looking for the right material for your costume.

Also remember to pre-wash your materials before sewing them together. Material stores often pre-wash their materials before they sell them but some times they don't and you do not want to end up having the material die of one material running into the rest of your costume.

Patterns

The Sewing Maching

Another very important part of creating your outfit, no matter if it's material or a prop, is your pattern. A pattern is the shape and amount of material that will be needed for your outfit.

A sewing machine can save you a lot if time and concentration when it comes to making an outfit, but it is not neccessarily a must have.

As any cosplayer knows though, it doesn't stop there. A lot more can be added to this collection depending on what you will be creating and what makes you happy.

The pattern will let you how much extra material will be needed around your panels for a seam and how each piece of material fits together to create your outfit. A pattern uses markers to indicate things like seams, tuckets, pleats, folds and pins. It will be your guide through out the entire sewing process. At first they will seem complicated but once you understand a pattern it will be as easy as reading any book.

Cosplayers have been known to sew their outfits entirely by hand, however a sewing machine can be faster and often neater to.

Your sewing machine works by sewing a thread through the material and catching a separate thread on the other side, underneath the material. So unlike hand sewing that only uses one thread a sewing machine uses two spools of thread in one line of stitching.

This requires the machine to have perfect timing, meaning that your machine's time will need to be set properly. Nowadays that is a simple process but if your timing goes out too far you will need to have it reset by the machine makers.

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Cosplay Profile

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Saiyuki Kashuri This issue we interview one of South Africa's up and coming cosplayers Saiyuki Kashuri.

1 . N OT ONLY ARE YOU A COSPLAYER BUT ALSO A GENUINE GEEK GIRL. WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR MOST IMPORTANT EXPERIENCES AS A GEEK?

Getting to know other people who share your interests.

There is nothing more fun than being able to talk about something you love, and people actually understand what you are saying.

2 . SO WHEN YOU STARTED WITH COSPLAY BACK IN 201 0, YOU SEEMED LIKE SUCH A SHY GIRL. N OW THAT HAS OBVIOUSLY CHANGED . H OW HAS COSPLAYING AFFECTED YOU ON A PERSONAL LEVEL?

Cosplay has seriously given me a confidence boost. I was bullied (well more teased and talked about behind my back), I didn't really fit in because I didn't like all the lame crap everyone else was in to. I was an early bloomer, an my maturity was superior to those of people around me.

So getting back to the point, Cosplay has made me accept myself as an Individual, and taught me that you

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dont have to force yourself to go with the flow.

3 . WHO IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN COSPLAY INDUSTRY INSPIRES YOU MOST?

I would definitely have to say Tayla Barter (Kinpatsu Cosplay), she's been cosplaying for a shorter period than I have, but her skills are far greater than my own. I hope to reach that level one day, and perhaps even do a team-up. Keep up the amazing work!

AND I Can't forget my Nakashi <3 being partenered up with this talented creature for 5 years has always inspired and motivated me to work even harder :)

4 . WHEN DID YOU FIRST REALISE THAT YOU WERE A COSPLAYER?

I didn't even know what cosplay was until Nakashi proposed the idea to start cosplaying together, but as soon as it came to the first time we took pictures and planned our costumes, I was hooked.

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5 . WHICH OF YOUR COSTUMES IS YOUR FAVOURITE? Uhm.. thats a very good question..

I think it would still have to be my nightingale armour from skyrim but my Erza Heart Kreuz v2 armour will come second.

6 . I F YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WHERE WOULD THAT BE ?

I'd love to go to Japan, but if that wasn't possible, I'd say London. Maybe I can track down my British relatives.

7.

H OW DO YOU THINK COSPLAYING AFFECTS THE GLOBAL GAMING AND GEEK MARKET? It brings us all closer together, you get to meet new people and make new friends. Cosplay also stands as a kind of advertisement for gaming and things in the geek market. You cosplay from a game, more people will find out about the game.

I've found out about how many games I never knew were even made in the last few years, all because cosplayers I follow have cosplayed characters from them.

8 . WHICH DO YOU PREFER? TOFFEE OR CANDYFLOSS? Both! I have a major sweet tooth :3 But I prefer Toffee. Its chewey and so goooood

9.

H OW WOULD YOU REACT TO THE GENERATION ASKING YOU ABOUT COSPLAY?

OLDER

First thing, Gran its not some satanic worship thing x'D (had to explain cosplay for 5 years, now she thinks I do some sort of weird modeling) When faced with telling the older generations about cosplay, I usually show them pictures of the character, and then pictures of my cosplay. Then explain to the best of my ability that I am simply trying to bring the character to life.

1 0 . WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ANIME AND WHY?

Favorite anime....

I can give you my Favourite and top re-watch animes. Because one does not simply have one Favourite.

-Fairy Tail - Another - Danganronpa - Hellsing & Hellsing Ultimate - Highschool of the Dead

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Cosplay How To's

Molding leather is a very useful skill, as many cosplay items can be made from leather such as masks, bags, guards and even armour.

There are many different ways to form and harden leather. Different leather types and results require different techiniques, the simplest technique being watering hardening.

To use this technique you will need: - Leather - A bowl of luke warm water - A face cast - A spoon Step 1 Create a simple mask stencil on paper. Make sure to measure it against your face by pressing the mask in around the nose as the leather mask will hug your face.

Step 2 Trace the stencil onto the leather and cut out the mask. Be careful not to fray the edges or create jagged cuts, use a stanley or a leather cutter to cut along the stencilled lines.

Step 3 Soak the leather mask in warm water. Remember that temperature of the water is a key factor here, the warmer the water, the harder the leather will become when it dries.

While it may be tempting to make the water as hot as possible this is not advisable as the leather will dry very hard and become brittle.

Soak your leather in water for about 1 5 minutes. Or until all of the bubbles on the surface of the leather have gone. You do not want to soak it for too long.

Step 4 Take the wet leather and stretch it over your face mold or cast, this does not have to be a cast of your own face. It can simply be a manikin head. Make sure to push the leather in around the bridge of the nose and around the eyebrows to capture the full form of the face. Leave the mask to dry on the face for a few hours. You could fast track this process by running a hair dryer over it on low heat, but this is likely to damage the leather and make it brittle if it is not done correctly. Also avoid sun drying the leather as this will end in the same result.

Step 5 Remember that after the leather has dried it will shrink a little which should make for a snug fit. Now you can paint the mask or add any decorations you want to it with a little material glue or by stitching the leather wit a leather needle.

Tip: To get the best shape out of your leather keep working it until it is completely dry. Using the back of a spoon works very well to push in the curves of your mask, creating a smoother curve. Beware that the wet leather will mark quite easily so take care not to dent or damage the leather in any way.

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To LARP, or not to LARP...

There exists aX delicate balance between the two different communities, cosplayers and LARPers. The one strives for perfection, duplicating their favourite characters from the entertainment industry, where the other strives for perfection in impersonating their ideal characters, in whichever form they are designed. Both do costuming, but is one really more advanced than the other? I’ve heard somebody say: “LARPers will Cosplay, but Cosplayers do not often LARP.” First off, before we decide - if we decide at all, let’s take a look at the respective arts. Cosplay is an industry that has taken a massive growth spurt over the last couple of years, both locally and internationally. It is a practice that, like most geek things nowadays, originated from Japan, where people would dress up and impersonate characters from anime movies/series. When the rest of the world finally caught on to the fad, it exploded to include characters from games and movies as well.

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environment where people have near unlimited creativity, where events and adventures can take the most unexpected turns and where social interaction is encouraged between players.

Every player has a character history, and most have a public and private narrative. The public are shown to all players, and the private shown only to members who design the plot. For those of us who have played Dungeons and Dragons, you will know how often players mess around with the “ideal” adventure that the Dungeon master planned. They have to be quick on their feet, adapting to ever changing situations as the story develops. Now take the idea behind this and once again, take it to real life. You want information about something? Well, it is not going to be given to you; you need to ask around, maybe even threaten some people. You are after some magical gear or rare Now let’s take a look at spell? Well, there are some LARPing. LARP is short for “Live Action Role Play”. The aim pretty nasty monsters out there who dare you to come and fight for a LARP is to create an them for it. Fortunately, there environment where people can “live” as another character of their own choosing. Imagine for a moment, designing and playing a character in an RPG. Now translate that to real life, and you have an idea of what LARPing is about. It is so much more than just costuming; it is living, breathing, acting and making the decisions for your character. LARPs are not limited to medieval settings either, with Vampire LARPs and Star Trek LARPs being popular settings as well. The idea behind a LARP is creating an Of course, Trekkies and Star wars fans were already by that time doing the same thing, but it was more focused on their respective series. Nowadays, there are often competitions hosted at conventions and what started out as an amusing hobby has grown to an art form.

Perfection is the key, and imitating your character as accurately as possible, not only in look, but in attitude as well, is the aim. The more realistic the portrayal, the better the Cosplay.

This of course means that the field is extremely competitive, and rivalries are the word of the day. Despite this though, the community always tries to be friendly, welcoming and accepting to new arrivals and older participants, no matter your race, gender, age etc. It truly is something that defies everything conventional and inspires the creative.

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are rules set down for combat making it safe for players. Injuries are not uncommon at LARPs though, people are being active all the time after all. It is a different type of community you will find at LARP events. The players, even though their characters may not be too cordial with each other in game, are almost a family out of game.

unrelated that they cannot really be compared. The two are just so different that I feel you should judge grapes with other grapes, not grapes with apples. There is a different feel to both, and both have amazing qualities that people can enjoy. I would say the choice on which of the two you would enjoy participating in, is solely up to you.

There is a type of closeness between the players that I have not really found anywhere else. I may just be speaking of the experiences I have had at my LARPing group, but that is how I felt sharing time with these people. There is no real competition between the characters, except if you are a mouse and cats are chasing youX (Yeah there are people who costume those races, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hilarious) All in all, a great place to be if you want to get away from reality for a bit, just enjoying a pleasant environment with good people.

Ultimately, it the decision on if you do one or the other highly depends on what you are aiming to do with your time and effort. If you enjoy art in the sense of creating props / costumes, with a little acting on the side, then I would say Cosplay is your thing.

So now, more to the point, is LARPing a better form of Cosplay?

I would honestly say the two are so

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If however you enjoy art in the sense of acting and role-play, I would recommend trying LARPing.

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get me wrong however; there are LARPers out there who have created amazing costumes for their characters. After all, it is half the fun. Irrespective of which you end up doing, they are both fun and both are worth engaging in. Now get out there and be a geek!

-

By Beleran

Culture SECTOR Our Culture sector covers everything else...

Let's see, what did we miss? Packing my bunny? Nope. Location of nuclear shelter?

Got it... Time of next dimensional wormhole?

Wait, where is my notes on that? While I search for it, have a look at some of the stuff happening, and share some of the Japanese culture that we collecte.......... Damn, I missed the wormhole.

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Meru Cosplay Picnic

Organised and hosted by Janel “Kimiko” van Aswegen and Justin Rogers “The Great Wizard Jenkins”, the Meru Cosplay Picnic was born. Last year’s January picnic didn’t really have a name. Well, none of our picnic events had a name actually.

Last year’s picnic was better known as “Taran, Leigh & Kimi’s Cosplay Birthday Picnic”. It was fantastic, it was awesome and I was dying underneath the suit as Bruce WayneX

By Douw “D.K” Kotzé/Silver Angel C

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We do often celebrate birthdays at these events, but it’s not just about the birthdays. These events hosted

by Kimiko and the Great Wizard have now been dubbed as the Meru Cosplay Picnic and they have an adorably cute mascot for these events too. Meru (the event mascot) was designed by the talented Kaylee Claire who is known as Kay Ling-Ling Cosplay. These events brings us all together to catch-up, socialize, meet new people, make new friends and one of the most important things among them allXhave fun.

At big events such as rAge Expo, Geekfest or even the smaller cons, there isn’t always time to socialise or a place you could just have fun and relax with others, especially for Artists, Photographers and Cosplayers. This is where these events come in. You don’t have to, but these are the kind of events you can Cosplay and have fun wherever the event is being held.

The first Meru Cosplay Picnic was held in Johannesburg’s Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens. We have been here for last year’s January event as well. The place is definitely beautiful, no doubt about that. The field, trees, the nicely crafted statues placed around the venue, the sight of the waterfall –It’s definitely a good place for picnics. We started off meeting at one of the big trees that had an iron statue of –what looked like a grasshopper- stuck to itXup there somewhere. Despite what the event thing said on Facebook, we had at least over fifty people that attended the Meru Cosplay Picnic. There were a lot of new faces, all welcomed. With it being summer and all, it was definitely a hot day, but with the weird weather right above us, we migrated over to the stage. Its roof looked awfully similar to that of a

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potato chip from a distance. Now that we had a roof over us, we were definitely covered for in case of any rain. We had some drippy, drip, drip moments, but it didn’t rain while we were thereXbut still, we were prepared.

We had so many Cosplayers at attendance. You could see well-known characters from Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Little Mermaid, Batman, Teen Titans, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mortal Kombat. From Star Wars we had a Jedi youngling, a casual Princess Leia and Biggs Darklighter “I’m going in. Cover me, Porkins”, an awesome Gajeel, Mira, Levy and Erza from Fairy Tail, Eureka and Anemone from Eureka 7, Zakuro & Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew/Mew Mew Power, two Sims, World War 2 guysXthere are seriously too many to mention, but I got to admit that the Ice King (The Great Wizard Jenkins – Justin Rogers) had lots of princesses and their Adventure Time group was most likely the biggest around. I hope Gunter liked that muffin thoughXthen again, I’m not entirely sure if Luffy knows how to bake. I tried, okay?

After a series of group photos were taken, Kimiko stepped down from the stage after being in Police Officer Sousuke’s clutches. She delivered a very heartfelt speech and thanked everyone for attending.

Afterwards, I was just glad not to be on my knees anymoreXto be completely honest with you all, I will never ship "Knees and Concrete Floor" as a pairingXNEVER! After the group photo and Kimiko’s speech, we had the chance to get a Tai Chi demo from Jeffrey Lu from Kelga Creations. We had one heck of an awesome day and I’m certainly looking forward to the next Meru Cosplay Picnic.

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By:Joannah Stewart

Travellers Guide

Mugiwara ONE PIECE

Store At Shibuya Parco Address: 1 5-1 Udagawacho | 6F Shibuya Parco Part1 , Shibuya 1 50-8377, Tokyo Prefecture Country: Japan Otaku type: Anime Otaku Website: http://www.mugiwara-store.com/

Anime and manga is about escapism, and what could help you escape the confines of reality better than pirates travelling the sea of an unknown world? That is why this store makes it to our top list of Otaku places to visit before you die.

The super popular Mugiwara Store is a One Piece only supply store with merchandise from the equally popular anime of the same name. I am sure that One Piece fans around the world will agree that this is a MUST have in every country but unfortunately this one store can only be found in Tokyo on the 6th floor of Shibuya Parco Part 1 . In fact the entire 6th floor of Shibuya Parco is dedicated to Otaku, making it a hotspot for all that is holy to a modern day Otaku.

The One Piece Mugiwara Store stocks over 1 0 000 different items and features a life-size figure of Monkey D Luffy, the great rubber captain. The retail area itself is designed to resemble the Thousand Sunny ship's hold and includes a Mini Merry II boat replica as well as a gateway decorated with the whale Laboon painted with the Straw Hat pirate mark.

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As many of you may have figured out, the store is named after the pirates of One Piece making this a truly authentic place to visit. It really should be on every Otaku's list of places to visit when going to Japan.

View the stores video

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Otaku Kitcken

Tonkatsu The art of deep fried pork

A popular dish in Japan, Tonkatsu is a favourite with the locals. This “western style” crumbed pork is not the healthiest food but rather comfort dish served in many Tonkatsu restaurants throughout Japan.

Since it’s such a specialized store this makes finding one in SA extremely difficult. The good news is that making Tonkatsu at home is very easy. This dish resembles KFC in its making so if you know how or have made fried chicken before then you have got this one down.

Most of the ingredients in the recipe are easily found at any supermarket. Even panko, which are bread crumbs, can either be bought at a store or simply make it with old bread. If you make your own crumbs remember to leave them to dry slightly in the oven first.

Try to avoid Italian bread crumbs as they are too fine and that doesn’t give the crunch we want.

Tonkatsu is almost always accompanied by two things: Tonkatsu sauce and thinly sliced cabbage, a kind of coleslaw if you will. This thick Worcester-based sauce is an important seasoning for Tonkatsu, many have said that it completes this dish. Tonkatsu sauce is available at Japanese markets or online stores, but if you can’t find it, you can make it by mixing 1 part Worcester sauce and 2 parts ketchup to get something close to the actual taste. It may also be served with ponzu (a citrus based sauce) and grated daikon (winter raddish) instead of tonkatsu sauce.

There are variations of the Tonkatsu dish, such as Katsudon (Tonkatsu and eggs cooked in seasoned dashi over rice, yummy!), Katsu Sandwich (katsu sando), and Kastu Curry (katsu karē). Some of these dishes are even served with karashi (mustard) and lemon, or rice, miso soup and tsukemono (pickled vegetables) and eaten with chopsticks.

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Prep Time: 1 5 minutes Cook Time: 1 0 minutes Total Time:25 minutes Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients 4 pork loin chops (about 1 " thick, no bones) salt pepper 1 /2 cup all purpose flour 1 -2 eggs 1 cup panko or bread crumbs oil for deep frying

Instructions Make your meat tender by using a tenderizing hammer.

Make sure that the meat is flat and then make small cuts all over pork chops with the tip of a knife. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of meat.

Coat the meat with flour, dip in a bowl of beaten eggs, then cover with bread crumbs.

Heat oil in a pan to 1 80C, and deep fry your crumbcovered meat. You can check the temperature by dropping a bread crumb. If it comes up to the oil surface right after it's dropped, it's good.

Fry until color turns golden brown and meat floats in the oil, about 5-8 minutes, turning once or twice.

Set the meat on a cooling rack for a minute. Cut into 56 pieces.

History Tonkatsu was originally considered a type of yﾅ行hoku (Japanese versions of European cuisine) invented in the late 1 9th and early 20th centuries. Back then it was called katsuretsu (cutlet) or simply katsu.

Variations Several variations of tonkatsu use alternatives to pork: Chicken katsu, which uses chicken instead, often appears in Hawaiian plate lunches.

Menchi-katsu or Minchi Katsu, is a minced meat patty, breaded and deep fried.

Hamu katsu, a similar dish made from ham, is usually considered a budget alternative to tonkatsu.

Gyﾅｫ katsu, also known as bﾄｫfu katsu, is popular in the Kansai region around Osaka and Kobe.

Saengseonkkaseu is a Korean fish cutlet modeled on the Japanese dish. Tonkatsu in Korea is known as donkkaseu or donkaseu.

A similar cuisine with ingredients other than pork, beef or chicken is called furai (fry), not katsu (cutlet), such as aji-furai (fried horse mackerel) and ebi-furai (fried prawn).

Tonkatsu may also be made by sandwiching an ingredient such as cheese or shiso leaf between the meat, and then breading and frying.

After researching this dish I went straight on to making it. Instead of a pork chop I used mince meat to create Menchi-katsu served with sticky fried rice and lemon wedges. It was pretty awesome if I do say so myself, especially with sweet chilli sauce. And that is the great thing about this dish. Its versatile. You can make what you want out of it.

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By: Joannah Stewart

By:Joannah Stewart

Japanese Culture

KENDAMA: A Popular Japanese Toy

This week I discovered a toy called Kendama that is While many may believe that kendama was invented very popular in Japan. in Japan, the truth is that it actually wasn't. Some records show that Kendama was created in France in Now many of you may have seen or even played with the sixteenth century where it was called bilboquet, bil a Kendama as a child, I remember having one as a meaning "ball" and boquet meaning "tree",roughly kid but I never really understood how it worked or translating to wooden ball. Back then the game was where it was from. Kendama as a toy has held long different with only two cups on either end of the stick. standing popularity in Japan amoung children and There are also theories that this game was developed adults alike, but it is only recently that Kendama has in Greece or China, and the absolute truth is not become an actual sport played by competitors across known.

Japan in actual tornaments.

It is thought that Kendama came to the East with While this may seem like a simple toy to you and me, traders from the Silk Route during the Edo period Kendama has over 1 000 moves that can be mastered (1 603-1 868) and was played by adults as a sort of and is often said to help develop concentration and drinking game. Kendama only became popular perseverance. It can be played any time, any where amoung the Japanese in the Meiji Era (1 868-1 91 2), and by any one. when the Minister of Education introduced it to youngsters in school.

The kendama of today are made from a stick with a point at one end, three attached cups, and a ball with While Kendama does not originate from Japan it has a small hole in one end. The two side cups are called become a part of the cuture, to the point where the the big and small cups while the cup at the end of the Japan Kendama Association was founded stick is called the medium cup. At the opposite end of standardized kendama for competitive use and the stick is a point on which the user is supposed created standardized rules for the purpose of allowing spike the ball. The ball is attached to a string that is a greater number of people to play the game together then connected to the stick. the same way.

The game is basically played by tossing the ball into the air and trying to catch it either on one of the cups or the spike. And trust me it is not as easy as it sounds. The games difficulty will depend on what techniques are used and what your ultimate goal is, allowing people of any age or skill to master their own tricks.

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