BAKA News Report 10.09.03

Yes, I changed the title of the column. For one week. Why? I’ll go into detail later, but basically I’m simply dedicating this column to a certain baka. So this is the all baka, all the time edition.

Because of that, this is going to be special. I’m kicking it up a notch. I’m shifting into high. I’m going to beat the shit out of you. Wait, maybe not that. Ok, scratch that, no beating the shit out of readers because chances are they won’t read anymore. Anyway, I’m going to add some stuff, make some changes, switch some stuff around, and just overall make some changes for the better. I hope you like it. If not, I DIDN’T ASK YOU. Teehee.

So kick off those shoes, grab a snack and a drink, light up a smoke, and join me for a journey you’ll probably forget, but will like anyway. I make no guarantees though, so if you don’t like it, it means you’re messed up in the head. So go visit a shrink or something rather than writing me. I’m just kidding! Write me, and then visit the shrink. I’ll have a reply by the time you get back.


Gaming News

Legend of Zelda Collector’s Edition
Gamesarefun.com and Game Informer reported that Nintendo would be creating a collector’s edition of the Legend of Zelda, and it appears that this has finally come to fruition. Get your spankerchief ready, folks. It’s not as good as it could be, but it’s still awesome. The game includes the original Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (the most unique of the Zelda titles), Ocarina of Time, and Majora’s Mask. The only thing that would sweeten the deal is if they threw in all the Gameboy titles, and even improved the graphics in the game or something. The game is only going to be bundled with new Gamecubes for now, but if Nintendo is smart (hmmmm), they’ll sell it separately. Keep in mind, this hasn’t started yet, so don’t be surprised if you get a Gamecube without it in there!

Atlus vs. Working Designs?
It was announced a while ago that Working Designs was localizing Growlansers 2 and 3 for American consumption under the title Growlanser Generations. And this past week, Atlus announced that they were going to release their own collection, called Growlanser Collection, which will contain Growlancer 1, 2, and 3. This is because Growlanser 4 will soon be released. It probably won’t be a competition because the Atlus title will most likely be Japan only. Yea, they suck. That’s a good thing though, because it means that I won’t have to buy both.

I Love Namco!
Ok, no more news. Just wanted to say that Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, and of course, Xenosaga Episode II cannot come out early enough! Oh, and to the one guy that directed criticism towards me in the Gamecube feature when I said that Namco isn’t known as an RPG powerhouse (he said, well, they AREN’T). Well, my good baka, they will be.


New Game Releases
Ok, FUCK Ebgames.com. I love you guys, but your release dates have sucked balls lately. And not in a good way. So you guys are FIRED. I know that makes you heartbroken, but I’ve got a new schedule now. One that will not f*ck me over. I have faith. Besides, I can’t go to the evil that is Gamestop can I? Anyway, these are submitted by one of my favorite readers, and will be a weekly occurrence, unless Christian can’t get them out to me.

October 7
Backyard Hockey (GBA)
Backyard Wrestling: Don’t Try This At Home (P2, XB)
Conflict: Desert Storm II Back to Baghdad (P2, XB)
Demi Kids: Darkness of the Day (GBA)
Demi Kids: White of the Knight (GBA)
Lion King (GBA)
RPG Maker 2 (P2)
Viewtiful Joe (GC)

October 9
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (P2, GBA)

Release Dates courtesy of Christian at Game Crazy. Find a Game Crazy
near you with the Store Locator at Gamecrazy.com.

Christian’s Comments: Looks like the big one is Viewtiful Joe and RPG Maker 2…Although Conflict will do brisk business…

Lee’s Comments: I agree with the Viewtiful Joe, but I’m not so sure about RPG Maker. The sleeper hit will be the Demi Kids titles, since not only are they from Atlus, but in the words of Alex Lucard, they’re like Pokemon and Shin Megami Tensei had weird f*cked up kids (that may be paraphrased), so they’ll get the niche gamers as well as the kids.


Survey Time
Last week, the survey was about timeless classics, you know, those games that you love and you can play them many years later and still enjoy them as much as you first did. I only got two replies on the subject, but both are good ones from two of my favorite readers. Here’s the first, from 411Figures’ own Matt Hardin:

No brainer: Final Fantasy 2/4. This was the first RPG I ever really got into. A friend of mine slept over one weekend during the middle school years, and he brought FF4 (2 at the time) and made me play it. I plugged it in around 9pm or so, and for a few hours I played while he tutored. He eventually drifted off to sleep, and I kept playing. And playing. I remember rolling over in bed and seeing the first hints of daylight outside, then shrugging and going to the kitchen to mix another pitcher of instant iced tea. I was still playing when he woke up later that morning, and it cracked me up when, instead of wondering how I had played it for more than 12 hours straight, he lambasted me for buying so many Iron Arrows, lol. Over the years it became one of those games that I can just sit down and play whenever, and always enjoy it. While I’m sure there plenty of people out there that’ll be happy to point out the game’s flaws *dons a garlic necklace and makes a cross with his fingers*, I’ll happily ignore them and enjoy the game, same as I always have. Whether I take my time and try to get everything, or blast through the game in under 7 hours (I almost shit my pants the first time I did it), it’s always worth another play through.

Leave it to Matt to come up with the winning answer. Seriously, this game is what got me started on RPGs hardcore. Sure I liked the original Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior titles, but they were too limited. The characters had no character, and the stories were pretty boring on both. All the characters in FF4 were great, and the story was incredible. The gameplay, graphics and music were all excellent for their time, and there are very few other Final Fantasy games that I can say I honestly LOVE. This is easily my favorite Final Fantasy game, and along with FF6, is the only reason I have any faith in Square remaining. If they can make a new game with the quality of FF4 for its time (but with improved gameplay), then I’ll be a happy camper.

The other entry is from the Game Crazy guy, Christian:

As to games that I still go back to play every now and again, the king of those (aside from Super Mario All-Stars), has to be Full Throttle for the PC. I love going back through and reliving the adventure with Ben. Right now, it’s more like a movie than anything, but it’s a great movie nonetheless. Ben’s quips are hilarious, and the enemies that he comes across are excellent characters. Mark Hamil did a great job voicing one the bad guys. I still quote Full Throttle to this day! “Whenever I smell ashphalt…I think of Maureen.”

Though I didn’t play the game much, and it’s been a long time, I too thought the game was excellent. It was a Sierra style point-and-click adventure, and was done by Lucasarts. They were actually working on a sequel to it, but I think I heard it was cancelled or something. So excellent choice there, Christian.

So strike that one up as ONE MORE FOR THE BAD GUYS.

And for this week’s survey, I want to know, from you the readers, how you think I can improve my column. I mean, additions, improvements. I’m not removing a thing. But as you can see in the next segment, I’ve been negligent and my column’s quality has suffered, so just tell me if you think there’s something I could add, or if you think it’s fine the way it is.


Baka of the Week!!!
I didn’t want to have to use this title, but I had to. This is what really triggered the whole “Baka” edition this week. This one guy wrote me several times and it pissed me off. I’ll just post the emails and comment. I’ll be nice and not say his name though, because I’m not THAT pissed.

Listen, I’m nt one to tell anyone how to do their job but you should either change the name of your column and not include anything anime related at all or bed Widro and Ashish to hire someone else to do the anime updates because it’s obvious that not only are you not an Otaku but you barely know anything about anime outside of how to go to a website, copy, and paste the week’s releases.

You say that there’s nothing to comment on when the 10th Anniersary of “Ninja Scroll”, which is considered by most to be one of the greatest animes of all time but yet you think “His and Her Circumstance” is important? Please. I’ve noticed this many times where you don’t even comment on important releases. “Sailor Moon” is finally being releases uncut in season form and it’s of no concern to you? That’s ludicrous and you’re soiling the name otaku.

This caught me by surprise, because it’s the first time in recent history that someone has bitched me out for not having enough anime related content. Usually it’s the other way around. But as I told him, I include anime because I want to, and not because it’s part of my job. I was never given this position because of anything anime related. I just decided to add anime to the mix as something extra. And as for someone who seemingly reads my column, he really doesn’t know jack shit about me.

For one thing, his claim that other than knowing how to cut and paste, I know nothing of anime is obviously completely wrong. I know quite a bit about anime, which you would know if you read each and every one of my columns and reviews on the subject. I can’t PROVE to you that I know a lot about it, but I do. And how can you judge when you don’t even know what an otaku is?

And then he refers to the comments I make every week on the new releases. I typically only write about the shows I am going to get. And for the record, His and Her Circumstances IS more important than the re-release of Ninja Scroll. For one thing, Ninja Scroll has been released before, second: the company that released it the first time and this time has had more SHIT releases than good ones, and third: His and Hers is regarded by many to be one of the best releases in recent years, due to the love and hard work that TSRI puts in to their products. Manga doesn’t do the same. And in all reality, while Sailor Moon is popular with some people, it’s not popular with a whole lot. I like it, which is why I said that it was a must have for me (you read that, right? It was only two weeks ago that I wrote that), but I didn’t feel any reason to focus on it, because quite honestly, I don’t like monster-of-the-week type shows, which is why I don’t like Power Rangers.

Anyway, I replied back to him saying basically that I can do what I want since it’s my column, and asked him if he knew what the definition of otaku was. Here’s his reply:

I can’t believe that you would call all otaku fat slobs that sit at home. That’s a terrible definition that shows ignorance. It falls along the same line of calling all wrestling fans inbred hicks and all video games fans such as yourself pimply little nerds. That is pure ignorance. And you should change the title becuase frankly, it gives the wrong impression of what your column is about.

And he calls me ignorant? Let’s see, I’ll repost something that I put in my third column:

I just read your recent column on 411mania. I just wanted to give you a little more background on the Japanese word “otaku,” because your definition of it is… well, a little incomplete.
Now I’m an anime fan as much as the next guy, but I would never call myself an otaku, or want to be called one. The word in Japanese does mean “uberfan” to an extent, but that’s not the original meaning. Otaku simply means “house.” However, in Japan some anime fans over the years became so obsessed with anime that they ended up not leaving their houses, becoming social misfits. Since they’re always at home, the word otaku took on a new meaning, that of the obsessed anime fan.
When American anime fans in the 80’s got wind of it, they started using the term otaku as well, but either by clever planning or poor understanding of Japanese culture/language ended up blunting the highly negative connotation that the word otaku carried with it.

This was in response to me giving the Americanized definition of otaku. Yes, I even claimed to be one. I did not know the full extent of the definition until a kind reader educated me after my second column. So yea, I didn’t know what the definition was either, but I also never got into an argument over it. I told the guy what otaku meant and said I wasn’t one, and he thought I was insulting otaku. Well, yea, that’s because otaku IS an insult. Oh, and for the record, the reason I picked otaku for the title to begin with is because it can be attributed to anime AND games, so I figured it’d be a nice encompassing word. Plus, I like the title of the column, so I ain’t changing it (unless it’s temporarily like this week). So I gave him the full definition so he’d know it for the future:

Don’t tell me the exact definition. I know the exact definition. I’m talking about common usage. You say otaku in America and you know everyone that understands the word know it’s in reference to hardcore anime fans. That’s common knowledge. It doesn’t matter what it truly means in it’s native language because the people that read 411 are more than likely American. The site is in English. English people that understand Otaku more than likely only interpret it as Hardcore Anime Fan. That’s obvious.

If you knew the exact definition then why are we getting in to this in the first place? And I really love the blanket statements here. He says that NOBODY that reads 411 will think that otaku is a negative thing. That’d likely irritate Lucard, who definitely knows the true definition. And I’m sure Chuck and Liquid and Williams do as well. These are the staffers, and I’m sure that plenty of the readers do as well. It’s just semantics at this point, and really there is no purpose to the argument.

That’s why I didn’t reply to this guy. We were arguing over nothing. The point of it is: he is challenging my love of anime, and that pisses me the f*ck off. I’d never challenge someone on something like that, unless they said something like their favorite show was DBZ (I’m kidding! Unless that’s the only show you watch, then I’m not kidding). The reason I’ve been slacking off on doing anime related stuff lately is kind of complicated. For one thing, I’m in a rough spot now. I just paid over $1000 to get my teeth fixed, and I may have to pay more, depending on how much my insurance pays. So I can’t really afford extra stuff. I used credit to buy Disgaea and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and both were for the intention of reviewing them. Because I can’t buy anime, it has been hurting me to talk about it much and to post the release dates, because I’d keep saying I want/need this and that, and it just became frustrating, so I stopped doing releases totally for a few weeks. Did that make me love anime any less? No, but it was a lot like running and hiding. And that’s something I never intended to do. So I’m answering this guy’s challenge with two responses:

1) I will concede that I have been slacking off on the anime side of things, and I will no longer do so. I will start to include more anime related content and purchase more anime when I can, so I can do more reviews and such. You have made me realize that I am letting my readers down, because I know there are guys out there who read my column hoping to read about anime related stuff with their game stuff too. So I’m not doing this for you, Baka, I’m doing it for everybody else who DOESN’T tell me that I’m not doing this right. So I thank you for helping me to realize that I wasn’t doing everything I could be doing.

2) My other response is FUCK YOU. How DARE you call me ignorant and then show your ignorance in the same sentence? How DARE you claim that I know nothing about anime? And how DARE you claim that I’m not big enough of a fan to be an otaku under the American definition? You don’t know me, you’ve never met me, and you can’t see inside my head. In addition, this is MY column and I can do with it what I want. In addition, it’s a GAMING column, since I write for a GAMING site. So in my mind and in the site’s mind, GAMES COME FIRST, and anime comes second. If you have a problem with that, then stop reading.

So this guy is my Baka of the Week. I may have one every week, or I may not. And for the record, I’m bringing back the order I had the column when it very first came out, over 6 months ago. Links at the bottom, games at the top, anime in the middle. Enjoy the new and improved Hump Day Mother Fucking OTAKU News Report. And yea, f*ck you, I’m an otaku by both definitions! I’m fat, lazy, and only leave the house to go to work. Every other time, it’s games, anime, and television baby! Otaku pride, bitch.


Anime News
Yea, this is something I’ve done off and on, but I’d like to start doing it on a weekly basis. Like the Baka of the Week said, if I don’t get my shit together, Wishish and Ashidro may can my ass from the anime gig and hire somebody else. We don’t want that to happen, do we?

Pioneer Eaten?!
In somewhat unexpected news this week, Pioneer has been bought out. I’m not talking about just the animation wing, I mean the whole kit ‘n kaboodle. The company was bought out by Dentsu and has since changed names. The company’s name is now GENEON, which personally sounds like a pretty cool name. From what I can tell, it appears that everything on the anime side is going as usual, and hopefully the only change will be the name, because we all know that I loves me Pioneer releases!

Manga Licenses
In news that will likely piss off my wife, Viz has licensed two popular manga titles. The first is one of her favorites, called Hana Kimi. The full title is actually Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, which translates to For You in Full Blossom. This is likely the title Viz will use, like they did with Hana Yori Dango (Boys over Flowers, one of the worst titles ever). Oh, and the other license they have is Angel Sanctuary, which is another very long running manga in Japan. I don’t know much about the manga, but the anime that was released over here was weird. It was just an OAV, but it was about angels and this guy who was in love with his sister. Why is it that so many Bishounen series (Ceres is another example) involve incest? I don’t have an issue with it, I just think it’s odd.

TV Tokyo Trailers
The good people at Anime News Network have posted links to some upcoming anime from TV Tokyo. Several of them should prove to be interesting to gamers as well. The first is F-Zero Falcon, which is the anime based on Captain Falcon. Next is Gungrave, which looks really stylish. Then there is Popolocrois, which is based on a wacky Japanese RPG that we have yet to see stateside. And finally is Rockman.EXE Axess, which is the new season of the Rockman.EXE series. If you didn’t know, Rockman = Mega Man in America. Another interesting one is Saiyuki Reload, the sequel to the very stylish Saiyuki. Oh, and I’d be negligent if I didn’t mention a new series from Rumiko Takahashi! She rules!


New Anime Releases
Based on the comments of the Baka of the Week, I’m going to change this around a little bit. I’m not going to make him any happier, mind you, but I’m going to go more in line with the changes to the game releases.

October 7
Argentosoma Vol. #5 (Bandai)
Aura Battler Dunbine Vol. #3 (ADV)
Eden’s Bowy Vol. #4 (ADV)
Inu Yasha Vol. #10 (Viz)
Kikaider Vol. #2 (Bandai)
Steel Angel Kurumi 2 Vol. #2 (ADV)
Witch Hunter Robin Vol. #1 Limited Edition (Bandai)
Yu Yu Hakusho Vol. #17: Sword and Dragon (FUNimation)

October 10
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Vol. #3 (Super Techno Arts)

Thanks to Anime on DVD who posts these release dates. This is the best review site for anime on the web, and also has the best anime message board to boot.

Release of the Week: Witch Hunter Robin Vol. #1: Limited Edition
With this release, Bandai is going all out, much like they did with the .hack//SIGN release. Not only is the show an excellent supernatural action show, but they are throwing in a ton of extras for this LE release. With this release, they’ve included the disc (of course), an artbox (standard nowadays), OST (becoming standard), animation cel (cool), t-shirt (looks better than the RahXephon one) and shot glass (sweet! Definitely better than panties). It is assumed that every release of WHR will have an LE version with an extra, like .hack, so this is definitely a collectors item.
Purchase at: Anime Corner Store and The Right Stuf


Links to the Past

Thank God It’s Thursday News Report – Bryan Berg
This week, we get to see Bryan’s take on Nintendo’s new ad campaign, T-mobile’s N-Gage offer, and Nascar’s exclusive contract with EB games. I also agree with his favorite sports team comments for the most part, but since I wasn’t raised in a household that embraced professional sports the same way others did, my liking of teams varies from other people. For college teams, I lived in Alabama, and my entire extended family was born and bred to love Auburn and hate the University of Alabama. That’s just the way it was. And liking Georgia was ok as well, but not as much as you liked Auburn. I’ve since changed that to loving Oklahoma and hating Oklahoma State. It’s just the way it is. For professional teams, I don’t really have a favorite basketball team, but my favorite teams are usually whoever my favorite players play for. For some reason, my favorite football player of all time was Hershel Walker. Maybe it was a breeding thing since he came from Georgia. Same with Bo Jackson who came from Auburn. But since Herschel started at Dallas when in the NFL, that became my favorite team for years, and I was very happy when he came back there only to be misused YET AGAIN. My second favorite team was the Dolphins, and they became my favorite after Dallas started to suck donkey dick. My favorite hockey teams are Dallas (region) and Chicago (because it was a friend’s favorite) and my favorite baseball team is the Mets (because I used to love Dwight Gooden and Daryl Strawberry, before they became druggies). God that was long.

The Angry Gamer – Liquidcross
Liquid continues his discussion of why Nintendo is sucking right now, and then goes into why the Sega CD rules. Since I never owned a Sega product prior to the Dreamcast, I missed out on a lot. And I regret that. Sure I had a lot of enjoyment on my NES and SNES, but I still missed out.

Retrograding MAILBAG – Alex Lucard
Nobody answers letters better than Lucard. Umm, yea. I really can’t think of much else to say.

Gamer’s Hangover News Report – Cory Laflin
Oh no. More MST3K. More Matt Wong. He’s that moron from ESPN Gamer. How do people like this get good jobs like this? Then again, Cory asks this same question. Personally, I think Cory and Alex Williams need to get together and do a REAL MST3K type of thing. That would be sweeeeet.

The Gamer’s Conscience – Frederick Badlissi
Fred talks about re-releases this time around. I think these things are great for the exact same reason, because there are tons of games out there that aren’t sold anymore and are very rare. Atlus is a good example, because they typically have a very small print run, so you need to be quick to get them. But if games are re-released, it makes everybody happy.

411MAX: News News Revolution – Alex Williams
It’s the Yom Kippur edition of 411MAX this week, but it doesn’t fail to please. I have to agree with Alex on Donkey Konga. Sure it’s not traditional Donkey Kong, but personally, I think it’s overdone. I liked the original enough, and DK Country was ok, but after that, it was just the same thing over and over. Innovation is great, and I share Alex’s love for rhythm titles, so this is a sure get for me. Oh, and you aren’t the only one who plays these games. Well, you won’t be for long. I’m getting the DDRMAX2 bundle baby, and I’m gonna get good! Also, it’s Disgaea, not Disega like Bebito would like. You take GAEA, or the Earth, and put the opposite of it, or DIS in the front, and you get DISGAEA, or the underworld.

A Thumb to the Eye – Chuck Platt
Some days I wonder what the f*ck Chuck is smoking, and where I can get it. Nuff said.

The Ratings Drive-by: October 2003 – The 411 Staff
We got together and wrote mini-reviews for any of the games we played. It’s good stuff, and will give you multiple opinions for games.

Review: Disgaea (PS2) – Lee Baxley
In this review, I go over why this is one of the, if not THE best RPG release this year. To sum it up, the game rocks your lame ass.


Well, I hope you liked the new, and improved, version of the Hump Day Otaku. Tell me what you like and what you don’t like. I may not agree, and if you piss me off, then I may post your letter like the Baka of the Week. For the record, I don’t hold anything against the Baka, but the way he conducted his communications wasn’t the best way to get your point across. Despite that, I hope you like the changes, Baka or not.

Lee Baxley is THE Bad Guy. When not downing a bottle of some alcoholic beverage, he can be found taunting people by either throwing his toothpick in their face or feigning fright, or sometimes even both. Despite these pastimes, he still enjoys playing RPGs and watching anime. You can read about his further exploits on his blog.


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