Siam Shade Tribute review

Siam Shade Tribute is a tribute album to Japanese rock band Siam Shade, the band which broke into the visual kei scene back in the 1990's. Siam Shade Tribute is released on October 27, 2010 and consists of covers of their songs performed by Western artists.

Siam Shade had some good songs but all of them are sung in Japanese. In this album all songs (except track 11) was re-arranged with English lyrics. 

Here's a track-by-track view of the songs that I liked on this album.

• Don’t Tell Lies performed by Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row)
  Don't Tell Lies originally came out on Siam Shade's third album. It was also one of their heaviest songs. The song turned out fine with Sebastian Bach's powerful vocals and the English lyrics went well with the song's tune.
  
  
• 1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou performed by Jani Lane (ex-Warrant)
  Any anime fan would know this song. 1/3 Junjou na Kanjou was the sixth ending song to the anime Rurouni Kenshin. Probably Siam Shade's most popular song. With Jani Lane's performance, it was good. The lyrics goes well especially with the "Give me smile and shine days" part.
  
  
• Setsunasa Yori mo Tokuhe performed by Richie Kotzen (ex-MR.BIG, ex-Poison)
  I've heard Richie Kotzen sing with Mr. Big before. Richie shows his singing skills and of course, his simple yet awesome guitar riffs.
  
  
• LOVE performed by Eric Martin (MR.BIG)
  Now, I've got my hands down on this one. Just like the songs on his Mr. Vocalist series of albums, Eric Martin did an awesome job on the vocals and the dramatic lyrics didn't turn out being too cheesy. The lead guitar riffs are good as well.
  
  
• Kumori Nochi Hare performed by Mark Slaughter (SLAUGHTER)
  A rendition of the 1999 single, Mark Slaughter did good on this one. I'm not satisfied with the lyrics though.
  
  
• Dreams performed by Mike Ruocco (Cinder Road)
  Dreams is originally from Siam Shade's fifth album. A song that's upbeat, very catchy and could make you want to jump and sing along with the chorus. The version by Mike Ruocco turned out great. The lyrics focuses on "Not giving up" and fits perfectly on the tune. The only downside is that I think the song is too short whenever I listen to it.
  
  
• Triptych performed by George Lynch (ex. DOKKEN)
  This is an instrumental. George Lynch demonstrates his superb skills with the lead guitars. This version sounds exactly like the original, similar to how Daita Ito played it, except with a heavier sound and some added riffs.
  
  
• 1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou performed by Acid Black Cherry
  This song comes as a bonus track. The only one sung in it's original Japanese lyrics. What makes A.B.C.'s version of 1/3 is their rendition of the intro. Yasu's vocals also sounds reminiscent to Hideki Imamura's, thus making it sound like a perfect reincarnation of 1/3.Yes, I can say that I liked this one is better than FLOW's rendition, sorry guys.

Overall:

Siam Shade Tribute, it was a good experience hearing Western artists give tribute to one of Japan's influential rock bands. Some fans may hate the English versions and some fans may love them but if you loved Siam Shade, give the Tribute album a listen, you decide on how you will like it.

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Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked Trailer

Here's the trailer for the first Megami Tensei game for the Nintendo 3DS. It will be an enhanced port of Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor and it will be titled Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked.

Devil Survivor is set in modern-day Tokyo. One day, the protagonist, a 17 year-old student, finds that he and his two friends, Atsuro Kihara, a computer hacker, and Yuzu Tanikawa, a spirited fighter, have been given modified electronic device called COMPs by his older cousin Naoya. As they explore their purpose, an outbreak of demons occurs within Tokyo, and a large city area is quarantined by the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces, deny power, communications, and food to those trapped within it. The protagonist and his friends discover their COMPs allow them to summon helpful demons to fight the aggressive ones, allowing them to survive the attacks. The protagonist also finds he has the ability to see a person's "death clock", representing how many days a person will have left to live. While he uses it to help himself and his friends to change their own fate, the protagonist realizes that everyone within the quarantine will die within seven days.

Overclocked will feature an extended plot, enhanced visuals, full voice-overs, the ability to choose the difficulty and added demons. Overclocked will be released in North America on August 23, 2011.

Buy Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked (Nintendo 3DS) at Play-Asia.com

Source: IGN, Megami Tensei Wiki

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Final Fantasy Type-0 Trailer

A 5-minute long trailer has been released for Square-Enix's upcoming PSP game: Final Fantasy Type-0. The theme song will be titled "Zero" and will be performed by the band BUMP OF CHICKEN.

Final Fantasy Type-0 (originally titled back then as Final Fantasy Agito XIII) will go alongside Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Final Fantasy Versus XIII to make up the Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy compilation. It follows the quests of the students of Class Zero from the Suzaku Fiefdom of Rubrum as they organize Operation Apostle, a covert mission to recapture their nation's crystal and to defeat their enemy, the Milites forces. The gameplay will be similar to those of Crisis Core and Final Fantasy X-2.

Final Fantasy Type-0 will be released on October 13 in Japan and will cost 7,700 yen.

Source: Hachima Kiko via Anime News Network

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Taiji Sawada Passes Away

Taiji Sawada (best known as the former bassist of X Japan and one time bassist for Loudness) passed away today, Sunday, July 17, 2011 at the age of 45. Circumstances leading to his passing is yet to be confirmed but Wikipedia references stated that Sawada was arrested on July 11th "for interference with a flight attendant" due to an incident on a plane en route from Japan to Saipan and was facing federal charges in the US for this incident. On July 14th, Sawada was taken to an intensive care unit after attempting suicide by hanging himself, thus delaying his court appearance.

Taiji was a member of X Japan from 1985 to 1992. He composed the songs Phantom of Guilt, Desperate Angel and Voiceless Screaming in his stay with X. He left the band after the On The Verge of Destruction tour due to musical differences with founder/drummer Yoshiki. He went on to record one studio album and one live album with Loudness featuring ex-EZO frontman Masaki Yamada on vocals.

Sawada also recorded and performed with Dirty Trashroad, launched CLOUD NINE with guitarist Shu Yamagishi, and had stepped back into the spotlight as of 2010 with his own band, TAIJI WITH HEAVENS, recording one EP and performing live.

After almost 18 years, in 2010, Sawada was invited to join X Japan as a guest musician for their Nissan Stadium shows in Tokyo on August 14th and 15th, 2010.

From all of us here, we would like to share our deepest sympathies to his family and friends. Taiji's music and his skills in playing the bass guitar will never be forgotten.

Sources:
Bravewords
TokyoHive
Saipan Tribune via Wikipedia

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Life Size Char's Zaku II Replica to be erected

Back in 2009, a life size model of RX 78-2 Gundam has been erected in Odaiba, Tokyo. Yes, an 18-meter tall replica the RX 78-2 Gundam piloted by Amuro Ray from the first Mobile Suit Gundam series. It has been moved to Shizuoka, the self-described "model capital of the world," last year and Shizuoka ended it's display shortly after the March 11 earthquake.

 

In June, the young staff members of Mibu, Japan's Toy Town, formed a volunteer team that aims to erect a life-size, the 18-meter-tall version of the Char Azanable's custom MS-06S Zaku II, the main antagonist from the same series.

Hiroshi Takayama, one of the 30 or so volunteers in the group, noted

"There are Gundam fans all over the world. We want to call (for cooperation to build the statue) throughout the world with Twitter and Facebook."

The team will also be selling 1,000 limited-edition cups of strawberry-flavored juice cocktail with the image of Char's Zaku at 100 yen each on July 16 during a charity event for the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake disaster.

Source: Yomiuri via Anime News Network

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Legend of Heroes Anime

A trailer for the anime adaptation of Nihon Falcom's best selling PSP Role Playing Game, Eiyū Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki began streaming on their official site last Thursday.

The game was released in October 28, 2006 in Japan and March 29, 2011 in North America under the title Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, Sora no Kiseki follows the adventures of Estelle and Joshua Bright as they join the Bracer's guild of Liberl Kingdom. The story progresses as normal Bracer's guild quests unveiling the dark side of the government, a faction of the army that decides to overthrow the old queen.

Further updates can be checked on their Official Site.

Nihon Falcom will also be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. 

Source: Moon Phase via Anime News Network,

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Space Battleship Yamato (Live Action) Review

Released on DVD and Blu-Ray last June 24, 2011, I was able to grab a copy of the 2010 live action adaptation movie of Leiji Matsumoto's science fiction anime series, Space Battleship Yamato.

The movie is based from the first season of the anime Space Battleship Yamato (also known as Star Blazers or Space Cruiser Yamato to English speaking audiences) which was originally aired in 1974 and contained 26 episodes, following the Yamato's voyage out of the Milky Way Galaxy and back again.

Among the cast of Space Battleship Yamato are SMAP's Takuya Kimura as Susumu Kodai, Meisa Kuroki as Yuki Mori, Reiko Takashima as Dr. Sado, and Isao Sasaki as the narrator.

Plot:

The story starts off in year 2199, the Earth has been under radioactive attacks from extraterrestrials, known as the Gamilas, for the past five years. The Earth's defense forces have been decimated and any surviving humans have had to move underground to escape the radioactive bombardment. The last interstellar battleship of the exhausted Earth Defense Forces, the Yamato, sets out on a mission to Iscandar, a planet located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. There the humans hope to acquire a device that can heal the radiation damaged Earth, before the contamination wipes out the last of humanity. Susumu Kodai joins in on this expedition after the death of his brother Mamoru.

As the story progresses, it also focused on the declining health of Yamato's Captain Okita, how Susumu Kodai handled the pressure of being Yamato's acting captain, as well as his romance with female crew member Yuki Mori.

Overall:

I was not able to see all the episodes of the original anime version nor it's OVA's so I won't be able to completely compare it with the original series.

Space Battleship Yamato features 2 hours of drama and breathtaking sci-fi action. The special effects, designs and the locations looked nice. Yamato itself, the Cosmo fighters, the alien fighters and bases are realistically rendered in CGI. The characters are well portrayed as well, including their appearances. The only thing that seems off is when the characters had their helmets on, their faces kind of looks bigger.

Space Battleship Yamato is indeed worth checking out. It's good. Even for those who are new to the series, it can an enjoyable movie. Especially if you want to check out and understand the first season within lesser time.

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