
I was enthused before, and more play reveals 戦場のヴァルキュリア/Valkyria Chronicles to possess astonishing quality in terms of gameplay, as well as graphics and production values. This is Hans, by the way.
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Just watched the newly released 11th らき☆すた/Lucky Star DVD; I can’t confess to being much enamoured by the way it has been released on DVD.
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Finally the long awaited RPG 戦場のヴァルキュリア/Valkyria Chronicles has hit the store shelves, at least in Japan. I’m usually not one to get taken by prerelease excitement, but my anticipation was such that I had to get up early (or rather, stay up late) and brave the uncertain Tokyo weather in a jaunt to Bic to pick up a copy. I’ve taken some time out from playing it to provide my first impressions and plenty of detail on the game.
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Remembered seeing a mention of such a thing over at Danny Choo’s a while back, but didn’t think much would come of it (excuse the pun). However, my eye was caught by this in an Akiba adult department store – and how accommodating it looks! Not a user, or an American, so unfortunately I can’t comment on whether it is truly sufficient for American use, although the flattery probably also extends to Europeans.
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This demonic robo is sure to terrify adults and children alike, and certainly makes me glad that the predominant robot aesthetic is of giant armoured killing machines and sultry temptroids, at least outside of companies trying to market hospital bots in place of Filipino nurses. And the price? A mere ¥450,000 (about $1,000,000 if current trends continue). Better to content yourself with a robot that can’t talk, but does perform reasonably well at oppressing animals.

A brief tour of robotics hobby shop “Robot Kingdom” (ツクモロボット王国), run by very reasonable Akiba PC chain Tsukumo, on the 3rd floor of their “パソコン本店” flagship PC department store.
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Spotted this alluring jigsaw in Yodobashi Camera; great art, but a little degraded by the jigsaw pattern.

I had another look around Yodobashi Camera’s flagship megastore in Akihabara recently. It certainly has a excellent selection, and the store itself is very nice, but pricewise it is beaten heartily by Amazon, and any serious seller with Kakaku.com or Rakuten (although these two really require a Japanese bank account to get the best deals).
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This is 戦場のヴァルキュリア, or Valkyria Chronicles. I am eagerly awaiting this strategic RPG for the PS3, out in mere days (the 24th). Details on the actual gameplay seem to have taken a backseat to shots of the stunning cutscenes and beautiful character designs. The tanks are also quite nice… Here are some shots of the trailer I took; I will doubtless post a more detailed look after the release.
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For those that are not familiar with RECETTEAR〜アイテム屋さんのはじめ方〜 (Recettear: How to start an Item Shop), it is a fantasy business RPG, produced and published by dojin-soft outfit EasyGameStation.
It is really rather good – read on for an appraisal and plenty of screenshots.
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Hello, and welcome. For the introductory post, it would be helpful to explain a little about the idea behind this site, and the name, Sankaku Complex, which is intended to capture something of the relationship between anime, manga and games, as well as such media forms as eroge and the visual novel. Read the rest of this entry »