Sound Off Episode 25: AnimeFest 2014

Well after a week of trying to get this right, I proudly present toyou the AnimeFest edition of Sound Off! Now, just to warn you there are audio issues. I’ve cleaned it all up the best I could, but it turned out that the problem was with my second microphone…which I didn’t realize until it finally broke down during my last interview. You can still hear all of the questions and answers so it’s just going to have to be another lesson learned!

Other than that I want to thank everyone who I hung out with and interviewed during my time in Dallas! The EVN community is filled with amazing people and I humbled I was able to spend some time  with some of you! I hope to see more of our community in the near future! Here are the guests for this week!

• Lorelei (Cyanide Tea)
  Py’Tom (Ren’py)
  KomiTsuku (IDHAS)
  Deji & KittyKatStarGal
  Ayu Sakata & Micah Solusod (SakeVisual)

Download the MP3 Here!

Ayu Sakata Throws A Water Party

Last week, voice actress and Sakevisual chief Ayu Sakata launched a charity fundraiser with the goal of raising $17,000 for clean water projects worldwide. The fundraiser will go on for another two and half months and there are several incentives for fans of anime provided by other English voice actors from shows such as Attack on Titan, A Certain Scientific Railgun and Sword Art Online.

Here are the details for the fundraiser:

5,000 kids under the age of 5 died from water-related illnesses yesterday.

Let’s make today different.

 

 

Clean water is the most basic necessity for living, and we’ve got tons of it. We can jump around and play in it. Dude, we even flush it down the toilet. But some people don’t even have anything drinkable, and thousands of kids die every day because they don’t have clean water.

People accuse us of being lazy and selfish. They complain that we spend money on the wrong things, or we don’t do anything to help others. We can be more than that. We ARE more than that. Let’s prove it.

We here at VNs Now always support good causes and while she isn’t making potato salad, this is a very noble cause. As Sakata said, every little bit helps so please do what you can! Go Here to make a donation and get more information about the current water crisis.

First Impressions: Backstage Pass, Pt. 2

Well we were going to get into this at some point. So before I get into why I like the boys of Backstage Pass, let me get into way I mock most romance targets: male or female.

Certain stereotypes and clichés are going to be a part of every fictional genre; it just comes with the territory. But in romance breaking out of those clichés is like climbing K2 without an oxygen mask, Sherpas and in your underwear. The roads of romantic attraction are well-worn and deviating from that path is dark and uncertain: which leaves many writers with one option – stay the course. This leads to the same bland, underdeveloped cast regardless of their target audience. Like I joked about in the teaser for the AMG Reviews, when you cut down to the marrow, there really isn’t a lot of difference between Exhibit A and Exhibit B: it all comes to your POV.So what does this have to do with Backstage Pass?

First Impressions: Backstage Pass, Pt. 1

For the better part of this year, I have been arguing that the EVN community needed to begin discussing the concept of ‘Mario’. If you haven’t read anything on that, allow me to suggest you do so or be branded a traitor. But, for the benefit of time, the short version is that I believe that within the next year or so the genre of visual novels, at least in the West, will begin a sort of ‘golden age’. Why? Because it costs nearly nothing (in corporate terms) to create a high-end visual novel, which means there really isn’t a reason not to exploit the medium by creating the highest quality on the cheap and marketing them to fans of the Telltale line of games.

SO, my argument is that the medium needs to define itself before said exploitation happens. This is done through a game that unites the hardcore and casual fans, as well as be a standard for what the genre is capable of. In other words Mario. Again, to keep a long story short, some thought I was insane. The regulars of this site know any question of my sanity is old news, but it was actually a debate for a while with me still ringing the bell on it until recently.Why? Because after talking about it all year, I think the launch of the EVN Mario is upon us…and of course it would be spawned from otome.

Sound Off Episode 4: The Year So Far

In the fourth episode of Sound Off, the irrevocable JP looks back on the first six months of 2013 and reflects on the major standouts: both good and bad. Not only did he find what he considers the worst EVN, he also may have touched on a few great spots as well. Enjoy!

Intro Music: ‘Fury oh Fury’ by Nico Vega

 Download The MP3 Here!