Streaming Picks of the Week
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 Update 03/08/2013: Another hotel has been added! The Sheraton Los Angeles Downtown has rooms available at $152/night.
We’ve spoken at length in the past of the virtues of staying at an official con hotel when attending an anime convention. You usually get a fairly reasonable discount on the room, sometimes get discounted or free admission to paid events associated with the con (concerts, etc.), and, hey, you’ll be staying at the same place where many other convention attendees will be staying at too, so there are usually plenty of cool hanging-out opportunities to be had. But most importantly, the hotels that conventions choose as official hotels are usually the closest to the actual convention itself. (As a matter of fact, at smaller conventions, the actual hotel itself serves as the location for the convention. What could be more convenient than that?) Trust me, walking to and from a remote hotel carrying all the crap that you typically carry when at con really sucks.
Now I may run the rest of my life (and Otaku no Podcast) in a fairly lax (read: lazy) manner, but the one thing that I normally don’t mess around with is reserving con hotels. Except for some reason, I really screwed up with last year’s Anime Expo hotel reservation. I somehow missed the early room availabilities, and we ended up having to settle for one of the last available hotels, and our experience there, well, it wasn’t pretty. This year I vowed to not repeat that mistake, and therefore when I heard that Anime Expo hotel room blocks had started opening up, I jumped right on it. So, come hell or high water, Team Otaku no Podcast has a room at a decent place this year.
At present they have announced only a few hotels with rooms; the Luxe City Center, at $189/night; the JW Marriott, at $189/night (but currently sold out); the Sheraton Los Angeles Downtown, at $152/night; the LA Hotel Downtown, at $165/night; the Westin Bonaventure, at $165/night; and lastly the Kawada, at $109/night (though unless they’ve shaped up their act significantly, I really wouldn’t recommend that one unless you are absolutely desperate.)
Incidentally, con registration is also open. Current prices are $60 for a 4-day adult pass, $25 for a 4-day child (6-12) pass, and $50 for a 3-day pass. 1-day and exhibit-only passes will become available starting June 1.
 I’ve written before about MikuMikuDance (MMD), a really powerful (and totally free) 3D animation creation program put out by members of the Vocaloid fan community, that said community uses to create those really awesome Vocaloid videos you see on sites such as YouTube and NicoNicoDouga. (In fact it is often used to create videos from other fanbases as well.) The fact is that it is a really powerful 3D animation package, so powerful in fact that it has even been used to create anime.
Well I’m not entirely sure how I missed this bit of news when covering MMD, but as it turns out, MMD has been discontinued by its creator. The program is still available for download, and it runs on all Windows versions from XP up through Windows 7 and even the newly-released Windows 8. And apparently there are still a few fans trying to keep the flame alive and updating the code. And if you want to experiment with it yourself, there are really good tutorials online. But in my eyes, the writing is on the wall, eventually MMD may start to fade away.
However, do not worry, because a new contender has emerged! MikuMikuMoving is a completely re-engineered 3D animation creation app in the style of MMD, but with a more modern, easier to learn user interface. The good news is that the program claims to be 100% compatible with MMD format models and motion data, and indeed I was able to successfully load and use the K-ON! MMD models with no issues. Also, the program is available in both Japanese and English straight from the get-go, and the English translation seems fairly credible. (it is my understanding that the English translation of MMD came after the fact) And, like its predecessor MMD, MikuMikuMoving is also completely free.
If you feel like giving it a spin, head on over to the MikuMikuMoving site to find download links and a complete user’s manual. Tutorials are starting to appear as well. The program runs on all 32- and 64-bit Intel systems running Windows XP or later, including Windows 8.
Incidentally, if you’re of the Mac persuasion like I am, the good news is that the program does seem to run pretty nicely in emulation software such as Parallels or VMware Fusion. However you might be interested in a similar software project, MMDAI. Whie it doesn’t feel quite as finished/polished as MikuMikuMoving, the program is available natively for the Mac, and tutorials for it are starting to appear as well. So you might want to keep an eye on this project.
 A while ago I wrote about why you, my fellow otaku readers, need to get excited about the iPad modern tablet computers. (I’ll even extend this to all tablet-type devices in general. I’ve nothing against you Android or (even) Windows 8/Windows RT/whatever the hell it’s called today folks.) And just about all of my predictions have come true. Besides iTunes, there are a plethora of ways to enjoy streaming anime videos, thanks to fine apps from the likes of Crunchyroll, Hulu, Crackle, Anime Network, FUNimation and probably a few more I’ve forgotten. And if you’d rather play back video files that you already have (either on your computer or somewhere on your home network) you can do that too. For you manga addicts, one of the biggest names in the field, Viz Media, has put out a (by all accounts) superb iOS app, and other companies are starting to take notice and follow suit. Some publishers are even going so far as to move exclusively to digital. And, while I have yet to see anybody sitting in Artists Alley drawing commissioned works on their tablet, more and more artists are starting to experiment with creating art on tablets. Even our favorite convention guide publisher Guidebook recently released an awesome update to their app that adds iPad compatibility.
But there is one area where the iPad could revolutionize an otaku’s life (or at least make it that much cooler) that I forgot to mention in my original article, mostly because I wasn’t really into it at the time I wrote my original post: visual novels, dating sims, raising sims and similar genres. It’s true that tablets (and the iPad in particular) are attracting plenty of attention from game developers. The problem arises when a developer tries to shoehorn a game onto the device that it isn’t suited for. Because most games are designed for PCs and consoles, where more traditional input methods are available (keyboards, game controllers, etc.), ports made for iPads and other tablets generally don’t work out very well. First person shooters are especially problematic; while some FPS ports manage to pull it off — barely — they still feel awkward and hard to control. (The one exception to this is ports of some DS games; there have been a few notable successes, including Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective and Scribblenauts.) However, a visual novel (from here on out I will use “visual novel” I mean all visual novel/dating sim/raising sim/etc. type games) would work quite well on a tablet, since the simple controls are ideally suited for a touchscreen; also the large, beautiful screens on today’s tablets would really show off the awesome artwork of these games.
Unfortunately, until recently, there has been a noticeable lack of visual novel type games in the various app stores. We’re finally starting to see titles from this genre appear, but many are fraught with translation errors, and most are fairly unknown works and of dubious quality. (Although recently iOS ports of Kira Kira and Higurashi When They Cry have surfaced) But a new player has entered the stage, and this one came as sort of a shocker, for it is none other than the much-beloved visual novel juggernaut Key, makers of Kanon, Clannad and Air. Fans all across the globe have been clamoring for native-language ports of these titles, especially after the successes of their anime counterparts; however Key has been entirely uncooperative on this point. (Rumors are that at one point there was talk of licensing one of their titles, but they allegedly demanded astronomically high licensing fees, so it didn’t go forward.)
Unfortunately, we still have yet to get a port of any of their better-known/top-shelf titles. (Sorry to disappoint you) What we did get, however, is a port of Planetarian – Dream of Little Star. It might not be as well known as Key’s other titles (I hadn’t heard of it before now); also, rather than a visual novel, it is a kinetic novel; but it seems to be just as adored by fans.
The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, 30 years after most of humanity was wiped out by a brutal, devastating war. The story is experienced from the point of view of the “Junk Hunter,” a bitter, weary individual who makes his living rummaging through the remains of civilizations and scavenging any useful parts or technology. One day, while exploring a “domed city,” said to be one of the most dangerous places, he stumbles upon a planetarium, and is promptly greeted by its chatty and slightly malfunctioning robotic greeter, Yumemi Hoshino, who sincerely believes that he is her first customer in thirty years. She invites him on a “voyage to the stars,” but the Planetarium projector malfunctions.
After a succession of disjointed conversations, the Junk Hunter grudgingly agrees to fix it.
It was written by Yuichi Suzumoto, who also worked on other Key titles including Air and Clannad. Artwork and mechanic design was done by Eiji Komatsu, interesting in that there was no involvement from Key’s predominant artist at the time (and the one who worked on all Key titles up until Planetarian), Itaru Hinoue. Music and sound were composed and arranged by Key’s signature composers Magome Togoshi and Shinji Orito. Originally released in November of 2004, it was later ported to PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and various mobile devices, and achieved sales of over 50,000.
Planetarian – Dream of Little Star is available for $3.99 on the iOS app store. Go grab it today! Also check below the cut for some intro/promo videos showing off the game. (Unfortunately the intro clip doesn’t appear to include sound; the actual game does contain sound and is fully voiced.)
Now can we finally get ports of some of your other stuff, Key? Please? PC or iPad or (insert other tablet), I don’t care. Please?!
Continue reading Cool Find: Planetarian – Dream of Little Star kinetic novel for iOS devices – from Key!
 Note: For this review I am trying out a new, much simpler ratings system, inspired by another podcast I watch, Before You Buy. They use a simple system of “Buy it!” (definitely worth buying), “Try it!” (it’s good, not great, but you might want to take a look) and “Don’t Buy” (avoid at all costs). In our case we’ll use “Watch it!” (definitely worth watching and/or buying if it’s out on physical media), “Worth a look” (good, but not great; might be worth catching the first episode on a free stream, borrowing it from a friend, etc.), and “Don’t Watch It!” (avoid at all costs). Let me know what you think of this new system.)
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… ok, actually it was back in winter of 2010… one of the shows from that anime season that caught my eye was Sora no Woto (aka Sound of the Sky), which served as the debut of Anime no Chikara, a joint venture between TV Tokyo and Aniplex to create and produce original anime series which are not based on previously published material (manga, visual novels, etc.). I had heard of Anime no Chikara but was somewhat put off by the other shows that came out of it (the somewhat underwhelming Senkou no Night Raid and Seikimatsu Occult Academy). That, combined with the general consensus among the internets that Sora no Woto felt like a cheap attempt at cashing in on the popularity of “moeblob” shows such as K-On! made me hesitant to pick it up. Later I was somewhat surprised when I started hearing from people that it actually wasn’t half bad. So when I saw that Sora no Woto was one of the titles assigned to me in Anime Secret Santa, I decided that it was worth checking out. And I am glad I did.
Sora no Woto tells the story of Kanata Sorami who, after an encounter with a mysterious army bugler during her painful childhood, decided to join the army and learn to play the bugle. She is assigned to the Clocktower Fortress in the small town of Seize in the nation of Helvetia. After a long war with the rival Roman Empire, both nations are enjoying a tense cease-fire. She, as well as the other women assigned to the Clocktower Fortress, help the war-weary townspeople cope with their lives, and remain vigilant and prepared to defend the town in the event hostilities resume
Continue reading Anime Secret Santa Review: Sound of the Sky
 I’ve written before of my love for Minecraft. With its completely open-ended sandbox gameplay, beautiful landscapes and caverns to explore, monsters to fight, items to craft and tremendous potential for creativity, it’s truly a game without limits. Plus it has a vibrant community of modders who have come up with all sorts of interesting hacks and mods to the game.
But all of that in-game resource gathering and monster fighting can get tiring for a poor adventurer such as myself. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get some help with all of those mundane chores? A kawaii maid perhaps? Well with the LittleMaidMob mod you can!
Simply install the mod, and as you wander about, you will randomly encounter little maids wandering around aimlessly. Give them some cake and you’ve hired them. Giving them various types of items will change their role (swordswoman, archer, cook, etc.). Be sure and supply them with plenty of sugar or else they’ll abandon you (they also use sugar to heal any injuries). Your maids can either adventure with you, fighting enemies that get too close and collecting resources as they drop; or you can have them patrol and guard your home base. It’s pretty fun and really adorable.
Check out this forum thread for the download links and for instructions on how to install it, and check out this video (also embedded below the cut) for a demo of the mod in action, and instructions on how to use it.
Continue reading Cool Find: LittleMaidMob Mod for Minecraft
 Do you own an Xbox 360? Would you like to experience fully 100% legal, 24/7 on-demand streaming anime goodness from the comfort of your own home? Then you’ll be pleased to learn that our favorite streaming anime provider, Crunchyroll, is now available on the Xbox 360!
To install the app:
1. Launch Xbox Live Marketplace then go to Apps -> Browse Apps.
2. Currently the Crunchyroll app is one of the Featured Apps; however if it isn’t there, you can find the app by going to Video -> See All Apps, and scroll all the way to the right (where all the new apps show up).
3. If you don’t see the app, use the Search function and look for “crunchyroll.”
If you don’t have a Crunchyroll Premium Membership, you can stream the first episode of all currently simulcast shows. Log in with your Premium Membership ID to access all episodes, your Queue, and you can even share what you’re watching with your friends. (And why on earth haven’t you gotten your Premium membership yet?!) All videos stream in 720p (when available).
The app is available in the Xbox Live Marketplace (unfortunately the app is not available in Japan, Slovakia, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE). Check out this CR forum post for more details. And if you decide to sign up for a Crunchyroll Premium membership, be sure and sign up using
our affiliate link (this helps us out and does not cost you anything extra).
 UPDATE 06/17/2013: The developer of HD Player Pro has now made the app free, with a $1.99 in-app purchase to enable MKV support. Go download HD Player from the iOS App Store using this link.
A while ago I wrote about my quest for a way to enjoy my downloaded anime while on the go on my iPad and/or iPhone. At that time I had settled on an app called ProPlayer, which, while far from perfect, worked well enough and satisfied my needs.
Unfortunately it appears that the app is no longer available for sale. It has completely disappeared off the App Store, apparently a victim of a new aggressive policy by Dolby Labs of going after app developers who use their AC-3 and TrueHD audio codecs in their apps. While most of the other apps which were affected by this new policy were simply updated to remove AC-3 support, the folks behind ProPlayer have apparently decided to give up for good and pulled the app entirely out of the App Store.
This may have been a blessing in disguise however, as it forced me to go looking for a new player app. Even though I still had ProPlayer installed on my device and could still use it, I nevertheless wanted to find a better player: I wanted a player that would work on both the iPhone 5 and the iPad, and would take full advantage of the iPhone 5’s new widescreen display, which ProPlayer doesn’t. And I believe I have found one that’s even better than ProPlayer – HD Player Pro.
At first glance HD Player Pro may seem like any other of the over 9,000 video player apps available on iOS. In fact, digging further into the program’s user interface, I found that its user interface is clunky compared to ProPlayer. There is no support for creating folders and moving files into them. The app does support playlists (which somewhat mitigates the lack of folders), but adding and removing files from playlists is somewhat clunky, and you can’t re-order items within a playlist (it’s always alphabetical). Also there is a search function, but it appears to be broken. Update: Looks like they fixed the search function in the latest update, it’s all good now. 🙂
But once you start playing a video, that’s when you’ll grow to love HD Player Pro. Why? Because HD Player Pro renders subtitles damn near perfectly — far better than any of the other video player apps I’ve tried. Not only does it support the three major formats — SRT, SSA and ASS — but it even renders most (if not all) of the advanced features of SSA/ASS — fonts, colors, text positions, etc.! It is truly a thing of beauty to behold. And, like I said, it does this pretty damn perfectly — out of the many files I’ve thrown at it, it only failed to properly display one small segment of subtitles (it was a title sequence in UTW’s Accel World where they were apparently doing something fancy to display their logo in a cool stylized manner).
The other bane of my existence has been the newfangled Hi10p file format that all the cool kids (and the cool fansubbers) are using these days. Most of the apps I’ve tested have been hit or miss with these files. Some work, some don’t. The good news is that HD Player Pro does a pretty good job at decoding them — if you’ve got the right CPU for the job. Unfortunately you need a pretty beefy CPU to do this without introducing jerkiness/dropped frames. The iPhone 5’s A6 chip is powerful enough, and I would wager so is the A6X in the new iPad; however the A5 chip in my iPad mini doesn’t cut the mustard. (Why oh why didn’t they at least put an A6 in the thing?!) So until they release the next iPad mini which (HOPEFULLY) will add a newer, faster processor, I am forced to transcode my Hi10p files (or download non-Hi10p versions, which are becoming much scarcer these days).
Unfortunately there are a few little issues that prevent me from giving the app a perfect score. There is the whole clumsy file management issue I mentioned earlier. Sometimes seeking within a file (quickly moving to a certain time point in the file) causes the app to go catatonic. Also I’ve had the app crash or freeze every now and then when starting playing a new file (usually restarting the app fixes this). Update: Looks like they’ve fixed these bugs. Seeking works beautifully now (even on large movie-length files), and I haven’t noticed any crashes since their most recent update. So, yay! 🙂 But the beautiful subtitle rendering makes up for all of these shortcomings.
So I have once again found the perfect mobile video playback solution. At least until fansubbers stop including MP3/AAC audio tracks in their files and only include AC3 or TrueHD audio tracks. Then I’ll have to go off in search of another solution. sigh
The app works on all iOS devices (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad) running iOS 5.0 or later, although if you want to be able to decode Hi10p files natively, you’ll need an iPhone 5 or a third or fourth generation iPad. Go grab the app today for $2.99 free (with a $1.99 in-app purchase to enable support for various codecs including MKV) on the App Store — well worth every penny IMHO. (Ignore the low rating and negative reviews in the App Store; they are from disgruntled users who didn’t know about or do not understand the Dolby AC-3/TrueHD removal thing, and are loudly complaining about why their files are suddenly playing back without any sound.)
 Update 1/1/2013: My Anime Secret Santa review of Sound of the Sky (aka Sora no Woto) is up!
You know that old saying about the best laid plans of mice and men? Well unfortunately all of my plans for the next few months went out the window when late last month (right around Thanksgiving) when I found out that we had lost a client, and hence, my job. So I’ve spent the month of December running around like the proverbial decapitated chicken looking for work, while working every little odd job that comes my way, not to mention also doing the typical busy-around-the-holdidays type stuff. Which means I have had almost no time to do other non-critical-survival-money-making activities; hence the often-late 12 Days of Kurisumasu postings, the horribly late PMX 2012 wrap-up, etc. And yes, my Anime Secret Santa review too. I could have probably pulled a few all-nighters and slapped together a review just in the nick of time, but I decided against it, because I really didn’t want to do a half-assed job of it — you, the audience, deserve better.
The good news is that I have actually managed to completely watch not one, not two, but all three anime that were assigned to me (it was the only way I was able to maintain my sanity during this crisis). And, after today, the holiday craziness will be officially over for me; and since the week between Christmas and New Years is usually pretty lax, I should have the time to sit down and bang out a review, and actually put a decent amount of time and thought into it.
When we received our Secret Santa choices way back in October, my initial plan was to actually try and review all three anime I was assigned. I should have known that this was tempting fate and that fate would somehow find a way to bitch slap me for my hubris. I may still do this eventually; who knows. But I will definitely post at least one review on or before New Years. So stay tuned!
 Well, once again, it’s holiday time, which means it’s time to hit the malls and get serious about your holiday gift buying. So how’s that going for you? Well, if you, like 99.99999% of the rest of civilization, are either (A) having trouble deciding what to buy someone, (B) procrastinating right up till the end and need to find someone a gift RIGHT NOW!!!!11, (c) are lazy and need someone to help pick gifts for you, or (d) all of the above, well, guess what, we can help with that too. Because it’s once again time to unleash that wonder of wonders we like to call The 12 Days of Kurisumasu!!!
In case you’ve been living under a rock (or in the desert, or deep in the Himalayas, or on Mars, or in a distant galaxy/another dimension/etc.) for the past year, and haven’t the faintest idea what the heck I’m talking about, here’s the scoop: starting on Friday, December 14 and going through Christmas Day, Tuesday, December 25, I will be picking a cool new otaku-themed product each day and will be featuring it on our Twitter and Facebook. (They’ll also be posted on the 12 Days of Kurisumasu page here, along with a witty (well, at least I think so) writeup.) And if you’re still clueless as to what the heck I’m talking about, you can also check out the 12 Days of Kurisumasu from years gone by at the 12 Days of Kurisumasu page.
Each product I’ll be featuring will come from one of our affiliate advertisers — Amazon, CDjapan, Right Stuf, J-List, etc. Yeah, I know what you’re saying, you’ve been waiting for the “catch” and it finally came. But as catches go, this isn’t much of one. Remember that purchasing through any of the links here costs you nothing extra but brings us a little much-needed income, which helps keep the lights on and the bits flowing.
What products will you be choosing, you might be asking. No real rhyme or reason to it, really. As long as it’s even tangentially related to anime or other otaku-worthy pursuits, then it’s fair game. That means anime DVDs (and even Blu-rays); calendars; figures; “stuff from Japan” (food, snacks, etc.); plushies; dating-sim games/visual novels; whatever. Hopefully, among this cornucopia of consumer goods, you’ll find something cool and out of the ordinary to give to any otaku-leaning friends/acquaintances you’re looking for gifts for. (Or even yourself…)
When it comes to selecting the perfect gift for your otaku-leaning friends or even treating yourself, the possibilities are endless. From anime DVDs and Blu-rays to calendars, figures, and plushies, there’s something to suit every fan’s taste. But why not go a step further and add a personal touch to your gift-giving? Consider a custom name necklace, an accessory that combines the love for anime with a unique personalization element. With platforms offering customizable name necklaces, you can engrave the recipient’s favorite character or their own name in beautiful craftsmanship. It’s a thoughtful gesture that reflects their individuality and passion. So, amidst this cornucopia of otaku-worthy goods, explore the realm of custom name necklaces and discover a truly extraordinary gift that will leave a lasting impression on any anime enthusiast in your life.
So why subject yourself to the hassle, expense and bloodletting of doing battle in the malls and on the streets, and come shop with us instead?
 After over one year in development, I am pleased to announce that Version 3.0 Build 224 of the Otaku no Podcast app is now available on the App Store, chock full of new features!
- NEW! Now supports the 4-inch Retina screen on the iPhone 5 and iPod touch (fifth generation).
- NEW! Otaku no Radio. Listen to our streaming anime/Jpop radio station. If you hear a song you like, you can buy it on iTunes too!
- NEW! Search field lets you quickly search blog posts and podcast episodes for exactly what you’re looking for.
- NEW! ConFinder. Find an anime con near you, wherever you are! (Note: this feature is still new, and we are adding anime cons to the database. If you know of a good con in your area, please let us know about it!)
- NEW! Photo Gallery. View our photos taken at anime conventions.
- NEW! You can now share interesting content via Facebook and App.net.
- NEW! Option to open any clicked URLs in Google Chrome (requires Google Chrome to be installed).
- Lots of bug fixes.
The app is compatible with all iPhones, iPod touches and iPads running iOS 5 or later. (the app is not yet iPad optimized, so it will run in iPhone compatibility mode. I hope to have native iPad support in place in the next major version of the app.)
Go grab it today on the iOS App Store!
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