TEKKEN

TEKKEN

A fighting game that came out for various and almost all game platforms from the classic arcade to home gaming consoles to handheld consoles and the modern mobile devices that has gaming features.

Tekken is one of the longest running fighting game that was released using 3D graphic engines that gives almost human accurate movements when it comes to the martial arts aspects of the game. There is a mix of 2D animation for some of the cinematics for the storylines or cutscenes for specific characters when you use them under story mode or arcade mode.

Tekken was released back in December 9, 1994 and the latest release is Tekken 7 back in June 2, 2017. The game was published under Bandai Namco Entertainment, Namco and Sony Computer Entertainment.

I am not a Tekken gamer or a Tekken fan, I just had my chance to play the game in arcade, game console like PlayStation and the mobile version. Let’s just say I am just another random gamer who plays quite a lot of games that I can play in any platform that I have or have access to.

Tekken was not only a game, for some they made a community and a tournament where Tekken gamers can have discussions with one another and maybe have a chance to meet the creators of the game like Katsuhiro Harada and Seiichi Ishii and other people behind the game. The Tekken Community is one of the biggest fanbase community that I know other than the Gundam and anime community.

I know a handful of people that can play Tekken so well that I think they can play the game with their eyes closed.  Not to mention they also know backstories of most characters if not all of them.

Tekken did not only came out as a game but there were movie adaptations as well. An anime adaptation movie was released.

The first that I came across with was the Tekken: The Motion Picture back in 1998, and I barely remember the storyline since I just watched it once. The only thing I recall is that for me the anime adaption did not excite me as much as Anpan Breadman series. I was able to watch the anime when I got a copy I think back in 2000.

The second movie was the live action film that came out back 2009 starred by Jon Foo as Jin Kazama the protagonist of the film, Ian Anthony Dale as Kazuya Mishima and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Heihachi Mishima. The movie was “meh” for me, they changed too much in the storyline except for the relationships of the three generation of the Mishima as main casts in the film. Heihachi, Kazuya and Jin. I have only seen the movie twice, and the second one was quite recent which was Oct 22, 2020 along with a friend who has not seen the movie. Too many questions for those fans of the game. But for those who has no clue of the game I think they will like the movie for the action.

There is a third movie and that is the Tekken: Revenge of Kazuya which came out in 2014. In this film three characters from Tekken are in the movie. Kazuya portrayed by Kane Kosugi, Heihachi Mishima by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Bryan Fury by Gary Daniels. Among the three actors only Cary and Gary reprised their roles in the Tekken movies. Just like in the first film this is another film I am thankful I did not watch in the theaters.

With three film adaptations if I were to choose, I will choose the anime adaptation over the live action adaptation. Not because the characters look like the ones in the games but because the storyline is much closer compared to the live action adaptation that has a different story to tell the audience.

Not sure how Tekken fans accepted the various film adaptations of the game but for me I can only recommend the anime adaptation.

But between the first and second live action film, even though they changed the storyline and how it was delivered to the audience, there seemed to be much more fight scenes in the second film compared to the first one. Not sure on the move sets of the characters if they got it accurate or even close to the game version. There are just too many questions in the live action films if the viewer has some knowledge in the game storyline. The second movie was too slow paced for me while the first movie they could have done better. Well for both they could have done better on both live action films. If someone will ask me for movie recommendations to watch these two will not be on the list but if they will ask for worst movies, I have watched I will put this in the list.

If I will rate this:

Anime adaptation 6 out of 10

First live action film 3 out of 10

Second live action film 3 out of 10

Yeah that is my own personal rating for the film adaptations of the Tekken Game series.

I will be making another review for the game only, the reason why I made this kind of article for the Tekken game and the three adaptations is that, I don’t have that much to say for the three adaptations.

I forgot there was another film Tekken Blood Vengeance which was done in 3D and here in this movie we get to see the actual characters of the Tekken game in the film. I have only seen the movie once and not much to say as well in this movie except that they featured a storyline that took place in between the Tekken 5 and Tekken 6 games. The movie featured Xiaoyu and Alisa as the main characters of the game while the father and son Kazuya and Jin are butting heads in the film. Out of the four films I might say I will recommend this one but too bad. I remembered this last while doing this article which means I cannot fully recommend this as well unless I remember that it existed. Bad memory or I guess the film was 50/50.

The rating that I will give this will be 6 out of 10 as well the same as the first anime adaptation of the game as a movie. I guess the reason for this is because we now see the Tekken characters in another full-length film and not just a compilation of cutscenes in between match in the game.

Now I wonder why I forgot about this film. Oh well maybe once I watch the film again I will recall why I forgot about this.

So there you have it four film adaptations that I know for the Tekken Game. Check them out at your own leisure.

HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD

HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD

HOTD

An anime based on the manga of the same title and written by the late Daisuke Sato. The manga was never finished and there were 7 volumes of the manga that was published from 2006 to 2013. The anime came out in 2010 with 12 episode and 1 OVA.

I am one of those who followed the manga and the anime before I heard or read news that the author died back in March 22, 2017. Just to make things clear I am not one of those who has been sending messages saying or suggesting that the publisher or whoever was in charge of the HOTD series along with Daisuke Sato, to just get someone else to continue the series. For me if it does continue then so be it if not that is not a problem since I have seen anime and manga that has been left on hiatus for a long period of time already so I don’t expect HOTD will continue any time soon. That is after I have come across a Reddit post that the production who worked with Daisuke Sato have no more plans on continuing the work of the late Daisuke Sato. Link is below for more details.

I was first introduced to the anime before I got into the manga. The anime was so fluid in the animation so fluid that it felt like I was watching cinematics of one of the latest Dead or Alive video game where we get very fluid jiggly breasts which was one of selling points of the fighting game. HOTD was one heck of a fanservice series considering that it was a zombie holocaust series where we also get to see women who turned into zombies who are almost naked and still jiggly (I don’t have necrophilia just to be clear but I like the fanservice). Just like what I said the series is flooded with fanservice for those looking for various sizes of oppai this might be the series for you if you also like zombie themed series.

The series follows Takashi Komuro, Saeko Busujima, Kohta Hirano, Rei Miyamoto, Saya Takagi, Shizuka Marikawa and Alice Maresato. From Takashi to Saya they are students of the Fujimi High School and Shizuka was the school nurse who was rescued by Saeko during the zombie outbreak in their school. Alice was the young girl whom they rescued after her father was attacked by zombies and she adjusted quite well to the party since she was often being taken cared off by Saya and the rest of the party and they did not left her alone making her feel more comfortable considering that they are strangers to Alice who was just 7-years-old in the story.

For me it seemed like the author made the characters adapt so fast in the situation since they are young adults and an adult who seemed like an airhead with huge boobs. I just wondered with Alice who was fast to somehow recover and get enough strength after she witnessed her father getting stabbed by the folks who were in a house whom they thought would let them in to take shelter from the horde of zombies but instead left them for dead even the poor Alice. The good thing that happened to her other than having a caring father is that Takashi was brave enough to go and rescue her from the attacking zombies considering their number and he had to walk over the cement wall fence to cross back to where his friends are. Lucky enough they survived, yeah because he is one of the protagonists of the story.

I don’t usually watch zombie genre media unless I am in the mood to watch it. Heck I have seen Land of the Living Dead years ago and I don’t remember how old I was when I saw it or do I even remember if they censored some scenes back then in our local TV stations since there are a lot of gore in that classic film. Anime zombie series I have seen other zombie anime series and I will put a list later. I did got hook on HOTD not only because of the idea of high school students fighting off zombies in order to survive but well who am I kidding I also watched the series for the fanservice specially that OVA where they thought they got stuck in an island where they got drugged by some herb that they ate in order to kill off the hunger thinking that they have drifted off in the middle of the ocean.

Regarding the flow of the story in the series for a 12-episode series it was not bad although it made viewers wanting more and that was the bad thing. Not many fans or followers of the series nor the author outside Japan accepted the fact that the series may not have another season after it went on hiatus at first due to the health of the author and after the untimely death. In respect to the author of HOTD and other series that he has made, as far as I understood the article on Reddit, they will no longer touch HOTD or have someone take over the series. Same goes with his other works, they will stop as to where his manuscripts have finished and no more.

Before I forget, since the series is flooded with fanservice and a lot of adult related themes I do not recommend this series to minors unless supervised. The series also has some sort of love triangle or rather uncontrolled desires that the heroes are being drawn in to due to the situation they are in. Takashi and Rei who has been having their own issues in their current relationship and later Saeko enters the mix having herself being drawn into her own issues with men and seeing Takashi being someone that she can trust, the series has implied that something happened between them in one of the scenes where they got separated from the group and in order for Takashi to get Saeko back in to the game he seemed to have gave in to what she has been wanting to do.

There are a lot of heavy implications in the series and considering that they are thinking of the big “What if” in their heads like “what if their end suddenly comes I have to do something that I have not done before” or “I should grab this opportunity to do something before I regret it later on not doing it”. Something like that, and since the series is in the gray on not having a continuation all fans are using their imaginations or looking for doujins and fanfictions as to how the series will end.

Even though I still want the series to have another season all I can do as a fan of the series is to respect the decisions of whoever was left in charge of the works of Daisuke Sato. But still who knows maybe someone might adapt the story and give it a new life sometime in the future. There are other zombie genre anime out there and just like HOTD which I recommend to viewers regardless that season 2 is close to not going to happen anymore.

Sankarea – a boy whose girlfriend became a zombie and he is looking for a way to turn her back into a human.

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka - a guy who became a zombie with the help of a loli Shinigami or Death God and he can also become a magical girl well a guy in skirts.

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – two half-zombies who are still human enough to protect the people who does not trust them and are trapped inside a train fortress looking for a new safe place for them live since the world is being over-run by zombies that has skins as strong as steel.

Hellsing – Alucard the strongest vampire in the world fighting to protect his master Integra Hellsing with the help of his busty apprentice Seras Victoria they take out ghouls and those who oppose their master.

Sunday Without God – a loli who lost her family and found out that she is one of those chosen people who can bury the dead before they become zombies.

School-Live – this is one hell of a series where another group of high school girls and just like HOTD are one of the survivors on Earth in the middle of a zombie holocaust. The sad part of this series is that the main character is living in a fantasy that everyone in their school are alive and well and they are living in the school as part of a school program and only her friends knows what is actually happening around them.

Gungrave – just like Hellsing the main character in the series is out to take wipe out zombie-like creatures.

Tokyo Ghoul – a young man who got turned into a ghoul as a result of some experiment done to his body after he was heavily injured and close to death when he was attacked by a ghoul who was also the girl whom he likes. Good thing Alucard of Hellsing does not exist in their world since the ghouls in this series are either good or bad but they still tend to eat human flesh.

Zombie Loan – two guys who are zombies who also hunts down other zombies. The reason for them hunting zombies is part of their agreement to Zombie Loan who brought them back to life as a form of payment.

Corpse Princess – a young girl who was brought back to life by some cult. Even though she was brought back to life against her will, she took this opportunity to take revenge on those who murdered her and her family.

Check links below for other details on the series regarding if it will continue or not

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/a4ktrc/high_school_of_the_dead_is_officially_cancelled/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisuke_Sat%C5%8D

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highschool_of_the_Dead

 pictures from the internet

 

OZ WORLD

OZ WORLD

Found this while cleaning up so I figured sharing it.

The game was released in 1999 in other countries, developer is UBIport (not Ubisoft) and published by OnGamePort as a Real Life RPG.

OZ World was released by Level-Up Games in 2002 as the very first Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) here in the Philippines. So this was released a year before the release of the first Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) and later on ROSE Online and RF Online under their trademark here in the Philippines.

OZ World was more like the current Minecraft, Second Life, VR Chat (Steam) and other similar online VR World where users mostly just chat and do VR Jobs to earn their online money (well except for those games which have been said that they can exchange their online money for real world money like Second Life check google to find out who earned tons of real life cash just playing Second Life). So just to put it plainly OZ World is a VR Dating Chat back in the days.

Unlike today's VR Worlds, before I forget, this game never required VR Goggles. The game runs with the traditional monitor, keyboard and mouse to play the game and the system requirements to run the game was not that high as well.

OS: Windows XP/98/2000/Vista

Processor: Pentium 166 Mhz

RAM: 32 MB

Hard Disk Space: 50 MB (at least)

Video Card: Direct X compatible

So yeah does not require much to run this game compared for today's games.

Graphics were OK for its time and much like the game The Sims.The game also includes environment control which includes changes for day and night. Cannot remember if they have weather control in the game. The game also includes getting players to mingle with each other thru VR but just like any other online games the players can choose the gender that they wish to use, hey it is a free fantasy world where players go to just to blow some steam or entertain themselves.

I never got to experience playing this game very long since I got bored with it after hearing that the game will not be free to go online anymore and I have to purchase game time prepaid cards which costs Php. 50.00 up. So I forgot to mention the game was released as free then later on I have to buy the game time, I don’t have that much budget for playing paid games at home or at computer shops since back then I was using prepaid internet and dial up modems which Internet was only a tad faster after 12 midnight up to 4 or 5 early morning (was that a word?).  So in short I stopped playing after playing a few games after buying game cards. I don’t blame the company for making that decision they have to make money, but it took me some years before I realized that.

As for my experience in playing the game itself it was more like a chat world than playing a game, the game itself was more like just to earn the online money and ranking up for online social status to brag about with other players. Much like buying skins for today’s game which shows how long a player has been playing or for others skins show how good you are at playing the game, I don’t ever understand that logic it is just a skin and nothing more for me considering other games have online quests where getting skins will give a player points or online credits to spend online. The game also has quests to earn points and stuff as well as to level up the avatar and rank up as well.

So just making this short the OZ World was back then the talk of the town when it comes to online games for its short-lived popularity until the rise of Ragnarok Online and other games that came after it. Even so the game still got a place for other gamers which I think they still remember the game and played it for as long as they could.

Pics from the Internet

BEAKMAN'S WORLD

BEAKMAN'S WORLD

Beakman's World an Educational TV series aired in 1992 up to 1998 with 91 episodes.

The series was mainly for educational purposes where the host Paul Zaloom portrays Beakman an eccentric scientist who performs comical experiments and demonstrations crafted for viewer mails. The series mainly takes on scientific approaches on experiments made in the show.

I remember watching this series every weekend, so other than watching cartoons back then in the 90's I also watch these live action learning series as well.

He has other hosts in the series a giant rat and a girl who helps him in his experiments.

The series is a bit crazy and a bit out of control at times but that is part of them being comical so that younger audience will not get bored watching the show since it is mainly experimenting and younger audience, if not entertained by the show would choose not to watch and do something else of change the channel.

The series did not seemed to have aired many episodes in the Philippines at the same time I somehow remember getting a glimpse of an episode of two being dubbed in our native tongue, not really sure if it was this show or another show.

So yeah, back then when internet was still new and not yet fully available to those who has no computer, modem and phone line at home to check the internet for scientific topics at the same time Youtube does not exist yet during that time, much less online streaming. Educational TV programs were being aired for younger audiences for them to be able to learn more at home and some schools I believe have video tapes of similar educational videos for students to view at school as a study aid used by teachers and not just using books for study references.

If Beakman's World is available somewhere in the internet, hey kids search for this show and learn how we learned stuff during our days when internet was still new and online streaming is not yet a thing.

video not mine (credits to the owner of the video and pics used in this review)