Category: Hand picked collection

Trigun (Japanese: トライガン Hepburn: Toraigan) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow. The manga was serialized in Tokuma Shoten‘s Shōnen Captain in 1995 with three collected volumes when the magazine was discontinued in 1997. The series continued in Shōnen Gahosha‘s Young King Ours magazine, under the title Trigun Maximum (トライガンマキシマム Toraigan Makishimamu), where it remained until finishing in 2008.

Both manga were adapted into an anime television series in 1998. Madhouse animated the TV series which aired on TV Tokyo from April 1, 1998 to September 30, 1998, totaling 26 episodes. An animated feature film called Trigun: Badlands Rumble was released in April 2010.^[3]

Gravity Rush, known in Japan as Gravity Daze,^[b] is an action-adventure video game developed by SCE Japan Studio‘s Team Gravity division and published worldwide in 2012 by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Vita. Gravity Rush Remastered, a high definition remaster developed by Bluepoint Games for the PlayStation 4 was released in 2015 in Japan and 2016 in the West. In Gravity Rush, players control Kat, an amnesiac with the power to manipulate how gravity affects her, and uses her powers to help the people of Hekseville against the mysterious Nevi, ultimately helping its people against human threats and uncovering the mystery behind her past. Gameplay has Kat exploring the open world of Hekseville, completing missions for townsfolk and defeating Nevi. Navigation and combat heavily involve Kat’s gravity-altering abilities.

Beginning development for PlayStation 3 in 2008 under the title Gravité before moving to the Vita, Gravity Rush was conceived by director Keiichiro Toyama prior to his work on Silent Hill and the Siren series. The team overcame technical challenges due to the gameplay and chosen hardware. The world, story and artistic style drew from Japanese and Western comics including the work of French artist Jean Giraud. The music was composed by Kohei Tanaka, who worked on the project from an early stage. Upon release, the game received mixed to positive reviews; praise went to the art style and Kat’s portrayal, but aspects of gameplay and control issues were criticized. The game went on to sell 200,000 copies worldwide. The remaster also released to positive reviews, focusing on its successful upgrade. A sequel, Gravity Rush 2, was released in 2017.

Nier: Automata^[a] is an action role-playing hack and slash video game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix. The game was released for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows in early 2017, with an Xbox One port later in June 2018. Nier: Automata is a sequel to the 2010 video game NieR, a spin-off sequel of the Drakengard series. Set in the midst of a proxy war between machines created by otherworldly invaders and the remnants of humanity, the story follows the battles of a combat android, her companion, and a fugitive prototype. Gameplay combines role-playing elements with action-based combat and mixed genre gameplay similar to that of Nier.

Production began in 2014, with series creator Yoko Taro, producer Yosuke Saito, and lead composer Keiichi Okabe returning to their respective roles, as well as Square Enix artist Akihiko Yoshida in charge of character design. The story is based around themes similar to Yoko’s earlier works, such as people’s impulse to kill and nihilism, while also incorporating issues such as confronting prejudice and escaping difficult situations. The goal was to make a Nier game true to the spirit of the original, while simultaneously crafting a better combat system. As a project entirely new to the developers, the staff at PlatinumGames faced multiple challenges when developing its gameplay and open world environment.

Nier: Automata was met with critical acclaim, with critics praising the game’s narrative, characterization, thematic depth, music design, combat system, and mixture of different gameplay genres. Minor criticism was leveled at some of the game’s visual and technical problems. By May 2019, the game had sold over four million copies worldwide.

Ghost in the Shell, known in Japan as Mobile Armored Riot Police (Japanese: 攻殻機動隊 Hepburn: Kōkaku Kidōtai) is a Japanese cyberpunk science fiction media franchise originally published as a seinen manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The manga, first serialized in 1989 under the subtitle of The Ghost in the Shell, and later published as its own tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, told the story of the fictional counter-cyberterrorist organization Public Security Section 9, led by protagonist Major Motoko Kusanagi, in the mid-21st century of Japan.

Animation studio Production I.G has produced several different anime adaptations of Ghost in the Shell, starting with the 1995 film of the same name, telling the story of Section 9’s investigation of the Puppet Master. The television series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex followed in 2002, telling an alternate story from the manga and first film, featuring Section 9’s investigations of government corruption in the Laughing Man and Individual Eleven incidents. A sequel to the 1995 film, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, was released in 2004. In 2006, the film Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society retook the story of the television series. 2013 saw the start of the Ghost in the Shell: Arise original video animation (OVA) series, consisting of four parts through mid-2014. The series was recompiled in early 2015 as a television series titled Ghost in the Shell: Arise – Alternative Architecture, airing with an additional two episodes (one part).^[1] An animated feature film produced by most of the Arise staff, titled Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie, was released on June 20, 2015. A live-action American film, a re-telling of the narrative of the original 1995 film, was released on March 31, 2017.

FLCL (Japanese: フリクリ Hepburn: Furi Kuri, pronounced in English as Fooly Cooly) is an original video animation (OVA) anime series written by Yōji Enokido, directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, and produced by the FLCL Production Committee, which consisted of Gainax, Production I.G, and King Records. FLCL is a story following Naota Nandaba, a twelve-year-old boy whose suburban life is disturbed by the arrival of the alien woman Haruko Haruhara.

The six-episode series was released in Japan from April 2000 to March 2001 alongside a manga and novel. It originally aired in the United States on Adult Swim in August 2003, where it managed to gain a significant cult following and was widely acclaimed, despite its short length. It aired in the U.S. again in the next years and later also on the network’s Toonami block from October 2013 to January 2014, and then again in April 2018. The series is also available via iTunes, Adult Swim.com and Funimation’s website.

In 2016, two new seasons totaling 12 episodes were announced as a co-production between Production I.G, Toho, and Adult Swim. The second season, FLCL Progressive, premiered on June 2, 2018 on Adult Swim’s Toonami block, while the third and final season, FLCL Alternative, premiered on September 8, 2018. In Japan, Alternative and Progressive had theatrical screenings with Alternative opening on September 7, 2018 and Progressive opening on September 28, 2018. The first episode of FLCL Alternative unexpectedly premiered on April Fool’s Day 2018 at midnight on Toonami in Japanese with English subtitles.