First Impression Review - Valkyria Chronicles II

SEGA’s Valkyria Chronicles (also known in Japan as Senjou no Valkyria) was a big success back when it was first launched for the Playstation 3. It introduced a very unique kind of turn-based strategy gameplay never before seen from other games in the same genre. It even got its own anime series, shown a year after the game was released, which boosted its popularity even more. Now, VC returns for its sequel, Valkyria Chronicles II, though...

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First Impression Review - Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is a new KH title exclusively for the PSP. As Square-Enix has finally brought the franchise over to Sony’s handheld, let’s take a peek into the Kingdom’s door and see if the game is worthy to be the “awakening” title for KH. Before anything else, let me give you few guidelines to my review: Since I’ve never played any of the past KH games and am not very familiar to the story of KH in general, I can’t tell...

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SH Figuarts x Square Enix PlayArts x S.I.C., or the Action Figure Primer Part 2

OK, so by now you’ve got about a couple or more anime action figures in your hands and you might be thinking of getting more. Let’s get into more action figure business, shall we? We’ll be looking at SH Figuarts, Square Enix PlayArts, and S.I.C. in this installment. Let’s start with SH Figuarts, which stands for “Simple Heroic Figuarts”, an off-shoot brand from Bandai. It is well-known for its extensive Kamen Rider lineup, though the line also...

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"Jima-san... Sanjou!"... Oh, and Some Super Robot Taisen too...

Hey there, minna-san! Jima-san here. Yeah, I know. I haven't been posting ANYTHING lately, even though I'M the guy who's supposed to be running The HobbyBox. Anyway, life can get in the way a times, but hey, it's still all good.Anyway... I suppose I should just start a bit light, so here's a promo video of the upcoming Super Robot Taisen L, set to be released on the Nintendo DS. (Wai!) Yeah, it's probably not going to be released in English, but...

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Old-School Review - Konami Wai Wai World

It’s always been to my amazement seeing gimmicks such as crossovers of any form. Recently, I’ve been seeing many crossover games. Of course it’s no longer surprising considering that Capcom has done almost every crossover they could come up with in their fighting games. But don’t you think it would be cool if they could do a crossover platformer, adventure, or RPG game? So far though, I haven’t seen any such thing happen… At least not yet on my...

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A Special Birthday Post for Jima-san

In honor of The HobbyBox’s “Big Boss” for his upcoming birthday, let me share this post to him… That is, if he’ll allow this to stay posted, hehehe!  Since Jima-san’s birthday is coming, I thought of posting something in The HobbyBox in dedication to the event. I couldn’t think of anything really interesting though, so I just thought of writing a testimonial about Jima -- on how I met him, how we managed to get along, what were my impressions...

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Figma x Revoltech x Nendoroid, or the Action Figure Primer, Part 1

One of the first Figmas: Hatsune Miku! We otaku have our own fixations and most of us have probably bought and collected action figures of our favorite anime and manga characters at one time or another. It’s easy to confuse one action figure manufacturer with another given that there are a hundred or so of them out there. Here’s a handy guide to some of the more trusted brands out there: Let’s start with Max Factory’s Figma action figure line....

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Old-School Review - Dragon Quest, Erdrick Trilogy

In honor of the release of Dragon Quest IX for the Nintendo DS handheld, let me share with you this review of one of my best-loved RPG games, right before I even knew about Final Fantasy! Dragon Quest is one of the first few known RPGs back then, created by Enix (now Square Enix, after joining forces with Squaresoft). It was a decent RPG for its time along with Final Fantasy, but DQ didn’t have as much recognition in the US (DQ was renamed Dragon...

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Death by Moe and Mecha: Wonder Festival

Japan is gearing up for their annual toys and kits extravaganza known as the Wonder Festival or WonFes for short. WonFes is known for showcasing the best sculptors, kit builders, kit painters and garage kit makers from all over Japan. Nendoroid Rei in entry plug resin kit (Wonfes exclusive, limited to 50 pcs.) resin SD Dancougar (Wonfes exclusive) Good ole' Mazinger Z resin kit (weep, as it is Wonfes exclusive) WonFes is famous for assembling...

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Kamen Rider 000’s Comin’ Your Way!

What’s with multiple 0’s these days???  Kamen Rider 000 logo. Nifty. Just when we all thought that there was gonna be a shortage of Kamen Rider themes, out comes Kamen Rider 000 (pronounced “O’s” or “OZ”). Slated for a Fall 2010 release (when all the other good stuff happens in Animeland), Kamen Rider 000 will replace Kamen Rider W on the Super Hero hour. With the “green-yellow-red circles” motif, 000 seem to have taken his cue from stoplights....

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First Impression Review - God Eater

God Eater, an action-adventure game released by Namco Bandai for the PSP, has been gaining popularity for one reason: It’s similar to Capcom’s Monster Hunter series of games in a lot of ways. Though the US release of the game is yet to come, many are already itching to play it. I, on the other hand, was curious about how good the game is to be compared to MH. To satisfy my curiosity, I got a copy of the Japanese version to see it for myself....

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