Gamertell

Title: Bleach Uncut Season 2: The Entry box set
Price: $39.99 (Amazon) - $80.99 (Barnes & Noble)
Format: DVD
Release Date: August 19, 2008
Company: Viz Media
ESRB Rating: Unrated
Pros: Episodes 21-41 uncut, English and Japanese voice tracks, English subtitles, production art, mini-poster, Ichigo sticker
Cons: Only basic extra features
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 90/100, A-, **** 1/2 out of 5.

The second season of Bleach is arguably one of the best in the run of the series. While the first season,“The Substitute,“ sets up the story for viewers and acts as an origin tale for the hero that is Ichigo Kurosaki, the second season, “The Entry,“ gives viewers the opportunity to see what Ichigo is capable of and up against.

The best way to experience this, to understand the mechanics of the Soul Society and Soul Reapers, is to watch the uncut DVD box set in Japanese with English subtitles. Even though Viz Media has cast capable voice actors to give life to all of the characters, the introduction and personalities of the various Soul Reaper captains and vice captains are better captured by the original Japanese voice actors. Since Viz Media has also done a great job with translating for the subtitles, the DVD set is a joy to watch either way…

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Sega’s going to be showing up at the Penny Arcade Expo 2008 (PAX) that’s happening the last weekend in August, and they decided to prepare attendees by revealing its game lineup for the event. DS, PS2 and PS3 owners will be happy with the company’s offerings, as Bleach Dark Souls, Dinosaur King, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Valkyria Chronicles and Yakuza 2 will be on display.

So really, Sega’s going to use the event to show off some solid RPGs. Dinosaur King is a Pokemon-esque game for the DS, where you find fossils and create dinosaurs, and battle others who do the same. Sonic Chronicles is the DS Sonic the Hedgehog RPG from BioWare. Valkyria Chronicles is a PS3 strategic RPG with water-color style graphics that is receiving quite a bit of buzz. The other two titles being displayed, both sequels, are something special too, though…

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Title: Bleach Uncut Season 1: The Substitute box set
Price: $27.99 (Amazon) - $44.99 (Barnes & Noble)
Format: DVD
Release Date: June 10, 2008
Company: Viz Media
ESRB Rating: Unrated
Pros: 20 unrated episodes of Bleach, Japanese and English voice acting, free double-sided poster and a free Bleach trading card.
Cons: Not that many bonus features in addition to the 20 episodes.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 95/100, A, **** 1/2 out of 5.

Bleach is a far reaching animated series that tends to go beyond “kill this week’s bad guy.“ It features identifiable characters, sometimes intellectual situations, mysterious story-lines that can’t be solved in one season and other concepts that many action animes don’t cover.

The first season of Bleach, referred to as “The Substitute,“ is really essential viewing for anyone who wishes to really follow the show. Other seasons may have more intrigue, more comedic moments and more characters, but the first season prepares a solid foundation for future episodes. Viz Media did an admirable job with the voice casting, translating and DVD presentation…

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The DS game Jump Ultimate Stars is quite an elaborate fighting game. After all, 300 characters from 40 different manga series appear in the game either as fighters or support characters. With all of those options, creating a deck can be a daunting feat - especially if you’re a beginner and you don’t speak Japanese.

So today in Important Importables, we are going to offer a few Jump Ultimate Stars theme deck suggestions. Since even that could get a bit long (there are loads of possible creation options and everyone’s fighting style may vary), we’re going to focus on three anime series - Bleach, Naruto and One Piece.

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SEGA has announced its lineup for the upcoming San Diego ComicCon.  The company will have plenty of games that will be playable at their lounge during the convention, which will include:

Sonic Chronicles (Nintendo DS, Sept 2008) Samba De Amigo (Wii, Sept 23, 2008) Golden Axe: Beast Rider (Xbox 360/PS3, Nov 2008) Valkyria Chronicles (PS3, Nov 2008)...

Click through for the full list…

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Some fresh anime is now available through iTunes, if you enjoy that kind of thing. Viz Media has decided to make 103 episodes of Bleach, Death Note and Naruto available through iTunes for $1.99 an episode. So far only a sampling of two series are available, in the form of Bleach‘s “The Substitute” and “The Entry” arcs (41 episodes) and Naruto‘s (uncut) first season (25 episodes). The complete Death Note anime (37 episodes) is available. I highly recommend Bleach, its probably the best. Naruto has its moments as well. While Death Note is good, I personally preferred the manga.

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Sega showcased a bit more of the next Bleach DS fighting game, Bleach: Dark Souls at E3. The title, which is scheduled for a Q3 2008 release, is once again a fighting game by Treasure. It features an original storyline, 44 playable fighters, 30 new cards and a brand new, branching story mode.

The new storyline, which is used to unlock new characters and earn points to unlock other items, is set between the Save Rukia Arc and the Bount arc. In it strange things are happening in Soul Society before Ichigo, Orihime, Chad and Uryu return to the human world. Hollows are showing up, and they stay to train and help fight them.

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Shonen Jump is going to be 40 years old soon, and Shonen Jump magazine is going to be five years old as well. So Viz media is going to use this as an opportunity to celebrate some of the most popular series. There will be a special edition issue of Shonen Jump, a contest to attend Japan’s Jump Festa anime convention and hardcover, collector’s editions of the first volumes of six popular series.

The highlight will be the special, hardcover edition of the August 2008 edition of Shonen Jump. For $24.99, fans will get a hardcover version of the magazine that has all the manga chapters that appeared in the very first and second issues Shonen Jump in December 2002. It will also have interviews with manga authors, a special Yu-Gi-Oh card and a poster to collect character stickers that will be found in volumes of Bleach, Death Note, Naruto and Slam Dunk.

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Do you love the Bleach manga or anime series? Are you also a PSP owner depressed by the fact that none of the five Bleach games for the system have been prepped for a release outside of Japan? Well, there’s some good news, which comes courtesy of PSP Fanboy. A downloadable demo of Bleach: Heat the Soul 5 is now available online for PSP owners, and can be found at PSP Fanboy’s demo section.

Like all of the previous Bleach: Heat the Soul games, Bleach: Heat the Soul 5 is a fighting game filled with various game modes and characters from the series. It also will change things up a bit with a tag mode - players pick two characters to fight battles as and can switch off. It will also feature the largest character roster, including Soul Reaper, Vizard and Hollow characters as fighters. The full game will be available in Japan on May 15, 2008. The Japanese version will cost $48.90, and the Asia version will be $42.90. Since the PSP has no region protection, you can buy the cheaper version and know you’re not missing out.

Click through to watch a Japanese TV spot for Bleach: Heat the Soul 5...

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Title: Bleach DS 2nd: Kokui Hirameku Requiem
Price: JP: $48.90 NA: $29.99?
System(s): Nintendo DS
Release Date: JP: 2/15/07 NA: Summer 2008
Publisher (Developer): Sega (Treasure)
ESRB Rating: US Rating Pending
Pros: Lots more fighters, new story mode layout, two on two battles are better (if you pick the right pair), better Wi-Fi battles experiences
Cons: Some fighters were tweaked more than necessary, spirit cards aren’t really necessary, difficult to unlock certain items without a guide

Originally I was going to do a fantastic preview of Soma Bringer, a Japanese action/role-playing game that a friend of mine is considering importing. However this week marked Sega’s update that, yes, the second Bleach DS game is going to be released in the US. In the wake of such an announcement, it seems only fitting that today’s column preview this really cool sequel…

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