MCM London Comic Con October 2016

Welcome back to the second MCM London Comic Con of 2016!

As always, there are just too much geeky goodness to actually cover the whole event, but hopefully this post will give you guys a taste of how great the event was. If you don't already know this, MCM Comic Con events are the UK and Ireland’s and most exciting pop culture shows, and the only UK based shows that bring together such a broad scope of popular culture categories including; Movies, Gaming, Comics, Anime, Television, Gadgets, Clothing and Toys. This time, MCM London Comic Con October 2016 was held in Excel London, Royal Victoria Dock on 28-30 of October 2016.

The aim of the event is to put on the best consumer shows for the modern pop-culture market. The show floors are packed full of activity from live eSports matches and cosplay celebrations to experiential opportunities inspired by the movies and brand new releases of your favourite games to play. On top of all that, there are the Comic Village area for independent comic artists, VidFest for upcoming YouTube stars, PopAsia to revel in all things Asian inspired and Memorabilia, a collector haven. The theatres also play host to exclusive screenings and panels of special guests, all whom take part in photograph sessions and signings throughout the weekend.

MCM Comic Con is THE destination event to celebrate all things pop-culture, it is not to be missed by any geek, nerd, cosplayer, or fan boy and girl! -from MCM London Comic Con official website

This is the fourth time I've attended this event. It was a very amazing experience, per usual to attend a huge event like this. I managed to attend both Saturday and Sunday event, but unfortunately only Saturday pictures were available; I forgot to bring my camera battery on the second day.

Alright, enough talking, more pictures.

Eurocosplay competition 2016 pictures:

See you all again next year, for the next Comic Con; 26th – 28th of May 2017!

Web Novel: Godslaying Hero And Seven Covenants

Title: Kamigoroshi No Eiyuu To Nanatsu No Seiyaku (Godslaying Hero and Seven Covenants)

Autho: Umetane

Web Novel: Godslaying Hero and Seven Covenants

Translation: Godslaying Hero and Seven Covenants

Summoned to a different world-kind of story again?

The goddess Astrarea asked the 13 summoned heroes, what do they desire? 

The Brave said, I want an unbreakable will, not to lose to anyone no matter when. 

The Grand Magus said, I want god-like power, magical energy that can even create miracle. 

The Sorcerer said, I want an eye that can see the future, an eye that can change whatever unreasonable future that may come.

The Sage said, I want to use every magic that exists in the world, I want to be a magician that can use all kinds of magic.

The Monster Tamer said, I want friends, friends that will never betray me and always believe in me.

The Swordsman said, I want a sword, a sword that cut through anything, even fate itself. 

The Warrior said, I want the power to fight, to be able to use all kinds of weapon, I want to be the strongest warrior.

The Saint said, I want power to save others, a power that can heal wounds, a gentle power.

The Wiseman said, I want knowledge and technique, I want to create items that do not exist in this world.

The Cook said, I want to cook food that can bring smile to everyone's faces, I don't want power to fight, I want power to save people's hearts.

The Knight said, I want the power to protect my comrade, a power that can even protect the world, I want to become the strongest shield.

The Avenger said, I want power, simply pure power to defeat my enemies.

My, Renji Yamada's wish was really simple.
Yet it was very complicated, cruel and unbelievable wish that made even the goddess laughs loudly.

-Excerpt from the Web Novel translation-

This story is set in a typical fantasy world with humans, demi-humans and demons. The fantasy world consists of three continents; Imnesia, Ebenelm and Elfhim which are inhabited by humans, demons and demi-humans respectively. The humans worships the goddess Astraera, the demon worship the demon god Nayfel while the demi-humans worship the spirit god Zwenelia. It was passed down in the lore that the world was created by the 3 gods. The 13 heroes were summoned from modern day Japan to defeat the Demon God in order to bring peace to the the world. Each of them are given cheat ability to help them in their journey.

However

This novel does not narrate their journey to defeat the demon god like the classic "summoned to a different world to defeat the demon lord" troupe. This novel narrates the story 1 year after the demon god subjugation.

Hero after-story?

After the defeat of the demon god, the summoned heroes remains in the fantasy world and continue to contribute to the world. Their whereabout and situation are all known to the citizen of the except of Yamada Renji, he disappeared after the defeat of the demon lord and no one knows about his whereabout or situation except the remaining 12 heroes and the royal family of Imnesia. There are various rumors about him like "he is currently travelling around the world fighting demons", "he returned to his old world" and "he currently lives happily happily ever after with the goddess". All of this rumors born because for the world and the citizens, he is the strongest hero, the one the goddess love the most and he is the one that ultimately killed the demon god (as he is the only one capable of doing so).

The story starts in a rural village where our protagonist, Renji Yamada has brought himself to in his travels. There he met a young noble woman, Francesca Barton whom he saved from being killed by a group of goblins. The young woman is a student of Albana Magic Academy and was on a test for her graduation. The test was orc subjugation. It should be obvious that our hero, Renji Yamada conceals his identity but it eventually being revealed to Francesca when they fight against the orcs due to circumstances that forced Renji to use his power. After that, they continue their travel to the Magic City, the capital and so on while being reunited with Renji's previous party and comrades as well as meeting new acquaintances and comrades.

That's the general plot of the story as far as I've read. However, the true essence of the story would be the journey (I do not mean the physical journey here) and steps that Renji took along the progress of the story. Renji have a complex as being the weakest hero (and yes it is). He always compare himself to Souichi, The Brave and always have always stressed on the irony of his power. His strength and power is basically just slightly above that of normal person and his cheat is bind by seven covenants.

Right, let's talk about his power. Renji's wish for the goddess is to have power to kill gods, straight to the point, to enable him to just do what he needs to do. From my observation, this is due to his personality as being the adult male in the group, others are children and women. What the goddess give was part of her magical energy that took the form of a golden medal with a jade in the centre surrounded by 7 different coloured stones, Ermenhilde. During their journey to subjugate the demon god, Ermenhilde can take on the form of a beautiful woman with golden hair and jade-coloured eye. On a side note, Ermenhilde has a similar appearance to Astraera due to being half of her magical energy.

Renji and Ermenhilde.

Ermenhilde can take on any form of weapon as long as at least one of the covenant is fulfilled. However, Renji usually used it in the form of a long sword. The covenants binding Renji's power are:

1. His will to fight
2. Protecting someone
3. Protecting a promise
4. Death of a comrade
5. Facing demon god or his decendants
6. The blessing of Astraera (he needs to meet Astraera for this)
7. (This is a spoiler that triggers the event of the story, see spoiler part below if you're curious)

As more of his covenants are fulfilled his power increases accordingly and Ermenhilde will grant him more jade-coloured magical energy (Renji have zero magical power btw). In his last battle with demon god Nayfell, he fulfilled all of his covenant and can fight on par with the demon god and even managed to kill him. However for him, his power is the reason for his belief that he does not fit to be called a hero. To save someone, he needs that person to be in danger before being able to use his greater power. To save someone, someone needs to die first. His power cause such irony and he has been saddened by this many times. However, his comrades always encourage him to see the bright side, rather than thinking of those that died, he did saved many more lives.

A New Journey

The story is basically of him, tracing back his past, going on a new journey to solve the instability due to the death of the demon god, meeting his past comrades, meeting new people, coming to term with his past slowly but surely along the way. It was a fun story, a sad tale at times, and an encouraging journey chronicle watching a wounded hero finding his way again.

For those that have not read it, have a go, some may like it some may not. And for the translator, thank you very much. (Below are some spoiler for those that want to know).

Extra Content: Spoiler

The seventh covenant is the death of Ermenhilde. That basically explains the inability of the current Ermenhilde to transform into a woman. Also, Renji calls the current Ermenhilde as Ermenhilde while the original one as Eru. The current Ermenhilde was created by the goddess as Renji begs for her to revive Ermenhilde. The story also starts from the his disappearance due to his anger for the death of Ermenhilde, he rampages around for about half a year before losing all energy and lives his daily life like explained in the story (at least not like how you would imagine a hero to be). Currently, he seems to be trying to move on as he saw Yuuichirou, The Avenger who also lost his loved one in the past journey now living together happily with his wife, his dead girlfriend's sister.

I also hope for the LN to have changes from the WN in some part, I do hope the WN ending do not happen in LN.

Soukyuu no Fafner Right of Left Movie Review

Hey guys Wolvenciel here. I said back in the Fafner review that I'd watch the movies and review them as well so here it is. I totally regret that decision though... Again, this is a movie so I'll be omitting some of the criteria of my review.

I'll leave this daunting countdown as a title picture. Fafner you ruined me.

Important Note: If you haven't read my Fafner review, you don't actually have to. This movie is a prologue to the series so there is actually no harm done in knowing what this is first. If you have read it though (and watch the anime god bless you), you'll have a better general idea of what's going to go down.


Overview

The 3DCG looks amazing as hell

Genre: Drama, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Military, Special
Episodes: 1
Length/Episode: 51:01 minutes
Studio: Xebec
Date Aired: 2005


Summary

Right of Left takes place approximately two years before the Fafner series and it focuses on a group of people who... uh... Are selected to remain in a submersible part of Tatsumiyajima Island (its a moving island cum military base) and fend off Festums (silicon lifeforms which aims to learn from humans by way of assimilating them) and drawing the enemy attention to them.

These are Festums. They look like angels. They're anything BUT.

Basically, they're bait. Cannon fodder. Yes. That's the ugly truth. THE NAME OF THE OPERATION IS OPERATION LEFT. AS IN GETS LEFT BEHIND. F******G HELL.


Character Layout
The movie focuses mainly on Yumi Ikoma (the daughter of the scientist who proposed the plan) and her high school sweetheart, Ryou Masaoka. From the beginning its mostly just about them and their backgrounds, their struggles and so on. I guess because its a movie and they haven't much time on their hands, they had to prioritize on who to focus on and such. It is fine that way too I guess.

Yumi and Ryou, sitting in a tree. K-I-SS-I-N-G.

There are a few appearances from the people in the series (which will happen in two more years) but its just that. Appearance. They don't actually do much to the plot. The other Fafner pilots are also just there to add emotional impact and to be really honest, because they didn't actually say much about the other pilots, the impact wasn't as strong.

The other guys... 

Rough Plot Structure

Well. The movie starts off by showing the island and introducing viewers to the two main characters and the series character a bit and then jumps to the crisis at hand. Things escalate rather quickly in Right of Left and as in the Fafner series, its a bit frustrating to watch. I am not going to expand more on the plot and just say that shit goes down as fast as possible in this movie. I MEAN IT.

Xebec's character design is... questionable in their early years. Lol.

Weight of the Anime

If by any chance, you think that this anime is a happy, rainbow-filled mecha anime with plot armor, you're wrong. This one doesn't have that. This anime is heavy in the sense that it jabs at your frustration levels and show off these teenage angst that gradually just turn into despair.

Fafner? Why not Coffin instead? Or Deathtraps? Huh?

Sure it doesn't have much technicality to it, but more often than not the movie questions whether it was the right decision to leave the people (the ones chosen to fend off enemies on that submersible part of the island) behind while saving themselves some time and still live in peace. Was it worth their precious lives or not? That kind of stuff.


The Ending

If you did watch Fafner already, you can surely guess what's going to happen in the ending. I don't particularly have any beef with the ending myself. Its just that I can't really accept the fact that in the series, they don't really mention these guys (from Right of Left) much. I don't know.

I'll just assume they're unsung heroes and such I guess. The ending is peaceful to say the least. I'll leave it at that.


Mech Design

Similar to the ones in the Fafner series, these ones sport a more feral, unrefined look than their series's counterparts. I kind of prefer these ones to be honest but still, I can't quite like the design myself. The shoulder joints still bug me.

No its not awesome. It looks weird if anything. Like it can snap at any time. 

But yes. I prefer these ones to the ones in the series. Even if they're a little more... erratic. Sigh.


In A Nutshell

I feel that they could have done better with this prologue and at least do the characters in it some justice by giving them significance in the series. However, the movie is made a year after the series so I get that its a bit hard to relate with each other unless you really plan the whole series carefully and all that.

Again, this kind of visuals. Isn't something you get in 2005 I reckon. Damn.

The movie is, by all means not for the faint of heart and I really hope you guys don't watch this. Skip it if you can. I'll review Heaven And Earth (the epilogue of the Fafner series) and I think its better for you guys to watch just that.
Anything you want to ask, just ring me up down below. Any and all comments are appreciated. Really.

Wolvenciel, signing off.