Even for people in Japan, it’s easy to forget how awful World War II was. Entire cities were firebombed. Children were killed. Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Horrible.
Artist Kevin Derken took two of the Japanese things he loved most — Maschinen Krieger and Studio Ghibli — and mashed them together for this. He calls it the S.A.F.S. Totoro. I call it awesome.
Japan loves anime. It also loves Twitter. And this past weekend, the country showed what it could do when it combined both: set a world record.
Much has been made, and rightly so, of the involvement of Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli with Level-5′s PS3 RPG Ni No Kuni (out this week in Japan). It’s helped the game look amazing. While it’s a welcome partnership, though, it’s not the first time the animation legend, or his studio, have turned up in a video game.
Considering how game developer Level-5 collaborated with anime studio Studio Ghibli, I guess the logical thing would be to ask for an animated Ni No Kuni. Screw that.
As far as PS3 role-playing games go, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is one family friendly game. In Japan, it’s rated all ages and promoted with one of the country’s most popular child stars. In South Korea, it’s a different story.
I’m quite taken by Level-5′s upcoming RPG Ni No Kuni. A big reason for that is the helping hand the developers have had from animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli. So watching three of the game’s cutscenes is definitely something I can recommend.
Level-5′s Ni No Kuni was easily my “game of the show” for 2011′s Tokyo Game Show. It’s the first game I ran to on opening day, and it’s the only game I went and played twice.
