Being a big fan of indie/asian cinema, my hairs usually stand on end when I see a new trailer usually just containing very minimal dialog, a few shots of well shot scenery, something to indicate an original theme of the movie and some sexy ost music in the background. That’s why watching the trailer for sparrow sent a happy chill down my spine. Usually differing away from HK/Chinese/Taiwanese cinema for serious movies opposed to Jap/Kor/Thai for fear of someone doing the spits between two bamboo sticks with a shot gun in each hand (don’t get me wrong, Hard Boiled’esque movies are cool, but theres a limit) the trailer to this movie looked like a breath of fresh air. The story follows four HK pickpockets who fall in love with a woman who is kept prisoner by her husband and has to trick the thieves to set her free. Looking forward to watching this, the OST sounds great so far as well, reminds me of ‘The Wayward Cloud’ for some unknown reason.

Trailer

Hi all, I’m Shanshan, the resident editor/proofreader/general dogsbody for Shinohan. Most of my job comprises editing the articles and reviews on the site, picking out spelling and grammar errors, as well as looking out for off-colour remarks and the like. I’d also like to take this opportunity to apologise for the lack of any correction in the most recent articles - when I’m not doing this I’m a freelance journalist, which takes up almost all of my life, and I’ve recently had quite an influx of work to do.

In case anyone is particularly interested in the editing process, we’re using the Guardian’s style guide, partially because it’s what I’m used to using at work and partially because you can access it for free here. We are thinking of changing it though, since most of our audience seems to be from the US and prefer spellings of “summarize” to “summarise”, “traveling” to “travelling, “theater” to “theatre”, “color” to “colour” and so on so forth. It’s a work in progress.

After watching the trailer for Left 4 Dead, I actually want to play that shit! The graphics are quite shit, which is a surprise because Valve have made the game. From what I have seen so far, it’s 28 days later + a Mac 10, and a few online buddies. Spraying hoards of zombies running fast at you with a shotgun just seems pretty fun to me, check out the trailer to see more

Blizzard have officially announced Diablo III kids! It was announced at the 2008 Worldwide Invitational. Jay Wilson took to the stage at the event to give fans a tiny glimpse of game play. For more information and images check out the official site which can be found at www.blizzard.com/diablo3.

I got my copy of Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk, or Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World as it’s going to be called in the western world according to Gamefaqs. I think I am just going to call it Tales of Symphonia 2… makes it easier. Now I haven’t actually gotten further than inserting the disc into my Wii to test if the Freeloader still works, even though I refused to update my Wii with the last update so far (…long story). But yeah I saw the title screen and even a bit of the beginning which, didn’t get as far as playing it though.

I will keep you posted on that game, stay tuned!

When going to a Japanese restaurant, I’m one of those people who stick to what they know best, Italian = Spagbol, Chinese = Special fried rice (minus the egg) Mexican = A few of those taco things with honey roast pork in them and Japanese was the good old Curry katsu, until last week when my girlfriend told me to try something different for a change (and to be honest katsu was getting so boring, it felt like I was eating sandpaper and mash) so I took it to the next level and got a tempura curry katsu, one of the best choices I have made ever. Tempura curry katsu is here to stay.

I always find that in nightclubs in England people don’t really go to clubs for the music, but rather to chase after totty. In Japan people go to clubs to appreciate the music, and you notice this by the fact that the DJ is at the centre of the stage and people dance facing him, as if it is his concert. I just went to a club in Tokyo called UNIT which focuses on Drum n Bass music, and I was blown away. Check out the link: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=B7-lWu5-_Z8 Saf

I downloaded the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database off of the Japanese Playstation Network (PSN) which was prominently displayed on the first screen. After the installation you’re being run through a quick guide on how to use it properly and what not. Then you dive straight into it, now if you expect something fancy you’re barking up the wrong tree. This IS a database spanning over all Metal Gear installments, including an encyclopedia for all terms used throughout the series. Once you start reading you will be caught up in it, and click on all the links, just as you would when you are gathering up information on Wikipedia really. I can’t unlocl all features of it though as it can’t find a save clear file for MGS4 on my system, I do have one but I think the problem causing this will be the fact that I have a Japanese PS3, a Japanese MGS4 Database but a European Metal Gear Solid 4 game. Thus I am locked out on all the explanations regarding events and terms appearing in Metal Gear Solid 4. Genereally I think this is a bit stupid, as it’s in English so shouldn’t it be able to detect all files from every region? Anyway, I’ll give it another go once the EU port is available.

On an unrelated sidenote, I just preordered Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 for my DS! Yeah that’s it, though I might throw it in here.

Being a fan of Anime, the ratio of good anime vs shit anime has changed a lot from say 10 years ago. 10 years ago I could pick a random series, put it on and sit through it 90% of the time, these days there is wider range of ‘better anime’ but 750% times more shit anime. So it’s nice to find the occasional anime that I don’t ‘x’ after the intro. I stumbled upon ‘Code Geass’ a few days ago while chilling at a friends house, the story is set in the future where Great Briton have conquered Japan (and many other countries) and name it ‘Area 11′. Area 11 is split in to two, those who follow the Britons and 11’s which in the anime is a racist term for the japs that want to be japs and not brits. Anyway a quick over view of the first episode is that you meet the main character Lelouch Lamperouge who happens to be a ‘to cool for school’ generic character who is an amazing chess player. While travelling to class after a chess match he gets caught up in a 11 terrorist attack againt the Britons. Lelouch  gets killed, revived by weird girl in the back of the terrorist vehicle, mechas start fighting and credits roll. Sounds a bit 2001 but if you keep on watching it becomes more of a mix between Death Note in the way that the main character thinks, and set’s up strategies and [insert mecha anime here] due to the involvement of ‘knightmare frames’ which are Britons mechas and their strength point. Over all its the first anime of which I have watched 5+ episodes in a row for a long, long… long time, and worth checking out.

So Soul Calibur 4 is just around the corner and it’s been announced that Darth is a PS3 exclusive and Yoda is an Xbox 360 exclusive, probably due to their colors. ‘Starkiller’ will be released on both versions but to be honest I see this as an opportunity to plug the upcoming Star Wars game and not involve a meaningful character who you’ll love to play. So one little thing is that if Darth and Yoda are console specific then what the hell about Arcade players? Think about it, you grew up wanting to be able to kick someones ass with good ol’ Darth so he’s an obvious first choice main character for many. After watching a few combo videos on youtube, beating 2 of your friends at your house and thinking ‘Jesus, i’m so good I think I should enter a tourny or something’ You pop down to the local arcade and what? No Darth? Just the regular universal character? Fuck off. This is what happened to previously in the Soul Calibur serise and i’d bet my next wage that it’ll happen this time aswell.