I must apologize for the lapse. A bad IRC connection the one week, and a bad cold-turned pneumonia the next, leaves Gaijin an unhappy boy. The only thing that could possibly make up for it would be some good, or at least interesting, news from the Far East. That said, we're putting this out Monday because 1) there's no way I'm tempting fate again by waiting till my next regularly (hah!) scheduled update, and 2) what with the Superbowl on Monday, and Mardi Gras and the primaries on Tuesday, perhaps no one will notice this one's three days late.

So now Japandemonium goes in search of answers to those mysterious questions in life. Such as, what new games are out there? What are they like? Why did anyone ever think natto would make a good food? And for heaven's sake, what is up with those Butt-Biting Bugs?

Yes, Butt-Biting Bugs, the newest fad in children's entertainment, as well as (aside from head colds) the current bane of my existence. This has to be one of the most annoying songs I have ever heard, combined with a rather disturbing video about a bug that encourages social interaction by biting people on the rear. Since I work with kids most of the time, it's become impossible to avoid this song. But why complain about it, when I can just spread the misery some more?

So cover your butts, endure the inanity, and let's move on to some bug-free entertainment.

Here's one for the "Only in Japan" file. PC Zeus, a Japanese online hardware site, is offering some of the swankest, most expensive computers for the nouveau riche I have ever heard of. We're not just talking raw power here, though the specs look pretty good (I think, from what I can understand). We're talking about platinum or gold coated PC cases, encrusted with diamonds. The computer with the platinum casing will set you back 80,000,000 yen, while in comparison the gold computer is a bargain at a measly 60,000,000. Don't bother with the dollar-to-yen conversion rates here, the answer is a foregone "you can't afford it."

OS	CPU	RAM	Video Card	Hard Drive	DVD Drive	Other
MS Windows Vista Ultimate	Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.00 GHz	2048 MB (dual 1024 cards)	VGA card 256MB GeForce 7200GS	1 Terabyte, 7200rpm	Blu-Ray + HD DVD compatible	Cordless laser mouse, Flex-scan 19" monitor

Again, a multiple-week Dengeki update. Partly this is because of last week's personal problems, and partly it's because it took this long for Dengeki to realize their report schedule had fallen behind by almost a week over the holidays, and so apparently did an extra update. And so, without further ado, your weekly Dengeki:

Position	Last Week	Week Before	Title	Publisher	Platform
7	New Arrival!	New Arrival	Yggdra Union	Sting
16	8	4	Final Fantasy IV	Square Enix
17	11	7	Dragon Quest IV	Square Enix
29	14	11	Rune Factory	Marvelous
34	22	15	Star Ocean 1 - First Departure	Square Enix
35	41	33	Yuusha no kuse ni namaikida	SCE
40	24	14	Super Robot Taisen OG Gaiden	Banpresto
47	43	29	Tales of Innocence	Bandai
Off-list (for now)	46	52	Pokémon Diamond	Nintendo

Last time, Macstorm asked me what upcoming games were on my shopping list, and I gave a half-hearted answer. Then I actually went looking to see what was coming up, and I found this offering from the folks who brought us the Summon Night series. Now normally, I am not the biggest fan of tactical simulation games, especially since my attempt to plow through three Nippon-Ichi titles in a row, but this game strikes me as being really, really different somehow. Let's take a look, shall we?

These three are the main characters: Daisy, Orphen, and Harsh. Yes, the loli-goth with the pom-pom hairstyle is named Daisy. Your choice of main character apparently affects the direction the story goes from the beginning. Each of them has two or three other characters in their party, according to the game's home page, though how that works, I do not yet know. It is apparent you can include enemy monsters in your party, though

Here are a few of the party members identified on the website:

And a sampler of screens taken from Dengeki and Famitsu.

In the story, the kingdom of Bardamian is being overrun by hordes of chimeric "majin," a word which in Japanese can mean "demon god" or "demon/magic person", depending on the kanji. In this game, the programmers wrote in their own special kanji symbol incorporating both meanings. This is a pretty odd thing to do, but I'm sure there's a point to be made there. The majin themselves are grotesques -- weird fusions of animals and men who just look wrong, with names like Luna Belator, Ek Aranea, Hasturnis, and Gortoas.

Back to the kingdom. The king, keeping in pace with the genre, has fallen ill, and the security of the kingdom itself has become unstable. His daughter has been the target of several attacks so far which, despite the best attempts of her bodyguards, have come dangerously close to success.

At which point Daisy comes into the picture. With a horned wolf as her mentor and confidante, and a book large enough to count as a bludgeon-type weapon in its own right, this odd little loli-goth looks like she can actually do something against the majin menace. How? We shall have to see.

From what I've been able to find, this game has a rather nice soundtrack, and the makings for an interesting story. I would recommend checking out the game's site, if only to see the opening video. The site menu is easily usable as well, though everything else there is in Japanese.

With fair certainty, I can say this is the one that no one saw coming. Final Fantasy IV was a great game on several consoles, and one thing that it can not be said to have lacked was a solid ending that seemed to settle things quite nicely. So why a sequel? I have no answer for you, and I have little to offer in details for the story, either, I am sorry to say.

This is what I do know: that about 15 or so years after the events in FFIV, things are going pretty well for the former heroes. The kingdoms of Damcyan and Eblana have been rebuilt, and the kingdom of Baron is prospering under the rule of King Cecil. Then something happens to the moon. That's what I can get out of a screenshot, but that alone can tell us a lot. Anyone who's played through to the end of FFIV should remember the importance the moon held in the storyline.

This time around, the hero of the story is Theodore, son of Cecil, who has apparently been training to follow in his father's footsteps as an airship commander. No news on other characters, however that one picture barred with SAMPLE over it (which means it's downloadable to your phone as a wallpaper) shows someone who looks much like Rydia standing next to Theodore.

This looks like one I might download anyway, if only for the nostalgic early-SNES graphics, and a morbid curiosity as to why Cecil is getting a faceful of Megaflare from Bahamut in that third screenshot. Square Enix does have a few games available for cellphones in the United States, so there's always a chance they'll bring it across sometime.

This nifty little game is my other choice for the current "Must Buy" list, for when I finally make it through Final Fantasy IV on the DS.. There doesn't seem to be much story to this one, apart from "save the kingdom from the dire hole in the ground," but from the screens and video I have seen, there doesn't have to be. This really looks like the kind of solid action title we've been waiting for since half-past forever, and much more of a spiritual successor to Secret of Mana than that game's more recent sequels. Due to the various snafus of the last two weeks, Neist beat me to the punch on screenshots, but I thought I'd pull out a few new pictures. The boss picture I thought was particularly tasty, and the rest make for a nice garnish.

As you can see from the pics, the top screen is for action, while the bottom is for item organization and skill management. For anyone interested in seeing more of the game in action, there's a nice video clip Source: Dengeki Online

I'm feeling much better now, so I'll be pulling out some more stuff for a short column this Friday, hopefully. The Japanese holy day of Setsubun was this past weekend, so I'll be writing a little about that as well. Feel free to write in if you have any questions about Japan -- the language, the life, the little perqs or peeves that foreigners get over here. I'll be here.

And that's the news from Hi-no-Kuni,

Your man in Japan,