Category Archives: video games

Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights May 2025

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This month, Kio basically tweets Gundam GQuuuuuuX fanfic.

There’s a Rakuen: le paradis collaboration cafe, and it includes a Spotted Flower drink! The name: Madara Cream Soda (Maara means “spotted,” dohoho).

It ran from May 1 to June 1.

Kio thinks the anime Apocalypse Hotel is really interesting.

On May 10, Kio had a talk at Gallery Zenon with fellow manga author Ikuhana Niiro.

The second half of Kio’s 18+ doujinshi, Zenbu Sensei no Sei. Part 2, has been out. 

https://twittter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1920484448690450748

The Clan Battles in Gundam GQuuuuuuX don’t specify that cockpit attacks are forbidden. That fact has Kio worried.

Dominion Conflict One is Shirow Masamune’s last work to be fully analog, so it holds a special place for Kio.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1921390107879231543

Kio discovers that Twitter doesn’t like large image files anymore.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1921408850697101724

Kio was at Gallery Zenon and the Rakuen cafe. He went with manga author Tsuruta Kenji.

Kio founded the Madarame Cream Soda to be really fizzy, capturing the viewpoint of the manga. The gelatinous bits also make it dangerous to talk while drinking it.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1921439589039853962

At the trance of Gallery Zenon is a Kenshiro statue.

Others have been getting the drink as well, which the man himself appreciates.

Kio finds Decors Weiszmel from The Five Star Stories to be a fantastic villain.

Part 2 of Zenbu Sensei no Sei. 2 is just straight-up all boinking.

The long-running otaku site AkibaBlog reviewed Kio’s doujinshi.

Kio intends to keep Zenbu Sensei no Sei. as strictly doujinshi, as opposed to a more standard published manga.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1921937797717340330

The 18+ doujinshi is on DLSite now too.

Kio lays out his vision of what he wanted to see in Gundam GQuuuuuuX Episode 7 [SPOILERS KIND OF?]:

Machu and Shuji start the Clan Battle as MAVs -> Nyan deals with the money -> Deux goes berserk because of the kira kira -> The Psycho Gundam does severe damage to the colony -> The Military Police gets wiped out -> The Psycho Gundam reaches the building where Kycili and Machu’s mom are -> Machu and Shuji can’t stop it -> Xavier’s Gyan and Shallia’s Kikeroga arrive in style -> The Hambrabi is shot down -> The Psycho Gundam is pushed back, leading Deux to go Newtype berserk even more -> Zeknova -> The Red Gundam vanishes -> Xavier is shot down -> Challia and Machu form an impromptu MAV combo and destroy the Psycho Gundam -> Machu leaves her cockpit to find Shuji -> Machu’s identity is exposed by the broadcast -> She goes with Challia because he knows about Zeknova -> Nyan fails to procure the money and flees -> She runs into Xavier after he crashed -> Nyan goes to Zeon.

Kio reacting to the character Fuguri in Apocalypse Hotel and commenting on the show with Kimi Rito (author of The History of Hentai Manga).

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1928092324346691731

Back from seeing Princess Principal: Crown Handler Chapter 4, Kio comments on how difficult life must be as a spy.

Parafusion Starmie and Memories of Early Pokémon Gen 2 Theorycrafting

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I’ve been thinking about Pokémon a whole bunch lately, particularly about the online community and how much time has passed. The competitive players I considered my friends are so far in the past that the next generation after them is considered the “old school.” I met many of them during Generation 1, and one of the most fascinating times was in the transition to Generation 2, particularly with regard to theorycrafting.

The importance and limitations of theorycrafting is something all players have to deal with in any competitive environment, but back when information was scarce and we only had questionably translated materials from the Japanese release, it really felt like something different. As with every generation change, players on sites like Azure Heights tried to figure out what would be strong in Gold and Silver. One answer that came up was Starmie.

On paper, it made sense. Starmie was among the top picks in Red, Blue, and Yellow. It was fast. It hit hard. Its movepool was also among the best. Not only did it learn powerful moves that benefited from its Water/Psychic typing (Psychic, Surf, Hydro Pump), but it could also cover every type combination in the game with Ice Beam and Thunderbolt (or Blizzard, which was ~90% accurate in Gen 1), and it learned amazing defensive/support moves in the paralyzing Thunder Wave and the health-restoring Recover. Being Psychic type was also a huge boon in a generation where they had no actual weaknesses.

Gen 2 introduced egg moves: techniques that Pokémon could only learn via breeding. This could potentially be transformative, and one move stood out in Starmie’s list: Confuse Ray. Being both paralyzed (25% chance to not move at all combined with a 75% speed reduction) and confused (50% chance to hit yourself and not execute a move) was among the most annoying things to deal with in Gen 1. To have parafusion on a single Pokémon seemed like a nightmare scenario, and so Starmie was predicted to be a serious meta threat. 

Time proved things out differently, however. While parafusion could still be annoying, the changes made to the battle system went far beyond players’ early theorycrafting. The dividing of the Special stat into two (Special Attack and Special Defense) meant that moves like Amnesia and Psychic were not quite as effective. The introduction of the Dark and Steel type, and to a lesser extent the improvements made to Bug, all took away the Psychic types’ major advantage. Curse turned out to be an incredibly strong move, especially when paired with an incredibly bulky choice like Snorlax—even when stuck in place while paralyzed and confused, they could weather the storm and Rest off the damage. Heal Bell, a move that removed all the status effects inflicted on your own team, trivialized attacks like Thunder Wave. And this is the generation Mean Look and Perish Song was introduced, creating the Perish Trap strategy that could lock opponents in and force them into no-win scenarios.

Back then, the false hype of parafusion Starmie taught me something important: People will theorize based on their previous experiences because that’s what they have to rely on, and that strength is relative. Strategies don’t exist in a vacuum, and things that were considered universally strong sometimes falter in a different environment. (And sometimes, things are actively nerfed.) This is far from the only instance of theory not matching practice in Pokémon or even beyond, but it’s one I remember with a strong tinge of nostalgia.

Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights April 2025

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April was a relatively light month of tweets for the Genshiken artist.

Kio spent all of April Fool’s driving, so he couldn’t see any of the jokes. Someone suggests he still has time to fly to the US and experience the day there, and Kio responds that he’d only end up seeing American April Fool’s gags as a result. Another person mentions that he heard Genshiken 3 was coming out, to which Kio replies, “Yay!”

Kio drew fanart of Sis-tan (the mascot of the arcade Okayama Fantasista) for her 10th anniversary. SIsta-tan tells Kio that he’s helped make her anniversary more splendid, and asks Kio what games he’s played at arcades. 

Kio responds that there were certain games—namely Neo-Geo ones—that he would only ever watch at the arcades because he wasn’t brave enough to play against other people. He did get to play them at a friend’s house, though. When it came to games he actually played, he liked vertical-scrolling shooters like Gunbird and RayForce.

Sis-tan replies in turn that it was still great that Kio had an environment where he could play Neo-Geo, especially one where no one as skilled as Kohsaka in Genshiken would show up. And while Okayama Fantasista doesn’t have a whole lot of vertical shooters, it would still be great if he came to play the ones that are there.

Kio got help to finish his work schedule for April, but it looks like some of his other work will spill into May. A person replies that Gundam GQuuuuuuX model kits come out in May, but Kio doesn’t think he’ll be able to buy them, so he’s giving up now. He really wants them all, though.

On May 10, Kio will be at the Rakuen: Le Paradis gallery in Tokyo giving a talk with Tsuruta Kenji. It’s a part of an entire month of talk shows.

Kio is happy to finally have some time to watch the first episode of Gundam GQuuuuuuX. He’s jealous of those who can watch the first episode without having seen the theatrical release, The Beginning, which he did.

Kio thought nothing would really surprise him in the first episode of GQuuuuuuX just because he saw The Beginning in theaters, but the ending theme made him a lot more emotional than he expected. [The ED is by hololive’s Hoshimachi Suisei!]

He was already seeing fanart of the show’s characters before the first episode even aired, so watching the ending video had him in tears. The personalities contrast between the two main girls is right up his alley, and his imagination is running wild as a result.

Someone responds that he also expects to see old men dancing to the opening. Kio recalls grinning so hard he could die at “Naatu Naatu” from RRR, and wonders if the old men dancing to “Plazma” could beat that. 

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1910332903147606192

Despite a busy schedule, Kio went to the Hirano Kouta Super Expo gallery, featuring the work of the Hellsing author. He thought it was fantastic, from the way it showcased the power and insanity of the work, to the choice of manuscript pages to feature, to the way it showed off what makes all the characters great.

He wanted to listen to the audio guide by the Hellsing characters Luke and Jan, but he didn’t realize that he needed to connect to it through his smartphone, so he ran out to get some cheap earbuds.

Kio wears bifocals, but he likes to look at his work with the naked eye. However, when he does, he risks getting headaches and has to take Bufferin (a brand of aspirin).

Kio is happy that after a day of intently painting erotic naked skin in grayscale, he then gets to watch trailers for the new Ghost in the Shell and Steel Ball Run anime.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1916050846309380457

Kio checked out a special for How Do You Like Wednesday?, The Conquest of 21 European Countries in Our 21st Year.

Super Robot Wars Y Is Here, and So Are My Predictions/Hopes

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Super Robot Wars Y is official, which means we’re getting the first mainline game in the series since Super Robot Wars 30 in 2021. I once interviewed the (now former) producer of SRW, Terada Takenobu, and I came away with the impression that a lot of their resources were devoted to the Super Robot Wars DD mobile game. In light of this, I’m glad to see the console releases haven’t been abandoned.

One big difference this time is that they haven’t announced all the giant robot titles involved yet. I assume that they have come to understand the power of hype cycles in the current media landscape a la Smash Bros. This also means I have a bit of time to think about what titles I want to see in SRWY, and that’s what I fully intend to do. Some would be all new, some would be returning, and some would have only been introduced in SRWDD.

Bang Brave Bang Bravern

Just getting the theme song would be worthwhile, and I would love to see Bravern gushing over being surrounded by other cool robots. The way the series plays with time could also open the opportunity for more storylines to join together. This series also is one of the most overtly gay mecha anime ever, which would play well with Gundam: Witch from Mercury.

The Big O

I honestly just want tomato jokes involving Roger Smith and Suletta from Witch from Mercury. I even once made a drawing of the gag.

Gowapper 5 Godam or Gold Lightan

With Macross back, I want to see some other Tatsunoko series get a debut in SRW. The goofier, the better—hence these picks. Also, Youko from Godam is one of the coolest heroines ever. (Also, I know

Aquarion EVOL

If not Tatsunoko, what about Satelight, the current studio headed by Kawamori? The original Aquarion already had its time to shine, so I’d like to see Arata, MIX, and everyone get their chance.

Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter

I know this franchise is basically dead with no support, but I’m fond of this mecha series from the early 2010s. The show just had a lot of excellent energy and great character designs.

Promare 

Promare is another series beloved for both its compelling SF mecha story and the very intense dynamic between its two male leads. Similar to Bravern, I would hope that the music and animation captures the beauty of the action sequences in the original film.

SSSS.Dynazenon/Gridman Universe

With or without SSSS.Gridman, this could have all sorts of awesome combinations and attacks. Plus, I want to see the adult Anosillus II as a playable character.

Danguard A

In a world without Matsumoto Leiji, maybe it’s time to see his giant robot (and not just his giant spaceship) join the battle. As a joke, they could introduce the characters, but make you wait like 13 missions to get the actual Danguard A—just like how it took 13 episodes for the robot to finally do something.

Darling in the Franxx

Controversial as it is, I’d like to see how they integrate this series with other ones. I’d also like to see them bond with the Getter Robo Arc cast about fighting dinosaurs, and it’d be funny to see others comment about the unusual cockpits. Or maybe Kallen from Code Geass would look at them and not think anything was amiss.

Atlanger

I’m continuously fascinated by this 1970s-era giant robot that mostly existed as toys. It technically has an anime and manga and thus qualifies for entry into SRW, so I’d like to see Atlanger, no matter what form it would take.

Let’s See If I’m Right or Wrong

It turns out that there’s a special video for Super Robot Wars Y Sunday, April 20 in Japan, so I’m embedding the stream in advance to see how I did.

If we somehow manage to get Bravern, Promare and Aquarion EVOl in there with Witch from Mercury, we could end up with the most overtly queer Super Robot Wars ever. Heck, let’s throw in Kannazuki no Miko for good measure.

Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights March 2025

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https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1895768444068642907

A preview image of Spotted Flower Chapter 48, with Not-Kuchiki in a full dash (presumably to the girls’ bath).

Azumanga Daioh is getting a Kindle edition in Japan. Kio hopes more people get to experience the joy of reading it for the first time. In response to this, manga author Nakamura Hirofumi expresses his love of Sue in Genshiken referencing Azumanga Daioh. Kio responds with the line from when Sue punches Sasahara in the solar plexus: “Here?”

Kio recalls feeling truly moe over Sasaki-san from Azumanga. A fan mentions being a fan of Osaka, and both talk about how great it is being an Osaka fan right now, given recent Yotsuba&! News.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1900203597868212419

Former editor-in-chief of Gamest magazine created a history of Japanese arcades during the golden age from 1986 to 1999. Kio thanks Gamest for helping him all those years.

Kio especially likes how the book mentions all the help that was needed to make it, and that there are actually still plenty of photos that didn’t make it in.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1900422136214299056

Kio watched KonoSuba! 3: Bonus Stage, an OVA that got a theatrical release.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1901116262845124843

Kio bought the book Gundam GQuuuuuuX Anno Scenario & Design Works 2.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1901504115144106482

He also bought the Tower of Druaga 40th Anniversary Complete Set.

Kio saw the second Mononoke theatrical film.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1902204409939144772

Having read the manga version of the award-winning Kuni o Ketta Otoko (The Men Who Kicked the Country), and really enjoyed the artist Ikuhana Niiro’s interpretation of the Warring States era.

According to his schedule, Kio swore he was on track to finishing Part 2 of the sequel to his 18+ doujinshi, but he was off by quite a few pages: 30 vs 54.

Spotted Flower Chapter 48 is out digitally in Japan.

Threading the Needle(mouse): Sonic the Hedgehog 3

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Sonic the Hedgehog has become a hit movie franchise, and that fact is still kind of mind-boggling. Even putting aside the widely-panned promotional images from the first movie that resulted in the CG being completely redone, there were many years where Sonic was the butt of endless jokes. Now, the third movie features Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultra edgy character who has been mocked by the internet since his debut…and he’s great. The movie’s great. 

My inner child, the one that used to imagine himself as Sonic, is thrilled. The more critical adult that I am now is satisfied as well. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has broad appeal while being faithful to the spirit of the source material and telling a good story, and that’s a balance many studios are failing miserably to achieve right now.

The story of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is basically an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast, but pared down to 90-ish minutes in a way that keeps the essence of the story and the narrative benchmarks. For example, the film pulls out the iconic theme, “Live and Learn,” at just the right moment. This is indicative of something the Sonic movies have been able to pull off that I think has helped their success: They know what to prioritize in the source material. When the Sonic games themselves have accrued a ton of bloat over time, and making films for Hollywood often means trying to cater to mainstream assumptions and expectations, this is a powerful skill.

Characters retain their core traits even when certain aspects of their personalities might differ from game portrayals, such that they can be given more broadly relatable/entertaining traits and quirks without being unrecognizable, like Sonic’s occasional vulnerable awkwardness is charming juxtaposed with his general smart-aleck nature. Knuckles lack of self-awareness balances out his portrayal as a stoic warrior. Jim Carrey as Robotnik is a scenery-chewing goof more reminiscent of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog than anything else, but it works because the movie captures his frustrated antagonism towards his nemesis. 

With Shadow too, the creators understood that you have to play his brooding nature pretty straight because he needs to come across as powerful but burdened by trauma. Keanu Reeves also performs Shadow almost perfectly, especially in the way he differentiates his voice from a similar character in John Wick. 

As I was watching the movie, I wondered where they might go next with any sequels. Sonic Adventure 2 is probably the last time any character has really cemented themselves in pop culture, and a lot of the games after that are filled with odd experimental gimmicks or rely on nostalgia. When the post-credits teasers hit, they took me by complete surprise. Now I really want to see Sonic 4.

Marvel Rivals and the Ever-Changing Nature of the Invisible Woman

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Marvel Rivals has recently introduced the Fantastic Four to its roster, and like the other heroes and villains, they’ve received designs meant to capture the spirits of the characters while giving them a modern game-oriented feel. Among them is the Invisible Woman, and thanks to the game’s behind-the-back camera, one thing is clear: Susan Storm-Richards has quite a butt.

Big buttocks and thick thighs are popular these days, so this isn’t particularly surprising in and of itself. However, the fact that they would give Sue a body in that direction makes me realize something: Perhaps no other character in superhero comics more thoroughly reflects the evolution of trends in female beauty standards than the Invisible Woman.

In my look at VTuber Takanashi Kiara’s 1980s-inspired aerobics outfit, I mentioned that its emphasis on a more voluptuous lower body does not match the dominant thin aesthetic that existed back then. The Invisible Woman goes back even further in time, to the introduction of The Fantastic Four in 1961. And while she’s not alone in that regard (there are female heroes who have been around far longer than her), the difference is that Susan has very few specific iconic features that define how she’s “supposed” to look.

The Invisible Woman is meant to be very attractive (enough that Namor is constantly infatuated with her), but not to the extent of a manslayer like the Enchantress. Other than being blonde, she’s not associated with specific physical features, like Power Girl and her large chest or She-Hulk and her muscular green physique. Her costume isn’t particularly iconic or defining, like with Supergirl or Psylocke. And her powers are actually less conducive to establishing her visual identity compared to most others, including her teammates—”stretchy with graying temples,” “man entirely on fire,” and “big rock guy” are instantly identifiable in a way Sue isn’t.

So over the course of six decades, Sue’s look has changed over and over. Her hairstyles have included long, short, straight, curly, simple, coiffed, Mary Tyler Moore, mullet, and everything in between. Her costumes have ranged from conservative to astoundingly daring: form-fitting, skin-tight, that famous design from the 1990s with the cleavage-exposing “4” on her chest. While she’s generally thin, fairly busty, and pretty, her proportions have all fluctuated a bit. To some extent, this can be chalked up to individual artists’ tastes, but I think it’s notable that they can play around this much with her design compared to other female superheroes.

In the context of Marvel Rivals, the Invisible Woman seems to be influenced by two factors aside from “big butts are in.” First, there’s Sue’s status in the Marvel Universe as a kind of matron of superheroes due to her age and experience. Second, Marvel Rivals is clearly trying to be the next Overwatch, and that includes its reputation for sexy characters who are arguably more famous than the games themselves. In other words, the Invisible Woman is very 21st-century MILF-coded, not unlike Elastigirl from The Incredibles—a series that itself clearly draws a lot of inspiration from the Fantastic Four.

If the Invisible Woman is getting attention again in ten years’ time, I wonder how she’ll look then.

Reflecting on the Passing of Rachel Lillis

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Rachel Lillis, one of the main voice actors of the original Pokémon dub, passed away recently. She was 55.

I don’t hold that original 4Kids dub in special regard—their voices do not necessarily define the characters for me, even though I think they played the characters well. That said, I feel that they are an important part of my life, and something that took me from kid who liked anime to full-on otaku. 

I think Lillis’s ability comes through in the range of characters she played. As the voice of both Misty and Jessie, she was in virtually every episode talking to herself, and she really sounded like two entirely different people. If I didn’t know they were voiced by the same person, I might not have ever realized. Her performances resonate clearly in my memory—I used to watch the show every day for years and years, I had the 2BA Master CD, the whole nine yards. Whatever my potential misgivings about the dub’s censorship choices, I find that Lillis’s voice work actually felt entertaining and faithful to her characters.

In terms of her influence, I especially remember an early Pokémon fansite, the Team Rocket Headquarters. It was filled with people who absolutely adored Jessie, James, and Meowth, and Lillis’s tragic and arrogant goofball of an agent played a major part in bringing them to be Pokémon die-hards. Also, it apparently still exists????

Pokémon switched English actors in the mid-2000s, which means that virtually everyone who grew up with Lillis’s performances are now full-grown adults. There’s no doubt she brought a lot of smiles to fan’s faces, and I hope those who aren’t familiar with her work can go back and appreciate it too.

What if an RTS Race Had to Deal with Bureaucracy?

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I used to be really into watching Starcraft and Starcraft II, before falling off around ten years ago. However, over the past year or so, I’ve become aware of the many attempts to breathe new life into the real-time strategy genre through a variety of new games: Battle Aces, Stormgate, and so on. I’m uncertain as to whether we’ll end up seeing another renaissance, but it has me recalling the age-old question concerning RTS: How important should execution be?

I think the obvious answer everyone can agree on is that it should at least matter a little. That’s what makes it a real-time strategy game, and the degree of importance is where people will debate endlessly. But I wonder whether you can design a race within a game to be less execution-intensive without making them either too balanced or unfair. Essentially, what if this “low input” race tested different skills that were neither better nor worse than the others, but also had an inherent flaw in that it couldn’t rely on execution as much as others could?

I started to imagine a race that would basically be an empire with a huge and powerful army that is encumbered by its sheer size and maybe a bit of bureaucracy. What if there was a race whose units could be amassed more easily while also being stronger individually, but there was some drawback that kept the player from being able to control them more precisely? 

For example, maybe there is a cap on how many actions could be executed in a given period. This could resemble playing a commander who can only oversee the broader strokes of their forces, and has to leave the details to subordinates.

Perhaps the cap could be over a longer chunk of time (like 700 actions every five minutes?), so there can be moments where you can control your forces more directly, but you end up sacrificing the ability to respond more quickly a minute or two down the line. You’d have to choose when you can execute effectively, knowing that you’ll be more vulnerable at other times, or you could choose to play at a steady pace.

Another possible way to mimic a slow and convoluted chain of command would be to actually introduce a purposeful input delay. This could simulate you giving orders from on high that take time to get through to the lowest levels of the army. Maybe it has to do with controlling your forces, or it could be that upgrades or switching unit compositions take a longer while to happen.

In all these cases, the idea would be that this race can be effective and can be difficult to play in its own right, but it doesn’t hinge on physical execution as much. At the same time, it would allow other players and races who do want to use their honed macro and micro skills to defeat this race if they manage to hit hard at vulnerable moments. I have no idea whether something like this could ever work out, but I think there’s a way to have a reasonable and enjoyable compromise between those who want the high APM and real-time tactics and those who want to be methodical strategists.

I Want a Punch-Out!! Soulslike

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I started playing Elden Ring recently, and it’s my first time with a Soulslike of any kind. Having to make my character stronger while also improving my own skills, all while interacting with an unfriendly world full of giant boss monsters has been a fun and frustrating experience.

It also made me really want to see a Punch-Out!! Soulslike.

Think about it: Punch-Out!! is a franchise that’s all about fighting enemies twice your size, where you have to figure out their quirks and tells, strike them during brief moments of vulnerability, and not overextend lest Mike Tyson send you to the mat with one uppercut. 

What if your player character started from scratch and had to train up? It could be a series of boss fights, but what if it were more like an Elden Ring open world, and you could visit different gyms to practice or spar with others? What if other fighters (CPU or human) could come to your gym? Established major boxers you could face in more official or formal settings, but maybe there are also bad actors who want to fight dirty and jump you in an alley?

It’s been over 15 years since the last Punch-Out!!, for the Wii. I would love to see something that would capture the spirit of the franchise, but if Nintendo wanted to take a different angle, I think this would be a welcome and interesting change. 

An Elden RING, if you will.