Skinned [young adult]

Author: Robin Wasserman [website]
# of Books in the Series: 3
1] Skinned (September 2008)
2] Crashed (September 2009)
3] unkown
Akia's Reviews:
Skinned
Synopsis:
Skinned: The book opens with Lia Kahn (a rich girl who is, not a surprize, the most popular girl in school and on the interwebs) somehow trying explain that she is dead yet not. This is because her little sister, Zo, asked Lia to do a huge favor which resulted in Lia getting into a car accident (the cars autopilot ended up malfunctioning) that resulted in her mortal death but her Skinned birth. To be Skinned, in this book, is to be downloaded into a fully prostetic (robotic) body after having razor thin pieces of the brain scanned into a computer. [synopsis by Akia]
Crashed: Lia no longer believes in before. Six months after the crash that killed her, six months after being reborn, lia has finally accepted her reality. She is a machine, a mech, and she belongs with her own kind. It's a wild, carefree life, without rules and without fear. Because there's nothing to fear when you have nothing left to lose. [partial synopsis from the side flap of Crashed]

Buy the books! -> [link]

Seikon no Qwaser [The Qwaser of Stigmata]

[Basics]
Categories: Mature, Seinen, Ecchi, School Life, Supernatural
Contains: Sex, Drugs, Graphic Violence
Type: Manga & Anime
Began Publication: December 20, 2006
Published By: Akita Shoten [1]
[Synopsis]
The St. Mikhailov Academy student Oribe Mafuyu comes across a mysterious silver haired boy. He is called a Qwsaer, a being that draws power from Soma and is able to manipulate a specific element. And now, in the 21st century, the mystery revolving around an Icon turns the academy into the battlegrounds for the fight between the Qwaser! [onemanga.com]
[Liscences]
English: Tokyopop [1]- vol.1 set for an August 2010 release
French: Asuka Comics [1]
Italian: Jpop
Chinese/ Taiwanese: Ever Glory Publishing Co.[1]
[Anime]
Anime Premier: January 2010 (Japan)
Animation: Taki Corporation
Promo(s): (1- 1min / 2min)
Preview(s):
Trailer(s):

Post last updated: 11/14/09

[What Akia Cares About] Persona (PSP)

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

Persona is a remake of the original Playstation game Revelations: Persona for the PSP. The game was released in Japan on April 29, 2009 and is set for a north american release September 22, 2009. [official Atlus site]

Game Play: According to Wikipedia, the game play is "similar to the original... with a few exceptions." Battles are played out from the third person view. For examples of this type of game play, check out the PSP versions of Final Fantasy as well as the original Playstation releases of Final Fantasy. What sets Persona's gameplay from that of other RPGs is the Contact system the characters get to use to talk to demons. Each of the playable characters in the game have different types of Contact commands which can effect a demons mood, and a demons mood effects if a demon will give a character a Tarot card which can be used to summon other Personas (demons). Demons are effected in one of four ways: Joy, anger, fear or interest. To earn a Tarot card, a demon has to be interested 3-4 times. According to the official english site, battles will be faster-paced than the original and include new in game videos and includes an expanded soundtrack PLUS a chapter the american release of the original Playstation game did not have.

Story: [according to Wikipedia] The story takes place at St. Hermelin High School, located in the city of Mikage-cho. While playing a ritual-like children's game called "Persona", a group of students are knocked unconscious. While asleep, they encounter a man named Philemon who bestows several Personae upon them. When they wake up, the youths discover they can summon Personae. Meanwhile, Takahisa Kandori, head of the SEBEC corporation, has invented a machine to create and allow passage to an alternate dimension.This machine is somehow linked to the mind of Maki Sonomura, a frail, bedridden girl and close friend of the main character, who visits her often. During one such visit, the party members realize that the city is slowly changing; while it looks the same, it is cut off from the outside world and is being invaded by demons. ((I do reccomend if you would like to learn more about how characters who summon Personae are effected, check out the anime Persona -Trinity Soul-))

[ANIME] [Word- Romdo] [Series- Ergo Proxy]

[Romdo]

A domed city that was created to protect it's citizens from an global ecological disaster that made Earth (in the anime, Earth is not really mentioned as the planet the citizens live on but for the purpose of this AkiaDex entry I'll use Earth) a place that life could no longer thrive on as it did in the past. ((spoiler)) Romdo was created and destroyed by Ergo Proxy (the proxy -agent- of death) once it was time to start living on Earth again. This is revealed to it's full extent in episode 23, the final episode of Ergo Proxy.

-Break Down-

1] Domed City-

A fictional structure that is usally a large enclosed urban area. The roof is almost always airtight and pressurized as a way to keep outside particles out and to controll climate on the inside.

2] Ecological Disaster (crisis)-

An environmental problem that is usually a planet wide occurance that prevents further survivial of any species and/ or plant life.

Note: many sites list mention the city as Rondo. It is Romdo.