Tuesday 17 July 2007

SonicMart - or Wow it's Wowow

While many of the Things To Do group go off to explore the fascinations of Rezzable Greenies (which sounds like something you might find in a handkerchief) I have been squandering my time rummaging around yet another Japanese sim: Sonicmart, belonging to a company of the same name who sell DVDs and CDs online.

Most of the island is given over to the Manatee Beach Resort - a collection of rather plain 1-room beach-houses. However, dominating the island is the Wowow movie building. It is not exactly a cinema. Rather it is a building in 2 parts: the left-side is described as a "screening building", while the right-side is a "museum." However, the screening building, despite having a number of large screens, can only accommodate a small number of viewers. The "museum" on the other hand has a a number of smaller screening rooms - each with a number of seats. Most confusing - particularly as there is little sign of an actual museum.

Wowow looks to be another online DVD supplier - though my Japanese is probably letting me down - and they appear to be promoting an anime movie: Shiguri. By the look of it, an epic tale of blood, guts and big swords. Around the walls you can read brief outlines of the movie's main characters, and see sketches used in devising the storyboards. You can also pick up a free pair of nihon to - Japanese swords. There is supposed to be a freebie T-shirt too... but I could not get it to hand over the goods. A shame as I think it looks cool.

The movie (or Episode 1 to be more precise) is not showing yet - but there is a notice to say that screenings will start on Thursday, July 19th.

As for the actual buildings, they are plain and mundane, the textures lack any 3D feel and the site feels unconvincing - too "flat" to be realistic. But I will be back to see the movie - and hopefully grab a T-shirt!

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