Viewing Update with new Licenses

This week or so has been big in the way of new North American licences. While most of these shows are series in which I normally wouldn't watch, I'm obviously not real familiar with many of the titles in any real depth. Check out Anime News Network for some of the newest news for all of the recent licenses.

The biggest news is Viz's license of the Naruto anime. It's a shonen action, which Viz is familiar with, and Viz has been publishing the manga already. However, because of its massive size and target fanbase, I have a feeling that this series will become like its predacessor Dragonball Z before it. Dragonball Z was extremely popular in Japan and was well recieved in fansub circles, even though it wasn't enjoyed by everyone. As Dragonball Z came to the US market and was marketed to the same target audience and went through editing, it soon became the bane of existance for many fans. Nothing more than an 'entry level' show for newbies. I fear the same for Naruto if the series is handled in similar fashion. I have hopes, but since I'm not really in charge of anything, I can't make promises.

I do fear for many individual disc sales of the series. Viz is not known for its excellent per disc packaging. High MSRP compared to other DVDs of similar content with low episode counts and very little interesting in the line of extras. However, I have been pleased with Viz's boxset deals in the past, especially with Ranma 1/2, so I look forward to Naruto boxes if I decide to pick the series up, since I'm not really that big of a fan.

Another big series being licensed that really caught me off guard was Media Blasters' license of the new Aa! Megami-sama TV series. I had been watching the new series through fansubs and had been getting into it. I know that when DVDs hit the shelves, I'll definately be there to pick them up. What's more though, is that Media Blasters are wanting to either cast Geneon's movie cast or AnimEigo's OAV cast for the English dubs instead of rounding up a third cast. I like this idea, and I really hope they can get the OAV cast as I think they are the superior of the two. In fact, I've always been very fond of AnimEigo's dub and have supported it. Thought, that' simply a personal preference. I'm supporting this series regardless.

Finally, needing some new happiness in my life in the form of anime, I stopped by the mall after work one day and noticed that they had two things I had been waiting a while for - the remastered Bubblegum Crisis OAVs and the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam TV boxests. Not caring about the $300 bucks it nearly cost for the two of them (at the time), I picked them up immediately.

I'm waiting to do the Bubblegum Crisis OAV over Spring Break when I am simply just working and catching back up with school; but since I am going out of town next week, and I'm swamped with schoolwork beforehand, I'm taking Zeta breaks to regain my sanity. There are unfortunately new opening and closing themes because Bandai America couldn't get the original themes, but the replacement music isn't bad. In fact, I really like the opening but the closing I suppose I could live without. That aside, the TV series is fully remastered and looks just as beautiful as it did during the first airings twenty years ago. A vast improvement over some grainy VHS fansubs I've had on my shelves for years. The boxset came also with some other goodies; I've not opened the minatures yet, but I plan to by the end of the week and there is a poster that I don't think is all that good. I think the MSRP of $199.99 that I paid was a little on the hefty side, but definately what I like about the set is worth close to $150.00.

In fact, I planned on watching episodes six and seven before bed tonight, but as I'm typing this, I'm also going to watch episode eight tonight. This series is absolutely awesome.

There's a few more things I want to update, but since I have another long day ahead of me, I'd better save it for later - finish this Zeta episode, and call it a night.