Mad about Macross

One of the biggest news in classic anime that came about at the end of last year was ADV's new licensing of Super Dimension Fortress Macross. I'm not ashamed to admit it, I bought AnimEigo's release of the TV series, released for the first time in North America in its entirety without the name Robotech attached to it. The company went through tremendous legal struggles to bring the set here and I applaud them for that. However, if there is anything that I believe was wrong with AnimEigo's release, it had to be the lack of extras.

ADV's release makes up for that with plenty of extras. However, they're not all the extras I normally look forward to. There were two things I was looking forward to about this release - one of the special features was the original Macross dub by Harmony Gold (where the animation caught Carl Macek's attention as a means to finance Robotech) and the new dub cast. Typically, the dub cast doesn't excite me - it's very rare I'll even check out a dub track; however this dub has one thing many other dubs do not. Lynn Minmei, one of the most notable characters not only of the time period but probably in all of anime's history, has a returning role - Iijima Mari who did a wonderful job in the original Japanese version is making her appearance in the English dub as well. What amazing possibilities for bilingual seiyuu.

Iijima's portrayal of Minmei in English is as I expected it to be - accented but not beyond comprehension. Her English is absolutely amazing. With her being the third English voice actress for this character (an unknown girl in HG's dub and Reba West's infamous portrayal in Robotech counted before), I think it is safe to say that there is only one Lynn Minmei; though, this may be all to Iijima-san's chagrin. What's best about this dub is that Iijima-san is able to make Minmei sound just as young and innocent as she did in the original Macross back in 1982.

So, the verdict is this: If you do not already own a Macross DVD set, I highly suggest buying ADV's release. It has extras, dual audio tracks, and the magnificently remastered video and audio that was present in AnimEigo's release. If you do already own an AnimEigo release, then this is a hard buy to push. Unless you're hard pressed and driven to own absolutely every Macross release in North America, then there are probably many other things one would choose to spend their money on. I was excited about it and planned on buying a complete set of ADV's releases, and I will be keeping an eye out for the extras on the subsequent discs, but at this point right now, I cannot see myself rushing out for another complete DVD set.

Starting something new

Well, not brand-spanking new, but new nonetheless.

I've picked up watching Zipangu 『ジパング』, knowing that at least there has to be some newer anime that would be interesting, this one had sparked an interest with me. Though, probably for the worst part, the reason I was interested was because of controversy because in the fan community. Well, just like the Paris Hilton sex videos, controversy will get people to watch at least once. However, thankfully for Zipangu's story, it is something that will keep me watching.

The animation is something that isn't phenomenal but still noteworthy. I think, like most good anime, the driving part is the story. What is most compelling about this story is its originallity - something that I find lacking in many comtemporary stories.

It is the story of a crew of an Aegis -class of the current Japanese Marine Self Defense Force (Nippon Kaijou Jieitai) who, en route to a training exercise, find themselves being trapped in an electrical storm and suddenly transported back to the South Pacific War ca. 1942 or 1943. While there is a lot of character introduction and background, this is about as far as the story that develops in the first episode. However, looking at the brief preview of the next episode and its title "Midway", it leads me to believe that the true action is going to start very soon.

Sure, this sounds right now like a very Sci-Fi series, which is alright, because I happen to be a fan of the genre, but the addition of the in-history moment and the alternative history possibilities leaves me very excited.

Though, thinking of the genre of military and war, it seems nothing like the series of Gundam or Macross which gather lots of attention because of the sincerities of thier stories or thier animation; Zipangu is taken in almost an entirely different light. The reason there is constantly an argument and almost a dissention among many fans away from this series is because this, and other manga and some smaller anime series, seem to begin embracing the "underground" nationalist culture and rejectiing the modern Japanese ideals of pacifism. I've not gotten far enough into the series to see if it is taking the victim mentality for which many criticize Japan to the point of condoning the actions of the Pacific War or even the Second Sino-Japanese War.

I think we've picked up that I am quite a history fan, as well.

I know this is extremely short, but probably anything more about this series is purely speculation. Though, I am right now, too excited about this series for any further description. The story has a lot of development to go and it is taking me a little bit to get a feel for the animation. Though, some preliminary comments about it, the mechanical and weaponry look great and move very well throughout the medium. While the character designs maintain a lot of realistic looks, the series can still suffer from CG-shock, which is the clash on screen that develops because of the overuse of CG, and the actual animation does seem to retain features of the lifeless cel-shading that many anime are falling victim to now. It's not something horrible that is damaging to the series. Though, it is nothing like other sci-fi/mecha/combat series, such as Bubblegum Crisis OAVs of the 1980s.

Well, I'm out for now. Hopefully I'll be able to get back soon with more information and commentary with this series as well .

Errata: RE: Kodomo no Omocha

As I was sitting down having a late lunch and trying to do a little homework, I had Kodomo no Omocha running in the background (I'm the type of person who needs a little background noise to work) and I looked up and saw something that has surprised and perplexed me.

The FUNimation logo and the non-Japanese credits both of which I swore I saw were absent; I had apperently been imagining them. It's the oddest thing.

So, I would like to post an errata amendum to my previous post regarding those comments. The opening and ending theme are untouched with all of the original text left alone. The only comment that still needs to be made is that the first opening theme, "19ji no News" by TOKIO is still absent because of undisclosed reasons that are assumably out of FUNimation's hands. In light of this, my only real complaint is a couple of inconsistant translation errors. Inconsistent because they are present on the menus and packaging (such as the opening title to episode one "I'm a Sixth Grader with an Agent") but within the translation on the subtitle and in the dialogue itself it keeps the original meaning ("I'm a Sixth Grader with a Pimp").

Both of those aside, I am reversing my earlier contemplations about supporting this series. I've liked Kodomo no Omocha since I first saw it in 1998 and had vigourously supported it when being fansubbed. Now, with the improved quality of DVD, a few missing jokes and a missing song are something buyers should be aware of, but does not nessacarily ruin the entire series. I know now that I will be supporting Kodomo no Omocha definately on DVD here in the United States.

I'm still going to be keeping an eye out for an LD set though ....

Kodomo no Omocha

I intentionally left this out of my previous post because of how mad I was about this production.

Now, I am one to give credit where credit is due and as of late FUNimation has put out some very good direct to video releases. While thier handling of the Dragonball property is still questionable and I still object to it, other releases, most notably Fullmetal Alchemist I have been very pleased with.

Kodomo no Omocha, or as they use the colloquialized fan pronounciation of Kodocha for thier licensed version, seems to be a cry back for the days of Dragonball when they were still business partners with Saban (one of the better moves they made was splitting from them). I have to say, my disappointment when I got home and put this disc in, is probably unmeasureable.

Whoever holds contractual rights to TOKIO's song "19ji no News" and TOKIO's namesake (as the lead singer does appear in the first episode) would not allow FUNimation to purchase the rights to replay these scenes in thier North American version, or perhaps, they were asking too much money and FUNimation wasn't willing to spend. On some forums, some members had said this sort of thing was announced, but I had never heard as such nor could I find anything about it in any of the news sites I checked out.

All in all, FUNimation did probably the best they could in the situation and that was to put the second opening theme as the opening theme for the entire series.

FUNimation had another critical error and that was replacing the Japanese logo text with thier own logo and erasing the credit names and writing over them in English. I don't remember either of these transpiring on the Fullmetal Alchemist DVDs. Also, I don't play favorites with this sort of act here - I really perfer the video to be left alone and have a translated credit sheet at the end.

However, as I skimmed through the first episode, most everything else looked in tact.

I'm unsure as to whether or not I will be purchasing another FUNimation release of Kodomo no Omocha; I suppose it all depends on how easily and cheaply I can find an LD complete set. Either that, or I could learn a little bit of video editing and replace the pieces that are missing and I think should be returned.

Now Featuring Updates!

I'm apperently not very skilled at this whole "update on a regular basis" sort of thing, so please look forward to more spontaneous updates in the near future.

Believe it or not, I moved into a new apartment by myself almost two months ago and I went a month without cable and internet, so I had a lot of time to occupy and decided I had better get started on this ever growing pile of "TO WATCH" stuff I had had lying around.

Just after I had moved my TV and VCR/DVD deck in (which was about a day after I had moved everything else), I sat back and watched my un-completed Bubblegum CRASH OAV set. By Uncomplete, I mean I have 1 out of the 3 episodes in the OAV. Not to mention, it is on VHS, so we can debate visual qualities later. However, even though I've had this OAV for quite sometime and had seen it before, it had been ages since I had seen it. Bubblegum CRASH, while compared to its prequel Bubblegum Crisis, its no where near as good but it hold true to some of what BgC fans come to expect - hot girls, hot mecha, hard/punk rock - but also it seems the advancements in anime technology and style that came about in the early and middle 1990s are also adding thier own spin on an old Cyberpunk classic.

Soon after I did BgCrash, I broke out some VHS fansubs that I still need to get on DVD. The big thing on my list was Marmalade Boy. I had started watching the series agin from the beginning more or less to try and get myself reaquainted with the characters. I really do want to get this series on DVD, but I am going to have to either wait a little bit longer or I am going to have to find a good deal coming up at AWA here in about a month. However, I have been watching Marmalade Boy very sparingly. I first started watching the fansubs about the last semester of high school, more actively in the summer following it. I only got up to episode 28, which is somewhere near the middle of the series I believe. However, I remember exactly how addicting the story was. This is why I have to be sparing with it - since there are four boxes out now, they can probably cover the entire series, which means I will be spending a bunch of money right away just to meet my fix. Whoever coined the phrase "Anime - Crack is Cheaper" is right.

However, while this blitz of nostalgia and old VHS was going on, I was doing a good bit of small DVD investment as well. It's hard for me to remember exactly all of the DVDs I picked up, but there can't be that many anime DVDs. I finished off my Giant Robo DVD collections, including the GinRei Special. Now I need to get some friends over for a weekend so we can watch all of GR because anime that good needs to be shared. I also picked up the Matsumoto Reiji Classic My Youth in Arcadia. I've not sat down to watch it, but I might if there is another Friday by myself or something. Arcdia, from the last time that I watched it, is something that cannot be rushed and must be something one is in the mood for, much like a glass of good scotch. The appreciation for good scotch that connessours are usually rambling about is generally what I myself have both said and heard from other fans who have been graced to watch this film. I can understand why not many people, especially newer fans, would not like this film. There are not overtly sexual female characters who likewise get called "XXX-tan" nor is there a running gag and humor. Matsumoto tells very detailed and dialogue rich stories, which even as a fan, can get dry and boring. Damn, I sound like an elietist, but its true. Matsumoto's work is on the borderline of a privlidge to watch. Of course, sinc AnimEigo did the translation and authoring work for the North American release of Arcdia, the final product is absolutely fantastic. Another movie I picked that I had not seen in a while was the second Urusei Yatsura movie, Beautiful Dreamer . This film, like the other UY films I believe, is directed by the same man who directed the TV series andhas become a big name as of late becasue of his direction of films like Jin Rou, Oshii Mamoru. I like to watch Oshii do the TV version of the UY TV series, but I don't nessecarily like his work on the films. I think it is the unique way of how he sees and interperets things and I'm not fond of prolonged exposure to that sort of thing. The TV series is set up so rarely a continuous story runs the full length of a normal TV episode; instead, each epsiode is composed of two parts, usually the stories are unrelated to each other. It also may be that I like Takahashi Rumiko's method of storytelling and characters, and that's where the TV series is based, out of her manga; however, when a film project comes up, there are probably a pool of ideas dicussed and then the story is written. This is where Oshii can gain a lot more control over how the series is presented. Beautiful Dreamer is a psychadelic trip of a movie; literally, Bill Murray's Grounhog Day on acid. It's a good film, but be warned: saying it is strange, weird, unique or what have you is only a tip of the iceberg.

I've also been playing catch-up on all of my downloaded stuff, too. I am making head-way into Touch, which is becoming more and more of a favorite of mine. Like Takahashi, I really like the way Adachi Mitsuru writes simple stories and complex characters in them - yet all of it is just as dramatic and interesting as a regular TV drama. It is definately not like the anime of our modern time now. I even scored a torrent of his mid-1990s shounen baseball anime, H2. Because of formatting issues though (for some reason, the group decided to use OGG) and this makes it a little more cumbersome to watch. Though, I have checked out a couple episodes of a drama of H2 that was running earlier this year or even last year and I like the premise of the story. Hopefully the anime will be just as good. I've also considered picking up the manga for this series, as well as completing my collection of Touch.

Speaking of sport anime, I've also bee watching the late 1980s to early 1990s classic YAWARA. I'll admit, that after watching a lot of 2003 anime and I picked up YAWARA that it was a refreshing shock, like diving in a cold pool on a hot summer day. The animation, which even I would describe as dated, is blissfully 80s. The story is semi-far-fetched, a girl who has been trained all her life by her Judo master grandfather reluctantly working to capture not only the National Citizen's Acheivement Award but also a gold medal from the Barcelona Olympics. But the emotion and tactics demonstrated in the anime are very true to life (or rather, as true to life as an anime can get, I suppose). The series has a very slow start though; the first episode really gets you geared up but between there and about the 11th or 12 episode, the only real perks are the few fight scenes. Once the story moves forward through, it is engrossing to say the least.

Zipang, which, intrestingly enough is brand spanking new (Well, April start time, I believe) has garnished some interest from me, too. I've downloaded the first episode and done nothing with it other than check a few brief interests in it. I think that it is probably the only anime I've ever checked out because of controversey from the fan community. And with school just starting, and having a lot more reading to do than normal, I think I will have to do some very strategic planning to get this series watched through as well as perhaps trying to pick up a couple of other series.

Last and certainly not least brings me to Moble Suit Zeta Gundam! I'm up to about disc eight now and we're getting to Char's meeting with Haman and the rest of Axis Zeon. Needless to say, I'm excited, but I've just got too much stuff going on right now to just plop down and watch it all now.

Argh, Not Again...

I recently purchased Mobile Suit Gundam F91 Special Edition and I made the mistake of thinking that Bandai Entertainment's biggest mistake was half-assing the release of the Zeta Gundam TV series. I was wrong. Thier release of F91 was so bad, it seems to have escaped most radar screens. While I've only glanced at the actual film on DVD, there are numerous things for me to complain about judging from Bandai's other releases for the Gundam Franchise. From skimming through the DVD, the only original Japanese text left on it is the original opening title. All of the other credits are all translated and written over in English. Also, since this was a 2-disc special edition, I was hoping for a tremendous amount of extras. Apperently, it is possible to pack a DVD full of extras I have no liking for. There are extra features on each disc, all of which displease me. The trailers sections all contain English trailers for other Bandai releases, no Japanese F91 trailers or TV spots.

I think Bandai has really dropped the ball on this release, and what is worse is that more people I have noticed seem to be complaining about Zeta TV boxes (rightfully so) .

However, there are some benefits to seeing this released on DVD. The color scheme and visual quality is much better than my old VHS fansub. Granted, that's to be expected, but this is surprisingly good. I think Bandai may have put a little bit of money into restoring some of the actual film. The colors are crisper and clearer than many Gundam OAV and movies of younger vintage. The animation quality is supurb as well; really brings back the feeling of what mecha should be. It's a very different feel than some series of the newer Gundam franchises like Gundam SEED.

Speaking of new Gundam movies, the first of the Zeta Compilation movies was released this past weekend in theatres in Japan (a limited release, from what I understand) and has opened at #3; a very impressive feat. It is expected to meet or surpass Mobile Suit Gundam III Meguri Ai Sora-hen which is at least the highest grossing Gundam film and one of the highest grossing anime of all time. I can't wait for the DVD release of this film - I figure that I am not going to chance it and since I have the TV series translated into English via Bandai's English set, I have reference to dialogue I may not understand if I decide to import it.

I know its been a long while since I've updated here - life has been interfering as of late and my turbulent feelings for this hobby of mine have been wavering ever much so. Last month I bought boatload of DVDs and my 'TO WATCH' pile has been growing ever so steadily. Yet, while I was out shopping on Monday with my girlfriend, I found nothing new to interest me and nothing on the shelves to help complete my current collections. Though, tonight, I found some old LaserDisc collections that I was trying to rationalize spending the five grand on (though it wouldn't be a here and now sort of purchase). I've made little progress in watching something new and exciting. My hard drive where I keep my anime is full at the moment and I am really in no rush to clean it off since much of the anime I am seeing friends talk about or hearing forum chatter about really does nothing for me at the moment. Even at an anime viewing where I helped select the programming, I was providing anime that I had already seen numerous times out of my collection, though I found an old treasure trove of a couple things I need to re-watch.



Finally, I want to talk about Shinkai Makoto's Kumo no mukou, Yakusoku no Basho (Through the Clouds, the Promised Place) and his earlier acclaimed work, Hoshi no Koe (Voices of a Distant Star). A friend of mine showed them at an anime viewing we had and I was suprised with these works. Hoshi no Koe I had originally been turned off from because of its length and supposed lack of plot; however, I found that there was a lot of insightful feeling and emotion within the piece that made up for the short, plotless work. Truly, Shinkai knows how to really work at someone's emotions and can portray the emotions of others on screen very well. I was actually sorry I had missed watching Hoshi no Koe the forst chances I had to watch it based upon secondary opinion. Kumo, I thought, was much better than Hoshi. Hoshi no Koe is a title I will eventually get around to getting my own copy of; Kumo is probably going to be bought on release day, whenever that day hopefully comes to the US. Like Hoshi, Kumo is a tug on the emotional fabric, but unlike Hoshi, it is a full length and fully thought out theatrical picture. That's not to say its exciting or interesting at all times; there are a couple dull points in the middle. But, the entire film is worth it come the end. I think even people who really aren't sci-fi or even anime fans will find something to enjoy in this work.

I hope that with summer in full swing that I will actually be able to get a lot more anime time in. I've got a pile of stuff that I need to watch through, some of it actually franchises that I am familiar with and not just stuff I saw years ago on shitty VHS tapes or in a raw format when I was Japanese impaired. Big titles on the list are Space Battleship Yamato and continuing Zeta Gundam. I even hope to have some more in-depth analysis on Mobile Suit Gundam 0080 War in the Pocket as well as a variety of other titles. Also looking now for some more/new equipment in the way of DVD/VCR, LaserDisc decks, and televisions; especially as I will be making a move to a new home within the following month. I hope to be better about updating this journal more frequently.

Oyasumi nasai~

It's been almost a month......

I apologize for the absence, but I've been out and about with my new job and school taking up most of my time.

I went shopping the other day and I just thought I post the shopping list:

Space Battle Cruiser Yamato: The Movie 『宇宙戦艦ヤマト 劇場版』
Venus Wars 『金星戦記』
Dirty Pair: Flight 005 Conspiracy 『ダーテイ ペアーフライト005の陰謀』
Full Metal Alchemist Volume 2 『鋼の錬金術師第2巻』
Takahashi Rumiko Gekijou (Rumiko Takahashi Anthology) Volume 1『高橋留美子劇場第1巻』
Sakigake!! Cromartie Koukou (Cromartie High) Volume 1『魁！！クロマーテイ高校第1巻』
Rurouni Kenshin Seisou-hen Director's Cut 『るろうに剣心 星霜編 DIRECTOR'S CUT』
Rekka no Honoo (Flame of Recca) Volume 3『烈火の炎第3巻』

With school ending soon, I hope to have a lot more time to sit and watch through all of this, and of course, report back here on it. Also, I've had an attack of nostalgia this week: A friend of mine had his Ranma 1/2 OAVs at school, so I had been watching those - dubbed of course! There's just a certain favor to Viz's dubbing of Ranma 1/2. Perhaps it was because it was the first version of Ranma available to me; perhaps it's just genuinely entertaining. I think though, that Ranma's dub falls into a rare group to where the dub is entertaining in a seperate entity of the work than most other good dubs do. Even though Ranma 1/2 and Inu Yasha (another Takahashi work) has a lot of the same actors and actresses in it, I think there is a superior performance in the Ranma works than in Inu Yasha. Either way, I like the Ranma dub. Sure, you can make fun of it because it's not perfect, but I think that it is incredibly entertaining and that's the saving grace.

I've also been thinking about what my collection is composed of and what can I do to improve it. Okay, this is sounding a little eliteist of me; but I do this for the fun and enjoyment - collecting, not nessecarily the elitism (but that can be fun at times, too). Anyway, I am looking for a little more quality to my collection; not just a quantity of titles I enjoy, but something a little more personalizing and improving my collection.

I am looking into buying a used but working LaserDisc player as well as trying to find some good, cheap anime on LaserDisc. However, with the lack of a DVD alternitive to a Mobile Suit Gundam TV series in Japanese, I am seriously considering hunting for a used but good conditioned set of the LD release for this series. Most of my mainstream sources for which I was planning on an easy find aren't as such, so I am not sure about how easy this will be. Though, I haven't had too much of a problem finding the players like I thought I would. So, the addition of antique LaserDiscs into the mix will be I think a good improvement into the expansiveness of my collection.

Well, I've got to go out now and get some school work done today.

I hope to make this short...

I stopped by Media Play after dinner and picked out a couple more DVDs, as if I have time to watch more than what's on my plate right now.

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket was a steal at $13.99, and I had been looking to get back and actually finish Fullmetal Alchemist/Hagane no Renkinjutsushi.

I had at first only written it [HagaRen] off to be a flavor of the month series as people could tell me they liked it, but they really couldn't explain well what it was about and why they liked it; I saw one episode and liked that one episode, but I sat on it and until nearly before it was licenced, I watched a couple more. The story seemed to be really more engrossing than I had originally anticipated (due to fans' comments of the above), so I knew I would be coming back to this when it came out on DVD here.

I was a little anxious about its licensure because it was done by FUNimation. I had my first experience with them, as many people did, when they did a very, very poor job with Dragonball Z (which they are thankfully making up for). I wasn't as vocal as many others because I had heard and seen that some of thier more direct to DVD releases were done a lot better than the Dragonball franchise had been done.

I checked the back of the box in the store to see what all it entailed, especially as far as extras. What surprised me were Japanese Promos/commmercials. I got home and decided to check it out; I was surprised and very pleased. Not only were there more than two short commercials (4 CMs in all - 2 short and 2 long) but all of the internal text was left virtually alone! I was worried about the opening and ending sequences having the American title pasted over them and the Japanese text removed; likewise, I was surprised to see it all in tact.

I'll be back later with a more full review of the DVD for HagaRen, but right now I need some sleep.

FUNimation, thank you for producing a wonderful first volume of HagaRen. The translations are very well done, all of the internal writings and text are left completely alone - it really is how anime DVDs should be made.

Earth! Magnificent World of our Future!

So, going on some of my family's advice and using a bit of birthday money for my own pleasure, I stopped and picked up the first two volumes of Giant Robo The Animation: The Night the Earth Stood Still 『ジャイアントロボ THE ANIMATION 地球が静止する日』 OAV. This digital remaster of the mid-1990s OAV was done by Anime Works/Media Blasters; the original licensed production was done by Manga Entertainment.

One thing I was not aware of at purchase was the addition of a new dub track. Well, the box hinted at it when it said "New Remastered English Track" but also the fact I did not know that AW/MB had put this new version out left me slightly more puzzled. When I got home and put the DVD in to view, I decided to check out the special features. I usually go here first with all of my DVDs; odds are by the time I actually get a chance to put the disc in, there is very little time I have to actually watch it.

When looking over the special features, it's nothing I was really excited about. I generally am not one to care about production sketches or image galleries most of the time. However, exciting for me, was the addition of Manga's original dub track in the special features of the disc. Finally, I was struck by a wave of relief.

I really don't consider myself a dub fan. In fact, 99.9% of the time, I prefer the Japanese dialogue and with my busy schedule, I generally don't have/take the time to view all of the dub tracks. But I was introduced to GR through Manga's dub track. In fact, I didn't even hear the Japanese voices until I happened a fansub of the GR Ginrei Special months after I saw the OAV. But Manga's dub, while still kinda hokey, had a good feel behind it and the acting, as in skill of being able to act, was well done. Because of its own unique personality, that dub holds a special place in my heart and I was happy to see (and more happy to hear) that it was present. Which made me wonder, what does the new dub sound like?

The only other AW/MB work I am familiar with is that of probably hands down my favorite single anime series of all time, Rurouni Kenshin - Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - 『るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚-』 and I have checked out the dub of it once or twice via the DVDs as well as the Cartoon Network broadcasts. I wasn't pleased with it at all. It seemed to me that there was a real lack of emotion from all of the characters and a feeling that really set it apart from the dramatics of the story. I think it might also be said that I didn't like a lot of the scriptwriting behind it because I was never a fan of the translations that they did with the series. AW/MB's work on GR's translation has improved drastically. The subtitles are really closer to the actual script of the dialogue than compared to RurouKen. However, the dub acting has not improved at all. What's worse than that is instead of going out and trying to get thier own feel for how the voices should be rendered, or comparing their own performance against the Japanese actors/resses, but rather they decided to play off on the original Manga Entertainment dub of the series. Thier souless act drove me harder to watch more of the original dubbing or the Japanese dialogue, despite that both of those are still in the 2.0 surround rather than the new English work in the 5.1.

!Post Thought Commentary! There are parts of the original script they didn't even bother to dub over, most notable is the radio while Ivan is driving at the beginning of episode one. Just another moment when the new dub, while remastered, seems half-assed on the production side of things.

Which brings me to another point - the sound issue. There is a remastered 5.1 track in English and Japanese; however, the English is the new dub track which I think should have been left out entirely. The Japanese track, is the audio commentary track. Audio commentary is one of those extras I've never been a fan of - too distracting from the actual film for me - (though I like seperate staff interviews a lot); but for the "uninterrupted" version (no commentary) of the Japanese dialogue, it was left as the old 2.0 surround, just as the old English dub was. I really think someone either dropped the ball in planning or didn't write a clear enough note to the production staff because I think that the two Japanese tracks should have been switched.

Also, it might have been because I was switching the audio so much or that my remote has been taking a lot of wear and tear, but I found that the subtitles were hard to bring up at certain moments. I think this is a very minor note, though, because at portions I was comparing English dialogues against the subs. Just seems that after I took them off, it was hard for them to come back.

All in all, I am glad that AW/MB took up the effort to bring GR to us on DVD. I think though that I am upset with the finished product because of proper management of the property and definately a case of too-much-information (TMI). I must commend them on the addition/requisition of the Japanese audio. They did a fine job translating it, even better than their work on RurouKen. At least they even went after the Japanese audio; I don't think Manga Entertainment even went that far (though, I don't think Manga went after the subtitle markets before they began producing DVDs).

Also going through my DVDs the other day I got through the tenth episode of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. No notable people to add to the body count after this, but we've seen the introduction of Sirocco "The Man from Jupiter" Paptymus. He is probably the most bad-ass villain right behind Char Aznable. We also saw the meeting between Bright and Char (though Char did not reveal himself as such, so I don't think Bright knows yet) but in the next episode the AEUG forces are supposed to land on Earth following Reccoa Londe and I think soon after Amuro reluctantly joins the fighting forces of AEUG. The reunion with Char Aznable is coming soon and I am excited.

That's it for now; I'm gonna try to watch through and episode or two of Zeta Gundam and try to get a little more studying done before I head to bed tonight.

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.

Lots to update......

Anime Viewing:

As I was carousing through Media Play by accident last week or so, I happened upon the first two Flame of Recca 『烈火の炎』 DVDs. I began watching this series a few years ago, right around 1998 or 1999 on fansub, but I didn't get very far with it. I had the first four episodes and I had always wanted to see more, but was never able to actually get more of it; then it was licensed.

But now, I've gotten my hands on the series again in the updated DVD (as opposed to a first generation VHS copy). I really liked the remastering job from the Japanese LD/VHS to DVD that this series made, but when I was watching through the first volume the other morning last week, a flood of nostalgia and even some surprises came over me. First, and most notable, is the animation quality. I generally like animation styles like this as it mimics early to mid-1990s popular style of animation, but in terms of TV series, there really was some serious financial backing behind the animation studio.

The story is interesting; so far we have a mysterious princess and her ninja servant, the last of his clan, supposedly sent through time for thier own safety and are, ironically, now being hunted. There are some excellent ninja and martial arts sequences, but also Flame gains bonus points in the fantasy aspect with the use of Asian supernatural elements.

Next is the opening theme. It's amazingly catchy but amazingly forgettable. I enjoy it a lot when I am watching it, but I am not going out of my way to find a copy of The Oystars' CD or a Flame OST. The ending theme is likewise but I don't find it quite as enjoyable as the opening, "Nanka Shiawase" 『何か幸せ』.

All in all, I am looking forward to getting some more freetime in the coming weeks so I can venture into the second DVD and actually get to the episodes I haven't seen yet.

Moving onto my fansub adventures, I'm catching back up with the new Aa! Megami-sama TV series 『ああっ！女神さまっ』. I watched episodes three and four this afternoon. I must say that the in-episode computer generated and animated scenes are used sparesly and I actually think are executed quite well. The things I was most impressed with in these episodes was the debut of Holy Bell in the third episode and the introduction of the Buddhist priest in that same episode. I really liked the Priest (who is named, but I cannot remember his name at the moment) character; he had a jolly feel about him and his character sat really well with me. I'm hoping that we will see more of this character as the series progresses. I think it's honestly a shame to simply have him in only one episode.

One thing I nitpicked originally was the pacing of the series; but the pacing has been adjusted and seems to be moving at a much better pace. I also liked in episode four that they elaborated on the play between Morisato Keiichi and Mishima Sayoko. It was something that I felt went a little too under-developed in the OAV series.


And for the reading....

I've begun reading Busou Renkin a few weeks ago because I'm a fan of Watsuki Nobuhiro and his Rurouni Kenshin series. When I found out he had a new series that was more popular and running a full run, I figured I need to at least read it.

I picked up the first volume before Christmas and read it, but I need to glance through it one more time to make a serious post on it. Just shows how much of a good read this was.

Gives me more of an excuse to make a seperate post concerning Busou Renkin.

As I was grabbing dinner at Waffle House last night, I was catching up and reading one of my issues of Young JUMP; namely my more favorite stories of Koukou Tekkenden Tough 『高校鉄拳伝タッフ』 and Kuni ga moeru 『国が燃える』. Tough didn't leave me with any surprises except that the fights are paced really, really slow in this manga. I like this manga mostly beacasue it is a fighting arts manga. My only real complaint about Tough is that for readers who aren't, let's say martial arts inclined, it doesn't do a whole lot of explaining with the techniques and other various waza.

Kuni, on the other hand, has surprsied me recently. Last Autumn, the manga was suspended for publishing an unauthenticated picture of the Rape of Nanking by Young JUMP; however, the manga is back now, and is now writing chapters that appear after the end of the Pacific War. It's not like Kuni is not used to jumping around. The chapters jump all over in terms of timelines. It's a good read on a chapter by chapter basis, but nothing that really seems to go in any perticular order. I think I need to go and get the tankouban and see if they form a much more coherent and consistant story.


Up next:

Viewing Journal:
Turn A Gundam TV episodes 1-5
Touch TV episodes 6-10
Aa! Megami-sama TV episode 5
Aura Battler (Sei Senshi) Dunbine TV episode 6-9 (10?)

Manga Readings:
Busou Renkin Volume 1
Katsu! Volume 1
Varying chapters out of Young JUMP

Viewing Journal

The other night I checked out the first two episodes of the new Aa! Megami-sama 『ああっ！女神さまっ』 TV series.

I'm a big fan of the old OAV series from 1993, I liked the 2000 motion picture pretty well, too; what little bit of the manga that I've read in both English and Japanese, I've enjoyed thoroughly as well.

I think I've covered that I really like this series.

So, with my majorally negative opinion concerning newer titles in anime, I was worried about where this series would go and if whether or not this single series could ruin the affection and special place in my hear that Aa! Megami-sama holds in my heart.

I must say, the first thing I saw when I began watching the episodes only re-enforced the above fear I had. I think this new series opening is poorly done, if I could sum it up into one idea. The music, I think, is seriouly lacking in motivation for hooking the viewer; it's slow, drab and whiney. Almost like the modern Emo movement and opera had some weird, fanciful bastard of a child in music. The animation, at times looks right around par - right where someone would expect a production made in 2004 and broadcast in 2005; but then someone decided that using a computer would be really neat! And so they did, and it (not surprisingly to me) dropped the picture and even the flow of the animation.

Fortunately, the episode was not ruined by the musical score for the opening sequence. Even though there was a droning speech about destiny (which is important, just boring), the episode was very interesting. It starts the story over again, but its a nice little refresher course for the Japanese viewers who, probably many of them, are seeing the beginning of the story and how our Goddesses happened upon lonley Morisato Keiichi. Over all, the animation wasn't completely horrible, though at times it does take on the lifelessness and flatness that many of the characters take on in other current anime series.

My biggest praise is that all of the characters are exactly as I remember them from the manga, OAV, and movie. I even think all of the voice actors are the same. Still, my favorite characters are Ohtaki and Tamiya (Morisato's sempai) because of thier weird habits and wild antics; not to mention thier lines are classic (literally, the same stuff right from an old, hokey martial arts movie).

The episode ended with a beautiful, yet, unmemorable song. The closing animation sequence is better than the opening, but the song just simply isn't worth remembering. It's like almost every other cliche, "I miss my lover" song I've ever heard, no matter the language. Honestly, I miss classic songs like the OAVs' opening (My Heart Iidasenai, Your Heart Tashikametai) 『My Heart 言出せないYour Heart確めたい』 or closing (Congratulations!) or even some of the more childish songs from the Mini-Goddesses TV series.

All in all, the beginning of this series has me excited about going through and seeing more of the story develop more thouroughly. Judging by the pacing, it will be just after the beginning of the third episode to compare with where the first OAV episode ended; which will put us around ten episodes to recap what the OAVs accomplished, leaving another sixteen episodes left in the season for further development. I have to say this series is incredibly promising.