Bandai Visual doesn't care, though... they're a Japanese company, and this is a niche market to them. Expensive releases, especially the ones they want to do which are day and date with the Japanese releases, won't run them the risk of Japanese consumers importing the cheaper English releases. Their mindset is that they'll release stuff at the price they think their series deserve. I really don't think they'd care all that much if the experiment turns out to be a failure, which considering the low distribution of their titles, it very well might be... (I love Super Robot Wars and will eventually pick it up, but only after it's all released because I'm paranoid that they'll shut down before they release all the volumes)

I don't think the higher prices are solely because the anime market is bigger in Japan, I think it's the vast difference in mindset when it comes to collecting DVDs... you can see some of this difference when the ultra special expensive limited cool editions only come out in Japan because the market here (which is more price-conscious) just won't support it.

As far as manga goes... I think a lot of that increase in cost when it comes out domestically is because of the higher cost of printing and distribution here, as well as the lower fanbase. Comics are a very niche market in America, and even though domestic manga reaches out a bit further than the traditional American superhero stuff, it doesn't come close to the numbers that such publications reach in Japan. And when you look how expensive regular comics are here, translated manga seems like a deal in comparison. Manga is also a bit more disposable than DVDs in the Japanese mindset.

Okay, I caught up on Ah! My Goddess (first, second seasons, and movie) and I don't feel that the series really wrapped up at end of second season.

I also saw on AnimeNewsNetwork.com that there's another Ah! My Goddess series called Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings. But they only released 2 eposides last December... Anyone know any more detail on that one?

IMO, this series that will never have a conclusive ending. As for the 2 TV episode OVA/Special, I hope ADV Films will pick it up in the near future. At the moment, I don't believe there are anymore episodes to this particular OVA/special. There is also Oh! My Goddess from AnimEigo too if want to see the original OVA. The Adventures of Mini-Goddess is the spinoff from the original OVA. It's a cute series composed of short episodes (48 episodes, about 7 minutes each) that targets the younger audience and it doesn't have any involvement with the other series/OVA/movie.

a couple of weeks ago i asked what was the best Evangelion collection to get and you guys told me that the Platinum Collection was the one. But at Amazon i see there are two version, the Platinum and the Platinum Perfect Collection, can anyone tell me the difference between the two?

I've read the Platinum Collection doesn't have the extras that the original platinum releases had, so does the Platinum Perfect collection has this extras included?

I wanna get the best possible version in terms of A/V quality and extras



http://www.amazon.com/Neon-Genesis-E...8348945&sr=1-1


http://www.amazon.com/Neon-Genesis-E...8348945&sr=1-3

As far as I know there are no AV differences between these two releases.

thanks

Okay, I came across "Kite" movie. I heard that it's very controversial movie. I saw the preview on Netflix, it's pretty gory movie and the Netflix members kept saying that it's better with Director's cut.

So, is it a good movie? Should I get Director's Cut version? I planned to see Kite Liberator after I see the first one.

It's sort of an anime version of La Femme Nikita. It's a short, but interesting movie. It's extremely stylistic and over-the-top in every aspect.

Be aware that it's controversial not just because of the violence, but because it contains graphic animated sex. Wikipedia has a good description of it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Kite

There are actually 3 versions released in R1... an "Edited Version" sold as general anime that has the sexual content removed, and a "Director's Cut" and "Uncut Special Edition". The "Director's Cut" version is actually still slightly censored to remove content questionable in R1 countries. I believe the "Uncut SE" is fully intact.

Kite is a VERY good movie.
And as an owner of both the edited and Director's cut, I would recommed not getting the Directors Cut. The movie is just better IMO without the porn scenes.

Yes and an arguably no.

The sex scenes (take them or leave them) go as far as illustrating the hold that the corrupt cop holds over Sawa - not to mention the effect that it is used for in the last act with Oburi (the male assassin).

I haven't seen the edited version so I can't say the same effect is present. But take it or leave it, if the director's intent is too disturbing then there's always Leon: The Professional one could go watch

But I think the inclusion of the pornographic scenes are far more poignant in Kite than they are in Umetsu's other ..Mezzo Forte.

That explained whole controversial thing. I don't know which version I should get...

You have a good point and it's not that i'm against the sex scenes themselves, just the hardcore nature of them. He could have toned it WAY down and gotten the same effect but instead goes with hardcore XXX which turns a fantastic movie into more of a novelty.
And for the record I am not offended in any way by porn, I watch my fair share. I just don't think it has a place in a movie like this. All this talk about Kite, I need to revisit it since it has been several years since I watched it last.

Over ten days without a post! I know the bargains thread has gotten most of the activity recently, but surely there's something to discuss.

Taking a cue from the question in the OP (i hope this hasn't been asked before, at least not recently):

Favorite anime theme songs (opening songs/closing songs)?

Some songs I hunt down and listen to, or listen to on every episode; others, once I hear it once, I thank the producers for putting the opening on chapter one, and the episode start on chapter two of the disk. (I'm basing my list below on the OP as shown/heard on the American releases, and for the most part I disregard the lyrics because I don't know Japanese, and at least according to the subs, they're almost always about love anyway.)

My favorites offhand are:
Excel Saga
Urusei Yatsura (Lum's Love Song)
Steel Angel Kurumi
those three are just catchy and cute
Sakura Diaries
this one is very wistful to me
Paranoia Agent
Texhnolyze (although the series isn't doing much for me so far)
both of those are just cool

Any other good ones?

I always skip all introduction at beginning and ending of the show.

Since you bought this thread back up, I would like to discuss about Berserk that I just finished it last Thursday. I thought it was pretty good series. But the ending... how did Guts got out of Limbo? The monsters are already surrounded and he probably stand no chance against sold-his-soul-to-devil Griffin... Or did I missed that part at beginning?

In the manga a character called the Skull Knight shows up and rescues Guts and Casca. He then takes them outside Limbo where Rickert is waiting for them and he takes them to Godo's house. Guts and Casca briefly live in a small offshoot of an ore mine behind Godo's house (someone explains that that area of the mine used to house elves hundreds of years ago and they left a magic residue that will keep evil out). After a while, Guts receives the Dragonslayer (the big-ass sword he has) and his prosthetic arm and sets out to find the God Hand. I believe the first episode takes place around a year after the the last episode.

It's good that you liked Berserk. I'm a pretty big fan myself (I've even got the Dreamcast game). I think the anime is a very polarizing series. I've seen people absolutely love it and others absolutely hate it and I think the ending has something to do with it. Although a lot of fans consider the anime just a commercial for the manga.

Umm... That explained it.

I don't see any manga selling at Rightstuf.com, but they do sell graphic novel ones - I can assume it's same as manga. 25 graphic novels - it's going to put a serious impact on my budget!

"Manga" is a blanket term for Japanese comics. Right Stuf just uses "graphic novel" to describe the packaging (i.e., trade paperbacks of ~200 pages), since it's assumed that you know you're buying manga.

I wouldn't really call them favorites, but some here are some songs from anime I've watched recently that have stuck in my head a lot:

The closing theme of Excel Saga "sung" by Menchi (I actually ordered the soundtrack CDs for Excel Saga from Right Stuf largely due to this song and the opening theme)
The opening theme from Ai Yori Yoshi was pretty good
The L/R opening them was catchy
I keep getting the opening theme from Heat Guy J and the opening theme from the early volumes of Bleach stuck in my head

I'm sure that there are some great songs from aine I haven't watched in a while too, but I can't remeber them off the top of my head.

Good anime songs:

Lain - Duvet

My wife and I are a big fan of the soundtrack (all of it) to Haibane Renmei. Good stuff.

I'm a big fan of the soundtrack to X TV. I own both of them. Love a couple of the main themes.

Robert's Anime Corner Updates - May 9th, 2008:

My personal favorite is the opening song of .Hack//Sign (Obsession).

Samura champoo is probably my favorite opening song. I have it as my ring tone. I probably change it to the ending song in Death Note.

I really like a few openings and endings to Inuyasha but I also hate a few of them. I think they change theme songs every season.

I love the opening theme for Berserk.

I get the impression that some of you have some very impressive anime collections. Has anybody posted any pics of a particularly impressive collection in one of these threads?

I don't believe there has really been a thread on pictures of anime collections here. There is one thread @ AnimeNation Anime Forums. Another would be the weekly column of Shelf Life @ ANN (this shows one collection per week).

I personally have never really thought of posting pictures of my anime collection. One of these days, I might do it. If you're curious here is a fairly accurate list of R1 anime collection. There are other animation and live-action titles (that associate with these anime studios) included in this list.