I would recommend Kaleido Star Amazing Collection(you can get this at Best Buy for just $14.99), Wedding Peach, Strawberry Marshmallow and Kamichu!. I know that you said no Ghibli, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention Kiki's Delivery Service. Some good websites that are quite informative are-

www.animeondvd.com
www.animenewsnetwork.com
www.animenfo.com
www.animeboards.com .

THanks to you and slop on the tip on this...I'm going to order this and sell off my SAC season one individual discs. I wish that I'd have known they were actually doing this somewhere else in the world that wasn't a bootleg earlier...

Studio Ghibli News:

According to Ursula K. Le Guin (author of the original story of Gedo Senki), Gedo Senki (Tales of Earthsea) won't be coming to the U.S. until 2009.

"...When can we see "Gedo Senki" or "Tales of Earthsea" in America?...When the contract with the TV people for their film and rights runs out: not before 2009."

The TV/film rights that Ursula K. Le Guin was referring to was Sci-Fi Channel's Earthsea.

If this news is true, 2009 seems very far away!

Ursula K. Le Guin also mentioned that Hayao Miyazaki is working on another project (Studio Ghibli?) as well!

Celebrating 17 years of “Death of AnimEigo” rumors!

It looks like AnimEigo is still in the anime business. They have picked up the license for Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl. It's their first anime license since You're Under Arrest TV series in 2001. The first boxset is tentatively scheduled for early 2007.

I didn't think this series was ever going to be licensed in the U.S. Since there are 124 episodes to the series, I wonder how many boxsets will they release? Nevertheless, this is a great news!

What's the word on Negima? I'm thinking about picking it up after seeing the gorgeous artbox on the shelf at Best Buy. Any info would be appreciated.

I've only see the first couple Japanese dubbed episodes and I thought it was not that bad. The series basically centers around Negi, a 10-year-old wizard-in-training trying to be become a full-pledged wizard. His final task was to teach in an all-female bording school. And the series basically revolves around him and his students. The plot so far seemed somewhat predictable, but enjoyable. There are also plenty of humors and romance as well. I believe the first volume has 6 episodes, which is quite high these days. FYI, Negima is adapted from the manga produced by Ken Akamatsu (creator of the Love Hina manga). One last thing, I'm sure you know that Luci Christian does voice one of the main characters, Asuna.

From www.animenewsnetwork.com-

Funimation has posted an exclusive 2 minute 18 second clip from the Fullmetal Alchemist movie as an exclusive on the site's MySpace page. Additionally, 5 new clips will be posted on the film's main site, along with an extended interview with the film's voice cast over the next 2 weeks.

www.myspace.com/fmamovie

http://fullmetalalchemist.com

IMO, the FMA movie is great! Too bad I wasn't able to make it the theatrical release last Friday & Saturday. People shouldn't watch the movie until they are finished with the 51 episodes. Now I'm hoping that the short OVAs will get released in the U.S. sometime in the future!

FLCL: The UItimate Edition will be released on 11/21/06 !

Released By: Synch-Point
MSRP: $69.95
Running time: 200 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Release Date: 11/21/2006

Features:
- Japanese Language, English Language, English Subtitles
- Directors Commentary
- Storyboard Comparison
- Image Gallery
- FLCL Test Type

Other Goodies:
- FLCL T-Shirt Postcard (Redeemable for one (1) t-shirt, size Small - XL)
- Sticker Sheet—featuring all FLCL Logos (9 stickers)
- Postcard Set featuring robots from FLCL (6 postcards)
- FLCL Ultimate Book featuring translation notes, English voice actor interviews, manga scenes, and more

I just finished watching the Happy Lesson thinpak that I scored at Overstock and was surprised at how much that I enjoyed it. Has anyone heard any scuttlebutt about ADV releasing Happy Lesson Advance(the second season)? It will probably end up like Super Gals and be licensed by a different studio in subtitles only.

Happy Lesson Advance has yet to be licensed. Happy Lesson The Final (OVA) is not licensed as well. I haven't heard anything about either one getting licensed or ADV acquiring the license yet. And like what you said they both very well could get the Super Gals Season 2 treatment with subtitles only! BTW, are all five OVA episodes included in the collection or is it 14 episodes + 3 OVA episodes?

It's 14 + the 3 OVA episodes.

Well it appears that there are 4 new Evangelion movies in the works. Here's a link to ANN with the details-

www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=9464

They are really milking this franchise! "The four movies will include a prequel, a mid-series movie, a sequel and a "final" movie. The prequel movie is due out early summer 2007." I hope they are putting some new efforts on new materials in and not just recycled ones. I wonder who is going to step up the plate and license these movies for the U.S.?

A reminder, Trinity Blood and Bleach debuts at midnight on Adult Swim.

I'm watching Azumanga Daioh now, I'm on I think the third ep of the second disk. This is a good series. It's not really 'about' anything, I can see the manga roots, it definitely puts me in mind of an anecdotal comic strip. But it's just funny, and the characters have such great personalities. There's definitely more to Sakaki than we can see, I hope we see more of her motivation.
It's not totally laugh out loud funny [though there are some great punchlines, like when they ask Chiyo about the car trip back from the summer home], but it's definitely smile inducing. I like the 'freeze frame' reaction shots, they help counterpoint the joke. The dub isn't bad either, for the most part everyone's got enough of an individual voice that they stand out. I'm somewhat surprised Osaka has taken such a central role, but I guess the 'new kid' always does get lots of attention.
I think the single releases had liner notes which are not in the CLass Album; while I'd like to have them, so far I don't think I'm missing them. The only two references so far that I had to think about were the "she's American/she's Japanese" thing in the locker room, and the names of Osaka's stuffed animals [that one I'm still not sure about, though]. But not enough to detract from the viewing.

Question re: anime in general. Why are all the theme songs about love? AD has a cute, catchy opening song, but so far I'm not seeing any romantic subplot. Unless this is just a cultural difference, since [afaik] at least in anime, more and more varied types of relationships can be termed 'love' than just boy/girl man/woman or familial, and we see that reflected in the theme songs.

I'm all over that FLCL box!

According to ANN, IFC will air Basilisk next month, starting on October 6 at 11 PM.

http://ifc.bside.com/schedule/

Will we get a Fullmetal Alchemist box set now that the last volume and the movie are being released tomorrow?

I think that Funimation will eventually get a FMA boxset in the future. And it won't suprise me if they break the boxset up into two or three different releases. I also heard a while ago from a Funimation forum that any sort of boxset will take at least a year or longer after all 13 volumes + the movie is released.

Bandai Goes "Amazon Unbox"

According to AOD: the following titles will be part of “Amazon Unbox’s” Bandai Channel:

Eureka SeveN (TV series)
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed (TV series)
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny (TV series)
Escaflowne (TV series/theatrical feature)
Mobile Fighter G Gundam（TV series）
Witch Hunter Robin (TV series)
My HiME (TV series)
SD Gundam Force (TV series)

About “Amazon Unbox”
A high-quality download video distribution service which will begin Setember 7th (US time) in the United States from Amazon.com). TV episodes from the United States and other countries will be sold at the price of $1.99 per program.

Someone posted a link to the New York Film Festival in the Movie Thread and I noticed that they having a showing of Paprika by Satoshi Kon on 10/7/06. I got my ticket.

Anyway, posting here in case anyone didn't catch that.

Bumping this thread as I just finished Samurai 7 and WOW, this series is just pure greatness. If you haven't watched this series yet do yourself a favor and check it out. Definately in my top 3 all-time.

FLCL News - Recent Synch-Point FLCL blog entries

- Sneak peak of the FLCL Ultimate Edition DVD menus


- FLCL Ultimate Edition DVDs will include a commentary track by Kari Whalgren (voice of Haruko), Jennifer Sekiguchi (voice of Mamimi), Marc Handler (ADR director & writer), and the Synch-Point FLCL blogger (producer & translator).

- Sneak peak of the FLCL Ultimate Edition inserts


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Genshiken News

The first of three new Genshiken OAVs will be issued December 22 in Japan. Source: AnimeNation.

Now this is very good news! Too bad it's only three episodes.