Random Info Showcase:

Nadesico will be six discs (volumes 5 and 6 will have five episodes a piece), plus one disc for the movie. Seeing the movie isn't necessary to enjoy the TV series (it's more of a sequel thing), so you'll have a perfectly complete set at 6 discs.


Any good fansub site has stopped carrying Love Hina. Bandai (semi-accidentally, from what I hear) announced that they have the rights. So, fansubs go byebye.

If you're going for Kenshin TV, get the first disc or two to set up the characters, then skip the rest and just buy the Shishio arc (I'm not a huge Kenshin fan, but even I found the Shishio arc somewhat amusing).

And, I'm a shoujo fan (I'm also a girl--Next person to call me a 'he' gets poked). Dying in anticipation of the upcoming MKR2 box set, and can't wait for Bandai to release Fancy Lala.

I'm not familiar with the Shishio arc - which DVD does it start from?

I've been eagerly awaiting the release of MKR2 as well ^.^ I wasn't altogether too thrilled with the first season, but in the second, CLAMP's notorious art style is said to be more evident. The characters themselves mature (ah, I get really annoyed at whiny, goody-goody female characters sometimes *ahem* ...Miaka... >_< ) and of course we get to see the pretty Lantis and Eagle.

Since Love Hina has just been licensed (by Bandai), you may be hard-pressed to find fansubs of this series.

I'm all for fansubs of shows that haven't been licensed, but as soon as an anime has been picked up for distribution domestically, I'm not too keen on them. Unless of course you pick up the first tape so that you can try before you buy the official release.

Cheers,

-matt

bumping for those who don't know how to search.

I started watching the Outlaw Star dvd set I got the other day... I had seen bits of episodes on comedy central. This is a series that gets thrown around when someone asks for something like Cowboy Bebop... this isn't anything like Cowboy Bebop (so far - only into episode 4)... this seems to me to be "The Adventures of Han Solo before he meets Luke: The Bizarro World version" I don't know if that makes any sense, but the lead character is shaping up to be similar to Han Solo from Star Wars - kinda cocky, but vulnerable deep down. The show seems alot more action-oriented than Cowboy Bebop (not that I'm comparing the two as they are vastly different). It's a decent show, but not going to end up as a favorite of mine (as far as I can see) - still, I'm enjoying it just the same. The question I have is - I didn't go back and check, but did the animation change after episode 2? It seems like the first 2 episodes were more OVA quality and then the third episode seemed to look like it belonged on TV. Just my imagination?

Does anybody know if Marmalade Boy will ever be available comerically in the U.S.?

I don't know bob, but does anybody want to tell me what they think of "Bastard!!"? It's coming in a regular and an ultimate edition - anyone know the difference (besides $10 bucks)?

Trigger - The animation quality on Outlaw Star varies throughout the series. There are some epsiodes that look really nice, but there are some that look a little rough. I just got the last volume a few weeks ago and I think overall that it was a good series. I do agree that it's nothing like Bebop. The only thing similar is that they are in space. This series was a surprise for me. I bought it because of the price per epsiode and didn't expect much. I was pleasantly surprised and think it's a good series for the price. The ending is a little odd, but other than that it was good.

A figure is included in the ultimate edition. That's the only difference.

so is there an estimate for when bandai's gonna have love hina released?

and has anyone heard news of macross 7 being released in the US either?

Thanks

^ To the Top! ^

The last I heard on Macross 7 was that it was really, really expensive to license. I think somebody tried to license it a while back but it didn't work out. I don't remember details. I haven't heard anything about it recently though.

Bastard is a really good anime....not your typical pioneer anime...it's sword and sorcery with comedy...

Re: Outlaw Star

Outlaw Star in the first 4 episodes really doesn't do much to excite the casual anime fan (and I use "casual" lightly). However, if you keep on watching, it has a deeper storyline which picks up around episode 7, 8 or 9 (I forget which one of these does it) and from there, it becomes much more exciting and fun to watch. As for the animation, there are probably 2-4 studios doing this series, so the animation quality differs depending on which studio does it. For an animation TV series to meet its deadline for airing, the major studio has to license out to minor studios to do most of the brunt work and then get it cleaned up to send to the ADR for voice actor dubbing.

Re: Bastard and Bastard LE

You only get a figure of the main character with the DVD in the LE boxset. That's it. Nothing new or special.

Re: Love Hina

Don't expect Love Hina to come out this year by Bandai. Although don't expect this to be rumor. This is purely logical from the standpoint of what they are going to release...Love Hina will take its time to finish up, get dubbed and subbed, DVD replicated (no VHS), and distributed to retail store. I think, expect a Q1 2002 release of this series (if Bandai doesn't delay this title like they did with Crest of the Stars (housei no monshou)).

Re: Macross 7

No domestic license yet, however I have a feeling it will be announced sometime soon (probably at a major convention someplace)...now the better bet is, which studio grabbed/will grab the rights? (chuckle)

Eig - thanks for the word on Bastard and Outlaw Star...

I rented a Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 VHS tonight and it was so ultra boring. I've seen some of this before and was bored then and forgot I had seen it. My video store only had tape 4 and tape 10... I rented 10 which was ep. 21 and 22. They don't even know how their bodies can communicate with the suits yet by episode 21?? Geez... it seems like more filler than action or story. Ep. 22 was so drawn out it almost put me to sleep. I think I'll pass on this series. Even if it does have better moments than this, I don't think it's ever going to be what I'm looking for. The intro (which is also used as the trailer) looks so exciting and interesting and fresh, but the little bit I've seen is so not. I'm sure it's much better if you see the whole series and you can follow the arc of the whole story, but even so I still don't think it will be all that great.

ANIME RULE #1 : Skipping around in a series like Bubblegum Crisis can make the series confusing if not boring. There is a arc to the storyline that is completely ruined if you watch episodes out of order. It's like watching a film all jumbled in editing. How could that make sense?

ANIME RULE #2 : When in doubt watch the subtitled version. So many dubs are just horrible and actually change the storyline a bit that make a great anime into junk. It's sometimes easier to watch while on the couch, but if you really want to know why everyone is raving about a series watch the subtitled version.


Ok...so does anyone have the new animeondvd.com address?

To my knowledge, their new address is not up yet. Last I saw, all their links were disfunctional, and they had temporarily relocated the pages to one of those http server type URLS ... with the triplet sequences of numbers. Hope they'll be back up soon ^.^ Meanwhile, I guess I'll just check anipike for series reviews ^^;;

By the way ... what's the word on the Black Heaven series?

I have the address AnimeOnDVD is using now bookmarked on my computer at home. I'll post the link later when I get home.

As for Black Heaven, it's a good series. It's only four DVDs and the first three are already released. It's about a 30-something salary man who used to be in a band when he was young. Aliens need him to play his guitar to power their ultimate weapon. It's a pretty funny series. It's got a nice soundtrack with lots of 80's metal type music. If you like other AIC series like Dual, Tenchi, and El-Hazard then you might like this series.

Trigger,

Bubblegum Crisis 2040 is based on the older OVA series of the same name minus "2040". This series is actually more more serious in tone than the OVA series, which was lighter, and more action packed and more 80's beat music in the background. BGC 2040 takes the OVA story arc and presents the story from the perspective of Linna, and not Priss, who was the main character in the OVA. The hardsuits of the new series is less durable and more destructable than the OVA version of the hardsuits. The hardsuits from the series has a limited battery capacity and does less damage. So, there are weaknesses in this series than there was in the OVA, where the girls were a little too strong for the most part. BGC 2040 also expands a lot of the little dangling plots in the original OVAs that were never covered in Bubblegum Crash (the second OVA series following the original BGC OVA). I highly recommend watching the original OVA series first. Get the reprinted DVDs (not the first two prints that are just horrendous) with the corrected subtitling (don't watch the dub because any dub from AnimEigo's company is just horrible). After the OVA series, watch the TV series which came out 10 years later (with new character designer and mecha designer). It'll make much more sense then.

It's up. It's just moved and now at a ip address til the name resolution is changed. You cannot just type http://www.animeondvd.com yet.

30 mins later...

Oh...they just got the names resolution back. It works again via http! Oh well...thanks for the effort.

Shawn

I really enjoyed Black Heaven... It took until the beginning of disc 2 for me to warm up to it, but if you give it a chance it will really grow on you. It's really fun and I recommend.

Eig - I watched the whole Bubblegum Crisis OVA series a long time ago, but it was easily forgotton. I know I remember the old BGC being alot better than what I watched the other night. I am fully aware that the series has an arc that you have to follow by watching every episode in sequence etc etc... but you can tell with almost every series by watching a few episodes whether or not it could be something you could be interested in. I'm sure if I watched the whole series, I would find something in it to enjoy - but from the 4 episodes I've seen, it's not my type of show. I'll pass. Thanks for the descriptions though.

Someone please give me some advice on which anime I should get. I am not too familiar with ones available in US, so I need help what to get in US. I grew up in Asia when I was little, so I was totally into guyver, Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, UFO Robot Grendizer, Kotetsu Jeeg, macross and etc. And also, loved gundam series, although I only watched original gundam, gundam wing, and gundam 0080. I am not a big fan of movies like ghost in the shell or Akira. So, what can you guys recommend to me, it doesnt have to be DVD, I can live with VHS or even VCDs.

based upon the kind of stuff you were into, I'd say you might like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Escaflowne, Gasaraki, Dual, and Martian Successor Nadesico. But I am not the expert here... someone else will certainly step up with their advice.

Bear with me if I repeat some stuff. I haven't read through the whole thread yet, but here are some thoughts.

I have to second the recommendation on http://www.animeondvd.com They have the best reviews and info on released and upcoming "anime on dvd."

If you're interested in Akira, Dark Horse Comics is releasing the whole comic series in four (I think, maybe three) quarterly volumes. Only 1 and 2 are out, but they are excellent.

My favorite animes are Rurouni Kenshin, Gundam Wing, and Evangelion. One series I enjoy that I don't think has been mentioned is Sakura Diaries. It's kind of a teaser skin flick, but the story is great.

Anime movies - I loved Mononoke, enjoyed Castle of Cogliostro, UY- Beautiful Dreamer, and Venus Wars. I also own Grave of the Fireflies, but I haven't got around to watching it yet.

Things I want to watch are Gasaraki, Cowboy Bebop (Ive seen the first two tapes), and Macross 2 and Plus.

I didn't really like Fushugi Yugi, the characters were a little too feminine for me. I'm also not a big Dragonball fan, I don't know why.

Of course all this pertains to only DVDs. There are way more recommendations or thumbs downs I can give regarding VHS series.

Well I sold the second dvd of Nadesico on Half.com and before shipping it, I watched it again and actually liked it - so I'm re-buying it as well as disc 3 and 4 and will get 5 and 6 when they become available at bestprices.com. Anyhow - just wanted to bump this up to see if anyone had anything to say about anime.

Someone post a coming soon list of stuff that's not already listed at animeondvd.com