All about Anime

[slerch666]

Damn. Only 13 episodes? I expected the series to run longer than that. I've only seen up to the eighth episode and it sure doesn't feel like five more episodes is enough to wrap everything up.

I look at it this way: the first series was 26 eps and it was action and comedy. Second series was 13 eps and pretty much all comedy. Third series is 13 eps and is pretty much all action. It's like they gave equal time to the aspects of the show, and cater them to those fans.

As for other DVDs, I'm still waiting for Right Stuf to ship out my Ah! My Goddess vol. 1 + box and Fumoffu vol. 4. Both have said they were reserved for my order days ago, so I'm hoping they'll be sent out in the near future. Especially since Fumoffu should have been released on the 18th. At least I got my Haibane Renmei boxset the other day. I'll have to set aside some time to watch through that.

I'd send TRSI an email. I've noticed that ever since they moved some of my shit will sit "reserved" for weeks, even though other stuff ships and they should pile it all together, until I email them and ask "WTF?" Then mysteriously all the shit that's reserved ships and I never hear from them.

As for Fumoffu 4, wanna hear a funny story? I never ordered mine, just as I never ordered 3 until after it's release! I just checked, since it should have shipped in my last batch of shit, only to realize... D'OH... I never ordered it. I went over to Digital Eyes to get it cheaper (also picked up House of Flying Daggers, Shadow Hunters 2 and Hero). I used my 1000 points and got all that shit for $28.

 

[slerch666]

Started watching Petite Princess Yucie today. Finished the first 2 discs. It's another Gainax title. This one's been sitting on my shelf since Nov of last yr when it was released, and each disc showed up around it's release date. Another series I just sat on for whatever reason.

This one is a little odd for a Gainax property. There's no giant robots (unless you count Elumina's retainer Barizan). It's decidedly a magical girl show, with a bigger focus on Yucie living her life. If I'm not mistaken, Gainax put this out around the time that Gonzo released Kaleido Star. The difference is that Kaleido Star is a series I wouldn't want to live without, whereas PPY I could live without.

The story goes that Yucie was found by her adoptive father Gunbard out in the forest. Fast forward a few years to when she's 17. The problem is, even though she is 17 yrs old, her body is still that of a 10 yr old. No one is sure of the cause. Yucie learns of the Eternal Tiara that is said to grant any wish of the wearer. In order to wear the tiara, one must be chosen as a Platinum Pricess candidate, survive the training and be chosen as the Platinum Princess.

Most of the show focuses on Yucie and her quest to be the Princess.

Koboyashi Sanae makes an appearance as an extra in the first eps. I had hoped for a longer role, but alas it wasn't to be. Inoue Kikuko plays the semi-scatterbrained Queen. Kawasumi Ayako plays the Elmina. Touma Yumi plays Rosa (a librarian). Now if only Hisakawa Aya made an appearance it'd be yet another series with the 3 Goddesses playing parts (Belldandy, Urd and Skuld respectively).

The Yucie's voice acting is meh. Kokoru's voice actor is meh. Glenda is pretty good.

Over all, not as amazing a series as one would expect from Gainax, but as I've discussed over the last couple days, they aren't as great IMO as they once were. At least this one is original in the "copy the formula, change the story" sort of way. Now hopefully it doesn't have a fucked up depressing ending.

 

[Ely13]

Grr. Was anyone else letdown by TSR? It's only 13 episodes! A lot of the characters felt like complete throwaways.

Feeling pretty disappointed by it... it felt like a filler season. Fumoffu was better.

 

[Shingo Hibiki]

I'd send TRSI an email. I've noticed that ever since they moved some of my shit will sit "reserved" for weeks, even though other stuff ships and they should pile it all together, until I email them and ask "WTF?" Then mysteriously all the shit that's reserved ships and I never hear from them.

Did you send an e-mail to info@rightstuf.com or did you use the general contact form? I used the latter, and while those items are now processing, they responded saying they normally charge a $4 partial shipping fee but would waive it as a one time courtesy. I think this is bullshit, even if they didn't charge me, considering they have partially shipped items in every single order I have placed. Oh well, I sure hope this doesn't keep up. I'm not really in a rush to get this stuff, but if they have it just sitting there waiting to be shipped, then they should just fucking send it. Especially since the other stuff in my orders are one to two months away from release.

 

[slerch666]

Did you send an e-mail to info@rightstuf.com or did you use the general contact form? I used the latter, and while those items are now processing, they responded saying they normally charge a $4 partial shipping fee but would waive it as a one time courtesy. I think this is bullshit, even if they didn't charge me, considering they have partially shipped items in every single order I have placed.

Either one works for the email, as they both go to the same place.

Here's a little FAQ on partial TRSI shipments:

Our system is set up to issue partial ships for 1 or more of the
following situations:
1.) 50% of the order is in-stock and allocated.
2.) $100.00 of the order is in-stock and allocated.
3.) 1 or more of the items have been in-stock and allocated to an order
for 45 or more days.
4.) If the customer is requesting a partial shipment and he/she is
willing to pay the additional ship fee as follows:
A.) US $4.00
B.) International $15.00
C.) Canada $7.00

Our system will initiate partial shipments also if we have items
available at the time the order was placed or if our warehouse is caught
up.

So it all depends on a number of factors. Had one of your orders met the above criteria, then they SHOULD have done partial shipments for EVERYTHING that was Reserved For Your Order. It may be true that none of your orders qualified for partial shipment. I don't know.

I don't have a problem waiting. I mean fuck me, I've got 67 DVDs in my unwatched pile, so it's not like I have nothing else to keep me occupied!

 

[slerch666]

I finished off the last 2 volumes of Petite Princess Yucie last night (watched all the rest the day before).

This one doesn't have a typical Gainax ending. There are 2 spots in the last 2 eps that would have made perfect Gainax endings. For those that have seen it, the first would have been when the one person becomes the Platinum Princess and is left agonizing over what she had forgotten. The next was when she returned to the Magic World and remembered what she had forgotten. That they chose to end it properly was surprising, but only because I know how much they love fucked up endings. I guess when you have a show that is decidedly childish in nature it doesn't do well to have it end badly.

They do leave it a little open ended, which was disappointing, but not enough so that it would seem like it's sequel bound.

The funny part is that the three main leads in Sakura Taisen play parts. Koboyashi Sanae played a bit character in the first eps. Hidaka Noriko played Pac in one eps. And Yokoyama Chisa played Maga Selena. They are all lead power houses these days, yet they all played rather small bit parts. Too funny.

The bright side is that the voice cast was actually different than Mahoromatic and Konomini.

Overall the show was OK. Nothing amazing. Nothing that original. Gainax didn't do the greatest of jobs, even if it was their first jump into the magical girl genre. Probably their last. Gonzo's Kaleido Star shit all over it, IMO.

 

[Shingo Hibiki]

So it all depends on a number of factors. Had one of your orders met the above criteria, then they SHOULD have done partial shipments for EVERYTHING that was Reserved For Your Order. It may be true that none of your orders qualified for partial shipment. I don't know.

I don't have a problem waiting. I mean fuck me, I've got 67 DVDs in my unwatched pile, so it's not like I have nothing else to keep me occupied!

I could have sworn I read up on all of their policies, but I somehow missed that. However, I think only one or two of my shipments has actually fallen under any of those circumstances. I kind of feel like an ass now, but they sent my stuff as they got it before and I just expected them to follow that trend.

 

[slerch666]

I could have sworn I read up on all of their policies, but I somehow missed that. However, I think only one or two of my shipments has actually fallen under any of those circumstances. I kind of feel like an ass now, but they sent my stuff as they got it before and I just expected them to follow that trend.

It's not something they have posted anywhere that I know of. I got that policy out of an email they sent me (me, of all people. One person who spends so much fucking money with their company that it would likely sicken my family to think about it) when I made the request to have something shipped.

They've yet to really fuck me over like many companies before them, and for that I'll continue to purchase from them.

 

[Shawn Carr2o]

Grave of the Fireflies was a very sad anime movie

I just finished watching Grave of the Fireflies on AZN channel 69 and I gotta say it was a very good anime movie that was made back in (1988) and the story is very sad which is about a boy and his 4 year old sister who are trying to survived the war in Japan that was in ruins from the US in WWII. I highly recommend this anime movie to everyone or to some anime fans who haven't seen it yet.

I first watched Grave of Fireflies on VHS when I had rented it back in 2002 and somehow I knew that it looked interesting and so I went ahead on renting it while I was at Blockbuster Video. I give this anime movie about 5 star for a great! movie.

Grave of the Fireflies is base on a true story. Hey slerch have you seen this anime movie before and what do think of it?.

 

[slerch666]

Shawn- yeah, I've seen Grave of Fireflies. In all honesty, it didn't do much for me. If I had actually liked the 2 children rather than find them annoying, I may have felt sad at the end of the film. As it stood, they annoyed me to no end and when the final scene played out and the chips fell out the way they did, I didn't care either way.

It was a very stylish approach and it did a good job conveying it's message, I just didn't really find it to be a master piece. CPM re-released a remastered DVD (I think) and I'm OK with having the old copy. Hell, I'll probably never watch it again, so it doesn't really matter all that much I suppose.

 

[Shingo Hibiki]

It seems I should have waited a little while longer to complain about my stuff shipping. Two more of my items just got put on reserve yesterday, one of which is Elfen Lied vol. 4. Though it looks like Right Stuf won't be sitting on this one seeing as it is processing along with the other item.

I also got Fumoffu 4 and Ah! My Goddess 1 yesterday. I wasn't expecting that. Right Stuf barely shipped them out on Tuesday. It normally takes at least a week to get my shipments since I always go for the free shipping. Had I known that it would be this quick then I would have gladly paid the extra $4. Anyway, tackling opening the box was a bit of a challenge, but I managed getting the stickers off without leaving any damage. I had hoped the disc itself wasn't shrinkwrapped as well, but of course, no such luck. I also like the Belldandy pendant included in the box. I wasn't expecting anything else to be in the box.

I've also been rewatching Onegai Teacher again. I can't say why I liked this series so much, but I keep going back to watch it. This marks the fifth time now. I didn't really care for Twins that much, but I don't know, I probably need to rewatch it. Looks like a boxset is right around the corner too. Not a bad price either, kind of hard to resist.

 

[slerch666]

I started watching The Melody of Oblivion the other day. I have 3 DVDs of it, and finished the first.

Now Loading would enjoy it because Kuwashima Houko plays the lead. Too bad it's a fucking MALE lead.

The studio behind this one is JC Staff and as such I had expected a better animation style, something like ROD the TV. I was disappointed. They do a lot of stylized stuff that requires only minimal animation at times and unlike Tsukuyomi's similar use of weird angles and shit, TMoO just doesn't play it out too well.

The story goes that monsters attacked humans at some point in the past. The monsters won the war. Now humans only live in certain areas and most are required to sacrifice one of their children every 4 years to monsters. I think some are more frequently. There are people called Warriors of Melos who know about the monsters and are still fighting to stop them. Legend has it that if you can locate the place in which The Melody of Oblivion (a little girl only the warriors can see) and free her, humanity will be saved. Enter Bocca, the hero. He starts his life as a normal student, only to learn he is a warrior and thus begins his journey.

The show itself, while watching it, seems a little drawn out. It's not as fast paced as I would like for what seems to be a show that has a desire to be an action show with a story. The story gets in the way IMO, as they spend a LOT of time developing it, a lot of time that could be better used elsewhere.

Amano Yuri (Rain from G Gundam) actually plays a "bad guy" this time around, something I don't recall having ever seen before, which was kinda cool.

The show, so far, is passable. Again, nothing spectacular, but not all that disappointing. Yet another middle of the road series.

 

[slerch666]

It seems I should have waited a little while longer to complain about my stuff shipping. Two more of my items just got put on reserve yesterday, one of which is Elfen Lied vol. 4. Though it looks like Right Stuf won't be sitting on this one seeing as it is processing along with the other item.

Anyway, tackling opening the box was a bit of a challenge, but I managed getting the stickers off without leaving any damage. I had hoped the disc itself wasn't shrinkwrapped as well, but of course, no such luck. I also like the Belldandy pendant included in the box. I wasn't expecting anything else to be in the box.

My Elfen Lied 4 shipped on Weds. As did Maburaho 5.

Is all that's remaining on the Elfen Lied order in stock? That's why it'll ship. If everythin remaining is in stock, they'll ship.

As far as the AMG box, those stickers suck shit through a straw. What I did to take them off was to use a hair drier on the hot - low setting. Hit the sticker with it for enough time to warm the sticky shit up, pull. When pulling became difficult, I'd hit it again. I'd say it took me a good 10 minutes to completely remove. There is no residue remaining, and no stickers, which is good.

That cell phone strap is why it took the box longer to show up at stores. They were waiting on it to arrive from Japan.

 

[Shingo Hibiki]

Is all that's remaining on the Elfen Lied order in stock? That's why it'll ship. If everythin remaining is in stock, they'll ship.

Actually, no. Fafner 3 and Genshiken 3 are also part of the order. Fafner is supposed to release on the same day as Elfen Lied 4, and Genshiken isn't due until December. The other item was Cowboy Bebop Remix 2, which is from another order. I ordered the first three discs when they were having that Bandai sale a few months ago. The first disc shipped by itself really early too. Seriously, after looking through my order history, I'd say four shipments out of I don't know how many actually fell under any of those circumstances. This may just be a coincidence, but this has only happened with me on orders that had weekly special items in it. The AMG box was a weekly special and the order with Fumoffu 4 in it also had a weekly special. That weekly special item also sat reserved for a while too until something from another order came in.

Oh, and I bit the bullet and ordered that Onegai Twins box. Also ordered the Chobits thinpack set along with it. Might as well get them now before the price goes up. Though, with my luck, Right Stuf will have a Geneon sale next and could have nabbed the Chobits box for cheaper...

 

[Kristian Meller]

Those Onegai boxes are fucking excellently priced. I can't believe they're selling the complete boxes WITH soundtracks for $50! And that's just the MSRP. Go to one of the cheap online stores and you're looking at less than $40. Damn. No excuse not to own both shows now!

 

[Shingo Hibiki]

Those Onegai boxes are fucking excellently priced. I can't believe they're selling the complete boxes WITH soundtracks for $50! And that's just the MSRP. Go to one of the cheap online stores and you're looking at less than $40. Damn. No excuse not to own both shows now!

Saw the Onegai Teacher box for $34.99 at Fry's Electronics the other day. I bought each disc, minus the box, for about $18 each. It almost makes me want to kick myself, even if I do believe the price I paid was well worth it. I just wish I had a box to put the discs in.

 

[Kristian Meller]

For some reason I have a hard time getting me panties in a twist over these cheap re-releases (from Bandai and the thinpaks from ADV). I don't know why. I think I spent $100 on getting Please Teacher last Christmas. A bit less on Twins around the time the fourth volume was released.

When I want to get a show, I just get it if I can afford it and I don't really bother with thinking about possible subsequent cheapo re-releases.

 

[toy_brain]

Well I love all these cheapo re-releases.
I've decided that I'm gonna get the thinpack release of any ADV series I've previously skipped on - starting with Edens Bowy and Nuku Nuku Dash.
(Hopefully they cleared up the mistimed english audio glitch in Eden's Bowy)

Sure they might be pretty 'meh' series, but they make good 'filler' for once I'm done watching my singles. And the price - cant complain about that.
I'm not too bothered about the fact that I paid £70+ for Chrono Crusade, only for it to be released in thinpack form for about £50 - I just chalk it up as standard depreciation and good ol' "You win some, You loose some" mentality.
Its just a case of, if you really want a series - get it straight away. Otherwise just forget about it and dont reconsider it untill the thinpack/brick is announced.

Cant wait for the thinpack DNAngel and Steam Detectives.

(Oh, and if anyones wondering about my ADV bias - well some of Bandai's earlier series are a bit hit-and-miss in terms of dub quality whick makes me hesetant when buying, ADV dubs are mostly OK IMO).

 

[Kristian Meller]

Well I love all these cheapo re-releases.

I never said I disliked them or planned on never to buy any of them. I ordered the Chrono Crusade thinpak yesterday and I'll be buying Kaleido Star, Maburaho and Elfien Lied thinpak collections in the future (if the latter two are announced and released, which I'm betting they will be). On my list of possible buys I have Angelic Layer, Rune Soldier and Najica. Just not right now

 

[toy_brain]

Rune Soldier should not be a 'possible'.
It should be a 'definate'.

 

[slerch666]

The cheap ass re-releases bother me, but only because they are coming so damn soon after I spent more money on singles. It's like a kick in the face. At least before we didn't see a box release until 18-24 months after a release, now with ADV it's like every series is a thin pack release 4-6 months after the last disc is released. They will kill the singles market this way, as who, besides addicted retards like me, will want to pay $20-$30 a disc for an MSRP of $80-$210 when they know a cheap ass box with MSRP of $40-$100 is just around the corner? This is the same shit MB used to pull, and you don't see them doing that much anymore, and if they do release a cheap box it's no longer 6 months after the last single, it's more like 12-18 months.

Yes, I could quit bitching and buy boxes like everyone else, but I like the extras, I like the artwork. Companies should drop the MSRP on singles instead of rewarding the sitters. The only rewards I get for paying too much are pack in extras and a few video extras (and ADV is the only company reauthoring discs to drop video extras, so Bandai's cheap ass boxes are the same discs I over paid for).

I also don't want to kill the Anime market. I want new shit to come out. If everyone waited we'd see less and less new stuff released, which I definitely don't want.

 

[Kristian Meller]

Rune Soldier should not be a 'possible'.
It should be a 'definate'.

Or "definite"...

All signs point to Rune Soldier being one of those shows a lot of people love, for some reason, that I just won't. The rating over at ANN also seems to indicate this being something that should be a "possible" rather than a definite.

 

[Now Loading]

I started watching The Melody of Oblivion the other day. I have 3 DVDs of it, and finished the first.

Now Loading would enjoy it because Kuwashima Houko plays the lead. Too bad it's a fucking MALE lead.

It goes from weird, to bizarre over the course of the series. I liked it quite a bit actually. After the last few episodes I don't think I'll ever think of cows the same way again.

 

[Fox1]

Hey slerch, TMP has been licensed by Funimation it looks like. http://newsletter.funimation.com/ check the top flash banner. http://moonphase.tv/

 

[slerch666]

Hey slerch, TMP has been licensed by Funimation it looks like. http://newsletter.funimation.com/ check the top flash banner. http://moonphase.tv/

Hmmmm... I'm not sure how to feel about this one.

Part of me still doesn't like FUCKimation, even now that they've fixed their DVDs.

The other part of me wonders if they'll license all those really cool extras that come with the R2s. Couple of CDs with Drama CD stuff, plushies, Hazuki figure...

Of course, looks like it's starting Summer of next year, so the earliest is June, which means I'll have finished it on R2 DVD at least 6 months before the first R1.

I guess I'll still buy the R1s.