Rather than appologizing once again for the extremely sparse posting I will actually post something more interesting.  When I left for the Basic in January ADV was one the companies that was at the top of the US anime heap. Now they are struggling to survive, with their recent anouncements at Otakon veing less than overwhelming.  Personally I hope they will find a new and more stable partner than Sojitz proved to be.  Ideally they would merge with their long time rival to the north, Funimation.  That is unlikely, but a merger with any number of companies have interesting possibilities.  For now though one just has to wait and see.

See more opinions on ADV's future here.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 09:27 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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     Hello Kitty has been turned into a marketing juggernaut without compare.  First it was a Hello Kitty viabrator, and now even more obscure product for licseing, bicycle tires.  I kid you not go here.

Hat tip to Steven den Beste.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 04:44 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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    One of the best gifts I got for Christmas this yeart wa copy of the Paprika DVD.  I am huge fan of the work of Satoshi Kon, but Paprika may verry well be his best works to date.  It combines the mental vs actual reality with the who is who aspects of Perfect Blue.  This is one fantastic film, and I will certainly be looking for an english version of the novel upon which it is based.

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Tachikoma Robot

Sadly this to be found at the bottom of the page "The robot is not for sale, just for DVD promotion."

I want one of these things so bad, but I can't have one.  If it is any cosolation no one else can either.  Still this thing would make them a bundle if they would sell it. 

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 02:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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     There is one thing that anime and manga companies love about Otaku.  Not that they are reliable consumers of their product, that is a given, no it is the fact that if you include some sort of fairly inexpensive to make trinket and call it a special edition they are all over it.  I am guilty of this just like so many others.  It has an art box that holds all the discs?  Who cares that is five or ten dollars more. forgetting in that moment that the vox probably cost them all of thirty or forty cents to make.  Now that is not always the case of course, the Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex SE's gave you alotfor your money, and ditto the SE's of Haruhi Suzumiya, FULLMETAL Alchemist and Eureka Seven.  It doesn't bother me though, I gave in and accepted it a long time ago.  I am looking forward to the first Bleach DVD box set, and yes I will be getting the special edition with the chain snatch wallet, just like I will be getting the Naruto Shadow Box that comes with the manga volumes 25,26 and 27.  Sometimes it is better to not fight these things and just roll with them.  Pictures of one of those aforementioned trinkets, the mini figure of the Major that came with the GitS SAC 2^nd Gig SE volume seven along with a soundtrack and a tin to hold all the DVD's.

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     Fan service is one of those anime staples that can help to really make a show when done well, or if done badly bring down an otherwise good series and provide the finishing blow for a bad one.  The most common form of fan service is probably either the panty shot or the send the cast to an onsen* so we can see them naked episode.  Both are classics and do their job well, but the really stand out when you can incorparate them into an actual advancing of the plot, which is where so many shows fall flat on their faces.  I appreciate fan service as much as the next guy, and maybe a little more .  The biggest problem with fan service is that tends to become an end to itself in certain shows, destroying all plot movement and carachter development.  Thats not to say you can't build a show a around fanservice, you can, it just takes careful planning and a deft hand.  You can get a way with a hell of a lot without annoiying people if it drives the plot.  One of the funniest anime I own is built entirely around fan service, by using humor and an irreverent attitude Colorful provides a lot of laughs that in the hands of a less talented staff wouldn't be nearly as funny.

Here are four shows that bring on plenty of fanservice while still giving you a decent helping of plot and story.

1.  Najica Blitz Tactics- Panty Shots extrodinare, plus lots of firepower and suggestive outfits.

2.  Colorful- As the cover says 'Roses are red, violets are blue. This show is about panties.'  Short adventures of various people and the dumb and desperate thing they do to see panties while largely ignoring the women in them.

3.  Plastic Little: The Adventures of Captain Tita-  Old School at its best, an entertaining if not brilliant story and lots and lots of BOOBIES! Plus the infamous ADV jiggle counter.

4.  Godannar-A real fanservice all you can eat buffet, Girls, Guns, Giant Robots, Monsters, impossibly tiny and clingy battle suits. (for the ladies at least)  The story is good, the art great and the action occurs often, all served up with a bit of tongue firmly in cheek. 

*For those that might not know and Onsen is a traditional Japanese hot spring, and for maximum humor you sen your characters to one that features mixed bathing.**

**Mixed Bathing-Men and women bathing together with no dividers etc, let the nosebleeds begin.***

***And yes upon further review these notes are insanely obvious and perhaps unneeded in this case, oh and they were written by a moose.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 10:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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From Chizumatic, or more specifically SDB's future series list.

Desert Punk -- NO -- Grim and gritty
Gunslinger Girl -- NO -- Grim and gritty, dead girls, blood and gore
Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex -- NO -- Grim and gritty, lousy art
Full Metal Alchemist -- NO -- Grim and gritty

      I must disagree with all of these but one in particular sticks in my craw.  That would be Desert Punk, it is emphatically not grim and gritty.   Desert Punk is actually a send up of all the various grim and gritty post apocalitic distopia stories out there, and a damn funny one with a fair bit of fan service.(Paging Junko, you have a call on the blue curtesy phone.) Those that have seen this series know what I am talking about when I say Kanta in the air vent it draws both laugther and a shudder.   As one might gather from the name of this site I like GITS-SAC*, I didn't think the art was lousy, it didn't leave me mouth agape but it didn't leave me scrubbing my eyes either.  I would say that it had average to above average art.  But My other main points of contention are with Full Metal Alchemist and Gunslinger Girl.  FMA is grim and gritty and has angst yes, but it also has a great story, an even better cast and an ending that is perhaps the most uplifting of any anime series or movie I have ever seen.  My quibble with Gunslinger Girl is a technical point, they aren't dead, they were all near dead/terminally ill and were chosen for the program as a result.  So what am trying to say here?  Namely that it can be hard to decide check a series based upon the often thin and less than informative plot synapsis that are on offer in cyberspace.  I respect Steven's opinions but I disagree with him about the shows, but namely I am trying correct what I believe to be a judgement based on less than the whole truth.  So to correct that misconception I am offering to send, on my dime a copy of the prview DVD from Newtype USA's May 2006 issues which has the first episode of Desert Punk on it, if Steven still doesn't like it that is fine.  If he changes his mind, then great, I helped clear up a misunderstanding.  Either way all I ask is that if you (and assuming you ever read this) are interested drop me a line (at ragingtachikoma@sbcglobal.net )so I can fire this baby off to you.  Until then I shall continue to enjoy your blog, after all because of you I was turned on to Kaliedo Star and that show is absolutely top notch.

*GITS-SAC=Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex

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     Nerima Daikon Brothers, an anime musical comedy brought to you by Nabeshin.    While not necessarily heavy on thought provoking plot or an examination of some great concept* this show is still more than worth the price of admission.  Following the two brothers, Hiideki and Ichiro from Nerima and their gold digging female cousin Mako, and pet panda (Pandaikon) as they scrape by farming Daikon (Hideki), working in a host club (Ichiro) while trying to make it big in the music business.  The humor is broad, the music catchy and uptempo.  The whole concept of  musical anime seems like something of a non sequitor.  Animated musicals always having been seen as a western genre, made famous by Disney.  Unlike the light and fluffy stuff from the house of the mouse this more like anime does Blues Brothers with a dash of Excel Saga.  Nabeshin appears as the owner of a rental shop which always has waht they need to escape from theor tight spot of the moment.  While a little episodic, the show never fails to deliver with the laughs and the commentaries by Nabeshin and some of the crast and crew are as funny as the shows themselves.

*But then has anything Nabeshin done been known for its plot?  I mean this the man that brought you both Excel Saga and Puni Puni Poemi.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 05:05 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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    I love promo discs, you can check out new shows before they hit the stores, but even better you can stuble on to shows of which you are aware but if you hadn't seen a promo you would never have considered giving a chance.  Thus I sat down the other day with the promo DVD form the latest issue of Newtype USA and checked out a show with whose name and premise I was famillar but had always written off as not being my thing, KashiMashi Girl meets Girl.  Sure I had heard of this show, but after watching the episode and laughing my ass off at the humor and being genuinely impressed by the animators and writers abillity to convey emotion and humanity.  I wasn't famillar with the charcters or their individual stories but I was still able to find a connection with the story, which is damn hard to do in the span of thirty minutes.  That and the fact that I am a sucker for gender switching humor doesn't hurt either. (My favorite gender swap joke is in Oh! My Goddess when Keichi manages to basically turn himself into a pre-op transvetite, combined with the arrival of Urd's ex makes for some great humor.)

      The other great thing about promotional DVDs, at least those that come with magazines like Newtype and Otaku are that they have a wide range of shows from different companies.  From time to time Shonen Jump comes with free DVD's but they tend to contain a single episode of a single show, and invariably form Viz.  While that is understandable they could at least try for a little corporate cross promotion, it can't cost a whole lot more to put three episodes  on a DVD compared to one episode.  On the whole though promo DVDs are a great way to discover new and maybe not so new shows to fall for.

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From IGN.com

To Be, or High-Def DVD?
When will the anime companies jump on the high-def DVD bandwagon?
by Scott Collura
July 13, 2007 - When Bandai Entertainment announced that its brand new OVA series Freedom would be released on HD DVD, it got us at IGN thinking. When will the other anime companies out there get around to adopting a high-def DVD format, and when they do, which side in the format war will they choose -- HD DVD or Blu-ray?

Read the whole thing

     I know some people will take this as big news but it isn't.  It is clear that not only is anime to small to profitable in a HD format in North America, any type of media in HD is unprofitable.  While the technology is impressive all manufacture of HD software have overlooked the single biggest hole in their business plans, the pathetically low installed base of HD television sets in the U.S.  Combined with the fact that only in the past 2-3 years DVD has firmly replaced VHS as the dominate market force and two competing standards for HD optical discs most consumers are simply not interested in having to upgrade yet again.  Nearly everyone is holding off for one of two basic reasons, either the don't own an HD tv, or they're are afraid of choosing the loser and being left high and dry ala BETA.  Asking which HD format a company is running with is like asking if you want to be on the Titanic or the Andrea Dora.  Both ships sank at sea even though one was undeniably safer and better built than the other.

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     What makes something the best?  Is it popularity, profitability, quality, a combination of three?  Something else entirely?  This is one of those vexing subjective questions that can start long and heated debates just about anywhere when people have differing views on just what the best really is.  While some individual discs might be score better in reviews the three above are in competition for what I believe to be the best anime series.  Cowboy Bebop, Fooly Cooly and FullMetal Alchemist, all have strong writing, great animation and awesome music, and perhaps most importantly consistantly high quality writing  There are plenty of shows out there that have stand out episodes or story arcs but very few that manage to be simply great from beginning to end.  

     Each show has a lot make it a contender, and each has its drawbacks that make the debate all that much more interesting.  So let us take a look at the contenders in detail.

Contender #1 Cowboy Bebop.

  This show perhaps more than any pther typifies the growth of anime in the US more than any other, sure Akira was well known but Bebop was the first series to find sucess on tv while being aimed at adults rather than children or tweens.  Possibly the best scripted series ever shown on adult swim it stands out for its writing, pacing and wonderfully constructed plot that allows for every episode help be part of a larger story but still be built around its own unique plot.  No mean feat, this along with music that puts many hollywood movies to shame coupled with nearly flawless animation set in a familiar yet distinctly different world.  The only real downside to Cowboy Bebop is the sparsity of extras and lack of a sound mix higher than dolby 2.0.*

Contender #2 Fooly Cooly.

  Coolest Show Ever.  I don't know what it is but this show is almost without comparison.  It has a plot, but it seems to matter very little.  Moving from parody to humor, to drama and where ever else it feels like going this series does more in six episodes than many do in twenty four or fifty two.  Once more excellent animation and superlative music combine with top notch writing to  create something so much greater than the sum of its parts.  Downsides, none aside form its short length, by episode six you find that it suddenly really is over.

Contender #3 FULLMETAL Alchemist.

  FULLMETAL Alchemist is a show that epitimizes strong writing and character development, and it is a show that is not afraid to take risks like killing off a fan favorite character like Mayes Hughes I still remember seeing that episode for the first time and being shocked and in disbelief, but they had really done it.  With a score that simply leaves one in awe for its musicality and beauty it has most impressive score of any anime ever.  The charcaters are what makes this show, one is able to connect with them on a basic, human level that is very rare in televison or movies.  The story is gripping and exciting, yet able to capture the quiet moments that help gives life to the characters and their world.  FMA's only drawback is that it occassionaly gives in to the needs of its original fifty two week run with a handful of filler episodes that play very well but  leave you wanting to get back to the main plot threads and see them adavnced.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 08:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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     As I have said before I am a fan of Anime and Manga, but more than that I am an Otaku, and I am proud to be one.  While some people might associate the term with negative or derogatory meanings or connotative implications, not to me, it simply means that I am a fan, a fan who has seen the ups and downs and stuck with my passion.  I appreciate that bringing new fans to the table is important, and one of my hope for this humble blog is to be an ambassador to the world of the North American Otaku.

 How did, I, a seemingly normal, rational person become an otaku you ask, easy by accident.  In junior high I happened to see a couple of anime videos that my older brother had rented, while he remains a casual fan I got hooked.  The first two anime that I remember seeing all the way through was a subbed VHS of Plastic Little : The Adventures of Captain Tita and a sub of Royal Space Force : Wings of the Honemiese.  While Plastic Little came as a shock to me for its massive fanservice (I had no idea such things could even be done in animation, I truly was an innocent) Royal Space Force was, and remains one of my favorites with its tremendous storytelling, plot and art, it showed that animation could be so much more than Disney-esque animation or thirty minute toy commercials.

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