Notes taken with a 0.7mm pencil.
ANN:
The box will include about three minutes of new footage as an epilogue that will depict the future of the main characters after the last television episode. However, production of the box will only be green-lit for a March 26 release if 2,000 or more pre-orders are filled.
I already have bought the DVD set. And now they announce this? I’d like to tel P.A.Works up where to stuff their pre-orders. Not that I rage about it or anything.
Instigated in no small part by Hashi, I gave a try to Ichizon 05. It was nothing like this:
For me, it is a hip, smart, hilarious and humane self-referential comedy with great characters, total absurdity, and moe to spare.
Right, so I guess it’s extremely humane to lock a person into a coffin-sized iron box. If we did it at Gitmo, what would you say? I mean, outside of the “just deserts for fanatics” angle? Maybe it was hip.
The art is in the generally same style and is fractionally better than in Tayutama, but not by much.
UPDATE: Pablo linked me to a topical comic by our old friend WAH. I have to say his imaginary girlfriend delievered a more meaningful critique than I did above.
@jpmeyer maybe Lain? Do people still recommend that
@omonomono They recommend, but ABe went and fixed all the bugs in it for the Haibane release so why bother? It’s like recommending Win 3.0 when 3.11 superceded it.
According to ANN, John Sirabella announced that his company licensed Queen’s Blade. This probably means that Juuden-chan will go to somewhere else, which is a pity; by all accounts a much better show than QB, despite the gross effects. In the same group, Funimation snatched Strike Witches (for DVD only — DTO is still on Crunchyroll, where I bought ep.8), but Sekirei is still available. Kampfer is still airing.
Kampfer > Sekirei > Juuden-chan ~ Strike Witches > Queen’s Blade
Production IG has managed to achieve is a show that truly looks shoujo in a way most anime have not, including perfectly good works such as Cardcaptor Sakura and Itazura na Kiss.
There’s a very strong understanding by the staff on this show as to when to utilize the more visually two-dimensional and emotional elements and when to incorporate a three-dimensional sense of spacing among the characters, and it, and the result is that it achieves that pastel and wispy shoujo manga feel while still making sense as an animation. In a way it reminds me of 70s-style shoujo, only with less emphasis on the melodramatic, and more technical skill on the part of the animators.
I think it’s a good time to remind everyone about another P.IG production with a similarly singular visual style, Windy Tales [link]. There’s even a small overlap in staff, for example Masatsuguru Arakawa worked on both.
When a couple of days ago Funimation brass bragged about having the first look at all licenses (and Robert of RACS happily regurgitated it), I was a bit sloppy for not providing examples, but check out this review by Scott VonSchilling, who is a major fan of Funi.
If you think Scott only did the review to boost “independency” credentials, SDB gave Boobanaut its just deserts too.
Like Omo says, you cannot argue with results – Funi is a financial success. But it does not help me at all: nothing they do is good for me.
UPDATE: J.P. twits: “99% sure that dragonaut was part of some massive package deal with gonzo rather than some kind of selective pickup”. Let’s suppose so, but (a) does it make the result any better? and (b) if they have to get package deals their clout does not seem as great as they say, does it now?
Steven says that it was an all-GONZO deal, including Strike Witches, and SW excuses everything, right? Very well, I’ll find a better example of Funimation licensing random trash, something non-GONZO. You just wait…
By the way, someone please explain to me why Dragonaut is issued ahead of Strike Witches (or why is it issued at all if Funi is so smart with the money).
Sankaku Complex reports and editorises on the success of Endless Eight DVDs (NSFW like everything on Sankaku). Although, about breaking the 10,000 mark: isn’t it a bit too low? Haruhi was selling 40 to 60,000 in States alone, IIRC. I’m not 100% comfortable with being a hostage to a small and fickle customer base, even if a profitable production gets sustained nanto naku.
One reason why I posted an unusual round-up for the season was how some bloggers complained that there was nothing to watch. I didn’t have many good examples on tap back then but there’s on on Omohide today (notice the listed series):
Am I missing some excellent series this season? Or it really as bleak as I think? As everyone said before it aired, Kimi ni Todoke is one of the better shows airing, but even then there’s a significant gap between it and the likes of Cross Game, Natsume Yuujinchou, and various other series that I would call excellent.
No wonder.
Never one to pass upon an opinion that matches mine, I’m ready to agree even with Jessi:
I have to say, though, that I sympathize with Saku. Really, Mihoshi isn’t the type of girl with whom I’d like to spend my time. She’s a bit like Haruhi Suzumiya in that she’s enthusiastic about her organization and isn’t about to listen to anybody trying to oppose her, but Mihoshi otherwise just seems like a cheap rip off — a clone created to cash in on the popularity of the character type. Saku unfortunately softens up too quickly, as I stated before. I feel like he should be Mihoshi’s foil; an opposing personality in contrast to her overbearing and over enthusiastic nature. Unfortunately, he withers up and climbs on board too quickly to serve that purpose, and ultimately seems less interesting for it.
My post on the topic wasn’t as measured, sadly. I took it more personally.
BTW, I explicity disclaim any agreement with other parts of Jessi’s review:
Visually the show is above-average, with consistent and fluid animation []
Most certainly not (see the screenshots).
Great, I just wrote a little blog post how K-ON wasn’t anything groundbreaking, thus most likely destined to be forgotten in a couple of weeks, when Jason Miao (formerly of AoMM) links to Youtube://1UwJePxxKJA: Fwa-fwa Time by some dudes (called “M;S(Marco&ShowZ)”). I cannot look away.
Now I want to hear Ramen and Rice playing it. I wonder what happened to them.
P.S. Fuwa-fuwa Time was played at the first Live in ep.6. The actual insert may be hard to find, one is at Youtube://oulIE4CfLcA.
Also, here’s My Love is Like a Stapler.