Notes taken with a 0.7mm pencil.
The post at Metanorn uses animated GIFs to a great effect, and really makes me think if basic blogging about animated media is too limited in its ability to expose the anime itself. BTW, the best way to read the post is to leech it through a newsreader: the site is too overloaded with distracting garbage.
It just occured to me that “animaru soruja” means “Animal Soldiers”. Yes, I’m slow.
There were really no surprises, and there is not much to write about, except one thing: they really outdone themselves animating the final 3 episodes. The characters went stronger on-model and generally a lot of effort was expended on all elements of the visual presentation.
Liked: Yes
Rewatch: Not likely, but would not object
One thing to rant about here is how it took me more than a year to complete the run (the opener post went up in December 2008), thanks to the leisurely release schedule. How is this acceptable, Media Blasters? I know that such things were the norm back in the 80s, when Pioneer made American fans to dangle for 6 months [!] between tapes (it was also a major cliffhanger with Ryoko about to strike and kill sleeping Tenchi). But this is not the 80s anymore. Moreover, considering how quickly DVDs go out of circulation on Neflix, there is very little chance that someone may be able to see all of the series if started late. Pure insanity, honestly.
I wasn’t happy with Tentai Senshi Sunred when it aired, but I was made to watch it again at the club, and it makes a bit more sense now. The jokes are pretty funny, but more importantly, they do not wear out despite the ostensible repetition.
In addition, Kayoko is ridiculously hot, because she’s so woman-like.
UPDATE, in which I agree with WAH (of all people!):
[] Another thing that makes Sunred funny is how deep it plunges its heroes and villains into the stereotypically mundane Japanese lifestyle. As such, making the characters pay for things in dollars, as well as citing American brands as opposed to Japanese ones robs the show of its cultural flavour. Sunred thrives on references to local and nationally known things.
Of course, raw is the way to go. But the screencap above should not be taken as an indication that I am in any way or shape capable of understanding Sanred raw. I was so immensely proud when I got the gist of the plot to catch Kayoko, between the rabbit and the dog dude, but that really is the limit. Go, ANBU! Make it accessible! Not that I personally would download it…
UPDATE: Price of Sunred’s bike goes lower in every episode.
Thought I gave up on cons, but LCAD announced a panel “IDOLM@STER videos”. My only weakness! If any animebloggers plan to come, hit me on e-mail, plz.
UPDATE: Las Cruces hosts the only Pizzeria Uno location in the state.
UPDATE 2010/01/31: Well, that was fun, but unfortunately my monstorus headache almost ruined it. I passed out some time after 4 p.m. and missed on the half of the con. I made it to the IDOLM@STER videos thing, which turned out not to be a panel, as I mistakenly assumed (even though it plainly had a grey background in the program).
Seing the videos in full resolution was unreal. For some reason, everything on YouTube is quite bad. Unfortunately, since the showing had no panelist, there was no way to ask just where they downloaded the videos.
LCAD itself was amazingly well-organized for a small, backwater con. I remember coming up to Fanime on Saturday and they still had no program (it was only ready in the afternoon). But here the schedule was finalized and published at least 4 days in advance. It was also given to attendees in an attractive printed booklet, and was easy to read. All panels and screenings ran like clockwork, except for Mrs. Rial being fashionably late.
Seen a funny missive today from the owner of RACS:
R1 studios are not going to be able to build a future on paid downloads or advertising revenue shares. That strategy caters mostly to the folks who are currently stealing Anime, and is DOA. From my point of view, I only care about the concerns of paying Anime fans. Torrent downloaders and bootleggers have no stake, and therefore no voice, in the Anime industry and their concerns should go entirely ignored by the industry except to the point of what might entice them to become paying customers again. [Emphasis mine — Author]
So, Robert suggests “the Anime industry” to ignore the market that is growing (and in which he is not a player) and concentrate on the one which is shrinking (and in which he operates). This seems entirely too transparent to me. I cannot answer better than Penny Arcade did in a strip. Fight the rear guard all you want, the tide cannot be stemmed. I am definitely going to step up purchases of downloads (minus DRM, of course).
UPDATE: AstroNerdBoy thinks the future is in “freemium” model. Honestly sounds too much of a buzzword to me, but…
UPDATE: Omo discussed it further, mostly from the BD angle. He is also pretty hard on the “digital delivery” in the comments. I tried to explain that lower quality makes a ton of sense for my situation. My facts are: a) I do not have a 1080 display device (this laptop’s display is 900 pixels tall), b) I do not have a BD spindle (not even a consumer one), c) I have a high performance broadband connection (low megabytes per second grade). Why would not would Crunchy sell me some Precure at $2 a pop (aside form it being a lousy show)? The question is only how many fans are like me, and how many are willing to get BDs. But he won’t listen. I guess we’re just going to fight with our money, K-ON style.
At the club today, our local industry insider (whose name, unfortunately, I did not catch) announced that a new station started broadcasting: 91.8 The Fan. Although the site was attractively designed, finding their stream was a chore (I only saw a Flash applet), so I hopped on their IRC channel. Sandgolem himself linked me the location of their .pls: radio.918thefan.com:8000/listen.pls. Other friendly chatters gave me a link to their forum thread, which referred to pspradio.co.uk. This player addresses essentially all of my previous issues, so I’m quite happy.
At Moe Check:
Eyebrows were raised when I named Kampfer as my favourite show last season before the last few episodes, but I do not see any objections mentioned to people slamming Omamori Himari after… what, two episodes?
Although honestly, Kurogane’s reasons for dropping were higly dubious. Fancervice? Pile it up. I wish Tayutama wasn’t as bad as it was.
<zaitcev> http://www.houseofsixten.com/stealth/cannonpost/page12.jpg
<NovaJinx> …what
<NovaJinx> that comic is disturbing
<NovaJinx> seriously
<NovaJinx> that totally beats Mistakes of the Youth in awkward self-insert
<hikago> more than that, it’s a fantasy with MIAO
<zaitcev> I cannot believe you have not heard about Miao Diary.
<hikago> AS THE… argh
<hikago> i purged it from my mind
<hikago> this was like a year ago
<hikago> i thought i was free
<NovaJinx> lol
<NovaJinx> well I kinda like his art but everything else is….orz
UPDATE: The #animeblogger channel is not secret, in fact it was “recommended” to be linked from the navigation alongside the mandatory buttons. I did not have the button because I conserved sidebar space back in the bad old days of inline categories. Enabled it now.
My favourite hater of good anime also has a LJ. Yesterday she sent up what amounts to a list of capsure comments, and I am weak for them. Scroll down where she becomes tired and terse. Many are quite witty!
Also:
Kampfer – Trap anime, too lollerrific to pass up. Probably won’t finish; I’ll stop when the lulz run dry.
So tsundere! But yes, and it’s a valid way to look at it. The intrigue and mystery that kept me interested were deliberately mauled by the creators, and here are wages they receive. I am not even going to watch the second season.
