アニ・ノート

(New) Random Curiosity:

Back when the series was still in the planning phases and Anima was seeking investors to continue with the project at last year’s Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF2009), it was suggested that it would be twelve episodes long; however, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of set schedule for future releases, leaving me wondering exactly how many we’re in store for. Given the impeccable quality of the CG work and all the motion capturing that went into though, I’d say we’ll be lucky if we see another episode before the end of this year. I’m not holding my breath, but this first showing that served as a technical demonstration of sorts to showcase Anima’s movie-like cinematics does have me hoping it will be sooner rather than later.

So it very well may be a one-off technical demonstration after all.

The post is 30% hedges and the rest is a bit convoluted, but basically it comes to this:

DTO makes it hard to stop piracy since it’s a system open to abuse from unscrupulous viewers who can all too easily ruin the fun for everyone else. [..]

The answer is obvious for UK residents, but for the rest of you it’s this: BBC iPlayer. [..]

The iPlayer Desktop application uses on Adobe Air, and can run on Windows or a Mac. Long story short, it works, and fits all the criteria listed above apart from the payment system. So then, the technology exists for viewers to watch their favourite shows but it also has security features built in to allow the site’s webmasters to control who can access the content, and for how long.

You do not have to be a card-carrying member of EFF to see what kind of “defective by design” experience this proposal advocates, and it was soundly rejected by consumers every time it was tried before, from DivX on. Even Netflix did not do a lot to move the issue (although I think a number of unscurpulous and/or pioneering consumers use it; if I remember right, Nick Istre and Aziz Poohvalla among animebloggers do). But The Man keeps coming back to it, so in present the battle is being fought in standalone devices.

I may be not representative of the majority, but for me it’s give me true DTO or give me death, as Patrick Henry said. Moreover, at least at first price is no object for me, within reason. $5 an episode? No problem, if the anime is good. Even $7 may be acceptable.

All I can say about this episode: remember Strike Witches 05? Same meh, repackaged.

SDB wrote merely that “there are a couple of closeups which push the bounds of decency”. Don’t think so. The issue is that the series were on probation already and AIC is telling us loudly where they want to take it.

So, SW2 is being kicked into a suspension, which in practice almost always means cancellation at Ani-nouto (IIRC Toradora was the only series on record that broke out of its suspension).

Tenka Hametsu considers the old topic of online distribution (in the context of Onemanga’s demise) and while the article is not breaking a lot of new ground on this conversation, it is a succint reprize of the argument that would take Omo a dozen screenfulls. Also, can’t help noticing this:

It’s worth nothing that a fair share of people are paying Crunchyroll for online content. I’d say their service still is very lackluster (no DTO, horrible encoding -video quality-, lack of proper support for Linux -and we are in the HTML5 era!-, not enough shows I’d consider good, etc), but it’s certainly true that they are making money out of it.

The DTO was the biggest issue for me (note that DRM-free DTO fixes the Linux problem neatly as well). Honestly even with the Pretty Cure perfidy I’d pissed enough. So I steadfastly refuse to subscribe to Crunchyroll because I am butthurt by the way they treated me. In the same time, it looks like other people do not mind, which is fine and more power to them.

BTW, Beveridge just reported that Crunchy licensed Mitsudomoe. Fortunately, the dialog is just barely manageable for me and I can stick to raws.

Bateszi quickly touches upon the barbaric brutality at the core of Naruto.

There’s a moral ambiguity at its core, feelings torn between the vicarious thrill of watching a series of awesome encounters with heroic characters, and the reality of seeing these children maimed and killed by a bunch of hardened, heartless soldiers. It’s thrilling in its triumph, but thoroughly sad, too, which is just the way it should be for such a dark premise.

One doesn’t need to wait 200+ episodes until Kakashi Gaiden before Naruto reveals itself. I mean, Haku was in the very first arc. Personally, I never liked the necessity of the brutality as built into the setup [1]. I guess that’s the price of easy dramatization, the way how Kishimoto makes it exciting. At the time the way people die when they are killed in Naruto was perceived as a dramatic improvement over the “cartoony” DBZ.

[1] I do not have special hangups about children. A book about boy soldier was a mandatory reading in my school. Such instances were regrettable and thought resulted from adults’ failures to protect children, but such was the real life. Naruto is equally harsh to all of its characters.

But blogging is like an unstoppable zombie.

Seriously though, ani_nouto is bound to make a dent at least in the micro-nouto category.

At The Kawaii Menace, Don documents translation differences (scroll past a gorgeous stitch of Eris to reach the evidence, if you are strong enough):

• Ayako & Co.: “So you have. Did you know that mingling with canine humanoids goes against galactic laws?”
• Zebraman: “By the rules of the universe, making contanct with dogs like you leads to trouble.”

Do they have any QA at all? Now I feel bad for laughing at mistakes of Dattebayo.

UPDATE: Steven was nibbing on this too with the help of his readers.

At Sea Slugs:

Unpacking Packy’s decision to go in on the basis of this key scene: White Camel’s order to kill the rabbit who attempted to run away is seriously bad news, a deliberate act of murder rather than a spontaneous outburst by an ill disciplined underling. Tired and bound and surrounded by militia, the runaway couldn’t have gotten far anyway. And the order was given with full awareness of it being recorded by the camel on the left. The prisoners were going to be killed soon, as part and parcel of the terrorists’ spectacle.

I watched it, but did not see. It really was just as Zyl parsed it.

Also, pack your sandbags.

This is one unbelievable season… Too much to watch. Why can’t Japan kinda spread it a little?

Mitsudomoe: A polarizing show if there was one, especially thematically. But the astonishing beauty of animation is acknowledged even by its detractors. Apparently it’s a flag show for a new studio in the same way True Tears was IIRC. Threatens an endless slice-of-life. Seen 3.

Strike Witches 2: The GONZO’s original was too annoying with what passed for fanservice, but AIC is doing a good job at it so far, mostly by using very fast motions which you can blink around if you want. A second chance show. BTW, Evirus recognized the new voice of Mio. Seen 2.

Asobi ni Ikuyo: Seems a little confused about itself, but it may be fun if you are willing to accept the characters… Unfortunately, Futaba cut me in the wrong way badly. Seen 1.

Tall Taiga (Ookami-san – ANN uses a misleading romanization: a tildied o is ou not oo [1]): More J.C.Staff tsundere and/or tsundere subversions. Does not seem like a new Toradora in its power. Everything is acceptable. Seen 14 minutes 29 seconds.

Shukufuku no Campanella: Want to see because of eternal hope for the genre to rebound.

Seitokai Yakuindomo: Want to see because Ichizon was crap and hope for a redo.

K-ON2: Want to see because K-ON was good and WAH said the extension is even better.

Sekirei 2 ~PE~: Want to see because it is rumored to break with the [ongoing] manga, so there is a potential for story.

Amagami SS: Don’t really want to see, but everyone is going gaga for it and I need to be in for community’s sake.

HSoTD: Meh, some horror. Dead Girls Rule says no. Screencaps are pretty though.

P.S. Cat Shit One: Watched 3 times. Kickass. But it’s an ONA at best. Purchase options are unclear.

[1] Reloaded Orion e-mailed that at least some official romanization systems, such as Revised Hepburn, make no difference between おお and おう. Therefore, what ANN is doing is probably correct in their warped universe. You just need to know which words are which.

It’s that time upon us: the thin-slicing time (at a blog that changes identities so often that we’ll just call it “Miao’s place” henceforth). I figured long ago that his order really means nothing, nor should it (I mean, you just look at all those haters of Mitsudomoe, they even snared SDB somehow). However the descriptions are rather educational… Or they usually are…

BTW, to compare the thin-slicing to a more traditional season overview, check out the one at The Behind (Hashi-hime is slacking).