June 18th, 2009
Anime Expo recently posted up their schedule for the 2009 convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center. After taking a look at it for a few minutes I realized that there were even less industry panels (from US based anime and manga publishers, as opposed to companies that are industry related but do not actually publish or release the stuff) then there had been last year. No longer do you see companies like Geneon, Central Park Media or even ADV as these are just a few examples of those who have folded up, reduced to just re-releasing old stuff or gone dormant.
In the past 18 months there has been a high number of what some people call “license rescues” of various anime titles. The sad fact is that, as noted by John Sirabella on the AnimeonDVD forums, these are less about rescuing anything and more about getting a cheap, already produced (translation, subtitles, dubbing, etc.) show that they can move quickly out the door in Stack-pak type cases. Sadly, it seems that gone are the days of higher end packaging that we once saw in abundance in the early 2000’s. While this doesn’t seem to be a big deal to many of today’s fans who appear to be in an ever increasing quest to find that “absolute zero” of price points, it is still somewhat disheartening.
Some folks have speculated that with the current state of the anime industry and these trying economy times in general that anime and manga in the US will shrink back to the levels it was in the mid-1980’s and prior. Given the degree of impact that technology has had on the anime market/fandom/industry over the past decade I doubt that will ever be the case. A few industry folks have claimed that the dreaded “fansubs” have caused all this economic tragedy. They fail to mention (or realize?) that fansubs have been around since the 1980’s. It’s the delivery method that has changed making it much easier to make and distribute these items. Baring a giant asteroid wiping us all out, technology will continue to improve and therefore as long as anime and manga are made in Japan, there will always be a high level of access available to pretty much anyone who wishes to put in even a minimal amount of effort. And of course you will also still see some amount of commercially released anime in whatever form is the hottest thing at the time whether it be Blu-ray, on-line streaming, crystal or digital projection into your own mind.
One thing I would love to see is anime companies stop trying to please all groups of fans. They try to release one product that will appeal to everyone and at the same time end up appealing to mostly no one. You will never get it cheap enough for the cheapest cheap-ass anime fan and you will never release the highest of high-end for the collector/fan-with-money with only one release. I would love to see companies try a two tier level to releasing anime in the US. If you are going to do “series sets”, as is common with main-line US TV DVD/BD releases, then consider this: two versions where one is ENGLISH AUDIO ONLY and priced VERY low (the Japanese companies will not care about this as there would be no Japanese audio track so what Japanese fan would EVER consider reverse-importing it!) being released as a mass-market item to the likes of Wal-Mart and Best Buy and others of the like. While the other version would be a mirror image of what is released in Japan (but with the obvious additions of English audio and subtitle options) and would be priced much higher – say about 20-30% less then what is charged in Japan, so even if a Japanese fan imported it back to Japan once they added in shipping costs it would be about the same as going down the street and buying it locally – reverse importation eliminated. The only group you haven’t pleased with this scenario is the cheap-ass whining “fans” who want everything in ultra perfect packaging with multiple language options on Blu-ray for $5 per season delivered to their home yesterday by a hot supermodel – naked.
Enjoy!!
Filed under Updates.
June 16th, 2009
I have added a link in the ‘Recommended Sites’ section for long time friend and fellow old schooler Dave Merrill’s site ‘Let’s Anime’. You will find lot’s of cool aritcles and other interesting historical anime stuff there. Check it out!
Enjoy!!
Filed under Updates.
June 2nd, 2009
This past weekend was the 20th year for Project A-Kon in Dallas, TX. It was held at the fine Sheraton (formerly the Adam’s Mark) in downtown Dallas where it has been for the past several years. It’s been getting a little crowded, but fortunately there has been a little down-turn in the anime industry and of course economy as a whole so it seemed to me at least that there were not too many more people than last year, if not about the same. I think many cons will start to see their attendance levels hitting a plateau and perhaps even lowering a bit in the coming years. They would be wise to plan for such possibilities.
Thursday was my travel day which started with the plane trip from Orange County to DFW. The flight was thankfully quite pleasant if not that roomy. As fun as it is, I can’t afford to spring for the First Class seats anymore in these trying economy times. I ran into one of the folks from Bandai’s card game division who happened to be on the same flight heading to the con and we ended up sharing a cab ride into the city. That was cool because I got to learn about another part of Bandai, make a contact for possible activities at Anime Los Angeles and also saved on the cab fare.
Getting to the hotel and checking in was pretty hassle free. It really helps if you don’t “fan-out” on the hotel staff. Standard room in the North tower, the only drawback being that it was on the 29th floor and as the con got underway so did the wait time for an elevator. I headed over to pick up my badge which didn’t take that long all things considered. Meet up with long-time friends Mike and Alicia and ended up spending the rest of the evening chatting in the lounge on the 38th floor.
Friday started late since we didn’t turn in until after 2 am but that was okay since there wasn’t too many panels I wanted to see. I ended up meeting another friend, Rich, in line waiting for one of said panels. Turns out we were in the same line for several minutes about 6 people apart before we realized it. Friday was another late night taken up in part by what has become something of a tradition for Rich and I. We find a table and a couple of chairs somewhere in the con with no signs or other identifiers and just sit there casually chatting. Invariably people will start coming up to us asking various questions about where things are, what times things are at and other info desk type questions. We’re cool of course and try to help out as best as possible because it’s the right thing to do, but it’s still fun.
Saturday was more of the same, including an even later start to the day allowing for the even latter crash time the night before of about 4 am. We hung out in the 38th floor lounge for a while before heading to the hotel room to watch the cosplay on the con TV channel. The channel was a little on the sketchy side due to some tech issues on the hotel side of things. But it was good for mocking. Then we went back down to the con to check things out and watch people hang around taking pictures and other fun stuff. We sat around the convention center for a while before heading back to the hotel room for a bit. I then headed back down to video room 3 where the Classic Anime Fest was running. This was the same one I had helped run last year since the person who normally does it wasn’t able to make it back then. That ended around 6 am which makes it the latest I have stayed up at a con in many, many years. I did think about just staying up but ended up crashing for a few hours before getting up and heading down to the con registration desk to see about getting a membership for next year. Since I was rather late I ended up with number 11.
After checking out of the hotel I hung out for a brief period before heading back to DFW for the plane ride back to the OC. Fortunately I was able to hone in on someone’s Super Shuttle ride, so that trip only cost me $17. The plane trip back was okay except that it was a full row this time. I really feel sorry for the guy in the middle seat, that’s why I try and book my seats early.
Project A-Kon will return in A-Kon 21 : Revenge of the Penguins to be held May 28 – 30, 2010 once again at the Sheraton in downtown Dallas, TX.
Enjoy!!
Filed under Updates.
May 8th, 2009
Well I managed to miss doing any updates in all of April for one reason or another so I am combining both the March and April new items into one update. This works out well in a way since there isn’t too much to cover.
In fact the April order was the last open order I had with CD Japan. As everyone is tired of hearing about even more then Swine Flu, in these “trying economy times” things have been a little tight. Fortunately things like the down-turn in Region 1 DVD releases have helped me in that there is much less coming out and therefore much less that I am interested in buying. I have decided to take this as an opportunity to go on a “cash only” diet if you will. That basically means if I don’t have the actual cash, I don’t buy it. I even canceled the last pillow cover order I had open with CD Japan as there was just no way for me to really justify it. I still have about $100 in points and coupons with CD Japan and there are a few things in my “saved items” list that I may do one last order to blow out those points so I don’t lose them.
So, for the foreseeable future the Region 2 updates will be limited to only once in a great while. I have a couple ideas on how I may change the “philosophical format” of this site in order to keep things going and yet still try to avoid the whole “I ate a sandwich for lunch today and I don’t like tomatoes” type postings. I have always tried to avoid the commentary style and just kept to the facts as much as possible since no one really cares what color socks I wore yesterday.
With that out of the way, here is a quick group shot of the two things I picked up in March. The first is the latest Ikki Tousen art book. I tried to scan a couple of pages but it turned out really, really bad so I ditched the idea. However, a wonderful fellow traveler of the Internets did a really great job in scanning the book. I have added those here for no other reason other than that I could.
The second item is the second and final volume in the Ichigo Mashimaro Encore OVA series. It is always good to have more Nobue, but with only two episodes it was way too short.
The April items come in at just one item, that being the final volume of Macross Frontier on Blu-ray. This volume came with a box (better in my opinion than the previous box) to hold the last half of the series. I didn’t pick up the intervening volumes as there was really no way I could justify it with-out any English options available. The only reason I got these was for the box, and even now that seems like it’s not really worth it. In fact the idea of picking up Region 2 releases with boxes for shows that might get licensed and released in Region 1 is now somewhat of a moot point as most companies (those that remain) have all but completely shifted to “economy” type packaging. Take for example Bamboo Blade which I picked up both boxes for in the hope of it getting picked up and released in Region 1. Funimation has announced that they have in fact licensed the series and will be releasing it sometime later this year. This is great except that they will be using their now standard two discs in a thin cardboard sleeve and that won’t even fill up one of the two boxes even with the whole series. So that tactic is no longer viable.
That’s all for this round. Off to help with the Anime Los Angeles presence at the SoCal Cosplay Picnic in Irvine tomorrow.
Enjoy!!
Filed under Updates.
March 18th, 2009
The round of items for February has a good mix of titles including a number of Blu-ray discs. Though the Akira and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence discs are in fact the US release versions, I decided to add them in just for the continuity. The main feature however is the Ghost in the Shell 2.0 BD box set from Japan. You can see the covers, booklet and TrueHD card here. I’ll probably still pick up the US release of Ghost in the Shell 2.0 BD due out later this year if it comes with an English audio track. If not though, I think I will just stick with this set. The set comes with both versions of the film plus a bonus disc. The original version disc has both English subtitles as well as English audio while the 2.0 version has English subtitles only.
Moving on we have the final volume for Ikki Tousen Great Guardians complete with First Press mini-poster, postcards, and pencil board. I have also included the Limited Edition version of the Great Guardians OP/ED CD which comes with a bonus DVD containing clean OP/ED sequences for the series. Also in the shot are a couple of card holders that were being offered at the same time. They turned out to be somewhat different then I had thought. Fortunately they were only around $8 each. Now we just sit back and wait to see if they decide to do a forth anime series.
Next up is the first volume in the new Kodomo no Jikan series. This comes with a box, booklet and plastic slip-cover for the DVD case. You can see the front covers here as well as the back cover of the box and DVD case plus the disc art for the DVDs and a sample page of the booklet here. I also included both pillow covers I picked up this month here though I already mentioned them separately. Here is the Ryomou front and back (or is it the other way around?) and here is the Zoku Satsuriku no Jango front and back.
Enjoy!!
Filed under Updates.
March 17th, 2009
Something I have been questing for quite some time now has been the deck of tarot cards released by then Pioneer as a mail-in offer for their release of the Sol Bianca OVA series (not to be confused with the two OVA/Movies that were released in the early 90’s).
You can see the whole deck here as well as a couple of shots I took of the deck I finally found recently on eBay here and here. I really don’t know much of anything about tarot, but this was one of those anime related rare treasure items that was released in limited quantities almost ten years ago that I just had to have.
Enjoy!!
Filed under Updates.
March 13th, 2009
Well I know wonders never cease, but I have added a couple of new pillow covers to the Linens & Things collection.
First up is the latest in a long line of Ryomou Shimei (Ikki Tousen, like you needed that) pillow covers. You can see one side here and the other here.
Also added to the collection is this one from Zoku Satsuriku no Jango video game/visual novel/whatever thing. Honestly, it was on sale and she looks hot. I have never played or even seen the game for that matter. Yeah, it doesn’t take much. You can see the other side here.
More later.
Enjoy!!
Filed under Updates.
March 2nd, 2009
This is the third and for the most part final entry in the VHS flashbacks I have presented. I have managed to acquire most of the old and hard to find titles that were only released on VHS that I have been questing for. There are of course a rare few, including this impossible to find title, that are still out there but none are ones I am truly questing to find.
Up first is a bit of a repeat of sorts from the first round. This lot features Sol Bianca 1 (English dubbed version) and Sol Bianca 2 (subtitled version), both of which I had listed in one form or another already. Also in this lot are Gude Crest from ADV (subtitled version) and Dragon Century from the late US Renditions (subtitled version).
Next up are a number of “also-rans” in terms of general quality and fan opinion. Such titles as Armageddon and especially the English dubbed (and butchered) version of the original Dangaioh OVA add to the list of forgettable titles that also include Dragon Slayer and Psycho Diver. Nothing much better is on hand in the following round of ADV releases with such unmemorable titles as Fire Emblem and Panzer Dragoon. There are a couple of titles that bring things up a notch however with the addition of Rail of the Star and Dragon Knight – Another Knight on the Town (the only Dragon Knight title not released on DVD). More filling in the gaps this time with the subtitled version of Compiler vol. 1 and the clam-shell release of Dangaio (just to be a completist) adding to a couple of titles from AnimEigo and TRSI.
The next round brings things home in a big way as far as hard-to-find titles go. We have both volumes 1 & 2 of Homeroom Affairs (by Star Anime) and volumes 1 & 2 of First Loves (by ADV’s long lost adult label SoftCel Pictures). All four tapes are Japanese with English subtitles and at the time were considered “adult” titles but by today’s standards would hardly be considered anything more than “R” rated material. First Loves was the last of the SoftCel Pictures VHS titles (that had never been released on DVD) that I had been hunting for.
Finishing things off we have a few rounds of miscellaneous titles that either finish off series I had started or were alternative versions of titles that had been released in other forms such as Windaria (by Streamline), Outlanders (original English dub) and Mermaid Forest (English dub version to add to the subtitled version I have on LD already). Some more forgettable titles by Viz and ADV such as Ogre Slayer and Hanappe Bazooka make you realize why some titles were never brought to DVD. Let’s not forget about Mad Bull either. After all it’s important to have that complete series. And lastly adding to the completion of another series is the second volume of End of Summer by SoftCel Pictures (the first volume had been released under the ADV logo as SoftCel had not yet been created).
That brings the majority of the VHS hunting to a close. There are only a few titles left on the list of “anime that DVD forgot” that I am even remotely interested in so I doubt I will do another major update. If anything notable comes in I will more than likely post it separately.
Enjoy!!
Filed under Updates.
February 15th, 2009
This represents the 40th Ikki Tousen figure in my collection, not counting duplicates or trading figures. I guess it is appropriate that this would be one of Ryomou. This is the “Festival version” from Dragon Destiny released last year by Amie-Grand. The other 39 figures can be seen in various places in the collection including here and here.
In retrospect I think I should have used a different color background for these pictures, but it still works for the most part. Here are a few shots of her from the front and slightly closer; from the back; from one side and then the other; and a couple of close-ups, one with flash and the other without. And just to add a bit of completeness here are a couple of shot of the box, from the front and then the back.
Enjoy!!
Filed under Updates.
February 14th, 2009
January has a number of interesting items in the group. I posted previously about the Macross game LD I picked up at the beginning of the month. Adding to that is this round of items.
First up we have Ikki Tousen Great Guardians Volume 5. This volume comes with the usual round of extras including mini-poster, pencil board and two more postcards. Also included is a booklet and reversible cover (same image as the pencil board).
Next up to bat is one I have been looking forward to for a while. This is volume 1 of a two-volume OVA series for Ichigo Mashimaro. The only bad thing about this is that it is only two episodes. Hopefully it will sell well enough to encourage them to produce more anime for this series. More Nobue is always a good thing. This volume comes with a box for both volumes, a booklet, a notepad with five different recurring images watermarked onto the pages (but who would ever actually USE this? No true fan that’s for sure!), and a mini-poster (first press item) of Anna and Matsuri.
The last couple of items are both from Ikki Tousen. The first is the Great Guardians fan book. If the fan book for Dragon Destiny was considered to be nothing but extreme fan service, this can be considered one step away from porn. Pretty much nothing is left to the imagination. I’m trying to figure out a way to scan the pages without damaging the book its self. If I can I’ll update the page accordingly. The second is one I saw on the pre-order list and to be honest wasn’t that sure what is was but since it was pretty cheap I figured I’d give it a shot. It is a collection of covers (presumably for the Japanese version) for the Ikki Tousen manga volumes. There are eight different designs total. They are on two types of paper. The first is just standard poster paper and the second is a more plastic type. On the second type the folds have been pre-pressed. I assume to make it easier to put them on the manga volumes. Each image comes in both paper and plastic versions with a total of 16 covers in the box. Here are some shots to give an example of what they look like. Here, here, here, and here. There are 8 more covers in the set, but they are the same images as these, just on a different type of paper. That was certainly hard to convey.
Enjoy!!
Filed under Updates.
