アニメ Republic

I’m doing this update in a ‘batch’ format as there are only a small number of new items consisting of volumes 2 through 4 of Ikki Tousen: Xtreme Xecutor on Blu-ray. Here is a quick group shot of all three front covers plus the back side of the box (again using the exact same box for the Blu-ray and DVD versions as the disc cases are the same size). Then we have the front side and back side of the Blu-ray cases.

Moving to a more detailed close up we have the inside contents for volume 2 of the Blu-ray complete with four postcards, insert and promo card. The same can be seen here for the August release of volume 3 again with postcards and inserts. Finally here is the September release for volume 4 (with box of course) including four different postcards, insert and promo card plus bonus CD. No reversible covers on any of these however.

And just for the fun of it here is a quick shot of the Ikki Tousen shelves in their current (and most likely final unless they do another series) configuration. Any eventual R1 DVD (or dare I say Blu-ray!?) releases will go in the empty space in the extra boxes as planned. Though I doubt we will see singles for Great Guardians (that is assuming it actually gets released in R1 land).

Enjoy!!

Added a little to the June 2010 listings with the arrival (well I’ve actually had them for a while but it’s taken me this long to post this!) Ikki Tousen – Xtreme Xecutor volume 1 on both DVD and Blu-ray. Interestingly both the DVD and Blu-ray boxes are exactly the same including size. The only difference is the obi color (red for DVD and…..yes, you guessed it: BLUE for Blu-ray). I guess they wanted to save a little cash. The cases themselves are also the same size; no smaller Blu-ray type cases here.

While I got both versions this round for the boxes (I thought they might be different sizes) I’ll stick to the Blu-ray versions for all future releases with the exception of the second box. I’ll get the DVD version of that as well just to make things easier on the chance this series is licensed and released in the US/North American market.

Here is a shot of one side of the box with the front of the disc case and booklet along with the first press poster. This a slightly more close-up shot of the poster. I have two so I can frame one and save the other! Lastly is a shot of both sides of the box with all the inserts, art cards, card game (?) cards (yes, each disc came with four of the same cards), booklet open to the center page and back of disc case. Also seen are the discs (both DVD and Blu-ray had the same disc art on both main and bonus discs).

Enjoy!!

Earlier this month I was in Dallas for A-Kon. I’ve been going to this con ……. for a while. The past few years I haven’t really bought anything in the dealer’s room mainly because nothing screams out to me. This year was a little different. While making an obligatory pass though the room I spotted a table selling, among other things, a large number of old anime CDs from the 80’s and 90’s. They were used of course, but all appeared to be in great shape all things considered.

To my joyous surprise, I found amongst this lot a number of older CDs I had been looking for since I had actually sold off my copies way back in the early 90’s. The most notable of these were volume 3 and 4 of the ‘Anime Hot Wave’ series. This was basically a compilation series of anime opening songs from the late 80’s and early 90’s.  You can see the rest here, here and here.

Now for the other shoe to drop. While I was grabbing up these treasures before anyone else could see what was there, I realized that there was a lot of older stuff so I asked the person working the table where the collection came from. He indicated that this was all from one person’s personal collection. A little surprised, I didn’t let my mind think it out before I asked why they were selling such an obviously great collection. The person at the table then informed me that the owner had recently died in a car accident.  At that point I felt rather vulture-like as I held a couple dozen CDs in hand like I had just won the lotto. However after the fact it was brought to my attention that if it were me (who had died and whose collection was being sold off) wouldn’t I want my stuff to go to someone who would really treasure these items? I had to take a moment before realizing that yes that would be the case.

Enjoy!!

Since I recently added a number of “new” figures to the collection I thought it was a good time to do a little rearranging as well as some much needed dusting. Here are some shots of the most recent arrangement both upstairs and downstairs.

A couple of close ups for the cases downstairs are here and here as well as one of the case upstairs in the media loft.

Enjoy!!

Last month I tried a little outdoor photo shoot experiment with one of the new (ish) figures I got in. I found a fairly cheap prop on-line though the scale was somewhat off forcing me to try some odd shots. The primary suspect for this was the Battle Girl Mil-Alpha (1/6 PVC Figure by Beat). Though it didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped for with the scale differences and all, still looks pretty good.

Enjoy!!

I have actually had a number of these laying around since the middle of last year about the time of Anime Expo and San Diego Comic Con. I also got a few in early this year as well and figured it was time to do an update. Not to mention it was a good time to do a little dusting and re-arranging.

Here is the Ikki Tousen group shot. Next up we have a couple from Queen’s Blade. And lastly we have a few individual figures from shows such as Sorcerer Hunters and Code Geass.

I also took some more up to date shots of the cases both upstairs and downstairs. The ones dated March 2010 are the most recent shots. You can see a close up of the upstairs here as well as a couple close ups of the downstairs cases here, here and here.

Enjoy!!

Anime Conji, running April 9-11, is a new anime con in the San Diego area. I will be hosting the ‘Anime Treasure Hunters’ panel on Friday (time TBA). This is a new panel for me. The concept is a guide on finding items one might consider treasures in the anime and manga world. While it is rather easy to find the latest ‘Bleach’ DVD, finding a copy of AnimEigo’s ‘Spirit of Wonder’ OVA is another story. This panel is not for those with weak hearts or weak wallets. There should also be some interesting parties at the con as well. So stop by if you’re in the area and check it out.

Enjoy!!

Recently I managed to pick up a copy of the (apparently) super-rare copy of the September 2004 Russian edition of Rolling Stone magazine. This issue features the first, from what I can tell, “anime style” image of the Russian pop duo ‘Tatu’. I have been looking for this issue for a few years now and up until recently have never even seen a single copy listed on any site. I was actually to the point of thinking that it may not exist (even though it is clearly listed on the Russian Rolling Stone web site) given it was only the third issue of that countries’ version of the magazine which appears to have launched in July 2004. I don’t read Russian, so please correct me if you do.

As noted the cover features the pair (Lena Katina & Julia Volkova) in “anime/manga style” with a pregnant version of Julia. The issue also features a short “manga styled” story spanning four pages. You can see them here, here and here. There is no text so there is nothing to translate. This magazine ranks as one of the last few things that I have on my list of treasures I am still questing for.

Enjoy!!

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!!

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!!