June 2008

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AnimeNext Through YouTube Feat. Dude Who Can’t Fathom Figure Buying

June 23, 2008 in Conventions, Video by Tom Langston (calaggie) | 1 comment

I considered composing a long post about Greg Ayres’ panels and how resolving the status of the anime industry may involve ditching dubs and/or an tactic, but it was just easier to embed some YouTube videos relating to AnimeNext instead. (OK, here’s my short take on it anyway: general population is growing tired of buying physical media to own and the current economic situation is compounding the problem.)

The dude in the above video is responding to a boring, grainy, crappy video an actual attendee made showing off the Lupin and DBZ figures he bought and I think he makes a good point about spending money on figurines that perhaps some of the figure bloggers can explain to me. Saying Trinity Blood was just “the Japanese not understanding Catholicism” made me laugh but so far the guy has only been doing commentaries through video responses so ‘meh’ to him otherwise. The rest of the videos will be footage filmed by citizen journalists/teenagers/bored people at the con.
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Sgt. Frog Hasn’t Invaded Yet But There’s Still a Sliver of Hope

June 21, 2008 in Soapbox by Tom Langston (calaggie) | 1 comment

Anime Invasion 08 Cover from JanuaryFACT: There are still six months left in 2008. FACT: Still no Keroro.

The last six months have seemed like doom-and-gloom for ADV Films with their glossy magazine folding (and the rebirthed version also shutting down) and a license financing dispute that forced them to presumably sell Gurren Lagann to Bandai. But they are still releasing shiny discs and their Kanon releases have been getting praise like volume 3 sweeping AOD’s ADR awards for March 2008 and each release regularly getting voted Pick of the Week by the AOD forumites. Pretty much the only undeveloped titles they have are Kiba and Sgt. Frog, and I think the latter has the capability to bolster the company if it is publicized the right way…and if ADV still has the rights.
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Ookiku’s Name Change Winds Me Up

June 17, 2008 in Licenses by Tom Langston (calaggie) | 12 comments


Funimation announced their license of Ookiku Furikabutte today but they changed the name to ‘Big Windup!’ WHAT!?! I can understand changing an anime’s name to make it more accessible to American audiences as ADV did with The Ugly and Beautiful World (Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai) and even Rumbling Hearts (instead of The Eternity You Desire/Wish For) is something fans would be able to get used to over time. But renaming can also make things confusing, like what I thought happened with Shattered Angels (instead of Kyoshiro and the Eternal Sky), which actually isn’t as bad as I first thought. I credit part of my frustration to being a baseball fan and when I see ‘Big Windup!’, I think of an announcer saying the title of a baseball video game marketed toward kids that could have broader appeal (e.g. MLB Power Pros, very good game but not so good announcer) or a in-game powerup that also sounds cheesy when spoken. I am NOT looking for the trailer Funimation puts together whenever this gets released in late 2009 (self-speculation) but am sort of anticipating its actual release.

In the meantime, I will be watching fansubs of the show to see if it’s good. (I saw the first episode a few weeks back and, though it was slow, I saw some potential in it so, like a minor league scout, I’m going to give it a chance and hope it improves.)

*sigh* OK, I did find it clever that they parodied the MLB logo to make the series’ logo but I’m still not pleased about the name. I would have been fine with Pitch Like You Mean It! or a less cheesy name I can’t think of right now.

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Reading Out Loud #02: Inside Bee Train

June 15, 2008 in Reading Out Loud by Tom Langston (calaggie) | 1 comment


While flipping through some of my older issues of Newtype USA recently, I found a feature story on Bee Train within the March 2005 issue. Written by Amos Wong, the story was well-timed as the first DVD volume of Madlax was to come out in America soon after on April 12th of that year. I enjoyed reading the feature when I originally bought the magazine and again when re-reading for this episode because it gave me a look into the origin and development methods of the studio that was deeper than I had obtained through the inserts packaged with Noir DVD’s.
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Funimation’s New Video Podcast Ain’t Bad

June 13, 2008 in Impressions by Tom Langston (calaggie) | No comments

Podcast Host Todd Haberkorn
One of the main differences between covering anime and covering films or video games is that there is a relatively short lead time – usually 1-3 months – between a title’s production announcement and its airing. Very little information surfaces about the development cycles except for the cast and the basic plot, which hampers the hype potential for most titles with the absence of previews but is likely a result of the quickness with which an anime is produced in Japan.

It takes a bit longer to get things produced for the aftermarket that is America and it has become more important to remind people about which anime are being released and why the purchasing public should care about them. That’s why I was looking forward to the debut of the Funimation Update, a monthly promotional podcast. I don’t listen to many anime podcasts and only occasionally check out Anime Today for the interviews so I figured I would check out this shorter-form, monthly video show. I actually enjoyed watching it as it reminded me of On The Spot (Gamespot’s weekly broadcast show) since the Update alternated between clearly-defined segments and related trailers.
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