HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Haven't been watching a lot of anime lately; however, I did see Tekkonkinkreet. Not too bad. Definitely a different animation style from standard Japanese anime.

I also watched PAPRIKA on Blu-ray. Wow, that show was surreal. Kind of hard to follow. Satoshi Kon is in a league of his own when it comes to anime.

Finally was able to see the entire GUNSLINGER GIRLS series. I know this series was heavily criticized. I thought the premise was actually out of the ordinary. For the most part I liked it; however, I also think it was a missed opportunity. That series could have really developed into something if it had had a longer run. As it was, 13 episodes was not enough to really develop a really involving show. The whole thing wrapped up too quickly and the ending was somewhat disappointing.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Speaking of anime on Blu-Ray: What's a good source? I definitely want to pick up Wings of Honneamise, & I liked Paprika quite a bit when I saw it in the theatre.

I've always said I wasn't buying DVDs partly because I was waiting for HD, but now it's here.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Well, I don't think there is a lot of anime out on Blu-ray yet. I picked up PAPRIKA from Amazon when they were doing a 50% off promo for Blu-ray discs. TEKKONKINKREET was also available on Blu during that sale. I didn't pick it up because I wasn't sure if the film would have enough rewatchability. I'd like to get WoH on Blu, but I didn't see that one on the Amazon site.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Found it!

It's a BD + DVD set, & there's a HD-DVD + DVD version also — this is Bandai Visual's new re-master, & they apparently didn't think it was worth releasing it without a High Definition version, whigh is an attitude I surely approve of although the prices are certainly high enough.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Bandai Visual's more recent releases aren't easy to find because they lost their distributor (Geneon). I can recommend either Right Stuf (rightstuf.com) or Anime Corner Store (animecornerstore.com).

The anime I own so far on Blu-ray: Wings of Honneamise, Jin-Roh, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Paprika, Tekkonkinkreet, Transformers the Movie (not sure that counts).

The Jin-Roh Blu-ray doesn't have a lot of HD "pop" (the movie has a lot of dark scenes and a subdued color palette), but it's a considerable improvement over the DVD. The import version is packaged with a (region 2) standard DVD, but the U.S. release includes a thick storyboard book.

The Blu-ray version of Ghost in the Shell (currently only available as an import) is disappointing. You might think you're looking at a regular DVD at first (not good for something that costs around $90). It is actually a lot better than the U.S. DVD, but it's still a lackluster Blu-ray.

Tekkonkinkreet is excellent from a technical perspective (picture quality and animation), but I thought the movie itself was only average. I feel the movie the animation studio behind Tekkonkinkreet did a few years ago, Mind Game, is superior. I'm not sure why it's taking so long for that to come out in the U.S., but I read a while ago that an American producer was planning to "Westernize" it.

The only anime I've watched recently are Tekkonkinkreet and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. The latter is good (it has high quality animation and likeable characters, and is a bit Ghibli-esque) and will be getting a U.S. release in the near future. I'll probably be checking out Appleseed: Ex Machina when that hits Blu-ray next month.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Found the Honneamise BD set at Fry's for $60 while buying a new power supply for my PC. Interestingly, the HD-DVD set was still marked the same price ; I might have bought it on closeout, because the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon came out on HD-DVD in Europe & with two discs I might justify buying a marked-down player, but not at full price.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Finished Trinity Blood and it was quite enjoyable after a slow start. I could have done without all the crying by certain characters. The way it ended I have to assume there will be a second season.

I have also finished Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars after the recommendations here. They were both very enjoyable and very well done.

Has anyone watched Blood+ yet? Saw it at BB and wondered if it was any good.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Not a lot of anime talk anymore. Anyhow, I watched some old Ranma1/2 episodes on youtube yesterday. I found that I still think the series is quite funny, even though I have not watched any of it for years. It got me to thinking that I would like to pick up some of the DVD sets.

I noticed that a "Digital Dojo Box", consisting of 161 episodes, is available for 160 bucks on Amazon; however, someone noted that the box set consisted of Chinese boots. I'd like to know if that is the actual case, since I'm not interested in buying bootlegs.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Because it was Fathers' Day, I considered watching Giant Robo ("the theme of this production is 'fathers and sons'"), or maybe Nuku-Nuku (a show about bad parenting, for sure), but finally settled on the last three episodes of Nadia. Man, what a wallop.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

I just got the repackage of Burst Angel Veridian Collection: The Complete Series and OAV, and for cheap too i might add. BB had them mispriced in store, and i had my $10 reward coupon. So, i paid $20 for it. I had rented the first disc, and liked it. It doesnt break any new ground, but it looks good, its pretty well animated, and sometimes all you want is a little fluff between Ghost in the Shell: SAC.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Capsule reviews of some LDs I have recently received & watched.

Rayearth
CLAMP blows up Tokyo. Schoolgirl heroines battle evil wizards. Pretty, pretty artwork.

Landlock
This isn't as bad as it might be, considering that The Anime Encyclopedia calls the producers "criminals". It's a 1996 production, but looks several years older, & although the producers tout the involvement of Masamune Shirow, it only looks like his work for a few moments here & there -- just pencil-shading the side of a nose isn't enough, guys. The story & visuals are something of an incoherent mess. On the other hand, it's not bad-looking even if it isn't Shirow, & it has its fun points. Not recommended, but it won't harm you.

KO Century Beast Warriors
Bizarre, zany fantasy featuring "beasts" (people who take on anthropomorphic-animal characteristics when excited), humans (some with super powers) "from beyond the end of the world", a tiny demon whose objective is to eat everyone, and MAD SCIENCE. Wacky fun.

Battle Athletess Dai Un Do Kai
In the field of mashups of girls'-school/sports anime with Ender's Game, give me Gunbuster any day. This is especially strange to watch right now because of watching the rather surreal Peking Olympics. Oh, watch out for a totally unsuitable use of the Saturn 5 rocket in an early scene.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Nozomi Witches

A perfect little gem of a high-school sports anime, three episodes of about 45 minutes. The sport in this case is boxing, not witchcraft (see Mahoutsukai Tai for the latter). Look out for the announcers in the last episode, who also show up (slightly more caricatured) in the ladies' pro-wrestling anime Wanna-Be's. These are a couple of real Japanese sports announcers, well-known at least at the time.

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

Hey, looks like Bandai announced the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex complete series, for release in Japan, August 25th, 2009 (I think that's the date).

It includes TrueHD japanese soundtrack, english DD51 soundtrack. However, I did not see anything other than Japanese subtitles on their website.

MSRP looks to be 21,000 yen.

BTW, finished watching the first season of Skip Beat. Pretty decent shojo!

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Oops - after running the translator, it looks like each box is 21,000 yen each. Ouch!

Translated version of http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090416_125542.html

Re: HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII

I've recently received a shipment of LDs containing Miyazaki titles. So far I've watched Nausicaa & Kiki's Delivery Service. I'm enjoying it all very much.

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Ouch indeed! That's over $200! I like the show but I don't know that I like it that much.

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Well, it's coming on Father's Day again — only 7 posts in the whole past year? Yeesh!

I've obtained what is known, in certain circles, as a "genlock" (technically speaking it's a scan converter & genlocking overlay generator), & have succesfully used it to overlay subtitles from a prepared script onto live video : in other words, real-time fansubbing. This promises to make my showings that much the more interesting.

Lately, I've been experimenting with an unusual form of fan-subbing.  I got a genlock cheaply off eBay, & using timed script files I've found on the Net, I have been overlaying subtitles onto live video while playing back my Japanese LaserDiscs.  It's somewhat helpful to me, but the main advantage is that it makes the programmes more accessible to other people, so I can (for example) have people over for a showing. 

The only anime I have seen recently is Oshii's "Sky Crawlers". It is typical example of his filmmaking. The film is quite slow moving, and it seems like a lot of the time not much is happening. Aerial sequences are CGI and are quite well done: although, they are also fairly short. I thought it was a good film, but I'm partial to his stuff anyway. There is a scene that takes place in restaurant. During the scene, there is a portrait, depicting several men, hanging on the wall behind one of the characters. I'm curious whether anyone would know whether the picture was an injoke and was basically depicting some of the crew who worked on the film.

The Japanese are used to spending that much for anime. Not that we'd stand for it over here on Western shores, and the studios know it. At that price they'd better provide an English sub and a 1080p picture and lossless audio track as well (which of course it does not). At least there is hope that a US release is possible, so I will wait for one.

I have been trying to find Disc 5 of Blood + and I can't find any release date information. Disc 4 was released earlier this year. I dont want to go back and have to buy the box set when i only need a couple of discs to finish part 1 off. Anyone know why the stopped releasing them as single discs?

Night on the Galactic Railroad
Man, this has got to be one of the strangest things I've ever watched, & that covers more than you might think.  Just the fact that all the on-screen text is in Esperanto, whereas the dialogue is in Japanese, would be disconcerting enough.  (Miyazawa Kenji, author of the original book, was a leading Esperanto proponent in Japan.)  Add to that a truly strange mixture of astrological & religious imagery, the fact that some but not all of the characters are animated cats (although none of them seems to notice the difference), & some elements I just couldn't make heads or tails of, & you have a recipe for total disorientation.

Urusei Yatsura movie 2  Beautiful Dreamer :  This film is a head trip.  It's directed by Mamoru Oshii, & some may note similarities to the second Ghost in the Shell movie.  Anyway, it's good.  Recommended, even for those unfamiliar with the series.

MD Geist : Total drek.  If you want to watch desert armoured warfare with motorcycles, try The Venus Wars ;  in a post-apocalyptic setting, Genesis Surviver Gaiarth (which is actually spelled that way).  Both of those are quite rewarding to watch.  This isn't.