HTF Anime Discussion Part VII - Page 96

Which is why some titles are meant to be kept away ^_^;

Yeah, the sex scenes in Mezzo Forte are truely gratuitous, and really have nothing to do with the plot. This is one instance where the cut version actually improves things.

Unlike Mezzo Forte, the sex scenes in Kite are part of the plot, and goes a long way to establishing Sawa's state of mind.

For something disturbing, apparently someone named their kid "Kawaii". Apparently, this isn't an April Fools joke either...

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnurs...LID=0N5O3D4C7R

Jason

HAPPY HANAMI!

Animenation is having a Bandai sale.
http://www.animenation.com/red-hot-d...ndai-sale.html
Some stuff pretty good, but if anything, the complete Jubei-Chan series is a must for anyone who loves wacky comedy series!

And a Half-Off ADV sale too!
http://www.animenation.com/red-hot-d...ale---dvd.html

Woo, if you liked TNG you will like DS9, probably more as it actually does start having some story arcs after the first few seasons (competition from B5 which actually had story arcs most likely sparked this ). That and the tendency for the spaceships to "fly up to each other and duke it out without moving" also starts to disappear.

As far as the ADV films sale, keep in mind that you may get discs with slashed UPCs, no inserts, etc. Just FYI.

yesterday was like an anime-athon. I started out by myself watching the last two disks of Legend of Black Heaven and then The Cat Returns movie. Then at night it was Outlaw Star. We took down about ten episodes, or eleven. It is hard to say really.... I don't even remember. Maybe it was more? The first three discs were taken down anyway... although I remember sweet little about it, it seemed like a funny show.

Legend of Black Heaven was about a B- series (using AnimeonDVD's crappy ratings system). I hated the guitarist's wife. I was hoping to like her by the end of the series and I understand where she was coming from but she just acted like such a biatch. Too bad the aliens didn't take her. Yea she saved the day in the end. Who cares. She sucks. And as much as I love John Sykes' and even that song for the anime.. ahh.. don't recall the name right now... I got sick of it since it was the only metal song featured in the show (apart from a Michael Schenker instrumental circa early 80s from his MSG days).

The Cat Returns was a VERY enjoyable movie and a beautiful one to watch at that even if the transfer was a little wonky. Haloing and what not. Edge enhancement was really unnecessary with this title. My favorite little touch was the fish in the punch bowl. Of course there would be fish in the punch bowl in a Land of Cats... it was just a cute extra that was noticeable. The voice acting (English dub) was tremendous as well, superbly done. A movie so full of imagination, a fairy-tale like quality yet not so Japanese that it makes you go "huh?"

Outlaw Star has some great characters and I wish I remembered more about it but it was one of those things where there's too many people around (a few that have seen it) which are commenting on everything and babbling during the show so I didn't get to really take in much, plus I was beyond exhausted. I will rewatch this one on my own time.

And that's it so far. Might go for more stuff tonight, ya never know..

Finished Dual! 1-4 this weekend, and rewatched most of Steel Angel Kurumi, Encore, and parts of Steel Angel Kurumi 2.

Dual! was pretty fun - but weird - due to the fact that it included CGI of the mecha in it that was poorly integrated into the series. It was made in 1999, and is only 14 episodes, and was quite fun. B- series.

I felt like something cute/cheerful, so restarted Kurumi. Hopefully will finish it tonight...

I got caught up on my anime this weekend. Ghost in the Shell:SAC volume 5 was just great, with a cliffhanger on the last episode. I feel a "Khaaaan!" coming up because of the wait . I also watched Samurai Champloo volume 2. Some surprisingly deep episodes, but also quite funny, too.

Stacey:

I took the pictures, but they'll need a little 'post production'. I'll try and get them up some time this week.

John.

Saw both Kite and Mezzo. Mezzo is rather gratuitous, yet strangley hilarious given the cirucumstances.

I'm still playing catchup mode right now. I'll start Ghost in the Shell: SAC as soon as I head back to Lex (taking a break in hickville right now.)

It's Tuesday again, so which DVDs, if any, will you be buying this week? The only for-sure for me is Fullmetal Alchemist vol. 2, although I may pick up one or two others.

John.

I totally forgot about FullMetal Alchemist today! I had to go order it. Crap! Otherwise that's about it all around. Queston: The Cat Returns is technically a sequel or followup film correct? What is the previous, asd was the same creative team involved? Was it worth watching? Is it available on DVD?

Casey:

The Cat Returns was released with the last batch of Disney Miyazaki films.

John.

Cat Returns has loose ties with Whisper of the Heart - both have The Baron in it. But it is not a sequel, just has the one recurring character. There is no mention of the previous movie and its not available in R1. It is a fun fairytale like movie and an absolute joy to watch. I highly recommend it.

Alanna:

I'm sure The Mouse will get their paws on Whisper of the Heart soon enough .

John.

John: I hope they do put out Whisper of the Heart, so it will see a release at last (didn't it come out like, 10 years ago?!) I also want Totoro in widescreen. It's just a shame that Disney completely wrecks the transfers for the Miyazaki movies. Nausicaa looks abysmal, Kiki had a few places that were just so screwed up looking, and edge enhancement is an eyesore in Cat Returns... and that's just a couple that come to mind...these movies deserve so much better. But you know, I'm just thankful that they are available now. Especially Nausicaa, I waited SO long for that one.

Let's see, just started out on Ceres, Celestial Legend. So I'm currently switching between Ceres and Outlaw Star. Ah and I bought a 25 pack of thinpaks for $6 bucks, is that a good deal? Not sure because I have never bought any before. And I think I asked this once before but don't completely remember, but is there any place online where you can get DVD covers to print? I don't really want to have to scan my covers if I don't have to, and the cases are kinda small, its going to squish the existing covers. I'd have to fold them to get them to fit the cases I bought.

Alanna:

You can trim about 3mm on each side to get them to "fit". I use a rolling cutter to do this, and it's pretty quick. Best thing about thinpaks is that you double your space w/o new furniture....


Finished Steel Angel Kurumi 2 last night. Great light stuff (unlike Steel Angel Kurumi 1).

Alanna:

That's not bad. The only difference in size should be the thickness of the spine; if not, I'm not sure we're talking about the same cases . Anyway, I found (and Woo would undoubtedly agree), that trimming the covers with a good paper cutter is better than trying to fold the covers. The one DVD cover sites that I know of is down due to legal trouble with WB, and they really didn't have a lot of ThinPak-sized or anime-related covers in the first place.

John.

As someone who has compared my R2 Porco Rosso to Disney's release, I'm going to have to disagree with you. The R1 is much better than the R2. The R2 is not as vivid, and has EE up the wazoo. (Not to mention that it is windowboxed.) I'm also pretty happy with the quality of Nausicaa.

Now, the subtitles on Castle In The Sky, on the other hand...

Jason

Dammit, I'm too poor for this right now. But I want to pick it up so Stacey and I can keep up with it. Hmmm...

Woo & Dave: The thinpaks I bought are shorter than regular DVD cases. They remind me more of the cases for the Sony PSP handheld system. Maybe that's why they were so cheap. They are taller than a CD case but not as tall as a DVD case. So while I could shave the cover art down its going to take a hit. I guess its not such a big deal if I only thinpak stuff I don't care about that much or that has crappy artwork. Maybe I'll just take these back and buy something else instead. Seems like too much of a headache.

Jason: I Porco Rosso is the only Disney released Miyazaki film that I have not seen so far so I couldn't really comment on the video for it yet. (hope to watch it soon) Nausicaa was also extremely disappointing video wise. There is alot of grain which is made worse by the over use of edge enhancement (a trend I wish they would ditch, I freakin' hate it) where characters have halos dancing around them. You can clearly see the outlines and its distracting. Perhaps they tried to clean the video up and just did a botch job of it, I think it would have been best if they had left the print as it was than to tinker with it and screw it up. Disney can do much better restorations, and this movie deserves just as much love and care as their own blockbusters which have been made to look fantastic such as Bambi and Sleeping Beauty. I don't know what kind of equipment you are watching it on, but it does look pretty bad when stretched to 60". Like I said before, I'm just thankful to have it, since it is one of my all-time favorite films and that was back with the cutup version from the 80s. It's even better now with a good chunk of the film restored that was previously missing.

Just spot-checked my copy of Nausicaa. There is a bit of edge enhancement, but not excessive. I'd have to look for it to notice. It was the same with Porco Rosso.

Yes, there's grain. It is an over 20 year old film. There's going to be some grain.



Difference is, Disney owns those films. All Disney does is distributes the films.

Considering the Japanese discs aren't much better (and in some cases, worse), I'd say Disney did as good of a job that they could.

Jason

What's Miyazaki's next work? I was thinking about that the other day.

Are there going to be any horror releases on the rise? It seems like I've been watching either Scifi or comedy lately.

Dome: OhOh...Elfen Lied! Look up Elfen Lied! hehe....Great stuff, I'm surprized no one is talking about it. Seems that there isn't much of a crowd for the horror anime scene.

>> Seems that there isn't much of a crowd for the horror anime scene.

Not True! Not True!

I just picked up the BoogiePop Phantom collection the other day after watching the first episode. Nice and creepy, Texhnolyze style of animation.

Speaking of Texhnolyze - I will be buying Texhnolyze and Gungrave box sets together when the Gungrave box set is finally released.

I also loved Witch Hunter Robin, just finished that collection last week. Both Elfen Lied and Gantz are on my short list. Along with Hellsing and Parasite Dolls...

And then there is Blue Gender which I'm currently watching...

The list goes on!

I think Devil Lady was pretty good, kind of horror themed (well more than "kind of"). Anyway...

Noir is being released in a box set! I'm all over this one now... was waiting for that happen and it did, hooray! I guess it pays to wait sometimes...

Also in response about Nausicaa, I realize that its not Disney's baby and therefore they aren't going to go the whole mile on making it look its best... I was just saying that it has the potential of looking ALOT better than it does.

While I agree that there is always room for improvement, caracterizing the release as 'seriously screwed up' and that Nausicaa is 'abysmal' is not my experience. I do not expect Disney to put in the same amount of work on Nausicaa as they would with Bambi.

Jason

Howl's Moving Castle

Rob:

Damn, lucky bastard! Come back to me whenever you finally get around to getting more Hajime no Ippo! The Fighting... (hint: DVD 5 is out this month supposedly)..

Any Gantz fans here?

Brion