Time To Embarrass Myself! Not Really.

I can use a lot of words to describe my anime DVD collection, but "Embarrassed" wouldn't be one of them. Sure there are some series I wouldn't want to show anyone who wasn't an anime fan, but it doesn't have anything to do with my feeling towards those shows.

Anyways I've decided to start posting pictures of my collection online and I've decided to start with two of the most embarrassing series in my collection. I mean if I could be embarrassed by anything in my collection these two would do it.

First up we have!
1. Magical Project S

2. Mew Mew Taruto

Funimation confirms Shiki! Coming 2012!

Unless the Mayans are right, we'll all be seeing Shiki come to DVD and Blu-Ray sometime in 2012. To be honest I'm not too surprised to see FUNimation acquire this show. A specific date and price hasn't been announced yet, but I would like to take a guess. Don't hold it to me, but I see the regular DVD version being sold for $50.00 + and the Blu-Ray version being sold for around $60.00.

Again I'm just guessing here. If you would like to see the official announcement please click HERE!

Introducing Post

I created a post in the new "Introducing" section. I hope you enjoy it and I hope to add a lot more!

New Section Coming Today!

Hey everyone. I wanted to make a quick announcement. I'm going to be adding a new section on my blog today called "Introducing". This section will be used to introduce people to certain anime shows. I decided to create this section because I wanted to a separate place to put these entries. I didn't want them to vanish between posts. I also think this will be easier for everyone to find these entries.

Just to let everyone know I do plan on updating that section daily like this one.

Thanks!

4Kids...

I don't know about the rest of you, but 4Kids Entertainment has always left a bad taste in my mouth. I started despising the company for what it was ever since I was old enough to appreciate anime for what it is. These are the guys who take anime like Pretty Cure, Tokyo Mew Mew and One Piece and Americanize it.

Anyways it turns out that they've been cheating the Japanese companies they've been licensing anime from and those companies aren't having any of it. I won't go into details, but this ships already sinking. I just hope it's enough to finally sink it. Though I have to say something about the companies that license their anime to them. Now I might be a fan of companies like Toei. I think anyone who's tried to make an AMV using their property knows how strict they are with it, but I think it's strange that they would sell the distribution rights to these shows to companies like 4Kids who cut and edit the heck out of it.

Just my two cents on the matter. You can read the original article HERE!

Dark Anime With Happy Openings!

I always found it fascinating watching a really dark show that has a happy opening. It always makes me feel like were getting deceived. I honestly don't know too many like this, but I do know a few I'd like to share with everyone. 

1. Alien Nine

I'm going to be mentioning this show quite a bit in this blog. Anyways this show has a really cute and happy ending featuring these girls hunting an alien. The song is happy and hyper, but the show is really dark and depressing.

2. Madoka Magica


This show's beginning makes makes me think it's going to be a typical magical girl show. I thought it was going to be a comedy about Madoka trying to become a great magical girl, but she keeps messing things up. I was wrong.

3. Shadow Star Narutaru

Who could possibly believe this show is going to be violent, huh? I mean look at it! The whole opening shows these girls dancing and there's even an Ultraman reference! Then, later, someone looses half of their head...


So what about you guys? Do you know of any anime shows that start happy and whimsical, but turn out to be dark and disturbing? List them them in the comments.

K-ON! DVD 2: Cover Art!

Hey guys! Here's the cover art for the second DVD of K-ON!

The funny thing about this picture (other then the cuteness) is the fact that this scene DOES take place in the anime, but it doesn't happen until the second season!

Otaku is an Insult

With every medium there is always some sort of divide. With anime that divide is pretty apparent to me. For instance the divide between dubbed and subbed fans. There's a divide between people who prefer legit copies of anime and pirated versions and there is a divide between people who believe the word Otaku is an insult and those who do not.

Otaku in Japan means "People who have obsessive hobbies" and yes the word is an insult and you might not believe it, but the word doesn't lose it's meaning just because it's spoken here in America. I know several anime fans think the word Otaku is positive here in America and it's lost most of it's meaning overtime, but I assure you that's not the case. I should also mention this... Just because Tokyopop created the Hulu show America's Greatest Otaku, doesn't mean what I just said isn't true. The title is actually a contradictory. It's like saying "America's Greatest Obsessive".

So... I didn't write this article to change anyone's mind or anything, just my two cents on the matter.

Excel Saga- Anime Returns!

 I owned the entire series on XBOX live and I really loved the show. It's hilarious and it's hard to tell you what it's about. I think someone is trying to take over the city and Excel, one of the main characters, is trying to eat a dog and that's it!

Ok... Not really, but the show is fun and worth checking out. Thanks to FUNimation we'll be getting our chance to collect the series again. May 17th will be the return of Excel Saga! It'll cost you $37.49, but I think it's worth it. You do get all 26 episodes and it's really hilarious. The only bad thing about this anime (this is my opinion only) is the Pedro episode. I'm sorry, but Pedro's plight never interested me.

You can pre-order the series at Rightstuf if you want! I plan to!

Click HERE to pre-order!

SGT. Frog Season 3! Availble For Pre-Order!

Hey everyone! As a Sgt. Frog fan I have no choice, but to deliver this awesome piece of news to you. During my daily search of Rightstuf I spotted the 3rd season of Sgt. Frog up and ready to be pre-ordered! I'm really excited to see it up and I'm even more surprised to see that the show is coming this June! Actually it'll be available June 28th, but you can guarantee yourself a copy if you click HERE and pre-order it! The price is $29.99 (honestly I thought it would be higher.) I plan on pre-ordering my copy a little later.

Do You Believe In Magic?

Here's another AMV I made using three different anime series. UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie, Sasami Magical Girls Club and Magikano. This is a remake of a AMV I made a few months ago. It does have some mistake in it, but I still think it looks pretty good.

Of course I like it. I made it after all. I hope you guys enjoy it too!

Rozen Maiden- Volume 1

I actually thought I would come here today and tell you how I was ripped off at Amazon, but actually I wasn't. Yesterday my copy of Rozen Maiden, volume 1 came and it was in great shape. I didn't like how they packaged it, (no protection, thin envelope) but it came without any scratches. At first I thought it was just resealed and stuff like that, but the DVD looked brand-new and it came with it's inserts, so I'm satisfied.

I'm hoping to complete my collection of the show this summer ASAP. I still want to get the R.O.D Blu-Ray boxset, but I also I want to spend some money on my novel. So I have to plan things just right this year.

Sasami Magical Girls Club- A New Day

Unless you live in Germany you won't be able to see this. Now before anyone gets too mad at me please keep in mind I don't have the power to choose which country is and isn't allowed to watch my videos. If I had a choice every country would.

Future Updates and AMV!

AMVs-

Out of all my hobbies, Making AMVs is one of them!

No. Seriously I do love making AMVs, but I couldn't decide if it's my favorite thing to do or not. I've made a grand total of about 10, but only a few remain today. So I'm actually remaking several of them right now. I'm hoping to get them  up on Youtube as soon as possible.

I do have one and also the news story about Angel Beats posted on my youtube channel. If you'd like to subscribe to my channel. Just click the link HERE!


Updates-

I'm going to expand my blog a bit and include an Anime Review section very soon. The review section is actually another blog, so if you're subscribed to this one you might want to subscribe to that one as well.

I'll probably add a gaming section in a little bit. Post screen shots and game play videos very soon.

And in the land of Updates that's it! I'm going to publish my AMV here in a moment.

Take care!

Sentai Filmworks Acquires Angel Beats!

Sentai Filmworks has announced their acquisition of the anime Angel Beats! The show will be released with both an English and Japanese audio track and will be released on both DVD and Blu-Ray. The English dubbed version of the show will also make it's premiere at Anime Boston. So far a release date hasn't been announced, but I'm sure we'll be seeing one in the near future.

Source: Sentai Filmworks

Oreimo Episode 13

Looks like Japan will finally see how Oreimo will truly end. April 12th four online websites will start streaming episode 13 of this really great show. Those four websites include Nico Nico Douga, Showtime, Moviegate and the Bandai Channel. I don't know if any of those sites will be region blocked or not. I'm not even sure if they'll be subbed later on for English speaking folks. No doubt we'll see these episodes sometime in the near future, but the question of when is still a mystery. For now you can watch the first 12 episodes online and for free by clicking HERE! I'll keep everyone informed as more information comes in.

So Far In Gaming...

I remember saying something about this blog being dedicated to other things besides anime. Well I guess I better get on that at least once. I will limit my gaming talk to RPGs or Survival Horror games. Those two I love the most.

Right now I'm playing a game called Blue Dragon. It's pretty good and from what I can tell it's long. The game is about a group of kids who are try to put a stop to evil Nene's plans, but in order to do that they had to swallow some light crystals that give life to their shadows.

I haven't gotten very far yet. The first time I played through I was curious when Zola would join my team so I raced ahead. Barely got through all the boss fights that I got into and finally found her. So I decided to stop, restart and go back through slowly. At least I know when she makes her grand appearance.

 The game is fun, but right now I'm not a big fan of Shu. He's one of those stereotypical game characters who doesn't put a lot of stock into thinking. That can get pretty annoying.

The rest of the characters are pretty cool as well. We have  Jiro, Kluke and Marumaro.

Well right now I'm still on disk 1 so hopefully I'll get through that and gather all the characters up ASAP. I'll let everyone know how it goes later on.

Coming Soon To My DVD Collection...

Hey everyone. I just wanted to let you know that I bought a few new DVDs. I didn't get that many though. First of all I have K-On! DVD 1 coming sometime next month. I can't wait to finally see the English dubbed version of that. I plan on making a review for each DVD. I'm not sure if I'll do one for Ani.Me though. I haven't decided yet. I might wait until the whole first season gets released first before writing one for them. I know people are curious about the dub and I won't lie either. If it sucks I'll let people know.

Well today I ordered a few more DVDs to add to my collection. One is going to be updated in parts, while the other is the full series of something.

So the first one is Murder Princess. I saw the first two episodes on Funimation. The series looked great, but I decided to cut it off until I got the DVD. Now it's on its way.

I'll do a review about this show later, but it looks pretty good. It's about a coup led by Dr. Akamashi. While trying to escape a princess named Alita knocks into an infamous bounty hunter named Falis and stumbled off a cliff. Somehow they change bodies and now Falis is in the body of princess Alita. Falis then returns in the body of Alita and drives Dr. Akamashi and his coup out of the kingdom and now she's the princess.

The next DVD I ordered is the second volume of Rozen Maiden.

I wish I had bought this sooner. I just put it off for some reason. Even when they re-released both seasons I still didn't buy it and I love this series. I even own some of the mangas. The series is about a boy named Jun who buys things online, tries them out and sends them back. He then answers a flier and magically a living doll named Shinku appears in his room. He awakens her and then during an attack he swears his allegiance to Shinku and becomes his medium.

I'll stop there. This anime is awesome, but I can't write a review until I have the whole thing in my possession. I have the first DVD coming in the mail right now, but I bought it from Amazon so I don't know if it'll be new or not, or if it's really coming. The people I ordered them from doesn't have a great reputation and I didn't see that until after I ordered it. 

I'll let everyone know soon enough.

K-On! DVD 2

Here's some great news for anyone that's been wondering. The second volume of K-On! has been announced! I spotted the Blu-Ray and regular DVD version at Rightstuf today. The second DVD will be released June 14th. So you'll have to wait a good month after the first volume is released, though people who typically pre-order at Rightstuf gets their items a week in advance.I'm not sure if that always happens though.

You can pre-order the second DVD yourself by clicking HERE! I plan on getting the regular DVD version myself. It's a little cheaper.

Movie Actors and Studio Ghibli!- Part Two

I'm here once more to talk about Studio Ghibli and some famous movie actors who've starred in their films. As a Studio Ghibli film fan. I think it's pretty awesome to point these out to people. Even I've been surprised sometimes when I find out a certain celebrity has lent their voices to some of these films. So without further ado...

1. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Patrick Stewart has actually lent his voice to other animated films such as Steam Boy. Nausicaa of the Vally of the Wind is actually the first movie I heard him lend his voice to. He's pretty good and the film is amazing.

2. Howl's Moving Castle

Here's a couple of stars for you. The top picture is of Billy Crystal and the bottom one is Christian Bale. I recognized their voices the moment I heard them. Howl's Moving Castle is a pretty good movie.

3. Kiki's Delivery Service

Last one today. When Kirsten Dunst was younger she lent her voice to Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service. This film was one of the first Studio Ghibli films I've ever seen. It's a great film.

I have a few more I would love to add, but that's for later.

Now Available To Pre-order. Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew....

Hey everyone. Rightstuf released some information about a few manga everyone might be interested in. This year we'll be able to add titles such as Sailor Moon, Codename: Sailor V and Tokyo Mew Mew.  I don't know about you guys, but this is pretty exciting news. Sailor Moon hasn't been in US bookstores in years, not to mention Codename: Sailor V has never been released in America before. I'm pretty excited. This new manga release may mean a re-release of the anime. An unbutchered version I mean!

Below are some links to Rightstuf where you can pre-order the titles you're interested in.

Full Rightstuf Article: Click Here!

Sailor Moon

Codename: Sailor V

Tokyo Mew Mew

Kiddy Grade!

  
Alright! Now for some  news. I saw Kiddy Grade last year and like all anime I swore I would buy it, but never did. Now some of the DVDs are missing and that means one of two things. One I'll never be able to complete my collection and two.... I'll have to go to Amazon and take the chance of buying some pirated piece of crap. Or get swindled out of my money.

Well now I don't have to worry about a thing!

Funimation is re-releasing the series! May 10th we'll see the return of Eclair and Lumiere as they fight all kinds of criminals! This is a fun show and I really wished I had bought the individual DVDs, but I'm just happy to be able to pick up the series at all. So May 10th I'll be adding another anime to my shopping cart over at Rightstuf! You can pre-order it now by clicking the link below! I'll write up a review once I get my hands on this puppy!

Click Here To Pre-Order Kiddy Grade!

Movie Actors and Studio Ghibli!

As a huge fan of Studio Ghibli I sometimes surprise myself by being able to remember some of the famous names who lent their voices to some of my favorite characters. To be honest with everyone I Have a problem remembering names. Not that I don't care about those people, but sometimes their names just slip my mind. When it comes to Studio Ghibli however, my mind is like a steel trap! So I'm going to make a small list of famous movie actors and show you the movie they lent their voices to. Some might surprise you.

1. Porco Rosso

 

Yes! Michael Keaton was in Porco Rosso! Not only that, but he WAS the voice of Porco! This was a double win for me. Not only am I a Studio Ghibli film fan, but I'm also a Michael Keaton fan!

2. Princess Mononoke

I'm not going after every actor in these movies, but I had to mention these two. Billy Bob Thornton and Gillian Anderson. 

3. The Cats Return

The last ones I'll post today. Anne Hathaway starred in The Cats Return. It was a great movie.


So I would check these out if I were you. They're fun movies and certainly worth a look. I actually own all the films I mentioned and watch them to this day. I plan on adding more tomorrow!

K-On! Who's Preordered It Yet?

I'm really excited about this anime getting released over her in America. When I first saw it I hoped and prayed someone would pick up the distribution rights to the show. To be honest with you though. I wasn't expecting Bandai to be the ones to do it. I thought companies like Funimation or Section 23 would be the ones to do it. Not that I'm complaining of course. If Funimation had grabbed the distribution rights to the show then they would have released the entire series at one time and who knows when it would have been released, same thing could be said about Section 23 as well.

So who's pre-ordered the show already? It's being dubbed and subbed so everyone wins! If you're interested you can pre-order it at Rightstuf by clicking HERE!

Another Anime To Relax With (Something about Comments)

Before I get started on my next blog, I wanted to apologize for deleting someones comment on my Green Green blog. I didn't delete it here. I actually deleted it on my dashboard. I thought I was deleting the notification, not the actual comment. So I apologize for deleting it.

Kamichu is another anime I love relaxing with. It's slice-of-life, but it isn't mindless or stupid. It's a great show about a god girl named Yurie, who's dealing with the fact that she is now a god.. My only complaint with the show is that we never get to see her actually become a god. She actually tells her friend that she suddenly became one and that's it. Though it's such a minor complaint that I don't think too much about it, but it would have been cool to see it happen.

Yurie is adorable. She's shy, she's sensitive, but at the same time she's pretty strong. It doesn't matter if it's a person, another god, or a space alien (yes there is an alien in this show) she can't turn her back on them if they're in trouble.

I would recommend this show and who knows. I might do a review about it later.

Anime I Can Relax With

Even though I love all kinds of anime, there are moments when I don't feel like watching something overly complicated. Sometimes I just feel like watching a show that might be considered a little mindless, or one that isn't in a hurry to get itself over with. What kind of anime fits this bill?

Slice-of-life

It might surprise some people, but slice-of-life anime is actually one of my favorite genres. I can relax with a nice slice-of-life show and spend hours watching it! Anyways one of my guilty pleasures is Strawberry Marshmallow.

This show is very cute and it doesn't force it's watchers to pay too much attention to it. It's 12 episodes long, but a few OVA's were released later on, but the distribution rights for those weren't grabbed by anyone, which is a shame because those are pretty fun too. The anime series was grabbed by Geneon, but unfortunately they went out of business and their anime stock is slowly disappearing from Rightstuf.

So what about everyone else? When you feel like relaxing what shows do you enjoy watching? Please leave a comment!

Something a little different!

Hey everyone. While watching anime have you ever spotted something that seemed familiar? Like you've seen it in another anime? Well during my time as an anime fan I've seen countless shows and movies and I've spotted plenty of references before. Some shows make it easy for you to spot them (like naming the show their referencing) while others make you put a little work into it.

Well today I'm going to point out a few references. Of course I'll include a few pictures to go along with these references and I'll name the show they come from.

First Up....

1. Grave Of The Fireflies. 

Yep. Someone made an obvious reference to this anime. You might know it as the saddest anime in the world! It was made by Studio Ghibli too. The same people who made movies like Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service. So tell me if anything looks familiar.

The ones who referenced Grave of the Fireflies was none other then Dokkoida!? After a giant clay monster destroys some of the city the characters are living in, they take shelter in another building. Well someone starts shouting "Setsuko" and this little girl runs across the camera. In case you haven't seen Grave of the Fireflies yet, the little girl in that movie is named Setsuko.



There's more I'll do later. I would check out both Grave of the Fireflies and Dokkoida!? They're worth checking out!

Funimation Confirms- "Dance in the Vampire Bund" Unedited!

Some people might not understand the importance of having unedited and uncensored anime. For me, it's not about the fan service, it's about getting what I paid for. If I pay for an anime I want that anime. I don't want a butchered version of it. If a characters name is Nagisa, don't change it to Sarah. If an anime can land you in jail without editing it, then don't buy the distribution rights to the show!

Well Funimation sparked some controversy when they announced they were considering preforming edits to the show Dance in the Vampire Bund. Even when they announced a June release date for the show the issue of editing it went unanswered.

Until now! Funimation confirmed with ANN that it will release the show unedited! I had a feeling it wasn't going to be edited, considering they didn't edit Strike Witches, but sometimes you never know.

Well you don't have to take my word for it. You can read ANN's article by clicking here.

Serial Experiments Lain- Don't Avoid!

Yesterday I covered a show I wasn't really fond of. Today I'm going to cover one that I really enjoyed! Serial Experiments Lain! Before you go to your favorite online store hoping to buy this, I should warn you you'll only be able to find a couple of new DVD's. Unfortunately it sold out a while ago. Thankfully Funimation rescued the title so we'll see it return to store shelves soon. I hope.

Serial Experiments Lain is about a girl named Lain who isn't very tech savvy. One day a fellow classmate commits suicide. The next day everyone starts getting email from her. Lain becomes curious about this so she connects to the wired (in this anime the wired is the internet). Before long she receives email from the dead classmate as well. After that Lain begins upgrading her computer. While doing all this a second version of Lain starts terrorizing other people. Spreading rumors about them. Before long a group of men garbed in black suits wearing strange devices on their faces appear and start monitoring Lain.

There's a lot more to the series then I just mentioned. This anime is considered a conspiracy theory type show and it's actually pretty good. The creators were hoping people would get into debates about what the show was actually about, what it represented, but unfortunately for him everyone pretty much agreed about the show.

Personally I enjoyed the two sides to the real Lain. At first she acts cute and shy, but before long she becomes more confident, but it's still the same Lain. For instance there's a scene where Lain is talking to a man inside the wired. She's told something horrible happened to a group of kids and she starts crying. When I saw that I knew it was the same Lain as before.

There were some other characters I enjoyed as well. Like Arisu Mizuki, Lain's only real friend. Arisu always stands up for Lain and even when she has her doubts about Lain's innocents she still refuses to believe it's true.

The animation isn't cutting edge, or anything like that, but the dark and moody atmosphere really sets the tone for the show, not to mention the strange shadows. For instance Lain's shadow has some weird stuff roaming around inside it. Also some shadows are represented as red hazes. It's really cool.

Oh and I have to mention the beginning theme. It really fits in with the show. Especially the part where the girl sings "And you don't seem the lying kind. A shame I came read your mind. And all the things that I read there. Candle lit smile we both share." Awesome lyrics!

Well I think I'm going to stop there for now. Funimation hasn't announced a release date just yet, but I'm hoping they'll make one soon. When you can I would defiantly check it out.

Green Green- Avoid if you Can

I consider myself pretty open minded when it comes to anime. I enjoy both Japanese and American made anime. I love both English subbed anime and dubbed. I couldn't even name a genre that I particularly dislike. I mean if Alien Nine doesn't prove I'm open-minded then my love for Serial Experiments Lain certainly should prove that.

So with that said, I have to admit that there are a few shows that I really dislike. It could be for any number of reasons, but there are certain shows that I dislike. Before I continue I would like to add that I don't dislike anime based on other peoples preferences or just to be the black sheep. For instance I won't claim to dislike shows like Bleach, One Piece or Naruto just to start some kind of controversy. If I did dislike those anime I would give legitimate reasons for it, but I like them.

So what is it about Green Green that I dislike so much?

Yeah. Those three guys above. These guys are like every cliched, pervert in anime rolled into three. Not only that, but these three almost dominate the entire anime! There are other reasons I dislike the anime, but before I get into those, let me tell you what this show is about.

Two lovers in ancient times fell in love, but they aren't allowed to be together so they swore that one day when they are reincarnated they would be together. So during a merge between two schools Midori Chitose (one of the reincarnated lovers) appears in front of Yuusuke Takasaki (the other reincarnated lover) proclaiming her love for him. At first he's simply annoyed with her clinging on him, but soon he awakens and remembers they used to be lovers.

To be honest with you the plot seems pretty nice to me and I'm sure this would have made a wonderful anime, but they made so many mistakes.

1. People are surprised that Midori Chitose magically appeared on their bus, but no one questioned it.

2. Why Midori and Yuuske's love was forbidden is never explained. All they say is, "Because it was ancient times their love was forbidden."

3. The three perverts I mentioned. They are in the show way to much!

4. This show is 12 episodes long (the 13th Episode wasn't licensed) with 3 OVA's included and for some reason they thought a recap episode was necessary! Like anyone would want to remember half of this show.

I was really disappointed and to be honest the show had a lot going for it.