The Animation Report Vol. 1

About a year ago, I started a short lived column called The Animation Report on an unnamed forum. The Animation Report was a weekly column detailing the latest and greatest news on cartoons and anime including trailers and releases of the week information. I thought I’d try to start it up again on this blog today.

*News*

-USA Today Booklist August 6-12th contains Fruits Basket volume 17 at #99, Fullmetal Alchemist volume 14 at #148, and Bleach volume 20 at #140 enjoying it’s 3rd week on the list.

-A pharmaceutical company is serializing a manga on it’s website to educate men suffering from erectile dysfunction.

-Mattel wants their Roronoa Zolo and Batman figures back.

-A 22 year old Australian man has been fined 8,000 US dollars for importing anime and video games depicting child pornography.

-Cromartie High School arist Eiji Nonaka is starting a new manga.

-Viz Media will distribute digital downloads of Bleach through Direct2Drive starting August 31st.

-FUNimation has announced new titles for the months of November/December. Of note is the 2nd Case Closed film 14th Target, BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad volumes 4-5, and the second Fullmetal Alchemist box set.

-Christmas Time in South Park will be released on November 13th. The box set will include all 7 Christmas episodes.

- Nogin and The N will become 2 separate channels.

-Warner Bros. Studios will be working on live-action Johnny Quest films. They hope this will be their “replacement” once the Harry Potter franchise ends in 2010.

-DuckTales volume 3 and TaleSpin volume 2 will be released on November 13.

-Viz Media has announced 5 Shojo Beat titles, Be With You, Monkey High, Haruka, Fairy Cube and B.O.D.Y.

-Viz Media has also announced 5 other titles for 2008 release, Switch, Nightmare Inspector Yumekui Kenbun, and Record of a Fallen Vampire.

- Shrek the Third will also be available on November 13th. A strong contender for my worst movie of the year.

-Ice cube will star in the movie 10 based off the graphic novel.

-Yen Press have licensed Sundome, Kieli, and Kaze no Hana.

-Captain America returns. Surprising…

-The Simpsons/Futurama Collection Crisis will be released in 2008 to coincide with the release of the first Futurama direct to dvd release movie.

-Matthew Vaughn will direct the live-action adaptation of Thor.

-Hulk Smash direct to dvd cartoon to be available October 2008.

-Cartoon Network is currently airing a Naruto marathon this weekend in honor of its’ 100th episode. 100 episodes, 50 hours, 3 days.

*Multimedia*

-Innocent Venus episode 1

-Avatar: The Last Airbender Comic-Con 2007 Panel

*Releases*

Available this week

- Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters

-Air TV volume 1

-BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad volume 2

-Doctor Strange

-Initial D: Second Stage

full list @ animatedbliss

Available next week

-Big O II: Anime Legends Complete Collection

-Innocent Venus volume 1

-Le Chevalier D’eon volume 4 Ancien Regime

-School Rumble volume 1

-South Park complete 10th season

full list available @ animatedbliss

*Anime of the Week*

~Street Fighter II V

Currently airing on Sci-Fi’s Ani-Monday block, Street Fighter II V packs an unexpected punch. In the “sequel” series to the original and adaptation of the videogame, Ryu receives an invitation from his best friend Ken to visit him in America. In the half a dozen episodes that have aired so far, Ken, who’s parents are super rich then travels with Ryu to Hong Kong where they stay in a $20,000 per night hotel suite. But they did not come to relax in luxury! Ken hires a travel guide to take them to Kowloon Palace, a lawless area where the toughest fighters in HK duel for the betting addicts. After beating every fighter in the arena, Ken and Ryu barely escape with their lives. After treating their tour guide with an expensive shopping spree, Ken and Ryu leave for Thailand to learn the fighting skill “muy thai.”

If you’re looking for an addicting action series that not 300 episodes and counting I can’t recommend Street Fighter II V enough. It appears that the remaining episodes will involve Ken and Ryu traveling to other countries to learn other secret techniques and fight the best fighters. The main characters may be complete airheads and at times act homosexually, but their blissful innocence and passion for fighting is enduring.

Review: Blood + and Bleach

Blood +- episodes 18-20 (DUBBED)

20 episodes in and we finally find out Saya is a chiropteran, the creature she has been assigned to kill. Other than this “shocking” news, these episodes play out much like the rest of the series. Saya is confronted by a chiropteran, she loses blood, her buddy/stalker is stabbed in the chest, she lies unconscious in the snow, and somehow in the next episode they both survive with no wounds whatsoever. But it appears that they’ll finally introduce a storyline involving the “chevaliers” which have been name dropped a few times before.

The only thing Blood + has going for it right now is the current theme song “Season’s Call” performed by Hyde, the vocalist for L’arc~en~ciel. The show is extremely repetitive with it’s stand-alone style episodes. This is what every episode of Blood + is about, Saya disappears to fight a chiropteran while her adopted brother Kai and Riku search all over for her. For now I’ll let the DVR record more episodes for the chevalier arc but once school starts I’ll probably forget all about this series.

2/5

Bleach- episodes 42-44 (DUBBED)

After volume 17 of the manga I was underwhelmed and stopped reading this series. However since Shonen Jump plans to serialize the manga post-Soul Society arc I decided I should try to catch up and what a great point to restart watching this series. These three episodes focus on one of my favorite characters, Uryu Ishida the quincy. Uryu encounters the captain of 12th squad, Mayuri Kurotshuchi, a Joker looking character, after being recognized as an intruder. What ensues is your typical shonen style fight. Uryu tries to protect his honor as a quincy for his deceased grandfather and Mayuri’s slave while being brutally beaten by the enemy. Of course Uryu taps into latent power and overcomes said bad guy who just barely escapes by turning himself into a liquid.

3.5/5

Review: Trinity Blood

Over the course of the summer, dozens of anime episodes have been accumulating on my DVR.  In the hopes of going through them all before fall semester starts,  I will be posting mini-reviews of each series.  They do not pertain to the series as a whole but to the said episode numbers.  Follow up reviews may or may not occur.

Trinity Blood- episodes 9-11 (dubbed)

Overcount I. The Belfry of Downfall & Overcount II. Lucifer’s Choice. In an unexpected turn of events, Trinity Blood airs episodes that actually advances the plot. In the previous episode Father Abel and Sister Noelle investigate rumors in Barcelona. Noelle tells Abel that she’s always loved him, Abel tells Noelle he has feelings for her. How sweet, romance in the Vatican! And then Noelle dies from invisible sound waves emitted from a cathedral bell. Abel spends this two part episode wondering around with a vacant look on his face. In the meantime, Lady Caterina finds the secret plans that Noelle uncovered in the cathedral at Barcelona for the destructive sound wave device. Having checked all the cathedral bells in Rome, there is only one left, the bell Caterina’s uncle, the Archbishop brought into the Vatican himself. Punished for even questioning the allegiances of her uncle, Caterina is sent into confinement where her uncle reveals his plan to destroy Rome as revenge for not being elected for papacy 5 years ago. Luckily our heroes stop the Archbishop before any more of Rome is destroyed no thanks to Abel who just stands there refusing to kill the enemy for he has sworn never to kill again. Spare me the Rurouni Kenshin philosophy and grow some balls you vampire scum.

From the Empire. Now we return to our regular scheduled stand alone episodes, and here I thought we were making progress. Abel teams up with another agent of the empire, Astharoshe, to hunt down another vampire mass murderer. Astharoshe hates Terrans, what we call humans or muggles, and is still under the impression Abel belongs to that category. To skip a lot of crap, they defeat the vampire who was trying to assassinate his Holyness and Astharoshe discovers she has feelings for Abel. How sweet, romance in the Vatican! Is anyone noticing a pattern here? I’ll continue to watch the show because I want to see how terrible the ending is like everyone says.

2.5/5

Review: Shonen Jump September 2007

On the cover: Naruto strikes a pose for the third month in a row. Remember when I used to complain when Yu-Gi-Oh! was on the cover every other month? I wouldn’t mind so much if they used a secondary character from the series such as Sasuke or even Sakura (*gasp* a girl!). On the back cover, SJ finally gave in and placed an ad for Ball Park Hot Dogs. The previous 56 issues always used the same cover on the back as the front but with altered text in places.

Naruto: 5 chapters!  After denying the title of 5th Hokage, Jiraiya sets out to find the 3rd “great ninja of Konoha legend” (Tsunade if you’re keeping up with the anime on Cartoon Network).  Jiraiya asks if Naruto could accompany him on his travels.  Meanwhile in town, the infamous Uchiha Itachi returns.  Kakashi and fellow ninja academy instructors hold Itachi and his companion at bay but Kakashi is badly wounded from Itachi’s nightmare realm technique.  Kakashi realizes that Itachi has not come back for his brother Sasuke but the 9 tailed fox in Naruto.  Having seen the anime episodes for this a couple months ago, nothing here surprised me.  I was disappointed in the nightmare realm technique which only lasted for a full two pages.  In the anime the technique took up at least five minutes where Kakashi was brutally stabbed by numerous Itachi clones while nailed on a cross in a black and white world.                                  3/5

Bobobo-bo bo-bobo:  Every time I turn the page to see the latest chapter of Bobobo “wiggin out every month” I want to stab my eyes out.  I couldn’t even tell you what this series is about, it makes no sense whatsoever.  However, I will now try to explain this month’s adventure.  Bobobo and company are hanging over a vat of lava, or something, tied to ropes battling other people tied to ropes.  The author tries to imput a “joke” into just about every panel but none of it works at all.  Most embarrassing is Bobobo’s latest ally, Emoboy, a boy with a paperbag for a head who threatens to cut the rope holding him from certain death literally every other page.  The only thing keeping him from killing himself is the word “cookies” to which Emoboy enthusiastically runs to Bobobo.     0/5

Yu Yu Hakusho:  Yusuke and company have just been informed by Genkai about the  latest gateway between the human world and the demon plane.  In time, the gateway will expand large enough so that S Class demons can invade which will lead the Earth to certain doom.  Employing the help of a physic (who has received his special power from the gateway along with many other humans), Yusuke and company finally find the man behind this mess, one who is even more powerful than Toguro.  They have three more weeks until the demon gateway reaches full capacity, Genkai advises them to take that time to train themselves for this greater evil.              4/5

Hikaru no Go:  Always a favorite of mine, Hikaru is battling in the last couple of matches for the Pro test.  Competing against a close friend and fellow insei, Waya, Hikaru gives his all under pressure.  This is the 3rd time Waya is competing in the Pro test and is determined to make it his last.  With Hikaru’s stones surrounded, Waya believes that his time has finally come.  At times HnG is difficult to understand through the Go terminology but ultimately is the most fast paced and readable series in the magazine.              4/5

One Piece: Drum Island! Nami is cured by the old-bat doctor but these three chapters focus mainly on the doc’s helper, Tony Tony Chopper. Chopper is a blue nosed reindeer who has eaten of the devil fruit and can now walk and talk like a normal human being. However, Chopper was never accepted in society by his reindeer peers or the humans. There was only one man who he trusted but even he had to leave Chopper. These events left a hole in his heart which even the witch doctor can’t cure. However, once Luffy finds out about the Chopper’s medical skills he immediately asks him to join his pirate crew. Can Chopper put his trust in another human? 3/5

Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World: I’m surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed this part of the series so far. Yugi and company travel into the pharaoh’s memories of Egypt to discover his “other self’s” true name. Only when he knows this name can he pass safely to the afterlife. Having found it a couple of issues ago, Yugi can now let him rest in peace but first he needs to battle his other self in a duel! Most importantly Yugi must beat his other self, Atem, it’s his last mission as the person who has put the millennium puzzle together. 4/5

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Worthless series added last winter to fill in the gap for the other Yu-Gi-Oh! series which will wrap up in the November issue. For all I know, the GX series is an exact adaptation of the anime on TV. In this issue the headmaster of Obelisk Blue makes Jaden battle close friend Syrus. If Jaden loses, he loses his beloved deck of cards. If Syrus loses, he is expelled from the academy. In this chapter we receive pictures of at least two dozen cards from the game. This is not a manga, this is an advertisement with no heart. 0/5

Closing thoughts: Being the 3rd month of SJ Evolution, I’ve never been so disappointed in this magazine. A year ago I would’ve never thought that there would be not just 1 but 2 manga in the magazine that I absolutely hate. The full chapter previews that were present in the magazine for years for their straight to graphic novel line-up have all disappeared. They love to advertise them and even place pictures of them on the cover but the most we ever get are a one page write up of Kurohime in the back of the magazine which I could’ve easily found on wikipedia. At this point, I’m only reading to keep up with Hikaru no Go, Yu Yu Hakusho and the end of Millennium World. Hopefully with the inclusion of Bleach later this year, the magazine will be re energized, let not the death of Shaman King be in vein!