Buy and Brag #4

Back again to talk about the stuff I bought in the past week.  First up is manga and then DVDs.  There’s a lot of variety in this week’s DVD collection in terms of genre and demographic.  I’m just random like that.

Shonen Jump November 2009- On time with yet another Naruto cover.  This month’s issue contains the usual and a preview of Yu-Gi-Oh! R (surprisingly worse than GX).

Yen Plus October 2009-  For a magazine that supposedly ships the first week each month, it’s unacceptable receiving this on the last day of the month, ripped and bent no less.  I’m just letting you know Yen Plus has a shit ton of problems with their subscription service.  Subscribers constantly complain of receiving their issues weeks after bookstores if at all.  I’ll probably be canceling my subscription by the end of the year.

Detroit Metal City vol. 2- Krauser II saves this week’s pick-ups.  Nothing like 200 pages of rape jokes and heavy metal.  Unfortunately, no tattoos in this volume.

Battle For Terra- This was one of those movies I wanted to see in theatres but never got around to.  I believe it was even in 3D.  So I picked this up when I saw it at Borders for 10 bucks. I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s supposed to be a reverse invasion film, with the humans taking over an alien planet.

Ghost Hound: Collection 1- I knew nothing about this before, except that it’s from the creator of Ghost in the Shell and the 20th anniversary project from Production I.G. Pretty big names there, and a big price tag.  This set retails for $60 (half season sets from Sentai Filmworks are usually $40).  But I watched the first disc last night and it’s really good.  Very spooky.  Thanks you Right Stuf for sending this a month before release date.

See Dick Run- Kel Mitchell in a new movie?  Sold.  I grew up on Kenan & Kel and I’ve been dying to see Kel in something new for years.  Kel stars as Dick, a playa who lost his manhood after a night with a succubus.  He has to find his manhood within 24 hours or it’s gone forever.  So he sets out with his best friend to question his top 5 one-night-stands to see who put the hex on him.  This movie is so low-budget, but it adds to the hilarity. It’s not the best script, but it’s so good to see Kel in the movies again.

The Wizard of Oz- Believe it or not, The Wizard of Oz was my favorite film as a kid.  I used to watch it everyday.  Since I missed out on the past 2 or 3 DVD releases of this movie, I decided to pick up this new edition.  Still one of the best films of all time.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies Special Edition- I’m a big fan of Batman.  Superman not so much.  But I still wanted to check out this team-up film, adapted from the graphic novel.

That’s all for now.  Right Stuf finally has their Viz Media sale up, so I’m going to put in 2 or 3 orders in the following week.  Viz simply has the most series that I’m collecting and I’m behind on a few.  Unfortunately, the sale is only good for manga.  I guess I’ll have to order Hunter x Hunter Collection 4 and the 20th Century Boys movies some other time.

Buy and Brag #1

Why hello there, Andrew.  Long time no see.  I thought I’d break my year long hiatus with an easy post, the old buy and brag.  This is the package I got in the mail from rightstuf today.  A mixture of my CMX, Del Rey, and Weekly Specials orders.  I might make posts like this in the future to show off my collection or for just another easy post.

Hunter x Hunter vol. 3-  I didn’t expect to enjoy this after dismissing the manga as shonen drek, but I guess it’s true what they say, all Yoshihiro Togashi manga work better as anime.  This will shoot to the top of my “to watch” list as soon as I delete some stuff from my DVR.

Astral Project vol. 4-  The fourth and final volume.  I just ordered this during the CMX manga sale and haven’t received the first three yet so this will be kept in the shrink wrap for now.

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei vol. 3- I didn’t find the second volume to be as hilarious as the first but I’ll give it another go.

X-Men: Misfits vol. 1- The second to be released in Del Rey’s “Marvel Manga” series (the first was Wolverine: Prodigal Son).  I was excited to read this, but the shojo artwork is turning me off.

CMX Summer 2009 Preview- Yay, something for free!  Rightstuf had a deal that if you purchased $50 worth of CMX manga, you’d get a free sampler.  So I did.  Everything is still on backorder, with a couple pre-orders.

So, that’s it for now.  If you’re interested in a review of any of the above titles, leave a request in the comments!

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

a sign I watch too much anime?

Since last May, I have worked the twilight shift at UPS sorting packages. Tonight on the way home from work in pitch darkness I saw a figure coming at me with rollerskates, a trucker hat, and what looked liked a very long bat which was probably just a hockey stick. So anyway I turn onto my street and he follows me! Not only that, he was rapidly gaining on me. When I was safely in the garage I looked behind and he vanished.

If you don’t know what I’m getting at, a couple years ago [adult swim] aired an anime called Paranoia Agent. A young boy on rollerskates goes around striking down emotional distraught people with a baseball bat and vanishes as soon as soon as he arrives. I’m concerned.

In any case I was terrified for a full 10 seconds.

BECK:Mongolian Chop Squad dvd release!

Volume 1 of BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad comes out July 19th, 2007. The dvd will contain the first 5 episodes and is also available with art box (extras unannounced). FUNimation has a trailer of the first disc on their website. Music is played but not the vocal parts which is what I’m most interested in, are they going to redub the music? Another point of interest is how they’re going to deal with the mass amount of Engrish, especially in the first episode.

note: I bought the new BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad manga today. Review tomorrow?