The all things Anime related thread.

[memyselfandi]

Aye I saw the ADV thing, it's bit worrying, but this auction could (and likely is) just them clearing out stuff that is no longer required, which would be pretty normal (i've seen it happen even when various companies have moved offices - it can be cheaper to start off with new furniture than move the old).

It's worrying if looked at as a new thing, but not so bad if it's seen as a continuation of a previous issue. that is being concluded (closing PIQ would have left them with a lot of stuff to store/dispose of, and the timing would be right).

I think it was mentioned that it wasn't stuff from the main ADV offices, which it would be if it was more serious



On a slightly happer note, my Victorian Romance Emma set arrived this morning from TRSI, so i'll probably be watching that tonight/tomorrow.

Yep, them saying that some things have started moving again (e.g. NHK) is a good sign but who knows what's going to happen really ...

Let us know what you think of Emma, I've been considering it since I say it announced but haven't been sure enough to get it.

In the last week or so I've rewatched Genshiken , watched the NHK disks released so far, rewatched Lucky Star disk 1 and am currently working my way through Azumanga Daioh

 

[manveruppd]

I didn't like the Kenshin series at all. Saw the OVAs first and they were mature, serious and poignant, and in comparison the series was childish and cartoony. Very first episode put me off immediately.

 

[memyselfandi]

Well I'm continuing rewatching Azumanga Daioh at the moment and it's just as good the nth time as the first ... also rewatched Piano today which is a nice sweet series even if it lacks any real depth. Watched the second Kujibiki Unbalanced disk too ... I'm fairly disappointed with this series, I don't find the animation quality particularly good and the series just does not feel as good as even the 3 OVA episodes which came with Genshiken series 1, (and it's missing the excellent theme music from Under17!). Trouble is without the disks you miss on the Genshiken OVA episodes linking across to season 2.

I see new series have been announced in Japan for Strawberry Marshmallows and Ef .... hopefully the first series of the latter will get licensed at some point. I also see theres a new ToHeart2 series announced as well for 2009 ... TRSI and Nozomi just need to license the second and third series, (and the OVAs), in that property following on from the first which is already released on R1. Hmmm ... wonder what the two items Nozomi supposedly is going to announce soon, (seeing as the last two, Maria-sama and Aria, are series I have an interest in .... (oh no more preorders).).

 

[Werewolf]

Re Emma, it sounds like there has been a mistake with the sound, apparently it looks like episode 2 onwards have had the stereo encoded wrongly (so both speakers are putting out exactly the same sound) :/

TRSI are apprently looking into it at the moment, and I wouldn't be surprised if they officially acknowledged is in the next few days.

Azu is great, I really want to watch it again when I get the time

I've been watching Black Lagoon volumes 1 and 2 (should get 3 this week), which is pretty good, although I do get that psycho vibe from Revo

 

[Werewolf]

Ok, my opinion of Emma after the first 4 episodes is pretty simple.
I'm loving it, partly because it's so completely different to most of the anime out there, partly it's the look of it, and partly because it keeps making me smile

Oh, and Hakim's wifes are funny, they never say a word, but are sort of like a pack of mischievous lionesses (one always seems to be lounging, one sitting upright, and the other two penning people in/sitting/walking beside someone).

 

[memyselfandi]

Ok, my opinion of Emma after the first 4 episodes is pretty simple.
I'm loving it, partly because it's so completely different to most of the anime out there, partly it's the look of it, and partly because it keeps making me smile

Oh, and Hakim's wifes are funny, they never say a word, but are sort of like a pack of mischievous lionesses (one always seems to be lounging, one sitting upright, and the other two penning people in/sitting/walking beside someone).

hmmm ... may have check it out; can't this month though with NHK 5, Kanon 6, Lucky Star 2, Maria-sama etc etc etc coming out ....

 

[just Scott]

I recently watched 3 things:

Gurren Lagann
5 Centimeters Per Second
Elfen Lied

Loved all 3. What do you guys think of them?

I'm still new to anime so forgive me if I'm late.

 

[BananaDunka]

I recently watched 3 things:

Gurren Lagann
5 Centimeters Per Second
Elfen Lied

Loved all 3. What do you guys think of them?

I'm still new to anime so forgive me if I'm late.

Going to watch 5cm tonight but the other two are great! Gurren Lagann being my favourite of the two, it's sad, funny and awesome

 

[memyselfandi]

I recently watched 3 things:

Gurren Lagann
5 Centimeters Per Second
Elfen Lied

Loved all 3. What do you guys think of them?

I'm still new to anime so forgive me if I'm late.

Haven't seen Gurren Lagann
5cm/s ... thought it looked very nice and was quite good but preferred "Place Promised ..." which seemed to have a better story.
Elfen Lied ... it's more violent than the normal things I tend to watch but I found it pretty good.

I'd suggest watching Place Promised in Our Early Days if you liked 5cm/s

 

[just Scott]

Haven't seen Gurren Lagann
5cm/s ... thought it looked very nice and was quite good but preferred "Place Promised ..." which seemed to have a better story.
Elfen Lied ... it's more violent than the normal things I tend to watch but I found it pretty good.

I'd suggest watching Place Promised in Our Early Days if you liked 5cm/s

Thanks mate. I've had that for a while, I just haven't watched it yet.

 

[Stelly]

Ok people, mecha and cyber punk suggestion time...

seen the following:

Appleseed (all of them)
GITS (again all of them)
Patlabor (all of them, bar the series)
Battle Angel
Guyver
CBB
Akira
Ergo Proxy
Evangellion
Vexille
Full Metal Panic
Madox
Gasaraki

Can you think of any others I should watch?

Stelly

 

[Werewolf]

Patlabor the Series...
Rahxephon
Divergence Eve.
Gravion
Daiguard

for Mecha (and related).

I'm not so sure about steampunk, except maybe the obvious one Steamboy..

[edit]
At the same time it looks like ADV may be going down the pan (apparently a number of their new titles are on indefinate hiatus according to at least one reputable retailer who has confirmed it with them), Funi are going to be distributing some of Geneon's titles (hellsing Ultimate, Rozen Maiden, Fate//Stay to name a few).

 

[lsg1r]

just going to list all the ones I can think of and some are rather poor (* means pretty good in my view).

*Gundam - how can you forget this lot
*Rahxephon - not your typical mecha though
*Eureka Seven
*Full Metal Panic
*Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 - not mecha in the strictest sense but I think you could get away with it
Dancouga Nova
*Heroic Age - not mecha but similar vein, its giant aliens which look like organic mecha
Sousei no Aquarion
*Sky Girls - maybe a little bit loli but I reckon it could pass as a mecha kind of.
*Soukyuu No Fafner
*Zoids
Super Robot Wars
Blue Gender
Generator Gawl
Gravion (and Zwei)
Kenran Butoh Sai - The Mars Daybreak - its underwater mecha
Macross Series
Reideen
Saint Beast
Tekkaman Blade
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Vandread

 

[loopstah]

Check out Anime on DVD, news that Funimation has picked up a ton of the best Geneon shows including Hellsing Ultimate, Lyrical Nanoha, Black Lagoon, Fate/Stay Night and others.

 

[memyselfandi]

Check out Anime on DVD, news that Funimation has picked up a ton of the best Geneon shows including Hellsing Ultimate, Lyrical Nanoha, Black Lagoon, Fate/Stay Night and others.

That's great, Lyrical Nanoha and Fate/Stay Night are two series which I've liked the look of for quite a while.

What is not good though is the news on ANN about ADV suspending 4 titles indefinately ... including Kanon #6 (AAAARrrrrrrrggggghhhh!!!!) and NHK #5 (my NHK 5 came today but doesn't look good for #6)

My feelings on that are unrepeatable on a family orientated forum

edit: probably looking at the same source as Werewolf but it looks like it's a licensing issue which is affecting these titles from ADV

 

[memyselfandi]

To take mind off ADV I've been watching "Otoboku Maidens Are Falling For Me" ... quite funny, not giving spoilers as its in the blurb for disk 1, it's about a young man who ends up attending a posh girls school as a girl ... think Strawberry Eggs meets Maria-sama (lots of onee-sama's!)

Quite a bit better than I was expecting ...

 

[memyselfandi]

So I suppose the big question at the moment is even if ADV deal with their apparent short term issues are they going to survive as they are? For the second time in twelve months they have got into a mess and left people wondering what is going on with several of their series, in this case very near to the end of two of them, (the Kanon #6 disks are probably sitting in a warehouse as it was due out this week if I remember correctly, I can't remember how many disks NHK is but I'd guess if it's 6 then #6 would have been due August/September (*)).

But it does beg the question, does releasing a series across ~6 disks work anymore? ... particularly if you are ADV with these issues. It seems that quite a few series are coming out now in half-series boxsets or at least with more episodes per disk so that the total number of disks so the total is reduced. I don't know if I'll be willing to risk another 6 disk series from a company who have a track record of hitting issues trying to complete that type of release.

I am also concerned to that ADV are supposed to be announcing 23 new licenses ... if they can't even handle the releasing of what they have got then what hope do these have of coming out properly? I can think of probably the best part of 20-30 series which I know of which I would like to be licensed and released .... the latter being the important point. But there's no point in licensing something if you can't follow through and there's no point in licensing any old dross just to keep your number of series up particularly if it spreads you to thin as a company.

Worryingly having done Air and (most of) Kanon the next logical step is Clannad (**) ... but that series deserves a proper release not another 6 months+ of "will it / won't it finish coming out". And there are several other series which could be on that list which are the same, (e.g. "Ef" springs to mind).



Uguu!

(*) If you have been collecting Welcome to the NHK and want #5 try United Publications here as of 07:55 04/07 they still have it listed as in stock for immediate delivery. I received my copy from them yesterday, (I had it on pre-order).

(**) Air was good, if a tad light, but got quite heavy near the end of the series whilst Kanon is a lot more emotionally intense all the way through (in my opinion ... if you cried at the end of Air then you are going to need lots of tissues for Kanon at multiple times as it's not just the final plot arc which has sad plot points). Clannad, another Kyoto Animation production, retains some of that emotional intensity but injects more humour and this produces a nice balanced series. Also, unlike with Air, the Clannad movie is quite good, (although not as good as the series), and again is very sad.

 

[lsg1r]

The issues that adv seem to be having is one of the reasons I only buy anime as a finished box set (usually cheaper too) or when all the individual dvd's are out.

 

[memyselfandi]

OMG

I think I [heart] Funimation

bouncebouncebounce



edit: although whether Funimation are over stretching themselves with this and the Geneon titles. I do think they may be biting off more than they can chew here ...

 

[Werewolf]

dear god, that's a lot of titles.

Hopefully they will get them rereleased ASAP - I am/was collecting flights of fancy and kanon.
I wonder how ADV are going to do after this?

I also wonder if the ADV dubs will also be transfered? (iirc dubs are odd, sometimes they revert to the Japanese company along with the rest of the licence, other times they have to be dealt with separately).