Balls of Brass But Still an AssInterweb supersleuth Colleen Doran is on the case of Rob Granito, who has been doing the convention circuit passing himself off as the 'ghost artist' to many of the big names in the industry, and selling pirated copies of their work as his own.
...as is hit total lack of riting skillzez, wich caim bak2 biet him weh he tryed to use sockpuppetry to verifye his credetchulz.
Note: None of us here at Brickmuppet Blog created Gojira, Godzilla or any Toho monsters, nor did any of us portray them professionally in costume. We didn't even do this Demotivator, we just nicked it from Macro Chan.
Zombie ADV...Does Zombies
I just received word from Sentai Film Works that the street date for High School of the Dead is June 28th.
Nothing gratuitous here. I'm sure.
Based on a successful manga, this thriller follows of a group of high school students and faculty dealing with a zombie apocalypse. It
is directed by Tetsuro Araki who did DEATH NOTE and Black Lagoon, which means there is the potential for much win here.
It's heartening to see that Sentai is able to land a property as widely anticipated as this. It would seem to bode well for them
This show might be something of a bellwether on the market, which has been troubled of late. It certainly has wide name recognition, and, I am told, it has pretty much every base covered except 'kawaii'. ( As I understand it, action, cheesecake, horror, drama, zombies, and cheesecake). It's going to be interesting to see how it does. I'm getting a copy. Not just because I'm the sort of awful person that has been looking forward to this, but because I think that it may be quite important that this title succeed.
1
Eh. I knew a bunch of people who were good at what they did; almost none of them are left. I don't figure that what's left is worth growing back, to be honest.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Thu Mar 17 22:02:48 2011 (pWQz4)
2
Back in the day, I celebrated whenever a new ADV tape came in, because that meant I'd get to watch the trailers. The old ADV trailers were awesome.
I miss those simple, carefree days, of dial-up internet and 64MB of RAM. Wait, no I don't!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thu Mar 17 22:07:39 2011 (PiXy!)
3
I've gotta say that HSOTD may very well have been my favorite show that ended in 2010... I'll be getting it, for sure.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Thu Mar 17 22:10:14 2011 (W8Men)
Kannagi
I just watched Kannagi. This re-imagining of Galatea was an above average show, albeit a bit uneven.
A Shinto shrine on the outskirts of a mid-sized Japanese town has been rezoned and condemned. When the immense tree at the center of the shrine is cut down, the male lead, one Jin Mikuriya acquires a large piece of the tree from which to carve a statue in honor of the spirit the shrine worshiped. The statue comes to life as a vessel for the spirit. Fortuitously, our hero chose not to sculpt a many headed, toothy, squaemous, horror and instead carved a statue of a cute girl. Hijinks ensue...
The production quality of this show is outstanding, the story, a bit less so as it wanders between occult peril and the antics of Nagi, the spirit, complicating the lives of our hero and his would-be girlfriend. There is fan-service, but, refreshingly, it consists mainly of a lot of references to Otaku culture thrown in by the 2 token geeks.
The story is never actually wrapped up and I get the distinct impression that it was canceled unfinished...14 episodes being an unusual number. The lack of any real resolution and the meandering focus is a bit unsatisfying, especially after a very strong first half. Nevertheless, it is a cute, and often funny show. I enjoyed it overall. Recommended.
Looks like Kyo-Ani did a cross promotion with Pizza Hut, despite the fact that no pizza is ever consumed in the series.
1
When Yamakan screws the ending of Fractale, are you going to reconsider blaming the cancellation?
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tue Mar 8 01:04:28 2011 (9KseV)
2
Nah, these days it's extraordinarily rare for an anime to get cancelled mid-airing like that, and it certainly didn't happen to Kannagi. 14 episodes isn't really that unusual, especially with the last one being DVD-only (as is the case here). See also both seasons of Haruhi (14 TV episodes), K-ON! (13 TV + 1 DVD), Sora no Woto (12 TV + 2 DVD), Elfen Lied (13 TV + 1 DVD), Full Metal Panic! TSR (13 TV + 1 DVD)... you get the idea.
I didn't much like the ending myself. Too much angst for this sort of show. First half was quite good, though.
Posted by: Andrew F. at Tue Mar 8 02:32:57 2011 (2hEN4)
3
Can't agree with the recommendation. Show was uneven as all get out, meandering between rom-com hijinks, otaku references, and mawkish get-over-yourselves-already melodrama. Nothing that hasn't been done before, elsewhere, and better.
It didn't get canceled midway or anything like that, it was just a one-season show that they left open for additional seasons, but thankfully will never see them.
Wasn't even particularly fun to work on. Show thought it was a good bit more clever than it turned out to be.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Tue Mar 8 06:09:38 2011 (mRjOr)
4
@Pete Zatciev: I'm not familiar with Yamakan. Is the strong opening/ weak finish a pattern of his?
@Andrew F: I did not know that the last episode was DVD only.That puts a rather different spin on the last two episodes as broadcast. This would have been a pompous, dour and depressing ending rather than an attempt to get the show back on track.
@ Avatar: I understand. The recommendation is a tenuous one. Still, the first DVD was excellent and while the second DVD is a letdown, it was merely mediocre, not egregiously bad. Oh, and I laughed.
I disagree slightly that it was good there was no more of the show.
'cause...I'd like to see more of that show on the first DVD ... you know, the one where the emphasis is on dealing with the need to excorsize the 'impurities' and the implications of these things being caused by the callous machinations of the zoning boards all over the place ...that show where the comedic bits were just comedy relief...with the other goddess being rather more malevolent ...that show on the first DVD, you know, that series that wasn't a harem show, where the characters appeared to learn and grow... you know, THAT show.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Mar 8 09:55:13 2011 (EJaOX)
5
Brick, Yamakan did some work on Haruhi (apparently he was responsible for the infamous dance ED, and directed a couple of episodes) and then directed Lucky Star... for four eps, then he got kicked off the project and things improved a lot. The only other major works he's directed are Kannagi, and now, Fractale.
He catches a lot of flack because, well, he's a troll. He took getting kicked off Lucky Star personally and since then he's said a lot of stuff that seems to indicate that he thinks he's hot stuff and just unappreciated. Apparently he decapitated a Ui Nendroid at a press conference, too... (er, as an incidental, he didn't call the press conference just to decapitate Ui. I hope!)
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Tue Mar 8 17:28:10 2011 (pWQz4)
6
Oh. OK. Actually, I had heard of his guy I just couldn't remember his name.
I didn't see the problem with the first four Lucky Stars, the differences with the later episodes certainly didn't seem jarring. (In fairness though, this may be due to the excellent English version.)
OTOH though, even allowing for the fact that most of these stories come through the fan filter, he does seem like a bit of a prima-donna. Maybe he should just get a job at Gainax.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Mar 8 18:29:01 2011 (EJaOX)
7
I like Kannagi a lot. My current desktop is named Nagi... Though admittedly since my naming theme for my personal computers is schoolgirl goddesses who are the main and titular characters of their own series, my pool of names is somewhat limited.
Yeah, it's uneven. Maybe if I had to subtitle it I'd have found it annoying, but just watching it normally I found it very engaging. I'd recommend it too - it's not a classic for the ages, but it's a lot of fun. And the opening credit sequence is delightful.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sat Mar 12 00:55:15 2011 (PiXy!)
8
A lot of the backgrounds were copied from areas near Sendai, the city most damaged by the earthquake.
Posted by: muon at Sun Mar 13 23:06:14 2011 (JXm2R)
Utewarerumono
Funimation has re-released Utewarerumono in a Super Amazing Value Edition. As a result I now own this unpronounceable title, and a few weeks ago I watched it.
*****
A man awakens in a hut, in what appears to be a medieval village, wearing a mask he cannot remove, with no memory of his past, and finds himself being tended to by an old woman and her two granddaughters, who, to his astonishment, are equipped with dog ears and tails.
And there are new rules to learn!
The story progresses very fast but logically, and our masked hero ( who the women name Hakuoro) and his growing band of allies encounter and
must overcome a steady stream of
increasingly difficult challenges, all the while trying to find out who
he is (and why he is tailless).
This show is remarkable in a number of respects. First, this show is a fantasy adventure done
straight. Utewarerumono has above average production values and
very engaging characters. In contrast to the fantastic elements such as magical beasts and exotic races, the relationships, motivations and even the tactics are realistic. The world is very well realized.
Perhaps most remarkable of all, Hakuoro is a very likable, ethical, AND SMART person. This rare combination of traits is found in most of the shows other protagonists as well. The men in the cast are generally strong, ethical adults and as such are the antithesis of the nebbish whiny brats or hotheaded punks that seem to be the norm of late (well, there is a hotheaded teen punk, but he's a foil and he advances the plot). This is not to say that the leading women are overshadowed by the guys...they more than hold their own.
To wit...
Do NOT make fun of the trenchcoat
It's just refreshing to see a show where the men are men and not jackwagons or wimps.
The show is exceedingly well paced and has a very humanistic streak. It doesn't pull its punches (characters die) but it is at times a downright inspiring show.
Utewarerumono contains 19 episodes of the some of the most satisfying adventure anime I have ever seen.
Unfortunately it is a 26 episode series.
This is just episode 20 child. There is more fail coming than your young mind can possibly imagine.
GAINAX call your office...Mary Sue broke in and stole one of your endings.
The last 7 episodes of this show form a bone crushingly painful cascade of stupidity wrapped in schizophrenia and bound together with a truly impressive level of contempt for the audience.
I cannot type enough swear words do justice to the ending of this show. Frankly about the time the mechs show up (yes...the mechs) I had real difficulty following it. The story got disjointed nonsensical and downright hateful.
...but wait there is more...
It tried to weave together 2 separate, out of order, quite dystopic flashbacks into the story.
Here is a semi-coherent overview of the flashbacks which I knicked from the Wikipedia entry.
In the present age, an archaeological expedition unearths a
mysterious fossil, a fossil of a disfigured beast. Unknown to the
archaeologist, the fossil is the embodiment of a forgotten god, known as
Witsuarunemitea. Another scientist, his superior, stumbles in,
and after some confrontation, the mysterious stranger explains that
humanity isn't ready for this Missing Link, the gap in evolution between
men and apes. To prevent him from talking, he shoots the archaeologist.
As the archaeologist slowly dies, his blood touches the fossil, and the
forgotten god awakens.
Witsuarunemitea, a shattered and forgotten deity, sees
opportunity in the dying archaeologist. He offers the archaeologist
life, in exchange for becoming his vessel, so that Witsuarunemitea
can finally find the sleep he so desires. Time passes, and eventually
he becomes frozen in ice.
With Witsuarunemitea still bound in sleep as his mask, the
archaeologist re-awakens many years into the future. He finds himself in
an underground research facility, where he is being studied as an
ancient human specimen. The archaeologist learns from the researchers
that humanity is now unable to exist outside of a greenhouse
environment, and hence the remnants of humanity now live underground.
Mizushima, a researcher, is assigned to the care and study of the
archaeologist, who is now referred to as the Iceman. Upon
discovering that the 'Iceman' can withstand the bacteria on Earth's
surface, the researchers look to harness his unique genome and emulate
the invigorating characteristics of his mask. Of the thousands of
creations, only a select few prove to be viable, including experiments
3510 and 63. Experiment number 3510, a beautiful young girl, is given
the name Mikoto by the Iceman; as is experiment number 63, a girl with
black wings, whom is given the name Mutsumi. Mutsumi, acknowledging she
has come from the Iceman's DNA, addresses him as "father".
The genome project encounters some problems, however, and the
researchers in charge decide to re-freeze the Iceman for later study.
Mizushima, aware of the human side of the Iceman, urges him to run, and
gives him the facility's master key, a plain-colored ring recognized by
the facility's doors.
The Iceman runs from the facility, taking Mikoto with him, whom he
has fallen in love with. After a few years have passed, Mikoto gives
birth to a daughter. The researchers, however, put on environmental
suits in order to pursue the Iceman and recapture both him and Mikoto.
Mikoto is dissected for further research, but while Iceman is being
prepared to be frozen, his rage awakens Witsuarunemitea.
Outraged by the treatment of Mikoto, a new side of Witsuarunemitea
begins to form. Filled with rage, Witsuarunemitea destroys most
of the facility. Appalled by what the humans would do to obtain
immortality, Witsuarunemitea grants their plea, transforming them
into immortal gelatinous beings. Eventually, the great god accrues so
much rage as to split himself into two halves: one which seeks
destruction, and another, which seeks only to be destroyed.
Suddenly, Mutsumi appears, and empowered by Witsuarunemitea's
divine blood, she puts both halves of Witsuarunemitea to sleep.
Meanwhile, the few successful genetic experiments from the research
facility begin to repopulate the Earth's surface, as the original
humanity slowly dies out and is forgotten. The research facility is
sealed away forever, and the people are told it is Witsuarunemitea's
holy land.
Years later, a shift in the world awakens the two halves of Witsuarunemitea,
who begin to combat each other; the destructive side wanting to help
the populace of the world reach new height through wars, and its
opposite through peaceful cooperation. The empress of Kunnekamun (whose
people; the Shakukopuro, are being massacred) seeks out the destructive
side, and is granted with a power called the Avu-Kamuu, massive
bio-mechanical constructs covered in platemail, allowing them to exist
in the world of war and hegemony.
Eventually, the fighting of the two halves causes a great earthquake.
Arurū, a young girl of Kenashikourupe, is in the process of
climbing a tree to recover a beehive when the earthquake strikes, and
falls, becoming greatly injured. Erurū, Arurū's sister, prays Witsuarunemitea
to heal Arurū, and promises, in exchange, her body and soul. Witsuarunemitea
obliges.
Both halves of Witsuarunemitea are heavily injured in the
battle, and both halves are put to sleep. The destructive half was found
by Dii, a scholar of Onkamiyamukai, who fuses with the demigod. The
half that wishes to be destroyed retains his body, and is found in the
woods by Erurū.
The events of Utawarerumono then take place.
...and now gentle reader, you are one of us tekalili! tekalili!
If you did not read that , you are likely still sane.
Note that that only covers the flashback portions of the plot...the "present" plot has the previously wise cast becoming mind numbingly stupid...before the whole insipid mess just collapses under its own incoherence.
I know these writers can write...they wrote the first 19 episodes, so unless they switched writing teams 3/4s of the way through this isn't likely incompetence. I think it could be sadism.
Or perhaps this was made for the American market and this is one of those cruel jokes they play on foreigners...like natto.
Which, come to think of it, brings us back to sadism.
ahem...
I'm going to refrain from recommending this series...but if anyone's interested I have a complete set right here.
2
I don't know, I liked the ending about as much as I liked the show. Not in love with it, but it worked, and given how little I paid for the SAVE edition, was well worth the price. A little A God Am I, but whatever. Reminded me of the manga version of Nausicaa a bit. The sketchy CGI shortcuts in the mass battle scenes irritated me more than the ending. Cheap CGI doesn't work for medieval battle scenes - it gets very uncanny valley.
And no, this wasn't ginned up for the American market, it's based on a Sakura Wars-esque wargame-cum-eroge. Which is apparently divergent enough that there are some spoilers out there about the trap nature of a couple of the secondary characters which are *incorrect* because they got retconned into women for the anime.
Of course, keep in mind that I'm apparently one of the few viewers who honestly doesn't get what's so horrible about the Mahoromatic second season ending.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Wed Feb 16 11:23:20 2011 (jwKxK)
3
It's funny how I found Utawarerumono unpronounceable before, but it made complete sense when we studied the passive form. Now it's one of my examples. Uta (song) Utau (sing(s)) Utawanai (neg with wa) Utawareru (is sung, passive) Utawareru Mono (thing that is sung)
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed Feb 16 15:37:06 2011 (9KseV)
...And no, this wasn't ginned up for the American market, it's based on a Sakura Wars-esque wargame-cum-eroge.
Thanks, I did NOT realize it was an eroge.
(I was just joking about the natto BTW)
In looking up stuff for the post, I'd had gotten that it was based on a game, but I was wondering if the anime was aimed at overseas sales. The ending was so incongruous and felt so tacked on that I thought they might have changed it to go for the VIOLENCE! audience . Certainly the attention to logistics, tactics and strategy make sense if it was a tactics game.
I certainly did NOT realize it was an tactics/eroge, but that actually makes sense in hindsight. The women in this show are all very impressive in various ways, but towards the end most start acting dumb and almost co-dependant. The hero, presumably the player, is just living a power fantasy... which even being royalty doesn't satisfy. And then at the end
He basically has the women (except the ambiguous mikos) pledge to do good works in his name and never see anyone else..."nunnery or me bitch!"
Thazz juss wrawng...
The scene where Karura the gladiator offers herself up to Hakuro was a bit surprising in the anime, and actually reflected well on both of them. But...I can certainly see how that was likely just another encounter in the game.
My main problem was that the show that it started out so good, with the Heros using wits and common sense,and being very decent people as opposed to being cynical jerks using super powers or the sort of pathetic cyphers one often finds in a harem show. Hell, by about the midpoint they had this almost Arthurian thing going on and then...ghaa!
Your comments on the CGI effects are well taken, they didn't bother me too much but they were quite obvious.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Feb 16 23:22:42 2011 (EJaOX)
6
I never actually watched the last disc of this. Probably better off, no? ;p
Played the game some. Not superb but not too bad; suffers from being a lot older than most of the similar games that I could be playing. The ero aspect was... not terribly well-realized, to be honest. Frankly, I enjoyed the anime Hakuoro considerably more. (Look, okay, Karura and Eruru are fine and I'll give an exception for busty lolis. But Aruru is just out of bounds!)
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Sat Feb 19 23:51:00 2011 (pWQz4)
Two Things I Would Not Have Thought to Combine
While I wrack my school and illness addled brain for content, d.merril has combined Tezuka and Pez to good effect.
Oh noes! Star Turtle Village is 4 ninjas short of the number needed to
maintain our elemental decompressor! We need space turtle ninjas!
...What?
You don't wear black or blue pajamas and adventure? You don't have experience in space? You aren't a turtle? Well, fear not 'cause we aren't picky! We have a crackerjack apprenticeship program headed up by a highly respected...ummm...dolphin..ninja...biker...ummm...
...actually...we don't know WHAT the hell he is but he's very good at his job so you can learn your ninja trade right here!
Since we are classy SPACE ninjas (with a fashionable Turtle motif) we take care of our members. We have a Ramen shop, a Burger Ninja and a Pizza Witch in our food court and if that doesn't impress you we've got SCIENCE!tm, and a Party House with a fully stocked Juice Bar. We even get to beat up on undead zombjas periodically 'cause we are just that bad ass.
Click on the banner above to start your ninja career today and not only will you be able to tell your grandkids that you saved an entire village from being elementally undecompressed....you'll even know what the heck that means!
Just remember to keep all kunai stowed and
all hands and feet onboard the elephants.
Please note that this week's announcements are
sponsored by:
Ankh-Morpork Assassin's Guild: Inhumation with a
contemporary touch.
1
Probably some heterosexual romance or something.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tue Jan 4 20:57:29 2011 (9KseV)
2
So Kagami would be looking at something else then.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Jan 4 21:22:47 2011 (EJaOX)
3
How about just a little bit of existential angst, resulting in no more than 30 seconds of emo ranting?
More likely it's a catchall term for anything that might seem somewhat objectionable to the hypothetical Concerned Parent whom the ratings board aims to please.
Probably not something that would upset Kagami, who strikes me as more tolerant and easy-going than the hypothetical Concerned Parent.
Posted by: Jonathan Tappan at Tue Jan 4 21:40:31 2011 (7wFYN)
4
That's Sousuke and Gauron on the cover of that doujin. Yeah, that's not "mild thematic content"... that there is the yaoi.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Tue Jan 4 23:32:53 2011 (pWQz4)
A few geeky things....
Someone named Shin1701 has pics of some of the props from last monthsYamato movie on display here.
There are clips alleged to be from a new Gatachaman movie here.
Also Sentai Filmworks seems to be something other than dead. Their catalog has 10 new releases solidly scheduled, and in the true spirit of 'Zombie ADV' they have announced a DVD release of High School of the Dead.
Art, despite being by Ueyama Michirou, is reportedly a bit off model.
1
The art is certainly off-model, but for some reason I like it better. In fact if the whole series had been done that way I would probably have a much higher opinion of it.
Posted by: Jonathan Tappan at Mon Jan 3 20:49:39 2011 (7wFYN)
3
Nailgun modified for maximum zombie pwnage. I'm not sure if all the gore would be worse or better for chibification.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Wed Jan 5 11:59:45 2011 (jwKxK)
4
Thanks for that Mitch. I had no idea. I'm judiciously avoiding spoilers on this show as I am looking forward to it...despite some misgivings.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Jan 5 12:19:43 2011 (EJaOX)
5
I haven't seen the anime, but I read about a half-dozen chapters of the scanslated manga & decided it wasn't my sort of thing. Zombie stories are usually too no-hope for me to be able to take for all that long, anyways.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Thu Jan 6 11:51:56 2011 (jwKxK)
Extreme Biology Lesson
For those who wonder about these things, there is some good source material on the biological processes of Kaiju here. (Curiously not mentioned is the fact that Gameras digestive system is navigable via minisub and contains enough air for a couple of children to survive for several minutes.)
...and for those socially benighted 'people' with engineers disease, we have a special link on the same topic just for you.
Genre Identification FAIL
Was it false advertising or just a dishonest narrator?
Steven Den Beste posts on Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girl. He has his usual thoughtful and in depth analysis but these two passages seemed to be the money quote.
" ....it's clear that we're not looking at a show about political intrigue....
.....It's a harem show that includes a magical girl."
That would be...jarring.
Do read the whole thing.
I'm not busting on Steven here. This actually reminds me of the time I thought that This Ugly Yet Beautiful World was going
to be a superhero show, but it soon became obvious that that was wrong
and it seemed to be a magical girlfriend show with increasingly creepy
undertones. Of course both these early notions were incorrect. After
watching the whole thing (I HAD paid for it after all) it became
apparent to me that this was a show intended to take six hours out of
the tapestry of ones life and stitch in its place a foetid, soiled knot
of, contempt, disgust, and buyers remorse.
5
Really? Because Voyager Entertainment's been camping out on the franchise for the last twenty, and doing a piss-poor job of the exploitation on top of it. And other Matsumoto shows have done crap business since the early Eighties. The kids don't like his style, and the old farts don't seem to be all that thick on the ground.
Eh, maybe I'll be proved wrong. But I swear I was like one of twelve people to actually buy Gun Frontier, so it's not like I want to be right.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Fri Jul 2 07:41:05 2010 (jwKxK)
GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!! TONIGHT! AT 10 PM, NEW EPISODES ON COMEDY CENTRAL.
If you have no idea what this is about then there is no need for concern. You have simply learned an important fact about yourself, namely that you are a sad, deprived individual with a tragic void in your soul.
After receiving a huge infusion of cash and clout following their acquisition by Navarre back in 2005, Funimation spent the last 5 years gobbling up the rights to a huge number of R1 releases, many of them from other distribution companies that were going under in 2005-7. Funi has been very very good about punctual, high quality and respectful
translations.
Now Funimation is reportedly up for sale.
I gather that the parent company, Navarre, is looking to focus primarily on software and...whateverthehellelse they do. Funimation is reportedly taking money away from their primary business model.
As I understand it, Funimation is making money but that they require resources that Navarre doesn't want to develop.
This is not necessarily the end of the world for them. In these scary economic times companies need to focus on their core competencies (assuming those competencies have a future) and husband resources. Assuming Funimation is in fact doing well, it is possible that they could continue as they are given a buyer that wants to invest in the areas that Funimation needs development in.
However, this sounds a lot like what happened with Geneon U.S.A., which was ultimately
closed down (and became the source for many of Funimations region-1
acquisitions).
I know there are occasional readers of this blog who are far more knowledgeable of the industry than I am...so have at it in the comments please.
Navarre is pursuing a more focused strategy. Now that we have
substantially reduced debt and improved operating margins, we are
focusing our efforts on driving revenue, particularly in new product
lines. We are concentrating all efforts on our distribution and software
publishing businesses where we have significant expertise and
considerable systems and physical assets that can be leveraged. The
Punch! acquisition announced last week strengthens our software
publishing business and demonstrates a step in our execution of this
strategy," stated Cary L. Deacon, Chief Executive Officer.
FUNimation
Entertainment's strategy and capital requirements are distinctly
different from those of the Company's core business. While FUNimation's
recent results have generally met expectations, the strategies required
to grow the business include co-productions of original anime content,
social networks and digital broadcasting. The Company anticipates that
those plans are best executed with ownership that has assets or
expertise in those areas.The Company will be discussing its
going-forward strategy and financial outlook in greater detail next week
in connection with its FY 2010 year end conference call.
Emphasis mine to highlight a ray of optimism in the press release that puts forth a six sigma effort at acquiring the low hanging fruit of press release-speak.
Note to my Childhood ....CALL YOUR OFFICE!
The upcoming Space Battleship Yamato movie continues to look like it could be one of the most awesomest things in the history of awesome!
I see that Dr. Saito Sane is female now but she's still got 'spring water'. They've even got Mimi!
People often wonder why this old show made such an impression on some of us.
To a 10 year old, adrift in the vast wasteland that was the UHF programming of 1980, Starblazers ( the American title of the show) was nothing short of astonishing. It was a 'cartoon' that did not pull its punches, had an intelligent and engaging story and was a science fiction show that had the space battles that Star Trek often lacked. The translation while not literal was very good and because it wasn't on the major networks it was able to slide things past standards and practices (like characters dieing dramatically). It was a show about honor, courage and heroes who willingly faced genuine peril. This was something almost nonexistant at the time.
Now why then is a 40 year old going all full metal fanboy over this? Well, partly because I'm a nerd, but also because this film looks to be a very faithful adaptation. This means it is aimed at least in part at those of us who ran home from school to see this show some 30 years ago. In other words it's aimed at my age bracket...so for once I need feel neither dirty nor old.
False Advertising The official Funimation page for Spice and Wolf features an ad that is deeply misleading. The commercial seems to utilize EVERY SINGLE SCENE where Holo is nekkid in the entire 13 episode series.
A large percentage of fanboys that decide to buy the show based on this ad alone will be deeply disappointed.
Likely many of those who might enjoy the series will be put off by it. (In fairness, the Opening Credits are only a little better in this regard)
I thoroughly enjoyed this show (which is based not on a manga, but rather on a series of Japanese light novels.)
A pagan wolf goddess manages to release herself from the village wheat field to which she
was long ago bound by taking up up in a bale of wheat (!?) that is in the possession of a roving peddler in the land of PsudomedievalhistoriEurope.
The Goddess, who calls herself 'Holo the Wise Wolf' has long been weary of being bound to the land and is asks the trader, one Craft Lawrence, to take her to her home which is in
the far north.
The unlikely duo goes from town to town trading pelts for apples and
apples for wheat and generally give the audience a lesson in barter
level economics.
The show is clever, thoughtful and has a rather dry sense of humor. It is likely rather TOO dry for a lot of people but it really hit home with me.
I suppose this is technically a magical girlfriend show, however, the male lead is neither a cypher nor a nebbish and in a marked departure from most such shows Craft almost immediately takes action to ensure that Holo can leave him at any time. The two compliment each other very nicely. Their relationship is sane and mature, and it did not creep me out.
So maybe this ISN'T a magical girlfriend show after all.
The dialog is intelligent, and this is complemented by a superb English dub, with Brina Palencia absolutely hitting it out of the park as Holo,
The Funimation DVD includes the complete first series.
1
Sure it's a magical girlfriend series. As is common in these things, the girlfriend terrifies the protagonist, although usually the aspect of terror has more to do with gynophobia than Lawrence's reasonable fear that Holo might devour secondary or incidental characters in a fit of godly pique.
And the way that the first arc concerns an involuted Grisham's Law triple-level financial scam argues that the economics are considerably further than barter-economy. I'd characterize it as high Renaissance, just without guns.
Good news, though. FUNimation's mis-representation of the fanservice quotient must have made it enough of a hit to get the license for the second season, they announced Spice and Wolf II last month.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Mon Apr 12 13:54:21 2010 (jwKxK)
And the way that the first arc concerns an involuted Grisham's Law
triple-level financial scam argues that the economics are considerably
further than barter-economy. I'd characterize it as high Renaissance,
just without guns.
Good points, but remember, the economy of Pre Renaissance Europe was more sophisticated than it gets credit for.
It's also possible that the/a Renaissance is just starting out elsewhere. Remember the trading companies home offices are mentioned as being pretty distant. I certainly get the impression that the region is in transition.
I liked the 'black swan' moment.
The price of weapons and armor went DOWN in a warzone?! It's logically explained and was a reasonable, if careless mistake. Of course Craft had gotten cocky at that point.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Apr 12 20:49:48 2010 (NkKu7)
3
I put it into the Renaissance because of the varied and extensive gold currency, which wasn't that common outside of the Eastern Roman Empire until, like, there wasn't really one any more. Also, for my definitions, "High Renaissance" is post-Black-Death. There doesn't seem to be any serious serfdom going on, nor is there any mention of the "town air" phenomenon, which means post-feudal.
I liked the black swan bit, but more for its pretty effective demonstration of how credit works on the ground floor, and how it *doesn't* work when things are going wrong for the merchant.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Tue Apr 13 09:33:02 2010 (jwKxK)
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following their acquisition by Navarre back in 2005, Funimation spent the last 5 years gobbling up the rights to a huge number of R1 releases, many of them from other distribution companies that were going under in 2005-7. Funi has been very very good about punctual, high quality and respectful
translations.
