Saturday, April 29th, 2000

New upcoming feature (07:52 PM EST)

Friday, April 28th, 2000

New announcements (04:28 PM EST): The August slate has been released for Central Park Media's releases for DVD. Curiously they don't seem to be listing any anime, but still what some (such as myself) will consider fun to have on the little disc format. On 8/15, they'll be releasing the live action Weather Woman movie in dual languages as well as a two disc collection with the first movie and the second movie, Weather Woman Returns. The second movie does not appear to be available separately. Prices are 29.99 and 49.99 respectively. For those who may want to complain about the lack of anime, consider the three mega box sets due out from them from September through November.

Akira tidbits! (04:26 PM EST): You know, this is like a monkey on my back. Ever since Pioneer announced they acquired the rights to Akira and were going to bring it out, I get email on it every week and forum postings every week and questioned on it in the chat. Well, we've got some new tentative information for you. Daren Dukes sent in an email this morning that during a recent Electronics Boutique trade show, a Pioneer rep let him know "We will be officially announcing the Akira DVD within the next few weeks and it should be out in the next six months." With the recent upswing in style to the Pioneer discs (Sol Bianca, Trigun), Akira could be one sweet looking disc. And for those who hadn't heard, it looks like Dark Horse Comics will be bringing out the black and white manga in large trade volumes this summer! 

Thursday, April 27th, 2000

New next week (07:48 PM EST): Originally next week wasn't going to have any anime released, but a slight bump in the Manga release schedule has given way to Perfect Blue coming out on 5/2. I'll offset that with four new discs of Monty Python.

Advance review (07:27 PM EST): The first of two new advance ADV Films DVD reviews is now up, with our thoughts on the 6/27 release of Burn Up W. We should have our review of Ruin Explorers up by Saturday night. Let's just say my day job at work has me over extended at the moment.

Urban DVD's? (05:06 PM EST): Justin Delabar over at the Anime Digest site had a conversation with Rhona Medina, Marketing Director of Urban Vision. From what he found out, the Vampire Hunter D movie is definitely on its way to DVD and is apparently being worked on now. No dates have been set, but summer is the targeted timeline. My guess would be August at the earliest considering normal lead times and most of July's releases already being announced. Let's hope it makes it as having another anime DVD publisher is a good thing!

Manga & Devilman (06:00 PM EST): With copies finally shipping for the first two Manga DVD's this year, folks are getting their first look at the titles Manga's selected for 2000. While there's almost nothing but pleased reactions from fans about Castle of Cagliostro, things aren't shaping up so well over in the Devilman camp. Apparently the disc contains only the English language track. I took part of the morning researching not only Manga's site but various retailers to reconfirm what I had thought. Manga's site as well as their distributor list the audio simply as "Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound". Anime retailers like Animenation and Right Stuf have listed it as bilingual. DVD retailers who have the product list it as English only while those that don't have it yet seem to not list anything. So what's the deal? After a couple of brief emails with Manga I learned that they don't have the rights to the Japanese language track, hence it being English only. The information that the anime retailers have, who coincidentally got the information on these titles long before most DVD retailers, was planned but then changed. What's really unfortunate is that even Manga's own site doesn't really list what the disc has, leaving it with the ambiguous "Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound" line. 

At this point, whether it was done unintentionally or not, I've heard from a number of readers today both in email and in the forum who are rather displeased. Orders are being canceled and the usual upset comments are being made. What should really concern Manga is that there are now a lot more fans concerned about future releases. Will there be more ambiguous and unclear specifications given out? Many have listed Manga's titles as something that they wait until others get and report on the problems before buying it themselves. While Devilman isn't a huge title, this is validating their concerns. It seemed like every couple of emails to me about it today were along the lines of "Will this happen to the Evangelion movies/[Insert Title] too?" All I can say is that I hope not.

Wednesday, April 26th, 2000

Miscellaneous (05:06 PM EST): Today, we shall simply ramble here a bit. There's a saying in New England; if you don't like the weather, wait a day. After a week of mostly rain, yesterday was cloudy but dry. It's the end of April, so showers are expected of course. Today? Snow. Gotta love it. What's that got to do with anything? Sometimes it's just how things go with running the site.

We've updated our top ten for April today. Our tracking this month, as previously mentioned, has undergone some changes. Once we were able to see both in stock sales and preorders, but now it only shows titles that have actually shipped. So our top ten is going through a period of adjustment. Add into all this is that at the beginning of the month, during the big Bandai shipping weekend, our tracking went south. I've been told that will be added to the tracking next month, so don't be surprised to see a big Bandai spike next month. They still did rather well for this month, but Manga really scored with their Castle of Cagliostro disc.

Lawrence Lin of Team Ghiblink dropped a line in today regarding some new information on Princess Mononoke. According to Eric Maehara, VP of Home Video, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, the disc will be out "before the end of the year." No features (languages, etc) are available for mention yet from them either.

I received a review copy of Eat-Man 98 today from Bandai (I love this show!) as well as some promotional flyers. Looking through the thicker of the two which has Gundam Wing on the front, Bandai is definitely doing a good job of selling things to the retailers right. There's a nice full page section for the DVD's (though a bit out of date listing a couple of titles that got pushed back) as well as the large two page Gundam Wing spread. Flyers like these always get me jazzed to see the shows. Bright striking artwork, box covers... mmmm. Must have more! I have to say that the folks there working on these discs are doing a great job and I know they're working hard. I look forward to the day when their entire library is on DVD. That'll be by the end of the year, right guys? Kidding! Really! Put those blunt objects down...

While not anime, I know it's something a lot of people here will want to know. Chris Ross wrote into Rhino asking a particular question about their upcoming Transformers: The Movie DVD and they have confirmed that it will be a brand spanking new anamorphic print. Let the drooling begin.

Looking for clear keepcases? Check the FAQ...

Coming tomorrow we'll have another advance review up. The kind folks over at ADV Films sent us a care package today that consisted of Burn Up W and Ruin Explorers. Initial impressions, since I know there will be some eager people, is that the discs look good. More details to follow!

Tuesday, April 25th, 2000

Time's running out (07:26 PM EST): I've been told we're now at the two week countdown until no more orders are taken for the limited edition Divi-Chan prints! Don't hesitate!

Newly reviewed (07:22 PM EST): Just to prove that we do watch and review everything available, here's out somewhat brief review of the recently released Ogenki Clinic Adventures.

Alternate angle (05:16 PM EST): Adding to our continually growing library of reviews, Taylor Shann has sent in some thoughts on the recently released (and ultra cool in my opinion) Eat-Man '98 Collection. Also, take note that I've reworked the index pages for the reviews slightly in the past day or so. With so many titles coming up and 160 already released titles as of this week, there's lots in there. 

Newly listed (04:47 PM EST): Mostly confirming the information from last weeks mentions in the Diamond Comics listings, Pioneer updated last night with a bunch of titles and dates. Information and witty comments follow; Amazing Nurse Nanako - Memories of You (V.1) with a running time of 75 minutes and an MSRP of 29.99 will hit on 7/25. Take it how you please, but Pioneer seems to be experimenting with the pricing on this title. The subbed VHS, which is what the DVD's usually mirror, will be going for 24.99$. Key the Metal Idol (V.1) will hit on 7/25 with a running time of 200 minutes. Panda! Go, Panda! will also hit on 7/25 with a running time of 75 minutes for the nice price of 24.95$. This title is also confirmed to have dual languages (no subbed VHS release) and they make a point of mentioning that while the English track will be in stereo, the Japanese track will be presented in its original mono format. For audio purists, this is good news. Either way, I'm really jazzed that they included both language tracks for this title. Tenchi Universe Collection - Tenchi Muyo on Earth II has a 75 minute running time for it's 7/25 release date and finally, Trigun - Wolfwood (V.3) with it's 7/25 release date will have a running time of 75 minutes. Oof. 5 Pioneer/Viz titles on one day. I need to start taking Tuesday's off to keep up with the reviews!

Monday, April 24th, 2000

UY TV DVD's (04:08 PM EST): Robert Woodhead of AnimEigo posted the following to their mailing list today. If you have questions, those are the folks to contact:
 

---

The UY DVD 1-5 set is in replication. We are no longer accepting orders for this set online (if you contact us directly, we might be able to squeeze you in, but no promises).

If you have already signed up, you will get an email within the next few days reconfirming your order. If you don't get one by Friday, April 28th, please contact us to check. The phone number is 1-800-24-ANIME or 1-910-251-1850; the email address is uydvdorders@animeigo.com.

---

Based on previous information on the mailing list, it was indicated that the ship time after replication starts would be sometimes between 1 and 4 weeks. This could have changed, but it does give indication that UY TV DVD Box 1 will more than likely ship in May.

Face off! (03:39 PM EST): Starting tonight at 9 PM EST, there will be a face off between two artists doing original Divi-Chan artwork. Up until then you can see the pictures as they tweak and refine them and then at 9 PM EST you can cast your vote for your favorite!

More on MKR box (03:31 PM EST): We're now just under a month until the release of the highly anticipated Magic Knights Rayearth box set from Media Blasters and in talking briefly with them this morning, it's sounding like a winner. It's confirmed that it will be a five disc box set that will mirror the VHS releases. Each disc will contain various extras and each disc will be in its own keepcase inside a embossed box, more than likely similar to the Alien series box set put out by Fox last year. 

Alternately speaking (03:27 PM EST): We've got a couple of indepth alternate angles in today. First up, check out Samuel Marshall's look into the Sailor Moon R movie and then check out Steve Brandon's look into the Pokemon The First Movie disc.

Newbie time (03:14 PM EST): No matter where you are in this hobby or obsession we call anime, we were all newbies at one point. Some of us don't talk much about it with people while others try their best to bring other people into it. Matt "Moskun" Schley has written in with his experiences with two very different kinds of new fans.

It's a box! (12:00 PM EST): The folks over at Animenation have changed a date on an anime DVD listing last week that slipped by us. Previously listed simply as a "Fall" release, the 2nd Fushigi Yugi box is now being listed with an 11/23 release date. Now there's something to have in time for turkey weekend.

Saturday, April 22nd, 2000

You rate it (05:09 PM EST): We've added several of the new titles coming out next week and just after that to our You Rate It section today. Be sure to drop by there and add your thoughts on these titles as you get them as well as checking out what others thought of recently released titles. It's your easy way of adding your opinion about the titles without going through a full alternate angle review!

Region 2ish reviews (09:22 PM EST): We've got a couple of interesting region 2 reviews today from around the world. First up, check out the much drooled over Giant Robo Giga Premium Collection box set reviewed by David Black. After that, check out Yoav Felberbaum's thoughts on the UK PAL release of the double feature disc containing Black Magic M-66 and Plastic Little.

The numbers game (09:18 PM EST): Since we only have one place on the internet that lists the amount of copies in stock for anime DVD's that they get in, and they serve a large portion of the customer base, we like to bring to attention the copy counts they sometimes get. This weekend, Express.com got in just under 900 copies of the intriguing Sol Bianca: The Legacy Vol. #1 and just under 1500 copies of the controversial Kite disc. You know Media Blasters must be happy with those numbers. Copy counts for Castle of Cagliostro and Devilman should be available Monday.

Friday, April 21st, 2000

Newly reviewed (10:11 PM EST): The controversy has been ongoing for months. But the date has arrived and Kite from Media Blasters is due out next week. We received a review copy from them today and have written up our thoughts on it.

More from Bandai (10:03 PM EST): No, no new disc announcements yet, but they have sent out a press release regarding all the Gundam goodness going around these days!

Viz racks up the discs (03:13 PM EST): With the tentative listing of Key the Metal Idol in this weeks new Diamond Comics listing, I inquired of Viz how it was going to be released, since the episodes are of varying lengths throughout the 13 part series. What I got back was what looks like to be their DVD lineup for the rest of 2000. With only a couple of titles released in 1999, this is definitely a rock solid lineup for them and will likely have a lot of people looking for second jobs to help support their habit.

Ranma OAV Box Set (3disc set, $119.98)  5/9/00 (2wks delay from 4/25)

Please Save My Earth (DVD9, $29.98)  6/27/00 *Includes 6 episodes

Key The Metal Idol Vol.1 (DVD9, $29.98) 7/25/00  *Includes Eps.#1-7
Key The Metal Idol Vol.2 (DVD9, $29.98) 8/22/00  *Includes Eps.#8-13
Key The Metal Idol Vol.3 (DVD9, $29.98) 9/26/00  *Includes Eps.#14&15

Fatal Fury OAV (DVD9, $29.98)  10/24/00  *Includes 2 OAV episodes

Ranma 1/2 TV Series Vol.1 (DVD9, $29.98)  10/31/00  *Includes Eps.#1-5
Ranma 1/2 TV Series Vol.2 (DVD5, $29.98)  11/28/00  *Includes Eps.#6-9
Ranma 1/2 TV Series Vol.3 (DVD5, $29.98)  12/26/00  *Includes Eps.#10-13
Ranma 1/2 TV Series Vol.4 (DVD9, $29.98)  1/30/01  *Includes Eps.#14-18

Thursday, April 20th, 2000

Advance review (09:34 PM EST): Pioneer's newest series to debut this year arrives next week in the form of Sol Bianca, The Legacy Vol. #1: Lost Treasures and we've got a slightly early review for it. Is it the slickest looking new series since Lain? 

Unconfirmed, but hopeful... (09:28 PM EST): While I don't have an official confirmation, I've gotten a bit of information that indicates that Panda Go Panda should be a bilingual release. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

New next week (05:04 PM EST): Okay folks, time to pay attention here. Next week is a bit of a mess for new anime releases. First off, Perfect Blue from Manga has definitely been delayed and the new date is 5/2 according to my contact at Express.com. Rykodisc is moving over to WEA distribution and this title got behind a bit in production. Castle of Cagliostro and Devilman are due in next week but Universal slipped and it looks like it won't be in till Monday or Tuesday. But they are streeting next week. Media Blasters is on target with their release of the controversial title Kite. Pioneer is on the mark with the release of their new Sol Bianca: The Legacy Lost Treasures series in it's glorious 5.1 sound. The number of releases have dwindled for this date after the Ranma 1/2 OVA Box Set shifted and this kind of just makes things seem all over the place. My advice if you need something? Make sure your order is set for "ship as they arrive". Oh, and certainly don't believe any retailer that lists Sakura Diaries for a 4/25 release date. Image distribution sent out the street date change to that date recently and listed it as a confirmed release date this week. Just chuckle and move along.

Holy Pokemon! (04:55 PM EST): Who would have guessed. The Vatican endorses Pokemon. And for those of you who commute from New Hampshire down to Massachusetts via Route 3, you'll note that some creative folks have changed our state welcoming sign to "Pikachusetts" with a bright Day-Glo Pikachu at the beginning. It's been the only reason I've enjoyed commuting to New Hampshire the past 2 weeks.

One more new title (04:48 PM EST): With the listings from Diamond Comics yesterday, there was one title we weren't quite sure if it was anime or not and didn't have a chance to investigate before putting it up here. Also due out this summer from Pioneer is Panda Go Panda. This is an older piece of anime from 1973 that Hayao Miyazaki had a big hand in and is considered to be the precursor to My Neighbor Totoro. Check out this link for more info on the title. What seems to be unfortunate about this release is that it's yet another dub only DVD from Pioneer. Considering that these appear to be short, I hope they don't cut anything from it. It's unfortunate that once again they seem to be releasing a dub only title. Perhaps past experience of low orders on other dub only titles (Dog of Flanders) hasn't really gotten through yet. Even Central Park Media's adult dub only DVD's seem to sell a fraction of the number of their bilingual adult titles.

Even webmasters make mistakes (04:46 PM EST): When we put up the this link yesterday, we had mucked up the address a bit. Apologies! The latest AniMail from Central Park Media has a poll up for DVD folks to answer. Since you've purchased a DVD Player or DVD-ROM, how many VHS tapes have you bought? Click here to take their poll.

Wednesday, April 19th, 2000

Diamond updates (08:28 PM EST): Diamond Comics did their update today for titles that are likely to ship in the months of June... July... or possibly August. Dates are not nailed down for these titles and will be added to our upcoming pages when we find out. Until then they'll just be listed as TBA. So, what do they list that's new? A couple of things actually. Amazing Nurse Nanako: Vol. 1 Doctor Is Out which is being done by the same folks who are working on Nazca, Blue Submarine No. 6: Vol. 3 Hearts, Cowboy Bebop: Session 5, Key The Metal Idol: Vol. 1, Tenchi Universe On Earth: Vol. 2, Trigun: Vol. 3 Wolfwood and Vision Of Escalflowne: Vol. 2 Betrayal & Trust. We don't have any kind of episode count or running time for Nanako or Key at this time (though any studio reps who happen to be reading, feel free to let me know). Lots of good stuff in there folks for the summer, with lots more to come!

A polling we must go (07:36 PM EST): The latest AniMail from Central Park Media has a poll up for DVD folks to answer. Since you've purchased a DVD Player or DVD-ROM, how many VHS tapes have you bought? Click here to take their poll.

Alternately speaking (07:31 PM EST): We've got a couple of new alternate angles today (with a few more still waiting in the queue for this weekend). First up, a Cowboy Bebop: Session 1 review with some comments about Bandai's customer support and another review for Project A-Ko.

Tuesday, April 18th, 2000

Slightly advance review (03:58 PM EST): Sean Kemp of the Anime Cafe website has sent in his first impressions of the Kite DVD from Media Blasters that's due out on 4/25.

Officially listed (03:50 PM EST): Though we've known about them for awhile, the Pioneer Entertainment site updated with a bunch of DVD's today. Cowboy Bebop - Session 4 on 7/4, Nazca - Eternal Power (V.4) on 7/18, Outlaw Star (V.1) on 7/4, Please Save My Earth on 6/27, Pokemon - Our Hero Meowth on 7/18 and Pokemon - The Final Badge on 7/18 as well. 

Media Blasters adds more (03:39 PM EST): Some early copies of Kite have made their way out and apparently there's previews for upcoming DVD's from them. In addition to the already known Princess Rouge/Legend of the Lost Labyrinth disc, they list a title I know a lot of people are looking forward to seeing; Shinesman.

Monday, April 17th, 2000

More SiN from ADV (09:51 PM EST): ADV Films updated their SiN website today with all kinds of stuff about their upcoming release of the SiN anime. In addition to learning that the street date will be October 24th, they show off all kinds of promotional goodies. Unfortunately I don't see any DVD promo pics. But, we know this is coming from a past interview with some of the folks working on the project as they've said that the DVD will contain not only the movie but the game itself as well. Hopefully there'll be more coming soon!

Maison put on hold? (09:45 PM EST): After the flurry of activity this weekend stemming from my small editorial and subsequent postings and numerous emails sent to Viz, things look to be a bit up in the air about that subscription for the subtitled VHS. One reader posted an email reply he got today from Viz: 

"In order to do this on DVD we will have to collect a whole bunch of preorders. That means not just a petition, but actual names, addresses and credit card numbers. Thousands of them. I am trying to figure out exactly how many thousands that is. Since no one seems too thrilled with the VHS subscription thingy (by the way, the tapes in that are priced at the regular $29.95 with $3.05 added for Priority Mail shipping), I took it down. Now I have to talk with our video people, DVD people, Pioneer, our accounting department, our sales and marketing department, and our licensing and royalties department to come up with what this would cost." 

I spoke briefly with them on the phone today as well, and what's been said is being listened to. With the rising popularity of DVD over VHS and the number of fans who have turned to DVD purchasing only as well as the apparent success of the AnimEigo direct model for Urusei Yatsura,  this may be one of the few options open for smaller titles that are harder to move in the mass market. I'm definitely optimistic to see what Viz will come up with now.

Sunday, April 16th, 2000

Burning down the Maison (09:38 PM EST): My small editorial, or rant as some have taken it as, has certainly spurred a flurry of discussion on the forums with varying opinions from all over. Of course, the first step for anything is always discussion, so I'm glad to see this topic being talked about more. A small tidbit has come to light from a posting that quotes an email received from Viz as to why a DVD will likely not be forthcoming. "Although it is a very good series, it isn't very popular. It has come to our attention that we spend more money making it than we get from selling it - in essence Maison Ikkoku has become a bit of a charity. DVD's cost so much to master that, in order to repay the cost of mastering them, we would have to sell at least 10,000 copies of each one." Bear in mind that number is to retail and not direct order. I know the main Maison Ikkoku petition is up to about 1500 and when we were running our own, we were close to 2000 signatures. So, where can we scare up another 8000 people? Of course, if internet anime fans represent such a small number of fans overall, the 2000 or so people could probably be multiplied a few times. 

Much like the Star Wars discussions on its lack of DVD, this is another one that always gets a chuckle in my mind. How many other products do you have where the customer is practically throwing their money at the company and the company doesn't release the product. Only the video industry... 

As a side note, the region 2 release of the box set has spurred them to release the discs individually as well starting at the end of April. Retail for 4 episodes per DVD is 4800 yen which at this moment translates to 46$ US. 

Manga goodies (09:31 PM EST): According to the splash pages on DVD Express, there's a tidbit for people looking at the upcoming Manga discs. "Order any title from our Manga Boutique and you'll be entered to win a free Perfect Blue poster, autographed by the director and master of anime, Satoshi Kon. He even includes a new drawing with his signature! And if you're still not attracted to anime, how about this: Preorder Perfect Blue, Devil Man or Castle Of Cagliostro and receive a free Manga magnet, while supplies last!" Sounds pretty sweet! If you win, let us know!

Saturday, April 15th, 2000

Studio stomps on series (06:21 PM EST): For the most part, since the early days of this site, I've tried to focus on the positive side of things. Having been involved with anime for almost twenty years and with the domestic anime scene for eleven, I've learned to just be a bit more laid back about things and just keep my eyes focused on the anime itself that's coming out. There's plenty of people out there that will take the various studios to task for the silly to foolish things that they do from time to time.

But having just read this, I have to just wonder. [Editorial hat on] Save Maison Ikkoku? Pay 198$ for what looks to be 12 episodes (2 per tape) on VHS? Never mind the format... I mean, I'm just flabbergasted here. All that I can visualize in my mind is Pikachu stomping up and down on the building that the Godai and the others live in. Viz seems to be the last company doing 2 episodes per tape for their TV series (which includes Ranma 1/2). When they first started releasing both these series, that was almost the standard (though Pioneer was doing things similar to now and AnimEigo was almost always 4 episodes a tape), but to continue doing it? Bandai saw the error of their way fast and are correcting it now. But Viz? They ask you to keep on taking it... so you can be the envy of all your friends! 

We've seen it done before, with AnimEigo getting a sublicense for Macross from Harmony Gold. As a personal plea on behalf of myself and the thousands of Maison Ikkoku fans out there to the studios out there, please try and truly save this title by getting the license for it and restoring the faith of many old timer fans with the community. With the number of folks who imported the 1300$ complete region 2 boxset, there are still many here who want to see this series done right.

More on ADV (05:29 PM EST): Anime webmag ex.org is reporting that Gasaraki has been given a VHS release date for this August, with the DVD to follow later on. I'm pretty sure just about all the regular readers here were expecting that, but the icepick treatment of Gasaraki isn't a surprise anyway. We've had promotional cover artwork for it for a couple of months now.

Starblazers (05:11 PM EST): It's been a bit since we revisited this topic, but there's a bit of new information about the release of Starblazers on DVD. There's been a variety of rumors about the release of this series but we've finally got a firm date. On May 8th, the first disc Star Blazers - The Quest For Iscandar goes on sale in the UK in PAL format for £17.99. So where is the US release? You've got me. Several people have called in to Voyager but have not heard anything back.

Friday, April 14th, 2000

Make a date (07:11 PM EST): ADV Films has given us a new updated release date for the Sakura Diaries Vol. #1 DVD. The disc will be streeting on 7/25 and contains episodes 1-3 with both languages and English subtitles for the low price of 24.95$. Our upcoming pages have been updated accordingly.

More on UY (06:21 PM EST): Giving a peek into the Urusei Yatsura DVD set, AnimEigo posted a couple of pictures last night and they look good. Bear in mind the copies below are optimized for space considerations:

New next week (05:56 PM EST): The midway point of the April release month is here, and for those just coming down off of their Bandai high and getting ready for the big Manga one due in two weeks, Central Park Media is releasing Ogenki Clinic Adventures, just for you! While that's the only anime release, I simply must bring to your attention something that's not. Coming out next week for the first time available widely in the US is the box set for Decalogue. This 10 hour series of movies has seen only a few art house releases here and has been practically impossible to find. The writer and director were the same two people behind the simply stunning series called Three Colors: Blue, White & Red. Since seeing Red theatrically about a half dozen times, they've mesmerized me. This box set release is a limited release and won't be part of the companies regular catalog. If you've got a little extra to spend and are looking for something really worth spending your money on outside of the latest action/special effects flick, turn your eyes here.

A bit more info (05:41 PM EST): A touch more information has been added to the Divi-Chan print page. You can now use a credit card to pay via PayPal.

New in Japan (05:03 PM EST): CD Japan has sent out their monthly mailer with all kinds of slick new items for those of you with some serious cash to burn.

Ask LadyCat (04:53 PM EST): Back with more information from readers questions (which you can send in!) in her 21st column, LadyCat has a couple of good ones and more addendums to questions that just keep coming up! 

Thursday, April 13th, 2000

Darling no baka! (07:24 PM EST): As posted on the AnimEigo website tonight:
 

---

The UY DVD 1-5 set is being sent to replication this week. If you want to order the set and have not done so yet, please sign up now! If your order is late, we will try to fill it but there can be no guarantees.

If you have already signed up, we'll be contacting you starting next week to reconfirm your order.

From DVD Talk posting by Robert:

It comes in amaray cases; alternate cases have the extra "flippy" insert so you can store 2 disks in a case to save space.

Liner notes are in a recipe-card tabbed style for ease of reference and sorting as you build the complete set.

The first DVD does have a Morse-code alternate subtitle track. We are considering occasionally doing other alternate subtitle tracks, including mirror-reversed so you can continue to watch the program in the mirror on your bathroom door while going to the can. We also considered Braille subtitles but wiser heads prevailed.

---

The price looks like it'll be 115$ ($21.50x5 = 107.50 + $7.50 S&H = $115) for the first 5 DVD box set (20 episodes). Having paid 400$ for the LD box set that AnimEigo put out a number of years ago, this is a great deal for a great series! UY DVD Preorder will close at 8:00AM ET, Monday April 17th!

It's live! (05:34 PM EST): You know I must not be a big fan if I didn't even know something like this existed. According to the Right Stuf site, on 6/20 the Dragonball Z: The Magic Begins live action movie will be released on DVD for the low low price of 19.98$ and contain only the English language track.

Advance review (05:18 PM EST): Following up on his last early review of Perfect Blue, Edwin De La Cruz has taken his sights onto another upcoming title from Manga Entertainment. Probably one of the more anticipated DVD releases so far this year from the 'old timer' crowd, the Castle of Cagliostro will make it's official bow on DVD on 4/25/2000.

A limited offer continued (04:58 PM EST): As with most anime fans, there are always more questions. To help with this, we've updated the information on the limited edition Divi-Chan prints being offered, so check out all the details!

Wednesday, April 12th, 2000

A limited offer (11:45 AM EST): Last year with the help of Bethany Neal we produced a limited number of cool t-shirts for the site. With this year being a bit more difficult for me to coordinate things with a new baby, Bethany has taken it upon herself to do something really cool for readers of the site and to produce something that will be very limited. For all you lovers of Divi-Chan, check out the limited edition prints we'll be making!

Tuesday, April 11th, 2000

More on Bandai DVD's (04:22 PM EST): After the alternate angle review earlier today for Blue Submarine No. 6, the folks who worked on the disc have looked into the menu problem reported there and found out what it is. "... if the DVD is already in Japanese audio, and the user highlights Japanese audio and pushes "enter", the menu will stay in that phase until the background menu music resets. It's not frozen, it's just waiting for the BGM to recycle." To help them stay on top of possible problems as well as to get general comments and suggestions about their DVD's, they've set up a special email address for it at dvdsupport@bandai-ent.com. Remember to keep it pretty much DVD related so they can focus on making their discs top of the line.

On a different angle... (09:15 AM EST): A couple of new alternate angle reviews have made their way into our library today. Check out the Dog of Flanders review from Bill Hunsicker and Blue Submarine No. 6 by Henschel Orcino.

The 2 Year Contest (08:53 AM EST): After a month of entries and a week of sorting through them all, we've finally picked our winner for our two year anniversary contest where the prize was all eight volumes of Battle Athletes Victory. Hearty congratulations go out to Paul Marquette who won!

Monday, April 10th, 2000

Newly reviewed (09:43 PM EST): Probably one of the more surprising releases, Eat-Man 98 is now in our review library (which now has 407 reviews). This release was definitely a great offbeat piece for those looking for something not normally seen here in the US and Bandai did it right in a true top notch transfer.

More Media DVD (03:58 PM EST): In addition to listing Ruin Explorers from ADV in today's Right Stuf catalog update, they also list the Rikki Oh - Story of Ricky disc from Media Blasters due on 7/18. While not anime, it's good to see that they're branching into other parts of their library, much as Central Park Media is planning to do with their Asia Pulp line.

Region 2 reviews (08:42 AM EST): A couple of region 2 reviews have been submitted over the weekend for your reading pleasure:

• 8Man Vol. 1 by Jennifer Hachigian
• Mugen no Ryvius TV 1 by Jon Faciane
• Kite Vol. 1 & 2 by Ryan Carmichael

Eating DVD (07:30 AM EST): Probably the biggest bang for your buck release today, Eat-Man 98 was released last week from Bandai as a two disc set containing all 12 episodes for 39.99$. We've gotten up to episode 8 in our viewing (before Tivo arrived in our house Sunday and we got all distracted by the new shiny toy) and should have our full review up very soon, but in the meantime Justin Coole has sent in an informative alternate angle review of this two disc set to tide you over.

Amazon's spring cleaning (06:48 AM EST): Ahh, the smell of spring. And a bit of cleaning out there in the online world. After getting an email about it and looking into it a bit, it looks as though online retailer Amazon.com is cleaning out its inventory a bit by removing all of the anime hentai titles that they have, though some may have slipped through for now. Such titles as Urotsukidoji and La Blue Girl on all formats are no longer listed in their main catalog (but may show up in the auctions or zShops). 

Sunday, April 9th, 2000

Top ten (09:28 AM EST): After a bit of a hiatus, we've updated our top ten lists this morning. The reason for the delay is due to a few changes. With the recent merger and renaming of DVD Express to Express, they made some internal changes. One of them is that preorders no longer show up in my tracking list. They only show up when they ship. So for example, for more than half of March, no Bandai titles were listed in my daily tracking. But on the weekend before they were released when Express started shipping them, they all showed up then. So the top ten will be working more in spikes of what's actually available as opposed to what's coming. The other change with the Game Cave merger is that they changed their internal product codes that are tracked. Before at title would be 10111 but now it's 1000010111. Tracking treats these as two completely separate items. So in our overall top ten for example, the Revolutionary Girl Utena 2 disc shows up twice. These will even out over time though. We've also updated our March and April monthly top ten.

Saturday, April 8th, 2000

Dangerous DVD (06:05 PM EST): Christian Nutt has sent in a piece on the region free copy of Char's Counterattack that's found quite often on various auction sites. This was originally written as a review, but as we've revised our policy to not include reviews of bootlegs in our library, and taken into consideration how this particular review was written, it serves better as an article anyway.

Alternate angles (05:51 PM EST): First up, Jon Van Dalen has sent in his thoughts on the first Nazca disc. Joe McCulloch has sent in the rest of his review of the Cool Devices box set for discs two and three. Not to be outdone, and taking a break from his region 2 reviews, Tong Lin has sent in his thoughts on his Cool Devices box set.

Friday, April 7th, 2000

Dates and rankings (08:05 PM EST): Last week we saw the high ranking on DVD Express of Revolutionary Girl Utena in the #8 slot, and depending on whether you want to count it or not, the Pokemon Movie in the #4 slot. This week? Cowboy Bebop at #9 and Trigun at #13. Solid rankings! DVD Express is also reporting that the Ranma 1/2 OVA box set is being pushed back to a 5/16 release date. No other confirmation has yet been found, but DVD Express has been pretty much on the money with Pioneer street date changes.

A Legendary disc? (06:45 PM EST): In the latest Ask Ladycat column below, there's some information about a possible Legend of Galactic Heroes region 2 DVD release. Now, I know that there are a good chunk of anime fans out there like myself who simply finds this series to be top of the shelf but know it's probably doomed from ever being licensed here in the US. According to the gentleman who sent in the information, the company in Japan who owns the rights to the show is that "they're waiting to do dvd until they can get an international (read: multi-lingual) release out". Could this be another of the rare bunch of region 2 discs that will have English subtitles? Those who can read Japanese sites may want to check out where this came from and find out if there's a way to express the interest of those outside of Japan for a multi-lingual release. I'd love to pay import prices for this release!

Ask LadyCat (06:41 PM EST): The latest column by LadyCat is in, and it does contain an abundance of information to the questions that are sent in! There's stuff on DVD racks, Viz titles, multiregion players and the reason why Lodoss TV is so different from the OVA series. 

More Dreamcast anime (06:22 PM EST): First there was Berserk (a show that so desperately needs to be licensed and given an icepick treatment here) for the Dreamcast, and now in Japan comes the Record of Lodoss War Chronicles game. Unfortunately I think this one is less likely to be localized for the US market. Thanks to Lou Rinaldi for the link.

Philosophy in a Teacup (05:07 PM EST): His lordship Chaos here. Well, for this particular rant, we would have had lots of dry ice, spooky sounds and a neat laser lightshow...but then Fujisawa-sensei spent our budget on Sake. So here's something that resembles coherent thought, which we slapped together instead at the last minute. ^-^ Tee hee!

ADV DVD (05:05 PM EST): I got in my copy of the Nadia ADV Fansub line today, and after hearing about it from those who got their copies already, just had to check out the DVD trailer that ADV is running on these tapes. They highlight all the discs released to date, plus Neon Genesis Evangelion and Ruin Explorers with bits of animation and a quick look at the menu. Very stylish, very ADV. I wonder if this'll show up on one of their upcoming discs... in 5.1?

Thursday, April 6th, 2000

New title announcement (05:09 PM EST): A posting last night on our forum by an ADV Films representative has indicated that July 11th will see the release of the Ruin Explorers DVD, containing all four episodes in Japanese, English and English subtitles for an MSRP of 29.99$! One more off of the rumored/in production page!

Advance review (05:06 PM EST): While I wasn't lucky enough to merit an advance copy, Edwin De La Cruz was and has sent in his thoughts on Manga's current big film due on DVD at the end of this month, Perfect Blue!

Whoops (05:01 PM EST): In the I-CON report this past weekend, some of you astutely noticed that it was said that Media Blasters was going to release Ruroni Kenshin in a November timeframe, which caused just a bit of confusion. That date was actually for Maho Tsukaitai! and not Kenshin. Thanks to Dominick Santoriello for sending in that correction.

Beboppin' DVD (04:57 PM EST): As expected with the three Bandai titles that were released this week, the alternate angle reviews are starting to flow in. We just got in our copy of Eat-Man 98 ourselves yesterday and are enjoying it a lot, and hope to have a full review this weekend. In the meantime, check out these two reviews: Cowboy Bebop by Roman Martel and surprise, Cowboy Bebop by Dustin Blaine Javier!

Wednesday, April 5th, 2000

New title announcement (05:29 PM EST): Though we've just heard some tentative plans for the September - November timeframe from CPM, they've still got a month or two beforehand to get some new discs out. DVD Express updated today with various titles from the anime studios, and CPM had the "surprise" announcement of a July 18th release of the Demon Beast Invasion DVD. I believe this was previously released as two VHS tapes, but it's all on one DVD here with both languages. Our newly revamped upcoming pages have been changed to reflect this.

Tuesday, April 4th, 2000

Con report! (02:49 PM EST): Missed in the excitement of the Sakura Con this weekend, I-CON XIX occurred in New York, and several companies were in attendance and have a few surprises announced...

Not up to snuff? (02:13 PM EST): After weeks of waiting, my Best of Kitty disc arrived today. And unfortunately I'm able to confirm the reports that it doesn't work on a lot of players. My Pioneer 414, Sony 3000 and Panasonic A110 all ejected the disc quickly after I inserted it. Curiously, it seems to work flawlessly on my Apex 600A player though. 

Red Alert! (01:53 PM EST): The Animeigo site has updated with a "Red Alert" for their Urusei Yatsura TV 1-5 preorder. Currently the set of 5 DVD's containing the first twenty episodes is at 115$ plus 7.50$ for shipping and it looks like mid April could very well be the ship date! Click here for more details!

Alternate angles (11:55 AM EST): For those who want more than just my humble opinion on some of the titles out today, check out these reviews:

• Blue Submarine No. 6 Vol. #1 by Justin Emerson
• Cool Devices by Ryko Prins
• Sailor Moon R Movie by Steve Brandon

Start socking away those quarters (10:25 AM EST): A bit more news has crept through the grapevine regarding some fall releases from Central Park Media. We've mentioned the titles previously, but there's been little said about what they'll actually contain. It looks like supplements are still being worked on, but here's some good basics:

September - Slayers DVD Box Set (1-26) $99.99
October - Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight DVD Box Set (1-27) $129.99
November - Slayers Next DVD Box Set (1-26) $99.99

Monday, April 3rd, 2000

More on BGC (08:45 PM EST): After the couple of bits this past weekend at Sakura Con and the previous announcement on the Animeigo DVD mailing list, a press release was put out today by M2K regarding the Bubblegum Crisis remaster. You "old timers" here will remember Ken Goldstein's name and his participation with the site back when the original box set was released.

Sunday, April 2nd, 2000

Sakura Con report 2 (09:45 PM EST): Patrick Karjala has followed up on our earlier con report with more information on the Bubblegum Crisis remaster and a mysterious "4th disc".

Blue Sub FYI (04:54 PM EST): A couple of readers have written in to say that some retail stores that have put out Blue Submarine No. 6 early are pricing it at the higher original price of 24.95$. This is not the price Bandai has set for it, but 19.95$. Online prices with your average discount should run 11.99$ to 13.99$.

Sakura Con report (10:15 AM EST): Dale Abersold has sent in a great overview of the Sakura Con that's going on this weekend. As usual, most newsworthy things happen on Saturday, and he's sent in information on Gundam Wing performance, Bandai plans, Multimedia 2000 BGC plans and lots more. This is a solid con report you gotta read!

Saturday, April 1st, 2000

Please save my DVD (10:35 PM EST): Westfield Company, which is where I order my comics from, updated with their July title listings today (which, similar to Previews, can ship earlier or later). Of interest is this listing:
 

---

PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH (DVD) - The lives of several Tokyo teens get turned upside down when they discover that they all share the same exact dream of their past lives together on the moon. As they explore their memories, they uncover mysterious conflicts and latent psychic powers that may threaten to tear their world apart. This DVD collects all six volumes of the anime series, previously released on three VHS volumes by Viz Communications, and also contains the previously unreleased Japanese language version with English subtitles

---

Whoever is responsible for getting the dual language track for this release, and having it all on one disc, you have my undying gratitude. This is definitely Essential Collection bound.

A good week (05:55 PM EST): Last week was a great week for DVD releases in general with some high profile movies making some serious splashes into the market (Sixth Sense and the Abyss for example). Yet even with all the major titles coming out, last week two anime DVD's made it into the top 15 at DVD Express. The first anime title to do this was Macross Plus last fall. Who made it this past week? Pokemon the Movie at #4 and Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Rose Collection 2 at #8. 

A bit on Bebop (10:25 AM EST): I had a brief conversation with the gentleman who authored the Cowboy Bebop disc over the past two days regarding the English subtitle problem I was experiencing with the disc. Those who read the review will remember that the English subtitles are forced on and the English language is the default, which is admittedly a bit strange. What it appears to be is a problem with region free players. My Pioneer 414 player is hard modded to play all regions, so it defaults this way. My Apex player, which is set to all regions, does it as well. Curiously, setting the Apex strictly to region 1 still causes this to happen. However, tossing the disc in both my Panasonic A110 and Sony 3000, the subtitles default to off, as they should. Mystery solved!

March contest 2 ends (10:20 AM EST): Both of our March contests ended last night, and we've got a winner for our Catnapped!: The Movie contest! Congratulations go out to Chris Rose! The Battle Athletes Victory contest will take a bit longer to go through and for the judges to find one that really deserves all eight DVD's. Check back soon!