Thursday, November 30th, 2000

Site hiccup (08:49 PM EST):

New title announcements again (08:24 PM EST): In addition to things already mentioned today, Right Stuf has updated with two more new titles. On 3/13, we'll see the previously known Knights of Ramune DVD, which contains six OVA's for a total runtime of 180 minutes for a sweet price of 29.99. On 4/10 we'll see the Slayers Try Box Set for a retail of 129.99, bringing the TV series to its conclusion on the shiny format.

New title announcement (05:54 PM EST): Following the earlier Speed Racer announcement, Tenchi Universe Vol. #7 (of 8) will arrive on 2/27/01.

More on Tylor (05:51 PM EST): Hopefully this will clear a few things up, as there's some confusion about the sets that people have ordered the Tylor DVD's from TRSI direct. Anyone who has ordered the set from them, whether you were one of the first 750 (the number initially needed to make the set feasible) or not, as long as you ordered direct you'll be getting your set early, with what seems to be just before Christmas. Those ordering elsewhere will see it closer to 1/30/01. 

In regards to the names, they're pretty much etched in stone at this point I believe, so if you cancel, you get some kind of honor because you'll end up being listed. Contrary to what some TRSI csr's may have said (since this is all very new), the names will be in alphabetical order, not chronological by sign-up.

New item (05:44 PM EST): Bowing to pressure from readers and from the fact that we are closing in on three years of being online, we've added a super duper handy dandy search feature to the side of each page. This will work for both the site itself and the web in general depending on your selection. It is outsourced and not running directly off of the server, so it doesn't update the same time I do, though it will within a day or so. Let me know how it works for ya.

Anime or not? (05:28 PM EST): Let's through a little controversy out into the air. Mike Toole from Anime Jump sent me a tidbit from the latest Pioneer email announcement list (which I can't seem to get on). Due out on 2/27/2001, Speed Racer the Movie. Yes, and for an MSRP of 19.95, you'll get this 80 minute movie along with an audio commentary by Peter Fernandez and Corrinne Orr (voices of many Speed Racer characters), a Speed Racer Trivia Game and Music Video and  Mach 5 Features. The movie itself will be presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and presumably English only.

So... should this be included in the anime upcoming list? Post your thoughts on the forum.

Wednesday, November 29th, 2000

Love is in the air (08:24 PM EST): Or at least some casual fooling around! The Anime Love site, for the fan in need of companionship, is back up and running. Check out their press release here.

New title announcements part 2 (08:20 PM EST): The folks at ADV sent out their latest today as well, with three titles that are indeed DVD bound. On 4/10/2001, Lost Universe Vol. #6 will arrive. On 3/27/2001, Gasaraki: From the Ashes will hit alongside the Samurai X: The Motion Picture disc. All retail for 29.95$. Here's hoping for another reversible cover for Samurai X!

New title announcement (04:56 PM EST): This one was a surprise to me, but apparently Central Park Media has acquired the Harlock Saga show and will be releasing it on DVD on 5/8/2001 for an MSRP of 29.99. The disc is bilingual and will contain 180 minutes worth of show (presumably six OVA's). It will also be released on two VHS tapes, dubbed only, for 19.99 each. The DVD is again a bargain. Want to think of it as an even better value? The region 2 DVD's run about 50$ a piece and there are six of them.

Tylor delayed (04:50 PM EST): The folks at Right Stuf have sent out a press release today indicating that the Tylor DVD's are being delayed to retailers until 1/30/2001. For those with already hurting wallets, consider this some relief. For those who ordered directly from TRSI and made it in the first 750 block, you'll be getting yours close to Christmas and with something extra special done to the disc; those who made the 750 list will have their names in a menu section, letting your contribution live on past your own life. This is similar to what AnimEigo did with Kimagure Orange Road on laserdisc for those who made that set possible.

They're also including some spiff extras in there as well as some coupons good towards upcoming Tylor CD's and the Tylor OVA's which are now officially announced as coming to DVD (no date given).

Tuesday, November 28th, 2000

Region 2 peeks (06:36 PM EST): With massive thanks to the good folks at my local post office who went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure my two EMS packages from CD Japan got to me today, I've got four brand spanking new DVD's to check out. Since it'll be some time before I can do full reviews, I wanted to offer a bit of a peek at them here, as I know several R2 consumers are getting theirs as well.

• Gunbuster: Disc looks pretty good, though the material is showings its age (which makes me fear the region 1 version, should it ever arrive, even more). The science lessons are a separate selection and not following the episodes directly like the old US Renditions tapes. I'm extremely eager to see this show again.
• FLCL #4: Just as whacked as earlier. Transfer this time around looks much better than vol. #3. Still subtitled and I even snared a poster.
• Robot Carnival: Good news is that there are English subtitles (well, dubtitles) for the dialogue areas. Better than nothing, though I'll be interested to hear just how much the old Streamline dialogue varies. Bad news is there's no Japanese 5.1 track as was listed by most presell materials. The Japanese and English 2.0 tracks are there though and the video quality looks pretty good overall, but like Gunbuster, it's showing its age.
• My Neighbors the Yamada's: I fully admit it, I love this disc. We watched the first ten minutes (anamorphic, DTS 5.1, English subtitles) and was just in heaven. Definitely not typical Ghibli, but something that those who hunt for more cultural Japanese shows will adore. Stunning transfer especially with all these whites and pastel colors.

Cheap goods for the old folks (03:05 PM EST): For those of you still searching the bargain bins for good cheap anime laserdiscs, Right Stuf scored a few new ones in their bargain bins. I have to admit, even I'm tempted by the really cheap Gaiarth LD's. C'mon AnimEigo, gimme some DVD's!

Cute story (02:55 PM EST): Last week, I ended up with a 50$ American Express gift certificate from some very good folks with whom I work with during my real job. Not knowing exactly what to splurge on, I just let it sit throughout the weekend. Finally, it dawned on me; frame the ultra cool FLCL posters that come with some of the first pressing region 2 DVD's! 

I took it down to the local Prints Plus at the mall. With it being a Japanese poster and a slightly odd size, it naturally cost a bit more, plus with the frame I wanted (total: 56$). What was amusing is on the receipt when I picked it up (a scant hour later!) is that in the print type box, the woman listed it as "cool Japanese animation".

Gotta love it. You can see the end result here.

Cover art (11:43 AM EST): A couple more pieces have been added to the Upcoming Release Gallery, this time Shamanic Princess and Sprite: Between Two Worlds.

Monday, November 27th, 2000

Cover art (09:06 PM EST): I was alerted earlier this evening by the folks at Right Stuf that they have the cover artwork up now for the upcoming Irresponsible Captain Tylor DVD release. Check out our Upcoming Release Gallery to see them and more covers!

New title announcement (07:27 PM EST): I believe this is the third time it's been announced from Manga, but according to Right Stuf (which is fast becoming the most reliable place to get new date/title announcements) we'll see the Blackjack movie DVD on 3/27/2001 with an MSRP of 29.99 and bilingual as well.

Rumored date? (11:51 AM EST): While we all know that Slayers Try will indeed be coming to DVD next year, we haven't really heard anything in terms of a date. According to a post in the forum, someone who received the giant Right Stuf catalog indicates that it's listed for the month of April 2001. 

SF TV clarified (11:45 AM EST): The good folks at Right Stuf got in the revised and more accurate details of Manga's upcoming Street Fighter TV series DVD's. When they were originally announced on their site, they had a runtime of 85 minutes each, which was not what Manga had indicated we'd see on them. According to the new info:

• DVD 1 - 7 eps (175 minutes)
• DVD 2 - 7 eps (175 minutes)
• DVD 3 - 7 eps (175 minutes)
• DVD 4 - 8 eps (200 minutes)

Region 2 announcements (08:53 AM EST): The latest list of announcements has come out for region 2 DVD's via CD Japan this morning. It's a rather small but very expensive list...

Sunday, November 26th, 2000

Alternate angles (10:55 PM EST): The region 2 folks below aren't the only ones I'm trying to catch up on tonight...

• Photon by Duan Xu
• Dragonball Z: Trunks Vol. #1 by Christopher H. Smith

Region 2 goodness (10:10 PM EST): Catching up a bit more on our backlog, we've got several new region 2 reviews (some with pretty pictures!) tonight:

• Ah! My Goddess Vol. #1 by Kenneth Lee
• My Neighbors the Yamada's by Andrew Tei
• Osamu Tezuka's In The Beginning by Sean Kemp
• Urusei Yatsura Movie 5: Final Chapter by Benjamin Andreu

There's a ton of great discs coming this season in Japan. We've got several coming in ourselves, such as the Yamada's disc, Gunbuster Vol. #1, FLCL #4, Grave of the Fireflies and Robot Carnival. We'll do our best to get reviews of these up, but I always look forward to hearing from those who import, like the above!

Partially reviewed (01:21 PM EST): Due to the large number of discs coming out and the fact that the busy holiday season is upon us, I'm doing the Record of Lodoss War TV box set review much like I did Fushigi Yugi last year; disc by disc in the one review page. We've completed our review of the first disc.

Bit of merchandise (09:10 AM EST): I usually don't go into detail on pieces of merchandise that you can get here on the main page, but I came across one thing this morning that I know a lot of readers would be keen on having that I haven't seen previously. Gasaraki poster anyone? 

UY in retail? (08:55 AM EST): A post by a reader on the AnimEigo DVD Mailing List gave hint of plans by the folks at AnimEigo for releasing discs from the first Urusei Yatsura box into general retail. According to the post, "I think we are pencilling it in for late january. There will be an announcement soon."

The second direct-from-AnimEigo Urusei Yatsura box is expected in January or possibly very late December.

Saturday, November 25th, 2000

Newly reviewed (11:28 PM EST): Going from one end of the spectrum to the other here this evening. First, a couple of great folks in the IRC channel have teamed up to present a tag team alternate angle review of Card Captor Sakura Vol. #1 while I've gone down the darker lane to review Imma Youjo Vol. #1.

New title announcements (04:07 PM EST): Confirming information that we had gotten earlier in the month, there's just a few new title announcements that came out of DVD LTD, the company whose produced titles via that line and NuTech for both Central Park Media and Right Stuf. The following is due out on 1/9/2001 for the MSRP of 19.95 each:

• Go Shogun: The Time Etranger
• Hades Project: Zeorymer Vol. #1
• Rhea Gall Force
• Votoms Vol. #1
• Votoms Vol. #2
• Votoms Vol. #3
• Votoms Vol. #4
• Votoms Vol. #5
• Votoms Vol. #6
• Votoms Vol. #7
• Votoms Vol. #8
• Votoms Vol. #9
• Votoms Vol. #10
• Votoms Vol. #11
• Votoms Vol. #12
• Votoms Vol. #13

All are subtitled only and we're really hoping with DVD subtitles as opposed to hard subtitles. Hopefully if Votoms goes over well, we'll see the Patlabor OVA's and TV series come out in the same way.

In light of this, we're changing our review policy. Betcha you didn't see that coming, eh? As we've always said, we'll review everything. Just don't be surprised if things take time to get reviewed. This doesn't mean we won't accept alternate angle reviews of course. It just means we're going to be prioritizing things a bit more based on what's in our pile of things to watch.

As it is now, review copies sent to us by the studios always get first viewing before anything I've bought, especially if they're provided in advance of the street date. More often than not, people want to hear about what's not out yet as opposed to what's been out. And since the studios do take the time and cost of the disc to send it to us, in my mind it's my obligation to review those before my own stuff.

And yes, we will continue to buy everything that gets released. We're sick. Sick I say. I do intend to spend a bit more time with my daughter, but considering how little impact she's had on the site to date, things should continue much the same.

Thank you for your understanding.

Friday, November 24th, 2000

Newly reviewed (06:06 PM EST): While other sites take the weekend off and have lives, we're still plugging away. Today we've got our review up for Manga's release of the Angel Cop Collection.

Press (06:02 PM EST): The folks at Newtype have sent out their latest notice for their December issue:

"Aside from the following contents, there will be "Vandread", "Argentosoma", and "Gensomaden Saiyuki" in Special Topics. (The contents will be updated weekly.)

As you can see, Gichi Ohtsuka, the author of "For The Barrel" is now ready to answer the questions from overseas on his work. Mr.Ohtsuka is really looking forward to hearing stimulating questions! Reportedly he prefers opinions and suggestions from overseas in general, because some of dedicated overseas fans tend to point out very interesting points. (See 'For The Barrel: UPDATE) He vaguely suggested his intention of this remake in this column this time."

Thursday, November 23rd, 2000

Press (01:09 PM EST): So whilst I putter around the house today, waiting for scrumptious turkey and fixings to be ready, I've added the latest press release from Right Stuf listing their price drops for Tobor, the 8th Man on VHS.

New title announcement (11:16 AM EST): Yet another new announcement via the Right Stuf site (which has definitely been a big help, as Pioneer hasn't been able to update their own entertainment site with product announcements for almost two months now). Due out on 2/27/01 is the 3rd volume of Black Heaven.

Wednesday, November 22nd, 2000

Alternate angles (09:51 PM EST): All right, just a bit catching up in the alternate angle review department...

• Samurai X OVA Vol. #1 by Jim Lazar
• Dragonball Z: Captain Ginyu Vol. #1 by Matt McClellan
• Dragonball Z: Captain Ginyu Vol. #2 by Matt McClellan
• Black Heaven Vol. #1 by David Owens
• Rurouni Kenshin Vol. #3 by Lawrence Chu
• Rurouni Kenshin Vol. #3 by David Owens

Tuesday, November 21st, 2000

New title announcements (06:13 PM EST): Following up on their previous website announcements for DVD's, Right Stuf is now listing a couple of February releases from Manga. On 2/27, we can expect Street Fighter II TV 1 (85 minutes) and Street Fighter II TV 2 (85 minutes). With those run times, they don't seem to be the 6/7 episodes we'd been told to expect on each of the four discs that would make up this series.

Press (03:12 PM EST): The latest batch of press releases have come in from Central Park Media for their February releases. We've concatenated all of them into one large one with the DVD's first.

Newly reviewed (01:33 PM EST): The second new review set for today, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Operation 4 has been added to our library of reviews. Our next line of attack is either Angel Cop, Imma Youjo or Lodoss TV. But I think X-Men is going to take over the home theater first!

Newly reviewed (01:33 PM EST): Checking another disc off of our list, we've finished watching and reviewing Flint the Time Detective Vol. #2.

Monday, November 20th, 2000

Newly reviewed (09:44 PM EST): Though it may be a bit hard to find at most retailers, if you've enjoyed Flint the Time Detective during its broadcast run on US TV, you may very well enjoy the DVD. We'll try to have our review of the second disc up Tuesday along with Gundam Wing Vol. #4.

New title announcements (07:08 PM EST): The latest press release has come out of ADV Films today and inbetween the various VHS releases, there's a new DVD. Due out on 3/13, Generator Gawl Vol. #3.

Newly reviewed (02:47 PM EST): Continuing to plow our way through our pile of discs to watch and review, our latest is now up in the form of the classic movie Wicked City from Urban Vision.

Sunday, November 19th, 2000

Media Blasters updates (08:41 PM EST): Several bits of news were added to their site today:

• The Kenshin art contest has completed, and with over 100 entries being sent in, they picked 17 winners that will appear on the fourth DVD.
• Kenshin #3 DVD should be in the majority of retailers now. Kenshin #4 DVD should be in stores by the end of November.
• To answer two very popular questions about Kenshin and Rayearth: 
  1) Kenshin will not be released in a box set format for neither DVD nor VHS 2) The Rayearth season 2 box set for DVD is scheduled for April 2001
• The corrections to Kenshin Legendary Swordsman have been completed and they are now duplicating a new set of DVD's. For all of you who have experienced problems you can now send in your DVD with DVD case to:
  
  Media Blasters
  c/o Kenshin Replacement
  265 West 40th Street, Suite 700
  New York, NY 10018
  
  For all who have sent in their DVD's for replacement already we expect to begin shipping replacements first week of December. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Egg on our face (02:49 PM EST): Yes, I can admit it when I do wrong. I have done wrong. Last Saturday, November 11th, our "turn an anime character into a vampire" contest ended. And I forgot! The shame! The horror! Well, we've completed the contest and have posted the winner who came up with the entry that had us both laughing the most and figuring it was also the most likely to be animated. Vampire Ein of the Cowboy Bebop. Yowza!

Anyway, we also currently have our Design a Divi contest running, which has resulted in two very sweet entries so far with more on the way. We're also starting to plan our big December contest. Should we give away 80$ worth of DVD's in the form of all four Blue Submarine No. 6 DVD's or should we go for the gold and put up 180$ worth of DVD's in the form of the complete Cowboy Bebop series? And maybe even go to the platinum level and put up a copy of the region 2 release of Memories which is subtitled in English and runs close to 120$... if only we could choose... or come up with a contest idea!

Advance review (02:14 PM EST): Yet another notch on the bedpost, we've got a new early review up today. Due out on 12/5/2000, New Cutey Honey Collection 2 lives up to the expectations set by the first disc and even goes a bit higher in terms of the extras. If only all discs could have these kinds of extras!

Saturday, November 18th, 2000

Thinning wallets (10:10 PM EST): For those who dip into the region 2 well, you're probably already groaning and writhing in pain from having so many releases coming out that are simply must-haves. What else is on the horizon that will surely sell well over here? How about the Escaflowne movie, which appears to be due on 4/25/2001 and comes in (at least) two flavors; standard and DTS. More info as it becomes available.

Ch-ch-changes (10:08 PM EST): Well, only one really. ADV posted on the forums earlier today that Martian Successor Nadesico Vol. #2 has been bumped from it's 12/5 release date to a 1/9 release date. Speculation based on the comments seems to be that replication time is getting really tight, so it was bumped up a bit. Honestly folks, retailer issues notwithstanding, I would be surprised if some studios are only getting portions of their pressing runs done. If it's happening to the big Hollywood studios...

Advance review (10:06 PM EST): After taking a diversion yesterday, we're back on track with another advance review, this time for the 12/5 release of ADV Film's Dirty Pair Flash: Angels in Trouble.

Friday, November 17th, 2000

Advance review (06:04 PM EST): Well, it's taken over two years since the original announcement, but the Wings of Honneamise DVD has finally been released and our review has been completed. At least that's one less kind of email we'll get every couple of days!

New in region 2 (01:54 PM EST): The latest list of announcements have come in today via CD Japan for a variety of things coming out towards the end of this year and into 2001.

Wings of Honneamise - update (01:35 PM EST): We also got in our review disc from Rykodisc for the Wings of Honneamise today, which we'll be putting through the paces on our HDTV hopefully this afternoon. Checking it out on the 19" TV though, the downconversion does not look promising at all. Lots of edge enhancement and scan lines easily visible.

New - Our initial test of WoH on the Apex player did show a ton of downconversion artifacts. Our model is the 600A, and we play a lot of movies on it and this is the first one that's ever looked like this.

I gave the disc a spin on our 1st generation Sony S3000 player on my 1998 Toshiba 36" set. The downconversion artifacts are completely gone (which the Sony's are extremely good at handling). There are still some jaggies, but it does indeed look better.

I also gave it a spin in 16:9 mode on our DVD-ROM drive, which I don't hold to any kind of level of quality, and it also did not exhibit any of the symptoms we saw on the Apex player.

Press (01:10 PM EST): We got in a bit of a press release (in the regular mail no less) from Pioneer touting the upcoming second Fushigi Yugi box set. Since I can't recall whether we knew of these extras before, it's probably worth mentioning again as the release is soooo close. Due on 11/28, this second box containing 26 episodes will have non-credit endings, character notes, music videos, production art and in my opinion, the really cool bit, commercials from Japan. 

Thursday, November 16th, 2000

New title announcements (11:15 PM EST): Following on the heels of the Diamond announcements yesterday, Right Stuf has updated with some useful information on some new titles. Sailor Victory, Rurouni Kenshin 5 (5 episodes) will arrive on 2/27/200. Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz will arrive on 2/6/2001. Pet Shop of Horrors will arrive from Urban Vision on 2/27 for 24.95. Mystery of the Necronomicon will arrive from Anime 18/Central Park Media on 5/8/2001. Dragonball Z: History of Trunks will arrive from Funimation on 12/12 (bilingual) for 24.95. And finally, ADV stuffs another disc into their loaded 1/23/2001 release date with the first Arc the Lad disc with 3 episodes on it. All discs are 29.99 unless otherwise noted. 

Advance review (09:49 PM EST): Due out on 11/21 from ADV, we've got our slightly early review of New Cutey Honey Collection 1 all set and up. This weekend we'll have Collection 2 and Dirty Pair Flash up as well.

Cover art (04:34 PM EST): The Upcoming Release Gallery has been updated today, cleaning out the old and adding in twenty-two new pieces of cover artwork. What covers catch your eye? Phantom Quest Corp. definitely caught mine!

ADV tidbit 2 (03:30 PM EST): This is something I meant to mention in one of the reviews, but having discovered another facet of an ADV release, I thought it was worth mentioning here. With studios bringing their back catalog titles to the forefront again to sell once more, it's interesting to see how each studio is handling their product. Some will simply take it as is and slap it on there without making any changes. Some others are taking the time however to go through and clean things up a bit. Three particular items stand out in regards to the ADV back catalog, both of which I think should be adopted by all studios (and already are by some of them, such as Bandai and Pioneer).

1. The credits. During some earlier ADV back catalog titles, such as Ruin Explorers and Burn Up W, either alternate angles or duplicate credits were used to provide both the English and Japanese voice actor casts. With their recent releases of Slayers OVA's and Cutey Honey, what they've done is gone back and redone the credits to conform to their new title setup, which contains the English and then Japanese voice actors in one scroll. To those who watch the subtitled versions and follow voice actors, this is really important. Let's be blunt, having these on the disc in any form is good. But this is the best way to do it in my opinion.
    
2. Hard subtitles. Always a bit controversial depending on the person you're talking to, the time these come up these days is in regards to songs that are left in Japanese even during the dubbed versions. Dub fans want to know what's being sung, so studios have often either hard subtitled it (especially in openings or endings) or simply not subtitled it at all. Bandai started blazing the trail a bit with this with their Jubei-Chan release in providing two subtitle tracks. The second track contained subtitles necessary for the dub viewers. ADV has also taken up this with their upcoming release of the Slayers OVA, which has a second track for song subtitles for dub fans.
    
3. Revisiting subtitles. For some of these shows, it's been a number of years since they were produced and studios have gone through many changes since the initial release. Luckily, some are taking the time to go through and double check the timing and other issues associated with subtitles, such as spelling mistakes and so forth (hi Andy!). This again shows some more care being put into the existing product instead of treating it as shovelware.

How do you feel about these two issues? We'd love to hear your opinions in the general forum!

ADV tidbits? (02:37 PM EST): When ADV first started out in DVD, one of the first questions I asked them with Tekken was whether the trailers listed in the previews section were DVD bound. The reply, at that time, was that only DVD bound trailers would be shown. Of course, with their shift to stronger DVD support since Tekken, we're seeing a lot of new trailers of shows that are indeed DVD bound. Today we got in our review copies of Cutey Honey Collection 2 and Dirty Pair Flash: Angels in Trouble. On the DP Flash disc, there are trailers for Gunsmith Cats, Sorcerer Hunters and the Original Dirty Pair. I think Sorcerer Hunters may have had a trailer before, but I can't be positive. Does the old theory of trailer = upcoming disc still hold true? For Gunsmith Cats, definitely, as the insert shows the box art for it!

Merchandise (02:29 PM EST): A couple of quick updates here; the initial piece we offered with the "sexy Divi" image has gone over quite well with a lot of people getting various things, like mugs and shirts. We've added a second image/store there today based off of the first entry we got in our latest contest and we've also offered a bit of space to one of my favorite artists, Riki LeCotey, who is doing up a few posters that people may be interested in. Be sure to drop by the merchandise page!

Advance peek (07:12 AM EST): After finishing the Macross II review yesterday, we managed to take in two of the four episodes on the upcoming Cutey Honey Collection 1 disc, and I must pass along a few comments; very sweet! This disc looks great. The folks who did the authoring are the same ones I was very impressed with after their work on the Samurai X OVA discs. The video quality, so far, is practically flawless. If only all "back catalog" titles could look so good! Full review later tonight.

Wednesday, November 15th, 2000

Diamond updates (08:31 PM EST): The folks at Diamond updated today with their tentative February information (which means January-March for you and me). DVD Animania has posted the full list, so we'll just post the new ones here (and if any of the visiting studio reps can help fill in the date blanks, we'd be ever so obliged!).

• Black Heaven: Vol. 3 All Right Now
• Cardcaptor Sakura: Vol. 3 Friends Forever
• Cardcaptors: Vol. 3 Misdirections
• Crest Of The Stars: Vol. 1
• Pokemon: Vol. 27
• Pokemon: Vol. 28
• Rurouni Kenshin: Vol. 5 Renegade Samurai
• Sailor Victory
• Saber Marionette J TV: Vol. 2
• Tenchi Universe: Space 3

There's a couple of really good things in there. Crest of the Stars is pretty darn high on my to-buy list after getting the first region 2 disc and seeing more Card Captor Sakura on the list is good to see. Once we get official dates we'll move these into the upcoming list.

Advance review (03:42 PM EST): Due out on 11/28/2000 from Manga Entertainment is the early 90's release Macross II: The Movie. It took two days, but we got through all 136 minutes (contrary to the 160 minutes listed on the packaging) of the six OVA's spliced into a theatrical length movie. 

Cheap DVD's (03:38 PM EST): Looking for a few cheap discs? It looks like Right Stuf has added a few 6.00$ discs to their bargain collection and even a laserdisc or two for you old skool fans. Something to note, though I figure I'm completly off on this, is that a good number of the 6.00$ VHS tapes are shows coming to DVD that are already announced by ADV. Some are 6.00$ but not announced... yet?

Tuesday, November 14th, 2000

Advance review (07:44 PM EST): We're swamped again! We've got a bunch of discs to review over the course of this week that it's going to go into the weekend again. Right now we've got our review up for the Slayers: Book of Spells OVA release from ADV. What else is in the queue? Macross II, Angel Cop, Cutey Honey Collection 1, Wicked City and by the end of the week we'll have Cutey Honey Collection 2 and the first set of Dirty Pair Flash discs. What a change from a year ago, never mind two years ago!

ADV tidbits (05:58 PM EST): While checking out the Slayers OVA disc today, there's a couple of interesting things to note. In the trailer section, there's a new one in there that I know a few people are looking forward to... Orphen! Looks sweet. In the current version of the "Do it now" trailer, there's also extended footage for Spriggan tied to a "coming soon to a theater near you" tagline. 

Lain update (04:32 PM EST): Some new information came in to us today from the good folks at Right Stuf concerning the Serial Experiments Lain lunchbox. Apparently, some big chain retailers (such as Suncoast) managed to get some of the lunchboxes to sell. It looks like most small retailers are out of luck in getting them. So where did they all go? Pioneer's snapped 'em all up to make the DVD box set. The company producing the lunchboxes, Palisades, has indicated that they aren't making anymore of them, though the mini lunchbox will be available in February. So the larger lunchbox that will come with the DVD set will be a truly limited item overall. 

Monday, November 13th, 2000

Not so canceled? (08:14 PM EST): According to Anime News Service, the company making the Serial Experiments Lain lunchbox has canceled the item. The mini lunch box is supposedly still due out in February, but was unrelated to the DVD lunchbox set release. No reason was given to the decision. However, we've gotten in several emails indicating that people have seen and bought the lunchbox itself, but not the DVD box set. ANS has removed the piece until we can get more information, as the source of the original article is retailer Right Stuf.

Press (03:54 PM EST): According to their latest press release, the November English web version of Newtype has some pretty good info on the Ah! My Goddess movie and more. 

Sunday, November 12th, 2000

Digital omake (09:22 PM EST): Wading through our sea of email, we've cleaned out our Digital Omake section by adding pieces for Cowboy Bebop Vol. #6, Jubei-Chan Vol. #2, Key the Metal Idol Vol. #2 and Patlabor Movie 2. 

Teasing review (09:05 PM EST): It'll be almost a year before it sees release here in region 1, but Kenneth Lee has provided a detailed review of the region 2 Giant Robo Giga Collection set. 

Newly reviewed (08:04 PM EST): Ok, so I got a little delayed today catching up on about 8 hours worth of Tivo. However, we did squeeze in the Black Heaven Vol. #1 disc today and have our review up now. All I can say about this one is, don't judge it by the trailer on the Wanted 2000 disc.

Site Status (12:10 AM EST): Just to bring folks up to speed, we are making some progress! Late Saturday night, we completed the installation of the newest version of the forum software. There's a lot of changes in this release (some are listed in the forum feedback section). Be sure to take a look at your user section to see some of your new options.

I've also got another class this week (Internetworking with TCP/IP), so I'm going to be running just a bit ragged. We've got a bunch of discs to review, such as Black Heaven, Angel Cop and Macross II. We're also expecting the Slayers OVA and New Cutey Honey discs from ADV. So expect to see at least one or two more reviews by Monday night. 

Newly reviewed (12:07 AM EST): First up on our list of reviews to be done over the next couple of days is Pioneer's release of Amazing Nurse Nanako Vol. #2.

Friday, November 10th, 2000

Studio Chat (11:48 PM EST): Our first studio chat with Charles McCarter of Bandai appears to have gone over very well and a lot of questions were asked and answered. Mr. McCarter went above and beyond the call of duty by staying with us for over 2 hours and I think managed to win over quite a few people. You can read the near-raw transcript of it here.

Newly reviewed (08:41 PM EST): While both highly anticipated and much dreaded, the final volume of Cowboy Bebop has arrived. Seeing the finale to this series was above my expectations, but knowing there's no more (until the movie!) truly brings me back down to reality. What did you think about the ending? Join in on the discussions in the general forum!

New title announcements (06:09 PM EST): A few more titles showed up on Right Stuf today that may be of interest to a few people. Tenchi Universe Vol. #6 will arrive on 1/30/2001 and Dual Vol. #3 will also street on that date.

New region 2 announcements (06:03 PM EST): The latest batch of announcements came in from the fine folks at CD Japan today. Included is the 5th volume of the English subtitled FLCL and the big title, Jin-Roh. Jin-Roh's definitely for those with no fear, as the suggested price is around 126$. I'll be waiting for the Bandai/Viz release myself. At least that one will have subtitles.

You can love anime... (05:57 PM EST): Just don't love your anime! Anime fans who need anime fans are indeed truly in luck with the startup of the Anime Love website, dedicated to bringing together the female fan and the male fan. Check out the press release!

Thursday, November 9th, 2000

New title announcement 4 (09:14 PM EST): One more for the road? Bandai sent out a few new press releases tonight with some upcoming titles. Check out Gundam Wing Operation 5 DVD, Gundam Wing 8 VHS, Gundam Wing 9 VHS, Saber Marionette J DVD and Jubei-Chan Vol. #4 press releases here.

Studio Chat (08:53 PM EST): Please join us this Friday, 11/10/2000, at 9:30 EST/6:30 PST for our very first official studio chat. Participating in this moderated chat will be Charles McCarter of Bandai Entertainment who has served as producer on such titles a Jubei-Chan, Tenamonya Voyagers, Outlaw Star and many others that are in production. As this is our first official chat, we've drawn up some rules/guidelines to be followed which you can read here.

New title announcement 3 (08:48 PM EST): This one will be easy on a lot of anime fans pockets, but will definitely light up the eyes of a few folks. ADV's latest press release talks about their February release of the first Farscape DVD.

New title announcement 2 (05:08 PM EST): Not content with just one announcement today? How about Voyager announcing the date for the Starblazers Vol. #2 disc? Does a 12/8 release date sound good for a 100 minute long disc with a MSRP of 29.99? For Starblazers fans, I know it does! Thanks to Right Stuf for posting and sending us this info today.

New title announcement (04:59 PM EST): Our review copy of Cowboy Bebop 6 arrived today (with luck, we'll be watching most of it tonight with a full review tomorrow if that cursed Shenmue doesn't enthrall us), but we also got a couple of pieces of press material. A really sweet looking one sheet was provided for the Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. The DVD is being called a special edition and has a really sweet looking cover style being used. It's also got a date! We'll be seeing it on 2/6/2001 and it will contain both the movie version (created in Japan) and the original individual 3 OVA's. The English track of the movie version will be in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the Japanese will be the original 2.0 format. What's interesting, and we've mentioned it before, is that the individual OVA's will be available only on DVD, and from what I can tell, the dub VHS will be the Cartoon Network version. So in the minds of many anime fans, this is essentially a DVD only release. I can't wait!

Wednesday, November 8th, 2000

Image contest underway! (09:15 PM EST): Since our initial announcement about doing a contest for readers to send in their contributions for Anime on DVD fan items, we've gotten a lot of really interested responses! So we've taken a bit of time tonight after our Japanese language class to write up the basics of the contest. As always, we do reserve the right to make changes in case we forgot something important!

New title announcements continued (04:45 PM EST): Don't let it be said that there's hardly anything coming out on DVD in the coming months! Manga has sent out their press release for the January 30th release of Street Fighter Alpha DVD. In addition to the English tracking getting a 5.1 upgrade, the extras include Interviews of voice actors and directors, original Japanese movie trailer, "The Making of Street Fighter Alpha" short film, character bios, photo gallery and a creative staff journal.

New title announcements (04:45 PM EST): The announcements keep rolling in. According to Right Stuf today, New Cutey Honey Vol. #2 will arrive on 12/5, only a couple of weeks after the first volume from ADV Films. Central Park Media has set for a 2/13/01 release Shamanic Princess (complete series), Sprite: Between Two Worlds, Urotsukidoji IV (bilingual/no subtitles) and a Urotsukidoji Box Set containing the four DVD's, all bilingual but without subtitles.

Tuesday, November 7th, 2000

New title announcements (01:22 PM EST): Following up on previous reports, the first official bits of information on Agent Aika on DVD have surfaced thanks to Right Stuf. Due on 3/13, the dual language Agent Aika: Naked Missions will arrive with a running time of 100 minutes. The second half, Agent Aika: Final Battle will arrive on 5/8 with a running time of 75 minutes. Both volumes carry a 29.99$ price tag.

Anime on DVD Merchandise (12:16 PM EST): Well, it's time to experiment again. We've set up a mini-store with the folks at Cafe Press with a particular image that I've had several requests to have put on some kind of items, like mousepads and mugs. Previous to this, I made up a mock store and tossed a few images into it and had a mug and a t-shirt made up. Both took about a week and a half to complete, ship and arrive in my hands. They came out exceptionally well considering the low dpi of the images I used. The image up there now is of much higher quality, done by one of my favorite artists, Riki Lecotey. 

Riki and I do understand however that this particular image is a bit... risque. I'm thinking of doing a contest for submissions by artists to create something a bit less risque for use, with the prize being several items from the store (or DVD's). If you're an artist and are interested in seeing your vision of Divi-chan done up this way, let us know.

Press (11:32 AM EST): ADV Films has sent out their February 2001 release list today. It's worth noting of course that ADV tends to not announce DVD dates this far in advance for a lot of titles, but only once they've got the final approved master to ensure it hits street date. With their plans for upwards of 8 discs a month, I'm sure this release list will get fleshed out a bit more. In addition, the first couple of months of the year are very light months from most home video companies as people are typically reeling from their credit card bills and the home video company execs are rolling around in all their cash. 

Monday, November 6th, 2000

New title announcement, part 2 (10:00 PM EST): The folks at Urban Vision have sent out their latest press release to herald their third foray into the DVD world with the 1/30/2001 release of Biohunter on DVD.

New title announcements (09:51 PM EST): Thanks to Jim Lazar for posting this in the forum. According to the flier he received from NuTech, the company behind the Imma Youjo release and a wide variety of Central Park Media discs from 1998, they've got more plans for 2001 for a few more CPM titles. Listed on the flier is:

• Votoms: 4 episodes per volume, 13 volumes. It's previous release in the US has been on subtitled only VHS with no dub produced. 
• Hades Project Vol. #1: Previously released as both sub/dub VHS and even bilingual laserdisc. Fun and evil short OVA series.
• GoShogun - The Time Etranger
• Reah Gall Force

Newly reviewed (09:46 PM EST): I swear I wasn't drinking when I reviewed Dual Vol. #1. Or when I wrote the review. Honest.

Manga Press (04:28 PM EST): The folks at Manga have sent out their latest press releases to highlight the two big titles due out this month, Macross II and the Wings of Honneamise DVD's.

Advance review (04:20 PM EST): The last disc that was in our big box of ADV love is Lost Universe Vol. #3, which is now fully reviewed and in our listings. ADV has certainly managed to capture the "most titles in early review" section on our main page!

Rumored title (03:27 PM EST): Well, sort of. The newest volume of Lost Universe has two new front loaded trailers (which I know many of you skip in protest of such things). One of them is for the upcoming Reboot show which looks quite good and the other is for the Burn Up Excess series. Of course no date is given, but considering the output rate of up to 8 discs a month coming from ADV, I'm sure we'll hear it soon.

Studio Chat (02:39 PM EST): Please join us this Friday, 11/10/2000, at 9:30 EST/6:30 PST for our very first official studio chat. Participating in this moderated chat will be Charles McCarter of Bandai Entertainment who has served as producer on such titles a Jubei-Chan, Tenamonya Voyagers, Outlaw Star and many others that are in production. As this is our first official chat, we'll be drawing up some rules/guidelines to be followed during this week. 

Petition updates (09:00 AM EST): A second Maison Ikkoku petition has been added to our growing list of petitions this morning. Be sure to check it and other petitions out here!

Sunday, November 5th, 2000

Advance review (10:21 PM EST): This weekend of good discs just keeps on coming with our advance review of the ultra good Gasaraki Vol. #2! As always with advance reviews, the story/content portion of the review may contain minor spoilers. We've still got Lost Universe Vol. #3 to review, though we have finished watching this batch of four episodes. After the Boston site gathering today, I'm a tad tired, so that will be posted sometimes Monday.

Saturday, November 4th, 2000

Advance review 2 (10:32 PM EST): Working again the "S" section, we've added Sakura Diaries Vol. #2 to our completed review list. As always with advance reviews, the story/content portion of the review may contain minor spoilers.With luck, tomorrow night should see the addition of at least Gasaraki Vol. #2 if not Lost Universe Vol. #3 as well.

Advance review (09:16 PM EST): Starting to dig deep into the pile of review discs we got this week, tonight we've got the first word on the 11/14 release of Samurai X Vol. #2. That's Rurouni Kenshin to you and me though. As always with advance reviews, the story/content portion of the review may contain minor spoilers.

Friday, November 3rd, 2000

New title announcements (07:18 PM EST): A couple of new announcements today, though one of them appears to have been somewhat previously announced. On 12/5, ADV Films will be releasing the 2nd volume of Sakura Diaries. On 1/23, Pioneer will be releasing the 3rd and final volume of Amazing Nurse Nanako as well as Pokemon Vol. 25 and Pokemon Vol. 26.

Thursday, November 2nd, 2000

Advance review (09:55 PM EST): Due out on 11/21, with hopefully more volumes following fast behind, is Neon Genesis Evangelion Collection 0:2. We've finished our primary review of this disc and have it ready for your reading. As always with advance reviews, the story/content portion of the review may contain minor spoilers.

Site gatherings (04:48 PM EST): A couple of site gatherings are coming up awfully fast, so here's the reminders. Sunday November 5th will have latest Boston gathering, with myself in attendance (no wife or aka-chan this time around though). Saturday November 11th will be the day the first New York City gathering occurs. You can find out more about both of these gatherings, which are open to all site readers, in the Conventions & Gatherings forum.

Wednesday, November 1st, 2000

Press (08:41 PM EST): There's a few new press releases that came out today, including Viz's February and March manga and VHS releases and ADV's new VHS and Sailor Moon information. Check out our press area for more.

Eva 2 impressions (04:59 PM EST): Due to real-life circumstances, we won't be able to fully watch and review Neon Genesis Evangelion Vol. #2 until late tomorrow night, but did sit down for a few minutes this evening to check out the disc. And the folks on the chat threatened to lynch me if I didn't post some impressions.

First, Eva disc 2 contains four episodes on a single layered disc, which is normal practice. Eva disc 1 was dual layered but didn't take advantage of that fact due to the authoring house not being one of the better ones, as folks have come to determine. So it's no surprise, or it shouldn't be, that this disc is single layered with about half a gig of empty space.

Before watching disc 2, I took disc 1 for a spin. Since getting the HDTV, no discs authored by the folks at AIX have been spun in the player, such as Eva 1 or Sakura Diaries 1. I queued up the opening sequence and about five minutes of the first episode plus a little skipping around.

Yes, I'd definitely revise my previous review, more than likely to at least a C+ based on these opening sections and first five minutes. There was more rainbowing and shimmering than I saw during my previous viewing on our last TV. During the actual show section itself, there were a few areas where it looked like a layer of film was on top of the show, giving it a cascading artifacting effect. I also noticed signifigantly more line noise and shimmering in the show itself. However, my review stands as it is as it was under a completely different setup. I'm not getting into the habit of going and re-reviewing things.

So I then queued up the new disc as authored by the folks at POP/Cinram. The amount of rainbowing and line noise in the opening alone was signifigantly reduced though there's still some small amount of it there, as these kinds of interlacing issues can be nearly impossible to eliminate. The colors also looked more saturated and slightly more vibrant than they did on disc one. Checking into the content itself, the buildings no longer seem to have a ghost image when they're panned across with the camera and things again looked much better with the colors being more saturated.

We'll have more on this in our full review which should be up late tomorrow night.

Slayers TV update (04:20 PM EST): When the first Slayers TV series box was released, there was an additional issue for many people beyond the Japanese audio problem. The very end of the final episode was missing about a minute of additional footage which I believe takes place after the credits roll. The masters used were the same as the dub tapes, which also had this piece cut off from oh so many years ago. Justin Sevakis of CPM posted this to the forum today:

"We are aware of the missing footage in the last episode in The Slayers DVD Collection. This issue occurred while the original English dub was being made.

At this time, we are planning to offer this missing scene in subtitled form (since no dub was made) as an extra on the forthcoming The Slayers Try DVD Collection. Please look for it in 2001."