Thursday, January 31st, 2002

Newly reviewed (11:23 PM EST)

Newly reviewed (10:05 PM EST): Released just this past Tuesday, we've taken a look at Media Blaster's release of Kite: Directors Cut, which has arrived just under two years from the initial release from their Anime Works label.

New title announcement (05:44 PM EST): While the second volume is just a few weeks away from coming out, David Williams of ADV Films made the announcement today for Soul Hunter Vol. #3: The Spoils of War. The disc will street on 03/26/2002 with four episodes in English and Japanese with English subtitles for $29.98.

Wednesday, January 30th, 2002

Name this column! (09:21 PM EST): We've been meaning to get to this for some time, but time has a way of getting the better of us, especially during the holiday season. Luckily, someone practically fell into my lap and lo and behold, it was just what I needed.

For a lot of people, one of the biggest criticism's we get is that we don't review dubs. The more astute readers will note that in the majority of our reviews, we rarely really talk about the Japanese casts either. My feelings are that if what I get from the Japanese cast doesn't come through in what you're getting from the English cast, then a dub has failed, hence our problems with titles like Orphen and the way Robotech changed everything. But in the end, I prefer to think of our content reviews as language-agnostic but with a Japanese bent.

We haven't been able to provide a good counterbalance to this and we're going to start correcting that. Our first step was to ok freelance writer Allen Divers to write a monthly and possibly bi-weekly column looking in detail at various dubs, ins and outs and other bits of the dubbing process. Allen's first column is up here now, and we're looking for a name for it. We'll also be giving it a proper home once we shift more to the new site format. Allen will also be providing alternate angle reviews that focus specifically on the dub in the future, and we'll highlight these when we post them.

Another thing we're doing is rounding up a group of regulars from our English Track forum to provide bi-weekly mini-reviews of various titles in a column format giving a wider variety of opinions for people to read and choose from. Those who know me well know we've never been anti-dub. Dubs are crucial for the market. Our main goal, especially early on with the site, was to make sure that the smaller market of the Japanese language track was not lost when DVD boomed. That's less of a fear, but still one of our primary lines. But it's definitely time to now start spreading the love around.

Slightly advance review (09:11 PM EST): Some retailers are selling it early while others will hold onto the 02/12/2002 street date, so tonight we've got our "slightly" advance review up for the finale, Boogiepop Phantom Vol. #4. This is a disc where I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone interprets just what it all means.

Newly reviewed (06:19 PM EST): Our latest review is a late arrival for us that we managed to get to this week, Pioneer's 01/08/2002 release of Cardcaptor Sakura Vol. #7.

UK tidbit (04:59 PM EST): We got word in this morning courtesy of Ali Burge that Metropolis is set to hit the UK on DVD on 04/22/2002. The DVD features added value including a 30 minute Making Of documentary; and interview with Rintaro (Director); 2 animation comparison featurettes; a promotion video feature and cross promotional trailers. No word on whether this will be a 2 disc set like the US release with the Pocket DVD or not, but I'd guess that it won't be. No word on languages to expect either.

Tuesday, January 29th, 2002

Advance review (06:00 PM EST): Due out on 02/12/2002 from ADV Films is Soul Hunter Vol. #2, a series that continues to simply make me scratch my head.

Eva boxes (04:44 PM EST): Just announced yesterday, we've managed to score a couple of images showing off the box set. You can see the box here and another shot here. I've been told that the red part is actually foil...

Monday, January 28th, 2002

Email problems (06:44 PM EST): Not on my end thankfully, but for the past couple of weeks, most people who've sent email from hotmail accounts may not have gotten replies from us even though we've sent them. We consistently get full mailbox errors and other amusing ones such as "hotmail server not acting properly. Email deleted". If you're sending us mail, avoid using hotmail please, because it's just wasting both of our time.

Evangelion... box? (05:59 PM EST): The latest information on the Neon Genesis Evangelion DVD box set has come in to us today courtesy of David Williams of ADV Films. The Neon Genesis Evangelion Perfect Collection boxset contains all 8 DVDs (including the re-mastered Volume 1 and all matching spine covers ). MSRP is $169.98 and it will street on 4/9/2002. Details on the Premium box will be posted soon.

TOKYOPOP tidbit (05:13 PM EST): While not directly related to DVD, I thought it interesting that TOKYOPOP's new press release talks about their move to presenting manga unflopped and just how it's presented in Japan.

Triple threat press release (04:41 PM EST): The marketing folks at ADV Films are out in full force today with three press releases we've gotten together in one page that talks about the release of Nadia Vol. #8, Miyuki-Chan in Wonderland and the start of production on the Lady Death feature.

Initial D Clarified (01:28 PM EST): Kenneth Lee of TOKYOPOP got wind of the article we quoted yesterday from Animation Magazine and spoke a little bit about it today. "I was misquoted. I did NOT say that we were replacing the music with top name stars.

Essentially, I was telling Animation magazine that Initial D used Avex Trax as a venue to have lots of top-name artists / hip music that really took off in Japan. And there was a *potential* that we could do the same IF IT GOT ON TV."

Kenneth also calms any potential future fears by saying, "If we ever got on TV with this property, I would of course release the Uncut, Unedited Version - pristine with everything intact. If we did replace music *FOR TV* I would release that as a separate video anyways (if it wasn't possible to integrate it as a 3rd audio track)."

Sunday, January 27th, 2002

Initial... panic? (06:31 PM EST): The folks at TOKYOPOP have been where a lot of animation companies have been for the past week, and that's at NATPE 2002 where they hawk their wares to get them on the broadcast airwaves. While there, Brand Manager and Executive Producer Kenneth Lee talked about what kind of shows they go after and why Initial D was picked up, "The first requirement is that the property has to entertain us. There are a lot of clones out there now. We liked Initial-D because it was different; no explosions, no line-up of 500 different toys."

The panic side though? Further down in that article, it states, "It also generates a ton of pop music that will be re-recorded in the U.S. with top-name stars". We should run a poll. Are you happy, neutral, angry or just rolling your eyes at this latest development?

Saturday, January 26th, 2002

Fruits Basket (02:18 PM EST): For those who still continue to not believe us in regards to Funimation having acquired Fruits Basket, they've added a section to their site about it and also indicate that a 2002 release is planned. Sweet indeed.

Advance review (09:46 AM EST): Due out on 03/05/2002, Bandai Entertainment is releasing two flavors of this disc. We'll have a review of the regular edition later on, but for now let's take a look at the Jin-Roh: Special Edition three disc release.

Newly reviewed (08:51 AM EST): The show that continues to draw me in despite how awkwardly paced it is and the odd plot twists, Ceres: Celestial Legend Vol. #6 has now been added to our review library.

Friday, January 25th, 2002

Newly reviewed (11:02 PM EST): Adding another title into the new review database, this time with several of the tweaks people had suggested, we've got Blue Gender Vol. #2 all set and ready to read.

Casting call! (05:57 PM EST): Well, not really, but the producer for His & Her Circumstances started a thread in the forum this morning letting you pick who you'd want to take part in the English dialogue version of the show. You can check it out here.

New title announcements (05:56 PM EST): While specs are non-existent, Right Stuf has  learned that TOKYOPOP's next series, Real Bout High School, will debut on 05/22/2002. We've also gotten word that the second volume will street on 07/23/2002. We'll likely hear some detailed specs real soon.

New title announcements (09:41 AM EST): With the Sherlock Hound website now up and running, the street dates for the entire six disc series has been posted there along with a lot of other neat information. For the dates, expect them on:

• Case File I - 02/26/2002
• Case File II - 04/23/2002
• Case File III - 06/11/2002
• Case File IV - 08/13/2002
• Case File V - 10/08/2002
• Case File VI - 12/10/2002

Contest! (09:35 AM EST): While time is running out with our two contests (see above), the folks at Anime Boston have eight days left in their design-a-mascot contest! Be sure to check that out as you could end up designing something that thousands and thousands, if not billions and billions, might see and wear!

Closeouts! (09:29 AM EST): The folks at Right Stuf have updated their site with a new section this week, this time featuring various closeouts and discontinued items at varying prices. There's a few DVD's mixed in there with t-shirts and other items. We've also heard that today, there may be a few... boxes? mixed into there.

Thursday, January 24th, 2002

Newly reviewed (09:40 PM EST): Bringing to a close the second of three arcs, Rurouni Kenshin Vol. #14: Fire Requiem is the payoff that culminates in 63 episodes. What's particularly impressive is that Media Blasters have gotten out 14 volumes of this series in just under 18 months. That's a tough release schedule to hold to. Here's to the third arc!

Kiki DVD? (09:37 PM EST): While the Disney site has erroneously listed a Kiki's Delivery Service DVD for awhile, they've corrected that and are now looking for people to vote and provide comments on what they'd like to see. Make sure to be polite, ask for all the Ghibli stuff, and be kind - ask for bilingual for everything. Thanks to Marc Hairston of www.nausicaa.net for posting the info he got from Wayne Unten.

Metropolis & More (08:30 PM EST): According to the press release that the folks at Anime News Service got from Columbia Tri-Star today, there's even more interesting things to look forward to with their release of Metropolis and anime in general. In addition to the already known Japanese and English Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, they're also including the Japanese DTS 5.1 track. And according to their press release, they will also include trailers for Metropolis itself, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and....

The Cowboy Bebop movie. I'd consider that official folks.

Newly reviewed (07:55 PM EST): Digging into the pile of discs we've watched this week, tonight we've got our review posted for Urban Vision's latest entry, Strange Dawn Vol. #1. We're also using it as the first review in our new upcoming review database and site redesign. So we're going to be looking to hear some feedback on the review section itself, with what it's missing, what works and what doesn't work. Do note that the one thing we've intentionally dropped is the Divi rating. Send any feedback to us at sitedesign@animeondvd.com.

Escaflowne hits the front page (07:02 PM EST): For those looking for more proof of anime hitting mainstream, the Vancouver WestEnder has a big piece on the Escaflowne movie on their front page, both print and online versions.

Firm dates (02:06 PM EST): While we made mentioned yesterday of the Sailor Moon discs coming up, ADV Films has released dates and initial specs for them today. Sailor Moon: A Heroine is Chosen and Sailor Moon: Sailor Scouts to the Rescue will street on 04/16/2002. Each disc contains 6 episodes, dub only and will retail for $14.98.

New title announcement (12:47 PM EST): David Williams of ADV Films has added another title to their upcoming list today. Due out on 03/26/2002 is Princess Nine Vol. #3 with four bilingual episode retailing for $19.98.

Advance review (10:23 AM EST): Due out on 02/12/2002 is the first volume in the comedy series Adventures of Mini Goddess, which we got a review copy of yesterday and immediately tossed into our player.

Pocket DVD (07:31 AM EST): A new format? No, not quite. But something very interesting. According to this Video Business article, Columbia Tri-Star will be making their Metropolis DVD release a bit sweeter for fans by including a second disc. The second disc isn't your typical disc but rather a 3 inch one, "a first for the major studios, on its first anime release, Metropolis. The mini-DVD will carry an hour of special features and is packaged with a regular-sized DVD that offers the film."

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2002

Newly licensed (02:50 PM EST): Originally posted to the forums late last week and given a confirmation today, we've learned that Funimation has indeed obtained the license to the series Fruits Basket. The series is the latest from Heitaro Daichi (Now & Then, Here & There, Jubei-Chan, Animation Runner Kuromi) with character designs by Akemi Hayashi (Revolutionary Girl Utena). You can see the Japanese official page here.

New title announcements (01:13 PM EST): The Diamond Comics site updated partially today by listing some new items in its video catalog for release in the April/May timeframe. While there are additional volumes to already ongoing series, what's noteworthy is the release of Sailor Moon TV from ADV Films. The first two volumes are listed, dub only, for 14.98$ and with a running time of 100 minutes. Also of note is the listing of Spriggan for a spring release for 29.98$.

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2002

New title announcement (09:59 PM EST): Only one new one today, this time for Media Blaster's 06/25/2002 release of Kurogane Communication Vol 3: Future Horizons. This release runs for 120 minutes with a retail price of 24.95$.

Monday, January 21st, 2002

New title announcements (03:00 PM EST): Let's let the good news from Right Stuf roll:

• Saber Marionette J-X DVD Vol. 2 - 125 minutes - 29.99$ - 06/18/2002
• Silent Mobius Vol. #1 - 225 minutes - 44.98$ - 06/18/2002
• Betterman 1: The Awakening   - 125 minutes - 29.99$ - 06/04/2002
• Gundam: First Gundam Vol. 10 - 100 minutes - 24.95$ - 06/04/2002
• Love Hina Vol. #3 - 100 minutes - 29.99$ - 06/18/2002
• Ronin Warriors Vol. #3 - 200 minutes - 19.98$ - 06/04/2002
• Ronin Warriors Vol. #4 - 200 minutes - 19.98$ - 06/04/2002
• Adventures of the Mini Goddesses 3 - 100 minutes - 29.98$ - 06/11/2002
• Soul Taker Vol. #3 - 75 minutes - 29.98$ - 06/11/2002
• Sailor Moon Super S TV Series 5-6 - 140 minutes - 29.98$ - 06/11/2002
• Sherlock Hound Casefile 3 - 100 minutes - 29.98$ - 06/11/2002

Newly reviewed (10:27 AM EST): Adding another review to his list, Roman Martel has submitted his latest staff review for Media Blasters 12/18/2001 release of Gokudo, Swordsman Extraordinaire Vol. #1.

Soultaker bits (10:20 AM EST): Just to update a few things regarding Soultaker this morning, we've revised a portion of our review for the packaging, as we got in a copy of the 16 page booklet that goes with it. We've also added a piece on the retailers kit we received today from Pioneer for the series. Also worth noting is that volumes 2 through 4 of the series will contain glow in the dark static cling stickers!

Newly reviewed (09:49 AM EST): Pioneer kicks off their newest series tomorrow with the release of Vandread Vol. #1, which we've taken a gander at.

Sunday, January 20th, 2002

Newly reviewed (01:05 PM EST): Catching up a bit more on the backlog, we've taken a look at the 01/22/2002 release of Saint Tail Vol. #3.

Newly reviewed (12:07 PM EST): Due out on 01/22/2002 is the final volume in the very well done series of Gundam MS 08th Team. This volume does a rather good job of bringing the series to a conclusion while making you want more.

Saturday, January 19th, 2002

Newly reviewed (02:25 PM EST): Though delayed from it's original July release date to 01/08/2002, we've finally gotten a chance to take in the goodness that is Cardcaptor Sakura Vol. #4. As a warning though, with #4 and #7 of this series, Pioneer's switched the white cases from the Amaray's to the Scanavo's. While normally this isn't much of an issue for me, it's worth noting that the Scanavo's are ever so slightly taller than an Amaray. What does this mean? If you've got those import empty DVD boxes from Japan like I do, they won't fit. So head over to Inetdvd and get some white Amaray's now. Order 15 and just fill the box up now and swap 'em out as they come in, since the movie discs are likely to be the same way.

Valentines! (02:18 PM EST): To help celebrate Valentines day, we've added a small little store of Divi-chan goodness in the Valentines mode. What better way to celebrate than to send that someone special chocolate and a piece of Divi artwork! Thanks to Riki LeCotey for supplying the piece!

Newly reviewed (01:17 PM EST): While we definitely enjoy having a backlog of shows to watch again, it does slow us down in getting them reviewed. But we've got another new one today, this time for the 01/15/2002 release of Gatekeepers Vol. #3 from Pioneer.

Movie gatherings (11:32 AM EST): It looks as if January 25th is the big day for a lot of people planning site gatherings to catch anime movies that are showing up in theaters. There are currently plans for them in Boston, Los Angeles and San Jose. Click on those links to check it out if you're in those areas!

Friday, January 18th, 2002

Advance review (10:47 PM EST): Take Gasaraki, add in some gothic horror, a few twists of Serial Experiments Lain and make the hero a less-wuss version of Guyver and you've got SoulTaker Vol. #1. And the anamorphic widescreen presentation only makes it better.

Slight advance review (12:40 PM EST): We've managed to watch a fair amount this week and should be doing some good catch up this weekend, but out first review today is for Gundam 0083 Vol. #1, quite possibly the best presentation this series has ever seen.

Thursday, January 17th, 2002

Newly reviewed (09:18 PM EST): We were pretty under whelmed by the Saber Marionette J series, so our hopes were not high when we got in Saber Marionette J Again. Boy were we surprised!

End of an Era announcement (06:00 PM EST): Also posted to the forums this evening, ADV Films had this new announcement: Robotech Box 7 and individual volumes 13 and 14 have been assigned a street date of 03/19/02. The box contains volumes 13 and 14 along with a disc full of extras. Some of the extras include, scenes deleted from the original series to make Robotech, international clips, toy and merchandise info and more. This release completes the Robotech series on home video for the first time ever.

Wonderful DVD announcement (05:56 PM EST): As posted to the forums this afternoon by David Williams of ADV Films: That example of twisted Clamp animation, Miyuki-chan in Wonderland has made it's way through the icepicking stage and has received it's street date. Coming on 05/07/02, this disc contains both episodes with Japanese audio and English subtitles only. The disc also contains as a DVD-Rom extra, the Miyuki-chan paper doll with several outfits as a PDF file which you may print out. MSRP is $12.98.

Pioneer announcements (09:15 AM EST): The Pioneer site has updated with some new bits of info for their June releases:

• Adventures of the Mini-Goddess: Vol.3 "The Urd Files" - 100 min - $29.98
• Sailor Moon Super S Pegasus Collection 3 - 140 min - $24.98
• SoulTaker Vol. 3 "Blood Betrayal" - 75 min - $29.98
• Sherlock Hound Case File 3 - 70 min - $29.98

Some of this may not be correct however. Sailor Moon's first two volumes of Pegasus have been listed with a 29.99$ price, so this may be a typo. We've also heard that Sherlock Hound #3 should have four episodes on it which equal 100 minutes or so.

Wednesday, January 16th, 2002

Right Stuf in the news (02:40 PM EST): Hinting at things to come, Right Stuf gets a quote while USA Today talks about the various upcoming Astro Boy projects.

New title announcement (02:37 PM EST): David Williams of ADV Films has let it slip that Nadia Vol. #8 will street on 04/23/2002. Much like previous volumes, it will have four episodes, bilingual and retail for 29.98$.

Right Stuf clarifies (12:09 PM EST): With all kinds of stuff going on, Right Stuf's Shawne Kleckner has clarified some of the recent information that has come out regarding Boogiepop Phantom and His & Her Circumstances:

• For Boogiepop Phantom, the bonus music CD will be available at retail. Should have a sticker on outside of packaging. Official release date is 2/12; likely it will be in stores by 1/29 or so anyway. The CD is the "Overture "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" Boogiepop Version".
• The Boogiepop Phantom box set currently in a Nextpak-5. They're doing something different in that they will be adding foam inserts inside to make it so the discs can't come off, also makes the package much more solid. In talking with the folks at Nextpak, who supply cases for all of the Hollywood studios, the problems people have noted here with things like the Tylor OVA case was the only reported instance. No other studios have reported any problems with their packaging.
• Since the box set is a 5 disc pack (that takes up the same amount of space as a three pack supposedly), they're gauging interest in doing an open artbox.
  
  "If there is interest in doing an "artbox" I am open to that, but I'd need at least 1000 orders. I'd throw in the CD with it, also maybe empty Amarays with the 1-4 inserts. Thoughts?"
• His & Her Circumstances will definitely have a hard-box, not multi-pak nextpak. Will it be available with disc 1? Not sure - may be only at Right Stuf directly for box +1 (waiting for retail response), but there will definitely be a box at the end, no matter what.

Tuesday, January 15th, 2002

Oooo, shiny.... (06:27 PM EST): We got in an interesting little package today that I wanted to share with folks, so I quickly grabbed my camera and wrote up the brief Jin-Roh press pack article.

Devilishly good news (04:42 PM EST): In an attempt to slip one by us, David Williams of ADV Films thought he could post a new bit of information casually without us noticing. While responding to a thread about Devil Hunter Yohko, we got a clearer picture of what to expect from this release. As previously mentioned, it will be coming out in two sets. The first set will have 1 disc with both versions of episode 1 and disc 2 having episodes 2 & 3. The second set will have all the music videos (aka Yohko 4-ever) and episodes 5 & 6. There are also trailers, music video, art retrospective and an ADV Historical Commentary with David Williams, Matt Greenfield and Janice Williams talking about ADV's early days and what it was like working on Yohko back then. All of this is really good to hear, and not too surprising once you realize that Devil Hunter Yohko is not only their very first release when they started but also that 2002 is their ten year anniversary. Perfect timing I say.

Bonus added! (04:38 PM EST): For those getting the Boogiepop Phantom box set coming out soon, Right Stuf has added a bonus to the first 3000 box sets that are being replicated. The Boogiepop Set will include a special music CD from Animetrax that will not be available for individual sale. They are, at the moment, looking into seeing about making the box available separately but have not yet finalized anything. But for those wondering about His & Her Circumstances, a separate box will be available for that, as well as a box with discs (which is now confirmed as being a five disc release, in case people missed this previous mention).

New title announcements (04:30 PM EST): The Right Stuf gang have updated again with some new title announcements, though I'm sure we've covered some of these before:

• La Blue Girl Returns: Demon Seed (04/09/2002 - 60 minutes - 29.95$)
• Saint Tail Vol. 5: Girl of Justice! (05/15/2002 - 175 minutes - 29.95$)
• Saint Tail Vol. 6: Integrity (07/16/2002 - 175 minutes - 29.95$)
• GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka Vol. 2 (05/21/2002 - 125 minutes - 29.95$)
• GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka Vol. 3 (07/23/2002 - 125 minutes - 29.95$)
• Vampire Princess Miyu TV Series Vol. 5: Dark Love (05/14/2002 - 125 minutes - 29.95$)
• Vampire Princess Miyu TV Series Vol. 6: The Last Shinma (07/16/2002 - 125 minutes - 29.95$)

In related news, it's been listed that other than finishing out Vampire Princess Miyu TV on VHS, TOKYOPOP is now another DVD-ONLY releasing company. Also listed was the first two volumes of Yu Yu Hakusho being delayed until 04/16/2002.

Sunday, January 13th, 2002

Digital Omake (04:18 PM EST): The Digital Omake pages have been updated with a lot more Crest of the Stars information.

Newly reviewed (04:00 PM EST): Keeping up his long-term review project, Roman has sent in today his latest installment, this time for Votoms, Armored Trooper Vol. #10.

Newly reviewed (03:54 PM EST): Roman Martel has taken on the reigns of reviewing the latest series from Media Blasters, and today we've got his look at Fortune Quest Vol. #1.

Hardware (03:41 PM EST): Though we don't update this category often, Gene Moy has sent in a detailed look at the Philips Q50 DVD player.

Alternate angles (03:36 PM EST): Let's get some of the region one alternate angles out of the way today...

Region 1 (North America)

• Getter Robo Vol. #4 by Mark McPherson
• Inmu Box Set by Brian T. Burke
• Irresponsible Captain Tylor OVA Box Set by Karen Gellender
• Macross TV Vol. #1 by Chris Corcoran
• New Cutey Honey Collection Vol. #1 by Abraham Chinchilla Jr.
• Sailor Moon S TV Vol. #3 by Lewis Noonan
• Saint Tail Vol. #2 by Bryan McAvoy
• Vampire Princess Miyu TV Vol. #1 by Mark McPherson

Year in Review (11:19 AM EST): It's been a busy year to be sure and I'm likely to have forgotten a thing or two, but we've compiled our year in review for 2001.

Saturday, January 12th, 2002

Newly reviewed (06:26 PM EST): To get the taste of bad hentai out of the way, we also took a look at Media Blasters 01/08/2002 release of Magic Users Club Vol. #5.

Newly reviewed (05:04 PM EST): Dipping into our tiny pile again, we've taken a bit of time to watch CPM's 01/08/2002 release of Magic Woman M, the latest in their Anime 18 line.

Tokyopop's Tail (12:26 PM EST): We got in the press materials today from tpop regarding a variety of their products. Of interest to DVD fans is some apparent changes Saint Tail is going through. While the glossy foldout lists things as we've come to expect, an additional sheet talking about Saint Tail shows things aren't going quite so well. With Vol. #5 and apparently onward, the English dub is being dropped. The show retains its original price point of 29.99$ but expands from four to seven episodes a disc. Vol. #5 and #6 are both listed with this information with a note for more information to come in the future.

English R2 (12:04 PM EST): For those looking for more Japanese releases with some form of English on it, here's something you may be interested in. Pioneer Distribution will be releasing a Black Jack OVA DVD [Initial pressing only limited release] box set on 03/22/2002 for 25,000 ¥. Containing the 10 OVA's and theatrical feature, we've learned that six of the OVA's will contain the dub, presumably the one released by Central Park Media. Hopefully with this release in Japan, CPM will get these new masters and release it here in region 1.

Newly reviewed (09:21 AM EST): After the brief drought we had post-Macross, we've finally started to get discs rolling in again. Our first new review this weekend is the 01/08/2002 release of Jewel BEM Hunter Lime, which was originally due out back on 10/30/2001.

Contest update (06:42 PM EST): Congrats to John LaMazza for winning Friday's Escaflowne Tarot Card Deck contest!

Friday, January 11th, 2002

Digital Omake (06:57 PM EST): We've added a new piece of digital omake for Crest of the Stars Vol. #1 that was sent in. Since it was accessed during computer playback, if you can get it to work through a standalone deck, let us know.

Contest update (06:42 PM EST): Congrats to Elizabeth Schwartz for winning Thursday's Escaflowne Tarot Card Deck contest! Only today left for you to enter with our last pack for this month!

Image does more anime (06:36 PM EST): Image Entertainment is showing another sign of releasing more anime in 2002, though they're going more for the foreign film market they know rather than the anime market as they're not dubbing things. Due out on 03/19/2002, Psychic Force will street with a 24.95$ price for it's 64 minute running time. It's listed as Japanese 5.1 with English subtitles with such features as Trailer and TV Spots; "Psychic Junky Fair Three"; Interviews; Isolated music and effects. It looks like a pretty decent package, and if you search for it on www.image-entertainment.com you'll see the cover art and a summary. Anyone heard of it before?

Site Gatherings/Theatrical (01:11 PM EST): One of the best ways to get people together from the site in your area is when anime is showing theatrically. In fact, we're looking at another Boston area gathering at the end of this month as Metropolis is playing in Boston. January 25th is the start date for Escaflowne hitting the theaters and we've been handed a few dates. For folks in those areas, why not try setting up a gathering there?

With it hitting Boston sometime in February, it looks we'll be planning another gathering around that!

Thursday, January 10th, 2002

Newly reviewed (08:14 PM EST): Trying to keep my head above water, I've gotten two region 2 alternate angle reviews in and up on the system. Jam MacLance takes a look at the regular edition of Metropolis from Japan while Eveliina Miikki takes a look at the UK region 2 version of Princess Mononoke.

Bandai talks Jin-Roh (07:40 PM EST): Bandai's Charles McCarter stopped by the forums today to talk about the upcoming release of Jin-Roh. With this disc getting a regular edition release and a special edition release, we thought it worthwhile to list the features of both releases:

And while talk didn't turn to the Escaflowne regular and special editions coming up, Charles did have this to say on it: "Esca will have more. You can quote me on that. =)"

AnimEigo updates (07:35 PM EST): Seems like everyone is updating today! The AnimEigo folks have posted some new information on their site this evening. Otaku No Video, originally planned for a 12/31/2001 release, is now in replication. And surprise surprise, Baoh has also finally entered replication (reminder for preorder folks: double check your old orders to see if you already placed one at your retailer of choice to avoid duplicates). And in truly frightening news, Kimagure Orange Road TV is listed with "As soon as the liner notes finish being printed, it goes to replication".

New in... Korea? (07:20 PM EST): A new release in Korea came to our attention this morning courtesy of "Kuroshi" in our Region 2 & Beyond forum. Released by Eu Rim Entertainment in Korea, the Galaxy Express 999 came out on 12/27/2001. The disc is 16:9 widescreen encoded with Korean and Japanese 2.0 audio as well as English and Korean subtitles. The discs features include a trailer, production notes, cast, photo gallery and a booklet. It's region 3 encoded, so if you've got the desire and the ability, check out this site to buy it.

Berserk (07:14 PM EST): Probably one of my more anticipated releases of 2002 is Berserk from Media Blasters. After the formal announcement yesterday, we managed to score the cover art to volume one and have added it to our right column. We'll hopefully be adding more to that as more announcements come out. Berserk is one of those titles that truly restored my faith in the powerful storytelling that anime can provide and I'm hoping to see it gain a large following here for those who haven't seen it before.

CPM in April (07:09 PM EST): The Central Park Media folks have cleaned up things for their April release slate a bit. All due out on 04/09/2002 for 29.99$ each, they'll be releasing La Blue Girl Returns, Battle Skipper: The Movie, Roujin Z (remastered) and Sins of the Sister.

Synch-Point updates (07:07 PM EST): While still looking to get their titles into as many stores as possible, they've updated their release schedule to reflect delays on their first titles due to the last minute addition of the commentary track for FLCL. I'm Gonna Be An Angel Vol. #1 got bumped to 2/26/2002 while FLCL Vol. #1 is just given a March 2002 release date.

Contest update (06:39 PM EST): Congrats go out to Leslie Lee who won Wednesday's Escaflowne Tarot Card Deck. We've got a few hours left for tonight's deck and then there's just Friday. We'll have one more week-long contest later on in the year, possibly around the time that the movie and box set come out.

Digital Omake (06:39 PM EST): We've added another piece of omake for Macross into tonights update of the digital omake page as well as confirming the Mezzo Forte one for both the cut and uncut versions.

Wednesday, January 9th, 2002

Limited Time Offer (10:02 PM EST): You've heard us rave about them in our review of the Macross Box Set. You've seen the conversations and praise for the set flowing ever since in mailing lists and forums. You've beaten yourself over the head for not getting in on it when you could have. And if you can't wait for the individual discs to show up sometime in the future, AnimEigo has a limited number available here. There's also a limited number of the first three Urusei Yatsura sets which are also still sought after. You know you want 'em, so go get 'em!

Contest update (06:11 PM EST): We got so wrapped up getting the forum upgrade done last night, we forgot to pull Monday's winner from the Tarot Card Deck contest. We've fixed that as well as pulling a winner for Tuesday.

Media Blasters Announcements (06:00 PM EST): The folks at Media Blasters have sent out their April announcements which you can read in detail or just get the summary below:

• Berserk Vol. #1 (4/30 - 29.95$)
• Magic Users Club - "Should I Do?" (04/30 - 24.95$)
• Rurouni Kenshin - “Holy War” (04/30 - 29.95$)
• Kurogane Communications - A Human Presence (4/30 - 29.95$)
• Kitty Pleasure Pack: Midnight Milk Party and A Tail of Two Sisters (04/30 - 29.95$)
• Best of Kitty Vol 2 - Legend of Reyon and Balthus (04/30 - 34.95$)

Tuesday, January 8th, 2002

Bandai owns us (07:20 PM EST): According to this article at Video Business (which is the video magazine for retailers/trades), Bandai's got some interesting things in store for Escaflowne in 2002.

• Collector's edition DVD box of all eight volumes of the Escaflowne TV series
• Escaflowne movie on DVD in a standard edition and as a special edition including Dolby and DTS sound, interviews, production art and other features
• Special edition package also will carry an exclusive CD with the soundtrack

So that's two super SE's this year with Jin-Roh and the Escaflowne movie. And DTS on both of them as well. I simply cannot wait.

ADV teases (05:09 PM EST): David Williams from ADV Films posted the following tease onto the forums this afternoon: "ADV is pleased to announce that the incredible student of life, Golden Boy, is about to make his debut on DVD! You'll be able to follow Kintaro Oe on his quest to learn about life, the universe and what makes a woman tick. Details on this greatly anticipated release will be posted soon."

Monday, January 7th, 2002

New title announcements (05:14 PM EST): The folks at Right Stuf have updated with a variety of new listings, some of which we posted recently, so we'll just go with the newer ones:

• Gundam 0083 Vol. #3 | 05/21/2002 | 120 minutes | 29.98$
• Ronin Warriors Vol. #2 | 05/21/2002 | 240 minutes | 19.98$
• Cardcaptor Sakura Vol. #9 | 05/14/2002 | 75 minutes | 29.98$
• Gatekeepers Vol. #5 | 05/14/2002 | 75 minutes | 29.98$
• Vandread Vol. #3 | 05/14/2002 | 75 minutes | 29.98$
• Sherlock Hound Vol. #2 | 04/23/2002 | 125 minutes | 29.98$
• Zoids Vol. #1 | 04/09/2002 | 90 minutes | 19.98$

Couple of things to note here. The Sherlock Hound release is like the first volume in that it's a double sided disc, with one side having the Japanese language release and one side having the English side, due to there being about 30-60 seconds more footage in the English version and the inability to synch them up. Zoids is being released through Pioneer much like ADV is handling Power Stone, so that means you've got another dub-only DVD release going on here. The price is low though.

Of concern to some folks is Cardcaptor Sakura Vol. #9 where there's one less episode than normal. I've spoken with the folks at Pioneer and they've confirmed that a) it's true and b) the rest of the series is not switching to a three episode disc format. Astute readers have noted that Vol. #9 is the end of the first arc of the storyline and it makes sense to close it all out on one disc. This is also very similar to the Japanese release, which means there's likely to be one more disc with only three episodes, but that has yet to be determined according to my informal chat today. So fear not CCS fans.

Newly reviewed (05:05 PM EST): Bringing things to a close, we've now finalized our thoughts on Macross Vol. #9. In addition to that, we've put up some concluding thoughts in the overall Macross Box Set review. And with that, our review pile is now clear!

Press (04:36 PM EST): The ADV press machine has sent out another missive today, this one talking about Orphen Vol. #4.

New convention (02:57 PM EST): Well, here's something a bit different for us to be talking about. While I am involved in this to some degree, I'll let Adam Ferraro do the talking:

Thanks Chris,

Hello Everyone,

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Adam Ferraro, and it is my proud privilege to announce Anime Boston 2003. Anime Boston 2003 is a joint effort between Anime On DVD and the New England Anime Society to bring an exciting and fan run anime convention to New England. Anime Boston 2003 will be held at the historic Boston Park Plaza Hotel April 18-20, 2003.

In many ways you can consider this YOUR convention. The organizers are all forum and channel regulars, and one of the innovations we’ve arranged with Webmaster Chris Beveridge is a huge conference room dedicated solely to the Anime On DVD community (casual readers, forum regulars and channel regulars) called the Anime On DVD Clubhouse. Here you can meet, hangout, spend time and generally have fun with others of the Anime On DVD community. No more will there be the problem of arranging Anime On DVD get togethers, this is a dedicated room available the entire time the convention is open! You could quite literally spend all day in just one room!

Anime Boston is a true anime convention with all the favorites that fans have come to know and love. We’ll have a diverse live-events track including a cosplay/masquerade contest, game shows, modeling contest, music video contest, artists’ alley, LARP, RPG, karaoke and more! Our panel programming will consist of fan panels as well as panels hosted by our Guests of Honor and special one of a kind panels found nowhere else! We’ve gone crazy on our video game program and will be bringing you the GAME DUNGEON – over 5,000 square feet of gaming nirvana! Our video-programming track has 3 giant video rooms open late and showing anime from the past, present and future! Did I forget to mention our massive dealers’ room? It’s chock full of anime goodness!

And talking of large, let’s talk about space…we have lots of it. We’ve gone insane and secured the ENTIRE hotel! That’s right, there will be no corporate seminars or weddings at this convention to interfere with us happy otaku and our anime goodness, just anime as far as the eye can see. A super massive main events room, giant video rooms, a massive dealers’ room, a massive game dungeon, large panel rooms, you name it, we’ve got it!! Just the way anime fans like it!

There are many more things planned as well, in fact too many to tell. So head over to www.animeboston.com and check us out!

You can read the official press release here and you can probably guess what our first convention appearance of 2003 will be. We'll also likely be providing some ticket contests for the event later on in the year. Suffice to say, we're all really excited by this and hope to see a lot of readers there and to get everyone to check out what a really great city Boston is.

Sunday, January 6th, 2002

Newly reviewed (04:53 PM EST): In-between napping today we've managed to take in yet another volume from the Macross Box Set. This time we've made it up through Macross Vol. #8.

Contests (11:33 PM EST): What's this? Yes, that's right, a third new contest has just started up. Ending on the 31st of this month, you've got a chance to win a FLCL Poster from Synch-Point!

Newly reviewed (12:18 PM EST): Time has gotten away from us this weekend as we spent time away from things. But we have managed to get some more late night viewing in as I want to keep ahead of my review pile. We've added Macross Vol. #6 and Macross Vol. #7 to our big Macross Box Set review this evening as we continue to make some headway into the series. We are expecting some non-Macross shows in later this week, such as Jewel Hunter BEM Lime, Magic User's Club TV Vol. #2, Saber Marionette J Again and some hentai known as Magic Woman M.

Saturday, January 5th, 2002

Newly reviewed (12:18 PM EST): With very little shipping at the moment from retailers doing inventory, those who got their sets from AnimEigo are definitely talking up Macross. We've added Macross Vol. #4 and Macross Vol. #5 to our big Macross Box Set review this evening as we continue to make some headway into the series.

Friday, January 4th, 2002

New title announcement (06:03 PM EST): Adding yet another back catalog title to the list of shows coming out, ADV Films announced on the forum today that Legend of Crystania: The Chaos Ring now has a street date of 03/19/2002. The disc will contain all three OVA's for $29.98. English and Japanese with English subs.

Thursday, January 3rd, 2002

Macross Digital Omake (06:56 PM EST): We've added a few more pieces this evening, though a couple seem real similar yet different, to the Macross section of our Digital Omake page.

We talk Macross! (09:46 PM EST): With very little shipping at the moment from retailers doing inventory, those who got their sets from AnimEigo are definitely talking up Macross. We've added Macross Vol. #2 and Macross Vol. #3 to our big Macross Box Set review this evening as we continue to make some headway into the series.

AnimEigo talks Macross (02:59 PM EST): They've updated their news a bit to reflect where they stand in the shipping process, and frankly, I'm damn impressed how well they've changed since the Urusei Yatsura first box set shipped:

"We have received the last batch of Macross discs, and are shipping out all the remaining preorders today and tomorrow. By Monday, the only people left will be those whose money we haven't managed to get our grubby hands on!"

Price drop (02:53 PM EST): While a lot of people are still holding out hope that Pioneer will try their price reduction experiment again on another wave of titles, Funimation has taken that ball and is running with it. According to AnimeNation, Funimation is dropping the price on Dragonball Z volumes 18-39, the Captain Ginyu through Androids saga releases. Originally priced at 24.95$ each, these volumes will now drop to 14.95$ per DVD. No indication of when this will actually hit retailers, so expect it to take some time to filter down.

January Contest (02:38 PM EST): Time to get this year into gear I think, so today we've kicked off our first new contest of 2002 as well as the first artist-centric one we've done in awhile. And not to keep our non-artistic readers away, we'll also be kicking off this contest starting next Monday for you! And we've got something extra spiffy in the works with ADV for another contest.... As always, please be sure to read the rules, and if we don't list a shipping restriction, there isn't one! And be warned, if you enter the tarot card contest early, your entry will be deleted.

Killer app? (12:32 PM EST): While browsing through some older articles of years gone by, I felt it was time to deal with one in particular, which has resulted in a new piece by yours truly entitled "The Evangelion Factor: Revisited".

New title announcement (10:12 AM EST): Via this press release, TRSI has announced their latest hentai series release with The Vanilla Series: Bondage Mansion, due out on 03/26/2002 for 24.95$.

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2002

Gundam movies clarified (06:32 PM EST): As expected by most, the information posted just prior to the holiday week on the Bandai Entertainment site about the Gundam movies on DVD was an honest mistake. Charles McCarter posted the more accurate information to the forums this afternoon:

"The Gundam Movies on DVD will be as follows:

1. They will be JAPANESE AUDIO with ENGLISH SUBTITLES ONLY. There will be no English Dub track. The information on the Bandai Entertainment website is incorrect.

2. The two audio tracks will be the same as those released on the R2 DVDs, including the 5.1 Japanese audio and the Dolby Surround Audio. The original mono soundtrack is not available for the DVD release, per Sunrise.

3. The Box Set will contain a special 12-page booklet that will not be available anywhere else, and will include an introduction written by Yoshiyuki Tomino, creator of Gundam, especially for this release."

Prices for the set remain the same.

New title announcements (12:00 PM EST): Kicking off the new year with a real start, David Williams of ADV Films has posted some new title announcements to the forum this morning. First up is Orphen Vol. #4: Mystere which has been given a street date of 03/26/2002. Five episodes, English and Japanese with English subs for $29.98. Also given a date is Power Stone Vol.#5: Friends & Enemies which will street on 05/21/2002 with four episodes for 19.98$..