Forum Buzz
By da Original S Man & asagiri2040

10/22/03 Edition

Important News

System Update: The Second Annual AOD Holiday party
The local Social Coordinator fairy is at it again making plans for yet another holiday party romp in Boston. Those who made it last year or are just curious on what may be getting planned should drop in & make your own thoughts known. The current poll is trying to get an idea of how much people would be willing to help chip in to the pot.

A special reminder to all who wish to join the forums, be sure to check out:

And now, onto the forums...

Final Fantasy Unlimited Website is Open
ADV’s latest series-specific website is up and running, this time for their impending release of Final Fantasy: Unlimited. The site contains the usual: character bios, model sheets, associated artwork, desktops, icons, and more, as well as the usual omake for those intrepid enough to ferret it out.

Mono Audio Alert: Those Who Hunt Elves II v.2
Several users discovered this past week that the second volume of ADV’s release of Those Who Hunt Elves II had been apparently encoded with mono audio for both the Japanese and English audio tracks. A quick response by ADV’s David Williams indicated that the problem is being looked into, and that a solution is presumably forthcoming.

Blood: The Last Vampire Complete (R3)
The 3 disc box set of Blood is finally out. The R3 Korean set includes the analog & digital masters versions and a full disc of bonus material. It includes English, Japanese, and Korean subs. Something for everyone at a good price if you can run R3 DVDs.

When the R1 Anime DVD is JACKED – Do You Care?
User “Kenneth Lee” gets the fans thinking once again when he poses the question(s): “When a R1 Anime DVD is screwed up, do you honestly care? Are you willing to vote with your money (and not support problem DVDs), unless they are fixed? Or does it not bother you enough to warrant any action?” The general response thus far: it depends. And it truly does, based on a wide variety of possible errors as compared to a wide variety of things such as personal aesthetic preferences or home audio capabilities. Register your opinions here!

What series have you (or will you have) completed by the end of this year?
User “steppinrazor” asks the AoD community about what series everyone will be finishing this year, which series everyone may have put on hiatus, and which series everyone will be starting next year. The responses are numerous, and varied in content, but a good indicator of which of your fellow AoD’ers may be in the same boat you are. Post your lists, and take a peek at what everyone else is up to!

Urusei Yatsura Movies Boxset Pre-order Cancelled/Delayed
AnimEigo is sending out notices that the UY Movie/OVA box is now "cancelled" while they start to dub the rest of the movies. Given the length of time fans have been waiting to complete this series on DVD, many are upset with this news. Does this mean Phoenix (Coastal Carolina) will be taking up the reigns as some would think Robert has hinted or will Swirl be keeping it in their hands?

R1 Bits and Pieces
Just because a thread isn’t consistently on the first page or doesn’t have over 50 replies doesn’t mean it’s not important! Here’s where we’ll give a quick list of some of the smaller, yet significant, threads from the R1 forum that contain info about upcoming releases, statements from studio reps, or just some posts that might have the answer to a question you had that didn’t seem to have been addressed elsewhere. Read on!

Best English Music Dubs
While becoming a more rare event today, many older dubs carried English versions of the theme & in-show songs. So nostalgia has struck for everyone to name off what songs they have enjoyed in English. Pioneer used to do theme songs, FUNimation still does. The random dub for shows like Fancy Lala, Love Hina Spring, and Mahoromatic actually have character songs in English. Do you have a few favorites to add to the list? Can this much love for the old Pioneer days bring them back?

Back to R1 Covering Basics
After a brief lack of anything in R1, the "cover finds" are back in full force this week.

The Manga Pack
Busy week in the pages of the Manga forum. Couple of licenses, the Onegai Teacher novel & fanbook are almost here, and more than a few reviews to check out. Happy reading.

ADV Manga

Central Park Media

ComicsOne

Dark Horse

IC Entertainment

TOKYOPOP

Viz

Recommendations Rundown
Another week brings with it another set of Recommendations! You’ve seen these shows, and others haven’t, so talk ‘em up or knock ‘em down, but whatever you do, please include some reasons! Mi-ra-Ku-ru-mi!

Tales from the Glitch Disc

The 2004 Calendars are here!
S-Man is at it again by posting up photos of the three 2004 calendars he picked up. If yours haven't arrived yet or if you're still on the fence.. this will push you over. CDJapan still has calendars instock, US online retailers will probably start offering the extras after they fulfill pre-orders. And what did he pick up? Ai Yori Aoshi (of course), Sakura Taisen, and Kaleido Star. Hopefully others will follow suit with their purchases soon.

Gungrave, from the inside
Cindy Yamauchi is a busy person. Doubling as both the US Producer for Super Techno Arts AND animation director supervisor of Gungrave in Japan proves it. So in her busy schedule, Cindy has stopped back by the forums to say hello and answer some questions on what it's like working on the series from Madhouse. Oh, and "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure V.2" is nearing its date with the pressing plants.

Heat Guy J on MTV!
Adding to the "bizarre but true" count for the week, Pioneer has announced that MTV will be running their new series Heat Guy J in 2004. Will MTV's advertising power give Heat Guy J the mainstream boost that Cartoon Network added to Cowboy Bebop? Who knows, but it will be intresting to see how this all turns out.

Magical Doremi gains a campaign
While 4Kids Entertainment hasn't announced any DVD thoughts yet, "LimePie" isn't taking any chances by starting up a petition campaign to make sure that the series includes the Japanese track when it comes. When it comes to anime, many fans are intrested in a uncut release with accurate sub translation & accurate dub. With "Ultimate Muscle" coming out bilingual, there is hope.

The Big O: Twenty Five
The second to last installment of the second season has passed. It only gets stranger in the eyes of many fans. Can all those questions be answered in one more episode or will we really need the hinted third season to make sense of it all?

Production I.G. Exec Named Entrepreneur of the Year
Chief Executive Ishikawa was recently honored in Japan as "Entrepreneur of the Year". This is news because no executive of an anime company has been able to get on the final list of candidates.

Reaction from today’s kids on classic games
Game magazine EGM has recently posted online their magazine article over how the kids of today view some "older" titles. Pong, Space Invaders, E.T. (such cruel people), Super Mario Bros. and Tetris are amoungst the challengers for the kids viewing & comments. The results? Better pop some pills now for that growing dull headache you'll have.

Dawn of the Dead Trailer
The remake movie of the '78 thriller is coming soon but the trailer is already online. Ving Rhames leads the cast as a cop trying to keep a nurse & several other survivors alive inside a mall while the zombie invasion grows outside. It's fight or be eaten in the world of the undead.

Star Wars: Rebel Strike (Rogue Squadron III)
Factor 5's chance to show off what a GameCube can really do is here. The GC exclusive game is out this week with the standard group of "usual" missions (Hoth, Death Star, Asteroid Field) and some that have never really recieved the needed attention to detail like the happenings on Endor. Can you resist the chance to squash the Empire one more time?

Forum Jones & The Temple of Questions
Grab your bull whip and take a crack at this week's challengers.

Taller people earn more money
It's all about height. No wonder Shaq makes so much playing for the Lakers. ;-)

Quote of the Week

"YES! We must stop the production of tainted filth like Ghost in the Shell and Big O. Only pure productions like Mouse and bishoujo game adaptations, the ones made strictly for the holy and enlightened people of Japan, can guarantee the superior intelligence and artistic integrity we expect from anime." - drakh

When not stopping trouble (or starting it) on the AoD Forums, S-Man can be found working on the database project at Crystal Acids and asagiri2040 can be found not updating his Rising Sun Alternative website. So many threads, so little time. But there still is no spoon. =P