The what Anime Series are you watching at the moment thread?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 27 Jun 2007, 12:22

Satisfying ending to Death Note. Entirely predictable though.

I loved the irony. Such a devious genius being gunned down by that bumbling idiot, Matsuda.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 27 Jun 2007, 17:21

Thursday, March 22nd 2007
Wings of Honneamise US Release (08:51 AM EST): Another detail has emerged in the Watch Impress article posted earlier this morning; Wings of Honneamise is also getting a US HD-DVD release in August with a price of $79.99. Some of the phrasing seems to indicate that Bandai Visual USA will be dealing only in HD DVD releases for the US now, which contradicts their press release earlier in the week talking about Blu-ray releases coming later in the year.
sauce= animeondvd forums.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 27 Jun 2007, 17:44

GITS:SAC Solid State Society R1 LE review:-
http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc ... s/6125.php

Typically, the reviewer is clueless about video so we're left in the dark about the true nature of the transfer.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 28 Jun 2007, 04:29

About fucking time, R1 boxsets of FMA coming:-
Some new news from the folks at FUNimation as Fullmetal Alchemist is finally hitting the collection sized circuit. Fullmetal Alchemist - Season 1 Part 1 Box Set is set for an 09/18/2007 release. This set includes the first 16 episodes and 4 booklets providing over 80 pages supplemental content. It will be a digipak release for $49.98.
http://www.animeondvd.com/forum/showtop ... p/0/all/1/

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 28 Jun 2007, 11:30

EvaUnit02 wrote:GITS:SAC Solid State Society R1 LE review:-
http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc ... s/6125.php

Typically, the reviewer is clueless about video so we're left in the dark about the true nature of the transfer.

I can't see the R1 being much worse than the R2J which was pretty ugly.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 28 Jun 2007, 11:51

Lourdes wrote:I can't see the R1 being much worse than the R2J which was pretty ugly.

Best to wait for R4 then? The UK release might have only dubtitles, going by recent Manga UK trends.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 28 Jun 2007, 12:52

Mmm what the r2 version of Ghost In The Shell: SAC 2nd Gig! Complete Box Set like, as it is reasonable priced on play - £23, see http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/3299383/ ... oduct.html

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 28 Jun 2007, 13:04

slasher13 wrote:Mmm what the r2 version of Ghost In The Shell: SAC 2nd Gig! Complete Box Set like, as it is reasonable priced on play - £23, see http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD /4-/3299383/Ghost-In-The-Shell-SAC-2nd-Gig-Complete-Box-Set/Product.html

We're talking about the GITS:SAC movie, Solid State Society.

BTW I hate you. Cockteasing me with Play links, when they don't ship to NZ.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 28 Jun 2007, 14:44

EvaUnit02 wrote:We're talking about the GITS:SAC movie, Solid State Society.

Nah what I was talking about was Ghost In The Shell: SAC 2nd Gig! Complete Box Set (7 Discs), not the upcoming movie, which is actually 12.99 over on play

BTW I hate you. Cockteasing me with Play links, when they don't ship to NZ.

LOL

, What title are you after? Your lucky, Madman been producing some excellent stuff, I'm after GITS: SAC Boxset 1 as well, which I believe the Madman Essential Anime boxset is the best one, but trying to find a good price for that as well.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 28 Jun 2007, 15:28

I still haven't bought 2nd Gig yet. I've been waiting for the Madman boxset (which should've out for a week or so in NZ), since Manga UK stripped all the extras for their boxset release.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 28 Jun 2007, 15:58

Manga UK stripped all the extras for their boxset release

I really hate that, that reminds me of the R1 Neon Genesis platinum boxset, they didn't release the extras or commentary of that in R1, yet they did in the Uk. Only problem is that its NTSC-PAL

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 28 Jun 2007, 16:08

slasher13 wrote:
Manga UK stripped all the extras for their boxset release
I really hate that, that reminds me of the R1 Neon Genesis platinum boxset, they didn't release the extras or commentary of that in R1, yet they did in the Uk. Only problem is that its NTSC-PAL

I had no problem with R1 NGE thinpak boxset extras being stripped, they were all shit related to the dub. Who cares bout the dub?

The GITS:SAC extras are related to the Japanese cast and crew.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 29 Jun 2007, 18:30

R1 Now and Then, Here and There appears to be going out of print. Just ordered the separate volumes from pacific and amazon

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 29 Jun 2007, 19:13

HungFist wrote:R1 Now and Then, Here and There appears to be going out of print. Just ordered the separate volumes from pacific and amazon

Thanks for the heads-up, so just the 3 volumes then? The 4th extras disc sounds like a waste of time, did order you that?

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 29 Jun 2007, 19:29

No, I checked it when when my friend borrowed me the box set but there wasn't anything interesting, except the trailers (which weren't very good).

The separate discs are just 6$ each at pacific. Vol 2 is out of stock. It says "on order" but most online stores are out of stock and some state oop. So I got Vol.2 from amazon despite their rip off prices (and terrible shipping rates)

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 14 Jul 2007, 13:35

Kino's Journey was pretty good indeed. Some really great episodes (Land of Adults, Land of Wizards) and not really any bad ones. Ai's ending theme is excellent, btw.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 14 Jul 2007, 17:22

HungFist wrote: Ai's ending theme is excellent, btw.

Nigga please, she is totally tone deaf.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 14 Jul 2007, 17:53

EvaUnit02 wrote:
HungFist wrote: Ai's ending theme is excellent, btw.
Nigga please, she is totally tone deaf.

Sheep please, who cares when she sounds so sweet.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 14 Jul 2007, 18:20

HungFist wrote:
EvaUnit02 wrote:
HungFist wrote: Ai's ending theme is excellent, btw.
Nigga please, she is totally tone deaf.
Sheep please, who cares when she sounds so sweet.

It means nothing when she utterly zero talent in that department.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 14 Jul 2007, 18:32

EvaUnit02 wrote:
HungFist wrote:
EvaUnit02 wrote:
HungFist wrote: Ai's ending theme is excellent, btw.
Nigga please, she is totally tone deaf.
Sheep please, who cares when she sounds so sweet.
It means nothing when she utterly zero talent in that department.

sounding sweet is talent enough for me

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 08 Aug 2007, 14:18

I'm currently about halfway through Trigun and am finding it quite enjoyable. The transfer are pretty bad, they're rips of the original R1s.

I've observed that so many shows from the mid-late 90's simply have fairly bad picture quality. Quite surprising for such relatively recent productions. In this period did they treat the masters as disposable entertainment just as the HK film industry did back in day, thus they don't look after the masters? I've seen print damage, dirt, colour bleed, rainbowing. It might be that the R2Js use the good masters while the licensed exports get the hand-me-down broadcast ones; the R1 Kare Kano definitely suggests this.

With the recent spite of 5.1 remixes, why is the audio getting the red carpet treatment but the video isn't remastered? The only exception that I've seen seems to be Eva Renewal.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 08 Aug 2007, 15:45

Yeah pretty much, anime shows - moreso in the past than today - were viewed as the more disposable form of entertainment than manga (and by this I mean Tankabon/Bunkoban/etc.. Basically not the original Shonen magazine pressings), so I don't think they bothered preserving the film stocks for posterity.

Trigun is a great show but an obvious case in point for the argument of Anime as the lesser medium, as they altered the superior storyline of the Manga a fair bit and decided to end the series after 26eps while the manga was just getting started. To accomplish this they basically re-wrote an extremely rushed final act for the series, a real travesty.

The Manga ended this year after 14volumes, I hope one day they'll go back to the drawing board with this series like they did to Hellsing.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 08 Aug 2007, 16:32

Anime was made for TV and possibly VHS, they didn't really consider BD releases back then nor did they really consider archiving material like Hollywood companies. They 'shot' on 16mm or 35mm and then made a composite D2 master from it - job done. Later on composite video was replaced by component and these days it's all digital.

R1 companies don't necessarily receive poor masters. They receive what they're capable of handling which still lags behind the Japanese. They also don't bother to fix things the Japanese would and do more than just bung the whole lot through an aged encoder. And you should also remember that they don't give a shit, the Japanese do. The Japanese authoring companies presumably have a much closer relationship with the production companies and make an effort to do a decent job and they're just plain good at video. Many non-anime Japanese DVD's are better than American equivalents, even those from big studios. Remember the Spirited Away lawsuit as well.....

Audio typically survives a lot more intact, especially stuff from the nineties. And it's not at all difficult to create a surround mix and slap it on a DVD. To remaster video you need to find film elements or negatives/positives and worry about missing elements, then you have to telecine and begin a lengthly restoration process. Along with this there's the worry of CG which if you have the source material is all in SD.
But there have been loads of fully remastered boxsets released in Japan in recent years. Toho, Sunrise and Toei are going at it like mad.

It's a shame that companies didn't archive cells, even those didn't openly sell them have lost or given away so many. Had cells been preserved they could do some excellent remastering if so inclined.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 11 Aug 2007, 01:05

Cheers for the informative replies, lads.

EvaUnit02 wrote:Some long overdue ratings:-

Kare Kano - 5/5
Anno is God.

But I wrote elsewhere:-
This show is part-comedy, part-emotional drama that explores the complex psyches of troubled individuals as they interact with each other and form connections. Think Evangelion minus the robots and bible symbolism, but with the angst/alienation between characters and the humour cranked up 100.

Samurai Champloo 4.5/5
Watanabe is still at the top of his game. Great direction, editing, score and writing. Would buy the DVDs if the R1s weren't so damn expensive. Die in a fire Geneon.

Trigun - 3.5/5
Good balance of humour, exploration of characters with depth and action. I liked how it raised questions about morality.

The ending might've been tacked on but I thought it worked quite well and was well executed. Far from being the total travesty which Matt makes it out to be.

I can see why this show is so highly regarded. Again I would buy the R1 remix editions if Geneon didn't charge the Earth.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 11 Aug 2007, 01:29

Glad you enjoyed Trigun, I meant their changes were a travesty more in how they handled the character of Knives - they just built him up and up and then disposed of him in about 20mins.

There's an animated film supposedly coming out soon, be interesting to see what they do with that.