After three months of forgetting this blog’s existence, I’m back. What prompted this return post is a podcast called Anime World Order, I discovered them a while back upon the recommendation of some online friends who swore they found an anime podcast that doesn’t suck. The hosts are old school fans who know their shit, their commentary aren’t noobish like the ones found on most message boards, and for the most part the audio is bearable. For those who are late to the party like me, give them a listen.

One of their occasional segments is The Search for THE TRUTH where they interview anime con goers (to mock mercilessly on their show), and one of their questions was “other than Hayao Miyazaki, can you name three anime directors?” I laughed at the yokels for their failure to name any.. until I tried to name a few myself and panicked for a few seconds before random Japanese names started popping into my head and I managed to crap out enough to not entirely embarrass myself.

So how many can you name (without cheating), why aren’t their names more well known among the general anime community, and how important are these guys really? I’ve seen many posts of “lol it’s made by GONZO so it is gonna suck”, but shouldn’t the blame really be placed on the director instead? In the future I am going to pay more attention to the people working on the cartoons I’m watching (and not just the voice actresses with cute voices). May this new found resolve last longer then my last one to keep this blog alive and active?

And for the record, the directors I could name are:

1. Hayao Miyazaki
2. Shinichi Watanabe (these first two really shouldn’t count..)
3. Satoshi Kon
4. Goro Miyazaki (only because of the conflict with his father, that famous guy)
5. Makoto Shinkai
6. Go Nagai (one of the most awesome names ever?)
7. Mamoru Oshii
8. That Daichi guy who makes all those funny shows (Akitaro Daichi)
9. Killem all Tomino! (Yoshiyuki Tomino)

Hopefully I can still claim some anime geek cred

source: Anime News Network

For those who are not familiar with the series, Blade if the Immortal is an award winning manga by Hiroaki Samura about a ronin who caused the death of 100 swordsmen including his sister’s husband and is now cursed to immortality by “blood worms” that keep him alive no matter how serious the wound and can even reattach severed limbs. In order to find peace Manji now has to kill 1,000 evil men. One day he meets a young woman named Rin whose parents were killed by a doujo called the Itto-ryu (who believe that any technique is valid no matter its origins ow how devious or underhanded it is) and agrees to help her get revenge. The manga is published in North America by Dark Horse.

I would have preferred that Blade of the Immortal be adapted as an OVA instead because the manga’s main attractions are the beautiful artwork and extremely violent material and I doubt that Bee Train can pull it off technically and in a tv series format. The director and animators are the same as Noir and .Hack//Sign.. so there should be a lot of still shots and lazy animation. My expectations are pretty low for this. I just wish Madhouse or Production I.G. were doing this instead, Seirei no Moribito and Shigurui level animation would do this series justice.

All of the summaries and pics came from AniDB, the ANN Encyclopedia, MyAnimeList.net, and Baka-Updates Manga and the first air dates came from The Fansub Wiki. I will update this entry with links to trailers soon. This upcoming season looks pretty good with no h-game adaptations and plenty of more mature looking shows and some sci-fi. Personally I’m looking forward to checking out Tower of Druaga, Toshokan Sensou (Fahrenheit 451 meets Read or Die?), Allison & Lillia (reminds me of Last Exile somehow) and Crystal Blaze.

(more…)

The broadcast date and time is uncertain at the moment, but I’m just happy that more yuri-licious tales from the Lillian All-Girls Catholic High School is incoming \o/  However with the untimely demise of USA Geneon, I wonder if the first 3 seasons will ever see the light of day here in the US..

Fun fact from the ANN article: that the Rose Mansion from the anime is being recreated in Second Life.. maybe I should finally register an account despite all the horror stories and shenanigans I’ve heard of the place.

source: Anime News Network article:

I’m surprised that most of them look pretty normal, definitely not the freak show I was fearing. My libido is not in (total) dispair!

source: Danny Choo’s blog

goo Ranking is a large Japanese polling site and in November 2007 over 1k people completed a questionnaire about what they thought an otaku looks like. Here is the top five results for both males and females, the source has the full list.

Q1: What characteristic in males makes you feel he looks like an otaku? (Sample size=1,101)

• Anime print t-shirt

• Anime print paper bag

• Bum Bag/fanny pack

• Wearing a bandanna around the head in a hachimaki style

• Bag plastered with anime-related patches, stickers -

Q2: What characteristic in females makes you feel she looks like an otaku? (Sample size=1,101)

• Anime print paper bag

• Anime print t-shirt

• Gothic-Lolita fashion

• Bag plastered with anime-related patches, stickers

• Big thick glasses

My list would have included the need for deodorant and a bath <.<

I like starting off every club meeting with the fist episode of a fansub from the current season, this gives people who are running a little late an extra half hour or so to show up and not miss anything from the main schedule. It also allows me to introduce more casual members to the latest anime from Japan and hopefully expand their horizons with new types of anime they wouldn’t normally watch themselves.

However an early mistake I made was forgetting that most people who come to a club just want to have fun. So starting off with a slow serious show like Mushishi.. not a good idea. Some smart ass just has to make some snarky comment and then the inevitable MST3King will follow. Some shows are just meant to be enjoyed by yourself or with a small group I suppose. I have to force myself to take off my elitist anime-snob hat and remember that my job is to provide my members with a good time.

Lets pretend you are the officer in charge of setting up the fansub slot for this Spring 08 semester, what shows would you mine from this list?

• Rosario and She is my Noble Master are a trashy shows but sure to get lots of laughs
• Zoku Sayonara Sensei is a no brainer since the first season was a HUGE hit
• Macross Frontier is another must show
• Gunslinger Girls season 2 is a NoGo, I’m not going to taint people’s memories of the excellent first season with this disappointment
• Persona Trinity Soul will probably put people to sleep, not a good way to begin a meeting
• True Tears, Shigofumi, H2O and Hatenkou Yuugi are going to be tough sells..

So.. 4 slots out of 10 or 11 filled.. pray that the April Spring season brings something worthy for the last meeting or two.. yeah I’m glad I’m not in charge of this crap anymore =p

So the action star of many a bloody John Woo bullet opera is now going to play a lecherous old martial arts mentor in Twentieth Century Fox’s live action Dragon Ball movie.. I am speechless.. dammit Hollywood stop ruining my childhood idols! >_<

Source: Anime News Network:

According to this article from icv2.com

• The number of 2007 anime releases are decreasing compared to the previous year’s
  • Anime saw a decline of releases around 20% in 2007
    • This does not include the fall of Geneon in October
• The number of new manga new volumes are continuing to increase
  • In a survey, manga publishers are likely to increase the number of manga volumes published in 2008 by 18%
    • This is after a 35% increase in 2007

source: No other information is available at this time but more Hanyū can not be a bad thing :3