areaseven

Bakuretsu Hunter ( 爆れつハンター ) XEBEC/MOVIC/TV Tokyo/King Records, 1997-1998 ADV Films, 2001 Directed by Koichi Mashimo (NOIR, .hack//SIGN) Rated 17+ for graphic violence, T&A, HLA and S&M. In the name of justice, a band of warriors travel all over the country to punish those who abuse the powers of sorcery at the cost of others. They are simply known as the Sorcerer Hunters. Story: C- After watching the spin-off OAV Sorcerer on the Rocks (Chivas 1-2-3), I expected this TV series to be better. Unfortunately, I fell asleep after the second episode. Sorcerer Hunters has a lackluster plot and the fan service dies out after only a few minutes. If you're a fan of Slayers, stick to that title instead. Animation: C+ While the opening and ending sequences are well-animated by XEBEC (Martian Successor Nadesico, Dai-Guard) and Keiji Gotoh's (Gate Keepers, Kiddy Grade) character designs are well-drawn, the rest of the TV animation is just plain with rather dull colors and subpar frame rates. Soundtrack: C+ Kenji Kawai (Mobile Police Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell) composes great anime music, but his soundtrack for this title is just not memorable. Neither is the show's opening theme by lead voices Shinnosuke Furumoto and Megumi Hayashibara. Sub vs. Dub Bakuretsu Hunter features Shinnosuke Furumoto (Junkers Come Here, Rio in Urusei Yatsura) as Carrot, Megumi Hayashibara (Come on! You know who she is already.) as Tira, Yuko Mizutani (Mihoshi in Tenchi Muyo!, The Great Will of the Macrocosm in Excel Saga) as Chocolat, Kiyoyuki Yamada (Zabine in Mobile Suit Gundam F91) as Gateau, Mitsuaki Madono (Pizza in Brave King GaoGaiGar, Prince Toma in Ranma 1/2: Nihao My Concubine) as Maron, Sakiko Tamagawa (Natsumi in You're Under Arrest, Tachikoma in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) as Dotta, Sumi Shimamoto (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Ginrei in Giant Robo)as Big Momma, and Banjo Ginga (Jigen in Lupin III, Gihren Zabi in Mobile Suit Gundam) as the narrator. The anime already bored me to the point of sending the disc back to NetFlix without reviewing the dub. DVD Extras: D+ Textless opening and ending sequences. Nothing else. The Bottom Line Sorcerer Hunters is a Slayers wannabe medieval anime that just lacks in the coolness factor. Rent it if you want to, but just wait until Scrapped Princess gets licensed instead. Reference Anime News Network

Well, SaiKano still has yet to be released here in the U.S., but according to AnimeSuki, Madman Entertainment has picked it up for distribution in Australia.

As long as it's better than that lame excuse for a game called Girlfriend of Steel, I'll buy it.

It looks like http://www.geneon-ent.com/ will be the official site, as Last Exile is on the screen.

General Galaxy's logo can be seen on the back of the YF-21 crew uniforms in Macross Plus.

Yeah, I've had my copy for over a year. The picture quality is okay (just nothing compared to the laserdisc), but the 5.1 surround sound is much better than I expected. As for extras, the DVD is pretty light on them as it just contains the original behind-the-scenes documentary. Otherwise, it's a great add-on to your DVD collection.

From the Anime News Network:

My co-worker is a fan of the manga and he was completely alienated by the series, initially claiming that "this chick ain't Nenene." Well, he should've already known that both manga and anime are very, very different. As for the series itself, I'm currently up to episode 3 (will watch ep. 4 tomorrow night). Nothing much happening, except for the obvious references to the OAV when Anita follows Nenene to the underground bookstore and Yomiko's building (I dare not say apartment because no one else lives there).

Game of Death had the potential to be a great Bruce Lee film, had he not died so suddenly before finishing it. The fights were awesome (especially Bruce vs. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and nobody could ever forget him in the yellow biker suit (Tekken or Shaolin Soccer, anyone?), but everything fell apart when the film introduced some unnamed jabroni that looks nothing like Bruce to fill in the unfinished scenes.

Action/Adventure All James Bond films with Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan Batman (1989) Battle Royale Big Trouble in Little China Black Hawk Down Braveheart the Crow (screw the sequels!) Escape From New York (screw Escape From L.A.!) Excalibur Falling Down Fight Club Firefox Gladiator Gone in 60 Seconds (screw the remake!) Heat Highlander (screw the sequels!) Indiana Jones Trilogy La Femme Nikita (screw the remake!) Leon: The Professional The Mask of Zorro Pulp Fiction Reservoir Dogs RoboCop (screw the sequels!) Rollerball (screw the remake!) Ronin Saving Private Ryan Spider-Man (2002) Superman I-II Terminator 1-2 Top Gun Total Recall True Lies Comedy Airplane! Amazon Women on the Moon Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Clerks Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back Monty Python and the Holy Grail Monty Python's The Life of Brian Wayne's World Drama The Godfather I-II Scarface Horror Jaws Martial Arts Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Drunken Master II The Duel Enter the Dragon The Seven Samurai Shaolin Soccer Six-String Samurai Who Am I? Wong Fei-Hung (Once Upon a Time in China) Yojimbo Science Fiction/Fantasy Alien/Aliens Blade Runner (still pissed at WB for a crappy DVD release) A Clockwork Orange Flash Gordon (1980) Godzilla (1954) Independence Day The Last Starfighter Men in Black Predator Star Trek II, IV, VI, First Contact Star Wars Eps. IV-VI TRON Western A Fistful of Dollars For a Few Dollars More The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Spaghetti Westerns kick ass!) Tombstone They Call Me Trinity (must-see Spaghetti Western) Trinity is Still My Name (another must-see Spaghetti Western)

I actually pointed that out on my website a few years ago. The only reason why no one else mentioned it was because Firefox was a long-forgotten movie. I even told the guy behind the Mig-31 Firefox Online Resource to pick up Macross Plus just for the heck of it.

Uchuu no Stellvia ( 宇宙のステルヴィア ) XEBEC/Imagica/Media Works/TV Tokyo/King Records, 2003 Geneon Entertainment, 2004-2005 Directed by Tatsuo Sato (Martian Successor Nadesico, Cat Soup). Rated 13-Up for violence and mature situations. The year is 2356 A.D. - 189 years after a distant supernova caused a global catastrophe that wiped out 99% of the world population. To keep track on all space activities, mankind has built colossal space stations called "foundations" all over the Solar System. After passing the Space Academy entrance exams, Shima Katase embarks to the Earth-based foundation Stellvia to fulfill her dream of seeing the galaxy and to prevent another interstellar catastrophe from destroying Earth. Story: A- The first episode starts out really slow, but it picks up very quickly as the characters grow on you and the development flows smoothly. In a sense, Stellvia has the feel of great anime sci-fi classics like Gunbuster with a little bit of Battle Athletes Victory on the side. Animation: A+ After receiving tons of negative feedback from their 2000 flop Candidate for Goddess, XEBEC (Martian Successor Nadesico, Dai-Guard) make an outstanding comeback with Stellvia. Makoto Uno's (Love Hina, Chojuushin Gravion) character designs are well-drawn and mix perfectly with the show's elaborate CG effects. Soundtrack: A Stellvia's soundtrack is a lighthearted orchestral score by Seikoh Nagaoka (Tenchi-Muyo!, El-Hazard), accompanied by an upbeat opening theme in the form of "Asu e no Brilliant Road" by Angela. Sub vs. Dub Stellvia features Ai Nonaka (Rika in Platonic Chain) as Shima, Yuki Matsuoka (Osaka-san in Azumanga Daioh, Mireille in .hack//DUSK) as Arisa, Megumi Toyoguchi (Mimiru in .hack//SIGN, Parfet in Vandread) as Ayaka, Fumiko Orikasa (Chise in Saishuu Heiki Kanojo, Pacifica in Scrapped Princess) as Yayoi, Rie Tanaka (Chii in Chobits, Saki in Steel Angel Kurumi) as Akira, Naomi Shindo (Aries in Macross Zero, Cagalli in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED) as Leila, Mitsuki Saiga (King of Bandit Jing, Tsukasa in .hack//SIGN) as Masaru, Akio Suyama (Hige in Wolf's Rain, Ogami in Sakura Wars) as Joy, Daisuke Kishio (Chitose in Happy Lesson) as Kent, Yusaku Yara as Michio, Masahiko Tanaka (Gaulin in Full Metal Panic!, Vampire Priest in Hellsing) as Carl, Keiji Fujiwara (Eledore in Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, Edmundo in Heat Guy J) as Jinrai, Jurota Kosugi (Dryden in Escaflowne) as Umihito, Rumi Kasahara (Misao in Magical Project S) as Chiaki, Romi Paku (Maki in Air Master, Loran in Turn-A Gundam) as Masato, and Katsunosuke Hori (Schwartzwald in The Big O) as Richard James. Additional voices by Michiko Neya (Nancy in Read Or Die, Melissa in Full Metal Panic!). Bang Zoom! Entertainment (Heat Guy J, Witch Hunter Robin) is handling the English dub. Let's see how well they handle Stellvia. DVD Extras Under construction. The Bottom Line Stellvia is Candidate for Goddess done the right way. Highly recommended for any anime or sci-fi fan. Links Stellvia.com (Japanese) TV Tokyo's Official Stellvia Homepage (Japanese) Geneon Entertainment's Official Stellvia Homepage Reference Anime News Network

WWE Unforgiven Results WWE RAW Tag Team Championship - Table Match The Dudley Boyz (without Spike) destroyed La Resistance to regain the Tag titles. If you watched RAW a couple of weeks ago, you'll remember La Resistance throwing Spike outside the ring. Problem was that Spike missed the table and hit it head-first. Well, on this match, the Dudleyz threw Rob Conway out of the ring through two tables. While his body broke the first one, his head landed on the second one without even denting it. Winner Gets Stacy Keibler Test kicked Scott Steiner after Stacy accidentally hit Big Poppa Pump with a steel chair. Legend vs. Legend-Killer Randy Orton def. Shawn Michaels with a set of brass knuckles. Trish Stratus & Lita def. Molly Holly & Gail Kim after Lita did a moonsault on Molly. In the middle of the match, Lita was bleeding in the mouth. Don't know if she bit her lip or suffered any internal bleeding. Last Man Standing Kane def. Shane McMahon after Shane-O Mac missed a senton bomb off the TitanTron and fell through the floor. By Mick Foley standards, this match was extremely painful, especially when Shane-O Mac slammed a camera crane on Kane's head. WWE Intercontinental Championship - Triple-Threat Christian def. Rob Van Dam and Chris Jericho after blocking the Five-Star Frog Spash with the belt. Major highlight of the match was when RVD attempted to do an Electric Chair Drop on Y2J off the top rope and Christian slammed them both with a power bomb. Commentary Jobs on the Line Jonathan Coachman & Al Snow def. Jim Ross & Jerry "The King" Lawler after Jericho ran in and dropkicked JR. The World Championship Goldberg speared and jackhammered Triple-H to become the new Champion. Finally, HHH drops the belt.

I remember the time ADV released a local manga adaptation of Burn Up! (at least a year before Burn Up W was released), and it flopped big-time.

From reading your review, treatment, I'm already having second thoughts about buying ADV's version. I mean, come on! Osaka-san speaking in a Brooklyn accent? That's not close to describing a Kansai dialect. As a matter of fact, Osaka-san doesn't even have an accent. And Yukari-chan being a Spanish teacher? What a load of crap. They should've just made her a Japanese teacher instead (yeah, I know that most US high schools don't teach Japanese, but it would make more sense with this manga). Well, at least it isn't TOKYOPOP releasing this manga. BTW, is there an age rating given by ADV?

Not really. Remember that both brands can only share the four major PPVs (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series). This month's PPV is a RAW brand only. SmackDown's PPV comes next month.

Don't forget to mention that only one Predator movie was ever made.

Good luck, Noriko & Mechamaniac. Hopefully, nothing happens when Isabel hits your hometowns. Well, looks like we won't have any NASCAR race in Dover this weekend.

You left out these titles: Captain America Fantastic Four The Flintstones Inspector Gadget Josie and the Pussycats Mr. Magoo Scooby-Doo Steel

Perhaps, but Aria has the perfect body to play Baronness. Tera with the glasses looks pretty close, but she's kind of skinny for the role. So Cover Girl is a brunette. Perhaps I'll cast Stephanie Swift to play the role. (Sorry, I don't have a pic of her. Noriko Takaya should have one in handy.)

Phantom 2040 didn't suck at all. Comparing it to Defenders of the Earth is like comparing Justice League to Superfriends. BTW, I don't quite remember, but didn't Peter Chung (Aeon Flux, The Animatrix) do the character designs?