JELEINEN

Do you think the Air Force would actually go for this: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/17/tech/innovation/new-scorpion-attack-jet/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 ?

Only problem I'd have with a Hollywood adaptation (other than not caring for Cruise) is the obligatory romantic subplot they'll tack on.

Haha. Raleigh is the Capital of North Carolina. The City of Oaks. Damn fine food and beautiful trees.

Can you recommend some good restaurants? I'm actually going down a couple of days before the con to do some site seeing, so I'll have plenty of opportunities to try some local favorites.

I had already planned on attending (wanted to go to a big con this year and this one best fit my schedule), so this news is completely awesome. I picked up an Orguss poster and a Megazone 23 poster last year that I want to see if I can get signed.

Mikimoto is going to be at Animazement this year: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-04-08/n-carolina-animazement-to-host-madhouse-co-founder-masao-murayama

I really wanted to love Casshern Sins, but the whole ending went to complete and total sh!t. I loved the setup, and then it just felt like someone else took over and completely dropped the ball. But yeah, beautiful show regardless. I reccomend Ergo Proxy instead if you haven't seen that yet.

Whereas, I really enjoyed the ending. In fact, I couldn't imagine it ending any other way.

Psycho Pass

Alright, am I the only one that was super disappointed with that conclusion. Great, I get it, it's a cycle, but still, I feel like they wasted a huge opportunity to end with a bang. Kogami shoots Makishima, we get a little monologue with Akane in her mature mode, and then.....nothing...

No gut wrenchers, no heart wrenchers, not even a fairly dramatic conclusion....

I feel like nothing has really been accomplished in the 22 episode series, save for a slight team change. Maybe that's just me though. I think this sour conclusion really killed an amazing series for me

I don't think that was their intention. It looks to me that they were trying to get the audience to engage in a dialog rather than trying to hammer a point home. If they'd been going for the latter, then your kind of conclusion would have been great, but would absolutely not work for the former.

That said, I think it would be interesting to see a follow-up set some years later to find out how Akane is dealing with the faustian bargain she's made with the system, but again, it's out of character with what I think they were going for.

Coincidently, I also happened to finish Real Drive this week as well (the other post-GitS:SAC Production I.G. cyberpunk series). It was a fun show and I really like the characters (great design esthetic as well), but defiitely not something you can think too much about without breaking everything. A sharp contrast to Psycho-Pass, because they did try to go for the big emotional ending in RD as opposed to being thought provoking. A definite showing in how much better writing can really make a difference. I'm curious how much Shirow really had to do with RD.

Maybe you (or someone) should change the topic title. How many people can possibly remember that "Blue Uru" was the name of the shelved Honneamise sequel project?

I did. Very exciting news in deed if it gets made.

Mind sharing the ISBN for the book? Thanks.

Yeah, the current series is very accessible, but if you do get a chance, watch the original. At least the first two seasons. Central did a really good job on the subs a few years ago.

Jonathon Clements has a pretty good obituary for him here: http://www.mangauk.com/?p=toren-smith-1960-2013

Anyone else backing Torment? http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera

Loved those old Black Isle games, so hopefully this one delivers.

This.

Patlabor (at least the TV series and the OVA) are more about the tedium of daily life in a police unit, occasionally interrupted by a call to action. This is specially so in the TV series were there are entire chapters devoted to random subjects like finding spare parts, locating a restaurant that will deliver to their remote HQ, or growing their own foodstuffs in the backyard of their HQ.

Watching Arjuna and I have to say it's a mixed bag. The soundtrack as Gubaba had said, is amazing (no surprises as its Yoko Kanno), the story is actually quite good fro the most part and Arjuna herself is a relatable protagonist. But the series is extreeemely preachy about subjects like the environment and vegetarianism. I agree with most of the views espoused in it, but I think it would have benefited from a more "show, don't tell approach" when it comes to its subject matter.

Patlabor is like the M.A.S.H. of giant robot anime. It's a great character driven show that does a really good job of moving back and forth between commedy and drama. Just don't watch it if you want a combat-oriented war story.

Love the Arjuna soundtracks and still listen to them regularly. Didn't like the show though. Too preachy (as you said) and some really bad science.

That sucks to hear. I don't think anime fandom would be what it is today without him.

This thing is kind of cool looking: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/03/agustawestland-electric-tilt-rotor/ It reminds me a bit of the designs in BGC.

Oops, double post.

Since I'm here, I always thought it'd be cool to get a bunch of 1/144 orgus kits and make a properly scaled Glomar to put them in. Complete with the VF-1J crates.

Don't forget the ELP album covers on the walls.

While this is a much loved classic by many, remember that this was shown and funded by the Japanese public broadcasting station. That somewhat precludes it from being badass and controversial.

Even better, the original concept for the show was from Miyazaki.

Got my volume 4 today. Work can't end fast enough for me to get home to watch it now.

I picked up the Heroman figure a few months ago on sale. Heroman himself is pretty cool, but the Joey figure that comes with him will not stand up.

Caught a few eps of K. Honestly, I just can't get into it. It wasn't bad, but nothing really held my interest...except for that cat girl, maybe. She should get her own show.

The police force or whatever with their sabers just felt ridiculous, although I've seen worse in other anime.

It was heavily promoted on Animax, but IMO it didn't really live up to the hype. And the air times sucked (11pm on Thursdays).

K was essentially a shotgun approach to finding an audience (lots of diverse elements, but not catering to any specific one) and it didn't work very well.

Because it's probably easier than trying to recall old cast members who may have conflicting schedules.

It could also do with which talent agency is part of the production comittee.

The script and series composition are by Gen Urobuchi who wrote Requiem for the Phantom, Fate Zero, Madoka and Psycho-Pass amongst others. I'm definitely excited about this one.

Is the name "Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet" an official english name by the studio? Or a translation? I didn't even know what 'verdurous' was until I looked it up.

Urobochi... Those poor, poor characters...

The TNG/VOY era ships had a more elegant way though---dump the whole thing vertically out through a hatch in the bottom. Quick and easy.

That makes sense if you're close enough to a planet to get gravity to work for you. Really bad news for anyone below you though.

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/02/05/commence-countdown-to-thunderbirds-tv-remake-launch/

I can't see the video here at work, but the attached article sounds hopeful. I think that if they stick to the formula, it could work. Weta's involvement is a good sign.

I re-watched some of the originals a couple of years ago and you can really see the influence this show had on anime designs.