technoblue

Zombie thread! The rapidshare links are dead; however, I just checked asiandvdclub.org and someone is seeding a torrent for the subtitle patches over there. You can also download the episodes with the subtitles already patched in, if you wish. You need to register for an account and keep your leeching ratio in check, but overall asiandvdclub is a handy resource for this stuff.

That's great news! Thanks! Ditto. Yesterday, I caught up to the latest episode of Attack on Titan. Given the genre, I was suprised by the amount of exposition for the first half of the series. I think others have said that the talking and the still scenes have given this half of the anime a slower pace. Again, since I haven't read the manga, I do not have much to compare it too. I was expecting more action, though. Anyway, the show did end on a good transition and I'm looking forward to the second half.

Fair enough. I couldn't afford that Valk either at retail, by the way, and I agree about the price gouging. I know it is off topic in this forum, but I'm still trying to figure out where to start with Bandai Valkyries (yeah, I'm slow). I wanted to buy a few before Arcadia stuff went on preorder. I guess that window is a little smaller now. As for Gurren Lagann, I still own the DVDs; however, I am REALLY into vinyl and retro packaging. It looks like the Japanese and US releases have the same box set: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=ANZX-6161 http://www.aniplexusa.com/gurrenlagannbd/ If this does well, my hope is that Aniplex will also bring Cowboy Bebop over in a similar fashion. The Blu-ray release is already out in Japan. I'm not sure what is required on the licensing side for that box set to appear here with the English subtitles, but I would definitely buy it. I could use a nice HD Bebop release. I missed out on the Perfect Sessions DVDs.

So I've been out to see Man of Steel twice: once the weekend of the debut with a friend (who loves Superman), and yesterday with the family. My first viewing was at an Imax theater in 3D and the place was packed; this weekend, the family opted for the local theater in 2D. Around here, the film is still pulling in a fair crowd. I had a very positive experience at both places and I think the movie is great despite its flaws. I think that the love-it or hate-it criticism is fair, and is a burden that the character of Superman can bear. Actually, it may even be a part of the mythology now. How can any one author or director define perfection? Or maybe there is better question raised by the new movie: Is Superman perfect? During my second viewing, I noticed there are some dialogue goofs. For example, Michael Shannon was given the opportunity for reshaping an iconic villain into a modern bad guy; however, the dialogue was not always matching his performance. I'm thinking of one "either-or" quote in particular which had me shaking my head. That said, it is a small point. Overall, I thought Zod was much more heartless, determined, and raving in this movie than the calculated, equally heartless, yet dated Zod from Superman II. For me, both are good villains.

I agree.

LoL! But all of that costs less than a limited edition Yamato VF-4G at the current US auction price. The GL Blu-ray set is tempting, indeed... To quote Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, "But choose wisely, for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you."

On the topic of buying anime... I do not know about the actual statistics; however, my own habits have changed with the advent of anime on Blu-ray. For instance, streaming content is great for keeping up with the current, popular shows, but I find more value in the remastered physical HD releases when buying stuff such as Miyazaki. Actually, I think the price for Gundam Unicorn is a wash and so I try to support the local US distributor when I buy that series. I do wish the bottom hadn't fallen out of the US anime market because I miss how the packaging used to resemble Japanese releases somewhat. Personally, I find value in good packaging and extra content. Even UK imports have extras like bloopers or then-and-now history reels to go along with commentaries and the actual show. It seems that more and more US releases are becoming lean, unless they are collector's editions, and then they are priced accordingly. But, back on topic, I am currently watching the following: Kiki's Delivery Service on Blu (my latest Miyazaki import to arrive) Yamato 2199 (waiting, impatiently, for the next release; I like making comparisons with the original; both are fantastic) Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (fun, if predictable) Attack on Titan (I wasn't sure about this at first, but then it got curiouser and curiouser; I am ignoring the manga to avoid spoilers)

I've been enjoying my copy of the Blu-ray that arrived last week. Having a fansub to go along with the retail copy will make it more than a visual experience! I was very impressed with the packaging. I do not import much in the way of media or toys at the moment, so this was a treat. I've been limiting myself to Japanese and U.K. imports that I can't pass up. Macross is just one of those things. Speaking of subs... I noticed that the sweep to Hi10p came with the fall season. I was a little confounded by the whole thing myself, but I found a tutorial that explains how to set up Media Player Classic - Home Cinema with the necessary codecs. Here is the link, in case anyone needs help like I did: http://haruhichan.com/wpblog/?p=205 David

Oh well, it was worth a shot. Thank you for bringing the old thread back to my attention. I understand the policy. I was hoping to change my handle to something that was either closer to my real name or more appropriate to the site (and I chose the latter). I have no trading reputation and my posts are few at the moment, but I know what it would look like if this set a precedent that became an avalanche. Sorry about that. ~ David

I noticed that the new forum has a name history feature! Neat! I would like to change my user name from technoblue to mylenesbass, but I also know it is a low priority with the maintenance this weekend. I guess my question is, are name changes still under the jurisdiction of the admins (Graham and Shawn)? I remember there was an older question about this when the previous forum was still up. And apologies if I'm just being irritating, David

Ugh. Alien 3 was Sigourney Weaver's first attempt to kill the Ripley character. Not only that, but it was a poor mockery of Ridley Scott's original film. I wasn't aware of half of the information in this thread, and I adore Weaver as an actress, but I agree with the sentiment that the Alien franchise is not about Ellen Ripley. Writers should be introducing more characters to the universe. I'm excited to see what Scott is going to do now that he is showing interest in this stuff again. But Cameron is also interested in working on another Alien film? Wow.

I watched this movie last Friday and I ate up every minute. I have only a couple comments after my first viewing:

I respect Vic's reasons for ranking the movie as a generic action film—don't get me wrong. On this point, I'm just agreeing to disagree. For example, Any story can be deconstructed and summarized into a few short sentences or bullet points (thinking of the humorous Doom post above). Clearly, if that wasn't true, then we wouldn't have Cliffs Notes, but those that rely on them are missing so much finer detail.

Agreed. I think this movie certainly deserves its accolades. I would not think that I am fooling myself by thinking it is intelligent. I also think that some critics have become numb to the message, unable to see the story through those flashy special effects, which are Blomkamp's hallmark. They highlight some important points, in my mind, instead of distracting me. And this movie works so well as science fiction, because I do not have to make a direct corollary to South African politics. Yeah, that is the premier context, but take any oppressed group or faction in the world today, replace the players and the story still works. I left the theater impressed. Start Trek sure was fun, but I could munch on popcorn and leave my brain at the door to enjoy the sights and sounds. I knew what to expect from the characters, even given the plot twists. With District 9, the story was paramount. The film kept my attention through the end credits.

The U.S. Postal Service gave me a scare this morning when they delivered Kevin's package from the Valkyrie-Exchange. It was beaten up after traveling across country. And, as if to put a further point on it, the mailman slinked away from the house without knocking on the door or ringing the bell. It's really nifty when he does that. I swear, I used to have a friendly postal worker making deliveries in the neighborhood. At least, that was my impression. Perhaps I'm irritating everyone at my branch with all the Yamato toys? Anyway, this retail box will not be winning any collector's awards, but I only care about the contents. Thankfully, there are no missing pieces, no broken parts, and the Valkyrie itself looks fantastic. I am really pleased with this version. It compliments the other 1/60 variants well by keeping the same scale, and I find that it offers a nice juxtaposition to the 1/48 VF-1S.

My first Valkyrie purchase was Roy's 1/48 VF-1S along with the fast packs and strike parts. If I was limited to one set, then I would have to agree with the other comments: the jolly-roger and the yellow and black stripes of Skull-1 are just too iconic to ignore. But I didn't stop there. Oh no, I got hooked. I now have a couple 1/48s, but I started late, so now I'm switching my focus to the new 1/60s. Having at least one VF-1 in the larger scale is a must, though. Definitely.

Yes, but Hikaru had just turned around to look back toward Kakizaki's Valkyrie, so he wasn't sitting as composed as Max in his cockpit (well, as composed as anyone can be when running from a pinpoint barrier explosion). To me, it makes more sense that the audience gets a quick sequence of cuts showing the reactions of the surviving Skull Squadron members. Hikaru is shown first and then Max is shown second. We also know that Max is European, so having him make the gesture makes more sense. Here's Hikaru As you can see, the image shows that Hikaru's visor is plainly visible, even given the scene's unique shading. Back on topic, I'm having a hard time putting a vote in for just one of the Frontier girls, but the setup planetside with Ranka in episode 12 was superb. It only took twelve episodes for her to really pique Alto's interest and then, in episode 13, she gets whisked away.

PsychoKorps' translation of the lyrics is available in ASCII format without any timings. I was playing around with updating the lyrics myself, keeping Central Anime's subtitles for everything else in Macross 7. I am not churning these out like the VIP group, however, and I found that some of the ship names are hard to cross reference -- even with on-line resources. Is VIP correcting errors in the original subtitle scripts with this Central Anime re-release? That would be choice, if true. It's good to know that a group is out there managing the latest release of this series.

I think I heard my bank account whimper. Those are some fantastic images! I'm trying desperately to stay in the group of fans waiting for Macross to come to Blu-ray, but this remastered anniversary edition of Macross 7 is oh so tempting. I have seen the .mkv files too, so I have an idea of what to expect, and that makes it even more difficult to be patient. I had just about talked myself into buying Macross Plus all on its own, but now I'm back to square one! Feh!

Much of this information is readily available in other topics, so a quick search might help you find what you are looking for. Here's a good one: http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?show...nimeigo+macross As for the ADV Dub, I would say that Mari Iijima is the best thing about the new English track. And it's no surprise since she is reprising her old role. I thought the mature tone to her voice still fit Minmay well, so I wasn't bothered by that so much, although other people brought it up as a criticism. What bothered me more was how the rest of the English cast managed to find a new pronunciation for the pronoun, Macross. The audience doesn't even get the benefit of hearing the old Robotech pronunciation. Anyway, this created its own debate which isn't really worth revisiting. You either get used to it or not. It would be easier to recommend the ADV set for the "bonus" English dub, if the Japanese audio was of the same quality of the Animeigo set, but this is not the case. Somehow, in licensing the SDF Macross materials for the original subtitled release, Animeigo was able to get a superior Japanese audio track. If the original audio is important to you, then the Animeigo DVDs are a no-compromise solution. If all you want is a faithful dub and you are not concerned when the actors and actresses mispronounce a few names, then the ADV set is the one for you. Personally, as much as I appreciated listening to Mari's reprise in English, it left me wanting for more, so I stopped collecting the ADV discs and stuck with the Animeigo set as my Region 1 DVD reference. Her range, even now, serves to show how much of a contrast exists between English and Japanese voice talent.