Bri

I'm not familiar with the way Bandai releases thing but given the speed the VF27 is selling out, I'm a tad worried. Will there be more quantities released further on in the year? I'd love to get one at some point, but other priorities preventing me to pick one up now.

E8 #2 was especially effective because it used the fact that everyone had already read the book and knew what was coming.

It was, at that point, the series' ONLY major deviation from the books(as opposed to simple omission{Someday in the Rain doesn't exist}), so it took everyone by surprise. And the ending really hammered home that sense of despair.

There's nowhere for 3 to go after that.

I guess this remains a difficult point for the Haruhi franchise. So many fans already know what is going to happen (to a large extent) and this creates certain expectations that will not always be met. I have avoided any kind of spoiler sofar and , I can only speak for myself, haven't been disappointed in the slightest. Especially when watching the whole, season one and two combined, in chronological order, everything falls into place and your left with an amazing piece of work.

And Haruhi.. well...

In the end - she forgave him... and all went back to normal.. but it was pretty scary nonetheless because I think the only reason she forgave him was because she loved him ... not because she learned that it was wrong to date rape Mikuru and kill people.

She did clean up her act after Sighs. Compare it to season one when Haruhi seemed to act completely out of character to help the ENOZ girls. She hever had shown empathy to that extent. Until Sigh filled in the blanks. I guess her fight with Kyon did have an effect on her personality. Being chewed out by some one you care about and respect can have a major effect.

Mikuru is just such a fun twist on the "retarded moe" stock character in crying game type VN's. Normally a girl like her would be too pretty and cute to come to harm, and as a result be little more then decoration, but in this anime she gets mauled time after time, Mikurus bad fortune is an integral part of the storyline. Ironically even her future self uses Mikuru to manipulate events. For all intents and purposes Mikuru is a tool and Haruhi treats her such to evoke reactions from Kyon.

Current release date planned for 2010/05/26

I love how Sora no woto is getting better and more interesting each week.

Last episode we are treated to a very dark dark dark vignette about Felicia... I shat massive brix when the corpse came to life during her hallucination (or was it?) We're also treated to a super-short but interesting sequence showing the walking tanks of the "lost era" fighting an unknown enemy - for which the ghost attributes the downfall of humanity. Perhaps it's some sort of alien, given the insane beam weapon that we saw - and although humans won the war it knocked back the whole civilization back to a preindustrial age. This unknown enemy is probably related to the story of the flame maidens and the giant skeleton of episode 1.

Yea, it's getting interesting. Not quite sure what to make of the winged giants. You see him reflected in the building too. Demon, angel, alien? Quite a bit of references to christian symbols in the anime, maybe some significance in playing amazing grace on trumpets? 7 angels and 7 trumpets? Dead See, plagues, en of days? Dunno will see.

Probably a fan of axis vehicles in there too, Wehrmacht uniforms, Kubelwagens, walking Panther tanks.

Rest of the tripe aside, the most important factors in Big West and Studio Nue's decision will always be whether or not the terms of the contract are advantageous to them, and whether or not they think the return on investment will be large enough to make it worth their while. As it stands, the anime market over here in the US is so small that it's highly dubious they would make a significant profit on the deal, and because Harmony Gold thinks they have Big West/Studio Nue over a barrel, it's unlikely they're offering mutually advantageous contract terms.

It's quite unlikely that BW would even get involved with the licensing. One of the more recent developments in the industry is to leave foreign licensing to partners with an international distribution networks. For example Kadokawa a major publisher with a large anime portfolio recently closed it's US offices and now relies amongst others on Bandai Visual for foreign distribution for it's anime. Kodansha has hooked up with Random House a major US publisher. Then there are players like Animax(backed by oa Sony), Disney/Ghibli, 4kids(Fox). These are all professional organisations that can operate worldwide, why would anyone want to get involved with a dubious middleman like HG anymore? Doubt anyone cares about the hassle to bring one anime franchise to the West.

Just compare it with Gundam, which has no such issues. Most of it's merchandise is import as well. Getting Macross to the west would probably just mean DVDs/BR.

I hope the 1s episode you get to see more of the Unicorn in action cause i'm thinking the 40 minutes might end with the Unicorn being activated/stolen/whatever. Waiting for subs.

Do you think its worth getting the BD?

58 mins, and *cough* on the Unicorn.

As for getting the BR, I've ordered it already from CDJapan, so yea I certainly think it's worth getting.

Skimmed a bit, will watch on a bigger screen. I dunno... The main character looks kinda bish to me. Not overly bishie, but not bad lookin'.

Nah, Banagher Links resembles Amaru and Kamille, non of them is bad looking. They're all Yoshikazu Yasuhiko designs. He lacks the long limbs, high cheek bones and sharp features of the Seed and 00 cast.

Finished the first episode of the Gundam Unicorn OVA. It's everything a Gundam should be. Whoever says you can't animate a classic 80s style mecha show anymore should have a look at this. No moe, no bishi boy toys, no twintailed tsunderes, no dumb juvenile fanservice, no concessions to the modern day anime crowd, nothing of the kind. Pure classic UC stuff.

Sure there is some CGI, especially with the colony, but it's not to invasive.

Hmm, and was that a Hikaru resques Minmay homage?

I really hope this show will be a massive succes. Let out your inner old fart and enjoy the ride Just 7 months till the next one...

Grabbing the Unicorn RAW as I'm typing, really looking forward to it.

Edit: Finished the first episode, truely epic.

Yes...but did you ACTUALLY WATCH THE TRAILER!? Man, that movie looks awesome!

Well I did now...and true, it's hilarious (Still, just the idea of a "true to the original series" one fills me with dread )

Oooh...

, too!

Don't even think about it... a My Little Pony LAM would make my girlfriend so happy, and I'd be forced to watch it with her...*the horror*. I keep hoping against all hope that her VHS tapes will give out some day, along with her JEM tapes... (yes, there are things worse then Robotech)

The "solution" will make clear why they have been endlessly looping, it's very well thought out. Endless eight was one of the most gutsy moves in anime history. I loved it. Not to mention it's more controversial then the NGE ending. The fanrage was off the charts during the airings.

Note that the "trauma" done is the most important feature of E8, so yes there is a reason for this "torture".

Well that's simplifying Robotech more than a little. Robotech was about 3 generations dealing with events that all happened off-camera, as it were. Masters jacking the Invid, Zor feeling guilty about it and heads back to Earth. Particularly if you buy the theory/story (not sure if it was ever canon) about the SDF-3 getting time-warped back in time and starting the Robotech Masters in the first place.

I think you just described the whole of Robotech in two sentences. A reboot is out of the question given the Tatsunoko-HG relationship. Without Tats support HG can not use any OSM, and without the OSM there just isn't much but Macek's sci-fi concept about a multigenerational conflict with a few alien races aliens and a time loop.

Well...realistically, how do they get away from Macross (and Southern Cross and Mospeada) without rebooting EVERYTHING and creating a Robotech-In-Name-Only?

For most people who watched Robotech as kids and kinda vaguely recall that it was good, Robotech and Macross are synonymous. You get away from the source material, and you risk turning off not only the die-hard "Robotech-is-genius-so-don't-screw-with-it" fans but also the casual fans, who would watch the movie and think, "huh...this isn't anything like the Robotech *I* remember."

There is only one way I could see it working: if (like "Battlestar Galactica") the new version is SO smart and compelling that it blows the old version out of the water. The old fans would still complain, but it could grab tons of new people. It's a big gamble, though, and you really need top-notch people on every level of production in order to pull it off.

The latter might be possible I guess, but not for HG given their ties. Assuming another company would want to do this, why would anyone want use the RT brand? They could just copy the concept just as easily but without the cheesy names.

Surprised this old classic hasn't been named yet (I blame Funimation):

and just for fun Konata's tribute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_cqg6JcwfI...feature=related

Slightly more Aerospace then Aircraft but a really nice pic. Endeavour Launch from the 9th of Feb. Using it now on as wallpaper:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/100...ch_nasa_big.jpg

Warning, this series can be brutal. I've only seen the first two volumes but it features possibly the most deranged anime psychopath of all time...

Oh wow That's saying something, worse then Gates from FMP:TSR or Canaans' Liang Qi?

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/search3.html?r=an...ia=&step=10

Covers for the 8 DVDs of the second season.

Vol. 8 will have a Kyon cover but the picture hasn't been put on the site yet.

Here is another favorite, the end song for Now and Then Here and There:

The anime started airing in 1999, so still within range. It recently aired on Sy-Fy channel, but instead of showing the end credits, they decided to do the very American approach of fast-forwarding through the credits, and playing previews for their crappy shows like Caprica, Sanctuary, etc, F-class movies like Pterodactyl vs Mega-Hamster and other fabulous programming.

I've been meaning to watch this anime for ages. Just kept forgetting about it. Won't escape me now!

The J9 Trilogy!

(Why no one has fansubbed these shows is beyond me.)

Got to love obscure 80s mecha's. I had never heard of these. Clearly they are to epic for the faint hearts of current day fansubbers.

The Haruhi movie is doing very well at the box office, given the small number of cinema's showing it. Performace in the opening weekend was a bit better then the very succesfull Frontier Movie.

Haruhi disappearance

Average 3,700,000 yen per screen

Total 24 screens

60,306 watched

Total 89,010,100 yen

Average 1,476 yen per person

Macross F movie

Average 2,940,000 yen per screen

Total 30 screens

——- watched

Total 88,154,771 yen

Average 1,436 yen per person

though it can only compare to the results of mainstream anime, Disneys or Evangelion by looking at revenue per screen. For example:

Doraemon movie 2009

Average 1,020,000 yen per screen

Total 364 screens

335,738 watched

Total 372,918,850 yen

Average 1,110 yen per person

Up

Average 960,000 yen per screen

Total 653 screens

440,804 watched

Total 627,726,600 yen

Average 1,424 yen per person

Evangelion 2.0

Average 4,270,000 yen per screen

Total 120 screens

354,852 watched

Total 512,182,000 yen

Average 1,443 yen per person

(source: eigaconsultant)

A few others:

Magic knight Rayearth OP: Yuzurenai Negai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9LMACH1QB4...feature=related

Gundam Movie Trilogy Part II : Soldiers of Sorrow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Dvq5I-8y8

Dominion Tank Police: Hot Dance and Cherry Moon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPtQwjU7bM8

Dragonar Second OP: Starlight Serenade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zABrITb2nKQ...feature=related

Tenchi Muyo OP: Boku wa Motto PAIONIA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEcx35CUJEo...feature=related

Sakura Wars OP: Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0enTpFhFxgQ...feature=related

Patlabor OAV 1: Miraiha lovers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrVBGrsV1J4

Patlabor OAV2 Op: Condition Green

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV5DQcqGbuU...feature=related

Patlabor TV ED2: Midnight Blue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV-VPTKDMXM...feature=related

Something hauntingly beautiful about this one:

Megazone 23: Kaze no Lullaby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAZ0LAcDtzw

Thanks for the pictures Yui

I also like this Sheryl in flightsuit: http://www2.moeyo.com/img/10/02/07/8/880.html

Wow, a Sheryl model that isn't sleezy. Cool!, I'd definitely buy that one.

What do those stand for?

Sorry in advance azrael.

Mods free to move in appropriate discussion room.

I sense no malintent so here goes:

two Macross series already have their Blu-ray Release: Zero and Frontier.

Given the pace of release of anime on Blu-ray in Japan, most if not all will see a BR release in time.

The chances for a western release, hmm...well I give Susan Boyle a better chance to win the Miss Universe pageant...

If you feel brave (and have a strong stomach) you may want to check out the HG and Robotech debate thread for the details of the rights issue around Macross.

That looks really nice, Bri. It's just a shame that, from what I hear, they won't be releasing the Scirocco in the US.

Thanks. And yes, honestly I can't make much sense of the model policy of the carmanufacturers. For example there are plenty of people here that would love the new Mustang, but doubt it will get here anytime soon.

[rage]

the crosstour looks like poo on a stick and so does the 550i GT-whateveritscalled. station wagons were cool when they were f'cking staction wangons. this bloated boat/car hybrid BS is already getting old.

this goes for the X6, the vensa, and any other car that can't decide what the hell it wants to be too.

[/rage]

I agree it's ugly. People will just end up being annoyed that the part they like suffers under the hybrid. If you like a Station you'll see the SUV, if you like a hatch, it's too much of a sedan etc. They'll end up pleasing no one.

Yea, it was a lot better this week, though still some time outs but much less then before.

After reading this thread, I had to check this dub out... Only to fund that Hulu isn't available in my country. Darn it.

For the voice acting to be worse than RT would be quite an achievement!

Just search a bit for a decent proxy server, that ought to do it. These sites rarely have extensive protection when it's a free service.

Definitely checking out Eureka Seven now. It's 2 seasons, right?

It's one season, but it ran a whole year so it's 50 episodes.