08/04/2004 Edition

By da Original S Man and Sakura Shinguji     April 08, 2004





Forum Buzz

By da Original S Man

8/4/04 Edition

From the desk of da Original S Man: Got 37 cents and a few minutes to spare? Want to expand Cartoon Network's programming a little bit? Do you like to cause trouble? (I know everyone answered that last one with a "YES!"). Grab a postcard or a sheet of paper & an envelope. While CN has grabbed many fine series to air over the years, the sneaking in of comedy shows like Sealab 2021 and Aqua Teen Hunger Force starts to grow old after awhile because they have only a small amount of episodes. Wouldn't it be more fun to see these filler timeslots like Monday through Friday replaced with Galaxy Angel and The Adventures of the Mini-Goddess? Neither really requires to be seen in any certain order and they have little to nothing to edit out. Doesn't that sound like the perfect replacement during the week? Maybe you should write to CN and tell them.. Cartoon Network 1050 Techwood Drive NW Atlanta, GA 30318 And don't forget to ask for a 3rd season of The Big O. Come on.. you know it would be cool to see new adventures with Roger & Co.

Important News



System Update: OT Slumber

OT's brief disappearance has been fixed. You may now return to your normally scheduled chaos. ;-)

Off Topic Forum

A special reminder to all who wish to join the forums, be sure to check out:

Avatars & Avatar Hosting

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And now, onto the forums...



Otakon News & Views

Odelay! Baltimore was swamped by thousands of anime fans this weekend to have fun and kick Cherry Blossom Shinji around (as such, he's MIA for this issue trying to recover). Dreamworks is currently not planning to dub GitS2 (no word for DVD release but it would be nice of them to dub it given the TV series and first movie were dubbed by popular studio Animaze). ADV announced 0 new titles but are working on RahX movie replacements and Samurai X: Reflections Director's Cut is coming. Bandai announced Planetes, Fantastic Children, Avenger, and no information about fixing the disc problems with Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex & .hack//Legend of the Twilight. Media Blasters has a special box for Giant Robo which includes the "big eye" with 4 slots for the DVDs. FUNimation acquired the two seasons of Grappler Baki TV and Full Metal Alchemist will be a 16 DVD release. Viz showed off the Flames of Recca dub and the first season of InuYasha collected in a digipak. RightStuf has Kosuke Fujishima's Piano and the Gravitation OVA.



And finally last but certainly not least, Geneon took the prize for most new titles at Otakon by announcing eight series. The list is: Star Ocean EX, Human Scramble, Tokyo Underground, Koi Kaze, Le Portrait de Petit Cossette, Kyou Kara Mao, Ultra Maniac TV, and Jubei-Chan 2. It was an intresting surprise for some titles including Jubei-Chan which had the first season released by Bandai Entertainment.

GitS 2: Innocence/Dreamworks Panel

Otakon ADV Panel

Otakon Bandai Announcements

Media Blasters news from Otakon

Otakon Funi Announcement

Viz news from Otakon

Otakon TRSI Announcements

Otakon Geneon Announcements

Otakon Forum Member Reports

Much Ado About Funimation

It doesn't take very long to figure out this week's crisis on the forums. With FUNi announcing that Full Metal Alchemist will be 16 DVDs and 3 metal box sets, the fans are already buzzing about the R1 release taking more DVDs than the R2 release (13 total). So the question comes up about what is everyone's issue(s) with FUNimation. Only the brave should enter this thread.

AoD Forum Thread

Dead Leaves early look

Trey scored a promo dub-only copy of Manga Entertainment's upcoming Dead Leaves. With Anchor Bay now running the show at Manga, man fans have high hopes for the movie & full version of the DVD. Their website is also setup to help stir fans up before the September 28th release. And we should also mention that they will have a 24 hour internet broadcast on 9/28 for those debating whether or not to buy it.

www.dead-leaves.com

AoD Forum Thread

Tokyopop dub-only Rave?

Rave Master's DVD release is going to have a difficult time in the eyes of Rave fans. TOKYOPOP's DVDs are going to be dub-only. That means there is a good chance that it will only be the edited dub version on Cartoon Network which goes to DVD. This is bad news for fans wanting an uncut release, those wanting the Japanese track, and maybe even those wanting to see the series in its original aspect ratio (Rave is normally widescreen, the CN airing cuts off the edges of the video).



It would be nice to see TP change their minds but it is likely to fall upon the same deaf ears as TOKYOPOP's "Tricked Out" version of Initial D. I'm sure many fans remember that mess from last year. >_< However, still email them how you feel about this: info@tokyopop.com

AoD Forum Thread

Good Deputy Service that ships to the US?

A question that comes up often on the forums is what Deputy service members use to get their items from Japanese stores/sellers who will only ship to someone in Japan. Depending on where you live in the world is who will offer the best service and lowest prices. If you wanted to start bidding on those Yahoo! Japan auctions, this is the thread to start looking in first.

AoD Forum Thread

Tokyo Godfathers UK cover art and details

The UK version of Tokyo Godfathers features 5.1 Japanese and Spanish audio tracks and subtitles in 19 different languages. The Sept. 13th release is anamorphic and different cover artwork from the R1 edition.

AoD Forum Thread

Best Buy 20% Off Sale

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you probably already know about Best Buy & BestBuy.com having 20% off their anime titles. This sale counts for some titles available for pre-order online. Free shipping but includes sales tax still isn't a bad deal to take advantage of.

AoD Forum Thread

Otakon Dub News

Quick gathering of the dub related happenings at Otakon this year. Geneon ran Stellvia at their booth while FUNi presented the first episode of Full Metal Alchemist.

VA panel at Otakon

Stellvia dub at Otakon

Anyone at Otakon check out the FMA dub?

Sheets for the Week

Short list this week which means we'll be swamped yet again soon enough. ^_^;; Maison Plaisir is not work safe.

Region 2 DVD Cover Art Thread

Chrono Crusade 1 + Box

Tokyo Godfathers UK Edition

Dragon Ball GT: Lost Episodes 2

Maison Plaisir

Manga Spirit

No "Manga this Week!" available at typing. Sorry, maybe next week. Theory needs a break anyway.

New at my Waldenbooks week ending 7 Aug

$1.13M worth of deals of Korean cartoons and comics at SD Comic Con

Manga at the 2004 Eisner Awards (Comic-con)

Flopping and retouching--considered separately

Defining Manga?

Manga Reviews

ADV

Apocalypse Meow Vol. 1 (or, Peter Rabbit goes to war...)

Central Park Media

CPM (Be Beautiful) titles announcement OTAKON

Digital Manga

Penguin Books signs deal with Digital Manga

Media Blasters

Media Blasters Announces Eiken and Samurai Man

TOKYOPOP

Princess Ai is #1 in bookstores

Viz

Shonen Jump #21

Glitch Disc at a Glance: a bad week for Bandai

The inexplicable RahXephon audio problem is still a problem, but this week the focus shifts decisively to Bandai's recent release of the first volume of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Here, we receive not one but two defective items: the first OST CD, and the DTS disc. While the CD still includes the correct number of tracks, it does so while combining tracks 8 and 9 and splitting track 12 into two new tracks. Also, it's become apparent that the Japanese DTS audio track comes flawed, with abnormally low output from the left rear speaker. Moreover, to add insult to injury, Bandai's recent release of the second volume of .hack//Legend of the Twilight has the same authoring error(s) as the first volume did (as well as volume 4 of s-CRY-ed), meaning various playability issues in various types of players. Bandai is aware of all three issues, but please do contact them by e-mail or snail mail or phone or fax or telegram or carrier pigeon if/when you discover the same issues with your copies for confirmation purposes. If they think we don't care, they'll be that much slower to fix things.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex OST problem

Ghost in the Shell: SAC DTS Japanese Output Glitch?

.hack//legend of the twilight volume 2- here we go again

Wallpaper Thread for August 2004

August is upon us which can only mean a few things: new Megami magazine thread soon enough, general question of what you bought for the month, and a brand new wallpaper thread of the latest to decorate your computer screens with. August is moving a bit slower to the last two months but in like a lamb only means it'll be a tiger by the end. Get to posting up what you have!

AoD Forum Thread

Gundam Seed 2: Destiny News

News is starting to come in faster for the sequel series to what is currently airing on Cartoon Network. "ArseneLupinIII" is keeping fans well informed of any little tidbit he discovers and has recently posted the current character/story rumours, pictures, and a rundown of what is said in the promo. Avoid if you're trying to avoid Gundam Seed spoilers.

AoD Forum Thread

Bleach anime coming Oct 2004

The Bleach manga is, like so many others, going to become an animated series now. Bleach (manga in US from Viz) follows 15 year old Ichigo Kurosaki whose glitch in life is that he can see ghosts. When a soul reeper named Rukia comes into his life, Ichigo ignores the fact until a soul consuming spirit called a Hollow attacks his family and its pursuer Rukia. When Rukia gets injured, Ichigo absorbs some of her powers to defeat the Hollow. Unfortunately for him, Ichigo accidently absorbs all of her power and must take up a soul reeper's duties until they can be given back.

AoD Forum Thread

New Full Metal Panic Installment Announced

Takemoto Yasuhiro, Fumoffu's director, is working on a new FMP animation series. Whether it becomes an OVA, TV series, or movie is up in the air at the moment but details will most certainly be following in the weeks to come.

AoD Forum Thread

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence North American Trailer

Dreamworks has released a trailer for the upcoming theatrical debut of GitS2 in the US. The second film follows after the events of the first one (and not the TV series for our new GitS fans) with Batou investigating a series of androids involved with suicides and murders. His old memories and this new case load wear on the man & officer.

AoD Forum Thread

Questions for the Week

Time to start answering... or I will personally see that each and every one of you has to watch anime with me.. oh wait, that isn't exactly punishment on this site, is it? ^_^;;

EVA vs RahXephon

My Anime DVD Collection

How do display your anime boxes?

Where do you put your hentai?

Has an AMV ever influenced you to watch an anime?

Ice Cream!

What cardinal element are you?

Your high and low for the week (7-30-04)

What kind of mind do you prefer?

Do you believe in "love at first sight"?

Goodbye Single Life...

Are You Falling Asleep To/From Anime?

I'm rich, biatch!

Dave Chappelle is a rich man after re-signing with Comedy Central for 2 more seasons of "Chappelle's Show". The 26 episode deal for the next two years will get him $50 million dollars, money from the DVD sales, and the possibility of a multimillion dollar Paramount Pictures film adaptation of the autobiography of Rick James. Not bad for a man known previously for roles in movies like Robin Hood: Men in Tights (Ahchoo) and Half Baked (Sir Smoke-a-lot).

AoD Forum Thread

Quote of the Week



"As far as being married not too long ago, well I was married in 1992, but divorced by 1994, so I'm not sure if my opinion counts." - Scaramanga

Quote Source

AoD Crisis of the Week: FMA. RahX movie replacement news will be coming shortly. Best Buy is being ransacked by anime fans across the US. There won't be anything good left by the end of the week. ;-) Still waiting on Viz/RightStuf for information concerning Maison Ikkoku. Jerry the Trout dodged the GitS & .hack//DUSK problem Qs (naughty Jerry). Geneon is looking into the issues with Fighting Spirit & some DVD players (still waiting for AYA ~Enishi~ news). Why do people keep assuming Cartoon Network / Adult Swim hates anime!? @_@ It's a joke, people! Now CN not funding a 3rd season of The Big O, I think you may want to pound on their doors some whether its a bit or not.

When not stopping trouble (or starting it) on the AoD Forums, S-Man can be found working on the database project at Crystal Acids and Sakura Shinguji can be found not updating his Rising Sun Alternative website or defending Tokyo (the lazy b!tch). Just when you thought this week couldn't get any more fun, TOKYOPOP comes along... *sigh*