Been expanding the store aspect of this site as you guys might have been able to tell from the recent posts. For a few years now, the store has mainly been catering to anime figures, since well, they sell and help put food on the table. The one thing that has been lacking (besides Gunpla ^^;;) would be the sales of the actual anime that we all so love and dear; the anime DVDs and Blu-ray disks...
Let's face it, the internet age has been killing DVD sales and by the time even a store like mine gets them, the prices get so low and the competition gets so fierce that ANY store that isn't Best-Buy or Walmart that's trying to honestly sell them...will run themselves into the ground within a week. The common tactic of these and other stores online is to sell DVDs for even way less than what it costs them to stock it. In other words, they choose to lose money on the items...mainly so they can scam and overprice people on other stuff in their stores -_- Trust me, I have gotten burned that way by many online & brick and mortor dealers; plus let's not forget the dealers online that say they got the DVD and end up giving you a bootleg with some crappy printed cover -_-
Blu-ray sales on the other-hand, seem to be doing ok, but again, the day for 100% digital downloads is closing in. (oh and let's not forget about the good old anime pirating crap that goes on). Despite that grim future for DVD and eventually Blu-rays, I still decided to expand the store to start to include some great anime Blu-ray disks and yes, even some DVDs.
Will my pricing beat that of the big chains like Amazon, Best-Buy and Walmart? Probably not. Again their tactic is to lose money on these things so that you come back for stuff they overprice. I still sweeten the deal by lowering the price from the retail price AND offer free shipping on them if you live in the US. For those who buy/pre-order I will promise you your copy, even if that means I go and buy it at full retail. But hey, if you end up not getting them, that's just more anime for MY collection.
Three blu-ray disks that I'd like to let you all know about are the ones that just got announced for pre-order;
Ah, 90's anime. You gotta love it and to call yourself a true anime fan you have to go back and watch some of the classics here and there. Been watching the entire series of Outlaw Star as of late and Trigun is also what we fans would call neo-cowboy(ish) late 90's anime genius. Just before anime went on that 7-9 year streak of cut-and-paste, school-uniform color-by-numbers school centric series, it was the days of cowboy shootouts on an Earth-2 planet...by a plant. (ok, Outlaw Star takes place on Earth and other spots...but you get what I'm saying)
All kidding aside, FUNimation, on top of everything else they've been buying with DBZ Zeni, announced today in their newsletter that they bought the rights to Yasuhiro Nightow & Satoshi Nishimura's Trigun from FlyingDog, Inc. Like Outlaw Star, the English dubbing was spot-on so doubtful of a re-dub but expect to see the DVD and Blu-ray copies to be around in the stores (and maybe mine ^^) come this fall.
(oh and for those who aren't true anime fans that either just watch Naruto (no worries I like the series, too) or nothing older than 2005...well, expect to see more new Trigun as their is to be a new full length animated movie this spring, in 2010)
Great news! Well, not so new if you follow me on twitter. I've been keeping tabs on the voice studio famous for anime voice acting, Bang! Zoom! I oddly only first heard of them when I went to NY Anime Fest back in 2008 and not surprisingly, the panel for them was so packed that not even I, an anime store/site owner, was able to get in -_-. They are situated in Burbank California and have been featured on the Tonight Show (Conan's superior but now canceled version)..since well, they are right across the street from them. Last year's NYAF was with the same results..no entry into their coveted voice acting panel.
Thankfully Bang! Zoom! started a voice acting class fronted by famous anime voice actor as well as the head of writing and producing for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Tony Oliver. Being that I'm in NY on the boring yet overrated Long Island east coast, and their classes are usually at their main studio in Burbank, CA...well, you get the picture; mainly a no go since it's a $300 class, the trip there would be about 2x that much and with the anime store doing well, I'd have little time to spare away from home...
So what's the "great news" I spoke of? Well, Bang! Zoom! will be coming to New York City soon and I am one of the 12 that's confirmed to be there for their Beginner Class! That's right, yours truly will be put into one of those sound booths (like Conan and Andy Richter did here) and I'll be doing some practice dubbing with Tony Oliver, the Bang! Zoom! crew and 11 other classmates. We'll be learning the basics for being in voice acting.
(Seiyu tend to be singers before anime voice acting, in Japan)
Some people have indeed gone from this class to being in a recent anime! That's the best case scenario for me but the experience plus learning if I can or might not have what it takes... is all worth it. Many voice actors here in the states are usually trained in acting before even trying out for this business. I'm much more like the Japanese Seiyu who are more verse in singing than acting.
For those who might not know, back in 2001 and 2002 in my Junior and Senior year, I was part of New Field High School's Select chorus which was only about 13 people. One of my fellow class mates was American Idol semifinalist and current The Challenge game show host, Jared Cotter.
So in other words, I have a bit of singing and voice lesson experience (though being about 8 years ago now ^^;;). I don't however have drama class or acting experience but I don't let that put me down..nor it should for you if anime voice acting is something you want to maybe do one day since one of the most famous anime voice actors & the voice behind 7-11 commercials here in the states, Steve Blum (...Spike from Cowboy Bebop), didn't have that experience. Steve Blum just had what it took to be a voice actor from connections through his friends that were close to these studios. He didn't know till he gave it a shot.
More on what happens at the end of next month. I'm looking to learn about the industry and learn if I'm even good enough for them. Good or not, it'll be great to learn and mingle with the voices of the anime industry.
For those of you critical of anime dubbing. I do share some of your fears and god knows there have been utter fails in it. This video from 2006 from the DBZ voice crew on their Budokai 3 game, might humble you and make you realize that it's not as easy as it looks to dub anime and those who do it right, are truthfully skillful, like Chris Sabat and crew undoubtedly are.
(Speaking of DBZ voice actors, recently DBZ Kai English voice actors were announced. Most of the actors are back with a few exceptions. Bulma for example will be done by famous voice actress, Monica Rial now)
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Sorry about the lack of posts. This has to do with a number of things; (p/t job trying to be full time without my permission, anime store sales through the roof, and good old errands that seem to last all day -_-) I see that the Member's Blog is back on track with a few new posts. I plan on making a contest as soon as I can settle things down on the home front, so keep posting.
You all know you love your anime and you do what you can to get it, right? Well, most of you know that if you are viewing shows like K-On! with English subtitles, that the fan-subbing done with the series was illegal, correct?
Despite the huge popularity world wide for K-On! and some other shows in Japan, there has yet to news of them being licensed for (legal) viewing outside Japan and it almost seems like the licencees simply don't want you to watch them or own their products if you are a gaijin (foreigner). Yes, FUNimation is doing their best to bring many new series here. Even NIS, the guys popular for great anime games just got the rights for Toradora but even THEY can't get some well loved series here...and it ain't all about the money.
Being that most anime fans are computer literate, they easily get around the red tape but obviously, the large amount of pirating has also undermined the entire industry, killed entire anime companies and in fact probably prevented even better series from getting to the fans or ever created. Of course there are a large number of series that have been given the go and we can watch on Blu-ray, DVD or for free (legally) on sites like CrunchyRoll, YouTube and Hulu, but the industry seems to not understand how to profit (enough) from the new media paradigm.
The pirating is a problem with ALL electronic media in this internet age but to blame the internet trend and the pirating masses is only blaming half the problem. The other half comes from the way anime shows and media content in general are passed around from the creators to the content creators/end-animators and to the licensees. A map of it I believe was done by Anime News Network and I can't help but keep the word, clusterf$^% from leaving my brain. The internet age now lets the people creating content to simply cut out the middleman and getting straight to the fans. This has happened in the music industry, self-made fame on YouTube and recently in anime we have seen it with Cenceroll. This straight-to-all-fans-worldwide marketing scheme is ticking off the old hats of the licensing world by both virally advertising videos to much more fans than the old way of throwing money at an advertiser would and (more importantly) creators are making far more money by ignoring localized licensing rules and just letting their creation go into the wild of the internet. The internet is the great equalizer now; if something is good, it will grow via word of mouth. If it's not worthy, it won't get very far at all. In other words, the success of say an anime, manga series, a music artist or any show in general is based on their talent and the quality of the content and NOT whether a big name is behind them.
So, why the large rant, Chuck? Well, as an anime fan, anime site webmaster and anime store owner, I see things both from the view of the fans and from the business point of view. The way shows like the Sailor Moon anniversary DVDs and K-On! figures + shows are being handled, is not very smart business at all. The localization of certain titles is money lost for the content creators, unfair to the fans and only breeding more urge for fans to pirate meida and thus undermining the industry.
Notice I don't have ANY K-On! Figma figures for sale? Well, that's because the licensing behind K-On! is so anti-foreign sales that they won't allow the legit stores to sell those figures...if you are an overseas seller. Silly, right? Actually, the licensees told Good Smile Company to not sell K-On! overseas. I got word two weeks ago from the good people over at AAAanime.com that Good Smile Company was forced to limit the amount of K-On! items that go overseas and thus, if you pre-ordered items from a store not in Japan...chances are your K-On! Nendoroids aren't coming (or might simply be fake) To people who bought from me, thankfully all is good, I have increasingly better relations with the wholesalers both in and outside of Japan.
I made a formal complaint to the licensees of K-On! about this through AAAanime.com and hopefully something good will come from it. I know you guys want to see all Japan has to offer and I know you'd love to see shows like Sailor Moon and K-On! be on the TV, DVD, Blu-ray block in the states. From a business standpoint, they might not want to allow a series to go to the states and probably fall short, thus losing sales and money but at the very least, K-On! and Sailor Moon (yep still to this day), as well as a few others are $ in the bank for all involved and for us fans...we just want to see them. The demand is there and with demand for content comes sales, business 101.
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Discuss what you think the anime biz should do to both give us the series we want to see (outside Japan and legally) and to calm down the pirating crazies out there from destroying everything we love about anime.
Today is that lovey-dovey day of Valentine's Day that you either love or hate. If you have a valentine, get him/her that gift you always wanted to give. An anime plush or some chocolate Pocky is always a good gift for an otaku in love. If you don't have a Valentine, or can care less, he, just enjoy the day the best you can and relax for that special person will eventually come by...if you be the best person YOU can be.
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Off to have some all-you-can eat sushi. Big ramble of a blog post tomorrow about anime licensing.
You all probably heard this already but for those who haven't, tonight at midnight (both on the east coast and on the west coast at midnight), Adult Swim will be starting their run of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. This is the first of 3 anime series to finally get the spot here on the US shores. For the sake of the anime industry here in the states, I implore you to watch this tonight.
If the ratings are good enough for the execs at CN, we can hopefully see Adult Swim go back to what put them back on the map and hopefully have them dump those home-brewed 2 cent crap shows they been putting in anime's place.
So show that you are a true anime fan and you want anime big in America again and watch FMA: Brotherhood! (or Colonel Mustang might snap his fingers in your direction -_-)
Yep, the title is correct. No, hell hasn't frozen over (yet) but word has it that Cartoon Network's Adult Swim is getting 3 new anime series to air. I guess the constant pestering at Adult Swim by anime fans, the success of Bleach, the success of Syfy's Ani-monday as well as Chiller's own anime block are making the home-brewed-heros over at Williams Street pine for the shows that got them on the map in the first place back when their only claim to fame was Space Ghost.
Rumor has it that two of the 3 anime series will be Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Inuyasha: The Final Act but so far, nothing is certain yet. What is certain is that Blood+ and Death Note are to no longer be played on Adult Swim.
Actually, the person who got me into anime back in the late 90's works for AS, so I might get him to spill the beans...stay tuned.
Update: Should have checked before blogging but FUNimation recently noted that they will NOT be re-dubbing the series. Thanks @janaiblog for the info. I guess read the post and wonder if a re-dub would ever be good for FLCL or any other series. Talk about blog FAIL ^^;;;
Some of you might have heard the news, but for those who didn't (from possible CES overload) FUNimation just announced a page and eventual DVD/Blu Ray sales for FLCL (Fooly Cooly). They bought the rights from Gainax for the series and supposedly they are going to...re dub the series.
Now I'm a big fan of FUNimation, don't get me wrong. They used their DBZ money to buy out failing licenses from Gonzo, Gainax plus others to essentially keep anime in America amid the economic crap storm, lack of anime airing on Cartoon Network / Adult Swim and the obvious piracy of anime that's the fault of both eager fans and unimaginative licensees. A crap storm of which has eroded the industry. In other words, they are keeping anime alive in America despite sort of becoming a monopoly.
As my handle being "princetrunks" across the internet and having some stock in their parent company Naveer Corp, I of course will be in their favor.
Yet, if they are honestly going to re dub the series, I can't help but ask the question, "why?" FUNimation's voice talent is top notch, I won't deny their experience and their ability to actually do great anime voice dubbing but as both an anime purest and a business owner, I can't see why they would re dub it. Back when you could actually call Cartoon Network, "Cartoon Network" without laughing and making MTV comparisons, FLCL got great ratings and became one of those "hard-core, WTF?" anime series to make it on the US airwaves. The original dubbing was top notch and some the fandom is still strong. My only guess is that the reason why they might be re dubbing it is that the process of licenses is even more out of date and convoluted than I can even imagine and they might own the images but not the audio (-_-) Time for the content owners and the whole copyright / license system to get into the 21st century. We are already in the second decade of the century and $ is being wasted on bureaucratic BS.
Anyways, while we are on the topic of the redubbing of anime...there is a certain series FUNimation should really focus on a re-do...I think Sailor Moon is loooong overdue for such a treatment. Japan has already created remastered DVDs in 2009. Time to take that voice talent to some really good use for both the fans and for the growth of anime. Re-doing Sailor Moon is money in the bag for who ever takes it.
That's right everybody, I was a guest in another cool podcast. This one on Otaku In Review with Scott Spaziani, Jon Ingoglia, and Tim Maughan. The subject of course reviewing the anime of 2009. A bunch of new series came up this year and if you are a fan of Moe, it was definitely your year.
Sadly for me it was a busy year due to my anime figure business on the grow and my efforts to shield myself from the sh*%-storm known as the US Economy so oddly enough...my anime business (as well as a needed stay in the p/t job -_-) kept my anime viewing to a minimum I have been watching the newer box sets of Yu Yu Hagasho and the recently released box sets of Romeo X Juliet..of which I mention in the podcast. Sadly, though Romeo X Juliet's box sets got released here just in 2009...it wasn't exactly considered 2009 anime ^^;; A great list to check out would be on Jon's http://janaiblog.wordpress.com/. Series for this year included To Love Ru, Sora no Otoshimono,Valkyria Chronicles, K-On, Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo (Sora Kake Girl) and Chi's New Address...just to name a few.
Thanks yet again to ANN for breaking the news on K-ON! That's right, 2010 will have yet more Moe with this second season slated for a January 20th DVD/Blu Ray release (in Japan). Still wondering when we can watch K-ON! (legally) here in the state. Fans are waiting and to the licensees...that's money down the drain. I'm all for legal downloads to continue to help the industry but if you don't give the worldwide (particularly US) fans what they want...expect the pirating to continue. Can't say I didn't warn them.
A fellow anime blogger over at afufu.net just recently told me about their annual Anime Awards. Done by the website themselves, the anime awards they do is called ANIMAF There even will be a top list of live action flicks mixed in to the bunch.
(Correction:
Afufu.net won't start the awards until March, 2010, after the Oscars and will only feature anime movies and live action movies (not series and OVAs) My apologies for the quick read through the site ^^;; Either way though, let me know of your favorite anime movies/series for the past ten years that deserve some sort of reward)
Since the year (and decade) is coming to an end, which anime series you feel should get the top choice of the year or even, the decade? Didn't get to see many that came out this year (only FMA: Brotherhood and been buying older box sets ^^;;) but I'd gladly nominate Romeo X Juliet as one of the best anime series of at least the past 5 years.
Feel free to make a list of your faves in the comments.
Hey anime fans. Ok, you guys have probably had enough with the darn Black Friday promos going on. The economy created such a fear in the hearts of retailers that they are going to great (and stupid) efforts this year to sap you of any money. One very crazy and very desperate maneuver comes from the monopoly-hungry Walmart where they plan on being open all 24 hours of Thanksgiving!
My thoughts and prayers go to the workers of that and any retail location being open on a day that you should be with family. For Walmart workers, it's bad enough they have to deal with their typical customers on a daily basis, let alone the insanity of missing Turkey Day because some overly-scared marketing department has a bad case of we-don't-know-anything-better-to-do.
My inbox has gotten way too many "door buster deals" posts and it's only the Wednesday before the big weekend! Put on the radio, the TV, hell, watch your favorite anime on Hulu and you are bound to run into these crazy ads.
The point of my rather tongue-in-cheek post today is to say that you should spend some quality time with family. They might not be there the next day and thus take the time out to smell the roses and enjoy the holiday season, even if you are religious or not. Go buy gifts for your family and fellow otaku but remember the internet is probably a better place to be than the insanity of the malls. If you are working hard this weekend, try to keep your sanity. If you are to take on the holiday rush...be sure to respect those who are probably missing out on family time with all the most dire respects..and even defend them from the creatures that might roam the malls and stores this holiday season. As you guys know, I'm a retailer too and I'm not in any rush like the others are so make sure to be cool and not to fret.
...oh and as for those who are wondering if I'm to create a Black Friday deal...yes, I am. Keeping it short and simple (as it should be). *Starting Friday, (or sooner) until the end of Cyber Monday, ALL US orders have FREE shipping in my main store (here on this site) For my friends overseas; orders that go for $25+ shipping have been dropped to a flat $15 rate. Whether its for a pre-order item that doesn't come out for months or something I currently have..the deal goes.* Again, short and simple.
Ok, so I made a Black Friday pitch...but like the post says...it ain't a typical one.
Once again continuing the #MoeMonday (#MM) trend by posting up this wonderfully cute moe image. This is indeed an image of Haruhi Suzumiya's Yuki Nagato. More specifically it's a Neko Yuki image.
I was recently introduced to Mainichi Daily News. Of course I so need to get my knowledge of kanji up to speed but for those of you who can read Japanese kanji and want to read from a Japanese newspaper about anime, manga, games and other goodies straight from the Land of The Raising Sun, then the "Mantanbroad" and "Mantan Collection" iPhone apps might be good additions to your collection. Some artists involved with these apps include:
Inomata Mutsumi (Tales of Series)
Kozaki Yusuke
KEI (of Hatsune Miku fame)
POP (Moetan)
HAKUA UGETSU (BAKURETSU TENSHI)
ISHIWATARI DAISUKE (GUILTY GEAR series)
AYAKURA JU (Okami to Koshinryo)
The Mantanbroad is the actual newpaper while the Mantan Collection app is a gallery game and other features. Search "Mantan" in the app store and you'll find them ^_^
Keeping the #FanServiceFriday (#FF) trend going this week with an ecchi Yoko image. Not the most provocative of Yoko but one that's at least somewhat safe for work ^^;
The #MM trend for us anime fans is #MoeMonday. To continue the trend of showing off moe images on Monday, here is this image of the week, a very moe image of Miku Hatsune. Her Nendoroid figure is actually coming out again and I'll more than likely nab a few for the store and I think I better keep one for myself this time ^^;;
A few days back I finally got to see the entire Romeo X Juliet series and all the hype was indeed true...and then some. I won't create a story-detailed review since god knows there are a ton of them already since the series came out in 2007 and I don't want to give away anything either if you haven't seen this. This anime is something that becomes a wonderful experience for those who chose not to read up on anything beforehand. Romeo X Juliet, wonderfully animated by Gonzo and obviously taken from William Shakespeare's play is exactly what it states it is, an anime adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. I have of course read the original play and chances are many of you have since it's the bragging child of any artsy, fartsy European-enthusiast thespian teacher; which there are alot of in our public schools here.
At first glance, one might think it's very detached from the original story but make no haste in that assumption; before you watch this, think of it as the events that inspired Shakespeare to write the play and that will make this gem all the more sweeter. Shakespeare being a character in the story itself is a cleaver little twist in which makes my prior sentence true...plus he's a damn funny character with the others poking fun at his plays that have too much art and little substance (something I've told my English teachers ad nauseam).
All 24 episodes are stunning in story, art (duh, it's anime), and execution. Throughout it your emotions pour out to the characters and the hatred of royalty and elite society I most definitely felt but in both a truly artistic way and very anime-styled way, you see the very human force that undermines both classes of people in Neo Verona and toward the end, we see hidden forces that overshadow all that was going on in the first place. It won't be till the very end that you feel the whole emotional brunt of this stunning anime, so watch all the way till the end. The Lena Park version of "You Raise Me Up" will indefinably bring tears to even the most unwavered hearts and FUNimation with their voice talent did a stunning English dub that also can't go unrecognized.
Romeo X Juliet has made me an anime fan all over again and I'll go as far as saying that this will probably be remembered as the best anime series of the decade.
Check out the opening and ending below and be sure to support Gonzo and FUNimation by buying the box sets of this; trust me, you will not be disappointed. (I might be able to supply the box sets through my store for the x-mas season)
For more info on the music of Romeo X Juilet, check out my post on anime.fm.
The #MM trend for us anime fans is #MoeMonday. To continue the trend of showing off moe images on Monday, here is this image of the week, the girls of K-on. They are making us here in NY wish it would be summer again soon -_-
Here's another Twitter trend for anime fans you guys to maybe start up. There is #MusicMonday but for us...I'd say we start #MoeMonday. Like #FanServiceFriday where we tweet and post fan service pictures on Fridays, Moe Monday is for those cute Moe images in anime we love so much ^_^ Here's an image of Lucky Star's Tsukasa Hiiragi to get things started.
Just got a message from FUNimation that they got the English voice dubbing cast together for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. As of two days ago I finally got the chance to sit down and watch the series on the FUNimation youtube channel and I have to say...the series looks awesome! Here's the list as per FUNi:
Edward Elric - Vic Mignogna Alphonse Elric - Maxey Whitehead Roy Mustang - Travis Willingham Winry Rockbell - Caitlin Glass Lust - Laura Bailey Gluttony - Chris Cason Maes Hughes - Sonny Strait Scar - J Michael Tatum Fuhrer King Bradley - Ed Blaylock Riza Hawkeye - Colleen Clinkenbeard Louis Armstrong - Christopher Sabat Isaac McDougal - Bryan Massey Envy - Wendy Powell Jean Havoc / ADR Director - Mike McFarland
The names in red are the new voice actors and you cn see that Scar and Alphonse are new actors and the main role of Edward Elric is yet again being done by Vic Mignogna. Met Vic once and he's actually very friendly to the fans and cosplays at conventions...he's not short though like Edward ^^;
For those who somehow haven't heard of this new FMA series. It's a remake of the series that goes more to the manga than the original series did.
Dannychoo.com's Mascot Mirai Suenaga is getting an anime based on her and her sisters! Called "Mirai no Mirai", the anime looks like it will be beautifully done by the artist K L. No set time yet on it's release date but I'm adding it to my watch list for sure. Big congrats to Danny Choo yet again for having his site mascot not only have a figure coming out based on her...but an anime too ^o^ Damn Danny, me and other fans out there I'm sure would love the same for their sites and own characters. Once again, thanks for blazing the trail (and making all of us all the more jealous ^^;)
This past weekend the anime movie, Cencoroll was premiered at the NY Anime Festival. Though I was there, due to the insane crowding of the event in general, it was hopeless to even try to stand in there -_-. I didn't mind this too much though since seeing such chaos shows that there is still and will always be life in the anime industry.
The movie is the brain-child of Atsuya Uki who does the daunting task (yet what we all kinda want to do) of writing, designing, directing, and animating most of the anime. It's based off his manga, Amon Game and many like to compare it to a mix of Evangalion and FLCL. What makes this anime rather unique, (besides the whole controlling a flying beast from inside it) is that it's an independent film that is gaining wonderful popularity, accolades and very soon....great profit. Recently even CNN was showing how anime animators are all giving the "starving artist" image with low wages, long hours and seemingly pointless projects by their employers; employers with big names (and big pockets) like Toei and others. Cencoroll seems to show what we see when passion and heart go into an animation with money not trumping those ideals and the good old ideal I hold very dearly...not being owned by a boss.
What we have seen in recent years in the anime industry is equivalent to what we see with the video game industry with a word I've said for years before it was a norm... "shovel-ware". "Shovel-ware" in the video game industry is when a big company gets a hold of a popular license and without knowing the spirit of both the industry and the license, thinks that pumping a quick game that has that license will yield the most profits, since everyone will gather to that popular name. Wonder why in God's name there are Barbie games or why most games based on movies are generally terrible? (Wonder why Dragon Ball Evolution was just an insult to all who care for anime?) Anime got great popular internationally at the beginning of the century and some studios have fallen into that trap of pumping out "shovel-ware" (example: fillers)
To see something like Cencoroll, an independent project, come to the limelight and be aided by leaders in the industry like Aniplex, it's very refreshing and makes anyone looking to make their own anime have great hope. Many of us fans of anime are into it because we were inspired by the art and culture and in no other industry do you see the fans do their best to participate, mimic and hopefully surpass their role models.
(Update 10/3/09): The first episode airs very soon on Hulu.com! Check the trailer below. The instant it goes up, I'll get it here on the site ^_^
Great news for Inuyasha fans! Soon there finally will be closure to the anime series! The 26 episode sequel series called Inuyasha: The Final Act will be airing in Japan starting October 3rd. The story continues where the last series ended and will complete the story remaining in 21 manga volumes. Viz of course will be buying the rights here in the US, not sure if Cartoon Network will drop the ball again and miss out on yet another big series, but at least we'll see it finally come to a conclusion. Hopefully I'll resurrect my old Inyasha section into the new format of my site by then ^^;; This is also great info for those who have been bugging me about the supposed OVA that was to happen. This I'm pretty sure is what it has evolved into.
(still wondering why I'm getting the cold shoulder from @ANNZac there. I throw traffic their way; probably pissed since my site sometimes gets better SEO than they do -_-)
Did you guys see this yesterday? Conan O'Brien yesterday on the Tonight show was doing a skit on anime. The studio, Bang Zoom, is very popular with anime and actually will probably be at this weekend's NY Anime Fest. Like many, I'll be trying to get a chance to show my voice acting there. Check out the video below from Hulu here (skip to about 13 minutes in). Conan is introduced to anime figures and does some voice acting for Ghost in the Shell and gets a liking for anime skirts ^^;;
Below is the skit they did a few months back with Ghost in the Shell
It seems I have to remind people about this. I am giving away a FREE Nendoroid Kureha figure with this current contest. The purpose of the contest is to promote my new member's blog and to help you all link up your anime sites better....and to give a lucky reader this adorable figure.
Some of you have emailed me and got the rights to start blogging but for some odd reason...haven't made a single post! o_O You have to be in it to win it and being a co-author on this site is a step in the right direction but WON'T make you eligible to possibly win this cute figure.
For those of you who never heard of this, a few months back I created a Member's Blog. Like some other anime sites, it allows you to blog right here about say the latest anime news, your figure collection, anime rumors, etc. The need for this portion of the site comes as my blog roll that links all my fellow anime sites has gotten too large and many of you want to link in to promote your site. My site isn't as big as say Gaia or Danny Choo's yet but up until now, I've been getting 5K unique views per day at an average alexa.com ranking of 150K which is perfect for helping people visit your site...and of course a number of emails for hooking up fellow anime bloggers.
As of yesterday I even completed a deal with Otaku USA Magazine to post ads of this site and my anime store. (more on that in a future post) With 300K subscribers to that magazine, I very much expect and aim for a larger boost in traffic as to make any guest blogging here worth the effort.
Here again is how you can be a part of this contest:
Anyways, here's what you need to do to hopefully get your hands on Kureha:
From blogger.com create a blog post showing say, your otaku room, your anime figure collection, why you are into anime or something relating to anime, japan or the like.
Just one decent blog post with at least one picture is fine and gets you entered in the contest. Remember to have your blogger profile have a link to your anime site/blog so you can gain good exposure. A link at the end of your blog post is fine....just no spamming and nothing non-related to anime, japan, etc -_- .
From then you can blog to your heart's desire about say a new anime figure that came out, etc. really good or interesting posts will be promoted to the main blog, but all you need is one post to get you in the contest..the rest is just extra credit and just helps expose you and your blog. (just no more than say 3 posts a day per user)
Of course, please follow the Member's Blog rules and don't post anything beyond PG-13, pornographic, illegal, etc. Violators will be banned -_-
One winner will be chosen from the list of guest bloggers on October 3rd 2009 or once around 10 or so guest bloggers post if after the given date. (obviously now the latter seems to be what will be done)
Had to post this one up today too. Thanks to peterpayne.net (head of the famed JList store, see I complement even my 'competition') for showing us this amazing anime logo of Starbucks. Now if they had that as the logo, you'd know they'd fix their little slump they are in (and of course cheaper coffee). I know who I'm going to for a new logo for my store ^^;;
Big news today thanks to the Hollywood Reporter is that Disney completed a deal with Viz to air Naruto Shippuden in the US on Disney's XD block of programming. Cartoon Network probably did it's greatest blunder since it's canceling of Toonami and their few years of practically ignoring what got them on the map in the first place, anime. Before I get Adult Swim fans mad at me, I'll gladly state that I like a few things from AS that are on today and I was part of the crowd that helped bring back Family Guy. Yet, as someone who's been watching CN since the days of Pokemon in 1996, the progression of Cartoon Network and the very creation of Adult Swim was due to anime...which has been forgotten and made fun of since about 2004-2005.
As an anime purest and as an anime store owner, I have strong feelings on both sides. As for marketing and for the hope of a true revival of anime in the US market, Naruto Shippuden being on Disney XD is amazing. My business will be booming and combined with Syfy channel, FUNimation channel, and The Anime Network, anime could finally not be at the butt of every joke at Williams Street and be back in the lime light. Though my friend Tiago who got me into anime, works for Willams Street (Adult Swim), the joke is really on Cartoon Network now. Like it or not, having the first Naruto series was a plus for them. Let's not forget Disney's recent acquisition of Marvel. Disney might even attract the same type of crowd and heck, maybe even the same crowd that Toonami had.
The anime purest in me though is going to be ticked off. The reason why is that we will see a well drawn (but highly fillered) series like Naruto become this kiddy, watered down US version to accommodate the kiddies on Disney. You'll see sandwiches digitally covering rice balls since the US market "won't get it" and any scene with blood and violence in Naruto will be brutally hacked or sweat will be replacing the blood. If this is the price to pay to bring back anime's popularity to the US, I guess it is a decent price to pay.
(oh, BTW, the quick Photoshop deal on that picture was me ^^;;)
Feel free to post your comments/opinions on this below.
To my wonderful surprise, the Eureka Seven Movie is coming to the US soon and is also going to be in some theaters ^_^. Make that 438 theaters. Yep, the English dub of "Eureka Seven - Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers" will be out in select US theaters on September 24th, just before our arrival to the New York Anime Fest. Check out the trailer below:
More news as per Anime News Network. I'd say they are buds but I'm still wondering why the ANN head retweeted me on Twitter but added "I'm a big baby" at the end of my message -_-
22.6 Billion Cards! That's how many Yu-Gi-Oh Cards have sold since the series' debut in 1999.Once again anime is trumping areas of hobby, comics and games. To be honest, even though I collected (and used to play) Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, I thought that Magic: The Gathering was the lead in sales; especially in my town since there sure are a large number of sad geeks...I mean non-anime card gamers out here on Long Island. With the combination of Manga being the top genre of Graphic Novels/ Comic sales in the US (~45%, most of whom that buy are 13-17 y/o girls) and now this news on Yu-Gi-Oh, many of the very geeky, shut-in American D&D, Magic fans/geeks are hiding away in their mother's basement in total disbelief. (Observe the different crowds at NY Anime Fest and NY Comic-Con, and you'll know what I mean...the CC people seemed to have no souls 0_0)
Anyways... I'll also admit that I did like the anime series though of course the horrors of the 4Kids dubbing, pillaging and maiming of any anime they touch also gave us fans bad memories of what Dic did to Sailor Moon as well as hurt our pride >_< ANN.
Speaking of Yu-Gi-Oh, you can't forget the epic Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged Series done by famed fan dubber, Little Kuriboh.
Finally, after a long, long time I have created a new contest for you, my loyal readers. The prize, the cute and adorable Nendoroid Kureha. Yes, I'm once again taking the time to talk about the Member's Blog section; but hey, it's a cool feature to be able to write your own blog posts and promote your anime blog here...on my blog. Apparently I haven't had anyone ask to be a co-author and promote their otaku life and site here. Also the blogrolling.com blog roll is getting way too long to expose some of your sites correctly so this new section is something I hope can help make my site aid the anime fan community better. Plus...well, this site is slowly creeping to the 100,000 alexa rank and less so things are looking to be on track.
Anyways, here's what you need to do to hopefully get your hands on Kureha:
From blogger.com create a blog post showing say, your otaku room, your anime figure collection, why you are into anime or something relating to anime, japan or the like.
Just one decent blog post with at least one picture is fine and gets you entered in the contest. Remember to have your blogger profile have a link to your anime site/blog so you can gain good exposure. A link at the end of your blog post is fine....just no spamming and nothing non-related to anime, japan, etc -_- .
From then you can blog to your heart's desire about say a new anime figure that came out, etc. really good or interesting posts will be promoted to the main blog, but all you need is one post to get you in the contest..the rest is just extra credit and just helps expose you and your blog. (just no more than say 3 posts a day per user)
Of course, please follow the Member's Blog rules and don't post anything beyond PG-13, pornographic, illegal, etc. Violators will be banned -_-
One winner will be chosen from the list of guest bloggers on October 3rd 2009 or once around 10 or so guest bloggers post if after the given date.
Can't forget to post up this classic anime fan art piece. This picture of Kasumi from Dead Or Alive is simply stunning. Click on the image to get the full scale version of it. It's 1024x768 pixels. So if the screen fits, you can use it as a wallpaper ^^.
Heading into the dog days of summer and finally this year we are actually getting summer weather here in New York. The anime business has been heating up for me as well (thus explains some of my blogging absence ^^;;). It doesn't help that my p/t job is still thorn in my side and is continuing to dig just as deep as it did before I almost quit last year. Anyways, with the business starting to do well again, I'm going to put up a contest by next week. This time I promise. Been waaaay too long since the last contest and I've also keep saying "another one is coming". So by some time next week, there will be a contest and hopefully more good stuff here on the site. As for now, enjoy this great anime pic.
News straight from SDCC09. Looks like Microsoft is doing what was done with the Animatrix and the relatively recent Batman anime collaboration. Studios up for the project seem to be Bones, Toei , Production I.G, Studio 4C and Casio. The project will be called, Halo Legends and is expected to be done and out on DVD and Blu-Ray by early 2010.
Big thanks to toplessrobot.com for the info as well as the L.A. Times. Check out their links for more info on this interesting melding of two worlds that us otaku are pretty well familiar with.
(Sure wish I was there, like last year, my anime business allowed me to get free tickets but due to my pathetic p/t job I need for health care...I'm land locked -_-. )
Been all over some new blog templates as of late, but don't let that stop the blogging ^^;; Here's a wonderful picture for you to gander at today. This one is obviously done by the great Shunya Yamashita. If I'm not mistaken, this is a variation of his character Roxanner, of whom will have a figure released in the coming months.
Been one of those busy weeks. So while I get some more posts ready for all of you, here's an anime girl picture that you'd might like. I'm also in the process of setting up a test/beta version of this blog so you can get a glimpse of any upgrades to the blog. Been looking all over for coding that will put up relevant posts as well as automatically thumbnailed posts...but Blogger is not friendly to customizations outside of the .blogspot.com site setup -_-. I'm a programmer, so I'll work my way around their errors somehow.
On the production block:
More member blog visibility and functions (don't be afraid to post your own posts there)
