Category Archives: Various

Not a Review, just general blather

Thursday, April 13, 2006 – 5:12 pm

I’m starting to wonder if the entire cast of The World of Narue was bummed off of His and Her Circumstances (and whether HHC was influence at all by DNA2).

First, all three lead English voice actors from DNA2 are in His and Her Circumstances:

Liam O’Brien (Junta in DNA2): Asaba in HHC
Jessica Calvello (Karin in DNA2): Tsukino (one of Yukino’s younger sisters) in HHC
Rachael Lillis (Ami in DNA2); Miyako (Yukino’s mother) & Aya Sawada

[UPDATE]:
I found another DNA2 to HHC voice actor:
Michael Alston Baley a.k.a. David Brimmer, who did the voice of Mori in DNA2, does the voice of the Narrator on HHC.
[/UPDATE]

On the other hand, there is a plethora of people who were in HHC who showed up in Narue:

Rachael Lillis (Miyako and Aya in HHC): Kanaka in Narue
Jessica Calvello (Tsukino in HHC): Narumi and Rin in Narue
Veronica Taylor (Yukino in HHC): Narue in Narue
Carol Jacobanis (Maho in HHC): Bathyscaphe in Narue
Lisa Ortiz (Tsubasa in HHC): Magical Girl #4 in Narue
Debora Rabbai (Sena Rika in HHC): Haruna in Narue

I just find it interesting how two anime series can share large numbers of cast members.

By Josh | Posted in Various | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Added US Release Information to reviews + some general news

Sunday, April 2, 2006 – 8:10 pm

I added the US release information to the review links on the left (but not to the scrolling blog entries below). This includes who released the DVDs in the US for anime, and who published manga.

Just a small update, but I thought I might as well throw on who released them in the US too.

Some general news which has probably already been out there for a while, but I thought I would post here.

First, it appears that AnimEigo is going to re-release the Oh! My Goddess OVAs sometime in 2006.

Second, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien a.k.a. KimiNozo a.k.a. Rumbling Hearts is apparently going to be a 3-DVD monthly release by FUNimation starting in October, meaning that, if FUNimation remains on schedule, the series will be completed in it’s release in December.

Also, while the official title is “Rumbling Hearts” because thats how Media Factory (the Japanese distributor of it) wishes it to be referred to in the US, apparently FUNimation will be adding the full Japanese name as a subtitle to make people aware of what it is.

By Josh | Posted in Anime Reviews, Manga Reviews, Various | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

My tastes in anime: 2003 and 2004 US releases

Thursday, March 16, 2006 – 1:39 pm

I went back and looked at when the anime that I have purchased, or in the process of buying, were first released in the US to see if they were relatively spread out or bunched together.

Well, it appears they are bunched together. The anime I purchased, at least in their original releases, totaled 45 DVDs, here is the list:

Ai Yori Aoshi (8)
Angelic Layer (7) [I bought the 5-disc re-release]
Chobits (6) [I bought the 8-disc thinpack release]
DNA2 (5)
Fruits Basket (4)
Koi Kaze (3)
Last Exile (7)
Please Twins (4)
World of Narue (1 - they dont sell the 4 DVDs individually)

= 45 discs

So, how many of those were released, by year?

2002 - 1
2003 - 21
2004 - 17
2005 - 6

Also, as many as 4 series were being released at the same time, with Fruits Basket, DNA2, Ai Yori Aoshi, and Chobits all being released at the same time between March 2003 and May 2003; as well as on October 14, 2003, when 2 series ended and one series began, thus having DNA2, Ai Yori Aoshi, Chobits, and Angelic Layer briefly being released at the same time.

The biggest individual day? October 14, 2003, which saw the release of DNA2 #5 (and the box set), Ai Yori Aoshi #5 (also ending the release of the first season), and Angelic Layer #1.

The only other month which saw 3 releases was November 2003, with Chobits #5 (11th), Last Exile #1 (18th), and Angelic Layer #2 (25th).

I suppose the most “modern” anime I’ve been watching are Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, which is scheduled to begin it’s US release in October 2006, and I”s Pure, which isn’t even licensed yet.

By Josh | Posted in Various | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Ebay package 2 of 3 has arrived!

Monday, March 13, 2006 – 11:40 am

Alright, now we’re talking. The other package may be small enough to fit in my mailbox, which I haven’t checked yet, but I did get the other package at my door this morning (usually the mail doesn’t come until after I leave for work. They must have been eager to get it to me today).

This package included the thinpack Last Exile collection as well as The World of Narue collection which, while it’s not a thinpack, is still packaged to save space.

So thats complete series #6 and #7 in my anime collection.

I’m also going for a set of 5 Ai Yori Aoshi DVDs which are on ebay for pretty cheap. Now they’re set up, the shipping will end up being a little much (it’s full price for first item, and 50% off other items, which means if I get all five, shipping will still be around $20), but given how cheap it looks like the actual DVDs will go for (2 already had bids, but the other three I got with Buy It Now for $4.95 each). Unless bidding on the other two DVDs go insane, I should still save more money than most auctions over the 5 discs together.

I also got Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum volume 4 and Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventures volume 3 from blockbuster over the weekend. Why Volumes 4 of NGE had only 3 episodes, I’m not sure, but I suppose there is a logical reason somewhere.

That means I now only have 2 volumes of NGE left and 1 volume of Dual! left. Neon Genesis Evangelion #5 was sent out by Blockbuster Thursday, so I should get it in another day. Blockbuster should send the next movie on the list to me next, which should be Dual! Volume 4, which will finish that series up.

Some other notes:
I was (finally) able to find an (English) subbed version of I”s Pure episode 2 (thank you c1anime!). They said episode 3 should be out soon, so, hopefully they’re right about that.

I haven’t really decided what anime to start watching after Dual! and NGE. After the last volume of Dual! is shipped, then the last volume of NGE will ship. Other than Volume 3 of Cowboy Bebop, which has been sitting in the #1 slot of my queue with an availability of “Long Wait” for months, I need to select 2 or 3 more series to watch.

One already on the list (just stuck below NGE and Dual!) is Cardcaptor Sakura, since it’s CLAMP. The biggest problem with this series is that it’s 16 volumes long, which means that it’ll probably take something like 4 months to start watching it.

Other series on my short list to add to the top of the queue include: Fushigi Yugi, His and Her Circumstances, Ah! My Goddess! the TV series, and Kaleido Star.

Another option that I’m thinking is to re-rent some anime which I’ve already seen but haven’t heard the English dub to (either because I didn’t listen to it when I rented before, or I downloaded a fansub which didn’t have English on it). This list would include, out of anime I’ve finished, Dears, and anime I haven’t finished, Girls Bravo.

The only thing left to say is that there is no anime review today (duh!) and tomorrow is Tuesday, thus it is the big anime DVD/manga release date of the week, so I’ll list the major releases for that. The next review may come on the 15th.

By Josh | Posted in General Blather, Various | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Finally got package 1 of 3 from ebay

Saturday, March 11, 2006 – 1:35 pm

Since I really don’t have very much to talk about dealing with anime today, I’d just like to say that, after my initial experience buying anime from ebay, which was excellent, recently it seems to have gotten worse. I don’t know if the mail is slow or what, but I’ve purchased 3 anime things off of ebay, all shipping either Monday or Tuesday. I (finally) got the first one today (via media mail, which I guess the other ones may be being sent too).

This one is the Fruits Basket set, being the 5th complete anime series I have in hand (DNA2, Chobits, Angelic Layer, Onegai Twins - in that order). The next shipment includes the Murata boxset of Last Exile, which are in thinpack packages, and the World of Narue collection. The final shipment has volumes 2 and 3 of Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi.

I blew my chance to buy the Ai Yori Aoshi first season set. There were two items on ebay, one with a starting bid of $15 and one with a starting bid of $30. The two other times I’ve seen them on ebay, they went for something like $70, so I put an opening bid on the $15 one for $50 thinking “no way either will go for less than that.”

Well, at first I thought I was going to get a break. Going into the last day, the one I was bidding on was at $26 and the $30 had one bid. The $30 (which ended first) ended up going for that, so I was like “yeah!” Nope. Bidding on mine started going up dramatically. I was sitting there like “why didn’t you bid on the other one like that?”

Mine ended up going for like, $64, which was a little more than I was in the mood to pay, considering the same thing sold for less than half that just a couple hours earlier. So i learned my lesson: even if I think something will go for a lot, unless its the only thing there, don’t bid a lot on the first bid (and even if it is alone, there is a chance a new one may pop up). Unfortunately I haven’t seen the set (other thank cheap HK knockoffs) on there since.

One item I just bought yesterday was Koi Kaze volume 1. Again, it is rare to see the whole set on there, but one will occasionally see someone selling a particular volume for cheap, and I got this one for $7.99 including shipping, which, considering my thought was about $10 to $12 per DVD in that set, isn’t a bad deal.

By Josh | Posted in General Blather, Various | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Anime I am currently watching

Sunday, March 5, 2006 – 2:37 am

If you’re wondering, there are several series which I am currently in the middle of watching:

Cowboy Beebop: 2 volumes (I’ve been on this one since October. shows how often blockbuster has it in to send it to me)
Neon Genesis Evangelion: 2 volumes
Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure: 2 volumes
Girls Bravo: 1 season
I”s Pure: 1 episode*

Two notes about I”s Pure. First, this series just started in december, and I’ve tried to watch it as soon as the torrents have shown up for them. However, it’s now been 5 weeks since episode 2 came out and no english subbed torrents have come out on it. I have watched a non-english subbed (it was actually chinese subbed) version of episode 2, which I of course couldn’t understand. I did somewhat know what was going on, though since I have read the manga through where the episode finished.

By Josh | Posted in Various | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)