Kannagi ☆ Star

Posted by Neko Kyou in Random Fun, Rants on December 22nd, 2008

Lucky Star invades Kannagi

Miyuki’s hair turned purple!

A rather straightforward and obvious cameo for Lucky Star’s cast. I just had to LOL when I saw this scene. The episode itself was one of the best in the series so far. Who knew an entire episode of karaoke would be so much fun 😀

There seem to be some big fuss in Japan over Kannagi’s manga development, specifically on how Nagi isn’t exactly as pure as fans originally thought. I’m not exactly sure on the details but apparently this wasn’t the first time Nagi had appeared in human form, and she actually had a lover previously whom she gave up her virginity to.

I never did find that as a reason to start causing a ruckus over. Then again, when you’re a big fan of something, this sort of twist would really get to you. Just like how Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic is getting on my nerves by shattering the “zettai daijoubu” dream of Cardcaptor Sakura…

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Dragonball Evolution Looks Pretty Good Actually…

Posted by Neko Kyou in Rants, Thoughts on December 11th, 2008

Just saw the above trailer for the upcoming Dragonball Evolution movie, which has been dubbed by many as the greatest movie disaster of the decade. I used to think so too, and even made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t go anywhere near the movie when it’s out.

But after seeing the trailer, the movie is beginning to look pretty good. The special effects are especially good. The movie itself looks good but there is just one problem. It’s called Dragonball.

You can easily see from the trailer how much the story has actually deviated away from its actual story. The Dragonballs in the movie was created by 7 mystics and Bulma actually joins in the fight (love her bike, though).

This just isn’t Dragonball, but a different movie pretending to be it in order to draw in more viewers. I’m pretty sure that it will be an enjoyable movie as long as we disregard this as an actual movie based on the series. In other words, if this was a trailer for a movie that’s not Dragonball, I would have been very interested to watch it.

Maybe. Well, at least the trailer’s cool. :roll:

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The 3-Tails: From a Few Pages into a Full Blown Arc

Posted by Neko Kyou in Naruto, Rants on December 9th, 2008

3 Tails

I seriously can’t believe this. Not only have we wasted an entire season of fillers right before the Hidan-Kakuzu arc, we’re now getting even more fillers. DB chose a really good time to stop subbing Naruto.

What took just a few pages to complete will now apparently take an entire season. Deidara and Tobi’s easy and peaceful mission of capturing the “hostless” 3 tailed beast in the manga will turn into an epic battle and I assume that the jinchuuriki for sanbi will magically appear out of thin air. They even tried to make it look epic and calling it “The Three Tails’ Arrival Arc”.

I’ve been faithfully keeping up with the anime even it’s been full of fillers ever since the rescue Sasuke arc a few years ago. But I don’t think I can take another season of it. Unless it somehow turns out to be interesting (which I doubt), I’ll most probably skip this part.

Sakura - Shannaro!

“What!? More fillers!? SHANNARO!”

Actually, how many people are still watching the anime?

I’m the only one that’s been keeping up with Naruto Shippuuden among my friends. The ones that doesn’t read the manga, at least.

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Blogging Community Goes Sour

Posted by Neko Kyou in Rants on March 31st, 2008

You have been Geassed

Behind every large organisation lies an evil, twisted man?

Have you ever wondered, what goes on behind the scenes of an anime blog, and perhaps any other blog around? There’s really more to it than just simply setting up a blog, start typing whatever that’s on your mind and post it up within the next 10 minutes. Maintaining a blog is much more than simply coming out with a new post whenever you feel like it.

If you’re a blogger yourself, you would probably know what I’m talking about. It’s not easy to come up with a new topic to blog about every other day, especially when you’re in a tight niche like anime. There are thousands of other anime blogs, sites and forums around to announce the latest breaking news, and these news travels fast.

And there are only that much of original content and ideas (which really aren’t all that original anymore) that any single person can come up with every once in a while. Bloggers on team or multiple author blogs such as THAT Anime Blog would have less pressure since there are more heads to think and discuss over ideas for a new post.

However, those who are running a one person show would have a harder time to come up with new ideas regularly. That’s why most anime bloggers feature at least one episode review post weekly. This way, there would always be something to blog about each week, albeit a bit time consuming and could sometimes become a hassle, especially when the series starts to take a down turn *cough*firsthalfofshana2*cough*

That was probably one of the reasons why Owen started the Anime Blogging Collective, or simply the A.B.C. More heads are always better than one, and those in the group could easily discuss about topics and ideas to blog about, either individually or for the most part, as a group. It’s always fun and satisfying, especially when it turns out well, such as during the 12 Days of Christmas, anime style.

And that was the main reason I joined the A.B.C., a little before the discussions for the 12 Days of Christmas postings started. It was my first time participating in something like this, so it was really fun and exciting. However, if you’ve noticed, there hasn’t been much (or any) activities for nearly 4 months since then.

All Hail the Anime Blogger Collective!

There has been discussions, one of which was for Valentines, but efforts and enthusiasm were hampered over and over again. It doesn’t help that our president (Owen) never really participated much to help coordinate the group, but expects others to do so and starts hammering down on you if you don’t. Shirukii already posted that particular announcement from Owen up along with a rebuttal.

Since I’m still quite new in the A.B.C., I’ve only joined in with the 12 days of Christmas joint blogging, but I recalled being disappointed and unimpressed by the fact that Owen mysteriously disappeared and dropped off after around the 3rd or 4th day without saying a word for the next couple of weeks.

Whenever he does post, however, he often only interacted with a select few others, who I’m guessing as those he deemed “worthy enough” of his attention. Everyone else gets to eat dust. He doesn’t respect opinions of the non-elite, even going as far as to kick and ban CJ from the group without warning, just for refusing to watch Clannad and True Tears. And from what DS has mentioned, Owen’s behaviour isn’t just confined to within just the Google group and emails, but also in MAL. Even usagijen, who once defended Owen, has decided that he had crossed the line this time.

There has been too much pressure and plenty of flaming going within the A.B.C. lately. Rather than being the productive group it was meant to be, aiding fellow bloggers to come up with new and interesting ideas to bring to the anime community in general, it has been doing just the opposite. It brought me down so much just thinking about it that I’ve not had any motivation to come up with anything new other than episode reviews on Clannad.

I can't take this anymore...

We’ve had enough of this shit…

Which is why I came up with this very ranty post. I’ve had enough, and decided that while I enjoyed myself in the companies of the other bloggers, the A.B.C. is not for me and will officially be leaving the group effective immediately.

Nuf’ said.

**Update: ABC Stands for April’s Blogger Conspiracy

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ADV Providing Free, Legal Anime Streaming Service

Posted by Neko Kyou in Rants on December 20th, 2007

Gurren Lagann

I’m extremely happy to see that anime companies (whether within or outside Japan) are finally showing signs they are heading towards the light. A.D.V. has begun streaming Gurren Lagann for free. Listen up people, you can now stream and watch Gurren Lagann legally, and for free.

There are only 2 catches:

  • Each episode will only be archived for 2 weeks. There might be more than 2, since ADV said there would be at least 2 archived episodes. Not too shabby, really. If you really liked it after watching the whole series and would like to keep them, just shell out the cash for the DVD boxset. I really can’t think of any excuse not to buy and continue to rely on fansubs instead.
  • There are ads – seriously this is not a problem, in fact I think it’s brilliant! Pythonite posted a comment in my fansub rant regarding placing ads into the anime being streamed as a source of generating revenue for the company. We’re already used to seeing ads everywhere and especially on TV and on the Internet. So this really doesn’t count as a catch if you ask me.

Gurren Lagann isn’t exactly “fresh from Japan” anymore, but it’s still very new compared to other licensed releases. It’s a big step forward, though there are still much work to be done. I actually haven’t watched the series but was hoping to, so this was great news to me. Unfortunately (but understandably), I was met with this notice:

ADV Non-US/Canada

Click to enlarge in new window

For those who can’t read due to the small text (or too lazy to click the image to enlarge it) here’s what it said:

Sorry guys and gals! This feature is only available to US and Canadian residents at the present time. Please check back soon as we continue to strive to provide you with the best anime available online for free. If you have additional questions, please check out our FAQ.

Well that sucks, doesn’t it. Let’s hope they would be able to and will provide this free streaming services worldwide soon, along with fresh anime instead what has already ended in Japan. Right now, they are just losing to speed.

On a side note, it seems that Bandai Visual Japan and Bandai Visual USA are “seriously considering on releasing some of the new shows simultaneously with” Japan by spring. Check out ANN for the full article on that.

Update from ANN (26th Dec ’07):

On 2007-12-24, ADV Films clarified that not all programs would be broadcast in their entirety in subtitled form. For example, at this time only three episodes of Gurren Lagann are scheduled for subtitled broadcast. Other series in the pipeline will receive longer runs through First Look. ADV regrets the misunderstanding.

Now that sucks. I take back about me being happy with what they’re doing at the beginning of this post. It might have just been a marketing ploy to get fans to spread the word out and we fell for it hook, line and sinker. Bleh!

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