areaseven

Live-action?!? That completely defeats the purpose of Thunderbirds. And I thought FireStorm was bad...

You've all seen bad dubs from official distributors. But can you prepare yourself for a Sailor Moon fandub? Beautiful Guardian Sailor Moon It'll remind you that the "29 Groups" fansub is really a joke.

Nice to see Area 88 back on the anime scene, but I'm not impressed at all by the unrealistic animation for the planes. It makes Idol Defense Force Hummingbird look like Macross Zero.

Did anyone catch RAW? Man, Orton really needs to retrain. Not only does he screw up his RKO on Jericho, he screws up on his dialogue with Bischoff.

Especially when you don't have a pair of shades and a bottle of Coppertone.

Show tries too much to be Machine Robo Rescue. I'll pass on this one. Give my Car Robots any day.

Bad news: John Cena may be out of commission. When he was thrown out of the ring, he landed at a bad angle where he probably fractured his ankle. Such an injury may put him on the sidelines for up to a year.

Well, here's what's going to happen: Lesnar just started a feud with Goldberg earlier tonight. Because of this, Goldberg jumps to SmackDown! to get his revenge. Meanwhile, Eric Bischoff will demand that Paul Heyman should give him a SmackDown! superstar. That would be Benoit. A feud between him and the Evolution was already hinted when Flair, Batista and Orton interrupted his interview.

What a way to start the road to WrestleMania. Despite having a few bad matches, the Royal Rumble was a surprisingly good PPV. WWE Tag Team Championship - Table Match Ric Flair & Batista def. The Dudley Boyz after Batista slammed D-Von through a table. WWE Cruiserweight Championship Rey Mysterio def. Jamie Noble with the 619 and a springboard leg drop after a blind Nidia accidentally tripped Noble. Family Issues Eddie Guerrero destroyed Chavo Guerrero with the frog splash. After the match, Eddie continued to beat up both Chavo Sr. and Chavo Jr. WWE Championship Brock Lesnar annihilated Hardcore Holly with the F-5. This match just did not live up to its expectations, as it ran too short and Holly didn't give enough offense. World Heavyweight Championship - Last Man Standing Triple-H and Shawn Michaels fought to a draw after both men failed to get up before the 10-count. Worst match of the night. The Royal Rumble Unfortunately, I don't have the complete list of participants and eliminations, but here are the major highlights of tonight's Rumble: - Shortly after Kane entered the ring, the next participant was about to make his entrance. Then the lights went out and a funeral bell rang. Kane stopped and stared at the entrance, only to be eliminated by Booker T. Before leaving, he choke-slammed an incoming Spike Dudley. - Later on, Test was supposed to come out next, but he was nowhere near the TitanTron. Backstage, officials surrounded an unconsious Test. Austin went to the scene and told someone else in the back to just go. The sound of a car crash filled the arena. Mick Foley has returned! He immediately gave Randy Orton a lesson in hardcore wrestling. Even after eliminating each other, they still continued to brawl at ringside. During the whole melee, Foley whacked Pat Patterson with the steel steps. At the entrance, Foley was setting Mr. Socko up for Orton when Nunzio made his way to the ring. The F.B.I. cruiserweight got a taste of the Mandible Claw before Orton gave Foley a low blow. - Goldberg was setting Big Show up for the Jackhammer when, from out of nowhere, Brock Lesnar attacked him and gave him the F-5. Looks like my predictions were right. Goldberg's moving to SmackDown! to face Lesnar at WrestleMania. - Chris Benoit is only the second wrestler to win the Rumble from the #1 position. (The first was Shawn Michaels in 1995.) Winner: Chris Benoit

I just picked up the HK bootleg DVD. It has English, Chinese and Japanese subtitles, as well as Dolby 5.1 and DTS 5.1 audio. Since it's done by Manga International, you would take the English subtitles with a grain of salt. However, it seems that they pulled the translation directly from the AonE fansub. I only got to see the first five minutes of the DVD, but I'll watch the whole thing tonight. In the meantime, if you're in the Los Angeles area and haven't seen Wonderful Days yet, drop by PC Club Computers in Burbank as the movie is playing everyday except Friday.

Yesterday, I got Ys from NetFlix.com. Unfortunately, I've declared it unreviewable as I fell asleep within the first five minutes of the anime. Has anyone here seen Ys? Is it worth watching at all?

JValk got the answer. The gas station manager is Yuuichi Tachibana. You got the ball, JValk.

Time to resurrect this thread. Today's first question: What is the name of the gas station manager in Initial D?

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Gokusen ( ごくせん ) Madhouse Studios/Nihon TV/VAP, 2004 AnimeWorks, 2005 Directed by Masami Sato Not Rated (Suggested 16-Up). Contains violence, nudity and mature situations. Based on the manga by Kozueko Morimoto. Kumiko "Yankumi" Yamaguchi enters Shirogane Gakuen Private School to become a math teacher. She's assigned as the homeroom teacher for class 2-4, populated by a gang of delinquents. At first, the class tries everything to piss her off, but to no avail. In a short period of time, Yankumi gains the respect of the class. But what the school doesn't know is that she's the heir to the Oedo Group, a powerful Yakuza clan. So while Yankumi struggles to excel in her career as a teacher, she must also keep her Yakuza background a secret. Story: B+ Unlike the live-action Gokusen, the anime version sticks very closely to the original manga. Hence, it's a bit racier with its non-stop adult humor. But don't let that stop you from watching this show. Gokusen is loads of fun for fans of GTO or Yakuza flicks. Animation: B- Yoshinori Kanemori's (X, Hanada Shonen-shi) character designs may be very close to the manga, which isn't saying much - some of the characters are rather ugly. (And I'm not talking about Fuji the bulldog.) And Yankumi is nowhere close to her live-action counterpart. Otherwise, Madhouse does a pretty good job animating this series. Soundtrack: B+ Gokusen has some interesting opening and ending themes, and the BGM is pretty decent. Cast Gokusen features Risa Hayamizu as Yankumi, Kenichi Suzumura (Shin in Macross Zero, Hajiki in Gad Guard) as Shin, Yoichi Masukawa as Uchiyama, Rica Matsumoto (Aoi in You're Under Arrest, Rumi in Perfect Blue) as Fujiyama, Norio Wakamoto (Coach Ota in Gunbuster, Vicious in Cowboy Bebop) as Kyotaro, Hiroaki Yoshida as Minoru, Keiji Hirai as Tetsu, and Katsuyuki Konishi (Samurai Deeper Kyo, Louie the Rune Soldier) as Shinohara. The Bottom Line If you like GTO, you'll enjoy Gokusen. I still prefer the live-action version, though. Links Official Gokusen Homepage (Japanese) Reference Anime News Network

Simple English. But I'm seriously getting doubts about the validity of her account. She only has 8 friends on her list (including Keiko-chan, myself and someone named "Rei"; the other friends appear to be Filipinos). Her personal info is incomplete (fans know she's from Kanagawa and her interests are basketball and reading). Keiko-chan's account is more complete, but she has the exact same friends on her list. And there's someone else on the site using Myuu-chan's (Makoto/Sailor Jupiter) picture on her account.

Then why don't they just call it Wheeljack?

Well, now that Chevrolet has licensed the C5 Z06, Ford should take the opportunity to let Takara/Hasbro make a Mustang Autobot. The question is this: Which Mustang should they use - the GT Concept or the actual GT production model? 2005 Ford Mustang GT Concept 2005 Ford Mustang GT

Also, Mercedes-Benz noticed that Wild Ride looked like an M-Class and approached Hasbro with a threat to sue them. As a result, "X-Brawn" (what a lame name) had his headlights altered to look different from the original sculpt.

Miyuu-chan replied. She asked me if I'm from the Philippines, as she said that the show is available over there on VCD.

1. Nope. That gimmick died a long time ago. At least he autographed a fan's "HEAD." 2. Ivory, RVD and Lita. 3. As for next month, stand back! There's a Hurricane coming through...

I just saw these at RVD's 5-Star Comics earlier tonight. Looks like someone at Toynami actually listened to half of my suggestions. The big hole on the left side of the Zentraedi Battle Pod has traces of blood and possibly the pilot's scalp. The Veritech, on the other hand, lacks detail. UN Spacy decals are nowhere to be found on the legs or the gun pod. No smoke or simulated gunfire can be found on the gun pod, either. Overall, don't waste your money on these.

Shinkon Gattai Godannar!! ( 神魂åˆä½“ゴーダンナーï¼ï¼ ) OLM/AIC/AT-X/TAKI Corporation, 2003-2004 ADV Films, 2005 Directed by Yasushi Nagaoka (Lost Chapter of the Stars - Birth) Running Time: 25 minutes per episode Rated TV-MA for graphic violence, gratuitous T&A, HLA and S&M. Five years ago, while battling an alien force known as the "Mimesis," Dannar pilot Go Saruwatari first met Anna Aoi. Today, on the day of their wedding, the ceremony is interrupted when the Mimesis strike again. As Go struggles in his battle against the alien threat, Anna stumbles upon a top secret robot known as the "Neo-Okusaer" and uses it as a last-resort to save her fiancee. At that moment, Dannar and Neo-Okusaer merge to become the mighty robot "Godannar." Story: D+ What's with these giant robot titles going ecchi? You got bra & panty shots left and right, and the jiggly-counter going off the scale. As if Choujuushin Gravion wasn't bad enough. Godannar even adds the lovers' quarrel subplot. Where's the damn character development? I hope this whole mess gets straightened up on the next episode. Animation: B- As mentioned earlier, the whole concept of Godannar is all T&A in an attempt to outdo Gravion. Takahiro Kimura's (King of Braves GaoGaiGar, Betterman) are okay, but Tsukasa Kotobuki's (Saber Marionette J/J Again/J to X) mecha designs are uninspiring and unoriginal. And I still wish AIC hadn't gone all-digital on their animation. Wait a minute - OLM did this, too? After receiving acclaim for Steel Angel Kurumi and Figure 17, why would they stoop down to this level? Soundtrack: C If you're a fan of old-school anime, you will notice that Godannar's soundtrack incorporates recycled BGM from Dangaioh, another AIC title. At least there are some decent songs by veteran singers Akira Kushida (Sentou Mecha Xabungle, Kinnikuman), Mitsuko Horie and Ichiro Mizuki (Mazinger Z and nearly every Super Robot theme you can think of). Hopefully, the rest of the series will at least have original music. Cast Shinkon Gattai Godannar features Takayuki Kondo (Mach Alert in Transformers Car Robots) as Go, Mai Nakahara (Miina in Onegai Twins, Eina in Gravion) as Anna, Yumi Kakazu (Dita in Vandread, Renais in GaoGaiGar Final) as Shizuru, Aya Hisakawa (Haruka in RahXephon, Skuld in Ah! My Goddess) as Mira, Kaori Shimizu (Serial Experiments Lain) as Lu, Akeno Watanabe (Witch Hunter Robin) as Konami, Nobuyuki Hiyama (Shiro in Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team) as Tetsuya, Mamiko Noto (The World of Narue, Shinji in Full Metal Panic!) as Momoko, Junko Minagawa (Joshua in Chrno Crusade) as Shinobu, Taro Yamaguchi (Boma in Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex) as Kagemaru, and Takako Honda (Pandy in Dead Leaves) as Kiriko. DVD Extras Not interested in renting the R1 release. The Bottom Line Are you a hardcore robot anime fan? If so, Godannar's not for you, unless you're also into ecchi. Links Official Shinkon Gattai Godannar Homepage (Japanese) Reference Anime News Network