Bri

Couldn't resist the 1/24 Yamato on sale. Also noticed Bandai is going to release more Patlabor on Blu-ray: the two OVA's and the TV series.

Aye, that was a fun show too. Loved the space opera type shows, same with the way to short Star Com.

Amazing work, looks fantastic, great job on the shading and highlighting on such a large object. I think I just heard my wallet scream in fear of that prospect.

Hmm interesting, how much trust you reckon we can we place in Maceks words? It took even Transformers 3 years to reach over 90 episodes. Why would a show that tried to cash in on Transformers' success need to have more episodes available immediately?

It's Jayce and the wheeled warriors. Thought it was a pretty well known Saturday morning cartoon back then? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyttr8wI3lE

It could be either. Afaik Khara never specified more then that rebuilt is an alternate retelling and easier access to Evangelion. Plenty of sequel theories around but only time will tell whether it's true or not. Also the Eva 2.22 movie is doing very well. Setting highest weekly and total sales for Blu-ray in Japan.

I completely agree with Sketchley here, the way Macross portrays the economy is pretty much a futuristic version of modern Japan. Also it's probably best not to reflect to much upon these satellites. They are just a story device to help explain the rapid recovery/expansion, working much like the "horn of plenty" in literature. If looked at from an economic perspective, we end up getting very strange effects in regard to the determinants of growth and scarcity effects that would change the economy in to something completely unrecognizable to us.

Shipping and taxes make Valks already too expensive for impulse buying for me. I only buy the Valks now that I really want. As long as the web exclusives allow international shipping and an English order form it wont be a problem for me. If I were forced to eBay or would need intermediaries for every order then it would seriously affect my collecting habits.

To early to say anything based on that teaser, but not too impressive. For Space Marines in blue power armor, they should at least aim to match Blizzard: http://www.youtube.com/user/blizzard?blend=1&ob=4

You're probably best of to check out the different series on the Gundam wiki page, it gives a nice overview of the sequence and more details. In short, the original TV series of MS Gundam still is a nice place to start for the Universal Century titels, the primary universe. You could also take the three movies that condense the storyline as a starting point as the TV series can be a tad tedious at times. The alternate universe series are mostly stand alone and can pretty much watched at any time.

YesAsia has it on pre-order for the 25th of June.

Have to admit those the bulbous canopy and the shorter nose make it look at lot more pleasing to the eye.

ok, I've just watched Eva 2.22 Well, umm, what can I say? Some first impressions: Oretachi wo dare da to omotte yagaru? Simon Ikari Shiji! Maybe we should call it "Do You Remember Eva?" on a slightly more serious note, I'm impressed by the curve balls they threw plot wise. Also just when I thought they had mixed prozac with the LCL the story turns darker. Still, as an old time Eva fan, it's also quite strange to see how the characters have changed. The influence of Eva had on 15 years of anime now got channeled back in to the characters. They seem a bit more like the stereotypes they themselves heavily influenced. Rei went from traumatized victim to clumsy moe, and Asuka is now a standard tsundere. Fanservice nods to just about every fetish too. Still, it gripping and I am very curious to where this will lead, especially given the ending.

True, the quality of animation is far more determined by the production values, skills of the creators and time available for a project, then the the year it was made in. I would agree that the 80s were the time when mecha anime had it's peak in overall popularity. It's also the time it had the largest share in the number of anime produced. The formula has changed with the times but I don't feel quality has dropped. For example more recent mecha titles like Eureka 7, Gurren Lagann and Rahxephon can easily withstand the comparison with the best material of the 80s. I think the focus of the industry on niche marketing (i.e. to more "acquired" tastes) was forced to an extent by external events. Primarily caused by a rise in squeamishness in regard to content aimed at kids in the late 90s, a development not just limited to Japan ("Won't somebody please think of the children?").

Working is a really fun show. The manager is awesome. As for the rest, Kaichou wa maid-sama is much better then expected, the 2 main characters carry the rather simple theme. Angel Beats disappoints, it looks great and has an interesting mystery, but the pacing is poor, has zero emotional impact for a KEY production and the jokes are often too lame. For me the show of the season is Giant Killing. It is about a Japanese international who returned to Japan to coach his old team. The team has been in decline and he is aiming to turn things around. Great dialog driven show, with amazing insight in to the world of football. Off course I can't be completely neutral about this show, now my own country is spiraling into madness in anticipation of the upcoming world cup. Very nicely timed in that respect.

Going in autumn to Kobe for work via Osaka. Will be first time for me not to go through Tokyo either. I plan to take up a week of leave after, to visit the Kyoto area. Hope it's as nice as people say. Looking forward to visit that city.

Renato makes an interesting observation here. I don't think that anime is in decline (other then suffering in the short term from the recession), in fact 2005 and 2006 were pretty much the top years in the history of the industry. Mecha anime is another story. I get the impression that the younger part of the fanbase on the whole is not very interested in giant robots (and technology/sci-fi to a lesser extent), the result has been a steady decrease of mecha in the share in anime being made. The current popular genres are mostly school life drama/romance and the supernatural. The generation that grew up on robot shows is now mostly in their 30s and 40s. A small demanding audience with a lot of disposable income. I guess this reflects in the merchandising for mecha: exclusive and expensive.

Not sure if you can equate the number of posts on this topic to the eventual popularity of the toy. Also this Valk was hardly unexpected while a enemy mech is a pretty unique event, that will generate more discussion.

It's not on the S2 DVD's. Afaik it's a very well made fan video. Seen it float around the net before. The S2 extra's is mainly a live action documentary presented by Minoru Shiraishi (Taniguchi) where the kyoani team takes a tour around all the real live scenes used in Haruhi. Yes, all the places have a real life counterpart. Other extras are the making of the Aya Hirano single, a sound track and a CD drama.

Clones as babies seems unlikely given the shocked reaction by the Zentradi on the factory satellite when Max and Milia show Komilia. They had never seen or heard of a baby before. Presumably Zentradi are not created as infants. Also if the clones were babies, the remaining survivors of SW 1 would have to babysit multiple infants 24/7 given the growth rate of the human population. The carbon copy option seems the most plausible. Still other options are possible. We don't know if there is a limit to the amount of genetically different Zentradi. They could all be derived from a limited amount of genetic templates like the Cylons from BSG.

Can we even be sure about that? A significant part of the Bodolza fleet survived SW1, many could have joined the human/Zentradi alliance in the years after the defeat. Maybe even other fleets that have been encountered during the colony missions, like Chloe's forces in FotSW. There could actually still be more Zentradi then humans by 2059. The animation mainly focuses on the human perspective or characters. Wasn't there a Kawamori interview where he mentioned that the Frontier fleet had Zentradi forces among it's escorts but they weren't on screen.

Speaking of Dragonball. Just for the fun of it, from Wiki: "Harmony Gold USA licensed the series for an English language release in North America in the late 1980s. In their voice dub of the series, Harmony renamed almost all of the characters, with some names appearing very odd, such as Goku being renamed "Zero" and the character Korin's name changed to "Whiskers the Wonder Cat." This dub version was eventually cancelled." I guess Harmony Gold *really* can't see a winning concept even when it's in front of their eyes. If Funimation hadn't believed in DB and it's sequel DBZ another gateway anime might never have made it unto television.

Yes, Miyazaki is pretty much to Ghibli what Walt Disney was to Disney animation and he is part of the driving force of the studios succes. Still there are more directors working for Ghibli so it is not that they can't make movies without him. I'm sure they have already considered what should happen in terms of succession. Agreed, they primarily make movies and documentaries so it is safe to say that Ghibli pretty much operates in a different market. Still they are the example of the one anime producer that managed to get out of the niche and into mainstream. Not that other firms could do what Ghibli did, but other studios like Production IG, Bones, Sunrise and Madhouse have learned copied parts of their way of doing business. This of things like retaining rights, less reliance on external capital, less subcontracting, pay higher wages, diversify the portfolio etc. Most of the current problems facing the business come from the archaic business models in use that leave the production studios at the bottom of the food chain fighting for scraps.

It's been worse. Moe type shows have been the bread and butter for the anime industry for the better part of the last decade, especially for the smaller companies. It's been almost as dominant as mecha was in the 80s. It's already past its peak, but the next best thing has not really been discovered yet. Moe is still very much the safe route, preferably based on a proven visual novel or manga. Your right, for the most part. The international market to the average anime production company consists of just selling a license to a foreign firm. Not that they don't want to go on the international market, but they don't have the resources nor the money, don't have the know-how and most of all don't have the scale to operate internationally. Even something as basic as people who speak English are not easy to find in the industry. Most of the capital generated for new productions flows towards buying broadcasting time from TV stations and advertising. Any innovation in the area of distribution will have to come from the financial backers: the publishers, TV stations, advertising agencies, software houses etc. who fund anime production. There is one exception: Studio Ghibli, they are like the Japanese answer to Disney Animation, smaller, but without being run by accountants. They can operate on the international market.

I see your point but the whole idea of broadcasting it on television is to hook people and make them buy the DVD/BR and or merchandise. In that respect fansubs works the same way. Allowing an option to see (even if it's at a small cost to the TV audience) before you buy. If it wasn't for fansubs some of the more obscure anime would never have been licensed. Also some (if not most) anime is broadcasted in distinctly lower quality and sometimes left unfinished (SHAFT is quite adept at that) to give people an incentive to buy the end product. What is really damaging and far more morally dubious then fansubs of TV broadcasts is the people that rip the DVDs and BR (like Thora or KAA) and put those versions on the net. Note that these groups copy the translation work from the fansub groups to put on their versions as well. This difference IMO separates fansub groups from pirates.