From ANN -

Navarre: Funimation Exceeds Q1 Expectations in Sales (Updated)

…corporate parent of the anime licensing and distribution company…Chief Executive Officer…credited the results to Funimation’s…

Ray’s Take: hey you know, someone’s doing well. Quit moaning and see if lessons can be learned from their model.

Krauser III’s Take: It was I orchestrating things behind the scenes and converted many! You are suprised that I care about DBZ, yes? Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!

No Comments »

Did I see the eye of death? Well, not quite. I did see the eye of omni-tracking.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Part 1 is here.

Kikuko Inoue is a famous seiyuu associated with many popular anime. Her past performances include Belldandy of Aa Megami-Sama, Kasume Tendou in Ranma 1/2, Rune Venus in El-Hazard, Kazami Mizuho in Onegai Teacher, Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist, Miria in Claymore, Grace O’Connor in Macross Frontier, Akane in Higurashi, and Cecile in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. She answered questions at Otakon.

Inoue was also accompanied by Hidenori Matsubara, the character designer of Ah! My Goddess, the show Inoue is best known for.

Continue Reading »

4 Comments »

I wrote this on the train home from San Diego, at the conclusion of Comic-Con 2009. For me, this is the end of the con season; I don’t anticipate going to New York Anime Festival this year and it’s up in the air if I will return to Pacific Media Expo. Before I flood y’all with videos, I’d like to take stock of what the last month or so has been like for me as editor of Anime Diet, and as an avid con-going fan of anime.

To put it briefly: Anime Expo 2009 was more about work, and Comic Con was more about fun.

Note: this is not really a review of the conventions as conventions, of which there is plenty to talk about out separately. You can find out more about that in the forthcoming videos. This is more about what the cons felt like subjectively.

Continue Reading »

3 Comments »

In case you guys haven’t seen or heard of this one yet, see below.

Don’t see the point? Play it over and over and over and over again. Get it on your players/phones/whatever and let everyone around you hear!  You should play it really loud in the rush hour and share the joy with everyone around you!

1 Comment »

This is it folks–the official recording of our panel with Anime Genesis and How a Girl Figures at Anime Expo 2009, the Indecent Otaku Comedy Hour! If you missed it, this is what happened. Enjoy!

1 Comment »

Scores
Animation: 90%
Music: 95%
Voice Acting (dub): 85%
Story: 89%
Overall: 88%

See explanation of scores below.

Ponyo is Hayao Miyazaki’s most joyous film since Porco Rosso, and the purest evocation of childhood he’s done since My Neighbor Totoro. After flirting with darker and more surreal themes in the past several films since Princess Mononoke, he has returned to deliver a delightful film that entertained the young adult audience at the premiere and should please even the youngest children.

Continue Reading »

4 Comments »

6:34 PM – people are still filing in. Looks like this will be a popular panel.

6:39 PM – Lantis is putting anime music on iTunes US. Haruhi OST, Shuffle, Oneigai Teacher, Hirano Aya, JAM Project, etc.

6:40 PM – why is it that Powerpoint presentations rarely come off smoothly? Kannagi, of course, was revealed at Otakon already.

6:41 PM – severe popping and feedback in an attempt to play Kannagi trailer. It’s pretty awful to tell the truth. Wait–now it’s working.

6:43 PM – Pre-selling vol 2 of Kannagi with an exclusive T-shirt.

6:44 PM – Bandai’s Youtube channel includes Kurokami, Gundam 00, etc

6:45 PM – Eureka 7 theatrical movie: “Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers.” To be released in 432 theaters on Sept 24th (tix on sale on August 21) in the US. Now playing trailer. One night only. Dubbed.

6:47 PM – Sword of the Stranger trailer.

6:49 PM – Kurokami OP. Heh, I remember when this was only showing on a channel. Now they finally turn off the lights too.

6:51 PM – Code Geass trailer. R2 DVDs out in August.

6:54 PM – Gundam 00 first season trailer. (corrected from 2nd season). Available already (July 21).

6:56 PM – Gurren Lagann trailer. I think I’ll be skipping the rest of the trailers.

7:02 PM – I remember when they licensed Hayate at last year’s AX…it’s only now they’re putting out DVDs.

7:11 – Manga updates, and then Q&A. Looks like no new license announcements. I guess the Otakon bomb was enough.

I think that’s good for today. Maybe I’ll go to Viz and Funi if they have one too.

No Comments »

Mike is currently at San Diego Comic Con! Follow @gendomike for live minute-by-minute updates. We got free wifi here too, courtesy of Google–so expect some occasional liveblogging too. Thanks for saving me about $50, Google!

Getting my press badge was surprisingly fast–I waited barely 5 minutes in line. I don’t think I’ll be going to Day 0/Preview Night to get my press credentials anymore. It’s clearly faster to do it on Day 1 instead.

Here’s the tentative schedule for today that’s anime related:

4:30-5:30pm : Best and Worst Manga of 2008-9
I’m mostly going to this because I’ve met a couple of the panelists before–Deb Aoki of manga.about.com, and Gia of AnimeVice. I’ll say hi to them, at least!

6:30-7:30pm: Bandai Panel
Yes, I know, I didn’t do any industry panels at AX. Well, I’ve got time and energy to do one this year, and probably to liveblog as well. They did that stunt with their Kannagi release already at AX–will they have anything else to announce?

Tomorrow, of course is Hayao Miyazaki Day in which I will be getting up very early to go to the 12:45 PM Disney Animation panel which will have him and John Lasseter of Pixar together…and, later that night, a premiere of Ponyo on a Cliff introduced personally by Miyazaki himself. Expect this day to be full of interviews in line. Oh, there will be much line waiting. Yes indeed. And, let’s hope, there will be footage.

Anyways. Keep up with what’s happening on my Twitter channel, @gendomike. More reportage to come!

No Comments »

From ANN -

Osaka Abandons Totoro Lawn Art Due to Copyright Issues (Updated)

…city of Osaka has decided…authorized by the copyright holders. The lawn art is located…A man erected…

Ray’s Take: well, it seems like Ghibli really doesn’t give a fuck about people erecting them. I wonder what that old tree-hugging hippie thinks about that?

No Comments »