New Home for Randy's Adventures in Anime!

That's right!  My Adventures in Anime blog is moving (again) so that it will be completely hosted on my ACTUAL website!!!  Are you following this blog?  Are you subscribed?  Make sure to change your feeds to follow the new site at:

ohthosesillyotaku.com/RandysAdventuresinAnime!!!!

While you're there, check out some other stuff too!  May I suggest the podcast section?  Episode 5 just came out yesterday, afterall :D

Spring 2010 Edition -- Detour, etc.

Ahh, the wonders of an anime convention.  Time with friends, meeting new people, learning new things about the industry and great shows/manga you love at panels, and lots of spending.

Why don't we start with the spending part?  Here's my haul for this year:

 

Tenchi Universe Figures Series One and Two (Series 3 was sold out.  Rightly so, it had Ryoko, Mihoshi, and Nagi)

My little Dragon Ball Kai Trunks phone charm with attached sword.  It's on my phone as we speak.

@kynaru bought me this AWESOME Shenlong piggy bank.  Perfect for all my tip change! Can't wait to show up to the bank with this puppy :D

A couple of different Dragon Ball Z gashapon figures.  Neat-o collection additions.

And my cute little Son Gohan keychain which, yes, is with my keys right now.

Yeah, that's all the stuff I got myself, but I also was charged with buying some stuff for my supervisor from work and got her a bunch of stuff.  FUN TIMES!!!

Panel-wise, I attended a few of them this year.  

Zombies Pwn Your Anime: a panel where debate is waged on whether or not your favorite anime could stand up to a zombie apocalypse

.hack// Discussion Forum: sitting down and getting a run down on what the series is, how to go about exploring it, and discussing some of the interesting points behind the series.

Team Fourstar Panel: Lanipator from Team Fourstar talked a lot about what goes on behind the legendary Team Fourstar and premiered Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged ep 18 as well as a preview of DBZ Abridged 14.  AWESOME GUY!!!

Other than that, there was food, hanging out in the hotel and blowing through Bleach season one in 3 days, and LOTS of TF2 cosplay sillyness.

Well-run con this time around.  Great job to all the AD staff!  Hoping they can figure out their dilemma with dealers room and main stage next year.  Hurrah!

Don't forget to check out Oh Those Silly Otaku! and it's podcast.  New episode will be up tonight (I hope -.-) 

Spring 2010 Edition -- Anime Spectacle Spectacular!

Yo ho, everyone!!

Checked out the podcast yet?  Make sure to check back early tomorrow morning for our next episode.  We're talking about Outlaw Star this go around.  As always, these discussions contain spoilers, but it's over 10 years old at this point.  Watch it (LEGALLY) and come back to listen.

Whew!  Tons of anime stuffages this week.  To start off, I got my Lucky Star set early last week YAY!!!!  Apparently Bandai didn't have enough to fulfill distributor demands on release day, but RightStuf got another shipment on Thursday and then it was mine.  I got through the first 2 discs, one episode to go on disc 3 and then the rest.  Watching it was going smoothly until something else came along.  What is it?

ONE PIECE!!!

 

Yeah, so that's gonna keep me busy for a bit.  20ish episodes of Shonen awesomeness!  Now to just get Andrew off of WoW to watch it with me LOL

Oh yeah, and a local anime convention, Anime Detour, is happening this week and your's truly will be there enjoying the awesomeness that is an anime con.  I'll be looking for some One Piece and Dragon Ball CD's, charms/keychains and posters.  Horrah!  And if some figures catch my eye and I can't live without them and they're a cheap price, those will also be mine.

Will update you afterward with my awesome loot.  Back to trying to get Andrew in on the One Piece sweetness.

Oh Those Silly Otaku! The Podcast has its second episode up!

Hey, my podcast has a new episode.  Hurrah for our Death Note discussion episode spectacular!  I know, it's super early on Monday, but I just really wanted to get it out there!  I hope we can get more listeners and I would LOVE to hear from you guys.

You can email us at "Oh Those Silly Otaku! The Podcast" at raia.otso@gmail.com with questions and comments.  Since we're pretty new I'm pretty sure you've got a good chance of getting your email read on our next show (which also may or may not actually be our Naruto episode).

Subscribe to the feed in your browser or, better yet, your entertainment media manager (I don't know how iTunes works, but for Zune you just have to subscribe with a URL) and add http://feeds.feedburner.com/OhThoseSillyOtakuThePodcast to your podcast subscriptions!  That way you can get new episodes the instant they go up!

Remember, email us at raia.otso@gmail.com!!!!

Oh Those Silly Otaku! The Podcast has it's own place!

Oh Those Silly Otaku! The Podcast Website

Here is where you can find all our wonderful exploits in podcastery.  Listen, subscribe, spread the word!  New episodes on Mondays!

Spring 2010 Edition -- Oh Bandai...

Howdy, people!

So, what did you think of the podcast?  YOU DIDN'T LISTEN TO IT?!?!  It's only ~38 minutes!  Oh, you did listen to it?  Great!  Well, I've gotten to punching up the outline for our next episode so look forward to that in the next few days.  Heads up, we're talking about Naruto.

Oh, the post title?  Well...

So Bandai...they're a North American anime distributor has had a rough few years.  They've had numerous delays of new products, new products with no dubs produced in order to save money, basically they're just trying to stay afloat.  I like to give them my money because they overall do a good job and I want them to stick around.  If you kept up with my blog, you know I was looking to buy stuff last month when there was a sale on all their stuff and I ended up ordering the Lucky Star Complete Collection Anime Legends box set.

See, the set is cheaper than buying the remaining 5 discs that I need so the box was the best way to go.  This box, as with other Anime Legends sets, is most likely just a box with the original single disc prints inserted.  Shouldn't be hard to release, right?  Well, it was "released" yesterday.  I say that with quotations because my pre-order is currently on back-order and they are waiting for more to show up.  What about other retailers?  Best Buy has it for cheaper than TRSI's discount price...but it's currently on back-order as well.

Lucky Star is a good show and, from what I can observe, popular among the otaku so it's reasonable for this set to sell a few to the guys like me who waited and didn't buy any/all of the single releases.  But it's not something that's in super-high demand and not being able to fulfill pre-orders at the very least tells me that they don't have the product ready, but I haven't heard anything about an official delay of the set.

*Sigh* C'mon Bandai, it can't be that tough for you, can it?  Don't tell me this love affair is over...

Spring 2010 Edition -- A podcast?!

Sorry, sorry I haven't updated since March 12th.  I really didn't mean for such an extended break.  Can I make it up to you?  Can I?  I think I have something you might enjoy!

This episode we decided to talk and discuss The Slayers.  And not just The Slayers, but Slayers NEXT and Slayers TRY.  Good stuff!

Do you like anime?  Do you like discussions on anime?  Do you like discussions on anime that involve Oprah,  Hulk Hogan, Pocari Sweat, cleavage, and obscure internet history lessons?  Then please, PLEASE, give this little podcast episode I threw together with mah buddy Max.  Tell me what you think, give us some topic ideas, send in some e-mails!  That way we can get more variety in our episodes in our future endeavors!

Oh Those Silly Otaku! The Podcast episode 001

Note: yeah, I got the html wrong, its supposed to be http://randysadventuresinanime.blogspot.com/ MY BAD!

Winter 2010 Edition -- Purchasing Decisions

Guess what?  Well, if you follow my twitter or are a friend on Facebook you know, but I beat Lunar.  26 hours of old fashioned RPG goodness.  Did any of you buy it yet?  DO IT!

I had so many ideas for a blog post this morning as I rode the bus, but now at 11:30AM I can't remember a thing.  I had time to think because I misplaced my ZuneHD and couldn't find it before needing to dash out the door and make my bus so it was a quiet morning.  So yeah, no music and I could think and now I sit down to write and I've got nothing.  I'm hoping this endless rambling will get my head in the game and fill me in on what I forgot.

Not really anime, but tangentially related and something to fill the page, I got Final Fantasy XIII (on PS3 of course).  I held a 24 hour poll on Twitter and Facebook on what I should get for my birthday: Final Fantasy XIII or Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver.  Pokemon won by one vote.  I vetoed that process and got FFXIII anyway.  Why?  Andrew and I can enjoy it together a LOT easier than a handheld title like Pokemon and it is more expensive and getting it for a gift made it free to me (also used my Reward Zone card at Best Buy when I got it and extra points is always good) so good times!  Only an hour or two in.  Fought the Fal'Cie in the Pulse Vestige and had a flashback to Day 11.  If you haven't played the game obviously this is all lost to you, but hopefully someone reading this gets it.

I do doubt my mother is playing Final Fantasy XIII, though. >. >

Oh!!  Bandai is having a sale over on Right Stuf and Randy just got paid.  I think he should at least get something for himself before the sale ends.  But what?


I could pre-order that Lucky Star set.  I own the first single DVD, the collection would be cheaper than purchasing the remaining singles (Duh, its a collection.  It's what they do.) and I would like to finish it.  Contrary to what I thought it was (loli-fetishism that would be super creepy to both watch and have on my shelf) it's a really cute, funny, referential show that is only funny to those that watch a ton of anime.  It would help if I watched some Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya as there are jokes-a-plenty for that show, but it's all still funny.

I could re-buy the first DVD of .hack//ROOTS and get the soundtrack CD, T-Shirt, and that delicious artbox to hold all of my singles.  While it would be cool to have a box to hold the DVDs, not to mention the first OST CD I'm missing to complete the set, it would be a repurchase that I doubt I would watch any time soon.

I could get at least the first half of Big-O.  It's a classic and really holds some nostalgia for me.  Unfortunately I'd only have enough to buy the first set and couldn't complete the collection.  Some is better than none, right?  Think of it as Batman meets mecha anime.  It's funny, its cute, is action-packed, its serious drama.  It's everything you'd want in an anime.  This show also doesn't get the amount of love it deserves and giving money their way and saying,"Hey, I like this show!" is always nice.

And then there's this.  Yeah, its Escaflowne...disc 4.  See, Andrew has the box set of Escaflowne so he has it all (sans the movie).  One day while I was at his old house, I lost my Megaman Anniversary Collection disc and was sad forever.  Until I was looking through his Escaflowne box and found my missing Megaman game.  HOORAY!  Wait, if that's in this box then that means...disc 4 of this set is missing.  Yeah, I'll probably throw this in an order since its $3 new and finishing that box would be great since I never did see all of it and I'm pretty sure I still need to watch that disc ^_^

Oh! Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team! I haven't seen this since I was in 8th grade and it was playing on Toonami's Midnight Run.  I remember it being awesome and having the whole collection for $26 is not that bad.  What's it about?  Well, its Mobile Suit Gundam except its a whole military squad that has the Gundams and they are trying to stop another army from building a huge Gundam Armor thingy that kills all the stuff.  Oh yeah, the main dude is in love with a chick from the opposing army.  Yup, its Romeo and Juliet with giant robots!  Sweet!

Yup.  Gundam Wing.  More Gundam stuff.  I like it.  Andrew hates this one.  It's a classic.  I want it in my collection.  Cheap, but only half the show.

Jubei-chan.  I'm missing disc 1 and 4 from my collection of single releases and this set has it all for only $30.  Nice price, finishes my collection of it so I can make Andrew watch it, followed up by Jubei-chan 2 which I bought a couple years back.  Good stuff, but already watched.

Look!  It's that show I was talking about up there in the Lucky Star segment (Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)!  I dunno if I'd like it.  It was popular a couple years ago.  It would help Lucky Star be more funny.  I dunno and it's the most expensive of the bunch at $45, but hey, if so many people like it, it can't be THAT bad, right?

Oooh.  Andrew says this show is amazing.  I've only seen the first episode of Silent Mobius and I thought it was intriguing.  Having this celebrated series on my shelf for only $37 wouldn't be bad.  Besides, I know I would be able to watch it with Andrew's interest in said show being so high.  This is definitely in the running for being the one I choose.

It's been a while, Witch Hunter Robin.  I liked watching you on Adult Swim.  $37 ain't bad, but I remember the ending sucking something horrible.  Although, it is regarded as being one of the best anime to come out that year.  Hmmm...decisions decisions.

Oh, hello there Wolf's Rain.  You're on my shelf because a friend lent you to me, but you're not mine though.  You're pretty and the music is done by Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop fame) and all that.  I didn't much care for your finale either, but there are 4 bonus episodes I have yet to see of you.  Plus, you are also claimed as a classic and I must have those, ya know.  Again, $37 is hard to turn down.

Okay, so that's what I was pondering on the bus this morning.  Bandai's sale.  If you're interested in any of these or other Bandai titles, check out www.rightstuf.com before the sale ends March 15th.  Also, if you wanna get me a birthday present, I've already written out a handy wishlist just above!  Kidding, kidding.

Thanks all.  If you have any input as to what you think I should purchase, leave a comment or something, okay?

Laterz!!!

Winter 2010 Edition -- Long Overdue

Hello!!

It's been a while and I'm sure you can guess that since Lunar: SSH came out I have been playing like a madman. You know what?  You're completely right.  I...uh...even skipped class on Wednesday to play.  Look, it was a workday for both classes and I did laundry and the like while I was home so I was productive in some sense!

How is it?  It's fantastic.  Utterly fantastic.  The soundtrack is beautiful to listen to and the game is just pure joy.  Get it.  NOW.

So, have I been up to anything else?  Hmm...well, in the past week Andrew and I did start and finish a little show.  You may have heard of it:

Yup, wonderful and super cool Cowboy Bebop.  I've seen it before a couple of times, Andrew's seen it before but couldn't remember much, so it was quite enjoyable...except he didn't much care for the ending.  I, on the other hand, liked it, but felt it could have done more.  It had two whole episodes to resolve Spike's story and it somehow wasted it all.  The final battle with our seldom-seen, often-heard-about villain was incredibly short, but with what little time it used for concluding the series, it tied up most of the loose ends.

Mostly it was fun just watch with the show being gorgeously drawn and animated.  This really is a treat to watch as I completely forgot how well done the animation and art is for this show and the music, by none other than Yoko Kanno herself, is superb.  Even those that aren't fans of anime will really dig this title.

What's next?  We watched all of Bebop (oh, except that bonus Session 0 episode, which I need to find on one of the 6 discs) and there is PLENTY more on the shelf to watch an enjoy, but what will it be?  While watching AMV Hell 4, Andrew expressed interest in watching Serial Experiments LAIN, which I do own, but still have the last disc lent out to a friend and with it only being 13 episodes long I can see we'd run into a bit of trouble.  Maybe something I've had for a good long while?  Karas?  Or maybe something like Gungrave to follow up Bebop?

We shall see.  We shall see indeed.  Anyways, I've gotta get back to class and listening to the Lunar: Silver Star Harmony soundtrack whilst I work.

Laterz!

Winter 2010 Edition -- What was lost is found

So I started cleaning my room.  I do like my room clean and I needed to desperately clean my stuff up...but there was another reason for tearing my room apart and rearranging my junk: I had no idea where my PSP was!

Back during Winter break, I went back home to my parents place to hang out with them and see my sister and brother-in-law for the holidays.  My bro-in-law David is an avid Kingdom Hearts fan and gaming fan just as I am.  So I figured I'd bring all my gaming junk like my DS (acutally, Andrew's DSlite) and PSP to play with him.  When we went back home, everything was packed in various bags and the like.  I had no need to play my PSP for a good long while, so I set it aside and it was forgotten.

Fast-forward to yesterday when I find that I NEED to play the Lunar: Silver Star Harmony demo.  You know, this stuff --

and now I have found my PSP.  In short, my room is still kind of in shambles, but some parts are cleaned up and I'm well on my way to a cleaner room and I got my PSP.  Happy day!  Got the demo, beat it, saved clear data for the real game, and pre-ordered the limited edition (pictured above) so I get the BADASS soundtrack (it's the original score completely redone for this release done by the same ingenious man Noriyuki Iwadare) and bromide cards.  SWEET!

Yeah, I'm kind of a big LUNAR fan.  It was my first RPG (other than Pokemon) when I was 11 or so when my uncle Timmy rented it, didn't like RPGs and had it out on rental for a week.  He knows I like cartoony junk like this, so he lets me play it for the duration of his rental.  Being the young pirate I was, I had my dad burn a copy of the game, soundtrack, and making of disc to use in my modded PS1 before sending it back to Premiere Video.  I played it, set it down for a year or two, then came back and beat the hell out of that game and still jam out to the soundtrack to this day.

Anyhow, besides Bioshock 2 and other various games, I've watched a little more Dragon Box Z2.  Vegeta just kicked the crap outta Zarbon, Son Goku got his butt handed to him by a malfunctioning artificial gravity machine, and Kuririn is an idiot who accidentally got caught by Vegeta.

I watched one more episode of Tenchi Muyo! GXP where Seina was on his ship training as a Galaxy Police cadet.  Good times!

More to report later, and if you love RPGs, XSEED is releasing LUNAR: Silver Star Harmony in the US on March 2nd.  BUY IT!

Winter 2010 Edition -- Weekend of Little Anime

Yo, everyone!

Funny thing, I didn't get to watch much this weekend.  Having a car accident and then getting absorbed into Bioshock really sapped my time, besides work of course.  And I am so close to beating Bioshock I can taste it.  Anime will be put on the back burner for now.

BUT I did do SOME watching.

I got my stuff in last week, like I said.  So, since my Magical Project S set is episodes 14-26 and Randy here hasn't even seen episode 1, I haven't touched it.  Pretty Sammy/Mihoshi Special on the other hand I DID watch.

The Mihoshi Special was...different.  It was released in Japan halfway through the first two OVA sessions (why it wasn't included in the OVA collection that was released is beyond me.  Increased sales, maybe?)  and had the same budget and the like of the OVA series and that is a total plus.  What was odd was (Oh yeah, I watched it in English, BTW) that the voices sounded a bit off.  No no no, its the same cast, but our star of this show was Mihoshi and she did not nail Mihoshi as she did during the OVA.  Can anyone tell me abouts when this was dubbed relative to other Tenchi media?  For that matter, I would like to know how the whole of Tenchi was dubbed period.  From what I can gather, it seemed like this would have been something up on the block first out of everything since some lines weren't on par with the rest of the series.  Then again, maybe it was done somewhere in the middle (the original Mihoshi VA is here, after all) and the actors really couldn't care less?  Who knows.

So, the story was interesting (telling of Mihoshi's Galaxy Police exploits by substituting Tenchi and company in the roles of people in the GP.  We also have Kiyone being a majoy role in a non TV/movie appearance, which was different and awesome.  Does this mean that GP Kiyone is actually a real, canon person in the Tenchi Muyo! universe?  Hmmm...

All in all, it was okay, but not great.

Pretty Sammy:

Okay, so its a magical girl anime using Tenchi Muyo! character likenesses to invent a whole new show.  It looks nice, the music and sounds are recycled from the OVA/TV series (that's a plus) and its actually pretty entertaining.  I just wish, after being spoiled by the likes of Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura, that the special attacks and transformations had a little more pizazz to them as well as a bit more quality too them.  They aren't treated as something special with a higher budget and a higher frame count.  It's just another scene and doesn't really tell us to be wowed.

The story was short, 3 episode OVA, and was interesting in how everything was shown and each episode was distinctly different than the last.  Definitely worth the money for this set.

So, what's next?  Well, I still have that backlog of anime to watch (AFTER I finish Bioshock, of course) and finishing that Dragon Box.

Speaking of which, back when I got the first one super early in November, I recorded a video review of the product, but never got to editing and polishing it up.  I was itching for a creative outlet so I went ahead and did it.  Yeah, I won't post it cuz its MONTHS old and pointless at this point, but I think I did a good job and maybe I'll do some video reviews of things as time goes on.  Are you interested?  Let me know what you think.

Later!!

Legend of Dragonworld Saves the Day

Guess what arrives today?

 

  

Actually, that Magical Project S shot is from the first set, RightStuf only had the second, but it was cheaper than other online retailers so I snagged it while I could.  That Pretty Sammy/Mihoshi Special is also one of the last dozen that RightStuf had and since it's long since out of print, I thought I really should get it while the getting was good.  Where does that put me now?  Well, I only need Magical Project S Part 1 to complete my entire Tenchi Muyo! library.  FINALLY!!!  It really had been a dream ever since I was, oh, about 14 and got in my Malaysian VCD edited copy of the original Tenchi Muyo! OVA collection.

Let's see, what else is there?

Well, I'm on disc 2 of Dragon Box Vol. 2 and LOVING IT!  I forgot how much I really enjoy the Namek arc.  Every time I sit down to watch it and think "Okay, just get through this fast so you can get to the Ginyu and Freeza stuff," and I get 2 minutes into it and realize I love these episodes too.  Toriyama was really in his zone for writting for this arc.  Everything is so intricately interwoven and there aren't any gaping plot holes and the art (when its a good animation studio) is jaw-dropping gorgeous.  What else can I say?  I love me some Dragon Ball.

Speaking of which; I don't know how any of you (anyone actually there?) have something they enjoy so very much to the point where you can't stand to listen to other people talk about it because they don't understand it or just are talking out of there ass, but Dragon Ball is that to me.

I was sitting in class, waiting for stuff to get going.  Just sitting at my computer, doin' whatever when a couple of guys across the room start talking about Dragon Ball...like idiots.  Just, everything felt so wrong.  Did I have a panic attack?  Hyperventilate?  Piss my pants?  Cry like a little girl?  No, but maybe all of those happened to the little me in my head; instead I quickly reached for my Zune and started up some Legend of Dragonworld to help save me.  Ahh, real Dragon Ball goodness without the taintedness of other non-passionate, ill-informed fans surrounding me.

I'm sure I can think of a couple of people I know that might feel/react the same way, so if you think I'm freaking off my rocker with this little story, you don't know me well :D

Hmmm...I'm sure there is more, but I'm distracted by needing to get out of this classroom in the next couple of minutes and knowing I can't watch GXP on the bus ride home since Randy the ever amazing idiot he is somehow screwed up getting the subtitles on his episodes so he'd be watching them raw if he chose to watch them today.  Sigh.  I know some would say, "This is why you should just watch it in English and you wouldn't have these problems," and yeah, that's true.  But it all comes down to personal preference and I'm too invested in these actors and their portrayal of their roles to enjoy the series any other way, even if it means not enjoying it temporarily at all.

Anyhow, guess I'm about to get kicked out, so I will see you all later!

Winter 2010 Edition -- DRAGON BOX

BAM! Dragon Box screens!!!  Also, if you're new to my blog, follow me or something.  I think I write some interesting stuff to nerds like me at least ^_^

Winter 2010 Edition -- One of those Magical Days

Hello everyone!!!

You ever have one of those days where everything awesome happens at once?

First, I finally got some money so I was able to go out and buy No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Yes, I have a laundry list of things to watch and play and this is only fueling the fire, but M rated games on the Wii need support and I'm voting with my dollars here (Suda51 is the man and should be appreciated for the fine products he makes).

When I called my phone banking service, I heard that I was $50 short of what I expected it to be. What happened? I haven't used my bank card in days and all my transactions were accounted for and I wouldn't have overdrafted, so what was it? I race home and check my bank account and find that I was charged something fromRightStuf.com. I only have one outstanding order, which isn't even scheduled for release until the 16th of February. This is RightStuf here, and when they get in their shipment of FUNimation products out the door they go, even if they are substantially early. This can only mean one thing: Dragon Box Z 2 is on its way!!!

I mean, this is Dragon Ball Z we are talking about. Of course I'm psyched to watch episodes I've seen dozens of times ^_^ And its Dragon Box quality, so I won't have to see washed out colors and be subjected to Vegeta Bukake Syndrome (although I'm sure I've got fan-art of something CLOSE to that :3). Hurrah!

[Here's what I'm talking about if you're lost} http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzppMu976Iw&feature=related

Then I went to go check the mail and guess what was there? That's right! My replacement for Tenchi Muyo! GXP! I rip it open and the box is crisp, pristine, angelic. It's fantastic. TRSI also tossed in a special edition of Shonen Jump as well (basically a giant advertisement for subscribing to the magazine), so thanks a lot RightStuf!

So tonight I've been watching Tenchi Muyo! GXP and waiting to get Andrew away from his computer to play some NMH and excited to see a certain friend and give her a special gift ^_^

Hope to see you all soon and don't be shy about leaving comments right here on blogger. You can comment using a blogger login, livejournal, or without one at all! Just tell me what you think or what you'd like to hear from me or what you'd like to see me talk about. I'm willing to take ideas for posts, ya know!

Laterz :p

Winter 2010 Edition -- Jamie Made My Day

Hola, everybody!

Do you ever get that magical feeling? That one when you find someone to totally fantard out with? Well, I did last night. Funny thing was, I've been great friends with this guy since the 3rd grade! Yeah we have lots in common and we could talk about some nerdy stuff, but last night was just amazing.

I lent him my Dragon Ball Z season sets last week on the condition that he give it a shot in Japanese. That's how I like my Dragon Ball, folks. Deal with it.

From his mouth (erm...fingers...it was a text message), " So I watched the first two episodes. 1. Japanese is 10X better!..."

He then went on to use proper names like "Son Gohan" and the like. Hearing *cough*reading*cough* things like that just bring a smile to my face. Finally, another person that I can enjoy the magic that is Japanese Dragon Ball with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45vw7onKbis

That's how it should be watched!!!

I can honestly say I did not expect Jamie to get into it in Japanese since we both started watching the dub on Toonami and that's all he was ever exposed to. Well, that's not true, my copy of Dragon Ball GT Final Bout that we played all the time had Japanese voice samples for the actual fighting lol.

He's only two episodes in through all 291 that I lent him, so this'll be a fun journey!

Winter 2010 Edition -- One Disc In [Tenchi Muyo! GXP]

I'm gonna try something here and say I'll do a review. This isn't a formal review on a series as a whole, but instead its more of a first thoughts response to a series based on the first disc. Afterall, the beginning should be enough to keep you hooked on watching more and buying more, right? Without further ado, lets get this started...
Tenchi Muyo! GXP

Technically, I'm not all the way done with disc 1 (only episode 5 eludes this review), but I wanted to at least post about something during my break. What is this show anyways?

Tenchi Muyo! GXP is a series aired on television spanning 26 episodes. It follows in the same timeline as prior OVAs (Original Video Animations that have a higher budget than television series and are intended for straight to video distribution rather than airing on a network) Tenchi Muyo! OVA 1 and 2 and Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki/OVA 3. Instead of centering on the same cast of Tenchi, Ryoko, Aeka, etc. this time around we're treated to an acquaintance of Tenchi's, Seina Yamada. He's a boy with the worst luck in the galaxy and he's just been thrown into the Galaxy Police pretty haphazardly. Now he's away from Earth and being exposed to life in space for the first time. As if that wasn't enough, he's got a huge group of girls that want all of his attention.

Yup, its a harem anime. A funny one. A really well done harem anime that isn't all about fanservice (worry not, there are cleavage shots for those of you needing fanservice in a harem anime) and keeps it going with the funny and has some really engaging characters. I'm not going to lie, I fell in love with Amane as soon as she opened her mouth.

What is a big plus here is the reuse of sound effects and and gags from the original 90's that really lets you feel at home with this series. It keeps the charm as well as the confusion that is the Tenchi franchise. Confusion you ask? Lets just say that all the characters in this show have the strangest, most convoluted family tree in the history of...well, anything.

Here's a family tree of ONE family in the series made by the people over at Tenchi Muyo Another Universe:





The series is very good so far. I'm enjoying it far more than OVA 3 which came out after GXP and was supposed to be a direct continuation of the original OVA series. This one is far more faithful and enjoyable.

If your a harem anime fan or a Tenchi fan, so far this series is a must see. Its also a very good series in general and the casual fan should really give it a shot too.

Randy's Adventures in Anime - Winter 2010 Edition - Finally Getting Somewhere

Hey there everyone!

Okay so I did it. I got somewhere. I finally finished The Slayers TRY! *trumpets, confetti, assorted fanfare* Slayers TRY is the third series in the epic saga of Lina Inverse, a black magician and the friends she meets along the way and their adventures to get rich...and save the world occasionally.

I got through a good chunk on Friday during commutes and downtime thanks to my awesome Zune HD. I'd ripped a couple of discs and slapped on there for just those occasions. I finished episode 25 on the way home and consequently watched the finale on the couch snuggled under a blanket. And this is where The Slayers TV series came to a close...in 1997. Since then there has been two more Slayers series, one in 2007 and another in 2008. The next season set of those comes out on my birthday (March 16th) and the other set is yet to be announced for its arrival. Luckily, the awesome people at FUNimation have all the episodes of the two newest seasons/series Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R on their site for free viewing.

I will be buying the DVDs though. $45 just seems kinda steep for 13 episodes that I don't really need ASAP and can wait for a collected set of the two a while down the road for cheaper. (This coming from the guy that DOES put down the $45 for each 12-13 episode set of One Piece.)

All in all Slayers TRY was AMAZING and is probably my favorite series of them all so far. Hilarious humor, wonderful story, great characters, brilliant effects and battles, I could go on and on. The scope of this series is just amazing and traveling with Lina and company is always a fun adventure.

[This series was watched completely through in Japanese.]

Afterward, I opened up my copy of Tenchi Muyo! GXP and gave that a watch. Even though the original characters only make cameo appearances in one episode, I am still upset that the original English cast was not brought back. So I popped it in and started the series in Japanese and am loving it. It's directed by Shinichi Watanabe (the man behind Excel Saga) and is very good. In fact, I'm liking it even more than OVA 3 which came out just a couple years afterward. But maybe I should have watched OVA 3 in Japanese since, even though most of the original English cast (Most means it excludes Petrea Burchard, pretty much the one that really makes or breaks the series) came back for that one it seemed like the magic was just gone with them.

On that Tenchi Muyo! GXP note...

I ordered it from RightStuf for quite a bargain. It was originally $89.99 for the box and I nabbed it for about $24. NICE! Everything seemed okay until I put the box on my shelf and felt something odd; the bottom of the art box had a sizable dent.

Yeah, I emailed them asking what we could do about that. Yes, it may seem petty, but when it comes down to it I'm a collector trying to really get a solid library going and the case matters just as much as the media itself. If you bought a new car and it had a dent or scratch, you could settle for it since it doesn't affect the cars ability to drive, but it's labeled as mint condition and I'm getting what I paid for.

Rather than recount it all, here's the email exchanges...

Hello Randy-
I'm sorry to hear about that.

Unfortunately, your picture was a little blurry, but I was able to see what you meant. Also, it appears that this item is a Bargain Bin item, and per our Bargain Bin Policy (found on our site at http://www.rightstuf.com/rssite/customerService/FAQs/#Bargain): "Even though they are new, previously unowned items, some may have been lightly scratched and/or scuffed during the return process. Below is a list of some of the possible flaws an item may have:

• scratched case or cover
• a wrinkle in the cover
• a dented case corner
• the item may be a single volume from a multi-volume set

Item listings in the Bargain Bin are not specifically noted with every possible handling issue. Structurally, each item is in excellent condition prior to shipping, with no loose discs, for example. Collectors should be warned that, due to these extreme price cuts, "mint condition" cannot be guaranteed for Bargain Bin items.

Please Note: Sales from the Bargain Bin are final with no returns accepted for the cosmetic conditions listed above. If you feel you have received an item that is damaged beyond the above conditions, please see our Returning Merchandise Policy.

From what I can tell on the picture it looks to be a pretty good size dent. Even though all Bargain Bin sales are final as it states above, I might be able to persuade someone to allow me to set up an exchange, but I can't guarantee that your replacement copy will be in better condition.

Just let me know what you would like to do.

Thank you,

Brandon B.

And here's me back...

Ah, well its good to know for the future. Unfortunately, for that series, I had a choice between that and the shoddily packaged Viridian Collection edition that is infamously known for being easily damaged.

I do apologize for the blurry picture, but that was the best of the batch in trying to show the dent as the gloss of the box resulted in glare that would often interfere with what I was trying to display.

If you could, that would be great. I do most of my anime shopping through RightStuf and am always impressed with both the items I obtain and the level of service you provide. If it's doable, then lets do it. Considering neither you nor I will know the condition of the set until it arrives, can we do something along the lines of you sending the new set with a return box and I can send back the undesired one? I know that takes trust on your part and if you can't do that, I completely understand. I just think that would make us both happy in the end; I get the set in the most pristine condition possible and you don't hear any more complaints from me, heh.

Thanks for all your help and assistance, Brandon.

Randy Thompson
Minnesota

And here's their response...

Hello Randy-
OK, I pulled some strings and was able to convince a supervisor to let me send you a replacement. I have the replacement set up for you to be processed and hopefully shipped on Monday or Tuesday. I also noted the replacement to pick the best available copy we have in the warehouse.

As for the one you have, you can go ahead and dispose of it or do whatever you want with it.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Thank you,
Brandon B.

Is this guy freaking amazing or what? I don't think I've had this level of awesome from any customer service ever. This guy deserves a medal. RightStuf, you are all fantastic and I'm so glad to do business with you. It never hurts to ask, eh? (Or the fact that I've bought a few hundred bucks of DVDs from them in the past year.)

Other than all of that, not too much in my adventures (Though I'd say that Friday was an adventure in itself.)

What's will be new this week? Only time will tell. Will I burn through GXP? Will I get sidetracked with a game or some other series? If I do, you'll be the first to know!

Later, and thanks for reading everyone!

Randy's Adventures in Anime - Winter Edition - My Strange Obsession

(NOTE: Originally posted on my livejournal account on January 20th, 2010)

Tenchi Muyo! GXP is on its way so I should be psyched, right? Okay, I am, but there's something big on my mind, too: What do I have left?

Tenchi is a franchise that spans many many MANY different series (some that are even alternate realities of the original OVA series) and so far I've got a good bunch. I've got the original Tenchi Muyo! OVA 1,2, and 3 (Ryo-Ohki!), Tenchi Universe, Tenchi in Tokyo, all 3 feature films, GXP is on its way. All I have left is the Pretty Sammy/Mihoshi Special and Magical Project S. I'm not counting the magical girl series that came out most recently as its not even Tenchi at that point (you could almost argue the same about GXP as he's almost completely absent :p)

You see, I have this desire, this need to complete an epic collection of anime. Mostly for myself, to watch and have bragging rights, but also for my friends so they can watch whatever they might want to watch!

I spend a good chunk of my entertainment fund on anime. In the last 12 months I spent (roughly) $923 on anime alone. Am I that sad of a human being?

Do you think I'm weird? You think I'm crazy? You think I'm awesome? I may be some or all of these, but I know that its a weird compulsion that will probably never be sated.

In other news I'm on episode 20 or so of Slayers TRY. I will finish that series, damnit!!!

Randy's Adventures in Anime - Winter Edition Part IV

(NOTE: Originally posted on my livejournal account on January 18th, 2010)

Good afternoon peoples.

Watched that next episode, 17, of Slayers TRY. Crazily enough, the character who seemed to look just like Kowaru Nagisa, named Kerel, was introduced sitting atop a rock on the beach in the same position as Kowaru. Yup, totally an awesome homage. Too bad the character is no where near as deep or cool. It was an Amelia centric episode (note: I am not an Amelia fan), but having Gourry come in later and be totally hilarious made it a good episode.

That's all I watched since yesterday, but I DID order that Tenchi Muyo! GXP and Read or Die OVA over the weekend and thought since they had been ordered within 5 minutes of each other that I could combine the orders to save some cash. RightStuf didn't open until this morning and I got an email back and said one of them was already mailed out no dice. No biggie, I'm just out $5 for shipping them separately.




Wanted to get some more shows, but don't have the cash since I need some in my account when my second Dragon Box gets mailed out (hopefully just a couple weeks away) and to pay my car payment this month. (I know my mother reads these so I'm sure she likes to hear I have that on my mind :p)

Had a couple of friends over the other day, one I hadn't seen in a couple weeks (Shane), another I hadn't seen in years since she moved to Vegas (Meg), and it was great. Found out Meg is a totally anime/manga nerd as well and we had some good convos on Naruto (NOTE: Good conversations of Naruto do indeed include sections of calling Sasuke a cry baby and making fun of him in general)



Besides, we all know his brother Itachi is the far superior ninja.



Shane was cool. We watched some BA fights from, what else? Dragon Ball Z. We also watched some AMVs and Dragon Ball Z: Abridged and had a great time. Turns out he isn't just a fan of the North American "ROCK MUSIC! PUNCH TO THE HEAD! FUCK YEAH! AMERICA!" dub of the show and can both appreciate and enjoy the original Japanese. He also commissioned me for a cool picture idea of some Dragon Ball characters in World of Warcraft armor sets. Should be pretty bad ass.

Well, if I have anything else worth talking about I'll edit this tonight, so to all, have a great day!

Randy's Adventures in Anime - Winter Edition Part III

(NOTE: Originally posted on my livejournal account on January 17th, 2010)

Okay, it's been a while and I don't have too much to report:

I've finished a disc of Gungrave
I'm no further in Tenchi in Tokyo!
I started watching the Dragon Box again
I'm making progress in Slayers TRY and just finished episode 16

I'm sure there is more that I'm leaving out, but that's about the big jist of it.

What's compelling, neat, and hilarious is what I saw this morning. I was getting ready for work when I got the call that we were completely dead (probably due to the fact of the Vikings are in some playoff game today) so what did I do? Watch anime. Slayers in particular.

I finished watching one episode and watched the next episode preview and was stricken by something super familiar. Familiar because it look like something out of one of my favorite animes of all time! Here, I'll even show you. Up first we have a screen grab from the next episode preview from Slayers TRY episode 16, next is the image I recognized right away:



That's right, Kowaru fucking Nagisa. HOLY CRAP! Yeah, it's a little different, but they are so much the same it isn't even funny. Okay, it is kind of funny. Is it a rip off? Possibly. Is it an homage? That's probably a little more reasonable. I mean, think about it; Neon Genesis (Shin Seikai) Evangelion was one of the biggest anime phenomena of the 90's and it aired in '95. Slayers TRY was out in '97. If they were going to reuse a design, hell a whole frame, from EVA they knew that it would be recognizable and certainly wouldn't do it thinking no one would notice and they would get away with it. I think homage is definitely the most logical assumption. Am I arguing? Who am I arguing with? Bah, guess I wanted to just get things clear in case anyone actually cares to comment and make sure no one takes this as me saying, "OMG taht's plagiarism! Slayers is so teh suxx! Lololololol :D"

So, yeah, Slayers is kind of where my anime interest is at right now. And I better finish it soon as Read or Die OVA is coming in the mail along with Tenchi Muyo! GXP. R.O.D. I've seen and loved and GXP, well I've only experienced the first disc and it was enjoyable so I want to finish watching it and add it to my collection. Now all I'll be missing is the Pretty Sammy/Mihoshi Special and Magical Project S if I get enough desire to purchase the latter. The new Sasami show? Not even Tenchi to me so I'll skip it and try to ignore its existence.

Well, hope everyone is doing well and hope this was kind of enjoyable. Hopefully next time I'll have something finished so I can talk about it and give a little review.

Later!

Randy's Adventures in Anime - Winter Edition Part II

(NOTE: Originally posted on my livejournal account on Dec 28th, 2009)

So it's been about a week. How much did I get done with? What else is new? Let's get to it and I hope this post is a little shorter.

Tenchi in Tokyo:
I watched a good chunk. I'm on disk 3 so that puts me at about episode 8-10. It's decent so far. I at least find it entertaining and wondering where the story goes. Who is this mysterious villain and what does she have to do with Sakuya? Oh, and about Sakuya. She seems to be the girl after Tenchi's heart, but from what I've seen of her (which isn't much. The girl doesn't get much screen time. Maybe it's for the best?) I don't enjoy her because she's such a shallow character.

What's new?

Well, as usual, I got some anime as gifts from family members. Here's what we got going from that:
Bleach Season One: The Substitute
Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion Part 2
Cowboy Bebop Remix Collection (A CLASSIC!)
Death Note LA Films 2 and L Change the World
Gungrave Complete Collection
El Hazard OVA 1 and 2 Collection (It's Andrew's, but it still counts.)
The Slayers first 3 seasons collection

Hmmm...I think that about covers it! I've watched the first 2 episodes of Gungrave and it seems interesting. I watched the first 4 or so years ago after I had beaten the game. It's different than the game and will prove to be entertaining...I hope.

I've seen the first disk or so of Bleach already, but I'm caught up on the manga.

Code Geass...I've watched the first set, but I don't remember too much. I'll have to rewatch the first set before I hit the second.

I'm in the middle of the 3rd season of Slayers (Slayers TRY) so I'll just continue from there.

We'll see how it all goes considering I got myself a new compy and finally being able to play all the games I've got is nice and I'm kinda preoccupied with those Heh Heh. Hopefully I can work out some time to also play Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World and Dragon Ball Tenka'ichi Daiboken/Revenge of King Piccolo as well.

I think that's it everyone. Hope to have good news in the next update!!!

Randy’s Adventures in Anime – Winter Break Edition No. 1

(NOTE: Originally published on my livejournal account.)

It’s been a long time since I updated this journal, so let’s kick it off with a new segment obviously called “Randy’s Adventures in Anime” which will detail my adventures in all things anime. The first installment will be a multi-part series detailing how things go for me and anime during my holiday break from school. Make sense? Well, let’s jump into it if it hasn’t quite clicked for you yet.

To let you know, I own a good chunk of anime. Not that I have a huge collection at all, but it has expanded to the point of me having more to watch than I have time for! I bit off more than I could chew you could say. The reason? Well I came across some good sales over at www.rightstuf.com and picked up a lot of titles; both titles that I desperately want to watch, others that I just want to have in my collection. I’m kind of working towards building a reputable library of titles for those times when friends talk about shows they love or loved and wish to see again and I can say, “I’ve got that! Come on over and we’ll blast through it all!”

I love to watch, study, and analyze anime and I love to share my stuff with friends.
So, here I’ve got a list of shows that I own, but haven’t either started or finished:

• .hack//ROOTS vol. 6
• Blue Seed
• Escaflowne
• Get Backers
• Karas
• Loveless
• Saiyuki
• Serial Experiments Lain
• Shin-Chan S1V1
• Tenchi Muyo! TV/ Tenchi Universe
• Tenchi in Tokyo
• X TV

So yeah, I’ve got a good ways to go. Now, keep in mind this list only includes series in which I own the complete sets and haven’t finished. If I threw everything in like Voltron, One Piece, Lucky Star, Hellsing Ultimate, etc. it would probably be 3 times longer, but I wouldn’t feasibly be able to finish them during this break due to finances being a bit tight.

I’ve stricken out Get Backers as I put that series to rest last weekend. A decent show, but a lack of background to new arrival characters during the last arc really hurt it. For the sake of brevity, I’ll address Get Backers another time as the next bit is gonna be rather long.

As you can see, Tenchi Universe has been stricken out as I finally put an end to it this past weekend. I had purchased both Universe and Tokyo last January and it’s been a long time coming. I had started loading episodes from my DVDs onto my Zune and watching during my commute to school and watched the last disc and a half or so from the DVD itself. I have watched this show before during its run on Toonami, but that was a good 9 years ago so it was definitely worth sitting through again. The show was great, even though it took a good amount of willpower to sit through the introduction episodes and time-travel arc. Now, it’s necessary to watch these to get to know the characters and to really get a flavor for the show, but after watching the OVA so many times I feel I know these characters well enough, even with their different origins, and the time-travel arc felt like a whole bunch of filler to hold audiences over until the space travel arc got thrown into the fray. The last arc really makes up for the shortcomings in prior episodes and was a treat to watch. In order to keep the vibe going, I popped in and watched Tenchi Muyo! In Love this morning and watched it as it continues the story present in Tenchi Muyo! TV. Yeah, I own Tenchi Muyo! In Love 2 and yes I know it concludes the first TV series, but after having just watched it less than 6 months ago and that I dislike it even more than the first movie, I decided to skip it.

On that note, watching Tenchi Muyo! In Love today I’ve learned something: I don’t love this movie. Now don’t get me wrong, its okay and I like it, but it’s such a far departure from the feeling and tone of the TV series it continues from. While the animation is top notch for 1997, the soundtrack does not work. Christopher Franke, while a decent score composer, should not be tied to the Tenchi franchise in my opinion. The music, pacing, and overall plot do not juxtapose well for a direct sequel to the show. It’s a little too serious for itself, the lightheartedness is forsaken in order to tell a cohesive story in a short amount of time, the music is far from anywhere near the original score of the TV series (and the OVA while we’re at it), some characters are almost completely thrown off to the wayside (Washu, Sasami, to some extent Tenchi). It’s a good movie to watch, but after about 8-10 times it really doesn’t hold up in the fun or charm department.

I’ve since started watching Tenchi in Tokyo and it’s been…interesting. As with most Tenchi shows I start out with the dub. Its nostalgia and the Tenchi dubs, I think, were pretty amazing for a dub done in the mid-late 90’s as nothing was censored or edited and the script wasn’t changed to dumb it down for western audiences. The animation is smooth; the art however is quite different than both Tenchi Muyo! and Tenchi Universe. I’m not sure if a new character designer was instituted for this series or if Masaki Kajishima was playing around with his old characters, but its new and I think it still captures the essence of the characters and the atmosphere of the franchise. Watching the first next episode preview was a letdown. The accompanying music was an instrumental of the western-sounding ending theme and Petrea Burchard just didn’t sound that into it. I love the woman as well as the other dub cast, but if Tokyo was last in the order for dubbing and this process had been going on in rapid succession between the shows I too would be tired of spouting the same old same old. I’ll have to check out how Ai Orikasa handled it as she is delightful to listen to as well. I had watched a good chunk of early episodes back during the original airing on Toonami, but was not at all satisfied with this series, but I hope to finish this off so that I can truly proclaim my opinion on it.

What comes after? Well, Andrew and I both want either Loveless or Saiyuki next on the chopping block. Loveless is only 14 episodes long, so hopefully we can find the time and energy to plow through it together. Blue Seed I’ve watched a little over half of and I quite enjoy it so hopefully I can finish that up as well.

But who knows? Plans may not work out, other shows might make their appearance, old shows or other shows on this list might give me a real itch to get them viewed; everything is up in the air basically. Either way I hope you enjoyed this little section (I’m sure 80% of you who came across this left a long time ago) and we’ll see how later segments go!

‘Til next time!