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!