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Animail – Tuesday

Yesterday, I came home to a stack of packages on the table.
• The Claymore starter box I pre-ordered from Amazon had arrived.
• A recent order placed with eStarland arrived. Some of the titles look better than used, with shrinkwrap and security tape still in place. On the other hand, a couple looked sun-bleached.
• Devilman & Angel Cop arrived! I’ll have to make time to watch them, soon.

I wish my large order from secondspin would’ve arrived, but it’s not like I’m lacking things to watch. Besides, there’s always today’s mail.

Ultraviolet: Code 044 – Ep. 01

I’ll admit it. I enjoyed the Ultraviolet film for its Milla Jovovich-ness, cool action, and nifty effects. Sure, it’s not a particularly deep movie, but I like it on popcorn-flick/pure entertainment basis. When I found out there was an Ultraviolet anime, I had to check it out.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!

From what I can tell, there’s only a passing resemblance to the film with little to no connection to any of the characters. This Ultraviolet goes by “Agent 44″, and works as a government assassin. She was created in a lab, and at the age of fourteen, she was injected with a virus that amped up her physical abilities and greatly decreased her lifespan.

The action is quick, and sometimes awkwardly framed as she slices her way through bad guys with a very cool looking sword. Fans of the color-changing clothes and hair, however, will be disappointed as neither makes an appearance in this episode.

Agent 44 is tall and slender like an underweight fashion model, which conjures up images of Peter Chung’s Aeon Flux design. And just like Aeon Flux, 44 spends a lot of time in the buff or scantily clad. Unfortunately, the nudity is no more titillating than a Barbie doll.

The environment is dark and grim, reminding of Blade Runner more than the setting of the Ultraviolet film. And the science fiction angle has been amped up quite a bit. When Agent 44 is sent on an assignment to Jupiter (yes, the planet) in a passenger space shuttle that still launchs like a shuttle from Cape Canaveral.

After one episode it’s hard to judge this show’s story quality. There’s still a way to go before the verdict is in. However, if you’re into action flick chicks, you’ll probably want to check this show out.

The Continuous Erosion of Our Freedom

On October 9, 2008, the CBLDF announced that it will participate as a special consultant to the defense of Christopher Handley, a 38-year-old Iowa manga collector who faces up to 20 years in prison for possession of manga that the government claims to be obscene. Of his collection of more than 1,200 volumes of manga seized by the government, Handley is being prosecuted for images that occur in just a handful of volumes. No photographic content is at issue in Handley’s case.

You can read more about it here.

December ‘08 Solicitations – ADV Films

ADV Films New Title Solicitations (Dec ‘08) via TRSI

• Area 88 (TV): Complete Collection (Re-release) – 300 minutes – $39.98 – 12/30/2008
• My Beautiful Girl Mari / A Tree of Palme: Double Pack – 180 minutes – $26.99 – 12/9/2008
• Nadia, Secret of the Blue Water: Complete Collection 2 (Re-release) – 565 minutes – $49.98 – 12/16/2008
• Nanaka 6/17: Complete Collection – 325 minutes – $39.98 – 12/23/2008
• Neo Ranga: Complete Collection (Re-release) – 600 minutes – $49.98 – 12/2/2008
• Nurse Witch Komugi: Complete Collection – 120 minutes – $34.98 – 12/30/2008
• Ushio & Tora: Complete Collection (Re-release) – 275 minutes – $29.98 – 12/23/2008
• Wedding Peach: Season 1 Collection (Re-release) – 675 minutes – $39.98 – 12/9/2008

I might go for the Area 88 thinpak if I haven’t already bought the artbox and singles by then. I’ve also been wondering about Nadia. That might be worth Netflixing first. I’ve heard little to nothing about the quality of Neo Ranga, but I’d be willing to give it a shot.

If we could only get ADV to release an Aura Battler Dunbine thinpak and a complete Mazinkaiser set similar to their recent re-release of Devil Hunter Yohko, it’d make me one happy otaku.

FUNimation answers fans’ pleas

From the ANN forums:

Hello anime fans,
We do understand your concern regarding the future releases of these two series in which you have already invested so much time and emotion. I won’t bore you with the long explanation as to how we came to the decision we did as to how to package these series nor rattle off the many factors that led to that decision.

That being said, we have taken your comments to heart and here’s what we are going to do: in addition to the box sets we will ALSO release Red Garden Volumes 4 and 5, Pumpkin Scissors v.5, and NHK v.5. They will be available through The Right Stuf in December — though street dates have not yet been finalized. Volume 6 for all three of these series will be available at a later date, still to be determined, and will also be available via The Right Stuf.

Best regards — Official FUNi Rep

That’s great news for fans of Pumpkin Scissors, Red Garden, and Welcome to the NHK, including me, since I went and bought all the singles for Red Garden and NHK a couple months ago.

Take that you greedy sons ‘a bitches!

Now, if only someone would license Amon: Apocalypse of Devilman.

They will be mine. Oh yes, they will be mine.

Major coup for me last night: Devilman and Angel Cop were available on the amazon marketplace for less than $20 each. Considering I’ve seen the prices doubled in the past, this is a helluva a find. I hope they ship soon.

Animail – Tuesday

A package from RightStuf arrived, containing my order of Chobits, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, and Saint Seiya. This completes my Chobits collection, and fills in the first artbox of Saint Seiya.

Two packages were waiting for me at home. The first, from Buy Rite, contained the .hack//Legend of the Twilight artbox I had ordered along with some miscellaneous singles.

The second was a box from SecondSpin. Inside was the order I placed for the first Eureka Seven artbox, Patlabor 2 – the movie, and a few more singles. Here’s the best part: As far as I remember, I had only ordered Eureka Seven volume 1 LE with the artbox. The box felt hefty, but I thought nothing of it since it’s supposed to include a manga, a soundtrack CD, and a shirt (I think). When I ripped off the shrinkwrap to check out the extra goodies, six – yes, SIX – DVD keepcases came spilling out! Thanks to the 20% off promotion at the time, I spent $18.74 on this “completed” Eureka Seven box. Unfortunately, I had all of the discs except #5 (and I’m glad I didn’t order it yet!), which isn’t a big deal since I’ll just end up selling off the duplicates.

Not a bad haul, I say!

The latest acquisitions

Saturday was a great day for Animail. There were five packages sitting on the front porch. Three of the artboxes I ordered had arrived: Gun x Sword, Ai Yori Aoshi – Enishi, and Requiem From the Darkness.

The Requiem… box was not at all what I thought it would be. Rather than a sturdy box that contains all of a series’ keepcases, this was set up like a digipak with clear plastic disc trays bound like pages in a book. It’s a nice idea, but what do you do with the keepcases that volumes 2, 3, and 4 come in? I guess some people would just toss them out. I’ll probably store them in a drawer somewhere.

My pre-ordered copy of Strait Jacket arrived a couple of days early. It looks pretty cool. I may get around to watching it within the next couple of days. And speaking of early shipping pre-orders, I hold in my hand a copy of Devil May Cry vol. 3! This will also jump up the “too watch” ladder.

There might be an update after I get home from work.

Okay, I’m an artbox whore

I admit it.

It started slowly, as these things often tend to do, as I browsed my recommendations on amazon.com. If you’re willing to go for “previously owned” merchandise, you can score some amazing deals. I went ahead and bought the artbox editions of Chrono Crusade, Macross, and Gantz (which had two!) for under $10 each. What do I get out of it? The satisfaction of seeing my series in one nifty art-covered box – and some duplicate DVDs. The duplicates aren’t a big deal. I just sell them on amazon’s marketplace.

Things just sorta went from there…

My increasing interest in artboxes became less of an interest and more of an obsession. I was (and still am!) determined to get some of the remaining artboxes in the world. As a matter of fact, I just ordered the artbox for .hack//Legend of the Twilight yesterday.

More to come

There’s a couple new artbox editions coming out in the near future that I have already pre-ordered. In the months ahead, I’ll be receiving artboxes for Darker Than Black, Claymore, Karin, When They Cry, and Shonen Onmyouji.

Just two of the boxes coming my way.

I am incomplete

FUNimation has finally solicited collections for Welcome to the NHK, Red Garden, and Tokyo Majin. All of them will get the half-season treatment like Aquarion and, unfortunately, Pumpkin Scissors. Since I went nuts and bought all the ADV released singles (and boxes!) for Red Garden and NHK, I will be left with two incomplete artboxes. It’s definitely a downer. Hopefully, FUNimation will respond positively to the fans uproar and release the missing volume 6 discs separately.

Animail – Saturday edition

There’s a box from Rightstuf on my porch!

This perplexes me. It’s too soon for the order I had shipped to my house (instead of work) to arrive. It’s a decent-sized box, too… Since there’s no sense in delaying the inevitable, I cut the box open. Inside were the Mermaid Forest DVDs I had ordered through Amazon’s marketplace.

This is why I created a Word document with all my orders listed on it. I forget what I’ve ordered!

You’d think that would be enough of a clue to get me to slow down with the ordering/purchasing… Nope, not me. I’m completely aware of the signs, and I purposely ignore them. Why? I’m an otaku fiend! Duh.