News - Shin Chan Returns

Thought we might want to comment on the news in this report by ANN...

Shin-Chan back on Adult Swim (ANN) (late spring or early summer)

Info on the Season 1 DVD will be released by August.

(funni's angry staff + Masaaki Yuasa = profit)


If you missed it on Adult Swim then take a look at FUNimation's Shin-chan site
(Some of those aren't even the 'best' clips, but probably the most appropriate for their purpose.)

By now its probably too late to "tell Adult Swim why you want them to KEEP Shin chan on ADULT SWIM!" through their site, but you could always thank them.


Now for a video that should be watched just after the 'Happiness Bunny' or any Shin-chan at that:


(yeah, probably only best after shin chan sets the mood, but here it is anyway)

Dispute - Hideaki Anno Makes Bold Statements

A noteworthy poster is turning up in the theaters of Japan. Anno's message may be considered audacious, but it is sure to stir up fans and skeptics alike.

The posters claim:

Many different desires are motivating us to create the new "Evangelion" film.
...
The desire to connect today's exhausted Japanese animation [industry] to the future.
The desire to fight the continuing trend of stagnation in anime.
The desire to support the strength of heart that exists in the world.

Finally, the desire to have these wishes be realized.

These statements are not militant, yet claiming to posses these 'desires' in order to forge a path to success is a bold move. Wielding shocking truths such as the 'trend of stagnation in anime' as tools to promote their own work is highly effective, but one must note that these 'tools' have more then one edge.

(The claims that these statements suggest are not without merit. The stagnation of the industry has also been discussed by prominent figures such as Toshio Okada ('Otaku no Video' and 'Gunbuster'), but the topic is not confined to GAINAX.)

Many times we wondered, "It's a title that's more than 10 years old. Why now?"
"Eva is too old", we felt.
However, over the past 12 years, there has been no anime newer than Eva.
...
We realize that we are creating something that will be better than the last series.

Not only do these statements set the bar rather high, but they also seem to imply that these new movies will be an example of 'revolutionary' and what should be strived for in the future. Not that future animation should be 'the same' as these movies, but that these movies exhibit some 'concept' of how future 'fresh'/'highly-rated' titles should be produced.

(Other directors have made similar claims of their work - and pulled them off, so it is not unheard of. A 'turning point' may be reached, but by who's hand? GAINAX may not be a bad guess, but it might not be with these movies, and we may not know until we pass it.)


- I have no doubt that if care is taken, these new movies could easily hold their own and possibly 'surpass' their original creations. Will they be 'revolutionary' (purely in the sense of art on its own)? Or will they just be a new angle of the same old 'Evangelion Revolution'?
With these claims in motion, I now eagerly await the first release. Anno, as you can see you have made an excellent move, now just hold up your end of the bargain. ^_^


For now maybe we should stock up on EVA Stamps for mailing letters, and EVA Soda for when we watch them. >_<
All this talk about 'Revolution' has got me listening to 'History Repeating' by Propellerheads. The lyrics are key, but the song is fun and on YouTube if you like. (The video is out of sync and is not that important)


(I have only taken a few snippets from this article. I highly recommend that you read the Full translation (ANN) because I have only touched some of the more controversial statements in this post. The original poster can also be found with the translation. )

for all those who refuse to let the dreamcast die!

this is your chance to own your own katana developer's kit!

all you need is your own supply of gd-r's (or a little bit of ingenuity)
and you're in business

the world is just waiting for that baking schmup ;-)

...because bakers make everything more fun

http://cgi.ebay.com/SEGA-DREAMCAST-KATANA-Hardware-Development-Kit-Devkit_W0QQitemZ280082457694QQihZ018QQcategoryZ4313QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

i don't know what's worse

1. the dr. keith ablow show
2. EVERYTHING on pbs kids
3. not being able to get up to grab the remote/change the channel

i hate the flu

大嫌い!!

Review of the SOUL of CHOGOKIN GunBuster figure. Start playing the Gunbuster theme if you want the full effect.

So, around christmas time I was scouring the net for anything interesting when soopy-kun happens to show me a cool figure of the Gunbuster. I was like "ZOMGWTFBBQ, that's awesome." But it was a shame that Hobby Link Japan were sold out of it. So I turned to trusty old Froogle and went a searching. Sure enough I found one at the toymax online store. I saw the price of $135.00 for and and knew I had to get one, but I decided to wait thinking if I should have got it or not. After about two days of pre-buyer's regret I went to purchase it but the price rose to $200. Oh crap! I decided to buy it right there on the spot before the price went up any farther. After waiting anxiously for two weeks it finally came in and I was the happiest man on earth. I spent the next few hours (1 to 3) toying with it while having the GunBuster OST playing near full blast. And now that the story of how I bought it is past, now to review the sucker.
First off, it can do the epic pose so that makes it awesome at the start. It came in the box as the two Buster Machines and using the japanese instructions on how to transform it were just a tad confusing but with hard work and guts the transformation was complete. It transformation is pretty accurate to the animated transformation but with a few things missing. It doesn't have the red clamps that reach and connect the two machines but no big loss. The only thing real irksome is that you have to remove a few parts from the buster machine because they were only coverings to make the machines look complete. Overall, it's a very flexable figure allowing for almost all kinds of poses and can accurately do any pose from the OVA. The real seller of this figure is the sheer amount of accesories it comes with. It has everything, the Buster Shield, 2x Buster Tomahawk that can combine on a metal rod to make a double axe, Buster Missle Might, Spiked feed treads, a mini axe and bat that fit in to a compartment on one of it's shoulders, Buster Home-Run which I assume originates from an SRT game. After all that then you've got all of its hands. That's right it has more than two pairs of hands. One pair and generic action figure hands that can grab with the fingers on hinges, a pair of tight fisted hands which I don't see using much since the basic hands can make the same shape, a pair of fingers out stretched for the double buster collider pose when caught between two space monsters, a pair of buster missile hands, and one hand to hold the little RX-7 miniature to recreate the scene when Amano lands in the Gunbuster's hand. A few other accessories include the degredation reactor that Noriko pulls out of the gunbuster to kick start Buster Machine 3.

Yeah, this figure has it all. I don't regret my purchase but it was a heavy kick in the pants if you know what I mean. I was really shocked when I went back to look at the toymax website to find that the price rose again to $250. And now I leave you off with a few more figure pics. INAZUMA KICK!



I feel good for choosing the black and white filter for this picture. XD


There, I did, happy soopy-kun? :D

new feature: anime deals of the week

decided to spice things up with a feature that's too good to refuse

anime deals of the week!


collected from all over the internet, these are just a little sampling of some of the deals just waiting for you to snatch up


today we'll start off with some classics


Deal #1: Gokusen Premium Box w/Cosplay Accessory

$16.99 @ BestBuy.com (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7455657&st=gokusen&type=product&id=1481628)

I spent about 3 months looking for this, and when I finally picked it up, it was well worth it. The best way to describe Gokusen is "the female version of GTO." Kumiko's a mob princess, but her childhood goal has always been to become a teacher. Watch the hilarity that ensues as tries to conceal her true identity while at the same time dealing with a group of delinquents. It's a good value at $17 (the series is 13 episodes long), and you get a free jacket out of it!

Deal #2: Samurai 7 Limited Edition DVD Bundle

$109.99 @ RightStuf.com (http://www.rightstuf.com/1-800-338-6827/catalogmgr/5cuHmCmYamHvAB1esG/browse/item/73389/4/153/100)

It's a bit pricier, but if you loved Samurai 7, this is your chance to collect all 7 limited edition boxsets. Samurai 7 is Gonzo's sytlized re-imagination of Akira Kurosawa, and a crowd pleaser for action fans. It's greatest strength (and weakness) is that it parallels the movie so accurately. Before watching the original, I was very impressed; but after, I wasn't able to put aside all the differences. It's still a great series with beautiful art, and if you love it, this deal will let you have every limited edition box for less than $20 a pop. Also included are storyboards for every last episode. A very interesting feature indeed!

that's it for now, stay tuned for more deals! and feel free to add your own!

Randomness - Huge Touch Screen UI + 3D Unfolding

Cool Touch Screen UI

(I'm getting this weird feeling that I've seen this once before. Anyway...)

Reminds me of the one in Pale Cocoon (AniDB). The UIs and animation in Pale Cocoon were much cooler, but of course they were fictional. While this - is real..


(Hint: click the black area to start it)


DO WANT!

At the very least so that I can play the game near the end.
I wouldn't eat for a week considering the results of this mess...

(Didn't watch the whole thing? Well, skip to ~3:14 and watch the end so you understand how the topic below is even related.)


Unfolding

So, there’s this game called 'Unfolding' right. You have to move the nodes so that no lines are crossing. Here’s an example:


Easy enough, ne?



Complete a level? Node count Increases.



Once you get the hang of it, the algorithm alone is really rather trivial.



By now you can probably see where this is going...


Lets say we omit a few levels for the sake of time and energy...
Ah, how about we pick up at Level 11


Things have become a bit more complicated, but as you can see in the solution there aren't that many nodes.


Level 14


Ok. So this is where it gets a bit more interesting...

Sometime around this point these responses start popping up:


"If it continues to run, your computer may become unresponsive. Do you want to abort the script?"

Hell no! I've worked hard on this level I'm not giving up...

By Level 16 the dialog box is not just popping up once near the end of each level. No no no. Now its multiple times before the completion of a single level...


By Level 19 this 'simple game' has been transformed into a completely different kind of battle...


If that darn dialog pops up, its going to be minutes before you can continue. Sometimes it pops up 2x maybe even 3x before you can even make a single move!

By now its become personal! No longer is it about the efficiency at which you perform the simple algorithm. Noooo. You choose unwisely, and the program will have to recheck all the nodes until it discovers crossing lines!
(Even if they haven't been touched!)


By Level 21 you have become intimate with the coder... and will start to abhor him! @_@




Level 22...

Over the last few levels you have gathered a complete understanding of how this Monstrosity has been coded. You know exactly what to do in order to evade the Relentless Dialog Box until the last few sets of moves.



And for whatever reason...

You have something else to do

You realize your computer & the code have both reached their limits

You feel your last bit of sanity is about to ooze out and join the rest of the pool on the floor

Or you accidentally click the shuffle button because the node count is so great that you are working in tight spaces and can't see what you are doing...

( Choose your own adventure.. Its your choice here ^_^ )


And suddenly, it looks like this...





"GAME OVER MAA~AN!"

(Yeaaaah bout' that time eh?)




If you ever feel like giving this game a whirl then try Unfolding at wimp.com
Or the same thing at embalms world.

As for me, I'm not touching it again for a loooong time. The best thing is... these screenshots were from back in 2005. And I still have absolutely no desire to play this game again. ~_^

the newest addition to project im@s: xenoglossia

bandai namco's finally released their trailer for the iDOLM@STER anime, idolmaster: xenoglossia

i can't say i wasn't surprised when i stumbled upon it. i really wasn't expecting a turn to the mecha side. i don't know how good the show's going to end up; but it's idolmaster, it's mecha, and it's by sunrise. i can't pass it up!

more news as it develops!

Warning! - New Blogger cannot Edit Old Blogger Posts

Warning!

It seems that if you migrate to New-Blogger (not sure you have a choice now) that you CANNOT Edit or Delete Old posts created with your Old-Blogger account!

Also note: You cannot login with your old account after migrating.

I hope they plan to port everyone's Old-Blogger posts to the New-Blogger post format that way we might be allowed to edit our old posts. (That or make the posts owned by our new accounts.)


Other then that, New-Blogger is 'most excellent'.
The two features that currently stand out to me are the new RSS Feed options and Labels.

Labels

Labels allow users to quickly view all posts that contain the same label. This is much better then the old way which involved making links to use the search function.

I’d recommend that these be used for categories rather then tags. Excessive labeling of a single post will cause clutter, and is not exactly the intended use (as you will see below).

Feeds

There are several new RSS Feed options

On top of being able to set the Feed’s description/content to contain 'Full' 'Short' or 'None' of the article, you also have a few new options.

You can offer Feeds for both the Posts and the Comments (even Per-Post Comments).

Labels have been integrated into Blogger’s RSS Feed generation.
You can now request feeds of posts with specific labels.
If you wanted to sort out the posts in your feed reader or if you only wanted specific types of posts then you are in luck.

This is an Atom 1.0 Feed that contains only posts Labeled as ‘news’:
http://worldofwabasco.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/news

Note: If your feed reader has been complaining about blogger feeds then you may want to switch it to RSS 2.0 by adding '?alt=rss' to the end of your Feed URLs (in your feed reader). Blogger has updated their Atom version and readers such as SharpReader may not support it yet.

A link for an RSS 2.0 feed for ‘news’ would be:
http://worldofwabasco.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/news?alt=rss


I was hoping to add labels to all my old posts, but it looks like we can't edit or delete them. Me being me, I backed up the posts that were significant every time I posted one. (I can just copy paste the code, and create new posts with old content.) Also, we can now change the date on posts :/ that takes all the fun out of it! On the other hand that would be useful if one wanted to migrate old posts to a new blog.

Events - Bandai Visual's Gunbuster Sweepstakes

Bandai Visual USA is running a Sweepstakes that offers fans a chance to win a Free Trip to Japan or Figures and Posters (Relayed by ANN from AnimeNation).

Thank you for reminding me ANN. I'm sure there are a few of you that might be interested in this. ^_^

If you haven't already signed up, then go fill out their Survey NOW!

At the very least, you know a few people who would thoroughly enjoy a few Gunbuster goodies! (At the very least you get a 'standard' Gunbuster Wallpaper)

Unfortunately, I can't fill out the survey as the complete embodiment of 'Hard work and Guts', but I'm sure some of you can. (It is not clear as to how much a participant's enthusiasm factors in, but it probably can't hurt to show it.)

Gunbuster is coming!

(As is SRPE's GAINAX FESTA!)

News - Naruto Shippuuden

IT CAME!

And Improvement it has made

The beginning opens very strong, then they take advantage of nostalgia and brining everyone back to the village. So far with just one episode... the only thing I can say is that we can look forward to at least a few good episodes somewhere down the line. (Lets just hope we get to those without too much 'junk-filler' in between)

I mean, even McDonalds is sponsoring it
(That gives me mixed opinions though)

(DB will probably have it out sometime early tomorrow afternoon/night)

If they don't ... one might ejaculate ...

attention dudes

you need to tie your gmail account to blogger to regain posting privileges (new blogger rules) 

breaking newsbasco

in addition to the second kiddy grade tv series, there will be three digest movies (with new animation)

and it has just come to light that gonzo will NOT be working on the new series

grah

anime news network's release calendar is horribly under-maintained

the genshiken economy box comes out on 3/27, not 2/13

suman.


(for a decent release calendar:  http://www.animeondvd.com/releases/releases_by_date.php)

Dispute - Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Vol. 1

(Just wanted to post something to get me started posting again.)

While I can't/won't complain about ADV (more then just childish whining)...

I can similarly draw attention to Illumitoon Entertainment's Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Vol. 1
(I don't just go around finding things to complain about, but I happened to run into this while ADV Manga was on the mind.)

Lets start with a few relatively insignificant issues:

listing of "dual language" without saying what languages or subtitles.
incorrectly lists an 80 minute run time when it's actually 105 minutes.
...
outrageously loud menu audio
the subtitle track is a dubtitle track

Ok, thats not that bad, but it does get a bit 'better':

It is also a dubtitle track that goes for the extra offense of being one that has the Hearing Impaired sounds included in it. But wait, let's add more insult to injury with it. While the white subtitles with black font look good and are bigger than FUNimation's similar subtitles, they're left justified similar to how AnimEigo does it. But wait, it's worse, because they're not centered on the screen but actually kept to the very left. A six word sentence is split across two lines and kept to a corner of the screen. But wait, it's even worse! If multiple people are speaking at the same time, it's all strung together. Where you would normally have:

- Hello!
- Hi, how are you?

You instead get "Hello! Hi, How are you?" on one or two lines. And that's if you're lucky. Since sentences are generally longer, they're split so it would be "Hello! Hi, how" as the first subtitle and then it flashes off and the new one is "are you?" before continuing on. It's nearly impossible to differentiate dialogue. Not that any of it really matches up since it's dubtitled. But wait, it's even worse if you can imagine. The subtitles are onscreen for such a short amount of time that even fast reading subtitle folks like myself aren't able to read what's being said before it disappears from the screen. This is so poorly executed that it goes beyond incompetence and it goes beyond what you get from the old awful bootleg Chinese subtitles from years ago that I can’t imagine that someone signed off on this. The entire way the subtitles come across simply doesn't feel like they were an afterthought, they must never have been thought about at all. It's insult upon insult upon insult upon injury.

Illumitoon will focus on "acquiring exciting anime from Japan, with the emphasis on making them relatable for an American audience. ... Of course, we always want to include the original Japanese tracks with our shows, for the serious anime fan" :/

"Illumitoon is focused on acquiring kid friendly properties that are 'placeable' in the North American market." so less emphasis on the Japanese side is understandable, but those subtitles sound atrocious.

The severity of some of the DVD's 'issues' is lessened when you understand who their target audience is, yet others are genuine problems. Still, it is amusing to compare this DVD to releases by other companies.

The original Review can be found at Anime On DVD

(This post is not so much bashing, but providing information for your amusement)

for some reason, this seemed appropriate for this site

os-tan meets the idolm@ster (which is reason enough for me to buy a japanese xbox360)

gekitei

IS A DAMN HARD DANCE TO LEARN 

that orange shorts lady is my hero

noteworthy releases

2/13

welcome to the nhk vol. 2
kino no tabi vol. 2
kamichama karin vol. 6
genshiken economy set (entire series for $40)

2/20

gunbuster
monster vol. 7

3/13

the twelve kingdoms vol. 1
yakitate! japan vol. 4

3/15

genshiken vol. 8

get to $pending

because the world needs more gekitei

gekitei ondo!