Yuusha Raideen spotted in X-Men comic

X-Men, issue #107 (1977):

Yuusha Raideen (1975):

That is totally just a drawing of Raideen sitting in this old X-Men comic. I guess the artist - Dave Cockrum - was a fan. :)

Cardcaptor Sakura on blu-ray

I just preordered what I think might be the most expensive anime box set I've ever bought.

It's the whole of Cardcaptor Sakura, on blu-ray. Discounted on Rightstuf, but still the equivalent of over £100. (It will probably be more like £150 when shipping and customs charges are added. I should probably think about getting a dedicated region-free blu-ray player as well...)

I really like that series. It's a super-cute magical girl series, where everyone is friendly - even the monsters.

It shows many, many kinds of love, and not as a weird taboo thing, which I think is good to have in a show for kids.

It also made me love takoyaki before I had even seen or tasted it.

I hope NIS America do a great job on this box set. It comes out in August.

My handy dandy online shopping guide for Japan-friendly geeks

I thought I would write a shopping guide. I'm very good at shopping. :)

Research

1. It's a good idea to research what's available, and what you're trying to buy. e.g. Will it work with what I have? Are there different versions? How do they differ? Will I need anything extra?
2. When researching a specific item you want to buy, take a note of the catalogue number if there's one available. With differing transliterations and spelling, search by catalogue number can be especially useful.
3. Despite most of the shops I list in my document below being entirely in English, it's a good idea to learn to read enough Japanese for you to navigate through things, and find the Japanese names of what you want to buy. At least katakana (because you will be able to recognise English words), and hiragana for basic Japanese. At least はい meaning "yes" and いいえ meaning "no". I found http://lrnj.com/ useful, a little RPG game where you defend yourself from things by typing the right thing to match the character on screen.

Stuff you should know

1. It's a bad idea to call yourself an otaku.
2. For exchange rates, use http://www.xe.com/
3. Custom rates are harsh. Here in the UK, if they spot it, they will tax everything valued £16 and above, and the customs fee is £8 handling plus the amount taxable. And they will sometimes kick the box around a bit for fun.
4. Read up on region restrictions for media - some basics - for DVD, UK is in the same region as Japan and not US, for Blu-Ray US is in the same region as Japan. Video game region territories - depends on the system but usually Japan and Asia are one, Europe and Australasia is one, North America is one.
5. The price difference between anime bought from the UK/US and from Japan is incredible. Japanese prices are much much higher. Bandai try and sell in the US at Japanese prices and I don't think anyone is biting. Some Japanese anime fans "reverse import" from America because it's cheaper than buying the Japanese version. However, when it comes to DVDs, if there are 2 episodes per disc for the Japanese version and 7 episodes for the US version, the Japanese version is likely to have better video quality because the US version is compressed down to fit.
6. Places like www.crunchyroll.com/, www.viki.com/, www.daisuki.net/ and www.crackle.com/ let you legally watch anime streamed, some free of charge, which is the best price of all. If you're in North America, you can use animesols.com/ too.
7. When it comes to shipping from Japan, your options are often: SAL / registered SAL, Air Mail / registered Air Mail, Fed Ex, EMS. Now, SAL is surface; your package will come to you upon the oceans and seas. This is cheap but takes ages and things go missing, so registered is good. Air Mail is faster. Fed Ex and EMS are fastest of all, most reliable, are most expensive, and are almost certainly going to get caught by customs. In the case of Fed Ex, they will pay the customs fee for you to get the package to you faster, but you have to then pay Fed Ex the customs fee, which might have a mark-up.
8. Before you think "an art book would be nice", or "some manga would be nice", or "poster-sized calendars would be nice" - watch out, they cost a lot in shipping due to weight, and bulk. But they are so worth it!
9. If shopping from ebay, Amazon 3rd party or other small seller hiding behind a big name, research how to spot bootlegs before you commit to buy (especially concerning CDs, GBA and DS games).
10. Obey your local laws. Don't try to import anything that's illegal in your country!

Shops

See:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqwQHfPogTpcdE4wOGVlOGpoOVJMNHNicnJBdUg1bGc#gid=0

Rule of thumb

If I wanted to watch an anime series, I would look for a streaming site. If I wanted to buy an anime series to keep on DVD / Blu-ray, with English dub/sub options, I'd have a look on Amazon, or RightStuf (especially if it was in a Rightstuf sale). 

If it hadn't been released in English and I really really liked it, or there was some other reason I'd rather buy the Japanese version, I would go to Anime Jungle to see if I could get the DVD / Blu-rays 2nd hand but in top condition with possible first-press extras.

If I wanted a brand new regular edition CD / DVD / Blu-ray / console game from Japan or Asia, I would go to Play-Asia.

If I wanted to buy a brand new Blu-ray, DVD or CD direct from Japan, or pre-order, and have a chance of getting bonus first-press items, or a limited edition copy, I would go to CD Japan. I would also go there for calendars and regular editions, if the pricing is good or I have loyalty points to spend. 

If I wanted to buy brand new import console games, I would go to Play-Asia. I don't mind Asia-edition games, they are often slightly cheaper and come with a quick start sheet in English for Hong Kong players. 

If I wanted to buy a second-hand console game or brand new doujin game, I would go to Palet Web. I might also try Japanese Retro Video Games for second hand video games.

IMPORTANT EDIT 11th February 2014: I recently discovered a new favourite importing shop, which I thoroughly recommend. It's Nin Nin Game, they sell games and figures, and a small selection of CDs etc. The reason I like them is because they will ship goods through Amazon France, which guarantees no custom fees. So far I've bought one item from them (an Ika Musume Figma!), and it took a little while to arrive it was worth it.

Rose Of Versailles is licenced by Rightstuf / Nozomi Entertainment!

Rose Of Versailles is one of my all-time favourite anime series, I've been hoping someone would license it for an official English subtitled release for years.

Rightstuf / Nozomi Entertainment have just announced that they've got the license - it'll be streamed via viki.com this winter, and be out on DVD sometime next year.

The moment I hear of a DVD release, I'm going to preorder it!

They are also taking questions from the general public to ask Riyoko Ikeda - the original author of the manga - until 1st Nov.

Official Site

Watching Utena in remembrance...

I read in the news on ANN earlier today that an actress had died. It was Kawakami Tomoko (nb: lastname, forename). According to the news article, she was 41 years old, and retired suddenly in 2008 with a hospitalisation, and has now died of ovarian cancer. It is terrible, very tragic indeed. She used to be quite prolific.

It's also quite tragic when I think of some of the characters she played, also dying young.

I wonder whether she was aware she was seriously ill in the run up to her sudden retirement.

This evening, I decided to begin watching the new remastered DVDs of Shoujo Kakumei Utena which she starred in. A great series, one of my all time favourites, one that was really instrumental in getting me into anime many years ago. Yet, I haven't watched it in years.

These new Nozomi version DVDs really do the series justice. The 5.1 Japanese sound works really well, and the picture is far, far better than the old Software Sculptors DVDs... though those are some of the worst official US DVDs I own (the VHS version was better than those DVDs!)

There's been far too much death this year. But it's best to remember in life.

Osamu Dezaki has passed away

Osamu Dezaki died recently, at the age of only 67 - of lung cancer.

When I found out the news, I momentarily turned into a detailed painting at the shock of it all.

There's a nice obituary for him on the Manga Entertainment website. They've published quite a few of his films in English, for example Golgo 13, Black Jack, and Space Adventure Cobra.

He is my all-time favourite anime director. He had a long and distinguished career spanning from the 1960s to almost the present day (as a result, I thought he would be older than he was). I'd been slowly making my way through his works, and enjoy the vast majority of what he's done, if not all. I'm currently watching "Hakugei: Legend Of The Moby Dick" and am really enjoying it.

His best works out of what I've seen so far:

* Rose of Versailles (he did the 2nd half of the series)
* Oniisama e
* Ace o Nerae
* Ashita no Joe
* Air (the movie adaptation)

I haven't seen the whole of Ace o Nerae or Ashita no Joe.

I'm feeling quite a sense of loss. May he rest in peace.

2010 Calendar time!

It's time for me to go shopping with calendar order / preorders! :D

Here are the ones I'm aiming for this year:

Shugo Chara! [Calendar 2010 (Kodansha Ltd.)]

Fresh Pretty Cure! [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]

ONE PIECE [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry) [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]

TV Animation [Calendar 2010 (Try-X Ltd.)]
(it seems to contain Precure, One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, Digimon, Saint Seiya, GeGeGe no Kitaro, etc)

All That's Ultraman

^_^

New Chii's Sweet Home series! Yay!

A 2nd series of Chii's Sweet Home is going to be broadcast in Japan in April. Yay! ^_^

Read the original article on ANN

This series is the cuuuuutest thing ever. It's about a little lost kitten who gets found by a family, and they take take of it. Each episode is only 3 minutes long, and it's very much a series for small children / families, but it's sooooooo cute!

Calendar preorder time!

It's the time of year to order next year's calendars! ^__^

I like anime calendars; they work as posters or giant artbooks... (well, artbooks with 6-7 pages...).

If you want to buy anime/manga/tokusatsu/other-Japanese calendars, I recommend buying them from CD Japan! They always deliver, and everything arrives on time in nice green paper. :D

I'm thinking of getting these ones:

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni calendar... except if there are any nasty pictures I'm stuck with them for a month!

All That's Ultraman calendar. :) I've had an Ultraman calendar every year for the past 2 years! They're great! :D

Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 calendar. My brother had one of these calendars last year (for season one) and now he wants the season two calendar!

Kurogane no Line Barrel calendar. Hirashi Hirai's newest character designs feature in this one, and that's a very s.CRY.ed type of pose on the front, IMHO, hehe.

Clannad calendar.

Kuroro Gunso calendar, since my boyfriend seems to be a big fan. I got him a "Yotsuba to" calendar last year! So cute!

Yes! Precure 5 calendar! :D

Chi's Sweet Home - Desktop calendar or Chi's Sweet Home - Wall calendar, I'm not sure which. It's soooooo cute! >^_^<

I NEED MORE WALL SPACE! Hahahaha... XD

Preorder early because everything is in limited supply! Oh and there's a special offer where if you spend over 5000 yen you get a voucher for 500 yen (so I'm splitting up my orders into 500 yen each...)

Arcade Gamer Fubuki

I just watched this 4 episode OVA over the last few days. It's based on a manga by Yoshizaki Mine (author of Keroro Gunsou), and there are loads of references to old 1980s and 1990s arcade games - actual recogniseable games, not parody takes on them. "Arashi" from the 1980s anime series "Game Center Arashi" in there as well - the kid in a red baseball hat and huge teeth. Lots of chances to spot little Keroro Gunsou figures in the backgrounds. Oh and one reference to Space Adventure Cobra, even though I don't think he's best known as a video game character!

Furuya Tohru and Fujioka Hiroshi are in the cast too! :D

It's pretty funny, pretty nostalgic, very ridiculous, and overall very entertaining. I thought it was a lot of fun. :D

BTW the DVD I got was a North American copy, it's released by U.S. Manga Corps. The most annoying thing is trying to get it out of the case (weird DVD case), and I really liked the retro arcade-style menu they created. ^_^

Gungrave box set (UK thinpack)

I buy lots of anime DVDs, but hardly ever buy myself UK DVD box sets unless they're exclusive or very well-priced.

I had a £20 voucher to spend in HMV, given to me by my granny one Christmas a few years ago. I was just carrying it around as there are rarely any good deals on videogames or films that I'm interested in in that shop. I find it overpriced for the majority of the time. However, today I actually found a good deal so I actually spent my voucher. ^_^

It was a thinpak box set of the series "Gungrave". It cost £40, meaning £20 + voucher.

The series was originally a Geneon license, and so is now out-of-print in the US, with box sets usually priced at over £100 if you manage to find a copy. In the UK, this 7-disc box set distributed by MVM is priced at about £60 everywhere.

So, yay, yay, yay. ^_^

Apparently it's a pretty good series, too. My brother said so, and he's generally got good taste. I played through the first videogame, I don't know how close the stories are.

I wonder if there are any other series that Geneon had that are somehow still being released in the UK...

Tower of Druaga - free 1st episode

Following the announcement that the Japanese animation studio Gonzo will officially be streaming their brand new anime episodes with english subtitles, and the announcement that viewers are free to pay what they think the anime is worth, the first episode of The Tower Of Druaga - The Aegis of Uruk is available for free, and can be viewed on youtube here.

Normally I wouldn't bother going out of my way to watch an anime from Gonzo, but since it's linked to a Namco game, and is apparently rather funny, I might watch it. (however, not right now, since I'm busy...)

90 year old anime discovered

Ancient Japanese anime lost, now found

By Gavin J. Blair

TOKYO (Hollywood Reporter) - Copies of two of Japan's oldest animated films, thought to have been lost forever, were found in Osaka and have been digitally restored at the National Film Center of Modern Art in Tokyo.

The two films, "Namakura Katana" (The Fine Sword) and "Urashima Taro," will be shown alongside 94 other old and rediscovered movies at a film festival titled "Hakutsu sareta Eiga tachi (Unearthed Films) -- 2008," scheduled to run at the film center in April.

"Namakura Katana," the story of a samurai duped into buying a blunt sword, was drawn by Junichi Kouchi and released in June 1917 by the Kobayashi Shokai production company.

"Urashima Taro," a version of a classic Japanese fairy tale, was illustrated by Seitaro Kitayama, first seen in February 1918 and produced by Nikkatsu.

The films were discovered in a second-hand shop in July by Natsuki Matsumoto, a lecturer at Musashino Art University. The animated Japanese film previously thought to be the oldest in existence was released in August 1918.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN2728807920080328

Japan finds films by early "anime" pioneers
TOKYO (Reuters) - Two early 20th century Japanese animated movies, crafted by pioneers of the "anime" that has since swept the world, have been found in good condition, a researcher at Tokyo's National Film Center said on Thursday.

U.S. and European animated cartoons were introduced in Japan around 1914 and soon inspired works by Japanese cartoonists and artists, including Junichi Kouchi and Seitaro Kitayama, two of whose works were found in an Osaka antique store.

"Nakamura Katana," Kouichi's two-minute silent movie that tells the story of a samurai tricked into buying a dull-edged sword, was first released in 1917.

Kitayama's "Urashima Taro," based on a folk tale in which a fisherman is transported to a fantastic underwater world on the back of a turtle, came out the following year.

Together with Oten Shimokawa, whose 1917 "Imokawa Mukuzo, The Janitor" is thought to be the first commercial Japanese animated film, Kouichi and Kitayama are considered "fathers of Japanese anime," said National Film Center researcher Yoshiro Irie.

"Now everything is digitalized, but these early animated films were made on the same principles used now," Irie said.

But while modern anime is often used to tell complex, dark stories, the brief early Japanese animated films mainly surprised viewers with the simple fact the pictures moved, Irie said.

They also made people laugh.

"It was an era when people were surprised just to see that the pictures moved," he said. "The films are also full of gags."

(Reporting by Linda Sieg)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUST23069120080328

Gundam statue erected in Japan near Sunrise studios

Source: Mainichi Daily news

Huge 'Gundam' robot set up outside station near anime's production studio



A 3-meter-high bronze statue of a robot from the popular anime "Mobile Suit Gundam," has been erected outside a station near the production studio that created the anime.

The bronze statue was unveiled Sunday outside Kami-Igusa Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line in Tokyo's Suginami-ku, near anime production studio Sunrise. The ward set up the bronze statue as a way to revive the local area, after receiving a petition from about 2,400 residents.

"We want the area to develop through this, just like a youth riding on Gundam," Suginami-ku Mayor Hiroshi Yamada said at the unveiling ceremony.

The statue is cast with one of its hands extended to the sky. On Sunday the station changed the musical sound played when trains leave the station to the anime's theme song, "Tobe Gundam."

==

It makes me think that they should get some gunpla maniac to paint it, hehe. ^_^ I also like the idea of trains leaving to a little melody of "Tobe! Gundam"...

Maria-sama ga Miteru - US release!

Woo! Maria-sama ga Miteru has been licensed by Nozomi Entertainment (Rightstuf International).

Official Site: http://maria-sama.rightstuf.com/

It'll be released in box set seasons (1,2,3), subtitled only, and the first season comes out on July 29th. The other two don't have dates listed.

I placed my preorder for Season 1 already, it was only $37.49, which means that two seasons cost about the same as one volume (two episodes) on Region 2 DVDs. An excellent deal.

Bandai Visual USA are so expensive...

...compared to other US releases. I mean, they're about the same price as Japanese R2 anime DVDs, I suppose. Perhaps a little less. But that's still more than even the overpriced UK recommended retail price per volume and way way more than the average US DVD release.

They've just licensed two popular shows: Shigofumi and True Tears.

(two shows I don't actually know anything about, hehe. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention)

The word on pricing is:

==

Note that both 13 episode series are being done on 7 discs but Shigofumi will have two episodes on all discs except number seven which will have one while True Tears will be the reverse with one episode on the first volume and two on the subsequent six volumes. Single episode volumes are being done at $29.99 while two episode volumes are at $39.99.

==

An authentic Japanese style DVD release... requires lots of shelf space, and lots and lots and lots of money. $_$ I don't think many people in the US will be prepared to spend as much money on anime DVDs as people in Japan. Americans are used to far cheaper DVDs.

Misawa Go - anime composer - died aged 79

From animenation news:

Goh Misawa, the soundtrack composer for the 1972 Devilman and 1973 Aim For The Ace! anime television series, died of esophageal cancer in a hospital outside Palm Springs, California, on the morning of November 20. He was 79. Misawa moved from Japan to America, where he continued to create music and dub movies, in 1976.

--

He had the same birthday as me, but half a century before... follow this link for a big list of anime songs he worked on (list in Japanese). As well as the opening themes to "Ace o Nerae!" and "Devilman TV", he wrote the opening theme to "Ryuusei Ningen Zone"! I think that might be my favourite of his songs, but it might equally have been because of Masato Shimon's performance of the song.

Of the others, I've only heard the song "Attention Please" as part of Mizuki Ichirou's "Seishun For You" compilation song... -_-;

Oh he also wrote the opening to Jungle Kurobe, but... it's not one of my favourites...

(This may be a bad time to say it, but... I like the Devilman ED theme much more than the OP theme)

Samurai Champloo - oops I won it on DVD

I got a mysterious package. Not to worry, it smelled like DVDs so I knew it was safe. ^_~

I opened it and found...



Which was strange as I certainly am not interested enough in this series to buy a copy. There was no slip in the package to say where the DVDs came from. Then I remembered... I entered a competition for them, since it was just a "send in your name and address" competition and I thought "free anime DVDs are a good thing".

...maybe I should leave competitions to win things I don't want to watch to people who do want to watch them...

...or maybe I'm the only person who bothers to enter...?

Actually, I'm still really only speculating because I can't check to see the competition winners... it would be on the website where I entered the competition, but that's down at the moment...

Anime Buses

Well, I was reading a forum thread about some anime decals seen on cars at comiket, and that's interesting, I guess, but I then got to looking for full professional jobs - fully painted bus advertisements.

I found more than I'd seen before and they're kinda cool so I thought I'd preserve the links here.

There are lots on http://zbzbm.hp.infoseek.co.jp/kikaku/moebus/

Chiyo-chan and many other Azumanga Daioh buses

Gunslinger Girl bus

various anime and manga advertised on this bus... 2x2=Shinobuden, Azumanga & Yotsuba to, Onegai Twins etc

DearS

Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime

Lucky Star bus #1

Lucky Star bus #2

Lucky Star bus #3

Sister Princess bus

Futakoi bus

Dragon Ball Z bus

Precure Splash*Star (argh! my eyes!)

the Rozen Maiden Shinku Liner ^_^

and....

the Pokemon Jet

and the Ultraman train!! (ok they're not buses)

Happy Shinji-day!

It's Ikari Shinji's birthday. You know, the main character in Evangelion...

Yes it's disturbing to think that people can celebrate the birth of fictional characters, I only remember this one because the Eva pilots share their birthdays with the seiyuu who performed them in the anime, and Ogata Megumi was my favourite for a long while.

Today we celebrate the birth of Shinjis all over the world, celebrating the fact that in order to be true human beings, we retain the right to scream a lot, run away a lot, avoid contact with people for fear of hurting them, and reject instrumentality. And we do this by standing round in circles, clapping, and saying "omedetou". ^_^;;

I'd tell you about the Ltd Ed version of the detective story (!) game Meitantei Evangelion for PS2 being at a silly price on Play Asia - not sure if it's the same as the premium box which retailed for stupidly large amounts of money but came with a pretty nice NERV logo watch... ... BUT! It seems to have sold out in the last hour or so.

So have a look at these silly Eva Angel hats instead. I don't know who in the world could ever wear these outdoors.

Ah, the greatest quantity of inappropriate merchandising for any anime ever, that series. And yes, that includes all of the Hello Kitty franchise!