Blood+ landed amidst a resurgence of the vampire genre. It came two years after the conclusion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and 3 days after the release of the first book in the Twilight series. It was beautifully animated and had a decent storyline, even if the pacing crawled at times. Today, almost 5 years after the show finished, CLAMP has re-imaged the story with Blood-C. The new version has character designs and a mood that will appeal to Clamp fans, even if Blood+ loyalists won’t be able to stomach more than a few episodes.
Author: dengar (Phil)
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Bargain Bin Anime
My love of anime means I spend a great deal of time watching it and a great deal of money buying it. But the price of anime can make buying it new difficult. My budget wouldn’t last long if I bought discs with 5 episodes for $30. Happily, the industry model shifted to a wallet friendly model where I can buy a season set for less than $50. Still, buying my favorite series or an anime classic used is more satisfying to me than picking up the same title new at Best Buy.
I’m a perfectionist. Being a perfectionist isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being unhappy with your work when it isn’t. Sometimes you have to ignore that impulse and just release your creation to the world. Sometimes though, you get a second chance. George Lucas epitomises this phenomena. Audiences didn’t appreciate it when Lucas revised Star Wars. Long time fans lashed out at him when he released the special edition movies. Japanese fans of Dragon Ball Z had a similar reaction when the special edition version of the show, called Dragon Ball Z Kai came out. I haven’t watched the Japanese subtitled version of the shows so I can’t judge that version of Kai. But I did watch the English dub. And it is the best Dragon Ball Z to date.
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Allison's Journey
Allison & Lillia: Generation 1 had potential. The show was set in a fictional Germanic country and was based on the light novels of a noted author. The two main characters, Allison and Will, explore a pastoral world with WW1 era propeller planes. Their country is in a constant state of conflict with a neighboring country, but the characters never seem seriously at risk. The setting is so happy and carefree that it’s hard to imagine that this series is based on a novel by Keiichi Sigsawa, the author of Kino’s Journey. The connection to Kino’s Journey and the possibility that behind the ordinary adventure story lay a deeper plot is what made this show so alluring to me. At the end of 13 episodes I’m still waiting.
The Japanese economy is currently in the middle of a huge transformation. A generation ago, a Japanese person could finish school and seamlessly transition into a company job. The job might have grueling hours, but in return it offered lifetime employment at a good wage. Japanese men sacrificed their time with their families so that they could reliably provide for their families. Fast forward to today: production has shifted to China, Japan has endured a period of low economic growth and few jobs promising lifetime employment exist. Young people in Japan face an uncertain future as they fight for jobs that promise temporary employment at best. [C] Control styles itself as a show about economics that focuses on the big issues of the economic future for Japanese youth. Whether it can address those questions successfully, even as it spends much of its time on fights between monsters, remains to be seen.
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How to watch your anime
When I watch a new show on TV in the United States I watch each show as it is released, one episode a week. Until recently I watched anime in a very different way, I would watch anime after all the episodes were released, usually four or five episodes at each sitting. This led to different viewing experience compared to US shows, albeit one that I did not choose. But marathoning anime is not the only choice anymore. With streaming anime, available hours after the Japanese broadcast, I can now watch Japanese shows in the same way I watch American ones. Now I have to choose which is better, marathoning a show or taking my time to watch one episode each week.
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Much Ado About Blu-Ray
The holidays are long over and I bet some of you are enjoying brand new anime you received as gifts. For me, this year meant a leap from watching anime on my tiny computer screen to watching it on a beautiful LCD TV. Along with my new TV, I was also excited to pick up a Blu-Ray player. I was all ready to join the 21st century of video until I forced myself to step back. Are Blu-Rays worth the extra cost? Are they worth buying a disc that I can’t watch on my latop? Or should I keep buying DVDs and risk having to repurchase every series I own again in 10 years when I get tired of the poor video quality?
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Winter Impressions Part II
Slowly but surely I am getting around to previewing the rest of this season’s shows. For this post I tried to preview some series that people seemed excited about in the comments to my first winter impressions post. That entry is available here.
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Big Robots on the Big Screen
The first time I watched Evangelion I I hated everything about it. Most of all I hated the characters and how slowly the series seemed to move. The disconnect I felt with Shinji and his eternal state of depression did not help either. When I heard that the creators’ were rereleasing the show in a series of movies I had mixed feelings. I didn’t want to suffer through another eight hours of Evangelion if it was just a graphics facelift. I still held out hope that instead of just retelling the story, the new version would address the problems of the original series. My hopes were dashed with the first installment, Evangelion 1.0, which seemed almost identical to the TV show. Now that I’ve seen Evangelion 2.0 on the big screen, I can finally say that an enjoyable version of Evangelion has finally arrived.
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Winter '11 Impressions
I don’t have Bateszi’s gift for intros, so let’s jump right into the Winter Preview. This season does not have any wildly anticipated shows, nor have I seen something of Star Driver’s caliber. Still, even if the shows don’t blow you away, anime is definitely still well and kicking.