Anime Review Roundup
Manga News Bits
Manga Entertainment have been busy this week, and once more, they have used Twitter to let loose one of their surprisingly frequent licence announcements. This time it is Sacred Blacksmith, the short series that will be seeing a UK release at the end of this summer.
They've also opted for a more traditional form of media, and Manga bloke Jerome Mazandarani has been interviewed by Chris Beveridge of the Mania website. You can go there are read the 10 questions, and indeed 10 answers about all things anime related on UK shores.
Bandai News Bit?
It has taken a long, long time, but Bandai Entertainment in the US have finally, and publicly acknowledged that there is an audio issue with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2, and its spin off, the Haruhi-chan shorts. To whit, the Japanese audio was presented as a mono track repeated across two channels, instead of stereo. They have now initiated an exchange programme, and you can get the correct discs. How that will work for UK importers, I don't know, but click here to ask them.
I got my head around two anime reviews last week, beginning with Vampire Knight: Volume 4. This gothic romantic vampire series comes to a conclusion barely a month before Manga Entertainment will release the first volume of the sequel series, Vampire Knight Guilty. So if you feel any sense of withdrawal after watching this, your needs won't remain unfulfilled for long. You'd think that with the words gothic, romantic, and vampire in my description, I wouldn't be one of those suffering from withdrawal, but Vampire Knight has proven to be a rather moody, and atmospheric bit of storytelling, building on a core of some strong characterisations. When you get the fundamentals like that right, it almost doesn't matter that the subject matter drifts alarmingly into Anne Rice territory.
Next up, I went all retro with a look at The Big O: Complete Collection. Well, the series may be from the end of the twentieth century, but it only made its UK DVD debut at the end of 2010, so it's not quite as retro as it might have been. It is an anime about a giant robot though, usually a genre that makes me run for the hills. The Big O has a very stylish and distinctive look to it that works in its favour. If you remember the Batman cartoons of the same period, you'll find much that is familiar about The Big O, the look of the cartoon, the wealthy protagonist with a secret double identity, the butler, the fancy gadgets. The android maid and the giant robot not so much. What intrigues most about The Big O is its premise, a world bereft of memory, where a cataclysm left the human race, amnesiac, and living in a domed city, and where fragments of memory are more dangerous than any weapon. Click the link to read more.
It never hurts to have a second opinion, and you may have scratched your head at the gushing of love that I gave to Alien vs. Ninja a couple of weeks ago. Well, David Beckett has given the film a once over too, and if you click the link, you'll be able to read his take on the film. And then you can scratch your head and try to decide which of us is right. It's me of course… unless it's him. Coming next year from Bargain Basement Movies… Reviewer vs. Reviewer!
Vampire Knight: Volume 4 comes out on the 28th of February, courtesy of Manga Entertainment. Beez Entertainment were responsible for The Big O: Complete Collection late last year, and hopefully they will be responsible for The Big O II sometime in the near future (write to your MPs). Alien vs. Ninja is out now, with a shiny lenticular sleeve.
Manga Entertainment have been busy this week, and once more, they have used Twitter to let loose one of their surprisingly frequent licence announcements. This time it is Sacred Blacksmith, the short series that will be seeing a UK release at the end of this summer.
They've also opted for a more traditional form of media, and Manga bloke Jerome Mazandarani has been interviewed by Chris Beveridge of the Mania website. You can go there are read the 10 questions, and indeed 10 answers about all things anime related on UK shores.
Bandai News Bit?
It has taken a long, long time, but Bandai Entertainment in the US have finally, and publicly acknowledged that there is an audio issue with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2, and its spin off, the Haruhi-chan shorts. To whit, the Japanese audio was presented as a mono track repeated across two channels, instead of stereo. They have now initiated an exchange programme, and you can get the correct discs. How that will work for UK importers, I don't know, but click here to ask them.
Vampire Knight: Volume 4 comes out on the 28th of February, courtesy of Manga Entertainment. Beez Entertainment were responsible for The Big O: Complete Collection late last year, and hopefully they will be responsible for The Big O II sometime in the near future (write to your MPs). Alien vs. Ninja is out now, with a shiny lenticular sleeve.
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