And a Big Middle Finger in Your Eye, Too!

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Ubu Roi

In which I speculate wildly and rant without a fully justified reason. Yet.

Steven talks about one of the cuter and more enjoyable lightweight series that aired recently, Dog Days. Although his main subject is the official, and often inconsistent, romanization of names in the series, he lets drop this tidbit:

It turns out that the Japanese BD release of Dog Days includes subtitles in English, French, and Chinese. The ANK-Raws rip preserved all three.

I’m not sure, but I think this isn’t the first time this has happened, and what I’m wondering is… will this become a trend? Is this Japanese-release-with-subtitles what we’re going to see more of in the future? Without later R1 licensing? I notice that no R1 license seems to have been announced, in fact. In other words, “Buy at the same inflated prices our domestic market pays, or you don’t get it at all.” Will we have to start ordering our anime from Amazon.jp?

Incoming controversy, batten down the hatches.
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Posted in Anime Industry, Bitching, Blogging, Commerce | 7 Comments

Woot.

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Ubu Roi

The hero was Spyder the Rogue, and the gear was so-so.

The answer to the obvious question is “Four Great Wyrms, and five Giant Spiders.” On a one square island I hand to Wind Walk to, meaning it was so late in the game it made no difference. The spell was an insult — after I picked up one green book, I spent half the game trying to get that spell, only the game gave me everything else but it.

Started with 11 blue books

Why is it, if I get one green book, the next retort I find is Nature Mastery, not Sorcery Mastery?

Posted in Gaming | Tagged | 5 Comments

What’s Hot; What’s Not, Fall 2011

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Ubu Roi

So when I updated my prior article, I put in a brief ranking of shows this season, only to realize that I was suffering from brain death and forgot about three I was following. That did kind of blow my rankings totally. Yep, it’s another “large” season, where I’ve got a lot of shows that I like, although no breakout show like Puella Magi Magical Madoka is to be found among them. (Fate/Zero is certainly good, but it’s not exactly groundbreaking, 7 years after F/SN.) So to make sure I don’t do that again (ha, right!), I thought I’d commit my thoughts to electrons somewhere, now that we’ve passed the 1/3 point of Fall,2011. So without further ado, in order, here’s my picks for this season thus far.

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Ben-to (updated)

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Ubu Roi

Update: added a few bits and some cheesecake from episode 4.

Despite my saying that this show’s concept was too stupid to watch, I decided to give it a trial, and after three episodes, I’m still not certain what to make out of it. (I know episode 4 is out; I haven’t watched it yet). It occurred to me that, with such an absurd premise, there was every possibility that it was actually a parody of seinen fighting shows, which could be cute. I’m not ready to totally abandon that theory, but I’m not sure that’s what is going on here. If it is parody, it’s “parody done straight”, meaning it’s missing that wink-and-a-nod over-the-top element wherein the writers signal to the viewers, “yeah, we’re not taking this seriously either.” Whether or not it’s parody, it does have a few things going for it — cute girls,(ed.: not-so-)mild, but plentiful fanservice, a twisted sense of humor, and good supporting characters. Oh, and fourth-wall breaks.
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Posted in Cheesecake, Snap Reviews | Tagged | Leave a comment

On the Other Hand..

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Ubu Roi

It’s not enough to make me deliriously happy, but I was tickled to notice that Netflix is now streaming MST3K

Posted in Random Nonsense | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Well That Just Sucks

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Ubu Roi

I really, really, really wish I’d read the system requirements for Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter, you know, before I spent $40 on it.

Required: Windows Vista 32 bit.

Yeah, yeah, don’t give me crap about XP being ten years old. I’ve bitched about this before, and I will again: Enforced upgrades.

If I want to be a Luddite, I will be. Pen and paper was good enough for my ancestors.

Posted in Bitching, Gaming, Online | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Speculative Sequels

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Ubu Roi

In which I engage in sarcasm inspired by Steven’s snark “Someone owes us a final chapter for three or four other series I can think of. For instance, UFO Princess Valkyrie, in which Val is legally declared to be insane and gets locked up in an asylum.”

So, without further ado:

Martian Successor Nadesico: In which Izumi (the strange female pilot) wakes up and we find that the movie was just her having a weird dream.

Grenadier: In which Rushuna has to go into the hospital for back surgery.

Strike Witches: In which Sakamoto and Wilkes finally admit they’re yuri for each other. Oh wait, that was already a doujin or seven. Never mind.

Saber Marionette J: In which Mitsuragi is brutally beaten to within an inch of his life (repeatedly), for the crime of being so damn annoying.

Excel Saga: In which Excel actually has a sensible thought, and the shock kills the entire cast. Oh, and Hat-chan actually stays dead.

Tenchi Muyo GXP: In which we finally settle the argument whether the four Rezna spies got added to the marriage or not. And the Nabishin-bot is junked.

Nanoha: In which the cast expands to infinity, and we just don’t care anymore.

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue: In which the entire group is locked up as threats to society.

Ikkitousen: In which the outcome of a battle is the entire female cast being locked up for six months on charges of indecent exposure.

Kanokon: In which it’s discovered by the authorities that Chizaru is actually 400 years old, and she’s arrested for sexual assault of a child.

Feel free to add your own in the comments….

Posted in Random Nonsense, Stupid Memes | 4 Comments