Before I Have to Stream…

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Ubu Roi

So, tonight’s the last night I can buy DTO anime at Crunchyroll. I’m looking at what’s to grab before it all goes away. Well, actually you can buy now, and download at any time before May 31, so I don’t have to limit myself to what my pokey DSL can get before tonight’s over.

Soooo…. Last night, I snagged Time of Eve. Damn good show, I recommend it, and it’s not likely to be marketed here anytime soon. It’s an indy production, six 15 minute episodes (I have yet to view the last 3), which explore the limits and limitations of Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics in a near-future setting. (And after you see the first few episodes, you’ll know why “limits and limitations” is not redundant.)

So, I started going through the list this evening…

Last Exile. cheap, it’s only 1.99 an episode or the whole bundle for $36. Let’s compare: Yes, Robert’s still got some in stock, and for only $1 more (and maybe shipping) I get physical discs and a lot better video quality. Advantage Robert. Oh, whoops, I missed the note on CR that LE wouldn’t be available as of 3/1/2010. Total advantage to Robert!

Neo Angelique Abyss: Not available for download.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Not available for download, not sure I’m interested.
Happiness: not available for download. Sounds familiar, but it’s slice of life. Not interested.
Shangri-La: Not available for download, and I didn’t like it that much when it was being broadcast.

Linebarrels of Iron: Available at $2 per episode, no discount for bulk purchase. Robert’s got the boxed set of the first half for $37, so $74 for the full set of discs and much better graphics vs. $48 for the individual episodes on CR. Advantage goes to Robert here, I think. I quit after the first episode.

Blassreiter Available for download, not available at Robert’s. Not that wild about it.. oh GONZO. Warning: Lark’s Vomit!

You know, I’m seeing a pattern here…. “Not interested — Not available for download.” This may explain why I haven’t been going to Crunchy much, of late…. Oh well, I’ll sign up for their iPad drawing, and maybe I’ll get lucky. Yeah, right. Normally I don’t bother with drawings and contests designed to elicit my information, but hey, in this case, they’ve already got my email and street address…

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Where’s the Desire? (Survey time!)

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Ubu Roi

I just haven’t been feeling like blogging for some time now. I’ve got something like seven partially written articles & reviews, and couldn’t even work up interest in my usual “Worst of” posts this last January.

About all I can work up the gumption for is the occasional short comment. On that score, I should have posted this over at Chizumatic, but it would have constituted topic drift.

Steven was going on about a missed opportunity for a cool nickname in Mai-Otome. Which reminded me….

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Posted in Gaming, Random Nonsense, Tropes and Such | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

To Aru no Police

Posted on March 16, 2010 by Ubu Roi

Edit: fixed the title.

Steven has finally continued watching To Aru no Railgun, which has provided the impetus for me to put some thoughts of mine into words. Below the fold…

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Posted in Random Nonsense | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Embrace the Stream

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Ubu Roi

Because download-to-own is dead at Crunchyroll:

As Crunchyroll continues to evolve, we add new features and remove ones that don’t perform well. Recently we’ve made a decision to discontinue our Download-to-Own service, which lets users purchase DRM-free, downloadable videos of our popular shows. We believe online streaming video is the future will continue to focus on those efforts. Starting March 31, 2010, no new purchases of video downloads will be allowed. However, your existing downloads will continue to work until May 1, 2010. Please download and save your video files by May 1, 2010.

As an alternative, we offer high quality, ad-free streams through our Premium Membership service. It offers over 50% of currently airing Anime titles in Japan and thousands of catalog episodes for as little as $5/month.

Frankly, I thought they’d already discontinued it. I looked and looked for where to download what I was watching on CR, but couldn’t find the links. Maybe I’m just blind, but I figured that after “Gonzo’s mistake with Strike Witches” (Whatever that was supposed to be, I dunno) This disappointed me tremendously; I have issues with the playback hanging sometimes, so I would prefer to spend the extra money to have a quality download, with an approved translation then and there, rather than wait a day to a week. As a result, I’ve been doing very little watching on CR, and was thinking about canceling my subscription.

DTO would would have been killer for Bakamonogatari, since my copy of ep. 14 is a total botch. Alas, no luck. I think it’s been licensed though, so perhaps we’ll see it at retail soon.

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It isn’t looking pretty

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Ubu Roi

From Chartfag’s Den of Lesbian Enterprise:

# Kuroshitsuji is in July.
# Strike Witches is not airing this season.
# Sekirei is not airing this season.
# Even if movies are apparently released on a certain date, they are usually in theatres and so won’t be released online anywhere near the date.

Gotta give him props for the name. Anyway, his preview is here.

On the bright side, the Negima OVA’s continue.

Posted in Upcoming Releases | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Omamori Himari, quick note

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Ubu Roi

I don’t have time to do this series justice, but it’s turning out not to disappoint. The art & animation could be a little better, but they didn’t do what I feared most, and turn it into a totally brainless jiggle-fest. It’s a weakness in the source material that the story looks like exactly that for the first half. Nor am I saying that it’s high-brow entertainment — it is a harem comedy with some big boobs, and a whole passle of tropes, and it doesn’t aim to be a lot more.

Still, though, the main point I liked about the manga has carried through here: Yuto has some ‘nads. They’re kind of soft and squishy to start, but as his memory comes back, he starts asserting himself a bit. Episode 8 was a major step up in that regard. (If they get far enough into the story and stick to the manga, he’s going to start sounding VERY Western in regards to war and fighting). The childhood marriage betrothal flag has been played, and she (Kueso) is a babe. But for various reasons, she’s pushing too hard, and wants to kill all of Yuto’s friends among the demons (which amounts to 3/5ths of his harem, at this point), then marry him. Yuto finally sits Kueso down and tells her “Not happening — I see what you’re really after, and I WILL NOT AGREE.” Pre-meditated decision, not a “heat of the moment” thing, which makes it even more impressive. Now, whether you agree with what happens next or not may vary, but I thought it was lampshaded hilariously — and Himari’s method of putting Kueso in her place was funny too. (Note that if it continues to follow the manga, she’s not entirely persuaded…there’s going to be some ‘testing to destruction’ coming later if there’s a season 2.)

It looks like the series big bads are about to show up; there’s only 4 episodes left, and it’s about time. Worth noting that in the manga, it took everything the girls and Yuto had to pull off a draw….they’re nasty, and it’s not resolved yet in the manga. I expect an open ending.

I may have more to say about this later, with a few screenshots. I swear, the girls have to be using superhero glue to keep those outfits on.

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Whoa…

Posted on February 26, 2010 by Ubu Roi

I very, very much hope that Shaft continues to animate the Negima OVA’s. Or someone does…as long as they get to issue 280. (Start here, as the party breaks up and everyone runs for their life, for the full effect.) The girls have been coming back to front-and-center for the last few chapters, and today was Nodoka’s turn. She’s always been one of my two favorites (along with Asuna, of course), but now….

Holy crap, Batman, she laid the smack down on the baddest opponent in all of Cosmo Entelechia. I always knew that artifact of hers made her potentially damn dangerous, but her biggest drawback was her weakness in combat. Well …. she addressed that little issue — and I should have seen it coming.

It irks me, that twice this manga has gotten an anime, and both times they had to tell a different story because this one wasn’t far enough along.

Update 3/3: And 281 is out; it’s several other girls’ time. “Number 8 on my list of things I’ve always wanted to say… FIRE MAIN CANNON!!!!“

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