Another Take on Rosario + Panchira

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Ubu Roi

So I checked out today’s Megatokyo strip, only to notice that Dom had posted a brand new rant…about R+V!

You may ask why I consider Rosario + Vampire to be the dumbest on a list of very dumb shows I’ve watched in the past. You may also ask what that blatant image is doing at the top of my rant. The second question answers the first. The level of fan service is so high, and such a focal point of the show, that I firmly believe that my He-Man rule applies to it: “If society has to choose between being remembered solely by He-Man (or, in this case, R+V) and being condemned to permanent and irrevocable destruction, society will choose destruction.”

I mean, the default camera angle involves knee level – you don’t count panty shots when we’re watching this show, you count each scene where the girl’s skirt miraculously manages to cover her frilly underthings. According to the official staff blog, each writer’s meeting for the show involves serious discussions of character panties.

If you want meaning, plot, or anything of substance, you’re not going to find it here. As I mentioned before, I am convinced that watching this show has a negative impact on my intellect – each time I watch it, its inanity causes parts of my brain to set themselves on fire in protest. Hell, each time a new episode airs, I let my friends know with conversations similar to this exchange with Hodgepodge:

Dom: Let’s get stupid TOGETHER
Hodgepodge: OU!
Friend: What are you guys watching?
Hodgepodge: Rosario + Vampire
Dom: Or, what I like to call The Dumbening.
Hodgepodge: Indeed, pantsu-fest.

Why do I watch a show this dumb, you ask? Why do I submit myself to a show I heap such abuse on? Why do I have to turn my English Literature degree face-down every time I fire it up, as if it’s a picture of my wife and I’m cheating on it?

Because I like the ending song.

I wish I was kidding about this.

I like the visuals myself…. as I said before, nekkid alt-Moka ftw.

Posted in Fansubs, Webcomics | 11 Comments

Good or Bad News?

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Ubu Roi

Via ANN, a statement (at last) from ADV:

We know there are a lot of rumors swirling about, and that fans are looking for assurances that ADV will continue to distribute the anime series they know and love.
While we can’t go into any detail at this time, please know that ADV is working through a few short-term challenges and fully intends to continue our releases.

We thank you for your patience.

An explanation of the “missing” ICV2 article:

The article on Sojitz and ADV you refer to was one of several contingency articles we prepared and posted on a staging site. Although that staging site is not accessible through ICv2 navigation, an unpublished article was indexed by Google using a spidering technique of which we had previously been unaware. We discovered the Google indexing within an hour or two of when it occurred and immediately removed the article from our staging site (along with any other unpublished articles). Unfortunately, the article was cached by Google and has now been brought to the attention of anime fans. It’s unfortunate because as this is written, the article isn’t true. It may still be one of several possible outcomes of the current situation, but as far as we know today ADV has not sent a notice to its retailers or placed the titles in question on hiatus and may not, pending the outcome of events that are still unfolding. We regret that our efforts to prepare for any eventuality led to this draft article becoming public before it was published and have taken steps to prevent such an event from happening again.

I can definitely sympathize, those damn spiders are a pain, and their owners are pretty closemouthed about how they work in order to inhibit attempts to “game” the search engines.

Also, from Bret, at Alamo Drafthouse, a comment on the prior thread I didn’t see (to approve) for a while:

I cannot add anything regarding the apparent turmoil at ADV, but as the Promotions Manager for the Alamo Drafthouse West Oaks, I can say that our weekly Anime screenings are back on track after a couple of cancelations by ADV. We have enjoyed hosting weekly screenings, partnering with ADV for our Anime Tuesdays, and have no plans on discontinuing any time soon. Here’s a quick rundown of our Feb. schedule:

2/5- Get Backers Vol. 1

2/12- Godannar Vol. 1

2/19- Kaleido Star: New Wings Vol. 1

2/26- Macross Vol. 1

More details to be found on www.drafthouse.com

So the sky might be suffering from “low clearance,” but it’s probably not falling. Everyone cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Posted in Anime Industry, Commerce, Upcoming Releases | 1 Comment

Not Good News….

Posted on January 29, 2008 by Ubu Roi

Uh-oh.

Several titles have been removed from ADV Films’ website since last Monday, including any reference to them in the site’s main page, store, and trailers, as well as trailers and videos on Anime Network’s website….Notably, all mention of these titles have been removed from ADV Films’ online store and trailer collection, even though listings for other titles remain on the website. Some additional titles have been removed from the online store’s listings, although ADV Films or the Anime Network still hosts trailers for them online. When asked about the removal of the above titles from its website, ADV Films declined to comment.

They’ve canceled the Tuesday night showings at Alamo Drafthouse and ended the ADVocates program a week or two ago, also. Coming on the heels of the fire sale, this isn’t a good sign. Via.

Edit: Steven was ahead of me.

Update: The following story used to be posted as a story at ICV2, but has been replaced with a copy of an earlier article. Google’s cache saved it long enough for a fan to grab it and post in the thread over at ANN.

ADV Cancels 37 Titles
Anime Offerings on ‘Indefinite Hiatus’
Canceled
January 28, 2008

In a letter to retailers ADV Films has identified 37 anime properties including Devil May Cry, Gurren Lagann, and Pumpkin Scissors that are “on indefinite hiatus, effective immediately.” The list includes virtually all of the properties that ADV has announced since its financing deal with the Sojitz Corporation (see “Japanese Investment Bulks Up ADV”) in late June of 2006. The properties that ADV has announced (and released) since then are from a variety of anime studios but they were all licensed through the ARM Corporation, a subsidiary of Japan Contents Investment, an investor group that included the Sojitz Corporation, the Development Bank of Japan and KlockWorx. In its letter to retailers ADV explained: “ADV has suspended certain elements of its former alliance with ARM Corporation, which financed the acquisition of these titles. ADV is working closely with various constituencies with the goal of restoring most if not all of these properties to our release schedule at a later date to the extent possible.”

The list includes properties that have already been released in their entirety such as Nerima Daikon Brothers, Guyver, and 009-1, series such as Pumpkin Scissors, Kurau Phantom Memory, and Red Garden that have only been partially released, and eagerly awaited anime such as Devil May Cry, Gurren Lagann and 5 Centimeters per Second that have been announced for later this year. The complete list of ADV anime properties on hiatus is:

009-01
5cm Per Second
Ah! My Goddess: Flights of
Fancy
Air Gear
Air Movie
Air TV series
Best Student Council
Blade of the Phantom Master
Comic Party Revolution
Coyote Ragtime
Devil May Cry
Ghost Train
Gurren Lagann
Guyver
Innocent Venus
Jinki: Extend
Kanon TV Series
King of Bandit Jing: 7th Heaven
Kurau Phantom Memory
Le Chevalier D’Eon
Magikano
Moeyo Ken TV Series
Moonlight Mile
Nerima Daikon Brothers
Pani Pani Dash!
Project Blue
Pumpkin Scissors
Red Garden
Synethesia
The Wallflower
Tokyo Majin
UFO Princess Valkyrie – Third
and Fourth Seasons
Utawarerumono
Venus vs. Virus
Welcome to the NHK
Xenosaga

Coming on the heels of Geneon’s departure (see “Geneon Ankles American Anime Scene”) the ADV announcement is more bad news for the reeling North American Anime Industry. For the past few years ADV has been the number two anime company in the North America, with a solid 12-13% share of the anime DVD market. Recently though ADV has been showing signs of stress. It has pulled its support from its industry-leading collection of anime clubs and two weeks ago announced that it would cease publication of Newtype USA (see “Newtype USA Ending”). The collapse of ADV’s deal with ARM does not necessarily mean the end of one of the trailblazing American anime companies, which was founded in 1992. ADV still has an extensive library of titles including the ever-popular Neon Genesis Evangelion. Still the fate of ADV subsidiaries such as The Anime Network, the Newtype successor PiQ (see “Newtype Successor Broadens Focus”), and the ADV manga publishing program that includes the bestselling Yotsuba&! manga remains in the balance as does the future of one of the pioneering powerhouses of the American anime market.

Update 2: And what really frosts me is that when I cruised over to Baka-Wolf to see if TAMNM ep. 4 was subbed yet, some jackass was ragging on the Baka site because they were asking for donations to help keep the the site up… not because he didn’t agree with fansubbing, no…. because he didn’t like being told to donate, or seeing ads, or being called a leecher. I’d say that he was just trolling, but the hell of it is that there really are people that damn clueless. Of course, listening to the chat over the last several days, I’m convinced that 90% of them are high-school kids with no money anyway. Paraphrasing a conversation:

Poster 1: “How much anime you got dl’d?”
Poster 2: “200 GB”
Poster 3: “100 GB and I own 150 DVD’s”
Poster 2: “Wow, I only own one.”

Sigh.

Posted in Anime Industry, Commerce | 10 Comments

Worst of 2007, Honorable Mentions

Posted on January 28, 2008 by Ubu Roi

EDIT: this isn’t the Top Ten Worst list. That can be found here. This is the more humorous “wasn’t bad enough to be that bad” list. It would have helped if I’d had more humor, but I’ve been ill since the beginning of the month.

10. Worst Top 10 list:
This year’s “Worst of: Honorable Mentions” by yours truly, of course! I seem to have forgotten the humor. I almost forget the post, too!
Edit: In fact, I forgot that I planned to feature this item, so I substituted the above!

10. Worst Choice of Alternatives:
Sigh, can’t believe I forgot this one…

9. Least Respect From Fansubbers:
While it seemed like Sayonara Zetbuso Sensei kept getting dropped and picked up by many groups (insert mandatory joke about despairing over SZS here….), at least it did manage to be completed. Then Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro was only only up to episode 6 (by two groups), and Moyashimon was only up to episode 8 (despite three groups), when I started this article. Given that, the prize was going to go to Moyashimon’s bacteria, but then Kiki Delivers, well, delivered on the last three episodes, albeit in January. Meanwhile, NEET and Catchphrase are still no further than ep. 7 of Manin Tantei, with February looming. Therefore, the mystery-eating demon takes the prize.

8. Worst Decision to Drop a Series:
My deciding to quit watching Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagen just before it got awesome. ‘Nuff said.

7. Worst Mecha show/concept:
Dragonaut tried, it really did. Organic dragon/mech/spaceships. But really, how can you beat the absurdly laughable idea of solar-powered mechs fighting battles to end all war? I want to giggle just thinking about it. Go, go, gadget Gundam 00!

6. Worst Mismatched Romantic Rivals
Nagi and Nishizawa, from Hayate the Combat Butler. The dragon vs. the hamster girl.

Poor Nishizawa-san. I really have to feel for her, up against a filthy rich loli tsundere. Hayate should just forget about both of them and run away with Maria.

5. Worst “Oopsie” During a Peace Conference
Lelouche, for accidentally Geassing his own sister, the idealistic Princess Euphie, to order the slaughter of all Japanese.

4. Worst Lack of Testosterone (in history).
Hands down winner, Shungo Ninomiya. See the prior list. I mean, it’s established by the end of the series that Mayu’s succubus drain will only activate against Shungo if she kisses him on the lips. Given that she vamps him at every opportunity, and Reika is right there for the taking (alternately willing to surrender herself to Shungo, take him by force, or berate him, depending on which personality is in charge), there is no way that any non-gay male could have failed to screw the (somewhat limited) brains out of either of the girls, probably both. I mean, come on, in the ED they’re gang tackling him in the bath, stark naked, and he’s trying to get away. Talk about a suspension of disbelief. I haven’t seen a guy this stupid since Takeya in DearS! Did Mayu get his balls back then, as well as his memories?

3. Worst Stagecraft During a Dramatic Entrance:
It’s so bad, I can’t even say. I mean, really. What’s wrong with this picture? Hint: those scarves are really well-starched, because in this scene, they aren’t moving at all. While that’s a cost saver, it would have made the error even more apparent, if they were moving.

2. Worst Bloodbath:
For sheer numbers, Euphie and Lelouche should take it, but unfortunately, they get caught up in that whole “Kill one person and you’re a murderer, kill a million and you’re a politician” bit. (This is the future, we don’t do “statesmen” any more.) As for Higurashi, the Sonozoki twins decided to hang up the nails, and try to figure out the crazy time loops. Given that, there is truly only one choice for this award. Rather than a picture, I have just two words: “NICE BOAT” School Days for those of you who don’t get the reference; the one where one jealous girlfriend kills the boyfriend (keeping his head), then kills the other girl and dissects her to see if she’s really pregnant.

1. Most Terrifying Cabbage Roll:

I love animé. What else could give me the opportunity to say, two years in a row, “It’s a head of cabbage. (I think….)” Well, ok, last year it was “a head of lettuce” but once again, work with me, ok? Yes, the only cook more horrifying than Shana, is Wilhelmina herself.

And that’s it for another year. See you in January 2009, with the next “Worst of!”

Posted in All Reviews, Random Nonsense | 3 Comments

Nothing in Particular…

Posted on January 28, 2008 by Ubu Roi

ah, good ol’ TvTropes. About Code Geass:

“Nina Einstein from Code Geass is without a doubt the most unpopular character in the series, mainly because she was willing to set off a bomb that would kill tons of people, including her friends, just to get revenge on Zero after the events of EP 24-25. Other people think it is because… well, because she’s an ugly racist lesbian who raped a table. Really. We swear. “

I’m so looking forward to season 2 in April… Kallen in a bunny-girl outfit. Mmmmmmmm. Maybe not Mikuru-level, but nice, nonetheless.

Posted in Random Nonsense | 6 Comments

Nobody Likes Uwe Boll

Posted on January 28, 2008 by Ubu Roi

Not even Pete Abrams.

If you don’t know who Mr. Boll is, try here. Nominated twice by the Razzies(tm) for “Worst Director.”

Posted in Random Nonsense, Webcomics | Leave a comment

Rosario + Vampire, Additional Speculation

Posted on January 27, 2008 by Ubu Roi

I was just rewatching ep. 2, and noticed something during the end credits, but it’s a spoiler. Behind the tag it goes.

One of the girls featured prominently in the line drawings appears to be Rubi, the witch. Given that the series is only 13 episodes, that strongly suggests that the main plotline for this series is going to be the Witch Hill / landfill story. It’s long enough to cover several episodes, possibly six. If there’s an episode to introduce Gin and set up the newspaper club, one to three to put out the newspaper and engage the guardians over it, then another to introduce Mizore early, that that would leave the Witch Hill storyline covering 5-7 episodes. It’s epic enough to be “the” storyline of the first season, and doesn’t run them into the the bloodier, dramatic aspects of later events, a storyline that isn’t resolved, or one that’s too long. It also gives the writers of the animé (adapters, I should say) a chance to signal the darker side of the story without going off the deep end. Additionally, it has the benefits of matching alt-Moka up against a fearsome foe even she needs help with, and including one of victories that isn’t hers.

I think this is far more likely to be the animé’s direction than my earlier explanation, which just wouldn’t fit in 13 episodes, as Steven points out. It also neatly puts the more epic (speculated) storyline in a possible second season, in addition to delaying it to let Ikeda catch up.

Posted in Fansub Review, Random Nonsense | 12 Comments