Few small updates for everyone.
 
First, some Canadian anime fans have wondered what Best Buy would be doing with anime, and we have a quote from Best Buy Canada.
 
“The feedback that I received was that Anime titles don’t have the same market penetration here in Canada, mostly due to less TV exposure. As a result, there isn’t this level of a plan for Canada.”
 
PR guys seem to have their own secret language, so take that to mean…god knows what.
 
Afro Samurai Resurrection on Blu-ray having Dolby 5.1 audio instead of Dolby TrueHD lossless 5.1.  Apparently this happened on an early run of disks by mistake.  If you have the lower quality audio, email productconcerns@funimation.com and they will take care of you.
 
Site updates should be on a more stable track within a week or two, with a guest review or two.  Also, some nice contests.

 

New game that hasn’t been announced even in Japan yet (as far as I know).
 

 
Dragonball for the Wii.
 
Yes, Dragonball, not Dragonball Z.
 
Only information I know so far about the games plot…
 

 
At some point in the game you get to wail on General White.
 
More news to come when I get it.
 

 

Anchor Bay (Manga and Anchor Bay are both owned by the same company) will be showing off their upcoming Ghost in the Shell Blu-ray at the NYCC this weekend.
 
Maybe it’ll be the 2.0 version?  Should know soon.

It’s time for one of the bigger, if not the biggest early review I’ve done, Akira.  Akira is one of the biggest, if not THE biggest anime as far as us over here in the USA are often concerned with.  Over the years with more and more big name releases it may get a bit more bogged down when it comes to discussions of the biggest things ever, but for anyone who got into anime years ago, Akira is the big shadow in the room.

Getting to do the first review I know of of this disk nearly a month before it comes out anywhere in the world is just….awesome.  Being probably one of the closest things anime fans will get to the must have Blu-ray, let’s take a look at how they did, including some new ground broken. Continue reading →

Got a bit of info on the 5cm per Second dub.

Not sure if Bang Zoom is doing it themselves, or if one of Bang Zoom’s recording studios was rented out by somebody else (it appears it ISN’T Bang Zoom, might even be the same studio that did Nanoha and Familiar of Zero).

It looks like it’s a rather low budget dub, mostly actors who normally play side characters, or relatively new people (Nanoha/Zero people).

As for if the  ADV dub will end up on whatever the final release ends up being, no idea.

(edit- Bandai has denied they have it. And since gia and a few others have made the comment, I’m not saying up there that Bang Zoom is dubbing it ‘themselves’, what I was saying was it might not be dubbed ‘by’ Bang Zoom, but AT Bang Zoom by someone else. Nor am I just putting together the Greenfield con report and the credit that showed up online last week, I simply mention them in the original report because it is further confirmation. I’ve talked to multiple people involved.)

Got a stack of early news that may interest people.  Let’s start with the least interesting stuff first.

Dragonball Z TV Blu-rays are being worked on (or at least in the higher side of planning stages, I’m not 100% sure on that).  Beyond that, I know nothing (minus a hint of maybe a pack in exclusive at Best Buy, but not sure about that).

Last year Matt Greenfield said at a con that Bandai had 5cm per Second, and earlier this week someone put up an acting credit via Bang Zoom.

After talking to a few people, Bang Zoom definately has redubbed it for Bandai, likely for a Blu-ray.  Not 100% sure on the Blu-ray front, but from what I’ve been told, that seems to be the plan.  Can’t say if the old dub will be on it or not.

Evangelion 1.0.  I mentioned this on Aod, but people didn’t seem to notice I wasn’t theorizing, so I’ll mention it here with a few more details.  It’s being recorded at Funimation (and was recording before New Years).  I don’t know cast details for sure, but I can say the following.  The director is one of Funimation’s directors (can’t say who, although Funimation isn’t beyond using multiple directors for a project, don’t know if this one does, but if it isn’t, then it isn’t Greenfield).

and now for the one that most people will probably care about.

Funimation has the FMA Premium Collection OVAs and was dubbing THOSE before 2009 started also.  As far as I’m aware and have been told, castwise, everyone should be back. Don’t know about release details for these yet, but I’ll update when/if I get further info.

(All of these are sourced from multiple people whom are trustworthy and asked to remain anonymous)

After lots of problems in 2008, with quite a few recalls, it’s time for one of Bandai’s big 2009 products, a new year, a new start, let’s see how Bandai does with their first Blu-ray, of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.

Continue reading →

Working on some reviews at the moment. Been a bit busy. Reviews soon though!

No, no date for the USA, but news that suggests it is coming sooner rather than later.

I can confirm the added scenes for Adventure Children Complete are being dubbed by the same English cast that did the original English dub as we speak.

Here are the first HD screenshots/promotional pics from the final Futurama DTV, Into the Wild Green Yonder.

I love Futurama, but honestly, DTV 2 and 3 felt a little weak, especially after the first one being just amazing.