As one of the most well-known mecha series in the world, Mobile Suit Gundam is the genesis of a franchise that is still going more than 30 years later, and with countless sequels, spin-offs, manga, video games, and of course plastic model kits, Yoshiyuki Tomino’s epic is credited with cementing the “Real Robot” genre into its place in anime history. After the rousing success of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing on Cartoon Network’s infamous and recently resurrected Toonami block, the original 1979 series that started it all made its way to American shores. A decade later, Bandai Entertainment gave fans in America the most complete version of the series it could possibly provide us; but is it worth it to track down these sets, now that Bandai is no longer with us? Continue reading →

Infinite Ryvius is a top-notch psychological drama from Sunrise that aired in 1999. Bandai first put it out on DVD in North America in 2003, and it’s really worth a look.
 

 
Infinite Ryvius, on its surface, looks like the kind of generic mecha/sci-fi series that Bandai often releases. It seems like it has nothing new to offer and is really only for the hardcore Sunrise fans. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s very little action in the show, and the mecha is only used a handful of times throughout the entire 26 episodes. So I’m not really sure if that crowd would enjoy this. No, this series instead seems aimed at fans of character driven dramas, and that’s perfectly fine. There is also some great insight on political systems, and what human beings truly are at their root. This series cuts deep into human psyche. Continue reading →

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya… one of the more popular series of recent memory.  After three years the series returns with a new season.
 

 
After having such a well received first season that blew quite a few people away can season two possibly stand up to its predecessor? Does it need to? Or would a few extra adventures with fun characters be enough?  Guess we will find out… Continue reading →

Eureka Seven is back… in movie form.  Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers (long enough title I think) is a new adventure with Renton, Eureka, and the crew of the Gekko.
 

 
I’m sure all the Eureka Seven (I certainly won’t be using the full title every time in the review…) fans already ran off to go get a copy, but unfortunately this is an early review, and it won’t be released until next month.  But let’s take a look at how the Blu-ray is, and if it’s worth the cost of entry for fans. Continue reading →

Time for another early review.  This time we have the Escaflowne movie, now having over half a dozen American releases.
 

 
Having had over a dozen releases, and the Ultimate Edition from day one still being the preferred version, is Escaflowne on Blu-ray a great release?  Or should it go in the pile of disks that few want, next to Escaflowne on UMD and Bandai’s Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Blu-ray.
Continue reading →

Lucky Star returns for one last… well not sure I’d call Lucky Star an adventure… but Lucky Star is back for one more go round (that works).
 

 
A few months after the series has ended we get about another episode and a half.  With a bit of time having passed, is Lucky Star still the bright shining star we remember? Continue reading →

It’s sorta odd to have a DVD in hand for a license announced just a week ago, but here Kannagi is.
 

 
After a year of oddity from Bandai in regards to quality and actually getting releases out (not to mention similar issues in the past), people are being a bit on the cautious side with Bandai disks, let’s see how this one fares. Continue reading →

Although not officially announced by Bandai as part of the announcement, during an interview that was streamed over the net Tony Oliver commented that he would be directing the dub of the film.
 
This confirms the movie will likely use the same cast (since he was the director for the show also and has commented many times about how it was the best cast he’s ever had).
 
Hopefully some cast confirmations will be upcoming.
 

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 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)