Back for yet another Blu-ray review: this time it’s Ouran High School Host Club.
 

 
Oh yes, it is finally time to review an upscaled Blu-ray.  Let’s take a look at if a non-HD Blu-ray is worth your time and money. Continue reading →

As we’ve heard for many months now, and even longer if you go back to when it was brand new and streaming, there is a war. A war against… pants.
 

 
Strike Witches is arguably the antithesis to the shows we tend to see from Funimation, with not only mass market appeal, but being relatively niche and a centerpiece in arguments in online communities. So let’s check it out… Yeah, I couldn’t think of a good pants line to use here… maybe I’ll put that up as a contest this weekend… Continue reading →

Evangelion returns.  After a long wait (and avoiding the DVD version to wait for the Blu-ray for many people, myself included) the first of the new Evangelion films has made it to Blu-ray in the USA.
 

 
With the series hitting 15 years old, is the Rebuild of Evangelion something to look forward to?  And after quite a few Blu-rays that aren’t exactly up to snuff, is this the Blu-ray Funimation finally gets it right on? Continue reading →

Working for the Grim Reaper himself can’t be the easiest job now can it?  Which is why he founded a school to… wait… Death runs a school?  Sounds a bit iffy for my tastes.
 

 
In fact, when I first heard about this show a couple years ago, I wrote it off completely.  But having arrived in Region 1 land (and my mailbox) I decided I could at least open it up and take a peek at an episode or two of Soul Eater… I mean, even if I didn’t like it, Bones has made some of my favorite shows, so it won’t be that bad… right? Continue reading →

Dragon Ball Kai was finally announced by Funi as Dragon Ball Z Kai.
 

 
Here’s a bit of extra info I’ve had on hand for awhile about the release.
 
The current plan is to have the first DVD and BD boxes in May.
 
The BD releases will have a five dollar premium.
 
Having talked to a few people, it appears the cast will remain the same as the Funimation Dragon Ball Z dub, but with greater care being given to the script. I say appears because I’ve only talked to a few people, they are indeed playing the same roles they played before, and they were under the impression it was going to be the same cast, this may not apply for every character.
 
The show started being dubbed last year.
 
That’s all the information I have at the moment, but I’ll update if I gain anymore
 

 
In 1999, Pioneer began releasing the edited TV version of the first two dub seasons of Dragon Ball Z on DVD. In 2000, FUNimation began releasing their own uncut, bilingual DVDs of the series, starting with the third dub season. In 2005, after the rest of the series was finished, FUNimation began releasing bilingual, uncut versions of the episodes that were previously sub-licensed to Pioneer (now known as Geneon). But those releases were quietly canceled before even the first dub season was finished, leaving a gap of forty episodes that were never released in this format. However, in 2007, FUNimation re-started their Dragon Ball Z DVD releases in a “remastered” format that was cropped to widescreen, and fully released every episode this way from beginning to end in boxed sets. Thus, there has only been one consistent release of all 291 episodes of Dragon Ball Z in North America, but at the cost of roughly one-sixth of the footage from every frame of every episode. Continue reading →

 
Back with another anime DVD to review, this time we have a Funimation show, via a Sega game… Sands of Destruction.
 

 
Sega doesn’t normally get the high marks for quality they used to long ago, so can a Sega based anime work out? Continue reading →

Back on a new computer with a new review.  This time we have Gonzo popping up with the story of a boy and a mech (a story no anime fan has ever heard before…)
 

 
So does Linebarrels of Iron and the story of a boy and a mech show us anything we haven’t seen in the genre before?  Let’s take a look. Continue reading →

Update: Funimation has confirmed with me via e-mail that they are NOT dubbing either show, nor do they have the rights to. So both of these are bunk.
 
I’ve gotten a bit of news about both of these lately.  Neither are confirmed, but we will see.
 

 
First up we have Shaman King, which 4kids previously had.  It appears Funi is already dubbing this with plans to release it next year.  No idea if 4kids has anything to do with it, as very recently 4kids was still mentioning Shaman King in financial and legal reports (a month ago it was still listed in their financial reports), but there is no longer anything Shaman King related (even copyright information) on the 4kids website, which suggests 4kids doesn’t have the license anymore.
 

 
Then we have the new series Fairy Tail.  A few different people have commented on this for me, and a few places have forum posts from people who talked to actors.  I’m leaning towards this one having a higher probability of being ‘not real’ than Shaman King, but it’s leaning towards yes.  Based on which persons info I should believe, Fairy Tail could start being release mid-2010, or may be held off for a DVD release until 2011 (the 2011 comments from multiple sources is why I’m a bit less sure about this one, with at least one person who got similar information who posted it on a forum saying it isn’t being DUBBED until 2011, which… an actor wouldn’t know that yet.)
 
I wouldn’t be surprised if both were true, but at the moment, Shaman King is seeming VERY likely.  Fairy Tail… slightly less so, but since no one but Viz or Funimation were ever going to get a long running shonen title, it’s a bit to easy for people to pass off ‘assumptions’ as news..
 
As always, take your news with a grain of salt.
 

Back again, and this time with a bloody treat, Blassreiter.  One of the original simulcasts is finally getting a DVD release. After the show was given out for free, does the DVD deserve a place on your shelf?
 

 
Instead of my normal comment, a small warning.  Look at the cover art.  If the cover art makes you a bit creeped out, just consider… this is the American cover art.  If this is what we get for the cover, imagine the content of the show itself… but for the rest of you, it may be a ride worth catching ( and aha!, fought the effort to make a motorcycle joke!)  Also, after the jump is the entire first episode embedded for your viewing pleasure via Gonzo’s Youtube channel, and Funimation Video is also streaming the entire series subtitled (along with a few dub episodes as a preview.) Continue reading →