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 →

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 →

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 →

 
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 →

 

In the immediate aftermath of Dark Reign comes Marvel’s next big crossover event, Siege. This event is being hyped as perhaps the biggest, most important one in years for the Marvel Universe; a culmination of everything since Avengers Disassembled, and the end of an era. It’s an awful lot to live up to, and comic promotion by a publisher is naturally full of exaggeration. But is the series really going to be that grand? Looking at the first issue, it’s a little hard to tell. Continue reading →

After much build-up and hype, DC’s big Blackest Night event finally began this summer, and is roughly halfway over now. The Green Lanterns, as well as numerous other heroes, are put to the test by the appearance of Black Lanterns — fallen heroes revived to extinguish all light from the universe. One could call it a glorified zombie event, but is there more to it than that? Let’s look at all the material released thus far.
 

 
To clarify, this review will cover Blackest Night #0-4, Green Lantern #43-47, Green Lantern Corps #39-41, Blackest Night: Batman #1-3, Blackest Night: Superman #1-3, Blackest Night: Titans #1-3, and Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1-3.
Continue reading →

Another year, another Naruto movie on DVD.  This time it’s based on Shippuden though, so everyone is a little older and a little wiser (well not really wiser…)
 

 
Shonen movies are always stuck in that loop of wanting to be ‘the big movie’ version of a show, and then having to reset to point zero at the end.  Let’s see how the newest Naruto movie does.

Continue reading →

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 →