Home video collectors are a particular breed who feel a personal connection to particular movies and cinema, urging us to want to own particular favorite films. We want the films we like to be nearby, like a domestic pet, to gratify and validate us. Ordinary people purchase the movies or TV shows they enjoy in order to re-watch them periodically, thus a watchable copy is perfectly sufficient. But collectors are more deeply engaged with their favorite films. Since we feel personally invested in those films and associate those films with our own self-identity, we want the versions of those films which satisfy us most. And because we always want the film close at hand, we feel obligated to constantly upgrade with newer formats, fancier and more comprehensive editions, and remastered, more pristine presentations. Although perhaps not with such psychologically scrutiny, the home video distribution industry recognizes and capitalizes on this compulsion with the “double dip.” An extra scoop is usually welcome. An improvement is commendable. But when relevant to home video, the “double dip” is like ice cream sprinkled with jalapeno. It’s a bitter pleasure that collectors face with equal amounts of anticipation and frustration. We’re being taken advantage of, but at heart the situation still involves something pleasurable, so we grit our teeth, rationalize, and concede.
The third episode of writer Kazushige Nojima & director Romanov Higa’s web-anime mini-series Buso Chugakusei Basket Army is now online. The story revolves around military school students under seige by international mercenaries seeking to recover a military secret that the children are protecting.
The homepage for the Blood-C anime movie has annouced that a two-part TV special summarizing the 2011 TV series will air prior to the movie’s opening. The “Tamano o Yo” episode will air on May 26, followed by the “Hitomo no Shi” episode on the 30th. The two episodes will condense the TV series story and feature a newly created scene involving supporting character Itsuki Tomofusa. The TV series sequel movie, Blood-C: The Last Dark, will open theatrically on June 2.
A new 36-second trailer for next month’s Blood-C: The Last Dark motion picture has hit the web. The action-filled trailer is entirely new footage, but may also reveal a small spoiler, so viewer discretion is suggested. The movie sequel to last year’s TV series will hit Japanese theaters on June 2.
Bandai’s Sunrise studio has formally announced that the Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn OVA series will be extended by one episode. The anime adaptation of Harutoshi Fukui’s ten-volume novel series was announced as a six-episode anime series in 2009. Sunrise now reports that the adaptation will be extended to seven episodes. The seventh episode will be more than one hour long.
Question:
With Nanoha A’s the second movie being released in July is there any possibility that Nanoha Strikers will be released as movie as well despite it’s lukewarm welcome among Western anime fans? Also, is there the possibility that Nanoha Vivid and Nanoha Force to become anime series as well?
A new live-action & CG trailer introducing director Kenji Kamiyama’s full CG anime film 009 Re:Cyborg has appeared on the movie’s official website. This latest adaptation of the classic Cyborg 009 manga by the late Shotaro Ishinomori will hit Japanese theaters in 2D and stereoscopic 3D on October 27.
Question:
I remember reading on an anime forum a while back that someone stated that those who are anti-military/anti-law enforcement would not like mecha anime. What are your thoughts? Agree?
Sunrise has announced its development of an anime feature film adaptation of Taku Mayumura’s 1976 juvenile sci-fi novel Nerawareta Gakuen (“Targeted School”). The novel has been adapted into a 1981 live-action feature film, an eleven-episode 1982 live-action TV series, and the 1997 Nerawareta Gakuen: Messiah From the Future live-action film. The novel revolves around a high school boy who rebels when he discovers that a ruthless time-traveler from the future has taken over his school’s student council. Ryosuke Nakamura (Moryo no Hako) will direct the anime film for release this fall.
Toei Animation has launched a website to announce its development of a TV anime series based on the popular card battle/dungenon crawler mobile phone game Tanken Driland (Exploration Drill Land) from developer Gree.
The June issue of Gekkan Shonen Gangan magazine that goes on sale this weekend will formally announce the development of a TV anime based on the Zetsuen no Tempest fantasy mystery manga series by writers Kyou Shirodaira & Arihide Sano and illustrator Ren Saizaki. The manga stars an ordinary high school boy who finds himself drawn into a supernatural conspiracy involving a missing friend and a witch. The ongoing manga premiered in 2009 and has six compiled volumes so far. Kyou Shirodaira created the 2000 Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna mystery manga that was adapted into a 2002 anime TV series.
The homepage for the Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru 2: Futari no Elder OVA has added its first streaming trailer. The adaptation of CaramelBox’s adult PC game about a cross-dressing boy attending an all-girls school is animated by SILVERLINK. The first “OtoBoku” game was adapted into a 12 episode TV series in 2006 by studio Feel. The first episode of the three-episode Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru 2 mini-series will be released on August 29th.
Producer/musician Sinitus Tempo has released his “First Time EP,” an original tribute album to the B-Gata H-Kei (“Yamada’s First Time”) anime series. The tribute album is available as a free download. Listeners that download the album by May 11th and confirm their download on Sinitus Tempo’s Facebook page will be entered into a drawing to win a copy of the “Yamada’s First Time” Blu-ray & DVD combo pack and $100 in cash.
I noticed that on May 1st a perfect condition R1 set of Welcome to the NHK DVDs, including the rare individual volume 6, sold on Ebay for $91 despite the fact that FUNimation’s re-release of the same series can be aquired used for about ten bucks. I had no relation to this Ebay auction besides getting outbid at $40 because I’m satisfied to own the FUNimation release. But I’m pleased to see this sale because it serves as a confirmation that there are still at least a few die-hard R1 anime DVD collectors out there.
About three years ago, as streaming began taking off and Blu-ray looked poised to put DVD out to pasture, I started seriously trying to fill in gaps in my R1 anime DVD collection. I decided that my pie-in-the-sky ideal goal would be to collect every Japanese language anime released on domestic commercial DVD, excluding adult anime and multiple iterations/re-releases. I’m not opposed to hentai anime. In fact, I own over a hundred domestic H-anime DVDs. But the majority of H-anime are crap that I just don’t care to purchase or own.
Along the way, I’ve begun hoarding domestic anime DVDs, both rarities and commons. Sure, I have multiple sets of anime series I helped localize: Risky Safety, Miami Guns, Haré+Guu. And I also own four sets of FUNimation’s Kurogane no Linebarrels TV series release (God help me), four sets of Oh! Edo Rocket, four sets of Tsukihime with collector’s box, three sets of Arc the Lad, three sets of Infinite Ryvius, two sets of Trouble Chocolate, two sets of Betterman, and so on. Here’s another example of my compulsive domestic DVD hoarding. No, this isn’t AnimeNation inventory. This is just one box of my personal duplicate DVDs: Read the rest of this entry »
