Yesterday, anime licensor/publisher Bandai Entertainment announced that they will no longer release DVDs or Blu-Rays. According to an interview at Anime News Network with Ken Iyadomi today, the decision was made in October by parent company Namco Bandai Holdings. February will be the last month they release anime and all planned releases for after then are cancelled. Cancelled titles include Yoshiyuki Tomino-directed Turn A Gundam. Their entire manga division is also cancelled. However, they will continue to handle licensing and sub-licensing for "group companies". Iyadomi added his gratitude to the fanbase for supporting the company.
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Gundam AGE Episode 11 Review
Episode 11, " Reunion at Minsry"
*****SPOILERS***** Synopsis: The Diva ports at the colony of Minsry to prepare for the last battle with the UE. Flit, Grodek, Woolf, and the Euba leader head for the Birmings mansion. On the way there, Flit hears something and runs after. He discovers that it’s Yurin, the girl he met at Nora. Alzack Birmings, a wealthy friend of Don Boyage, tells him he will support Grodek’s plan. Alzack turns out to be Yurin’s adoptive father. As the team prepares for the mission, Flit spends time with Yurin. Flit promises to return after the fighting is over. On the way back to the Diva, a boat carrying Federation soldiers and several Federation mobile suits block their path and arrest Grodek. Flit uses the Gundam to disable the Federation MS. Grodek is rescued. Comments: A whole lot of nothing happens in this episode. It felt more like half an episode. You could easily cut half of what happened in this episode and not have lost anything important. Far from being relaxing, it was merely boring. If it weren’t for all the beautiful scenery, I’d say it was a total waste of my (oh so precious) time. First, what’s with all these guys with ridiculous hairstyles? Birmings looks like he stepped out of Rose of Versailles. The Euba guy looks like he could be Chara Soon’s brother. I know anime hairstyles are weird on principal, but there are plenty of characters with more ordinary hair and then there are the anomolies. I hate to sound like my mother, but dem Chinese cartoon characters have stupid, stupid hair. Second, wow, could Yurin be sending up any more death flags? Sudden relationship with a shy girl with a tragic past. Spending time enjoying each other’s company to a musical montage. Flit making a promise to her to return after the fighting. Just have a piece of the colony fall on her already. I know me some Gundam, and my Gundam instinct is telling me this girl’s as good as dead. It’s almost stupid if she doesn’t die. It is interesting, though, that the AGE system is being used to upgrade the Diva. I’d like to see what sort of mechanical monster that creates out of it. Another interesting tidbit is Grodek saying that the Federation is covering up who the UE really are. The Federation knows but isn’t saying? What kind of retarded Federation is this? This is Gundam 0083-level Feddie retardation. Do you realize I actually wrote a freaking paragraph on hair? On hair. That’s how little this episode had going for it. I had to write a paragraph on the hair. Overall Score:3.5 out of 5
AMV – Gently Falling Snow
Top 10 Shunsuke Kikuchi DB/Z Tracks
Few people talk about Shunsuke Kikuchi. While not the quality of say, Yoko Kanno’s contributions, or the emotional power of Hiroshi Miyagawa’s work, Kikuchi has been in the business of incidental music (that is to say, background music) for decades. Cutting his teeth on tokusatsu programs, Kikuchi got work scoring the anime adaption of the popular Akira Toriyama manga Dr. Slump. He is best known, however, for scoring the anime adaptation of Toriyama’s most popular work, Dragon Ball. Taking cues from old films, Kikuchi is a little Wang Fu-ling and a little Bernard Hermann.
Clips of Episode of Bardock
Gundam AGE Episode 10 Review
Episode 10, "Day of Fierce Battle"
*****SPOILERS***** Synopsis: The Zalam and Euba factions team up with the Diva to take on the UE. The Federation sends a message that they have no forces in the area to support them. Infighting begins between Zalam and Euba as a black UE mobile suit wreaks havoc. Don Boyage is seemingly killed in action and the UE take the advantage. With the Zalam and Euba beginning a retreat, the still alive Don Boyage and subordinates do a suicide charge on the UE ship, which does no damage. Vargas announces that new parts for the Gundam are ready. The new parts are launched and when attached the Gundam becomes Spallow. The Spallow engages the black MS and damages it. The UE ship begins to fall back. Fardain is saved. Elsewhere, Desil has a tantrum. The Diva leaves Fardain for the Minsry colony. Well, finally a solid episode. There’s really not a whole lot to speak about this episode, as it’s mostly action-oriented. The action itself seems a little scattered, but I guess you can’t expect a lot of one-on-one duels in a situation like this one. The black UE MS that Desil controls is pretty badass, totally dominating everyone until the Spallow is in action. The Spallow reduces mass and optimizes speed, as opposed to Titus which specializes in powerful strength. I would have liked to seen a longer encounter between it and the black UE MS, but this was good enough for now. Don Boyage meets his end in this episode, sacrificing himself to damage the enemy ship. Unfortunately, it was all for naught. I have to say that while Don Boyage seemed like a silly character above anything else, and the Zalam and Euba aspect of the story just stupid, I did think that it was a decent moment. It helped Flit to see the horrors of the battlefield firsthand. I still feel, though, that Boyage and his Euba counterpart feel like Gundam ZZ characters that are introduced as silly at first but then given serious moments later on. It sort of dampens the impact when you remember how this character started out in the show. The one thing that really caught my eye was the anti-beam dispersal shells, which are an awesome idea. It’s sort of like an I-Field, but with a wider range. Overall Score:4 out of 5
Audio: English: Tykes, Toys, Rude Little Boys: A Look At Shin Chan
With the Audio:English series, PenguinTruth takes a critical look at the English
dubs which grace some of anime’s most defining series in North America.
My last article was about my quality categories for anime English dubs. I set down general rules for what makes a dub "good", "tolerable", and terrible. Good dubs have accurate scripts and solid voice acting. Tolerable dubs are the ones that just sort of make it, but don’t impress. And terrible dubs are, well, pretty explanatory. Either they have terribly inaccurate scripts, or bad voice performances, or more usually, both. There are a fair number of dubs I could classify in any of those three categories. But one English dub I never know quite where to put is Funimation’s Shin Chan.
Gundam AGE Episode 09 Review
Episode 09, "The Secret Mobile Suit"
*****SPOILERS***** Synopsis: Woolf takes Flit, Emily, and Dique to a space station to meet the designer/engineer of the G-Exes, Madorna. They’re amazed at the mobile suit factory. Mardona shows the group a mobile suit that appears to be a UE one. Before he can tell them about the person who brought it to him, the mobile suit springs to life and starts firing. Flit and Woolf get in mobile suits to stop the UE suit. Flit ends up engaging it out in space. Woolf arrives to distract the UE MS while Flit retrieves the Gundam. Vargas launches the Titus and Flit transfers to it. The UE MS is extremely fast and neither Flit nor Woolf can get it. Suddenly the MS retreats, stunning everyone. Madorna tells the group that it was a man named Yark Dole (a masked man seen previously in ep 5), an arms dealer who brought him the UE MS. Later, back at the Diva, Grodek announces their next destination is Colony Minsry. He explains that his belief is that the UE are hiding out in a base there and that he’s not their captain. Emily speaks up in defense of Grodek. Flit pledges to fight alongside Grodek. Woolf agrees to stay, too, as well as others. Suddenly more UE suits are detected. Comments: Well, now, this was a decent episode. I think the biggest thing that happened in this episode was Emily’s development. This is due in part to Madorna’s girlfriend, Laraparly giving her a little talking to. Emily was still fretting over Flit risking his life, but Laraparly tells her to risk her life with Flit. It’s clear that Flit is going to stay as a pilot, so her options are pretty much support him or leave him. With Emily choosing the former, I’m guessing she’s going to stay on the crew just to be around Flit. I’d like to see her get some kind of job on the ship, liking bringing food around or becoming a bridge bunny. Something other than piloting. Also of note is Emily’s defense of Grodek’s actions. Grodek may be acting in part out of revenge (or even mostly), but what he’s doing is right. Emily, who had hated Grodek for keeping things to himself sticks up for him when he finally tells the truth to his crew. I think Laraparly’s words probably inspired her to do this as well, plus she was waiting for Grodek become more honest. Now the entire crew is as guilty as Grodek is of disobeying the Federation. Another thing I noticed is that Madorna was astonished that Flit is a member of the Asuno family. Apparently the Asunos are a famous family, but other than his mother being dead, there’s nothing else we know about Flit’s family. I have a feeling we’ll find out more about it in the near future. Why did Flit, Emily, and Dique freak out when Laraparly kissed Madorna? It wasn’t even on the lips and they were blushing. We see a brief cameo of the little boy Desil from a few episodes back. Apparently he has control over the UE mobile suit that Madorna was souping up. The masked man Yark Dole is the same weapons dealer that gave the Zalam and Euba their mobile suits and if he’s connected to the UE, it seems like he’s manipulating everything for profit. But as a guy in a mask I think there is probably some ideological slant to his actions. I just wonder what Desil is in it for. Just to have fun, like Bud in Patlabor? Next episode looks to be full of action. Overall Score:3.5 out of 5