Saw Evangelion on Adult Swim and...

So I caught the first episode of Evangelion on Adult Swim last Thursday (Oct. 20) and I have to say:

1. Why in God's name didn't they show the platinum edition so it didn't show its age so much.
2. The dub still sucks.
3. I didn't catch any edits, but the first episode is pretty tame compared to the rest. I can't help but wonder if they are actually going to show the blood spurting out of Eva's head in episode 2.

I was cruising around the AnimeNation forum to guage people's reaction to the show and I realized that there is probably one big reason why modern fans aren't going to be as impressed with the show as I was when I first saw it. It's mainly because when I recieved the initial VHS of the show, I literally had no expectations. I got it for it for my birthday (or Christmas?) from my brother in 1996(?) and had never even heard of it before that. I was impressed -- but not extremely so -- with the first two episodes, but the more I watched, the more I was blown away. And by episode 16 (the one with the shadow angel -- forgive me for not remembering angel's name) I realized this was really something special.

But today the show has been hyped up so much that I can't imagine that anyone's expectations will be met. The only hope is for someone who's not a big anime fan and stumbles upon the show one night... We'll see how that works out.

Anyway, in my search for reactions I found a couple of interesting sites. The Eva Monkey is written by a guy doing an Evangelion Undergraduate Research Project. His site is filled with everything you never knew existed involving Eva. One of those items is the Eva comic. The comic itself is basically just one big in-joke for Eva fans, so you have to have seen the series and the movies to get it; but if you have, it can be pretty funny.

The next episode of Eva will air on Cartoon Network the night of October 27, at 12:30 am.

Anime fall 2005 preview

Anime News Network has published a preview of new shows airing in Japan this fall. It's a nice round-up of stuff that we may potentially be seeing release in the US in the near future (including Blood+!), so if you're interested in getting a jump on that kind of thing, then check it out.

XXXholic and second Tsubasa Chronicles TV series

CLAMP news from AnimeNation:

Manga creation team CLAMP has announced on its website that its XXXHOLiC manga series will premier as an anime television series next year.

Also:

CLAMP has officially announced on its homepage that a second Tsubasa Chronicle anime television series will air next year.

Trigun movie announced

From Anime News Network:

The October issue of Neo magazine (A UK Anime magazine) includes an interview with Studio Madhouse's founder, Masao Maruyama. In it he says the studio is working on a Trigun Movie that should be released in a "couple of years". The November issue of Anime Insider also confirms this news.

Considering that it's been like 7 years since Trigun first came out, this is more than a little bit of a surprise. From what I've heard, Trigun wasn't all that popular in Japan so the question becomes, is this something initiated by the the show's popularity in the US, or did Madhouse Studio just feel like re-visiting the characters. The other question would be whether or not this is going to be an original story or a re-cap of the series. There's plenty of material in the manga that wasn't covered in the original anime, so hopefully they'll use that material. We'll just have to wait and see.

Anime convention in Troy, Michigan

Finally the Detroit area gets its own anime convention!

According to the October issue of Newtype magazine, Youmacon will take place on November 11-13 at the Troy Hilton in Troy, Michigan.

I've only been to one comic book convention -- which I didn't really care much for since I don't read many US comics -- and have NEVER been to an anime convention. That being said I am pretty damn pumped for this one. I'm sure that since it is the first (of many hopefully) time they are having this, it probably won't be the best-stocked con in the world; but I don't care. I mainly just want to go to experience other anime fans; especially since I don't really know many other than some family members that I don't get to see often enough. So this should be pretty cool, at least if you are an anime otaku nut like me.

To find an anime convention near you go to the Anime-Cons website.

Viewing Journal: Completed series aplenty

Here's a quick overview of a few select anime that I have completed over the past year or so; because I'm sure you have just been dying to know:

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Take an intriguing, well-thought-out story originating from one of the great masters in manga Masamune Shirow; mix it with strong characters; add in the genius of animation powerhouse Production I.G. and the musical talents of Yoko Kanno; and what do you get? Well, if you don't get one of the best anime series ever, somebody needs to get fired. Luckily, what we end up with is a smart, visually attractive show that is something like CSI set in the world of Bladerunner. This is one of my top TV series of all time -- animated or live action.

Gad Guard

From one of the best, we now go to one of the worst: Gad Guard. The one and only reason that I kept watching this show was because I thought the mecha designs were cool. Once you get past that though, the show is just a whole lot of nothing. I think I literally fell asleep at one point or another during almost every episode. My only hope was that there would be some great pay-off at the end of the series (which is usually the reason I keep watching bad shows), but I got nothin'.

Gungrave

The show literally starts out with guns blazing -- which is not necessarily a good thing because if you judge it from the first episode, it seems like the show will be a whole lot of pointless action. But once you get past that, the story flashes back to a story about family and loyalty and mob wars and zombies and revenge. Actually, the "zombies" part wasn't all that impressive but was necessary -- I guess -- to tell the story. The end of the series though, while stretching the boundries of believability, was ulitimately both surprising and satisfying. Very recommended.

R.O.D. TV

This show was kind of hard to get into at first as it starts out slow and initially seems to be a far cry from the original OAV on which it was based. Once you get further into the series though, and the conspiracies for world domination come more to the head, the paper sisters put their paper-manipulating powers to work and it becomes at least a little more interesting. Despite the cool action scenes, the plot was just so full of awkward holes that I was never able to get really into this series all that much.

Texhnolyze

Kind of cool, but I think I was just too confused by what was supposed to be going on to get into it at all.

Chrono Crusade

The visuals seemed kind of cool, as did the premise. But in the end, I just wasn't impressed. Again, I was waiting for a cool ending, but was let down.

Cutie Honey

A lot of half-to-fully nude heros fighting half-to-fully nude villians in a futuristic sci-fi setting. Not that that's a bad thing, but I think I've gotten to the point where I want a little bit more meat in the plot of my anime.

Paranoia Agent

A very original, dark, and weird storyline with believably crazy characters and a story that makes you think as much as it entertains. Just the kind of thing I love.

Blog Update: New rating sytem

In yet another bout of unexplained initiative (read: way too much time on my hands), I've created a new rating system for anime and manga that I post about. Forget those other guys' five star ratings or letter grading scales; I've got emoticons! Do you love it? No? Well tough luck, here's the scale:

Loved it. These are the titles that I just count the seconds until they release the next volume or episode. Not only would I recommend these titles, but if anyone attempts to badmouth these titles I very well may explode into a violent rage. Don't mess with the good stuff.

Like it. This is stuff that I've enjoyed watching and would definitely recommend, though expressing contrary opinions would not necessarily elicit my malcontent.

Eh. Indicates stuff that is okay, but did not really get any strong reaction out of me one way or the other. I'd probably recommend these titles only if you've exhausted all your better options. You might like it ... or not ... I don't know.

Disliked it. These titles are often series that I started but never finished; or if I did finish it, I regret having wasted the time. I'd suggest staying away from these ones unless you think viewing bad material builds character.

Hated it. Just look at that face. I think that pretty much says it all.

Blood+ Trailer

From Anime News Network:

Japanese TV Network MBS now has three streaming trailers for the upcoming Blood+ TV series. The broadband trailers are 15 and 30 seconds each and are available in WM and RM formats. Blood+ premieres on October 7th at 2:20 am (Night of October 6th).

Eureka 7 english trailer

From AnimeNation News:

Bandai's American website for Eureka 7 is now online and hosts an English dubbed trailer.

ICv2 News has reported that when the show is released in America next year, possibly on American television, the launch will be accompanied by the release of 8 inch tall transforming robot figures. Each toy will retail at $35.

Evangelion 10th anniversary "Angel-XX" project

Also from AnimeNation News: Gainax has opened its official Japanese website promoting the Evangelion 10th anniversary "Angel-XX" project- a series of PVC plastic figures of Evangelion angels redesigned as anime girls. The first of the figures is scheduled for Japanese release in December. In somewhat related Evangelion news, it appears that Peter Jackson isn't going to be directing the live action movie since he has just signed up to produce the video game adaption movie Halo. Jackson's studio Weta Workshop is supposed to handle the effects for the live action movie.

Street Fighter Alpha: Generations Clips

From AnimeNation News:

Manga Entertainment will release the Street Fighter Alpha: Generations DVD on October 25th. The new anime is the directorial debut of Ikuo Kuwana, an animator for such anime classics as Steam Boy, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Blood: The Last Vampire and Dead Leaves.Manga now hosts several streaming Windows Media promotional clips for the upcoming release:

Akuma, Ryu and the darkside

Fight With Old Man

Ryu Vs. Akuma

Sakura Vs. Ryu

Extras: Kaoru on the Characters

Extras: Kaoru on the Creators

Extras: the Voice of Ryu

New 3 minute IGPX trailer

Two words: Hot ... DAMN. Did I mention that I love Prodution I.G.?

Live Action Evangelion non-news

From Active Anime:

On August 7 of this year, we informed all of you that the live action adaptation of Evangelion was alive and well, and that the information that we received came from ADV Films David Del Rio.

This time around, I asked the same question to Matt Greenfield right after the Godannar screening. As we all know, Matt Greenfield is the one that's heading the live action adaptation project of Evangelion.

When I ask Matt, he gave me an enthusiastic thumb up, and said "Yes". He added the he is planning of visiting Weta Workshop to find out what project they're currently working on, and to see if there are changes to be made while in New Zealand in October.

For the latest live action Evangelion movie info check out TrivialBeing.net.