View Full Version : Anime Fans in Texas
I don't know how many Safehousers from Texas we have who are anime fans, but the Anime News Network (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/) noted that tonight (Tues., Aug. 16th) the Alamo Drafthouse (http://www.drafthouse.com/westoaks/frames.asp) in Houston will be screening three episodes from Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (http://www.advfilms.com/titles/fumoffu/). They'll also be giving away prizes and have cast members signing autographs and doing Q&A. Best of all, admission is free! Doors open at 7pm and begins at 7:30.
I haven't seen Fumoffu, but I do own Full Metal Panic! (http://www.full-metal-panic.com/) and really enjoyed that series.
Mardoc the Dwarf
08-16-05, 10:43 AM
if i weren't in dallas I'de go to this, but thanks for the heads up.
Vilkata Tasavalt
08-16-05, 12:53 PM
Fumoffu is a lot more... "girly" I guess is the adjective I think best describes it. It's still good, but there's not as much butt-kicking, robots and shooting things.
Definitely still worth seeing, but keep in mind it is a little different than the original series.
Vilk
I think you mean it deals more with the comedy of Sousuke and Kaname's 'school days' than the seriousness of Sousuke's giant robot combat, but I thought some of the best parts of FMP! were Sousuke's uncanny ability to take every situation and turn it into a combat threat waiting to happen, then appropriately over-react to said situation.
FMP's three part 'The Wind Blows at Home' arc (which has no comedy whatsoever) was excellent as well. It should be noted that Fumoffu isn't actually a true sequel to FMP! though; Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=4449) is the straight sequel to FMP!, set two months after the first series ends. That'll be the one with the giant robot battles.
Vilkata Tasavalt
08-16-05, 01:42 PM
Yeah....that's a very good way to put it Ruccus.
And I agree about Sousuke's ... ability :)
Like I said, I liked it...and I own it. It just wasn't the same as the series.
Vilk
I think that's the first time I've seen comedy described as "girly".
Really though, all that comedy stuff should have been in the first series as well. They (Gonzo) just trimmed it all from the storyline to fit in the mecha-action-Whispered-OMGGaurondon'thurtme storyline into the 26 episodes they had.
What do you guys think of FMP- The Second Raid so far?
Vilkata Tasavalt
08-16-05, 04:59 PM
Ok ok so girl isn't the best word :P
I just figured it focused more on the girls than mr. everythingisabattle :P
Vilk
I haven't seen FMP! Second Raid. I'm up in Canada, so pretty much the only anime I get on TV right now is Inuyasha, Gundam Seed, and .Hack//Sign, plus whatever Dragonball episodes YTV still shows. I don't have digital cable, and even if I did I don't think we get Anime Network up here. Most of the anime series and movies I've seen I either own or have rented from the local video store (I'm lucky enough that my local video store had the entire Berserk series, so I got to see that without having to buy it).
Aside from the orders I have waiting to be delivered (the complete series of Noir and RahXephon), my next anime purchases will be the final Gunslinger Girl DVD (late September release up here), the first Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs (being released one per month starting in mid-September), as well as Haibane Renmei complete series in October if I can afford it (around $100 for a 13 episode series is pretty steep, but it's supposed to be an excellent series).
Second Raid is still in fansubber territory. I'm not watching it either, better to wait for the English release than get cut off half way through and have to wait a year for the end.
Haibane Renmei is a lovely little series. I rented it, but certainly worth buying if you can't.
The Second Raid is decent, but I was a bigger fan of FMP: Fumoffu than FMP. It's good for the fans of mecha and combat, but that's not my thing. I feel obligated to watch it, though, just because I went through the first two series.
The Second Raid is decent, but I was a bigger fan of FMP: Fumoffu than FMP. It's good for the fans of mecha and combat, but that's not my thing. I feel obligated to watch it, though, just because I went through the first two series.
To be honest, even as a fan of mecha combat, I liked Fumoffu the best as well. I know it put off a lot of die-heard mecha fans, but I'll be damned if Fumoffu isn't just a whole lot of comedy gold. To bad the R1s have such horrible video quality. :/
Xantium
08-16-05, 07:28 PM
You couldn't have said something sooner could you ;P
I'm like 10 minutes away from the Drafthouse and had nothing to do tonight.
=*(
At least, on my screen, Lum has assimilated notwen. Looks like her conquest is progressing nicely ever since she turned Aidden into her puppet.
Well it seems to have fixed itself, your tinfoil hat is surely too powerful for your own good.
Anyway, Fumoffu is certainly comedy gold, I haven't laughed so hard at any comedy in general in a long time until watching Fumoffu.
And I've seen the horrible video quality of Fumoffu, but it doesn't look too bad on my crappy old TV. When I watch it on my monitor, though, all the issues are almost unbearable. Kinda makes me feel reculant to upgrade my TV, the difference between an release with amazing quality and a bad release becomes wider apart, I don't know if I would rather REALLY enjoy the good ones, and REALLY hate the bad ones, or enjoy them both somewhat equally.
Ah, the decisions.
I like the whole concept of FMP, though. The first series being a mix of the two, second one being fully comedy, the third being fully action.
lol Xan; I did post the thread 12 hours ago, so that's what you get for not checking The Safehouse on a regular basis :p
With regards to Fumoffu, I decided that since they were going the four disks of three episodes per disk route, I'd wait until the complete collection was released; hopefully they'll correct any issues in the thinpak printing. Needless to say I'm also pretty insulted by ADV trying to sell Gantz two episodes per disk, so I refused to even consider buying that series :roll
To be honest, I don't particularly mind the 2 episodes per disk thing, with the assumption that the video quality will be much higher.
In the first place, those of us outside Japan are getting a hell of a deal. The Japanese pay approximately $60 per DVD for disks with 1-2 episodes. A typical 13 episode release easily looks like: 1-2-2-2-2-2-2 release, And I've seen a 1-1-2-2-2-2-2 on a 12 episode release.
I believe that the reason is because they use LCPM audio, but I don't really know what that means other than that it takes a hell of a lot of space.
Comparatively, I won't complain buying any series for 2 ep per DVD for what? 14 dollars? Maybe I'm just accustomed to it because I own One Piece in R2.
In fact, I would gladly pay $50/DVD for super high quality (Criterion Collection-like, I suppose) anime that were niche titles (such as Rozen Maiden, Glass Mask, Le Portrait de Petite Cosette, and the like.) The extras, packaging, LE items must be on par if not above R2 release, though.
Given the state of the Anime Industry, SOME change must be made to support it. The current format only allows for highly profitable titles to be released. ADV is having major financial problems, everone else is licensing titles MUCH less often as seen on AnimeExpo, niche distros are scrambling to find a way to sell their titles reliably.
It's nothing insulting, what should be insulting is if they did not attempt the experiment at all, because after all, it's not only for their benefit - their success is our profit, too. Because for a change, I might actually get to see titles such as Full Moon get licensed, Super Gals S2 wouldn't have to get cancelled, Kaleido Stage S2 would not have been postponed so badly, Princess Tutu would not have been put on hold (while it's for "packaging issues" I'm pretty sure Kaleido Star was quite a bit more profitable, and it had a hard time getting the second season through.
I honestly believe that the US is way too spoiled. But, the fault does not fall solely on the R1 distros, Japanese studios are at fault too for their horrible lack of knowledge of what the fans in the US want, what is or is not selling well, etc. They just see us licensing a lot of titles, and raise the prices for EVERYTHING, rather than just titles like Naruto, Bleach, etc while keeping niche shows like Aishiteruze Baby at a lower price.
Another factor would be their reculance to allow us to have high quality releases, by forcing restrictions on our releases because they think it's for the best for us (how the hell did they convince Oh! Great to censor his own works?)
Well, it's just a personal rant of my own. It fustrates me when people just want Cheap! Cheap! Cheap! when they should be saying, Quality! Quality! Quality! Accept no less than R2 equivalent release or better in order to teach the stupid businessmen in Japan and the marketing idiots at R1 studios what we really want.
Just my $60.
I just want some more pirates and ninjas
Wow, didn't know there were some Austinites on the Safehouse ('tho I did know about some fellow SH'ers in DFW area).
For a short time I was part of the anime club at UT, but that was short-lived since the meetings were always during one of my evening classes.
And man, how I miss the drafthouse! I don't think there's a place like it (read: serves booze while you watch a movie) around Dalllas that shows anime - just documentaries and indie films.
The Gantz disks are Dolby Digital 5.1, so they should have plenty of space on the disks. Even my GitS:SAC DTS disks have as many as four episodes per disk. It's not primarily the price, it's like ordering a drink and the waitress brings you a half full glass but says not to worry because you're being charged less for it. I want a full drink, and I want to pay for a full drink. I like to put the DVD in my player then grab a drink and something to eat, and really get into a series; I can't do that if I'm getting up to change disks every 45 minutes. At least give me an hour of sit down time.
That being said, it is a bit of nickel and diming in that if I was to buy the first 7 volumes of Gantz from my local store (Futureshop), it'd cost $131.93cdn for 17 episodes. From the same website I can buy the first five disks of Ghost in the Shell:SAC (20 episodes, not the limited edition disks) for $114.95cdn. Over the span of a 26 episode series, the extra cost does add up. I bought the entire "Limited Edition" GitS:SAC series, so I have no problem paying extra for the extra goodies. I essentially have two copies of the entire series (one in DTS and one in Dolby 5.1) in a nice looking metal box, as well as three good looking shirts and a couple CDs. I spent about $230cdn on the series, and it was worth it.
I guess I would rather have the extras and pay more than pay less for the bare bones versions. It's the same reason I didn't pick up Sin City yesterday because I heard it's an absolute bare bones version with barely any extras. I'll wait for the deluxe version, thank you very much.
Lenilya
08-17-05, 01:37 AM
And that's why I love the Gunslinger Girl DVD's.
5-4-4 is so totally awesome.
Xantium
08-17-05, 05:51 AM
Wow, didn't know there were some Austinites on the Safehouse ('tho I did know about some fellow SH'ers in DFW area).
For a short time I was part of the anime club at UT, but that was short-lived since the meetings were always during one of my evening classes.
And man, how I miss the drafthouse! I don't think there's a place like it (read: serves booze while you watch a movie) around Dalllas that shows anime - just documentaries and indie films.
He was talking about the Alamo Draft House down here in H-town bro.
Qtip4urMamma
08-17-05, 07:55 AM
Anime Fans in Texas
Why does that phrase not settle well in my mind?
Mardoc the Dwarf
08-17-05, 09:00 AM
somebody obviously hasn't heard of the idiocy that is A-Kon which is hosted in dallas.
And that's why I love the Gunslinger Girl DVD's.
5-4-4 is so totally awesome.
To be honest, Gunslinger Girl would still be awesome at 4-3-3-3. It's such an emotionally charged series which while graphically violent at times, deals more with the girls' relationships with their handlers than all out violence. I think Rico is the one who breaks my heart the most; she's treated as if she were a hunting dog and she's grateful to be treated that way because it's still a step up from her previous life as an invalid. In episode three, when she thinks 'What should I do in a situation like this? Oh, I know...' Absolutely heartbreaking.
The only thing that irks me about the GG disks is that they use the generic FUNimation insert instead of a dedicated simple picture insert of one of the girls with the episode list on the back.
*looks at all the effort he put into to get the Pinky Street Gunslinger Girl figures*
DO I love the series? DO I ?!?!?!?! Bet yo ass I do. If episode three breaks your heart, you ain't seen nothing yet :p
And I absolutely love the lyrics of the opening song, it fits the series so well. "In truth, there is no better place to be... than falling out of the darkness still to see"
Oh, I own the first press GG R2 release too :p
Back to the discussion about prices, episode format, etc.
I want a full drink, and I want to pay for a full drink. I like to put the DVD in my player then grab a drink and something to eat, and really get into a series; I can't do that if I'm getting up to change disks every 45 minutes. At least give me an hour of sit down time.
I see your analogy, but that only proves my point. I do not mean to say this in an insulting way, but -this- is one of the many reasons why I say the fans in the USA are spoiled. Only having to get up every 45 minutes IS the full drink.
Also, the extras I am talking about are not the type that you pay extra for. The Japanese releases have awesome covers, awesome inserts, awesome artwork, awesome pack in first press extras. As it is, no US company approaches the level the Japanese provides, as part of the "usual" release, rather than paying extra for those.
There are very little "Bare Bones" versions in R2-land. Awesome extras and packaging are the STANDARD, not extraordinary as it is here. That's my main gripe with US releases. I mean, I did not pay a penny extra to get my Bakuretsu Tenshi! Dokuro-chan! figures. Where here, I must pay an extra 15 for the crappy Scrapped Princess figures (don't get me wrong, I am not bitching at Bandai, they are giving what R2 got, which is awesome, I'm bitching at whoever sculpted them >/ ).
I would gladly pay $40 a DVD if ALL DVDs were like the R2 counterparts, with every single extra included.
But I honestly never really cared about this stuff until I started collecting R2 releases and found how amazing they are compared to what we are getting, for the "standard release".
Wow, didn't know there were some Austinites on the Safehouse ('tho I did know about some fellow SH'ers in DFW area).
For a short time I was part of the anime club at UT, but that was short-lived since the meetings were always during one of my evening classes.
And man, how I miss the drafthouse! I don't think there's a place like it (read: serves booze while you watch a movie) around Dalllas that shows anime - just documentaries and indie films.
He was talking about the Alamo Draft House down here in H-town bro.
/hangs head in shame
I swear I can read, honest!
FMP was awesome, Fumoffu was great but in different light,
I am watching FMP 2nd raid right now and it's even better ;o even if they license it the Anime will still be subbed because how popular it is. Besides waiting for them to bastardize FMP to english is not my thing :0, Even if there is no Subs, there is always Raws which are no problem if you know japanese semi decently.
...the fans in the USA are spoiled. Only having to get up every 45 minutes IS the full drink.
My analogy was the glass is a DVD and the liquid is the anime. You can fit more than two episodes on a DVD, so the DVD is far from full. I expect my glass reasonably full and my plate reasonably covered with food. This is beer and burgers, not fine dining. I don't want half an avacado sitting in the middle of a largely bare plate with an artsy-fartsy design on it, then told 'that's the full meal'.
Gonzo themselves are putting at least three episodes per disk on Gantz volumes six through ten, so even they've decided change their 'two episodes per DVD' experiment, probably due to outcry similar to mine. I have never known a series that I could really become absorbed in by the end of the second episode. Gunslinger Girl was close, but it was the third episode which really hooked me. I can't think of any anime (including the likes of Berserk, Evangelion, and GitS:SAC) where by the end of the second episode I was thinking 'I have to see how this series ends'. That's what I expect out of any volume one release; set up the series to get me wanting to buy the rest of them. It really isn't rocket science.
Maybe it's not that the North America is spoiled, it's that Japan will politely accept a DVD release that could and should have more episodes on it. I haven't followed Japanese releases, but I would guess that fewer episodes per disk would be largely due to the fact that they get the DVD release much sooner than North America, so the creators of the series have to contend with DVD sales affecting TV ratings (their other source of revenue). The fact is that three or four episodes per disk is standard for North America. I don't care whether Japan will accept fewer episodes per disk - I won't, and I'm a potential customer. I simply have a different opinion of what I will and won't accept from a DVD release, and if they want my money they'd be wise to make me want to buy their series.
DoonBackfighter
08-18-05, 08:33 AM
Wow, didn't know there were some Austinites on the Safehouse ('tho I did know about some fellow SH'ers in DFW area).
For a short time I was part of the anime club at UT, but that was short-lived since the meetings were always during one of my evening classes.
And man, how I miss the drafthouse! I don't think there's a place like it (read: serves booze while you watch a movie) around Dalllas that shows anime - just documentaries and indie films.
He was talking about the Alamo Draft House down here in H-town bro.
/hangs head in shame
I swear I can read, honest!
<-- Austinite on the Safehouse. :)
My analogy was the glass is a DVD and the liquid is the anime. You can fit more than two episodes on a DVD, so the DVD is far from full
Except, you are thinking of the bad quality releases we usually get. With LCPM audio (which I recently learned meant, uncompressed audio) you have perfect sound, higher quality video encode (an average anime episode is 83 GB uncompressed), and buttloads of good extras (interviews with VA, creators, artists, etc) and character sketches, etc. You can EASILY fill a DVD with just two episodes.
Even if it was a 8.7GB disk, it still could easily be maxed out with just audio and video, disregarding the extras.
Gonzo themselves are putting at least three episodes per disk on Gantz volumes six through ten
I'd like to mention, Gonzo had nothing to do with the 2ep/disk. It's true that at 2 episodes per DVD, it's hard to deciede to buy a series, the Japanese have the advantage of watching it before they buy it on TV. I could possibly understand the idea of having the first volume with 4 episodes, but there is no valid reason for the rest to be the same.
See, now that I think about it, I think part of our conflict would be in the fact that I watch fansubs and you do not. Your side of the argument becomes clear when I think of it that way.
When you buy your DVD, you are thinking and evaluating the release by the series itself. But that is not the case with me. When I buy a series, I am hardly taking into consideration the quality of the series, because I would not consider buying it if I did not like it enough to buy. (having watched the fansubs)
What I would consider is: 1. Did I enjoy the show enough to own it on DVD? Yes. 2. Do the translation and video improvement justify buying the DVD release? I expect next to perfection, since I have no reason to buy it for the show, so I want it to have something to hook me on the release over just being sastified with having watched it on TV. 3. Does it have plenty of extras? Things like interviews with the people involved in the production of the anime is a huge plus. Silly LE things like cards, pencil boards, figures, dolls, books, and the like are good too.
It needs to hook me into buying the DVD release, not into buying the show itself. I have enough series that I want to buy that are high quality releases that I can't buy them all, so I can afford to be picky.
Japan will politely accept a DVD release that could and should have more episodes on it.
Frankly, this is just absurbd reasoning. The DVDS -are- filled, for things I mentioned above.
I don't follow you on TV ratings affecting DVD sales. The DVDs are always released much later than the series, and for 13 episode series, often when it had already ended, or for 26, around the time it's ending, at earliest. The DVD sales do not affect the TV in any way, and vice versa.
A better way to explain my reasoning is - would you accept 2 episodes a disk if the audio was uncompressed (as perfect as the audio can be, basically), the video quality was much higher (a problem becoming more apparent on HDTV's, where all the bad encoding really start to show up) and a buttload of extras?
You are making it sound like at 2 episodes a DVD, the amount that would be taken up would be halved, rather than, the halved amount would double itself to be a more "full" and higher quality release.
It
I don't see why bringing up Linear PCM (uncompressed) audio has anything to do with Gantz - the Gantz DVDs being sold in North America are Dolby Digital 5.1 for English and 2.0 for Japanese. They are compressed. With regards to Gonzo, I miswrote in that ADV makes the release decisions.
In my opinion anything past DTS is offering diminishing returns with regards to audio quality per mb, so no I don't want LPCM on disks if it means fewer episodes per disk, even if they were to be offered here. As for video quality, I don't have an HDTV but I'm perfectly happy with the image quality of Gunslinger Girl while watching it full screen on my computer. We simply have a differing opinion of what we want from our DVD releases. I don't buy Superbit DVDs either.
Xantium
08-18-05, 06:45 PM
I have no idea wtf these guys are talking about. --^
Isn't Gonzo a muppet named after Jerry Jeff Walkers band?
I don't see why bringing up Linear PCM (uncompressed) audio has anything to do with Gantz - the Gantz DVDs being sold in North America are Dolby Digital 5.1 for English and 2.0 for Japanese. They are compressed. With regards to Gonzo, I miswrote in that ADV makes the release decisions.
In my opinion anything past DTS is offering diminishing returns with regards to audio quality per mb, so no I don't want LPCM on disks if it means fewer episodes per disk, even if they were to be offered here. As for video quality, I don't have an HDTV but I'm perfectly happy with the image quality of Gunslinger Girl while watching it full screen on my computer. We simply have a differing opinion of what we want from our DVD releases. I don't buy Superbit DVDs either.
What I meant to say was, that the Gantz DVDs might have been justified if it were a "full disk" in quality, rather than quanitity. I don't like the Gantz releases, either, however it is my opinion that what went wrong was not hte episode count, but rather, how they handled the disk. Were it a "full" disk, it would have been appropiate.
As for the sound, I can't really debate with you there for obvious reasons. Most of what I say in relation to audio is just what I've read on and off among the various forums I visit. What I do want is high quality video because I am pretty anal about that stuff.
Funimation has TONS of problems with their video encode, and if lowering the episode count could help, I would totally go for it. Fullmetal Alchemist has a lot of problems, Girls Bravo from Geneon looks horrible. There are way too many low quality video releases in R1, and it annoys me a lot.
I have no idea wtf these guys are talking about. --^
Isn't Gonzo a muppet named after Jerry Jeff Walkers band?
lol - yes, but Gonzo is also an animation production company (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/company.php?id=395) responsible for some pretty well known animation (Full Metal Panic! is a Gonzo production). The rest of the stuff is just our opinions about what should or shouldn't be on a video release.