What are you Watching?

[SteveH]

Got to see the 2199 Ark Of The Stars film. Easily one of the best Yamato films and it's almost sinful how much it makes us want more 2199.

Well, according to a Bandai rep at the Shizuoka Hobby Show in May, there will be more Yamato anime coming. I'm excited about that.

The movie is really cool, huh? The middle third act plays out much like a Star Trek episode. Very surreal. I also like how the hotel they stay in is patterned after the Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles (or at least the glass atrium ceiling is). The animators are most likely Blade Runner fans! Who isn't though, really?

Well, supposedly, that interior was from a real hotel called the Yamato, I can't recall if it was a pre-war or post-war...no, given everything else I'm fairly sure it was pre-war. Anyway, it wouldn't surprise me if they (either the Japanese builders of the Yamato hotel or simply the Yamato 2199 production staff) cribbed from the Bradbury, it's fairly iconic.

Yamato 2199 The Stellar Ark is a very impressive movie. It neatly fits within a notable gap in the series, timewise, without damaging the overall flow of the story. It's both a great standalone movie and a very effective 'back door pilot' for a second series. I didn't feel it had any slow part or any noticeable drag, it seemed to tick along just fine.

I liked it. I do hope Voyager Ent. et al finally get their collective fingers out of that nasty place and MAKE MORE because damn, the sheer potential for a second series is mind boggling.

[greg]

I do hope Voyager Ent. et al finally get their collective fingers out of that nasty place and MAKE MORE because damn, the sheer potential for a second series is mind boggling.

They shot themselves in the foot by trying to release the show as "Starblazers 2199" instead of "Yamato 2199." I know I must not have been the only one on the fence, waiting to see what they would do to it. Nobody cares about the Starblazers name anymore. Even less so than stupid Robotech. Voyager called it quits on their 2199 DVDs before I even remembered that they were going to make them.

[SteveH]

I do hope Voyager Ent. et al finally get their collective fingers out of that nasty place and MAKE MORE because damn, the sheer potential for a second series is mind boggling.

They shot themselves in the foot by trying to release the show as "Starblazers 2199" instead of "Yamato 2199." I know I must not have been the only one on the fence, waiting to see what they would do to it. Nobody cares about the Starblazers name anymore. Even less so than stupid Robotech. Voyager called it quits on their 2199 DVDs before I even remembered that they were going to make them.

Wellll, they shot themselves in the foot LONG before the Starblazers (sic) 2199 fiasco. They've been shooting their feet since 1995.

Thing is, with proper marketing and promotion, there's no reason why Star Blazers can't be seen as valuable an " '80s " property, same as Voltron or GI Joe or Transformers. The show DID run in every major TV market 1979-1981 so there was plenty of eyeballs that probably remember that 'ship or submarine in space' cartoon (unless of course they're remembering Thundersub, the Americanization of Nishizaki's Blue Noah).

But, proper marketing and promotion not only requires money and the will to do it, above all else it requires KNOWING THE CUSTOMERS AND THE MARKETPLACE. And in that, VEI both the USA office and the heretofore unknown Japanese office fail in epic ways.

Sad thing is, Nishizaki understood this about the Japanese domestic market. They just needed to find a person in the US. Tim Eldred was a logical choice to be the point man and consultant, but they threw him away. I, of course, would be even better, but who the heck am I?

[Drew_Sutton]

*Some* of the stuff ACR has are from dead torrents. He's amassed quite a digital collection over the years.

Looking at the list on animesuki that was listed for ACR, pretty much everything has lovst its seeds except for Run! Melos.

There are several things on that list that I am sure I have, though I would have to create new torrent files and links to share them. Jaime (Area88/ACR), myself, Orion Wuethrreich-Bradshaw (Daishikaze) and Winston Jackson (Skylark) were collaborating on the first version of Akihabara Renditions way back when. I still have an email address, I'd be happy to look in and see if it is still active.

[greg]

Despite the jibungous, obtrusive subtitles, this 3.5 minute commercial for Valis on the Famicom is superb. I had no idea that Hideaki Anno was the director for this game! Telnet games are surely missed... Long live miniskirt and bikini armor-clad babes with swords!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTOpQvcnSi8

[_D_]

Well, guess I won't be watching the live action Attack on Titan movie. It's being savaged in the press (Imdb, Rotten Tomatoes, etc.) as well, that interview on ANN's site didn't do it any favours:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/intervi ... tan/.90970

It's #1 in Japan but that says little about its reception anywhere else. And changing the original source material with the blessing of the author? Wow! So, Edge of Tomorrow was the right way to go after all, I guess (loved the film but would have been interested in a version based more on the source material).

Interesting review:

http://kotaku.com/the-first-attack-on-t ... 1721708870

Should make for a great MST3K episode...

[Char Aznable]

I've started watching Steins;Gate. I know it received tons of praise and, at five episodes in, I'm thoroughly impressed. The characters are very likable and the plot is constantly moving forward with interesting twists and turns. I'm getting kind of tired of the shows where it takes several episodes of filler for anything to happen, but this show is the exact opposite. Some of the dialogue and events feel incredibly subtle, but since it's a show about time travel, it's obvious that everything will come into play later.

[greg]

So I spent several days at the in-laws' place, escaping the heat in the cool mountains of Nagano Prefecture. I brought a bunch of DVDs and such, but I spent most of my time doing crossword puzzles. I did manage to watch a couple more episodes of Molett's (Bodacious) Space Pirates. I'm getting close the part when the girl finally encounters the Benten-maru pirate ship.

[_D_]

Couldn't bear to watch Attack On Titan even though there is a high quality screener available. Some who have watched it call it a good "B" movie. I think they watched it to just catch the gory bits because that's all they gushed over.

[_D_]

I do get my fix of Dragonball Super and One Piece through an app called TVApp available in the Google Play store. Works flawlessly in high def! I watch Fuji TV directly through the app on my tablet...