The New Matthew’s Anime Blog

Merry Christmas!

A Merry Christmas (or whatnot) to everybody out there. My brother woke up a bit later than usual, around 8am (it’s usually around 6am or earlier, heh). His big present this year was an XBox 360 of all things. My dad had originally planned to get him a Wii, but I convinced him otherwise (there’s already a Wii in the house, no need for another). I thought he would get a DS Lite for him, but one day he came home with 2 XBox 360s and asked me which one he should keep (the other to take back). One with HDMI, of course, hoping that the new model won’t break too soon (^^;;

Since I’ve got the only HDTV in the house I’m letting him play in here for a bit. My mom tried to get me to get him one of those licensed movie games, but since he loves RPGs (all he plays on GBA… including the games I’ve imported) I got Eternal Sonata. Should keep him busy for a while, I think. And Polka kawaii yo Polka

Anyways, that’s it for now. Maybe, if I stop being so lazy I’ll write up some thoughts on the shows that have ended (skipping DC2 since it’s not even worth talking about).

HDTV Get!, Fall Shows, etc.

Hey, y’all, I know it’s been a while since I posted last. Hard to stop being lazy (^^;; Anyways, I finally got around to getting an HDTV as an early Christmas present to replace my aging TV (with the bottom ticker of the Weather Channel burned into it). After trying out a Westinghouse SK-26H240S 26″ and returning it because of some issues (buzzing when changing LCD backlight or some picture settings, av sync problems on inputs) I settled on an Olevia 226T 26″ and am very much satisfied with it so far.

The only thing I don’t like about it is the very annoying blue LED showing that the main power switch is on when the LCD is off. Why does everybody have to use blue LEDs?

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Shugo Chara! 1

  
  
Opening: “Kokoro no Tamago” by Buono! – The new Hello Project (and the fanboys go wild) unit’s first songs… not really that great, but I wasn’t expecting anything great. Animation is excellent — Satelight got quite a group of animators this time around. Amu-chan kawaii yo Amu-chan!

  
 
Ending: “Honto no Jibun” by Buono! – Better than the OP, lyrics fit the theme of Shugo Chara very well.

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Fall Season 2007 Picks

Hey everybody, been a while, hasn’t it? (^^;;) Thanks to watching most (make that pretty much all) things on Nico Nico Douga these days it’s been easy to skip watching things a second time and blogging (even though I’d watch things like Potemayo 2 or 3 times every week), but hopefully I can get myself back into the blogging routine this season.. maybe. So, in order of broadcast, the fall shows I’ll be watching (screencaps from this movie with information on all the fall shows). ☆ for shows where I’ve read the manga/novel/played the game that it’s based on:

October 1 (Monday)

Da Capo II (feel.)
I don’t know much about it since I haven’t played or read much about the game, but I’m hoping that it doesn’t turn into Da Capo Second Season…

Sketchbook (HAL Film Maker)
Not to be confused with Hidamari Sketch, but it looks to be the same kind of relaxing show.

October 2 (Tuesday)

Mokke (Madhouse)
Looks like a moe anime, actually a youkai show.. is what it seems to be… of course, I’m interested because of character design alone.. if Madhouse can keep the quality up (^^;;)

October 4 (Thursday)

Clannad (Kyoto Animation)
Duh, of course I’m watching this. The OP/ED on the preview DVD were really nice, as expected, but I didn’t understand a lot of it since I haven’t played the game… And thank you very much TBS for giving us 4:3 pan and scan… guess I’ll have to watch it again once it starts on BS-i on the 25th.

Shakugan no Shana II (J.C. Staff)

Uruchaiuruchaiuruchai!. I heard plenty of Shana-tan’s voice from Nene@Potemayo, now it’s time for the real thing. Though I’ve read Zero no Tsukaima, I still haven’t gotten the Shana novels ＿|￣|○ Hoping that it turns out better than the second season of Zero no Tsukaima.

October 6 (Saturday)

☆ Shugo Chara! (Satelight)
One of the few shows this season where I’ve read the manga. Amu-chan kawaii yo Amu-chan! (of course, it’s always that). Her seiyuu sounds decent for someone I’ve never heard of. I’m worried about the animation quality after seeing how Kami-chama Karin turned out, though… Satelight, ganbare!

ef – a tale of memories (SHAFT)

Something just a bit different than Zetsbou-sensei for SHAFT this time. The preview looked very, very nice — can tell they’re trying very hard to match Makoto Shinkai’s backgrounds from the OP movie for the game. However, as it always is with SHAFT, who knows if they’ve got their schedule under control. No waiting ’til the last minute to get things done, please (^^;;)

October 7 (Sunday)

Rental Magica (ZEXCS)
Heard that the novels are pretty good… and that’s about it.

☆ Minami-ke (Daume)

Kyou no Go no Ni manga-ka Koharu Sakuraba’s manga about three sisters with quite different personalities, which leads to all sorts of comic hijinks. Let’s not repeat the “cabbage” incident, Daume (^^;;) I like Asreed’s character designs better, so I’m looking forward to their one more.

October 10 (Wednesday)

☆ Kodomo no Jikan (Studio Barcelona)

And here’s my most anticipated show this season. The OVA was excellent, so I’m expecting the anime to keep the same high level of quality, just like Studio Barcelona did with Nanatsuiro Drops. The script is pretty much finished and faithful to the manga — the question is whether or not it can be broadcast (^^;;)

Otakon 2007: Day 1

Hey, everybody! I (along with friend) have arrived in Baltimore, Maryland for Otakon. Flight was quite uneventful — no point in having a window seat when it’s cloudy the whole way ＿|￣|○ Anyways, I’ll be making my way to the convention center shortly to have fun waiting in line to get my badge. Whenever I can find internet access again I’ll post an update (and maybe photos… if my friend has a digital camera).

July 21, 12:22am: Well, I’m exhausted after all that walking and going up and down stairs (most of the escalators at the convention center were blocked, and couldn’t use elevators), but that’s only ’cause I’ve been lazy Anyways, had a good time today meeting up with the people from Japanator and Destructoid — pretty cool folks. I attended the Mamiko Noto Q&A session (actually got to ask a question) and will be posting a report on it on Japanator (and here) sometime… not tonight since I’m tired as I said. Got her autograph, too. Yay, even though I forgot to bring Ichigo Mashimaro or something for her to sign After that and attending the ADV panel (not much to report there) I went to the dealers’ room.. and promptly spent a good bit on manga at Kinokuniya’s booth. Bought Lucky Star 1-4, Shugo Chara 1, POP’s Akazukin picture book, and the first Moetan book… somehow, I think I’ll probably end up getting more stuff tomorrow (^^;;)

Tomorrow I’ll probably attend more industry panels (Media Blasters, Bandai, Geneon, I think), then I’ll be going to see a screening of Makoto Shinkai’s 5cm (35mm… should be veeeery pretty).. and after that, who knows. Anyways, going to watch Potemayo then get some sleep. Good night, y’all

1:13am: What!? Funimation licensed Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club and I was stupid enough to not go to their panel (right after the ADV one)… that’s a big surprise there. I wonder how many others who were there had watched or even heard of the show. But what’s this about only licensing the first season now? The story is only halfway done at the end of the “first season”, so it would be rather mean to leave people hanging. I’ll see if I can find a Funimation person today and get a better explanation.

“Made in China” Futago Hime?

Futago Hime is apparently being shown on Chinese TV during primetime as 神奇星球luan生公主 (luan is a Chinese character not in Japanese) and is causing quite a stir on the Chinese side of the interweb among Chinese otaku, according to 「日中文化交流」と書いてオタ活動と読む. Only Chinese-made shows are allowed to be shown during primetime, so how does Futago Hime get around that? Easy — by saying that it was made in China.

 
Left: China, Right: Japan

As you can see, the credits for genga (along with everything else) have been changed from Japanese names to Chinese names. Apparently the show is being pretty much broadcast as-is (dubbed in Chinese, but no edits to the content) with a Chinese OP/ED.

The Chinese “production” company behind this is 大連東方龍動画発展有限公司, of which TYO, the parent company of HAL Film Maker, owns a 31% stake in. That could make it “Made in China” in a rather stretched definition, but claiming others’ work as your own is certainly out of bounds. Why lie when it’s obvious it’s made in Japan, and why go so far as to change the credits?