Yeah, I know, I was supposed to get to this ages hours ago. Don’t ask. It’s a long story that involves a priest, a rabbi, a mongoose, a bar, and a very, very bad pun.

Oh, and lest you fear that I’m devolving into all-round-up-all-the-time, it’s just a sad combination of recent news being on the smaller scale, a step up in my work on my Secret Project (news is forthcoming…I hope), and an array of “holy shit I have a real life sometimes” nonsense, like my DMV trip earlier. So don’t worry!

Anime:
- Nozomi Entertainment issued a press release announcing that the first episode of Victorian Romance Emma– which is a sub-only offering –will be on the DVD that accompanies the June issue of Otaku USA. It’s a fantastic show, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has a heart that is not frozen over with black ice.

Manga:
- New York-Tokyo.com (now THAT is a niche) has an article about a new exhibit coming to Kinokuniya in New York City: Gegege no Kitarou creator Shigeru Mizuki’s woodblock carvings. And by that I mean, it’s an ukiyo-e story called “Fifty-Three Stations of the Yokaido Road” (a pun on the Fifty-Three Stations of the Toukaidou, which was the main road through Japan in the feudal era, and the word “youkai,” or demon). The story features the youkai characters of Kitarou and it sounds really awesome. Figures it appears after I leave the city.
- In a very weird twist: ANN reports that a 43-year-old has been barred from a manga club meeting at a library in South Carolina; meanwhile, a 43-year-old librarian (and 2channeler) has been arrested in Japan for posting bomb threats. Shitty time for 43-year-olds, eh?
- Manga Xanadu has a nice article with suggestions for manga companies on the best ways to make use of the ol’ intarnubs Internet.
- Speaking of websites, VIZ has redesigned their online store and comments on UNIQLO’s partnership with VIZ co-parent Shogakukan.

Cons:
- Blah blah blah, Naruto CCG tourney at Anime Expo, etc.

Image © mehan, who I hope won’t sue me for borrowing it.

Misc:
- If you haven’t had enough of San Francisco’s Manga Cafe Mika, Jason “gotta-read-’em-all!” Thompson has another preview.
- IKIMASHOU LIVES! Sorta. Former owner Randall lives, anyway. If you’re looking to run an anime/figure/game/anything-Japan-related blog and need a host, his site dasaku.net offers just that– now with 100% more application.
- Wired has a brief article up about the new Mandarake store in Akiba.
- Over Kuriosity, we have a nice editorial on why the manga industry hasn’t been hit as hard by piracy as the anime industry.
- Hey, did you know that the World Cosplay Summit is going to go into the finals tomorrow? No, really! Y’know, the WCS doesn’t really get the word out enough, since I always sort of forget about it until something pops up on their blog or a google alert. Maybe a couple of judicious press releases and official footage on YouTube (or better yet, some kind of live webcast) would do well? Or maybe it’s just me.
- Canned Dogs has some tidbits, including an update on Colonel Sanders-tan: apparently KFC made the Akiba location remove the maid outfit. LOSE!
- Last but not least, we’re #4! We’re #4! …in instant ramen consumption.

A press release announcing NYCC’s anime-related guests and events is being circulated. First up is T.M.REVOLUTION, aka Takanori Nishikawa, who you may know for performing on the soundtracks of Rurouni Kenshin, Gundam SEED, and Gundam SEED Destiny.

Need more? How about some premieres? Code Geass, Lucky Star, Victorian Romance Emma, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Amuri in Star Ocean will all premiere at NYCC.

I’m willing to bet that the premieres of Geass and Lucky Star will be dubbed; Emma is a sub-only release to begin with so there is no dub. For The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, I have no idea; ditto for Amuri. (If you noticed that all of these premieres are Bandai Entertainment except for Amuri and Emma, bonus points for yoU!)

The rest of the press release is right here.

So upon Bandai Visual USA’s announcement of True Tears and Shigofumi, I calculated the per-episode price of each 13-episode series– six 2-episode discs at $39.99 each plus one 1-episode disc at $29.99 = $269.93, divided by 13 = $20.76 per episode. I later talked about Right Stuf’s release of Emma as being more reasonable and was brought back to a per-episode price, and it came up again on IRC with Blood+.

So I started wondering: how much does an episode of anime generally cost? In search of this answer, I went through all January US anime DVD releases and calculated the price per episode of each release (excluding movies and special editions). I DID leave in a Geneon release for comparison, as well as a couple of other cancelled releases (like Hikaru no Go).

Now, keep in mind that this is really NOT enough samples to get a really solid view on all the companies. I mean, sure, ADV, FUNi, VIZ, and Bandai Entertainment each put out a good chunk of releases, but BVU only had two, Geneon only had one that I could find enough info on to include, and TRSI only had one period. Media Blasters and Manga Entertainment also both had only two each, and Manga’s were both box set re-releases (which, of course, tend to be much cheaper).

The average price of a single anime episode, though, was $5.65. The most expensive company was, of course, Bandai Visual USA (at an average of $16.66 per episode– but again, only two releases in January to work with). The cheapest was Manga Entertainment, who again only had box set re-releases that averaged to $1.99/ep; Bandai Entertainment was in second with $4.70/ep.

The cheapest anime was the Medabots box set (if I got the number of episodes right) at $1.35/ep; second place was Noein at $1.84/ep. The most expensive were, again, BVU’s releases, MS Gundam IGLOO and Super Robot Wars OG Divine Wars, both at $16.66/ep.

The average per-episode price for box sets and rereleases was $3.19/ep; for new releases it was $7.05/ep.

Let me reiterate that this is all pretty unscientific– I really should go through, say, all of 2007’s releases to provide a more accurate picture. (Maybe I’ll get to it someday.) But this is a bit of a taste, I suppose. If you want to see my spreadsheet you can grab it here.

Just got a press release from TRSI, whose sub-only release of Victorian Romance Emma will be previewed in the final issue of Newtype USA (the February issue). And allow me to point out, for those of you still reeling from BVU’s prices, that Emma is coming out in two 12-episode box sets (one for each season), and the first one is $49.99. Go TRSI!

They did want to point out, though, that although the Newtype USA DVD will feature a letterbox (4:3 aspect ratio) early cut of the first episode of Emma, the actual DVD set will have widescreen (16:9) video.

Allow me to also note that Emma is a fantastic show, even if (like me) you’re not usually all that in to romance. It’s a beautifully animated period piece with spectacular character development and I highly recommend it.

Current Mood:  DO WANT

First! I have a new layout! One that actually lets people be logged in so that you don’t have to fill out your stupid info every time you want to leave a comment. Randall is my god of WordPress.

Okay, let’s see, merch from AX… Read the rest of this entry »

Current Mood:  FAITO!

Ahh, the first episode of Zombie-Loan. I won’t say that it’s brilliant TV, but it’s not bad so far. The art style is a bit weird for me compared to Rozen Maiden (chins and noses are so…damn…POINTY!), but I can live with that. As long as Michiru grows some balls, anyway.

And that’s my first summer show so far (got a few raws to check out though, plus the BSS Higurashi release - so quit trying to tell me about the damn show, people!). Now, on to the usual suspects:

Bokurano - Where are my fucking subs?!
Claymore - I kind of miss Raki, actually. Can it be timejump tiem nao plzz?
Darker than Black - See Bokurano
El Cazador - see Bokurano
Emma season 2 - see Bokurano
Gurren Lagann - Kinda dull right now, honestly. Waiting on another timejump here…
Hayate no Gotoku - The most consistently funny series from spring, definitely.
Heroic Age - Why do I keep watching this? And why has no one killed Deianeira’s retarded brothers loooong before now?
Kamichama Karin - Why do I keep watching this? And why has no one put me out of my retarded misery looooong before now?
Kaze no Stigma - Why do I keep watching this? And will Ayano and Kazuma stop being complete douches to each other?
Lovely Complex - Holy shit, a romantic comedy that doesn’t suck!
Lucky*Star - Dale and I kept doing “bye-bee” symbols at each other at AX. That’s all you really need to know about that.
Romeo x Juliet - Where are my fucking hormones? (No, really?)
Sisters of Wellber - Just started picking this up, and it’s not as bad as I expected. But, protip, subbers: CYRANO DE BERGERAC. Not Bulgerock. Not Voljirakku. THEY’RE TRYING TO SAY BERGERAC. Read maor!
Sumomomo Momomo - …see Bokurano, damnit.

And now, a fanfiction manifesto. Read the rest of this entry »

Current Mood:  Dadada

Hokay, folks, I’m all updated on my anime, plus I’ve got some more con talk and some other news, so let’s get crackin’ on this long-delayed post.
Read the rest of this entry »