So yeah, it's been pretty slow around here these past few days because I've been rocking out at Anime Central all weekend (finally got to meet Gia!). & today once ACen ends, I'll be heading directly to the airport to go to Florida for a week. So continue to expect limited updates (if any at all) over the next few days. Don't miss me too much now. Till then!
It's time for another edition of What's Edited Out of the Blue Dragon Dub! Last time we talked about how the dub covered up Marumaro's pervertedness, as well as how they changed Kluk's panties into a flag. But now we reach an even bigger subject of controversy, one that fans of the original version have been dreading- the appearance of the fan-service character Bouquet.
We previously talked about how Bouquet's appearance in the dub ending credits experienced a change that involved editing out her massive boobs. But since the credits alternated every episode between edited & unedited, we were left wondering if she'd really wind up edited in the end. I think this comparison picture between the Japanese & English versions pretty much sums it up:
Now that Tower of Druaga has reached its halfway point, it seemed like an opportune time to show this video of KENN. KENN plays the star of the series, Jil, but many may know him better as the voice of Yuki Judai from Yu-Gi-Oh GX!
This video was made early on in the show's production, & was put up on BOST TV specifically for international English viewers of the series. Sort of a thank you for supporting this new experimental legal downloading that Gonzo's been doing. Quite cool, actually. You can check the video out above, or check it out over at BOST TV right over here:
Part 3 of the YYH Abridged movie begins with all the elemental sites destroyed. Yes, that somehow includes Wind, & somehow Hiei's with the others now. Must've all happened in between the two parts. But don't worry, it's all explained through flashback! Sort of, anyway.
Turns out the bad guys were after Botan too... you know, in addition to the elemental stuff. Who knows what's going on. Anyway after they kidnap her, our heroes have only one thing to do- sexy training montage! After that, the final battles begins. & in true YuYu Hakusho tournament style, that means a series of one-on-one fights. We get two of those in this episode- Kurama & Hiei.
The Kurama fight is full of ambiguous comments that leads the rest of Team Urameshi to wonder what's really going on behind that thick cloud of steam. & of course, Kurama's sexuality is questioned once again. I swear, gay Kurama is canon. Not just here, but in the actual story as well. There were just way to many subtle comments that weren't really that... subtle. It's been waaaay to long since I've seen the series on Cartoon Network (but with the new cheap box-sets coming out, hopefully that'll change), but I seem to remember many such comments that made you wonder about everyone's favorite fox demon. Err, of the non orange ninja variety, anyway.
The second fight with Hiei is even cooler, & not just because he pointlessly decides to do it shirtless. The actual reason should be made apparent to any YYH dub fan right away. You see, there's a reason Hiei thinks that guy's voice sounds familiar. It's actually none other than Chuck Huber, the real voice of Hiei in FUNimation's dub! He was kind enough to lend a guest spot to Lanipator's little series. How about that, I guess he's a fan! This episode is worth seeing for this fight alone (though Kuwabara is particularly funny in this episode, so it's worth seeing for his reactions & expressions too).
& with that we're close to the end of the movie. Part 4 will probably be the last part, or at least I assume so anyway. Whether or not Lani will stretch it out for another two remains to be seen. Stay tuned!
In order to help promote the Death Note live-action movie that screens in theaters next week, Viz has uploaded special ringtones & wallpapers for cell phones on to the movie's website. As of yesterday, they added a ringtone for Ryuk & one for L (though the L one sounds really weird). They also added the poster for the movie in phone wallpaper size. & really, they got every single cellphone screen out there covered. The image comes in so many sized it's crazy, though all of them still pretty small though in order to fit on your phone (iPhone one is a decent size at least).
So if you love Death Note enough to put these goodies on your phone, then by all means get your download on! You can find downloads for everything mentioned above right here:
The last episode of Black Lagoon aired on Starz Edge last night, but unfortunately for some reason they didn't air the final minute of the episode that came after the ending credits. A similar incident happened last year when Adult Swim aired the final episode of Eureka Seven, so it's quite aggravating to see this kind of thing still happen to anime a year later.
But never fear, because Nebs is here! Feeling that something wasn't right with Starz's airing of the episode, I downloaded a fansub version to see if there was anything I was missing. & what do you know, I was right. I realize a lot of people probably don't get that channel & couldn't watch the series, so this isn't really that important to you. But for those of you like me who did, make sure to check out the video clip above. I really like how Rock fully embraces being in the twilight in this scene. When Yukio first told him that he was standing in the middle of the light & darkness, she made it seem like a bad thing that he couldn't make a choice. Rock too at first thought of this as a bad thing after she explained it, but eventually he came to realize that by standing in the twilight, he was able to see things others couldn't. He learned to embrace it rather then be ashamed of it, & I really like that.
Sadly though, this scene only exists in Japanese for the time being. With Geneon going under before getting to release "Black Lagoon: the Second Barrage" on DVD, we might never get to see this final scene dubbed in English. Unless of course someone rescues the series, that is. The shame in all of this is that Black Lagoon's dub was utterly amazing, greatly surpassing the Japanese version in my opinion. The dialogue spoken by the characters in the English version is just so smart, funny, & well written, not to mention the dub turns the profanity level up to max. These guys are the scum of the Earth, so it makes sense for their dialogue to be just like that as well, something the Japanese version lacked. It wasn't just that they said a lot of naughty words, but they said them very cleverly as well. It's a true shame for a series & a dub as good as this not to get released fully in the US. Hopefully that'll change soon.
Geneon may be coming back from the dead after a long absence from the American anime industry, or at least so it seems. Apparently Geneon has been in serious talks with a major American home entertainment distributor that for the time being can't be named. The talks are still going on, but if things turn out well then they'll help save Geneon's library of anime licenses.
Talks of saving Geneon titles have been going on for a long time now. Since their fall, Media Blasters has actually saved 3 anime series from them, though only one of them has been named thus far. But if things work out with this mysterious US distributor, then we could see a lot more come back. Not much can be made public knowledge yet, but at least the following can be said about the deal via Robert's Anime Corner Newsletter:
Get ready for another media for the sexy Witchblade franchise to invade, as it's now heading to the big screen. Based on the hit American comics, Witchblade also saw a television adaptation in 2001, & in 2006 saw an anime adaptation in Japan that is currently airing on IFC in the US.
Now, Hollywood is talking about bringing the franchise to a movie theater near you. The film will be a collaboration between Platinum Studios, Top Cow Prods, & Arclight Films. A basic summary of the story is mentioned in an article from Variety, which can be read below:
We've seen unofficial shots of Justin Chatwin as Goku in next year's live-action adaptation of DragonBall. We've even seen unofficial shots of Chatwin as Goku that aren't actually of Chatwin. But now we have our first official promotional piece of the DBZ movie that shows the leading star as everyone's favorite Saiyan.
Interesting how the first official ad for the movie comes from Japan & not America, but there ya go. This page was actually from the latest issue of Shonen Jump in Japan, which serialized the DragonBall manga back in the 1980s & 1990s. A translation of the ad can be found below:
Japanese anime seiyuu & pop singer Aya Hirano is about to enter some very weird, intriguing, & awesome territory. Known best as the voice of Haruhi in "the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" & Konata in "Lucky Star," the extremely popular actress is now getting her own trading cards in Japan. How that'll work exactly, I have no idea. But as I said, I am intrigued enough to get my hands on some of these myself.
A set of 7 "Aya Hirano 1st Trading Card" packs will go for 525 yen (~$5), while a box of 12 packs will go for 6300 yen (~$60). More info on the new cards will be available in the July issue of Seiyu Animedia magazine, which goes on sale in Japan next month. The cards themselves launch this July, so get your importer ready!
Despite losing Gurren Lagann to Bandai Entertainment, it seems that ADV has fully gotten back on their feet. Their release schedule is back on track, a can be seen this week with the latest volume of Kanon from Kyoto Animation! If you enjoyed watching the series here on NebsTV, or enjoyed its sister series AIR, then you should definitely get the series as each volume comes out!
Another contender for DVD of the Week was the first volume of Shin-Chan from FUNimation. But because of the lack of a Japanese track, this might not be a buy for everyone. The price here is another issue. $40 for 13 episodes of anime is usually a good deal, but when you consider your only paying for an English version & not 2 languages, then it's actually a bit pricey. Sure, Funi's probably aiming at Adult Swim's general comedy audience rather then anime fans with this release. But in that case, they should price it similar to AS's DVDs. Most Adult Swim series sell between $20-$30 on DVD, so if Funi's only going to include an English version, they should use a similar price point.
Oh, & speaking of good box-set deals, Media Blasters is selling the complete Teknoman classic series for a mere $19.99. Talk about a deal! If you like classic anime, & you like good deals, you can't do much better then this. It's almost like they're paying you to buy the series, only not really. Still though, insanely cheap is insanely cheap.
