At long last, Hayao Miyazaki's latest masterpiece "Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea" - aka simply "Ponyo"- debuts today in American theaters, thanks to an English version done by Disney. I was fortunate enough to attend a pre-screening of the film last. & I felt the movie was really, really good- from what I saw.

See, about an hour into the movie, the film messed up. It began playing upside down & backwards. It went on like this for a few minutes, & it was quite funny with the whole theater having a good laugh. Finally the movie was stopped, the lights in the theater went on, & we the audience were watching that movie trivia stuff that usually comes on before the previews. After a few minutes of that, a Disney rep came out apologizing & informed us all that we would not be finishing the film today. Instead we were invited back to another pre-screening to be helf a few days later.

& so I attended the second screening earlier this week. Fortunately the movie ran properly this time (the audience even applauded when we reached the area that messed up last time). However, had I known that the final half-hour of the film would be such a mess, perhaps I wouldn't have been so eager to attend the second screening. For whatever reason, the moment of the error is the exact dividing point in the film from when it turns from masterpiece to, well, much less so. I really don't know what was going on in Miyazaki's head for the ending. It's almost like he realized he just had a half hour left & needed to rap things up as quickly & conveniently as possible. It really felt like he originally planned on something more happening towards the end, but for whatever reason it didn't wind up happening. Kids should still love it, but adults who are likely to enjoy the first hour will likely have the whole experience soured by the disjointed ending.

There is a lot of good here. I went into the showing knowing virtually nothing about the story. Disney's English dub is quite good, especially Tina Fey as Sosuke's mother. Her character actually reminded me a lot of Masane of Witchblade (except with a much smaller chest, of course), especially with her relationship with her child. & as much as I don't like child "star" actors, Noah Cyrus really did quite a good job as Ponyo. In fact I was taken back by how surprisingly cute Ponyo is in her full human form. Liam Neeson sounds great no matter what he does, so he was fine as Ponyo's father. Matt Damon plays Sosuke's father, which is actually a small role & quite insignificant, which I'm sure wasn't Miyazaki's original intent. It really feels like his role was meant to be bigger & more important, but in the end he adds virtually nothing to the film.

So to summarize, the first hour or so of Ponyo is quite good. It shows why Miyazaki is regarded as the great film maker that he is. It's just a shame that it had to get ruined by the rather phoned-in ending. Still though, children & anime fans alike should well enjoy the film.

Originally scheduled to come out in May, Bandai's English release of the Lucky Star manga finally hit American stores just last week. I got my hands on the first volume earlier this week, & have been greatly enjoying it. It's taller & larger than your average manga book, probably to be better present the 4-koma style that Lucky Star is. The down side to this is that it's a bit more expensive than your average manga as well, retailing at $10.99. There is a nice four page color section as well:

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The live-action Blood: the Last Vampire movie (new trailer above) has starting coming out in parts of the world, & as such reviews are coming in as well. Our friends at Twitch have published such a review, though unfortunately it doesn't paint the film in a good light. The write-up is pretty negative, with the main drawback being a paper-thin plot. However, they do praise film for being stylistically pleasant. Read the review in whole here:

http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/review-of-blood-the-last-vampire

The new remastered, redubbed, re-edited, HD version of DBZ, DragonBall Kai, finally began this morning in Japan. It's only been a few hours since it aired, but video & reviews began popping up online right away. Above you'll find the brand new opening "Dragon Soul." Whether one prefers it to "Head Cha-La" or not depends on you, but you can't argue that the new opening looks fantastic.

At the bottom of this post you'll find a clip of the ending credits, featuring another new song "Yeah! Break! Care Break!" Definitely an improvement over the original ending, IMO. & to read a quick review of the first episode, Anime Explosion gots you covered there:

http://www.animeexplosion.net/readarticle.php?article_id=205

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You may remember news awhile back about Tentacle Grape Soda, the "most delicious hentai soda on the market" (& is now endorsed by Yuri Lowenthal). Well I decided I'd bite & preordered a case back then. It took a long time, but the bottles finally arrived at my doorstep late last week. Unfortunately by the time it came to me, half of the bottles had some of their hentai juices spill out on me. I'm not sure how. All the bottles were in tact & still had their caps in place, & all of the bottles had at least some soda in them, but the box was pretty wet with purple liquid. I guess the caps weren't on tight enough? Hmmmm....

(UPDATE: They contacted me & said it was a freak error. Everything's all right now. ^^)

Well whatever the case, I've been enjoying the soda that remains. I'm not much of a food critic, so I'll just say---- it tastes like grape soda. & that I enjoy it (though not so much to order another shipment or anything). So yes, it's tentaclicious! Oh, & the shipment came with a free purple condom for all your hentai needs:

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DragonBall Evolution held its world premiere last week, & a few days later on Friday it debuted in Japanese theaters. While we in America still have to wait a few more weeks to see the film, Ain't it Cool News has posted an online review of someone who saw the film in Japan. We saw our first review of the film online back in October, but that was an incomplete & unfinished test version of the film. Now we have our first real review.

So what does the reviewer say about the film? Although he doesn't think it's all that good, he assures us that it doesn't completely suck like we all thought it would. Check out the review in its entirety below, but be aware of some minor spoilers:

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Dates for upcoming anime movies in America have finally started being revealed. For starters, Afro Samurai Resurrection now has a set date of January 30 at 1:30am on Spike TV.

But more importantly is the American release for Hayao Miyazaki's most recent film, Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea. Well while an exact date still isn't known, we can now say for sure that it'll be in the summer. Not only that, but Miyazaki wants this to get a HUGE release in the US, playing on many more screens than his last few films & getting more promotion. Just a shame this is his most kid-friendly work ever, huh?

Pixar's John Lasseter is producing the English dub, while the purported dub cast seems to remain accurate & stays the same. It also seems a fan has seen the dubbed version & has written a positive review for it online. You can read what the reviewer had to say here:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39671

There's still roughly half a year's time before FOX's live-action DragonBall Movie debuts in theaters, but despite that, the first review of the film has manifested its way online recently. It should be noted that the version of the film that this person saw is still unfinished. News has even come out recently that the studio is filming some new scenes as we speak, so the movie hasn't even been completely recorded yet. The reviewer also notes that the music & special effects haven't been completed yet. So with all that in mind, check out what he had to say. Spoilers ahead, it should go without saying:

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Continuing our coverage of Hollywood adapting anime titles, the guys over at Latino Review have managed to get their hands on the script for the upcoming live-action Voltron: Defenders of the Universe movie. & believe it or not, they really, really liked it. So much so that they gave the script an A+.

Now while Latino Review has shown an interest in anime in the past, they are far from being considered an anime fanboy site. So the fact that they liked the script really means something. Their actual review of the thing is quite long & extensive, but here's a short excerpt that'll give you a general idea of what they thought- & what to expect of the film:

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So this month, as part of my subscription to Megami Magazine for some reason, I was given the latest issue of its sister magazine Megami Magazine Creators. Now Creators has been coming out in Japan for awhile now & I've been aware of its existence for just as long. This was issue #12 of a magazine that I believe comes out quarterly (4 times a year). Thing is though, I was never interested in subscribing to this magazine in addition to the original Megami. While the original focuses on ecchi anime series & games that are currently big in Japan & has dozens of posters for them, Creators is mostly all original works. Artists from all over the country submit their original drawings to the magazine, & Megami publishes them & includes the website of the artist to check out more of their work.

So what did I think of Megami Creators when it landed on my doorstep? Actually, it was better then I thought it'd be. While the "posters" in this magazine are only the size of the standard page (as opposed to Megami which has folding out posters), it does come with a double-sided large poster just like the original mag does. The artwork themselves were pretty good too, & since this was a special swimsuit issue, there were a good amount of posters dealing with that topic. & despite Creators being known for original creations, there were a few articles & artwork on anime series like Macross Frontier, Strike Witches, & Penguin Musume Heart as well.

But despite what I liked about Megami Creators, I don't think I'd be interesting in paying for more of them. I'd much rather see fan-service posters of established anime characters rather then no-names, not to mention Creators doesn't have nearly as much content as the original. Plus, actual sized posters as opposed to page-sized ones. So in short, an interesting divergence, but not something I'll be trying to visit again. I did take some pictures of some of the content though, which you can see below:

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The first Lucky Star DVD doesn't officially hit American stores until next week, but AnimeOnDVD got an early look at the first release limited edition version. Overall, the disc got positive reviews all around. & while the actual content of the show was basically just viewed as average, we all know that the real fun in Lucky Star begins a few episodes into the series, when things really start to take off & click together. Chris Beverage summarized his thoughts on the first few episodes as thus:

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Dan Green, the legendary voice actor behind Yugi in Yu-Gi-Oh & part time savior of the world, took some time off from his busy schedule to review rant about how much he didn't like "the Spiderwick Chronicles" movie, & also how much he didn't like the star Freddy Highmore. I must say, I can't blame him. 90 minutes without a single card game? Thanks, but thanks! Be aware though if you DO want to watch this non-card game movie, because there are plenty spoilers ahoy, including the ending.

Can a hero get a hug?! =D

The originally made-up anime & manga from AnimeNewsNetwork's Nina comics, "Ultimate Mop Daisuke DX," has now become an actual manga! The story revolves around a boy who has unnaturally good janitor-skills, & aims to be the best mopper in the world. Of course the path to greatness is not an easy one, as he runs upon rival young custodians in the making on his journey. But this series is more than your typical shonen tournament-style manga. It has an amazing heart that can break even the strongest man into tears with it's touching sad stories. You think Gaara had it rough? You ain't seen nothing until you've read UMD!

Every one of the first 27 chapters are utterly perfect, from the art to the story-telling. The art stays strong after 27 as well, but the time-jump really ruined things for the story. I didn't mind Daisuke being a few years older as much as most fans did, but you gotta admit that the story really went from brilliantly flawless to sadly mediocre. But enough about the later chapters. ANN reviewer Carlo Santos had the following to say about the first 27 volumes:

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This week's ANNtv news coverage includes the second episode of the Anime Jump Show. This month, Mike Toole takes a look at the long-running Galaxy Angel series, as well as a classic series from Tezuka. But before they get to all that, the team covers this weeks top stories:

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The live-action Death Note spin-off movie L: change the worLd has finally come out in Japanese theaters, leaving those of us on the other side of the Pacific wondering if it's anything like its predecessors. Well one online reviewer by the name of Kroze got a chance to catch it, & reports to us all his take on it.

Unfortunately, he didn't really like it that much. He pretty much said that this movie is just meant for fans of the Death Note series & isn't really intended for those not in love with its world. It certainly isn't meant for newcomers, as anyone not familiar with the manga, movies, or anime wont really understand what's going on. His opening paragraph summarizes his feelings best:

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