This year is not too bad as far as US con news goes so far. Definitely an improvement from the last. I’m just going to highlight some of the ones I care about:
Emma being licensed is actually my biggest ZOMG. It’s a great little gem but it’s so far off the well-treaded path for anime, let alone anime in the US, that RightStuf might have some trouble finding good homes for their DVDs. But somehow it’s the sort of show that makes you think “hey, there must be some people out there who’d buy Victorian romance imported from Japan.” Especially in the US. Especially after you scrub-a-dub-dub and remove traces of “Maide In Japan” from it.
Gurren Lagann being licensed is a nice treat. I like the show enough to watch it, but it suffers from the Eureka 7 problem in some ways. I wish it was shorter so at least I have no excuses about being able to afford it. Then again, technically I can still wait for a thin-pack from E7, and ADV is much better about releasing collections than most other studios. What’s wrong with Eureka 7? It’s too long, it’s not the sort of thing that you want to watch the whole thing twice (although some episodes definitely many many times over).
DMP is going to release Flamboyant. We know they’re bringing over a Megami compilation later this year, so this is more of the same, I guess (I hate Megami stuff with a passion, but it’s good to know). It’s interesting because I bought Flamboyant back when it was hot enough for a second run… Well, at least it’ll be cheap (and with more artwork!). Flamboyant, for the noob, is the first (and so far only?) art book by Hakua Ugetsu. Sure, it’s got the name Bakuhatsu Tenshi to taint, but the stuff inside is awesome.
Along with the re-announcement of Nanoha and Nanoha A’s, I think I might even buy the SRW OAVs when they come out. Probably pass on SRW TV though. These are all “maybe” but I think I like A’s enough to not pass.
Cosmode USA. Uuugh. In other words, a US cosplay magazine.
Last one for the day: Wings of Honneamise on DVD and HD-DVD is actually a big deal. The US is ahead over Japan on the HD home video effort. At this point in the game I don’t care if it’s Blu-Ray or HDDVD. I just want my anime on 1080! And this is a classic to own for this purpose.
June 30th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Nanoha’s a must-buy for me, but well, you know me. Emma cheaply enough would be worth it. I’ll wait for the thinpack for GL and I might buy Hakua’s book.
Pretty damn good licenses, I gotta say.
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:44 am
Do you have any opinions on the licensing of Darker Than Black and Negima!??
I’d probably pick up Emma (even though I was stuck on episode 5 of the first season) and Gurren Lagann (even though I’m stuck on episode 8). Nanoha still has that “I don’t know if I should be buying this” feel to it. :P