Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Anime Review: School Rumble

A few years ago I posted what I would call a review of the series School Rumble.  Since then, I have ingested several more titles and have had more experience in different types of anime, particularly comedy.  So I decided a good way to spend this animeversary is to do a review of the first season of School Rumble.  Now I am not sure if I should call this a "re-review" or a "second opinion" or what, but I will at least be adapting the new anime review style I have begun on here.  So here is the series that got me into anime, and a series that holds close to my heart.  This is...School Rumble!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Anime I Watched Before I Was Into Anime

School Rumble will always be the one series that I will credit as getting me interested in the art form.  It is, however, not the first anime series I ever watched.  There was a drought of about 7 or 8 years before I stumbled upon that series, and before that drought, there was...the kid's series.

You'll feel 100% soon, Pikachu!  Wait...wouldn't it make more sense for Ash to have his hat on frontwards?
Even though most anime fans are reluctant to admit it, most have probably seen the awesome and horribleness that is Pokemon.  While this isn't technically the first one I watched, it is the first I bought VHS tapes of.  I remember saving my meager allowance just to buy a 3-episode tape for $10 at Wal-mart.  I still have those tapes, though I don't know why.  I got the entire Indigo series on DVD, so there is no need for them.  I got all the tapes minus the last two or three, when I stopped watching the series.

Anyone want a donut?
I won't do a huge review of the series today, but I will say I did recently rewatch the Indigo series and while I question my preteen self on why I liked this series, it's by no means a complete abomination.  It's bad, yes, especially what 4Kids did to it (See above photograph of such ruining) at times, but it did get better as it went.  I did watch the Orange League season and my opinion of the series plummeted.  I did collect a couple VHS of the Johto League, but never saw much beyond that.  By then I was an older teenager and watching a kid's show was no longer "cool".

Digimon, digital monsters.  Digimon are the Champions!
Before Pokemon, though, there was a slight rip off series that was aired locally in my area on the Fox Kids block of animated episodes.  It was called Digimon and I still hold a high opinion of some of it to this day.  This was the series I followed religiously through the first two seasons.  It was exciting and had much more adventure than Pokemon did.  Episodes usually built on the previous one or somehow advanced the plot.  There was a nice mix between fighting and plot advancement.  The series tackled character issues and growth well.  I looked forward to talking with my friends about it at school and we predicted what would happen next in the series.  It was fun.  Then the second series came out and the ball was dropped to some extent.  I didn't get as excited about it and the ending seemed to be a little preachy to me, but it did close out the original arc.  The third iteration, called Digimon Tamers changed locales and characters, and I never got interested in it because by that time I was busy with school activities, work, and sleeping.  I did eventually watch it and I think it is better than the second series by far.

That older guy looks like Professor Oak...
Finally, to wrap up the kid's theme to this entry, there was Sonic X.  While I rarely watched it on TV, I did catch what I could on DVD.  The DVDs had more bang for your buck, so I had no issue collecting the entire series.  For the most part, I do not understand the flack that this series receives.  It really wasn't that bad...well, except for the last season, in my opinion.  I can see some of the issues, like including humans and some slight edits, but overall I think it wasn't a bad series.  I don't think it has the quality like Digimon had, but I can at least watch it.

I stopped watching anime after Sonic X, until I made that fateful entry on my blog.  It has taken me a few years, but I am sort of caught back up with anime.  I really don't care for series pre-2000, but I do enjoy anime much more now than I used to.  I hope you've learned a little about what I enjoyed and still do to some extent to this day.  Cartoons and other shows and movies we used to watch as kids usually stay in a special place in our hearts.  Most people try to deny those feelings, but they are there.

So what series did you grow up with?

Monday, August 29, 2011

This Week On Anime-zing Funtime Blog - The Anime-versary

Every year I go through a period where one week I celebrate what I like to call my "anime-versary".  Yes, I made a portmanteau of anime and anniversary, so sue me.  Actually, please don't sue me.  I am a poor man with little to legally steal from, aside from my anime collection which is worth more than a used car by this point.  So this is an entry that is going to explain what the heck this is and what it means for this blog.

This is about the time I started to get in to the world of anime, back in 2008.  On my previous blog, I used to do a weekly feature called "Mega Media Monday" where I would post random videos from the Internet and (sometimes stretching) tie them together with a common thread, like "Hair Bands" or "Theme Songs".  Well, there is a local Japanese festival that is hosted every year, and after hearing about it I decided to dedicate an entry to "Japanese things".  I had no idea what I was getting myself involved with.

In that particular entry, I posted a single anime video showing off "funny anime moments" and one of the shows in that video was a scene from an anime called "School Rumble".  After enjoying what I saw, I decided to watch some of the series, and the rest is history.  This was around the last of August into early September, so since then I have dubbed the last few days of August and the first few days of September as my "Anime-versary" week, where I dedicate most of the week to watching anime and blog about it.  Since I have sort of left my other blog, I decided to host a week-long event on here!

This week I am going to type up an entry every day.  That's right, in addition to the regular weekly entries, there will be other ones to follow.  Planned is a review the series that got me into anime, School Rumble, my current top five anime series and why, anime that I watched prior to School Rumble, and other funness.  Also, I will be watching that series as well as at least one new movie.  I will keep you posted via this blog and Twitter on my activities and postings this week, so stay tuned and be awesomed by my fandom.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

This Week's Watch: 8/21 - 8/27

This was not a good week for me to watch anime, so this week's watch was just one episode of one anime.  I was too busy trying to figure out cell phone networks, work, job hunting, and sleeping inbetween.  Something had to give, and unfortunately anime had to be that sacrifice.  It happens sometimes.  Anyways, onto this week's watch, which was last night.

Epic mouse action.  Favorite animation in the entire series for me.

Enlarge and look at the logo on the top left.  Maybe spoilers.

Aniplex managed to get Durarara on Adult Swim and while I don't have cable, I follow along each Saturday night on DVD.  The next two weeks will be what I call "the epic episodes" where everything comes together.  I can't wait to see everyone's reaction to the twists that await them!

What did you watch this week?

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Poll of the Week: Sgt. Froggyness

This week is another simple poll that I am conducting on here.  One of the bigger...I hate to use the word controversies...maybe issues, with the Sgt. Frog release in the states is the dub.  Many fans are claiming the dub takes too many liberties from the original subbed version, and others praise the dub for being entertaining and accurate for the important portions.

This week's question is about this title and this title only.  It is not a "Sub Vs. Dub" debate nor is it about all anime titles.  It is just for the R1 release of Sgt. Frog by Funimation.  Do you prefer or watch the dub or the sub the most?  That is the question of the week.  So clickypoo your poll choice and Speak out in the comments below!

Oh, and last week's poll of "Light's intelligence Vs. L's intelligence", L completely won that by TWO votes.  Sure, there were only two votes cast, but that means someone else had to have voted there!  Thanks, anonymous voter!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Anime Downtime

Do you ever get that feeling that you just don't want to watch anime sometimes?  I know I get that way.  In fact, you could say that is the situation I find myself in this week.  Oh, and also work has kept me from having a regular schedule so most of my time is dedicated to sleep this past week.  Oh glorious sleep...

Seriously though, I will look over at my anime collection and think, "Hmm, what do I want to watch today...", spend about 10 minutes looking things over, then decide to just watch a DVD of The Office.  Anime just doesn't tickle my fancy sometimes.  I mean I always love to have a coherent and intelligent conversation about anime, but I don't always watch it.  I have a backlog of anime I need to finish watching, but I just really don't feel like it.  I will eventually watch them, but for now I think I'll spend my time doing research on cell phones, which has also taken a good chunk of my time lately.

Do you have periods like this?

Sunday, August 21, 2011

This Week's Watch: 8/14 - 8/20

This week was a good week for anime viewing.  I got several items in the mail so I had plenty of material to watch and I had a little extra time off, so I was able to catch a couple good shows this week.  I usually order anime from Rightstuf and since I live a state away from their facility, I get things quite a bit earlier than some people.  So this week's show is technically still not released as of this typing, but I know plenty of other people have been enjoying it.  One I watched this week was Spice & Wolf 2, but that was forgettable, so my pick this week would be:

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Poll of the Week: Who is Smarter. Light or L?

It's a Death Note poll this week folks!

Pick between the two.  I would definitely have to say that between the two, L is probably the smarter one, just because he seemed to know that Light was doing or trying to do every step of the way.  So what do you think.  Was Light the smarter of the two, or was L?  Debate below!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Space Invaders!

By that I mean how much room anime takes up on a shelf.

When I first started collecting anime, I got a full sized bookshelf, cut it in half, and made a "media shelf".  I was starting to collect anime DVDs and they only took up half a shelf.  I didn't think I would be getting myself in too deep, but fast forward three years later and now I am out of space of my five shelf media area.  Now admittedly, some of the space is currently being occupied by my manga, but the sad fact is that I will need to find a new shelf for my manga and just keep the current shelf anime only.  I have a relatively small room, so it won't be easy to add a new shelf, plus I like my window mounted air conditioner to not be blocked by a monolith of pressed chipboard.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Your Assignment For The Week: Eden of the East

He has amnesia, she has no excuse!
Watch a couple episodes of this anime to see what all the hype is about!  Hurry before Funimation takes the vids off the Youtubes!

Again, the embedding of the videos are forbidden by said company, so you'll have to do with snail linking.  Here is the first episode dubbed and here is the second episode dubbed.  If you want to see more, check out the show's Youtube site. There you can watch all 11 episodes either dubbed or subbed depending on your preference.  Check it out now and comment below!

Monday, August 15, 2011

State of the Anime-zing Blog

If you're a person who adores patterns, you would think today's entry would be another review (it has been happening every other Monday so far), but I have a confession to make: I haven't had enough free time to type up a full review.  I'm also losing sleep and there is some illness going around here, so I do need to catch up on sleep.  Anyways, this post is about my eventual plans for this blog.

Unlike most bloggers on the Internet, I have a relatively demanding job that has been requesting more of a presence of me lately despite my objections (I pretty much loathe my current line of work).  I also have other real life obligations like spending time with family and traveling to non-distant cities.  I've also not had as much free time to dedicate to anime the past couple weeks as much as I would like to, and I don't spend 100% of my free time with just anime.  Maybe 85% would be a more accurate count.  I'm a huge fan of anime, and I don't want to just halfway do a blog entry every day which is what I am forced to do with a daily schedule that I have been using to update this site.

My original plan was to just post maybe 3 to 4 times a week and leave it at that, but I also love blogging a lot.  Unfortunately, I have yet to receive a single comment on here and no one has participated in the polls no matter how much advertising I do.  I know it takes time and awesome content to get people here, so I've been focusing on quantity the past few weeks on here.  I've put in a lot of time on this site and I have loved it!  Once I do get the audience and responses I get, I will do everything in my power to resume daily posting, if not more.  I want that so badly.  I've had a lot of fun sharing my anime hobby with the Internet public and I will continue to do so.  Now that I've almost got 30 entries on here, I think the dailyness will stop unless life takes an unexpected turn or I get popular crazy fast.  Maybe both will happen.  Maybe neither.  We'll see.

So please comment and share this awesomeness with other people.  I want dialog on here and I will respond as much as I can.  I will keep posting on here as much as I can, but if I miss a day here or there please don't shoot me!  Again, content will be several times a week still, but it just may not be daily.  Sign up for RSS or some other method, or follow me on Twitter on the right side and I will usually post when an entry is up.

So have a nice day and help an anime fan out!  Thanks for reading!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

This Week's Watch: 8/7 - 8/13

I got some new anime this week while working on my rewatch of another series, so that got put off since I have already seen it and went for the new stuff.  I did get my copy of Haruhi-chan Part 2, but the one series I choose to feature this week is:

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Poll of the Week: Manga Vs. Anime

This one is short and sweet.  If this site ever gets followers, I will post more intriguing ones, but for now this is what you have.  You have to make a choice.  Say the planet is being attacked by aliens and you had to choose between two art forms: Anime or Manga.  One cannot survive.  One must be eradicated.  I know this is irrational, but I am half asleep while I type this so go with it.

I would choose anime, simply because of my irrational prejudice against reading.  I am not a reader.  In my spare time, I watch DVDs.  The last book I read was a couple years ago.  Maybe I shouldn't telegraph that a lot, but I am simply not a reader.  I do read some manga, but given the choice between the two, I usually choose anime, simply because it provides at the very least some background noise.

So discuss.  Anime or Manga.  Only one can survive!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Site of Approval: Anime Your Way

Some blogs are informative while others are great for a group of friends to talk and discuss anime.  One blog I follow has a big emphasis on discussion would be Anime Your Way.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

The Art-Story Connection

The anime I watch could be considered mostly moe-styled animation.  I look at my anime shelf (I sleep next to it every night) and a good portion would be the stylistic type usually done by Kyoto Animation, Key, or various other studios.  However, for me, it simply takes more than good art to get me interested.

Story matters too, and the ones I have liked the most I have cared more about the story.  However, story alone isn't good enough for me too.  I know that sounds backwards, but I need the show to be visually appealing in order for me to get interested.  If the characters are in the uncanny valley (which has made me lose interest in most American animation since it is so heavily CG now) it makes it impossible to enjoy the story properly. 

For me, the series needs both visual pleasure and story pleasure to be fully appreciated.  It is like an interviewee, it doesn't matter if they are the most qualified person in the world, if they come in dressed in pajamas or something distracting, they are not getting the job.  On the flip side, you can have the best looking interviewee in the world, supermodel looks, but if they are a culinary person and the position is for a physical therapist, then they are not getting the job either.  For me, anime is the same, both the story and art needs to prove that it is worth my attention.

How about you?  Do you care more about story?  Do you need a nice mix?  Are you more into art?  Discuss below!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

This Needs A Reboot: Negima!

See?  Just like Harry Potter, right?  Right?  Fine!  I see how you are!
Out of all the series I have, I think the one that deserves a major reboot is Negima, or as I like to call it, Japanese Harry Potter.  Why does it deserve such an undertaking?  I think the answer is simple to fans of the series, but I will highlight those to someone who perhaps doesn't know the background of the series.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Your Stream Assignment For Today: Check Out Oh! Edo Rocket!

The cast of the show is disappointed that you haven't seen them in action yet!
Some series are really underrated, and sadly those are the ones I enjoy the most.  One such overlooked series goes by the name of "Oh! Edo Rocket!"  Really, any fan of Edo period anime or FLCL should really enjoy this series.  Unlike most anime, this series is based off of a stage play, so there are some theatrical tropes in this show that make it quite epic!

So today's assignment is to watch a couple episodes of this excellent comedy/drama series.  Since Funimation won't let me embed the video on this site, I will just have to link you to the show's page.  You can have your choice in watching it either dubbed or subbed.

Monday, August 8, 2011

5 Anime Series That Deserve Sequels

Today is a listing entry on which series I feel desperately deserves a sequel in terms of story or completing the manga.  So let the countdown begin!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

This Week's Watch - 7/31 - 8/6

This was another slow week of anime watching mainly due to distractions (Went to a retro 80's arcade and had to get my Zaxxon on!) but the next week is already looking promising.  I decided to take a risk and do something I rarely do, watch subbed anime.  For those who don't know, 95% of the anime I watch is dubbed, but more on that controversy later, but when you don't have a choice between a dub or a sub (At least for now, this week's pick is getting one soon!), you have to suck it up and read your anime!  Now I also started a rewatch of Full Metal Panic, but the series I feel that deserves major props this week is:

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Poll of the Week: Just Click Yes

To further my insecurities about an audience on here, this week isn't as much a poll as it is one of those kids who stands on the sidewalk with a click counter counting cars that drive past.  All you have to do is click "Yes" on the poll and you're done.  No harm, no fowl.

Get to it and finish your assignment!

Friday, August 5, 2011

How to Get More People To This Blog

I can't lie, I want attention.  What would be the best way to get more viewers to this blog?  I've created a special Twitter account and have advertised on Facebook a couple times (Don't want to tick off my friends you know), and have linked my blog to a few sites, so what else am I missing?  Could you guys give me some suggestions or feedback?

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Frequently Watched Series

Some anime you can watch just once and not feel compelled to watch again.  I call those "bad shows".  There are others you may enjoy, but don't feel overly compelled to watch but once in a great while.  Most of the Key visual novel series, like Kanon and Clannad, I cannot watch but once in a great while because of the emotional depth of the stories.  Then there are those you watch once in a while.  For me, that is Fullmetal Alchemist and Chobits.  Then there are others you frequently watch, sometimes just to have background noise wherever you're at.  Those are the ones I'm talking about today.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Does Dragonball Z Make You An Otaku?

Sometimes I talk with a guy I work with talks with me and I end up talking about anime sometimes, though when I do, the only anime he talks about is Dragonball Z.  I've tried to get him open to other series, like Durarara and Eden of the East, but he thinks that Dragon Ball is the only one worth watching, aside from Death Note.
I watch Dragonball Z and Fullmetal Alchemist.  I'm an otaku!
 Do not get me wrong, I do not have a problem with people who like the Dragon Ball series.  I know there are a ton of fans of the series out there, but I am definitely not one of those people.  I've tried several occasions to watch it, but I could never get past a single episode.  However, that does bring me to a point.  People who only watch a series like Dragonball Z, Fullmetal Alchemist, Bleach, or anything to that effect sometimes calls themselves otaku and I have a problem with that.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Your Stream Assignment For Today: Baccano

Watch an episode of Baccano.  It's free and easy to watch! 


And here is episode two which I recommend watching first.


You can watch the rest of the series here.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Anime Review: Baccano!

Most of the messed up cast of Baccano!
This review is going to be about one of my absolute favorite anime titles of all time.  I believe I may have mentioned somewhere that I sort my anime titles on my shelf by favoritism and how often I rewatch it.  Baccano is near the top of that list, so yeah, I would say I like this series, but I will do my best to break it down for you.