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Astounding hand-drawn animation
2007-05-19 21:12:00
Koji Morimoto is a name I only became familiar with in the anime world in the past couple of years, when I first stumbled on a copy of the high-energy short Noiseman Sound Insect. This was when I thought "Ah ha! There are people out in the anime world that really understand how to use 3D computer graphics as an aid, not as a replacement to 2D hand-drawn art!". This was when I started seeking out more works from Studio 4 °C, the animation studio behind that amazing short film. So when I saw this Anime New Network "Buried Treasure" article on Bobby's In Deep (Official English title: Bobby's Girl ), the note about Koji Morimoto's 3-minute sequence at the end of the movie caught my immediate attention. Bobby's Girl was one of Madhouse's early works made in 1985 about a underachieving teen who is obsessed with motorcycles. Because it's long out-of-print, it will be extremely difficult to find a copy (legal or otherwise) of this 44 minute ...
More About: Animation , Hand

How the Lord of the Rings should have ended
2007-05-19 06:07:00
I shouldn't be so surprised that someone actually animated this: Though it's no surprise that I enjoyed this... I think it took me 2 years to trudge through the book, a bit at a time...
More About: Other , Lord , Lord of the Rings , Rings , Have

Nick's Anime Update - May 11, 2007
2007-05-12 05:51:00
Hasn't been too long since I've done one of these, but I probably should force myself to do this at least once a week. I'll try for every Friday evening, if possible. Well, here's the list! (Oh, possible spoilers ahead!) read more
More About: Anime , Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo , Update , Claymore , Ghost Hunt

Subtitle adjustment results
2007-05-07 00:28:00
Here, I will show a few example screenshots from the original subtitled MKV file of Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo from roxfan (Played and captured screenshots using Media Player Classic) and the output from our 46" Samsung DLP Widescreen TV using my repositioned version of the roxfan script (Using the highly technical process of playing the movie on the TV and capturing screenshots using a digital camera). The widescreen TV was using an older version of my original adjustments (The "TV" subtitles were actually placed too low; I had fixed that in the attached file, but didn't get pics of it). read more
More About: Anime , Results , Title , Adjust , Result

Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo - Subtitle file adjusted for overscan on widescreen T
2007-05-06 22:18:00
Well, I had managed to show off Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (using roxfan's subs) to a few people using my housemate's 46-inch Samsung DLP widescreen (I forget the exact model at the moment). Now, this wasn't as easily as simply following the directions on my MKV to AVI guide as the Samsung TV has between 5% to 10% overscan, and subtitles and the karaoke would lie halfway off of the screen, making it difficult to read the dialog. In the past, with hard-subs in AVI files and many fansub groups that do not position their subtitles to adjust for this (This is not meant to be a slight against any fansub group, as they doing the much harder job of translating and timing these subtitles in the first place at no cost to us), there would be nothing I could do other than slightly windowboxing the video as to make sure the subtitles appear properly on screen. Now, though, thanks to MKVs with their soft-subs, I can at least do something about it when converting it to an XviD AVI file ...
More About: Widescreen , Anime , File , Over

Anime on Joost
2007-05-05 06:41:00
I would normally put this kind of post in my other blog, but since it does relate to anime, I'd figure it would be of more interest here. I was recently invited into the Joost beta and am pretty impressed with how it's setup. Created by the people that created Skype, Joost is a very ambitious project to provide paid-by-ads Internet TV. The setup is broken up into different "channels", which include several programs that can be played on demand. For example, there is a Ren and Stimpy channel, which I can pick an available Ren and Stimpy episode to watch (which I was doing yesterday). While the program is playing, at certain points (Usually at the appropriate spot in the program), the client will play a 30 second commercial, then continue on with the program. Some of the channels available are listed here. Click on the "More channels..." link at the bottom to get a larger list of what channels are available and in what region they are available. ...
More About: Anime

The Young Can Call For a Redo...
2007-05-04 09:28:00
I just finished watching Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (Got a subtitled version thanks to a tip from Astro) and I have to say, what an incredible movie! Maybe not quite to the level of Makoto Shinkai's movies, my first impression is that I favor this movie over any Ghibli film that I've seen! I am definitely going to give this one a rewatch! (Update: ok, maybe not better than Spirited Away overall after some thought. I guess I'll have to rewatch that one, too. I'm not complaining...) I'll do a fuller review sometime later, but Astro's quick take on the movie pretty much reflects my initial feelings. Though I do have to admit, I was in a stunned state for a few minutes after the credits rolled. read more
More About: Anime , Young , Call , The Young

Nick's Recent Activity
2007-04-28 18:16:00
Call it laziness or burn-out, but I just haven't had the energy or will to sit down and write about the recent anime I've been watching. Indeed, I've been meaning to write an analysis of the Twelve Kingdoms novel and Fuyumi Ono 's interview and a review of Asatte no Houkou (Quite a nice little series that doesn't overextend itself) and Mushishi. As it is, I do have a list of some of the new anime I'm watching: read more
More About: Anime , The Twelve Kingdoms , Nick , Recent

Just got my hands on this
2007-04-23 06:29:00
Now to find a subtitle file so I can actually watch it... Also getting Paprika to watch for this weekend.
More About: This , Hands , Hand , Hands On

Highly Scientific Experiment
2007-04-21 03:09:00
Daike, in a highly controlled experiment, attempts to answer the all-important question: Does a cherry pedal actually fall at the rate of 5 centimeters per second, as claimed by Makoto Shinkai's latest film, Byousoku 5 cm? His results? It's a negative! You mean even anime can be unrealistic? You don't say! (Imagine this with a sarcastic tone...) You know, if Daike needs an updraft to test his new hypothesis at the end of this experiment, I believe we have plenty of politicians here in the U.S. that he can bring into the laboratory. They release quite a bit of hot-air from my observations...
More About: Anime , Experiment , High , Peri , Rime

Interview with Tekkon Kinkreet's Director
2007-04-19 07:02:00
One of the biggest things that intrigued me about Tekkon Kinkreet is not just the reception it already received in Japan, nor the fact that it was produced by Studio 4ºC (Though that is the major reason I first took notice of this movie), but the fact that it was directed by an American. A rookie American director, at that. Though Micheal Arias has lived in Japan for 15 years and has worked with Studio 4ºC in the past on projects like the Animatrix, this is the time a westerner was at the helm of a Japanese animated feature.And, more importantly, AniPages Daily has an excellent interview with the man! There's also information after the interview about the premier of the movie in New York City on April 25-30 for those who are in the area. read more
More About: Anime , Interview , Direct , View , Director

Anime News Network with Twelve Kingdoms theme
2007-04-18 05:29:00
It seems that Anime News Network is using a theme inspired by Fuyumi Ono's The Twelve Kingdoms - Sea of Shadows novel as part of a sweepstakes from TOKYOPOP. (via jougetsu) It's nice to see that this excellent story is getting some pretty major attention!
More About: Theme , Them

If you noticed that the site was down earlier...
2007-04-18 01:42:00
... I'll just say it was a pure PEBKAC error. Since I'm the one administrating the server, I should looking into debugging that soon. But all is well at the moment. Actually, in future plan news, I am looking into upgrading this blog to Drupal 5.1, hopefully this weekend.  It's not that there's anything wrong with Drupal 4.7, but there's features and updates to version 5.1 that I really want to take advantage of.  Too bad that this theme will be lost, but it's a good excuse to start looking into making a custom theme myself.
More About: Site , Hat , Down , Notice , That

Claymore - Episode 2 Impressions
2007-04-13 08:06:00
Well, I wasn't exactly on the fence when I started Claymore like Astro on the first episode, as I was planning to sticking with this one unless it really does something to repulse me. Watching the second episode has me a bit more intrigued. The organization that Clare is in does interest me some, but it's Clare herself that draws me into this show. Her lack of hesitation at the end of the episode is something I like to see in that situation. read more
More About: Episode , Press , Piso , More

Quote of the night
2007-04-13 05:58:00
Don has already said what I was thinking... This show is somewhat like Azumanga Diaoh, but only if you top it with icing, cover it in powdered sugar, and lace it with crack... My head is hurting... I can't wait till the next episode!
More About: The N , Night , Quote

Is Google suggesting something?
2007-04-12 07:44:00
I wonder why it would ask that? :) Caught that while I was messing around with Opera in Windows XP running in a virtual machine.
More About: Google , Methi , Sting , Something , Thing

Lucky Star Opening Piece
2007-04-12 06:19:00
I don't have much info yet on this anime but the OP definitely has my attention: read more
More About: Open , Opening , Star , Lucky Star , Lucky

Asatte no Houkou - Initial Impressions
2007-04-09 07:02:00
After watching the first five episodes of Asatte no Houkou, I found that this 12-episode series had really caught my attention at the end of the first episode and held it up through the fifth episode. Like most anime slice-of-life series, this series has a "hook" to make the series more interesting than simply watching the lives of a few people. Asatte no Houkou's hook happens at the end of the end of the first episode; an episode that's admittedly dull the first time you watch it. read more
More About: Press , Sion , Impressions , Impress , Impression

Claymore - Episode 1 Impressions
2007-04-05 06:12:00
Just released on fansubs, I decided to give first episode of Claymore a try. The setting seems to be the standard medieval world, where yoma (demons) terrorize the people and are able to disguise themselves as human. The beings termed the Claymore by the humans are the only ones that can detect and defeat yoma, mainly because they are themselves half-human and half-yoma. They are also always women with silver irises. When fighting a yoma, the Claymore's eyes turn to a gold color and have cat-like pupils. The first episode introduces us to one such Claymore who was requested to come in to defeat a yoma that is hiding in a town inhabited by Raki, a young teen. read more
More About: Episode , Press , Piso , More

Genius Party releasing in Summer 2007
2007-04-01 22:13:00
Genius Part y has been a series of shorts from Studio 4°C that I've been waiting for nearly a year now. Here's some information about the release:7 animated shorts coming from Studio 4°CVol. 1 release date : Summer 2007 (Japan) ...7 Directors - 7 Shorts :#1 GENIUS PARTY - Atsuko Fukushima#2 Space-Time Wars - Shoji Kawamori#3 Death Take Four - Shinji Kimura#4 Doorbell - Yoji Fukuyama#5 LIMIT CYCLE - Hideki Futamura#6 Dream Machine - Masaaki Yuasa#7 BABY BLUE - Shinichiro Watanabehttp://www.genius-party.jp/ And Here's the third trailer: read more
More About: Asin , Sing

Newer Anime Ending Theme Dance + Old NES Game =
2007-03-31 16:27:00
... Probably looks something like this: (Direct link to YouTube page)I thought the music being remade in that style was a really nice touch too.
More About: Dance , Anime , Game , Ending , Theme

Kirin, slice of life, canibalistic pigs, oh my!
2007-03-28 00:19:00
There's quite a bit that I've been meaning to write about, but I just haven't had the energy to just write even when I had the time. For example, I've been meaning to do an analysis on Anime News Networks interview with Fuyumi Ono for some time now. I've also finished the official English translation of Ono's The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadows several days back, and was itching to write about that one too; I'll probably end up combining my thoughts in those in one big post later. Also, I got up to episode 5 of Asatte no Houkou, and want to note some stuff down here before continuing, but for some reason, I can't just sit down and write it. Rather frustrating, as I'm now writing this at work, when I should be coding! Well, it is the end of the day, and I'm about to head out to get some dinner before coming back to work on this current project... So, instead of watching more of Asatte no Houkou, I've started on a series that I've ...
More About: Life , Bali , List , Pigs , Cani

Nick's Anime Wishlist, 2007
2007-03-24 01:33:00
Normally, I don't have many anticipated up-and-coming anime that I'm waiting for. I seem to have more of a wait-and-see attitude, and often will wait until others of watched and discussed the anime before I start watching. As it is, I already have quite a backlog of anime waiting to be watched. I find that this serves me well, and it's rare that I watch an anime that disappoints me. But sometimes, based on previous experiences with certain creators or an intriguing concept, I'll find myself looking forward to several animes, like right now. There's a number of anime, mostly films, coming out of Japan that I am keeping an eye out for. read more
More About: Anime , List , Wish , Nick , Wishlist

Anime News Network holds an interview with Fuyumi Ono, author of The Twelve
2007-03-18 23:09:00
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview /2007-03-18/fuyumi-ono-author-of-the-twel ve-kingdoms I haven't read all the way through it yet, and I'm still shaking with excitement. Here's a teaser that should make waves, though: read more
More About: News , Inter , Anime , Work , Network

5000 mark
2007-03-16 17:30:00
Some time yesterday, I had hit the 5000 visitor mark. Now, that would be humbling in itself, but when I started this weblogging thing in October 2006, I never thought I would be linked to and quoted on blogs and forums of several different languages. Not that I'd be able to read what they're saying; I have a hard enough time with English... ;) Truthfully, I'm more amazed that people are actually reading what I write... read more
More About: Mark

Cat Soup - Nyatta loses his arm
2007-03-15 03:57:00
I was reading fledgling otaku's "Mostly Harmless" entry on Haibane.info and the following phrase, for some reason, brought up this scene from Cat Soup in my admittedly warped mind: read more
More About: Atta

The Twelve Kingdoms - Initial observations
2007-03-14 05:50:00
I was originally going to wait until I get an afternoon where I'm not so tired, but I was reading through chapter 3 of The Twelve King dom s: Sea of Shadow when I stumbled on a passage in there that made me get up an immediately want to post on it. I've actually already read the fan-translation of this book a while ago, but I never really read it carefully since it was on screen rather than the book form that I'd prefer to read novels in. But first, my initial observations and impressions (warning, spoilers of the anime version ahead, too!). read more
More About: The Twelve Kingdoms , Observations

Not following the bandwagon.
2007-03-13 04:24:00
Yup, forging my own path. I'll jump off my own cliff, thank you very much! ;) read more
More About: Band , Following , Wing , Wagon , The Band

Jinto's ego
2007-03-12 03:17:00
I've been reading alot more books these days. I guess that's a good thing, even if these novels are actually official translations of Japanese books of which the anime adaptations rank among my favorites. Some of the stuff I've been reading lately include the Berserk graphic novel, The Twelve Kingdom novel (which I have more to say about in another post), and I'm awaiting for the next Kino no Tabi book scheduled to be released in June. But what I want to mention was some things I've observed in Crest of the Stars 2: A Modest War. read more

"We have your preorder"
2007-03-09 19:45:00
That's what I heard this morning from an unexpected phone call from the local Barnes & Noble bookstore. But when I heard what they were holding for me, it seemed that nothing else mattered at the time. I know what you're thinking, "What the heck are you talking about, Nick?" I'm talking about this book, which is sitting on the desk right next to me: read more
More About: Your , Have , Order , Preorder