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Byousoku 5 Cm Review by Daike
2007-03-05 14:54:00
That lucky dog Daike from the Makoto Shinkai Fan Web was to be able to watch the premiere of Byousoku 5 Centimeter at the Cinema Rise theater in Tokyo, Japan. He is nice enough to write a review of the film for us Engish foreigners who won't be able to see this highly anticipated film from Makoto Shinkai for some time. read more
More About: Review , View

MKV (H.264 codec) to AVI (XviD codec) conversion
2007-03-04 01:23:00
As I promised earlier, I will post about how to convert an MKV container file with an H.264 encoded video and AC-3 encoded audio to an AVI container file with an XviD encoded video and, optionally, 2-channel MP3 encoded audio. The MKV format makes a very good distibuting format, with the ability to have multiple audio streams and multiple subtitling streams, combined with the H.264 codec for high quality video. Unfortuntely, if you're like me, you have a DVD player that isn't able to play such files but can play XviD or DivX encoded video in AVI files (like my OPPO OPDV971H Player ) hooked up to a big-screen and an home theater audio system, but would wish to watch (or invite others to watch) that greatest and latest video that you've found on the internet, that's only available as an MKV file! (I may have some errors in here. Feel free to comment to help with details or ask questions) read more
More About: Codec , Code , Sion , Conversion , Xvid

Small discoveries
2007-03-03 12:19:02
In the last few days, I had found that my favorite animation studio, Studio 4?, had created a series of animated shorts (mainly demos and music videos) called Amazing Nuts, and fansubs of a couple of shorts from it called "Kung Fu Love" and "Global Astroliner" were released. Now, I'll talk about those two shorts in another entry later, but right now, I had used them in a short test. This test was to see if an OPPO OPDV971H upscaling DVD player with the most recent firmware install will pass through a 6-channel AC-3 audio track in an AVI file though an optical cable to a Pioneer VSX-D710S receiver. In short, it works! read more
More About: Small , Cover , Over , Mall , Disco

Right Stuf's ADV sale
2007-03-03 12:19:02
It looks like The Right Stuf International is having quite a sale on ADV titles until March 11. The deal is 10 ADV titles for $50 or 25 ADV titles for $100. Quite a tempting offer, that is. My bank account is screaming in protest...
More About: Sale

Makoto Shinkai's Byousoku 5 cm - Episode 1: Okasho (Extract of Cherry Bloss
2007-02-28 00:18:01
Warning: Extreme fanboy gushing ahead! The following is the initial review for the first episode of Makoto Shinkai 's Byousoku 5 Centimeters that I wrote on AnimeNfo with images inserted and some minor changes and edits to fit a more permanent format, as I will update the review on AnimeNfo when I see the rest of the movie. I'll most likely do a complete review of the full movie on this site. On with the review! read more
More About: Episode , Cher , Piso , Loss

Enthralled
2007-02-26 06:16:02
I just watched the first episode of Makoto Shinkai's Byousoku 5 Centimeter. Well, actually, the stream. Ok, ok, a torrent of the stream. A raw torrent of the stream. Truthfully, I had stumbled onto this entry about it... read more

Recent additions to the collection
2007-02-26 06:16:02
I'll have quite a bit to keep me busy for a bit.  After I get through the current backlog of anime I have...
More About: Cent , Recent , Coll , The Collection

Anime Night
2007-02-26 06:16:02
Well, the pic was of a test run of playing the Byousoku 5 cm episode on my roommate's 42" TV. My DVD player hooked up to it (OPPO OPDV97IH) can play XviD and DivX files, so it was a matter of converting the original WMV file to uncompressed AVI, inserting hard subs into the video, and encoding it with XviD. read more
More About: Anime , Night

Anime Night
2007-02-25 18:15:02
Well, the pic was of a test run of playing the Byousoku 5 cm episode on my roommate's 42" TV. My DVD player hooked up to it (OPPO OPDV97IH) can play XviD and DivX files, so it was a matter of converting the original WMV file to uncompressed AVI, inserting hard subs into the video, and encoding it with XviD. read more
More About: Anime , Night

Recent additions to the collection
2007-02-24 18:14:02
I'll have quite a bit to keep me busy for a bit.  After I get through the current backlog of anime I have...
More About: Cent , Recent , Coll , The Collection

Byousoku 5cm First Episode Stream
2007-02-21 06:12:02
Not that it would do me much good, but it looks like the first episode of this movie will be offered online for streaming. According to MSFW: Byousoku 5cm Official Site (Yahoo! Japan) says they will release the 1st episode for Yahoo! Premium members and Yahoo! BB members by streaming... The streaming is distributed only for 3 days: from February 16 12:00PM to 19 12:00PM (Japan Standard Time: UTC+9:00). read more
More About: Episode , Piso , Stream , First

Recently Purchased Media
2007-02-19 18:10:01
I have the following purchases inbound to me: Revolutionary Girl Utena - The Rose Collection/The Movie Boxed Set (Anime) Berserk, Vol. 1 (Manga) Seikai: Crest of the Stars 2: A Modest War (Seikai Trilogy) (Novel) Steamboy/Memories (Anime) I have the following on pre-order: The Twelve Kingdoms 1 (Novel) Kino No Tabi 2: Book Two of the Beautiful World (Novel) I also have Full Moon Volumes 2-4 DVDs waiting to ship with Kino No Tabi. read more
More About: Media , Cent , Recent , Chase , Purchase

Enthralled
2007-02-19 18:10:01
I just watched the first episode of Makoto Shinkai's Byousoki 5 Centimeter. Well, actually, the stream. Ok, ok, a torrent of the stream. A raw torrent of the stream. Truthfully, I had stumbled onto this entry about it... read more

Explanation of the Word "Mushi"
2007-02-18 06:08:01
Iwa ni Hana has an excellent explanation of the word mushi. This really helps with understanding the already excellent series Mush ishi, as the words "bug" or "insect" really don't capture the real meaning. read more
More About: Word , Nation , Plan

Paprika Opens May 25th
2007-02-16 18:06:01
Can't believe I didn't find this earlier... Got the link from Kineska. read more
More About: Open , Pens , Paprika

Recently Purchased Media
2007-02-16 18:06:01
I have the following purchases inbound to me: Revolutionary Girl Utena - The Rose Collection/The Movie Boxed Set (Anime) Berserk, Vol. 1 (Manga) Seikai: Crest of the Stars 2: A Modest War (Seikai Trilogy) (Novel) Steamboy/Memories (Anime) I have the following on pre-order: The Twelve Kingdoms 1 (Novel) Kino No Tabi 2: Book Two of the Beautiful World (Novel) I also have Full Moon Volumes 2-4 DVDs waiting to ship with Kino No Tabi. read more
More About: Media , Cent , Recent , Chase , Purchase

A Mishmash of Anime
2007-02-15 06:04:02
I've been watching a few different animes over the past few days. For one, I've been rewatching Vision of Escaflowne (currently finished episode 17) while I was working at home. On Mushishi, I'm up to episode 20 and loving it. I've enjoyed Ghost Hunt so far up to episode 11. And I've watched and mostly enjoyed the Animatrix, despite not being a fan of the Matrix universe itself. read more
More About: Anime , Mash

Get a Shotgun! It's Rising Again!
2007-02-15 06:04:02
Caught this from the Anime News Network. It seems Hideaki Anno has announced that the premiere of the first Evangelion live-action movie will be on September 1st in Japan (in Japanese). read more
More About: Shot , Again , Sing , Shotgun

The One Month Countdown
2007-02-13 12:02:02
Only another month until the first volume of Fuyumi Ono's novel The Twelve Kingdoms is released in English in the U.S.. This series of young-adult novels seemed to be widely popular in Japan and spawned a rather popular anime series (I've heard it got several re-runs in Japan. Re-runs is not something that Japanese television does all that often from what I understand...). The novel will be available on Amazon.com, Right Stuf, Barnes & Noble, and Booksamillion.com. read more
More About: Down , Count , Countdown , The O , Month

It's Not All Japanese Animation
2007-02-13 12:02:02
The Anime News Network had a small mention of this, but it looks like Piers Anthony's Split Infinity is to become "an Anime movie", according to his newsletter. I enjoyed the few books I've read of Anthony's "Xanth" series, so I find this interesting. No details if it's going to be made by a Japan ese studio or what, though. This reminds me of the Dragonlance animated movie that's in production right now. Frankly, after reading Tolkein's classic, I remember enjoying the Dragonlance series of books much more. Sure, The Lord of the Rings had astounding world building and some wonderful made-up languages and word usage, but the story and characters created by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis were much more enjoyable, much more dramatic, and their inner turmoil was presented better. read more
More About: Animation , Japanese , Pane , Anima

Byousoki 5cm First Episode Stream
2007-02-13 12:02:02
Not that it would do me much good, but it looks like the first episode of this movie will be offered online for streaming. According to MSFW: Byousoku 5cm Official Site (Yahoo! Japan) says they will release the 1st episode for Yahoo! Premium members and Yahoo! BB members by streaming... The streaming is distributed only for 3 days: from February 16 12:00PM to 19 12:00PM (Japan Standard Time: UTC+9:00). read more
More About: Episode , Piso , Stream , First

A Choice to Make
2007-02-13 12:02:02
Looks like the Hub City Anime Convention Project group which I mentioned earlier finally picked a name. It is to be called NazoCon. Here's the official announcement in their forum.
More About: Choice , Make , Choi , Ice T

Stirrings of a New Power (or Two...)
2007-02-02 23:59:02
Just a couple things to update here. read more
More About: Power , Ring , Rings

Asatte no Houkou recommendation
2007-01-30 23:57:02
A trusted friend had just recommended Asatte no Houkou to me. The summary does sound interesting, and he and I seem to have similar tastes when it comes to slice-of-life anime. Into the "to watch" list it goes! read more
More About: Men , Comm , Recommendation , Dati

Site Software Update
2007-01-30 23:57:02
I'll updating Drupal to 4.7.6 sometime today. I've actually already setup the new version, but I wanted to create a backup of the current configuration before pushing through the update. Can't be too careful. Update : Done!
More About: Software , Site , War , Ware

Added Masthead Images
2007-01-27 11:54:02
I've went through the images I had for Shinkai's The Place Promised in Our Early Days and created about 60 more masthead images to rotate through. I may add more, but those 60 were still quite a bit of work to go through. I do know that several of those images have white areas on the bottom-left that interfere with the white site-name text. I can modify those images to add a bit of tinting to the bottom of them (and clouding the gorgeousness of Shinkai's animation), create a PNG or GIF image of the site-title text so I can make a bordered text that will show regardless of the background, or not bother. I think I'm going with the latter. Sorry, I'm lazy. Not like the name of this site is that much of a mystery, no? :p read more
More About: Images , Image , Head , Mast , Thea

Byousoki 5 Centimeter premier and The Place Promised in Our Early Days imag
2007-01-25 17:51:02
Well, according to the Makoto Shinkai Fan Web (Who performs the wonderful service of translating tidbits from the official Byousoki 5 Cent imeter site for us English-speaking Shinkai fans), the final edit of Shinkai's upcoming film had been completed sometime before this previous Tuesday (Jan. 23, 2007) and that it will premiere at the Cinema Rise theater in March 2007! Heck yeah I'm excited! Check out the screenshots that I've captured from the high-definition preview trailer! You can also download the trailers themselves from the official site, and you can also find subtitled version if you look around (I.E., search on YouTube . I would do it for you, but YouTube was down for maintenance when I was writing this entry...). read more
More About: Time , Prom , Days , Early

For some reason, my anime watching right now lacks focus.
2007-01-15 17:45:01
For some reason, my anime watching right now lacks focus. Instead of watching what I have, such as Mushishi (I'm at episode 16), Ghost Hunt (At episode 6), Saiunkoku Monogatari (Stalled at episode 20 or so a couple of months ago due to slow fansub release), Death note (Stalled at episode 11, lack of interest), Honey & Clover 2 (Stalled at episode 10 many months ago) Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (not started yet), or Yomigeru Sora -Rescue Wings- (Not started yet), I've instead watched through the second DVD of Vision of Escaflowne. read more
More About: Watch , Anime , Reason , Focus , Right

Paprika Review on ANN
2007-01-11 23:42:01
Anime News Network has an enticing review of Satoshi Kon's Paprika . Yeah, I know it's been around since September. I'm slow. Too bad that this movie will not be released in the U.S. till March.  And it'll be a limited release, which means that it will most likely not be showing anywhere within a couple days driving distance from here.  I'll have to wait for the DVD. read more
More About: Review , View

A Space Opera, A Suspense-Thriller, And Ski-Ramp Noses
2007-01-11 05:40:01
A couple of days ago, I decided to subject myself to the English dub of Crest of the Stars, gave up and started rewatching Monster. The night afterwards, I put in the first DVD of Vision of Escaflowne and watched the first couple of episodes in Japanese with English dubs. A few things came to mind at the time concerning each of these shows. read more
More About: Space , Opera , Thriller , Pens , Nose