This was basically a detective episode.

I downloaded a DVD rip of a Cowboy Bebop episode even though I already own all the DVDs. It does happen to be more convenient since the initial Bandai R1 release had those terrible animated menus. It gets rather tedious cycling through them when navigating through the choices. Also, the rips don't suffer from the awful bitmap subtitles that plague DVDs.

Just so you know, the shoujo rack has grown
considerably since this 2005 picture.

I've been re-watching Cardcaptor Sakura courtesy of some Blu-ray rips. Despite being relatively low-bitrate re-encodes, these Blu-rips do look better than my official Pioneer/Geneon region one DVDs. Well, at least they look better than what I remember—I haven't done a side-by-side comparison. The frame jitter is gone at least.

Sakura is actually one of the most powerful magikal
girls even though she sometimes fights harmless
enemies that make cakes too sweet.

Visual quality aside, the most notable difference is the remixed 5.1 surround sound audio. I suppose it is a little gimmicky, to tell you the truth, but I still enjoy being surprised by the multi-channel changes. Cardcaptor Sakura remains an excellent show that has aged very well, so I find myself caught up in its storytelling and charm instead of spending my time watching for technical changes; thus, the occasional rear-channel sound effects and such continue to catch me by surprise, even 30 episodes deep into 70-episode re-watching project.

On a related note, I heard that if you put
salt on a bird's tail it won't be able to fly.

Now if we could only get the Blu-ray discs released properly over here with English subtitles at a price point below that of the otaku-bleeding Haruhi discs. I'd also prefer it if the American-market discs were not all jacked up in some exasperatingly incompetent way, too, thanks.

Episode one really picks up when Natsuki appears.

There are rips available now of the My-HiME Blu-ray discs. The episode I watched probably could have been encoded at a higher bitrate, but still looked really nice. It also had an English dub track and a Chinese dub track, but no subtitles. So what are the chances we'll ever see this in the United States? If I understand Blu-ray region coding correctly, both the United States and Japan are in Region A, so I could import the disc, but lacking subtitles somewhat discourages me from doing so.

I'm not just saying that because Natsuki
shoots Mai to test for HiME powers.

I believe Blu-ray theoretically permits the addition of subtitle streams as downloadable content, but I could be way wrong about that and I'm certainly not aware of it being used in practice. There's also the possibility an American company could license this for release and fuck it up royal instead of just doing a bit-for-bit transfer and slapping on a subtitle track. Memo to prospective investors: I want to buy a My-HiME Blu-ray box set even though I already own the seven-disc Bandai DVD box set. Just don't screw it up, and you'll have my money in a heartbeat. (I'm still on the fence regarding Monster for really regrettable reasons, though. Sigh.)

Update: Pedro writes:

The My-HIME blu-ray box does have English subtitles (except for the trailers and the new 4 minute animation). So will the Otome blu-ray box coming in March.
The subtitle and audio options are listed on the Bandai Visual pages for both of them. This box is nice.

http://product.bandaivisual.co.jp/web_service/shop_product_info.asp?item_no=BCXA-0210
http://product.bandaivisual.co.jp/web_service/shop_product_info.asp?item_no=BCXA-0211

If American releases aren't announced soon, then it looks like I'm importing these providing they don't end up costing me a bajillion moon dollars. (Currently about $270 shipped, which isn't outrageous, but is still some pretty serious otaku money.)

Eva is displeased.

After years of waiting, the first batch of Monster DVDs is now available. No-brainer, right? Unfortunately, it's not so simple. Reportedly, there have been some changes to the musical score in the form of rearranged background music, the addition of music to previously silent scenes, and the elimination of vocals from the ED. Now, it would be easy to simply blame Viz for these changes. After all, I'm still waiting for them to release more Full Moon wo Sagashite. After more than two years, however, I have to assume Viz has abandoned the title entirely in the face of a collapsed anime market.

I normally hate kid characters, but Dieter is all right.

I am inclined to pass up DVD releases where someone has monkeyed around with the original material, but from the looks of it, this may not be Viz's fault, or even something they had any control over. If, as the above discussion on the mania.com née animeondvd.com forums suggest, there really are two sets of masters in play—the masters used for the Japanese R2 release, and an interlaced set of masters with changes to the audio used for European and North American DVDs, then it is possible Viz was stuck in a take-it-or-leave it situation and should be commended for offering this exceptional series in a 13-episode batch (of 74 episodes total) during a soft market.

Dr. Tenma is displeased.

I'm probably going to buy this anyway, despite my hostility towards the changes to the original material. This is Monster, after all. Considering I bought ADV's release of Azumanga Daioh (with the inexplicable use of MISS SAKAKI) and Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (with the inexcusable dot crawl), I almost have to buy this out of general principle. Still, I have to wonder how much of an effort Viz made at securing the original masters used for the Japanese DVD releases. I hope they're not just half-assing it here, because owning all of Monster even at 45% off MSRP is going to run about $200 providing Viz doesn't abandon the series halfway through, like they did with the best series of all time.

Nina is Noto Mamiko's best role.

Is it all right to call this a Prisoner's Dilemma? Start buying it from the get-go and take the risk the releases will stall, or wait until the entire series is available and thereby increase the chances Viz won't complete it because nobody has been buying the discs. From a casual look around, it appears as if anime sales really are in the toilet. This surprises nobody, I'm sure. I really am still waiting for Blu-ray releases. Really! I will buy the shit out of Blu-ray releases even if the video is merely upscaled from SD masters. At a minimum, it means escaping the horror of that bitmap subtitle format DVDs have inflicted on us for more than a decade now.

This is the cover of the last R1 Full Moon wo Sagashite DVD released.

I just wanted to point out it has now been more than a year since the last Full Moon wo Sagashite DVD was released. MORE THAN A YEAR.

You know who didn't have a year?

THAT'S RIGHT.

Princess Tutu.

I'm finally catching up with Nodame Cantabile again. If this doesn't inspire me to start buying classical music records again, maybe re-watching Princess Tutu will. Not that I need another excuse to re-watch Princess Tutu, mind you. You see, I recently bought the Princess Tutu compilation box set, so I have a pretty convenient excuse already. I'm a little peeved at spending seven dollars more for it than I needed to (you can get the ADV box set now for $27), but the series is worth much more than that, so I'll get over it.

Rue displaces Ahiru for the Princess Tutu cover.

Regarding the box set, have you seen the cover art? Holy crap. Lest ye be misled, take note that this cover art is in no way representative of the contents of the show itself. Okay, the artists who developed Kraehe were surely working on a dissertation glorifying anime boobs, but aside from that, this cover art is nothing at all like the show itself.

Princess Kraehe.

Of course, ADV probably chose misleading cover art intentionally, because damned if I know how else they're going to market a show like Princess Tutu. A pretty box with frilly pink ribbons and prancing ballet dancers would be more accurate and appropriate, but accurate and appropriate cover art ain't gonna inspire impulse buys—discounting impulse buys from anime fans that know the fourth act of Swan Lake by heart, naturally.

Princess Tutu.

So how does one sell a show about a little duck that turns into a young girl who turns into a magikal girl who saves people with the power of ballet? (Which is a BRILLIANT premise, by the way, but likely only in the eyes of people like me.) Sure, its soundtrack is almost entirely classical music, with a little boost from the late half of Melocure, but that's not going to sway the kind of customers who like to allege, "Anime is a medium, not a genre." [Spoilers: Those people are full of it.]

Rue.

I guess racy cover art featuring an emo ballerina squeezed into a merry widow is one way to go about it, and Rue does have legs that go up to her neck, but I advise potential buyers to simply sample the first few episodes. Watching the HnK/a.f.k. fansubs convinced me to buy the Princess Tutu Complete Collection DVDs despite being discouraged about ADV's Ahiru/Duck jazz. (Look, I don't care what your reason is; you can't subtitle the lead character's name as "Duck," okay?)

Odile sympathizers, you know who you are.

Be advised that the series changes drastically mid-series by revealing the heretofore unknown nature of multiple characters. Nothing contradicts the first half of the series, but the lack of antecedent leaves me wondering if they concocted those changes at the last minute in order to extend the length of the show. I'm not really complaining, because the show makes the changes work, and I would have bought the complete series on the strength of the first half alone. In fact, the second half of the series is also quite good; it just goes off in a different direction. If I have a complaint at all, I guess it's that the show didn't take its numerous Swan Lake references even further and just turned Princess Tutu into an anime adaptation of the ballet for Odile sympathizers, straight-up.

In related news, clockwork > steampunk.

This is not a Danbooru breast-comparison chart.

I'm re-watching Azumanga Daioh again. This time I'm leaving my ADV DVDs on the shelf, and just watching the Triad fansubs—partially because of ADV's "MISS SAKAKI" faggotry, but also because I find it entirely too inconvenient at the moment to swap DVDs and cycle through pointless menus, etc.

Tomo, Yomi, and Chiyo.

E/N Warning: I originally watched Azumanga Daioh during an especially demanding time. I didn't really have time for, well, anything...but I sacrificed sleep to watch episodes of Azumanga Daioh because the show always made me laugh my ass off.

Sayaka from Oku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo.

As an aside, those of you who really enjoy the music in Azumanga Daioh are encouraged to give another J.C. Staff series a try: Oku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo. It's a vastly underrated series, which suffers because it didn't capture the attention of a better-known fansubbing group, and because its initial episodes are a little overt with the fan service levels. Oku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo is no Azumanga Daioh to be sure, but it is amusing enough, and the background music is very similar.

Osaka, Chiyo, and Sakaki.

Actually, I ended up marathoning Azumanga Daioh before I finished writing this entry. My original review still stands. I don't think I even have much to add, except perhaps this:

In light of this year's fervor over Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, it is important to remember the tremendous fanbase devoted to Azumanga Daioh during its prime. That Bandai enjoyed great success with its The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya launch compared to ADV's Azumanga Daioh failure is at least partially attributable to the degree to which ADV fucked it up.

Haruhi.

Certainly the timing of the sales and the expansion in the market itself over the years contributed to the differences in the two North American releases, but it should be obvious to fans of both shows that ADV's stumbles marketing Azumanga Daioh coupled with the MISS SAKAKI-type curiosities seriously cost ADV a tremendous opportunity. I'm not going to break down the differences point by point, but a large one to consider is Bandai's (at least tacit) willingness to embrace (and market directly to) fans of the show who had already seen it via downloading fansubs or streaming YouTube—a sharp contrast to ADV's doctrines.

Yukari and Nyamo.

Think of it as the triumph of Web 2.0 mumbo jumbo versus the old and busted obstinate way of doing things. ADV, like everyone else, knows fansub-watchers buy DVDs. Think of it this way: Every series offered with a "collector's box" edition of the set's first DVD is obviously geared towards people who have already watched and enjoyed the show. Who else would buy the collector's box edition of a show they had never seen? Wouldn't it make more sense to offer the collector's box with the last DVD? And yet, although ADV will grudgingly acknowledge the inspired-by-fansubs market exists, it won't (or at least didn't) embrace it.

Tsuruya.

Osaka is actually a genius. I swear.

For neophyte anime fans who are only still reading this because I mentioned The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, you should also watch Azumanga Daioh because Tsuruya's seiyuu, the megas-talented Matsuoka Yuki, also voiced (the vastly different) Osaka.

Re-watching Hand Maid May makes me want to eat ramen. Tragically, noodle carts never frequent my neighborhood.

I realize this screenshot has little to do with ramen or noodle carts, alas.

In other news, they never explained where May slept after episode five.