The Newest Acquisition From Funimation I Can't Write About At Examiner...

But I can certainly write about it here!

Yes, you are reading that right. The name of the film is "Big Tits Zombie."

Here's the UK Trailer for it. Not Safe For Work.

I would say this sounds almost like a rip-off of "Stripper Zombies," but I don't know if that film ever got picked up for Japanese distribution.  The look of the film from the trailer looks almost like an old 70s style grindhouse film.

Funimation just announced on their website and on Facebook that they acquired the rights to this one. The reaction so far on Facebook has been more along the lines of, "What the ****?" just based on the title (which was pretty much MY reaction), others getting a kick out of it.

It's coming out this Fall, so once it's up on Netflix you bet yoru sweet bippy there will be a review of this one.

Catch-Up Review: "Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt"

I had heard about "Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt" for the past few weeks from people referencing the show.  Because the names of the characters all reference some piece of underwear in some way, I thought that someone created a show with anthropomorphized underwear similar to what "Hetalia" did for countries.  My curiousity was further piqued when Funimation announced a few days before Anime Boston and on the day they launched their new beta site that they had picked it up.

So, of course, I had to check it out.

Reaction: Oh. My. Gosh.

If you have a demented, sick sense of humor, this is definitely the show for you.  Do you laugh at poop monsters?  This is your show.  Do you find "South Park" or "Drawn Together" funny in any way, shape or form?  Then this is definitely your show.

The basic plot goes like this -- Panty and Stocking Anarchy are fallen angels who are tasked to fight ghosts with the assistance of the priest Garterbelt.  Panty, the blonde who wants to live a superstar lifestyle, is obsessed with sex.  Stocking, the lolita goth and more responsible sister, is obsessed with sweets.  Garterbelt often gets mad at the sisters over their obsessions and the fact that they don't seem to care about their jobs.

The animation is very much influenced by American style of design, and actually uses several styles at different points.  When the angels transform, it's one style of animation. When the angels do different things, sometimes you don't know what kind of animation you're going to get (one episode had a scene done in South Park style).  And when the ghosts are defeated, it cuts to a live action papiere mache model getting blown up.

A lot of the situations involve Panty's obsession with sex, and the men's willingness to go along with it. This can get old after awhile, although I'm hoping that a second season won't focus so much on it.  In fact, a lot of the dialogue involves sex in some way or another, with different characters revealing different fetishes.

And the one thing I don't think I could really get used to -- the characters swearing in English.  That's right -- you'll be reading the subtitles, and all of a sudden you realize that what they are saying is VERY clearly in English and didn't really need to be subtitled.

Is the show funny?  It is if you have a dark sense of humor.  And it can get very, very dark at times with the humor.  It's definitely a show for adults.  There were times when I was watching the show that I couldn't believe what I was watching. But then it had some really funny parts in it.

You have been warned.

The show can currently be viewed on Crunchyroll.

Review: "Eden of the East: The King of Eden"

My Examiner review is here.

It's tough sometimes to expand on the Examiner site because they want us to not go too long with what we write.  But here I can go into a little more depth.

I've been a fan of "Eden of the East" since I watched it on Netflix a few weeks ago.  It's a great spy mystery/espionage/cultural commentary type of show that addresses several types of issues, including getting the audience to thinking about how they would improve their own nations.  It's a very universal theme.

On the animation -- very rarely do you see an anime that actually gets an American city right as far as locations and placement. They did an excellent job with not only drawing the landmarks the way they really look in New York City, but the signs are all also in English.  Gramatically correct English, too.

The end of the film definitely leaves you hanging and wanting more.  Not going to spoil it, but if you didn't know that there was a final film already out there you would be screaming at the screen, "That's IT?"

And I was disappointed that the "Air Communication" film was only available as a sub on the DVD.  Primarily because my stepkids, for the most part, won't watch subbed animes -- I wanted to at least give them a condensed version of the show so they could follow the film.

Overall, a definite pick it up title in the store if you're a fan of the show.

Anime Boston: The Aftermath

Well, technology was not working for me yesterday.  We weren't able to charge my phone overnight because we were charging four other phones, and one of the phones used the same charger as mine. And I had to use the phone as my GPS on the way down there -- the phone is weird in that it won't charge unless it's completely off, and I had it plugged into the car charger on the way down.

I also learned another valuable lesson -- "smart phones" use a lot of juice.

What I did get I will put up soon.  I just need some time to sort through what I have that I took pics of.

If you have pics you'd like to submit, let me know and I'll post them.

But overall, had a great time.  I don't think I'd want to try to do it all in one day again -- next year's plan is for the entire weekend. I found myself rushing from here and there just to get to panels.  The cell service in the building was a little spotty at times, so keeping track of the kids I had with me at times was a challenge.  But overall, the experience was great, and I can't wait to do it again next year.

Highlights -- Masquerade was great, and the Evangelion panel was a blast.  And if you weren't able to get into the "Kuroshitsuji" panel, you missed out -- what I saw of it, Jackie Grande did a great job with the information and organizing it. When I got there, there was a line starting at conference room 309 and ending at 301.

Next year, we're going to make a contingency plan in case of low coverage areas. And with being there over the three days instead of just one, I think I can take some time and just relax instead of feeling "rushed."

Anime Boston: Coverage Update

Well, I just got news from my husband that the only laptop I could take with me needs a new power adapter, and he asked if I could just run it off the battery only.

Unfortunately, for the best option on coverage I'm not going to be able to do that.  So, no posts while I'm at AB tomorrow.

Good news is that I will have my husband's Android phone on me, so I will be twittering from there.  You may have noticed the new little addition I put up on the site tonight -- "Twitterings from Anime Boston."  Although I won't be able to do full length posts, I will be tweeting while I'm there so you can follow along on the feed.  Ignore the current posts -- I also run the ConChrist blog which is more politically motivated, so those twits are related to my more political interests.

And also remember that I'm going to be posting videos at my You Tube channel throughout the day, as well.

Anime Boston Starts Today!

Starting today and ending Sunday, otakus all over New England will be meeting at the Hynes Convention Center to discuss important matters in relation to anime, mangas, J-pop, and other aspects of Japanese culture. Yippee!

I am going down with four teenagers first thing Saturday morning (yikes!).  The three middle schoolers will be dressed as Akatsuki ninjas, while my 16 year old stepson will be Sebastian from "Black Butler" in the peacoat.

So today, no reporting from the convention, unfortunately.  But expect some posts from the event starting tomorrow afternoon.  And I'm also going to be putting up some raw videos up on YouTube, as well, throughout the day.

So stay tuned!

Update: Here is the You Tube channel that I will be posting video to tomorrow.  There will be a finished package up there within the next week after I get all of it together, but at least you'll get an exclusive look at the video before it's edited.

Reviews: "The World God Only Knows" and "Blue Exorcist"

These are more like season previews than actual reviews, but out of the shows I've seen so far online that are premiering, I'm liking so far how this season is turning out.

Warning: There are some spoilers

Let's start with a show that some of you may already be familiar with from last season.

If you've never seen it...shame on you! It's a comedy that breaks the fourth wall on occasion and also makes fun of the cliches of dating simulation games.

"The World God Only Knows" tells the story of a dating sim otaku named Keima Katsuragi.  He prefers his dating sim women over the real ones in his school, even going by the name "King of Conquests."  He gets what he thinks is an invitation to join in another game, but instead finds himself paired up with a chibi demon named Elsie who tells him he has a task -- to capture loose souls from the hearts of girls by "conquering" them.  Problem is, Keima has never actually "conquered" a girl in real life.  But if he doesn't, both he and Elsie could lose their lives.  So now he's forced to rely on what he knows from dating simulators to figure out how to "conquer" the girls and capture the loose souls.

The first season of the show was a fun ride.  Season 2 has started, and is promising more of the same.  The first arc focuses on a female karate club captain (who is now the only member thanks to the rest of her club quitting two days after she took the position) who is trying to conquer her own personal demon -- she secretly likes cute things.

It's already starting some of the fun humor that the first season had -- the first episode set the tone where we get a recap of what the show is about, then Keima comes into the frame and asks the audience, "Didn't you watch season one?"

Keep an eye out this season.  It's now simulcasting on Crunchyroll.

 

"Blue Exorcist."

Do we really need another shinigami-type show? Why, yes.  Yes, we do.

Rin lives with his twin brother Yukio and Father Fujimoto, the man he's called Dad for as long as he could remember.  In this first episode, Yukio is about to go to the Blue Cross Academy to study, while Rin is facing a possibility of going from job to job and not being able to do anything with his life.  That changes when he saves a little girl from a demon in a grocery store, and when he discovers that he has powers he never heard of, Fujimoto finally tells him the truth -- he's the son of the Devil.

From the preview for next week, I'm assuming that we discover Rin makes the decision to be an exorcist himself. Or else the title would be just silly.

The show actually has some good things going for it.  It has some great effects animation, the writing is sharp, and you really get into it.  I plan to keep watching.

The show is currently simulcasting on Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Anime News Network.