Trailer: "Eden of the East: Paradise Lost"

If I can get my hands on a copy of the film, you better believe there will be a review.

FUNImation has released a trailer for the last film in the "Eden of the East" series, "Paradise Lost."

"Eden of the East" is one of my favorite series right now, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it all ends.  The film will be released as part of a DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack on August 2.

Attention: Interview with Spike Spencer is Now Up!

You can find it here and here.

It took a long time to get this interview, primarily because of schedules not meshing.  But we were finally able to do it this afternoon (Spike's morning).

There was one answer that I wanted to include in the second interview, but I felt my notes on it weren't good enough for me to quote him accurately.  I asked him about his part in "Excel Saga" as Shioji, the scientist with a "lolita complex." One thing I learned is that voice actors sometimes don't remember all the roles right away, especially when they are as busy an actor as Spike Spencer is (he also wasn't aware that Funimation was re-releasing it soon).  I felt that this was a safe enough spot to put it where I didn't have to quote him directly but at least give a flavor of where the conversation went on this.

I asked him about whether Shioji would be considered controversial now since the uproar over "Dance in the Vampire Bund" and the Tokyo Youth Ordinance Bill, and whether American audiences would go along with it.  He pointed out that he saw several people dressed up as Pedobear, so he's got a point there.

But it was a great overall conversation with him.  Make sure to read the articles over at The Examiner.

Attention: Interview with Brina Palencia Is Up

You can read parts one and two at Examiner.

I have to keep the articles short over there, so I didn't follow up about the prank she played on voice actor J. Michael Tatum at Anime Central 2010, and I figured that the song she sang was somewhat sort of self explanatory as to what exactly happened.

This is her telling the story behind what happened.  You might need to bring the volume up on your computer to hear what she's talking about.

Pretty funny story. :-)  But then voice actors are apparently known for pranking each other.

Here's one about voice actor Christopher Sabat (well known for doing various voices in "Dragonball Z" as well as "Speed Grapher," "Sgt. Frog," and others) playing a prank on another fellow actor:

Right now I'm in the process of making arrangements to interview with voice actor Spike Spencer, so hopefully you'll see that interview soon up at Examiner.

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."