Aim for the Top!

February is over. Good riddance.

However, February did bring at least one good thing. And that is the long awaited DVD release of the classic anime series, Gunbuster!

Gunbuster is a totally cool 6-episode show from the 80's about girls and giant robots. What's not to like about that? I had never seen it, but knew it from reputation, so I felt comfortable buying it right away. It was the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, who of course would later go on to great fame as the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion. As he and the rest of the Gainax studio were formed as a bunch of hardcore anime fans, it has a lot of parody and homage to many classic shows. It's a very pure series, created not to sell toys or adapt comics. It's anime for the sake of the art form. So from a historical perspective, it's very important and a total must see for anyone that considers themselves a serious anime fan. It's also the first anime that contains, well, "bounce", if you catch my drift... so take that for what you will.

The DVD set is released by Bandai Visual's Honneamise label. The 6 episodes are on 3 disks, and the visual quality is superb considering that the first episode is almost 20 years old. There is no English dub. In fact, as far as I can tell, there has never been an English dub, even when it released on VHS back in the day. I don't miss it because I'm perfectly comfortable reading subtitles, but I suppose it'd have been nice to have. The major negative side, however, is the price. At about $60 for the set, it's pretty expensive. That comes to around $10 per episode. With anything else, I'd say that's just too much. But this is Gunbuster, so it's worth it.

The show itself is really enjoyable, and spans many years despite only being 6 episodes long. The message of the show, that hard work and guts will bear fruit, is very simple and universal. One can imagine that was the motto of the artists working on it while in production, since they were really just a bunch of fanboys. It uses a lot of hard science that probably make sense if you care to figure it all out. It doesn't really take itself all that seriously at times, but it can often be very deep. One of the most interesting topics that the show covers is time dilation, how characters in outer space age differently than characters on Earth. The final episode looks completely different than the rest of the series, and is a very satisfying and beautiful conclusion.

It's not ending there, though. Just a few years ago, Gainax went back to the old well and pulled out Diebuster, the sequel to GunBuster. That'll be getting a licensed DVD release here in North America at some point this spring, and I'll definitely be picking that up too.

So go watch Gunbuster, and aim for the top!

Sayonara.

Penance Stare.

I've been sick for much of the past week, but that didn't stop me from being at the first evening showing for Ghost Rider on Friday!

It was pretty cool flick, all in all. Not exactly high-art cinema, but it's about a skull-headed dude with a motor cycle. The character is just so awesome in concept, what is not to like? He's freakin' Ghost Rider!

Sayonara.

Twisted Once More.

And I'm sick today too, so it's just as well.

Sayonara.

Guestbook Responses.

There have been several new entires in my guestbook recently, so I thought I should take some time to address them.

Michael Hess asks if I have anything in my collection for sale, but he did not leave any way for me to contact him. I am not actively trying to sell anything, though I do have some extras and I might be open to considering letting go of a few items if the price was right. Make me an offer.

Dr. Gry asks about digital tablets. I really don't like when people ask me questions on the guestbook, since it's not really an open forum for responses. I'd rather people use the contact page or the message board for that. However in this case I don't mind so much. The tablet I use is an 9x12 Intuos2 from Wacom. I would personally not even bother with a tablet from any manufacturer other than Wacom. They are the best in the business. Furthermore, and a lot of people disagree with me on this, but if you are serious about using a tablet for making illustrations, don't bother with small tablet in the Graphire range. Go for a larger sized tablet that is in the same proportion as your screen. The newer Intuos 3 models look amazing. If you don't like the feel of drawing on the surface of a tablet, tape a sheet of paper over top of it. This will make the tablet feel more like drawing on paper.

Lil Ninja asks about the message board. Yeah, things are kinda slow there, and I don't really have the time or the energy to cultivate that place into a thriving community. But even though it's not a very busy place, people still read it. So just go right ahead and post! That's how things get started. Don't be shy. I might not be able to respond right away, but I will get to it eventually.

And finally, someone calling themselves "ahockey player" had this to say.

f*** you

Oh my! Such language! Obviously I had to edit this to make it more palatable to a wider audience, but I think the message has gotten across. And I also think it's pretty obvious that this comes as a response to my "8 Things that are Better than Hockey" article. Finally! I've been waiting for this! I think it's just so great that "ahockey player" has proven himself to be so completely crass and stupid, pretty much exactly as I would expect. This is totally awesome. More, please!

That's all for today. Keep 'em coming, folks.

Sayonara.

The Shadow Falls.

Yesterday was a big day for animation fans, with lots of cool releases hitting DVD. The new animated Hellboy, The Last Unicorn, The Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo movie, and a few others.

But biggest of all, and one of the biggest things to hit the world of animation is a long time, is the long awaited DVD release of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. Finally, after 20 years, the epic story of Robotech continues!

Naturally, I wasn't going to delay in getting myself a copy and watching it.

Suffice to say, I really liked it, I think other Robotech fans will like it too, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

PROTOCULTURE!

Sayonara.

GODZILLA WII!!!

Could this be the greatest announcement in the history of mankind? I think so!

One of my most favorite games on the Gamecube is Godzilla: Destroy all Monsters Melee. It was a really fun fighting game that truly captured the of power of controlling a giant monster without feeling slow. The second game in the series, Godzilla: Save the Earth, didn't come out for the Gamecube because of the online mode. it suffered as a result, in my opinion, because while the game itself had more detail and more monsters to play as, the focus on the online mode made other aspects of the game take a step backwards. But if this new Godzilla game on the Wii is everything it's cracked up to be, this could be totally awesome! I am excited about waving my arms around in front of the TV in order to crush buildings and beat up kaiju!

Now, if I only actually had a Wii right now, I'd be all set! The hunt continues.

Sayonara.