"The actors are lost amidst the orgy of pixels writhing around like the special effects equivalent of a bukkake film"
This was a rotten tomato that amused me greatly. Of course we are discussing the Wachowski brothers' recent film adaptation of Speed Racer. What struck me as odd was how scathing the reviewers were to this, yet how loving they were of recently released Iron Man. Both movies are directed at either fans, or someone in search of a fun movie, yet for some reason reviewers were willing to say "For cheasy movie Iron Man is good" while Racer wasn't give the same treatment. If uninformed, Rotten Tomatoes is a highly popular website that compiles "informed" movie critics (print and otherwise,) then mathematically assigns the movie a value. Iron Man was assessed at 93% (a stunning high), while Speed Racer was a paltry 35%. To give perspective, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay was given a 57%.
Of course I am preaching to the choir, but unless you somehow stumbled onto this website on accident, I can all but guarantee that on some small level, Speed Racer will at least amuse you. To give this perspective, I've never seen the show and hate anything involving cars. Going to a car show or watching Formula 1 racing is about as interesting to me as prying my toenails off with tooth picks.. yet I loved this movie.
Proving that internet trolling can make for interesting reading, the troll Gia has apparently put together more detective work. This time around, Giapet has been following the hypothetical purchase of several Geneon titles. Following the emails from Robert's Anime Corner Store (reposted here,) it seems as though some unnamed US distribution company has been in heavy talks with the failing company. Trick is, the company looking to buy the titles isn't one of the current US distributors.
If we don't hear anything by mid-summer we probably won't hear anything.
Even if a major deal is struck, it won't involve Geneon's entire catalog circa Sept 2007. The new company will cherry pick those releases like people at Ruby Tuesday pick over the salad bar.
The 'major distributor' they are in talks with is NOT one of the existing US Anime studios.
Coming'atcha once again, it's another steaming hot pile of music videos from Japan!
Let's cut to the chase. The above video for “Kyoteizinc” from Omodaka is fantastic, as always. Actually, to be honest I don't think it's either his best song or best video ever, but that's only because he's done some really amazing stuff in the past. Nevertheless, this thing is something special. If you can reduce the woman dancing down to purely graphic elements like color and motion, I think you'll start to see the magic.
Want more? Let's see what we can find after the jump!
Okay, so I can't even say I've even heard of KenIchi, and a dub of Mamotte will probably make me vomit sugar, and a no brainier second season announcement. I've yet to be wow'd by any of these earth shattering developments, but Gia seems to have some crackpot theory that unofficial, official Japanese animated adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet will be picked up this weekend. This is the part where I'd state her logic and rational, but I'm not sure there's enough to be believed. That said, I tend to trust the woman, and its not too illogical a move on FUNi's part, but I will restate that Gia's opinions are just that, opinions...
But wouldn't it be nice??? Come on, I'd kinda like to see the show picked up, and not just because its by the company I can easily audition for.
We've seen stupid clothing (like the chopstick bra) come out of Japan before; they don't surprise us anymore To be frank, these clothing ideas are the worst ever. But, somehow they manage to make even bad ideas look good. Not sound good -- look.
Another example of stupid clothing is the Photovoltaic-Powered Bra from Triumph International. The Japanese novelty bra maker's newest invention is made from artificial turf! Sexy! Itchy? It's also "green" in another sense: it contains solar panels. These panels eliminate the need for batteries to power its on-board message display. That's right: if you weren't already looking, you definitely will to read this bra's scrolling messages.
The strangest part of this bra is the included "pads" that hold beverages, eliminating the need for wasteful cups or bottles. I'd like to meet the people that think this stuff up.
I hope Anime Central can handle the amount of epic that is about to hit its shores, because Japanator is on its way! For those of you out of the loop, Anime Central will be at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare & the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, May 16 – 18. I, God Len, your loveable Teddy GARspin will be leading the charge here in Rosemont Illinois. Though I won’t be alone in my travels; not only will I have you all in my heart, but the internet-famous Gia will be there as well.
Now ADV will be hosting an industry panel this year at the convention, ready and willing (hopefully) to spill the beans on their missing DVD titles. FUNimation, Bandai Entertainment, Viz, and Yaoi Press will also be making their appearances at this con. Here is where I need your help. Much like my compatriot Gia, I will ask questions in these industry panels that you, the people of Japanator, will give me. Do you want to know what happened to Gurren Lagann? What does Bandai Entertainment do with our money? Or why FUNimation won’t let me star in One Piece? Want to know? Ask now!
For those of you who can’t go, don’t be too upset; for I shall spin you a fine tale of my journey through Anime Central. Who will join me this year?
I love the hosts of the Anime World Order podcast. They're some of my favorite people on the planet. Gerald, Daryl, and Clarissa - all fine, upstanding examples of humanity, and beacons of shining light illuminating THE TRUTH beneath the haze of the vile spectre of moe. Their show's been running for a good while now, and they frequently provide some sweet bonus content, as well. The most recent podcast is especially interesting - it's an exclusive interview with director Noboru Ishiguro, one of anime's most influential directors. He's responsible for classics such as Space Battleship Yamato (aka Star Blazers), Megazone 23 Part One, and the fantastic spectacle of sci-fi animation that is Macross: Do You Remember Love. It's a fascinating listen for anyone interested in learning about what went into some of the best 80s-era anime ever produced.
But that's not the only reason I'm bringing up AWO's awesomeness here on Jtor. The next official podcast, AWO show #69 (hur hur), has a very special guest commentator on board - none other than yours truly! I'm mostly there to talk about doujinshi (a subject very near and dear to my heart), but I also managed to chime in on the hot news (at the time of recording, at least), listener emails, and two other awesome-tastic review segments. The episode I'm in won't be up for a little while yet (and it's probably going to be split into two parts, since everything about it ran incredibly long), but why not use the time up until then to catch up on the 68+ shows AWO's recorded since their inception?
If our cunning plans succeed, we should be able to get some of the AWO folks on Podtoid-san eventually, as well. I'm sure when that happens, God Len and Daryl will spend the entire show squeeing over Duke Togo. That's moe I can fully support.
