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I would recommend pre-ordering from Right Stuf if you're looking to get something sooner than later. From what I understand, Right Stuf basically sends stuff when it gets to them, rather than waiting for the official date. I do also recommend that anybody going that route keep in mind that Right Stuf will hold that pre-order if there are other things ordered with it aren't available yet. My copy of Soul Eater Not was 'reserved for order' for a while because I ordered it with part two of Tokyo Ravens and that wasn't ready yet.

Also, I have to agree that something seemed off about the latest Rick and Morty episode. I'm not saying I expect the show to be great every episode, but this one was the first time where it felt like it had a few decent lines, but not much else.

Greed1914 wrote:

I do also recommend that anybody going that route keep in mind that Right Stuf will hold that pre-order if there are other things ordered with it aren't available yet. My copy of Soul Eater Not was 'reserved for order' for a while because I ordered it with part two of Tokyo Ravens and that wasn't ready yet.

I pre-ordered the Sentai release of K-ON! season one along with both parts of season two, but Right Stuf shipped season two first. Maybe it's different for overseas customers.

I prefer pre-ordering from Rightstuf because virtually everything I get from them ship early. Fairy Tail Part 16 shipped like 3 weeks early. And they also sent Super Sonico The Animation a whole month early. By the time my hype for that show died down, all my friends were just barely getting it.

"You don't need 400 episodes of Urusei Yatsura. You don't need it."

Well, maybe Zac doesn't, but I wouldn't mind a BluRay release of the best 30-40 episodes directed by Mamoru Oshii and some of the later Yamazaki ones ^^
Especially some episodes between ep. 60 to 100 were quite trippy and in the vein of Oshii's philosophical "UY 2: Beautiful Dreamer" movie. In one episode, all characters are murdered Agatha Christie style on an abandoned island, except Ataru, who has to solve the mistery. In another episode, Ataru's mother takes center stage and jumps from one nightmarish dream sequence to another until she fights aliens straight out of War of the Worlds with the rest of the gang, 'till the episode finishes with a classic nursery song – All of that is not in Takahashi's manga. It's really interesting to see how much the characters evolve compared to the manga where they're stuck in a formula.

If I can just make a recommendation to you Zac, regarding the Monogatari series...just watch Bakemonogatari. You don't need to watch anything after that.

In fact, you can completely cut ties in the middle of the Tsubasa Cat arc, right after episode 12. That's arguably the best episode in the entire Monogatari series.

About 61 minutes in for those who want to know Zac's Monster girl Crush. Very Happy

Hope, why?! Pretty much broke his first love/crush (if this is a first for him). how will he ever find another now. Sad

God Eater's delays and extras' have been tedious but I'm finally glad Sunday is close now. It's the show I mainly have my eyes on. If my speculations are correct, it'll be a favorite near and dear to my heart. If not, well, I guess I'll just wait until Fall comes and Rakudai airs since that's the one I'm very excited for. That, and Noragami Aragato as well.

Random reactions:

I hadn't pre-ordered from Right Stuf until this year (quite the opposite -- I wait for them to clear stuff out on late sales), but yeah, they will ship stuff crazy early. I think I got Total Eclipse well over a month before its street date. (yay, Sentai rush job FTW!)
Cheers to Zac for ribbing Hope for soft-pedaling her love for Angel Beats! Also, man, does that show have great word-of-mouth keeping it going after all this time.
Cheers to Hope for pointing out that one of the great things about anime is that we get new IP every three months, not reboots/sequels/franchises, etc. Moreover, even across a culture boundary, anime is very much of the here and now -- when it's an adaptation of a manga or a light novel, it's something that was written maybe 3 or 4 years ago. Not freaking 80s movies, or comic book characters whose heyday was in the 1960's (Fantastic Four), or whose genesis was in the 1930's (Batman and Superman).
Funny how the discussion of "now that we have LOGH, is there anything left" turned from "no, we've got everything we'd ever really need" to suddenly remembering stuff like Polar Bear Cafe. It's like the old "we'll never get that" warhorses have finally been accounted for, but then we realize that like maybe 20% of what gets streamed gets a home video release, maybe not even that (I remember thinking that almost every show I liked in 2014 is disc-less: Wake Up Girls, Mekakucity Actors, Seitokai Yakuindomo, etc.).
Also, on LOGH… this really is the year we finally got everything we were never going to get, right? Shenmue III, a Final Fantasy VII remake, Muv-Luv, The Last Guardian, etc. Almost makes up for still not having a release date for Evangelion 3.33, amirite?

RightStuf: ever since they introduced that new format I'm liking it less. Gone is the blue band subtle reminder that you've already ordered the item (date sent, date pre-ordered if not sent) so why buy it again. Also extinct is the archive of items bought in the past. REALLY miss that feature. And, as a few of you have already mentioned, a combined pre-order will not get shipped until everything ordered within appears. I could've enjoyed PING PONG weeks' ago but I didn't differentiate when to send in-stock versus purchase order. Bummer, that. Now I know. I'm also encountering issues with the site looking over my pre-orders. Sometimes I can access in; other times it's not possible. One of the CS gnomes informed me their new system still has a few glitches. Christ, sure miss the old system.....

Mad Men: have to agree with you 100%, Hope. I found it to be a searing indictment of men versus women in the workplace back in the day and it was difficult for me to watch the series in toto. I felt most of those guys were jerks and A-W's. Though I personally never worked office jobs back then I did know professional acquaintances (male & female) reminisce fondly about meeting their significant other in that type of setting.

I was also mystified about how wonderful the producers in that series led one to believe the late fifties, sixties, seventies decades were. Other than cheap gas (compared to now), a few fast cars, new Interstate infrastructure (compared to now), decent rock & roll bands, that era was terrible. I'm sure with selective memory I could wax poetic about the good ole days but for the most part I sure do not miss them. Good riddance.

Evangelion: I gave up waiting for 3.33 et al to appear in BD and in either English Sub or Dub within my lifetime (again, I'm 67) so I gleefully greeted the DHL man today when my Amazon.co.jp BD pre-order arrived. So what if it's all Japanese. I think I can fathom what's going on regardless of language spoken. Yay! BD Evangelion in my lifetime. Who knew?

Early shipping: RACS also ships as soon as the disks are received. Currently their website is a lot easier to navigate.

Reading: My hobby before anime/manga was reading, some mystery and science fiction/fantasy but mostly history (US Civil War). I have continued that as a hobby as well as anime. I find the severe contrast helps when I get tired of either hobby.

Code Geass was dumb but it was fun to watch. Mainly because the fandom made fun of it. It was all about the memes. Also I loved Jun Fukuyama's over-the-top performance.

I don't want to say it was horrible, there were aspects I enjoyed but it did sort of have that so bad it's good quality too it. But I think just watching it on its own you miss of what made Code Geass fun to watch (and there were a lot of imitators that were just bad not fun in my opinion like Guilty Crown).

Edit: Speaking of Japanese vs English guests I am more in the Japanese guests and interviews. But it's true I don't always see the Japanese guest get full rooms (At least at Otakon, don't know if it is different at West Coast cons). However this year Romi Park's panel, in a large room was full which was nice to see. Hoping ANN had the chance to interview her. In fact I would have much rather have seen a live
structured interview with ANN then the fan questions but oh well.

Edit 2: Yes I am editing this as I am listening as for Japanese films besides the classics like Kurosawa, Ozu and don't forget Kenji Mizoguchi (all of which I love) as for modern Japanese films I strongly recommend Hirokazu Kooreda. His films are amazing.

And thanks for letting me know that the Kenshin films are out in the UK. I had no idea. (Just imported)

Last edited by jroa on Sat Aug 29, 2015 10:45 am; edited 1 time in total

Maidenoftheredhand wrote:

Code Geass was dumb but it was fun to watch.

"Dumb but fun" isn't exactly an exceptional trait, nor is it necessarily a negative one. You could say the same about Kill la Kill, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Death Note and a fairly long list of shows. I think the bulk of their audience doesn't tend to praise those for their levels of raw intelligence, high-brow sophistication and subtle social commentary either.

Nevertheless, in all these cases that is merely one portion of the experience. Resorting to such a position may risk being too self-serving and even arguably disingenuous when trying to make generalizations. Code Geass was extremely popular and there were many different aspects that various people enjoyed. Not only the craziness. Therefore, a purely reductionist perspective restricted to those who may not actually care too much for the show cannot hope to accurately convey the full answer to whatever else the rest of the audience saw in it.

Quote:

Also I loved Jun Fukuyama's over-the-top performance.

Fukuyama's over-the-top acting was certainly fitting for the material, which transparently demanded that sort of treatment and even the staff made no bones about it, but Lelouch was actually quite appreciated as a character in general.

He was both interesting and entertaining for most of the audience. Whether they loved or hated his behavior at a given point in time, there was emotional attachment involved. That's something the show did very well and can be considered essential to its success. That being the case, Zac's personal indifference towards him (and the cast) is far closer to being the exception rather than the rule.

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Mainly because the fandom made fun of it. It was all about the memes.

I think you might forget that several of the memes were surprisingly bidirectional in nature. Not just something created from the outside looking in. The show itself included several in-jokes that stuck around and were highlighted on multiple occasions, which the fans openly embraced without even having to be cynical about it. In other words, memes were not the exclusive property of those who held relatively critical feelings towards the series. Far from it. For many viewers, that was a natural extension of the experience, but not the one and only factor involved.

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I don't want to say it was horrible, there were aspects I enjoyed but it did sort of have that so bad it's good quality too it. But I think just watching it on its own you miss of what made Code Geass fun to watch (and there were a lot of imitators that were just bad not fun in my opinion like Guilty Crown).

Honestly speaking, I think that sounds like too much of a shortsighted judgment. You should probably account for the simple fact that many people can and do continue to watch Code Geass on their own with positive results. Even long after the fact, the series still tends to rank quite highly in terms of community votes (too highly, perhaps, but I don't believe you can blindly dismiss that). Related characters and certain elements do quite well on specific polls too (Spoilers, see here and here).

At the same time, you also need to explain why the three or four superficially similar shows that came afterwards ended up being far less popular and provoked more visibly negative reactions. I would say there were significant things they lacked and the mere presence of "dumb" or "goofy" situations is not one of them. As you say, Guilty Crown clearly wasn't liked by the majority of Code Geass fans. It might be hard for those who just want to group the whole lot of them together to realize this, but CG was comparatively well-regarded even with the admitted polarization that emerged around certain events.

^ personally I think you are overanalysing and dissecting my comments way to much. I can only speak for my own feelings and experience about Code Geass not every single fans experience in the history of the show.

But I do think what made Code Geass popular at the time was largely the fan experience (although I do remember fans praising the first series yet thinking R2 went downhill but for me it was more of the same, as I didn't think the first series was all that great either in comparison).

As for people who enjoy Code Geass after the fact on its own, of course I am sure those people exist (nothing is going to be universally true for everyone, that would be ridiculous) but the show doesn't have the same level of popularity it had when it was airing and I still say the group fandom experience itself of watching Code Geass is large part of the reason Code Geass is so memorable and so no you wouldn't get that just watching it on its own year's later.

As for other entertaining shows that aren't really anything deep or complex of course there are many others but as the podcast referred to Code Geass that is what I talked about. Just because I don't mention other series doesn't mean I was trying to say this is the only series like this ever in existence because that would be ridiculous and why do I need to state the obvious.

Maidenoftheredhand wrote:

^ personally I think you are overanalysing and dissecting my comments way to much. I can only speak for my own feelings and experience about Code Geass not every single fans experience in the history of the show.

Look at it this way: I vastly prefer overanalysis to underanalysis. It's usually the better brand of poison by far. Razz

I wasn't only strictly referring to your post, but also accounting for certain statements made during the latest podcast. I wanted to highlight that there should be an attempt to try and look at the big picture. Not just focus exclusively on our own personal surroundings and circles of acquaintances. For that matter, even those contexts have their wrinkles. I've got friends who hated the show and others who loved it.

Quote:

But I do think what made Code Geass popular at the time was largely the fan experience (although I do remember fans praising the first series she thinking the second series went downhill but for me it was more of the same, as I didn't think the first series was all that great either in comparison).

I don't deny the value and impact of the fan experience. That played its part too. But there were certainly diverse characteristics, including those I have mentioned before. This wasn't a show where everyone went through a monolithic hivemind of uniformity, to say the least, whether in the positive or negative sense.

Quote:

As for people who enjoy Code Geass after the fact on its own, of course I am sure those people exist (nothing is going to be universally true for everyone, that would be ridiculous) but the show doesn't have the same level of popularity it had when it was airing and I still say the group fandom experience itself of watching Code Geass is large part of the reason Code Geass is so memorable and so no you wouldn't get that just watching it on its own year's laters

Leaving a handful of classics aside, most popular shows that aren't on the air anymore will naturally tend to gradually fade away into the background. But, by the same token, I would argue that Code Geass has managed to keep a higher profile in Japan itself than in the West. Admittedly, it's certainly not on the level of mainstream giants like Attack on Titan (pun not intended) or anything of the sort.

Even so, the property hasn't quite disappeared from the landscape over there. Rebroadcasts, tie-ins, spin-offs, merchandising and video game appearances are still a factor. It's probably worth noting that we're quickly approaching the tenth anniversary of the series. I am willing to bet that, sooner or later, there will surely be another TV project (whether it's a remake, prequel, alternate universe, sequel or whatever else). One way or another, that should help revive interest in it.

As for stating the obvious...there's no formal obligation to do so, naturally, but sometimes I think it's worth not taking everything for granted either.

I'd love to hear an anncast on bakemonogatari (and maybe a discussion of how it deals with sexuality since it sounds like Hope has a number of very strong views on it). There's a lot of ways to approach the thematic content in that show, especially in parsing the relationship between the specific messages of each arc and the overall point each season is making, so I think there'd be plenty to discuss. I guess you'd also have to decide how much of it to actually watch. Really though most of the narrative meat in the show is about obligation and self-esteem I think, and doesn't deal too much (at least not obviously) with commenting on the fanservice it employs. The relationship between the show's fanservice and narrative/character writing is also really interesting though and would be a cool topic for discussion.

7jaws7 wrote:

If I can just make a recommendation to you Zac, regarding the Monogatari series...just watch Bakemonogatari. You don't need to watch anything after that.

In fact, you can completely cut ties in the middle of the Tsubasa Cat arc, right after episode 12. That's arguably the best episode in the entire Monogatari series.

I disagree because the show's central theme regarding the relationship between Kaii and the psychological states of their "victims" is built up and around Araragi more and more throughout each season. Missing out on Kaiki's whole arc would be missing out on a lot of what the show tries to say I think.

Missing Neko White also makes Tsubasa's character a lot more opaque and pointless.

It's just really strange that Kizu is going to end up adapted last because that story really clarifies Araragi's character to the point of significantly changing how you understand his actions in every other story, especially in his relationship with Hanekawa and Shinobu. Oh well.

7jaws7 wrote:

If I can just make a recommendation to you Zac, regarding the Monogatari series...just watch Bakemonogatari. You don't need to watch anything after that.

In fact, you can completely cut ties in the middle of the Tsubasa Cat arc, right after episode 12. That's arguably the best episode in the entire Monogatari series.

Yea, I don't completely agree with that. Otherwise you can end up in the kind of situation that's kind of like, "I'm going to show you the best 3 episodes of this 12 episode anime and want you to judge its entirety on that alone". Remember he's going to watch it to possibly talk about it on a podcast. He's going to need a little more than part of Bake. Does he need to watch every single arc to have a discussion? Maybe not, but it would have to be more than just part of Bakemonogatari. I do understand where you are coming from, but I think Zac and Hope will want to look at it critically which means more than just Bake alone. I think there will be parts of Bake that Zac and Hope will find interesting, but once they get beyond Bake maybe not so much...?

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