My cynicism is usually warranted

I may have been a bit on the harsh side with my prediction of four months for the Anime Central channel. Turns out they were just shy of a year. Mind you if you take away the months where they only had two shows running...

Is this another of the symptoms of Anime's current economic trouble in the west? Who knows? Maybe if they didn't sell a six episode series for £50 they'd have better luck (yes I know it's very good but still).


In case you were wondering I did come around to Fullmetal Alchemist eventually (it's not that great, but there's some nice touches in there), Planetes was perhaps a little overstretched at 26 episodes (I eventually lost track and missed a fair few at the end, partly the problem of having a daily showing that includes weekends), GiTS:SAC grew on me and I just went ahead and bought the second season on DVD (which in contrast to that earlier DVD pricing was very reasonable), and I fell really hard for Gundam Seed (must have been all the melodrama, or maybe I just really love the colour pink?).

And now Osamu Tezuka's Cleopatra: Queen of sex

Because I've had a weird day...



Does anyone remember the time before Vertical's recent releases when everyone thought of Tezuka as that nice old man who created Astro Boy? Now it's all dog fucking and giant sperm attacks...

Two cool animated trailers

Before I go see Dark Knight and spend the walk home afterwards pissing off Ian by whining about the Watchmen trailer, here's some cool stuff.

Genius Party Beyound



Looks insane.

The Princess and the Frog

I'm apparently the guy who draws hot Disney girls (well that's what Bowers' says). So yeah, hot Disney girl.

See, it all makes so much sense now!

I can't be the only person who thinks that Haibane Renmei is about the girls from Azumanga Daioh in the afterlife after they committed suicide.

I just can't.



Also I hear that all the anime companies in the west are dying out, is this just over enthusiastic blogger doom-mongering or acurate blogger doom-mongering?

Also also can someone recommend me a decent anime news blog? I feel out of the loop (not that I was ever even in the neighbourhood of the loop realy, but still...).

Swimming is the new flying.

Trailer-ish thing for the new Miyazaki.

From The SFX blog

If Anime characters were real they'd have their hair styled at Toni and Guy's

The Kaizen collection

Is this someting to do with Minovsky physics?

Why are all the explosions in Gundam Seed pink?

Kuro & Shiro

I just watched Tekkonkinkreet, the last half hour of which is the film equivalent of a fine mist.

Plaid are pretty awesome aren't they.

Evangelion news round up

And now some news about that whole Evangelion: Rebuild thing, well new to me.

Apparently you can briefly see one of Rei's nipples in the new film, many people seems inordinately excited about this, it's probably the main box office draw at the moment. Expect the film to be released as Evangelion: Rei's Nipple in the west

As a special cinema promotion you can pick up the Pole dancing Rei cup! On the outside I'm mocking but inside I really want one!

This teaser poster for the second film features the new character, well parts of her. Surely having a new female character to introduce will take some precious screen time away from Asuka, and thus induce mass rioting.

What could be more awesome than this? well these. But more awesome still are these

Anime Central: Snap Judgements

anime central is a new channel on digital offering those Japanese cartoons the kids love for the UK, based on previous ventures to do the same I give it about 4 months. The channel itself is a no thrills affair with endless repeating trailers for the shows and some tacky idents. So far, so inevitable, but what of the opening line up of shows? Well I've not really watched any of them particularly before, but we're two or three episodes in so let's see what we've got.

The Vision of Escaflowne - Fun enough if you've got a high tolerance for 90's cheese and decidedly funky (negative funk that is) character design.

Bleach - Seems to be generic pap, occasional comedy kicking isn't enough to keep me. It's not very pretty either, but it's got a nice logo, so there's that.

Fullmetal alchemist - I always wondered why this was so insanely popular, now I wonder why it's popular at all.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Despite the soul crushing terror of the CGI cars, I'm quite enjoying it. The Cyberpunk swat team/police procedural sub genre makes for a fun little show. And of course Yoko Kanno.

Planetes - Is lovely, pretty much what I look for in anime. I wonder if it can live up to my platonic ideal for 26 episodes.

Transformers Headmasters - I'm going to bed.


Three out of six ain't bad. In three weeks or so we'll see some new shows (unless they just repeat the current ones that is) where upon you'll learn my ill informed opinions on some of the other shows they've got lined up including Hack/Sign, Gundam Seed, s-CRY-ed, and Witch Hunter Smithy.

We can REBUILD it, we have the technology...

Yes it's pointless, but it's a very pretty piece of pointlessness.