It would seem that new Dragonball Z toys are on the horizon here in the US. Does this mean theres more Dragonball content coming from somewhere(US Live Action movie or just the DVD releases)? Who knows but heres the skinny…

The toy manufacturer and distributor Bandai America has announced that it has re-acquired the master toy license for Dragonball Z from Funimation Entertainment. Bandai America had not released toys for Akira Toriyama’s fighting action anime since 2000. The toy company Jakks Pacific had been distributing toys for the franchise in the interim. The first of Bandai America’s new toys are scheduled to ship in Spring of 2008.

Seems to me something bigger is going to be happening regarding the Dragonball license and hopefully we can add awesome to that.

Panel: Gene, Chris, Matt

News:

Release Spotlight:

Main Topic: The panel took a look at horror anime, with Halloween so close we thought we’d throw up a few ideas on what kinda anime you might want to watch for your Halloween pleasure.

Review:

Chris took a look at Paranoia Agent this week. With the interesting plot and deep psychological thought we defiantly took a liking to this series. The visuals while not impressive, get the job done. As does the music and dub. We don’t want to spoil the review for you so tune in!

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If you’re talking about SHAFT then you can digg it.

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Panel: Gene, Chris, Matt

News:

Release Spotlight:

Review:

The crew took a look at Puni Puni Poemy. Do not watch this with your younger anime fans or if you are one, step away from this one. We very rarely review ecchi anime on the podcast but this week we’re taking our chances. From many of the same people who brought you Excel Saga(on both sides) bring you Puni Puni Poemy a random, fan service filled jab at every magical pretty girl anime you can think of. It starts off fairly serious as though it has a plot, but we know better then that. So we rate it on the comedy which it is filled with. The bright awesome art style was there, but the attention to detail in some parts are what really keep me interested. The music is a rehash of Excel Saga as is the majority of the dub to a point. Its well entertaining and hilarious to enjoy with your friends, just remember to keep that bouncer at the door to enforce the age limit. We ended our review giving it 8 out of 10.

Remember, we love emails, message board posts, comments. Send your email to animeshaft@gmail.com . Any email messages(we’ll read ‘em), audio files(we’ll play ‘em) or other questions.

If you’re talking about SHAFT then you can digg it.

If you want to call into the show and leave us a comment, a question or a contribution to the show, call the Geek Line! 203-599-GEEK

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Got a bit of an essay thing going today so bear with me. I honestly wanted to cover this ON the show but we ran low on time with our latest episode. Show notes will be up later today.

Over on ANN, one of their articles caught my eye, this weeks edition of Hey Answerman! Mainly because of the amount of questions regarding podcasting there are this week.

First of the questions regards the legitimacy of podcasts and fan made blogs versus larger anime news sites such as Anime News Network, Anime on DVD or AnimeNation. Answerman goes on to answer in short

I’m not sure what you were expecting me to say, but yes, of course you’re wrong.

Nice. Of course its the short of the answer. He goes on to talk about there being no accountability if a blog or fan made content is wrong or not whereas the larger sites have such accountability. He also goes on to talk about how the larger sites aren’t ‘on the take’ meaning that their sponsors have no real control or sway in how things are done over there.

Here is the short of my response. People should not be reading or listening to fan based content for actual news, they should be reading or listening to fan based content for insightful looks into already established facts or news that have been posted.

The article also has a question about podcasters getting free admission to conventions through a press pass. Answerman then answers the question then decides to rant on podcasters a bit and its a tad well deserved I guess depending on the various quirks.

While it boils me that people create a crappy anime podcast that has like 3 episodes and 2 listeners to get into a con for free, there is a lot of nice and awesome podcasting content out there, be it about anime or otherwise and it makes me proud to help produce said content.

Its also rather sad that there is a certain elitist attitude toward the fan based anime community who freely(I should say costly) gives content be it through blogs, community interaction on forums or to companies surveys or through podcasting. Of course this is one columnist who takes pride in his work and that is commendable.

Check it out, pretty interesting.

(Link)
(Gene’s Reply; ANN forums)

Panel: Gene, Chris

News:

Errata: Gene mentioned the Death Note premier on YTV as October 20th, the correct date is October 26th. The date for Fullmetal Alchemist: Conquerer of Shamballa is correct.

Release Spotlight:

Oct. 12

Funimation ReReleases

Oct. 18

Review:

We called in Matt from home to give his input as we reviewed Tekkonkinkreet. Having sat down and watched the tale, we enjoyed the visual splendor in all its glory. To be honest, the visuals are the true star of the story here. The plot fell a bit short for us and we were left with a gaping need for more but were never satisfied. All and all, we would have loved to see a more developed plot and character development but if you’ve seen The Animatrix then you have the gist of the visuals that this movie can provide. We gave it an 8 out of 10, if you got some rental space and some time check it out.

We also thought that since we were at it at the time that we’d call in Angelo for a quick review of Bleach: Shattered Blade which just came out for the Nintendo Wii. Angelo enjoyed the visuals for the most part but felt that the overall game play came a bit short. The story mode was rather bland and only featured three characters(Ichigo, Renji and Toshirou) playable out of the several that are available out of other modes. The lack of a sophisticated play style also turned him away from the game. He did admit however that Bleach fans will love this game and fans of a regular fighting game should steer clear. Giving it a 8 out of 10 and 3 out of 10 respectively for those types of gamers.

Remember, we love emails, message board posts, comments. Send your email to animeshaft@gmail.com . Any email messages(we’ll read ‘em), audio files(we’ll play ‘em) or other questions.

If you’re talking about SHAFT then you can digg it.

If you want to call into the show and leave us a comment, a question or a contribution to the show, call the Geek Line! 203-599-GEEK

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Since we mentioned the Geneon fan letter in episode 34 (the real episode 34) I decided to post the letter up on the site so click here for the full pdf.

Show notes for episode 34 should hopefully be up by the end of this week.

Due to some issues that came up with the cast we’re forced to postpone Episode 34 of the program until next week.

Please feel free to send in your favorite anime intros and endings to animeshaft@gmail.com or call the Geek Line with them(203-599-GEEK) and we’ll be happy to play them on the episode. Or anything else you might have to offer the show.

Its Columbus Day. Thought we’d point it out. There will be a SHAFT recorded later.

If you want to be heard, be played, and have something to say; animeshaft@gmail.com or the GEEK Link 203-599-GEEK

We’ll also be heading out to Boston for the afternoon and visiting the venerable Tokyo Kid in Harvard Square. So if you see this, and live in Boston, you might run into us. Just maybe…..

Next episode, the real episode 34, we’re gonna talk about our favorite anime openings and endings. Which ones we thought had the catchiest tune, the coolest animation, best insight into the characters and ones we just liked for the heck of it.

But, why just hear from us, when we can hear from you!! Let us know what your favorite anime openings and endings are! Here are some ways to do that…

Send us an email at animeshaft@gmail.com with either a typed up statement or an audio file(WAV or MP3 and under a minute if possible). We’ll be happy to read them and play them on the show.

OR!!!

Give us a call on the GEEK Line. That number is 203-599-GEEK. Leave us a message there and we’ll try and play it on the program.

Panel: Gene, Matt, Chris

News:

Main Topic:

We mainly went long on our news topics this week and talked at length about FanSubs, new One Piece and the whole Geneon thing.

Release Spotlight:

Anime:

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex- The Laughing Man(OVA)
School Rumble(Vol. 2)
Tenjho Tenge(Box)
Welcome to the NHK(Vol. 1)
Peach Girl(Vol. 5)

Blue Gender: The Warrior(Movie/ReRelease)
Fruits Basket(Vol. 3, Vol. 4/ReRelease)

Review:

We reviewed Rurouni Kenshin The Movie(Samurai X: The Movie) this week. While the nice nostalgic art style hit home with fans of the series, it wasn’t as good for a casual viewer. The plot while not too deep isn’t too shallow and brings hard action to the table. The music while enjoyable to the movie, the dub isn’t as enjoyable to the ears. Some of the worst dubbing can be found here depending on the character… but keep in mind this is an early dub for anime. We gave this a nice 7 out of 10, Kenshin fans will love it, movie fans won’t and everyone else can enjoy it at least.

Remember, we love emails, message board posts, comments. Send your email to animeshaft@gmail.com . Any email messages(we’ll read ‘em), audio files(we’ll play ‘em) or other questions.

If you’re talking about SHAFT then you can digg it.

If you want to call into the show and leave us a comment, a question or a contribution to the show, call the Geek Line! 203-599-GEEK

Special Thanks to all of our listeners and behind the scenes contributers who make this podcast possible.

- RSS Feed

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