ADV Films, the #1 producer-distributor of anime in the U.S., announced today it has acquired exclusive home video and broadcast rights in North America for the second season of Ah! My Goddess. (more…)
Animesou.com wishes you and your family a merry christmas and a happy new year!
For one week only, download your free episode of Coyote Ragtime Show from ADV.
VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced exciting expanded coverage for its innovative shojo magazine, SHOJO BEAT, beginning with the January 2007 issue which hits retail shelves today. Building on the growing popularity of comics aimed at female readers, SHOJO BEAT has emerged as the preeminent monthly shojo manga anthology in North America. (more…)
Strap in and enjoy the wild ride when Coyote Ragtime Show: Fox Trot premieres January 11, 2007 on Anime Network-America’s #1 anime channel! (more…)
Finals are either over or just around the corner for some of us… and finally, I have some time to make a small update to the site. Recently hina has reviewed Air Gear. I have posted a review on Papuwa Vol. 1: Wild Things. And Stikz has written a Rant-ON about the life of an ex-anime addict, in Testimonials of an Ex-Anime Addict. Enjoy and more updates to come soon.
It’s been 12 exciting years since I’ve officially proclaimed myself an otaku. Give me anything animated, with big eyes, from the land of the rising sun and I’d devour it. 5-10 hour marathon viewings were the norm. You name it, I’d seen it.
Now back in the early 90’s, anime wasn’t very well known. It was special. A niche hobby only few discovered and supported. Expensive as it was, I found a way to get those $30, 2 episode, VHS tapes. It was almost taboo to even talk about Japanese anime with someone who didn’t watch it. They’d think it was a term used only for animated porn. “It was far from animated smut”, I’d tell them. Sure there was the occasional hentai but that was only a category like how horror is only a genre of movie. Based on that if everyone thought horror was what a movie was in general, they’d be missing out on an entire medium. Non fans let that fly right over their heads and stayed narrow minded.
These were not cartoons! Not the ones made for kids that come on after school and Saturday morning. These were mature stories no different than movies we pay good money to see every weekend. They just happen to be animated. There was just something that pulled me in. The art, originality, quirky writing, offbeat humor, and to be honest, yes some of the unexpected nudity and fan service. It all clicked and it was like magic. That was all about to change though.
In 1995 the DVD format finally began it’s overtaking of the VHS. This seemed like an anime fans dream, a cheaper, clearer, more portable version of a laser disc. Not only that, it settled the everlasting argument, sub or dub, for the anime purist, since both were available on one disc. I couldn’t have been happier! I started to see more and more great anime get released, plus all the companies had a back catalogue of awesome classics to work with.
This would reveal itself to be a double edge sword. Pokemon and Dragonball Z were taking over the airwaves introducing millions and millions of new fans. Countless shows were being released, edited for the masses. My once secluded hobby was being over exposed. Companies began licensing everything in sight, good or bad. Now you’d have to do a lot more research to not get burned by a crappy show. This may be one of the reasons anime in general these days has lost its luster to me. The market has grown so big that most shows are being made from a worldwide, mass appeal approach, instead of being based culturally where they are from, Japan.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still diamonds in the rough, but with the ever expanding shelf space in the marketplace, it’s getting increasingly harder to find. A few of my new favorites are Marmalade Boy, Boys Over Flowers, and Kodacha. Notice something there? These shows are all from the early to mid 90’s. To be fair, there are current titles that got it right like, Kino’s Journey, Samurai Champloo, and Great Teacher Onizuka.
What titles are missing these days is characterization. There’s just that something that’s missing in a lot of the newer titles released. Most of the time I don’t even know the characters name by the end of the show. Things just seem one dimensional. I don’t know if it’s the digitization of the animation over the warmth of handrawn art, writing ability laid to flat, lack of originality or simply lack of breast. Ha ha, laugh if you must, but a characters reaction to seeing breast told a lot about them.
All in all, it boils downs to Hollywood influence, technology taking away some of the pureness, and phasing out the naughtiness that made anime fun and different to begin with. After having this hobby for as long as I have, what else could I expect? With that said, I’m still an anime fan. I’m just not addicted anymore.
Synopsis
Welcome to Papuwa Island. Check your sanity at the door. Led by a mysterious vice, pretty boy brat Kotaro awakens from a long slumber and comes to Papuwa Island, a tropical paradise hidden away from the world of man. However, as soon as he arrives, a traumatic experience causes him to lose his memories and forget the horrifying secret that binds him to the strange island. Now, under the questionable are of the young Papuwa and his maid, Liquid, Kotaro begins his new life of bizarre adventures in a world of transvestite fish, fruity pink dinosaurs and hallucination-inducing poisonous mushrooms. Plagued by the island’s wacky inhabitants and an army of assassins aimed at kidnapping him, Kotaro struggles o keep both his life and his sanity intact. Get ready for fun, sun and hermaphroditic snails in the first, hilarious volume of Papuwa!
Review
I am still trying to pick my jaw up after watching Papuwa. The difference between this jaw dropping and the others that had happened to me in the past was that this one was not necessarily a good thing. From the beginning to the end, the show was exactly what the volume’s title hinted; Wild Things. From human sized fish wearing fishnets to pink dinosaurs and talking animals, this show has all that it needs to be considered crazy. And to me, that is all Papuwa is; something that just tries to pull all sorts of ridiculous stunts in an effort to get some laughter out of the viewer. While there were times that it was successful in getting me to laugh, it never got to the point where I was dying from it though. To me, it is a shame, because Papuwa has a lot of potential to be a great comedy. And while a story obviously exists in the world of Papuwa, it really does not play much of a role at all. Sure, most of the actions were a reaction of retrieving Kotaro back to Gamma, but the majority of the time ‘Rotaro,’ Papuwa and the others just go on wacky adventures to satisfy their hunger and to prevent Kotaro from recovering from his amnesia or else they would be in some deep waters :).
At a first glance, Papuwa felt like it was a semi-serious anime with some fun, but what I received in return for my expectations were like planets colliding… or the past coming together with the future. When I saw how Papuwa looked compared to the other characters around him, it was like it did not belong… but then again, a poisonous human looking mushroom who encourage people to take a bite out of him do not mix either. Okay, maybe that was not funny. But I tried and Papuwa has scenes that are quick hitting and it comes down to a ‘get it or not’ scenario. Most likely the jokes here are pretty simple and comprehendible. They are some you would see or hear in real life actually.
The Breakdown
Papuwa is aimed towards the fan who liked a show like Excel Saga. A show where the plot is not focused, but the laughter is. While most, if not all, of the jokes have been seen or heard in other anime shows one way or another, Papuwa throws it together all in one small show.
Continuing to expand its reach throughout North America, Anime Network has signed linear carriage deals with Puerto Rico’s two largest cable providers, One Link and Liberty Cablevision. These deals, which represent more than two-thirds of the island, will net the 24/7 channel 178,000 new subscribers. Additionally, America’s #1 Anime Channel has secured 24/7 linear deals in Missouri, Texas, Florida and Wisconsin, with launches on Longview, Optical Entertainment Network (OEN), Home Town Cable and Community Antenna, respectively. (more…)
The Asian Pop All-Stars.
Kristine Sa is back and this time she’s brought friends from all over the world! Fresh off of the success of her Anime Remix project “Animetoonz 3″, Kristine Sa’s amazing new album “Hopeless Romantic” features production by J-pop superstar producer Daisuke “Dice” Miyachi (Ayumi Hamasaki, BoA, Koda Kumi) and Dave Liang (The Shanghai Restoration Project, Carl Thomas). (more…)