I’m a little late to the game on this one. Even though I’m a huge fan of ABe’s work–Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei to name a few—I ignored this news piece because I don’t have a Kindle. In fact, I don’t know anybody with an e-reader of any brand. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is pretty cool in terms of digital distribution.

The manga, which is available in both English and Japanese, is called I am an Alien, I have a Question. It’s 41 pages long and costs $1 in the Kindle e-book store. This isn’t the first time ABe has published his work digitally. In 2008, Pochiyama at the Pharmacy was made available in the iPhone app store for $4.99.

I was initially excited about the Pochiyama announcement, but later found out that I could only read it if I had an iPhone. The reviews I read stated that the English translation was poorly done, but it was still a step in the right direction because publishing your own manga on the iPhone was unheard of.

Two years later, he’s at it again. I can’t say for certain that it’s the first manga title to appear on the Kindle, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it in the news. Luckily, you can read Kindle books on your computer with the proper software. I haven’t heard anything definitive on the quality of the translation, but even if it’s not perfect, $1 is tough to beat.

[SOURCE: Anime News Network]

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If you care about Lost, and you haven’t seen all of season one then you should skip this episode until you have. The same can be said if you hate Lost, because that’s all we talk about this time.

Topics:

• Itsudatte My Hitler.
• Sakura Wars on the Wii.
• Lost.
• Yes, that is an interrobang in the episode title.
• The Mars Volta song at the end is really good. Read the rest of this entry →

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Starting in May, episodes of Dragon Ball Kai with air on NickToons, a sister channel of Nickelodeon. This was announced early Thursday morning at the 2010 Upfront Presentation, which appears to be a press conference for advertisers. It was mentioned that Voltron Panthera Force will air on the channel as well.

This came a shock because many people, including myself, expected Cartoon Network to air the series. While it is possible for multiple channels to air the same show, Cartoon Network has yet to make any such announcement. Having never heard of NickToons, I did a quick search to find that its some sort of digital/satellite channel. This concerns me, because that means that the series will only reach a limited audience; whereas, if it aired on Cartoon Network it would be available to anyone with regular cable. The most important issue, however, is this: What the fuck is Voltron Pathera Force?

[SOURCE: Anime News Network]

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I’ve made it no secret that Funimation’s desicion to edit their streaming release of Dance in the Vampire Bund doesn’t bother me in the slightest. However, since I wrote a rather lengthy editorial on the issue, it’s only right to follow-up on the feature. I also noticed that I’ve been getting a lot of hits for Dance int he Vampire Bund, so I thought I would milk this cow a little longer.

In reaction to the Internets backlash, Funimation has made another statement regarding the edits, saying that they’re, “committed to bringing the best anime content to the United States in its unedited form on home video.” Since the show is still relatively new, they want an opportunity to examine the series as a whole once it’s finished airing in Japan. It’s at that point that they’ll decide whether or not they can release an unedited home release.

I have not confirmed this, but I read somewhere that SHAFT is known for reanimating scenes for the DVD releases. With this in mind, one can speculate that Funimation might ask them to reanimate some of the more racy scenes for the American release. I know this has been done before with manga where the creator would redraw panels that would have otherwise been cut over here. Although, I’ve never heard of it being done with anime. Remember: This is speculation. A crackpot theory. I have no reason to believe that it will actually happen, but it’s worth considering.

[SOURCE: Funimation.com]

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Here’s another podcast where Xan and I say things about stuff.

This is what’s important:

• Join the forum.
• Listen to the Jake & Mike Video Game Show.
• Ignore the Dance in the Vampire Bund controversy.
• Watch Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

Music – Some song by Antic Cafe, Layla by Eric Clapton

Promos – Anime Hack, Anime Roundtable (They might have podfaded. My bad.) Read the rest of this entry →

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