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Story

Black Cat Volume 2 picks up where Volume 1 left off. Train and Sven are determined to rescue Eve, the girl who is a living weapon, from the arm-dealer that created her. During the rescue the two sweepers find out that one of the people involved with the experiments is Creed, a man Train is obsessed with destroying.

My Opinion

I’ve mentioned the similarity to Cowboy Bebop in the review of Black Cat Volume 1. As the story progresses there is an odd parallel in the stories. A female thief and a very special little girl join the crew. Sounds familiar, right? There are similarities in the plot too, but I’ll skip over those to avoid spoilers.

The weirdness really begins when you realize that those similarities that should make it more like Cowboy Bebop are what sets it apart and makes it distinctive from the space faring bounty hunters. It’s like both stories were built upon the same framework, but for different purposes.

Hey, any manga that can even come close to being as good as Cowboy Bebop is something I want to read.

Now, apart from the Space Cowboy influence on my perception, Black Cat Volume 2 is taking some interesting turns. We meet some long term villains, lead by Creed. The group consists of a Philosophical Sumo, a Psycho Schoolgirl, The Mad Hatter and Orko. Ok no, not really. That’s just who the characters remind me of. I stand by that description though, because it looks like the group is supposed to be weird.

Is it worth it?

Black Cat Volume 2 is worth checking out. It’s full of action, humor and has some great characters. I’ll definitely be picking up the next one.

Manga, Reviews, Black Cat, Shonen Jump, Viz Media, Cowboy Bebop, Action, Comedy

For those of you that don’t read Anime News Network, here’s some interesting news you might have missed so far.

Naruto to Start Paid and Free Streaming

Starting in January Naruto will air on Crunchyroll about 1 hour after the airing in Japan. According to the ANN report, the Crunchyroll 1 hour delay will be a monthly subscription. However, Crunchyroll will be making available a free stream 7 days after broadcast to compete with other video sites, like Hulu, that will be streaming the episode.

I have a few questions though.

How much will the Crunchyroll subscription cost?

Will there be any other anime included in the subscription price, or will we need to subscribe to each title separately when more are made available?

Will there be more titles available for this type of subscription plan?

Will there be other perks for the paid subscribers?

I’m sure I could think of plenty more, but these are the questions that seem to be the most important.

My Thoughts

It’s about time. Sure Hulu has a currently running anime in Shikabane Hime, but that’s for a mature audience and it isn’t nearly as popular as Naruto. If anything can get the subscription service off the ground it will be Naruto. It’s insanely popular, and 1 hour after the original show in Japan is an insane turnaround time. I really doubt fansubbers could compete with that.

I really think this could work. I’ve talked about a similar setup in the past as a way to stop piracy and increase profits for anime companies. Naruto is a great anime to kickstart something like that. It’s probably the most popular anime,at least in the U.S.A., since DBZ.

The only problem I foresee is the battle between streaming sites when others start up subscription plans. That’s not entirely bad though. When services compete, the consumer wins.

Looks like next year will be a very interesting time to be an anime fan online.

Anime, News, Online, Free, Streaming, Naruto, DBZ, Shikabane Hime, Crunchyroll, Hulu

I like stories that focus on anime or manga fandom, otaku or similar subjects. After all, a manga artist making a manga about manga fans is likely writing about something he knows. Plus I enjoy trying to spot all the references to other works. A good example of this is Genshiken.

Genshiken gave us an entire world and it’s otaku characters. That includes the club’s favorite anime and manga, Kujibiki Unbalance.

Story

Rikkyoin High School isn’t like other schools. Everything that requires a decision to be made is decided by lottery. Even getting in to this very special school requires luck, because the only way to become a student is to win a position.

Chihiro won his placement. On the first day he won the position of President on the student council. Chihiro has always been cursed with bad luck, so all the winning he’s doing has to make you wonder. Is his luck changing, or is it just getting worse?

My Opinion

Ok, I think this is like the 3rd version of this story, and from what I’ve heard they’ve all been different. I can certainly attest that the manga is very different from the bonus episodes included in the Genshiken DVDs.

That’s not a bad thing. The bonus episodes that I’ve seen didn’t look like they were planned very well. It certainly wasn’t an anime that was worthy of the adoration it received in Genshiken. This manga might be able to come closer to the extremely cool story we’ve gotten glimpses of in Genshiken (Last time I write that).

This version seems to have a more coherent story. It makes more sense, at least to me. The characters seem more like real people and some of them are even likeable.

The art looks amazing. The character designs are meant to be cute. That means the usual high school students that look like they belong in elementary school. It doesn’t go as far as some titles, but it does use several other tricks to make the characters cute. That’s not a bad thing, but can get kinda weird with all the panty shots and fan service thrown in.

Is it worth it?

If you’re a fan of… the manga and anime that inspired Kujibiki Unbalance, it’s definitely worth checking out. It seems to come a bit closer to the ideal Kujibiki, even if it contradicts previous hints of the story.

Kujibiki Unbalance is a cute and wacky manga. Don’t take it too seriously and it could be a fun diversion.

Manga, Reviews, Comedy, School Life, Otaku, Kujibiki Unbalance, Del Rey, Genshiken, Kio Shimoku, Koume Keito, Cute, Fan Service, Panty Shots

If you’ve been an anime or manga fan for a while then you’re aware of a certian type of fangirl that loves romance and relationship stories. More specifically romance and relationship stories between guys. Yes, the yaoi and “boys love” fangirls are a very special breed of otaku. It doesn’t matter if the medium of choice is anime, manga, dojinshi, fan fiction or fan art, if they like stories with two guys bonin’ then they’re a Fujoshi.

This is the story of one boy’s love for a fujoshi.

Story

Takahiro Abe loves Rumi Asai, despite (or maybe because of) her odd behavior. Unfortunately Rumi thinks that Takahiro is already in a relationship. The imagined object of Takahiro’s affection is none other than his best friend Shunsuke Chiba, the most popular guy in school.

To make matters worse, the most popular girl in school turns out to be a fujoshi too, with an attraction to Rumi. How can Takahiro compete for Rumi’s affection with his best friend, the popular girl and even the imagination of the girl he likes?

My Opinion

I loved Fujoshi Rumi: Mousou Shoujo Otaku Kei. It had me laughing out loud and sometimes even arguing with characters in the book. Fujoshi Rumi is packed full of anime and manga references, with a list in the back of the book to help you find ‘em all.

I hate to say it, but I don’t think the reference list in the back is complete. I saw several background characters that looked like characters from other stories. None of them were mentioned, just the dialog and text references. It could just be my imagination. Maybe it was just coincidence that a girl in the background looked like Tsukasa Nishino from Strawberry 100%.

Is it worth it?

Fujoshi Rumi is well worth buying. It’s well drawn and extremely funny. I’d recommend picking it up A.S.A.P..

Manga, Reviews, Comedy, High School, Otaku, Romance, Yaoi, Boys Love, Fangirl, Fujoshi Rumi, Fujoshi Rumi: Mousou Shoujo Otaku Kei, Strawberry 100%

One of the great things about anime streaming becoming more popular with the companies is that you can stumble across anime that you never would have given even the slightest chance before. I had an experience like that this weekend.

I was looking around Hulu’s quickly expanding anime section with the intent of watching some anime I hadn’t seen before. I decided to start with Peach Girl: Super Pop Love Hurricane. I’d head a little bit about it, and even read a tiny bit of the manga I believe, but I’ve never seen the anime. I thought I’d watch a couple of episodes to give it a fair chance.

Six hours later I finished watching the last of the 12 episodes Hulu had.

I’m not even sure what kept me watching. It’s an ok anime. Lot’s of shojo drama with boys chasing girls, girls liking other boys and girls stabbing each other in the back over boys. It’s almost like a soap opera, and once those things get you hooked it’s very hard to get loose. (Luckily for me they recast Todd Manning on One life to Live, and I was able to finally break away.)

Early on I just wanted to watch it long enough to see the bad girl get what she deserved. Hopefully in a very violent, very public way. When that did happen, not as violently as I hoped, I kept watching anyway. I had to find out what was going to happen next. I was well and truly hooked.

Now for the excruciating wait for more episodes to be uploaded.

Anime, Opinion, Peach Girl, Addictive, Shojo, Drama, High School

Click for Full Size

I’m glad to say that Hulu has been adding anime since September. There are new shows going up at a nice pace. The anime being added aren’t crappy bargain bin shows either. Take a look at the screen cap to the right. xxxHolic, Blue Gender, School Rumble and Slayers are all good shows. They’re not the only good anime shows on there either. There is a nice variety in the types of anime being added to the list.

Even better than that, it looks like Hulu is streaming a first run show as well. Shikabane Hime is currently airing in Japan. According to Anime News Network there are 7 eps so far, 3 of which are already on Hulu in subbed format. It’s cool that they’re getting a show out that quickly, for free. On top of that it’s a pretty darn cool anime.

Some of the shows only have a few episodes available. That’s understandable for shows like Shikabane Hime, which are new. It’s not so understandable for older shows. The good news is that the episodes are going up almost as quickly as new titles are being added. So if your favorite anime only has a few episodes, give it a couple of weeks and there will be more.

If Hulu keeps it up, and can get other companies to join in, it may turn out to be one of the best anime streaming sites on the net.

Anime, Online, Opinion, Streaming, Legal, Subs, Dubs, Hulu, xxxHolic, Blue Gender, School Rumble, Slayers, Shikabane Hime

Well, it’s been a week since the drawing for the Ouran High giveaway. Most were quick to respond to the e-mails sent out. Unfortunately 2 of the DVDs were unclaimed.

The entries that went unclaimed belonged to…

Sama-sama

and

Meiitzu

Since the rules said you had to use a valid e-mail and claim the prizes in one week, time is up.

The rules also say that there will be another drawing. So let’s get to it.

New Winners

Felix

and

kyle

I’ll be sending e-mails out to the two of them shortly. If they don’t respond I guess we’ll just be giving out 3 DVDs.

I really hope these guys check their e-mail. I’d hate to see perfectly good DVDs going to waste. I’m almost tempted to send FUNimation my address and see if they’ll send me a DVD. *L*