Side bar chat

Looks like Bandai will be out of the R1 video distribution market come the end of November. Another casuality of the anime boom fizzling out.

Stretch, no rating for Nazo no Kanojo X? And things did "speed up" during the final third, don't you think?

new anime list for fall of this year --

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Are we having server issues? Pages on Mikomi are loading up slowly from my end.

Never mind. Things are working fine now from my end.

Stretch, I've already made a series page for Shin Sekai Yori.

Ixion Saga DT will be a duplicate page for anyone to make a series page out of at some point.

Ah crap--I 'searched titles', even checked 'By Title', but I guess I was looking for 'Shinsekai' (as myy fansub named it) not 'Shin Sekai'.

I'm in a hurry right now, but will fix this later.

Current Favorites list is updated to include the latest Fall 2012 anime titles. If there is anything of interest anyone else here is watching, feel free to add it to the list.

Any vibes of ↗The Minority Report in Psycho-Pass?

I've only watched episode one, but I don't detect any mutants or psychics in this one, just high technology--perhaps serving the same purpose.

Other than the use of technology to predetermine the likelihood of committing crimes, Minority Report and Psycho Pass are quite different in the setups of their plots considering the lack of mentioned psychics in Psycho Pass.

Anyone having issues on Mikomi? Page loads are looking quite slow.

Never mind.

Been having issues with Mikomi from my end for much of today. Either pages load up slowly or the site doesn't load at all.

Apache ate all of memory. It's been disciplined and put on a diet.

Is "All Ages" really correct for Chirin no Suzu?

The movie was marketed as a children's film in both Japan and America. Despite the dark themes of the movie, the American release of it was never censored in any way as the dub was surprisingly faithful to the original Japanese version considering it was released in a time where many anime films and OVAs were being released in various edited formats to serve as entertainment for children.

My point was your line "Just don't show it to very younger kids" that would contradict the "Rating G" specification.

Secret of NIMH and Disney's take on Hunchback of Notre Dame were rated G despite having dark and mature themes depicted in them. My point with the comment is that despite the movie being okay to show for all audiences that the themes depicted in Chirin no Suzu might be a bit much for more younger audiences.

Hi folks! For those who's mildly interested (or not), I'm back from a long hiatus. Life got in the way but I'm back to my watching and reviewing :)

Welcome back!

Again, welcome back.

Well, I'm just starting the week 11 episodes of the fall season, and new winter ones should appear any day now. I always fall behind, partly because I like to collect each new episode of each series I'm watching and burn them onto a DVD so I can watch them elsewhere than my computer. When a new season starts I set the final episode or two temporarily aside so that I can get a first look at the new series and post first impressions here.

I'm tidying up my Fall reviews, and I notice that the fall series K wound up with a mere 40 'views'.

Well, "K" is a very unusable search term, making it difficult to find that anime other than via a prominent link list (such as the "Current Favorites").

That was my thinking, although Google seems to do a pretty good job searching for it.

I see what you mean. You would think that typing 'K' into 'Search Titles' would take you straight there, since it is identical to the series title, but no, I am taken to a list that starts with '.hack'.

The "search" feature of CAR produces all results that contain a "k" and presents them sorted lexicographically, not sorted by match quality as Google does.

Guess I'm gonna start resorting to my physical stockpile of DVDs for anime viewing from for now. Having too much trouble finding unlicensed titles worth the time to watch as of late.

@Devil Doll: Oh yes, here for sure. That's because we don't have a meaningful quality metric to key search on.

Which is not to say that it couldn't be improved, of course.

Bleh, nothing getting my attention or interest for the Winter 2013 season., which is pretty sad. I just updated Current Favorites to remove a couple titles that finished up last month. Feel free to add on whatever grabs your interest.

Just completed Kimikiss Pure Rouge a short time ago and reviewed the DVD special. Will get to a review of the TV series later tonight when I'm home from work.

So, no Hatsukoi Gentei I presume?

If it's gonna follow the dating sim mold to a tee, then no.

It is much like Kimikiss but with more (and younger) characters, a much more complex relation graph instead of two triangles, and I liked the characters better. The good part begins no sooner than in episode 5 though.

Any known relation between Hakkenden: Tōhō Hakken Ibun and Hakkenden?

Episode one of the new series is the only Hakkenden I have ever watched, so I don't know.

The complete Lodoss franchise does flesh out the world in its many products (including manga that haven't been animated). The remake/sequel has better visuals but is more childish in mood, with a similar heroes group of character classes, except for Parn and Deedlit being more mature but only side characters there. It's odd to see the same story being retold with different lead roles though.

To DD - both Hakkenden anime series are loosely based on a classical 1840's Japanese novel titled Nansō Satomi Hakkende written by Kyokutei Bakin

Minor correction - Nansō Satomi Hakkenden is a massive 106 volume series that took the author over 30 years to write - see wiki for more info.

Sword Art Offline sounds much like the "Commentary" extra episodes for Nazo no Kanojo X that haven't been reviewed here so far.

I didn't know that such a thing existed. Where can a person find these?

Oops. wrong anime (my memory is fading). What I meant is Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai - Animated Commentaries.

It sounds like you weren't all that thrilled with these, so I wonder if they would be worth downloading (if that's possible).

How many other extra/special features did I give a better rating than "Watch"?

But I certainly liked the series more than you did. I just wanted to tell you that Sword Art Offline isn't the first Commentary special of this kind. (Download would go the same way as for the series.)

Maybe some sort of Keyword like 'DVD Bonus' or something like that should be created?

Would this keyword cover bonus episodes as well? Or just these "animated commentaries"?

I would say whatever extra stuff you get by ordering the DVDs--extra episodes, commentaries, whatever.

...I don't know if anybody other than the two of us will ever notice such a change, though.

Just completed Vampire Princess Miyu TV a short time ago. Will post a review of it when I'm home from work later tonight.

Looks like out impressions of Miyu TV are very much alike. :-)

Just out of curiosity, how long exactly has Mikomi been online? I'm seeing reviews on here from as far back as 1999.

Indeed, 1999. The domain itself dates to 1998. It was launched in '99 by being announced to the anime-webmasters mailing list, and, I think, the Lain mailing list. Back then it was written in CGI and hosted on a desktop machine hooked up to a business-grade cable modem.

Is it true that the English translation of 'mikomi' is 'hope'?

Generally you'll see it translated as hope, expectation, prospects.

Edited on 02/24/2013 06:50 PM.

You can see the news posts going back to March of '99 here: http://anime.mikomi.org/sitenews.html?p=12

That reminds me, I still need to watch the first series page posted here.

Kodocha? You totally do! I never thought that'd get a commercial release in the US...

Yes and no. Funimation only released the first half of the series here in America.

True enough, but at least the first half is widely considered the better half. I have the old fansub DVDs of the full thing, in addition to the Funimation release– I really need to back and watch it again. I just need to find someone to watch it with who'll appreciate it. =D

Looks like I'm moving close to my 900th review. I should be done with Armored Trooper Votoms 4: God Planet Quent before I leave for work in a few hours.

Congradulations. I recommend you watch Kikou Ryohei Mellowlink (OVA)--it's a neat show, much like Votoms in style but only a fourth as long.

Now at 900 reviews! ^_^

Oy, that was long. Took me an hour and a half to put together my Psycho-Pass review. Haven't put together a review that long-winded in quite a while.

Looks like we have a bot again. I highly doubt 243 folks are coming to Mikomi all at once.

'Looks like we have spellcheck now, too. Thanks.

I don't see any specific spell-check at CAR but I use the browser integrated spell-check anyway.

Maybe it's not Mikomi but by own operating system (or whatever) that has it as a result of some sort of 'update'. I have noticed it on one or two other websites where I didn't remember it being present previously.

Thanks for posting a review, Dreamer. Sometimes a whole week goes by with no one but Ggultra and me here.

Devil Doll would pop up frequently here as well, but he hasn't been popping up as often lately.

And I do see all, even if I'm often quiet. =p

I haven't watched an anime since Summer 2012.

Have you lost interest? Or didn't have the time?

A combination of both.

Those miight be a tad large for sidebar chat... maybe put it on a wiki page and link to that? =)

Holy cow, Ggultra2764 you're at like 10% of all reviews on the site! Oh wow, I hadn't realized that Stretch was over 900 as well. (Edit: I'd been looking at posts, not reviews, ooops, updated.) I may have to do a histogram of number-of-reviews...

Edited on 04/03/2013 09:14 AM.

For now, I believe I have written the most reviews on this site and it looks like me or Stretch will be hitting 1000 pretty soon.

No doubt Ggultra will get there first, since about the only time I start new reviews nowadays is at the beginning of a new season--like today.

My damn computer has broken down on the first day of the Spring season. It has been taken in for repair. No downloading for me until it is fixed.

Whenever you get around to seeing Spring titles, be watchful of perception for Aku no Hana. There has been quite a bit of negative backlash already online coming from the choices in visual style and storytelling which a number of folks have blown way out of proportion.

I tried to download and convert Aku no Hana, but for some reason the audio and video were out of sync. I'm DLing a second version for my second DVD of new Spring series.

Are you using VLC Media Player to play the file? Should be able to work with just about any kind of media format. No need for downloading extra software or file converting.

That out-of-sync thing (of mouth movements to audio) in Aku no Hana might be intentional. The copy I downloaded (MP4 container) shows the same behavior for certain "slow motion" scenes (such as the red-headed girl in classroom) whereas spoken words to subtitles appear to be in full sync.

Edited on 04/12/2013 01:56 AM.

Oh, OK.. I will try to watch it again. Thanks.

Current Favorites list has been updated to include Spring 2013 titles. Feel free to add to the list if any of the new titles have grabbed your interest.

No, not even the subtitles are in sync in my conversion of Aku no Hana. I will try again.

Somebody seems to have decided that there will not be a version of either Aku no Hana nor Majestic Prince that can be converted into DVD watchable form.

Did you try downloading a version with MP4 container? These don't have a separate subtitle stream, thus the subtitles must already have been burned into the pictures and can't be out of sync. The conversion procedure to AVI would be basically the same as for MKV, minus the steps for extracting and adding the subtitles.

What has tended to happen to me is that when I try to play the converted fansubs on a DVD player, they only play for a couple seconds then lock up somehow. It doesn't even get far enough to see if the audio and video are in sync.

I will see if I can get an Mp4 download to work. Up 'til now I have always used MKV fansubs and haven't even tried.

Do the converted AVI files play on your PC?

I seem to get the same result on my PC as on the DVD Player: in Aku Hana there is no discernible sound until around 23 seconds in, when the music starts. When subtitles appear, no one has spoken yet.

Episode 3 of Oreimo 2 being different, Devil Doll? Looked like the episode was exploring more about Saori's character and covering why she created the online group that Kirino joined in the first season to make friends with her and Kuroneko. Just another case of the series giving more dimension to a supporting character.

Feel free to add your point of view to the episode section, like Stretch and I did that for the first season.

Stretch, whose sub for Aku Hana did you try to convert? I would like to reproduce your attempt on my PC.

I know I tried the {gg} version, and I think I tried another one as well, but maybe I'm confusing this show with RDG (which I also had some trouble with but ultimately found a workable version).

Hi, Jan-chan.

Aku no Hana from [gg] indeed has a broken audio stream for episode 1 (both version 1 and 2) that lasts only about 16 minutes; episodes 2 and 3 appear to be fine. You may try converting episodes 2 and 3 if you want some immediate sense of achievement, or wait until I have converted episode 1 successfully.

It's good to know that I haven't somehow screwed this up myself. Thanks.

a fun & silly web site sharing some of strange stories of the Japanese people - http://en.rocketnews24.com/

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/12/13/two-new-ghibli-films-out-in-summer-2013-posters-revealed/

Hi, Lucy-san. Feel free to add as many reviews as you please.

Ggultra2764, I'm relieved to see that we watched the same show in the case of Gantz.

Considering I personally own the series, it took me quite a while to even work up the nerve to finish through it considering how completely mindless it is with its plot.

Stretch, you might want to give GJ-bu another chance with two more episodes in order to find out whether it is funny. It's no real gem though.

I will download another episode or two, but I am rapidly falling behind as I try to keep up with all the Spring series. I'm still in week three.

Stretch, no final rating for Amagami SS? The Oreshura blonde bombshell reminds me of a reverse Ayatsuji Tsukasa scenario.

It looks like I forgot to give that one its final edit and assign a rating. I have done so now. There are a number of Winter series (like Jojo) which I still need to do that for.

Ggultra2764, are you on a quest to double-check my "Avoid" ratings? ;-)

Are these Tezuka shorts bundled in any way that would warrant creating a franchise entry for them?

Edited on 05/11/2013 03:18 AM.

The Tezuka shorts I marathoned through are actually part of a DVD set I own called "The Astonishing Work of Tezuka Osamu" which showcase a number of experimental works he made. Not sure if it would be worth the trouble to create a franchise page for since the shorts are more separate works than being connected in any way to one another.

And Devil Doll, any title I watched that you gave an "Avoid" rating to is entirely coincidence.

Stretch, did you finish Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ which Ggultra2764 will likely review soon?

Looking likely to be done with Kashimashi tomorrow or Tuesday.

Another series I forgot to wrap up. I think I will need to rewatch the final episode before I do that.

In fact, I seem to have watched the entire series twice without finishing my review!

Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ review is now up.

And now another try for Sasameki Koto, perhaps? Unfortunately the real show begins no sooner than in episode 8.

Will likely find myself dropping it again. The only sure guaranteed way for me to watch something I dropped in many instances is for me to buy a physical media release. As far as I know, Sasameki Koto lacks an American licensor right now.

Stretch, the moment to render a first judgment on Oreshura would be after episode 4 IMHO.

Edited on 05/15/2013 03:09 PM.

I will give it another look when I get the chance.

Stretch, if you skipped episodes 4-6 of Ore no Imouto 2 you'd hate your decision as then you wouldn't know how it came to the situation in the "Shironeko episodes" that are right ahead of us now.

Stretch, your revised text still contains the wording "the first few years of this decade".

Which paragraph was that in?

Use the "Cntrl-F" feature of your browser.

I changed it to 'the first few years of this century'.

I added a few "demographic" keywords for anime I've (mostly) reviewed.

I seldom check any box in the demographic category, partly because I'm unsure of exactly what the Japanese terms mean.

We do have explanatory texts for each of them. What about these do you consider insufficient?

Typically the terms refer to what the demographic of the magazine that originally ran the associated manga was. (These are well defined, with the magazines explicitly identifying as one of the demographics.) –

This strategy does mean that there's a right answer to the question. (Except when there wasn't an associated manga, it often ends up being a matter of debate...) –

That said, it can produce classifications that most people would find unexpected, like Eikoku Koi Monogatari Emma being Seinen.

Edited on 05/22/2013 02:08 PM.

I used aniDB as first and Wikipedia as second priority source, and got about half a dozen cases with surprising classifications, most notably the Dark Shoujo combination. All in all, most of what we're reviewing here is Seinen anyway, and this wasn't expressed in the data here before I started.

Edited on 05/22/2013 04:12 PM.