Dear Viz, Your cover art for the U.S. DVD release of the anime Monster looks nice. That’s about all I can say for it. You see, this series is 74 episodes- hella long. And yet your first release is a 3-DVD set. 3 full-size DVDs in cases,  in a slipcase. That’s kind of stupid, since all the DVDs will take [...]

The good people at AnimEigo recently announced that their license to produce the classic Oh My Goddess! OVA series expires at the end of February, 2010. In response, they’ve priced their remaining DVD stock at clearance rates. I’m fortunate to have picked up the DVDs myself fairly recently — having had it on VHS for years — but if any [...]

Yeah, this is short.  Give me a break; the baby’s crying. At first, Baccano! seems like it’s going to be…madcap. Like a heist comedy, or one of those movies from the 1960’s with a huge ensemble cast where everyone is competing in a cross-country airplane race to win a prize. But only halfway through the first episode, you have to [...]

Two classics of modern Japanese animation, each a landmark in their own right, will be released on Blu-ray on November 24th, courtesy of Manga Entertainment. I could go on for paragraphs about how awesome these flicks are (and probably already have) but I’ll let the press release speak for itself. Ghost in the Shell 2.0 Few titles are as well [...]

SciFi  Japan has an interesting look at a new box set of Toho films. Mothra, The H-Man and Battle in Outer Space are all included (I’ve seen 2 out of 3- Mothra and The H-Man. Which is cheese-riffic!). The screenshots look really good, and are highly amusing besides. SciFi Japan Article

The live action Death Note film L, change the WorLd, is now on DVD – and VIZ are celebrating by hosting a special event at the VIZ Cinema in San Francisco. VIZ PICTURES RELEASES LIVE-ACTION DEATH NOTE: L, change the WorLd Riveting Unwritten Concluding Chapter Of Edgy DEATH NOTE Psychological Crime Drama Available on DVD San Francisco, CA, July 31, [...]

ADV’s re-release of 2005′s Appleseed, based on the Masamune Shirow manga of the same name, hits store shelves today. Full press release follows, though no BluRay is mentioned (boo!). APPLESEED ON SALE TODAY The Original Movie Back On DVD HOUSTON, June 30, 2009—Sentai Filmworks is proud to announce the return of Appleseed to DVD!  The groundbreaking anime thriller, which has [...]

Here’s the thing: I don’t like kids. Or teenagers, really. I’m staring thirty in the face and I can’t relate to them anymore. Of course, in a few months I’m going to have to learn to relate to them, but even then my house won’t be filled with Dora the Explorer Mermaid Princess dolls or any of that crap- our [...]

I’ve been a bit lax the last few days – I took the day off work yesterday, and made a vow to stay away from computers entirely (which I acutally managed to do, as long as you don’t consider an Xbox 360 to be a computer…) – so, no posting from me. In the interim, I also neglected to mention [...]

Ack! I’ve been laid up with a cold the last couple of days, hence not-at-work. I think this was only supposed to be a minor cold, but I made the mistake of playing Dungeons and Dragons on Saturday night. All that talking (I’m the DM) pretty much killed my throat – and the next day I woke up with a [...]

  Good god, VIZ is hopping next month…Death Note? Check. Bleach? Check. InuYasha? Check. The list goes on…and on…and on… Thank goodness for Christmas Bonuses! Read on…

I don’t normally post this sort of stuff, but there are probably more than a few of you who would jump at the chance to pick up a few of Criterion’s pricey (but not overpriced – let’s get that straight) offerings. From now until November 25th, every in-stock item at Criterion’s website is being offered at a hefty 40% discount. [...]

Anime distributor Geneon, which exited the U.S. DVD biz late last year, has been taken over by Universal Pictures, Inc. Universal’s grab comes shortly after a number of Geneon titles (including the most excellent Black Lagoon) were re-launched through FUNimation’s distribution arm. UPIE plans to merge Geneon with Universal Pictures Japan, a UPIE subsid. UPIE will own an 80.1% stake [...]

Hope you’ve still got money in your piggybank – VIZ Media’s Third Quarter DVD release schedule looks crazy promising, with fan-faves DEATH NOTE, BLEACH, NARUTO, and INUYASHA all showing up to the party. Here’s the full press release:

When Geneon went belly-up last year, one of the more prominent titles drawn into the vortex of license dissolution was Black Lagoon, the nutty-violent mercenary series adapted from Rei Hiroe’s manga of the same name. Well, thanks to U.S. distribution powerhouse Funimation, Black Lagoon is back in action, and I for one couldn’t be happier. In a market starving for [...]