Right Stuf's Anime Today Catches the Holiday Spirit!
Posted on: Friday, December 8, 2006
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Episode run down:
This is episode 29 and whether you’re ready or not, the holidays are upon us. Our 12 Days of Christmas sale is in full swing and hopefully we’ve been able help you avoid some of the holiday crowds.
Chad’s back with What’s Hot with another mysterious Uso Deshou coming up next. Were you among the lucky to get your hands on a Wii or a PS3? Kris and Judy talk about the next generation gaming systems in the Anime and Gamer’s Guide. Making sure your anime is under your tree in time, Santa Kleckner has started his 12 Days of Christmas sale early this year. We’re on Day 5 right now with at least 7 more days savings.
Judy sensei takes us shopping in this episode’s Mini Japanese 101 lesson and then hear what some of our customers have been saying in our online store. Marie charges in with her review of the Shonen Jump graphic novel Whistle!, and then we return with the latest Right Stuf contests. Vic Annato blasts in with the cut up of Chrono Crusade and finally Kris and Judy are back with a quick Production Team update. Has the holiday season drained your wallet? Get a $10 Right Stuf gift certificate by just calling in your questions to the Anime Today Q and A hotline at 1-800-338-6827 ext. 7424.
What's Hot?
As graduation creeps up, Yukino, Soichiro and all of their friends solidify plans for the future: Some will head to college, and others will go to work as their hopes, dreams and ambitions lead them down separate paths. Will their friendships grow or diminish? Only time will tell… but you will find out as the long-awaited, 21st and final volume of the Kare Kano manga is released on January 10th.
The Train Man -- perpetual geek, social basket case and obsessive fan-turned hero -- takes the advice offered by his online acquaintances and finds himself on a date the with girl of his dreams! But away from the computer – and his support system – panic sets in: What does he say? What does he do? Find out in Densha Otoko, Graphic Novel 2, also available January 10th.
Based on Namco’s classic RPG, Tales of Phantasia is the story of the young swordsman Cless, his healer friend Mint, and their epic journey as they search for the “Heroes of Space and Time,” the only warriors strong enough to defeat the dark king Dhaos. Beautifully animated and with a fantastic soundtrack, if you’re an RPG or fantasy fan, this is one you don’t want to miss on January 16th!
From UFOTABLE (the animation studio behind Dokkoida and Ninja Nonsense), comes what could be one of 2007’s biggest anime action series! Drawing comparisons to popular titles like Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star, Coyote Ragtime Show DVD 1 takes you into an adventure filled with intergalactic outlaws, criminal syndicates, and sexy robotic assassins when the series debuts on January 16th.
The North American release of the Ranma ½ manga may have just wrapped up, but the first season of the anime is back – at an even more fan-friendly price! An accident at a Chinese training ground leaves Ranma and his father cursed. When splashed with water, his father turns into a panda, but Ranma’s transformation is even more surprising: male Ranma turns into a buxom young woman! Hot water reverses the… condition, but only until the next time. Constantly chased by battle-happy martial artists and lovesick suitors of both sexes, what's a half-boy, half-girl martial artist to do? The Ranma 1/2 Season 1 DVD Box Set collects 18 episodes on 4 discs and is available on January 16th.
Save 25% or more on these titles by preordering them from RightStuf.com at least 10 days before their street dates. Get another 10% off by joining the Got Anime purchasing club for Frequent Buyers. And that’s what’s hot in the world of anime and manga!
The Anime and Gamer's Guide with Kris and Judy
Official Sony Playstation Web Site:
http://www.playstation.com/
Official Nintendo Wii Web Site:
http://wii.nintendo.com/
Shawne's Specials and 12+ Days of Christmas Sale Highlights
As the holiday season kicks into full swing, the Right Stuf is here to make things even merrier - with our annual 12 days of Christmas sale - except this year, there’s a "plus" on there. I wonder what that means?
Each day, we’ll post the latest addition of the holiday goodness under our tree. You can buy the items as they’re listed, pick and choose the ones you want, or wait until the very end. Just make sure that you get your orders in before the sale ends at midnight, December 24. No coupon codes are necessary - so you can add these items on to other things you’re thinking about purchasing - items from the specials, that plushie you wanted to buy yourself for the holidays, or perhaps that CD you’ve been thinking about.
Check the site each day to see what new surprise that the Dark Santa Kleckner left under the tree as well as all of the items currently on sale!
Speaking of sales, there’s some great stuff in the specials this week. We still have some of the Cardcaptor Sakura megabundles and Read or Die megabundles available - you should grab these shows, the price is certainly right! Evangelion fans, the artbook Der Mond is a great compliment to the series and it’s on sale for 40% off. There are several box sets on special this week that are almost half off, and if you haven’t finished off Fullmetal Alchemist yet, you can get great deals on both the final DVD (#13) as well as the Movie, Conqueror of Shambala. Speaking of finishing up, you can also get the final DVD Box Set of Maison Ikkoku this week on sale for only $29.99!
There is still a great deal for me to do; after all, the 12 days have hardly just begun. There is so much wonderful anime goodness, can you resist? After all, you have to treat yourself for the holidays too, right?
See all of Shawne's Weekly Specials!
Check out the Bargain Bin!
What our customers are saying
Marie's Manga Review: Whistle!
Sho is a determined middle-schooler with one love and one love only: soccer. There’s just one problem: his short height and lack of skills make him something less than a superstar. Through pure determination, he just barely managed to qualify for third string on the team at soccer powerhouse Musashinomori Junior High. Unfortunately, he’s hardly ever allowed to touch the ball, and after a year Sho decides it’s time to switch schools and head for Josui Junior High instead. While Josui’s soccer team might not be very good, at least that means he’ll get to play! But because of his Musashinomori connection, he’s mistakenly introduced to the team as a superstar player. What will happen when they learn the horrible, terrible truth?
In case you haven’t guessed, Whistle primarily revolves around soccer. Sure, it’s got great underlying themes of friendship, team spirit, and blind determination in the face of adversity, but really, it’s all about the soccer. But even if, like me, the only thing you know about the sport is that some French guy head-butted another guy at the World Cup this year, as long as you don’t have any strenuous objections to kicking around black and white balls, there’s actually a lot here to enjoy. After all, while corner kicks might be sport specific, competition, rivalry, and sportsmanship are universal.
Whistle owes a lot of its accessibility to its huge cast of characters. You’re guaranteed to identify with at least one of them, and you’ll alternately laugh or feel sympathetic for the rest as their triumphs and sorrows play out against the backdrop of the field. One of the boys is on the hefty side, and initially joined the team just to help make up the numbers. Now that he’s a defender, he spends all of his time wishing he could quit. Another player is a true soccer superstar, but the weight of his father’s expectations is suffocating him. Another is a bishounen pretty boy, who is sick of people fixating on his looks goes out of his way to dominate on the soccer field in-between acting like a street thug with his gang. And it goes on.
Manga-ka Daisuke Higuchi hasn’t forgotten his growing audience, either. None of the characters are simplified and that includes all of his adult characters. For example, Sho lives with his older brother, who does his best to act like a responsible parent while making enough at his job as nightclub host to pay the rent. His coach has a painful past he’d rather not think about, and even the cranky old food vendor near the empty field where Sho practices has a surprising backstory.
Of course, character depth alone just isn’t enough when it comes time to play ball. After all, this is an action series. We want to see players running around and kicking that ball like their lives depend on it, and we want to see them do it a different way each time. As luck would have it, it turns out Daisuke Higuchi doesn’t just have a gift for character, but is also capable of coming up with an endless number of different moves and plays which make each player and team unique. Even more impressive, each one is firmly rooted in reality. Forget Shaolin Soccer and that one One Piece special; these moves are all possible with only two feet and have not yet, as of volume 13, set the ball physically fire via a single kick. Sure, they may have caused an amazingly large number of speed lines and injured more than one player in a desperate attempt to score a goal, yes, but not actual fire.
Realism shows up in other surprising facets of Whistle as well. First and foremost, just like in real life, the hero doesn’t always win, or even always get the star position. Sho and his team have to work, and work hard, for every victory, and sometimes an extra week of practice just isn’t enough to overcome years of experience. Daisuke Higuchi also gives Whistle a definite timeline. Unlike a certain club of babysitters, these boys won’t be in middle-school forever, and they only have so much time to work with if they want to achieve their dream of winning an inter-school competition. The time limit combined with the unpredictability of Sho’s wins makes the tension level for each game skyrocket, and the cliffhangers keep you reaching for the next volume with an alarming alacrity.
While I’d first and foremost recommend Whistle to the 8-12 year-old crowd, particularly any brothers or sisters wondering what this “manga” thing is or those who just plain enjoy kicking balls around, there’s still quite a bit to catch the attention of older audiences looking for an enjoyable read. Especially if they like soccer. Did I mention Whistle is about soccer? :)
Right Stuf Contests and Updates
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Don’t miss out on your chance to win one of 10 randomly selected Ninja Nonsense figurines depicting Shinobu, Miyabi, Kaede or a very special set with Onsokumaru and the ninjas! To enter – and get a sneak peek at the figures – head over ninja.rightstuf.com, and fill out the entry form in the “Extras” section before January 5! |
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Hang out with Bad Luck on the Gravitation site and enter the LATEST CONTEST! You could be 1 of 2 WINNERS of Gravitation Hobo Bag and Wristband both featuring Kumoguro! |
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We’ve decided to extend our His and Her celebration through the holidays by giving away two copies of the new His and Her Circumstances thinpak collection. (Which features all 26 episodes of this romantic and comedic favorite!) Check out hisandher.rightstuf.com, and click on the “contest” link before January 5 for your chance to win! |
Vic Annato's Stuf That Cuts: Chrono Crusade
Konichiwa minasan. Welcome back to the attack right here on the tracks. We got a full schedule for you today, so let’s make like Sergeant York and get a move-on. I’m your host, Vic, and this is a look at the “Stuf That Cuts”.
For today’s lesson, we’ll be reviewing the action-packed, comically styled, and ideologically-accented series: Chrono Crusade. Now then, let’s turn to page one, in the book of Gonzo, and begin the cut-up.
Much more than just “nuns with guns”, Chrono Crusade is an epic story that recounts the adventures of Sister Rosette Christopher and her foreordained demonic partner: Chrono, as they journey the landscape of 1920’s New York and San Francisco; as holy exorcists. It is a time and place where the greed and immoral corruption of man, have manifested themselves in the appearance of sadists, monsters, and an alternate prophecy to end of the world.
Aligned with the Magdalene Order, Rosette and Chrono fight alongside their compatriots to combat the darkness. It’s a series that will keep you on the edge of your seat, the whole way through. Chrono Crusade has a unique ability to not only blend comedy and action, but present a compelling story that really captures one’s attention. Viewers will develop a genuine attachment, to each and every-one of the characters. Finding an element like this (in any anime series) is a rare event indeed, and for that reason alone - makes this one worthy of picking up.
The “Chrono” mentioned in the title would seem to refer to three separate forms of time: The age and experiences of the similarly-named character, the time and landscape in which the story takes place, and a special watch that Rosette wears around her neck that while enhancing Chrono’s demonic power, ticks-away her lifespan; each time it is used.
The series production is smooth and well-directed. There tends to be an added emphasis on individual character dialogue, and the trade-off between inter-character dependencies and relationships. Everyone has their own unique role in the Chrono Crusade universe, and this is candidly portrayed throughout the main story arc. However, some may find this distracting, as supporting characters are introduced rather sporadically throughout the series. This may potentially detract how viewers will comprehend the overall direction of the show.
DVD Content-wise, there’s a respectable amount of extras. Throughout most of the series, you’ll see the industry standard of text-less opening and ending credits, occasional director and actor commentary, as well as a more in-depth look into a few of the names/places/and items found in the show.
The standout feature, though, is the Azmaria’s Extra Classes segment. These short-form SD featurettes, help to explain in further detail just what is happening in the series, as it happens. Voiced by Jessica Boone (whom portrays the character of Azmaria), our joyful young apostle helps to clarify specific elements and their impact on the series. It’s a cute, extra addition for fans, as well as those who may want to know more about what’s going on. Incidentally, it might be advisable to refer back to this feature now and again, as the story tends to move more rapidly toward its conclusion.
As we close-in on our “act factor”, the Chrono Crusade series chimes-in on a positive note. The first few volumes of the show introduce the core characters, general plot line, and a strong delivery of both action and comedic themes. Keep in mind though, that just after the fourth volume, the story moves into a dedicated direction and becomes more action-oriented and ideologically centered.
The American vocal production and creative cast have also done an excellent job in localizing the series. This truly comes through in the overall presentation of the show. From excellent storytelling, compelling characters and action-packed battle sequences, the Chrono Crusade series is outstanding; for fans and casual viewers alike.
Limited quantities are available at rightstuf.com, for individual volumes of the series. So, be sure to take some time of your own and, check it out today!
Call forth thine sword of Justice, and exorcise the evil from this world. For on the hilt of our blade, that’s a look at the Stuf That Cuts.
Production Updates
Anime Today Q & A
If you have a question for us, call 1-800-338-6827, extension 7424. Also, you may send us e-mail at animetoday@rightstuf.com. If your question is selected, you will receive a $10 gift certificate to Right Stuf’s online store!
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