Jul 9, 2008
Batman: Gotham Knight is out on DVD and Blu-Ray today featuring the animation of such popular Japanese studios as Production IG, 4c, and Madhouse. I haven't had a chance to see it yet. I looked at Hollywood Video today but for some dumb reason they did not receive any copies. Amazon.com has a pretty good price for the Blu-Ray version: $21.95 which I will probably order tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about the new movie. The official site link is:
http://www.warnervideo.com/batmangothamknight/
Funimation has listed some of the release dates of series it picked up from Geneon:
August 19: Black
Lagoon season 1, Black
Lagoon: The Second Barrage volume 1, Elemental
Gelade volume 1
September 2: Karin
volumes 1-4, Kyo
kara Maoh! season 2's volume 1-7
September 9: Shakugan
no Shana series box
September 16: Black Lagoon: The Second
Barrage volume 2, Fate/stay
night
series box, Hellsing
Ultimate volumes 1-4, Rozen
Maiden series box
September 23: Kamichu!
series box, Paradise
Kiss series box
September 30: When
They Cry - Higurashi volumes 1-4
(source: ANN)
I definitely will pick up the Fate/Stay Night and Kamichu sets. These are both great shows. From what I understand the prices for the box sets will be in line with Funimation, not Geneon. So I would expect them to run around $50. Rozen Maiden would be a borderline purchase for me.
Lastly, on Madeleine Rosca's Live Journal, she posted a picture of a new character that was introduced in the Japanese manga Air Gear in chapter 206 who is purported to be a takeoff of presidential candidate Barack Obama. The character is named John Omaha. I can't vouch for the translation but one of the comments on her blog says the panel translates his dialogue as "Why is it on this night when I'm meeting such a lovely person, I have failed to bring my tuxedo" and the side panel reads "the candidate for the next president of the United States". Now if he would just put on some ATs! Of course, Rosca is the artist and writer of the exquisite Hollow Fields from Seven Seas, with two volumes out now. She makes me believe that OEL has a future and can be better than Japanese manga in some cases. You can click on my link to her Live Journal underneath blogs on my webpage.