I’ve been negligent in updating this blog lately, mostly out of laziness. I’m still watching current episodes of each series I am following this season, but nothing has really yet to come out and grab me like in some previous series. Index II remains a top favorite, along with Ore no Imouto, Ika Musume, and Panty and Stocking. I’ve got a few in which I’ve put on the lower priority, Otome Zakuro, Super Robot Taisen, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, stuff I am getting around to eventually.
/a/ alerted me to a new series that just aired the other day, but whose manga has been scanilated for awhile online, Koe de Oshigoto! It’s basic premise is about a high school girl whose older sister runs a eroge game software company, and wants to use her as a voice actress for upcoming games. Those newfags unfamiliar with eroge games, it’s basically quasi-RPG sex games that obviously depict sex. I myself surprisingly have never played one, and it’s been a topic of many anime series that deal with characters or groups obsessed with them, such as Kirino in Ore no Imouto. Honestly I’m not sure if I would get any pleasure or value from them, but it would be sort of like reading a romance story that simply dives right into the good stuff instead of skimping the surface, and providing visuals. Lacking the ability to read moonrunes though I’d have to find translated versions, and that is too much effort for me when I can just look up other porn on my own.
Back to the series though, it was picked up for an anime, and having read the first 10 chapters of the manga, it actually looks fairly interesting. Downloading the first episode to watch right now, if it’s worth it’s somewhat-weight in gold, I’ll let you know in the general report on the weekend. I’ll try to write one.
Netflix has been picking up more series to watch lately, despite being English dubs. I’ve been watching Ghost in the Shell: The Stand Alone Complex and 2nd GiG, both excellent series and love the Yoko Kanno music. I’ve noticed some other stuff on there, most of which I have seen, like Vandread, but newer stuff like Soul Eater. I feel it would be in US anime licensee companies best interests to strike a deal with Netflix to publish content to them and get more fans on Netflix’s system rather than trying to push DVD sales. For one, digital distribution would cut down on costs to make DVDs when they can just push it out to Netflix. The other is they should really just skip English dubs and focus on translation. I’m not basing this on any dislike for English voice actors, but because the majority of dedicated fans have no need for an English voice track. It’s the one reason fansubbers are preferred, because they put out a average-translated episode quickly without the extra frills. The other thing this would combat is piracy, because speaking as someone who has pirated in the past, I would be drawn more towards a service that provides a decent list of anime on tap for viewing any time much like Netflx does now with television and movies for a low monthly rate. It’s also a matter of quality for your money, often times I hear how companies skimp on quality for the US market because consumers just want cheap things that work, but many of us are willing to pay whatever price for what we perceive to be a quality product. That’s pretty evidenced by how Apple users pay whatever price for the newest gadget.
I think the sooner companies learn they can embrace new technology and methods of reaching their customers the more they will realize they can remain viable in today’s market.
Anyway, episode done downloading, let’s get this game on.