He said whaaat?

I'm sure by now the majority of anime fans have read Sherman's post on the demise of anime. He wagged his finger at illegal downloads which lead many to enter the age old debate on fansubs. In my opinion the argument detracts from the conclusion Sherman came to: Anime is going to die. What kind of over-blown, stupid, idiotic statement is that? It's just as dumb as when some stupid idiot over at Disney thought people didn't like hand drawn animation anymore. Such a big outlandish shocking statement does nothing to help his cause, especially when everyone knows it's untrue. Maybe dub anime will disappear. Such a possibility is plausible and having a honest open discussion about whether or not dubbed anime has a feasible future would be great. Such discussions don't grow from untruths or by pointing fingers.

Gravitation's Yuki Eiri Needs a Sexy Voice

I recently purchased Gravitation and have slowly been making my way through the DVD's. I've been trying to watch the English dub, but I can't ever make it through a whole episode before switching back to Japanese. If you've watched the dub of Gravi you know how bad the acting is. The only character I find slightly tolerable is Shuichi and that's only a quarter of the time. The biggest disappointment is Yuki Eiri. The English dub Yuki delivers his lines flatly and with no emotion, which is a stark contrast from the great performance Inoue Kazuhiko gave.

I want a Yuki with a deep gravely voice! What's that, yaoi fairy, there is such an English Yuki in existence and I can find it on YouTube?

Aside from being totally hysterical (funny sound effects ftw) you have to admit this Yuki is 100 times better than the Right Stuf dub. And maybe it's just me, but dude sounds like Steve Blum in my opinion. And Blum's voice is ooey-gooey sex on a stick (a very sexy stick). And Yuki needs to sound sexy! So, kudos to you, Cheapss Production's, whoever you are, for making my dream of a hot sounding Yuki come true.

Also, check out Right Stuf if you're looking for the DVD's for cheap. They only have volumes 1-3 in stock, but you won't be able to find them anywhere else for the great price of 6 dollars each.

EDIT: Oh-ho-ho, found more.

This is the second half of the first episode. So, yes, elevator scene again. But you know you love that scene. And I think I kinda miss the whiny Shuichi from the other one, lol. But, oh, more sexy Yuki? Yes please!

Here's the Youtube profile page for Laliophobia Studios. Check it out!

Hajime no Ippo: Now With More Yaoi

The new season of Hajime no Ippo began airing this month on NTV. Because of classes and work I didn't get a chance to watch it until this past Wednesday. For any of you who are lost, Hajime no Ippo is a sports anime focused on boxing. Although I would love to claim it as the best sports anime ever, the only other sports based anime I've seen is The Prince of Tennis and saying it's better than The Prince of Tennis isn't saying much because everything is better than The Prince of Tennis (*hears horrified gasps from fangirls*). But, really and truly, it's awesome and I'd recommend it to anyone.

For those of you who have been following Hajime no Ippo, you know of Ippo's gigantic fanboy crush on Miyata. For a while I ignored the yaoiness of the situation, until I started reading the manga and it was as if the creator was just begging people to slash these two. Below is one of my favorite Ippo fanboy moments. He gets angry when Sendo goes upside Miyata's head.
Dude, Ippo didn't even react that way when bully's talked trash about his mom! But oh, touch his idol and IT IS ON! So, yeah, funny, ha-ha, and cute cause, gosh, he really likes this guy. Still, I don't slash.

Then I watch New Challenger and Ippo looks like this just because Kimura says he's going to spar with Miyata:
And then when the guys question him about his devotion to Miyata he looks like this and states:
Okay, first, that image, lol. I know I'm not the only one with a dirty mind here! You know that looks like something naughty is about to happen. Second, forget fanboy, Ippo, you are a complete and total fangirl. The blush! The fingers! The lip! You have all the physical symptoms of a fangirl. You're even hated by others for your freaky love:
But oh, the the fangirling doesn't stop there. While Kimura's out kicking Miyata's butt, Ippo begins to walk home but stops for a moment to reminisce about...his boxing career? No, because his boxing career is not even half as important as Miyata:
And I could go on and on, but all this Miyata lovin' got me wondering as to why there doesn't seem to be a female following for such a yaoilicious show. The only thing I can figure is females are turned off by the art style (and I will admit I'm not a fan myself) or they really do prefer pretty boy types to beefy, muscular guys (I know they do). But give Ippo a chance. You'll enjoy it, I promise. And here, a showering Miyata to entice you:
Wheee, this was a fun, meaningless entry XD. But, hey, it's Friday! Anyway, If you're interested in anything Ippo related here's the link to its wiki page. This will take you to its page on One Manga if you want to read the 840+ chapter series. But if you're interested in the anime I'd recommend purchasing the dvd's. Right Stuf is currently selling the individual volumes for 5 dollars a pop, which is a steal when you compare it to the collections they're also selling for 72 dollars each.

Btw, check out the opening for the new season. I absolutely adore it. What do you think?

Final Episode of Junjou Romantica

So, there was no sex, a bad soundtrack, and very little terrorist, but you know what? The second season of Junjou is still good. If this season has accomplished anything, it has made me like the romantica pairing. They are still my least favorite, but I actually have come to care for them and appreciate their storyline.

It was a fun ride, and who knows, maybe it will get an OVA release some day. I doubt there will be another season, especially with the little material they have left to pull from the manga. And if there is an OVA release I can only hope it's terrorist, because their storyline deserves the attention.

No sex in the champaign room...

...Or in Junjou Romantica, it seems. Have you been watching the new season? Things just seem, different, and the absence of sex scenes is just one of those differences that stood out to me. Don't get me wrong, sex scenes does not a good anime make. I guess I'm just curious how we go from sex in every episode to absolutely none. Did they get in trouble for being too risque? Okay, okay, the way I'm going on and on about this sex thing people are going to start to think that was my favorite part of the show. But it's not! Actually one of the things I really enjoyed was the soundtrack. I felt it gave those emotional moments life and vitality. I do believe that this show would not be as "romantic" without the music. But this new season doesn't make much use of the previous seasons soundtrack. In fact, they use mostly the same 3 or 4 bg's over and over again. And there is this one song they use repeatedly. You'll recognize it when you hear an accordion. Man, I am not feeling that accordion. It gives Junjou this European feel, like I'm watching Heidi or something, not a BL. And, not to be mean, but seriously, these new songs sound as if they were cheaply done. As if they just snatched 'em out of a public music archive (not to look down upon those because you can find some real awesome music there). But a lot of the music just sounds generic. Have you also noticed the near absence of chibi's? And if they are used they're not in Nakamura's unique style. I'm not just nitpicking, I'm trying to point out the things that have changed this season. Now for other people out there these changes might work for them, but I'm not one of 'em. I'm not going to stop watching Junjou, I still like seeing these characters animated and I LOVE the voice acting (<3 Nowaki), and I like following their relationships. I just think this season isn't as stellar as the first. And I'm still holding out hope for the terrorist couple. Hopefully this is the couple they will show next week, but I have a gut feeling they're going to save them for the end.