764 Antimatter.

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A lot of the Viz anime & manga from when I was a teenager is discontinued now.  It was all so ubiquitous before that it seemed like I’d be able to gather it all up eventually, but that’s not the case.  Those titles have had their run and have been replaced with the new.  I like the new stuff for the most part.  Naruto, One Piece, and so on, but I’d like to be able to get the stuff I always intended to, but never had the money for.  Not that I have the money now either, but I’d like the option to be there.

I bring this up because I have had my eye on a Ranma 1/2 DVD set for a long time and when I finally decided it was time to pick it up it was no longer available.  And I don’t mean I missed it by a long time.  I checked one day and decided to see if I’d be okay getting it and it had sold by the time I came back.  Apparently someone else was either feeling nostalgic, or discovering Ranma for the first time.  After that the used copies started increasing in price to ridiculous levels.  He who hesitates and all that…

Anyway, I kept the listing so I could check back periodically.  I checked the Viz website by the way, they have it listed as available, but it just takes you to the Amazon listing that tells you it isn’t.  Which is bullshit.  I suspect that Viz isn’t real concerned about old properties anymore and never bother to update their website.  If my ad space is anything to go by it’s all about E Reader applications now.  Which is fine, but if I’m going to have to pay $6 for a download I may as well give them four more dollars and have a physical copy.  I’d be better tempted if the gulf between physical and data were a little wider, get me?

I’m getting off topic…  So, the other day I noticed a used copy listed for a reasonable price.  A little less than when it was new, in fact.  I guess they either didn’t know what they had, or weren’t dicks.  Whatever the case I didn’t hesitate.  I used some saved gift card munnies and ordered.  It got here today.  It’s one of those terrible old style anime set boxes from when companies were in love with huge, shitty, cases.  Smashed down one side, with the discs bouncing around inside freely.  Of course it was a bit scratched, but not so much as to make it unreadable.  I’m going to see if I can find a double disc case to replace the one in question.  I’ll have to cut up the cover art to fit a slim case, but that’s no big deal.

I don’t feel the need to get the TV sets since the animation got worse and worse each season.  This OAV set is a good enough representation of the quality animation to suffice.

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The television series at least stuck more or less to the Manga, with some notable exceptions. Of course, the OAVs are superior animation wise, and even in a pocket summary of what the whole series was about (specifically the cursed doll and haunted tunnel of love arcs). Of course, you can’t discount the two movies. And really the only thing you miss out on by missing the series is a few characters (most of which only made token appearances anyway, and were aparently intended to pair off the rivals and rival fiances for the ultimate Ranma Akane admission/marriage that never even happened in the Manga. Not sure if it happened in the television series or not, and I’m actually a little bit curious to find out.

I kind of feel for John here, despite the fact that most of my hobbies are so math intense they may as well be jobs, anyway. For that matter I’ve had a couple of D&D groups where I felt more like working than playing, (yes, despite the math) and they never really last that long anyway. By the same token, given that an event like this (checking out a haunted locale) is hopefully something of a rarity anyway, one would assume he put in a little effort into it. After all, some research, even a little, might be more work than say, scoring concert tickets, but there’s still gas, possibility of a hotel if the venue’s too far, parking, etc… You know, basic background things you have to put up with in order to get to the fun stuff.

That being said half assedness is its own reward and hard work pays off in the long run while apathy…. something.

That’s sad. I have the bootlegs for seasons 1-4 and the OAV set. The bootlegs are rips of the Viz releases. Totally illegal and they make you feel worse than buying some of the shittier bootlegs like the ones with just English subtitles done by a Chinese person who was, apparently, blind at the time. But, they are good bootlegs. And, actually, there are some individual seasons up right now for $50 each new. Here’s season 2: http://cgi.ebay.com/Ranma-1-2-Anything-Goes-Martial-Arts-Season-2-set-NEW-/400208445664?pt=US_DVD_HD_DVD_Blu_ray&hash=item5d2e4840e0
At any rate, I’ve found that watching stuff I watched 10 or 15 years ago doesn’t turn out as well as I hope. It’s never as good. Ranma is about the only exception, really, though I do stop watching after season 3 and just do random ones after that.
I picked up a copy of Blue Seed for $12.50!!! XD I was so ecstatic about it. I had the vhs tapes and watched them over and over. A year or so ago, Sam Goody was closing and everything was 50% off. It was already ringing up at $25 and the girl gave me the extra 1/2 off. :D I started watching it and …. uh… o_o; … wow… They sure do yell… a lot… Way more than I remember… Anyway, I only made it about 7 episodes in before I quit watching it again. I always intend to go back to it, but I haven’t yet.
Bubblegum Crisis didn’t last quite that long. I was trying to convince Dan that it was awesome (another tape set that I replaced with dvd — had to look for it forever, though, because I waited too long) and then we started watching it and it’s not quite as awesome as I remember… Record of Loddoss War I couldn’t make it all the way through again. I eventually sold it on ebay.
One thing I really want to replace is Revolutionary Girl Utena. I have the vhs tapes of it so I haven’t seen it in a while. It’s kind of long hauler anyway. Can’t really quit during season 1, you have to go through all 3.
Escaflowne… I haven’t seen in a while. It’s probably time for my annual watching. THAT series I have to a ridiculous extent. :) The original subtitled vhs tapes with the watercolor covers, the dvd set, and, last year, I got the laser discs for my birthday. Why, you ask? I don’t have a laser disc player… But, they do have the watercolor covers on them and, since there are more discs than tapes, there is more art. They’re really neat. ^^

I remember those huge ass cases… I have a few of them. They were always annoying but they always came with something to entice you (like the Black Escaflowne action figure…). I like them separate. I’m not too keen on thin-packs, either, but at least they lower the price at that point.

Dude, Bubblegum Crisis? You’re making me nostalgic.

I’ll have to go back and have a look season 1 vs season 7 Ranma, tho’. (Or whatever the last season was). I didn’t catch any appreciable difference in the declining animation, although the OAV’s *are* immeasurably better.

I still enjoy Bubblegum Crisis. I do wish, though, that they’d rerecorded the dialogue when they released the dvds. That is some of the worst dubbing EVER… I generally watch subs, but when I’m working or something I like to listen to them and that one is just atrocious.
As for Ranma, the animation started to go downhill in season 3. It was still alright, and some of my favorite episode were in 3, but season 4 it got worse. I think I stopped watching somewhere in season 6 and, during seasons 5 and 6, I was picking and choosing which ones I rented depending on the storyline.
Part of it was frustration with the bad animation and part of it was the lack of resolution to the ending. (I wanted to watch the ending to the series but my friend Joanna said it didn’t really have one. I was disappointed so I bought the last volume of the manga instead. At any rate, since I knew there was no ending, I didn’t want to bother wasting my time on it.)

Such a nice friend moment there, and honestly I second that notion. I really hate the idea of free time being like work time.

I have to agree with John’s position, “I don’t want me free time to feel like a job, too.” That said, one of the things I like to do is browse the Amateur Radio and Computer Flea Markets. Since Connecticut is a dinky state, I usually have to drive out of state for these, frequently Massachusetts (2 hours) or New Hampshire (3 hours). I’m going to have to do a certain amount of organization, since the folks that attend these things are not all professional vendors, and they like to pull up stakes early (like 11:00 a.m.) so I have to haul mass to get there before people start leaving. I worked 2nd and 3rd shift for a dozen years, and even thought I’ve worked days for the past 20 years or so, dammit, I have to get up early every morning to go to work; I don’t like having to drag out of bed for fun stuff!

–Perfesser

I, too, struggled with whether or not to buy the Ranma 1/2 collection. It was a landmark in animation, establishing many of the techniques still being used in anime, however, I decided to cheap it up, spend my money on booze and watch the entire series and the movies on YouTube.

Hey, guys. I see you guys are looking for anime. Trying rightstuf.com they have stuff for cheap and they even have dvd collection sets. I just checked a box set price for Ranma season 1 and it was like 30 bucks. They also have the manga too if that helps.

Why buy the dvd’s? unless your feeling really nostalgic or just a hardcore collector i’d just go to sites like crunchyroll or animefreaks.tv. crunchyroll has almost all the series for free in good quality you just have to deal with one commercial per episode unless you get the monthly subscription. Animefreaks is megadownloads interface, lower quality but you can download the episodes to a hard drive for a monthly 8.99 subscription to megadownloads. a little patience and some stickies and you’ve got an entire series plus the dvd art. the truth is alot of companies are going full digital that’s why you can’t find the series collections.

I’m a little hesitant to actually rely on something like an external hard drive to store my anime series. I’ve lost a couple of externals in the past. However, if there is something on that sight you mentioned that means you can download it as many times as you want after buying it the FIRST time, then I’d be all for it.

Sometimes it’s nice to have them there, especially things that you know you’ll be watching over and over.

I get where John is coming from. I work serving coffee at Tim Hortons (cheap coffee, donut, bagel and sandwitchs in case you’ve never been) and when I get home I don’t want to even look at a coffee pot. I head downstairs to paint some Warhammer and play some video games. Hobby time is hobby time, and work time is work time.

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