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How To Order From Amazon Japan
Amazon Japan now ships tons of items to the United States. However, if you don’t know Japanese, ordering from the site can seem a little overwhelming. I’ve created a step-by-step guide on how to order from the site in English. It’s a lot easier than you’d think.
First, navigate to the Amazon Japan site.
Next, scroll down to the bottom of the page and find the little globe icon.
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Animal Crossing Music Observations
I’ve been play an awful lot of Animal Crossing lately. I made two interesting observations about the music and I thought I’d share them.
The music heard in the shop on the island
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Criterion Finally Announces The Decalogue
Criterion has announced that they will be releasing Kieślowski’s masterpiece The Decalogue on DVD and Blu-ray on September 27, 2016. The film features a 4K transfer and tons of extras, including the full-length versions of A Short Film About Killing and A Short Film About Love.
This ten-part series originally aired in Poland in 1989 before being released worldwide. Each part is an hour-long short film dealing with a different commandment in a loose way. Each story is complex and very moving. The Decalogue has been released in the US before by Facets, but the quality left a lot to be desired. This is one of my absolute favorite films from one of my absolute favorite directors, so I’m ecstatic we’re finally getting a 4K restoration from Criterion.
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Freezepop Photo Drop!
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Radiant Review
Blacklight was a complicated album. The music was darker and subtler than the three Iris studio albums before it. It was slower, more ambient and not as immediately accessible. That fact, combined with the overt religious references in the lyrics seemed to create a kind of divide among fans. I wasn’t initially impressed with Blacklight myself, but after repeated listens the genius of the album eventually shined through. It’s an amazing album, albeit a grower.
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Viz Gives Zetman Physical Release
It looks like Zetman is finally getting a physical release in the US. It was initially offered subbed as a simulcast on Hulu (you can still watch it there) and is currently airing dubbed on Viz’s streaming service, Neon Alley. Viz is bringing the 13-episode series based on the Masakazu Katsura manga of the same name to Blu-ray and DVD on November 5th.
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The Inbetweeners: A Comparison Between the American and British Versions
IntroductionIn 2008 a British sitcom by the name of The Inbetweeners premiered on E4. It was the first comedy series commissioned for the channel, which mostly aired American imports. The show followed a group of male teenage social outcasts attending Rudge Park Conservative. The show’s premise was based around the typical male coming-of-age sex comedy and a lot of the basic content was rather standard fare. While the territory certainly wasn’t new, The Inbetweeners managed to breathe new life into the genre through its well fleshed-out characters and its over-the-top raunchy content. The series became extremely popular. It ran for three series, won several awards, and even spawned a feature film in 2011.The series’ popularity did not stop in the UK. The show eventually aired in Australia, France, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, New Zealand, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Columbia, France, Portugal, Russia, the United States, Norway, the Netherlands, and Spain. While the series aired on BBC America in the United States, MTV decided that they would remake the series. It is no surprise that they wanted to remake this series. British series are the most popular television import in America (Mittel 443) and some remakes of these series, such as The Office, have been extremely popular. The first episode aired in August of 2012.This paper intends to look at the similarities and differences between the two versions of The Inbetweeners. By discussing the differences and similarities in form and content, this paper also hopes to spread some light on the fundamental differences between the American and British television systems. Lastly, this paper also makes an attempt to understand just how the American version turned out so bad. -
Mawaru-Penguindrum Gets Licensed in North America
Sentai Filmworks has announced that they have acquired the rights to Mawaru-Penguindrum in North America. The series will be split up into two sets, the first of which will be released on December 31 of this year. This release will feature an English dub audio track, as well as the original Japanese and will be released on both DVD and BLURAY. Mawaru-Penguindrum is the first series Kunihiko Ikuhara has directed since Revolutionary Girl Utena.
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Funi Acquires Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari
Funimation announced that they have acquired the rights to Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari AKA Saint Knight’s Tale. They’ll be releasing it as Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar. This series is a 13 episode OVA that follow’s Tenchi’s half-brother, Kenshi, as he finds himself stranded in an alternative world. The series will be dubbed into English and hopefully released sometime early next year. I caught the digisub when it first came out a few years back and quite liked it. I’m very excited for a physical US release.
Funi also announced that they have gotten the rights to the “complete Tenchi franchise”. Last I heard, the only Tenchi series that don’t have the rights for are Pretty Sammy TV (Magical Project S), Pretty Sammy OVA and the Mihoshi Special. Of course, if they wanted to showcase the full extent of Kajishima’s Tenchiverse, Funi would have to pick up Dual!, Photon and Spaceship Agga Ruter. At any rate, put me down for a Blu-ray set of Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari and the original Tenchi OVAs.
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Xenoblade Won’t Load None
After work today, I stopped at GameStop and picked up the copy of Xenoblade Chronicles I had pre-ordered. Despite having massive amounts of homework to do this weekend, I was really excited about this game and planned on playing it all night. It wasn’t meant to be.
When I put the game in my system I was informed that the Wii couldn’t read the disc. I popped in Skyward Sword to make sure my Wii wasn’t malfunctioning and it loaded fine. Maybe the disc was defective? A quick google revealed that older Wii systems have problems loading Xenoblade. It’s a dual-layer game I guess the lens that reads the game was improved in newer Wii systems. I got my Wii on launch day… There are only about 5 or 6 Wii games that are dual-layer, but they all have a problem playing on older Wiis once the lens gets a little dirty. One of these game is Super Smash Brothers: Brawl. My copy had always played fine, but when I tested it today I got the same message the system gave me when I popped in Xenoblade:
I called Nintendo customer service and was told that it was probably a dirty lens. I could either pay $15 to try a lens cleaning kit from them or pay $90 for an out-of-warranty repair. This didn’t seem fair to me as it wasn’t my fault that my system wouldn’t load the game. It was how the system was made, not anything I did. I got off the phone with Nintendo and decided to call around to local electronic and game stores to see if any of them carried the lens cleaning kit. No one carried one, of course.
