Monday, May 31, 2010

:anime: Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month:: Haruhi-Mania!!

Normally with the "Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month", I like to focus on lesser known or obscure titles, but every so often, I'll cover a notable work if there is something significant regarding it. Such is the case with the more-than-well-known Haruhi Suzumiya franchise.

Largely in honor of the debut--and quick licensing-- of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya film earlier in the year, the release of the Haruhi-chan and Churuya-san super-deformed manga in the U.S. and the recent run (and licensing) of the controversal "second season", U.S. distributor Bandai Ent., int'l streaming site Crunchyroll, and stateside manga publisher Yen Press have a cross-platform campaign promoting the franchise and its various parts. On the streaming anime front, CR is not only showing the megahit first season, but also the two anime adaptations of the SD manga mentioned. Both shows were just picked up by BEI within the last few weeks, and the second season will, too, make its appearance on CR later in the year. All of the shows can be neatly found here at no cost and in Japanese with English subtitles.

I was huge on the first season but a little disappointed with the direction and execution of S2 (and virtually none of it had to do with "Endless Eight"...), though I still liked it enough. Personally, at least I finally have a chance to watch the manga shorts, after Kadokawa's lacking job of making them easy to find on their YouTube channel last year. In all, it is a show definitely worth checking out if you still haven't or have just heard about it. And if you like it and its gag spinoffs, be sure to purchase the DVDs!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

HardDoor, Now Serving:: Cream of Twitter!!

I was originally going to wait to debut this exactly a month from now for HardDoor's fourth anniversary, but I decided to shift things up and announce the start of HD's new Twitter feed!

Originally, I was never that keen on joining the Twitter-sphere/scape/dome/whatever, and often poked lite fun at it from time to time for some of those banal, minute tweets about meals and lunches. However, I began to see the good in the service and decided that it would make a good match with the blog. I'll primarily be using it in conjunction with HD as a micro-blog of sorts, where I'll tweet about a few things anime, boxing, and a bit of randomness that I come across of--think of it as an extension of HD. I'm not quite sure how my timing will be, but that's all part of the learning curve and the fun! It also gives me the chance to post or comment about quick little things without having to do a bunch of little posts or a big compilation one (though I can't completely rule that out, either ;) ). A little quip on an anime show I watched...some words on a good boxing match that just aired...updates on a feature...interesting news alert...a nice recipe--just a few things that you might expect to see on HardDoor's Twitter page found below (and on the link bar to the right)!

Twitter: HardDoor (harddoorblog)

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

:anime: Blacks and Head Shots in Anime (Part 5)

<--To Part 4 | Part 6-->

(Note: As always, because these cases not only involve the death(s) of a particular character(s), but can also delve deep into a show's storyline, naturally spoilers will be involved. Also, most of the titles covered are either for older teen or mature audiences.)

Case #5

Title: A Wind Named Amnesia

Character: No name given.



Format: Film

Description: Robot operator/apparent priest of the city's "god." Balding afro cut; wears a garish attire with tights, a fur cape, long black nails, two (apparently) bone-adorned necklaces (and an additional jewel-laced one closest to his neck), and large beads grapevined around his arms. Semi-realistic features (i.e. facial structure, average-sized lips, and complexion). Looks like a normal man in an outfit crossed between a wrestler and a witch doctor (though much more of the latter).

Background: One day, circa 1997, a wind blew across the earth that caused everyone to lose all of their memories and anything they had learned. With humanity reduced to nothing more than wild animals, the world quickly devolved into a chaotic state. A young man, roaming feral like everyone else, comes across a large building where a boy in a wheelchair is being attacked by a large, hulking man with physic powers and wires coming out of his body. Instinctively, the young man tries to help the boy by tossing rocks at the crazed figure, but he is slammed into a tree by a psychic wave. As he goes to finish him off, the boy shoots the man in the head from behind and kills him. Johnny, as he is called, befriends the young man and takes him to the research facility that was housed in the building.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

And Now, For Your Reading Pleasure...THE OMNIUPDATE!!!!

Everything you could ever ask for in a post on HardDoor: anime, boxing, free anime, special features, beatdowns, and excessive fanservice! Let's get it on!!


Saturday, May 01, 2010

:boxing: ...It'll Do:: Mayweather vs. Mosley

Though I've been busy with the anime Black History Month special, I haven't forgotten about boxing and nor have I not watched anything (and trust me, I'll have a lot to say about in the near future...). I have been waiting for Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Shane Mosley to duke it out in the ring for a long time, so I'll finally be getting my wish come May 8.

Wait...it's tonight and not next Saturday? Hopkins vs Jones II all over again...

Once again, I thought a major fight was happening the following week, only to discover that it will that very weekend (it also doesn't help that it's been a busy couple of days for me, also hence the lateness and brevity), which is pretty bad considering it's Mayweather vs Mosley, the fight everyone shouldn't be getting down on because it's not "Mayweather vs Pacquiao" . Yes, it's not that, but it is pretty darn close--and it could damper any chance of that fight happening.