So, Anime You Like Lately

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:46 am

It works in every direction. When you region lock content, you select allowed countries. People almost never get around to allowing smaller, more forgettable countries. It's not just that all kinds of American content isn't visible in Canada even though it's right next door and basically the same thing. Lots of EU content is actually only allowed in Germany, France, and the UK. Lots and lots of content that is nominally for "Europe" is totally invisible to me because I'm in Czech Republic. Even though that's in Europe in every legal sense.

Region locking is super fucked.

-Username17

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:29 pm

interesting . . i never had that happen the other way around O.o

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 12:51 am

Region locking is also very likely to breach the laws many countries have (including the US) on "limiting or interfering with commercial trade". You don't want to give people reasons to not spend money in capitalism, after all. Sadly for us, laws don't apply to big companies.

Blasted · Post by **Blasted** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:10 am

Meikle641 wrote:
Stahlseele wrote:/me does not approve of what they did to the lesbian stripper ninja in this one <.<
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... ch-in-2013
I don't mind the body and clothing changes, but changing the hair? No. Just, no.

Given that the second manga had Kusanagi in a completely different (virtual) body for the vast majority of it, I think it's fine.
It's a minor fashion update.

I'm a little unhappy that the stealth suits changed so drastically between the movie and the series. Yes, I've been sitting on that tidbit of disappointment for some time

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:53 am

Koumei wrote:Region locking is also very likely to breach the laws many countries have

Here in Australia DVD region locking was ruled as illegal at one point and the DVD player manufacturers were forced to make region free players (or region free firmware upgrades etc...) available to customers. At least for a while.

Companies were spotty at best about doing it at first, and for all I know have gone back to their flat out evil ways by now due to lack of enforcement or some bit of scummy John Howard era evil enablement legislation.

But right around the time of the ruling I for instance bought a DVD player that was ostensibly region free. And it was... sort of... it played other region DVDs no problem UNLESS those DVDs were manufactured/published/whatever by the same big name as the DVD player brand in which case it still illegally enforced DVD region locking "by accident". But being the era it was and the region business well known to retailers I went and returned it and got one that really did what they were supposed to.

edit: Oh and the whole thing was largely rendered irrelevant in the long run because the ruling and enforcement targeted the media player manufacturers, not the distributors of actual media. So it means fuck all if your Australian DVD player can actually read out of region DVDs because the fucking DVD publishers still only sell you Australian region DVDs and use our physical isolation to treat us like a captive monopoly.

And while you could for a while buy UK and USA DVDs on the internet, I wouldn't be surprised that like a lot of media content on a lot of major sites it's increasingly locking out Australian's. I know the last few times I've tried to buy anything on Amazon I kept getting at the VERY last minute "Ooops we dont send that to Australia! LoL!" Though I was largely trying to buy random bullshit crazy stuff and not Books (which I'd be suprised to see region limited like that) OR DVDs (which could go either way on Amazon these days for all I know). Have had the problem with some attempts to order gaming related stuff though. And they DEFINITELY do it with video games.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:31 am

PhoneLobster wrote:I've tried to buy anything on Amazon I kept getting at the VERY last minute "Ooops we dont send that to Australia! LoL!"

Amazon.com does that to me all the fucking time. I eventually asked them why this was, and they basically told me to go back to our little ghetto, amazon.ca where nothing of worth or note is sold. They also fucked up shipping costs when I was selling DVDs by a considerable margin.

Anyway, this is why I use an internet friend of mine in the USA as my shipping mule. Fuck regional restrictions.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:03 pm

Melkle, you done broke the universe.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:43 pm

yeah, tags and layout all fucked up now . .

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:24 pm

Some men like to watch the forums burn.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 12:23 pm

I finally got a decent enough copy of LOGH. I've zoomed through the first 11 episodes. This show is all sorts of awesome. It even fits the space opera kick I've been on. Space battles, Strategy, Politics, Romance, and ambition. That's just only some of the awesomes I can count.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:19 pm

What's LOGH? O.o

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:26 pm

Legend of Galactic Heroes, I assume.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:33 pm

Ah, never heard of that.
I just discovered Vividred Operation, which is basically Strike Witches with Magical Girls and Docking shenanigans . .

And i need to see if Love! Live! School Idol Project is really Yuridolita Anime.

For Space Opera, i am not really sure if it falls under that label, but Moretsu Pirates is so boss!

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 5:05 pm

Yeah, Legend of Galactic Heroes.

MGuy · Post by **MGuy** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:53 pm

I just started watching LoGH about 3 days ago. Only got to episode 3 though. This feels like it's going to be a long and slow ride so I don't feel any need to rush things.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 8:58 pm

It's got arcs kinda like TTGL and while the action doesn't start ramping up and while it doesn't really pierce the heavens with its drill, it does have a long range with almost decades passing between arcs.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 3:00 am

So, it turns out my university has an Anime club, which I attended today. It was wonderful.

First one today was Baccano, which is about... uh, most of the action so far has occurred on a train. There appear to be three separate criminal factions aboard the train, as well as the train robbers ("That's when you take a train somewhere, steal something, then make your getaway on the train, right?"*beat*"Yes, that's right! Let's steal from the mafia again!") Also, there is a thingy called the Rail Tracer, which attacks trains and is attracted by people telling stories about it on trains. If the story were being told by people other than the train robbers, I would assume they were fucking with the listeners.

Also, we watched one episode from a series just starting up called Kotoura-san, about a girl with telepathy and little sense of discretion, which winds up driving everyone away, which gets steadily more sad and depressing in the opening until she transfers to (yet another) school and reads the mind of the one person in the classroom who isn't initially staring at her, and... well, words cannot properly convey what happens next, and I cannot find pictures. But it was something truly magical. I have not laughed so hard in a long time.

Then there was Blue Exorcist, which is about a half-demon exorcist. Also, the exorcists use holy water grenades. I am sold.

Lastly was one about SPAAACCCCEEEE! pirates. Well, actually, the main character is currently considering whether to inherit a pirate ship and currently going off on a cruise with the members of the girls' school space yacht club on a ship that happens to have also been a pirate ship. Although I think technically it's a privateer ship, which the subtitles somewhat confusingly translate as "official pirate".

rampaging-poet · Post by **rampaging-poet** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:24 am

We watched Baccano last semester. It was really, really good.

Haganai also has a second season now. I'm up to episode 3, but episode 4 came out the other day. A short clip from episode 2 included an amazing amount of recursion. I got to tell my friend that I watched an anime in which the characters watched an anime based on a yaoi game in which the characters played yaoi games.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 6:44 am

name_here wrote:First one today was Baccano, which is about... uh, most of the action so far has occurred on a train. There appear to be three separate criminal factions aboard the train, as well as the train robbers ("That's when you take a train somewhere, steal something, then make your getaway on the train, right?"*beat*"Yes, that's right! Let's steal from the mafia again!") Also, there is a thingy called the Rail Tracer, which attacks trains and is attracted by people telling stories about it on trains. If the story were being told by people other than the train robbers, I would assume they were fucking with the listeners.

Fantastic show.

name_here wrote:Lastly was one about SPAAACCCCEEEE! pirates. Well, actually, the main character is currently considering whether to inherit a pirate ship and currently going off on a cruise with the members of the girls' school space yacht club on a ship that happens to have also been a pirate ship. Although I think technically it's a privateer ship, which the subtitles somewhat confusingly translate as "official pirate".

Terrible show.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:13 am

Moretsu Pirates . .
It got me back into the moe-quicksand <.<

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 7:44 pm

So, watched more of the above shows.

Moretsu Pirates involved vaguely accurate hacking, with the main characters creating a dummy sandbox system to sucker script kiddies, the most gratuitously over-the-top scanning system ever and its activation via punching a button, and

Demonstrating the difference between a variable-alignment and reflectance solar sail and an Archimedes-style death ray. Which is to say, settings.

Blue Exorcist had the main character respond to a challenge to defy the strict order of a teacher to not do something while he was out of the room with:

Rin wrote:Absolutely, let's do it...

Is what I would say if I were an idiot

It was refreshing.

Baccano!... continues to defy description. The number of factions on the train is increasing. I think we're up to six. But the shooting has started, so it might decline soon.

There was also a sample episode of one called Spiral, which is a crime drama of the "howdidit" style. I discovered I have played too much Crusader Kings II by figuring it out maybe seven minutes in.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:07 pm

name_here wrote:Baccano!... continues to defy description. The number of factions on the train is increasing. I think we're up to six. But the shooting has started, so it might decline soon.

So even though they totally fucking label each scene when they switch with a year, can you tell me without looking it up which set of events occurs first, the one in the town, or the one on the train?

rampaging-poet · Post by **rampaging-poet** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:37 pm

I can! Spoilered to give name_here a chance to respond and because it's an actual spoiler.

Most of the town events happen first. Isaac and Maria are already immortal when the train events occur. Tracking down Dallas Genord happens later.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:05 pm

Kaelik wrote:
name_here wrote:Baccano!... continues to defy description. The number of factions on the train is increasing. I think we're up to six. But the shooting has started, so it might decline soon.
So even though they totally fucking label each scene when they switch with a year, can you tell me without looking it up which set of events occurs first, the one in the town, or the one on the train?

There's, um, three sets of events. 1932 is in New York, 1931 is mainly on the train, and 1930 is in a town that I believe is Chicago.

So the answer is that it depends on which town you are talking about.

Admittedly, the main reason I know that without looking that up is that every time an unlabeled scene change happens, the club briefly discusses which timeframe it just cut to.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:49 am

name_here wrote:Admittedly, the main reason I know that without looking that up is that every time an unlabeled scene change happens, the club briefly discusses which timeframe it just cut to.

I was technically referring to the pre stuff part, because I found Dallas Genourd so boring I just fucking forgot it. Also, it has the one lady from on the train talking about the train, so it is obvious that it comes after when you are looking at it.

But I literally did not fucking keep track of the times, and got super fucking pissed when I realized during the big fucking climax seen (well, a little before that, when they have the bottles) that of course everything turns out just fine, because Isaac and Maria are on the train. Robbed a bit of the dramatic tension.