So a couple days ago I received a package from Amazon with the Funimation S.A.V.E. sets I had ordered. One thing about these editions is that there is very little actual information about the packaging to be found online, so I thought I’d share what I discovered upon actually seeing the sets in person for the first time.

First off… For those unfamiliar with the Funimation S.A.V.E. program… These are somewhat older series that Funimation has repackaged for a rather insanely low price (usually $22-$30). The S.A.V.E. stands for Super Amazing Value Edition, and they aren’t kidding. These are sets that typically run $40-$60 in the standard box set releases like The Viridian Collections.

It’s even better if you happen to find them on sale. I picked up  Pani Poni Dash, Kanon, and the Air Movie.

Now on to the packaging, and more to the point everyone’s biggest concern (aside from the DVDs themselves). The big green S.A.V.E. label. This has got to be the ugliest thing ever put on a DVD cover… Even uglier than the Evil Dead Book Of The Dead Edition. Thankfully you can rest easy. There are a couple of variations to the label, and Funimation has made it convenient to get rid of them (or at least remove them from your sight.) In the case of Kanon the label was a rather small green sticker that was actually stuck on outside of the cellophane, so when I unwrapped the DVD that one was solved right there.

The other type of label made me a bit more concerned. The full length spine S.A.V.E label is actually printed on the DVD art, but Funimation shows their ingenuity once again by making the DVD art reversible (which they have used on several regular sets in the past like School Rumble and Suzuka). In the Case of Pani Poni Dash the DVD art on the reverse side was identical to the “front” side (see the gallery images below) minus the S.A.V.E. logo, so simply flipping the DVD art around solves the problem. On the Air Movie it was slightly different, as the inside art was different than the outside, but it was still not too concerning as the inside art was much nicer than the outside art anyway.

Now… On to the DVD case itself. It’s a rather generic clear case that sort of reminds me of the old VHS cases you would rent movies in… Which I find kind of cool, but the coolest thing to me is the way the DVDs themselves are stored. The disc’s are contained in little flip out “pods” inside the case… Sort of like the extra disc’s they sometimes have on Disney/Pixar movies. It might seem a bit wonky to some, but to me it far exceeds the dreaded stack pack cases that ADV/Sentai are using now. Since there is one disc on each side of each pod it means the disc’s are not touching or rubbing against each other.

The DVDs themselves seem to be about what you’d expect. I have only watched the first volume of Pani Poni Dash so far, and can say that the visual quality (on an HD screen) is about the usual for Funimation DVDs. They did jam quite a few episodes on each disc, so they couldn’t fit much else (they did manage to cram a trailer onto each disc though). Menus are very very basic (see the gallery below), and special features seem to be non-existent. Which is not too big of an issue as most Anime special features are kind of lousy anyway. One note on that is that Funimation has claimed that they have not removed any special features, and supposedly the disc’s are the same as the last release of the DVD (typically the Viridian Collection release). In the case of Pani Poni Dash the last release was done by ADV, and since there never was a Viridian Release I suspect they compiled this version specifically as a S.A.V.E. edition which may explain the lack of any features. However… I notice that on the other two (Kanon & Air Movie) there is no mention of any features on the package, and these have both had a Funimation release in the past. I guess I will see when I get to those disc’s if they have any of the features from the last regular release. Not that it’s too big of a concern… You are already paying around $1.25 or less per episode so what more do you want?

You do get both the Japanese Subtitled versions as well as the English Dubs. I won’t really get into a review of the dub since with Pani Poni Dash it is an older ADV dub that most are probably already familiar with, but suffice to say that I could listen to Hilary Haag all day long… I just want her to call me Mr. Sagara over and over.

All in all I’d say the S.A.V.E. collections are a big win in my book. It’s a great way to expand your collection for much less than a typical release (usually new anime in the U.S. runs around $5 or more per episode), and with decent packaging, and fairly nice DVD art your other DVDs won’t be picking on your S.A.V.E. collections or calling them names. And if like I did you can find them on sale it becomes the Super Duper WTF You Gotta Be Kidding Me Value Edition.

Update: After checking out all the DVDs there were no special features on any of the discs in the titles I have. Still for the price paid you would be crazy to expect special features.

So Funimation is releasing these clips way too fast… Okay… Maybe not, but it makes it seem like I’m posting these clips a lot lately.

We can hear Todd Haberkorn as Death The Kid along with Jami Marchi and Cheramie Leigh as Liz and Patty Thompson in the first clip.

And also Chuck Huber as the voice of Dr. Stein in the second.

We still have yet to hear the voices of the rest of the main cast: Shinigami-sama, Medusa, Chrona, Ragnorok, and the rest. Personally I’m still waiting to hear Vic Mignogna as Spirit… That should be good.

Update: The first 4 dubbed episodes of Soul Eater will begin streaming on Funimation’s video portal on Friday 13, 2009 at 11 AM CST.

Since it’s almost Halloween, and since I happen to be watching Soul Eater at the moment I thought I’d mention a few things about the upcoming part 1 DVD  set Funimation will be releasing.

First off… Here is a clip from Funimation of the first episode dubbed in English:

There is no official release date for the DVD announced yet, and according to what was said during the Funimation Virtual Panel they are still in the process of dubbing. All that’s been said so far is that it will be out in (early?) 2010.

Another interesting piece of info from the panel was about the box itself. If true then the package that the DVD set will be released in is supposed to look and feel like human skin. Creepy enough for you? I’m wondering if this will be a special edition or if there is only one version being released. I’d rather avoid the skin box if possible. After watching the first half of the 51 episodes I understand the reason for this packaging, but whether it’s a good idea or not is another matter. It reminds me of the Evil Dead: Book Of The Dead edition DVD which I also passed on in favor of a standard cased edition. I also recall when I worked retail that particular version of Evil dead never did much other than collect dust on the shelf. Guess we’ll see how the Soul Eater set does.

Update: The first 13 Episodes of Soul Eater will be released on DVD Feb 09, 2010.

So the Halloween season just isn’t feeling creepy enough yet… How about getting in the mood with some scary anime? I was just thinking that very thought, and decided to find a couple of shows to get me in the mood, and thought maybe others might like some recommendations.

First off… What I’m intending to watch… Soul Eater and Rin: Mnemosyne no Musume tachi Can’t tell you much about them as I haven’t seen them myself yet, but the trailers I’ve seen at Funimation have my mouth watering, and I got a sudden craving for blood. If you haven’t seen them yet be sure to check out the trailers at Funimation’s video portal, and there are 21 subbed episodes of Soul Eater to watch for free. Soul Eater is an action-comedy more than a horror, but it looks to have plenty of creepiness. Rin… Well… Just watch the trailer… From what I understand most video sites won’t even let Funi put the trailer up because of the violent content… Adam Sheehan from Funimation described it as “Saw meets anime.”

So… What shows can I recommend to others… Let’s see.

Higurashi When They Cry is an obvious one. I just recently watched it (and reviewed it here). It will definitely make the hairs on your neck stand up.

Ghost Hunt is another one that I highly recommend… I’m pretty sure I was watching this during last Halloween.

Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl) is a must. The first season is available at most retailers, The second and third seasons Futakomori and Mitsugane have not been released in the US, but we’ll just pretend we don’t know about things like downloads and torrents.

Mushi-Shi is another great show… Not exactly scary, but there is some creepiness to be seen.

Shikabane Hime is more of an action, but I think zombie killing school girls who are themselves zombies can qualify it for a Halloween themed show. It’s opening sequence also still happens to be one of my favorites.

Tsukyomi MoonPhase and Princess Resurrection are a couple of good monster type shows if you’d like something less serious. And by all means if you absolutely want a horror based comedy then you must get a hold of the ADV dubbed Ghost Stories.

Another show that is not scary, but kinda fits in with the whole Halloween atmosphere is Clamp’s xXxHolic. You can watch the entire first season over at Funimation for free.

I know… There are more shows I could have listed, but I am sticking to recommending the ones I have actually seen.  So that will do it for this list.

Now that I finally finished watching the first season I was able to add this to my fall anime watch list. After 2 episodes I’ll say that if you liked the first season you will enjoy the second as well. The storyline is very much in tune with the first season. The new show starts out in Russia several years after the events at the end of season one. Hei looks like a scruffy bum now, and is apparently doing odd jobs for the CIA.

All new characters are introduced with some of the old characters popping in now and then. Without giving too much away… Someone asked Funimation at their web panel recently if they were going to license Darker Than Black 2, and if they would re-use the original voice cast… Well… The way things are going after 2 episodes the voice casting might not be a concern. They might not need many of the cast from the first season. Apparently a lot has happened in the time between stories, and it looks like we will find out about those details in the form of flashbacks. It is obvious from the start that what Hei did at the end of the first season has caused the events that are happening now, and I suspect that deep down he wants to fix everything, but we’ll have to see how things go.

The new characters are quite likable, and there is plenty of action and suspense. A must watch show.

So… It’s the classic story of one idiot ruining things for everyone else… We all know the story… The kid who winds up causing everyone to have extra homework because he couldn’t shut up in class, or the co-worker who cost everyone at work to lose their internet privileges because he was surfing porn sites… Surely everyone knows this person, and it looks like the infamous fun destroyer has struck yet again.

By know I imagine the anime world is quite aware that a person (or more likely sub human monkey turd would be a more appropriate classification) accessed Funimation’s servers, and discovered the yet unaired episode of One Piece set to be released one hour after the Japanese broadcast, and began merrily distributing it around the internet. Mostly it was treated like a joke by most who said things like: ”it’s not like stuff hasn’t been leaked onto the net early before.” In this case it looks like the worst possible scenario is occurring… Meaning that Toei Animation is not too happy about the situation, and is reacting quite severely. Though who could blame them. No telling how much money they or Fuji Television could lose from advertisers that pull their commercials out of the broadcast slot for that episode.

Funimation has put this statement on their website:

As anime fans know, FUNimation Entertainment and Toei Animation had planned for the first ever online simulcast of the series One Piece tonight at 9:00 pm CDT., just one hour after its premiere on Japan’s Fuji Television. Unfortunately, in the last 24 hours we have determined that the FUNimation servers were compromised, even though we employ strict security standards. An unknown individual accessed and posted episode 403 online and as a direct result of this illegal act, all U.S. and Canadian fans will be deprived of access to this great anime series for the immediate future. We will make every effort to locate and prosecute the perpetrator(s) to the fullest extent of the law and will provide updates regarding this most serious matter.

It also seems that Hulu and Joost have removed One Piece from their sites, and although no reason has been given most are assuming that it is at Toei’s request. So it would appear that through one’s actions an entire series has been pulled from all American sites (at least the legal ones). It is unknown at this time whether Funimation will be able to get things straightened out, or what will become of the One Piece simulcast plans. For that matter we also don’t know what will become of the rest of the Toei titles that Funimation has acquired licenses for if they decide to just pull out of the deal altogether.

Days like this I’m glad I don’t write for a real media company because at least I get to say what I think of this matter. If anyone knows who the idiot who did this is please do us all a favor and turn the schmuck in… Interesting things are happening in the anime world,  and we are starting to get to see episodes of anime the same day they broadcast in Japan… This isn’t the type of stupid stunt that was needed right now to screw all of that up.

And it has not escaped me about the irony of a show about pirates being pirated.

Update: It also seems that Funimation has removed all episodes of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. They have not made a statement on whether this is permanent or whether the episodes have only been removed until they fix their security issues, but it’s yet another example of how much trouble one idiot can cause. All I can say is if this causes them to stop streaming episodes of Phantom I may have to take it upon myself to personally hunt down and rid the world of the individual who caused this mess. I’m already on edge this week after hearing that Anime Network is no longer on Comcast and I won’t get to see the last volume of Princess Resurrection.

Follow up: Just because I sort of left this post hanging for a long time I realized I should update, and state that Funimation’s One Piece simulcast restarted on August 29th, 2009 and as far it goes everything over there seems to be fine. All shows that were put on hold at that time have also been put back on the site, although the video portal site as of now (October 24th, 2009) still has the site maintenance banner at the top.

Okay, so I’m sure everyone knows by now that Funimation has been going like gangbusters when it comes to streaming free episodes of anime online, and not even the lousy titles you would expect a company to stream at that… I mean all of Ouran High School Host Club, School Rumble, Shuffle, etc… The list is rather impressive, but for those who browsed their page today it must have been a shock to find that Funi has added all 109 episodes of Fist Of The North Star as well as all 43 episodes of Fist Of The North Star 2 onto their video portal in one bulk update. I mean… Are you for real??? I would never expect a company to release 152 full episodes of uncut anime in one day… That’s gotta be unheard of.

Funimation has also aquired 6 other Toei titles that it will stream in the (very near) future which are: Slam Dunk, Digimon Adventure 02, Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, Pretty Cure, and Air Master.

As far as Fist Of The North Star I have not seen it, or honestly heard much about it before now, and as it appears to be a fighting anime I may not even watch it as that’s not typically my genre of choice, but for those that do wish to see then make sure you have lots of popcorn because that’s a whole lot of free anime right there.

And if I’m writing this as if I’m in shock… Well… I am… I’m accustomed to companies dishing out a few episodes here… A few more over there… And basically going nuts waiting for the next episodes to appear. For anyone to throw this much anime up at one time almost seems like someone must be breaking a law or two somewhere, but it’s really all legal.

On another note looking at Funimation from a business standpoint… If they aren’t already there then they are definitely in a position to take the reigns as the top dog in anime licensing. With other companies like Geneon and Bandai apparently having troubles, and reports that Yen Press is currently trying to buy as many of ADVs manga licenses as they can get their hands on it looks to be rather obvious that there are big wheels turning in that industry, and unless something drastic happens Funi is positioning themselves to be the “last man standing.”

Oh… And if anyone from Funimation reads this… Please hurry up and license Hell Girl Futakomori and Mitsuganae… Plus it’d be real nice if you got a hold of K-On before someone else gets a chance to.

Just wanted to add a little update without writing another article…

It seem’s Funimation is not quite finished with the madness. Less than a week after writing this they have also dropped 101 episodes of Slam Dunk on their page along with the first 5 dubbed episodes of Strain, and the first 7 dubbed episodes of The Big Windup. Are they at least aware that they are allowed to sell this stuff rather than simply giving it away? Although I’m sure their intentions are that people will be more likely to buy the DVDs if they get a chance to watch first it still seems to go against everything we’ve ever learned from the entertainment industry. And I haven’t even brought up the deal with Gonzo, but for those that may not have heard by now Funi has made a deal with Gonzo in which they will basically be simulcasting subbed episodes of Gonzo’s new shows the same day they are broadcast in Japan. And n top of all that they are streaming Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood subbed episodes (which I assume is part of The Gonzo deal). I can only say that for people who are in to anime the last two weeks have probably seemed insane, and of course the fansubbers are either crying themselves asleep or are getting a long needed rest. Well.. Not really there is still plenty of anime out there for them to translate, but it is quite obvious that Funi’s experiment with Shikabane Hime definitely shut fansubbers down quite effectively. My brain is gonna melt pretty soon if they keep this up.