A bit of good news for once
Jan. 19th, 2009 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerThe first weeks of this new year have seemed to be a dark time for those who value anime enough to pay for it instead of just downloading fan-translated files and smirking at the North American companies struggling to officially license and release it. It all started when the battered company ADV, after managing to license a title of some certain interest to many fans, announced that they would join in the recent practice of releasing bigger chunks of a series at once than just a few episodes. There was momentary jubilation, but then people realised there wasn't going to be an English-language dub included, a strong suggestion that ADV was battered to the point where it couldn't afford it... Then, more misery got tossed in with suggestions that anime was getting pulled off store shelves. Among all of this gloom, though, there was at least one bright point for me: my Code Geass DVDs played properly.
It seems that I'm not quite the sort to squeeze new "fansubbed" anime series into my assorted viewings on a moment's notice. I do hear every so often about a series beginning to attract great amounts of fan attention, but as with mere live-action North American series, by the time "this could be worth watching" really starts to register on me, it seems like too much work to track down all the "fansubs" of the various episodes and I'm pretty much ready to let the announcement of the series being officially licensed cap off my interest, after which I can wait the long months for it to be released on DVD. Around the middle of 2007, the licensing announcements for three series particularly caught my attention, and I started waiting... then, Geneon was shut down in North America and I was left thinking "well, at least there'll still be two series on DVD to watch," and then, ADV had all of its recent and upcoming licenses confiscated and I was left thinking "well, at least there'll still be Code Geass to watch." (Those two missing series did get shuffled to somewhat different hands and eventually released, though: one of them, Gurren Lagann, was one of the highlights of my viewing last year just as I'd hoped.)
When Code Geass did get released on DVD by Bandai Entertainment, I had my preorder in... but then, reports started cropping up that the entire first production run of the second DVD in its set was defective and would freeze up in practically every DVD player out there. I felt kind of sorry for Bandai Entertainment as the opprobrium frothed up; for a few years now, the company seems to have been stuck in the unenviable role as the one that always manages to mess up its most anticipated releases, and they had seemed to have just about worked through those issues when it all went up in flames again... but the thought of getting defective DVDs, of course, didn't appeal to me. There was talk that replacement DVDs were being made, though, and my order wound up delayed for a while at the online store I had placed it at, which at least made me hope that they were waiting in the hopes of getting working copies that I might luck into getting one of... but when it did ship, I wasn't quite sure enough time had passed. The DVDs sat in my "backlog" for a while, and when I finally opened them I had the sense I was working towards a potential grenade... but in a DVD player that has had some luck playing other DVDs that have seemed problematic, I got through all the episodes without what seemed a single glitch. I was glad that it had worked; I'd found myself liking Code Geass as much as I'd first hoped.
The series is set in a sort of "alternative universe" where the "Brittanian Empire" bestrides good parts of the world and has just conquered Japan. (I've noticed a few people wondering if this is aiming at a "real-world" target, but maybe I'm not sensitive enough to see the "Brittanian Empire" as "thinly disguised"; however, I suppose I can ponder about but not articulate thoughts about whether envisioning "Japan invaded" is meant to tie into an uglier side of nationalism, one found perhaps in many places.) In this subjugated land, a Brittanian teenager named Lelouch, who has his own issues with his homeland, is granted in the chaotic opening circumstances a power he calls "geass," the ability to compel people to follow his orders. (An early revelation about just how this works caught my attention, although perhaps it's being just plain coy in this one case to try not to "give it away"; however, it's tempting to say that "geass" is in some ways far more powerful and in other ways significantly more limited than the "Jedi mind trick.") Sudden revelations and plot twists are the order of the day, and there are also mecha, although I'm afraid equipping giant robots with "roller skates," after first seeing them in a somewhat less impressive anime series, seems to me to be more a animation cost-cutting measure than anything. However, Code Geass isn't interesting to me just because of that. In some ways, I enjoy it by not taking it too seriously, but I suppose I'm now aware of dark statements by some (not all) that the whole structure eventually breaks down under its own weight... for now, though, I'm interested, for all that the second set of the series has been tied up for a while now in another order still waiting to ship.
It seems that I'm not quite the sort to squeeze new "fansubbed" anime series into my assorted viewings on a moment's notice. I do hear every so often about a series beginning to attract great amounts of fan attention, but as with mere live-action North American series, by the time "this could be worth watching" really starts to register on me, it seems like too much work to track down all the "fansubs" of the various episodes and I'm pretty much ready to let the announcement of the series being officially licensed cap off my interest, after which I can wait the long months for it to be released on DVD. Around the middle of 2007, the licensing announcements for three series particularly caught my attention, and I started waiting... then, Geneon was shut down in North America and I was left thinking "well, at least there'll still be two series on DVD to watch," and then, ADV had all of its recent and upcoming licenses confiscated and I was left thinking "well, at least there'll still be Code Geass to watch." (Those two missing series did get shuffled to somewhat different hands and eventually released, though: one of them, Gurren Lagann, was one of the highlights of my viewing last year just as I'd hoped.)
When Code Geass did get released on DVD by Bandai Entertainment, I had my preorder in... but then, reports started cropping up that the entire first production run of the second DVD in its set was defective and would freeze up in practically every DVD player out there. I felt kind of sorry for Bandai Entertainment as the opprobrium frothed up; for a few years now, the company seems to have been stuck in the unenviable role as the one that always manages to mess up its most anticipated releases, and they had seemed to have just about worked through those issues when it all went up in flames again... but the thought of getting defective DVDs, of course, didn't appeal to me. There was talk that replacement DVDs were being made, though, and my order wound up delayed for a while at the online store I had placed it at, which at least made me hope that they were waiting in the hopes of getting working copies that I might luck into getting one of... but when it did ship, I wasn't quite sure enough time had passed. The DVDs sat in my "backlog" for a while, and when I finally opened them I had the sense I was working towards a potential grenade... but in a DVD player that has had some luck playing other DVDs that have seemed problematic, I got through all the episodes without what seemed a single glitch. I was glad that it had worked; I'd found myself liking Code Geass as much as I'd first hoped.
The series is set in a sort of "alternative universe" where the "Brittanian Empire" bestrides good parts of the world and has just conquered Japan. (I've noticed a few people wondering if this is aiming at a "real-world" target, but maybe I'm not sensitive enough to see the "Brittanian Empire" as "thinly disguised"; however, I suppose I can ponder about but not articulate thoughts about whether envisioning "Japan invaded" is meant to tie into an uglier side of nationalism, one found perhaps in many places.) In this subjugated land, a Brittanian teenager named Lelouch, who has his own issues with his homeland, is granted in the chaotic opening circumstances a power he calls "geass," the ability to compel people to follow his orders. (An early revelation about just how this works caught my attention, although perhaps it's being just plain coy in this one case to try not to "give it away"; however, it's tempting to say that "geass" is in some ways far more powerful and in other ways significantly more limited than the "Jedi mind trick.") Sudden revelations and plot twists are the order of the day, and there are also mecha, although I'm afraid equipping giant robots with "roller skates," after first seeing them in a somewhat less impressive anime series, seems to me to be more a animation cost-cutting measure than anything. However, Code Geass isn't interesting to me just because of that. In some ways, I enjoy it by not taking it too seriously, but I suppose I'm now aware of dark statements by some (not all) that the whole structure eventually breaks down under its own weight... for now, though, I'm interested, for all that the second set of the series has been tied up for a while now in another order still waiting to ship.