Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Anime Hype: You May Have Missed

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi is my favorite anime, Gainax recently re-released it on Blu-ray in Japan. Without it you wouldn't have Gurren Lagann or Panty & Stocking( same director).

The story is about Sashi and Arumi, two little kids about to be seperated. Seperation can wait as there transported to different versions of the place they live the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade. All the biggest genre's of anime are taken on at Sashi and Arumi are transported to other worlds similiar, yet insanely and chaoticly different. There's one episode devoted to big Hollywood and cult movies. Sci-fi, war, ganster, fantasy, pre-history it's all taken on with the lovely miss Mune-Mune causing trouble. Did I mention they all talk with a southern accents to reflect the Osaka region. Damn, this show is the best.

Don't know if it'll see a re-release soon as ADV last owned it's license state-side and it's gone the way of Tower Records.
Sgt. Frog the green, mean, gundam making machine debuted in Japan around the same time Invader Zim did. Sgt Frog leads his secret platoon to conquer pekopon( that's earth). Hi-jinks border the insanity of a frog whose basically a otaku. Did I mention Sgt. Frog lives with the Hinata family.  Befriended by a kind- hearted nerd, his angry deadly sister and their hot mom, Sgt. Frog must do household chores to earn his keep. Did I also mention the robots, mad scientist, invading aliens, a girl who can destroy the earth, clones, ninjas, and gundam references, the millions of gundam references. Sgt. Frog is a gundam otaku.

The re-dubbing on this was so tasty I never wanted to stop eating it. It's like a ice cream bar with everything you ever wanted. I'm not talking about a single ice cream bar I mean a bar where they serve ice cream. I don't know why they stopped at two seasons of release.

Funimation is re-releasing the first and second dubbed season on dvd.

Sgt. Frog: Season 2

Both under $40 at Amazon.


Pick up these two great comedy series.