Tag Archives: it can’t be helped

Nov 13 2011

Opinion: Movie Musings

So, two movies. There’s no news yet on what they’ll be about, nor have I seen who’s in the staff (but I hope Satou will be directing again, and Nishida writing). I have a bit mixed feelings about that it’s going to be movies instead of S2 or OVAs, because I haven’t seen that many good movies based on TV anime.

My biggest worry is that the movies will be a recap – or even worse, recap that retcons the story. Recap movies tend to be boring since I’ve already seen the anime and I know what’ll happen, better graphics doesn’t really make it that much more interesting for me. The retcon movies on the other hand make me rage. Let’s take the Macross Frontier movies as an example; I saw the anime and I enjoyed it even though it had flaws and my favourite character got killed. The movies retconned so much of the story and characterization that I wasn’t even sure what I was watching – and I just couldn’t like them even though my favourite character survived in them. I really, really do not want to see retcon happen to Tiger & Bunny and its characters.

(To clarify: I don’t believe they’d take the recap/retcon route, especially if S2 is in the works behind the scenes; it makes more sense to do a proper lead up to it with the movies. It’s just something I wanted to note because many anime movies pick the easy way and recap the story.)

The new footage that was shown at the Hero Awards 2011 event may indicate that we’ll get a new story. The staff have stated on more than one occasion that they have a lot of material they couldn’t fit into the anime, so the possibility of all that being used for the movies is pretty high. They could do a lot of stuff with just the 10 month timeskip, but if I’d have to make bets I’d say at least one of the movies will be set after the anime ending because of what Ozaki mentioned in a recent interview. It’s also more than likely that the movies will get new sponsors since the sample pictures had the hero suits blank of advertisements. New project, new sponsors.

The other major gripe I have with anime movies is that I’m not in Japan and have no chance to go there just to see a movie. They can take up to a year to be released on BD/DVD, and the wait is going to be agonizing. The likelihood of getting spoiled for plot is pretty high, too, since I know many Japanese fans and I doubt I can avoid all the spoilers… I don’t know if I even want to avoid them because I’m dying for more Tiger & Bunny. I’ve seen some speculations about the movies making it to the USA pretty fast because the streams were so popular, which is great for the American fans. I’m European so I’ll probably get the Japanese version faster, though.

I’m pretty hopeful we’ll eventually get S2, and the movies’ job is to tide us over until then. Ozaki wanted to do a continuation fast, and a S2 wouldn’t have been ready until 2013. It’s understandable they want to make more when Tiger & Bunny is so popular. Too long wait would be bad in business sense, and Sunrise (and Bandai) are doing this for business after all. The movies are only step 2 in NEXT Project (Hero Awards was step 1) so who knows what we’ll get… I’ve heard there should be four steps in it.

Nov 8 2011

In which we get teased again

Ozaki sure likes to tease with the “future development”. Not entirely sure which magazine this is interview excerpt is from, though. (As usual, there were Tiger & Bunny features in several magazines this month.)

There’s enough to develop with Barnaby. Even in episode 25 there was a temporary separation, but during that time there was also something he has gained. Their relationship is once again different from what it was before they reunited and I think we can depict that. Moreover, even Kotetsu has plenty of room for further growth, so it would be nice to show that as well.

That “something that he gained” could refer to what producer Matsui talked about in another interview, how Barnaby dealt with severe depression during the last timeskip while he was trying to come to terms with all the stuff that happened with Maverick. You don’t go through an experience like that without changing in some way. What exactly it could be… guess we’ll find out when these guys do their stuff and stop teasing us and tell us what they’re planning on Sunday.

Yep, Hero Awards 2011 is this Sunday. My body isn’t ready. How about yours?

Oct 25 2011

It’s not a real TaiBani figure release if an online store doesn’t go down with it

That delicious Figuarts Zero Kotetsu T. Kaburagi I’ve been lusting for went up for preorder through Premium Bandai completely without warning. I think I’ve managed to secure myself one… Now I better get Barnaby, too, or I’ll be a very sad panda. I dunno if others suffer from the same problem, but when it comes to figures of Kotetsu and Barnaby, I just can’t think of having one without the other.

…meanwhile in a 20 mile radius of this event…

The funny thing with this figure release is that it’s made-to-order web shop exclusive. Now I’m not a figure collector and definitely not an expert, but one of the regulars on our chat channel is a collector and he told me some interesting stuff about the made-to-order figures. They’re usually ones that Bandai expects will not sell very well, so they don’t want to be left with extra stock collecting dust and taking up warehouse space. Usually these figures are available to preorder for about a month. The bonus to selling the figures like this is that there are no retailers taking their slice of the cake when Bandai is selling them directly.

(If their reasoning really was that this figure won’t sell, just ahahahaha oh wow…)

…webshops crashing…

However, the general opinion on the chat channel was that this may have backfired on Bandai. The web shop actually crashed, and our figure collecting friend told me he’s never seen that happen with made-to-order items. (Note, the web shop only ships within Japan, so it was only the Japanese fans overloading the site with orders.) It seems they didn’t take into account how well Wild Tiger Figuarts has been selling, nor the case with the Katsura art book + original coloring Wild Tiger set which was also made-to-order. The book and figure set was intended to be available for preorders for a month, but they closed the preorders after two days because they got a “flood of orders”. There’s a limit to how many their factory can produce, so that has to be taken into consideration too. On the other hand… this’ll give actual data of how sought after these figures are. The tweet from Premium Bandai actually said that people don’t have to worry about first come, first serve because the figure is made-to-order, but keeping in mind that art book thing, it’s best to order sooner rather than later…

…Bandai making more exclusives…

Then there’s Darkness Edition Bunny, which will be an exclusive at Tamashii Nation 2011 event at first. It’ll probably be available at the web shop in a few months for those who couldn’t go to the event. It’s not perfect – at least not the prototype – director Satou himself noted how the “ears” on the helmet are in the wrong angle. Still, it’s one sleek piece of plastic.

I’ve seen both figures are already available for preordering at resellers, but the prices are pretty steep. Especially with Darkness Edition Bunny – and no guarantee if there’ll be enough to fill the preorders.

TL;DR. Do not underestimate the desire that T&B fans have for spending money on merchandise of the series.

It was fabulous. THE END.

Well not quite the end yet because there are some…

Other updates:

This is a teeny bit odd, but there’ll be a NEXT PROJECT SET of BD Limited Edition vol. 1 packaging and extras. This is also made to order, and it seems it’ll basically be all the stuff that came with the first LE BD – only without the BD itself. So if you got the regular edition you can upgrade it to limited with this.

The release dates for Hero TV Fan vol. 2 and Official Hero Book 2 have changed, and instead of the original 10/25 release they should be coming out 11/16. It gives a small breather for my credit card, since October has been really expensive for me.

Oh and ANN are having a contest where you must design an own, original super hero card. Looks like fun, and although they’ll only ship the prizes within USA & Canada, the fine print says that you can get a friend to act as your proxy so in other words, everyone can take part!

Update: I wrote a small primer some time ago, when we got some questions about buying merchandise from Japan. If you’re not sure how to go about this business, look here.