Tonight, I finished watching the last volume of When They Cry. I can say, without a doubt, that it's probably the most disturbing, fucked-up anime I've ever seen.

And I loved it!

Apparently, I'm the last otaku to find out that Geneon is closing up shop. I've been buying anime titles from them since my early days of anime fandom when they were still called Pioneer. First on VHS and then on DVD. Hell, I got notice yesterday that vol. 3 of Black Lagoon just shipped. They've been around so long (Albeit with two different names), that
I figured they'd always be around. Sad to see them go. I feel like a part of my otaku soul has died.

RIP, Geneon. Thanks for all the great titles and fond memories.

First new episode of Heroes this season! Looks good so far.

I just discovered this awesome series called Beck. I rented the first two volumes and devoured them both. I might actually have to buy this! I see a lot of myself in Koyuki when I was that age. If only I had someone like Miho back then.

Just suffered through the movie Wrong Turn. If Eliza Dushku wasn't in it, i wouldn't have bothered. When you can predict everything that's gonna happen in the first 15 minutes, it's never a good sign.

Breezed through issue #4 of The Highwaymen. Too bad this is a limited series with only one issue left. Apparently, there was talk of possibly doing another miniseries, but the sales haven't been too good. It's a shame there aren't more people reading it.

Today, I watched the second volume of When They Cry. The second story arc follows the same pattern as the first. It starts out goofy and lighthearted, then gets creepier and more unsettling. By the end, you've got a chill down your spine. I'm loving this series!

Today, I was thinking about how I'm taking renting anime for granted. I first got hooked on this hobby in 1996. Back then, I didn't have a credit card, so renting from the video stores that carried anime (Which weren't that many at the time) wasn't an option. What I had to do was read a bunch of reviews on anime websites and the handful of publications that reviewed anime back then, buy a VHS tape ($20 to $30 for a tape with two to four episodes on it) and hope for the best. Even when I could finally rent stuff, I could only Tower Records and a few mom and pop video stores had anime for rental. And their selection was usually pretty limited. I guess I should be thankful that I can rent just about any title I want through Netflix these days.

I suppose I would feel better about Barry Bonds breaking the record if it weren't for the steroid use, which makes him more of a cheating prick. And he has to be doing steroids because I can't think of any other explanation for this transformation:

I got a message on my cell phone's voice mail. The message turned out to be a woman having an orgasm with some chatter in the background. Chances are, it was a prank call. Still, I wonder how these people got my number? Did they just randomly dial phone numbers? Are cell phone numbers even listed?

Craig Thompson's Blankets arrived in the mail today! Eager to read it!

My two Gamefly purchases arrived as well: Final Fanatsy XII for the PS2 and Crackdown for the Xbox 360. Already gotten started on Crackdown.

Also arriving was the Limited Edition of Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society. Now, I just gotta finish Season 2 of the TV series before watching the movie.

Tonight, I watched the first volume of When They Cry, a show that I first heard about at the Geneon panel at this Anime Boston. I heard that this was supposed to be something along the lines of Paranoia Agent, so I decided to rent it. The funny thing about this show is that it starts out looking like some cutesy kids show, except for the opening shot. Then as the show goes on, things just get creepier and creepier. By the end of the fourth episode, I was thinking, Wow, that is totally fucked up.

The first DVD contains the first five episodes. the first four episodes cover the first arc of the series. The fifth episode appears to be the start of a new arc. In episode five, it goes back to cutesy mode, but I have a feeling it won't stay that way for long.

I woke up today to learn that Paris Hilton was going back to jail. I'm not one to relish in other people's misery, but I made an exception for this one.

I watched two movies I rented from Netflix: The anime flick Highlander: The Search For Vengeance and the horror film My Little Eye.

Let's begin with H:TSFV. I love the first movie and the first five seasons of the TV series, but with the horrible movie sequels and the disappointing series Highlander: the Raven, I figured we'd never see another good Highlander-related project again. Well, I was intrigued my this anime treatment, which has no relation to the movie or the TV series. It was also directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who made Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. So I rented this movie and enjoyed it. The movie's set in the a future and follows Colin MacLeod, a 2000 year old immortal who's devoted his life to killing an evil immortal who wiped out his clan and killed the woman he loved. What is it about the MacLeod family that spawn immortals, anyway? First, Connor, then Duncan and now Colin. Interestingly, one of the characters is voiced by Jim Byrnes, who played Joe Dawson in the TV series.

My Little Eye was recommended by saturn_girl  at the Comic Bloc forums. I took her advice and read nothing on the film before renting it. No plot summaries, no reviews, nothing. It turned out to be a pretty good movie. The only person in the cast I recognized was Jennifer Sky, who was in that crappy Cleopatra 2525 TV show. Still, I think having an unknown cast is an advantage in a horror movie. Part of my problem with those Scream clones of the late 90's is that rather than looking at the cast as characters, I was looking at them as "Those characters on that WB show."

I just beat Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick on my Xbox. I was a little apprehensive going into this one. The first Evil Dead game, Hail To the King, is still the biggest game disappointment of my life. The broken gameplay and engine made it such a frustrating experience and not evil the great Bruce Campbell voicing Ash could redeem the experience. It was especially disappointing, considering that it was probably the closest to an Evil Dead 4 we'd ever see. The most recent Evil Dead game, Regeneration, was much better, though still not great. Fistful of Boomstick falls somewhere in the middle. I have to admit, if it weren't for Bruce Campbell, I might not have finished this one.

Recently, I've been having dreams that all have the same theme: Me being at a boarding school I don't like and I don't know what my schedule is. I don't know why because I never went to a boarding school and I finished school years ago. I don't know what my subconscience is trying to tell me.

I decided to go back and tag some previous journal entries. I only started adding tags earlier this year. I've tagged every webcomic I've ever posted and even though I posted this one in a previous entry, I've decided to run this one again.

It's gorgeous day today! The sun's shining and it's 68 degrees. this is the first day we've had that make me feel like it's spring.

Mike and Tracy are planning on adopting a dog from the local animal shelter. Yesterday, they went with my mom to look at the dog they were thinking of adopting. When mom came home, Mercy ran up to her and sniffed her like crazy. Mercy could tell mom had been handling strange dogs.

I recently got the entire "Super Dimension Fortress Macross" series released by ADV. This series is probably best known in the U.S. as the first third of "Robotech," one of the shows that was key in turning me into an anime fan. Harmony Gold did some rewriting and editing of that series for it to fit in with the "Robotech" story (Spread across two other unrelated series Harmony Gold acquired) and cut out some bits that were too violent of racy for U.S. television. It'll be interesting watching the original "Macross" series in its original form. I've seen the first two episodes so far and one notable (And welcome) difference so far is that the almost constant narrator from the "Robotech" version who spells everything out for the viewer is gone.

I've also just started playing "Okami" on my PS2. Wow! So far, this is an awesome game!

With all the gloom of the past few days seeping from the news to my soul (Wow, how poetic!), I decided to treat myself to a picker upper (Insert Bounty joke here) in the form of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. I love the TV show, but I was a little apprehensive about the movie. What's hilarious in 12 minutes doses doesn't always hold its own for 80 minutes. Just look at 95% of all movies based on SNL sketches. I'm happy to say that for the most part, the movie succeeded. If you're an ATHF fan, it's got the same random, non-sequitur filled humor of the show. And for the most part, the jokes spot-on. And it's got Neil Peart and Bruce Campbell!

Before going to the movies, I hit the comic book store. These baby's are all mine!

52 #50
World War III: A Call To Arms
World War III: The Valiant
World War III: Hell Is For Heroes
World War III: United We Stand
Fallen Angel #15
Girls #24
Army @ Love #2
Manhunter #30
Daredevil: The Devil, Inside and Out, Vol. 2

And on top of that, I came home to find the Limited Edition of .hack//Roots, Vol. 1 waiting for me! Awesome!

Which segues in my next topic: Anime Boston, which I leave tomorrow for! I look forward to this every year. I've attended every one of these conventions and they're always a lot of fun. However, the Virginia Tech shootings the other day have put kind of a damper on things. In the grand scheme of things, how important is an anime convention compared to the kind of sick shit that happened Monday. Is it really right for me to get excited about Anime Boston when over 30 people are dead in a senseless act of violence? I'm a bit conflicted here.

In any case, I catch the train for Boston at 10:10AM tomorrow. I doubt I'll have internet access there, so I'll have a full report when I get back. I'll bring the digital camera again this year and I'll be taking plenty of pictures! Right now, I'll watch .hack//Roots to get me in the mood.

From Japan, we've got Junji Nishimura, director of "Ranma ½" and the "Violinist of Hamelin" and Yasuhiro Imagawa, the creator of "Giant Robo" and chief director of "Mobile Fighter G Gundam."

And the following voice actors: Chris Bevins, Luci Christian, Mike McFarland, and Mike Sinterniklaas.

And two industry guests: Grant Moran and Tom Wayland.

Is it April 20 yet?