Reggie Blogged

For my money, the best version of Mighty Mouse was the 1980s Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures series. It lasted only two seasons, but it was a hoot, and one of the many reasons I got myself out of bed on Saturday mornings as a kid. The intro alone made the show worth watching and is easily one of my all-time favorite cartoon openings. On January 5, 2010, the complete series of Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures hits stores. This 3 disc set is remastered and even has some of the original theatrical Mighty Mouse shorts. Personally, I'm beyond stoked for this DVD release and just may pre-order my copy.

No this isn't an official DVD cover, but it looks good enough to be an official one, doesn't it? Since Funimation doesn't yet have the rights to Dragon Ball Kai, there's no word on when we'll see a DVD release outside of Japan, but I'm positive it will happen eventually, which is one of the reasons I'm passing on the Dragon Box releases. My biggest gripe about DB Kai is that it doesn't use the newer animation style. As much as I enjoy Akira Toriyama's earlier art style for Z, if they were going to redo the series, they should have redone the animation as well. Is it asking too much for all of Kai to look like the intro? I suppose we'll see the newer style when we head towards the Cell and Majin Buu arcs. Anyway, this particular customer cover was done by zhekalu over at VGBoxArt.com. You can view more of his work at the site and find more customer covers from other artists.

Last week I picked up volumes 1 and 2 of DragonBall Z VIZBIG Editions. If you didn't know, the VIZBIG versions are 3-in-1 graphic novels of already released manga. There are some differences, however. Not only are they printed on bigger, better paper, some chapters are actually colored! Alas, not each colored chapter is colored. I never really appreciated the value of these things until I actually bought them. These things looked nice enough when I looked through them in the store in the past, but actually having it makes a world of difference. I guess owning is believing, or something like that. This will probably be my definitive DBZ manga experience. $17.99 for 3 books ain't a bad deal. I actually paid $6.20 for volume 2 thanks to a coupon and my Borders bucks. (It pays to be a loyal customer.) I know I'm repeating some of what I said in a previous blog entry, but if you're springing for DB and DBZ manga, get the VIZBIG editions if you can. You'll save some shelf...

For the longest time, I've been out of it when it comes to anime. Maybe it was because I don't watch much TV or don't have cable anymore, but for me not to be watching one of my favorite genres of entertainment, well, it felt like a piece of my soul was missing. Well, the void has been filled thanks to a few animes I've been watching over the past few weeks. Since Dragon Ball Kai isn't available in the states just yet (who knows when it will be, but it WILL come to the USA, mark my words), I've been watching the fan subs. They weren't kidding when they said the pace of Kai was much quicker than that of the original anime series. The Saiyan Saga is wrapped up in the first 18 episodes. There are still some filler parts, but they are pretty short so I'd say we're looking at series that is less than 130 episodes easily. It looks nice too, but if they were going to redo the series, they should have just went with the newer art/animation style that we...

When I listen to music, 9/10 times it's usually game music playing. I mean, I love all kinds of music, but game music (geek music as I like to call it) holds a special place in my heart. After the last few weeks, I'd have to put anime music right up there with it. Like game music, anime music of all types is awesome in my book, but I've developed a fondest for the old school stuff as of late. I've listened to old anime music I'm familiar with like Robotech and even stuff I've never heard of like Cuite Honey. There have been a few let downs here and there, but for the most part, I've been pretty satisfied with what I've heard. You know, if someone were to hear some of the stuff I listen to on ipod, they'd probably look at me like I was from another solar system.

For my money, one of the best composers in the music business would have to be Yuji Ohno. This guys is mostly known for his work on just about anything that has to do with Lupin III. After the last few weeks, it's hard for me not to think of Ohno's compositions when Lupin comes to mind. (I've been listening to his various albums to get my jazz fix.) Ohno's works are primarily jazz-inspired and even some of his earliest efforts on Lupin music in the '70s is still considered extraordinary. Not only has he covered music for the various Lupin series and movies, he's also done music for all three PS2 Lupin games. The man is also an accomplished musical genius even when he isn't working on music for Lupin. Tokyo City Lights is a jazz masterpiece. If you want to hear some of Ohno's work, just check out this YouTube pag e with various uploads.

DBZ his a very popular anime, but you already know that. From VHS to DVDs and remastered DVD box sets, the series has seen multiple releases. The Funimation Remastered Box Sets should have been the last of the DVDs that a DBZ fan would have to buy. Each box set contains over 30 episodes, is remastered and in 16:9. (you'd be surprised how many people bemoaned the cropping among other things), the option for English or Japanese voices, the option to watch in either language and mix up the American and Japanese soundtracks in your viewing, and only run you $34.99. Not a bad deal. All nine seasons are DBZ are available in this format. So that should be all the DBZ you need, right? You should be done buying DBZ DVDs, right? And shortly after season nine dropped Funimation announces plans to release the Dragon Boxes. What are the Dragon Boxes? These were originally released by Toei in Japan of 2003 and where Japanese viewers chance to finally own the series on DVD, thought it was limited...