By Jonathan | February 20th, 2011
I’m extremely disappointed right now. When I read a manga called Amnesia Labyrinth, I expect to see someone wake up in a maze without any memory of how they got there. That’s not what this is at all!
Sarcasm aside, Amnesia Labyrinth isn’t nearly as exciting as its intriguing name would suggest. The series has just hit American shelves in graphic-novel format courtesy of Seven Seas Entertainment, and I can’t say I was riveted by the four chapters included in this first volume. In fact—and I know I sound like a bit of a bastard for starting out the review this way—the volume peaks in its first three pages. You look at the catchy (if misleading) cover, read the synopsis on the back, and settle down to read a good ol’ mystery manga about a couple of high-school kids. And what’s the first thing to happen in the volume? An innocent student gets shoved in front of an oncoming train. Continue reading →
By Jonathan | February 6th, 2011
What is Fractale? To tell you the truth, I’m still figuring that out myself…
One of the latest additions to FUNimation’s incredibly robust online streaming repertoire, Fractale is being simulcast every Thursday on Hulu at 11:45 am (EST), one hour after the episodes premiere on Fuji TV in Japan…at least, that’s the plan. The simulcast was halted after the first episode when the show’s copyright holders demanded FUNimation take steps to stop piracy of the episodes. Once this was sorted out and the simulcast resumed, the massive snow storms and cold fronts sweeping much of America prevented this week’s planned simulcast of episode four (I know how you feel, FUNi – it’s cold here too!). Thus, this review covers the first three episodes of the series as part of a new plan on this site to review streaming content in ‘blocks.’ Fractale will only be 11 episodes total, so we’re planning two more reviews, each highlighting four new episodes, to cover the rest of the series as it airs. Continue reading →
By Jonathan | January 27th, 2011
As a new reviewer for the site, I just wanted to quickly introduce myself to readers. My name is Jonathan R. Lack, and I’ve been writing film and TV reviews for eight years now, much of that time spent at Denver Post subsidiary YourHub.com where I publish most of my work. Anime isn’t an interest of that reader base, however, which is why I’m excited to write for The Fanboy Review and share my interest in anime with fellow ‘fanboys.’ Enjoy!
Has any anime ever been released so out of order in North America? Collecting the original Dragon Ball series has always been an exercise in frustration, going back to the jumbled release of the 2-disc ‘saga’ sets and culminating in the overdue but welcome blue-brick season set releases. The release of the films made just as little sense. When FUNimation began releasing the movies on DVD, we got uncut releases in the extremely strange order of film 3, Mystical Adventure, film 4, The Path to Power, and finally film 2, Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle, which was simultaneously released in a “Movie Box” alongside the other two. Meanwhile, movie 1, Curse of the Blood Rubies, had actually been released much earlier in an edited-and-dubbed only release as part of the material FUNimation (teaming up with various other companies) released in an earlier, failed attempt to bring Dragon Ball to young American audiences prior to their release of Dragon Ball Z. Rights issues related to this period in the franchise’s history meant an uncut release failed to see the light of day on DVD until just recently, just as the first thirteen TV episodes didn’t get an uncut release until the season sets. But the DVD is finally here, completing the long, complicated, and largely jumbled release of the series in North America. That alone may be cause for celebration. Continue reading →
