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Shelf Life - ANN Maid Team


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Samurai-with-glasses



Joined: 17 Aug 2005
Posts: 628
PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:34 pm Reply with quote
"it’s the height of the Nazi occupation in Poland and a wealthy Jewish poet is being targeted; his maids have been let go, but a dedicated, elderly handful refuse to leave their master’s side, and together, they must brave the terrors of life together…!"

Oh God. The Pianist. Cool

If there's but one maid show like that...

By the way, Cromartie for only 45$? That's me getting it then!
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Deltakiral



Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 3338
Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK)
PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:41 pm Reply with quote
Shelf Life wrote:
This especially holds true if you never finished collecting the series. Do you spend the money to fill the box, or ditch the box and go for the thinpak? But then what do you do with the artbox?


So true.....I hate it when there an artbox on my shelf and it's not filled up, even if I can't see that there are volumes missing. That said thinpak have made the anime market quite different. I'm always wondering if a series I am interested in might get a thinpak and if so when?
Till next time,

Delta Kiral
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15324
PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:42 pm Reply with quote
I'd normally recommend the version of Cromartie previously released by ADV, but unlike Excel Saga, fans can probably "get" most of the jokes if they buy the thinpack. Also, Gigantor tends to be hit-and-miss in general.
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DemonEyesLeo



Joined: 20 Feb 2005
Posts: 844
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:48 pm Reply with quote
I'm a sucker for the artboxes. I like having those big, beautiful things on my shelves. Alas, they are expensive. But you get what you pay for as the thin-packs usually don't have the DVD extras; which I like as well. I do have one thin-pack and that's Full Metal Panic.

Wow, Cromartie is really cheap. Sigh, yet another series to add to my never ending wish list.
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Rion



Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 71
Location: In My Own World
PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:49 pm Reply with quote
Oh man Cromartie High School was such a laugh for me. That series had me on the floor more than once. It really is high school life exaggerated.

There's a live action version out too that really surprised me by doing a really good job capturing the feel of the anime and manga.
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shadow_Hiei



Joined: 11 Jun 2006
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 1:07 am Reply with quote
I hate thinpacks... they look terrible on my shelves. Art boxes FTW.
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doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Posts: 1708
PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 1:31 am Reply with quote
Art boxes, with the original cases replaced with band new M-Lock keep cases (where necessary; The Right Stuf and Bandai Entertainment often use M-Locks). I've even gone so far as to replace my two-disc ALPHApak "bricks" with M-Lock multidisc bricks.
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Lyrai



Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 173
Location: Potatoes (Idaho)
PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 2:39 am Reply with quote
doc-watson42 wrote:
Art boxes, with the original cases replaced with band new M-Lock keep cases (where necessary; The Right Stuf and Bandai Entertainment often use M-Locks). I've even gone so far as to replace my two-disc ALPHApak "bricks" with M-Lock multidisc bricks.


I understood "Art boxes" and the company names in that sentence.


Also, Cromartie is indeed worth every penny. I bought the DVDs individually, consider it money well spent. The last episode was just the absolute epitome(sp?) of "What the HELL?"
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Zaraki



Joined: 12 Oct 2005
Posts: 27
PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:15 am Reply with quote
Does the Cromartie High thinpak come with the extras like some thinpak releases? If not, were there any worthwhile extras in the singles - like the ADVid notes in Excel Saga or Abenobashi - that I'd be missing out on?
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
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Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:51 am Reply with quote
Zaraki wrote:
Does the Cromartie High thinpak come with the extras like some thinpak releases? If not, were there any worthwhile extras in the singles - like the ADVid notes in Excel Saga or Abenobashi - that I'd be missing out on?
CHS didn't have AD-Vid Notes, but there were some rather extensive cultural notes in the DVD extras, and the DVDs come with little booklets with interviews, translation notes, sketches, character profiles...all in all, it's a pretty nice release, which I paid around $90 for as the discs came out. If you check at rightstuf, you can find the singles and box for a total of $33, which I'd highly recommend. After all, who wouldn't want to pay less to get more? The series itself was worth the price I paid for it, anyway; non-stop random laughs, and almost none of the episodes had jokes that got old before the 13 minutes were up. The English dub is also a great accomplishment, with the kind of humor ADV does best. I watched almost the whole series dubbed, which I don't do too often for first watches of a series.
Quote:
What a shock. I’m putting a maid show in the perishable bin. Who would’ve imagined that? Now, mind you, it’s not because I dislike maid shows.
I pretty much expect any anime in the maid / harem / etchi comedy genre to wind up in Perishable items, but at least it helps me find out if a series is truly terrible or if it might be something I can derive guilty pleasure from.

I'm a definite artbox whore as well--I've delayed or almost skipped series that didn't have artboxes, though I've never passed on a series because of box quality. Even with boxes like My-Hime's craptacular "ADV doesn't even make them like this anymore" box, I still follow the "something is better than nothing" policy. I like the bigger, sturdier, and pricier artboxes, which look better on the shelf, and give a certain sick type of bragging rights, as in, "look how hardcore I am, I got the first-run box of that." I'd buy Ai yori aoshi, but since the darn Vol.1+box of the first series doesn't exist anymore, I'm waiting until Geneon releases a set for it.

As for Comic Party Revolution, I did like the characters in the first series, though it's true that CPR has less of the doujinshi-making aspect. Still, the 1st CP reallyfaltered when it tried to introduce a more serious plot about Kazuki's setbacks with his doujinshi, and CPR keeps things fun and light-hearted. There's an absolutely priceless cosplay moment in episode 5 that might finally force DVD subtitles to start leaving "moé" as is. CPR also boasts improved animation quality over CP, and while it won't match up to TRSI's presentation, ADV's CPR seems to be a high-value series with decent extras.


Last edited by Zalis116 on Sun Sep 17, 2006 9:04 pm; edited 1 time in total
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doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Posts: 1708
PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:37 am Reply with quote
Lyrai wrote:
doc-watson42 wrote:
Art boxes, with the original cases replaced with band new M-Lock keep cases (where necessary; The Right Stuf and Bandai Entertainment often use M-Locks). I've even gone so far as to replace my two-disc ALPHApak "bricks" with M-Lock multidisc bricks.


I understood "Art boxes" and the company names in that sentence.

"Keep case" (—>FAQ's—>Case Type):

Quote:
The 'Keep Case' type is a cover made from soft plastic with a vinyl sheet covering a paper inlay for the coverart.
Keep Case brands are: Alpha, Amaray, Scanavo etc, the main difference between these brands is the way the disc is attached to the hub.

In other words, the standard DVD case. The types I mentioned:
    ALPHA; the ANN Encyclopedia's Glossary entry for Alpha case. (The second worst keep case hub after the Scanavo—the two hub clips break easily, leaving the disc to "float" (only one clip needs to break for this to happen), and the design is not intuitive to use.)

    Source: DVDLog.de DVD-Caseguide.

    Locked M-Lock; unlocked. (The best hub type—both for disc retention and ease-of-use. M-Locks also do not stress the disc when you remove it from the hub. See also Kris Kleckner of The Right Stuf's recommendation toward the end of this interview.)

    Sources: Jake Kesinger's DVD Cases and Hub Images; Arion International's DVD Box - M-Lock and Reg Hub page.

    ALPHApak "brick".

    M-Lock "brick". (In addition to the M-Lock hubs (at least for the three- and four disc cases—the hubs for the fifth and sixth discs are different), these are nice because, unlike other "flipper"-type cases, the inner "page" snaps to the back half of the case, instead of rotating freely. I use these to replace two-disc ALPHApaks because they are only about 1/8 wider, allowing me to preserve the cover insert while having a much more user friendly case.)
"Brick" because of the bulky, rectilinear nature of these cases. ADV used to use ALPHApaks for their collections—e.g., Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040, City Hunter, Devil Hunter Yohko, Martian Successor Nadesico, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Sorceror Hunters, and so on.

Edit: Andreas Lenz's DVD - Case Types page is a good general guide to the various types of DVD cases.
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red stranger



Joined: 26 Dec 2004
Posts: 184
PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:20 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
I'd normally recommend the version of Cromartie previously released by ADV, but unlike Excel Saga, fans can probably "get" most of the jokes if they buy the thinpack. Also, Gigantor tends to be hit-and-miss in general.


I was going to wait for the thinpak of Excel Saga, but I found the full box set used at a good price, so I snagged it. I wipped the first disc into the machine hoping to see these legendary AD-Vid Notes, and I was greatly disapointed. Most of the notes didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know, and they were only rarely useful in pointing out hidden things (Yeah, I can see it's a Puuchu. Thanks.). I can even remember one note that didn't even explain what it was pointing to - it just said something like "Halo?", even thought it should have said something like "The Halo on her head is actually a round floresent bulb, which are common in Japan."

As for what to do with empty artboxes, I just use them for other series that don't have a box. I took a big, pointless Robotech box (that originally just held a small toy Rolling Eyes ) and filled it with ultra thin double cases. Now it holds my entire GITS collection, with ample space for the items that I do not have yet.

And I also think thin packs look better than than big bricks. They are also more environmentally sound (less packaging), and take up less space on the shelf. So you have room for more anime, which is always good.
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Yuukichan's Papa



Joined: 29 Jul 2006
Posts: 93
PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 11:32 am Reply with quote
Quote:
What a shock. I’m putting a maid show in the perishable bin. Who would’ve imagined that? Now, mind you, it’s not because I dislike maid shows.


Zalis116 wrote:
I pretty much expect any anime in the maid / harem / etchi comedy genre to wind up in Perishable items, but at least it helps me find out if a series is truly terrible or if it might be something I can derive guilty pleasure from.


I can think of exactly two maid shows that I've enjoyed, and they're both firmly in the guilty pleasure category. Interestingly (though not surprisingly), they're both from Gainax. First, other than its travesty of an ending, I really enjoyed Mahoromatic though one could argue it wasn't that much of a maid show per se. Second, while devoid of nearly everything except fanservice and some good humor, He is My Master entertained me a good deal. As I said, guilty pleasures. Smile

As for box sets, I usually just go for the thinpaks when they're released at a super cheap price and I haven't previously invested in any dvds for the series. When a show that I'm slowly purchasing is released again in thinpak, I just suck it up and continue with the normal dvds, especially when I've already got the nice normal artbox.
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CaliSerenity



Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 36
PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 12:43 pm Reply with quote
DemonEyesLeo wrote:
I'm a sucker for the artboxes. I like having those big, beautiful things on my shelves. Alas, they are expensive. But you get what you pay for as the thin-packs usually don't have the DVD extras; which I like as well. I do have one thin-pack and that's Full Metal Panic.


Oh yah, artbox sucker here as well. Anime smile But the biggest factor are the extras that are stripped from thinpacks (must have extras!!).

I do own some thinpacks, but I only buy them if a series is really good so that I don't have to part with the originals when lending them out to friends (a lot of dvds don't make it back to me in a timely manner Anime smile). And I give them as last minute b-day gifts if I haven't opened them yet 'cause they're pretty cheap anyways. Haha. Anime smile
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Dargonxtc



Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 4463
Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋
PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 1:21 pm Reply with quote
I actually love it when you include boxes and/or thinpacks in your column. It is always a nice short, raw opinion of a series, and it helps me out a lot. So don't quit anytime soon.

As far as artboxes go, Yeah I like them. But the only time that I must have one is when I must have a series as it comes out, so it all works out. If I can get one after the fact, its a plus.
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