Details announced!
We’ve decided to release a BD box in perfect HD!
Let’s sing the Seioh Gakuen school song at the Bizan Summit!

This is an event where we’ll be talking more about the decision to release a completely HD Blu-Ray boxset!
Let’s sing the Seioh Gakuen school song at the top of the Bizan summit together with Ai Nonaka!
Maybe there might even be some awesome extras in the Manabi BD box?!
Blu-Ray Disc release details can be found here -> http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/manabi_bd/

Don’t worry if you can’t read the details about the BD on that site, because Anime News Network’s got you covered. Very interested to see how the reshot of episode 12 looks like, because I bet it’ll be fantastic.

Addendum to Addendum, 10/6: Blu-Ray announced. In full HD, presumably with all the trimmings of the DVD releases. No release date or price set yet, although I’d bet on “later” and “sounds about right for R2 BD”. Also announced: “Manabi Straight Time” at MachiAsobi vol. 7, featuring Ai Nonaka (Mika Inamori) — I presume it’s a panel — on October 9, for an hour and a half. So that makes it different than the 10/8 mystery screening, which might be a preview of the BD version? Heyyy, I’m game. I guess we should expect ufotable to have all their cards on the table by the end of that panel.

Also, insert Ai-pon fansquealing here. Okay, I’m done, g’night, hehh. ▲

Addendum, 9/20: The MachiAsobi site has since then announced that they’re screening the entire series from 2 to 8 this Saturday 9/24 for 1000 yen per four-episode ticket for a total of 3000 yen (but 2500 yen if you intend on watching ‘em all). However, a schedule flyer posted to the Tokushima Prefecture website also tells of something on October 8, for free, plainly labeled “screening”…for one hour. What Manabi-related things can you show for an hour?! THE PLOT THICKENS. ▲

(image credit Gigazine)

Speaking of anime series I like…there’s something going on with Manabi Straight.

Like, something timely. Really timely. Like, posted yesterday while I was asleep, so I didn’t catch it at first.

Like the above picture of a couple of guys setting up advertisement posters for Machi★Asobi vol. 7 — posters of Haruka Amami, Newtype’s Moving Pictures Festival, Manami Amamiya, and Saber.

Of course, I’m trying to get your attention to the one character second from the right who’s not been seen since something like 2008, when the final DVD went on sale. If that was the end of it, I’d imagine ufotable just wants to rip my heart apart by getting my hopes up. Well, let’s examine the evidence, shall we?

ufotable’s got this tradition of having seiyuu do the announcements for the ropeway funitel system at Bizan every time MachiAsobi comes to town. For example, last time, they had Miyuki Sawashiro do the announcements during MachiAsobi vol. 6. Here’s a video of Aki Toyosaki doing the announcements during vol. 4 (thanks, Gigazine).

Two weeks for Manabi. Three days (or a typo) for Fate/Zero. In either case, two weeks for Manabi? Might as well make a megamix of old ufotable productions. Toss in some Coyote Ragtime Show, Dokkoida, FutaAlt…unless you’re doing something with Manabi. Which, you know, might be the case.

Let’s take a look at exhibit number 2. This is a poster advertising what’s getting featured in Machi★Asobi vol. 7. To the right are representative works being featured, of which Manabi is really close to the top of the list. Cool! Obviously ufotable’s doing something like a marathon of the entire series and calling it quits or something, because they wouldn’t actually do what I think they might actually do, right?!

Oh, wait, here’s exhibit number 3.

Yeah, uh…I might opt to hold my breath for this one. Don’t disappoint, ufotable!!

Maybe I — erm, ahem, Funimation should’ve made it a part of the Viridian Collection.

So the first episode of Tamayura - Junichi Sato’s (and HAL Film Maker’s) new slice-of-life OVA project – aired on AT-X, as what I figure to be a teaser of sorts. It teases, alright. Having marathoned ARIA the Natural and ARIA the Origination instead of taking it easy on getting through the series out of fear that I’d put it on hold yet again, I might even go so far to say I might’ve been going through SatoJun iyashikei withdrawal. (As an aside, thank you very much, RightStuf — let it be known that I love you guys!)

For a moment, I went through a bit of a phase: what was I supposed to do to get my fix of fresh iyashikei, having finished ARIA? Well, I guess there’s Kaleido Star, of which the second season boxset sits shelved right next to the first boxset of Someday’s Dreamers — neither of which I’ve actually really gotten my hands into.

I prefer it, however, when there’s not too much emphasis on competition — as with ARIA or Hidamari Sketch, both of which have some elements of competition that aren’t not shown very often if they’re not lighthearted. Or series where there’s not really anything going on at all, as with Sketchbook. Or, maybe, if it’s got one main conflict that quickly resolves itself, then sets up a huge sign that tells you when to say “AWWWWWW,” as with the Animal Crossing movie.

Or, I could talk more about Manabi…but if I’m going to talk about Manabi (as iyashikei or otherwise), I’d rather link to people who can describe the experience much better than I can, then link to the one guy aggregating ‘em all.

Anyway, it’s funny how the third point (“nothing really happens a la Sketchbook”) works: when there’s nothing really going on at all, everything mundane suddenly takes center stage, thus making it a top priority to take those things and make them seem more significant than they actually are. That’s probably one of the things that makes Sketchbook one of my favorite shows — I love it when Sora or Hazuki or Kurihara-senpai point out stuff, because they all point out the things I usually don’t pay too much attention to and make them somehow sound interesting…even when at the end of the day, most of the things they point out are truly just plain. (As an aside, I’ve got an alternative hypothesis: the ‘observation’-slash-pun humor in Sketchbook — especially the manga, but certainly present in the anime — is sometimes eerily similar to a handful of my friends’. Like, say, pointers about cheese steak. Cheese steak? That sounds like you’re making a meal out of a frickin’ hunk of cheese — and so on, and so forth.)

Tamayura feels like a Sketchbook 2.0 to me. It’s slow. There’s not much going on. Fu-chan’s got two missions: to take pretty pictures, and to try and become more extroverted — analogous to Sora wanting to capture her life in drawings and perhaps become a bit more extroverted, herself. It’s the change in media — from sketch to film — that really strikes me. I’m not the best person to ask for a sketch (although I could try), but I share the same sentiment as Fu-chan when it comes to photography. That coupled with her shyness — it isn’t quite as bad as Sora’s, but she’s still pretty shy! — made her character someone I could definitely connect with.

I can’t wait to watch the completed work — fifteen minutes is simply not enough. On the other hand, like I said, I guess it’s supposed to be a teaser for a reason…

And at the tail-end of Manabi’s bassuday, @cowboybibimbop tweeted: “If the Manabi Straight Blu-ray rumours turn out to be true, doushio…”

That’s certainly the first I’ve heard of it, so I figured I’d FANBOY obsess investigate. A quick Google search popped up this thread, which linked to this blog post, roughly translated below.

–

739 Name: Anonymous@My Belly Is Full. [sage] Date: 2010/08/17 (T) 23:13:55
somehow, the topic came up on NHK radio.
ufo president called it his masterpiece
there was also talk of a BD release
anyone who listened in, details please

741 Name: Anonymous@My Belly Is Full. [sage] Date: 2010/08/19 (Th) 01:42:08
>>739
Q: Are there plans for a Manabi Straight sequel?

There was a time when we talked about that
but really, producing it, we’d ended in a very clean way
I think producing a sequel would be out of the question
As for a BD release, we did make HD episodes, I’d like to see it happen someday

742 Name: Anonymous@My Belly Is Full. [sage] Date: 2010/08/19 (Th) 11:43:35
saying it that way just makes me expect it to happen idiot

743 Name: Anonymous@My Belly Is Full. [sage] Date: 2010/08/19 (Th) 22:42:46
uhyoooooooooo

760 Name: Anonymous@My Belly Is Full. [sage] Date: 2010/08/27 (F) 00:31:36

The Rakkyo* BD happened so I expect Manabi too, ufo-san

A BD release would definitely be a victory forall of us

* “Rakkyo” = Kara no Kyoukai.

–

Of course, I’m crossing my fingers. I mean, do you know how hard it is to type a post with fingers crossed? It’s certainly harder than doing other mundane things like pouring myself a glass of juice or munching on a bag of potato chips…I’d ask you, dear readers, to do it, but I wouldn’t want to burden you.

Unless you’ve gotten used to crossing your fingers ever since you’ve dreamed of an R1 release that all of the above is a piece of cake, of course. In the meantime, as an alternative, I suggest rewatching the series (again!!) and reliving it like it’s 2007 like I’ve mentioned I’ve been doing for too long…

Here in America, a cycle repeats: a new school year is starting, and the hopes of millions of students ride on the wind in pursuit of their dreams, myself among them. In the meantime, before I bury myself in trying to become The World’s Next Great Addition To Anyone’s Japanese-to-English Localization/Translation Team (who am I kidding – I’m taking Japanese 1A again despite having cleared 3-kyu because I have reason to believe that even though I might know a handful of words and I can listen and read a bit, my ability to form sentences with proper grammar seems not to exist), here I am, obsessing, once again, over Manabi Straight instead of writing real blog posts!

It’s true. I’m too lazy to develop my tweet thought process into full blog posts, so they stay on Twitter as chains of three or four or nine tweets-in-a-row. Apparently, though, I’m down for taking pictures of, cutting, pasting, and translating choice panels of the third Manabi manga tankoubon in order to pay even more homage than I already do.

I’ve at least got an excuse just for today: it’s sorta Manabi’s birthday.

I’m not hardcore enough to separate the pages of my precious bound volume* in order to bring you this fine piclation, but the point stands: I think a bit too much about Manabi. Maybe I should consider actually watching more anime than just Amagami SS (a horribly enjoyable show) this season. Or any other season, natch. Maybe I should get back into K-ON!! in anticipation of that one Sega music game that’s coming out.

For the time being, though — happy birthday, Manami Amamiya, and, as always, まっすぐゴー‼

* That said, if there are raw scans of the Manabi manga floating around on the Internet and OpenManga can support a potential translation of it, I am absolutely down for translating it!!

wait wait wait WHAT it was released on March 30th and nobody told me?!

I don’t care if it’s $35 that’s like half-off R2 price and it’s 5 episodes so it’s technically quarter-off!

brb telling Omo so that he has a working link instead of that dead link to the predecessor of this post two years ago and maybe Pete but Pete has R2s already soooo

Amusingly enough, I’m celebrating the birthday of a girl who’s supposed to be born in 2018, but if you set it relative to the series’ end (meaning it was 2037 two years ago), she’s 21 and thus legal to drink alcohol in America! Although, of course, she’s only studying in Oregon for one more semester…

Other character birthdays I celebrated this month (albeit without this much fanfare) were those of Nayuki Minase (12/23) and Kuga Kokage (12/19).

Happy Holidays to everyone who celebrates them!

Today is a Sunday. It doesn’t feel like one.

Tomorrow, the fall semester of school starts for me. It doesn’t feel like it’s that time yet.

What have I done during the summer, anyway?

• I kicked off the summer with FanimeCon 2009. It feels like the best con because it was a convention of extremes: I had the best roommates (I love you, Allan!), the best teammates (I love you, E-Gaming!), the most lack of sleep during a convention (I love you again, Allan!), and the most hype I’ve had at a concert (I love you, Momoi!).
• The final build of DJ Max Technika hit Sunnyvale Golfland a week and a half later to tumultuous applause and dance. (Currently, I’m at the Main DJ rank.)
• A month-ish later, I’d head over to Anime Expo 2009 courtesy of a couple of friends of mine – Tsubasa, who graciously provided me with a ride down to the City of Angels, and Tuny and Jon, who graciously allowed me to crash at Jon’s apartment. I collaborated with PM Studios – the Western distribution team for the DJ Max series – on publishing and distributing a pocket guide for DJ Max Technika, which was really fun.
• The anime adaptation of Sora no Manimani hit Japanese airwaves (and torrent trackers) on Tanabata, and I’ve been watching! On that note, I’ve watched all of Endless Eight and I’ve rewatched the entirety of Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!, and, depending on my mood, I rewatch episodes of Sketchbook ~full color’s~ from time to time. Oh, I almost forgot – I finally got around to watching Kara no Kyoukai 5 – which was a doozy – and 6, which, albeit pretty entertaining, is the weakest movie thus far.
• As of recent, I’ve started drilling kanji with Rome. Most of his recent posts list the kanji we’ve studied; I’m going to make a tumblr or some other microblogging thing for that express purpose whenever I get around to it. Oh, and I’ve decided to sign up for JLPT 4-kyu.
• I successfully set up a SAMBA/CUPS server using Ubuntu Server Edition. To test the linkup, I tossed the entirety of Manabi Straight onto the server and streamed a couple of episodes on the clients. Needless to say, it was rather fun (and refreshing not only using an entirely command-line prompt, but using a text-only browser for the first time, as well).
• Tina came back from Japan this past week, and we had a party to commemorate that. It was a potluck, so I brought supplies for what I dubbed Straightforward Crepes. Seventeen of them were ordered. All seventeen people who ordered them were satisfied (except the one person who asked for a surprise and got the stack of messed-up crepes with stuff on top — It was a surprise…!)
• Last, but not least, I sang my heart out at Gamba Karaoke this past Thursday. I had tentative plans with a different group of friends to do it again that upcoming Saturday, but it didn’t happen.

True to what the title of this particular post references, precisely half of this list is, in some way, consciously Manabi-related. I wonder when this particular fascination will wear off…

If you can decode and transmit this to your peoples in the Earth year 2035, I will have done my job properly.