Nerdragingbakabakkari
I am definitely late to the party about nerdraging over Aniplex’s treatment of Bakemonogatari’s CD and DVD release, and I’m going to nerdrage anyways.
The problem is that so far they haven’t listed a catalog number for the moegasm-inducing opening theme song for Nadeko Snake’s episode. However, this catchy song, Renai Circulation, will be available as a bonus item on the 4th limited-edition release Bakemonogatari on DVD and Blu-Ray. Presumably on the DVD or Blu-Ray, we will get the character single as a separate CD in addition to the episodes associated with that. It has a street date of December 23, 2009.
The rage is particularly …motivational because I really am hooked on that song! Kana Hanezawa did one of her cutest rendition in her so-far brief musical career as seiyuu. It’s Komugi-quality. Actually it’s more like a combination of Yunocchi and Komugi, to associate the proper Shinbo girls. At any rate, it is a deadly combination.
So here am I, wishing this is all just a marketing ploy and the lovely Aniplex people (which I will now totally go harass at NYAF, Friday at 6:30) will go “nanchatte” and release a separate CD SKU for all the full length OP (and …ED too, while we’re at it) used in the show. I mean it is only roughly $340 for all (I’m guessing) 6 LE sets in Blu-Ray, and that’s before shipping and using Amazon Japan prices. If you just want the music, is it so hard to ask? Heck, I can deal with iTunes if that’s preferred.
(How does Mandarake stay in business again?)
In all fairness, however, all is, well, fair in love and war. I think if fans love it enough to pay for it, both the fans and creators win. And it is okay to rage war on cheap merchandising practices. And you can do both, too, which is what I will probably do.
It’s not just Renai Circulation. Even Staple Stable and Ambivalent World aren’t entirely horrible, let alone the pretty okay Kaerimichi. Who knows what surprise Horie will deliver next? Supercell is a sure sell, too. As usual, Shinbo’s team has continued to produce enjoyable anime songs. I hope meg rock would do a cover album of the songs she worked on for them…
Lastly, eat up Akiman’s delicious end card and listen to Tsukihi (Yuka Iguchi) and Karen (KitaEri) at the official site. Or just enjoy some circulation.
Honestly, I was a little disappointed with Bakemonogatari until this last arc. Akio Watanabe is one of my absolute favourite character designers, but until Nadeko, none of the characters had really shown much of his classic style. Glad the show delivered in the end.
I was also disappointed to find that there’s no sighting of a single for each of Bakemonogatari’s OP/EDs. I’m just hoping that the CDs to be packaged with the DVDs won’t be the only release and that we’ll be seeing some sort of OP/ED compilation sometime in the future.
The ED is available, don’t forget.
@Negative: Karen and Tsukihi are staple Akio Watanabe girls. But we see them for like…2 seconds. Combined. Total. And Mayoi is too, strictly speaking.
Mayoi isn’t really. Her design has something different about it, I can’t place my finger on it, but it might be something simple like eye shape. I’d also argue that Karen and Tsukihi, while closer again, are still not quite the same style. Clearly the same artist, but the bulk of them have been a departure from all his earlier work.
I totally dig Kaerimichi. At least the voice.
pic sauce?
Well yeah, when the special OPs are the most attractive thing about the whole series, it’s only fair to market it accordingly! Nonetheless, it’s a great show altogether, the tenth episode’s lack of animation notwithstanding. As far as Nadeko is concerned, she just doesn’t do me in (Mayoi totally does), partially because I found the stripping scene a bit disgusting. Also, the song is nothing special, but I would buy vol.2 solely for the purpose of obtaining Mayoi Mai Mai.
@lelangir: click on “party” up top
@Miha: you would buy it huh :/
@Negativezero: have you seen that OAV Watanabe directed? From like a couple years back? It’s not that different.
Hoshizora Kiseki? No, I didn’t watch that. When I say ‘classic Watanabe’ I mean Popotan, Soultaker or Yamamoto Yohko. Especially when the latter two were both directed by Shinbo as well.
Nadeko is a throwback to that style, far more so than the others.
So, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Are you saying in terms of character design? Because that’s all Watanabe did in Yohko and Soul Taker.
[…] all around, but she doesn’t do anything for me. Also, somebody screwed up episode 10. Did I tell you how much I hate Aniplex for making the OP singles available only via the BD/DVD […]
I don’t care for the manga artist’s “style” as long as I find the design of the characters attractive. It’s ridiculous to dismiss characters simply because they don’t remind you of other characters they’ve created.
It shows creativity when an artist can make characters distinctive and use different styles.
Kaerimichi and Ambivalent World were my favourites, Ambivalent World only topping it because Kanbaru was my favourite, but I loved staple stable too. This song was was just a little boring, eh.
I think in the case of Bakemonogatari, it was also a production thing to make some of his designs simpler than it used to look.
Anyways, glad you came and piss on Nadeko’s song on the day it comes out :p