JH = James Harris, DVDAR guru, a perpetually broke nice guy
RR = Rob Robinson, Master Of Disaster, and Hater Of All That Lives

JH: Saturday's in Bowling Green, Ohio are eternally boring. My day consists of waking up, checking email and finding something decent to watch on the tube. Rob isn't due to show up till 5PM. I blame him for the fact that I watched 3/4 of an episode of "Andromeda".

RR: I show up at James place around 5. He starts complaining about having to watch

“““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““Andromeda”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

But I tell him it could be worse. He could be watching "The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne" or something. He grabs his coat and we’re off to my car so dubbed “the Rob-Mobile”.

JH: I love the Rob-mobile, chockfull of J-Pop. Too bad Rob is a grinch and never lets me listen to his FEEL SO BAD CD. Anyway, Rob puts the pedal to the metal and we're off faster than a DVDVR Message Board argument over "Tetsuwon Atom".

RR: As we hop into the car James makes the immediate grab for my FSB CD I tell him no because I wanted to listen to the radio since my local high school’s basketball team is in the State Finals.

JH: A likely story! We embark for Ann Arbor at Warp Factor 4, Rob is taking it slow because the high powered nuclear engine the Rob-mobile runs on needs to conserve itself for the drift racing we'll be doing on the ride home.

RR: We make to Ann Arbor almost with out incident (ever wonder if a person can light a Cigarette and talk on a cell phone while driving? I don’t anymore!). I go to pull into the normal parking spot for the screening but this time they’re charging for parking! I ask the person what’s up with this? She replays it’s because I don’t have a student-parking permit. I try to convince her I’m not a student but she doesn’t seem to care.

JH: Everytime we've parked in that place we never got hassled. Now the Ann Arbor Goon Patrol is out? Fuck that noise! Rob and I bitch as we walk over and check out what time the next show starts. As it is we've skipped the first 3 episodes of "Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl", which we've both seen, and "Love Hina" 21-23, which neither of us cares about. The next show "Puppet Master Sakon" doesn't start for another 2 hours so it's off to Wizzywig to watch Rob spend oodles and oodles of cold hard cash!

RR: Ahhh, Wizzywig. This is probably my favorite place in all of Michigan. The J man and I browse the Manga section looking for volumes of "Katteni Kaizou" or something else interesting. I pick up a couple of DVD’s and head over to the snack section to feed my Pocky addiction. The real nice girls who work at “the wig” tell us they’ve got a whole new shipment of stuff in, if we want to wait. Then the slip in an advance copy of the Samurai Troopers DVD!! Did I mention this place ROCKS!?!

JH: Oooo, "Yoroiden Samurai Troopers"! There I was looking over the manga and then the synth blast to "Stardust Eyes" blared over the speakers in the "Wig". I frickin' love "Samurai Troopers" and I stood there talking with the owner of the store about how the 80's were really a golden era of great shows. Since I'm broke I ask Rob to spot me for a pack of coconut Pocky for me and a box of "Almond Crush Pocky" for our buddy Dan, who was supposed to come with us. For the record "Almond Crush" sounds like a finisher in DDT. Did I mention that the staff at the "Wig" are super friendly and helpful? Finally a shop for otaku where you aren't treated like an idiot. Rob grabs some CD's, I point out to him a specific "One Piece" CD has all the openings and closings on it. He asks me if I'm sure... Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids! Of course I'm sure! He grabs his purchases and makes for the register. He is after all a man with a mission, to top his all time cash spent record at Wizzywig!

RR: While waiting around I pick up a couple of CD’s James shows me a “One Piece” CD that he claims has all the openings and closings. I’m not sure about it. But what the hell, it’s just money and if it sucks I can bring it up all the time to annoy James (which is a lot of fun I have to say). Although the Giant Chocolate Pocky box beckons my soul I decide to pick up one of the much talked about daikaiju figures that come with candy. I would regret both purchases later….

JH: Items bought, 90 minutes till the screening. This means 1 thing, we must eat! We trek to our usual hovel of good Pizza "NYPD". For some reason there actually people in it, in fact Ann Arbor is friggin packed tonight. What gives man? I mean AA is a great town but it's never been this chock full of people. I'm annoyed; people must die to make me feel better.

RR: After a disastrous stop at our usual eating type place, we decide to go to start the trek to the Student Union. That place was fairly full too what was with this town Saturday? After much deliberation and a few threats I settle on a strange little “mom and pop” pizza place (mostly because they don’t have a amusement park length line there.) Once again James being perpetually broke said those 5 magic words “Can you spot me dinner?”

JH: Mom & Pop my ass! A sweaty Samoan male and pimply-faced teenaged boy do not add up to mom & pop. The pizza was good, if unspectacular. The subject of The Motor City Comic-Con is brought up. I'm all about going there as Billy Dee Williams will be there and I want to give Lando a bottle of "Colt 45" in appreciation. Yeah, like he's never had to put up with smart-ass fans before...

RR: Well it said a “Mom and Pop Pizza” on the marquee. It wasn’t NYPD pizza but it was just as greasy. I do a quick check of my watch and we head out to the screening area secretly plotting the demise of the parking attendant. Oh she’ll rue the day she messed with Rob Robinson!!!

JH: As Rob plots his insipid revenge; we walk to the Modern Language Building and grab a flyer for the screening. We're all set to watch "Puppet Master Sakon". We get choice seats (dead center, seventh row, my favorite position). "Sakon" is a weird show, all about a kid named Sakon who is the grandson of Japan's greatest puppeteer. Sakon travels around with his puppet Ukon solving crimes. No, I shit you not; it’s the crime-solving puppet with the creepy ability to speak with the voice of the recently slain. Who the hell writes this stuff?

RR: Calling “Sakon” weird is an understatement. All the time I couldn’t shake the fact that Sakon kinda looks like Aioshi and Ukon looks like Kenshin minus the scar from "Rurouni Kenshin". But now I know that if Japanese people are put in a life-threatening situation they will react just as poorly and irrationally as we seem to! And knowing is half the battle.

JH: "Sakon" proves what I've always said... "People Are Stupid". In this case the people in this show qualify for their own category in "The Botard Awards". There were so many dead people by the end of this show I was expecting Angela Landsbury to show up.

RR: Too true. Least that would be something unexpected. I had it pretty much figured out in the first episode. Plus if Ukon did something besides talk I think the show would be a lot more interesting.

JH: The funny part is that everyone talks to the puppet and pretty much ignores Sakon. It had some nice animation but overall the show was unspectacular. This was a sidetrack anyway; the real reason we drove to Ann Arbor was up after this... the raffle contest!

RR: The bane of my existence!! How much did that projector cost? I mean they were paying on it 3 years ago! Although they did raffle a kick ass Urusei Yatsura wall scroll. But note to announcer guy. If you’re going to make a point of pronouncing the Japanese name of the show, do it right other than that you sound like an idiot.

JH: Let me explain young Rob's grudge with the Animania Monthly Raffle. Back long ago, around 1997, Rob would go to Animania and buy anywhere from 3 to 10 raffle tickets. Animania was trying to pay for their projection TV back then so the raffle money was really their way of continuing the screenings. If I remember Rob won once. 1 time a girl won both CD's up for raffle. Rob was not happy. Rob has since sworn off the raffle a long time ago but he is still a tad bitter. Well tonight the bitterness came from both of us, sure neither of us bought a raffle ticket but the fact that they are still trying to buy that damn projection TV (the same one) confuses me. To make it worse, 2 people walked away with more than one prize. The fix is in, this much I'm sure of. I thought I saw Don King at Wizzywig eating Pocky and saying "OOOOOOOOOOnly In America!"

RR: Ok I used to buy tickets. But I never won. Our then friend “Geddy” won once though. But I really don’t like it when not one but THREE people win two or more prizes at the same raffle. I still think we should have jumped that one guy in the parking lot. Well the staff of Animania cleared out (probably for their protection) and started the last show of the evening Initial D!

JH: I've expressed my growing appreciation for this show, as it gets better with every episode. Forget the fact that main character Takumi (aka The Big Dope) looks like he's heavily sedated, forget that his best bud Itsuki has lips so big that Teddy Pendagrass would go up to him and say "You got some big ass lips"... forget all that, "Initial D" is a pure fun, adrenaline laden show and tonight’s triple shot of episodes continue to build to the big race at next month's screening between Takumi and Ryosuke Takahashi that will finish out the first TV series. Also, Takumi and girl-pal Mogi have an intimate moment in episode 21 and a little punk named Kenta decides that he wants a shot at taking out Takumi and the 86 Toyota in a Rain Battle. Damn was this fun...

RR: Initial D by far is the best thing Animania has shown this year. I’m glad that Tokyopop picked it up for release. Sure the plots are simple and the characters all look a little odd, but damn is this a fun show. The Rain Battle was a cool episode and it shows that the writers have done their homework, plus watching Itsuki get thrown around the back of the 86 is a hoot. I can’t wait till next month for the conclusion of the first series.

JH: I think the key to "Initial D" is that the directors are great at building tense moments amongst the people watching the race in the show. This makes for more interesting inner dialogue. The general thoughts are usually along the lines of "How will Takumi overcome this latest handicap" or on the opposing side "How long can our guy hold out against the 86". The CGI in the show has thankfully gotten a lot better; now the cars actually look like they are going at high speeds as opposed to earlier episodes when they seemed to be taking turns at 10 MPH. The Rain Battle was great, especially since Takumi smoked Kenta by the midpoint, he pulled so far ahead that they didn't even show the rest of the race (it would've been pointless). It is also good to see that the majority of the supporting-cast aren't total dipshits. Takumi's pals Iketani and Kenji actually figure out that Takumi can win the Rain Battle. I should also mention that the first race between Nakazato and Keisuke Takahashi was choice with a photo finish!

RR: I really liked how they took the time to show the Nakazato/Takahashi race. Usually most shows would just have some body run up and say, “Did you hear? So and so just beat what’s his face!” and then cut away and possible show the end (usually a still shot). But ID actually takes the time to show just how competitive the other characters considering Takumi beat both of them by a lot larger margin. It really fills out the show. It also showed a change in Takumi’s personality. Before he was more passive about racing and didn’t really want to do it. But after watching his first race he now wants to do well, this leads him to accept Kenta’s challenge and beat him badly. I also have to agree, the CGI does look better each episode.

JH: Larger margin? I could've sworn that Nakazato and Takumi had a super tight race. Anyway, 3 episodes of "Initial D" equal fun. One thing I do like about the Animania screenings is that the fans of the show really get into it and cheer like New Yorkers after the Yankees win the pennant. What I hate is that some people blurt out various things and laugh at completely inappropriate times. Yes, the Takumi washing his car scene was kinda funny and the shot of the soap running down the windshield reeked of semi-homoerotica but I didn't need the obnoxious group 3 rows back to laugh and talk about it FOR THE REST OF THE EPISODE! This is the second time we've been stuck in front of them at a screening.

RR: Nakazato/Takumi race was close but he had at least half a car length on Naka if I remember right. Nakazato & Takahashi were almost evenly matched. Now, we’ve been known to make comments in shows before but not to the extent of those people. Man they just wouldn’t shut up. Least they didn’t scream right into my ear this time when ID was over.

JH: People need to learn to shut the fuck up sometimes. Well, "Initial D" was top notch. With the screening over we trudge back to the car and contemplate how to report this so-called "Raffle" to the Better Business Bureau. Rob breaks open the "One Piece" CD. For the record, Maki Otsuki's "RUN! RUN! RUN!" just might be the best Japanese Quasi-Punk tune I've ever heard. Rob opted not to give me a heart attack and kept the speed limit to 85. All this being said we weren't ready for the horror of the "One Piece" CD and its endless number of versions of "We Are!"

RR: We head back out to the car after a quick Bathroom stop. While waiting I open my Godzilla figure box. I’ve heard rumors that the candies in these things were vile. THEY WERE SO TRUE. Man is this lousy candy. It starts off ok but then turns pure EVIL!! They’re supposed to be lemon flavored, I don’t know what kind of lemons they have in Japan but these sure didn’t taste like any I know. Plus they somehow chemically remove all the moisture from your mouth (think Jim Carrey in “Me, Myself and Irene” and you’re close). I immediately look for the closest water fountain only to find it broken, plus it’s the only one in the building!!! Damn your lack of water ANN ARBOR!!! Well we make it back to the car and pop in the One Piece CD. Sure enough it had the openings and closing songs but it also has 5 versions of “We Are!” now I like “We Are” and don’t mind the versions, but did they have to put all of them right after each other?!? Oh and, just for the record I never exceeded 80 on the way home.

JH: I wisely did not ask for any of the LEMON CANDY OF DEATH. As for "We Are!” there wasn't a version sung by the cast, something I'm thankful for. We also weren't victims to any remixes... ah remixes! "Cha-la Head Cha-la" is a great song but the Jungle Fever Remix is weird. Then again it didn't make me wanna kill a school bus full of children like the remixes for "Fly Me To The Moon" from EVA did. Lord knows we can eagerly await the "GOMU-GOMU" remix of "Believe" or the "Shanks Super Samba" Remix of "RUN! RUN! RUN!". A mediocre screening this month no doubt! Now next month... ahh, next month will be great! "This Is Greenwood", the end of "Love Hina", The Bebop Movie and the concluding episodes to "Initial D First Stage", that is going to be a choice screening.

RR: What you don’t like the “Jungle Remix” Fly me to the moon? I’m disappointed they don’t have a Gendo/Pen-Pen duet version. I concur a very middle of the road screening this month. But next month is going to rock! The Bebop movie on the big screen, alone is worth the trek up there.