Anime-zing Deal

Yes, it's a terrible pun, but if it catches your attention, I can live with it.

Effective yesterday, Best Buy has a pretty sweet deal on some select anime box sets. I took the plunge today and walked home with the Evangelion and Fullmetal Alchemist box sets.



I'm positive there isn't an anime watcher on the planet who doesn't know about Evangelion, and the major influence it's had on both animation and videogames for the past decade. You can chalk me up to one of those die hard fans, as I still regard it as the best anime series of all time, despite some 2nd act flaws (including the final movie, which has been regarded by more than a few people as a love letter to fans in the form of a giant middle finger). But I've also watched the series to death on VHS. I bought the first volume of the Platinum Edition when they were first being sold individually, but held back on completing the collection in DVD form. I kept feeling that as soon as I purchase the Platinum Edition in full, Gainax and/or AD Vision will immediately announce yet another, much better edition, possibly on Blu Ray.

Cosmic middle finger, folks.

But at a $28.99 price, it was hard to put it off any longer. As for Fullmetal Alchemist, I watched the series when it premiered in Adult Swim, and became just as enthralled with it as I was with Evangelion. I also resisted the purchase of the DVD volumes, as I was hoping this series would be one of the first animes to receive a Blu Ray adaption. But again, it's hard to beat a low price for a large collection of episodes.

Only problem was that the box set advertised was for Season 2, not Season 1. Even though I've watched the entire series more than once, the completest in me demanded I buy the sets in order. Crafty as I am, though, I brought the set along with the Evangelion box set along with the ad in hand. The Eva set rang up as advertised, but when Season 1 of FMA rang the sticker price, I jammed the ad in front of the cashier. He took a long look at the ad, trying to compare the image on paper and the image on the box set cover together. As I predicted, he was too tired or too ignorant to notice a real difference; He probably took a look at the big armored dude on both pictures and rang up the price difference. Yes, it's somewhat dishonest, but no harm for him or anyone else.

And finally, let me remind all of you that tomorrow will officially start the pre-order offer for Metal Gear Solid 4. The Gamestop stores are expected to receive the bonus MGS Saga vol 2 DVD, which also has the code for the online beta, around April 4th. So make sure to reserve it first thing tomorrow, then continue to pester them throughout the week whether they have received the discs or not. The Best Buy cashiers got nothing on the general ignorance of Gamestop workers. When I brought this up with an employee last week, he flat out had no idea what I was referring to, and deduced it was probably an online only promotion.

I'm telling you otherwise. The DVDs are out this week, so keep calling as much as necessary. I hope to see some of you in the online battlefield.

It's Been 2 Months

2 months since my last blog post. I suppose many of you thought I finally called it quits on this blog, which I honestly considered. I do have some legitimate reasons for the inactivity, but the longer I waited, the longer my return message had to be.

But I also know that I would regret abandoning this blog, so I've decided to set aside everything and dedicate however much time I need to get things back to speed.

The first four weeks can be accounted for simply enough: I was hit with a very nasty fever, the worst I likely ever had in my life. While I was thankful enough that I wasn't blasting puke every hour like in my younger days, I was still filled with immobilizing pain throughout my body, along with sporadic bouts of freezing cold and searing heat. And in one frightful night, I even had trouble breathing properly.

The next four weeks were dedicated to job searching. Prior to my four week flu, I was unfortunately terminated from my job as a credit card customer rep. The short of it was that I quietly mouthed off about an extremely rude customer, off the phone mind you, while the wrong kind of person happened to overhear me. It wasn't even a swear word, but it was enough to get me the boot. Truthfully, the job became extremely stressful to me, and those still working have told me that things have not improved whatsoever, and they are all dying to find work elsewhere. Since I was hit with the fever just one day after, perhaps this was fortune smiling on me.

The only problem is I'm still unemployed, but I am diligently looking. On the bright side, I'm attending college again, intent on finishing the last few classes for my certification. My online gig in Primotech is also going much smoother than I thought. While I'm still in the internship phase, my reviews of Devil May Cry 4, God of War: Chains of Olympus, and a few news postings have garnered praise from my editor. I've also got my first game personally shipped from the website on the way, free to own and review. By next month I should start making money from this position. Not enough to consider it a new job, but enough to fulfill my monthly media budget.

So anyway, I really do apologize for the long delay, and I hope I can still get back some readers, old and new. I can't guarantee without delay that I'll stick to my Monday/Friday update schedule, but I will do my best. It helps that I have a few points of interest I can share with, such as my experience in Gamestop's Smash Bros. tournament from a couple of weeks ago.

And just a heads up, but Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is officially released in stores tomorrow. If there was ever a reason to purchase a PSP, this would be it.