How very "Irresponsible"

So when I was building my order for that DeepDiscountDVD.com sale, I was already itching to try to get a hold of "Irresponsible Captain Tylor". It was one of the series that Mashimo did shortly before "Noir", and it has a good reputation. It's also the only series he did a sequel for (and no, "Madlax" doesn't count!).

The first couple of discs had been sitting at the top of my GreenCine queue for weeks. I was getting to the point that I actually scanned the shelves at Best Buy to see if I could get an instant fix. And when the 20% discount opportunity showed up, one of the first things I put in the cart were the two box sets. Then I got the notification email from GreenCine that the first two discs were actually shipping! So I decided to wait for them and actually watch the series before plunking down (well-discounted) cash.

I'm glad I did, because I removed them from my shopping cart.

(Ooh, I made that sound waaay more negative than I meant! Just being a little dramatic; sorry!)

Okay, seriously, it is a fun show (there's that "f" word again!). Funny characters in an old-skool spacecruiser setting. Well animated. A bit of a lack of depth to the plot, but an interesting undercurrent that spans across the episodes that I need to see more to be able to put my finger on it. All-in-all entertaining despite the fact that I was rather irritable last week. And I'll continue renting it.

But why'd I drop it from my purchase? Well, I think I need to see a little more before I decide if I want to rewatch it enough to actually own it. And more importantly, the picture quality of the discs was rather poor. It even caused my mighty 3910 player to labor at correcting it. And from what I hear, there's a new "ultimate edition" (or whatever-something-definitive edition) coming out in the spring of 2005.

So if that new edition is actually remastered, and I find after watching more of it I like it, then it'll be a no-brainer. If I'm not so thrilled with it, then no big loss.

And speaking of adding a series to that shopping cart and knocking it off again, I almost bought all of the "Cowboy Bebop" discs too. But then I read that there's a super-deluxe box set coming out right around Christmas that should have all of the episodes' audio remastered at the very least, and hopefully (though not confirmed) the video will be cleaned up as well. Of course, it's a Japanese R2 set, but it's also rumored to have English subtitles! Of course, these are all rumors, and I'll wait until there's confirmed accounts on the trusted sites -- then I'll spend a ridiculous amount of money to get it shipped to me.

Especially if the Dollar keeps sliding against the Yen. *sigh*