Misc. Bee Train roundup

I've been quiet again this week, though I've posted a few tidbits over on the 'Fan. Mainly, I've been struggling with my feelings about "El Cazador", and I plan on finishing up a little essay I'm working up on that front. Don't worry, it's not bad news! But it's interesting (to me, at least) just how self-contradictory I can be. Go figure.

One bit of "new" news is that Bee Train has redesigned their site. There's a few more bits of detail about various aspects of the company, and, oddly enough, a sort of blog where staff interviews are being posted. I can't read a word of it (well, except with machine translation), but I still figure it's of some interest.

"Spider Riders" is back on the air in Japan. I've been avoiding the annoying dubbed version, but I find I miss the Japanese version a lot, even though I can't really follow the dialouge. The story is pretty simple, though, and a lot is told very effectively through the visuals.

The rest of the news involves North American releases:

-- The "Tsubasa" release by FUNimation is set for the end of May, and there's a new site dedicated to it. Not a lot to it at this time, though there's the lure of potential merchandise.

-- ".hack//Roots" volume 1 actually got released by Bandai already, and I completely missed it. AnimeOnDVD has a review. I think I'm going to wait for an eventual HDTV version, once the disc format wars have settled out.

And like I said, more about "El Cazador" in a while. The fansub is now available in the usual places, but if you were following the show, you'd already know that. *grin*