The big red shake up

A Word From Some Jabroni

Lots of big changes this week. Three shows delisting. Two nearly went bankrupt. And others took huge hits as I shook my head and realized that they just kinda suck more than I thought.

Of course the real important news is that I'm blogging again! there's been lots of Negima!? previews, and thankfully it's looking pretty darn spiffy (check the ticker if you're searching for a link).

Oh, and of course, how can we forget the Transformers news that has millions of fanboys crying like little girls because there's no Soundwave in the movie? I could care less about that, but the new designs do look a little off to me. Like too complicated. Although I also think anyone that wants to see Megatron turn into a tiny handgun 1/1000th of his size is just high on nostaljuana.

But yeah, I could really care less as long as Starscream is whiney, things blow up, and there's big chase scenes.

And that's it for today. Enjoy the recap.

Crayotic Rockwell

The Week In Recap

AIR GEAR 17-19

Many wondered why Air Gear couldn't have been more like this from the beginning (although those in the know know the answer is because Toei was too busy making the original manga storyline somehow stupider and rousting monkeys that could hold a pencil).

Critics have said that battles lack logical explanation of techniques and counter-techniques and that the supporting characters watching from the sidelines don't make good enough "ZOMG!" faces to make this a top tier program, but recent stock prices have proved that the product of late has entertained investors marginally from before, nevertheless.

Notes:

Heart Bag mask > Croissent Mask

Crayotic is not a fan of introducing pivotal characters so late in the story. It displeases the state.

AIRG faced all it's critics head on and managed a 2 1/4 rise.

BLACK LAGOON 11-12 (DELIST)

The Black Lagoon Company finished it's short run this Friday with the advent of Rebby's tits. BLAGN experienced an initial dip in immediate trading, which was expected after the peak of the Mad Dog Meido arc, but with the help of "Yes it is" Lady and the Chow-Yun-Fat-from-The-Killer-not-Bulletproof-Monk'alike Mr. Chan, they managed to keep a strong momentum for it's final stock price, despite an odd non-end to the financial quarter.

Black Lagoon was quite a surprise hit from the previous season's offerings. It started out quite clearly a series about blowing shit up while looking cool doing it, and while it never strayed from this path, it did throw a major curveball in the form of compelling dialogue that not only kept you from hitting the skip button, but actually stood out as some of the highlights from it's episode run. Something that many actioneers can't claim likewise.

It was also nice to see badass characters on my computer monitor tv screeen again. For far too long has the action medium been plagued with a bunch of liberal pussies. Black Lagoon brought back memories back of the wild west, Charles Bronson, and Arnold Schwarzeneggar when he was in Twins—shit, I mean Commando.

With a perfect blend of big action and the animation to back it; vibrant and immoral characters for not only the main but supporting roles; and down-time that was more than just typical anime filler, Black Lagoon was more than just the average wham-bam action series many expected, and wound up being a break-out secrurity that has investors impatiently waiting for it's return in 2007.

BLAGN cashed out at 57.00, a quarter point rise from the week before. We are awaiting word on ass carving.

BLOOD+ 39-42

Baby Jesus weeped as he came to realize that all the good guys have no skillz0r in this show. Kai sucks, Saya sucks, Haji sucks. The only tough guy left is Solomon, and even he appears to have gotten weaker since turning to the boring side.

The stock took a downward spiral on Tuesday when four episodes back-to-back finally made investors realize just how much this series is dragging out. Unfortunately for many, it seems to be a case where they've invested so much time into BLDP, leaving them in too deep to just get out and drop all stock at this point. Hopefully for them, things will be picking up in the near future. The VERY near future.

BLDP took several full point drops of 4 this week. More is expected in the future.

COYOTE RAGTIME SHOW 6

Despite lack of the grenaloli, Coyote Ragtime finally picked up and stopped bollocking about and gave us some visual comedy along with lots of people pointing guns at each other. The only thing keeping it's stock price from really prospering was Franca remaining kidnapped for all of two minutes, the relating rescue attempt having no flair, and all those cockpit shots during the aerial fights.

Many analysts agree that they wish someone would pull a Kyoto-arc on Rurouni Ragtime and stick each of the 11 sisters in seperate rooms where they would have to be defeated one-on-one after lots of special attacks and flashbacks.

If August plays a bigger part in subsequent episodes analysts expect RAGT stock to see larger gains than a 1/4 point.

ERGO PROXY 15

There's a well known phrase: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. It's lesser known cousin, Absence makes an anime fan realize how crappy a series has gotten has not been as widely taught in educational facilities.

Analysts praised Ergo Proxy's innovation in exposition this episode and the fact that a sub was released after several months of waiting is amazing by itself, but it couldn't stop investors from taking a long hard look at the company, and general consensus seemed to be that Ergo Proxy is only going to fall further from it's original success the longer Vincent Law remains alive, Pino or no Pino.

CEO of of Ergo Proxy is desperately hoping they can turn around their stock's downward spiral.

GUN X SWORD 23-24 (DELIST)

In one of those rare cases for anime, Gun X Sword managed to deliver an ending that was not only fitting for the show, but managed to blow it away. After 22 episodes it finally came together with lots of angry faces, and enough burning passion, justice, and other stuff that would make Jpmeyer weep on his Gundum kit. All the right people lived, and all the right people died (although Carmen could have brought the pain a little more with that cheap slut).

And unlike Rozen Maiden Traumend (recapped below) they were sure to tell a denoument worthy of their investors.

However, some analysts are putting a damper on the festivities, claiming that the bulk of the series was so bland that a blow-off that stands apart from the bulk episodes was an easy feat. There is some truth to this, as we see GXS started out quite solid on the exchange but quickly became a bottom stock after it's mid-year earnings, and up until the very end it was on the verge of going bankrupt several times.

The weakness of it's stock is also a testament to just how well they delivered the final two episodes. Even after a great deal of apathy for the company, the creative heads for Gun X Sword somehow managed to pull it's shareholders back and make certain they saw them through to the end.

Carmen99 was amazed that GXS managed to make it this far, let alone cash out in the green.

HIGURASHI NO NAKU KORO NI 18-19

After a lot of floundering about, Higurashi showed it's distinction to the exchange as everyone got tasered in the face. Some remain skeptical whether or not enough will be explained to make sense of the preceeding 17 episodes by the end of the company's annual take, but for now investors seem content with Shion's violent warpath of 20v vengeance.

Notes:

Is it me or does Takano bear a resemblance to Fasarina from Gun X Sword?

So how bout Mion's bewbs eh? It's Prison Girls Gone Wild up in here!

Oogabooga, HIGU saw a half point rise this week.

MUSHISHI 24

A rival Mushishi tried to muscle in on Ginko's spot this Wednesday, but was quickly shown that that he don't play 'dat. Ginko's manly action of holding it down further bolstered investor's confidence in the company as they move into the final couple of episodes.

Notes:

I could have sworn this was the last episode, what with the no-credits and everything, but a searcxh of raws and ANN seem to think otherwise. Weird.

It was a tough week for Ginko, but he managed to gain a 1/4 point on top of MUSHI's already strong floor price.

MUTEKI KANBAN MUSUME 6

The Invincible Poster Girl is proving itself to be the sleeper hit of the season with more great violent comedy than you can shake a ramen container at. Several insiders have said that Toshiyuki is looking to be a lock for an MVP nom come the end of the year. Toshiyuki is said to be "pleased should it come to fruition. Gao."

Notes:

Not much of Onimaru's mum in this, but loli-chan's operation: date failure, and scolding of Toshiyuki more than made up for it.

I LOLed hard at Kankuro punching Onimaru through the love letter. Perhaps that's a sign that there's something wrong with me.

MTEKI had all the other comedies licked this week, with a 2 1/2 jump.

OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB 18

Ouran took a fall this week after an unbalanced Monday. While it had a strong second half, the laughs were far too sporadic for investor's liking. OURAN has been following this formula for a while actually, and it's stock price seems to indicate that it's really starting to take it's toll on the series overall standing.

Notes:

"Looks like him?" He looks less like Honey than he does a shota version of that jobber from Honey & Clover.

A 1 and a half point drop showed that consumers weren't having as good a time as Honey and Usa-chan thought.

ROZEN MAIDEN TRAUMEND 12 (DELIST)

The premiere doll factory took a dip as it cashed out of the exchange due to a weak ending and any denoument slightly bearing a resemblence to satisfaction. Investors enjoyed seeing the animation budget that had been hoarded from about episode 6; especially fun was the fight with all doll's powers combined, and Shinku proving herself to be master of the MMA mat game.

Unfortunately that couldn't shake the fact that this company needed an extra two or four episodes in it's annual output to really put some polish on that last financial quarter.

A prime example of this was when top board member, Souseiseki, left the company. This should have had all the punch that Hinaichigo's exile had (ironically, this came second so should have theoretically been at a disadvantage), but Souseiseki didn't get enough time to contribute anything worthwhile—beyond bad clothing—to the company and as such got sent off with about all the fanfare of a corporate cutback.

Final hour flaws aside, noone can argue that Rozen Maiden Traumend was surprisingly a major player on The ASX this year for a number of reasons, but mainly due to it consisting of one of the most fun and fleshed out harems ever seen. Suiseiseki being nominated for the MVP '06 award doesn't hurt either.

If you're ever presesented with a letter for shares in RZNT that asks: Will You Buy / Will You Sell? Make sure you circle the first option.

RZNT may have rested a little for it's last week, but it didn't stop it cashing out #3 on the index.

TSUYOKISS 2

Like Ergo Proxy this week, investors collectively wondered "who cares?" regarding the tsundere corporation, who took a long hiatus after it's surprisingly flacid debut. If it wasn't for the odd bond of Sunao and Otome at the end, Tsuyokiss would have found itself going Enron all up in this bitch.

As stands, they're only a thread away from having all their books audited. Which will not be a pretty sight.

TSUYO hit the floor with a 5 point flop.

XXXHOLIC 18

The badly drawn, supernatural corporation was so close to being shut out from the CRAYDAQ index at the beginning of this week, when investors decided they just didn't really give a shit about what might happen in the final stretch of xxxHoLIC's financial span and a new American live-action season began vying for their attention.

On Thursday, however, it managed to just keep itself afloat in the water with the timely assistance of a giant neko, the vestal sprite, and some Yuuko FTW!® The press release for next week's output promises more continued cameos from the past — which may have very well saved XHOLC's skin for now.

Analysts can only pray that more Yuuko FTW!® is planned in the near future as well.

Yuuko helped XHOLX stay in the game with a 1/4 point rise this week.