However, having an enough buttons does wrap around to being cool, as long as it looks like you need a Masters degree in order to operate it. This is known as the “Graphing Calculator Corollary”

The PS5 is also just really frustrating to use and lacking in features. With the exception of 4K upscaling, it’s a worse DVD/BD player than my PS3 from 2006.

The remote is also awful for disc playback, and doesn’t have audio track or next/previous chapter buttons, which drives me nuts.

The Panasonic players are also kinda region free out of the box, with the “top menu trick” working on a large number of titles.

There’s also custom firmware for the 820 that makes it fully region free without any hardware mods. Unsure if the 450 is supported.

www.reddit.com/r/4kbluray/c...

Panasonic does actually have a cheaper model, (DP-UB450, ~$230) with many (but not all) of the same features as the model everyone loves (DP-UB820 ~$550)

They’re also the only company who makes players that support both Dolby Vision and HDR-10+, for what it’s worth.

Reminds me of the story John S. had about how Disney had signed on to air GaoGaiGar, which is likely why the first half even got dubbed by MB & NYAV Post in the first place, only to then change their minds at the last minute because they thought "kids didn't like giant robots anymore".

And then there’s Odex, who was (reportedly) using fansubs on multiple series while simultaneously trying to sue torrenters. Needless to say, this did not make them popular.

fast.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-09...

fast.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-08...

I’ve also found a number of old blog posts from the initial JP broadcast where reportedly a couple of episodes were delayed or entirely skipped by local stations due to Olympics coverage running late.

www.md.ccnw.ne.jp/tei/anime/bi...

Decode on the other hand seemed to hit at just the wrong time. 2010 was right after the industry crash, but right before the superhero boom. Funimation accidentally shipping Dragon Ball Z discs in the first volume didn’t help matters either…

fast.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-10...

In the early '00s, Locomotion aired Birdy the Mighty in Spanish throughout Latin American territories--that's how I was introduced to it!

Interestingly, WNET Thirteen was actually on the production committee for Phoenix, so they threw a chunk of change into a series they never aired.

According to MB, their involvement in the US release ended after 1 recording session. So weird.

Though interestingly enough? Birdy the Mighty was weirdly popular back in the day.

It was a series that pretty much every anime club had on offer, and aired in rotation on Starz's Action TV network at the turn of the millennium. Fansubs were quick on it, too, and it got many open calls on Usenet.

Birdy the Mighty AIRED ON MY LOCAL PBS STATION (this is how I first watched it).

Aniplex Japan is consistently one of the worst publishers when it comes to keeping their back catalog in print or remastering for new formats. Even if the US side wanted to license it and do a BD, I’m not sure they’d be able to without the uninterested Japanese side playing ball.

I can’t find the twitter post now, but a few years ago, Kazuki Akane showed off a shelf in his office with copies of all the titles he worked on, lamenting the lack of BD for Birdy (as well as Heat Guy J and Geneshaft).

Langrisser did allow you to use the old artwork, but as it’s still the remake underneath, there’s a bunch of weird edge cases where they added features and had no classic art to use. Stuff like CGs being replaced with text boxes, the map looking almost but not quite like the 16 bit original, etc.

All games must converge on Generic Anime Look™ because that’s the lowest risk option, and it allows jamming your characters into the gacha crossover of the month with little effort.

</rant>