It's the usual for Kadokawa. Every other distributor in Japan uses 3 episode discs for 2 cour anime and 2 episode discs for 1 cour anime. Kadokawa has only used 3/4 episode discs for B Ds twice. First was a delayed release of Kiddy Girl-And in 2009/2010 and the second time was the final 8 volumes of Future Diary. Every other 2 cour show from Lucky Star (12 volumes) to Nichijou (13 volumes) has been 2 episode discs.
edited 12th Apr '12 8:31:56 PM by ultimatemegax
I would like to note that Nichijou was ~90$ for 2 episodes.... and people wonder why it didnt sell....
It's useless to compare prices in USD as the exchange rate can change, making any comparisons pointless. Hyouka will be 7350 yen per volume while Nichijou was 8000 yen per volume. For two-episode discs, it's only 620 yen per volume more than the cheapest show, so it's not more expensive per volume. It's just the increased volume count (11 opposed to 7/8) that infuriates people.
Last few impressions (unless the thread is somehow still active when Hyouka and AKB 0048 come out):
Tsuritama: Another case where I like the style but not the characters. That seems to be happening a lot lately, which makes me sad
Eureka 7 AO: Haven't seen the original, but I did like this (though most of the cast could use a good slap upside the head). Lots of flash and weird shit going on
Shining Hearts: In theory, I should wait until the plot actually starts, but I think it's fairly clear that it's mostly a feel-good kind of show, and that's the opposite of what I like. Also; low-ish production values and clunky dialogue
So, impressions for last week:
- Jormungand - I'll probably watch this just to see the relationship between Koko and Jonah, because that was seriously the best part of this episode. Pretty much everything else was pretty muddy and indistinct, from the personalities of the rest of Koko's team to almost all of the actual arms-dealing to the way the series itself looks (grain, grain everywhere), but I suspect they'll flesh that out more in the coming episodes.
- Sakamichi no Apollon - It's... not what I was expecting, honestly, but I still like it. The use of jazz music in the thematic way that they've been doing certainly makes this more interesting than shows of this type. Will that be enough to elevate it? We'll see.
- Tsuritama - I really don't know what to make of this show. It's art and animation are great and wonderful, but... bluh? The main character takes social awkwardness to levels I wasn't sure even existed before, Haru is just completely inscrutable, and none of the other characters are thus far noteworthy enough to pontificate on for long. I'll have to keep watching...
- Tasogare Otome x Amnesia - Seemed like fairly typical highschooler drama at first... but then one of the characters is a GHOST!!!!!!!!
- Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - The "moe Nyarlthotep" thing lost its novetly about 30 seconds in, but what was left was fairly amusing, I suppose. I love how the girl is the on the receiving end of the comical violence, too.
Anyone been watching Saint Seiya Omega? Didn't see a thread for it. Pretty generic shonen, but sometimes that's just what you want. Plus, the third episode's look at The Red Sonja as a trope was simplistic, but got a surprising amount right for the sort of show it is.
What's precedent ever done for us?Ironic, As Saint Seiya is one of the original classic 80's shonen series to go along with Fist Of The North Star and Jojos Bizarre Adventure.
And you can never have to much Shōnen Fighting Series, IMHO.
Watch SymphogearI can't watch Shining Hearts with a straight face. Tony Taka's past works has my mind hostage for each second of that anime.
...a little brother should belong to his older sister, right? - Orimura ChifuyuSo, just caught up on what's out for A Woman Named Fujiko Mine.
Cons: SEX SEX BOOBS SEX TITS BOOBS SEX BOOBS BOOBS SEX TITS VAG SEX (Not that I'm entirely opposed to fanservice, but Fujiko goes a wee bit overboard. On the bright side, it's not the panty shots of teenage zombie girls sort of fanservice that can make a show completely unwachable so much as its just the "Yes, but WHY ARE YOU NAKED?" sort.)
Pros: Everything else. Yeah, I think I can tolerate the constant nips this time around (and there were less of them in the second ep, so hey).
The artstyle is pretty decent IMO but I am not a fan of the faded color palette, could just be the video quality.
edited 20th Apr '12 3:21:53 AM by Raso
Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!Wow, Hyouka was ungodly boring. I felt like it should've been over before even the halfway point. The "mysteries" so far are stupid in that those are the common sense explanations that occur to me half-formed before I even think about it. It's the classic "make the supporting characters stupid so the protagonist looks smart" technique. Speaking of the supporting characters, they all talk way too much about pointless and annoying things. I mean, I guess the male friend guy is smarter than they usually are, but I still just want him to shut up. It's all well and good to have his talkativeness be a character trait, but you have to think about the audience too. And don't get me started on idiot-girl.
The one saving grace is the main character who doesn't feel like doing anything. I can respect that. Unfortunately, it seems the theme of the show will be to slowly undermine his integrity. What a tragedy.
edited 23rd Apr '12 11:17:08 AM by Clarste

BD/DVD listings for Hyouka have been posted. It appears that the series is 22 episodes (2 episodes on 11 volumes), not 21 episodes.