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More Anime Washing Ashore In 2001
da3dAlus writes: "Gundam Wing has been pulled from the Toonami block on Cartoon Network, and the 4th season of DBZ is coming to an end--but that's not nearly the end of the anime hitting U.S. cable TV. CNX: Toonami Revolution has more word on series to premiere on Toonami within the next 4 months. These include Outlaw Star (which is supposed to air as early as January 15) and the original Mobile Suit Gundam (which is set to air in mid March). Among the possible future series are Cowboy Bebop, Magic Knights RayEarth, and Rurouni Kenshin. In the meantime, you can catch an encore presentation of Blue Submarine #6 on January 5, and take heart in knowing that CN has the rights to air the remaining DBZ episodes when they're ready."
Many internet retailers sell DVDs for fairly low prices. I think the entire 6 DVD set of Cowboy BeBop can be had for $130 including shipping.
express.com used to be very good, and they are for in-stock items, just don't order out of stock items.
DVDplanet.com seems to be stocking anime fairly well these days although I don't like their site engineering, quite bloated for modem use. There are a few others but they don't come to mind.
More anime imported and butchered by American censors. I want my anime piped in straight from Japan. We could do that. We have the technology.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
IMO, I don't think the frugality of some of the animation production houses necessarily makes their works poorly animated. That's part of the stylistic charm of a lot of shows. Although overly simplistic animation quality in a theatrically-released film can be intolerable, it's always interesting for me to see what Japanese animators are capable of doing with less cels, using less detail, in a TV series or (sometimes) OAV release. A lot of the most interesting frames you can capture from a Japanese series are the simply illustrated ones. (WB's Batman series was refreshing, because it followed a lot of the same principles. Contrast with the more-detailed "Sky Surfers" in syndication...not pretty.)
You're dead-on in saying that they are different from most Western programs, though. A good storyline and good character[/mecha] design are all an animated series needs. Good music and acting go a long way too. Too many American cartoons are produced with only children in mind, meaning all of the above are supposedly optional. Well, I gravitated more towards Star Blazers/Yamato than the Superfriends when I was a kid, and I know a bunch of others who were the same way.
< tofuhead >
It is still the dark of night.
I hear you. Like the computer geek that says popular OSs are totally worthless, the film or music freak that says movies made for the 'commoner' just don't stack up, etc. There is some good stuff out there that is popular, and really it is often up to an individuals tastes.
I do disagree with the original poster though, show for show that I have watched, it seems that anime is markedly better than US cartoons of late (all IMO, but just watch saturday morning once in a while OK?) There is a crudely I assume US animated Jackie Chan show, among many others I just prefer to block out. Even with Japan being said to be in something of a slump they still seem to do alright, at least for what I see that comes here.
As for Cowboy BeBop, I have a hard time believing that there won't be a lot of snips here and there, that's not counting what has to be cut for time slot.
The better theatrical animation seems to go toward Disney's direction, but they have immense budgets. Even I have a hard time comming up with somthing that is all around high quality and original as the Fantasia movies (hey, I liked 2000 OK?).
Sure on average, stuff that is popular isn't as good, but good stuff for any genre tends to be fairly obscure.
I see alot of people in this thread complaining about mangled and edited anime on tv.
Anime on tv, regardless if its edited or not, is a good thing. Its not like they are keeping you from seeing the original un-edited versions. Just go out and buy the dvds. What these tv showings of Blue6 and Tenchi do is expose more people to anime. More anime fans (even newbies) means more money for anime companies, which means more money for buying rights to shows like vandread! (good thing)
Ive heard of a few experiences of people liking escaflowne on fox (even the mangled version) buying the first dvd and being amazed by it. (esca first episode was basically skipped by the fox broadcast).
If it makes you guys feel better, anime companies are not part of the MPAA, and after talking to some of the studio peeps, dont even like region encoding or macrovision.
So please stop complaining. America already has the least expensive anime in the world. Titles are upwards of 60$ a disc in japan. You also get both audio tracks and some other bonuses.
December was qiute the month in the anime dvd area.
no
Not true. Ever heard of the Berne Convention? Over 120 nations, including Japan, are party to it, which basically means that they all agree to respect each other's copyrights. The Convention requires that "Works originating in one of the contracting States must be given the same protection in each of the other contracting States as the latter grants to the works of its own nationals." Among the copyrights protected by the Berne Convention including the right to translate, the right to broadcast, and the right to reproduce.
So, assuming the fansubbers live in a nation that has signed the Berne Convention (and chances are that they do), anything copyrighted in Japan is copyrighted in their nation as well, and they are still committing copyright infringment by translating, broadcastign, and/or reproducing the original anime.
Yu Suzuki
Yu Suzuki
Deamcast. It's thinking.
Yes, fansubbing *is* illegal. As someone who is involved a digital fansub group, I can tell you that if we were approached by someone, we would instantly buckle, take down the vids etc.
However, the reason that fansubbing has been successful is that it's somewhat of a win-win situation. For example, a show in Japan (which is unheard of abroad) is fansubbed, and develops a remarkable fan following overseas (which happens a lot). Suddenly the (mostly) American anime companies see a big demand for this title, and subsequently license it and distribute it (after a couple of years, maybe less).
This works well for (a) the original Japanese studio - they have got this extra business though licensing which they would have never gotten before, and for (b) the American companies - fansub watchers cover a smallish segment of the anime viewing population, so there will be people buying the proper releases. Many fans, and specially anime clubs etc, will go out and buy the proper release even if they had the fansubs, to support the studios, for peace of mind (feeling legit) and for better quality. Also the American companies make a packet if they can sell them to TV networks as mentioned in the article, which fansubs have very little effect on.
So fansubs, overall, tend to work out well for all parties involved, so although it is technically illegal, the studios/distributors don't tend to file lawsuits or get angry etc, if the fansubbing is done 'by the book' (eg. not selling them, trying to make money off them or silly things like that, and also stopping distribution the instant that they get picked up commerically.)
The only time I have heard of fansubbers getting in a bit of trouble is with Disney, and we all know what those bastards are like. In any case, complying with demands to remove the videos and discontinue work usually suffices in the case of any problems.
It's a virtual impossibility, unless they plan to air it only on the midnight run. Even then, it faces heavy editing.
When Cowboy Bebop aired in Japan, they only aired 12 episodes on TV Tokyo, because many of the episodes were deemed too violent (if you've seen any of the Spike v. Vicious episodes, you know).
If it couldn't air in it's entirety except on Japanese cable, there's no chance in hell it'll survive the knife on CN.
Kenshin, too, will face a hard time. And that aired untouched on japanese broadcast (though you'll never see the OVA series on CN). They'll probably get some lame Sony-mangled version.
I fear for Bebop and Kenshin appearing on CN, unless they get real brave and show 'em only on the midnight run.
You didn't offend me, I was curious what it was. Yeah, the villains did bug me too, actually just the stupid morphing boomers - I understand they are bio-engineered but their mutations defy any sense of logic and reality I can put to it. AFIAK, I think it was a teen-aimed series, not really for kids, similar to the new BGC 2040, which I happen to like more, it doesn't have such huge gaping plot holes to show where a budget used to be.
I am not sure which thread this it was in, I too cringe when people have such glorious and gushing praise of one show to the exclusion of others, and gringe when people excessively rip something as trash.
My tastes often run varied. I can appreciate a good deal of anime (95%+ of what I manage to watch) but I can't appreciate the rabidness of enthusiasm that some people put into it. My ratings often run counter to the status quo on some things. I liked Tenchi Universe and New Tenchi (aka Tenchi in Tokyo) as much or more than I liked the OVAs, I guess mostly because there is more of a coherent story within each series, although there is little real connection between each series other than the main characters.
I like it. I like it a lot.
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God, I sure hope they don't show Cowboy Bebop. It's a great series, but they'd kill it with all the censoring. :(
:>
There's nothing to censor in Ruroni Kenshin--not in the TV series, anyway. If the OVAs were to be shown on TV, they would probably be about half as long.
I have only seen parts of Magic Knight Rayearth, so I don't have any comments to make.
I'm not against anime on TV, I'm just against the censoring of it. (I'm against dubs, too, but if some people don't want to read subtitles, then so be it. That's their preference.)
...except for the fact that it would require some pretty substantial editing at parts.
What I would like to see even more is a decent treatment of The Vision of Escaflowne free of Fox's unforgivable edits and "additions". There already exists a pretty good dub of the Macross Plus OVA's (it's on the DVDs); I bet those could draw pretty big numbers as prime-time Toonami specials.
Of course, we'll probably just get more DBZ. (sigh)
I think what we really need is some entity in a position like Toonami is in to at least have a block of decent anime presented in a respectable format. I think that quality, high-class work like Escaflowne and the Ghibli films, presented uncut in the original Japanese could draw a surprising audience in the States. I'm dreaming, of course.
The coward who replied to this almost had it right. Cowboy Bebop is not kid's stuff and most people who saw it had to drag others to see it because of the damn name. However, a good deal of the kiddie sounding anime is kiddie stuff.
Bubblegum Crisis is moronic at best. Gundam is fun but it is like watching Batman on Saturday morning it is just adults indulging themselves by watching a kid's cartoon.
Ninja Scroll is not kid's stuff.
Akira is not kid's stuff.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is great.
Serial Experiment Lain is deep as hell.
The grown up stuff is out there. It is marred by the porn (BTW, if it looks like a horror flick there will be a disturbing rape scene don't bother with the crap). It is mixing in with the kid's stuff. Rourin Kenshin is a one man A-team running around with a sword never killing anyone. Its kid's stuff. There is a new series dealing with his younger life as an assasin that is violent, a bit deep and disturbing. Not kid's stuff.
Sometimes, it is tough to tell the difference. I thought Rourin Kenshin would be great from the reviews and it is worshipped by many but I thought it was formulastic and smacked of kid's stuff. Cute, but nothing special.
ACK
I was a big time RoboTech fan through high school. Then I saw Eraserhead, and I knew that I had changed. Now when I see the 28 year olds at the office wiggle in their seats over sailor moon toys, I get the creeps more than when I first saw Eraserhead.
I guess in a way I've become a fan of other people's anime fandom. Please don't mention any of this to JonKatz, thx!
I understand most of the post, but Bubblegum Crisis as moronic? Have you actually watched it?
The two things that are moronic are 1) the name, until you learn the meaning (the situation with the Boomers about ready to explode, the "Bubblegum Crash" is after the 'pop') and 2) the dub. It's not my kind of series but I've found it entertaining.
Kenshin is more than a one man A-team, into the second US released volume he gets good allies, and the show does progress. I have grown to appreciate it but it isn't on my personal must-get list either.
Old thread, no one will see this, oh well...
Rumor has it that FOX is sniffing around Slayers for TV [I'd prefer CN as there will be MUCH less editing on cable, but...]. There are some 'suggestive situations and language' that may be at issue, plus the whole idea of the heroine getting her powers from demons [refered to as the vague 'monster race' in the dub]. So that explains the reason it hasn't been scooped up as quickly as Pokemon etc. Hopefully someone will pick it up, as it is probably in the top 10 'most agreeable to americans' category, and is pretty entertaining to boot.
[Disclaimer: yup, I'm a Slayers fan, so my opinion is slanted]
-={(Astynax)}=-
-={(Astynax)}=-
"Darkness beyond Twilight"
Because pretty soon, Japanese animation studios will have to consider the almighty American Market when making new shows, and will start censoring themselves to ensure that there is no problem in exporting the shows to the States.
:-) I will have to look for the unedited Escaflowne, though, as a previous poster mentioned.
/."
Yikes! I wonder about that myself... "Card Captors" on Saturday mornings here, is that a watered-down version of something that's really cool in original Japanese, or is it the first in a line of 'let's make some crap anime to sell to Americans' shows?
FWIW, my first exposure to anime was "Wicked City", I kinda jumped in with both feet - GITS, Perfect Blue... Card Captors is like cheap-o sugar substitute after that.
"I'm not a bitch, I just play one on
The House Between - Original Sci-Fi Series
Makes more sense now. When it first came on the WB I thought, "oh, look at that, a Pokemon copycat show" but now that I've watched it a few times I see it could be more. Thanks for clueing me in!
/."
"I'm not a bitch, I just play one on
The House Between - Original Sci-Fi Series
I really doubt that CN is going to let Bebop thru. As it was, the best Bebop episodes (IMHO) did not even air in Japan due to timeslot considerations. Also, for the most part, the series we have seen so far have had typical "happy" endings. Several of these Animes do not.
Which is not to say that this is a bad thing per se. But...
The real question imho, is why someone has not yet picked up a series that is taylor made for America, plenty of explosions, slapstick humour, real plot and no nudity. Slayers.
(Rumour had it Slayers was picked up by SCI-Fi, but so far nothing).