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Escaflowne & Metropolis Hit US Big Screens Friday
darketernal writes "Escaflowne is appearing in theaters nationwide on the 25th, depending on your location. Rated PG-13. Here is a Yahoo! Review."
If you've seen Escaflowne in japanese, you probably know that
its a pretty cool show, and while its not one of my all time favorites,
if the big screen release gets anywhere near me, I'll be there.
Perhaps even bigger news is that
the mega anime film hit
Metropolis is
being release at the same time.
... we'll finally be able to get some Region 1 anime without hunting for six months?
As much as I enjoyed the Escaflowne movie, I still think the series is a lot better. The movie changed a lot of things, not always for the better. The new character designs weren't great, although I did like Hitomi more in the film, mainly because she had more of a purpose than she does in the series.
:D
My problem really is that they neutered Merle in the movie, and almost neutered Allen. These two were my favourite characters from the series. I did like the fact they gave Merle a background though.
Of course, the movie is an excuse to listen to Maaya Sakamoto's beautiful voice for 90-odd minutes.
Then again, I can listen to it for 13 hours if i watch the series.
life is a canvas/and the paint is hope and promise/the world is ours/no one can ever take it from us.
New York, Chicago, and a couple of west coast cities isn't really nationwide, is it?
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
So where are the locations? I see nothing in the Yahoo review that talks about how limited or not the release is.
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
Since when was "Metropolis" an Anime film?
I admit that I'm not deeply into Anime, but I've seen my fair share, including Bastard, Tyler, Utena, and other random stuff. Therefore, I feel comfortable with saying that the only well-known MOVIE called "Metropolis" isn't animated. It's still incredible, even in black and white, and it's definitely highly rated.
But if slashdot (which pretends to be a news outlet of some kind) actually wants to make any sense even to the people who read it, a footnote is in order here explaining what "Metropolis" is for the vast majority of us who only know about the much more well-known movie by the same name.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
Go yell at Disney. They bought the rights to just about every ghibli movie back in 96 up through mononoke (they don't have their new one though), and have been sitting on most of them.
Why?
There's a ton of theories, one of which is that disney want to be made to look bad by releasing licensed films that stomp on their own.
Go yell at Disney. On the other hand, laud Tristar and Bandai for trying to get anime out and on the big screen.
on one page (dont remember where) they were saying that Metropolis was NOT based off of the 1926 Fritz Lang Silent Masterpiece, but off of the Japanese Magna (1949) of the same name... that may be the case, BUT I wonder where Osamu Tezuka got HIS inspiration from...
It probably wont hit any theaters around here, but at least the video will be available in May...
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
1.25.2002 Los Angeles GCC Galleria Cinema 3rd Level of the Mall,
1815 Hawthorne Blvd. Redondo Beach,
CA 90278, (310)777-FILM
1.25.2002 New York AMC Empire 25 on 42nd Street, 234 West
42nd Street New York, NY 10036, (212)398-3939
1.25.2002 San Francisco
1.25.2002 Chicago GCC City North Cinema , 2600 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60647, (773)394-1601
1.25.2002 Pasadena AMC Old Town Pasadena 8, Union at Fair Oaks
Pasadena, CA 91103, (626)585-8900
1.25.2002 Vancouver
CANADA Cinemark's Tinseltown, 88 W. Pender,
#3000 Int'l Village, Vancouver, B.C.
V6B 6N9, (604) 806-0799
Computational Madness in a round package.
Well I do not know the show/movie, yet I am a poser fan of japanese modern animated art.
As a linux user I went to the multimedia section to see some teasers. Hmmm... wonder if windows media works with linux? click...
Nope.. sorry, not using Solaris, whaddya stupid? Oh.. Hey.. MS, hows that VBScript treating ya?
Yeah I know the movie starts with a bunch of terrorists blowing up a Martian colony, but everyone who's seen the fansub that's floating around says it kicks ass, and the series is certainly one of the best anime series I've seen. It's easily in Evangelion and Lain's league.
Besides, you can't NOT like CowBe...it's got Radical Edward!!!
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
It's beautifully animated and full of exciting fight scenes. The big story, though, with the prophesy and crazy powerful people doing crazy things, is just plain stupid, with really overdone and tiresome religious/philosophical angst.
What it reminds me of is The Matrix, which I enjoyed watching once just for the cool special effects, but didn't feel like watching again. I feel almost exactly the same about the Escaflowne movie. I'm not going to spoil it, but there were things that made me cringe nearly as much as the "they're using us for batteries" scene.
The series is better (at least what I've seen of it), but the movie's definitely worth watching for anyone who can happily sit and admire beautiful animation without being bothered too much by an unintentionally ridiculous story.
The Magna
The Movie
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
on DVD, and Im not talking the crappy verion you can pick up for 9.99 on Amazon either
They talk about it here
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
Slashdot (to MPAA): You fucking fascists. We hate you.
MPAA: But look at these shiny colors!
Slashdot: Oooh! How much?
I miss living in Washington, D.C. soooo much. There are little theatres all over the place there, 25 maybe 30 seats to a screen. It's like a private showing. And they get all these great small-release films. I'm sure this release of Metropolis will find its way there in a month or so.
So what do I do? I move to Minot, North Dakota to get married. There are 13 screens in the entire town, and five of them were showing Harry Potter for 7 weeks, three more were showing Monsters, Inc for 6 weeks. WTF?
Everything you've ever heard about North Dakota is true.
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
This seems to be becoming a trend. Out here in western mass, a local theatre ran a print of "Spriggan" for less than a week, and I think very few people showed up. I hope more anime films come out this week (and all over, too) but I can't blame theatre owners for looking at the numbers and deciding that another theatre for Riding In Cars with Boys would make more money.
Funny, I just read this post as I bought my copy of Metropolis DVD today in Kinokuniya bookstore in San Francisco. They even let you have a pin of one of the hero. This version is Japanese (not region 1) and without English subtitles (there may be I am not sure) and it plays beautifully with VideoLan+DeCSS plugins on my AMD box.
For those of you who are waiting for the release on DVD with English subtitles, and bitching at the US being still centralized around a few spots only (the ones with an Asian population big enough to make the release of the movie worth, all according to these idiots who own theaters), let me tell you that it is so-so, not so good. The story is ok but I was expecting way better from 2 super stars put together to make this anime. So don't be too mad, ok?
PPA, the Japanese girl next door.
-- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
According to today's Morning Edition article on it, Tezuka was inspired partly by seeing some stills from Lang's movie--there's no indication whether he actually saw the movie itself, but he did write his story based on similar themes.
Note that there is a trailer for the anime Metropolis in the trailers section of the first disc of the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within DVD. It looks pretty impressive to me.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Disclaimer: I used to be--and mostly remain--very much not an anime fan, due mostly to the art style of most animes. However, I've been 'turned on' through friends to a few abolutely stunning stories that happen to be conveyed using anime as a medium.
:o) The story is huge, complicated, and very deep, but for those who have no idea what the anime is about, perhaps reading this post will help.
Vision of Escaflowne comes in two flavors: series and movie. I'll talk mostly about the series, since I don't want to give out any spoilers.
Escaflowne tells the story of a 15 year old named Hitomi, a athletic Japanese highschool student who also happens to have a strange talent for 'hunches.' This comes out in her skill at foretelling the future using ordinary tarot cards. One day, when trying to break her speed record in the 100 yard dash, she has a strange vision that ends up dragging her into a strange alternate world called Gaea. Gaea is a land somewhere 'in space' out beyond the earth and the moon that has something to do with the sunken kingdom of Atlantis (to say more would ruin it). It is populated mostly by humans, along with many types of half-human-half-beast people. Although Gaea is by and large peaceful, when Hitomi arrives the entire land is plunged into brutal war, country by country, by a Gaean realm called the Zaibach Empire. The results of this war will determine the fate of Gaea.
From here, Hitomi is thrown into a series of adventures that change her outlook on life and most importantly teaches her much about herself. The entire time, she misses her home and wants to go back (Earth is known in Gaea as the 'Mystic Moon') but begins to care about the people she meets. In addition, her fortunetelling skills are mysteriously enhanced and become a major part of her life.
Unfortunately, to say much more about the story would ruin it for the newcomer. The plotline is very deep, and digs into several 'human' concepts such as destiny, fate, and luck. Family and chivalry are also very important and the source of some major themes. In addition, the mystery of lost Atlantis is somehow involved.
Battles in Gaea are fought by huge robots (think Mechwarrior with swords) called 'Guymelefs,' even though the tech level of Gaea is supposedly stea-engine level. These 'guymelefs' are for the most part huge robot samuri, and are very interesting. Although there isn't really 'magic' in Gaea (at least not in the D&D magic-missle-everything style), there is a lot of unexplained natural phenomenon that are harnessed by the locals, such as rocks that levitate--'wandering earth.'
Escaflowne tells an amazing story and is a good introduction to good anime. I won't say much more about the plot (don't want to give too much away), but it will hook you and drag you along for a fantastic ride. The series is 26 episodes long, and basically continues one story.
Other animes you might want to watch if you liked Escaflowne, or don't know if you want to rent/download it and watch it are Cowboy Bebop and Lain. Bebop is the best anime I've ever seen and one of the best stories I've been told in a long time. Lain is disturbing, but brilliant. Still, I would say that Escaflowne is a great place to start in on anime and definitely worth your time. Although it starts slow (at the begining, I wanted to throttle most of the characters), the character development is fantastic, and the story is truly haunting.
- - - - - - - -
Don't worry, being eaten by a crocodile is just like going to sleep in a giant blender.
Perhaps even bigger news is that the mega anime film hit Metropolis is being release at the same time
Oh, for Christ's sake, that's not the real Metropolis. This is the real Metropolis.
<sigh> All you young pups, just wanting your talkies, their 3 FPS scantily-clad cartoon characters with their monolithic teeth.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Metropolis (the original) was ripped off by Madonna for her "Express Yourself" video. I liked the original much better.
You're using her as bait, Master!
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/escaflo
Im just a kharma whore.
People think Microsoft is the answer. Microsoft is just the question, "No" is the answer.
That's why you have the expression "from Maine to California". If Maine and California are not included, it's not nationwide.
That 9.99$ USD copy might be more interesting than you think. First off, in Canada you can buy it at Walmart for 6.88$ CDN new (about 4.20$ USD). Second, it's encoded for region 1 DVD.
I mailed the MPAA about this. See, the prices on DVDs between Canada are within 1 to 5$ of each other numerically, but are way off when you calculate the value straight across -- Canadian DVDs always seem to be cheaper. Why are the prices artificially low?
Then you see things like this movie, released 3 quarters of a century ago in Germany. What point does region coding serve? It's not like any parts of the world are still showing it in theatres. The entire argument of region coding as a means of protecting theatre owners is proved WRONG by little things like this.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Considering he runs AnimeFu (look at the right side of /.'s homepage, boys and girls), I think it's a safe bet to assume he likes anime.
Escaflowne the series was originally a shoujo manga series, which then became turned into a 26-episode anime run.
Escaflowne the movie was originally a shounen manga series, which became turned into a movie.
That's why the story is different, the people look different, and so on.
The series spends a lot of time on the love story between Hitomi, Van, and Allen, while the movie is about Van's fight.
Each has it's merits, it's just up to you to choose which you like most.
Gawyn
Freedom of Speech?
Though Metropolis may be Columbia/Tristar's first anime release, it won't be their last. AnimeOnDVD reported yesterday that the DVD release of Metropolis (expected in March) will come with a special mini-DVD that will contain trailers of Metropolis itself, FF: The Spirits Within, and... Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door.
/drag/ their friends out to see it, it's that good.
If there's one anime movie that has a good shot of breaking the US market wide open it's Cowboy Bebop. Think about it, they have a ready-made market created by Cartoon Network, and everyone who has ever seen a 572398572th generation fansub (or digisub ^^) will
-inq
Actualy I have it up on my webserver right now (so a friend could download it). I could just paste in a URL and you could have it. Sigh. But that would put me over my bandwidth cap ;p
Actualy the opening scene is of jet and spike busting up a convinece stand up. It was pretty intresting.
A little later, there is a huge explosion on a freeway on mars, and every nearby dies of a mysterious disease. That's the introduction to the actual plot of the film, btw.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
The origional Metropolis edit has been lost entirely.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Hellsing's got US optioning in the US. Having seen the first 2 eps at New Year's Eve, I must state that it's probably one of the best vampire things I've seen in a long, long time, even compared to things like 'Blood' and 'Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust'. (Blood was irritating, but VHD:B had a VERY interesting twist to it which I enjoyed.) Besides, a vampire hunting other vampires with gun forged from a melted-down churck bell? Sign me up for the series!
Brazil has decided you're cute.
I know exactly what you mean. Just the other day, I purchased the StarBallz movie when I was trying to buy Star Wars. Boy were my kids surprised!
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
You missed the point. The anime icon merely indicates the movie is anime. It does not indicate anything about the content of the anime movie 'Metropolis.' The point of confusion is that this is not an anime-version of Metropolis, it is a completely different movie in its own right.
The point is that, a least among film buffs, "Metropolis" is a major film. That's why I gave a "what if" example of two films named "Star Wars."
If you think it's fine to talk about an anime film called "Star Wars" without explaining that the film does not have the same plot as the film by George Lucas, then there's really nothing more I can say.
OK, to the uninitiated... Fritz Lang's 1927 Metropolis has influenced everything from Blade Runner's iconography to Madonna's 'Express Yourself' video to virtually every subsequent film rendition of Frankenstein.
/. about an anime 'Metrpolis,' my immediate assumption is that we're talking about an anime-version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the world-famous movie by that title.
So when I read on