Dreamworks Delves Into Anime

peter_gzowski writes "Dreamworks has acquired the license for the worldwide distribution of Satoshi Kon's latest picture, Millennium Actress. Satoshi Kon is best known for directing the anime classic Perfect Blue, but has also worked on Patlabor 2 and Roujin Z (the latter two from the director of Ghost in the Shell & Akira, respectively). Read about it from Yahoo! Movies or Anime News Network, whichever you prefer. I guess Dreamworks was feeling left out after Miramax (with Princess Mononoke) and Columbia Tri-Star (with Final Fantasy and Metropolis) got into the anime distribution business. Maybe Spielberg and company will fare better trying to convince North American audiences to watch serious animated films."

Comments

Can't see how...

[Chemical]

Can't see how this will be a good thing. The only good Dreamworks might do get some "well known" people to do voice acting (not that I care as I am a sub-snob) and perhaps get a somewhat large exposure at big cinemas. Other than that, this is more or less a bad thing. The American Anime-only distribution companies like ADV and the like by the fans, for the fans. They care about their fans and do their best to make their fans happy. Dreamworks and other Hollywood stuidos couldn't give a flying fuck about the fans and just want to make some cash. They will rape the movie any way they can if they think it will earn them a couple more bucks. Disney/Miramax wanted to rape Princess Mononoke by censoring it, and they would have if they weren't restricted by the contract. Tri-Star did an all right job with Metropolis but the translation was sub-ADV. I can't imagine what Dreamworks, another animation studio known more for "kiddie" movies, plans to do with this, but I don't think Dreamworks buying the distribution rights is going to be beneficial to anime fans.

Re:Can't see how...

[AtomicToad]

I don't want to start a flame here (although it's kinda hard to avoid when a bunch of people start talking about anime!), but it just appears that you misread a few things in the post you are replying to.

He never said that he watched the dubbed version of Metropolis. He said the translation wasn't very good. This is correct. The SUBBED translation was simply horrible. Besides the fact that it could have been much smoother, they even changed the people's NAMES for no reason! "Litegong"?! You can't even pronounce that in Japanese! Even if you don't speak Japanese, you'd still notice something wrong with the translation if you paid attention, and that alone would make it a bad translation.

But yeah, big distributors distribuing anime is good as long as the original compaines don't get screwed over in their contracts (see Princess Mononoke censorship example of what was narrowly avoided somewhere else in this thread). I really don't care how much they screw up the anime -- it introduces it to a new audience and if they care enough they can track down the better subbed versions and hear better voice acting themselves. I got into Dragon Ball Z by watching it on the Cartoon Network, now I can't stomach that stuff for even a second, but I'm happy -- now I'm a hardcore fan -- of the original Japanese version.

Re:Can't see how...

[Golias]

I really don't care how much they screw up the anime -- it introduces it to a new audience and if they care enough they can track down the better subbed versions and hear better voice acting themselves. I got into Dragon Ball Z by watching it on the Cartoon Network, now I can't stomach that stuff for even a second, but I'm happy -- now I'm a hardcore fan -- of the original Japanese version.

Exactly. Even butchered anime can good for the genre in general if it builds the market. Look at how many Americans became anime fans in the first place by watching Robotech, which was a lazy re-edit of Macross. They know better now, but they may have never started watching had they not seen the chopped-up stuff first.

Personally, I was a "Battle of the Planets" kid. I guess that makes me an "old-skool" anime nerd.

Let's Try Not To Oversimplify

[krmt]

I hate this troll. How many times a day do we see people posting about the so-called hypocrisy of slashdot? It's such a disgusting oversimplification that I can't tell if the people posting are really just trolling, or if they're simply short-sighted idiots who just want to hate slashdot.

Slashdot is a big and complicated community with a lot of different posters from various backgrounds, countries, and outlooks on life. Because it is not a monoculture, you get many different posts with many different opinions. Some people will ferverently boycott the RIAA and the MPAA while others don't care in the slightest and will continue to spend their entertainment dollars as usual. Many fall somewhere in the middle, concerned about what is happening but not so concerned as they are about other things.

The entertainment industry too, is a large and complex entity. Many people feel that, while they don't agree with the entertainment industry's actions in the political arena, they enjoy what the entertainment industry produces enough to overcome this distaste. It's a question of priorities, and because this is a large and relatively diverse forum, you get a variety of feelings and actions on the subject. Others simply don't care at all about the politics, so long as they are able to buy products that satisfy them.

Even the editors are not of one mind. Most of the stories against the RIAA and MPAA are posted by Michael, while most of the anime ones are posted by CmdrTaco. There is no reason why, on a site such as this, that hardly pretends to editorial professionalism (no matter how much many posters would want it) there should be one single overriding features of all stories. No, wait, I take it back. There is one overriding feature of all the stories, and it's "News for Nerds". Now, the term nerd is a fairly loose one, and as such it encompasses many people with diverse opinions. As such, we get stories posted on different subjects with differing slants. Now, any thinking person would never take this as gospel, but would instead use the differing opinions to weigh out their own viewpoint. Do I want to boycott the MPAA, or do I think their product is so good that it outweighs the politics? By asking this sort of question, we are able to make better decisions about the world that we live in. I, for one, appreciate it, and am glad that both sides are presented.

Re:Is Anime really that good?

[Paolomania]

NGE is not the kind of anime you want to present as an example in a discussion about bringing anime to a mainstream audience. It is a rambling and aimless series with a venir of meaning constructed from poorly detailed pseudo-religion, pseudo-psychology and pseudo-science. Good Sci-Fi is Good Sci-Fi wether it is hand drawn, filmed, 3d rendered, or written down on paper - and NGE is not Good Sci-Fi.

Note:
I did NOT watch the dubbed version
I did NOT know anything about the series before watching it
I WATCHED IT ALL in its godawful entirety, including the "we ran out of budget" ending to the series, the movie they tried to use to appease the mass uprising of irate fans, and the movie they used to shield themselves from the stones thrown by even more irate fans.

Here is a clue for you: just because there are obfuscated plot details, shallow metaphysical discourse, and characters in emotional anguish does NOT mean that a work of fiction is in any way DEEP or MEANINGFUL.