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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."
Hey, we all have our bad habits, just fess up. I myself enjoy pro wrestling, Mike Tyson's punch-out, and redhead lesbian pr0n. And I'm okay with that. I don't try to convince others that these habits have any cultural value, because they probably don't.
To help you along your way, I've written a short play:
Anime, by Gizzmonic
ANIME GUY #1: Hey you, Anime Guy #2. I don't like you!
ANIME GUY #2: Well, I don't like you either!
ANIME GUY #1: Shall we fight?
ANIME GUY #2: No, I got a better idea. Let's like, grunt for a few minutes, okay?
ANIME GUY #1: GRRRRRRRR!!!
ANIME GUY #2: GRRRRRRRR!!!
Five minutes later:
ANIME GUY #1: Boy, I'm really not moving while I grunt. There's a few lines moving in the background though. Did I have a stroke?
ANIME GUY #2: Nope, you're just poorly animated. Let's try something new-here, I'll zap you with this laser!
ANIME GUY #1: Won't that hurt?
ANIME GUY #2: Nope, but it sure will blow up some buildings that don't appear to be anywhere near you!
ANIME GUY #1: Hmm. This is boring.
ANIME GUY #2: It's not boring, here, I'll disembowel you!
ANIME GUY #1: Zounds. I am disemboweled. (dies)
ANIME GUY #2: You are dead, and now your spirit will become one with the land. You see, mankind shouldn't tamper with the forces of nature, otherwise they could unleash a great evil!
SMOKEY THE BEAR: That's right, kids! And remember, stamp all fires dead out!
ANIME GUY #2: The power is yours!
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
Actually, Gaiman didn't do the translation from the Japanese - someone else did that (in the subtitles) and Gaiman just re-wrote from the translation to capture the spirit of the Japanese text.
i.e. - In the subtitles there's 'the deer god'
In Gaiman's reinterpretation of the translation used for the English voice track, it's 'The great forest spirit' - which is more the meaning of what is said rather than a literal translation.
"Information wants to be paid"
Neon
Genesis
Evangelion
Do NOT watch the dubbed version. I'm not a sub purist, but in this case the dub really is terrible. Young and inexperienced characters have mature voices, gasps become goofy gufaws, and the screams of torment and anguish sound like someone yelling "Fore!" before swinging their damn golf club. And I listened in every language on that damn DVD. Every other language sounds as poor.
Do NOT browse websites for information on it. Wait until you've watched it through.
And if you decide to watch it, WATCH IT ALL. Do NOT quit halfway. I don't mean in one sitting necessarily, but if you only watch the first half of the episodes, you're going to think it's just like every other anime, or worse. Big robot mechs, teenage heros, cute girls, save the world, blah blah blah.
Mech pilots taking dance lessons to perform a ballet sequence in combat to defeat the latest enemy? Tracked to silly music? Spare me, NGE. This is mind blowing? Pft.
Or was that episode something different?
Why are the mechs in NGE so tall, thin, and dexterous when compared to the mechs in other anime series? It's because toy manufacturers have an easier time building short, heavyset mech models. Early mech designs of Gundam Wing (the most popular mech anime in Japan at the time of NGE's release) were modified to make those stupid little toys stand up better. The NGE crew didn't care about the commercial possibilities of their work, and the ballet episode was just a vehicle for that point. NGE is something more.
After you've watched it all, then you can go online for the analysis. Have fun looking things up in the Apocrypha and Pseudopygraphia (sp?). Note that the symbolism is both blatant (big crucifixes in places) and subtle (character motivations, personalities, and relationships).
You'll either love it and be blown away, or you'll hate it. I've not met anyone between.
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.
"I may not have morals, but I have standards."