Cowboy Bebop Movie comes to the States

birdman666 writes "According to the movie site the movie of the popular anime Cowboy Bebop has finally been set to release in the states in a handful of cities including LA, NY, SF, Seattle and others on April 4. It features all the same voice actors as the Cartoon Network series and is big news for all those Bebop fans out there. As a note the Japanese title of the film was 'Cowboy Bebop: Knockin On Heaven's Door', but has been changed simply to 'Cowboy Bebop: The Movie' for the states." We had a note about the American premiere last summer, but now it's finally open for general admission.

Comments

Title Changes

[svvampy]

Why do the yanks always seem to want to change the titles of foreign movies?

Mad Max is soooo much better than road weanie and what was the deal with the "Sorceror's Stone"?

Although I had heard it said that the Americans don't understand/acknowledge philosophy so that is why the change was necessary

Re:Title Changes

[Chemical]

From what I understand the change was due to legal issues regarding the "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" subtitle. Aparently Bob Dylan didn't like one of his song names being used in an anime title. And of course he owns that phrase, so no one else may use it without his express written consent (implied oral consent isn't good enough).

Of course this is second hand info. Don't know if it's really true.

Re:Title Changes

[Microlith]

They changed it out of fear of being sued by whomever owns the copyright to the song "Knocking on Heaven's Door"

Sorry if I can't say who does, as while I can think of the song I can't think of the artist.

(Hell the original title was which comes across as just "Heaven's Door" but the "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" was an official subtitle).

Re:An honest question

[Uller-RM]

Oh, it's not all anime. A great deal of it sucks ass (ex: DBZ, Hamtaro, Pokemon, etc.) -- and if you think that's true in the US, you should see all the loads of total crap that's released in Japan and never makes it here because the sheer stench of it tips off the customs officials.

What makes good anime? Consistent, three-dimensional -- as in deep, not as in their look -- characters with back stories and patterns that viewers can relate and get attached to. A consistent art style. (Seizure robots do not apply.) Compelling writing, with humor where appropriate -- whether that's slapstick humor or the more darker variety. Believable lines, and convincing voice actors. In other words, the exact same things that make good film.

Cowboy Bebop is considered one of the heights of anime, for all of the above. Other good examples of anime (IMO) would be Trigun, Rah'Xephon, Shinseiki (Neon Genesis) Evangelion, and the recent Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. If you're the type that likes relationship dramas, Love Hina is pretty well known and liked. There's shows that run the line between relationships and action, like Martian Successor Nadesico. There's also the full-length movie variety of anime, of which the most famous are Akira and Ghost in the Shell.

*shrug* There's good and bad anime, just like there's good and bad films and good and bad TV -- favorites will vary with a person's taste, but there are consistent things you can critique on.

Re:An honest question

[Joe Tie.]

So, what are the qualities that anime fans think raise it up as a great thing?

Japan in general seems to have a greater tolerance for creativity and continuity in sci-fi than most of the English speaking public. It's nice being able to watch a series I like with no fears that it'll be canceled for a zaney reality show because too many of the viewers missed having the big red reset button pushed after each episode. I also like animated sci-fi in general more than live action, if the latter is going to resort to nose putty aliens. For some reason an animated alien dosn't jar my suspension of disbelief as much as a cheap forehead alien of the night.

That said, I also should say that I don't like the idea of generalising to such a high degree. I own quite a few anime series, but I don't consider myself an "anime fan" any more than I consider myself a "American TV fan". Both catagories are so broad as to make any statement like that pretty much meaningless. I'm a fan of science fiction stories which have interesting characters and a progressive storyline, and I really don't much care what video medium or country delivers them to me.