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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.
I thought that said CowboyNeil movie and I got all excited... I love p0rn so much!
Webmaster Wanted - Entropic Reactions
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
Is a crazy 70 year old Japanese professor that only wears Anime T-shirts.
I see the butterflys....
-You're wasting your time. Alfador only likes me.
Who invited all the geeks?
Your reality is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever. - Baron Munchausen
that title is just... AWFUL.
btw if you translate the japanese title directly i think it's "heaven's door" - I thought the "knocking no heaven's door" would be a good english interpretation (yes I watched the japanese one)... probably have to do with copyrighted song titles? though AFAIK you can't copyright song titles at all.
ack. that is just whack.
btw, no nudity as far as I remembered (though there was points where Faye was pretty close), so I don't think much will be cut. Violence was not extreme either as well, IIRC;
btw, anybody (who saw it in japanese) knows who sang the opening song? it was in english, but I can't figure it out.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Like with everything else, 90% of anime is horrible.
The strength of anime is that it allows the creative force complete control over the visual environment, without concern for if its possible to do in terms of special effects or in terms of real life freedom. Thus, the storyteller gets the ultimate freedom to express his or her ideas. That is what makes Anime unique in contrast to other mediums.
But, its important to remember that it is still a medium, just like other mediums. As such it has its limitations.
Entertainment?
The same thing you see in every other media.
Anime is just a medium, like TV or commercials or infomercials or live action movies or print or comic.
Each medium has their own history and culture, so it would stand to reason that anime too has its own subculture. It is this subculture that most fans are attracted to, the expectations built up from watching previous anime is carried over when watching new anime.
Same as any other genre: American music, Marvel comics, Car commercials.
And of course, anime itself can be divided into smaller genres, just like American Music, Marvel Comics, or Car commercials.
GPL Deconstructed
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.
Is that supposed to be some kind of stereotypical American name?
Hell, we should make a cartoon that makes fun of tradional Japanese heroes! Call it something like Samurai... Samurai Jack!
Oh wait! Crap!
"We had a note about the American premiere last summer, but now it's finally open for general admission"
Using the Taco->English translation on babelfish, it comes out as:
"HAHA BASTARDS, CANT TELL ME ITS A REPOST NOW"
I think they changed it to "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie" to make sure that us American's can be sure that it is, in fact, a movie. Who knows, it could be terrorist propaganda or some mix between country music and old school bebop. How should we know?
Sorry dude - From a post last time this was mentioned:
"Ask DNA"
Words by: Tim Jensen
Sung by: Raju Ramayya
Music by: Yoko Kanno
Performed by: Raju Ramayya and Seatbelts
Like I said... Sorry =)
-Trav
I should really get around to creating a sig.... Nah - too lazy =)
Between episodes 23 and 24.
Read through more posts, the answer has already been mentioned a few times.
I've lived in the Minneapolis area almost my entire life, and while I love it here, if there's one thing I can't stand it's the huge inferiority complex that some Twin City people seem to have about wanting to be considered an important city. Yes, we have an orchestra that's almost as good as Philly's. Yes, the U of M is has a great medical program. Sure, we have four major league sports teams (for now). Yea, we have the tallest tower between Chicago and California. Blah blah blah. We are not all that important. Half the kids in NYC schools probably can't find us on a map. Foreign visitors think we are a suburb of Los Angelis or something. Get over it already.
There's nothing wrong with simply being from a nice city with only a few million people in it. Are you listening, Denver?
As to anybody else whining about the very limited release of the Cowboy Bebop movie. Hey, small movies always start with a limited release. If you live in any city big enough to have an "arthouse" movie theater or two, it will probably come to you within a couple months. Chill.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Well having spent a good part of my live in my homeland the(US) and a good part on the road in other countries I can answer you in this way.
Mad Max was called Mad MAx here. I even saw in the US as Mad Max. The second movie was called Mad Max 2, the Road Warrior. And Road Warrior sounds a Helluva lot better than Mad Max 2.
And Gibson was born in New York, pop shipped the whole family back to Aussie Land cause that was where mom was from and to avoid his sons possible conscription into the service into Vietnam.
And we do acknowledge philossopy. But alchemy? Hmmm.
Movie name changes are made all over the world. They do it so that wherever they are showing the flick can get a general idea of what the original title is about. Somethings cannot be transalates.
Knocking on Heavens door is one of the most famous songs in the US, and in English, so I would venture they did it to avoid confusion. And it is actually quite a beautiful tune.
So you know what? Cool your jets, wherever your are from. People are people. Including this yank with one grampaw from Madrid and the other Cajun French(which is better than regular Frog any ol' day") we is all just people.
Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
1. Animation can show things real life cannot either due to technological, financial or time constraints. For example, Cowboy Bebop. If you've seen the series, imagine trying to translate that into a show or movie. You know how much money that would cost? I'd guess upwards of $20 million an episode on average (CG ain't cheap, especially when every second has some).
As was just proven this year with Firefly, a live-action TV show that reminded some people more than a little bit of Cowboy Bebop. At $2 Million an episode, it was simply too expensive to stay on the air with as limited of a following as it had. It was cancelled just as it was getting really good.
In addition to the cost savings and subculture appeal, there's one more reason for anime being loved so much by some people in the US. Only the most appealing stuff ever gets exported. Then, once they went through the trouble of translating and exporting it, they carefully market it to the right audience (Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" vs. after-school syndication).
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
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.
Everything will be taken away from you.
Honestly, can't someone get it into their head that if it's in a movie theatre, any joe blow could figure out that it's a movie that they're watching? Is the second title "The Movie" really needed? Sheesh.
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
Please don't forget (for people who don't like giant battling robots), Great Teacher Onizuka , an intelligent comedy about a young Japanese schoolteacher and his antics to teach his class of misfits some life lessons, or anything by Studio Ghibli, such as the film recently nominated for the Academy Awards, Spirited Away , and its predecessors, such as Princess Mononoke and the like. (Also devoid of giant battling robots, or anime pr0n) More info on Studio Ghibli stuff at this excellent fan news website
Riiiight. So Portland, Oregon is a major city? 28th largest in the country. St. Louis is a major city? 49th largest. On the other hand, Sony couldn't manage a showing for the 45 MILLION PEOPLE who live in Ohio, Pennsylvania or Florida. Cleveland, Philly, Miami... totally flyover land, neither compares to a metropolis on the scale of motherfscking Portland, Oregon!
On the other hand, Sony did manage to get theaters in SF, SJ and Berkeley, all of which are less than 50 miles apart. In short, Sony have no idea what in the hell they're doing with this release distribution.
I've seen it, and the nicest thing I can say about it that it's not Cowboy Bebop. Ed is messed up, grapically and character-wise. The computer animation is pretty poorly integrated. Jet's barely in the movie and spends most of it moping around like a schmuck. Faye's top is cut open for no particular reason. Spike's at least about right, but Ein is painfully obvious.
The villain is some kind of nihilistic joke who can't even keep continuity -- he survives, without disfigurement, exploding a grenade in his hand that blackens and twists a nearby metal seat, but takes one bullet in the climax and dies.
Speaking of which, the entire story around the contrived love interest is incredibly hammy, and if anyone didn't see that twist at the end coming you'd best get your eyes checked. Ugh.
I didn't expect the world from this movie, but it didn't come close to matching up with the worst episode.
I'm not so aware of the wording inflection issue from a Japanese language point of view, but I have encountered it with some Indian work-mates who, while they do speak pretty good english, have a tendancy for changing the meaning of their words through tone, meter and inflection of their speech.
I find that hearing the tones in the speech helps bring clearer meaning to what is going on - you can often understand exactly what is happening in some of the scenes through simply hearing the words and the tone, even before you have read the subtitle. But that's just me: I know my flattie refuses to watch anything subtitled - he claims that needing to read while watching detracts from the action. I personally disagree with that, but hey, that's his opinion =)
L8r!
-Trav
I should really get around to creating a sig.... Nah - too lazy =)
in other words what makes good series or a movie makes good anime.
i've come to conclusion that because there is just so freaking much anime there's also good anime, just like hollywood does make some good movies..
beginning titles on cowboy bepop-knocking on heavens door are extremely stylistic and good looking in my opinion too(coupled with excellent music)..
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
You can still use the tone, emotional cues don't change that much. Also, the subtitles are a closer-to-direct translation while the dub script is designed to get the gist across while fitting into the timing of the Japanese lines. Personally, I just had too many bad experiences with crappy English voice acting and got used to dealing with subtitles. Shinji should not scream like Homer Simpson. Ug.
where did the syndicate storyline comefrom? someone pulled that right out of thier ass. cowboy bebop is just trying to be too cool for my tastes. the kung fu master who doesent talk much and smirks (total lupin ripoff), the preety lady who steals (fujiko ripoff), the young kid who knows everything about computers, and the seasoned vet. plus a pet! wow! interesting charecters? hah
Caution: Possible Spoilers
Spike used to work for the syndicate before he became a bounty hunter. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie is tied into the 26 episode series that you would need to watch before dissing such an awesome movie. The characters all have mysterious pasts; Spike is an ex-syndicconstantly refers life as "Watching a dream," ate member, Jet worked for the ISSP (a secret police), Faye lost her memory during carbon freeze and owes a huge debt to the doctors, and Ed is, well.. Ed (by the way, Ed is a she). and then there's Ein, their pet data dog.
A lot of imagery from the series in repeated in the movie too: Spike has 'died' (or close to it) at leaste twice before in the series (i'm not sure where exactly the movie fits in the time line). Spike's philosophy on life, is that he's watching a dream and feels a need to test himself -- to see if he's really alive. He also displays a brilliant array of martial arts , including Aikido.
The only problem I have, is that I'm so used to hearing the Japanese voices that the English ones don't quite fit. And the line in the trailer "I'm just your average bounty hunter"... it's supposed to be "Cowboy". Hence the name; "Cowboy Bebop" ('Bebop', by the way is the name of their ship)
Personally, I can't wait to see it on the big screen, and I'd recommend that you check it out too: you might be surprised.
Fight or flight its all the same
Live to die another day
--Ryan
Don't forget His and Her Circumstances. I recently borrowed this off a friend, and it's extremely good! There are some absolutely classic scenes in this series. Highly recommended.
DeeK
We dont know how to vote, subsequently we dont get cowboy bebop movies. Maybe if Spike was edited out and re-filmed live as Vin Diesel or something, then this state might just find the movie shallow enough to enjoy. I hate Florida.
That's exactly why I was addicted to it. Granted, my first Bebop viewings were the Cartoon Network dubs (sorry, anime purists -- I don't mind the dubs that much); but I wasn't being spoonfed every last detail and plot point. I actually had to use my own brain!
All the more general plot points came together as I watched the series vigilantly. Not many people lived on Earth anymore due to constant meteor showers and impacts from Moon debris thanks to a major jumpgate accident. Spike belonged to the Syndicate--a mafia-style organized crime family at war with another gang. Jet was duped by his then partner in the ISSP in a Syndicate ambush, thus losing his arm. It's already been posted, but Faye was unfrozen, accrued a multi-billion wulan debt, and holds a personal desire to find our her past.
This list could go on and on depicting what I learned about the Cowboy Bebop universe without -- like I said before -- somebody spoonfeeding me with all the details. I really jived with leaving the unanswered questions unanswered, even past the next episode. The series to me basically was a process, a non-linear thought-provoking character sketch that unraveled like an artichoke, and I think I'm still not to the heart of the matter.
Watch cowboy bebop. Its not a high-culture trendy thing, or a deep meaninful thing, or a bizarre schoolgirls in panties thing.
Its just a fucking good show. Its fun, action-packed, funny, stylish, and entertaining. This headline could be easily "Nifty-sci-fi movie coming".
Yes, many anime fans are obsessed wierdos who think that Nurse Angel is high culture. Before it was imported, I know many guys who watched Cart Captor Sakura on much-coveted import tapes.
Those people suck. There is a lot of good anime. THere are a lot of people who will watch anything, as long as it is anime. Don't listen to them - listen to normal, reputable folks (like Taco) on their opinion.
And see Bebop. 'tis good.
BTW, anybody else thinking they should've left the title? Bebop was meant to be aimed at Americans. The massive amount of American music references reflected that. I mean, referring to one of Billy Joel's classics would've been a fine thing for american audiences, but they had to call it "The Movie"?
I can only assume so, since the Cartoon Network version is all in English. Not that I find that particularly distasteful -- in fact, it's probably one of the best dubbing jobs I've seen to date -- but I also find the Japanese voices more appropriate and in tune with each persons characters (Edward always cracks me up).
you despoiler of innocence..... :(
Atlanta is the biggest city in a small, jerkwater state, yes. That does not make it a Major City. I don't care if they hosted the Olympics. So did Lake Placid.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
I am a bit biased about the movie since I dig the series so much, but it is really an impressive feat of animation. IMO the best I have seen in any anime, Ghost in the Shell and Princess Mononoke included. The story is pretty good, but somewhat akin to the X-Files movie - which seems just like an extended episode with nifty effects thrown in. Don't let that fool you though - I think I this thing can stand on its own, and I can't wait to hear it with the English-language voice actors who are fabulous in the series.
If you get a chance to see some of the episodes before the movie you should do so. You'll appreciate more of the in-jokes and understand some of the oddities (like Ed :) ). Chronologically, I think the movie happens somewhere during the middle of the series so it won't give away the end if you haven't watched it all. If you have, don't worry, it will just enhance your appreciation of it.
Here's to hoping it comes to Cleveland.