HTF Anime Discussion Part VII

I am alive though barely. So addicted to FFXI. Hahaha. It's fun mmorpg.

Anyway, nothing new on the anime front and I'm a little behind but I'll soon catch up. I just bought myself a PS2 and the FFXI for the PS2, so I can play one character and have a permanent mule 24/7 selling stuff.

*LOL*

Anyway, I'll try to be more active on this board...

I see we had a dub/sub discussion. We always seem to have one in every incarnation of anime thread. Makes for great spam. ^^

I picked up NewType... here's my review of the Azumanga Daioh episode found on the included DVD.

This was definately not one of my favorite episodes from the series... as with most first episodes of any other animation. This episode introduces two characters into an already-formed group of friends... Chiyo-chan, an elementary-school-aged genius who has just been skipped into high school (10th grade in Japan) and the slow Osakan speaker renamed by her new friends... Osaka. From here the show will go all through the gang's 3 years of high school (2 discs per year for 6 total discs from ADV [and in R2]).

The video on the disc is flawless, as any new show should be. Colors are bright, colorful, and it is a generally happy consensus of contrast and hue. The OP/ED are translated into english (as with all ADV discs) but it is actually done rather well. The OP features text moving all over the place and (on my 19" computer monitor) it looks as if it was there from the start (this could have EASILY been screwed up, if they decide to put the japanese opening on one of the discs, you'll see what I mean). The ED surprisingly does not crawl over the images and fades in and out like the original (english VAs are listed first).

The dub is absolutely atrocious, as expected. This is a VERY Japanese show and is one show that it is absolutely necessary to listen to in it's original language.
For instance:
There is a text bubble translated as "She is an english teacher" over Chiyo-chan's teacher...
She begins talking to her students in Spanish...

Osaka the Osakan suffers from "Southern accent syndrome"... IE: "It's nice to meet y'all!".

Not to mention that Chiyo-chan's English VA just... isn't almost tear-inducingly cute like her Japanese counterpart

As with most newer ADV discs, the English dialogue is remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 (although with minimal sound in the back channels), while the Japanese retains its original 2.0 Stereo mix.

Having seen the entire series in fansub form... I have to say that the subtitles are really good... and 18-pages of liner notes included with the DVD should help explain any cultural references listed (although I would have preferred ADVid NOTES).

All in all, at the end of the month... this is going to be the must-have disc of the year thus far.

The ADVid notes on Excel were very very awesome and helpful for us semi-otaku types that don't recognize all the parodies and cultural stuff.



FYI : swiped from the dvdtalk anime bargains thread:

FYE (B&M)

Excel Saga Vol 2 and 3 - $12.99 each (FYE.com too)
Robotech Masters (4 or 5 disk set) - $19.99
Saiyuki #7 - $12.99
Ushio & Tora - $19.99


Some good deals on Excel and Saiyuki.


EXCEL IS YUMMY!! (Like Menchi).

I watched Witch Hunter Robin last night and the mustcahes were soo funny. They continued to do it into Inuyasha too.

Sorry for being late to the dub discussion.

So the TRUTH comes out! You now have no right to chastise me for watching dubs.

FINALLY! Some who agrees with me!

That is not true. I have only heard one dub that has made me want to slit my throat. That dub would be Orphen. Geez! How bad can a dub get?!

Well, I think that the Crest of the Stars dub is kind of dry and boring sometimes, but I still love it! Probably because if it wasn't for that dub, then I would not be into anime. Actually, I have tried watching the subtitled version, and it just did not feel right to me for some reason...

to you Woo, because that statement is so true!

You can't judge the whole dub based on one little thing that the translators said.

Now that I think about it, I agree with you. Afterall, I don't understand most of the Japanese cultural stuff, so it's useful to me others like me who do not know what the references are.

Rob, I understand the whole English teacher issue. That's pretty stupid that they did that, but still, it's only a very small portion of the whole episode. But what is so bad about this "Southern accent syndrome" with the Osakan? What in the world are you referring to? Why is this a problem?!


So, in a nutshell, I watch dubs for a few reasons...

1. It allows me to focus on the animation rather than the subtitles
2. I don't have to worry about rewinding if I miss something
3. Sometimes, I am just too damn tired to read the subtitles

However, there are two things that must be true in order for me to choose watching the dub version when offered a choice between the dub and the subtitles...

1. The script must be pretty accurate
2. Most of the voice actors need to do a good job

And I don't take any of your opinions about the dub into account when making the choice. The decision is all my own, and there is NOTHING that any of you can do to influence my choice!

Uh, It's a little something known as an APRIL FOOLS JOKE!!

Someone is too addicted!

Wich they had the killer prices on Excel 5,6. I already have the others...

Hey guys, my friend wanted to know, just for illustrative purposes, how much it might cost for the licensing of a show for DVD distribution in the U.S., with some examples below. He realizes that the rights for most of the shows mentioned below have already been taken, but this is just hypothetical. Thanks for your help in advance!

Last Exile
Scrapped Princess
Hikaru no Go
Tokyo Underground
Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien
Fruits Basket
Onegai Teacher
.hack//SIGN

Well....Dave just made me watch the movie to Evangelion and that was only following the first two episodes of Texhlnolyze....
All I can say in a Shinji-like fashion while gripping my pulsating temples is...:
"AGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"


Stacey
PS. And I might still snort some crack after that so I can be assured that people will still "love" me.

Stacey_B

Heh - I myself have yet to watch the either of the two movies (Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion) because the TV series really annoyed me with its' ending.

Tony-B:

Thanks for the endorsement. Now where is my money? But its mostly because I really want more non-mainstream anime available to Region 1 folk. And because as anime fans, we should remember that we are outnumbered by the casual, DBZ crowd we malign often.

Not to mention that you have yet to hear the worst dubs. There are many dubs out there. And I myself can't vouch for any of their quality.


Well, if you had just watched ONE ep of the dub then teh sub you could have compared. But watching and falling in love with a series ends up clouding your judgment about goodness/badness of the dub (or sub). I myself am guilty of this, and have been disabused of the notion by the Kenshin dub. That said, I still prefer the way I first heard Kenshin - in Japanese.

Reportedly the U.S. licensing cost for Cosmopolice Justy, a one-shot manga-based OVA which was popular among fans in the middle 80s, was one million dollars asking price, basically the highest ever, and [no surprise] it was never picked up. So, that is about as high as it gets. Conversely, the licensing cost of the old Pioneer material was zero, because the American release was done by the people who held the Japanese rights to begin with.
Sorry that's not much help.
By the way, who here likes of owns Akira? Judging by what I have seen [e.g. people who own no other anime will have a copy of this], it's really more highly regarded by people who are not interested in anime than by those who are. Any thoughts?

I own 2 copies of Akira (LE Tin and DTS 5.1 Japanese version)... it's my favorite anime movie and I think of it as the greatest animated film ever made (Japanese or otherwise).

It was also the first anime I EVER watched (rented it from Blockbuster when I was about 10-years-old after catching the very end of it on the Sci-Fi Channel. Had a cruddy, cruddy dub... but it really turned me on to the art.

*jumps on the HTF boat*

Man, I've got a drinking story to tell from last night, but I'll save it for later. Got done with a test Thursday morning. I came back to HTF because...





SWEET!!!

I love the fansub of AD (I love fansubs in general), and it's nice to have those cultural reference notes. And yes, Chiyo-Chan is so adorable.

How come you're never on AIM, Domer?

Someone must have been bored. They did it the whole night, through Inu Yasha, Big O, and Cowboy Bebop.


That's pretty bad...


Kinda a surprise, actually, since in the manga, they gave her a Brooklyn accent. Didn't ADV also do the manga?

Well, finished off Haibane-Renmei last night. Nice little series that's basically a slice-of-life show. You don't get big answers to the world you are in, but you get to live it in for a while, which is nice.

Jason

Woo,
Both Stacey and I liked the way the Evangelion ended - yes, there are unresolved plot points (OK, a lot of them). But it was like Haibane, where the point is really the characters and their turmoil, and that's where the end of it went.


Like in Haibane, you want to know, why the ^#&! are these angel winged people in the town, why can't anyone go outside the walls?. My particular one was "Why in the ^#&! do they have to wear cast off clothing??" etc etc.



You should at least see the End of Evangelion, because as much as it leaves unanswered, it does conclude a lot of story/plot elements of the series (Why does Gendo treat Shinji like crap, what is he always scheming for, what was in the briefcase, what is up with the Evas, why unit 1 is important, what's Rei's purpose, etc. Plus about 10 minutes of really excellent mindtripping animation.

You will probably be more satisfied with the End of Eva as an ending since some of the plot elements are at least sort of wrapped up. Unlike the series, where they are just sort of pitched to the wayside to make way for more important stuff.




On the Osakan accent thing, they seem to have settled on an equivalency of Osakan accent = Southern Accent. Magical Shopping Arcade seems to do the same thing. I hated it at first (Michigan being very much not a southern state), but I think I've gotten used to it. I at least understand the need to have an accent equivalent. I applaud the attempt at accurately bringing the concept across languages.

Got Texhnolyze v.1 (plus box) and Last Exile v.3 from TRSI today.

Let me say that the Texhnolyze box and coverart looks absolutely stunning. Included on the box is an lenicular "onsert" (meaning you place it over the existing cover) of the first DVD. Very cool stuff (the show is even cooler if you like Yoshitoshi ABe's stuff). The box is sized for 6 discs (22 episodes total) so we can expect a disc count of 4-4-4-4-3-3. Presented in anamorphic widescreen (and very pretty at that)

Last Exile v.3 comes with a paper vanship model... I'm gonna photocopy this thing before I build it, as you have to use an exato-knife (no perferations on the paper). Once again presented in anamorphic widescreen

Dave, I'm in Florida (the MOST southern state) and I can't stand it. Of course, I don't talk like that... but Michael Morris has a deep Tallahassee southern accent (if he'll come out of lurking mode ).

That's interesting, because I'm completely the opposite. I find the vast majority of opinions presented around here to be well-informed and valuable, and I usually take them into consideration when making anime-watching decisions. I know what I like, but I also know enough to know that there's a hell of a lot of stuff I don't know.

Wow... You got Last Exile v.3 and Texhnolyze? Already?

I thought they come out the 6th...

-Owl

I always get my anime early from Right Stuf. Just make sure to preorder pretty far in advance in big orders like I do

Hmm, I dunno, TRS is expensive :\

Dunno why so many shop there.

-Owl

It's not that expensive, if you preorder that is... they give 25% off of MSRP on preorders (must be 30 or more days from release) then you get an additional 10% off for being in their frequent buyer program ($12 a year). That comes out to ~$20.24 for a single disc.

That's just NORMAL savings... where it's really at is their studio sales. This is where I do most of my buying... for instance, a 40% off ADV sale w/ frequent buyer discount would yield a price of $16.20 a disc. A 35% off Geneon sale (which they just had a little while ago) yielded $17.54 a disc.

I paid $23.40 for the Texhnolyze box. Find me a place that can beat that!

They give free shipping for orders over $100... and they'll ship/charge you for your discs as they are released. Most discs come either on or a few days before street date.

Doesn't sound too bad now, huh? You've just gotta wait and order in bulk during their studio sales or when they have bundles in their weekly specials. I have bought about 90% of my anime DVDs from these guys and I've always been very happy with them

I was going to get on AIM, but my hard drive crashed three days ago. Or was it four? I can't remember, the past few days were a blur.

But luckily enough, it took me a few days to get back on my feet. I still haven't downloaded AIM or ICQ, but I need to.

D'oh...my fansubs of Azumanga Daioh are gone.

Aww... guess you'll have to buy the DVDs

I've bought a couple of DVDs from TRS but they are really only good during nice sales I think. Everything else seems cheaper at Deep Discount DVD if its still in stock there of course since DDD gives you free shipping. DDD's customer service is pretty much top notch too, I always recommend them because their prices are so low - like Anime Essential titles for $11.99. You can't beat that (atleast I don't think so).

If you can catch TRS with a good sale though its worth it. They had both Those Who Hunt Elves DVDs for about $20 as a set. Same thing with Cutey Honey and occasionally cheap bundles (got Steel Angel Kurumi from there too)...

Hey guys, can any of you help me out on this thread:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=192232

Thanks In Advance!

Hey,
Did anyone notice that animeondvd gave Puni Puni Poemy a D????
I don't understand! I've been really looking forward to this! ....Sigh....now I don't know if I should get it or not...?
Stacey

*Applauds* Woo is DA MAN! (By the way, your check is in the mail...)

Most of them at least. However, I find the opinions about dubs are very biased around these parts. That's why I don't really pay attention to what they all think of the dub.

Definitely! $152.98 for the Neon Genesis Evangelion box set?! Come on! Deep Discount DVD is $101.99 for that! I also notice that when they have studio sales, the prices usually match up to what DDD's normal price is. So, I don't really see any big advantage in going with TRSI.

Gosh, I haven't even seen any Azumanga Daioh. Maybe I should start downloading some fansubs...

Hey!!! I grew up on that show in the 80's thank you very much.





All opinions are biased around here. But like someone said before, it's a matter of being informed or not. But even what's considered "informed", that's up for debate, particularly film analysis.

Ohh, an ADV sale would kick ass... Since I have singed up for the email I have only seen a few, and they were companies (and anime) I have never heard of...

A Pioneer or ADV sale would kick ass... Bandai too.

Hmm...

-Owl

hey,

Was there ever a Excel Saga box? I can't seem to find any info on one.

I got in on the FYE sale on 2 and 3, and am thinking about collecting the series. I saw the first disc, and thought it was quite funny...

-Owl