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Is time and space broken, or have the cartoons driven us crazy? Daryl’s reviewing the historic anime anthology Robot Carnival, Gerald talks about the historical business manga Project X: Cup Noodle, and Clarissa makes AWO history by talking about When They Cry: Higurashi.
Longest podcast blog post ever? Possibly. This episode ran long, so we split it in two.
Intro and News:
Reviews:
Timecodes for Part 1 are as follows:
Introduction (0:00 – 38:22)
In a bit of a departure from our typical scope, Gerald was sent a copy of the live-action independent film Big Dreams, Little Tokyo to check out. Somehow we ended up talking a lot about Lost in Translation instead, though Daryl was far more inclined to turn the discourse towards Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, despite the fact that Ghost Dog was in fact hiding under the SINK, not the toilet as he stated. This is the price we pay for not owning our own copies of Branded to Kill. Is there a quotable sound bite that can be salvaged from this and put up in their Reviews and Links page? PERHAPS.
13:45 – Daryl relates his experience with attending Dragon*Con, its podcasting track, and the Parsec Awards. Considering that the sample nomination Daryl submitted consisted primarily of his scene for scene description of MD Geist, actually winning this award was not really the stated objective of attending this convention. What was? Contrary to what that song from Cheers said, sometimes you want to go where NOBODY knows your name. After being in the vicinity of the gods of podcasting–who are all quite normal, down-to-earth folks despite their penchant for filking–it’s probably safe to say that we won’t be making any waves in the “podcastosphere” anytime soon since “nobody in their right mind would listen to a podcast that’s several hours long and released every week/every other week.” Fortunately for us, otaku are the opposite of people in their right mind!
18:47 – Oh yeah, reading emails and playing voicemails! Remember that? We talk about the Trials and Tribulation / Heartache and Frustration involved in becoming an anime translator, then Erin from the Ninja Consultant podcast calls in to talk about the finer points of theatrical film distribution, which prompts a mention of the Anime Bento Festival‘s one day theatrical showings of anime. Want to see more anime released in movie theaters? Having these succeed would be a good start. In the “what do we think about…” category of emails which constitutes a good deal of the emails we get, we’re asked our thoughts on Ninja Nonsense aka 2×2 Shinobuden.
We wrap things up by stating that we’re going to move away from doing full reviews of titles which we haven’t seen in their entirety, so from now on when we get Volume 1 of something, we’ll just talk about it briefly for a few minutes either at the beginning or ending of the show. Otherwise, we’ll never get through all this stuff! Also, in case you haven’t heard, the iTunes Music Store has put up for sale a variety of series by Tezuka Productions, such as the 1980s Astro Boy, the 1990s Black Jack OAVs, and the 2004 Phoenix TV series that is set to be released by Media Blasters soon. Best of all, they’re really cheap!
Let’s News! (38:22 – 1:23:03)
Some more details and clarifications have surfaced since we recorded this, but the main news is that ADV is taking over all of Geneon’s sales, marketing, and distribution. A lot of what we said in the show isn’t entirely spot-on since the original ICv2 article as well as ANN were down at the time of recording, but it’s still true that a substantial amount of Geneon has ceased to be. They’re presumably still going to be around as far as licensing and production goes, but this feels a lot like when EA acquired Origin Systems. To this day, Daryl continues to bear a grudge towards them (and the entire MMO genre) for the cancellation of Privateer 3 and the two Wing Commander titles that should’ve come out after Wing Commander: Prophecy. In another cost-cutting measure, even English dubbing is being outsourced/relocated to China and there’s only one anime series remaining that is still using cel animation. Can all of these acquisitions and cost-cutting measures really be good in the long run? We’re skeptical. Also, Odex has been trying to extract money from people who download anime in Singapore; here is a short summary. Here is a posting about a guy who can’t even import Region 2 DVDs to Singapore without them being confiscated by MDA. To see the exact letter that’s being sent along with the rest of the links, click here. That thread may not be viewable to the public due to being archived or whatever soon, though.
Promo: Soccergirl, Inc (1:23:03 – 1:23:50)
Daryl found out about this show because Ichigo from Anime-Pulse is a fan of it, but he never could make sense out of it. After meeting her at DragonCon at 2:00 AM on Saturday and getting a Kim Jong-Il bumper sticker, he can only conclude that the widespread success of this program is that it is, in fact, a high-concept cult of personality. Also, filking. The possibility of shooting her with a clown pistol was considered, but the comedy of that is completely invalidated if you shoot a total stranger. That would just get you beaten up by large, imposing filking machines, the Browncoats, and an army of Beta Clones. Did we mention she won the Joe Murphy Memorial Award? As otaku we’re fated to die young as Joe did, only there won’t be anyone to mourn our deaths since being a self-proclaimed Expert of Anime is a lot like being an Expert of Justice.
…wait, they wanted us to put those Parsec badge images they sent us on our website? Daryl thought you were supposed to print it out and put it on his physical DragonCon badge. Oops!
Timecodes for Part 2:
Review: Robot Carnival (4:04 – 49:30)
This was the very first thing Justin Sevakis wrote about for his Buried Treasure column at ANN, so Daryl was outclassed from the start, not even bothering to state the original Japanese titles. This movie has largely been discussed to death over the last twenty years and we have little that is original or insightful to add (here’s a fanzine article from 1991), but all Daryl ever does is steal other people’s ideas and present them as his own anyway.
Promo: Anime Pacific (49:30 – 50:30)
See how this promo is just an excerpt from their show of them talking about something silly (although in this case, unrelated to what the show itself is about)? That’s the kind of promos we need. Lots of. Except we’re too lazy to ever actually listen to our own show. That’s where YOU come in!
Review: Project X: Nissin Cup Noodle (50:30 – 1:04:03)
Not to be confused with Cup Nude (probably not work safe), this is a true story of personal prevalance and triumph…except when it comes to people in America actually BUYING this thing. Gerald reviews one of the few business manga to be released in English (along with the manga about the history of 7-11 and the one about the Datsun Fairlady Z), but for whatever reason, the average US manga reader is simply not interested in manga about how to shift consumer habits. This one’s a historical biography of Momofuku Andou released by DMP. Daryl really, really wants the manga DMP released where ASTRO BOY IS IN THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, but he has never been able to physically see it. Fortunately, Amazon has it. Also, Astro Boy tells the biography of Helen Keller. And Beethoven. And Einstein, which is not on Amazon. Someday when we have money again, these are all getting bought.
Promo: Dave and Joel’s Fast Karate For the Gentleman (1:04:03 – 1:05:07)
See these guys? Their listeners love these guys. Make them promos all the time. And fanart and stuff. Probably because unlike us, the people they personally know listen to their podcast. And that picture of Gerald up above? Yeah, they made that too and never sent it to us until recently. We should get more of this stuff (and remember to actually post it), unless the secret to engaging such levels of fan interaction requires having forums.
Review: When They Cry: Higurashi (1:05:07 – 1:23:50)
Clarissa submits to repeated listener requests to review this series. It’s moe horror, which is generally a redundant term only this one has graphic violence. Nothing makes otaku want to protect the cute girls (and buy the full set of dakimakura) more than seeing them make crazy, deranged, contorted faces and murder each other over and over again. BAD END after BAD END results, though not all of them involve angrily severing your penis with a pair of scissors. We lost that picture but don’t really feel like asking for it in /r/ since it would require monitoring 4chan for an extended period of time. That place moves too fast to keep up.
You have nothing to fear about this podcast becoming overrun by the immortal enemy that is moe just because we talked about Higurashi…OR DO YOU?
Oh snap! Time to restore the balance, Gerald style!
Closing (1:23:50 – 1:29:05)
For our next trick and the coveted Show 60 milestone, we’re talking entirely about Osamu Tezuka. DEAL WITH IT. Daryl will be talking about (can’t even really call it a review) Astro Boy, specifically the three anime incarnations of the “Birth of Astro Boy” storyline as taken from the 60s version of Astro Boy, the 80s version, and the 2003 one. Gerald will review Vertical Inc’s latest Tezuka offering Apollo’s Song, and–prompted by the iTunes Music Store releases–Clarissa faces her fears and reviews the Black Jack OAVs/movie from the 1990s that Osamu Dezaki and Akio Sugino worked on.
We’ve already recorded Show 60. You thought THIS episode ran long…
I am pretty sure you guys will never become moe. And if you all do I will just have to haunt you all down.
So I finally saw Transformers, and I ended up laughing at the serious parts, and not the parts which were meant to be funny. I think it’s because I saw Team America. I used to think the latter film was just a parody of Bay’s style, but it’s really a fucking thesis!
“Clarissa makes AWO history by talking about When They Cry: Higurashi.”
No the real history made in this episode is that I finally got one of my crappy e-mails read on the show. After more than half a year of e-mailing you guys with the most random shit ever, I finally get one of my e-mails read. I felt so special. 😀
Funny thing about that is, when you guys were reading that e-mail, I didn’t even remember I had sent it. lol Why did I send that anyways? I think it’s because there was like a sale on RightStuf or something and I needed to know really quick if it was any good so I could buy it. Obviously the sale is over now, but thanks for taking the time to read and answer the e-mail anyways. I look forward to your review of Ninja Nonsense.
Like I said, thanks again for reading my e-mail you guys (and gal); It made me feel special, even though it was only for about a minute or so.
-Jaime
P.S: Gerald and Clarissa, I will probably be going to Waterford Lakes for the anime movie screenies. Are you guys going to be there?
Ghost Dog Daryl?
now I got to watch it again
Yeah, Odex are real mistake makers, and the joke is that whilst those dubs are fairly pathetic, they’re still more watchable than your standard 4kids fare and I would be more than happy to cough up £25rrp (The magic Naruto Boxset Price) for a half season of uncut dubbed Yugioh Duel Monsters or Digimon Adventure.
But Of course, they seem more content in suing the arse out of Singapore.
I meen, comeon, NCH is there, you don’t want to hurt the homland of that guy, he did 4chan city for goodness sake.
Speaking of the evil that is moe, I’d love to hear your opinion on two moe shows currently airing in Japan. One is Moetan – it even has moe in the name! And the other is Potemayo, which while not having moe in its name, was originally serialised in something called Moeyon.
I’ll just say that I adore one and loathe the other. Both are available in the usual places (cough AnimeSuki cough). I know these aren’t your usual fare, but that’s why I’m interested in your thoughts.
Clarissa. If you are looking for a Dell laptop without Vista, they are still available through the Dell website. Dell just makes it difficult for “home” consumers to find them.
First, look under the small business section of the website. Small businesses made the biggest stink about the Vista OS. Try looking under the business section of the Dell website.
Another place to look is the Dell Outlet. Last time I checked, they still offered XP OS with their laptops. If you don’t mind refurb. laptops, you can get a pretty good deal on a low to mid ranged laptop. Here is the URL:
http://www.dell.com/outlet/
I hope this helps.
Something that I’m surprised wasn’t mentioned is that with Phoenix on iTunes, you can buy a bundle of the whole series for 10 DOLLARS. I liked the first episode, so I’ll splurge later today.
Also, I hope that rapeface Gerald picture keeps showing up randomly until the end of time.
Speaking of the evil that is moe, I’d love to hear your opinion on two moe shows currently airing in Japan. One is Moetan – it even has moe in the name!
I downloaded the first episode, just because I was curious… (1080p anime rip?–HAHA oh wow)
Ink–no matter what you say, your >10 years old.. plus that Duck is definitely pedo.. in fact this hole thing has lolicon written all over it.
Daryl should watch it (kekekekeke)
In response to your discussion on Sazae-san and cels versus digital, I think there are some misconceptions about what digital animation is and isn’t and whether that applies to the Sazae-san scenario. Before I get to the details, in general, I’d say that this is basically the same issue Rym and Scott of GeekNights have regarding vinyl lovers versus everyone else when it comes to music, and that is that no matter what, vinyl is clearly inferior.
Now, I have worked with cels and animation cranes, some 3D CG animation, 2D digital (as in scanned drawings) and 2D vector drawings, also known as Flash animation. The note you make about cels having the artist’s sensibility that you see in the old animation, the so-called “warm-flicker” as described in the story, can still be seen in hand-drawn animation, whether shot under the camera or with scanned drawings. Daryl brought up the example of Princess Mononoke and how it used both, and I’ll add to say that even though all anime since has gone digital, the reason why there is such a disparity of quality has far more to do with the art directors and directors than with the tools used – for instance, I think many of the Shotaro Ishinomori shows like Cyborg 009 and Kikaider take a lot more digital shortcuts and look more “digital” then shows like Mushishi, Kemonozume, Denno Coil, or the OAV Nasu: Summer of Andalucia. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is another example which is all digital, and yet, the drawings were all scanned in and have the human sensibility you talk about.
From personal experience though I cannot understand why someone would still use cels when from a purists perspective, the method of scanning in drawings remains even closer to the animators hands (there are less clean-up artists in between as opposed to the mechanical cel method) and hence closer to that sensitivity. My guess is that Sazae-san, being such an old show, has a method that works, and I’ll presume that the artists working on it are more used to that method, especially if some of them have been with the show as long as it has aired, than with the digital compositing method. So, the case may be that it is far more cost effective to keep things as they are than to change the whole pipeline of a show like that, which as far as I know is even simpler than Chibi-Maruko Chan, and probably has very simple animation that doesn’t require thousands of drawings per episode, or intricate camera moves and such.
For a better explanation on how animation works in Japan, check out the Anipages Daily BBS, on the Japanese Animation Theory thread, and many of your questions and concerns will be answered. I know mine were.
Holy crap guys, this is probably the most interesting show you guys have released in a while. And I haven’t even heard the reviews yet!!
First order of business, the ADV/Geneon controversy. I agree that nothing good can possibly come from doing this. I was reading a Hey Answerman responce about this very subject, and Mr Answerman brought up an interesting point. Geneon was apparently a major factor in bringing over a lot of big Japanese guests to America for convention appearances and such. So with this controversy with ADV, it doesn’t look like that’ll happen anymore. Which sucks big time. Secondly, I’m pretty sure that ADV isn’t gonna try to be the EA of the anime world. In this case, it seems more like Geneon went to ADV for their help rather than ADV making the first move. Unlike the people at Odex, ADV actually seems like decent human beings, and not like people that would try to monopolize the industry.
Wow, great transition. Odex. Yeah. These guys just seem like terrible, awful human beings. You’re right, this just makes me want to go and download more anime just to mock them. I was just on Wikipedia reading up on this, and apparently they’ve been sending those letters to fans as young as 9 years old. That’s scary. I’m 17; I can’t even afford to pay for the new Wings Of Honneamise DVD. So, this whole thing has made me a bit paranoid. I just hope it ends soon, and Odex gets what they deserve.
Wow, this is a long comment for just two points.
-TJ
Great show, the ADV Geneon news and the piracy lawsuits.
I know I’m not the average anime customer, married 37 year old with 2 kids. I very rarely buy new anime. Most of my media purchases are used. Having been burned so many times by not getting full releases or shows that look great turn out to be crap, I’ve learned my lesson. I wait until I can buy a full series then find it as cheap as possible. I bought the first Gundam series for about $50 a year ago. The problem with this is anime companies get none of this money. They don’t see the sale at all. I want to support shows I like I just can’t bring myself to spend the money.
The point was made in this episode that everyone in the US is use to “season” releases of TV shows. This is true. Now most of these are $29 – $50 for season for network TV. Some shows command a higher price, HBO stuff, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica. I think the latter fits anime well.
Wouldn’t a model were the first 13 episodes are released for $40 work? $80 for a 26 episode season seems fair; we are paying $60 for most video games now.
Why do we only get 1 disk at a time? Is it a production issue where they release the first disk to see how it does before they start working on the next? Do they release one disk at a time because they need to recoup money to invest on the production for the second (I can’t imagine the margin would be that thin)? Or is the reason we get one disk because they think they could not sell a $60 – $80 season, and $20 – $30 per disk is easier to swallow?
I have the money and would buy anime however my biggest problem is the Single Disks! I run into 2 scenarios:
1. I find Vol. 2, at Best Buy and wait, go home look up Vol. 1, and can order it, but then I have to go to Best Buy and hope Vol. 2 is still there, or order it online as well, then I can’t find Vol. 3. Is it out yet? Did they cancel the show?
2. I find Vol. 1 its $29.99, and 3 episodes. I have $30 but I could buy about 6 used movies for that price, or a used game, or 2 brand new movies, or…
Does anyone agree with me?
Oh really quick on the piracy. I read an article recently, maybe on Arstechnica, the RIAA was recently prevented from these cookie cutter lawsuits without binding evidence that a crime was committed. They are now being told they can’t just file the type of lawsuit you were talking about on the show. Now the RIAA will have to have hard evidence that a crime is committed before they can file the lawsuit.
AWO for president, oh wait you are not all the same person. darn.
OH btw, thanks for talking about the anime on iTunes.
Please everyone that can buy and episode or two, and tell your friends. This is a good thing, and if it works on iTunes we might see more on Amazon Unboxed or Joost or Xbox live.
Yes if you didn’t know there is anime on Xbox live now also.
I am called and I must appear.
I think what killed Geneon was the music arm. J-Pop never took off the way they thought, after all the concerts and tours and pimping the brand. They weren’t able to stay ahead of the curve on what soundtracks to license, and I’m guessing they got not a drop of help from the other companies in cross-promotion, as in “buy the show from x, buy the CDs from y!”…remember, ADV tried to do a startup music label as well and like so many efforts, it just vanished.
And this leads into what Daryl was trying to explain- how the death of Musicland Group (Suncoast, MediaPlay and Sam Goody) is still hurting the US anime industry.
I just cannot believe there is NO effect when something on the order of 2000 stores that sell your product vanish. If you factor in the Tower Records bankruptcy and Transworld/ FYE closing some 90 stores at the start of 2007 and sked to close up to 60 more by the end of ’07, you’re looking at roughly 3000 brick locations gone.
And NOBODY is picking up that slack.
OK, let’s do a little math. I’ll try and keep it super simple, so to those that know (or think they know) the numbers may seem off, but the logic and process is solid. OK? LET’S GO!
Way way back in the VHS stoneage John O’Donnell of CPM / US Manga Corps did an interview, and put out that he had to sell 5000 units of a title to break even and make some profit. There was no breakdown of the numbers, sub Vs dub, if that was combined or seperate, if the sub VHS might have a lower ‘breakeven’ number, just 5000 copies to make some money.
so OK, with DVD, we know licensing costs have increased, there’s been more advertising, blah blah blah, let’s say the number is now 10,000 copies to break even. In the Mainstream Home Video business that’s a really low number. Warner Bros probably THREW AWAY 10,000 copies of the last Harry Potter movie that were damaged in shipping. But I shouldn’t bring that up, because even the Majors have the BIG titles and other things they figure will only sell 20 k or less.
So, the anime biz, we figure 10 k is the magic number.
Suncost, back in ’02, was at over 2000 stores nationwide. Heck, before Best Buy bought them it was projected they’d have over 3000 stores by ’03. Anyway, call it 2000 stores, just the one chain. It was common for the home office to order 2 copies minimum of ANY anime title at that time. So, round numbers, Suncoast accounted for 4000 units, or 40% of the needed sales to reach breakeven. 40%, ONE company.
Even with 50% returns for credit, that’s a solid sale of 2000 units, or 20%. Between that, Best Buy, Tower, FYE and internet sales, it was a pretty soild lock that EVERYTHING released was going to at least break even. And when you get hits like Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo, it does a good thing for the bottom line.
But look now. With all the closings, if you figure that’s 3000 locations selling product gone, that’s 6000 units NOT EVEN BEING ORDERED. BY ANYONE.
Granted, I’m sure the online stores have picked up customers, but they’re absorbing the stock the stores normally order. I am positive that none of the online retailers have INCREASED their open-to-buy and sinking more money into stock that they can’t move.
So, the US anime companies are trying to get by on effectivly 40% of what they need to match the profits from the early 2Ks.
Suncoast used to stock the Geneon music CDs very heavy. We had gotten in special racks for it, and there was that mall tour that Geneon was backing, announced just before the bankruptcy. That must have been a slap in their face…..
That’s enough truth for now. I’ll do the snarky ‘order and return for credit’ lecture later.
Thanks for depressing us Steve! It’s nice to have a reality check now and then.
tj: “First order of business, the ADV/Geneon controversy. I agree that nothing good can possibly come from doing this.”
I disagree. A Fushigi Yuugi thin-pack is desperately needed. Plus ADV might be more likely to lean on Bandai Visual to lower its prices than Geneon.
“Geneon was apparently a major factor in bringing over a lot of big Japanese guests to America for convention appearances and such.”
And ADV wasn’t a factor? They gave us Nabeshin and Buronson, and that’s all I need.
“I’m 17; I can’t even afford to pay for the new Wings Of Honneamise DVD.”
Again, it’s $55 on Amazon.
steve: “I think what killed Geneon was the music arm. J-Pop never took off the way they thought, after all the concerts and tours and pimping the brand.”
I’m not really surprised. We got plenty of overrated rock groups here. They have to stand out a little more than just being Japanese.
As for the Suncoast and Tower bail-out, well it blows, but doesn’t surprise me. None of those fuckers were anywhere near me, and if they’re not going to bother competing with Best Buy, what did they expect to happen? Yeah, they were the main distributor for most anime titles for the better part of a decade, but I personally felt the domestic companies should’ve jumped that ship a while ago-when anime started becoming less niche. I feel bad losing CPM, though, because that means Animeigo’s all that’s left of the Streamline years, and there’s no chance in hell they’re gonna make any money off Yawara. At least UY had the possibility of attracting random Inu Yasha and Ranma fans, but people who read Monster are gonna say, “Bah, I’ll just get Gantz instead!” But you never know. Maybe Baki and Punch! might give it a new lease on life.
Great show as always, looking forward to the next part. A couple of off-topic things:
1. Daryl, have you watched Shoot ‘Em Up yet? I viewed this masterpiece of film theatre and upon leaving the screening, my thoughts were, in order, “THAT WAS SO BAD,” “THAT WAS SO GOOD,” “HAS DARYL SEEN THIS YET?”
If you have, thoughts? It’s almost like what would happen if you picked up some random nerd from the street that had just finished watching some DTV Miike action film like Dead or Alive and told him to make a movie. Oh god, I think I need to watch it again. (For the record, I watched TFatF3: Tokyo Drift in theaters 3 times. No, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.)
2. Gerald, please don’t forget my Musashi DVDs when you go to AWA! I’ll finally get to go to Panel of DOOM since they didn’t schedule a Smash Brothers tournament that I have to run during it this year, so don’t think you can hide from me or something.
I did indeed see Shoot ‘Em Up on the opening weekend, and my Xbox 360 gamercard picture is the proof. Not that I own any GAMES for it since I bought it largely on a whim, just like the PS3 that I bought largely on a whim and have no games for. I have no games because after the HDTV/stand that I bought as well as the bed I bought, I should just not spend any money on recreation for a year. Oh wait, AWA is this week (I should finish my panels!). Then Halo 3 comes out next week. I don’t even like Halo, but I’ll rent it just so I can play cooperative mode before everyone stops caring about doing that, like how nobody seems to care about Gears of War anymore.
Anyway, I strongly recommend Shoot ‘Em Up to anyone who enjoyed Black Lagoon for the correct reasons, which makes the fact that it made absolutely no money whatsoever all the more saddening.
I’m 17; I can’t even afford to pay for the new Wings Of Honneamise DVD.
If it’s any consolation, I am 27 and can’t afford the new Wings of Honneamise release. Even $55 is a whole lot of money for one barebones release of a movie. Bandai Visual sure talks a big game about “Japanese quality releases in America,” but I can’t help but notice that the Japanese release has extra (useless) stuff that we didn’t get. I would have been perfectly happy had they just included everything from the Manga Video release but fixed the video.
They sent me both the Blu-Ray and HD DVD release though, so we’d better review these things. Hmm, Carl Horn will be at AWA and we’re already bringing the mixer (that we don’t know how to use) to record live interviews…
no matter what, vinyl is clearly inferior.
Patlabor taught me that the superiority of vinyl is that it summons monsters to kill you for listening to vinyl records. It’s true that the Ishinomori shows did utilize quite a few digital shortcuts, but at the same time they are from the earlier days of digital animation. More recent shows like the Yasuhiro Imagawa-directed Tetsujin 28 TV series that nobody watched except me (I paid full price for each individual disc to support it and it STILL failed! Lesson learned!) made a concerted effort to NOT look digital. Which kind of reinforces what I said on the show: sure, you CAN pull off the “hand drawn” look using digital animation techniques, but it requires additional time and effort that most aren’t willing to invest.
I can’t find my Robot Carnival OST. How am I going to preemptively steal the thunder from the upcoming Lather’s Blather review of Robot Carnival if I can’t have the appropriate BGM playing in the background as I talk about each segment, huh?!
Bout fucking time! Buy the way, what’s a good way to record a podcast. I could transfer my wav files that i recorded with my MP3 player and convert then into MP3s. But the sound… Kinda sucks!
daryl: “Anyway, I strongly recommend Shoot ‘Em Up to anyone who enjoyed Black Lagoon for the correct reasons, which makes the fact that it made absolutely no money whatsoever all the more saddening.”
No one cares about Paul Giamatti. I made a joke comparing him to Jude Law, but it’s true.
“If it’s any consolation, I am 27 and can’t afford the new Wings of Honneamise release. Even $55 is a whole lot of money for one barebones release of a movie.”
Yeah, well, the company lost money on it, and most Gainax fans fall asleep during it, so it’s a tough sell for people who thought Death Proof was “talky”.
“Bandai Visual sure talks a big game about “Japanese quality releases in America,” but I can’t help but notice that the Japanese release has extra (useless) stuff that we didn’t get. I would have been perfectly happy had they just included everything from the Manga Video release but fixed the video.”
It could be that Manga still has the rights to those extras… Or maybe they’re looking for some excuse to double-dip down the road…
“More recent shows like the Yasuhiro Imagawa-directed Tetsujin 28 TV series that nobody watched except me (I paid full price for each individual disc to support it and it STILL failed! Lesson learned!)”
I’ve been wanting to get the collection for that one, actually. I’m guessing it failed, because Geneon chose to release the live-action movie first.
The best way to get the WOH in DVd or HD-DVD or Blue Ray is to wait for Deepdiscount annual sale 😛
That is how I got my Gunbuster DVD set, and thanks to Otaku USA I am thinking on getting Daibuster or Gunbuster 2. But I will wait for the proper AWO review on that one.
By the way everyone should get their hands on the Tetsujin 28 DVD boxset since it is super cheap and awesome.
Well, I better go cry some more after reading Apollo’s Song 🙁
“And ADV wasn’t a factor? They gave us Nabeshin and Buronson, and that’s all I need. “
True, ADV does good work; Nabeshin and Buronson are awesome guests. But all I’m saying is Geneon did a lot of good work too, and with them gone, we probably are not gonna see as many japanese guests anymore (which sucks, of course).
“If it’s any consolation, I am 27 and can’t afford the new Wings of Honneamise release. Even $55 is a whole lot of money for one barebones release of a movie.”
Thanks Daryl. You’re right, $55 is still to much. Maybe if I had a job, but unfortunately that’s not working out too well.
So AnimeNation linked the Kite Liberator trailer at http://www.kite-liberator.com/streaming/streaming.html
. Apparently, Sawa knows kung fu now.
I’ll second the 2004 Imagawa Tetsujin 28 recommendation. It’s not a great mecha show, and it’s not another Giant Robo, but it is an interestingly direct discussion of post war Japan and the giant robot metaphor.
I’d be curious to see the 2007 animated Tetsujin 28 movie that Imagawa disowned. Too bad it will never be licensed.
You mentioned the newer Tetsujin 28 on the podcast before, and I guess I’ll have to check it out eventually. All in all we’re on the same page, but I’m just unclear as to why you say that digital animation “requires additional time and effort that most aren’t willing to invest” when I don’t think it is the time or the effort that people are not willing to invest, but rather the lack of artistry in most animated shows. Having said that, I enjoy watching “analog” works just as much as you do, and some will never be surpassed, but I don’t credit that to the fact that they were shot under the crane with cels, in 3D, stop motion or whatever – the credit should go to the artists and not necessarily the medium. So yeah, I guess I just don’t get the whole anti-computer attitude.
So yeah, I guess I just don’t get the whole anti-computer attitude.
That is probably because THERE IS NO MOTHERFUCKING ANTI-COMPUTER ATTITUDE TO GET.
I did not say that getting something to look decent via digital animation requires additional time and effort that most aren’t willing to invest. In fact, I said THE EXACT OPPOSITE. The part that takes an additional degree of effort and money is taking optional steps to give the digital animation a more hand-drawn look, which most people won’t care about anyway. Here’s a simplified example:
Let’s say a character’s got red hair or something. Coloring their hair in via digital coloring requires something basically along the lines of the paint bucket tool. The result is that it all gets colored in uniformly and evenly in the same shade, accomplishing in a few mouse clicks what it used to take someone decidedly longer to hand paint. If the animator was cel painting, they wouldn’t be able apply the paint perfectly evenly and have it dry uniformly, and some parts might turn out ever so slightly lighter or darker than others. Repeat that process over all the necessary frames, and you get the aforementioned “warm flicker” effect.
Can you replicate this effect via digital coloring? Yes. Does it require additional steps that need not otherwise be performed? Absolutely. Does it look bad if they don’t do these steps? No, but it does look DIFFERENT. Your point that the drawings are scanned in after being hand-drawn doesn’t really matter that much because a major part of what makes digital animation look different from traditional animation is the coloring process.
Given enough time and money, you could pull off roughly equivalent looks using whatever tools you wanted, but anime creators don’t generally get much of either.
The next person to claim I have some sort of negative bias towards modern animation just because I acknowledge that it’s different is getting the hose for not putting the lotion on its skin.
Daryl, go ahead and watch the new Maison Ikkoku live action. I really liked it. Its so much better than the old one (which is not saying much I know).
So according to AOD, Bandai Visual thinks they can charge me $60 more for Jin Roh than I get off Amazon, just because it’s in Blu Ray. I don’t even like Jin Roh, but I’m tempted to buy the cheaper version, just to flip them off.
More recent shows like the Yasuhiro Imagawa-directed Tetsujin 28 TV series that nobody watched except me (I paid full price for each individual disc to support it and it STILL failed! Lesson learned!)
I couldn’t help notice your typos, Daryl: the pronouns shold be “us” and “we.” I also re-bought the entire series for a friend when RIght Stuf had a $4 Geneon sale. Of course, the fact that the discs were on sale for $4 each is a testament to our failure…
Hell, I even bought the New Getter Robo starter box, but didn’t get the other three volumes until that selfsame aforementioned $4 sale. I would have bought the other volumes when they came out, had my local Best Buy carried them, but they never did, and this is not the only series about which I have that complaint. I don’t blame Best Buy, though, I blame FUNimation.
For far too long (okay, maybe it wasn’t that long, but it sure seemed like it), valuable shelf space that could have gone to subsequent volumes of series I wanted to buy were taken up by FUNi’s assinine “Case Closed” boxes–and by “assinine” I’m not referring to the series, which I may have bought had the volumes had at least four episodes per disc, but the manner in which the starter boxes were released. I kind of dislike starter boxes to begin with (though I have bought them on occasion, as previously mentioned), but these were worse. Usually, starter boxes contain the first disc and room for the rest of the series (or sometimes half of the series), but since this was a long (feel free to add extra o’s) series and they only put three episodes on each disc (usually, anyway) they essentially had “here’s disc one and room for discs two through three, here’s disc five, with room for discs six through eight,” etc.
Took up a lot of space, didn’t sell, and very likely made Best Buy even more wary of carrying multiple volumes of anything but the very top sellers.
Of course, FUNimation later proved that you can always get more stupid by remastering DBZ in tilt-and-scan.
I have no idea how Suncoast is doing in general, because in my area one Suncoast never went out of business, and the other closed and reopened. Neither appears to have reduced the amount of anime it carries (unlike the Best Buy–Damn you, FUNimation!). Then again, my area isn’t exactly typical–there are two drive-in movie theaters within an hour’s drive of each other (plus there are two Wal-Marts that sell Pocky).
Even $55 is a whole lot of money for one barebones release of a movie. Bandai Visual sure talks a big game about “Japanese quality releases in America,” but I can’t help but notice that the Japanese release has extra (useless) stuff that we didn’t get.
It’s barebones? Damn! The Patlabor DVD’s were pricey, but at least they had some great extras (even if they were inexplicably missing the 2.0 soundtracks). Is Bandai Visual afraid of not failing quickly enough?
Regarding Sazae-san sticking with cels: While I think the producer’s explanation is largely bovine excrement, he wasn’t entirely off-base saying that people get a warm feeling while watching it. The minimal research I’ve done indicates that the show is repetitive and predictable, and the main reason people watch it is out of nostalgia. Best not to tamper with something that’s been working for nearly fourty years, lest it lose its comfortable familiarity.
E. Bernhard Warg
Otakon Classic Video Track
Anime’s Frank
“Lu-Lu-Lu Lu-Lu-Luu
Kyou mo ii tenki”
Daryl! Man, oh man, I wish text had intonation because the last thing I wanted to do was to piss you off or start a flame war. Quite the opposite! I TOTALLY agree with you, and better yet your example is perfect. In fact, in the Art of Spirited Away, Miyazaki talks about how they added texture and an amount of grain to the color, to give it more life. Again, I didn’t really get the idea that you were a computer hater per se, but it just sounded like that the way things came out. So, yeah, no worries man, no need to be angry, cuz we’re all on the same page on this one.
“It’s barebones? Damn! The Patlabor DVD’s were pricey, but at least they had some great extras (even if they were inexplicably missing the 2.0 soundtracks). Is Bandai Visual afraid of not failing quickly enough?”
It might not be Bandai Visual’s fault, though. It’s possible Manga’s contract with Gainax kept them from getting the commentary for the R1 release. I mean, look how long it took for the license to the anime to expire. Anyway, I’m sure someone savvy enough will come up with a way to burn the track onto the current dvds.
Part 2 of Show 59, featuring the actual anime reviews (shock!) has now been posted. Have at it.
Also, the AWA schedule has been posted, and…well:
Sat — 12:00 — Panel — Brayton — 12pm Podcast AWO
Sat — 12:00 — Special — Kennesaw — 12pm Yamato Interview (Noburo Ishiguro interviewed by Tim Eldred)
I get the feeling that the few people present that actually care about seeing us are among the few people present who know who Noboru Ishiguro is and would very much like to hear from him. I don’t know, just a hunch.
I’m thinking we either split up (bleah) or no-show our own panel. Other podcasters are going to be at AWA, but I get the feeling that they’d all want to check out Ishiguro as well, so I don’t know if we could just hand the panel off.
Handwritten note on door stating “Everyone At The Podcasting Panel Would Much Rather Be In Kennesaw Right Now Instead, And So Should You” = PROBLEM SOLVED
Back when Fast Karate did a rant about digital animation, I posted a comment on their message board about it; Dave said it summed up his position pretty well.
It’s about the same amount of work to do great-looking animation, whether you use digital or “traditional” (i.e. hand-drawn) techniques. However, doing merely adequate animation is much easier with digital. So, when everyone used hand-drawn, the cost of doing “great” animation wasn’t a big hit compared to the overall budget. However, if you’re using digital, it’s way more expensive to do “great” animation.
I’ll make up some numbers, here, just for an example. Let’s say that great animation costs 6, whether digital or hand-drawn. Adequate hand-drawn animation costs 4; Adequate digital animation costs 2.
If I’m using hand-drawn animation, I say: “I can do this adequately. If I want to do it great, then I need 50% more budget.”
If I’m using digital animation, I say: “I can do this adequately. If I want to do it great, then I need 200% more budget. Also, for the cost of doing a great job, I can do three jobs that are adequate.”
Which do you think some bright young B-school grad would choose?
Via MangaBlog.net, “Authentic Mango” has a bunch of noteworthy bits of info about Tezuka manga releases, ect at http://tinyurl.com/2xjlg4
I am deliberately staying away from the second part of this episode as well as the “Buried Treasure” article until I get episode 8 of Lather’s Blather posted.
I am curious–nay, terrified–to see how closely our opinions run on Robot Carnival.
Actually, Tale of Two Robots was always my absolute favorite segment of Robot Carnival. When I saw it I wished (and even convinced myself) that there was more, and that it really was just one part of an existing anime movie. I’m a big fan of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s older character designs too.
But I really need to see Robot Carnival again and see how wrong I was.
Also: Cloud reminded me of Megaman 2’s ending.
“Oh! You mean, SYMBOLICALLY!”
Is it just me, or is DMP one of the most worthless manga companies out today? They’ve canceled nearly every non-BL mnanga series they’ve started. It’s getting so that I feel why even bother with their releases, they’re just gonna cancel them. Oh, and if you’re really lucky, they’ll tease you with an announcement at a con, and then announce that they’re canceling the series. Sorry Robot fans.
I would classify DMP as a company that is very aware of their bottom line. Very corporate and unwilling to run a series at a loss. It’s a shame that Worst and Barbie and Her Pink Gun didn’t take off, but it’s not exactly unexpected.
Heroes are Extinct is nothing brilliant, but is surprisingly fun.
Speaking of DMP, has anyone seen Pop Japan Travel: Essential Otaku Guide? I’d love to know the story behind why the counter-example character has the name and appearance of a prominent former employee.
Dear Daryl,
If you have time on Sunday, it might be interesting to see if you could sit in on my Evangelion panel. Having a contrary opinion, and all that. Because otherwise it’s going to consist of listening to the Hot Tears of Shame review on my laptop speakers while we all sip a mimosa. Well, I guess that will happen regardless.
scott: Thanks for the link, but what does “adaptions” mean?
” No. 5 is NEVER coming back. It is Viz’s worst selling manga of all
time. Blue Spring also sold extremely poorly.”
Not surprised about that, but I’m wondering why they didn’t ask Viz about the Ping Pong manga.
“Reprints of the original Adolf series or Black Jack run are
impossible as their original runs pre-dated digitization.”
I’m not sure what that means, but I’d rather have Adolf released unflipped, anyway.
“Phoenix still is a financial loss for Viz. This does not encourage
them to reprint Black Jack.”
I don’t really blame them, but they could easily say, “From the creator of Ode to Kirihito” for Black Jack. But I guess if there’s enough demand for Princess Knight, and it becomes successful, Viz could try selling Black Jack through it.
Buy the way, what’s a good way to record a podcast.
Take your pick!
No one cares about Paul Giamatti. I made a joke comparing him to Jude Law, but it’s true.
I never heard of the guy until Shoot ‘Em Up. That’s therefore the only thing he is and ever will be to me.
it’s a tough sell for people who thought Death Proof was “talky”.
But Death Proof is talky. It’s also something I have no desire to ever see again, least of all in standalone form like it is now, and from now on if I see Tracie Thorns or Zoe Bell with any sort of significant acting presence in something, I’m just flat-out not watching it because they really irritate me.
You know what that movie should have been about? Stuntman Mike (role model) and his Death Proof car. Not “everybody except Stuntman Mike” and “cars that are not the Death Proof car.”
Anime’s Frank
You continue to taunt me with this podcast link that links to no podcasts! One of these days…!
If you have time on Sunday, it might be interesting to see if you could sit in on my Evangelion panel. Having a contrary opinion, and all that.
I dare not say I can even halfway fill the shoes (or ego hat) of CB Smith, but sure. I’ll be glad to throw myself to the wolves with my rampant ignorance!
Less than 48 hours remain in my deadly wager, and I have only received one $5 donation. I’m gonna win this.
One of these days I’ll actually start my podcast.
No, really!
Maybe once the Overtime Approved period at work is over, followed, inevitably, by the Between Projects period…
E. Bernhard Warg
(No more links until I have at least one podcast up, even if it’s just my “Buying Otaku USA” parody–THERE! Now I have some kind of impetus or something!)
Gerald: thanks for the heads up on the manga. The last time I saw a cup noodle reference in a manga was on Hiroaki Samura’s Ohikkoshi which I highly recommend. It is nothing like Blade of the Immortal, except for the style, but it is hilarious in every way.
I think Mao Lamdo (sometimes credited as Mao Lamdao) was a relatively popular artist in Hong Kong who also produced another short animated film; Gong Tau. It was kind of an experimental short animated horror film.
“Cloud” from Robot Carnival, was more or less based on Lamdao’s illustrated book, “Snow and the Young Boy”.
daryl: “But Death Proof is talky. It’s also something I have no desire to ever see again, least of all in standalone form like it is now, and from now on if I see Tracie Thorns or Zoe Bell with any sort of significant acting presence in something, I’m just flat-out not watching it because they really irritate me.”
Yeah, I hated it, too. In fact, it was the one time I ended up sitting through screaming babies and assholes who have to look at their over-priced cell phones for messages which they probably will never get.
>You know what that movie should >have been about? Stuntman Mike >(role model) and his Death Proof >car. Not “everybody except >Stuntman Mike” and “cars that are >not the Death Proof car.”
But daryl, you just don’t “get” the “genius” that is Tarantino.
As far as I know most doujin aren’t porn, they’re just college anime clubs making comics about Tony the Tiger beating up Captain Harlock or whatever.
Ryuukishi07’s art is even worse than Takeshi Takeuchi’s was in Tsukihime, too, so it’s just as well they didn’t have porn; the characters in Higurashi originally didn’t even have fingers.
Long Robot Carnival post ahead:
First off, thanks for reviewing this. Despite what you guys said, I found the review pretty informative even after finding as much info on the movie as I could. I knew very little about the directors on this besides Otomo, as well as Sci-Fi and TBS’s bizarre scheduling for it. I’m also going to keep an eye out in case that art book ever pops up for sale/auction somewhere. (I did manage to find a trading card set brought out in the mid-90s, each of which had storyboards and concept art on the back. I might try and scan them sometime if anyone’s interested.)
The bit about how anthologies always result in very different opinions is definitely true, as my opinions for the shorts are really different (I experienced this firsthand when my little sister visited, spotted the cards, and grew curious. I love Nightmare due to the nonstop collection of great robot designs and bizarre bits thrown at you, so I put it on. After 5 minutes and a very blank expression on her face, I turned it off.). Franken’s Gears, A Tale of Two Robots and Nightmare are my favorites, Deprive and Presence are good, Starlight Angel is mediocre, and Cloud, while good as an art piece, is terrible as entertainment in my eyes. To be honest, it did seem kind of strange that you guys praised the movie so highly at the end when Starlight Angel seemed to be the only one you really praised.
Daryl commented on the download options for this, but I’m not sure if you’re aware that somebody’s put a torrent of either a foreign DVD or the laserdisc, with both Japanese and English tracks for the talkie shorts. It’s a huge file due to being a DVD copy and not just a striaght AVI rip, but the quality is superb:
http://www.mininova.org/tor/747086
Also, just about all the shorts are up on YouTube, but Presence is the Japanese version with truly awful subtitles from the HK rip, which has to be a bootleg. The line about wanting to love a feminine woman? It’s translated as “I hope my wife is 100% woman.” And though the scientist in Two Robots yells his name as John Jack Volkerson III in English, it comes out as something like “Jimmy Paul Walker 3”. I went and put the English version of Two Robots up, so anyone who wants an idea of how intentionally awful the voices were can check it out here:
Lastly, and on the topic of the movie being old-school ink and paint, it still seems pretty easy to get cels at most con booths that sell them. At this year’s Otakon, one place (I believe it’s called Art Toons or something similar) had a couple of them, and while I would have loved to get an awesome medium shot of Red Neck from Nightmare, I was $20 short, so I got a cool shot of the Japanese machine from Two Robots, which I posted on my blog if you want to see it.
Looking forward to the next show, too. I’m really grateful that Apple was up for putting Tezuka on the store and even as a front page feature, and the Season Pass deals are unbelievable.
Just listened to part 2. Your description of Higurashi sounds a bit like one of my favorite movies, “Run Lola Run,” which also does the multiple-path thing. Has anyone seen both to know how they compare beyond that concept?
Also, based on everything I saw in Tokyo last month, homemade doujinshi are OVERWHELMINGLY porn. 2/3 of everything at Comiket was porn and at least half of what I saw in stores was porn. At LEAST half. Oh, yeah, and absolutely none of it looked alike…
Both Run Lola Run and Higurashi are a bit iterative. I haven’t seen all of Higurashi, but from the first half of the first season, characters seem to know the information discovered in former iteration. Higurashi is phrased as a mystery, and each divergent path reveals a bit more.
Where as Run Lola Run is a bit character driven and a bit chance driven, Higurashi is script driven. You see the author steering events down the different paths. It’s more about speculating the destination and the truth behind the event than being invested in how the situation will shape up. And, it’s also a count down to some grizzly event.
“Higurashi, gehst du einkaufen? Ich brauch Shampoo!”
E. Bernhard Warg
(…must…not…link…)