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Hey, Santaman! [2007-12-21]

Berserk: I'm just Final Fantasie'd out myself.

And finally, I think that the Dragonball movie is going to come out WAY too late to catch any of the original hype it might have had a few years back. It's not going to be good enough to attract any new viewers (and depending on how it's played out, the characters' relationships might go over everyone's heads), and I think the folks who saw the anime will have aged and moved past it. I just think it's too little, too late.

I think most people have forgotten this already, or were too young to have even heard of it, but Super Mario Brothers was actually the FIRST ever video game movie ever made in 1993, starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as the brothers, some actress as Princess Daisy (instead of Peach), and Dennis Hopper as King Koopa. So there's the joke, for anyone who missed it. It cost 42 million dollars to make, and, needless to say, it tanked (revenue to this day is slightly less than half). Bob Hoskins hilariously calls it a "F***in' nightmare" and the husband-wife directors "F***'in idiots." Just this August in The Guardian. Go ahead, look it up. I'll wait.

As one of those who fusses, I'll let you in on my reasoning for it. While not 100% true in all cases, the short of it is: It doesn't belong. I'm a little more forgiving about people who cosplay something from Legend of the Crystals, Unlimited, Advent Children or Last Order because they are, well, animated in Japan and would fit our definition of anime. It's when people are cosplaying non-animated or non-comic characters, designs or what have you. This goes likewise for people who cosplay as the following at anime conventions:

- Stormtroopers from Star Wars
- Master Chief from HALO
- Sold Snake from MGS
- Pheonix from X-Men
- Mutha-lovin' Jack Sparrow

Or, anything like that. An anime convention, by definition, is a convention for people who enjoy Japanese cartoons. Manga, because its industry has become so intertwined with anime in both Japan and America, is what I consider the only permissable exception.

It's all about what's appropriate. When I go to professional conferences, I'm paying good money for professional information and connections. At an anime convention, I'm paying for information and interactions with other anime fans. If you love anime and love video games, that's great - more power to anyone who has diverse interests - but there's a time and place for everything. When I'm at an anime con and someone wants to talk to me about computers or some other hobby of mine, make sure to do it at a social party when I've got a drink in my hand; when I'm actually doing con-stuff, Japanese Cartoons are Serious Business. If I had my way, things like video game rooms at conventions would be limited to anime-franchise games; no HALO tournaments or DDR.

FFIX was a great game to me. One of the last few good games to come out on the PS1. The last FF I played, XII, I didn't even bother to finish. Yes, the graphics are good; yes, the real-time-ish battles are fun; yes, it all takes place in the Tactics world (though I couldn't really see any concrete evidence comparing the two). I even liked the new equipment/job/skill system they put in. The story just did not connect with me well. Maybe because it was a little disjointed here and there, or maybe the main character had no real connection to the plot other than "My brother's dead" and "My girlfriend has pigtails." Maybe I felt there should have been another fuzzy mascot character in there or something. Or maybe I'm just weird. Or old. Or another character impalement.

And besides, how can you say Kitty Vader is not anime inspired?

Pre-2000 anime fans were typically social retards with narrow interests and far too much free time, while modern anime fans are typically 14-year-olds who don't really have the schedules or motivation to hunt down Captain Harlock vs. The American Occupation (aka Arcadia of My Youth). They just want to watch Bleach or InuYasha or Cowboy Bebop.

My god, could you come off as any more of an Elitist? God forbit some unrealated thing corrupt the purity of your anime convention experience.

It especially strikes me as interesting that you go off on people talking to you about these things. I don't know who these people you've dealt with but I find people rarely just randomly come up to people and start talking about something unrealted unless you actually ask em about it. Honestly though, even if they do god forbit you have to respond "I'm actually not interested in that".

How about a little live and let live dude? Would it really kill you to just do your own thing and ignore the non-anime stuff if it isn't your cup of tea?

Speed Racer's original fan base is much older than Dragon Ball's and they've undoubtedly moved on, but a film based upon the franchise is still being produced. The recently-released Alvin and the Chipmunks is based on a cartoon series that hasn't been really big in close to two decades, yet it managed to pull in $44.3 million in its first weekend. I don't know if the Dragon Ball film will succeed or fail, but if it does fail, I doubt it'll have anything to do with older DB fans moving past it.

Treetastic wrote:

I don't remember Last Order being bundles with Advent Children. I know it was bundled with the re-release of the actual game. Not that I wouldn't like to see it if it is on my DVD of Advent Children.

It's on the Special Edition set. This one.