Forum - View topicNEWS: Afro Samurai: Resurrection Movie Debuts Sunday Night
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Brack
 Posts: 281 Location: UK |
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My understanding is that because this and IGPX had US companies involved in production, they have to pay the same scale as a "wholly" US cartoon would. And because of that you can get people like Hammill and Phil LaMarr, because that's what they are used to getting paid. Straight re-dubbing of foreign material pays a lower scale, and so it's less likely to be worth the time of voice actors of Hamill's status to do it. Nor are sales of an anime title with no TV exposure likely to be worth paying more than scale to get them. And that's not even taking into account anime dub productions that are non-union. I might be wrong as I'm remembering that from a several years old article, so if anyone can correct me (or provide actual figures) that'd be great. |
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GrinfilledCelt
 Posts: 75 Location: I wish I were in Ocqueoc. |
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On another theme, many of you keep saying how Afro was tailored for a "Western" audience. I think such statements are, at best, shallow and, at worst, racist. Most of you throw that out as if it means something. Personally I don't see a whole lot of substantial difference between anime and "Western" tv. If you are talking about the level of violence and gore, there is surely no shortage of violent, gory anime. Go watch Shigurui* and just try to tell me that it isn't just as graphically violent as Afro or that it's meant to appeal to Western audiences. If you are saying that Westerners like that stuff more than Easterners, that is equally absurd. Perhaps you are referring to the fact that Afro isn't loaded down with Japanese cultural references and untranslatable puns. That just means that the producers wanted this to appeal to a broader audience than just the Japanese people, so they left Japanese only references out. That kind of stuff is produced on both sides of the world and often is the most highly acclaimed. I do see a lot of themes in Afro that are common in anime; 'do your best', revenge, 'protect what is important to you', etc, but those ideals are hardly unique to the Japanese. In case you hadn't guessed, I liked Afro Samurai but I can thoroughly understand why someone else wouldn't. Maybe you didn't like the dark, mono-chromatic artistic style or the American inner-city influence or whatever; but saying meaningless things like, "its tailored for Western markets" or "it isn't really an anime" is pointless. ---- * Awesome show, btw. |
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Mad_Scientist
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 3011 |
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While I agree that Astro Samurai is an anime, as I see things, it is aimed at Western audiences to a large extent. The fact that the first language track is English, and it doesn't even include a Japanese language track, the fact that it's world broadcast debut (I think) is on a US television station, the fact that it's main character is voiced by a famous US actor... all these things indicate that it is definitely being aimed at a US audience. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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Not just that, but Sammy boy is popular with the Spike TV crowd, and isn't he one of the exec producers as mentioned before? And they brought in Lucy Liu to play what I think is the sequel's main villain, right? This is the kind of movie that, like back when anime still had limited exposure, would resonate with an audience whose experience with the genre probably only consists of Akira, Ghost in the Shell (the movie), and Ninja Scroll. Now while those are by no means bad movies, and I have seen them, they are not all the genre has to offer, and one could argue that they aren't the epitome of the stuff.
Of course, this movie, unlike those, has a much larger scale of exposure and all the trappings of something that would be Hollywood-made, though its origins are obviously rooted in the other side of the world. Samurai, as well, are one of the things of Japanese culture that, like ninja, are part of the layman's exposure to the country's history. Take all of this as you will, I suppose... |
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hikaru004
 Posts: 2306 |
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So another way to think of this is as a title that got outsourced to Japan to animate with an aim predominately at Western audiences. The original was released here and in Japan in English language only. It's basically a Western animation title imo.
This thing is nothing like GitS or Akira. No higher thinking concepts to ponder. Afro Samurai just talks about the cycle of revenge and protecting your brother. Now "protecting family" is universal. "Protecting your brother" is Western. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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It sounds kinda like Travis Touchdown's situation: once he's on the climb to the top, he's screwed because everyone below him's gonna want a piece of that. And while "revenge" by itself isn't high-concept stuff, there are ways to turn the concept in such ways that it isn't as cliche or predictable. This...doesn't seem to be reaching that high.
BTW, someone remarked about the sarcasm of the first series being called a "season" earlier. I believe that's because most shows (unless they get axed by the network suits) don't run five episodes and call it a day/season, and five episodes is more like an average length for an OVA series, again evoking memories of the days of nothing BUT anime OVAs or movies. |
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