Forum

Quote:

Animation : D+
Art : F

...So because it goes for some abstract and purposely crude, it's deserves an F? I might agree with all the other points, but the art, as well as the animation...?

To each their own, I suppose.

I remember rather liking the first batches of the Shin Chan parody dub, but I had the same experience as Carl with this; it's just not very funny any more.

I always thought this show's humor was way too over-the-top, and I've never found the characters to be particularly likable in any way. I dare anyone to find redeeming qualities in any of them. I much preferred Sgt. Frog in that the show has some touching moments, the characters are all distinct and likable, and while I wouldn't call it's English dub accurate, I feel it still reflects the spirit of the original show wonderfully. It's humor is also consistent at PG, at worst PG-13 (FUNi's official rating is TV-PG). At times, Shin Chan feels like it's trying too hard to be South Park. The jokes CAN be very funny (until they go into politics...), but the shtick gets old really quick. It sounds like the team is having fun at least. Too much fun.

So were these episodes never aired on Adult Swim?

Carl's first paragraph pretty much summarizes how I feel about the show these days; it was fun for a while, but it's hard to care now. I didn't even bother buying the second set for season two since I was tired of it by then. I'm actually quite surprised that Funimation came back to this given that the entire script gets rewritten, which is quite a lot of work, and it seemed like even they realized that was wearing out a couple years ago.

PurpleWarrior13 wrote:

and while I wouldn't call it's English dub accurate, I feel it still reflects the spirit of the original show wonderfully.

Have you even watched the original show? It's nothing like the dub. Most of the characters and total 180s.

I've watched some of it (it's extremely rare for me watch an anime in Japanese), and compared to Shin Chan's English version, I'd say it's... pretty accurate! Anime hyper

But I suppose I'm biased towards the show, since Sgt. Frog is one of my favorite anime ever ("I'm sorry about your food pregnancy!").

I enjoyed this show more when it was on [Adult Swim]. Saw it as less of a Japanese anime and more as one of their own original (knowing full-well that it was not) slapstick comedy shows. I watched it more for the latter of those two perceptions.

Fronzel wrote:

I remember rather liking the first batches of the Shin Chan parody dub, but I had the same experience as Carl with this; it's just not very funny any more.

This is how some of us felt about Funimation's improvised comedy dubs from the beginning. Anime's very attraction is rooted in how different it is from standard American entertainment.

Rewriting comedy to American tastes is a great idea in concept, but ultimately the rewrite is just an imitation of another comedy style, not original work, and what we get is a watered down mess with bare minimum of the original flavor that made the anime famous to begin with.

Whoever said that sarcasm was the lowest form of wit obviously had never see gagdubs.

I haven't seen this show, and likely never will, on hearing that Funimation basically made it South Park...and I hate South Park. Razz

But the same approach they used with Sgt. Frog irritates me.

I understand why gag dubs might be used, but even for comedy anime, where jokes obviously have to be changed for a different audience, I feel that the dub should properly represent the show's spirit. Funimation's done that wonderfully for School Rumble and Ouran High School Host Club, so I don't see why they can't do the same for these shows.

...Also, something I just realized--I really don't care for Jared Hedges as a dub script writer. He does seem to know how to naturally adapt the material, but I always feel a weird smugness in his dubs, like he's saying "See how witty my scripts are?" Maybe it's just me...

Shin Chan feels like nothing but a novelty. It was great on Adult Swim, stupid good fun, but it's just not that funny anymore.

Quote:

And in part it's because the show is a hideous affront to the art of animation. Its characters look like roadkill and its animation makes Hanna-Barbera look like Studio Ghibli.

I love how the writer actually seems somehow offended by the mere existence of this art style.

The interesting part is that people with any actual knowledge of animation will tell you that Shin Chan's visuals are clearly above-average. Freaking Masaaki Yuasa has said that the most fun he's had working on anything was Shin Chan, and the guy has a far higher understanding of art and animation than pretty much any ANN writer. It can obviously be very creative, expressive and lively. And yet the stock ANN opinion is still "Shin Chan is a disgusting insult to animation", purely because the visuals have an air of intentional amateurishness to them because they are supposed to evoke the feeling of a child's drawing (didn't you ever wonder why it's called CRAYON Shin Chan? Come on). But in spite of this, the artwork is still solid enough to allow for great animation, posing, composition, etc.

I don't even think you NEED to be some kind of 'animation expert' to notice this show's qualities. The problem is that anime fandom is specifically trained to dislike anything too stylized, because the primary visual appeal of anime for many western fans is a single-minded focus on detail and prettiness.

uguu wrote:

Quote:

And in part it's because the show is a hideous affront to the art of animation. Its characters look like roadkill and its animation makes Hanna-Barbera look like Studio Ghibli.

I love how the writer actually seems somehow offended by the mere existence of this art style.

The interesting part is that people with any actual knowledge of animation will tell you that Shin Chan's visuals are clearly above-average. Freaking Masaaki Yuasa has said that the most fun he's had working on anything was Shin Chan, and the guy has a far higher understanding of art and animation than pretty much any ANN writer. It can obviously be very creative, expressive and lively. And yet the stock ANN opinion is still "Shin Chan is a disgusting insult to animation", purely because the visuals have an air of intentional amateurishness to them because they are supposed to evoke the feeling of a child's drawing (didn't you ever wonder why it's called CRAYON Shin Chan? Come on). But in spite of this, the artwork is still solid enough to allow for great animation, posing, composition, etc.

I don't even think you NEED to be some kind of 'animation expert' to notice this show's qualities. The problem is that anime fandom is specifically trained to dislike anything too stylized, because the primary visual appeal of anime for many western fans is a single-minded focus on detail and prettiness.

Couldn't have said it any better. Lol @ the author of this review.

"A hideous affront to the art of animation." Such an ironic statement.

Nonaka Machine Gun B wrote:

So were these episodes never aired on Adult Swim?

after seeing them , you shouldnt be susprised why. especially since it didn't get a lot of viewers. sure it wasnt moribito bad, but it was bad nevertheless.