Forum - View topicAmerican/Japanese collaborations: Good or bad?
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Aonghus
Posts: 3 |
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You know all those new projects where American Companies work together with Japanese companies. I'm talking about things like Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Batman: Gotham Knight, and Dante's Inferno.
Usually it involves the American company writing, producing, and providing music and voice acting, and the Japanese company directing, storyboarding, and animating. What do you think of these kinds of projects? |
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Eldritcho
 Posts: 260 |
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Personally, it depends on the story. If the work manages to have a good story and good characterization then I would say it is good. Heck, even if it just looks pretty and has some good action I'll at least give it a watch.
But then we also have to consider other collaborations, like the new Wolverine and Iron Man series, which are a Japanese take on American comic book characters. Peronally, I have very mixed feelings about them: where-as I can say I like the action and character design of the series (except Wolverine: he looks weird as a bishounen), they just dont seem to capture the same feel or spirit of the original works. But thats just my opinion. |
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SecretAgent94
 Posts: 204 |
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It's great. It would be amazing if American animation emulated some aspects of Japanese anime; not only the art style, but the content storytelling and started getting serious. Then there would be some competition and we would see a Golden Age of animation in general.
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Aonghus
Posts: 3 |
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The closest things to that would be Avatar and the Boondocks. What I'm talking about is when American producers contract Japanese producers to animate stories. Unfortunately these projects are just spinoffs and cash-ins. Look at Gotham Knight, while it may have started as an attempt to give anime more exposure it rapidly became just a small piece of The Dark Knight's marketing campaign. It'd be nice if independent American producers worked with anime companies on a project that wasn't a cash-cow for something else. Something producers on both sides of the world would have real passion for. Americans are capable of creating a good story when they put their minds to it. Unfortunately, many of these recent projects seem to be showcasing the most mediocre of American storytelling. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15896 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Well I am a Halo fanboy and I really liked Halo Legends, although my favourite bit was done in the style of the games I did enjoy both aspects. The Animatrix was kind of confusing, but had some very good information. And I kind of found Gotham Knight was relativly good, it kind of dragged at parts, but that is Batman for you.
Also to mention collaboration I would say that Heroman which had America's Stan Lee as a collaborator was a minor success. I hope that it might get a state side release as it kind of felt like it was meant for it. |
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Jessica Hart
 Posts: 219 |
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IMO they only work when the Japanese have full creative control and are allowed to fully remake the franchise as they see fit. See: Witchblade, Stitch!, and Powerpuff Girls Z
When the American companies are allowed to write/dictate things (such as Gotham Knight HAD to take place between the two Live Action movies), it's when things start getting bad. It stifles creativity and prevents them from reaching their own potential. I mean, a fully Japanese Batman series would be awesome. Look at stuff like Darker than Black or The Big O. A Batman show with an actual storyline and character development, who actually is willing to kill the villains off for good rather than recycle them for 50 years like US comics/cartoons do? I'd watch that in a heartbeat. It's why I only care about the movies for superheroes rather than the cartoons; movies are more likely to have resolution. There's also the current Marvel anime which have outlines and written by American comic book writers... and it kinda shows. They feel very much like an American cartoon/comic, only with Japanese art and standards (censorship-wise) which I don't like. I dislike stuff like Teen Titans and other shows that just mimic art and not the actual writing of anime. I don't play Halo so I never saw Halo Legends.  But it's an anthology like Gotham Knight and Animatrix, which I hate. Why can't they just be feature length movies, or TV series. Anthologies seem really uninteresting, short, and forgettable.
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Aonghus
Posts: 3 |
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It all depends on what the American producers want. If they want their franchise to gain more exposure in Japan then they usually give most control to the Japanese producers. If however it's a project intended for American audiences producers tend to want more creative control. Highlander: The Search for Vengeance is one example. The film was intended for American audiences, in fact, it was animated in-sync with the recordings of the English voice-actors. The film got a great deal of praise in America and is considered better than most of the other Highlander sequels. It's a matter of perspective really, the character designs and story may not be conventional by Japanese standards, but it doesn't mean they won't turn out quality results. I think the only way a Japanese company could keep creative control over an adaptation of a western work would be if they actually bought the rights to it rather than work on a joint-venture. This has only ever happened with Tales from Earthsea, which even the author of the original Earthsea trilogy was unhappy with.
I don't think DC would allow for an anime Batman series without seizing total creative control. Just look at marvel anime's Wolverine, that's turned-off plenty of marvel fans already.
The only feature-length one I can think of is Highlander. You are right though, wouldn't it be cool to see an entire Batman series done in the style of the Deadshot short? |
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Jessica Hart
Posts: 219 |
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That's what I don't get. Marvel said these anime are to get Japanese audiences interested in their properties, not for Americans to enjoy (though I'm sure they planned to release them him from the start as well; unlike Stitch! and Powerpuff Girls Z which will likely never come here since they're not made for us) so why write them like American comics that they already admitted doesn't sell over there.  Maybe they went the 'try to please everyone, but end up pleasing no one' route.
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wanderlustking
 Posts: 449 Location: Bozeman, Montana |
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I think it would be nice to see some more serious works being produced on my side of the Atlantic, but I don't really think that we need to start emulating anime in art style. Western and Eastern animation are different, and I think it should stay that way; both have a lot to offer artistically.
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John Casey
 Posts: 1853 Location: In My Angry Center |
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Depends on the collaboration, really.
I mean, I loved Afro Samurai. But that Twilight anime...? Seriously? |
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