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Answerman - The Virtue of Curiosity


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Takkun4343



Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Posts: 1493
Location: Englewood, Ohio
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:03 pm Reply with quote
So... what's the significance of Ultraviolet: Code 044 acting as the representative picture for the column again?
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Brand



Joined: 30 Jan 2006
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:08 pm Reply with quote
I was once a pre-teen/teen girl. I look back and the movies I thought were pretty good growing up and wonder, "WTF? was I thinking?" Really, to judge all movies today on any kid's/teen's opinions is a poor idea. Kid have terrible tastes (and that is fine) they haven't seen enough things to make judgment calls.

Franchise fatigue, I can see happening. I guess we will see what happens in the next 2-3 years. Super Hero movie/tv franchises might implode but I am enjoying the ride while it lasts. And it isn't all that abnormal for movies tastes to change every few years.

I also feel that in the last decade (since Lost) a lot of American TV has evolved. One of the big reasons I started watching anime was because most shows had a beginning, a middle, and an end. Something, very lacking while I was growing up. Now, there are a lot of great shows that tell complete stories, or at least have things actually change over time. I still like anime a lot but I don't feel so left out on American as much anymore.
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Shenl742



Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 1524
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:11 pm Reply with quote
^Pretty much how I feel. I dove right into anime and just thought, "This is so new and exciting and so much better then all that boring old American stuff!!"

But then I got older and just realized that anime has it's own major problems too, and I began to rediscover an appreciation for western media. I think it's all about having a balanced cultural diet.
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7jaws7



Joined: 17 Aug 2013
Posts: 704
Location: New York State
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:17 pm Reply with quote
It's funny that you bring up Hollywood's hero flicks. My older brother is a huge fan of them, and doesn't seem to be bothered by the lack of originality at all. On a related note, he's collected and played Marvel Dice Masters since last year, and that's all he does for fun anymore.

I was showing him Madoka Magica (Beginnings and Eternal only) recently, because I know he used to be into Greek and Shakespearean tragedies, but frankly I think those days are over for him. He seemed uninterested when we were discussing Madoka after the second movie.

In any case, he seems to find some meaning in these hero flicks - not that there isn't any - but I think most of his love for the superhero genre has to do with his three kids. It seems he just wants to pass down that fandom to them more than anything else.


Last edited by 7jaws7 on Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:18 pm; edited 1 time in total
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2858
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:18 pm Reply with quote
yah, some anime friends are diving back into usa live action series; I lack the methodology to do so so I am only diving to soap operas which are an easy watch for me.


about Ng takes, I am sure a few animes do that, but as implied in the article, those are done in purpose/staged.
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invalidname
Contributor



Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2434
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:25 pm Reply with quote
For digital copies, I'd always sort of hoped Funimation could do something where if you buy a physical copy, you unlock that show/movie for ad-free streaming on Funimation.com. Maybe something similar for Sentai and Anime Network (I know, not technically the same company).

But it would still be a ton of work to stuff unique codes in each box, validate them on the site, keep track of who's unlocked what, etc. And I don't know that you can really make the case that having a digital copy would convert someone into buying something they otherwise wouldn't. Maybe you'd get more funimation.com accounts created, but there are better ways to do that, like getting a ton of exclusive streaming licenses (homicidal magical lesbian bears, anyone?)
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Petrea Mitchell



Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 438
Location: Near Portland, OR
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:31 pm Reply with quote
Takkun4343 wrote:
So... what's the significance of Ultraviolet: Code 044 acting as the representative picture for the column again?


I'd presume it's an oblique reference to the UltraViolet program that gives you a download code with some physical media purchases.
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Merxamers



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 720
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:35 pm Reply with quote
regarding blooper reels; i wouldn't be surprised if the 'gag reel' included in the last disc of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was staged, but i still laughed my butt off at most of it.
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:35 pm Reply with quote
The Japanese distributors have been royally exposed for not trying and obvious highway robbery, seriously 9 episodes max on a BD without degradation of quality yet they are putting only 2 max in most cases maybe 3 if no extras or if the third episode is the OVA, they can do better. I'm not saying cram 9 episodes in as you'll have to account for extras but use a BD-50 and put at least 4-5 episodes to make it worth $70-90.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5407
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:50 pm Reply with quote
Some 10 years ago I was somewhat into Hollywood films. I began buying DVD's with the hope of building a good sized collection. Then I transferred to a university and collecting movies was no longer a priority.

I got really into anime 5 years ago when I started collecting discs. I can say with absolute certainty that anime is my favorite kind of entertainment. I almost never watch Hollywood movies. I occasionally watch cable series and some Indie and foreign movies, but anime to me is king when it comes to story telling, character development and interesting premises.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:03 pm Reply with quote
Media Blasters had some good blooper tracks fro Kenshin and Berserk, but the majority of the blooper tracks I've seen boil down to just hearing somebody stumble over their lines. I'm not surprised that blooper tracks aren't more common since it's pretty rare for someone to be accidentally funny like that.
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bj_waters



Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 234
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:03 pm Reply with quote
Any medium of art (and especially entertainment) is going to have it's vapid blockbusters and deep intellectual experiments (not to mention everything in between). For every Michael Jackson, there's a Phillip Glass. For every Dan Brown, there's a James Joyce. For every DBZ-clone, there's a FLCL or Madoka Magica. There are a lot of people in these industries and they have a wealth of ideas to express. And on the flip side, the audience consists of a lot of people as well, so tastes are just as wide. There's nearly an audience for anything.

The problem comes from the idea that the blockbusters appeal to larger audiences and get more publicity and more profits than the more challenging pieces, and lot of that comes from human nature. Most people don't want their entertainment to be challenging. It's their leisure time away from their work or other responsibilities; they don't always want to work for their entertainment as well. As a consequence, the big corporations that make the blockbusters are intentionally making things safe and palatable for the masses because that's what the masses want (and I'd argue that's not a necessarily bad thing; even the most staunch intellectual has a guilty pleasure or two).

The thing that makes this a problem is that the creators of the more intellectual entertainment often feel marginalized because they don't get the same marketing budget, preventing them from making as much money. And for the fans of that kind of entertainment, it can be frustrating for them to find something they enjoy when they feel like they have to spend so much of their leisure time sifting through the crap to find the good stuff.

The thing is, this really isn't a new problem, and I doubt it will ever go away. And it's not like Blockbusters don't become bombs and the more intellectual fare doesn't get their time in the spotlight, either. It's just the nature of dealing with art and with the psychology of people.

Regarding the "franchise fatigue" that's going on, that feels like adults talking. Sure, there are those who are tired of superhero movies (my father certainly is), and critics will always want something substantial. But I also can't help but wonder if the 8-13 year old demographic isn't thinking that we're in some kind of Golden Age, where there's always another superhero movie for them to enjoy on the horizon. It's all about perspective, I think.

Regarding dubbing bloopers: I think there can be a way to make them entertaining. I don't know how many of have noticed, but on the old Spiral DVDs that FUNimation put out, there is an option simply called Gallery that shows images from the show, but on top of that, they have bloopers from the dub and I found them to be quite funny. I think it comes down to presentation and also allowing the voice actors to ad lib in character in front of the mic from time to time. Sure, not everything they say would go into the final product, but there's no reason some of the better clips from the cutting room floor can't find a way to some DVD extra. I'm sure fans would love to hear voice actors giving some of their favorite characters spontaneous monologues about something tangential.
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Paiprince



Joined: 21 Dec 2013
Posts: 593
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:58 pm Reply with quote
In Wake Up Girls and Cross Ange, they have the seiyuus do a bit of funny commentary in place of a brief summary for next episode previews. They're definitely staged, but still a treat to listen to. Those are some of the recent bloopers in anime I can think of at the moment.
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LavenderMintRose



Joined: 30 Nov 2012
Posts: 168
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:10 pm Reply with quote
You know what, though? The first Thor movie was actually really great. The "villain" had complex motivations, the non-combatant characters (Jane's team) were some of the most interesting people in the movie, there was a noticeable amount of male fanservice, and there was great acting and directing, and a nice balance of comedy and seriousness.
The first Captain America movie, and X-Men: First Class, did a great job of mixing period storytelling with the superhero genre, and both are really great (particularly X-Men First Class).
Those three in particular have more going for them in terms of depth than ~90% of the anime that's popular with anime fans, including what's popular with, say, "semi-mainstream" fans (e.g. Attack on Titan, SAO), hardcore otaku (moe/fanservice/whatever), and "intellectual" fans (e.g. Urobuchi stuff). But honestly, I stopped going to the movies at all when I saw 12 movies in a row that I thought were horribly disappointing, over the course of a year, including Thor 2, and a well-reviewed anime movie.
I don't think genre determines whether or not a movie can be good, but I think that the people that made Thor 2 assumed that people wanted the sort of movie described in that quote, which the first Thor decidedly was not.
But some people do eat that stuff up, though. After all, The Hobbit movies made a lot of money, even though those were what they were...

++ I liked the Durarara!! bloopers back when that happened, but I don't know how I'd feel listening to them now that I'm not the type of fangirl that falls over squeeing from hearing Crispin Freeman say anything at all...
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:27 pm Reply with quote
maximilianjenus wrote:
about Ng takes, I am sure a few animes do that, but as implied in the article, those are done in purpose/staged.


American programming has evolved thanks to cable and premium channels offering better content, which then forces the networks to even try out their hand at not sucking. I'm almost done with the fourth season of Boardwalk Empire and I of course watch Game of Thrones, so it's nice to have some genre content coming in the form of violent and sexual series programming.

For movies, I don't think it's SPECIFICALLY the cape movies that are hurting the system, they're often terrific tales with great moments and some do try harder at breaching other layers of thought and depth. No, I think it's the dumb PG-13ification of pretty much everything else, including all of your Harry Potter and other YA knockoffs.
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