Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! [2007-08-17]
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Hon'ya-chan
Posts: 973 |
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Report her to the store staff. They have good reason to kick her out. |
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roxybudgy
Posts: 129 Location: Western Australia |
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About shrink-wrapping, I mentioned this in another post, but one option is to have all books shrink-wrapped, leaving one unwrapped for people to browse through.
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Ai no Kareshi
Posts: 561 Location: South Africa |
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I'm afraid I'll have to disagree vehemently on this point. For one thing, I'd have trouble finding Afrikaans dubs of anime, and even if there were such a thing, I doubt I would enjoy them as much, as Afrikaans tends to sound extremely corny to me when it tries to be serious (on television or elsewhere). English, which is my second language, sounds more appropriate than Afrikaans in most cases. I would probably be more tolerant of anime dubs if they improved the acting. But to me (and a lot of other people, I'm sure), it's exciting to watch something in a foreign language. After all, every language has its own unique sound and flavour, so it should not come as a shock to you that people might find a particular language to work better for them for particular media. I personally find myself fascinated by the workings of the Japanese language and would watch almost anything in Japanese if I had the option. |
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Jimmy Balls-O-Steel
Posts: 60 Location: The Great White North |
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Damn Americans, and their not knowing metric. You can't even exaggerate it properly! 1.5 cm is actually much closer to the size of a regular DVD case, whereas a thinpack case is in and around 0.5 cm thick. |
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NGE1113
Posts: 1081 Location: Alexandria, VA. |
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Extra packaging:
I really can't say that I've found any packaging to be all that excessive. True, there are the boxes that come with various LE releases (Eureka seveN comes to mind), but I simply flatten the box after extracting the contents and recycle it. No harm, no foul. Same goes for any insert that's nothing more than a free consumer information questionnaire. Unless it's got some merit to the release, it's gone. However, for forced digipack/thinpack collections (Requiem From the Darkness, Stellvia), I will keep the empty jewel cases. Almost inevitably, somewhere down the line I'll get a DVD whose jewel case has been smashed to hell. Always helps to have an extra lying around for such situations. I've also considered thinpacking discs myself, but I don't think I'll ever do it. I like the artboxes that the singles come with, and thinpacking DVDs will leave me with a pile of artboxes, along with no idea what to do with them. Mixed Japanese-English sentences: I really have no strong feeling about this, mostly since there's no one around me that actually does such things. I'm much more a stickler about those around me abusing the English language. Seriously, whenever the whole " 's " misuse rears its head, a little part of me dies inside. Maybe I should think about switching my major... The Answerfan segment: Except for the threat of criminal prosecution response, these were all remaks that I wasn't surprised to see. And even if all these conditions were met, then another line in the sand would be drawn, and so forth... And to end: Is anyone else experiencing this error right now? Currently, the credits normally found on the bottom of the page being forced to the right, with the Recent Articles column now pushed to below the end of the Answerman column. Screencap: http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w312/NGE1113/ANN6.jpg (I apologize for the super-crappy video quality, but my CPU's device manager is at war with my video card, hence the VGA flashback.) |
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DRWii
Posts: 636 |
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DVDs: As complete collections, thinpacks are definately awesome and a great way to save space. But, most of the thinpack collections I know of get rid of all inserts and (probably more importantly) the on disc extras, so there is a major negative. I'm not sure about collections that use regular size cases, though; the only one I know of to get rid of the inserts was "Excel Saga." If anyone knows, please tell me. And since I saw it mentioned, what the heck are digipacks? I've wondered that for a little while, now.
Maybe its just the fact that I've only been a "hardcore otaku" for a few years, but I have yet to run into this stereotype, or any other big ones for that matter. Well, okay, my parents say "Anta baka?!" too much, but that is my own fault for showing them any Japanese "Evangelion." Why do I always end up referencing "Eva?" The only "language" related issues that get to me are when some ignorant kid refers to manga as anime or seeing them pluralized as "animes" and "mangas." At least I can understand and accept the latter. Mangacows: You have to admit, using a bookstore to try out new manga is hard to pass up. I do worry somewhat about who may have read the book before me (perhaps wipe the cover down with a wet tissue if I buy it), but I'm not going to freak out that much. As for shrink-wrapping: I'd never rip it off myself, but if its something I've really wanted to check out and there isn't any wrapping, then unless there is a "content" reason for me to avoid it, I'll probably read it. How else could I have read even a few pages of "GitS 2?"
With the original "Gunbuster," at least there was a reason for there not being a dub. Check Wikipedia over here. With "Diebuster," on the other hand, there was simply no excuse. None.
What I'm about to say is a throw away comment, but I'd be surprised if nobody could memorize the Kanji for "1", "2", and "3" (or ichi, ni, and san, if you prefer). There seems to be a background discussion on what language anime is more enjoyable in, so I'll just say this: Anyone who tries not to watch anime in Japanese is misguided, and the same holds true for those who try to avoid dubs. If you watch a certain anime mostly in one language, you should at least try the other once. I'm not saying anyone actually falls under these categories, I'm just using examples. EDIT: Maybe "misguided" is a bit strong, but I can't think of a better way to put it. Answerfans: I'm surprised someone actually sent in that they'd stop if there was the danger of a lawsuit. Wouldn't any sane individual stop at that point? Sorry, but I don't think my answer to the new question is worth sending in, so its another post: Generally, no. I don't remember encountering any of these stereotypes I always hear about, and most of the anime fans whose opinions I hear from are from this forum and reviews on sites like Amazon. Of course, we have the "Flake of the Week"s and Youtube comments to prove that there are plenty of people I don't want to associate with.
No, its not just you. Last edited by DRWii on Sat Aug 18, 2007 1:07 am; edited 3 times in total |
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bayoab
Posts: 831 |
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Misuse? Maybe. Abuse? Hardly. Most Japanese people take some English in school so that these random uses are not entirely nonsense to the majority of the population. At a translation level, the random English in the songs actually makes sense on many occasions. Also, this is not about the purity of the language. This is about throwing random words from other languages into your normal speaking because you think it makes you sound 1% more like their culture. The majority of these abuses are single word swaps. Nobody cares if you want to speak that way among your peers. However, running around public screaming "That is so kawaii" makes a good number of us wish that we were completely oblivious.
There is no double standard here. Have you ever heard of someone in Japan going "Kore wa za shizzle" in a store? Japanese and English are both constantly evolving. A lot of English had been assimilated into Japanese in some form. Therefore, the use of these words is actually part of their cultural vocabulary. However. very few Japanese words have been assimilated into English. Adding random bits of Japanese to your vocabulary is hardly immersing yourself in their culture. It's just trying to pretend to be something that you clearly aren't since you are only able to substitute a single word. It's one thing to speak completely in Japanese sentences or randomly switch between full Japanese and English sentences. It's another to scream out "This is sugoku pretty. I must buy this kawaii stuff." If someone speaks to you in public, they expect English that they understand. They do not want to hear random words that they may or may not know thrown in. In summary: Good: I want sashimi with a samurai at the dojo. Bad: According to keikaku. |
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crilix
Posts: 208 |
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Lyrai
Posts: 173 Location: Potatoes (Idaho) |
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The manager of my local borders once got so mad at a manga cow he started throwing shit at them. I don't know what happened, I'm just standing there, getting the monthly releases, and then suddnely I see pens and crap flying at him and the man screaming.
He doesn't work there anymore but it was still a damned bizzare thing to see. And I admit I'll read books in the store - for example I'm pretty sure I've read all of DBZ (I'll buy it when Viz BIg comes out, I swear!) but I try to make sure to not bend or ruin the book. |
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Pocky_aDDict
Posts: 26 Location: Milpitas, CA |
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Those J-wons piss me off... Integrating Japanese words/phrases into your english sentences doesn't make you anymore Japanese than you already aren't. If you're gonna speak English, speak English. Likewise for Japanese (although, no one's going to understand you if you've learned everything from anime).
Just to be honest, I have sat at a bookstore and read books, but I only read the books that looks like they've been read in. I also don't bend the covers/spine, generally keeping it in the same condition I picked it up as. I definitely would not want to buy a used book with the same price as a new one. Hopefully kids these days will use more courtesy. I agree with what the writers have said about fansubs. It would be so awesome to get spankin' new anime straight to your TV (with, or without subs; either is fine for me). Also, in the fansubbing world, my group probably would stop subbing a series/distributing only if we get a C&D or when the R1 DVD is released. Oh boy. The new question has actually been going through a few anime blogs recently. Quite the hot topic, really. Wonder what writers will submit.... |
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Axe-336
Posts: 143 Location: Springfield, VA |
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Ha, I loved the letter about the overused Shonen dialogue. But how could you complain about that? That's be like complaining that the guy doesn't make up his mind at the end of a harem series. You should go into the series expecting that stuff to happen and then be pleasently surprised if they take a fresh approach. Of course if a person is brand new to anime they don't know these things yet and have a right to be frustrated, but thats when you simply assure them that its part of the way things work.
Manga Cows eh? I should have realized such a thing existed since I have, on occasion, read through an entire volume while in the store. However it was only ever the first volume and to see if I wanted to buy it (And I treat it like the unpurchased merchandise that it is, with the greatest care). I personally don't know if I'll like a manga until I've read the whole first volume since the first chapter is so much of a teaser most of the time, but thats getting off the topic. I have many times been distraught to find manga with the pages fanned out, it makes me sad. I liked the "Bleeding edge" guy in the Answerfan responses. Sure I'm not quite that bleeding edge, but I share the desire to see cosplays that aren't from Bleach or whatever has just come out on Adult Swim (I was so excited to find a single picture someone else had taken of a single Nana cosplay at Katsucon back in February) By the way, my prediction for the big cosplay thing at Kstsucon this year: combination Haruhi and D.Gray-Man. Even from a standpoint not in reference to cosplay, I wouldn't look at a lot of series if they weren't free simply because I wouldn't hear of them. "Baccano!"? Never would have seen it. Without fansubs I would only know AIR TV as "Series from the creators of Haruhi!" Not that anyone here is disagreeing, but yeah it'd take something drastic for me to stop watching fansubs. Finally, since I doubt I'll get published for Answerfan, I'll just go ahead and say that I'm friends with someone who embarasses me as part of the anime community. I didn't invite him to marathon with another friend because I knew he'd be talking about this and that nonsensical thing the whole time and probably throwing out random Japanese. *Sigh* He makes me sad, but at the same time he was my first supplier back before fansubs were everywhere and Answerman could complain about cluttery karaoke graphics, so I can't truly dislike him. |
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Steroid
Posts: 329 Location: At home, where all good hikikomori should be |
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When you start agreeing with, "I deserve to get what I desire whenever I so desire it--because I'm normal." People are supposed to get what they want.
I'm curious, does anyone have an example of a more, er, stable bookstore-employee who enforced a rule against manga-cow-ism? Because it seems that by and large, bookstores are OK with the practice.
Because the library has fewer, older manga. I'm sure many of them do frequent the library when they want to re-read manga. But if they just want the new stuff, that's not going to be there. That also doesn't answer Honya-chan's question. What is wrong with special ordering a copy if you want it pristine? Or else go to one of those thin bookstores in the mall where there's no aisle space and all the manga are against the wall near the register (I have several of these in my area--are they popular elsewhere?).
That's rather between the bookstore and them, isn't it? I suppose you could threaten to withold your business from the store unless they cleared the aisles, but unless you have a group of customers with you, you're unlikely to get far. And if we're speaking of moral, what's the moral status of a person who interferes with a healthy, chosen relationship between a consumer and a business for his own convenience? On to fan-Japanese. Sometimes when I am speaking or thinking in Japanese (I'll say eh-to instead of er, stuff like that), I'll realize that a lot of the words I want are English cognates. So it cycles back to English.
So what does make you a better and more pute anime fan, that has similar ease of use? |
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Dop.L
Posts: 714 Location: London |
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It has to be said that fandom (Anime, Science Fiction, Fantasy, whatever) has a tendency to attract really annoying people. Obnoxious loudmouth know-it-alls, people with woefully inadequate or just non-existent social skills, people who don't appear to know what soap is for, and so on.
Basically, the sort of people you really do NOT wish to be associated with. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
Posts: 6867 Location: Kazune City |
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I didn't send in an answer to "Hey AnswerFans"; I'm not sure if I'll ever truly stop getting fansubs (short of the shutdown of the whole scene, and the legal thing), but there are some possibilities. 1) License more of the anime I like. At several points in time, I've heard things from the companies like "Almost everything gets licensed in the pre-production stage, so there's no need for fansubs" or "If you've heard of it, there are companies that are trying to bring it over." I don't dislike the current body of licensed/officially released anime, but as I've admitted to before, I'm a fan(boy) of dating-sim based anime. Many of the fansub series I DL are from this genre, and there's generally not a good chance of them getting licensed. Sure, I've gotten a bit lucky with To Heart, Rumbling Hearts, Shuffle!, AIR, and maybe Kanon '06, but to be honest, I can't envision any bidding wars over series like Da Capo, Gift Eternal Rainbow, W Wish, Lamune, Crescent Love, To Heart ~Remember my Memories, To Heart 2, Kakyuusei 2, or Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo. If I thought there were better odds of these series being brought over, I might not DL them. Lately, I actually haven't been getting fansubs of series that seem mainstream/likely to be licensed, so many of the summer con announcements like Darker than Black, Devil May Cry, and TTGL didn't "affect" me. And it's not limited to dating-sim adaptations -- I'm not seeing any of the more serious slice-of-life / drama series like Hanbun no tsuki ga noboru sora, REC, Shinigami no Ballad, Asatte no Houkou, or Zettai Shounen show up on the company radar, either. I understand they have to license things that have a better chance of selling, so until things change, they'll do what they have to do, and I'll do what I have to do. 2) Change/improve subtitling practices. I've been over this in the past, so I'll be brief. I don't believe the "da fansubz r alot better cuz dey have karaoke!!" mantra, but when some DVDs leave out so much in the way of onscreen text, explanations, and even song translations that I have to keep the fansubs around as a reference, there's got to be something amiss. Or there are cases where the DVD subs are perfectly professional and more accurate than the fansubs, but they read like they just took the raw translation from their vaunted Japanese-native-speaker translators and plunked it into the subtitles without any editing. That may save time/money on their part, but it results in cases like Kannazuki no Miko and, debatably, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya where the fansubs feel more "flowing" and enjoyable. To me, anyway. 3) If roughly 8 or 9 of the best-quality, most ethical fansub groups were to shut down, I'd be much less enthusiastic about DLing from the remaining groups. And I have no doubt that if the Japanese producers and R1 distributors were to issue a joint statement of "Fansubbing used to be acceptable, but now we feel it's just piracy and we don't want any more fansubs of new series," those groups really would respect their wishes and close up shop. Of course, the problem with that course of action for the companies is that those groups would be replaced by new "neo-fansubber" groups with even less respect for licensing/ethics. Maybe a few more C&Ds are in order, preferably sooner than the "2 episodes left to air" point in the series. I mean, ADV has sent numerous pleasant missives to torrent trackers and distribution groups, yet they didn't do anything when fansubs of Chevalier continued to completion. And that license was announced after 7 or 8 episodes had aired. Manga Cows: Getting manga at conventions is a good way to go -- you're supporting smaller, anime/manga-specific dealers, and the prices are in line with RightStuf.com sale prices. Plus, those dealers don't let people get away with reading without paying. I've read parts of manga volumes in stores, but only with those "on the fence" series where I'm not sure if I'll like it or not. Although I do confess to reading the end of the Death Note manga just to see how it differed from the anime. |
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nightmaregenie
Posts: 167 Location: Palmy, NZ - student central |
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Thinpaks sound like a good idea, except I can't buy them where I live! Japanese wannabe's are just downright annoying. Well actually any sort of extremist wannabes are annoying. Just ignore the juvenile ones and avoid the mature hard-core purists. Deliberately misspell things in your own language in order to worship another! Those people are sick.
spoiler[[A long- and a short-haired claymore are getting into a messy fight with super awakened being #235. A curly-haired claymore appears suddenly and saves them both from certain death.] Long hair: I can't believe this! She just killed the awakened being single-handedly! Short hair: It can't be...that symbol...it's number so-and-so: Lolita of the Singing Whip! She's been known to fuse her yoki with the metal of the claymore to create a sub-spiritual matter that she can control at will. The result is an elastic, unbreakable whip which she wields with deadly proficiency. Long hair: [gasp] Such strong yoki... Short hair: Sending such a high-ranking warrior here to fight...the Organisation must be planning something...] Repeat the above 1400X's Nah, I know it's getting a bit formulaic but I'm not yet bored with it. At least its production qualities are high.
The fawn's sooooo cute. I'm tired of the fansub debate for the time being. Nice Answerfans question! I wonfer if Zac's had any personal experiences... Sorry for any spelling mistakes. Last edited by nightmaregenie on Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:48 am; edited 1 time in total |
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