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Buried Treasure - One Pound Gospel


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fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 1817
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 4:43 am Reply with quote
There's also a couple of supporting cast members from KOR in One-Pound Gospel: Michie Tomizawa and Naoki Tatsuta. Was wondering why the Viz release was subtitled-only when they had a lot of dub-only VHS titles.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15292
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 4:44 am Reply with quote
I've only just picked up the manga, since I missed it the first time around, and not because I wasn't interested. And I dunno what Carlos Ross was on at the time, but he totally hated the anime. He didn't consider it "realistic", even though I've seen the same exercise regimes being used in Ippo and "Punch!". Anyway, this is Takahashi's only "mature" work, which is probably why it didn't do as well in Japan as her other stuff. And it's a shame.

Quote:
Directed by Osamu Dezaki (under a pseudonym, Makura Saki) a few years after the Rumik World OAV series came out, the show looks and feels nothing like his other work.


Not even Ashita No Joe?

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One Pound Gospel unfortunately didn't have proper music and effects tracks, so no dub was possible. Viz put it out subtitled-only,


Really? The way the company advertised it made me think it was dubbed.

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So much of Takahashi's warmth comes from the actual look of the characters, I have to wonder if her work can even be adapted to live action successfully.


Probably Inu Yasha and maybe the Mermaid Saga. Speaking of which, the latter anime really deserves a Buried Treasure. And I mean the OVA, not the OOP show.

Quote:
I haven't yet finished the manga, but I can't wait to do so: she apparently, after 20 years of occasional publishing, corrects the one flaw that seems to constantly gnaw away at every one of her major works: she provides an ending.


I thought UY + Maison Ikkoku had endings.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 4:55 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Anyway, this is Takahashi's only "mature" work, which is probably why it didn't do as well in Japan as her other stuff. And it's a shame.


I dunno, I consider Maison Ikkoku mature enough. I mean, it was seinen manga...

Quote:
Not even Ashita No Joe?


While you can see an influence, I don't really think it's obvious, and probably far less than it would have been had someone else directed who had watched Ashita no Joe as a kid. Dezaki clearly wanted to go off in a different direction, which may be why he used the pseudonym.

Quote:
Probably Inu Yasha and maybe the Mermaid Saga. Speaking of which, the latter anime really deserves a Buried Treasure. And I mean the OVA, not the OOP show.


I'm on the fence about Forest, but I definitely like Scar enough to write about. One of the few times a bad dub has made a show CREEPIER. Very Happy

Quote:
I thought UY + Maison Ikkoku had endings.


Well, sure, technically they all have endings. I was referencing the fact that they all go on so long and become repetitive and often seem to lack any sort of structure on a macro level. At only 4 volumes, One Pound Gospel can't repeat itself too much.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15292
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 6:05 am Reply with quote
jsevakis:
Quote:
I dunno, I consider Maison Ikkoku mature enough. I mean, it was seinen manga...


Seriously? I thought it was just her same writing moved to college. For me, there's something "real world" about OPG that I think makes it appeal to (certain) 20-somethings a bit more than MI.

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One of the few times a bad dub has made a show CREEPIER. Very Happy


That's how I felt about Wicked City.

Quote:
Well, sure, technically they all have endings. I was referencing the fact that they all go on so long and become repetitive and often seem to lack any sort of structure on a macro level. At only 4 volumes, One Pound Gospel can't repeat itself too much.


I see. Part of me wishes that OPG did go a bit longer, and IY failed to find an audience. But that was never going to happen, because it came out around the same time as Ranma, and people probably confused the two series, since they both were spoofs on the fighting genre. Though Ranma doesn't technically have an ending, no matter what Takahashi wants to call it.
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mike.motaku



Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 160
Location: Indiana
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:24 am Reply with quote
I don't know why all of Rumiko Takahashi's anime aren't in print. Even her mediocre stuff has something going for it.
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SalarymanJoe



Joined: 03 Feb 2005
Posts: 468
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:28 am Reply with quote
Yet another "I kept seeing this at the video store and never picked it up and now I am kicking myself for it" title. I have picked up the first two volumes of the manga but haven't gotten a chance to really read through them. Good to know that there are only a couple more volumes to pick up.

jsevakis wrote:
GATSU wrote:
Anyway, this is Takahashi's only "mature" work, which is probably why it didn't do as well in Japan as her other stuff. And it's a shame.


I dunno, I consider Maison Ikkoku mature enough. I mean, it was seinen manga...


Exactly the point I was going to raise. IIRC, both One Pound Gospel and Maison Ikkoku were serialized in Big Comic Spirits (and, due to the on-and-off nature of OPG's writing, its successor magazine), which put them both on the "more mature" track. Sure, Ikkoku has a huge cast of slightly-off-their-rocker characters but despite the similarities it has with her previous and subsequent work, I felt that the overall tone and subject matter immediately struck me as something for an older crowd.

jsevakis wrote:
[quote='GATSU"]]I thought UY + Maison Ikkoku had endings.


Well, sure, technically they all have endings. I was referencing the fact that they all go on so long and become repetitive and often seem to lack any sort of structure on a macro level. At only 4 volumes, One Pound Gospel can't repeat itself too much.[/quote]

And, to be fair, Maison Ikkoku's ending is a bit more finite and closed than Urusei Yatsura or Ranma 1/2.

In regards to the repetitive nature, I personally think that it makes Takahashi a model sitcom writer. The story rarely changes and a lot of the material is purely character interaction. I think a lot of her work needs to be taken in stride like that; maybe four or six episodes in a weekend marathon or a couple episodes a week but not something to be plowed through like a gripping series that is hardly a sitcom might be.

Being pretty unfamiliar with OPG, anime or manga, I hope she is able to retain some of those endearing character elements we see in her Seinen manga, like Maison Ikkoku, and some of those situational elements. From your description, it sounds like fans of Takahashi won't be disappointed by this.
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kyokun703



Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 2505
Location: Orgrimmar
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:34 am Reply with quote
This sounds great, but since there's no DVD release, I'm going to order the manga (which is blessedly short) from TRSI once their coupon starts working for this sale.

I'm excited about this. I do like Takahashi's work, but only in small portions. When it starts to drag I lose interest. This looks like the perfect size.

And I have to agree with Justin. There's not much better in life than good food.
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AnimeAngel00



Joined: 06 Jun 2006
Posts: 22
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 11:26 am Reply with quote
Bravo Justin on the great review. I love all of Rumiko's works. I enjoyed the OPG live action series. It was very enjoyable, but I couldn't place my finger on why I didn't like it more than I did. The series does lack a bit of warmth.
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jgreen



Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 1325
Location: St. Louis, MO
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 12:44 pm Reply with quote
Huh...an interesting choice. I absolutely adore the 1PG manga, but the anime didn't really do it for me. Then again, I just saw it for the first time about a year ago whereas I read the manga when it came out 10 years earlier, so I had built it up a lot in my head.

jsevakis wrote:
I'm on the fence about Forest, but I definitely like Scar enough to write about. One of the few times a bad dub has made a show CREEPIER. Very Happy


What? Bad dub? Do you mean the voice of the little boy? Because I thought that kid was PERFECT, his monotone really selling the creepiness of the role. But maybe you're right, maybe it is bad acting, because he basically did the exact same thing as Rin in Please Save My Earth...
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bigheart711



Joined: 08 Oct 2006
Posts: 108
Location: Celebrating in Atlanta, GA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 1:34 pm Reply with quote
Not to go off topic, but has there ever been a series featured on Buried Treasure that got the R8 rarity rating? Question
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 2:01 pm Reply with quote
bigheart711 wrote:
Not to go off topic, but has there ever been a series featured on Buried Treasure that got the R8 rarity rating? Question


Not yet. I have seen a handful of anime that would qualify for an R8, but none of them were good enough to write about. Honestly, I hate that meter and plan to replace it soon, since almost nothing fits into it comfortably.
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treatment



Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 149
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 2:51 pm Reply with quote
jsevakis wrote:

I'm on the fence about Forest, but I definitely like Scar enough to write about. One of the few times a bad dub has made a show CREEPIER. Very Happy


awww, dude! whatcha on the fence about Forest-OVA?

Forest-ova got the better soundtrack and better character-designs than Scar-OVA, as well as better seiyuu-performances, too.

I mean, I luv Beldandy's vocal, but she was still quite a bit raw and also not quite the main draw in the Scar-ova. Definitely below the level of Mika Doi's Towa performance. I need to rewatch the english-dubs, but I'm pretty sure I blocked it out before when I heard it in the 90's. Anime smile + sweatdrop

Forest-ova's story-structure was a little different from the manga and I actually like the tragedy better than the horror in Scar. And, man, it also got Mana's boobies! Razz

As for OPG, I luv it, too. The live-action version was pretty meh.

VIZ should have really definitely put OPG out on DVD. Even as just an extra during their MI-dvd run or on any of the current Inuyasha dvd-run.
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DuelLadyS



Joined: 17 Mar 2006
Posts: 1705
Location: WA state
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 8:44 pm Reply with quote
I enjoy this OAV quite a bit- I lucked out and found it in a box of old VHS at Sakura Con a few years back, and opted to buy it just because I couldn't specifically remember ever seeing it- which I hoped meant there was no DVD. (I confirmed that a few days later and was stoked.)

I would like to see some of Takahashi's older works come back, even if that means taking a hunk out of my anime-only-on-VHS collection... I think her stories work best when taken as quick one-shots, instead of drawn out repetitive affairs (*looks sternly at Inu Yasha*). I'd especially like to see Fire Tripper make its way back... that's probably my favorite of the Rumik World OAVs.
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Quark



Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 710
Location: British Columbia, Canada
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:40 pm Reply with quote
DuelLadyS wrote:
I think her stories work best when taken as quick one-shots, instead of drawn out repetitive affairs (*looks sternly at Inu Yasha*). I'd especially like to see Fire Tripper make its way back... that's probably my favorite of the Rumik World OAVs.


This is so true. I'm certainly no expert on her stories, but I've seen Ranma 1/2 and InuYasha, and loved both...for about the first two seasons. Then I realized that basically I was watching the same episode, over and over, with slight changes. I very soon gave up on both. This has also discouraged me from trying her other series, like Maison Ikkoku or Urusei Yatsura.
However, I have seen Mermaid Forest, and the Rumiko Takahashi Anthology series, and enjoyed both quite a bit - they told a good story and didn't drag out any longer than they needed to.

Anyway, my boyfriend has this tape in his basement, but my only experience with this story is watching a few episodes of the live action drama...which I didn't care for. It wasn't especially exciting, and like another poster said - the guy is so scrawny, it's not believable that he's a boxer. Not to mention that he's undergoing rigorous boxing training - but he's been put on a starvation diet.
That kind of training is exhausting and takes a lot of out of a person, and if he's not eating...well, it's no wonder he's passing out. I found it hard to believe that any responsible coach would try to enforce this type of training.
At any rate, Justin did such a good job with his review, that I think I might give the manga a chance.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:34 pm Reply with quote
I've been pretty curious to try some of Takahashi's other works. I always see all four volumes of OPG readily available anywhere to buy and the title always made me wonder what it was about.

MI and UY are both works I also want to scope out. The Beautiful Dreamer dub movie that was on Sci-Fi years and years ago made me wonder about the series and its cast.
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