Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - West Quest
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3490 Location: Back stateside |
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Future Boy Conan is pretty much hands down the best childrens' cartoon series I've seen ever, anywhere. I like it as well, maybe more than Batman: The Animated Series and Animaniacs (which are very different from it, of course), and I bring up that comparison as a means of saying that, just like these two American shows, it can appreciated by adults as much as by its original young audience, in a different way. If you've ever wanted to see the roots of Miyazaki's storytelling style, this is where you've got to turn...
...aaaand you've got to turn to fansubs to do it. I wish this was licensed, but I imagine it would be hard to do it in America at this point for a number of reasons: 1) The animation style is "old." I mean, it's wonderful animation, but an audience raised on more recent-style cartoons might be turned off on it. 2) It needs a dub. Unlike some older series that I would be content with seeing a barebones release, this is one I would want to be able to show my children (or nieces and nephews) one day. And unless they are raised fluent in Japanese, it'll need a dub. 3) Most executives would want to cut stuff out of it, and I'm not sure that if Miyazaki has any say that will happen. What "stuff" am I talking about? Blood (for as we all know, nobody bleeds, not even if you seriously hurt them  ) and a scene in which the trying-to-look-tough Jimsy smokes a cigarette and offers it to Conan. Never mind that the scene concludes with Conan deciding cigarettes are gross, we can't depict drug use in front of children!
I sort of hope that some studio somewhere proves me wrong, that in the post-Avatar: the Last Airbender age someone will take a chance on a series with an ongoing story and some serious themes. I mean, it slows down maybe a little too much at the midpoint, but other than that, it's awesome. |
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Frazmataz
 Posts: 103 Location: Sheffield, UK |
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Sure, why not?  It could only be better than that insulting parody of a revival that we've had shoved in our faces since 2005.
Interesting article. I've got to agree on Starship Troopers - it has some intial novelty value until you realise just how dull it is. |
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Raz_G
Posts: 72 Location: Israel |
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Great article - though technically, the first (known) anime adaptation of a western work came as early as 1925, with Saitaro Kitayama's adaptation of the Aesop fable "Tortoise and the Hare". And the American occupation years that followed the war has supposedly funded several adaptation of western works of literature - the heavily Fleischer-influenced "Gulliver's Travels", which can be found in the Digital Meme collection is a very good example.
With regards to Heidi - you get can a collection of three compilation films on YESASIA that contain English subs. Not the same thing as having the complete 52-episodes, I agree, but nice enough - and I believe that this is not a bootleg (the edition is from China, Taiwan or Hong-Kong, I'm not sure). By the way, one name that should absolutely be mentioned when it comes to "Heidi" and "Marco" ("3000 Miles in Search of Mother") is character designer Yoichi Kotabe, who literally created what would become the "Ghibli look" of characters (especially young girls) in these productions; interestingly enough, he wasn't involved in any actaul Ghibli production himself, since after "Nausicaa" he went to work for Nintendo, where he was responsible for the look of another iconic character - Mario. |
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malvarez1
Posts: 1727 |
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Yeah, I have been watching Deltora Quest on the Hub, and I am enjoying it so far.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2617 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I'm surprised you didn't mention Nobody's Boy Remi, seeing as ANN streamed it. It's based on a 1916(ish) French children's book by Hector Henri Malot (reprinted in English in the 60s) and is considered a classic of French kiddy lit. (The title is Sans Famille - No Family - in French.) The anime's pretty darn close to Malot's text.
(You can usually find the book for $34 or so on abebooks.com. Not a lot of libraries seem to have it for some reason.) |
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Mike Toole
 SubscriberANN Columnist  Posts: 105 Location: THE GOOD OLE U-S-A |
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You should be able to watch it on the Hub website, though maybe Canada isn't allowed to see the video content.
Heh yeah, I've seen the film trailer. What wrecks it for me is that I can no longer look at John C. Reilly without immediately seeing Steve Brule. He's a respected and versatile character actor, but every time I see his face I just think "For your health!" Is the manga adaptation you refer to manga manga, or local comics with some manga styling?
Yeah, fairy tales definitely add to the ouevre a bit. I really should've namedropped Dezaki's Treasure Island, if nothing else for his amazing version of Long John Silver-- he has a LOT of fun emphasizing the character's charisma and roguish charm.
After doing some reasearch, it looks like the trademark is now owned by Paradox Press. Either way, the fact that a CONAN THE BARBARIAN cartoon exists is going to cause potential issues; Atlus USA have said that they can't call the SUPER ROBOT WARS games by that title, because the producers of the old game show ROBOT WARS feel that it's an infringement, so the games are released as SUPER ROBOT TAISEN instead. Why this doesn't seem to extend to the anime is beyond me. I feel like I've asked like fifty filipinos this question in the past few months, but do you remember seeing WONDER SIX (English dubbed Sasuraiger) as a kid? I'm desperate to track some of it down. Also, were FUTURE BOY CONAN and DETECTIVE CONAN dubbed in English? I feel like there's hours and hours of old Southeast Asian English dubs waiting to be discovered. I know that they're mostly pretty lackluster, but I still want to see them!
ROBOT CARNIVAL, at least, actually ran on WTBS late-nite a few times as well. We purists complain a bit about Streamline Pictures' approach, but they sure were good at getting the stuff exposure.
Nice, I'll have to check that out. There's also a reference in Galaxy Angel, where there's a panning/rotating shot of Milfeulle that apes a bit from the Captain Future opening. I love coming across weird little references like that. Does anyone else do this? I feel like I'm the only one who spotted Seiji Mizushima himself in the Gundam 00 movie (yep, he makes a cameo!).
I actually kinda dig the one CG cartoon serial they made of Dr. Who, THE INFINITE QUEST. I know there's hours and hours of radio dramas out there with old Doctors reprising their roles-- I think they oughta try this approach, since they can write the stories to NOT clash with the show's main narrative. I'm not sold on a UNIT/other characters approach, as I don't think they're interesting enough.
This one jumps out at me. I thought the live-action deal was unwatchable, but it could work as a cartoon.
Gosh, yes. I didn't even know the Twins anime existed until I read about it in the Anime Encyclopedia. It blows me away that there's a supposedly pretty darn good cartoon based on Enid Blyton books, and it's never been seen in the English-speaking world. Speaking of which, a Famous Five anime TV show would be pretty alright, yeah?
This is an excellent point. Along with the smoking, there's at least one scene where Conan is captured and has the absolute crap beaten out of him by his adult captors, and that wouldn't go over well with a producer hoping to sell the show to kids. The solution, of course, is to NOT sell the show to kids-- at least not specifically. IMO, just put the thing on video with a TV14 rating; Miyazaki's name will still sell it.
You mean the insulting parody that was an immediate and huge success in the UK, with fans and newcomers alike, that averaged more than ten million viewers and has since been successfully exported to more than 50 countries? The one that's been shortlisted as a surefire BAFTA and Hugo winner every year since its inception? That insulting parody? The one that took a series that had been percieved for decades as strictly for kids and particularly nerdy nerds and made it cool again? Don't get me wrong, the thing is really hit-or-miss, and I do realize that it's polarizing among longtime fans, but to characterize as insulting a revival that has done way, way more good for the good Doctor than ill is... well, kind of insulting.
Jonathan Clements has already given me a bit of stick for forgetting that on Facebook. Though he says that the film was from 1918, and also points out that it was sponsored by Morinaga Milk Chocolate. Mmmm, chocolate.
Yes, that's precisely why I didn't mention it. We could probably spend days reeling off omissions; the fact is, I have to stop writing the darned column sometime. I also maybe could've mentioned Tatsunoko's 1980 telefilm adaptation of Maurice Leblanc's Arsene Lupin adventure, 813. But I haven't seen that one yet (there's no DVD release, but there was a VHS tape for the rental market! Been trying to find that one cheap...), so I'll have to settle for Nigh Hood reruns in the meantime. |
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Paploo
Posts: 1875 |
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Heidi was released on french language DVD here in Canada, though I've yet to pick it up [probably should of when I saw it on shelves].
I'd love to see english dvd releases of Anne of Green Gables and Future Boy Conan. And Mike also omitted the upcoming Marvel anime adaptations we can look forward to- Wolverine, X-men, Ironman and Blade are all getting animated by Madhouse, which will apparently see broadcast and dvd releases here. As for books I want to see anime adaptations of- Terry Brooke's novels could be fun- I'd love to see animated Shannara books (which Del Rey made into a manga-styled graphi novel), or even the Knights of the Word prequel series. I'd love to see more of LeGuin's works in anime form (though am guessing the shoddy treatment of Ghibli's adaptation might make her cautious)- The Left Hand of Darkness would lend itself to anime well- it's set on a desolate, snow covered planet populated by hermaphoditic humans genetically engineered to suit it's environment thousands of years ago, and centers on a explorer from Earth, Genry Ai [who is of japanese origin], who gets caught up in the worlds political issues. Carla Speed MacNiel's Finder would also make a fun scifi/fantasy anime experience, and I'd love to see Chynna Clugston's Blue Monday get the anime treatment [it almost got turned into a flash animated series years ago- it's sort of like if Archie was a dirty, swear-ridden romantic comedy manga. Fun stuff]. I'm also surprised we haven't seen a sequel to Witchblade yet- wouldn't mind if Gonzo went back an animated some of the stuff from the comics. I sort of want to see the Poirot and Marple anime, but am not sure if I'd like the insertion of younger characters into the storylines- I'd be more intrigued to see a full-length feature animated adaptation of one of her novels. Though I'd still love to see that TV series someday. I think "The Secret Adversary" would of made a great animated film though- the youthful leads, 20's post-war setting, and action oriented plot, make for a fun read, and the love story aspects and car chases would suit animation well. Another series who FUnimation put a little of out on dvd, with the rest being released here in Canada by CookieJar on dvd recently, is Spider Riders. Bee Train's animation was pretty interesting, though the show wasn't terribly absorbing. A fun kids show either way though, based on a series of novels by Tedd Anasti, Patsy Cameron-Anasti and Stephen D. Sullivan. |
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belvadeer
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The problem with Deltora Quest's dub is that the music they replaced the original with is the same background stuff from the dub of Monster Rancher. In other words, recycled.
To be honest, I never saw or heard of any of these adaptations. |
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FeralKat
Posts: 402 |
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After reading this article I tracked down the first episode of Detora Quest on the HUB website.
...Does anyone else think the dark lord looks extremely similar to the Raven in Princess Tutu? I mean, it's obvious. 
Edits: so many typos! What is wrong with me today! Last edited by FeralKat on Sun Oct 24, 2010 3:03 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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MeggieMay
 Posts: 607 |
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You know, I'd love to read The Incredible Tide. The problem is I've yet to find a copy and I've been hunting off and on for one since I was 14 (which was 1979 FWIW)
 I loved Alexander Key's books when I was a kid and it's a pity they've all been pretty much out of print since that time. I've always hoped someone might pick up Future Boy Conan and put it out in R1 just so someone might attempt to get his books back into print as well.
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Paploo
Posts: 1875 |
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Dang, we could use Nighthood dvd's sometimes.... Anyhoo- -Yen Press is publishing the Darren Shan manga, which was published in Shonen Sunday in Japan. Why does Yen have it? Hachette published the original novels, so they had dibs over VIZ. It's adapted by a Japanese artist. [tangent- did you know Yumiko Igarashi did an Anne of Green Gables manga? Apparently licensing it involves a lot of red tape with Anne's domestic rights holders though. We need a patient manga pub to work through that sometime] - Osamu Dezaki's Moby Dick anime was released by ADV Films. I need to get that sometime. It's set in SPPPAAAAACCCE! I'm guessing it's another you ran out of space for. You should come back to this topic again sometime for another MTS. -Funimation dubbed Detective Conan into english as Case Closed. I'm guessing maybe you meant is there a phillipino english dub out there? It wouldn't surprise me given how popular it is in Asia. The only one I can think of that had a domestic dvd release was the dub of Great Dangaioh VIZ put out that was apparently done in the Phillipines. It wasn't bad overall, surprised no one else turned to there amidst all the cheap Odex dubs Bandai and Geneon experimented with a few years ago. If anyone ever works out the rights to the Japan-only Transformers anime series, we'll be treated to a boatload of wierd Asian english dubs. Apparenty the british dvd releases have them, so Hasbro has those somewhere in their archives. It appears Hub videos don't work in Canada 
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Frazmataz
Posts: 103 Location: Sheffield, UK |
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With all due respect Mike, that argument falls into the trap of equating popularity and kudos with quality. I can't say how much of the original 1963-89 series you have seen, but I'm sure that if you have, you'd agree that it is a higly intelligent series, full of great ideas and stories that are unhampered by the decidedly ropey special effects, that features a positive role model who uses knowledge to solve situations as opposed to violence. Not so for the 2005-present series. Not only do we have a series that is overwhelmingly style over substance, with most stories merely consisting of flashy set-pieces strung together with lazy plotting and deus ex machina, but one that fundamentally deforms the character of the Doctor from someone who has qualms with destroying his greatest enemy at the instant of their creation ('Genesis of the Daleks') into someone who will happily torture a defenseless creature ('Dalek') and sentence a defeated enemy to eternal damnation ('The Family of Blood'), and yet will forgive a mass murderer in a second because they happen to be of the same species ('Last of the Time Lords'). And this all thanks to a self-important, egotistical head writer whose ability is not above that of childish fanfiction, and who would rather enact out his fanboy fantasies ('Anything featuring Rose Tyler') than write a situation that can be solved with anything more than a big reset button. This is all subjective, of course, but as someone who has grown up with videos and TV repeats of Doctor Who, this is what I see when I watch Russell T Davies' two-bit remake. Rather that 'doing good for the good Doctor', I feel revival has done him great ill, as a character and as a role model. To call the revival an insulting parody is, therefore, apt. Ok, I'm done. This is massively off-topic, and so is all I will say on the topic. |
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yamiangie
 Posts: 465 |
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Ignores the Doctor Who rant though to me anime doctor who is Galaxy express 999 without time travel.
It's cool to know what western works got adapted into Japanese animation. |
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R.G.
Posts: 684 |
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I wouldn't mind an R1 release as well. |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars. Followed by Green Mars and Blue Mars if the first one works out. It even has a Japanese protagonist in Hiroko Ai, leader of the Areophany faction, sitting between the Greens and the Reds.
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