Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! [2009-02-27]
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JohnnySake
 Posts: 582 Location: Auburn Hills, MI |
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I was kinda thinking the same thing. I would assume that to be considered a breakout hit you'd have to have a tv broadcast of said title. With the current reduction in new anime being shown on your channel of choice, the pessimist in me doesn't see that happening. 
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1528 Location: Sunny California |
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Love it! Great questions, great responses. Keep up the fantastic work Answerman! |
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prime_pm
 Posts: 2336 Location: Your Mother's Bedroom |
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I understand the LOTR animation wasn't exactly Hayao Miyazaki, but for a generally independent animator from 1978, he at least gave it a unique look. And he was the only one who would bother to even make a feature film of LOTR at the time, much less animate it.
Personally I thought the rotoscoping was pretty neat, if not cheesy. He's used this in the past on many of his earlier works. And can you honestly say the Rankin-Bass version of Return of the King was any better? Hey! 300 posts! Yay! |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Oh, darn, now I've lost even MORE faith in the human race. I can't afford to lose much more, or, ironically, I may end up like Light Yagami. ...Naw. I never will, because then I'd have to live with his fanbase. No wonder he went crazy. (Light fanboys really are incredibly sickening. "Hey, he's hot and charismatic, so he's exempt from normal moral standards." -.-' ) |
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Ushee
 Posts: 11 Location: New York |
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With regards to what Sumowidagdo sadi about Rurouni Kenshin:
I could not agree more. I personally didn't even bother buying season three because I cannot bring myself to watch it again. Admittedly, some of the episodes are funny (namely the one where they find the dog Notaro and when they meet up with that artist who wanted to draw Kaoru) but providing me with a few laughs does not come close to making up for skipping the Jinchuu arc and then glossing over it with a terrible OVA. I would love to see this series get reanimated and actually be able to see the Jinchuu arc properly, but I know that will never happen. |
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Furudanuki
 Posts: 1874 |
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Next breakout hit, huh? Well, based on the current state of television programming in the US, I predict that it will be one of the following:
Yaoi Eye for the GAR Guy - The Bishie Brigade transforms yet another Neanderthal of the North Star into a character who is long, lean, languid, and above all - FABULOUS! Pimp my GUNDAM - Rapping mechanics restore damaged Mecha, while customizing the appearance to better suit Char's fashion sense. The Biggest Gainer - A group of sumo wrestlers compete to pack on the most kilograms prior to the Emperor's Cup tournament. Shinji Factor - Contestants are subjected to frightening scenarios until they RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY! Akihabara Idol - Hosted by Halko Momoi, aspiring performers are rated by a panel of judges headed by Kyon. ANN Survivor - An online forum community gathers each week to vote on which member deserves to get a perma-ban. |
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UtenaAnthy
 Posts: 694 |
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Yaoi vs. hentai - ANN actually, as someone already pointed out, used to review hentai, Bamboo Dong's shelf life columns had hentai reviews and there were some full reviews. I'm guessing the reason there aren't many hentai reviews on the site is
a) Lack of interest in reviewing material centered around (tentacle) rape. b) Most hentai are about the sex, with there either being no plot or it being secondary, and the animation and art are generally not so great either, so reviews would be about the sex and whether the reviewer got off or not and/or the same fairly low ratings for most of the non-sex aspects of the production. c) The staff have limited time, and would probably rather devote it to reviewing high quality stuff or saying why they think something fails in the story/character/visual/audio department. d) As said, yaoi tends to have more in the way of plot and character development as opposed to just shagging. e) About the 18+ ratings, I think it is the publishers playing it safe as (wrongly) homosexual relationships are viewed as inherently more shocking and explicit than heterosexual ones, as I understand it this view is reflected in the MPAA rating system? There may be some books that would only rate as 15+ if the participants were a heterosexual couple. (I don't want to comment too much as I have not read a particularly large amount of yaoi). The next breakout mainstream hit is probably Soul Eater, beautiful animation, good range of characters, hilariously funny but capable of being serious and the fight scenes are exciting. Plus the female characters are fairly well-written and the cast is multiracial. I think Sgt. Frog also has a chance, but can't say for sure, after all, ADV couldn't get that TV deal. Full Metal Alchemist 2 is almost guaranteed to be a breakout hit. I think Valkyria Chronicles looks good too (the staff is excellent), but I doubt it will become hugely popular, on the subject, I'm curious to see how Big Windup! will do. The bunny comic was funny. Anime vs. other animation Avatar The Last Airbender - I think it's excellent, but am put off somewhat by the spiritual stuff. Batman: The Animated Series - I love that show, I have all of it on DVD plus Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and I'm going to get all of Batman Beyond too (I have the first season and Return of the Joker), the visual design is so beautiful (noir art deco is great), and the storytelling is always compelling, they do a really good job of developing Batman's character and making the villains sympathetic. I'm not surprised that it was an influence on Pierrot Le Fou (episode 20 of Cowboy Bebop), that episode is even more noirish than CB usually is. Samurai Jack - I find it insufferably macho at times, but the outline free, colourful visuals and fluid animation are a pleasure to behold, indeed the whole series is very good at showing stories without words, there are episodes with five minute stretches of silence. I really like the show. Ralph Bakshi - I know who they are but think all their stuff looks crummy. I would love to see The Plague Dogs (Watership Down was good). And animation/anime is a medium, not a genre. There is loads of good animation being produced all over the world, just look on wikipedia or pelleas anipages for a primer. Incidentally, I quite like Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Ben 10 and Kim Possible, out of what's airing now or finished relatively recently. Justice League Unlimited (not Justice League so much) was fantastic, they did a really good job of juggling all the different heroes/ines. And I too recommend The Spectacular Spiderman, I've only seen a couple of episodes, but they were thoroughly satisfying. Gankutsuou - It does fit with the time period in which the book is written for them to be 15 (which is not to say that I endorse child soldiers/marriage, just that it's historically accurate). |
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sunflower
 Posts: 1080 |
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Speaking as someone who grew up in the 70s and adored LOTR, I loved the Bakshi adaptation. It was miles above most other animation at the time, and the fact that he was trying to tell the story seriously and not with cutesy Rankin Bass-type characters made me love him. He contributed a lot to American animation.
Re: Yaoi vs hentai, wow a guy who gets it! You're quite right Brian. Another big difference: Rarely is yaoi graphic in the way hentai is. I've only seen one yaoi series that in fact was, and it was doujinshi. The sex in the wildest yaoi is tame compared to average hentai (and I read and enjoy both). Maybe people could think of it this way. Yaoi is like romance novels. There are a lot of romance novel review sites right? But hentai is like Penthouse letters. Who reviews those? Re: Gankutsuou, the writers were just taking the characters as they were from the novel. Rich children or the children of nobles often didn't attend school, and they took up their careers early. It's only in the recent last century or so that childhood has become a defined "thing" (The Victorians invented it. Seriously, they did. Before that children were seen as miniature adults.) Back before that, teens were expected to already be acting like adults, working and marrying. So the anime is just following the historical context of the novel. |
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skaly
 Posts: 148 |
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I'd have to agree about Death Note, except the idea was floated around in that last volume that spoiler[Near had manipulated those events using the Death Note. Fans could potentially take some solace in the possibility that Near had to violate his own code (i.e., resort to Kira's methods) in order to succeed.]
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evilnekohilda
 Posts: 166 Location: Wichita, KS |
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Ooo I really need to finish reading Death Note~ This spoiler intrigues me very much!! |
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LordPrometheus
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Agreed. In fact, the entire DCAU is one of the all time greatest accomplishments in American animation. And yes, I own every last bit of it, as well as everything else Bruce Timm ever worked on. Not only is he responsible for arguably the best version of Batman ever put to screen, but also the most believable vision of Superman, in Superman: TAS. I would still rather watch that show than any of the Superman movies, because they all suck in comparison. Give me Michael Ironside's Darkseid over Kevin Spacey and Gene Hackman any day of the week. |
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TatsuGero23
 Posts: 1277 Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!) |
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Ha, I've always wondered how Death Note Anime fans and those kids who got suspended for making their own Death Notes/Hit List felt when they finally found out how the series actually ends. Mue90000 probably paints a good picture with his or her remark.
I thought the ending was great, reasonable, and makes for the best ending possible. spoiler[Yeah Light could have won and in the end achieve his goals with a "in the future all is good according to Light's ideals" moment but since each fan will have his or her own idea of the perfect world it gets muggy and sometimes disappointing when not done right. Cause wouldn't it be weird for a series like Death Note to end with Light sitting in a field of flowers in a "perfect world"? If anything you'd expect Light to be some kind of business man or politician at the end ready to use the death note again where either 1) he still trying to create his world or 2) totally corrupted now.] Karma type endings are always more interesting and entertaining IMO. Like a good guy who suffered through hell and finally gets to rest or gets his reward is nice. As is a more evil character finally getting unlucky and gets betrayed his first somewhat ally? That's good story telling. It doesn't betray the characters by changing who they are at the very end like some series did. And it usually doesn't leave the bad aftertaste of not really having a real ending. The ending really puts in to perspective what Light's and Ryuk's relationship was really like and even though you didn't expect it, it made sense and wasn't that much of a surprise when you think about it. I think it was awesome how it was never really hinted at that how Ryuk felt throughout the series. If anything it made Ryuk that much cooler. Like ice man. Like ice. Also, I really like the New Spider-Man series: Spectacular Spider-Man. Its got great action and the dialogue has great execution. Plus no "He lets reuse this shot over, and over, and over again even though it doesn't fit with the rest of the episode." Last edited by TatsuGero23 on Fri Feb 27, 2009 11:08 am; edited 1 time in total |
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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Oi! As one of Diana Wynne Jones' biggest fans, I will not have you give Mr. Turniphead such disrespect because you do not understand what Howl's Moving Castle is! Howl's Moving Castle was an adaption of a very popular western fantasy book by author Diana Wynne Jones, reknown in the UK, and slowly but steadily making a name here in the US. But Howl's Moving Castle is also a tribute to a great many fairytales and western story telling traditions. Miyazaki took her book and pretty much butchered it, but fans of the book can still enjoy the movie for the characters they love, and that includes Mr. Turniphead! Mr. Turniphead actually has a very detailed backstory in the book Miyazaki never got to tell involving finding your body parts, being from another world, being a courtly wizard, going up against an evil witch to a tragic end, and much more. Mr. Turniphead is a wonderful character whose roots go deep down into the form of classical story telling that we know as Fairy Tales, and it's a genre Diana is a master at and I love any nod. Mr. Turniphead bouncing along on his stick kicks butt, scarring the crap out of Old Crone Sophie among other things, and I loved the ending of the movie! It was one of the only things that didn't stray TOO far from the book. |
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kadian1364
 Posts: 60 Location: Indiana |
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I'll read the thread later. But for the time being...
Brian! For your Flake section this week, you've earned my unconditional and undying love! So wrong on so many levels, but it's so right!! More exclamations points!!!! |
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DuelLadyS
 Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
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I was going to comment on the same thing- the novel was originally written and serialized in the 1840s. The story was set between 1815 and 1838... and in that era, people got married at went to war at those ages. Romeo and Juliet's the same- Juliet was 13 in Shakespeare's version. It's not really fair to fault the anime for historic accuracy. |
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