Forum - View topicANNCast - Shermanator Salvation
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neocloud9
 Posts: 1178 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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To clarify re: Hetalia "getting better" later on... Most of the things Justin was complaining about deal with the character introductions in early episodes, where many of the nations are originally portrayed as one-note stereotypes. But after the first few episodes, once most of the characters have already been introduced, then the series finally gets to riff on specific historical events and that's where it really shines. While the stereotypes are still present, I wouldn't call them racist and they're certainly not the only things that define the characters. The author really does know his stuff and often includes historical commentaries to explain jokes as the series progresses, so you do wind up learning a lot of information.
The War of Austrian Succession arc is a popular example. 
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merr
Posts: 471 |
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You can actually still hear Yuri in that one episode where they make Renton dress up in a track suit and go after the Yakuza guy. When the guys are watching a video tape of Renton near the end of the ep, all his lines are done by Yuri instead of Johnny. I guess the director forgot to replace that one segment (since the lines are repeated from a part earlier in the episode). It's like when they airbrush a model but forget to redo her reflection in the mirror. Oh, and Justin, it was Io that got turned into a cow 
Last edited by merr on Thu May 06, 2010 11:44 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Dragon Ball (Z) Kai would have been much better if it was reanimated in the style of the opening, yes, but if you look closely, some of the art in the opening can actually be pretty awkward looking.
I'm surprised I've never heard of Arion. I love Yoshikazu "Yas" Yasuhiko. I loved Venus Wars. I don't really understand the appeal of Hetalia. It seems like an exaggeration of those political cartoons where countries are represented as people. And I'm uncomfortable about this being a comedy about the Axis powers. But I could be reading too much into it. I am really looking forward to Mike Toole's column. That guy is friggin' awesome. The new manga column looks pretty good, too. As far as literal dubs versus rewriting, either one can hit or miss. Generally I prefer the dub to be as faithful as possible without adding too many unnecessary ad-libs, but very strong acting and good writing can sell reversioning at times. BangZoom usually churns out excellent dubs, though, so they have nothing to be concerned about as far as quality. I think that they're just behind Animaze as best anime dub studio. Their dubs tend to be better than Funimation's. My not supporting the second season of Haruhi via purchase has nothing to do with Bang Zoom and more to do with KyoAni's giving the finger to the fans with "Endless Eight". My JYB question was a little tongue-in-cheek. |
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3mapletrees
Posts: 25 |
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Enjoyed the show. Great topical guest. Look forward to the podcast every week.
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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I’m guessing that comment on House of 1000 Manga mentioned was mine. Oh well. You advertise it as something like buried treasure, and the first title is Rose of Versailles. It’s a classic no one can really complain anything about, and anyone who’s been in the fandom for more than a couple years has more than likely heard about it. Can’t say I was impressed with the selection, and it’s unfortunate that the internet is full of opinions. However that doesn’t mean I’m not looking forward to what else Jason Thompson features in the future.
But ouch, I’m actually a bit surprised. For once I think I know what it feels like to be a loli-con fan. I just had some guy in a weekly bit I listen to call me, and everyone else a fan of a certain show complete morons because he couldn’t pick out anything of value out of no more than 10 minutes of animation. It makes me wonder now if I should actually give Loli-con a chance to see if I’m misjudging it. ….. Ewww, scratch that. The idea of even trying to sit through that was too much for me to even think about. Eh, some things some of us just aren’t meant understand. Anyway, you guys knew this was coming, and I guess I’m just a moron. I laughed more in the first 3 minutes of Hetalia than I have for a whole anime episode in… well I can’t remember the last time I really laughed hard during an anime. In the first 3 mintues of Hetalia this is what stood out: America was going on about how together they were going to solve ALL the world’s problems with that meeting, and how he’d start out with solving the global warming problem everyone kept talking about. His ideas were incredibly stupid. I don’t think what events and subjects they were referencing there need any explanation. Then there was this other character they called Lithuania. The man called Russia was giving him dreamy looks and going on about how he couldn’t wait for Lithuania to get in trouble with something and beg for his help, then him going over and making Latvia agree. I don’t pretend to know what Justin may know about Russian/Eastern European history, but what I saw here was a representation of Russia’s possessive feelings over the Eastern European countries it has occupied multiple times in history, and considers a part of itself. Lithuania is a proud country which was once the largest country in all of Europe. Then the Russian Empire came along a couple hundred of years ago and began annexing it. Then WW2 came along and Russia took over completely during 1940. Lithuanians wanted independence from the get go from Russia, but after several failed uprisings, only managed to declare independence as the USSR collapsed in 1990. Latvia, Lithuania’s northern neighbor, was occupied in a similar fashion to Lithuania during the fighting of WW2. Russia came in, took over, something like 20 years after Latvia claimed independence from Russia. Then Hetalia's Poland comes in and protects Lithuania from Russia's bullying. Poland to Lithuanians might as well be Lithuania because a large part of it was once Lithuania, and way back when the royal families married making some super union. For a cartoon coming from a Japanese guy, I’d say he hit the mark on relations between Latvia, Russia, Lithuania and Poland there with just a couple lines and expressions. Then Germany’s character pops up and is very… German. I can’t describe it, all I can say is Germany is… he reminds me exactly of my Grandfather, who is from Germany. Yeah Germany is blond haired and blue-eyed, and yeah, he’s scary and trying to be in control, and yeah, it’s all stereotyping, but you cannot convince me that that isn’t my Opa. And you know what, I find nothing at all offensive about it. Instead, I’m laughing my ass off and trying to get my mother to watch. I’m an American mutt, through and through. I’ve got German, Lithuanian, Canadian, and a lot of other bits all mixed into me, and I was raised with various cultural bits via my family, and well… I’m American. Hetalia is comedic commentary of world relations, past and future. To history nut me it’s sort of like South Park turned super moe, and thrown into a world history text book. The stereotypes don’t bug me because everyone is made fun of. You either get insulted, or sit there more than likely not “getting” any of it, or you laugh. I also took an extra bit of amusement from the first episode because I’ve been in Model United Nations clubs. For those who don’t know what it is, it’s like a school debate club that sits down around a table, pretends it’s the United Nations, and they debate various stances and issues concerning international relations now, or some historical issue. Episode 1 of Hetalia is a Model UN meeting on lots of sugar and caffeine. Was everyone who saw the first episode of Hetalia amused by the same exact things I saw? Probably not, but I believe your enjoyment of Hetalia depends on how much knowledge you have on international relations, world history, and heck, what kind of heritage you have. I don't get much of the Italy stuff because I never had much interest in it's history, but the characters I do like (America, Canada, England, Lithuania, Russia, China, Japan, Germany) make up for Italy's annoyance. In some weird way I also get a sense of nationalistic pride in watching Hetalia. I’m mainly watching it for the American, Canadian, German, and Lithuanian bits because seeing what they’re known for animated like this just cracks me up to no end, and only makes me want to buy merchandise. Maybe even crap to buy my family members. I can tell you that though my mother has never liked my anime hobby, nor sat through anything more than Cowboy Bebop or Miyazaki films, she loves Lithuania in Hetalia (Canada too), and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call my mother a moron. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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The thing about Hetalia though, is that to me, it just isn't funny. I mean, sure it can be fun to watch and see where some sort of historical context comes in to play with the show, but the show (I haven't watched it all, but I've seen a large majority of the first series) just didn't come across as funny.
I think the only time I laughed while it played at my anime club was the episode dealing with Russia and Belarus. Maybe if there were more female characters I could find more humor? I don't know, but it just didn't click with me. |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2231 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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What a nice meaty interview that everyone is ignoring to talk about Hentalia instead.
Great.... Glad to see my question about Endless 8 dubbing was answered quite honestly, thanks! Although I'm not sure the answer will sell any more of the DVDs... Although one of the gimmicks that were originally considered would have been more trouble than it was worth... |
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DmonHiro
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Nice "save" Serman....nice "save". Sorry, but I don't buy the "I wasn't threatening" part, and "I didn't mean it like that" (even though you said it like that).
Yeah "there are more reasons then piracy"....then why didn't you mention ONE single other problem except the fans and piracy? Good coup-out. Last edited by DmonHiro on Fri May 07, 2010 1:52 am; edited 1 time in total |
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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*Not that there's really anything in Hetalia designed to repel the male fan, unless he's turned off by the occasional BL gag. |
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DmonHiro
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Also: if Bandai really does have it's hopes resting on Haruhi season 2, they are fucked. I wouldn't buy Endless 8 if the whole industry depended on it.
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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I thought when I saw a reference to "Hetalia fight" on the page the first thing I thought of was how many fans were fighting to keep Vic M. out of the dub. LOL. I do agree that Hetalia is a moe show. The moe is just targeted differently. I'm wondering if Justin's reaction was to the moe element..., but yes, it does kind of sting (since I like the show) to be called a moron.
I'm sorry Bandai. I don't like Haruhi. Will it count if I buy the Gundam OVAs instead? I still plan on buying all of 00, The three Universal Century OVA package, as well as Unicorn.... Very curious about the VIZ title that will get the "fast and loose" dub (that isn't Vampire Knight). |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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...and yet, no one has read, published or even fully scanlated. Just sayin'.
No you didn't. You heard me specifically say that Hetalia has many fans, I'm sure dumb people love it for the reasons I gave. I also said that I'm sure some of the fans are intelligent, but I don't understand what they could possibly get out of this show. I still don't. What I should have admitted is that anime based on 4-panel gag manga almost never clicks with me on any level. So I should have tempered my comments a little more, in that respect.
Told you I was a moron at Greek mythology. :p Last edited by jsevakis on Fri May 07, 2010 3:32 am; edited 1 time in total |
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DmonHiro
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I've been meaning to ask. When you say "This is all the time we have", what do you mean? Is there a time limit to the podcast? A limit to the guests' time?
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Paploo
Posts: 1875 |
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Well, I wouldn't be so hard on fansubs/pirate fans if people were actually buying stuff- a lot of people apparently aren't (and some make if very clear that they won't be buying anything), which is causing folks like Bandai to consider closign up shop. Stuff is available in less places, and a lot of that is due to lack of sales, which is what I've heard over and over from people who actually work in the industry. Like Meredith said last week, if you like it you should buy it. And I figure w/piracy talk, we keep the issue out there for new fans who haven't made a decision about what kind of fan they are, so they can make the right choices for them [and hopefully buy stuff and get anime back in business, or at least support only the legal streaming offerings]. It's not like it's going to go away anytime soon, and we'll keep seeing it in the news a few times a month whether we talk about it or not. I do think the whole underpants gnomes philosophy "xxx will fix the industry" is a nutty phenomenon though. These people don't work in the anime business, probably don't run real businesses, and have no idea how the industry actually works, or the costs involved in any form of anime distribution, dvd, online, tv or otherwise. If these people spent the time they spent online whining about how to fix the industry at a parttime job, then used the $$$$ to buy anime, then they'd be fixing the industry  BUY STUFF, IT WORKS
BTW---- RE:Rose of Versailles- go to your local library and try to get an interlibrary loan to read the Fred Schodt edition- there's a handful of libraries in the US that have it. You might have to pay for the loan for shipping fees, but that is an option. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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This time specifically, we had one hour total, and that included setup time. It was a fairly controlled environment. Normally we don't have a time limit but we don't want to take up too much of the guest's time and we don't want to make a show that's too long. |
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