Forum - View topicThe Dreams of Satoshi Kon: Chapter V - Beautiful Delusion
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
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I've seen that on Amazon, and it's a high-quality bootleg.
Well, maybe you've heard the term used "commonly," but I haven't. Also "shounen bat" isn't "commonly used to describe a young baseball player (usually a boy) who has a measure of success" in Japanese, so that line of argument does not work. I mean, it should be "bat boy," but what with DC and the National Enquirer, that was unlikely to ever happen. "Bat kid" might not've been bad. But "Li'l Slugger"? Nope, never liked it, sounds too cutesy when the original really didn't. |
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LordRedhand
 Posts: 1472 Location: Middle of Nowhere, Indiana |
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Really? We sell T-shirts with Lil' Slugger written on them. Examples here http://www.cafepress.com/lingo_tshirts/7120584 and here http://lilsluggersdallas.com/ . I mean we can even find baby clothing with that phrase "Lil Slugger" on it
And measure of success where we use that term is like they hit the ball. But characters about middle school age would have obviously greater successes and the term is normally used by parents or relatives perhaps coaches. So yes it's a commonly used term. But speaking of the character itself, everything about Lil Slugger/Shonen Bat is a lie, including the name they wear. So translating it to "Bat Boy" would lose some of the connection that is trying to be made. One of innocence, something youthful, we don't see Bat Boy in the same way just because we see it as a job or a position not a term in which could be applied to any young boy playing base ball. The scope is a little wider than the narrow Bat Boy, in Japan they had something topical to go on that shattered an illusion. In the translation we needed the same. |
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gartholamundi
 Posts: 316 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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EDIT: deleted.
Thanks vashfanatic and murph76. Last edited by gartholamundi on Fri Sep 10, 2010 10:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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murph76
 Posts: 3291 Location: Akron, OH |
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@gartholamundi: How many discs were included in that collection? The official release had 4. Any less generally means it's a bootleg. I found a bootleg on amazon that has all 13 episodes on 2 discs.
Edit: Did you pull that UPC code from the web page for the item or the product itself? In looking at half.com, I'm suspicious of the two listed for sale at ~$25. One advertises the entire series on 2 discs, the other calls itself an import with the English-language track. Last edited by murph76 on Fri Sep 10, 2010 10:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
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gartholamundi
Posts: 316 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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EDIT: deleted.
Thanks vashfanatic and murph76. Last edited by gartholamundi on Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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murph76
Posts: 3291 Location: Akron, OH |
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I was editing my previous post when you replied, please see above. I'd have to get more info on the $70 one to know if it's legit, but the other two I'm rather confident are bootlegs. See my reasons above.
And to all, sorry for pulling this so far off topic. @gartholamundi, We can start a thread elsewhere if you wish to continue this. 
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4613 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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I Have to agree that Little (li'l) Slugger is about as good of an English translation as your going to get, and one needed for a crossover appeal in a dub. Saying "Shonen Bat" in the dub would be most accurate but confusing to the average watcher, especially for those watching late night TV after episodes of Family Guy. You don't want to explain to them what "Shonen" means, you just want to freak them out.
And while "Boy" may be the closest translation of "Shonen," and "Shonen Bat" isn't specifically a term in Japan "Shonen" itself seems to have the added effect in Japan as being a "Buzz word" for a young kid, it's a marketing word plastered on magazines and t-shirts, by using it to describe a serial attacker it gives him an almost marketable name not just a descriptive one. "Boy" doesn't have that same connotation in English and "Bat Boy" doesn't either, "Li'l Slugger on the other hand does, Americans know what the term means and using the term gives an innocent term a sinister twist. As for the other point of pride people are sharing, I was lucky enough to pick up the singles from Right Stuff during one of their clearance "10 for $50" sales along with some other now out of print series a couple years ago. You gotta love that company sometimes. I also want to be one to give a little love to to the three stand alone episodes before the finale. Some people don't like them as much because it takes a break from the running story, but I for one really love the short story feel of those episodes and feel they do serve the purpose of showing how the public at large is reacting to the attacks and of Maromi Mania as well. "Happy Family Planning" (The suicide pact episode) in particular is really one of my favorite single episodes of any anime I've seen, the type of story that could be a damn good movie on its own |
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gartholamundi
Posts: 316 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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I really like those too. Total agreement with you there. I bought that 3rd disk several months after I got the others (I'd rented it at first) but I'm really glad I finally found a copy. Now that there's been a recent ANN article on a new Blu-Ray version of Laputa with PIP storyboards, man, I'm really jealous. Knowing how totally detailed Kon's storyboards were from watching several of the DVD-extra video interviews, my head would explode with fanboy glee to get discs of Kon's work with his storyboards added in with that PIP style. |
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qollocust
 Posts: 182 Location: Philadelphia |
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As much as I'm a huge Satoshi Kon fan, I have yet to see this show, I do own it though. I remember it airing on AS but I only caught a few episiodes and not in order (In college I stopped following AS). I liked what I saw and I decided I shouldn't even try and catch the whole thing on TV and just buy the whole thing on DVD. Fast forward about 4 years to when I was out of school and finally had money to spend on anime products again. I was really sad to find out that Paranoia Agent went out of print and the prices I found online were insane (not to mention I couldn't find all the discs). Then last year by chance I was in the nearest shopping mall where the Suncoast was suddenly going out of business and everything in the store was 40-60% off. I poured over their anime selection (which was pretty decent) and was able to find all the individual discs of PA - was able to get the whole series for less than $80 which was a lot less than what I was finding online.
It's on my list to watch soon, I've just been so busy! I know I'm going to love it though. |
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Takeyo
 Posts: 736 |
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I'm probably in the minority here, but my only real complaint about the series was those episodes around the third disc mark. I got a really big "filler" vibe from them. If memory serves, Kon actually admitted in one of his interviews that he ended up recycling some ideas that had ended up on the Tokyo Godfathers cutting room floor (presumably including the above mention suicide pact). And, yeah, I'm also kicking myself for not buying this show when it was in print. |
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ewsizemore
 Posts: 29 Location: Richmond, VA |
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While it's true that episodes 8,9, & 10 aren't part of the main narrative. I wouldn't call them filler. They are side stories that expand our understanding of the Paranoia Agent universe and help explain how Shonen Bat could be come so powerful. They serve as an excellent set up to the final battle.
Episode 8- Happy Family- Here Kon is critiquing a culture that has become so delusional that it thinks that death is a preferable alternative to dealing with your problems and heartbreaks. This is dark comedy at its best. Only a culture that becomes so blasé about death could embrace Shonen Bat as a both a cultural icon and a hero. There is a lot of social commentary here that takes pages to unpack and analyze. So here we see the culture milieu needed for Shonen Bat to become so powerful. Episode 9- Etc.- More social commentary here. We see how engrained Shonen Bat has become in society. He is now a part of daily conversation just like the weather. It's amazing how everyone accepts Shonen Bat as par of the background without question. Plus, the stories by the young wife trying to fit in are hysterical. Episode 10- Mellow Maromi- I wish Kon had lived long enough to do a feature length film lampooning the anime industry. He orginially intended this to be a live action episode with the actual staff of Paranoia Agent playing their fictional counterparts. Here we see the popularity of Maromi, who serves as the yin to Shonen Bat's yang. Again, it shows us how delusion this society has become to find such complete comfort in a stuff toy. Given the battle coming up, we need to see how Maromi's popularity rivals Shonen Bat. These episodes give you a break from the main narrative, but they aren't divorced from it and they aren't meaningless either. Kon was too a craftsman to waste his time and the audience's time on empty filler. You can watch the series without these three episodes and you won't be lost as to what's going on. However, you will miss out on some of the depth and nuances these episodes add to the events of the final three. |
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Weiss_Yohji
Posts: 115 |
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Adult Swim first ran Paranoia Agent in spring of '05, not fall.
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utawoutau
 Posts: 190 |
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This is one of those shows where I actually get upset when people tell me that they love it.
I guess I just don't enjoy shows where someone has to explain to me after what it was that I just watched. |
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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I immediately got on the Kon bandwagon after his other works with Paranoia agent. I really had to see what a TV production by him would look like. I have to admit it's an interesting watch. That leaves you really thinking. Each story links in some odd way. But the part of the series that stuck out for me was the "suicide" party.
Paranoia Agent is one of the series we have here that goes out A LOT. It's up there with the brain spins of 'Haibane Renmei', and 'Serial Experiments Lain' (gotta check those out one day). I've still been debating whether I wanted to add 'PA' to my collection. I may have to now. As I had been considering in the past. I procrastinate too much.
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gartholamundi
Posts: 316 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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IMO, all those are worth multiple viewings ... along with Kino's Journey they make up my favorites of the available anime tv series. |
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