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The Mike Toole Show - The Lost Decade


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MetatronM



Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 281
PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 9:06 pm Reply with quote
garfield15 wrote:
This is....so true. It makes me so sad to see some of these will never be. Macross Frontier, the Yuasa stuff and especially Dennou Coil. That seems like it would be something that would have easily been picked up a couple of years ago.

Also, I think a show that will never be international-ized is Kaiba. Yuasa sure gets the short straw with this.
Came to mention Kaiba, the best series of 2008. Glad to see it was taken care of for me.
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ZakuAce



Joined: 06 Jan 2010
Posts: 525
Location: SE Wisconsin
PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 10:01 pm Reply with quote
Another excellent article Mike. You're such a card! Ha ha, card, because you made a joke about cards in your article. I just made a pun there, see? Cards.

No but seriously, I really do need to see Kaiji.
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rti9



Joined: 08 Jul 2007
Posts: 1241
PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 10:51 pm Reply with quote
Probably only Macross Frontier and Nodame Cantabille could be profitable in the West. Maybe Cutey Honey if they marketed like Mike Toole said, associating it to Evangelion. I don't see the rest with the possibility of hitting big.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2530
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 10:51 pm Reply with quote
Mike, how could you mention how Kaiji was available over here streamed for a bit, but not mention how Re: Cutie Honey and Macross Zero actually were on the plate for licensing at some point.

Somewhere in ANN's video archives is a video of one of ADV's con panels, I think from 2006, where someone asked David Williams about Re:, and he replied by saying that another company had licensed it and was going to release it, but obviously didn't spoil who actually had it.

As for Macross Zero, apparently one of the heads at Harmony Gold admitted a few years back that they would have "allowed" ADV to license Macross Zero at one point, but obviously nothing came from it. Maybe the sales of ADV's release of Macross weren't appealing enough...

Anyway, nice list you've got there. I only saw very little from it (Zero, Kaiji, and some of Bartender and Mazinger), but nice to bring up some hidden gems. As for what I'd list, there's:
GaoGaiGar FINAL (please, Media Blasters?)
Platinumhugen Ordian (not exactly an excellent show, more like "eccentric", but considering how Masami Obari was a big enough name early in the decade it's surprising that no one ever licensed it)
Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo (how we got Armageddon and New but never this astounds me)
Gundam Evolve (a series of CG OVAs that vary in quality, but overall was a nice collection of shorts)
Bomberman Jetters (I'm amazed 4Kids never tried licensing this show back when they were on a video game-based anime spree, and it's a pretty good show)
Mazinkaiser: Death! Great General of Darkness (a great title and we got the original OVA... But never the movie)
Kikaider-01: The Animation - Guitar wo Motta Shonen (granted, this came out in Japan after Bandai released the complete collection, but it was a nice OVA that gave the anime a good finish)
Monkey Turn (techincally it was licensed by ShoPro, who then merged with Viz... In fact, Viz still has it but is doing nothing with it)
Ring ni Kakero 1 (THIS, THIS, A THOUSAND TIMES THIS!!!! Can someone finally license this show? It deserves more than the barely-there attention it gets over here)
Yakitate!! Japan (it probably could have been a cult hit over here before Viz started releasing the manga)
Akagi (yeah, it's a harder sell than Kaiji but oh so worth it)
GAIKING: Legend of Daikyu-Maryu (enough said)
Souten no Ken (now is probably the best time to license this show, since Fist of the North Star TV is kind of a slightly hot title right now)
Bus Gamer (for only three episodes it was still enjoyable to watch)
One Outs (same as Akagi, but with baseball)
Kamen no Maid Guy (how Sentai keeps avoiding this show amazes me)
Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku (Who care if it's about mahjong? It's awesome and only 30 minutes long!)

A long list? There's never such a thing as a long list...
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7328
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:01 pm Reply with quote
Great list and I agree with most of the titles listed, obviously some more than others, and like everyone I've got a few titles fo my own that I'd really love to see licensed or get some exposure beyond online streams.

I have no good explanation for why Library War hasn't been licensed. It's an amazing series with just the right blend of action, drama, romance, politics, and well grounded, real world characters to both love and hate. I love it and was sure it would be licensed soon after, but it's been 2 years now.

Natsume Yuujinchou is one of those shows that needs to find its way from Crunchyroll to DVD (especially since CR only offers it in low quality 480p). You become so attached to the characters and watching Natsume grow and open up to both the people and the spirits around him. Very few shows have had me on the verge of tears so as many times as this, both happy tears and sad. Episode 6 is an especially happy-sad. A real masterpiece.

Nobody has mentioned Time of Eve which worked very well as both a series of short(ish) episodes or a single movie. A fantastic anime takes androids out of the typical cyberpunk settings we're used to seeing them in and places them in a much more realistic setting. Trying to figure out who's human and who isn't in the Time of Eve cafe is only part of the fun, the other part is deciding what it means to be alive. I'd love to own this on DVD.

All three of those are 2008 titles, it was a great year, but there are still a lot of titles begging to be licensed from it.

Emerje
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:27 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Back in 2004, a series of lawsuits related to Macross trademarks and copyrights was settled.


I thought it's still on-going. At least last time at AX, someone at Bandai brought it up, they said "no comment".

Quote:
Because of this, these newer chapters of Macross would have to go through Harmony Gold before being localized in North America, which isn't very favorable for fans because the other half of the franchise's intellectual pie is owned by Big West, who do not like Harmony Gold very much.


I always thought the issue was that Bandai Visual doesn't believe in honoring HG's license, because it wants to cut out the middle-men and release the series itself. And I'd so like the idea of a $600 M-Frontier set from them. Laughing Still, if you're gonna bring up unreleased Macross, I'm surprised you didn't mention DYRL and 7. I know those are even older, but since you're talking about anime which should've found an audience in the last decade, might as well...Plus, if we're gonna go into mech shows, I really wish we'd gotten Robot Carnival before STA folded. Crying or Very sad

As for Trava, I'm guessing the reason it didn't make it was that the marketing people assumed people preferred to see anime which looked like Kawajiri, Squaresoft, and/or Chung's stuff. Also, while you're in that vein, you should be including Nasu. Nasu was obviously a harder sell, but given that they could've cashed in on Lance Armstrong, it wouldn't have been an impossible one.

I'm not sure why RE: Cutey Honey hasn't happened though, as last time I checked, it was implied FUNi had it. My guess is that everyone hated the Anno-ying movie reboot, and it killed chances for the new anime.

I don't think Nodame would've found an audience for a country which currently defines "music" as Glee and Justin Bieber, though. Rolling Eyes

Oh, I'm blaming the horrible art of Higurashi and Lucky Star for why we never got Denno Coil. Cool

My feeling for why Hataraki Man didn't happen was that no one was interested in Salaryman Kintaro, so the popularity of office shows was relegated to The Office.

Quote:
But Mindgame's continued absence on these shores is a mystery to me - I have pals in the business who tell me that a deal was on the table until a leaked YouTube copy soured things, but that sounds fishy to me.


I agree. The Youtube leak would've only helped Mindgame. In fact, the audience which paid for a screening in L.A. a while back was sizeable, so there is a market for the anime.

Quote:
Michiko & Hatchin has a similarly accomplished staff and pedigree, so what's the holdup?


Well, I'm still wondering why we didn't get Tokyo Tribes, considering the success of Boondocks and Afro Samurai. My guess with Michiko, though, is it looked too much like a Bee Train-wannabe, and those didn't sell as well as companies had hoped, so...That, and they didn't succeed with Baccano, either, so...

Quote:
Shin Mazinger Shougeki Hen


I'd like the Getter Robo w/ the cowboy mech myself. Still wondering why we got stuck with that Getter Robo INO thing [I.E. "Who needs to see us pilot mechs when we can blow stuff up with weapons?!"] from Geneon in its place. Plus, I'm really surprised we never got Souten No Ken. Yes, the manga bombed, and the original anime show looked cruddy-and was 30 filler eps too long, to boot- which is why it took so long to find an audience on home video. But the new one was brand new, was a prequel, and its setting meant that anyone who brought it here could just cash in on Kung Fu Hustle. So I wonder why that never happened. I also don't know why we missed out on the Jojo movie prequel, that last City Hunter Movie[Death of Ryo Saeba], some of the later 2000s Lupin specials, dubs for Memories and Millennium Actress, Oshii's Tachiguisihi stuff, Aishiteruze Baby. We were also supposed to get the live-action Euro Crying Freeman, but that never happened. And whatever happened to the U.S. release of the Ultraviolet anime? While we're at it, why didn't we get the recent Black Jack movies? And of course, Only Yesterday. Oh, and what about that Rumik World Inu Yasha/UY/Ranma cross-over thing? That should've been a no-brainer, unless there's some sort of rights problem, given that UY is handled by a separate company here?

Quote:
We at Disney think that a movie with raccoons showing their family jewels is fine as long as we can come up with a friendly euphamism for them, while a movie featuring hookers and people getting body parts blown off is appropriate enough to have big names attached to it. But we feel skittish about a cartoon bringing up menstruation, because certain segments of Middle America might be offended. Never mind that we did our own animated short on the subject 65 years ago. Times have changed.
Rolling Eyes


Last edited by GATSU on Mon Jan 03, 2011 2:26 am; edited 1 time in total
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bj_waters



Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 234
PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:38 pm Reply with quote
I don't think I can get through all this without putting in my two cents. I've got two titles that I think have been grossly underrated (in my not-so-humble opinion).

First is Hyakko. I don't know what it is about this series, but it just cracks me up! I know that a bizarre, slice-of-life comedy about school girls wouldn't stack up well after Azumanga Daioh, but I think this would be one that could definitely be released sub-only. I'd still buy it.

Second is Shangri-La, the big Studio GONZO series that I figured was a shoe-in for being licensed. By anybody. Two years pass and nothing comes of it. I seriously think this could get adult swim airtime, it's that good.

Now I know that both of these are available on CrunchyRoll, but it doesn't change the fact that they are great series that deserve more than to simply languish in the massive archives of CR.
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Takeyo



Joined: 25 Mar 2008
Posts: 736
PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:42 pm Reply with quote
Always good to see Dennou coil and Michiko to Hatchin get a mention. I'd snatch up either in a second if only they we licensed. Some other titles that seemed to miss their window and are in need of some licensing love are:

Higurashi no Naku Koroni Kai
Kure-nai
Lovely Complex
Minami-ke
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gerbilx



Joined: 19 Jan 2009
Posts: 138
PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:51 pm Reply with quote
Yay for Bartender, Kemonozume, and Nodame mentions. (>")>

Please keep up the good work, Mr. Toole; I love your article!
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Psycho_Despair



Joined: 17 Nov 2009
Posts: 376
Location: East of Eden
PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:52 pm Reply with quote
I agree with Lord Geo, Ring ni Kakero 1 should get brought over here along with the manga! If not possible, I will go get it in Mexico!

Ugh, someone should save Saint Seiya it is a series that should be finished!

I should start watching Re:Cutie Honey, Trava - Fish Planet and Nodame Cantabile, going to put those on my Stuff-I-need-to-watch-really-bad list.

Macross Frontier is one of those anime that I makes me sad it won't hit western shores Sad
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:58 am Reply with quote
Joe Mello wrote:
penguintruth wrote:
What about Ryoko's Case File? A bit in the vein of The X-Files by way of Darker than Black, or maybe more like Occult Academy with guns.

I'd consider it more like an inverted-Haruhi: rather than the hyper-competent protagonist trying to find the paranormal within the mundane, she's more interested in career advancement and getting in her partner's pants than all the weird stuff happening around her.

A better analog may be a light-hearted anime version of Fringe but Ryoko came first.


Good descriptions.

I'm just glad somebody else besides me saw it.

How did Tytania get licensed but not this?
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MorwenLaicoriel



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 1617
Location: Colorado
PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:04 am Reply with quote
Great list! I really enjoyed reading it. I haven't actually seen any of the things on your list yet--partially because of the lack of a license--but I've heard of nearly all of them and I think at least half of them are on my "to watch" list. In particular I adore the opening to Re: Cutie Honey and have actually watched it a ton on youtube--I really love the animation style, as well as the opening theme. If this series ever DID make it over here I'd probably get it based on the opening theme alone.
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NJ_



Joined: 31 Oct 2009
Posts: 2996
Location: Wallington, NJ
PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:30 am Reply with quote
Psycho_Despair wrote:
Ugh, someone should save Saint Seiya it is a series that should be finished!

Agreed and it's been known for a while that DiC/Cookie Jar's license has expired so why nobody jumped at saving this series by now is beyond me.

MorwenLaicoriel wrote:
In particular I adore the opening to Re: Cutie Honey and have actually watched it a ton on youtube--I really love the animation style, as well as the opening theme. If this series ever DID make it over here I'd probably get it based on the opening theme alone.

There's the live-action movie that Bandai released a few years back which has the same opening.
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MorwenLaicoriel



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 1617
Location: Colorado
PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:48 am Reply with quote
WOW that's...an great price. I guess I know what I'm using to top off my order next time I order something from RightStuf! (Particularly since I'm the weird sort of gal that would totally use a lunch box like that as a purse.)
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 2:47 am Reply with quote
Yeah, its pretty apparent to me that R1 licensing has been in the shit since about 2006/2007.

So many shows haven't seen the light of day here. Bartender, Kemonozume, Mononoke, Dennō Coil, Kaiji, Kaiba, Kurozuka, Macross Frontier, Michiko to Hatchin, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Kūchū Buranko, Kara no Kyoukai, Mind Game, Time of Eve and that's just the really notable ones.

Of course, on top of that there's all the stuff that can't seem to get a DVD release. Mind you, that's pretty much exclusively due to Funimation's bullshit. House of Five Leaves, Rainbow, Tatami Galaxy, Shiki...(and of course we'll probably be adding 3/4 of future noitaminA shows to that list).

It's pretty ridiculous.
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