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Hey, Answerman! [2008-04-11]


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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:30 am Reply with quote
Adult Swim painted mustaches over a rerun of Inuyasha!?

That would probably have made it watchable! I’m really sorry that I missed it.
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Bika-chan



Joined: 25 Aug 2003
Posts: 24
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:33 am Reply with quote
I think he was talking about the April Fools episode, but I don't know if they actually did it for Inu-Yasha. I know they did it with Witch Hunter Robin...
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:45 am Reply with quote
I never find most anime comedy funny because it's an entirely different culture. Even if I do somewhat understand the basis of their culture, the comedy in anime is always retarded fart jokes or slapstick humor, so I'm not sure the Japanese have a sense or irony, sarcasm, or being facetious. Those are generally the comedy that gets me to laugh, that and dry British wit humor, which again is severely lacking in anime. Also, comedy is different from tragedy as that it usually has the ability to only really funny locally in a geographical and in the sense of time. You won't laugh at Greek comedies because you won't understand their humor anymore, and Shakespearean humor usually goes way too far above peoples' heads. Yes, I can laugh at Japanese/anime comedy, but it entirely depends on the situation. The slapstick in 2x2 Shinobuden is hilarious, as is the dialogue, meanwhile shows like Lucky Star can only make me somewhat crack a smile, but never laugh. I stick to western comedy for the sake of laughing.

Also, about the Adult Swim thing, I entirely agree with you. It's all too easy to rage when someone rags on what you like. But despite their own sense of humor about the sitatuon, they are harming potential anime profits by not airing as much as they could. Thinking logistically, anime that airs on TV should have a better chance to sell DVDs better, and especially if the airing time slot is reasonable. Code Geass airing at 1:30 AM EST? That might be a little too late for a lot of people, while if they were doing a Toonami weekday type of thing, with interesting shows playing in the mid to late afternoon, those shows would have maximum exposure. I miss those days, but not because I was 11 or 12 when Tenchi aired on TV, but because tons of stuff was available at a time I usually didn't have anything else to do with. Naruto and Bleach should have been placed there, they're barely more violent or adult themed than DBZ or Gundam Wing.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:46 am Reply with quote
Fronzel wrote:
Adult Swim painted mustaches over a rerun of Inuyasha!?

That would probably have made it watchable! I’m really sorry that I missed it.


I think it was an April Fool's thing they did a few years back. I only remember because Witch Hunter Robin actually looked entertaining with funny sharpie mustaches or glasses placed randomly.
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OneHotAlchemist



Joined: 12 Nov 2005
Posts: 85
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:47 am Reply with quote
One of the things Greg Ayres will mention is just how much Adult Swim hates anime.

When a few of the english voice actors for a certain series (himself included) were brought on a tour of Adult Swim offices, they were given T-Shirts which all said "Anime is Teh Suck".

Yes, they gave those shirts to people who work in the anime industry. As far as I'm concerned, I will never watch anime on Adult Swim. Ever.
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Ai no Kareshi



Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 561
Location: South Africa
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:51 am Reply with quote
I don't have enough to say about the Answerfans question to write in about it, so I'll just dump what I think here. I generally don't watch American comedies because I usually find them too sick to bear. It probably depends on the specific show, though, as there are some anime jokes that I find sick as well. Razz
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Kenotic



Joined: 02 Mar 2007
Posts: 167
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:56 am Reply with quote
To the flake:

It's a conspiracy. Watch "Welcome to NHK" for a little primer.

QOTW - The short answer:

Azumanga Diaoh is much funnier than Friends, Will and Grace, Family Guy, that one show about perpetually neurotic single people in their 30s and 40s, and Ethnic Mismatch Comedy #644 combined.

On the other hand, I've yet to see anything in anime match up to MASH, Carol Burnett, MST3k, or Rocky and Bullwinkle.


Last edited by Kenotic on Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:05 am; edited 3 times in total
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tasogarenootome



Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 593
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:01 am Reply with quote
Just out of curiosity, how does [as] determine its ratings? Is it only households who've agreed to be part of the Nielsen system?

LOL I remember the April Fool's Day thing. It took me a minute before I realized it wasn't something wrong with my TV. Although they still haven't beat South Park's original April Fool's Day prank. I'm not surprised that comedy does better than anime.

As for anime comedy, I can't really get into it. Shows that poke fun at other anime or recognizable pop culture references will sometimes get a laugh from me, but stuff like Azumanga Daioh, I can't get into. I like American sitcoms better and even animated comedies like Family Guy, Futurama, Home Movies (though lately I really don't like a lot of Adult Swim's new originals (Tim and Eric, Saul, etc.)
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Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1544
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:09 am Reply with quote
I always enjoyed Adult Swim's digs at anime fans. They're fun and clever, and obviously aimed at the silent majority of fandom who don't take this stuff so seriously.

I remember back when they first started having text bumps, they accidentally referred to Trigun as "he" in one of them. It was soon fixed, but not before the boards were flooded with a tsunami of angry fans complaining about how Trigun is not the main character's name.

AS responded by doing a whole series of bumps with lines like "CAN TRIGUN ESCAPE? WILL HIS MARKSMANSHIP BE ENOUGH?"

Anyway, I'm not too worried about AS taking anime off weeknights. I'll be back soon enough; they change their schedule almost constantly, and they're obviously not giving up on anime completly, what with Code Geass coming soon. What they really seem to be looking for is a long, popular series they can repeat on weeknights, like Inuyasha was before everyone got sick of it. That series will probably be Bleach once it racks up enough English episodes.
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britannicamoore



Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 2618
Location: Out.
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:10 am Reply with quote
That was the best night ever when they pranked the anime shows. It was funny as hell.
As i've said before, its not called Anime Swim. They can change their scdechule.
Everytime AS makes fun of the crazy raving anime fans I just roll my eyes.


As for the people who upload the newsest Naruto episode 20 times. They, in my opinion, get some warped type of respect. For those who don't download, streaming is the next best thing. Those uploaders didn't make the subs, but they did help those people out.
Since the shows get removed every few hours, you can't find it unless it gets re-uploaded. So, people still respect them for...shall I say for a lack of a better series of terms; breaking the rules.


Answerfans
Anime Comedy and American Comedy are two different things. It's like comparing Eddie Izzard to George Carlin. Wink
They're both different types of humor. Unless, you've got a dub like Shin Chan which makes the show appeal to American audiences.

Oh well, as long as I laugh at the end of the day i'm fine.


Last edited by britannicamoore on Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:12 am; edited 1 time in total
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:11 am Reply with quote
Answerfan Rules wrote:
Be coherent.


That kinda went out the window this week eh? Especially on number 2.


I have to say, I'm surprised that there wasn't a single person who said they were not interested in Japanese culture.

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Japanese culture. In fact, there are aspects of it that I seem interesting. The same is true of any culture though. Overall, I don't think that it would be Japanese Culture that I'd choose if I was to learn more about another culture.

Quote:
I think its important for otakus to know a few things about the Japanese culture. They will better understand an anime, and even help them choose the best anime.


I get tired of hearing this. If you like Japanese Culture, good for you. Don't act like you're better than those that don't though.
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Ai no Kareshi



Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 561
Location: South Africa
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:18 am Reply with quote
ikillchicken wrote:
Quote:
I think its important for otakus to know a few things about the Japanese culture. They will better understand an anime, and even help them choose the best anime.


I get tired of hearing this. If you like Japanese Culture, good for you. Don't act like you're better than those that don't though.

Easy, chicken. I don't think the writer meant that they were in any way superior by having an interest in the culture. But I can see how having some background information on Japanese culture would aid one's understanding of certain aspects of (at least some) anime.
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Zalis116
Moderator


Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6864
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:26 am Reply with quote
Quote:
2. I post anime on Youtube, now before you go and brand me a heartless man who wants ADV to die(although after their Ghost Stories dub...)
I have to wonder why this guy thinks ADV's Ghost Stories dub is so heinous. It's not like 4kids' One Piece where they made a horribly edited dub and then didn't make the Japanese track / subtitles available. Given that the Ghost Stories DVDs still have the Japanese track and faithful subtitles, I just don't see how the mere existence of ADV's parody dub is such a crime against nature.

And is 5 years really that "old" in anime terms? To me, series from 2003 like Chrono Crusade and DN Angel don't seem "dated," as you can still find shows on the air today that have the same digital look and feeling.

I was secretly hoping to see an Answerfans answer saying, "No, I don't really care about the culture, I'm just here for the cartoons." I don't dislike Japanese culture by any means; it's interesting enough, and it's got that exotic/difference factor going for it compared to Western culture. But I try to stay out of the blind Japanophilia trap that so many seem to fall into. Learning about the Japanese cultural artifacts that show up in anime is fine, but it's more important to learn about the real culture as it exists outside of anime. I'll take my fond memories of relatively easy American high school life over "Exam Hell" any day.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4563
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:37 am Reply with quote
OneHotAlchemist wrote:
One of the things Greg Ayres will mention is just how much Adult Swim hates anime.

When a few of the english voice actors for a certain series (himself included) were brought on a tour of Adult Swim offices, they were given T-Shirts which all said "Anime is Teh Suck".

Yes, they gave those shirts to people who work in the anime industry. As far as I'm concerned, I will never watch anime on Adult Swim. Ever.

...I take it you don't know much about the general Adult Swim culture, then. Very Happy The line "anime is teh s uck" originated very early on in the history of the [as] message board, and it grew to become a rather pervasive meme over there that lives to this day. The person who spawned it was a random n00b spouting off the same type of generic hatred that's spewed all over the Internet every day, and it's never been taken to represent anything beyond that. If Greg Ayres actually took that gesture as a personal insult, I feel rather sorry for him (and more than a bit amused).

Crap...now I'm sorry that I never did get around to submitting a response to last week's question, since I might have had a shot at being the only flat-out negative response. Razz Like I said in last week's thread, the things that initially attracted me to anime, and keep me hooked to this day, were its use of storytelling and character development in an animated medium. The only "foreign" element that drew me in was the idea that animation didn't have to be targeted at children and could be used to construct something emotional and mature. I don't really have anything invested in where the shows are coming from, or in any culturally-specific elements within them; I just like them for what they are. I don't want to learn Japanese, I have no real desire to ever visit Japan, and little irritates me more than those who insert random Japanese words into their sentences in the interest of feeling "more Japanese." I am a person who happens to be a fan of anime; I am not an "otaku." That is all. Razz

As for the new question, seeing as how I've seen only two or three anime series that are true "comedies," I can't make any sort of valid comparison, although I suspect I'd come down squarely on the side of American comedy as a whole. (However, if you're talking about comedic moments in series that aren't strictly comedies, I've laughed myself silly through many an anime episode, particularly in the case of One Piece.) I will say, though, that whatever mixture of Japanese and American comedy that Funi's Shin-chan dub represents, it does just about everything right.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:57 am Reply with quote
It's definitely a mistake to assume that the reason why there isn't a better representation of anime on Adult Swim is because the folk at AS simply hate it. Sure, Kim Manning and Mike Lazzo haven't done too many favors for the anime fandom in the U.S., but that AS even airs any anime, considering the usual demographic's preference for "comedies" made on a nine-cent budget that get huge ratings (because said demographic is self-medicating), I would say it's a miracle that there's any anime on it at all anymore. Don't assume that AS watchers have the same taste you do.

They prefer Tim and Eric projects.

I'm sorry, I'm getting a little vomit in my mouth reading what I just typed.
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