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The Mike Toole Show - 2012: Well, That Happened, I Guess


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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2530
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 7:15 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
That's another thing that really grinds my gears, actually-- in this age of widely-available legal streaming, there are still shows coming out where your only options are to pirate, or not watch at all.


I don't think they say it anymore, but I always did tend to get really annoyed whenever CrunchyRoll outright stated in interviews & con panels that they "put in a bid for every new show that was coming out every season". I don't doubt that CR looked at each & every new show when each new season came, but I highly doubt that they had the money, manpower, or even interest in honestly trying to get every new show each season. Just like any other anime company over here I'm sure that CR indeed looked at certain shows and simply thought "Maybe someone else will simulcast it" or "Maybe we can get it later as a catalog title" (as rare as catalog-focused streaming licenses are for CR) or even "Why do this show when we can do this other one?". To even say that they try to get everything every season to people in public is silly & unreasonable.

Personally, though, I think 2012 was simply the "Year of Discotek", as they were, easily, the company I bought the most from this year each with a sense of happiness & fervor. Casshan, GE 999: Eternal Fantasy, Venus Wars, Golgo 13: The Professional, Locke the Superman, Lupin the 3rd 1st TV, Retro Game Master, & Space Adventure Cobra all were had by me this year, and 2013 already is looking better for me, what with Shin Getter vs. Neo Getter (it's a celebration, Mike!), the Saint Seiya Movies, Captain Harlock, Mad Bull 34, New Hurricane Polymar, Lupin: Green vs. Red & Secret of Mamo, Mazinger Z, Tekkaman Blade II, Thermae Romae, and I know there will be more in the months to come.
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Juno016



Joined: 09 Jan 2012
Posts: 2377
PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 7:29 pm Reply with quote
Time for me to derail this into a Madoka discussion threa--*gut-kick*

I've at least been doing my fair share of convincing people to give the show a chance, though. Since I rarely go to cons and the stores near me sell the bare mimimum anime-related goods and manga, just about no one I talk to who is into anime has even heard about the show. Because of its cover, it's so hard to approach, too, unless you have someone backing you to tell you it's more than what it seems. Though explaining what it does seems to ruin the impact for a lot of newcomers, so for some people, I just tell them the bare minimum--that it's a "show you will like if you enjoyed Sailor Moon" or "Prepare yourself for lots of colorful magical girls, fighting for love and hope and justice and cake! Trust me. It's better than I make it sound."
But it's nice to hear the show is actually more popular in the West than I initially thought.

Sword Art Online, though... ugh...
The anime ruined the feeling I got from reading the novels by re-arranging the events to be chronological, which sounds like a good idea on paper and would be for many other series that are out-of-order... but SAO's storytelling really works best in its original novel chapter order because it doesn't START OFF with a bunch of random, episodic short stories that almost never have any baring on the future of the show.
I don't think I've been this upset over an adaption of anything in a long time. And to think--the anime doesn't completely suck in my eyes. It's got great animation, the soundtrack is awesome, the visuals are powerful, and the execution of many events is actually really well done, in my opinion. It was just sorted out in a way that destroys a lot of the emotional impact I felt in the novels.

I do want more Tezuka manga, though. That's for sure...
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 7:43 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for reminding me to check out Tim Eldred's new Yamato site. That guy is a wealth of information on that franchise. I hope Funimation's release of Resurrection leads to the licensing of 2199 (I have little interest in Resurrection, but I'll buy it just to support that possibility). It would be nice to get a real release of the original shows, too, with accurate English dubs and bilingual discs, but that's a pipe dream.

As stated above, Discotek has really dominated this year. There's stuff they released I still have yet to get, but I'm currently enjoying the release of the first Lupin III TV series, which includes some commentary by Reed Nelson and others, and early next year the Secret of Mamo release with every available English dub track for the movie (which is a few) might merit a purchase, regardless of already having the Geneon release. On the Lupin front, I'm hoping Funimation announces some details to their release of the newest series.

I don't see how anyone could make it past more than a few episodes of Bodacious Space Pirates. I guess they had to give it that title because The Pirates Who Do Nothing was taken. When I think space pirates, I think bloody carnage and awesome space combat, not a bunch of schoolgirls sitting around yapping for hours.
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lemurs



Joined: 01 Aug 2012
Posts: 101
PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 7:55 pm Reply with quote
Aniplex's limited edition Garden of Sinners and Oreimo sold out, but Fate/Zero wasn't released as a limited edition and the subsequent re-releases weren't either, so it's not a big "uh oh" if they're still available.
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darkchibi07



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 5459
PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 8:13 pm Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:


I don't see how anyone could make it past more than a few episodes of Bodacious Space Pirates. I guess they had to give it that title because The Pirates Who Do Nothing was taken. When I think space pirates, I think bloody carnage and awesome space combat, not a bunch of schoolgirls sitting around yapping for hours.


Ohhh, there's someone all right and with the reasons I agree with. Razz

As for titles that did not get a legal simulcast this year, yeah AKB0048 was one of them which I assume it's because of the licensing of the AKB48 music. The other one that peeved me was KyoAni's Hyouka. This I did not get why it wasn't simulcast in the spring season. What the heck, Kadokawa?
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 8:55 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I'd be shocked if it wasn't submitted for Oscar contention, as well.


Given that it's 2010 and came out 2012 here, I don't believe it's even eligible for the Oscars. Not that it matters, they'll just hand the statue to Brave and Pixar because they weren't making a Cars film. This will also affect Poppy Hill, being a 2011 supposedly coming in 2013, unless it's already done the necessary LA qualifying run? Exact same problem if for A Letter to Momo as well. No Academy Award nominations for any of them, no public recognition. In a slow animated year, some of these films would have been serious contenders.

On piracy and legal streams, what we have now is nice, but it's also sort of naive to think every single series airing in Japan is going to be OK'd to stream in North America (I know other places have it even worse).

Quote:
At first, Aniplex's similar high-price, low-volume approach seemed just as foolish and just as likely to fail


Pick older and less popular titles, even if they're classics? Absolutely you'll fail! Pick the New Hotness that people cannot shut up about? They'll buy those boxsets for $150 without even a second thought. Let your lesser series go elsewhere, keep the meat for the ravenous dogs.

Quote:
Granted, since then, none of Aniplex USA's offerings have sold out-- even the extremely popular Fate/Zero seems to be a victim of its sky-high price tag


Wasn't that just the Japanese disc clone with subtitles aimed at North Americans as an import? That wasn't a license.

On SAO:
Quote:
so it'll be interesting to see what Aniplex USA decides to do with the series. I hope it involves an inexpensive box set and a dubbed airing on Neon Alley, at least


Not when the discs are selling 40k in Japan, no way. That ties directly into my above statements on meat for dogs, this is choice.

On Madoka:
Quote:
an artful series that both embraces visual and story archetypes of beloved magical girl stories and smashes them to little itty bitty pieces. Evangelion has influenced mecha shows that came after it to this day-- expect dokes to have a similar effect on magical girl stuff.


As long as it doesn't have the same setup of "Look at all this cute imagery, cute designs, safe, fluffy, pink – and now they're suffering physically and mentally! FOOOOOLED YOOUUU". Madoka got by on soft designs from Aoki Ume and trippy visuals by Shinbo accompanying a decent story and good characters. Madoka's visual element is super important to that show's success and effectiveness. I don't think lightning can strike in the same way again. It's always easy to have magical girls suffer for reasons other than being magical girls, Uta~Kata explored several possibilities.


Last edited by walw6pK4Alo on Sun Dec 30, 2012 9:24 pm; edited 1 time in total
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wandering-dreamer



Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 1733
PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 9:15 pm Reply with quote
Juno016 wrote:

Sword Art Online, though... ugh...
The anime ruined the feeling I got from reading the novels by re-arranging the events to be chronological, which sounds like a good idea on paper and would be for many other series that are out-of-order... but SAO's storytelling really works best in its original novel chapter order because it doesn't START OFF with a bunch of random, episodic short stories that almost never have any baring on the future of the show.

I've been thinking something similar, it sounded like a great idea to make the story all chronological (especially since you know there would be fans going "but what happened in those two years?!") but since the story just didn't pull off the first-half-episodic-second-half-plot-heavy format well. I think I've heard that the author is completely rewriting that arc and I wish the anime had either waited until he had done so or the adaptors had gone ahead and re-written it themselves, there has GOT to be a smoother way to tell and pace that story.
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jymmy



Joined: 11 Nov 2011
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:20 am Reply with quote
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I still have mixed emotions about the Renewal project in general; the new films are very enjoyable and highly accessible, but it's hard not to think of them as nostalgia pieces, and wish for a guy of Anno's talents to do something new instead. But Evangelion has never just been about the cartoon

Little point first off: Renewal is the remastering of the TV series and movies that was eventually released in the West as the Platinum DVD set and the movies never. Rebuild is the popular fan-created term, Shin Gekijouban or New Movie/Theatrical Edition is the official but not officially-translated term for the new Evangelion film teratology.
Anyway, they're not nostalgia pieces: the first film may have played too close to the series but the project as a whole has always been to make something new and move on from Neon Genesis. Anno left Gainax and formed his own animation studio for that express purpose. He introduced the character of Mari specifically so that the story would evolve differently.
Regardless of how necessary the writer sees the films (Anno claims the modern era is "closed, stagnant" and wants to reinvigorate the anime industry), the intent is not nostalgia at all.

"It is so that we may be free of the past, refrain from taking advantage of the present, and aim for a future with progress."
- Hideaki Anno
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Red Fox of Fire



Joined: 24 Jan 2010
Posts: 345
PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:31 am Reply with quote
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Despite thin plotting and some weird imouto baggage in the second half, SAO really seems to be the show that everyone's watching

Even if they hated it.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4462
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:35 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Is anyone out there still staying away from these services entirely?


Yes. I've more or less stopped watching fansubs entirely, aside from fansubs of older anime that were never licensed for streaming in the first place, but I haven't switched to streaming services, I just wait for physical media releases, because, if I'm paying for anime, I want it on disk. I don't even have Netflix, I'm still only interested in renting movies on physical media from bricks-and-mortar stores. Just the old-fashioned kind of guy I am.
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TitanXL



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 4036
PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 3:01 am Reply with quote
Quote:
That's another thing that really grinds my gears, actually-- in this age of widely-available legal streaming, there are still shows coming out where your only options are to pirate, or not watch at all. Lookin’ your way, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure!


Such is life. I'm surprised CR doesn't try for Kamen Rider or Super Sentai, give they have other live-action stuff on there. Otherwise, yeah, Jojo's, AKB, Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal 2, Gyrozetter, Inazuma Eleven, Initial D 5th Stage, Danball Senki, Aikatsu, Pretty Cure, Doraemon, Conan, Pocket Monsters Best Wishes, Jewelpet just to name a few current ones.. let's not even get into older shows like Madoka they ignored. Way too many shows aren't streamed to say fan-subs are obsolete.
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tuxedocat



Joined: 14 Dec 2009
Posts: 2183
PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:53 am Reply with quote
That was really fun to read, Mike.

I was, frankly surprised about the information regarding Starblazers. I have the three season sets. Am i to assume they are now out-of-print? --This is the first I've heard about any of that...

In any case, the idea that the new production might bring me an un-Bowlderized version of Yamato is very exciting.
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Raneth



Joined: 06 Oct 2008
Posts: 271
PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:28 am Reply with quote
I avoided AKB0048 at first because of the idol motif, but after a lot of people talked about looking forward to season 2, I've started to check it out.

Two episodes in, and it's surprisingly good. You have to suspend disbelief more than a little (though not as much as, say, Deadman Wonderland) but it does a really good job in just two episodes with developing the cast in believable ways, even if it does use archetypes a little bit.

I was also afraid the show would fall to moe cliches, but I was really happy at Yuka's reaction when spoiler[her boyfriend told her that he wouldn't like her if she was an idol, and she basically told him to fudge off. You don't see that level of independence from girls in moe anime for the most part, so that laid my fears to rest for now.]
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wayne-kun



Joined: 07 Aug 2010
Posts: 88
Location: Kingston, Ontario.
PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:45 am Reply with quote
TitanXL wrote:
I'm surprised CR doesn't try for Kamen Rider or Super Sentai


I think that is a whole other beast to deal with. I think you would have to pull those from Toei's cold dead hands before they would let their baby's stream on the internet for free. Even though it would make them some money from people out side japan instead of next to nothing.
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TheAncientOne



Joined: 06 Oct 2010
Posts: 1868
Location: USA (mid-south)
PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 10:43 am Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:

I don't think they say it anymore, but I always did tend to get really annoyed whenever CrunchyRoll outright stated in interviews & con panels that they "put in a bid for every new show that was coming out every season". I don't doubt that CR looked at each & every new show when each new season came, but I highly doubt that they had the money, manpower, or even interest in honestly trying to get every new show each season. Just like any other anime company over here I'm sure that CR indeed looked at certain shows and simply thought "Maybe someone else will simulcast it" or "Maybe we can get it later as a catalog title" (as rare as catalog-focused streaming licenses are for CR) or even "Why do this show when we can do this other one?". To even say that they try to get everything every season to people in public is silly & unreasonable.

It almost sounds as if you are wanting to say CR is lying without coming straight out and saying so.

Given the number of titles each season they stream that elicit a "Why did you waste money on that?" response, the evidence suggests they are telling the truth. Most fans seem to look at titles that are expected to be popular (i.e., JoJo's and Little Busters) and point those as evidence CR doesn't try to get everything. (To which I counter with pointing out that Funimation or Sentai didn't get them either, and they do pick and choose).

Just because you put in a bid doesn't mean a company isn't flat out going to say "No", or counter-offer with terms that would mean losing money on the property. I'm certain CR wouldn't mind taking the risk of breaking even or perhaps losing a bit on a property if it would drive new traffic to the site, but only a fool would take a bath on something.
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