Anime

Factual Questions
21

I was watching an episode of “Duckman” on tape, and there was a scene near the beginning, where his [hated] sister-in-law…I forgot her name…was championing some video editing device. It changed a cigar that some old movie character was smoking into a carrot.

I bring this up because I just remembered that Cartoon Network was reportedly busy editing a cigarette out of some show. The thing about it was, you could still see the wiff of smoke eminating from the thin air. I’m not too sure, but Outlaw might be the show.

Anyway, my curiosity is where I wonder why people who’ve seen or owned the originals in some form take it as a personal insult if the show is edited…even just a little for television. Generally I’ve seen onlime missives about the bikini bathwear, missing innuendo, and alcoholic ‘tea’ from die-hard Tenchi fans. I just chuckle at the incongruity of the scene and the sometimes random praticioner at Broadcast Standards and Practices. I see that as less of an insult to my intellect than dropping episodes to adjust plot to get a different audience.

Of course you can ask if I don’t care, why does BS&P?

Anyway, in general I’m not militantly opposed to edits done to a show because of content (to get pas BS&P) or time. It’s done all the time to every show. Though I don’t see the problem in showing some skin, or having someone smoke onscreen (I’ve seen worse and lived) there are some whom are uncomfortable with that sort of thing. This is still daytime television on the “Cartoon Network”. However I’ll get upset if the edits help to in effect change the plot structure or story.

Anyway, a lot of people will get mad at the ‘stupid’ edits such as the cigarette, Serena’s nipples of Ryoko’s social drinking. I probably won’t. I can still go to AnimeFX and rent if (if I stop being so damn cheap). However if episodes 1-3 are cut just to make the thing more palatible to the boys, rewriting exposition in the process, well that’s stupid. I’ll just do a rewrite on The Color Purple because some of it is too touchy to deal with. Anyway,

I’m looking forward for its American television premire on Monday.

22

good speech…

But no…I do not take any changes as insults. Only laughable. See, the funny thing is that these shows minus the safe cuts are shown on National TV during regular hours in a whole lotta Japanese households. Inevitably, there are a few kids gonna watch it.

Now why do they sanitized for 12 year old Billy what 12 year old Mihoshi watched? Dunno. Apparently, we find cartoons to be the leading cause of all juvenile deliquency and need to make the necessary changes. At least, that is the only reason why they change it I can figure.

Do I care if they change it? Not really as long as the story does not suffer.

It may in certain ep of Outlaw Star. Here is to hope they can work it

23

It’s like what Heath Doolin said, it’s not an insult it’s just why take a good show that was okay for kids from Japan and edit it to show here. Also why take a show that is meant for slightly older viewers and try to make it okay for 7 year olds? We get good laughs out of the edits and stuff but things like making Haruka an Michiru from sailor moon cousins is going to far, especially when the relationship ends up looking incestuous that bugs me. Oh well I’ll watch it anyway :smiley:

24

[hijack]

There’s a fantastic song by the musician Momus entitled Bishonen that I think y’all would get a kick out of. Rather than reprint it here, I’ll direct you to the lyrics page of the record on which Bishonen appears.

It’s about halfway down the page. Here’s an excerpt (the first two verses):

Check it out.

25

Man, I’ve been away from this thread for too long…

Wolvie, as far as having a good storyline and dialogue, I’d strongly recommend Fushigi Yugi which is very good along these lines. For better or for worse, however, it’s a 2 season series, meaning 8 DVDs between the two box sets (which’ll run you close to $300 total) and god knows how many individually.

Also good - though it’s a 95 episode series, all said and done - is one of IQM’s and my favorites, Rurouni Kenshin. Very good dialogue and the storyline with really cool villains and anti-heroes and very good pacing throughout (as opposed to DBZ’s 45:1 trash talking to action ratio). IIRC, there are about 4 DVDs of the series out, and the OVA (original video animation) series should all be out on DVD by now as well. I’m a big fan of the OVAs and you can feel free to watch them as they occur before the TV series chronologically, so there are no spoilers. The art style is pretty dramatically different from the TV series though (it’s also much darker thematically), so if you dislike these aspects of it, don’t hold it against the TV series.

Love Hina, my newly appointed third favorite series also has great dialogue and is HILARIOUS! A lot of the humor are kind of anime in-jokish, borrowing a bit of its humor from Ranma 1/2 but that shouldn’t be too much of an issue even for a newbie.

So, IQM, how is KKnJ? And is it still available on fansub? For that matter, um, what’s it about?

Oh, and my vote for best (and most needless) edit is Pokemon’s referring to a musubi (rice ball) as a jelly doughnut. :slight_smile:

26

Heh. I rember thinking, when first seeing Cowboy Bebop that it would never, ever, get on american TV. Not because of the sex (of which there was none) or the violence (Which wasn’t bad) but because everyone in the series smokes, all the time. :slight_smile:

Cartoon Networks BS&P is so random, its funny. They seem to cut things out more or less completly at random, cutting out jokes in one episode, and leaving the exact same one in three eps later. Part of it might be just time based. “We need to cut three minutes, might as well do the parts that people might object too.”

To be fair, though, the CN specific edits wern’t bad at all. Most of the comical ones that they show were done either by Funmation or Cloverweight (CN wasn’t involved). Gundam Wing and Tenchi both made it through with no plot or character alterations or other major changes. Though they did cut a drinking scene out of ReBoot, the dastards.

Not quite. The cartoon was called Pocket Monsters, but said monsters were refered too as pokemon. Contracting long names to cutsy short versions is common among japanese kids and adolecents, which gives language purists in Japan fits.

I’ve never seen either version of Cardcaptors but everyone I know who’s seen both insists that the backlash is a huge overreation by people who haven’t seen the original. The original was a pokemon-esqe toy driven show, not Tokyo Babylon. Just a pretty good one with a bit of Clamp wierdness.

I’m still amazed that Slayers hasn’t shown up on TV yet. Almost no Japan-specific humor, no sex, no real violence, funny in a generally non-offensive way, and later some pretty good, non-bloody action.

About Outlaw Star, everything I’ve heard is that it’s fun action but not much more. The guy at http://www.animeondvd.com absolutly loves it, for what that’s worth.

Escaflowne, Kenshin, and Fushgi Yugi are all great, (the last one has a LOT of whining, though) as well as the as-yet-unmentioned Bubble Gum Crisis 2040 and Sabre Marionette J; but if you’re looking for something a bit shorter than a whole TV season, Wolvie, you might want to look up Macross Plus, Gundam:Stardust Memory (Can’t remember the year) or Key the Metal Idol, thought the latter gets pretty wierd.

Heh. It’s a good thing that copies of Otaku No Video are still floating around. One of the best xmas gifts I ever got.

“Is this a superviolent porn cartoon?”

27

Hey KKBattousai! I was wondering if you would show up :smiley: I’m not very good at summaries but here I go:
Kare Kano is great, it’s done by Gainex and it’s about this group of high school students. It starts with Yukino who is a model student and the top of her middle school class, admired by teachers and students alike, but this is all an act. Her only purpose in life is to be praised and loved by everyone. At home she’s messy, childish, and lazy. When she reaches high school she expects to be the class representative (based on grades) but someone beats her. To make herself feel better she assumes it’s some ugly dork but it’s Arima Souichirou, a beautiful young man from a rich family and she looses it. Arima confesses his love to her but she blows him off and is very happy because to her this means she’s won. One day when she’s at home dressed in her sweats and looking very bad Arima comes by her house and discovers her secret. He uses what he saw to blackmail her into doing some of his work (aka spend time with him). Well eventually Yukino realizes she likes him too and once they get together (it takes only 4 episodes) other characters show up and the show deals with all of their problems. It’s a romance but not in a Fushigi yuugi or marmalade boy way. It deals with the characters inner thoughts, feelings, insecurities and stuff. The anime just leaves off with no real ending but the manga is still going. I like it a LOT! The right stuf has the rights to the show and is suppose to be releasing it this spring but you can still get fansubs here http://sakuraanime.homepage.com/s_orders.html (it’s listed as his and her circumstances) and a good episode summary here http://www.amotokyo.com/default.asp?main=/main/info/karekano/index.htm
I really really love this show, next to kenshin, it’s my favorite.

I’ll shut up now :smiley:

(sorry if this is in anyway confusing mixed up or whatever, I’m having a hard time concentrating :))