Cyborg had a 19th birthday party in one of the issues of the comic. It couldn’t have been too far into the series.
One of the other Titan’s says, “19. Welcome to the club”
And are the calling Changeling, Beast Boy again in the comics? I was wondering why he had that name in the cartoon.
I must admit, I love the show. I never read the comic book, so the only one I recognize is Robin. But for some reason, I can’t get enough. I love the theme song, and as goofy as the anime stuff is, I love it. Can’t really explain why, though.
Wait a moment. The Teen Titans Robin is supposed to be Dick Gracy? I thought it was the second Robin. Er, the one Batman picked up after Dick became Nightwing. The one I can never remember the name of and refer to as “ickle Robin.”
In the comic books . . . well it’s both but that’s confusing.
When the Teen Titans comics first started up it was in fact Dick Grayson as Robin / Nightwing.
Currently, Nightwing is part of a different team; The Outsiders.
There is a Robin on the Teen Titans in the comics, but it’s Tim Drake who is technically the third robin.
(Jason Todd was the 2nd Robin and nobody liked him so he went and ate worms.)
On the cartoon Robin is, I think, supposed to be Tim Drake. He isn’t voiced by Mathew Valencia, however, who played Tim Drake / Robin on the old Batman Animated Series. They haven’t said one way or the other yet that I’ve seen.
(And frankly, I hope they don’t. I like the show well enough on it’s own without trying to tie it to previous ‘continuity’ or whatever with the other shows.)
Hey! I like Raven, though the show could do a better job explaining exactly why she’s so low key. “Nevermore” (the episode with the world in the magic mirror) did a good job of starting to show the consequences, but right now it just seems like she has a bad attitude; not that she’s repressing a force that could destroy the world. Meh, maybe in the future seasons.
T-E E-N T-I-T A-N-S Teen Titans! Let’s go!
Grayson.
Dick Grayson.
Sheesh! :rolleyes:
Next thing you know, audreyayn will be walking around, talking about Superman and Clark Kant.
When everybody knows it’s Nietzsche. 
I like the show. I don’t read the comics, and I generally don’t care much for anime. But for some reason, I like the show. It’s probably because the characters to me seem pretty realistic, in terms of behaving like actual teens (jealousy, pettiness, bickering, sullenness, selfishness, and so forth).
There was an episode that involved some bad guy I’ve never heard of and Raven and Starfire switching bodies. Raven explained to Starfire that even just a little emotion is enough to trigger her powers, I think after Starfire launched them into the air at about mach 50.
Starfire’s powers, of course, worked the exact opposite way, requiring that the person using them be filled to the brim with emotion (which, I assume, is why she’s so frickin’ happy all the damn time).
They began to relate to each other and there was much bonding, yadda yadda.
I hate it–starting with that annoying theme song, which sounds like 11-year-olds singing English phonetically after eating too much sugar.
It tries too hard to pander to anime fans–one of which I am definitely ]i]not]/i]–while also pandering to pre-teen idealizations and adult stereotypes of teens. And way too much “attitude”.
Justice League, on the other hand, just keeps getting better and better. It actually seems to be written by and for adults.
True, but I liked the Slade storyline lately.
Actually, what I really liked about the show was their first real villain batttle - with the insidious trio. From that first scene where the three are battling it out against robots on tape (set to quietly happy classical music, no less) to very last scene, its just done so well!
“Pandering” to anime fans. Yep, I think that’s accurate. They clearly try too hard to emulate (and exaggerate) the most distinctive elements of anime.
Please, even I know Superman is secretly Peter Parker. :rolleyes:
The funny thing is, most anime fans refuse to touch it exactly because it’s pandering so much. This also applies to … what is it called? Spy Girls? Odd, because Batman: TAS was a great example of a show that took elements from anime but also retained its own. So it’s not like it hasn’t been done, and close to home as well.
Robin vs. Slade is what’s changed my mind about the series. Still mute the opening, though.
Can we get some spoiler warnings, please!
It reminds me of those ‘manga’ issues of comics that kept coming out five or six years ago. Where they’d copy the most obvious visual aspects of manga and paste them onto a western comic character. Not the good ones, like the super-detailed backgrounds and leisurely direction, but the big eyes and the hair. ‘Cause, you know, that’s the only difference between Lone Wolf and Cub and Green Lantern. Samurai Jack did the same thing. (Didn’t like that one, either)
It’s not even doing the clone thing particularly well. The pacing isn’t quick enough to keep the mugging gags funny. And when you’re reduced to recycling gags from Scooby Doo, it’s probably time to retire.
Still, blatant, inappropriate ‘borrowing’ is often a first step when trying to adapt new ideas, so it’s possible they’ll eventually come up with something that combines anime’s writing and dynamic direction with the good parts of their own style. What might qualify as ‘good parts’ to CN style, I couldn’t tell you, but I’m assured they exist.
It’s well above average for a CN original show, though, in that it doesn’t double as an ipecac.
Yeah. ‘Cause anime never has jealousy, pettiness, bickering and sullenness. 
–
“Is this a super-violent porn cartoon?”
A little, I suppose. But still anything is better than the “Now Every Artist Is Jim Lee” phase that American comics went through in the early 90’s. The manga imitation did lead (slowly) to a wider variance of styles in mainstream Marvel & DC comics which has only improved the industry, IMHO.
I think Titans is an extremely fun show and have enjoyed just about every episode so far. The style isn’t exactly to my taste, but neither was the new style from Bruce Timm the first time I saw it. It may grow on me.
Fenris:
Yeah, but Superman sure did. I recall an issue of Superman somewhere in the 100 area where Warp tried to catch Superman by teleporting from in front of him to behind his back (or some such). Superman, using his super-speed, caught Warp in mid-teleport, tied up his legs in one spot and his arms in the other, rendering him immobile in mid-teleport.
That was COOL.
Y’know, I actually think the mid-90’s “let’s all draw exactly like Joe Maduriera” phase was more annoying than that. If only because it led to artistic abominations like those of Humberto Ramos ending up in otherwise good books (blech).
What anime elements did TAS borrow? It seems like mostly throwbacks to Max Fleischer’s Superman and Bruce Timm’s style (which in TAS wasn’t particularly anime-y at all).
That’s the main reason I don’t watch the show. I wish they had just stuck to the style of animation used in Justice League, Batman, or Superman.
Marc
To be honest, I’m basing that on other people’s comments that Batman: TAS is anime-influenced. I’m so used to anime myself I never notice these things unless they’re exaggerated to the point of … well, Teen Titans.
I think ickle Robin – sorry, Tim Drake – had a rather anime-ish design. But it’s been quite a few years since I’ve seen the show, I may easily be wrong.