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Particle Man takes a look at the upcoming theatrical release of an anime called
Hey all you true bluers out there in the yonder of this big weird tragic world that we all huddle upon, Harry here with a look at the next anime film to get theatrical distribution.... X.... Just that letter, nothing else. Particle Man is once again the proton on the spot with all the ifs ands and buts on the film so take a picachu...
Bluntly, I was hoping for more from X (a.k.a. X/1999), the
supernatural anime feature that Manga will be putting into limited
release starting next month. There's been a couple of years of buzz
behind the film, which is based on characters and plotlines created
by Clamp, the celebrated, all-female manga studio. Given Manga's (the
company) previous track-record with theatrical releases, I was
looking forward to something that would both dazzle the eyes and
challenge the mind.
The eye-dazzling part is no problem. The film is practically
wall-to-wall _tour de force_, with more indelible images than you can
shake a talisman at: a tidal wave inside a train station, a young
girl crucified on steel girders, plenty of otherworldly pyrotechnics
and mystical jousting. You don't go three seconds without something
weird and wonderful on the screen -- it's enough to make me wish I
still inhaled.
But the thing that I liked about Manga's other theatrical releases
was that they went beyond
the visual. They confounded prejudices; there was a depth to their
themes that declared that whatever you thought you knew about anime
was nowhere near the medium's actual ability to take on subject
matter that would daunt even live-action filmmakers. There's no such
complexity to X -- this is your standard,
bad-guys-will-bring-about-the-end-of-the-world-unless-the-Chosen-One-intevenes
scenario, with an extra dose of tension in that the final conflict
occurs between friends. The lack of thematic complexity is
established right off with an awkward dollop of exposition -- you
feel you're being dropped into the continuation of a TV series rather
than entering into the broader scope of a feature film -- and then
continues on with a story that's heavy on set-pieces and light on
anything that would allow you to empathize with the main characters.
Those already familiar with the tropes of anime will probably feel
right at home -- see it in a theater with a big screen and good sound
system -- but I think it's unfortunate that, with efforts like
PRINCESS MONONOKE and the forthcoming (oh please, oh please) CASTLE
IN THE SKY broadening the audience for serious animation, X feels
like a step backward, something more likely to be embraced by the
established subculture than checked out by curious newcomers. It's a
visual feast, no argument, and worth a look by anyone into bold,
imaginative filmmaking. Just don't expect any ground to be broken
with this one.
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At least it's not Samurai X.
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"Limited release". A sentence that, in Florida, translates to "you'll never see this until it's on video." I've seen some of the visuals in the manga, but admit I have never actually read the books. Is (or when will there be) a trailer online?
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It is really a great movie. I have only seen a fansub version but must say that it is far better than Ghost in the Shell, which is a terible film. Don't get m wrong, I love the GITS manga. Shiro is a genius, but the film is really bad, especially the pathetic english version. Believe me Manga is not resposible for any quality seen in these films. They just buy up what they think will make them money. Their main goal is to mak anime very mainstream and make lots of money off of it. It's pretty bad when Cartoon Network is doing a better job of it, and also treating the fans with respect by doing things like showing the upcoming Gundam Wing series uncut in a later timeslot. When the Evangelion films come out Manga will release some great films, but they definitely won't be mainstream hits. They are too inteligent and weird to be hits with the Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll loving casual anime fans out there.
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Don't get me wrong, X is a dazzling film. But if you haven't read any of the Manga, you're going to hate this film. The film doesn't fully explain itself at all, and the ending will probably anger you beyond belief. (Pretty much the same as the ending for Demon City Shinjuku, in terms of its abruptness) But of course, it's unlikely anyone will see this in a theatrical release. Anime is marketed as if it were the plague. Mononoke Hime was released here and hardly anyone knew at all about it. This is the highest grossing japanese film of all time, and it barely gets a t.v. commercial. If Mononoke Hime couldn't get Anime into the american theatrical mainstream, then nothing will. (Although there is SOME hope riding on the new Vampire Hunter D flick)
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Feb 23, 2000 11:36:37 PM CST
like getting up saturdays mornings for cartoonies? watch beastma
by darthpsychotic
*season 2 episode 3-> http://trinity.ncats.net/~megadrive/bmep16.asf *cut and paste into your WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER!
*season 2 episode 2-> http://trinity.ncats.net/~megadrive/bmep15.asf
*season 2 episode 1-> http://trinity.ncats.net/~megadrive/bmep14.asf -
Some technical crap: Mononoke was the highest grossing animated film... I believe Titanic beat it for highest grossing film.
Anyway, lots of good points, but I found that reading the manga (which people should know isn't even concluded yet) really detracted from the movie. Missing/altered characters, complete lack of story as well as character development, etc. made this a ho-hum movie that could have been so much more. I would've died if it was a fleshed-out animated television or straight-to-video release, but I don't think CLAMP really had the resources to do either of the two.
I can just never shake the feeling that the movie was just a promo for the manga. -
You can download the Japanese trailer to the X movie on various anime sites on the internet. And I must say, it is ten times more dazzling than the movie was for me, with the amazing X-Japan music to boot. The trailer was almost all original animation, with only 1 or 2 scenes actually in the movie.
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Disney's handling Castle in the sky....expect the to do a real piss-poor job of handling it. Have i mentioned that....I HATE DISNEY'S SHOWTUNE BULLSHIT!!!! Just thought i'd toss that out there for ya. And for God's sake BRING BACK THE GUYVER, VIZ VIDEO!!!
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This show raised me. The humans hardly ever won...Earth was a giant prison camp...is this gonna be released on VHS soon? And X-Men too. Have every episode on tape...can't beat Beast reading Animal Farm in prison. Great stuff kids.
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Do you guys know that in Japan, there is no distinction between an animated and a live action film. Audiences in Japan approach animated films with the same expectation as any other film. To them, a movie is a movie, which accounts for the adult themes and content in so many of the Anime titles. It is unfortunate that American audiences look at live action as real movies, and animated films as KID MOVIES. If the Iron Giant had been made for a foreign audience, it would have been recieved so much better. I only hope that one day, Americans will accept animated films as serious film making as well (I know many of you geeks already feel this way). I am intrigued by Anime, I just wish they had more appealing stories to add to the intricate visuals... My favorites are Akira, Ghost in a Shell, and Lapputa... I'm pretty much a newbie to Anime though.
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This show really supprised me as I incorrectly assumed it to be standard saturday morning crap. It turned out to have a very linear storyline, intelligent writing, and good acting. It would be great to get the first major story arch about the war on DVD. I believe they made a few post-war episodes, but they should have stopped at the original conclusion of the war.
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And unfortunately for non-Anime inductees. I'ts gonna twist your little mind into such a state that is not used to, that you'll end up sharing this guys opinion of the film. Which is tragic. X suffers from a lot of what Akira suffers from. Trying to cram too many manga issues into a single movie. As a result the story is a little difficult to follow. X is similar to other savior scenarios except that, as in a lot of anime and life, there aren't really any good people or bad people. There are just people motivated by this thing or that thing that they believe in. In this case, the conflict is global in scale. This movie puts an interesting spin on things. The savior is not just a reluctant savior but a downright hostile one. It's never clear until the very end which way he will jump, and when he does jump, his direction is forced upon him. A truly tragic story which will leave you thinking, 'Damn, I didn't know anyone had the balls to attempt a story like that'. Which by the way is how I felt at the end of the first season of Magical Knights Rayearth. I'm telling you guys stick with it.
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X makes more sense if you read the manga it was based on. But even in the manga, it is a bit bloated... A bit of too many cook syndrome.
I'm more excited about the upcoming OAV adoptation of the first arc of "Angel Sanctuary", which is similiarly a end-of-the-world shoujo manga. But with a more coherent storyline, and a single author behind the scene.
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You will probably also like the original Macross and Gundam series. They have a similar feel and setting. I won't go so far as to say Exosquad ripped off either Gundam or Macross, although there are many who would. The similarities are quite striking and the animation is several steps above Exosquad. Keep an open mind, and check it out.
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...a big "Hell Yeah!" to the folks that mentioned Exo-Squad. That show and the Batman animated series are the closest American animators have ever gotten to anime, and I wish more people knew about it. Peace.
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Feb 24, 2000 12:26:21 PM CST
or download beastmachine transformers yourself *> www.beastmachi
by darthpsychotic
episodes will only run in windows media player however!
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We here in AMERICA like to call our Macross, Robotech!!! Just kidding. I don't want to start a Carl Macek war. Does anyone know if the US will be getting those toy/model Gundam Wing kits to coincide with the Toonami release? If so, will they be the same products as the Japanese ones or new, "easier for simple Americans", models that don't require brains to put together. One of the greatest things in life is to throw a pencil(missle) at a newly completed Gundam, and watch all it shatter.
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I don't care for the anime very much, but the group that does the theme song, also called "X" is one of the best japanese rock groups i've ever heard. I highly reccommend them.
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come on, people!! AKIRA needs to be released to American theaters!! And I'm not talking released like Princess Guacamoley or whatever, which was in like four theaters, and of course none of them were even in my STATE, but release AKIRA like any other movie! Re-Master the bitch, put it in surround sound, and you have the #1 summer movie of the year!!!
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Sheeyt, you people are never satisfied! Although the grim tone of X is not my taste, I think you guys are just jumping on the negative because it's animated. The conspiracy rears it's head again when dealing with animation, the typical response to anime is either: "Hey it's the cheesy girls in sailorsuit" response, or "Oh, you mean japanese porn?" or "Pokemon, AGAIN!?!". I mean COME ON, Anime is as unique as a person, it's different every time! So what if it don't break ground, it still works, not every film has to be a titanic, right? Or am I just an idealist?
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Particle Man do us a favor next time you review and anime and do some homework on the movie. X is a good film but it can't be compared to The Princess Mononoke or Perfect Blue. First of all Manga has had the rights to X long before it got those of Perfect Blue. So what took them so long? Who knows. The hype behind X was long over before Perfect Blue was out. At the time X came out in theaters it was the best. But since then there have been many films that have pushed anime to a different level. For example the upcomming release of Spriggan will blow away anything you seen to date except Princess Mononoke. Also FYI the X movie was ment as a "teaser", for the you see the manga(Japanese comicbook)is not over and Clamp has just announced an X TV series in the works. Sure X may not be on par with the anime that just came out, But the plaing field has gotten alot better since that film was made.
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A couple of years ago, "Akira" did find it's re-mastered butt in a couple of theaters, or so I thought. I saw it at the Dobie in Austin and I didn't think it was just an old print. Could be wrong, though.
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Furthermore, they are going to animate X as a 26 episodes 25 minutes anime later this year. That should give it enough time to give the whole story justice. But until then, X the movie is still a mess. This comes from an anime lover. -
I recently downloaded the trailer for this and I must say it LOOKS pretty sweet, bot with a very typical anime plotline. Too bad it won't be playing around here (Minnesota... blah!). Check it out at manga.com.
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Well, I can't say I'm glad to see that the X: Destiny War movie is being released here by Manga... The movie itself is, like several people have stated already, visually pretty impressive, but only a small sampling of the beautiful manga series itself, damned confusing at points, and with a horrible ending. Although, one note I would make about the X movie is that it has some good voice talent... Entirely IMHO, of course, but there you go. As far as the company Manga itself, well, their dub of Macross II was pretty bad, all told, and I haven't been terribly impressed with most of their other stuff... Still, it could be worse. It could be US Renditions. Meanwhile, yay, my first post ever, and I'm already cynical. ^^;
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You know that US Renditions was the company that Manga Video bought to get some seed anime to start with in the States, right? That's why their first few anime, like Macross II and Black Magic M-66 (crams all of Terminator into 45 minutes, and was the anime that kept Shirow away from adaptations of his own work for years-- cause he got on the company's ass to do it right!), had already been released by US Renditions a couple years before. Trish Ledoux, one of the leaders of Viz Video (who owns the rights to the Spriggan movie and manga), once worked for US Renditions, and did the voice for the Princess in Outlanders (it's hilariously horrible)... From an old pro...
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The main reason I want to see the X movie is this: NOBUTERU YUKI!! This guy is the genius character designer behind the Five Star Stories anime, Angel Cop (crap except for the designs), Record of Lodoss War (OAV), and, the Eva-killer, Escaflowne (JK... I like both shows... but I like Escaflowne slightly better). To see this man's art move on the big screen will be a dream; and I can't wait until the Escaflowne movie comes out next year. BTW, that X^2 "trailer" (because it's X with music by X) was animated by Yuki himself, and was released back in 1993 or 4.
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Hey people...
Do yerself a favor. Unless you want some lame MORON writing to your PERSONAL email addy, dont post to this site. I was under the impression that Ol' Harry kept that info confidential. Lo and behold, he took advantage of that trust and gave that info away. Makes you wonder about the intregity of the site, eh? Bad form, Harry.... -
Now, I'm not an otaku of anime, but I have seen my fair share, and I have seen X.
I saw X in a college theater on a Projection TV. It wasn't a bad movie, and I think it hit a lot of themes on the head. I didn't like the translation that I saw, it was stilted and lacked any drama to the subtitles, but thank God Allmighty and all that that the film was sub'd. When people choose to dub a film, such as Mononoke Hime, (which I saw w/o subs and still enjoyed the hell out of.) or Kiki's Delivery Service, or any Anime that makes it to theatres here, then they dumb it down. Something gets lost.
But as for Japanese Animation being anyway superior as far as American, I think its a load of crap. I /still/ watch cartoons today, and /still/ find humor aimed at me, even in Disney films. Tarzan, Mulan, and the Prince of Egypt are dear to my heart. Its just differences in style and scope. The number of major studio's actively pursuing animation of any quality is lower than my GPA (and I'm not that good of a student).
Anyway, My current picks of the Anime scene are Cowboy Bebop and, as always, Ranma 1/2. :P
forvrin,
the phat cat that slaps the clap off the hooker on 32nd street. :P Actually, I live in Georgia.
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I would like to defend X. The manga is much better than the movie. In it the main character Kamui is a bit of a bad ass(think a teenaged Porter) who doesn't care about the world--only about himself, his love Kotori(who is later killed) and best friend Fuma(who he later fights). In the early volumes the two sides are fighting over him, which will he choose? To save humanity or help save earth? There are some nice metaphoric posters of Kamui where he has one Angel wing and one Demon wing, displaying his choice. The manga series has alot of depth and gives alot of information on each of the sub-characters backgrounds, personalities and goals. It is very interesting and has alot of drama--some people even consider it too slow. Unfortunately the movie was made in 1996 when the series was only a third done. I advise people to see the movie, then go read the books. You will love it. I would also recommend that you hunt down the obscure video X2(X squared or X double). It is a collection of songs from the band X-Japan(really good!!) set to artwork and posters from the manga. The last video is a full animation which is closer to the manga than the movie--very impressive. One last note, the manga is not over yet--the movie's ending scenes are made jsut for the film. All X fans are eagerly awaiting the X television series coming out the end of the year in Japan.
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Anyone who hasnt seen evangelion owes it to themselves to watch the series and ending films. It really transcends so many other anime and
movie/series. I dont think ive ever seen a series with quite the depth that Evangelion builds into.
It starts as your typical reluctant hero/monster of the week
serial and builds into a rather detailed study on human behaviour, motivation , and philosophy. The ending is also very non-conventional (thats all ill say :>). In addition some of the music is incredible, to the point where they gave orchestral concert performances of it in Japan. -
There is indeed a problem with X, it was a movie released before the planned 20 some odd volume of the manga had barely gotten into the first 6 manga issues. (currently it's at volume 11)
The movie is essentially the main and final scene, but you lack the necessary background information and character relationships, and idiosyncrancies to be able to truly enjoy it.
In order to truly understand the complexity of the movie... that to the uninformed seems just like a great deal of fighting... you need to have a good basis of knowledge in the manga (for those japanese impaired, that's what they call their comics).
Translations of the manga are available through Animerica. It has been appearing serialized monthly in their Animerica publication, then switched to Animerica Extra once that publication began print. Also, they translated manga volumes into book format as well, and I know for certain that at least the first 4 are out, and there may be more available now as well.
Also, you can hit the anime web turnpike http://www.anipike.com and search for X and find some of the info you need online.
Despite the movies flaws, being that it's all climax, has no rising action or resolution. It's a piece to behold and enjoy. Artistically it's breathtaking, the music score suits it very well and is very unique, and has the last major hit recording of the j-pop band X-japan "Forever Love". (X-Japan musically sounds like a Japanese Queen).
One other thing....
The first fight you see in the movie ... is between Seishirou and Subaru.... which is a confrontation that built up in a pre-existing Clamp work called Tokyo Babylon, and carries through their ongoing and current work X. Trust me, without knowing the character/background information there, you're missing out on a great deal.
^_^
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Well,
For all the naysayers and such,
there are 2 simple things to understand:
#1. X was made for the fans. Nothing more, nothing less. I, too, was disillusioned by the lack of character development but it was CLAMP's work(They helped with the film)so therefore, they are satisfied with the way it came out.
#2(And the important one): There will be an X TV series. If I remember correctly, it begins this season in japan. If Rayearth and Card Captor Sakura are any clue as to how well the series will do, we're in for a treat.
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thanks for the info, Hayama. You just made my day *grin*
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I know many of you were probably expecting more from the X movie or that perhaps Manga would have chosen a much more favorable movie to release, but the fact of the matter is that X was really successful in Japan, just like Ghost In The Shell, and Princess Mononoke, and thats why it would be a good option to release them here also. Even though these films have yet to open Nation wide like any other movie, I think it's magnificent to see these films even being released to the public! I can remember years back when I first got into anime and practically nobody knew what it was...Now it has blown up all over the world! When I go to a video store there will be an entire aisle dedicated to anime,not just a puny section. There are even several Manga and Anime magazines out now! Anime has even become popular on Cable Television with the likes of DBZ, Pokemon, and Gundam Wing! They may not be the cream of the crop, but it's just a start, and still a very impressive one...This acceptance of anime is only a sign of things to come!
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Just a counterpoint to that glowing opinion of Evangelion... The major thing going for EVA is originality. It's only mediocre as a 'mecha' series, of which there are far better... Tenkuu no Escaflowne, most of the Mobile Suit Gundam series, and, the 'greatest anime of all time' (according to a recent poll in Japan), Martian Successor/Mobile Battleship Nadesico... Which ADV ought to get off their butts and release the rest of. As for the introspection/psychological stuff, it does a very good job of it, but again, there's better... The Pioneer-released Serial Experiments Lain, for example. Oh, and, FYI, the last two episodes of the Evangelion TV series were written overnight, when the creator and GAINAX were told they needed to pad out the series to 26 episodes. The creator/writer of the series later claimed (after the movies were made) that the psychological themes were added afterwards, during the creation of episodes 25 and 26, and the movies... He'd just been really depressed when he wrote Evangelion, which was why it ended up so weird. It was therapy for him. ;) This isn't to say I don't like Evangelion... In fact, it's one of my favourite series, just because it's so... Different. It's not anything else. It's original, it's bizarre, and it holds together in the end, presuming you can watch the last two episodes and the End of Evangelion movie with your sanity intact, but, it's not the be all and end all. A series that exhibits a lot more depth, BTW, as well as a personal favourite of mine, is Fushigi Yuugi... Although, it IS shoujo (girl's style) anime, so, fair warning. It gets mushy at times.
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1. Have you ever see any other CLAMP movie/anime? If you had you would have noticed that there are many levels in X linking it to other CLAMP series (your don't have enough experience in anime to say that there isn't other levels.)
2. Have you read the X manga? (prefferable the Japanese version.) If you had you would have understoop what an amazing story it is and that it was change quite a lot for the movie.
3. Have you watched the Japanese version of the film? ( If you had you wouldn't have been had to put up with the stupid voice actors they cast which really detract from the origion script.)
4. Did you have your glasses on if the film? If you had you would have seen the countless amount of symbolism and subtleties that gave it a second dimension.
5. The idea that it was - "the end of the world unless the chosen one interviens" is so wrong! The whole thing is about the fact it could go either way and the winner is chosen by who he joins, if he had chosen the other side they would have won. There is no real 'bad side' it is only a better. One is fighter to save the Earth, the other to save humanity.
6. YOU ARE WRONG BECAUSE YOU ARE A NAIVE BAKA, KISAMA, YAROO, MANUKE!!!!! -
I thought the Uptown in Minneapolis would have it... Oh well... Perfect Blue is yet to reach here. I mean, our two "art houses" would just love to get X and Perfect Blue.. Mononoke was making them serious green!!! Oh, bigdaddymuffla, support a fellow Minnesotan's site! http://www.geocities.com/sailor_minneapolis
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I saw that movie on tape, and I'm pretty certain it was the american video release, over a year ago...could have been two years by now.
I liked the movie, only saw it that one time though. I have to agree, films like X, Akira, and Ghost in the Shell do suffer from trying to pack too much into one film. I was very dissapointed with Ghost in particular.
Not only did it cut the majority of the story and characters, chopped out the personality of all of the characters, and leave out a lot of the cool background devices like the Fujikomas, but Masamune Shirow who wrote and illustrated the manga had nothing to do with this film.
Anyone who's favourite anime are GitS, Akira, Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, or Gundam Wing? Dig a little deeper, there's a lot more out there. The stuff that washes up on our shores usually isn't the best.
Try checking out the two Patlabor movies released by Manga. Definitely some good stuff there.
And for the guy who was upset that Disney was doing some of Miyazaki's movies? They already did My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service, and I've heard they did a really good job. Miyazaki was really upset when his movie Nausicaa was translated and edited so horribly for it's US release that he'll only let companies bring his works over here if they agree not to change it for the worse.
Anyways, thats enough of my ramblings for the night. See ya. -
Clamp is wonderful. Rayearth is great. X is amazing. The series will be awesome. My problem is that no big companies are really endorsing anime. Sure there is disney, but they should have given Mononoke a much bigger release. It should have been an event. Perfect Blue was good and I don't care what you all say, Ghost in the Shell was damn amazing--see the DVD. Miyazaki rules. Evangelion rules. Marmalade Boy rules. There are so many animes that try to do something unique and wonderful and are telling stories that we do not get in America. They need to be seen. Tokyo Babylon from Clamp was amazing, (not the short anime but the long manga) and very deep. Can one company have the balls and release something that is Anime in a huge way. Maybe a good anime released wide would make Pokemon: the movie's numbers but with a wider audience. America needs Japan's profound animation. Sozo.
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