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AICN Anime-Devil May Cry, One Piece, News and More

First by ricarleite	Feb 8th, 2008 09:09:17 AM
Which at a manga topic means shit
Second by pancomplex	Feb 8th, 2008 09:54:23 AM
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Who the hell do you think I am!? by GodMars	Feb 8th, 2008 10:01:53 AM
Tommy Lee Jones...?
Dante? What about Ratchet & Clank anime? by Baron Karza	Feb 8th, 2008 11:39:05 AM
Lots of better characters than the re-tread DMC.
Australia's Getting Eva Movies... by ScottGreen	Feb 8th, 2008 11:56:09 AM
Some late breaking news. See http://tinyurl.com/36v5r3 for more
I guess the situation does have me worried by Johnno	Feb 8th, 2008 01:40:27 PM
I'm one of those people who prefers to wait for complete boxsets before picking up a series. I do however download and watch fansubs before I purchase as I've felt kinda burned on impulse buys sometimes but I can honestly say i make it a point to eventually buy many series I've watched as free downloads as a way of supporting the shows I've liked and loved. The only times now that I pick up anime DVD right away are for films like Appleseed, or Place promised etc. Many people tout downloadable media as thenext thing but I don't see that happening anytime soon, perhaps for longer than anyone would guess. It's been revealed that sales of Hidef discs like blu-ray alone are more than double that of legal downloads even with their relatively small market share ocmpared to DVD. That'snot to say legal downloads aren't a nice option to go alongside physical media, but given the situation they'd probably make far less money as downloads than physical media but at a higher profit margin. Yes it is true that anime fans download all the time, but the reason is because it's free over bittorrent. If we had to pay, occasionally some anime fans may like the idea of checking out a show at a cheaper viewing fee if they feel honest, but given the amount of stuff fans buy at conventions, the hardcore anime fans are likely to stick with physical formats for ownership, lending, group viewing and especially for the cover art etc. While there is anime being shown on TV, the majority of it are Teen shows and the most widely appealing ones, which isn't bad, but as Scott said the truly niche genres don't stand a chance... however I do think if we got channels as part of a basic cable service like Animax that has a wide range of shows, anime companies can stand to make some oney through advertising revenue. Anime fans are big consumers after all. Toys, electronics, fashion etc can find the appropriate target audience. I honestly wouldn't mind subscribing to a channel like that even with advertising... it's just that the cable companies around here, unless you use satellite, you can't just order one channel, you have to get the complete package, or just ordering one channel will be a pretty outrageous price that you feel you're better off paying a bit more and getting the package. These guys are the same people who stand in the way of growing the digital distribution market with high prices and moving into a service where you pay per/MB or have limited bandwidth like 60 GBs a month.
What about REINASSANCE? by WickedMonster	Feb 8th, 2008 04:15:34 PM
I caught it yesterday on STARZ. I drank cough syrup and fell asleep watching it, but it presented some intriguing story. I don't remember anything being reported on this site about it.
Highlander: The Search for Vengeance was awesome!!! by Han Cholo	Feb 8th, 2008 05:04:13 PM
Seriously, it is the BEST Highlander movie period! The action is great as well as the duels.
I also have Renaissance,,,,,, by Han Cholo	Feb 8th, 2008 05:06:36 PM
I actually fell asleep watching it as well but from what I saw it had some pretty ground-breaking imagery, plus I think everything was mo-capped which made it more realistic even if the characters weren't exactly drawn that way. If anything it's something that animation enthusiasts should watch at least once.
Wolverine and the XMen by Stalkeye	Feb 8th, 2008 05:52:24 PM
Is this a continuation of the Xmen Evolution series? The animation and voices are somewhat familiar. Anyway I would hate to find out that the (Anime) Industry is strugling due to fansubs. It's a niche market as it is but i find it far more entertaining than today's American based animated series.
The US anime industry by veritasses	Feb 8th, 2008 10:09:40 PM
won't do well unless it taps into the mass market. The big money is with the kids, tweens and teens and the millions they (ie parents) spent on t-shirts, games, food products, toys, consumer products and the like. There should be a lot of ideas they can come up with to get the ball rolling, but this would be a long term strategic initiative with everyone in the industry (the Japanese and US) involved. They need to put up some money up front, change some business fundamentals, leadership, relationships, exam all their assets, assess all the isses and work their ass off to make it a success. But anime is a good, strong "product" that should be a huge export business for Japan with the right people running things... It's got to start at the top though so there may not be a lot of hope with who's up there now. On a related note, if they aren't already, I'd also look into all the ways to take advantage of Cameron's Battle Angel (heck even the Wachowski's Speed Racer) and milk it for all it's worth to increase anime awareness into the American culture. There should be some creative initiatives they can come up with.
As someone else said by crayon	Feb 9th, 2008 03:57:55 AM
Instead of going balls out with these niche title anime releases, just release them with subtitles only, saving on your production costs, and possibly cut down on the whole 6 volumes for a series crap. I mean seriously, the majority of people buying Lucky Star, PaniPoni Dash, Mushishi, or whatever obscure/japan orientated show aren't going to be clamoring over themselves to hear Crispin Freeman and Wendy Lee hamming up a dub track. Also, on the subject of piracy; without fansubs, the anime industry wouldn't be seeing any extra money from me. I'm not crazy enough to just go out and buy series blind. If the fansubs have sold me, only then do I proceed to buy the real thing (and complain about the translations, etc).
Voice Acting by veritasses	Feb 9th, 2008 02:18:20 PM
After reading crayon's post, I wanted to add that the American voice actors need to do a much better job. I can't fault them for inexperience doing voice overs for Japanese characters in mostly Japanese stories with translated dialog but the bad voice acting isn't going to help win over the mass market. The authenticity the Japanese seiyuu bring to their voices for each character helps to raise the quality of the anime from something that sounds like a cheap kids feature to a full, legitimate TV show/movie experience. Unfortunately, knowing that most people in the States don't like to read, let alone subtitles, means subs aren't going to be the long term answer either. A voice acting training school would be expensive but might be a worthwhile investment for the industry. It doesn't have to be fancy.
Devil May Cry, a video gaming fan's imitation Hellsing by WarpedElements	Feb 9th, 2008 02:50:01 PM
Speaking of which, does this mean that the people that put out DBZ are gonna put out the Hellsing OVA dvds? Screwy.
That's an interesting prospect... by Johnno	Feb 9th, 2008 04:22:58 PM
By releasing subtitled only versions of series they know that only the hardcore are interested in could save them money... However I personally also like some shows that are well dubbed like Cowboy Bebop so it'd be a shame to miss out on some if they opt out of them altogether. Big anime films however like the Ghibli titles and others handled by Disney/Mirimax or Sony have put out some very good stuff! Dreamworks should also get on the ball and give dubbing a shot... I'm sure Millenium Actress would appeal to lots more people dubbed. Another thing I'll argue about is the quality of officially released subtitles versus fansubs... is it just me or do the fansubs do a generally better job? And it's not just with concern to use of honorifics, but I like how some groups take time out either during of after the episode to give me insight into Japanese phrases and puns, or in sci fi shows like GITSSAC or Ergo proxy where we get details to references and other complicated affairs and 'big scientific words' that add valuable insight... Many things like these could be valuable supplemental material for DVDs
Johnno by crayon	Feb 9th, 2008 05:49:42 PM
I'll agree with you there with fansub vs official translations. Not to say that fansubs aren't without their own faults and mistakes, but I do tend to prefer them. One, because they generally stay closer to the original dialogue (whereas I'd say mooost official translations would rather change a line than have to explain it in the liner notes). And two--this one I find even more noticable--they generally translate better, creatively, when it comes to comedy or "badassness". Reason being for this; my theory is that it's coz fansubbers are internet geeks like most of us, and in turn are more in-tune with our senibilities and what's current. As opposed to a 30 year old schmuck just doing his job. However, the difference between official and unofficial translations in anime are tiny compared to in manga. God, that's an area that needs A LOT of work.
Yea man by Johnno	Feb 10th, 2008 04:36:40 PM
I particularly prefer watching more comedic anime fansubbed rather than dunned... dubs just don't work in hyperactive comedies for me... In more serious works, it's fine though, often I might even prefer it... yeah the same situation in kinda true about manga though... a classic example I can think of is between the fan translations of Hellsing versus the legit releases... the fans make the dialogue much more badass, even the humor comes off better in other titles... nowadays for manga I know I'm buying legitimately, I just wait and not bother with the fan translations at all, it helps avoid that sense of disappointment. Sometimes I think companies should actually hire some of these guys... but also I suppose a case can be made in both terms of anime and manga that if an official distributor wants to put in the effort they have more access to the studio/author/artists to get better clarification to complicated meanings and subtleties or technical jargon for a more accurate presentation than fans could. Also I ahte how some official releases will take it upon themselves to censor or change artwork that is potentially offensive... I can see their reasons for it, and even the original creators would request such things to appeal to foreign markets, but I think a lot of things can feel more lacking. An example was with Full Metal Alchemist where images of crosses or depictions close to crucifixitions were altered to look like rocks or I hear that even in Bleach they edit out the swastika on Ichigo's Bankai sword... It's not that big a deal that alters the plot in any way, but it takes away some of that 'badass-ness' from the design, and heck, even as a Conservative Catholic myself I see no offensiveness to it because it's not being depicted with intent or clear mockery of religion, also Swastikas aren't just symbolic of Nazis. But that's the trouble that happens when you aim these shows/franchises at wider audiences. It won't keep my up at night, but I would then ask myself, "What's the point in paying money for it when I enjoy the original/fantranslated works that much better?" Obviously buying DVDs would give me better picture quality, an option for a dub, and that sort of makes it easier for me to share with other people who aren't into anime or hate subtitling, and I'd much rather hold a physical book in my hand than read scans. But it really deters me from spending money otherwise when I feel I'm getting less of a product than I'd otherwise have gotten for free...

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