[mobiphones]

Why would Geneon pull out of the US market? Licenses becoming too expensive?

Over the summer, I followed very few Japanese releases. Basically, only Claymore. Agreed on your opinion of it. Very strong for a while -- even near the end -- but I don't know what happened at the end. I think they should have left it with a cliffhanger.

I stopped reading the manga at vol 7 because of the spoilers and the anime did a few things better than the manga. I might pick it up again.

[hapasaparaz]

Adult Swim will be debuting Death Note on October 20, which will be replacing the Bleach first-runs which will end with episode 52 on October 13. Bleach is already in daily rotation, and that dosen't look like it will change anytime soon. I have been unable to determine why the first-runs have stopped, but I'm hoping it's because translations need time to catch up.

[85IbLcwQ]

Originally posted by Wraith
I definitely recommend Dennou Coil. If you only try one other show from the summer/fall season, that's the one to check out. I followed it through episode 5, but lost interest in it. The subject matter is down my alley, so I'm not quite sure why I stopped. Maybe I'll watch a few more eps and see if it catches my interest on the second go.

[YTmWSOA5]

--"I followed it through episode 5, but lost interest in it."

That's a kind of odd place to lose interest. They're pretty good about setting up gotta-see-more cliffhangers, and that's right after Haraken's first big moment. And Isako's fun.

Let me know if you do give it another try. There's an episode later on that any Civ fan should enjoy.

--"I guess they started showing the new One Piece dubs last weekend. It was horrible!"

Like I said, I haven't seen any of them. The big complaint with the 4Kids dub was the horrible butchery they did on the script and the visuals. Funimation should at least be leaving those alone.

Wraith
"If you ever want to die, let me know first. I'll add you to my travel partner list."
-- Nozomu Itoshiki ("Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei")

[Belindanan]

I've seen a bunch of You Tube videos making fun of O-ran Host Club.....pretty funny, but isn't making fun of Host Club like shooting fish in a barrel?

Also, at the private high school I work at, the school uniform almost exactly resembles the one from Host Club. It's scary.

This is what comes from teaching classes of primarily 16 year old girls.

[cabonuserollyo]

Why couldn't Adult Swim have found a more entertaining anime show to put in Bleach's slot while they try and catch up with the dubbing? Does Death Note get any better as it goes on?

[Loonerisav]

I was wondering if there was anythnig else like Full Metal Panic. You know, a romantic action comedy.

I am currently watching Noir, although I have tried a couple of other things and decided not to watch them. BTW, Last Exile was or wasn't good?

JM

[career-builder]

It didn't seem to be the point of the anime, although it features strongly. Which surprises me since the wiki says that there isn't fan service.

JM

[QxmFwtlam]

I haven't felt this annoyed by an anime since AS aired Trinity Blood.

[golfmenorca]

I will continue watching, as I did with Trinity Blood (bleh) and Eureka Seven (bizarre), because my curiosity makes me a glutton for punishment.

[kesFockplek]

So no suggestions? (I am, of course, no limited to AS).

I am thinking of gunslinger girls or something also, but the fetish of girls shooting guns is already big enough in noir.

JM

[icedrakona]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
I will continue watching, as I did with Trinity Blood (bleh) and Eureka Seven (bizarre), because my curiosity makes me a glutton for punishment. I just couldn't get into Trinity Blood. I can say it annoyed me. It just didn't seem to grab me. E7 annoyed me in the beginning and I stopped watching it. However, I came back around the last third, where it was much better. Although I still hate those rotten kids.

[BeksTeene]

Dashi, calling that Sherlock Holmesian is an insult to all things Sherlock Holmesian. Among other things, Holmes absolutely refused to make logical leaps.

[sportbos]

I think he's got a point. To be honest, there are some issues, I feel, with the way anime's released in the US.

1. Very long times to release. This is where the fansubs become useful/end up dominating--which is a problem. Once people have seen it, unless the absolutely adore the series, they probably won't go to purchase it; even then, there has to be some reason for them to own it on a format that isn't still sitting on their computer. Many of the fansub groups recognize that they can hurt the distribution companies, which is why they'll usually cease to work on it if it's been licensed, which is helpful. However, I think that if these companies actually did go forward and try the MPAA/RIAA tactics of sending nastygrams and suing, they'd kill their fanbase faster than **** through a goose.

2. Translation choices. Dubbing is one of the issues, honestly. Some pull it off really well, but others sound really bad; for instance, I've never understood why they tend to turn the Kansai dialect into the Southern one. Subbing's an issue too, as they sometimes try to replace idioms with other idioms, and they don't always make sense. Particularly egregious is the tendency of some to make edits and censoring, which often incenses the most devoted fans--in other words, they butcher episodes to make them purchasable and play well in Peoria, except Peorians don't give a ****--and they've just lost the customer that they would have originally had. (Not unlike McCain alienating his independent and moderate base by trying to garner support amongst the True Faithful.)

3. High prices. I really like some of these shows; I do try to purchase them, but often times, I can't purchase them all at once, which means I'll buy one DVD of a series, only to come back some months later to pick up another one--which is why I have several incomplete series in my library. There's no reason, in my opinion, for them to divide series into 6 DVDs, each one only having 4 episodes; it inflates costs for the buyer. What's worse is when they do that to shorter shows, like 4 DVDs for a 13-episode series. When whole seasons of American shows can be had for $30-$50, a lot of the newer and more popular anime can go for more than twice that. I realize there's quite a bit of overhead for licensing and translation, amongst other things, but if they're losing money, you'd think that there's a small issue with that price point...

4. Niche market, supply glut. Anime, for as much buzz as it gets, are like MMOs. The audience that would actually regularly purchase and enjoy it is fairly small, but there's a massive distortion effect arising from both geek chic (which is trampling on actual geekdom) poseurs, and a breathless media prone to overstating the case (which proclaims it's a massive, enormously burgeoning movement, making Himalayas out of anthills). Additionally, there's limited awareness (lots of anime review sites, but none that seem to have become truly definitive); thus, recommendations seem to be done by word of mouth, which doesn't have as great scale vs. time frame as marketing wonks would like suggest.


(edited. i don't know why my english/typing skills are so sucky today.)

[wbeachcomber]

....wait...there's companies that legally import Anime??

What about making American original content? Or would that be ignored by an 'Anime is Japanese' bias.

I think anime is becoming more international, at least in east asia. There is Korean anime, and one day soon there will be Chinese anime, and maybe one day even Vietnamese anime.

Can an American company ever capture the 'Japanese style' that everyone seems to love without making it all goofy and kiddy or weird and Fritz the Catty?

[esconsise]

Seeker: I guess, but animation and story styles still seem to vary from country to country--so, while I guess by a loose definition you could consider Korean animation "anime", it's not... quite.

[Frierlovene]

Originally posted by DaShi


I just couldn't get into Trinity Blood. I can say it annoyed me. It just didn't seem to grab me. E7 annoyed me in the beginning and I stopped watching it. However, I came back around the last third, where it was much better. Although I still hate those rotten kids. Yes, you would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for them.

[aburva.org]

Does G1 Transformers count as anime?

[Kneedycrype]

Originally posted by Seeker
Exosquad was Anime..?? MMHmmmmemmmggmmmqqmmm......maaybe.

It just didn't 'feel' anime to me.

Oh and Q-cubed:

What is your opinion of D-Wars? I haven't seen it, nor do I ever intend to. Yonggary was bad enough, all twenty minutes I watched.

I'd rather be waterboarded and have my nuts attached to electrodes in Gitmo than see D-Wars.

...okay, maybe not, but.

[artenotreah]

It appears that Adult Swim is bringing in a new show, "Dark Place", in the Friday 2300 and 0200 time slots, starting November 9th. I haven't been able to find any details on this yet, but then, I haven't looked very hard.

Shin Chan has six new episodes starting December 10th, when it re-enters the weekday rotation.

Eureka 7 returns December 3rd, in the same time slot now occupied by Trinity Blood.

Bleach rolls over to episode 1 December 6th. Sorry, no new episodes in sight out to January 11th. Bood+ is at episode 39 at that point, perhaps Bleach will return when that finishes.

In April.

Let's see...well...okay, Voltron and Astro Boy are still chugging along in the 0500 and 0530 slots, all week long...hmm.

Oh yes. Futurama.

Not anime, but big on Adult Swim.

If you're collecting episodes of this off of AS, you're running out of time.

They will have an "All Futurama, All The Time" format from December 26th through midnight, New Year's eve. Almost nothing else -- only Voltron and Astro Boy will be spared.

And then...nothing. It will be gone from Adult Swim, never(?) to return.

...

This will be followed by a pliots marathon. Again, only Voltron and Astro Boy will be spared.

Finally, Astro Boy will own Christmas Day.