Keanu Reeves as Spike Spiegal? Really?

I wasn't expecting the rumor mill to kick into gear so soon, but it looks like some "reliable source" has said that Keanu Reeves has been "attached" as the role of Spike Spiegal in the recently revealed FOX Cowboy Bebop live action movie. Huh. Well, that's interesting. I don't really think anyone expected any big name actors to sign on for any of these upcoming US-made anime live action movies. I certainly didn't, anyway, and I'm not quite sure that I want Mr. Reeves to be Spike. I'm having a hard time picturing it -- what about you?

It isn't really that I have anything against the man. He suited Neo for the Matrix trilogy, and I liked him in Constantine. I haven't seen any/many of his other movies though, so that's all I have to go by. I just don't feel like his on-screen presence and personality suits Spike at all. Neo was quiet, questioning, and reserved. Constantine was a little more fighty, but still didn't read as badass, and we all know that Spike is badass. He's snarky and sarcastic and impatient. I just can't picture Reeves being like that. Does he play a similar character in any of his other movies?

If the rumor is true though, I'd be willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. After all, no one was excited about Heath Ledger taking over the Joker initially, and we all saw how that turned out. But if Reeves does turn out to be Spike, that'd makes me wonder -- who else will be cast for this movie? More big name actors? Or shall the rest be a motley lot? Honestly, I don't know enough actors to be able to stipulate who would be a good option. Japanator's accompanying picture to the original acquisition announcement provides some very unlikely choices, though unlikely as it is, Johnny Depp as Spike Spiegal is interesting to consider. As much as I love the man, I'm not really sure he'd suit the role either. But I'd have more confidence in his abilities to adapt to it as I've seen him do it for a lot more movies than Reeves. Hmm.

The rest of the rumor stipulates that the movie will be put on the "fast track" and be released by 2010. I find this highly unlikely since I think most studios would want to wait to see how Dragonball does in the box office first before blowing too big a huge budget on a niche film. Then again, unlike most anime titles, Cowboy Bebop would be more readily accessible to a general audience because many of the storylines are standalone, there isn't too gigantic of a cast, and the themes are popular enough in general. FOX hasn't even made any official announcement about this yet anyway, so I'm definitely taking these rumors with a huge grain of salt, but it's fun to speculate, I suppose.

Hm. Whoa. Whoa, what? Poking through Keanu Reeves' Wikipedia article reveals that he's on the cast list for the live action Akira? What? When did that happen?? If he's on for Akira, I can only imagine that he'd be casted for either Tetsuo or Kaneda. The Akira wiki article says that Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are signed on for Kaneda and Tetsuo, which I can kind of see working out okay. Where does that leave Reeves though? The mad scientist? The military guy? Unfortunately, I haven't read the Akira manga, so I can't guess about any of the characters that weren't in the movie. Curious, though, very curious. Considering Akira is supposed to also come out next year, I'm kind of surprised we haven't heard that much about it...

Oh, hey. I completely forgot that they're also doing a Ghost in the Shell live action. Who's badass enough to play Motoko Kusanagi!? She'd probably be even harder to cast for than Spike. Eesh. Read the rest of this entry...

Who The Hell Do You Think I Am??

Tengen Toppa GURREN LAGANN Premieres on the Sci-Fi Channel!

Well, the first two episodes of TTGL have just aired on the Sci-Fi channel. I've been excited for this ever since they announced the voice cast, mostly because I really wanted to see Steve Blum as Leeron, but also because I was happy Kyle Hebert managed to land such a huge role. When I saw the screenings from AX though, I had a few doubts because the voices didn't seem as awesome as they should have been. In retrospect, that was most likely because they were very low quality recordings from the panel -- I still had fairly high expectations for tonight, and I'm pleased to report that they were met.

The little blurb at the very beginning of the first episode was great. Simon's "Gurren Lagann! Spin on!" sounded oddly Japanese because of the way he accented "spin on." His "who the hell do you think I am??" though was fantastic and just as gar-powered as it was in Japanese. Moving on to the actual episode -- at first, I found his voice a little annoying, but some of his lines mirror the Japanese voice very, very well, especially when he's panicked. I've not seen any of Josh Grelle's other roles, but I'm very impressed by how well he's handling Simon. I'm also really happy they decided to preserve Simon's pronounciation as "shimon' rather than what Americans know as the name "Simon." It just wouldn't be the same otherwise! Though I do find it kind of hilarious that they would bend to what are obviously the desires of the hardcore fans that have all seen this series already illegally. :P

Kamina is probably the role that everyone was worried about the most, myself included. Kyle is a friend of a friend and a very nice guy, but come on -- Kamina is the manliest role of the century. Was he up to it? Yes. Yes, he is. Kamina sounds great. His "who the hell do you think I am??" is near perfect, and his other boisterous, over-the-top dialogue comes across just right. All the energy is there. Some of the wording sounds a little strange, but it's not a bad translation -- you do what you can, y'know? The made-up attacks he comes up with in the second episode after obtaining Gurren was especially well done. Kyle can probably be a bit louder sometimes and maybe curse a bit more, but I'm not sure if that's Sci-fi's censoring or not.

But we're not done! Yoko I had been having doubts about since I've never found Michelle Ruff's other work to be particularly noteworthy. I've considered her characters to sound rather stereotypical. Yoko doesn't sound as badass as she does in Japanese, but she's passable -- not bad, not bad. I at least get the impression that she's trying. I'm interested in hearing more of her, in any case, especially in episode 8 and after the timeskip.

The other characters all seem to be pretty well done. The village head, the miscellaneous villagers... I think "ganmen" has become "gunmen," but it's a little hard to tell since y'know, it was really supposed to have been "gunmen" in the first place, lol. Other than that, the translation seems to be pretty spot on. The references to "the heavens" are kind of strange to hear in English, but replacing it with "the sky" would have probably annoyed proponents of as literal a translation as possible. Not really sure which would have been better in this case though; they both sound kinda weird? All the "bros" being tossed around didn't bother me at all though, which might be a little surprising considering I absolutely hated Al's constant "brother"s in Fullmetal Alchemist. Mark of a job well done?

I didn't catch it really, but my bother spotted some minor censoring of Yoko's ridiculous boobage when she first crashed down from the surface. This leads to wondering about whether her infamous scene in episode 6 will be cut. Most likely yes, huh? I don't really watch Sci-fi much, so I don't know what's normal for the stuff they air. It's too bad though; that scene was hilarious and unexpected and good fun in general... but they even cut it when it aired in Japan, I think, so eh. Aside from that, there isn't much else to be edited. Except the ending theme. They cut our ending theme. Sadface.

Oh, and Leeron? He was FABULOUS~! I fucking love Steve Blum. Sure, he was a little stereotypical with the light lisp, but come on, that was to be expected. He sounds great, and they translated his dialogue great. Seriously, I couldn't help but smile every time Leeron spoke. XD I can't wait to hear more! Especially his interactions with Gimmy later on. I'm also really excited to hear Viral -- with the rest of the cast looking to be so fantastic, I can only imagine that our favorite Beastman will sound just as good? I hope? I also kinda look forward to Rossiu if only to compare him with Johnny Yong Bosch's other roles, and Nia should be interesting also since her voice actor doesn't have very many other roles under her belt.

All in all, it was a damned good show. I can't wait until next week~!

Oh, PS - First episode is streaming online here. :D Both episodes are also available via iTunes.
Read the rest of this entry...

How Many Movies Does it Take?

It seems like almost immediately after I made my post about upcoming anime live action movies, I read an article in the Times about the mad rush of superhero comic movies and the idea that their popularity may be just about ready to peak. It definitely makes sense. After all, there have been well over a dozen comic book adaptions in the last several years. Many of them have been very, very successful, like the entire Spider-Man franchise, Iron Man, and most recently, The Dark Knight. Others were epic box office failures, like Catwoman and Elektra (I know, we were trying to forget those two even existed, right?). It's been quite a mixed bag, but the high end is very, very high. I guess when comic movies are breaking record after record, people are going to start to think it's too much of a good thing. It's gotta end somewhere, right?

And yet, if SDCC is any indication, comic movies are going to be going strong for at least the rest of the decade. We've got the Wolverine movie coming up, and what, I think DC's going to do a Justice League movie? Not to mention the Watchman hubbub that's been up since the trailer debuted in theatres withThe Dark Knight. You know what I'd really love to see though? I wanna see Marvel to a Civil War movie. That would be so many kinds of epic. Despite the fact that we've seen so many superhero movies already, there are still endless possibilities because the DC and Marvelverses alone span hundreds of titles. With Hellboy and Hellboy II, it's clear that more independent companies also want in on the potential cash cow too, not to mention that manga-oriented companies like TOKYOPOP and Viz are also very interested. We've got enough material here to go on forever!

I don't doubt that the fanboys and girls will be endlessly willing to keep going to see these films in theatres. I don't doubt that midnight releases will continue to feature long lines full of cosplay and excited debate. Batman is more than seventy years old; we still love him. But the hardcore fans only make up a fraction of the audience, and I wonder how much tolerance the general public has for superhero genre, especially considering most still don't consider it a very "serious" kind of movie. How seriously can you take a guy dressed up like a bat? Fighting a clown? Kids stuff, right?

We of the fandom understand that Batman has perfectly legitimate, intelligent and relevant themes hidden beneath the mask, smoke, and mirrors, but from experience, I know that most people don't care to look for those things and just go for the action-packed fighting or whathaveyou. It's a cheap thrill, and cheap thrills get boring after a while. Is "educating" the general public about the more serious themes of comic books an achievable task? Would they really care to learn when they can easily get their fix of "seriousness" from what they already deem to be serious movies? Would having them understand the underlying themes of movies really even help slow or stop their gradual progression to boredom? I'd like to think so.

The Times article I mentioned earlier claims that most superhero movies follow the same sort of storyline. Hero meets villain. Hero confronts villain. Hero defeats villain. For the most part, I suppose this is true -- Superman defeats Lex Luthor (kind of), the X-Men defeat Phoenix (kind of), Spider-Man defeats Venom (kind of?) -- but the beauty of any genre is its ability to break free from the conventions that define it. The Dark Knight is actually a great example of that, or really, any Batman storyline involving the Joker. Does he ever really win? Is chaos something you can really defeat? What would defeating the Joker actually mean? Full of deep questions, see?

Personally, I don't think the comic book movies are going to stop any time soon, though they may start to diversify and stray away more from the straight-up superhero path. Sin City and 300 are also great examples of this (okay, well, 300 is debatable, but it's still pretty different). Eventually, the general public may come to realize that comics don't just mean kid's stuff. In the meantime, they'll probably keep watching anyway. We seem to be good at hyping things up, after all. :P Franchises do best in trilogies, so I hope they'll lay off of Spidey a while longer. I wouldn't mind if they took a bit longer with the X-Men followups either. But Iron Man 2? Hell yeah! More Batman! Yes, please! More Superman? Sure! Bring it. We'll watch 'um. And we'll smash a few more box office records while we're at it. Read the rest of this entry...

Viz gets Miwa Shirow's DOGS!

I totally had a different entry planned (it is sitting half-finished in another window, haha, but I guess I'll finish it tomorrow), but then I read that DOGS finally, finally got licensed! I don't think there's ever been another title I've been as excited to see get snatched though I'm not too sure why this is, lol... maybe because nothing else I read is so randomly underground and unknown. But really, I'm still surprised it took so long! DOGS's first volume is standalone and has been out since 2001!

To be fair, I don't think it's actually all that popular in Japan, but it has a decent-sized overseas cult following online. The fact that Miwa Shirow decided to take four years off between the first volume and the second volume probably hurt also, and the fact that the second volume's chapters still release rather irregularly is a really annoying factor. But his art is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, and while the story isn't really all that original (it's about people that've been experimented with and genetically enhanced in a post-apocalyptic-type world), it's intriguing all the same. (Okay, so it gets extra points with me for having lycanthropy parallels too.) The characters are excellent and I think there's someone for everyone to take to -- the first volume details the basic stories of four main protagonists. They don't really seem to have anything to do with each other at first, but their paths gradually converge at the end of the volume. I love stuff like that.

The second volume is where they really start interacting though, so I really hope Viz will also pick that up whenever Shirow finishes... But yeah, I'm really glad to finally hear that DOGS will be coming Stateside. And I'm kind of amused that Viz is the one getting it, though I shouldn't be surprised. Viz has come to completely dominate the manga scene, just like FUNimation seems to be owning up the anime side. I mean, TOKYOPOP was their biggest rival, and they're not even at SDCC! That's an even worse signal of defeat than ADV's pathetic presence at AX, and they're not even pawning off their titles yet. Oh, well. Despite TOKYOPOP's quick downward spiral, the rest of the manga industry seems to be doing okay. Del Ray and Broccoli are still upbeat, in any case.

Damn summer conventions are way too close together, and I don't have time to talk about everything that gets announced. But anyway, tonight, I just wanted to shout the joy about DOGS finally getting noticed. I can't wait to pick up my copy in April. :3 (Oh, hey... I just realized I haven't reviewed this. I think I'll have to go reread it soon and spit out a review!)
Read the rest of this entry...

The Next Big Thing -- Live Action Anime?

With three ridiculously popular Death Note and the NANA live actions still in recent memory, it seems like everyone and their mom is making live action adaptations of anime, including some by American companies. The Dragonball movie's finally got a confirmed release date in 2009, and Fox has just confirmed having acquired the rights to a Cowboy Bebop live action, not to mention that there are rumors floating around about an American adaptation of Death Note (do we really need more?), though I've forgotten where I read this. As well, both TOKYOPOP and Viz have recently restructured to include a new media branch that will supposedly focus on pitching properties to Hollywood. I find all of this somewhat surprising considering Speed Racer's abysmal failure (though I don't think it really deserved to bomb as badly as it did), but I'm curious -- if even one of these live actions manages a mild success in the US, could that open the gates for many, many more, just as 2000's X-Men and 2002's Spider-Man seemed to have opened the floodgates for endless comic book adaptations?

As it is now, many of these anime-to-live action projects seem die in the planning stages or are otherwise met with delay after delay. Is Battle Angel Alita still on? Why haven't we heard much about it if it's slated for 2009 also? What about live action Evangelion? Let's not forget that a live action Akira was confirmed in February. I'm probably already leaving out half a dozen other titles that have been "confirmed" at one point or another in the last few years. Speed Racer was the first to see the finish line (correct me if I'm wrong), but it was a huge box office disappointment (they still haven't made back their budget). What's going to happen to the rest of these projects?

Cowboy Bebop seems like a good investment considering the almost universal popularity of the series amongst American fans, but that also means that a lot of people are going to be very, very critical (myself included). Still, critiques can't come until after people have seen the movie, which would mean that it still has a pretty good chance of doing well at the box office. Besides the obvious fanbase, Bebop is also what I would consider a rather accessible series -- space mercenaries is a pretty popular sci-fi concept anyway and I don't think a general audience would feel all that alienated. Then again, Serenity was also a box office flop despite good reviews and a cult following, but that may have been because it was intended as a conclusion to Firefly and not so much as a standalone piece. Is Bebop as popular as Firefly was? Does that underground popularity really even matter? Or is Bebop "mainstream" enough to for the fanbase to really count like it obviously does for huge comic franchises like the Bats and Spidey?

The fanbase question really makes me wonder about how well the Dragonball movie will do, but the fact that it's Dragonball and not Dragonball Z and the fact that it's being released half a decade after the peak of the series' popularity kind of negates the experiment. If they made a live action Naruto or Bleach right now, what would happen? Or even, if they dubbed the live action Death Notes for theatrical release Stateside, what would happen?

But yeah, fanbase is only a fraction of what Bebop would need to be successful in the box office. Being able to act as a standalone piece is probably the most important thing, as well as allowing itself to be taken seriously by an audience that's unfamiliar with it. Speed Racer probably failed because it was too much of an inside joke. Serenity probably failed because, while the subject matter was accessible, the storyline was not. Depending on how much of the overarching storyline they want to incorporate into the live action Cowboy Bebop, it could overcome both those difficulties rather easily, I think. Stoff mentioned being worried about staying true to the source material, but considering the source material is largely episodic, I think they have a lot of wiggle room as far as canon is concerned.

The cast is a huge point of fan approval, but I don't think it matters as much as the story. Sure, it'd be great if they can get in good actors, but good scripts can hide bad actors much more effectively than good actors can hide bad scripts. Anyway, we've still yet to see how well white boy!Goku performs. They've announced the rights, but I doubt we'll be hearing much else about this live action Cowboy Bebop any time soon. We're still waiting on Battle Angel and Eva, after all. Dragonball's performance will likely be very influential though, and we'll see what Hollywood decides about popular anime live action adaptations after that. Read the rest of this entry...

Review: The Dark Knight

Usually, I can sit right down to writing after I've seen something. I'll finish the last episode and fire up Notepad (because simpler is better) to write a review. I'll come back from the theatre and set immediately to writing. But for some reason, I couldn't do that after The Dark Knight. Immediately after finishing the movie, I didn't want to write. I wanted to see it again, maybe two more times, before writing anything, but for a variety of reasons, that's probably not going to happen any time soon. So I sat on it for a few days, pondering it and trying to sort out my opinions. That isn't to say that I was ambivalent or didn't have an immediate opinion at the time, it was just the details of it...

(this review contains mild, nonspecific spoilers)

The Dark Knight

[acting, cast, & character]

Everyone that said that Heath Ledger's performance was amazing and surely Oscar-worthy? They aren't just spouting fanboyish bullshit. Mr. Ledger's Joker blew me away. He had the character down to a T. The Joker's mannerisms, his supreme disregard for order, and his quirky insanity. All perfect. His laughter, his taunting, his eerily in-control demeanor as chaos erupts all around him. Beautiful. Ledger had said he had studied the character based off the very definitive Killing Joke, brilliant source material if there ever was one. Sure, he's a clown, but he's a clown with a purpose and a very specific foil role; it isn't an easy character to capture. As the Batman is my favorite superhero, surely the Joker is my favorite supervillain, so the bar was set high. The glimpses we'd had of his portrayal in the trailers had already riled the crowd, but Ledger surpassed all expectations. A reviewer for the New York Times declared Ledger's Joker "some sort of masterpiece." I concur wholeheartedly.

But while Ledger has had all of the spotlight, the talent definitely didn't end there. Though I'm also quite fond of Two-Face, his role seemed largely eclipsed by the Joker's in all the trailers, and I had not paid much attention to who had been cast for the role. I subsequently spent the entire movie wondering why the hell Harvey Dent looked so damn familiar (I'm pretty bad with actors, you see). Walking out of the theatre, I almost yelled out "THANK YOU FOR SMOKING" (a great movie, by the way) upon realizing who it had been. Aaron Eckhart was a huge surprise for me -- he was as perfect a Dent as Ledger was Joker. Even though they'd taken many liberties with Two-Face's storyline, Eckhart managed the role extremely well and the core of the character was beautiful. They managed to play on his duality obsession without making it seem over-the-top and ridiculous, and his gradual descent from righteousness and sanity really, really well done. Impressive, impressive all around.

And our final star is of course Mr. Christian Bale as our Dark Knight -- it's a casting that I had already considered to be good. His chiseled American Psycho exterior is oddly appropriate for Bruce Wayne especially. Sure, it's a billionaire superhero instead of a yuppie serial killer, but they're both well played facades. His expressions are perfect for Mr. Wayne, and he's attractive enough for the playboy role to fly. Bale's Batman though, I never found to be quite as impressive. To be fair, the mask is a difficulty all superhero actors have had to contend with -- it hides expressions, which are a key part of all character portrayals. The only thing that really sets one masked person from another is his voice, and I've always found Mr. Bale's Batman voice to be far too forced. The need to change and mask Batman's voice is certainly understandable, but Bale's super deep, wannabe Kevin Conroy voice was already distracting and somewhat laughable in Batman Begins. And it's even deeper in The Dark Knight. Really did not want. Other than that though, Batman wasn't so bad. The emotion in the Joker interrogation scene was top notch after all.

The rest of the cast is also quite deserving of praise. I hate Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, but he makes a fantastic (thusly promoted) Commissoner Gordon; I love Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. It's perfect. And Maggie Gyllenhaal is a grand improvement over Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. Really, The Dark Knight has one of the best casts I've ever seen with both major and minor roles covered by stellar acting. Someone really knew who to pick his actors.

[story & pacing]

Now the story... this was probably the main reason I felt the need to delay writing this for so long. The short version is that I thought it felt a bit jumbled. The Joker certainly succeed in making it chaotic, in any case. The overarching theme was, judging by the name of the film and the final line of dialogue, supposed have been about Batman and his controversial role within Gotham City. This was also the major theme highlighted in many of the animated shorts collected within Batman: Gotham Knight, along with explorations of Batman's morals and character. Unfortunately, both themes were lost somewhere in all the explosions and (albiet fantastic) one-liners. The Joker completely stole the show. Mr. Ledger's performance was brilliant to be sure, but it came at a price -- Batman was reduced to just a shadow on stage, disappearing every time you turned around, and there was no one else to hold together the actual structure of the film.

The beginning had started off well enough. District Attorney Harvey Dent was working to crack down on mob crime and needed Batman's help in side-stepping jurasdiction technicalities. This was great for grappling with the question of whether or not Batman was really an ally to the authorities and the law. As well, the way Rachel was used to connect Bruce Wayne and Mr. Dent was great. For a non-canonical character, I'm really impressed with the way the scriptwriters worked her into the story, making her relevant, useful, and nonobtrusive. Everything was going fine; really, give Dent a different reason for Two-Face to exist and I think we would have had a perfectly good movie there. But then our clown prince of chaos came along and set everything on fire.

It's appropriate, I suppose, that a character that bills himself as a messenger of chaos should wreck as much havoc as he did. Everything that came after his introduction was rising action, and at some point, it was such a steep ramp up that it became difficult to understand. Too much happened too quickly; we jumped from scene to scene, action to action; there were unpredictable twists, but I feel like we were forced through it all too fast -- we didn't have time to comprehend any of the themes or messages behind it. That isn't to say that the Joker didn't prove to be a great (and extremely entertaining) story element. He forced all the characters into situations they would have otherwise never found themselves in, forced them to make spontaneous, difficult decisions. He put the entire city in a hard place. Of course, that is his entire purpose. He even says it himself.

I guess I still have mixed feelings about it. It was really, really fun to watch, but I feel like it could have been more focused, more tightly wrapped up and packaged. Then again, the Joker did definitely contribute to the city's debate over Batman's role, so if that was the point of the movie, then the Joker did his job. So maybe, I was just hated the ending, if it could be called that. All that rising action? We never come down from it. We just sort of hit a wall at the end because it's been a long movie already and we gotta stop somewhere. The Dark Knight felt more like two and a half hour glimpse into a different world than a cohesive film. There is no real beginning as it picks up in some ambiguous amount of time after Batman Begins, and there is no ending because we are not met with resolution.

But it couldn't have been a longer movie -- making it three hours wouldn't have helped -- so maybe it should have been shorter? Like I said, if we had confined the villain to Two-Face, it would have probably worked just as well, if not better. But we had to have the Joker. He is, after all, Batman's most formidable enemy. They are probably of equal intelligence, wit, and resolve. The Joker is the chaos to Batman's order. They complete each other as characters. Yin and fuckin' yang. We had to have him. So then maybe we shouldn't have spent so much time with Mr. Dent? Maybe we shouldn't have given so much time to the romantic subplot, as well done as it was? Sure, both Dent and Rachel were brilliantly woven into the Joker's plans, but... I dunno. Funny thing. As much as I love the Joker, it seems that most of this critique just stems from a lack of tolerance for chaos on my part.

[sound, design, & animation/effects]

For some reason, even though two of my favorite composers -- James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer -- collaborated on the score, I wasn't all that impressed. It felt rather like a generic action score, and even though many of the track titles declare them "Joker themed," they still felt unimpressively moody and plain. Besides, during the movie, background music is largely overshadowed by fantastic dialogue, revving motorcycles and explosions. The animation and effects also felt rather average. The Batmobile Battank met its untimely demise after an average chase scene, and though I rather liked the Batcycle, it wasn't super amazing or anything. The other devices Batman uses were pretty interesting though -- the sonar imaging ("like submarines!") phones were smile-worthy, and there were lots of other things to remind us that these are the Batgadgets of the new century, which is always great to see in a historic franchise like this.

[other stuff i feel like mentioning]

I really appreciated all of the jokes in this movie. Some were corny, and some were subtler and cleverer, but just about all of them brought about laughs and smiles. I was also glad to see that the Joker wasn't the only one making them, and that the humor seemed well-distributed among the characters. It all felt natural too and each type of joke suited the character it came from. Considering they had worked so hard to make The Dark Knight darker and more serious than Batman Begins, the movie definitely gets extra yaypoints for remembering that their main villain is in fact, a clown, and that there can be jokes in even the most serious of moments.

[in closing]

The Dark Knight was a great movie: it had superb acting across the board; its story was relevant and thoughtful, if a bit chaotic; and its technical aspects, while not breathtaking, were still very strong. Its biggest fault is probably in that it leaves a lot to be desired, and I have a hard time imagining that any sequel will be able to fill in all the holes left by this movie. Obviously, a large part of that is because of Mr. Ledger's inability to reprise his role, which could have very easily been career-making if it wasn't career-ending. The Dark Knight leaves Gotham City in relative chaos, and the final fate of the Joker is left rather ambiguous (I also felt Two-Face's fate was rather ambiguous, but Wikipedia says otherwise). The sequel more or less DEMANDS our infamous villain's return (the Joker declares Gotham his, how can he not return?), but I can't see Warner Brothers recasting for the role. Indeed, who could possibly step up to the plate after a performance like Ledger's? And what else could they possibly do?

Ignoring the Joker's effect on the city in a sequel would be difficult and unpleasant. Puppeting his character from offscreen would be bitterly unsatisfying. What other major villains are there to take his place? Lucius Fox's offhand comment about cats may point to a possible Catwoman, but Batman villains come in pairs, so who else? The Riddler might be a possibility, considering that Jim Carrey's 1995 portrayal was rather similar to classic interpertations of the Joker, but it wouldn't be the same... The Riddler is a fun villain, but I think pretty much everyone pales in comparison to the Joker. So maybe they will end up just recasting for the Joker... in the end, it doesn't seem like any option is a good option. What a damned predicament.

I'm pissed as hell that Ledger's dead. When Warner Brothers announced two years ago who they'd casted as our clown, everyone was rather aghast that it was a gay cowboy. Now, he's a damned god for getting the character down as well as he did. If he was going to die, maybe he really should have just bombed the role and made this less painful for us to deal with. My brother joked in January that it was all a huge publicity stunt and that Mr. Ledger would show up at the world premiere for the movie in full costume, going "Why so serious?" on the red carpet to a crowd of thousands of cameras, laughing. Given the six months between his death and the opening date, this was an unlikely theory from the beginning, but I think I was secretly wishing that it were true for those entire six months.

Rest in peace, Mr. Ledger. Rest knowing that your final (completed) movie blew Spider-Man 3 out of the water and broke half a dozen box office records. Rest knowing that it opening to rave reviews and a week's two week's worth of sold out IMAX tickets. Rest knowing that you won't be remembered as just a gay cowboy and that you just might score that posthumous Oscar.

I'm still fucking pissed at you though. Read the rest of this entry...

Reviews: Master List

Here is a master list of all my reviews because MAL is too dumb to list them all by links rather than compiling them all on the same page. And it can't even list them in any kind of comprehensible order. Besides, I'll probably keep doing non-anime reviews for stuff like superhero movies and live-action adaptations. 'Cause those are fun. Maybe even some books if I ever get back to reading.

[Anime]
Antique Bakery
Baccano!
Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion
Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion R2
Darker than BLACK
Death Note
Dennou Coil
Gravitation
Gundam 00 (first season)
Gundam 00 (second season)
Gundam SEED
Gundam SEED Destiny
Gundam SEED Destiny C.E. 73: Stargazer
Loveless
Lovely Complex
Mushishi
Nodame Cantabile
Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter
Ouran High School Host Club
Planetes
Romeo x Juliet
Rozen Maiden
Seed Supernova: Tanekyara Gekijo
Samurai Champloo
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Spice and Wolf
Tenchi in Tokyo
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
X

[Manga]
Death Note
DOGS
Gravitation EX
Gundam Wing: Blind Target
Gundam Wing: Battlefield of Pacifists
Gundam Wing: Episode Zero
Gundam Wing: Ground Zero
Kanpai!
Wish

[Comics]
Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Menace
Watchmen

[Animated Movies]
5 Centimeters per Second
Appleseed: Ex Machina
Batman: Gotham Knight
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Ghost in the Shell
Howl's Moving Castle
Millennium Actress
Origin: Spirits of the Past
Paprika
Perfect Blue
Pokemon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back
Spirited Away
Tokyo Godfathers

[Live Action Movies]
Dragonball Evolution
Moon Child
NANA
NANA 2
Oresama
Star Trek (2009)
The Dark Knight
Watchmen

[Music]
Dir en grey's UROBOROS
Kokia's Christmas Gift
HYDE's HYDE
Tommy heavenly6's I Kill My Heart
UTADA's This Is The One
Read the rest of this entry...

Doragonboru 2009

So they finally gave us a poster with Goku on it.

I can't decide whether or not I'm excited about this movie. I'll probably go see it regardless, and I had renewed faith when they announced that Stephen Chow would be involved. But they're still using a white guy as Goku. ._. To be fair, I don't remember any of his other roles well, and thus can't judge him much as an actor, but it just seems weird? Orange gi sure looks weird in real life -- isn't it funny how we never realize these things? I hope they never make a live action Naruto, but if this movie's even a minor success, it wouldn't be all that surprising if someone tried to do the same with DBZ's grand successor. I can't remember, are they planning sequels for this Dragonball movie? Anyway, I'm glad they finally have a date on this after kicking around in the rumor bin for years after years.

The effects on this poster don't look particularly enticing though (that is the ugliest ki ball I've ever seen), and I'm still waiting for an official shot of Piccolo's makeup. If we're lucky, he'll be able to look as good as Mystique, but I'm not going to be hopeful about it. It's curious that they decided to go with Dragonball after all instead of Dragonball Z as the latter is obviously more well known and popular, but I guess DBZ would have involved more shinies as the series really gets epileptic with the light shows after Vegeta is introduced... The fact that Vegeta isn't in this movie is kind of disappointing though. He's a fun, obnoxious egomaniac! Though Piccolo kind of fits that too when he's first introduced. Goku should be a kid though, and he is not a kid. His hair isn't outrageous either, but that's probably a good thing.

According to Wiki's entry, Krillin (I grew up on the dubs, leave me alone) is mysteriously missing on the cast list. I guess he's not horribly, horribly important or anything, but come on! He's Goku's best friend! Maybe they just couldn't find anyone short enough for either Vegeta or Krillin? Who knows.

I still haven't seen the Dark Knight yet. Jesus. We're not going back to the stupid one-screen theatre. The nearest AMC is like twenty minutes away with four whole screens, only one of which is showing the damn movie. So they only have four show times the entire day. The first one is at noon. Ughhhhhh. Meanwhile, at home, my brother says it's playing on six screens and they have about thirty showings per day. Sigh.

Anyway, they finally put out the trailer for the Gurren Lagann movie (WARNING: trailer contains spoilers for the TV series). It looks like they're covering a good chunk of the show, but they're doing two movies right? Hmm. Most of the animation in the trailer looks to be recycled, but there did seem to be a few newly animated sequences. I hope they manage to hash it together right; TTGL was one of those series where I kind of felt like each episode was relevant, even if the first five was basically just character intro. There's only a week until the dub series hits the Sci-Fi channel. Man, I wish I had a TV. Not having one is why I haven't seen Doctor Who in like a year. Sadface.

Read the rest of this entry...

Oh, the 90's

Because living in the middle of no where sucks, it seems I won't be able to see the Dark Knight until tomorrow. Much fail. Growing up with an AMC 24 where opening weekend titles often get eight screens, it bewilders me that I was met with a "sold out" sign, even if I was going into a one screen theatre that was a fifteen minute drive away from the house. Yeah, it isn't anime anyway, but come on, it's the goddamn Batman. :(

Anyway, to make myself feel slightly better, I was looking for Gundam Wing episodes to rewatch for the lulz. Veoh seems to be complete fail and YouTube's not much better, but I did manage to find most of the first two episodes. It occurred to me that I haven't seen very much of the series subbed, but oh man. First of all, Wing's age is really starting to show. The animation for the most part really isn't so bad, but the people are hilarious. I sure as hell didn't notice this ten years ago, but the G-boys' proportions are... accurate. They're fifteen year old kids! It's awesome! The voices in Japanese are ridiculous different; in Heero's case, it's disturbingly... spunkier? Is that the right word? It's kind of odd when it's his wannabe badass English voice you remember the best.

Duo is awesome Japanese or English. And the Deathscythe such a badass. Come on! Wing falls into the ocean five minutes into its debut and idiot Heero is going to blow the damn thing up. Wow, what a way to destroy the series' namesake?? Meanwhile, Deathscythe is kicking ass and taking names, and then he goes and kills all the dudes trying to salvage the Wing. And Duo tries to be a good guy. D'aw. No wonder this guy has like ten times the fangirls as Heero. And sure, we get a few shots of the rest of the dudes. Trowa is playing with lions, and Quatre is bringing his crazy house of servants everywhere. And Wufei is buying a truck full of explosives. 8D

The pacing in this series makes no sense either. It's great. And characters (or maybe just Heero and Relena) just seem to zone out all the time for no reason. "Heero! What are you doing? Blah blah blah! I'm going to talk for a minute!" "...Huh? Relena?" But Heero's not half as bad as Relena. Really, what the hell? The whole school worships her and she's busy thinking about the random terrorist kid that 1) beat up all the ambulence dudes that went to save him, 2) embarassed her and threatened to kill her, and 3) is probably opposing her father! "Relena! Blow out your candles!" "...What? Oh, that's right. Candles. You blow them." God. Even in Japanese all of her dialogue is horrible. "Oh! Heero! You're about to send those torpedoes off? GASP! I AM SO SURPRISED THAT YOU ARE POINTING A GUN AT ME! D8" Ten years later, I still want to beat her face in. Oh, Duo, why'd you have to go and save her? She doesn't like you anyway. :( I miss this show, as weird as it to watch it now. The opening theme is kind of strange feeling because they never aired it on Toonami, and has cuts of sound effects in it. The animation in the opening is pretty much like every other Gundam ever, lol. TWO-MIX also has an older feeling style of music, I guess. Techno oddities. The show itself seems to have a really prominent soundtrack, though that might be because I recognize it really easily because I love it~. Maybe one of these days, I'll get off my ass and go buy the boxset or something, but I really wish they'd stream these somewhere or something. Oh, ANN would like you to know that TOEI has Digimon Adventures 02 available for purchaseable download though. That's another series I need to rewatch sometime because I'm sure I missed tons the first time around.

Man, I'll rewatch almost anything for nostalgia's sake... I'm not old enough to be reminiscing about the good old days, am I? But I do miss me my oldschool Toonami. Remember when Moltar hosted? TOM? Rising Sun? Midnight Run? The plots we had on the Absolution? So awesome. What do kids these days get? Miguzi? Do they still have that piece of crap? Bah! I'm going to go watch all these awesome old Toonami commercials now, and then maybe watch some of my Batman: TAS before going to sleep crying about how I have to wait like TWELVE MORE HOURS before I can finally see Heath Ledger live it up as the Joker.

OH, WOE.

Edit - Aw, man. I MISS REBOOT! Read the rest of this entry...

Everyone's Going Digital (But They're All in Different Places)

Maybe I'm just picky, but even though I highly support the proliferation of both subbed and dubbed digital releases, I really wish there was some consistency in where all they're releasing this madness.

FUNimation has a YouTube channel that it's using to post previews and promos, but they've also said that they're going to have full episodes on there, probably three episodes or less for some series. Now they have a deal with Sony to release titles exclusive to the PS3 online store, not to mention the exclusive release of the new BONES title. I'm assuming these titles will all be subbed. Elsewhere, iTunes has added a good bit of Viz's dubbed Naruto and Bleach, as well as all of Death Note. And let's not forget various deals and ideas Crunchyroll has made with and is pitching to Japanese companies. Am I the only one overwhelmed by the scatteredness of all these options?

Of course, it's good business for companies to sign exclusive contracts with distributors; it builds up a partnership and the exclusivity can act as a boost for business as customers lack other options. This is just another reason to get a PS3 and just another reason to get an iPod Video. But if anyone's trying to compile episodes and titles owned by various companies, it's going to be a pain in the ass accessing anime from all these different sources. As I neither use iTunes nor own a PS3, I don't know whether or not you can transfer downloaded files to other places, but I'm banking on a no, or at the very least, not without annoying, evasive, and legally questionable measures. So then, if you want all your files in the same place, you're pretty much screwed?

If they're going to go crazy with the multiplatform releases, I don't really think there's a point in trying too hard to keep the files exclusive to whatever they were downloaded to. After all, it isn't like finding the fansub alternative is hard or anything. That's what you're trying to combat, the ease of fansubs, so why make things so complicated? But everyone is still experimenting with the digital release thing right now, trying to see if there's a viable market for digital dub release, and how many people are really willing to go for digital sub release, so this chaos is understandable, I suppose. Nevertheless, I would love to eventually see some universal platform that all companies can release on so customers have a place to congregate their purchases. Or, at the very least, decide on a universal transferrable format that all downloads can be converted to so people's digital collections can be consistent.

I don't even like it that my sub collection is half .avi and half .mkv with the occasional .flav or whathaveyou. And it is a little annoying scurrying around on episode air dates looking for the subgroup that releases first... wouldn't it be great if companies actually did what I proposed with subs and then released on a single jointly-operated site with email alerts and RSS feeds so you know when a new episode for your series is out? Oh, what a day that would be...

Addendum -- it seems like Amazon's about to start a new Video on Demand service. No word on anime yet, but I won't be surprised if someone signs on with it soon. I think of all the other downloading venues currently available, Amazon might be the most attractive to me because it's 1) big and already well known, 2) allows for both streaming and downloading, 3) it saves your purchased library so you can stream from any computer anywhere as long as you're logged in. ...That's pretty much just what I want. It means I don't have to worry about lugging my external everywhere. Good deal, good deal. Read the rest of this entry...

Reviewing Reviews and a Loveless Review

So I've been writing reviews for a long time, sometimes for websites, sometimes for no reason other than to satisfy my own obsessive compulsive ways. I had a brief stint years ago writing reviews for Kiji-Anime.com before they folded, but other than that, most of my stuff has been self-published in my personal journals and websites like TOKYOPOP.com and MAL. I was wondering if there's really a difference in standards between casual reviews and "professional" reviews in magazines and news sites aside from the obvious stuff like tone and grammar. Maybe professionals should be more objective, but I think it's kind of funny that there's such a strong general belief that reviews should be as objective and unbiased as possible when a review is essentially the exact opposite -- it's an opinion, what the reviewer thinks of the reviewed work intended to give the reader an idea of what someone else thinks.

What people probably deem as objectivity is just a reviewer's ability to explain and justify his assertions. Or, it could just be that the way some people write make it exceedingly obvious when they're emotionally invested in a work and those are easier to pick from the crowd. This is especially true for anime and manga reviews because fandom is so prevalent in our subculture. It's really hard to write with an objective tone for a series you really, really like, especially if you've just seen it and are cruising along on that fandom high. But I wonder, is that really so bad? Clearly if you like the series that much, you're going to write a positive review regardless, but should your apparent enthusiasm take away from your analysis if you're still able to provide reasons for why you liked it so much?

The same might be true for series you really disliked, though I think it's to a lesser extent. It's easier to explain why you dislike something than why you like something because complaints seem to come more naturally than praise. But yeah, the point is, if your words seem emotionally charged, your review is taken less seriously because oh, gasp, you're biased. Well, of course you're biased! Who isn't biased? It's a review! It's your opinion! You're gonna be biased! Maybe it should be taken as part of the review -- how much did this series rile up this person? In a good or bad way? Will I be similarly affected by this series? Emotion reveals pieces of a reviewer's background and history as well -- what is it? Is this person similar to myself? If so, should I take it that I may share similar views of this series? If not, should I be taking every word with a grain of salt (or well, more grains of salt than usual)?

Or does the emotion really not contribute much in the end? Would an objective-sounding review convey just as much information in a more accepted way? Certainly it's possible to say you like something without fanboying over it (or even to fanboy over it in a better articulated and formal fashion?), but can you really still convey the degree of awesome something is without using terms like "super special awesome epic amazing"? Honestly, I'm split on the subject. I love writing in a ridiculous formal tone because it's fun and makes you sound more authoritative (like your opinion really matters, lol). But fangasming is fun too, just, I guess the question is whether a review is the best place for it.

A quick glance over my reviews on MAL says that my two most controversial reviews are my Code Geass review and my Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann review. The latter is rather fantardy, I admit, but the former isn't as bad, I don't think. But I was wondering, is my TTGL review controversial because A) the way I wrote it wasn't "objective" enough, B) the merits of the series itself are controversial, or C) both? ...Both is the easy answer, and it's one of the reasons I wish MAL enabled comments on reviews in addition to anonymous feedback. It's widely believed that the "helpful" ratings on every review are dependent more on whether or not the reader agrees with you rather than whether they actually thought it was helpful. Some of my other reviews seem to disagree with the idea of A though -- my Gravitation EX review is very emotional, but it hasn't seen any negative feedback (okay, so three feedbacks isn't exactly a wide sample, and I did get some negative feedback when I posted it on TOKYOPOP, but that person more disagreed with my opinions than anything else) -- is that because I admitted my obvious bias upfront? But for the Death Note anime, I also admitted by bias upfront and people still trashed it. :P Then again, I felt like my Death Note manga review was fairly objective-sounding, and they trashed that too. XD

Readers are a fickle breed, I suppose. But yes, direct feedback would be nice. This "helpful/unhelpful" nonsense is decidedly not helpful at all. I think I'll migrate towards the accepted norm though and try to make my reviews sound more objective even when all reviews are inherently subjective. I think our society just values people that sound like they know what they're talking about and present their opinions as facts when they really aren't giving any more or less information than someone with a more emotional response. Or something. In the end though, regardless of style, the best reviews are simply those that are able to back up all their claims with reasonable logic, yeah?

Anyway, I finished my Loveless review today, but even though I just said I'm going to try and sound more professional... I don't think this review is a great example of that, lol. I hated it so much, I couldn't help but be a bit snarky. And besides, too much professionalism is boring as hell. It's why no one likes reading art criticism. Read the rest of this entry...

More Econ Woes & FUNi's Domination

The office did some seating rearrangements this week, and as a result, I now sit in front of one of the wall TVs that has CNBC on all day. So for eight hours a day, I have a perfect view of the constant live coverage on Wall Street. As if the last few weeks haven't been bad enough, this last week seems to be one new record after another. Today, both the DOW and the S&P 500 have hit a two-year low? Crude oil hit another record high ($147.27/barrel), though it did drop back down to $145 before I left. I don't really know what the hell Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are (okay, okay, so they're country's two biggest mortgage buyers). but opening at an almost 50% drop in share prices can't be good for anything, right? Lehmen Brothers is also down 20% today or something like 80% from several months ago. The stock ticker seems to be a perpetual stream of red arrows. Don't forget the dollar is still steadily dropping against other major currencies. There are so many headline-worthy stories of woe that the news anchors seem ever flustered at picking topics. Interviewees called in don't really know what the hell they're supposed to talk about first because there's so much to address.

Chaos! Panic! Panic! Panic is probably the main thing. Rumors are flying all over the place. Investors are scared shitless which will probably contribute to this downward spiral. Oh, noes! Oh, woes.

In other more fandom-relevant, but distressingly similar news, ADV just keeps sending signals that they're about to fold. (And TOKYOPOP isn't being particularly reassuring either.) Their contracts have been severed; they're losing an alarming number of their titles. The only thing they can possibly do for the next year or so is sit around on what they have left and hope that profits enough to allow for recovery. It's been done before (Central Park Media), but considering the huge economic woes (see above?) we're now facing, I'm very skeptical they'll be able to make it out of this alive.

I'm curious about FUNimation though... As one of the few companies that actually had revenue growth last quarter, I'm glad they seem to be doing well enough currently to be able to afford picking up much of the titles being tossed by ADV and Bandai, but I wonder if it's really in the company's best interest. After all, taking up so many new titles all at once, even if it's just distribution, may be stretching FUNi's resources a bit thin. It's also possible that taking on competitors' titles will cannibalize its own titles. I kind of feel like they should just ignore the dropped goods for now -- just focus on their own stuff instead of messing with other peoples' problems. Even if they've been doing well, I don't think they should take any unnecessary risks right now, and this might be considered one of those risks. I know lots of fans are relieved and ecstatic that some of their anticipated titles will be able to reach them after all, and maybe I'm biased because I'm not heavily invested in any of these involved titles, but I think a longer delay in the availability of those titles would be worth FUNi staying well out of harm's way.

Then again, this may turn out to be a huge advantage to FUNimation in the long run. Risk is uncertain in the end, eh? Read the rest of this entry...

A Fansub Proposal

The fansub discussion debate has been going around the community for a while now, ever since DVD sales started taking a plunge. Plenty of industry professionals have addressed it, as well as prominent members of the press, and the occasional high profile fan. Most people seem to agree on several points, with the first and third being the main focuses.

1) Fansubs are attractive because they allow overseas audiences access to the same content as the Japanese at about the same time, give or take 12-24 hours. With current licensing and release schedules, this sort of time frame is impossible.

2) Fansubs are the only option for many lesser, obscure series that will likely never see a license deal.

3) When people completely substitute official releases with fansubs, it hurts sales and the industry in general.

4) Fansubs will probably never go away, no matter what measures the industry takes; after all, they're free, and people like free things. But the bottom line is that they're still illegal.

Personally, I don't feel as if I really substitute DVDs with fansubs. Before p2p made file-sharing so easy, I would just watch dubs on TV. You know, the good ol' days of Toonami and Saturday morning Fox Kids. And then I would just record the episodes on VHS tapes if I wanted to have something to watch later. Spending money on them was more or less out of the question for a stingy Asian kid with no allowance and just-as-stingy parents. Even as I grew older, there were few exceptions to the I'm-not-buying-anything-because-I'm-a-cheapskate sentiment. I would buy manga sparingly (to date, I own less than 30 volumes of manga), but the only DVDs I ever bought were the first two volumes of TRSI's Gravitation release (which I ended up hating because the dub is horrible, and even the subbing seemed of questionable quality).

If p2p never came to be, I would have probably just continued like that, watching dubs on the telly (or subs on what was formerly the International Channel) or borrowing DVDs from friends that weren't as amazingly cheap as me. These days, I've gotten into buying more miscellaneous merchandise such as figurines and wallscrolls, but DVDs have never been high on my priority list. So even though now fansubs are available to me, my habits haven't changed much at all. I delete a lot of fansubbed series after I've watched them, and even the ones I keep I don't rewatch all that often. Of course, I might be the exception here, and there might be tons of people that will forgo buying a DVD because they already have the fansub, especially as many people have actually come to prefer the quality of fansubs better, but I'm more inclined to believe that people who like DVDs will always buy DVDs and people who don't, won't, regardless of fansubs. After all, I'm blaming the decline of DVD sales on the economy more than anything else.

And you can't even argue that fansubs have replaced television broadcasting for me because if I can (not owning a TV hinders this ability at times), I will almost always rewatch a series dubbed if it's airing. The only exception to that is when the network decides to be an asshole and move a series, without telling anyone, of course, into a random and completely unreasonable time slot, as was the case with the final arc of Yu Yu Hakusho -- 5:30 am death slot? No thanks, Cartoon Network. Fuck that.

But nowadays, even that exception seems to be melting away as Adult Swim streams all of its anime weekly. So even without a TV, I've been able to catch Death Note and Code Geass dubbed and rewatch random episodes of FMA and GitS:SAC when I'm in the mood. I love this streaming thing so many companies seem to be testing out right now. The embedded ads don't trouble me at all, and hell, I'd actually prefer if they put a big chunk of ads in the middle where the normal commercial break is instead of partitioning them randomly and breaking up my show in inconvenient places. This kind of leads into all the discussion of digital distribution of new series in Japan.

I had an idea, but even though I realized it was probably impossible, I liked it anyway. The only thing stopping overseas companies from being able to distribute episodes near-simultaneously with Japan is the redtape, right? Licensing is a lengthy process that often takes months of negotiations at best. But other than that, fansubbers have obviously proven that it's perfectly possible to release a decent-quality speedsub in as little as six hours after the show airs in Japan. And that's only because they depend on the live broadcast for the RAW. If companies could negotiate series while they're in production and obtain the video at the same time as the Japanese broadcasters, then it would definitely be possible for them to produce a decent-quality sub for digital release at about the same time as the Japanese broadcast.

I'm not really sure how much revenue can be generated from embedded ads alone, but I'm pretty sure most fans don't mind them much as long as the turnaround for access is fast. Hell, personally, I'd be more than willing to pay a fee for it that kind of an official speedsub, whether per episode or by subscription. It goes back to point number one up there -- most people that watch fansubs do it because the things they want to watch just aren't available as quickly as they want them. The nature of fansubs is free, but I'm willing to bet that most of them, if they could, wouldn't mind paying for it if there was an official service that could offer the same.

Of course, there's plenty of risk here because the overseas companies wouldn't be able to see how popular a series is with the Japanese audience before they decide if they want it. Considering most fansub groups consist of less than ten people working on as many as five or six series simultaneously, I don't imagine it'd take many human resources to crank out official speedsubs. The only issue is the cost of a license, but I really think the Japanese companies should more compromising on that front. After all, fansubs are available to everyone, and chances are, if Americans are watching them illegally, then plenty of Japanese are also. Someone has to provide the RAWs after all, and with so many people glued to their computers all day, I'm sure a lot of people would choose an illegal RAW on their computer over catching it on TV even if they could. And if overseas fans are assumed to be ditching DVDs in favor of fansubs, then it would be plausible to think the Japanese themselves are doing the same.

So here's an idea: I don't think it would be unreasonable for overseas companies to only negotiate a subbing and digital distribution right at first. Further rights -- dubbing, overseas television broadcast, DVD, and merchanding -- could come later after they judge whether a series was popular enough during its subbed release to warrant a bigger investment. This model would allow the Japanese to potentially license out many, many more titles than they currently do as a partial license would be cheaper and more attractive. It would allow overseas companies to test the waters without putting in too much of a commitment. And most of all, it would allow fans a legitimate alternative to fansubs.

I don't pretend to be an expert though. I'm not really "in the know" about all the complex workings of the industry, so I obviously don't know how reasonable this suggestion actually is even if it sounds simple enough to me. Maybe this is an uninformed proposal, but I'm just another fan feeling somewhat guilty about my fansub watching habits while simultaneously not seeing much of an alternative. I watch a lot of series dubbed because I saw and liked them subbed. Case in point: how many series only hit Stateside and became maddeningly successful after a viral spread of popularity online via illegal means? Naruto, Bleach, and Death Note come to mind immediately. And now Haruhi, Lucky Star, and Gurren Lagann are on their way.

So I still don't buy the DVDs for the most part, but there's ad revenue and subscription fees, right? It's debatable, I know, but trying to kill fansubs (impossible as it is) without providing an official alternative would probably cut off access to a significant portion of the fandom, and that would be sad. Read the rest of this entry...

The Mystery of Mecha

So recently, I realized that 4 of 5 of my listed favorite anime series on MAL are either mecha series (Gurren Lagann, Gundam SEED, and Code Geass) or include mecha in some way (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex). The odd one out is Paranoia Agent, which is last on the list anyway because I kind of included it on a whim. I find this kind of strange because even though I do like my giant robots, I've never thought that they had much influence on my overall impression of a series. After all, I don't think I go out of my way to watch that many mecha series, and I certainly have positive opinions of wide variety of other series. But nevertheless, it's the mecha series that hold up as my favorites. Is it just a coincidental statistic that 80% of my "top favorites" are mecha? Or 60% if you want to disqualify GitS:SAC for only having Tachikomas that are mostly irrelevant anyway? Or is there really something about mecha series that makes them rise above the rest?

Is it just the fact of the mecha itself? I find that notion silly considering all the other just-as-awesome substitutes that other series use in place of actual giant robots. Ghost in the Shell, as previously noted, might sit on the borderline of the definition with their Tachikomas, which don't look anything like your traditional humanoid robot and can either be autonomous or facilitate a human rider. But even beyond that, there are supernatural powers, fantasy-based powers, dragons and aliens, and other companions and tools that may do the same things as mecha. Besides, mecha designs fluctuate from series to series, and it isn't as if the ones with similar designs are collectively more or less popular than the rest of their comrades.

These days, as the newer generation encourages an increase in the number of AU timeline series and a gradual departure from the traditional, UC timeline, the only real connecting thread between the various Gundam series is the mecha design. Almost all of them retain the characteristic head and the red, white, and blue color scheme for the main protagonist. But these various Gundam series definitely don't maintain the same level of popularity; indeed, there seem to even be universally praised (08th MS Team) and universally scorned (Gundam SEED Destiny, at least critically) series, and very few fans seem to compare the actual designs of the mecha unless they're just wildly, wildly different as was the case with G Gundam and SD Gundam.

So I don't really think it's the mecha itself, but does the presence of mecha encourage better storytelling somehow? Better character development? Those are the two most important factors of any series, and I tend to be somewhat critical in both areas if you've ever read any of my reviews. Do a higher proportion of mecha series have good plots and good characters? Mecha series, because of the very simple fact that mecha are weapons of mas destruction, are almost always about war, which kind of limits things. Then again, you can consider that because of this limitation, writers for mecha series may have to work harder to secure something that can be considered fresh or different. When almost all of your characters are teenagers and young adults, personality elements become more important; war also forces characters to give morals and ethics more thought, which definitely adds a dimension of depth that many other genres lack.

It's the same with the story -- war after war after war, there's gotta be something about each one that sets it apart from others, right? The motivation for the war, the politics of war, and the role of leaders and soldiers all make for a complex story... So maybe it is the nature of mecha series to offer more complex storylines? Could that generalization be applied to any other genre? Would anyone consider that maybe shounen series need to "work harder" to stand out when they're a dime a dozen? Most of the top shounen series share many of the same elements and don't offer amazingly deep or profound though, so what about another genre? Fantasy? Supernatural? Cyberpunk? Actually, I can't think of any other genre that has an near-universal generalized theme like mecha has war, so maybe we're on to something?

Gurren Lagann doesn't call its conflict a war, per se, and actually, the most appealing thing about the series isn't its deep or complex story as much as it is its grand originality when it comes to what is considered "the enemy," not to mention its unprecedented progression upwards in regards to scaling (lol, no pun intended?). So then the series doesn't utilize the previously derived "advantage" of mecha series because its story and characters aren't forced to be "deeper" because of war; really, there weren't that many morals or ethics involved. Gurren Lagann might just be the exception though, and that isn't that hard to believe. Certainly Gundam SEED and Code Geass take advantage of their wars and introduce rich, three-dimensional characters that provoke emotion and thought. These characters in turn enrich the plot of the war and revolution because in the end, story and character rely very heavily on one another.

Hmm... obviously none of this means that other genres don't generate equally complex and deep stories and characters, but now I'm really starting to think that maybe mecha series (and maybe other war-themed series) have a slight advantage. Or in any case, it seems that this theme is attractive to me personally, and that's reflected in my favorites' list... A curious note though: none of my favorite manga feature mecha, so maybe those previous deductions are only applicable to anime? Probably because war and robot action don't look as cool on static pages... Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Rozen Maiden

Here is my review of Rozen Maiden.

As I already have the second season and OAV, I will probably get around to watching it eventually -- hopefully before mid-September when I head back to school. Sitting in front of them on the queue though is Spice and Wolf, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, the rest of Gundam 00, a handful of movies, and possibly Mushishi. We'll see. I've been working through my queue as fast as ever though... seriously, I don't remember the last time I've watched so much anime in so little time. I can't really say if this is a good thing or a bad thing though, haha. Read the rest of this entry...

Reviews: Dennou Coil, Gotham Knight, Death Note anime

Dennou Coil
Batman: Gotham Knight
Death Note (anime)

Yay, reviews! I'd actually finished the Death Note review earlier this weekend, but forgot about it... Gotham Knight leaked online last Thursday, and I plowed through the second half of Dennou Coil on Saturday. Seriously, that was twelve episodes watched all in a row while glued to my chair at ungodly hours of morning. It was great though. I also plowed through all of the first season of Rozen Maiden this weekend and will probably be writing a review for that later this week. I think in all, I watched almost 30 episodes of anime this weekend... Oh, woe.

AX news also gave me about twenty different things I want to talk about but have no reliable background to be talking about, lol. Blogging is so time consuming. Oh, why do I have a full time job?? I'll get around to it all eventually, hopefully, maybe...? Read the rest of this entry...

Spike Spiegal as a Flamboyant Engineer

Oh, god. So they announced the dub cast of Gurren Lagann this afternoon at AX. This cast list is one of the most amazing I've ever seen, but I can't decide if it's because they'll be fantastic or if it's because this is just so ridiculous.

Simon will be sharing a voice with Sasuke and Suzaku, two characters I hate! 8D Oh, man, this will be hilarious. Seriously though, Yuri Lowenthal does a fairly decent job, and I look forward to seeing how he does Simon. Yoko will be sharing a voice with Rukia and Euphemia, which is kind of hilarious, but I've never really been that impressed with Michelle Ruff's voices -- they all sound fairly generic. Yoko needs to be a badass. Come on! Kyle Hebert as Kamina will also be something to look forward to. To be honest, I don't remember many of his roles very well, but he's a friend of friend, and was an active member in one of the only anime forums I was ever really active in, so I really respect the guy for being in touch with fans. From what I know, he's had it pretty rough (like most VAs, really) in more recent years, and I'm really happy he's landed such an amazing role.

But the two things on this list that floor me are the following:

Steve Blum as Leeron.
Johnny Yong Bosch as Rossiu.

Oh, god. Steve Blum is one of my favorite voice actors ever. Leeron is one of my favorite characters in TTGL (okay, so it's really hard to dislike anyone besides Rossiu). This will be so amazing, if only because it's so wrong! Blum is usually typecasted for the badasses! Spike Spiegal! Mugen! Vincent Valentine! And now he's a super flamboyant engineer guy!? Oh, man. I can't wait.

Now, Bosch. Heh. I really have a love-hate relationship with this guy. He was a great Vash. I don't like him as Ichigo, but his portrayal of Lelouch has grown on me. Bosch as Rossiu will definitely be something to hear, though honestly, I dislike the character enough to not really care all that much if he ends up with a crappy voice.

Viral's VA isn't as highlight as the others -- the only role of his that I recognize is Prince Clovis from Code Geass and the bastard dies in what, the third episode (oh, is that a spoiler? Sorry)? Oh well. I hope he does well. Viral's Japanese voice is a contender. Nia also has a pretty unknown person, but I don't think it'd be that hard to find a really, really moe voice. Kittan can be pretty easily typecasted also. Annnd the others don't interest me that much. (Honestly, I don't know which one is Kiyal, Kinnan, and Kiyoh. <_<) I definitely look forward to this dub though. It's impossible to make it more amazing than the original, what with Giga Doriru Bureika and various other Engrish anecdotes, but if anything else, this voice cast is going to make it interesting.

8D Read the rest of this entry...

(Un)healthy in Paranoid Times

Wow. I really hate to keep tooting this apocalyptic trumpet, but with these sorts of stories coming up on my Google Reader every day, it's kind of hard to ignore. To overturn what I had said about people still seeming happy to trade their four dollars for coffee instead of gas, Starbucks is closing 600 stores nationwide and laying off 12,000 jobs. That's bad news for us since most of Starbucks's employees are high school and college kids our age. In total, 62,000 jobs disappeared in June, unemployment rose up to 5.5%, and Goldman Sachs is predicting that it will continue to rise until peaking around 6.4% at the end of 2009. That's depressing (no pun intended).

As the Times article said: "The softening job market has prompted millions of families to reduce their spending, further hurting businesses and the economy as a whole. Soaring prices for food and gasoline are overwhelming modest wage gains for most workers, leaving households with even less money to spend." This means that I'll only expect anime DVD sales to keep plummeting, and for manga titles to continue being scarce on the book lists. The dollar keeps falling, and a lot of companies are cutting back on imports because of rising costs, not to mention the worldwide food crisis that's helping hurt the international economy.

I guess it's no surprise then, to hear that now Gonzo's in trouble, but I'm kind of curious about Kodansha's venture to start publishing its own titles overseas. I honestly don't know how much original license holders make from their licensed works, but it seems like they'd be in a position to make more money if they avoided a middle man in distribution. Of course, this also means that they'll have to edit and translate everything themselves, which could be costly for a job well done. The Kodansha licenses that Del Ray already has are mildly popular, I suppose, but Kodansha isn't planning on pulling on any of those, so I wonder what titles they'll plan to release instead. Additionally, even if Del Ray gets to hold onto its licenses until 2010, would it hurt them to lose Kodansha as a partner afterwards?

Most analysts agree that our economy still has a way to fall before it starts recovering around the end of this decade. As most of my friends will be graduating college around that time, I really wonder if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Will the recovery be fast enough to land us jobs? For those that will be trying to break into the comics and animation industries, will they have openings? Wait-and-see tactics don't really work for those that are already freaking out about whether art school really was a good idea after all. I'll probably get some indication at the current health of our little niche market when I table at AWA in September though... Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Death Note (manga)

Yay, I finished writing my obnoxiously long (as usual) review for the Death Note manga. Now I can follow it up with a review of the anime, which I recently finished. Here's a preview: I didn't like it.

Hoping to finish some of my half-written entries tomorrow also, but we'll see. I'm planning bumming around the city with my friend Cat on Friday. We'll probably be hitting Kinokuniya, Midtown Comics (on 7th Ave), and the Nintendo Store, among other places. Maybe I'll get something for myself. Read the rest of this entry...

Perfectionist

So I have like... four half-finished blog posts I need to get around to completing. My problem is just that there is too much to talk about, and I don't have nearly enough time to address everything. It also doesn't help that I'm both a perfectionist and somewhat ADD. I will read through something a thousand times pruning out mistakes and oddly constructed sentences, and then I'll get bored and not actually change anything. Why do I treat these posts like pseudo-English essays? I don't know. None of you care. We're here to discuss things, not win Nobel Prizes in literature.

Unfinished blog topics thus far: writing fanfiction, why some couples are better than others, more on TOKYOPOP and the OEL market, Kodansha's overseas publishing, why CG R2 is full of crack...

Oh, woe. I also have a review of the disappointing Death Note anime to write. Man, and I wanted to update this thing at least four times a week too. Woeeeee. Read the rest of this entry...