Rants & Raves

I owe a great deal of credit to Cartoon Network for making me the anime fan I am today. Of course, I also owe Sci-Fi (SYFY, or whatever they're calling it this second) and Encore Action Channel as well, but let's put them aside. When I was still a burgeoning anime fan, with only Ronin Warriors and the first two seasons of the Dragon Ball Z dub under my belt, Cartoon Network entered my life, and so did a programming block called Toonami (like a tsunami of cartoons!). It didn't just affect me, but an entire generation of anime fans, and cartoon fans in general.

Recently, I've been rewatching Tenchi Muyo!, which was a favorite for a while. Nowadays I don't consider it a favorite, but I do have a certain fondness for it, even besides nostalgia. The original two OVAs were both humorous and endearing and there's an immense world of possibilities in them. It really felt like it was going somewhere with it all, and for years waited with anticipation for a follow-up.  Sure, there were two TV series, three movies, and spinoffs, but it was the OVA that really inspired interest from me. 

So this weekend I visited my first convention, MAGFest 2012, held this year at the Gaylord Convention Center at National Harbor, MD.

So, what did I think? Well here, enjoy my random rantings...

Yesterday, anime licensor/publisher Bandai Entertainment announced that they will no longer release DVDs or Blu-Rays. According to an interview at Anime News Network with Ken Iyadomi today, the decision was made in October by parent company Namco Bandai Holdings. February will be the last month they release anime and all planned releases for after then are cancelled. Cancelled titles include Yoshiyuki Tomino-directed Turn A Gundam. Their entire manga division is also cancelled. However, they will continue to handle licensing and sub-licensing for "group companies". Iyadomi added his gratitude to the fanbase for supporting the company. 

Few people talk about Shunsuke Kikuchi. While not the quality of say, Yoko Kanno's contributions, or the emotional power of Hiroshi Miyagawa's work, Kikuchi has been in the business of incidental music (that is to say, background music) for decades. Cutting his teeth on tokusatsu programs, Kikuchi got work scoring the anime adaption of the popular Akira Toriyama manga Dr. Slump. He is best known, however, for scoring the anime adaptation of Toriyama's most popular work, Dragon Ball. Taking cues from old films, Kikuchi is a little Wang Fu-ling and a little Bernard Hermann.

My last article was about my quality categories for anime English dubs. I set down general rules for what makes a dub "good", "tolerable", and terrible. Good dubs have accurate scripts and solid voice acting. Tolerable dubs are the ones that just sort of make it, but don't impress. And terrible dubs are, well, pretty explanatory. Either they have terribly inaccurate scripts, or bad voice performances, or more usually, both. There are a fair number of dubs I could classify in any of those three categories. But one English dub I never know quite where to put is Funimation's Shin Chan. 

Via Juu-kuchi

Tiger & Bunny is a new anime program current airing weekly in Japan and simulcast on Hulu and Viz Anime. Produced by Sunrise it's  directed by Keiichi Satou (best known for his work on Big O). The series revolves around a couple of super heroes who fight crime while driving ad revenue and product placement for a hero themed television program.

(By ssoosay via Flickr)

Earlier in the week George Takei sat down with The Advocate to discuss his petition against Warner Brothers casting primarily white actors in an upcoming American adaption of the Japanese manga and anime classic, Akira. His main point is that Hollywood should cast more Asian-American actors in movie roles. A fair point on its own. However his arguments are full of curious inconsistencies. Take a look...

So, often when I read YouTube comments on Japanese clips of Dragon Ball/Z/GT/Kai material, I often run into this little gem:   I know, that's so right, isn't it? I mean, clearly the entire cast is filled with girly, weak-sounding pansies. Just listen to these clips! Ryo Horikawa as Vegeta: I mean, really! Listen to that feminine, high pitched whiny voice for Japanese Vegeta. Jeez, what a woman.