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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) – #7: Baccano! (2007)

 

 

Director(s): Takahiro Omori Screenplay: Noboru Takagi Music: Makoto Yoshimori   Wow, what fun Baccano! is. It’s just an extremely, undefinably compelling romp through a world of colorful characters. I have to admit, at first I wasn’t so sure about the series. It wasn’t until a few episodes in that I really got the hang of things, but once I did, I was blown away. The narrative skips in time on regular basis, but there are clearly three different arcs (a fourth in the direct-to-video episodes) that have their own heartbeat. I get a full glee high watching Ladd Russo (Keiji Fujiwara) or Claire Stanfield (Masakazu Morita) brutalize, Isaac (Masaya Onosaka) and Miria (Sayaka Aoki) bumble, or Jacuzzi (Daisuke Sakaguchi) and his gang get swept up in the thick of things. In this show you’ll find Prohibition-era gangsters, sadistic immortals, crafty informants, and one hell of a train ride! The English-dubbed version is excellent, as well, one of my favorites (especially Bryan Massey as Ladd). I like pretty much every aspect of the show from the themes of friendship to the twisted philosophies of its denizens. It’s a must-watch. 
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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) – #8: Now and Then, Here and There (1999)

 

 

Director(s): Akitaro Daichi Screenplay: Hideyuki Kurata Music: Taku Iwasaki   Now and Then, Here and There is an exhausting series. I mean that in a good way, though. It’s emotionally exhausting. The themes of war, indoctrination, and perserverance are explored in ways which squeeze everything out of the characters and viewers alike. The indomitable (and sometimes annoying, frankly) optimism of main character Shu (Akemi Okamura) in the face of harrowing odds and painful life lessons is the wellspring of thoughts and emotion pouring out from this show like water from Lala Ru(Kaori Nazuka)’s pendant. Some might label the show as "melodramatic" or "depressing", but the narrative is unapologetic in examining the principals set forth by the creative team. I may not always agree with the positions, but I appreciate the thoughtfullness in which they are examined. 

 

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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) – #9: Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)

 

 

Director(s): Hideaki Anno
Script: Hideaki Anno, Akio Satsukawa, Mitsuo Iso, Yoji Enokido, Yoji Enoto, Shinji Higuchi
Music: Shiro Sagisu
 
Neon Genesis Evangelion is more than an anime title, it’s a far-reaching phenomenon. It won the first Animation Kobe Award in 1996 and it’s consistently on top 10 lists throughout anime fandom. It’s not a perfect show. It’s actually a little overrated. The main narrative can be schizophrenic and there are elements left out you can only get information on through secondary sources. However, it’s conceptually solid. What Evangelion is really about, past the giant bio-androids, the giant monsters, and the often weird visuals, is communication. The problems the characters face are all due to poor communication, by being separate entities who have to make an effort to reach out, making themselves vulnerable to each other. Shinji Ikari (Megumi Ogata) is a boy who has trouble communicating what he means, and so he shies away. Asuka Langely Sohryu (Yuko Miyamura), on the other hand, compensates by being outwardly social, but inwardly insecure, looking always for validation. I watch Evangelion as more of a character study than anything else. The action can be good from time to time, but it’s a secondary quality. Evangelion is a concept-driven show more than anything. 
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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) – #10: Space Battleship Yamato (1974)

 

 

Director(s): Leiji Matsumoto, Noboru Ichiguro
Screenplay: Eiichi Yamamoto, Keisuke Fujikawa, Maru Tamura
Music: Hiroshi Miyagawa
 
The brainchild of producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki and Leiji Matsumoto, Space Battleship Yamato is considered a classic, and with good reason. It’s groundbreaking in the way it sells its themes and characters and fleshes out its concepts. The story of a humanity on the brink of extinction, driven to desperate measures when a sudden hope appears, hunted by a deranged enemy that is perhaps no so unlike us, the spaceship Yamato cruises the sea of the stars in search of a cure to a diseased future. The point of view is mostly through the combat team leader Susumu Kodai (Kei Tomiyama), a brash youth whose family has died, who has little else but his own skills as a pilot. But he’s far from the only character: the fatherly captain, Okita (Goro Naya), the cooler headed pilot Daisuke Shima (Shuusei Nakamura), the bionic scientist Shiro Sanada (Takeshi Aono), and Kodai’s love interest Yuki Mori (Yoko Asagimi), the crew’s seemingly sole female, also compliment the story. A story of triumph and tragedy, perserverance and humanity, Yamato soars above other works of science fiction with grace and nobility. 
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Penguin Truth’s TOP TEN ANIME LISTS (PRIMER)

It’s been years since I began writing for Otaku Revolution, and some of you regular readers (all two of you) may still be in the dark as to what taste in anime I have. So, though it’s an often-changing element of my anime fandom, I’ve decided to make a list of my favorite anime, ranking them for all to see, and justifying my choices.

When people make top ten lists of their favorite anime, they tend to make the same mistake. That is, they group together TV series, OVAs, and movies. A TV series and a movie are two different beasts. You wouldn’t lump together live-action TV series with live-action movies, would you? Would you even lump together American or other Western animated productions together, TV shows with movies? Of course not. But for anime, somehow this tends to be the way we do things. Well, I, for one, refuse. read more

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Audio: English: My Favorite English VAs in Anime


With the Audio:English series, PenguinTruth takes a critical look at the English
dubs which grace some of anime’s most defining series in North America.

As somebody with a critical eye on anime English dubs, I’m often at odds with a reputation for "hating" dubs and dub voice actors. But the truth is, there are plenty of very talented voice actors working in English dubs of anime. I’m fond of quite a few of them and have definite favorites. I’ve even been able to rank them in their own "tiers". But let’s put tier rankings aside, because this is just a list of the dub VAs I like the most. I’ve also listed the roles I like them in the most. read more

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Dragon Box DVDs vs Level Set BDs

 Here’s a few screenshots for your consideration (Dragon Box on left, Blu-Rays on right):

I still prefer the Dragon Boxes. The BDs look great, but the colors are a little too dark, in my opinion. 

However, since the DBoxes are now out of print, I reccommend picking up the "level" Blu-Rays if you can’t find the DBoxes.

Here’s one more:

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G-Exes: Gundam AGE’s best worst addition

So, watching Gundam AGE‘s 8th episode I was welcomed with the introduction of the G-Exes mobile suit. One of the cooler, and more widely accepted designs, I was looking forward to seeing it in the series. I think I’m going to regret that desire.

I mean, it looks pretty good when it’s just standing around…

But in action something just looked off. At first I thought they couldn’t figure out what to do with shading a primarily all white kit but that turns out to just be part of the problem. read more

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Dream Casting: Recasting The Bubblegum Crisis English Dub

 Dream Casting: Recasting The Bubblegum Crisis English Dub

    Another anime in bad need of a new English dub is the original Bubblegum Crisis, an eight-part ultra violent cyberpunk OVA from the 80s. Licensed by AnimEigo, a dub was produced for this title way back in 1994 by Southwynde Studio, who dubbed very few programs. In fact, other than Crisis and Crash, they only dubbed Riding Bean and Battle Royal High School. From what I can gather, none of these dubs were any good.    I’ve had personal experience with the Crisis dub, however, and it truly is a relic in need of updating. It’s not as though the script was that poor. The writing was fairly decent for the dub. The problem lied in the uninspired casting and wooden acting. It caused everything in the dub to come across as very dry and unnatural.    The title itself is unlikely to recieve any such dub updates, given its age and relative obscurity in today’s anime fandom. Ideally, though, some other company, not AnimEigo, would take this title and release it with a brand new dub. This is a dream of mine. But it’s not going to happen.    And so, I shall recast the show myself! I will use Canada’s Ocean Studios as a template for this new dub. Ocean has produced a number of decent dubs, and even two amazing ones (Death Note and Black Lagoon), and after careful consideration I’ve decided to recast the dub with their talent pool. Enjoy!     Marÿke Hendrikse (Revy in Black Lagoon) as Priss Asagiri (formerly Sinda Nichols)   Reasoning: Hedrikse gives a brash, hostile, cynical attitude to Revy in the amazing Black Lagoon dub, which can be focused into the similar Priss. She may have to soften a little, though, since Priss isn’t quite as destroyed inside as Revy. I’m sure she can add a bit more texture to the role than Nichols did. Better directing would help.    Lisa Ann Beley (Relena Peacecraft in Gundam Wing, Murrue Ramius in Gundam Seed)) as Sylia Stingray (formerly Jemila Ericson)   Reasoning: Beley has this very collected sound to her, but a little breathy, too. It makes sense the older and wiser Sylia to sound like her, with a bit of that nuturing quality to her, but a sense of sexuality, too.    Tabitha St. Germain (Naomi Misora in Death Note, Soma Peries in Gundam 00) as Linna Yamazaki (formerly Elizabeth Becka)   Reasoning: St. Germain has a very leveled voice, but with almost a hint of breathiness to it. It’s just right for the mostly conventional Linna.    Shannon Chan-Kent (Misa Amane in Death Note) as Nene Romanova (formerly Susan Grillo)    Reasoning: Judging by her performances in Death Note and Gundam 00, Chan-Kent is clearly capable of sounding bubbly and flakey, as Nene can be at times. But I think she could also sound determined, as well. Actually, the English voice actress for AnimEigo would have been fine if she learned to act a little better. Shannon-Kent sounds similar, but she’s clearly got more acting chops.   Brad Swaile (Light Yagami in Death Note) as Mackie Stingray (formerly Frank Trimble)   Reasoning: Swaile can do a teen boy’s voice rather well (just listen to his Light or Gohan). I just need a clean-sounding young man’s voice for this role and why not the fantastic Swaile?      Alex Zahara (Lockon Stratos in Gundam 00) as Leon McNichol (formerly Brad Moranz)    Reasoning: I needed a steady voice that could be likewise charming and playful. I felt like Zahara did a good job as Lockon and I’d like to hear him as Leon.    Trevor Devall (Mu La Flaga in Gundam Seed) as Brian J. Mason (formerly Eric Paisley)     The rest:    David Kaye as Largo (formerly Pierre Brulator) Michael Adamthwaite (Ribbons Almark in Gundam 00) as Daley Wong (formerly Marshall Caroll) Michael Dobson (Dryden in Vision of Escaflowne) as Quincy (formerly David Arnold)  Cathy Weseluck (Mirai Yashima in Mobile Suit Gundam, Dorothy Catalonia in Gundam Wing) as Sylvie (formerly Martha Ellen Senseney, Lum in Urusei Yatsura) Chantal Strand (Lacus Clyne in Gundam Seed) as Anri (formerly Katherine Kopec Burton) Ellen Kennedy (Lebia in Silent Mobius, Suzunagi in Ronin Warriors: Message) as Vision (formerly Mindi L. Lyons, Ten in Urusei Yatsura)   I felt like David Kaye, known for playing aristrocratic antagonists (Trieze, Sesshomaru) would fit the arrogant super boomer. Michael Dobson’s a natural choice for the gravelly president of Genom. Cathy Weseluck can do gentle with a bit of edge, so I think she can handle Sylvie and Chantal Strand is known for a very soft, warm voice, and Anri is such an innocent. Michael Adamthwaite and Ellen Kennedy were more of me just wanting kinds of voices to fit character types, so it might not work if they’re not delivering well, but I’d like to give it a chance, anyway.      Southwynde Studio’s Bubblegum Crisis is pretty awful. The script is decent but the voice cast sounds like they’d never worked in voice acting in their lives and probably wouldn’t work again. It’s like some kind of audition reel. It’s not just bad, it’s waterboardinig bad. It’s weird when an otherwise well-scripted dub is stuck with a bad voice cast. Especially one that went through the trouble of dubbing all the songs, and some of them decently.    I really like Bubblegum Crisis. I like the Japanese cast quite a bit. It features Toshio Furukawa, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Shuichi Ikeda, and Michie Tomizawa, none of them names to sneeze at. An OVA as good as this deserves an English version that’s at least presentable, doesn’t it? Hell, they can use the same dub script if they wanted to.    Say yes to a hurricane tonight, mad machine, cause you can say ‘bye bye my crisis’ and it’s still never the end when you chase the dream.      ALTERNATE CASTS     Funimation:   Meredith McCoy as Priss Asagiri Colleen Clickenbeard as Sylia Stingray Laura Bailey as Linna Yamazaki Monica Rial as Nene Romanova   Joel McDonald as Mackey Stingray J. Michael Tatum as Leon McNichol Jason Liebrecht as Brian J. Mason Justin Cook as Largo Sonny Strait as Daley Wong R. Bruce Elliott as Quincy Leah Clarke as Sylvie Colleen Clinkenbeard as Anri Kelly Manison as Vision     Animaze or Bang Zoom:    Karen Strassman as Priss Asagiri Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Sylia Stingray Michelle Ruff as Linna Yamazaki Julie Ann Taylor as Nene Romanova   Brianne Siddall as Mackey Stingray Crispin Freeman as Leon McNichol Steven Blum as Brian J. Mason Crispin Freeman as Largo Robert Buchholz as Daley Wong Michael Forest as Quincy Jessica Straus as Sylvie Stephanie Sheh as Anri Karen Strassman as Vision
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Otaku Revolution Anime Discussion #1: Classic Remakes Casting

I thought I’d attempt something new for a change and start up a discussion about something anime-related in the hopes of having more communication with the people who come here (all three of them). Feel free to comment on this, suggest other topics for later discussions, and/or links to helpful material regarding the topic at hand.

Topic #1

With classics like Space Battleship Yamato and Mobile Suit Gundam being remade, do you feel like original cast members should reprise their roles after decades have passed? For example, should Goro Naya continue on as Captain Okita? Should Tohru Furuya continue to play Amuro Ray? If so, why? If not, who should play the roles? Suggest new VAs if possible. read more

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