Anime Apolyton

[Wraith]

--"The scene when she gets her wings was a bit weird but everything else was normal."

The wings bit is part of what got me hooked. That's just not the kind of thing most anime would even think about, much less address. It was a very well done scene.

You'll have to let me know when you see more of it ^_^

--"Heheh, dance like you want to win was hilarious and brilliantly done..."

The problem is that it's hard to mix comedy and drama well. Not many shows pull it off. As a stand-alone episode, it was good, but fitting it in to the rest of the series is where I have some problem with it.

Wraith
"Yoroshiku, Baby, desu no"
-- Safety ("Risky/Saftey")

[DaShi]

Re: Anime Apolyton

Originally posted by Wraith
Speaking of manga, ADV's put out the first volume of Azumanga Daioh. Sounds like they're doing a decent job so far, although they're over-localizing things. Much of the humor of Azumanga Daioh is very rooted in Japanese culture, so this could be a problem. Still, giving Osaka a Brooklyn accent was probably about as good as that little gag could get.

I forget where, but there was a site translating it that gave her a Southern accent, which seemed to work well.

[Drake Tungsten]

Why does this girl need an accent? Does she speak in Kansai-ben or something?

[Unspeakable Horror]

The wings bit is part of what got me hooked. That's just not the kind of thing most anime would even think about, much less address. It was a very well done scene.

You'll have to let me know when you see more of it ^_^

Yes, it was weird in the good way

[Wraith]

--"I forget where, but there was a site translating it that gave her a Southern accent, which seemed to work well."

Not really. She's from Osaka, and the stereotype of Osaka is closer to the US stereotype of Brooklyn than the South. By a long shot. Which is where the joke comes in. Everyone expected her to be brash, energetic, a loudmouth (a lot like Tomo, in other words), but she's really nothing like that at all.

--"Why does this girl need an accent? Does she speak in Kansai-ben or something?"

She's from Osaka (hence the nickname), as I mention above. Her accent really isn't that bad, except when her classmates refuse to let her speak standard. There's a good scene in the anime about this. When she transfers to the school, Yukari-sensei makes her introduce herself in Kansai-ben, even though she first introduces herself in standard.

Wraith
"You know the times you can see the dust in your eyes? I'm chasing it right now."
-- Osaka ("Azumanga Daioh")

[chequita guevara]

I'm sorta sad that anime has become so popular in the U.S. When it was small, it was this special thing that belonged to just us.

[Drake Tungsten]

She's from Osaka (hence the nickname), as I mention above. Her accent really isn't that bad, except when her classmates refuse to let her speak standard. There's a good scene in the anime about this. When she transfers to the school, Yukari-sensei makes her introduce herself in Kansai-ben, even though she first introduces herself in standard.

Okini.

[DanS]

This was a Madhouse weekend. I finished off the fansub for Hajime No Ippo TV, which is a series about a fighter's rise to the top of the Japanese boxing world. I guess the last episode was released in Japan in 2002. 76 episodes so far plus one movie.

The series reminds me a lot of Initial D. A formulaic story about a young, humble but earnest prodigy getting to the top of a sport--street racing in Initial D and boxing in Hajime No Ippo. Throw in the girl next door--a childhood friend in Initial D and a former opponent's sister in Hajime No Ippo. A mentor--the protaganist's father in Initial D and the trainer in Hajime No Ippo. Some contemporary Japanese social commentary--teenage girls "dating" older men for pay in Initial D and classmate bullying in Hajime No Ippo.

These kinds of stories are all very enjoyable, if done well, both in Japanese anime and American movies. The series borrows liberally from the Rocky movie series in several places, which was fun. The music style is straight out of Rocky, for instance.

One thing that is interesting is that when made in Japan, these stories seem to include a lot more detail about the sport. Karate Kid only had wax on, wax off, but Hajime no Ippo went into good detail about the different punches used, strategies, some of the history of boxing in the US and Mexico, and how it all applied to the story. The story pacing in Hajime No Ippo is very slow in part because of this. Sometimes a single fight will take 3 or 4 episodes to play out.

All in all, Hajime no Ippo is a great series, for those who can take the slow pacing. I give it a 9.

[DanS]

I guess this is the last Anime Apolyton.

Don't know if anybody here has a high definition display and cable HDTV service, but InHD (two HD cable channels) is running some high definition anime in conjunction with the Anime Network. I can't get it (I'm on Starpower/RCN, which doesn't carry InHD), but currently they're running Spriggan and You’re Under Arrest: The Movie.

http://www.inhd.com/pressReleases/press7_1_03.jsp

I did some research and HDNet, another HD channel pair that I do get with Starpower/RCN, has only run repeats of old Speed Racer episodes--not exactly the thing to showcase HD anime.

[SnowFire]

Not that anybody here cares, but Yuki Kajiura will be doing the music work to Xenosaga Episode II, rather than Yasonouri Mitsuda. Rather surprising being that Mitsuda did pretty good work on both Xenogears & Xenosaga Ep. I. In any case, Kajiura is apperantly the lady who did .hack//Sign's music, and anybody who has seen parts of the show know that the music was one of the best parts of the series (excluding the bizarre opening number, of course). So hopefully XS2's music is in good hands.

Still, I haven't seen the Kyoto arc, which is supposed to be the best part.

Agree that the OAV is better than the TV series, from what I've seen of it, at least. I will say that from a source I trust- my old roommate- the best part of the TV series in his opinion is the Shimabura arc, which takes place around 10 or so episodes after the Kyoto arc.

I've only watched bits and pieces on the Cartoon Network, but I will say that the dubbing is excellent. Shishio in particular strikes me as the kind of villain I would dislike (not in the good sense) in the Japanese version, but his American voice actor lends the proper balance of menace and charisma. It's only been Kyoto arc episodes I've caught (it's a looong arc apperantly) here and there, and they're enjoyable enough, I guess. I probably wouldn't be able to stand the earlier "random wanderings" as opposed to the actually somewhat plotty Kyoto arc. Not that the plot is much more than a giant excuse for a lot of duels, but whatever. Better than nothing. And there were at least 2 episodes in it that challenged Kenshin's philosophy and thereby made themselves morally interesting, actually.

[Kassiopeia]

In any case, Kajiura is apperantly the lady who did .hack//Sign's music, and anybody who has seen parts of the show know that the music was one of the best parts of the series (excluding the bizarre opening number, of course). So hopefully XS2's music is in good hands.

Not to forget Noir. Of the current composers around, Kajiura is a very good choice.

I wonder if Mitsuda is going to quit composing for games? Maybe it's a good thing, though: Xenosaga's soundtrack, while decent, wasn't IMHO even close to Xenogears's.

[Harry Seldon]

currently they're running Spriggan and You’re Under Arrest: The Movie.

Ooohhh! Spriggan was a good one! Probably a top fiver.

[SnowFire]

Mitsuda is working on Shadow Hearts II, along with Yo****oka Hirota, from what I understand. Being that Mitsuda's contributions to Shadow Hearts were actually kind of underwhelming- Hirota was definitely the star of the show there- I'm hoping he produces something better. Consdiering that Hirota still can't write cheery music properly, and Mitsuda hasn't written a good battle theme in awhile, let Hirota write the dark stuff and Mitsuda write the happy stuff. It'll work out fine.

I agree that Xenogears had better music than XS, but XS was still pretty good on the whole.

I haven't seen Noir. I'm told it's a bit slow, but decent.

[DanS]

Speaking of Noir, it's just starting this month on INHD.

[Drake Tungsten]

Shishio in particular strikes me as the kind of villain I would dislike (not in the good sense) in the Japanese version, but his American voice actor lends the proper balance of menace and charisma.

It's the same guy who did the voice of Spike for Cowboy Bebop. Also did the main character's voice in Big O, IIRC. Great voice actor.