Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Anime

Princess Mononoke Delayed.. To Add Japanese! 190

Posted by CmdrTaco from the way-to-go-fanboys! dept.
Dark Paladin writes: "It seems that Disney has had a change of mind (er, wallet) after hearing about the 4500 online signatures (and more on the way) regarding the DVD version of Princess Mononoke. You can read the official press release sent to DVD stores here. All I can say is: proof that sometimes The Man listens." This is very cool.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Princess Mononoke Delayed.. To Add Japanese! More

Princess Mononoke Delayed.. To Add Japanese!

Comments Filter:

  • Re:Anime (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Kenshin is probably the best anime series to come out of Japan since Evangelion. It has a good balance of humor, action, and drama. The good news is that the series is finally being released domestically in the U.S. subtitled on DVD. Here's the amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-fo rm/104-6479756-2991907 ADV films is also releasing a series called Gasaraki in Sept. It looks cool, but I haven't seen it yet. Here's another site for anime info, where to get cels etc. . . http://www.anipike.com/ The Hayao Miyazaki stuff is always solid, Nausicaa, Mononoke Hime etc. Battle Angel Alita is pretty cool as well. Hope you find this helpful.

  • Re:What?? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Princess Mononoke is the Japanese version of "The Little Mermaid."

    The reason for the fuss is that if Disney released an English language version of "Princess Mononoke" that would be exactly the same video, frame for frame, as "The Little Mermaid". Now that's stupid. If Disney was open source, someone would have caught that redundancy.

    So, it was looking like the big corporation was trying to decide for us what we should watch. They decided that Americans weren't good enough to watch "The Little Mermaid" with voices in Japanese. Well fuck them! We've got our money, and we're going to buy what we want. Now give it to us! After hearing that, Disney gave in. Now I hear that Disney is going to release the Russian language version of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" which was entitled "Damn! There's an apple and I don't even have to wait in line for it!". About time.

  • Re:Anime (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm not really knowledgable, so can anyone point me to 2 or 3 movies that I can check out?

    Depends on what you like. Most anime is not movies but long TV series of short mini-series (usually called OAVs). A movie may follow a series, but without having seen the series, you'll be lost. I'll also try to confine recommendations to what can be found at the local Blockbuster.

    If you liked Top Gun, Firefox, etc., try Macross Plus.

    If you like the James Bond/secret agent films, watch the Dirty Pair (Eden or Flight 005, skip Nolandia).

    If you liked Blade Runner, try Armitage III.

    If you like that childlike innocence romance stuff, try the Sailor Moon R movie (aka "Promise of the rose").

    Of course, if you're a stupid punk horny kid looking for cool gore, sex, and ninja "jap cartoons", watch Urotskidoji or Ninja scroll.

    You really need to provide more datails of what you like for more and better answers.

  • Re:Movies I would recommend (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It means that slashdot sucks because somebody can troll by asking a fake newbie question that was an Ask Slashdot topic three weeks ago and get a long-winded list of favorite anime from somebody who doesn't know any better and that response will be scored as (3, Informative) by the moderators who are just as clueless and most of the people on slashdot don't even know what YHBT YHL HAND means anymore and those who do think it's funny to troll some more by asking what it means, which results in somebody spelling it out for him followed by somebody anonymously answering with a long run-on sentence that completely wastes everybody's time as further proof that slashdot sucks and closes by saying thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

  • Anime (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Good ones for Newbie's to check out. Akira Ghost In The Shell Record Of Lodoss Wars There's plenty others, but those will get you started.
  • Can we please? Movies/Cartoon/Anmie, Movies/Tv/Sucks... nah, would be too much like usenet... (remember usenet?) :)

    J.
  • In the "fansub" version, the girl who gives Ashitaka the crystal pendant in the beginning of the film is his betrothed.. In the Disney version, they turned her into his little sister.
    I noticed some other little changes, like in the "nice bowl" eating scene, etc.. Nothing drastic like the first poster was saying, though..

  • Nausicaa movie was horrid. Read the manga...

    Oh, wow, please tell me you're joking. Nausicaa was horrid? Are you sure you watched it? You didn't by any chance watch 'Warriors of the Wind' did you? That's the name of the unbelievably bad English dub that was done of Nausicaa. It cuts out literally about a half an hour from the story, including almost the entire plot. (The justification for it was that animation was only enjoyed by kids, and kids don't want a good story, they just want action. Incidentally, this terrible hack job is the reason that Ghibli Studios has been so reserved about releasing English dubs of their movies.) The dub was an absolute massacre.

    However, the full, unedited, Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind is an amazing piece of work. Easily the greatest Anime I've ever seen.

    (And I have read, and own, the entire Nausicaa Manga set. Yes, it is amazing, but that doesn't take away from the Anime.)

  • Why did I take my name off the preorder list?

    I did it for two reasons:

    1. I always buy Anime with the original Japanese dialog because I happen to *greatly* prefer it.
    2. I don't like supporting them when they do something that is strongly against my interests.
    I have never yet found an Anime where I prefered an English dub over the original Japanese dialog. I find Japanese to be a beautiful and musical langauge, and I enjoy listening to it. Also, it always tends to match up better to the animation.

    By purchasing this anime anyway, without the Japanese dialog, I am implicitly giving them my approval to continue with that type of action. I refuse to do that. I want them to know that I don't wish to buy a crippled version of the movie, and I hope that if there are enough people out there like me, perhaps they'll get the message and do things right.

    In this case, it would appear to have worked.

  • I love Anime. I loved Princess Mononoke. In fact, it's prolly either my second or third favorite anime at this time (Only one I'm sure I like better is Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind [nausicaa.net].

    However, I also *love* Japanese dialog. I had my name on the preorder list for this DVD, and I removed it when I heard they weren't going to include the original Japanese dialog. Now I get to put it back on.

    I can only say thank you and congratulations to the online Anime Community for making this happen.

  • That's stupid. There's no law that says that I have to be receptive to advertising, even if I make use of something that is paid for through advertising revenues.

    The Betamax case that the Supreme Court heard ~20 years ago makes this awfully clear, if you really need a reference. I don't actually bother with Junkbuster though. iCab filters stuff out very nicely all on it's own.
  • Heh. The Patlabor _movies_ are extremely serious. And very, very good, though you shouldn't expect to see a lot of action.

    The Patlabor TV series, on the other hand, is frequently comedic. At least much of it that I've seen. Still good, but not on the same level as the movies (particularly Patlabor Movie 2)

    Then of course, there's the difficult to find, but hilarious Dirty Pair Project Eden. (in Japanese - the Streamline dub is awful) The Pair are always great ;)
  • Yeah but Suncoast is really expensive, and they never have sales. Cheaper to order online. Amazon, Buy, etc all carry a lot of anime titles too, and they're much less expensive.
  • No one's saying it's illegal. Just that Disney is a bunch of rat bastards. Hell, I'm from Florida and I despise them. They've ruined the middle part of my home state.

    If you want something that's borderline illegal, take a look at the Lion King vs. Jungle King contraversy.
  • They re-released The Little Mermaid in theaters at the same time as when Anastasia came out.

    This is a common Disney tactic.
  • Akira is a good one and is available at most rental places. It really helped kickstart the anime-in-America scene.
    Battle Angel Alita is one of my personal favorites as it has an excellent sci-fi plot. Both Akira and Alita are sci-fi-ish. There are other genres of anime as well (drama, horror, comedy, adult, etc). Vampire Hunter D is a cool horror-esque series. Ranma is a popular comedy series. There are many others of course.
    It us understandable to be surly sometimes.
  • This has been covered in depth in many different /. articles. I think there was even an Ask Slashdot about it. So just search slashdot, and you're bound to find more suggestions of reading material than you could possibly have time to watch.

    Good luck. Oh, and I suggest Princess Mononoke. ^_^
  • Now I don't have to bear the guilt that I would eventually, after a great many years, feel for going out and slaughtering each and every Disney employee (including the janitors, who though seemingly innocent might have influenced the decision by leaving the floors slightly less shiny than some executive liked and thus putting him in a disagreeable mood prior to the meeting to discuss the PM DVD release), each in a different yet horribly gruesome and painfull way using household items, were they to have released the movie in English format only, not because the dub was particularly bad, which it was not, but just for the principle of the thing.
  • Malda et al. just recently discovered that not all anime is badly-done tentacle porn (if you don't know, don't ask). They are just reveling in their new-found love. Kinda like the nanobots thing.
  • When 4500 customers come knocking at your door you have no choice but to listen. That show that this company will listen if they feel they can make a buck from it.
  • A search on IMDB results in this [imdb.com]
    Mononoke Hime(?)
    Also Known As: Princess Mononoke (1999) (USA: US version)
    Interesting Cast as well..

    Billy Crudup .... Ashitaka (English version)
    Claire Danes .... San (English version)
    Minnie Driver .... Lady Eboshi (English version)
    Billy Bob Thornton .... Jigo (English version)
    John DeMita .... Kohroko (English version)

    "On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest and Tataraba, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime"

    ---
  • Who the hell is princess Mononoke???
  • Don't need APEX. Generation 1 of Playstation 2 (which finally give the DVD industry in Japan the final killer app push) has a very easy to defeat region coding feature that has really put the scare into industry. Especially when they are charging $70 per disk comparing the the US SRP of $30.
  • Yes they do. BV Japan (Disney distribution arm in Japan) requested that they leave out the Japanese track to prevent reverse import. DVD movies cost $70 in Japan compare to $30 US SRP.
  • Calm down boy. The original 36 episode Macross is going to be release on DVD by AnimEigo later this year.
  • Actually, no, I don't have the obligation to view ads. That's what Junkbuster's all about. If I had the obligation to view them, then Junkbuster would be sued into the ground the way the DVD industry is trying to do to the deCSS people.

    As it is, there is a technology out there to detect adblockers and prevent the next page from being served if they're in operation; it was originated by and is used by the folks at Mind's Eye Fiction [tale.com] for the "pay for the story by viewing banner ads" payment option. If sites were really concerned about losing a few pennies from banner ads not loading, they would institute it themselves.
    --

  • I fail to see anything wrong with Themestream; it's just another place to post things. The text looks a lot nicer there than it would on a Tripod or Geocities or other free-page site--plus has no annoying banner ads or spawning pop-up windows. It's nicely-formatted, fast to load, doesn't cost you anything, so as far as you're concerned, it's just the same as if I've put it up on a private website and linked to it there.

    (Heck, if I did put it up on a private website that had banner ads on it I was still getting paid for, would people complain, even though Themestream's a lot less annoying and intrusive? Geez, Slashdot itself uses banner ads and gets paid for each pageview, and I'm sure they get a lot more from that than I get from one Themestream article.)
    --

  • No, sorry, it was Titanic. [nausicaa.net]

  • Uhh, Princess Mononoke contains a decapitation and a couple of arms being torn off. Several other nice battle scenes too. Many dead bodies scattered throughout. Definately not Little Mermaid.
  • Actually the most popular movie in Japan is Titanic. I think Mononoke was number 2.
  • Hayao Miyazaki
  • Cartoon were cool until I graduated from Middle School...

  • Every day, at 3:00 Central, on Cartoon Network in the US. DIC is no longer dubbing them, the American division of Toei is.
  • Powerpuff Girls is the best cartoon, ever. Shame on you for skipping over it. You're missing out.

    I don't know if it could be called "anime", either.
  • Wow, you can bash a harmless hobby and homosexuals- at the same time!
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • A company I don't like is adding a language I don't understand to a movie I won't watch in a format I don't use. I'm psyched!
    --
  • I agree, it was a savvy move for Disney. They even have /. pluggin' their products now! Cha-ching!
  • Incidentally, the editors of nausicaa.net should be given a great deal of credit (at least a link, /.!) as they contacted Disney, did all the legwork finding out about this issue, and organized the e-mail petition [nausicaa.net], which was ultimately effective in changing Disney's mind.

    No need to send a message in now, we can all just wait for the official release to be reset, and buy a copy (or copies as gifts) to show our support for this, one of the few respectable decisions Disney's made.

    -jpowers

  • PPG (Score:1)

    by jpowers ( 32595 )
    It's not really anime, sort of meta-toons for anime fans, but it's as American as the Ford Pinto. I like it well enough. In terms of production values, Miyazaki's films usually dwarf most others, though Ghost In The Shell (which is not his) holds up real well, given it's 5 or 6 years old.

    The best voice overs in "dubbed" anime has to be Ranma 1/2, which I still find amusing, but you can't go by me, since I hate both Friends and Sienfeld... the music in it isn't half bad, as jpop goes.

    The toughest thing to get over with this stuff is that what you see is years old. I recommended Ranma (TV vol 1) but it was on TV in Japan in the late 80's. Most of the time what we're seeing now from Disney was done by the Japanese years before (except Beauty and the Beast, which was actually pretty well done.) The most recent big-name stuff is Mononoke, Serial Experiments Lain, and like I said, GITS holds up.

    Just wait til next year... fully rendered Final Fantasy. It already looks phenominal.

    -jpowers
  • Nope. I was one of the petitioners. We threatened not to buy it at all, and I for one would have stuck to it. Now some of my friends and relatives will get it as a gift this Christmas. More $ for the Mouse.

    I'm not suggesting they listened to me and my 5 copy order, but a lot of the people were store owners, who would not order as many for the store, and tell their customers to wait for the special edition. I'd just have rented it instead.

    -jpowers
  • It was the guys from Nausicaa.net, they had an appointment to meet with BVUS. The stack of e-mails included multi-copy buyers (like me) and resellers like Anime Crash and some others. It was a big enough deal that they took it seriously for a change, and they'll be rewarded with our money. Well, mine anyway.

    -jpowers
  • Yeah, but now I'm screwed. Not only did I threaten them with a boycott I'm incapable of organizing, but I sort of promised to buy 5 copies if they put the Japanese language track in. I wonder if I have a copy of that e-mail...an object lesson in not letting your inner otaku take over...

    -jpowers
  • I find this interesting as I have seen an fansub'd version and the theater version and didn't notice any major differences. Can you name anything specific?
  • Yeah, it would be nice to be able to block this stuff as easily as blocking Jon Katz (etc...)

    I still don't see how this fits in with News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters... Poor animation that matters?
  • I still haven't seen any "high quality" animation in the Anime area... maybe I'm missing something...

    I can only speak of the shows I skip over on TV, of course... Dragonball Z(?), Powerpuff girls, something about some sailor chicks who kick ass on a regular basis...

    If somebody could point me at some decent looking stuff with a decent plot, I might be convinced to change my tune on this one... maybe I just haven't seen any "real" anime?
  • I'm in the US... lived in NJ, NY, and MN for extended time periods. The Anime club at the engineering/cs school I attended wasn't nearly as popular as I thought it would be, having heard all of this hype. A vocal minority of the nerd segment, but there seems to be a lot of non-nerds who like it as well - that was my point.

    I've asked for people to point me toward good Anime, but everyone says that it'll cost a fair chunk... must be not-for-TV anime they are referring to...
  • Ouch... a little bit of a nerve there...

    Alright, so my post was a little bit "Me-too"ish, but I think that there was a valid point. Personally, I'm interested in finding out there's actually any decent anime out there, or if it is all just a bunch of crud like the stuff I've seen. I'd like to collect some ideas on what to go check out, and then, if it isn't worth it, opt out of seeing reports on it... Doesn't seem like too much to +ask, especially given the number of topics we now have, and the ease of adding them.

    So, especially considering your response, everybody would be better off with a separate topic. People who don't want to see it don't, people who will bitch about seeing it won't see it, and those who wish to see it don't have to put up with those who bitch about it. Everybody saves time and bandwidth. Simple as that.

    Not a slow day, just some slow grepping...
  • I've watched it once or twice... moderately amusing for about 4 minutes each half hour... I certainly wouldn't call it quality animation, though...
  • Oooh, somebody who doesn't think enough of themself to even log in calls me a worthless sack of crap. Go back to alt.flame...

    I know Anime happens to be popular, but it doesn't seem to be more popular with nerds than it does with elementary school children or even your average joe college. Non-nerd specific = not really /. material, IMNSHO.

  • Actually, I'd like a Topic=Anime because I'd prefer to read about Anime. It would make finidng articles easier.

  • Worst of all, I heard a nasty rumor that Yoko Kanno's music isn't going to be in the Fox... what could they possibly replace it with? It was one of my favorite things about the series.

    Maybe they'll replace it with some of the same shit our own TV shows use. Damn, I'm glad I have the subbed tapes.
  • "Other recommendations include Rurouni Kenshin (historical action), Excel Saga (flat-out humour and self-parody), La Fillette Revolutionaire Utena (stylistic swordplay and androgeny) and Slayers (humourous sword and sorcery, two flavours available!)."

    Um, two flavors of Slayers? Last I checked, there were Slayers, Slayers Next, and Slayers Try, plus at least one OAV. Really funny series, though the second and third subseries are funnier than the first.
  • You are wrong : supply and demand is when you set price according to competition and scarcity/abondance of products.

    Setting psychological prices is NOT supply and demand. It is when you control the whole market (norrowly : you are the only one to have Starwars copyrights, or widely : you are the only one to make a win32 complient OS). In this situation you set the price according to what your customers are ready to pay for the product. Supply and demand is especially irrelevant in the information market (software/music/movies) because you can press about as many CDs/DVDs as you can sell. This is why there are region zones : to let the video industry set psychological prices in every region (higher in US & Europe, lower in China and India) without having people make gray imports from countries where the DVD is the cheapest.

  • Disney behavior: DVD preview locking (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    My current favorite Disney gripe: DVD tracks contain a bit that can be set when authoring to prevent people from skipping the legal messages at the front of DVD's, like copyright messages. Disney now sets this bit for 10+ (and growing) minutes of previews & advertisments at the beginning of their DVD's (children and 'adult' movies) that MUST be viewed before you can get to the menu and play the movie EVERY TIME you reinsert the disk. Is this illegal? Of course not. Is it odious behavior? YES! How many minutes of forced advertising exposure will you defend? This is also another example of the loss of fair use.
  • Considering that the hardcore fan will never consider American animation to be of anime caliber, there are a few animated series I would *love* to see on DVD here in the states.

    The Simpsons has been announced to be released like the X-Files - by Season - in February, 2001.

    Beyond the Simpsons, however, there are a number of series I would want to see. Among them are Batman The Animated Series, The X-Men (I bet I could get many more signatures on a petition after that movie :), and The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest.

    I currently have a petition to get Batman The Animated Series published on DVD here [123petitions.com] . Please do go sign it :) I'd be more than happy to start petitions for the others as well if people are interested...
  • The other day I pointed out the Propaganda site to somebody and had to explain to them that while not everybody thinks correctly tiled backgrounds are "cool", some people do.

    I'm a fan of the Propaganda site and am using backgrounds from there as I write this but I have to say on a scale of "coolness", anime has a lot more going for it than swirly jpegs.

  • Every single change from literal translation was sent to Studio Ghibli for approval before being incorporated. The only two differences that I've heard of are mentioned above (the soup tasting like donkey piss vs. water, and the girl turning into Ashitaka's sister). I'd still prefer a different translation--you have different priorities for a sub. But a dubtitle would be okay.
  • Christ!

    Just don't read it!

    You folks have apparently got enough time to bring up articles you don't like and then make comments about how much the're a waste of your time.

    Must be a slow day at work, huh?

    t_t_b
    --
    I think not; therefore I ain't®

  • Why didn't you mention Cowboy Bebop? Three very nice DVDs are out now - three more coming in the next few months. Brilliant series, up there with Eva, Esca, the Patlabor movies and Mac+.

    Not to mention the classic Castle of Cagliostro.

    Also, while I know it's an old favorite, the animation on the earlier BGCs hasn't aged well. I still love it, but I doubt that it would be a good introduction to anime for most people.
  • I think what people don't know about Nausicaa.net is that it is by far one of the best sites I've seen to explain Japanese anime period, in this the works of Studio Ghibli.

    This site is so well-done that I've heard that even Hayao Miyazaki is most impressed by the depth and scope of how Nausicaa.net explains each Studio Ghibli movie release to non-Japanese audiences.

    Because the people who run Nausicaa.net are given a nod of approval by Miyazaki himself, that's why when Nausicaa.net had that petition going it definitely had the credibility to persuade Buena Vista Video to delay the DVD version of Princess Mononoke until they can release an English/Japanese DVD with extensive background notes and details on the making of the movie.
  • I don't remember any major plot differences between the fan-sub I saw vs the English language version released in theaters. However, there were some basic phrases of speech that had to be modified due to cultural differences. For example, one of the first lines of Jigo (the short, fat guy with Billy-Bob Thornton's voice) in Japanese translated to somethink like:
    • "This soup tastes like water."
    In English, that's a rather ambiguous statement, but in Japanese, it's supposed to be a really nasty jibe at someone's cooking. So, in the English version, the Neil Gaiman changed it around to a line more suited to western audiences:
    • "This soup tastes like horse piss."
    Note the difference. Personally, I'd prefer the English subtitles to be the direct Japanese translation. However, that may seem unfair to the English hearing impared. After all, they deserve to hear Billy-Bob wax poetic about urine just as much as the rest of us. In a perfect world, Disney would but both subtitle tracks into the DVD. But I'd be happy with just one or the other.
  • Excuse me for the "mouth attitude"... just didn't think an anime movie deserved a slashdot headline... :)

  • Ummmmm...looks like we do have a topic for anime. Given that this article is in it...
    --
  • Those fans who're happy that Disney's seen the light and will release Mononoke with Japanese audio intact might consider writing thank-you letters to Mr. David Jessen, the Buena Vista exec who made himself a target for fans' letters by posting his office mailing address on the Internet.

    My letter, with Mr. Jessen's address at the top, is right here [themestream.com].
    --

  • It must be the 5th "We need an Anime Topic because we don't wanna read anime news" I've seen recently. I don't get it! Why does it get moderated up to 5 every time. It's disturbing for the rest of us.

    Why did you click
    "Anime Story"->Reply-> (writing reply)Submit
    if this topics doesn't interest you at all!?!?

  • Okay. Looks like you got your wish on the Anime topic. Now for the other stuff:

    The big post that seemed to start this anime stuff here on /. (though some of us always worked it into our posts...) was Essential Anime [slashdot.org], an Ask Slashdot posted by Taco Hisself.

    A bunch of people put lists up (as a few have done here) but rather than repost mine, I direct you to the one I posted there [slashdot.org].

    Note that there are other lists near mine with an equally large array of highly watchable, sometimes even great, fare. Most of us separate our favorites by genre (drama, comedy, scifi/mecha, fantasy) so you can pick and choose what's most likely to appeal to you.

    Incidentally, I had a conversation with someone on anime's appeal under the Tenchi Story, our thread is right around here [slashdot.org].

    -jpowers
  • So don't read it, much less respond to it. I don't read every Slashdot article and certainly don't post in ones I don't care about. If you have no interest in the article ignore it. Many people do find this interesting. Heck even if you don't like anime, you gotta admit changing Disney's mind with 4500 names submitted of the web is pretty cool.
  • Of course. More than anything, I was mocking the posts who were portraying Disney as being philanthropic and understanding for allowing us the privilege of buying what they make. As if they give a rats ass about anything but the money they'll make off it.
  • Mononoke is anime. It's just being distributed in the US by a subsidiary of Disney that often does foreign or non-mainstream movies. It is some of the best animation I have seen, it is a really great story, and it is really great anime. I recommend it highly. Also, it DOES have demonic tentacled monsters in it! It's also not a musical or a love story. It is not like The Little Mermaid at all... although the Little Mermaid also did have a tentacled monster and a barely clad teenager, so I don't see what you have against it. :)
  • I bought Tank Police DVD in the US, and my native language not being English, I tried to have both the English dubbing track+English subtitles to help understanding.
    Well, it turned out I switched to Japanese soundtrack+English subtitles, because the English subtitles and English dubbing were significantly different ! It felt so weird !

  • Hmmm (Score:2)

    by mwalker ( 66677 )
    So now the most popular movie in Japan is being released as an America-encoded DVD, with a Japanese soundtrack. So the only thing stopping millions of anxious Japanese customers from watching their favorite movie is the DVD region-encoding byte.
    A number.
    hmmmm.

    How much is a pre-respun Apex 600A dvd player worth on ebay now? 5 million yen? Ten?
  • Also for those that are interested and didn't read more than the PM blurb...it appears that there will be an Oct 3, 2000 release of Vampire Hunter D on DVD.

    -Vel
  • will be rather difficult to incorporate. we did not see the original screenplay translated into english when this played at theaters in america. neil gaiman (of sandman fame) did a rather extensive rewrite of the plot to make it more understandable to western audiences.

    so i'm wondering, if you watch it in japanese with english subtitles, will you see a translation of the japanese words? or will you see the english words used by gaiman at that point in the movie? releasing a movie with essentially two different plots is kind of odd even for a feature loaded dvd.......
  • I am glad to say that Gaiman did NOT perform an "extensive rewrite of the plot," as you put it. There were some IMHO minor adaptations to make the film play better -- pretty much to smooth the culture barrier in regards to dialogue. There are expressions ("This soup tastes like water.") and humor that don't carry the same weight or meaning to an American audience that they would to a Japanese audience. Gaiman put insane effort into faithfully adapting the meaning of this film while still maintaining an excellent match between the characters mouths and the English dialogue. Also, the names of some of the forest dwelling god-creatures (namely the Shishigami and Tatarigamis) were altered or omitted for those without a background in Japanese folklore.

    Anyway, long story short, the PLOT remains identical, just some dialogue details are changed.

  • It's cool that they add an "Anime" topic, but what the hell is that icon?? Is _very_ ugly.

    Is that a guy or a girl?

    --

  • Don't forget those classics of the tentacle pr0n genre, now available on DVD with introductions about the lofty cultural place schoolgirl tentacle pr0n holds in Japanese culture:

    Urotsukidoji (Legend of the Overfiend)--now available in an excellent DVD reviewed at

    http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews/urotsukido jipc.html

    in all its young-schoolgirl-in-cute-sailor-outfit-getting-buf fer-overflowed-by-evil-tentacle-demons glory. A classic.
  • Ok. I wanted to attempt to address some misconceptions I've seen repeatedly among the (more inane, IMO) replies regarding the recent anime posts here on /.

    1. Animation & Comics are for kids.

    If you believe this, I am trying extremely hard not to think evil thoughts about you right now. I thought people here were supposed to have open minds - but maybe I was being too idealistic. Anyway, I may be able to understand that here in the States, we've been accustomed to cartoons as being a forum for (mostly) children. I cannot understand why bright people can't think outside those lines. The Japanese have a very rich visual tradition, and Comics (Manga) and Animation (Anime) are deeply embedded in their culture. Everyone reads and watches them.

    So unless you enjoy making fun of what's different than you (it's called bigotry, friend), think some more before you start advertising your ignorance.

    2. Anime mouths are synced to the dialogue.

    Most anime is done under a tight budget, and it would require massive amounts of man-power and time to make sure all the character's mouths work with the spoken dialogue - that coupled with the fact that most anime production houses know (or hope) that their product will be translated into other languages basically explains why anime mouths are not synced to dialogue. Most definitely not as "important" as the first one, but just a little annoying thing that I see crops up in replies from time to time. =)
  • Look here [slashdot.org] for Topic: CmdrTaco.
    <O
    ( \
  • You're entitled to your opinion, but calling anime "cartoons" is almost an insult. Anime is nothing like American Saturday-morning craptoons. It's serious stuff in Japan; much of it is intended for mature audiences (Japanese law prohibits depiction of live-action genitalia).
    <O
    ( \
  • First off, its long overdue. Both so people can block it and as an excuse to post more stories about it :)
    Secondly, not to offend who did the picture but its not very good looking. Maybe you guys should ask the slash crowd to send a better one? Or maybe not... Hmm... There has to be something that looks better than that...

    As for the actual story (OT dodge) i think Disney is doing something right this time. Releasing one of the most popular movies in Japan without a Japanese language option is basically suicide. Blah.

    -Elendale (I used to know what those three little dots were called, but now i forget...)

    Karma burn coming
    As i meta-troll again

  • Hi. Read this: http://www.kuro5h in.org/?op=displaystory&sid=2000/7/18/122257/231 [kuro5hin.org]. Please don't b-slap me; this is important!

    --

  • They re-released The Little Mermaid in theaters at the same time as when Anastasia came out.

    Oh, those evil monsters. How could they? I mean, trying to compete with a rival product? For shame. Now this is just the sort of thing the government ought to be seeking an anti-trust ruling on, not those nice Microsoft people.

    .

  • Disney has one of the most ruthless marketing departments in the world (personal opinion). Did you see what these guys did when anyone tried to get into their space. For example, Anastasia.

    For those of us not paying attention at the time, can you elaborate on this? What did Disney do to the guys who produced Anastasia?

  • In Japan and in most of the world outside
    N. America. This was Buena Vista Japan's
    worry that made them request BV America
    not to include the original sound track.
    Also given that DVDs usually cost a lot
    more $$ in Japan means that these would
    for sure have been reverse-imported back
    to Japan.

    I hop they are just going to release the
    "international" version in region 1 and 2
    at the same time and just get over themselves,
    but it is Disney so probably not.

    Lain

  • Way to add the new anime topic!!!!
  • This is not just some movie...its only the highest grossing film in japan....next to ick....titanic...uughh... This isnt made buy disney either, it was made in japan by a man..whos name slips my mind right now...who is compaired to walt disney. When it came to the US it was dubbed over and licenced under miramax...owned by disney....this IS a great film...not just disney using its iron fist to inflate its typical stream of crap

  • Hmm (Score:2)

    by potaz ( 211754 )
    I'm wondering if this is an "after which, therefore because of" kind of situation, where Disney says "Let us wait for the Japenese language track" and suddenly everyone who had filled out some internet petition goes "Hey, this was all because of us!"

    ...because I've never seen an internet petition do squat.

  • voltron is pretty cool ok bye.

    loev,

  • This is excellent news! I first saw Mononoke Hime almost a year ago at a furry convention in Memphis. It was a crummy VHS fan-sub, but it was mesmerizing none the less. I'm excited to once again see the film as it was orignally intended. However, make sure that we give special credit to those who lead the charge:
    • First place kudos go to Johnson at Nausicaa.net for getting everybody rolling on this whole protest thing for Mononoke.
    • Second place kudos to the good people at DVDTalk.com for helping the few screaming ninnies grow into the ruckus it is today.
    • Honorable mention kudos granola bars to all the angry anime geeks that signed petitions, wrote letters and beat up Mickey Mouse mascots in the name of our cause. We did it!
    PS: You can stop beating up Mickey Mouse now.

  • Must-see anime for the doubters... (Score:3)

    by Mononoke ( 88668 ) on Wednesday July 19, 2000 @11:22AM (#920406) Homepage Journal
    is Grave of the Fireflies. No tenticles. No goofy animals. No exagerated breasts. Just a well-told yet horrifying story.

    Read more about it:

    http://www.anime-genesis.com/anime/g ra ve.shtml [anime-genesis.com]
    http://www.u mi ch.edu/~iinet/cjs/films/reviews/graveofthefireflie s.html [umich.edu]
    http://animedomain.com/addict/ag/gof.html [animedomain.com]

    Any video rental shop that rents anime should have a VHS or DVD copy available.

    Oh, and pick up some kleenex while you're out. You'll need it.


    --

  • Oh my lord! (Score:3)

    by Tom7 ( 102298 ) on Wednesday July 19, 2000 @10:01AM (#920407) Homepage Journal
    This is a really big surprise to me.

    Anime kids have these stupid petitions all the time, but seldom do the companies ever listen (except for the ones who specialise in anime like AnimEigo). Tens of thousands of people signed the Sailor Moon petitions a few years ago when it went off the air on USA... it took a long time for it to get picked back up.

    But they listened... and Disney? Incredible. Anybody have some insight into this?

    Yes, slashdot needs an Anime topic.

  • disney listens? (Score:3)

    by purefizz ( 114470 ) on Wednesday July 19, 2000 @09:45AM (#920408) Homepage
    Disney has one of the most ruthless marketing departments in the world (personal opinion). Did you see what these guys did when anyone tried to get into their space. For example, Anastasia.

    I'm willing to bet that there may have been some other underlying motive. Maybe the competition is getting ready to put something out and they want to swamp the market at that time.

    kick some CAD [cadfu.com]

  • Errors (Score:4)

    by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 ) on Wednesday July 19, 2000 @02:20PM (#920409) Homepage Journal
    The last post was an accident... sorry!

    Minor corrections and addendums, I think my info is correct as I own most of the titles listed ('cept Pokey & Akira)

    El Hazard The Magnificent World 1 is on 4 VHS tapes, not 5. Seven eps total, one on the first volume, two on the following. The first one is as long as two of all the others, except the last one is a little longer. There are two TV series and an additional OAV series, IMO they pale to the original, the same way for Tenchi. Done by most of the same people too.

    Escaflowne will be on 8 DVDs as far as I can tell. The present tapes are subtitled only. I can only expect the worst, pray for the best on the dub job, it will go to FOX Kids as noted elsewhere.

    Ghost in the Shell Akira, Kiki and Totoro are theatrical movies running at about 90 minutes each, they are not episodic.

    Grave of the Fireflies is also available on DVD.

    Serial Experiments Lain has 13 episodes.

    The mention of Evangelion is missing the movies, which there are several edits, and are mostly intended as a clarification of the last two episodes which apparently those two pissed so many fans off. There is a final edit of the EVA movies, known to us as "Revival of Evangelion" I believe.

    For newer stuff, Trigun and Cowboy BeBop seem to be popular. Anything Lupin is hillarious and madcap insanity. Some people _really_ like Slayers, it's not my personal style.

    For fantasy, presently the best I've seen is Record of Lodoss War. The OAV set is on DVD, the TV series will be in a few months.

    I think the Anime subject addition was a good idea. That way some people can choose not to have it show up on their page. Another incentive for AC's to login...

  • Other fun Anime. (Score:4)

    by Christopher Thomas ( 11717 ) on Wednesday July 19, 2000 @09:59AM (#920410)
    A few additional titles that are quite fun:

    Humour:
    Irresponsible Captain Tyler
    The City Hunter series
    Dragon Half

    More serious:
    The "Patlabor" series

  • This is great news! (Score:4)

    by CoughDropAddict ( 40792 ) on Wednesday July 19, 2000 @11:18AM (#920411) Homepage
    How nice of the gracious multinational corporation (as well as MPAA member) to allow us to fill their wallets in exchange for media we can only use on their draconian terms, further assisting them in their tyrannical court fight! Proof that execs really can be reasonable.

  • Geek hypocrisy (Score:4)

    by PsychoKick ( 97013 ) on Wednesday July 19, 2000 @03:50PM (#920412)
    Let's see, things like Star Trek, comic books, computer games, Lego Mindstorms sets, the latest high-tech toys and gadgets, science-fiction, etc etc, are all universally embraced by geeks, often with a bit of pride to boot. Yet whenever an anime topic pops up on Slashdot we have some geeks here sincerely dismissing it as childish, stupid, dorky, etc etc.

    Yes, there is awful anime out there, but there are also awful computer programs, Star Trek movies, useless gadgets, etc etc. For a geek to be so blindly dismissive towards anime smacks of hypocrisy; to adopt the same narrow mindset found in mainstream society that derides geeks as inept social misfits stuck in childhood. How Nietzsche.

    After all, aren't geeks supposed to pride themselves as being more inquisitive, playful, and willing to experiment, no matter how supposedly "stupid" or "worthless" the subject may appear be? Aren't geeks supposed to be above proving how "cool" and "macho" they are, above tearing down others because they are different and "wierd"?

    Don't slam anime unless you're willing to slam all the other geek hobbies on the same criteria.

  • Movies I would recommend (Score:5)

    by Anonymous Shepherd ( 17338 ) on Wednesday July 19, 2000 @09:48AM (#920413) Homepage
    Younger:
    Kiki's Delivery Service (1 episode, vhs)
    My Friend Totoro (1 episode, vhs)
    Pokemon (tv)

    Drama:
    Macross Plus (4 episodes, 2dvds)
    Grave of the Fireflies (1 episode, vhs)
    Serial Experiments Lain (14 episodes, 4dvds)

    Action:
    Ghost in the Shell (1 episode, vhs)
    Bubblegum Crisis (8 episodes, 3dvds, tape)
    Akira (1 episode, vhs)

    Random Highly Recommended:
    If you can find these...
    Escaflowne (7 vhs)
    El Hazard (5 vhs)
    Evangelion (26 episodes, 13vhs)


    -AS

  • topic=Anime (Score:5)

    by Stavr0 ( 35032 ) on Wednesday July 19, 2000 @09:48AM (#920414) Homepage Journal
    It's been said before and I agree -- we really do need a topic just for ANIME. This one doesn't quite fit in topic=TV
    ---

  • How can any company be so clueless? (Score:5)

    by (void*) ( 113680 ) on Wednesday July 19, 2000 @10:00AM (#920415)
    In this capitalistic world, it is strange to see a company being so clueless about its customer base.

    Here is a big company, Disney, trying to release a foreign film DVD into its own market. It is putting in big money in the efforts of selling a piece of work that many customers will fork over money for. But it fails to understand the basic motivations and the demographic that is buying this foreign work.

    Whatever happened to market research? Whatever happened to giving your customers what they want? Is this big market giant asleep at the wheel?

    It happened that this particular case, the fanatical customers were very vocal. But for your average movie, and your average audience, they are just silent. I guess in such cases, these sheep deserve to be ripped off, right?

Slashdot Top Deals

Neutrinos have bad breadth.

Close