Answerman

Intolerable Cruelty

The Missus is on vacation this week and stapled me to my computer chair, so you're all stuck with yours truly. Since I don't do the rant thing, let's get cracking, shall we?

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Dear Ms. Answerwoman,
After watching the first three episodes of "Hellsing" on Starz Action Channel, I am curious about one of the english voice actors. I think I have heard the voice of the older soldier that works for the Hellsing Organization before. Has he been on TV or movies in person before? I would also like to comment that it was a pleasent surprise to hear the VA's using British accents. I have seen other anime that was set in England and the english language dub was done by Americans. Although I am a bit confused about Sir Hellsing. Is the character male or female? It looks male but the english voice is definatly female and in England only males are refered to as "Sir". Women who have been knighted are called "Dame" (long a sound) and the wife of a knight is called "Lady". Hope you can clear this up for me. Thank you.

Ken Avery
Fayette, NY

If by “the older solder” you're referring to Fargason, the commander of the Hellsing forces, then yes, you've probably seen him all over the place, provided you watch a lot of TV and play video games. He showed up in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty in the prime role of “Russian Soldier”. He was also in I My Me Strawberry Eggs, Ted Turner's box office and critical train wreck Gods and Generals, Disney's questionable Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, and he's even in a 2003 Murder She Wrote TV movie! As for your other comments, I've said it before and I'll say it again (and I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this), the Hellsing dub is one of the few that manages to be better than the Japanese version. Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing is most assuredly female. They prove it later in the series. You can't miss it. I thought she was male the first time I saw her as well, but that faded once the first episode ended; clearly her voice was female.

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Dear answerperson
I was wondering if there is a place i can buy Nausica Valley of the Wind
on DVD with good english subtitle somewhere overseas legally. If not then
ill just wait for the US version if its ever released.
-Miyu

Well, until now, you couldn't, but you're in luck. Disney is releasing Miyazaki's beloved animated film based on his equally beloved comics in a feature-packed special edition in Japan on November 18th. You can buy one of three versions; a standard release, just the DVD with English subtitles, a special edition release that comes with a Nausicaa figure and a special ‘soft case’ and then a SUPER special edition that comes with all of that stuff, plus an Ohmu ‘real model’, a framed picture of Nausicaa and a different soft case. You can pre-order any of these versions today at your favorite import shop. Usually the subtitles are very good, despite what most fansubbers will tell you (who frequently know jack about grammar and spelling).

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Ms/Mr Answerman

I know you guys are probably sick and tired of questions pertaining to this series, but there is something I have to know. Will there ever be a definitive collection of Dragonball Z (tv episodes). I know the series is well over 200 episodes, but in Japan they released the Dragon Box Vol. 1 & 2. Lastly how about a Dragonball GT collection? Thank You for your help

Alex

I can basically guarantee you that until today's generation, the children who grew up watching Dragonball Z, are adults with expendable nostalgia income, there won't be a big expensive special edition DBZ box set. The primary target market (and indeed the demographic with which Dragonball Z is most popular) for Dragonball Z is children. They can't afford to buy gigantic DVD box sets; not to mention that such a set would easily cross the 500.00 mark (per box, not total). This is like asking if Disney's Recess will ever get a huge complete box set. No. Again, the target market can't afford it. You can expect DBGT boxes on par with how they release DBZ now; that is, separate ‘sagas’ sectioned off into boxes and sold for about 40-50 bucks a pop. That sort of thing makes much more sense from FUNimation's point of view.

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What is your impression of My Friend Mari(right title?) and Wonderful Day?
Is there any plan for release in US?
If so, what is the prospect in American market?

Brian

I've seen both of these films and both of them are marvelous steps in the right direction for Korean animation. The Koreans still have a ways to go when it comes to storytelling (in my opinion, their manga tends to be very hackneyed and cliché, but they have a few shining examples of good writing in there), and this is reflected in both screenplays (fairly derivative for both films), but their animation skills are second to none. Wonderful Days easily outdoes Disney's last abortion Treasure Planet in terms of successfully melding 2D and 3D animation. In terms of an American release, I think chances are good for a DVD-only US release of Wonderful Days, probably by Dreamworks or Columbia/Tristar, maybe (and that's a big maybe) followed by a very limited theatrical release. My Beautiful Girl Mari has been licensed for a limited US theatrical run and following DVD run by ADV films. Wonderful Days remains unlicensed.

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Has the anime, GetBackers, been licensed yet? Does Witch Hunter Robin pick up the pace any after the first five episodes? (i.e. get a deeper story) Do you know where I could find a pick of the Berserk box set Media Blasters is releasing? Thanks for your time.

Andrew

(P.S. Paul Champagne DVD boxes rock!!!!!!)

Only the GetBackers manga has been licensed. Tokyopop snagged it over the summer, and you can expect to see it on the shelves February 10th, 2004. The anime hasn't been announced by anyone yet, but it ended last month with episode 49, so I'm assuming that someone (anyone?) will announce the license before the end of the year. Witch Hunter Robin REALLY picks up after episode 8 or so. I, like you, felt it wasn't going anywhere after the first few episodes, but I stuck with it and was richly rewarded with an excellent series. Don't give up on it. You can see a picture of Media Blasters' upcoming Berserk Premium Box here: http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/QC4P=oBCmqxkKUWTdp/browse/item/60944/4/0/0 (where you can also preorder the title).

(P.S. SAN DIMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES!!!!!!)

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Back in April when I went to see Cowboy Bebop: The Movie in theaters, someone in the ticket line told me that there are 2 missing episodes that were never released in the USA (And maybe Japan but I don't remember him saying that.). I was wondering if you tell me if this were true. Thx in Advance!

Stephen

Okay people. I've said it before and I'll say it again. DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT YOU HEAR FROM FANS IN LINE TO SEE A MOVIE, IN AN IRC CHAT ROOM, OVER AOL INSTANT MESSENGER OR ON LIVEJOURNAL ANIME COMMUNITIES! People always make up lies to spread around so they sound all knowledgeable about anime. It's highly annoying, especially for me, since I wind up running around putting out fires made up by some idiot in an IRC room. Normally it's “OMG tey;re making sesun 2 of bazerk!!!! 1 saw it on CNN!!!!”. And then I get an email from someone who actually believed hearsay in a chat room. There is ONE unreleased episode of Cowboy Bebop, and it's called Session XX. It's a recap episode, totally recycled footage that tells a story you already know, except condensed into 22 minutes or so using footage you've already seen. You aren't being robbed of some secret episode where Spike comes back to life and Faye takes her shirt off and Ed blows up George W. Bush or whatever crazy lies you may have heard from stupid fans across America.

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Hey Ms. Answerman,

I was wondering if you had any clue about what the goddess behind
Fushigi Yuugi and Ceres, Watase Yuu might be doing as a project now. I've
been looking and wondering a lot lately. Thank you so much!
^-^Nari-Oki-Kun^-^

Oh, I don't know, maybe she's making a manga series about an annoying, undeserving girl surrounded by similar-looking beautiful men who all throw themselves at her despite her numerous aggravating character flaws? Seriously, Yuu has been busy. She just finished Imadoki, a manga series that ran in Sho-Comi, the same anthology publication that ran Ayashi no Ceres. It's a high school romance type series with a Tamahome look-alike in the cast (imagine that!). Her newest manga is Alice 19th, a take on Alice in Wonderland that has more in common with her other fantasy works than anything else; you can probably guess the storyline from the title (and it has a Tamahome look-alike in it. Someone take Yuu back to art school so she can learn how to draw a different boy). Alice 19th is scheduled for release soon from Viz publications, but Imadoki is still unlicensed as of this writing. Thanks to those who wrote in regarding Alice 19th!.

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Do you think ADV will release all 52eps of SuperGals ?. It is only slated as
a 6DVD release which would only be the first 26. Any insite you have would
be helpfull.

Thankyou.

ADV is probably waiting to see what happens with those first 26 episodes. If they can sell those, then they'll probably go ahead and do the second season. I haven't seen sales figures for GALS! yet but I'm assuming, judging from the number of people who said they've bought it, it's doing OK. I don't know if that will warrant the complete release of all 52 episodes of a high-end show for Japanese teenage girls, but we'll see, I suppose.

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Hiya,

I've been reading reviews of Kill Bill and several mention an anime sequence. I was just curious whether this was actually produced by a Japanese production house, or this was just a stylistic comparison. I looked on IMDB, but couldn't find any credits.

Thanks,
Christian

The anime sequence in Tarantino's grindhouse tribute flick is indeed produced by Production IG. It tells the origin story of one of The Bride's revenge targets, the character played by Lucy Liu. If you're like me, you'll be in line early for this thing on Friday. It's getting almost unanimous critical praise, and while it may not be original, Tarantino has never had illusions of being original; his films are a hodgepodge of his influences, which he freely admits. Can't wait.

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This next question sort of relates to my comment about stupid fans in IRC chat rooms making up lies so they sound knowledgeable about anime:

Dear Mrs. Answerman
a friend of mine claimed in the unedited pokemon, there is nudity and sex scenes is this true
tell me what you think

Do I really need to answer this, or can I assume that maybe, one day, people will actually start using common sense and assume that when they hear things like this, it's total crap? What does it take? When will we, as a community, rise above things like this and come together as one body, armed with common sense and intelligence?

Wait, that'll never happen.

See you next week!