The All-Star Answerman Hall of Shame

Yep, it's me again. No, I can't explain why. You'll live.

Is it true that they are making an Evangelion live action film? I heard
it was being made by Weta. I just heard this somewhere.

Well, they aren't so much “making” the film as they are “shopping the idea around to various and sundry production houses”. ADV and Weta both have a vested interest in this film getting made, but according to the script they've apparently got written, the film is going to cost north of 100 million dollars. Considering the source material and what it's going to take to bring some of that stuff to life in live-action, 100 million dollars is pretty cheap. Weta is known for its obsessive attention to detail, Oscar-caliber special effects and ridiculously high price tag (in terms of effects costs), so the temptation must be there to farm the effects out to a cheaper house. There's no telling which, if any, studios are interested in producing this film; it's based on what can only really be described as a cult hit. Evangelion is big among anime fans, but even the nation's largest anime convention has trouble cracking the 20,000 mark in terms of attendance, and that just isn't a big enough number to impress a major studio. They've got a lot of work to do and some serious things to consider before they actually dive in to production.
You can find out a lot more about the Evangelion live-action film in the current issue of Newtype as well as a series of interviews on ADV's just-released Evangelion Director's Cut disc.

Dear Answerman

I have two questions to ask and hopefully, none of them are stupid. First, I
was wondering if it was true if there was a live action Great Teacher
Onizuka TV show? If there was, was it any good? Second, I was read through
the February issue of the US Shonen Jump and I noticed that in one of the
pictures they printed the censored the middle finger. What happened? I
thought Viz was going to print uncensored manga. Was I wrong?

Deja-vu: the feeling you're doing something you've done before.

Yes, there is a live-action GTO series. The final episode was the most-watched television program ever to air in Japan. Most people I know that have seen both the slow, plodding anime and the comparatively fast-paced live action series vastly prefer the latter. GTO is one of those shows that doesn't really lose anything in the translation to live-action; nobody's wearing stupid costumes or waving silly-looking batons around (live-action Sailor Moon, I'm looking in your direction here.). The show hasn't been picked up for US release yet, but it might, depending on how well the anime DVDs sell.
As for Shonen Jump, the magazine is aimed at children and Viz never made any claims about printing anything uncensored. The manga is edited a little bit for content. They've picked particularly inoffensive titles, so they don't have to cut a lot out, but don't expect 100-percent pure, unadulterated manga. Aside from that, you knew he was flipping you the bird, so who cares? It's not like they spray-painted over The Scream or something.

Dear Ms Answerman,

After being more than impressed with Ai Yori Aoshi I was pleased to see that there is not only a second season but Pioneer(now Geneon USA) has licenced it and plans to release it in the US sometime in the fall. Props to ANN for having the info in the Encyclopedia by the way. My question is Why the wait till next fall? I noticed that it didnt start airing in Japan untill 12 october 2003. Was the delay to allow for it to finish airing on tv in Japan, part of the rights contract, or was it more of a production issue? Is it customary for a series or season to air over in Japan before exporting it to the states? I could probaby dig up the answer by going through the archives but 1 - this is easier and I am lazy and 2 - I am trying to give you a break from the "when is Naruto / One Piece getting release and oh by the way my cousin's nephew's best friend read on a Bolt webboard that beserk / X / Hellsing has a second season is this true" emails.

By the way, I tried to go through both your's and Geneon's press release page to locate the info but couldnt find one dealing with AYA season 2. Is there another place to track those or has there not been one yet?

Thanks for any help you could provide.

Signed,
Obscureanimereference.

Well, it takes a while for Geneon to produce DVDs. They have to translate the show, make menus, print the packaging, cast and dub the show, etcetera and so on. Geneon pumps out a lot of titles and has to make room in their production schedule for the show, so they can't just drop everything and start working on Ai Yori Aoshi as soon as it airs. It isn't so much ‘customary’ as it is ‘routine’. They make these shows for a Japanese audience, primarily. Ai Yori Aoshi was a success there, so it aired on TV first in Japan and then the DVDs will come out here later this year. They also need to give the first series ample time to turn a profit; if you flood the market with DVDs of a series, you're going to wind up in a spot of trouble because nobody has the kind of money necessary to buy that many DVDs of something. Well, okay, some folks do, but the majority of anime buyers don't. I suppose this sort of question doesn't occur to me, because that's when Geneon said they'd release it so that must be how it fits in to their production schedule. Common sense? Anyone? No? Okay, next question.

Hello,

Great column! I'm a new anime fan (one semester), but a rabid linguist, so despite not having any Japanese courses under my belt (yet), I've picked up a teeny-weenie amount just from listening while reading subs and annoying my friends (always a must). I've recently been watching the Ranma 1/2 DVDs, and I keep noticing the subtitles regularly seem to mistranslate one word lines on purpose, apparently. "Arigato" will be translated, "No problem!," or "Just a minute," or "That's right," or "I'll do that," or something. There are other one-word Japanese responses that get the same treatment (which I can't recall at them moment, of course. Heh.) Of couse, on one hand, it's a small thing and can't derail the show, so it's not a big deal. But why do it at all? Why isn't just translating "arigato" as "thank you," enough?

Thanks!

Alexa

Well, first of all, since you say so yourself that you don't speak Japanese, aren't familiar with the language and haven't even been watching anime very long, what in the world makes you think you're even remotely qualified to determine what an accurate translation is? Context is 90 percent of any translation, so the context by which they're using the word ‘Arigatou’ is really what you're running in to here. You may know what ‘Arigatou’ means, but you don't know what it means in any given context. Viz has a habit of ‘localizing’ more than straight up ‘translating’ something, so they try their hardest to make the dialogue flow as if the characters were speaking English. Some people love this approach, some people hate it. You could also be mis-hearing what they're saying; nit-picking something you say you know very little about is sort of a slippery slope, dear.

AND NOW:
A gallery of annoying, unappreciated or otherwise totally uncalled for emails! Read along and laugh through gritted teeth with me!

I'm new to this whole bit-torrent/IRC thing-a-ma-bob. For example, what is an IRC and how is it used? Do I have to talk to other people to use it? I don't particularly like other people.

Thank you.

Shaunna

Sigh.

Hi,

I'm looking for an anime series that has some good action and lesbian elements. Nothing extreme like Hentai, just something with some lesbian fan service or overtones. Can you suggest a series or two that fits that discription? Thanks.

SIGH.

dear answerperson.

This isn't actually an anime related question but I was going through some old posts and noticed a mentyion of you playing star wars galaxies, I wanted to inquire what server you are on. I'm on the Gorath server. It's just kind of a general info question.

thanks
Kaiju

Just a “general info question” that involves personal information on how to find us, which of course isn't “general info” at all.

Dear Mr, or Ms. Answer person:

At 51 years of age, I probably am old enough to be your father and so remember when Pac-Man was "THE new way". But I had an active social life then and considered spending one's time playing such things as too time consuming and a waste. So you will excuse me if I wasn't of learned intellect to know that there were two genders of a little yellow ball that electronically ate little white dots and other electronically produced creatures. I was too busy chasing and scoring real flesh and blood females, and playing other social games like partying and water sports to be arsed quite honestly.

I also noticed that you didn't answer my question about new Ah My Goddess OVA's too. But you were probably too busy playing Ms. Pac-man to be arsed as well. Never mind, I understand.
I sincerely hope your fiancé recovers from her illness soon.

Regards
Ed L'Ecuyer (aka Mohawk52)
England, UK

No matter how much a ladies' man you were back in the day, Ed, if you couldn't woo the comely and seductive Ms. Pac-Man, you needed a schoolin' in the ways of love.

Oh, and no, there are no new Oh My Goddess OVAs, so there, I answered your question.

You can all start praying that Ms. Answerman returns next week now, if you like.