Ms. Answerman

To Be Continued

Alright everyone!
It may seem sudden, but this is going to be my final Ms. Answerman column. I've really enjoyed writing Answerman and am extremely thankful for all the years spent doing this, even amid horrid grammar, spelling, and a never-ending stream of certain questions that shall remain nameless. Writing here has also given me numerous opportunities over the years, from developing my writing to opening windows when there were only closed doors. For everything, I'm eternally grateful.
For all the Answerman fans out there, Zac'll be returning to write the column. I leave you all to him.
-Rebecca Bundy, Ms. Answerman

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Dear Ms. Answerman,
I'm interested in reading the Hellsing manga because I'm really looking forward to the upcoming OVA adaptation but what exactly is Hellsing: The Dawn? I know that it's a prequel to the Hellsing manga but is it being written by Kouta Hirano, too? Also, will the events that happen in The Dawn be included in Hellsing Ultimate? And how many volumes of the Hellsing manga have been released here in the US and in Japan (is the series almost over)?

Yup, it's written/drawn by Kouta Hirano and are just a series of special chapters being published here and there. A good site for information on it (as well as manga summaries) is here. It's kind of hard to say whether or not it'll be included in the anime, but something from it might show up as a flashback since Walter still plays a decent role in the story. It's the same with “Cross Fire”. It might worm it's way into the story, but I would think it'd be more appropriate as a flashback or extra on a DVD.

As for the Hellsing manga, 6 volumes have been released in the US and 7 in Japan. Kouta Hirano has stated publically that he's planned 10 volumes total for the Hellsing manga.

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Dear Answerman,

Me and some friends are trying to get an anime club started at our school, however, the school requires all clubs to tie in with the school policy. Our school is all about the environment, animals and recycling.
So far we have thought of Princess Mononoke and a few other animes
(i.e.Gundam, Grave of the Fireflies) that we indirectly tied into the policy through war and the destruction it causes to people and the earth and other things like that. Are there any other animes that you can think of that have to do with saving the environment?
Thanks,
the hopefully soon to be anime club

Three others you might want to add to the list are Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind, Shōji Kawamori's Arjuna and Pom Poko Tanuki, all of which focus heavily on environmental themes and the destruction humans can cause. You'll have a lot more success with finding series that focus on war and the destruction it causes (Fullmetal Alchemist comes to mind); those films focus more on humanity and how unstable/ruthless humans can be. I'm sure people will post ideas of their own on the message boards, so you can check there too.

Just a small idea, but if you want to show a particular series that doesn't relate to the topic(s) your school focuses on, you can always feature it and then give the DVDs away as prizes in some sort of environmental raffle contest. Offer tickets to anyone who brings in a certain number of recyclables and then say you're showing the series to promote the raffle and recycling.

Since it was recently announced on our news page as well, Operation Anime is Funimation's club program if you're interested in showing some stuff before it's released (and manage to convince your school to let you do it).

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I was wondering, now that Adult Swim is going to air Eva, do you think we'll get an American release of the games they made for PS2 and/or possible future installments? I noticed when Dragon Ball Z and Inuyasha gained an audiance they re-released some of the older games and made sure we got all of the newer ones.

Sometimes I wish they wouldn't bring certain anime games over here, especially since it just fills the shelves with more crud that no one should be tricked into buying just because they love a series. As for Eva, I doubt they would. While it's definitely popular, very few series have their games released over here. It's always possible that the franchise will take off again, but it's unlikely.

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Hi, Internet Movie Database claims that Inuyasha will be continued after the 167th episode. Do you have any information regarding this development? Thanks!

Nope. Nothing. Nada. It's great too that they can quote a “radio show” without any further information. Does the informant speak Japanese fluently? Did they have someone translate for them? This is about as useful as saying “My mother knows a girl who knows someone in the industry who... ”

Is it possible? Sure. Likely? Hard to say. Many series in Japan only tell the first part of a story because it's assumed that if they want to know more, they'll buy the manga. Even popular ones such as Inuyasha die early and finish up the story in the manga. Heck, if you've been reading the manga now, you'll know that Sesshoumaru has a “new sword”, Inuyasha got another two upgrades to his sword, and someone important died. There's plenty of material to use, but it's unlikely that anything official will come out until the manga is finished.

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I am really into anime and have a lot of anime ideas and love to write I was wondering how I could possible get a job in anime using this talents
thanks you,
-Lexi

Chris answered this best about a year and a half ago and the only reason I'm answering this now is because I STILL get these questions at least two or three times a month. I even had one guy send me several emails with his idea for a new Dragon Ball series (to which I politely responded that a snowball has a better chance you-know-where than he would with his story) and another who kept sending me revisions of his idea for a video game. It's great an all that so many people have wild dreams, but the ones who are making their dreams happen aren't writing in to an online columnist for help. They're already out there making it happen on their own.

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What is the number-one rated anime (in terms of user ratings)? Thank you very much if you answer!

I also get a lot of emails asking for help with the website. What you see here in this column (fonts, bolds and the like, links, pictures) is about the extent of my HTML knowledge. I can also take existing code and modify it, as well as java code, but how ANN functions as far as coding or errors go is a complete mystery to me. I always figured that Chris hired some gnomes to do it and pays them with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

User ratings is one I can help you with though. From the main page, look for “Anime” under “Encyclopedia” on the left-hand column. Click on it, then flip to the column on the right side and you'll see lots of search options. In white you'll see “Top 10”, then links to the top 10 anime and manga series according to ANN readers.

I've also gotten a few questions about how to rate a series. First you have to click on the title of the series you want to rate. To the right, look for “Have you seen this?”. You'll have three options, so pick the one that best describes how much you've seen of the series. When the page refreshes, the same spot will change and ask “Since you have seen this anime, do you want to rate it?”. Click on the ‘rate it’ and rate away. If you look at the top 10 and see a series you don't think belongs up there, please don't purposefully give it an extra low score in the hopes of knocking it out of the top 10. Honestly rate a show so that people who are new to anime will have a more honest idea of what they should and shouldn't watch.

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Hi there,
im a big fan of Ruroune Kenshin and now Bleach, i noticed that you described them as SHOUNEN
well i also like Naruto but i dont like Dragon Ball
i was wondering if you can tell me good shows that are similar to Rurouni Kenshin or Bleach but feels ? more Adult-ish ???(im 17 and although i like RK and Bleach i kinda feel like theyre for younger audience)
put in mind that i watched shows like NINJA SCROLL and hated them(it kinda irritates me seeing lots of nudity blood coz i prefer those comedy scences with big heads and funny environment)
so can u advise me ? and do you think i should just watch and show simply coz i like it and not care about the age ????
please reply me as fast as possible

You're right in thinking that Kenshin and Bleach are meant for a slightly younger target audience (early pre-teens to mid teens), as are Naruto and the Dragon Ball series. Not liking lots of nudity and blood knocks you out of the adult shows running, so I'd try for series meant for late teens to early adults, such as Trigun and Cowboy Bebop. Both of these focus a lot on funny and amusing scenes breaking up the darker moments, so they should be right for you. Wolf's Rain or Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex might be good options as well, though these have fewer “haha” moments so you might want to rent them first.

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hello,
I was on suncoast.com today and they have a reserve for the Cowboy Bebop remix 1 and 2 but each says they are subtitled. Does this mean they will be in japanese with english subtitles or will it be subtitled/dubbed?
Any information will be helpful. Thanks

I've found information for both Remix 1 and Remix 2 that lists it with English and Japanese audio. It used to be (back in the days of VHS) that English (dubs) were the default language because they sold more. It's extremely rare now for a series to be released with only one or the other, but it's possible that Suncoast just wanted to make it clear that the DVDs come with both the default (English dub) and the Japanese with subtitles.

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Hi there,
I recently watched the Yami no Matsuei anime series and I loved it so much I am now desperately craving more. I know there are several volumes of manga available, and that the buzz is the series might be
revived (http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=48914) so I'm very much interested in buying, but...the part that really hooked me about the series was the budding romantic entanglement between Tsuzuki and Hisoka, and I've heard that in the manga their relationship is portrayed as brother/brother or father/son. Now, if this were true I'd not only be crushed, but no longer be willing to take a chance on the manga. What is the nature of the manga relationship, and is the quality of the graphics in it as high as in the anime?
Thanks so much,
Elysse

First off, I'm not really sure what to make of the lj news about the series starting up again since I can't find information about it outside of the community, so I'll leave that part be.

As for the relationship between Tsuzuki and Hisoka, I'd say that the anime plays it up a teeny bit more. Sure, the manga is dripping with wonderfully sweet moments where they hold, carry, or touch each other in semi-affectionate ways, but their relationship is a lot more like a little boy and girl who don't really know what love is but they're still adorably cute and affectionate with each other. I haven't read all of the manga (I've got all six in English and the last two in Japanese), but this is the feeling I get from what I've read. It's probably a good thing that it's not played up as much, since Tsuzuki already has his hands full with Muraki (who's obsession to possess Tsuzuki's body is even sicker and more twisted in the manga), Tatsumi (which is probably closer to the anime Hisoka/Tsuzuki anime relationship), and the Count (which strangely enough scares me more than Muraki's obsession).

Don't be crushed just yet though. The artwork in the first volume or two is a bit shaky and the designs are different, but the art improves by leaps and bounds as the series continues. Characters that are barely shown in the anime get a lot more time to develop and there are plenty of stories that mix humor in with tension, action, and drama. Did I forget to mention that we get to see Tsuzuki's beasts in human form? Here are two of them below. Touda (the guy) and Suzaku (the girl). I almost considered posting a picture of Touda before Tsuzuki rescued him but eh...this IS a site for all ages, even if Answercat Jr. forgets that from time to time.

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Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 16:47:55 -0700 (PDT)
Hi,
I recently bought the DVD Berserk and found it to be very entertaining. The only problem is it leaves you with some many unanswered questions. I really want to know if they are going to make more episodes for this series. I have looked on the internet trying to find something but I haven't found any information about making anymore. If you know please let me know.
Thanks,
Kyle

Yes, I had to end my final column with the question that's plagued me the most over the years. I love including the dates as well, just so you know that the questions are still fresh out of the oven.

READ THE @#%$&$% MANGA IF YOU WANT MORE BERSERK!!!!