And we're back. I hope y'all had a good holiday season; I know I did! I spent last week thinking "man, I wish I were answering people's questions about anime right now!".
...okay, that's a lie. Anyway, let's get started.

---

I was wondering if the anime for Saiyuki ended with Reload Gunlock.  Do they actually make it West?  Or will there be another season?  Also, is there a possibility that there will be an animation of Gaiden?

What, you mean they don't make it to the west in Reload Gunlock?

Seriously, how much longer can they drag that story out?

I mean, yeah, Gunlock is the final series for now but given the show's continued popularity both in Japan and the States, I'd say it's a fair bet that they'll have another season and possibly animate Gaiden at some point. Maybe in 2006; who knows? My crystal ball is still covered in dried champagne and silly string from New Year's Eve so unfortunately I can't divine the exact answer right now.

---

Dear Answerman, first of all, I would like to say that I really enjoy reading your columns, and I do apologize in advance if these are stupid questions. I couldn't find anything in the ANN old news about announcements or anything, so I figured I'd ask you. Would you happen to know if ADV has any plans at all, to aquire the Neon Genisis Evangelion movies(DEATH & REBIRTH, and The End of Evangelion)? If not, what would you think the chances are of ADV aquiring them, and making a "Platinum" version release of I've been watching the Neon Genesis Evangelion episodes on Adult Swim(I never saw an episode of it before they started airing it on Adult Swim), and really like the epsiodes that they've shown. I recieved the Platinum Collection Boxed Set for Christmas, watched through the whole series(in English dub form only, thus far at least), and absolutely love the series. I would really like to see the! movies, but if there is a high probability of them being released as a Platinum release, I would likely wait until they are released as such.

I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. ADV famously rejected the Evangelion movies because of Gainax's astronomical licensing fee; the company claimed to license something on the order of 10 anime series for the cost of just one of the films. A platinum re-release would be great, but Manga currently holds the license to the films and just released a box set. If anyone does the films, it'll probably be Manga, but again, I wouldn't hold out much hope, given that they'd likely have to pay again for the Platinum version.

In any case, Manga's current release is just fine and uses the same dub cast from the TV series. You won't be missing much; if you'd rather wait and see, both films are widely available in rental stores and on Netflix. Heck, I saw it playing on cable the other day.

---

Why is it that in the ANN encyclopedia a lot of english speaking voice actors have different names listed for the same person. Sometimes 3-4 different names. Is this a trend only among english voice actors? I think I can understand two different names but why as many as four?

Well, for a really long time there (and to a certain extent this is still true), most anime dub work was non-union. If you want to be in the Screen Actors' Guild, which pretty much every serious actor has to be in, you can't do work that isn't sanctioned by the union, since they have no way of knowing if you're being paid union wages or being given all the benefits you are entitled to under the union's rules. If you're an actor and you're in SAG and you do non-union work, you risk getting kicked out of the guild and jeopardizing your career. So anime voice actors use aliases sometimes to cover their tracks.

It's kind of a sad situation, really; anime companies sometimes can't afford (or simply don't want) to pay union wages, so they kind of have to work around the system in order to make cost-effective dubs. This is a pretty hot-button issue right now in the industry, with lots of arguments on both sides.

---

Hello, I had a question for you concerning submissions of my own to American based manga publishers. But first, I'm grateful that you're taking the time to read my queries. =D

Okay, the first question I have for you... This is going to seem awfully stupid, but... I am looking into submitting something to an American manga publisher, but my problem is that I absolutely cannot draw to save my life. For some companies, I've seen that I can simply send in some written work. Do you know what the process would be after that, if they find that my work is worthy of publishing?

I appreciate you taking the time to read this

So basically what you're saying is that you'd like to write manga, but you need to work with an artist.

Here's what I'd recommend: go out into the internet and hunt down someone who's willing to draw your manga. There are thousands of American manga artists out there on the web, and at least one of them would probably be willing to work with you for a shot at a publishing contract. Assemble a sample chapter with them; do about 10-12 pages or so and then put together a nice, professional-looking portfolio and a polite cover letter explaining your intent. Present this portfolio to the publisher of your choice and then expect to be rejected about 1,000 times in a row before you manage to strike gold. Also, remember that your first project has a very low chance of getting picked up anywhere; generally it's your third or fourth idea that might get picked up, mostly because by the time you've gone through three or four other projects, your work is far more polished and professional.

Also, I highly recommend going down to your local community college and taking classes in screenwriting and creative writing. It might seem like it's easy to write manga stories but believe you me, it isn't; professional-quality storytelling has a LOT of technical aspects to it and knowing the ins and outs and all associated rules is very important. Spilling the ideas out of your head might be easy but assembling those ideas into something someone might want to pay $9.99 for is another matter entirely; be confident in your own creativity, but technically speaking, you will need some training if you really want your work to shine.

Also, if your story contains any of the following:

* Vampires who are also hot guys
* Angels who are also hot guys or girls
* Werewolves who are also hot guys
* Demons who are hot and have to cope with life in the real world while also being a demon
* Semi-autobiographical rants featuring "edgy" hip-hop characters
* References to any film by Tim Burton or Jim Henson
* A hero with burning passion and elemental magic who has to collect 283 magical stones
* A hapless inexperienced nerd whose inexplicable voloptuous female entourage wants to sleep with him
* "Hilarious comedy" that involves lampooning common fantasy/horror/action/sci-fi/romance cliches

...or any combination thereof, please spare us all another headache and come up with something else. Thanks.

---

I recently download ADV's SDF Macross Promo torrent pack and although I am excited about them releasing it, I'm also a little hesitant to buy the DVDs.  A little over a year ago I purchased all of AnimEigo's SDF Macross DVD's.  That was the first time I had ever seen Robotech/Macross and I really enjoyed the show.  My hesitancy is, besides the dub and the extras that are on the DVDs, how is ADV's release going to differ from AnimEigo's.  Do you think it will be worth buying or not.

Sure, why not? Help out ADV, help out the anime industry, boost the economy, support our troops, stop world hunger, all that good stuff.

Seriously, though, I was pretty skeptical about the Macross re-re-release as well; I mean, how many different versions of this show do we really need? The fact of the matter is, though, that this new DVD is pretty good; the transfer and the translation are both superior (in a pretty noticable way) to the original AnimEigo release, and you get new extras and a dub and, in my opinion, much cooler packaging. The AnimEigo release was somewhat bare-bones and not very easy to get anyway.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go launder this bag of kickback money ADV sent me last week.

...just kidding.

...I'd never launder money.

In all seriousness, I do recommend the new release. It's better than the one you have already by a pretty big margin.

---

Hoo boy.

excuse me i noticed in yoru column last week you said "happy holidays"
the correct term is "merry christmas" because this holiday is about the birth of our lord and savior Jesus christ
you should say "merry christmas", donot remove the real meaning of the holiday
you should correct this in your next column, if you do not i will refuse to read the writings of an anti-christian

I hate to dignify this with a response but oh, I just can't help myself!

I'm not sure if you're aware of this but there's more than one holiday that occurs around now. There's one called Hannukah and one called Kwanzaa and another one called New Year's Day and then there's Yule, and ther're probably even more than that. The blanket statement "Happy Holidays!" conveniently gets 'em all in one short little phrase, regardless of what Fox News tells you.

Also, let me quote you a little-known passage from the bible that might help make you a better Christian.

"And lo, for he who ignoreth proper capitalization and punctuation shall not know His love" -Leviticus 12:39

Hey, I almost forgot; kittens!

I have no idea who's leg that is, but now all's right with the world again.

---

That Evangelion contest ran a whoppin' two weeks and you guys did not hestitate to bust out the funny. This week's winning caption is courtesy of Tony Meyers:

Some runners-up:

Eva-01: "Hey, they really DON'T melt in my hand!" -Chris Leung
Shinji knew the drill:  don't let the little bugger go until he was lead to the pot of gold.- Joshua Posey
Eva-01: "This mail-order man-bride looked a lot bigger in the informercial." -Monica Thompson
It was about the time when Kong donned robotic armor that Peter Jackson realized his remake had gotten out of hand. -James Smylie

And, without further ado, here's this week's screenshot:

Didn't win this time? Need the sweet nectar of victory to wash the bitter taste of defeat from your mouth? Then it's your job to come up with the funniest caption possible. It could be dialogue, or a line or two explaining what's happening, or anything you like; it just has to make me laugh! A few words of warning:

1. Keep it clean. I won't tolerate any profanity beyond "damn" or "hell". Unless it's ridiculously funny and kinda subtle, refrain from potty humor or overt sexual references.
2. Humor that's only funny if you've seen the show the screencap is from is inherently not funny. The joke should be something anyone looking at the picture can understand.
3. The deadline for that week's contest is always Wednesday at midnight. Winners will be announced in this space every week, and they'll also be notified by email.
4. Winners will recieve their prizes anywhere from 4-6 weeks after they're announced.
5. Entrants outside the US and Canada are inelligible, unless you have a US or Canadian address I can mail the prize to.
6. DO NOT send me the picture with your caption on it. I only need the caption text; emails with image attachments will be deleted.

This week's prize? Thar she blows:

That's right! It's ADV's much desired thinpak boxset for Azumanga Daioh, the hit comedy that's been run into the ground over and over again since it's initial release! All 26 episodes of nonsequitur high school mayhem! It's on shelves now, but it can be yours for FREE if you're funny enough. Email your captions to [email protected].

See you next week!