Forum - View topicKodocha -- ahead of its time?
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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Somehow I picked up a set of the first six volumes of Kodocha even though it looks a lot like the type of anime I avoid. Indeed the first several episodes looked like I had made a mistake in buying it and I almost quit. Yet the story developed when the motivations for the characters do, and I found myself looking forward to each new episode.
Laura Bailey is great in this. Time after time she pulls off this incredible transition from hyper-spaz oblivious-girl to a genuinely sensitive and vulnerable one. The combination makes the character endearing and cute rather than abrasive or cloying. Dang if I didn't want to take her home. What I would like to know is that are there any examples of this genre that are both better and predate this one? This was done about 1995. Although the artwork seems crude by today's standards -- particularly the character designs -- the whole thing holds up pretty well due to the sophistication of the story. I particularly liked how they maintained coherence -- a character in episode 25 could refer to something that happened in episode 12 and it makes sense. Does anyone else have a reaction to this? |
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HyugaHinata
 Posts: 3505 |
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Kodocha has been frequently referred to as "Marmalade Boy on crack," so that's a parallel you could check out.
You should also check out the manga - less wacky and hyper, but still lots of fun. |
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luffypirate
 Posts: 3187 |
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Makes ya wish FUNi had the balls to finish it, eh?
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HaruhiToy
Posts: 4118 |
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Was there some controversial issue or was it just that they didn't think they could make a profit on it? |
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Mylene
 Posts: 2792 Location: Indiana |
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Originally, Funimation made it seem like they had the whole series. Then, when it didn't sell, they claimed they'd only licensed the first 2 seasons (which is perhaps true, but they really acted like they were going to release the whole thing--talked about 4 boxes, etc.) It also doesn't help that they didn't exactly bring their A game when licensing or producing the materials. The original opening theme was dropped and there are spots in the first episode or two where there is no audio due to a licensing issue with Tokio. I had a lot of trouble with my latter discs skipping and not playing correctly regardless of which DVD player, DVD-ROM or PS3 I put them in. It's a great little series (although hardly ahead of its time--mid-90s anime in general were just as great as current anime, even if the art was different) but it really got the short end of the stick in the North American market. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6903 Location: Kazune City |
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Well, I imagine paying whatever outrageous fees Tokio was demanding would've completely sunk Funi's small hopes of making a profit on Kodocha. And sadly, the audio drop problems are much more extensive. The first 12-16 Next Episode previews have no audio, because they used a remix version of 19:00 News. While references to the actual band fall away as the show goes on, there are numerous audio drops in the early episodes, and even some in the 030s and 040s where the original score had a downtempo/sad remix of 19:00 News. Last edited by Zalis116 on Wed Nov 24, 2010 5:27 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mylene
Posts: 2792 Location: Indiana |
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Oh, I know it would have been prohibitive, but it definitely didn't help sales either. Sure plenty of the folks who were up in arms about it were just looking for an excuse not to buy, but there were others who were just turned off by it. Honestly, if I'd known how extensively the audio was messed up and would continue to be a problem, I probably just would have rented rather than buying. Or maybe not, I'm obsessive as a collector, but by the end of the Funi release, I was pretty fed up with it all.
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EricJ
 Posts: 876 |
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Same as Sgt. Frog: They were gearing a mainstream dub for the networks, and didn't get a sale, so why bother?--All of a sudden, "low sales" popped up as an excuse to cut their investment.
The only licensing issue was over the first-season theme, which was tied up in the music company's rights (and uses of it during the next-episode and incidental spots) for about the first six or seven episodes-- Of course, that Funi couldn't "bother" to do anything about it was "evil" and "shortchanging the fans", and the more far-end fans ranted that they'd boycott the release until Funi fixed it personally. That, of course, didn't help sales either at an early point when the series needed it. |
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Mylene
Posts: 2792 Location: Indiana |
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I'm just not sure who they thought it was going to sell to. I mean, it wasn't quite as off-the-wall of a choice as say, Super Gals!, but it's still not exactly an otaku favorite, and with few exceptions, girls anime just doesn't make TV in North America (and even when it does, it's the magical girl variety ala Sailor Moon, CCS, and Mew Mew). I bought it (singles & artboxes, oh yeah, I've got my Babbit purse and plush), but I know I'm more the exception than the rule.
That being said, wouldn't it be nice if Nozomi took a chance like they did with the second season of Super Gals!? Of course, plenty of people would still refuse to buy it because of no dub, but that's the case with anything anymore. A girl can dream. |
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luffypirate
Posts: 3187 |
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Same hurr. Bought each and every volume day one. I was so excited when it was licensed. Even after coming to terms with the whole Tokio thing (which really pissed me off at first, but it's that or nothing) and dropped audio I still continued to purchase it. Such a shame that they cancelled it. There are so many good parts in that last half... Damn, I remember petitioning online for this show. Never thought it would see the light of day here. There used to be this chat group on mIRC that I would go to to discuss the newest episodes (not new new but fansub new) I think that was in 1999. Good times. I promise you that if I ever win some big lotto, I will personally bring this show here in its entirety (Tokio and all) Shit you not, I would. |
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EricJ
Posts: 876 |
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Back then, Funi was still following ADV's lead and had the Funi Channel-- That was enough to justify "Cable broadcast" back then, and Kodocha still didn't find the numbers that had been thrust upon it to make. (Although no studio-channel ever did, but that wasn't taken into account.)
I also remember how, in '99, the state of US dubs was so primitively backward, we thought Kodocha COULD never humanly see the light of day here--Simply because no one imagined a US actress could voice Sana. Just to give you some idea of how far our acceptance of anime comedy dubs has changed before and after Ocean Group, Viz, and ADV. 
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hissatsu01
 Posts: 963 Location: NYC |
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Kodocha is one of my favorites, and though I understand that the missing first OP and Tokio related audio dropouts were out of Funi's control, I couldn't support their release because of it. That and only licensing the first half. Well, it's not a huge deal - I have the two fat and gorgeous LD boxes that I bought when they were released in '98. Picked up the R2 DVD boxes as well for relatively cheap on eBay a few years ago. Subs would be nice, but frankly despite Sana's rapid fire dialogue, in the end it is kid's show, and mostly pretty easy Japanese.
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7585 Location: Wales |
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Oh, I had one in mind. I don't think anyone really expected anyone to pick it up - it was impossible to even get the whole series fansubbed at the time - at least I never saw anything for episodes from around 50-100. |
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Soundmonkey44
 Posts: 1243 |
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Never trust FUNI with a long serids that isnt genaric shonen, Kodocha, Case Closed, Shin Chan, and now SGT. Frog, all fun to good to great series, that will probably never be completly dubbed. Now all we can do is hope someone like Discotek, Sentai,etc, will take petty on fans of set series and acquire and release the rest subbed. I personally really want to see someone do the rest of Case Closed/Detective Conan eventually.
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Zalis116
Moderator
Posts: 6903 Location: Kazune City |
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Can we get back to the OP's original question about the show, instead of focusing on the audio issues of Funi's incomplete release? Thank you.
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