Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - The Lost Decade
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Okay, well then allow me to be the one to say it. They can call it a 'license' if they want but clearly that's just an import. It's not an actual R1 release. The price makes it completely unobtainable for 99% of fans and the other 1% would have just imported anyway so it's largely of no consequence.
Really? I assumed you were part of it since you said you were 'repeating yourself'. I'm afraid I don't remember the exact thread.
Well first off let me clarify that I didn't say funimation was responsible for any of the non-streamed titles he or I listed. They're no more responsible than any other company who didn't license them. I just said they were responsible for the noitaminA shows they stream not getting a DVD release. I also need to acknowledge that it's possible Five Leaves and Tatami will still be licensed for DVD at some point. Mind you, I don't have much patience for 'at some point' when you see other stuff getting scooped up right off the bat. Maybe though they will get picked up still and everything will work out in the long run for those titles. Beyond that, the problem lies in them only providing crappy streams but then that's getting pretty off topic so I don't think I'll go into it further. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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Yeah, but does it fix any of the characters? Because all of them could be described with only one or two traits... and since for one of the girls that trait was "gets turned on when guys smack into her"... maybe you're seeing the pattern in what I didn't like about the series? @ikillchicken: Thanks for clarifying some of your complaints. If you're just plain unhappy with Funi's streams thus far, I can maybe get that. The player at their site is terrible and I always wait to watch them on hulu. If I had one major request of them, it would be to make a deal with hulu plus and have some higher-def streaming. I'd get a hulu plus account to see shows in HD, especially Tatami Galaxy. |
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grooven
Posts: 1428 Location: Canada |
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I think Monster needs to be properly backed. Many people would A reagrd it as a cartoon or B not like the style. When in fact it is one amazing series that has wide appeal.
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ikillchicken
Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Well as I Canadian I can watch neither their own video player, nor their Hulu streams and so unless I want to watch this stuff via youtube streams I'm pretty much out of luck. An HD option would be great but I'd even settle for something DVD quality. It just seems to me that they're using their streams as nothing but low quality ads for the DVD which would be okay if there was one. If not though then they really ought to either provide a decent quality streaming option or leave these titles for someone else who might do so. |
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gwdone
 Posts: 272 |
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Amen!! Monster is great!!!! All 74 episodes!! Would buy to go with box set 1 in a second. I'm glad the importance of this title was brought up. |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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E-Master
 Posts: 471 |
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I remenber seeing Kaiji at my Anime Club like a couple years ago. Really suspenceful and I can still remenber me and my friends were getting all hyped on the crazy stuff that happens to Kaiji. I wouldn't mind owing it on R1 DVD or atleast a company getting rights to stream it like Funimation or such.
I also remenber seeing 5 episodes of Michiko to Hatchin at my club, some reason the president didn't bother showing us the rest of the series. I didn't officially watch the whole thing till like a year later. And I tought it was a great South American location anime. Out of all of the titles that were listed, I think Michiko to Hatchin deserve to be license in the US as well as Kaiji. |
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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I sometimes wonder how non-romantic comedies do in North America. School Rumble was a big hit here (by anime standards), and it's mostly pure comedy, but it does still have the romantic hook. But what about Sgt Frog or Ramen Fighter Miki? I don't think Miki was a huge hit (I'm not sure most people even know it exists). Cromartie gets mentioned a lot but I don't get the impression that a lot of anime fans in North America have watched it. So if "straight" comedies don't sell, I can see how some might not make it here. Which is a shame. Japanese comedy is a broad and fascinating thing, and anime comedies can be especially underrated. |
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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I've never noticed how we don't get a lot of straight comedies. I love comedies, but looking over my shelf, the only straight ones I have are Ninja Nonsense (which isn't well-known), Shin-chan (which does have 52 episodes released over here and could have more), Magical Witch Punie-chan (which is sub-only, limiting it's appeal off the bat) and Fumoffu (which happens to have a big name like Full Metal Panic attached to it). I do also have Hetalia, which is doing really well if Amazon's best sellers list is a measure to go by, so if that counts, there's another and one that's probably doing really well.
However, I don't think it's so much that they don't do well, it's that there aren't a lot of straight comedies to begin with. It's almost always combined with something like Romance + Comedy (School Rumble), Drama + Comedy (Clannad), Action + Comedy (Full Metal Panic) and the list goes on. So yea, Comedies do get brought over and do well because everyone loves a good laugh, but there aren't a lot of pure Comedies because the well is pretty dry. Also, a note that I think that's important is that a straight comedy by the name of Dokuro-chan was originally released sub-only, but did so well that Media Blasters had deemed it worthy of dubbing, so perhaps they do do well and it all leads back to my numbers problem. And for the record, I don't own Miki yet, but I have watched it and it's HILARIOUS! I hope it did well enough that Media Blasters can dub it like they seem to be doing for a lot shows lately. Punie-chan too! |
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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Excellent point. Dubbing is really important for anime comedies, because most people don't want to "read" comedy, and I think this goes for even some of the sub purists in North America.
My Miki set isn't dubbed (nice avatar!) but I am not aware of Media Blasters going back and dubbing old shows they have already released. I think Miki would definitely benefit from a dub, and contrary to some fans' opinions, I think there are a lot of American voice actors who seem more comfortable being silly than stoically dramatic Japanese-style. So it's not like American companies can't do quality anime comedy dubs. As for the well being dry, it's possible. But there are lots of anime shows that pass by our radars every day (even in today's internet era), and the 80s had a metric ton of "straight" anime comedies after the success of Urusei Yatsura (which, contrary to popular belief, is actually really a "straight" comedy rather than a romantic one). I mean, where's Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei? Few people here talk about the show, let alone seem to know it exists, and it's NEW. The manga I've read is hilarious. There were a few anime seasons made, but...no release. |
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The King of Harts
Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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They've done it several times. Most recently with Loveless and Kasimasi, Strawberry Panic has a planned release according to a post they made on Facebook (read the fourth and fifth posts), and then there's the aforementioned Dokuro-chan. They have the Section 23 mentality of if it does well initially sub-only, then they'll go back and dub it.
Well, there has been a recent uprise of straight comedies. The last couple of seaons we've seen Arakawa Under the Bridge, Squid Girl, Seitokai Ichizon, and Seitokai Yakuindomo. There's also been a handful of Slice of Life shows, but I see those more as "plain shows" that happen to be funny (Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star also fall under this as well, that's why I haven't mentioned them); I think the difference is that SOL shows aren't trying to be funny. So perhaps straight comedies are making a comeback since everything, including anime, goes in cycles. As for Urusei Yatsura, I only seen the first 10 or so episodes, but I agree that it's a straight comedy, because none of the characters have a romantic bone in their body (Ataru likes using a different bone).
That's licensed too, but Media Blasters has been sitting on it for a long time. And they're planning on releasing it sub-only. |
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vashfanatic
Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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Huh. I was under the impression that since Funimation released for R1 then all of the R1 region (including Canada) got their streams, at least on their site. Regions have really become obsolete in the digital age, but the industry doesn't seem to want to recognize that yet. As for being "advertisement," I think for many of their streams, the ones they release shortly before or as a series comes out on DVD, that's exactly what they are: "hey, haven't decided whether or not to buy our product yet? Don't get a fansub, let us show you what you'll get in terms of subtitles, dubs, etc." My impression of their simulcasts is that they're trying to test the water to see how much interest there is in a series before deciding whether or not to do a DVD release (though they are picky enough that, unlike crunchyroll, I think they only pick products they're serious about). One hopes they take into consideration fans in their region who can't watch them when they calculate the total interest. |
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ikillchicken
Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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That seems quite plausible as well. Of course, it's sort of the same problem. It's great that they want to test the waters with these shows. If ultimately they aren't actually going to pick half of it up though then really, I'm just losing the chance to maybe see these shows streamed elsewhere for the sake of their market research.
Well...maybe. This is where I especially don't like the exclusivity of their deal. If they just streamed stuff they thought had a good shot at a DVD release it would be one thing. Is it really at all likely that Princess Jellyfish will get one though especially given Funi's dub always policy? Or what about future shows like Wandering Son? That's my concern going forward. Realistically these are probably shows that won't work over here so streaming is the only option. Hence seeing Funimation squander that option for me is very frustrating.
Right, so it's just me and my entire country that gets shafted. That is supposed to make this acceptable to me how exactly?
I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.
As I said, It's not like I'm even demanding Blu-ray quality, 1080p, full blown best quality video streams despite the fact that this is quickly becoming the standard. Not wanting to watch these shows on youtube does not make me 'finicky' about video quality by even the most generous definition. |
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Mike Toole
 SubscriberANN Columnist  Posts: 105 Location: THE GOOD OLE U-S-A |
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The term you're looking for is "sitcom." "Slice of life" is a principally literary appellation that tells a realistic 'cut out' of a person's life. Think James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Jack London. A lot of fans point at stuff like Azumanga Daioh and Working!! and describe them as slice of life stories. Don't fall into that trap - they're sitcoms. |
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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Heh. You know, I think now I remember this being reported a while back. I completely forgot since few people online even mention this (Wikipedia's entry doesn't say anything about MB picking it up. Watch it be updated after I press the 'submit' button on this post) |
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