Forum - View topicExtras
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Nani?
 Posts: 632 |
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I was watching a rented Vol 2 Shrine of the Morning Mist.
The extras were better then the show, pointing out information of the area the show was based, and the Shinto background behind the show that especially Gai-jin might not catch. They were my probably my third favorite ever, after the Shoji Kawamori interview in Arjuna and the Director's commentary in the Wings of Honeamise DVD (lots of early Gaimax stuff). I noticed that they put a lot of good extras in questionibly comercial shows or "classics" while new, a top of the line show (say Wolf's Rain, Last Exile, Haibane) usually gets next to nothing. By substaintial, I mean interviews, good background rather then just the art shots and previews. What do like in extras? Who does a good job? All the Best, Nani? |
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matticans
 Posts: 192 Location: Lewisville, Texas. |
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I like all kinds of extras. Sometimes I like VA interviews American and Japanese. Sometimes I like informative information on the background info and history. Then sometimes I like extras that tell how they made the show. How they did the music, the animation, etc.
For example, I really liked the extras in Akira. The Extra disc that came in the LE metal case. It was so informative and had lots of extremely intersting stuff. Like how they came up with the music and the instruments they used. They talk about how they cleaned up all the animation and the steps they took to make it better than it was before. All the great interviews too. I loved those extras so much. Another one was FLCL. It was very helpful to listen to the commentary. You get to find out why everything is in there and why everything happens. Believe me, though the show might seem random, which I guess it sort of is, all the things that are in there are there for a reason. Well those are just two of my favorites. I will think of some more and get back to you. 
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Ken Hayashi
 Posts: 752 Location: Singapore |
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I simply love extras. That why I went out and bought another copy of Spirited Away, just so I could have the extras that came with the second DVD.
Whatever they may be, interviews or additional background information or simply pictures of the characters, I love them just the same. I just wished there were more legit DVDs here that also have extras included. It's just so hard to find legit releases here in Singapore. |
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Glory Questor
 Posts: 456 |
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I believe the best extras must enhance the experience of the movie or television show.
For example, I really don't like some DVDs that have "still photos". Why do you need that when you could just pause the DVD? It's an extra that made no sense. Concept art and poster art are good extras, but the R.O.D. The TV art extras are even better: they contain extra links with the pictures that give you tidbits from the art designer and short interviews with the English VAs on their characters. Commentaries are a great extra IMHO. The FLCL one (as matticans mentioned) is a rare one, in that you get to hear from the original director on his vision and not the ADR director's viewpoint. (The only other one I have in my collection like that is the remastered version of Project A-Ko) ADV Films has some good commentaries, though: I like the Puni Puni Poemy and Dragon Half commentaries, in particular. While the Tiffany Grant - Allison Keith and the two Tiffany Grant - Matt Greenfield commentaries are perhaps the best of Evangelion Platinum, the other ones are forgettable. I'm also a big fan of interactive storyboards and previsualizations. The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions were the best for this type of extra, in that they even went so far as to put together an entire storyboard / previz mix of the alternate introduction they had considered and The Bridge of Khazadum sequence. Wonderful stuff.
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quincyarcher
 Posts: 164 Location: Age of Paranoia |
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I love extras. They're half of what makes a show. Some are a little dippy(the creditless endings of Hellsing on the Japanese rental DVDs were kind of sad), but a lot of them are great.
I loved the audio commentary for Puni Puni Poemy. It was like having a group of friends over, watching and cracking jokes. My favorite extras are the outtakes. That's half the reason I'll pick an AnimeWorks DVD over another title if it boils down to it, because they have very funny outtakes. Although the Weiss Kreuz dub, in my opinion, was quite subpar, the outtakes and the translated seiyuu interviews(especially when Koyasu talks about his favorite anime and Yuuki Hiro, because Yuuki Hiro's just... cute) made it well worth it. That and the fact that the DVD didn't change the spellings of character names over and over again. |
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matticans
Posts: 192 Location: Lewisville, Texas. |
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Well I would have to agree that Puni Puni Poenmy had some great extras
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I would also like to say that I too love outakes. I remember them having some funny outtakes on Rurouni Kenshin, especially Saito. But still to this day, my favorite outtakes would have to be from Abenobashi. I mean it was almost like they went out of there way to make outtakes, and they are freaking hilarious. Especially on the last DVD, the outtake when it is Sasshi, Arumi, and Mune Mune. The whole sex talk, and stuff was great, I couldn't stop laughing. 
I would also like to add to my list of favorite extras, Escaflowne The Movie. If you got the Specaial Edition, you know what i am talking about. Still some of the best bonus material I have ever watched. I was pretty happy that the latest Ghibli Films all came with an extra disc filled with extras. Though I havn't gotten a chance to watch the extras yet. Hopefully they will be good. 
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Glory Questor
Posts: 456 |
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The best anime outtake extras I've seen so far: - Magic Knight Rayearth (TV): Some pretty funny lines in there for both series, many side-bits from Julie Maddalena (Hikaru) and Wendee Lee (Umi). - Ys Legacy (Ys Books I & II and Ys II) - FLCL: Those poor English VAs. They had a lot of rapid lines or very hard-to-pronounce stuff, it's no wonder it took them time to get it right. (Some early flubs from Kari Whalgren (Haurko) and Barbara Goodson (Naota) were funny, but especially Dave Mallow's (Amaro) flubs on the last two DVD volumes.) |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11434 Location: Frisco, TX |
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I like the Liner Notes on the Rurouni Kenshin DVDs. They help give a little insight on Japanese culture back then and what not. And the good subtitles are only supported even more by those wonderful explanations.
I also enjoyed the Kare Kano Translation Notes. I feel those and the little booklets that come with the Azumanga Daioh DVDs are very interesting in teaching more about the Japanese school system and showing the tiny intricacies that we might've always missed when watching the anime. The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex interviews are great. They made me realize just how much work and dedication actually go into voice acting and making it all from scratch (in addition to other DVDs that do this). I like the Geneon trailers, as they usually use the clean opening of a show or various clips going with a song or some music. There are a lot more I like, but I'm a little tired now, and will refrain from listing the rest of them.. |
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biliano
Posts: 956 Location: Cleveland, OH |
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Absolutely! The translation notes in Azumanga Daioh are probably the best extra items in any anime DVD that I own. It's great to have an anime series that not only is fun to watch, but educational as well. As a dub fan, I enjoy watching the cast interviews because I get to know a little bit about the men and women behind the voices, and also learn what other projects they worked/are working on. However, my favorite extra feature is the feature called "That Little Red-Haired Girl," found in Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum Vol. 4. I knew that Tiffany Grant is a Hello Kitty fan, but I never knew that she has the world's largest Asuka Soryu collection.  Very impressive! 
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msi435
 Posts: 465 Location: Behind you! |
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The whole extra thing in El Hazard was fun; it wasn't like most DVDs where the extras are just there on the extra menu. On El Hazard you would have to explore the DVDs trying to find hidden menus to find all the extra stuff. Each time you would find one it would list off the number the extra like "you found extra #12". Most of them were funny outtakes or weird commentary.
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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The commentary which I found helpful (and isn't mentioned here yet) is the Boogiepop Phantom commentary. Not only is it a neat insight into the dubbing process, it also helps explain what is going on. The commentary explains who is Spooky Electric, as well as a number of other characters who are barely mentioned in the series. The commentary also goes into the backstory as well. As far as interactive storyboards, the first volume of Paranoia Agent has an amazing storyboard/final footage comparison for the first episode.
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annomandaris
Posts: 18 Location: Exeter |
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personally I despise extras, if they are causing the price of my anime to rise to import titles I want and such I have to pay £30 per DVD, no exchange wizard but thats about $45-50 per DVD. If the extras that are being put onto my DVD's are causing the price to be higher then i say they shoudl not be used. Or the effort and money spent on the Extras could be spent on better dubbing, translating or subbing or better voice actors or animation etc.
in short I hate extras as they make me pay for them when i dont want them... |
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Bruce Lee
 Posts: 715 Location: Seattle, Washington |
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I wouldn't go that far, but I'm not the biggest fan. When it comes to movies (non-anime titles) Usually you'll get a commentary track from the director/producer/actors - sometimes multiple tracks. It's also very common for a "making of" type show included. Look at the great stuff you get with the LoTR extended editions if you don't know what I mean. Tons of extra footage/information that is all relevant and adds to my enjoyment of the main work. I do agree that once in a while there are some good extras. I did enjoy the translator's notes on Kare Kano, and it had a huge diary of the translation from TRSI - a little long, but headed in the right direction. I also liked the short documentary that came on the Tokyo Godfathers disk - interviews w/Japanese VA and director. These are a good start, but I'd much rather see more along the lines of US movie releases. For instance, if a show or movie is based of a manga, as many are, how about some sort of "making of" detailing the steps the animation/production team took to bring the original Manga-ka's drawings to life? The Harry Potter movies have something similar to this - interviews w/JK Rowling and the director, explaining how they went about transfering the book to film. I'd also suggest completely doing away with anything English VA related. I would welcome information from the translator, as they'd have a better grasp of the language and culture, and would be able to help me better understand the show's setting and surroundings. But VA's are only there to copy something that's allready been done. I don't feel that there's anything relevant that they can say that will add to the experience. Even the Japanese VA's don't say much besides "I liked the character, please watch". Just get rid of it. I do however enjoy commentary tracks. I like finding out how a certain scene or sequence was created, or the inspiration or ideas behind the piece. I've only seen 2 Anime that employ this feature though: Death and Rebirth, and End of Evangelion It was the English crew in this case, but still, that was better than nothing. Now, if it was Anno doing the commentary, I'd be all over that! So do I like extras? Yes. But in my opinion, Anime has a long way to go. |
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Nani?
Posts: 632 |
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I'm not an extra lover, in fact, I'm with Bruce Lee. I said substantial Extras. I couldn't give a darn about art pics/clean opening and closings etc. To me, those are the "nothings" I refer to as all too common. I don't care that much for english VA stuff but can accept that there are people who do.
Here are some Illustrations from the Extras I've talked about-- Shrine of the Morning Mist-- Background on the Shinto dieties types involved, defintions of techinical terms for if you happen to be possessed by a Kami and who to go to if you want to get exorised. Considering this is a fairly common state for Anime Characters, I'm surpised I haven't seen this before. I wish I had. Also, background on the Area this story takes place. Considering how little this is done and how many shows take place in specific neighborhoods/areas (GTO, Figure 17, Intial D) more would be nice. Shoji Kawamori/Arjuna Interview-- This was an inadvertantly good extra. It was done at some N. American Con in a public area. What was wonderful was while Kawamori is going on about the rather fasicnateing (to me) and subversive ideas behind this show there is this girl in the background with an obnoxiously bright red wig in a Merle costume talking to her friends. I couldn'tt help thinking that if I'm that girl I'm not the target audience for this show. To this day, if I consider recomending a "serious" anime to somebody, I have the artifically bright red hair test in the back of my mind. Wings of Honeamise-- Probably the best package of extras I've seen and probably an exception to the rule that Anime extras are not as detailed as Hollywood extras. The Directors coments , being done years latter after Gainax has had it's big successes and are no longer starving artists is interesting because they get you can see the differences and reflection. Gantz Vol 1-- Only ADV extra I can remember worth it's salt was the directors interview. He has some very relevant stuff to say about censorship. Considering how violent/sexual this show is, it's worth hearing. He specfically mentions the bad trends that Japan is picking up from the U.S. All the Best, Nani? |
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Slayer
 Posts: 273 |
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I thinkg extras are great as long as they dont take up the place for episodes. Hmmm... I think that newer shows dont have as many extras because they are released too early to get some interviews with certain people and early sketches. Sometimes there isnt anything available to add to extras too.
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