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Hey, Answerman! - Everything Old Ain't New Again

... Do I need to include these words in my English vocabulary or just forget them? I don't want to feel stupid because I cannot understand everything, but sometimes I'm too lazy to look it up in a dictionary.

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But another problem is that, for a lot of older OAV titles, the masters and original materials for these titles are often in terrible shape, to the point that they would basically be considered unreleasable without a proper remaster. And chances are, the original Japanese license holders won't bother to clean them up themselves (unless they have their own plans to rerelease them, which is rare), and the expense of remastering an oddball OAV title or two is just out of the budget for something like this.

That's not totally true. A fair number of older and less important OVAs I've come across have had exceptional clean-ups, definitely HD remastered but with no BD (Devilman OVA, BAOH, Desert Rose, Cleopatra DC, etc). And even if not that level of quality, there's still acceptable DVD quality like Lemnear, Dragon Century, and Exper Zenon. So the quality isn't the massive issue, being able to even compile the shows together is. You've seen those horror/sci-fi movie packs, Brian, some of the films are in awful condition there too. It's about the number of shows, not the quality.

The other issue here when not talking about the boxsets directly, there is a growing number of older anime coming out on BluRay or remastered on DVD that we're just not getting over here, even for popular titles like Gundam and Patlabor. That's a big shame.

It's called "The New Jersey 500," although now I of course can't lay my hand on the book I read that in...

"Terrible Robotech novels"?

*sniffle*

I actually own all of those novels, and the novels based on the actual episodes and the Sentinels volumes were books I enjoyed reading during junior high and high school (late 1980s and early 1990s). The End of the Circle came out while I was in high school, and the remaining novels were released when I was in college.

OK, I give you that the Sentinels material and The End of the Circle can be a little weird, and that the remaining books released those weren't as good, but... they're still a major part of my formative teen years and they bring me nostalgia. Yes, I admit that I'm looking at them through the lenses of nostalgia.

The "terrible Robotech novels" quip aside, though, good column this week. The question about the OAVs seems rather timely, considering the 3-part licensing series published by ANN this week. Like you, I think we have to resign ourselves to the fact that these older OAVs will probably never see the light of day again.

I walked away from anime in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and came back in the late 2000s (with some exposure to Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! through my kids in the early 2000s), so I know I missed out on a lot of gems (which get referenced a bit in Mike Toole's column). Sadly, I know that for many of these OAVs and long-lost series, I will probably never have an opportunity to see them legally.

If Gundam AGE ever came out in dub form, I would definitely watch it and buy some of the toys as well.

Hah, that one AMV I keep remembering but can never find properly I was able to find!

I can never remember the lyrics properly, and all I got was the tune, but my google-fu pulled through!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSAYvMQWIXc

even for an "older" OAV title, the usual licensing fees still apply. that means you'd need to meet a certain, specific quota of sales numbers. also, i think Patlabor is "well regarded" perhaps, but "popular" it is not.

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If Gundam AGE ever came out in dub form, I would definitely watch it and buy some of the toys as well.

Really? Given how AGE has been taking flack with it's supposed....backwardsness when it comes to women, I thought you woild at least hold a large disdain for it.

only LN id be interested in getting is the Kino no tabi ones.

And if you can't sell toys, what's the point of bringing over something as acutely kid-focused as Gundam AGE? I think the decision to put English subtitles on Gundam AGE is particularly telling. I mean, if ever there was a show that begged to get a dub and airtime on Cartoon Network or The Hub or Nickelodeon, Gundam AGE is it.

I think the real bummer is that we were teased with the possibility of finally seeing a release for Turn A Gundam,

But until that time - until Bandai somehow gets the crazy notion that they can sell toys in the West again - again I have to give the standard resigned answer of sorrow; we'll get what we get, and that'll have to suffice.

I've only noticed a few people here on the forums talking about it, I can easily ignore them since I see nothing sexiest or backwards with how they treat women.