Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Reheating Anime Leftovers
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tintor2
 Posts: 2133 |
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I grew up with both Nippon Hunter x Hunter and Deen Kenshin so sometimes I wonder what series did something better. For example, Hunter x Hunter 99 took some liberties with Killua's early characterization as if he can't trust Gon to the point he talks to himself in the mirror. The gore was more notable too in the 90s to the point Madhouse had to put the heart of an enemy inside a bag.
In general Madhouse toned down a lot the most gruesome parts but least adapted the Chimera arc and gave it a good ending. Sadly, my favorite arc of the Hunter x Hunter series was never finished and even today in the manga Togashi hasn't made Kurapika continue his fight with the Spider even if they are like five feet from each others. Shaman King's remake was way too fast with adapting material already seen before which Mizushima tried being more original by transforming tournament fights into street fights. Sadly, while the visuals of the Oversouls Don Yoh and other developed were good, the battles were disappointing. Kenshin's remake didn't seem to take some liberties so far other than telling a prequel chapter about a random Western doctor Kenshin met before reaching Tokyo. [/img] |
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Kicksville
 Posts: 1250 |
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I rewatched Hellsing TV 2001 recently and really enjoyed it. I didn't like the second half back in the day (before Ultimate was announced) and was surprised I was really into it this time. I think it's way better than Ultimate in a number of respects.
There was hostility toward its imperfections people often blamed on it not being like the manga (even if they hadn't read it), which ballooned into cartoonish hatred after the OVA was out. You'd never realize Hellsing got popular in places like the US on the back of that first anime. ...but, looking around now, it seems like there's more appreciation for it again now that it doesn't have to compete with the idea that it forever deprived us from a manga accurate version. I feel like that increased retroactive appreciation can extend as a result of other "accurate" remakes. The original Ranma got trashed for being too long, too fillery, too flat looking - now people are looking at it more closely again. And not just in GIF form. |
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tintor2
Posts: 2133 |
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Something that appears to have affected Ranma's popularity too is how Deen did not adapt the actual ending and had to come up with original episodes which made the main couple a bit toxic. Inuyasha had a similar problem with the main love triangle to the point even Adult Swim made fun of. Sunrise had to put some original episodes that went nowhere but when the minisequel came, there was so much material to adapt that Inuyasha and Kagome looked loveable. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4640 |
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It is interesting to think about it in terms of how we got things like Brotherhood and Ultimate. If those first series had been some kind of disaster that resulted from doing their own thing once they ran out of manga, there isn't much chance of such quick new versions showing up. It's fine to prefer the second attempt, but the attitudes towards the first was overblown. Then again, Aniplex seems content to act like Brotherhood is the only FMA that exists now, so there's that, I guess. |
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FishLion
 Posts: 238 |
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I think that video games are a special case because usability is such a factor. When you compare games like the Resident Evil remakes to their originals, they are different games altogether. Despite the similarities it is different enough you couldn't call it Quality of Life improvements, it is a different journey treading the same trail. Then you have cases like Final Fantasy I, the NES game is technically the same game as the GBA version square by square, but many functions were glitched and sometimes entire stats lost usability due to programming errors. Even if the NES is the original FFI experience and still has a unique vibe and history, the one that is fully functioning properly could be said to be truer to designer intent. As long as it isn't essentially the original thrown in an emulator, the product of a game remake is the modern game design being applied to old stories.Video games are always game environments powered by computers, but computers change so rapidly in a way that alters what is possible that despite their shared history it is hard to think of games from the NES days as technically equivalent to modern games. They share history and design sensibilities, but it is not the same type of product the way painters from the past and present shared the same basic parameters of a surface covered in paint.
You could try and make the same argument for animation as video games in that it has become very different in a technical sense, but it is always a visual display. If we can't take our massive chest of tools and top the past classics then we should really consider why we are remaking things. That said, if someone wants to take a second crack at a series or remake a series that deeply inspired them, I'm not going to judge them, more power to them. My main issue is when it feels cynically motivated for profit as opposed holding a deep love for the original. I think that when something feels like it swings for the fences like Devilman Crybaby, it is easier to say they definitely had an original vision that they wanted to make in this world, even when technically retreading old ground. The more an anime is trying to be the animation version of an remaster with updated graphics and not do anything new, the more likely I am to skip it. |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2311 Location: Online Terminal |
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I've probably said this before (ironic!) but the proliferation of streaming and FAST channels show that audience want old things. Of course, the audience also doesn't actually know what they want until they're made to want it, but you can't farm data from things that don't exist, so executives will reboot things because that means they can get money 2 ways from the same place. Also, reboots insulate executives from perceived harm. If a reboot fails, it's the franchise's fault; if a new series fails, it's the executive's fault.
One other thing in regards specifically to CLAMP and Takahashi that I've been thinking of is that they aren't getting any younger. This is more speculative, but it is possible that they're all at or nearing the end of their careers and they want to get one last bag of money before full retirement. |
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