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REVIEW: Tweeny Witches DVD 1


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The Ramblin' Wreck



Joined: 07 Apr 2003
Posts: 924
Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love
PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 2:18 pm Reply with quote
Aww Tweeny Witches, this is a nice little find of a show. I like these early episodes the best, before it starts to get (overly) complicated. Maybe it's been too long since I've seen it, but the plot starts to go all over the place about half-way in.
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Aromatic Grass



Joined: 31 Dec 2003
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Location: Raleigh, NC
PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 2:30 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
At times the course of events suddenly skips forward with little or no transition, occasionally leaving viewers with the impression that some content was cut out. The series also has the very annoying habit of doing just about everything it can to avoid showing its characters' faces (and often even whole body) when talking or involved in complicated movement, which results in a lot of off-screen dialog.

This is very true. I often found myself wondering if I missed something but then realized that it was just the way the episodes were being handled (not to mention how short they are). But for some reason, I didn't find myself bothered by the off-screen dialog as much as probably most people would. I guess I felt that it worked with the overall style of the show.

Glad to hear that the English dub works well with the show. Though I'm also confused as to why "Arusu" wasn't translated... Alice is obviously the correct name. Neutral
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The Ramblin' Wreck



Joined: 07 Apr 2003
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 2:32 pm Reply with quote
I missed that!

"Arusu"??

Seriously?

It's "ALICE!"
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Richard J.



Joined: 11 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 2:39 pm Reply with quote
Reasons why they didn't change it back to Alice, maybe:

A) Extreme fans are extreme and doing things the Japanese way is serious business so they were concerned they've lose sales if they changed what fansubbers or the Japanese wouldn't. After all, the Japanese are always right. Do not question the Japanese way! Clearly all things are better their way! DO NOT QUESTION IT! Wink

B) It sounds cooler this way.

C) No one realized it was suppossed to be Alice.

D) The Japanese asked them to leave it this way.

E) It's a mistake that was noticed too late to correct.

Magical girls tempt me to break my boycott of MB. (Not that they'd notice if I did.)
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Veoryn87



Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 808
PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:13 pm Reply with quote
I saw the first 10 episodes of this series and thought it was cute. I like how different it is from your typical magical girl series (which the reviewer described quite well). I would have given the animation a higher score though. While some of the editing is odd and camera angles are kinda weird (which I actually liked), I thought the movement was fluid and frequent and not as hidden as described. Oh well. It's the style that I like the best. Seems kinda strange that a studio that makes so many high quality movies (animation wise) uses so many shortcuts for a series with such short episodes.

I completely forgot this was even coming out.


Last edited by Veoryn87 on Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:32 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Monsieur Pink



Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 141
PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:16 pm Reply with quote
Richard J. wrote:
Magical girls tempt me to break my boycott of MB. (Not that they'd notice if I did.)


Why exactly do you boycott Media Blasters? Because of their sub-only series?
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 4:04 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
why did they keep the main character's name as “Arusu” in both English and the subtitles when clearly it is supposed to be “Alice” converted into Japanese syllables?


Well, to be technical, her name isn't even "Alice"... it's technically "Aluce".

"Alice" in katakana is アリス, or Arisu. Aluce, or the way it's written in the show, in katakana is アルス, or Arusu, hence why MB went with "Arusu".

Don't go saying it's "Alice" when even in the orginal Japanese it isn't.

And just so no one can really argue it, here are some mangas that explicitly use the name "Alice":
D線上のアリス (D-Senjou no Alice/Alice on Deadlines)
学園アリス (Alice Academy)
アリスの星 前編 (Alice no Hoshi)
アリスの照星 (Alice no Shousei)

I think those are enough to prove that Tweeny Witches' main character is not named "Alice" and that "Arusu" is an appropriate translation.
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selenta
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Joined: 19 Apr 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 4:48 pm Reply with quote
Being someone who's seen the show, though it's been a while since I saw the show so my memory is vague, but I seem to remember that it's actually kind of important that her name isn't "Alice", and it was done very deliberately as they address that in the show.

It would really be best for people not to jump to conclusions and criticize people for something that they were doing on purpose. Alice is obviously not the correct name people, you all disappoint me.
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BellosTheMighty



Joined: 27 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:33 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
falls far from the norms for the genre. It is not overwhelmingly cute, does not feature sugary-sweet content, has a dramatically different artistic style, and most significantly, it lacks transformation scenes.


...

Dude, you need to re-evaluate your priorities, I think...
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Aromatic Grass



Joined: 31 Dec 2003
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:22 pm Reply with quote
selenta wrote:
Alice is obviously not the correct name people, you all disappoint me.

Ouch, sorry. Geez. Rolling Eyes I haven't seen all of the show, so I wouldn't know why it's important later on. It seemed to me that "Alice" was what they were trying to say in Japanese. And I've already associated that name with her, so "Arusu" now sounds weird to me. Plus, the subs I were watching called her "Alice." So, it's their fault. Wink
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:09 pm Reply with quote
If it's not supposed to be "Alice," then why the "Arusu in Wonderland" references? And why does both the plot summary and Japanese Cast credits on our Encyclopedia page for the series list it as Alice? Clearly I'm far from the only one who's confused/misled on this.

BellosTheMighty wrote:
Quote:
falls far from the norms for the genre. It is not overwhelmingly cute, does not feature sugary-sweet content, has a dramatically different artistic style, and most significantly, it lacks transformation scenes.


...

Dude, you need to re-evaluate your priorities, I think...


Not sure what you're thinking I meant, but I regard their omission as a Good Thing. (I hate transformation scenes with a passion.)
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BellosTheMighty



Joined: 27 Nov 2007
Posts: 767
PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:21 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
If it's not supposed to be "Alice," then why the "Arusu in Wonderland" references? And why does both the plot summary and Japanese Cast credits on our Encyclopedia page for the series list it as Alice? Clearly I'm far from the only one who's confused/misled on this.

BellosTheMighty wrote:
Quote:
falls far from the norms for the genre. It is not overwhelmingly cute, does not feature sugary-sweet content, has a dramatically different artistic style, and most significantly, it lacks transformation scenes.


...

Dude, you need to re-evaluate your priorities, I think...


Not sure what you're thinking I meant, but I regard their omission as a Good Thing. (I hate transformation scenes with a passion.)


No problem there, I just fail to see how the absence of a particular sylistic flourish is more significant then major shifts away from the norm in tone and themes.
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frubam



Joined: 23 Jun 2005
Posts: 135
Location: under Sana's bed
PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:57 pm Reply with quote
This show is pretty good, it's like Harry Potter the Animation in a sense. I'm kinda disappointed that it doesn't have the translator notes from the jp DVD version, unless it just wasn't mentioned in the review(which i doubt).
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nargun



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 930
PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:17 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
If it's not supposed to be "Alice," then why the "Arusu in Wonderland" references?


The book's titled ふしぎの国のアス in japanese, though. That she isn't called alice [or アリス] is a plot point that's dealt with about... half-way through the series, I think.
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Aromatic Grass



Joined: 31 Dec 2003
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:32 pm Reply with quote
Hm. Well, then why hasn't a report been submitted for ANN's Encyclopedia page? Neutral

(It's also her "main name" on MAL.)
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