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Ms. Answerman: Ice-cream Making Dragons Unite!


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manafairy



Joined: 04 Oct 2003
Posts: 113
Location: My own tweaked world....
PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 7:05 pm Reply with quote
I just wanted to say, I love the answer to the last question. I guess this post is kind of useless, but I just felt I should point out how cool it was Anime smile

Darn though, there's no cricket anime/manga? I mean, there's football manga (meaning American football not soccer football) and even Pachinko manga but no [known] cricket manga.... Bummer......
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Akukaze



Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 185
Location: Stony Brook, NY
PostPosted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 12:18 am Reply with quote
If you look hard enough almost everything is "ripped off" of something else, that isn't nescessarilly a bad thing. I would be inclined to say Fafner is a rip-off of RahXephon (more so then a rip-off of Eva and I love all three series to death) which is a rip-off of Eva, but soem of the people behind Eva are behind Fafner, so it's all just insane.
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Haiseikoh 1973



Joined: 24 Apr 2004
Posts: 1590
Location: Waiting for the Japanese 1000 Gunieas.
PostPosted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 4:01 am Reply with quote
manafairy wrote:


Darn though, there's no cricket anime/manga? I mean, there's football manga (meaning American football not soccer football) and even Pachinko manga but no [known] cricket manga.... Bummer......


I think we figure out who sent in that question.
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manafairy



Joined: 04 Oct 2003
Posts: 113
Location: My own tweaked world....
PostPosted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 9:07 am Reply with quote
Actually, I wasn't the one who sent in the question, but when I saw it, the idea just sounded so cool that I couldn't help but be disappointed to hear there was none. Oh well, you can't have everything I suppose....
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Ohoni



Joined: 10 Jun 2003
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 7:31 pm Reply with quote
I think that anyone who's seen them would know that Sokyuu no Fafner is deffinitely a rip-off of Rahxephon, which is DEFINITELY a rip-off of Evangelion. Being a rip-off doesn't make it worse, it only means that they copied it wholesale and then modified it very slightly, of the three I actually think Rahxaphon is the best one.

On the other hand, none of those shows are a rip-off of Gundam, and Argent Soma isn't really an Eva rip-off either. It's just that those three shows I listed share so very many thematic, design, and conceptual similarities that there is no why they could be said to have developed independantly of each other. That's like saying that Gundam SEED owes nothing to any previous Gunam.

Anime do this all the time though. I mean, look at that new "Fushigi Basket" show that was mentioned in the last Answerman column.
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Kazuki-san



Joined: 21 May 2004
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 7:49 pm Reply with quote
Ohoni wrote:
Rahxephon, which is DEFINITELY a rip-off of Evangelion. Being a rip-off doesn't make it worse, it only means that they copied it wholesale and then modified it very slightly, of the three I actually think Rahxaphon is the best one.


RahXephon is NOT a rip-off of Eva. Certainly it has some elements from Eva, but it is in no way a wholesale copy of it. (modified or not) The religous symbolism used in both series are on opposite ends of the spectrum, and their use in their respective plots are meant to bring about different things. I don't feel like getting detailed into it.. but.. sure, RahX borrowed some things from Eva. Eva borrowed things from other anime. That's the way it works.

Not many series, movies, or whatever, can claim to be truly original anymore. The creators are influenced by what they have seen, and so many different ideas have been expressed, that's it's just very hard to look at a series and not see a type of character you have seen somewhere else, or a plot element that you haven't before.
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Ohoni



Joined: 10 Jun 2003
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 3:48 am Reply with quote
I'm just saying, you could look at an anime, Naruto let's say, and say "well that creator probably watched Dragon Ball, or Yu Yu, or Recca, or something", and you'd probably be right. But there's no way that the creators of RahXephon didn't want Eva, and consiously try to make a show that reached similar target demos.

They could have watched Gundam, or Brain Powered, or Macross, or any number of other mech shows of course, but Eva is very clearly the major influence, to the same degree that "Coupling" could be seen as being influenced by "Friends". Both are still good, but the influences are clear and without shame.
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Kazuki-san



Joined: 21 May 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 3:04 pm Reply with quote
Ohoni wrote:
But there's no way that the creators of RahXephon didn't want Eva, and consiously try to make a show that reached similar target demos.


Tell me why you think that, and I will tell you why I think that's wrong.
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Ohoni



Joined: 10 Jun 2003
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 7:13 pm Reply with quote
The robots are very very similar in general design. Evas, Rahxephon, and Dual (which is also an eva-rip-off) all share very similar mecha designs, that they DON'T share with any anime prior to Eva. There are obvious differences in design fo course, but the similarities are too noticable to be a coincidence.

They all feature somewhat reluctant teen male heroes, with his choice of three female protagonists, one a hot head, one a mother figure, and one with autism.

In all four except for Dual, they are faced off against an enemy of very mysterious origins and motivations, and there is some doubt as to who the good guy is, but the enemy is deffinitely not human.

Those are the major elements, but there are dozens of smaller elements that are copied. As I said, they are not dirrect duplicates, each show has certain elements that are unique to it, but they are also quite clearly "Eva was cool, so let's use that as the chassis and bolt on some new and different elements to make a new show.

Bare in mind, I'm not an Eva fan. I thought it was highly overrated and did not particularly enjoy it, but apparently my views were not shared by the creators of those other anime.
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Kazuki-san



Joined: 21 May 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 10:03 pm Reply with quote
Ohoni wrote:
The robots are very very similar in general design. Evas, Rahxephon, and Dual (which is also an eva-rip-off) all share very similar mecha designs, that they DON'T share with any anime prior to Eva. There are obvious differences in design fo course, but the similarities are too noticable to be a coincidence.


I don't see any similarities between the mecha designs of Eva and RahXephon. The Xephon looks nothing like an Eva, and neither does anything else in the show.

Dual, on the other hand, is basically a parody of Eva, not a rip-off. That much is rather obvious. The "core robots" look very very similar to Evas, and the main characters are about the same.

Ohoni wrote:
They all feature somewhat reluctant teen male heroes, with his choice of three female protagonists, one a hot head, one a mother figure, and one with autism.


Ayato isn't reluctant. In fact, unlike Shinji, he pilots the Xephon because it's something he can do, while Shinji does because he doesn't have much of a will of his own. Let's see.. you must be referring to Megumi as the hot head, Haruka as the mother figure.. and Quon is obvious. However, Ayato doesn't have a "choice" as you say. Quon and Ayato are basically brother and sister or, more accurately, two sides of the same coin. They could never be together as lovers. Haruka isn't a mother figure, she's simply an older version of the person he knew. If you didn't think he would end up with her.. well... yeah.

Ohoni wrote:
In all four except for Dual, they are faced off against an enemy of very mysterious origins and motivations, and there is some doubt as to who the good guy is, but the enemy is deffinitely not human.


As if Eva was the first show to make the enemy be mysterious Rolling Eyes The real enemy of Eva was not the angels, but man itself. The enemy of RahXephon was a completely different species from another dimension.

I could get way further into it if you want to, but seeing as how I know it won't change your mind, I won't at the moment.
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Cloe
Moderator


Joined: 18 Feb 2004
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 3:42 pm Reply with quote
I think that "ripping off" may be too strong of a term to describe Rahxephon, Argent Soma, Fafner, etc, etc, so on and so forth. Like Kazuki-san said, anime series borrow from each other all the time. And like Rebecca said, anyone can certainly see what shows inspire what. But ripping off? Come on. Until I see a new mech show that features Freudian psycho-analysis and pairs a reluctant hero named, oh, let's say Shenji, with an arrogant brat named Atsuka and a creepy clone named Kei, who all sport huge organic mechs called "Eve"s and fight mysterious invaders called Prophets, I'm going to stay away from accusing good mechs of "ripping off" Eva. ^_^

That said, I DO think that a lot (but not all) of the mech shows that came after Eva were some kind of a repsonse to it, but that's just how it goes. I don't think anyone can expect something as monumental as Eva to show up and shake up an entire genre and have nothing happen.
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Ohoni



Joined: 10 Jun 2003
Posts: 3421
PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 6:03 pm Reply with quote
The Rahxephon is basically a repainted Eva with wings glued to its head. The design is good, but derivative nonetheless.

Quote:
Quon and Ayato are basically brother and sister or, more accurately, two sides of the same coin.


As Rei was essentially Shinji's mother, but like in Eva, that relationship is not immediately made clear, and is ambiguous for most of the series.

Quote:
Haruka isn't a mother figure, she's simply an older version of the person he knew. If you didn't think he would end up with her.. well... yeah.


She is also a mother figure.

Now obviously they aren't going to make an exact clone of Eva with different colors or something, but this is as close as you can get in good taste. It's like Supreram Power, a good series, but obviously derrivative of DC's JLA.

I don't see why this simple fact is so difficult for some of you to own up to.
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Kazuki-san



Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2251
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 7:09 pm Reply with quote
Ohoni wrote:
The Rahxephon is basically a repainted Eva with wings glued to its head. The design is good, but derivative nonetheless.


Once again.. it looks nothing at all like an Eva, and has none of the design aspects of one either.

Ohoni wrote:

As Rei was essentially Shinji's mother, but like in Eva, that relationship is not immediately made clear, and is ambiguous for most of the series.


Rei was PARTLY a clone of Yui, and mostly a clone of an angel. Quon is not a clone, she is merely a Mu who happens to be the antithesis of Ayato. Rei was not the antithesis of Shinji.

Ohoni wrote:

She is also a mother figure.


No, she's not. She's someone who loves Ayato.. but as a lover.. not as a mother. She tries to take care of him as that.. although she couldn't let it be known to him what the case was.

The differences in the actual aspects of the story are very great as well. If you wish, I will get into them with you.
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silentjay



Joined: 12 Dec 2003
Posts: 304
PostPosted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:12 am Reply with quote
Ohoni wrote:
I don't see why this simple fact is so difficult for some of you to own up to.


Because it's not fact, it's conjecture based upon individual bias. It's not neccesarily wrong, it's just not fact.
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Ohoni



Joined: 10 Jun 2003
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:30 am Reply with quote
Quote:

The differences in the actual aspects of the story are very great as well. If you wish, I will get into them with you.


I don't think you get my point. I have said MANY times that there are significant differences between the two shows. I know that full well, having watched both of them. My point is that even so, there are too many similarities to be considered coincidental, and therefore the show is a rip-off.

This does not hurt the overall quality of the show, and as I said I prefer RahXephon over Eva myself, but I do so after accepting that it's totally an Eva rip-off, but a good one at that.
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