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Hey Zac, good column, as always. I have to say I can identify with the comment regarding press copies not really being "free." At the website I work at, my "but it's free!" sense usually gets the better of me at our monthly meetings and i usually end up with a stack of CDs, books, and comics before it finally starts sinking in "But I have to write about all this stuff! Crap, when am I going to have time to do that?!" So yeah, kids, be careful what you wish for. Even something as glorious as free manga comes with a price.

I can't disagree with you on Fullmetal Alchemist. I'm a huge fan of the show--definately one of the best shounen titles of the past few years.

As for other anime that has social commentary in it, one that comes to mind is Paranoia Agent. The problem is, it's very JAPANESE social commentary--scolding Japanese society for their escapism after WWII. Still an excellent anime, though. The letter writer was probably already aware of it since it was shown on [as], but I figured I'd mention it.

Speaking of Paranoia Agent, that IS one anime that's been on Adult Swim that isn't pure fighting. I don't know if it was on YTV, though.

And if you REALLY want to watch something different: Princess Tutu! (I WILL get everyone into that show!)

gotta love that cat

I'm one of those "Really, they're all 'Comic Books'." people myself. I regularly use the term "graphic novel", but I use it more as a term for the physical medium in which a comic is published, when it's bound instead of just stapled.

That being said, I do far prefer the term "graphic novel" to "sequential art", the über-pretentious term favoured by Scott McCloud groupies.

Rant wrote:

After reading the rants for a couple of weeks, I decided to bring a certain issue that has been bothering me for awhile. For years, I have seen countless people talk about anime. The problem is...they talk mostly about popular fighting anime series that can be watched in either Cartoon Network or YTV. Naruto, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Trigun, Fullmetal Alchemist, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Rurouni Kenshin are just couple of examples. I have nothing against the animes I have listed. They are all very good. What really bothers me is that why do people always talk about fighting anime when there are other good animes from different genres.

Since when are Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Trigun, Fullmetal Alchemist, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Rorouni Kenshin fighting anime? Yes, they include fighting to some degree, but I always thought of fighting anime to be anime where the focus is the battles or increasing physical strength, like Naruto or Dragonball Z. NGE barely has any action in it-maybe an eigth of the series! It's a psycoanalytic anime, with very little fighting, unless you count that Asuka argues with almost anybody. The others include a fair amount of fighting, but the focus is more on the characters, or a non-fighting related goal (getting the Philosepher's Stone in FMA, finding the Sunflower Samurai in SamCham, etc)

Rant wrote:

The only anime I can remember that didn't have actual constant fighting that aired in Adult Swim and YTV was Witch Hunter Robin.

What are you talking about? Have you forgotten Crayon Shin-chan, Lupin III, Case Closed, Paranoia Agent, FLCL, and Milk-chan, all series with absolutely no fighting or very little fighting, unless for comical reasons? There are probably more anime I can't even think of! The only fighting anime I can think of on [as] is Bleach.

Rant wrote:

Is it because of bad production and irresponsibility of American companies? Just look what happen recently with Pokemon. In one of ANN's special report, Chris explains how poor dubbing can irritate even hardcore fans who have been following the franchise from the beginning. More importantly, let's not forget the CMX and Tenjou Tenge controversy.

Is it because of censorship, FCC and CRTC (For Canada)? For those of you who don't know, Nevanna completely ruined Card Captor Sakura with revised script writing and horrible editing (revised it because they believe that Shaoran and Sakura's relationship seemed highly inappropriate). You can't just slap something together half heartedly and hope that fans will accept it. That is totally unacceptable. This can also tie to culture differences since Japan is more tolerant and disciplined than North America. However, Japan can be pretty brutal if you step over the line. In Canada, it took a couple of years for anime to actual start appearing in YTV. In the early years, Canadians choices were to either watch Spongebob Squarepants on TV for free or rent/buy anime dvds online from distributors.

What does this have to do with getting more genres represented in American/Canadian TV anime?

Rant wrote:

I'm starting to get sick and tired of being the only one who wants to talk about anime shows that doesn't involve fighting.

Your far from the only one....there are a hell of a lot of shojo fans out there. Smile

As for mature socially-concious anime, I second FMA, as well as MorwenLaicoriel's idea of Paranoia Agent. Both are excellent series! As for movies, try Perfect Blue, which is also by the guy who did Paranoia Agent, Satoshi Kon. The Ghost in the Shell movies are also really good!

Quote:

I'm looking for a disc like the discription I wrote............................
It's this show where a girl who doesn't like her power and her cousin is happy that she got her power and are here to protect the city from danger. The girl loves this guy who is trying so hard to be famous and suddenly the company saw there music great. Not only that the girl likes him but it was almost time for the war to begin. no one can see them because they are invisiable.

I don't know what that is, but it's officially the best show ever

Mr T And The Van wrote:

Quote:

I'm looking for a disc like the discription I wrote............................
It's this show where a girl who doesn't like her power and her cousin is happy that she got her power and are here to protect the city from danger. The girl loves this guy who is trying so hard to be famous and suddenly the company saw there music great. Not only that the girl likes him but it was almost time for the war to begin. no one can see them because they are invisiable.

I don't know what that is, but it's officially the best show ever

I would like to know, too, out of morbid curiosity Smile

It's entirely possible though that this person has been eating some funny mushrooms Wink

As always, an interesting read. Good to see that you're back as well.

The show the "Flake of the Week" is referencing is called Aquarian Age: Sign for Evolution, and ADV Films released a thinpak of it earlier this year. The english cast was headed up by Monica Rial and Chris Patton, and supported by Greg Ayres, Luci Christian, Vic Mignogna, Hilary Haag, Mariela Ortiz, Andy McAvin, Chrisine Auten, and me.
Yours,
Lauren Goodnight

Welcome back Zac! We missed you. Smile

Quote:

he problem is...they talk mostly about popular fighting anime series that can be watched in either Cartoon Network or YTV. Naruto, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Trigun, Fullmetal Alchemist, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Rurouni Kenshin are just couple of examples. I have nothing against the animes I have listed. They are all very good. What really bothers me is that why do people always talk about fighting anime when there are other good animes from different genres.

Excuse me, but since when exactly has Fullmetal Alchemist been a 'fighting' anime, whatever that may be? There is FAR more fighting in the author's other example of Witch Hunter Robin than in Hagaren. I can vaguely understand why the others listed are in his opinion 'fighting' shows -- Kenshin is a swordsman, Vash carries guns, and NGE has giant robots, but these things most certainly do not make them 'fighting' anime.

I absolutely agree that there needs to be more diverse titles on tv -- I would love to see Nana or (especially) Honey and Clover on Adult Swim, but I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon. My current favourite series, Saiunkoku Monogatari has virtually no chance of being licensed, and even ones that probably will be (*crosses fingers for Suzumiya Haruhi and Ouran Kokou Host Club*) most likely will never be aired on network tv. That's just the way it is. Sad, but true.

I'm still really quite miffed at my beloved Hagaren being dismissed as a fighting show. But that's what these rants are for, right? Saying things to get tongues wagging in the forums... Wink

good_night wrote:

The show the "Flake of the Week" is referencing is called Aquarian Age: Sign for Evolution, and ADV Films released a thinpak of it earlier this year. The english cast was headed up by Monica Rial and Chris Patton, and supported by Greg Ayres, Luci Christian, Vic Mignogna, Hilary Haag, Mariela Ortiz, Andy McAvin, Chrisine Auten, and me.
Yours,
Lauren Goodnight

Thanks for that! I had absolutely no idea what that girl was on about.

That cat is way scary. Its like he is on crank or something

Since nuanced social commentary can mean so many different things to different people, it is kinda hard to recommend anything. For instance I happen to think Somedays Dreamers has a lot of nuanced social commentary. Then again I get a lot of wierd looks. I'all back it up with that I think Haibane Renmei has much of this type of commentary as well. I think when you only think of the scifi action in the future type shows, you can really pigenhole yourself. Don't get me wrong, action Scfi is probably my favorite genre, and I love GitS, GitS:SAC 1&2, and FMA, and shows like that. But if you can't see some social commentary in some of these other shows,(as Zac alluded too) I don't think you are paying enough attention. And no I am not saying there aren't any dumass anime out there.

good_night wrote:

The show the "Flake of the Week" is referencing is called Aquarian Age: Sign for Evolution, and ADV Films released a thinpak of it earlier this year. The english cast was headed up by Monica Rial and Chris Patton, and supported by Greg Ayres, Luci Christian, Vic Mignogna, Hilary Haag, Mariela Ortiz, Andy McAvin, Chrisine Auten, and me.
Yours,
Lauren Goodnight

Oh my gosh! That's a real anime?? I thought the Flake was just confusing every anime she'd ever seen as one! Anime hyper

Wow, reading the review for the first volume, it sounds REALLY good. And it has some of my favorite voice actors in it. I might have to check this one out....who knew?

You know, a guy I know had a myspace dedicated to nothing but gifs of dancing cats. I believe it was called the "dancing cat appreciation society" or words to that effect. I'll have to see if I can find it.

Anywho...

I had a thought not unlike the rant recently. We were talking about Akira, and somebody said it was the greatest anime ever, because it was so violent. Which made me wonder two things. One, what anime closet did this dude live in, since while Akira has its moments, it's far from the most violent anime out there. And two, is that all it takes to be the greatest anime of all time? Really?

So I put him on my "idiot, ignore" list and missed an opportunity to educate and elucidate. I failed in some small way.

The end.

MorwenLaicoriel wrote:

Wow, reading the review for the first volume, it sounds REALLY good. And it has some of my favorite voice actors in it. I might have to check this one out....who knew?

I enjoyied it quite well, the ending needs some work, but there is a movie that I haven't seen yet. So I guess that would most likely clear some things up. And for an anime based off a card game it was done quite well otherwise. In fact if you never read the inserts would never even know it was, which is a good thing in my book.

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