×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Buried Treasure - Urban Square




Note: this is the discussion thread for this article
Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Ragebot



Joined: 15 Feb 2006
Posts: 42
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:00 am Reply with quote
Wow, that sounds pretty unique even by Billy Wilder and Charlie Kaufman standards!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website MSN Messenger
lord-darkseid



Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:03 am Reply with quote
Y;know, I saw the poster for this long time like say the early 90's, and I was really looking forward to seeing this and Tokyo Vice because I wanted a serious crime drama in the style of Golgo 13 or similar fare. So yeah when I actually saw this OAV... blah. Just total ... blah. I remember getting the fansub from you so I could understand the story and... still blah. Sightly more frustrating Blah because knowledge of what was going on didn't help me enjoy the story. I recently grabbed that other fansub rom fantasyland you referred to and.... I was able to tolerate it more. You definitely hit all the right points on the story's cliche'd uneveness but I still liked it better now than I did before, though I'm honestly chalking that up to nostalgia for 80's anime production values.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
zhir



Joined: 03 Dec 2005
Posts: 353
Location: Nampa, ID, USA
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:17 am Reply with quote
You can upgrade this from fansubs may be out there to fansubs common.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address My Anime My Manga
Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:52 am Reply with quote
It'd be interesting if someone could find a way to make licensing all these old OVA's work...... especially with stuff that's been out of print in Japan for over a decade. I wouldn't mind seeing something like Compilation discs...

Mabye Animeigo or ImaginAsian, or other companies once the market stabilizes a bit more...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Zalis116
Moderator


Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6902
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:39 am Reply with quote
Paploo wrote:
It'd be interesting if someone could find a way to make licensing all these old OVA's work...... especially with stuff that's been out of print in Japan for over a decade. I wouldn't mind seeing something like Compilation discs...

Mabye Animeigo or ImaginAsian, or other companies once the market stabilizes a bit more...
From what I hear, the problem with old/obscure anime like this is that the rights get sold off/broken up between numerous different (Japanese) companies, and sometimes it's hard to know just who to negotiate with for what rights. Then add to that lost/degraded/damaged/destroyed video masters, missing music&effects tracks (which makes dubbing impossible without completely rescoring the music and redoing sound effects), and all the other problems associated with old anime.

And speaking of things fansubbed/translated by Justin Sevakis, I've been watching a certain Rightstuf release of a 2001 series that seems so unknown that it could've qualified for "Buried Treasure" even as the single discs were coming out Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Vicserr



Joined: 26 Apr 2004
Posts: 480
Location: Carolina, Puerto Rico USA
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:28 pm Reply with quote
Ahhhhh the 80's where you could get away with doing an OVA out of almost any story... this one seem to be one you could kill a lazy couple of hours Razz
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger ICQ Number My Anime
tenjigozza



Joined: 23 Dec 2006
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:44 pm Reply with quote
I recently came across the fansub of this gem. Thank you Justin for subbing this. I have a weakness for 80's film and TV in general. The style and setup were fantastic.

But please someone! Tell me that Mochizuki(the detective) looks like Burt Reynolds! I'm not seeing things, am I?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Xenofan 29A



Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 378
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:35 pm Reply with quote
Wow. Even the review made me laugh. Unfortunately, I may never get to see this...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
JELEINEN



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 253
Location: Iowa
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:04 pm Reply with quote
I think I might still have this on VHS somewhere. I remember watching it once and finding it amusing, but otherwise not very remarkable. I'll probably watch it again if I run across it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message ICQ Number
toddc



Joined: 23 Jul 2007
Posts: 164
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:04 am Reply with quote
I wonder how much of Union Square's story stems from Mr. Ito writing the first draft of Nausicaa's screenplay, which Hayao Miyazaki apparently threw out and/or changed extensively (though the film's butchered "Warriors of the Wind" version credits Ito as the sole scriptwriter).
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
TornadoTatsumaki



Joined: 01 Feb 2008
Posts: 145
Location: Mission Bend,Texas
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:18 pm Reply with quote
Just a question: Exactly how much does anyone think it would cost someone to license this?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
nebbo



Joined: 03 Nov 2007
Posts: 11
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:37 pm Reply with quote
Nice writeup, I can't get enough of oldschool anime so I'm definitely looking into this. Shigeru Chiba on staff aswell, even better Surprised
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1685
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:51 pm Reply with quote
TornadoTatsumaki wrote:
Just a question: Exactly how much does anyone think it would cost someone to license this?


Since it would probably sell about 50 copies and therefore is unlikely to even make back the costs of replicating the discs, it's a bad investment even if it's free.

Unfortunately, the industry has learned the hard way that older anime just doesn't sell.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
TornadoTatsumaki



Joined: 01 Feb 2008
Posts: 145
Location: Mission Bend,Texas
PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:10 pm Reply with quote
jsevakis wrote:
TornadoTatsumaki wrote:
Just a question: Exactly how much does anyone think it would cost someone to license this?


Since it would probably sell about 50 copies and therefore is unlikely to even make back the costs of replicating the discs, it's a bad investment even if it's free.

Unfortunately, the industry has learned the hard way that older anime just doesn't sell.
Damn! that's sucks! Oh well it least CPM isn't afriad of dubbing older titles, they just re-released "Outlaunders" in 2006 and it's still in print. I do hope CPM at least tries to aqiure the license even though it wouldn't get alot of distribution.(I'm praying and wishing that once Funimation obtains ADV's Dirty Pair license which is expiring very soon they'll convince Sunrise /Bandai to sell them the lost first 10 episodes of the series which have never be licensed outside of Japan.)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group