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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Phoenix DVD 1
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Ryusui
 Posts: 463 |
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I've already watched a good chunk of Phoenix via iTunes...I have to say, I wasn't impressed.
...For the simple if obscure reason that I have read the originals, and in every case the originals outstrip the watered-down animated versions. "Resurrection" was an insult: they completely gutted the original story. 
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GATSU
Posts: 15568 |
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Ryusui:
Hear, hear. Oh, well, it'll be great for the fans with short attention spans who are too afraid of anything "retro". |
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dizzywulf
Posts: 102 Location: Wakayama, Japan |
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I'm glad I finally found a review of this series. I keep almost picking it up in the store, but putting it down because I haven't heard anything about it. Now I can make a decision about it.
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GATSU
Posts: 15568 |
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dizzy: It's cheap and short, so you got nothin' to lose.
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indrik
 Posts: 365 Location: yonder |
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I thought the character designs did a nice job of allowing the originals to come through. It drives me absolutely nuts when an anime is made from a manga with a distinctive art style, and the changes take away from that style. But I do think that some of the oddness will probably be a turn off for the fans who are too afraid of anything retro. I wonder if the entire Leiji Matsumoto universe suffers from that problem.
Also, the dub is pushing towards not so good, but not quite into "bad". Which is to say I agree with the reviewer. I haven't read the particular stories this comes from, but I do get the feeling that they're stripped down, based on the other Tezuka works I've read. They're serviceable stories as presented, though. I liked it. It's cheap and short, pick it up. |
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ConanSan
Posts: 1818 |
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Wow, what is it with NHK losing the stuff of legends that made Cardcaptor Sakura and Nadia? |
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GATSU
Posts: 15568 |
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Conan: They had a smaller budget. But they probably should've adapted the shorter stories.
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Jih2
 Posts: 403 Location: East coast |
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I certainly am beginning to have a big problem with the idea that animation companies reworking series of Tezuka MUST use his animation style or the fans will go berserk. When the backgrounds are more luxurious than the character drawings then you have a problem.
I also think there's something to be said about the packaging. I'm so happy it's a fairly high quality case for a pretty cheap price. Needless to say I'm going to buy all of this and see what happens. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15568 |
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The Dezaki Black Jack proves you can adapt his style for modern audiences. But I'm more concerned with the story.
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Anime World Order
 Posts: 390 Location: Florida |
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It's somewhat odd for me to hear all this talk about how the 2004 anime series for Phoenix looks low budget. Granted, I haven't watched this show in quite some time, but if memory serves this series was broadcast in HD in Japan and was a PBS New York/NHK coproduction. When I watched the show, I thought it looked awesome from an animation perspective. Perhaps it's less impressive in standard DVD definition? Wait a second, I own this DVD!
I think the reason they didn't adapt the shorter stories is because many of those stories have previously been adapted in the anime adaptations of Phoenix that came out in the 1980s and they wanted to tackle the stories that had not yet been made into anime prior to this series. I encourage fans of the Phoenix manga (both of us!) to track down the OAV version of "Karma" made in the 80s, which I think came out quite well.
It's an extreme minority viewpoint to have, but I actually like Osamu Tezuka's character designs and have a much bigger problem with the idea that people decide not to watch certain series at all based solely on the perceived notion that the character designs "look old." I do believe this negative bias against any character designs that don't adhere to what people commonly perceive as "anime style" (I hate to use that term since it doesn't REALLY exist, but people typically use it to denote the aesthetic generally carried throughout Shonen Jump) is what turns people off to most of Osamu Tezuka's (as well as Leiji Matsumoto's) work. I think this has a lot to do with why even the updated character designs as used in Dezaki and Sugino's Black Jack OAVs failed to generate much interest among anime fans in the US. I'm drawing a total blank here because I'm not thinking too hard about the question, but can anyone name an example of an anime series that was popular in the US which had a distinctly non-"anime style" (aargh) look to it?
Well, there was my review I did way back when *cough*. I had written up a big feature article on Phoenix for Otaku USA, but I'm not 100% sure if/when it'll get printed. I'm thinking Issue 5 in February. Look out for it! |
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petran79
 Posts: 122 |
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The 1980 movie and the three OVAs are also very good. I cant find the 1978 Hi no Tori movie that features a very good international production team and is also one of the best adaptations
series I am not sure but about movies: Jack and the Beanstalk anime#3257 Jack and the Witch anime#3564 They look like Western cartoons and they were popular the time they were broadcasted. Actually the first movie was one of my childhood favorites. At that time broadcasters made less distinctions as whether something was from Japan, Europe, USA etc |
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Ktimene's Lover
 Posts: 2242 Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert) |
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In the midst of these mixed reviews of Phoenix, I think that people should be more aware of the Tezuka works. Disney popularized the greatness of Miyazaki dubbing the various Ghibli films. Ishinomori was popularized with the Americanized Super Sentai series called "Power Rangers". The guy that made Magical Witch Sally and Gigantor popularized the mahou shoujo and mecha series. But it seems Tezuka isn't popular enough. I mean, he should be since he invented modern anime and my opinion is that the only manga-ka dead or alive that is close to greatness is Ishinomori (Tezuka was a great influence on him). Plus, I'm a dubbing and subbing person, so I might be this DVD.
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petran79
Posts: 122 |
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What is even more overlooked are Tezuka's independent animated works, like "Jumping", "Tales of a Street Corner", "Mermaid" etc. He even appears in a segment of self-animated portraits, spewing coins from his mouth like a slot machine. Despite this he set the precedent for the horrible working conditions most Japanese animators face today. |
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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Here Here! I run into so many people who won't even give series any older than a few years the time of day because they judge the animation and character design to be out of date. I guess we can think god some of the classic novels and such weren't actually videos instead, otherwise they would never see the light of day again. |
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lord-darkseid
Posts: 62 |
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Hmmm.. I've always considered Golgo 13 to have a non-anime style to it in that the characters features were more realistic and less exaggerated than most anime works. OTOH, I'm not sure how popular it ever got, even in the 8-bit NES game days. Darn, I'd asked Patrick about doing Phoenix. Ah well.... |
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