Ms. Answerman

Column of 1000 Answers

No rant this week, sorry folks. On with the show.

hello MISS answerman....
i have one question.about anime licenses, if an US company got hold of a license, how about anime-loving ppl outside of US? are they bound in the agreement? this has boggled a lot of ppl's mind as there is no evidence that if there is a license in US, everybody must follow it. ex. fansubs. how about chinese fansubs? english fansubs that is based OUTSIDE US?
thank you
p.s: IMHO, fansubs are way better than HK dvds...:D
Malaysian Fan

It depends on the licensing agreement, but either way those not living in North American can continue to fansub series and distribute them so long as they're not making a profit. Selling fansubs are generally illegal since the Japanese companies behind the anime have international rights to their product. For those outside of America (and in many cases Canada) who subtitle series for the love of the show, you can continue to do so until your respective countries have licensed the series themselves.

Hello Answerman/woman,
You probably don't know this since the series has not even finished in Japan, but do you know if any plans are being made to dub Naruto in English? If not, then how long does it usually take companies to dub an entire series?
Thanks.

No one has announced the rights to Naruto yet. When it is announced, I will ask Tempest to include .gifs of dancing bears alongside the announcement on the news page and a link to every Answerman column that has featured a ‘Naruto licensing’ question in it. As for your second question, longer series are normally dubbed 30 or so episodes at a time. If Naruto doesn't find its way onto Cartoon Network, it's possible that it will be dubbed on a more regular basis instead of in chunks.

Hi Answerman,
I was wondering why some shows that are supposedly popular, like Wolf's Rain, Noir and Chobits, had late time slots while they were airing in Japan. I know the Japanese don't sleep much, but surely not many people were up at 2 in the morning to watch one of these shows. Do the producers expect this sort of thing, or is it just bad luck for them?
Thanks,
Lou.

Why is FLCL aired at midnight on Cartoon Network? Same reason why the Japanese air these other shows around 2am: they're meant for an older audience. Would they stay up until 2am to watch their favorite shows? Of course they would, and so would Americans. If Cartoon Network started airing uncut anime episodes from 2-4am Saturday nights, a lot of people would either stay up for the show or record it (for those who still have VHS players).

Hello Answerman,
I recently went to Borders book store and found a book called "Battle Royale" written by a Japanese author. I didn't pick it up because I did not feel like gettinginto a 650 page novel. The same day just minutes later at the book store, I saw a Manga from Tokyo Pop with the same name, and even the same autor. It had the same premise so I picked it up and found it really interesting. A manga about 21 males and 21 females forced onto an Island to kill each other until one person is left standing makes for an interesting plot, though very violent. It's almost like what the show "Survivor" should be about, that's good wholesome family fun! Anyways, when searching on the internet to see if there was an Anime film in the works, I did find out that there was a live action movie on it as well. I was curious if there is or if there is going to be a Battle Royale Anime?
Thank you very much,
-Joey

There isn't, and likely won't be one. As surprising as it might be to those who are used to the more lenient censorship laws in Japan, the Battle Royale movie was nearly banned in Japan for its controversial issues and nature. It's not the violence, but the psychological torture that these kids are put through that make this movie, as well as the manga, notorious. Truthfully I'd be surprised if Battle Royale was made into an anime series, let alone found a station that would air it (although given the sheer amount of merchandise available for Battle Royale, I wouldn't be shocked to see an anime series).

Do you ever think Kodomo no Omocha will ever hit the shores over here on domestic DVD? I think this is one series a lot of fans would like to see, mainly for its crazyness. They brought over other weird shows that are semi-similar to Kodocha, so why not Kodocha?
Thanks,
Wes

Who knows? You'll just have to wait and see...

I have heard that Daniel Radcliffe, the kid that plays Harry Potter in those
movies, will be playing Shinji Ikari in the live action adaptation of
Evangelion. The only article I have seen about it is this one:
http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/432/432931p1.html?fromint=1 and I would
like to see if there's any confirmation to this or any news on other
characters since that article was written.

Rumors, rumors, and more rumors. Zac and I have our money placed on Haley Joel Osment for the role, but it hasn't even been announced if the movie will have a Japanese cast, an American cast, or a mixture of both or more. They aren't even at a point in production where casting is a big issue. Hell, they haven't even announced which company will foot the 100 million+ bill. Personally I'd love to see a German girl play Asuka, but I'm not familiar enough with German movies to recommend an actress. Until any type of official announcement is made, everything is speculation.

Hi Answerwoman,
I was reading about "Outlaw Star" when I saw something about"Future Retro Hero Story". Are there plans to release it here stateside?
Jamison

Created by Takehiko Itō, Future-Retro Hero Story takes place in the same universe as Outlaw Star and Angel Links. It's always possible that it'll be licensed and released here, but probably not before Outlaw Star. The manga runs eight volumes and although it hasn't been animated, it has over a dozen drama/musical CDs already out there on the market.

can you tell me other mangas Ken Akamatsu wrote beside Love Hina?

Certainly! Ken Akamatsu's other manga series include AI ga Tomoranai!, Mahou Sensei Negima!, and Rikujyou Bouei Tai Mao-chan. Mao-chan was made into a TV series which has been licensed by Pioneer, and follows the adventures of three cute girls as they defend Japan from even cuter alien invaders. Akamatsu has also contributed to numerous doujinshi, which are listed on his webpage: http://www.ailove.net/. If you're a Sailor Moon fan, you might be surprised by what you see there.

I hope I'm not wasting your time with this but in your opinion, which is better: Dragon Ball Z or Yū Yū Hakusho? I ask this because I've seen these two shows grouped together so many time on the Internet. Personally, I favor YYH because it's a lot faster-paced and and a bit more intelligent (in terms of plot and character development) but what do you think?

In my opinion, Dragon Ball Z is the better anime while Yū Yū Hakusho has a better manga. When it comes to the TV series, I've never been a fan of ‘arena fighting’. Yes I know that DBZ has arena fighting, but the change of scenery (oftentimes changed forcefully by the characters) makes DBZ's fighting differ from YYH. I watched Hunter x Hunter up until the story focused on the characters fighting within an actual arena, and I suffered through Flame of Recca hoping that it'd eventually move on to bigger and better things (it never did). YYH's manga, however, focuses a LOT more on the side stories that develop the individual characters, while the DBZ anime and manga are nearly identical. Perhaps if the YYH anime had followed the manga as closely as DBZ had, I'd be telling you a different story. Since it doesn't, it still remains a level below DBZ.

Hello. I've been reading the Rurouni Kenshin edit lists and have been both fascinated and cheated—fascinated as in how much CN cut and cheated as in what I've been deprived of. I can't believe how much RK has been relegated to a kids' show alongside that crappy "Teen Titans". Getting to the point, on the RK DVDs, are the episodes uncut with all the blood and cursing or would I be wasting my time and money getting them. It seems sensible that they would be but financially, it's not a risk I'm able to make.

The DVDs are 100% uncut, so it would not be a waste of money to buy the DVDs. If you're unable to buy the entire series as well as the OVAs due to financial restrictions, buy up through the Kyoto Arc as well as the first OVA, then find a website with episode summaries for the rest. If money isn't an issue, I'd still suggest you resist the urge to buy Reflection (the second OVA). You can rest assured that you'll be saving yourself 35 minutes of pain.

Until next week!