Giant Mecha News 259
da3dAlus writes "Starting next week, Monday Feb 24th, from 4-5pm est Cartoon Network's Toonami starts a Giant Robot Week. The lineup currently includes episodes of Nadesico, Dia-Guard, Robotech, and Evangelion (yes, NGE is slated for the block, but only on Mon/Tues). Also in Evangelion news, AnimeNewsNetwork reports Gainax is finalizing the re-release of the boxed set of NGE. This set includes re-worked (audio/video enhanced) versions of the original 26 episodes, the 4 'remake' eps from laser disc, and a bonus disc with creditless opening/closing video, trailers, and live-action edition of the film. The final cut of the Evangelion movie-- Death(True)2, Air, and Magokoro wo Kimi ni--will also be included. The discs will be in a limited edition art box, and will retail for ~$322 on or about June 25th, with a reservation deadline of April 14th. After that, the new set will be released separately without the box."
Eva? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Eva? (Score:2, Interesting)
I mean how many people in America would think that showing kids explosions of crosses and talks of the attacking Angels and the final battle between them and humanity is appropriate?
Cool Sci-fi week. (Score:3, Interesting)
You'd think it was sweeps month. Oh, it is.
--sex [slashdot.org]
Re:Kids stuff? (Score:2, Interesting)
How many people watch this? It wasn't sarcastic at all.
Also, I wasn't blanketing the teenage population as a whole. OBVIOUSLY there are kids obsessed with computers. I knew that. I was more referring to kids that watched cartoons and even moreso indirectly asking a question as to if kids that watched these cartoons were interested in computers.
'enhanced' == 'fixed' ? (Score:4, Interesting)
I played for a long time with trying to make digital copies without the jitter by using various stabilizing plugins for VirtualDub or other software, but to little avail (most were targeted at shaky-handed video camera operators).
If they've fixed the jitter I would really consider picking up this set; I've found Eva to be one of my favorite media ever, and usually try getting anyone who hasn't seen it to watch with me whenever I go through it again.
-A
Reply to the 3 replies above (Score:1, Interesting)
Regarding the English dubs, I'm personally someone who takes each series/movie on its own, but many people either don't accept that, or don't exactly understand that without further comment (such as this). Of course, this only applies to animation (partly due to the nature of it being inherently dubbed), as I have a problem with dubbed-live action films. It was only done to prevent fellow slashdotters from chewing out some poor guy who forgot his password. =P
Anyway, I added that little bit because of the nature of many anime fans, specifically the Eva-obsessed ones. Mentioning that you watched the series in English is enough for some fans to go into a rage that could easily match some of the battles in the series itsself.
The English dub on Eva isn't perfect, but its the one I happen to prefer. The actors take a while to get into their characters, but once they do, I enjoy the job that they have done. Unfortunately, not all of the original actors returned to do the movies, leaving some of the voices quite different from the series. It does boil down to personal preference, and I'm somewhat surprised that I do enjoy it more in Japanese, being as there is plenty of "Japan" in it (ie, takes place in Japan, numerous Japanese cultural references, etc). Those shows and films tend to be harder to swallow when dubbed into any other language, but there are exceptions (Mononoke being one of them). On the other hand, I can't even IMAGINE watching something like Grave Of The Fireflies in anything but Japanese.
Bebop is another series where I definately enjoy the English dub more than the original Japanese. I'm not putting down the Japanese actors in any way, in fact, they did a great job. But when it comes down to personal preference, I believe Bebop sounds a lot better in English. I'm glad you agree.
argmanah, I realize all dubs aren't created equal, but not everyone feels that way (as I somewhat stated above), hence my disclaimer (or whatever you want to call it). For every dub like Princess Mononoke, there's one like Love Hina's that makes people's ears bleed.
People seem to be too quick to assume that if someone mentions a language in reference to anime, that they stick by it in every situation. Therefore, many would've interepreted my comment on the English track to be a sign that I watch ALL anime (and possibly other foreign films) dubbed into English.
And to packeteer, this set really isn't aimed at most of us, its aimed at the devoted Eva fans in Japan (and when I say devoted, I mean DIE HARD FANS). Prices for stuff like this is often higher in Japan than in the US (many DVDs are close to $40), although I do have to admit that this new set is certainly filled of extras making that price SOMEWHAT resonable.
ADV released a box set of the series (which doesn't include the 2 movies) recently, and while prices varied, it wasn't too hard to get the 8-disc set for under $100. $300 may be excessive for many, but $100 isn't too shabby for all 26 episodes.
Bleh...I'm rambling...and even worse...I'm rambling as an AC. I guess that's a sign that I need to get some rest.
Re:~$322?!? (Score:2, Interesting)
Take GitS, for example - in Japan, it's still sold at the RRP of 7,800 yen (about $US65), at best with 20% discount, but in the States, you can get it for around $US25.
Re:First hand experience of the Eva Remaster (Score:3, Interesting)
ADV is not going to be releasing these. I will bet money on this.
First off, GAiNAX's relationship with ADV turned pretty sour after Eva. ADV never got a hold of the licenses for the Eva Director's Cut episodes 21-24, they only had the license for the original TV versions. Second, they didn't get the movie rights because of money. The amount of money GAiNAX wanted for the films was REDICULOUS, and the only reason Manga got them was because they're stupid and they have too much money (the did not recoup the licensing fees off their disc sales yet).
ADV is not going to spend money again to relicense the new remastered prints. They're already making money off their "perfect" box set. The demand for these remastered prints wouldn't be high enough to sustain the cost because in general American anime fans aren't the kind who will rebuy everything when a new version comes out. There are people I know who've bought something on VHS, then Laserdisc, then on DVD. Japanese hard core fans will do this all the time - and there's a much larger hardcore anime fanbase in Japan than here.
So don't hold your breath for these to ever be released Stateside. You want subs - go get some scripts or rip the sub streams from the ADV discs and retime them to these new imports and use DVDSubber. Me, I'm happy with em raw since I know all the dialog already.
Giant Robot? Can't be said without mentioning... (Score:2, Interesting)
IMHO the best Giant robot anime of all time:
Giant Robo.
dig it.
Re:Giant Robots? (Score:3, Interesting)
The TAs & Fakes weren't particularly huge. I think they were only 10-12 feet tall. Not much taller than a tank. They were designed for urban warfare and could even enter builings. They could run faster than tanks and were more agile so they could take on a tank division in the field if they had the element of surprise.
Another break from giant robot conventions was that they didn't add any new mech designs throughout the series. There's a funny (text) interview on the DVD where the designer describes how the merchandising department got freaked out when they found out there were only a couple mechs. The designers reasoned that the TA and Fake designs would be in service for at least 10 years, though some variants might show up in a few years. But that would all be beyond the lifespan of the show.