Questioned By Fandom For The Week Of March 28th, 2015

I don’t know what the real numbers are like (nobody does really, unless you’re privy to the private information) on just how much of a difference a Toonami run makes. I’m sure it helps with some shows, but often those shows were already going to do well.

Personally, I’m not sure what kind of influence Toonami has overall, especially these days where it seems like it’s on the wane again, largely due to the lack of new content or a sense of a real plan or mission. Which is understandable since a lot of people are looking for the latest and greatest online.

The only thing that can effectively salvage Toonami is if the Broadcast Dub initiative type is applied to it and they get things that are really new and in English like that.

Mostly because there’s nobody left there when you get down to it.

In the heyday, you had the big Pokemon stuff going on, which still exists, but you also had Central Park Media with its labels and hentai side doing business, you had Media Blasters heavily involved and you had LA companies outsourcing stuff to there as well for a variety of reasons since there was a lot of LA based competition between Geneon, Viz Media and Bandai Entertainment.

But now? There’s nobody really left there that operates out of it. Most work is done in-house at the big two, though they do outsource for various shows and occasionally you get a new UK dub commissioned there. Media Blasters has set up with MB VoiceWorks in their Jersey facility that has gone live this winter. But there’s just not the big local investment in it. When you had companies situated right in NYC, they wanted to support and work with local companies because involvement was easier. But with those companies gone, it’s going to whither naturally.

I’m definitely glad to see them getting back on track and watching the enthusiasm and energy coming out of it. There’s a good sense of revitalization coming with it and the opportunity to pick up titles that other companies have passed over for various reasons that can do well and make a lot of fans happy.

It’s been the nature of the comic book world for decades. Having been fans of both (and still am), I’ve seen it on that side for ages. Marvel in many ways is seeing as doing no wrong while DC seemingly can’t get a handle on its properties. And there’s just a huge, huge amount of tribalism in comics because people are so invested in it because of their purchases. It’s basically sports teams with only hardcore fans being heard. So it really twists the dynamic.

I continue to find both “brands” offering up fantastic things in different ways. I’m reading more Marvel comics at the moment than DC, though that will change later in the year as Secret Wars shakes out and what DC is doing is changing.

I get a lot more out of the various DC Comics TV shows – and animation – than I do Marvel. I get more out of their movies simply because there are more and they’re more diverse in character. But that will be changing as well next year.

My mantra has always been about talking more about what I like than continually trashing things. I do my best to focus on talking up than talking down – though that doesn’t mean I won’t criticize. But I try to avoid getting into the fanboyism for the most part.

It’s a freakin’ golden age for comic book fans, which means the tribalism is running at an all time high combined with far easier access to voice it. Which is a mixed blessing of course.

I agree wholeheartedly. It’s really strange in a way that it hasn’t been done big and outright in some form to really drive it home. It’s like the dirty little secret nobody will talk about.

I can see Ninja Slayer getting some attention just for its weirdness, but I suspect it might be a novelty show at first that people quickly drop. But for others, it could be a cult show.

Seraph seems like a given and Parasyte probably should, but I don’t know that that’s the first series from Sentai I’d want them to get on the air.

Not that I pay much attention to Toonami anymore. With it cut down and mostly reruns, it’s fallen out of view for the majority of anime fans once again it seems.

I store all my stuff in long comic book boxes in the basement. There’s a lot of boxes, but it’s all fairly well contained and out of the way. Everything pretty much stays as they came in though. I used to slice covers and repackage them in thinpaks years ago, but once everything switched to season sets, I stopped doing that.

I am! I quite enjoyed the first two films as a modern reinvention of it with more detail. I love the original films because I grew up on them and there are pieces of them that freaked me out as a kid, particular the nuclear bomb cult. The first original movie still stands out well.

Well, outside of heavy smoking in a spaceship.

But I definitely want more of this new series of films as they’ve treated it very well with the right kind of respect and creativity to take it forward in its own direction.

I totally get the way so many fans are upset about it and all, but…

I can’t why. Why worry? It won’t change anything. It just builds up stress. And I try to keep myself minimal on the stress outside of raising two teenage girls.

With this film, it’ll get done when it gets done. Evangelion has ~always~ had problems in how it’s been handled by the Japanese side in getting brought over here with a whole host of things going on. FUNimation wants to get it out there just as much as the fans do.

No. I became far too frustrated with the whole experience and just want nothing to do with it after throwing enough money away.

It should be, but I doubt it’d add much to sales overall at this point. They’ve got the market research to prove it, especially in the competitive and tight DVD/BD market. I’d love to see more Spanish language dubs out there as well, but they and subs are pretty much rarities outside of when Hollywood handles a home video anime release.

Depends on what you’re looking for. Hidamari Sketch has some beautifully creative transitions and layouts with how it’s approached. It’s very artsy and wholly appropriate.

Nisekoi is splashier and far more colorful and interactive in that regard, and works with a very different color palette.

Both are well directed, but I have a preference for Nisekoi since it’s newer and fresher, and Hidamari really started to drag along the way, partially because of the time jumps back and forth.

Goku. simply because it’s never in his eyes and always looks great.

I was only a bit surprised; the series sold out very fast for its first season premium edition and that spurred the decision to try and expand it. Coming off their positive experiences with Toradora and Nagi no Asakura in the production stage didn’t hurt either.

I ~hope~ they’ll have the characters sing. It can go either way when they do, but I love it when they go all in like that.

I definitely have far more anime than I do live action material. By a significant order. I think I’m at about 5000 or so anime DVD/BD releases and about 2000 or so live action DVD/BD releases.

I will be flipping tables at conventions next year if Nichijou doesn’t get picked up this year.

FLIPPING

TABLES

I haven’t seen Aldnoah.Zero and Gunslinger Stratos just debuted, so I can’t say about that either. But the thing to remember is that Urobachi’s name is tossed around a lot and often he’s come up with an outline or an idea and others are running with it. It’s not like he’s deeply involved in each project to a massive degree. So his name is being used more than his talent in a sense.

But one man’s crap is another man’s gem, and vice versa.