The Anime Thread

[The Mask of Norro]

Well out of sheer morbid curiosity I gave FUNimation's dub previews of Soul Eater a viewing. I have to say, it could have been a lot worse (see: Gurren Lagann's dub) but, even with that, they made some sincerely stupid choices (see: Black Star sounding like a little girl mainly). If I were actually willing to rewatch it I could also see Kidd's voice taking some time for me to adjust to it, simply because he sounds like he stepped right out of Ouran Academy and onto the Soul Eater set or something and it's just weird.

But, with that said, as cripplingly disappointing as the original was, I can only foresee the dub being ten times worse.

[Ruki]

Darker Than Black is quite the awesome anime. Go watch it.

[GoGo Yubari]

I enjoyed Darker Than Black but could never really find the impulse to actually keep going on it, so I think I stopped watching after the excellent two-parter about Misaki's old friend from... wherever she was from. The Kurasawa Gai episode was easily the high point of the series up to the point I saw, though.

Really, I think if I just bought the soundtrack from somewhere I'd get the same amount of enjoyment, because Yoko Kanno is love.

[Ruki]

I actually just finished the two Gai episodes last night.

[GhostMachine]

I've read a bunch of stuff about Darker Than Black, including an article in the latest issue of Otaku USA and article in an old issue of Anime Insider. (Is Protocultural Addicts still being published? I haven't seen an issue on the stands in months, and the bookstore I bought it from closed down) However, the one thing the article in Otaku USA won't tell is what Hei's power is; they just say that if DTB was a fighting game, he'd been banned from tourny play for being too unbalanaced.

So what's his power?

Also, are Baccano, Bamboo Blade, Blasreiter, Moon Phase or Rental Magic any good?

[Fanku Kaibutsu]

From the 8 episodes I've seen so far, Baccano is excellent.

Despite having a friend for many years who owned the whole series and both movies on DVD, I'm just now getting around to watching Neon Genesis Evangelion. Has anyone seen the new movie? Are the old movies worth watching?

[stokeriño]

Death & Rebirth is not worthwhile. 'Death' is largely a recap of the TV series, while 'Rebirth' is the first 25-odd minutes of The End of Evangelion.

The End of Evangelion is a definite watch, but not until after you've watched the entire TV series. It is an alternative ending that replaces episodes 25 and 26 (which I think are great in their own way, but most people shit on).

[Ruki]

I shit on the ending of the series

[stokeriño]

I can't be bothered to have this discussion for the 500th time, so I shall simply say "Yes Ruki, yes you do".

[Ruki]

[GhostMachine]

If anyone here uses iTunes, is there any anime series on there worth checking out?

Edited February 23, 2010 by GhostMachine

[Gongsun Zan]

Death Note is on iTunes, I think, and the dub's pretty solid.

[GhostMachine]

I've already seen most of Death Note, but thanks for the recommendation.

[StevenRichardsRules]

Seen Paranoia Agent? Pretty quality.

[GhostMachine]

Seen Paranoia Agent? Pretty quality.

Watched it when it was on Adult Swim a few years ago.

[Slide]

You should watch Fist of the North Star for free on Hulu. Its only the most influencial shonen ever made after all.

[Johnny Latino Heat]

Don't know if this was posted yet, but what the hell.

Apparently, Gene Simmons' son is blatantly plagiarizing Bleach's drawings on his own comic. You can see some examples here. Oh, and the main character looks like Alucard.

I'm not a Bleach fan, never saw the anime, never read the manga, don't even know what it's about, but damn, that's just a blatant rip-off. Apparently a bunch of pissed-off fans created a Facebook account or group or whatever it is called "Calling for legal action against Nick Simmons for plagiarism of other works". Nick Simmons replied in that with gems such as these:

"Listen everyone... you're all digging your own graves posting on this forum. Facebook is looking into suspending this page and issuing any warnings for slander against me. I can't make this any clearer... I DID NOT STEAL OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK!! I may have appropriated some styles, but I did not steal. My work is full... of homages to everyone in my medium - not theft! You guys are just a bunch of mean spirited mouth-breathers - except all my fans on here who have rightfully supported me. I will ask Facebook not to press any charges against you if you give me a sincere apology here in this thread. Please do so. Facebook keeps all your IP addresses and info... so they will suspend your account if I do not receive proper apologies."

"Okay.. now looking at some of these photo comparisons, I can see why a few people are up-in-arms. I can tell you right now these are all purely coincidences. I never even heard of Bleach! Who would name a comic after laundry detergent? When I channel my energy when drawing my book sometimes I can pull stuff in that I never seen before. It's like i'm possessed when I start thinking and drawing. Perhaps I just got on the same wave length that all artists share. My dad just called and said I have a real case against all this slander. If Facebook doesn't give into my demands soon there's going to be hell to pay. Now, I have to damage control on another site - more people being mislead. Now I have to deal with this and my book's deadline. I'm not sure how I can think and draw under all this pressure."

"I have no idea how people are saying my comic looks like that bleach magma. My book is in color and the other is not. My book reads left to right... the other reads right to left. Besides some vague similarities, they're nothing alike. I put my heart and soul into my book - great story and awesome characters... yet people are trying to pull me down. And NO... I didn't trace or copy other peoples work. Most of these photos are starting to look like photoshop manipulations to make me look bad. You can't trust everything you see on the Internet."

Seems to me like the guy's a complete moron.

Yeah, I basically plagiarized a post from Topless Robot. Ironic, huh?

[GhostMachine]

I looked at the Livejournal page showing all the comparisons between Bleach and Incarnate, and Nick's comments just make him look like a liar AND an idiot, if it really is him. I could see maybe one or two panels being nearly identical being a huge coincidence, but when the character designs are blatant ripoffs and some of his work is blatant tracejobs, not just rip-offs.....no.

And Gene can tell him whatever he wants....if he actually did....but I'm sure that if they did take legal action for slander, the case would be laughed out of court, since he IS plagiarizing.

I hope Viz and the Japanese publisher both put the screws to Nick Simmons, suing him for a lot of money and seizing all of his artwork then burning it. And the people at Radical Comics come off looking bad for not even realizing his work is plagiarized or simply choosing to ignore it until Nick got called on the carpet about it if they did know. The comic apparently has been published and they're just putting a halt on publishing the rest or republishing and publishing a trade paperback, so they should be sued, as well.

Edited February 25, 2010 by GhostMachine

[Ruki]

.....what a jerk.

[Johnny Latino Heat]

Apparently, the "Nick Simmons" that replied on Facebook was just a troll; here is the response of the real Nick Simmons regarding the whole thing.