I am now in parent town, and the first thing I was made to do was watch anime courtesy of my brother S. Methinks Karas will be an obsession. I'm not too sure about the other one we watched, since the name escapes me. It's supposed to be based in the same time period as Kenshin, but I never saw that one. I'm ambivalent about this one.
Bleach has been licensed by Viz, and the news frightens me. I should be thrilled. I can finally buy the DVDs of this wonderful anime that is funny, angsty, and action-packed. Every week my brothers will have mini discussions on the latests episodes (though currently it's in filler hell so it's not as enjoyable except that the Bound storyline is getting interesting). Now Viz has it.
What does this mean? All fansubbing must stop. No more downloads and no more episodes till they are released on DVD. I always support japanese animation, so it's not a problem. Waiting, well... The concern of many anime viewers occurs once a show becomes licensed, specifically when a company decides to broadcast it on television. Sailor Moon is an excellent example. It's not a little kid's cartoon. It deals with adolescent themes such as sexuality and death, and when it was broadcast on Cartoon Network the anime was so poorly edited that the charm of the show was lost. When people sought the unedited DVDs only the edited ones were available without the Japanese language track. Anime released today that are edited and advertised for children don't have the unedited DVD option, which is a shame because shows like Digimon and Shaman King are probably a lot better than they seem.
Here's a better example, Naruto.
Naruto is the coming of age story of a ninja in training and his friends. They are all young teens dealing with the first signs of adolescence and evil. Naruto has it all. Comedy, sexual humor, angsty, and wow is it violent. When it was licensed it was slotted for CN's Toonami programming. Why? Because the characters are tweens. The Toonami block is for tweens? Violence is ok, but they had to edit out a hilarious accidental kiss between Sasuke and Naruto. Have I mentioned the show tends to get very violent? There may not be a lot of blood, but what happens to the characters is harsh. It gets to a point where one has to ask, how much should be edited and still keep the integrity of the show, or wouldn't it have been better to move it to Adult Swim. Oh, and I don't think there will be any releases of unedited versions of Naruto on DVD in the near future.
Then there's Bleach.
Rumor has it that Bleach is destined for Adult Swim. This would be great news. It deserves the exposure, and it certainly doesn't need to edited. I just can't picture it. Not with some of the gags, and well if anyone is up to date like I am, the whole Renji/ Ichigo undress moment was to die for. Toonami would edit that out!!
I stopped watching Full Metal Alchemist at episode 32. I just saw a .jpg image of episode 50. Suffice to say my jaw dropped to the floor. It took every ounce of will power not to watch the rest of the episodes on my hard drive. I'm a hoarder. I like to see these series in a sitting or two, which is why I've been patiently waiting for next week.
Then of course my little brother calls and thanks me for suggesting Cowboy Bebop. Then he mentions how he picked up FMA, and I scream STOP before he reveals anything vital all the while patting myself on the back for succesfully addicting another brother to another series. He finds out about my little stash, and then he wants suggestions about what else he should watch. I'm sending him Chrno Crusade and Last Exile.
I'm adding NOIR to my wishlist because I loved it, and I just found out that Viz is releasing a new box set for Escaflowne. I have the first disc and the last disc, which I can easily sell and buy the series since I know it's being sold for much cheaper. I love Vision of Escaflowne.
