The Anime Thread

So a mix of "happy happy joy joy" and some frustration for me, as Crunchyroll has started streaming the latest Tenchi Muyo OVA series.

It's always great for me to get some more Tenchi stuff (which reminds me, gotta finish Ai Tenchi Muyo) but the frustrations are coming from a couple places.

1. I should have re-watched the OVA series that introduced Tenchi's sister along with Airi, Lady Seto and Noike. I had forgotten the name of Tenchi's sister, so for the first bit of the show I was lost as I was watching Rea (the second wife of Tenchi's dad) interact with her. Didn't help that they changed Tennyo's hair from a silver-purple color to brown. LOL

2. There seems to have been another series between the OVA series I mentioned and this new one, as there's a couple of flashback scenes involving Rea. Nothing I'm familiar with, but it seems to tie into story elements revealed in the War on Geminar series.

3. There's a new character that I can't find ANY reference to on Wikipedia. LOL I get no results from searches there, but she seems to have at least some relation to the GXP characters as she gets a little freaked out when she finds out Ryo-Ohki is Fuku's older sister (and more powerful to boot). Plus she gets hauled off mid-tantrum by Kiriko and talks with knowledge of some of Kiriko's adventures.

With points two and three, my info junkie tendencies are kicking in as I hate not having all info at times. LOL Hopefully if there was an OVA series in between, either Crunchyroll or Funimation will bring it over (last I knew Funimation had the license for a lot of Tenchi stuff).

On the plus side, with as much as they're investigating Rea's origins and the references to story elements from War on Geminar it's going to be fun. Plus it made me sit back and think that the War on Geminar series was basically a Tenchi Muyo isekai show. LOL The fun part of that for me was realizing there's an actual justification for Kenshi being so freaking overpowered in that show. He's Tenchi's brother, was trained by Tenchi's grandfather and was doted on by ALL the women in that family. With sisters like Ryoko, Ryo-Ohki (she's rarely away from Kenshi's side in the show), Ayeka, Sasami, Mihoshi, Noike and Washu? The boy was going to end up OP no matter what. Add in any other side characters from GXP or the Royal Family of Jurai and that just adds to it.

One other fun bit? Apparently Tenchi's mom was enough of a handful (especially if the stuff in the OVAs was any indication) that Tenchi's dad was considered something of a saint outside of Earth for enduring/putting up with her antics. Apparently there was even a human rights investigation commissioned to make sure he was all right.

Bonus content! LOL

Happened to hit Best Buy today and found (and bought) a few surprises. Snagged myself an All Might McFarlane Toys figure and the complete series version of Star Blazers 2199.

As for other surprises, the store I visited was also carrying FLCL Progressive and Alternative AND some of the recent releases of Satoshi Kon films. Had to double check my collection when I got home, so tomorrow after work I'm heading back to pick up a copy of Perfect Blue.

Odd thing with FLCL Progressive and Alternative was how they were stocked on their shelves. FLCL Alternative was a couple of shelves above where they had stocked the original FLCL and Progressive.

The Konosuba movie is coming to Crunchyroll!

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ne...ul-world-legend-of-crimson-anime-film/.157359

The subbed version arrives on March 25th, with a dubbed version hitting in April.

Finally, we're getting season one of Konosuba on video!

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ne...he-and-her-cat-everything-flows-anime/.157450

Not surprising, but Funimation is suspending simul-dubs of shows for the time being.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ne...production-for-current-upcoming-anime/.157644

Along with that, there's going to be a new season of Bleach coming, covering the "Thousand Year Blood War" arc from the manga.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ne...housand-year-blood-war-arc-gets-anime/.157678

Oh, this is gonna be good. Funimation announced that they'll be streaming the second season of Kaguya-sama: Love is War, but they're also going to be doing a dub for it. The best part? They'll also be going back and doing a dub for season one as well.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ne...son-2-the-millionaire-detective-anime/.158037

Oh, and a couple other announcements in there for other spring shows as well, like the new Sakura Wars show.

"happy happy joy joy"
That's actually a Ren and Stimpy reference. Haven't seen that in years. Thank you very much.

Just the vast (or ridiculous) amount of useless/weird pop-culture references and information that rattles around in my head making an appearance, that's all. LOL

Hrm. Think I'm gonna get on a soapbox here for a bit.

So one of the YouTube channels I check frequently is Anime America. I've always liked their style, the reviews are fun to watch and overall it's a decent vibe. I've gotta disagree with the latest video from them, though.

The latest one talks about Funimation and what they've done with some of their dubs, namely how they've changed some lines from the source material. I can understand that, as there are some purists who want/would like/demand one-to-one exact translations between the source material and what's presented. There are also some who feel that changing lines like that amounts to censorship of the creator's work. In particular they single out some line changes in My First Girlfriend is a Gal!, Prison School and Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.

Now, I've seen (and own) two of the shows, and yes there are some significant changes in some of the dialogue between the sub and the dub versions. But I can't say I've got the huge issue with it that others are experiencing.

First off? The original sub dialogue is still there. It'd be one thing if Funimation had replaced the subtitled lines with what they came up with in the dub, but they didn't. The original version is still available, so any cries of censorship are weakened by that detail. So if someone has a problem with the dub, they can switch over to the subtitled version. And while I haven't checked (no real need since I have physical copies LOL) I'd imagine that if the physical release has the original subtitle dialogue, it's going to be the original subtitle dialogue on the streaming version as well.

Second? Even with the line changes, the dialogue itself stays in line with the character in question and how they've been presented. The line change for Lucoa in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid that's used as an example definitely has some "agenda" tones to it, but the delivery of the dub line matches Lucoa's general "go with the flow, whatever" demeanor that she has in both versions of the show. Same goes for the character examples in My First Girlfriend is a Gal!

Third? Changes in translation to suit an audience are not old news or limited to anime. I've seen two different dubbed versions of the anime Outlanders, and one comedy moment that I always loved had two different dub lines given to it. Going outside of anime, one of the DVD releases (and maybe a laserdisc version too) for Monty Python and the Holy Grail included two scenes from the film with Japanese dialogue that was translated back into English. It's quite the experience to see how things in those scenes can get garbled going from English to Japanese and then back to English again, the French guard at the castle scene in particular.

Finally? Those line changes don't fundamentally change the overall show, the characters or how the story plays out. The scenes play out the same way. The story progresses the same way. The show ends the same.

Given all of that, I'm left to wonder at times whether the outrage and upset fans are angry about some line changes that can make things a bit more relatable to a different audience (understandable when it's done badly, i.e. Pokémon's "doughnuts") or if there's something else at work, like maybe a line choice hitting a little too close to home for some reason. I'm also left to wonder how many of those outraged at Funimation doing line changes also love and watch things like abridged versions of DBZ or Sword Art Online with little to no problem.

*phew*

Okay, all done.

EDIT: Ok, so Funimation doesn't have the original Japanese available on their streaming service. I was wrong there. LOL

EDIT 2: The subtitled versions aren't on Funimation, but they are available on Crunchyroll. So the subs ARE out there, just not on the same service.

Ok, change of pace because this is funny.

Cool deal, Funimation is going to be streaming the movie finale of Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai this weekend.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ne...-of-a-dreaming-girl-film-this-weekend/.158555

HYPE!

This looks good, i will watch it when it comes out

Okay, a quick follow-up and recommendations. If you watched and liked Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai and have about an hour or so available in the weekend, I'd highly recommend watching Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl on Funimation before the weekend is out. It's a great finish to the series, cannot recommend this one enough.

Also the new season of Kaguya-sama: Love is War has started up. Only two episodes in and it's picked up right where it left off with all the fun, silliness and "battles" that made the first season so good. If you liked the first season then jump right in.

Hrm.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ne...manga-gets-hollywood-live-action-film/.158820

If there's an anime that seems ripe for a (hopefully) fun adaptation in the current movie environment, it's One Punch Man. But there's so SO much that could end up going wrong.

So this sounds interesting.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ne...ncess-half-demon-tv-spinoff-this-fall/.159360

Basically sounds like an Inuyasha version of Boruto, but if nothing else it could be interesting to see how the daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome would turn out considering her parents' temperaments. LOL

I am a big fan of Inuyasha, This sounds much better then Boruto. I am so looking forward to this