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[Snakelover]

As far as i heard Death Note will be coming to Adult Swim.Though i am unware of who's dubbing it and maybe it'll anger some Death Note otakus if they find the slightest screw up...or just stick to the undubbed version.Anywho i believe the series will be aired late October and well thats all i know so far.....cya!

p.s: Don't get angry with me if u find out it isn't rly coming!

[Lenny Baxter]

Otakus will be mad.

Weeaboos will be furious.

I'm kind of not into anime anymore but I did get hooked on Death Note, nobody can deny that it's a great show. I'm looking forward to the dub.

[Boris Moskovitz]

Old news, but still. To those interested, it airs on Adult Swim the 20th. [Source]

Here's a trailer if you want to hear Light's wimpy sounding voice.

Weaboos and otakus are worthless, as are their opinions. Anyone who will assess a nation's superiority solely based on its cartoon and comic book industry; anyone who has forgotten the fact that the first 4 minutes Lion King alone pretty much trump all Japanese animated productions combined; they can all go to hell.

Personally, I don't care much for the news. The whole "I AM THE BETTER OUT THINKER, SO MY OUT THINKING WILL OUT THINK YOUR OUT THINKING, YOU INFERIOR OUT THINKER!" thing Death Note had, along with the epic potato chip eating moments; they were all fine and really entertaining for a long time, but this isn't a show I would think of rewatching.

[*THASF*]

Boris Moskovitz wrote: Here's a trailer if you want to hear Light's wimpy sounding voice.

That's absolutely nauseating. Haven't seen Death Note, yet. Might give it a look.

Boris Moskovitz wrote: Weaboos and otakus are worthless, as are their opinions. Anyone who will assess a nation's superiority solely based on its cartoon and comic book industry; anyone who has forgotten the fact that the first 4 minutes Lion King alone pretty much trump all Japanese animated productions combined; they can all go to hell.

Want a real assessment? I'd say Japan's really gotten back on their feet these past years. You've gotta give 'em some credit for having such a strong economy. Nevertheless, they've apparently lost interest in procreating, something that will have a very negative impact in the near future as their workforce retires. Not only that, but real estate in Tokyo is very limited. Plans are being made to expand upwards rather than sideways, but who knows if the technology to do so will be ready in time to stave off the coming crisis in the wake of their long-sustained bubble economy evaporating?

Oh, and the first four minutes of Akira easily trump the touchy-feely nonsense from the first four minutes of The Lion King. If those were real animals, there would be naught but pure chaos. Needless to say, that's definitely not something you'd want in a family-friendly film.

[Boris Moskovitz]

*THASF* wrote: That's absolutely nauseating. Haven't seen Death Note, yet. Might give it a look.
You should. :mrgreen:

It really has some absolutely epic moments. And since you've enjoyed Code Geass, I'm sure there's something in Death Note for you to like. The protagonist Light fights for an ideal much like Lelouch and he does so with his wits rather than fists, although this one is just plain morally deprived, so it might be hard to care for him. The last third of the show falters a bit, but that shouldn't take away too much from the overall entertainment value.

*THASF* wrote: Want a real assessment? I'd say Japan's really gotten back on their feet these past years. You've gotta give 'em some credit for having such a strong economy. Nevertheless, they've apparently lost interest in procreating, something that will have a very negative impact in the near future as their workforce retires. Not only that, but real estate in Tokyo is very limited. Plans are being made to expand upwards rather than sideways, but who knows if the technology to do so will be ready in time to stave off the coming crisis in the wake of their long-sustained bubble economy evaporating?
True. Japan's post-war economic growth is extremely impressive. As with the Germans, they might have gotten help from the Allies in the beginning, but everything that happened afterwards was a path they have carved for themselves.

My attack was not directed at Japan as much as its Megatokyan fanatics. To add to the problems you've listed, there is also rampant racism going on over there. [Source] It just dumbfounds me that anyone would idealize a nation that will never accept them as equals.

*THASF* wrote: Oh, and the first four minutes of Akira easily trump the touchy-feely nonsense from the first four minutes of The Lion King. If those were real animals, there would be naught but pure chaos. Needless to say, that's definitely not something you'd want in a family-friendly film.
On the Lion King, I am referring to the merits of animation. If you look past the fact that the animals are worshiping a group that will stop at nothing to devouring them live, you'll see that there is a lot of thought put behind each and every single walking step they take. The elephants move like elephants, the zebras like zebras, etc etc. An even better example would be the Beauty and the Beast; suddenly, the tea cup moves like a jolly fat lady, the clock like a serious man, and the candlestick like a festive fellow. The pace, the posture, everything that moves works together in order to bring the character to life. While Disney is about moving like something, it seems that anime is about looking like something.

Akira might have been the more interesting film with the more complex characters, while Disney films are little more than trite wishy-washy fairy tale bile, that I will admit. However, I can find more life in Steamboat Willie than either Akira, Spirited Away, or Steamboy. Yes, the former might just have Mickey turning a boat wheel, whistling while he taps his feet, and an angry Pete that occasionally appears.

Guys like Kaneda and Tetsuo might have a few facial nice expressions here and there, but overall they lack the subtlety and character that Disney animation has mastered over its long history.

I won't say that Japanese animation is a crap, because it's not. However, it is rather disappointing to know that it still has yet to get past the problem with flapping lips passing for legitimate mouth movement. This can be attributed to the focus on art rather than animation, but that too disappoints me as I consider it a disrespect to a great medium, much like how JRPGs are about linear stories rather than player choices.

[*THASF*]

That's true. Most of the detail in Japanese animation comes from the lavishly-painted and highly-realistic backgrounds and not from the generally lackluster character animation. In the west, we usually get the reverse... exceptionally-detailed high-framerate character animation with excellent use of light and shadow combined with vague, muddied backgrounds. This trend is not constant, however, as there are plenty of exceptions that I cannot easily account for. Generally, this rule applies to animated films rather than animated shows. The series-type productions - having a budget spread thin across a large number of episodes - depict a more highly-stratified and exaggerated version of this rule, sometimes even displaying inverse characteristics.

Then again, who pays any attention to the backgrounds anyway? Most of the viewer's focus goes to whatever object is presently experiencing the highest state of motion on-screen. Lots of filmmakers working on both live-action and animated films put all their detail work into each scene's point of focus. If something is moving quickly, it gets the lion's share of detail work to make sure that it looks just right. If something is static, it is hardly paid any attention unless it's the only thing occupying a particular scene.

This reminds me of Bungie and the incredible background details they put into Halo 3 that few people will ever notice. The excellent use of texture and lighting, the realistic vehicle handling, the fish in a lake near a water processing plant that float to the surface if you throw in a grenade, the breakable objects that come apart realistically and reveal their inner workings... all these things come together to form a remarkably complete and polished package. So what if other, more obvious elements suffer slightly for it? It's balanced. Too many alleged "masterpiece" games or films out there have a single aspect in excess with no attention paid to their other important parts, tricking the gullible masses into seeing depth where there is none.

Attention to detail is truly vital, yet most people put too much stock into their initial surface impressions without closely scrutinizing the deeper elements of what they're watching. The Lion King is one of those films that caters to surface impressions while providing little depth below that surface. In retrospect, this makes it an excellent and memorable animated film for children, but it doesn't offer much for those such as myself who dig deeper below the surface, scouring the canon and the artistry for as many little details as we can find.

It wouldn't be fair to generalize, however, since examples of both paradigms can be seen on both sides of the pond, each instance being an hackneyed imitation of the other side's stereotypes. You don't really get to see real masterpieces all the time. The vast majority of animated works are not even worth seeing, magical girl/school drama/harem series in the East and direct-to-DVD sequels of Disney films in the West being chiefly among them.

Come to think of it, some of my favorite animated films were made here in the good ol' US of A. I'm more partial to the Don Bluth and Brad Bird set, however. Deep and dark, with a moody thematic flair and thick, viscous plotlines... just the way I like it.

[Boris Moskovitz]

To neglect movement to focus on art instead is what I would consider an act of betrayal against what animation is all about; it would be a picture book to literature, cut scenes to video gaming, Judas to the Christ, etc. Static visual details already have a true home... two, to be exact: in paintings and in comic books. By doing what it does, anime has essentially strayed from what animation should be like and has become something entirely different: a jazzed up comic book.

Animation is what it is: it takes a simple, seemingly superficial drawing, and then it breathes life to it by adding other slightly different ones to create an illusion of movement. It is called a motion picture for a good reason. Movement is the main attraction of the medium, as it is what makes it so unique. While the graphic details can easily be replicated in a manga, movement is something that cannot be.

The amount of depth is not to be found in the art, but rather in, well, the animation. The whole thing is a true manifestation of characters "letting their actions speak for them"; rather than boring everyone with a Shakespearean soliloquey that needs to be thoroughly dissected, we now see the what a character is like from movement, poise, mouth movement. Rather than having the viewer require to "think deep," all the depth has already been brought to the surface. I suppose it can be mistaken for shallow due to how the human eye is so quick to register the movement. That is a damn shame, because a whole lot of thought has been put into each and every single action the character does.

This is just... a different medium. If done right, the "surfaced depth" is more likely to have emotional impact with viewers because everything is there for everyone to see, so all we, the viewers, need to do now is see it all and absorb the experience. Such is the case with the darker works out there including, but not limited to, Plague Dogs or Watership Down. It's really too bad that the list of great traditionally animated films has to be so short, but the market has already made its choice. ):

That said, I still happen to enjoy many of these "anti-medium" works; I never have once thought of taking a second back from shows such as Monster, Haibane Renmei, Cowboy Bebop, or Escaflowne; having a picture appearing every 15 or so pages in my Moby Dick helps keep my poor illiterate self from getting lost in the words; some of the Final Fantasies are very enjoyable; Broken Saints was just trippy; and that Metal Gear Solid digital comic book for the PSP was a pretty sweet deal too. However, as nice as these may be, in terms of merits they will never hold up against the purer forms of film, literature, or games.

[*THASF*]

I agree. However, I suppose the point I failed to illustrate was that a focus on simple art-level background detail is in no way directly superior to a focus on character animation. I was simply saying that those who focus on background details have their work cut out for them. It's a difficult path with little in the way of reward, since most people only pay attention to what's moving around in front of them.

In this way, a focus on character animation detail is actually a highly rewarding and immediately noticeable approach, garnering the positive attentions of critics all over. From a technical standpoint, it's what works out best in the end.

There's one part where you seem to miss my point, however. In my idea of depth, you don't need the characters to go off on boring, lengthy monologues that make for more questions than they actually answer. In my opinion, this sort of droning narrative actually harms a work. To me, depth is about placing an importance on the where of things, not just the who. Creating a unique setting and allowing us to explore it is half of creating an animated masterpiece. Putting believable characters in this setting is the other half. Both are equally important.

The Lion King is set in the Sahara. This locale is not particularly interesting or unique to me. I've seen photos of the real location. This place exists in real life and I can travel there if I so choose, but the man-made architecture of Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean is infinitely more interesting to me.

The characters never really embark on a journey from it. No character from a far-off location ventures to it. It is a small, hermetically-sealed shell with a very limited number of unique locations within. No place in it has any more significance than the next.

It would be unfair to place the same requirements for unique, storied locales upon these particular anthropomorphic characters as I'd place on humans, however. Their "civilization", if you can call it that, is terribly limited by the fact that they - with a few exceptions - generally lack opposable thumbs and the ability to stand upright for extended periods... necessary precursors to constructing a wide variety of unique and interesting hamlets for each group of individuals to call home.

The primary reason why Japanese animation appeals to me for the most part is because of the variance of the settings. In all my favorite forms of fiction, I've found that a dazzling array of unique locations for the characters to inhabit is a must. Vital, plot-level importance must be placed on these locations in order for them to gain significance. They must exhibit unique artistry and each have their own story.

There are a number of domestic animated films that have this same level of variance. The Iron Giant, Titan A.E., The Secret of NIMH and The Rescuers all have a lot of interesting scenarios, locales, and traveling to and fro from one color palette to the next. Even if travel is restricted to an area less than a few miles across, if there are a large number of unique settings within this area, it qualifies by my standard.

Having characters that do and say a number of interesting things may be important enough, but the background must also have a number of things going on in it to give us the impression that these characters are existing in a living world that can affect them directly, and not a formless, barren void where only the actions of other characters have any impact at all on their present state of affairs.

For the same reason, I have a general dislike of Japanese animation/manga with a contemporary Japanese setting. No matter how you go about it, milling around in the streets, residential areas and schools of modern-day Tokyo is very, very boring. Especially when those streets appear empty of people.

I like stories that make me see a bigger picture, peering into the world they depict without feeling a sense of disconnectedness between each location within their setting. This is very important. I actually feel an acute sense of claustrophobia when poring over fiction that has a disjointed, compartmentalized setting with nothing to connect its many fragments. It's enough to make me physically ill.

For an example of one such disjointed work, see Air Gear. Being set primarily in Tokyo, the anime/manga assume that the viewer already has extensive knowledge of the area. However, what about us westerners? Most of us have no idea how the city is laid out. When we see characters running around (or in this case, skating on powered inline skates) in a school and then an industrial area, we stop and begin to wonder for a moment... "what's between the school and the industrial area? How did you get here from there? What did you pass through?"

I like stories that appeal to this acute spatial sense by fully fleshing-out the world and showing us every nook and cranny. Anime such as Cowboy Bebop manage to fulfill this requirement by using outer space as an an empty "ocean" with planet-side cities for islands. The same thing works for most science fiction, including the likes of Star Wars and Halo. The thing "between" each locale is usually vacuum, making it convenient to depict a wide variety of locations without needing to show us the places the characters passed through on the way.

Some stories manage to flesh out a land-based setting by showing us a map of the journey, or following the protagonists' footsteps. The moment they "cut" between two or more places - perhaps even with a protagonist that passes out and wakes up somewhere else - is the moment that a world "fragment" is created, with no explanation for what lies between it and the previous location.

To me, the challenge for filmmakers is to strike a balance between creating an epic world and populating it with convincing characters. An over-emphasis on only one of those two factors makes for a failure in my book.

To make a long story short... the background is a character, and I listen more closely to what it says than any other.

[Twilight]

=/ Hmmm....


I give Light's dubbed voice a 7.2 out of 10, since it could be A LOT worse. Trust me, I've seen worse dubs...

Oh god....I wonder what voice they gave to poor L O.o;;

[Boris Moskovitz]

Pardon the late response; schedule's been running a little tight lately.

There was no misunderstanding; I very much got your point that there was depth to be found in detailed artwork, and in turn I responded by stating that a focus on such belongs to another medium. I suppose my paragraph regarding Shakespearean soliloquey was a little misleading, but the only intent with it was to assess lifelike animation as a more than viable method of storytelling.

Yes, detailed backgrounds are nice. Their role in helping the viewer immerse into an alternative world is certainly there and very much underappreciated as you've noted; that I recognize. But outside of the more epic tales, surroundings seldom take a prominent role, leaving all the limelight to, shoot me in the face, the characters.

Even if a character is as overexposed to the viewer as a popular band's lead singer, leaving the other components to take a backseat, it remains that in the very end he is the heart, the voice, and the soul of the whole story. While backgrounds are nothing more than paintings without characters, the reversed situation can work very well in an animated picture.

I'm sure you've seen before one of these animated shorts where a character is placed on a blank background, thereon interacting with the machinations of an omnipotent and often abusive artist. In these cases, backgrounds are almost never made, with the whole skit merely consisting of facial expressions and various other reactions coming from the protagonist. In terms of story and characterization, this is so shallow it couldn't even sink a coin, but it nonetheless remains a good demonstration of what animation can do.

In the end, backgrounds are what they are: backgrounds. Elements as minor as a prominent color on screen can be a very powerful mood-setting device if used right, but with the viewer's focus usually pointing to what stands before the picture, focusing on character animation is the most practical approach, as you've said.

As we are all aware, the amount of focus on animation and background changes depending on the genre. If the surroundings do take a crucial role in the story as in natural disaster stories and such, it is a no-brainer that more attention will be brought to background than on your Looney Tunes. I suppose stoner favorites such as the atmospheric Serial Experiments Lain would also be another case.

But for the grand majority of the stories out there, those that are not about fantastic alternative settings or psychedelic mindfucking, I'd say the effort should mainly go towards animation.

*THASF* wrote: The primary reason why Japanese animation appeals to me for the most part is because of the variance of the settings.
This isn't really about a style of animation anymore, but about genre specifics. I suppose if you disregard everything else and only take a look at science fiction, fantasy, or adventure series, it could be said that anime has varied settings in general. But looking at the medium as a whole, it's not all that much more or less so than the stuff over here, especially within the last few years, when the amount of school ground slice of life titles such as Haruhi, Ouran, Kanon, Genshiken, School Rumble, School Days, or Clannad has drastically increased.

I think this season alone, these shows account for about three quarters of what's out there.

Yeah...

Twilight's Child wrote: I give Light's dubbed voice a 7.2 out of 10, since it could be A LOT worse. Trust me, I've seen worse dubs...
Your standards are too low, Twilight. Lend your ear to some of the Disney dubs and you won't be able to rate him any more than a 5.5.

[*THASF*]

Boris Moskovitz wrote: Pardon the late response; schedule's been running a little tight lately.

There was no misunderstanding; I very much got your point that there was depth to be found in detailed artwork, and in turn I responded by stating that a focus on such belongs to another medium. I suppose my paragraph regarding Shakespearean soliloquey was a little misleading, but the only intent with it was to assess lifelike animation as a more than viable method of storytelling.

Yes, detailed backgrounds are nice. Their role in helping the viewer immerse into an alternative world is certainly there and very much underappreciated as you've noted; that I recognize. But outside of the more epic tales, surroundings seldom take a prominent role, leaving all the limelight to, shoot me in the face, the characters.

Even if a character is as overexposed to the viewer as a popular band's lead singer, leaving the other components to take a backseat, it remains that in the very end he is the heart, the voice, and the soul of the whole story. While backgrounds are nothing more than paintings without characters, the reverse can work very well happen in an animated work.

I'm sure you've seen before one of these animated shorts where a character is placed on a blank background, thereon interacting with the machinations of an omnipotent and often abusive artist. In these cases, backgrounds are almost never made, with the whole skit merely consisting of facial expressions and various other reactions coming from the protagonist. In terms of story and characterization, this is so shallow it couldn't even sink a coin, but it nonetheless remains a good demonstration of what animation can do.

I understand that certain genres necessarily function on a basis that is the direct opposite of anything that could be called "epic", using a very personal, close-up format instead. When done right, this type of media can hit some very interesting notes. Music Videos, Thrillers, Horror films, and Mystery works all tend to depict a very personal world, leaving us to assume certain specifics that are otherwise left out. In other words, it's left up to our imagination to fill in the blanks. When done properly, this is an excellent approach. However, it's easy for more "adventurous" animated works to fail when they expect the viewer to know everything about their world already. The opposite - that is, bogging the viewer down with nonstop boring dialogue explaining every single detail - is also inexcusable. See Gasaraki for an example of what I'm talking about. I might vomit just thinking about it... *BARF*.

If a certain place in an animated work appears replete with homeless people imbibing strong liquors and newspapers blowing in the wind like tumbleweeds, then we don't need someone whispering in our ear, "This is a slum, you know. It's because of government oppression that *blah* *blah *blah*... *goes on to explain the uprising of 2023 and the UN's involvement and other generic, pedantic plot details, etc.*"

The background artwork should communicate the theme of a setting on its own without excess narration taking priority. Occasional bits of dialogue scattered here and there should combine to form a complete picture rather than a set of monolithic monologues describing everything from the beginning to the end.

Do note that when I speak of "backgrounds", I'm not just talking about the static backgrounds but the awe-inspiring animated ones as well, with background characters, moving doodads and vehicles, natural phenomena, et cetera. Wide-angle shots of cities and places teeming with life and activity, trees blowing in the wind above grassy fields, ocean waves crashing against rocky cliffs... all these things are excellent examples of captivating backgrounds that I like to see setting the mood for an animated series.

Boris Moskovitz wrote: In the end, backgrounds are what they are: backgrounds. Elements as minor as a prominent color on screen can be a very powerful mood-setting device if used right, but with the viewer's focus usually pointing to what stands before the picture, focusing on character animation is the most practical approach, as you've said.

As we are all aware, the amount of focus on animation and background changes depending on the genre. If the surroundings do take a crucial role in the story as in natural disaster stories and such, it is a no-brainer that more attention will be brought to background than on your Looney Tunes. I suppose stoner favorites such as the atmospheric Serial Experiments Lain would also be another case.

But for the grand majority of the stories out there, those that are not about fantastic alternative settings or psychedelic mindfucking, I'd say the effort should mainly go towards animation.

Generally, they have to sacrifice one element in order to favor another. I prefer an evenly-balanced distribution of work across all aspects of a form of media, myself. In this day and age, deep pockets are a must if a studio wishes to bring a revolutionary animated film to fruition.

Devoting excess time and money to a single function of a film amounts to little more than a squandering of resources. This is where well-defined genre limitations come into play. Some studios have a specific genre focus that emphasizes their strengths while downplaying their weaknesses.

In fact, it's very possible to achieve depth in more cerebral animated series and films by creating deep, multi-dimensional characters with real, convincing motivations set loose in drab, simplistic backdrops. Shallow characters set in deep worlds can also have a positive effect, depending on the genre. But shallow characters set in shallow worlds simply do not impress, no matter the circumstances they're thrust into.

A brilliant, enchanting background capable of drawing the viewer in is not necessarily conducive to setting a tense, horrific atmosphere. I'll get into that in a moment.

Boris Moskovitz wrote: This isn't really about a style of animation anymore, but about genre specifics. I suppose if you disregard everything else and only take a look at science fiction, fantasy, or adventure series, it could be said that anime has varied settings in general. But looking at the medium as a whole, it's not all that much more or less so than the stuff over here, especially within the last few years, when the amount of school ground slice of life titles such as Haruhi, Ouran, Kanon, Genshiken, School Rumble, School Days, or Clannad has drastically increased.

I think this season alone, these shows account for about three quarters of what's out there.

Yeah...

I find the trend towards "that" sort of genre to be quite disappointing, but it's also true that the genre of an animated work generally dictates the style of animation required. People set their standards higher or lower depending on what a particular series is trying to achieve. In some genres, it's possible to greatly exceed the already-low expectations in the art category and create unexpected, artificial surges in popularity for a specific series.

In an action series, good animation is par for the course. That's not to say that all Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi animations are well-animated, mind you. However, if a work's animation fails to meet the standard set by its predecessors in a certain genre, it is universally panned unless some other redeeming factor saves it from obscurity. The general improvement in time-saving and money-saving animation techniques over the years has mitigated this somewhat, but all it's really done is set the bar even higher.

On the flip side of this, take Haruhi, for example. A school comedy series with good art? People already believe these sorts of works to rely on the merits of their plot and characterization without needing to wow us with any real eye candy. When a series successfully breaks this paradigm, it is critically lauded for exceeding expectations in a genre where there are none. It's too bad that I find the characters in HSNY to be quite repulsive as they run the gamut from obnoxious to boring and back. From a technical standpoint, it's a good series. I can definitely see people liking it, but it's just not my thing. You have to identify with those sorts of characters on a personal basis to really enjoy it, and I just can't.

In the same way, an action series with good animation and a surprisingly good story is a refreshing change from the ones with just good animation and no story to speak of.

Anyhow, I thought I'd mention the general dearth of epic settings in domestically-produced animated works here in the West. Sure, you see it in films now and then, but the majority of animated television series over here cater to young people with an episodic format, shallow plots, and a very, very limited scope. The superhero format is as common over here as school life/drama stuff is in Japan. All the animated Sci-Fi series over here have unneeded comedic overtones, and all the animated action/drama/thriller series run too short or meet an early cancellation. The networks like to go with their silly ratings from the legions of mouth-breathing troglodytes watching the same crap over and over again rather than favoring what the real fans want.

The Powerpuff Girls is one exception to this, seeing as there are a number of well-established and fully-realized background locales in that series. It's thematically superior to begin with, and then it builds upon that foundation with excellent plot and characterization. That's hardly the initial impression you get from advertisements and merchandise (in fact, for the better part of 99-01, I spent most of my time utterly avoiding anything and everything related to the show), but closer inspection reveals a whole world of possibilities. I was very pleasantly surprised. It's a unique departure from your typical children's series in that it possesses different levels of plot depth and maturity for different levels of comprehension in the viewer, offering something for everyone. Good animation, too. Instantly reminded me of the likes of Yogi Bear and The Jetsons. It does the Hanna-Barbera style justice, that's for sure.

I'm glad that such a stunning variety of genres have gained a solid foothold on the other side of the pond without being forced into an easily-defined category due to an all-pervading genre favoritism from television networks like we have over here. The uniquely creative atmosphere over in Japan is what permits real masterpieces to show up now and then, without them necessarily having to be movies and other one-off shorts immune to the budget and genre limitations that we have on television series here in the west.

Animated movies in the east and west are on a level playing field in terms of high-budget animation and creativity, but animated TV series in Japan have an advantage in possessing virtually unlimited variety. While some themes and genres are indeed overdone in anime, you're more likely to see unique and bizarre stuff like Kino no Tabi or Ergo Proxy in Japanese animation than you would see over here.

It's this level of variety that allows for truly artful, unique works to crop up here and there, showing me fantastic worlds that I want to see and characters that I'd like to meet. While the strength of the plot and dialogue forms a solid basis, it's the technical proficiency of the animation and the background art that truly brings it all to life.

When it comes to telling a good story, however, things quickly get too complicated to explain succinctly. To sum it up, the story side dictates the needs of the animation side and vice versa. Can't have one without the other.

Wow, I suppose we've really gone off-topic. Excellent discussion, though. I love sharing ideas like this! :)

[*THASF*]

Just started watching it. For a while there, I'd been checking out a few series that couldn't hold my interest for a few seconds, let alone minutes.

This one's... different, that much is certain. Death Note has me eagerly feasting my eyes upon episode after episode. Must say, this one's a keeper! :D

Unfortunately, now that I've heard the original voice acting, the awful dubbing in that trailer is all the more painful to merely think of. :(

Can't Viz find some real English-speaking voice actors? As far as I know, there are plenty to go around. Why do all these dubbing outfits simply pick up ordinary bozos off the street with no talent to speak of? It's as if they just don't care.

They obviously want to rake in as much dough as possible without having to pay top dollar for decent acting. Can't fault them for wanting to turn a profit. After all, who cares about dubs, anyway?