No justice
I took a couple minutes to watch some of my animini DVDs today, the ones I had corresponding manga for, anyway. All I can do is shake my head. I used to be such an anime fan, anything would please me. Now, everything disappoints me. Why is this? What am I expecting from these shows that is so glorious and foolproof that I'm not receiving? I guess I just feel that most of the anime created and shown today caters to the flybynight fans who heard anime is the new cool thing to like and plaster themselves in its merchandise, and it hurts me. It hurts me to see that there are fans; jerky, opinionated, social outcast fans who gobble up every little stupid tidbit of Japanese animation out there and call it utter brilliance simply because it's anime. I happen to be quite a bit more picky. Tenchi Muyo!, Love Hina, Hellsing, Inuyasha, Case Closed, Fooly Cooly are just a few of the anime I truly dislike. There are HUGE fanbases for all of these shows (maybe not case closed, but it was dumb enough to make the short list) and why? Tenchi Muyo and Love Hina are essentially the same show, but one has more scifi elements, and neither has any taste, tact or accuracy. Hellsing is crude, violent, and far too slow to be any bit interesting (Can't believe I bought this!). Inuyasha is one of Rumiko Takahashi's poorest storylines, in my opinion, but I've never been one for her action stories. I got really bored with Ranma 1/2, whereas everyone else praises it like the Bible. And Fooly Cooly. BAH! Fucking stupid show. I loved the soundtrack, and the animation and visuals were kind of neat...but STUPID! Argh.
Anyway...these manga are great reads: funny, consistently interesting and engaging. Their corresponding anime series, however, are utterly shoddy. Let's take Azumanga Daioh first. The manga is both painfully and thankfully short. I wish it couldve gone on for more misadventures, but as a reader, it's nice to know there's an end in sight. I'm sure Mr. Azuma has more manga tricks up his sleeve, so the end of Azumanga Daioh was only slightly wincing. It was quirky and the characters were of their own. When translated to the screen, however, they become stereotypical and boring. All the zaniness seems transcribed from anime predecessors, if not just thrown together and called funny.
All of the characters are watered down versions of their manga selves, their personalities thrown to you within the first thirty-minute episode, with explanation, leaving no imaginative questions about them to regard. Some of the greatest parts of the manga series were Sakaki's mysteriously cool nature and hidden love of all things cute; Kaorin's budding crush on Sakaki; Chiyo-chan's growing awareness of herself; Yomi's "I'm not one of them" attitude, while remaining just as silly; Yukari's constant foolishness; Tomo's attention-grabbing nature; and poor Osaka's personality is torn to shreds by a stupid accent. I guess I can't blame them too badly on Osaka. The translation to English can be interpreted in many different ways, but the voice acting on the first episode gives no hint of how spacy, silly, and unique Osaka really is. I hate that the anime has a feel that everyone has to be in her "proper place", like we have to have them all figured out. It's such a funny, well-done manga series. The anime just hacks into "Haha! Hey, you find this funny, right? Haha funny!"
Also on my list is Cromartie High School. Before I start raving about the manga, I'll say this of the anime: It is one of the laziest I've ever seen. Any good part of the manga is simply explained away in a marketing technique. "If you really want to hear that story so much, go read the manga." Fuck you! Show me the good stuff! If Azumanga Daioh's characters are watered-down and handed to you on a stupid platter, Cromartie High School's are liquified and sent speeding past the screen in a blaze of "Wait, didn't that happen differently...and more funnily in the manga?" The sequence of events is unecessarily out of order, the events shown are cut to ribbons, and the entire first volume of the manga is shown within minutes. 25 to be exact. What the hell? Space it out, fellas. It's funny that way.
Now I'll rave about it. Good lord, this is a funny manga. The style is so obscure and dated, like a manga from the 70's or something. The idea of a school full of punks is hilarious. I just love the little nonsequiter things, like the really bad thing Kamiyama did once, Freddie, etc. The anime really does this one no justice. It's meant to be played out, and utterly stupid, and overly complicated and foolish. I weep for this one, honestly. I'm looking quite forward to the next volume of the comic, but I won't be looking at the anime twice.
Enough about anime. Japan needs to get its act together.
I'm looking at Abba sites now and am just amazed. I wish so much that I could find more Abba records and merchandise (dolls or puzzles or magazines or something!) and feel a little bit like I hadn't missed out on the whole thing. To think, had I been born when my parents were married, I would have been of an age to enjoy ABBA. C'est la vie, I suppose. I love them now. I wish too, that I could meet them. There's such a different kind of glamor to them, as a group. They're not the club-hopping, chain-smoking groups of today. They made gloriously sugary music, took pictures in the sunshine outdoors, smiled at fans...I'm sure they wouldn't be the same kind of band today, what with all the nonsense behind fame and paparazzi, and vast, unearned wealth. But in their time, it seems they were awesome. I'll look for more records soon, and cherish them as I cherish all my records...pieces of a not too distant past. I know the technology isn't as good, but I like it all the same. It's very special to me, to have such an appreciation for things of days gone by, like records and magazines. Ahhh, ABBA...I love you guys.
Tonight's hot, lonely and indecisive. There. I posted.
Goodnight.
Anyway...these manga are great reads: funny, consistently interesting and engaging. Their corresponding anime series, however, are utterly shoddy. Let's take Azumanga Daioh first. The manga is both painfully and thankfully short. I wish it couldve gone on for more misadventures, but as a reader, it's nice to know there's an end in sight. I'm sure Mr. Azuma has more manga tricks up his sleeve, so the end of Azumanga Daioh was only slightly wincing. It was quirky and the characters were of their own. When translated to the screen, however, they become stereotypical and boring. All the zaniness seems transcribed from anime predecessors, if not just thrown together and called funny.
All of the characters are watered down versions of their manga selves, their personalities thrown to you within the first thirty-minute episode, with explanation, leaving no imaginative questions about them to regard. Some of the greatest parts of the manga series were Sakaki's mysteriously cool nature and hidden love of all things cute; Kaorin's budding crush on Sakaki; Chiyo-chan's growing awareness of herself; Yomi's "I'm not one of them" attitude, while remaining just as silly; Yukari's constant foolishness; Tomo's attention-grabbing nature; and poor Osaka's personality is torn to shreds by a stupid accent. I guess I can't blame them too badly on Osaka. The translation to English can be interpreted in many different ways, but the voice acting on the first episode gives no hint of how spacy, silly, and unique Osaka really is. I hate that the anime has a feel that everyone has to be in her "proper place", like we have to have them all figured out. It's such a funny, well-done manga series. The anime just hacks into "Haha! Hey, you find this funny, right? Haha funny!"
Also on my list is Cromartie High School. Before I start raving about the manga, I'll say this of the anime: It is one of the laziest I've ever seen. Any good part of the manga is simply explained away in a marketing technique. "If you really want to hear that story so much, go read the manga." Fuck you! Show me the good stuff! If Azumanga Daioh's characters are watered-down and handed to you on a stupid platter, Cromartie High School's are liquified and sent speeding past the screen in a blaze of "Wait, didn't that happen differently...and more funnily in the manga?" The sequence of events is unecessarily out of order, the events shown are cut to ribbons, and the entire first volume of the manga is shown within minutes. 25 to be exact. What the hell? Space it out, fellas. It's funny that way.
Now I'll rave about it. Good lord, this is a funny manga. The style is so obscure and dated, like a manga from the 70's or something. The idea of a school full of punks is hilarious. I just love the little nonsequiter things, like the really bad thing Kamiyama did once, Freddie, etc. The anime really does this one no justice. It's meant to be played out, and utterly stupid, and overly complicated and foolish. I weep for this one, honestly. I'm looking quite forward to the next volume of the comic, but I won't be looking at the anime twice.
Enough about anime. Japan needs to get its act together.
I'm looking at Abba sites now and am just amazed. I wish so much that I could find more Abba records and merchandise (dolls or puzzles or magazines or something!) and feel a little bit like I hadn't missed out on the whole thing. To think, had I been born when my parents were married, I would have been of an age to enjoy ABBA. C'est la vie, I suppose. I love them now. I wish too, that I could meet them. There's such a different kind of glamor to them, as a group. They're not the club-hopping, chain-smoking groups of today. They made gloriously sugary music, took pictures in the sunshine outdoors, smiled at fans...I'm sure they wouldn't be the same kind of band today, what with all the nonsense behind fame and paparazzi, and vast, unearned wealth. But in their time, it seems they were awesome. I'll look for more records soon, and cherish them as I cherish all my records...pieces of a not too distant past. I know the technology isn't as good, but I like it all the same. It's very special to me, to have such an appreciation for things of days gone by, like records and magazines. Ahhh, ABBA...I love you guys.
Tonight's hot, lonely and indecisive. There. I posted.
Goodnight.
posted by sweetnfat at 12:43 AM
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