My anime crew?

[Tiaan]

Could also pick Bakemonogatari, since Nise~ is a kind of sequel and its better if you know the story so far. Bake~ is only about 8 or so eps (I think), the last few were 'web stream only' broadcasts, but were very popular so they are around online. It's very original, the style of the story flow is very artsy but the story itself is not hard to follow or avante guarde or anything.

But yea~ anything is fine for me; it could be better to watch something outside of the genres I usually watch but better if it's something that stands out as unique or deep with interesting art or some other quality. If you get me~

[Haibane]

Bakemonogatari was 12 episodes on TV and 3 more streamed from their website. I haven't watched the final 3 eps so that would be nice new material for me. I'd say it was definitely a story that could generate some interesting discussion.

[Caeli]

That's a great suggestion, Haibane, about keeping the series short so as to retain interest. I also think that anything we watch doesn't necessarily have to be currently airing - there are a lot of older series that I never watched for whatever reason, and something like this (an anime club - we should come up with a more interesting name!) would give me an opportunity to get to those series and give them a try.

I read through a synopsis of Bakemonogatari, and could definitely get behind watching that for our trial of this activity. I would also like to suggest Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (which I never got a chance to finish), Durarara!! (which was recommended to me), or even films like 5 Centimeters Per Second, which I hear is amazing.

[Tiaan]

Ah so it was 12. Yea I never watched the last few either, the character of Hanekawa wasn't as interesting as the others, to me. It was such an ace series though I'd happily watch it again.

Durarara!!! Also holds a special place for me, it is very well done and interesting and it's been long enough that I've forgotten a lot of the little details. I'd love to watch it again, with everyone.

I have heard of Sayonara~ but never watched it. Happy to watch that too~

EDIT: I have a feeling Durarara!!! is available in dub version too, seem to remember seeing a release date for it on some site, some time ago.

[Haibane]

even films like 5 Centimeters Per Second, which I hear is amazing.

It is, though a little over-sugary. My preference from Shinkai would be The Place Promised in our Early Days which I think is stunning, both visually and as a story. It has its weaknesses too, which adds to the potential discussion material.

But if films are in the discussion list that opens up many great works we could discuss.

A TV series though can be dealt with by episode which makes it a little more interesting, especially if people have thoughts about where the plot is going before they've seen the conclusion.

For a name how about the Elliquiy MAD Group (Manga and Anime Discussion)?

[Tiaan]

I struggle to make time to watch feature length films, series are better for me since I can't really get the TV to watch anime til about 11 or 12 at night (the others in my house really hate anime >.<). I'll happily watch whatever movies are chosen, since the recommendation will likely be good~ but wouldn't be able to keep up with one a week or anything.

[Haibane]

Perhaps we could just watch a film occasionally then, maybe alternate one with each series, which would make it a film only every 3 months or so at the most?

[Tiaan]

Every now and then is fine. I'd like to watch more movies anyway. I'll go along with whatever everyone else wants to do~ this will be really fun ^_^

[Jag]

A friend and me watched a DBZ marathon on the Spanish channel once. It was funny. Then again, we were drunk. >.>

I also managed to find the newest DBZ 'film' (it was only 33 minutes) online about a week ago. Dragon Ball: Yo! The Return of Son Goku and Friends!! (nice long title, eh?). It was...interesting. It's the first DBZ film released in about 12 years and was made as a 10th anniversary thing for The Path to Power and premiered at the Jump Super Anime Tour in 2008. It's not been licensed for an English language release yet, so if you like DBZ and you prefer subs, it's not that hard to find online. *shrugs*

-checks in and raises hand-

I consider myself a moderate fan, some series I really like. My favorites being Initial D (The very first Anime I ever saw), GTO and Berserk.

The ones I am currently following is Beezlebub, funniest Anime I have seen in a long time.
BEELZEBUB Opening 1 HD

The basic story, a baby demon is sent from his father (the demon lord) to earth to be raised by a human parent. The parent being a delinquent who the baby bonds to and he tries to pawn the baby on someone else to raise.

Lots of demons, fighting and funny baby moments. (Ohh and maids)

GTO is awesome. *nods*

[Faustus]

That's a great suggestion, Haibane, about keeping the series short so as to retain interest. I also think that anything we watch doesn't necessarily have to be currently airing - there are a lot of older series that I never watched for whatever reason, and something like this (an anime club - we should come up with a more interesting name!) would give me an opportunity to get to those series and give them a try.

I read through a synopsis of Bakemonogatari, and could definitely get behind watching that for our trial of this activity. I would also like to suggest Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (which I never got a chance to finish), Durarara!! (which was recommended to me), or even films like 5 Centimeters Per Second, which I hear is amazing.

Agreed with shorter series, or at least shorter seasons, to make sure that interest is maintained by the group. While I love long anime series as well, these shorter ones are easier to do when it comes to open-forum discussions like this!

Also : I have a very, very deep spot in my heart for Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei. I should, considering that I did one of Nozomu's monologue's for a theatre class I had - I can't recall if this particular rant made it into the animated version or not, but getting to rant and rave about cultured yogurt was the highlight of my Freshman college year, haha! Durarara!! has also been HEAVILY recommended to me to watch, and I'd get behind that pretty quick.

A friend and me watched a DBZ marathon on the Spanish channel once. It was funny. Then again, we were drunk. >.>

. . .I need to do this. I love watching these things in Spanish, for some reason~

[Jag]

. . .I need to do this. I love watching these things in Spanish, for some reason~

I don't speak Spanish, I don't understand Spanish...but I was drunk and it was on TV. That is my excuse. *nods* Sad part was that I understood what they were saying, only because I'd seen those episodes so many times that I pretty much had them memorized.

[Aragem]

Anime fan right here!!!

[Chris Brady]

'Funny' is a subjective thing.

I forgot the smiley.  My apologies.  It's something a former acquaintance of mine once said as to why he preferred dubs over subs.  He didn't care about story accuracy, if the joke (as it was comedy anime he much preferred) was in English he'd love it.  Doesn't matter if they switched the entire meaning around.

Drove me nuts.

[Haruki]

  I forgot the smiley.  My apologies.  It's something a former acquaintance of mine once said as to why he preferred dubs over subs.  He didn't care about story accuracy, if the joke (as it was comedy anime he much preferred) was in English he'd love it.  Doesn't matter if they switched the entire meaning around.

Drove me nuts.

It's okay.  :)

I tend to stay away from comedy anime these days.  They are more often than not, the most butchered when going from Japanese into English....so much is 'lost in translation'.  Japan's views on what is funny, are different from what we view as 'funny', ditto when you compare British comedy to us.  I like their brand of comedy though more than what a majority here in the U.S. feel is 'funny'.  I'd get more into Brit-comedy, but their brand of humor relies on a lot of sarcasm and dry wit, which flies right over my head.

The only comedy titles I dealt with include Samurai Pizza Cats, Ranma 1/2, The Slayers, and Azumanga Daioh!.  The former is a complete re-write (original scripts were not sent with the series to be translated), the middle two take some liberties with a literal translation, and the latter, I could tell they (ADV Films, distributor at the time) were trying hard to stay as close to the original script as possible.  In doing this though, they wound up making booklets with liner notes in the single-release run of DVDs that explain every last pun and joke.  Problem therein, is it that it's all no longer funny.

I explained a couple times why I preference / need dubs over subs (reworked comedy not being a reason..save for a few rare instances, I abhor complete re-written scripts made to bow to the mainstream), but since I'm able to make the needed tweaks with my setup on a monitor / video card that I can't make with a normal TV, I may be able to make things easier for this little anime club/discussion thingy.  If they need to take a few liberties with the script to make sure the lines flow better (rather than sounding like broken English), I'm probably more lax / forgiving than some folks in that area.

[Tiaan]

I tend to stay away from comedy anime these days.  They are more often than not, the most butchered when going from Japanese into English.  Japan's views on what is funny, are different from what we view as 'funny', ditto when you compare British comedy to us.  I like their brand of comedy though more than what a majority here in the U.S. feel is 'funny'.  I'd get more into Brit-comedy, but their brand of humor relies on a lot of sarcasm and dry wit, which flies right over my head.

Any English/British shows you like in particular? I've always been fascinated about the differences in American and English humour.

As to anime, in a lot of the gag shows I've seen there is a lot of wordplay involved in the jokes, I'd imagine they don't convert to a dub very well. In something recently there was a joke about a fictional popular anime series that they called 'Dragoso ball', the joke being that the katakana 'so' looks very similar to the katakana 'n' character. Don't know how you'd go about adapting that for an English language version

[Haruki]

Any English/British shows you like in particular? I've always been fascinated about the differences in American and English humour.

As to anime, in a lot of the gag shows I've seen there is a lot of wordplay involved in the jokes, I'd imagine they don't convert to a dub very well. In something recently there was a joke about a fictional popular anime series that they called 'Dragoso ball', the joke being that the katakana 'so' looks very similar to the katakana 'n' character. Don't know how you'd go about adapting that for an English language version

Oh, no I like American comedy (as I'm obviously from here), but I always lean towards the older stuff when we were in more politically-incorrect times and the jokes weren't all just toilet humor or sexual-based humor like it all is nowadays.  Any shows or movies from the 1960s to the early 1980s in the comedy genre I enjoy greatly.

You're right.  Japan's comedy relies on a lot of wordplay that just doesn't translate.  They use a lot of 'pun' words that have no English equivalent word.  To use an overused example, Naruto's common catch-phrase in the first series, 'dattebayo'.....has no English translation.  It's just part of his speech pattern, like how the common stereotype of Canadians is how they often go 'eh' after some statements / questions.  'Eh' is untranslatable to foreign languages.

We have our own untranslatables....like curse words.  They don't have those.

[Tiaan]

Dattebayo does have a meaning in English if you take it apart, but it's broken Japanese. desu yo, or da yo kinda means 'right!'; the yo creating an emphasis. teba is used with some verbs other than desu - putting desu (da) and teba yo together is broken and sounds funny to Japanese people, and is his catchphrase! (My explanation is probably pretty lacking since my japanese is weak but some Japanese girls were talking about this exact thing the other day and that's what I remember from their explanation!)

so yea, like you said, can't translate it other than giving him some other catchphrase that would probably end up sounding cheesy~



EDIT: I remembered the thing we were talking about, after a meal you can say gochisosama deshita = gochiso (nice meal) sama (raises politeness level) deshita (it was), then we were talking about how to say it more casually; if you want to make your feelings known strongly that it was a great meal you can say gochiso (sama) teba yo~ the 'teba yo' adding the emphasis. You can't use this with desu (to be) however, which is 'da' in casual form~ hence da teba yo is broken, but funny.

I think I remembered it right...

[Haibane]

I tend to stay away from comedy anime these days. They are more often than not, the most butchered when going from Japanese into English....so much is 'lost in translation'. Japan's views on what is funny, are different from what we view as 'funny', ditto when you compare British comedy to us. I like their brand of comedy though more than what a majority here in the U.S. feel is 'funny'. I'd get more into Brit-comedy, but their brand of humor relies on a lot of sarcasm and dry wit, which flies right over my head.

I disagree that Japanese humour is different. What you're probably missing is cultural references, not the actual joke. If you understood what the cultural refrence was, you'd laugh.

Oddly enough, the joke is rarely verbal I find. In my experience a lot that is funny in comedy anime is visual and that has no language to butcher. For example lots of the jokes in AzuDai are visual such as much of what Osaka gets up to. The entire Sakaki and the cat sub-plot is visual. Much of Chiyo-chan's stuff equally. Kaori's crush on Sakaki - all visual. It could almost be a silent movie and it'd still be funny.

Almost all of "My Neighbours the Yamadas" is screamingly, tear-makingly funny, almost all through visuals. I have never laughed so much at any other anime, in fact I was laughing so hard some of the time I was unable to read the subtitles, and still the jokes all worked. All the jokes there are totally universal and are about family life in contemporary urban culture. As true to an American or a European as to a Japanese person.

There's funny slapstick stuff in Fooly Cooly - again, all visual.

They're cartoons - its naturally easy to make them funny in appearance.

One character with genuinely funny lines was Porco Rosso but I think spoken jokes are the exception in anime.

For a language barrier (or more specifically a culture barrier) references to Japanese folklore, mythology, religion and their spirit and ghost world are far more impenetrable. I think a big chunk of the western audience missed much of what was going on in Spirited Away because that drew so much on culture and folklore references.

One thing some fansubs do offer which no DVD translation or subtitle will, is aids to jokes with written notes top of screen. Another reason I love good fansubs - that and their translations are often more faithful than official subtitles on DVDs. You also get all kinds of signs and written notices translated too.

You seem to have this huge hang-up over dubs Haruki, you mention it in nearly every post and you seem to wear it like some stone of pennance around your neck, do please lighten up, it's not *that* important.

[Tiaan]

One thing some fansubs do offer which no DVD translation or subtitle will, is aids to jokes with written notes top of screen. Another reason I love good fansubs - that and their translations are often more faithful than official subtitles on DVDs. You also get all kinds of signs and written notices translated too.

Yes I really agree, the translator notes are awesome, I've learnt so much from them! And having translations for the on screen signs, notes, text messages, etc is really helpful. I think it's not possible to do that with a DVD, since the way the subs are formatted, which is probably why they don't have them (maybe...).

[TheRedGuy]

Oh, more anime people then I though. *Throws free anime sized weapons into the crowd for all those who can lift them* And I love translators who leave notes. Thanks to them I am starting to get jokes without the explanation slowly, bit at a time. Like Date (Dante) From sket dance who only talks in one word pun/riddle things.

[Haruki]

You seem to have this huge hang-up over dubs Haruki, you mention it in nearly every post and you seem to wear it like some stone of pennance around your neck, do please lighten up, it's not *that* important.

It's just a preference of how I watch anime, that's all.  I should have forewarned myself when getting into the hobby that, especially online, it's not going to be the preference for many who have gone beyond the mainstream titles.  I 'did' say in above posts about following subtitled anime with the others on this thread on a weekly basis, that I'm going to make the needed display adjustments to make them easier to read.

Then again, screenshots I've seen that people make from downloads and streams, fansubbers often use non-standard fonts and sizes that change up to reflect the colors onscreen.  Darker bg = lighter font, lighter bg = darker font.

I'm not going to apologize for my preferences, but since most die-hard anime fans raised on anime via the Internet don't watch dubs of modern niche titles (I'm ignoring the long-running shows for a reason.....those are usually split down the middle), and I do, I often feel like I have to prove that modern-day (2001-onwards) dubs, 'all' of them, are not the horrible end results we often got in the '90s.

Unfortunately, it's those horrible examples that the newer generations heard about be it from older siblings or online forums.

I guess what I need is a good smack upside the head instead.  *cowers*  Though I'd much rather prefer to follow this little club-esque thing and ....I guess you can say, bring myself up to date with the rest of the fandom.

[Caeli]

Nobody here is judging you for watching dubs over subtitles, Haruki, and I'd imagine that for the most part, it's not really going to matter in the grand scheme of things unless we specifically discuss the voice acting or dubbing quality. Story, character, and substance, though? That usually retains the same quality from sub to dub, unless it's a really hideous dub job.

[Haibane]

*I* wasn't having a go at you Haruki for preferring dubs, I was saying that you continually seem to be having a go at yourself for preferring them. In response to my post you went and did it again. What I'm saying is, it doesn't matter, you don't need to make your choice a rod for your own back and keep telling us that, which is what it seems you're doing, as though its somehow heroic of you to do so.

To be honest I don't care (in a good way) and it doesn't matter!

Moving on... any more thoughts on a suitable series for our first discussion?

[Haruki]

Nobody here is judging you for watching dubs over subtitles, Haruki, and I'd imagine that for the most part, it's not really going to matter in the grand scheme of things unless we specifically discuss the voice acting or dubbing quality. Story, character, and substance, though? That usually retains the same quality from sub to dub, unless it's a really hideous dub job.

My thoughts exactly.  At the end of the day, so long as the base elements remain intact, that's all that matters to me.

I apologize if I made it sound as though I thought anyone was judging me.  I try my hardest not to be judgmental of others as I wouldn't like it done to me.  We all have our preferred ways of enjoying things.  The main thing we all have in common in this thread is that we all enjoy anime to some extent....that extent going beyond most other folks who just watch the occasional niche title, otherwise choosing to stick with the big 'hit' titles.

*I* wasn't having a go at you Haruki for preferring dubs, I was saying that you continually seem to be having a go at yourself for preferring them. In response to my post you went and did it again. What I'm saying is, it doesn't matter, you don't need to make your choice a rod for your own back and keep telling us that, which is what it seems you're doing, as though its somehow heroic of you to do so.

To be honest I don't care (in a good way) and it doesn't matter!

Moving on... any more thoughts on a suitable series for our first discussion?

I misinterpreted what you typed the first time.  Epic failure on my part.

*points to bold text in his reply to Caeli*.  That's what this thread is for.  :)

Anywhoo....yes, moving onwards.  I'd suggest something, but I'm sure someone else is more capable of it, especially if it's going to be something newer.....like from the last year or so.

[Tiaan]

I think there is a kind of 'collective karma' experienced by those who watch dubbed anime. Some years ago, for various reasons, I had trouble with my eyesight and couldn't read the subtitles quick enough so I watched dubs; people online, on MMO's and forums, gave me a hard time about it. So I understand the feeling and it's natural to want to 'prove your case' on the issue. We can all respect each other here though, so it's of no consequence.

Anyways... what's next for our anime club? For me, any of the three series mentioned before would be good. Durarara!! Bakemonogatari or Sayonara~.

Should we put it to a vote?