Taken from Comic Party Revolution 9:
Surrender to my moe~ness, or die.
Taken from Comic Party Revolution 8:
mada mada dane
Taken from Comic Party Revolution 5:
Watch out [Sakura-hime->sakura-cosplays-again], there’s another girl referencing your original hoe~moe~ character this season!
Kinda nice, I’ve been waiting for this for years since the original [Comic Party->] anime never featured Mizuki in a cosplay. It even has a henshin (transformation) sequence!
Taken from Tsubasa Chronicle 3 and Chobits:
This may have gone unnoticed for some, but this is a CLAMP crossover of an… inn! In the Tsubasa manga too, I was quite surprised, because they really used the old Chobits drawing of the inn and superimposed it with the Hanshin background.
Taken from Tsubasa Chronicle and Cardcaptor Sakura:
I noticed that Yukito’s magic circle on Tsubasa Chronicle is somewhat similar to the original magic circles of Sakura. It’s kinda nice because in the TRC manga it was only minimally drawn so some people may not notice.
And there’s Mokona’s magic circle, which I’m not sure if it’s an original, or maybe from Magic Knight Rayearth. Sorry I didn’t watch Rayearth.
Taken from Tsubasa Chronicle 4:
I’m sure Tomoyo would be delighted.
August 28, 2004
It’s been quite a while since the drastic change of Animax-Asia, and somehow I’m recollecting my angst bit by bit. I’ve never been so much of a fan of this channel anyway, so I would not care much. But because they showed Cardcaptor Sakura at the most ‘wrong’ time, that is why I was compelled to rant about it.
As always, the biggest problem with Animax-Asia’s move to English is not so much the dubbing quality, but rather the voices they pick in the dubbing. It looks as if they really have a small local dubbing staff, which does the dubs for almost all of the anime that is showing in Animax-Asia. Yea, I watched episodes of Ultra Maniac and Cardcaptor Sakura in succession, and I’m really annoyed by the same voice who does both Nina Sakura and Sakura Kinomoto. Not to mention NUMEROUS other anime characters with that same dubber. As I said back then, they dub good. But when they are the only ones dubbing, Animax-Asia sounds monotonous.
Apparently, Animax-Asia has acquired the American remastered version for the anime Mobile Suit Gundam. Also, the original Japanese version of Astroboy was suddenly replaced into the American version, complete with English dubbing and an entirely new set of source video and even background music. Animax-Asia is going American.
Also, a LOT of programming errors. I frequently see some episodes that are NOT DUBBED IN ENGLISH! They seem to have problems switching the dubs. For example, I watched episodes 1-2 of Captain Herlock in Japanese and no subtitles. I watched half of an .hack//SIGN episode in Japanese as well, and then suddenly after a commercial break they snuck in the English dubbing. The most complicated error I have seen so far though is an episode of Ultra Maniac, where they randomly switched from English to Japanese and vice versa, multiple times, while the episode is playing itself! Very very wrong, but the hell I care now.
I currently only watch a few anime in Animax-Asia. Princess Comet is just soooo nice an anime. I wanna find fansubs of that so I can see it in Japanese form. I regularly watch Cardcaptor Sakura. It’s still my favorite anime ever and so I can take it in whatever form (yup I ‘barely’ survived Nelvana’s Cardcaptors). Getbackers sparks my interest once in a while, and I occasionally Ultra Maniac for the fun of it.
This coming September though, I’ll be having a go at Gokusen. I’m just so lame because I don’t want to scan through my cd archives and watch my Gokusen fansubs. Or maybe a female GTO doesn’t spark my attention yet. Maybe I’ll try Dr. Dokkiri as well. Their advertisement for it is simply hilarious.
And it will be inveitable that I will watch Princess Tutu. Lauded as one of the most complex mahou shoujo series of recent time, I would have to watch its dubbing if it remains competitive. In any case, I really had a good time watching it a while back. It’s not your ordinary magical girl show. It’s surprisingly dark in theme, despite the extremely fairy-tale backdrop. The background music is simply astounding (of course because they are actual classical music pieces), and the animation is consistent.
So the next month could be quite exciting, even though Animax-Asia is still dubbed in English.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 1: The end of Animax-Asia? Too sudden!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 2: Cardcaptured.->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 3: Trying to Adjust->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 4: Towards the 1st Anniversary->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 5: I gave up on Animax-Asia->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 6: One year since->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7: Dubbed in Filipino?!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7.5: Initial D Filipino Stage->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 8: More Pain->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 9: Now in blue->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 10: Fake Revival->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 11: Something New->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 12: Red with anger->]
August 9, 2004
Cardcaptor Sakura. My most favorite anime EVER.
In English.
There goes my dream of watching it in Japanese with English subtitles. I know I already have fansubs of this anime but nothing beats high-quality TV right? RIGHT?
Animax-Asia’s Cardcaptor Sakura. High-quality, yes. Japanese dub, heck no.
My reaction to the English dub:
– Sakura – Dubbed by the same dubber girl who seems to star in 90% of Animax-Asia’s lineup. She dubs into English the voices of Remi (Nobody’s Girl), Sarah (Princess Sarah), Sae (Mahou Tsukai Tai), Comet (Princess Comet), Nina (Ultra Maniac), and now Sakura, among still many others I may not know. Singly because of
her, all of Animax-Asia sounds… monotonous. She’s a good dubber I admit, but really, it’s so annoying to hear the ‘same’ voice all the time in so many anime right?
– Tomoyo – Has a weird voice. The dubber does not modulate properly. Sometimes she sounds old, sometimes too young. It’s really weird. She doesn’t do Japanese Tomoyo justice.
– Kero – Okay, it seems like an ironclad rule that any anime character who has an Osakan accent converts into a westerner when it comes to the English dub. Howdy there.
– The rest are quite okay, albeit any of their voices do not stand out at all.
The conversion to English dubbing will mean little and subtle details will be lost:
– No more honorifics like -san and -chan. The honorifics actually signify at a certain scale what kind of relationship one character is to another. And as expected, everyone will call each other by their first names. It’s not bad, but they’ll have trouble when Li Shaoran starts calling Sakura as ‘Sakura’, and when Sakura starts calling Li-kun as ‘Shaoran-kun’. Our own Filipino dub also encountered that little error back in the days.
– It’s quite weird that Sakura calls Touya as ‘Touya’ instead of onii-chan. ‘Brother’ should have been a better translation, but heck no. Because of this Sakura seemed to have lost respect to an elder brother.
– They got something wrong… Sakura’s chants. They’ll be in trouble trying to relate this old chant to Sakura’s new chant in the final season of the anime.
Yes, I’m nitpicking. I have the right to nitpick (sort of/maybe) because this is one of my most favorite shows in existence. Honestly, I liked our own local (Filipino) dub a bit better. Why? Cardcaptor Sakura is widely recognized as one of the pinnacles in anime dubbing in Filipino. Partly because of the simple context and dialogues of the anime itself, and also partly because the voice actors of that particular channel are good (with the ‘other’ channel’s voice actors being generally bad). I feel though that this Animax-Asia English dub is kinda rushed. Can’t be helped, they had to translate and dub almost ALL of their anime that we see now in the dreaded cable channel. Not to mention they have the same voice actors doing all those anime, making the whole of Animax-Asia sounding monotonous. Oh, they’re going down big time.
But because it is my favorite show on Earth, I will still watch Cardcaptor Sakura in Animax-Asia. At the very least, it is better than the crap that is Cardcaptors.
At the very least, it’s still my most favorite anime ever.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 1: The end of Animax-Asia? Too sudden!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 2: Cardcaptured.->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 3: Trying to Adjust->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 4: Towards the 1st Anniversary->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 5: I gave up on Animax-Asia->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 6: One year since->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7: Dubbed in Filipino?!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7.5: Initial D Filipino Stage->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 8: More Pain->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 9: Now in blue->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 10: Fake Revival->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 11: Something New->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 12: Red with anger->]
August 2, 2004
Hear ye all! Starting the 2nd of August, Animax-Asia will bring your favorite anime…
DUBBED IN ENGLISH!!!
Yes, hear Saber Marionette J dubbed! Clamp School dubbed! Getbackers dubbed! Rejoice! I’M SARCASTIC! REJOICE!
CARDCAPTOR SAKURA DUBBED?? *^*&%*&$*$^$*$*^*^$&$&(^*&*%*%&*%&*
Yup, for the anime fans, this is the end of Animax-Asia. For me, it’s the end of my dream to watch Cardcaptor Sakura (my all-time favorite anime EVER) subbed in high-quality TV instead of crappy PC video files. I am now 85% sure that Cardcaptor Sakura will be dubbed. Come August 5, I will pile a load of rant-talk in this blog about this ultimate ‘bad news’ in my entire history of watching anime. But before that…
The Animax-Asia that was…
It started out as a darn good channel. No other channel would have the nerve to show Chobits and GTO uncut, two very prolific and controversial anime titles in their own way. No other channel has exclusive rights to all things Studio Pierrot, ranging from the classic Urusei Yatsura to the extremely rare Clamp School. Its anime release timeframe is mindblowing. Ultra Maniac and Texhnolyze just ended in late 2003 but it was already on Animax on January 2004. Astroboy 2003 was not even remotely over in Japan back in January, but they showed it anyway. Its anime release rate is also mindblowing. Every month, about 3-5 all new anime titles were introduced. That’s every month.
I really thought it was already great the way it was. Two hours of dubbed anime for kids, two hours of youth anime for general viewing, two hours of semi-otaku level anime, and 1 hour of hardcore otaku anime. I really thought they are doing great the way they are. They were starting to have advertisers locally here in the Philippines, numerous events are popping up, and more anime are coming in.
But…
But time passed, the dubbed anime timeslot increased to three hours. Many anime got censored. Some anime (Cyborg 009, Astroboy) got ported over from subbed to dubbed. I thought it was just to widen up the audience base. Until…
The Animax-Asia that is…
I don’t have too much details because this is the first day anyway. After 7 months of bringing anime to Asia like never before, they decided to reformat the WHOLE channel and convert even more anime into the English dubbed format! On the first day alone, these are the anime that made the jump from subbed to dubbed:
Saber Marionette J
DT Eightron
Clamp School
Ghosts at School
Getbackers
If I am not mistaken, dubbed anime now takes up 19 hours out of a 24-hour day. Over the course of the week, I will know how much Animax-Asia has changed.
You know, I don’t discriminate between dubs and subs too much (except when we are talking about my favorite anime ever, which is again Cardcaptor Sakura). I think they are both great medium of showing anime. Purists however, will take Animax’s course of action to the depths of anime hell. Many anime fans hate dubs.
I will not lie (too much). Sometimes, I act like a purist. Especially when the dub quality itself sucks. Right at this very minute while I’m writing, I am watching Clamp School. I will want to react about the dubbing. Right about now…
CLAMP SCHOOL IS MUTILATED!!!! %&$&&$&%&#&&%@#@ Heh, just an immediate reaction. But really, just watch it. You’ll see…
So there you have it. The monumental change of the only 24-hour all-anime cable channel that I had hoped to be the end-all-be-all of anime watching and fandom. Remember this is just Episode 1 of my rants. More episodes to come.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 1: The end of Animax-Asia? Too sudden!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 2: Cardcaptured.->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 3: Trying to Adjust->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 4: Towards the 1st Anniversary->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 5: I gave up on Animax-Asia->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 6: One year since->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7: Dubbed in Filipino?!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7.5: Initial D Filipino Stage->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 8: More Pain->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 9: Now in blue->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 10: Fake Revival->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 11: Something New->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 12: Red with anger->]
Pi pi ru pi ru pi ru pi pi ru pi….
Meet Dokuro-chan. She’s an angel… who carries a bat with spikes called Excaliborg (something like that). Therefore, she is Beat-to-death Angel Dokuro-chan (translation of the title). The main point of this anime? Beat this one guy to death.
The poor guy is named Sakura. Yup even boys can be named C kura. Dokuro-chan is actually an angel sent on a mission to kil, Sakura, but she always would fail to really kill him because she likes him. Dokuro-chan always beats him to death, and yet brings him back to life afterwards with her “pi pi ru pi ru pi ru pi pi ru pi”. Well then that it basically… The reason why Heaven wants Sakura killed is because it is forseen that in the future he will discover how to be young forever. Sakura, apparently, is a lolikon, so he wants a world of loli. So heaven don’t like that ok?
Bah, who cares about the plot? What we have here is over-the-top, fast, and crazy anime comedy. What if you mix something like Jungle Guu and Elfen Lied? Or maybe mahou shoujo with bloodbath? Yup your dreams come true with this anime. Plus you have all the sexy loli you’ve been looking for (I’ve been looking for? hehe). The animation is really good, varied, and crazy. Some anime producers really have some kind of imagination in pulling this off. Of course, the beat-to-death part gets old as fast as the guy that’s always dying in South Park, but still the other stuff are funny.
Anyway this is some anime. As if still not pushing the boundaries, there are still stuff left censored, like the extreme bloody beat-to-death parts, which are replaced by an on-screen advertisement to buy the DVD. So, people would buy the DVD and see the real uncensored score in those scenes. Despite some of those censorship, this is still bloddier as… well… any other anime out there. The seiyuu starring in this are surprisingly recognizable, and the OP is very very “pi pi ru pi ru pi ru pi pi ru pi”-catchy. So what are you waiting for? Anime like this is rare.
Episode 1-2:
So some setting ups in these first episodes. How Dokuro-chan is introduced to Sakura-kun’s class. The funny thing is, the class weirdly accepts all those crazy stuff as normal! We got a classmate who suddenly disappeared from her seat, and a class president who turns into a monkey!
On the second episode, Sabato-chan is introduced. She is out to kill Sakura-kun because Dokuro-chan can’t do it. We also learn about Sakura’s lolikon drive here.
Episode 3-4
Episode 3 is not too much about the main characters because it is about this meganekko Chiyuri-chan who likes a fellow male classmate, and so Sakura and Shizuki work together to try to bring them close in a study session. Well, Dokuro-chan is also there to fool around, but after knowing of their plans, she also agreed to help… somehow.
The fourth episode deals with Sakura and Shizuki’s movie date! Yea! Until… Dokuro-chan came and mess things up again. And what’s worse… Sabato appeared in the movie! All the violent chaos ensues while Shizuki eventually left the cinemas… Sakura-kun… baka!
Episode 5-6
These episodes are about a certain class field trip in the woods. First part is the one with the school mizugi! Shizuki-chan and Dokuro-chan mizugi… school swimsuits banzai! Hehe ok, then Sakura-kun gets more punishment not only by Dokuro-chan, but by his double-crossing classmates. He was forced to eat some poisonous curry. Poor lolicon guy.
The second part includes the much required kimodameshi (test of courage). Dokuro-chan wants to pair with Sakura so she turns another classmate into a dog (it’s dog vs. monkey now). During the game, a classmate says Shizuki-chan is lost, so Sakura is off to find her. He finds her, then some sounds scared them off a bit, but it’s just the wandering Sabato-chan.
Episode 7-8
Last episodes, but they’re kinda weak. It’s all about Dokuro-chan’s little sister, Zakuro, and she’s come to take her sister back to the future. Very typical farewell episode, and since it’s typical, you might guess right what happens at the end. You know, being a bit dramatic doesn’t fit too much in this anime, although the usual comedic and bloddy parts were there. I watched the TV version though so there were a hell lot of censorship. Maybe this would be more enjoyable when uncensored.
Anyway all-in-all, it’s been a bit of a fun ride, after all the anime is only four regular episodes long. Towards the end it got kinda boring, but the energy remains the same. Funny, fast, moe-cute, and heck of a bloddy anime this is. Weird combination, but well it worked.
I would regard Uta Kata to belong to the bishoujo-mahou-shoujo genre, much like Nanoha. Unlike Nanoha though, despite the radically colorful hair and beautiful Kiddy Grade-like animation, this series is dark. It’s kinda fun for some 1/2 of the series but turns real dark the next. So much for mahou shoujo.
So, basically Ichika is your regular girl in the puberty stage. Not a girl, not yet a woman. Suddenly Manatsu comes out from a mirror and into her life. Ichika was also given some kind of amulet where she utilizes the power of the Djinn… gods of the elements of sun, moon, earth, water, flame, heaven, wind, flower, lightning, darkness, sea, and mirror. At the same time she is experiencing many changes in her life, as she is in between childhood and adulthood. Well, guess what? This is all a test.
At the same time, she is experiencing seven virtues, and the equivalent seven sins of humanity. As if it mirrored itself, the events that used to be good was now inverted to bad. This seems to be a misleading concept. If the mirror reflects the exact same thing, why in Ichika’s case it reflects the reverse? The existence of Manatsu in her life somewhat fills the void. Manatsu is the ‘other side’ of Ichika, and from the very start of this fated summer, she has been there to look over, or guide her, into this test.
So, the test is experiencing the world. But for what reason? The real test is yet to come, which I will not spoil (as if I’ve not spoilt enough). In any case, the answers may surprise you, especially me. My interest in human behavior and philosophy sparked my interest in this anime. While not strong enough a material, it conveyed the point of the matter through random situations and character development. It’s a short series, but it could have been more.
Again, the animation is great. The art is from that Gatekeepers/Kiddy Grade guy, but a whole bunch of popular anime/manga artist kinda pitched in for the costume designs of Ichika. There are 12 mahou-shoujo costumes from 12 artists, conveying the 12 powers of the Djinn. Kinda like Cardcaptor Sakura? Nah. Anyway the music here is fine, but forgettable.
There will be an OVA for Uta Kata, so I figure this is not the end of it yet. As it says on the last scene… the seasons rotate. This has been Ichika’s unforgettable summer. Come to think of it, the whole series is an entire flashback…
Uta Kata OVA
Finally watched the OVA. Basically, it just tied up the loose ends of our ever-endearing yuri and yaoi couples, and how they are able to move on. This brings the stories of Ichika and friends to a happy closure.
What’s next? The mirror remains, and the test will go on, maybe targeting another youth in the verge of being adult. Uta Kata 2? Hopefully.
Nothing lyrical about it, but it was a nice ride.
Starring some characters from the Triangle Heart game and OVA, this anime series focuses on Nanoha, a normal girl who has some extraordinary magic. By virtue of chance a guy from another dimension named Yuuno has ventured into her world (but for the meantime he is a ferret), and needed her help in gathering Jewel Seeds, some kind of magical items that may bring danger into their worlds. Eventually she will meet up with another magical girl, Fate, who is also after the Jewel Seeds for some unknown reason. As rivals, they will clash and fight together, but Nanoha (being the good girl she is) would try to open this girl’s heart, and try to be friends with her.
Many have compared Nanoha to Cardcaptor Sakura, but I won’t make that comparison here. After all, this is technically not a full-fledged mahou shoujo (magical girl) anime series. First of all, this series is a spinoff from an existing ‘bishoujo game’, which for the most part is aimed at guys, rather than shoujo anime which is aimed at girls. I therefore regarded Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha as a “bishoujo-mahou-shoujo” series, a magical girl series aimed for guys.
Most of the time, anime stuff aimed for guys usually have the dreaded disease known as fanservice. And worse, considering its bishoujo gaming origins, it’s expected that the anime might have lots of them. Yup, Nanoha may have those (err it’s hard to type these) nekkid transformation sequences, onsen episodes, and under-the-skirt shots, but those immediately took a backseat after a few episodes, as the plot focuses on the two magical girl rivals.
Nanoha is very determined to know why Fate is collecting the Jewel Seeds, and when we would finally know that Fate is not all that bad, Nanoha tries to protect Fate and be her friend. The characterization of these two girls are very detailed. What’s more, even the minor characters are very likeable. I liked it when one of Nanoha’s friends gave her the cold shoulder at some point, because Nanoha is not telling her troubles to them (she can’t tell them she’s a magical girl). The friend only did it because she likes Nanoha very much, and she’s frustrated because she can’t do anything for her, since Nanoha won’t tell her problems to her friend. It was very well presented, and was one of the most heartwarming stories of friendship I have ever seen in an anime. Another one I liked was about Arf. Being Fate’s sidekick in collecting the Jewel Seeds, she likes Fate very much, and always wants to protect her against all odds. Because Fate’s reasons for collecting the Jewel Seeds were so shallow and useless, and is only hurting herself in the process, Arf thinks of Fate selflessly, and tries to put sense into Fate’s life, and make her smile somewhat.
For a 13-episode series, this is a very admirable work. Great characterization and plot, coupled with absolutely amazing animation and battle sequences (to see is to believe), Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha has something special going for it. The OP/ED and music were also great. It’s really full of emotion, and I almost shed a tear in this one (rare for something like a bishoujo series). It actually transcends its own typical genre cliches, and has me screaming ‘sequel!’ at the end. Cheers for more Nanoha!
This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature