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My sister and I rented Ghost in the Shell: Innocence a few days ago, and since she ran off to a friend's house I didn't bother watching it until tonight. I've got very few complaints about the movie itself. There's still bits in the computer animation that make the cell-shaded stuff stand out, but that's going to be a hard problem to fix. I liken it to the strange way that the characters stand right above the floor in movies like Spy Kids: 3-D. Which is a really, really bad reference, but it's basically the same sort of situation. They just don't quite fit together, and there's not much that can be done about that. (That is also where any similarity between GitS and Spy Kids ends, as far as valid production criticism goes). Yes, I admit to watching Spy Kids. No, I did not pay for it.
My main complaint about the movie? It's mostly got to do with the DVD. And it's really only one complaint, and really isn't that major. It amused me that there was no English dub. Wasn't it shown in theatres in the US? Did they honestly show it to people subbed. And herein lies the problem, for aside from the major props that would come from showing it to a wide audience subbed... the subs seem to have overlooked the difference between themselves and closed captioning. Subs do not need to tell me about [helicopter whirring] and [Japanese singing.] So to spite it I turned the subs off (after a brief attempt at watching the French subs) and watched the closed captioning instead. Which was in English, and exactly the same as the subtitles (which gives me cause to believe they were just lifted from one to the other. Which doesn't work, since one is for the hearing impaired and the other is for the Japanese-impaired. I can hear all of the seaguls, I do not need to be reminded of them). On the plus side, the captioning also took up less of the screen, so I shan't complain much. But this probably brings me to a much larger rant on domestic DVD releases of anime and all sorts of licensing crap that I could go on about and start sentences with things like "as a fansubber" even though I am about as much fansubber as I am English major (which is to say about a quarter's experience and not much more, and likely to be ingored in it for quite some time if I stick with it). However, in my brief one-year-and-several-months stint within at least some wing of anime fandom (I jump from noob to insane rather quickly, as far as things go), it's occured to me that maybe, just maybe, if the domestic anime licensers behaved a little bit more like the fansub groups things would work out better? Dear Eh Dee Vee: stop licensing like mad and just pick things that are actually good. Dear 4Kids: if you have to change the genders, names, plot, etc; don't bother. Dear Funi: Wtf is with that FMA contest? A drabble? Come on! Dear Viz: THANK YOU FOR DOING THE FMA NOVELS I LOVE YOU. Just... don't screw anything else up otherwise, or I'll look bad for loving you. Also, handle Naruto with care, it's a doozy, but the fans are scary anyway.
Anyway... what I mean is: better sub quality. You know, none of those silly pixel-y subs like on the Fruits Basket DVDs, none of that non-QCed nonsense. Pretty effects for the openings? That does, of course, run into the "omg rape!" department, as far as some people are concerned on as far as the original animation goes, but it can't be any worse than actually editing things out. Make things pretty, and people will come. It's not so much about the bootleggers/subbers as it is about the quality of the work that's being done on the official releases! If there is something prettier to be had, with better subtitles, that's where they're going to go. Llet's face it, American dubs have a looong way to go. There just isn't enough experience around yet. It's getting better, but the best way to regain control of the market would be to appeal to the people who rely on subs. You'll never win over the people who download anime because it's cheap-as-free entertainment just like you'll never put an end to music filesharing (or at least not an effective happy end. This will all end in tears, I'm warning you! So put down your DMCA and step away from the court system before everyone hates you). Subtitles, footnotes, karaoke?
There is, also, the fact that I have no idea what I'm talking about.
My main complaint about the movie? It's mostly got to do with the DVD. And it's really only one complaint, and really isn't that major. It amused me that there was no English dub. Wasn't it shown in theatres in the US? Did they honestly show it to people subbed. And herein lies the problem, for aside from the major props that would come from showing it to a wide audience subbed... the subs seem to have overlooked the difference between themselves and closed captioning. Subs do not need to tell me about [helicopter whirring] and [Japanese singing.] So to spite it I turned the subs off (after a brief attempt at watching the French subs) and watched the closed captioning instead. Which was in English, and exactly the same as the subtitles (which gives me cause to believe they were just lifted from one to the other. Which doesn't work, since one is for the hearing impaired and the other is for the Japanese-impaired. I can hear all of the seaguls, I do not need to be reminded of them). On the plus side, the captioning also took up less of the screen, so I shan't complain much. But this probably brings me to a much larger rant on domestic DVD releases of anime and all sorts of licensing crap that I could go on about and start sentences with things like "as a fansubber" even though I am about as much fansubber as I am English major (which is to say about a quarter's experience and not much more, and likely to be ingored in it for quite some time if I stick with it). However, in my brief one-year-and-several-months stint within at least some wing of anime fandom (I jump from noob to insane rather quickly, as far as things go), it's occured to me that maybe, just maybe, if the domestic anime licensers behaved a little bit more like the fansub groups things would work out better? Dear Eh Dee Vee: stop licensing like mad and just pick things that are actually good. Dear 4Kids: if you have to change the genders, names, plot, etc; don't bother. Dear Funi: Wtf is with that FMA contest? A drabble? Come on! Dear Viz: THANK YOU FOR DOING THE FMA NOVELS I LOVE YOU. Just... don't screw anything else up otherwise, or I'll look bad for loving you. Also, handle Naruto with care, it's a doozy, but the fans are scary anyway.
Anyway... what I mean is: better sub quality. You know, none of those silly pixel-y subs like on the Fruits Basket DVDs, none of that non-QCed nonsense. Pretty effects for the openings? That does, of course, run into the "omg rape!" department, as far as some people are concerned on as far as the original animation goes, but it can't be any worse than actually editing things out. Make things pretty, and people will come. It's not so much about the bootleggers/subbers as it is about the quality of the work that's being done on the official releases! If there is something prettier to be had, with better subtitles, that's where they're going to go. Llet's face it, American dubs have a looong way to go. There just isn't enough experience around yet. It's getting better, but the best way to regain control of the market would be to appeal to the people who rely on subs. You'll never win over the people who download anime because it's cheap-as-free entertainment just like you'll never put an end to music filesharing (or at least not an effective happy end. This will all end in tears, I'm warning you! So put down your DMCA and step away from the court system before everyone hates you). Subtitles, footnotes, karaoke?
There is, also, the fact that I have no idea what I'm talking about.
