Hey, Santaman!
by Zac Bertschy,
Wow, that year sure did go by fast. Here we are, and it's already Christmas. I have to it, the holidays are my favorite time of the year; everyone's generally nicer to eachother (unless they're trying to get the last Xbox 360, in which case they'd sooner cut your throat), and that angry cloud of universal hatred lifts for a few weeks.
Then it all pretty much goes down the crapper again. Ah well; happy holidays, anyway.
I've noticed that you seem to get a lot of "Is it liscensed yet?" questions, and you always answer it with the "Anything could happen (but don't hold
your breath)" response. Why not just simply tell eveyone to refer to the front page to see if anything's getting liscensed instead of going through and answering the same question over and over again? This way, you could possibly spend more time answering more interesting questions (unless you
don't get a whole lot of interesting questions beyond what we read).
Good point, but sometimes (most times, in fact) people are asking about new licenses because they think they might've missed the news, or they're asking about the "odds" of something getting licensed, which is a legit question; they're inquiring about the market conditions and whether or not their favorite 290-episode Trinity Blood or what-have-you - or they're old, obscure shows that wouldn't sell anyway. I try and walk the line between being hopeful and being realistic, though.
When I found out there was a Bubblegum Crisis 2040, I was a bit surprised. I had only seen 2041. Anyways, a lot of people on the web say the remake is better, so I'm taking the majority's word for it. Anyways, my question is, why does an anime get remade? Does it have to be a real master piece? I it to liking BGC 2041, but it is certainly not anywhere near EVA's level of greatness. So is it just out of the blue when an anime gets a remake?
You've seen Bubblegum Crisis 2041?
How was it?
I ask because the show's still listed as being in production.
What you're probably referring to is Hellsing, so they're remaking it. If they can sell copies, there's an audience for it and the staff wants to do it, the remake happens. Nothing in this industry ever happens "out of the blue".
Except maybe that live-action Kekkō Kamen movie. Seriously, did the world need that?
It is commonly mentioned while discussing Hideaki Anno once went into a deep depression and considered killing himself. In fact, I seem to see this statement quite alot. However, I have never heard a strong arguement on when it occured: before or after the creation of Evangelion. Many argue that this happened before hand, and his experiences with psychologists and contemplating philosophy had brought him to the creation of Evangelion, which features a lot of psycho-analytical terminology (libido, psychograph, etc.). Others say that he went into this depression afterwards, and he chose to create the two Evangelion movies to reconcile past mistakes with the series. Do you know when he went into depression, or if he did at all (some have argued that the story is just an urban legend, so to speak)?
It's difficult to find documents where Hideaki directly talks about his depression, but it is widely known that after animating End of Evangelion was created for two main reasons: one, there was money to be made, and two, the fans were absolutely livid at the last two episodes of the TV series; apparently rapid-fire crayon drawings and sped-up recap clips don't really constitute a proper ending to the show! So, they freaked out and started sending Anno piles and piles of mean letters, death threats, etcetera, and the guy finally snapped and made a movie. Given that the end of the film is Anno basically telling the audience to go f**k itself, it's not hard to imagine that he was a little disgruntled to be working on the film in the first place; he felt very pressured to do it.
There's some new information about the production of Evangelion in ADV's new book, The Notenki Memoirs (which incidentally was part last week's prize!). It's worth a read for anyone even kinda interested in the making of the show.
What do you think Howl's Moving Castle's oscar chances are?
Honestly? It's hard to say at this point; it doesn't quite have the prestige or the unanimous critical that Miyazaki's last effort, Spirited Away, had; Howl's was a little less accessible and just wasn't as well-received. Plus, it's up against some heavy hitters; Nick Park's critically-worshipped Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Tim Burton's striking Corpse Bride, not to mention the commercial juggernaut Madagascar (yeah, it sucked, but these people nominated the abysmal Shark Tale for an Oscar, so anything's possible). I think it's a shoo-in for nomination, but a win is unlikely.
Personally, I thought Wallace & Gromit was a far better film and deserves the award. As much as I liked Howl's Moving Castle, as a film it had some pretty serious problems. I'm all for the promotion of anime and its acceptance as a legit art form, but I also firmly believe that the best film should win. Howl's Moving Castle simply wasn't the best animated film released this year.
Does this need an introduction?
I am at work researching new ideas for our website and I want to let you know that your site looks good, you have great information. I work for a company that offers exquisite wildlife décor, elegant footstools, and delicious chocolates.
This is great, because once the year turned we were going to change over to our new format, www.elegantfootstoolnewsnetwork.com.
Also, someone this week requested a bunny photo. My girlfriend and I recently adopted a bunny rabbit; we named her Hollandaise. I've never owned a rabbit before, so it's been a rollercoaster of fun these past few months cleaning up after it and offering it vegetables as though it were some sort of vengeful deity. Unfortunately I don't have any good photos of her, so here's a different bunny.
Maybe if you're good this year, Christmas Bunny will give you a big sack of newspaper shavings and rabbit droppings!
No contest this week! MERRY CHRISTMAS!
In all seriousness, this would be a silly time to run Win Answerman's Stuff, simply because I assume people are far too busy lighting menorahs, festooning poultry, opening socks or pouring brandy into their eggnog to come up with hilarious captions. I'll keep last week's Evangelion contest open for another week; we'll have a winner and a brand new prize next week.
Also, to all previous winners; I've mailed out the last of the previous few months worth of prizes all at once this week, so keep an eye on your respective mailboxes. Sorry for any delays.
See you next time!