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Editing Zone Full News for August 2000
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Wednesday, August 30, 2000 OVERLAYS UPDATE: David Williams of ADV posted a some news on overlays earlier today in the Anime on DVD forum today:
Well, this is good news for future ADV releases and will mean less work for me to detail overlay edits. Let's hope that other companies follow suit with similar policies against editing of the artwork to translate signs. In my opinion, using soft DVD subtitles (Like Bandai did with Jubei-chan) is the best way to handle sign translations. When in doubt, don't touch the video. Unfortunately, the Nadesico DVD is already too far along in its production and will use the same masters that the VHS version of Nadesico was made from, overlays and all. UNCUT ESCAFLOWNE NEWS: From a Bandai press release comes the details of how Escaflowne will be distributed on home video. In addition to the already released English subtitled VHS, there will be:
Of course, how unedited the dub script will be has yet to be seen, but several sources have confirmed that the video will be uncut. Here is the press release:
NEW EDITING REPORT! I have added an editing report for Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind/Warriors of the Wind. Read it HERE or click the 'Full List' link to the left. Although the heavily edited dub only Warriors of the Wind is well known to Nausicaä fans, this is a classic example of what NOT to do to an anime title when it's released in North America. NEW EDITING REPORT! I have added an editing report for Space Cruiser Yamator/Star Blazers. Read it HERE or click the 'Full List' link to the left. With Voyager re-releasing this series on DVD (edited English dub only), I figured this was a good time to do an editing report. My thanks to Walter Amos for allowing me to reprint his article on the edits made to Star Blazers and to use it for the reference for my editing report. I only summarized some of the changes, his article is a must read for any fan of Star Blazers to see what was missing. KITE PETITION: I moved the Kite petition information pages from my old Crosswinds web site (the old pages are still there, but mostly collecting dust at the moment). You can look at the new pages by clicking the 'Petitions' link to the left. As before, there is a web site banner and convention flyer information if you want to help spread the word. And don't forget to sign the petition if you haven't already! MISC: Cleaned up the rest of the editing reports to the new slimmer summary format and made some slight updates to info in some of them. Nothing major though.
ESCAFLOWNE on FOX KIDS: Well, episode three (the second Fox Kids episode) was preempted by tennis in the San Francisco Bay Area so I didn't see it myself, but the Escaflowne Report covered it and it seems less edited than the first two episodes (which were combined into one episode, of course). There is also information on a interview with the editor of Escaflowne. Check it out HERE.
Thursday, August 24, 2000 NEW EDITING REPORT! I have added an editing report for Dancougar. Read it HERE or click the 'Full List' link to the left. Basically, it appears that Software Sculptures removed a retrospective look back at the events of the television episodes from the final 'Requiem for Victims' OVA that ended the series. GARAGA INFORMATION
NEEDED: I am in need of some information from someone
who has seen the original Japanese Garaga and possibly the version
CPM released a few years ago. E-mail me at web
NEW LIST! I've
added a group of informational entries in the 'Full
List' and have added a second list– 'Edited
TV Dubs'–that covers anime titles that are only available to
North Americans in a edited English dub that has been edited and 'Americanized'
for television. This is basically to allow me to quickly list titles that
I know have been edited for television broadcast and which does not have
a uncut version available in English. As time permits and information
becomes available I'll do full editing reports for these titles, but I
doubt I'll be do detailed reports on all of them. If you know of a title
that's not listed or know the original Japanese titles (for those I was
not aware of, I put the English name in both areas–using angle brackets
for the ones I am uncertain of) please e-mail me at web
COLORS! I've added a color coding scheme to the editing reports and lists to allow you to quickly identify the type of report/information listed. This should help you find full editing reports (red) faster and distinguish between informational entries about edited TV dubs (blue) and informational entries about different Japanese versions (green). For your convenience, here is the color key (which is also on the bottom of every list):
Saturday, August 19, 2000 SAKURA DIARIES UPDATE: David Williams of ADV posted a tidbit on Sakura Diaries earlier today in the Anime on DVD forum today:
So it looks like they've managed to get new masters of the LD version of Sakura Diaries from the Japanese licensor. No word on how they might get this to their customers yet, but things appear to be progressing for the better. UNCUT KITE AND KITTY SPINOFF NEWS: Repeat after me: "This is only a possibility, it is NOT a sure thing at this point." Now then: John Sirabella (President of Media Blasters) posted a few tidbits in the Anime on DVD forum today. It appears that Kitty (Media Blasters' adult line of anime titles) has been spun off into a separate company. There are obviously a lot of business reasons that go into such a move, so I won't speculate here on the exact reasons. But I will talk about what this means for Kite. What this means for Kite is that it apparently puts enough distance between Media Blasters' desire for a "clean cut image" and Kitty's adult image that a less cut version of Kite is closer to becoming a reality. Although Mr. Sirabella can't guarantee it, there does appear to be some light at the end of the tunnel in my efforts to get a less cut version of Kite released by the now separate Kitty. I'll be sure to report on the details here as I become aware of them. The threads are at "Kenshin OAV's under the Bastard title Sa...". and "Media Blasters has returned...". The most important message is shown here:
Now, I'll wait and see what the final product looks like before I celebrate (the media format and just how uncut they will be able to make it remains to be seen), but this does appear to be a step in the right direction. Me and 1647 others (the current number of sign-ups of the Uncut Kite petition as of 8/19/2000 5:30pm PST) will be be looking forward to more news, Mr. Sirabella. ESCAFLOWNE on FOX KIDS: Well, it could have been worse. Unfortunately, that's about the only good thing to say about it. Despite reports that Bandai would not allow Saban/FOX to change the background music, most of the BGM has been changed throughout the show. Some of the original music is heard here and there, but most is new and vastly different from the original. Next time, Bandai, get it in the written contract. As previously reported, the first episode FOX Kids showed was in fact the second episode of Escaflowne. They used various flashbacks to show small parts of the events of the first episode. The dragon fight was shown, but very short since the gutting and retrieval of the energist was cut out and replaced with a computer montage showing the energist being pulled out of a field of light instead of a bloody corpse. Most (if not all) scenes with blood were also removed or altered to mask the blood, including the blood from Van's finger during his activating the energist (which was activated with his blood in the original).Oddly they still called it the 'Blood Pact'. The dub was okay, but not great. At the very least the fact that Bandai did the dub before the TV deal and Saban/FOX made their changes is a good sign that the uncut dub will be better than other dubs that have only received a edited TV dub. This is something I STRONGLY encourage companies to do: Make the uncut/unaltered (keeping curses, names, storylines, and the plot intact) dub first and then change only as much as in necessary for TV broadcast. Doing a cut TV dub first will usually ensure that a uncut/unaltered dub is never released or is sub-par. Until we hear the unaltered dub with the original music it's impossible to say how good the dub really is (the new music is really bad in my opinion and distracts from the story), but at least we know it's coming. I encourage all fans who want to the sec the REAL Escaflowne to
get the uncut sub VHS or the upcoming uncut sub/dub DVD. I have not been
able to confirm what form the dub VHS will take (uncut dub or FOX Kid's
edited version), so please be careful if you are looking to get the dub
VHS.
Cryptochrome is doing detailed reports on the changes for the edited FOX Kids TV version of Escaflowne in his Escaflowne Report, which can be found at http://www.geocities.com/cryptochrome/char/musings/escaflowne_report.htm Although I won't be doing detailed reports on the edited TV version
myself (since there will be a uncut version available dub/sub on home
video), those wanting to know what changes were made can find the reports
at that site. For most episodes I will probably only summarize major changes
here on the news page, but since this is the first episode and gives you
a sense of what further changes might be made, I'll reprint the report
on the first episode here. The original can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/cryptochrome/char/musings/escaflowne_report01.htm
Episode 1: The Girl from the Mystic Moon Episode Report The first viewing of a show is always a new experience. In the case of an edited show like this it's hard to choose when to start... so let's start at the beginning. There is a new opening sequence, with the aforementioned techno theme song in the background. While the music is alright (although no Yaksoku wa Iranai, the opening doesn't feel like a real opening sequence - it feels exactly like what it is, a bunch of scenes cobbled together from the show, with an unrefined sense of timing, and with overly sharp and bold title text which clashes with the animation laid over it. The opening sequence always sets the tone for the show, and unfortunately it does for the actual episode. I hope this isn't a precedent. As the reports said, the first episode was skipped almost entirely. Or rather, as I predicted it was folded down into about 5 minutes total, then interspersed into the second episode at reasonably appropriate times to create a backstory; a sparse one, but at least it's there, which is more than you can say for Cardcaptors. Generally, whenever Hitomi cuts to one of her visions or daydreams in the second episode, we are instead shown key visions or events from the first episode. What we are told from the first episode is relatively little. At the very beginning of the episode it briefly explains that Amano was her first love and Hikari her best friend, and that she was pulled away suddenly and unexpectedly by the appearance of Van and the dragon. After briefly switching to the introduction of Episode 2, we are shown a heavily condensed version of the events of the second half of Episode 1. Hitomi asks Amano to give her her first kiss if she runs the 100 meters in 13 swings of the pendant, and then as she is doing it introduces the appearance of Van and the dragon, he battles the dragon, and they are transported to Gaea. All this happens in about 3 minutes. Later on they skip a daydream about Amano to show her vision from the first episode of Van setting out on the dragon hunt. The events of episode 2 were left relatively intact - no scenes were cut out, although many were trimmed for time. This leaves the new hybrid episode with a very rushed feel too it, but presumably this should not be the case with future episodes. The new english dubbing leaves something to be desired. While Van's voice is reasonably good, most of the rest could have been better. Hitomi's voice sounds rather forced and not nearly as uncertain as the original, which may only be the common problem of the voice actor not having settled into the part. But Merle's voice sounds way too old for a young girl and isn't nearly high enough. The supporting voices range from sligtly poor to slightly decent, and all of them sound like actors reading lines. There is much room for improvement, but fortunately there's also a lot of time for it. The music in the main part of the show mostly new. While some of the original songs and background music is used (such as the "Escaflowne" background and the arrival scene), there is a lot of rather ordinary instrumental music in the background, often where there was none. During fight sequences they have light techno in the background. Notably absent is the excellent xylophone beat music played behind some of Hitomi's visions and battles. This may have to do only with the editing changes, and may yet make an appearance in later episodes. Notably changed is Merle's mischievious stacatto music to one of those stupid comic oboe themes. Now for the really significant changes. An unnecessary annoyance is the commercial breaks. Most Japanese anime episodes have three breaks - one right after the opening sequence, one right in the middle, and one before the closing sequence. Due to the way cartoons are aired on American television these days, they altered this pattern significantly. The first break after the opening was ommitted to skip straight to the first part of the episode, but a new break was added in right after Van arrives for the coronation where there was none before. The middle commercial break was kept. A second new commercial break was added right after Van puts the energist into escaflowne, while the final break was unneeded since there is no closing sequence, having been replaced by the usual credits-on-one-side, promos-on-the-other style of closing. The net effect is that while we have the same number of commercial breaks, instead of two long blocks of episode content there now are four short ones. This severely interrupts the flow of events for no good reason. But by far the most meaningful change is how the American edit handles violence. As I mentioned in my introduction, there is a lot of violence, blood, death, and destruction in Escaflowne, much more so than anything else you're likely to see on Saturday morning. This is because Escaflowne was targeted towards a high school teen audience and showed at a less juvenile pre-prime-time slot. The American edit does not - because it is targeting older kids. I was curious as to how they could deal with this discrepancy. As expected, they did find a way, although I can't say I'm all that pleased with it. First of all, it would be impossible to omit the death and destruction without completely screwing up the show, so they didn't try to do that. Insteady they chose to tone down how it is done. Virtually all signs of blood have been eliminated. Anytime someone is attacked, they never actually show them being hit. Instead they show them aiming, firing, and then cut to the victim falling to the ground. We never see the weapon actually hitting them, piercing their body, or making them bleed. Nor do their bodies afterwards show much visible signs of damage. But the unfortunate consequence of this method of reducing the intensity of the battle is the disruption of the flow. All in all, I wasn't really happy with the changes I saw, although being something of a purist I rarely am. But the changes made were not unexpected, and certainly not as bad as they could have been. As always, it is impossible to judge a series based on its first episodes, or even the first few, and by all indications the rest of the series should involve much less editing than this first episode. Therefore, I am reserving my judgement for later. Stay tuned... Cryptochrome's Hotline Anime Review! Monday, August 14, 2000 ESCAFLOWNE NEWS: As expected after the Otakon news (see the August 6th, 2000 news), the Fox Kids web site lists the following information for the episode that is being shown to 'premiere' Escaflowne on Saturday, August 19th:
That is the title and description of Episode 2. Episode 1 is called 'Fateful Confession'. If you have young kids, nephews, or nieces you might want to have them let Fox Kids know that they wanted to see the real first episode of Escaflowne. You or the kids can use the feedback form on the Fox Kids web site at http://www.foxkids.com/write_us_fs.html or call your local Fox affiliate. Remember to be polite and express your displeasure at them skipping the first episode. It may not change anything, but it'll at least let Fox know that there are people who know that they are changing Escaflowne. ESCAFLOWNE REPORT: Since it appears there will be an uncut dub/sub DVD of Escaflowne I will not be doing a detailed editing report on the TV edits (although I still do not like unnecessary changes for TV broadcast--and the skipping of episode one is clearly unnecessary), but there is a web site that will be keeping an eye on what changes Saban and Fox Kids make to Escaflowne. The web site is called The Escaflowne Report and can be found at http://www.geocities.com/cryptochrome/char/musings/escaflowne_report.htm I'll be keeping an eye on this web site and will pass along any important information. Uncut anime sales: A new listing of anime sales is now available on scifi.com at http://www.scifi.com/anime/news/video2.html. Interesting to note is that the uncut versions of Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing scored higher than their cut counterparts in many places (the cut Gundam Wing didn't even appear on the list and I believe it has been released). I can't say how happy I am to see uncut anime selling better than edited anime. Wednesday, August 9, 2000 Revised Gatchaman Editing Report: I've revised the Gatchaman editing report again. There was yet another dub done of this show by Saban called Eagle Riders. I haven't seen it myself, but the dub does not appear to be accurate... AGAIN. This show probably holds the record for most times dub without an accurate one in the bunch. Also, information was added on the Gatchaman '94 OVA that was released by Urban Vision. The video was unedited, but he dub was drastically changed from the original.. Thanks to Mike Breen for information on the OVA changes. Read the updated version HERE or click the 'Full List' link to the left. ESCAFLOWNE VERSIONS: I have added an entry in the Editing Report list for Vision of Escaflowne. As far as I know, Bandai US has not made any edits to this title themselves for the North American uncut release, but I wanted to inform potential buyers that Bandai is using the version of Escaflowne that aired on Japanese TV and not the Japanese home video release (which had some extended footage and a couple added scenes). Also please note that there will apparently be a edited release of the Fox Kids version on home video, so keep this in mind when buying this title. Click the 'Full List' link to the left to check it out. Otakon 2000 Viz Manga Tidbit: Viz announced at Otakon 2000 that due to parental pressure, they have started to edit their Pokemon and Dragon Ball comic adaptions. I'll be keeping my eye on other changes of this type (they're already using the verison of Video Girl Ai that was censored in Japan after the initial Video Girl Ai printing, for instance). I may even add a 'MangaPrime' section to cover these censored/edited comic adaptions. Sunday, August 6, 2000 Otakon 2000 Sailor Moon News: From
animeondvd.com comes
news from Otakon that Sailor Moon S and SS will be
released uncut on DVD. Apparently even the English dub will be uncut and
not exactly the same as the Cartoon network version. Hopefully this means
the incestuous lesbian cousins are no more. Otakon 2000 Escaflowne News: From
animeondvd.com comes
news from Otakon that FOX may skip the first episode of
Escaflowne (although it may show up as flashbacks). Although the
reasoning is unclear, they apparently don't want to show Hitomi as a schoolgirl.
Considering this episode sets the stage for Hitomi and Van's characters
and has a kick-ass battle with the dragon to start the show, I have to
question the logic behind this. But who ever said TV executives were logical?
Revised Sakura Diaries Editing Report: I've had a chance to rewatch Sakura Diaries and came up with some more detailed descriptions of the sub/dub changes and more info on the video changes between the LD and TV versions (including some screen shots). Read it HERE or click the 'Full List' link to the left. Note: This page contains images with nudity. MAZE TV VERSIONS: I have added an entry in the Editing Report list for Maze TV. As far as I know, CPM has not made any edits to this title themselves, but I wanted to inform potential buyers that CPM is using the version of Maze that aired on Japanese TV and not the Japanese home video release (which had some fanservice type scenes added). Click the 'Full List' link to the left to check it out. Thursday, August 3, 2000 More Sakura Madness: David Williams of ADV Posted the following in the animeondvd.com forum:
I'll be tracking this issue and working with ADV to find out what happened and to encourage them to release Sakura Diaries again with the video as shown in the Japanese home video release without the TV edits. I'm going to do a few updates to the Sakura Diaries editing report in the next few days (or longer if the weather is nice and I goto the beach this weekend). Mainly to expand on a few of the translation issues and things I noticed when watching ADV's Sakura Diaries a second time.
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All content (columns, reports, stories, original artwork, HTML source, etc...) on this web site is Copyright 1998-2009 by Jim Lazar and animeprime.com unless otherwise specified. A archive mirror is located at http://animeprime.burntoutcomic.com. My thanks to burntoutcomic.com for hosting the mirror.
animeprime.com if you have seen the original Japanese
version. Thanks.
This is a great victory for those who want to see this series in it's
original form. Thank you, Pioneer.