The 2nd Dimension

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Anime controversy of the month

Nothing gets the otaku blood boiling like a US distributor trying to re-work a title. The last big controversy was over the edits made to the Tenjho Tenge manga. This time ADV is stirring up the pot with a whole dialogue overhaul to one of it's latest anime aquisitions Ghost Stories. According to AnimeNation:

At this past weekend's Otakon convention, AD Vision revealed plans to release "Ghost Stories" (Gakkou no Kaiden) with a near totally improvised, "Americanized" English dub that is, "raunchier and hipper than the original." ICv2 News writes, "This is the first time such wholesale re-crafting of a series has been undertaken as a new artistic work... If successful, it may engender a new art form, with anime visuals and new scripts."

Anime News Network calls the original anime "the epitome of a bottom-shelf, bargain bin title", and that ADV "turned what was once a painfully uninteresting kids’ series into an absolutely hilarious show for adults that’s hard to stop watching". On the other hand, in a recent Ask John article, the anime guru says that ADV is "turning a drama from a respected Japanese ghost story film franchise into a reportedly lowbrow comedy".

So is it a "painfully uninteresting show" turned "hilarious", or a respected drama turned "lowbrow comedy". I have no idea, not having seen anything of the show before. However, you can get a taste of what to expect from a clip of the edited dub available at Galaxy Anime.

No comments: