CHV Lives On

Escaflowne is pretty far down my list, and frankly, I'm starting to wonder how much GOOD anime there is left to be seen. Maybe I'm just hitting a bad streak, but where my anime experience started out with a hell of a bang, its starting to fall flat, with a few minor exceptions.
And as far as the otakus being a small percentage of the market, companies like Disney should realize that it almost IS the market. Without the true fans, anime (or even HK films) would barely sell in the US. These are the core fans who'll buy up every DVD, cd, wallscroll, plush toy, etc. I'm always puzzled when companies go out of their way to alienate their core groups of fans. I don't own six different DVD copies, 2 LD ones, and two seperate tapes of The Killer for nothing.

Gest, the "few that I've seen" tend to be regarded as almost the "best of the best", at least as far as the mainstream films and series are concerned. The connection between Bebop or Mononoke and Segal flicks is non-existant.
I'm not trying to stay completely "safe", but the more I see, the less I enjoy, at least percentage wise. Everything is becoming either too formulaic, too bland, and even simply too uninteresting in my opinion. There have been a few recent exceptions, such as Excel Saga, but for every good one I find now, I'm being shown five times as many that just don't cut it for me. Sorry if my standards for liking an anime isn't simply that its anime.
There are still many that I need to see, and the future will bring more as well. But I'd rather be watching some good films than a half-assed anime. Sorry if that's hard for you to understand.

And your statements on otakus have missed my points, almost completely. I'm not talking about Disney not releasing some obscure HK films that nobody has even seen since 1974. I'm talking about MAJOR FILMS that are being given this treatment. And look at your statements. Obviously they'd pick the more "popular" show to focus on, but damnit, if they're GOING to release something like "Mahou Tsukai Tai" (whatever the hell that is ), do it RIGHT. If they're willing to spend the time, money, and effor in acquiring these rights and producing these prints/dvds, they can spend a little extra to please the hardcore fans.
And Bumz, true, not every fan is an obsessive freak (stop looking at me like that ), but there are certain benefits to catering to a loyal fanbase. Sure, they may not make up the majority, but they are still the ones who'll be there in the end.
If I'm a fan of Woo's HK films, nothing Disney can do can change that. Should Disney produce a DVD of something like The Killer that puts even my impressive R2 copy to shame, then they've pleased a loyal customer, and gained a few sales. Should Disney produce a half-assed hacked-up piece of crap, then they've gained an enemy, and quite a few less sales.
Would those less sales be dwarfed by the sales of the chopped up disc? Possibly. But when these people view these films, and are displeased with either the final result, or knowing what they're missing, they'll be less likely to purchase either one of Disney's crap-discs, or even view one of the filmmaker's movies in the future. The quick gain will eventually turn into a slow loss.
Again, as people seem to be missing this, it is EASY for a company like Disney to please BOTH the hardcore fanbase as well as the general public. As I said, Sony has taken that advice, and has continued to bring both sides to their DVDs. Should you happen to want an English dub for Once Upon A Time In China II, its there (and its quite funny how badly it handles some scenes ). But if you're a fan of Jet Li's series and wish to view the actual film, the original Cantonese track is there. In that case, Sony has pleased both groups, and gained not only a sale, but a pleased customer.
And Escaflowne can wait a bit with me. I don't have the money to invest in another series I havn't seen, nor do I have any bootleg or fansubbed copies (although I do have the movie). Its something I'd watch if I had, but I'd rather pursue some other titles (such as Criterion's new disc of Red Beard) in the meantime.

I'm not saying that just because something is animated, it has a 'god-like advantage' over real life films. But what kinda shows have you been watching that were so shitty? I guess if you compare the thousands of series out there to Bebop or Mononoke, not everything's gonna seem that great huh?
True, there are benefits of pleasing the hardcore fans. But I seriously don't think that the few hardcore fans they upset by releasing sub-par DVDs are going to outweigh the other few million they sell to the casual buyer.
Sure, it would be easy enough to do a better job. It doesn't seem like it would require THAT much more effort to do a decent job of subtitling a piece, or finding voice actors who can speak in more than three tones for english re-dubs, but apparently to Disney that is just too much work.
They're gonna sell a mill with that extra effort, or without it. At the end of the day, they're still making money. The only thing they play with is their own reputation. And it doesn't look like they care too much about that either.
Accept it, move on. MRk MRK n FnK Mz

My god, we're straying further off-topic...
Yes Gest, I'm coming into the world of anime as only a sub-genre of film, but frankly, it doesn't matter as much as you like to imagine it does. While animated and live-action films have their differences, the basic methods of storytelling remains the same (for the most part). True, animation can be judged on its own, as can any film, but the real "test", in my opinion, is to see how it can stand up to EVERYTHING out there, animated or otherwise. A film is a film is a film, and I'm not someone who gives one allowances over another just because of its genre or format.
My evaluations of anime films, whether they're compared to live-action ones or not, is anything but biased against them due to their nature. If anything, you'd be hard pressed to find a modern film geek who actually regards animation (anime or otherwise) as a wonderful form of art that few people view, let alone appreciate. I don't care if the piece of animation in question if one of Miyazaki's or even Nick Park's, it'll be looked at the same as any other film in my eyes, even if you don't believe that to be true.
And putting live-action movies on a "pedestal above anime"? Give me a break. I may be hard on some of them, but I hardly consider something less than another JUST because its animated. Give me a little more credit than your warped perspective of me and don't insult my intelligence by saying so. In the meantime, stop doing the opposite, placing anything "anime" on your own private pedestal above the rest of the films out there. Your argument would make sense if I watched films and avoided animated ones, but you seem to watch animated ones and avoid the rest, certainly proof of your hypocracy here.
And your persistant pitiful and sarcastic comments regarding some illusion that I believe Corporate America is out to care for me is starting to bore me. I don't believe what you accuse me of is true, and again, you are insulting me by suggesting so. If anything, in this case, some my points are being made from a FINANCIAL point of view, the only language these companies truly understand. (The rest of the points are being made from an artistic, and even a preservationist point of view). Any half-assed executive knows that in order to stay in business as long as possible, you'll have to forgo the "quick buck" in favor of sound, long-term investments. Walt Disney certainly believed in that, regardless of if Eisner and crew do (they don't). A company can't stand on its feet with "quick bucks" forever, because they will eventually run out. If Disney milks its vast resources without any consideration for the future, it will truly begin its decent into oblivion. Rome, Disney is not.

Now onto Bumz's post.
I'm not exactly saying that what I've been watching is "shitty." What I am saying is that I'm getting that "been-there-done-that" feeling with certain animes, despite the fact that I'm still relatively a newbie to it. I'm not expecting every anime series to be like Bebop, or movie to be like Akira. But there's a certain line that eventually gets crossed, where you're not watching anything special, just another anime that was thrown together to fill in a time slot, or produce a "quick buck" (as Gest likes to think of everything). Not every anime can be compared to Mononoke, just as not every film can be compared to Citizen Kane or The Godfather, and I'm not trying to do so. But something doesn't have to be the cream of the crop to be worthy of my time.
These shows remind me of the mass of American films without any creative talent at the helm. They're made to provide a little bit of entertainment for a select group, without provoking any kind of thought or emotion in the process. Kinda reminds me of porn.
Take something like FFU. I've gone through the first five episodes so far, and despite being a fan of the Final Fantasy series, I can say that I am anything but pleased thus far. I won't go into my reasons here, and obviously my opinion could change as I continue to watch the series, but these are my opinions at this point. Maybe I'm just being a little harsh on it, since its obviously not upon my pedastal simply due to the fact that its animated.
And as far as the efforts required by Disney to do something like that, it is irrelevant. Studios throw money around as if it was unlimted (which it practically is), for tasks such as these. Hell, they own the rights to the film, and there is virtually no more work involved to transfer the video as there is to transfer the orignal audio. In fact, aside from cleaning up the audio quality (which is almost unncessary with new films such as Shaolin Soccer [or, as Disney likes to call it, Kung Fu Soccer ]), purists prefer the original audio track just as it was produced. We're not asking for 5.1 remixes of a film that was originally mono. Save that work for the dub and give us the original film.
This isn't about them skimping on a few bucks. This is about CONTROL. They want to control the film you see, the sounds you hear, and your viewing experience itsself. They want to control these films without regard for their artistic merit. They want to control these films, and make them their own. Period. Sadly, there aren't enough John Lassaters or Quentin Tarantinos to make an immediate difference, but hopefully the tides will change.