Aug. 21st, 2011 12:13 am
Kenshin movie project
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savvyliterateI spent my time before work running errands. I stopped by Borders, which is still clearing house, and got two volumes of Chi's Sweet Home, a Doctor Who novel, another book on mythology and fairy tales and the Girl Genius novel. Then I went to FedEx/Kinko's and picked up the prints for the con. I'm extremely pleased with the first batch and think the decision to move to cardstock was a good move. I'm not so pleased with the second batch and will run them by Isa. The good thing is that I only made 20 prints total in the second batch, so the worst thing we have to do is make more and I sell the first batch for $1 or so and recoup most of the printing cost.
ANN reported that the new Rurouni Kenshin anime will actually be two movie-length OVAs retelling the Kyoto arc from Misao's point of view. This is technically the third animation of Kyoto: The TV series and flashbacks in the second OVA being the first. The entire original cast is reuniting except for Saito, whose seiyuu passed away. He's been replaced by Ken Narita, who does Sesshoumaru in Inuyasha (I totally called that one.)
Meanwhile, the fandom has dropped its collective jaw and prompting began screaming, "We want Jinchuu!"
This is totally what happened with Slayers. When Revolution and Evolution-R came out in 2008 and 2009, people were upset that it wasn't the final arc of the novels. It wasn't a full retelling of the first series because it's made very apparent that it's set after Slayers TRY (with references to Xelloss being called "trash" and to Jillas bombs), but it wasn't telling the story of Luke and Millina either. It was combining the old storyline with the new. It even did manage to animate parts of the story that never got a chance before such as the latter half of the fifth novel, the entire sixth novel and bits of later novels and Slayers Specials (episode 3 of Revolution and episode 2 of Evolution-R were adapted from Slayers Special stories if I remember right, and Wizer Freion was in the 10th novel and Slayers Special.)
As someone in the ANN forums pointed out, dropping new fans into the Kenshin Jinchuu Arc is the equivalent of taking someone who's never seen or read Harry Potter to a showing of Deathly Hallows and expecting them to know what's going on. When an older franchise is revived after a good number of years, it has to be able to convey the original story to a new audience while keeping the fans hooked. You're seeing it with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Dragonball Kai and the Eva movie reboots, for example. It's also a way of producers testing to see the monetary worth of the franchise after all this time. If it's still making good enough money, they'll make more.
I think that the final Slayers arc was on the table to get at least a manga adaption. That much is implied by the epilogue to the Evolution-R manga where Luke and Millina show up. As for the anime, I'm not sure that Luke and Millina's story could be told without sacrificing Amelia and Zelgadiss, and the latter two are a huge draw for fans. I'm satisfied with the TV anime ending the way it is. If anything, they could do some OVAs adapting the last arc of the novels. But, I can hear people who don't know about the last novel moaning, "You mean Lina has to fight another piece of Shabranigdu?" or the fact that Xelloss only makes a cameo appearance.
You know, we in the U.S. and Canada are pretty lucky to get anime as cheap as it is. We can get the entire first three series of Slayers for $60 and usually far less thanks to Amazon and Right Stuf. Even at its most expensive, it was $360 to collect the first three series. Revolution and Evolution-R are $60 each and can be found for less. Meanwhile, Japanese DVDs of Evolution-R cost between 3800 and 5600 yen or $48-$71. That's 2-3 episodes per release. The boxset reissues of the first three series were around $280 (22000 yen) each. You're not going to grab casual buyers unless they just happen to stumble upon the DVDs used or they just happen to have a lot of money.
That's why I think when they do these reboots that they have to retell the old story first in order to get to where they can animate the new material. I think if the Kyoto OVA-movie experiment succeeds - they're airing the OVA in theaters first - then they'll look at Jinchuu. That's why I'm still excited about this Kenshin project. The Kyoto Arc is still a good introduction to the series, and there were some changes from the manga (mainly regarding Kaoru) that I think could be in this new movie. Plus, you get rid of a lot of the really dragged out fights toward the end and it's Hiko. On the big screen. How could anyone not want more Hiko? I also think looking at the events from Misao's POV is excellent. She was there for most of it, and I always felt that the secondary storyline in Kyoto was Misao's growth.
So, unless they really mangle the Kyoto Arc into something that's like the second Kenshin OVA (aka the worst thing to come out of that franchise), I'm looking forward to it.
And, for the record, Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R are my second-favorite series of Slayers after Next.
ANN reported that the new Rurouni Kenshin anime will actually be two movie-length OVAs retelling the Kyoto arc from Misao's point of view. This is technically the third animation of Kyoto: The TV series and flashbacks in the second OVA being the first. The entire original cast is reuniting except for Saito, whose seiyuu passed away. He's been replaced by Ken Narita, who does Sesshoumaru in Inuyasha (I totally called that one.)
Meanwhile, the fandom has dropped its collective jaw and prompting began screaming, "We want Jinchuu!"
This is totally what happened with Slayers. When Revolution and Evolution-R came out in 2008 and 2009, people were upset that it wasn't the final arc of the novels. It wasn't a full retelling of the first series because it's made very apparent that it's set after Slayers TRY (with references to Xelloss being called "trash" and to Jillas bombs), but it wasn't telling the story of Luke and Millina either. It was combining the old storyline with the new. It even did manage to animate parts of the story that never got a chance before such as the latter half of the fifth novel, the entire sixth novel and bits of later novels and Slayers Specials (episode 3 of Revolution and episode 2 of Evolution-R were adapted from Slayers Special stories if I remember right, and Wizer Freion was in the 10th novel and Slayers Special.)
As someone in the ANN forums pointed out, dropping new fans into the Kenshin Jinchuu Arc is the equivalent of taking someone who's never seen or read Harry Potter to a showing of Deathly Hallows and expecting them to know what's going on. When an older franchise is revived after a good number of years, it has to be able to convey the original story to a new audience while keeping the fans hooked. You're seeing it with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Dragonball Kai and the Eva movie reboots, for example. It's also a way of producers testing to see the monetary worth of the franchise after all this time. If it's still making good enough money, they'll make more.
I think that the final Slayers arc was on the table to get at least a manga adaption. That much is implied by the epilogue to the Evolution-R manga where Luke and Millina show up. As for the anime, I'm not sure that Luke and Millina's story could be told without sacrificing Amelia and Zelgadiss, and the latter two are a huge draw for fans. I'm satisfied with the TV anime ending the way it is. If anything, they could do some OVAs adapting the last arc of the novels. But, I can hear people who don't know about the last novel moaning, "You mean Lina has to fight another piece of Shabranigdu?" or the fact that Xelloss only makes a cameo appearance.
You know, we in the U.S. and Canada are pretty lucky to get anime as cheap as it is. We can get the entire first three series of Slayers for $60 and usually far less thanks to Amazon and Right Stuf. Even at its most expensive, it was $360 to collect the first three series. Revolution and Evolution-R are $60 each and can be found for less. Meanwhile, Japanese DVDs of Evolution-R cost between 3800 and 5600 yen or $48-$71. That's 2-3 episodes per release. The boxset reissues of the first three series were around $280 (22000 yen) each. You're not going to grab casual buyers unless they just happen to stumble upon the DVDs used or they just happen to have a lot of money.
That's why I think when they do these reboots that they have to retell the old story first in order to get to where they can animate the new material. I think if the Kyoto OVA-movie experiment succeeds - they're airing the OVA in theaters first - then they'll look at Jinchuu. That's why I'm still excited about this Kenshin project. The Kyoto Arc is still a good introduction to the series, and there were some changes from the manga (mainly regarding Kaoru) that I think could be in this new movie. Plus, you get rid of a lot of the really dragged out fights toward the end and it's Hiko. On the big screen. How could anyone not want more Hiko? I also think looking at the events from Misao's POV is excellent. She was there for most of it, and I always felt that the secondary storyline in Kyoto was Misao's growth.
So, unless they really mangle the Kyoto Arc into something that's like the second Kenshin OVA (aka the worst thing to come out of that franchise), I'm looking forward to it.
And, for the record, Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R are my second-favorite series of Slayers after Next.