In recent months, domestic anime licensors have been announcing more and more of their acquisitions that would be released subtitled-only. Nozomi Entertainment has doing this with a few of their titles — Emma, Maria-sama ga Miteru, and Aria in particular — and Bandai Entertainment has a couple too — namely Toward the Terra, Panda-Z, and Gurren Lagann (though an English-dubbed version will come out some time after the series airs on Sci-Fi). The number of shows coming out in this format are still small, but becoming significant.

There’re the obvious reasons for the change: Saving on ADR costs and eliminating studio time, not having to hire voice actors, and reducing production expenses. Eliminating an audio track also allows for a little more content to be squeezed into each disc, and an entire series can be released in as little as two volumes. That’s good news for the consumer too — more show for less money.

Whether this is one of the new trends that we will be seeing more of as the anime industry struggles to keep afloat remains to be seen. Many of the movers and shakers of the industry, both in the US and in Japan, have already addressed the issues of digital content accessed through Internet downloads and p2p communities, though only a handful of new release models, such as streaming content through partnered sites, have been introduced. Subtitled-only releases, a throwback to the industry’s infancy, could represent another such initiative, but is this really such a good idea?

A lot of the shows named above are niche titles (with the arguable exception of Gurren Lagann, though its later dub release makes the point moot), so it can be said that keeping production costs down helps to justify expected lower sales volumes. However, what can these subtitled versions offer that people cannot grab online? The typical commercial anime’s target demographic is still sitting firmly with the school-aged crowd: people who are most likely not working, do not have readily disposable income of their own, and, perhaps most damaging, have grown up in the Internet era. If they really want digital content, they know where to find it.

Most of the shows named above are mostly targeted towards more mature audiences, so perhaps there’s some expectation that people who want the series will purchase them as they come out. However, there is the risk of assumption, and I’m not sure anyone really knows how well this is going to turn out. Having special exclusive content makes ownership of official copies more appealing, but the likelihood this will increase the retail price is also high, which defeats the purpose of making this a more affordable alternative.

Combating content piracy and adapting to modern socioeconomic trends is a tricky proposition for such a small industry (despite reports that FUNimation earns the bulk of profits for Navarre, the industry is still tiny compared to other entertainment outlets). Subtitles might be a good alternative for a very small subset of licensed titles, but I don’t think it will work as a general sales model.

For the industry to survive, consumers have to be willing to buy the product. How they’re convinced to do so is the problem that we will continue to face for a number of years to come.

Life has this way of sneaking up and clubbing me repeatedly over the head with a spiked bat. After such weeks (and it’s happened rather recently, in case you couldn’t tell), I like to sit down, relax, and enjoy a steaming hot cup of silly. But in my advanced age and irreversibly jaded sense of humor, not just any silly will do.

Luck Star is a show that should have, by all logic, come and gone like many other series — it has no discernible plot, no character growth, and there’s really no beginning or end to the story. But like at least one other slice-of-life high school comedy before it, Lucky Star still managed to capture the hearts of countless fans.

What makes it so appealing? That’s hard to say. If anything, the series brings lights to its fans’ obsessions, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Konata, arguably Lucky Star’s lead character, is a hardcore otaku — every other word out of her mouth is about anime, video games, or moe. She personifies the otaku stereotype and yet… she’s not one of them.

Could it be the other characters? Konata’s close friends fall all over the place across the fan spectrum. There’s Tsukasa, who could easily be mistaken for an old fan-favorite character; Miyuki, who exemplifies the moe ideal; and then there’s Kagami, the tsundere who’s a casual light novel and shooter videogame fan.

Could it be its unusual format? At the end of each episode is a short talk-show-ish segment, Lucky Channel, which could be another show in of itself. It’s hosted by Kogami Akira, a school-girl loli who often drops her cutesy routine to speak in a rough, chain-smoking, yakuza street-tough accent; and co-hosted by Minoru Shiraishi playing himself. Don’t ask me why. There’s even sort of a miniature plot-arc that occurs across that bit as well. Each closing credit segment is different too, with the earlier part of the season featuring the closed door of a karaoke room, and the main characters singing on the other side.

Maybe it has to do with how the show reaches out to its fans. In addition to its plethora of pop-culture references and otaku in-jokes, the series features many real-life landmarks, and as such otaku pilgrimages have been witnessed at these locales. One of these oft-visited sites has embraced its newfound popularity and welcomes fans with open arms — and the series turns right back around and jokes about the situation in one of its later episodes.

Perhaps it’s the show’s infectiously catchy music. Like its predecessor from Kyoto Animation, Lucky Star also featured a song-and-dance animation sequence that exploded in popularity and spread like wildfire through the streets of Akihabara and the Internet. Its opening music, Motteke! Sera-fuku! and accompanying dance choreography has been used time and again in fan made videos and parodies — no one was safe.

Any one of these reasons could have made a show popular, but when it’s all put together, it’s no wonder the series became as much of a hit as it was… at least in Japan. Now, Bandai is taking its chances by bringing it to us in the US. How many of the jokes will translate over remains to be seen, but I challenge you to watch it without instantly seeing a part of yourself in the characters. Bonus points if you can watch the opening without getting the song stuck in your head.

The first volume of Lucky Star will be released on May 6, in both a regular edition, and a chock-full of goodies collector’s edition.

Last Monday, I had a chance to catch Vexille at the AFI Dallas Film Festival. It was everything I had hoped for in a CG action film and more. Now, I could be the one to tell you why you should watch it, but I’ve got something even better. Thanks to the folks at FUNimation, I had a chance to speak with Vexille’s director, SORI, so I’ll let him be the one to sell you on it instead!

SPWUG: It sounds like you do movies that cover a lot of different subjects — fantasy, science fiction, sports, mystery — what kind of genre do you prefer?

SORI: I love entertainment, so I don’t really restrict myself in genre. I do like anything entertaining. I like action. I like emotional stories. I like to mix action and story — not just action-driven films, and not just story, but both together.

SPWUG: So was that your reason behind creating Vexille?

SORI: I wanted to make it a mixture of film as an entertaining commodity and a commercial commodity, and also at the same time an art form. I wanted to make something that combined these elements so that it is not just a commercial success, but so that it is also an art form.

In Japan, animation is received very differently by different people and it is very difficult for animation fans in Japan to understand and appreciate the art form of films — they prefer the commercial aspects of animation over art. So it’s sort of a different take in terms of this film.

SPWUG: I noticed something… you used a lot of butterflies in Vexille. I think I know what it is supposed to symbolize, but I wanted to hear from you what the symbol of the butterfly meant throughout the movie.

SORI: Freedom. It is the symbol of freedom.

SPWUG: Ah. Okay… I guessed wrong.

SORI: (laughs) The butterfly was in Ping Pong as well, and it is also symbolized in Ichi.

SPWUG: Does the butterfly symbolize yourself as well then?

SORI: It’s not that I particularly like butterflies, but I think that something in me has the dream of flying out and to be free.

SPWUG: So you express this freedom through your filmmaking?

SORI: The reason why I wanted to participate in the entertainment industry is because people are tied down with a lot of stuff. They go to get entertainment to escape from those everyday things that tie them down, so I believe that a part of me involved in the entertainment industry is also symbolized by the butterfly through entertaining — and that a part of me is expressing this freedom in the entertainment that I create.

SPWUG: Do you have any plans on what your next project will be yet?

SORI: Ah (laughs), well, I haven’t told this to anybody yet, so you’re new, the first to hear this… I’m looking at doing another live-action film. In Japan, scale-wise this movie will be much bigger, though it probably still doesn’t even compare to Hollywood. It would be categorized as a fantasy film — kind of like a Lord of the Rings fantasy.

SPWUG: And is there anything about [Vexille] that you want the fans to know about, and the questions they should be asking themselves after they’ve seen it and as they are walking out of the theater?

SORI: I worry that the people are losing human contact… that people are losing direct one-on-one contact with each other. People are using so many information-driven technologies — the Internet, cell phones — there’s so many connections made through technologies that there’s no longer any physical contact.

Communication is becoming so technology-driven, so I would like people to think about perhaps the danger of relying on these convenient technologies so much, and what may or could happen if we continue to rely on this technology-driven society.

—-

Thanks go out to Jackie Smith of FUNimation for setting this up, and to Chiho for translating for us. Look for the Vexille DVD from FUNimation to be out on shelves May 20th, 2008!

When Dentsu pulled Geneon out of the North American distribution channel last September, many predicted the collapse of the industry — yet here we are today, half a year later, still chugging along. Not only that, but in an announcement that snuck in under the radar, news was hidden in Media Blasters’ latest DVD release, Kite: Liberator, subtly mentioning their acquisition of distribution rights for Seirei no Moribito, or Moribito – Guardian of the Spirit, rescued from licensing limbo. It also turns out that Cartoon Network has rights to televise the series.

This is an excellent first title from Geneon’s library to see the light of day once again. It’s easy to get drawn in to the series right from the start of its opening animation. The theme song is the snappy tune “Shine,” by L’Arc en Ciel set to background imagery that portends to very promising animation to follow.

The art is simply breathtaking, and the camera takes its time to pan across every loving detail, with obvious care taken to properly deliver its gorgeous scenes and environments. The show also portrays compelling characters that are fluid in motion and design. I also found it unusual and noteworthy for the show to have such a mature and experienced protagonist (or perhaps it’s only because I’m getting so old myself).

Balsa is a 30-year old, spear-wielding, wandering female warrior who happens across an accident and subsequently saves a young boy from drowning (though other, more supernatural forces are also obviously involved). Balsa discovers that the boy, Chagumu, is a prince of the region, and because of the threat of a great conspiracy against him, the empress begs for Balsa to be his yojimbo, or bodyguard, and asks her take him away from the palace.

The predominantly orchestral background music presents the series with a very epic tone. Kudos to Kenji Kawai for wonderful compositions as always. The ending is a much more subdued pop ballad “Itoushi Hito E,” by Tainaka Sachi, with additional emphasis on the background CG. Production I.G. must have taken all of the technique and experience from Ghost in the Shell: SAC and Blood+ and translated it over to this series.

I strongly encourage people who may be interested in a fantasy action-adventure with a healthy dose of the supernatural; strong, prominent, characters that grow and mature through the series; edge-of-your-seat sword (and spear-) fighting combat; and an epic story with an orchestral score that helps immerse you into the world to give the show a try when it finally airs on Cartoon Network or when Media Blasters releases it on DVD.

Hopefully, this is only the beginning for the return of Geneon’s titles to the domestic market — there are several shows that I’d love to add to my collection!

As an aside, if you have not already heard, the SPJA (Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation — the group behind Anime Expo) has released the ballots for its annual Industry Awards. Check it out at http://www.spja.org/spja-industry-awards/ and let your voice be heard!

I will be attending the Vexille screening at the AFI Dallas Film Festival tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll see some of you there!

As a bonus for you fans living in the D/FW area, FUNimation will be holding a screening of their new feature film Vexille on March 31 at the AFI Dallas Film Festival, and again on April 4 at the Northpark 7 theatre. More information can be found at this FUNimation press release.

Apologies for the delay! After three days, I have finally risen from the grav… gravy and meat-induced stupor; and the friends who visited discovered my room empty, with the giant chocolate egg at the entrance eaten clean through. And so I am able to appear before you once again with a new article.

And if there weren’t enough heretical Western references in that last paragraph, this week’s Plugging In should have me crucified by anime purists for sure. I present to you Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Central to the show’s cosmology are the balance and flow of the four elements — Earth, Air, Water, Fire — and how these forces have shaped the development of society and civilization. Living within the world are those who are can manipulate their respective element, known as Benders. Only one being, the Avatar, has the power to control all four elements.

Katara, the last known Waterbender of the Southern Water tribes, and her brother Sokka, a young and highly resourceful warrior, discover the young monk, Aang, who turns out to be the last known surviving Airbender in the world, suspended in a sphere of ice. The three leave on a journey to fulfill the destiny of the Avatar and to bring balance back to the world by stopping the Fire Nation’s destructive expansionist war. At first, they are accompanied by Aang’s animal companions, Appa the flying bison and Momo the winged lemur, and later joined by Toph, a blind, but extraordinarily skilled Earthbender.

This award-winning series from creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Brian Konietzko has been widely acclaimed, and with good reason. With its rare, serialized story format (at least as far as American-produced animated series go) and quirkily compelling characters, though the series was originally targeted to younger viewers, the story quickly adapts itself to mature audiences as well. They don’t shirk from topics controversial to many other American cartoons, namely death and violence. The world of Avatar is heavily influenced by Asian art, philosophy, and culture, and for the purists, the creators were also inspired by various anime, including FLCL, Samurai Champloo, and many of Miyazaki’s works.

In addition to the excellent storytelling and character growth, Avatar features exciting martial arts combat enhanced with the elemental effects of Bending. Each Bending technique features its own martial arts style — Ba Kua for Airbending, Tai Chi for Waterbending, Hung Gar for Earthbending, and Northern Long Fist for Firebending — with some variants tossed in to mix things up a little. So for fans of action, epic adventure, and characters that develop and grow, I recommend Avatar: The Last Airbender, available from Nickolodeon.

Howdy!

Before we get started, seeing as I’m the new kid on the block around here, let me introduce myself real quick. I’ve been involved in the anime and video game industries and communities in some shape, form, or fashion for far longer than I’d like to admit. I make my living as a writer — technical writing by day, freelance writer by night. You can find my by-lines in Beckett Massive Online Gamer and in Anime Insider magazines, and yes, I’m the goofball responsible for the Lineage II cheesecake review.

I watch a lot of anime, much more than what should be considered healthy, and yet I still have four or five shelves of DVDs that I still haven’t gotten around to. I love the medium and I believe that as a devout fan, I should never have a reason to nit-pick and criticize shows for their flaws. That’s why you’ll probably never see a review from me; my articles are geared towards the promotion of anime, regardless of its genre, and that’s what the primary focus of this column will be about.

Plugging In will be highlighting new series that will be released, or in the process of being released, in North America, and explaining why you should watch the show. If all goes well, I may be able to get hold of some special and exclusive features as well! For the record, I’m not being paid or sponsored by any anime company; this is just my meager contribution towards the growth of the industry.

And now, on with the show!

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Appleseed: Ex Machina is the action-packed collaboration between Hong Kong gun-fu cinematographer John Woo as producer and anime mecha-master Shinji Aramaki in the director’s chair. This sequel to the 2004 Appleseed movie takes CG action animation to a new level with explosive gun fights, furious kung-fu fighting action, and high-flying Matrix-inspired Guges Landmate dogfighting combat.

The world of Appleseed is a future post-apocalyptic earth devastated by an intense non-nuclear war that wiped out half of the world’s population. The lands were left barren by the massive amounts of ordinance used in the conflict and governments were left shattered and in disarray. As an experiment to prevent further disaster, a genetically engineered race of beings known as Bioroids were created — devoid of emotion, and with their lives strictly regulated and controlled, they were given responsibility for the governance and administration of a new city of hope, Olympus.

Deunan Knute is a strong-willed member of Olympus’ E.S.W.A.T. special forces peacekeeping team who stands out an exceptionally skilled human in a squad full of combat-enhanced cyborgs. Her partner, Briareos, is the only full-conversion cyborg in existence able to control the Hecatonchires cyborg frame. Toss a prototype combat Bioroid, Tereus, into the mix, and you get just over 100 minutes of intense, edge-of-your-seat action.

Those who enjoy action-oriented shows will have plenty to keep their adrenaline pumping. Fans of Shirow Masamune’s works won’t be disappointed with this animated adaptation of his manga either. Deunan serves up one piping-hot, strong female lead character, while Briareos’ gun-toting machismo would make Chow Yun Fat green with envy. The movie offers a plot, story, and some romance and drama as well, but they play second-fiddle to the main attraction of the film: stuff blowing up.

And yes, there are doves too.

Look for the DVD from Warner Bros.