Which animation style would you rather see in a D&D cartoon?

[Chain Lightning]

Really? Most of the dub-haters I've seen aren't anti-dub because they want others to enjoy anime. Most dub-haters I've known are anti-dub because they feel that if anime becomes accessable to more people, they'll lose their "non-mainstream elite status."

Oh okay.

Yeah, I hate people like that too. I have a friend that was like that with music. He hated to see his special underground band get more recognition and hit top 40. Heh heh.

Despite Chain Lightning's well-reasoned and articulated pro-Anime stance, I have to side with Dark Jezter and Joshua Dyal. I've given it years worth of chances, and hate it more every time. My Anime-loving have given u[p on me. I simply find it, as a broad genre, disagreeable in all respects.

Well, its hard to like it over the years because (in my opinion) it has gotten worse/less reliable over the years. So by trying to 'get into it' ...you're chances of actually turning into a fan become less and less.

But I think the best way to get into anime is to ....well, not feel a need to get into it.

Let me explain. Don't think of anime as anime anymore. Just have a goal. The goal is: I like watching a good animation story. Now, if it comes from the U.S. , France, Korean, or Japan....is beside the point. Just watch what you like. If so happens that the only stuff you like is American...that's cool.

I'd like to see Eberron done in the style of the early Batman animated series.

Hmm.....I'm trying to imagine that. Yah...maybe. But truthfully...heh heh.....if a D&D cartoon is made, I'd rather not see it be Eberron. Nothing against Eberron, but I think the worlds of Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms should be up first.

CGI is getting better all the time. The motion capture technology they use today allows for more natural performances from the animated characters, rather than the jerky 10 (or less) frames per sec. of traditional animation. I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but wouldn't CGI be quicker, too? If PC games like Half Life 2 have software that allow digital actors to lip-synch dialog in real-time, wouldn't similar tech make the turn-around time for a single CGI episode shorter than a hand-drawn one? And wouldn't that allow more breathtakingly exciting episodes per season?

I worked on "Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles" and Foundation did most of the animation for the show. A company called Mainframe as well. It was very costly and time consuming. But man, those guys and gals worked hard. I think for a straight to video limited series it would be fine. But to do a whole show and keep it consistantly looking good....its a bit of a headache and too expensive. Unless you want it to look kinda cheap ...like "Transformers:Beast Wars" or something.

Toast Me!Your going to have to Toast me!

Heh heh...funny. Speaking of bad dubs....how about bad subtitles? Some of the Hong Kong bundled full season of whatever on DVD get really bad. I was watching "Gundam Seed" and the characters were talking about the "Coordinators"....but instead of the subtitles saying "coordinator" , it would say "saucerman".

Sweet jeebus.

If a fan is afraid of his friend watching a bad U.S. dub....he's also afraid of his friend watching a Hong Kong subtitled copy too.

When I say 'anime styled' I'm talking only about the art style, not the actual content, because I really enjoy most anime styled art I've over american styled art. However, the content of most anime usually irritates the hell out of me and I much prefer the content of many american shows over it.

Yeah, I don't know what's going on over in Japan...but they shows are getting whackier and whackier. I have to wait a long time between good ones before I see another good one appear somewhere. And most seem to not ever get released in the states. Getting the liscense must be too expensive. I heard they're having trouble negotiating for "Naruto" to be brought over stateside.

But anyways, I know what you mean. I walk into Best Buy or Suncoast and stare at the animation section. I stare....and stare.....and stare......and it all seems to look like brightly colored 13 year old anime girls in skimpy outfits fighting something. Its like the companies that bought the rights to distribute anime here only bought crap like "Burn Up W" and stuff like that. I guess because its cheap to acquire. *Shrug* whatever....

But...as disappointed as I am with the lack of imaginative stuff coming from Japan, I find the U.S. market just as stagnant. In my opinion, I think both the Japanese and the U.S. need to re-do how things get done. It would be great to see the Japanese get some of the sensibilities of U.S. creators, while the U.S. gets some of the Japanese freedom of expression.

 

[Ranger REG]

Now days, anime is this "distinct art form" with a bunch of, for a lack of better description, kinda in a weird way racist fans (or at least culturalist). "If its not really japanese, its not anime." I know people that won't watch a cartoon if its not really anime. Now most people don't care, its just a cartoon. But I'm getting sick of the attitude that "anime" is somthing special and different. Its not, its just more cartoon's from japan.

Isn't that like saying a Corvette isn't special, it's just a car from US?

Or a Harley Davison ain't specia, just a moped from US?

Or apple pie isn't special, just desert from US?

Or gansta rap isn't special, just noise from US?

Or the US Flag isn't special, just a piece of drape from US?

Or jester47 isn't special, he's just a 47th jester from parts unknown?

 

[Ranger REG]

But...as disappointed as I am with the lack of imaginative stuff coming from Japan, I find the U.S. market just as stagnant. In my opinion, I think both the Japanese and the U.S. need to re-do how things get done. It would be great to see the Japanese get some of the sensibilities of U.S. creators, while the U.S. gets some of the Japanese freedom of expression.

Japan have their own audience (which seems to hate intelligent game show like Who Wants to be a Millionaire? but prefers physical game shows that put people in embarrassing situation like getting wading into a sewer pool to find a diamond ring). I mean as intelligent as they are, they don't like common people to flaunt it. Just as our own Hollywood caters to our own US audience, so too Japan caters to their own audience.

It's a lot better for the US to hire anime artists for an American-produced animated movie, rather than take some finished piece from Japan, re-edit and -- heaven forbid -- re-dub with goofy American voice-overs. I mean, it may work for children but not the grownup generation that were raised in the WB/Hanna-Barbera cartoon era.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of dubs. Foreign films, live-action or animated, should be shown in their original formats including languages but with subtitles.

 

[D+1]

DC Animated (Justice League/Batman/Superman)
DC Pseudo-Anime (Teen Titans)
Serious Anime (Records of Lodoss War)
Comic Anime (InuYasha)
Action Pseudo-Anime (Jackie Chan Adventures/The Batman)
Action Traditional (He-Man & The Masters of the Universe)
Simpsons (D'oh!)

Speak up!

None of the above - CGI rather than traditional hand-animated styles. It needs to look as realistic as possible. Yeah, yeah I hear you. But, when I PLAY D&D I don't visualize in terms of a particular anime or CARTOON style, I visualize in terms of a genuine reality - and that requires CGI. For example, a sword should not just be pale gray with a little star animated on it to indicate it's glinting - it needs to be METALLIC.

 

[AelyaShade]

From the choices given by the OP, I'd choose something along the lines of a hybrid Inuyasha/Rurouni Kenshin style of anime.

Outside the box, I'd vote for a Pixar attempt. Barring that, may I also suggest something similar to Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

Time to pop in the old D&D cartoon series. Uni!!!

 

[Chain Lightning]

You see, with those of you who want realism, and thus ...vote for "Final Fantasy:Spirits Within" approach ... I'd say let's just do it live action.

I've noticed several basic camps when it comes how people like their fantasy. One of the basic camps I see a lot is the camp of 'realism'. If its exaggerated or stylized in anyway , its usually frowned upon. For this camp, I'd suggest not even thinking about animation and rather....to say, you just rather see a butt kicking live action show. Because for me (and I've said it on a previous post), there's no point in animating something to make it look as real as possible. You'd getter a better end result/effect and spend less money if you just filmed in live-action.

But that's me.

Or ...do you guys want exaggerated pseudo-realism? Like the cinemas to Worlds of Warcraft/Warcraft III? Where the people are slightly stylized but the world is "rendered" realistically?

 

[Ranger REG]

What they want is live-action with exaggerated CG and wire-fu effects. But since LOTR they prefer it to be subtle.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Or ...do you guys want exaggerated pseudo-realism? Like the cinemas to Worlds of Warcraft/Warcraft III? Where the people are slightly stylized but the world is "rendered" realistically?

As cool as a full-length movie created by Blizzard's cinematics team would be, it will probably never happen. The guys at Blizzard have stated that it would be far too expensive and time-consuming to make a full-length feature film with CG as high quality as that found in the Warcraft III/World of Warcraft cinematics. It takes them several months (sometimes a year or more) to create a 5-minute long cinematic sequence for a game, so a 90-minute long (or longer) movie would be out of the question.

Still, it's nice to dream.

 

[Ranger REG]

As cool as a full-length movie created by Blizzard's cinematics team would be, it will probably never happen. The guys at Blizzard have stated that it would be far too expensive and time-consuming to make a full-length feature film with CG as high quality as that found in the Warcraft III/World of Warcraft cinematics. It takes them several months (sometimes a year or more) to create a 5-minute long cinematic sequence for a game, so a 90-minute long (or longer) movie would be out of the question.

Still, it's nice to dream.

If anything, they looked at what Squaresoft have done with Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within, especially when they have already shut down their one and only CG film studio. Lesson learned.

Nah, they got to contract someone else who is in such a film business, like say Pixar.

 

[rbingham2000]

My vote is for a serious, realistically-drawn anime style. Something like Cowboy Bebop, City Hunter, or some of the grittier Samurai and Ninja stuff. Of course, this being an American audience, the gore will have to be kept to a modest minimum and nudity kept strictly off-limits if they want it to be accessible to the major networks.