Tag: anime

That Whole “Netflix-Evangelion” Thing…

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I recently read an article online about Netflix’s licensing issues with adding the popular anime series, Neon Genesis Evangelion to their streaming service. While I was excited by the idea of a new generation having an opportunity to watch one of my favorite anime of all time, when I read the details of it’s release, I was a bit disappointed.

ADV Films, the studio who originally released the English-dubbed version of the series and the two films, collapsed in 2009. This is where the license issue comes into play. Netflix is unable to use the original voice cast, and instead, is using a brand new cast of voice actors. Kudos to the new actors. But, as a die hard fan of the series, I can’t imagine anyone else providing the voice of Asuka other than Tiffany Grant. And if you’ve seen The End of Evangelion , then you know no one else can do Shinji’s scream except Spike Spencer. 

Eva

On top of all of this, the closing theme song, “Fly Me to the Moon”, is NOT included in the North American release on Netflix. It is included, on Netflix in Japan. So, new voice cast, no “Fly Me to the Moon”…Netflix, I’m beginning to think you shouldn’t have taken on this project in the first place. For viewers who have never watched the series, none of this will make much of a difference. But, for people like me who grew up with this show, it’s kind of a slap in the face.

Will this release be successful? Only time will tell. 

PS: to any Hollywood studio out there thinking about making this series into a live-action film, DON’T. You’ll probably screw that up, too. 

Finding Inspiration Through Nostalgia

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cover of the hand written edition of Valentine 2
cover of Chaos Theory
cover of Vengeance Angel Yuka

The covers of some of my hand-written books, anime inspired…

 

 

I’m currently reading Jen Sincero’s “You Are A Badass”, and I read a passage that suggested going back to your childhood, and thinking about the things you were passionate about. It sounded like pretty solid advice, so I took a moment to think.

I’m a writer, and its something I’ve always been passionate about. I’ve been writing books for myself since second grade, and I’d like to think, my skills as a story teller have improved over the years. Every now and then, I develop a case of Writer’s Block, and I find myself feeling a bit uninspired. But, I have found a way to pull myself together, and start writing again. I went back to my childhood, to when I started writing more detailed books, with chapters and developed characters. This happened when I was about eleven or twelve. I would wake up early on Saturday morning, around 4:30 or 5:00, and start writing.  Back then, I worked on two or three books at a time. I was always excited to finish a book, and draw the cover, make a spine label and place my Woolaston Entertainment logo on the back cover. I even kept a hand-written spread sheet of stats for my books: how may chapters, pages, dates for starting and completing each book, etc. I was my own publisher, and I LOVED it.

Whenever I find myself at a loss for anything, I think about those days. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was building something very special and very important back then: I was building me.

Monday Blog: 1995: The Obsession Begins

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The first “Enos” comic, 1996
Sample pages from the “Enos” comic

 

Greetings, everyone. Welcome to the first Monday Blog for August 2017. This month’s theme concerns WE comics. Today, I’d like to take you on a little trip, all the way back to 1995….

 

WE was only seven months old or so. During the summer of 1995, I started watching a lot of anime, and my interest in manga (graphic novels) was beginning to stir. I woke up early every weekday morning to watch Sailor Moon on UPN (or My9, or whatever it’s called now). I rented a ton of VHS tapes from Blockbuster Video, since their anime section was fairly decent. I was able to see Slayers and Akira. This led me to create a comic of my own: the Enos series I’ve mentioned in previous blogs.  I drew the first of what was going to be a series of comics, in 1996, but decided I could write the book faster than draw a comic, so Enos became a series of books instead.

Every time I rented an anime video from Blockbuster, I made a list of all of the previews which aired before the feature. Then I’d look for those other titles. In high school, I discovered Animerica Magazine, which exposed me to a whole new world of anime and manga titles to explore. I read Galaxy Express 999, which led me to Queen Emeraldas and Captain Harlock. But, I wasn’t only interested in shojo (girl’s) material; I later discovered Kohta Hirano’s Hellsing manga, and watched both versions of the anime that followed. Blue Seed, El Hazard, Dirty Pair, Cutie Honey, Bubblegum Crisis, Bastard!, Sorcerer Hunters, The Devil Lady, Neon Genesis Evangelion…I could keep going and going. All of these titles and more, inspired the WE comics, which later inspired the WE books.

 

Apart from Enos, I drew humorous comics, and used some of the characters you’ve met in the Our Lady books.  Dee had her own series, titled Seybrook, while Amy and David were featured in Sarconi. Mike and Vanessa, were featured in Mike and Vanessa. These three comics became part of a calendar I created in 1998.

Who would have thought, all those years of watching anime and reading manga, would lead to this point? It just goes to show you: your hobbies may not necessarily be a complete waste of time.

 

Until next week…