AnimeNation Anime News Blog

Question:
What exactly is the difference between Shoujo-ai and Yuri and Shonen-ai and Yaoi? I’ve always been told that Shonen-ai and Shoujo-ai deal with crushes and romances between characters of the same sex and that Yuri and Yaoi deal with pornography and erotica between characters of the same sex. But, some sources say that the terms are interchangeable, Shoujo-ai with Yuri and Shonen-ai with Yaoi, what the real truth here?

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Question:
What’s the significance of all-girl high schools? I’ve recently seen a slew of all-girl schools in anime like K-On!, Girls Und Panzer and the recently premiered Yuyushiki. It looks interesting.

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Question:
What is your take on the Aku no Hana controversy? Few shows have generated such amount of animosity and criticism with just the first episode alone. So, why do you think Western fandom hated Aku no Hana so much and is that hate justified?

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Question:
You recently posted about anime based around golf. I’ve personally seen anime about libraries, and have heard about anime based around other seemingly obscure careers. So it made we wonder, are there any anime based around my career of Graphic Design/Graphic Art?

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Question:
Does Iron Man fill a void for Japanese otaku who miss mecha-themed shows? I’ve noticed that, thanks to the Robert Downey, Jr. films, Iron Man seems to be one of the few Marvel properties crossing over into that country, to the point that they’re getting the new one before us. While it’s true that Japan still has hit home-grown mecha properties which the public can enjoy, such as Gundam and Evangelion, the new incarnations of these series are simply variations of their predecessors, and nothing really new in of themselves. So, for them, even though it’s decades old in America, Iron Man might be the first “new” mecha anything they’ve seen in ages, which is why they embrace it more than the usual Marvel characters. Or maybe Iron Man’s just another big-budget FX film which does well in Japan because its a big-budget FX film.

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Question:
Apparently One Piece is returning to Toonami in May. As much as I love One Piece and am excited about the news, I’m worried about how it’ll be received. While most hardcore anime fans know it was never really reflective of the series, the 4Kids dub (argued by many to literally be the worst English dub of all time) left a horrible taste in the mouths of countless casual anime fans who don’t know anything about the original or the Funimation dub. When I tried talking to my brother about it, he called it “that retarded show about pirates” then started quoting the old rap song. Not only that, but between online piracy, the legal distribution of viewing One Piece episodes online, and many sub-only fans being fanatically anti-dub, I’m a little concerned if audiences will still eat up the show. The climate for anime on TV just doesn’t seem as receptive as it was back when DBZ hit Toonami around ’99. I think audiences would love the show if they gave it a chance, and I’d like to see that happen, but I’m really just not sure what’ll happen.

What are your thoughts, John, and what advice would you give Funimation and Toonami?

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Question:
In your opinion what are the best anime speeches?

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Question:
Since this is Masters Week, I have to ask is there any anime that predominantly or exclusively focuses on golf?

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Question:
In a recent column, Guilty Crown was listed as being a universally recognized “bad” anime. I was mystified, because long before I read this, I had watched Guilty Crown and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn’t understand everything that went on, but I didn’t understand everything that went on in some Cowboy Bebop episodes, and those are considered classic. In fact, I found Guilty Crown a real “page turner” — I was tearing through episodes because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. So please tell me why Guilty Crown is considered bad.

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Question:
There’s something that’s been confusing me about people who don’t like dubs and prefer literal subtitles when they watch anime. The people I’ve come across who prefer watching anime subtitled literally in Japanese usually watch more anime than read manga/light novels/play visual novels. My question is, if they want to appreciate a work as close to the original as possible, then why do they watch the anime instead of reading the manga/light novels/playing the visual novels? And if they want to see literal subtitles, is it hypocritical for them to want Japanese words/honorifics left in because they have special meanings, yet they don’t leave in the different pronouns for “I” because they all have special meanings too?

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Question:
Long ago you once said something along the lines of, “Sometimes it helps to watch a horrible anime to refresh the palette,” since watching only good stuff all the time would keep you from telling the difference as much. So, to you I ask what are the worst animes of all time you’d recommend to somebody who’s deliberately trying to watch something bad? I usually try avoiding horrible animes so the only ones I can think of are the 4Kids dub of One Piece and the TV (not OVA) series for Record of Lodoss War.

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Question:
I saw Rose of Versailles recently and I really enjoyed it. I was just wondering but are there any other animes which feature a crossdressing main protagonist?

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Question:
Why was the old Russian/Soviet WW2 song “Katyusha” cut from the Crunchyroll webcast of “Girls und Panzer” episode 8?

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Question:
As I find myself in my 30′s now, the anime that I always go back to, my anime version of comfort food, is 1987′s Kimagure Orange Road TV series. No matter how many anime I watch, no many how many anime seasons pass, KOR is still my favorite anime of all time. I have two questions. Firstly, what’s the anime that you find yourself returning to whenever you want to feel happy. And lastly, I find myself always wondering if I missed something. I also love Maison Ikkoku, Touch, etc, but are there any other anime from that time period that evoke the same balance of nostalgia, romance, drama, animation style and comedy that KOR does?

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Question:
I had never really heard of Kochikame before but it attracted my attention because Toei released a crossover special of One Piece and DBZ and it featured the main character from Kochikame. When I looked up Kochikame I was surprised – the series has been around since the 1970′s, has had over 100 manga volumes and once had a tv series that reached nearly 400 episodes! That made me curious because a series that is able to last that long usually has something special going on for it. Yet, I’d never heard of it before in the American fandom which is very odd for a current popular Shonen Jump series. What I’d like to know, John, is 3 things…. What is it about Kochikame which makes the series so special to Japanese fans? Why have American fans paid so little attention to this series? And what are your personal views on how receptive Americans fans might be to a release of this show?

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