Archive for the ‘Ask John’ Category

Ask John: Why is Halloween an Infrequently Seen Holiday in Anime?

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

Question:
I have seen many anime shows where characters are celebrating many different occasions including Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, Obon festival, and Golden Week. I noticed that many anime shows do not have the characters celebrate Halloween. The only anime that comes to mind is “Blood: The Last Vampire” movie, but the Halloween celebration occurred on an American army base. Do the Japanese celebrate Halloween? If so, why is it not predominant in anime as Christmas or Valentine’s Day?

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Ask John: Why Isn’t There Any Shoujo Anime on American TV?

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

Question:
A bit of a follow up on your question to list the top 10 reasons why the American anime industry is in decline. One of the reasons you mentioned was a lack of shojo anime on T.V. Why do you think the reason is for this? I know that Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura did pretty well on T.V., so why have no other big name shojo anime had any success since then?

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Ask John: What’s John’s Opinion of Candy Boy?

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

Question:
What’s your opinion of Candy Boy (the original ONA and the 7 episode series that’s being released)?

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Ask John: Does American Support Really Help the Anime Industry?

Friday, September 26th, 2008

Question:
I know of some people who don’t care about the decline in domestically-released anime because “they can get it for free anyway.” I want to say that the decline in anime released here will have an impact on anime being made in Japan, but I’m not certain about that. Since anime in Japan is also experiencing a slight downturn recently, could some of this be due to fewer titles being licensed in other countries? Would further decline in the United States negatively affect the anime industry in Japan, or would it not make much of a difference?

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Ask John: What’s the Future of Anime on TV?

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

Question:
A few weeks ago Adult Swim pushed Code Geass and Moribito to the 5:00 and 5:30 slots and Toonami has ended their run. Why is Cartoon Network airing less anime?

What is the future of anime on TV, since Adult Swim is moving anime to dead hours, Fuse is dropping its block, and Sci-fi is moving anime to one night only from which it was originally launched both Monday & Tuesday?

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Ask John: Is There A Reason For Characters Having Unusual Eyes?

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Question:
What’s with anime characters often having two different colored eyes or having one eye that is different or odd (also known as heterochromia)? I’ve also noticed that a lot of anime characters have eye patches that may cover a peculiar eye that either looks different or imbues some kind of power, such as Ryomou in Ikki Tousen and Sven in Black Cat. Is there a cultural basis or meaning behind heterochromatic eyes, or is this just a design trend and/or another method of visually distinguishing a character? For example, I can see no plot or character reason for the different color eyes of the twins in Rozen Maiden other than them being mirror images of each other, which suggests design aesthetic. But Sven’s eye in Black Cat can see the future, which suggests a cultural or plot-related motive.

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Ask John: Will Xam’d Get a DVD Release?

Monday, September 22nd, 2008

Question:
The Xam’d: Lost Memories anime is on the Playstation Network, but what about a release on Blu-ray or DVD? Any chance to see the Bones anime on any of the 2 media [from] anybody but Sony? Look how great the release of Blood+ is going. Could the Funimation empire get involved? They buy everything!

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Ask John: What Anime Are So Bad They’re Good?

Friday, September 19th, 2008

Question:
One popular concept with American movie fans is the idea of, “So bad its good,” where an incredibly cheesy plot, wooden acting, terrible special effects, etc. add up to an incredibly entertaining package. Most of the time this is unintentional, where it just so happened that a low budget, poor actors, and incompetent directing produced it. It seems that this is popular enough that movies are intentionally made to be this way, movies like Snakes on a Plane, Planet Terror, Mars Attacks, Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.

So my question is, could some really, really, poorly made anime possibly be intentionally made to be so bad its good? I mean, some stuff is so mind bogglingly bad it makes you wonder if they didn’t do this on purpose, like Musashi Gundoh?

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Ask John: What Are the Top Ten Reasons for Anime’s Decline in America?

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Question:
What are top 10 reasons why the anime industry decline in Japan and North America?

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Ask John: Why is Wolf & Spice More Popular Than Wagaya no Oinarisama?

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

Ask John: Why is Wolf & Spice More Popular Than Wagaya no Oinarisama?

Question:
Why hasn’t Wagaya no Oinarisama received as much notice as Spice & Wolf in the States?

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Ask John: Will Blu-ray Discs Ever Contain Complete Anime Series?

Monday, September 15th, 2008

Question:
Do you think it will be feasible to release an entire anime series on a single Blu-Ray disc?

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Ask John: Is It Wrong to Like Lolicon?

Friday, September 12th, 2008

Question:
Is it wrong to like lolicon?

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Ask John: Why Doesn’t Gainax Produce Long Anime Series?

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Question:
Some of Gainax’s series are not only capable of being longer, but deserve to be longer - Evangelion and Gurren Lagann spring instantly to mind. Yet the studio has repeatedly said that they couldn’t do a series longer than 26 episodes. They’ve said that anything past the 26th episode would bankrupt the studio. Why is that? Plenty of other studios make series that are longer than 26 episodes, and those studios don’t even have the standing or name recognition of Gainax. How can studios like that afford to make longer series while Gainax says they can’t handle it financially?

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Ask John: Will There Ever Be a Zero no Tsukaima Movie?

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Question:
Will there be a Zero no Tsuakima movie, as popular the anime is?

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Ask John: Why Do Anime Characters Wince With Only One Eye?

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Question:
Why is it so many anime characters have a tendency to close one eye when they are experiencing pain or straining themselves?

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