Category: Ask John

Question: I’ve noticed that in the discussion about Geneon ceasing US DVD distribution, note is often made of how many niche shows Geneon licensed compared to other companies.

Question: What series would you consider original? Are there any series today that can be truly called original? I want something new and refreshing. Also, please say what

Question: Who decides the bands that are played on the openings/closings for anime and why haven’t any metal bands like Sigh been used for opening/closing themes?

Question: Why is it so expensive to license anime for American release? Many anime do not get licensed because it would be too expensive. Shouldn’t the Japanese license

Question: Why is it in just about every anime I see featuring ninjas or samurai, they wear bandages? In Outlaw Star, Suzuka wore them around her chest, as

Question: Some American fans seem to get upset when swear words appear in English translations of anime. Among them, there are those who argue that Japanese does not

Question: With the Geneon announcements, is the anime industry really in that bad of shape in the US? I know they’ve never been pulling in profit hand over

Question: Why did Geneon Entertainment “exit” R1 distribution? Are they going to continue functioning at all in the States? What will happen to the titles they distribute, especially

Question: The new Evangelion movie opened in September. When will it come here to America? My guess is that Manga Entertainment or ADV Films will pick up the

Question: I’ve noticed that recently there haven’t been much anime feature films being released. What I mean is that, though there are anime movies being released, they all

Question: How aware of anime/manga fandom in the English speaking world are the Japanese public in general? An issue of American Shonen Jump about 18 months ago mentioned

Question: Are there any shoujo mecha anime other than Magic Knight Rayearth? If no, why? Do girls hate robots or something?

Question: I watched the DVD only episode of Moon Phase and while the rest of the series was good stuff, the DVD episode was a horrible pile of

Question: (Yeah here’s a doozy for ya mr.john better anwser it. Sure you had same questions like this over and over.) I got total respect for you otakus

Question: Do you think it is possible that there will be a U.S. version of Japan’s National General Anime Culture Knowledge Certification Exam? Should all of the American