Mail Desk
Ah! Another month has gone by so quickly! Everyone is graduating, looking for and starting new jobs, moving, or just plain traveling. Finally we have time to get caught up on all the latest DVDs and mangas that have been sitting in the unread and unopened stack. Hopefully, you have read all the reviews, so you have the best of the best to enjoy this summer! Contact us via email and let us know about your discovered gems of anime and manga! This month, we have criticism, compliments, and informative email bites.
Dear Animefringe,
I quickly ran through your magazine and am very exicted about its prospects. I
would like to see some
interviews with creators and character designs for a spotlighted anime. You have
a good start, now its
time for real content.
-sgw
Hi Shawn,
Thanks for checking out our May issue and writing us.
One comment does puzzle me and it is, "You have a good start, now its time for real content." Animefringe began back in January 2000 and has put out an issue every month since that time. So, we didn't just start.
Our archive can be found here: http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/
As for interviews, we try to do those whenever it is possible. Unfortunately, we do not have a Japanese translator on our staff (nor do we pay out staff), so getting interviews with anyone from Japan is quite a challenge unless we happen to attend a con.
I do like the idea for character designs as it would work if we ever made the leap to print or some other format other than php.
Thanks again for writing!
-Adam
Dear Animefringe,
Is it possible to buy doujinshi in America? If so where? Also I've kind
wandered what anime is like in Canada.
Moses
Hello Moses!
Susan and Maria, our premier consultants in Canada and the US have this advice:
Susan: Sure, the best way to buy doujinshi is at conventions, but I've bought some from eBay -- sometimes eBay has really great deals! There are actually several big (as in, they carried a variety of doujinshi for almost any manga/anime) online stores like JP Queen (www.jpqueen.com) that sell doujins straight from Japan. A few eBay sellers who live in Japan also offer to find any doujin for you, with a bit of service fee.
Anime in Canada is... well, depends on where you are. We don't have the Anime Network channel, so if you don't have satellite dish (and I don't have one), then you'll get most of your anime on Friday nights. These include: Gundam Seed, Inu Yasha, and hack.sign (They finished showing Witch Hunter Robin most recently.)
Maria: About Doujins - Specialty stores, bookstores like Kinokuniya, and even Borders now import raw manga, but doujinshi are a little more difficult to come by. There are services that some people provide to hunt for doujinshi for you, and if you can read enough Japanese, and the seller is able, a lot of art sites have links or information where you can buy their printed materials. And of course, eBay is always a good resource.
-Janet
Dear Animefringe,
very interesting article, but you make some pretty serious biblical errors. for
one thing, eve ate the fruit BEFORE she was expelled from the garden, not after
as you suggest. i think some of your points are valid, but you are making some
pretty big leaps with some of your analogy.
furthermore, the 'witches' hunted down and killed during the inquisition, were
often none other than women healers and herbalists whose ability to heal people
frightened the patriarchal church fathers.
i find it interesting that you compare robin to jesus rather than to a wise
woman
or a wiccan woman. yes, she is a messianic figure, but i think that her exile
and her search for identity have as much to do with her being a strong woman as
they do with her being some kind of messiah.
at any rate, i'm glad someone is addressing this fine series, which i think has
been overlooked by a lot of fans because of its complexity and its treatment of
religious themes.
debbie
Hi Debbie,
I’ll pass this over to Susan, the writer of the Witch Hunter Robin editorial in question.
Susan: Thanks for the mail. I don't recall writing that Eve was exiled before she consumed the fruit from the Tree, though. What I meant was, she was exiled from having so.
Yes, about the witches who were killed during the Inquisition, it may have started out that way, but power (i.e. church people), more often than not, lead to corruption. Soon the clergy, along with many others, started accusing others of witchcraft and killed them. When a supposed "witch" was killed, his/her land would automatically belong to the church--this could be another reason why witch-hunts were so rampant at the time.
Thank you again for having read my article. I appreciate your time and comments.
Sincerely,
Susan
Dear Animefringe,
when is the second one coming out? the first one was very good and my
friends and i are anxious for the next volume. i love haruka(:
Hello Fight Merchant Zanza,
I have no idea what you’re talking about, whether it’s Love Hina or FLCL. But Maria thinks you’re talking about her recent article on Tactics, so over to her.
Maria: If they're talking about Tactics, then I'd like to know when Volume 2 is coming out too. The only date I've seen has been May, which is about time, seeing as how the first volume has been around for half a year now. The offical ADV site doesn't have any release info more than three days ahead, so it's anyone's guess, I guess.
-Janet
Dear Animefringe,
Hie, my name's Aaron. I want to ask where i could find the
piano score for FFX To Zanarkand song? Can you tell me? Or send
to me? Thank You very very much!
Hi Aaron,
Susan: Okie doke. No guarantee on how accurate the score is, but there are dozens of downloadable songs from http://www.nobuouematsu.com/sheet2.html Check it out!
-Janet
Hey y'all!
I just read "Anime Debunked: Witch Hunter Robin" and I found it quite fascinating! However, I
wasn't sure if the biblical reference (the Ten Commandments) mentioned was correct. I have heard
that the catholic and christian bibles differ, but to what extent? I do not know. To be more
precise, I'm especially unsure about the last two. Could you check that up for me, please? Thanks!
Best regards,
Riku
Hi Riku,
Ouch!
Just thought I'd tell people this: I did use a Bible for my research! I used the King James version, and I even double-checked with my neighbor’s version (which is not King James)! Unless my Bible is "incorrect," I copied word-per-word from the Bible for the Ten Commandments!
-Susan
Dear Animefringe,
First of all I love the work you guys do here at the Fringe, as I've been a
dedicated reader for two years now.
Anyways, the question I have at hand is: Do you think it is "normal" to
have a crush on an anime character? Now it's not just finding a certain
character to be cute or attracive. I am talking about a full blown emotional
attachment on an anime girl that suddenely develops over a period of time.
Don't get me wrong. I do get out of the house and I have a pretty active
social life, so I am not one of those closet-otaku types. Plus I've been in
real-life relationships in the past (I haven't completely lost my marbles
yet). But this anime girl has been in my head for some THREE years now.
It's weird, but I'd like to say that she's my "ideal" girl that I wished
existed in reality. Though really the only way I can "meet" her is through
reading the manga and watching the anime she's in.
Not that I am speaking to a trained psychologist (unless you have one
staffed at AF) but is there something wrong with me, or is there some sort
of "mechanism" to my madness?
-Joe
Howdy Joe,
It’s not hard to understand why someone would fixate on an anime character. Like all literary creations, here is a person that you can easily understand and emphasize with, without all the hang-ups of a real-life relationship. They are always present when you want them, and go away when you want to be alone. And their creators make them so pretty to look at too! No wonder Video Girl AI is so popular!
Everyone has impossible crushes from time to time (hence the existence of most fanfiction), and it’s quite natural as long you understand that it’s no replacement for reality and it isn’t hampering your relationships with other people, comparing them to an unrealistic ideal. So as long you keep your love for your anime girl in its proper place, it shouldn’t be a problem at all.
-Janet
Dear Animefringe,
Hi
I first wanted thank you for discussing monster as well as you did. It is one of
my
favorite anime and I was wondering a few things.
1. Does VIZ have the rights to the anime and the manga of Monster? When are each
coming out?
2. The other title that you mentioned along with monster that you said was only
a
manga series and had yet to be animated, when is VIZ releasing the manga for
that one?
3. Does the manga of MOnster and the anime follow eachother closely and have
the same
ending? I don't want to know what the ending is I just wanted to know how
close they
are to eachother in terms of plot and resolution.
Thanks very much
Hello JWeber!
Maria, our resident Monster expert has all the details:
1. VIZ Media has the rights to the manga, but right now the anime is still unlicensed. Monster is scheduled for a release date of October 4th, so you’re your fingers crossed!
2. 20th Century Boys is in limbo. I haven't seen a release date for the title.
3. I have been told, but don't know first hand, that the anime is extremely loyal to the manga, and that the plot of both is basically parallel.
-Janet
Dear Animefringe,
hi mr. arnold. a couple of weeks ago, i was playing your taiko drum master game. so
much fun playing that i even wanted to play it. looking on the internet, i find out
that it's only on playstation 2, not gamecube. i have gamecube so i can't buy this
game. i want this game so badly. it's a fun way to relieve one's stress by pounding
out their problems onto a game. so, if u could consider putting this game onto
gamecube. Donkey konga is on gamecube, but i rather have taiko drum master instead.
if people like Donkey Konga, they would love to play taiko even more.
Thank you very much for reading my message
Hello!
Adam says thank you for the praise, but unfortunately, he did not make Taiko Drum Master, and is thus unable to offer it on all current platforms.
-Janet
Dear Janet,
As I'm sure you are aware, the anime series Samurai Champloo has recently
completed its 26
episode run. I'm doubting that there will be a second season, but do you know
if there will be
other Champloo related features like a movie (a la Cowboy Bebop style) or OVAs,
etc. ? Thanks
for all of your hard work!
Sincerely,
Kate
Hi Kate!
Well, Samurai Champloo is still a new title, and you know how much time passed between Cowboy Bebop and the movie. I’d love to see more of this series too, but I doubt that they’ll make a movie myself. It just wouldn’t fit into the freestyle urban style of the series, unless they decided to take an entirely different direction in the movie.
-Janet
Dear Animefringe,
i found out everything about fma.................
pride is king bradley he has the symbol under his left eye patch and envy turns
into
gen. armstrong and ed saves al in the last episode and al gets his body back but
instead of leting him die the gate sends him to another demention.........i
cried..............and envy is al and eds brother......
Hello Pink Frosting 2005,
Thanks for letting us know.
-Janet
Dear Sirs;
I have to say that I’m disappointed with AnimeFringe. In April you
ran an article by Maria Lin in which she expressed her disappointment
in the conclusion to the FullMetal Alchemist anime. As neither
FUNimation’s DVD release nor Cartoon Network’s airings of the show
have even started the second season yet, Ms. Lin can only have seen
the end of FMA as a downloaded fansub. Since FUNimation announced
their license to FMA in May 2004, and the second season only ended its
Japanese run in October 2004, it is therefore obvious that Ms. Lin’s
fansubs were created, posted and downloaded in violation of the good
faith rules that supposedly govern fansubbing.
I’m sure you are aware of these rules: once the North American license
to a show has been obtained all fansub activity on that title must
cease immediately and all previously subbed episodes must be deleted
from fansub download sites. Clearly, both Ms. Lin and the site from
which she obtained her fansubs violated this rule. While ‘legitimate’
fansubbing is currently tolerated by the anime industry, illegitimate
fansubbing is piracy, pure and simple, and steals money directly from
those who create the anime we love to watch.
I had hoped in April that AnimeFringe’s editors had simply missed the
implications of Ms. Lin’s column, but in this month’s Mail Desk you
have posted numerous letters commenting on Ms. Lin’s column, all (or
at least most) of which must have been written by people who had also
obtained illegitimate fansubs of FMA. At this point the connections
are too obvious to miss, and since I have no reason to question either
the intelligence or the industry knowledge of AnimeFringe’s editorial
staff, I can only conclude that you have published this material with
full knowledge that it is based on fansub piracy. In reviewing your
site, I was unable to find any place where AnimeFringe has taken a
specific stance on fansubbing, so I (and any other reader) can only
conclude that Ms. Lin’s article effectively represents AnimeFringe’s
editorial policy, and that you therefore support illegitimate
fansubbing.
Over the years I have read many letters published in the Mail Desk
from new fans looking for help from AnimeFringe in finding their way
into the world of anime. It saddens me to think that you do not seem
concerned with setting a better example for them.
Matthew Maruca
Hello Matthew,
In order to discuss a series in depth, you need to see a lot of the show. Reviewers in the entertainment field, reviewers in period receive advance copies and screeners in order to form an opinion and write it with correct facts. Additionally, you will notice that under all of the editorials that we publish is a disclaimer. -Janet
Adam, our editor-in-chief, has this to add:
For the record, the only way to write a truly all-encompassing and in-depth article about a show that has been licensed, yet not released is to download a fansub!
I know for a fact that Wizard's Anime Insider DOES download fansubs. Heck, I even uploaded some to their FTP before so they could screen cap them and fact check.
Do anime cons show fansubs for licensed shows? YES.
Has AnimeNation played a fansub of Hare+Guu at cons because they hadn't yet gotten started on their own licensed adaptation? YES.
Do fansubs hurt the anime industry? No, bad anime does and so does flooding the market.
What's more...not everything that is licensed gets brought all over the world. Australia and Europe get screwed the most because they tend to have to wait much longer than North America for series. Fansubs do have their place.
-Adam
Hello,
My name is Shannon Fay! Im a healthcare professional and have no clue what
animefringe is about.
My friend googled me and was asking me if I had a secret life! It made for a
funny conversation!
Nice to meet you!
Shannon
Hi Shannon!
Nice to meet you too!
-Janet
Dear Animefringe,
Hi my name is Ronald Chin, I am a college senior at Pace University.
Recently I started an organization at the college to promote anime and
gaming. I was doing some research on the internet and I stumbled upon
your website. I find the site to be quite informative and very useful
as an anime fanatic like myself. I was also looking for promotional,
media and advertisement kits too and I was wondering if you guys have
any of these resources available. If you do, that's terrific because I
want to promote anime at my college and with your partnership we can
spread the influence and help keep anime as one of the most popular
aspects of our popular culture in today's society. Thank you for taking
your time to read my email. If you need my personal contact information
to send the kits and other media, please email me.
Sincerely,
Ronald Chin
President and Co-Founder of Pace Anime and Gamers Association
Hi Ronald!
A lot of companies offer anime clubs freebie copies in order to promote anime and manga, so I would recommend searching their websites for contact information. I seem to remember seeing ADV advertising an affiliate program, where clubs receive discounts and the occasional free goodie in the mail, so I would recommend them. Good luck!
-Janet
Dear Animefringe,
Although I have yet to see much of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime (only half
of one episode on cartoon network), I believe I have something to add to the
discussion. In the May 2005 mail desk, Bosco suggested that the Elric
Brothers may be responsible for the Holocaust. Your response included the
statement "I'd have to say the Elric brothers are a particular incarnation
of evil, where the ignorant use of their power is so phenominal that they
could bring a whole universe down and not even realize it was their fault."
I believe you may be on to something here, because the name "Elric" has
appeared before in literature. There was a character named Elric who was
the protagonist of several novels by Michael Moorcock, and is by some
regarded as the archetype of the evil protagonist.
Taking this into account, it is distinctly possible that the Elric brothers
are, indeed, supposed to be an incarnation of evil. This, however, is at
odds with how much sympathy is garnered for them (at least, in the manga,
which diverges grossly from what the anime appears to do), unless the
purpose of the series is to show that evil is not always obvious, and
sometimes comes hidden in ways that we fail to notice until it is too late,
and the damage is done.
Well, that's just my two cents.
-Janothar
Hello Janothar,
Hey, I like the Elric series! But you raise a good point.
-Janet
And with that final Fullmetal Alchemist email, we sign off on another bulging issue of Animefringe goodness! Contact us with your idle questions, serious pet theories, and middle-of-the-road inquiries while you suntan! Stay frosty!