Comments for Super Spong Brothers

Comment on Price Per Episode — The Great Devaluing of Anime by Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:28:04 +0000

You spent £242.70 on Magipoka…..???!!! Don’t you think you might be living just a tad beyond your means…???

Comment on Price Per Episode — The Great Devaluing of Anime by Shiroi Hane

Shiroi Hane — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 02:17:37 +0000

I still only have the first Magipoka box set. At the time I started importing it the second volume seemed to be OOP so I never bothered getting volume 3. Then V2 turned back up on Yesasia but since then I’ve been to busy buying newer things.
I do still want to complete the set some day, since it isn’t ever going to be licensed now.

Comment on Price Per Episode — The Great Devaluing of Anime by Ritsu

Ritsu — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:20:37 +0000

It doesn’t matter how cheap it is in Japan, and here’s why.

Your average consumer shopping around on Amazon.com is looking to buy some entertainment. Now, he’s a huge nerd… so he decides to check the price of anime. He finds that Haruhi S2 is around $65 MSRP or $45 on Amazon. Searching for other shows he likes, he then discovers that season 6 of Lost is $60 MSRP/$40 online.

So which do you think he’s going to buy? The set of DVDs containing a 350 minutes of anime that was critically derided and loathed by the otaku fandom? Or the DVDs containing over 700 minutes of a critically-acclaimed American TV show? Putting aside the respective quality of each series for a moment, it would appear that buying Lost is by far the better deal, since you’re getting twice as much entertainment for your hard-earned money.

Your average consumer doesn’t care about Bandai’s financial situation, the price of DVDs in Japan, or the price of tea in China. He’s only looking for the best deal. If Bandai can’t price their anime competitively, everybody except the hardcore fans like you and me will take their business elsewhere. After all, they think to themselves, when Haruhi is so readily available on fansubs and Crunchyroll, why pay for it? It’s unfortunate, but true.

Oh, and <3 Magipoka. That series is epic.

Comment on English Haruhi Light Novel Uses a.f.k.’s Fan-Translation by Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 16 May 2010 12:14:53 +0000

And Yves is a faggot for not realizing that Strato’s work is the kind we need for fans who don’t know whether the series will be translated for them.

Comment on Miku Hatsune — Broken Neck by Jamie Spong

Jamie Spong — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 22:37:01 +0000

I got mine from Play-Asia, but these things tend to sell out quickly. I’d tell you to try somewhere like J-List or Tokyotoys, but she’s not in stock there, either.

I just noticed that I’ve spelt ‘practice’ incorrectly. 11 months and I never noticed it.

Comment on Miku Hatsune — Broken Neck by Abbie

Abbie — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:39:39 +0000

Oh dear, poor miku. Hey do you know where i could find a miku hatsune figma in the UK?

Comment on MangaGamer Revisited — Oral Stage by /jp/edo

/jp/edo — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:17:49 +0000

Mainstream buyers of VNs? Hey, I like them as much as you do but let’s not kid ourselves, we’re not going to be seeing VNs sold at Wal-Mart any day soon. Companies like this know that they’re selling a niche product, so they cater to that niche as well as they can. It’s the same thing with a lot of niche anime, they have to cater to their audience, which is made up of people who for the most part don’t give a fuck about honorifics.

Comment on MangaGamer Revisited — Oral Stage by Jamie Spong

Jamie Spong — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:46:34 +0000

“You’re effectively rewriting the work (though on a small scale) just to make it sound nicer.”

Um, that’s what translation is. You’re making it sound like copy-editing is a bad thing.
I agree that visual novels won’t reach the mainstream until, say, the BBC commission a Doctor Who-themed novel game. But, as mentioned before, this practice isn’t limited to visual novels. MangaGamer is, unfortunately, just one example of the bad translation practices of modern Anglo-Japanese subculture.
I’m tempted to ask you if you’re kidding. Knowledge of honourifics does not equate to understanding.

Comment on MangaGamer Revisited — Oral Stage by Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:32:14 +0000

Are you serious? You keep referring to a potential mainstream audience for visual novels. Even in Japan there is no main stream audience for them. How the heck do you expect one to pop up in the west? Most people who read visual novels are the type of people who understand that it is a translated work, and they don’t mind that. They don’t need its origin to be desperately hidden. The translated script should be kept as close as possible to the original’s meaning. When you just randomly change from calling someone by their last name to first you’re losing meaning. You’re effectively rewriting the work (though on a small scale) just to make it sound nicer.

Comment on MangaGamer Revisited — Oral Stage by Anon

Anon — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:02:48 +0000

There are those who want honorifics in (possibly a vocal minority), those who want them completely out (a smaller vocal minority, including yourself), and the vast majority of the public who doesn’t care either way.

If there was a sizeable group who was angry about honorifics like yourself, then fansubs wouldn’t include them, anime and manga companies wouldn’t include them, and MangaGamer wouldn’t include them. However honestly, most of the public doesn’t really care one way or the other. If they did, more main stream companies like Funimation would not include them. MangaGamer is a small company, they are going along with the norm and basing their policies on what they think those buying the games want instead of experimenting. I am sure the much larger companies like Funimation and TokyoPop have done research on what makes the most sense business wise.

Personally, I would prefer honorifics in the event that the script is voiced in Japanese and the setting is a school like environment. However I am not a fan of hearing them in dubs, but I usually watch subs so that doesn’t mean much to me.