Friday, April 1, 2005

   Censors

(Upcoming post is purely based my own opinions and feelings. No need to flame. ^^)

I haven't been commenting on this issue much of late, since I don't consider myself a whining obsessee anymore (I've grown up, thx xD). However, I'm just gonna rant about this issue because I'm scared of what these companies might do to my favourite titles.

Anyways, the discussion on the censors by Viz on their recently licensed title I"s has come to my attention. I wouldn't have thought it was a big issue if that was the only edit but I just realized that Viz was pretty stupid to do something like that. I've been pretty happy with them since they started changing their manga formats but I got irritated when they came out editing and changing some of their titles (mainly the Shounen Jump ones). It's even more irritating that they're editing titles in their new SJA line. What's the point of starting a new line aimed at an older audience when you're treating that audience that same as the SJ one? They're losing money due to boycotting now, and they're losing many of their previous supporters. If those older people who have been with them for a long time give up on them, then they're losing a lot of revenue since it's in my opinion that children don't stay with fads for long. The audience they're aiming these things at may be interested in their products for a month or so, but after that, they'll stop buying them and can lose interest easily. However, the audience they're losing are the dedicated ones who really show an interest in their products. Viz has been here for a long time and should know the fanbase by now. What, have they forgotten about us now and are only thinking about what the kids want? It seems like everything the older population likes, the kids will in time start to like meaning that it will no longer be for the older audience and we'll have to find another pasttime. Wow, thanks Viz. We certainly feel like you care about our interests. ¬¬

What scares me is that Viz just licensed Full Metal Alchemist and maybe even Full Moon wo Sagashite. They've already started controversy on One Piece (another of my favourites) so I'm scared of what they might do. FMwS isn't as a big a worry as FMA because it doesn't have any nudity or anything of the like. And I'm usually not one who complains about the soundeffects translations covering up the art but with this title, I really hope they just add little translations on the bottom. I won't complain if they don't but with art like Tanemura's which is really so beautiful and full of emotion, it'd be a shame if any part of it just cut off or the like. However, FMA is full of eeriness and has such a dark atmosphere, and the artwork can get pretty gruesome (scary gruesome) so I'm scared to know what they might do with it. I'm hoping they don't edit anything in FMA and FMwS (assuming they actually did license FMwS) just because their stories are so well done and it depends on the artwork a lot to convery the feeling that the artist meant. It's not just eye-candy... It's what helps you to understand what the characters are feeling.

Ahh, I really hope that they don't ruin these titles... The One Piece anime was already ruined, I've learned to live with that because the graphic novels are pretty decent, plus I download the fansubs and scanlations anyways, and the FMA anime's dub is actually really good, in my opinion. Since the FMwS anime isn't really anything I care a lot about (it's good and all, but compared to the manga's story...), I don't really care too much about it at the moment. (Plus, it hasn't been licensed yet. xD) The mangas for FMA and FMwS, however... I'd probably still end up buying them anyways though... Just to support Tanemura and Arakawa and so that I can marvel at the unedited parts of their artwork.

On a less controversial note, I'm almost done the characters pages for my FMwS site. :D Joy!

Comments (0)