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Neko-sensei
Joined: 19 Jan 2007
Posts: 283
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Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 5:59 pm
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The commentaries on the old Eureka Seven DVDs are a case study in this duality—the crew commentaries are highly illuminating and even revelatory (good enough to make you rewatch the series with some of the new insights), while the cast commentaries mostly consist of speculation about which characters are sadists and which are masochists.
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Key
Moderator
Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18214
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
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Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 7:20 pm
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Hawkmoth wrote: | I heard somewhere that there was a commentary recorded for Perfect Blue, but it either doesn't exist or could not be brought over to the west. If the latter, I shall commence crying immediately. |
The original Manga Video release in the States did include an interview with Kon, but I've never heard anything about an audio commentary that I can recall.
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Ringking
Joined: 14 Sep 2009
Posts: 338
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Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 8:19 pm
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Cant say I miss them personally. Commentary tracks, be they English or Japanese, are pretty dull, always just the director or voice actor prattling on about 'oh, that character is voice acted by that person who I worked with before on blah blah blah blah bah'. They would be more interesting if they where commenting on what is actually on the screen. As far as I'm concerned, leave them out unless they are in-character commentaries.
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#861208
Joined: 07 Oct 2016
Posts: 423
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Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 10:04 pm
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If it's someone you really love, commentary tracks are fun. I could listen to Shouta Aoi or Toshiki Masuda talk about anything for hours, and fall apart with excitement every time.
But they should try to translate actual interviews, like ones from print magazines... that would probably be interesting...
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relyat08
Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
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Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:10 pm
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ScruffyKiwi wrote: | The Bakamonogarati release by Hanabee in AU/NZ luckily has the commentary tracks. These are amazing as they are done by the different voice actors in character. They are a MUST LISTEN for fans!!! |
I've listened to a few of these on Youtube. They are indeed interesting. I definitely enjoyed them, but it was not at all what I expected from a cast commentary. They also recorded the あとがたり stuff though which is a little bit more similar to what a normal commentary is usually like, in my experience.
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reanimator
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Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:41 pm
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Casual fans of anime or movies don't care about audio commentaries in general. It's the hardcore fans, who are starved for information about shows they like, are willing to spend extra for whatever stuffs that their favorite actor, director, or artist talks about. It makes sense for local publishers not wasting money to please casual fans who are not that appreciative about bonus features like audio commentaries.
Answerman wrote: | Commentary tracks from Japan can also be a nightmare to get permission to include on a US or Western release. They often are only cleared for release in Japan, and need additional clearances from the actors' or director's management to make available overseas. (This often requires more money.) Sometimes the company that owns the commentary is NOT the same company licensing the rights to overseas publishers, and if the licensor doesn't want to bother with trying to get permission, they're just going to shut down any attempt to obtain it. |
What you pay is what you get, right? Everything cost time and money to produce...
Answerman wrote: | And while director commentaries can be very enlightening and informative, actor commentaries usually... aren't. While you might get a behind-the-scenes anecdote or two, most of what you get is wacky actor-banter and reactions to the show as it's playing. Which might be mildly entertaining if it's in your native language, but can be pretty exhausting to watch subtitled. |
Wacky Actor banter was what I got when I heard Princess Jellyfish English voice actor audio commentary. I thought, "that's it? I was expecting more...".
It is exhausting to watch subtitled audio commentary if not paying good attention. Even though I'm used to watch anime in subtitles only, the subtitle matching the speed of casual Japanese speech is difficult follow and sometimes I had to rewind the video again.
Answerman wrote: | There are a few scattered other releases over the years that include commentary tracks licensed from Japan, and lots more with American voice actors (which are cheap and easy to produce -- no subtitling required). But as DVD bonus features stopped being an important selling point and started being a luxury, publishers were no longer interested in investing the time and money required to license them, subtitle them, or produce them from scratch. It's a shame. Hopefully it's something we'll be able to see again, someday. |
It would be nice if Japanese audio commentary returns, but the way things are right now local publishers might have to create slightly higher priced edition to justify the cost of licensing the Japanese audio commentary. More anime titles are coming out in premium/collector edition, but honestly I don't know how many of them have added Japanese audio commentary though. And that's something people who bought local premium/collector editions could comment on.
I'm not a fan of dubs so I'd rather buy regular edition if premium/collector edition only has dub voice actor audio commentary.
#861208 wrote: | But they should try to translate actual interviews, like ones from print magazines... that would probably be interesting... |
That's another nightmare right there. There are several anime magazines in Japan and I think dealing with each magazine's publisher is more than one can chew.
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luffypirate
Joined: 06 Oct 2006
Posts: 3186
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Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 7:36 am
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I love audio commentary, but have a slightly bigger love for audio drama!
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FLCLGainax
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Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 12:30 pm
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Hawkmoth wrote: | I heard somewhere that there was a commentary recorded for Perfect Blue, but it either doesn't exist or could not be brought over to the west. If the latter, I shall commence crying immediately. |
I have the Japanese R2 DVD and it doesn't include a commentary track. Don't know about the Blu-ray.
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relyat08
Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
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Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:45 pm
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reanimator wrote: |
#861208 wrote: | But they should try to translate actual interviews, like ones from print magazines... that would probably be interesting... |
That's another nightmare right there. There are several anime magazines in Japan and I think dealing with each magazine's publisher is more than one can chew. |
Your best bet with that kind of stuff is to follow niche fan blogs(washiblog, ultimegax, karice, frog-kun) and specialty fan sites like sakugablog and wavemotioncannon. That's the segment of the fandom I spend the most time in, and translating and posting interviews from magazines, websites, and special booklets is a big part of what they do. It's why I support some of them on patreon too. There is a market for that stuff, it's just not enough to justify it for BD and DVD releases a lot of the time, I guess. When it happens, I do tend to buy those releases though.
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jdnation
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 2007
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Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 3:33 pm
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The last time I checked out some good commentary from the Japanese creators were the blu-rays of
Ghost in the Shell 2 Innocence which has the director's commentary and the Ghost in the Shell 2.0 one with Mamoru Oshii and the animation director.
But now we only usually get some special video featurettes with the Japanese cast and crew that were usually released as TV specials to promote the film, but sometimes we get some god stuff that's for the home video release.
Some of the dub commentaries aren't too bad. I believe one of the Eva rebuild films had one and they'd share some anecdotes about the Japanese production side of things. I believe it was the 2nd film...
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DmonHiro
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Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 7:02 pm
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Short answer: It cost money and most anime watchers aren't interested in them.
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reanimator
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Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 12:30 am
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relyat08 wrote: |
reanimator wrote: |
#861208 wrote: | But they should try to translate actual interviews, like ones from print magazines... that would probably be interesting... |
That's another nightmare right there. There are several anime magazines in Japan and I think dealing with each magazine's publisher is more than one can chew. |
Your best bet with that kind of stuff is to follow niche fan blogs(washiblog, ultimegax, karice, frog-kun) and specialty fan sites like sakugablog and wavemotioncannon. That's the segment of the fandom I spend the most time in, and translating and posting interviews from magazines, websites, and special booklets is a big part of what they do. It's why I support some of them on patreon too. There is a market for that stuff, it's just not enough to justify it for BD and DVD releases a lot of the time, I guess. When it happens, I do tend to buy those releases though. |
I don't know about the market for those blogs and I think it's better for them to be remain small since what they're doing is unknown to Japanese magazine publishers. When they're collecting money through crowdfunding for unauthorized translations and winding up too big, then it could bring in unwanted trouble down the line. Anything involves monetary transaction requires caution, in my opinion.
BTW, I like how ANN sampled director interview in upcoming Ghost in the Shell book.
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relyat08
Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
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Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 1:28 am
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reanimator wrote: |
I don't know about the market for those blogs and I think it's better for them to be remain small since what they're doing is unknown to Japanese magazine publishers. When they're collecting money through crowdfunding for unauthorized translations and winding up too big, then it could bring in unwanted trouble down the line. Anything involves monetary transaction requires caution, in my opinion.
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Yeah... I wouldn't be worried about that really.
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Kadmos1
Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13566
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
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Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 2:10 am
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Assuming all the rights issues were cleared, one thing that could help is if said Japanese figure(s) were good at speaking English.
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MajinAkuma
Joined: 15 Aug 2014
Posts: 1199
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 7:53 pm
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The audio commentaries for the Nanoha movies are done in-character, but they take place in the ViVid era. The StrikerS characters lead the commentary project while Nanoha and co. provide some information about the movie production. There are also other informative stuff about that can be learned that aren't told in any of the four seasons. While The Movie 1st has a commentary cast of 7 people, The Movie 2nd A's has 21 members.
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