Tuesday, July 27, 2010

70 years of Bugs Bunny

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Today (7/27/10) marks the 70th anniversary of the first ever animated short featuring the legendary Bugs Bunny. Created by Tex Avery and Produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, "A Wild Hare" is considered by many animation historians to be the first appearance of the famous bunny that in 2002 TV Guide would go on to call the most important cartoon character ever created, it's also noted for being the first short to give Elmer Fudd his notable voice and distinct look, though it was not Fudd's first appearance in a cartoon. Some would argue the claim that "A Wild Hare" is the first appearance of Bugs Bunny because of a piece of footage from 1938 titled "Porky's Hare Hunt" which features an unnamed rabbit that bears strong resemblance to what would become Bugs, as well as many characteristics and mannerisms that could construed people to think that the two were indeed one in the same. Many changes were made to the prototype rabbit for "A Wild Hare" and characteristics such as his trademark look and voice going forward would be based off of this appearance, it's also the first short to have the famous rabbit mutter his trademark saying, "What's up Doc?".

The first Bugs Bunny animated short would go on to be nominated for an Academy Award alongside the first ever prototype of a Tom & Jerry short, though both would lose out to a piece of animation called "The Milky Way", which was an MGM release. In an odd move for it's time, "A Wild Hare" was even turned into a radio broadcast which was loosely adapted on the animated short and was aired in 1941 on a show hosted by a famous comedian named Al Pierce, this kind of thing was not the norm in the 40's and was actually followed up with an interview by the shorts producer, Leon Schlesinger. The now famous short would eventually be one of many classic shorts that would be reissued through Merrie Melodies for what would become Warner Brothers
Cartoons in 1944.

Bugs Bunny was officially a hit, more and more animated shorts would be made using the character and by the time it was all said and done Bugs had gone on to star in a total of 163 Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons during the original production. Throughout the next few decades many animators would play around with Bugs Bunny's design and add a few things that would modernize the character, some have grown to love the changes while others hated it, but as the animation industry evolved it was necessary to keep Bugs relevant to new potential viewers. Things such as bigger front teeth, fatter cheeks and a more upright standing posture would be added to give Bugs the look that people know today, but also his voice would change multiple times throughout the years all while keeping his beloved sarcasm and classic catch phrases. Personally, I would like to thank those who have voiced this character over the past 70 years, so my admiration and respect goes out to Mel Blanc, Jeff Bergman, Greg Burson, Billy West, Joe Alaskey, Sam Vincent and Noel Blanc, you have all played a part in the success of quite possibly the greatest character in animation history. Over the years some of these great men have passed away, but their contribution to the Bugs Bunny character will continue to live on in our minds and hearts forever. I would like to say the same for the producers and the animators who are resonsible for the character to see the light of day, animation is a true team effort and all of the men involved in Bugs Bunny's rise to the top deserve a round of applause.

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Animation aside, I wanted to discuss some of the cool feats within pop culture that everyone's favorite hare has achieved, some of them quite big, some of them rather small, but all of them adding to the legacy of Tex Avery's classic cartoon character. Getting away from animation for a bit, Bugs Bunny once starred in a number of comic books that were produced throughout the years from various comic book companies, most notably by Gold Key Publishing where the character enjoyed a run of 133 issues. Dell Publishing also released a number of comics based on the legendary Rabbit, 58 issues were published as well as multiple one-shot specials bearing the likeness of the world's most famous rabbit. One tidbit of information that may surprise some people is that Bugs Bunny is one of the first two cartoon characters to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the other famous character alongside Bugs Bunny would be Disney's Micky Mouse. Another fun fact for the readers of this blog would be that Bugs Bunny was the first ever cartoon character to be featured on a U.S stamp, and believe it or not, the stamp currently stands as the 7th most purchased stamp in United States history. Pretty neat, huh? The rascally rabbit has also seen parts in over 14 different video games throughout the years spanning many different consoles, most of which he was a playable character embarking on missions, while in others of which he was just making a small cameo. Going back to animation for a moment, Bugs Bunny is also an Academy Award winner for a short titled, "Knighty Knight Bugs" (1958), and was nominated on 2 other occasions for "A Wild Hare" (1940) and "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt" (1941).

Well, that's about it. To be honest, there isn't much more I can say about the legendary Bugs Bunny that I haven't said already, I just wanted to celebrate his 70th Birthday with a short blog touching upon his evolution as well as some of his achievements throughout the 70 years the world has known the character. The great thing about Bugs is that his greatness isn't nearly over yet, there is even more to come from Warner Brothers and I think we will continue to see Bugs Bunny throughout many different media outlets for years to come. To bring this post to an end I would like to thank the voice actors, producers, animators and everyone else responsible who have helped to bring this classic character to life, without these great individuals we may have never been treated to such an amazing piece of history.

As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and FUNI.

Take care,
***Manga4life***

Monday, July 26, 2010

Meet Victor Von Monstaire: The new Thought Corner mascot!

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A couple of weeks ago I posted something on my Twitter account talking about how I was in search of a mascot to represent my Thought Corner blog, I have literally looked at a billion different options and I have tooled around with a billion different images and I have finally come up with the image you see above this writing. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you, Victor Von Monstaire. I felt that he would be a great mascot for my blog because of his presence, there is something about the way he smiles alongside with the fact that he is wearing a tuxedo that propelled me to make the decision to give him the job, hopefully the readers of my blog will approve of him and I hope that he add's a new and enjoyable flavor to what I do around here.

This tidbit of news isn't meant to be a full blog post, I just wanted to post a small announcement so I'm going to shut up now and not take up anymore of your time, but please let me know on my Twitter account what you think of the new mascot, I'd love to hear it.

As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and JD.

Take care,
***Manga4life***

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Manga4life's "Cowboy Bebop" review

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Hello animation fans, it's your old buddy M4L signing in and today I'm here to do a review of Cowboy Bebop, that's right, the Cowboy Bebop. If you are a veteran of anime you have seen it, if you are new to anime then you have heard about it, either way you know what Cowboy Bebop is and most likely know what it has done for non-toyetic anime the world over.

In the late 90's when anime was being geared toward children in the United States and shows like Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z were ruling the Saturday morning cartoon airwaves bringing in millions upon millions of dollars worth of revenue there was not much in the way of anime that older teens and adults could sink their teeth into, then came along two series that would change the landscape of how anime was viewed and how anime would be marketed. One of the two series I am talking about is Cowboy Bebop, the other would be the infamous Trigun. The story that was told in Cowboy Bebop was much more mature and violent that the stories that were being told in toyetic anime that was dominating television, the plot revolved around a group of bounty hunters that cruised around space waiting for jobs to come their way, often times the story had the main characters (Spike and Jet) trying to apprehend somebody or even killing them, there were also multiple alcohol and drug references throughout the series which made it nearly impossible to get the show aired on U.S television until Cartoon Network placed it on their Adult Swim block in 2001. Still, that didn't stop people from purchasing the DVD's to get their fix of this series that was unlike anything else being aired at the time, people were even trying to find streams of the show on the internet back when online streaming was a virginal way of finding entertainment. The bottom line is that people wanted to watch Cowboy Bebop and they were willing to spend a lot of money or a lot of time to do it.

As the story of the show progresses they pick up a couple new crew mates on their ship, the first of which was Faye, a troublesome gambler who joins the crew uninvited and likes to come and go as the pleases, the other character being a young girl named Edward, who is an orphan who turned out to be a great computer hacker. Faye's character became a personal favorite of mine throughout the series, her stark attitude, sheer sexiness and underlying innocent side helped her to really hit home with me and there were multiple times throughout the series where I couldn't help but to feel sorry for her, especially in the episode "Speak like a Child" where the crew comes across and old tape of her when she was a teenager. The series featured multiple moments of sheer emotion that helped the characters in the series connect with it's viewers, one episode in particular had Jet meeting up with an old flame who he always kept close to his heart but after a set of extraordinary circumstances he was forced to let go for good, another instance would be in the final episode where Spike watches the woman he loves (Julia) get shot and killed just feet away from him. It's events and storytelling such as this that helped to set Cowboy Bebop apart from any other series that was being aired or that was available at the time.

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Now it's time to talk about the technical aspects of Cowboy Bebop for a moment. First I want to start off with the animation in this series, I for one found it to be top notch for it's time period, sure a lot of anime series that are out now destroy the animation in Cowboy Bebop but this series aired in Japan back in the late 90's which means it was probably animated sometime in 1997, so with that in mind the artwork and animation is exceptionally good. The music behind Cowboy Bebop has really garnered a lot of attention, it's opening theme "Tank" is used throughout multiple different venues for sports and other major events and it's ending theme "Real Folk Blues" is considered to be one of the best ending themes in anime history by fans of the medium. I've often read people commenting that they have both seen and heard Cowboy Bebop, reading something like that is a great testament to the music in the series, but it's also a great testament to the sound effects and audio used throughout the series as well. While watching this series it's pretty easy for me to say that you will have a lot of fun getting involved with the recurring storyline as well as the hilarity of some of the stuff that takes place both on the ship and off, give it a try if you have yet to board the Bebop already and let me know what you think, my ear is always open.

Art & Animation - 8.75/10
Music & Sound Effects - 9.0/10
Story & Writing - 9.0/10
Fun - 8.75/10
Overall - 9.0/10

As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and JD.

Take care,
***Manga4life***

Monday, July 12, 2010

Block Party #1 - Remembering Toonami

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Once every so often something comes around and sparks a revolution, today I am going to discuss one such revolution that has brought so much joy to so many and helped to popularize a medium in the United States. Today I am going to discuss Toonami.

Now before I go into everything and begin talking about how great of a block Toonami was, I just want to remind people that Toonami was not an anime block as so many folks out there would like to believe. Instead, I want to remind people that Toonami was an action cartoon block that aired it's share of animation that did not originate in Japan. Often times I read posts by members of various forums that claim Toonami was a straight up anime block that helped to popularize the medium in the United States, then I scratch my head because they seem to have forgotten that Toonami aired a ton of cartoons that did not come over from Japan. While Toonami did have a big hand in the huge anime boom that went down in the late 90's and early 00's, I do want people to remember that shows such as Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Johnny Quest, Teen Titans, Space Ghost, Superfriends, Batman Beyond, Ben 10, GI: Joe, The Batman and other pieces of animation that came from other countries aired on the block alongside their favorite anime series. A lot of people tend to forget that because they have become blinded by a farce that Cartoon Network has a grudge against anime and wanted to kill off Toonami as a way to slap anime fans in the face, which is of course ridiculous.

Toonami took to the air in March of 1997 and was originally hosted by Moltar (of Space Ghost fame) who was featured in many of the block's bumpers flipping switches and pushing buttons to play the cartoons that would air, the block was immediately recognizable because it didn't look like anything that was airing at the time on Cartoon Network and it played nothing but action oriented cartoons that were primarily aimed toward boys. Toonami soon became destination television for those looking for a solid helping of action shows, but things really started to come to a boil when TOM was brought in as the host of the block sometime in 1999 and the entire landscape of Toonami changed when little shorts were created and a storyline was put into place through segments that would air in between the cartoons.

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The producers of Toonami really tried hard to give people a special packaging that would eventually become as important as the shows themselves to many of it's fans, fun entry's like the Total Immersion Events (TIE's) became a big thing and story lines such as "Intruder" and "Lockdown" helped to flesh out a lot of the blocks characters, things like this is what made Toonami unlike anything on television. Throughout the years different hosts have come and gone, characters like TOM2, TOM3 and TOM4 would go on to sit in the commanders chair and it always seemed like a special event whenever a new host was brought into the picture, after doing some research on the web I have found out that many of the blocks fans preferred TOM2 and TOM3 the most while TOM4 seemed to be the the unanimous least favorite.

Throughout the years Toonami has enjoyed many different time slots while on Cartoon Network, it's most popular and beloved time was when it aired between 4:00-7:00pm on weekday afternoons, a lot of people also enjoyed what was known as the "Midnight Run" when in 1999/2000 Cartoon Network aired Toonami at midnight daily. Fans of the block were outraged when Cartoon Network moved the block to Saturday nights between 7:00pm-11:pm where it stayed until it's cancellation, many felt that when this happened that it would only be a matter of time until it was cancelled but Toonami sat in the Saturday night slot for a solid 4 1/2 years before it all came to an end.

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One major accomplishment that Toonami achieved was helping anime to "boom" in the United States, toyetic anime's were doing well on Kid's WB at the time and fans who were a little older wanted something that they could enjoy as well, Toonami delivered. A lot of great anime shows began to air on the block and the industry soon began to grow like wildfire because of shows like DBZ, Naruto, Powerpuff Girls, One Piece, Gundam, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, YuYu Hakusho and many others, it was a great time to be an anime fan in the United States (and all over the world) because there was such a selection to be had on television as well as home video and DVD release. If Toonami should be remembered for anything it would be that it was a fantastic action cartoon block and that it helped to popularize anime in America, it literally had a massive hand in sparking a revolution that went strong for quite some time.

Toonami's look and feel changed here and there throughout the years, things such as the wraparounds, bumpers, music and logo's would phase in and out and the schedule was always evolving but the same great taste always remained and that what made people come back week in and week out. Unfortunately, in September of 2008, after over 11 years on television Toonami aired it's final broadcast and signed off for the last time. Fans were outraged that Cartoon Network would cancel their longest running block and the network would suffer an immediate backlash that would see many Toonami fans giving up on the channel for the final time believing that CN executives hated anime and were doing this out of spite. As of this writing Cartoon Network has still yet to recover a good chunk of those fans.

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As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and JD.

Take care,
***Manga4life***

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Anime fans - You do it to yourself. Stop pirating!

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Today I have decided to tackle an issue that has haunted both anime licensing companies and true anime fans alike, today I am going to plead to the internet community to stop pirating anime. Now, I know this may come across as hypocritical coming from me because I am a moderator of a very active forum that promotes illegal comsumption of anime, while I do support the messageboard and it's members, I DO NOT support the act of illegally downloading or streaming copywrighted material. I want to start off by saying that often times I read posts on various messageboards about how someone is upset that a certain anime series or movie has yet to be dubbed and is not available in the United States, one of the biggest reasons for this is that there are numerous websites online that offer illegal streaming and downloading of both previously licensed anime and fansubbed anime that has yet to be picked up by a U.S company. Often times people will resort to logging on to these websites to watch their favorite series and by doing this they are slowly killing major distributers of anime in the United States because they are not reciving any money or profit from these websites who offer this service. When fans decide to do this instead of checking to see if it's on a website that is legally streaming the anime it makes it so that companies like FUNImation, Viz Media and Bandai can't reach out and spend the money to dub the series and bring it to the U.S for distribution, and therefore the fans who spend their hard earned money on DVD's and other merchandise are left with a limited supply of new anime being licensed each year. It isn't fair to the anime companies and it isn't fair to the fans who support them, so if you're reading this blog and you're currently downloading or streaming anime illegally, I ask you to please stop. There are alternate ways to watch anime besides visiting sites that are hosting these shows and hurting the industry.

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Some alternative methods of watching anime free and legally would be to visit websites such as VizAnime.com, Crunchyroll.com, Hulu.com, 4Kids.com, FUNImation.com, Bandai.com, AnimeNetwork.com and other legal streaming sites out there, you could also buy your anime through retailers such as Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and F.Y.E, plus there are multiple online retailers like Rightstuf.com and Amazon.com that offer a massive selections of anime and for reasonable prices. Even more ways to watch anime for fairly cheap would be to purchase episodes through iTunes or Zune Marketplace, you can also get many different series through Netflicks and other mail away rental services, some of which will even let you stream your picks from their website if you are a member. There is still a ton of anime being aired on television in the United States as well, networks like Cartoon Network, Nicktoons, Disney XD, SyFy and The CW air anime throughout the week and offer everything from toyetic anime to adult oriented anime that airs later at night, so there is definitely something for everyone. With all of these different options to check out some of your favorite classics or to find a new series I really don't see why seeking out anime illegally is such a popular method, I understand that money can be tight and all, especially with the way the economy has been in recent years, but with the ammount of ways you can legally check out anime on the web I can't justify people wanting to screw over the licensing companies that helped to bring these titles to you in the first place.

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If you are reading this and still plan to illegally seek out anime on the web when you're through then shame on you, it's people like you that caused Viz Media to layoff a ton of employees in 2010, it's people like you that is the reason why the United States does not air much in the way of anime anymore, and lastly it's people like you that are the reason why people are having a hard time finding something new to sink their teeth into. The more you illegally stream and download your anime, the less new anime gets licensed, dubbed and released in the U.S, it's that simple. Thank you so much for ruining it for everyone else, in the end of the day you can watch anime a million times over and you still will never be a true anime fan no matter what you do until you plunk down your own hard earned cash to support the medium. Period.

As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and JD.

Take care,
***Manga4life***

Monday, July 5, 2010

The Garfield Show - Who would have thought?

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The Garfield Show. What can I say? To be honest, I can say a lot, but the first and most important thing I'm going to say about this show is that I find it to be exceptionally good and one of the better shows currently airing on Cartoon Network. The only problem with this show is that it's stuck in rerun hell at the moment until the second season finally airs, but that isn't a problem with the actual show itself, it's a problem with the network and how they are running a 26 episode season multiple times throughout the course of a month. That's right, this show airs multiple times during a programming day which means that if you really tried hard, you could probably watch the entire season at least two times over the course of a 30 day period. That isn't good for the show, eventually viewers are going to see it so many times that they are going to forget just how good the show actually is because they will grow sick of it. Other than that one gripe the show is really quite fun to watch, something I was not expecting because of the CGI animation it was rumored to have (something I'm not too fond of), but it eventually grew on me and now I couldn't imagine this show animated any other way. Another reason I was a little weary of a new Garfield show is because I was such a big fan of Garfield & Friends and didn't think anything Garfield related could come close to touching it's brilliant legacy. And honestly, based off of the multiple CGI and live action movies based on the character throughout the years, could you blame me? The CGI animation in this show ended up great and is handled really well, the characters look a lot like their 2D counterparts and I felt the animators did a great job on capturing the classic feel of the neighborhood (where a lot of the story happen).

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The Garfield Show tells short 12-15 minute stories of Garfield and Odie getting into many enjoyable adventures, some of which include other fun characters like Nermal, Squeak and even a rouge home cleaning unit that goes haywire and almost destroys their home by being too aggressive. The episodes themselves are written really well, but even though the show is considered to be a comedy I wouldn't exactly say that it's overly funny, it's more or less comes across as clever with slight humerous overtones. Don't let the fact that it isn't knee slapping hilarious turn you away though, the show is very well written and is produced by Jim Davis so you know it's going to have that classic Garfield feel to it. In other words, if you love Garfield then it's pretty safe to say that you will like the show. The point of this specific blog was not to dive too deep into the show and get into detail about every aspect of it, instead, the point is to let people know that if they are not watching The Garfield Show that they are missing something really different on television. I have talked to many people that have passed on this show because they don't think Garfield should have been animated using CGI and that it's ruining the characters legacy by not sticking to animation in the traditional sense. Those people are wrong. Remember, never judge a book by it's cover, I know it's a cliche` thing to say but it's true, and just like a book it's what's on the inside that counts. In my opinion, both on the inside and out, The Garfield Show is a beautiful thing.

I'm not going to give the show a review rating yet like I do with many of the other shows I review on my blog, mainly because only one season has been aired in the U.S and I try to wait until a series is completed before I go ahead and give it a full review, so instead I will just once again reiterate that this show is delightful and worth watching if you are looking for something fun or if you are a fan of Garfield and want to relive those Garfield & Friends moments through a new series.

As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and JD.

Take care,
***Manga4life***