In other news though, there’s been some discussion about Xam’d on the PS3 and Gurren Lagann’s dub release on iTunes. Aside from the fact that Xam’d is exclusive to the most expensive console out there, many people have clamored that its price is outrageous. Now the same’s being said about Gurren Lagann. $51 for a 27 episode series amounts to about $1.88 an episode. That’s really only marginally better than the $1.99/ep you’d be paying without the “season pass,” which would add up to, gasp, $54 total instead. That’s pretty comparable to the Cowboy Bebop regular edition DVD boxset, which retails for about $50 (not counting your awesome Amazon discount). Except that an iTunes download is not a DVD. An iTunes download does not provide both the dub and sub tracks; it provides no extras and no pretty packaging. So, yeah, I think I’ll be in the camp with the people saying this is pretty ridiculous.

Oh, yeah, and Xam’d? That bitch is just a single-vocal track rental. And it costs more than Gurren Lagann to buy. Awesome! Now, just about everyone is a proponent of digital distribution, especially recently with the global economic slowdown. (Oh, crude oil hit a three-month low today; that’s good to hear, right?) That combined with the ever prevailant force of fansubs have more or less forced anime companies to take this route, but come on… should that make things cheaper, not more expensive? You’re ditching the fancy box and extra features and just putting the thing up for download — why does that cost the consumer more than buying something physical? Just doesn’t make sense.

It kind of reminds me of all the stuff airlines are trying to do now to break even, except backwards. Instead of charging you now for things they’ve given away free in the past, they’re not giving you the extras at all and making you pay more anyway! I don’t get it, do you? Sometimes I feel bad about not taking advantage of the legal digital downloads that are currently available — after all, companies need to be reassured that this is indeed what their consumers want — but aside from the fact that I own neither use iTunes nor own a PS3, there’s no way I’d ever pay that much for so little. I’m a cheapskate and rarely even buy DVDs, why would I take less and pay more?

Maybe I really should go see Mr. Nunokawa after all. Maybe he could answer some of these questions. Except his company isn’t among the ones pulling these weird stunts. D’oh.

Well, the first two episodes of TTGL have just aired on the Sci-Fi channel. I’ve been excited for this ever since they announced the voice cast, mostly because I really wanted to see Steve Blum as Leeron, but also because I was happy Kyle Hebert managed to land such a huge role. When I saw the screenings from AX though, I had a few doubts because the voices didn’t seem as awesome as they should have been. In retrospect, that was most likely because they were very low quality recordings from the panel — I still had fairly high expectations for tonight, and I’m pleased to report that they were met.

The little blurb at the very beginning of the first episode was great. Simon’s “Gurren Lagann! Spin on!” sounded oddly Japanese because of the way he accented “spin on.” His “who the hell do you think I am??” though was fantastic and just as gar-powered as it was in Japanese. Moving on to the actual episode — at first, I found his voice a little annoying, but some of his lines mirror the Japanese voice very, very well, especially when he’s panicked. I’ve not seen any of Josh Grelle’s other roles, but I’m very impressed by how well he’s handling Simon. I’m also really happy they decided to preserve Simon’s pronunciation as “shimon’ rather than what Americans know as the name “Simon.” It just wouldn’t be the same otherwise! Though I do find it kind of hilarious that they would bend to what are obviously the desires of the hardcore fans that have all seen this series already illegally. :P

Kamina is probably the role that everyone was worried about the most, myself included. Kyle is a friend of a friend and a very nice guy, but come on — Kamina is the manliest role of the century. Was he up to it? Yes. Yes, he is. Kamina sounds great. His “who the hell do you think I am??” is near perfect, and his other boisterous, over-the-top dialogue comes across just right. All the energy is there. Some of the wording sounds a little strange, but it’s not a bad translation — you do what you can, y’know? The made-up attacks he comes up with in the second episode after obtaining Gurren was especially well done. Kyle can probably be a bit louder sometimes and maybe curse a bit more, but I’m not sure if that’s Sci-fi’s censoring or not.

But we’re not done! Yoko I had been having doubts about since I’ve never found Michelle Ruff’s other work to be particularly noteworthy. I’ve considered her characters to sound rather stereotypical. Yoko doesn’t sound as badass as she does in Japanese, but she’s passable — not bad, not bad. I at least get the impression that she’s trying. I’m interested in hearing more of her, in any case, especially in episode 8 and after the timeskip.

The other characters all seem to be pretty well done. The village head, the miscellaneous villagers… I think “ganmen” has become “gunmen,” but it’s a little hard to tell since y’know, it was really supposed to have been “gunmen” in the first place, lol. Other than that, the translation seems to be pretty spot on. The references to “the heavens” are kind of strange to hear in English, but replacing it with “the sky” would have probably annoyed proponents of as literal a translation as possible. Not really sure which would have been better in this case though; they both sound kinda weird? All the “bros” being tossed around didn’t bother me at all though, which might be a little surprising considering I absolutely hated Al’s constant “brother”s in Fullmetal Alchemist. Mark of a job well done?

I didn’t catch it really, but my bother spotted some minor censoring of Yoko’s ridiculous boobage when she first crashed down from the surface. This leads to wondering about whether her infamous scene in episode 6 will be cut. Most likely yes, huh? I don’t really watch Sci-fi much, so I don’t know what’s normal for the stuff they air. It’s too bad though; that scene was hilarious and unexpected and good fun in general… but they even cut it when it aired in Japan, I think, so eh. Aside from that, there isn’t much else to be edited. Except the ending theme. They cut our ending theme. Sadface.

Oh, and Leeron? He was FABULOUS~! I fucking love Steve Blum. Sure, he was a little stereotypical with the light lisp, but come on, that was to be expected. He sounds great, and they translated his dialogue great. Seriously, I couldn’t help but smile every time Leeron spoke. XD I can’t wait to hear more! Especially his interactions with Gimmy later on. I’m also really excited to hear Viral — with the rest of the cast looking to be so fantastic, I can only imagine that our favorite Beastman will sound just as good? I hope? I also kinda look forward to Rossiu if only to compare him with Johnny Yong Bosch’s other roles, and Nia should be interesting also since her voice actor doesn’t have very many other roles under her belt.

All in all, it was a damned good show. I can’t wait until next week~!

Oh, PS – First episode is streaming online here. :D Both episodes are also available via iTunes.

Is it just the fact of the mecha itself? I find that notion silly considering all the other just-as-awesome substitutes that other series use in place of actual giant robots. Ghost in the Shell, as previously noted, might sit on the borderline of the definition with their Tachikomas, which don’t look anything like your traditional humanoid robot and can either be autonomous or facilitate a human rider. But even beyond that, there are supernatural powers, fantasy-based powers, dragons and aliens, and other companions and tools that may do the same things as mecha. Besides, mecha designs fluctuate from series to series, and it isn’t as if the ones with similar designs are collectively more or less popular than the rest of their comrades.

These days, as the newer generation encourages an increase in the number of AU timeline series and a gradual departure from the traditional, UC timeline, the only real connecting thread between the various Gundam series is the mecha design. Almost all of them retain the characteristic head and the red, white, and blue color scheme for the main protagonist. But these various Gundam series definitely don’t maintain the same level of popularity; indeed, there seem to even be universally praised (08th MS Team) and universally scorned (Gundam SEED Destiny, at least critically) series, and very few fans seem to compare the actual designs of the mecha unless they’re just wildly, wildly different as was the case with G Gundam and SD Gundam.

So I don’t really think it’s the mecha itself, but does the presence of mecha encourage better storytelling somehow? Better character development? Those are the two most important factors of any series, and I tend to be somewhat critical in both areas if you’ve ever read any of my reviews. Do a higher proportion of mecha series have good plots and good characters? Mecha series, because of the very simple fact that mecha are weapons of mas destruction, are almost always about war, which kind of limits things. Then again, you can consider that because of this limitation, writers for mecha series may have to work harder to secure something that can be considered fresh or different. When almost all of your characters are teenagers and young adults, personality elements become more important; war also forces characters to give morals and ethics more thought, which definitely adds a dimension of depth that many other genres lack.

It’s the same with the story — war after war after war, there’s gotta be something about each one that sets it apart from others, right? The motivation for the war, the politics of war, and the role of leaders and soldiers all make for a complex story… So maybe it is the nature of mecha series to offer more complex storylines? Could that generalization be applied to any other genre? Would anyone consider that maybe shounen series need to “work harder” to stand out when they’re a dime a dozen? Most of the top shounen series share many of the same elements and don’t offer amazingly deep or profound though, so what about another genre? Fantasy? Supernatural? Cyberpunk? Actually, I can’t think of any other genre that has an near-universal generalized theme like mecha has war, so maybe we’re on to something?

Gurren Lagann doesn’t call its conflict a war, per se, and actually, the most appealing thing about the series isn’t its deep or complex story as much as it is its grand originality when it comes to what is considered “the enemy,” not to mention its unprecedented progression upwards in regards to scaling (lol, no pun intended?). So then the series doesn’t utilize the previously derived “advantage” of mecha series because its story and characters aren’t forced to be “deeper” because of war; really, there weren’t that many morals or ethics involved. Gurren Lagann might just be the exception though, and that isn’t that hard to believe. Certainly Gundam SEED and Code Geass take advantage of their wars and introduce rich, three-dimensional characters that provoke emotion and thought. These characters in turn enrich the plot of the war and revolution because in the end, story and character rely very heavily on one another.

Hmm… obviously none of this means that other genres don’t generate equally complex and deep stories and characters, but now I’m really starting to think that maybe mecha series (and maybe other war-themed series) have a slight advantage. Or in any case, it seems that this theme is attractive to me personally, and that’s reflected in my favorites’ list… A curious note though: none of my favorite manga feature mecha, so maybe those previous deductions are only applicable to anime? Probably because war and robot action don’t look as cool on static pages…

Simon will be sharing a voice with Sasuke and Suzaku, two characters I hate! 8D Oh, man, this will be hilarious. Seriously though, Yuri Lowenthal does a fairly decent job, and I look forward to seeing how he does Simon. Yoko will be sharing a voice with Rukia and Euphemia, which is kind of hilarious, but I’ve never really been that impressed with Michelle Ruff’s voices — they all sound fairly generic. Yoko needs to be a badass. Come on! Kyle Hebert as Kamina will also be something to look forward to. To be honest, I don’t remember many of his roles very well, but he’s a friend of friend, and was an active member in one of the only anime forums I was ever really active in, so I really respect the guy for being in touch with fans. From what I know, he’s had it pretty rough (like most VAs, really) in more recent years, and I’m really happy he’s landed such an amazing role.

But the two things on this list that floor me are the following:

Steve Blum as Leeron.
Johnny Yong Bosch as Rossiu.

Oh, god. Steve Blum is one of my favorite voice actors ever. Leeron is one of my favorite characters in TTGL (okay, so it’s really hard to dislike anyone besides Rossiu). This will be so amazing, if only because it’s so wrong! Blum is usually typecasted for the badasses! Spike Spiegal! Mugen! Vincent Valentine! And now he’s a super flamboyant engineer guy!? Oh, man. I can’t wait.

Now, Bosch. Heh. I really have a love-hate relationship with this guy. He was a great Vash. I don’t like him as Ichigo, but his portrayal of Lelouch has grown on me. Bosch as Rossiu will definitely be something to hear, though honestly, I dislike the character enough to not really care all that much if he ends up with a crappy voice.

Viral’s VA isn’t as highlight as the others — the only role of his that I recognize is Prince Clovis from Code Geass and the bastard dies in what, the third episode (oh, is that a spoiler? Sorry)? Oh well. I hope he does well. Viral’s Japanese voice is a contender. Nia also has a pretty unknown person, but I don’t think it’d be that hard to find a really, really moe voice. Kittan can be pretty easily typecasted also. Annnd the others don’t interest me that much. (Honestly, I don’t know which one is Kiyal, Kinnan, and Kiyoh. <_ <) I definitely look forward to this dub though. It's impossible to make it more amazing than the original, what with Giga Doriru Bureika and various other Engrish anecdotes, but if anything else, this voice cast is going to make it interesting.

8D