Anime Abandon: Wild Cardz

[@lubczyk]

According to Wikipedia: "As Smile's mother became ill in 2006, she [Apollo Smile] returned to her hometown to tend for her. The move brought Smile's career in dance and choreography back into focus. She got a job as a dance teacher at New Haven Ballet, as well as dancing schools in Killingworth and Guilford, and choreographed various high school dances ever since. Smile was also inspired by her father with Parkinson's disease to develop a routine of dancing exercises for elders with movement-impairing illnesses such as Parkinson's and arthritis." Yeah, I can't hate on Apollo Smile.

[@PhoenixFireZero]

She's not a strong voice actor, but I can't say I hate her voice. She fits whatever schlock she's in and at least sounds like she's having fun with it, for good and ill.

[@dorr213]

"Ooohh child. We're gonna have some fun tonight." Some of the best line delivery Bennett's ever done.

[@CodeNameX001]

That ending is worse than you think.... They're checkers...

[@FeliDJrah]

Oh boy.

[@Readasaur]

Thank you, that makes it worse.

[@KumoriGurasu]

That Chinese stereotype here makes the Chinese stereotypes in Ranma 1/2 look legit. Although that's not saying much.

[@DecoyBlackMage]

***** Difference is there its actually funny in many instances, though more so in the actual manga and the characters in question are actually interesting and a proper part of the cast. This......................Urgh....

[@CornishCreamtea07]

Nihao Ranma

[@MastemaJack]

Japanese don't care about political correctness

[@Arella17]

@@MastemaJack Japan is pretty damn Xenophobic.

[@MastemaJack]

@@Arella17 that's true. But they do seem to like when others like Japanese culture.

[@areasevenpro]

Ah, Central Park Media - the company that licensed anime titles by the bulk, regardless of quality. And that sort of business - along with John O'Donnell's fetish for M.D. Geist - eventually drove them out of business.

[@MarginalSC]

Bennet's Russian is superb.

[@Bartokassualtdude94]

And speaking of Russian, he seems to think that "Alexander Nevsky" cantata is superb...

[@rowdycmoore]

"They really would just release anything, wouldn't they???" Well, anything except the ALF animated series, apparently...

[@CaptainMarvel4Ever]

I love that the Royal Flush Gang is on the title card.

[@jamg25]

About the chess piece... I kinda works in Japan because a lot of japanese people didn't really know or played chess. Although it is more well known nowadays, there is still a large group of people who doesn't know anything about chess.

[@_Snowflame]

jamg25 ... Tenzinberg?

[@JacksonJinn]

jamg25 Oh yeah... They're more for Shogi, aren't they. The supposed effective counterpart.

[@_Snowflame]

***** Mahjong comes pre-loaded on most Windows installations. It's not the most uncommon thing.

[@DanielBlack82]

***** Yah that example dies

[@DanielBlack82]

EmpressJudge13 Well...

[@JacksonJinn]

I'll be damned. An entire episode about a brainless, plot-void mess all themed around cards... And not a single Yugioh reference. Hell, not even one on the actual playing card ones, like King, Queen, and Jack Knight.

[@Socialism_on_Roids]

JacksonJin I think Bennett's standards are a little too high for Yugioh references.

[@jetfire851]

JacksonJin Maybe LittleKuriboh was busy and couldn't do a cameo?

[@SsnakeBite]

JacksonJin ... in America.

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

Doug Glassman Too busy being hospitalized.

[@LION0410]

I'm Very Angry It's Not Butter In America .... I Hope he makes a speedy recovery In ....

[@ZanraiKid]

For an even more recent example of a language barrier being overcome, look at Ping Pong The Animation. For the character of Kong Wenge, both Yosei Bun and Alan Chow were chosen because they could speak Chinese in a non-Chinese production while also providing believable vocal tracks in Japanese and English respectively. The character of Kong was designed to be isolated in the first half of the series, as dictated by the plot, but slowly he joins his new Japanese sports club and they welcome him with open arms. Only when he knows that he is among friends does he speak Japanese and English thoroughly in a scene where he sings karaoke, a traditionally Japanese activity. What I'm saying is thank fucking Christ I'm an anime fan living in the year 2015, because I feel like I am being spoiled with the efforts of anime companies to turn a good product.

[@driftercarbon]

I actually would like to see him try and tackle Card Captor Sakura.

[@rakkaofglie5769]

That would be a good and long series that some people still care about. Those aren't elligible from the show I think.

[@sammorin254]

Rakka of Glie You'd be surprised, with the shit Card Captor Sakura can pull. I haven't watched it in years, but from what I remember, it has cringe-worthy moments. I don't think I would call it bad though. Maybe another magical girl month?

[@TheCinemaniac]

Rakka of Glie Well DBZ is also a long running series that has a lot fans who still care about but it's also on Sage's list of anime he's going to review at some point

[@aaa1e2r3]

Rakka of Glie Card Captors doesn't have any movies?

[@rakkaofglie5769]

Athavan Rajasingham It has 2.

[@GeneralJerrard101]

Next time on Anime Abandon, the anime directed by Uwe Boll!

[@murciadoxial8056]

Coec_15324 ... that... exists?...

[@aceotaku]

Coec_15324 O3O you better be joking...

[@GeneralJerrard101]

Murcia doxial aceotaku I really hope not...but Blood Ryne was directed by Uwe Boll..sooooo...

[@Socialism_on_Roids]

Coec_15324 Aww yeah! I've been waiting forever for this! Back in the early 2000s, I probably watched Blood Ryne at least 30 times on the Starz Action Channel.

[@WatchfulVendor]

I hate to be the bearer of boring news, but I don't think we're looking at the Uwe Boll film. The box he held up reads "Blood Reign" as in, supreme executive power derived from blood, not "Blood Rayne" as in, the Uwe Boll flick.

[@dancingmadspaghetti]

On the language thing, I've seen attention to such details before. In the third season of ojamajo doremi, asuka momoko( age rough 9) has spent most of her life speaking english and has moves back to japan from the states. Her VA also had similar experiences, having lived from an early age in Australia and moving back to japan during her adolescence. The result is a character that speaks audibly awkward japanese, and compensates this with engrish. Her facial reactions and body language also reflect this and she improves slowly over the series.

[@horaciosi]

"bUt ThEy ArE sPeAkInG jApAnEsE!!!" What is it about the concept of "shown for the benefit of the audience" that is so impossible to understand? The characters in Black Lagoon are speaking English *in-universe* , but it's in Japanese for the benefit of the audience.

[@BunnySenpai]

On the topic about why characters always speak Japanese regardless of the language they claim to be speaking, it's not only a problem with hiring an English speaking actor. In Black Lagoon's case, most of the main characters are technically speaking English. That explains why Revy sometimes uses engrish when in a country that doesn't Speak English. If the characters the audience is going to constantly be hearing are speaking another language don't you think they'd rather dub it in the language the audience speaks? Otherwise there's no point in a Japanese dub. There'd be too much work and the subtitling would drive away viewers. If you think about it, it's the same for English dubs. The reason we dub things is to hear it in our native language and to avoid reading subtitles. If you propose that all characters speak their intended language, there'd be no point in dubs. Tl;dr, people don't like reading ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@SandViper]

***** I'm surprised Bennett still thinks he's making a good point. It's getting embarrassing.

[@ChristianNeihart]

He did a shpiel about dubs vs subs in his Tokyo Godfather Review. You should check it out. Also, the reason he is so negative is because 1) he finds Tiffanh Grant annoying, 2) he finds Central Park media to be the worst.

[@SandViper]

Christian Neihart It's not about dubs vs subs as usually understood. It's about the language you're hearing being different than the language the characters are technically supposed to be speaking, which is a silly thing to nitpick about. Kekkai Sensen was an anime that aired in Japan last season. It's placed in New York. The language we hear is Japanese. Who the hell besides Bennett thinks that's a real problem?

[@BunnySenpai]

SandViper Exactly. It's a matter of appealing to a broader audience with a wider array of stories. While it'd be nice to hear everything in it's intended language, it's simply not practical. Think of all the amazing movies thatwould never have been made or would have been overlooked if things had to be subtitled and actors had to be outsourced.

[@abcj17]

***** The thing is in English dubs the language rarely draws attention as the characters rarely point it out. Black Lagoon is interesting in the fact both the English and Japanese dubs do dabble into another language (particularly the Tokyo arc where in English Rock actually translates into Japanese and in the Japanese version Balalaika speaks engrish when the translating scenes occur). Black Lagoon is an interesting case but Sage does have a point that an anime should not draw attention to the language if it isn't needed. An anime I watched (I forget the name) had a foreigner come to japan and one of the characters in the Japanese dub says 'It's amazing you speak such fluent Japanese'. In the English dub however it is changed to 'You speak fluently for a foreigner'. They dodge the involvement bump by simply changing the dialogue slightly. In the clip of Black Lagoon sage showed however they drew attention to the fact the characters are speaking English...in Japanese. This could have been avoided easily by simply saying 'I do not speak your language well because I am Taiwanese'. It's even more face slapping as from what I understand the Japanese dub she IS speaking fluent Japanese. SO we have a character drawing attention to a fluent Japanese person speaking Japanese which is supposed to be taken as English.

[@Rezarora]

The weird thing about Apollo Smile's voice acting is that she actually sounds good in Space Channel 5 (which is from 1999, 2 years after wild cardz). I guess low budget anime dubs have less voice direction than I thought...That and anime seems to be the only medium where she does that cutesy voice as far as I can tell.

[@RichardWatt]

Sage: A world without chess? Me: A word without "One Night in Bangkok" is not a world I want to live in.

[@Ohnonoki]

Be honest. You _love_ negativity.

[@SnakesGames]

Furutaka Kai I try to be positive, but I'm a negative Nancy by nature.

[@SnakesGames]

Don't forget they made babies from me without permission. And on the topic of babies, I can't be a father naturally. There's also the fact that Kaz turned on me at some point and rejoined the US. Oh and the best clone may have become president, but he was killed by bishie in a Zero Suit working under the Patriots. Last, but certainly not least, I was almost killed at least seven times. Twice involved radiation and most involved some amount of fire and the US wonders why I hate them.

[@TheSkully343]

Big Boss War... has changed.

[@nicholaswhite7056]

+Misaka Mikoto of course he does! it makes him the big bucks. I'd love to hate shit too if I was good or lucky enough to get a fanbase and ad revenue out of it. And it's not like he ENTIRELY feeds off of negativity, its just more fun to watch him shit on a bad thing like a caveman.

[@junstrife3148]

your here too.. why are you every where?!

[@bplatinumpaladin]

11:50 *Begins searching for Apollo Smile in the comments*

[@cgoode1201]

Am I the only one that cocked my head at the "Doug Walker" reference? ... I can't be, can I?

[@JoaqMan]

To sum this up: imagine The Love Guru or an Adam Sandler film ending in a style similar to Interstellar but with no conclusion.

[@AkuTenshiiZero]

At least 10 minutes of this "review" was you going on tangents. About 3 minutes is intro and ending. The other five was just repeating a vague description of what was on the screen with zero insight. I get that the show didn't exactly have much to work with, but if you can't even fill a measly 15 minutes with an actual review, please just find something else to review. On the subject of language and nationality in anime, the simple fact is that it's just easier. It's not like the US isn't guilty of this, do I need to point out the prevalence of Brittish accents in Biblical or Greek mythological films? Is that not weird as fuck? On rare occasions they will have American anime characters actually speak English, or otherwise have characters speaking English where appropriate. It's most frequently seen in live-action, I can think of a number of scenes which featured a white actor and were spoken entirely in English with Japanese subtitles. Basically, it seems to follow the same rule of thumb that we do: If a series or film is predominantly in a foreign language, then it will be spoken in the audience's native language and we just suspend our disbelief (IE Black Lagoon, Hellsing). When a series features only a few scenes of foreign language, it can be spoken in that language and usually subtitled (IE the recent Evangelion movies, the new live-action Lupin movie).

[@eggmug562]

2:23 This part made me laugh like I was a dying horse.

[@nicholasrodinos4701]

Those ninjas are bamfing more than Nightcrawler.

[@wdcain1]

Truthfully Sage, I'm glad when media shows other languages being spoken as English. It helps to maintain the immersion and keep me invested in the show. If it's otherwise than all it does is make me remember that I'm watching a show. This is true for other media. I remember back in the mid 90's, the Gen13 comic had the team go to Italy and fight an Italian super-hero team. The reason why they fought was that Gen13 only spoke English while the Italian heroes only spoke Latin. The comic reinforced this by only have their word balloons be in Latin with English translations being at the very back of the comic. I constantly had to keep switching back and forth to the end to read what the antagonists were really saying. This really broke the flow of the comic for me. A lot of other readers complained because in the next issue, all the Italians' word balloons were now read in English even though they had asterixes in captions stating that they were still speaking Latin. This just made it easier for me, the reader and why I enjoyed buying the comic. I love your work, Bennett. But this issue you harp on really just comes off as whiny nitpicking to me.

[@cartooncritique6625]

The Chinese stereotype isn't all that surprising given the history between China and Japan. I'm not verse on all the details, but there's definitely some tension between those two cultures.

[@cbottube]

been subscribed to your channel for some years and watching your videos for longer than that. :3 Enjoy your work and pain.

[@BroomPusher2024]

"But they are speaking japanese" Jojos bizzare adventure: looks up from newspaper

[@Naterkix]

Monster is another show/manga that does it's languages weird. Since it's taking place in Germany everyone is technically speaking German even though it's in English/Japanese. Even weirder is a scene where a character (Dr. Tenma) talks to an English speaking couple (in German) but they say they don't understand German so Dr. Tenma switches to English. So it's characters speaking in a language other than the audio uses and then changes into another language but it all is still the same as the audio. The Japanese audio would add to that weirdness.

[@deathlegionair]

Im sorry, but i was half expecting the chinese stereotype character to take out a staff and do the tusken raider yell.

[@LimakPan]

So wait, wait. The diamond girl was hitting the pawn with her body to destroy it so hard she got a concussion and died!? Or did I miss a scene about her?

[@Asehpe]

I think you don't understand the advantage (I almost said "privilege") a native speaker of English has in the world... Just imagine this: when all Hollywood movies get dubbed into other languages (say, my native Portuguese -- I'm Brazilian), all references to the English language get translated as such. So if I character says "speak English, please", the Portuguese dub is also going to say that, not "speak Portuguese, please" -- because to the viewer it would be utterly ridiculous to see what are obviously American characters asking someone to speak Portuguese. Yes, we hear them speak Portuguese, but we know they are 'really' speaking English. So your anger at the English vs. Japanese references in this movie, and your claim that 'the English dub makes it better', just sounds like a joke on yourself when I hear you say it -- as if you couldn't understand what is plainly obvious to anyone used to watching foreign dubbed movies all the time (as the whole world is with respect to American movies)... In other words, Brazilians (and I think everybody else in the world who watched American movies in dub) understand that the language we, the audience, hear and the languages the characters speak in the story are not the same... and this makes perfect sense!

[@shingshongshamalama]

You realize that the one example cited (Black Lagoon) is a case of the EXACT OPPOSITE of this, right? The original is Japanese. In Japanese, the characters are speaking english. That's the narrative translation conceit. The story is based in a place full of people who speak lots of different languages, set against a primary cast who primarily speak english. So Revy saying "your english is bad" when Shenhua is speaking PERFECT JAPANESE is just moronic. Translating that into english made it actually make sense.

[@Asehpe]

shingshongshamalama From what I understand, no, it is not. Revy saying "your English is bad" to Shenhua's "PERFECT JAPANESE" is like the Portuguese dub of an English movie in which an actor says to another "your English is bad" while we in the audience hear this other actor speaking "PERFECT PORTUGUESE". As far as I can tell it's the same situation: you hear one language, but you know they're speaking another language, and the characters refer to this other language they're speaking (and which we're not hearing). So the Japanese viewer hears Revy saying "your English is bad" to Shenhua, whom they hear speak "PERFECT JAPANESE", but who is 'really' speaking bad English, hence Revy's comment. What's strange about that? The only difference here is that the fictitious Portuguese dub I mention above would be of a movie originally in English, so the original would make sense while the dub is funny, while in the Japanese case the original is Japanese (despite the fact that the characters are speaking 'English', sometimes badly), so the dub makes more sense. But it's the same thing. If you prefer, imagine an American movie about a French couple in Paris with the lady saying her boyfriend's French is horrible, despite the fact that you hear him speak perfect English. In the original English, it wouldn't "make sense", but it would make sense in a French dub (especially if they dubbed the boyfriend as actually speaking bad French). I must have seen a couple of scenes like this in American movies already (were Rick, Laszlo and Ilsa 'really' speaking English in Casablanca? It probably was 'really' 'French'... and I'll bet Rick's 'French' wasn't good...)

[@Asehpe]

***** Jumping to offensive comments when I'm not being offensive (since when is 'privilege' a bad thing?), I'm merely pointing out that you guys don't have the experience of really watching most movies dubbed... so you haven't developed the necessary instincts. I understand that. I responded to Shing, and your answer to me shows you didn't understand my answer. I'll try once more, and then I'm done with Americans who don't try to understand non-Americans. The characters are heard speaking Japanese. In the story, they're speaking English. The Japanese speaker knows that. He sees the mistakes he does in Japanese as mistakes in English, because, unlike you, he's used to characters speaking one language while 'really speaking' another. There is no better fit -- the thing is the same in both cases. The 'English fit' is no better for you than it would be in Portuguese, because it would boil down to the same. If you can't get this, then I'm sorry for you man. Maybe someday the world will kick your head and open it a little more. By-bye!

[@Asehpe]

+Vitória90, você quer ser poliglota? Esse também é meu alvo... que línguas você já estudou? (Pode responder numa delas se não quiser responder em português... ;-)

[@Asehpe]

+Joel Hovington, Écoute, s'il te semble que j'exaggère, alors tu n'as pas compris ce que j'ai voulu dire: que Benett lui perd sa logique quand il voit un défaut "terrible" là où il n'y a qu'une différence linguistique très bien connue de tous ceux qui ont l'habitude de voir des films américains soutitrés ou doublés. Si ce n'est pas ton cas, alors c'est toi qui m'accuses sans comprendre ce que je dis. Regarde aussi ce que dit Victoria90, elle présente les mêmes idées que moi. J'aime les soutitrés et j'aime les doublés. Je n'aime pas ceux qui critiquent là où il n'y a rien à critiquer. Si tu trouves ça difficile à comprendre, je m'en lave les mains, ce n'est pas mon problème.

[@Crowley9]

On a related note, I have yet to hear anime where the original Japanese voice actor speaking another language does not sound bad somewhere in the hilarious to grimace-inducing range. Asuka Langley Soryu, you are not in a million years going to convince me that you are a native German speaker.

[@Basileus127]

...But Tiffany Grant actually does speak German...

[@oneinathousand2156]

Basileus127 the original comment was talking about Japanese dubs

[@coryparrish525]

Ok uh... strudel, bratwurst...

[@Raktus]

Hang with me, this story will become partially relevant. One of my fave book series features the destruction of humanity by a machine intelligence that spans the center of the galaxy. They come for us after we make ourselves known by expanding across the stars. We settle on various different worlds, then they come and destroy them and slaughter our people. The survivors band together on each world as families. Each family typically has a naming structure related to games. For example, the one you follow in the books comes from a planet with families named after playing cards... the Kings and Queens having long since been wiped out. They manage to escape to a world with families named after Chess pieces.... here is where it's partially relevant... it has been so long since anyone has been able to relax and not run for thier lives, no one knows what these games even are. They are just names for them, they recognize that they came from old Earth games but that is it. No knowledge of them at all... like these card people not recognizing a pawn.

[@Gackt4awesome]

Well there is the thing about nationalities and manga/anime: They only work in context of what is going on. Take Bleach for example. The Soul Reapers are feudal era Japan heritage, but the Hollows are Spanish heritage while the Quincies are German heritage. However all of them seem to speak clear Japanese with each other with the exception to names of techniques and powers. Why? Well, it might be the fact that all of these things originated from the Soul King himself (Bleach God). He is the lynchpin and the thing that holds everything in the Bleach Universe together. Japanese in the Bleach world might be the one and only language that is universally accepted while each faction's naming has it's own spin on things.

[@joeedwards8863]

Anything pluralized with a Z is gonna be pure shit- gold.... Love it... so I can hate it....

[@cloudmatt11]

Apollo Smile was my first taste of anime on sci-fi. Your words may be true, but she'll always be my first.

[@DavidAtomic]

Dat ending, bro

[@CornishCreamtea07]

Ping Pong: The Animation, has the Chinese characters speak Mandarin from what I've heard, even the actors are Chinese. Sword of the Stranger does half as good, the Chinese speak Mandarin at certain points. There are also some cases of proper English, Kids on the Slope has an American actor play one of the US soldiers. One of the Robot Carnival shorts has an American actor.

[@R3GARnator]

Getting mad about Japanese not knowing chess is like getting mad about random christian imagery. Its just like us using greek stuff in science fiction, something exotic. Besides it sounded like it was a comedy routine, them failing to figure out its a pawn.

[@Sayanora53]

I find it super weird that I watched this AND Wrath of the Ninja within probably a months time of each other when I was like 8. My stepmoms friends had a bunch of old junk anime they let me borrow. Damn you for making me remember that I had ever seen this.

[@EdwardOfTheAwesome]

15 minutes ago: "Hm....no new anime abandon videos. A few minutes later: "holy shit!!! A new anime abandon video!!!

[@X_Blake]

I love Black Lagoon

[@vhilp]

Who doesn't

[@bryanallen8851]

Roberta is waifu!

[@theMrromeijn]

Bryan Allen Nah, Balalaika is the best waifu.

[@X_Blake]

Mr Romeijn I like Balalaika 2

[@Solqueen86]

Blake Kuji Sage is comparing an 90's old anime that was just trying to make a quick buck to a more recent Anime that had the time to work with the language barrier and made it perfect. Demanding little cubb ball huh?

[@wristofkings]

3:08 That makes two Patton Oswalt references in Sage's vids so far... do I hear three?

[@WranghisKhan]

Isn't Sage the voice of Dave from ZTV News?

[@WranghisKhan]

nanalinda4 That is AWESOME Lol

[@LaineMann]

What's ZTV news?

[@Crowley9]

A random thought occurred to me about the ending: Since the two options are black and red, why assign those to even and odd numbers? Why not just go for the same color as the card ends up being?

[@MysteriaKat]

Another great show that handles different cultures and languages is Free! Eternal Summer. All of the main cast is Japanese. However, two of them travel to Australia and everyone there is speaking English. Although one of them didn't know English and didn't understand, the other had lived here for some time and spoke rough English. I couldn't help but admire the extra steps Japan had taken to make the travel feel more authentic. It does leave me wondering how they plan to handle it for the English dub. This may be just one show that I prefer the Japanese dub xD

[@MasticinaAkicta]

Oh that DVD opening. WEW! That is the thing that will haunt your nightmares. Just beautiful. This is a piece of beauty.

[@BurnRoddy]

Wait Apollo Smile's Anime career is vintage now? WOW! This is one of those days I feel like I'm 100 years old.

[@goddimmus]

16:38, That is true frustration. Soul gobbling, mind numbing, frustration!

[@inferno232]

When you showed the first couple minutes, the dub made me go "Oh no.... Oh NO." It's really sad when the first moments of series tells you just how much of a trainwreck it's gonna be. ... Well, I guess it's a blessing, actually, because then you know what you're in for... But you get what I mean.

[@Caitlynn552]

Thank God you're reviewing Curse of the Yoma! I'm also kind of sad. I was hoping to donate this insult to anime and ninjas to you so I could get rid of my copy. Even poor people wouldn't want this piece of crap.

[@Superumouyun]

"Diamonds on the soles of her feet" That line made me look up British Knights to see if they still made shoes. They do.

[@uanime1]

Using English for multiple languages can work for comedic purposes. In Allo Allo, an English comedy set in Nazi occupied France, everyone spoke English even though most of the characters were French, German, or Spanish. One recurring joke was that only a few characters could understand English, so if they needed the to communicate with the British airmen they needed to find one of these characters. Another was that an Englishman, posing as a French policeman, couldn't speak French very well so he kept mispronouncing anything that was meant to be in French (though he could speak English without issue).

[@argentpuck]

uanime1 I'm glad someone else remembers that show. And I'll admit it confused me for about 10 minutes when I saw it for the first time in middle school, but then it made sense. In the past, Sage has made a very cogent point about why subtitles are a bad thing (for people with normal hearing, anyhow). Given that, the confusion about language baffles me. I suppose it's clunky writing to call attention to the fact that the spoken Japanese is supposed to be English (or Chinese or Russian or whatever), but it's really not baffling. In Fake, the fact that an Englishman speaking to two New Yorkers wouldn't recognize one of them as Japanese makes sense because it's understood by setting that they're all speaking English, right? The only way to confuse the issue is by failing to do like 'Allo 'Allo did and never indicating when the characters are actually speaking Japanese, if ever at all. A Chinese stereotype being portrayed as a Chinese stereotype... it's tasteless, crass, and racist, but I'm not confused by it.

[@manoftheleaf]

Oh boy, Blood Reign I remember watching it on VHS in the 5th grade and it scared to stuffing outta me. Can't wait for the next one Sage, keep up the good work!

[@cgoode1201]

Also... thank you for pointing out the divide between "Chinese" versus "Taiwanese", as it were. Cheers, mate.

[@WeaselWAN]

Good work Sage on those nicknames!

[@kayleighbrown459]

I've never really had a problem with the language barrier in anime if I'm honest. I always figured the reason why people speak Japanese in anime set in England or whatever is the same reason that in dub anime everyone in Japan speaks perfect English. It's just so easier to understand. They're supposed to be speaking Japanese. We can just understand them. This is also the reason that accents don't really bog me down in Anime either. If a character has a French accent when they speak English, they have one when they speak Japanese too. I dunno. That's just how I've always seen it.

[@ivanprime93]

Thank you for the Royal flush gang in the title card that is pretty cool.

[@AlexVallo1]

I love Blood Reign tho, I watched it all the time when I was a teenager! brings back good memories.

[@AussieDragoon]

I mean you could always meet up with your nemesis, Apollo Smile, again if you do Megas XLR for a future "Not-Quite-An-Anime Month".

[@LaineMann]

She was in THAT. SERIOUSLY!?

[@AussieDragoon]

Sheridan Mann www.behindthevoiceactors.com/tv-shows/Megas-XLR/Nova/

[@Falcovsleon21]

So she was the leader of the Ultra Chicks? No wonder why that voice sounded familiar to me.

[@pixelatedsushi2438]

Honestly, with the whole card theme I was expecting characters with names like Joker, Jack, Queen, and King, but nope.

[@stargazer3424]

Wonder how Sage would feel about the use of English and Japanese in ancient magus bride

[@DragonFae16]

When he said "the last" with the camera zooming in on his face, I kept thinking 'he hopes'. Then he had to spoil it by saying she didn't do anything else. Oh well.

[@redcloud563]

am i the only one who noticed the ending was actually a Checkers reference? red and black? she just came from a world with giant fuck off chess pieces and had a dumb card motif? no one? huh...well ok.

[@mattwo7]

That was Ulala's VA? ._.

[@eareimaj]

Looks like the anime is another title in ADV's "Essential" titles collection.

[@ImmaTyler]

Thanks Sage for reviewing this!

[@AustinCapitalofGaming]

Just saw blood reign....I honestly can't wait to hear what he's got to say about it

[@piripicho500]

Whats the name of the melody in 5:54, I wish to know, PLEASE.

[@saloz9483]

I remember seeing that syfy thing when i was younger. I always wondered who was that lady in the tight outfit.

[@tm364]

Alexander Nevsky by Prokofiev at 8:57 ? Ben, you brilliant boy!

[@darkmage07070777]

8:00 - ...except Black Lagoon *isn't* doing that, because in some episodes the team goes to New York to do stuff. And since Remy is from there - born and raised on the streets, in fact - they have scenes where some kids and Remy both talk to each other in *actual English* (and there are a couple of other characters that speak in English, as well). So with that context, she just plain doesn't make any sense in Japanese. NOTE: And for anyone that says their attempts at English are cringe-worthy, I say: you're right, they make my ears bleed, too, but that's not the point. To me, it's not how well it's done as money and luck are a factor here - it's the fact they bothered to try and do it *at all* that counts.

[@Dim4323]

Space channel 5 ruled in 2000. She was Nova in MEGAS XLR, a parody of Sailor moon.

[@CruelestChris]

I think the worst thing in MGS3 is when, after saying Big Boss' Russian is superb, Sokolov has to translate "Shagohod" for him. And says what it means, _while both of them are still speaking Russian_ . So what he actually said was "it's called the Shagohod. It means the Shagohod."

[@Lightice1]

Characters speaking Japanese is nothing more complex than your basic translation convention, something done everywhere in American media, so I fail to understand why it's so hard for an American reviewer to figure out. In most American productions everyone across the world and beyond speaks English no matter what their nationality if you are meant to relate to them in any way. The implication is that they are speaking their native tongue, but the film "translates" their speech for the audience's benefit. It's the same exact thing in Japanese productions.

[@cthulhupthagn5771]

He understands it, he just doesn't like it. Neither do I - most anime poorly handles the audio, whether subbed or dubbed. I think its why often anime has semi racist dubs - its using stereotypes to convey "this guy is chinese" but doing so casts a negative light on the genre, so an overhaul is due. Its possible to do it well - the latin in the OMG movie was learned phonetically by the cast, for example.

[@hardballer3926]

Lightice1 Youre wrong. Many quality shows would actually put in the effort to have lines that are spoken in foreign language to be the actually foreign language. You dont have people say a line in english and pretend that the were talking in french because that is breaking immersion and is blatant laziness of the people working on the show. You either find a natural way to work out of people speaking in different language or dont even bother having people of different nationality pretending to be speaking another language in the story. You dont halfass show with diverse characters without the characters actually being diverse.

[@Lightice1]

xenoevil It has gotten more common in the recent years, but it's still far from the norm, and even when a foreign language is actually used in an American show they usually drop it after a few lines and assume that the audience knows that they're speaking a different language, even though the rest of the time they are seen speaking accented English. It is still extremely rare for any American production to have a character you are meant to relate to speak anything but English, whether they are an English-speaker or not With anime they have an added excuse of budget limitations. They can't afford to hire foreign voice actors on a daily basis and most Japanese voice actors are atrocious even with English, let alone with less common languages.

[@hardballer3926]

Lightice1 That isnt the point I am trying to make. I dont expect an entire episode long dialogue done entirely in another language. I expect consistency between what the characters are saying and the context behind them. Lines that makes sense in a certain language should be given the effort to be spoken in that language. To have the audience simply assume a different language is being spoken despite the characters talking in their native language is bad writing and bad directing. If the VA the studio/company hires are professional, then they should act the part.

[@Lightice1]

xenoevil You have yet to make any explanation as to why these decisions would be "bad writing" or directing. This is not some sort of absolute principle that you can just declare without a cause. The fact is that this method has been used throughout media for decades and that for the majority of time it has worked perfectly well for the intended audiences, which is the only meaningful issue.

[@stargazer3424]

I see Bennett brushed up on his Jim Carey skills for this episode.

[@captainautobots]

As I was watching the review, I wondered if there's something to salvage of this anime; something that could make it worth a reboot; some way to make it work with just a few tweaks in the script or the premise. Nope.

[@thatonebritishidiot3037]

I have a polish friend and his English is perfect, most people can't tell he's originally from Poland

[@danieladamczyk4024]

8:55 I need that chour!! Tell me, you will not regret. You don't gona belived in your reward.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Apollo smile was amazing

[@KaiseaWings]

I'm not actually sold on Shenhua's accent mostly because she doesn't seem to be acted by a Taiwanese - or even Asian - actor. Of course I don't know whether her accent is accurate, but I'd personally be more comfortable if it was a Taiwanese actor hamming up their own accent ^^; Think Australian stereotypes. I only find them cringeworthy when their accents are terrible. (Not the same thing but it's the closest I have.) What I found really interesting about that scene is Revy's use of 'chinglish' despite her own Chinese heritage.

[@FeliDJrah]

Hey, Sage. I've got an anime for you. You may want to file this one under Apocalypse Zero. It's called Dead Leaves.

[@huneylove5]

Dennis Taylor Its bassically FLCL x 2

[@JMDarkly1]

'Blood Reign'? I think I watched that one. Can't tell you what it was about, but I know I've seen it before.

[@Gat720Dua]

I'm pretty sure if she was watching it she would take the apology pretty well.

[@Excelgirl200]

Lol when he was talking about language barriers it reminded me of scene from hetalia when the character Greece was talking to japan character and Greece said (in japanese i mind you) look japan i can speak japanese. He then started to say hello i am speaking japanese and it was at that point that the dub was way better than sub XDDD.

[@ShadowJoe]

Hmm... "ztupid, azinine, and horrendouz." I like it already!

[@Noxoth233]

what was the song that played when he was declaring a dramatic end to Apollo smile?

[@jakublulek3261]

Ah, my beloved Black Lagoon, one of few anime, which are better in english not because of good voiceacting (which is good anyway), but because it makes much more sence. C'mon, almost nobody is japanese, so why they speak japanese? But english? Many nationalities, many different languages, so, what is universal language? English. But I still prefer japanese audio, because in many other, very japanese, shows makes much more sence to characters in japanese environment speak japanese. My example is Lucky Star but I look at you, Sailor Moon hardcore fans. You know that Sailor Moon is better in japanese. P.S.: I had one copy of Apollo Smile "manga". And you know, manga and anime world is crazy but not that crazy to publish this in larger quantities. Even in Japan this would crash and burn. Stupidly dull, that is the best description of that piece of work.

[@LaineMann]

I could not enjoy Black Lagoon.

[@jakublulek3261]

Sheridan Mann And you are not alone. I love it because it reminds me of my favourite '70s and '80s movies and show, it's beautifully exploitative and really OTT and not very japanese in result. But I understand, why this isn't working for you or somebody else.

[@Basileus127]

I recall it was established in the Black Lagoon manga that everyone actually is speaking English since there are so many people from different nationalities there (and English is a common universal language in the South China Sea area the series is based in). The characters speaking Japanese at all is just a translation convention, just like when we dub an anime and end up with a Japanese high school full of Japanese students that speak only in perfect English.

[@andrijadjordjevic9203]

awesome title card btw love to see one where the royal flush gang fights the glitter force doki doki

[@AgentOracle]

Odd, I remember Wild Cards being, for lack of a better term, "Smut". Maybe there were two?

[@cthulhupthagn5771]

You may be thinking of the anthology super hero series written/edited by GRRMartin. Supposedly inspired by his rpg sessions, his Wild Cards was packed with a lot of "sexy time" shit....by his standards. I stopped reading the series around book 11 when a story featured a superhero who charged up with tantric sex. ..and at one point did so by raping a dead boys body so that he could summon his ghost and id the killer. If that ain't smut....

[@MeepChangeling]

@@cthulhupthagn5771 That's not smut, that's fetish flue.

[@SMAXZO]

It's kinda like in MGS3 where Sokolov is saying that Snake's Russian is good...even though they were speaking English.

[@gentlemandemon]

I think Ranma 1/2 had at least one example of a foreign character having an accent when speaking Japanese, caricature Chinese accent notwithstanding. Another anime, Chihayafuru, also played with Japan's own lack of diversity by having a group of players in a karuta tournament who were non-Asian but born and raised in Japan. They all spoke bad Engrish to try to act like foreigners in a tournament to stand out, but they got called on it quick and started speaking in normal Japanese (I've only seen a clip, not the full episode).

[@LaydiNite]

I would have liked it if the ending revealed this whole thing was just a game being played by a group of kids who dumped all the contents of a bunch of board games and cards together and made something up with the resulting jumble.

[@GaijinGuy36]

I'm surprised you didn't give this one a 'You're killing me here, Smalls.' It would have fit.

[@XylophoneHippi]

"You're killing me Smiles!" XD

[@GaijinGuy36]

I did not think of that. Well played!

[@ottagol1985]

Well, at least you added more info on Apollo Smile even if you gave her a verbal bashing. I've heard that she may not have e-mail, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone showed her this, and the other three reviews where you wanted to rip her vocal chords out. Other than that, my theory on this OVA is that it's a two-episode pilot to a series that never made it to air due to low sales in Japan. Odds are that this started out as a manga; but I am cool with being proven wrong, if there's any proof. And in the case of further oddball casting... Coco Clubs was voiced by comedienne and impressionist Nadya Ginsburg, who would later be a cast member of the ill-fated sketch show on the WB, "Hype". I provide proof, but there's little to no vids of the show online. The only one who made it out unscathed was Frank Caliendo (or, in the case of Canada, Gavin Crawford).

[@KaiserAfini]

Any chance you could take a look at Twelve Kingdoms ?

[@Guts124]

Blood Reign is next!!!! My prayers have been answered.

[@deltaknight2764]

2:30 ...I agree with every bit of my heart, dude. I can handle lousy Dubs, but that is just elementary-school-amateur-play bad.