I'm listening to the radio on my way home, after dropping my brother at college, and the news comes on. The first report is about Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. As I'm sure most of the internet community and real world knows, he passed away today after being pierced through the chest by a Stingrays barb.
To be honest, I've never watched one of his documentaries, but even so it's almost impossible not to have known who the guy was. He cameo'd in a few movies and even had one of his own; quite a success.
It's sad because I'd like to say more, but I can't. However, if you'd like to know more, you can click here to read an article which details the circumstances, as well as the thoughts and heartfelt feelings of those who knew him.
My condolences.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Shin Megami Tensei III: Lucifer's Call aka Nocturne - COMPLETE!
Finally! I have completed this game! *throws a party*
When did I start playing this? About a month or so ago? Wow, it's been a long journey and it's finally over...I feel sad...
Not really! I've got plenty of other games to get through, and the next one on my list is Xenosaga II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse. It's been waiting to be played...for quite a long time.
Anyways, let me talk about Lucifer's Call. You already know that it's a long game to get through, especially if you're going to get and complete every little thing there is in the game. I ended up completing it with a total game time of 113:50...that's a pretty long time.
It's got very nice cel-shaded graphics, and lovely locations that resemble the actual places extremely well. It all takes place in Tokyo, Japan by the way and yes, I've been there and visited most of the sites available in the game, so I kind of reminisced a bit too, heh.
Coupled with the graphics, the story is just as good, pitting you against your friends as you strive to achieve the ultimate goal: Creation. Of course I went for what is commonly known as the "True Demon Ending", just because I wanted to do all the challenges first and then go onto doing the easier bits. To be honest, I was a tad disappointed with the final-final boss, but to say why would be spoilers for those who haven't completed it or played it yet.
Oh yes, the soundtrack. You can't have a game without some form of music or sound these days, and Lucifer's Call does not disappoint. Just as with Baten Kaitos, the soundtrack is one to remember. I only wish I had the money to actually buy all the soundtracks I love from the games I've played, alas for I am a mere broke University Student, whose money happens to just get spent on games and DVD's, as well as living essentials. Shameful, I know. But truth be told, most of the soundtracks I'm after I'd have to import, even if I look at Amazon, and I'm just not prepared to pay the extra postage and packaging at this moment in time.
For those of you who have misinterpreted what I wrote, as meaning that the soundtrack for Lucifer's Call is on the same level as that of Baten Kaitos, you read that wrong. What I meant was that both games have delivered great soundtracks, but are in no way on the same level. Both produced soundtracks suited to the mood of their games and both are memorable for that, because the music recorded was just right and pleasing to the ears. That's all I meant.
I can't really think much on what else to say, because the gameplay is pretty simple to understand and there's an incredible variety of abilities at your disposal. Just about anybody can get the hang of playing this game, because it's not all that complicated and doesn't really demand skill; just very good strategic ability.
All in all, it's a very good game and I recommend it...highly!
When did I start playing this? About a month or so ago? Wow, it's been a long journey and it's finally over...I feel sad...
Not really! I've got plenty of other games to get through, and the next one on my list is Xenosaga II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse. It's been waiting to be played...for quite a long time.
Anyways, let me talk about Lucifer's Call. You already know that it's a long game to get through, especially if you're going to get and complete every little thing there is in the game. I ended up completing it with a total game time of 113:50...that's a pretty long time.
It's got very nice cel-shaded graphics, and lovely locations that resemble the actual places extremely well. It all takes place in Tokyo, Japan by the way and yes, I've been there and visited most of the sites available in the game, so I kind of reminisced a bit too, heh.
Coupled with the graphics, the story is just as good, pitting you against your friends as you strive to achieve the ultimate goal: Creation. Of course I went for what is commonly known as the "True Demon Ending", just because I wanted to do all the challenges first and then go onto doing the easier bits. To be honest, I was a tad disappointed with the final-final boss, but to say why would be spoilers for those who haven't completed it or played it yet.
Oh yes, the soundtrack. You can't have a game without some form of music or sound these days, and Lucifer's Call does not disappoint. Just as with Baten Kaitos, the soundtrack is one to remember. I only wish I had the money to actually buy all the soundtracks I love from the games I've played, alas for I am a mere broke University Student, whose money happens to just get spent on games and DVD's, as well as living essentials. Shameful, I know. But truth be told, most of the soundtracks I'm after I'd have to import, even if I look at Amazon, and I'm just not prepared to pay the extra postage and packaging at this moment in time.
For those of you who have misinterpreted what I wrote, as meaning that the soundtrack for Lucifer's Call is on the same level as that of Baten Kaitos, you read that wrong. What I meant was that both games have delivered great soundtracks, but are in no way on the same level. Both produced soundtracks suited to the mood of their games and both are memorable for that, because the music recorded was just right and pleasing to the ears. That's all I meant.
I can't really think much on what else to say, because the gameplay is pretty simple to understand and there's an incredible variety of abilities at your disposal. Just about anybody can get the hang of playing this game, because it's not all that complicated and doesn't really demand skill; just very good strategic ability.
All in all, it's a very good game and I recommend it...highly!
Friday, September 01, 2006
Unauthorised Plagiarism
So, this took place a little while back, starting from 30th July and resolved by 18th August. I understand it's a little late in being reported, but hey...I'm in no rush, plus I've had quite a bit of internet-related trouble of the broadband connectivity variety.
Anyhow, I was browsing the internet on the very early morning of 30th July, and decided to google my webname (ErutanXiku) to see how many results there were. Oh come on, don't roll your eyes at me like you've never done this before ¬.¬ I was surprised to see that there were 4 pages of results, but not so surprised to see where the results came from. All except for one at the very end of the list. It was in reference to a fanfic of mine, by the title of Song of Angels, and it was found somewhere that it was not meant to be. Someone had reproduced my fanfic without my permission, and I knew this because I have only authorised one website to host it without me having put it up personally.
I was filled with a range of emotions, but was most notably irritated and flattered. Flattered, because someone had liked my fanfic enough to host it on their blog. Irritated, because that someone had not received my permission to do so. Thus I contacted them, asking them why they had not contacted me about hosting it and where they had found it, and if they would be nice enough to put up my contact information so that people who liked it could contact me. Actually, instead of me writing it all out, here's the actual exchange complete with commentary in italics. I've opted against revealing the webname of this someone who reproduced my work.
ErutanXiku wrote on Jul 30
Hi, I just happened to come across your blog, and found my fic up here, "Song of Angels". Though I am flattered, I don't recall you asking permission to post it up here. However, I thank you for posting up my name. I'd like to know where you found it and why you posted it up here, as well as why you never contacted me for my permission.
Thanks; I'm not offended, just surprised, so you don't have to take it down.
-ErutanXiku
e-mail me at: ErutanX2002@aol.com
So begins the conversation. I contact him, make reasonable requests and even leave my e-mail address in the event that he should add my contact information, or if he favoured to continue this privately. I wait.
AuthorOfBlog wrote on Aug 6
i just happened to watch the FF VII The Movie : Advent Children.. and i post this out because I'm fun of it.. does this have to me permited by you ? ermm.. i dun think so rite ? and how i'm gonna contact u anyway dude?
Okay, so their English isn't top-notch...I can deal, considering he's foreign. It's nice that you just watched FFVII: AC, but my fanfic has nothing to do with that. It's based on the game, which I admit, gave out the wrong message on the character whose perspective it's written from due to rushed translation. I don't think this person has ever written fanfiction before, nor has much experience with netiquette, or just chooses to be net-rude. I don't even see an answer to where the dude found my work in the first place. Rude indeed.
ErutanXiku wrote on Aug 6
Well you do need my permission to host it. I may not own Final Fantasy 7, nor had any part in it's production, but it is my work. I wrote it, so yes you do need my permission to host it.
It wouldn't have been that difficult to get in contact with me; any site that hosts my fanfic also has an e-mail address where readers can contact me.
I would appreciate it if you added my e-mail address to this post so readers can contact me, if you plan on keep my fanfic up here.
-ErutanXiku
e-mail me at: ErutanX2002@aol.com
Whoops, I just noticed...I misspelled a word, it should be "keeping". Anyhow, as per my nature, I overlook his language, which I just want to rip apart, and reply politely and concisely. It's not all that hard to understand and comply with my wishes, after all, I am the author of the work in question.
AuthorOfBlog wrote on Aug 8
acutally, this is just a blog anyway, to let my friends see.. and it's not public.. so i dun think this should be permitted by you..
Oh how wrong I was. Now I feel like flamthrowing his ass. I mean it doesn't matter if it's a blog you're posting someone else's work on, you still need their permission!
ErutanXiku wrote on Aug 8
Now if you think about that for a moment, I'm not one of your friends so how do you suppose I can view this blog? Even my friends can view it, so obviously your blog is a public blog.
And it doesn't matter; if you copy and paste someone's work you need to get their permission if you intend to replicate it in any form. Even if it is for private use.
All I'm asking is for you to edit this entry and include my e-mail address so that other's can contact me if they're interested in reading my other works. If not, then I'll be forced to take action and notify your host.
-ErutanXiku
e-mail me at: ErutanX2002@aol.com
I actually had two versions of this reply written up. The other one contained foul language, and I wrote it first because that's how peeved I was by this point. I had to write this one a little later, once I had calmed a little. Just so you know, I'm a very patient person, but not all that tolerant. He's being such a dweeb about this whole thing, I mean it's not gonna kill him to make one tiny edit, is it?
AuthorOfBlog wrote on Aug 10
up to you
i've nothing to say
speechless
it's not really public actually, its just a friends netword that i post this
people who can see it's just friends, your friends, my friends...
it's not that it's really public that people who wan to search for this they can search from links like www.yahoo.com or www.google.com... they can't , OK?
What's wrong with this reply? I found the blog on Google, how can you not say that it's not public? Sure you might not have intended it to be, but it is, so there.
After that, I held true to my word and contacted the host of his blog immediately. I wanted my work off of that blog since the author was being an uncooperative so-and-so. I'm not posting the correspondence with the host, because it includes the blog-author's name and the general gist is that in the end, my work was taken down as per my wishes and all's well. I have rescued my work from Unauthorised Plagiarism, and will be vigilant for any more cases such as this.
For those of you who are interested to read the fanfic, here's the link:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1579644/1/
Anyhow, I was browsing the internet on the very early morning of 30th July, and decided to google my webname (ErutanXiku) to see how many results there were. Oh come on, don't roll your eyes at me like you've never done this before ¬.¬ I was surprised to see that there were 4 pages of results, but not so surprised to see where the results came from. All except for one at the very end of the list. It was in reference to a fanfic of mine, by the title of Song of Angels, and it was found somewhere that it was not meant to be. Someone had reproduced my fanfic without my permission, and I knew this because I have only authorised one website to host it without me having put it up personally.
I was filled with a range of emotions, but was most notably irritated and flattered. Flattered, because someone had liked my fanfic enough to host it on their blog. Irritated, because that someone had not received my permission to do so. Thus I contacted them, asking them why they had not contacted me about hosting it and where they had found it, and if they would be nice enough to put up my contact information so that people who liked it could contact me. Actually, instead of me writing it all out, here's the actual exchange complete with commentary in italics. I've opted against revealing the webname of this someone who reproduced my work.
ErutanXiku wrote on Jul 30
Hi, I just happened to come across your blog, and found my fic up here, "Song of Angels". Though I am flattered, I don't recall you asking permission to post it up here. However, I thank you for posting up my name. I'd like to know where you found it and why you posted it up here, as well as why you never contacted me for my permission.
Thanks; I'm not offended, just surprised, so you don't have to take it down.
-ErutanXiku
e-mail me at: ErutanX2002@aol.com
So begins the conversation. I contact him, make reasonable requests and even leave my e-mail address in the event that he should add my contact information, or if he favoured to continue this privately. I wait.
AuthorOfBlog wrote on Aug 6
i just happened to watch the FF VII The Movie : Advent Children.. and i post this out because I'm fun of it.. does this have to me permited by you ? ermm.. i dun think so rite ? and how i'm gonna contact u anyway dude?
Okay, so their English isn't top-notch...I can deal, considering he's foreign. It's nice that you just watched FFVII: AC, but my fanfic has nothing to do with that. It's based on the game, which I admit, gave out the wrong message on the character whose perspective it's written from due to rushed translation. I don't think this person has ever written fanfiction before, nor has much experience with netiquette, or just chooses to be net-rude. I don't even see an answer to where the dude found my work in the first place. Rude indeed.
ErutanXiku wrote on Aug 6
Well you do need my permission to host it. I may not own Final Fantasy 7, nor had any part in it's production, but it is my work. I wrote it, so yes you do need my permission to host it.
It wouldn't have been that difficult to get in contact with me; any site that hosts my fanfic also has an e-mail address where readers can contact me.
I would appreciate it if you added my e-mail address to this post so readers can contact me, if you plan on keep my fanfic up here.
-ErutanXiku
e-mail me at: ErutanX2002@aol.com
Whoops, I just noticed...I misspelled a word, it should be "keeping". Anyhow, as per my nature, I overlook his language, which I just want to rip apart, and reply politely and concisely. It's not all that hard to understand and comply with my wishes, after all, I am the author of the work in question.
AuthorOfBlog wrote on Aug 8
acutally, this is just a blog anyway, to let my friends see.. and it's not public.. so i dun think this should be permitted by you..
Oh how wrong I was. Now I feel like flamthrowing his ass. I mean it doesn't matter if it's a blog you're posting someone else's work on, you still need their permission!
ErutanXiku wrote on Aug 8
Now if you think about that for a moment, I'm not one of your friends so how do you suppose I can view this blog? Even my friends can view it, so obviously your blog is a public blog.
And it doesn't matter; if you copy and paste someone's work you need to get their permission if you intend to replicate it in any form. Even if it is for private use.
All I'm asking is for you to edit this entry and include my e-mail address so that other's can contact me if they're interested in reading my other works. If not, then I'll be forced to take action and notify your host.
-ErutanXiku
e-mail me at: ErutanX2002@aol.com
I actually had two versions of this reply written up. The other one contained foul language, and I wrote it first because that's how peeved I was by this point. I had to write this one a little later, once I had calmed a little. Just so you know, I'm a very patient person, but not all that tolerant. He's being such a dweeb about this whole thing, I mean it's not gonna kill him to make one tiny edit, is it?
AuthorOfBlog wrote on Aug 10
up to you
i've nothing to say
speechless
it's not really public actually, its just a friends netword that i post this
people who can see it's just friends, your friends, my friends...
it's not that it's really public that people who wan to search for this they can search from links like www.yahoo.com or www.google.com... they can't , OK?
What's wrong with this reply? I found the blog on Google, how can you not say that it's not public? Sure you might not have intended it to be, but it is, so there.
After that, I held true to my word and contacted the host of his blog immediately. I wanted my work off of that blog since the author was being an uncooperative so-and-so. I'm not posting the correspondence with the host, because it includes the blog-author's name and the general gist is that in the end, my work was taken down as per my wishes and all's well. I have rescued my work from Unauthorised Plagiarism, and will be vigilant for any more cases such as this.
For those of you who are interested to read the fanfic, here's the link:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1579644/1/
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Trip to Dover
Hey all!
Just got back from a day trip to Dover. It's about a 2-hour drive from my house in South-West London, by taking the M25. An awesome, but long journey. You can take a nap and wake up 10-minutes before arrival; lovely if you're a passenger, but not so much if you're the driver.
Upon arrival, we went straight to Dover Castle, which is an incredible piece of history with so much to do. Too much to cover in one day. One thing I have to say, is that I hate the people who built it, because there are just too many stairs going up, and when you're checking out the tunnels there are just too many incredibly steep walkways. Plus it's dark and I almost tripped and fell over, if it hadn't been for my brother who grabbed me from behind. I was also reprimanded by an old man and his female companion to be more careful, because I could have broken my neck.
We plan on going a second time and covering a lot more during October, which is when they're holding archery; a sport I have had my heart set on since as far back as I can remember. We may also be dragging my friend, Bhavna, along too. Upon deciding to call it a day around 4pm, my mum and youngest brother went to check out information on joining the Heritage Membership, which grants free access to Heritage Landmarks and half-price on certain events. This was suggested by a friend of my mum's, who's a plumber and does work on her houses, that we ran into while returning from the Castle Keep.
My mum then took us to dinner at a Chinese Restaurant, and then took us for a walk along the coast. It's really nice and peaceful, and we plan on making a proper holiday soon; you know, staying at a hotel and stuff, because there's just so much to do and see.
We then headed home and stopped over at Twickenham's BlockBuster, because my youngest brother wanted to get a game. He got 50 Cent: Bulletproof for the X-Box. I don't have to express my feelings about this, other than I really hate these kinds of games. They make idols out of ordinary humans, who don't appear to have any real good qualities about them. They play on racial stereotypes, and are chock-full of bad and disgusting language and highly promote violence against people. It's a game that only my youngest brother would call "cool" and buy. Want to know something completely retarded about the promotion of the game by his truly (50 Cent)? I read that he said that even though the game is rated 18 (for good reason, I might add) he still wants children of all ages to buy and play it...
Anyway, today's Sunday, so as per my promise I checked out Shortpacked! at TNI and found that you have to click "next" to get to the new comic. They have an archive with the newest comic at the top, and so I went and changed the link to reflect this.
Just got back from a day trip to Dover. It's about a 2-hour drive from my house in South-West London, by taking the M25. An awesome, but long journey. You can take a nap and wake up 10-minutes before arrival; lovely if you're a passenger, but not so much if you're the driver.
Upon arrival, we went straight to Dover Castle, which is an incredible piece of history with so much to do. Too much to cover in one day. One thing I have to say, is that I hate the people who built it, because there are just too many stairs going up, and when you're checking out the tunnels there are just too many incredibly steep walkways. Plus it's dark and I almost tripped and fell over, if it hadn't been for my brother who grabbed me from behind. I was also reprimanded by an old man and his female companion to be more careful, because I could have broken my neck.
We plan on going a second time and covering a lot more during October, which is when they're holding archery; a sport I have had my heart set on since as far back as I can remember. We may also be dragging my friend, Bhavna, along too. Upon deciding to call it a day around 4pm, my mum and youngest brother went to check out information on joining the Heritage Membership, which grants free access to Heritage Landmarks and half-price on certain events. This was suggested by a friend of my mum's, who's a plumber and does work on her houses, that we ran into while returning from the Castle Keep.
My mum then took us to dinner at a Chinese Restaurant, and then took us for a walk along the coast. It's really nice and peaceful, and we plan on making a proper holiday soon; you know, staying at a hotel and stuff, because there's just so much to do and see.
We then headed home and stopped over at Twickenham's BlockBuster, because my youngest brother wanted to get a game. He got 50 Cent: Bulletproof for the X-Box. I don't have to express my feelings about this, other than I really hate these kinds of games. They make idols out of ordinary humans, who don't appear to have any real good qualities about them. They play on racial stereotypes, and are chock-full of bad and disgusting language and highly promote violence against people. It's a game that only my youngest brother would call "cool" and buy. Want to know something completely retarded about the promotion of the game by his truly (50 Cent)? I read that he said that even though the game is rated 18 (for good reason, I might add) he still wants children of all ages to buy and play it...
Anyway, today's Sunday, so as per my promise I checked out Shortpacked! at TNI and found that you have to click "next" to get to the new comic. They have an archive with the newest comic at the top, and so I went and changed the link to reflect this.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Naruto! Believe It!
So, I realise this is pretty late; it was originally meant to be posted last Wednesday, 16th August. Well, thanks to my ever wonderful friend Bhavna, I was hooked on reading a webcomic by the title of Joyce and Walky! The link takes you to the latest comic, which is part of an arc of fun stuff. The actual story started almost 10 years ago, and I'm not going to force you to read it from the beginning. That's your choice. Aw to heck with it, here: Roomies!
As of last night/wee hours of early this morning, I was finally up-to-date with the comic and feel pretty unfulfilled what with the cliffhanger, and some issues related to the personal lives of the characters. Anyhow, not my story...all I can hope for is some out-of-the-hey! miracle.
You'll find three new links under "Webcomics": Shortpacked!, Joyce and Walky!, and Shortpacked! at TNI
I'll check out TNI on Sunday and see how the new comic will be put up, i.e. whether it will replace the current one or if you will have to navigate to it. Depending on this, I will change the link on Sunday.
Right, back to business. I have one other piece of news, but I figure this post will become too long what with having to include my review of the dubbed Naruto (oh God...here it comes, not another fan raving). So, I'll save the other piece of news for like...tomorrow.
Before any of you think that I'm an angry fan, I'm not. Yes, I'm angry, but no, I'm not a fan. In fact my love for Naruto died when the 100+ episodes of fillers were brought in; I kid not...there are really 100+ filler episodes. In these fillers, the characters have been totally dumbed down and Naruto has been turned into your typical "I-care-not-for-authority" sort of character. What really got me peeved was how Rock Lee was really weakened, when he's one of the really powerful ninjas in the village. Oh and don't get me started on Shikamaru.
Anyhow, this is the dub we're talking about, and so the dub we'll focus on. The dub of Naruto was aired on Saturday 22nd July 2006 on Jetix. The adverts were shown about a week prior, and my ears recoiled at the mispronounciation of the title..."Na-ROO-toe", with "Na" being pronounced like it is in "Nathan". I've just been watching subs so long, that english pronounciation of foreign words have gotten kinda on my nerves. What's more is that dubs don't seem to help that at all, I mean...would it kill them to actually have someone teach them proper pronounciation? I don't think so.
The first thing you're exposed to, when watching an episode, is of course the opening sequence. I really liked the original opening, but it's a sad thing that they couldn't get the license to actually use the song. So, I understand that they had to go and make their own one, but they could have made it more...decent. What we get is a pretty bad rockish tune, full of not-so-cool electric guitar sounds, all rounded off with random bits of voice that say something I can hardly make out. What I could make out was the following: "Huh!" and "Fight!" and the rest is pretty unintelligible. Also, the clips put to the "music" was not so cool...I seriously could have done a better job with the opening. I know whining isn't going to get me anywhere, but I really do feel strongly about some aspects. I accept that they didn't get a sweet deal, but at least they could have made a better job of it.
Next, a lot of mispronounciations, but I've already covered that. Ah yes, the title characters voice. Not so cool. It sounded okay to me at first, then it just got annoying and unemotional. You see, because the actress makes the voice kinda scrappy and gravelly, she's compromising emotion. Like when Naruto is kinda angry or summat, he sounds just like he normally does. Oh and when he's crying and feeling emotional? He sounds like he peeved about something. Very bad directing there.
Rock Lee's voice sounds good, I just dislike how they've given him this "I-must-pronounce-every-single-word-I-utter" kind of dialect. Makes him sound like an annoying robot.
The use of "Jutsu". Why could they not have just used the word "Technique"? Okay, so you want it to sound good and true...but if you use an entirely english translation for a phrase, you may as well use english all the way, rather than a 3/4:1/4 phrase.
"The Village Hidden in the Leaves" Too long for my liking. "Hidden Leaf Village" made just as much sense, and sounded better when mentioning the "Hidden Sound Village". I wonder how they phrased it in the manga translations...
Pretty much the last thing to note, would be how they chopped the episodes and threw in their own "neato-mad-computer-skills". They've chopped bits out, which I can live with since the West has different broadcasting regulations, but they've also overlapped scenes to make a "cool" effect. Also, to compensate for the lower episode content due to chopping and overlapping, they actually pause episodes at a certain point while characters are speaking off-screen or thinking.
Personally, I'm not sure if I'll buy the DVD...cool it's uncut, but I dunno. I have a lack of shelf-space as it is, and the series is nearing 200+ episodes.
Oh, also the series sometimes feels rushed. That makes sense, because the license for the series was only acquired early this year, with the goal of releasing the dubs during the 3rd Quarter.
What has me fearful is that Bleach has been picked up by the same studio...
As of last night/wee hours of early this morning, I was finally up-to-date with the comic and feel pretty unfulfilled what with the cliffhanger, and some issues related to the personal lives of the characters. Anyhow, not my story...all I can hope for is some out-of-the-hey! miracle.
You'll find three new links under "Webcomics": Shortpacked!, Joyce and Walky!, and Shortpacked! at TNI
I'll check out TNI on Sunday and see how the new comic will be put up, i.e. whether it will replace the current one or if you will have to navigate to it. Depending on this, I will change the link on Sunday.
Right, back to business. I have one other piece of news, but I figure this post will become too long what with having to include my review of the dubbed Naruto (oh God...here it comes, not another fan raving). So, I'll save the other piece of news for like...tomorrow.
Before any of you think that I'm an angry fan, I'm not. Yes, I'm angry, but no, I'm not a fan. In fact my love for Naruto died when the 100+ episodes of fillers were brought in; I kid not...there are really 100+ filler episodes. In these fillers, the characters have been totally dumbed down and Naruto has been turned into your typical "I-care-not-for-authority" sort of character. What really got me peeved was how Rock Lee was really weakened, when he's one of the really powerful ninjas in the village. Oh and don't get me started on Shikamaru.
Anyhow, this is the dub we're talking about, and so the dub we'll focus on. The dub of Naruto was aired on Saturday 22nd July 2006 on Jetix. The adverts were shown about a week prior, and my ears recoiled at the mispronounciation of the title..."Na-ROO-toe", with "Na" being pronounced like it is in "Nathan". I've just been watching subs so long, that english pronounciation of foreign words have gotten kinda on my nerves. What's more is that dubs don't seem to help that at all, I mean...would it kill them to actually have someone teach them proper pronounciation? I don't think so.
The first thing you're exposed to, when watching an episode, is of course the opening sequence. I really liked the original opening, but it's a sad thing that they couldn't get the license to actually use the song. So, I understand that they had to go and make their own one, but they could have made it more...decent. What we get is a pretty bad rockish tune, full of not-so-cool electric guitar sounds, all rounded off with random bits of voice that say something I can hardly make out. What I could make out was the following: "Huh!" and "Fight!" and the rest is pretty unintelligible. Also, the clips put to the "music" was not so cool...I seriously could have done a better job with the opening. I know whining isn't going to get me anywhere, but I really do feel strongly about some aspects. I accept that they didn't get a sweet deal, but at least they could have made a better job of it.
Next, a lot of mispronounciations, but I've already covered that. Ah yes, the title characters voice. Not so cool. It sounded okay to me at first, then it just got annoying and unemotional. You see, because the actress makes the voice kinda scrappy and gravelly, she's compromising emotion. Like when Naruto is kinda angry or summat, he sounds just like he normally does. Oh and when he's crying and feeling emotional? He sounds like he peeved about something. Very bad directing there.
Rock Lee's voice sounds good, I just dislike how they've given him this "I-must-pronounce-every-single-word-I-utter" kind of dialect. Makes him sound like an annoying robot.
The use of "Jutsu". Why could they not have just used the word "Technique"? Okay, so you want it to sound good and true...but if you use an entirely english translation for a phrase, you may as well use english all the way, rather than a 3/4:1/4 phrase.
"The Village Hidden in the Leaves" Too long for my liking. "Hidden Leaf Village" made just as much sense, and sounded better when mentioning the "Hidden Sound Village". I wonder how they phrased it in the manga translations...
Pretty much the last thing to note, would be how they chopped the episodes and threw in their own "neato-mad-computer-skills". They've chopped bits out, which I can live with since the West has different broadcasting regulations, but they've also overlapped scenes to make a "cool" effect. Also, to compensate for the lower episode content due to chopping and overlapping, they actually pause episodes at a certain point while characters are speaking off-screen or thinking.
Personally, I'm not sure if I'll buy the DVD...cool it's uncut, but I dunno. I have a lack of shelf-space as it is, and the series is nearing 200+ episodes.
Oh, also the series sometimes feels rushed. That makes sense, because the license for the series was only acquired early this year, with the goal of releasing the dubs during the 3rd Quarter.
What has me fearful is that Bleach has been picked up by the same studio...
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