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Interview with Gen Fukunaga on Dragon Ball GT
The following is a very recent editorial from "Wizard Anime Insider" (which might still be out now depending on when you're reading this, in case you'd interested in buying the issue this interview appears in) that discusses the new GT DVD's which are set to come out on April 15. Most noteably, it includes a few statements from FUNimation CEO Gen Fukunaga in which he praises and promotes FUNimation's "reinterpretation" of Dragon Ball GT. So I guess you could call it an "Interview with Gen Fukunaga on Dragon Ball GT." What follows is an exact reprint of it which is then followed by my incredibly rude, hateful (and perhaps even completely unfai- nahhh!) comments.
"FUNimation updates Goku's final fights for the new millennium" Interviewed by: Christian Nutt
As Dragon Ball Z creeps ever closer to winding up [the last volume is due out this March!] the silver lining is that means that Dragon Ball GT is closer as well. FUNimation has announced that DBGT will be available on DVD beginning this April. But the DBGT we're getting is unlike anything the rest of the world has ever seen.
Additionally, in order to best tap the potential of DBGT, FUNimation is "speeding up the series," according to Fukunaga. "It'll have more high points and less low points- The U.S. release of DBGT will bring fans up-to-date and lead them directly into the action. This DBGT will be a worthy successor of Dragon Ball Z." But hardcore fans shouldn't be worried about all this mucking about- FUNimation promises that the original DBGT episodes will be available eventually, in their original form. "It is important to note that all of the Dragon Ball GT episodes will be made available to our fans in the near future," says Fukunaga. However, the "enhanced" DBGT is what will be released this April.
If you're scratching your head, you should know that Dragon Ball GT picks up after the conclusion of the DBZ saga. After Goku is accidentally wished back into a little boy, he, Trunks and Goku's granddaughter Pan must travel outer space to find the Dragon Balls- but then they encounter Baby, a terrifying alien with the power to control anything he touches! DBGT also features brand-new characters, designs by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama and the first-ever appearance of the Super Saiyan 4 level.
Comments added by The Great Saiyaman: Wow, isn't that great news guys? This REALLY shows us just how much FUNimation loves GT, shows us what a great job they'll be doing with their dub of it and it proves that Gen Fukunaga has finally learned to show animes the respect, integrity and care they deserve to be shown through the dubbing process. But seriously... Now then, on with the bashing!
If by "unlike anything the rest of the world has ever seen" you mean that the dub of GT will be thoroughly raped in the ass as much as humanly possible then yes, I couldn't possibly agree with this statement more.
"Significant" investments, eh? Like paying Dr. Dre's "homies" to fly down from L.A. to Ft. Worth so they could drunkenly scream, "STEP INTO THA GRAAAAND TOUR! GRAND TOUR, GRAND TOUR!" into a microphone? As for the sound effects... big deal. How many people do you know who watch an anime just for it's "totally rockin" sound effects? Besides, GT's sound effects are pretty good to begin with, the guys who did em made em from scratch and had almost a decade's worth of experience doing that stuff, so no complaints there. But kudo's to you FUNimation if you do manage to make GT's sound effects sound slightly better... Though aside from "re-mastering" them to stereo sound, I don't see how there's a whole lot extra you can really do to them. If one didn't know any better they might suspect that you only brought the sound effects topic up only because you're just really desperate for at least something remotely nice that can be said about FUNimation's dub of GT, being as, "We're dubbing the GT series very faithfully to the original so we can satisfy all the fans!" is something that would never pass your lips. Oh, and Gen- don't you DARE say that we fans "don't know" Dragon Ball GT, especially after what you did to GT's real theme song. On the contrary, we fans who actually have some love for the series and have watched it "know" Dragon Ball GT better than you ever will. It's you and the rest of FUNimation's marketing cronies who don't know Dragon Ball GT.
The "enhanced DBGT" DVD will also be skipping straight past the first 15-16 episodes, which GT on CN will also probably be doing. Once about 75% of all of GT is shown on CN, FUNimation will then label these episodes as "the lost GT episodes" and will release them on 5 $20-25 DVD's each containing 3 episodes apiece, milking a maximum of $125 apiece from GT fans who don't have any other way of seeing those episodes aside from buying them on DVD. "Speeding up the series" and "leading them directly into the action" my ass, Gen. More like leading them directly into your wallet.
See my above comments. As for what Gen was thinking to himself as he told the interviewer about fans not needing to worry about FUNimation's 'mucking about'- "So what if we completely screw up what many fans consider to be an already screwed-up series? And so what if our English dub shown on CN winds up sucking more **** then Ron Jeremy's last girflriend and it won't be nearly as enjoyable or watcheable as the original Japanese version because of our 'mucking about'? And so what if even the CN version will be skipping 15 episodes as well? The mere fact that we have the original Japanese episodes on DVD subtitled means that you fans have NO RIGHT to complain to us at all whatsoever, even though we are charging an arm and a leg for the DVD's and even though we don't particularly like you "anime snobs" too much to begin with. Now then, please shut the hell up, never say anything bad about our GT dub or us ever again, and give us $400-500 for all 20 or so GT DVD's (which, if they were being released about 10 episodes apiece DB-DVD style, would come out to 5 or 6 and only cost between $120 and $150) which will eventually be released at some point over the next 2 years from now in 2005."
And a day that any DBZ fan who's hoping for a good GT dub can dread as well.
The other .001% was from people on message boards warning us that there'd be rap/e music in GT, but at the time they were dismissed as pre-assuming kooks unaware of how much more intelligent and respectful FUNimation had become over the years. Hell, even I was a part of that 1.999% who dismissed those small handful of warnings as being rubbish. Although I believed my friend 100%, I also assumed that that music had been composed simply as "possible back-up music" that FUNimation probably never be using. Then on February 12th, 2003 hell broke loose and... you know what happened. FUNimation started shoving this rap **** down our throats expecting us to swallow it and ask for seconds. After doing that they've been bombarded with countless hateful and politely negative e-mails from fans expressing their views on the music and asking them to simply leave in the original music, in addition to Z message boards (including FUNimation's) and websites across the net complaing about it practically non-stop. In fact, even some of FUNimation's own official message board moderators have made some hateful posts about the "significantly invested in" new music themselves. So why does FUNimation seem so intent on replacing the much-beloved and acclaimed original music? Hmm... Remember during my last editorial remember remember how I asked you all to e-mail Dan, Gen, Barry and FUNimation about this? I know that many of you did, though most of you didn't seem to get any responses. However, one of the big 3 (I'm not going to say who being as he was nice enough to respond and since I want to respect his privacy- and since I don't want him to get several 100 "why didn't you e-mail me back" e-mails) actually had an e-mail correspondence with one of you (Mr. Arjun Chauha) who was then kind enough to pass his responses along to me. (thanks dude!) Ordinarily I wouldn't post something like that but I think that putting rap music in GT definitely calls for it. Anyway, I don't remember what Arjun's original message said but ?'s response to it was,
"Hello,
"Dear DBZ fan,
And that was the last of ?'s responses. Arjun's final response to his correspondence with ? was... "Well, ? has not replied yet. I think he made his point when he said that mature fans will be able to enjoy DBGT on dvd if not on television. As for me, i am surely not gonna buy a single disc of DBGT. It's too sad to know that FUNi is so so stubborn and now they have also lost their ability to figure out what's quality and what's crap!" ?- "2-year olds, 3-year olds, 4-year olds, 5-year olds, 6-year olds, 7-year olds, 8-year olds, 9-year olds, 10-year olds, and 11-year olds- they will all automatically LOVE IT. 12-year olds, 13-year olds, 14-year olds, 15-year olds, 16-year olds, 17-year olds- chances are they'll undoubtedly LOVE IT as well. People older than that? They... MIGHT not enjoy it, I'd say the odds of that are maybe, perhaps, slightly 50-50. But hey, those guys and anyone else who have any complaints should toss us here at FUNimation a couple of Benjamin's and just enjoy our totally mondo cool DVD's!" Okay Mr. ?, you seem like a nice enough guy and I can understand your trying to be optimistic in the face of even the grimmest opposition and criticism but c'mon... Face the facts and own up to what the fans and even your moderators on your message board (as well what even some of your VA's, ahem, privately) have all said- NOBODY likes this new rap music and NOBODY wants it in the dub of GT. (Oh, and FUNimation- way to make Stephanie Nadolny, who actually looks very pretty, look absolutely butt-ugly with that dark background you gave her. As someone who's a talented musician I'd LOVE to hear what she thinks about your rap music, though I have a pretty strong feeling I already know what she'd say.) In fact, the only people who will like it will be those who are already "down" with "dat mad dope, rap miz-uzic in tha hiz-ouze, yeh yeh yeh boy!" who've also never seen or heard original DBGT before in their lives. And even they would get a better kick out of seeing a GT dub with it's original music as opposed to one that's likely to have Nelly rapping about Bebi's "air force ones" and Dr. Dre calling that one female dark Shenron a "crazy-ass ho" during Goku's fight with her. If it was too late to call back the DVD's when that c-rap song was first posted on dragonballgt.com then just accept the fact that FUNimation screwed up (gasp! unheard of! Never has this happened before!) and apologize. Accept the fact that those "significant investments" would have been better spent on Enron stock whose value has dropped to being completely worthless... Whereas your rap music isn't just worthless, it's also going to cost FUNimation money in sales in addition to costing it the respectability in the anime community it had finally managed to grudgingly build up. And tell us fans in your dragonballgt.com FAQ (when it finally does get put up) that you're incredibly sorry about the music decision and that, in lieu of recent events and popular fan reactions, you've decided to include all of the original music from now on and that no more "new music" GT DVD's will ever be released. Or if you still absolutely want something to do with your "new music" then make it possible so that fans can listen to "new music episodes" on the DVD's and include those as extra from now on. You've done a great job with Blue Gender (I even enjoy watching the dub more than the original, since the dub is so faithful to original- I repeat, SINCE THE DUB IS SO FAITHFUL TO THE ORIGINAL) and other animes including DB, so there's STILL a chance for FUNimation to have a respectable reputation in the anime company despite the disaster that Z has been. FUNimation... are you even listening? Do you even give a damn? Well, I think I've said just about enough about FUNimation's new "version" of GT for one day. Besides, there is still that extremely remote and highly unlikely .0000001% possibility left that FUNimation actually gives a damn about what us fans think and will listen to us and just leave the original music alone like we want it. However, I'd also like to point out that April 15th was also the exact same day (1999) that the much-hated upon "Ginyu Assault" and "Double Cross" tapes were first slated to hit stores. Perhaps this is just history repeating itself yet again? If not then good, I'll be glad to learn FUNimation is finally understanding how to be a respectable anime company that treats it's fans, customers and animes right. But if it is history repeating itself again then.... it's FUNimation's reputation in the anime industry that they'll be ruining and their episodes sales that they'll be damaging. Let's just hope that they already learned their lesson the last time four years ago.
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