Kimba box

[O2Destroyer]

Originally posted by jeffbert@Feb 8 2006, 01:32 PM
Hmm, so it appears that Hamegg, Higeoyaji, Kenichi, & 'Merry' are all known to each other. Now I can begin to understand things about Kimba season 1 that made no sense before.

They and Leo (cub) journey to Africa in search of the MT. Moon (1, 109). How long until Hamegg shows his true colors?

Plus: Duke Red
Minus: Notaarin

Isn't it great. Everyone loves the old english dub, but it doesn't even qualify as innaccurate--sometimes it is just telling a completely different story!!!

As far as Hamegg goes, he sticks to his normal old self, which is to say that he isn't a major villian and is getting manipulated by a more sinister villian (guess who!

One difference I do rather like is that the comic never gives us a really good explanation why Mary (sorry, can't go with the spelling 'Merry' turns into Kanga/Tanga (whatever.) Kimba at least suggests (however lamely) that she hit her head in the fall from the cliff (ep. 3? A Human Friend) and was raised as the daughter of a hunter. Perhaps the explanation is buried somewhere in the comic and I missed it, but at least with my first read-through, I felt confused as to why Marry was acting the way she was.

Incidentally, in watching Kimba, it never once occured to me that 'Roger Ranger' was Kenichi; perhaps because I've never seen him grown up before?

[strobe_z]

I wanted to mention something about the translations I did for Jungle Emperor Leo.

First off, these were translation from the Korean version (with some checking against the French version for vol. 1), so there is a chance for some small mistakes creeping in (translaions of a translation and all that) - but I think I did a half decent job.

The names of the characters are pulled directly from the Tezuka World website's character database (and the Jungle Emperor Leo page). So that's why you get "Merry" as well as "Lyre, Lune, Lukio, etc.."

Incedentily, I'm working on a teukza fan website (http://tezuka-translated.com) that will hopefully feature some other translated Tezuka manga (of course only those not licensed in North America in English! . Because of bandwidth considerations I'm not sure if I'll put them up on a rotating "chapter a week" type system (heh.. or maybe "page a day" if I'm evil!! . So far Jungle Emperor Leo and Princess Knight will be the first two up, after that I'll work on "My Son-Goku: the Stone Monkey".

[O2Destroyer]

Originally posted by strobe_z@Feb 9 2006, 08:19 AM
...but I think I did a half decent job...

More than that! You know how happy I am with this, so I don't think I need to say more. The 'Merry' thing IS strange, but as you pointed out to me both here and elsewhere, you're using the names from other sources--so if they want to call her Merry, more power to 'em.

Curious though, the epilogue at the end is also strange--not the translation but the implication. Tezuka says he's lost the script, but certainly he must have been able to find archived copies of the original published work he'd done somewhere. It is hard to believe that it was completely lost when so many copies were floating around! I'm a bit confused by this one.

[strobe_z]

I think perhaps that at the time, printing plates weren't what they are today.

Tezuka had a "master edition" that was borrowed by a staffer and subsequently lost (when the guy died of alcohol poisoning of all things! . I think in those days plates weren't 'permanent' and that it would've been too expensive to make/store plates that would last once the book had been printed.

Judging by how hard it was for me to track down Tezuka manga in Korea that was out of print (editions that were printed in 2002/03!! , I don't doubt that Tezuka would've had no choice but to re-draw the early chapters. Even if he could've found a couple of copies lying around (didn't he say this was like 13 years later?) I doubt they would've been of sufficient quality to produce new master plates. It's not like they had photoshop.

[O2Destroyer]

I am now pestering Madman to consider season 2. I know there is no good english dub and no nostaligia value, but this is 26 more episodes right from Tezuka's heart. The english dvds are as bad or worse than any bootleg you could imagine. It is time that someone do this right, but like most 'right' things, this might not be particularly profitable (I can't imagine the kimba box was profitable.) The whole thing really GETS me.

Jungle Emperor/Kimba is probably as close to Tezuka's central themes as one can get, yet for the most part, this particular work remains ignored/out-of-print. I should be thankful the kimba box made it--but once again, it is only reprinted based on nostalgia value. Lack of subtitles/original voice language hurt it. Second volume (second chance to lose money) seems obvious, but now there is no nostalgia. Is Tezuka's message only valuable in relation to child nostalgia?

Perhaps I don't get it since I have never stopped loving good stories or children's literature. I didn't see Kimba as a child but as an adult and it it still amazing. I'm sure these are the same reasons Viz must hesitate when putting out additional volumes of Phoenix, or Vertical must feel restricted in releasing only the 'adult oriented' tezuka. Really, the whole thing is a bit depressing. I think Tezuka is the only thing keeping me interested in manga and anime anymore, and most of it isn't commercially viable enough to be released.

Damn fine work!

[Latu]

Right now I'll check if my librarys' website to see if they have it.

[O2Destroyer]

Hey hey hey!

Looks like someone is doing something to rectify the kimba season 2 problem:

http://kimba.tvheaven.com/LeoVol1.htm

[DrFrag]

Someone should buy this before he gets shut down.

[O2Destroyer]

Well, I went ahead and ordered it, and will give some feedback on it as soon as it shows up. If it is a dvd-r then I can't imagine he'll have any problems.

If it is a real DVD I want to know who's pressing it since with my own cd label, these copyright issues always come up. There are times I've definitely contemplated a bootleg (saving material from obscurity, you know), but never felt I could do it without trouble from the pressing plant.

Speaking of bootlegs, I wouldn't be surprised if the 'official' ones aren't also bootlegs. Do you think anyone in the US still retains the rights to those episodes? I highly doubt it. Nor do I suspect Palm Beach Entertainment obtained rights to them from Japan. I suspect this is more of the 'oh, it is abandoned, I'll just go ahead and release it' mentality that somehow people don't acknowledge as a bootleg.

Hah! I need to talk this fellow into a DVD of Mouse and his Child and Ringing Bell.

[DrFrag]

It looks to me as if it's a one man operation, and there's no region encoding on the discs. How many official DVD producers and distributors put themselves on a webring?

I suspect without any official licenced version released to compete it'll be treated as a fan sub and generally ignored, although he's charging money for it which makes it a slighty darker shade of grey. But IMO, if Tezuka was alive he would want this kind of thing distributed.

Will you give us a review when you get it?