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AICN Anime-Batman: Gotham Knight, More Manga Market Shake-Ups, Figures and More

Damn You Michael Bay by MCMLXXVI	Jul 3rd, 2008 07:52:42 AM
Damn You Michael Bay
hmm.... by seanpb	Jul 3rd, 2008 08:17:43 AM
did anyone get through that gotham knight review? i kept losing interest.
by MRJONZ72	Jul 3rd, 2008 08:28:38 AM
I've caught some of the Batman Gotham Knights - I like it so far.
Gotham Knights is horrible. by La Frog	Jul 3rd, 2008 08:36:03 AM
I was expecting a lot of this anime crossover between the best japanese studios and the bat. Well, it looks horrible. Graphically speaking, the various designs of the Batman are all horrible and the stories poor rehash of the old Bruce Timm series at best (the Rashomon inspired episode. been there seen that) while the rest is just plain boring. Anime fans and batfans, you've been warned. Avoid.
Saw it yesterday by Forrest75	Jul 3rd, 2008 08:37:34 AM
The animation is fun. I enjoyed the different interpretations and looks of "The Batman." I would have liked to hear a better voice on him though. Kinda weak/wussy.
That Fox Batman cartoon in the 90's by zer0cool2k2	Jul 3rd, 2008 08:42:41 AM
Did an episode exactly like that "Have I Got a Story For You" bit.
Gotta say... Gotham Knight is a bit shit by ODM	Jul 3rd, 2008 08:44:36 AM
The stories aren't given enough time to breathe... not they are worth exploring anyway. I expected more tbh.
What about the Wonder Woman preview? by teethgnasher	Jul 3rd, 2008 08:48:47 AM
What does it look like?
re: Wonder Woman Preview by ScottGreen	Jul 3rd, 2008 08:52:57 AM
It's primarily a mini-documentary about the character.
Gotham Knight was fucking horrible... by Sledge Hammer	Jul 3rd, 2008 08:56:44 AM
...and that first story was by far the worst one of the lot, not to mention being a complete and blatant rip off of the old Legends of the Dark Knight episode from the New Batman Adventures, only told far, far more poorly. I was actually looking forward to Gotham Knight too, but man it's shit. And no, it's not in any real way a prequel to The Dark Knight as it was hyped to be, apart from the fact that it contains Batman, Alfred, Gordon, and a couple of others. No matter how much of a Batman fan you are, try before you buy folks. Seriously.
Gotham Knight was absolutely terrible by johnnyg korrupt	Jul 3rd, 2008 09:17:43 AM
I'd been waiting months for it with eager anticipation as soon as it was announced and what a letdown. Not even worth watching..imagine if you forked out cash for the limited blu ray version. Holy crapolla batman.
hated teh first gothom knight short by logicalnoise01	Jul 3rd, 2008 09:20:57 AM
but thought the rest were ok and the final one was pretty damn cool. None even came close to the 90's animated show though.
Avoid It Bat Fans It's Rubbish by StealthGeek01	Jul 3rd, 2008 09:25:49 AM
As a huge Batman fan I can say that any episode from the varios TV series is better than what is offered here. Warner Brothers are trying to con you for your money this is really that bad, animation was poor, the story was poor has nothing to do with the film series except it's name.
Thanks for thye warnings guys by spectrebeeyatch	Jul 3rd, 2008 01:19:36 PM
I was very interested in this but I'll avoid it now.
Is it really that bad? by Johnno	Jul 3rd, 2008 01:49:00 PM
I wanted to pick up the blu-ray and I don't want to watch the leaked stuff... Besides, weren't all these shorts written by the American comic and TV writers you guys liked?
Not enough time for each story by Mister C	Jul 3rd, 2008 02:30:49 PM
Although I don't think it was a complete waste I do however think it wasn't worth it's hype. Some of yall seem to be making it out as worse than it really was. There really wasn't enough time for a deep story of any kind and because of that I really had no "investment" in it. It certainly wasnt The Animatrix but thats because it didnt have anything new to show of, more of the same if you will, and it's because of this it was only enjoyable on a visual level. Take the very last story "Deadshot" and simple made that the entire movie and I think it would have been better. Too many versions of Batman made me feel like there wasn't any batman, it amplified the fact that it was "artistic vision" and I for one could not latch onto it. I'd recommend it to bat fans only.
Well I guess shorts tend to be short... by Johnno	Jul 3rd, 2008 03:13:04 PM
Of course they would've been better if there was more time to flesh them out but that's the way it generally is. Oh well, as long as the animation is cool I'd pick it up. I absolutely loved Animatrix, so if it's along those lines then that would be awesome. I'm still going to give it a shot.
Definately.. by Mister C	Jul 3rd, 2008 03:25:54 PM
..give it a shot, its not like it "RUINED MY VIEW OF BATMAN FOREVER" it just wasnt able to blossum because of its running time, thats not to say however, more talented people couldn't have done better with the givin time...
Didn't care for "I got a story for you" by Stalkeye	Jul 3rd, 2008 03:54:31 PM
First off the animation was ugly, that's one of the reasons why I never saw TekkonKinkreet. Besides, it had been there done that with Timm's 90's BTAS in which kids shared stories about Bats from the Dick Sprang ea to Miller's Dark Knight (voiced by Micheal Ironside) The rest of GK was very promising and the final story in particular.Batninja Scroll anyone? Don't know about the haters but I highly recommend this DVD.on Blu-Ray? I don't think so.
What're you saying??? GOTHAM KNIGHTS was GREAT! by TheGhostWhoLurks	Jul 3rd, 2008 04:35:21 PM
Fantastic anime, with strong storylines that are loosely connected! DEFINITELY check this anthology out!! If you're in doubt, just bittorrent it and see for yourself. Then BUY THE DVD, so we can get more stuff like this in the future! Seriously, it's good stuff.
Did I mention that Kevin Conroy is BACK as BATMAN? by TheGhostWhoLurks	Jul 3rd, 2008 04:37:13 PM
That ALONE makes Gotham Knight worth getting. :)
OOps, I forgot to mention the great Kevin Conroy. by Stalkeye	Jul 3rd, 2008 05:50:02 PM
whose voiceovers alone are worth checking this out.Never cared for jeremy Sisto's Batman (JL: Final Frontier)Kev's gotta eat!
Kevin Conroy sounded bored off his ass in this one... by Sledge Hammer	Jul 3rd, 2008 06:12:16 PM
...and the rest of the voice cast was weak as hell for the most part. I'm sure some people might like this, but then some people like being shit on too, that doesn't make it any less disgusting. TRY BEFORE YOU BUY folks, honestly, many will be thankful in the long run. It really is that shitful.
Hmmm... by Johnno	Jul 3rd, 2008 09:48:50 PM
Didn't mind getting the blu-ray version as it's only $2 more than the special edition 2 disc DVD version and has everything that does... However I'm hearing that the transfer on blu-ray isn't very good and the special features are all SD... man... Now I'm getting iffy... Maybe I ought to torrent it first... oh... what to do???
Hell Yeah, It's worth seeing! by mistergreen	Jul 3rd, 2008 10:00:25 PM
It's a helluvalot better than that crap on saturday morning.
Well Johnno... by Stalkeye	Jul 4th, 2008 06:19:08 AM
If you're a patient lad, I would say wait till tuesday to either rent or purchase the DVD.However, I would suggest the torrent approach as a precaution.( Try before you buy.)Although I recommend GK, everyone has their own taste. That and many times have I felt ripped off when buying Media (be it Anime,Movies and especially Games) before "sampling" the damn things.It's your call.
Alright then I guess I'll torrent... by Johnno	Jul 4th, 2008 12:56:23 PM
I doubt there's going to be anyone around me that'll offer it for rental. If I like it I'll buy it and I'll wait to hear more reviews on the blu-ray version's quality which should be out around release date. If blu-ray's not worth it then I'll save $10 and pick up the cheaper DVD.
re: voice acting by Chief Joseph	Jul 4th, 2008 04:54:20 PM
In anime, the animation is almost always done first and the voices are "dubbed" in later. Japanese voice actors are trained to pull this off great, but American voice actors aren't an usually can't quite pull it off. That may have been the case here; the lips don't seem to be synched up to the mouths like you'd see in an American cartoon. As for the movie, the version I saw seemed to have a few shorts out of order... The Italian mob-boss played by Rob Paulsen gets captured by Batman at the end of one short and then he's free in the next. I hate that Tarantino non-linear crap. But on the whole I liked it, especially the final Deadshot one. And I agree the first one with the annoying skateboarders was a total ripoff of the '90s cartoon.
As an Anime Fan.. by TheAllSeeingEye	Jul 4th, 2008 05:24:43 PM
I gotta say GK was pretty weak. It had some decent moments and I will admit that Batman suited the anime look. I liked the Deadshot section and the bit with Killer Croc but the rest of it was very meh...
@ TheAllSeeingEye by Chief Joseph	Jul 5th, 2008 09:51:07 PM
Agree. I wish they hadn't confined themselves to the Nolan "movie" universe. Wouldn't it have been great if each short could've been unconnected and the directors could be free feature a different rogue? (Joker, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, etc.)
Alright... Here's the verdict! by Johnno	Jul 6th, 2008 01:51:45 PM
So I downloaded and watched it, twice now. Here's the bad... The biggest reason the shorts suffer is because of time. Everyone seems to have noticed this, they end too soon, in fact you might even say the biggest problem is that they end JUST when it's getting good. Like you're about to reach the first portion of a grand climax and then suddenly they just fizzle out because time's up... However... if this is a taste to what animated Batman can be... then SON OF A BITCH I WANT MORE!!!! The film can be divided up into two portions, the first 3 and last 3 episodes. The first 3 episodes are mediocre and just passably interesting. The final 3 episodes just scream moments of brilliance off the screen! It's such a stark contrast to the earlier 3... In fact this project would've been truly fucking awesome if they jsut cut out the first 3 eps and used that time to extend the story of the latter 3, or better yet given the latter 3 about 30 mins of run time the same as an average half hour TV episode! The first short "Have I got a story for you" is a copy of one from the recent animated TV series. It was probably deliberate and maybe could've functioned as a nice intro, where all these rumors of Batman are flying around, people are talking about him and we finally get to see the reality of it. At best it ended up being merely servicable... Perhaps this can be chalked up to the animation style which followed that of Tekkon Kinkreet. Now I loved Tekkon Kinkreet and I thoguht the style was great as well even though initially I was turned off of it from still images and a lot of other people also aren't digging it too much. But however you feel about Tekkon Kinkreet, the style just doesn't suit the Batman... The background work however was a different storay as there are some incredible backgrounds in that short! The other reason is also that a portion of it was in the daytime which was also a bit weird for Batman even for children's stories about him, but I could overlook it. There are also some shots in it that seem, well.. .amateurish, or not interesting enough which perhaps hints that a new guy was put in charge of boarding this. So there are some weak moments even visually. I wasn't digging this episode the first tim I saw it, but upon second viewing I did enjoy it better. There are some moments of cool visuals there and animation fans might enjoy watching it simply to look at it. The second episode, 'Crossfire,' seems like something akin to what American cartoons are like, or can be if taken into a more mature direction. The art style definately seems to suit that aesthetic. Some have pointed out poor dialogue here and they are right, but it's not something that's really that bothersome... The other thing the short can be accused of is not being that clever... there's a set up between villians that is just done so half assed it's comical instead of intimidating and dangerous. Batman makes a cool entrance here, and there's some cool references to Begins such as the Narrows entrance bridge. There's also a nice atmosphere going on in this episode that would be great to translate over to a children's cartoon of Batman (sans the more violent content) for the effect of the dark world of Gotham, however it's a shame that kids shows can't show situations too dangerous or threathening or any blood despite that it's never intense in this short, you see people getting shot and people getting hurt and watching them twist from every blow the Batman delivers but its never overdone, but if I saw this as a kid it would be the best cartoon ever! With a longer run time you might even say it could even fit well into the spirit of the original WB series. The third episode 'field test' is where we really see a typical anime style used. Unfortunately the biggest downfall of this episode is Bruce Wayne's appearence... It's not that this couldn't have worked were it a Japanese show voiced by a Japanese guy who suited the role, but adding Kevin Conroy's voice to this character design just doesn't seem believable... at all! Otherwise, this short is pretty good if also suffering from lack of depth due to run time but would make an interesting episode if they pushed it a lot more and fully utilized the new gadget Batman has that allows him to stop bullets. Maybe this little gadget might even feature in the Dark Knight... I don't know but I have an inkling particularly seeing as how the episode had Fox trying to equip it to the Batmobile... Perhaps this is what the Batpod uses to flip over trucks? I don't know... but I can't elp feeling it was underutilized in this short and that perhaps it is there simply to tie into the Dark Knight at some point in a different form... Now here's where Gotham Knight takes a turn for the brilliant side of the spectrum! It starts off with the 4th episode 'In Darkness Dwells.' It is this episode, rather than 'Have I got a story for you' that should have been used to introduce and open up Gotham Knight! (Although considering the flawed first 3 episodes perhaps their decision for the order of episodes is best this way). The artstyle of this episode uses a very exaggerated and unique style that is simply badass! I love it! Even the direction and framing of each shot here is just so awesome! This is anime when it's at its most creative! When Batman is in flight dropping down from a height, his cape aloft as that of a bat, or whenenever he is moving about wildly, it's as if his cape and costume is a remarkable character in itself! You'll find yourself wondering where the man ends and where the bat begins without any need for a 'man-bat.' :P One scene of Batman and the kidnapped O'Fallon standing atop a ledge with pipes falling around them evoked me back to a moment in Akira where Tetsuo brings Akira's frozen tomb to the surface and witnessing the nitrogen filled pipes waving around wildly... If one could describe the visuals here it would be a colourful kind of gothic... Killer Croc makes an appearence here as being on of the Scarecrow's experimental freaks, and they make Croc in such a way that he really could fit into Nolan's universe. Scarecrow's toxic gas also features heavily here and could have some significance in Dark Knight. This episode was simple and two the point, Batman tracks down the kidnapped Cardinal O'Fallon, beats up everyone and escapes... and perhaps that's just what we want in a short, a digestable simple story presented extraordinarily well! This is a Batman I've never seen before and that I will always want to see more of! Now while I have been saying that the shorts largely suffer from being too short and not having enough time to flesh themselves out... but there is one that's an exception to this and it is the 5th short 'Working through pain.' Here we have a story that does a lot with it's short run time and begins, tells and ends its story very effectively. It is the most well balanced and even perfect Batman short with good story, good characters and great animation that did well with the length it had! The story features Batman, badly injured and trying to reach the surface and in the midst of this we flash back to a young Bruce Wayne traveling the world trying to learn new skills to eventually become the Dark Knight. This one acts as both an intermediate between Begins and Dark Knight and a prequel to Begins. Bruce finds himself in India and seek training that will help him overcome pain. However Bruce Wayne's pain goes far beyond that of what he physically finds himself up against, his scars run deep and this is explored as an underlying theme in this episode. The story of this one is something all Batman fans will adore. It's animation style is more straightforward and works beautifully! I could easily picture a whole TV series of this being done even at a reduced budget and it would work! I don't think I need to elaborate more on this one. If there's any short in this collection that will linger with you, it's this one! Frankly it would be an awesome idea if Nolan played it as a feature before Dark Knight sort of like Pixar does before their movies. Out of all the shorts, this one fits in with Nolan's world the best and anyone seeing it in a theatre before Dark Knight might even be very interested in check out the rest, that's marketing that would work and given the movie's length already I doubt anyone would complain. It is a great short! And I found it's ending to be quite poetic. It made me feel for Bruce Wayne in a way no other Batman cartoon or movie has ever made me feel and I'm guessing that it's unlikely that even Dark Knight will evoke this sense of feeling... This brings us to the last short 'Deadshot.' Arguably everyone loves this one and if we were to vote on what animation style would be best the majority would choose this one (I'm actually torn on which of the last three shorts I'd prefer to see become a full length series). The style basically put is that of 'Ninja Scroll' meets Batman. It's devilishly close to how we'd picture the good Batman comic art come to life. And in terms of Batman facing off against one from his supervillian's gallery, 'Deadshot' shows off a taste of how animation can fulfill our dreams of what a new hardcore animated Batman TV series could be! This short suffers from not being long enough to further develop characters and take the action much much further, but the plot is simple and effective enough to work. However it gets over right when it starts getting good... But what you see will delight you and you know you want more, much much MORE of it! So is Gotham Knight worth your purchase, I'll say this much... If you want a really good Batman TV series, IF you love what you've seena nd truly want more... You will pick this up on DVD, The cheapest option is worth it, and if you want to wait to get it at a discount later on then that's probably what's best for many of you. But please, for the LOVE of ALL that is GOOD... Buy this sometime! The last 3 shorts totally amke it worthwhile for anyone with an interest in animated Batman. Then get together on forums throughout the internet community and raise your voices about which of the last 3 shorts you liked best and let DC know you want to see a full length Batman Series in one of those styles! Vote with your money, write your letters, get them to hire the best Japanese studio to make a full 13 or even 26 episode series that stands on its own without needing to tie itself to Nolan's storyline and bring Batman to life!!! Also I should point out my concern to the crummy voice acting job done on Dark Knight. The lips don't seem to synch and someone has pointed out reasons as to why that is... I know Conroy's iconic and all, but either get one of the local anime dubbing and distribution places to do this right with a new actor or get Conroy to receive direction form them. Hell I'm sure even if done originally in Japanese and subtitled will also be awesome, maybe that guy who plays Batou or Solid Snake could do it with a dep voice. But good dubs exist and can be done and Batman deserves a good english cast. he last 3 eps of Gotham Knight have made me salivate at the thought of a full length no holds bar full 25-20 min running 26 episode series done in either one of those 3 styles. Hell I'd even settle for 3 full length Mask of the Phantasm type OVA movies in each style! There's amazing potential here folks, I ain't kidding! Please let's all do the right thing and encourage DC to make us something really amazing!
^ apologies for spelling errors... by Johnno	Jul 6th, 2008 02:01:20 PM
I know I ought to learnt to type or stop typing in a hurry or take time ot proofread, or just stop using notepad and use Word...

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AICN Anime-Batman: Gotham Knight, More Manga Market Shake-Ups, Figures and More

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