There exists animes of Western properties, what about the reverse?

[Bratbat]

Now it sounds really stupid, why would someone want to create from scratch a cartoon that is based on a existing work from Japan instead of simply adapting it?

That I cannot answer.

But some of us have surely heard of "Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z".

Western cartoon into an anime has happened, has anyone ever heard of an anime that got a "from scratch" version in the west?

I wouldn't count Robotech because it wasn't from scratch. It was more of a strange amalgam of three different animes.

[chdr]

There's the new Speed Racer show on Nicktoons.

[The Weed Of Cri]

There was an American Speed Racer cartoon in the early 1990's but it didn't last long. DIC also tried to make an American Sailor Moon series that was a blend of live-action and animation and is one of the worst misfires ever. It never made it past a pilot episode.

[Hordesman]

You know, I think it's less common because US tv productions get higher budgets. It's cheaper to just get the licensing rights rather than spend extra money just so characters wear shoes indoors.

[SpaceCowboy]

I guess the Megaman (Ruby-Spears) TV series would count. The obscure 3-episode anime OAV that ADV released was its pilot.

[kempobot]

There are plenty of American comics that are based off of existing anime and manga, but I really haven't seen much through animation.

If we're including Japanese produced videogames, then we could also include the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man, Double Dragon, and Street Fighter cartoons along to that list.

I believe back in the day, Lupin VIII was being produced by DiC, which was planned to cater towards a younger, western audience, and wasn't even being animated by TMS or any other Japanese studio. I could be totally wrong about this, though.

I don't know too much about the series, but I think there were some American produced Hello Kitty! cartoons floating out there as well.


I guess the Megaman (Ruby-Spears) TV series would count. The obscure 3-episode anime OAV that ADV released was its pilot.

Ooh, I didn't know that. Good trivia... though I would've rather had the anime OVA as the series instead.

[ChibiGoku]

I believe back in the day, Lupin VIII was being produced by DiC, which was planned to cater towards a younger, western audience, and wasn't even being animated by TMS or any other Japanese studio. I could be totally wrong about this, though.


Everything about that project was japanese (series conception, writing, music, directing, etc), except it was co-produced by DiC and another French company. TMS Entertainment still was responsible for the animation duties. The series was being made to be marketted towards both Japanese and Foreign markets and trying to get the Lupin series out there in other markets.

The series was originally going to be the third produced Lupin series and actually had a firm scheduled date in both Japan and France. Infact, TMS Entertainment had alreacy secured a timeslot for the series in Japan nearly a year before broadcast. The only reason it didn't happen was because of royalities with the copyright owner of the Lupin name, with the french company not wanting to pay more than what they wanted. So the project was cancelled.

The copyright information still exists for the series and TMS still has it in archive, just with no voices. The first 6 or so episodes were reported of being finished or mostly finished, but they never got to the voice recording stage. Sound effects and music placement were done, however. Having seen the first episode, it was really hard to tell what was going on though...

Apparently there are plans to eventually release what was completed in Japan in some point in time, just no solid date.

Anyways, sorry for going off topic, but I just wanted to clear this up.

[kempobot]

Anyways, sorry for going off topic, but I just wanted to clear this up.

No, actually thank you for the information. As a Lupin fan, I was wondering what really went down with that series. Aside it from being confusing, how did you like the show? Does it live up to the Lupin legacy?

Anyway, back on topic, I also believe that there was some sort of American for Voltron, and I'm not sure whether to consider the Transformers as a primarily American or Japanese property.

[Anyone00]

Wasn't the Sci-fi channel doing a live action Witch Hunter Robin (but canceled the project)?

[ShadowGUN]

There was an American Speed Racer cartoon in the early 1990's but it didn't last long. DIC also tried to make an American Sailor Moon series that was a blend of live-action and animation and is one of the worst misfires ever. It never made it past a pilot episode.

No, that was Saban not DIC. DIC did the english dub.

[ChibiGoku]

No, actually thank you for the information. As a Lupin fan, I was wondering what really went down with that series. Aside it from being confusing, how did you like the show? Does it live up to the Lupin legacy?


I'll admit something, despite it being really different from the past two series, it still had it's Lupin charm. Same music composer, same overall writing, and the characters were still overall the same. I was surprised Fujiko's overall character was the same, being the typical slut so to speak and doing whatever she pleases, even betraying Lupin in a blink of a eye. Lupin lost some of his charm though, because he's no longer a thief but a detective, however he still seems to have a thing for wanting to collect rare gems and money like his ancestors.

I still find it funny though that Zenigata is still after Lupin... It's like he can't trust him, even through all the generations...

The character style was different, as TMS went with the same overall design style they had used in Ulysses 31 rather than going with the original designs. However, in a way it worked.

I had one particular issue and this had to do with a request from the French side. Jigen, as we all know smokes. However, because of the risk of being problematic in foreign markets, they removed his smoking habbits... Instead...

Well, this image should explain everything:

http://www.sonicfighters.com/AnimeStuff/Jigen%20Lollipop%20small.jpg

DiC/TMS beat 4Kids Entertainment by a good 20 years... :sweat:

Although, it's strange. Later on in the episode, Fujiko asks one of the henchmen for a light for her cigarette. While it wasn't a real cigarette, in reality it was just to blow out sleep gas when lit. Still the fact remains it's similar to one:

http://www.sonicfighters.com/AnimeStuff/01%20fujiko%20light.jpg
http://www.sonicfighters.com/AnimeStuff/02%20fujiko%20light.jpg

Then later, the guy Fujiko is after (I honestly would have to look up his name, because of the lack of dialogue. I know a script for the episode has surfaced...) is drinking and smoking if I recall. Double sided standards anyone? :sweat:

[SpaceCowboy]

I heard the creation of the Lupin VIII anime was probably the main reason why the whole scandal happened over the use of Lupin's name in the first place. The estate of Maurice LeBlanc (French author of the original Arsene Lupin novels from the 1920's which the Lupin III character is loosely based on) tried to sue Monkey Punch over the use of the Lupin name, because he didn't get permission from them to use it for the creation of the Lupin III character to begin with. The outcome of this was the Arsene Lupin books and the Lupin name fell into public domain early in Japan, because Lupin III was such an established franchise there. And in the West, the US licensors of the Lupin III anime such as Streamline Pictures and AnimEigo had to change the character's name to "Wolf" or "Rupan". Maurice LeBlanc's Arsene Lupin books fell into public domain in the US in 1991 and as such, later US releases of Lupin III could use his name.