AnimeSuki Forums

bluemist · 2006-09-12, 05:51

Is REMAKE the 'in thing' in anime these days?

I was just away from anime a few months, and now we have the Kanon remake, the Negima remake, the Shuffle remake, the Kujian remake, the Kiminozo remake, and even the EVA remake. Did I miss anything?

And I thought sequels were bad enough...

Anyone care to discuss?

DragoonKain3 · 2006-09-12, 07:11

Add Super Robot Wars:Original Generation to the list.

My thing on remakes is that if it isn't an (almost) full-fledged reanimation or the story takes on a different turn, I won't watch it. If it doesn't follow one of the above, then it's just as good as a re-airing of the original. Which is why I hated Death/Rebirth of NGE with a passion; there's almost no original content in it.

It's quite weird though that Shuffle gets a remake so soon after the previous season. It's not everyday you see a remake only after a year the original was aired. By the sounds of rumors however, Shuffle is going to reuse most of the original animation, but I'll still watch it in hopes of the story changing. And that, my friends, is a dim hope if I've ever seen one. ^^; Hopefully though there's enough new material, be it more depth to the characters or just new animation, in order for it to not become a big fail like Death/Rebirth.

My thoughts on other upcoming remakes?
Kanon - <droool>
Negima - Hopefully they don't massacre this like the original. I for one am glad they did a remake of this
Kujian - Everyone wants to see the Prez animated with more screentime... same here. ^^
Kiminozo - Hooray! One of the very few anime of the genre in which another path is explored (El Hazard is the only anime that comes to mind right now)
NGE - Just hope they learned that new material stuff like End of Evangelion is much more interesting than a rehash of the old

Now if there's a series that needed a remake, it would be To Heart 2.

As for sequels vs remake, if it's a full-fledged remake, I'd take the remake anyday. One of the reason why I like anime is that most of them never goes on forever (popular shounen series notwithstanding). This is good for me since vast majority of the time my interest wanes after the 30th episode or so, and this is mainly because a good portion of the episodes in a sequel are nothing but filler most of the time. Of course there's some high quality seques (H&C II comes to mind), but they're the exception rather than the rule.

Of course, this viewpoint come from the fact that I've seen a lot of bad sequels but very few bad remakes. Might change in the near future, if sequels get a lot better or remakes get worse.

DaFool · 2006-09-12, 07:32

Apart from the non-VN based shows, this goes to show the superiority of the Visual Novel format in telling alternate paths easily.

Nightengale · 2006-09-12, 07:40

How the hell is OG a remake? The OG TV series follows the story of OG 1 : Ryusei's Route (( probably some parts mixed with Kyosuke's )) and OG OAV happens post-OG 2, after the whole Einst issue got solved. Unless there happened to be some sort of OG series I never watched, it's far from a remake. It's a prequel.

Personally, I have nothing against remakes, considering I've been soiled by TONs of remakes in forms of wuxia dramas, (( Had I not read the novels, those Jin Yong adapted TV-drama's multiple incarnations would've confused the hell out of me )), but I believe remakes should solely be done on the basis that the original material was presented badly, as in presented. Otherwise, some animes need no real need for a remake on it's basis.

It could be mere optimism, but it could very well also be a sign that the animation society are starting to look into the fans's desires/standards in animation more seriously. Either that, or it's just a marketing plot as in "Why nurture a new breed if people will still buy a cloned dead sheep with a new name and trimmed hair."

dodgethis_sg · 2006-09-12, 07:46

The upcoming SRW TV series is a prequel.

stelok · 2006-09-12, 08:47

I watched Mobile Suit Z Gundam: New Translation. It is a remake episode summarizing the whole series. I thought it was a decent remake.

But really the remakes of hollywood's original movies such as Parent's Trap are awful.

kujoe · 2006-09-12, 09:18

I'll ask the stupid question. What do we exactly mean when we say "remakes" here?

If it's just about adding in new content and editing some scenes—let's say, in the case of Shuffle for instance—then it's more of a "director's cut" rather than a full-fledged remake of an earlier work.

If it's about going back to the beginning and featuring an alternate plot, then how could it be even considered as the same story as the previous version, and thus a remake of the original story? It'll just have the same characters and the same title, but the main story itself may turn out to be something else entirely—like the upcoming Kujian (more like a spin-off of the original, I think, since even changes in the main cast have been made...unfortunately) or this new KGNE anime for example.

Out of that list, the only title that I know of that's truly a remake is the new Kanon.

dodgethis_sg · 2006-09-12, 11:32

KGNE IMHO is a retelling, as opposed to a remake.

Vexx · 2006-09-12, 12:16

Aye... "re-tellings" or "different paths of the story" really doesn't constitute a "remake" .... so far I'd only classify Kanon2006 as an actual remake.

We don't have enough information on Negima though I'm pretty sure its going to be a "story told in a different way" (kind of like there are multiple versions of Robin Hood or the King Arthur stories).

The Shuffle! "director's recut" or whatever they're calling it this moment is either an attempt to address some of the more serious story arc transition problems of the original (and fix that last episode animation "we were all drunk on our ass sorry" failure) to placate fans *OR*
its actually a new POV (told from the girl's angle) using a lot of the original footage with new stuff spliced in (which means we may get wierd style switches and off-model moments)
*OR*
they're just trying to squeeze blood from a turnip to save money after their Soul Link debacle. I'm not very amused with the animation companies Navel keeps partnering with. Technically with Shuffle!'s "infinite possibilities" motif -- they could tell the Rin saga story multiple times with different endings and it would all be "canon"

(much to the agony of the fanclubs of particular characters).

True remakes don't bother me if .... they stay true to what made the original story so compelling and just update the animation, sfx, etc.
In the case of Kanon... the original story was great (I never played the game so as far as I'm concerned the path that we saw was told well) but the animation is close enough to a style I don't like that providing the KyoAni touch is liable to make my skull shatter.

Xellos-_^ · 2006-09-12, 12:47

I certaily wouldn't mind a re-make of FSN with the either the HF or UBW route. The Fate route is probably the most boring of the 3. If the makers wanted something tragic they could have use Sakur's sading in HF.

Deathkillz · 2006-09-12, 12:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

I certaily wouldn't mind a re-make of FSN with the either the HF or UBW route. The Fate route is probably the most boring of the 3. If the makers wanted something tragic they could have use Sakur's sading in HF.

oooh i love that idea

but wouldnt it be put into the catagory as retelling the story as a diff path instead of a remake?
confusing but heck doesnt really matter...
im looking forward to kiminozo ^_^

Shiroth · 2006-09-12, 18:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

The Fate route is probably the most boring of the 3. If the makers wanted something tragic they could have use Sakur's sading in HF.

But you're forgetting that the Fate route tells the main story of F/SN.. reason why it was chosen for the anime.

redline · 2006-09-12, 19:35

I think what's interesting is the ones being remade are not neccesarily the most popular titles released in Japan either, they are up until now, the ones which have sold well overseas.

Xellos-_^ · 2006-09-12, 19:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiroth

But you're forgetting that the Fate route tells the main story of F/SN.. reason why it was chosen for the anime.

This is getting off topic but what the hey.

Typemoon have said that each of the 3 scenerio are as valid as the other. None is more "true" then the other scenerio. The Fate Storyline isn't more true then HF or UWB.

Shiroth · 2006-09-12, 20:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

Typemoon have said that each of the 3 scenerio are as valid as the other. None is more "true" then the other scenerio. The Fate Storyline isn't more true then HF or UWB.

Yes, i do know that.. it looks like you're not to sure in what i mean.

You have a lot of people who're going to be new to the whole Fate/Stay Night thing - so of course, the Fate route is the one that should be first watched. I'm not saying its the best one.. but in my opinion, its the best one for telling the story within F/SN.

orion · 2006-09-12, 21:59

Mooo!!!!

Gonna milk those cash cows!

Kanon, Shuffle!, Kiminozo, Eva and Negima! are all titles with some regrets hanging about them so a remake can separate fans from their money alot easier imo.

Kanon: 13 episodes, we didn't know anything about the girls, pointy chins, fans pleaded with KyoAni....

Shuffle!: "My girl didn't win!!!!" (actually I'm in this camp.

) ,

Spoiler:

Kiminozo: "My girl didn't win!"

Negima!: So-so animation, story could have been stronger,

Eva: Apparently, they need to say something more. Again, some regrets.

But to tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind Fate/stay night getting a UBW path done either because Rin rocks!

Also, there's Ataraxia. HF is just too sad for me.

Sakuya · 2006-09-12, 22:38

It'd be cool if some company decides to remake the Sailor Moon anime.

I would give anything to see it in a more dark and serious tone.

Maximum Burst · 2006-09-12, 22:45

The upcoming Negima season is not a remake at all. It's like an original story that uses the characters from the manga. It has pretty much nothing to do with the first series. The upcoming Negima OVAs also aren't remakes. They are just animated/expanded chapters from the manga (or at least the first OVA will be. I think I've heard that the second one will be some original story).

Rich · 2006-09-12, 23:08

heard shuffle memories is starting on January of 2007....? O______O

Calca · 2006-09-12, 23:22

Just my theory but people are spoiled on newer animation. Perhaps, if they reanimate a classic, it'll reinject some vitality in it.

For example in America at least, the original MSG got very low ratings. I have a feeling it had to do with the animation. If it was animated like for example Gundam Wing (which did very well) I think it would have done better.

But then again, a lot of us Americans get drawn in by eye-candy such as seen by the popularity of the PSP and XBox.

2006-09-12, 05:51	Link #1
bluemist i am the mist Join Date: May 2003 Location: Japan	What's with all the remakes? Is REMAKE the 'in thing' in anime these days? I was just away from anime a few months, and now we have the Kanon remake, the Negima remake, the Shuffle remake, the Kujian remake, the Kiminozo remake, and even the EVA remake. Did I miss anything? And I thought sequels were bad enough... Anyone care to discuss? __________________ bluemist anime blog

2006-09-12, 07:11	Link #2
DragoonKain3 Osana-Najimi Shipper Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Mt. Ordeals	Add Super Robot Wars:Original Generation to the list. My thing on remakes is that if it isn't an (almost) full-fledged reanimation or the story takes on a different turn, I won't watch it. If it doesn't follow one of the above, then it's just as good as a re-airing of the original. Which is why I hated Death/Rebirth of NGE with a passion; there's almost no original content in it. It's quite weird though that Shuffle gets a remake so soon after the previous season. It's not everyday you see a remake only after a year the original was aired. By the sounds of rumors however, Shuffle is going to reuse most of the original animation, but I'll still watch it in hopes of the story changing. And that, my friends, is a dim hope if I've ever seen one. ^^; Hopefully though there's enough new material, be it more depth to the characters or just new animation, in order for it to not become a big fail like Death/Rebirth. My thoughts on other upcoming remakes? Kanon - <droool> Negima - Hopefully they don't massacre this like the original. I for one am glad they did a remake of this Kujian - Everyone wants to see the Prez animated with more screentime... same here. ^^ Kiminozo - Hooray! One of the very few anime of the genre in which another path is explored (El Hazard is the only anime that comes to mind right now) NGE - Just hope they learned that new material stuff like End of Evangelion is much more interesting than a rehash of the old Now if there's a series that needed a remake, it would be To Heart 2. As for sequels vs remake, if it's a full-fledged remake, I'd take the remake anyday. One of the reason why I like anime is that most of them never goes on forever (popular shounen series notwithstanding). This is good for me since vast majority of the time my interest wanes after the 30th episode or so, and this is mainly because a good portion of the episodes in a sequel are nothing but filler most of the time. Of course there's some high quality seques (H&C II comes to mind), but they're the exception rather than the rule. Of course, this viewpoint come from the fact that I've seen a lot of bad sequels but very few bad remakes. Might change in the near future, if sequels get a lot better or remakes get worse. __________________ Yes its YOU childhood friend - source of BERZERKER RAGE since forever Childhood Friend couple STATISTICS(spoilers abound though)

2006-09-12, 09:18	Link #7
kujoe from head to heel Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Vancouver, Canada Age: 42	I'll ask the stupid question. What do we exactly mean when we say "remakes" here? If it's just about adding in new content and editing some scenes—let's say, in the case of Shuffle for instance—then it's more of a "director's cut" rather than a full-fledged remake of an earlier work. If it's about going back to the beginning and featuring an alternate plot, then how could it be even considered as the same story as the previous version, and thus a remake of the original story? It'll just have the same characters and the same title, but the main story itself may turn out to be something else entirely—like the upcoming Kujian (more like a spin-off of the original, I think, since even changes in the main cast have been made...unfortunately) or this new KGNE anime for example. Out of that list, the only title that I know of that's truly a remake is the new Kanon. Last edited by kujoe; 2006-09-12 at 11:33.

2006-09-12, 12:16	Link #9
Vexx Obey the Darkly Cute ... Author Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ... Age: 66	Aye... "re-tellings" or "different paths of the story" really doesn't constitute a "remake" .... so far I'd only classify Kanon2006 as an actual remake. We don't have enough information on Negima though I'm pretty sure its going to be a "story told in a different way" (kind of like there are multiple versions of Robin Hood or the King Arthur stories). The Shuffle! "director's recut" or whatever they're calling it this moment is either an attempt to address some of the more serious story arc transition problems of the original (and fix that last episode animation "we were all drunk on our ass sorry" failure) to placate fans OR its actually a new POV (told from the girl's angle) using a lot of the original footage with new stuff spliced in (which means we may get wierd style switches and off-model moments) OR they're just trying to squeeze blood from a turnip to save money after their Soul Link debacle. I'm not very amused with the animation companies Navel keeps partnering with. Technically with Shuffle!'s "infinite possibilities" motif -- they could tell the Rin saga story multiple times with different endings and it would all be "canon" (much to the agony of the fanclubs of particular characters). True remakes don't bother me if .... they stay true to what made the original story so compelling and just update the animation, sfx, etc. In the case of Kanon... the original story was great (I never played the game so as far as I'm concerned the path that we saw was told well) but the animation is close enough to a style I don't like that providing the KyoAni touch is liable to make my skull shatter. __________________ "It Really IS Rocket Science", Novel series rough drafts; vol. 1 thru vol. 3 complete Volume 4 in work, Visit the thread for short stories!

2006-09-12, 12:47	Link #10
Xellos-_^ Not Enough Sleep Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: R'lyeh Age: 48	I certaily wouldn't mind a re-make of FSN with the either the HF or UBW route. The Fate route is probably the most boring of the 3. If the makers wanted something tragic they could have use Sakur's sading in HF. __________________

2006-09-12, 07:32	Link #3
DaFool Resident devil Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Philippines	Apart from the non-VN based shows, this goes to show the superiority of the Visual Novel format in telling alternate paths easily.

2006-09-12, 07:40	Link #4
Nightengale ~Night of Gales~ Author Join Date: Dec 2005	How the hell is OG a remake? The OG TV series follows the story of OG 1 : Ryusei's Route (( probably some parts mixed with Kyosuke's )) and OG OAV happens post-OG 2, after the whole Einst issue got solved. Unless there happened to be some sort of OG series I never watched, it's far from a remake. It's a prequel. Personally, I have nothing against remakes, considering I've been soiled by TONs of remakes in forms of wuxia dramas, (( Had I not read the novels, those Jin Yong adapted TV-drama's multiple incarnations would've confused the hell out of me )), but I believe remakes should solely be done on the basis that the original material was presented badly, as in presented. Otherwise, some animes need no real need for a remake on it's basis. It could be mere optimism, but it could very well also be a sign that the animation society are starting to look into the fans's desires/standards in animation more seriously. Either that, or it's just a marketing plot as in "Why nurture a new breed if people will still buy a cloned dead sheep with a new name and trimmed hair."

2006-09-12, 07:46	Link #5
dodgethis_sg Storm of Her Wrath Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Singapore Age: 40	The upcoming SRW TV series is a prequel.

2006-09-12, 08:47	Link #6
stelok I My Me Strawberry Eggs Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Philippines Age: 42	I watched Mobile Suit Z Gundam: New Translation. It is a remake episode summarizing the whole series. I thought it was a decent remake. But really the remakes of hollywood's original movies such as Parent's Trap are awful.

2006-09-12, 11:32	Link #8
dodgethis_sg Storm of Her Wrath Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Singapore Age: 40	KGNE IMHO is a retelling, as opposed to a remake.

2006-09-12, 19:35	Link #13
redline Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2006	I think what's interesting is the ones being remade are not neccesarily the most popular titles released in Japan either, they are up until now, the ones which have sold well overseas.

2006-09-12, 21:59	Link #16
orion Waiting for more taiyuki! Join Date: Jan 2004	Mooo!!!! Gonna milk those cash cows! Kanon, Shuffle!, Kiminozo, Eva and Negima! are all titles with some regrets hanging about them so a remake can separate fans from their money alot easier imo. Kanon: 13 episodes, we didn't know anything about the girls, pointy chins, fans pleaded with KyoAni.... Shuffle!: "My girl didn't win!!!!" (actually I'm in this camp. ) , Spoiler: "wth, they're now lesbians or giving up!" Was Rin really that hot? Kiminozo: "My girl didn't win!" Negima!: So-so animation, story could have been stronger, Eva: Apparently, they need to say something more. Again, some regrets. But to tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind Fate/stay night getting a UBW path done either because Rin rocks! Also, there's Ataraxia. HF is just too sad for me. __________________

2006-09-12, 22:38	Link #17
Sakuya Senior Member Artist Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: United States Age: 35	It'd be cool if some company decides to remake the Sailor Moon anime. I would give anything to see it in a more dark and serious tone.

2006-09-12, 22:45	Link #18
Maximum Burst Intelligent Device Join Date: Jun 2006 Age: 36	The upcoming Negima season is not a remake at all. It's like an original story that uses the characters from the manga. It has pretty much nothing to do with the first series. The upcoming Negima OVAs also aren't remakes. They are just animated/expanded chapters from the manga (or at least the first OVA will be. I think I've heard that the second one will be some original story).

2006-09-12, 23:08	Link #19
Rich AnimeSuki's Hentai-sama Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Hong Kong	heard shuffle memories is starting on January of 2007....? O______O

2006-09-12, 23:22	Link #20
Calca Expressionless Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Walking on the path known as life	Just my theory but people are spoiled on newer animation. Perhaps, if they reanimate a classic, it'll reinject some vitality in it. For example in America at least, the original MSG got very low ratings. I have a feeling it had to do with the animation. If it was animated like for example Gundam Wing (which did very well) I think it would have done better. But then again, a lot of us Americans get drawn in by eye-candy such as seen by the popularity of the PSP and XBox.