Toei 2005 Preview

By: Chris Beveridge
Date: Saturday, January 22, 2005

In March of 2004, Toei Animation began to set up their offices in Los Angeles with plans to release a number of their shows directly into the North American market while using Geneon as a distributor for their shows. Waiting until the late fall to make the announcement of their arrival and partnership, it certainly caught many fans by surprise and opened a wide range of speculation about just what we can expect. Japanese companies working in the US is nothing new for anime though each of them have done it to varying levels. From the late 80's all the way now through 2005, we've had both large and small, some firmly controlled and others with more leeway, all attempt to bring their product over.



A promotional kit came in today from Toei that provides some insights into their first releases. Announced for March was their plans for Slam Dunk and Airmaster while their single release of Interlude is set for May. Their choice of titles seemed to be a fairly smart first attempt though not without potential for problems. Please keep in mind that the pictures and actual disc contents we're showing in this article are from a promotional preview disc and do NOT necessarily reflect the end result. Until we have a final product in our hands anything can happen and that's just a basic fact.









According to the information on the inserts, all of the releases are having their English adaptation done by Kaleidoscope Entertainment. The only previously listed show with their involvement in the actual dubbing is with the Power Stone TV series, but Kaleidoscope Entertainment was involved many years ago with Toei in regards to Sailor Moon and is someone that they're quite familiar with.



Slam Dunk has long been sought after by fans in the US as it's been popular around the world and massively popular in Japan. While sports titles have had mixed results, there is definitely a growing desire to release them here both in fandom and in the studios themselves as evidenced throughout convention season 2004. Slam Dunk's popularity hasn't given it a free ride for the US release and it has a couple of things working against it. One of which is its length, which is at 101 episodes. To try and counter this, the first batch of discs is set for five episodes each which could help keep it down overall and still make it appealing. The other problem it faces is the age of materials themselves. While the show does get exciting and it's well animated, it's not something that will blend easily into what's hot today.












Producers: Paul McConvey / Rob Kirkpatrick

Executive Producers: Randy Zalken / Marshall Kesten

Voice Director: Dan Hennessey

Adaptation: Mark Leiren-Young

Translation: Tim Hamaguchi

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While Slam Dunk is older, Toei wisely chose a more recent if somewhat controversial series called Airmaster to serve as its other initial launch series. With its different styled character designs which have either alienated some or driven others to fascination and passion, it's an interesting but logical choice with its shorter length of just twenty-seven episodes. While no volume count has been given for this title, it'll presumably fall into the six to seven category.











Producers: Paul McConvey / Rob Kirkpatrick

Executive Producers: Randy Zalken / Marshall Kesten

Voice Director: Dan Hennessey

Adaptation: Mark Leiren-Young

Translation: Tim Hamaguchi



Maki Aikawa: Jennifer Goodhue

Renge Inui: Julie Lemieux

Mina Nakanotani: Nadine Rabinovitch

Michiru Kawamoto: Kim Kuhteubl

Yu Takigawa: Stacey Depass

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In their final choice for a launch title, coming a month after the TV series titles do in April, Toei decided on the much more recent three episode OVA series called Interlude. Keeping it all to one disc it'll provide the easiest and cheapest way for people to sample Toei's wares without feeling like they're committing to a series, particularly if they want to offer support and show interest but aren't actually keen on the lengthier series being offered. Toei makes out well with this by having something short, standalone and with 2004 level OVA quality to it to help showcase their wares.









Producers: Paul McConvey / Rob Kirkpatrick

Executive Producers: Randy Zalken / Marshall Kesten

Voice Director: Dan Hennessey

Adaptation: Mark Leiren-Young

Translation: Tim Hamaguchi



He: Marlow Gardiner Heslin

Aya: Terri Hawkes

Tama/Maiko: Stephanie Mills

Izumi: Stephanie Martin

Mutsuki: Bryn McAuley

Ikuo: Richard Clarkin

Sugiura: Rod Wilson

Haru: Catriona Murphy

Kim: Julie Lemieux

Kaoruko: Katie Griffin

Yuki: Deborah Drakeford

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Having only skimmed each of the first episodes that are provided for all three episodes, they're done in dub only format with no frills at all since it's just a preview, including chapter stops. The video for it looks as good as to be expected but again isn't a final authoring transfer either. Each of the series retained their Japanese logo as far as I can tell (pictures provided above in case these are the original logos) and the credits are left in Japanese text. Again, this is all subject to change but based on what's done here I like what I'm seeing, though I do hope for on-disc fully translated credits at the end of each episode.



In listening to the dubs, the only thing I really noted off the top of my head was a bit more roughness to the Slam Dunk script as there's a few shits and other minor level curses in it. The coarseness of the players comes across well with it and it fits what's going on and doesn't seem gratuitous. I'll leave it to those with an actual translation ability to determine whether it's just a slight embellishment or more.



While this preview doesn't answer most of the questions that people have, it does bring a few more things into light and it has me even more excited to finally see some of these shows and to know that they're close. If the preview disc is anything to go by, then things are starting off mostly on the right foot for how I like to see things done so I'm fairly happy so far and not foreseeing any huge disasters. There are sure to be some things that probably won't be done as most like it, but as soon as we have real product to talk about, then we can really start having the fun discussions about it.