I'm neither huge fan of the X-Men nor a huge fan of anime but I'll be damned if this brief trailer (possibly the opening credits) for Madhouse's X-Men anime series didn't pique my interest. In it, we see brief flashes of the princple players including Cyclops, Professor X, Storm, Beast and Wolverine. I think Storm and Beast look particularly cool renderd in the Anime style. The show has yet to air in Japan but G4 has already signed a deal to air the series later this year.
Thoughts?
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From the headline i thought this was going to be about Nate Grey. got real excited. still looks cool though
The last thing that i want to see, X-Men with big eyes! Why Marvel don’t put the old X-Men tv series again, old series better than that stupid thing!
angsty cyke with anime hair?
(yes plese)
@cemiroz This is an inaccurate criticism based on a tired assumption. If you don’t like the style, that’s perfectly fine, but the character designs here don’t feature oversized eyes.
@PaulMontgomery No i didn’t mean it, i am a fan of anime but its really odd to see X-Men in anime style.
The only eyes we actually see in the teaser are Storm and Wolverine’s, and they look pretty normal sized to me.
I was pretty impressed by the Wolverine anime, and I’m not even an anime fan, so I have pretty high hopes for this.
Very interesting, will check this out on G4, any news on the Blade anime that was supposed to come out as well?
@cemiroz The old series doesn’t hold up as well as you remember, lots of uncomfortable silences or smirks from characters, incosistent animation, plus Gambit.
@cemiroz Really? There’s a fairly popular anime redux of the American cartoon from the 90s. Two actually. And the hand-drawn sprites in the Marvel vs. Capcom games of old are rendered that way as well. Hard pressed to think of a western comic more frequently drawn in what would be described as an anime/manga mode.
@RoiVampire Yeah i guess you are right. But still, its not gonna be easy to used to this show.
@cemiroz Hey you don’t have to get used to it. i never got used to x-men evolution and people always tell me how great it was.
@PaulMontgomery Yes i know, but i didn’t like them either. I am just saying its odd to me.
“Why can’t they bring back or remake good shows like BJ and the Bear? There’s a concept I can’t get enough of, a man and his monkey.”
@RoiVampire Yeah you are right and i agree X-Men Evolution wasn’t that great either.
All I can Say is I CAN’T WAIT! Well, actually I can wait, because I don’t have cable, and my parents don’t have G4 on their cable, so I WILL WAIT!
Not a big deal, but I took some caps of the trailer, if anyone is interested. I don’t know who the villain is, so I’m guessing it’s made for the series.
X-men: The Anime- Trailer and Screenshots
@cemiroz It’s really not odd to see X-men in anime, at least not in the Madhouse style. I think Marvel chose to team up with Madhouse because the style is the most realistic in terms of human proportions. No big, shiny eyes, no chibi (supe deformed), and they don’t look simply like hair swaps of the same drawing.
I watch a lot of anime. There are styles that are an odder fit for X-men. I know Cyclops looks somewhat like a rebelious Japanese teen, but everyone else looks pretty on point
Fuck yes!!!! As an anime and comic fan I have to watch this. I can’t wait to see this on G4.
@VichusSmith That was the scene i stucked on, he is really looking like that in that scene. Maybe i should give it a chance. Now i started to think, its not fair to talk before i watch. After all this is the company who made Devil May Cry isn’t it.
Ron will hate this anime irrationally.
X-Men The Animated Series of the 90s actually holds up really well, despite what some have said including Conor. “Night Of The Sentinels part 1 & 2” are better than anything put on the big screen or in a Chris Claremont comic. Though any episode with the word “Phoenix” in it is a waste of time, including the Claremont comics.
Madhouse is known for quality work. They did one of the Batman Gotham Knights episodes, the one with Deadshot, along with many other popular animes. Even if you don’t like the style, I would put money down that what they release will rival or be better than our beloved 90s X-Men show in regards to quality. I love the hell out of the 90s cartoon, but when I look at my shelf of all the Anime I love, with a few exceptions, Madhouse was associated with them.
Just to name a few things that Madhouse has been associated with:
Death Note
Chobits
X – The TV Show
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Hellsing Ultimate
Trigun
Ninja Scroll – all the movies and TV show
Record of Lodoss War
Ruroni Kenshin
The list goes on. If you don’t like anime that’s one thing, it’s a preferance. But if you do and you haven’t seen anything on the above list you’re doing yourself a great disservice.
I for one am excited at this news and can not wait to get my hands on the new X-Men anime.
Wouldn’t Ron also hate you saying that Chris Claremont’s writing of the Pheonix saga sucks?
I think the animation definitely does not hold up, but the stories and the voice acting for the 90s X-men is still the standard I hold to all other x-men shows that come after.
Yes and yes.
Who is the fellow at the end with an eye ball like Dr. Mindbender
I’ll definently check this out.
I’m not a big Anime fan….but that was really fuckin’ cool.
I’m not really a fan of the anime style when it comes to superheros. Just a personal preference. It can work for less established or original characters. But when you take heavily iconic characters like the X-Men, Wolverine, or Iron Man and give them the Japanese treatment, it can come off rather odd, IMO. They often give the characters long, feathery hair (see Cycolps in this promo) which for some reason really irks me. Have any of you seen the Wolverine anime cartoon that’s coming out soon? He looks like a woman.
The other aspect to why I usually am not a fan of anime. The English voiceover actors they get usually are not the best. Or if they are okay, the often uber-serious anime dialog translates a tad off or over the top.
I don’t mean to hate on the style too much because it’s obviously popular in Japan. And there is definitely a cult following stateside. So whatever people like. Just doesn’t work for me.
Awesome. I haven’t watched much anime in the past few years, but this might just make me want to get back into it. Looks great.
@jmstump I think they’re also doing the Supernatural anime too.
There is no one style to anime, but I know what you are getting at. You think this style doesn’t fit, I imagine this show in the style of the anime X, with extra lanky characters. Believe me, this style is just about the best choice Marvel could go for. The way Madhouse does action works even better than their character models.
The Wolverine anime is out in Japan and running, and it got better response than Iron Man did. That’s funny because the inital trailers for Wolverine got a thumbs down and Iron Man had more optimistic response. It turns out that the trailers told almost nothing about what the shows entailed.
Whatever happened to iron man and will covering? The x men looks good
Unfortunately for G4, when this airs in dub, their potential viewership will be well cut in half as Spring 2011 will have TONS of fansubs. I’m about hmmm, 98% sure of this. Considering the trends of anime fansubs trailing back 20+ years.
@jmstump You sure hit the nail on the head there.
Oh and you guys DID get that email I sent you didn’t ya =p?
@cemiroz There is a whole community RIDING on this to happen. People I know are ALREADY saving for the expensive Boxset of this yet aired show. Also you have a vast misconception of WHAT anime is. I do believe you are confusing “anime” with “typical shonen fighting show style” as THOSE types of shows are the popular mainstream titles hosting those looks. Just think of it this way: what you just said is the equivilant of an anime fan saying “I hate american comic books! I can’t stand costumed muscle heads! They look totally gay!” You see my point? That opinion of comics (which is ALSO prevalent in anime fandom) is similar in that it indicates confusion between style and medium. There are MANY anime that DO NOT have that look and some are so American that even I had a hard time believing it was produced in Japan.
15 years ago i would have loved this
@Mangaman How many fans of anime are also fans of Marvel comics? How many people are watching fansubs of Wolverine as opposed to the average anime? I think a healthy number of people will tune into G4 because they care about the X-men, not getting the anime in Japanese.
@VichusSmith We both know you can’t ask questions about numbers. ESPECIALLY since anime companies never release their sales numbers. So even if we had a rough count of how many people were fans of marvel comics AND anime it’d be impossible to know how many people were buying the dvd’s (which is the primary funds of the anime industry).
As for tuning in to G4 I can attest to that comics viewership is NOWHERE NEAR the anime crowd because the comics community is (primarily) a western fanbase where as anime is extremely diverse. So pirated versions and fansubs will be extremely accessible MONTHS before the dub is released on G4.
As for those who only want to watch it in dub I’m hoping it’s a lot, since the dubbing side of the industry is ever dwindling.
The Iron Man and Wolverine anime have been pretty decent. I’ll check this out for sure.
@VichusSmith Also I think you are forgetting that the purpose of this anime is to extend the Marvel’s vision of the X-men into Japanese culture. So whether or not it’s successful in Japan will determine how successful it is overall since the licensing of this show to American channels is merely straight-up profit.
@Mangaman
Let’s talk fansub numbers, still. Do you believe that more people will fansub X-men than will watch it on television? I don’t claim to know numbers, but I’m not so sure that this show will be fansubbed as much as the typical anime.
I think that what you say is true, but I think that Joe Anime Fan likes anime because it’s a Japanese artform with Japanese characters. I don’t know how well it’s working to get new eyes onto Marvel. I think some anime viewers will say “oh, I saw those live action movies, and now it’s an anime!” but you also have people who want it Japanese and nothing but Japanese. I think Marvel Anime is still a hard sell.
@boomergirl yeah apparently with original content. Color me excited about that one. I heard that it’s already coming out in Japan, but I haven’t actually seen an episode yet so I’m not sure that’s true.
@j206 One of my favorite artists on X-Men, who I grew up with, was Joe Madureira, who has a very anime-ish style. Also as far as the hair comment goes, X-Men artists Kubert and Lee (I really haven’t read much X-Men since the 90s) gave Cyke and other characters feathery hair. So it looks normal to me when I see it.
@VichusSmith Wolverine: fansubbed THREE DAYS after airing on bitorrent. X-men is SURE to be fansubbed sooner than that. There are too many otaku fansub groups who have access to Japanese programming and high end recording programs like BakaTB.
I know they WIL be fansubbed, but, again, what’s the numbers on that compared to an anime that is not a JAP/US co-pro?