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Reviewed by David Rasmussen Usually I don't push myself onto VIZ, since usually I don't have much to recommend to them (they seem rather well-stocked in both the manga and anime dept. even if at times I am not the most ardent fan of some of their decisions), but today is different and I'm going to tell you why... because, well, if I (not to mention the rest of the fans of the title in question) were to actually wait for Nintendo to tell us when we're ready for the following? We'd be, like, dead. So, you know, VIZ? Get the rights to these right away and release them in theaters and DVD and in manga... because we're your audience and we're so ready for these, even if Nintendo thinks otherwise. Dōbutsu no Mori, aka "Animal Forest: The Movie" aka Animal Crossing the Movie. You of course are probably highly aware of Animal Crossing, the game series that adults are not afraid to admit to being addicted to. From its origins on the GameCube (formerly a Nintendo 64 release in Japan), then onto the DS (and a second advanced version in Japan on the GameCube) and finally onto the Wii, Animal Crossing has grown (and with it its fanbase)... however you probably didn't even know you were craving an Animal Crossing movie... until one December night in 2006 theaters in Japan released Dobutsu no Mori, aka Animal Crossing the Movie, and suddenly your unspoken need became a clear and present reality. Animal Crossing the Movie is, of course, an anime film (and reminds us again that we also have a craving for something else that American animated movie makers are woefully neglecting... a craving for traditional animation movies (or at the very least movies that has that traditional animation flavor even if it's all done on computers). The movie is based on the first DS outing of the series, Animal Crossing: Wild World, holding onto the most basic premise of the game series as its driving motivator as new girl (Ai) moves into town and quickly befriends her new animal villager neighbors (and thus growing from her experiences with them as they become solid friends). Right off the bat she makes friends with the hyper-cute bundle of cat named Rosie (of course all names in the movie are the Japanese names, but for my sake I'll us the American character reference names for comparison... though to be honest a few, like Apollo, are named the same both in Japanese and English) and aspiring fashion designer Margie. Right off the bat she gets into weird adventures as she becomes the delivery person for Tom Nook, ends up making a brief enemy of Apollo, goes on a fossil hunt with neighboring village human Yu and his pal from that village Alonso, and gets involved in preparing the village for a winter miracle as instructed to her through a series of messages in bottles that pop up on her walks along the beach (leading to a most wonderful ending)! Opening up in Japan on December 16, 2006 (Christmas), the movie pulled in about 1,800,000,000 yen (approximately $5,000,000) at the box office -- yeah, yeah, it could have done better, but considering both VIZ and Nintendo have had their own taste of bad karma releases (Nintendo with Super Mario Brothers the Live Action Movie and VIZ with... Pokemon the Third Movie count? No? Never mind then). Well, VIZ has had its failings too, but why is it we (the Animal Crossing playing community) have to be punished because not enough people went to see a movie released during the busy holiday season! Come on! As Animated Movies goes it could have had a far better release than a few days before Christmas! Talk about instant death sentence! The movie has a lot of heart, and is really a great piece of work if you'd just like to sit down and see something really touching and pretty and just cute beyond all meanings of the word KAWAII! And did I mention this movie is a gold mine of Animal Crossing appearances? Besides the aforementioned there's villagers like Antonio, Cesar (or is that Violet?), Champ, Whitney and Hopper. All the major cast like the mayor, Pelly & Phyllis, Mr. Reset(ti), K.K. Slider, Crazy Redd, Tom Nook and the Able Sisters also show up. Also we see guest characters like the crazy beaver Pascal, not to mention a ton of Animal Crossing item/furniture/clothing/tool/event/holiday/etc references that only a true blue fan would know! Basically it's an Animal Crossing bonanza here. Also, if you want more information on the movie, or the Animal Crossing Manga that nobody has yet imported for English release (hint, VIZ, hint) check out "Dobutsu no Mori (film)" on Wikipedia for more info! Now why again with VIZ, and pitching this to them? Mostly because you should not be holding your breath for Mighty Nintendo to come and bring this to you anytime soon, because it so won't happen. Now here's word from "GoNintendo" about the possibility of bringing this movie to non Japanese speaking audiences as relayed by a rep of Nintendo to a fan asking them about it. Go Nintendo, October 17th 2007: "No plans to bring Animal Crossing move to North America" "The following is a response that reader Mike got from Nintendo of America when he asked about the Animal Crossing movie heading our way." "Currently, there are no plans to release the movie you asked about here in North America. For the latest Nintendo news, be sure to check our website at www.nintendo.com. Sincerely, Nintendo of America Inc." "Dervin Camden got this from Nintendo of America." So I'm bringing this one to you, VIZ, and telling you that... well... truth be told we can't even expect VIZ to even consider it until the economy straightens out and there's a guaranteed audience and cash flow of sales which even I admit I couldn't promise now even if I wanted to. So... sadly... I'm bringing this to you, VIZ, and telling you that (when the economy is right and money is guaranteed) we, the Animal Crossing fans, would like you to consider acquiring the release rights to Animal Crossing the Movie and Animal Crossing the Manga under the VIZ banner at a future date... yeah, it may be a long while before the economic elements are all in the right place, and things are go for at least considering the release... but when that day comes and Animal Crossing the Movie gets the translated release (both dub and sub) it so richly deserves then that is going to be a good day for all of us who are fans of the series, double kudos if the manga gets a release as well. All we need is someone to come to bat and bring us this movie in a release more fitting the title, hopefully VIZ is the one we can count on to save us from the slow grinding painful wheels of non-progress Nintendo intends to grind us down under in their procrastination. OK. That's all I'm going to say. Back to mangas in the morning. (And that's all I have to say on this, my latest pet project.) Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
17 June 2010 16 June 2010
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