Karin Discussion Thread ~Spoilers~

[Shuten]

Karin Info

Tracking Thread

Discuss the series here.


Sincerely,
Shuten

[gia]

Has anyone watched beyond episode 1 of this series?  I watched it and found the whole un-vampire thing rather off-putting, but I feel kind of guilty for writing a review after only one episode ;P

Does it get any better later on?

[Shuten]

Umm... yeah... about the review. It seems to have disappeared from the review board. Not sure how that happened. I know I didn't delete it. o_O

As for the show itself... I dislike it immensely. The oversexualisation of the main female protagonist was absolutely unneeded. >_<

Anyways check out the manga. It's far more enjoyable than the anime is in my opinion. Tokyopop has the license for it but I know damned well I'm not going to support a company that changes a perfectly good name like "Karin" to "Chibi Vampire". -_-;


Sincerely,
Shuten

[thepanda]

Tokyopop has the license for it but I know damned well I'm not going to support a company that changes a perfectly good name like "Karin" to "Chibi Vampire". -_-;

You're jumping on that bandwagon as well? I just don't understand why people have such a problem with the name change. I mean, for starters they have a perfectly good reason to be changing the name in the first place. I'll admit that Chibi Vampire is a bit... er... not well thought out as far as alternate names go, but then again I don't even know who the target audience is going to be. Besides, its not like that is even the most retarded name of some of the manga out without recieving a name change.

You admit you like the contents. Isn't that enough?

[gia]

I dunno about this bandwagon, but I'd be kind of torn on the issue myself.

I mean, "Chibi Vampire" is definitely a more descriptive name than "Karin," which may be helpful to american audiences-- but then again, if the Japanese only had "Karin" to go by, why should Americans need more?

I dunno, when I think of it THAT way it feels like one of those "Westerners are dumb and need to have things spoon-fed to them" sorts of things, like when they used to "Americanize" the language in the Harry Potter books because we might not get all the British phrasings of things.  And then it seems like a stupid change, although not one that would prevent me from buying the manga if it was something I liked.

[Kwokinator]

You're jumping on that bandwagon as well? I just don't understand why people have such a problem with the name change. I mean, for starters they have a perfectly good reason to be changing the name in the first place. I'll admit that Chibi Vampire is a bit... er... not well thought out as far as alternate names go, but then again I don't even know who the target audience is going to be. Besides, its not like that is even the most retarded name of some of the manga out without recieving a name change.

You admit you like the contents. Isn't that enough?

Besides the fact that Karin isn't a chibi? ^_^

Just because you like the contents doesn't mean you have to like a name change ^_^

Like, would you like it if, say, Viz renamed Ranma 1/2 to Jack the Sex-Changer when they licensed it?  There's still a perfectly good reason to be changing the name, and you like the content ^_^

Besides, Tokyopop has a horrible track record, as far as I'm concerned.  I'm never buying anything from them just 'cause of the horrible butchery they did to Initial D ^_^

[gia]

Besides the fact that Karin isn't a chibi? ^_^

Well, she's not SD or a toddler or anything, but she's still chibi in terms of being young (middle school or junior high, ne?).  As opposed to say, a 400-year-old adult-looking vampire or something.

[Dracos]

I dunno about this bandwagon, but I'd be kind of torn on the issue myself.

I mean, "Chibi Vampire" is definitely a more descriptive name than "Karin," which may be helpful to american audiences-- but then again, if the Japanese only had "Karin" to go by, why should Americans need more?

I dunno, when I think of it THAT way it feels like one of those "Westerners are dumb and need to have things spoon-fed to them" sorts of things, like when they used to "Americanize" the language in the Harry Potter books because we might not get all the British phrasings of things.  And then it seems like a stupid change, although not one that would prevent me from buying the manga if it was something I liked.

Localization changes are almost never geared towards the hardcore.  They rely that the hardcore will buy it and sucks them off even if they kick them in the face.  They are geared towards the silent, completely uncaring and arbitrary masses that are most lead by big marketing campaigns.

Dracos

[gia]

Localization changes are almost never geared towards the hardcore.  They rely that the hardcore will buy it and sucks them off even if they kick them in the face.  They are geared towards the silent, completely uncaring and arbitrary masses that are most lead by big marketing campaigns.

I'm inclined to disagree-- I'd say that they're clearly marketing towards people who are at least familiar enough with anime and manga to know what "chibi" means-- that's a broad audience WITHIN the fandom, but your average joe or jill on the (North American) street wouldn't get it.

I suspect that if they were going for the NA *masses* they'd have called it something more like "Junior High Vampire" or "Teenage Vampire" or something like that.

[thepanda]

but then again, if the Japanese only had "Karin" to go by, why should Americans need more?

From what I've heard about the situation the name change is to protect the company. Either its a copywrite issue or someone is already releasing a title with a name similar enough to Karin to cause confusion.

Like, would you like it if, say, Viz renamed Ranma 1/2 to Jack the Sex-Changer when they licensed it? There's still a perfectly good reason to be changing the name, and you like the content ^_^

Yes, actually. Ranma was my gateway series. At that time I wasn't concerned with name swaps. And besides, have you ever read the back of viz's Ranma 1/2 releases? They make it extremely clear what you're getting is a guy who turns into a girl. That's why I bothered picking it up in the first place. Same with Futaba-kun Change.

[Shuten]

but then again, if the Japanese only had "Karin" to go by, why should Americans need more?

From what I've heard about the situation the name change is to protect the company. Either its a copywrite issue or someone is already releasing a title with a name similar enough to Karin to cause confusion.

Well if that's the reason I can understand why the title was changed. That of course does not mean that I like the title they chose. However if they're going to change the title I'd rather it be due to having no choice as opposed to changing it in some pathetic attempt to improve the work or some other nonsensical reason.

Thanks for letting us all know.


Sincerely,
Shuten

[Kwokinator]

I suspect that if they were going for the NA *masses* they'd have called it something more like "Junior High Vampire" or "Teenage Vampire" or something like that.

I like "Teenage Vampire".  Sounds sexy ^_^

And bah to you, panda boi :p

For me, it's not really so much hardcore protection of the series name, more of a respect thing.  If you like the series enough to license it (or enjoy it, for consumers), you should respect the original creator enough to respect the choices he/she made, including the choice of series name, character names, etc. ^_^

[Shuten]

I should clarify that there are only two cases where I will accept changes to a series title.

1) Copyright issues make it impossible to keep the original title.

2) The original owners make it clear that the title must be changed for whatever reason.

Call me a purist but any other reasons for changing a title beyond the two listed are unacceptable to me.


Sincerely,
Shuten

[Shuten]

Well I decided to give this show another chance. I've seen up to episode 9. I still hate the opening. It doesn't remotely fit with the show. The series itself isn't as bad as I thought it would be. On the otherhand I highly suspect that certain parts of the manga aren't going to remotely make it into the series such as the arc dealing with Harumi.

Instead we get a *Winner* who is a bonafied *loser*. What the hell is up with that? -_-;

Overall I've found the primary reason to watch this show though... Anju! She's so cute! Goth Loli Vampires With Huge Sister Complexes Who Are In Denial Of It for the WIN! @_@


Sincerely,
Shuten