Anime for Rent in St John's
St John's, Newfoundland, is not exactly anime central when
it comes to renting. To aid the intrepid, however, here's
a list of what can be found.
Well, there's always AKIRA.
Time Masters Inc. Massive Anime Section!
Time Masters is located downtown, next to the war memorial.
(I'll put the address here someday) Have, within the last year or two,
expanded from simply a comic operation to video as well. Their supply of
Anime episodes and films is astounding, containing many films not found
at any of the other video stores around town. I'll get an updated tape
listing from them soon and place it here. Rental is $2.50 per tape. Also
note since they are still a comic location you can find many fine
manga series there as well.
Time Masters Anime Tape List (it will be a link
someday)
Blockbuster Video
Blockbuster video has opened two video outlets on Torbay road and in
Mount Pearl, which will be of interest to local anime fans as they carry
an extensive animation library [separated from childrens videos] in the
animation section. This section contains dubbed and subbed anime from
various companys as well as computer animations and other animations from
other parts of the world besides japan. Memebership is free with a credit
card or 5$ without one. Videos are 2$ to rent for 3 days which is a fine
deal indeed.
The Kid's Section
This is dedicated to all those who, like yours truly, faced
the questioning looks of video store attendants when attempting
to rent Macross: Clash of the Bionoids. 'Yes, I know this is
the fourth time this month... Just take my 99 cents and shut it,
OK?'
First, the good news: My Neighbour Totoro is available in a
quite passable dub at Churchill Square Video and no doubt other
places as well. This is an unedited version of the Miyazaki film,
and definitely worth watching.
Other than that, most of the anime is available in heavily edited,
supremely badly dubbed reproductions by Family Home Entertainment
(FHE) which is also known as Just for Kids Video. To determine
which edit/dub came from which original anime, consult the list
below:
- Macross: Do You Remember Love (FHE title: CLASH OF THE BIONOIDS)
- ~15 min cut, but the fact that the dubbing is not actually that bad makes it a reasonable substitute for the original. There is also rumoured to be the original, unedited dub floating around. (not in this city!)
- Locke the Superman (FHE title: LOCKE THE SUPERPOWER)
- Choppy editing makes this film hard to follow, but it is worth renting.
- Windaria (FHE title: ONCE UPON A TIME)
- looking for this one...
- Dagger of Kamui (FHE title: REVENGE OF THE NINJA WARRIOR)
- Good animation, OK dubbing: first half is pretty cool, but even edited this movie is TOO LONG!
- Famous Detective Holmes (FHE title: SHERLOCK HOUND)
- looking for this one too...
- Arcadia of my Youth (FHE title: VENGEANCE OF THE SPACE PIRATE)
- FHE managed to hack over 40 minutes out of this one, including the 10 minute opening sequence, so don't even bother trying to understand what's going on. Unlike other Harlock dubs, however (see below), the voice acting here is OK.
- Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (FHE title: WARRIORS OF THE WIND)
- Definitely worth renting. The dubbing is passable, the editing is fairly subtle. The original (if you can find it) is much better.
- -original title unknown- (FHE title: BATTLE FOR MOON STATION DALLOS)
- Apparently this film has the destinction of being the first OVA ever made. It's pretty good, but crippled by heavy editing.
- -original title unknown- (FHE title: SPACE WARRIORS)
- The animation is a patchwork, suggesting some sequences were pasted in from another film entirely. The character design/animation is really nice, but the spaceships are completely lame. Mediocre dubbing, blatant editing.
- -original title unknown- (FHE title: TECHNO POLICE)
- This one's pretty down right BAD, but is of historical interest as being the direct precursor to Bubblegum Crisis.
- Captain Harlock TV episodes
- There is bad dubbing, and then there is BAD DUBBING. Hear Harlock sing 'Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf'. On second thought, don't.
- Galaxy Express 999 (GALAXY EXPRESS [not FHE])
- Captain Harlock (yup, he has a walk though role in this one) becomes Captain Warlock. 'Nuff said. For desperate Matsumoto fans only.
- Pheonix 2772 (SPACE FIREBIRD [not FHE])
- This film is by Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astroboy and pretty much the godfather of manga. It's an old film, made in 1980, and tends to run metaphysical towards the end. Still a very worthwhile film, it's surprisingly forgotten by present day anim
e fans. Worth renting.
There is more stuff out there, lurking, waiting for it's next innocent victim. While some small fraction of it is worthwhile, you are far better off getting into unedited fansubs and commercial releases.
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