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Excel Saga 3...argh!

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Doug Jacobs

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Dec 3, 2002, 9:26:06 PM12/3/02
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Just watched ES3 last night. I've had it for awhile, but been a bit busy
lately...

Anyways, is it just me, or are the Menchi pop-ups staying on screen waaaay
too long? Yeah, some of them on the previous episodes were too short (eg.
Excel's first trip down the pit) but now they stay up so long, they obscure
the whole screen and sometimes even other pop-ups.

And what the *hell* is up with those gawdawful menu color schemes? I can't
tell what's turned on, where my "cursor" is, what's not turned on, etc.
Took me about 5 minutes to select the "Japanese language, full English
subtitles" option.

Maybe this works fine for computer DVD players, which allow you to simply
use your mouse to click the thingie you want, but for those of us who don't
watch DVDs on our computers, it makes things very difficult. Whoever at
ADV came up with this scheme should be forced to dress up like Menchi after
Excel's gone without food for a week...

Metlhd3138

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Dec 3, 2002, 10:18:12 PM12/3/02
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Well,,,I cant even pause the menchi pop-ups since i have a crappy zenith
player,,why is this anyway?

Blade

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Dec 4, 2002, 10:29:50 AM12/4/02
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Errr, maybe it's just your DVD player. I watched it both at home and at a
friend's place (on real DVD players), and nobody had any trouble with the
menus.

Blade

Arthur Levesque

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Dec 4, 2002, 10:44:33 AM12/4/02
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I'm planning to pick up the third Excel Saga DVD this week. So far,
I've only played the first two on my computer, so I haven't really had any
problems with the controls (though I did notice some Menchi pop-ups that
barely lasted long enough to read).
I've also heard that, after this DVD, there's going to be a different
dub voice actor for Excel. Why is that? I actually like the dubbing on
this series (which is very rare when I see a series subbed first, but I
watched it dubbed when I wanted to read the pop-ups).
Finally (no spoilers, please) for those who've seen the whole series:
Is there a real plotline binding the whole thing together, with a real
conclusion of sorts at the end, or it is just wackiness with some common
threads running through it? At this point (having watched just the first
two DVDs), I can envision it going either way...
--
/\ Arthur Levesque <fnord?> http://boog.org & http://DammitJa.net __
\B\ack King of the Potato People & shanana-Cobain <*> Urban Spaceman (oO)
\S\lash Sweet transvestite and member of a vast right-wing conspiracy /||\
\/ I was a lesbian before it was fashionable! My work here is done...

David Watson

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Dec 4, 2002, 11:12:04 AM12/4/02
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Arthur Levesque (meist...@boog.org) writes:
> I've also heard that, after this DVD, there's going to be a different
> dub voice actor for Excel. Why is that? I actually like the dubbing on
> this series (which is very rare when I see a series subbed first, but I
> watched it dubbed when I wanted to read the pop-ups).

Because, the way Jessica Calvello was playing her, she was told by a doctor
to stop it or she would permenantly ruin her voice. So she stepped down.
I wonder if Kotono Mitsuishi had any difficulties like that when she
recorded the original voice?
--
Dave Watson, Severed Heads Liberation Front (_Stretcher_ CD-R--sevcom.com)
Frezier Balzoff (aka Ottawa), Ontario, Canada Email--shlf [at] ncf [dot] ca
My music and anime webpage: http://www.ottawa-anime.org/~eyevocal/
Viz Video *didn't* treat Video Girl Ai right on DVD. So boycott Viz Video.

Avatar

unread,
Dec 4, 2002, 11:31:19 AM12/4/02
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Arthur Levesque wrote:
> I'm planning to pick up the third Excel Saga DVD this week. So far,
> I've only played the first two on my computer, so I haven't really had any
> problems with the controls (though I did notice some Menchi pop-ups that
> barely lasted long enough to read).
> I've also heard that, after this DVD, there's going to be a different
> dub voice actor for Excel. Why is that? I actually like the dubbing on
> this series (which is very rare when I see a series subbed first, but I
> watched it dubbed when I wanted to read the pop-ups).
> Finally (no spoilers, please) for those who've seen the whole series:
> Is there a real plotline binding the whole thing together, with a real
> conclusion of sorts at the end, or it is just wackiness with some common
> threads running through it? At this point (having watched just the first
> two DVDs), I can envision it going either way...

There is, in fact, a plot! The very loose threads that have been tying
the episodes together all combine at the end for three plot-heavy
episodes, right before the episode 26 "holy shit we went too far" weirdfest.

Avatar

Andrew Hollingbury

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Dec 4, 2002, 11:50:15 AM12/4/02
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"David Watson" <aj...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote in message
news:asl9gk$m2c$1...@freenet9.carleton.ca...

> Arthur Levesque (meist...@boog.org) writes:
> > I've also heard that, after this DVD, there's going to be a
different
> > dub voice actor for Excel. Why is that? I actually like the dubbing on
> > this series (which is very rare when I see a series subbed first, but I
> > watched it dubbed when I wanted to read the pop-ups).
>
> Because, the way Jessica Calvello was playing her, she was told by a
doctor
> to stop it or she would permenantly ruin her voice. So she stepped down.
> I wonder if Kotono Mitsuishi had any difficulties like that when she
> recorded the original voice?

I doubt that very much. Kotono Mitsuishi isn't straining her voice to make
it sound like that - it's Usagi spoken very quickly (and only EXTREMELY
quickly in the previews) and a bit higher. Jessica, on the other hand, is
doing some serious throat work on the first volume at least - you can hear a
bit of a growl in her shrieks every now and again. The takes for an English
dub are also a lot more time consuming than for a Japanese dub I believe?
From what I understand there's much more limited time available for the
Japanese so they tend to do it in a long one-day session (as seiyuu may be
working on several other projects at the same time i.e. Megumi Hayashibara
working on Pokemon, Shaman King and Asagiri no Miko at least at the moment)
whereas according to Jessica Calvello's diaries (I can't remember the link,
sorry) she spent several days on the first episode alone, probably doing the
shrieks and background noises over and over again - certainly enough to kill
her voice the way she used it for Excel. Her voice in KareKano for Tsuki is
much more restrained while sounding just as manic in places (and she and
Megan Hollingshead have got the moves! ^_^)

Andrew H


Arthur Levesque

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Dec 4, 2002, 11:59:45 AM12/4/02
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Arthur>Finally (no spoilers, please) ... Is there a real plotline binding
Arthur>the whole thing together...?

Avatar>There is, in fact, a plot! The very loose threads that have been
Avatar>tying the episodes together all combine at the end for three
Avatar>plot-heavy episodes, right before the episode 26 "holy shit we went
Avatar>too far" weirdfest.

Thanks. That told me exactly what I wanted (and hoped) to know,
without divulging anything I didn't. Perfect answer.

Arthur Levesque

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Dec 4, 2002, 12:01:07 PM12/4/02
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Arthur>I've also heard that, after this DVD, there's going to be a
Arthur>different dub voice actor for Excel.

David>Because, the way Jessica Calvello was playing her, she was told by
David>a doctor to stop it or she would permenantly ruin her voice. So
David>she stepped down.

That's too bad. She was really good. Hope to hear her again in
less-stressful-for-her-but-equally-enjoyable-for-us roles...

Frank Raymond Michaels

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Dec 5, 2002, 8:44:06 PM12/5/02
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On Wed, 04 Dec 2002 02:26:06 -0000, Doug Jacobs <dja...@rawbw.com>
wrote:

>Just watched ES3 last night. I've had it for awhile, but been a bit busy

The only problem I've had with the DVDs -- and this is with all three
of them -- is that if I jump ahead or back with the search function, I
sometime lose the language setting.
-----
FRM

Antonio E. Gonzalez

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Dec 6, 2002, 6:47:53 PM12/6/02
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>From: Doug Jacobs dja...@rawbw.com
>Date: 12/3/2002 6:26 PM Pacific Standard Time
>Message-id: <uuqptug...@corp.supernews.com>

Time-consuming, but what the heck:

Watch once without Pop-up Menchi, then again with it. You don't miss a
thing!

BTW, wasn't there just something about Menchi holding that mini-gun?


- Vaughner

"Oh sweet baby Jesus, I'm a female anime-type character and I'm being attacked
by tentacles!!! That means there's only one thing that could happen next!!"
- Bimbo Moneymaker, (www.)Exploitation Now(.com)

Doug Jacobs

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Dec 9, 2002, 6:11:40 PM12/9/02
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Ken Arromdee <arro...@mauve.rahul.net> wrote:

> I posted in a complaint thread over at the Anime on DVD forum and was assured
> that in fact a lot of people like the menus.

You're kidding... As I mentioned before, they may be fine if you're using
a computer to play the DVD, since you have a definite cursor, and you can
just click on the item you want.

But if you're using a standalone player, there's no way to tell where you
are on the screen.

Doug Jacobs

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Dec 9, 2002, 6:13:23 PM12/9/02
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Blade <kumo...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Errr, maybe it's just your DVD player. I watched it both at home and at a
> friend's place (on real DVD players), and nobody had any trouble with the
> menus.

I'll try another player, but I don't think it's going to help.

On this third disc, the menu items are either pink or blue, and turn red
when you click them.

Pink means the item is either "on" or "selected" - yes, this means you can
have a menu with *all* pink items. Good luck figuring out where on that
page you are. :p


Doug Jacobs

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Dec 9, 2002, 6:14:36 PM12/9/02
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David Watson <aj...@freenet.carleton.ca> wrote:
> Because, the way Jessica Calvello was playing her, she was told by a doctor
> to stop it or she would permenantly ruin her voice. So she stepped down.
> I wonder if Kotono Mitsuishi had any difficulties like that when she
> recorded the original voice?

Well, unlike Jessica, Kotono wasn't told to SCREAM HER LINES. I suspect
both Japanese Excel Girls were picked because they could speak quickly.

Doug Jacobs

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Dec 9, 2002, 6:19:50 PM12/9/02
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Antonio E. Gonzalez <ante...@aol.complex> wrote:

> BTW, wasn't there just something about Menchi holding that mini-gun?

Yes. I want a Menchi plushie with minigun! ;)

Blade

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Dec 9, 2002, 7:46:25 PM12/9/02
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And as I told you before, that is obviously a problem with your DVD player,
since I had no problems with it whatsoever while watching on two different
machines.

Blade


Andrew Maizels

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Dec 10, 2002, 9:57:45 AM12/10/02
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Doug Jacobs wrote:

> I'll try another player, but I don't think it's going to help.
>
> On this third disc, the menu items are either pink or blue, and turn red
> when you click them.
>
> Pink means the item is either "on" or "selected" - yes, this means you can
> have a menu with *all* pink items. Good luck figuring out where on that
> page you are. :p

I *hate* that. Fortunately, the remote for my DVD has language and
subtitle buttons, so I use those instead.

Excel is neither the only nor the worst example.

Andrew.
--
Google fthagn! Google fthagn! Ia Google! Ia! Ia!

Andrew Maizels

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Dec 10, 2002, 9:58:54 AM12/10/02
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Doug Jacobs wrote:

A working minigun :)

Even if it just fires little plastic pellets.

And an Excel plushie for Menchi to shoot.

Avatar

unread,
Dec 10, 2002, 12:45:29 PM12/10/02
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Which menu is this exactly? That would be, well, bizarre, and I
certainly don't remember it that way.

The only time I've ever had problems in a menu of ours was with the
vid-notes ones, where the selection color is the same as the highlighted
"currently active" option and thus it was hard to tell which was the
highlight; OTOH those menus are set up where hitting "enter" upon entry
will toggle your option and once more will leave the menu, so it's not
like you have to move the cursor or anything. ;p

Avatar

Avatar

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Dec 10, 2002, 12:49:38 PM12/10/02
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Andrew Maizels wrote:
> Doug Jacobs wrote:
>
>> I'll try another player, but I don't think it's going to help.
>>
>> On this third disc, the menu items are either pink or blue, and turn
>> red when you click them.
>>
>> Pink means the item is either "on" or "selected" - yes, this means you
>> can
>> have a menu with *all* pink items. Good luck figuring out where on that
>> page you are. :p
>
>
> I *hate* that. Fortunately, the remote for my DVD has language and
> subtitle buttons, so I use those instead.
>
> Excel is neither the only nor the worst example.

Mind you, using the subtitle button is tricky as there are -five-
subtitle tracks on there! ^_^;

You can just set your player to Japanese and English subtitles, though,
and it'll read those defaults and set you up properly. I don't ever go
to the language menu unless, for some reason, I need to hear the dub.

Avatar

Robert Hutchinson

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Dec 11, 2002, 3:46:59 PM12/11/02
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Avatar says...

> You can just set your player to Japanese and English subtitles, though,
> and it'll read those defaults and set you up properly.

My player doesn't have an option for default Japanese, and I turned off
automatic subtitling after I found out just how many of my non-anime DVDs
have subtitles.

--
Robert Hutchinson | "[Destiny's Child] got booed at the NBA
| playoffs. Even men in plush animal costumes
| don't get booed at the NBA playoffs."
| -- Fametracker.com

Derek Janssen

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Dec 11, 2002, 3:58:58 PM12/11/02
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Avatar wrote:
>
> > I *hate* that. Fortunately, the remote for my DVD has language and
> > subtitle buttons, so I use those instead.
> >
> > Excel is neither the only nor the worst example.
>
> Mind you, using the subtitle button is tricky as there are -five-
> subtitle tracks on there! ^_^;

FWIW, #4-English is pop-ups AND subs.
#3-English is pop-ups WITHOUT subs.

Derek Janssen
dja...@rcn.com

Derek Janssen

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Dec 11, 2002, 4:00:45 PM12/11/02
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Frank Raymond Michaels wrote:
>
> The only problem I've had with the DVDs -- and this is with all three
> of them -- is that if I jump ahead or back with the search function, I
> sometime lose the language setting.

Me, I just got offended by the "BTW, did you know that indecision is the
leading cause of accidents?"--
Hey, maybe I was TRYING to listen to the whole main-menu loop!

Derek Janssen (trickle, trickle, trickle, trickle)
dja...@rcn.com

Avatar

unread,
Dec 12, 2002, 12:29:35 PM12/12/02
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1 is main subtitle, 2 is captions and song subtitles (and Sumi), 3 is
popups only, 4 is everything, 5 is captions, song subs, and popups.

Avatar

S.t.A.n.L.e.E

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Dec 12, 2002, 8:55:58 PM12/12/02
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Interesting that ADV is getting creative with DVD subs.
I remember discussing about these options
back in the Eva 0:1 DVD overlays days.
(Or was it another early ADV title fans complained about....)

Laters. =)

Stan
--
_______ ________ _______ ____ ___ ___ ______ ______
| __|__ __| _ | \ | | | | _____| _____|
|__ | | | | _ | |\ | |___| ____|| ____|
|_______| |__| |__| |__|___| \ ___|_______|______|______|
__| | ( )
/ _ | |/ Stanlee Dometita sta...@cif.rochester.edu
| ( _| | U of Rochester cif.rochester.edu/~stanlee
\ ______| _______ ____ ___
/ \ / \ | _ | \ | |
/ \/ \| _ | |\ |
/___/\/\___|__| |__|___| \ ___|


Nargun

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Dec 13, 2002, 2:22:51 AM12/13/02
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On Thu, 12 Dec 2002, Avatar wrote:

...and if the DVD standard had been done properly, you'd be able to swithc
each one of them on and off individually...

Louis
--
Louis Patterson l.patt...@ugrad.unimelb.edu.au
"You have plundered this dead man's property, you have all
the toys you need to keep you alive; now may we move on?"
- Balthamos, _The Amber Spyglass_

Metlhd3138

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Dec 13, 2002, 10:41:27 AM12/13/02
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2 other annoying things about ES DVDs: 1. "Find the Mint" is always the same
2. Subtitles. captions, and vid-notes cant be pauses on zenith dvd's,,why is
this?
Otherwise, ES has become my 2nd fav anime after cowboy bebop,,and i cant wait
for dvd #4.

Blade

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Dec 13, 2002, 11:52:04 AM12/13/02
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On 13 Dec 2002 15:41:27 GMT, metlh...@aol.com (Metlhd3138) wrote:

>2 other annoying things about ES DVDs: 1. "Find the Mint" is always the same\

Err, no it's not. It's different depending on whether you get it right or
wrong.

>2. Subtitles. captions, and vid-notes cant be pauses on zenith dvd's,,why is
>this?

Because Zenith players suck, apparently. ;p

Blade

Avatar

unread,
Dec 13, 2002, 12:48:55 PM12/13/02
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Nargun wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Dec 2002, Avatar wrote:
>
>
>>Derek Janssen wrote:
>>
>>>Avatar wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>>I *hate* that. Fortunately, the remote for my DVD has language and
>>>>>subtitle buttons, so I use those instead.
>>>>>
>>>>>Excel is neither the only nor the worst example.
>>>>
>>>>Mind you, using the subtitle button is tricky as there are -five-
>>>>subtitle tracks on there! ^_^;
>>>
>>>
>>>FWIW, #4-English is pop-ups AND subs.
>>>#3-English is pop-ups WITHOUT subs.
>>
>>1 is main subtitle, 2 is captions and song subtitles (and Sumi), 3 is
>>popups only, 4 is everything, 5 is captions, song subs, and popups.
>
>
> ...and if the DVD standard had been done properly, you'd be able to swithc
> each one of them on and off individually...

<nod> That would have saved me hundreds of man-hours of work...

At any rate, if I ever meet the person who drafted the DVD sub
specifications, he will be in pain shortly after. ;p

Avatar

Nargun

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Dec 13, 2002, 5:42:54 PM12/13/02
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You do that; give them one from me while you're there.

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