Anime Fan Parody & Abridged Series Talkback Spring 2010 (READ FIRST POST)

[Unwardil]

Sigh...

When are people going to realize that the reason TTGL and OP abridges always fail is because the source material isn't good? Maybe OP gets better hundreds of episodes in, but the first episodes are long winded go no where garbage. The characters are so over done in every conceivable way that it's nearly impossible to reinterpret them at all, making any parody little more than a watered down version of the original, which as I've said before really is kind of awful to begin with.

The only thing going for either show is the sense of epicness, but epic by it's very nature implies length. Take the epic out of Gurren lagan and you're left with a terribly bland husk. Take the long winded adventure out of one piece and you have a group of highly annoying characters doing incredibly stupid things at annoyingly elevated volume.

Not good comedy fodder there.

 

[Taekmkm]

Take the epic out of Gurren lagan and you're left with a terribly bland husk.

Take the comedy out of Monty Python and you have an annoying bunch of old men.

This goes both ways, man.

 

[Unwardil]

Oh, no question, just my analysis on why TTGL doesn't make a good abridged series because in order to actually abridge it, you're depriving it of the one thing it's got going for it.

 

[Taekmkm]

Oh, there's plenty of ways. I've discussed this way too much with others on the right steps to make it good. The problem is to many, TTGL is their first real exposure to something of old school robots and can't detach themselves enough from it.

Also, most don't take advantage of what Gainax gives plenty material: Character interaction. They are afraid of leaving characters alone for a long time, unlike say One Piece where you start off solo right away and only have scraps of extras to work with until Zoro enters the picture (which isn't until episode 3 I think.)

The pacing for TTGL and Gainax in general practically gives you outlines on what to cut and what to keep while still keeping it whole.



Here's a tip for any and all future readers: Skip the damn first half of episode 1. If it's repeated ad-horridly in the series throughout, establish it later and start the hook!

 

[Paradox295]

Most people who abridge One Piece/Gurren Lagann do it because it's a popular show and there isn't a "The" Abridged Series for it yet.

 

[HellCat]

I forget who did it, but I remember a One Piece which used the footage of the later Marine Coby and started with that. The joke was it was a dream Coby was having and he wakes up to find himself still a wuss and at sea with Luffy.

 

[Mynd Hed]

I think the only way to make an OP abridged work would be to abridge the HELL out of it. Skip the first half of episode one? Try skipping Coby, Zoro's recruitment, and Buggy the Clown, full stop. Cover the Usopp and Sanji recruitment arcs in an episode or two each, Arlong Park in two or three. There's not much plot there that can't be skipped or condensed down to a couple lines, pausing for a joke or two, so why not speed straight to where there's a full cast to work with?

If there's a way to abridge TTGL effectively, I can't think of it.

 

[HellCat]

If there's a way to abridge TTGL effectively, I can't think of it.

Take a Black & Decker to the DVD set? (i pierced it with my drill, lulz!1)

 

[Taekmkm]

If there's a way to abridge TTGL effectively, I can't think of it.

1. Actually establish Simon and Kamina's brolationship without spouting dub lines every 2 seconds.
2. Make Simon a character. Most people seem to miss the point that there is no Kamina without Simon. He essentially created Kamina's persona so actually give him a personality besides being whiny.
3. Make Yoko relevant. She's a guide to a new world, a tour guide of sorts. Stop making boob jokes or "lol she's 14." They mention it once, and never centralize it. Stop wasting time.
4. Learn battle dialogue. Most people fail at this apparently. Hours of background or filler can easily be "abridged" with a few snarks between characters. Speak on the fly, not stop and show instead.
5. Actually get past episode 8.
6. Trade in Kamina's "manliness" or whatever with actual dialogue. He's dumb, but charismatic. Show that in any form.
7. Plot. The show has a damn plot. No one wants to address the plot for some reason. ADDRESS IT.
8. Fast pace. Every single TTGL abridged in the past is extremely slow. Gurren Lagann is a relatively fast-paced show, much faster than most actually. More things happen in 26 episodes than most shows do in 100.
9. Gainax references certainly don't hurt. They do it. They did it on purpose, and in fact what they're famous for.

I'll think of more later.

 

[Sketch]

Yeah we're all quite sick of the first episode and first three for that matter but I do wonder if someone... ANYONE could really do them justice. But perhaps part of the problem as Unwardil mentioned is those episodes quite frankly suck in the grand scheme of things but isn't it the sucky episodes that offer great opportunity to lampoon? Maybe they've just been done too many times to sqeeze enough funny out of them.

Mynd is absolutely right about the approach though. One Piece is freak'n long and drawn out. If you're covering an episode per video you're killing yourself. Arcs need to be cut drastically and as Kaiser mentioned on the podcast a while back the characters need to be rewritten or embellished to extremes.

I too would love to see TFS take a crack at One Piece. Though for a one-shot they'd probably pick a random spot in the series, one of the movies or TV specials. Regardless of what they did I expect hilarious things.

Likewise if LordMoonstone and WGS did a One Piece parody I think it would be quite amusing. As we've already seen WGS' Gunpiece which was short but marvelous.

I can think of lots of abridgers who might be able to make a great One Piece parody because they are great writers and have excellent delivery. If there is another problem nearly every One Piece parody has going for it is that the writing is at best average and not the kind of stuff that even delivered well will make anyone roll around on the floor laughing. Again this is why I love Shogun Gino's parody so much because that guy is if nothing else, very very funny.

EDIT:

I informed The Brothers Moustache that One Piece is retaliating to their satire by waging a war on moustaches and they responded:

"My... my word!! It all makes sense now... these "Animus" are far more powerful than we had foreseen! We shall tread lightly, perhaps we may harness its power. Thank you for alerting us to this potential threat, your words of caution may prove invaluable."

Jolly good.

 

[Gan Xingba]

Stop making me want to finish writing my One Piece one-shot idea when I have a million other things to do (including making an episode of my actual friggin series). Jerks.

But actually, I think Sketch has a point with the inability of people to "let go" with those shows. Basically, OP and TTGL have such a rabid fanbase that they fail to actually expose and make fun of the shows' many flaws, leaving at best a bunch of fandom in jokes and at worst, crude humor that has nothing to do with what's actually going on onscreen.

Also many attempts are made by people under the age of 15. Just sayin'.

 

[LordMoonstone]

Likewise if LordMoonstone and WGS did a One Piece parody I think it would be quite amusing.

Gurren Piece, perhaps? Two negatives make a positive amirite.

As for the Brothers Moustache production, I almost feel it'd be funnier with just them rifftracking over the show in an abridged format rather than taking a stab at it -- but honestly this probably is the best one so far. A few misses and editing hiccups but they've got major promise.

 

[O-chan]

I think the only way to make an OP abridged work would be to abridge the HELL out of it. Skip the first half of episode one? Try skipping Coby, Zoro's recruitment, and Buggy the Clown, full stop. Cover the Usopp and Sanji recruitment arcs in an episode or two each, Arlong Park in two or three. There's not much plot there that can't be skipped or condensed down to a couple lines, pausing for a joke or two, so why not speed straight to where there's a full cast to work with?

If there's a way to abridge TTGL effectively, I can't think of it.

Actually I don't get why TTGL is so difficult, it's like only 27 episodes. I mean if people are having a hard time making it funny...yeah, okay...but that's not impossible.

Now, I agree with you on the One Piece thing and I think the few abridgers I did see handle it ran into two issues. They either don't get the sense that abridging involves actual "abridging" and not just shortening the first episode. I mean, a lot of the regular abridgers do it to with varying results but for something like One Piece take a note from YGOTAS, and DBZA and shortcut.

The other issue is when they try to skip all that and go to a later point where the crew is more or less altogether. Even the one or two that I thought it was a bit amusing the too much dissonance and lack of development. I mean you could probably abridge East Blue alone into a nice 13 abridged episode deal if you knew what to keep and what to skip. It took DBZ time to find people who could handle the load and I'm sure it would eventually happen to One Piece.

O-chan

 

[Xerostyle]

Actually I don't get why TTGL is so difficult, it's like only 27 episodes. I mean if people are having a hard time making it funny...yeah, okay...but that's not impossible.

Do it.

I am saying I want you to try and do it. People here aren't saying it's hard, they're saying it's near impossible. The source material explicitly ruins parodies of it, because of the style and overall feel of the show, not to mention Gurren Laggan is already a parody in itself.

 

[JCWiki]

Personally, the only good related parodies for one piece I've seen our Antfish's sort of one shot and Gozar's One Piece Abridge (only did 2 episodes then stopped). These two both realized that one way to make one piece even funnier is to be loud with it! All the characters personalities shined in them especially when it came to imitating voices from the dub (they both mostly do this with zoro's character) One piece is crazy and hard to abridge yes, but I found these two made it enjoyable to watch over and over again.

 

[Unwardil]

Do it.

I am saying I want you to try and do it. People here aren't saying it's hard, they're saying it's near impossible. The source material explicitly ruins parodies of it, because of the style and overall feel of the show, not to mention Gurren Laggan is already a parody in itself.

I actually don't think it'd be unusually hard to make it funny. The problem with doing it myself is that I hate it so much, it would be for entirely the wrong reasons.

I mean, I understand that Glass Fleet is bad. The show is horrible, yet I don't hate it, moreover, I can appreciate what it tries hard to do but fails miserably at accomplishing. Everything about GL I hate. Loathe might be more appropriate, so any parody I made of it would be in very vicious taste.

Plus I'd never actually sit down and watch it so...

 

[Juu-kuchi]

You know Tae if you're so ardent about how an ideal TTGLA would be like... why haven't you abridged a one-shot or something of it yet?

 

[Taekmkm]

As soon as I'm done with Eva and Macross and script the next parts, sure.

So wait about 10 years.

 

[Master WGS]

I have to go with the thought that if it's already primarily a comedy, Abridging it is hard work if you're doing anything NEAR sticking with the plot.

Gurren Laggan and One Piece could both be parodied if you just kept most of the original show out of it. If I wrote a funny conversation between two people, with absolutely no context involved to anything relative to the show's original plot, it'd be just as funny if Luffy/Koby or Kamina/Simon had the conversation.

I could see Unwardil making either of these shows funny just by ignoring the plot completely, which fans/abridgers of these respective shows seem unable to do.

And for the record, DBZ didn't take all that long at all to be done properly.

Spoiler

Skins + Thumbswayup were around before TFS was even a thought, guys.

 

[KYO'NYUU IMOUTO]

And for the record, DBZ didn't take all that long at all to be done properly.

Well, to be fair, TeamFourStar also has a more diverse background in terms of fan(dom)ship to their credit. Lani's the casual, Kaiser's the Japanese version fan, and Taka's the (casual?) fan of the Ocean dub. Kaiser also has a pretty extensive look into 'hardcore' fan community, and with Dragon Ball being arguably one of the more mainstream titles abridged, there's also a bit of creative room there to try out jokes that can appease and laugh with the many different facets of the fandom.

Of course, in the end, yeah...it boils down to good writing, acting, and professionalism.