Took the half hour reading (and answering) comments, catching up on other Blogathonners, etc. (Go visit Brian — give him some love.)
And, hey, not only did the in-laws actually comment on my blog, but they contributed a sponsorship, too. Thanks, guys!
Okay, since I have a few minutes — the Teen Titans cartoon.
As noted earlier, it’s anime. Very anime. Whizzies. Super-deforms. Sweat drops.
The characters are anime, too. Starfire is the strange alien who doesn’t understand human stuff and suggests inappropriate ingredients on pizzas. Cyborg is cranky. Raven is channeling Wednesday from The Addams Family. Changeling, er, Beast Boy (again) is relatively non-descript. Robin — well, Robin is Robin.
But file off the serial numbers, change the names and the costumes, and this could be anything straight out of Japan.
The theme music is startlingly kid-pop.
But I like it. Anime doesn’t bother me. It’s a little sillier than I’d prefer, but there’s some serious bits, too, and they are doing at least some minor arc work (“Who is Slade?” indeed), and — well, let’s face it, just like SF in the 70s and 80s, even bad super-hero cartoons are better than none. And this isn’t all that bad.
At least, if you can stomach anime.
Which is an interesting choice on WB’s part. Is it that they wanted something they could sell internationally more easily? Or are they betting that a lot of kids these days have been raised on anime? Interesting, nonetheless.
