"Supernatural The Animation" Review and First Episode Recap
Thursday, 24 March 2011 22:05 | Last Updated on Tuesday, 26 June 2012 11:30 | Written by Yirabah | 
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Another Hellatus but this time we have at least “Supernatural The Animation” to watch for those who are interested.
I grew up watching cartoons and as my sons started to watch TV I did what lots of parents do, I bought them the Walt Disney movies. My boys loved watching them when they were very little. Once they reached kindergarten age they got into animes like Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh etc. Since I didn’t let them watch TV unsupervised I spent quite some time during the years in front of the TV. While I never was really interested in the Pokemon story (I usually did my ironing during that time in the living room) I was able to get into the storyline of some other more action packed animes and actually enjoyed watching them. Sometimes I even had the TV running with one of those animes without my boys there while doing my ironing (that is such a boring job, I always needed some entertainment while doing it). I preferred the animes to the afternoon talk shows.
Both my sons like to watch Supernatural. I actually have to thank them for forcing me to watch the show. And the older one is a huge animation fan. We are German but he actually watches Japanese Animes with English subtitles on his laptop since those shows don’t come out on our German TV stations. Just like I am freak enough to scan the net for SPN news and post comments here and there he does it occasionally with animations.
When I heard the news that there would be an anime of Supernatural first thing I did of course was tell him about it and just like me he couldn’t wait to watch it. When I read that the Japanese version was released I told him once again. A couple days later he informed me that he found the English dubbed version of episode one and two on an Anime site. We both watched it. A few days later those epis where taken of that site again but we found them again on YouTube. Up until today there are four episodes you can watch.
The first three episodes are kind of remakes. They are “Alter Ego” (based on “Skin”), “Roadkill” and “Home” with some new little odds and ends. But episode four is a whole new ball game with a complete new story. Just to get your mouth a little watery for it, Baby is chased by a black Impala and it has a very funny scene in it where I had a real good laugh.
Before I go into reviewing episode one I would like to let you hear what Jared and Jensen think about it:
On episode one:
On episode two, five and six
On episode three and four
Hold on a second, have to return from dreamland. Don’t they look gorgeous in those videos?
Now for the reviews:
First of all I don’t think you should let your little child watch the Supernatural animes. You know why; ghosts, monsters and it gets extremely bloody at times plus the language is not what your little one should hear.
Since the first announcement that there will be an animation of Supernatural a few months ago I have been reading everything I could find on it and seen a few con vids where Jared and Jensen talk about it. Unfortunately I am not able to remember where I found all that info so here just a few facts I remember about it. Eric Kripke is involved in the scripts and Jared and Jensen approved of the looks of the animated characters of Sam and Dean. Actually, if I remember it correctly, Jensen liked it that he looks taller and that his shoulders are wider than in real live at that he has more muscles than Jared does. In case I am wrong on any of these memories let me know.
Jared does the English voice of all episodes so far and I heard that Jensen will do episodes eleven and twelve. At first it was kind of a shock to hear Sam’s voice but not Dean’s voice. It was really strange. But after watching a few episodes I kind of got past that shock and got used to the strange voice of Dean even though I am still missing Jensen’s voice there. The funny thing is that when I hear Jared’s voice sometimes I catch myself how my mind doesn’t see the animated Sam face but the face of Jared Padalecki as Sam. Looks like I watched the real show often enough to imagine how his face would look like while saying certain things.
It seems to be hard to cram the essentials of a Supernatural episode like the introduction of the MOTW, brotherly moments and the hunt of the MOTW into the approximately 20 minutes of an animation show. Therefore it sometimes lacks something. What I haven’t discovered so far are any references to pop culture. That’s a big minus in my eyes since those references are as much part of Supernatural as the hunt. A big plus is that the show always ends with “Wayward Son” (You definitely have to keep watching till the end since the episodes keep going after that song). I also think that it is useless to watch the animation without having seen the real thing since you would be missing a lot of back ground information.
All in all I had moments that moved me to tears and I had moments where I had a good laugh but not in all episodes. In case you haven’t seen the animation yet and want to watch before reading anything about them you should stop right here and click on the video/link to start watching the first episode on YouTube. All episodes are in three parts between approximately 3 to10 minutes. For those who don’t want to watch or have seen it already I will try to explain what is going on during my recap.
Enjoy watching it!
(Part one)
(Part two)
(Part three)
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Comments
The anime was cut to the Japanese voice track so that's why Jared voice doesn't match the images. The translation and the voice actors try to make it fit but sometimes it simply doesn't work.
I don't think that this can be the only explanation since it is basically only Jared's voice that is off sometimes.
Either the translation is too bad or the voice actor.
Don't know about the translations since I am unfortunatly not able to talk Japanese. And about the bad voice actor statement. This was Jared first voice-only-job so if it would be his fault I would definatly excuse it but I still can't/won't believe that it is his fault. I actually think that he is doing the best voice job in the whole anime. Since I've been listening to the same scenes over and over again for the recap I discovered that he is putting as much feeling in his voice as he would for the real show unlike all the other voice actors. The reason for this very likely is that he knows by now what Sam's feelings would be.
You don't need to understand Japanese, if you watch the episodes in Japanese, they simply fit!
And no, I hated the Japanese voice-acting because it was really over-dramatic and terrible. To me, that probably is because anime in Japan is targetted mainly at teenagers and for SPN, probably a lot of males. Not just the shouting but how they tried to emphasise the "manliness" in Sam and Dean and how they acted out the emotions, reminded me exactly of so many Japanese "manly males" I've met.
I say this because having grown up in a highly conformist country in Asia, every single media or source of literature for young people is filled with messages and reminders on being society's perfect "stereotype of some sort". And Japan is even more so.
It was a bit jarring hearing Jared's voice but not Jensen's. The adjustment would have been easier if they had found substitute voices for both characters.
One other complaint ... was that a cheap cover of Kansas at the end? It didn't sound like the original. Couldn't they have just ponied up the royalty fee and put the real song in there?
All in all, though, this looks like yet another set of DVDs to add to my want list on Amazon or my viewing queue on Netflix. :)
I was surprised at the artwork too and Eric Kripke mentioned once that he especially liked it that they are able to show so much more (like you put it) gore into the anime than the real show. I will try to find that video again.
About hearing Jared's voice but not Jensen's. Yes it is more than just a bit jarring but after watching a few eps it is not as bad as it is when you first discover that it is not Jensen talking. And I most definatly prefer Jared's voice to the voice of a substitute. Can't wait to hear Jensen's voice in there too. He is doing the Dean voice in episode 11 and 12. Haven't gotten around to watch those yet. Only made it up to episode 6 so far. But maybe I will have time over the weekend.
P.S.S. Agreed ... Jared and Jensen both look quite yummy in those clips.
Great recap, Yirabah! I agree with a lot of what you said! I totally get what you mean about seeing Jared's face when he's talking! I too can picture the exact facial expression. Not having Jensen's voice playing opposite Jared's really threw me off, especially at first. I got used to it after a while. I think that Anime Sam is a better interpretation of Sam, especially season 1 Sam, than Anime Dean is of Dean. He’s not as cute as he should be (and that jacket is awful!). Maybe that’s just me. I like my Dean as cute as possible!
Overall, pretty good. Maybe they should do more new story episodes than redoing existing ones. It’s hard to live up to the awesomeness of live action Supernatural. I do like the idea of seeing the cases they worked between the cases we’ve already seen on the show. I love more background and new insight to our boys’ past!
And, yeah, the cheap cover of Wayward Son just doesn't do it for me!
Sam in the Alter Ego was a nice twist. I also enjoyed that I was not able to figure out immediatly who is in the alter ego in the car, Sam or Dean, or maybe even none of them.
You are right about anime Sam coming closer to Sam than anime Dean to Dean (head starts to spin here). First Dean having brown eyes, than that hankerchief and that awful jacket - nope - I prefer the real Dean too.
As I mentioned in the article, there are new stories and they are written extremly well. In one ep we will also see how Sam mets Jess.
The Japanese version is so much better than the English dubb!
Silly me! Why didn't I think of that ... duh ... haha! :)
After watching the first episode, I´m a little divided. Not bad, but not truly the real thing.
I liked the voice acting (including "Dean"), but the artwork didn´t really do it for me. I like anime as a rule, but this here looked a little cheap, I thought.
And cramming 40 min. into 20? That can´t really work, and for me it didn´t.
Maybe the original eps will be better, but here, where we could compare directly and the anime simply fell short.
I´ll still watch, it´s Supernatural after all...
We Supernatural fans are all crazy somehow. Read a few comments who stated the same, that they watch just because it is Supernatural.
Something that makes me sad, even a little mad, is that a lot of stuff gets blocked because (like the CW side) we don't live in the states and now the animations getting blocked on youtube since we can't buy them yet. Something they don't seem to understand at Warner Bros. is that SPN fans are crazy. We here in Europe watch the eps on the internet shortly after they aired in the states but that doesn't mean that we don't watch them once they are aired in our local TV on the contrary we do (even if it is not as good as the english original version). Plus show me the fan that doesn't have the dvds at home. So why do they block the animes. Those ones who are into animes will still buy the DVDs even if we seen it before - after all - we are SPN fans and we are crazy about our show.
And I´ll continue to watch, I´m pretty sure it´ll grow on me.
And you´re right about the blocking policy as well. I don´t think they bother even trying to understand sometimes...
I´m still very grateful for all the episodes we do get to watch on the internet (not just the anime), and as you said, watching online in no way prevents me from watching the German dubbed version when it airs, let alone from buying the DVDs. If anything it encourages me to do it, because at that point I already know I´ll be getting something good.
So let´s continue to hope for a little more generosity on their part, it´ll be their gain as well.
Thanks again!
I also believe that we here in Europe can keep dreaming about being able to access the same stuff as the people in America. It is slightly frustrating if you chat with a world wide group and want to show them e.g. fan made vids and talk about those and then they are blogged in some countries. I for example can't watch approx. half the vids of the week Alice puts up. Though I keep dreaming that one day I will be able to watch them too.
I would almost think this is kind of AU from the TV series since there are some things that seem to be happening differently. I look forward to seeing what else is different and what other little twists they throw out there.
The original episodes work better than the revamps because I'm not subconsciously comparing it to the TV show. I should add though, I'm watching the anime actually in japanese with english subs, so I find myself shifting into a different mindset.
The only hinderance is cramming so much mythology and plot spanning two seasons into roughly 30-minute shows. I felt that it started out in the middle and for newcomers they would be lost. I've been meaning to contact a friend who is a major anime fan. She said she'd give this anime a try but never has watched the show and it will be interesting to see what her opinion is.
In a way, this situation reminds me of the UK/US Being Human, the Matrix and its AniMatrix and Batman refitted into anime shorts in Batman: Gotham Knight. It's fun/interesting in seeing how the animators try to retain the American culture but weave in the Japanese culture. An example would be Missouri. She reminded me of the typical anime psychic character in her garb. The Impala animated though is an A+. She is a beauty.
Overall it's fun to see an expansion on the storyline. It's definitely made me wish there were more John and Dean scenes, lol. And I still think it's awesome that our little show is just that cool to be turned into a Japanese anime. As Dean would say, "Think it's because we're so awesome? I think it's 'cause we're so awesome."
Sidenote: SPNtheAnimationEps's main channel :)
I would be interested what your friend thinks about it too since I can't believe that the SPN anime makes any scenes to someone who doesn't now the real show.
Missouri sure was a disappointment thanks for letting us know that there is a reason for that.
About that sidenote. I was fighting with myself if I should put that info up or not. Warner Bros. already blocked to many of her videos. Didn't want to help them find those links.
I'm pretty sure that the copyright laws of various countries have something to do with it. It may be true that we in America have access to more cntent ... but I often find things that I'm trying to watch blocked for copyright reasons, especially content generated in Canada (don't know why Canada and not other places though) ...
Copyright laws definitetly vary. I was watching something and you couldn't watch one part of the show, but the rest of the links were fine. I know Japan too is cracking down on the distribution of their anime like on YouTube. And hey, it's their right, not gonna fight or complain.
As for Missouri, glad I could help that somewhat. She cracked me up though in her appearance. (Bobby though...) Another thing that popped up was the offering of tea. I don't know if that's
a big thing still in Japan, but in the animes I've watched there's always tea. It'd be fun though to see the guys get drunk off of saka though.
When my daughter was young, she also liked watching Pokeman, Yu-gi-oh and her favourite Sailor Moon.
I managed to watch up to episode 3. It’s no way comparable to watching the live version of Supernatural, but I still found it enjoyable.
I liked how they altered the original scripts that little bit, giving it a different twist to the story. I would like to seen the ones where both Jared and Jensen do the voice’s, however I didn’t mind the guy that did Dean’s voice, I think he did an ok job.
Anyways…Thank you for putting this together.
you are right that it is not comparible to the real thing but still I found it fun to watch. Since you already made it up to three episodes just watch one more and let me know what you think of the complet new story line.
It's okay as a substitute for the real thing during spring hellatus.
I think Jared is doing a good job with his first voice over gig.
I agree it's really strange not to hear Jensen as Dean, but the voice actor is really doing best he can to sound like Dean Winchester Season 1 and I think he improving with every episode.
Can't wait for the complete box, it's not the real Supernatural but hey diversity is everything these days.
And how many of those "big network shows" made it from real life action show to animation?
so I am not the only one who uses the anime during this hellatus. Thanks for telling me that.
And yes I do love it, that our "little show" was thought interesting enough to become an anime (unlike some of those shows that millions watch each week)
I think it is really cool that the television show is apparently spawning a host of cross-media cultural production ... REALLY cool. Whether one likes the variations is a totally subjective thing. But to say that the anime version isn't "real" is like saying the sixties Batman TV show wasn't "real" Batman because it was too campy.
Oh trust me ... I hear ya! Jensen and Jared are both quite yummy to look at. ;) I was only "begging to differ" in a constructive way.
About a year ago, I wrote a paper on Batman and discovered that one of the subthreads in cultural criticism is concerned with the role of the reader/viewer in interpretation. I just think that observing the ways cultural product can be expanded, adapted and re-created is very interesting.
It's funny. I didn't used to appreciate anime at all, but it has been growing on me. And now that one of my favorite shows is being adapted to the medium, I have another excuse to watch it. :)
I've watched all of season 1 of Supernatural: The Animation with the Japanese language dubbed and English subtitles. I don't watch anime with the English language tracks at all; it's just a personal preference. That being said, even after watching thousands of hours of anime, it was an adjustment even for me to reconcile Japanese coming out of the mouths of the characters of Sam and Dean.
To all the nay-sayers posting so far, or to anybody who hasn't watched the anime yet, I have to say this: give it a chance. As an anime AND SPN fan, I give this series two very enthusiastic thumbs up. The anime art, direction and quality is top-notch, as one would expect from the high-calibur studio they got to do this. They're throwing their full-support behind this, and it already has a huge fandom in Japan.
The stories did an excellent job of retelling the live-action episodes, as well as incorporating original scripts and some much-welcomed backstory for the boys. There's humour and drama and pathos and it all works incredibly well.
It's no wonder the Japanese have attached themselves to SPN--this sort of story plays really well over there. Two brothers (who also happen to be "bishonen", or "beautiful boys") who have lost their family, fighting against supernatural beings, monsters, gods and fate--this is right up their alley.
Yes, there aren't American pop culture references, but I was delighted to see them already incorporate a lot of Japanese elements into the stories, such as the kappa, or water spirit. And here's where the North American audiences need to keep the most open minds--there are monsters for the boys to fight everywhere, and the Japanese are just giving them some new ones!
I hope they continue to do all the seasons, and I REALLY hope SPN fans give this anime a chance. It's beautifully done, the Japanese voice actors are A-list stars and give amazing performances, and the stories are just as enjoyable and engaging as the original series.
And last, but not least--if there was any doubt that the Japanese don't get the show, it was dispelled completely with the closing credits. Yes, I know it's not Kansas doing "Wayward Son" (again, Americans, open your minds and broaden your views a bit), but the very first painted image for the credits is Dean, on top of the Impala, strumming his air-guitar leg.
Trust me. They get it. =)
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