Abandon hope, all ye who enter here . . . . OK, so that’s probably not the best way to start a column where I’m trying to answer people’s questions, huh? No, wait! Come back and read the column . . . . . . .!!!

The question so good you asked it twice. . . . .I figured this would be a good way to start this column. I’m pretty sure there are more than two of you out there that are experiencing this dilemma, as AngelSteve pointed out. Plus, the holidays are coming up, and we all know what’s on everyone’s list, right? More DVDs. How did I ever guess?

Anyway, here’s what you can do. The consensus of what is probably the fastest and easiest way to get rid of your old tapes is to head on over to Ebay and put them up for auction. This is what immediately popped into everyone’s head when I asked. And it’s the first thing I thought of, too. Now, unless you have some incredibly rare tapes that people are dying to find, you probably won’t get rich off this venture. But you will make some money back. Think of it like a garage sale. Sure you want to make money, but you also want to get rid of your stuff, right? To make room for more DVDs, right?

Now, about other venues. The Wanderer, Chris and I were all stumped when it came to thinking of a store (e- or otherwise) that would let you trade in your tapes directly for DVDs. As far as we all know, there isn’t such a place (and I know you’ll let me know if there is. You’re all so vigilant. J ). The only other thing that we could come up with is if you could find a little indy video store and see if they would be interested in expanding their anime section. You might be able to pull it off if you can find a store that’s making their money by specializing in titles other than mainstream ones. But I still think your best bet is Ebay.

Well, I think the basic reason that they don’t create a complete and uncut version of Pokemon is that kids aren’t crying out for it. If you could get kids under the age of 12 to petition for an uncut subbed version of Pokemon, there might be a possibility that it would come out. Seriously though, they’re making so much money off of the version that they’ve already got out that, from a marketing standpoint, there’s really no reason to release another version. Also, like most fads, this too will soon pass. The kids will move on to something else that will totally consume their lives. Which, of course, leaves anime fans in the lurch. There is also the possibility that the American arm of Nintendo don’t have the rights to the uncut subbed version of Pokemon, for whatever reason. As usual, it may just come down to licensing.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you really want an uncut version of Pokemon, you might have to get an import, or a fansub. It just doesn’t look like there’s an official release on the horizon soon.

Hm. I think I’ll sound like a teacher here when I say that there aren’t any stupid questions. But it’s true. J You don’t learn if you don’t ask, right?

Since I, of course, couldn’t find all that much information on the Viz site about the title, I went to my sources. The consensus all the way around is that there isn’t really any difference other than the subtitles and the translation.

This is what Chris had to say: I'm not aware of the differences, but I believe the translation was a bit more polished and done with a different font and whatnot.

And the Wanderer, ever helpful, said: I think the subtitles are different.

I don’t think that there are all that many differences. If there were, you’d see them plastered all over the place. You wouldn’t want to advertise the fact that the disc is virtually the same, right? You’d want people to buy the new disc. Rather sneaky, but that’s what marketing people do.

OK. Everyone on the count of three. 1 . . .2 . . .3 . . . (a horde of chibi catgirls appears behind LadyCat and speaks in chorus) "Licensing". Thank you. (They disappear) Let me say right off that I haven’t even heard even the slightest whisper of anything about anyone doing a crossover, ever. That said, let’s speculate a bit. There are a bunch of reasons why they might not be doing crossovers. Licensing could be one of the reasons. That’s usually a good bet when in doubt. "Unofficial" crossovers might not go over well in respect to licensing. It could also be that the creators of those shows are busy with other projects. Look at it this way, if Harrison Ford, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg can’t clear their schedules to make the new Indy movie, how are you going to get two (or more) directors, a couple of producers, and various creators and animators together? And then there’s always the problem of having one more alternate storyline to deal with. Both Tenchi and El Hazard already have more than enough alternate storylines. I can’t even imagine adding another one to them, even if it is unconnected with the other story arcs. Plus, there’s the difference between comics and anime. It would cost significantly less to create a comic or a manga than it would to create a whole OAV series (especially if you start figuring in authoring/mastering costs). I think there are just a few too many factors working against the concept of a crossover for it to probably even be considered.

I just wanted to let you all know that I did receive all your emails about my response to the question regarding UY. I knew that response seemed to be lacking something. Anyway, I do appreciate the effort to keep the information that I give comprehensive and accurate.

And here’s an update for those of you who can reach far back into your memories to one of the first columns. This is for those of you who were curious about how to find someone to share your life with.

Thanks for reading, y’all. I’ll try to keep the columns coming fast and furious. As long as you keep writing into me, that is. J