Sharp-eyed
fans who read the Anime USA event schedule noted that one discussion
was titled the "Toshifumi Yoshida" panel rather than the "Viz" panel.
That's because the veteran producer, who worked as an employee of the
California anime and manga importer, is now an independent contractor
and not a member of the Viz staff. Free agent Yoshida plans to stay
busy with additional manga translation work for Dark Horse, Del Ray and
other anime companies. However, that doesn't change Yoshida's status as
the producer of Viz Video's dubs of the InuYasha series, of which more
than 100 have been completed. InuYasha has been one of Viz' largest
successes since they had a piece of the Pokemon pie in 1999 and 2000,
and much of the reason comes from the series' exposure on the Cartoon
Network. "It's amazing to see the number of 15-year-olds who are really
into the show," Yoshida told Anime USA fans. "It wouldn't have happened
if it was just on video. It being on TV reaches people beyond just the
regular fans."
At
the time of Anime USA, 14 months had passed since the launch of
InuYasha on cable television, a launch that changed Yoshida's work
habits. Based on the pace spent dubbing Ranma 1/2 episodes, Yoshida
expected to produce enough episodes of InuYasha to handle weekly
cablecasts of the show, about three to five episodes a month. But when
InuYasha got hot, "As of January they switched to four episodes a week
and burned through them in three months, and proceeded to rerun them
over and over again." With no time to relax, Yoshida's dubbing trips to
Vancouver got more frantic to meet the demand for InuYasha - and then
the Cartoon Network cut back InuYasha to one episode a week. The extra
work did have a bonus for fans, because Yoshida had an unaired dub
episode of the series that he screened at Anime USA.
Yoshida's
years in the anime business means he has some great stories to tell,
and he revealed that he's the source of one of the great fan tales, a
story that's been spread for years and has taken on legendary
proportions. It comes from a trip that the great manga artist Rumiko
Takahashi made to Comic-Con International in San Diego. The punch line
of the story has Takahashi saying "There are some things I don't think
about, and neither should you" when asked about some aspects of Ranma
Saotome's changing genders in Ranma 1/2. Yoshida said he was there when
Takahashi made that comment, and he's the one responsible for spreading
it among fandom.
Sharp-eyed
fans who read the Anime USA event schedule noted that one discussion
was titled the "Toshifumi Yoshida" panel rather than the "Viz" panel.
That's because the veteran producer, who worked as an employee of the
California anime and manga importer, is now an independent contractor
and not a member of the Viz staff. Free agent Yoshida plans to stay
busy with additional manga translation work for Dark Horse, Del Ray and
other anime companies. However, that doesn't change Yoshida's status as
the producer of Viz Video's dubs of the InuYasha series, of which more
than 100 have been completed. InuYasha has been one of Viz' largest
successes since they had a piece of the Pokemon pie in 1999 and 2000,
and much of the reason comes from the series' exposure on the Cartoon
Network. "It's amazing to see the number of 15-year-olds who are really
into the show," Yoshida told Anime USA fans. "It wouldn't have happened
if it was just on video. It being on TV reaches people beyond just the
regular fans."
At
the time of Anime USA, 14 months had passed since the launch of
InuYasha on cable television, a launch that changed Yoshida's work
habits. Based on the pace spent dubbing Ranma 1/2 episodes, Yoshida
expected to produce enough episodes of InuYasha to handle weekly
cablecasts of the show, about three to five episodes a month. But when
InuYasha got hot, "As of January they switched to four episodes a week
and burned through them in three months, and proceeded to rerun them
over and over again." With no time to relax, Yoshida's dubbing trips to
Vancouver got more frantic to meet the demand for InuYasha - and then
the Cartoon Network cut back InuYasha to one episode a week. The extra
work did have a bonus for fans, because Yoshida had an unaired dub
episode of the series that he screened at Anime USA.
Yoshida's
years in the anime business means he has some great stories to tell,
and he revealed that he's the source of one of the great fan tales, a
story that's been spread for years and has taken on legendary
proportions. It comes from a trip that the great manga artist Rumiko
Takahashi made to Comic-Con International in San Diego. The punch line
of the story has Takahashi saying "There are some things I don't think
about, and neither should you" when asked about some aspects of Ranma
Saotome's changing genders in Ranma 1/2. Yoshida said he was there when
Takahashi made that comment, and he's the one responsible for spreading
it among fandom.
