O.C, CA ***Official*** Anime Discussion Thread

Same thing as the 'TV/Movie Review' Thread, only I'm hoping to hear from some OC Anime/Manga geeks, like myself. Please feel free to discuss your favorite (or least favorite) Anime series', OVAs, movies, etc.

For those NOT interested in Japanese cartoons, as far as I know, 'Anime' is taken from the French word for animation, so go ahead and talk about animation of any origin.

 

Just to get things started, I'll post some of my favorite series':

ROBOTECH: Basically this one started it all for me, and a show that I think is still quite good today. This show is one I think alot of people associate with Japanese Animation, since it was one of the first ones that was widely shown in the States. The generation-spanning series documents the interstellar adventures of the crew of the Super Dimensional Fortress (SDF-1), and the evil forces bent on harnessing its mysterious powers. It was divided into three 'generations', each showcasing a different cast of characters and interesting robot vehicles. There were 85 episodes of the show, and I've become interested in watching it again, now that the episodes are now on DVD.

VISION OF ESCAFLOWNE: This is a medieval-themed series set in the mystical world of Gaia, where a girl from earth, Hitomi, finds herself mysteriously transported to. She possesses strange fortune-telling powers, and gets involved with a kingdomless king, who gets around in an enormous, mechanical armor known as Escaflowne. The forces of evil set their sights on Escaflowne, as they believe it may hold the key to Gaia's future. This is a great series that mixes action with a decent amount of romantic drama, as well. The musical score is extraordinary for an Anime series, and is comparable to John Williams. Also available on DVD, this show actually had a short-lived run on FOX Kids, but got pulled for probably being too graphically violent.

Other favorites of mine are: FLCL, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Cowboy Bebop, but enough about me, let's hear what the rest of you think.

 

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH... I'm so mad I just read they pushed back the Cowboy Bebop movie till April....those ba**ards... I have seen a bootleg copy of it and am so looking forward to it in the theater. I saw it a year or so ago on Cartoon Network and was caught up immediately. It helps that it's only like 22 episodes or something too, so you know there is a beginning and an end, not like alot of this anime that's out there where you don't know if you are watching the first season or the tenth. Oh, also if you get a chance to see "Grave of the Butterflies" <--- I might come back to edit the name if I'm wrong, take it because it is an excellent movie regarding WWII from a different point of view. Also, is there anything more freakish then Anime Porn???? Not that I make it a habit of watching it but it just amazes me that they seem to put so much work into it. Oh well..enough of my rambling...there is my two cents... anyone down for the CB movie when it FINALLY shows up in theaters?

 

A friend loaned me the Macross series a while back -- very cool stuff, I liked it a lot!

Read that there is a 'Farscape' anime-style series in the works. The actors from Farscape are said to voice the same characters they played in the live action series, which wraps up this year.

Peace,
Jim

 

DEWGODO1, the theatrical release of Cowboy Bebop - 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' (the movie) was actually last year. I saw it at The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and that's where I heard it was first shown at Anime Expo, as well. Do you know of another theatrical release? The filesharing version of the film is exactly the same and of very good quality, but nothing beats the big screen.

The Egyptian Theatre has been a really great place to watch Anime Movies. I know during last summer, they showed a double feature of 'X', and 'Spriggan', but I missed that. They also had a screening of 'Spirited Away' that they hosted at Disney's El Capitan Theatre back in September. What was cool about that was there was actually an appearance by Hiyao Miyazaki, the film's creator, and guy who brought us 'Princess Mononoke', and 'Nausicaa'. Good Stuff. If I'm not mistaken, he also created that 'Grave of the Fireflies'.

I'm afraid I don't have a link to the Egyptian Theatre/American Cinematheque site, but they're easy enough to look up.

Also, DEWGOD01, as an aside, I was told by the CR that any kind of animation was fair game on this board. This is a family sight, however, and as freakish as hentai is, I was told not to go into too much detail over it. Thanks.

 

ROBOTECH is the greatest anime series ever. It was originally three diferent series in Japan that was combined into one serialized story by a dude named Carl Macek I believe.

I saw AKIRA because it was supposed to be the best anime film of all time and it bit the big one. The story was incoherent and didn't translate into english well. I give it a big thumb down.

 

The animated Akira leaves a lot out of the 6 volume manga series that was recently released by Dark Horse (yes, that's right, 6 volumes). Each volume is between 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick, around 400 pages. I don't know how many issues the original manga series was, but I'm pretty sure it was well over 100. It was shortened quite a bit (like LOTR ) to be turned into an animated feature.

Regarding Robotech. I'm pretty sure that is the one that gets everyone into anime. At least, it's the one that started the whole anime craze in the states. Yes, Carl Macek took three separate shows and combined them into one. AnimEigo will be releasing Southern Cross and Mospeada sometime this year I believe (the other two shows besides Macross that were part of Robotech).

I haven't watched any of the newer stuff, but a couple of my favorites were Bubble Gum Crisis and Gundam. I haven't seen any Gundam in so long that it would take me forever to catch up with the story (I started with 0080 and I think it's up to Gundam Wing now).

 

There are a couple of parties responsible for translating the movie Akira for American release. I grew up on watching the old-school one from the late 80's/early 90's, which I think was released by Marvel. The translation, well...left a bit to be desired. Last year, there was a limited theatrical re-release of a remastered Akira, complete with repainted animation cels, and a new translation and recorded English dialogue. They actually hired a few "big" names for the new version, like Johnny Yong Bosch from the old Power Rangers series. The dialogue was closer to the original Japanese, and made the story make a whole lot more sense. The ending still baffles the Hell out of me, but it's such a great film, nonetheless. It's dark, extremely violent, and has an awesome soundtrack. I have the new version on DVD, in a limited-edition metal case. Very cool, very hard to find.

 

I have the same one. Very cool indeed. You can watch it subbed and dubbed at the same time to compare what the person says with the subtitled translation. From what I've heard, the translation is actually more accurate from the original video release from years ago (I don't have the video to compare it to though). The same people have told me that the original translation would just put words in when they didn't know what was being said.

The Marvel comics are actually the ones I was referring to. Dark Horse has reprinted the entire series in a 6 volume set, $24.95 a piece. I have a few of the old marvel ones, but not a complete set, which is why I bought the 6 volume set from Dark Horse. I haven't finished it yet (I'm on the 6th volume), but in the manga, after Tetsuo consumes everything and turns into a universe (or whatever), he comes back and is just as powerful as Akira. Only problem is, he needs his drugs to keep the power from getting out of control. The anime actually ends at about the halfway point of the manga.

 

Didn't mean to offend with the jap-porn-namation. I work very odd hours, thus my train of thought goes many places. And yes, I actually have seen a couple different places that list April as a release date for the CB movie. <sigh> even though I kinda feel like a bandwagon jumper with it since it's not exactly a "new" show, but oh well I'm a hypocrite so what's new. Since I work for such an amazing company as Wherehouse I have had the opportunity to watch a movie called "jin-roh" last weekend and that was interesting I guess. It's very hard to get into movies like that. I think because the developement takes so long that by the time you get the payoff it seems like it took forever. Oh well, at least I'll have Pokemon. I can't believe that it seems like every show on Saturday mornings and in the afternoon is related to some sort of Japanese genre. I heard somewhere that Pokemon is totally out in Japan and that is the only reason we were bombarded with it over here, they kinda dumped it on us. Don't think it's truthful but it's kinda interesting to think of since we always consiter ourselves cutting edge and all.

 

i don't watch the porn-ish anime. but i do enjoy a good story. my school has an anime club. my favorite anime movies are "Princess Mononoke" and the "Vampire Hunter D" series. I my favorite cartoon growing up was Sailor Moon. i still love that show!

 

Avery, have you seen the newest Vampire Hunter Installment, "Bloodlust"? It's basically the sequel to the first D, but with a great production value. I'm not much of a fan of the first movie, but the new one rocks. There's some character that uses astral projection named Grove whose just killer.

 

I saw the new Bloodlust down in Irvine at the theater over on Campus. Can't remember the name of it (they show a lot of Indy films). Anyway, great movie. Wonderful sequel. I still need to go get the DVD.

 

i assume that you are using the word anime to cover all animated...so heres my favs;
wizards
fire and ice
the last unicorn
the heavy metal movie

i also enjoyed robotech, starblazers, and early japanese cartoons:
astroboy
8th man
amazing three
gigantor
speed racer
kimba the white lion

 

Zhi_Don, we are definitely discussing animation from anywhere.

Looks like you've got some pretty old-school favs there. All of those are awesome. I used to love 'Wizards'! I think Ralph Bakshi animated that one. Wasn't that the one with the two brothers, one who grew up good, the other evil? I had the VHS of it when I was a kid, and I remember the box art. It had some red-suited soldier guy atop some weird dragonlike steed. It was painfully 80's looking in retrospect.

Kimba, wow. Gigantor. Those sure take me back, too. Gigantor episodes are coming to DVD soon, if not already. The same animator created those cartoons, and he's considered one of animation's founding fathers over in Japan. Can't remember his name. His labor of love was an old manga called 'Metropolis', which was recently brought to the big screen and released on DVD. The movie 'Metropolis' is a breathtaking blend of cel-based animation and CG backgrounds. It's written by one of the guys who wrote 'Akira', and directed by a prominent animation director in Japan, Rin Taro. Has anyone seen this? Let me know. I have the DVD and saw it on the big screen. It's a GREAT movie.

 

*crickets chirping*

 

For anyone interested, I have TONS of anime series saved to my hard drive as .avi files. They are DIVX-encoded, and will also play on WinMedia Players. If anyone has any FTP software online, I'd be glad to start uploading the titles of your choice. A few I have right now:

X, .Hack(Hack-Sign), Hellsing, FLCL, Read or Die, Scryed, Abenobashi Mahou Shotengai, and I have the 1st two episodes of Gunbuster, with more on the way. Post your reply, or PM me, and I'll be glad to hook you up. If the FTP thing doesn't work, I can always burn them for you, and catch you at one of the meetings.

 

I need a new bigger hard drive. Not enough room for all this anime, tv shows, and movies

On an on-topic note, do you have any Berserk? I hear that's suppose to be really good but I want to check it out before I buy the DVD.

And for having all of that, you must be aware of Usenet. I certainly hope you don't get everything off Kazaa. And in case you haven't heard, the company that started Kazaa is going to get sued. I won't get into the details here, PM me if you want to know. Anyway, IRC and Usenet could soon be the best places (once again) to find everything.

 

Kazaa is only good for finding like random 1st episodes of various series'. I don't trust it much; alot of times files come that don't work, have viruses, or are something else completely. I only use if for music. One of my friends is my anime connection, and I share files through his FTP site.

I do have episodes of Berserk, I think there's only like 12-16 episodes of it. It's really violent, and I like medieval-themed anime.

 

Good luck to anyone suing Sharman Networks. I read some story in the New York times a few months back that says that they have Kazaa servers scattered throughout the world, and a base of operations in Africa. They're not going to be as easy to pin down as Napster and AudioGalaxy.

 

Well that's the trick. The judge only allowed the lawsuit to go through because they have some locations in California. Guess those servers will be coming down now. Actually, I thought they were based in Australia?

 

You very well might be right. It was some time since I read the article.

 

Anime is just short for Animation. Has nothing to do with French

How about some shoujo like Chobits? It just ended a few months ago and was pretty interesting.

 

What about Chobits? I think alot of that style of anime is plain weird. I've seen a couple episodes of Chobits, as well as Fruits Basket, Love Hina, etc. I'm more of a fan of your more run-of-mill mecha anime, with a few dramas in there as well.

 

I just finished watching the first 2 episodes of Trigun. All I can say is funny. The show is hilarious with everyone trying to figure out who the guy is and no one believing that it's this total goon. Must watch more.