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Started by greg, September 05, 2008, 02:15:49 PM

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greg

Quote from: eyeresist on September 07, 2008, 10:59:27 PM
I'm nearly 40 and have watched a lot of anime in the last few years  8). There's a lot of junk (e.g. Speed Grapher, of which I could only stand to watch one episode), but a few shows definitely approach the level of high art. It helps if you understand the Japanese visual style and dramatic conventions, of course, which can be rather more sophisticated than those in Western animations.

Top recommendations:
1. Haibane Renmei
2. Azumanga Daioh
3. Boogiepop Phantom
4. Gunslinger Girl
5. Planetes
6. Fruits Basket
7. Genshiken
8. Niea_7
9. Gundam Seed

Awesome, thanks for the list. I'll have to check those out when I finish with Chobits.


Quote from: eyeresist on September 07, 2008, 10:59:27 PM
Chobits is good too, but I didn't like the fudged mystical ending, too often seen in this genre.

Uh-oh, please don't elaborate any more.......

eyeresist

Quote from: GGGGRRREEG on September 08, 2008, 11:21:55 AM
Awesome, thanks for the list. I'll have to check those out when I finish with Chobits.

Glad to help... Although I found that starting to view anime with the greats can lead to a sense of anticlimax later on :(

I should stress, however, that it's best to watch anime in the original Japanese with subtitles, as most English dubs are appallingly bad. Luckily for you, Chobits is one of the few acceptable dubs.


Quote from: GGGGRRREEG on September 08, 2008, 11:21:55 AM
Uh-oh, please don't elaborate any more.......

Okay, I'll try to keep it spoiler-free! There's another fine series called Last Exile, which is like a Miyazaki film extended into an epic series, which has a much more fudged ending. Still worth watching, though.

greg

Quote from: eyeresist on September 08, 2008, 06:22:32 PM

I should stress, however, that it's best to watch anime in the original Japanese with subtitles, as most English dubs are appallingly bad. Luckily for you, Chobits is one of the few acceptable dubs.



Oh yeah, that's exactly what I do. Just finished watching the new episodes of Naruto in Japanese, and the episodes I'm watching are also in Japanese. Of course, for me, that's half the point.  ;D

Quote from: eyeresist on September 08, 2008, 06:22:32 PM

Okay, I'll try to keep it spoiler-free! There's another fine series called Last Exile, which is like a Miyazaki film extended into an epic series, which has a much more fudged ending. Still worth watching, though.

I actually watched a lot of that. They had a huge marathon on G3 TV a couple of years ago...... but I can't hardly remember any of it. In fact, (and i know this sounds so ridiculous), but the last time I even remembered about it was while listening to Rautavaara's 8th Symphony...... I had sort of a subconscious connection, somehow. I think it must've been the art style or something.......

eyeresist

Quote from: GGGGRRREEG on September 09, 2008, 11:57:34 AM
In fact, (and i know this sounds so ridiculous), but the last time I even remembered about it was while listening to Rautavaara's 8th Symphony...... I had sort of a subconscious connection, somehow. I think it must've been the art style or something.......

Well, the opening music for Last Exile was called "Cloud Age Symphony", which sounds a bit like Rautavaara...

greg

ummmm...... yeah. The resemblance is unmistakable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/SUjiXriGFbo

eyeresist

I was only talking about the title!  :D

greg

Quote from: eyeresist on September 10, 2008, 05:13:45 PM
I was only talking about the title!  :D

Hey, it does!  :o
He should rename them.

Kullervo

I liked Ninja Scroll.   :)

eyeresist


toledobass

I've given anime a few tries here and there and I never really got into much of it.  Though, the one I absolutely loved was:



Women assasins, conspiracy, search for identity.....good stuff.  Anyone have any good recs for something similar to that or some other 'starter' anime to check out.

Allan

greg

hmmm...... ever watched Ghost in the Shell?
i haven't, just a movie, but that might be similar.....

eyeresist

It's not just a movie - it's a series that's been through a couple of seasons! Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is the name. It's about a group of detectives in future Tokyo, and I guess it's in the cyberpunk genre, in terms of underlying themes about man's growing relationship with technology, but if you liked Noir you'll probably enjoy this too.

toledobass

Thanks guys, I'll check it out sometime.


Allan

eyeresist

Boxsets arrived from Amazon today:

Rumbling Hearts
Fantastic Children
Baki the Grappler (Seasons 1 & 2)



(If you follow the Amazon links, you'll find some good customer reviews.)

greg

Just finished Chobits, so now I should be able to watch the other stuff recommended here.


from a viewer comment:
Quote
Beautiful! Loved it!! I was so sad, on the verge of crying when I thought it would end without Chii being Chii and having her memory deleted. And I was ike, WHAT A SHITTY ENDING!! Then it happened :] Ahh, wonderful ending. Wish there was a second season though :]


Honestly, I thought that would've been a great ending. (i don't really understand what happened to make her regain her memory)  ???
It would be more....... i don't know, expressionistic? I don't like romances at all, but this one got me interested so I consider it special. I don't like it when they "finally unite" in the end, it seems to me there's more expressive power to leave an unresolved ending than something cushy and comfortable, like in most popular stuff.  ::)
Seriously, when Chii had her memory delted, I felt my heart stop for a few seconds...... but, that's what I like. It may explain my taste in music, partially- watching that was the equivalent of the ending of Mahler' 6th or Webern's op.1. You feel completely hopeless and depressed after listening to music like that, which goes through intense passions only to end up in a 'bad' ending. But the bad is good, the good is bad for me.

greg

Watching Azumang Daioh right now...... on episode 9. This is, simply, a really retarded show. I like it.


http://www.kumby.com/azumanga-daioh-episode-8/
14:00 - 15:10.

This is so ridiculous I couldn't stop laughing the whole day.



lisa needs braces

#56
Hey Greg--since you are a fan of animation let me ask you something: Have you ever seen the American series "Gargoyles"?

Here is the wiki article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyles

Disney came out with the show in the mid 1990s to compete with, of all things, Power Rangers--but because Gargoyles was considerably mature and mainly appealed to teenagers and adults, it didn't get ratings as strong as Power Rangers. The show was canceled after 60 or so episodes, but it went out with a bang and had a satisfying conclusion.

The only anime show if I've seen is Cowboy BeBop. I liked it. But I would certainly appreciate more anime if the Japanese/Koreans favored storytelling of Gargoyles caliber.

Check out the first episode of Gargoyles if you have 21 free minutes. What happens in the final five minutes is heartbreaking and sets the tone for the whole series:

part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ0E3dEoP9E&feature=related

part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dupLpzyEqM&feature=related

part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohqlp1vPd84&feature=related


:)







lisa needs braces

By the way, one remarkable feature of Gargoyles was its dense storytelling--every episode in the series tended to have a lot of history behind it and events that occurred in it would have considerable repercussions down the road. It's a fairly mature show, and that's why it's great. =)


greg

Quote from: -abe- on October 06, 2008, 09:14:44 PM
Hey Greg--since you are a fan of animation let me ask you something: Have you ever seen the American series "Gargoyles"?

Here is the wiki article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyles

Disney came out with the show in the mid 1990s to compete with, of all things, Power Rangers--but because Gargoyles was considerably mature and mainly appealed to teenagers and adults, it didn't get ratings as strong as Power Rangers. The show was canceled after 60 or so episodes, but it went out with a bang and had a satisfying conclusion.

The only anime show if I've seen is Cowboy BeBop. I liked it. But I would certainly appreciate more anime if the Japanese/Koreans favored storytelling of Gargoyles caliber.

Check out the first episode of Gargoyles if you have 21 free minutes. What happens in the final five minutes is heartbreaking and sets the tone for the whole series:

part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ0E3dEoP9E&feature=related

part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dupLpzyEqM&feature=related

part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohqlp1vPd84&feature=related


:)







I don't remember much at all about the show, though I'm sure I must've watched a little bit of it.......
So it was nice to watch that episode.  :)
Animation is very nice (it's Disney, after all), and the storytelling is very smooth.

greg

I just have to say, even though that was dark, it made me think of another show I liked very much..... Digimon- specifically, the 3rd season.

And now I'm tempted to waste my time writing a big, long post about it :P...

First of all, Digimon shouldn't be compared to Pokemon at all. I'm very familiar with the former, and have watched the first 3 or so seasons of the latter back in the day. People might think, for example, that Bruckner and Mahler are the same, but in reality they're completely different. You'd have to watch both to understand. To put it simply, Pokemon was/is? a fun show with a very simple plot, while Digimon was much different, with too many plot twists for the writers to handle (they made an entire episode once that seemed to foreshadow something that never ended up happening), and some very dark themes.

The overall tone of the show, is of course, aimed at young kids- that's why it was rated Y7. But some of the themes weren't very kid-friendly. From every season, I can think of characters who in some way are/become seriously messed up, and have entire episodes dedicated about them trying to overcome some pretty heavy depression. A few scenarios:

- In the second season, it starts off with some kid called the "Digimon Emperor" enslaving and torturing all the Digimon. The main characters spend the whole beginning of the season fighting against him until he eventually realizes the Digital World is actually real, and Digimon can feel stuff. He spends an entire episode in his room trying to "find himself"....... he has memories of his brother, and how he was jealous of his attention until one day he dies and he ends up getting his Digivice, which sends him to the Digital World. He looks into the Black Ocean and eventually turns evil.
- At the end of the second season, this one character is really messed up- gothic-looking zombie dude. He used to be a close friend to one of the main character's dad, who was a cop that got killed on duty. They used to talk about going to the Digital World all the time, and he reminisces about the times he played the Digimon game with him. Then he finds out it's real, and wants to do anything to get there. He spends his whole life thinking about how he could go there with his friend, until he died and then his personality completely changed. He acts as a bad guy and recruits a group of kids in his effort to get there, but things don't go completely well. Eventually, he makes it, but is dying from battle. He reaches to touch the ground of the Digital World, when a Digivice and a Digimon pop up. Then this little, cute, happy-looking Digimon says, "Hi! I'm your Digimon! Nice to meet you".... but then the guy dies, as soon as he sees his dream finally starting to come into reality, and his soul fades away into magic that somehow healed the Digital World. (that part i didn't get)
- At the third season, one of the girls gets a Digimon- Leomon, a big, strong, heroic lion-looking thing. Near the end, one of the bad Digimon kills it by putting its sword through him. The girl is so devastated that she becomes so depressed that she can't even move or talk for the rest of the show (this is what i like to see in TV, which is rare in kids shows- not fancy, happy endings that are made just to please the audience). She gets into this giant red bubble at the end of the show, and stays there, sitting down and staring at the ground. Then she has this monster incarnation that goes out and attacks them- and man, it is seriously creepy!- about as creepy as Alien, Predator, and Chucky combined. Then the character who killed the girl's Digimon comes back to visit these little kids, and he has a change of heart and is nice- but I'm thinking, what if he told the kids that he was actually a serial killer? lol This part of the show can make you feel a bit sick when watching it, anyways......

for example......
ok, i'm done.  :)