Anime

[greg]

Watched a few first episodes of a few other anime- Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei, Mushishi, Gurren Lagann, and Kanon 2006.

The first I just wouldn't watch because I don't like the art style- way too childish and didn't have a good feel to it (though it's pretty funny).

The second just seems like the type that is, like I said, comparable to Kino's Journey- lovely stuff, but probably nothing that would affect me deeply.

The third seems impossible to tell whether I'd like it after the first episode, though I'd imagine it's likely.

Now, the fourth- Kanon 2006, is basically like the blueprints for Clannad After Story... so, that WILL be the next one I watch.  I've read that, despite its start it even goes into some deep, cathartic stuff eventually (as Clannad After Story did). I'm ready to fall in love once again. 

[greg]

Okay, I finished watching Kanon 2006.

This is a show that is an adaptation of a visual novel, and was made twice- the first series, in 2002 was made by Toei Animation, and the second (2006) by Kyouto Animation (the same studio which made Haruhi Suzumiya, Full Metal Panic ? Fumoffu, Clannad, and a few others.

Although I did very much enjoy it, I can't say it would be something I'd actually recommend to someone. This is not a show that stretches your mind at all (like Higurashi does), BUT this is the perfect show if you want something with a... (how should I say it?) good vibe. The artwork and presentation is so gorgeous, after watching it, real life seems incredibly ugly in comparison.

What contributes to this? Um.... the setting being a suburban part of Japan in a nice town with vast fields of snow, a clean, nice looking school, and the male lead character having tons of friends that are cute, nice, girls. Of course, this is typical in anime...  , but again, if I contrast that all of this with something like my old, near-ghetto middle school, it's really sad.

But, anyways... on to the actual content. Pretty weak. Though it does get really sad and melancholy, it kinda loses its deepness when so many girls are involved and they have their different stories. Also, sometimes I'm wondering what I'm even doing watching it, when there are scenes where one girls gives another girl food and then she says she likes it and they laugh while some ear-splitting bubble gum J-Pop comes on, and that's the end of the scene.  (at least it was hilarious at times)

The last few episodes were indeed really deep, too... if there were an anime that was like that from beginning to end, I think God would try to kill himself just to escape from an eternity of having it in mind. Not that it's bad- but it's just how the presentation is so good- watching it is like having an out of body experience- very sad, slow and intense while as if in a dream, all at the same time, although all of this being very pleasurable.

Also... the only real reference to classical music in this one was Pachelbel's Canon (hence the name "Kanon"), which plays in the diner at times. 

As for the others, they have every single episode with some type of classical form in the title. My favorites are "Symphony of Recollections", "The Hilltop Requiem", "The Farewell Nocturne", and especially the title of the last episode, "The Kanon at the End of Dreams." I've never known a show with such awesome episode titles before.

[eyeresist]

I have the slimpak of Kanon 2006 on order (plus Higurashi, Kujibiki Unbalance, and Sakura Wars), though it won't be released until the end of March

I have to see Nodame Cantabile some day - set in a classical music conservatory! (Apparently the sequel series are less concerned with the music.)

[greg]

Nice!   
I'll be interested in hearing what you think, as long as it might be until you can watch them (also glad i didn't get carried away and write spoilers about Kanon). 

As for Higurashi, is this the one you're ordering?

http://www.amazon.com/When-They-Cry-Complete-Box/dp/B002BWD75U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1265982563&sr=8-1

That one looks like it only has the original When They Cry, and you really have to watch the sequel to understand everything...

[eyeresist]

I'll just have to wait until the sequel(s) are officially releaed in the West, then

[greg]

I'll just have to wait until the sequel(s) are officially releaed in the West, then

Cool. 
Well, I kinda found that out after my last post (that the sequels aren't out yet)- didn't even realize how new the series really is, I guess.

They have Kai and Rei on youtube (Kai being, of course, the "mandatory watch" sequel and Rei being just completely optional, short and seperate story (IMO one with really funny moments))...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRvlA9TSY6Y&feature=related (subbed, obviously)
I doubt it'll be on here long, though (they had the whole first season up, but took down the one I found). 

As for the DVDs, if dubs are you're thing, have fun!
(as for me, i just have to say that I admire your bravery...) 

[eyeresist]

As for the DVDs, if dubs are you're thing, have fun!
(as for me, i just have to say that I admire your bravery...) 

Not sure what I'm being brave about....
I much prefer subs, but I also prefer DVDs.

[Ciel_Rouge]

It has been a long time since I watched anime. I recently started Nodame Cantabile. It is one of those which actually make sense and it's rather funny. But first and foremoest, in each episode the characters try to learn how to play a new piece. The first one featured a piece by Mozart. The second one includes Beethoven's Spring illustrated in an interesting way.

[greg]

Hmm... interesting to see someone watching that show. I might get it to it, eventually.

Yesterday, I actually watched REC (the show your avatar is from). The whole series is less than 2 hours long, so I thought "why not?" 
Overall, for what it was, it was pretty good. It's just a simple romance (nothing fancy), but it turned out to be an enjoyable one.

For now, I'm just planning on continuing Scrapped Princess from where I left off.

[Joe_Campbell]

For now, I'm just planning on continuing Scrapped Princess from where I left off.

Good!

[greg]

I think I've worked out somewhat of a schedule for anime viewing. I'll keep it to 3 episodes or 1 movie a day. So, I should be able to watch 4 regular (24 ep.) series a month.

With that in mind, my schedule looks like this:
Sunday: Scrapped Princess 19-21
Monday: Scrapped Princess 22-24
Tuesday: Afro Samurai
Wednesday- next Wednesday: Kara No Kyoukai (which is 7 OVAs, and I'll watch one each day) 

after that, I don't know what I'll watch... there's too many to choose from. 

[mahler10th]

Greg.  All this is nuts.  And so are the big eyed little people in the pictures and your avatar.  But do you know what?  I am beginning to like these characters, and wonder at their creators.  Am I right in saying that Anime is usually in the mould of an epic, one storyline (mission) after another or one great big mission / storyline that goes on episode after episode?  Have you created your own anime character?
I really do wonder at the Anime writers and where they get their stories from.
Quite amazing stuff, really, so...

[greg]

Greg.  All this is nuts.  And so are the big eyed little people in the pictures and your avatar. 

Yeah, they usually tend to be. 

Am I right in saying that Anime is usually in the mould of an epic, one storyline (mission) after another or one great big mission / storyline that goes on episode after episode? 

The vast majority of anime is in one continuous storyline- and I'd say more than half of those are series that are 24 or 26 episodes long, so yeah, you're right. 

Have you created your own anime character?

I used to attempt drawing and would make up my own, but I wasn't that great at it.  If I had enough time and didn't have so many other interests, of course I could get good at it...

I really do wonder at the Anime writers and where they get their stories from.
Quite amazing stuff, really, so...

I wonder, too... I still don't even quite understand why (the vast majority of) anime has those huge eyes, pointed chins, etc. They say Osamu Tezuka was the main reason for this, but when I look at something like Astro Boy, to me it seems more American.   

[zamyrabyrd]

There was an extraordinary program (that is, by Western standards) about the cult of anime in Japan. This was on NHK International, Japan National Broadcasting, Feb 28.

I am not an insider about anime itself but I have more than first hand knowledge about Japanese culture.  Given all the expected idiosyncrasies that one can apply more than a few grains of salt, I still found it shocking.

It was surprising back in 1994 when I brought my kids to Tokyo Disneyland that adults and even elderly people were the sizable joyful majority there, enthusiastically taking pictures of inflated Mickey Mouse and Snow White figures. One woman highly recommended before to me a ride she went on several times herself, Peter Pan, I think. You wait in line for an hour and a half and then go on creaking carts for 2 minutes or so though painted pasteboard. This may be OK for kids but my older son, aged 10, was even bored.

But this anime business, (or is it better termed a racket?) is exponentially more bizarre. At the end of the film they were showing at least one temple dedicated to it and sweating guys heaving the temple with pictures of the cartoon characters though the streets. This would be like a church dedicated to Batman. The Elvis cult comes close to it, but heck, he was a real person!!!

Japanese TV on the whole is very annoying in the way they use foreigners. But as one admitted, it doesn't matter if he is asked to do ridiculous things like dancing with French poodles, he gets paid handsomely for it.  This program was in English, so the foreign mascot was peregrinating with his Japanese companion to various "shrines" proclaiming all the while, "wow, fantastic (sugoi)" with a silly yellow wig on his head.

He and his Japanese girl companion went to a restaurant where young women with rabbit ears on their head asked "what do you want, MASTER"? One of these maids was a foreign girl who by her accent could not be a native English speaker. You can make a film of yourself voicing over the parts karaoke style and they give you the DVD at the end.

NHK followed them to the actual house that one of the characters "inhabited". This is so bizarre. The caretakers rearrange the clothes and furniture as though a real person were living there.

They showed the  gaijin (foreigner) in ecstasy walking down the street saying "Wow, this is the actual place where X was standing, fantastic!"

OK, I'll say what bugs me about this. First of all, they present a token Westerner to show as though this is normal behavior outside the Japanese islands. This is supposed to lend credibility or respectability to indulging one's urges to escape reality into a cartoon world, that is, if NORMAL, adult, mature people have such desires.

Also, something else, I found that the Japanese public is dependent on their own "experts" to translate the outside world to them. They don't have much of a choice to discern independently unless they live abroad for long periods of time and even then they don't necessarily shed their mindset. A society on the whole that is programmed from early education onwards to accept the dictates of authority could not but be the forcefed recipients of whatever the powerful conglomerates of mass communication and marketing want to shove down their throats.

This kind of escape from reality I believe is more sinister, the dream factories replacing nature and religion as the means to cope with reality. Going into a moviehouse for an hour or two might be nice but blurring the lines between reality and fantasy is not.  This behavior used to be thought of as pathological. I said to my son while we were watching the program, if such people are in need, do they pray to their cartoon characters and expect to get a response?

A proof to me back then that all of this fantasy business was not benign was my getting stuck with my younger son who wanted out in going through "Snow White's Castle". He was afraid but we were not permitted to escape. Instead we were cut off from the group and there were some frightening minutes, a door closing suddenly at us, until we were lucky to get out. (I thought at the time, if someone were ill or had a heart attack, what would those smiling escorts do?)

I wrote a letter to Tokyo Disneyland that was never acknowledged by them, saying they treated us really badly.  In the TV film they had also frightening characters that come out of closets and rooms.

If one really wanted to start a new religion, everything would already be there--angels and demons!!!

ZB

[greg]

Wish I coulda seen that- sounds interesting! 

[mahler10th]

There was an extraordinary program (that is, by Western standards) about the cult of anime in Japan. This was on NHK International, Japan National Broadcasting, Feb 28.a ride she went on several times herself, Peter Pan, I think. You wait in line for an hour and a half and then go on creaking carts for 2 minutes or so though painted pasteboard. This may be OK for kids but my older son, aged 10, was even bored.
But this anime business, (or is it better termed a racket?)...
If one really wanted to start a new religion, everything would already be there--angels and demons!!!

ZB

Well, looks like my fears regarding the huge eyed horrors was right.
Stay away from them.
Creepy little horrors they are.

[eyeresist]

So this is basically just one of those "Japanese people are weird" posts?

It was surprising back in 1994 when I brought my kids to Tokyo Disneyland that adults and even elderly people were the sizable joyful majority there, enthusiastically taking pictures of inflated Mickey Mouse and Snow White figures. One woman highly recommended before to me a ride she went on several times herself, Peter Pan, I think. You wait in line for an hour and a half and then go on creaking carts for 2 minutes or so though painted pasteboard. This may be OK for kids but my older son, aged 10, was even bored.

Well, that's obviously just a matter of expectations. I remember years ago visiting some cousins in a small city, and they took me to view some sort of Xmas exhibition, which turned out to be some plywood cutouts on a hillside. The memory still bemuses me, makes me wonder if I'm some sort of seen-it-all city slicker to react so blase. Regarding adults enjoying Disneyland (which would NEVER happen in the States, obviously [/sarcasm]), it's partly to do with the importance of sentimentality in Japanese culture - life is harsh, so happy memories are to be revered.

At the end of the film they were showing at least one temple dedicated to it and sweating guys heaving the temple with pictures of the cartoon characters though the streets. This would be like a church dedicated to Batman. The Elvis cult comes close to it, but heck, he was a real person!!!

But if you know Japanese culture, as you say you do, you should know that their religious outlook is generally animistic, which makes the spiritual dimension of life all-pervasive, and at the same time (perhaps because of this) to be taken less seriously. As one person said, "In Japan, anything can be a god." Any object or phenomenon you feel strongly about can be addressed as a spiritual entity from which energy and inspiration can be drawn. And the anime fans know it's a bit silly to worship a cartoon figure, but heck, it's fun!

He and his Japanese girl companion went to a restaurant where young women with rabbit ears on their head asked "what do you want, MASTER"?

Yes, that's a "maid cafe". It just seems weird to you because you find it unfamiliar and don't understand the concept. It's just a bit of roleplaying fun, like a medieval-themed pub in the West.

OK, I'll say what bugs me about this. First of all, they present a token Westerner to show as though this is normal behavior outside the Japanese islands. This is supposed to lend credibility or respectability to indulging one's urges to escape reality into a cartoon world, that is, if NORMAL, adult, mature people have such desires.

Also, something else, I found that the Japanese public is dependent on their own "experts" to translate the outside world to them. They don't have much of a choice to discern independently unless they live abroad for long periods of time and even then they don't necessarily shed their mindset. A society on the whole that is programmed from early education onwards to accept the dictates of authority could not but be the forcefed recipients of whatever the powerful conglomerates of mass communication and marketing want to shove down their throats.

This kind of escape from reality I believe is more sinister, the dream factories replacing nature and religion as the means to cope with reality. Going into a moviehouse for an hour or two might be nice but blurring the lines between reality and fantasy is not.  This behavior used to be thought of as pathological. I said to my son while we were watching the program, if such people are in need, do they pray to their cartoon characters and expect to get a response?

Again, you're reading too much into this. And your comment about praying leads me to believe a lot of your objections arise from a fundamentalist Christian aversion to "pagan" culture. So much for cultural understanding.

I wrote a letter to Tokyo Disneyland that was never acknowledged by them, saying they treated us really badly.  In the TV film they had also frightening characters that come out of closets and rooms.

Ohnoes scary cartoons! You know we have spookhouses in the West, right?

If one really wanted to start a new religion, everything would already be there--angels and demons!!!

There's that fundamentalism again. Do you really have "more than first hand knowledge about Japanese culture"?

[greg]

do they pray to their cartoon characters and expect to get a response?

That'd be about as effective as praying to any other "god"... 

At the end of the film they were showing at least one temple dedicated to it and sweating guys heaving the temple with pictures of the cartoon characters though the streets. This would be like a church dedicated to Batman

Sounds like the documentary tended to show extreme cases of otaku-ism... but, I guess that's what makes documentaries interesting.

[greg]

lol, John, your avatar looks just like you...

though my favorite was one where you had the caption "My features after listening to Messiaen" (or Rautavaara?) and had a picture of you in a sky setting with bunch of thunder bolts and stuff... you don't have all those pics saved on your computer, do you?

[zamyrabyrd]

So this is basically just one of those "Japanese people are weird" posts?
... Do you really have "more than first hand knowledge about Japanese culture"?

I am married to one.

ZB