2000 AD Online Forum

What's Your Favorite Japanese Anime mine is Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion

None of them.

Quote from: Dog Deever on 09 February, 2010, 07:29:17 PM
None of them.

:lol: then why comment if there not one anime you like :lol:

Urotsukiodoji (Legend of the Overfiend). The first one. Sequel didn't rate and the mini series was tosh.






V

Quote from: vzzbux on 09 February, 2010, 10:37:09 PM
Urotsukiodoji (Legend of the Overfiend). The first one. Sequel didn't rate and the mini series was tosh.

Never hered of it

I dont have one as i dont like Anime if thats the stuff where everyone has oversized eyes.

What about all that hard core porn cartoon stuff those crazy Japanese do, intereseting to say the least!
Good art though ;)

Quote from: Peter Wolf on 09 February, 2010, 11:05:03 PM
I dont have one as i dont like Anime if thats the stuff where everyone has oversized eyes.

thats a drawing styile dont quote me on this but i think its called manger im on about any anaminichion from japan wether its redubed or not

Enough said :)

(http://blogs.amctv.com/scifi-scanner/Cover-akira.jpg)

Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 09 February, 2010, 11:10:26 PM

Quote from: Peter Wolf on 09 February, 2010, 11:05:03 PM
I dont have one as i dont like Anime if thats the stuff where everyone has oversized eyes.

thats a drawing styile dont quote me on this but i think its called manger im on about any anaminichion from japan wether its redubed or not

I never know which is which half the time. :-\

It's all foreign to me!

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41YA8TCYNKL._SL500_AA280_.jpg)

The first Manga I bought back in the 80's





V

Manga is comics, anime is animation, and the first anime I was into was Battle of The Planets/G Force/Gatchaman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoO5H_UKCrw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoO5H_UKCrw)

I really dig Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

Cowboy Bebop's a pretty damned fine show.

Currently I'm on a massive Gundam kick. Just finished watching the Stardust Memory OVA series, and I'm re-watching the first series of Gundam 00. We don't have series 2 in the UK yet, dag nabbit!

Akira's awesome, by the way. The ending to that movie always cuts me up.

Here are my top 13 anime series (conveniently I'd compiled this elsewhere already):

01.  Rurouni Kenshin
02.  One Piece
03.  Cowboy Bebop
04.  Trigun
05.  Lupin III
06.  Gurren Lagann
07.  Death Note
08.  Hajime no Ippo
09.  Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
10.  Macross
11.  Zeta Gundam
12.  Maison Ikkoku
13.  X

And here are my favorite anime movies:

01.  Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
02.  Akira
03.  Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' On Heaven's Door
04.  Castle of Cagliostro
05.  Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space
06.  Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow
07.  Mobile Suit Gundam I
08.  Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
09.  Ghost In The Shell
10.  Ninja Scroll
11.  Princess Mononoke
12.  Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

And they don't all have big eyes. ;)

Big fan of most Miyazaki films. Totoro and Laputa probably being my favorites, although I haven't seen them for years. Rumiko Takahashis stuff is generally awesome for a couple of seasons (Ranma 1/2, Userai Yatsura) before going just too batshit crazy. Wings of Honnêamise was very good, Grave of the Fireflies is the best film you will never want to watch again and from the original 'Manga' label releases, I still have a soft spot for A-Ko.

Huge Gundam fan, but the original Mobile Suit Gundam is probably the best of the bunch, with otherwise great entries in the meta-series ruined by being overlong (Seed), sucking in spectacular ways despite stonking opening arcs (Destiny), being too juvenile (Turn A, Double Zeta, G Fighter), or too grim (Zeta, Victory).  I've not had the heart to sit through 00 just yet because the opener was underwealming and generic, but I hear good things.
Fist of the North Star and Cyber City Oedo are probably the only anime ever to benefit from westernisation - they're spectacularly terrible in English, whereas in Japanese they're just boring.

All good stuff:
Macross
Samurai Champloo
Last Exile
Tide Line Blue
Gatchaman
Yamato
Excel Saga
Serial Experiments Lain
Planetes
Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

I was think of watching Last Exile but im cureentily on woulf and spice watching it off youtube only seen the first episod so far just finished gundam 00 originil gundam and gundam 8th ms team o and crono crusade that was arsom

one piece

Neon Genesis Evangelion is the ultimate, surprised not to see it mentioned more here, as its probably the closest to a 2000ad style anime I've ever come across. There's so much depth to it, its not just about cute girls and cool dudes in giant robo suits smashing aliens....that's what it looks like on the surface, but once you get into it you realise it's a different beast altogether, incredibly deep and complex, almost complex to the point of being unfathomable. Okay, the end of the original series is pants, but they fixed that with the movies, and the new 4-part remake is off to a blinding start. Can't recommend it highly enough. The characters in this are probably the best realised characters I've ever come across in any animation.

Other favourites are Cowboy Bebop, Lupin, Escaflowne and Elfen Lied (tit-tastic!)

arrrrrrrr it would be arsom they remade 2000AD from the very first prog as a anime who elses thinks this would be good

Nah. I'd like animated 2000 AD (which we should actually be getting) but not in the Manga/Anime style. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with it (although I'm not keen on the big eyed style either but that's just a subset, mainly the stuff aimed at kids, I think) I just think the animation should be something like the style in which it's drawn by our artists in the (relative) west. Obviously there's not set specific style, and not all comic art would be suitable, but I'm sure you get what I mean.

As for my favourites, I haven't really watched enough to judge properly. I liked Ghost in the Shell though (first one, although the second wasn't bad.)  although I wish they'd toned down some of the philosophical waffle. It can be interesting in small doses but sometimes it got rather corny. I haven't seen the series.

There's a another series with guys with collars which I keep forgetting the name of. I only saw a few episodes, but I liked it. The guy with the samurai sword used to swear to a ridiculous extreme though.

I've long said that Nikolai Dante would be ripe for a tv animation treatment in the style of Simon Fraser.  Imagine it.  Good isn't it? 

If Twoth characters were (and they are like Mardroid says) to get the animated treatment, I'd rather they got something akin to their appearance in the comics.  Hence the ABCs look in the trailer that I'm having trouble finding the link for.....

Really enjoyed Ghost in the Shell, both the films and the series. Also enjoyed Claymore, Gantz and Elfen Lied. Kemonozume gets a bit too fucking mental at the end though.

Quote from: Mardroid on 10 February, 2010, 05:49:32 PM
I just think the animation should be something like the style in which it's drawn by our artists in the (relative) west. Obviously there's not set specific style, and not all comic art would be suitable, but I'm sure you get what I mean.

yea I would want it to look the same as the comicks

Quote from: worldshown on 10 February, 2010, 05:56:16 PM
Really enjoyed Ghost in the Shell, both the films and the series. Also enjoyed Claymore, Gantz and Elfen Lied. Kemonozume gets a bit too fucking mental at the end though.

I have only just started watching Elfen Lied

Quote from: Mardroid on 10 February, 2010, 05:49:32 PMThere's a another series with guys with collars which I keep forgetting the name of. I only saw a few episodes, but I liked it. The guy with the samurai sword used to swear to a ridiculous extreme though.

My guess is Cyber City Oedo 808.

Quote from: Professah Byah on 10 February, 2010, 12:25:45 PM
Huge Gundam fan, but the original Mobile Suit Gundam is probably the best of the bunch, with   I've not had the heart to sit through 00 just yet because the opener was underwealming and generic, but I hear good things.

Gundam 00 is a slow starter. But by episode 7 things start to heat up considerably. And the final half-dozen episodes or so are just INSANE! It's a good 'un.

Stardust memory is pretty freakin' sweet, too. Edge of the seat stuff. But man, I think you're way too harsh on the other stuff! SEED Destiny's about the only one I wouldn't touch with somebody else's ten foot pole.Oh, and the, uh... crapfest that is F91.

Quote from: Professah Byah on 10 February, 2010, 12:25:45 PM
Fist of the North Star and Cyber City Oedo are probably the only anime ever to benefit from westernisation - they're spectacularly terrible in English, whereas in Japanese they're just boring.

Ha! Excellent!

I enjoyed Oedo back in the day, but I'll readily admit it hasn't aged well.

Gundam Seed Destiny started off brilliantly, addressing a great many criticisms I had of the various versions of the show, particularly in having nonmilitary characters be the focus while shoving their pacifism down your throat in between them killing thousands of people, and that in over twenty years no-one thought it might be an idea to make a spaceship that won't fold like a bitch the second a big robot looks at it funny.  I could have watched an entire series of the opening episodes' ship-to-ship space battles, but then it turned into turgid fanwankery when the original cast came back and whined up a storm, capped off with mopey fuckwad Shinn Asuka not buying the farm like I and a great many others were praying for.
MSG is the most self-contained Gundam entry - being the first - but I have a soft spot for Victory (which was spun out of F91 of all things).  The body count in that is just brutal, and Katejina is one of the most hateful bitches you'll come across in a cartoon - I was gutted when she wasn't killed off.

QuoteNeon Genesis Evangelion is the ultimate, surprised not to see it mentioned more here

Evangelion I liked at the time, and I saw the first of the new films at an all-nighter recently and it's still good - but it's really overrated.

I much prefer manga to anime. I love Naruto but the anime moves at molasses pace and there's a zillion filler episodes which all suck.

Never seen Evangelion all the way through but what I have seen is mindblowing. Shinji screaming at the end of the third episode is seared on to my memory.

The only mecha series I've ever really delved into was Code Geass, which was awesome to begin with but went downhill towards the end, especially when the last four episodes consisted of the audience being kept in the dark as to why the main character was being a colossal douchebag. Which Gundam should I watch first?

I like Death Note but it sometimes feels too obviously aimed at Columbine wannabees. That's probably just culture shock, but still...

I often feel like this board would be improved by following the lead of anime forums the world over by introducing unbelievably vitriolic and labyrinthine shipping wars.

Quote from: Roger Godpleton on 10 February, 2010, 11:03:44 PM
Which Gundam should I watch first?

I recomend starting with the originil series Mobile Suit Gundam AKA Gundam 0079 heres the link to the first episode on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLQrx84wHE8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLQrx84wHE8)

The user has the whole series at the moment but it problay wouint be long till there taken down by sunrise

Quote from: Professah Byah on 10 February, 2010, 08:41:37 PM

MSG is the most self-contained Gundam entry - being the first - but I have a soft spot for Victory (which was spun out of F91 of all things). 

Oddly enough, I've never seen that one. The notion of watching it as three condensed recap movies doesn't do much for me.

I'm particularly taken with Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team. There's a nice shift in tone in that one, and the characters are very lively. (Karen Joshua - rowr! Where can I find a woman who's drawn like that?!!)

And let's not forget War In The Pocket, if only for the line 'yeah, he's hamburger' - which made me howl with hysterical laughter the first time I heard it!

Quote from: Roger Godpleton on 10 February, 2010, 11:03:44 PM


I like Death Note but it sometimes feels too obviously aimed at Columbine wannabees. That's probably just culture shock, but still...

Speaking of Death Note, have you seen the live action movies? Some dodgy CGI aside, the stories are very, very good, all twisty and turny with clever little turnabouts. Really keep you guess right up to the end.
I havent seen the spin off one about L on his own, but the two Death Notes are great fun.

Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Miyazaki stuff. That's pretty much all I've seen to be honest. Evangelion sounds good though, best to get the movies yeah?

I love Death Note
Read all the books and have the movies and the full animated as well. Really clever story.

Is L: Change The World ( I think that's the name of it) worth checking out bluemeanie? I know it departs from the Death Note idea, but the L character was great so its on my list of things to pick up when I have a few spare bob...

Hmmmmm....
I do have the L movie as it became a completest thing to be honest.

Its a cool enough prequel and also has some "Heres what was happening off camera during the first two movies" moments. The only bad thing is they awkwardly drop L into an action sequence near the end which seemed a bit like Mary Poppins getting out her boobs at the end of her movie. It was decent enough but a bit "Whu? Would they do that?"

As long as that slight shift wont spoil the whole thing for you I'd say it was definately worth checking out if you liked the other movies. I enjoyed it.

Quote from: bluemeanie on 11 February, 2010, 10:44:33 AM
Hmmmmm....
seemed a bit like Mary Poppins getting out her boobs at the end of her movie. It was decent enough but a bit "Whu? Would they do that?"

What version have you got?!?

Sorry, I meant Mary Popout

always get them mixed up

Quote from: bluemeanie on 11 February, 2010, 11:13:37 AM
Sorry, I meant Mary Popout

always get them mixed up

Better than Hairy Pop-Ins I guess.

(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg86/ToadyCat/sci%20fi/230px-Cyber_city_oedo_808-cover_fr.jpg)

Very gritty anime shown on channel 4 back in the eighties.

I loved that.
The first 2 episodes at least, and especially the one with the big guy.
The last one with the gay fella and the vampires (I think) was a bit arsey though.
I always wanted to see more of this and was bummed they only ever made the 3 episodes.

AKIRA is still one of my all time favourite films, and the manga is, I think, possibly the greatest work of comic art ever produced. There are a few other exceptions (Princess Mononoke, Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed) but other than that I must say I've never been able to get into manga/anime.

I had a short-lived obsession with it as a kid back in the early nineties, when manga first started being introduced to the West. But when I started to collect the videos and comics I found most of the actual stories to be impenetrable nonsense. This was largely due to: outlandish (almost abstract) characters and situations that I couldn't relate to, lazy or generic visuals, themes and humour that didn't seem to translate well, stories that veer between extremely juvenile (or pervy) fantasy and po-faced emo crap (sometimes both together), in a lot of cases very poor production values...

There's also a general eccentricity or pretentiousness to a lot of it - I remember buying Patlabor: The Movie and being all excited to see big stompy robots fighting each other - and being crushingly disappointed to find it was actually an incredibly boring, meandering story about corporate intrigue with about five minutes of robot action at the end.

So... can anyone recommend something to help win me over? I've heard a lot of good things about Lone Wolf and Cub.

Is there an ANIME of LW&C?

Ooooooh, excited if there is.

If you're talking Manga, then yes, it's brilliant.  28 volumes proudly sit upon my shelf, just above the Dredd case fils.  Shelving is a sort of hierarchy in my house.  This is praise.

files.  Not "fils"

Quote from: Mike Gloady on 11 February, 2010, 03:56:23 PM
Is there an ANIME of LW&C?

Ooooooh, excited if there is.

If you're talking Manga, then yes, it's brilliant.  28 volumes proudly sit upon my shelf, just above the Dredd case fils.  Shelving is a sort of hierarchy in my house.  This is praise.

I don't think theres an anime of it but there's certainly the classic 70's "baby cart" movies. Brilliant stuff!

Quote from: Kerrin on 11 February, 2010, 08:44:07 AM
Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Miyazaki stuff. That's pretty much all I've seen to be honest. Evangelion sounds good though, best to get the movies yeah?

I'd just go with the new movie series Kerrin, as it is basically a re-telling of the original series with a massive budget and a few of the inconsistencies of the original version ironed out.

The first movie is already out. 2nd movie was out in Japan last year but hasn't been subtitled yet I don't think. There are 2 more to follow.

Trailer for part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFmkIDqAwYI

Trailer for part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KtKhP2AQc&feature=related

Quote from: Van Dom on 11 February, 2010, 03:59:28 PM

Quote from: Mike Gloady on 11 February, 2010, 03:56:23 PM
Is there an ANIME of LW&C?

Ooooooh, excited if there is.

If you're talking Manga, then yes, it's brilliant.  28 volumes proudly sit upon my shelf, just above the Dredd case fils.  Shelving is a sort of hierarchy in my house.  This is praise.

I don't think theres an anime of it but there's certainly the classic 70's "baby cart" movies. Brilliant stuff!

Indeed.  

I've got the first four and they liberally pick and choose from fan-favourite moments in the series and film them very faithfully.  Cracking stuff.  

Yet to see the last two parts, but I think my next birthday I'll treat myself to a feast of 70s samurai splatter.

The only thing I will say is that the films, while faithful, tend to give the impression the manga is JUST cool fights.  There's a LOT of that, but there's more too.  Lots of really emotional character stuff and it's not just 28 books of him killing folks and then a big fight at the end.  

It's cracking.  Can't recommend LW&C enough.  Dark Horse do a fine job of the repro, they're lovely editions.  I've always wished that Goseki Kojima had drawn a few episodes of Slaine.  He's amazing.  And, crucially for me, it's not in the manga/anime art-style.  No super-def, no big eyes, just really beautiful pencil and ink drawing.  It's a shame the books are so small (although I believe it's the original publication size so I can roll with it) and at least they're thick.

in the anime style but not exactly,i liked the spawn animation a few back and can samurai jack count?

I don't think a Manga or Anime version of Judge Dredd was ever produced but they've produced Manga versions of Star Wars and Star Trek so you never know.

Quote from: radiator on 11 February, 2010, 03:53:59 PM
AKIRA is still one of my all time favourite films, and the manga is, I think, possibly the greatest work of comic art ever produced.

I never pass up an opportunity to tell people that I think Akira is hands down the best comic book EVER written. Period. True, plenty of folks disgaree with me, but his literary beats and thematic stuff going on that just poop all over the best the West has to offer. I'm constantly amazed at the stuff other fans of the books read into the story, and the things I spot when I re-read it. It's absolutely superb, top notch story-telling.

This comment made me smile:

Quote from: radiator on 11 February, 2010, 03:53:59 PM
There's also a general eccentricity or pretentiousness to a lot of it - I remember buying Patlabor: The Movie and being all excited to see big stompy robots fighting each other - and being crushingly disappointed to find it was actually an incredibly boring, meandering story about corporate intrigue with about five minutes of robot action at the end.

That was my first impression of Patlabor, too. However, it's a case of a movie that was chronically misreprsented by its own advertising. I watched it again with fresh eyes recently, and thoroughly enjoyed it! One of Oshii's better movies, I thought.

The TV series which the film is spun off from is very much a police procedural (with scattershot moments of comedy thrown in) - it's like a lot of the Japanese mecha shows. Human characters are front and centre most of the time, with the giant robots there as a prop for the action scenes and visual interest. They service the sci-fi element of those shows.

I think a lot of anime gets reviled because it's misunderstood. However, equally, there's a lot of rubbish out there. BIG time! Mecha anime is a case in point. The only stuff that really plays on the giant robot aspect - in my experience - has been the Gundam franchise.

has any one seen Kasimasi Girl Meets Girl I watched it as it was recomended and I was bord well lets just say :o :o :o :o :o :o if you have time and havent seen it heres the link:

Episode 1 part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuHcl2seKk8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuHcl2seKk8)
Episode 1 part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCf348WYars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCf348WYars)
Episode 1 part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0Qkh6Quwew (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0Qkh6Quwew)

Warning watch at your own risk.

Thanks for the warning, Cybs.

Quote from: Mike Gloady on 21 May, 2010, 06:55:39 PM
Thanks for the warning, Cybs.

Hay if you do watch it I would love to here your thorts on it.

Hmmmm...I like my anime but I think thats for my Cybs. Have you seen Elfen Lied?

Quote from: Van Dom on 21 May, 2010, 09:16:42 PM
Hmmmm...I like my anime but I think thats for my Cybs. Have you seen Elfen Lied?

Only the first episode it looks interesting but I have not got round to watching the rest

Kasimasi Girl Meets Girl was pretty good.

Akira, Spirited Away, Howls moving castle, totoro,Princess Mononke, Steamboy, laputa, Paprika, Tekkon Kinkreet, Urotsukidōji all awesome movies. Ponyo out soon too, wonder how good that will be even if its a kids movie.

Battle Of The Planets, the rest of it is all tosh.

Ive tried multiple times to watch Akira and its just bollocks.

Quote from: W. R. Logan on 21 May, 2010, 09:44:57 PM
Battle Of The Planets, the rest of it is all tosh.

Ive tried multiple times to watch Akira and its just bollocks.

got to be better then most animation out there when you consider disney bollocks though

Quote from: W. R. Logan on 21 May, 2010, 09:44:57 PM
Battle Of The Planets, the rest of it is all tosh.

Ive tried multiple times to watch Akira and its just bollocks.

Most anime is pretty bad. Akira is seriously overrated in my opinion.

If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to give Princess Mononoke a go. There's some great action sequences, and the story is actually pretty good.



For the rest of you, here are the only anime you need to see.

1) Excel Saga (up to episode 13, anyway. This is the anime equivalent of marmite, you may hate it a lot)

2) The Patlabor films (Based on a series I've never seen, but I still enjoyed them)

3) Elfen Lied (WARNING: for perverts/gorehounds/perverted gorehounds only)

4) Princess Mononoke (already mentioned)

5) Shin-Chan (one of the funniest shows I've seen, but don't watch the American dub - it's atrocious)

I agree Princess Mononoke is a great one to see but here's a list of ones I recommend

Any Gundam series
Neon Genesis Evangelion
End Of Evangelion
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
Kasimasi Girl Meets Girl
Chrono Crusade
Full Metal Panic!
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (if you can keep a strait face all the way thro this you must be dead inside)
Astro Boy (2003 TV series)
and let us not forget transformers (in particular the Takara trilogy)

'All anime is pretty bad?' - pff!  :lol: Somebody needs to watch Black Lagoon and GITS: SAC! Or Heat Guy J - now THERE was a fun show!

Just finished watching Wolf's Rain. The complete series is available in one cheap box set right now. One of the best anime shows I've seen - period. After the final handful of episodes, I was ready to bawl manly tears of sorrow. Bloody good acting from the dub cast as well!

I'm also watching Eureka Seven right now, which is one of the best mecha shows I've seen in a long time. The lead character kinda makes me want to reach into my TV and slap him at times - but that'd be mean. Because everybody else keeps slapping him. Every episode. And he lets them.

That's why I want to slap him.

Hey Cyberleader - have you seen Gundam SEED yet? It's BLOODY good!

Quote from: HdE on 21 May, 2010, 10:49:41 PM
Hey Cyberleader - have you seen Gundam SEED yet? It's BLOODY good!

Its what got me into gundam and i treated my self to the anamia legends box sets of it even thro I could not aford them at the time

Not really looked through your links on Girl meets Girl but seems very close to Hentai.






V

Quote from: vzzbux on 21 May, 2010, 10:57:13 PM
Not really looked through your links on Girl meets Girl but seems very close to Hentai.






V

it seams they way at first but its a very good anamia and it very funny but it may ofend some people at times so its not for everone.

Transformers?  Oh noooooooooo.  Nonono.

Did anyone remember to recommend Ulysses 31 or Mysterious Cities of Gold?  If so, well done, as they're both fun series that deserve a viewing.
Magical Girl Squad Alice is also worth a gander.  I haven't seen the westernised  version (Tweeny Witches), but the original has some surprisingly inventive uses of a limited animation budget, a pretty decent score that's a little haunting in places, and really distinctive production design that lends the witches' world a dream-like quality.  It would be a great watch for younger viewers, as though it has danger and chase bits, there's no gore or ecchi and it really reinforces the idea of loyalty and friendship over institutions and tradition.  I'm quite bloodthirsty in my anime watching so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 21 May, 2010, 10:52:26 PM

Quote from: HdE on 21 May, 2010, 10:49:41 PM
Hey Cyberleader - have you seen Gundam SEED yet? It's BLOODY good!

Its what got me into gundam and i treated my self to the anamia legends box sets of it even thro I could not aford them at the time

It's a series often maligned by the hardcore Gundam fanboys. But I really enjoyed it a lot. Great characters, neat setting, a few REALLY shocking moments (The Aegis locking itself to the Strike and then... well you know how that part goes!) - plus, it had a really great ending. Excellent stuff. Could have done without the endless recap episodes and re-used footage, though.

And byah - if you enjoyed Cities Of Gold, you could do worse than to check out Last Exile, which has a similar feel, even if the subject matter and storyline are as far removed from that as you could get. It has the same kind of spirit, I guess.

It was easily the best show I saw last year, and still crops up online for a very reasonable price. Of course, you may have already seen it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dMT_jf4RVw&playnext_from=TL&videos=ZjjtNSrapXs&feature=grec

Quote from: HdE on 21 May, 2010, 11:32:50 PM

Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 21 May, 2010, 10:52:26 PM

Quote from: HdE on 21 May, 2010, 10:49:41 PM
Hey Cyberleader - have you seen Gundam SEED yet? It's BLOODY good!

Its what got me into gundam and i treated my self to the anamia legends box sets of it even thro I could not aford them at the time

It's a series often maligned by the hardcore Gundam fanboys. But I really enjoyed it a lot. Great characters, neat setting, a few REALLY shocking moments (The Aegis locking itself to the Strike and then... well you know how that part goes!) - plus, it had a really great ending. Excellent stuff. Could have done without the endless recap episodes and re-used footage, though.

And byah - if you enjoyed Cities Of Gold, you could do worse than to check out Last Exile, which has a similar feel, even if the subject matter and storyline are as far removed from that as you could get. It has the same kind of spirit, I guess.

It was easily the best show I saw last year, and still crops up online for a very reasonable price. Of course, you may have already seen it...

Last Exile is one I realy want to see the outher is Code Geass.

Last Exile's a really gorgeous looking series, too.

Funny - after watching the confusing, almost plot-free first episode, I very nearly didn't watch any more of it! I'm so glad I persevered, though.

I see Gundam Wing is getting the Anime Legends treatment now!

Always liked dis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_City_Oedo_808

Akira, Steamboy, laputia the flying bleeding island or whatever it was,  Appleseed, some Robotech/macross,Cowboy Bebop  too and  Ghosts in the shell.

Quote from: HdE on 22 May, 2010, 03:40:23 AM
Last Exile's a really gorgeous looking series, too.

Funny - after watching the confusing, almost plot-free first episode, I very nearly didn't watch any more of it! I'm so glad I persevered, though.

I see Gundam Wing is getting the Anime Legends treatment now!

what in the uk if so i dont care it i will be in det with my perents im so going to buy it if its in the uk

Quote from: Zarjazzer on 22 May, 2010, 10:00:05 AM
Always liked dis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_City_Oedo_808

Akira, Steamboy, laputia the flying bleeding island or whatever it was,  Appleseed, some Robotech/macross,Cowboy Bebop  too and  Ghosts in the shell.

Mmhurrm... never was keen on Oedo. A little too OTT for my liking.

Kudos for mentioning Cowboy Bebop, though! That's a superb series - and I actually threw my cheese puffs at the TV at the end of the final episode!

And Yes, Cyberleader - Gundam Wing is getting a UK re-release for cheapness on teh Beez Anime Legends line. It's not for a month or two yet, so there's time to save!

Oh - uh, no word yet as to whether there's going to be any of Endless Waltz in the box, or which of the two versions there'll be. I'm guessing it'll be the remastered edition.

Be warned - the dub on Wing is utter bobbins.

Quote from: HdE on 22 May, 2010, 02:21:41 PM

Quote from: Zarjazzer on 22 May, 2010, 10:00:05 AM
Always liked dis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_City_Oedo_808

Akira, Steamboy, laputia the flying bleeding island or whatever it was,  Appleseed, some Robotech/macross,Cowboy Bebop  too and  Ghosts in the shell.

Mmhurrm... never was keen on Oedo. A little too OTT for my liking.

Kudos for mentioning Cowboy Bebop, though! That's a superb series - and I actually threw my cheese puffs at the TV at the end of the final episode!

And Yes, Cyberleader - Gundam Wing is getting a UK re-release for cheapness on teh Beez Anime Legends line. It's not for a month or two yet, so there's time to save!

Oh - uh, no word yet as to whether there's going to be any of Endless Waltz in the box, or which of the two versions there'll be. I'm guessing it'll be the remastered edition.

Be warned - the dub on Wing is utter bobbins.

I love wing and I have Endless Waltz on DVD all redy as i type this im watching gundam wing off the tv sechion on youtube

I really liked Quedo, although one guys badly dubbed over-swearing made me wince.

This I did enjoy.


(http://www.garoo9.com/elevator-kart/EK_files/movies/police_tank_cover.jpg)






V

I'd recommend Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli films, not all of them have fantastic stories, but the artwork is bloody lovely.

Quote from: vzzbux on 22 May, 2010, 11:09:36 PM
This I did enjoy.


(http://www.garoo9.com/elevator-kart/EK_files/movies/police_tank_cover.jpg)






V

Dominion Tank Police is F***IN' CLASS!

I remember buying that on VHS back in the early '90s when anime was all shiny and new-fangled - it was one of the best offerings in the early salvo of releases. I think it bears mentioning that the show features one particular gag concerning 'anti-tank devices' that has to rank as one of THE most shocking, laugh-out-loud funny visual gags in history.

The original OVA series is out of print now, but still easy enough to find through online retailers. The 'New Dominion Tank Police' series is still available, though it is a bit inferior. I think it can be had in its entirety for just four quid on Amazon...

I want a Anime Legends Mobile Suit Gundam 0079

If you'd like to see that get a UK release, why not head on over to the Beez Entertainment Twitter page?

Beez are Bandai's major distributor in the UK, and quite receptive to hearing what UK fans want to see. They're responsible for putting out Gundam Wing, SEED, SEED Destiny and a few other things like F91 and Char's Counter-attack. Asking them about the possibility of a UK release for the original series couldn't hurt.

So long as they preserve that AWESOME intro music, mind!

Quote from: HdE on 28 May, 2010, 09:30:10 PM
If you'd like to see that get a UK release, why not head on over to the Beez Entertainment Twitter page?

Beez are Bandai's major distributor in the UK, and quite receptive to hearing what UK fans want to see. They're responsible for putting out Gundam Wing, SEED, SEED Destiny and a few other things like F91 and Char's Counter-attack. Asking them about the possibility of a UK release for the original series couldn't hurt.

So long as they preserve that AWESOME intro music, mind!

you got a link

I've not seen very much anime regrettably.

I wish I knew more of the culture that fules some of the common theames.

I have seen some, the classic Akira, Full Metal Alchamist, Bleach, Ghost in the Shell...

so I thought I'd come up with a quiz..

Identify the Anime these posters were taken from.

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/captainobvious-1.png)

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/mornings.png)

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/ohshi--1-1.jpg)

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/homework.jpg)

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/friends.png)

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/firepower.jpg)

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/motivator1865151.jpg)

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/Ignorance.jpg)

Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 29 May, 2010, 12:02:07 AM

you got a link

Sadly not, but it should be easy enough to find.

By the way, Doc - awesome snapshots!

Quote from: The Doctor Alt 8 on 29 May, 2010, 12:49:02 AM
I've not seen very much anime regrettably.

I wish I knew more of the culture that fules some of the common theames.

I have seen some, the classic Akira, Full Metal Alchamist, Bleach, Ghost in the Shell...

so I thought I'd come up with a quiz..

Identify the Anime these posters were taken from.


(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/Ignorance.jpg)

No idea but this poster so sums up my life at the moment!

Been a while since I checked out any new anime. It probably has to be the moe glut that its going through at the moment.

I still go back to rewatch a few old favourites here and there like: NGE, Planetes, Black Lagoon, Ghost in the Shell, Genshiken, Full Metal Panic and 2x2 Shinobuden.

Planetes is a funny one - a lot of anime fans I know raved about it, but after a strong start I found it very pedestrian. Enjoyable, but pedestrian.

I'm currently watching 'Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid' which I imported from the US. It's CRIMINAL that we've got the first series and the not-as-amusing-as-everybody-claims FUMOFFU, and not this! It's action packed, funny and brilliantly animated.

Some hawt news for y'all - Beez just announced that they're putting Outlaw Star out on their Anime Legends line. When, I don't know, but it'll be a good 'un to snap up.

Quote from: HdE on 29 May, 2010, 05:14:52 PM
Planetes is a funny one - a lot of anime fans I know raved about it, but after a strong start I found it very pedestrian. Enjoyable, but pedestrian.

I'm currently watching 'Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid' which I imported from the US. It's CRIMINAL that we've got the first series and the not-as-amusing-as-everybody-claims FUMOFFU, and not this! It's action packed, funny and brilliantly animated.

Some hawt news for y'all - Beez just announced that they're putting Outlaw Star out on their Anime Legends line. When, I don't know, but it'll be a good 'un to snap up.

I love FUMOFFU I spent many hours laughting at the jokes.

Looks like Photobucket has removed the other one i WAS GOING TO POST

yOU'LL HAVE TO MAKE DO WITH THIS
(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/epic-fail-date-fail.jpg)

I have finily finished gundam wing :'( this makes me sad as I was realy enjoying it I hate being unemployed I get thro theas series so fast.

THA WURULD-O!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7wzJ6EJdvY

Spirited Away and anything else by Hayao Miyazaki.

Mainly into movies.

My Favourites are;

Spirited Away
Perfect Blue
Akira
Kiki's Delivery Service
My Neighbour Totoro
Barefoot Gen

Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 29 May, 2010, 07:58:04 PM

I love FUMOFFU I spent many hours laughting at the jokes.

It's pretty agreeable - but given how people fell over themselves to tell me how amazingly awesome and side-splittingly funny it supposedly was, I didn't really get that.

The gag where Sousuke forgets Kaname's notes and she has an 'episode' was about th ebiggest laugh for me. Oh, that and Kurz Weber's copious nosebleed in the bath-house episode.

But Second raid is pure, undiluted AWESOME!!!

Answers for the Docs quiz

second last one is Witch Hunter Robin
Last one is a trick question it's from a web comic "Gone with the Blastwave"

Do I win a prize

Also, re: Doc's quiz: picture number 5 is from Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni.

I watched it for a while, but the loli undertones kind of ruined it for me. Some good killin's though.

Got to share these... and quick before Photobucket nannies take `em down

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/129152138678151720.jpg)

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/129066377118187514.jpg)

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/129076914683713497.jpg)

And thanks for the answers I'm surprised I didn't get the Wichhunter Robin one... I saw that anime.. but only the first series (Damn you Bravo!)

Probably Bleach.  It's quite funny in places.

The only thing is, there are over 250 episodes so it may constitute a pointless waste of human life.

Quote from: The Doctor Alt 8 on 01 June, 2010, 03:45:05 PM
Got to share these... and quick before Photobucket nannies take `em down

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/129152138678151720.jpg)

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/129066377118187514.jpg)

(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/The_Doctor_Alt8/129076914683713497.jpg)

And thanks for the answers I'm surprised I didn't get the Wichhunter Robin one... I saw that anime.. but only the first series (Damn you Bravo!)

XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD very funny :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Ok for any one interested I came across these angle battles from Evangelion 2.0 there not in English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO1cMnJhytE&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itWgWvTFcDY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWTizYk6dMU

If I find any more... I'll post them up..

I found something called Black Bible Gaiden, but lets not go there.






V

Quote from: Professah Byah on 10 February, 2010, 08:41:37 PM
I have a soft spot for Victory (which was spun out of F91 of all things).  The body count in that is just brutal, and Katejina is one of the most hateful bitches you'll come across in a cartoon - I was gutted when she wasn't killed off.

Just started watching Gundam victory not sure about how it starts you just sundley get thrown into it with no expiation who the chateres are like you just missed the first 5 episodes I had to recheck my download 3 time to make sure I was watching the correct episode and I know what you mean about Katejina I've not seen her in the series yet but she is one of the chateres in dynasty warriors Gundam 2 and she's really annoying in that. also got Gundam X and Gundam ZZ as well as Gundam evolve (now that was not bad) but the most major thing recently is I've got into a strange anime called HeartCatch Precure its not any where my normal thing but dam its entreating good humour and great battle action.

I used to watch a lot of anime but in the last few years it's all seemed a bit...silly.

Favourites series are Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Paranoia Agent, Samurai Champloo, Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, Macross Frontier and Gundam 00.

Film-wise I like Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Sword of the Stranger, Paprika and Tekkon Kinkreet.

I also used to read a lot of manga but I've gone off that too. Manga and anime all seems to be about half naked schoolgirls or 'moe' nowadays. Not for me.

Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 27 January, 2011, 01:31:12 PMJust started watching Gundam victory not sure about how it starts you just sundley get thrown into it with no expiation who the chateres are like you just missed the first 5 episodes I had to recheck my download 3 time to make sure I was watching the correct episode and I know what you mean about Katejina I've not seen her in the series yet but she is one of the chateres in dynasty warriors Gundam 2 and she's really annoying in that. also got Gundam X and Gundam ZZ as well as Gundam evolve (now that was not bad) but the most major thing recently is I've got into a strange anime called HeartCatch Precure its not any where my normal thing but dam its entreating good humour and great battle action.

Gundam Victory does start abruptly, but the first five/six episodes make a start-up arc that tells you everything you need to know if you watch them in one go.
ZZ is only worth watching if you're determined to be a completist about the Universal Century timeline, though Char's Counterattack renders it non-canon.  The slapstick also became grating quite quickly for me and it's pretty much a kid's show rather than a doomy teen angst-fest like MSG and Zeta, though it does at least have some moments of gravitas when some of the kiddie characters buy the farm later on.
Gundam X is an odd one: it's a generic anime for the most part with nothing to do with the previous Gundam shows, but later does dip its toe back in the UC timeline by coming up with an explanation for what a NewType is [spoiler](rather than select humans evolving, humanity is evolving as a whole and NewTypes are a delusion created by the unconscious collective to rationalise the change)[/spoiler], but by then it's probably too late to get invested.  It's an okay show, just very generic.

You're on your own with Heartcatch Precure.  I tried watching the pretty Cure anime in its various incarnations but it did my nut in much as any kind of harem anime that isn't an outright pisstake of the genre does.

Quote from: Lee Bates on 27 January, 2011, 02:02:50 PMI also used to read a lot of manga but I've gone off that too. Manga and anime all seems to be about half naked schoolgirls or 'moe' nowadays. Not for me.

You seem to be describing Deviantart rather than manga there.  I have many issues with the backwards printing of manga (though the most obvious is "art and words go in the same direction for a reason") but there are some books worth checking out if you can get past that, most notably Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa, though if you can't get past it there are quality westernised (ie: readable) reprints of Blade of the Immortal, Lone Wolf and Cub, Akira and Samurai Executioner if you take a look about.

Quote from: Professah Byah on 27 January, 2011, 02:45:03 PM
You seem to be describing Deviantart rather than manga there.  I have many issues with the backwards printing of manga (though the most obvious is "art and words go in the same direction for a reason") but there are some books worth checking out if you can get past that, most notably Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa, though if you can't get past it there are quality westernised (ie: readable) reprints of Blade of the Immortal, Lone Wolf and Cub, Akira and Samurai Executioner if you take a look about.

Like I said, I have read lots of manga and there is good stuff out there. I got a bit disillusioned by Bleach, One Piece and Naruto when I realised they would all go on FOREVER and keep recycling the same basic plots.

I've got all 7 volumes of Nausicaa. Great stuff. Also got all of Battle Angel Alita and Death Note which are both great. Before I got a bit bored of manga I was halfway through Monster and Eden: It's an Endless World! (which is FANTASTIC)

It comes down to money nowadays for me. I've got limited funds to spend on comics and I'd usually prefer to buy a 2000AD graphic novel over a manga volume as the 2000AD stuff is denser and more detailed and seems better value.

I suppose the 'moe schoolgirls' remark is more a criticism that I have of modern anime. I used to scan the listings every new season and follow the shows that seemed good via torrents but these days it all seems like utter tripe.

By the way, I've got no problem with right to left reading. I think it should be preserved in its original form. The Japanese language reads top to bottom/right to left after all so the format makes perfect sense to them.

Heartcatch Pretty Cure is massive in my house...but then, I DO have an 8 year old daughter who is crazy about it. And we HAVE just got back from Japan where we were overwhelmed by it. Even went to see the live-action show (must post some pictures later.) It's really geared towards pre-teen girls I would say, in the same vein as Cardcaptor Sakura, Sugar Sugar Rune etc. (Yes, I see them all.) Cardcaptor Sakura was quite clever though, once you got into it, and had a pretty intelligent story. And Sugar Sugar Rune is probably my favourite of these kind of shows as the main character is such a psycho.

Quote from: Van Dom on 27 January, 2011, 03:04:07 PM
Heartcatch Pretty Cure is massive in my house...but then, I DO have an 8 year old daughter who is crazy about it. And we HAVE just got back from Japan where we were overwhelmed by it. Even went to see the live-action show (must post some pictures later.) It's really geared towards pre-teen girls I would say, in the same vein as Cardcaptor Sakura, Sugar Sugar Rune etc. (Yes, I see them all.) Cardcaptor Sakura was quite clever though, once you got into it, and had a pretty intelligent story. And Sugar Sugar Rune is probably my favourite of these kind of shows as the main character is such a psycho.

Ha Ha, you poor sod. I've got a little boy so I can at least get away with watching Dragonball Z and Heroman which don't melt your brain with pink sugar.

Heartcatch Pretty Cure only watched because a friend recommended it to if it had not been that I was bored and had to down load the first 5 episodes in one go I might not have bothered but sitting thro the first 5 episodes in one sitting was good it had some good jokes and decent action sequences but theas later episodes are pure gold just finished episode 47 and was blone away by how much I enjoyed it which is strange as usichily I stick to things like Gundam, full metal panic and Evangelion looking forward to this evening as tv-nihon will be releasing the next subbed episodes.

O and am I the only one whos seen Gundam Evolve

Probably.

Anyone ever see Geroro Gunsou (Corporal Frog I think its called over here)?
Now that's just mental. That fries my brain.

Gungrave: Alot like Once Upon a Time In America with mutants.

Perfect Blue: Darren Aronovsky might as well have called his Black Swan Perfect Black it was so influenced by this film.
Funnily enough he bought the rights to Perfect Blue back in 2000 so he could emulate its bath scene in Requiem for a Dream.

Quote from: Lee Bates on 27 January, 2011, 03:00:06 PMI think it should be preserved in its original form. The Japanese language reads top to bottom/right to left after all so the format makes perfect sense to them.

I'm not having a pop at you, Lee, but that's not how the English language reads, that's how Japanese reads and their comics pages are laid out as a result of that.  The Japanese original has artwork that 'flows' in the same direction as the words and translating it into English without flipping the pages to match the flow of dialogue takes the work further from an authentic reading experience rather than recreates it.
The biggest financial successes like Sailor Moon and Dragonball have been adaptations for their target audience rather than straight translations aimed at purists, but to be honest western comics are dead on their arse.  Carving out a niche as something separate and apart from them probably seemed a sensible idea.

Quote from: Cyclopz on 27 January, 2011, 04:09:38 PMPerfect Blue: Darren Aronovsky might as well have called his Black Swan Perfect Black it was so influenced by this film.

Heh.  It is remarkably similar in many ways, isn't it?

Quote from: Professah Byah on 27 January, 2011, 04:37:27 PM
I'm not having a pop at you, Lee, but that's not how the English language reads, that's how Japanese reads and their comics pages are laid out as a result of that.  The Japanese original has artwork that 'flows' in the same direction as the words and translating it into English without flipping the pages to match the flow of dialogue takes the work further from an authentic reading experience rather than recreates it.
The biggest financial successes like Sailor Moon and Dragonball have been adaptations for their target audience rather than straight translations aimed at purists, but to be honest western comics are dead on their arse.  Carving out a niche as something separate and apart from them probably seemed a sensible idea.

God no, I wouldn't have thought you were having a pop at me! It's a matter of personal preference I suppose. For me, and many others I would imagine, it's as much about manga being Japanese and different that attracted me to the medium. Having books that read 'backwards' seemed more authentic as that is how the Japanese volumes are presented.

Manga artists have said they don't like the 'flipping' process as it can reveal flaws in their work such as in perspective, not to mention the pain in the arse it must be for the translator to reverse any text in the artwork so it reads the right way round.

From my experience, it only takes a couple of pages to get used to the 'backwards' layout and then you don't even notice it. Neither method is perfect and I suppose it's down to the reader to decide which way they prefer, although it looks like, judging by all the Japanese format books on the shelf in the comic shops, most people like 'em 'backwards'.

Im well used to the backwards style now, after many years of reading them. Still get odd looks though from people on the train, who see me reading backwards. Though I suppose the odd looks could be for a number of reasons, such as the fact I'm reading a comic, in Japanese, backwards, that has lots of scantily clad females on display. Oh well! I'm not ashamed!

Quote from: Van Dom on 27 January, 2011, 09:34:58 PM
Im well used to the backwards style now, after many years of reading them. Still get odd looks though from people on the train, who see me reading backwards. Though I suppose the odd looks could be for a number of reasons, such as the fact I'm reading a comic, in Japanese, backwards, that has lots of scantily clad females on display. Oh well! I'm not ashamed!

Are you fluent in Japanese? I can read it (not including kanji, although I know a few) but I can't understand all of it.

I've read most of the Dragonball manga in Japanese but I'd struggle with anything more complicated I think.

Well my wife is Japanese and Im married 10 years so I SHOULD be fluent by this stage...but I'm not. I'm okay, I can certainly survive out in the big bad world of Tokyo by myself and cope with anything that arises, linguistically. Wouldn't be able to have a big political or economical debate with anyone though! As for reading, yeah, I can read most of it, I spent 1 solid year studying nothing but kanji when I lived in Japan for a while. I still come across words I don't know the meaning of, but the old electronic dictionary is always at hand!

Do you have a Japanese connection too, Lee, or was it just something you learned as a hobby/for fun?

Quote from: Van Dom on 28 January, 2011, 09:50:07 AM
Well my wife is Japanese and Im married 10 years so I SHOULD be fluent by this stage...but I'm not. I'm okay, I can certainly survive out in the big bad world of Tokyo by myself and cope with anything that arises, linguistically. Wouldn't be able to have a big political or economical debate with anyone though! As for reading, yeah, I can read most of it, I spent 1 solid year studying nothing but kanji when I lived in Japan for a while. I still come across words I don't know the meaning of, but the old electronic dictionary is always at hand!

Do you have a Japanese connection too, Lee, or was it just something you learned as a hobby/for fun?

I've also been married to a Japanese woman for coming up to 10 years so I know where you're coming from. I've been to Japan about 8 or 9 times and lived there for about 6 months in 1998-99 where I studied at a Japanese language school and became pretty fluent. I've forgotten most of it now from lack of practice but I can hold a rudimentary conversation with my wifes parents on the phone.

I've started to practice a bit more now as my wife wants our kids to learn Japanese while they're young. They know a few words but can't understand much of it. Hopefully they'll pick it up.

I did learn about 100 kanji while I was in Japan but I've almost totally forgotten all of them now. Kudos to you on learning so many, even the Japanese find them difficult!

Quote from: Cyclopz on 27 January, 2011, 04:09:38 PMPerfect Blue: Darren Aronovsky might as well have called his Black Swan Perfect Black it was so influenced by this film.
Funnily enough he bought the rights to Perfect Blue back in 2000 so he could emulate its bath scene in Requiem for a Dream.

Yes, they're both about [spoiler]talented young girls with dissociative identity disorder (multiple personalities) who live a fractured reality populated by doppelgängers.[/spoiler]

(Mod edit- spoilers for both. No need to watch Black Swan now!)

Quote from: Lee Bates on 28 January, 2011, 09:56:48 AM


I've also been married to a Japanese woman for coming up to 10 years so I know where you're coming from. I've been to Japan about 8 or 9 times and lived there for about 6 months in 1998-99 where I studied at a Japanese language school and became pretty fluent. I've forgotten most of it now from lack of practice but I can hold a rudimentary conversation with my wifes parents on the phone.

I've started to practice a bit more now as my wife wants our kids to learn Japanese while they're young. They know a few words but can't understand much of it. Hopefully they'll pick it up.

I did learn about 100 kanji while I was in Japan but I've almost totally forgotten all of them now. Kudos to you on learning so many, even the Japanese find them difficult!

That's cool! Yeah we have 4 kids, our eldest is fluent in Japanese because she lived there for nearly 2 years when she was 2-3. The boys can understand it okay but can't speak very much at all. Although we just got back from a one-month stay and you could see by the end of the four weeks how they were starting to say the odd sentence and converse a bit with there grandfather. I'd say if we moved back there fulltime it wouldnt take them long to pick it up.

Hey, what part of Japan is your wife from? It's not Tokyo by any chance?? If it was, would be cool to co-ordinate trips sometime and hang out in Akihabara!!!! :)

Some refresher classes for you both:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZEA54VJEdE&feature=player_embedded

Quote from: Van Dom on 28 January, 2011, 11:02:58 AM
Hey, what part of Japan is your wife from? It's not Tokyo by any chance?? If it was, would be cool to co-ordinate trips sometime and hang out in Akihabara!!!! :)

Ha Ha! No, she's from Onoda in Yamaguchi, a quiet, rural city near Hiroshima. When we visit, we spend time there and also in Osaka where her sister lives.

She does have friends in Tokyo so we usually go for a couple of days whenever we're in the country, but I prefer Osaka. It seems friendlier. Osaka is the Manchester to Tokyo's London.

has any one seen Death note I'm thinking about watching it just would like peoples opioun of it

Quote from: Goaty on 09 February, 2010, 11:11:12 PM
Enough said :)

(http://blogs.amctv.com/scifi-scanner/Cover-akira.jpg)

Yeah agreed on this one pretty much the best ive seen to date

Has any one see the anime based on the viedow game Devil May Cry I have thanxs to a friend and I loved it Im ordering a copy next week.

Ive got a new one I like eureka seven has any one elses seen this yet as im currentley watching it for the first time.

Not Anime but classic animated,

The Heavy Metal Movie  1981

Starchaser: The Legend of Orin  1985

All ways good  ;)

I watched Akira on Blu Ray the other day - was one of my favourite films growing up, despite the fact that I didn't understand a word of it back then. I remember really struggling to get a handle on the story, but my brain couldn't comprehend all the concepts.

Watching it now, having not seen it in about ten years, I actually think its even better than I remember. The improved dub helps to clarify a few things, but also being older now, I'm able to take a lot more away from it, and certain aspects of the story resonate with me much more.

I still don't understand how Tetsuo gained his powers though, even after all these years. The manga - which I'm rereading at the moment, tells us that the espers gained theirs through experimentation on their young brains. There's also a suggestion that the amphetamines that Tetsuo takes recreationally does something to his brain to accelerate the process - but I still don't quite get it. I understand that 'the power of Akira exists in everyone' - it's an evolutionary thing, but plenty of other characters interact with the espers at various points, and none of them gain powers from it. What was so special about Tetsuo?

Also, what's the deal with Ryusaku and Kei? I always got the impression that they were a couple posing as brother and sister, but now I'm not so sure.

Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 22 January, 2012, 01:35:41 PM
Ive got a new one I like eureka seven has any one elses seen this yet as im currentley watching it for the first time.

Eureka Seven is EXCELLENT. Unless it's the movie, which is a pile of stinky fecal matter.

If it's the series you'ver got, make sure you've nabbed all of it quickly. Bandai have withdrawn from the Western market and closed down their distribution agents as of December 31st last year.

And yes - that's pretty major news.

There are my four favorite Anime Films.

(http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/9004/akiraposter03.jpg)

(http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/5618/wings2bof2bhonneamise2b.jpg)

(http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/1580/venuswarsposter.jpg)

(http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/430/ghostintheshellposter01.jpg)

Quote from: HdE on 22 January, 2012, 03:22:48 PM

Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 22 January, 2012, 01:35:41 PM
Ive got a new one I like eureka seven has any one elses seen this yet as im currentley watching it for the first time.

Eureka Seven is EXCELLENT. Unless it's the movie, which is a pile of stinky fecal matter.

If it's the series you'ver got, make sure you've nabbed all of it quickly. Bandai have withdrawn from the Western market and closed down their distribution agents as of December 31st last year.

And yes - that's pretty major news.

thats why I bort it but bezzey entertinemt uk sayed on twiter there not clousing not yet any way so we may still be geting dvds wilst the usa is not

Actually, its my understanding that Bandai US will continue to distribute and keep in print any releases they current have the license for. Until their license lapse. They won't be licensing any more new anime. But they'll be keeping their catalog in print for the foreseeable future.


I really do need to get around to picking up the Original Gundam on DVD though. I keep putting it off.

Quote from: radiator on 22 January, 2012, 02:24:55 PM
I still don't understand how Tetsuo gained his powers though, even after all these years. The manga - which I'm rereading at the moment, tells us that the espers gained theirs through experimentation on their young brains. There's also a suggestion that the amphetamines that Tetsuo takes recreationally does something to his brain to accelerate the process - but I still don't quite get it. I understand that 'the power of Akira exists in everyone' - it's an evolutionary thing, but plenty of other characters interact with the espers at various points, and none of them gain powers from it. What was so special about Tetsuo?

Also, what's the deal with Ryusaku and Kei? I always got the impression that they were a couple posing as brother and sister, but now I'm not so sure.

It's while since I've read it but, the way I remember it, although everyone has the potential some people are closer to expressing it than others. What's special about Tetsuo is the similarity of his brainwave patterns (or whatever that wobbly graphic's meant to be) to Akira's. The military efforts that produced the existing powers relied on medical experimentation. With Tetsuo, it's the shock of the crash (or possibly, number 26 lashing out with his mind to protect himself) which triggers the development. I seem to recall Testuo shovelling down drugs to try to suppress the power, not fuel it, in the same way that the Colonel's people use drugs to control the others.
Not quite right about nobody else developing powers either. Lady Miyako uses Kei as a channel for her powers but I think it's implied that she couldn't do that with everyone? Could be wrong there.

Ultimately, it's not really explained but I don't really think it's important. Like magic or mutant powers in any number of other stories it's something everyone can theoretically have under the right circumstances but those differ.

As for Ryu and Kei, I could never figure out if they were meant to be brother and sister or lovers. However, weren't they part of some underground group, so either one was just a cover story for that and his annoyance at her interest in Kaneda is probably more to do with keeping that secret than anything else.

FLCL is mental!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaPCgMCYef0&feature=related

Also, Tekkon Kinkreet is brilliant... and the Manga is even better.

(http://letsfallasleep.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/tekkonbw2.jpg)

Quote from: The Adventurer on 22 January, 2012, 10:52:51 PM
Actually, its my understanding that Bandai US will continue to distribute and keep in print any releases they current have the license for. Until their license lapse. They won't be licensing any more new anime. But they'll be keeping their catalog in print for the foreseeable future.

This is correct. However, I'd not hold out hope of those products being around for too much longer.

A telling turn of events is that Beez Entertainment (part of Namco Bandai holdings, it turns out) recently assured UK anime fans that a box set of Code Geass R2 would be released as planned. Everybody who preorderd it from Amazon has had an email telling them that the product was cancelled, and will not be made available.

The dealio is, basically, that Bandai Japan don't seem to think it's worth distributing directly to the western market. They'd rather have us import from Japan - and you should check out how their pricing compares to what it was over here - or license their shows to other distributors liek Funimation, Manga, etc.

And that's not something I'd wait on either. The western arm of the anime biz is in DIRE straits right now. Bandai charge top dollar for some of their licensesm too, so... well, I doubt we'll be seeing their stuff over here in any great quantity.

Sad times. Especially is it looks like it'll kill Gundam - a quality franchise that nobody EVER bothered to promote as much as it deserved - stone dead over here.

Oh I know. I've been eyeballing the Gundam Unicorn Blu-rays for over a year. But I just can't justify dropping 50 bucks an installment. And so many other companies, like Aniplex, are doing the samething. Just selling Japanese Blu-rays to Americans. And of course Japan price schemes are much higher then US ones.

Such a pain in the ass.

Quote from: HdE on 23 January, 2012, 05:35:37 PM

Quote from: The Adventurer on 22 January, 2012, 10:52:51 PM
Actually, its my understanding that Bandai US will continue to distribute and keep in print any releases they current have the license for. Until their license lapse. They won't be licensing any more new anime. But they'll be keeping their catalog in print for the foreseeable future.

This is correct. However, I'd not hold out hope of those products being around for too much longer.

A telling turn of events is that Beez Entertainment (part of Namco Bandai holdings, it turns out) recently assured UK anime fans that a box set of Code Geass R2 would be released as planned. Everybody who preorderd it from Amazon has had an email telling them that the product was cancelled, and will not be made available.

The dealio is, basically, that Bandai Japan don't seem to think it's worth distributing directly to the western market. They'd rather have us import from Japan - and you should check out how their pricing compares to what it was over here - or license their shows to other distributors liek Funimation, Manga, etc.

And that's not something I'd wait on either. The western arm of the anime biz is in DIRE straits right now. Bandai charge top dollar for some of their licensesm too, so... well, I doubt we'll be seeing their stuff over here in any great quantity.

Sad times. Especially is it looks like it'll kill Gundam - a quality franchise that nobody EVER bothered to promote as much as it deserved - stone dead over here.

as yet the hmv preorder is still going strong and ive had no email about code geass and I hope I dont, I dont relay want the expensive vershion

Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 24 January, 2012, 01:16:22 AM
as yet the hmv preorder is still going strong and ive had no email about code geass and I hope I dont, I dont relay want the expensive vershion

Beez seem to have indicated pretty positively via their Twitter account that the Code Geass R2 box set has been cancelled.

As for the issue on pricing... yes, unfortunately, it looks like Bandai are trying once again to force western anime fans to pay Japanese prices.

If you check out some of the comments and statements made in connection to Bandia Entertainment shutting up shop, it seems pretty clear that Bandai Japan don't really need (or arguably want) Western trade. And they're letting Western fans know it.

I absolutely love anime, and Bandai withdrawing like this means we lose the affordable access we had to franchises like Gundam, and pretty much all of Sunrise's output. Very sad.

But make no mistake. I'm not a Japanese citizen, and I'm not inclined to pay their prices for some of these shows. Bandai are, frankly, stupid to expect us to support their realeases if they insist on that. I also need to cut down my spending this year, so... well, with developments like this becoming commonplace, I think I'm done with the stuff for the foreseeable.

Quote from: HdE on 24 January, 2012, 08:37:12 PM

Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 24 January, 2012, 01:16:22 AM
as yet the hmv preorder is still going strong and ive had no email about code geass and I hope I dont, I dont relay want the expensive vershion

Beez seem to have indicated pretty positively via their Twitter account that the Code Geass R2 box set has been cancelled.

As for the issue on pricing... yes, unfortunately, it looks like Bandai are trying once again to force western anime fans to pay Japanese prices.

If you check out some of the comments and statements made in connection to Bandia Entertainment shutting up shop, it seems pretty clear that Bandai Japan don't really need (or arguably want) Western trade. And they're letting Western fans know it.

I absolutely love anime, and Bandai withdrawing like this means we lose the affordable access we had to franchises like Gundam, and pretty much all of Sunrise's output. Very sad.

But make no mistake. I'm not a Japanese citizen, and I'm not inclined to pay their prices for some of these shows. Bandai are, frankly, stupid to expect us to support their realeases if they insist on that. I also need to cut down my spending this year, so... well, with developments like this becoming commonplace, I think I'm done with the stuff for the foreseeable.

yea I hered about it yesterday im currentley looking into geting the expensive vershion of season 2 my wallet is going to cry

good news managed to get hold of season 2 of code geass each half season boxset for £17 I think thats the best I could have done still expensive thor but im so looking foward to it espechily as I just finished eureka seven now im going to watch the movie vershion

I just read online there making a new season of Eureka Seven any one elses hered about this or have any info to confirm if its true?

Not only is it true, but there's already some footage of it out there somewhere.

It's a side story, though, not a direct continuation. And we can pretty much forget about it coming here unless Manga snap it up.

Seen this thread a few times and really other than Akira and Ghost in the Shell i've never bothered buying anyting else over the years BUT i really liked Cyber City OEDO 808 and AD police are the dvd's easy to get hold of for those 2??

Ooohh... there's a question.

Short answer: No.

Long answer: A good deal of anime that first surfaced in the UK around the early 90s is becoming very difficult to find now.

I actually own a copy of the AD Police DVD which I nabbed from an Amazon Marketplace seller for just a couple of quid. That's your best bet. You may get REALLY lucky and find a seller who has a brand new copy for not much moolah. My advice, though, would be not to bother. In my opinion, it's really not very good, and hasn't aged at all well.

Cyber City Oedo 808, though, is a different kettle of fish. It's out of print in the UK, as Manga Entertainment lost the license. If playing region 1 DVDs isn't an issue for you, though, you can get the complete series on one DVD Stateside. BE WARNED, though, that the content of that release differs from the UK edition, which was given a new musical score. You may find that the US edition lacks the punch and atmosphere of the old Manga Entertainment release.

Have a look, and if you find anything that you're not sure about, feel free to lob me a PM  and I'll do my best to help out.

I have all my old 90's VHS anime stored in the attic and it's not a small collection.




V

Quote from: HdE on 24 January, 2012, 08:37:12 PMAs for the issue on pricing... yes, unfortunately, it looks like Bandai are trying once again to force western anime fans to pay Japanese prices.

This is a company with a history of wanting big rewards from minimal risk, and I think that's what we're seeing (a conservative business plan) more than we are an aggressive pricing policy for an increasingly smaller number of western fans.  I'm not defending Bandai's head-in-the-sand approach to marketing (that led them to effectively scupper not just their own western publishing arm but to also destroy the presence of anime in the North American market), but in the last decade or so, Bandai has seen an increase in exported merchandise that strongly suggests they don't need an official western arm quite as much as they need a stronger web sales outlet so less money goers to grey importers.  A good indicator of this is their strong sales of Kamen Rider merchandise to a market that is almost completely unaware of Kamen Rider as a franchise - aside from the forum's own Cyberleader inexplicably buying Faiz figures that have nothing to do with Gundam or Transformers, the deluxe KR figures are a steady presence in western toy mags, and Super Sentai merch sells well even when the same stuff is available in the west under the Power Rangers brand.  When you factor in how it's still expensive to produce collections in the Blu-ray format, the current market glut of anime available and a shrinking consumer base, it just makes more sense for Bandai to concentrate their efforts on Japanese product and let the die-hards import whatever they might want desperately enough.

For the rest of us - unless you're one of those deviants who is frightened by subtitles and can only watch dubs - there's always fansubbing to fall back on.

I really can't even guess at what's going on with the anime market in the West these days. Some fo the business models that are either in place or mooted for future use just seem... suicidal.

One thing's for sure, though. I will NEVER advocate funsubbing or any other form of piracy, irrespective of whether the shows in question are available legitimately over here or not.

It may well be the case that some of the distributors and licensors have done themselves and their prospective customer base a disservice with their business plans and practices. But I have literally NO sympathy for so-called fans who are wilfully damaging an industry that produces something they profess to love by supporting illegal downloads, fansubs and other forms of piracy.

Theft is theft. End of discussion.

Considering how aggressively most fansubbers track and report downloading or rips of their work once something gets a western release and they've removed those fansubs from the web, and how fansubbing is an ultimately thankless job whose only reward is a constant stream of abuse even from those who enjoy fansubs (I am looking at you, Naruto fans), you'll have a time convincing me the argument that the average fansubbers don't care about the impact they have upon the anime industry isn't a thin one.  To be honest, they seem to care a great deal too much for a hobby where their labors often result in companies making money and which will ultimately result either in their either coming to hate someting they once loved, or going to jail.

Quote from: HdE on 04 March, 2012, 08:31:30 PMTheft is theft. End of discussion.

Theft is indeed theft, but copyright violations are violations of the right to copy.  These two things are not the same.

The discussion about fansubbers also has nuances beyond the basic arguments about piracy of music or movies, even before you wheel out the argument that only a small fraction of anime produced ever gets any kind of western release and you can't negatively impact upon the financial performance of something which is not actually on sale and was never going to be.
What about corporate-sponsored shows which (naturally) only air in Japan, for instance?  Companies like Bandai support production of the likes of Kamen Rider, Precure and Super Sentai as a means to advertise attendant merchandising like toys, videogames and manga, and sales of Japanese-exclusive merchandise in the west has been growing significantly as fansubbing has taken off.  Fansubs are free advertising in foreign territories that makes money for the companies who sponsor the creation of content, thus creating a revenue stream that wouldn't exist without fansubs and which the companies - Bandai especially - are well aware of.

All I know is that without Fansubs I wouldn't have access to many of my most beloved franchises; Macross and Armored Trooper Votoms in particular. I would pay fat cash in a heart beat for North American region releases on DVD (or Blu-Ray!). And have for whatever few pieces of the franchises have managed to come out in NA. But nobody is budging on offical releases, and I'm sure as hell not going to wait around.

I always pay for content that is made avalible to me to buy. If I watched something fansubbed and it's gets licenced I buy it ASAP. But if nobody is going to sell me what I want to watch I'm not going to feel bad about utilizing fansubs.

Quote from: Professah Byah on 04 March, 2012, 06:05:34 PM

A good indicator of this is their strong sales of Kamen Rider merchandise to a market that is almost completely unaware of Kamen Rider as a franchise - aside from the forum's own Cyberleader inexplicably buying Faiz figures that have nothing to do with Gundam or Transformers

:D :D :D you think thats sperising my next perchases that im waitiung for in the post will realy knock you on your arse in sperises.

as for the fansubs and torrents my police is if its not on dvd in the uk and not a rip off on usa dvd then I will uses fansubs and torrents thro I ditest them as they take forever to down load. torrents and fansubs in my opioun shoud only be used if its imposibile to get hold of the series or film you want to watch legeley.

Quote from: Professah Byah on 04 March, 2012, 10:55:27 PM
Fansubs are free advertising in foreign territories that makes money for the companies who sponsor the creation of content, thus creating a revenue stream that wouldn't exist without fansubs and which the companies - Bandai especially - are well aware of.

And as a result of this awareness - OH LOOK! Bandai have ceased production of books and DVDs outside of Japan.

Sorry, Prof. I don't mean to come off as harsh there. And I'm not responding to this to be deliberately argumentative. In fact, reading back over my previous post, I think I worded that a bit too bluntly. However, I don't think the issue of fansubbing is REMOTELY clear cut, either in terms of legality or the effect it has on the western arm of the industry. Plenty of fans are inclined to grab an official release of a show they've already checked out via less legit means / fansubs. Equally, plenty have no intention. And we've got a few precedents to look at which suggest THAT factors into the decisions that are made regarding western licenses.

The point (or problem) is, the numbers obviously aren't adding up in a way that satisfies the guys who put out the product. And it's not just Bandai. You may recall that one of the head honchos at ADV, who imploded and then resurfaced stateside under another name, quite famously suggested that the anime fan base in the UK was so poorly catered to because of their propensity to get their hands on material illegally. And that comes from a distro whose products (and there were many of them) sometimes sold only in the double figures.

My over-riding point, though, is just how circular and self-defeating the industry has become. I think it's stupid how we have stellar quality shows that we can't legitimately get our hands on, too. I'd love it if we could get the likes of Macross Frontier, After War Gundam X, Patlabor On The TV, Armoured Trooper VOTOMS and many others over here. But unless the business climate suggests to the guys who make this stuff available that there's an audience who'll lap it up and PAY for it... it ain't gonna happen.

(Apart form the Macross stuff, which just AIN'T gonna happen. Gotta love those legal wrangles. Fuh.)

No offence taken, H!

Equally I hope you don't take any offence when I say that Bandai didn't quit the western market because of fansubbers or scanlators, they quit the western market because they were a very badly run company with a niche product whose objective merit was minimal in the west, as you have to remember that these are backwards comics printed on lavvy paper or cartoons with appallingly bad voice acting at the best of times if they have an English dub at all - why buy those when we have perfectly good cartoons and comics of our own that haven't got dialogue that sounds like it was written by a child?
Bandai also adversely affected the market for everyone else by destroying anime's visibility in North America in setting the precedent for paying networks to show anime rather than the networks licencing first-to-air rights as they do with any other programming, so their woes aren't the result of piracy or a shrinking market, they're the result of Bandai applying an unnecessary Japanese business model to the US market that saw them having to pay money to get their shows aired whereas before they were being paid to get their shows aired, and this practice was extended to all anime distributors as time went on.  To repeat: Bandai stopped taking money and started paying it out when they did not have to do so.  They lost a shitload of money through poor management and now, like any company, they are paying the inevitable price for that.

As for fansubbers, they have absolutely no reason to sub a title that has already been released - people who do that are straight-up pirates.  It's worth noting that a lot of industry criticism comes from western anime publishers who cannot be said to be unbiased about the subject of unpaid hobbyists more often than not seen to be doing a better job than paid professionals, while their Eastern counterparts are notably quieter on the subject of all that unpaid and highly enthusiastic advertising even when they aren't shy of venom to spew at dojinshi publishers.

Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 05 March, 2012, 01:46:55 AMI will uses fansubs and torrents thro I ditest them as they take forever to down load.

Bittorrents are fast as long as they're well-seeded, otherwise you likely have a shit connection.  Batches of anime episodes usually aren't terribly well-seeded, though, especially older shows, or shows that got an official release over here.

Quote from: HdE on 04 March, 2012, 01:28:08 PM
Ooohh... there's a question.

Short answer: No.

Long answer: A good deal of anime that first surfaced in the UK around the early 90s is becoming very difficult to find now.

I actually own a copy of the AD Police DVD which I nabbed from an Amazon Marketplace seller for just a couple of quid. That's your best bet. You may get REALLY lucky and find a seller who has a brand new copy for not much moolah. My advice, though, would be not to bother. In my opinion, it's really not very good, and hasn't aged at all well.

Cyber City Oedo 808, though, is a different kettle of fish. It's out of print in the UK, as Manga Entertainment lost the license. If playing region 1 DVDs isn't an issue for you, though, you can get the complete series on one DVD Stateside. BE WARNED, though, that the content of that release differs from the UK edition, which was given a new musical score. You may find that the US edition lacks the punch and atmosphere of the old Manga Entertainment release.

Have a look, and if you find anything that you're not sure about, feel free to lob me a PM  and I'll do my best to help out.

Actually i apologise for being lazy here....do either of the above have any GN release's that i can get hold of? or are they just as hard to come by?

Gah... not too sure about that.

I'm pretty sure there would have been manga / collected editions of AD Police and Bubblegum Crisis (from which AD Police spins off). Not so sure about Cyber City.

The bigger problem with officially licensed anime and manga tends to be that, once it's gone, it's gone. It sells in pretty low numbers - especially now - so print runs tend to be pretty conservative.

I know that Adam Warren did a great Bubblegum Crisis graphic novel for Dark Horse, titled 'Grand mal'. That's a whole pile of fun, and remarkably true to the source material.

Can anyone recommend a website that deal's in readily available manga/anime GN's and Dvds?

And does anyone have any recommendations that would be simliar to AD Police,Cyber City Oedo 808 and bubblegun crisis as i'm really out of the loop on this subject.

Best bet is - depressingly - Amazon or Play.Com.

Be WARY of Ebay, as bootleggers and pirates abound there.

Anime On-Line are very good. They're basically the shop front for MVM (one of the UK's better distributors at the moment) and they hold regulr Friday deals where a complete series is available for a tenner or less.

If you want recommendations, you could do worse than to browse the reviews database on the Anime UK News website - I've even written a few reviews for 'em.

Off the top of my head, if you want some safe recommendations for shows to check out:

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex is THE superior cyberpunk anime. There are two seasons, both availabale through Manga Entertainment. It's 'kin ace!

You might also get a kick out of Heat Guy J, which is also available for less than a tenner in most places. It fits in the 'light entertainment' bracket, and it's a nice way to while away 26 blocks of 22 minutes.

It's quite possible you'll enjoy the Appleseed CG movies as well. Lotsa robot mashing action in those.

Do be prepared, though - anime has changed quite a bit since the days of BGC and Cyber City. You may be surprised at how the production values have come along.

US Netflix is like an Anime fan's dream. There is GAZILLIONS of it, ready to watch at the click of a button.
UK Netflix....not so much, yet. Though I am sure that will change, in time.

I had gotten out of the whole Anime scene until I found out how to access US Netflix (dont ask) and discovered how much of it there is. Now I'm hooked on about 10 different shows at once. Best I've come across is definitely Blood+. Damn that's some awesome shit. Can't get enough of it. And I've got 50 episodes to enjoy.

There was a movie of this out a couple of years ago I think, though I never caught it. Anyone know if its any good or not?

The anime movie of "Blood: the Last Vampire" is excellent if a little short (about 50 minutes), I've heard mixed reviews about the live action version from a few years ago, keep meaning to pick it up.

Well I'll be!

I just found out that the entirety of the old Fist Of The North Star TV show is available stateside. So I'm now £120 lighter for the FOUR box sets that comprises.

For the uninitiated, Fist Of The North Star is a mid 1980s post apocalyptic martial arts show, featuring lashings and lashings of ultra violence. There was a 1986 feature length movie that got released over here in the early '90s, but I don't believe the TV show ever got a comprehensive release.

I'll be looking forward to watching this when it arrives.

All anime is awful.

Your mum is anime.

Quote from: Professah Byah on 28 March, 2012, 12:30:44 AM
Your mum is anime.

That's mom. Modpleton would ban you for that.

Quote from: HdE on 27 March, 2012, 11:36:56 PMI just found out that the entirety of the old Fist Of The North Star TV show is available stateside. So I'm now £120 lighter for the FOUR box sets that comprises.

Here in the UK, you can get a collection of the first season (including the first episode of the second season, for some reason) for about a tenner if you look about.
Great fun, that show - one of the few anime dubs that was better than the Japanese soundtrack, particularly Mike Egan's theme.  The English dub changed the context of a lot of the dialogue into brash posturing and had mad dub music going through most scenes, resulting in an upbeat, fast-paced, and fun show - as long as you weren't some super-serious anime elitist who insisted on word-for-word translations to preserve the artistic integrity of a cartoon about a man who kickboxes tanks.  Naturally, the anime sponds of the time decried it as a travesty much as they decried Sailor Moon, Dragonball and any other anime which by sheer coincidence was popular and accessible.

Seriously, though: Fist of the North Star is a really fun show worth checking out, especially seeing as you can pick it up for buttons.

I do recall seeing some of the old Fist Of The North Star TV show waaaay back. It was aired by Channel 4 as part of their glorious Wednesday night schedule of late night fun.

As I recall, the show DID have a pretty good dub although, as you say, Prof, it tended to substitute gruff manliness and Chuck Norris-isms for some of the sparkier interplay of the Japanese language track.

Anyways, whatevs. It's in the post to me as we speak! Woohoo!

My favourite anime is the first ten or so episodes of Ranma 1/2, which is all genius.  Starts as a kind of Taming of the Shrew and proceeds with very funny send ups of kung fu, Japanese school life, country people, Chinese accents, great Japanese literature....it's brilliant.  A fair bit of the humour is very local, but most of it is brilliant anyway.

just thort I would share if theres any UK fans of dragonball Z they might want to see this link http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/news/2012-03-28/manga-uk-announces-u.k-dvd-release-of-dragonball-z-from-july-2

Ive only just started watching it so I sill have not got a opioun on it yet

There was one old-ish anime I saw which was very good in a quiet sort of way.  It was set on another planet where everything was slightly different - the coins were rectangular, taps were a little different and so on.  The hero was a gormless young guy who was in the space program - itself a gormless effort whose members never really expected to get anywhere.  He has a romance with a girl who is a member of a harmless but kooky religious cult and gets inspired to try to really get somewhere, so he galvanises the other space program members and finally gets off the planet.  I can't remember the title, but I really liked it.  Does anyone know it?
  Oh and if Miyazake counts and hasn't been mentioned already, I should say that Spirited Away is my favourite anime movie, followed closely by Tottoro.

Sounds like Wings of Honneamise.  A good film, but a little too sedate for audiences used to whizzes and bangs in their movies about spaceships, I think.

Does indeed sound like Wings of Honneamise - an absolutely fantastic movie, but very tricky to find unless you're possessed of branson-level wealth.

TIP: if you can find the USA Manga Entertainment DVD release, it's actually not region coded, so will play on European DVD players.

You guys do know everything!  That's the one.  I think I saw it on tv, back in Japan.   Either that or someone in my old house rented it from the video shop.  There certainly wasn't much whizz or bang in it, but I really liked it.

Wings of Honneamise is a beautiful film. Not seen it for years though. I did rewatch some Ramna 1/2 the other week. Still bonkers genius

Quote from: judgefloyd on 30 March, 2012, 11:23:57 AM
You guys do know everything!  That's the one.  I think I saw it on tv, back in Japan.   Either that or someone in my old house rented it from the video shop.  There certainly wasn't much whizz or bang in it, but I really liked it.

The movie did get a VHS release over here from Manga Entertainment - but no DVD, alas.

I know a few folks who were really interested in lobbying for a UK / European re-release, but it just wasn't gonna happen. Manga lost the rights to the movie, I believe, and the European arm of Ban-died weren't of the opinion that it would sell.

It really is a truly great little movie, and it's eminently re-watchable.

I have spent the past weak watching a anime Called Tiger & Bunny and I'm really enjoying it has any one elses seen it yet.