The Anime Thread: Finding Good Anime

ParanoiaDragon · 07/28/2011, 11:08 PM

Quote from: DragonmasterDan on 07/28/2011, 06:57 AM
Quote from: Digi.k on 07/27/2011, 09:03 PMoh I wonder if the op will like these too:

Big O
Elfen Lied
Chobits
Fushigi Yuugi
Darker than Black
Full Metal Alchemist
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya

I got a lot of anime catching up to do myself..
Back when I was still in college and didn't have to work in the morning I often left the usually terrible programming lineup on Cartoon Network called Adult Swim on as background noise.

While I just stated it's usually terrible, Adult Swim did have a few anime shows running on it I did like. Big O being one of them (it's a ripoff of Batman TAS with a giant robot, I love Batman TAS), I also like FLCL and Lupin the Third a lot. I've also seen Full Metal Alchemist and never got into it. I am unfamiliar with the others you mentioned.

Some people complain about Big O's 2nd season, but, I recall loving it! I believe the 2nd season was actually made after the 1st recieved alot of positive feedback outside Japan, or something like that. BTW, still gotta recommend Code Geass. I'm sure they have the whole series available on either crunchyroll or dubhappy.

DragonmasterDan · 08/15/2011, 03:39 PM

So I found the whole series of Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 rather cheaply, I didn't realize it's not the same as the 80s Bubblegum Crisis I watched when I was younger.

Has anyone seen this before? And any impressions of comments on this version?

td741 · 08/15/2011, 03:55 PM

Quote from: DragonmasterDan on 08/15/2011, 03:39 PMSo I found the whole series of Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 rather cheaply, I didn't realize it's not the same as the 80s Bubblegum Crisis I watched when I was younger.

Has anyone seen this before? And any impressions of comments on this version?

I've watched the whole series a while back. It's sort of a re-imagining of the original. It almost hints as being a sequel as there is something said in an episode that could be interpreted as such...

My vague recollection is that the show gets intriguing and interesting for the first half. I seem to remember not liking the second half. The turning-point/plot twist half-way sort of killed the series for me... YMMV.

Oh, and the music that played a large part of the original series is not present here... ;)

DragonmasterDan · 08/15/2011, 04:50 PM

Quote from: td741 on 08/15/2011, 03:55 PMOh, and the music that played a large part of the original series is not present here... ;)

I have a strange campy fondness for the 80s stylle the "BIG CITY I WANNA HURRICANE" from the original series.

SignOfZeta · 08/15/2011, 07:49 PM

That "new" BGC...it isn't actually bad, but it's as gutless as Tenchi Muyo. I consider it pointless.

ParanoiaDragon · 08/15/2011, 08:23 PM

I just finished up Magic Knight Rayearth Season 2. It was ok, got kinda boring at times. I'm just now starting up Gun X Sword. So far, liking that alot better! It's kinda serious, but not. I'd call it a Western Mecha series. Kinda reminds me slightly of Big O, which is a good thing, also reminds me a lil of Trigun, which is a REALLY good thing! I'm only 2 ep's in so far though.

16bit · 08/16/2011, 02:22 PM

I'll never forget seeing Akira for the first time in the late 80's, that pretty much sold me on the world of anime.

Here's a few that I've enjoyed through the years:

Demon City Shinjuku - Just a great mindless romp in a city full of demons, great action.
Black Magic M66 - This has become one of my favorite works of Masamune Shirow, starring a female android assassin with a license to kill.
Record of Lodoss War - The first series was pretty epic and unforgettable. It's like anime's nod to Dungeons & Dragons.
Berserk - One of the most insanely violent cartoons I've ever seen. Think that's bad? Read the manga...
Blue Gender - Contender for my favorite anime ever. Love the sci-fi feel of a desolate Earth overrun by giant bugs. Bugs you say? Bring out the mechs!
Devilman Lady - Surprisingly underrated, a model turns into the devil lady to fight monsters...and her own madness along the way.
Ergo Proxy - High quality sci-fi anime here.

And here are a few I'm considering buying in the near future...any advice on whether these are decent or not would be great!

Casshern Sins
Blassreiter
Heroic Age
Claymore

ParanoiaDragon · 08/17/2011, 03:17 AM

Ergo Proxy...I have that one, maybe I'll watch that after Gun x Sword.

DragonmasterDan · 09/02/2011, 03:30 PM

I picked up the whole series of Blue Seed cheaply, is it any good? I also picked up all the Cowboy Bebop sessions, back in the mid 2000s they frequently served as background noise to late night gaming and net surfing, I've never sat and watched them all the way through.

_Paul · 09/02/2011, 05:22 PM

I don't know about Blue Seed but you'll not regret Bebop.

SignOfZeta · 09/02/2011, 05:51 PM

Background noise? That's offensive. That's one of the last good TV anime...and its really good.

DragonmasterDan · 09/02/2011, 06:41 PM

Quote from: SignOfZeta on 09/02/2011, 05:51 PMBackground noise? That's offensive. That's one of the last good TV anime...and its really good.

I would stay up very late at night and leave it on in the background. I watched Lupin, and FLCL a bit, Watched Big O. Cowboy Bebop for one reason or another I never got into, probably because I didn't get to watch the episodes in order.

DragonmasterDan · 06/27/2012, 11:18 AM

I figured I'd revive this thread.

I just finished watching the whole series of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

I may go on and watch the movie sequel next.

Has anyone else been watching any Anime lately?

Ji-L87 · 06/27/2012, 12:05 PM

Probably more than I can remember. I had an anime all nighter with a pair of friends last weekend, which we usually do every other friday, and we finished GitS: SAC 2. Seemed they didn't enjoy it as much as I did, but hawkeyed as they were, they also pointed out some flaws and agree with them. But then again, watching a show with someone else is a different experience than watching it alone.
I'm finding my suggestions for other shows vetoed though, and it seems shorter stuff is out of the question most of the time. Which is too bad, since I absolutely love me some easy to go through OVAs.

As for newer stuff, nothing right now. I followed Upotte! and Eureka Seven AO but the first one ended with a meh and the other I sort of dropped. I was reminded why I didn't like the first Eureka SeveN all that much and I sort of miss the funky underground-vibe.

Oh and Nadia, I was watching that some year ago but stopped...maybe halfway through? I just remember how the show turned all drama and I was having none of that

Still, production values are pretty good. I guess that's Gainax for ya.

SignOfZeta · 06/27/2012, 12:55 PM

Nadia slows down in the middle...a LOT. Back in the day the fan subbers actually skipped a bunch of the "island episodes" because they are so boring and contribute little to the worth of the series. The ending is AMAZING though, so I recommend people stick with it. The movie though, is just garbage. You can skip that.

Lately I've been watching Space Brothers, which can been seen for free on Crunchy Roll. It's really good! For people who want something that isn't just pure shonen retred, check this out. The best show I've seen in a long time. It's a near future setting with two brothers that want to be astronauts. One already is, the other decides to go for it a bit latter in life after problems with his career.

Recently Gundam Unicorn 5 came out and things got pretty exciting with that show again, probably the best episode yet. The series has now been extended to 7 episodes total, so it will be finished in...2013. The only OVA I can think of that took longer to make this many episodes was Giant Robo: The Animation, and even then it wasn't actually planned that way, this is. I don't know of this series will turn out to be as good as GR, but it is pretty damned good.

Arkhan Asylum · 06/27/2012, 12:56 PM

SAILOR MOON.

Nando · 06/27/2012, 01:04 PM

Persona 4

Tiger & Bunny

DragonmasterDan · 06/27/2012, 01:16 PM

Quote from: SignOfZeta on 06/27/2012, 12:55 PMNadia slows down in the middle...a LOT. Back in the day the fan subbers actually skipped a bunch of the "island episodes" because they are so boring and contribute little to the worth of the series. The ending is AMAZING though, so I recommend people stick with it. The movie though, is just garbage. You can skip that.

I went through all the Island episodes, and the pointless trip to Africa before reaching the end. While those episodes were pretty much filler I at least got some entertainment value out of it. So maybe I'll enjoy the movie.

Have you seen the 10 Omake shorts?

SignOfZeta · 06/27/2012, 01:32 PM

Quote from: DragonmasterDan on 06/27/2012, 01:16 PMI went through all the Island episodes, and the pointless trip to Africa before reaching the end. While those episodes were pretty much filler I at least got some entertainment value out of it. So maybe I'll enjoy the movie.

Probably not. The island episodes were at least part of the original production. The movie is just some after the fact garbage with zero inspiration where basically nothing cool or interesting happens. I have a mook that shows some pre-production art that is really great, but nothing in the actual movie is good.

QuoteHave you seen the 10 Omake shorts?

I have. IIRC they aren't on the US DVD, but they are available online. I barely remember what they were, but I don't remember them being anything worth tracking down.

DragonmasterDan · 06/27/2012, 01:36 PM

Quote from: SignOfZeta on 06/27/2012, 01:32 PMI have. IIRC they aren't on the US DVD, but they are available online. I barely remember what they were, but I don't remember them being anything worth tracking down.

I found them entertaining enough, they were really just there to provide some background knowledge about the series.

munchiaz · 06/27/2012, 01:52 PM

Ive def fallen out of the loop when it comes to anime. I used to really be in to it, but time is really tight and i prefer my other hobbies. But here is a list of some of my favs that i think you guys should watch

Now and then, here and there (OVA short but really good and emotional)
Berserk (series. Great but has a lame ending and will make u want to start reading the manga)
Gundam 0080 war in a pocket (OVA. Really interesting Gundam story that is told from the perspective of a young boy)

420GOAT · 06/27/2012, 01:58 PM

violence jack is cool.

djcouchycouch · 06/27/2012, 02:08 PM

I've been watching Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope) and Kyouka lately. Pretty light fare, but not bad so far.

geise · 06/27/2012, 02:42 PM

Green Legend Ran and Lensman. I finally broke down and captured my old streamline vhs copy of Lensman. Titan A.E. is a total rip-off. Green Legend Ran is a huge favorite of mine that really gets overlooked. My wife and I finished Hakkenden. I have always loved that series. I still only have it on vhs. There's a ton of really great old anime I have that never got re-released on DVD.

SignOfZeta · 06/27/2012, 02:50 PM

I have the US LD of Lensman. It's really good, and dual language, but it lacks any kind of subtitles which is a drag when other people who haven't seen it 500 times are watching it with me. Robot Carnival is the same way.

I also have the US Green Legend Ran LD box that came with the t-shirt and bonus stuff. I remember being a little disappointed with this show when it was new, but when I re-watched it recently I couldn't remember what my gripe was. It's actually pretty good, and I love the music. It's pretty impressive for how low the budget must have been on a 6800 yen Pioneer OVA.

DragonmasterDan · 06/27/2012, 03:05 PM

I've only seen the Harmony Gold Lensman, is the Streamline dub any beter?

SignOfZeta · 06/27/2012, 03:09 PM

I've never seen the Harmony Gold version. It might be the same one.

All of Streemline's dubs were very good from the perspective of writing and timing and acting. The problem with them was always the script changes and horrible audio quality. Overall, I'd rather have a Streemline's dub than that French Canadian shit they have on TV now.

Overall though, dubs are basically for illiterate retards.

EDIT: ...and children under the age of 10.

DragonmasterDan · 06/27/2012, 03:15 PM

Quote from: SignOfZeta on 06/27/2012, 03:09 PMI've never seen the Harmony Gold version. It might be the same one.

All of Streemline's dubs were very good from the perspective of writing and timing and acting. The problem with them was always the script changes and horrible audio quality. Overall, I'd rather have a Streemline's dub than that French Canadian shit they have on TV now.

Overall though, dubs are basically for illiterate retards.

I'm unaware of a subtitled version of Lensman, that was kind of why I was asking.

SignOfZeta · 06/27/2012, 03:17 PM

Yeah, most (all?) US anime LDs that have dual language also have either Closed Captions or the same program on another side with hard subs. The exception is Streamline. At least they included the JP track at all.

The other nice thing is that Streamline's LDs were all made by Lumavision, and they are very high quality overall. Compare this to, say, the stuff from AD Vision which is just garbage.

ParanoiaDragon · 06/27/2012, 09:39 PM

I'm still watching Naruto Shippuden. Make fun of me if ya'll want, but I love that show. I was watching Dragon Ball Z Kai, but it didn't finish the Frieza Saga, it started all over again, so I went & bought the first 2 seasons on Bluray. I picked up the recent Marvel Anime stuff, but haven't watched them yet. We did watch Trigun Badlands, though I was pretty tired, so I didn't get much out of it. I've thought about watching shows like Bleach & One Piece, but haven't motivated myself, especially in regards to One Piece, I really do not like the character designs. So, I've been watching Green Lantern, Young Justice, & Avenger's Earth's Mightiest Heroes lately. They aren't anime, but they're great shows. Oh, & I just finished the first season of the new Thundercats. That's kinda anime, as I believe it was mostly made in Japan.

SignOfZeta · 06/27/2012, 09:43 PM

The old Thundercats was made mostly in Japan, I'm not sure if any anime is made mostly in Japan now except the Ghibli stuff and occasionally some big-time stuff like Oshii.

ParanoiaDragon · 06/28/2012, 01:19 AM

Ok, looks like it's half anime, "animation provided by the Japanese Studio 4°C" according to Wikipedia.

Ji-L87 · 06/28/2012, 02:32 AM

Quote from: SignOfZeta on 06/27/2012, 09:43 PMThe old Thundercats was made mostly in Japan, I'm not sure if any anime is made mostly in Japan now except the Ghibli stuff and occasionally some big-time stuff like Oshii.

Yeah, outsourcing sucks big time. Well, the good thing is that those guys in other countries get to level up their skills, but the backside of that is that those in Japan don't. I think the industry could use another wave of enthusiastic, overambitious youngsters who just want to go flipping bananas with a stack of paper and left over cels just to prove what they can do.

Well, I know there's a few of those guys out there but...

SignOfZeta · 06/28/2012, 03:33 AM

Well, without outsourcing we never would have had the original Thundercats in the first place, or Orbots, or GI Joe, or Transformers, Ulysses, The Last Unicorn, etc etc.

The next wave will, hopefully, be Koreans. They basically do all the 2D animation in the world at this point, and yet create virtually nothing for themselves.

NightWolve · 06/28/2012, 03:56 AM

ThunderCats = Made in Japan? Huh, didn't know that one. Loved the show as a kid - I can still remember ole Mumm-Ra's transformation routine and his laugh. ;)

Ji-L87 · 06/28/2012, 07:17 AM

Quote from: NightWolve on 06/28/2012, 03:56 AMThunderCats = Made in Japan? Huh, didn't know that one. Loved the show as a kid - I can still remember ole Mumm-Ra's transformation routine and his laugh. ;)

The opening and ending theme is still so awesome, I wish I had it on CD.

Digi.k · 06/28/2012, 09:52 AM

I am liking fairy tale anime a lot..

can get some good stuff on here

http://www.animecrazy.net/

Quite enjoying Saint Seiya Omega show too

SignOfZeta · 06/28/2012, 01:34 PM

Quote from: NightWolve on 06/28/2012, 03:56 AMThunderCats = Made in Japan? Huh, didn't know that one. Loved the show as a kid - I can still remember ole Mumm-Ra's transformation routine and his laugh. ;)

Like much of 80s toy cartoons the concepts, character design, direction, scripts, voice recording, etc where American, but the grunt work was done in Japan because the artists there could work for nothing and yet still draw on model. Japan was the Korea of the 80s. The same studio that did Thundercats also did The Last Unicorn, the Hobbit cartoons, and even Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind.

I just now found a great website detailing this:

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/fedgrame/english.htm

DragonmasterDan · 06/29/2012, 08:57 AM

I went through and watched the Nadia movie. It certainly didn't add anything to the series, but it wasn't terrible either. I'm going to finally finish watching the rest of the Cowboy Bebop episodes.

Ji-L87 · 06/29/2012, 09:42 AM

Quote from: DragonmasterDan on 06/29/2012, 08:57 AMI went through and watched the Nadia movie. It certainly didn't add anything to the series, but it wasn't terrible either. I'm going to finally finish watching the rest of the Cowboy Bebop episodes.

Greatness. The Cowboy Bebop movie is also well worth checking out.

DragonmasterDan · 06/29/2012, 10:16 AM

Quote from: Ji-L87 on 06/29/2012, 09:42 AM
Quote from: DragonmasterDan on 06/29/2012, 08:57 AMI went through and watched the Nadia movie. It certainly didn't add anything to the series, but it wasn't terrible either. I'm going to finally finish watching the rest of the Cowboy Bebop episodes.
Greatness. The Cowboy Bebop movie is also well worth checking out.

I've seen the movie already

bartre · 07/01/2012, 11:09 PM

i went on a binge this weekend and pretty much rewatched 2 of my favorite animes - higurashi no naku kor ni and gungrave.
any thoughts on those two?

xcrement5x · 07/03/2012, 02:38 PM

I recently finished watching Legend of Galactic Heroes which was amazing. Super long though at around 110 episodes for an OVA.

This is the time of year I like to watch Summer Wars though, that's a great movie.

geise · 07/03/2012, 02:48 PM

I've been watching a lot of Osama Tezuka's (father of anime) stuff lately. Pulled out the ol' vhs collection I have and watched some Legend of the Forest.

DragonmasterDan · 07/30/2012, 09:56 AM

I finally saw Galaxy Express 999 the movie, I enjoyed it. I am going to watch Adieu Galaxy Express 999 sometime soon.

SignOfZeta · 07/30/2012, 06:45 PM

The first two moves are so so good. The ending of the second one was quite amazing. One of the characters has a change if heart and the results...

Seriously, that 70s shit is like Wagner meets The Cure. So powerful.

PunkCryborg · 07/30/2012, 08:22 PM

Hokuto no Ken!

Burnt Lasagna · 07/30/2012, 09:16 PM

Anyone here seen the anime movie Windaria (1986)?
I watched it once with my brother randomly. We wanted to watch a movie but we didn't know what, so he literally took out his external HDD with a crap tone of random anime on it and picked with his eyes closed and Windaria was the lucky winner.

It was actually a fantastic movie! I highly recommend it, but not the American release Windaria - Once Upon a Time . From what I hear that was completely re-written and re-edited to be a completely different movie. Fan subbed Japanese laser disk's are the only way to go.

Ji-L87 · 08/03/2012, 06:59 AM

I think I remember hearing about it in one of Anime News Network's podcasts - other than that, don't know much. Maybe I'll check it out if I can find it.

I just picked up a whole bunch of LDs, among them the music video for On Your Mark by Ghibli. Short but sweet - as they say. I need to try and record this on DVD and show my friends

DragonmasterDan · 08/03/2012, 12:33 PM

Quote from: Burnt Lasagna on 07/30/2012, 09:16 PMAnyone here seen the anime movie Windaria (1986)?
I watched it once with my brother randomly. We wanted to watch a movie but we didn't know what, so he literally took out his external HDD with a crap tone of random anime on it and picked with his eyes closed and Windaria was the lucky winner.

It was actually a fantastic movie! I highly recommend it, but not the American release Windaria - Once Upon a Time . From what I hear that was completely re-written and re-edited to be a completely different movie. Fan subbed Japanese laser disk's are the only way to go.

I've not seen it, but I'll put it on my list to check out!