Do you like anime?

[Chain Lightning]

Yeah, there's a lot of cool Anime out there, but a lot of it that actually makes it to either tv or your local Suncoast Video/Best Buy is indeed crap.

The Japanese have the same problems Americans do. Clueless corporate types who have too much power making decisions on things they don't know anything about.

But the Japanese IMHO, are ahead of us in the race to squeeze a few cool animation projects out pass the corporate dummies.

In America, as far as serious action/adventure....we only have Batman, Batman Beyond, and JLA.

In Japan, you got a whole lot more to pick from.

Here's some good ones that I think are worth looking into.

-JoJo's Bizarre Adventures : if you don't mind some odd costume choices and character names, this six episode OVA is awesome. The concept of the 'stands' are extremely cool, I haven't seen anything like it in fantasy. And not only is the concept cool, the fights and they way the characters use their powers are well written and animated very well. Too bad its not officially out in the U.S. However, certain specialty shops and/or conventions may be selling the Hong Kong DVD set. Make sure you get the original six episodes and not the re-make that's also out. Ask the store keeper or vendor which is which.

-Berserk : first two DVDs are out right now. In fact, I picked them up at Best Buys. This I think is a must for D&D players. The main character is a Berserker, and you get a glimpse of him in what must be his higher levels (to make a gaming analogy) in the first episodes. Then after that it flashes back to how he got there. Some of the mercenary atmosphere reminds me a tiny bit of Black Company. But only a tiny bit. So far, the only thing non-anime watchers might be turned off about is Griffith, the leader of the mercenary band. He falls into the category of effeminate pretty boy Anime characters. But its well done here I think and not at all like in the "X" movie. To the rest of us veteran Anime watchers, its par for the course.

-Perfect Blue : good thriller. About a pop singer who decides to quit the group she's in and go for an acting career. An obsessed fan then enters and starts causing trouble. This is a weird one. Some viewers didn't like because they really watch anime for a fantasy/sci-fi fix and Perfect Blue is set in the modern world. No robots, magical swords, demons, etc. A friend of mine said that he didn't like it because they could've just filmed it all live-action and it wouldn't have mattered. To me....maybe, but its beautifully animated regardless and still a good story. It shows that Anime can be adult, mature, and a little artsy.

-Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind an older Miyazaki film. Old but still really good. Can't get it in America though. But Hong Kong has a Studio Gibli DVD set that has all the Miyazaki stuff in it. Including this film and others. Which I recommend too. Films like Laputa: Castle in the Sky.

-Ninja Scroll : originally called "Wind Ninja Chronicles". Avoid the English dub like the plague. It totally changes the cool dialogue in order to meet the lip sync. Like who cares? I'd rather have the lips be a little off if I can at least get the original intent and inflection in the true dialogue. Watch this one subtitled. That's almost a rule of thumb. Except for Beserk. That dub is actually pretty good. Anyways, this movie is awesome....if you don't like it....then there is no hope of turning you into an Anime fan.

-Giant Robo : another one where you gotta avoid the English dub. Which, I think you weren't able to do for a while. But I think there's a new version on the shelf somewhere that gives you the option of hearing the original Japanese w/subtitles. That's the way to go.

-Record of Lodoss War: another must for D&D fans. But its writing isn't really the strongest from the anime line. This one rises above that to us D&D guys because simply, its soooo D&D. I heard its based off the creators D&D campaign and that he approached whom ever owned D&D at the time if it was okay if he did a cartoon that used their setting. But I also heard he got refused. So he tweaked the names and setting I guess and gave us this. I mean really, before the live action LOTR:FOTR came out what did D&D fans watch to get 'in the mood'? That's right, "Conan the Barbarian". And what else? That's pretty much it. At that point we had to resort to B-Movies like "Beastmaster" and "Kull the Conquerer" or watch cheezy "Xena" episodes. Or watch lackluster specials done by Hallmark. Thank goodness there was some Anime there for us in the meantime.

If you check out Lodoss War, make sure you check out the original. I hear the re-make is not so good.

That's another strike on Japanese anime, they remake their series so fast. I guess its to make one an OVA and the remake a TV show. I think, not sure. Anyways, it always make us think they got a sequel coming , but its not.....its a remake. Ugh.

Anyways, not all anime is bad. There are gems in there. To some asking around on the web, your local store, or whatever.


Anyways, I love anime.

Some of my favorites are:

Gundam: War in the Pocket
Gundam: Stardust Memories
Star Blazers or Space Cruiser Yamato
Macross Plus
Goldenboy
Jojo's Bizarre Adventures
Ninja Scroll or Wind Ninja Chronicles
Record of Lodoss War
Legend of Arislan (one of those that is guilty of having no ending)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (which is good, but I think over rated)
El-Hazard
Ping Pong Club
Fatal Fury (the first two specials and the movie)
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Nausicca
Princess Mononoke
Pat Labor (the tv series)

 

[Tsyr]

Regarding the Record of the Lodoss War remake...

The "Remake" (Record of the Lodoss War: Chronicals of the Heroic Knight) is a remake of the second half of the original Record of the Lodoss War OAV. The original OAV deviated fairly heavily (Basicly it re-wrote entierely) the true events that transpired during that time... The second series was an attempt to fix that. IMO, if you see the original then watch the remake, as soon as you can get over that what the original showed you was "wrong" insofar as the original story goes, it's a great show.

And this is similar to many remakes in anime... For example, X. X was originaly a manga (Comic book) that ran in CLAMP... Then they made a movie of it, because it was so popular. Only problem was, the manga wasn't even finished when they made the movie! And a lot of people were really disapointed with the movie anyways, even aside from that. So recently, X was remade as a 24 episode TV series, which is (IMO) much better.

For the record, and for anyone looking for some anime to watch, here is what I consider my current "top 10" anime.

1) Hikaru No Go - Not for wuxia monkies or anything, but a great show with some incredible character development.

2) Ranma - Ranma probably shouldn't be quite this high on the list, but Ranma 1/2 was the first anime I ever saw in the original japanese, many years ago. It will always hold a special place in my heart.

3) .hack//sign - Anyone who has ever played an online roleplaying game (Diablo, Evercrack, whatever) should watch this. Some amazing music and some great suspense, with some interesting characters to boot. Eva fans should check this out too, got some of the same wierdness.

4) Record of the Lodoss War - This one has been covered enough, but I'll give it my nod.

5) Seikai no Senki - This is really a series... it starts as Crest of the Stars (The only part of the series out in America thus far), and continues with a couple other series afterwords. This is great Sci-Fi anime, without being too obscene in the tech levels. It gets better after the first season, really, but the first season is good too. Some very interesting human/demi-human relations and attitudes are portrayed within. The closest american shows I can compare it to are Space - Above and Beyond, or maybe Babylon 5.

6) Noir - Trying to explain Noir, like trying to explain .hack//sign, would probably do it a disservice. See it.

7) Gundam: 08th MS Team - Not your usual Gundam series, IMO. It's not really world shaking, for example, it's just a story of some soldiers doing their job, at least on the surface. Very well animated (Best of the Gundams so far), fairly mature (Again, one of the better of the Gundams in that respect), and has a GREAT ending, which is not something I can say for a lot of Gundams (I gag on Wing's whole "Total pacafism" bit). I hold this up as an example of a mecha series done right. It's also shorter than most other Gundams, at a mere 12 (13? I think 12, but...) episodes.

8) The Rurouni Kenshin OAVs - Called Samurai X here *shudder*, this two-disc series (First disc is Trust, the second is Betrayal) is one of the best animes I have ever seen. This is one of the anime I pull out when I'm trying to convince people that anime can do a serious plot without resorting to Dragonball-Z level fight scenes, have a good plot, a good romance, and best of all, STILL be a fun show to watch. If you have only seen the TV series or movie, do yourself a favor and pick this set up. It's a LOT different in tone (The movie and TV series are half comedy half serious... this has no comedy whatsoever), and IMO better.

9) Magic Users Club - Comedy. Yeah, there is a couple of serious "meta plots" tieing the entire series together, but the show is by and large comedy. A friend described it as "Tenchi Muyo meets Harry Potter", and that's a pretty good description... if you havn't seen Tenchi Muyo, insert any other highschool comedy anime. Might be a neat inspiration for a D20 Modern game.

10) Hakkenden: Legend of the Dog Warriors - I can't say anything that would really explain what Hakkenden is in just a paragraph... But, briefly, it's a fantasy film set in a feudal Japan... deals alot with supernatural elements. It's a serious show, not comedy. But be warned: It's slow. There are a lot of elements that might be disconcerting if you aren't familiar with some basic elements of Japanese culture. It's not for the... "casual" anime watcher, I guess.

 

[WattsHumphrey]

I think anime is sort of an aquired taste. There are as many genres of shows in anime as there are in normal tv/movies. I wouldn't by and large claim that all anime is great... or even worth watching. But that doesn't mean that I find hardly any American movies worth watching either.

Personally, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Magic Users Club, Irresponsible Captain Tylor, Slayers (The three series' are better than the movies), and Battle Athletes are among my favorites.

 

[Ashtal]

I hate to do this, but IIRC off-topic polls are banned.

Sorry folks.

For the record, I like anime, too.