WizarDru
Adventurer
Thanks to BitTorrent, we've been watching a lot of anime, lately. Here's what my current favorites are:
1) Gantz. For more details on this series, go to this thread here, where Scorch lays it all out. Not yet available in the US.
2) Witch Hunter Robin: A very X-files-ish show, Robin is the tale of a shadowy organizations hunting down 'witches', individuals with powerful psionic and sometimes superhuman abilties. Hidden agendas, the Ogham alphabet and uncertain allegiences abound as the main character tries to discover the truth about witches and the organizations that hunt them to 'protect' mankind. Very slow-paced, character driven series. Currently up to it's 5th volume in the US.
3) Gungrave: The astute may recognize the name as being a PS/2 game. Which came first? I have no idea. But this series, from the creator of Trigun, will suprise you. More than half the series has little to NO supernatural or fantastic elements, but instead is a crime drama...one that seems very reminiscent of John Woo's "A Better Tomrrow" series, in fact. Brandon Heat and Harry McDowel are determined to get out of the dead-end slums, one way or another. Join them as they climb their way through a criminal cartel...and then jump to the future to see the superheroic tale of revenge. Those of you who saw Beserk! and how it jumped into the past? Same deal here. And just like Beserk!, it's worth the trip.
4) Kaze no Yojimbo: Ostensibly a retelling of the Kurosawa tale "Yojimbo", but in a modern setting and with no Toshiro Mifune, I was very leery of this show. I expected to be underwhelmed, but instead found it to be an excellent show that captures the spirit of the original, sometimes very subtly and sometimes very obviously. Essentially, the core story is this: a mysterious stranger wanders into the small rural town of Kimujuku, looking for the engineer of a train that was part of a mysterious occurence 15 years ago. Said stranger George Kodama, walks into the middle of conflict between two rival gangs, vying for control of the town....a town with a dark past and plenty of secrets. Kaze no Yojimbo most closely resembles a more whimsical version of Twin Peaks, without the overdone weirdness. There is a tension here, and more than one mystery to solve. There are, or at least haven't been yet, any fantastic elements. This show probably could have been done as live action, although anime works just fine.
5) Samurai Champloo: Okay, I shouldn't have to say more than this: It's a samurai show by the makers of Cowboy Bebop. Two vagabonds, both deadly headstrong warriors with a sense of justice, find themselves coralled into a quest with an equally headstrong and gutsy young woman searching for the samura 'who smells like sunflowers'. If Bebop was the western mixed with Space opera, Champloo is the samurai movie mixed with hip-hop sensibility. Really. It's funny, with snappy dialogue and top of the line animation, and plenty of action to keep things moving.
6) Last Exile: Miyazaki meets Yamato, perhaps? Laputa was clearly a reference here, but this series stands on it's own. Giant airships, amazing dogfighting, excellent and interesting characters and a mystery-laden plot with lots of humor and emotion. This is what Gonzo was meant to do, IMHO. Unlike the ultimately unsatisfying Blue Sub #6, Last Exile never disappoints, and the cgi-integration is much, much better. Oh, and a kick-ass theme song and sountrack certainly never hurts. And the best part is that the soundtracks, I and II, are also available from Geneon, not just the videos. Anime Utopia!
That's the current batch. On deck (and waiting to be watched) are:
Gilgamesh (a tale of two siblings caught up in....a lot of things, really).
Galaxy Railways (Reiji Matsumoto gives us another view of the Galaxy Express)
Ultra Star God GranSezer (Yeah, yeah...it's a sentai show. But WHAT a show! not content with normal star gods, this one has ULTRA stargods. How about that, Huh? It's so fun, it's astounding. Really.)
1) Gantz. For more details on this series, go to this thread here, where Scorch lays it all out. Not yet available in the US.
2) Witch Hunter Robin: A very X-files-ish show, Robin is the tale of a shadowy organizations hunting down 'witches', individuals with powerful psionic and sometimes superhuman abilties. Hidden agendas, the Ogham alphabet and uncertain allegiences abound as the main character tries to discover the truth about witches and the organizations that hunt them to 'protect' mankind. Very slow-paced, character driven series. Currently up to it's 5th volume in the US.
3) Gungrave: The astute may recognize the name as being a PS/2 game. Which came first? I have no idea. But this series, from the creator of Trigun, will suprise you. More than half the series has little to NO supernatural or fantastic elements, but instead is a crime drama...one that seems very reminiscent of John Woo's "A Better Tomrrow" series, in fact. Brandon Heat and Harry McDowel are determined to get out of the dead-end slums, one way or another. Join them as they climb their way through a criminal cartel...and then jump to the future to see the superheroic tale of revenge. Those of you who saw Beserk! and how it jumped into the past? Same deal here. And just like Beserk!, it's worth the trip.
4) Kaze no Yojimbo: Ostensibly a retelling of the Kurosawa tale "Yojimbo", but in a modern setting and with no Toshiro Mifune, I was very leery of this show. I expected to be underwhelmed, but instead found it to be an excellent show that captures the spirit of the original, sometimes very subtly and sometimes very obviously. Essentially, the core story is this: a mysterious stranger wanders into the small rural town of Kimujuku, looking for the engineer of a train that was part of a mysterious occurence 15 years ago. Said stranger George Kodama, walks into the middle of conflict between two rival gangs, vying for control of the town....a town with a dark past and plenty of secrets. Kaze no Yojimbo most closely resembles a more whimsical version of Twin Peaks, without the overdone weirdness. There is a tension here, and more than one mystery to solve. There are, or at least haven't been yet, any fantastic elements. This show probably could have been done as live action, although anime works just fine.
5) Samurai Champloo: Okay, I shouldn't have to say more than this: It's a samurai show by the makers of Cowboy Bebop. Two vagabonds, both deadly headstrong warriors with a sense of justice, find themselves coralled into a quest with an equally headstrong and gutsy young woman searching for the samura 'who smells like sunflowers'. If Bebop was the western mixed with Space opera, Champloo is the samurai movie mixed with hip-hop sensibility. Really. It's funny, with snappy dialogue and top of the line animation, and plenty of action to keep things moving.
6) Last Exile: Miyazaki meets Yamato, perhaps? Laputa was clearly a reference here, but this series stands on it's own. Giant airships, amazing dogfighting, excellent and interesting characters and a mystery-laden plot with lots of humor and emotion. This is what Gonzo was meant to do, IMHO. Unlike the ultimately unsatisfying Blue Sub #6, Last Exile never disappoints, and the cgi-integration is much, much better. Oh, and a kick-ass theme song and sountrack certainly never hurts. And the best part is that the soundtracks, I and II, are also available from Geneon, not just the videos. Anime Utopia!
That's the current batch. On deck (and waiting to be watched) are:
Gilgamesh (a tale of two siblings caught up in....a lot of things, really).
Galaxy Railways (Reiji Matsumoto gives us another view of the Galaxy Express)
Ultra Star God GranSezer (Yeah, yeah...it's a sentai show. But WHAT a show! not content with normal star gods, this one has ULTRA stargods. How about that, Huh? It's so fun, it's astounding. Really.)
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It's current my newest favorite anime.
