General Anime Questions

[Villano]

Okay, I'm going to start this off by pointing out that, while I enjoy anime, I'm far from an expert. I own sveral movies, but don't collect series (although I do own Record Of Lodoss War). Most of my anime series experience comes from Cartoon Network, Sci-Fi Channel, and the shows, like Robotech and Starblazers, that aired when I was a kid.

So, in other words, sorry if these questions are dumb and obvious and everyone knows them but me.

First, when an anime series becomes a hit and a sequel is launched, I've noticed that the new series sometimes has a letter at the end.

For example, Dragonball begat Dragonball Z begat Dragonball GT. Also, I think Sailor Moon did the same with "S", "R", etc. I've seen others with "W"s and other letters.

Do the letters actually stand for anything?

Secondly, more than a few anime have 3-eyed characters in them. Is there a "real" mythic race that this is base upon, or is it just a general "3rd eye denotes wisdom" thing?

That last bit I'm wonder about because of an OA idea I'm thinking about...

 

[Rhialto]

All right, I CAN answer with the Dragonball questions...

"Z" stands for "Zen"--or so I've been told...

"GT" stands for Grand Tour.

Also, Dragonball GT is the red headed stepchild of the series, made without the creator's consent, and (or so I hear) an absolutely soulless, created by comittee monstrosity....

 

[Viking Bastard]

I've wondered about the letter thing myself, but never bothered to ask.

Also, are alle anime series self-contained, as in, a limited series
with a beginning, middle and an end ala Cowboy Bebop or RoLW
or are some ongoing? If so, which are what.

I'm sorry I don't have anything to contribute.

 

[WayneLigon]

Some anime series are self-contained, like long mini-series. Some (Like Ranma) have a more open-ended approach. Sometimes a series will simply end; either it was cancelled or (more usually the case) more of it exists but hasn't come to this country; either it did not sell well here, or the rest of it isn't available.

Note that some anime series are TV shows, while others may have been mini-series or theatrical releases. Original Animation Video (OAV) is a term often seen; it refers to direct-to-video (not usually the connotation of 'poor quality' we're used to from that term) or a series.

Something to keep in mind: Let us say we have an anime called Series X. Series X's theatrical release, OAVs, and TV show(s) (there will often be all three) may or may not share the same characters, continuity, animation style or... anything else. Different releases of a series (say, for video and laserdisk, back in the day) may not be the same. If you have fan-subtitled tapes (often taped from TV and then subtitled by people with computer editing) and want the series on DVD you may notice differences; sometimes studios will go back and clean up or edit animation for a release.

Some studios will edit out specific Japanese pop-culture references and make substitutions.

Some series will have 'eyecatches'; those little things in a TV series that say 'now is time for commercial' and 'now we're back' - even though in a movie there is no need for it. They're in there because they're cool

Something else to keep in mind, though you'll encounter this problem more rarely: in Japan, Series X may have any or all of the following: a tv show, a movie, one or more OAVs, novels, comics, or other forms of media associated with it. All of them flow from one to the other; a OAV may be made from X and Y parts of Novel # 7 with elements of Manga series #2 So, sometimes it's confusing.

Anime Primer, with recommendations

And just to make you cry, here's a list of anime TV shows, most of which we'll never see

TV List

 

[Pirotess]

I'll take a stab at this since I've been into anime since Star Blazers was on TV in the 70s.

When an anime series becomes a hit, it is not uncommon to have a follow up series. Usually the new title will be the old title with some extra stuff added on. Examples of this are Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon S, Slayers Next, or Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.

An extra letter could actually stand for something, or just be a way to tell the series apart.

I can't help you on the third eye question. I have seen a few anime involving characters with a third eye, but I do not know if their is any basis in Japanese mythos for such a thing.

Not all anime series are self contained, limited series. Many popular anime series are episodic in nature and can run for years with the same title.

Self contained with beginning, middle, & end.
Cowboy Bebop (kind of, is mostly episodic but has a great ending)
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Space Battleship Yamato (aka Star Blazers)
Super Dimension Fortress Macross
Record of Lodoss War

Episodic
Ranma 1/2 (130 or so episodes)
Urusei Yatsura (nearly 200 episodes)
Pokemon

Most of the anime I like are the shorter series with an overall story spanning the episodes.

As an aside, 3 of the finest animated films ever made (Japanese or otherwise) are being released on DVD in the USA this week. I suggest you give them a look.

Castle in the Sky
Kiki's Delivery Service
Spirited Away

Hope this helps!

 

[Pants]

I've often seen the 3-eye associated with either enlightenment or godhood. Point in case, Tien (Ten, Tenshinhan, whatever ) from DBZ was based off a 3 eyed sun god from the Chinese story, 'Journey to the West.' I'm not too positive about the last part, but that is what I've been told.

 

[jdavis]

Well I don't know but I'll point you in the direction of people who do: http://www.animenation.com/ (the "ask John" section is pretty good at answering questions).

I've been watching and collecting anime for 15 years and I found that it's just easiest to accept things as "that's just the way they do it" and enjoy the shows.

 

[Black Omega]

I've been watching and collecting anime for 15 years and I found that it's just easiest to accept things as "that's just the way they do it" and enjoy the shows.

The very first class I took of Japanese, the instructor said something to the effect of "You'll wonder why some things are done the way they are. Don't constantly ask 'Why?'. Just accept that this is how it is done and the class will go faster.'

 

[Villano]

Well I don't know but I'll point you in the direction of people who do: http://www.animenation.com/ (the "ask John" section is pretty good at answering questions).

I've been watching and collecting anime for 15 years and I found that it's just easiest to accept things as "that's just the way they do it" and enjoy the shows.

Thanks. I looked at the Ask John archieves and actually found an answer to the letters in the title question:

To be honest, I`m not entirely certain why anime shows get single Western letters after their titles to denote new series. As far as I know, in many cases, the letters stand for something, but in other cases, I think it`s simply a case of tradition. I suspect that the single letters originally came from a simple desire to be stylish while differentiating one series from the next. Just off the top of my head, I can come up with a bunch of examples: Saber Marionette R, J and J to X, Gundam Z and ZZ, Gundam X, G Gundam, Gundam W, V Gundam, Dragonball Z & GT, Sailormoon R, S & SS, Cutey Honey F, Street Fighter 2 V, Burn-Up W and Burn Up X. Most of these letters actually stand for something, such as Victory Gundam, Cutey Honey Flash and Burn-Up Excess. As a side note, none of the Slayers animation actually has single letters attached to its titles. The Slayers soundtracks all used single letter abbreviations of the full movie titles.

So, I guess the answer is "sometimes it means something and other times it doesn't".

When John comes back from vacation, I'll have to ask about the 3-eye thing.

 

[Syunsuke]

About 3-eye thing;
I don't know very well, but there are a lot of 3-eyed statues or images of Buddhism or Hinduism. (These two religion adopt their deties or saints@each other in many case.)

Is there a "real" mythic race that this is base upon, or is it just a general "3rd eye denotes wisdom" thing?

I don't think there are real mythic "races", but mythologies about s-eyed (or 4-eyed) individuals do exist.

They are mostly Chinese or Indian mythologies, I think.
(Dragon Ball and 3*3 eyes are (vaguely) based on Chinese/Indian mythologies.)
So, when we (well, I'm Japanese) see 3-eyed people in Anime, we likely to assume they have some background related to China/India/Buddhism/Hinduism.



About "X,Z,R,S,GT,ZZ..." thing;

Yes, sometimes it means something...
Some people think "series name R" "series name W" or "series name SS" sound better than "series name 2" "series name 3" or such.
For Gundams, each series vary greatly in many aspect, so calling them as 1.2.3... isn't good idea, I think.