what anime should I start collecting?

[zug_zug]

Yep I second Bebop. As someone said its anime for non anime afficiandos. Deftly twists the hardboiled dectective/sci-fi adventure/comedic ensemble genres and mixes it into a hip series.

Best points IMHO:
1.Avoids alot of the adolescent angst/oversentimentality prevelent in so much of Japanese anime.

2. Has great writing, plots, and style. (There are a few clunker episodes, but very few)

3. Characters that are multi layered, by turns selfish, noble, base, greedy.

4. Set in a wonderful setting both familiar and strange.

5. Great music.

And the movie rocks-interested in the English version. I really like the English voice cast.

But thats just my opinion.

 

[AuroraGyps]

Two of my favorites are Ghost in the Shell (the soundtrack is really good too) and Project A-ko in the original Japanese. Ghost is a great Cyberpunky flick and A-ko is just SOOOO funny & ridiculous (B-ko is my fav "A-ko... A-KO!!!! ").

 

[jdavis]

I'm not a big fan of anime but I do like Hack//Sign. It's a really cool series and has a sort of DnD feel to it.

DC

Yea it's the D&D we would all be playing if virtual reality comes around. I didn't care for it at first but I've been hooked by it too (if I only had a Playstation 2 so I could check out the games)

 

[Alzrius]

5. Great music.

Yoko Kanno did the production for the music. Her stuff tends to virtually always be noteworthy.

And the movie rocks-interested in the English version. I really like the English voice cast.

But thats just my opinion.

This summed up my feelings on the English voice-acting for the movie: http://animenation.net/news/askjohn.php?id=694

 

[zug_zug]

I think you make some good points. It is strange that anime unlike foreign movies are not subtitled. Its now seen as wrong to dub foreign cinema. In that respect, anime is about a decade "behind' movies I guess. Maybe its because anime is percieved by the powers that be that its an adolescent genre.

For me personally, Spike doesnt come across as a playboy. There is something of a sense of anarchy in him, and he can be flippant in the face of authority and danger. But it seems his dark side is just under the surface. Like all the other characters, except maybe for Edward, he isnt really cant be defined in one adjective, there are many sides to his personality-which is a testament to the series IMHO.

Jet does come across as a little whiney however, LOL.

 

[Alzrius]

I think you make some good points. It is strange that anime unlike foreign movies are not subtitled. Its now seen as wrong to dub foreign cinema. In that respect, anime is about a decade "behind' movies I guess. Maybe its because anime is percieved by the powers that be that its an adolescent genre.

Forgive me for saying this, but what the hell are you talking about???

I'd say that roughly around a good 90% of the anime you can find nowadays has a subtitled version available for retail sale. This is especially true thanks to DVDs. Only a few companies, such as Manga Entertainment, tend to offer anime with no subtitled version/option available. More than any other foreign film, anime comes subtitled often. It is leading other foreign cinema by a decade easily (how many old hong kong films can you find subtitled, for example?).

 

[Skade]

They talk about both cowboys and bebop in a couple episodes, but they're just throwaway lines, so we never get a clear explanation of the show's title (still, that's more than many other anime shows, like Neon Genesis Evangelion).

The terms cowboy and bebop are "explained" in the commercial breaks, the intro and to a small degree on the back of the first DVD. You have to pause the disc unless you have really quick eyes, but you an read little snippets of an article about a new style of music built around the new generation, whose life was in the stars.

 

[jdavis]

Forgive me for saying this, but what the hell are you talking about???

I'd say that roughly around a good 90% of the anime you can find nowadays has a subtitled version available for retail sale. This is especially true thanks to DVDs. Only a few companies, such as Manga Entertainment, tend to offer anime with no subtitled version/option available. More than any other foreign film, anime comes subtitled often. It is leading other foreign cinema by a decade easily (how many old hong kong films can you find subtitled, for example?).

I have to agree with this, Anime has always been released with subtitled versions and every piece of Anime I have on DVD runs as either dub or subtitled. Even when I started heavily collecting anime in the early 90's there were almost always two versions on video, the dubbed version and the subtitled version, you just got the one you wanted, not having a subtitled verson available was pretty rare. Anime has always been ahead oo the curve in this. Unlike foriegn movies anime has a fairly wide acceptance in America (anime makes as much money in America as it does in Japan now), the dubbed versions are getting better as the voice acting talent involved gets better and companies are willing to put some money into getting the dub right. Early anime dubs were terrible, some were so off they completly changed the meaning of what was going on, but new dubs are much better and some are very good.

Not being a purist I tend to go with the dub because it's easier to watch that way. The great thing about DVD is that you can watch the Dub and the subtitled versions without having to buy it twice.

 

[Sixchan]

I have to agree with this, Anime has always been released with subtitled versions and every piece of Anime I have on DVD runs as either dub or subtitled. Even when I started heavily collecting anime in the early 90's there were almost always two versions on video, the dubbed version and the subtitled version, you just got the one you wanted, not having a subtitled verson available was pretty rare. Anime has always been ahead oo the curve in this. Unlike foriegn movies anime has a fairly wide acceptance in America (anime makes as much money in America as it does in Japan now), the dubbed versions are getting better as the voice acting talent involved gets better and companies are willing to put some money into getting the dub right. Early anime dubs were terrible, some were so off they completly changed the meaning of what was going on, but new dubs are much better and some are very good.

Not being a purist I tend to go with the dub because it's easier to watch that way. The great thing about DVD is that you can watch the Dub and the subtitled versions without having to buy it twice.

I think he may have been referring to TV. Most every Oriental film that I've seen on TV lately has been subtitled, rather than dubbed. The only subtitled animes I've seen on TV were Overfiend 3 and Adventure Duo (both are pornos, incidentally).

I prefer the original Japanese myself, because often I just can't stand the voices in dubs (Such as Molly's voice in Sailor Moon, or Tenchi's in Tenchi Muyo). The biggest exception to this would be Nadesico, which seemed to have better English Voice-acting than the original. Plus, I can read fast enough to keep up.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Yea it's the D&D we would all be playing if virtual reality comes around. I didn't care for it at first but I've been hooked by it too (if I only had a Playstation 2 so I could check out the games)

Got hooked on the series as well so I picked up the games. The first one was pretty interesting. The second was just like the first, so less so. Unfortunately, each $50 game is one forth of the game. There are 4 games total, you transfer your save between games. They also aren't very long either. Since I've got the first 2, I'll pick up the last 2, but I'm disappointed they didn't make it one or two great games instea of four short ones.

Oh, and I'll throw in my votes for Kenshin, Bebop, Trigun, Eva, .hack//sign, InuYasha, Nadesico, Lodoss War, and one no one has mentioned yet, (but I hope I spell it correctly) Fishugiyugi. Nope, that spelling is wrong, bah, anyone got the correct spelling? The one with the priestess of Suzaku, the seven celestial warriors (that doesn't give anything away).

Later.