Recommended Anime/Manga?

[BryanM]

You Will Hear the Voice of the Dead is still nice. It's hard to read a single panel and not nod your head in approval at the things that are going on in that panel.

Spoiler

[BIL]

Dragon Ball Super Ch.39

actual spoiler

Spoiler

Teach



Decent chapter, but the myopic fan rage is outstanding. Muh tiers! How can CSSBJXVIIIMCLMXII Goku be shamed so utterly Because BIG BAD didn't remorselessly splatter MICRO GOOD's skull like a melon, this means BIG BAD = MICRO GOOD > Punished General Blue >>> CSSBJXVIIIMCLMXII Goku! Burning my stacks of tear-stained graphing paper as we speak.

And I thought the screeching at the anime finale of gruesomely injured BIG GOOD, MID GOOD & LIL GOOD in a grueling war of attrition with exhausted, broken, beat to shit BIG BAD was hawt. Fighting? Give me nonstop sterile blowouts and acres of useless characters or give me DEATH.

[Durandal]

what the fuck is this pose
it's not even out and it's already a meme

[soprano1]

Meh. Still waiting for an adaptation of Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam.

[soprano1]

Spoiler

Jesus H. Christ, this panel oozes awesomeness. For those wondering,

Spoiler

it's the ghosts of Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix.

[null1024]

Started watching SDF Macross. I'm pestering a buddy to finish watching Gundam [he's made it up to 00, so he's doing well], and he's pestering me to watch Macross in return.

holy lol
It's a trainwreck in slow motion. That's not to say that it's bad [in fact, I think it's fucking great so far], but hot damn, literally everything that can go wrong in-universe so far just fucking did.

Let's see...

Spoiler

- ship fires on its own, ensuring that peace is literally not an option right out the gate
- MC's stuck in a VF that he doesn't know jack about
- in fact, most of an episode is dedicated to him stumbling around in it and he almost fell on Minmay
- the fucking anti-grav boosters on the Macross rip themselves out [at least they still had rocket propulsion]
- they do a space-fold and take the island with them
- the fucking space-fold system sends them out to Pluto instead of just by the moon
- oh, and then the fold system literally disappeared
- oh, and the MC's stuck in a part of the ship that's sealed off from the rest

I'm losing my shit. Everything is going so perfectly wrong that I can't help but laugh my ass off.

oh, and I decided to catch back up on Gundam Build Divers.
it's still immensely mediocre, but it's still better than Try
it feels like it's gearing up for the long haul even though I'm assuming there are only a few episodes left [since I'm pretty sure it'll only be 26eps long]

[Steamflogger Boss]

It's just like real life, basically.

[KAI]

Macross is just soup opera with mechas, and a bad one, but itano's circus...
also the 2nd half of the series is pure filler.

better watch Do You Remember Love.

[Udderdude]

Black Lion: Nobunaga is on the march! And for some reason, he's brought futuristic alien technology to a feudal Japanese war. Talk about overkill. But forget about that, the main villain is some asshole that was reassembled as a sort of samurai-terminator that runs around killing ninjas. I feel like I'm having a brain aneurysm just trying to describe this shit. The entire movie is basically a small group trying to kill this guy. Has an absolutely obscene amount of carnage, the body count is endless.

Bounty Dog: Sci-fi OVA taking place on Mars, with the vast majority of footage seen through a kind of gross yellow filter that I honestly had to stomach to actually watch this. Once you can get past that, it's not bad, standard sci-fi fare. Has some good mystery elements to it and it kept me engaged, but again, that damn yellow filter can just go to hell.

Detatoko Princess: Mad-cap fantasy comedy starring a princess that has a frankly unhealthy obsession with pudding. The entire second episode of the OVA is nothing but pudding, and they fight a giant pudding monster. Watch this if you like anime as absurd as possible.

K.O. Century Beast Warriors: Another forgotten Gainax OVA. It's another fantasy comedy thing with plenty of absurdity, and it doesn't even bother trying to take itself seriously. The planet has been split in half, with humanoids that can transform into anthropomorphic beasts being attacked by regular old humans on the other side. Has giant robot fights! Yay!

[BIL]

Black Lion

YOU PUT MARIJUANA ON THE BARLEY

[Udderdude]

Black Lion

YOU PUT MARIJUANA ON THE BARLEY :lol:

When this isn't even the dumbest thing about it, you know it's some shit.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Been rewatching A Woman Called Fujiko Mine.

It's very good but somewhat uneven at times. The Goemon episodes still feel weird and out of place. Overall though the way it hearkens back to the original grit and sex while also being about Fujiko and having her be a really strong character makes it a pretty great watch. Plus it's definitely got things to say and a story to tell. It's not episodic like a lot of Lupin content.

[Udderdude]

Hakugei Densetsu: It's Moby Dick in space! Ok, not really. It borrows some high level elements from it's source material, but nothing else. What you get is a compelling sci-fi story with a lot of different elements at play that somehow manage to all work together. It's definitely worth watching.

[GaijinPunch]

Went through all of Giant Robo. Has aged really well. I didn't really remember the ending to be honest, and come to think of it I'm pretty sure that I watched it only once. It came out just as I was about to embark on life in Japan, and some 2.5+ years had lapsed since the penultimate episode (WTF!). Nonetheless, quite a feat, and a shame this level of quality didn't become the norm, or even more common. Great stuff - loads of characters that you know have really interesting back stories - you just don't get to know any of them.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Went through all of Giant Robo. Has aged really well. I didn't really remember the ending to be honest, and come to think of it I'm pretty sure that I watched it only once. It came out just as I was about to embark on life in Japan, and some 2.5+ years had lapsed since the penultimate episode (WTF!). Nonetheless, quite a feat, and a shame this level of quality didn't become the norm, or even more common. Great stuff - loads of characters that you know have really interesting back stories - you just don't get to know any of them.

It's extremely well done. I'm stoked for the BD.

I think a problem with that level of quality is the production costs. Iirc Giant Robo also had a ton of delays and took forever to come out completely which is the kind of thing that can make many people lose interest.

[GaijinPunch]

I think a problem with that level of quality is the production costs. Iirc Giant Robo also had a ton of delays and took forever to come out completely which is the kind of thing that can make many people lose interest.

They kept up quite well until the end. The idea was 6 months between releases. Towards the end it was more like 8 or 9 months, but as per before, 2.5 years between episode 6 & 7. Yikes.

[Udderdude]

Galaxy Express 999, Adieu Galaxy Express 999: This is as classic as it gets, more like science fantasy than science fiction. Still feels unique to this day.

Queen Emeraldas: 4-part OVA set in the same universe, focusing on the side character Emeraldas. Worth watching if you're a fan of Leiji Matsumoto.

[GaijinPunch]

Galaxy Express 999, Adieu Galaxy Express 999: This is as classic as it gets, more like science fantasy than science fiction. Still feels unique to this day.

Queen Emeraldas: 4-part OVA set in the same universe, focusing on the side character Emeraldas. Worth watching if you're a fan of Leiji Matsumoto.

I guess w/ the BR release I will finally give Express 999 it's day in court. Always meant to just never did. The TV show seems like a massive fucking commitment though.

Worth watching if you're a fan of Leiji Matsumoto.

Which is why the new one I just could not get in to. That and a bunch of other stuff.

[Udderdude]

I'm highly unlikely to try tackling any of the 100+ episode monsters any time soon, either.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Galaxy Express 999, Adieu Galaxy Express 999: This is as classic as it gets, more like science fantasy than science fiction. Still feels unique to this day.

Queen Emeraldas: 4-part OVA set in the same universe, focusing on the side character Emeraldas. Worth watching if you're a fan of Leiji Matsumoto.

I guess w/ the BR release I will finally give Express 999 it's day in court. Always meant to just never did. The TV show seems like a massive fucking commitment though.

Same I suppose. The BD is allegedly going to be better than the JP BD. I think I brought this up before, but man that seems crazy.

[GaijinPunch]

Same I suppose. The BD is allegedly going to be better than the JP BD. I think I brought this up before, but man that seems crazy.

Any idea in what way? Sorry... lazy.
I was a huge Yamato fan... even as a kid watching Starblazers. I guess it single handedly changed my life as it opened me up to Japanese pop culture, although it would take some 10 years for it to kick in and really start to take effect. Even now, I dig it w/ those disco tunes and bell bottoms.

Having said that, Harlock & GE999 were things I did not catch at all. Always felt like I should have being such a Yamato fan, but didn't.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Same I suppose. The BD is allegedly going to be better than the JP BD. I think I brought this up before, but man that seems crazy.

Any idea in what way? Sorry... lazy.
I was a huge Yamato fan... even as a kid watching Starblazers. I guess it single handedly changed my life as it opened me up to Japanese pop culture, although it would take some 10 years for it to kick in and really start to take effect. Even now, I dig it w/ those disco tunes and bell bottoms.

Having said that, Harlock & GE999 were things I did not catch at all. Always felt like I should have being such a Yamato fan, but didn't.

I just remember them saying it would still be an upscale but better. Not sure if they put out details on why tbh. I'm sure there will be a breakdown on bluray.com or another forum by a fan once it is out though.

[GaijinPunch]

I just remember them saying it would still be an upscale but better. Not sure if they put out details on why tbh. I'm sure there will be a breakdown on bluray.com or another forum by a fan once it is out though.

So it's not a rescan of the film? That's a bummer. Figured that was frowned upon by now.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Yeah. Japan is usually great about BD releases too. I'm guessing the original source material might not be in great shape or something.

[Randorama]

GP: Harlock is shorter (35 episodes) than 999 (108 episodes?), and presents a coherent story with some filler parts (unfortunately). The first was immensely popular in France, to the effect that a certain generation (1973-1979?) was called "generation Albator" ("Albator" being a name they used for Harlock due to copyright issues). It *is* a perfect example of smart new wave SF that is generally rare to find, in anime and other media. 999 quickly becomes a beautiful fairytale, but a fairytale nonetheless, and is very episodic. Note that any remakes of Harlock (including the 80's series) are considerably duller and one-dimensional, script-wise (e.g. Harlock becomes some lame freedom fighter).

The new Yamato series are superior to the original ones in every aspect. I will mention only one aspect: in the new version, the "black and white" morality of the original series is dropped for a much subtler depiction of Gamilans and Earthlings. Also, they had tons of money, so the space fights deliver, big time.

I liked most of Matsumoto's output (you know, everyone's a "sturm und drang"-type of romantic at some point), but his writing was often far from excellent, and the creepy reactionary undertones pop up too often, for my adult self.

[GaijinPunch]

The new Yamato series are superior to the original ones in every aspect. I will mention only one aspect: in the new version, the "black and white" morality of the original series is dropped for a much subtler depiction of Gamilans and Earthlings. Also, they had tons of money, so the space fights deliver, big time.

You had me until this... For starters, Yamato is basically nothing w/o Reiji Matsumoto's character designs. Why they bothered is beyond me. Surely they'd have learned their lesson from recent outtings (revival anime & the live action one with fucking Kimutaku).

Generally speaking, there's just too much going in this new one (including the non-seamless CGI). Too many characters to give a shit about any of them. Not to mention the bland character designs and androgynous bad guys, which is fine if they weren't everywhere else. They use the original music throughout, so why did they revamp the visuals so poorly? (Well, not all -- atmosphere isn't bad).

There may be some thematic subtleties that were never gonna show up in a mid-70's kids show. I'm hardly going to fault it for that though. I tried to love the knew one. Just couldn't it. I even watched the whole thing, although it took me forever. The story for the second season is one of those weird cases where it's actually better than the first, a la The Empire Strikes Back (and the movie way better than the TV Show), but I think I'm going to give it a pass. It's just not me.

but his writing was often far from excellent, and the creepy reactionary undertones pop up too often, for my adult self.

The Cockpit was pretty good. Oddly enough, never ready his manga.

[Randorama]

Matsumoto should be in his '80s, so I don't think that he could have worked on this...and I understand that he was against a remake, which probably was led by monetary considerations.

"Why bother?" "because it sells" strikes me as a fairly acceptable reason, even when putting food on the table is not an emergency. The guy who owns the rights to the franchise decided to push for a remake while discussing the matter on his yacht, or something like that

Said this, If you would have watched/reads Harlock and the rest, you would know that he mostly draws near-anorexic, androgynous human beings (or stocky warriors, or short caricatures like the doctor and the engineer guy, etc,). Women had gentler faces and hints of boobs. Fin.

This was maintained in the new series to the limit of the new key illustrators skills, even though I would like to know what causal relation you assume between "being Yamato" and "being designed by Matsumoto" (visual identity? I am quite literally not sure, whence my question). I mean, everyone looks like an edgy romantic poet close to death by starvation, in Matsumoto's works. The guy was really good at drawing ships and other mechanical vehicles, really. I honestly think that Toriyama could have drawn the series, as I identify the series with the "desperate fight against all odds" theme (trope, whatever), regardless of the its visual identity.

The CGI is not too terrible, even if I recall at least one poor /jarring integration between CGI and 2D per episode. Considering the rubbish you can get in series with smaller budgets, this is not a bad result, and one I can accept. Much like visual identity, I am not really bothered by CGI, as long as it's not hideous (I only watch anime, so my standards should be really low!).

The story...sorry but I will just say that the relation between cast number and fucks given depends a lot on the viewer's patience. You don't really want me to consider this as a valid argument? But honestly, I found the original story embarrassing when I saw the series as a kid. The new story does a better job of connecting Yamato with the SF themes of the time, and as far as I know it is also closer to Matsumoto's vision (he may be a reactionary, but precisely for this reason he does not seem to see the world in black and white terms, to simplify a lot).

A clear problem is that even with a fairly sizable cast, the first cours of the series (episodes 1-11, really) need to procrastinate on small stories to fill up a 24-episode slot. This is a standard problem of anime in particular, and of comics (yes, western ones too)/series/etc. in general. I would go and say that this is a problem of "modern writing" in general: say, Ashita no Joe and the classic Star Trek really revolved around 4-5 characters, and with ease. Most call this "decompression", and credit none other than Tezuka and (Stan) Lee for introducing it in comics/anime/manga/whatever. I don't recall the old series to have a smaller cast or a faster pace, though.

EDIT:

Akira and Nausicaä also have one kazillion characters...for widely praised series, they certainly went wild with the amount of characters sprawling through the narration and at times disappearing into nothing. Writers who can keep the numbers down also usually work on closed series and less chaotic deadline systems than anime/manga ones. I am fairly sure that somebody (an anthropologist at MIT, I kid you not) wrote a book about this. Not sure what to write about? Add one more character, it can be killed off later

[GaijinPunch]

Matsumoto definitely has his style - sticks out even today. At the time the anorexic, anti-anthropromorphic were somewhat unique (if not everyone's cup of tea). Now... not so much, which I guess where my complaint is. At least if he did it we could just say, "it's what he does".

As for how Matsumoto = Yamato, surely that speaks for itself, no? Don't many if not most shows have their identify defined by their designer?

[Despatche]

They generally should. Death of the author has too many problems.

Creators tend to be defined by their big popular thing, too. Only gods like Tezuka can escape that void, and even he's forever bound to Atom outside of Japan. I'm still not sure how Ishinomori managed to pull off 009 and Super Sentai and Kamen Rider, though...

Meh. Still waiting for an adaptation of Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam.

Cross Bone gets kinda shady at certain points, mostly because it's been going on for about three decades, but yeah. I'm not sure I could put up with a Cross Bone adaption that isn't based on that specific art style, though.

[Udderdude]

A Tree of Palme: You want to talk about hidden gems? Here's one. Maybe because the art style is closer to western than Japanese, maybe because the plot is a bit confusing (it does make sense, though), I had never heard of this one before, and it's one of the best anime movies I've seen. The animation is top notch and the visuals tend to be very surreal at times. Definitely recommended.

Geneshaft: Science fiction anime with a big focus on genetic engineering and the future of humanity. Humans are born with a 9:1 ratio of females to males, and all reproduction is controlled by the govt. in incubation chambers.

Animation Runner Kuromi: It's a parody/spoof of the Japanese animation industry, complete with unreasonable deadlines, insane workloads, workplace illness due to stress, and sleazy corner cutting directors. Very fast paced and fun to watch.

Puppet Princess: Feudal Japanese OVA with a pretty unique art style. The fight scenes are the reason to watch this one. Warning: Has ridiculous amounts of fanservice (the main female character is nekkid on screen for a minute straight, they didn't give a fuck)

Spirit of Wonder: A bunch of old dudes, a not-so-old dude, and his wife, go to Mars. It's played pretty straightforward and you're mostly watching for the characters and their interactions. There's also another OVA and some other content based around a girl nicknamed "Miss China", which are all completely ridiculous.

Villgust: Yet another wacky fantasy adventure OVA. Every character is in psuedo-chibi form the entire time. The highlight is definitely the catgirl here. Apparently this is based on a rather mediocre Super Famicom RPG, which does have a translation patch out for it.