Recommended Anime/Manga?

[KAI]

Just read the first translated chapter of Hoshi no Ponko to Tofuya Reiko (Ponko of the Stars and Reiko of the Tofu Shop).
Typical case of 'wow, I wasn't expecting this'.

Geez...what a tweeeeest

Now I'm gonna need me some feel-good stuff to balance things out

What the hell???? I thought it was gonna be a ecchi manga, but "DAT TWIST".

Hory shit! I want more. Aftenoon's mangas never disappoint. Thanks for the heads up Xyga.

[null1024]

Just read the first translated chapter of Hoshi no Ponko to Tofuya Reiko (Ponko of the Stars and Reiko of the Tofu Shop).
Typical case of 'wow, I wasn't expecting this'.

WOW.
I need more.
that fucking twist did not disappoint

[Ji-L87]

Got this in today along with a non-anime LD of the movie Sneakers.
Aside from a dented corner, it's in fine condition

[DaneSaga]

^nice get. This thread is starting to turn into the official anime LD thread.
You have there TOHO's '97 release with digital audio and remastered video. I have the original 1985 laserdisc release of Cagliostro myself, has a blue cover without the border.
They also put out a box set in '98 apparently that comes with the script of the film, so lots of Cagliostro on laserdisc!

[Raytrace]

I've seen it. I remember honestly finding it not that good, but you may still want to watch it because I don't trust myself sometimes.

I'll give it a go

[Ji-L87]

You have there TOHO's '97 release with digital audio and remastered video. I have the original 1985 laserdisc release of Cagliostro myself, has a blue cover without the border.
They also put out a box set in '98 apparently that comes with the script of the film, so lots of Cagliostro on laserdisc!

That's much more helpful than LDDB.com anyday of the week maybe I shall consult you instead in the future, haha.

I've seen it. I remember honestly finding it not that good, but you may still want to watch it because I don't trust myself sometimes.

I'll give it a go

And please report back your thoughts Curious as well.

[Lord Satori]

Watching Kill la Kill. It's amazing, action packed, and not to mention hilarious.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

You have there TOHO's '97 release with digital audio and remastered video. I have the original 1985 laserdisc release of Cagliostro myself, has a blue cover without the border.
They also put out a box set in '98 apparently that comes with the script of the film, so lots of Cagliostro on laserdisc!

That's much more helpful than LDDB.com anyday of the week maybe I shall consult you instead in the future, haha.

I've seen it. I remember honestly finding it not that good, but you may still want to watch it because I don't trust myself sometimes.

I'll give it a go

And please report back your thoughts Curious as well.

Not to mention that Stern's Cliffhanger arcade LD game uses footage taken directly from that Cagliostro anime film, indeed, when it was released to American arcades back in 1984. In some scenes, the correct joystick and/or button inputs entered at the precise time determined if you successfully cleared the scene or not -- was a bit more complicated, controls-wise, than Starcom's Dragon's Lair/Space Ace arcade LD games. Fifty cents per credit was required to play it. The early Cliffhanger cabs showed the infamous Lupin gallows hanging scene every time you died but later on, it was removed from the later production CH arcade cabs due to some complaints/feedback from arcade operators/owners. In the Japanese game centers, the Lupin the 3rd arcade LD game was a staple amongst many other LD games of that era. Funai's Interstellar arcade shmup LD game was legendary when it mades it's debut at American arcades in March of 1984.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[CIT]

Saw Patema Inverted last week.



What an absolutely fantastic film! If you like Ghibli and or Gainax you will surely dig this. The reverse-gravity plot device/metaphor is handled very intelligently and some images will really stay in your mind. Go watch it you bums!

[Raytrace]

Watching Kill la Kill. It's amazing, action packed, and not to mention hilarious.

I do think it's good, but it's definitely no Gurenn Lagann.

[Raytrace]

Ok - 10 minutes into Super Atragon and so far it looks pretty good. Art is really well done, quite Nadia ish (mech and backgrounds wise, not characters), and the colours are very nice.

It is kindof reminding me of Kishin Corps, which I liked a lot.

It is also reminding me that I need to finish watching Zypang :p.

[Raytrace]

finished first OVA of Super Atragon last night - very enjoyable, a lot of Nadia and Yamato feel in there too (maybe the other way around though as I think theres a tokusatsu of it which is older than Yamato).

Nothing about the plot really surprised me, but it was still all executed very well, and I never stopped enjoying the art. Looking forward to the 2nd OVA tonight .

[Raytrace]

Ok finished Super Atragon - storywise it was just OK I suppose overall - but art and (full orchestral) music wise it was very high quality.

Gainax fans and especially older Gainax fans I think would enjoy watching it (yep you Drauch) - as the mechanical design in general is very Nadia esque with that sortof brightly coloured roundness and fluid movement. Also the main character looks VERY like the main guy from Honneamise.

[Ji-L87]

Thanks for the write up!

Maybe I'll watch it this weekend, we'll see.

[Raytrace]

Thanks for the write up!

Maybe I'll watch it this weekend, we'll see.

no worries - it is nice to contribute something to this thread, which has quite literally been my anime mentor :p.

[Ji-L87]

Ehr-hrrm,
Sorry to spam this thread (I know it's not a chat) but I was going to watch Super Atragon but somehow veered off ended up starting to watch the original Gunbuster OVAs.

Hot dang.
There are some delicious details in the animation, as well in some of the backgrounds. I actually had to pause and rewatch a few short sequences because I wanted to see the animations again.
Oh, and dat Gainax bounce in the opening.

So far I've only watched the first episode (plus science lesson) but it's looking real promising.
I did watch Diebuster a few years back but never saw the original.

But to conclude, this sort of attention to detail excites me in ways I'd rather not mention:


I guess the first step is to admit you've got a problem...

[Raytrace]

If all you've seen is Gunbuster 2 - you will be very pleasantly surprised by Gunbuster - absolutely magic IMO.

Have you seen Bubblegum Crisis OVAs?

[Ji-L87]

If all you've seen is Gunbuster 2 - you will be very pleasantly surprised by Gunbuster - absolutely magic IMO.

Sounds wonderful, slowly working my through it now

It's really a different kind of feel compared to Diebuster/Gunbuster 2, which I didn't always like, but the feeling of scale was amazing sometimes.

Have you seen Bubblegum Crisis OVAs?

Ohyes.
I really like episode 7 & 8, I find the earlier episodes a bit rough.
Really looking forward to when the Kickstarted blu-rays starts shipping out.

[Raytrace]

Sounds wonderful, slowly working my through it now

It's really a different kind of feel compared to Diebuster/Gunbuster 2, which I didn't always like, but the feeling of scale was amazing sometimes.



Ohyes.
I really like episode 7 & 8, I find the earlier episodes a bit rough.
Really looking forward to when the Kickstarted blu-rays starts shipping out.

Gunbuster has massive scale by the end - really massive, and in fact the end of, well actually I won't spoil it - but the end of it is amazing.

Some of my favourite episodes are the earlier ones tbh - though detail does definitely increase in 6, 7 and 8 - but the Mad Machine one and the one about the Vampire robot girl were probably my favourites.

[CIT]

I'm appreciating all the Gunbuster love here. Definitely one of the defining 80s anime, and highly enjoyable at that!

[Ji-L87]

Gunbuster has massive scale by the end - really massive, and in fact the end of, well actually I won't spoil it - but the end of it is amazing.

I'm appreciating all the Gunbuster love here. Definitely one of the defining 80s anime, and highly enjoyable at that!

Beautiful.
Actually shed tears towards the end there.
The "use" of color in the last episode was really good, and you were totally right about the scale of things.
Not sure if I can call it perfect - then again, what is? - but that was a fantastic OVA - I can see why everybody likes it so much

Edit: Feels like I made the right decision to watch the OVA instead of the movie version.

It feels really weird that the same studio that created this, was responsible for a pretty stupid show called "Stella Women's Academy, High School Division Class C3" I tried to watch but ultimately dropped last year. I know, it's an unfair comparison. Stella C3 is not an original work, and from my understanding parts of the original crew left Gainax and created things like Studio Trigger and Khara, but it's just such a depressing change of pace. I have yet to watch Evangelion (I'm allergic to drama so I've been holding off but I will get to it) but do Gainax even have a hand in the those newer movies or is it just Studio Kara on it's own?
I do hope that they will manage to create that Blue Uru thing though, could be interesting.

Some of my favourite episodes are the earlier ones tbh - though detail does definitely increase in 6, 7 and 8 - but the Mad Machine one and the one about the Vampire robot girl were probably my favourites.

Well, the drawings in general got better towards the end there, some nice key frames in there, but I think we might like different things in anime. And I guess that's fine
What are your thoughts on Bubblegum Crash?
I've only watched it through once and didn't think it was all that special. I do like the opening though.

[Raytrace]

Gunbuster has massive scale by the end - really massive, and in fact the end of, well actually I won't spoil it - but the end of it is amazing.

I'm appreciating all the Gunbuster love here. Definitely one of the defining 80s anime, and highly enjoyable at that!

Beautiful.
Actually shed tears towards the end there.
The "use" of color in the last episode was really good, and you were totally right about the scale of things.
Not sure if I can call it perfect - then again, what is? - but that was a fantastic OVA - I can see why everybody likes it so much

Edit: Feels like I made the right decision to watch the OVA instead of the movie version.

It feels really weird that the same studio that created this, was responsible for a pretty stupid show called "Stella Women's Academy, High School Division Class C3" I tried to watch but ultimately dropped last year. I know, it's an unfair comparison. Stella C3 is not an original work, and from my understanding parts of the original crew left Gainax and created things like Studio Trigger and Khara, but it's just such a depressing change of pace. I have yet to watch Evangelion (I'm allergic to drama so I've been holding off but I will get to it) but do Gainax even have a hand in the those newer movies or is it just Studio Kara on it's own?
I do hope that they will manage to create that Blue Uru thing though, could be interesting.

Some of my favourite episodes are the earlier ones tbh - though detail does definitely increase in 6, 7 and 8 - but the Mad Machine one and the one about the Vampire robot girl were probably my favourites.

Well, the drawings in general got better towards the end there, some nice key frames in there, but I think we might like different things in anime. And I guess that's fine
What are your thoughts on Bubblegum Crash?
I've only watched it through once and didn't think it was all that special. I do like the opening though.

OK I will admit I haven't watched more than one episode of Bubblegum Crash as I found the art so offensive :p. I am trying to force myself to watch through Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (mainly to find out the conclusion of the story) but I really find it difficult when I love the OVA s so much and it is just such a depressing step down in quality.

Yeah watching the Gunbuster OVAs was definitely the right decision. In general I think if there's a series/OVA and a 'film of them' the OVAs/series are better. Films which are genuinely different (DYRL?, Utena for example) are of course worth watching but when the films are just cut down synopsis of the series or OVA they're usually crap IMO. OVAs are my favourite format for stuff, though of course I've watched a lot of series. Anyway what I mean is movies are usually my least favourite. What I love about anime is those (albeit far less existent now ;( ) massive episode lists, where you REALLY start to give a shit about the characters.

Yeah the ending of Gunbuster is beautiful I think, and one of the few things I managed to enjoy on my recent Gunbuster 2 rewatch was the 'connection' between the endings.

In terms of 'other Bubblegum Crisis' things you could watch, AD Police Files is good IMO, though it has that kinda dark gritty feel, and the art isn't nearly as good as BC OVA. Metal Skin Panic Madox-01 is also supposed to be in the same universe, you can actually really see similarities in some of the mecha, especially the one the ADP guy uses in Bubblegum Crisis. It is one of my favourite one shot OVAs - great fun with beautiful art.

Have you seen Dominion Tank Police ?

[chempop]

Watched ep1-8 of Terror in Resonance tonight, enjoyed it a lot. Watanabe (director) and Kanno (score) make a killer combo imho.

[Pretas]

Watched ep1-8 of Terror in Resonance tonight, enjoyed it a lot. Watanabe (director) and Kanno (score) make a killer combo imho.

It took a nosedive in quality after the true villain was introduced and they started elaborating on the protagonists' cliche backstory. After the spectacular opening, I was hoping for something with a serious political bent on the level of GITS:SAC, and not yet another contrived shonen "battle of wits" series that rides Death Note's coattails.

The female "love interest" is also little more than a walking plot device, and any real terrorist worth their salt would consider her far too much of a liability.

[Ji-L87]

OK I will admit I haven't watched more than one episode of Bubblegum Crash as I found the art so offensive :p. I am trying to force myself to watch through Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (mainly to find out the conclusion of the story) but I really find it difficult when I love the OVA s so much and it is just such a depressing step down in quality.

Yeah. I don't remember the art being super bad but it's obvious that BGC was now past it's prime
At least the music has some gems in it.

Yeah watching the Gunbuster OVAs was definitely the right decision. In general I think if there's a series/OVA and a 'film of them' the OVAs/series are better. Films which are genuinely different (DYRL?, Utena for example) are of course worth watching but when the films are just cut down synopsis of the series or OVA they're usually crap IMO. OVAs are my favourite format for stuff, though of course I've watched a lot of series. Anyway what I mean is movies are usually my least favourite. What I love about anime is those (albeit far less existent now ;( ) massive episode lists, where you REALLY start to give a shit about the characters.

I mostly agree with you. I like movies, but I feel they are sort of different - movie adaptions always tends to trying to be so needlessly grand & grown up. I think the Patlabor movies is a great example of this. The OVAs & tv-series are silly, wacky, a bit experimental, sometimes serious but also warm, light hearted and very down to earth.
The first movie then suddenly gets this pretty serious vibe, characters look more "realistic" (but not always better drawn) however thankfully, it still manages to retain the elements which make Patlabor feel like, well...Patlabor. That's gone in the 2nd movie. It's beautiful, it's good but it feels totally out of character for Patlabor - too dark and serious.

Then we have things like the Ghost in the Shell movie (Oshii at it again), where someone on the ANN forums quite brilliantly summed it up as "a great movie, despite being a terrible adaption".

I really LOVE the OVA format. It's so flexible and contains so much interesting stuff. The commercial aspect of it is of course a big limitation and it's probably safe to say that many OVAs suffered from early/abrupt endings thanks to declining sales. But that's also part of the charm. In comparison, TV anime often feels positively restrained in it's episode programming and in what can be shown. Not everything has to be at least 13 episodes and roughly 24 minutes each.
One can certainly argue that there is an unnecessary amount of fanservice and gore to be found in the OVA-scene, but the uncensored nature is, again, part of it's charm. And it's probably something that would be very hard to recreate in the world of today.

In terms of 'other Bubblegum Crisis' things you could watch, AD Police Files is good IMO, though it has that kinda dark gritty feel, and the art isn't nearly as good as BC OVA. Metal Skin Panic Madox-01 is also supposed to be in the same universe, you can actually really see similarities in some of the mecha, especially the one the ADP guy uses in Bubblegum Crisis. It is one of my favourite one shot OVAs - great fun with beautiful art.

Have you seen Dominion Tank Police ?

I've got AD Police lying somewhere on my computer, haven't gotten round to it yet. I will freely admit that one of the great draws for me in BGC is the ladies and the cool suits. Without that, it's a harder sell
Madox-01 is pretty cool. I was really happy to get ahold of the laserdisc - it's one of those things I wanted to own. I love the mechanical animation in the beginning. It's a bit of a silly guilty pleasure and perfect example of what made the OVA-scene so fun.

And yes, I've seen Dominion Tank Police, both the OVA and New Dominion. It's pretty good, and I picked up the manga earlier this year. It was a sort of chaotic read but fun and refreshing at the same time. The second manga wasn't as good and I'm not a big fan of the direction of Shirow's art. His old art was the best, clearly.

Btw, I would like to recommend the You're Under Arrest OVA to anyone that hasn't seen it, it's one of my personal favorites. The daily life setting, the attention to details in vechicles and the color scheme in general brings a smile to my face. It's also probably the first "oldschool" OVA that I watched after starting to watch anime and very much responsible for opening my eyes to older anime, as opposed to just watching new stuff. Patlabor always says that it's *such* a love letter to Tokyo but personally You're Under Arrest always comes to mind first

/controversial statement

[soprano1]

Stardust Crusaders ended, but the Egypt Arc will begin in January. Time for Iggy to show up!

[DaneSaga]

OK I will admit I haven't watched more than one episode of Bubblegum Crash as I found the art so offensive :p. I am trying to force myself to watch through Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (mainly to find out the conclusion of the story) but I really find it difficult when I love the OVA s so much and it is just such a depressing step down in quality.

Crash was always going to suck to some degree after the upheaval that would result in the abrupt end of Crisis. Artmic produced the entirety of Crash on their own (and then got sued in the process), so much of the staff involved with the original OVA from studio’s AIC and Youmax were m.i.a, thus the reason for the drop in quality between the two.
I personally don’t dislike Crash too much, certainly not to the point where I detest it’s existence, but I do definitely consider it the weakest effort in the original Bubblegum timeline. Plus Priss’s seiyuu contributed greatly to her character in Crisis, and since she chose not to reprise her role in Crash, makes it even more of a disappointment.

Madox-01 is pretty cool. I was really happy to get ahold of the laserdisc - it's one of those things I wanted to own. I love the mechanical animation in the beginning. It's a bit of a silly guilty pleasure and perfect example of what made the OVA-scene so fun.

I really do need to grab Madox-01 on laserdasic one of these days. I tried to grab a copy last year, but my bid of $20 proved to be too little with the auction ending at twice that amount, and I haven't searched for another since.
Cover illustration is really lovely on that one so that definitely needs to be part of my collection.

[chempop]

Watched ep1-8 of Terror in Resonance tonight, enjoyed it a lot. Watanabe (director) and Kanno (score) make a killer combo imho.

It took a nosedive in quality after the true villain was introduced and they started elaborating on the protagonists' cliche backstory. After the spectacular opening, I was hoping for something with a serious political bent on the level of GITS:SAC, and not yet another contrived shonen "battle of wits" series that rides Death Note's coattails.

The female "love interest" is also little more than a walking plot device, and any real terrorist worth their salt would consider her far too much of a liability.

I agree with everything you said. At this point I’m in it for the rebel investigator who is the strongest character in the show.

[KAI]

And he's also cliche as fuck. ZnT went downhill after the 5th episode, I think I'm dropping it.

This anime season is full of crap, but at least the fall season looks decent. Can't wait to watch G-Reco, Mushishi's last season and Amagi Brilliant Park.

[Raytrace]

Yeah. I don't remember the art being super bad but it's obvious that BGC was now past it's prime
At least the music has some gems in it.



I mostly agree with you. I like movies, but I feel they are sort of different - movie adaptions always tends to trying to be so needlessly grand & grown up. I think the Patlabor movies is a great example of this. The OVAs & tv-series are silly, wacky, a bit experimental, sometimes serious but also warm, light hearted and very down to earth.
The first movie then suddenly gets this pretty serious vibe, characters look more "realistic" (but not always better drawn) however thankfully, it still manages to retain the elements which make Patlabor feel like, well...Patlabor. That's gone in the 2nd movie. It's beautiful, it's good but it feels totally out of character for Patlabor - too dark and serious.

Then we have things like the Ghost in the Shell movie (Oshii at it again), where someone on the ANN forums quite brilliantly summed it up as "a great movie, despite being a terrible adaption".

I really LOVE the OVA format. It's so flexible and contains so much interesting stuff. The commercial aspect of it is of course a big limitation and it's probably safe to say that many OVAs suffered from early/abrupt endings thanks to declining sales. But that's also part of the charm. In comparison, TV anime often feels positively restrained in it's episode programming and in what can be shown. Not everything has to be at least 13 episodes and roughly 24 minutes each.
One can certainly argue that there is an unnecessary amount of fanservice and gore to be found in the OVA-scene, but the uncensored nature is, again, part of it's charm. And it's probably something that would be very hard to recreate in the world of today.



I've got AD Police lying somewhere on my computer, haven't gotten round to it yet. I will freely admit that one of the great draws for me in BGC is the ladies and the cool suits. Without that, it's a harder sell
Madox-01 is pretty cool. I was really happy to get ahold of the laserdisc - it's one of those things I wanted to own. I love the mechanical animation in the beginning. It's a bit of a silly guilty pleasure and perfect example of what made the OVA-scene so fun.

And yes, I've seen Dominion Tank Police, both the OVA and New Dominion. It's pretty good, and I picked up the manga earlier this year. It was a sort of chaotic read but fun and refreshing at the same time. The second manga wasn't as good and I'm not a big fan of the direction of Shirow's art. His old art was the best, clearly.

Btw, I would like to recommend the You're Under Arrest OVA to anyone that hasn't seen it, it's one of my personal favorites. The daily life setting, the attention to details in vechicles and the color scheme in general brings a smile to my face. It's also probably the first "oldschool" OVA that I watched after starting to watch anime and very much responsible for opening my eyes to older anime, as opposed to just watching new stuff. Patlabor always says that it's *such* a love letter to Tokyo but personally You're Under Arrest always comes to mind first

/controversial statement

Jesus I have to start buying LDs before the people on this thread buy out everything I want :p

Cool I shall check out that You're Under Arrest!.