Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Raytrace]

yeah going into tokusatsu is kinda a minefield I think though last time I checked - I'm not sure how much of the original Ultraman is fansubbed - I ahve about 25 eps I think. I'll tell you one thing though - I LOVE that OP - and I reckon it's a big influence on teh Gunbuster actual singalong song bit (and of course Anno is massive Ultraman fan).

[drauch]

There's actually a surprising amount of tokusatsu stuff fansubbed. It's when you get into the really weird stuff, and oddly enough, some of the big stuff isn't fansubbed all the way. A few Ultramans, Kikaider, Kamen Rider, etc actually has physical, official releases. I think a lot of people don't really dig the old stuff as much, though--kinda like classic anime! Last I checked, original Kamen Rider wasn't finished, or may have just finished finally being translated. Seems like that would be the first thing! Anyway, it's all awesome. It brings a joy unequaled!

[Blinge]

Just watched the last episode of Black Lagoon.

ughh what a disappointment. My whole experience with this series is that I've liked it but felt continually unsatisfied, hoping it would get better towards the end but ultimately hasn't.

Spoiler

Rock is a douche. The angsty stuff that him and Revy spend the whole time whining about sees little to no progression, let alone a resolution

It sucks that Revy was hardly developed as a character at all, I wouldn't mind if they'd kept her significant and empowered, rather than the sidelining she gets towards the end. Apparently she's only good for the title screen and selling the show..

[Pretas]

There's actually a surprising amount of tokusatsu stuff fansubbed. It's when you get into the really weird stuff, and oddly enough, some of the big stuff isn't fansubbed all the way. A few Ultramans, Kikaider, Kamen Rider, etc actually has physical, official releases. I think a lot of people don't really dig the old stuff as much, though--kinda like classic anime! Last I checked, original Kamen Rider wasn't finished, or may have just finished finally being translated. Seems like that would be the first thing! Anyway, it's all awesome. It brings a joy unequaled!

I've been looking in vain for a complete fansub of Kamen Rider Shin, a one-shot movie that represents the sole official "adult" take on the franchise (there's a lot more gore than any other iteration of Kamen Rider) and brings it closer to something like The Guyver. I know that it has been fansubbed, but there seems to be almost no interest in it, even within Japanese fan circles. Might have to do with the fact that Toei has never acknowledged its existence since.

[Raytrace]

OK I watched the first Ultraman and really enjoyed it, as an aside, what was the name of the vscroll shmup with Ultraman in it?

[trap15]

Ultra X Weapons. It's amazingly awful, I highly recommend avoiding it.

[drauch]

How's the Mazinger-Z shmup? Yeah, I could download it, but I'd rather just do this. Had a chance to play a PCB but the dang ol' board needed some fixin'.

[Raytrace]

I think I played it a bit when I was making a GIF out of it's attract screen (which is really nice) and I thought it was OK.

[Kaiser]

Blazing Transfer Student OVA (2-part)

Where do I EVEN begin with this one (It's been bugging me to see it considering how Raytrace was hyper over it a while ago and how it sounded up my alley), the best way to describe this OVA without spoiling anything are four words: HYPER, RIDICOULOUS, HILARIOUS and MANLY at the same time.

I nearly cried laughing all the way through, it's a thing THAT JUST has to be seen seriously, I don't care if you are of the new breed, or the old breed of anime watchers, if you haven't seen it, watch it, NOW. Easily one of my most favorite watches in a long, long time.

Meanwhile I began watching Gundam 00, haven't seen enough to form an opinion.

[KAI]

Now watch Blue Blazes and read Moeyo Pen to learn the story of the guy who wrote that.

[drauch]

Blue Blazes was great stuff; the type of show I've been waiting for. Ending seems a bit abrupt, and there's not really resolve at all with any of the characters aside from the lead, and (sorta) Anno, but still goddamn good. Think I'll finally start Ideon that's been rotting away on my hard drive since they mention it probably fifty times throughout the eleven episodes.

[KAI]

The manga is still being serialized, that's why the ending was abrupt.

Spoiler

The way they connected Blue Blazes with the sequel (Moeyo Pen) was perfect IMO.

[drauch]

Yeah, I know. I guess I'd rather it just end on a cliffhanger than just wrapping it up somewhat hastily. Oh well, I guess we can hope for a second season, maybe.

And yeah, I agree, that was a nice touch.

[BryanM]

Nothing really quite matches the wretchedness of a filler ending.

Been having some malaise on what to try watching. I need a neverending parade of 1 to 2 hours of new content every night to usefully execute the sleep process. So bad that I watched Deadman Wonderland [1], despite my spider sense screaming at me that I'll hate it. (It went about as expected.)

Reviews, to kill some time:

Log Horizon. MMO Animoo. It's better than .Hack, in that I guess it's borderline watchable if you're into the genre. Guess I'm on the trolly.

Eden of the East. Some Kid participates in a game where the goal is to "save Japan" with some allocated $millions. The opening sequence is so much better than its actual content. This one had so much promise, and managed to disappoint on most levels.

Blue Gender. 80's. Mecha. Alien bug monsters that kill people horribly. Seemed passable... but then in episode 3 two characters spent three minutes HUMMING at each other. This was as shocking to me as the personal hygiene in that saliva fetish anime.

Level E. A mary sue kind of thing. It has different story arcs featuring different characters, but basically has the theme of "alien dicks people around for his own amusement". Enjoyed it.


[1] I convinced myself with the argument "well, this is the type of things kids these days watch... I guess..." This is a a terrible way to conduct science.

[Pretas]

Blue Gender. 80's. Mecha.

It's from 1999.

[BryanM]

I don't mean it literally : [

[Raytrace]

Blazing Transfer Student OVA (2-part)

Where do I EVEN begin with this one (It's been bugging me to see it considering how Raytrace was hyper over it a while ago and how it sounded up my alley), the best way to describe this OVA without spoiling anything are four words: HYPER, RIDICOULOUS, HILARIOUS and MANLY at the same time.

I nearly cried laughing all the way through, it's a thing THAT JUST has to be seen seriously, I don't care if you are of the new breed, or the old breed of anime watchers, if you haven't seen it, watch it, NOW. Easily one of my most favorite watches in a long, long time.

Meanwhile I began watching Gundam 00, haven't seen enough to form an opinion.

hehe glad you like it - yes it is the very essence of hotbloodedeness where pretty much every single sentence is some OTT exclamation - but with enough humour for that not to get boring - I also think the art is amazing - lots of Ashita No Joe style thick lines, - Anime Tenchou is very similar art wise.

Although in general I still prefer UC Gundam to any other Gundam - the first Season of 00 is very good I think and the second season is ok-ish.

[Raytrace]

Now watch Blue Blazes and read Moeyo Pen to learn the story of the guy who wrote that.

yep and also Gundam Sousei cos it's (kinda) similar.

[Raytrace]

How's the Mazinger-Z shmup? Yeah, I could download it, but I'd rather just do this. Had a chance to play a PCB but the dang ol' board needed some fixin'.

check the art:







very nice I think

[Pretas]

I don't mean it literally : [

Blue Gender clearly arrived hot off the heels of the Evangelion craze, though. It's distinctly a product of the late nineties and not the Bubble era.

The Mazinger Z arcade STG delivers on fanservice but is pretty lousy to play. It's also far too easy, since you have unlimited use of a sweeping wave that clears all bullets ahead of you.

[Ji-L87]

Aaaand now I'm also finished watching Blue Blazes. So, yeah, it was pretty great.

Live action isn't usually my thing, and the odd/exaggerated behavior of pretty much everyone did put me off at bit, but the actual content was so interesting I kept on going.
My main criticism is of course that it should've been longer

I have to say though that I'm not at all familiar with Kazuhiko Shimamoto and his works and that I found the story of Anno to be almost more exciting and interesting.
Also those scenes from Anno's paper animations were so much clearer and better looking then what I've found on youtube etc, aargh, I want to watch those in that quality

But this still felt like an enlightening watch and I've just started reading Moeyo Pen, as per the recommendations.
Aside from all the hot bloodedness and emotions, it was also strangely inspiring, kinda making me want to draw as well. Seeing how he just sat down and started drawing anime (and if that clip is real - a pretty dang good job of it) just felt really cool. In truth, there was a lot of cool things in Blue Blazes and maybe strangely, one of the things that really stuck with me was when he went to that anime tool shop in Umeda and they had the TV set up looping openings. I would totally stand there watching that if such a thing existed here!

Out of curiosity, since a lot of important people had these [future XX of XX] introductions, do we know if Honoo's two friends became anything important?

[drauch]

I know what you mean! It did inspire me to start drawing again. It used to be one of my main hobbies growing up, but I ditched it sometime around high school (like my other hopes and aspirations )

Hard for me to find any information on the two friends since they're only listed with their family names. I could be wrong, though, but I don't recall that.

I'd also recommend the manga A Drifting Life by Yoshihiru Tatsumi for those that haven't read it. Features the beginnings of gekiga manga, or more "mature" stuff when manga was considered solely for children. A lot of prominent artists are featured in it, and it's very interesting, but it's kind of depressing. Tatsumi basically considers himself a failure, and I don't think he ever really garnered much more fame than coining the "gekiga" term. Most of his characters look the same, and his pace is sometimes inconsistent, but he does use a lot of cinematic techniques that became quite popular in manga. It's a mammoth read and, but an interesting one. I've tried to read some of his other stuff as well, but it's kind of bland. Kinda feel sorry for the dude...

[Kaiser]

So I began watching Blue Blazes due lots of recommendations here, i'm after the first episode, DAMN is it awesome and I want to see more (when I wake up from the sleep I am about to go into), it's inspiring in many ways. It makes me feel like I should go hotblooded "Let's JUST DO IT and kick ass" with my game design, I already feel energetic just thinking about it...

[Ji-L87]

I know what you mean! It did inspire me to start drawing again. It used to be one of my main hobbies growing up, but I ditched it sometime around high school (like my other hopes and aspirations )

Oh, did you manage to produce anything you'd be willing to share?

Hard for me to find any information on the two friends since they're only listed with their family names. I could be wrong, though, but I don't recall that.

I see, I was kind of hoping they too would turn into someone interesting, since he does that "I can't underestimate these guys"-reaction thing in the beginning

I'd also recommend the manga A Drifting Life by Yoshihiru Tatsumi for those that haven't read it...

Agh, I'm not too good with depressing works. I did look it up however and I can see why it might be interesting.

Returning to Blue Blazes again for just a second, did anyone else get a bit excited when they discussed on-going anime and manga? I sorta wish I could take anime/manga-talk to that level instead of simply saying "the art is nice" and then argue who'd be the best waifu. But I'm not knowledgeable enough to do that, heh.

[Raytrace]

wow episode 8 directly talks about Blazing Transfer Student .

I don't know why, but for some reason the main actor reminds me of Stiffler mixed with Bruce Lee.

It obv doesn't matter and is still funny - but t-shirt the really rich guy is wearing: 'have a gangsta day' - was 'gangsta' common parlance in 1981? o_O

he is blatantly wearing a fat suit too.

I love (and completely agree with) Anno's insistence on everyone watching Ideon :p

[drauch]

Oh, did you manage to produce anything you'd be willing to share?

Nahhhh, not this dude. Maybe some day if the Blue Blazes inspiration stays with me.

[RaidenViper]

Just watched the last episode of Blue Blazes. Pretty good. Any more J-dramas worth watching?

[Raytrace]

yes I think people are right about him from Blue Blazes being inspiring, the point to me is that he really just wants to make something good and he really does enjoy every area of the process, and ye know, not that I can draw or anything, but if I could draw and I was watching it, I'd feel guilty about being too lazy to do stuff when obviously now if you have a drawing tablet you can do SO much stuff that would have been really expensive then.

[Kaiser]

yes I think people are right about him from Blue Blazes being inspiring, the point to me is that he really just wants to make something good and he really does enjoy every area of the process, and ye know, not that I can draw or anything, but if I could draw and I was watching it, I'd feel guilty about being too lazy to do stuff when obviously now if you have a drawing tablet you can do SO much stuff that would have been really expensive then.

Well now I feel bad about not doing the stuff I WANT to do at the moment when it comes to my new game project, infact i'm launching up GIMP to do those things while they are still fresh and bold.

I finished Blue Blazes while doing homework for English haha, it was a fun marathon, after so much shit Honoo went through (also the final episode reassured me that one of the girls is 100% dumb), he finally was seen as someone more than an amateur.

[Raytrace]

Well now I feel bad about not doing the stuff I WANT to do at the moment when it comes to my new game project, infact i'm launching up GIMP to do those things while they are still fresh and bold.

Man I constantly feel bad about not making stuff - esp. musically - but the tug of war between that, 3D modelling, watching anime, and making GIFs for fun leads to a soul crushing dreadful procrastination paralysis on my part usually lol :p.

Btw do you use G'Mic for GIMP? - really so many amazing things in it. Film Emulations alone make it worth installing.