Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Steamflogger Boss]

That seems really unnecessary to me. The original oav is so good.

My order of Kimagure Orange Road shipped (along with Ranma set 7 completing my BD set). Just a heads up for anyone else that pre-ordered and hopefully Amazon gets more stock soon.

[WelshMegalodon]

Season 3 of Sailor Moon Crystal is easily the best season so far, but Chibiusa brings the whole thing down a bit. Ironic how she yelled at Usagi for acting like a child, even though Chibiusa is 900 years old and acts like she's 5. Her Electra complex is downright creepy. This is easily one of the most purely unlikable fictional characters I've ever seen.

Eh, enough negativity. I really liked the first two seasons, but I can understand the reasons as to why fans were lukewarm towards them. The writing, pacing, comedy, editing, action, direction, animation, depth, pretty much everything has noticeably improved in season 3. Sailor Moon fans who wrote off Sailor Moon Crystal without having watched the Death Busters story arc have no idea what they're missing. This is pretty damn incredible.

You get a better sense of Chibiusa genuinely looking up to Usagi in the manga, at least from what I remember of it.

Season III was a huge step up for sure, but I thought it still needed some work. Season IV would have been another opportunity to further improve on Crystal and finally give us a proper adaptation of Dead Moon, but it never happened.

On a related note, Precure has actually been surprisingly decent lately. You owe it to yourself to check out All-Stars Memories - it's quite sweet, features every Cure to date, and clocks in at just over an hour.

[Randorama]

That seems really unnecessary to me. The original oav is so good.

The OAV (movie? I remember 2 hours of material) compressed the first cours of the planned series into a single work. I remember it to be a Tomino-like compression (or a Tomino-like anime...), i.e. simply cut from one part to the story to another, leaving the spectators to guess (a lot) what happened in between. The new project apparently has the aim to produce/adapt/serialise/present (whatever the right term is) the full planned story.

Now, the original series was supposed to be a bit like other seinen of the time, i.e. feature specific social commentary of then-Japan.

I am generally skeptic of modern authors attempting social commentary (especially if using SF as a genre), because I simply cannot recall of good mangaka/anime directors younger than 50 and being good at it. I am probably forgetting some people who are actually good, but then we are in the territory of "if guy X is involved in this project, then it *might* be good" (i.e. 0.01% chance rate...).

I would add that some works lose their "punch" once the Zeitgeist they emerge from fades away.

I recently watched Banana Fish and even if the director and writers did a sterling job in adapting the work to a more current time, it does require viewers to keep track of recent history, to better appreciate the story (the original manga started in '84, was set in '81 in the U.S., with references to the Vietnam war...).

Oh well, some people will receive a salary and the economy will be kept afloat, or something like that.

[soprano1]

On a related note, Precure has actually been surprisingly decent lately. You owe it to yourself to check out All-Stars Memories - it's quite sweet, features every Cure to date, and clocks in at just over an hour.

Here's a random, but awesome tidbit about Cure Black's VA:

Spoiler

[Steamflogger Boss]

That seems really unnecessary to me. The original oav is so good.

The OAV (movie? I remember 2 hours of material) compressed the first cours of the planned series into a single work. I remember it to be a Tomino-like compression (or a Tomino-like anime...), i.e. simply cut from one part to the story to another, leaving the spectators to guess (a lot) what happened in between. The new project apparently has the aim to produce/adapt/serialise/present (whatever the right term is) the full planned story.

Now, the original series was supposed to be a bit like other seinen of the time, i.e. feature specific social commentary of then-Japan.

I am generally skeptic of modern authors attempting social commentary (especially if using SF as a genre), because I simply cannot recall of good mangaka/anime directors younger than 50 and being good at it. I am probably forgetting some people who are actually good, but then we are in the territory of "if guy X is involved in this project, then it *might* be good" (i.e. 0.01% chance rate...).

I would add that some works lose their "punch" once the Zeitgeist they emerge from fades away.

I recently watched Banana Fish and even if the director and writers did a sterling job in adapting the work to a more current time, it does require viewers to keep track of recent history, to better appreciate the story (the original manga started in '84, was set in '81 in the U.S., with references to the Vietnam war...).

Oh well, some people will receive a salary and the economy will be kept afloat, or something like that.

It's definitely an OAV. 81 minutes, then another 80+ minute follow-up then two 50 some minute episodes.

Agree re "losing punch". I want this new project to be good, and I will certainly try it but I am skeptical.

[WelshMegalodon]

Here's a random, but awesome tidbit about Cure Black's VA:

Spoiler

Wow, talk about a small world.

You have now reminded me that a significant number of Toei's teenage cash cows are voiced by middle-aged women.

[soprano1]

Wow, talk about a small world.

I think she even has a line that goes something like this:
"Onii-chan, when I grow up I'll become a hero like you!"

[Steamflogger Boss]

Tis a good day.

Spoiler

[kitten]

high score girl has some new episodes up on netflix, and it's apparently 3 additional OVA episodes. is this a bone thrown because they can't afford another full season? the conclusion to the story? maybe just a little thing for now while they work on the other season? gonna give 'em a watch, regardless. this show has become some sort of guilty pleasure, the romance is *so bad* (in fact, there's very little that is good about the show if you're uninterested in older games & game history - its humor & sense of romance is kind of antiquated and gross and not even well-executed), but where else am i going to get an anime with such abundant reverence for such great games? i often hear this referred to as a nostalgia watch, but i sure as hell didn't live in 1980's/early 90's japan, and i tend to play these games - some for the first time ever, some for the first seriously appreciating them - now.

for it to be a nostalgia watch, i think i'd have had to live some of this. growing up in the US with an NES and with a mom working at the mall who would let me wander around the arcade while she worked, and not truly getting enthusiastically into classic stuff until i was into adulthood... i don't think that fully qualifies. there's some nostalgic elements for me, but it's more like a portal into an authentic fascination with the culture from someone who lived its glory days. even though i'm much more specialized in home console stuff, i tend to recognize most everything that gets shown off with little exception.
speaking of that

does anyone know what it is they're playing right next to ninja spirit and undercover cops in episode 13, around timestamp 17:08? i'm guessing it's also irem, looks a bit like their sprite art, but i don't know. some scrolling action game where you play as a little red blob fighting a large skeleton. i'd grab a screenshot, but i'm housesitting and using the ps4 to watch on a relative's netflix account. no camera, no ability to pull it up on the browser.

- - - - - - - - - -

nevermind, found it myself. they flash the title screen shortly after where i'd paused. oops.

however, the title screen is totally different from this mobygames screenshot purporting to be the jp title screen - https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/r ... Id,660840/ - it's the same colors, but it's got the same logo as the fc or msx versions.

man, i wonder if someone out there is doing a compendium of every game on every cab they show. there's a genuine menagerie in some eps!!

[Vludi]

High score girl adaptation pretty much loses all the spontaneity and charm of the manga, some people don't like the Oshikiri's art but it certainly does a much better job for the characters expressions than JC Staff. It also cuts a bunch of content (the OVA itself condenses 2 full volume in 3 episodes) and even the gameplay footage feels more intrusive. It's not really meant to be a great love story and more about growing up.

[soprano1]

It's not really meant to be a great love story and more about growing up.

And video games, in case we forget.

[Randorama]

High Score Girl leaves me perplexed.

I think that the story is at most average, but the arcade nostalgia factor borders on the autobiographical. The protagonist should be my age, so every time they show an arcade game, it brings personal memories back.

[BryanM]

That's one of the real strengths of hobbyist programming. While its more niche, its more personal and real in a way that the typical "good guy kills bad guy and now he's dead and also he kissed a girl" fantasy action template simply never can be.

When I watched that first episode of that badminton show one of you guys recommended, I was flooded with my own personal memories of playing tennis for years. The various issues the one character had with the game is pretty common in racket sports.

[Randorama]

Bryan: indeed. I must add that I seldom have this kind of highly personal engagement with anime. A partial exception might be...The Tatami galaxy and Honey and Clover. My BA students days were rather...bizarre, I daresay.

EDIT: and Mushishi. Because everyone from the Mountains knows of the Mushi.

[Randorama]

Be-Bop High School is my guilty pleasure. There, I said it.

[Raytrace]

Be-Bop High School is my guilty pleasure. There, I said it.

Guilty? - it's fuckin amazing - Manga too -

Sakikage! Otokojuku is boss too

[Vanguard]

I've recently been reading Hinamatsuri. It's a comedy about a yakuza and the psychokinetic girl who appears in his home one day. It's mostly episodic and many chapters focus on the sizeable cast of side characters who are well-developed and have their own substories. It's consistently high quality.

It got an anime adaptation last year, so that's another solid slice-of-life-ish manga with an anime adaptation for whoever it was that asked for those.

[soprano1]

Finished reading Clockwork Apple, a short story collection by Osamu Tezuka. Loved it, social critique is pretty good in some of them.
Now reading Dororo.

[soprano1]

Now reading Dororo.

Wow, fantastic story and art, only blemished by the unfortunate rushed ending. Anyone saw the new anime? Didn't like the new style much, and it seems to change some aspects of the story too.
I'm now reading the first seven volumes of Yu-Gi-Oh!, before the mangaka started the Pegasus arc and it became a children's trading card manga. Art is a bit ugly, but the shadow games are fucking badass.

[Randorama]

Re: Dororo anime. I feel that adapting Tezuka's works without adapting his trademark stylistic aspects (from big noses to characters
' gaits) is a mistake that Mappa should not have done, since it removes a dimension of self-irony that permeates all of Tezuka's stories. I mean: the story is very serious and brooding, so having Dororo (the kiddo) to act and look like a typical Tezuka kid relieves a bit of tension.

I noticed from episode 13 that somebody must have told MAPPA animators, as Dororo walks in a more Tezuka-ish manner, and a few other details are there. Still, the fact that studios are willing to risk on old Tezuka material is nothing short of praise.

[soprano1]

Still, the fact that studios are willing to risk on old Tezuka material is nothing short of praise.

Buddha needs an OVA series, I think. It would be a nice companion piece to this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Be ... le_Stories

[Randorama]

Still, the fact that studios are willing to risk on old Tezuka material is nothing short of praise.

Buddha needs an OVA series, I think. It would be a nice companion piece to this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Be ... le_Stories

There is a compressed adaptation in two films for Buddha, which I found good. I remain of the opinion that if someone would decide to adapt any of Tezuka's works as a Gekiga/seinen author, the world would be a better place.

By the way: Carole & Tuesday is S. Watanabe's new work (he is the executive director, but still), and it is great. It is features an interesting even if not terribly original story, a lovely atmosphere, good world-building and a very wise use of music (duh, it's a Watanabe series).

I could not believe that Bones came with such an interesting series until I found out that he was in charge with the project (netflix is also supporting the project). It made me discover two new artists: Mocky and Benny Sings, as well.

EDIT:

and the main antagonist is basically Towa Tei

[Steamflogger Boss]

Still, the fact that studios are willing to risk on old Tezuka material is nothing short of praise.

Buddha needs an OVA series, I think. It would be a nice companion piece to this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Be ... le_Stories

There is a compressed adaptation in two films for Buddha, which I found good. I remain of the opinion that if someone would decide to adapt any of Tezuka's works as a Gekiga/seinen author, the world would be a better place.

By the way: Carole & Tuesday is S. Watanabe's new work (he is the executive director, but still), and it is great. It is features an interesting even if not terribly original story, a lovely atmosphere, good world-building and a very wise use of music (duh, it's a Watanabe series).

I could not believe that Bones came with such an interesting series until I found out that he was in charge with the project (netflix is also supporting the project). It made me discover two new artists: Mocky and Benny Sings, as well.

EDIT:

and the main antagonist is basically Towa Tei

I was just talking about this on another forum and yeah it's great. I had enormous expectations (because it's Watanabe) and they have been fulfilled so far.

[Weak Boson]

Just finished up the Gundam: The Origin anime. I was feeling a bit nostalgic so I decided to watch some gundams for old times sake and I was not prepared for how awesome this series was. I always really loved the OG 0079 series and I was skeptical of attempts at prequeling, but this really does set things up amazingly and succeed in telling an interesting story in its own right. Spoiler tags in case some people need more than 40 years to watch a gundam:

Spoiler

One complaint would be that not all of the characters were given as much development as I'd like. For example, I didn't feel like you gained any extra insight into Gihren or Kycilia (they're messy bitches in this, but they were that way in 0079 too). But considering the relatively large cast of characters that's probably inevitable to some extent.

Low key some of my favourite scenes were of Amuro's life. Also while I was initially a bit put off by how goofy and dumb Dozul is as I didn't remember him that way they also do a good job of portraying his more positive characteristics, and ultimately his character actually makes a lot of sense. Lots of smart decisions like this.

The only other complaint was that I think the colony drop should have been more of a dramatic centre-peice - arguably more so than the battle of Loum (though that was awesome) - rather than just a bit of exposition. The visuals of watching it happen are indeed grand, but aside from Ral's initial reaction there's very little mention of how the plan came to be and even how other characters react. I wanted to see how Gihren cooked up the plan, justified it to himself and convinced others to go along with it, and what the wider reaction of it was, and how it changed people's view of the war. Instead the narrator just sort of goes "oh no! Look at what they're doing, this is no good!".

I guess I'll watch the 0079 movies next. One thing I'm interested in tracking is Sayla's character, who I kind of didn't pay much attention to back in the day. But her back story is one of the most emotional so watching her develop could be a big payoff.

RIP Lucifer o7

[Steamflogger Boss]

Origin is incredible, glad to see someone else enjoyed it.

[Randorama]

Origin in a sense extracts Char's story from the manga, which re-tells the whole One-Year War from his and Zeon's point of view (highly recommended reading, btw). These problems seem to emerge because of how the writers chose which materials to adapt...I remember Gihren and Kecylia coming out as more well-rounded characters.

Still, this is a series I find mesmerizing, for a lack of a better term. Char is a modern, quintessential Faustian hero, and both manga and anime are modern classics (I would say the Gundam series) because of this.

[soprano1]

Read the first two volumes of Akame ga Kill, but dropped it. I was expecting a true dark fantasy story, but the random comic scenes, fourth wall breaking dialogue, and the shit-eating grins, all jumbled up with guro shit made me roll my eyes too much. Also, those weapons made by the first emperor, and the fights with their wielders smelled badly of shounen shit. Too bad, I guess. The crossover with other manga series at the end of the volumes was nice, though.
Also finished G Gundam the other day. It dragged a bit, but the final battles and special attacks were hot-blooded as fuck.
Speaking of Super Robot series, anyone reading the GaoGaiGar and Betterman crossover manga? It's a sequel to the FINAL OVA's, with Mamoru and Kaidou piloting a new Earth made robot, GaoGaiGo, against the BioNet crime syndicate.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Watched a couple movies I hadn't seen in years.

Vampire Hunter D

80s af. Decent movie for what it is but at the end I am just like okay w/e.

The Five Star Stories

This right here. This is the mother fudging content I need straight into my veins. A true sweeping epic.

Unfortunately the rest of the story arcs weren't made into movies. The manga is good, without a doubt though and worth reading. The US manga release is all but impossible to get at this point and needs a reprint badly.

[KAI]

Speaking of Super Robot series, anyone reading the GaoGaiGar and Betterman crossover manga?

Is it translated? cant find it anywhere.

he Five Star Stories

Love FSS so fucking much, i've read the whole thing twice, I could kill for more chapters translated.



The guy translating Violence Jack in spanish finished it last month and wow, that ending was ! ! ! ! !

[Steamflogger Boss]

he Five Star Stories

Love FSS so fucking much, i've read the whole thing twice, I could kill for more chapters translated.

It's soooo good. It's the anime content I crave.