Recommended Anime/Manga?

[xbl0x180]

Ew... GunBuster 2, The Big O? Half these new posts belong in the "why modern animu sucks" thred

[Raytrace]

Ew... GunBuster 2, The Big O? Half these new posts belong in the "why modern animu sucks" thred

hahah I know I dont know what came over me - well The Big O isn't that 'modern' in feel is it?, I'd just consider it kindof 'western' (well I suppose what western stuff looks like now (cartoons certainly didn't look like that when I was a kid) in feel (then again that's probably cos of Sunrise's work on Batman: The Animated Series)

I intend to watch episodes 20-42 of Harlock over the next week so that should rebalance me hahhaa

I wholeheartedly think XbloX, that if you watched episodes 3-6 of Gunbuster 2 on a day when you were in a very good mood you'd like em - most of the horrible stuff is in the first 1 and a half episodes and while I can understand disliking the art, the theme and story is definitely 'proper' IMO, then again I think you like Gurren Lagann so I cant really understand if you don't like the art .

[xbl0x180]

"Modern animu" = Crap made from the late 90s to present

[Raytrace]

"Modern animu" = Crap made from the late 90s to present

so even if something is thematically 'old fashioned' - would you still consider it 'modern animu' - for example Shin Mazinger ?

(I'm not flaming or anything at all, just wondering, in general so far from my limited view, in general I usually do prefer 'older' things)

[Op Intensify]

well The Big O isn't that 'modern' in feel is it?, I'd just consider it kindof 'western'

It was a co-production with Cartoon Network, that's why.

I don't know why xbl0x persists with his moronic viewpoint that all anime made after 1996 magically started being shit.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

XBlox!! Please validate our opinions!!!

[Raytrace]

well The Big O isn't that 'modern' in feel is it?, I'd just consider it kindof 'western'

It was a co-production with Cartoon Network, that's why.

Yeah it definitely has that feel, in the same mood, my kids were watching NIck JR or something and 'Batman Of The Future' was on - the art in that was quite nice (very minimal/dark)

[KAI]

XBlox, what do you think about Yasuhiro Imagawa's animes? (Shin Getter Robo, Shin Mazinger, Giant Robo, etc) I mean, they are post-96 but have a retro-style. I think they are a checkmate to your "modern animu crap" theory.


Gineiden is getting gooood. Watching episode 6.

[Obiwanshinobi]

watched first episode of The Big O - really liked the general mood, however the mecha itself has to win ugliest robot ever designed hands down, I'd put it as uglier than even that horrible little pointy Qubeley...

Art Deco. It's deliberate, kind of like the ugliness of aircraft in Crimson Skies (that PC game) made sense to me once the designer explained they were something like muscle cars of the skies by design.
Initially I thought the animation wasn't good at all, but then I appreciated the way R. Dorothy Wayneright moves, so it's not like the animators didn't know what they were doing. The reason why the organic characters' movments look so weird might be that they emulated, well, this:

[Raytrace]

watched first episode of The Big O - really liked the general mood, however the mecha itself has to win ugliest robot ever designed hands down, I'd put it as uglier than even that horrible little pointy Qubeley...

Art Deco. It's deliberate, kind of like the ugliness of aircraft in Crimson Skies (that PC game) made sense to me once the designer explained they were something like muscle cars of the skies by design.
Initially I thought the animation wasn't good at all, but then I appreciated the way R. Dorothy Wayneright moves, so it's not like the animators didn't know what they were doing. The reason why the organic characters' movments look so weird might be that they emulated, well, this:

yeah I love Crimson Skies on both PC and XboX, and I love all the other Art Deco elements in The Big O but the mecha itself I don't even think it really is that Art Deco, it just looks like some torrid steampunk doodle to me :S.

[Raytrace]

haha to say that the opening theme (from episode 3 on) of The Big O was 'influenced' by 'Flash Gordon' would be a major understatement...

[xbl0x180]

XBlox, what do you think about Yasuhiro Imagawa's animes? (Shin Getter Robo, Shin Mazinger, Giant Robo, etc) I mean, they are post-96 but have a retro-style. I think they are a checkmate to your "modern animu crap" theory.


Gineiden is getting gooood. Watching episode 6.

Of course, there are exceptions and stand-outs (Redline, for one), but, in general, styles and/or stories have gotten worse and worse. The stuff from today is akin to autotuning or dubstep in music, or the excessive use of CGI in movies. I realise there's a buncha people who love this garbage and they have their reasons for loving the hell out of it. Then, you get imbeciles and simpletons, such as op intesticle, who for whatever reason can't deal with differing viewpoints (I guess they're that much in love with this trash). Again, I'm not here to argue the point or even try to get others to agree with me. It's really just a topic to discuss anime and manga recommendations. I wouldn't recommend a lot of the crap made post-1996

[cstle]

Anime was never good. Old, really old, new -- it's always been mostly bad.

But there's a good amount of stuff worth watching in spite of that. Worth being enthusiastic, even.

[GaijinPunch]

Anime was never good. Old, really old, new -- it's always been mostly bad.

But there's a good amount of stuff worth watching in spite of that. Worth being enthusiastic, even.

Agreed. I go back and watch stuff that I "grew up on". It's fun and camp (Bubblegum Crisis and Gall Force recently) and shit like that, but the music has ALWAYS been atrocious, and the stories of about 80% around the "just passable" level. It's always been a visual thing. Then, something comes along with a truly unique story and proves you wrong, but they're few and far between.

Having said that, I've been watching through Maison Ikkoku (again for some reason) and while it's not ha-ha funny, it's entertaining. But again, mostly nostalgic.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Books (the kind without pictures) tend to be worse, though. Anime is at least exotic. I can understand that some people who got into pirating/importing manga & anime in the nineteen nineties want their childhood back, in a way, but I wasn't in that boat and, despite having very fond childhood memories of cartoons which, when I got internet, turned out to be Japanese (made in the seventies at that), I don't consider those to be the be-all and end-all of anime.
The books I used to read, though... Many of them have never been any good (Orson Scott Card books for example).
Come to think of it, manga & anime might have made me fastidious about Judeo-Christian traits in popculture I didn't even perceive as such before. Heroes like Gordon Freeman do nothing for me these days and The Matrix made me wince even back when it was new.

[xbl0x180]

Jesus... I was just reminded of Fifty FUCKING Shades Of Grey

[drauch]

Anime was never good. Old, really old, new -- it's always been mostly bad.

But there's a good amount of stuff worth watching in spite of that. Worth being enthusiastic, even.

Welcome to every form of media ever. There has always been a fair share of shit, because that is what the masses want, and are complacent with. This always just boils down to taste, because I find the soundtracks to Bubblegum Crisis and Gall Force fantastic. I don't find that most 80s anime ever even tried to have fantastic stories. It's supposed to be fun, entertaining, aesthetically pleasing. This isn't Fellini, Ford, Kurosawa--and it knows it.

I feel about the same with film, comics, books, a lot of music; most of it went downhill in the late nineties and isn't coming back anytime soon.

Maison Ikkoku is perfect.

I know I'm being an anachronistic turd...

[cstle]

Anime was never good. Old, really old, new -- it's always been mostly bad.

But there's a good amount of stuff worth watching in spite of that. Worth being enthusiastic, even.

Welcome to every form of media ever. There has always been a fair share of shit, because that is what the masses want, and are complacent with.

I know.

I feel about the same with film, comics, books, a lot of music; most of it went downhill in the late nineties and isn't coming back anytime soon.

[drauch]

(Edit start of a pointless argument.)

Never mind. It's not worth it.

[GaijinPunch]

I found just about every anime soundtrack from... well... ever to be horribly out of place. BGC: Chics, Robots... and goofy pop music? For the era, Industrial would have worked better... into the 90's it should have gone into techno. I just always found it horribly over produced, massively commercialized, and under-thought. Needless to say: not my thing.

[drauch]

I can understand that view point. I dunno, I guess it appeals to me so much because I love pop music of that era, so it fits for me. I'm kinda the opposite with music, as I hate industrial; I can dig techno, though. I'd probably be slightly in the same viewpoint if the majority of 80s/90s anime had industrial music. Kinda odd to think about that...

[xbl0x180]

See, if drauch recommended something in this thred, I'd consider watching it, maybe buying it. His taste in this junk is relatively similar to mine. Raytrace asked about Sci-Fi and mecha recs, so we all gave him some; myself, I recommended stuff I liked - and he also went ahead and watched stuff I would never recommend. It's all cool. It's just cartoons, man hahah

[Ganelon]

I'm not a fan of vocal jpop but I do very much enjoy the instrumental background pieces infused with trance and jazz that make up the other half of anime music. I also miss the melodramatic visuals and music from the late 70s through the mid 80s.

Anyway, Bubblegum Crisis is a good example of a series that experienced the great anime shift of the late 90s. Bubblegum Crisis was an amazing OVA in many ways. Crash still had most everything but with a less interesting story. And Tokyo 2040 retains the looks but with such a banal story that I couldn't even bring myself to finish the series back when it premiered here on the Encore Action channel.

[Raytrace]

See, if drauch recommended something in this thred, I'd consider watching it, maybe buying it. His taste in this junk is relatively similar to mine. Raytrace asked about Sci-Fi and mecha recs, so we all gave him some; myself, I recommended stuff I liked - and he also went ahead and watched stuff I would never recommend. It's all cool. It's just cartoons, man hahah

hehe man I did love all the robot and scifi one shots and the like no doubt - but Jesus I wish I had known about Iczer before I started hahahah

I was all their sleepy like 'dum dum de dum, another ott gorey but not shock/scarey 80s OVA thingsy, la la la - then - SWEET JESUS NO! - MASKS ARGGGH!- EYES ON CHINS!!! AAAAHHHHHHHHHH'

[Raytrace]

I'm not a fan of vocal jpop but I do very much enjoy the instrumental background pieces infused with trance and jazz that make up the other half of anime music. I also miss the melodramatic visuals and music from the late 70s through the mid 80s.

Anyway, Bubblegum Crisis is a good example of a series that experienced the great anime shift of the late 90s. Bubblegum Crisis was an amazing OVA in many ways. Crash still had most everything but with a less interesting story. And Tokyo 2040 retains the looks but with such a banal story that I couldn't even bring myself to finish the series back when it premiered here on the Encore Action channel.

I am (pretty obv) an early 90s techno fan - and don't normally like the sortof music that's in anime OSTs at all - (though I always liked space disco so Ideon and MSG I'd like anywayz) - but sometimes the choruses are just so ridiculously catchy haha - couple that with the nostalgia for the series they produce and well, I like em

I couldn't possibly hear 'Kyuun, Kyuun - Kyuun, Kyuun!' anywhere without immediately gettin nostalgic for Macross

[speedlolita]

I just finished Ichigo 100% (manga), great end.

[KAI]

I found just about every anime soundtrack from... well... ever to be horribly out of place

I'm pretty sure you are talking about Ops, Ends and insert songs.
The BGM direction in the industry hasn't changed a bit in the last 20/25 years.

[Raytrace]

I found just about every anime soundtrack from... well... ever to be horribly out of place

I'm pretty sure you are talking about Ops, Ends and insert songs.
The BGM direction in the industry hasn't changed a bit in the last 20/25 years.

yeah actually I should have classified that I was talking of OPs and EDs too...

[Daigohji]

Bandai Entertainment USA are closing up shop. All their DVDs and blu-rays will go OOP at the end of November.

Bandai Entertainment, the subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings (USA) that handles anime and manga in North America, announced on Friday that the company will discontinue sales of its Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, manga, and novels. The company noted that it will make its final shipment of manga and novels to retailers by the end of October. Additionally, the company will make its final shipment of home video products to wholesale customers on November 30.

Bandai Entertainment had announced in January that it would stop offering new DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and manga releases in February. Since February, the company had continued to produce and distribute its existing catalog lineup, but it no longer produced and distributed new releases.

Bandai Entertainment had closed its own online store last December.

Update: The Robert's Corner Anime Store retailer noted in its weekly newsletter on Friday that Bandai Entertainment contacted the retailer to announce that it will be "discontinuing its home video publishing and distribution business effective March 1, 2013." Bandai Entertainment also added that the last day it will accept purchase orders is November 15.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/news/ ... ovel-sales

[Raytrace]

Dirty Pair episode 12 - the mice one - hilarious and with a touching ending - brilliant