Recommended Anime/Manga?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Back in March of 2000, I was browsing inside a Gamers store & saw some brand new SDF Macross DVDs up for sale. Upon looking closer at the price tag, it read 11,500 yen per DVD. This was the first DVD printing of Macross, btw, since the JPN PS2 console had just been released a couple weeks earlier (not to mention it was the cheapest DVD player at 39,800 yen). I thought that was too expensive but that was the going rate if you wanted an official JPN Macross DVD. So I passed up on it.

Interestingly enough, the current exchange rate was at 118 yen = 1 U.S. dollar back in those days.

The Animigo version of SDF Macross was a bit cheaper but still pricey at $99.99 USD at my local Suncoast Pictures store. Of course, all 36 episodes of SDF Macross are up on crackle.com site for free via streaming.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[xbl0x180]

I'm starting to see Ai Yori Aoshi and Shakugan No Shana arriving in the mail. Good lord, it must've really, really sucked to be a collectro in the early-to-mid 2000s. Most of this junk only has three measly episodes per DVD! F***!

Be glad you don't live in Japan, dude. Average pricing over there is something like $80 for 2 episodes.

You mean in the land where anime flows freely on the public airwaves every day and the shelves are stocked with every kind of mango imaginable

Back in March of 2000, I was browsing inside a Gamers store & saw some brand new SDF Macross DVDs up for sale. Upon looking closer at the price tag, it read 11,500 yen per DVD. This was the first DVD printing of Macross, btw, since the JPN PS2 console had just been released a couple weeks earlier (not to mention it was the cheapest DVD player at 39,800 yen). I thought that was too expensive but that was the going rate if you wanted an official JPN Macross DVD. So I passed up on it.

Interestingly enough, the current exchange rate was at 118 yen = 1 U.S. dollar back in those days.

The Animigo version of SDF Macross was a bit cheaper but still pricey at $99.99 USD at my local Suncoast Pictures store. Of course, all 36 episodes of SDF Macross are up on crackle.com site for free via streaming.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Pretty much any teevee and movie is available for rent and free download. This is why I - honestly - discourage others from collecting videos. It's a waste of money. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will peruse my Amazon wishlist of outta print DVDs

[Raytrace]

Yeah, I have both seasons 1 & 2 of Gravion on DVD, the ADV boxed set versions from 2006. Cool T&A fan service with the blond busty chick -- was released as a non-posable figurine a little while back but so pricey to acquire.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

yep well I made the mistake of putting it on thinking it looked harmless enough for my 4 year old daughter, then I was like o_O

[Estebang]

Hey guys, Redline is out on Blu-ray in the US for $20 in three days. I know we've all pirated it, but it's the kind of thing where I feel the creators really deserve to make some dough. Hopefully it'll have some new extras.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yeah, I have both seasons 1 & 2 of Gravion on DVD, the ADV boxed set versions from 2006. Cool T&A fan service with the blond busty chick -- was released as a non-posable figurine a little while back but so pricey to acquire.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

yep well I made the mistake of putting it on thinking it looked harmless enough for my 4 year old daughter, then I was like o_O

Yep, it's best to pre-screen some of those mecha anime shows before showing to the little ones. Otherwise, you'll get the o_O alrighty.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Raytrace]

Yeah, I have both seasons 1 & 2 of Gravion on DVD, the ADV boxed set versions from 2006. Cool T&A fan service with the blond busty chick -- was released as a non-posable figurine a little while back but so pricey to acquire.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

yep well I made the mistake of putting it on thinking it looked harmless enough for my 4 year old daughter, then I was like o_O

Yep, it's best to pre-screen some of those mecha anime shows before showing to the little ones. Otherwise, you'll get the o_O alrighty.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

yeah definitely - I think I'll go back to the handpicked (i.e. not full of death) Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam episodes I put on the PS3 for her

[xbl0x180]

Ironically, I'd probably pick out some of those loathsome moe animu to watch with kids. Magical girl stuff isn't pas mal either. You should check out Saint Tail, Minky Momo, Wedding Peach, and, of course, the original/uncut version of Sailor Moon

Hey guys, Redline is out on Blu-ray in the US for $20 in three days. I know we've all pirated it, but it's the kind of thing where I feel the creators really deserve to make some dough. Hopefully it'll have some new extras.

I'm too OCD to download something if I know it's going to get an official release. I will actually fork over the cash for an original copy

[drauch]

^And Creamy Mami, The Magical Angel!

Yeah, I'm the same when it comes to physical releases as well. It bothers the hell out of me.

[xbl0x180]

Dude, there's a SALE going on over here:

http://peterpayne.com/post/15661770244/ ... -you-think

[Siren2011]

By far the best anime trailer I've ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZkJFJa ... plpp_video

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Dude, there's a SALE going on over here:

http://peterpayne.com/post/15661770244/ ... -you-think

That wouldn't fly here in the U.S. as far as retail stores go -- in fact, it'd cause quite a controversy in the media. But yeah, I get the idea with the-in-your-face & eyebrow-raising advertising promo deal going on, Japan-style. Whatever it takes to lure the customers in, hopefully with a "shop 'til they drop" mentality/attitude & a good sense of humor.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[drauch]

By far the best anime trailer I've ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZkJFJa ... plpp_video

Back when Berserk was good...

[Siren2011]

From a pure aesthetic standpoint, the upcoming movie is a huge downgrade in quality. It looks a bit rushed. But still, I just wanted to see the manga in animated form. I would be satisfied even with stop motion pictures of macaroni people garbed uniquely in little versions of each character's clothes.

[Gus]

What's wrong with the movie's animation? I checked out the anime after reading all 325 manga chapters and thought it looked pretty bad in comparison. The movie seems like a huge upgrade.

[Siren2011]

*shrugs* I guess some people (myself included) prefer the look of pencil drawings to CG animation. I was just talking to Raytrace about this, actually. Few anime studios can pull off the CG, IMO. Samurai Champloo, Appleseed, and Evangelion revisions all were created with computers, and they look stylish and fantastic! Then you have shit like Panty Stocking and Garderbelt and Phineas and Ferb which take art back to the dark ages. (Actually that's not fair to say, since some beautiful paintings were made back then: http://www.homeschoolonline.co.uk/art/h ... -ages.html).

[xbl0x180]

For myself, I watch anime IN SPITE of the godawful CG if there are other compelling reasons: music, voice acting, designs, and story. I will always prefer the original or, in this case, the "traditional" way of animating something

[Raytrace]

*shrugs* I guess some people (myself included) prefer the look of pencil drawings to CG animation. I was just talking to Raytrace about this, actually. Few anime studios can pull off the CG, IMO. Samurai Champloo, Appleseed, and Evangelion revisions all were created with computers, and they look stylish and fantastic! Then you have shit like Panty Stocking and Garderbelt and Phineas and Ferb which take art back to the dark ages. (Actually that's not fair to say, since some beautiful paintings were made back then: http://www.homeschoolonline.co.uk/art/h ... -ages.html).

Yep I was just looking through my screenies/wallpapers of the Eva Rebuilds and it is amazing how they make it sometimes actually hard to tell when its polygonal or not, for example when Unit 02 does that massive downwards side-kick form the sky and the leg goes kinda super deformed towards the camera, I'm not sure maybe they put on some kinda exaggerated fisheye lens or something during render, but it looks manually done to me...

[moozooh]

So the new Berserk movie looks bad because of the CGI, yet Appleseed was fantastic? I resign my attempts to understand this world.

[Siren2011]

Wrong. It looks trashy as far as I am concerned because the animators involved were the problem, not because it was just computer generated. In all fairness, the original anime set the bar pretty high. It shouldn't take much to realize the difference in quality between the original show's Guts and Griffith and. the modern versions. I'd link pictures, but I am using a phone to type this.

[moozooh]

As far as I'm aware, the original Berserk anime never really set any bars. It was made at the end of the 90s, which was before mass CGI usage took over, but already after NGE had shown that fluid animation wasn't a prerogative of OVAs/feature films, which had already set said bars decades prior with the help of Katsuhiro Otomo, Studio Ghibli, and long-running OVA series such as Legend of Galactic Heroes. In that respect Berserk was merely in line with shows like Cowboy Bebop—it was decent but not anything special.

If anything, I have only one expectation of the new movies: I want them to add something substantial to the manga. The TV show luckily evaded the fate of awful adaptations (which, sadly, the majority of TV series are—see Hellsing '01 and recent Blade of the Immortal for good examples), nor added anything to what I've already got from the manga, so for me it was quite pointless.

[xbl0x180]

This is starting to read as if it belonged in the "why modern anime sucks" thred. The only Appleseed that was half-way decent was the original OAV from the late 80s, even if the story was all jumbled up and the chara design adaptations were crappy (it had a decent music score). The new CG Appleseed is terrible - it looked like an overextended cut-scene from some throw away FPS game. It's one of the rare/few instances where I couldn't finish watching a video and returned this terd promptly

[Siren2011]

Some of you must have skimmed my posts and found something you objected to, while ignoring everything else. I said the Appleseed remake LOOKED great. I wouldn't watch it again if you put a gun to my head because the story was a joke. TBH, I feel the same way about the original. Looked beautiful, stories were shit.

Though I agree with Moozooh about the sequel still being worth everyone's time because they add a bunch of stuff that was only told in manga form.

[xbl0x180]

To be fair, CG is merely a style of animation. I definitely hate CG in almost every form, though, with some notable exceptions. In other words, CG is like fake tits, but the bottom line is that tits is tits



Speaking of junk, a few more will be arriving in the mail:

Ai Yori Aoshi (about 8 DVDs)
Colorful
Ghost Stories (4 out of 5 DVDs)
Serial Experiments - Lain (another 5 or 6 DVDs)
Ultramaniac (7 DVDs)

Sucks that I have to sort through a ton of used video sellers and then I get some video that was a former rental, which is all in beat-to-hell condition. Hahaha. I guess I do experience some form of "condition anger," not on the level of a record collectro, but I can empathise a bit

[Obiwanshinobi]

As far as I'm aware, the original Berserk anime never really set any bars. It was made at the end of the 90s, which was before mass CGI usage took over, but already after NGE had shown that fluid animation wasn't a prerogative of OVAs/feature films, which had already set said bars decades prior with the help of Katsuhiro Otomo, Studio Ghibli, and long-running OVA series such as Legend of Galactic Heroes. In that respect Berserk was merely in line with shows like Cowboy Bebop—it was decent but not anything special.

Care to share some links to any bars Otomo set as far as character animation is concerned? Everything by him I've seen was animated badly.
Evangelion was a TV show, by the way. (Perhaps the first Gainax production where they estimated real costs properly and finished the thing with very few corners cut.)

[Gus]

If anything, I have only one expectation of the new movies: I want them to add something substantial to the manga. The TV show luckily evaded the fate of awful adaptations (which, sadly, the majority of TV series are—see Hellsing '01 and recent Blade of the Immortal for good examples), nor added anything to what I've already got from the manga, so for me it was quite pointless.

I think this is why I couldn't get into the Berserk anime. It was basically just the manga without the incredible artwork. They didn't really need to change anything as they were adapting a pretty great story but I kind of wish they did as that at least would have made it interesting.

[moozooh]

Care to share some links to any bars Otomo set as far as character animation is concerned? Everything by him I've seen was animated badly.

Well, I know you hate Akira, but if you've seen both Stink Bomb and The Order to Stop Construction, and still don't believe Otomo is really good, nothing I say will change your opinion.

Evangelion was a TV show, by the way.

Yes, exactly. It was a TV show with production values typical for an OVA or a full-length movie. That's what I said earlier!

Perhaps the first Gainax production where they estimated real costs properly and finished the thing with very few corners cut.

Yeah, I know this syndrome when episodes 25 and 26 are just erased from one's memory for being what they are, but... no. They were one huge cornercut, and were later remade as EoE, which is divided into two episodes subtitled 25 and 26. Anno also admitted they ran out of budget, so he had to finish the story from Shinji's perspective, while EoE is more of an outside perspective he was aiming for from the start.

[Ixmucane2]

I stumbled upon an episode of Welcome to the NHK on TV a few days ago: the protagonist, a young man, is pulled by a not-quite-girlfriend on a vacation with a few friends of her; they reach a private island by train and boat, at which point he realizes the others are planning a group suicide and the episode ends before any confrontation.

Having seen Last Exile, Full Metal Panic, Blue Submarine no. 6 and Origin: Spirits of the Past, I said to myself: "GONZO! It must be well drawn! Let's see how good they are at realistic stuff!"
Well, not much. The crude CG of the train station interior, right at the beginning, is particularly cringe-worthy; but all character design and animation is average, predictable and unattractive.
The writing is also worse than earlier GONZO productions: instead of unoriginal but solid, it's full of heavy-handed and simplistic symbolism, with trivial and pointless action.

How did GONZO get so bad in so little time? Is Welcome to the NHK only an isolated bad production, or does it mark a trend?

[Gus]

Yeah, I know this syndrome when episodes 25 and 26 are just erased from one's memory for being what they are, but... no. They were one huge cornercut, and were later remade as EoE, which is divided into two episodes subtitled 25 and 26. Anno also admitted they ran out of budget, so he had to finish the story from Shinji's perspective, while EoE is more of an outside perspective he was aiming for from the start.

The idea that the TV ending is Shinji accepting instrumentality (Congratulations!) while EoE is him rejecting it makes the most sense to me.

[Raytrace]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

[drauch]

I'm sure most people here have seen Evangelion, but you probably shouldn't talk about the ending out in the open like this...