Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Obiwanshinobi]

I'm afraid some people won't touch stuff with the word "princess" in the title unless it's by Miyazaki.

Bug Princess?

"Bug Panic", not accidentally I suppose.

[xbl0x180]

Just received in the mail:

- Gravion
- Gravion Zwei
- more Battle Athletes - Victory
- Saber Marionettes J, Vol. 1
- Saber Marionettes J, Vol. 2
- Saber Marionettes J, Vol. 3
- Saber Marionettes J Again Collection
- Saber Marionettes R, Vol. 1
- Ultra Maniac, Vol. 2

I forgot how good Hayashibara Megumi was as a voice actress. Inoue Kikuko is also good, but the modern anime series she's worked on do not showcase her talent at all

[Raytrace]

Just looked at the opening credits and about 1 minute of The Sky Crawlers on Netflix then switched off - the mopey head on that pilot - did not like the art at ALL - why didnt they cel shade/outline the fighters? - it just looks completely weird having the character cels beside them...

trust me, it takes a lot to make me not watch something involving propeller aircraft dogfighting, and I love that kinda slightly steampunk 'if propeller aircraft continued to develop' design style (swept wings, canards etc.) like Crimson Skies, but I just couldnt bare to watch it any longer - there was something weird about the animation too, it looked hand drawn, but was it that nowadays it's all tween based in something like 'Anime Studio' - so it doesn't seem to have the same 'flow' as older anime?

Is this what people in this thread complaining about modern anime are talking about - stupid whingey faces and pathetic emo haircuts everywhere? - Jesus I thought Shinji and Kamille Bidan were bad, but that guy getting out of the fighter at the start of this film exuded more emo shit than the 2 of them put together in 30 seconds! >:|

Having said that, maybe not being able to put on the Jap audio on Netflix is slightly colouring my opinion too, the only anime so far I've preferred to watch in English was Evangelion...

on a side note (and not anime) - it is cool to see Joint Security Area on there - great film

[xbl0x180]

It's a damn shame Oshii Mamoru directed that s**t. Most of his films are top-notch and they still rank as some of my favourites, not only in animation, but movies in general. I even overlook the heavy use of CG in Ghost In The Shell because everything else is excellent, but in this instance the CG is so overtly craptastic that I will not watch it. Imma gonna go back and watch Urusei Yatsura 2: Beatiful Dreamer

[Raytrace]

It's a damn shame Oshii Mamoru directed that s**t. Most of his films are top-notch and they still rank as some of my favourites, not only in animation, but movies in general. I even overlook the heavy use of CG in Ghost In The Shell because everything else is excellent, but in this instance the CG is so overtly craptastic that I will not watch it. Imma gonna go back and watch Urusei Yatsura 2: Beatiful Dreamer

yeah I mean I love polygonal art, but at the same time even apart from the jarring difference between the polygons and the 'drawn' lines in this, taken on it's own the 3d elements are pretty crap, the trees at the start are single face cutouts, which MIGHT be fine if they had outlines and were cel shaded and overtly stylised, but they're not - so it looks terrible, in fact it almost looks like it's not even rendered, like it's running at runtime in a game engine or something - and then the metallic shading on the fighters is so totally wrong and opposite to what hand drawn art can look like, it was ridiculous to use those textures, again if they had outlined and bothered to cel shade (or if they had hand drawn the 'shininess' (or even traced) in (for example the opening sequence of Zeta Gundam does this very well I think)), it would have been ok, but it just looks terrible

I love the Eva Rebuilds and MS Unicorn, though I do think the Rebuilds are the more artistic of the two (as in there seems to be more design/creation on top of the CG).

[xbl0x180]

Ep, ep, ep. I wouldn't watch Neon Genesis Evangina for anything. It might just give me incentive to give up on anime altogether again

[Raytrace]

Ep, ep, ep. I wouldn't watch Neon Genesis Evangina for anything. It might just give me incentive to give up on anime altogether again

yeah I dunno, I can understand why people might hate it, but I can't help it, I love Eva :p -

what does 'ep, ep, ep' mean ?

[xbl0x180]

Ep, ep, ep. I wouldn't watch Neon Genesis Evangina for anything. It might just give me incentive to give up on anime altogether again

yeah I dunno, I can understand why people might hate it, but I can't help it, I love Eva :p -

what does 'ep, ep, ep' mean ?

I make that sound whenever I'm motioning someone to "watch it/watch out." I think it comes from the Spanish expression, "epa"

I can relate to enjoying series that are total trash. I find myself referring back to Sakura Tsuushin as a guilty pleasure that I wouldn't recommend to anyone else. Lately, it's been Strawberry Panic - quite possibly the best modern anime series I have seen

[Raytrace]

Ep, ep, ep. I wouldn't watch Neon Genesis Evangina for anything. It might just give me incentive to give up on anime altogether again

yeah I dunno, I can understand why people might hate it, but I can't help it, I love Eva :p -

what does 'ep, ep, ep' mean ?

I make that sound whenever I'm motioning someone to "watch it/watch out." I think it comes from the Spanish expression, "epa"

I can relate to enjoying series that are total trash. I find myself referring back to Sakura Tsuushin as a guilty pleasure that I wouldn't recommend to anyone else. Lately, it's been Strawberry Panic - quite possibly the best modern anime series I have seen

oh I c - yeah in general with a few exceptions I only really like sci-fi or robot/mecha stuff so I don't think I'd be into Strawberry Panic

[Obiwanshinobi]

Just looked at the opening credits and about 1 minute of The Sky Crawlers on Netflix then switched off - the mopey head on that pilot - did not like the art at ALL - why didnt they cel shade/outline the fighters? - it just looks completely weird having the character cels beside them...

The problem with Production I.G is that they seem to think getting better at CG is about acquiring better tools rather than learning the ropes of what they already have. You can see them utilising progressively fancier technology in GitS:SAC, Seirei no Moribito and The Sky Crawlers, to equally poor effect every time. It says a lot that such an experienced studio fails to catch up with the 2003 Gonzo show Last Exile.

trust me, it takes a lot to make me not watch something involving propeller aircraft dogfighting, and I love that kinda slightly steampunk 'if propeller aircraft continued to develop' design style (swept wings, canards etc.) like Crimson Skies, but I just couldnt bare to watch it any longer - there was something weird about the animation too, it looked hand drawn, but was it that nowadays it's all tween based in something like 'Anime Studio' - so it doesn't seem to have the same 'flow' as older anime?

If you crave Crimson Sky ugliness, watch The Big O (not much aircraft to speak of, but just as deliberately skanky art deco vibe to the designs).
As for the animations, again, it's the Production I.G sucking at using the toys they've bought.
Towa no Quon by Bones is a proof that Japan can still do amazing character animation despite the CG misusage.

[Raytrace]

Just looked at the opening credits and about 1 minute of The Sky Crawlers on Netflix then switched off - the mopey head on that pilot - did not like the art at ALL - why didnt they cel shade/outline the fighters? - it just looks completely weird having the character cels beside them...

The problem with Production I.G is that they seem to think getting better at CG is about acquiring better tools rather than learning the ropes of what they already have. You can see them utilising progressively fancier technology in GitS:SAC, Seirei no Moribito and The Sky Crawlers, to equally poor effect every time. It says a lot that such an experienced studio fails to catch up with the 2003 Gonzo show Last Exile.

trust me, it takes a lot to make me not watch something involving propeller aircraft dogfighting, and I love that kinda slightly steampunk 'if propeller aircraft continued to develop' design style (swept wings, canards etc.) like Crimson Skies, but I just couldnt bare to watch it any longer - there was something weird about the animation too, it looked hand drawn, but was it that nowadays it's all tween based in something like 'Anime Studio' - so it doesn't seem to have the same 'flow' as older anime?

If you crave Crimson Sky ugliness, watch The Big O (not much aircraft to speak of, but just as deliberately skanky art deco vibe to the designs).
As for the animations, again, it's the Production I.G sucking at using the toys they've bought.
Towa no Quon by Bones is a proof that Japan can still do amazing character animation despite the CG misusage.

I'll check out that Big O, though really it is the aircraft specifically I'm into

[Raytrace]

Just looked at the opening credits and about 1 minute of The Sky Crawlers on Netflix then switched off - the mopey head on that pilot - did not like the art at ALL - why didnt they cel shade/outline the fighters? - it just looks completely weird having the character cels beside them...

The problem with Production I.G is that they seem to think getting better at CG is about acquiring better tools rather than learning the ropes of what they already have. You can see them utilising progressively fancier technology in GitS:SAC, Seirei no Moribito and The Sky Crawlers, to equally poor effect every time. It says a lot that such an experienced studio fails to catch up with the 2003 Gonzo show Last Exile.

trust me, it takes a lot to make me not watch something involving propeller aircraft dogfighting, and I love that kinda slightly steampunk 'if propeller aircraft continued to develop' design style (swept wings, canards etc.) like Crimson Skies, but I just couldnt bare to watch it any longer - there was something weird about the animation too, it looked hand drawn, but was it that nowadays it's all tween based in something like 'Anime Studio' - so it doesn't seem to have the same 'flow' as older anime?

If you crave Crimson Sky ugliness, watch The Big O (not much aircraft to speak of, but just as deliberately skanky art deco vibe to the designs).
As for the animations, again, it's the Production I.G sucking at using the toys they've bought.
Towa no Quon by Bones is a proof that Japan can still do amazing character animation despite the CG misusage.

I'll check out that Big O, though really it is the aircraft specifically I'm into

After readin AnimeNews description of I think I probably will like it actually...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

After watching the Blu-Ray version of "The Sky Crawlers", the dogfight scenes are impressive. All the sound effects were done in-house at Skywalker Ranch (as the TSC production team wanted the best audio effects that yen could buy at the current time). Meant having to fly to the SR facilities personally to get the job done right the first time & wasn't exactly chump change either. They were quite pleased with SR's services.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_˜

[xbl0x180]

The action may be good, but the overuse of CG really killed it for me. As I've written before, CG is one of the reasons why modern anime sucks and why I avoid most new titles, always preferring the traditional animation style. Speaking of which, I just ordered the whole set of Saber Marionettes J To X series... aaaand that should cover all of the Saber Marionettes needs I missed out on the first time around

I make that sound whenever I'm motioning someone to "watch it/watch out." I think it comes from the Spanish expression, "epa"

I can relate to enjoying series that are total trash. I find myself referring back to Sakura Tsuushin as a guilty pleasure that I wouldn't recommend to anyone else. Lately, it's been Strawberry Panic - quite possibly the best modern anime series I have seen

oh I c - yeah in general with a few exceptions I only really like sci-fi or robot/mecha stuff so I don't think I'd be into Strawberry Panic

Strawberry Panic is terrible in almost every facet that I'd criticise anime on, but I thoroughly enjoyed it towards the end. Hence, it's more of a guilty pleasure the way I also liked the Sakura Tsuushin anime (and manga)

[Raytrace]

not anime but I suppose Japophile related :p -

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359692/

watched that last night - absolutely brilliant

[neorichieb1971]

I watched whisperer of the heart last night. Wow, its a girlie film.. caught me by complete surprise.

[Raytrace]

starting to watch Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuioku Hen - I think imma love it...

[Obiwanshinobi]

Watched the third Towa no Quon film. So far it is at least as good as Darker than Black, thus not bad at all. The animation's ever-soulful BONES at their finest and even the corny shounen stuff is not out of place here, never getting melodramatic. There are some hand-painted backgrounds to be seen and one "expressionist" scene caught me by surprise - I don't recall BONES experimenting with different art styles in one show before, but it worked here and since it's quite graphic, cool kids are gonna like it.
Come to think of it, in what is already a violent spectacle, just multiplying dead bodies won't make for an extra impact, hence the expressionist touch in that scene methinks.

[Sik-07]

and so begins the best anime of 2012



Smile Precure!

[xbl0x180]

Just finished watching all of Top Wo Nerae! GunBuster for, like, the 10th time, except this was the DVD set I recently ordered. Sure enough, the omission of the "Chariots Of Fire" song was very noticeable. The set was bare with the extras! Jesus christ! They was chargin' about 60 bucks when this was released, but it came with a few previews and some shorts, and that was it! I also saw there was a clip of a newly-animated short and the designs looked awful. Mikimoto Haruhiko's chara designs were a major part of the show. It was then I knew I'd really hate to see DieBuster

[Ixmucane2]

I wouldn't watch Neon Genesis Evangina for anything. It might just give me incentive to give up on anime altogether again

It's like medical treatment: unpleasant but important.
I speak with authority, having subjected myself to a marathon of episodes 25 and 26 + Death and Rebirth + The End of Evangelion.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

What's your opinion of this upcoming "Broken Blade" sci-fi series with mecha in it? I see that it's to be out on Blu-Ray format this month for the USA. I've noticed that individual episodes of BB are on the JPN 360 Zune marketplace via streaming and/or d/l.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Raytrace]

ok I've watched one episode of Lagrange and while I'm not into the storyline pretty much at ALL so far, or the characters, the art and music are outstanding IMO, the main mecha is beautiful I think, then again I've always loved that kinda pastel green - anyway I'm gonna attempt to stick with it for the mechas :p

PS - the similarities between how she smashes that shieldy thing and everyone gasping in awe and of Shinji ripping apart an AT field are well, too much to not be noticed

as is how the 'Alien' is pretty much a Rei Ayanami

this is also the first time that having my Sky Box record HKN's Imagine-Nation actually paid off (i.e. it was about something I was vaguely interested in for a change)

[Raytrace]

ok I know this is a clichéd thing to say, but watchng episode 2 now and it's only getting more and more Evangelion-ish, then again I'm such a sucker that's reason enough for me to watch it...

[xbl0x180]

Hm, I guess it means I can safely avoid it



I was watching Colorful last night: they're 16, byte-sized episodes telling recurring, zany vignettes (e.g., the lecherous coach, the hentai gaijin, perverted train riders, etc.) that total about 90 minutes... or two hours, I dunno. Alls I know is that those are two hours I will never get back... which I am glad to have wasted watching Colorful This offbeat series is from the early 2000s and it looks as if it was licensed by ADV around the same time they brought Oh! Super Milk-Chan to midnight on Adult Swim. Well, this is pretty wacky along that same vein; this is the kind of stuff that probably wouldn't be licensed for release here anymore since it's not tied to a popular series or has little girls doing cute things. And the animation is really crappy: a lot of it seems to use some kind of cheap0 rotoscope and the backgrounds are half-baked real city photos or poorly-drawn junk. In some respects, this is also the kind of animation that woulda been featured on Liquid TV because of the style and its length. Even funnier is that the menu option and intro screen has a little shoot-'em-up ship going from one episode to the next.

ShMUPSters know what's up

[PC Engine Fan X!]

When it was possible to buy the ADV released DVD of Colorful! back in the day at my local Best Buy, on a whim, decided to buy it & proceeded to the checkout. There was a hot looking BB cashier gal in her early 20s that motioned to me that it was my turn to be rung up. Upon seeing the procative front cover featuring a women's underwear thong that ADV had chosen to prominately display, she gave me a slight look several times that read like "WTF is this guy buying?" but didn't say anything. The transaction went smoothly and she wished me a nice day. Of course, anything goes in anime & does.

Those shorts featured in Colorful! would've been a perfect fit/match on the MTV Liquid TV experimental animation series indeed. Only if MTV were to do full length animated Aeon Flux flick or a new AF animated series based on Peter Chung's designs, that'd be ace. (The live-action movie version of AF doesn't count in my book.)

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[xbl0x180]

When it was possible to buy the ADV released DVD of Colorful! back in the day at my local Best Buy, on a whim, decided to buy it & proceeded to the checkout. There was a hot looking BB cashier gal in her early 20s that motioned to me that it was my turn to be rung up. Upon seeing the procative front cover featuring a women's underwear thong that ADV had chosen to prominately display, she gave me a slight look several times that read like "WTF is this guy buying?" but didn't say anything. The transaction went smoothly and she wished me a nice day. Of course, anything goes in anime & does.

Those shorts featured in Colorful! would've been a perfect fit/match on the MTV Liquid TV experimental animation series indeed. Only if MTV were to do full length animated Aeon Flux flick or a new AF animated series based on Peter Chung's designs, that'd be ace. (The live-action movie version of AF doesn't count in my book.)

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I loved those Aeon Flux shorts from Liquid TV. I remember staying up 'til around 11:00 p.m. to midnight on Sundays to catch the newest installment. Afterwards, 120 Minutes with Matt Pinfield would come on... there was also Alternative Nation with that dorky chick, "Kennedy," on other nights

[ArmoredCore]

anyone seen Berserk golden age 1 yet? i hav'nt and am wondering about something who has without spoiling if possible. Does it continue from where the original manga anime ended at episode 26 or is golden age 1 a remake of the whole series so far and will continue further with episode 2/3? thanks

[NTSC-J]

anyone seen Berserk golden age 1 yet? i hav'nt and am wondering about something who has without spoiling if possible. Does it continue from where the original manga anime ended at episode 26 or is golden age 1 a remake of the whole series so far and will continue further with episode 2/3? thanks

Its a remake of the whole series and will presumably adapt the whole manga over the next few years. The next installment will be out in June and the third movie out by the end of the year.

[ArmoredCore]

ahh i see, thanks! now to find out where i can watch it lol.