Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Softdrink 117]

I think I watched this 2 or 3 times in a week after my first time watching it..

The friend who sent it to me did so the night before midterms started.

I still watched it twice in four days. I REGRET NOTHING.

[Eno]

Spice and Wolf

Just as a heads up in case you didn't know, S&W director has recently adapted Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, which is kinda like medieval S&W with focus on politics/society rather than economy.
It's not as great as S&W and definitely feels more "magical girl wish fulfillment"/"bad harem romcom"-ish but it's still pretty awesome and will help you to get through once you're done with S&W S2 and feel depressed because there's no more of it.

[drauch]

Violence Jack is too evil to not have the sexual scenes in it. It really provides the absolutely primal, nihilistic feel to the apocalyptic world that is Jack. Definitely reminiscent of some of the Pink genre films from Japan during the 70s. The third OVA isn't as brutal, and is probably the weakest of the three. Definitely worth watching, but I'd say it doesn't deliver like the first two. But I'm also a huge exploitation film fan, so there's that to go on.

[Domino]

I remembered watching VJ while eating chili in my first semester at college. Luckly none of the roommates where in the room when I watched it. Good times.

[EmperorIng]

I mean, from my perspective it's really just padding to justify Jack ripping people in half. In my eyes, no justification needed! You can tell who's good (they're pretty or normal looking) and who's bad (ugly and mean looking). That's cause enough for Jack to rip their heads off!

I guess I'll look forward to the third OVA, especially if it has less violence! Then after that, probably Wicked City and/or something Shirow Masamune.

[Raytrace]

I flip flop on dubs and subs, but as a general rule, I think Manga UK dubs are at least trying to be their own thing, even if they don't -quite- succeed all the time.

The Devilman OVA dubs are entertaining

without a doubt- I haven't seen them since literally when they came out (1992 over here or something?) and I can still remember some bits:

'Amon has been taken over by the human's consciousness!!!'

'You're damn right bitch, and now I'm sending you fuckers back to hell!!!'

or something along those lines :p



watched Wicked City last night - waifu not impressed by it haha - she just thought it was kinda boring!

I thought it was good, but still nowhere near NInja Scroll (sorry Drauch), it definitely had that sorta 'unnerving' chill of it at times, especially involving that spider woman - just yuk :s. The 'bad guys' all had those eyes too. Is it too much to read into that the 'bad' guys had by far the most Japanese eyes in the movie, and the 'good' guys had very 'round' ones?

There was definitely lots of the 'default action when male attacks female, well actually anything attacks female is to at least suggest rape' stuff which is completely unecessary.

I hope I'm not going to sound like some pretentious teenager here, but is it fair to say that you can view the whole of Wicked City as some sort of compilation of (some) man's fears and paranoia of women and relationships etc.? :

*Vaginadentaphobia (not sure if that's what it's called, but it sounds cool heh) - also I suppose maybe a fear of casual sex leading to disease etc.

actually I'm not going to list all the other things, but if you've seen it I think you'll know what I mean.

Still overall it was very good and some of the animation was incredible, lots of strobe and glow effects. For example the spider walk when she first walks is SO smoothly (and *shuddering* ly) animated.

[drauch]

I mean, from my perspective it's really just padding to justify Jack ripping people in half. In my eyes, no justification needed! You can tell who's good (they're pretty or normal looking) and who's bad (ugly and mean looking). That's cause enough for Jack to rip their heads off!

I guess I'll look forward to the third OVA, especially if it has less violence! Then after that, probably Wicked City and/or something Shirow Masamune.

Have you read the Violence Jack manga or any Go Nagai? And don't you watch Godfrey Ho movies? He doesn't do much on the extreme violence, but they're certainly over the top with NO RULES. Do they not dismember people in the Devil Man OVAs? Because they sure as hell do in the manga.

But anyway... it's the apocalypse! Rape and death abound! I think you're watching the wrong material if you find this sort of stuff needs justification. Violence Jack IS the apocalypse. Too many things sugar coat it. Maybe I'm just EVIL, but if some form of fiction is trying to tell me how shitty the world would be after the apocalypse, it better have penetration and dismemberment, dammit. I want to feel like I need to take a bath and be reminded why I should recycle or get earthquake insurance. Violence Jack achieves that and more.

[EmperorIng]

One of the lines in Devilman was particularly funny: AMON WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? "AMON'S EATIN' SHIT IN HELL RIGHT NOW! I'M... DEVILMAN!!!!"

The Devilman OVAs are indeed violent, drauch, but I all I said is that I tend to dislike prolonged rape scenes. I said I DON'T need the justification (which I think the sex scenes are - "LOOK HOW BAD THE BAD GUYS ARE!")!!! It doesn't bother me that much, but I am not going to sit through them (since they happen so much in Go Nagai-related works). I like the Fist of the North Star approach - not overt but definitely present and understood. And again, the bad guys are mean and ugly and thus deserve to die! =)

Aside: Godfrey Ho movies are the absence of internal logic, but in their own way they achieve their own type of twisted in-universe-logic (what constitutes a Ninja Challenge*, what are ninjer empies, who can own Garfield telephones, etc.).

*"If a short sword is placed underneath a long sword, and draped over with a red cloth, that constitutes a ninja challenge."

[Raytrace]

Kaiba --
In a word, fantastic. The contrast between the beautifully exaggerated and childlike presentation and the often serious and even disturbing plotline makes for a very compelling series. The only thing to be aware of is that the fansubs don't have the best continuity, so there are some errors here and there which do the already complex show a disservice.

That looks brilliant, Imma deffo watch it once I get through my current wave of stuff and rewatches...

[drauch]

Okay, Emperor, I'll let it slide this time... mention Fist of the North star and that's pretty much a manly handshake.

[Raytrace]

ok this season of Attack On Titan just ended, and as it became pretty obvious from about episode 15 on, it wasn't an 'end' -
has the manga explained more at this stage?

[Randorama]

ok this season of Attack On Titan just ended, and as it became pretty obvious from about episode 15 on, it wasn't an 'end' -
has the manga explained more at this stage?

Yes and no...it gives more information, but not that many explanations. The way the series is designed, they will need to keep the mysteries going for a while, I guess.
I wouldn't be surprised if they would only reveal everything shortly before the series' end...

[Raytrace]

ok this season of Attack On Titan just ended, and as it became pretty obvious from about episode 15 on, it wasn't an 'end' -
has the manga explained more at this stage?

Yes and no...it gives more information, but not that many explanations. The way the series is designed, they will need to keep the mysteries going for a while, I guess.
I wouldn't be surprised if they would only reveal everything shortly before the series' end...

I c - yeah for many episodes now, although the build ups are always done so enjoyably you ALMOST don't notice, but I've just been going - JUST GO THE BASEMENT IN HIS HOUSE!!!!!!!'

[Randorama]

+1 for Kaiba, it reminds me of early Tezuka works with a blend of '60s works such as le planete fantastique, both in design and spirit. The music is also very well-used.
This is clearly a Saturday (mid)-night anime, which seems to be a tv slot at which good shows can still be found. Now, I am really crossing fingers that the series will cover 25-26 episodes.

Kyojin: the mid-break shot and the very final scene of the last episode actually reveal an important part of the setting and background plot. The successive hints in the manga strongly point towards a certain plot twist which, once more, is not really that original, although it should nevertheless have a huge impact on readers, when delivered.

Did I suggest Uchouten kazoku? Peculiar "magic realism" anime that presents the life and (mis)adventures of a family of tanuki, their tengu sensei, and various humans in modern Kyoto. Lovely eccentric humour, but animation (once more...) drops in quality after a few episodes.

And then a question. What you guys think of the latest remake of Cyborg 009? It struck me as bordering on the non-sensical, although I can't seem to really hate it.





...and I had to share this.

[Hagane]

Anything by Masaaki Yuasa is good. I strongly recommend Kemonozume to anyone who liked Kaiba. The Tatami Galaxy looks really good and I've heard very good things about it, though I haven't watched it yet.

I watched Yamato 2199 up to episode 20, and so far not a single episode failed to deliver. It does everything well. Even the CG doesn't get that much in the way. Definitely up there in my top 5.

[KAI]

+1 for The Tatami Galaxy, I loved that series.
The last episode of Shingeki was atrocious, horrible animation, filler, bleurghhh.

Started watching Shinsekai Yori, looks intriguing so far, reminds me of Ghosthound, I hope it doesn't end up sucking like it.

[Randorama]

Anything by Masaaki Yuasa is good. I strongly recommend Kemonozume to anyone who liked Kaiba. The Tatami Galaxy looks really good and I've heard very good things about it, though I haven't watched it yet.

I watched Yamato 2199 up to episode 20, and so far not a single episode failed to deliver. It does everything well. Even the CG doesn't get that much in the way. Definitely up there in my top 5.

[T]he tatamy galaxy is genius, as it nails down the atmosphere of so-called "campus novels" stories set in university environments. The anime is indeed based on a campus novel (the waifu has read it, too), with a good amount of surrealism and time travelling. The characters are as absurd as interesting, and so is the plot. Then again, my BA days were often weirder and involved equally absurd individuals, which is why I am so fond of this series.

[GaijinPunch]

Video Girl Ai: Again, watching for nostalgic purposes, and not much more.

History behind it is a guy in the local group in Dallas actually paid for the scripts and subtitled them off the LD's (on TurboTitle!). One of the few projects back in the early 90's that was made available first by that area.

Anywho, I wasn't really aware of otaku nature when I first watched it. This should have keyed me in. Looking back now, it's pretty cheesy, but I guess a lot of fans of the genre could relate to a pervy guy that can't talk to women. Has about every anime cliche' ever in it's total running time of about 2.5 hours for the 6 OVAs. I still like this generation to an extent: mainly hand drawn stuff, but it's where things start to get a little too glossy, and the mainly heroes are starting to be replaced by manginas.

[Ganelon]

Thanks to Namco Bandai releasing a new licensed fighter based on the series, I recently discovered that Sakigake!! Otokojuku—the classic 80s anime that helped popularize the high school fighting sub-genre—has been fully fansubbed in English (all 34 episodes and the movie). The original translators left after a few episodes and last I checked a few years back when the live action series came out, nobody had followed their lead.

The manga/anime lived on as inspiration for plenty of fighting games (e.g. Heihachi Mishima from Tekken and Makoto Mizoguchi from Fighter's History). Just watching this melodramatic classic reminds me why I used to love anime as a kid. There's a hot-blooded passion in the atmosphere (story, characters, visuals, music, art direction, etc.) that isn't captured the same way in postmillennial anime.

[trap15]

Thanks to Namco Bandai releasing a new licensed fighter based on the series, I recently discovered that Sakigake!! Otokojuku—the classic 80s anime that helped popularize the high school fighting sub-genre—has been fully fansubbed in English (all 34 episodes and the movie).

YESSSSS! I had been hoping someone would finish subbing that, it looked so cool. With scenes like this, it's gotta be gold. I'll have to watch this soon. I wasn't aware that there was going to be a fighting game though, I'll have to look that up.

[drauch]

I still don't know why I haven't checked out the series at all. I just watched that video after drinking a bunch of coffee and got super pumped. I'm about to go to the gym as well. I hope something like that happens there. God, I love manly anime.

[neorichieb1971]

Never heard of any of this stuff you guys are talking about.

Are you getting feeds from Japan or what?

I am guessing because I live in the blu ray world I'll be hearing about this stuff in 18 months time?

[drauch]

Most of this page has been about fansubs online without official R1/R2 releases.

[GaijinPunch]

For the record, most of what I've been mentioning I originally watched over 20 years ago, on VHS, fan subtitled off of LaserDisc. Now of course I watch it elsewhere.

[Raytrace]

Kyojin: the mid-break shot and the very final scene of the last episode actually reveal an important part of the setting and background plot. The successive hints in the manga strongly point towards a certain plot twist which, once more, is not really that original, although it should nevertheless have a huge impact on readers, when delivered.

Did I suggest Uchouten kazoku? Peculiar "magic realism" anime that presents the life and (mis)adventures of a family of tanuki, their tengu sensei, and various humans in modern Kyoto. Lovely eccentric humour, but animation (once more...) drops in quality after a few episodes.

Do you mean the VERY final shot? I.e. at the end of the ED music?

Is Uchouten Kazoku the one with the family of foxes? I saw a making of on imagine-nation - it did look interesting

[Raytrace]

I watched Yamato 2199 up to episode 20, and so far not a single episode failed to deliver. It does everything well. Even the CG doesn't get that much in the way. Definitely up there in my top 5.

It is great no doubt; 'respectful', but still adds some great new stuff, and yes even the CG doesn't get in the way, and some of the background art, which I was surprised to realise was actually polygonal (but with 'painterly' texturing) are incredibly lush and beautiful.

[Raytrace]

The manga/anime lived on as inspiration for plenty of fighting games (e.g. Heihachi Mishima from Tekken and Makoto Mizoguchi from Fighter's History). Just watching this melodramatic classic reminds me why I used to love anime as a kid. There's a hot-blooded passion in the atmosphere (story, characters, visuals, music, art direction, etc.) that isn't captured the same way in postmillennial anime.

you should have a look at Blazing Transfer Student OVA if you get the chance, it is now emm well - it's up there and easy to find anyway

[Randorama]

Do you mean the VERY final shot? I.e. at the end of the ED music?

Yes. Now, keep in mind that there a group of fanatics (the wallists) who consider the walls sacred, that some individuals can turn into titans (of various sizes), and that the mid-episode break mentioned that the walls go quite deep in the ground, and that there seems to be a bedrock made of the same material, below the city. These hints are quite revealing of the true nature of titans, and the city itself. Other hints will be given soon after this episode, too...in the second season.

Is Uchouten Kazoku the one with the family of foxes? I saw a making of on imagine-nation - it did look interesting

Well, tanuki (racoon-like entities). Yes, it is very quirky, witty and well-written, aside having a type of trope I like: Japanese classic "myth" creatures in the modern world.

[Raytrace]

Do you mean the VERY final shot? I.e. at the end of the ED music?

Yes. Now, keep in mind that there a group of fanatics (the wallists) who consider the walls sacred, that some individuals can turn into titans (of various sizes), and that the mid-episode break mentioned that the walls go quite deep in the ground, and that there seems to be a bedrock made of the same material, below the city. These hints are quite revealing of the true nature of titans, and the city itself. Other hints will be given soon after this episode, too...in the second season.

Is Uchouten Kazoku the one with the family of foxes? I saw a making of on imagine-nation - it did look interesting

Well, tanuki (racoon-like entities). Yes, it is very quirky, witty and well-written, aside having a type of trope I like: Japanese classic "myth" creatures in the modern world.

yep it definitely did seem to be trying to tell me something but I was too thick haha - though the parallels with the gun coming to Jap and the period when foreigners were banned etc. seemed to increase during that last episode (well in my head anyway).

yes it did look quite good the racoon one, I don't know if it's really my type of 'thing' though, then again there are sometimes that I do like manga or anime that don't involve robots, bushido or cyberpunk, so I might give it a try :p.

[Raytrace]

I did not know of this:

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/rurouni ... hin-review