Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Raytrace]

OK I still remain utterly useless at remembering Japanese names - but I see that's Mr Utena so that is great news

[DaneSaga]

said to myself I wouldn't go down the TV series route when collecting laserdiscs and just stick with movies & OVAs, but I guess there are certain shows I can make an exception for:







tell me if you guys are sick of me flooding this thread with LD cover images and I'll stop doing so.

[drauch]

Please continue! Fuck, that Bio-Hunter cover is rad! All fantastic stuff in my book. Have you ever read A Wind Named Amnesia? I'm a big post-nuke/apocalypse fan and loved the film, and I've always meant to check out the book but still haven't gotten around to it. Love the idea. Kinda similar to Day of the Triffids but with amnesia instead of blindness.

[DaneSaga]

haven't read the book, no. Great analogy with Day of the Triffids & Wind Named Amnesia though. Didn't even cross my mind when watching Amnesia(probably as its been more than a decade since reading Day of the Triffids), but the parallels are certainly there in hindsight.

[BryanM]

Wow, I had totally forgotten Vampire Hunter D existed. 31 years now, they've been pumping out books for as long as I've been alive. And still, only two movies to its name. Next year should mark the 15 anniversary since the last animation (which is the timeframe they've apparently set between such things) so maybe that tv series they talk about sometimes might see the light of day?

In some ways the thing is a slightly toned down version of Berserk, back before Berserk wasn't about nakama and the power of friendship. Just a story of a young man cutting up monsters with his sword and the occasional shot of some poor bastard bystander eating it just 'cause he lacks vampire juice. Heck, another staple in the violent 80's style depressing post-apocalypse genre.

This kind of stuff was what got me into the medium in the first place as a young lad - stuff you'd never see the media market here produce in a thousand million years.

[Raytrace]

finished Gunbuster rewatch - my god episode 5 and 6 really are masterpieces - the amount of detail in episode 5 per frame is just incredible. And even though obiously I knew what was coming - that ending still gave me the feels.

[Raytrace]

finished Area 88 manga (well what exists of it) - why has no one scanlated chapter 30 and onward? :'(

[Edmond Dantes]

Wow, I had totally forgotten Vampire Hunter D existed. 31 years now, they've been pumping out books for as long as I've been alive. And still, only two movies to its name.

Putting it in much the same boat as Golgo 13, which ran consistently from the 1960s on, only got three theatrical releases (one live, two anime) and, IIRC, a single anime series... and I may be wrong on that last count.

And of course when it came to North America they decided to only do a "Best Of" because printing the entire 300-volume series would be costly.

[drauch]

There's actually two live-action Golgo films: one with Ken Takakura, the other with Sonny Chiba. Haven't seen the Takakura one yet, but the Chiba one is unfortunately pretty bland. Damn shame, since it had the potential to be fuckin' rad. There's not 300 volumes--actually, about half of that, but yeah, it'd be a monster to print. Goddamn shame, because it's excellent.

The newish series isn't too shabby, despite the obligatory 2000s JRock intro track. Character design is nice at least, and with 50 episodes there's a good bit of material. Still, one of the biggest dream projects that could have been one of the greats if they had made a series in the 70s. I'd kill to go back in time and commission something like that with those thick lines, groovy tunes, and stoic womanizing.

[DaneSaga]

Soon to be 3 live action Golgo films, as Davis Films acquired the rights for an American remake just a couple years back. Should be on par with their Resident Evil movies I reckon.
At least we still have Dezaki's anime film, which remains all sorts of awesome (not even fugly CG choppers can sully its goodness).

[Raytrace]

rewatching Gunbuster 2/Diebuster - weirdly I seem to not like it as much as the first time.

[Lord Satori]

I'll just leave this here:

[Skykid]

rewatching Gunbuster 2/Diebuster - weirdly I seem to not like it as much as the first time.

God, don't watch Diebuster it's fucking atrocious.

[KAI]

I'm reading Donyatsu and I'm loving it!!

Spoiler

Mechas!

[Edmond Dantes]

Speaking of Golgo 13, I had the misfortune today of being reminded of one of the worst reviewers ever.

Bennett the Sage, or as I call him "the Irate Gamer of Anime."

I did a video about him, but that's for people who don't know much about anime. Since you guys do, I'll just give you a list of anime this guy has considered "garbage":

-the Guyver OVA
-Golgo 13
-Outlaw Star
-Cowboy Bebop
-Grave of the Fireflies
-Project A-Ko
-Devil Hunter Yohko
-the Devilman OVA
-Tenchi Muyo in Love
-Fatal Fury the Motion Picture
-Iria Zeiram the Animation
-Vampire Hunter D...

... And there are so many more I recognized and was like "how the FUCK can you hate this?" but I can't remember all of them.

And not only does he bitch about good anime, but his criticisms are always retardedly stupid. Like he complains that Iria "doesn't explain anything" but when he says what it needs to explain, he's basically asking for plot spoilers.

Fuck this guy. Sometimes I wish the internet reviewing trend had never started.

[drauch]

Yeah, I've noticed that basically every casual anime fan hates most OVAs from the 80s. Usually the same kind of idiot that doesn't like action movies because they "didn't change clips" or such nonsense.

Didn't know who this guy was so I looked him up. You should have just said that he was associated with ThatGuyWithGlasses and it would have explained a lot.

I mean, fuck.

[Edmond Dantes]

Oh, sorry, you're right I should have mentioned the TGWTG connection.

The only TGWTG reviewer who is and ever was any good is Spoony, and they fired him.

Everyone else... Nostalgia Critic has maybe ten funny videos in his entire reportoire, Nostalgia Chick is pretentious and like Sage tends to hate good cartoons and movies (like the animated Last Unicorn, and He-Man and She-Ra: Secret of the Sword) for completely asinine, made-up reasons, Linkara's "History of Power Rangers" is watchable but his comic book reviews are far too inconsistent and the guy himself is kind of annoying to listen to.

Phelous is a guy I want to like since he seems to actually do the research and know his shit. He's the only reviewer I know for example who noticed that Turtles Forever goes out of its way to make the 1987 cartoon turtles look like idiots just so it can brag about how great the 4Kids turtles are. The problem is that good points aside, he's boring as fuck, and sounds like a robot trying to do a Pee-Wee Herman impression.

But Bennett the Sage... That guy IS the bottom of the barrel. It's almost like he not only encapsulates everything wrong with TGWTG, but then he exaggerates it to its logical conclusion.

There was an April Fool's joke not long ago where TGWTG said that they were gonna hire the Irate Gamer. He would honestly fit right in with them.

[Ebbo]

I remember watching some of Bennett's reviews and while my memory is a bit fuzzy, I could swear Cowboy Bepop and Outlaw Star were actually some of his favourite shows, so I don't really get where you got that garbage claim from. I even remember him enjoying several other series even after harping on them.

[Raytrace]

rewatching Gunbuster 2/Diebuster - weirdly I seem to not like it as much as the first time.

God, don't watch Diebuster it's fucking atrocious.

you know before this rewatch I'd have said 'no it doesn't deserve to have a 'buster' in it's name, but it's not bad', but ye know I really didn't feel it this time
I must have been in a really good mood last time I watched, also probably a larger gap between watching Gunbuster and it (this time I started watching it literally 1 minute after finishing Gunbuster rewatch).

I just really did not enjoy it this time, the wacky stuff REALLY annoyed me, all the (literally) moé talk, the way the busters didn't look like they were made of metal at all, they looked like Gurren Lagan mecha which is fine in Gurren Lagann, but not in any type of buster universe IMO. Even my 5 yr old son was watching it just going 'DAT'S NOT GUNBUSTER!!!'. Even the cheesy return/link to original ending (which I gave in to last time) didn't get me. It's a shame because that ending is IMO a really cool idea, but after what comes before it, it just annoyed me.

[Pretas]

Diebuster is best thought of as a dry run for Gurren Lagann. I did think the image of the Earth being converted into a spaceship with an equator-circling rocket booster ring was impressive.

[Raytrace]

there were a lot of impressive bits aesthetically, particularly when they were aping Gunbuster (the sort of 'workhorse' spaceships from Gunbuster can be seen in a few scenes).

[Edmond Dantes]

I remember watching some of Bennett's reviews and while my memory is a bit fuzzy, I could swear Cowboy Bepop and Outlaw Star were actually some of his favourite shows, so I don't really get where you got that garbage claim from. I even remember him enjoying several other series even after harping on them.

Admittedly I just assumed he was bashing them since reviews of those were listed on his channel and bashing things is generally what he does. Especially since he really does bash anime that are good, it didn't seem out of character to me.

[Bananamatic]

'no it doesn't deserve to have a 'buster' in it's name, but it's not bad'

What about Cybuster

That's probably the worst show I still managed to somehow enjoy for whatever reason

[Raytrace]

'no it doesn't deserve to have a 'buster' in it's name, but it's not bad'

What about Cybuster

That's probably the worst show I still managed to somehow enjoy for whatever reason

I must check it out .

[Raytrace]

Starting the epic undertaking that is rewatching Legend Of The Galactic Heroes - watched Golden Wings and first Gaiden last night - you really cannot prepare yourself for just how high quality the dialogue is.

[Edmond Dantes]

So here's one of those times I wish I lived in Japan, or at least knew enough Japanese to buy the box set and watch this raw.

I was watching random 80s/early 90s openings and was struck by this one.

Quick, on first glance, what does that remind you of? Yeah, that's what piqued my interest, altho what little I can find seems to indicate its not related to Samurai Pizza Cats at all and is more like a retelling of the Toshiro Mifune Musashi trilogy, just with cartoon robots.

Still would like to see it.

[Ghegs]

Well yeah, it's Musashi, The Samurai Lord.

[Edmond Dantes]

I wish I could find a fansub of it. The best I can do is a ROM translation of the NES and Gameboy games.

Speaking of anime that spawned games, earlier today I saw the first episode of Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru, which most poeple probably only know as the inspiration for the TurboGrafx-16 game Keith Courage in Alpha Zones.

The existing fansub is kinda bad, like an HK sub even though I'm sure it was a fansub... yet the episode was still quite possible to follow. And it was a pleasant experience I'm fully expecting this show to become glorious as it goes on.

[DaneSaga]

some pretty neat stuff this week. I'm particularly fond of the Dagger of Kamui cover illustration myself.

[Bananamatic]

The previous post reminded me of this - are the Iczer shows worth watching?