Recommended Anime/Manga?

[FinalBaton]

So I'm a bit late in this thread this time but the first season of Initial D is amazing. The 3D isn't actually horrible but I guess it helps that it's mostly used during night races and for the most part, cars are not 3D when not racing.

I used to think that the character drawings were derpy (and they are) but they look so much better than what they did to it in the second season, in which everything moved to digital and it looks horrible. And the 3D even meshes a bit worse, I thought, since they use 3D models more frequently throughout.

It's been a while since I watched the 2nd season however, mostly because I felt it was such a letdown from the fantastic 1st one, that actually got my friends (who have no interest in cars whatsoever) really hyped about each episode.

Regarding the use of Eurobeat. I think the music is used very well throughout and it's mixed into just the right moments. Not even the whole songs, just bits and pieces of it here and there for needed effect during special scenes and it works wonders.

Yeah the eurobeat is used super well I think, and is very effective. Can hardly get a better music match than this for the racing segments IMO. Hearing Night of Fire kick in during a clutch moment of a race, or Heartbeat at the very end of one, just as it becomes evident who the winner is, is legit dope, haha.

The characters are actually almost always on model, pretty damn solid. Their design are extremely charming as far as I'm concerned. The girls are so damn well-drawn in that season (to mys tastes at least. Others might disagree, but I think they're great). Very soft traits and super expressive, their mood just come flying across the screen. Anybody who draws will tell you that to draw young women well, to capture the essence of their femininity, you gotta capture that carefree, playful, slightly clumsy vibe they have, and they do it so well here, better than most manga/anime. And in the animation too. Love, love, LOVE how they draw girls in First Stage, with these big soulful eyes and tiny cute lips. Very beautiful drawing. Most of the boy characters look more derpy(except the ones who are penned as "pretty boys" like the Takahashi brothers, or the "Rotary brothers" if you will ) but that only help make the girls look more feminine by contrast! And let's face it, teenage boys ARE derpy af yet they're still very interesting. Those design help make them feel "real" and convincing. Better than having all teenage boys look like boytoys, as far as I'm concerned
I'm sure there are lots of manga/anime targetting that demographic, that uses that artstyle. But yeah I really like it. It makes for extremely expressive teenage character models.
The use of colours is also right up my alley, it's those softer colours that were used in '80s anime. Great stuff.



Very cute style!

The 3D definitely doesn't look too bad, I agree with ya. It does the job fine. Kinda blends well with the rest, you kinda forget about it after a while.

Yeah second stage look horrible, like, super cringy. I just can't get past those visuals. Colours are over saturated too. Bleh. Don't think I'll ever watch.

As for something I watched recently, I finally watched Tatakae! Iczer-1.
I'm not into the whole body horror thing (and for some reason I thought it would be more pervy but alas) but character animation was really good throughout and I didn't hate my time with it. It's really short so there's that and while I won't be referring to it as a masterpiece or "must watch classic" any time soon, you could do worse.

Cool, that one was on my radar, interesting to read your take. It's one that's missing in my U.S. Renditions VHS set, plus my boy HappyConsoleGamer on YT, whose anime input I really trust, often mention it as a classic girls, guns and gore type of anime of that era, so I was always curious about it. I'll watch it online at some point.

[Ji-L87]

Yeah the eurobeat is used super well I think, and is very effective. Can hardly get a better music match than this for the racing segments IMO. Hearing Night of Fire kick in during a clutch moment of a race, or Heartbeat at the very end of one, just as it becomes evident who the winner is, is legit dope, haha.

Agreed! The introduction of Takeshi's midnight black R32 chasing Ryosuke's RX-7 at the end of episode 5 with Back on the Rocks building in the background is such a cool "Here Comes a New Challenger" moment.
The thing is Initial D actually has TWO great and distinctive soundtracks. I think a lot of people forget that when normal life happens in the show, it is accompanied by a more traditional anime-sounding soundtrack that I think is rather pleasing in all it's late 90s glory. There's a good blend of jazzy soft pianos and pads, rhythm-based synth and more tension building pieces. The eurobeat only kicks in like V-TEC when the situation calls for things to get thumping and exciting. Also, the engine sounds are also really nicely recorded, although I'm not knowledgeable enough to vouch for it's accuracy. If you ever have watched the japanese motor program Best Motoring (they have an official youtube channel now - slight NSFW warning for the HOT episodes), it's also fun to know that Keiichi Tsuchiya (sometimes more affectionately known as the Drift King and Dori Dori~) worked as a technical advisor for the manga and anime.

Edit: Here's some AE86 action

I think I get what you mean with the drawing style, although I can't say it had as big of an impact on me. It is really charming tho' and did grew on me really quickly.

The 3D definitely doesn't look too bad, I agree with ya. It does the job fine. Kinda blends well with the rest, you kinda forget about it after a while.
Yeah second stage look horrible, like, super cringy. I just can't get past those visuals. Colours are over saturated too. Bleh. Don't think I'll ever watch.

One thing that really helps with the 3D in 1st stage and that is while the road and vehicles are indeed 3D, a lot of roadside objects such as bushes, trees and hillsides are normal anime background assets so it doesn't looks as bad. And again, it being set at night helps to blend things together a bit.
In Second Stage, not only are there more races during daytime, they start introducing 3D models for the roadside assets. (And again, uses the 3D models of the cars all the time).

Pure heaven.

When/if I buy my own car, that will get blasted for sure.

As for something I watched recently, I finally watched Tatakae! Iczer-1.
I'm not into the whole body horror thing (and for some reason I thought it would be more pervy but alas) but character animation was really good throughout and I didn't hate my time with it. It's really short so there's that and while I won't be referring to it as a masterpiece or "must watch classic" any time soon, you could do worse.

Cool, that one was on my radar, interesting to read your take. It's one that's missing in my U.S. Renditions VHS set, plus my boy HappyConsoleGamer on YT, whose anime input I really trust, often mention it as a classic girls, guns and gore type of anime of that era, so I was always curious about it. I'll watch it online at some point.

I too really like Happy Console Gamer and generally agree with his recommendations, but I think in this case, Iczer-1 is probably one those shows that was way cooler and had way more impact when it was new.
The mecha design doesn't do too much for me and while I did like some of the character designs, Iczer-1 and 2 especially, characters like Nagisa and her droopy eyes just isn't my jam.
There also isn't that much time to really establish anything or build anything. It certainly is a mostly enjoyable experience if you like 80s stuff and I do recommend you checking it out since we might be of different opinions here.

[soprano1]

The introduction of Takeshi's midnight black R32 chasing Ryosuke's RX-7 at the end of episode 5 with Back on the Rocks building in the background is such a cool "Here Comes a New Challenger" moment.

Saw a clip of that, holy shit!

[FinalBaton]

Saw a clip of that, holy shit!

Yeah that part is great!

The thing is Initial D actually has TWO great and distinctive soundtracks. I think a lot of people forget that when normal life happens in the show, it is accompanied by a more traditional anime-sounding soundtrack that I think is rather pleasing in all it's late 90s glory. There's a good blend of jazzy soft pianos and pads, rhythm-based synth and more tension building pieces.

Yep, the "normal life" soundtrack is very chill and pleasent

kicks in like V-TEC

Also wanted to add : the Funimation dub is really good. That's right, I watch First Stage in both sub and dub form
That dub has 2 nice things going on IMO :
-Takumi sounds derpier (more "spaced out" I guess)
-Itsuki's voice is less grating on the ears. Like wayyyyy less. Yet he still retains his character

[copy-paster]

Quite surprised about these Initial D discussions. Just finished Third Stage yesterday and I'm on episode 2 on Fourth Stage.

Yeah the first stage is amazing. The races, characters, humor, and drama was all top-notch, and the CG not bother me. Also liked the civilians commentary during the race sequence, and anti-romance too (damn eps 20 broke my heart so HARD!). I wonder if the "Duct Tape Deathmatch" can be possible to do in real life, I mean you can turn and drift smoothly with conditions like that, almost unbelievable. Back when smoking was cool in the 90s

Second stage, while not as good as the former, has most plot-twisting story in the series (from "how's feel like to lose", to the true nature of Takumi's girlfriend). Artstyle was meh and CG maybe was good, and the well-known meme music "Deja Vu" was came from this season.

I have mixed feelings with third stage. The Artstyle and CG improved much better and can be my 'ideal' of the series, but there's only 3 races and two of them was meh. There's a sweet drama in the second to last part and more background about Takumi's father.

So is Initial D really packed with [eurobeat] or what? because that'll make it had for me to watch lol.

There's Initial D: Legends movie series, a retelling of the early stages of the manga and use rock music instead of eurobeat. Haven't watched it, but maybe a good option to you.

[FinalBaton]

Managed to put aside my disdain of the visuals in Second Stage and watched it. It was good (not quite on First Stage's level though. That one is more than simply "good" : it's great). But holy hell, those visuals they made my soul cry...

Also liked the civilians commentary during the race sequence

Yes those are great. "Woah, did you see that???? He just pulled xyz manoeuvre, are you kidding me????? Guy's INSANE. He knows no fear..." And the likes

[KennyMan666]

Anyone who's not watching Poptepipic this season is missing out on some true art. This week's episode, episode number seven, was the best one yet. I'm in absolute awe.

[Ghegs]

Inspired by the thread I started watching Initial D's Fourth Stage again for the nth time. I think it's the best of the bunch; First Stage may have the iconic battles (and better eurobeat) but I find Fourth Stage has the best races. I just got done with the race against Sakamoto which is one of my favorites in the whole series, right behind the two races against Purple Shadow in the Stage's climax.

[copy-paster]

Haven't fully finished the Fourth Stage episodes, but the battle with Impreza WRX is my favorite. Goddamn trolls

[FinalBaton]

I've watched up to Fourth Stage now. Here's how I think they stack up :

First stage : Very good
Second stage : Good
Extra stage : Good
Third stage : Good (albeit a bit less than the two above. There was a part that I didn't care much for in there)
Fourth stage : Very good
(I have a hard time deciding which one I like more between First stage and Fourth Stage. I think I go First stage, but it's damn close.)


Dammit. How does this series pull it off? How can it keep me hooked like this??? This is nuts *is very annoyed and even a bit aggressive, à la Kesuke Takahashi*

[FinalBaton]

the two races against Purple Shadow.

Those two are fucking awesome. Lots of good races in that season, all things considered

[Xyga]

Is it fine to directly go to 4th after watching 1st ?

[FinalBaton]

Is it fine to directly go to 4th after watching 1st ?

Seeing how Takumi learns these techniques (the driving techniques themselves, and also the psychological ones like learning to adopt the "right state of mind for each situation" and playing [and defending himself from] mindgames) is one of the best aspects of the series, IMO, so I personally would'nt skip anything. You'd also be missing on the series' super well-paced sense of progression, how he's growing as a driver, as well as what he actually learned (not everything he learns is mentionned in season 4, not even close. there's just too much of it) and who he has beaten (I guess you can figure that last part by reading a summary online, but without seeing his competition and their personality, it's really not the same). And also his old man's shenanigans (very fun part of the show, too).

Second stage, Extra stage and Third stage combined are shorter than either First stage or Fourth stage anyway, so it's really not that time consuming. It is well worth watching IMO. (Takumi isn't featured in Extra stage, so you can skip that one if you really want to I guess. But it focuses on a duo of really cool racers that were a big part of First stage, so it's awesome and interesting as well. Second stage and Third stage have crucial development around our hero's main gurl).

But if we're purely talking about continuity and not being lost going from First to Fourth stage, then yes you'll be fine. It's your call.

Initial D First Stage — 26 episodes
Initial D Second Stage — 13 episodes
Initial D Extra Stage — 2-episode OVA
Initial D Third Stage — a 114-minute movie
Initial D Fourth Stage — 24 episodes

[Durandal]

Spoiler

Not even manga is safe from 3DCG being used to save costs and time on drawing mechs anymore. Ohtagaki, you hack.

[Xyga]

I'm past 3rd Stage now and so far what I enjoyed the most was the race against the girls/Mako in 1st Stage.
Easily the most intense, crazy-paced one, non-stop to-the-inch moments to brutal hair's breadth end.
Not that there aren't other great races but I mean; you expect later ones to be increasingly intense, when you watch though they sure are more involved story-wise but also have more frequent romanced/narrated elements mixed to pure action footage, it's kind of breaking the tension.
Don't have time for 4th stage now but I'll watch it for sure.

http://youtu.be/uvUHW8Yl3lQ

[blackoak]

The above posts are making me want to watch the first Initial D now, haha. I know nothing about cars other than what I've absorbed from a friend. I genuinely enjoy namedropping things and terminology around him and listen to him expound on shit for 30 minutes at a time.

I've been on a bit of an anime hiatus for the last year or so. Felt like I'd exhausted the well of 80s/90s stuff, and was starting to hit diminishing returns on exploring more and more mediocre stuff just to get dat fix. One thing I saw recently that I liked, from an animation standpoint especially, was Little Witch Academia, which I think is still on Netflix.

[FinalBaton]

race against the girls/Mako in 1st Stage.

That's a great race.
Love Mako and Sayuki. Especially Sayuki, her personality is awesome, haha. She a bit sleazy and very provocative/very tough, she's so interesting and refreshing. The Sileighty is such a cool car too, one of my fave, it's badass

[Ji-L87]

Spoiler

Not even manga is safe from 3DCG being used to save costs and time on drawing mechs anymore. Ohtagaki, you hack.

Haha, wow. Well, the biggest problem there is the super digital gradient coloring and the fact that nothing is done to the "linerart" of the 3D models to try and mask the fact that it is 3D. I remember Negima! using 3D assets for larger scenes with a pretty decent results, but I want to remember small imperfections was introduced to make it stand out less.

I've been on a bit of an anime hiatus for the last year or so. Felt like I'd exhausted the well of 80s/90s stuff, and was starting to hit diminishing returns on exploring more and more mediocre stuff just to get dat fix. One thing I saw recently that I liked, from an animation standpoint especially, was Little Witch Academia, which I think is still on Netflix.

It's a good show. On a personal level I liked the OVAs/movies more because it was more of an instant experience. Good stuff none the less.

[chum]

MIDDLE MAN TONEGAWA is getting an anime

that is GREAT news

[soprano1]

MIDDLE MAN TONEGAWA is getting an anime

that is GREAT news

OOohhh...

[Steamflogger Boss]

Damn guys, you are making me want to rewatch Initial D. Heh. I'm already in the middle of Ranma and Zeta Gundam...

Urusei Yatsura Beautiful Dreamer blu should be here today from Amazon, so that's what I'm watching tonight. ^_^

[Xyga]

I don't like the web manhwa format but some of this korean stuff just grabs you, maybe because of the shameless use lots of sex and violence, which today's tame japanese mango don't do right or not enough.

Like household affairs, which is a realy shit story and basically 80% of ridiculous fucking and murder, but the characters are likable and if it lacks variety I like the art style focused on expressions, it's kinda like a trashy roman photo.

Started reading perfect half now but, the translation must be the work of a doggo...

[wgogh]

Decided to watch Maison Ikkoku along with Urusei Yatsura. From the first episodes, you can tell theres a little of the same spirit.
In the first episode, Ataru and his classmates have a cameo appearence as kids. I know its not actually them, but the reference is there.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Maison Ikkoku is a nice pleasant anime. It just saw a blu ray box set release in Japan so I'm hoping that Viz put out BDs state side. Like Ranma I'd buy it at retail to show support.

[drauch]

Would be nice, but I wouldn't count on it. It's a favorite, but I'm not sure there's much market for it anymore compared to her other stuff. They let the books and DVDs go OOP many years ago. They're definitely a company all about the bucks and popular titles.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Very true sadly.

Discotek is love at least. They put movie 2 on their release on Beautiful Dreamer so maybe more will be on the way. Fingers crossed. They are the one company that I almost always have something pre-ordered from. Right now Robot Carnival BD and just waiting on the Lupin Gold Babylon BD to be up to order. They, as well as Rightstuf always reply to me on twitter too, so that's nice.

[drauch]

Yeah, Discotek is a dream come true. Although sometimes I miss the days when they were much smaller and released some good live-action stuff, but it was fairly niche and there's others that do that, so can't complain there. Pretty much the only company that consistently puts out older anime. Super thankful for the classic stuff Rightstuf has put out as well, although I'm not too keen on their Tezuka English-dub only releases. Wish they'd release more frequently, but I understand why they don't.

[Steamflogger Boss]

So much of the Lupin stuff was never even released or officially subtitled before Discotek put it out. I almost have all their Lupin releases now (just missing 2 which are still in print), just grabbed Napoleon's Dictionary as stock appears to be dwindling. Their BD release of Castle of Cagliostro is so damn good too, with the kind of extras we rarely see these days (because sharing a BD region with Japan sucks).

Weird that RS would put out some dub only. My only experience with their releases of older anime so far has been the Gundam stuff. I believe it was the first time ZZ was released in the US. I have most of the UC Gundam BDs and it's damn impressive. The first series does show it's age visually but Zeta is a big step up. Char's Counterattack is just phenomenal in HD. Worth watching for the mech animations alone for fans of old hand drawn anime.

[wgogh]

Maison Ikkoku is a nice pleasant anime. It just saw a blu ray box set release in Japan so I'm hoping that Viz put out BDs state side. Like Ranma I'd buy it at retail to show support.

It is. The opening says it all. Its one of those animes you can get a hint of what will be like by the opening. In those days, it was common to make original music for the openings and endings. This started to change in the 90's, maybe

[soprano1]

This started to change in the 90's, maybe

Dragon Ball GT says hi.