Timewaster's Guide Archive
Departments => Movies and TV => Topic started by: Reaves on October 01, 2008, 12:06:39 AM
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So I have pretty much never watched an anime in my life. The closest I have ever gotten to reading an anime is when my little brother throws one of his Batman comics at me...
I am wondering what shows are good. There seem to be so many...
I don't really know if anyone here actually watches anime, although I believe Ookla's work has to do with manga in print. However, if anyone has any suggestions of shows I might like please chime in!
(also if someone could coach me on the difference in anime and manga) :D
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If I remember correctly, there are quite a few anime watchers that post here. I don't watch much, but I have heard that Naruto is good. I don't remember where I heard it, but like I said, I don't really watch much. Good luck, and you should get some much more useful posts than mine soon :)
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Manga is in books. Anime is on TVs and movie screens. (It comes from the English word "animation.")
What types of genres are you interested in? Asking for anime or manga suggestions is like asking for movie/TV suggestions or book suggestions. They're formats; stories of all kinds appear in those formats.
Karen says it is kind of interesting that you have a very anime-looking guy in your avatar, though she supposes he could come from a video game.
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Hehe, his avatar is of Cloud from FF VII. Although if I'm not mistaken, its from the CGI movie Advent Children, which was AWESOME. (saw it IN theaters when I was stationed in Japan).
Ookla is correct about the genre thing. There are just as many, if not more genres in anime than anywhere else.
A few suggestions from my personal opinion would include:
If you're into Mecha/Giant Robots, check out Gundam Wing; Escaflowne; and definitely, DEFINITELY Neon Genesis Evangelion.
If you're into more traditional sword and/or sorcery, check out Samurai X, Berserk, Record of Lodoss War.
If you're into sci-fi, check out Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Vandread
For comedy, Love Hina is pretty good.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. :)
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My avatar is from both, actually :P The character Cloud is originally from the video game Final Fantasy 7 which I have never played, strangely enough. However they did make a pretty awesome, full-length anime movie based on the same characters. Its a bit weak on dialogue but its not like its all action either; the makers obviously tried to incorporate themes such as forgiveness and friendship. I'd reccomend it but its confusing.
It is a magic/swords thing, but its based in the future, and its really quite cool. In fact I would go so far as to say its amazing.
As for what I am interested in, probably either sci-fi or fantasy. definitely not mecha, definitely not comedy. Thanks!
EDIT: I guess that kinda puts the lie to my statement when I said I've never seen any anime :P
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I enjoyed the FF VII movie, even though I've never played the game.
Cowboy Bebop is a great anime. Also, you could try anything by Miyazaki; I would especially recommend Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke (My Neighbor Totoro is amazing, but I think moreso if you have kids). I also like Trigun, Millenium Actress, The Big O, Last Exile, and InuYasha (although InuYasha might be too much for the girl crowd). Oh, and Hikaru no Go is oddly intriguing considering it is all about playing Go.
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Amazing! No mention of Dragonball or Dragonball Z!
Some good anime movies, imo, would be Vampire Hunter D, Fist of the North Star, and the Samurai X movie.
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I liked Akira and Wicked City. For series, Full Metal Alchemist and Full Metal Panic (unrelated) are pretty good.
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Urusei Yatsura the movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer is an outstanding piece of reality-bending SF. I would recommend it to anyone who likes Philip K Dick stories; it can be enjoyed without knowing anything about the rest of the Urusei Yatsura series.
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Amazing! No mention of Dragonball or Dragonball Z!
Some good anime movies, imo, would be Vampire Hunter D, Fist of the North Star, and the Samurai X movie.
Honestly never liked the Dragonball series. Don't know what it was, just never appealed to me. Although I fully second the Vampire Hunter D recommendation. :)
As for sci-fi/fantasy, your best bet is everything that's been mentioned already (Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Outlaw Star, etc, etc). That's a good list to start with.
Oh, and for movies, definitely Akira, although I suggest picking up the 6 volumes of manga by Katsuhiro Otomo that the movie was based on. It is truly and genuinely awesome.
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Akira was a good series.
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I'm glad this thread is here because I know even less about anime and manga than Reaves does but was scared to admit it in this crowd.
Can someone give me a rough definition of anime? Pretty much all I know is it's some kind of Japanese cartoons. How exactly does it differ from American cartoons (say, Little Mermaid or Lion King or Finding Nemo)? Is the target audience still children? (I'm guessing not exclusively, from the fact that so many adults are crazy about it.) Is the dialogue in Japanese, or do they dub it in English too? What exactly is the appeal of anime over live-action Hollywood movies?
Thanks.
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I'm glad this thread is here because I know even less about anime and manga than Reaves does but was scared to admit it in this crowd.
Can someone give me a rough definition of anime? Pretty much all I know is it's some kind of Japanese cartoons. How exactly does it differ from American cartoons (say, Little Mermaid or Lion King or Finding Nemo)? Is the target audience still children? (I'm guessing not exclusively, from the fact that so many adults are crazy about it.) Is the dialogue in Japanese, or do they dub it in English too? What exactly is the appeal of anime over live-action Hollywood movies?
Thanks.
Anime is basically short for Animation. Japanese anime started around the early 1900's, the first ever anime produced was in 1917 and was only two minutes long. After Disney's success in America, Japan took notice and really started to crank them out. Western Animation, mostly Disney, was a huge influence on the style of Japanese Animation.
The great thing about anime is that it ranges from being targeted for young children to adults. There aren't too many western animation shows that are geared towards adults. Mostly children.
The differences are amazing though. For example, you usually won't find a western animation show for adults dealing with such themes as religion, sexuality, evolution, etc etc. (just fyi, I'm referring that to a Japanese anime known as Neon Genesis Evangelion, sometimes considered one of the breakthrough and highly praised animes).
As for the dialogue, it depends. Some people like me will usually never watch it with American voice actors, aka "dubbed", because we feel it detracts from how the original was suppose to be presented. Others hate reading subtitles. /shrug
It is more of a preference thing really. Although I always though the subbed voice acting always carried more emotion usually.
In terms of Hollywood live action vs. Japanese anime, let me put it this way (although remember, it is just my opinion :)): I've been emotionally moved and awed by more Japanese Anime than I have by live action Hollywood movies. I think it is because Hollywood really doesn't take chances that much with films. I dunno, I've always just found Japanese anime to be deeper than most Hollywood flicks.
Sorry for the long post, wish I could explain it better. :)
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Thanks for the explanation - I think I get it better now!
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One thing you should be aware of is ratings. Some anime is R-rated, which may or may not be a problem for you. They are labeled, however, as 18 and up, 16 and up, 13 and up, and so on. I personally think that 16 and up would count as R-rated, but my husband thinks it is just a really strong PG-13, so be warned.
Also, the magazine Anime Insider did a list of the top 50 anime. I don't know if I agree with it, but I thought I would include it here.
1. Cowboy Bebop
2. Porco Rosso
3. Millenium Actress
4. FLCL
5. Revolution Girl Utena
6. Neon Genesis Evangelion
7. Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
8. The Castle of Cagliostro
9. Akira
10. Macross Plus
11. Fullmetal Alchemist
12. Now and Then, Here and There
13. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
14. Ghost in the Shell/Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex
15. Haibane Renmei
16. Grave of the Fireflies
17. Paranoia Agent
18. Boogiepop Phantom
19. My Neighbor Totoro
20. Gankutsuou
21. Tokyo Godfathers
22. Patlabor the Movie 2
23. Galaxy Express 999
24. Serial Experiments Lain
25. Princess Tutu
26. Movile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
27. Samurai Champloo
28. Planetes
29. The Place Promised in our Early Days
30. Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal
31. Gunbuster: Aim for the Top!
32. Princess Mononoke
33. Read or Die
34. Trigun
35. Excel Saga
36. Night on the Galactic Railroad
37. Fruits Basket
38. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
39. Astro Boy
40. Urusei Yatsura
41. Azumanga Daioh
42. Twelve Kingdoms
43. Giant Robo: the Animation
44. Irresponsible Captain Tylor
45. Fantastic Children
46. Cardcaptor Sakura
47. Kino's Journey
48. Berserk
49. Saikano
50. Vision of Escaflowne
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Wow thanks! I've started going through Hellsing which looks as if it didn't make the list. :( Its a vampire type anime, modern setting. There are some episodes where they swear a lot, some not at all. There is a lot of gore, probably more than most here would appreciate. Also the view of religion is not really positive, don't know what most of you would think about that. Like there's this crazy priest running around with "JC is dead" written on his gloves, so yeah I wouldn't recommend it.
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One thing you should be aware of is ratings. Some anime is R-rated, which may or may not be a problem for you. They are labeled, however, as 18 and up, 16 and up, 13 and up, and so on. I personally think that 16 and up would count as R-rated, but my husband thinks it is just a really strong PG-13, so be warned.
Also, the magazine Anime Insider did a list of the top 50 anime. I don't know if I agree with it, but I thought I would include it here.
1. Cowboy Bebop
2. Porco Rosso
3. Millenium Actress
4. FLCL
5. Revolution Girl Utena
6. Neon Genesis Evangelion
7. Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
8. The Castle of Cagliostro
9. Akira
10. Macross Plus
11. Fullmetal Alchemist
12. Now and Then, Here and There
13. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
14. Ghost in the Shell/Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex
15. Haibane Renmei
16. Grave of the Fireflies
17. Paranoia Agent
18. Boogiepop Phantom
19. My Neighbor Totoro
20. Gankutsuou
21. Tokyo Godfathers
22. Patlabor the Movie 2
23. Galaxy Express 999
24. Serial Experiments Lain
25. Princess Tutu
26. Movile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
27. Samurai Champloo
28. Planetes
29. The Place Promised in our Early Days
30. Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal
31. Gunbuster: Aim for the Top!
32. Princess Mononoke
33. Read or Die
34. Trigun
35. Excel Saga
36. Night on the Galactic Railroad
37. Fruits Basket
38. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
39. Astro Boy
40. Urusei Yatsura
41. Azumanga Daioh
42. Twelve Kingdoms
43. Giant Robo: the Animation
44. Irresponsible Captain Tylor
45. Fantastic Children
46. Cardcaptor Sakura
47. Kino's Journey
48. Berserk
49. Saikano
50. Vision of Escaflowne
Interesting list, although I'm not sure I agree with some of the rankings either. I think Neon Genesis Evangelion should definitely be in the top two. Berserk definitely needs to be higher as well.
And as for Hellsing, which series are you watching? There is the original series released (think it was four discs) and now they're releasing the Hellsing Unlimited series, which follows the manga more closely.
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Im just watching it on youtube and I am fairly sure its the original. I'll have to look into the Unlimited though, thanks for the heads-up.
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Berserk is a great series except for the last episode or two, there's some really messed up stuff there.
Eva is utter crap, it's one of those things that makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever yet everyone thinks that if they don't understand it they're admitting they're dumb so they all talk about how great it is instead, which gets their friends to watch it--and thus start the whole cycle over again. Even if the plot made any sense all the characters are so fricking annoying and moronic (I know that's supposed to be the point) that it's frustrating to watch.
I'm also wary of any list that has Excel Saga in it....shutter, and didn't have Char's Counter Attack (heck every Gundam series and many war anime series just copy that movie in just about ever regard).
I'd list in this order myself:
1) Robotech (oh ya)
2) Macross Plus
3) FLCL
4) Bebop
5) Any Miyazaki (my favorite is Laputa)
6) Char's Counter Attack
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I second Sprig's opinion of Eva. It's not nearly as good as some people think it is, and mostly just gets notoriety because it's a) well known and b) unintelligible. It's a prime example of the Emperor's New Clothes in action.
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...I liked Eva, even though everything you've said about it is true. I wonder why I liked it.
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I personally love Miazakis. Spirited Away was one of the best animes ever. Also, I liked Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann quite a bit (its by the guy who made FLCL and it has giant robots made of faces).
Have you ever heard of the Chevalier D'eon? It's a horror anime, so it's pretty bloody in some places, but all in all it's cool and creepy.
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I like making lists, so here is mine:
1) FullMetal Alchemist
2) Cowboy Beebop
3) Trigun
4) Death Note (Ignoring the last few episodes)
5) The Irresponsible Captain Tylor
6) Miyazaki (I even think just him on screen staring back at us would still be better than most things that come out of Hollywood these days.)
Death Note is really dark. Really really dark. The concept was so interesting and you keep being pulled along by what the heck is going on that I couldn't stop watching it.
I know this is some sort of Blasphemy to some people, but Trigun was only watchable dubbed. I normally hate the horribly acted dubbing that accompines these works, but Trigun actually pulled it off. It also help the whoever wrote the subtitles might have had too much to drink while writing them. Exactly how many ways are there to spell Vash?
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yeah I was checking out death note. I think I'm on something like episode 20. And yes, it is really dark. Its just getting into the play and counter-play, mental strategy between Light and L.
And I checked out Spirited Away by Miyazaki and, while its not my style, I still thought it was really, really good.
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While I was a big fan of anime when I was a kid I haven't watched any for a really long time. However I noticed that Hulu just added a ton of Anime series to their lineup and thought some of you may get a kick out of it. I am thinking I may start reconnecting myself. It's at http://www.hulu.com/channels/Animation-and-Cartoons/Anime#kind=shows&sort=popularity
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Here is the list of shows they have so far on Hulu:
xxxHolic
Naruto
Bleach
Death Note
Peach Girl
Mushi Shi
Ikki Tousen
Kiddy Grade
Speed Racer
School Rumble
Galaxy Railways
Slayers
Black Blood Brothers
Shuffle
Moon Phase
Shikabane Hime
Rumbling Hearts
Astro Boy
Blue Gender
Mr. Stain on Junk Alley