Come on, now. BigSoccer is populated by pseudo-geeks, so I know there's at LEAST a few other people out there that watch this shit. Just picked up the Castle of Cagliostro DVD the other day. Great film - I'm really happy to see the Lupin films and series starting to come into fashion, getting shown on Adult Swim and so forth. They're miles better than what Cartoon Network's been in the habit of showing lately. Actually, on that note, how on earth did Dragon Ball, Gundam, and Inu-Yasha ever become popular? They're absolutely terrible.
Just because I wear thick glasses, suspenders and find having pens and a miniature scientific calculater in my shirt pocket does not mean that I am a geek. Well I for one like Dragonball Z. Always have - since the 90's. Actually, I was a fan of a lot of the cartoon series growing up. Ronin Warriors, I think Tranzoid Z was one, Voltron. As for movies, I'm not as versed as many others, with only Ninja Scroll, Princess Mononoke to name. Speaking of Ninja Scroll, ever see the sequal OAV of Ninja resurrection? That is some pretty sick $hit!!!!! First show I ever watched where I had to say: "I cannot watch this..."
Have you seen Spirited Away yet? It's fantastic - Miyazaki is a genius. Actually, that's probably why the Lupin III stuff is having something of a revival, since it's Miyazaki's earlier work from the 70's. Plus it provided the basis for some elements of Cowboy Bebop (Spike and Jet are loosely based on Lupin and Jigen).
The Gundam TV series tend to be bad, but try Gundam: 08th MS Team or Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket. I like the intelectual action series (Patlabor movies, Blue Gender, Evangelion of course..). But I find Excel Saga really funny, although it is not for all tastes. And if the Macross movie isn't released on DVD soon, I will start busting heads.
Excel Saga is hilarious, but it's hard for some people to 'get' - you have to be familiar enough with anime to know all the cliches that they're poking fun at. Agreed on the Macross movie. Evangelion is one of the things that make me think it's a damn shame that anime isn't taken more seriously, because it's one of the most complex works in any genre that I've ever seen. Not even the theology majors I know here could fully explain some of the imagery that was being used at the end.
Inu Yasha has just enough shonen appeal to get a good fan base, plus it's technically the best thing Rumiko Takahashi's probably ever put out. Gundam's got the shonen/mecha one-two punch working for it ... that and I'm sure the merchandising properties of all those robots didn't hurt its cause, either. As for DBZ, someone had to have sold their soul to the Dehbul. Thankfully, fans of that series will get theirs when they start watching Dragonball GT (no offense, Alex).
Fo shizzle. Didn't get a chance to see it at the movies, but I saw a raw version back in November and I was stunned. Reasons to dislike Dizney are manifold, but they do have their co-op with Studio Ghibli going for them.
ES works with the right audience. The problem is that since the series lampoons anime itself, it usually only works on an anime audience and all that hilarity is wasted on the general public. I'm not sure I want to know everything Eva was gunning for at the end ... the original finale made my head hurt. The only other series that has been able to do that is Serial Experiments: Lain (incidentally, yet another series folks either love or hate).
I just saw a commercial saying it will come out tomorrow (fri) even though i know it came out a few months ago in selected theater And yeah, from Gundam series, War in the pocket i thought was pretty good Then there is Cowboy bebop, and this series that just came out on tv (.....Kenshin?) i found it to be interesting
RK is cool, unless of course you're trying to buy all the DVDs. Just finished getting the final DVDs of two of my favorite series, "Princess Nine" and "Boogiepop Phantom." Just in time, too, as two of my newer favorites, "Brigadoon" and "Rune Soldier," will start releasing in the next month or so.
Re: Re: the Anime thread DBZ was the most popular if for anything the destruction and fighting in it. It became more popular than the original Dragon Ball from the early-mid eighties because of this. But when GT came out, the writing was different and they went back to the original Dragonball platform that has less of an emphasis on the fighting. When the series started to tank (obviously), they changed the format and included the elements that made DBZ popular - with the Bebi saga and Super 17 saga. But by that time, Anime had been evolving and becoming more sophisticated. Hence, it was time for series like Dragon Ball/Z/GT to end around the mid/early nineties. I still think it's a brilliant series. GT wasn't horrible. It just got away from what made Dragonball a success. not to say that DBZ didn't have it's faults. The Cell saga was pretty bad and inconsistent. Just like the later stages of the Buu saga - and there were too many "stills" in the animation. But it was typical of that time period. Ronin Warriors was the same way. A lot of Gundam shots were similar too. What's interesting is seeing how much better the DragonballZ animation got from the Radditz encounter to the very end of the Buu series.
Re: Re: Re: the Anime thread I could see that ... most of the folks who come into our store asking for/about DBZ are the same folks who usually go straight to the Martial Arts section. I myself don't like any of the Dragonball series, but you won't hear me complain about its existence. For a while, DBZ was 40% of our store's sales!
I'm going to admit to being very, very new to the anime scene. I think one of the first anime movies I saw was Galaxy Express 999, about two years ago, on the Sci-Fi channel and it blew me away. I was hooked on the genre and have been ever since. Yet, I've still been very slow in getting into it. I have become a huge Cowboy Bebop fan, I got Akira for christmas and really liked it. I've heard some trash the film, but for me it was great. Most recently I've gotten into Lupin the III, obviously via Cartoon Network. The humor is great, and like Cowboy Bebop the english voice acting is pretty good. Luckily I have some friends who know lots more about anime than I and who have helped me find stuff that I would like. My best friend since 3rd grade is a huge DBZ fan. He loves that sh!t, but for some reason I can't get into it like I can something like Galaxy Express 999. Maybe one day!
Ah, a man whose tastes seem close to my own. If you liked Galaxy Express 999, you should check out two of it's related films - Queen Emeraldas and Captain Harlock both had cameos in it, and they both have their own movies. There's also a movie about Maetel somewhere out there, but I haven't seen it. I also recommend the full-length Lupin movies, Castle of Cagliostro in particular. As for where to go from Cowboy Bebop, I recommend Trigun. Also deals with bounty hunters, but Trigun's characters are goofy where Cowboy Bebop's are hard-boiled and ice-cool (well, barring Ed).
WHen i went to Peru for a visit i found out they have a lot of stores selling bootleg anime movies (i should have known, since they have a large Japanese community) Anyway from the movies i watched, here's a list plus a few words on them Princess Mononoke (quite good, touches various themes, mostly about relations btw man and nature) Akira (bit dated, but liked it-) Quite complex but good Ninja Scroll (very strong-some very sick- imagery but the action/fights were cool...Not for sensitive-some would say sane- people) Samurai X: interesting flick...which i understand a bit more since i started watching series on TV (rorouni kenshin) For the Cowboy Bebop fans: 'Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's door' is pretty entertaining , although i liked some of the series' episodes a bit more I'll keep going through more movies when i remember what else i watched...By the way, avoid "X-the movie" at all costs....quite horrible to say the least
Thanks for the suggestions C-towner. I am looking forward to seeing what Trigun is all about, it premiers on Cartoon Network monday, I'll be there!
hokuto no ken mobile suit z-gundam mobile suit gundam dragon ball dr slump arare-chan dragon ball z saint seiya draemon i don't know whatelse i'm missing but these are my best
Anime I've seen: Gundam W Series Gundam W Endless Waltz Dragonball Dragonball Z Dragonball Z (All the movies) Ninja Scroll Akira Fist of North Star Ghost in the Shell Princess Mononoke Blood Vampire Hunter D (my favorite) X I know I'm forgetting some, but it doesn't matter, what I want to know whether its worth getting the Neon Genesis Evangelion series, seeing as its kind of lengthy and sorta exspensive.
It's hard to predict how you will like Evangelion without actually watching it first. It starts out as an interesting mecha show, goes through unusual character land and ends up in unexplained metaphysical space. Do not think that the movie explains anything - it doesn't.
I just watched Trigun on Cartoon Network. I think I liked it. The humor is ok and the premise so far seems interesting enough. And bounty hunters! For some reason I really like the bounty hunter/outlaw "gun" based series'. Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, etc. While Trigun isn't a space based show it still seems cool enough after one episode. I'll guess I'll know if I really like it or not after this week's worth of episodes.
There's longer series out there, but I understand your concern. If you can find a place to rent anime, even the videos, check a couple of those out and if you enjoy those then go ahead and take the plunge. Eva, like spejic said, comes at you at a number of different levels ... I'd recommend it to anyone with a reminder not to be fooled by what you saw on Cartoon Network. If you feel like buying the DVDs, get the box set instead of individually. It's a bigger financial hit now, but you end up saving money by spending $200 now instead of $29.99 repeatedly.
The animatrix is pretty damn cool. Here is the link for those of you who haven't seen it. http://www.intothematrix.com Ninja Scroll Akira Fist of North Star Ghost in the Shell Those are pretty much the ones I've liked.
Ok, I've seen the three episodes of Trigun so far this week on Adult Swim. I still like it and as I expected, its growing on me. Vash is very cool, even with the silly facial expressions now and then. The humor is good, and I just love the western style showdown stuff! Good series.