The Anime corner

Dustin

C-C-Cool Beans!!!
Any Anime fans out there? Here's where I get to geek out :loco:

I've started re-purchasing several of my favorites that used to have on VHS from years ago (mostly OVA's and movies) some of the classics such as Fist of the North Star, 8 Man After, The Professional, Wicked City, and in my opinion, the be all end all of all anime… Robotech.
:headbang:

Also just started digging into some of the TV Series and other OVA's that are more recent, such as Hellsing, Fafner, and Raxephon. There are several I have but haven't had time to dive into yet, such as Gungrave and Blue Gender.

Personally, I tend to steer clear of the "Kiddie" animie (ala Poke'mon, Yu-Gi-oh! and to a certain extent - Dragon Ball Z and Inuyasha), which in my opinion, gives this genre of animation a really, really bad name.

Anyone out there got other recommendations? personal faves? I'm always looking to check out new stuff.
 
I'm a fansub whore, personally, as I can't stand dubs, and the subtitles put out by most US distro's are poor. Despite this, I have an anime VHS and DVD collection that fills a large chunk of this small space I live in.

Anyway a few recent ones I've enjoyed: Ergo Proxy, Darker Than Black... Both excellent series. The first season of the newest Gundam series (Gundam 00) is also pretty ace, granted I'm biased due to my childish obsession with giant fucking robots.

I'm about to dive into the first half of Tokyo Underground tonight, since its one of the few anime series that I missed the circle jerk entirely on.

Also started watching the new Macross series that airing in Japan recently, and... its interesting. Not sure if I like it or not. Gotta give it a few more episodes before I decide.
 
The only anime I ever enjoyed was Vampire Hunter D (both movies) and Cowboy Bebop. Berserk looks interesting, but doesn't seem to be available in the states.

I completely forgot about Vampire Hunter D! :kickass:
I had that on VHS for the longest time. I finally bought the double DVD with both movies a few years back... the 2nd movie was a leap forward in animation and storyline. I wish they would do more full-length movies of Vampire Hunter D.

I have only seen a few episodes of Cowboy Bebop... it didn't really catch my attention right away, but I still would like to watch the whole series - less the commercials and edits from catching it on Adult Swim.

I agree, Berserk looks good... I have seen it at FYE, but only as separate episodes in the used bins. I believe it was released by Geneon, and if that is true, that would explain why it is hard to find, especially the complete artbox with all the episodes. Geneon pulled out its US distribution late last year, making all their stuff impossible to find or very expensive - case and point - Samurai Champloo. You can't find the Geneon 7 DVD artbox (non-bootleg) version of it for under $200!!! o_O It used to be $89.99 not too long ago, but be it Amazon or eBay, it is always outrageously prices ever since Geneon pulled out of our shores. However, the 3-disc Chinese bootlegs go for $30 on eBay.
 
I'm a fansub whore, personally, as I can't stand dubs, and the subtitles put out by most US distro's are poor. Despite this, I have an anime VHS and DVD collection that fills a large chunk of this small space I live in.

There are only a few that I have watched subs on, only due to the fact that I have a very short attention span and am usually multitasking when watching what animie I have. However, there are a few I have watched where the actor dubs were so horrible (childish and goofy), that I watched it in subtitles... much, much better. Sometimes I wonder where they get some of the voiceover actors to do the dubs, as they seem to pick some really terrible ones. And it ALWAYS seems to be in the female roles!

Anyway a few recent ones I've enjoyed: Ergo Proxy, Darker Than Black... Both excellent series. The first season of the newest Gundam series (Gundam 00) is also pretty ace, granted I'm biased due to my childish obsession with giant fucking robots.

I can totally relate - If it's anime and has giant robots, I'll buy it. I was going to check out some of the other Gundam series', but Gundam Wing left such a horrible taste in my mouth, that I backed off from the series all together for a while. I've been told by several Gundam fans that I was probably a bad place for me to start. I think I might have to try Gundam 00 and see if it's any better.

Also started watching the new Macross series that airing in Japan recently, and... its interesting. Not sure if I like it or not. Gotta give it a few more episodes before I decide.

Being that your checking those out, I guess I should ask - is it Mech/Action oriented like Macross/Robotech from the early eighties? or less-mech-action-and-more-drama oriented like the late 90's OVA's... or worse yet, like the last Patlabor movie? :ill:

I really wish they hadn't lost funding and scrapped Robotech:the Sentinels after one episode, before it could even get off the ground.
 
I have VHD on video, and Bloodlust on DVD. Overall, I like Bloodlust more. However, neither movie is much like the books. The books are MUCH darker, and have alot more sex. But worth reading.

I have Cowboy Bebop on DVD. I've watched almost all of them by now. And they are MUCH better than the chopped-up adult swim episodes.
 
There are only a few that I have watched subs on, only due to the fact that I have a very short attention span and am usually multitasking when watching what animie I have. However, there are a few I have watched where the actor dubs were so horrible (childish and goofy), that I watched it in subtitles... much, much better. Sometimes I wonder where they get some of the voiceover actors to do the dubs, as they seem to pick some really terrible ones. And it ALWAYS seems to be in the female roles!

I've been introduced to many more bad dubs than good... Granted there are still a few out there that I can enjoy (Namely Hellsing and Cowboy Bebop... very well done and the voices actually felt like they were meant to be with the characters).

Being that your checking those out, I guess I should ask - is it Mech/Action oriented like Macross/Robotech from the early eighties? or less-mech-action-and-more-drama oriented like the late 90's OVA's... or worse yet, like the last Patlabor movie? :ill:

Its a bit of a mix of both atm... but I think its starting to steer in the direction of mecha action. I just hope it doesn't have an ending like Macross 2...

I really wish they hadn't lost funding and scrapped Robotech:the Sentinels after one episode, before it could even get off the ground.

[/quote]

Yeah... I've got a pretty big hard-on for Robotech, so shit like that kills my vibes pretty bad. :lol:
 
Decided to resurrect this thread… :D

There's been a few new purchases, in fact so many I couldn't even begin to list them all. I've had a HUGE pile of them sitting on my shelf for months (some that I got around Christmas in 2009!!!) that I haven't had time to view due to being tied up in the studio working on the new album since April/May. However, the album is getting closer to being completed and I'm finding myself with a little more personal time, so I've started dumping some over to my iPhone and watching segments here and there when I have a chance or catching an episode of a series before heading to bed.

A few that I've recently watched:

Martian Successor Nadesico - Fairly entertaining, but a little too goofy for what the plot entailed. The Mecha design is pretty cool, and the voice over's are decent, but the story-line is pretty predictable. Not sure If I could watch it again, but it wasn't too bad. The movie itself (not the series) that came with it was much more dramatic with little or no slapstick/comedy like the series, which was more palatable, but made the characters seem unlikable and cold at the same time.

Argentosoma - This one started out with a lot of potential, but the animation was a bit lackluster and the storyline really dragged half way through. It had some of the best mecha design I've seen in a long time, but the characters, voice over's and pacing were hard to get into. This almost would have been perfect as an OVA rather than a series.

XXXHolic - I LOVED this series! I have to admit, this isn't my normal go-to anime to watch, and the animation is extremely awkward, but the individual episodes, character development and voice acting was top notch. Funny, thought provoking, with a nice touch of comedy in the right spots. Gotta hand it to CLAMP at doing a great job with this one. Outside of a few moments of really scary/violent segments (which out of the whole series, there was probably 2 or 3 short moments), This would almost make a great family series like The Last Air Bender with some great moral lessons at the end of each episode.

Patlabor: The TV Series - Just started watching this one, its 48 episode long, so more than normal concerning Anime (two seasons), and less than what you would get for an American animated series. It's from the late 80's, and being that it was released by U.S. Manga Corp, it's no secret that the voice acting/dialogue is painful to watch/listen to. However, knowing it's a vintage series that's 20 years old, it's actually really not too bad and has some great episodes and fantastic Mecha designs. This very well could have been a successful series if it was aired in the U.S. back when it came out. But I'm sure it would have been edited to death and completely dumbed down for only kids to watch… so maybe it's best it never happened. I scored the entire series for $15, so I consider it a total bargain.

Devil Woman - I'm not to familiar with Go Nagi's Devil Man stuff or anything he's done outside of this series for that matter, but I thought this was a pretty decent series. It's dark, dramatic and had great pacing. The characters and voice over's are very well done, and even though it's a bit far fetched as far as story line (much like any comic book series) it kept my interest to the very end. It was almost like Witchblade, but without the comedy and much, much darker.

The Big O - It's funny, but the theme songs to this series is an absolute rip off (or from what I found out latter - paying homage to) Queen's "Flash Gordon". In fact, it almost has a later-era Blind Guardian feel to it more than anything. I believe this came out in the late 90's? For that, it's actually not too bad, and has a very interesting plot twist. However, this series is like a combination of Batman and Giant Robo with a fairly strong noir film style, and a slightly silly yet believable plot. This is one of the few series' I actually found myself needing to keep watching up to the end.

I know I'm missing a few, and if I find the time, I'll actually post an up-to-date list of my current collection, which has grown out of control.
:yow:

I've also recently revisited Ghost in the Shell: SAC (the first season) and almost forgot why this is still one of the best animated series to date. I tried to make my wife watch it, but she lost interest by the 3rd episode… and it takes several more episodes than that to really appreciate it. With her being a huge fan of crime dramas and anything sci-fi, I thought this series was a perfect combination and it would totally hit home for her, but I guess there was far too much tech-jargon/dialogue for her, which is why a lot of people have a hard time following it. For me, they need to keep the series going, as 2nd gig (season two) was even better, but could possibly be too hard to top.