The awesome anime thread.

[Blind Guardian]

Hah, I've been meaning to see that for ages, but for some reason all torrents I find are dead. :|

http://www.discshop.se/shop/ds_produkt.php?lang=&cont=&id=45288&lang=se&subsite=movies&&ref=

You know, the honest way

 

[Vilden]

haha maybe, I usually rather spend my money on manga and comics though and download my anime.

Somethimes I buy anime too though, hot tips: Buy School Rumble Season 1 from CDon, 49kr for the whole box. Awsome price for an awsome anime!

 

[Vilden]

Heh, I actually bought the Kino's Journey box, got it today. Will watch it next week when I'm working, I'll get back to if I like it or not then. :>

 

[Anticitizen One]

Elfen Lied is fucking garbage. Here, something I wrote on it on some other site:

Just gonna say right off that you'll want to skip this review if you haven't seen Elfen Lied. Thar be spoilers yonder.

This is an anime full of things that I can't stand about anime: creepy lolicon nonsense, poorly disguised harem tropes, all the cutesy nyuu nyuu, and totally implausible character development and plot holes. Oh, and catgirl "horns" -- very subtle. Despite all this I got sucked into finishing the series because of its bizarre pathos and horrific violence. The whole thing seemed sick and tragic, and it was fascinating despite itself. Definitely not the kind of show I would show to anyone who isn't an anime fan(atic), due to its amount of serious bullshit.

Oddly, I found the brutal violence of Elfen Lied to be one of its only redeeming qualities, but I suppose I'm not very squeamish when it comes to that sort of thing. It was an interesting contrast to see these pink-haired lolis tearing human bodies limb from limb with effortless telekinetic power... but this was also exactly what made the obligatory "love story" so utterly implausible and absurd. Lucy herself was portrayed as being so tortured, but she was just bullied by some kids -- and yes, I know, they savagely killed her pet puppy (writing doesn't get much more subtle than that!) -- so she chose this bloody path of murder for herself. As such she's an almost completely unsympathetic character, and after ripping his sister in half and beheading his father right in front of him, it makes no sense at all for Kohta to love her like he does. It's insipid fantasy fulfillment for the fanboys.

Were we really supposed to believe that Diclonius are driven to madness and bloodshed by nature? Even if that's the case, it's not enough for me to swallow everything else this show tries to get away with. If anything, the idea that Diclonius are a race of cruel angels that instinctively harbor a murderous vendetta against human life makes the whole tragic romance subplot seem that much more absurd, and the story of Lucy's victimhood that much more pointless and oblique. I was almost won over by the line, "You appeared before me as a dream in this hell..." but it was still an insidious lolicon harem show at heart.

I really do enjoy "Lilium", though. Certainly one of the most beautiful and haunting opening themes I've heard. It's still stuck in my head as I write this, several days after finishing the show.

Watch Kemonozume, people. Then you'll know what good anime is.

Masaaki Yuasa's Kemonozume has been lurking just below anime fandom's collective radar for the last several years (and why it has not been met with more widespread acclaim let alone some distribution in English-speaking countries is beyond me), though it seems to be slowly gaining in popularity, or at least a cultish reverence among some. It's a show that begins with the Kifuuken, a clan of samurai dedicated to the slaughter of beasts known as the Flesh Eaters.

In the very first moments of the show we learn of a legend about a man rescuing a woman about to be sacrificed to the gods: when they run off together, the gods are angered and condemn them to feed on the flesh of humans in the form of monsters overwhelmed by bestial rage, lust, and the urge to devour. And so the descendants of these banished lovers live on as Flesh Eaters, some of them choosing to embrace their inner beast, and some choosing to suppress their curse by will alone, retaining their human form and living normal human lives. The story here truly begins when a key member of the Kifuuken and a Flesh Eater woman fall in love before they know what each other are, and they end up on the run together, unsure of where to go or what to do, often doubting themselves and struggling to find a way.

In the end, Kemonozume, like Yuasa's own Mind Game, has a very simple thing to say: Love and dreams are worth fighting for even in the face of the "maddening, dreamless truth" of reality. Both leave us not with a sense of overwrought tragedy or profound enlightenment, but a reinvigorating affirmation of the importance of living for what we believe in -- and perhaps most importantly, they do it with fucking style. The story of Kemonozume is a story that could have been told just as easily with vampires or anything less novel than the Flesh Eaters, but Yuasa's love of whimsical absurdity and horrific comedy coupled with the raw, emphatically hand-drawn and viscerally expressive style of animation flies in the face of generic anime stylings, particularly in the amazing final episodes.

Note that most of the visual style present throughout the series -- though because of the choice to involve a number of different animators, it naturally varies slightly or sometimes shockingly from episode to episode, to subtly kaleidoscopic effect -- draws more from a unique impression of real life than from the insular concept of what anime is 'supposed to look like' (e.g. Barbie doll faces and sleek, 'flawless' imagery). This allows for audacious imagery that parallels the vision behind this story, and its characters' quest to redefine the way of things.

If you have an affinity for fresh and exciting forms of expression, for love and dreams that shred through all banality and misfortune, Kemonozume is for you. Take the leap.

Hell, one more while I'm spamming:

Now and Then, Here and There is a real wall-gazer. The kind of show that you pause to reflect upon, and then find yourself gazing deeply into the nearest wall. Spacing out, utterly deflated, with that melancholy soundtrack echoing through the halls of your mind -- like an empty ballroom, with only you left sitting at the bar. The dance is over, but the mood lingers, and there's not much you can do but sit and sigh... and realize you're a little bit older.

The hero of this story, Shu, is actually not so much a hero as he is just another victim of an ugly world gone wrong, and one who himself is nearly broken a number of times. What makes him stand out is his stubborn refusal to succumb to the hopelessness and terror of it all, even while everyone around him has been beaten down to the point where they commit terrible acts out of overwhelming fear and a desire to survive -- in some cases a distant yet precious hope that if they can make it through, they'll one day be set free from this hell that holds them captive.

Enduring this anime is along those lines. It's not badly animated, but it has a look and feel that suggests this was a project made on a low budget, yet with a lot of feeling behind it -- especially evident in the wistful ending theme. The setting is an alternate world, a bleak dystopian wasteland that seems to be made up of almost nothing but desert and blood-red sky; the atmosphere is stifling and oppressive. It's easy to understand how Shu must feel, having stumbled into this world gone mad, but while I become more and more depressed and anxious as characters descend further and further into misery and anguish with each episode, Shu never loses his resolve. Even after being beaten and starved and nearly killed a number of times, he retains his determination to protect those in need of help, and to try to reassure them that as grim as things seem, everything will be okay.

It's tough to believe him, in the face of so much kidnapping, murder, and rape, all at the behest of Lord Hamdo, the completely insane fruitcake dictator of Hellywood. Other characters will accuse Shu of lying, and you'll wonder if there really is any escape from the utterly dismal state of this nightmarish world. But you'll also find that there are fragments of hope, and in some kind of Dostoevskian sense one ultimately finds illumination in all this darkness and despair. The makers of this anime clearly wanted to say something, and they've gone about doing so in the harshest way they could muster. It's up to you if you can weather the journey, but I guarantee you'll come out on the other end a bit wiser for it.

 

[Blind Guardian]

Elfen Lied I think symbolizes that part of Japanese culture that confuses the rest of the westernized world, and I don't think I'll ever understand the appeal of it. It has a fun-factor in the mix of extremely exaggerated cuteness and violence, but that's also the only thing it has.

Thanks for the Kemonozume tip, I've been looking for a new anime.

 

[SweptbackFlame]

Akira anyone?

 

[False Joe]

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is fucking ace.

And Elfen Lied was awesome. But I'm a sucker for stupid cutesy shit in anime. Plus they offset it by killing everything regularly.

 

[-CC-]

I rarely ever watch anime, but the best one out there (still) is Shigurui..don't know if anyone has mentioned it before! It is nothing short of an amazing visual feat..the music is another A+..no fucking J-pop bullshit

 

[Blind Guardian]

Shigurui is definitely up there, I love how they build up the atmosphere. Sometimes it borders on just being sadistic though, with violence just for the sake of violence.

 

[-CC-]

Yes the atmosphere is just bonechilling throughout! And yes it was very violent, but I found it to be just the perfect amount..every episode only had one fight/incident where someone got hurt..and some of them were very minor such as broken fingers..but I have to say that people keep clamoring about how "realistic" the violence is..I really have to disagree, especially considering the gallons of blood spraying out of their wounds

 

[Hail The Wizard!]

La Maison En Petit Cubes is a gem.

 

[Estellise Sidos Heurassein]

Akira anyone?

I just watched it again and it's just as good as the first time that I saw it.

Does anyone have any good movie recs?

 

[Evil?]

Memories is a pretty awesome 3 movie Dvd put together by the guy who did Akira. He directs one of the films as well. Very cool stuff. Magnetic Rose is the best of the 3. Amazon had it for very cheap in the New/Used listings. Check it out.

 

[Vilden]

I just watched it again and it's just as good as the first time that I saw it.

Try reading it! Then it won't be just as good as the first time you saw it anymore though. The movie is so much worse. =/

 

[Evil?]

That is what I hear. The Barnes and Noble around here used to carry the whole thing, now they have none

 

[Vilden]

Dark Horse has lost the rights to it (aswell as lots of other manga like Ghost in the Shell, Black Magic etc. I think), so it has been out of print for years. It's being rereleased now though by another publisher in the same format and design. Which is nice because I've always borrowed my brothers copies before.

 

[Blind Guardian]

Where can you order that stuff? I've never read much manga really, that's because I hate reading on the computer.

 

[Vilden]

I mainly buy at my local comicshop (www.serieborsen.se you can order online from him too) so I'm not that experianced in ordering manga and comics online but most bigger stores in Sweden carries quite alot like Adlibris, CDON and SF-bokhandeln!

 

[Hail The Wizard!]

Hows moving castle is an obvious modern classic, also voices of a distant star and 5cm per second are great.
As for a nice bit of violence, afro samurai hits the spot.

 

[Astrum]

Anyone ever seen Excel Saga? That show is awesome.

I'm right in the middle of Get Backers at the moment.