The OSA Anime Thread

[A7]

Anyone here watch anime? I myself have been a fan for over two decades, with over 50 or so DVDs in my collection.

A lot of my favorites are old-school titles like AKIRA, Gunbuster, Macross Plus, Project A-Ko and Grave of the Fireflies, as well as newer titles like Cowboy Bebop, The Big O and Azumanga Daioh.

I'm not too much into newer titles, but I recently finished watching Macross Frontier (which will never reach U.S. shores due to licensing hell).

 

[Teleute]

Go ahead and laugh, but i LOVE Inuyasha. <3

Basically the only anime I know is from the reruns on Cartoon Network... I also like DeathNote, sorta like Blood and Bleach, hate Naruto Also once watched Lodoss War and haaaaated it. It, and some weird ppl I used to know, totally turned me off to Anime until 2 things happened: 1) I watched Steamboy, and 2) I caught my first Inuyasha ep one late night when I couldn't sleep.

 

[A7]

Go ahead and laugh, but i LOVE Inuyasha. <3

Basically the only anime I know is from the reruns on Cartoon Network... I also like DeathNote, sorta like Blood and Bleach, hate Naruto Also once watched Lodoss War and haaaaated it. It, and some weird ppl I used to know, totally turned me off to Anime until 2 things happened: 1) I watched Steamboy, and 2) I caught my first Inuyasha ep one late night when I couldn't sleep.

That's cool. I've never seen past the first episode of Inuyasha, but I used to watch Rumiko Takahashi's other works - namely Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2.

 

[Oakenson]

My favorite anime series include Mushi-Shi, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and Hell Girl, however, I've also thoroughly enjoyed Moon Phase, Trinity Blood, Death Note (well, I haven't finished this one yet), Ragnarok, Negima and a few others, too! ... anime destroys, how I love it so! <3

 

[A7]

My favorite anime series include Mushi-Shi, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and Hell Girl, however, I've also thoroughly enjoyed Moon Phase, Trinity Blood, Death Note (well, I haven't finished this one yet), Ragnarok, Negima and a few others, too! ... anime destroys, how I love it so! <3

Haven't seen any of those, to tell you the truth. I'm not too much into the newer stuff. I have been told X number of times by others to go watch Death Note; it just doesn't appeal to me.

 

[A7]

Over the past couple of years, there's been a backlash on the anime industry. Anime companies cracking down on fansub downloads have started to feel the pain of their own wrath. In late 2007, Geneon Entertainment (the company behind titles like Trigun and Tenchi Muyo!) closed its doors after failing to find a distribution partner. Last year, ADV Films - once the largest anime company in the U.S. - laid off a huge portion of its workforce. And just last month, Central Park Media - one of the pioneers of anime distribution in the U.S. - went belly-up.

Suncoast - once a haven for anime fans - went bust due to competition from Best Buy. Now, Best Buy is discontinuing sales of anime DVDs at most branches in the U.S.

Making matters worse are the box-office performances of live action adaptations of anime. Last year, Speed Racer failed to perform both critically and financially. The $120 million film earned only over $93 million and was widely panned by critics. Dragonball Evolution did much worse this year; reportedly costing $100 million to make, it made only $54 million worldwide. Blood: The Last Vampire has already bombed worldwide as well, collecting only $3 million.

Plans for a live-action Akira have been canceled, after over a decade of speculation. Same with Voltron, due to legal issues.

There are already talks of a live-action Robotech in the works, to be produced by Warner Bros. and Tobey Maguire. Expect it to wind up in the recycle bin as well.

And so, the future of anime looks bleak. Hopefully, it'll pick up again soon.

 

[Oakenson]

Wow, you posted a lot of information I did not know! - thank you! Fortunately the few Best Buy stores in my area still are stocking a fair amount of anime, however, I noticed one (the closest to my house) cut back quite a bit on their selection so I imagine they may be looking to cut it out completely ... Personally, I don't really know how popular anime is, as I just purchase what looks compelling to me and, as such, don't really have any real anime friends or anything, however, it seems the popularity is indeed minimal, at best.

Have you seen/heard of the series Mushi-Shi? - I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend it, it's one of the most beautiful spectacles I have ever seen on-screen, whether animated or live-action and, as for the atmosphere, it's completely compelling, ethereal, natural and organic ... how I love it so and, again, how I recommend it so too, haha! Oh, and as a final note, Death Note and Trinity Blood, whilst both good (I am, admittedly, a fan), are rather overrated in my opinion, there's much better stuff out there.

 

[A7]

Wow, you posted a lot of information I did not know! - thank you! Fortunately the few Best Buy stores in my area still are stocking a fair amount of anime, however, I noticed one (the closest to my house) cut back quite a bit on their selection so I imagine they may be looking to cut it out completely ... Personally, I don't really know how popular anime is, as I just purchase what looks compelling to me and, as such, don't really have any real anime friends or anything, however, it seems the popularity is indeed minimal, at best.

I started collecting anime when it was just emerging from the underground level in the early 1990s. Back then, you got your anime either through Japanese bookstores and video shops (anime shops hadn't existed yet) or Suncoast. And if you complain about anime DVDs being expensive today, you don't know what VHS prices were like. One subtitled VHS episode of an anime title went for $40 retail. Nowadays, you can get the entire TV series on DVD in both English and Japanese for that price.

The popularity of anime varies by city and state. California is obviously #1. Texas is very high due to the presence of Funimation Entertainment and ADV Films. Good luck on talking about anime in the Sticks or the Boonies.

BTW, I'm also an encyclopedist on the Anime News Network.

Have you seen/heard of the series Mushi-Shi? - I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend it, it's one of the most beautiful spectacles I have ever seen on-screen, whether animated or live-action and, as for the atmosphere, it's completely compelling, ethereal, natural and organic ... how I love it so and, again, how I recommend it so too, haha! Oh, and as a final note, Death Note and Trinity Blood, whilst both good (I am, admittedly, a fan), are rather overrated in my opinion, there's much better stuff out there.

Someone did recommend Mushishi to me years ago. Will pick it up eventually.

 

[Oakenson]

I haven't been into it as long as you, of course, however, I do remember the VHS prices being extremely high; I recall buying Vampire Hunter D and Ninja Scroll, both on VHS, at Media Play for $30 a piece which, as you said, is practically the price of a series released on that Viridian Collection thesedays!

The only real popular anime I can think of, outside of Death Note and Trinity Blood, would be the Hayao Miyazaki films, which are distributed through Disney here in the US ...

 

[A7]

Miyazaki films will never go out of style.