Let's talk anime.

Wolf's Rain - Meh. Interesting concept that turns into your all-too-typical anime storyline halfway through. Your girls might like it though.

The Patlabor Movies, theres 3 of them. The second and first of which were directed by Mamoru Oshii, the same director of GITS. I also think the series may have been directed by him. The movies always seemed much smarter than the series, really good direction, and some interesting scenarios, and great characters too. I'm generally not a fan of giant robot anime but Patlabor caught me.

The only one I ever got into was Full Metal Alchemist. I ended up renting or buying the entire series. All I need to watch is the movie.

So much Anime to watch... so little time! :shock:... :|... actually no time at all.

Last thing I saw was Karas... not bad.

momgamer wrote:

Edwin - I think you missed Planetes in there. And judging by the rest of your list I think you might like it.

Anyone here seen Wolf's Rain and care to comment? My daughters want to start getting it.

I added it to my ever evolving list of watch anime's, and you are correct. I LOVED Planetes which I watched right with Stellvia of the Universe, my other spacey anime.

Wolf's Rain is quite good. Music is done by Yoko Kanno of Cowboy Bebop fame. For more details I refer you to this.

How do you watch so much without going broke? A local store has PLENTY of Anime but it costs me money to rent.

I don't know how others do it. I rented FMA off of NetFlix.

Clubs at school, borrowing from friends, legal downloading for non-licensed shows, and gifts.

DSGamer wrote:

I don't know how others do it. I rented FMA off of NetFlix.

Yep - Netflix is a great source. Every time I've searched for an anime DVD that got a U.S. release, they've had it.

Oh, that reminds me. Record of Lodoss War any good? Not the newer series - something about a Knight of Lodoss or something - but the original.

Edwin: I like Chevalier a lot so far, but then again.. I also adored Princess Princess and Eliza.
I'm only 5 episodes in so far though, I usually like to give something 10 eps before I make up my mind.

As for Negima?!.. This isn't so much of a sequel..it's a retelling. The first series was soo hated that a real company picked it up and did it right. It's pretty unheard of to remake a series a mere 2 seasons after it's first run, but the story was really mishandled the first time.. and people wanted more Negima, but not a second season by the people who did the first one..so the license got sold off to a respectable company.

Razorgrin : ROLW is a great series.. You can usually pick up the entire set real cheap because it's an older title, but I usually stop by my local blockbuster and rent it for a week, when I get the craving to see it. I'm not really into medieval themed anime.

I get my anime collection from downloading fansubs, buying DVDs (through animenation, rightstuf.com, deepdiscountDVD.com, buy.com and catching sales at stores such as suncoast, gamestop/EB, Fry's best buy, walmart), and using gift certificates I earn from suncoast to buy more DVDs.

I also get a lot of comp'd dvds because I am a subsidiary of non profit organization leader that shows anime in public libraries for the city. I also review anime for a couple of Asia-Centric websites and publications and I'm a member of both ADV Advocates, and Operation Anime from Funimation. Plus.. I have made connections from distribution companies, various con chairs, and voice actors and sometimes they send me little presents. I actually worked with some of the folks at Manga Ent on Karas and got to be a "extra" in one of the episodes (if they didnt edit the me out)

If you're interested in some aspects of the industry, let me know. If I cant answer you directly, I can put you in contact with someone who does.

My daughters use most of their discretionary income from their part time job buying DVD's. It's not "IF" we're going to buy anime, it's "which series are we working on now". Currently it's Naruto, Hikaru No Go I think. They just finished off Full Metal Alchemist and FLCL and got caught up on Studio Ghibli stuff as well.

That, and our local video stores are really good about having at least a few copies of the big releases in their previewed DVD section. It works best for big movies (like Steamboy or Tokyo Godfathers), but I got the entire series of Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex that way for $6-$8 a disk. You just have to be patient and willing to dig through.

I've had really good luck at garage sales and second hand stores, too. But that's because I live in this geek-soaked area. YMMV on that one.

Razorgrin wrote:

Oh, that reminds me. Record of Lodoss War any good? Not the newer series - something about a Knight of Lodoss or something - but the original.

Yes, yes it is. Awesome soundtrack too.

Has anyone seen Nana? Any thoughts on it?

Deathnote has one of the worst intros I've seen in a long long time.

Dude.. Nightmare is AWESOME.. whatchutalkinbout?

Actually.. the lyrics for the OP and the OP for the live action movie (coincidentally..it's Dani California by RHCP) actually make a lot of sense for the story.. for once! (well as much as a RHCP song can make sense)

the WORLD
Vocals: Nightmare

Within the spreading darkness, we exchanged vows of revolution
An evil flower that sprouted because it was loved
Because I can't let anyone interfere
With everything that'll come about from now on

The future that the fruit told me of
The city that has forgotten reasoning
The present is distorted black
Dreams, turn into ideals

Why? Am I a broken Messiah?
Everyone wished for a "finale""…

Within the spreading darkness, we exchanged vows of revolution
An evil flower that sprouted because it was loved
I can't let anyone interfere
With everything that'll come about from now on
Someday, I'll show you a shining sky

Why? Am I a broken Messiah?
Everyone dreamt of a "paradise""…

Within the spreading darkness, we exchanged vows of revolution
An evil flower that sprouted because it was loved
I can't let anyone interfere
With everything that'll come about from now on
Someday, I'll show you a shining world

As for Nana.. Liked the movie.. skipped the series.. and read the chapters in Shoujo Beat. It's pretty standard shoujo fare, but the story is well done..just don't expect "Gone with the Wind" or anything.

It's a damn annoying song thats what I am talking about.

I'll check out Nana as well then.

Edwin wrote:

It's a damn annoying song thats what I am talking about.

I'll check out Nana as well then.

I'd have to agree, the way the guy sings, sounds like he's trying to barf the words out of his mouth. Ending song's not too bad though.

barfing?.. I just cant hear it..
Also considering the OP and ED are both by the same band with the same singer.. it baffles me even more. They both sound like standard Visual Kei songs to me. No different than Diru, or L'Arc, or Hyde, or Malice Mizer circa 1996.

Battle Angel Alita was ok. It probably should have been longer and follow the manga better but it has potential. Hopefully Cameron does something good with the movie.

Edwin wrote:

Battle Angel Alita was ok. It probably should have been longer and follow the manga better but it has potential. Hopefully Cameron does something good with the movie.

Nods to this. It's a good classic, but was pretty abbreviated. Pretty hard to find a copy nowadays as well.

I'll just throw out seconds for Utawarerumono, Ergo Proxy, and Suzumiya Haruhi, Banner/Crest of the Stars.

As far as Blood+ goes, I'm a bit mixed on it, but I've only seen a handfull of the initial epiosodes. As expected, Production IG did a great job with the presentation, but I haven't seen enough to make a call on the overall story.

I'll also throw out School Rumble, Mai-Hime, and Mai-Otome as recommendations. Not the deepest series, but they were all alot of fun to watch.

I'm up to episode 10 of Ergo Proxy and it's keeping me interested. I never saw the shifting of main focus from Re-L to Vincent coming. Also Pino rocks! Especially in that rabbit/fox outfit.

I'm reading school Rumble now, and like it, but can see the anime getting a little too slapsticky.. so I've been weary of checking it out.. Is it "zany" every episode?

Ganguro wrote:

I'm reading school Rumble now, and like it, but can see the anime getting a little too slapsticky.. so I've been weary of checking it out.. Is it "zany" every episode?

It certainly has it's zany parts, but it never came across as being too over the top. It even manages to execute some of the more mature moments fairly well. If you're enjoying the manga, the I'd wager the anime is worth checking out.

I really like the OP to Ergo Proxy. I still can't believe the ED is Radio Head's Paranoid Android.

Anyone else think that one of the statues sounds like the Chief from GITS?

Vincent also seems to dress like a Airbender. >.>

What in holy hell happened in episode 15 of Ergo Proxy? Did I really just sit through an episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire/Jeopardy?

Blood+ is kind of meh to me. It's like they squeezed all the angst out of Trinity Blood, put it in a petri dish till it grew to a zillion episodes, and called it Blood+.

Razorgrin wrote:

Oh, that reminds me. Record of Lodoss War any good? Not the newer series - something about a Knight of Lodoss or something - but the original.

The original is pretty good. The newer one has its moments too, mostly in its portrayal of Ashram (the dark knight). Watching it now, it clearly shows its age, and most of the characters are really annoying.

Hajime no Ippo boxing game comes out this week and it's only $10!

http://www.gametab.com/ps2/victoriou...

Just finished up Ergo Proxy and it feels like they ran out of time to tell the story the way they wanted to. Lots of missing gaps of time between episodes and such. One thing I really hated was that everything was so freaking dark. I couldn't much if any detail at all.

Pino still rocks.

edit: Next up is Crest of the Stars.