Let's talk anime.

karmajay wrote:

Anybody see Paprika?

Yep, I'd say it's definitely worth watching. Japanese madness in all its splendor.

mateo wrote:
Noir can be a bit slow in parts, and the music can get a bit old, but watching Kirika and Mirielle kill people will never get old.

Actually, I disagree. I watched the first 5 episodes, and I just can't get into it....it seems like it's all be done in the first episode, and they just keep segueing back to it so you can remember what is going on.

Just not feeling it yet.

It definitely takes a while, and there are some very slow parts after the intro in the beginning, but stick it out. It's pretty good all the way through. However, fully expect it to be very Film Noir styled; that title isn't just for show.

Renji wrote:
karmajay wrote:

Anybody see Paprika?

Yep, I'd say it's definitely worth watching. Japanese madness in all its splendor.

I haven't seen it, but I love Satoshi Kon. Paranoia Agent, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers and Perfect Blue are all outstanding works.

mateo wrote:
Noir can be a bit slow in parts, and the music can get a bit old, but watching Kirika and Mirielle kill people will never get old.

Actually, I disagree. I watched the first 5 episodes, and I just can't get into it....it seems like it's all be done in the first episode, and they just keep segueing back to it so you can remember what is going on.

Just not feeling it yet.

It definitely takes a while, and there are some very slow parts after the intro in the beginning, but stick it out. It's pretty good all the way through. However, fully expect it to be very Film Noir styled; that title isn't just for show.

Renji wrote:
karmajay wrote:

Anybody see Paprika?

Yep, I'd say it's definitely worth watching. Japanese madness in all its splendor.

I haven't seen it, but I love Satoshi Kon. Paranoia Agent, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers and Perfect Blue are all outstanding works.

I just finished watching Paranoia Agent. I liked the art style, but I was actually a bit disappointed with it. I haven't seen any of his other works, but I've got Tokyo Godfathers lying around and I haven't seen it yet.

Paprika sounds / looks pretty cool. I'll definitely be giving that a try whenever I can.

I haven't seen Paprika, but absolutely love all of Satoshi's previous works.

Current watch list:
Bleach
Seto no Hanayome
Nagasarete Airantou
Hayate no Gotoku
Claymore
Lovely Complex
Gintama
Kenichi

New shows!
Code-E
Zombie Loan
Shigurui
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Zombie Loan? Has a nice ring to it...

Also, I watched a episode of Samurai Jack tonight. Damn that was good stuff. I really want to watch all of those again (well I missed some initially so not all "again" hehe)

I'ev been plowing my way through Black Lagoon and am digging it bigtime. Great action, excellent characters so far (kinda reminds me of Bebop a bit..) Very recommended, thanks for the heads-up!

I love Satoshi's work. Tokyo Godfathers is amazing.

I've got the first disk of Broken Saints at my house. Anyone seen it and care to give a girl a comment or two?

John, I watched the 1st 2 eps of Black Lagoon and like it as well!

momgamer wrote:

I love Satoshi's work. Tokyo Godfathers is amazing.

I've got the first disk of Broken Saints at my house. Anyone seen it and care to give a girl a comment or two?

Broken Saints? Doesn't ring a bell at all to me. Quick google search with a result on wiki explains why; it's pseudo japanese american animation. I don't watch much 2D american stuff, sad to say; there's certainly some gems here and there. That appears to be one of em.

Rejoice! A new Gunslinger Girl series is coming.

http://www.gunslingergirl.com/

I'd love to give you more details, but my Japanese sucks. Rabbit?

jmdanny wrote:

Rejoice! A new Gunslinger Girl series is coming.

http://www.gunslingergirl.com/

I'd love to give you more details, but my Japanese sucks. Rabbit? :wink:

http://www.animecorporation.com/news...
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...'s-second-season-officially-announced

You aren't missing much on the official page. It only talks about the general theme of the series, which is the same as the first season, and it talks a little bit about the head animator returning. The two links aren't active yet and they are Staff and Season TV Schedule.

Finally managed to find the last episodes of Death Note(subbed). Death Note is possibly my favorite television show of all time. I just wanted to say thank you to this thread/people for telling me about it.

Now once again I'm only watching the mainstream anime: Naruto, One Piece and Bleach.

I was just wondering if you guys had anymore brilliant anime recommendations? I like crisp/modern animation and for the storyline to not be episodic, I want a continuing storyline throughout the episodes. I enjoy Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex but it just keeps coming across as too episodic for me.

Elliottx wrote:

I like crisp/modern animation and for the storyline to not be episodic, I want a continuing storyline throughout the episodes.

Have you seen Last Exile?

jmdanny wrote:
Elliottx wrote:

I like crisp/modern animation and for the storyline to not be episodic, I want a continuing storyline throughout the episodes.

Have you seen Last Exile?

I have not. I shall gave it a try though.

Elliottx wrote:
jmdanny wrote:
Elliottx wrote:

I like crisp/modern animation and for the storyline to not be episodic, I want a continuing storyline throughout the episodes.

Have you seen Last Exile?

I have not. I shall gave it a try though.

Absolutely do. Last Exile is one of the best anime series I have ever watched. I loved it so much I bought the collector box set. The animation is beautiful and crisp, the audio track is amazing and easily one of the best I have heard even the english dubbing is good. And the story is very good and very smooth. They have a couple of side stories in parts but it all ties in well in the end.

Last Exile is currently my number one anime to recommend to anyone who has never seen it.

Elliottx wrote:

I like crisp/modern animation and for the storyline to not be episodic, I want a continuing storyline throughout the episodes.

I find it amusing that you dislike episodic storylines, yet watch three of the biggest offenders in that aspect. However, here's some of my current interests.

Lucky Star - It might be a bit episodic for you, but I'm all about slice of life comedies. It's a KyoAni project, so the animation is top notch.
Kanon 2006 - It came from a H game, but it's a pretty well rounded love story school drama. No H involved in the series.
Hayate no Gotoku(Hayate the Combat Butler) - As the intro states, it's the martial arts battle story of a young boy and the girl he is pledged to protect at all costs including his life. More culture jokes than you can shake a stick at.
Lovely Complex - Another school love comedy. I seem to have a thing for these this year, but nonetheless, it's good. Plus Kansaiben(Osaka accent) makes everything 10x funnier than it really is.

Oh, and Last Exile really is one of the best series in the last 10 years. Another one you might be interested in is Ergo Proxy. Dark, moody and extrodinarily well animated.

jmdanny wrote:

Rejoice! A new Gunslinger Girl series is coming.

Woot! Looks like it'll be airing next year.

Last Exile is a great series. It's one of those gems where they manage to really build an interesting and compelling world.

As far as what I'm watching ... Afraid it's mostly episodic stuff. However, Claymore is pretty continuous, and worth a look if you don't mind blood. I've been pretty cautious about recommending it, but it's a series that fills a nice niche among all the rom-com stuff on my watch list. IMAGE(http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/LupusUmbrus/sweat.gif)

AnimeJ wrote:

Another one you might be interested in is Ergo Proxy. Dark, moody and extrodinarily well animated.

I will have to caution you on watching Ergo Proxy. While the animation is extremely good it does degrade as the series goes on a little bit. More critical of the series however is the very jumpy and unclear explanations it gives for a few things. It's one of those series where at the end you just go "WTF?" and if you have the heart to watch it again you then go "Oohhhh. *light bulb* Well they could have explained that a bit better." So it's interesting but I personally would only give it an overall of 6/10.

So far Code-E is very odd. Neat little premise though. Kind of reminds me of "Read or Die" in a strange way. Which BTW is also an excellent series which I would recommend to anyone. The OAV and the the full series that followed. Claymore is kicking it and I'm looking forward to each remain ep till the end. I really beginning to wonder how that's going to turn out.

Cool, thanks for all the advice on shows to watch.

I've already started downloading Last Exile. And yes I do recognize that the three anime I watch do a poor job of falling into what I like in an anime, but I basically just watch them to zone out and not think. Plus I try to skip the horrible filler episodes.

kilroy0097 wrote:

So far Code-E is very odd. Neat little premise though. Kind of reminds me of "Read or Die" in a strange way.

Code-E certainly has a ROD vibe to it. Perhaps most of all is the OP, but the series as a whole still retains the feeling.

Also, concerning another new series, if anyone is looking for something a bit different in the school / comedy sphere, check out Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. A strange, dark comedy of sorts. Not sure if the story is going to go much of anywhere (probably not) but it's been an interesting watch so far.

Link doesn't work BTW. However I found a pretty good quality stream and a YouTube of the trailer.

IMAGE(http://bateszi.animeuknews.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/all_5_gonin.jpg)

Stream
YouTube Trailer

Director of Trinity Blood which was a very excellent series. Gonzo is involved. It looks like a pretty kick ass anime. I hope the series is just as good as the trailer. I really like the feel.

BTW Here is an interesting article about anime.
Anime is dead - or is it?

kilroy0097 wrote:

Link doesn't work BTW. However I found a pretty good quality stream and a YouTube of the trailer.

IMAGE(http://imgred.com/http://bateszi.animeuknews.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/all_5_gonin.jpg)

Stream
YouTube Trailer

Director of Trinity Blood which was a very excellent series. Gonzo is involved. It looks like a pretty kick ass anime. I hope the series is just as good as the trailer. I really like the feel.

BTW Here is an interesting article about anime.
Anime is dead - or is it?

Hmmm... Highly skeptical until I see an actual episode. Not a single one of those credentials gives me any hope for the series, but I've been surprised before.

The question the blog brings up, "how do we define 'anime' in an increasingly globally collaborative environment?" is an interesting one. For me it hinges largely on the writing style and themes that are traditionally associated with Japanese history and culture. Even though the blog's author brings up the points "Romeo and Juliet" and "Gankutsuou," I'd argue that the nature of those stories are very compatible with Japanese literary themes.

The whole 'What is Anime?' question has been done to death at this point, I think. The fact that it's being exported to the world doesn't change what it is at it's roots a bit. Anime, by which I refer to Japanese Animation, is just that. Animated series created for Japanese people by Japanese people. It does not necessarily have to be completely drawn there, many shows are farmed out to Korean animation studios. So by that, stuff like Gankutsuo and Romeo and Juliet are Anime, despite the original source material being French and English, respectively, due to their re imagining by a Japanese person. Likewise, you can count Jin-Roh, which is nothing more than a loose retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

AnimeJ wrote:

The whole 'What is Anime?' question has been done to death at this point, I think. The fact that it's being exported to the world doesn't change what it is at it's roots a bit. Anime, by which I refer to Japanese Animation, is just that. Animated series created for Japanese people by Japanese people. It does not necessarily have to be completely drawn there, many shows are farmed out to Korean animation studios. So by that, stuff like Gankutsuo and Romeo and Juliet are Anime, despite the original source material being French and English, respectively, due to their re imagining by a Japanese person. Likewise, you can count Jin-Roh, which is nothing more than a loose retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

Oh, I agree that the argument has been done to death over the years. Do you classify 'The Five Killers' as anime then? I'm a bit reluctant to give it the nod, as the writing is being done by an American.

LupusUmbrus wrote:
AnimeJ wrote:

The whole 'What is Anime?' question has been done to death at this point, I think. The fact that it's being exported to the world doesn't change what it is at it's roots a bit. Anime, by which I refer to Japanese Animation, is just that. Animated series created for Japanese people by Japanese people. It does not necessarily have to be completely drawn there, many shows are farmed out to Korean animation studios. So by that, stuff like Gankutsuo and Romeo and Juliet are Anime, despite the original source material being French and English, respectively, due to their re imagining by a Japanese person. Likewise, you can count Jin-Roh, which is nothing more than a loose retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

Oh, I agree that the argument has been done to death over the years. Do you classify 'The Five Killers' as anime then? I'm a bit reluctant to give it the nod, as the writing is being done by an American.

My inclination is no. The only thing in recent memory that I'd sit the fence on is the second Vampire Hunter D movie, Bloodlust. It was done by the same studio, same folks, but clearly marked for an american only/primary market release.

So Anime is used to describe animation that is made for Japanese audiences.

While Japanimation could be used to describe animation that simply has a Japanese look to it but not necessarily marketed towards Japanese audiences.

So in this case I would call "The Five Killers" as Japanimation. By that rational "Robotech" would also be classified as Japanimation while "Macross" would be considered Anime.

karmajay wrote:

Anybody see Paprika?

Jesus! That move looks awesome! I wonder if it's available on NetFlix yet?

kilroy0097 wrote:

So Anime is used to describe animation that is made for Japanese audiences.

While Japanimation could be used to describe animation that simply has a Japanese look to it but not necessarily marketed towards Japanese audiences.

So in this case I would call "The Five Killers" as Japanimation. By that rational "Robotech" would also be classified as Japanimation while "Macross" would be considered Anime.

That holds up for the Harmony Gold stuff, but when you use something more recent it falls apart. Cowboy Bebop is very firmly anime, by that definition, but it is dripping in universal world themes. The story has more Anglican roots than Broken Saints (which is totally written and drawn in the US but someone has watched way way too much Ghost in the Shell and Evangelion and gotten the wrong lessons from it). Something like Desert Punk would be another case where it's all done in Japan and for a Japanese audience, but completely blows the traditional Japanese themes and traditions.

And I guess I wonder why make the distinction?