Anime 101: Introduction to Anime

[pixelate]

I don't watch anime at all. But Spring Break is next week, and there's nothing written down in my planner. Since the majority of people here watch anime and give it high praise, I want to get an idea of what it's all about. I know that in a weeks time I won't be able to get the entire idea, but I'd like to get into it a little.

So what I need are some titles that I can rent during Spring Break, particularly any classics or movies that set the standard for other animes to be compared to.

[Abaddon]

One of the greatest classical animes around is Akira. its one of the oldest, but one that still looks current. But it really depends on what you're after and everyone has a preferential anime liking.

but to start you off, try some of these titles.

*Akira
*Neon Genesis Evangelion Series (You did say _at all_)
*Perfect Blue
*Ninja Scroll
*The Berserk Series http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif:D:D
*Vampire Hunter D
*Oh My Goddess Series and Movie
*Spirited away
*Robotech/Macross Plus or Gundam

All the titles mentioned are of different genre types. So if any of those catch your fancy there'll be plenty of members here and abroad that can recommend you similar titles.
Hope that helps mate.

[DUNKO1]

Hellsing and Scryed are really good too

[raiden999]

i personally like the record of lodoss wars series (up to episode 13. haven't gotten the second series yet). dunno if you will like, but try it out

[AidaKensuke]

-Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoe, try and find it subbed, I'll pay >_>; )
-Neon Genesis Evangelion
-Grave of the Firefiles
-X: The Movie
-Escaflowne: The Movie

Erm..I watch a little *cough* mahou shoujo, but none of that is coming on my list. o_o

[Atax]

A few I can think of:

Burn Up Excess

Cyber City Oedo 808

Tokyo Babylon

Ghost in the Shell

Ninja Scroll

The Legend of Crystania

Gun Smith Cats

Cowboy Bebop

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040

Zoids: Chaotic Century

Rockman.EXE (only avalible in fansub form atm)

[Gestiv]

DON'T watch anything Dragonball related... It makes a mockery of all things Anime. And it uses the same plot over aad over: Evil guy tries to take over the world, someone dies, new, more powerful guy takes his place, galaxy is saved, another evil guy comes along, so on and so forth.

[Bloodberry]

+ Kare Kano

+ Ghost in the Shell - movie or series

+ Kiddy Grade

+ FLCL

+ Escaflowne (movie or series.. movie is better.)

+ Noir

+ Azumanga Daioh

although some of those aren't really up for rent (Kiddy Grade and GITS series in particular).

[Auracom]

-cowboy bebop
-akira
-vandred (newer but its really sweet)
-betterman (really cool)
-scryed

[-BK-]

Escaflowne the movie is great, but in my opinion the series does a better job of developing the characters. If you want stories better than Hollywood, I'd say go with Evangelion, Trigun, Samurai X (for a shorter one, it's only 3 disc's technically), Escaflowne, or Lain.

Any particular genre you have intrest in, Pixel?

[RuneLateralus]

And I weep...

No one said Excel Saga. One of the best off beat humor animated series.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RuneLateralus on 2003-03-15 20:46 ]</font>

[-BK-]

On 2003-03-15 20:45, RuneLateralus wrote:
And I weep...

No one said Excel Saga. One of the best off beat humor animated series.


Maybe if I had seen it I would have listed it. =/

[pixelate]

Mmm. Lots 'n lots to choose from. When I look to rent, I'll check for any movies that more than one person mention. Stank you, everyone.



On 2003-03-15 20:09, hagakura wrote:
Any particular genre you have intrest in, Pixel?



That's the thing: I don't know the genres, so I'm a little http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_confused.gif. I need a place to start. But I remember Abdur saying something like he can list animes that'll make you puke and animes that will make a grown man weep. Variety seems to be what I'm lookin' for.

[-BK-]

On 2003-03-15 20:55, pixelate wrote:
That's the thing: I don't know the genres, so I'm a little http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_confused.gif. I need a place to start. But I remember Abdur saying something like he can list animes that'll make you puke and animes that will make a grown man weep. Variety seems to be what I'm lookin' for.


Think of a Hollywood movie genre you like, you can find some awesome anime of the same genre.

Also, If you like Matrix, then I recommend: Ghost in the Shell, Lain, and Armitage III.

[Captain_Dude]

Hmm... good anime... Di Gi Charat, Read or Die, the Captain Harlock saga, Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar (sickeningly cute, but it's great), Omishi Mahou Gekijou: Risky/Safety, Bakuretsu Hunters, Slayers... I can go on for days... I do wish to point out that some of the stuff I have listed isn't out in America, but hey, there's always fansub.

[pixelate]

On 2003-03-15 21:02, hagakura wrote:
Think of a Hollywood movie genre you like, you can find some awesome anime of the same genre.



Anything close to the style of Requiem For a Dream or Pi?

[Ness]

Neon Genesis Evangelion
The Tenchi Series
Toonami (on Cartoon Network)
Oh My Goddess!

[Deathscythealpha]

Films

Perfect Blue-psychological Thriller

Macross Plus-action

Princess Mononoke-action

Spriggen-action

Vampire Princess Miyu-dunno, cant think where it would be classed

Samuri X-action

Series

Neon Genesis Evangelion-giant robot action series with a bit of teenage angst thrown in and a majorly trippy ending.

Cowboy Bebop-funky action series

Martian Successor Nadesico-space comedy/action/romance

Gundam-giant robot action series

[BlackRose]

Cowboy Bebop
Blue Submarine No. 6
Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
Armitage III: Polymatrix
Princess Mononoke

Those are my favorites, though I haven't seen much anime.

[Captain_Dude]

On 2003-03-16 05:57, Ness wrote:
Neon Genesis Evangelion
The Tenchi Series
Toonami (on Cartoon Network)
Oh My Goddess!




Toonami??!?! Cartoon Network?!?! No No No NO!
I have utterly NO respect for Cartoon Network. They're taking good anime, and ruining it by showing the dubbed, censored versions of things!
"Oh, but it introduces children to anime." you say? HAH, why not do what I, and many others, do and circulate tapes(or in modern terms, DVDs). That's how anime got started in america, and it should stay that way!
I just can't see why they would buy the rights to a show filled with nudity and violence (for example, Tenchi Muyo) only to add in bathing suits, cut out violence, and replace the perfectly good japanese voice actors with awful dub voice actors(even though the Tenchi voice actors weren't bad, but the japanese one were better) where subtitles would do FINE. Where's the fun in that?
Sure, sure, there's adult swim. But they still censor it a great deal. And they use the horrific dubs!

This is all just personal opinion, but I feel that real anime fans should watch the way it was originally made. Not the mangled up junk that Cartoon Network is trying to shove down our throats! I'm sure hardcore fans agree, that they don't want to hear a bunch of american voice actors reciting words from a censored script, and they don't want to see a bunch of bathing suits painted on with photoshop, or the word "Sake" replaced with "tea", or the violent; bloody fight scenes cut and shortened. NO! They want anime, in it's pure form.
I know that one day, Cartoon network is going to start broadcasting censored versions of things like La Blue Girl, or Kitty Pleasure Pack, or Orchid Emblem, or Legend of the Necronomicon, or something, and all the episodes will only be 3 minutes long due to all the cutting that they had to do.

I do not mean this as an insult to fans of Cartoon Network, Toonami, Adult Swim, or any of that crap. But to Cartoon Network, Toonami, Adult Swim, Disney, or any other company/TV line up that has brought anime to America that has been chopped up, mangled, and (in my eyes) ruined! I say "Give it to us properly, or don't give it to us at all!"

I would also like to point out, that people saying "Oh, but if they left it the way it was, then young kids would never get to see any good anime, and they'd never get into it." There you're DEAD WRONG. Cartoon Network could easily obtain the rights to Omishi Mahou Gekijou: Risky/Safety, or Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar, or any of the great non-threatening anime and broadcast them with subtitles. Exposing children to these wonderful anime, without having to dumb anything down.

I hope people don't too much offense at this post, but I feel very strongly about Americans being introduced to anime that has being deflied by the American TV. If anybody is ofended by this, I am gladly willing to listen to your reasoning. But remember, I am entitled to my own opinion as much as you are.

EDIT: And just so this post isn't deleted, du to lack of relevence, I shall add some. By this rant, I'm simply advising against watching Cartoon Network, if you really want to watch anime. Instead: rent or buy tapes/DVDs of subbed, uncut anime.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Captain_Dude on 2003-03-16 21:54 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Captain_Dude on 2003-03-16 21:56 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Captain_Dude on 2003-03-16 21:58 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Captain_Dude on 2003-03-16 22:21 ]</font>

[AidaKensuke]

Wow! Someone who rants about that and actually makes sense! Kudos! XD Not to get off the subject, but I think the Dude's right to an extent. Theres a lot of great anime on Cartoon Network, and occationally SciFi that has been dubbed, so to speak, horrible. Yes, sadly American censors the daylights out of anime, which did not bother me until I actually found the true quality of direct imports and subs. Sorry, I just don't dig fansubs. But, you can actually use said lame examples as a base for your choosing. Like me, I've been introduced to countless series, most of them of the mecha genre, through Americanized television. I see something on TV I think looks good, then I jog (Seventeen years old and still no car -.-) to either Blockbuster or Hollywood Video and snag whatever I just saw. Probably not the brightest plan, but if you look at Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon (Yes >_> I do watch it) From the television version (Y7 I believe) to the DVD (If you're lucky and get anything before the 'S' season, it'll be at best, 16+) Nine year difference..right. Ahem, bck to what I was saying most of the stuff on television will rot your mind, stated kindly by the Dude. But, it's not totally unwatchable unless the constant "Badguy: I killed three million people...but..I'm ashamed! Goodguy" It's okay, I'll be your friend! -Badguy mysteriously dissappears and people remain to speak of said villian in past tense-" syndrome, or lately as of Kenshin, you can see the seams of where they edited things skips of music. (But Himura has a good American voice, but the lack of 'oro' pisses me off.) Well..

Yeah..pfft, happy hunting.

[mystic_knight]

My favorite anime movie is Ninja Scroll by far. It has a good story line and lots of action, but there are some nudity scenes. Series wise, try out Trigun and Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight. Also, any of the .hacks (Liminality <comes with the PS2 game>, SIGN <comes on CN but is better subbed> and DUSK <my favorite, only available in fan sub>). Stay away from stuff like DBZ, Sailor Moon, and any of the two *insert stupid abbreviation here*-mons. I've never seen Ghost in the Shell but I hear good things.

[Zolpner]

I have utterly NO respect for Cartoon Network. They're taking good anime, and ruining it by showing the dubbed, censored versions of things!

Hmmm I noticed with the Adult Swim that the Anime seemed to be downloaded of the the net or something.
And the Adult Swim stuff isnt censored...

I havn't seen very much (because of limited selection) But my Favs are:
Neon Genisis Evangalion (STILL YET TO SEE END OF EVANGALION (movie))
and Gundam Wing.. not Endless waltz (damn it)

[Captain_Dude]

On 2003-03-19 02:48, Zolpner wrote:

I have utterly NO respect for Cartoon Network. They're taking good anime, and ruining it by showing the dubbed, censored versions of things!
...
And the Adult Swim stuff isnt censored...



Yes, it is. And for some reason I doubt they'll be showing Evangelion's Death and Rebirth, due to that pesky masturbation scene..

[Ness]

On 2003-03-19 03:17, Captain_Dude wrote:


On 2003-03-19 02:48, Zolpner wrote:

I have utterly NO respect for Cartoon Network. They're taking good anime, and ruining it by showing the dubbed, censored versions of things!
...
And the Adult Swim stuff isnt censored...



Yes, it is. And for some reason I doubt they'll be showing Evangelion's Death and Rebirth, due to that pesky masturbation scene..



I doubt it. Afterall, it is called adult swim.

[Fanatic72802]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Outlaw Star.
I still like that show, even though I've seen the series 3 times...

Inuyasha's good too.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Fanatic72802 on 2003-03-19 12:01 ]</font>