Are there any fans of Japanese anime here?

Don't see a lot of threads here talking about anime. Any fans of Hayao Miyazaki films? Death Note series?

 

The search engine here is rather poor, IMHO.

There are plenty of mentions of Ghibli and Miyazaki. Start here ;

site:stevehoffman.tv (ghibli, miyazaki) - Google Search

 

I'm a long-term fan of anime, going back before I knew it was anime. Among my earliest were Astro Boy (the original black & white series), Speed Racer, Prince Planet, 8-Man, Star Blazers and Battle Of The Planets. At the time I didn't think of them as from Japan, I just noticed that they were better than many other shows on the air at the time.

Later, I became aware of anime as something separate from other animation when I saw Project A-Ko. It was one of the funniest anime I've ever seen and it led me to other series. Now, among the movies/series/OAVs I've seen and have enjoyed are (listed in the order they come to mind):

• They Were 11
• Ranma 1/2
• Robotech
• Tenchi Muyo!
• Tenchi Muyo! GPX
• Excel Saga
• Serial Experiments Lain (the first anime I bought on DVD)
• Gunbuster
• The Big O (so good that at the end of first episode I knew I'd watch the entire series, and by the end of the second episode I knew I'd buy the entire series ASAP. Unfortunately, the second series wasn't as good).
• Bleach
• Angel Tales
• Angelic Layer
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Dragonball Z
• Fruits Basket
• Azumanga Diaoh
• Chobits
• Figure 17
• Mobile Suit Gundam
• Here Is Greenwood
• Cowboy Bebop

Of course, I've still got a large number of anime in my collection to go through (such as at least 100 more episodes of Bleach).

I don't focus much on the directors for the most part (with the exception of Nabishin, if he's involved I want it). I prefer to just enjoy what I can enjoy.

I did become a little familiar with the work of Mayao Miyazaki via an unusual path:

In the 1980s there was a video game called Cliffhanger which was a Dragon's Lair type of game except it was better. It turned out that they used footage in the game from the movie The Castle Of Cagliostro (a movie featuring Lupin III), a 1980 movie written and directed by Miyazaki. The movie had his signature look and I learned to recognize it in his other movies. While it does feature Lupin III and his supporting cast, their antics are toned down a bit from a typical Lupin III story.

It's good to see there are other anime fans around.

 

THIS RIGHT HERE! Is One of the Best Films EVER!

 

My youngest son is leading a panel on anime this Saturday at a convention. He does a name that tune with anime themes. He knows all the artists, directors, writers and voice actors(Japanese and English). He can discuss the entire history of Japanese animation. I am parent to an expert.
Personally I was into Tobor the 8th Man back in the single digit years. Boy informed me that the American distributors widow could not interest anyone in the 8th Man cartoons because they were in B&W. All the American master reels ended up in a landfill in New Jersey.

 

I LOVE good Japanese animation. I make that distinction because I tend to agree with directors like Miyazaki on the term anime:

Hayao Miyazaki stated that he despised the truncated word anime because to him it represented the desolation of the Japanese animation industry. He equated the desolation with animators lacking motivation and with mass-produced, overly expressionistic products relying upon a fixed iconography of facial expressions and protracted and exaggerated action scenes but lacking depth and sophistication in that they do not attempt to convey emotion or thought.
-Wikipedia

But you find that sort of slipshod animation the world over. In fact, it seems to be the prevailing trend, unfortunately. I usually have to reach back years to find the Japanese classics I enjoy rewatching.

A few I love:
Spirited Away
Akira
Kino's Journey (TV series)

One of my disappointments was Afro Samurai, which is, more or less, a simple revenge story. Despite its flash (Gonzo Studios artists, Sam Jackson vocals) it falls victim to the kind of approach that Miyazaki described above. I guess I expected it to adopt more of the philosophy and spiritual tenets of the 70s Kung Fu series, since it was the 70s Blaxploitation films that partly inspired the original manga animator, Takashi Okazaki, but there really little behind all the violence.

 

Belladonna Of Sadness

 

Wow. Wonder how many eps have managed to surface. Here's EP. 1:

 

Ah, the movie I have tried to watch three times and has put me to sleep by the middle three times.

 

8th Man, which was syndicated, was actually forced off the air by the govt. because of his recharging bit. When his power was sapped he would pretend to smoke a cigarette, which was actually his power ups. Parents complained that their kids were also doing that while playing 8th Man. That is from my own memory. I was disappointed that my show was gone. I thought Astro Boy was stupid in comparison, although my little brother was a big fan. Hey I was what? 8?

You see how bad that episode is. Pieces missing and the sound is awful. I had one episode I found on a Kids Classic VHS tape that was in pretty good shape. It was hilarious. There was a museum and the guard was saying " Sure is hard to get around with all the signs in "Oriental"" to cover the Japanese signage.

 

In general, I’m not an anime fan at all, but I love Akira.

 

Here's a previous anime thread that was closed for inactivity, but there are some good suggestions within: Really Good Anime: What Might I Be Missing?

I've been a fan of anime since around 1990 when I started paying a lot of attention to it, and purchasing fansubbed VHS tapes. Since then, I amassed a pretty decent collection of series on DVD, but haven't purchased much since streaming services like Crunchyroll became available. I absolutely LOVE being able to stream simulcast, current, subtitled anime series for a few bucks a month. Crunchyroll also has a good back-catalog of older titles as well, so you can spend months if not years working your way through everything.

Some of my all-time favorites in no particular order:

Maison Ikkoku
Cowboy Bebop
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Azumanga Daioh
Kill La Kill
Durarara
Toradora
Non Non Biori
Naruto/Naruto Shippuden
Nagi No Asukara (Nagi Asu - A Lull in the Sea)
Baccano
One Piece
Bleach
The Grand Magus' Bride
Haibane Renmei
Cardcaptor Sakura
Clannad

I've probably watched 200 or 300 anime series over the years. My list of favorites fluctuates depending on my mood. There's so much to choose from that there's something for everyone.

You can't really go wrong with Studio Ghibli movies. Miyazaki's done some fantastic work over the decades. My overall favorite is probably My Neighbor Totoro.

 

Same here. I mean there are a few i like but there are some that are just really well bland. Like all the stereotypical anime sports or dating anime’s. Bleh

 

I may not no much about anime but I know what I like (in your wardrobe).

 

Tobor the 8th Man! Thanks for dislodging that 50+ year old memory from my old noggin. As a kid I thought it was cool that Tobor was robot spelled backwards. Yeah, that Astro Boy was a wannabe compared to Tobor!

 

Miyazaki, certainly. Not DN.

But, Yuu Yuu Hakusho, Inu Yasha, Princess Nine, Hikaru no Go, and Princess TuTu.

I used to think I only enjoyed the older stuff. More modern series that I've enjoyed, though, would be Shiro Bako, Hibike! Euphonium, Sakamichi no Apollon (which is totally a BEATLES anime), and the very intense Boku Dake ga Inai Machi.

I don't enjoy nihilism or stupidity or senseless slaughter in any form of entertainment, and I do appreciate a sometimes slower pace, character development, and surprises, so the above fit the bill. I couldn't believe the astounding dramatic intensity in Go, a game I can't even play, with just young people sitting around moving little stones on a board.

My latest fun series: Dan Doh, about a schoolboy golf prodigy.

 

I have a low-cost DVD (purchased from a dollar store) that contains a few episodes. The video quality of the episodes was so-so but at least they were there. I remember reading on line that someone was offering a complete collection of 8-Man episodes.

In addition to the original 8-Man series, there was also a live-action movie and an OAV. One thing that was striking about the live-action movie is that they focus on 8-Man's dilemma of not being human. At one point, he morphs (one of his abilities) into the woman he loved before his death, but seeing her image causes him great anguish.

 

The first Japaneses animation I remember seeing in the USA was Speed Racer. That was the mid 70's. Racer X was cool, but that kid and his monkey were a pain. A few years later we got the English version of Space Battleship Yamato, Star Blazers. This made a huge impact on me as a kid. I can still sing along with the opening credits to this day.

 

Yes, it's a pretty boring movie with yet more "here's weird stuff to be cool" thrown into the mix. The art and animation is top rate but the pacing sucks and the supernatural stuff turns me off completely as well.

There's so much better than this out there, in my view.

 

There's *so* much more to the genre but yes, it's overrun by certain types which I've classified in my mind as the following ;

- Robot-centric stuff
- Martial arts
- Supernatural/weird stuff done primarily to look cool

And I'm probably forgetting a couple other types I've also blacklisted.

Strongly recommend you give the genre another shot by watching Your Name which is, in my opinion, the best anime I've seen in ages.

 

I went through a heavy anime phase in my 20s. Neon Genesis Evangelian still stands for me as one of the most amazing television productions of all time. That show won’t places that you rarely see, particularly in animation.

Was also a big fan of Escaflowne. Another series that you think is going to go one way but veers of into pretty dark and interesting avenues.

 

I've tried now and then. Armitage was good, but I hate how there are always like three different versions of every story - a movie, a tv series, a movie made out of parts of a tv series... maybe another version of the movie with different actors doing the voices this time. And the nomenclature is similarly insular - Instead of calling a tv series a "tv series" they have some acronym...OVA or some such nonsense. All very inside-baseball designed to keep people out.

I liked the first Appleseed movie, or rather the first remake, but even though the film seemed to be trying to copy western storytelling, the story still ended up drifting away from the characters - which seems to happen too much in anime. The characters tend to be rather distant, and the resolutions of stories tend to be either enigmatic or just poorly depicted (I can't tell which it is - and assuming it is not simply poorly depicted I have to assume there is some cultural divide in terms of what storytelling is expected to involve).

The second Appleseed film (aka the third film) was not memorable.

I'd have checked out the later tv series which came after the films, but the tv series drew the lead character with giant breasts hanging out of her armor (as if you do not need armor on your chest) and that was just too sexist for me (and not at all in keeping with the character).

 

But, if you haven't seen it, SPOILER ALERT, because I'm about to give away the whole Third Act:
"Kanedaaaaa!'
"Akirrraaaa!"
"KANNEEDAAAAAA!"
"AKIIRRRAAAAAA!"
"KANNNEEDDDDDAAAAAAA!"
"AKIIIIIIRRRRRRRRAAAAAA!"

Hope that didn't ruin it for you.

 

And then, after starting there...start here:
How Do You Prefer Your Miyazaki?

 

I prefer film where I can study the acting of humans vs listen to bad dubbing over jerky cartoons. I find anime dull.