Anime anyone?

[Lady Day]

Fellow nerds, I welcome you to my thread

Me being an aspiring animator, I dont watch this stuff for its incredible artistic movement and the like. Serial Anime is the ultimate end for limited animation, panning stills, held cells, and roughly 30 seconds of solid animation per 20 min episode. Thats not my dilemma.

Production values and character designs arnt either. There can be some amazing stuff.

I guess what I look for when I watch the is a story, solid characters, and a convincing plot. What I find are automatons drifting around in a 20+ episode serial, something magical happens, and the last episode explains what I have just been watching in its last 5 minutes in nothing but dialogue. Am I not watching the right stuff?

I gotta respect this stuff, cause its using a medium that over here has been all but deemed the medium for young children. Granted Im prolly like 5 years behind on the latest shows, and I dont go out to buy the newest and best crap but the few I have sat down and watched this past year have been just big old let downs.

Case in point:
Ergo Proxy
Speed Grapher
Which Hunter Robin
Gilgamesh
Ceres

These two have been exceptions as their characters have been complex, fun and the story moves.
Blood+
Peach Girl

Maybe its my western sensibilities, but I think you can be cryptic, and artistic, and confusing and still have a story for viewers to follow. Wanna have a guy who gets blessed with magical powers to where his camera acts like a gun? Fine, cool, but make me believe it. lol

Can anyone offer suggestions to good serials? Am I looking at Anime with the wrong perspective? Or am I just a looser for posting this thread

LD

 

[Starius]

Well, if you're a loser, I am too because I am going to reply to your thread.

I used to be big into anime in my college days. I think 2003 was the last year I watched a lot of anime. However, I must admit that I am currently watching a new series called Moyashimon thats proven to be a good mixture of mystery and entertainment.

But for older series, I was always fond of the classic Ranma 1/2 (though I never did see the end of that long series) and the original El-Hazard - The Magnificent World. El Hazard isn't a terribly long series so ultimately a rather rewarding storyline. It does continue on in the OVA El-Hazard: The Magnificent World 2 and El-Hazard: The Alternative World which was a twelve episode TV series.

If you really want a good cryptic puzzle of a series, check out Paranoia Agent. I was immensely drawn into that series. Another series I really liked was Kino no Tabi. At first glance, it looks like a simple kids series. I can assure you, it is not. Its extremely philosophical and introspective. But maybe thats the kind of show that can be a kids show in japan.... I can tell you that some of the stories would get banned here in the US as a kids show though.

If you like a good ghost story, there was a 3 episode series called Le Portrait de Petit Cossette that I remember being pretty good.

Oh wait! I think I just remembered a series that you might like quite a bit... Paradise Kiss. The day I watched the last episode of this series, I remember quite well, for I actually became rather depressed. I was in a particular mindset and the end of that series actually made me look inward, think I was wasting my life, etc... but in spite of that (or perhaps because of that) I do recommend that series. Any show that can squeeze some kind of emotional response out of me is okay in my book.

Other than all these, the only other series that comes to mind is Last Exile which is just a beautifully done series on the whole.

Thus concludes my loser post.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

I worked at ADV Films for a couple of years and kind of got burnt out on it. I still try and catch a show here and there but with a six-year-old I don't really have the time to invest anymore.

 

[rebelgtp]

One of my ex's got me hooked on watching anime then some friends and it has grown from there. I'm in the middle of watching Last Exile and it is very good. I do like Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Initial D (I'm a car nut so it works nicely), Rurouni Kenshin there are more but those are the more main stream easy to get ones.

 

[gluegungeisha]

I like Lain.

 

[LordJohnRoxton]

Lain is good..... I got hooked one year on Excel Saga and Kodomo no Omocha, which was rather embarrassing at the time!

 

[DavidVillaJr]

I absolutely loved the old Robotech series when I was younger.

Watched about half of them again recently - and STILL enjoyed them!!

Long story arcs, compelling characters, problems with solutions, problems without solutions, deaths of important characters, emotional trauma.

Good stuff.

I don't think much of the newer 'toons, I can't seem to suspend my disbelief. Yes, I KNOW they're all drawings and not real people, but still.....


dv

 

[Pink Dahlia]

That's funny I really liked Ergo Proxy.

 

[The Wingnut]

Last Exile, Cowboy Bebop and Wolf's Rain are among my favorites.

My introduction for anime was through Urotsukidōji. Do NOT rent / buy / watch this unless you want your mind positively raped. I was in the student union at college and someone tossed this on the big screen upstairs to kick off an anime marathon...at that point, the train wreck phenomenon took hold.

...they scrubbed our brains out afterward with the excellent Wings of Honneamise, thankfully. But it was a helluva introduction. I still view a lot of anime with a jaundiced eye.

 

[Lady Day]

I guess I just dont get it, cause I saw Lain and Wolf's Rain and I just shook my head at both of them.

Lain had an amazing visual set up, but it left me flat. Wolf's rain had a nice twist in the end, I forgot I saw that one.

I forgot of another one that just drove me insane, Gungrave.

We spend nearly 10 episodes to learn the history of this character in the mob, his rebel friendship, etc only to see him become a cowboy gun wielding zombie in the future? lol

LD

 

[Weston]

Well, all these are pretty cheesy to me. Go back to the golden age of anime – the 80s. Maison Ikkoku is a great series for romance, Ranma for comedy, and Macross for sci fi action (especially the latter half of the series. Go back to when flash wasn't such a big part of things – and story was.

 

[gluegungeisha]

Vandread?

 

[Son_of_Atropos]

serial anime? definition?

ghost in a shell?

 

[Lady Day]

TV series is what I mean by serial. 18-22 minute shows each, a season anywhere from 10-18 shows (usually 12).

LD

 

[rebelgtp]

Vandread?

i forgot about that one it was good. others that i have enjoyed have been outlaw star and tri gun.

 

[boyorastroboy]

I'm more of a Manga (comics) fiend, myself, but "Berserk"--a Manga I was turned onto via a serial adaptation--really impressed me. Once I saw a few episodes, I had to find more, and when I watched them all I had to buy the comic books. The characters are very compelling, and the world in which the story happens is fascinating. There's a really complicated multi-orientation love triangle going on in it. I think the original comics are fantastic (english translations available at finer local comic establishments), but the Anime is definitely worth checking out. Be warned, though, it's very violent.

And yes, you can't go wrong with Macross!

 

[Jovan]

If you see anything, see Cowboy Bebop. Every episode is like a miniature movie. It's hard to explain.

 

[Lady Day]

"Berserk" There's a really complicated multi-orientation love triangle going on in it. I think the original comics are fantastic (english translations available at finer local comic establishments), but the Anime is definitely worth checking out. Be warned, though, it's very violent.

Actually I did see that one, and it was pretty good. So much so that I wanted to see if there were more episodes. It lagged in the middle (I fell asleep during like the 10th battle scene) but it was interesting, Ill give you that

LD