By no means am I new to anime, but I feel like I’ve been out of the loop for a few months. I’m ‘bout to finish my Rahxephon and Noir set but I need a new series or maybe a few movies to check out. Anything you highly recommend that’s out already or is coming out soon?

lol...greatest cartoon evar

--
"Hustlin' crack don't make you bigga" - John Forte

Yeah, that and Macross Zero.

if you got bit torrent..

PlanetES
Gilgamesh
Kosetstu Hyaku Monogatari (Hundred Stories (EVERYBODY needs to get up on this one))
Gunslinger Girl
Full Metal Alchemist

some that're out now..

Last Exile
Heat Guy J (i heard good things about)
Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex (comin soon, they're showin it on Adult Swim come June/July)
Witch Hunter Robin

Its not like VIOLENT, but I mean from time to time someone does get like a foot shot off.

Im looking forward to that, because maybe Ill understand whats happening half the time! Damn literal fansubbing geeks.

cause it really ain't working for me at all anymore.

has anyone seen that new ghost in the shell mini-trailer? another milestone for anime and animation, calling it right now.


http://www.phistdesign.com

But if I did, which is the best one to get?

or not sure if they do. Cowboy Bebop. No giant robots, no overdone psuedo-science, no strange philosophies. Just incredibly entertaining, very original, with great characters, storiea and animation.
Also Lupin III and Miyazakis films. Because Miyazaki is the greatest director of animated films alive, maybe ever.

Everything I've read says its the best anime series of all time, but is it really?

but if your not sure about anime i'm not sure you'll like it. It can get really weird and some of the humor doesn't translate all too well. Bebop is a bit more grounded in reality.

Everyone recommends Bebop, but I haven't really gotten into it. Maybe I need to see it with subtitles - I HATE English dubs.

but the bebop ones suck ass, the japanese voices for the characters are far far superior. Subbed episodes are very easy to come by on Kazaa. Theres a damn good reason people love Bebop so much.

Bebob dub sucks? Whats better?

I dunno how you'd react to it
but I hold it as my fav anime series of all time

I just kinda posed the question to get some general feedback...I've actually watched up to episode 9.

I'm digging it the most of any anime I've checked out so far (which is like two - Ghost in the Shell and Akira). It's kinda gotten cartoony and light the past two episodes (which I kinda don't like), but I think this will be the first series I actually finish...

once you watch them all watch the movie "end of evangelion"

you can skip death & rebirth because thats mostly just a recap of what happened through the entire series.

>once you watch them all watch the movie "end of evangelion"

but it gets redundant after a while, wow another angel attack. And alot of stuff revealed later on is apparent in the first few episodes. Plus the music sucks. The artwork and character development is damn good though.

>but it gets redundant after a while, wow another angel
>attack.

>But if I did, which is the best one to get?

Read any of these post....

http://www.okayplayer.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=14933&forum=concert

http://www.okayplayer.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=11959&forum=concert

Go to these sites for reviews...

www.animejump.com
www.animeondvd.com

Plenty of recomendations in each. As for what's best, you need clue us into what you're looking for. Action, drama, comedy, whatever, there's NEVER going to be that one great show that everybody likes.

Later...
Kwesi K.

>http://www.okayplayer.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=14933&forum=concert
>http://www.okayplayer.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=11959&forum=concert

I've read both of these...some good general suggestions...

>Plenty of recomendations in each. As for what's best, you
>need clue us into what you're looking for. Action, drama,
>comedy, whatever, there's NEVER going to be that one great
>show that everybody likes.

I like the more drama-oriented stuff, but I can dig the action ones. The Japanese comedy element is a real turn-off for me though.

Honestly, I'm trying to find the "cornerstone series". The Evangelions, the Akiras, Ghost in the Shells - stuff everyone has in their collection. I'll go from there if I really like it. Y'know, if you were gonna recommend music to somebody - give me the anime equivalents of the Chronic, Illmatic, Low End Theory...etc.

I do like Evangelion though. I'm probably half-way through it and haven't lost interest yet. I've read a bunch of reviews on it, a couple panning it as being "cliched" and having a dumb story, but it's all new to me so I could honestly care less.

I couple resources said "Rahxephon" was better though...

Cornerstone series or movies are kind of hard to pinpoint. The main reason I say this is that alot of anime can be derivative of their source matirial (a book or manga) or are simply just another riff on a well know show or style of shows. A lot of people just pick a certain type of story and go with those.

(Basically I don't believe there are any. There's always something out there that was better than what you just watched regardless of when it was made. Sometimes for different reasons which is why it helps to broaden your selection. Granted, most of my collection is a mish-mash of robot shows. )

Evangelion and Rahxephon *might* be a bad start since both kind of require you be familiar with dramatic robot show conventions to get what's being done differently, better, or just making fun of. For example, the basic premise of EVA, young boy forced to fight in a robot is nothing new. It's a staple of almost all giant robot shows. The shift comes in the handling of the emotional/psychological elements of the story. And even there they take broad turns from the norm in the decisions he makes.

Rahxephon is simply a re-imagining of an old school robot show, Brave Raideen, with Evangelion as the blueprint.

Knowing this is not entirely necessary but it does help. Actually it may help not to know it so you concentrate on the show and not all the fanboy history lessons like above. :'P

As for drama's with no comedy, I know of a few shows that have less comedy or just not a lot of slapstick goofy stuff.

Now and Then, Here and There is a antiwar series that puts children in the front.

Big O is a big dramatic mystery that questions relaity with robots duking it out in every ep.

Samurai X; Trust and Betrayl is a damn good prequel to the Kenshin Series. Very good drama and some nice swordfight animation.

Blue Submarine No. 6 is good if you can get past the early attempt at 3D/2D integration that slowly gets better as the short series progresses.

Last Exile is also a good dramatic adventure that also uses the 3D/2D technique but to MUCH better effect.

Gundam 0080; War in the Pocket is anther war story that centers on a young boy's perspctive and how he get's wrapped up with an enemy spy looking for something in his colony.

Beserk is a dark ages mercenary story that follows how the main character eventually becomes a demon hunting force of death.

Movies

Jin Roh is a damn good dramatic police thriller set in an alternate universe. One part tragic romance, one part political intrique.

Patlabor 1,2 and WXIII all three of these films are based on the universe set up by the TV series and manga but are a little more serious and heady.

Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust. A very basic but lushly illustrated action film based on a long running novel series.

Roujin Z is indeed a comedy BUT it is a damn GOOD dramatic comedy with a interesting statement on how technology should not be used to replace people. Particularly in the area of elderly care.

Give Miyazaki's films a run through too. Castle in the Sky and Princess Mononoke may be more your speed but his more family oriented stuff pulls no punches either. Coming this year are two of what some consider his best films, Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind and Porco Rosso.

But your milage may vary.

Hope this helps.
Kwesi K.

I'll check some of these out.

Just peep the Tokyo Godfathers review I posted.

Later...
Kwesi K.

Good shit. I actually liked the last two episodes somewhat. Half of the series really didn't make complete sense, but shit was so well directed and acted it makes up for it. The religous aspects were pretty dumb ("Hallelujah" during that one Angel attack? Totally stupid), but I don't think theology was the main point of EVA anyway.

Macross Plus and Ninja Scroll on tap...I've cursed this genre for years, but now I'm kinda coming around...still, none of that cutesy comedy shit (fuckin ugh).

You gotta see End of Evangelion. If it isn't, its as if you only watched half of it

I've skimmed over the basic plot though. Does sound interesting.

for a mind and eye fuck

well done movie though, this is what really goes on, what you watched at the end of the series was in the characters heads.

>well done movie though, this is what really goes on, what
>you watched at the end of the series was in the characters
>heads.

Yeah. They kinda left the plot out to dry with those last two episodes. I can see why the faithful were so pissed at the original airing of 25 and 26.

But the death threats on Anno? Come on now. The whole series is basically an outlet for his depression, so I think that was the LAST thing he needed at the time...

and then prepare to go through it several more times to get what the hell happened. Its worth the time though.

In a number of interviews, the production staff and director have made plenty of comments to the effect of, "there's no real meaning to it. we wanted to put in some crazy but deep looking stuff to pad out the background and the Kaballah had everything we were looking for".

As for Handle's Messiah, after reading such interviews, I'm sure it was meant as a joke. While the show has it's depth, there is a lot of tongue in cheek humor in how they put anime and action movie conventions on the spot.

Hell, I began to thing that the elevator conversation scenes were beginning to become a running gag instead of just a sign of how much they were stretching the animation budget.

Later...
Kwesi k.

>In a number of interviews, the production staff and director
>have made plenty of comments to the effect of, "there's no
>real meaning to it. we wanted to put in some crazy but deep
>looking stuff to pad out the background and the Kaballah had
>everything we were looking for".

Since the Japanese population is probably under 2% Christian (or something like that), I can imagine all of the symbolism they borrowed being viewed as "mythology" in their eyes and the viewer's.

But yeah like I said, to me the series is all about characterization with everything else (including the plot) of secondary nature.

Finished this one last night. Tons of good shit. On a whole I liked this ending better, but the original episode 26 is still pretty damn good.

Great last line...the abrupt ending right after was perfect.

some new ninja/samurai ish is coming out soon
Dig it:

- From the guy that did Cowboy Bebop
- A black samurai, interesting huh?

EoE was probably one of the most entertaining things I've ever watched.

of the ending?

Shinji didn't want to accept the "human completion project" or whatever, where everyone dissolves into the LCL and man lives as one. That was obvious during those live action scenes.

He's the only one who can change this since he was part of the third impact, and he does.

I don't get how Asuka is the only one left though...but I think I'll watch it again and try to catch that part. Since he stopped the 3rd impact, I guess there's also a chance everyone else comes back too. Maybe she's right beside him because she was on his mind the most, with others coming later/elsewhere.

Still, that last line by her is fucking great. A happier and more traditional ending would have them embrace or whatever and "start mankind together", but instead it shows that Shinji will still be somewhat of an outsider despite his choice. Perfect ending.

>I don't get how Asuka is the only one left though...but I
>think I'll watch it again and try to catch that part.
>Since he stopped the 3rd impact, I guess there's also a
>chance everyone else comes back too. Maybe she's right
>beside him because she was on his mind the most, with others
>coming later/elsewhere.

I think her mother telling her to live got her through, everyone else is gone. It doesn't explain why her bandages are exactly the same as rei's though.

>Still, that last line by her is fucking great. A happier
>and more traditional ending would have them embrace or
>whatever and "start mankind together", but instead it shows
>that Shinji will still be somewhat of an outsider despite
>his choice. Perfect ending.

Yeah Shinji wants acceptance from others, Asuka wants to be completely alone and self sufficiant. Great ironic twist.

Wow...now I know why everyone worships Studio Ghibli.

Just kidding...

Grave of the Fireflies is damn good. Too bad I have almost no desire to see it again for fear of depressing myself into a coma.

If that twisted your dome you need to take a look at Now and then, Here and There. Kids, war, and the evil meglomaniac trying to rule the world who's in charge of everything. It's a sci/fantasy setting but still hits hard and takes no shorts.

If you want something a tad more uplifting try out Wings of Honneamise.

Later...
Kwesi K.

well shit, now I guess yall can talk about anything anime. G'on and get your anime on.