Topic: Anime: like wrestling, but with more robots and children

[Djm]

I'm a big anime fan.  In fact, I'm going to a convention this weekend.

I hope this is the right place for anime thread.  What are some of your favorites?  What have you been watching lately?

Lately, I've been watching a series called Star Driver.  If you're a fan of (Tengen Toppa) Gurren Lagann, and don't mind a little 'fabulousness' in your anime, you might like this show.  Also, there's a new episode of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn coming soon.   

Anime fans? 

[Prime]

You're not talking about C4 in Winnipeg this weekend, are you?

[Djm]

Youmacon, here in Detroit, my hometown.

I'm doing a panel on Toonami.

[Prime]

Awesome!

[Little Jimmy]

Youmacon, here in Detroit, my hometown.

I'm doing a panel on Toonami.

You live in the D? Awesome, I live in Rochester Hills, moved out here this year. I won't be going to Youmacon, but I do want to go to the Motor City Comicon in November? Have you ever been? Do you know anything about it?

[DocSavage]

I'm not really the biggest anime fan, but I love Cowboy Bebop and FLCL.  Liked what I've seen of Mobile Suit Gundam.  I cut my teeth on anime with DBZ, but prefer the manga over the anime.  It gets downplayed a lot, but I think that's more from overexposure and the fact it's marketed towards children..  IMO, it's a classic.

Watched most of the stuff on Cartoon Network in the early 00's, like Outlaw Star, Trigun, and Inuyasha.  Enjoyed most of what I saw.  Even Shin Chan. 

Now, I've tired on Inuyasha though, but still love Trigun and Outlaw Star.    (Wolfwood has to be one of the greatest supporting characters ever).

Kind of stopped with Naruto, Bleach and One Piece.  Just couldn't get into any of them, although I've probably read most of the Naruto manga, and seen a good number of Bleach eps.

Also seen the entire Eva series, including the movies, and am one of the few folks that doesn't hate Shinji.  Sure, he whines a lot..  He's basically an introvert raised by an asshole father (Not to mention the crap with his mother, that would shatter most men..) that's stuck with the burden of being the last, best hope for the human race.  If I was in his shoes, I'd have trouble throwing up my hands and saying "I'm out" too, basically being stuck between the devil and the great blue sea...  (The death of the human race by running, or my own potential death from trying to save it..)  

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I love TTGL to death.

As for recent stuff, Histories Strongest Disciple and Gai Rei are fantastic.  

[Solipsist]

I started on Anime and have pretty much moved entirely to Manga.

Naruto, Bleach and One Piece are the Big Three right now, but Bleach is total shit in my opinion. You can tell Kubo has no plan and just makes shit up every week. I would read it sporadically to see what had happened and I quit when I found out he had spent the last two real world years in the same 24 hour timespan in the manga. That's just terrible.

Naruto started out really well, but it suffers from editorial. Basically Kishi wanted to tell the story of Ninja Jesus, but his editor insisted on a dark, brooding rival, because Japan likes the dark, brooding archetype. Well I don't think it worked out because it's sad that it's only enjoyable when the two main characters aren't around.

One Piece on the other hand is very enjoyable and a must read. It sells insanely well in Japan for every age group because it's lighthearted, but not stupid. The characters are all given some depth and their own stories. It's not just Luffy and the others, it's about a group of pirates. Best of all you can tell Oda has spent some time planning things out ahead of time. You'll get a glimpse of a side character or something trivial in one panel and then 100 issues later you realize how important that person or thing is. And that might sound like some serious padding like Dargonball Z, but it's not. Oda had one arc that went too long, but otherwise he has a keen eye on pacing and crams a lot of fast-paced story into each issue.

If you like Gurren Lagann I really recommend you give One Piece another try.

[Djm]

You live in the D? Awesome, I live in Rochester Hills, moved out here this year. I won't be going to Youmacon, but I do want to go to the Motor City Comicon in November? Have you ever been? Do you know anything about it?

A really good friend of mine is involved with Motor City Comicon.  It seems to be a tight operation.

And yes, One Piece is great.  I'll occasionally read the Naruto manga, but I never got into Bleach.  That's my opinion as far as the big 3 go.

I'm a mecha fanboy.  Gundam, RahXephon, Gundam, Fafner, and most recently Star Driver.

Did I mention I like Gundam?

[DocSavage]

I started on Anime and have pretty much moved entirely to Manga.

Naruto, Bleach and One Piece are the Big Three right now, but Bleach is total shit in my opinion. You can tell Kubo has no plan and just makes shit up every week. I would read it sporadically to see what had happened and I quit when I found out he had spent the last two real world years in the same 24 hour timespan in the manga. That's just terrible.

Naruto started out really well, but it suffers from editorial. Basically Kishi wanted to tell the story of Ninja Jesus, but his editor insisted on a dark, brooding rival, because Japan likes the dark, brooding archetype. Well I don't think it worked out because it's sad that it's only enjoyable when the two main characters aren't around.

One Piece on the other hand is very enjoyable and a must read. It sells insanely well in Japan for every age group because it's lighthearted, but not stupid. The characters are all given some depth and their own stories. It's not just Luffy and the others, it's about a group of pirates. Best of all you can tell Oda has spent some time planning things out ahead of time. You'll get a glimpse of a side character or something trivial in one panel and then 100 issues later you realize how important that person or thing is. And that might sound like some serious padding like Dargonball Z, but it's not. Oda had one arc that went too long, but otherwise he has a keen eye on pacing and crams a lot of fast-paced story into each issue.

If you like Gurren Lagann I really recommend you give One Piece another try.

I'm planning on trying the manga.  The anime dub is just too awful..

I agree on manga over anime.  My experience with Histories Strongest Disciple is entirely manga based.  I've also collected the entire Akira manga, and enjoy Berserk in manga form..

Also, I'd recommend a manhwa (Korean manga) called Veritas.  I don't really prefer manhwa's, as they tend to be weak sister manga clones imo, but Veritas is exceptional..

The Breaker is another good one.

And a few animes I forgot to mention, that I greatly enjoyed:  Paranoia Agent and S-cry-Ed.

Paranoia Agent in particular was interesting.

Someday, maybe I'll give Slayers and Tenchi another chance..  Both lost me half way through.  And, both universes are kind of deep to get into, with several offshoot series and books and such...

AND, I'd be remiss not to give a nod to Miyazaki.  Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away are too of his greats, imo.

I also liked Nauiscaa:  Valley of the Wind.

Huh, kind of sad that as much as I enjoy the anime/manga I've experienced, I'm a lightweight compared to most fans..

[Elbow]

I was really into anime from the early to mid-90's. I'd basically watch whatever I could get my hands on like Ranma, Tenchi Muyo, Bubblegum Crisis, Project A-Ko, Urusei Yatsura, Wings of Honneamise, Dragon Ball Z, Ninja Scroll, Battle Angel Alita, Akira, Fatal Fury, Street Fighter, countless others.  I'd also watch Crayon Shinchan every Saturday on a local Japanese network...much, much better than what I'd see a decade later on Cartoon Network.

Later on saw stuff like Slayers Next, Evangelion, Flame of Recca, Azumanga Daioh, and others but then stopped watching anime altogether in the early 2000's.  I wouldn't mind getting back into it.  My friend pimps Macross Z (I think that's right) as his all-time fave, and you can't go anywhere without hearing about One Piece. 

[DocSavage]

I was really into anime from the early to mid-90's. I'd basically watch whatever I could get my hands on like Ranma, Tenchi Muyo, Bubblegum Crisis, Project A-Ko, Urusei Yatsura, Wings of Honneamise, Dragon Ball Z, Ninja Scroll, Battle Angel Alita, Akira, Fatal Fury, Street Fighter, countless others.  I'd also watch Crayon Shinchan every Saturday on a local Japanese network...much, much better than what I'd see a decade later on Cartoon Network.

Later on saw stuff like Slayers Next, Evangelion, Flame of Recca, Azumanga Daioh, and others but then stopped watching anime altogether in the early 2000's.  I wouldn't mind getting back into it.  My friend pimps Macross Z (I think that's right) as his all-time fave, and you can't go anywhere without hearing about One Piece.  

Try the mangas.

www.mangafox.com is still up and running, for now.  Good for checking out different things.

I'd recommend Histories Strongest Disciple:  Kenichi, and maybe reading the Flame of Recca manga.  The FOR anime mostly follows it up to the tournament, but Kurei fight is different, and the manga has the complete story.

I greatly enjoyed it.

Also, for the record, Viz is releasing RIN-NE online, from the writer of Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha, free of charge.  I think they release the manga scans to pull in readers, and gradually pull them as they release the manga volumes.

[Djm]

I had not heard of mangafox.com.  While I'm not a huge Naruto fan, I would keep up with it thanks to One Manga, and I haven't been able to since they went under.

The convention is this weekend, I'm going to get to see the premiere of the second OVA for Gundam Unicorn.  I'm excited.

For me, Gundam Wing was the first show after Tekkman Blade that really made me love anime.  Since than I've been a massive Gundam fanboi.

[Elbow]

Try the mangas.

www.mangafox.com is still up and running, for now.  Good for checking out different things.

I'd recommend Histories Strongest Disciple:  Kenichi, and maybe reading the Flame of Recca manga.  The FOR anime mostly follows it up to the tournament, but Kurei fight is different, and the manga has the complete story.

I greatly enjoyed it.

Also, for the record, Viz is releasing RIN-NE online, from the writer of Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha, free of charge.  I think they release the manga scans to pull in readers, and gradually pull them as they release the manga volumes.

Awesome, thanks for the recs.  I'll check them out.

[Djm]

Youmacon was fun.  I hung out with a lot of friends, made a new one (an adorable college girl that likes Sonic the Hedgehog just as much as I do).

Also, my panel on Toonami went into Super No Vacancy attendance and got a lot of positive feedback.

I really do dig anime cons.  Unfortunately, they did not get to air the second episode of Gundam Unicorn.  Darn Bandai.  And apparently, the hotel and convention center ended up with more guests and stayers than the Super Bowl AND Wrestlemania.  Otaku are Awesome.