Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 11:13 pmWow! Didn't know it premiered! Cool.
Not anime, but I've been enjoying Samurai Jack season 5 quite a lot.
Not anime, but I've been enjoying Samurai Jack season 5 quite a lot.
Shenmue Dojo
General Anime Discussion
Page 81 of 82
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 11:13 pmRe: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 5:22 pmDid anybody go to see Ghost in the Shell yet?
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2017 11:00 pm^^I didn't think it would be this extreme, but every time I see an ad for it, I find myself actually angry about it. Not like it's the first lame version of the franchise (Arise had that covered already), but it's almost shocking how evident it is by the goddamn 30-second commercials just how much the movie's creators don't understand the series at all. Or, at the very least, how blatantly they chose to ignore what it's all about, instead opting completely for cliche Hollywood overtones about "finding oneself" and whatnot. It's just... gross.
Bleh, anyway.
Just finished Armored Trooper VOTOMS and Gasaraki, both created by Ryosuke Takahashi, though almost fifteen years apart from each other.
VOTOMS is amazing. As much as most fans may revere early-80s anime for breaking new ground and setting new standards, most shows were still pretty obviously made for kids, with a lot of squeaky girl characters and/or cute animal/alien/robot sidekicks. Or, if they lacked those things, then they probably operated on some kind of overly-simple formula which was mainly just an excuse to have characters fight (Fist of the North Star, much as I love it, is a perfect example).
VOTOMS is different though. It actually feels mature, intelligent, grown-up, with a story that flows properly from one plot point to the next without feeling formulaic. There is a grand total of one squeaky girl in the whole thing, but she's far less-annoying than most like-minded characters in anime. The main character, Chirico, is a bit of a stoic soldier trope, but he's still not exactly a superhero, and he makes mistakes frequently. The second story arc is actually an obvious take-off of the Vietnam war, and features one episode where soldiers force villagers to play Russian Roulette. It's not a show for the kiddies, and to me, that makes it totally stand out among early-80s anime.
Not to mention that it features the single most appealing (to me) type of mecha action I've ever seen in a show, despite the animation being a bit low-quality. None of that super-robot Gundam-style shite; these things are more tank-like, and tend to control as such. The visual style isn't a dead-ringer, but this is the closest thing to Front Mission-style mecha action I've seen in an anime. The robots are just treated as military weaponry, and having the "best" one doesn't win a fight. The show doesn't even assign Chirico with any kind of "signature" robot either, unlike most shows like this; he frequently wrecks them and has to find a new one, switching between multiple models throughout the show, even hijacking one from an enemy during the last story arc. It's like a soldier picking up a new gun because he ran out of bullets. The robots aren't the stars, the characters are. And again, that makes it stand out from most shows of its era.
Planning on watching whatever OVAs I can find of it on youtube now, since those have never officially been translated and released outside of Japan. This series really ought to be more well-known.
Gasaraki is an odd one, however. It also is technically a mecha anime, though it also has a number of supernatural elements here and there, as well as a number of episodes near the end that dive into political and philosophical territory. It's... strange. It's not a trainwreck or anything, but it does feel really unfocused in a lot of areas, like the creators didn't quite know what they were trying to make. That sentiment is backed up even further by some of the DVD supplements; one has an art gallery showing early designs for the protagonist, and the accompanying note mentions that "this one is from an early draft of the show, where the characters would have raced around in transformable futuristic motorcycles"...
Wha huh? That's ridiculously different from what the series eventually became.
It's like the writers and Takahashi himself just set out to make a show and... I dunno, just kind of let the pieces fall wherever, instead of having a concrete concept in place.
And it's too bad, because it could have been among the best mecha shows ever. Like VOTOMS, the robots themselves are portrayed in a surprisingly technical, slightly more "realistic" manner than we usually see... but they just don't seem to be used nearly enough. Entire arcs of episodes go by without them being used. Some of the action scenes that do occur with them are really cool, memorable, and well-animated, but they're just too few and far between. Meanwhile, the show's namesake -- some kind of ancient supernatural force called Gasaraki -- barely appears at all.
It's an intriguing show, but one that ultimately feels like a bit of a mess. And it's too bad, because otherwise I really do like a lot of the design work, direction, and atmosphere of the whole thing.
Bleh, anyway.
Just finished Armored Trooper VOTOMS and Gasaraki, both created by Ryosuke Takahashi, though almost fifteen years apart from each other.
VOTOMS is amazing. As much as most fans may revere early-80s anime for breaking new ground and setting new standards, most shows were still pretty obviously made for kids, with a lot of squeaky girl characters and/or cute animal/alien/robot sidekicks. Or, if they lacked those things, then they probably operated on some kind of overly-simple formula which was mainly just an excuse to have characters fight (Fist of the North Star, much as I love it, is a perfect example).
VOTOMS is different though. It actually feels mature, intelligent, grown-up, with a story that flows properly from one plot point to the next without feeling formulaic. There is a grand total of one squeaky girl in the whole thing, but she's far less-annoying than most like-minded characters in anime. The main character, Chirico, is a bit of a stoic soldier trope, but he's still not exactly a superhero, and he makes mistakes frequently. The second story arc is actually an obvious take-off of the Vietnam war, and features one episode where soldiers force villagers to play Russian Roulette. It's not a show for the kiddies, and to me, that makes it totally stand out among early-80s anime.
Not to mention that it features the single most appealing (to me) type of mecha action I've ever seen in a show, despite the animation being a bit low-quality. None of that super-robot Gundam-style shite; these things are more tank-like, and tend to control as such. The visual style isn't a dead-ringer, but this is the closest thing to Front Mission-style mecha action I've seen in an anime. The robots are just treated as military weaponry, and having the "best" one doesn't win a fight. The show doesn't even assign Chirico with any kind of "signature" robot either, unlike most shows like this; he frequently wrecks them and has to find a new one, switching between multiple models throughout the show, even hijacking one from an enemy during the last story arc. It's like a soldier picking up a new gun because he ran out of bullets. The robots aren't the stars, the characters are. And again, that makes it stand out from most shows of its era.
Planning on watching whatever OVAs I can find of it on youtube now, since those have never officially been translated and released outside of Japan. This series really ought to be more well-known.
Gasaraki is an odd one, however. It also is technically a mecha anime, though it also has a number of supernatural elements here and there, as well as a number of episodes near the end that dive into political and philosophical territory. It's... strange. It's not a trainwreck or anything, but it does feel really unfocused in a lot of areas, like the creators didn't quite know what they were trying to make. That sentiment is backed up even further by some of the DVD supplements; one has an art gallery showing early designs for the protagonist, and the accompanying note mentions that "this one is from an early draft of the show, where the characters would have raced around in transformable futuristic motorcycles"...
Wha huh? That's ridiculously different from what the series eventually became.
It's like the writers and Takahashi himself just set out to make a show and... I dunno, just kind of let the pieces fall wherever, instead of having a concrete concept in place.
And it's too bad, because it could have been among the best mecha shows ever. Like VOTOMS, the robots themselves are portrayed in a surprisingly technical, slightly more "realistic" manner than we usually see... but they just don't seem to be used nearly enough. Entire arcs of episodes go by without them being used. Some of the action scenes that do occur with them are really cool, memorable, and well-animated, but they're just too few and far between. Meanwhile, the show's namesake -- some kind of ancient supernatural force called Gasaraki -- barely appears at all.
It's an intriguing show, but one that ultimately feels like a bit of a mess. And it's too bad, because otherwise I really do like a lot of the design work, direction, and atmosphere of the whole thing.
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 4:44 pmI chat with the Godfather of Anime in North America, William Chow, also known as The King Of Smut 95! We talk about the early days of subtitling and getting Anime out to fans! and Hentai! -HappyConsoleGamer
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 5:55 pmI remember back in the mid 90's when my mother got upset with me when she found some hentai on the family computer. Oh, to be young. 
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 4:21 pmThe look on my moms face when she found my la blue girl Avi's on the family computer 
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 6:37 pmI wasn't even watching Hentai and I got in trouble because my mom thought Asuka's suit in Eva was pornographic.
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 8:00 pmJust watched Ghost in the Shell.
A few things I could have done without but eh, sometimes you take the good with the bad. Johansson played a good Major. They seemed to mix and match somethings but one thing they nailed was the world. That shit was spot on. The entire time you feel like you're watching a GitS movie. Its not perfect but its very enjoyable.
A few things I could have done without but eh, sometimes you take the good with the bad. Johansson played a good Major. They seemed to mix and match somethings but one thing they nailed was the world. That shit was spot on. The entire time you feel like you're watching a GitS movie. Its not perfect but its very enjoyable.
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 6:55 pmI mainly watch movies and play games for world building now. I might watch it, I might not. I don't expect a lot from the stories, sadly.
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:42 pmNew episode of Attack on Titan just posted on kissanime. Man that cliffhanger though... Can this show get any more epic? 
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 10:11 pmJust started watching ZZ Gundam for the first time... and wow does it feel way different from how Z Gundam left things off...
It's kinda hard to watch, to be honest, and a bit of a slog, but I guess I'll power through it (mostly because of curiosity rather than enjoyment). Only 10 episodes in though, so who knows.
It's kinda hard to watch, to be honest, and a bit of a slog, but I guess I'll power through it (mostly because of curiosity rather than enjoyment). Only 10 episodes in though, so who knows.
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 10:15 pmWatching the Persona 4 anime. I did start season 2 of Attack on Titan but after 2 episodes decided be better to wait til the season was finished and watch the series all at once. Been so long I forgot a bunch. Also re watching GunXSword. Lastly watched a couple episodes of Gasaraki.
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 10:34 pmThe first teaser for the new Fooly Cooly episodes dropped a couple weeks ago. I was really hoping the pillows would be toying with some nostalgic sounds for the new soundtrack, but oh well at least the neko-mimi headphone girl is kawaii.
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2017 2:23 am^^Jesus Christ, half of that felt like I was seeing clips from the original show, just in the way they're designed, animated, and storyboarded.
That is a phenomenal sign. Absolutely keeping the groove of the original without missing a beat, despite the fourteen year gap. Can't wait.
That is a phenomenal sign. Absolutely keeping the groove of the original without missing a beat, despite the fourteen year gap. Can't wait.
Re: General Anime Discussion
Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 7:43 pmFYI Toonami is airing Outlaw Star starting August 19th! Prayers have been answered! Guess I kinda saw it coming considering they recently released the show on Blu Ray. And why we are on the subject of old anime, how have they not released the original Evangelion on Blu Ray in the west yet?