The all things Anime related thread.

[mrk]

The name alone made me laugh so it's going to get watched

 

[Strife212]

Finally got round to watching Gurren Lagann a few days ago, watched the entire series in one sitting

It was good but I didn't enjoy it as much as my friends who hyped it up so much. I prefer Evangelion

 

[Demoniser]

How's the first season of this? It's pretty high up on my "what to watch next" list.

Theres the first 52 episodes which ive not actually watched entitled Hayate no Gotoku!. The season i just dived straight in on is Hayate no Gotoku!! and only recently started. If what ive been watching is anything to go by im sure the first series/seasons were just as good. It just seems to be a good/funny no brains required anime.

 

[just Scott]

Cool, thanks. I'll have to watch the first season though, I can't just jump right into a series anywhere other than the start for some reason.

 

[memyselfandi]

In my opinion, (and I agree with Demoniser's list of series), the story telling can be significantly better than some of the western series or movies.

I think that this can be seen if you actually step back and critically look at some of the plots from various animes .... in some cases if you create a single paragraph summary you see that not much actually happens but you are still left with an amzingly good series which draws you in. This is helped by several things:

- Anime is not just a single genre hence a series may cover several thus making the series deeper and more interesting. A series may start off all light and fluffy but turn darker as it continues on.
- There are just some things that it is easier to do well in animation rather than live action as you don't need someone who can physically act. This is not just the case in the action/sci-fi genres but also in the more emotional series which could have a high toll on the actors.
- Anime's demographic is not just children or stupid comedy for adults which western animation seems to be aimed at.

This last point is one of the reasons that we don't have anime style series over here as the general concensus appears to be that the only animation the market will support is either movies aimed at children (from Pixar/Disney) or stupid comedy series (Simpsons/Family Guy/etc). We don't have any "serious" animation series which have plot arcs covering multiple episodes.

Andarial, good to see you like the panasonic box ... expensive but, like you say, it's worth it to avoid all the problems associated with Blu-ray playback on HTPCs. If I want to watch something I don't want to have to muck around updating software, drivers, codecs to allow for compatibility and smooth playback.

Hayate ... well I have part 1 on pre-order at the moment for it's R1 release in July (it's a pity that Bandai arn't following the market on how to release things though and only having 7 episodes per part) ... it's supposed to be quite good but having only seen a couple of episodes previously I can't really comment on it myself.

 

[Phatjayunoi]

This last point is one of the reasons that we don't have anime style series over here as the general concensus appears to be that the only animation the market will support is either movies aimed at children (from Pixar/Disney) or stupid comedy series (Simpsons/Family Guy/etc). We don't have any "serious" animation series which have plot arcs covering multiple episodes.

Yeah and when a Western animation studio produces a series that tries to "emulate" the Japanese Anime style (Though very poorly and still too Western for my own tastes), it still aimed for the children demographic.

It is a shame really, there used to be some pretty decent original Western animated movies back in the day that were really good. The only one that really comes to mind for me is The Iron Giant. I really loved that film.

 

[Demoniser]

Its sad that the vast majority of series that are broadcast in the west are either/and aimed at the younger demographic or are butchered to put put some morality issues in to make it suitable for family viewing.

Theres been some decent series though that have been broadcast over the years mainly from Sky One and Cartoon Network a few years ago. Zoids, Gundam Wing, Dragonball and i think they even aired Blue Submarine No 6 at some point. Sadly the truely epic series like Eureka Seven have only been aired at extremely late hours on Adult Swim in the US.

Id love to see what it would be like if some of the great series mentioned in this thread were broadcast on a more primetime timeslot on a well known channel. Sci Fi channel (sorry SyFy now after the weird rebranding) seem to be taking a chance with airing Ghost In The Shell, Gurren Lagann and Noein which i think is a fantastic step forwards for exposure.

 

[memyselfandi]

Trouble is that they're shown on these satellite channels which not everyone has ... ... should be on a BBC, Channel 4 or Five channel at a sensible time (i.e. not post-11pm).

Like that'll happen .... although I suppose that we do get Ghibli on Film4 fairly regularly

 

[Werewolf]

Aye unfortunately apparently there isn't the "appeal" for anime on main channels, even the likes of Sci-Fi dropped it for dodgy semi porn as that got them more viewers on it's 100th repeat than a new Anime series did (at least for a while) :/

Is SyFy showing anime again?
How the hell did I miss that, I used to tune in for every anime showing even if i'd got the DVD.

As you say at least we get some Ghibli on Film4/4 from time to time and I think the (very) odd film on BBC2.
I'd honestly think the best bet for terrestrial TV to show anime would probably be one of the BBC channels, as they aren't reliant on advertising (so they might be willing to risk it), and something like BBC 3 which is meant to be aiming for mid teens/twenties might decide the likes of Last Exile, GITS, Boogiepop or Raxephon falls it's remit (especially as they've got Ross who has already done a few series around Japanese culture/media and might be a good presenter to intro some of them).

 

[memyselfandi]

True, what they should possibly do is have it on BBC3 over 7 weeks for a one cour (13 episode) series and have Ross wrapping it each one hour (2 episode) showing with an extra half hour at the end with him looking at the production companies and how it was advertised and merchandised in Japan.

It's a pity that his Japanorama series haven't been released on DVD as they were quite amusing ...

 

[Demoniser]

i never caught Ross's series when it first aired. Would love to sit through and watch all the episodes sometime as there seem to be some interesting interviews/topics covered.

 

[memyselfandi]

i never caught Ross's series when it first aired. Would love to sit through and watch all the episodes sometime as there seem to be some interesting interviews/topics covered.

I saw some of them, although I missed a few ... I see that there are some parts available on Youtube although I'd prefer a DVD release.

 

[lsg1r]

I actually got into anime due to the bbc showing akira in a very very late slot, pity they didn't bring a little more into their time tables, they've got plenty of channels to choose from, it could easily be put on bbc3/4 or heaven forbid use the red button so its an alternative but hey thats all too easy Needs to be in japanese with subs though!

I'd agree with most of what demoniser said to regarding series, I cant recommend eureka seven enough

Werewolf, I'm not sure rahxephon would be a good series to show on mainstream, its a good series which I enjoyed watching but it does seem to be a bit heavy on the thinking side of things. With the current junk (reality tv etc) on tv thinking during a series clearly isn't something that the british public seem to be able to do.

I'd love to see Ross's show again too, I watched a fair few of them and I am to this day still trying to find one of the films mentioned (there was a fight in a temple in the rain between two sword samurai type fighters where they were using the rain as the weapon along with usual japanese fancy footwork and flying) as I thought it looked stunning (any ideas people ) and I still can't find it and I've looked at a fair few films

 

[memyselfandi]

I actually got into anime due to the bbc showing akira in a very very late slot, pity they didn't bring a little more into their time tables, they've got plenty of channels to choose from, it could easily be put on bbc3/4 or heaven forbid use the red button so its an alternative but hey thats all too easy Needs to be in japanese with subs though!

... snip ...

I'd love to see Ross's show again too, I watched a fair few of them and I am to this day still trying to find one of the films mentioned (there was a fight in a temple in the rain between two sword samurai type fighters where they were using the rain as the weapon along with usual japanese fancy footwork and flying) as I thought it looked stunning (any ideas people ) and I still can't find it and I've looked at a fair few films

Oh yes, needs to be subbed not dubbed ... Lupin the other day on Film4 was dubbed and painful to watch ....

Hmmm ... re the film, there was fight scene in a Temple in Hero which may have been in the rain (it's been years since I watched that film)

 

[Phoen1x]

Hmmm ... re the film, there was fight scene in a Temple in Hero which may have been in the rain (it's been years since I watched that film)

I think that was a gaming house / tea house? Again, it's been a while! Wonderful fight though, as with the rest of the film very well paced, lit and accompanied.

 

[lsg1r]

I've got hero and its not that, the image in my head is more of the supernatural samurai type (one was I'm 90% certain in white or similar with long hair etc). I've gone mainstream and I've gone less well known and I just can't find it. Knowing my luck is I'll find it when I've given up looking I don't even care about the rest of the film, I just want that fight scene

I've even looked for alternative sources of the show, it clearly wasn't very popular
Might check out iplayer later just in case its been added

 

[memyselfandi]

Searching for Japanorama on Google does get you hits on Youtube et al .... you may get lucky ....

I don't think I have the last season any more (I had it on the HTPC for ages and ages but I think it got house kept off).

 

[lsg1r]

I've checked all the obvious places, even thought I'd found it (kill bill 2!) but it wasn't the case as the pai mei character looked like the sort of image in my head. It has to turn up at some point, all the things featured in japanorama have turned up in the UK at some point

 

[Demoniser]

i love the pop culture references in Hayate the Combat Butler

This one has to be the best ive seen so far.

Hayate sneaking into the school Solid Snake style LOL.

 

[Phatjayunoi]

I haven't watched this series in a long time, but I recently rewatched both seasons of School Rumble. Just a pure comedy classic, and if only real life highschool was as fun and ridiculously over-the-top like this.