(Un)Official Anime thread.

Television, Movies Games and Books Anime/Manga
#21

It’s hard with OSTs, because so few have been legitimately released over here, and bootleggers usually call their stuff imports. Which is easy to spot when you’re buying DVDs, but not when you’re buying CDs, and everyone calls things imports.

There’s actually an episode of the Anime World Order podcast that deals with bootlegs. I’m not sure if they reposted it yet or not.

The only reason I mentioned it, is bootlegs can be of varying quality. And it really bites to put down money and not get a good copy.

#22

For all of you CosPlay people out there with babies, check this out.:slight_smile:

http://www.japansugoi.com/wordpress/cosplay-outfits-for-babies-from-bandai/

#23

Dubbing has finally begun for the US version of Miyazaki’s ‘Arrietty the Borrower’, only have the name of one of the voice actors so far…

http://www.slashfilm.com/bridgit-mendler-leads-english-voice-cast-studio-ghiblis-arrietty-borrower/#more-95356

I hope the dub is as good as the previous ones, and that they offer the usual subtitled track for purists.

#24

A Gundam videogame is being developed for Nintendo, it is in 3D and will not require glasses. More information and a link to the promotional video below-

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-01-20/daily-video/gundam/the-3d-battle-trailer-streamed

#25

I stumbled upon this site when looking for an Anime Fastcart recommended, it is Crunchyroll.Com. It has Anime TV series and Japanese music videos, recent ones too which surprised me. SD is free to watch with only about three commercial interruptions (like HULU) HD is only available with a membership.

I will be visiting this site alot. :slight_smile:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/

I wonder if they show para para videos? I really like Hinoi Team…

edit: yay! They do!!! :smiley:

#26

I am really enjoying Kore wa Zombie desu ka? They do a supurb job of balancing the humor and the relationships/action/horror elements. If not it would be a total trainwreck of a show.

Plan E is looking promising. It is another show that was given a positive review on a podcast.

And Fastcart recommended Durarara, and dispite the drunken sounding name it is looking very promising as well.

Speed Grapher is WTF!? :eek: But you can’t stop watching…

Queen’s blade is OK…

So yeah, I have been watching a lot of anime.

#27

Haven’t heard of Kore wa Zombie Desu ka.

I cannot find Plan E on Anime Planet or Anime News Network.

I’ve heard of Speed Grapher, but never gave it a try.

I dropped Queen’s Blade after 1 episode. d:

I’ve been playing games. I’m behind on Bleach and Index II.

Don’t let the title Durara!! keep you away. (:

Btw, I watched Darker than Black and liked it.

#28

You can stream Kore wa Zombie desu ka and Plan E on Crunchyroll.com, it is free. Though I am finding so much good stuff on there I may purchase a premium membership just to support them. :slight_smile: Oh and the episodes are updated weekly as new ones are released in Japan, which blows my mind; I am used to having to wait a year or more before they make their way here. Now thanks to the internet I can watch new shows as they are released…

The Funimation site is another place where I used to stream anime until I joined Netflix, I used to watch Gunslinger Girl there.

Oh some others I have watched ocassionally-

Blassrieter, Vanguard, Trinity Blood and Aquarion.

Yeah, I loved Darker than Black! It is right up there with Claymore, Black Lagoon and Baccano in terms of story, voice acting and visual appeal.

I still think that Durarara sounds like a drunken salaryman trying to cheer… “Dura-rah-rah-rah!!!” :smiley: But I will still watch it to see where it goes.

#29

Tried watching some Naruto Shippuden, after 3 episodes I still knew nothing about any of the characters and the world they were in was still not developed. And worse yet; it is supposed to be a ninja show and you had to wait three episodes to see any action.

Personally I found it boring and tedious and unworthy of further viewing, it must be aimed at very different audience. Because for me I found the characters uninteresting, mostly because they were undeveloped, and introduced very poorly.

Because no origin was offered I saw no motivation for them, and I never got to see them develop any skills or overcome any adversity. And so no emotional bond ever developed and therefore I don’t care what happens to them. And if I don’t care about anyone in the series; WHY SHOULD I WATCH?

Bad planning, and bad writing… IMHO.

If you want me to watch your series you need to quickly introduce and establish your main characters. Make me like them and care about them, show me their strength of character by putting them through adversity, and have them overcome challenges.

Don’t just dump them in my lap and assume because they are cute and drawn nicely that I am going to care about them. That is lazy and poor writing, just because YOU know everything about a character and his/world because YOU have the entire series worked out in your head does not mean WE as the audience are privy to any of that knowledge. It is your duty as the creator to slowly introduce us to your world and story-lines in a well paced and deliberate manner.

Not chaotically and pell mell, or in a manner that creatively suits you but leaves the viewer scratching their head. eh enough preaching…

I am sure Naruto has its good points, it must have for it to have been around so long. But it is not for me, I guess I should have suspected as much, it seemed to be aimed at teenagers, but so was Avatar the last Airbender and I loved that show. I could never get into the Dragonball series, never liked the art style, and whenever I turned over to watch a bit of it on cable it seemed to be a lot of grunting and posturing, but no actual action. And it so far into the storyline by the time I noticed the series it was hard to follow…

Enough rambling, so long for now, and good health to you all.

#30

Sorry to say, you had to watch the original Naruto to get the origin. It may have been bad planning that they didn’t include any background for markets outside of Japan. But in Japan, the Naruto Shippuden series started right after the original Naruto series ended (I’m guessing same time slot).

You prolly know Naruto is based on a manga. Like Bleach, the animation production companies like to follow the manga, then putin filler arcs so that they can get more material from the manga as they are published.

I followed Naruto and tried to avoid the filler arcs. Then, I watched the last episode of Naruto (in case it had important info) and started Naruto Shippuden. If you were already a fan of Nartuto, the opening minutes were awesome. But they would make no sense to someone coming into the series cold. Which no one in Japan did, I’m guessing, since the series started directly after old one ended.

Having said all that, I stalled on Naruto Shippuden right after the first arc (16 episodes or so). I’ve been meaning to pick it up again. But, I dunno when I’ll make the time.

#31

Thank you, that explains alot! :slight_smile:

How about XXXholic? I found it unwatchable… The art style repulsed me. I can see how it would work in a manga, as still art it could be seen as stylish and edgy. But when animated the absurdly long and lanky bodies looked alien and creepy to me. But hey, that’s just me; I am sure others won’t be bothered by it one bit.

Art is a very subjective thing… :wink:

#32

XXXholic also have different seasons, movies, and series. I’m just going to assume you started with the very first episode though. ^^

XXXholic’s back story is that it has a sister show/manga, Tsubasa Chronicles. Tsubasa Chronicles and XXXholic aired concurrently, sometime overlapping with each other’s shows starting with the very fist episodes of both respective series. Their movies and OAVs were the same way. Now, you don’t need to watch both to enjoy either series. Definietly not to the extent of Naruto. But, sometimes doing so gives you a better picture of the entire arc of both shows. And if you do, there’s an extremely big pay off at the very end of both series…if you can make it that far.

They do have similar art styles. I found it jarring, but I eventually got use to it. Anything is better than FLCL’s style imo.

XXXholic is a supernatural, psychological series/manga. Tsubasa Chronicles is a fantasy, comedy, and magical series/manga. I preferred Tsubasa Chronicles but enjoyed both series.

Last point: It is extremely helpful if you are already a Clamp fan (Card Captor Sakura [recommended], X [conditional recommendation], Chobits, Kobato, Rayearth [adored it, but it’s a bit immature], Tokyo Babylon, etc.). I am. You may not be, and that may hold you back.

#33

Saw [b]X /b back in the 90’s, don’t remember a single thing about it… I think the VHS is somewhere in storage. The same with Tokyo Babylon, I think it had a very androgynous protagonist if I remember correctly. I found that very disturbing initially; though I was a very different person 20 years ago… :smiley:

#34

Yeah, my conditional memory is that I recommend watching the movie first, then the TV series, then the TV series’ OAV. But, that’s only if you liked the movie and would like a more complete story.

The other series I listed (plus X) have ties with Tsubasa Chronicles. Like I said, it helps if you’re already a Clamp fan.

Here’s some vids from the recommendation thread:
Studio Subsection -

Clamp:
Tokyo Babylon OAV (Prequel to X)
Card Captor Sakura (I liked Nanoha better)
Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE (TV) (there are OAV sequels)
XXXHOLiC (TV) (there are OAV sequels)
X (TV) (Sequel to Tokyo Babylon)
X OAV (TV prequel)
X: Movie (Alternate retelling, the TV series makes way more sense, the movie is too rushed)
Magic Knight Rayearth (TV) 1 and 2 (there is an OAV retelling)

CLAMP in Wonderland (OAV) 1 (link) and 2 (link) (watch if you’ve seen a bunch of Clamp titles [or just curious])

Clover
link removed
This youtube version absolutely fails to do this video any justice, but it’s subtitled. It’s based on a manga, so it’s ok if it doesn’t make sense to you. ^^ Watch this version before the excellent quality, unsubbed one.

link removed
Excellent quality, but not subbed. Watch the subbed version first this watch this in all it’s glory. Plus, the uploader of this link puts a synopsis of clover in his description. Yay!

//youtu.be/01xbvbbSyvc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01xbvbbSyvc&hd=1
One of the videos no longer existed. But thankfully, I found a high quality subbed version

X-1999

//youtu.be/trkgJjYpuVU

Sort of a teaser/promo for the X movie. Watch in HQ for best experience.

Wish

//youtu.be/YrarLd7RvYg

Kawaii!

P.S. I kinda want to ad RG Veda, but the OAV is so old/dated that I’m not sure how someone who has never seen it would react. I also liked Angelic Layer, but it’s sort of formulaic.

#35

I hunted around for a Clover DVD, I finally found one and it said that the running time was only 6 miutes. I thought it must be a typo… But after reading the reviews I guess that it is correct.

Was it done as a teaser? Why was a full series never commisioned when the manga was so popular?

#36

Yes, just a teaser before the 1999 Sakura movie…unfortunately…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clover_(manga)#Media

A Clover animated music video directed by Kitar? K?saka and animated by Madhouse Studios was shown in Japanese theaters before the Cardcaptor Sakura film in 1999. The short film was released to DVD as part of the Clamp in Wonderland collection on October 26, 2007.

Dark Horse Comics, who holds the license for the distribution of the English North American edition of the manga, is currently in negotiations with Universal Studios for the rights to develop a movie based upon the manga; however, no deal has been made just yet.[8]

I dunno, but I won’t get my hopes up for a movie. Get the manga. It’s short.

#37

From twitter:
ryangallagher Ryan Gallagher

Life-Sized My Neighbor Totoro Catbus To Be Unveiled In June
http://j.mp/fRsUt1

#38

On the recommendation of a shojo/josei panel at a con I went to a few weeks ago, I just finished checking out Jellyfish Princess. It’s adorable, and was exactly what I needed post-migraine a while back. It’s like… Azumanga Daioh, the post-college years. Not so big on fights or explosions at all, really, but it’s sweet and genuine in a non-sappy way. Girl nerds as main characters ftw.

I got Princess Mononoke from Netflix yesterday, and since Clone Wars is on hiatus until the fall, I’ll be checking it out before Fringe tomorrow.

#39

That’s a major comparison there. I adored Azumanga Daioh, so I hope it’s accurate. ^^

#40

I watched the first episode. It felt more like Welcome to the NHK and with a dash of Excel Saga to me. I am interested, but I’ll have to put it on the back burner for now. I want to watch Kimi ni Todoke 2nd Season and Tegami Bachi Reverse (Letter Bee Reverse) first.