Anime and Manga Discussion Thread

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I've been rewatching some classic anime from the 1990's and 2000's.

Stuff like Naruto Part I, Sailor Moon, Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, InuYasha, and some of those old-school ultra-violent OVA classics from the 1980's and early 1990's.

Recently re-watched Vampire Hunter D and Legend of the Overfiend this morning and I'm going to watch Mad Bull 34, Angel Cop, and Call Me Tonight tomorrow.
 
Doc Sammy said:
I've been rewatching some classic anime from the 1990's and 2000's.

Stuff like Naruto Part I, Sailor Moon, Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, InuYasha, and some of those old-school ultra-violent OVA classics from the 1980's and early 1990's.

Recently re-watched Vampire Hunter D and Legend of the Overfiend this morning and I'm going to watch Mad Bull 34, Angel Cop, and Call Me Tonight tomorrow.
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Wait, does Legend of the Overfiend have a plot? If so, can you summarize it in a worksafe way?
 
Templum Domini said:
Wait, does Legend of the Overfiend have a plot? If so, can you summarize it in a worksafe way?
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It does. In fact, the plot is what I like most about the movie (yes, really)

The plot is that there are three realms: Earth, the realm of beast-men, and the realm of demons and there is a prophecy of a fabled being known as the "Overfiend" who will unify the three realms and bring about a new age of existence.

The main protagonist is Amano Jyaku, a beast-man who is searching for the Overfiend on Earth alongside his sister Megumi.

They find a human believed to be the reincarnation of the Overfiend and that's when the demons start attacking...and slowly Amano realizes that this prophesied new age that the Overfiend is bringing forth might not be the Utopian paradise that he and Megumi had hoped for...
 
Doc Sammy said:
It does. In fact, the plot is what I like most about the movie (yes, really)

The plot is that there are three realms: Earth, the realm of beast-men, and the realm of demons and there is a prophecy of a fabled being known as the "Overfiend" who will unify the three realms and bring about a new age of existence.

The main protagonist is Amano Jyaku, a beast-man who is searching for the Overfiend on Earth alongside his sister Megumi.

They find a human believed to be the reincarnation of the Overfiend and that's when the demons start attacking...and slowly Amano realizes that this prophesied new age that the Overfiend is bringing forth might not be the Utopian paradise that he and Megumi had hoped for...
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That's actually interesting. But now I am afraid that talking about this further might turn off future posters and confirm stereotypes about Anime fans...
 
I'm torn.

On the one hand, I find the Manga aesthetic really attractive and the characters can be well rounded.

On the other hand, I find a lot of Manga really irritating, and I just don't know why.

Maybe it's because I rarely watch it and don't read the comics, so just catch the occasional Manga animation.
 
I like anime. Never really got into Manga.

My favorite anime is Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato. Specifically, the second season (Comet Empire) is my absolute favorite of all time. I tend to ignore any original Yamato material after Season 2. The ending of Comet Empire is too perfect to allow me to accept anything that comes after. To be fair, I've only actually watched the US version, but I am familiar with the original despite never having watched it in it's entirety.

I've loved Robotech for over 30 years. Specifically, I've loved the Macross and New Generation portions. But... I've fallen out of love with them in recent years. I still like them, but they no longer work for me as they once did. Nowadays, I'm more of a Macross fan, but still definitely not a purist.

So, just a random listing of some of my other favorite shows and movies:

Macross Frontier TV
Macross Frontier: Wings of Goodbye (movie)
Macross Plus OAV
Macross Plus Movie
Macross II
Yamato 2199
Cross Ange
Gundam Z
Gundam 0083
Gundam: Char's Counterattack
Gundam Seed
Fist of the North Star (movie)
Ah! My Goddess (original OAV)
Strategic Armored Infantry (Str.A.In)
Silent Mobius: The Motion Picture
Detonator Orgun
Agent Aika (both original OAVs)
Guyver (original OAV)
Violence Jack (specifically, the Hell Town chapter. Damn this OAV is messed up)
Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf
Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture
Golgo 13: The Professional

I'll also toss Blood C in there with a giant asterisk. Most of Blood C is pretty dull. Honestly, most of it is not particularly good. But the ending makes it worth it. The ending made me want to watch it all again.

Another giant asterisk entry is Muv Luv: Total Eclipse. The only episodes of this series worth watching are the first two. The first two episodes are pure awesomesauce. The rest is completely skippable IMO.
 
In the 80s and 90s, french-canadian tv had a pile of Japanese anime shows made for France: Sous le Signe des Mousquetaires, Le Rose de Versailles (aka Lady Oscar) and Rémi Sans Famille (to name a few).

Rarely I was able to catch an episode of the Dragon Warrior show (character designs by Torayama of later Dragonball fame). Super cool.

Other than that, I remember falling in love with the Black Swan in a japanese animated film about Swan Lake.

Overall, they marked me by how much attention to detail they had, and how DRAMATIC they were. Far more than western cartoons (with the exception of anything from Don Bluth... holy shit An American Tail and Secret of Nimh had dark moments).
 
My roommate has been forcing me to watch anime with him. We recently finished up The Promised Neverland, and are now watching Overlord.
 
I like anime and manga, but I'm fairly picky. My wife is a bigger anime/manga fan than I am. I enjoy a lot of the stuff she likes but I somehow don't have the stamina/attention span to watch everything. For example, I got tired of One Piece and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure in spite of really enjoying them. We're going to get a Crunchyroll membership.
 
Gabriel said:
I'll also toss Blood C in there with a giant asterisk. Most of Blood C is pretty dull. Honestly, most of it is not particularly good. But the ending makes it worth it. The ending made me want to watch it all again.

Another giant asterisk entry is Muv Luv: Total Eclipse. The only episodes of this series worth watching are the first two. The first two episodes are pure awesomesauce. The rest is completely skippable IMO.
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Isn't Blood-C's ending super-unhappy, though?
 
When it comes to manga there is truly an ocean of great material.

Imagine if Stan Lee and Alan Moore were the same guy: that is who Osamu Tezuka was in manga. And with Astroboy he was also Japan's Walt Disney. His animated films are also surprisingly adult and surreal although they don't reach the heights of his manga work.

I consider Ayako his masterpiece and best single volume work (translated into English at least).

9665

Phoenix is widely considered his finest work.

9666

Apollo's Song, MW, Book of Human Insects, Buddha, Dororo and Black Jack are also excellent as well. There's a recent anime of Dororo that is quite faithful in terms of plot if missing much of the character of Tezuka's drawing style.

His work for children is also quite good of course, Princess Knight and Unico are very fine and manage to have develop more layers than just being kawaii.

9667

9668
 
Necrozius said:
In the 80s and 90s, french-canadian tv had a pile of Japanese anime shows made for France: Sous le Signe des Mousquetaires, Le Rose de Versailles (aka Lady Oscar) and Rémi Sans Famille (to name a few).
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Oh! Watched anything from World Masterpiece Theatre?
 
Necrozius said:
AH I had to look that up, but yes!

Les Moomins (the artist who designed them did really cool illustrations for the Hobbit long ago).

My wife watched Heidi and Anne (of Green Gables).

Wonderful stuff.
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Indeed. I watched parts of the Filipino dub of A Little Princess (Yes, I know that's not the exact name).
 
I'm not heavily into anime, but I've grown affectionate of many series over the years, probably starting with growing up with Battle of the Planets, AstroBoy, and Voltron, not to mention that numerous 80s cartoon series were effectively anime.

In the 90s as anime first gained that title (for the first half of that decade "Japanimation" was the standard term), I gradually came to be exposed to numerous films and series I enjoyed immensely, including Akira, Ranma1/2, Vampire Hunter D, Robot Carnival, Tenchi Muyo, El Hazard,Sailor Moon, Macross Plus, Ghost in the Shell, and Ninja Scroll. A lot of it I was introduced to through a forgotten CCG Ani-Mayhem. However at this point the rather disgusting Hentai side of the industry also became more prevalent, with stuff like Demon City, Overfiend, and others I can't recall the name of. I was put off enough to largely avoid the influx of straight to vidoa anime releases that grew in number as the decade went on, and for a few years I didn't watch any anime (there's only so much tentacle-rape one needs to be exposed to in their life)

Manga at the time I mostly thought was trash, TBH. With a few exceptions (Lone Wolf & Cub, Akira, Blade of the Immortal, Ghost in the Shell), the majority of it being reprinted in that era was devoid of plot, hyper-focused on fighting and sex, and paced in a way that very little happened in any given issue in favour of full page spreads of sword swings and punches. I imagine ultimately it's like American superhero comics, where despite there being more than a few masterpieces, the majority of it was (and is) juvenile drivel.

It wasn't until the early aughts that I started exploring the modern anime scene. Manga I still largely found dull, but there are exceptions, such as Berserk (which I would say transcends genres as one of the greatest works of graphic storytelling from anywhere in the world), but there are quite a few series that have captured my love. My list will probably seem mundane to someone deep into the fandom, as I am still at best a tourist, but series/films that grace my collection include:

Beyond The Boundary
Big O
Death Note (the first season, the show went downhill fast after M)
Elfen Leid
Full Metal Alchemist (both series)
Gurren Lagann
Serial Experiments: Lain
Madoka Magika
Miyazaki films - particularly Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Howl's Moving Castle
Neon Genesis: Evangelion
Overlord
When They Cry
 
TristramEvans said:
Beyond The Boundary
Big O
Death Note (the first season, the show went downhill fast after M)
Elfen Leid
Full Metal Alchemist (both series)
Gurren Lagann
Serial Experiments: Lain
Madoka Magika
Miyazaki films - particularly Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Howl's Moving Castle
Neon Genesis: Evangelion
Overlord
When They Cry
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Oh, cool! What's your opinion on Madoka Magica: Rebellion, btw? :tongue:
 
Templum Domini said:
Oh, cool! What's your opinion on Madoka Magica: Rebellion, btw? :tongue:
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I thought the animation was absolutely beautiful, but found the story...unnecessary, in that the series formed a perfect circle with conclusion so everything since has sort of felt like spinning the wheels.
 
TristramEvans said:
I thought the animation was absolutely beautiful, but found the story...unnecessary, in that the series formed a perfect circle with conclusion so everything since has sort of felt like spinning the wheels.
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Yes. I can understand that. I mean, seriously, the series' ending was poignantly sad and bittersweet.
 
Worth noting that Miyazaki doesn't consider his animated films to be anime. In Japan that term refers to Japanese animation produced for TV that has fewer frames per second for cheaper production.

This is a good underrated anime that I saw in the theatre.

9740
 
Voros said:
Worth noting that Miyazaki doesn't consider his animated films to be anime. In Japan that term refers to Japanese animation produced for TV that has fewer frames per second for cheaper production.

This is a good underrated anime that I saw in the theatre.

View attachment 9740
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Isn't that grim?
 
Voros said:
Very much so but not in an adolescent shock style, it is earnest and the grimness comes from a sincere political viewpoint.
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That doesn't really make me want to watch it, but different strokes for different folks.
 
Templum Domini said:
That doesn't really make me want to watch it, but different strokes for different folks.
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For sure, it isn't for everyone but it is of very good quality. Just like I wouldn't recommend Grave of Fireflies to everyone although I think it is a masterpiece.



In manga, along similarly grim but brilliant lines are the gekiga short stories of Tatsumi. Almost all his stories are set among the poor and are often quietly shocking but also well observed and lowkey. He is essentially the godfather of 'alternative' comics in Japan but as he discusses in his autobiography A Drifting Life his great inspiration was the adult manga of Tezuka.

9741

9742
 
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I'm not really an anime fan, but on the advice of a friend, I started reading (And then watched...) some of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. It's about a japanese woman who gets drunk and befriends a dragon, who comes and lives with her and is Just Really Weird.

It's fun, I'm enjoying it, even if it is really silly and I have no idea what's going on.
 
That reminds me of one I missed in my list... The Ancient Magus' Bride. Really exceptional story with one of the best character arcs I've seen done in a long time.

Plus big love for that show's interpretation of Titania, the Fairy Queen

Omake%2BGif%2BAnime%2B-%2BMahoutsukai%2Bno%2BYome%2B-%2BEpisode%2B6%2B-%2BTitania%2Band%2BOberon%2BShare%2Ba%2BSmile.gif
 
Templum Domini said:
I keep wondering why we don't have one before. So, I guess this is the first?

I'll be up-front with it, I like Anime and Manga. Does anyone else like it too (Besides Doc Sammy Doc Sammy , who I am inviting on this thread)?
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Yup. Mostly anime although I've started filling a few gaps in my manga knowledge by reading some old Osamu Tezuka works.

I try to keep up to date with anime releases but 95% of it it's objectively crap.
Out of the hundreds of series I've watched over the years, there are 6 which, to me, stand out as "perfect 10"; true masterpieces, every single frame of which is needed and meaningful:

Madoka Magica (series only; the 3rd movie is a piece of crap as it all too often happens when Urobuchi whores himself)
Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex (both seasons plus the movie)
Seirei no Moribito
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
Kill la Kill
The Ancient Magus Bride


There are many more which get a "9" from me: they're almost there, they're beautiful, but they lack something which elevates them to absolute value (Psycho Pass 1st season, Planetes, Cross Ange, Nodame Cantabile, Gurren Lagann, Legend of the Galactic Heroes (original release), Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, Senjou no Valkyria: Gallian Chronicles, Stein's Gate).
But these 6 are a must see for anyone interested in the media.
 
Luca said:
Yup. Mostly anime although I've started filling a few gaps in my manga knowledge by reading some old Osamu Tezuka works.

I try to keep up to date with anime releases but 95% of it it's objectively crap.
Out of the hundreds of series I've watched over the years, there are 6 which, to me, stand out as "perfect 10"; true masterpieces, every single frame of which is needed and meaningful:

Madoka Magica (series only; the 3rd movie is a piece of crap as it all too often happens when Urobuchi whores himself)
Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex (both seasons plus the movie)
Seirei no Moribito
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
Kill la Kill
The Ancient Magus Bride


There are many more which get a "9" from me: they're almost there, they're beautiful, but they lack something which elevates them to absolute value (Psycho Pass 1st season, Planetes, Cross Ange, Nodame Cantabile, Gurren Lagann, Legend of the Galactic Heroes (original release), Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, Senjou no Valkyria: Gallian Chronicles, Stein's Gate).
But these 6 are a must see for anyone interested in the media.
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Dude where's Cowboy Bebop??
 
Voros said:
Dude where's Cowboy Bebop??
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8.5. Sorry, didn't like some of the episodes and a few of the characters. Still a great classic, though.
But you know, there are so many more which for me are "great but not to that level" while other people swear by them. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood is another example. Hellsing Ultimate. Black Lagoon.

Oh, one other "9" I forgot: Code Geass, first season (second is an 8, weaker than the first though with a masterful finale).

Generally speaking, the less "useless stuff" I find in an anime, the higher I rate it. Perfection is removing everything which is not needed, until only the absolute remains.

...then there are the mysteries. Like Neon Genesis Evangelion, which I rate a *zero*.
 
Neon Genesis is overall not that great I thought. It was cool when anime was new to me, but when I look at it now it's just a bunch of incoherent philosophy and has a plot that meanders a lot. Many of the visuals and angel designs are quite captivating though. The creators I think admitted they didn't really look too much into Christianity and just borrowed the themes and imagery to look cool to Japanese audiences, so often the symbolism means nothing contrary to (huge!) fan essays online.

A 6-ish for me.
 
I got super mad at Neon Genesis. When a protagonist is introduced, I can't help but immediately start rooting for them. But that kid was a spineless stick in the mud. I can still remember my brain going "oh no.... wait... is that guy the PROTAGONIST of this series? AW FUCK".

Well, that and also that scene that lasted over 10 minutes where the visual was a static shot of a glass of water on a desk while two characters talked in the background. I actually stopped watching after that.
 
I am LOVING Overlord! I finished the 1st season the other day and am loving the first couple of episodes of the 2nd!
 
Giganotosaurus said:
I am LOVING Overlord! I finished the 1st season the other day and am loving the first couple of episodes of the 2nd!
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Yeah, that show is amazingly entertaining. I'm reading the Light novels now, but I'm like one volume away from the end of those too, which is going to drive me nuts. I want MOAR OVERLORD!
 
I liked Neon Genesis Evangelion just fine, but I can completely understand why it doesn't appeal to everyone

Just like I didn't find Cowboy Beebop very interesting but I can understand the appeal.

Forgot about Steins Gate. Add that to my list.
 
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