Anime Discussion Thread

[GoktimusPrime]

The Western version of Ninja Scroll is cut (even if subtitled). I've seen the uncut version of Ninja Scroll in raw Japanese and it has extra bits that are deleted in the Western version (probably for censorship reasons). So yeah, if you wanna see it uncut, try and watch the raw version. I think I might still have a copy on VHS somewhere... (problem is I don't have a working NTSC VHS player anymore ) I've got boxes of anime on NTSC VHS that I really need to transfer to DVD (including several Transformers series that hasn't been released here on DVD).

Damn... everytime I think of Ninja Scroll I wanna eat Onigiri. (likewise sometimes when I eat Onigiri I imagine that I'm Jubei )

Boku no Imouto wa Osaka Okan (funny little anime about Osaka-ben)

I had a girlfriend who was from Kansai, and she once complained to me about how anime always mocks Kansaiben/Osakaben... i.e. every character who speaks these dialects are portrayed as fools. I just laughed out loud. It even occasionally happens in Transformers! Classic example being Car Robot's Gusshar (RiD Slapper).

[Dkaris]

omg... Evangelion was so difficult to understand! I first watched it in raw Japanese -- no translation. I remember even watching it with native Japanese speakers... they found it hard to understand too. That would not have been an easy series to translate!


+1. The new Macross series are visually more consistent, but the original's story is better (the TV series moreso than the movie). Although learning about the reasons why some of the poorer animated episodes and clip shows were done that way was interesting (RE: DVD audio commentary)
Check out the 30th anniversary remake of the original Macross theme How cool would it be if they did a similar remake of the original Transformers theme for the 30th anniv.?


I was part of the group that fansubbed the latter episodes of Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex... gguuuhhh... I was living with a Japanese girl at the time who was helping me translate, and even then it was haaaarrrd! (we had no copy of the script -- translating purely by ear!)

Akira is something that I've always visually enjoyed, but could never get into the story. I've heard that it's a compression of a really expansive manga series. But I personally find Otomo Katsuhiro's anime to be rather long winded. I felt the same about Patlabor (though their stories aren't as disconnected as Akira's).

Anyone else here seen the live action Space Battleship Yamato (re: Star Blazers) movie?
Star Blazers intro
New Space Battleship Yamato opening
live action movie trailer
...yes, that's Nishida "Pigsy" (from Monkey) Toshiyuki as the ship's chief engineer.

The first time I watched Evangelion, and I still remember it so clearly was with my step brother in the late 90s or early 2000's. It was on SBS on a friday or saturday night and i didnt want to watch it, but my step brother sat me down and said " watch it, you'll never looks at regular cartoons the same way again" And I havent. I remember after I watched that first episode I didn't quite understand what I had just watched, but i knew it was awesome and I knew he was right.

That Macross opening is pretty killer. I wish they'd remake the original series, I think it would be even greater with todays animation. I'll be honest I think Akira is very over rated, its a good anime, but I don't think it deserves all the hype that comes with it. The only part of it I ever really enjoyed was the bike chase.

I've heard of Battleship Yamato, I've never watched it though, I may give it a look over the weekend. I recently watched Sword Art online, the first half of it was great, I didn't dig the second half though.

As someone else said, the Fate series are pretty cool. Claymore is also pretty enjoyable. Thinking back to those old SBS anime nights I also watched Castle of Cagliostro and Porcco Rosso which were both pretty neat =]

[GoktimusPrime]

I'll be honest I think Akira is very over rated, its a good anime, but I don't think it deserves all the hype that comes with it. The only part of it I ever really enjoyed was the bike chase.

Akira gets a lot of hype because it was the anime that went mainstream in the West and catapulted the anime craze in Western countries. I remember seeing adverts for cinema screenings for Akira in 1988... I wanted to go see it, but I was far too young so my parents wouldn't let me. I later watched Akira in 1991 on VHS and was blown away.

But yeah... Akira is popular because it was the "first" as far as most Westerners were concerned. It 'broke the ice' so to speak. A lot of people loved it at the time cos they hadn't seen much better... it was the best that they'd ever seen. Of course, since Westerners have been exposed to a lot more anime, we can look back and see that Akira wasn't that good.

Akira is to anime what Bruce Lee is to martial arts. (or Bumblebee to Transformers? )

[Magnus]

The first time I watched Evangelion, and I still remember it so clearly was with my step brother in the late 90s or early 2000's. It was on SBS on a friday or saturday night and i didnt want to watch it, but my step brother sat me down and said " watch it, you'll never looks at regular cartoons the same way again" And I havent. I remember after I watched that first episode I didn't quite understand what I had just watched, but i knew it was awesome and I knew he was right.

I spent a lot of brainpower trying to figure this show out when I first saw it...

I saw it on SBS as well (Saturday night, IIRC), and although I had seen snippets of episodes 2 and 4 (they had showed two episodes back-to-back, so I never saw eps 1 and 3), but I took notice after eps 5 and 6, and by 7 and 8 I knew this was worth following.

For Eva fans, this will be worth keeping an eye out for.

Just off the top of my head, some of the other stuff I've seen:

Gunsmith Cats - the first anime I saw after Evangelion. This one really 'sealed the deal' for me as far as anime was concerned.

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 - also on SBS.

Burn Up! W - Not particularly deep or sophisticated, but still kind of fun.

Martian Successor Nadesico - I'd probably appreciate the parody of other anime more if I'd seen them, but still enjoyable in its own right.

Excel Saga - Random, hilarious.

Full Metal Panic!/Panic? Fumoffu - The first season was ok, but I really liked Fumoffu.

Noir - a good show, and it's realistic (by anime standards, anyway). I recommend it, but be aware that the first half is pretty slow and repetitive.

Madlax - Similar premise to Noir (the same studio), but with a twist. Nice animation, but very slow to get moving.

Azumanga Daioh - I kept reading about this one, and watched it to see what the fuss was about. Pretty funny and enjoyable.

Cromartie High School - Random, hilarious.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I've heard of Battleship Yamato, I've never watched it though, I may give it a look over the weekend.

I prefer the Starblazers (english dub)story to Yamato. It is editted a bit differently to focus more on the characters whereas Yamato is on the Space ship itself. Plus the voice work is more entertaining. Desslar, the leader of teh bad guys is generic-old-Japanese-man-voice, but in the English version he has this crazy high pitched English accent going on. Adds a lot more character to him. The live action movie isn't bad either and the ship now looks fantastic! Especially when they use the hadou-hou (wave motion gun). But it does compress the series quite a bit.

What I liked about Yamato though was that the guy looking after the engine of the ship was named Tokugawa. And Yamato was (is?) the 'central race' of Japan. Tokugawa was also the Shogun of Japan (i.e unofficial king of sorts) during the years of isolation and is generally considered the guy who brought the warring states of Japan together into one country. So Tokugawa drives the engines of Japan. </end history lesson>

I remember Battle Angel Alita! i thought that was a great anime!

Also in regards to Akira, at the time (iirc), it was the most expensive film ever made in Japan. Probably now exceeded

[Gouki]

I always forget just how hard to watch Angel Beats! episode 9 is.;_;

[GoktimusPrime]

And Yamato was (is?) the 'central race' of Japan.

The Yamato are the dominant ethnic group in Japan. When people think of Japanese people, they usually think of the Yamato. During WWII Japanese soldiers and people often shouted, 大和魂、天皇陛下万歳！("Yamato-damashii, Tennou-heika Banzai!": "By the Yamato spirit, long live the the Emperor, the heavenly sovereign"). "Yamato-damashii" is often translated as "Japanese" spirit. This expression is considered somewhat distasteful by most Japanese people today, as it's widely associated with the ultra nationalism in wartime Japan (somewhat similar to how "Sieg Heil!" is frowned upon by most Germans today).

But while the Yamato are the predominant ethnic group in Japan (they certainly have political supremacy), not all Japanese people are Yamato. Other ethnic groups include:
+ Indigenous races, e.g. Ainu/Utari, Yezo, Emishi etc. In the anime movie "Princess Mononoke" the protagonist Ashitaka is an Emishi. He leaves his village and encounters the Yamato (as well as gods/spirits ).
+ Ryukyuans - indigenous peoples of Okinawa and Kagoshima. Their traditional culture is actually more heavily influenced by the Chinese than Japanese. For a long time Okinawa was a tributary state to China during the Qing Dynasty. Okinawa didn't fall under Japanese sovereignty until 1609 when it was conquered by the Shimazu samurai clan. Japan lost Okinawa which was taken over by the Americans after WWII, and then returned to Japan in 1972.

Here are some photos I took from last year's Matsuri in Sydney...
Examples of Japanese costumes - these are Yukata (light cotton kimono)...




And here's a performance by some Ryukyuan/Okinawans... their clothing style, colours (re: abundant use of red) and instruments (and movements) have a more Chinese influence (yet distinctly Ryukyuan) compared to their Yamato counterparts.



Oh... and here's a picture of some little kids in Yukatas.

(the one in red is my daughter )

-------------------------------------------------------

In other news, I picked this up from JB Hi-Fi today!

[GoktimusPrime]

Has anyone managed to check out the live action Ranma 1/2 yet? If so -- thoughts?
I saw the DVD at an Asian store... most likely unlicensed (and most likely with "Engrish" subtitles ). I wonder if Madman will release a legit version.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ama_Poster.jpg

[Kazza]

Has anyone managed to check out the live action Ranma 1/2 yet? If so -- thoughts?
I saw the DVD at an Asian store... most likely unlicensed (and most likely with "Engrish" subtitles ). I wonder if Madman will release a legit version.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ama_Poster.jpg

Oh that was the first anime i ever watched as a kid, all the seasons as well. It was a pretty whacky and pervy based anime. As for the live action, no i havent seen that. Wasnt aware there was one at all. The only live action anime movies that i have enjoyed were the GTO ones.

[lancalot]

Oh that was the first anime i ever watched as a kid, all the seasons as well. It was a pretty whacky and pervy based anime. As for the live action, no i havent seen that. Wasnt aware there was one at all. The only live action anime movies that i have enjoyed were the GTO ones.

GTO -as in great teacher O.?.. man didn't know that was live action as well.... have to sauce both of the film out and watch them.. I wonder how Rama would be like in live action....