Anime and Manga Thread Vol. 1: Visions of a God

[quote name='Kirin Lemon']Patently false, the TV series is vastly superior to the OVA. But that's not to say the OVA isn't great either... just that the TV series is *that* good. The wonderful characters and the way they interact with each other really puts it over the top.[/QUOTE]

Actually, I agree 100% (probably one of the few times, ever). The TV series is so much better than the OVA that it's not even funny. The characters are just so much more interesting, IMO. Really, you can't beat Anita. =P The story does leave a little to be desired though, I'll admit that. Although it's definitely not bad or anything and has its good points. Character interactions more than make up for the story flaws though.

OVA is pretty sweet in terms of animation quality and cool action though. Story is one big "meh" though. Not awful, but nothing very interesting about it.
 
[quote name='Kirin Lemon']You're a soulless monster of a person to not fall in love with those characters. :cry:[/QUOTE]
I just couldn't sympathize with them in the slightest. When you find out
that they're not even sisters and that their memories were fabricated
, I just rolled my eyes instead of feeling for them.
 
[quote name='Kirin Lemon']I just hope you're not watching Utena dubbed. Definitely one of the worst dubs I've ever seen... As for the animation, it aired in '97, so of course it won't be up to today's standards. Still, it's one of the most stylistically awesome and creative things out there, even today. You'll see what I mean as the show progresses.

And R.O.D The TV is totally worth whatever you're paying. I paid full price for it as it was coming out, and don't regret it in the slightest.[/QUOTE]Yeah, I'm watching it dubbed. I don't really have an option, as it's being shown for free via my cable's on demand service.

I agree, the voice acting is pretty bad. Also, I still feel as if the animation is sub-standard, even for something that was made such a long time ago. The worst part is that it shakes every so often, making it feel like a shaky cam.
 
[quote name='XxFuRy2Xx']Yeah, I'm watching it dubbed. I don't really have an option, as it's being shown for free via my cable's on demand service.

I agree, the voice acting is pretty bad. Also, I still feel as if the animation is sub-standard, even for something that was made such a long time ago. The worst part is that it shakes every so often, making it feel like a shaky cam.[/QUOTE]

Ugh, I'm not sure I could even recommend the dub if you had to choose between "dub only" or "nothing at all". It's not supposed to shake, either! Way to go, Anime Network!
 
I'm only 8 episodes into ROD TV and I am liking it so far, but the story seems to be slowing at this point. I'll reserve final judgment until the end of the show. Nenene is pretty funny either way.
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']I'm only 8 episodes into ROD TV and I am liking it so far, but the story seems to be slowing at this point. I'll reserve final judgment until the end of the show. Nenene is pretty funny either way.[/QUOTE]

The first half is mostly character-building, and the second half is nonstop action. If I had to pick, I'd say the first half is my favorite. I love those characters, and their personalities really get time to shine before things pick up.

Cripes, I've been talking this show up for years! How are you people only *now* getting around to watching it?
 
[quote name='Kirin Lemon']The first half is mostly character-building, and the second half is nonstop action. If I had to pick, I'd say the first half is my favorite. I love those characters, and their personalities really get time to shine before things pick up.

Cripes, I've been talking this show up for years! How are you people only *now* getting around to watching it?[/QUOTE]

First half was definitely my favorite too, for those reasons. Also, the story gets a little funky towards the end.

I think they are just now getting into it because of the Right Stuf sale, heh. Before, it was pretty hard to get at a decent price.
 
[quote name='PrarieD0G']I think they are just now getting into it because of the Right Stuf sale, heh. Before, it was pretty hard to get at a decent price.[/QUOTE]

It's been a party of RightStuf's ultra-cheap Geneon sales for a couple years now, even volume 7 with the artbox and figure at one point (I snagged a couple extra copies of that one for some friends, and I still have one for sale, too). Simply baffling that you guys are only discovering it now. Still, better late than never, I guess!
 
Well, I had been on an anime hiatus for the past 4-5 years, so that's my excuse. :p
(Not to mention I never used to actually buy anime anyway, heh.) PM'd you about the vol. 7 :p.

Also, right now I'm watching Gunslinger Girl. I thought it would just be a lot of action, girls shooting a bunch of stuff, ya know. But there's actually a good story there. A lot more serious than I thought.
 
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[quote name='Kirin Lemon']The first half is mostly character-building, and the second half is nonstop action. If I had to pick, I'd say the first half is my favorite. I love those characters, and their personalities really get time to shine before things pick up.

Cripes, I've been talking this show up for years! How are you people only *now* getting around to watching it?[/QUOTE]


Honestly, the main reason is that while I am a huge anime fan I am an even bigger fan of Star Trek and The Three Stooges. In the last year I have bought all the chronological Stooges releases as well as all of Star Trek Deep Space 9, Enterprise, and most of The Next Generation (not to mention I watch TOS on Youtube). I also have an obscene amount of Star Trek novels. When I do have free time, I spend more time watching those DVDs or reading Trek novels than anything else and I squeeze any leftover time for anime, DCAU, etc.

Side note, I bought the Star Trek manga last year and it was decent.
 
i've seen a couple of episodes of rod tv and did not care for it

the ova, however, was great. i saw the ova first, so maybe that set the bar too high for the series for me, but the all lesbian cast did not do it for me.
 
I've been watching more of Bakemonogatari lately. It's strange. There's a ton of dialogue, and some of it doesn't make much sense (maybe because it's going so fast most of the time), but I still like it for some reason, heh. The art style is pretty amazing too. Haven't seen anything like it before. This is one show I really could not imagine in English though. I don't think they would be able to localize it without changing a lot of the meaning. I could be wrong though.

(also, DarkSage, sorry, but I had to resort to gg because I got tired of waiting for Koharubi :p.)
 
They could localize it... I imagine they will have to, anyway - it's getting good downloads and it should make them some money - they'll just need to do it carefully.

(Yeah, yeah. Get on IRC more. D:< )
 
Just watched Appleseed today. I actually watched Ex Machina before watching Appleseed. So it was nice to get a bit more background on the characters.

If you like futuristic settings and things blowing up then you'll like either of these two movies. The story is a bit generic and convoluted in both, but it's decent enough to keep things moving along until something else blows up or gets shot.

Ex Machina is definitely the prettier of the two. Appleseed has this weird hybrid of 3d stuff mixed with characters that are cell shaded, similar to what was all the rage in the video games during the same time period. This makes the animations look stiff and wonky.

Either way, it was a nice time killer that I got for free courtesy of Anime Network on Demand. It's one of the only reasons I tolerate my cable company.
 
So after months and months of putting it off, I finally brought myself to finish Gilgamesh today... and boy, do I regret it. Watching Gilgamesh is akin to watching paint dry - poorly-drawn, poorly-animated, poorly-conceived, poorly-paced paint. It's a very slow, dry, cynical, lifeless show that only succeeds as a sleep aid. There was very little forward progression to the plot, and it could have easily been done in 13 episodes instead of 26. There was also hardly any character development to speak of, and everyone spoke in a very somber, monotone fashion, stripping them of any life, personality, or individuality. Even the music, composed by Kaoru Wada, who normally pumps out fantastic soundtracks, was beyond disappointing. I would have at least felt a sense of achievement for finishing the damn thing, but even the ending was designed to shit over any viewers who managed to make it through to the end. Ugh, what a chore this show was...

Anyways, I think I'll move on to Gun x Sword or Kurau next. Neither could be any worse than what I just watched, thank goodness.
 
If even Kirin finds it boring, I'm not sure a normal human could stand it.

Thanks for the warning.

I don't know if I've said this before, but Canaan is awesome. It's action, so if you're not into shit that makes you feel like a man, or an awesome girl, then don't bother. Explosions! Guns! Bunnies! Everything you could ever want. Oh, and it reminds me of Baccano minus the stupid narrative/framing.
 
So I'm on ep 30 or so of Eureka 7. This shows takes a LONG time to get rolling. It's interesting and I will finish it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to most people.

After that Hajime No Ippo and then perhaps Genshiken are next.
 
Finished Claymore yesterday. I've heard a lot of bad things about the ending, but I was quite surprised that it wasn't that bad. Sure they didn't beat the "big boss" (or even the "mid boss" for that matter), but it certainly was better than Berserk's ending (i was kinda disappointed that Priscilla didn't rape Rocky and make him a mute, lol)

I'm up to episode 10 in Lucky Star. The comedy in this one is definitely leaps and bounds ahead of Haruhi. The Lucky Channel things at the end are something I look forward to in each ep (the schitzo girl is great). I'll probably be finishing the series tomorrow, so after that is either part 2 of Ouran Host Club or part 1 of Romeo X Juliet.

Its been nice catching up on some of my backlog. Though with the new trailer for Darker Than Black season 2, I am prolly gonna end up watching DTB S1 again, and after Claymore, I really want to watch Berserk again as well. Never enough time in a day, I swear...
 
[quote name='Bezerker']Finished Claymore yesterday. I've heard a lot of bad things about the ending, but I was quite surprised that it wasn't that bad. Sure they didn't beat the "big boss" (or even the "mid boss" for that matter), but it certainly was better than Berserk's ending (i was kinda disappointed that Priscilla didn't rape Rocky and make him a mute, lol)

I'm up to episode 10 in Lucky Star. The comedy in this one is definitely leaps and bounds ahead of Haruhi. The Lucky Channel things at the end are something I look forward to in each ep (the schitzo girl is great). I'll probably be finishing the series tomorrow, so after that is either part 2 of Ouran Host Club or part 1 of Romeo X Juliet.

Its been nice catching up on some of my backlog. Though with the new trailer for Darker Than Black season 2, I am prolly gonna end up watching DTB S1 again, and after Claymore, I really want to watch Berserk again as well. Never enough time in a day, I swear...[/QUOTE]

The only bad thing about Claymore's ending is it's a non-ending.
Claire accomplished very little and ultimately didn't get her revenge or die trying.

The manga does a much better job at pacing the storyline.
 
Okay, so I totally revamped my Completed list on MAL. 10% of the anime on that list are rated 10/10, 10% are rated 9/10, and so and so forth. What I did was I made a gigantic list and ordered all the anime by how much I liked them, then counted off by 10% of the total for that list, segmenting them into differently-scored areas. I just need to fix the other lists I have on there and I'll be good to go.

Why would I do this? Well, this ensures that I don't overrate my anime and give 10/10 to everything that so much as interests me. It keeps the average at 5.5 (a REAL average - this 7/10 as the new average bullshit has to stop), so things that I rate highly have definite strength behind the score.

Just thought I'd share this with you guys because I'm 100% sure you care.
 
That's not a real average at all. You just made compartments for what you've seen.

If you really love shows, give them tens. If you really hate them, give them ones and twos.
 
I just noticed that Funi is releasing Witchblade on Bluray. That a bit surprising.... Did it even see a Bluray release in Japan?
 
[quote name='Kuroi Kaze']So I'm on ep 30 or so of Eureka 7. This shows takes a LONG time to get rolling. It's interesting and I will finish it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to most people.

After that Hajime No Ippo and then perhaps Genshiken are next.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, show is not for everyone. (See how I accept that other people don't really like my favorite show? You guys should try it sometime ;) )

Genshiken is another one of my favorites though, for completely different reasons. Definitely watch that sometime.

I tried out the first episode of Canaan last night, and it looks promising. I mean, the plot seemed sort of generic, but it looked like they still did a great job with everything else. Sweet looking show.
 
Damn, still haven't pulled the trigger to get ROD TV. About to go place my order now, though, for sure. I was lucky enough to find DVD 7 w/ box for $19.99. Now all I need to do is hunt down vol 1.
 
[quote name='Chibi_Kaji']I just noticed that Funi is releasing Witchblade on Bluray. That a bit surprising.... Did it even see a Bluray release in Japan?[/QUOTE]

I didn't see that, that's exciting. I never got it from the TSRI sale, but still want to see it.

Speaking of Blu-Ray, IGN liked FMP: 2nd Raid's blu-ray release. I really need to watch FMP, but i only have the first season.
 
fuck YEAH! Giant Robo!

I'm surprised no one said anything when I mentioned it. The 90's Giant Robo 7-episode OAV is certainly top 10 of all time material.
 
Funi is unloading on the Blu-ray announcements:

November
3rd
Witchblade Complete Collection: FUNimation; $79.98; 600 mins

10th
Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE Season 1: FUNimation; $59.98; 650 mins
Vexille Special Ed. Viridian Collection: FUNimation; $24.98; 109 mins

17th
Fullmetal Alchemist - Conquerer of Shambala: FUNimation; $34.98; 104 mins

December
1st
Gunslinger Girl Season 1: FUNimation; $59.98; ? mins

15th
Basilisk Complete Collection: FUNimation; $79.98; ? mins
Samurai Champloo Complete Collection: FUNimation; $79.98; ? mins

Needless to say, i'll be picking up the FMA blu. I may buy Samurai Champloo as well, but i just recently re-watched it, so I may just end up holding out for a deal. In case anyone missed it, Blood+ Boxset 2 has a release date of October 20th, meaning that Blood+ is the first anime series that Sony has ever finished. Hoorah! Now to just find a way around the $120 SRP...
 
[quote name='Bezerker']Funi is unloading on the Blu-ray announcements:

November
3rd
Witchblade Complete Collection: FUNimation; $79.98; 600 mins

10th
Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE Season 1: FUNimation; $59.98; 650 mins
Vexille Special Ed. Viridian Collection: FUNimation; $24.98; 109 mins

17th
Fullmetal Alchemist - Conquerer of Shambala: FUNimation; $34.98; 104 mins

December
1st
Gunslinger Girl Season 1: FUNimation; $59.98; ? mins

15th
Basilisk Complete Collection: FUNimation; $79.98; ? mins
Samurai Champloo Complete Collection: FUNimation; $79.98; ? mins

Needless to say, i'll be picking up the FMA blu. I may buy Samurai Champloo as well, but i just recently re-watched it, so I may just end up holding out for a deal. In case anyone missed it, Blood+ Boxset 2 has a release date of October 20th, meaning that Blood+ is the first anime series that Sony has ever finished. Hoorah! Now to just find a way around the $120 SRP...[/QUOTE]

Nice to see them finally going blu a little, even if the prices are a little high. Amazon's usually good about taking care of that.

I still haven't seen Samurai Champloo or Blood+, so those would be the ones i want most. $240 for Blood+ is sort-of a ripoff though, don't ya think ;)?
 
SamCham will be sweet Blu-ray. I've seen like half the series before (can't remember why I stopped watching--it's been too long), and that show looks pretty awesome. So will Gunslinger Girl, but damn, that's too much money for 13 episodes. For me, anyway (I know, we've already been through this... you old-timers will say it's not that bad... :p)
 
I'll probably pick a few of the Bluray boxsets up. I'm looking at Witchblade(Even though I already own it on DVD), Tsubasa and maybe Gunslinger girl. Amazon will probably have them pretty cheap but I'll wait for the next Funi sale on Rightstuf and see who has a better deal. And I might skip the FMA movie and Blood+ 2 box (since I was pretty unhappy with the fact it was dubtitled)...

Edit: It looks like the seond season of Gunslinger Girl will be released on Bluray in Feb.
 
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W00t! Loving all of this blu ray love. I just hope the box sets they come out with have better packaging than the thin paper nonsense that came with the Samurai 7 blu ray release.
 
a Funi rightstuf sale just started too, so you can get them cheapish.

The Evangelion movie 1 is up for preorder now too along with DBZ dragonbox 1. I'm wondering if I should preorder those
 
[quote name='suko_32']Well Amazon has Tsubasa (Blu-Ray) Season 1 on preorder for $42 if anyone cares.[/QUOTE]

It's about $36 at Rightstuf with the sale.
 
[quote name='ChibiJosh']It's about $36 at Rightstuf with the sale.[/QUOTE]

My reading and comprehension skills escaped me. >_
 
Marathoned Moonlight Mile today. It's a show about space travel, but more grounded in reality and something that could be happening today or in the very near future. First time I've seen this kind of show.

It's really about the two main characters and how obssesed they are about making it to the moon, and we get to see their progression in their careers and lives.

Also, these is quite a bit of sex in this show. It was probably done to make the characters look more "bad ass," but I don't personally think it was necessary.

Overall it was a good show. Although it's screaming for a second season, but that's probably why "Season 1" is plastered in the opening sequence. It seems as if a second season was made, but I don't know what the chances are of it being released here in the US, which is a shame.
 
[quote name='Chibi_Kaji']I just noticed that Funi is releasing Witchblade on Bluray. That a bit surprising.... Did it even see a Bluray release in Japan?[/QUOTE]
That show sold very well. It's not really surprising at all. I'll definitely be picking it up on BR, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
 
[quote name='XxFuRy2Xx']Marathoned Moonlight Mile today. It's a show about space travel, but more grounded in reality and something that could be happening today or in the very near future. First time I've seen this kind of show.

It's really about the two main characters and how obssesed they are about making it to the moon, and we get to see their progression in their careers and lives.

Also, these is quite a bit of sex in this show. It was probably done to make the characters look more "bad ass," but I don't personally think it was necessary.

Overall it was a good show. Although it's screaming for a second season, but that's probably why "Season 1" is plastered in the opening sequence. It seems as if a second season was made, but I don't know what the chances are of it being released here in the US, which is a shame.[/QUOTE]

You should really check out Planetes - it blows Moonlight Mile out of the water in every regard. And there's far less "MACHO!!" in it, too, thank god.
 
Just finished Gunslinger Girl. Totally blew my expectations out of the water.

Rather than gunfights, the series focuses mainly on the emotional consequences of using cyborgs (who are no more than little girls given cybernetic bodies) as military tools. The different relationships between each girl and her "handler" are what makes it interesting. Just a really well done show overall.

I noticed some parallels, thematically, between this show and Time of Eve. (I'm also a big fan of Time of Eve, heh.) Both are definitely different enough not to feel redundant, though.
 
I watched Cowboy Bebop: The Movie last night. I felt that it wasn't as good as the TV series, but that's about all I know. I think I need to watch it again to fully determine my opinion. Does anyone know if they ever aired the movie on Cartoon Network or something? I felt some massive deja vu during some of the scenes of the movie—like the scene where Spike receives the vase. I find it odd that I could have seen the movie before, but completely forgot about it—maybe it's not too far-fetched.

Tonight, I finished watching Glass Fleet. At first I thought it was just alright, but as the show progressed I started to like it more and more. There are some flaws, but I was able to overlook those flaws due to the positive aspects of the show. I bet plenty of people think it is just some shitty space opera with horrible this and atrocious that, but I ended up enjoying it. I was thinking about going into more detail, but I reckon that no one cares, so why should I waste my time?
 
[quote name='PrarieD0G']Just finished Gunslinger Girl. Totally blew my expectations out of the water.

Rather than gunfights, the series focuses mainly on the emotional consequences of using cyborgs (who are no more than little girls given cybernetic bodies) as military tools. The different relationships between each girl and her "handler" are what makes it interesting. Just a really well done show overall.[/QUOTE]
ick
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']That show sold very well. It's not really surprising at all. I'll definitely be picking it up on BR, I enjoyed it quite a bit.[/QUOTE]
I wasn't aware of how well it sold. I plan to pick the series up again when it comes to Blu-Ray.

[quote name='ChibiJosh']It's about $36 at Rightstuf with the sale.[/QUOTE]
It's like $32 if you have Got anime. So I'll probably be pre-ordering that and Gunslinger Girl on BR from Rightstuf. And I'll skip the NGE movie for now and wait for the BR version.
 
[quote name='crystalklear64']ick[/QUOTE]

ick? Who are you, Kirin Lemon? (kidding. XD) Whatever, dude... :p

I'm also just about finished with Ah! My Goddess season 2. First season was better, but it's still more or less a continuation of the same show, so I can't complain. Less focus on Keiichi and Belldandy in the second season, and more focus on side characters. Still not bad though... Like I said before, nothing about the show is spectacular, but the colorful cast of characters makes up for it (in other words, if you like the characters, you'll enjoy the show). Not for everyone though.
 
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[quote name='Kirin Lemon']You should really check out Planetes - it blows Moonlight Mile out of the water in every regard. And there's far less "MACHO!!" in it, too, thank god.[/QUOTE]I've been meaning to buy that. It's just gonna have to wait a bit, though. I have the Fall semester coming up so I have to pay for books and classes, so I need to conserve my cash for now.
 
[quote name='Chibi_Kaji']I wasn't aware of how well it sold. I plan to pick the series up again when it comes to Blu-Ray.[/QUOTE]
If I remember correctly it was the best selling series of 2007.

It really was an excellent show too. Completely unlike what you'd think it would be like. I was picturing a monster of the week type show with lots of action. When it's actually a character drama about a mother and daughter who will do anything to stay together.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']It really was an excellent show too. Completely unlike what you'd think it would be like. I was picturing a monster of the week type show with lots of action. When it's actually a character drama about a mother and daughter who will do anything to stay together.[/QUOTE]
I was just picturing lots and lots of Boobs. Which I got along with a pretty good story.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']It really was an excellent show too. Completely unlike what you'd think it would be like. I was picturing a monster of the week type show with lots of action. When it's actually a character drama about a mother and daughter who will do anything to stay together.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, Witchblade was one of the biggest, best surprises of my anime-watching career. Excellent show.

[quote name='PrarieD0G']ick? Who are you, Kirin Lemon? (kidding. XD) Whatever, dude... :p[/QUOTE]

Hey, at least I'm able to articulate exactly *why* I dislike something. Also, I actually like Gunslinger Girl. Just stay away from the second season and OVA, if you know what's good for you.
 
Haha, that's true; I guess I should at least give you that much credit. ;)

Watched the Eureka Seven movie today. It was OK. Almost all of the characters' personalities were completely changed (because it's an alternate storyline), so it really was entirely different from the show, other than being set in the same universe. Didn't even come close to being as good as the series, IMO. Still, it wasn't awful. At least it looked amazing and had a pretty good soundtrack, heh. Overall, disappointing though.

Damn, why are movies hardly ever as good as the series they were based on?
 
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