The what Anime Series are you watching at the moment thread?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 03 Jan 2007, 14:38

Yi-Long wrote:Wow... thats a very good price.
I normally dont buy anime unless it's movies, but for 30 pounds I'm kinda tempted.
How is the series? I've seen the first 4-5 episodes of the 1st season, and they were kinda hit and miss... with some eps being just boring, while others very entertaining (like the runaway robot shooting the town up

GITS:SAC is a great series (the Oshii films are still far better though IMO). The Laughing Man plot-line that runs throughout the first season is very well written and engaging.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 03 Jan 2007, 15:01

Thanks. Perhaps I'll download a few more episoded, and if I really like it, I might buy the set. Which set is best for the first season?

edit: ow yeah, someone asked me about the quality of the 1st boxset that was released in Holland, so I asked on another forum, but didnt get any reply... so ehm... sorry.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 03 Jan 2007, 15:06

Yi-Long wrote:Which set is best for the first season?

The R4 set AFAIK. The Dutch set maybe better in the PQ department, we know that it has Jap DTS tracks.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 03 Jan 2007, 18:09

EvaUnit02 wrote:Excellent R2UK 2nd Gig boxset coming for only £30. Lourdes, you pissed off now?

I was about to be till I read the no DTS bit. The R2UK's are progressive but not that good looking, when I get all my dics I'll do a comparison to R1's but they look better really. So far I haven't received 6 and 4 and 2 and 7 are the only ones I'm keeping thansk to HMV:
1 wasn't wrapped and scuffed up
3 wasn't wrapped, was missing the slipcase, scuffed and the amaray was broken
5 was season 1 vol4.

Ugh.

Yi-Long wrote:Thanks. Perhaps I'll download a few more episoded, and if I really like it, I might buy the set. Which set is best for the first season?

edit: ow yeah, someone asked me about the quality of the 1st boxset that was released in Holland, so I asked on another forum, but didnt get any reply... so ehm... sorry.

That was me, you should buy it. I hear that IG did QC/work on it and some guy in the DVD Times comments was singing its praises but I've no way of contacting him. :/ Don't doubt it's good and ideal for a Dutch fella.

Excellent series, one of the best.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 03 Jan 2007, 18:18

Yi-Long wrote:Thanks. Perhaps I'll download a few more episoded, and if I really like it, I might buy the set. Which set is best for the first season?

edit: ow yeah, someone asked me about the quality of the 1st boxset that was released in Holland, so I asked on another forum, but didnt get any reply... so ehm... sorry.

That was me, you should buy it. I hear that IG did QC/work on it and some guy in the DVD Times comments was singing its praises but I've no way of contacting him. :/ Don't doubt it's good and ideal for a Dutch fella.

Excellent series.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 03 Jan 2007, 22:49

DD5.1 only is perfectly acceptable in my books, considering how much more expensive it would be to buy the individual volumes just for the DTS tracks.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 03 Jan 2007, 22:55

Giving this No E In a try....

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:32

EvaUnit02 wrote:DD5.1 only is perfectly acceptable in my books, considering how much more expensive it would be to buy the individual volumes just for the DTS tracks.

It's only relatively more. I'm quite happy with what I paid and it would have been less had I waited a bit or had I not paid $$$$ for the Play.com set.

I thnk you should get the R4's so I can find out if they're good.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:44

Lourdes wrote:I thnk you should get the R4's so I can find out if they're good.

Nah, the R4 boxset probably won't be out til late 2007/early 2008. I can't wait that long and I don't have the $ to buy over-priced individual volumes.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:54

I have reached enlightenment regarding my anime tastes. The thing is, it just isn't aimed at me. Whilst there are some series/films that are definitely more adult and some that are of excellent quality most just aren't. 99.9999% of anime is aimed at kids to adolescents, and at the same time Otaku (or "anme fans" as they are called in the West). Even shows for 3 year old girls seem to take otaku into account. Otaku are exceptional losers that seem to be stuck at an adolescent age and they find 12yr old girls flying robots and showing their panties quite brilliant.
I don't.
I was trying to find something new to watch earlier and I came across some forum topic about what everybody was following. I looked up about 40 titles and found like 3 that *may* interest me. The rest was drivel, and some of the posters were following over 30 of these things at a time.... Most 20+.... It's pretty sad, I'm glad I'm not a nerd like that. I just like films and shit.

Although I wish I'd been aware of anime when I was growing up. How cool is it compared to some of the crappy Western kids shows? Not sure I'd want my kids watching though.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:54

EvaUnit02 wrote:
Lourdes wrote:I thnk you should get the R4's so I can find out if they're good.
Nah, the R4 boxset probably won't be out til late 2007/early 2008. I can't wait that long and I don't have the $ to buy over-priced individual volumes.

You're no use then!

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:12

Lourdes wrote:I have reached enlightenment regarding my anime tastes. The thing is, it just isn't aimed at me. Whilst there are some series/films that are definitely more adult and some that are of excellent quality most just aren't. 99.9999% of anime is aimed at kids to adolescents, and at the same time Otaku (or "anme fans" as they are called in the West). Even shows for 3 year old girls seem to take otaku into account. Otaku are exceptional losers that seem to be stuck at an adolescent age and they find 12yr old girls flying robots and showing their panties quite brilliant.
I don't.
I was trying to find something new to watch earlier and I came across some forum topic about what everybody was following. I looked up about 40 titles and found like 3 that *may* interest me. The rest was drivel, and some of the posters were following over 30 of these things at a time.... Most 20+.... It's pretty sad, I'm glad I'm not a nerd like that. I just like films and shit.

Although I wish I'd been aware of anime when I was growing up. How cool is it compared to some of the crappy Western kids shows? Not sure I'd want my kids watching though.

It is really difficult to sort the dross from the good stuff, isn't it? It got to the stage a while back where I just gave up trying. Too many shows and not enough time to sift through them all meant a withdrawal from me. If someone's able to list some grade A quality stuff, then I'd be happy to take it on board...
And I couldn't agree more about letting young kids watching some of that stuff: how do they get away with it?

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 04 Jan 2007, 00:22

Lourdes wrote: was trying to find something new to watch earlier and I came across some forum topic about what everybody was following. I looked up about 40 titles and found like 3 that *may* interest me. The rest was drivel, and some of the posters were following over 30 of these things at a time.... Most 20+.... It's pretty sad, I'm glad I'm not a nerd like that. I just like films and shit.

Have you seen Haibane Renmei or Gunslinger Girls? Wolf's Rain too might be worth a shot.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 04 Jan 2007, 01:13

EvaUnit02 wrote:
Yi-Long wrote:Which set is best for the first season?
The R4 set AFAIK. The Dutch set maybe better in the PQ department, we know that it has Jap DTS tracks.

OK, thanks

lourdes wrote:That was me, you should buy it. I hear that IG did QC/work on it and some guy in the DVD Times comments was singing its praises but I've no way of contacting him. :/ Don't doubt it's good and ideal for a Dutch fella.

Excellent series, one of the best.

Thanks. problem is, I dont come across the boxset all that often, and I believe it's also quite expensive. I'll keep an eye out for it and might get it when it's cheap, but the UK versions seems much cheaper (30 pounds at play.com), and I dont care much about DTS and stuff like that... so who knows?

Maybe I'll just stick to fansubs...

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 04 Jan 2007, 01:19

Lourdes wrote:I have reached enlightenment regarding my anime tastes. The thing is, it just isn't aimed at me. Whilst there are some series/films that are definitely more adult and some that are of excellent quality most just aren't. 99.9999% of anime is aimed at kids to adolescents, and at the same time Otaku (or "anme fans" as they are called in the West). Even shows for 3 year old girls seem to take otaku into account. Otaku are exceptional losers that seem to be stuck at an adolescent age and they find 12yr old girls flying robots and showing their panties quite brilliant.
I don't.
I was trying to find something new to watch earlier and I came across some forum topic about what everybody was following. I looked up about 40 titles and found like 3 that *may* interest me. The rest was drivel, and some of the posters were following over 30 of these things at a time.... Most 20+.... It's pretty sad, I'm glad I'm not a nerd like that. I just like films and shit.

Although I wish I'd been aware of anime when I was growing up. How cool is it compared to some of the crappy Western kids shows? Not sure I'd want my kids watching though.

It's true alot of anime is crap. But keep in mind that for a lot of these shows, WE sure as hell arent the target audience, and ofcourse some of them are crap, whatever their target-audience is supposed to be.

But shows like Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist and Hajime No Ippo are just absolutely brilliant. At the moment I'm enjoying old-skool Ranma. Hanada is another show I quite like, and Mushishi looks great as well, and is also aimed at an older and more mature audience. Not in regards of violence or sex or whatever, but just mature storytelling.

But yeah, there are a lot of geeks out there. At a bookfair last summer, there were even some geeks dressed up like manga-characters. In japan and HK you might expect that... (In HK I saw lots of them at the HK book/manga-fair), but when you see dutch people doing it, it just seems even more pathetic...

Just use animenfo.com to read about potentially interesting animes ...

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 04 Jan 2007, 01:28

Kurgan wrote:It is really difficult to sort the dross from the good stuff, isn't it? It got to the stage a while back where I just gave up trying. Too many shows and not enough time to sift through them all meant a withdrawal from me. If someone's able to list some grade A quality stuff, then I'd be happy to take it on board...
And I couldn't agree more about letting young kids watching some of that stuff: how do they get away with it?

Trouble is that most opinions you find are from anime nerds and therefore useless. Means wasting time watching crap.

I keep a list of all the stuff I watched, might as well post about the GOOD for once.

Obviously everything Miyazaki but you have to go and watch the other Ghibli works too, all of them are worth a look. I don't like them all personally but not because they're poorly made, because of taste. Ocean Waves is one that's sadly overlooked and I rather like it. No fantasy, just a nice school age drama. If you've eevr owned a cat then The Cat Returns is hilarious. NOTHING in the world is more amusing than cats.

Satoshi Kon is just bloody brilliant, his works are closer to real cinema than anything else but all the more fantastic for being animations. Perfect Blue gets better each time I see it, Millenium Actress is so cinematic, Tokyo Godfathers is eartwarming and Paranoia Agent is an interesting mix. He penned the "Magnetic Rose" section of Memories which is a must-see in my opinion. It's also very much like a real film. I've found that almost anybody will enjoy Ghibli and Satoshi Kon stuff even if they've never seen any anime before.

Makoto Shinkai I adore. Voices of a Distant Star is the most beautiful work I've ever seen, perfection, I was very much affected by it. The short (well shorter than the short Voices) Sher and Her Cat is lovely too. The Place Promised in Our Early days is pretty contrived and convoluted, it still has the same kind of beauty but not nearly as well refined. When Shinkai-san he walks down the street people burst into tears and flowers grow from beneath his feet.

Akira, Bebop, GITS, Blood (BUT NOT +). Can't go wrong of course. I guess Jin-Roh from IG could be slipped in here.

Studio 4°C produce all kinds of goodness, intersting shorts and features. Not always good but the animation dares to be a bit different. Look for the release group JollyRoger via aniDB, they've done a load of the 4°C stuff. Not only that but other similar bits and pieces from other folks. Straying into animation rather than anime here. So worth mentioning Dead Leaves and Midori which I saw recently. Quite unique!

Evangelion is legendary and I love it. It may be kids in robots but there's a bit more to it than that and it's very well made. This is one I'm glad I was put onto or I'd have discounted it and never bothered. There's an annoying and angsty kid but there are some good thoughts and feelings in there.

FLCL is brilliant. Such an experience! Such quality.

Lain I've gone off but it's an interesting series. I might have a go at editing it down one day.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is a breath of fresh air. It's one of thse slcie of life things, nice viewing experience.

Samurai Champloo. It's nothing exceptional but it's a good all around watch.

Now and Then, Here and There. This one is an oddity, it's not that good but I'd say see it if you can. Some of the earlier episodes are terribly depressing, you'll be sat there thinking "Damn. Damn. Did they really do that?"

Azumanga Daioh, I knew I'd love this before I even saw it. All the gifs, pics and parodies in AMV Hell. I think Eva is unfair to ut, it's not like all the other tosh because it knows what it is. It's a comedy about friendship and school days. Most similar shows are for pervs or feature relationships and other nonsense. Azumanga isn't that real.

Ping Pong Club is about as base as you can get but will defend it to the grave. It's sort of like Azumanga in that it it sticks to its charter. But unlike Azumanga it's low, very, very low. But at the same time it's still about friendships and all that nonsnse and it can be a bit touching even. Good comedy as far as I'm concerned.

GTO. I subconciously punch the air in a sort of clsoed fist nazi salute whenever I read or watch any GTO stuff, no joke. It's gureato.

Windy Tales and Koi Kaze are too quality series that I've not finished off, possibly Boogiepop too but I need to break from that because it's like Para Agent and Lain. Cromartie Highschool I've seen half off before and I'm about to watch the whole thing. I thought it was most amusing before, we'll see what I reckon now.

Edit:
You should see the full list contaning stuff I dislike. It's so many times longer!

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 04 Jan 2007, 01:28

Yi-Long wrote:At the moment I'm enjoying old-skool Ranma.

Ahh, Happosai and the gang

Just a complete aside; there's a magazine starting up in the UK which has an anime DVD slapped to the front of it, which looks quite interesting. GITS is the first film, but they'll have others along the line

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 04 Jan 2007, 01:35

Shingster wrote:Have you seen Haibane Renmei or Gunslinger Girls? Wolf's Rain too might be worth a shot.

Haibane and Wolf's are on my "look at sometime" list. Gunslinger Girls?

I'll pass. Do you know the name of that show with the girls with guns that do the bullets bouncing off boobs reloading? I thought it was that from the name. I saw a clip, funny stuff.

Yi-Long wrote:Thanks. problem is, I dont come across the boxset all that often, and I believe it's also quite expensive. I'll keep an eye out for it and might get it when it's cheap, but the UK versions seems much cheaper (30 pounds at play.com), and I dont care much about DTS and stuff like that... so who knows?

Maybe I'll just stick to fansubs...

Was about €80 when I was thinking of buying. Not bad at all. The UK discs have all sorts of fun glitches.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 04 Jan 2007, 01:37

Kurgan wrote: And I couldn't agree more about letting young kids watching some of that stuff: how do they get away with it?

Hmmm... what kind of anime are you talking about, which are unsuited for kids? Cause I think I would let my kids watch most of the stuff I watch myself. Hell, I'd probably let them watch all the shows I watch myself.

I never really quite understood why we have to censor stuff for our kids, yet we read them fairytales about witches that want to eat kids, and wolfs eating grandmothers and etc etc right before they go to sleep...

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 04 Jan 2007, 01:42

Yi-Long wrote:Hmmm... what kind of anime are you talking about, which are unsuited for kids? Cause I think I would let my kids watch most of the stuff I watch myself. Hell, I'd probably let them watch all the shows I watch myself.

I never really quite understood why we have to censor stuff for our kids, yet we read them fairytales about witches that want to eat kids, and wolfs eating grandmothers and etc etc right before they go to sleep...

Specifically? Stuff like Urotsukidoji

Nah, I think I was more specifically talking about shows that have lots of 'fan service', which is a terrible euphemism for gratuity. Everything should have its place, within the context of a given show. But some of it doesn't.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 04 Jan 2007, 01:48

Yi-Long wrote:
Kurgan wrote:Hmmm... what kind of anime are you talking about, which are unsuited for kids? Cause I think I would let my kids watch most of the stuff I watch myself. Hell, I'd probably let them watch all the shows I watch myself.

I never really quite understood why we have to censor stuff for our kids, yet we read them fairytales about witches that want to eat kids, and wolfs eating grandmothers and etc etc right before they go to sleep...

Well personally I was thinking the other way until I thought about it a little more. I'm not even talking fanservice/violence, more cultural differences. Different attitudes and things.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 04 Jan 2007, 01:49

You know what I always found odd about Miyazaki films? All the panty shots.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 04 Jan 2007, 01:50

Lourdes wrote:
Obviously everything Miyazaki but you have to go and watch the other Ghibli works too, all of them are worth a look. I don't like them all personally but not because they're poorly made, because of taste. Ocean Waves is one that's sadly overlooked and I rather like it. No fantasy, just a nice school age drama. If you've eevr owned a cat then The Cat Returns is hilarious. NOTHING in the world is more amusing than cats.

What's Ocean Waves? is it a Ghibli? Never heard of it.
I watched cat returns,a nd I love cats, but I wouldnt rate the movie higher then 4 outta 5 tbh...
I really like Whisper of the Heart though.
Nausicaa is great as well... and Mononoke is a bit slow to get into, but I absolutely love it.

Makoto Shinkai I adore. Voices of a Distant Star is the most beautiful work I've ever seen, perfection, I was very much affected by it.

Same here... quite a sad story... a work of art, especially when you realize it was basically all made by 1 guy...

Akira, Bebop, GITS, Blood (BUT NOT +). Can't go wrong of course. I guess Jin-Roh from IG could be slipped in here.

I dont like Akira. I thought it was 'good' or 'OK' before I read the manga, but ever since I read the manga, the movie just blows. The manga is just so much better that I cant watch the movie without being irritated and dissapointed about how much great stuff they have left out, and how much less depth the movie has and how it's rushed along...

Cowboy Bebop is cool, but it isnt my fave anime ever or something. Some absolutely rave it to death, but for me it wasnt THAT special. Just a very good show.

GITS: Too long ago since I saw the movie. Thought it was O at the time. I'm not all that into sci-fi and cyberpunk etc... so that might be a reason why I'm not drooling over it...

Blood: Too short, but dont remember much of it either.

Evangelion is legendary and I love it. It may be kids in robots but there's a bit more to it than that and it's very well made. This is one I'm glad I was put onto or I'd have discounted it and never bothered. There's an annoying and angsty kid but there are some good thoughts and feelings in there.

Damn... I have to pick this up again. Watched the first 2 episodes last month, then stopped watching it...

FLCL is brilliant. Such an experience! Such quality.

Still have to watch this. Loved the first episode.

Lain I've gone off but it's an interesting series. I might have a go at editing it down one day.

Love the first bunch of episodes, but dont have the 4th dvd yet so stopped watching....

Samurai Champloo. It's nothing exceptional but it's a good all around watch.

Great show.

Azumanga Daioh, I knew I'd love this before I even saw it. All the gifs, pics and parodies in AMV Hell. I think Eva is unfair to ut, it's not like all the other tosh because it knows what it is. It's a comedy about friendship and school days. Most similar shows are for pervs or feature relationships and other nonsense. Azumanga isn't that real.

You made me curious. I'll download a few episodes overnight...

Ping Pong Club is about as base as you can get but will defend it to the grave. It's sort of like Azumanga in that it it sticks to its charter. But unlike Azumanga it's low, very, very low. But at the same time it's still about friendships and all that nonsnse and it can be a bit touching even. Good comedy as far as I'm concerned.

Never heard of it. Is this the series the live-action flick was based on? That movie was great.

GTO. I subconciously punch the air in a sort of clsoed fist nazi salute whenever I read or watch any GTO stuff, no joke. It's gureato.

Brilliant brilliant brilliant show. Absolute all-time classic.

Gawdddddddddddd that was a lot of quoting. I dont know how Brad does it...

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 04 Jan 2007, 01:56

Kurgan wrote:
Yi-Long wrote:Hmmm... what kind of anime are you talking about, which are unsuited for kids? Cause I think I would let my kids watch most of the stuff I watch myself. Hell, I'd probably let them watch all the shows I watch myself.

I never really quite understood why we have to censor stuff for our kids, yet we read them fairytales about witches that want to eat kids, and wolfs eating grandmothers and etc etc right before they go to sleep...
Specifically? Stuff like Urotsukidoji
Nah, I think I was more specifically talking about shows that have lots of 'fan service', which is a terrible euphemism for gratuity. Everything should have its place, within the context of a given show. But some of it doesn't.

While I dont particularly 'like' fanservice in my anime (hardly come across it though, in the series that I watch, I wouldn't keep it away from my kids of the show is good.
I rather see my kids watching Love Hina or whatever, then modeling themselfs after some talentless 16 year old 'idols' slut.

I think the more 'we' get older, the more we think the kids can't handle anything

We tend to underestimate kids, and overestimate ourselfs, once we grow older and wiser. But just think back to what you were like as a kid when you were 10-12: you were already thinking a bit about girls and catching some stuff on TV that didnt damage you permenantly etc...

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 04 Jan 2007, 02:14

I was tempted to go and quote within the quotes to make things even more complicated.

Ocean Waves - http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0437370 . It was made for TV and has gone under most peoples radars.

I don't really like the story of Akira that much. It's more the presentation that does it for me and I gained more respect when I learnt how much effort went into it all. Amazing animation. Might try the manga sometime, I've been getting into reading them of late.

Eva needs some perseverance, It starts off very naff with just action stuff. But it really builds up. I ended up watching the whole thing and End of Evangelion in one night my first time.

You mean this film - http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0328258 (loathed it but cool music)? No relation to the anime, Kubozuka doesn't get his cock out, Ping Pong is just very popular in Asia.