Anime

Symmetry · Post by **Symmetry** » 2003-09-08 01:28am

I've heard that 90% of everything is crap, but when browsing the shelves at Borders recently I came to the pleasant conclusion that only 60% of what I saw there was crap, thus putting anime far in advance of everything else

As other posters have said, there is no "one" anime. Some is horribly childish. A lot though, compared to American TV, is quite mature and intelligent; and has plots telling a story over a multi-episode arc, rather than being episodic.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-09-08 01:31am

A lot of good anime show storytelling and character-developing capabilities that, in my opinion, far outstrip nearly everything American animation, TV, and film companies put out.

Note I said GOOD anime. There's a lot of anime out there that are really purely for fanservice. But the good ones are really really good.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-09-08 01:37am

This could have been posted in Mike's current thread, you know...

I don't see it as having much purpose in having it's own thread.

Symmetry · Post by **Symmetry** » 2003-09-08 01:51am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:This could have been posted in Mike's current thread, you know...

I don't see it as having much purpose in having it's own thread.

Funny you should mention that

....

I had meant to put it in his thread, but got a little mixed up while making my Macross explained thread at the same time (I was going to but that in Mike's, but reconsidered). So its here accidentally, sorry.

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2003-09-08 03:55am

Oh come on, most anime is a bunch of spunky Japanese schoolchildren (who are nevertheless all caucasian for some odd reason) defending the world from evil demon alien guys with bad puns, stupid costumes, dialogue that makes no sense, and tons of pointless schmaltz.

Yes kids, we all liked Ghost in the Shell. But if you can call yourself an "otaku" with a straight face, please step in front of a speeding bus, pronto.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-09-08 04:01am

Oh wow, a blanket statement from Prawn. Who'da thunk it?

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-09-08 04:29am

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Oh come on, most anime is a bunch of spunky Japanese schoolchildren (who are nevertheless all caucasian for some odd reason) defending the world from evil demon alien guys with bad puns, stupid costumes, dialogue that makes no sense, and tons of pointless schmaltz.

Yes kids, we all liked Ghost in the Shell. But if you can call yourself an "otaku" with a straight face, please step in front of a speeding bus, pronto.

No qualifiers, sparky? Blow off before you embarrass yourself.

Smiling Bandit · Post by **Smiling Bandit** » 2003-09-08 08:34am

A lot of good anime show storytelling and character-developing capabilities that, in my opinion, far outstrip nearly everything American animation, TV, and film companies put out.

I don't know about this. X-Men Evolution, Teen Titans, Jackie Chan Adventures, Samurai Jack, Powerpuff Girls, etc; not to mention a lot of good series aimed at younger audiences. Some of those shows take a little bit from anime, but America always learsn from the good ideas elsewhere. There are a LOT of very bad anime shows; but you probably don't see them since they never get translated.

I think its a matter of scale and the winnowing of bad series that never make it to America. The market here is not nearly as big, so the poor stuff doesn't get sold. Also, since a lot more money is in Anime in Japan, much more of it gets made and it attracts more top talent. American TV is superior - I don't think there are the top-rated shows like Nip/Tuck in Japan.

As unpopular as Prawn's opinion is, there is a little bit of a truth to it. Except I hated Gost in the Shell.

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2003-09-08 09:18am

Ghost in the Shell rules! Bastard! *KICK*

Anyone who can look at any given broad entertainment medium and NOT say "The vast majority of it is fucking stupid!" has low standards.

Smiling Bandit · Post by **Smiling Bandit** » 2003-09-08 09:51am

Ghost in the Shell rules! Bastard! *KICK*

I found it to be trite, overwrought, and silly. Not to mention that none of it seemed to be in any way coherent. Sorry, just my opinion. It was all flash and glitter to me, but the substance underneath was much too shallow.

Which doesn't make it bad, just pretty. But nothing more than pretty.

PS: The "Naked Invisibility" mode was when I started tuning out.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-09-08 11:16am

I've heard that 90% of everything is crap, but when browsing the shelves at Borders recently I came to the pleasant conclusion that only 60% of what I saw there was crap, thus putting anime far in advance of everything else

Well, that's the American anime market. The quality is going to be higher overall than in the Japanese market, because most of the truly crappy stuff never reaches our shores.

Although I do agree with Prawn about Ghost. Easily my favorite non-Miyazaki anime film.

SHODAN · Post by **SHODAN** » 2003-09-08 02:18pm

Smiling Bandit wrote:I found it to be trite, overwrought, and silly. Not to mention that none of it seemed to be in any way coherent. Sorry, just my opinion. It was all flash and glitter to me, but the substance underneath was much too shallow.

Which doesn't make it bad, just pretty. But nothing more than pretty.

PS: The "Naked Invisibility" mode was when I started tuning out.

I most strongly and thoroughly disagree with that.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-09-08 02:23pm

I read the manga first and was quite disappointed with GitS plotwise. Also found the transparent thermoptic camo suit to be too gratuitous.

I'll admit that it's a good film, but other than beautiful animation and music (except for the techno track that Manga tacked over the closing credits), it really isn't that fantastic...

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-09-08 02:56pm

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Oh come on, most anime is a bunch of spunky Japanese schoolchildren (who are nevertheless all caucasian for some odd reason) defending the world from evil demon alien guys with bad puns, stupid costumes, dialogue that makes no sense, and tons of pointless schmaltz.

Yes kids, we all liked Ghost in the Shell. But if you can call yourself an "otaku" with a straight face, please step in front of a speeding bus, pronto.

Prawn? Blanket statements get you in trouble. Just like Assume makes an Ass out of U and Me.

What exactly have you watched? SailorMoon? PowerRangers?

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-09-08 02:59pm

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Oh come on, most anime is a bunch of spunky Japanese schoolchildren (who are nevertheless all caucasian for some odd reason) defending the world from evil demon alien guys with bad puns, stupid costumes, dialogue that makes no sense, and tons of pointless schmaltz.

You really haven't watched much anime have you? If that's your veiw of it I'm inclined to think you're watching borderline hentai rather than actual anime.

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Yes kids, we all liked Ghost in the Shell. But if you can call yourself an "otaku" with a straight face, please step in front of a speeding bus, pronto.

I've got some advice for you Prawn. Clean up the gene pool, go how and chug a bottle of bleach.

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2003-09-08 07:21pm

Some random anime comments.

-----

Ranma 1/2 = Barf.

Ninja Scroll = Yes, it's bloody. So what?

Vampire Hunter D = Overrated.

Inuyasha = I'll take the bleach.

Tenchi = With a cyanide chaser.

Ghost in the Shell = If you don't like it, you suck!

Big O = If I don't get a third season, I shall wage jihad upon Cartoon Network.

Macross Plus = Wish I'd taped this off Showtime when it used to play.

Fist of the North Star = So hackneyed and violent it leaps merrily into the abyss of self-parody. My guilty pleasure.

Robotech = Wish this was still on somewhere. I used to watch it as a kid every now and then. I was never all that into it back then, but I'd give it a second look now. I remember it was... interesting, but I'm not sure if it was my child's attention span or just bad editing that made it hard to follow.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-09-08 07:30pm

The Big O's second season is technically just the second half of the first season. The original production didn't have enough money to do a full 26-episode season, so they only did a 13-episode series and left the ending as a cliffhanger in the off chance that they could finish it at a later date.

Big O proved to be extremely popular in the US when it was aired, and Cartoon Network decided to coproduce a "second season" with Bandai to do the second set of thirteen episodes to finish the series.

Basically, 26 episodes total of The Big O are all we're probably going to get, because that's all they need to tell the whole story.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-09-08 07:40pm

Prawn, you know, sometimes it's OK to shut your piehole.

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2003-09-08 09:44pm

Then the ending to Big O better make a hell of a lot more sense than I've heard it does, or else they can pull a "third" season out of their ass!

SAMAS · Post by **SAMAS** » 2003-09-08 09:47pm

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Ghost in the Shell rules! Bastard! *KICK*

GitS for me was like the Starship Troopers movie.

Fun to watch at first, then I read the book.

Anyone who can look at any given broad entertainment medium and NOT say "The vast majority of it is fucking stupid!" has low standards.

And anyone who can look at any given broad entertainment medium and say "All but the very best of it is fucking stupid!" has standards that are FAR too high.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-09-08 09:51pm

The GiTS manga and film are both great in their owns ways, in my opinion. I do like Oshii's take on the GiTS universe.

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2003-09-08 11:00pm

SAMAS wrote:And anyone who can look at any given broad entertainment medium and say "All but the very best of it is fucking stupid!" has standards that are FAR too high.

Not really. Look at movies, plain old live-action movies. All the thousands and thousands of them that have been made. How many of them are really worth two hours of your life?

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-09-08 11:10pm

Why are you repeating what SAMAS just said?

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2003-09-08 11:30pm

That reminds me, I've for some years had a pet theory concering the mean and sum of all films- as in if you were to compare and contrast all films, they would all balance out to one single prepresentative film. For every Gone With the Wind there's a Little Indian, Big City, for every The Empire Strikes Back there's a Nukie, and for every Citizen Cane there's a I'll Spit On Your Grave.

And that film is Porky's.

It's dumb, it's classic, it's smutty, it's taseless, it appeals to our lower standards, it's memorable, and it's pointless. Porky's is cinema, and cinema is Porky's.

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2003-09-09 01:03am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote: Also found the transparent thermoptic camo suit to be too gratuitous.

When I watched it her suit was white, not transparent.