New anime & Dragon Ball rant

Point taken! It's all just for fun anyway. It's an escape from reality.

:)duotrouble

Hey, I like anime. And I know a lot of people will disagree with me.

I've got lots of popular unpopular opinions (Shawshank Redemption and even Quiz Show should have easily whooped the gimmicky Forrest Gump) and unpopular unpopular opinions (the root of all social problems is the spirit of entitlement).

Just so I don't get blamed for being totally negative without offering any suggestions, I'll offer some things. If I could give a stack of anime to someone and tell them, "This is what anime is", I would use the following to best represent the various facets of the medium:

My two weird catagories:

The Anime of Yesterday - Mobile Suit Gundam (1979)... the later ones seem more about selling model kits
The Anime of Today - Cowboy Bebop

And some weird subcatagories:

Adventure - Escaflowne, Lupin, Laputa, Nausicaa

Drama - Grave of the Fireflies, Kenshin OVA 1, The Cockpit (does anyone have a copy of this? I'll buy it [or would like to borrow]. E-mail me.), NTHT, Memories

Epic/Long Adaptation - Inuyasha, Orange Road

Romantic Comedy - Karekano (much better if it were half as long)

Magical Schoolgirl - CCS (appeals to young ones without being idiotic)

Comedy - Excel Saga, Kodomo no Omocha, Nadesico (no one likes this, makes me an unhappy walrus)... can't think of any normal "sitcom-style" comedies

Other Notables - Perfect Blue, Evangelion (good concept, frequently borrowed)

Most of my choices are within the last 10 years because I am gimpy and haven't watched much pre-1990 stuff. Many titles are missing. Some probably shouldn't be on there.

To stay with the original topic, if new anime is all repetition and toy commercials as Ore-sama suggested, then what older anime should be a "must-see"?


jn

I'm not saying ALL new anime... but you can sure slap Poke/Digimon, Beyblade and other pocket-creature shows into one, and stuff like Furuba, Ai Yori Aoshi, Love Hina, Sister Princess and all the other many-people-live-together-comedies into another big category. Not ALL new anime belong into those 2, but too many are.

I watched exactly one episode of Sister Princess... some special episode. I randomly guessed halfway through that the present he was going to give the girl(s) was a music box as a Christmas present. I was just joking halfway through the episode and was thinking of the most generic anime-ish present someone could come up with.

That's.... um.... troubleshome.

jn

Horror - Must see, for extremely innovative setting, distinctive artwork (Yoshitaka Amano was the original (in prints and artbooks) artist - He's responsible for so many varied monsters as well as the original character designs) a music score that fits seamlessly with the visuals, a great story with memorable characters ...AND a wonderfully angst-filled main character... Vampire Hunter D (1985). (please note - VERY gory and violent...definitely not suited for younger viewers! Actually, except for the last one, this goes for all the horror titles mentioned here.)

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2001) is very good, but, overall, I think the original movie is superior.

Both anime movies are based upon books written by Hideyuki Kikuchi. This is notable only in that Mr. Kikuchi is NOT a manga/anime artist or writer. He's an author of Japanese novels. Evidently, he's written several books that have not been animated.

Horror - Based on a manga series, I think, Petshop of Horrors (1999). Distinctive and beautiful character designs, even for the monsters. Compelling and thought-provoking stories. They seem to highlight a fairly common idea found in classic literature that each person carries his (or her) own doom around inside of him. The fact that the 'doom' occurs at the hands/claws/fangs/eyes of a 'pet' doesn't discount the fact that the person could have escaped that doom if he or she had only mastered his or her own 'fatal flaw'.

Horror/Comedy - Master of Mosquiton OVA (1999). It's silly, it's light, it's fun and I cried at one point. The tv series seems to have taken the original concept and more or less ruined it to make it more palatable to the children's market.

And just because...well...CCS is near and dear to my heart (if you've seen my gallery, you know that!) CCS is a magical girl story that appeals to those of us who regrettable left 'girl' behind longer than we care to admit. If not for Sakura's growth throughout the series, and some of the rather surprising relationships that develop, I would relegate it to just a 'kiddie' story. The US version of CCS, called Cardcaptors, is censorship turning a sweet anime title into idiotic...uhm...garbage. If you like anime at all, please avoid this 'translation' at all costs!