Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

I finished up Sengoku Musou (Samurai Warriors) tonight.

It's pretty average in all regards, but it's pretty short, so if you're really into the games or the feudal Japanese setting in general, it might be worth a look.

Just like the games, while the key figures have larger than life capabilities, the history behind the story is based off of actual Japanese history, which is cool.

Unfortunately, it seems to mostly just be the newer episodes since Crunchyroll started. Fansubs are still the answer for anything older than like...a year or so.

That's why I wasn't THAT excited. But this is a good sign at least. I thought about 2 years ago the series was entirely dead in the west, so there has been improvement at least!

Due to my interest in Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, I ended up looking at the original Mobile Suit Gundam in the form of its movie trilogy.

I gotta say, I'm pretty happy that I stuck with the trilogy in order to watch the third film. The first two movies have ambition and ideas, but the mediocre execution and lackluster late-70s animation make them hard to sit through. However, the third film fixes those presentation issues and then goes on to tell an extremely memorable space opera interwoven with strong character stories. It's really good stuff that illuminates why Gundam got so popular.

I watched the first episode of Erased, it's really good. Kinda one of those cool, intriguing, suspenseful mystery series.

But to me, it is also entertaining because of who they cast for the mother considering what happens at the end of the first episode. That couldn't be a coincidence.

Started watching Ghost Stories last night, and omfg its great. I was reading about it, guess it didn't do well in Japan so when ADV got a hold of it they changed a lot of the dialect to be more of a comedy and also let the voice actors ad-lib. I'm normally a Sub person (not crazy strict) but this dub is the funniest shit Ive watched along with Golden Boy. I really don't even care about the plot in this show, just the crazy things they say is great.... here is a small taste lol This is as crude as Ive seen it yet, but if your in the mood for the wth kinda comedy this is most definitely it.

Dragon Ball Super has finally entered it's first truly new story arc, so let's see where this goes. Also, the manga version is much better (much more detailed art, the action feels much more intense, and it doesn't have any of the fluff, like that Oolong Vs Beerus Rock, Paper, Scissors match that the anime had...).

Speaking of Dragon Ball, I've finally built up a pretty awesome team in Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle:

• Leader: "Convulsing Rage" Super Sayain Goku (Z-Awakened UR)
• "Resolute Valor" Super Sayain Teen Gohan (Dokkan/Z-Awakened SSR)
• "Perfect Power" Perfect Cell (Z-Awakened SSR)
• "Galactic Patrolman" Jaco (Z-Awakened SSR)
• "Top-Tier Training" Goku (Z-Awakened SSR)
• "Promising Son" Super Sayain Goten (Z-Awakened SSR)

Just finished watching FLCL. It's the second time I saw it. Wow, everything makes a lot more sense now. Man, I had NO idea what was going on when I first saw it years ago on Adult Swim, 1 or 2 in the morning, in the glow of the TV. Even if you end up having no idea what is happening, the music and visuals are still just absolutely stunning and a joy to experience. One of my favorite animes ever.

Yeah FLCL was great, the parts when it becomes a manga page when fantastic. I never had a problem following the plot though, it was fairly straightforward from what I remember.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I just got to watch the first two episodes of an Australian Animated series in the works and it was great. It is called Prisoner Zero

The production team has lots of connections to Doctor Who and they are still looking for Networks to show it outside of Australia but I recommend you guys keep an eye out for this show. It was a lot of fun

@DefHalan That looks pretty cool! I have interested in plenty of other animated works outside anime so I'll be sure to check that out!

Also I'm currently in the process of marathoning a few Gainax OVAs. I'm starting with Gunbuster then I'll be watching FLCL - Diebuster - Re:Cutie Honey - and I might try to squeeze in Panty & Stocking (not an OVA but still)

@Rocko52: At first the animation style rubbed me the wrong way, but once I finished the first episode, I was hooked. I can't wait for it to come out now.

I've just done a forum search - over 11,600 posts in this thread and not one mention of Akira...

And you lot call yourselves anime/Manga fans? Seriously, you can't call yourself a fan if you've never seen the film that pretty much single-handedly popularised anime/Manga (particularly in the West).

A history lesson for you all. I opted for Wikipedia because with any training you have to start with the basics.

@Monkey_Balls, I can guarantee you Akira has been mentioned in here at some point.

I used to do my weekly Toonami thoughts every Saturday night here (now do it over at PushSquare), and they've shown Akira a couple of times, so I know I've talked about it/mentioned it here. Why it hasn't shown up in the forum search I don't know.

@RR529 I'll take your word for it - I'm not reading through 11,600+ posts to verify. I was very surprised (and disappointed) to not see Akira mentioned in the search though. It was one of the first anime films I owned (on VHS... showing my age). That film needs more love in this thread - it's a true classic.

@Monkey_Balls: I talked about Akira awhile ago, it has always been one of my favorites so I read the manga and was talking about how amazing It was. You should look into it if you haven't

I didn't really like Akira and don't suggest it to people. I know a lot of people like it but I thought it was pretty bad.

As for Akira, I think the animation itself is probably some of the best ever done in any medium (the level of detail in the environments is astounding to witness to this day, and I can't imagine what it would have been like to watch it when it was new), the action is really good, and it has an interesting backstory, but I feel the ending is a bit of a letdown.

Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a great watch (and a must see for anyone into anime, even if just once, for what it did), but the transformation in the climax was just ugly, and even though I've seen it 4 or 5 times, I'm still not quite sure what it is that happened to stop him.

Interesting coincidence, in the movie they were building a new stadium for the 2020 Olympics (this is where the final battle took place), and as it happens to turn out, Tokyo will host the games in 2020 in real life (this was just announced a year or two ago).

It was 3 decades ago what do you want people to say that hasn't already been said? In anycase, it's decent but is completely blown away by the likes of Cowboy Bebop, Ghost In The Shell, Studio Ghibli, Satoshi Kon's works, Death Note etc which are the high points of anime for me personally.

Well the final episode of Akame ga Kill aired tonight (on Toonami).

Overall, it wasn't a very original series in terms of worldbuilding & character archtypes (it really was just a mishmash of everything that's come before. With varied weapons such as giant robots, power suits, katanas, lazer guns, flamethrowers, bio-weapons, various sorcery, and even an ICBM or two all together, in a world that's medieval European, feudal Asian, or middle eastern whatever the creators decide they want it to be at that moment, even though it largely takes place in the same city, oh, and with a touch of modernity here & there as well).

However, despite all that, I did enjoy my time with it. It was animated really well, with some truly awesome fight scenes, and it's greatest strength is that it wasn't afraid to kill off main characters... regularly. You really truly didn't know who was going to win any particular fight, and while it's a bit disappointing when your favorite character dies, it adds more weight to the action.

@Monkey_Balls @DefHalan @arronishere To me, one of the most important aspects of Akira is it's animation. The cell art and sakuga used are just mindblowing, especially for the time. While many anime today definitely look very pretty, it is undeniable that they are heavily lacking in fluidity. (Which is what animation is, essentially motion) Most modern anime just can't match up with foreign animated works in this regard. (Clearly there are exceptions, with many talented Japanese animators out there but a major problem is funding and actual work for them) Then look at Akira - it's experiments with lip sync and gorgeously fluid animation are just a sight to behold. It easily beats out many modern series with what it can do. While it is debatable that low-key frames and limited animation is a stylistic tradition for anime at this point, it is simply the case that it fails to meet the standard of even 1940's Disney movies in regards to pure animation.

If any of you remember some of the things I've said and done on here the past few year, you might recall that Evangelion is easily one of my favorite anime of all time. Several of the works from that same studio, and its successor Trigger, have also become favorites of mine. Recently, I've been doing some dig work on Gainax and its history, especially Hideaki Anno, and a lot of the stuff I've been finding is very interesting, and even inspirational. Where the studio got it's start is just incredible. Some of you might know about the Daicon openings, but for those who don't here's a little intro -
So annually in Japan there is a SciFi convention, held in different places every year. (It's name escapes me atm, but it also has a variant name every year based on the location and themes of that year's con.) In 1981 the Daicon III convention was to be held. (Called this because it was held in Osaka) For the opening of the convention three college students, (one of which was Hideakia Anno) with a passion for animation & any and all geeky things, were employed to create an animation. It became known as the Daicon III Opening, and while quite crude and low-budget, was praised for its creativity, bursts of great animation, and the fact that it was done by young students. Because of their small success, the team was called back in 1983 for Daicon IV, with a few new animators joining them. (In the intervening years many of them had worked in small parts on other shows and films, including Macross and Miyazaki's Nausicaa) The results this time, although finished literally the morning of the con, were nothing short of stunning. Not even for a student film, the Daicon IV Opening was incredible for a short anime production period. It even won the Anime Grand Prix Award. The team who created these fantastic openings would soon after form "Daicon Film," which in short time redubbed itself "Gainax." A true legend was born. For those interested, here are the two films on youtube - they're quite short.

I won't write much more, but I also wanted to recommend these two excellent videos by Digibro on Hideaki Anno, which give great insight into the man and his career.