Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

@Maxenmus as I see you know a lot about Digimon, how kid friendly is Ghost Game? My 8 year old loves Pokémon and Yo Kai Watch and the art style reminds me of the latter. It seems it flirted with horror but didn’t commit and became a monster of the week show. If so, although that’s usually a criticism, it might be something we can both enjoy. And I can pretend it’s educational if he can practice reading as no dub yet.

@JoeDiddley
lol I'm afraid I left the Digimon anime for a long time now since those Digimon Adventure Tri. movies (only saw the first one and got bored). From what I heard though, Ghost Game is probably more like your typical PG-13 "horror" show that might be too scary for very young children, but would otherwise come off as kinda tame for the older ones. Not an expert here, since I'm only basing on hearsay. Sorry I couldn't be much help.

I might check it out someday, since I did hear good things, but honestly, the newer Digimon seasons just seem too juvenile for me, and I feel like I've outgrown shows like these.

@Maxenmus thanks. I have been showing him a bit of the first season, and Tamers was the other option I was thinking of. As I’m new to the franchise is there anything else you’d recommend?
I was also going to try the second movie as I hear it’s like Summer Wars, which I really enjoyed.

@JoeDiddley
The first season and Tamers are good options for newcomers, but I'm not sure if Tamers is a suitable choice for an eight year old since it deals with some seriously depressing themes that might scar younger children. lol (It's also why I wouldn't recommend having them play Digimon Survive either since it turns Tamers' mature themes up to eleven).

But if it's recommendations for yourself, for other entries in the franchise, I'd recommend the Digimon X-Evolution movie as that was probably Digimon's first real attempt at telling a more mature story for adults. It has a gritty storyline tackling issues of existentialism and has Digimon appearing in gorgeous 3-D graphics for the first time in a movie/TV show. Digimon Savers, the fifth season, is also a decent watch for older audiences too, albeit with a rather cliched plot that puts it beneath the quality of even the flawed first season.

The second movie is decent, but I never really liked it as much as the many supporters it has among the Digimon fandom. It was a pretty straightforward plot that introduced a new evolution for the big screen, which makes sense since most big-screen versions of anime TV series tend to have straightforward plots that play it safe so as to not affect the canon of the TV series.

Stay away from the Saban dub and Digimon: The Movie as they pretty much ruined what emotional tension the original series had (not to mention cutting three movies into one, resulting in a confusing plotline during the third segment of the anthology).

@Maxenmus great thanks for the comprehensive response, I’ll definitely check out the X-Evolution movie and bear the rest in mind too.

Will Satoshi/Ash finally become a Pokémon Master at last and end the decades old anime series? (lol probably not) But still, even if he doesn't, no one can deny now that Ash has come a long way since his Indigo League days. This is truly a Pokémon event for the history books. I love how hyped the trailer is, knowing how big of a deal Ash fighting Cynthia is. I don't think I've been this hyped about watching the anime again since Ash's Kalos League tournament in XYZ.

I also love that they added the iconic Sword and Shield gym battle theme at the end of the trailer. Looks like we might have some Dynamaxing going on. Forgot that Ash is still in the Galar region, so dynamaxing is only natural. lol

Additions to my small, but growing, collection.

Ghost in the Shell Arise 1&2 - The first two entries in the GitS Arise OVA. Each one is about an hour long, so I'm gonna wait until I have the time & watch them back to back like a movie.

City Hunter 2 set 1 - Really liked the first season of City Hunter when I streamed it on Retro Crush, so decided I'm going to buy the rest of it physically. I've never been so scared of breaking a disc because they are just gripped in there unreasonably tightly, but luckily I managed to remove the first disc without issue. Just finished watching the first episode and it was very enjoyable as predicted.

Bonus: boxes outside the slip cases.

@Link-Hero
Because money.

@Link-Hero
To be honest, I like the anime for what it is sometimes, as it's light entertainment and I like the Pokémon battle scenes despite people's complaints about the so-called anime logic. I guess it's probably because I never really cared about the Pokémon games that much in the first place, so I don't care if it somehow misrepresents the games, or if Ash's a terrible trainer or not (doesn't help that people overexaggerated his lack of character growth to begin with, just ignoring the whole deal about Ash beating the Frontier Brains and being offered a position even though the Frontier Brains were 10x tougher than the Elite Four in the games).

So yeah, I guess it's like what they say, one man's "subpar trash" is another man's popcorn entertainment. I mean, hey, if most people could enjoy Fairy Tail despite its generic storylines about the power of friendship, I think it's fair to find some level of entertainment in excitingly animated Pokémon battles with a kick-ass soundtrack (and also the power of friendship).

@Link-Hero
I mean, Ash's character growth as a trainer in XYZ (and even Diamond and Pearl) was pretty obvious to even the most casual fans and the harshest critics. Have you even seen those anime though, or are you judging based on a handful of episodes?

Like, I'm not even the biggest Pokémon fan since my main fandom is Digimon, but even I think it isn't nearly that atrocious compared to some of the shounen anime I've seen.

Plus, in spite of everything else, I like the soundtrack, often more than the dub themes at times. Sometimes, a mediocre show could still produce other merits like a good soundtrack.

And at the end of the day, it is what it is, a lighthearted popcorn entertainment meant to be enjoyed as such. It's like calling out those Transformers or Fast and Furious films for being braindead and shallow entertainment, but I can understand why they have their fans, and nothing I say will stop them from making billions every year. Many on the Internet these days love calling out people who get angry over others liking things they dislike, but I personally couldn't really care that much about that unless the franchise affects the sales numbers of my favorite franchises (i.e.: Persona and SMT games affecting one another), so if Transformers fans want to go nuts over dull CGI machines that barely look different from one another, more power to them.

Also, I think the Pokémon anime wouldn't receive such negative attention if it's just a less popular kids show like Digimon: Ghost Game or Paw Patrol. The only reason people are calling out these kids shows meant for children is because it has "Pokémon" attached to it even though it's perfectly acceptable for hundreds of other kids shows to be just as shallow and predictable. Next to some of the Disney Channel shows I've seen, the Pokémon anime might as well have been The Godfather.

@Maxenmus
Fast and Furious have "kids" version Spy Racers as 3D animated series, featuring the teenagers characters.
It's also have the games on PS4, Switch by OG Games.
I personally never like the idea of wild racing competition to get the fame / honor and the sexy girls from Fast & Furious (adult peoples like that idea but I don't) except for Fast & Furious Spy Racers that made for younger audiences.

Except it's not even about street-racing anymore since they're literally going into space. When your franchise's characters go to space after several movies even though it's not a sci-fi/space story to begin with, it's well-known that it's a sign you're running out of ideas, because that's what every failed horror movie franchise did as well. Jason went to space in Jason X. Critters went to space in the fourth movie. Leprechaun went to space in the fourth film. Pinhead and the gang went to space in Hellraiser: Bloodline. Even freaking Dracula, one of the OG horror movie icons, went to space in Dracula 3000. Space is where movies go to die.

I don't think sports movies and anime are inherently bad because they can celebrate the value of hard work and sportsmanship, but the Fast and Furious films don't even have the faith in their original concept anymore.

@Maxenmus
Eh...
I don't even like with all the references you put to explain about other movies since I hate with every single adult movies. Sorry.

Back to Fast & Furious, this is the only spinoff that caught my attention since it made for younger audiences and more appropriate to watch since I never like adult movies.

Actually I accidentally found the spinoff Spy Racers from play-asia when I was browsing for upcoming kids games. After some search from YouTube, it was something that I could accept but still need more observation since the idea of Spy racer was not really interesting idea for me but at least it made for younger audiences.

Well, technically, I was explaining one of the newer Fast and Furious film, not other movies. It had Dom and the others literally going to space, and I was explaining why that's ridiculous.

To be honest, I gave up on most kids cartoons like those since they just recycle and the same family-friendly messages like the power of friendship, family is important, blah blah blah. It's like going to a lecture. I only stick mostly to adult cartoons like South Park and Rick & Morty these days since they at least bothered to do something unique and interesting with the medium instead of preaching platitudes. They're supposed to be like that because they're kids shows, but it's just not my cup of tea.

It's the same reason why I didn't bother with Pokémon Sun & Moon because, despite two dark episodes that touch on rather mature topics (which isn't new for kids anime), it largely touches on boring topics like friendship, teamwork, familial bonds, yada yada yada. The only reason I would watch Pokémon at all isn't for those overdone themes, but the exciting battles that are still well animated IMO.

@Maxenmus
Contrary with me, I hate every adult cartoon, movies, animes as they are really offending and insulting stuffs for me. I don't even consider them as entertainment as I will get really angry to see them.
I keep stick with kids stuffs even I am an adult man.

And that's why I still have some interest with Pokemon franchise despite I don't really have strong interest with them. At least I still getting along well with some interesting to catch and use Pokemons.

@Anti-Matter
That's understandable. There are still some kids shows I would still watch, but they're like decades old (Teen Titans, The Powerpuff Girls, Codename: Kids Next Door, Hey Arnold, etc.)

@Link-Hero
I mean, I understand where you're coming from, as someone who also wishes for certain franchises to take my favorite fandoms in a more serious direction (Spider-Man Noir in Into the Spider-Verse for example, how they flanderized the character into a goofball). For the record though, I'd just say that while the growth is technically nothing special and an overdone trope, overdone tropes can be entertaining when done right (and this is coming from someone who hates cliches), and I think it really depends on your mood and perspective going into these anime.

I do agree that it hasn't washed away any of the problems you've stated, even in XY when you still had repetitive and generic storylines that feel like a pointless slice-of-life episode of the week helping random one-off Pokémon guest stars. Again, I think it depends on your expectations going in with these anime. I'm not blind to the flaws, but the battles are well animated and the soundtrack were good enough for me to keep watching Pokémon XY back then. I will say that I will never rewatch those shows though because of the flaws you mentioned. It's a "watch it and ditch it" kind of situation, just for the entertainment of those battles.

I feel like most shounen anime fans like those who still watch Dragon Ball movies probably share the same sentiment I have with Pokémon, going in despite the flaws because they enjoy the good points. Need I remind everyone how we memed the Dragon Ball fight scenes to death? lol Remember those fights that lasted several episodes PER FIGHT? And yet, people still love the franchise and the anime. I think even Fairy Tail fans are still watching that anime even though it has similar problems as the ones you mentioned about Pokémon, like stakes that barely matter or how everyone just forget about important lessons. There's just enough appeal in the animated fight scenes to keep people watching, which makes sense, since the main appeal of an anime is its animation.

By the way, I think you should give Diamond and Pearl a shot. I think you'll at the very least mildly like what you find. I'm speaking as someone who hates shounen anime because of the problems you pointed out, how low-stakes everything is, and yet I can't say I regret giving Diamond and Pearl and especially XY a try. Think of these shows as having "low lows" and "high highs." When the battles are good, they're some of the best shounen fight scenes I've seen animated, especially if you love the games, but when they're bad... phew. I guess it depends, again, on your expectations and what amount of time you're willing to sacrifice for the show.

@Maxenmus
Wait, did you watch Codename Kids Next Door ?
That was one of my favorite cartoon series from Cartoon Network for having very unique abbreviation for the episodes and the other stuffs. 😃
For example, there is an episode called K.I.S.S. , it was stand for Kids Identity Suddenly Sixteen. Every episodes have their abbreviation, every gadgets have their abbreviation too, I have never expected those creative ideas by using abbreviation to describe hidden sentences and also I was impressed by the technology in Kids Next Door by using any stuffs surrounded such as a gun made of blender or a giant vehicle from a bed, etc.

@Anti-Matter
Yeah, it's a very creative show, so I enjoyed myself. I also love the rich lore behind the kids vs. adults war (they even paid homage to The Animatix when portraying that war). lol Such a fun series.

Lycoris Recoil is a real standout for me this season. I personally don't like the whole subgenre of cute girls + x thing anime does all the time, but I think this is one of the best examples of this kind of show I have seen.

Fanservice is present, but maybe I'm just desensitised, but I feel like this is all fairly tame. I deffo have watched shows where it is so aggressive and smothering, it is just creepy and unsettling to watch but I feel like they always keep the line visible here. For the most part. There are some lesbian overtones clearly there to bait the audience and like I say there is still fanservice, but if you hate that kinda stuff, I would hope there isn't enough to ruin this for you? But I dunno, feels like a weird compliment to give a show, I realise.

Also akin to something like say Madoka, the show isn't afraid of being as dark as it is cutesy, with an almost Division like through line between girls being cute at a boutique cafe. Oh and it all certainly helps that the anime is absolutely stunning, both in it's beautifully choreographed, fluid, action scenes (where they seem to have put a crazy amount of effort into making the discipline and skills of the characters feel like trained soldiers, rather than just badass anime girls doing anime things) but also in all the cutesy and quiet moments between those points as well. Feels like a lot of love, passion and energy went into this and I really appreciate it.

The show could still fall off of a cliff, the story is still very much still building so they could drop the ball and it could hint at some pacing issues given this is only meant to be 13 episodes long and we're over half way and I still feel like there is a lot I don't know. However, each episode is enjoyable enough, that I don't necessarily mind that it doesn't feel like the story and characters are leaping forward with each episode. This may change though.