Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

Who? What? I meant the power ranger reference when they got together and fought the viper guy.

ahh that one! it was fun but that "Basketball" attack called more my attention than the Power Ranger colored capes!

Anyone here seen Space Runaway Ideon? I'm considering watching it because it's made by the creator of Gundam, and apparently is a large inspiration for Neon Genesis Evangelion.

I watched it! It's pretty good. Not the best, though. EoE takes a lot of inspirations from the Ideon movie, even having a recap movie right before it. I liked Be Invoked a lot more than EoE, though.

Hmm, I might check it out. I've heard that it's quite dated though, and that it doesn't quite hit as high as it's predecessor, Gundam, or its apparent spiritual successor, Evangelion.

On a different note, Kill la Kill is in two days!!!

Made by the same folks who made Gurren Lagann!

Honestly, I'd say the original Gundam is more dated, but otherwise, yeah that about sums it up. It's still worth checking out, though, IMO.

And yes, I am very excited for Kill La Kill! Is it really starting that soon? I thought it starts in October?

BTW, speaking of Gundam, I watched probably the worst Gundam I could've watched yesterday - ZZ Gundam. The first 13 episodes of that show are completely insufferable. I thought it got better when the token loli (yes, they've had those for a lot longer than one would expect) gets kidnapped, but I think it takes a bit longer to get better, since that happens in episode 12, and episode 13 is still full of stupid jokes and unnecessary fanservice - you see, they tried to turn Gundam into a risque comedy with this entry, and it completely falls on its face, taking out all the drama and character development that made the series so good before. The villains are now impossible to take seriously, the main heroes are irresponsible idiots (at least for now), and the writing is just painful. This portion of the show alone pretty much ruined Gundam for a while, since a lot of series suffered subpar-to-poor ratings for quite a while, until Gundam SEED attracted a bunch of new fans to the franchise (and the franchise now had high ratings and poor quaity instead of High Quality and poor ratings. God I hate life).

If I had to say one positive thing about this portion of ZZ Gundam, at least it did a good Job of making me fear for the token loli's life when she was kidnapped by Glemy - seeing a little girl being forced to wear pretty dresses and then get congradulated when she messes up a curtsy and blatantly shows her panties (a scene the writers were so proud of they felt the need to include it in the next episode preview), by the guy who has already been established as a stalker with an oedipus complex tends to do that to ya...

Seriously, thank God Tomino, the creator of Gundam, eventually takes the reigns and saves this ship from sinking - everyone goes through drastic changes throughout the course of the show and the drama gets turned back up to an appropriate level once again. They never quite save the story, but I'd prefer to think the damage was too done to fix that. Even Glemy goes through an interesting character arc and because a really interesting villain, and the climax and twists are some of my favorites in the series.

Are Gundam SEED and Wing really that bad?

Gundam SEED has some low points, but I thought it was okay. It's SEED Destiny that's awful (Though it has a great Villain that alone can make the series worth watching).

Gundam Wing is terrible, though. I love it, but it's terrible. Much like Dragon Ball Z, it was a show that got a ton of things wrong that any other show would've gotten criticized for, but for some reason got away with at the time. It did have great music and Mecha designs, though. I even own the soundtrack, and I'd kill for a Leo or a Taurus model kit...

Speaking of DBZ, I know tons of anime fans love it for nostalgic reasons, but I've never seen it and I don't really feel the need. At the same time, it's considered "required viewing" for all anime fans, and people sing it's praises, but it just doesn't seem that good to me.

If you don't have nostalgia, there's very little chance you'll enjoy it. I do know one guy who loved it and first watched it only recently, but I don't know why and I haven't seen him in forever. Otherwise, I don't know any anime fan that would actually consider it "required" viewing, unless you grew up watching anime in the 90's or want to see how Shounen progressed. Otherwise you're better off just watching Dragonball Z Abridged, IMO.

One Piece is really becoming my favorite anime. Unlike most I was never offput by the art style, even though it is rather odd, but at this point I really love it. I've also since bought and read the first two volumes, with the intention on collecting the series. The art style, while definitely influenced heavily by Akira Toriyama, goes on its own completely different, zany route.

Also, here's two fandubs I love:

MidiGuyFDp's pretty good. I've liked his One Piece fandubs for a while now.

Guess this. THIS HAND OF MINE IS BURNING RED! ITS LOUD ROAR TELLS ME TO GRASP VICTORY! ERUPTING BURNING FINGER!

I prefer the Shining Finger Sword chant myself.

To each his own. But, what theme you prefer Shining or Burning?

Definitely Burning. Shining's Theme is great, but the Burning Finger one sent shivers down my spine.

Also, could someone please explain to me why G-Gundam has Gundams at all? I mean, they have people who can apparently defeat Giant Robots with their bare hands:

At this point I think having these guys in Giant Robots is overkill. XD

So apparently Toonami will finally be airing FLCL soon. Works for me! I only saw it once all in a row on AS years ago, but it was probably one of the most fun experiences I've had watching anime.

I got up to episode 15 in Death Note today, it's definitely becoming at least my second favorite anime, and Light is becoming one of my favorite protagonists in anime. The show just gets better and better.

Wonder what's getting the boot, then? It's one of their back catalogue shows (as in, they've held the rights to it, & shown it recently before starting Toonami, like Bebop & InuYasha), so it'll probably be replacing a show on the back end.

My guess would be Bebop or IGPX. (although I suppose Big O is a possibility as well)