Anime

Spenner · Post by **Spenner** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 6:50 pm

Does anyone else prefer to listen in Japanese and read the subtitles? I can never get into a show with English dubs, they never do it justice for me. If it was written and structured in Japanese then I like to hear it in it's original form-- even if I can't understand the words right, the subtleties in tonalities and whatnot still provide the personality of the character very well. And I don't mind reading

Vexille · Post by **Vexille** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:55 pm

I've only really watch popular anime and haven't tried to find more stuff. I've enjoyed Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop the most. As for movies there is Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away that are very memorable. The Hellsing tv series is cool too even if it gets boring knowing that Alucard can't be beaten.

Eva is alright. Buncha emotionally messed up kids with bad ass fighting robots to keep it interesting to people who aren't emotionally messed up enough to connect with the pilots. I think that's why he made the end of eva because a lot of people who were in it for the action were let down by the original ending.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:50 pm

Spenner wrote:Does anyone else prefer to listen in Japanese and read the subtitles? I can never get into a show with English dubs, they never do it justice for me. If it was written and structured in Japanese then I like to hear it in it's original form-- even if I can't understand the words right, the subtleties in tonalities and whatnot still provide the personality of the character very well. And I don't mind reading

Yeah I usually just watch it subbed. The english voice actors don't usually do a very good job, and it sounds really corny most of the time. An exception to this would probably be Cowboy Bebop

Pantheon · Post by **Pantheon** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:54 am

Ender wrote:
Spenner wrote:Does anyone else prefer to listen in Japanese and read the subtitles? I can never get into a show with English dubs, they never do it justice for me. If it was written and structured in Japanese then I like to hear it in it's original form-- even if I can't understand the words right, the subtleties in tonalities and whatnot still provide the personality of the character very well. And I don't mind reading

Yeah I usually just watch it subbed. The english voice actors don't usually do a very good job, and it sounds really corny most of the time. An exception to this would probably be Cowboy Bebop

Yeah I was just about to say that Cowboy Bebop and and Samurai Champloo seem to use the same voice actors, and they are absolutely fantastic. I'm not entirely bothered by reading subs, after a while you forget your even doing it, and I think there is something nice about hearing a different language and seeing it translated before your eyes.

This is a great load of suggestions in this thread, I dont think i'll have any trouble finding new animes to watch any time soon now

I'm excited to check out the other series from the makers of Cowboy Bebop.

747Music · Post by **747Music** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:47 am

Lets not forget Ninja Scroll. Such an awesome movie.

But yeah, Cowboy Bebop is my favorite anime for sure.

ryetronics · Post by **ryetronics** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:39 am

I spent eight years of my career adapting Japanese anime into english dubs, writing the scripts for the voice over sessions. The irony in that is I hate watching dubs and will always choose to watch a movie or show in Japanese with the subtitles on. I guess it's good I made a career change, huh?

As for me, a few of my favorites are Devilman, Fist of the North Star and Spirited Away. You can't go wrong with Miyazaki.

Vexille · Post by **Vexille** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:11 pm

I just watch them in english. But the shows I've seen generally had good english speakers doing the lines.

Deutsche Diesel · Post by **Deutsche Diesel** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 9:59 pm

Slightly otaku, here.

Uh oh, let's not let this devolve into a Sub vs. Dub thread. Though if we're drawing battle lines, I'm into subtitles all the way. For some reason I can't take dubbed anime seriously.

Don't know if it was mentioned, but I loved The original Gunbuster and it's FLCL-ish 20-year-late sequel Diebuster. Awesome Gainax stuff. Also early Gundam, before it sold out and became formulaic. (most modern anime has done this, sadly)

I have to recommend The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, it is incredible. Paradoxical.

NHK ni Youkosou (Welcome to the NHK) About a college drop-out shut-in who's slowly going insane, great and hilarious series.

Dennou Coil (Circle of Children) About an innocent virtual reality game run amok. Cute and creepy all at once.

Just watched DuRaRaRa, very fun and strange.

Paranoia Agent made it onto TV a few years back, very weirdcoolcreepy.

Mushi-shi is amazing. Do not watch whilst high.

If anyone appreciated Studio Ghibli's Nausicaa you MUST look up the mind-blowing and quite long manga Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind drawn by Hayao Miyazaki himself slowly over 20 years. Eight very dark volumes that still manage to warm your heart.

More as is comes to me.

Spenner · Post by **Spenner** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 10:14 pm

Deutsche Diesel wrote:
I have to recommend The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, it is incredible. Paradoxical.

Yeah, I really enjoyed that movie

Lotsa good suggestions here! I remember hearing about Ghost in the Shell, and it looked pretty awesome.

Deutsche Diesel · Post by **Deutsche Diesel** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 10:22 pm

Spenner wrote: I remember hearing about Ghost in the Shell, and it looked pretty awesome.

The 1st movie is great, as is the 1st season of the TV series. The rest of the GITS series is of questionable quality, comparatively.

Today anime's greatest curse is being formulaic, as is nearly every teen drama (shoujo) or gunslinger/fighting (shonen) anime.

It's second fault is having a fantastic, compelling, riveting beginning, only to disintegrate into nonsense. Neon Genesis Evangelion is prime among these. As is Rah Xephon. And about a trillion other highly touted over-hyped series. It seems to be a Japanese trait.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 12:50 am

Wow, this thread is pretty active. A lot more people here watch anime than I would've guessed

I've seen The Girl Who Leapt Through Time before, but my experience was kind of messed up, since I ended up watching it with one of my friends that we watch and make fun of things a lot and we just ended up making fun of it the whole time. I remember seeing Paranoia Agent on Toonami and it being one of my favorite shows on there. Anything Miyazaki is, of course, amazing.

esselfortium · Post by **esselfortium** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:57 am

Deutsche Diesel wrote:It's second fault is having a fantastic, compelling, riveting beginning, only to disintegrate into nonsense. Neon Genesis Evangelion is prime among these. As is Rah Xephon. And about a trillion other highly touted over-hyped series. It seems to be a Japanese trait.

"Nonsense" is a rather subjective term as you're using it here. Many of Evangelion's most powerful and affecting moments are in its second half and in End of Eva.

Btw, Ender: Paranoia Agent was on Adult Swim, not Toonami. I don't think it would have made the transition to Toonami too well

Ender · Post by **Ender** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 3:58 am

esselfortium wrote:
Deutsche Diesel wrote:It's second fault is having a fantastic, compelling, riveting beginning, only to disintegrate into nonsense. Neon Genesis Evangelion is prime among these. As is Rah Xephon. And about a trillion other highly touted over-hyped series. It seems to be a Japanese trait.
"Nonsense" is a rather subjective term as you're using it here. Many of Evangelion's most powerful and affecting moments are in its second half and in End of Eva.

Btw, Ender: Paranoia Agent was on Adult Swim, not Toonami. I don't think it would have made the transition to Toonami too well

Haha, yeah you're right. Back then I watched both and it's kind of jumbled in my mind what was what, since they both had good anime.

Deutsche Diesel · Post by **Deutsche Diesel** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:12 pm

esselfortium wrote: "Nonsense" is a rather subjective term as you're using it here. Many of Evangelion's most powerful and affecting moments are in its second half and in End of Eva.

I will grant you that, sorry for being a bit too frank. I did enjoy End of Evangelion.

It is true though that many anime seem to veer off the expected story track purely for the purpose of being different or unexpected- presumably to keep viewers guessing and watching right to the end, for ratings.

The other end of the spectrum includes storylines burdened with extra "filler" or "fan service" episodes that usually don't flesh out the characters or story at all- like the ubiquitous "beach" and "bath/hot springs" episodes, also rarely even present in the Manga.

In other words, where have all the Cowboy(BeBop)s gone?

Ender · Post by **Ender** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:24 pm

Deutsche Diesel wrote:
esselfortium wrote: "Nonsense" is a rather subjective term as you're using it here. Many of Evangelion's most powerful and affecting moments are in its second half and in End of Eva.
I will grant you that, sorry for being a bit too frank. I did enjoy End of Evangelion.

It is true though that many anime seem to veer off the expected story track purely for the purpose of being different or unexpected- presumably to keep viewers guessing and watching right to the end, for ratings.

The other end of the spectrum includes storylines burdened with extra "filler" or "fan service" episodes that usually don't flesh out the characters or story at all- like the ubiquitous "beach" and "bath/hot springs" episodes.

In other words, where have all the Cowboy(BeBop)s gone?

Yeah, I agree a lot of anime's seem to needlessly go in random directions, or seem to do anything to get better ratings. Code Geass started off pretty cool, but then the second season completely blew because the producers didn't like the writing the creator had made for it and had him change it. I still wish I could know how the stories was originally intended. I don't think something like that would have happened in the 90's.

It's also true about anime's these days relying a lot on fanservice and such. Ever since "moe" became popular in Japan 90% of all the anime's have blown. It's pretty much why I stopped watching it, and mostly just read manga now. I don't even know any anime's that have come out in the last few years because from what I've seen they're all uninteresting and fanservicey. The only thing I've watched was Kara no Kyoukai because I'm into the nasuverse, and even that was kind of fanservicey.

Deutsche Diesel · Post by **Deutsche Diesel** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:29 pm

Ender wrote:Code Geass started off pretty cool, but then the second season completely blew because the producers didn't like the writing the creator had made for it and had him change it. I still wish I could know how the stories was originally intended.

Most anime is based of the manga (comic version, for the uninitiated) and often it is not yet finished by the time the anime ends, leading to an abbreviated (sometimes downright half-assed) ending that doesn't resemble the original manga at all. The manga is the original script, so to speak.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:42 pm

Deutsche Diesel wrote:
Ender wrote:Code Geass started off pretty cool, but then the second season completely blew because the producers didn't like the writing the creator had made for it and had him change it. I still wish I could know how the stories was originally intended.
Most anime is based of the manga (comic version, for the uninitiated) and often it is not yet finished by the time the anime ends, leading to an abbreviated (sometimes downright half-assed) ending that doesn't resemble the original manga at all. The manga is the original script, so to speak.

Which manga? I haven't actually gotten around to reading the manga yet, but from what I understand, the manga's were made after the anime and there's four different ones that are alternate realities of the anime, or something like that. I've read also that there's a manga coming out soon that is the script originally written by the anime director, so it is how it was supposed to be. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_Geass I can't find where I read about them being forced to change the script for the second season but I will eventually.

Deutsche Diesel · Post by **Deutsche Diesel** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:22 pm

All I meant was generally, anime is based off a manga. It is rare for an anime to come out of thin air. A manga produced after the anime is just to further line the producers pockets, it seems.

The Japanese entertainment industry is just as bizarre as it's market. Everything has to be profit-tied into something else, and every market is labeled and targeted. Hence all the predictable formulaic mush coming out these days. Some notable exceptions exist, but they don't always get the recognition they deserve.

This same failed model can interestingly be applied to the American pop music industry. Most of what we hear on the radio is manky chaff, and I think that's why most of us are on this site.

Vexille · Post by **Vexille** » Mon May 02, 2011 12:12 pm

Ender wrote:Wow, this thread is pretty active. A lot more people here watch anime than I would've guessed

It's not exactly some underground thing since it's been on Adult Swim since...forever. And before that the Saturday Anime on old Sci Fi. At least now anybody can download anything they want to watch.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » Mon May 02, 2011 1:35 pm

Vexille wrote:
Ender wrote:Wow, this thread is pretty active. A lot more people here watch anime than I would've guessed
It's not exactly some underground thing since it's been on Adult Swim since...forever. And before that the Saturday Anime on old Sci Fi. At least now anybody can download anything they want to watch.

Yeah, I guess I just meant I didn't think to associate BoC crowd with anime crowd, even though I'm one such person myself.