Anime/Manga Thread

Castlevania season 3 coming to Netflix in March!

 

Finally sat down and watched Otomo Katsuhiro's Memories (1995). Quite the hand drawn spectacle. They definitely do not make them like they used to. Similar to Neo Tokyo (1987), it is compilation of 3 unrelated short stories. I highly recommend it even if you are not a fan of anime.

 

Have you watched the Hellsing series? Damn good anime!

 

I love the Running Man in Neo-Tokyo. Actually, anything from Yoshiaki Kawajiri is my favorite. From Wicked City to Cyber City Oedo 808, I'll eat all that shit up. Too bad he stop directing in Madhouse (I guess since his stuff was too western), because he was amazing.

And 100% f'ing yes on the bold part. I for the most part stop caring for Anime when they did the change over from cell animation to computers in the early 2000s. The OVAs from their heyday (80s to mid 90s) had tons of interesting animation stuff on them. I still was watching the newer stuff, but for the most part computer animation was just a shortcut to at times really shitty animation. Also I must admit, I'm getting old and it is getting to the point that a high school anime or a mecha show of a cry baby virgin 13 year old who is trying to be a man trying to save the world but not able to get his first f**k to that hot chick. How the hell that is suppose to appeal to a 30 year old like me anymore? It doesn't. Gundams are cool for the figures, but not the story lines. Lets make someone a man by slapping them. Yeah, that's DO IT!

Not too sure about the first 13 episode show.

 

Space Battleship Yamato Season 1 > MSG
Space Battleship Yamato Season 2 > Zeta Gundam
G Gundam > Space Battleship Yamato Season 3

 

I actually forgot this thread existed for a while, haha. @YMO ZETA GUNDAM IS AWESOME YOU TAKE THAT BACK!

Fake nerd rage aside, I do agree that the UC stuff doesn't hold a candle to Cosmic Era. Then again, could very well be biased because I grew up with the latter stuff and I'm a sucker for shiny clean animation. UC Newtypes are kinda Mary Sues, but also the drama just feels like a regular TV soap opera at times; I liked the random directions CE sometimes went (though the whole deal with Stella was a bit of a throwback...). It's been years since I was really into the Gundam franchise so my memory of a lot of the early anime just blends together. Last I was really into was the Unicorn and Iron Blooded Orphans era, which left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

Gundam G is fun, I agree about it being DBZ with giant mechs, and that's exactly what I loved about it. Wish they did more with it because I was a giddy kid throughout that entire series. The 00 universe is pretty cool, edgy but also very After Colony-like in that it gets a lot of tropes shoved into each minute of runtime. Popular cuz of the pretty boys though, at least with a lot of the fujo from what I can tell )

 

Zeta was only good for eye candy with that animation budget. After MSG got popular after the original run, Sunrise got a nice animation budget for Zeta. Too bad the show sucks.

Good, we agree that UC for the most part is for neckbeard betas. It doesn't hold up well, MSG is a true product of the 70s with that Newtype crap.

As I previously stated, I don't like the shiny clean computer animation. Give me some old fashion cells all day/night. I am 100% convinced that you can't do dark and cool looking anime OVAs/movies route on computers. It must be done by hand. Wicked City and Cyber City Oedo 808 just works best on the classic cell route.

 

I've just been in a shitty mood cuz of all the idiocy around the world, wanted to pick a stupid argument about fun things to de-stress hahaha. Gundam is fun, but each era seems keen on leaning into whatever popular tropes exist at the time (like Gundam G, ROFL).

IBO was definitely a heart-breaker, but in a good way— it's a show I love that I'd love to never see again.

I'm with you on old school animations, but the cost thereof seems to be a hell of a lot higher so it's hard to get budgets for them green-lit. If you haven't seen it yet then go check out Violet Evergarden, which is on Netflix. Absolutely stunning animation from Kyoto Animation. I also love the shit out of MegaloBox, which I watched because @Cellist88 endorsed it. The fake vintage art had me smiling, it was lovely! Beautiful work and a good take on a classic boxing story, it was a lot like Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash in that you could FEEL impact through the movements.

Would recommend Grimgar because I actually really like its story and animation but the awkward fan service makes it hard to suggest. I swear, I was a horny incel at one point too but now in retrospect all the hyper-sexualisation going on in anime absolutely ruins the culture. f'ing hell.

 

Wowee, I've seen some hot takes on Gundam and I can understand some people not being fans of early UC stuff but as soon as I see Cosmic Era getting praises sung about it when the SEED titles are some of the biggest dogshit to ever have the name 'Gundam' slapped on them a line has got to be drawn. SEED is to Starbucks as Gundam is to coffee. It's not really Gundam.

 

Sure thing, both the original and Ultimate. Very good stuff. Before Castlevania Hellsing was my top choice in fact.

 

@chakku hahaha, Gundam anime from that era is very much its own beast I think. Very bishonen-heavy which appeals to a certain person, but I agree that it's a far cry from what originally made Gundam interesting to the bulk of fans.

Look on the bright side, I've yet to see a Gundam series that went full Brain Power'd. Now THAT'S a show I'd be happy to purge from memory.

Related note. Anyone else here really like DT Eightron? The OP song is chill as F and I unironically still listen to it on occasion, haha.

 

Gundam Seed is Gundam Wing on steroids. It has its charms and some C.G. was decent but to make the mobile suits too powerful was a clear mistake. Kira should have died too, among others.

Gundam Wing was pushing the limits of believability of the Mecha-genre but largely well written. Duo Maxwell alone and then you have Zechs Marquise as the anti-hero. Hero was like the protagonist in an 80ties B-movie but it worked and even he had weaknesses, even with his f'ing buster gun.

The original Gundam Mobile Suit and I.B.O. strike a nice balance. In I.B.O. Mikazuki actually dies because well at one point your gundam is torn to pieces and you only have skin and bones to protect you. Yeah, that final episode is worth rewatching.

 

Ewww, Gundam Wing. I thought it was LOGH but for girls who were still virgins.

 

@tommytakis Watching Tower of God ep1 and the opening made me raise my eyebrows because... it was in Japanese but sounded like a foreigner was singing it, haha. Turns out it was a Korean boy band, which given that ToG is based on a manhwa makes complete sense to me



Anyway, I have no idea what about it triggered this (anime based on non-Japanese IP?) but I got massive Legend of Condor Hero vibes. Even though the show itself starts off DARK AND HEAVY

Spoiler

with a rape scene where the female lead thinks the male lead assaulter her while she was temporarily paralysed

, something that was difficult for friggin 11-year-old me to process even if I didn't quite understand what was happening at the time, the anime kinda has a special place in my heart for nostalgia reasons in the same way largely forgotten shows like Now and Then, Here and There, Strange Dawn, Steam Detective, Power Stone, and Grander Musashi do.

[EDIT] looked up stuff on Wiki, was mistaken here:
It's based on a wuxia novel, The Return of the Condor Heroes, which is the middle book in a trilogy. I have never read any of these, but even though the show itself likely hasn't aged well with its janky early-2000s anime fight scenes the opening song is probably one of my all-time favourite ones; it gives off this sense of wonder and adventure that hardly any OPs nowadays manage to pull off.



P.S.
What the crap they're using the KR name in subtitles but speaking his translated JP name in voiceover????

 

It is basically the boy band version of Gundam to an extent.

I still love it though. Duo Maxwell, the animation, the soundtrack and how the plot basically calls out pacifists for being too naive and warmongers for being too destructive for their own good.

Relena Peacecraft is one of worst characters in animé/manga ever if you ask me. If you want peace at least learn Karaté or Muay Thai, or Judo on the side. Read "The Book of Five Rings and "The Art of War" and stay in shape. "No, fighting is wrong. Even when defending yourself and/or people, believe in peace."

If believing is peace is enough, we would already have world peace. Gundam goes deep man...

Mikazuki Augus in I.B.O. was such a great character. He took care of his friends and simply killed his enemies, without fear of death.

 

The thing is though Relena does later come to terms with the fact that blind idealism isn't going to be enough to guarantee lasting peace and that Heero et al's struggles are meaningful in a way. She changes over the course of the series subtly but definitively as a consequence of her experiences and her douchebag bishonen brother of a Char wannabe. She's sheltered and naieve to a fault at the beginning of the show (memorable birthday invite scene!), but much less so at the close of EW and the novels.

Also, never read the novels but stalked the wiki for info. Ending made my shipping fanboy heart squee with glee.

 

Not to mention Gundam Wing is just F***ing cool.

 

It will always be. Heero Yuy escapes by nearly jumping to his death, gets captured and does the same again at the start of the series.

Relena watches and goes "WTF did I just see?" and I am half in awe and half in stitches. Meanwhile Heero escapes, and does not give a f**k.

One of my favourite moments in animé. "Yeah I have to go. Oh you want to capture me? Nope..."

No transformations, no suit, no magic just avoiding the doors and leaving.

 

Then ending to Endless Waltz as Heero sacrifices Wing Zero to destroy the bunker was just badass. Animation for Wing Zero's destruction was superb.

Also the dynamics of Heero's and Zechs' rivalry was neat.

 

LOL yeah I noticed that. I got used to it though. The art style was more off putting for me than the Japanese voice overs tbh. The anime is getting better by the episode and like some other friend mentioned, it gives off so much of the Hiatus x Hiatus (lol) which is one of my favorite anime of all time.

I had to pull an all nighter yesterday because stupid AAMC decided to open up MCAT registration sometime between 3am-9am (didn't tell us a specific time! WTF ) then the site crashed because too many people trying to sign up at once. Then later was told "maybe try some time in the afternoon" ... uhh WTF

Anyway, I was able to read through season 1 of Tower of God manhwa while I was waiting in line and wow I can't wait for everything to be animated! Story gets a lot more complex later on and I even find most of the side characters interesting. Also just realized that @Phantaminum is a character mentioned (so far) in ToG!! #mindblown