Hi,
since there are other members who like animes (*waves to lightweight and daidalos*) I thought it would be quite interesting to have an anime discussion topic (if it already exists, I just did a selfpwn, but the search didn't find anything).

When I watched Last Exile, I really liked it - watched it in english and later in japanese (eng. dubbed). It is kinda cute, but not overdone, it has these dreams (not the ones at night) of flying, pretty moving... and the animation is great, too. For the first time, I bought a DVD from a series - in german, of course. The german dub is quite great, better then the english one (the female protagonist's voice is annoying when she is upset or exciting - think of your mother telling you to clean up the room the 50th time or something) and the japanese one (the male protagonist sounds like a girl, so I don't know who's speaking when he talks with women). I really liked the series, changed my computer wallpaper for the first time in, like, 3 years permanently.
I wanted to watch it when I have all 6 DVDs (in the US, it's one DVD more, but the same amount of episodes). Was quite difficult cause amazon messed up the ISBN, so I couldn't find Vol. 5 for some weeks, until a friend of a publisher helped me out.
So, I had all DVDs, but then I got B G&E, played that, played that again, and this weekend I finally started to watch Last Exile in german again.
And now I think that the characters all seem a bit... dull, unemotional, though there is a lot of emotion there. It's not the dub, but somehow I didn't like it that much I liked it before.
:angry:
Maybe I should've bought the Cowboy Bebop DVDs instead...

Edit: okay, just a impression of the first episodes. I'm now pretty much into it again...

When I watched and then quit watching Animes I was about 14/15 years old (it was mostly Dragon Ball and Pokemon back the), so it's almost 5 or 6 passed years before I started watching animes again. But I started watching them not because I was necessarily interested in watching Animes but because of my eternal love to most kinds of Science Fiction.
I think I restarted watching Animes one year ago when I saw interesting loops on http://z0r.de/ (this German flash-loop page) with guitars in it.
(For example: http://z0r.de/?id=1034 ; http://z0r.de/?id=636 (who knows which song this is? :P) ; http://z0r.de/?id=853 ).
So I just thought "What the hell" and found out what Anime it was from, that happened to be "The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi".
And yeah, I love Science Fiction and the automatic appearance of philosophical problems with it so I "obtained" that particular Anime and started to love the idea of it. I ended looking for the books on which the Anime was based. Sadly they were never translated but fortunately for me I found a page where a fan translated all 9 volumes (the 10th is postponed to an unknown date). I read all of them in about 5 days, all on a small 11" Notebook-screen, but it was worth it. :P
That's when I thought that I were down with Animes. TMOSH was very interesting but I wasn't interested in any more.

Nevertheless I was introduced to "Gunslinger Girl" in December - and liked it too, because it was Science-Fiction and had an unusual setting.
After that a couple of acquaintances advised me to watch Gantz (which was Science-Fiction and was okay, not that great) and Planetes (which, in turn, was pretty good). The same person who suggested Gantz also suggested Elfenlied but I just didn't like it.

So right now I'm always waiting for releases for Gunslinger Girl Season 2 which is baaad, beacuse it's badly drawn (since it's not drawn by the same people who did Gunslinger Girl 1). Luckily all the Mangas (or almost alle of them) were translated into German. :)
And I'm waiting for the release of the Second Season of TMOSH.

Where did you find it? :)

I havent watched a lot of animes, though I should really. Outlaw Star is my absolute favorite, and i'm curious about to see Cowboy Bebop.

This was the website I found the 9 volumes:
http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index.ph...Suzumiya_Haruhi

Tanigawa Nagaru is a great author!

I watched some eps of Outlaw Star again because I thought after Cowboy Bebop another sci-fi western series would be nice.
Outlaw Star, however, was kinda "B-Movie" to me, it was so hilarious how simple and predictable some events were that I watched it and really amused myself.
Didn't come further than to this cactus-alien-thingy, though.

Thank you!

*sigh* Anime... Duh, kids. -_- :P

I'm not a fan of anime but I watched Pokemons, Digimons and Dragoon ball as a kid...

Yes, that is what I thought at first, too, almost exactly the same.
But then I realized that this was an ignorant and stupid prejudice.

I wouldn't exactly say kids would understand the western-style drawind and drama of Planetes or the violence in Gunslinger Girl or rather the violence and graphic erotisism of Gantz, nor would that be appropriate for kids.

My prejudice was better! I thought "Anime... Pokémon and pr0n, two things I don't wanna watch" :lol:

Well, no matter what's in anime, it always has that "overtalked" mood. Characters just keep on babbling about anything, and they barely move while doing that! Action scenes don't look so cool, either. I'd expect lotsa dynamics, but it always goes down to a long chat with the opponent, two dodges, another chat, a failed attack, yet another moment of rambling, final super-mega-flashy attack orb and death of the less cooler character. Oh, and then 2 hours of talking about winning, justice, fortune, the shopping list you got from mom and Freud's concept of id, ego and superego. Boy, and animes are just too overworked in the visual matter! Thanks to the perfectly polished colouring dynamical movement looses it's cool factor. Some people might find that okay, but geez, when I see someone moving fast I don't care about every bow, clasp and pin on his fancy gay shirt, but the movement!
Here's the one terrible example of anime I got to see - "The Legend Of Duo". Shortly - there are about 12 (I think) episodes, each 5 minutes long. The main story is, that Earth got attacked by some dumb disease, that can be healed by vampires' blood. One vampire told people about that and now everyone chases that vampire throughout most episodes - people for his blood, vampires for telling people about the secret. One of the vampires kills him in the last few episodes (yeah, it takes THAT long :P) and then he realizes he loves him ( you'd only expect yaoi nowadays -_- ) and talks with him while he dies whole episode. Fini.

Yeah, did I mention characters tend to die awfully long? And even if somebody cut their throat, they still keep talking? :P

And you never got the thought that there are different animes, different story writers and even different styles of drawing so not such a good idea to generalise everything?

Well, too bad.

I've seen enough animes, mangas, yaois, yuris, fandoms of great light-hearted cartoons converted to funeral-serious manga, oekaki and all sorts of deviations that Japanese came up with to form my own opinion about manga, thankyouverymuch. Besides, that just ain't my sort of style, I hate overworked detail :P

BTW, Powerpuffs in Powerpuff Z were such pathetic and Britney-esque girlies! I wonder if they'd somehow find themselves in a jungle one day, would they find a way out. Craig McCracken's Powerpuffs sure would, and they'd kick Gangreen Gang's butt on the way back! :D

I’m not really into them, I have wanted to see Tekinkincreet but that may not even be anime (I just know it’s Japanese and animated)

One of the things I question is how anime is so popular today and Western 2D-animation has been shoved aside for computer graphics which doesn't look nearly as imaginative. I'm glad, nevertheless, that some form of 2D art continues to be popular.

I absolutely hate them! :)

You know, even when I really, really REALLY wanted to do one, there was a reason I didn't do an anime topic, nor I speak of it regularly here. Most of the folks here neither watch, care, or appreciate whatever anime can bring. I even made a (temporary) enemy of Alexa for such discussions! In the end, I just say "Everybody has stuff they like and stuff they dislike. Anime is not a 1,000,000-dollar bill to have everybody like it, and that's that." I'm not gonna shove it to those who don't want it.

That said, if we ARE gonna talk about anime, I gotta say you would be surprised about which anime I watch. I do not watch nor like stuff like Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Bleach, Zatch Bell; Overly forced "kewl" things, Giant Robots are not usually my thing (though I did watch Evangelion), and overly cliche and/or lame concepts. Though I would qualify as a fan, I am very picky of what I watch. If it doesn't do anything for me, I don't watch.

Currently I'm keepin watch of a few anime, most notably The Tower of Druaga (A fantasy medieval-style anime) and BLASREITTER (About a special police force chasing after monsters called Algamans). Both are being shown online at the same time they show it on Japanese TV via a deal the publisher did with a few web sites (like YouTube). If you're interested, there are already 3 episodes of each uploaded and they add new episodes weekly (friday for Druaga, saturday for BLASREITTER).

Also on my watch list:

Great Teacher Onizuka (HILARIOUS tale of a former gang member turned teacher)
Serial Experiments Lain (watched 2 episodes and I still have no clue what's it about, but it's intriguing)
Saber Marionette J (I won't even try to explain it, and if you brave to watch it, you'll think I'm weird... and pervert)

Yep, agreed. That's why I'm not a bit mad on opinions like

Because, hey, that's his opinion - life is not a bowl of cherries and people may have different opinions :D

Well, I don't like all these "kewl" things either. That are the animes that form opinions like "anime is childish and stupid"...

Watched all three episoded that were uploaded (Veoh has also deals with publishers, it seems - but it has kickass quality when you DL it).
The friend who recommended me most of the other animes I watch recommended also this. He said it would be hilarious - I watched the first ep and totally agreed, I really laughed cause it has so good parodies.
Then the 2nd episode comes and... well, it come kinda back to normal, all in all, it's not so incredibly funny. My friend says it would suck, but I didn't think so and watched all 3 episodes.

I like it already because it has this "german sounds great but we have no idea how to use it"-feeling.
Blasser Reiter Blassreiter = Pale Rider
Blaller Ritter = Pale Knight
Blas-Reiter = well, "blasen" is "to blow", so probably not intended. :D

But also sounds interesting :) Maybe I watch the three eps.

According to my friend, I HAVE to watch it, but I didn't yet... :D

Sometimes the animes are based on the weirdest things. The title Saber Marionette J reminds me of Saber, a character of Fate/Stay Night (didn't watch it, though).
So the story there is about the chase after the holy grail and some giant duel of mages. Or something. And, by the way, it's based on a japanese porn game.... :huh:
Same thing for "Popotan", some series that looks like it's clearly for younger kids, especially younger girls and well, I watched it while I was learning physics so I didn't get too serious.
"Hey Corny, did you know Popotan is based on some japanese childporngame?" "WTF???"

Anime... well, there's only ONE I would like to see - Ghost in the Shell. Fin.

Have both here and can only say, it's worth it. ^_^
2 looks much better than 1, but it's also a few years difference.

I'd say otherwise about GITS! I've seen whole movie and almost fallen asleep. It still is all about long dialogues about anything. And naked androids, yeah. :P

Yes, it's much about "what if you could ban your "Ghost" into some Shell and replace the rest with machinery". Quite philosophical.
And the naked android didn't draw my attention, it isn't done to do that anyway, so it wasn't annoying for me.

The name of the last Anime I watched just came to my mind.
It was FLCL.

Let me say it like this: This one is awesome! Not because it's an anime, but because of how it's made and what it is about.
I think most people will not approve of it but people who can be truely crazy in their heads from time to time will love it (like me or that fellow from the IRC chat who thinks like me and suggested it).

That's exactly what I heard.
Isn't there also a character called canti?

Well, I don't want to spoil to much, so I just say that it's one of the robots there who helps the Protagonists. :)

I don't watch series, I've only watched Dragonball Z but they repeated the first "sagas" so many times I grew tired of it by the time they finally entered the Cell saga.

I'm a huge fan of the film Spirited Away, and Grave of the Fireflies left a lasting impression on me as well. I watched Grave because Michel Ancel mentioned it as a source of inspiration for BG&E. It's a good impression of what a war can do to children involved in it, without turning overly sentimental. I'm also very fond of The Animatrix, anime is perfect for the Matrix universe. I'm looking forward to Batman: Gotham Knight, a similar project to The Animatrix with Batman, showing what MIGHT have happened between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

And if I can mention a fantastic anime inspired game: Killer 7. It also contains some great anime cutscenes, adding to the great style of the game.

I really want to see Metropolis, its concept sounds really cool and besides that it's got the same name as one of my favourite classic films.

YES! Another fan! FLCL (Pronounced Furi Kuri) is frickin' awesome! Hell, my sister, a notorious anime-hater, actually sat down and watched a few episodes. It's a perfect little (6 episodes only) series for those who feel the mood for some craziness.

Man, Denden... I wanna watch GotF. It's one of the Ghibli films I've yet to watch. (Heck, I watched Tales from Earthsea already and still haven't watched this.) Studio Ghibli is by far my favorite anime/film studio. Their movies are always charming, beautifully animated, and damn near perfect. I am waiting for Ponyo on a Cliff to be released. It may be Hayao Myazaki's final film as director.

Anime?! Anime?!..................................................................... I LOVE ANIME! :wub:

I have seen many anime's my most favorites are the rave master, tenchi muyo, naruto,Inuyasha and bleach.

I also like MAR,Bobobo bobo bobo,Ghost in the shell,Hamtaro,sailor moon,dinosaur king, Duel masters,One piece,gundam,Cowboy beebop,fullmetal alchemist, mew mew power,blood+,blue dragon,pokemon,code Geas,trinity blood,eureka 7,zoids,outlaw star,big O,FLCL,dragonball. thats all i can think of, i know there are a few i didn't mention.

i also love these three anime movies called "Spirited Away" and "Kiki's Delivery Service", "tenchi movie 2:daughter of darkness".

I really like Fullmetal Alchemist. It's probably my favorite right now. I also like Avatar, even though some people complain about it not being true anime.

I can't stand Naruto... the English version at least. His voice bugs the crud out of me. :P

Yep... I see where you're coming from. Just because it's made in America and abides by american programing schedules (20 episodes per year vs. up to 52 episodes per year in Japan... they don't believe in breaks!) people don't want to call Avatar "anime". So my logic is "so if for example CGI started in Spain, any CGI that's made outside of Spain can't be called CGI?" Still, I see the stylization in Avatar that goes beyond what normal anime does, so perhaps that's a factor. To try and compromise, I just call it "americanime" and hope they like it.

He-he, lately, I've been always either watching animes or writing, actually. Out of those, the ones I really have to mention are the following.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni(When Cicadas Cry): This has become my favourite one EVER! 8D I'm normally not one for gore and horror, but this anime(at least the first season) depicts mental instability so well, that it instantly grabbed me. The second season isn't as horror-like as the first, but still quite good. :)
Full Metal Panic Fumoffu: A war-maniac and a short tempered girl in a normal, urban enviroment. 'nuff said XD Had my best laughs in months. :D
Claymore: Meh...okay, okay, so we've seen people with big swords a lot of times already. Still there was something charming about this particular anime. The fights and the music were kinda good in my opinion. :P

OK. I never thought that I'll post anything here but hell I need your advice. I'm not a big fan of anime or manga mainly because of few things that annoy me. BUT I can get over that if the story is good. So, few days ago I watched a anime called Ergo Proxy. It really good and it has NONE of that annoying stuff I hate. So I want you to tell me if there is anime(s) like Ergo Proxy. An anime that is really serious that doesn't have any school girl or boy shit, no Japanese-funny situations, it has to serious with a message with a philosophy (that's one of the best things about ergo proxy, it's philosophy). NO cliche shit, it has to be deep, very deep. I want to say after watching it "wow that's new, that's deep". I can also be experimental or avan-garde (like Aeon Flux, except it's not anime). So, the imperative is that it MUST be deep! So please help me with my intellectual hunger. :) Thanks!

I haven’t seen it but maybe, Grave of the fireflies?

Tough question, Infidel. You see, looking for anime with deep messages is like trying to find the deep, overarching meaning inside a "Saw" film. I'll even admit that most of my faves aren't very deep.

That said, of those in my recent memory, you could try "Serial Experiments Lain". It deals with the evils of the internet and questioning the exisuense of a god, among other things. Word of warning: you may find it very weird and abstract, it's devoid of violence... (TBC. Damn PSP)

(Double~post apologies. PSP limits) ... and it also has a hint of that school girl thing you mentioned, so that might turn you off. Definitely research first.

(Also, they focus so much on eyes it could make you puke.)

Grave of fireflies I already have. But still thanks GAP! :)

I found this anime FLCL - looks ok. I'll research Serial Experiments Lain, seem interesting. I love strange and abstract stuff.

If anybody else knows any other experimental or deep anime, please do tell.

P.S. Lightweight did you watched We are the strange? I had to take 10 breaks because of effects in the anime... :P

Grave of the Fireflies is certainly touching and heartrending -- no more "deep", I think, than other historical fiction.

There are a slough of good anime psychological thrillers that could be considered "deep" in that they explore the dark recesses of individuals' minds -- I'm thinking of Perfect Blue and Paprika, here.

I just re-read the first 2 novels of the Gunnm: Battle Angel Alita manga series and was disappointed to find they were not as good as I recall them being 10 years ago.

I'd have an easier time taking this seriously if you had a specific topic/subject matter you were interested in, rather than just stipulating that you want to see something insightful. There have been a lot of movies made specifically to be deep that wound up truly execrable.

Hmmm, it doesn't qualify as an anime, but it's rotoscoped and definitely bills itself as thinky -- perhaps give Waking Life a try.

I watched Deep Blues and it's awesome! Thanks for the Paprika, I'll see it...

Hmm... Ok here are the themes: cyberpunk, insanity, absurd, philosophy incorporated into the story, desperation, futility of human actions, mental breakdown, strange, avangarde, getting inside head of individual.... Also include topics similar to those themes.

Waking Life looks good. I'll see it, thanks! :)

I've been watching Serial Experiments Lain on YouTube and I love it. I haven't finished yet so no spoilers please.

Lain fun fact: the lead writer of Lain was also the lead writer of the third season of Digimon.

Great... now you've ruined "Lain" for me.

Since I'm running out of anime ideas, I thoguht I might take a few of yours (namely, Deep Blue).

BTW, have you watched Evangelion yet? It really messes with you and gets you to think, especially around the later episodes and the movie.