Advanced Anime Discussion Part II (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Ulmer]

All three of those are licensed. I wouldn't be surprised to see them start to appear by the end of the year.

 

[JohnAD]

Joe:
Lickily, GTO only has 3 of the 10 disks out so far. So you really wouldn't have to go overboard. Disk 4 comes out in September.
Kong:
Now I really can't wait for the rest of GTO to come out!
John.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I've got a question.

I remember hearing a while ago that Cowboy Bebop was being made by one company, but then they decided to stop the series because it got low ratings or something like that, so another company bought the rights and finished it. Can someone confirm/deny this and tell me which episode was the last one made by the original company if it's true?

 

[Doug R]

I know this has probably been done before, but would someone not mind giving me a lowdown on the entertainment value of Escaflowne. I have the Cowboy Bebop Perfect Sessions and am totally in love with Cowboy Bebop. The only other series I've seen is Now and Then, Here and There and really enjoyed it.

I'm considering a new plunge but need encouragement. Here's what I like: serious stories with occasional humor, deep characters that make you care about them, epic storylines. I'm not hard to please, am I? =)

Thanks!

Doug

 

[James D]

Doug- I can't help you regarding 'Escaflowne'(haven't seen it yet, but will shortly), but you should check out 'Neon Genesis-Evangelion'. Great series and you can usually find the set for around $100. It's also a perfect time to delve into this series because the two 'Evangelion' movies are coming out shortly, 'Death and Rebirth'-July 30th, 'End of Evangelion'-September 24th.

 

[JasonRH]

Doug,
Based on your criteria I think it is safe to say that you will not be disappointed by Escaflowne. It is second only to Cowboy Bebop in my collection, and that could easily be reversed. Take the plunge, you won't regret it.

 

[Ted Lee]

ha! there you guys are....
i have nothing to add except "New Thread -- Woo Hoo!"

 

[Joe_C]

i have nothing to add except "New Thread -- Woo Hoo!"

That is certainly enough though. Thank you.....
------------
Doug:
I agree with Jason and James about getting Neon Genesis Evangelion before Escaflowne. Eva IMO was a much more enjoyable and exciting show, but that's not to say that I didn't enjoy Escaflowne either. I bought all 8 discs, and don't regret a thing.
But no matter what that is one show you DO NOT WATCH DUBBED. Most of you know that I'm faaaar more lenient on the dub quality issue than Kong or either of our esteemed Jeffs (), but the English VA for Dilandau, especially, will inevitably make the case for me. Instead of sounding deranged and sociopathic, he just sounds like a whiny, little brat. Very irritating. Just watch it subbed, I made that mistake first time around, and now I want to make sure nobody does the same...

 

[Kong Chang]

If you're gonna avoid the series dub of Escaflowne, then also avoid the movie version as well, since the actor also does Dilandau's voice in the movie, and Dilandau has a great part in the movie.
Another series I recommend is His and Her Circumstances (kareshi kanojo no jijou) [Note: Title translation is incorrect, but that's a whole another topic] which is available in R1 distributed by RightStuf. It is a shoujo series, based on a shoujo manga of the same name. Produced by Gainax and mostly directed by Hideaki Anno (of Nadia and Evangelion fame), it's a story of relationship between Arima Souichirou and Yukino Miyazawa, both of them top students in their classes. It's about love and friendship and a whole slew of other goodies. Really funny and some episodes are seriously sad. A highly recommended series to those who love to watch a good love story drama. If you do watch it, watch out for Tsubasa. What a funny girl she is.

 

[JohnAD]

Kong:
But does it have the Gainax Bounce?
John.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

A couple other series in the romantic vein I've seen recently are Love Hina and I'm a couple of discs into Kimagure Orange Road, which I also love. Love Hina is more of a comedy, but KOR is pretty funny too. Another of my fave classic animes is Urusei Yatsura. Lum rocks.

 

[Kong Chang]

JohnAD:
No infamous Gainax bouncing breasts. However, it does have the humor. Gainax has a new anime series about a shopping district, I think the title is "Abenobashi Shopping District" which is supposed to be so funny, it's just wrong.
But if you want the famous Gainax bussom bounce, get Automatic Maiden: Mahoromatic, which will be released by Pioneer USA for R1 release. It's hilarious, and there will be a 2nd series starting up in Japan later this year. YAY!! More R2 purchases!
Hey, speaking of Maid series, I love Hand Maid May, it was such a great love story between the creator and his cyber-doll, I almost cried at the ending. Pioneer will be releasing Mahoromatic, which is about a cyber fighting weapon doll that was sent to the past to prevent the future from happening. Hilarious. Another hilarious maid series is Hanaukyo Maid Tai ("Hanaukyo Maids") which is about how a grandson inherited his grandfather's mansion and all the 100 maids that serve in it as well (and these maids will do "anything" to please their master...and when I say "anything" I mean "anything" ). *giggle* I didn't like Kokoro no Toshokan ("Kokoro's Library" or the pun "Library of the Heart") as much as I would thought. However, I found Angel's Tail to be hilarious, too cute most times and kinda silly, but damn that intro song is so freaking addictive...argh! Hmm, that's all I can think of...there's one more that my mind is farting on...oh well, I think of it later.

 

[JohnAD]

Kong:
I'll have to look into it . I'm also looking forward to the next Burn Up W release. Apparently, ADV (?) will have a jiggle counter for each character. Mmmmm...fan service .
John.

 

[Kong Chang]

JohnAD:
If you want to see the jiggle factor, put that counter on jello during an earthquake. Jiggle is not as bad as gratuitous panty shot.
I just love those.

 

[JohnAD]

Kong:
LOL
John.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I'd have to second Hand Maid May. Fanservice is a bit overdone, but the characters and story were great. I too was almost crying at the end.

I also just finished Vandread first stage, and while not perfect, it was certainly fun, loaded with CGI space battles.

 

[Ted Lee]

i just found a used copy of X last night. i watched about the first 20 minutes of it. i really liked the characters, but there's so many of them to keep track of.
although i usually claim to like the newer "slick" anime style, this one caught my attention. not sure how to put it...the characters seemed more "fluid" or something.
anyway, it was like midnight when i was watching it, so i couldn't really follow. seemed like a bunch of dream sequences followed by a few fights. i'll give it a good run later this week when i can focus on it better. so far, so good though...

 

[JasonRH]

quote:
"Doug:
I agree with Jason and James about getting Neon Genesis Evangelion before Escaflowne. Eva IMO was a much more enjoyable and exciting show.........."
Joe_C.,
That's not quite my recommendation
I haven't actually seen Eva yet (I plan on rectifying that soon) so I can't recommend it. Escaflowne is one of my top 2 series' so far though, so I heartily recommend that to anyone.
I do agree completely with you, however, on the dub of Esca - YUCK!!!!!!! The voice for Dilandau is brutal and the rest of the cast is pretty bad as well. It would quickly fall out of top spot in my list if the only option was the atrocious dub!
As far as Eva being a much more enjoyable show, I hope to have an opinion on that very soon but it'll have to be something very special to outdo Escaflowne, in my mind.

 

[Joe_C]

If you're gonna avoid the series dub of Escaflowne, then also avoid the movie version as well, since the actor also does Dilandau's voice in the movie, and Dilandau has a great part in the movie.

Really? Shit...

I've seen part of the sub version already, and I really liked Van's seiyuu. He seemed like violently energetic, and I think that worked really, really well.

 

[Kong Chang]

What's really funny is to hear the seiyuu's for Van and Allen of Escaflowne in Weiss Kreuz (a.k.a. in R1 "Knight Hunters"). I thought it was just great to hear familiar voices. What's even more interesting is to watch the seiyuu's talk about stuff.