Anime Thread - 09/18/02

[MrAngryFace]

So I picked up Bubble Gum Crisis Tokyo 2040 Perfect Collection a week ago and it rocks. Nothing fancy of course, this IS ADV we are talking about. It's a great little series tho. The dub work is fairly on the spot, the story rocks, the boomer and hardsuit designs are neat, and the characters are all very unique.

I also have End of Evangelion DVD pre-bought over at Suncoast. Can't wait to watch it, should be great.

For fansubbers, Azumanga 21 and 22 were released this week so far. There was a small lull since the server that hosts these episodes needed an OS and hardware upgrade. 4 more episodes to go. Be sure to check out Scryed too, if you haven't.

I am currently working on the following series: Love Hina (2 DVDs to go), Excel Saga (4 DVDs to go), El Hazard: The Wanderers (2 DVDs to go), and Evangelion (One DVD to go - End of Eva).

Current Top 5 Favorites and my Collection:

Top 5
1.) The Slayers/Next/Try/OVA
2.) Azumanga Daioh
3.) Cowboy Bebop
4.) Scryed
5.) Excel Saga

Owned:
Cowboy Bebop (Complete)
The Slayers (Complete)
The Slayers NEXT (Complete)
The Slayers TRY (Complete)
Slayers: Book of Spells
Slayers The Motion Picture
Lost Universe (Complete)
Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (Complete)
El Hazard: Magnificent World Box Set (Complete)
Tenchi Universe (Complete)
Tenchi Muyo OVA (Complete)
Tenchi the Movie
Tenchi the Movie 2
Excel Saga (2 DVDs - Incomplete)
El Hazard: The Wanderers (2 DVDs - Incomplete)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (9 DVDs - Soon to be Completed)
Love Hina (4 DVDs - Incomplete)
Metropolis
Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
Nadesico (Complete)

[Alan Dunkin]

In the last few months have discovered those NTSC no-region DVD sets that are coming out of Taiwan or Hong Kong, forget which, that feature Englishsub anime TV shows, picked up Lupin and Macross 7 (first sets) so far. I have the fansub'd Macross 7 so it's interesting to see how the translation fairs.. fair to not that great. Pretty clear on DVD though, a far cry from realvideo.

There are quite a few of these series sets I wouldn't mind getting that aren't available in the US yet (like Z Gundam and Turn A Gundam).

--- Alan

[MrAngryFace]

Yeah, I can see the problems there. I dont own any HK releases since I usually just go looking for the fansubs for stuff that isn't licensed yet or just wait till it hits stateside.

In your situation its a bit different. HK dvd packaging can often be nicer than the US releases but the amount of video crammed on their dvds is a little obscene and definitely hurts the overall quality of the package. Of course its still better than a fansub.

I am a bit worried about both Azumanga Daioh and Scryed since neither have been licensed yet which could mean ill be watching the fansubs I have downloaded for a long time.

Azumanga might not even translate well since there is a good number of local cultural jokes that just wouldn't translate well into a dub. I actually hope they do a dub even if it IS horrible, then the series will see an american release. Ill just watch the sub :)

[Anders Hallin]

Shoujo Kakumei Utena is great.
Revolutionary Girl Utena in English.
It's bloody brilliant. I just downloaded a couple of music videos with clips from the show and I really, REALLY have to see it all again.

[balut]

If you can, try to get a hold of some fansubbed Flame of Recca. It's pretty wild and fun, a modern-era high-school kids with ninja powers fighting the forces of evil type series. One of those anime series where every new character introduced has some sort of cool hidden power.

- Balut

[MrAngryFace]

Yeah a friend of mine let me borrow a tape but it was pretty low quality. I might look online for a fansub.

[Dave Long]

Where does one find these fansubs? I never even knew such a think existed.

--Dave

[Thierry Nguyen]

Where does one find these fansubs? I never even knew such a think existed.

--Dave

Any other place where you'd get bootleg stuff (FTP, IRC, etc).

On the topic, I watched fansubs of Digic Charat and FLCL a coupla years ago, and only now are there going to be Region 1 DVDs of FLCL.

God, I think I stopped watching Bubble Gum Crisis after Bubble Gum Crash, when everyone was split up or something? I did think BGC had an awesome villain for an episode or two, with the Boomer who can control the orbital satellites with his mind.

[MrAngryFace]

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 is a much better series than the original in my opinion of course. Its just much more mature and all four of the knight sabers have real character growth.

As for fansubs, I download fansubs for anime that hasnt been licensed yet. Most decent fansubbers observe the golden rule that IF a series gets licensed they wont fansub and distribute it.

Azumanga is easy to get right now. enterthegame.net on irc: channel - #ishin-digital. I hear the episodes are served off an MIT server :)

[Tyjenks]

nerds :)

[Sean Tudor]

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 is a much better series than the original in my opinion of course. Its just much more mature and all four of the knight sabers have real character growth.

It was a great series. 2040 had the typical mind-bending anime ending though. I wasn't satisfied with the way it ended.

[balut]

Yeah, but BGC 2040 doesn't have the 80s rock J-Pop! Therefore, BGC2040 < BGC2032.

- Balut

[Brad Grenz]

You guys realize that those super cheap, region free DVDs out of HK are all bootlegs, right?

[Alan Dunkin]

I have no idea, I buy mine from Ebay, where I assume everything is nice and legal.

Or, think of it another way, you're paying someone to put your fansubs on region-free DVD and in nice packaging. Since a lot of that stuff is not available in the US yet, I don't feel too bad in buying them. If they are, I buy the US versions and no longer support the fansub, like fansubbers are supposed to do.

--- Alan

[MrAngryFace]

Of course, but ANOTHER reason I dont buy them is their poor video quality ;)

[Jim Preston]

Current Top 5 Favorites and my Collection:

Top 5
1.) The Slayers/Next/Try/OVA
2.) Azumanga Daioh
3.) Cowboy Bebop
4.) Scryed
5.) Excel Saga

Owned:
Cowboy Bebop (Complete)
The Slayers (Complete)
The Slayers NEXT (Complete)
The Slayers TRY (Complete)
Slayers: Book of Spells
Slayers The Motion Picture
Lost Universe (Complete)
Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (Complete)
El Hazard: Magnificent World Box Set (Complete)
Tenchi Universe (Complete)
Tenchi Muyo OVA (Complete)
Tenchi the Movie
Tenchi the Movie 2
Excel Saga (2 DVDs - Incomplete)
El Hazard: The Wanderers (2 DVDs - Incomplete)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (9 DVDs - Soon to be Completed)
Love Hina (4 DVDs - Incomplete)
Metropolis
Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
Nadesico (Complete)

Wow. All that anime and nary a Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, Akira, or Blood to be found. If that were the only anime a person (not me of couse, *cough*) had in their collection, would that brand them as a hopeless poseur to the anime cognoscenti?

[Alan Dunkin]

Of course, but ANOTHER reason I dont buy them is their poor video quality ;)

Well so far the ones I've gotten are pretty good quality-wise. Beats loading RealCrap to watch 'em.

Used to have GITS on tape, sold it off to get the DVD and never got it (have the comic though). My collection is actually pretty small as a lot of anime doesn't really catch my fancy. I do have the new Pioneer Akira, however. Appleseed, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz as well, the aforementioned Macross 7 Set 1, Macross Plus: The Movie (kind of disappointing). A couple of others. Have quite a bit more fansub'd.

Hmm, I don't have that much. .. have a lot of DVDs, just not a lot of anime.

Oh, Iron Giant.. that doesn't count though :)

--- Alan

[Miramon]

I really liked the recent bubblegum crisis remake series. The animation is not quite top quality, though it is quite good for TV, but something about the color sense and design really appeals to me, plus I also like the characters and plots, mostly; though you can easily nitpick them here and there, they are at least more grown-up than typical shoot-em-up anime without losing the fun aspects of the genre.

I also liked Cowboy Bebop, though it was rather depressing and glum in places.

Lately I've watched the Big O series (no not the Big O you're thinking of, get your mind out of the gutter :lol:) and found it at least mildly amusing.

I just watched Armitage II -- Dual Matrix. I had seen Armitage III -- Poly Matrix some years before, and assumed Armitage II was a rerelase of an earlier movie. Bizarrely, it is actually a sequel to Armitage III. I just don't comprehend the naming scheme for the movie at all... Anyhow the relatively new II is significantly better than Armitage III in animation quality, though a few sequences have intrusive computer animation that is too glaringly different from the cel animation. However, in some places the two forms mix pretty well. For some reason Armitage's dialogue mainly consists of little grunts or "mm-hm" sounds.... Still the scenes near the end with the evil ice-skating clones (stolen from Dogma, or vice versa?) are pretty good.

[Miramon]

Yeah, if you don't mind silly low quality TV animation, the entire Slayers series is a lot of fun in a sort of trashy D&D-ish way.

Heh, let's see if I can remember that cool spell.... as cast by our heroine, Lina Inverse, the world's most powerful sorceress, even if she is not that well endowed :lol:

Crimson beyond the blood that flows.... Darkness beyond twilight... Buried in the depths of time... Oh great master, I pledge my soul to darkness... Let the fools who stand against us be DESTROYED! Dragon Slave!

Well, something like that anyhow.

This spell is of course being uttered by a cute teenage girl who let us say is trying to kill a dragon which is plaguing a local village. The spell kills the dragon, yeah, but also destroys the village, leaving a mile-wide crater of slag....

[MrAngryFace]

Slayers is my favorite anime, hands down. The cast of characters is one of the best in anime. Plus Lina is one of the best characters in anime.

Her and Kazuma from Scryed = the best.

As for Ghost n the Shell and Ninja Scroll n all that stuff. I tend to shy away from the darker anime. Evangelion is about as far as ill go. I tried to like Lain but I just couldnt.

Anime about Ninjas just doesnt jive with me. A taste thing. Ghost in the Shell is...well something i've never been interested in watching. Ditto with Akira.

Now Metropolis, that's a good anime movie.

[Anders Hallin]

Anime about Ninjas just doesnt jive with me. A taste thing.

So you're more of a pirate man?

[Alan Dunkin]

GITS: Stand Alone Complex's first episode aired in Japan recently. Trying to get a fansub of it now..

--- Alan

[Brad Grenz]

Is there a fansub already? The official website just released a couple clips of animation.

[Alan Dunkin]

Is there a fansub already? The official website just released a couple clips of animation.

Yup, just got it. The fansub is ok -- it may go fast, but it does the job (could be better) -- it's DivX encoded so you'll need the codec, but man, it's pretty good. The animation for a TV series is at the high end I'd say. Episode 2 is already available, haven't gotten it yet.

--- Alan

[Met_K]

Just went to the local comic con today. I realized how square and unhip I am. Compared to the people there, I know about as much about anime as most the comic shop owners there know about sex.

I also realized that about 75% of anime has tentacle sex in it to make up for the lack of talent and plot. The other 25% looked, and was told to be, fucking great. Too bad I only own about 1% of that 25%.

Um, this pertains in no way, shape, or form to this thread, except in spirit. So here's to shutting up and letting the masters talk.

[Anders Hallin]

Have I hyped Revolutionary Girl Utena on this thread?
Hmm, I see that I have. Nevermind then :)

[Alan Dunkin]

Just got episode 2.. the art is noticeably different (mostly the characters) so I'm guessing (for Stand Alone Complex) that they use different teams of animators/artists. I like this episode a lot, and it brings a pretty strong story (and finale) for such an early episode.

The tank is pretty damn cool, I love the way it walks around -- basically it looks like a big scorpion.

--- Alan