Completely OT: Who watches anime?

[GreySeraph]

I know some of you otaku brethren are out there! Say hi and tell me some of your favorite animes and manga. I'll start by saying some old ones I love are Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop and Miyazaki/Ghibli films. Recently I've been loving FMA, Tsubasa Chronicle, Kara no Kyoukai, and Death Note.

 

 

And let flames come if they wish; it'll show how ignorant people can be

[bennyguitfiddle]

I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[picker]

I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

Adult cartoons from Japan, sometimes pornographic and violent.

[The Bear Jew]

My wife and I watch anime from time to time, but I wouldn't describe either of us as otaku (the Japanese term for obsessed anime fans).

 

Actually, Picker, there's a lot of different types of anime out there--as you mentioned, some of it is violent and pornographic (like hentai and ecchi), but those are sub-genres. There are many more comedy, fantasy, action and drama animes available on regular prime-time TV and acceptable for all ages, not to mention full-length theatrical movies.

 

For example, we just watched Grave of the Fireflies, which is a semi-autobiographical animated movie about two kids who survive the bombing of Hiroshima. It's pretty heavy, but it's also stirring and emotional. Roger Ebert called it "the most poignant anti-war movie ever made." Yeah, like I said, heavy.

 

I generally prefer the funny stuff, like Yakitate Japan, which is about the most talented bread-maker in Japan (no shit), but I will give almost anything a try.

[A String]

I don't watch anime as it's not really my thing. I did see "Spirited Away" though and thought it was a fantastic movie. And when I was younger I saw "The last unicorn". (Not sure if those count...)

[picker]

When I was in Arkansas during the mid 60's, I watched Astro-Boy on Saturdays, which was a Japanese cartoon with episodes an hour in length if I recall correctly. I think that is classed as anime now.

 

I remember another cartoon I saw during my short but miserable stay in Las Vegas During the mid-to late 70's. I don't recall the name of it, but it was about a group of sailors who resurrected the sunken Japanese WW II battleship Yamato, turned it into a space ship, and battled space invaders of some sort. I think that is now classed as anime too.

Updated; The Show was called Star Blazers, and it is indeed anime.

Am I wrong, or wasn't the early 80's American movie Heavy Metal considered anime?

[Caevan O’Shite]

(Not completely off-topic; there's a lot of great music in some of these, and even the wonkier not-so-great music has a lot of kitschy campy oddball stuff to draw from...)

 

"Cowboy Bebop and Miyazaki/Ghibli films"... Yes!!

 

Spirited Away is one of my very favorite films; I've got it on DVD- and I don't have very many- though I

I've always seemed to have loaned it out to someone who hadn't seen it or even heard of it before...

 

Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind ... these are all fantastic, stunning, incredible works, masterpieces of animation in particular and outright all-around cinema in general.

 

I'd really like to see Grave of the Fireflies sometime, too, as well as many of the other Miyazaki/Ghibli releases.

 

The art, the music, the moods and colors all allow even extended scenes of passing scenery to keep the attention of the viewer, where others would have them bored stiff.

 

Some others from the producers of those that are lighter fare, like Kiki's Delivery Service and Baron, the Cat Baron (title? I saw that one on TV with sub-titles, and I think that the official translated-release bears a different name) are cute and thoroughly enjoyable- excellent, only lesser compared to the previously named films that are more outstanding achievements of Miyazaki and/or Ghibli...

 

I loved Cowboy Bebop- the music that Yoko Kanno composed for it, especially "Tank!", is all 200% FANTASTIC!- though the finale was a bummer. I got to see the feature-length cinematic film in a private cinema-screening with a handful of friends, after having missed its brief run in only a few major cities in the US. As for the series, it's hard to pick one favorite episode! I understand that there's a live-action film-version in the works; Idunno if I care or not, Idunno what's the point of live-action anime... ??

 

I think that there's a very definite chain of influence between earlier American films, Japanese films of the '40s and '50s, back to American films (Samurai films being transformed into Westerns, anyone?), to Italian "Spaghetti-Westerns" and Sci-Fi of the '60s and '70s, and back to anime... The visual composition, timing, tension and release, and dialog of many great anime films are very much like that of many classic "Spaghetti Westerns", ever notice?

[picker]

I know some of you otaku brethren are out there!

 

Don't know if I'd want to class my self as an otaku...

 

From the Urban Dictionary...

 

Otaku is the honorific word of Taku (home).

 

Otaku is extremely negative in meaning as it is used to refer to someone who stays at home all the time and doesn't have a life (no social life, no love life, etc)

 

Usually an otaku person has nothing better to do with their life so they pass the time by watching anime, playing videogames, surfing the internet (otaku is also used to refer to a nerd/hacker/programmer).

 

In the Western culture, people confuse otaku to be something positive like "Guru". If you think about it, it's not really good to be called a guru if it means you are a total loser who can't socialize with other people except through the Internet.

 

Other Japanese words which have been confused by Westerners also include but not limited to: Anime, Manga, etc

otaku no jinsei ha yabai na! (it sucks to live the life of an otaku!)

[Caevan O’Shite]

Kinda like "couch potato" and "nerd", huh?

 

We're all guitar-geeks with G.A.S. here...

 

Let-chore freak-flag fly!

[GreySeraph]

lawl i dont watch hentai or anime porn.

 

@ Caevan: probably my favorite was Howls, but I'm really excited about Ponyo because I havent seen it yet and people are telling me it's fantastic!

 

@ A String: sure thing those count Was that it? may I try and introduce you to more that are just generally accessible to American audiences?

 

 

Has anyone watched Kara No Kyoukai? I think a bunch of you would dig it!

[Caevan O’Shite]

Y'know, if it was by anyone else, I wouldn't be very interested at all in going to see a film about a goldfish; thanks for the tip off- now I might go catch Ponyo at a cinema in a nearby town this week.

 

And I'm serious abut the music that Yoko Kanno has composed for the Cowboy Bebop series- it's some really great Jazz and who-knows-what-to-call-it!

[A String]

@ A String: sure thing those count Was that it? may I try and introduce you to more that are just generally accessible to American audiences?

 

I'm a huge movie buff. If it's good, I'll watch it. With Spirited Away, the writing and directing were superb. Far better then one would expect from a cartoon.

 

My problem with most anime that I have seen (and admittedly I haven't seen a lot), is my dislike for martial arts in movies. I'm not a big fan of watching martial arts, even though I respect it, I just don't enjoy watching it. A lot of anime seems to contain martial arts so is not really my cup of tea, so to speak.

[skipclone 1]

Anime is not really my thing either but I`ve seen some that I really like-a long time ago I rented `Ghost in the Shell` without knowing much about it and it knocked me out, great stuff. That song from `Naruto` is enough to get anyone doing a fist-in-the-air salute, not sure of the title bit it rocks. I like what I`ve seen of `Evangelion`, in fact I got an action figure for my nephew and niece but it`s so complicated I`m not sure they ever got started on it-lots of interchangeable pieces. I thought I saw a trailer for a film version of it-had Elijah Wood I believe, but I don`t know if it was ever completed.

As a side note, the theme song for `Spirited Away` was sung by a woman who is from the town I originally worked in when I came to Japan. I may even end up working in that town again next year. She came to the junior high school where I worked and did a live show. That instrument on the song in fact a lyre, built in Germany in the 1920s. She has lived in California for a number of years, a lot of the songs she did were in English.

[GreySeraph]

And I'm serious abut the music that Yoko Kanno has composed for the Cowboy Bebop series- it's some really great Jazz and who-knows-what-to-call-it!

 

I'm the guy talking on the right with the explorer. Took forever to arrange the parts out, and by the time I got the band together we had 3 days to rehearse, so critique as if I was your girlfriend's 6 year old kid brother.

 

@ A String: If you like a total mindfu**, try Death Note. No martial arts involved...just a TON of suspense and w/e. Try not to read any synopses on the show, but just drive into it.

 

If you like lighter stuff, you might like K-On! (it's a tad girly, but there's a lot of musician humor in that one, in a moe (pronounced mo-eh, means cute) sorta way).

 

If you feel you like something hip and steampunk-ish, either Cowboy Bebop or Ghost in the Shell would be good for you.

 

Let me know what you decide upon and ill bring you either a torrent link or a place where you can stream em from.

[Caevan O’Shite]

And I'm serious abut the music that Yoko Kanno has composed for the Cowboy Bebop series- it's some really great Jazz and who-knows-what-to-call-it!

 

I'm the guy talking on the right with the explorer. Took forever to arrange the parts out, and by the time I got the band together we had 3 days to rehearse, so critique as if I was your girlfriend's 6 year old kid brother.

 

Hey, that's great! That was very cool that you guys picked that, and that you arranged it like that (you yourself arranged it, or several of you, or... ?). The Explorer is a nice fit for that, as well.

 

Oh, "girlfriend's 6 year old kid brother", eh? Almost forgot- "here, dude, here's a pile of tokens, go get lost at the arcade for a while"...

[Phil W]

I watch a lot - a wide variety of stuff though I love Miyazaki.