Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 12:03 am Post subject: Anime
I thought we needed a thread on this subject, and thought I would start it out with this, a bit I posted in another thread.
andre wrote:
cramramdon wrote:
I loved Princess Mononoke and never got into anime other than that movie - It would be cool to hear of some recommendations - I have heard Spirated away was awesome, might have to start there.
Yes, Spirited Away was directed by the same gentleman who did Princess Mononoke, Hayao Miyazaki.
Torrent of a good selection of Studio Ghibli films (the company that the above mentioned Mr. Miyazaki co-founded), professionally and artfully dubbed in English (by Disney):
I've come across Appleseed in the video store a couple times, never seen it though. I guess it's time to check it out. Shiro Masamune is a smart cracker. _________________ "We are all happy; if we only knew it."
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
That's a shame. It seems good, but I have kind of a hard time watching shows where I understand none of what is being said. I do like the animation style, and it's interesting that the main character is some kind of Jewish rabbi and ninja sorcerer.
The series follows Dr. Kenzo Tenma (天馬 賢三, Tenma Kenzo?) as he pursues a young psychopath/sociopath named Johan, whose life Tenma once saved. The story rapidly progresses through a number of locations: it starts in Düsseldorf, Germany, passes through Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Wiesbaden, cities in the Czech Republic such as Prague, and other cities and villages.
Both anime and manga begin with a passage from The Revelation of St. John the Divine, Chapter 13: Verses 1 & 4
And I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads, the names of blasphemy. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, "Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?"
The events takes place in 1999. The end of the world is fast approaching as superhuman individuals gather and take sides in the city of Tokyo, the battle site of Armageddon. The key player in this day of reckoning is Kamui Shirō, a young man who returns home to Tokyo after a six-year absence to protect those dearest to him, Kotori and Fūma Monou, and fulfill his mother's dying wish.
Unbeknownst to the three friends, Kamui and Fūma are destined to fight each other during the end of the world. The first half of the series focuses on the gathering of the soldiers in the final battle and culminates with Kotori's death at the hands of her brother Fūma, sealing Kamui's choice as the protector of mankind and Fūma's place as his foil. The second half follows Kamui as he grows into his role as savior while the world moves along toward its inevitable destruction.
Edward and Alphonse Elric are brothers living in the village of Resembool in the country of Amestris (アメストリス, Amesutorisu?). Their father, Hohenheim, left home when Edward and Alphonse were still very young. Years later, their mother, Trisha Elric, dies of a terminal illness. After their mother's death, Edward becomes determined to bring her back through the use of alchemy, an advanced science in which an object can be reformed into something completely different. They learn of the Human Transmutation, a forbidden art in which one attempts to create a human who had died. However, this attempt failed, ultimately resulting in the loss of Edward's left leg and Alphonse's entire body. In a desperate effort to save his brother, Edward sacrifices his right arm to affix his brother's soul to a suit of armor. After that, Edward's left leg and right arm are fitted with two sets of automail, a type of advanced prosthetic limb, created for him by his close family friends Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako.
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Edward sets out to become a State Alchemist (国家錬金術師, Kokka Renkinjutsushi?), which are alchemists employed by the State Military of Amestris. State Alchemists are identified by their Fuhrer-issued silver pocket watches and the unique titles assigned to them upon becoming a State Alchemist. Becoming a state alchemist would enable Edward to use the extensive resources available to them to discover a way to restore what he and Alphonse had lost, but it also turns him into a "weapon" of the military, who are famous for destroying almost all Ishval's population in a past Civil War. The brothers eventually learn of the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary stone that is said to allow the holder to completely bypass the law of Equivalent Exchange, and set off in search of it as a means to restore their bodies. Along the way they discover that the Philosopher's Stone requires human lives to create it, and find others who seek it as well, doing almost whatever they can to get their hands on it. They become attacked by the homunculi, a group of human-like creatures that carry pieces of the Philosopher's Stone inside themselves. They are named after the seven deadly sins and act as primary villains in the series.
Those 3 are anime series which comprise of 20-80episodes. But well worth watching since they watch like a novella, disimiliar to cartoons.
Ghost in the shell the first TV series is a great example of such, in that the movie version tried to incorporate too many concepts and felt rushed to give a sense of the ongoing plot. The First TV series is much better than the movie, though the 2nd series was quite subpar.
There are a great number of very good manga(comics) that have either been rushed into animated form or never made it. That are well worth watching.
Last edited by sync on Wed Jul 16, 2008 1:43 pm; edited 1 time in total
Growing older is pretty rough and Kenji is finding out just how hard it can be as life starts wearing down on him. On top of trying to make ends meet running a convenience store he has to care for the niece that his missing sister left in his care. Memories of youth make it easier, until those memories come back to haunt him.
Kenji and his old friends are slowly being drawn into a mysterious conspiracy that could threaten the world. Who is the mysterious "Friend" and how does he tie into Kenji's youth? Why are there disappearances and deaths tied into Ochanomizu University? Their memories hold the keys to the puzzle, but time and age have clouded their minds.
The strange occurrences and the reach of the "Friend" conspiracy grow by the day. It will all culminate on New Year's Eve 2000. Will Kenji and the others be able to put together the puzzle and save the world?
Pluto (remake of astroboy for adults by the creator of the original astroboy +the creator of monster)
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Pluto follows the Europol robot detective Gesicht (German for face) in his attempts to solve the case of a string of robot and human deaths. The case becomes more puzzling when evidence suggest a robot is responsible for the murders, the first one in eight years.
Berserk. The single best comic ever created and still ongoing after 15years. The anime is not really worth watching however.
Berserk's setting is inspired by medieval Europe. It centers around the life of Guts, an orphaned mercenary warrior, and his relationship to Griffith, the leader of a mercenary band called the Band of the Hawk (鷹の団, Taka no Dan?). Both the manga and anime are noted for their heavy violence.
Most of the philosophical themes are quite complex and deep. It is heavily reliant on plato's world of forms.
Due to most of the above being licensed, if anyone wants them PM me and I will either provide a torrent link or send you the file myself.
Some quotes from berserk.
"If you desire one thing for so long, it's a given that you'll miss other things along the way. That's how it is... that's life."
"If fate is a principle beyond Human comprehension which capriciously torments man, then it is karma that man confront fate by embracing sorcery."
"Listen here boy, this is the only path that leads to the castle. Those who really want to make it to the castle must either step over the ones who have fallen or stay here to pave the road for those who have the will to make it"
The animated version of berserk is worse than comparing lotr the books to the movie. It's semi decent on its own , but it only covers 1/10th of the story.
Pluto like many adult themed(more about plot rather than imagery) probably won't ever make it to animated form.
I've seen some of Ralph Bakshis works, but didn't think much of them including LOTR.
The only western animated/produced work I do really admire besides the usual familyguy/simspons/futurama/Pixlar/older disney is watership down.
Watership Down is the first and most successful novel by British author Richard Adams. A heroic fantasy about a small group of rabbits, it was published in the UK by Rex Collings Ltd in 1972. Although the animals in the novel live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphized, possessing their own culture, language (Lapine), proverbs, poetry, and mythology. Evoking epic themes, the novel recounts the rabbits' odyssey as they escape the destruction of their warren to seek a place in which to establish a new home, encountering perils and temptations along the way.
I watched it so many times as a kid. I feel it represents the tone of the books much better than the live-action version. It did skip more of the book than the new films.
I think he did the Hobbit animation too, but I can't find that.
I have seen LOTR the animation and though in some ways it captured the bleak nature of middle earth far more so than the movie, in more ways it failed. You simply can't condense 3 huge novels into 1hour without losing too many things.
I'd rate it 4/10 with dragonlance the 'animated movie' on a 1. Until more recently, animations have been perceived in the west as a medium for children and not much effort has been made outside of disney.
Unlike movies, animation relies on the plot to drive it. There is very little 'aesthetics' in animation simply because it is far harder to capture emotives on a panel than through cinematography. Due to this, most 'animated' movies are failures if they encompass a large storyline unless they are given time to draw the plot out much like a novel.
You see that in studio ghibli also. Tales of the earthsea should be named tales of studio ghibli studios. It simply has very little relevance to the earthsea triology. The best ghibli movies are those that are based on very short works. Which is why they studio ghibli never bothered to base anything on lengthy works after nautiscaa. Tales of the earthsea being an exception because it was done by miyassakis son rather than by him.
Yes, Tales of Earthsea was by far the worst Studio Ghibli movie. It did not seem to relate to the books at all, though I haven't read them since I was a child.
I think if we separate it from the books in our minds, the Bakshi LOTR is pretty great.
I forgot about Watership Down. I am gonna download that.
I recently watched the two hellboy animated films after i was disappointed by Hellboy 2 in the cinema. They were pretty good - Better then the movies.
The Hellboy universe is incredibly occult.
The storyline says that earth is a prison for the seven lords of chaos (alias the seven churches of revelations). Once mankind is destroyed they will bring in a new eden, create a new species of man and destory the universe. (I have heard that one before)
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The Ogdru Jahad are fictional characters in Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic. They are the Dragon of Revelation, and are destined to bring about the end of the world.
Beyond the basic premise of seeking freedom and then burning the earth, there is much dissent as to precisely what the Ogdru Jahad will do upon release. The aliens that watch the cosmic prison of the Ogdru Jahad apparently perceive Earth as a focal point necessary to maintaining the prison. If the Ogdru Jahad are released, they will destroy Earth and then the entire Universe.
Rasputin, on the other hand, seems convinced that the desire of the Ogdru Jahad is to create a new, perfect world out of the ashes of the old one, where the final race of man will live.
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