Forum - View topicWhat Are You Considering Buying?
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One-Eye
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Yay, SA posted his list! I always enjoy reading it and I have made a comment or two in the past. I think I encouraged you on Birdy and Beck (sounds like some alcoholic beverage), so I hope that turned out well.
I'll just make a few quick comments about anime: I would probably suggest picking up Welcome to the NHK sooner than later. Its been in Funimation's S.A.V.E line I think for 2 years, so I don't know how much time it has left. It also gets pretty cheap during some of the holiday sales. I think its very good and has a pretty decent dub, which I tend to be picky about, if you are interested in that. If I recall, Hope Chapman included it along with other slice of life shows that she thought highly of in the ANNcast covering the 2000's. You have Gunbuster at priority 0 and probationary score of 2? Is one of those supposed to be Gunbuster 2 perhaps? They both can still be picked up, so why the probationary? You also have Please Save My Earth listed as priority under 3 and 2. Which Berserk? The TV series or the movies? Personally I didn't care for the movies so a score of 1 would be appropriate from my personal bias. Meanwhile the show is really difficult to get, so I would expect that to be lower. I'm kind of waiting and hoping that after the movies get released we will get a BD version of the TV show like Europe got. Everything else seems to be about right. No rush to get Akira since its being re-released and I imagine you must love Cowboy Bebop to have it at 5 since it too is going to be released again. |
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zawa113
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@Surrender Artist
Bump the priority on Giant Robo, it, and many other awesome Media Blasters hidden gems, are going OOP, but you can still get this one at a reasonable price, at least for a little, so get that asap. The Please Save My Earth OVA is a great way to know if you'll like the manga, though they are both rather hard to find (unless you're ok with digital manga). It covers about 7.75 volumes of material. For Nadia, I sometimes see affordable ebay listings for the singles. Suggest getting those and buying a blank ten disc case perhaps? Unless you have room for ten singles (I don't). Anyway, I've seen the first disc and enjoyed it (except for the dub, produced at a time when giving a main character an outrageous fake accent was ok, switched the sub soooo fast) On manga, now that DMP got all that Tezuka stuff, Vertical seems to ahve indicated that many of the Tezuka titles they have will go oop, so get MW and any other Tezuka titles while you can. I really liked MW, personally, so that's another plus. Ongoing series, just get the damn Fumi Yoshinaga stuff, you cannot resist! The woman is amazing! On Ooku, I am going to hoard it and read it all at once. I expect it to be a marathon session as Shakespearean English is not my first language. It's projected to be ten volumes, we shall see. My gut tells me it'd go OOP, because most of the other Yoshinaga series have, and it's an alternate history series written in Fakespeare. So probably the Yoshinaga fans will buy it and... not many others... I'm just saying, make sure you try and stay on top of that one, I do. Heart of Thomas is incredible and gorgeous, and has a physically gorgeous release, highly recommend it. |
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Crisha
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Oh, hey, look, responses that I didn't see before. Here are some responses.
I've seen the movies and I liked 'em both. I thought that the last battle in the first movie was pretty sweet and the last battle in the second movie absolutely awesome. But, you're right, they don't hold a candle to the series, which is why I haven't bought them yet. Also, they're DVD - I'd rather buy BD. I already own the series, so the movies are lower priority, but I'd still love to own 'em for the epic final battles.
Nothing like throwing out the name Junichi Sato to get me interested. 
I'm not big into Romeo and Juliet myself, but this still sounds interesting enough to check out at some point.
Well, the final boss battle between Chrno and Aion was outside of the main scope of the manga and largely unimportant (and we see the eventual outcome anyways). Rosette was the main driver of the story, and she achieved her main goal rescuing her brother. The manga focused more on the Rosette's individual ideology and how the potential strength of her will can change her current situation. Chrno got some lime light as well, and that he can face Aion in the end and fight for his own ideals (which both Magdalene and Rosette helped cultivate) without losing control or giving up shows his character growth as well. The manga has been my favorite manga since 2005, so I'm a little biased here - I thought everything was handled perfectly and I couldn't ask more from it. The anime, however... I have railed against it many times on this website. I started collecting it as soon as the DVDs started being released, having loved the manga so much. I came away very pissed off and disgusted with certain changes, especially with the way, I felt, certain characters were bastardized. I stopped buying after the 5th volume, which ends on episode 18. Way later on I ended up watching the last episode (which I felt was one of the better ones of the series despite the final battle), but I still haven't seen anything between episodes 18 and 24 despite knowing what happens. I feel like I owe it to myself and the creators to suck it up and finally finish the damn thing, even if only to just feel completely justified in my disgust. Who knows, maybe it won't be as bad the 2nd time around? spoiler[No, there's no way Aion sexually molesting Rosette and her becoming a damsel in distress is in any way forgivable or okay. But I'll suffer through regardless and try to keep as open of a mind as possible.] So, while Funi is offering the series as cheap as it will ever be, I'll buy and watch it.
Yeah, I thought the series was pretty meh as well.
Yeah, the second season is much weaker than the first, but one thing I liked about it was Fatina's growth. But, yeah, I'll probably take it off the list because I don't see myself watching it again.
Oh, the magical Junichi Sato words again! I've been interested in this series for a long while (watched the previews on the old Magic Knight Rayearth and Rurouni Kenshin VHS I bought), and this only intrigues me further. I shall have to bump it up!
Yes, anything from Nozomi requires closer examination than others. I'll probably pick up both at some point.
Yeah, I'll be watching it on Crunchy first before I make any further decisions.
Wow, thanks for all the feedback. I'll keep it in mind.
I just started buying the series. I've always liked horror, and I have read some of the first volume and enjoyed it.
Eh, I think that the anime is a better medium in this case - it has a lot stronger emotional impact and immersion due to the music and visuals. The story in the manga may be just as good and continue further past the anime, but I felt way more endeared to the anime. And I'm a bit of a completionist, so not having all of the volumes would be a bit annoying. I can check 'em all out at the library, regardless, so the manga just doesn't have as much priority on the list.
Unfortunately, I'm one of those people that's just not as taken with Tezuka's art style. It hampers my enjoyment of the story and makes it hard for me to take serious things seriously. I keep trying because I feel I'm missing out, so hopefully I can soon come to appreciate the ones that sound the most interesting to me. Viz
Yup, hopefully some day.
Loved the anime, so I'd definitely like to see the manga.
I've dropped it and sold the volumes I own. Some volumes are just too expensive, and I wasn't enamored with the story like I had hoped to be. I just don't tend to be fond with Rumiko Takahashi's slapstick and repeated jokes. They wear on me.
I'm more than halfway there now. I really like it.
Thanks for all of the feedback! And, uh, I'll respond to others later. It's now 5:30 AM, and I should probably head to bed. Heh heh. |
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luffypirate
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Are the GL films really "insanely overpriced"? I bought the set from Bandai Store for a discount so I don't know what the usual cost was. They are pretry nice sets though. I think there is a standard option too.
Speaking of GL I might have to jump on the BD box soon...Amazon JP has it marked at 40% off right now. Shipping has also taken a dip from ¥2000 to ¥1100 per single item. Everyone should take note. |
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zawa113
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@willag
Wow, I wrote that so long ago, I don't even remember some of what I wrote, lol! Seems it was page 100, eh? Anyways, on Mushishi, I definitely agree that the anime is better than the manga, one of the few times I did find the adaptation superior. The visuals, music, and pacing just add so much to it! But not having 1-5 doesn't annoy me too too much, I'd try to get 6-10, just for the sake of more Mushishi goodness. An update on CMX series, I don't see Kiichi and the Magic Books listed anywhere, so add that to your list, please! I also don't see Key to the Kingdom listed, you like fantasy shojo, right? This one fits neatly into 6 vols too. I do have the GL movies, but I also got them for $3 a pop, so.... I wouldn't be willing to pay Aniplex's insane prices though. I still say Maison Ikkoku is Takahashi's best series. It probably has the most diverse humor, and it ends in 15 vols for reals with a real ending, but yes, an awful lot of time is spent on adults not talking to each other. Still, it was one of my gateway drugs, and one of the few series I still have from my early days of collecting when my stupid 14 year old self was into junk. So I am a bit biased here. Also, did you get the Uzumaki omnibus? It has color pages the singles didn't, and it's just of course oversized and gorgeous. If you don't plan to get that, wanna buy my old 1-3 vols? Oh and I'm selling my complete Kare Kano manga set if you're intested, pm me! Selling the anime too. 4 of the vols are ex-library, just telling you straight up. Here's my ebay listing, but if you buy from me via here, I can give you a discount cus I won't have to pay the ebay fees. |
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Animegomaniac
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Well, very methodical and makes my system of "Do I want it? Yes or no?" seem absolutely barbaric. I'll delve where I feel I can offer some insight. Anime only as manga collecting makes me anxious; I only have three series and I bought them all in ten+ chunks. PS 4: I've always been on the fence about purchasing Baccano!; It's a great and exciting actions series but it's a dull and pretentious suspense and mystery series. What keeps making me question buying it is the transition between Funimation and Aniplex. The DVD release is still plentiful and cheap while the BD release is Aniplex. A mass BD release from Aniplex would help me buy the DVD tremendously... Spice and Wolf, lovely series but it could use a continuation. I wish I waited for the complete version as I ended up with the season one BD version and the season 2 combo pack somehow. Still, it's beautiful on BD. Wolf's Rain. Depressing, depressing, depressing, Wish I bought it when it was last on sale, but I'll fix that when it gets rescued. But only if it gets rereleased. PS 3 Battle Athletes Victory. This is the only sports series I really love. Right, it's a parody of sports anime. This was already several years OOP when I first saw it and chances are getting dimmer every day for a rescue. I first saw it as I searched through Kuroda/Kurata's writing credits and I was very satisfied, more than I was with High School of the Dead and The World God Only Knows. Mushishi? Beautiful and it's a great example why The Twilight Zone didn't have continuing characters or creatures/explanations. Such a tedious show... PS 2 I have Blue Seed as it was an early series I saw post TV syndication anime and it's a great example of TV cel anime. Notice that I didn't say I liked it. Nadia is getting rereleased, now on both DVD and BDs. I have the previous Section 23 rerelease; It's a great adventure story with some of the best last episodes I've ever seen from Gainax. I have RahXephon and I don't have any versions of Evangelion which should say enough on the subject. I remember watching Escaflowne yet I don't remember that much about it; Big white mecha and a cat girl with no panties in a shoujo series. That's it... PS 1 Trigun? It's the only "stand alone" series I actually like as there's actual character development for everyone as the series progresses through unrelated plots. "PS 5"? I could stand ten episodes of that, I probably should have just watched the "broadcast" version as I believe it'd be just the shows with the "excuse" plot. I can even recommend Outlaw Star over "PS 5" as it does a better job of selling its "cool hero as loser" premise because Gene Starwind is a loser. Welcome to the NHK. Saw it, liked it, wouldn't care to see it again. Between book, anime and manga, I thought the manga's ending had more going for it than "well, I'm not dead..." feeling of the other two. |
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TsunaReborn!
 Posts: 4713 Location: Cheltenham UK |
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I'm fighting the urge to buy Kokoro Connect as I have more boring priorities but it is at the top of my Anime buys. Luckily manga wise I still have Vagabond & Rave that I need to complete so I can't indulge too much into new material.
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Sailor S
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Give in to your urges and buy it! I'm not saying it's the greatest thing since sliced bread by any means. In fact, I liked it as much as I did because I absolutely love Miyuki Sawashiro's voice. I've sat through some stuff that I'd normally drop just because she was in it. So, I suppose you can skip it, but I have no intention of doing so
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TsunaReborn!
Posts: 4713 Location: Cheltenham UK |
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Haha I think I might have to at this rate. Although Christmas is coming up and I might be able to save myself the money and ask Santa to pick it up for me.
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potatochobit
 Posts: 1373 Location: TEXAS |
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Angel beats is one of Key / PA works best work
I would take it over that maple syrup filled sap like clannad anyday lol Nadia is being re-released I think, I would totally pass on trying to hunt the old copies down Honestly, right now is the worst time to buy anime wait 3 week for black friday and spend spend spend |
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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I appreciate the responses and commentary. They are reassuring, useful and encourage me to think about my priorities.
As is only polite, I shall reply to those who have commented in turn and retroactively comment on willag's most recent anime list and manga list. This gets a little... let's go charitably with 'epic'.
I’m glad that at least somebody else gets something out of these. I always worry that this whole exercise is just a little too narcissistic on my parts, although the suggestions have been helpful and going through it all forces me to think about as well as evaluate everything, so it’s even helpful indirectly.
Ms. Chapman’s review is what pointed me in Welcome to the NHK’s direction. I actually can’t get past the idea of buying the old six-volume release, which would be a huge pain, but it’s a hang-up of mine. I might break eventually.
Oops. Those were just mistakes left over from having used a copy of an earlier post as the basis for this one. I’ve corrected that. From what I can discern, the only version of the full Gunbuster OVA available in the United States was the Bandai Visual release from 2007, which has gotten rather costly. I’m not especially interested in Diebuster or its derivatives and Gunbuster: The Movie seems to be an abridged version of the original. I would like to see it, but my desire is not a burning one, so I feel like I can afford to wait until my mood changes or I get lucky and somebody releases it.
I meant the Berserk series. I took look one look at the computer animation in the films and decided, “thank you, but no.” I liked Berserk when I watched a friend’s copy years ago, I just don’t feel a particularly strong desire to see it again, although it’s certainly been long enough to justify that. I should look at how hard it is to acquire now as it’s a former Media Blasters title. I’m hopeful that somebody will rescue the license; I think that the series might be popular enough to merit that.
I haven’t seen Akira since Saturday Anime on the Sci-Fi Channel. I’ve never been the most avid fan of it, but I do have some affection for it and I recognize its historical relevance. Cowboy Bebop is my favorite anime. It had a great deal of influence on my musical tastes and was a significant part of some friendships that last to this day. (There was other stuff… like Dungeons & Dragons, but Cowboy Bebop mattered too) I somehow never got around to owning it after all those years, probably because Adult Swim made that seem unnecessary and I associated it strongly with them, but ever since I got the thrill of hearing “Tank!” play at the FUNImation panel at Otakon, I’ve felt that the time to have a copy of my own is coming due.
Tell me about it! It took me nine months and some good luck to get Magic Knight Rayearth 2 and I’m still not strictly convinced that actually happened. But you might be right about Giant Robo. A lot of the right people seem to love it. I’ve been reluctant because I’m not really keen on super robot stuff. It usually just seems sort of dull and silly to me. However, the impression I’ve gotten is that Giant Robo treats it with more ‘mythological’ awe and isn’t burdened by a toy line. It also is clearly a labor of love, which usually promises something interesting, even if it isn’t strictly successful.
I’ve had Please Save My Earth on my list seemingly forever (well, maybe two years). It wasn’t so hard to get back when I started. There are a few volumes of the manga that would be a pain, but if I commit to it and don’t wait too much longer, it should be possible to get it all. I can remember back when I was new to this anime thing and scoffed at the title under the presumption that it was some preach environmentalist rag.
I plan on buying the coming Sentai Filmworks release, whensoever they release that and I’m satisfied that they haven’t f**ke it up. It’s good timing too; I’d looked halfheartedly into a few weeks ago and been discouraged.
I just can’t quite gin a lot of enthusiasm up for Osamu Tezuka’s work. I don’t know what it is. I’m not even that averse to the art. MW just seems so weird and dark that I can’t resist. That Vertical’s releases are going out of print just sort of pushes me over the edge into apathy otherwise.
You got it, lady! I bought all of what was the available of Ōoku: The Inner Chambers in July of 2012 and have been the new volumes as they’ve come out. I’ve read them as I’ve bought them, but I’ll probably revisit the whole thing once I have it all. I like it, but it’s a challenging, complex story and the early-modern English that the translation affects makes it harder to penetrate. I’m in this for as long as it goes, so fear not.
I’ve only been reluctant because of the errors that I’ve read about. I keep hoping for a revised edition, but I’m not counting on that and might break eventually. I’ve adored the other works of Moto Hagio that I’ve read and Fantagraphics releases are pretty fantastic.
Don’t be impressed, the more I work with it, the less I think it’s a good idea. I should probably completely revise or discard it, but I’m married to my spreadsheets, which are ever more jerry-rigged.
I’m surprised that I haven’t bought Spice & Wolf yet, because I loved it when I sampled a few episodes a year or two ago. I remember having to resist just watching the whole thing on Hulu, but did because for something that I would enjoy that much, I wanted to see it in better quality without irritating advertisements.
I did order a copy last December, but the Amazon seller welched out on it or something. I guess that I’ve been recovering from that defeat. I was also hoping that it might be among the Bandai rescues that were announced at Otakon. Alas, no…
My wanting to watch [i}Battle Athletes[/i] and Battle Athletes Victory is almost impulsive; at least as impulsive as any decision run through my needlessly baroque ‘methodology’ can be. For some reason, I’ve woken up recently and decided that I wanted to watch it. It just seems like it would be fun and I have a certain nostalgia for that era. I think that the discs would come to a tolerable cost, although it would be something of a nuisance.
I’m not strictly sure why I want Blue Seed, but I suppose that it might be another ‘nostalgic’ choice. I’m sure that there’s something more than that, I just don’t quite recall what it is…
The coming Sentai Filmworks release prompted me to add Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water to my list. I might have anyway, but it’s suddenly looking to be attainable.
That’s sort of reassuring to read. I don’t mind Neon Genesis Evangelion, but I’m not as worshipful of it as the archetypical anime fan of my generation is. RahXephon was a show that I heard a lot back in the way back when, but never got around to, but I’m bound to eventually.
I remember even less from watching some of what I now understand to be a badly cut-up broadcast on FOX Kids. I’m mostly intrigued because of its reputation and because I’ve enjoyed some of Kazuki Akane’s other work.
Trigun is a funny case because I loved the show and I think that I would still like it a lot, but I saw it many times between a friend of mine’s old Geneon eight-disc set and however many times Adult Swim showed it. Perhaps I just need more time to forget before I feel like there’s a reason beyond, “whelp, I sure used to enjoy this a lot, so I guess I might as well.”
The funny thing is, a, “well, I’m not dead…” feeling is just the kind of thing that I’d go for. It’s all that gets me out of bed in the morning. I had wanted to comment on Willag’s list back in September, but I was very distracted that month and I was worried that the time had passed and didn’t want to seem like too much of a Johnny-come-lately. Which is silly, because as you might know, my name’s not Johnny. It’s also not Clarence, thank mercy. Well, since the subject has been brought back up, I’m going to indulge my fantasy that I’m ANN’s premiere tastemaker. Some of what I have to say is just correcting for things that have passed since the list was posted.
Mostly indisputable choices, although I must admit that I’m a little cool on Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds after having watched it again on Blu-ray a few months ago. It’s a wonderful looking film and Nausicaä is in theory a marvelous character, but I ended up finding her bland and almost Mary-sueish, which was exacerbated by so many characters around her frequently talking about how OMGWTFLOL Amazeballs Nausicaä is. I really wish that Kushana had a larger rôle; she’s a more interesting, ambiguous character. Don’t by any means take this as urging you to avoid it; I still have considerable affection for it and the Blu-ray is good-looking, but unless you’re wedded to it, you might want to move something else to the head of the class in its place.
Baccano! looks like a good choice. The depression-era setting and eccentricity always had me curious, but I think that I was pushed over by seeing a video of one of the characters in an “Awesome Anime Women” panel at Otakon. (Shamefully, I can’t actually remember which is was! I guess that gives me more incentive to watch the damned thing) That said, I think that you would really enjoy R.O.D -The TV-. I recall that you considered buying it when TRSI put the Blu-ray on sale last December, but didn’t feel that you could justify the expense. I hadn’t seen it back then, but by now, I feel confident in encouraging you to seek it out. Unfortunately, that won’t be easy as the AniPlex set and the original release are both out of print and would be costly to gather up. It is available on Hulu, although only with subtitles, which is no disadvantage for you, but its English dub is really remarkably good. It’s a slightly strange show. The first alternates what are almost slice-of-life stories about the Paper Sisters and author Nenene Sumiregawa and action-adventure episodes about the Paper Sisters. I actually liked the slice-of-life episodes best; they’re neither inane nor melodramatic, but have a mature, almost low-key feel. The characters, with one actually quite successful exception, are adults and well-rounded, which makes stories about their lives quite successful. The second half moves into a serialized story that goes down some pretty wild, rather implausible paths, but is exciting enough to work and doesn’t leave its characters behind. The thing that really makes it stand out, I believe, is the character of Nenene Sumiregawa, who is just awesome. Despite being a bookish authoress with no crazy paper-based superpowers, she’s probably the most impressive, admirable and just the awesomest in the series. She’s a really strong, compelling character motivated in equal parts by a sense of justice and by love or loyalty. One of the first things we see her do is launch into an epic rant about refusing to give in to terrorists, even for her own safety. That was awesome, but the way that she’s driven by a deep bond with Yomiko Readman, the sense of family that she develops with the Paper Sisters and how she wrestles with her doubts in her worth as a writer are just as powerful. She immediately became one of my favorite characters and given some of the other characters whom you’ve liked, I think that you’d find her very appealing too.
I consider My-Otome to be much better than My-Hime, although I don’t consider either series a favorite. My-Hime has a lot of annoying, cheap soap-opera melodramatics with a stupid ending that undermines a lot of that came before it. My-Otome has an annoying ‘stupid ditz’ protagonist and some tedious stuff, such an scene involving the characters posing in lingerie for some dumb and creepy reason, but it’s a more entertaining series after all. As Erica Friedman put it, in My-Otome all of the characters are back, but older, cooler and gayer. I think of it as a really solid bread-and-butter anime series that doesn’t represent the heights of what anime has to offer, but is entertaining and that I could conceivable watch again. The characters from My-Hime who reappear are distinct reincarnations of the originals and the stories aren’t really tightly tied, so while seeing My-Hime first might provide some context, it’s not essential. I think of …Silent Möbius as another ‘bread-and-butter’ type anime, but I think that it’s better than My-Otome. It came, and I might need to be pardoned for this, before the modern otaku era, so it doesn’t have some of the tropes and ticks that My-Hime et al have. For one thing, almost all of its characters are adults. Kia Asamiya might not have had the purest of motives for an all-female cast, but he ended up making some really likeable, entertaining characters anyway. It’s almost a ‘quaint’ show in that it doesn’t try any clever or affected tricks, but tends to play its story rather straight. I also appreciate that it has two pretty convincing, adult romances for two of its characters. Kiddy Phenil, whom I predictably adored, gets an especially nice pairing. I should warn that it has a ‘the adventure continues…’ type ending. You should also consider the two [Silent Möbius films, for the sumptuous animation of the first if nothing else. I’ll leave pitching that to Jusin Sevakis.
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise is an essential title. It’s really wonderful and uplifting for the most part and represents the best of what the bubble era let Japan get away with. It does suffer from a frustrating rape scene that sends it off the rails for a while. It’s worth watching for its historical significance as Gainax’s first work and it more remarkable qualities, but you’ll spend a few minutes cringing. You can probably move this to the Maiden Japan section. The Bandai Visual release is still on Amazon.com for a relatively, and I emphasize ‘relatively’, good price, but the newer release is cheaper and not, as far as I know, missing anything.
I could only repeat my ambivalence about Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds and perhaps advise moving Porco Rosso a little higher.
You might as well for completeness sake and since they’re priced to sell, but Adieu Galaxy Express 999 is not the equal of the original in my eyes. It doesn’t add much new to the story; in a sense it’s not a continuation so much as a repeat of the same fundamental plot. Of course, perhaps I’m just bitter because it doesn’t have as much Maetel.
Mad Bull 34 is as essential as Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, but for completely different reasons. It’s truly hilariously ‘bad’ in its sheer juvenile excess. It’s so awful that it’s amazing. When the least fantastically, dumbfoundingly absurd story involves power-armor that looks like a Predator knock-off, it has to be great. I think you might want to add Ringing Bell here. I have no idea when they’ll release it, but recall that you were enthusiastic about it and I think that it’s right up your alley.
I know that I’ve stumped for Kurau: Phantom Memory before, but I can’t resist doing it again. This is a cool show that’s trapped under the radar, which makes it really unfortunate that ADV paid almost a million dollars for the license. Kurau: Phantom Memory has a terrific, rather atypical protagonist in its cool, androgynous title character. She has the requisite coolness from her admirable attitude and badass-ass super powers, but the real heart of the series comes from her deep love for her ‘pair’, Christmas. It’s an intense love that’s neither romantic nor sororital. The supporting cast is really strong too; I especially liked Ayaka Steiger, who gets a very strong redemption story. The English dub is excellent; Monica Rial gives one of my favorite performances ever as Kurau. It’s one of the few cases when I feel that the intensity and expressiveness of a voice matched that implied by the animation.
Michiko e Hatchin would be well worth your time. It’s a cool, cinematic series with a great pair of leads and a distinctive setting in its Quasi-Brazil. Just watch it opening! (I like this AMV a lot too, which is saying something as I’m usually very averse to hip-hop) Claymore is a cool show (if not for it, I might not be here), but it’ll keep. I hate hated hated Desert Punk. The title character is obnoxious and loathesome beyond being amusing or amiably roguish. The show itself indulges an adolescent fixation on boobs. And then there’s what I call, “rapeisode eleven,” which features our protagonist trapping his recurring lust object in a bathroom and jacking the temperature up so that she’ll take her clothes off. *achem* Sorry, sorry. I just really hated this show. I love Noir and I love for other people to love Noir, but be careful what you’re getting into. It can be beautiful and Mireille is one of my favorite characters, but it can be very sluggish and commits such heinous abuse of flashbacks in some of its first nine episodes that I felt like I should call anime services. If you can suffer that, there’s something that I think is very special about it. El Cazador de la Bruja is its bratty younger sister: Irresponsible and unambitious, but a lot of fun and she’ll buy beer for you. It’s also the most overt that the Bee Train girls-with-guns trilogy gets about its yuri undercurrent.
Heh; Zipang has been lurking on my list since I started it, but somehow, I’m not sure if I ever relaly intend to buy it… It’d be a pain in the ass to do anyway.
You wouldn’t regret owning Iria: Zeiram the Animation, but I can’t think of it as anything better than a really okay show. I can’t even remember what I found medicore about it, which means that it wasn’t awful, but doesn’t exactly bespeak its quality.
I really wish that I had snatched Otogi Zoshi up when TRSI had it in bundles for damned cheap. It seems like sort of a weird show, but I think it might be pretty cool too. And yay for Simoun! NISA Nothing to do here but remind you about The Eccentric Family!
From the New World is a pretty good choice. I feel that its quality is unsteady and some of its concepts not adequately explored, but it has a relatively ‘high minded’ science fiction feel and certain things about the ending will be intensely frustrating, not because of some flaw in the narrative or characterization, but because causes you to confront something that you probably already understand about humanity, but won’t enjoy being made to recognize, although you might in a sense relish that. In case that’s ambiguous: I liked the ending a lot.
AKB0048 is AWESOME when it’s about idol singers are using microphone lightsabers to fight antagonists from Dirty Dancing in mecha, but I felt like it became a chore when it wants us to take the idol contest stuff seriously. Angel Beats! has a fine premise, but a lack of time and obvious ‘trying too hard’ deprive the OH SO SAD tragic backgrounds of the characters of any real effect. I consider the attached Knocking on Heaven’s Door OAV a comedy abortion. Blue Drop is good, compact, sopping-wet emotional yuri science fiction. It’s certainly sincere, but a touch unrestrained. It keeps its scope and cast intimate, which I think lends a lot of good effect and atmosphere. I wish that I could unambiguously love Books of Bantorra, because it has a cool sort of late nineteenth or early twentieth century fantasy and some interesting storytelling, but it tries to fit too much in. The source light novels were clearly more expansive than the anime had time for, so it ended up full of cool stuff and good characters that it doesn’t have time to properly present and comfortable sew together. I think that it’s still worth watching, but it is frustrating sometimes.
I’m going to demonstrate a lack of ability to learn by falling into my habit of recommending Key the Metal Idol. It might be tricky to find, but it’s a very interesting, but very severely flawed work. The first thirteen episodes are an interesting, emotionally intense and sometimes quite clever nigh-masterpiece. The two films that end it fart in bed and pull the sheets up over your head. The first one has some neat imagery, but is dominated by two of the characters literally sitting on a bench explaining the story. The second resumes the narrative, but on a compressed time-scale, puts the title character out of the picture for most of it and kills one of the best characters off almost as a ritual sacrifice to the plot convenience gods. It makes for a fascinating study in both bad and good storytelling. It’s also a rare instance of the OP being good in English and Japanese. Given the caveats, it’s probably nothing to want urgently and the old discs aren’t that easy to get. Maybe DiscoTek will release it one of these days. I’ve seen on indications that they would, but they choose some pretty out-of-left field titles sometimes.
The Dark Horse edition of Appleseed is a good one and don’t forget Appleseed Hypernotes and Appleseed Databook. Both contain both additional stories and background detail.
Yes a trillion times to both of these! Wandering Son is a beautiful, subtle story about an interesting, but challenging subject. The Fantagraphics editions are really handsome too. A Drunken Dream and Other Short Stories is another beautiful edition and the stories are really good. A lot of them have a neat ‘Twilight Zone’ feel, managing to be surprising or deeply, humanly poignant. “Girl on Porch With Dog” has a great WTF ending and “Iguana Girl” tells a very strange and touching story. The supplementary essay and interview with Moto Hagio are very interesting too. ------
The Mardock Scramble manga has a great beginning and although it’s not as strong after that, it’s always very good. I actually like it better than the anime film. It makes the rather trying casino sequence much more bearable. Parasyte does a lot of clever things with its premise and develops a compellingly strange relationship between its protagonist and his parasite. If you enjoy the grotesque or weird, it should satisfy.
I imagine that Whispered Words (Sasamekikoto) will be taking a high place on the priority list for this publisher. Too bad we’ll have to wait for so long.
If you ultimately liked Girl Friends, I think that you might enjoy Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossoms Pink, which is also by Morinaga Milk. It’s equally as sweet and sincere, but doesn’t spend so much time on the ‘clothes and makeup teehee’ stuff that I know you found trying, although it is more emotionally fraught. The storytelling is a little less coherent because the longest tale was, I believe, originally shorter and extended for the collection. It also includes a mix of shorter one-off stories.
I felt like The Limit tried to mix too much emotional and dramatic intensity in too few pages, but I didn’t think that it was bad and I have a feeling that you’d like it. Paradise Kiss is really good and Vertical’s omnibus editions are handy.
Helter Skelter is f**ked up, sexed up and crazy, so it’s awesome. There have been a lot of stories about the theme, but I don’t think many have made me feel the psychological decay and outright destruction that the characters experience so viscerally. Lychee Light Club, No Longer Human and Velveteen & Mandala are all really good, but very dark, disturbing and gruesome. I mean every one of those adjectives as a complement. Lychee Light Club is a great satire of fascism and male adolescence, which mate surprisingly well. No Longer Human is a compelling psychological portrait of a troubled man whose difficulty in understand the world corrupts him. Velveteen & Mandala has a slightly strange mix of horror, vulgar comedy and even oddball drama. It’s surprisingly invested in its characters. It does get a little too skeevy once or twice, so buy it, but be ready to cringe once or twice. (No need to beat around the bush: spoiler[Zombie gang rape. It’s not lovingly detailed or sexualized, but it happens and it can be quite unpleasant]) If you like Helter Skelter, I imagine that Pink, which is by the same mangaka, will interest you. (That’s the premise that I will proceed upon shortly myself) Vertical has also licenses Fumi Yoshinaga’s What Did You Eat Yesterday?, which sounds very promising.
Dorohedoro! YES! YES! YES! I think that you’ll like Dorohedoro a lot. Besides, if you start collecting it, that’ll be like… four people who’re buying it. It has a lot of horror trappings, which I imagine will appeal to you, but it’s not strictly a horror manga. It’s hard to characterize in some ways. The best I can do is ‘Dark, Pulpy Horror Comedy Fantasy’. It takes a lot of care in building its parallel words and developing its characters, but never goes long without humor. I’ll grant that our senses of humor seem to be from different planets, but even if it doesn’t amuse you as much as it did me, the comedy also serves to keep the manga from getting too dour or self-serious. It has a terrific cast and manages to makes you interested and invested in all of the, even those who seem like villains or antagonists at first. Nobody’s really all that good or evil, it’s all fascinatingly, convincingly grey. Solanin is a good portrayal of young adult life and love, but I didn’t find it as memorable as I had hoped. It has at least one very potent moment and an endearing lead, but falls some ways short of what it perhaps could have been. Pluto is really good. Despite some of the apparent silliness inherent in borrowing from Osamu Tezuka, Naoki Urasawa builds a tense, intricate mystery and manages to explore it through a variety of characters and perspectives. I found some parts of this really gripping and tense. It also has a really cool interpretation of Astro Boy. I suggest that in addition to those titles, you consider the work of Junko Mizuno. It's has a sort of twisted, sexual pop-art meets pulp macabre to it. She's drawing what she likes, which makes her work very satisfying and the sort of fun that leaves you with a big, menacing grin.
A Bride’s Story is fantastic, so just keep on buying that. Anything and Something starts with some very good short stories, including some highly concentrated Kaoru Mori maid goodness. The rest of the book is devoted to fireplaces, domestic servants and other stuff that Kaoru Mori is a total dork over. It gives you a sense of how much care she puts into her research and how much she enjoys doing so. Wooh. Damn, willag, keeping your elaborate formatting from falling apart in the quotations was exhausting. You certainly put impressive effort into your presentation. ------------------------------------------------------------------ With his masterpiece complete, the artist looks heaveward and smiles, knowing that his legacy is secure. Then, as he stands entranced by the twinkling stars, his eyes slowly close and he falls to earth, dead, but assured of immortality. Last edited by Surrender Artist on Wed Nov 13, 2013 8:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
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zawa113
Posts: 7357 |
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Man, I had no idea they just added Nadia... I like, just bought the single on eBay 3 weeks ago. To be fair, I got them for like $33 shipped so... I'm ok with that. Didn't have the movie, but I keep hearing that sucks. Since I don't mind older DVD releases (back when "interactive menus" was a feature), I'm ok with it.
@Surrender Artist So... I take it you have all the Yoshinaga? Not just Ooku? Not that I'm not glad you're up to date on Ooku, just want to make sure you have all the Yoshinaga. Because I can't honestly name a single work of hers that I do not like, only ones that I like more. Flower of Life is my personal favorite, worth it to track down vol 4, but even if you can only get the first 3 vols do it! That woman is just simply amazing, I wanted to cry tears of joy when I went to Vertical's Otakon panel and they announced What Did You Eat Yesterday?, even if Vertical has to let the Tezuka titles go out of print, they got the one missing Yoshinaga title, man! It's impossible to dislike them after that! But if you don't have all the Yoshinaga, add it to your list, I don't even care if you don't care about yaoi, I don't either. The yaoi portion is not at all why Gerard & Jacques is amazing. Not sure what errors there are on Heart of Thomas, I do recall having seen some minor typos, but it's not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of it. |
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One-Eye
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Blood-
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I had no idea that the Berserk remastered release had become so expensive. Glad I got my copy when it wasn't OOP.
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TsunaReborn!
Posts: 4713 Location: Cheltenham UK |
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I second this statement. I feel the content in the 6 volumes should have been over 8 to give way for more authentic character development. I did enjoy the series and would recommend it. Also as SA pointed out Wandering Son is a must have; very grown up and a generally gorgeous series. |
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