Absolutely recommended. I've heard it described as a beautiful puzzle box and I think it's apt. The animation and art style are top-notch. Your main characters are actually likeable and well thought out. Even side characters have little mini-arcs and depth. The story is layered and "deep" without being too abstract or pretentious. Great soundtrack too. If you watch it make sure you watch the series first before the movie. The movie is essentially a retelling but it changes some plot points around and I feel the series is the more true version if that makes sense. Kind of like Escaflowne that way.
Didn't care for X? I dug it.
38. Suncoast was amazing. They had one shelf of VHS animes when I first started collecting. Your ninja scrolls and Ghost in the shells. I think I bought the first view volumes of Street Fighter 2 V on VHS. Then they went to a few shelves of dvds. Then they moved to a section. Then the whole back wall was anime lol. It was a great time to be a collector. I had to move on to Best Buy after they closed and It wasn't the same.Funny I honestly want to guess your age at 36 years old. But I could be way off.
X just embodied what i saw was the anime hype of the early to mid 2000s. You had a lot of flash but not a lot of substance.
Fuck I miss Suncoast though
Yep. You had to rely on cover art and the description. Maybe the nerdy guy working would recommend a few things here and there. I can remember getting recommended Devil Lady by one of the workers there. Oh, Devil Lddy... I wonder how that one holds up?
I honestly don't even want to think about how much money I spent on anime back then. Thousands I'm sure. It was a good time though. I was young with disposable income and I just thought anime was the coolest thing since video games.
I really appreciated reading that back-and-forth posting of memories with you and Omega. That's why I created this thread. There wasn't any new discussion going on about how anime was in yesteryears on most webpages I searched last year after I was laid off the first 5-months of the pandemic. After several web searches on NeoGAF I came across an old thread which
Corpsepyre
had created like 8-years or more ago. When I started creating an account, I tried searching for an active thread on retro anime and couldn't find anything. I knew it would be imposing and out-of-context to bring the discussion into the Anime/Mange community thread; so I made this. 
I really appreciated reading that back-and-forth posting of memories with you and Omega. That's why I created this thread. There wasn't any new discussion going on about how anime was in yesteryears on most webpages I searched last year after I was laid off the first 5-months of the pandemic. After several web searches on NeoGAF I came across an old thread which
Likewise, I got into anime that was being sold at Suncoast and Sam Goody. Sam Goody was already expensive but they had diverse titles on VHS at the time that places like Best Buy and other video retailers in 1999-2001 didn't have. I did get stuck with a lot of dubbed anime as subs were erroneously priced $10 extra/per VHS tape than the dubs. Dubs were running around $20-25/tape anyway. The overall expensiveness of buying a series made me buy OVAs and anime movies moreso by default as they were more affordable and not impossible (by impossible...I mean the individual VHS releases for series like Urusei Yatsura...like 60-odd taps for the full series). There was still a big push to get a lot of 90's anime onto DVD in the mid-2000's and distributors like ADV, Media Blasters, and CPM were still pushing out those titles. Many ended up being sold in Best Buy at lower prices around 2003-2007 before the better older anime DVDs started to lower in print numbers and new anime started taking over top shelf.
Right now, buying physical anime seems pointless for most. However, I started back-building my retro anime collection in 2011 and recently stopped buying regularly. So, I have a great number of rare or oop titles of retro anime on VHS, DVD, and blu-ray now that I plan to hold onto. I have downloaded some titles which never made it off VHS or LaserDisc to my PS3 harddrive. The streaming services remind me too much of rental stores and I'm not about to "borrow" digital anime when many older titles can be watched freely on YouTube. Likewise, I'm not against those who do choose to go the all streaming route as there are digital titles of retro anime getting out there and possibly reaching younger audiences. But, the overall outlook is that "if it looks old...it must suck...unless it's NGE, Dragon Ball Z, or Akira." Therefore, we have a difference in many younger generations who won't watch the older handdrawn, cel painted, camera processed, traditional anime that started declining even in Japan by the year 2002.
We have some interesting posters here. So feel free to share as much media as you can from older titles as it may attract other 'guests' (like I was) to join GAF for similar reasons.
It could have been Animetric. They had a ton of old school anime reviews, hentai reviews, etc. They stood for a long time but the site creator sold the site in like 2015. So, it's now a fashion products webpage which I believe is back under operation by the same woman who made the anime reviews page previously.
Some recent DVD or blu-ray anime have over 7 episodes per disc. However, there's still audio compression and unnecessary cropping on frames reminiscent of VHS full screen 4X3 format. Physical video is okay for a collector but still far from complete , especially with episodic releases.What is funny is that the companies really milked us for sure. Like I didnt understand a lot about media and file size at the time. Sure with a VHS you had limiations on how many episodes you could fit on a tape. But with DVD they clearly could have fit much more more per disc when they were putting like 3 episodes on 1 disc when they could have fit 10 or more.
Bastards!
AnimeOnDVD lives on in spirit over at FandomPost.com. Mr. Beveridge, sadly, sold the original business several years ago to an online content company, Demand Media, which morphed the site into Mania.com. Things at Mania.com fell apart, but around 2008 Beveridge created his new site, FandomPost. Nothing can replicate the online atmosphere of the mid-to-late 90s & early 2000s, but FandomPost maintains a somewhat similar focus and much of the forum community remains intact.
AnimeOnDVD lives on in spirit over at FandomPost.com. Mr. Beveridge, sadly, sold the original business several years ago to an online content company, Demand Media, which morphed the site into Mania.com. Things at Mania.com fell apart, but around 2008 Beveridge created his new site, FandomPost. Nothing can replicate the online atmosphere of the mid-to-late 90s & early 2000s, but FandomPost maintains a somewhat similar focus and much of the forum community remains intact.
For another walk down Internet memory lane, there was always one of the largest anime & manga online directory sites:
Without a doubt, Anime Web Turnpike was a better webpage than Animetric. It seemed to be focused on those who were newly being introduced into anime during the mid-90's. With larger cable providers at that time starting to set blocks aside for anime like SciFi's Saturday Anime made that small fanbase grow.AnimeOnDVD lives on in spirit over at FandomPost.com. Mr. Beveridge, sadly, sold the original business several years ago to an online content company, Demand Media, which morphed the site into Mania.com. Things at Mania.com fell apart, but around 2008 Beveridge created his new site, FandomPost. Nothing can replicate the online atmosphere of the mid-to-late 90s & early 2000s, but FandomPost maintains a somewhat similar focus and much of the forum community remains intact.
For another walk down Internet memory lane, there was always one of the largest anime & manga online directory sites:
I know I watched some of the anime. Might have watched all of it but I don't remember the ending. It seems older than it does now that I remember it. It had your typical cool fights but also quite a bit of comedy/goofiness. The ovas are amazing. They are a sad and beautiful works of art. I just checked the wiki for the series and I had no idea that it had 4 live action movies with one just having released this year and the other I guess later this year.
Nowadays, animated Kenshin can be somewhat difficult to recommend, without a person being interested in the overall franchise. For the TV show, production values are standard for a mid-90s anime, meaning generally good art but some episodes look overall much better than others. The main problem is the third TV season was purposefully produced as filler, to allow more manga chapters to be published. During the interim, the franchise's popularity waned just enough that it was decided to cancel any subsequent seasons. What exits as the show's finale is a rushed episode, only available on the home-video releases.
I think the last update from the old webpage gives a good idea of why I never used T.H.E.M. anime. I can understand if the reason to stop reviewing was the modern anime was too bland but it seems like they had a gripe about genres. Which is very reflective on how older anime was reviewed on T.H.E.M.
I thought it's interesting they left the old domain up. I remembered seeing that back when but probably poor memory; it seems like they had that 'I no longer watch anime' message on the first T.H.E.M. anime page. Again, you can't expect too much from a reviews site without knowing who the people are reviewing it (whether they studied film or something relative). I think what caused me to second guess their reviews too was the fact that some were made on anime that had span of 26 episodes and the reviewer had only watched 8 episodes.
Thanks. I didn't know about Fandom Post. Looks pretty good from browsing it. Anime News Network lost me a long time ago so I've been looking for a good review site.AnimeOnDVD lives on in spirit over at FandomPost.com. Mr. Beveridge, sadly, sold the original business several years ago to an online content company, Demand Media, which morphed the site into Mania.com. Things at Mania.com fell apart, but around 2008 Beveridge created his new site, FandomPost. Nothing can replicate the online atmosphere of the mid-to-late 90s & early 2000s, but FandomPost maintains a somewhat similar focus and much of the forum community remains intact.
For another walk down Internet memory lane, there was always one of the largest anime & manga online directory sites:
Not a prob. I'm not much of a review person and can't speak to content quality, but Beveridge runs the new site in a similar fashion to AnimeOnDVD, so the material shouldn't be as overly one-sided as modern ANN.
I tried to but they were so bloody expensive. The 4 soundtracks I do own were extras packed with the anime releases like M.D. Giest, Project A-ko, and a couple others. I always wanted the soundtrack for GoShogun Time Etranger. But no clue where one finds an old soundtrack like that.
I continue to buy CDs, but more to the question, I purchased a good amount of anime, video game, and J-music discs, during the 90s and earlier 2000s. Many were bootlegs from SonMay, which for whatever reason was particularly ubiquitous in my area, as opposed to other brands like Ever Anime and Smile/Smiley Face. Nowadays, with legit Japanese CDs remaining pinned to around $30, even with the industry's large shift to digital, I'll still gladly grab a boot of some disc I want, if I happen to see it in the wild.
Space Runaway
From the store locator there is still one store in Minnesota in Duluth
They still do. The thing is for me there was I believe 3 fye stores just 10 minutes away from where I live and now they are all gone. This fye discussion did get me wondering if there was still one in my state and come to find out there is still one 20 minutes away in a rich area.
Honestly...nothing. =P I've never seen it and it never really looked to be something I'd go out of my way to watch unless by happenstance or it gets randomly selected from my giant folder of unwatched anime. SorryEither way, it's funny, short, and simple. The anime art style in parts looks like.it was story boarded with Nagai in mind ("turtle guy" for example). For better background or info...I'd like to hear what you know about this one
Well, as an anime OVA rewrite of a Go Nagai comic (which was Mich more explicit), it's good for a few laughs to anyone who's never seen it. Just odd crap they did with some of the characters. It was odd watching the trailer years ago on VHS and having no clue whether it had any story whatsoever. Then again, I guess if you had not come across the anime...it's not great loss either. The manga is Nagai the OVA is something else altogether.Honestly...nothing. =P I've never seen it and it never really looked to be something I'd go out of my way to watch unless by happenstance or it gets randomly selected from my giant folder of unwatched anime. Sorry
Also Discotek had a bunch of release news. Here's some of the more interesting oldschool stuff:
Fatal Fury OVAs coming to bluray . New HD scan from the film negative.
Super Dimensional Century Orguss coming to bluray. Says to be remastered.
Galaxy Cyclone Braiger coming to sd-bd.
Urusei Yatsura movie 1 and Lupin part V on bd.
Also some 4kids 90s era stuff for those interested in that.
I'll definitely get most these. I was never big on the first FF OVA but I liked the 2nd enough to grab it.
Orguss I've always had mixed feelings about, the ending is a mega "Wut??" and I'm not sure I see myself ever rewatching the series in full ever again. Yet I'll def be picking it up, regardless.
Braiger had a 1080p bluray release in Japan but maybe it was trash quality like Sasuraiger's bluray, hence the sd-bd? Hopefully the other two J9 series see a release after this.
Also they revealed the new cover art for the A-Ko bluray:
Looks to have been designed similar to Discotek's Kimagure Orange Road bd boxart.
And it seems like outside of a few examples, most of the anime adaptions for Go Nagai's stuff differ quite a lot from the manga.
The fact that most of the anime adaptations differ so much from the manga are part of the reason why they're so interesting to me. Part of my creative process in writing script for my own short animations was taking existing animated characters and writing them into stories the original creators never bothered to do. I know with anime, sometimes there's no choice but to do so if the manga artist hasn't completed the story or is on hiatus during the production of the anime. I grew away from manga after my 20's as I've really always just been an animation fan and had the privilege to work in an animation studio when I was only 17-years old for a short time.Ah, I usually don't gravitate toward Nagai's more pervy stuff even though I'm guilty of watching Kekko Kamen and a few others of that nature.
Yeah I just buy the releases that get actual hd transfers or if I don't own them yet. Though I am willing to grab bd upscales if my dvd ver has poor quality (Sadly, many do) or got it a 2nd edition dvd I passed on for whatever reason. =P
Yeah not bad or anything but if they have the original cover art on the other side then it's getting flipped.
I haven't made the jump to UHD, mostly because I still haven't decided on a TV (and to a lesser extent was planning to (maybe only initially) use a PS5 and/or XBSX...neither of which I yet own).
