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[Happosai]

Both RG Veda and Tokyo Babylon were highly regarded by the fans around 1992-1994 - RG Veda because you had all the drama from Saint Seiya with Hindu myths instead of Greek and some nice Giger-like tentacles, and Tokyo Babylon because it was one of the first "serious" psychological/melodramatical occult series published in the west - quite a shift away from the typical shounen TV stuff at the time like Dragon Ball and Go Nagai series. Being a Clamp fan at the time was a sign of sophistication.
Now that I'm a little older and I've slightly more experience, I know Tokyo Babylon is "just" Kujaku-oh with a paint job of late-80s fashion and glam/pop hipness, and it amuses me to no ends

In 2022, the Clamp are probably much too old, and not fashionable anymore - to say nothing of how never finishing their X (and Clover) series aggravated a part of their fans. Like most succesful manga artists past a certain age, there are in an early retirement trajectory, doing some designs there and there for series like Code Geass but nothing more...
And granted, a series about the apocalyse like X hasn't exactly the same feeling in 2022 compared to the 90s. The subject has become taboo in Japan anyway, especially since Fukushima (but the manga had already been in hot water in the past, especially after 1995 Kobe). But worst than that : I don't think a lot of people still care about the ending nowadays.

I have no bloody idea where they picked up that idea of doing an anime series for Bastard!. It's a terrible idea for 2022. The manga is shock full of... mildly bawdy situations that will send the twitter crazies over the edge. Also, pretty girls, booty and heavy metal. Someone over at Netflix is feeling edgy.


We surely never attached a lot of weight to how old or how long an anime/series was. But we didn't have a lot of choice available anyway.
For best and worst, western manga/anime fandom has gone mainstream more than twenty years ago, and the consumerist mindset replaced the sheer passion of the fan a long time ago.

RG Veda would something nice to see get a blu-ray release. I never got a chance to buy it on DVD (last was VHS) as it seems it's been out of print for over a decade now. Tokyo Babylon was kept short in animation and I don't think we would have ever needed anything better than that. I'm okay with Clamp just fading away. Retro anime that had a great impact doesn't need a comeback. The world it would seem cannot produce great film in any form anymore. Digital was nice when it was used as an add-on in animation but when they scrapped hand drawn animation; that did it. I'm not sure how modern anime animators can look at the work post-production and say "wow, that looks great just like the stuff I saw growing up." Why did they stop cel shading? I mean, American cartoons never had that for the most part. It was something almost unique to retro anime.

Let Netflix give something to people to feel they've watched something edgy. I imagine many watching that are going to say "wow, this is so cool -- best new anime of 2022." May it's just wishful thinking to consider some would bother investing the time into finding out that Bastard was a manga, OVA and video game years before this digital whitewashed crap. If Netflix wants to be bold, let's see them air the original OVA. It'd probably get chopped to pieces by wishy-washy editors.

Yeah. And to fully close the Ushio-Tora topic, andconsidering I'm currently reading the manga right now It is a damn shame neither adaptation gave the manga the full justice it deserved. Not saying either of them were bad, but the OVA's if you asked me felt like 10 episodes of a cancelled TV adaptation, (why else there would be commercial break eyecatchers, and two openings, the latter teasing later stories that weren't adapted in the new version either) and the new anime while not bad either it did skip a lot of cool shit from the manga because the mangaka insisted on getting to the final fight as fast as they could. (Plus a lot of the violence was even more censored)

(and to reitarate I dislike the animation style tbh, it would've benefited from brighter colors and the original smoother designs, and it still wouldn't look as good as the OVA's, Imagine seeing the Hakumen fight in that style, or the stories that weren't adapted in the new version animated, good god we truly missed on something)

It also seems Karakuri Circus, another manga by the same author was going to get a TV/OVA treatment aswell, considering there's a promotional VHS by the exact same studio, with the exact same artstyle and animation that animated some parts of that manga. (Could it be possible lost media?)

For true fans of Ushio & Tora...the best form likely would have to be the manga. Both animations aren't going to please diehard fans entirely. However, for some incredible animation...still sticking the OVA. I've never read the history into it but it's pretty obvious that the OVA was cancelled and incomplete. The last episodes that ran were clearly not one of those "the budget's gone...let's rush an ending" themes. They were in the middle of a possible 2nd season from what I remember.

Are you talking about the 1998 commercial for the manga ?

Never knew about this. Was this ever completed?

 

[Ladioss]

RG Veda would something nice to see get a blu-ray release. I never got a chance to buy it on DVD (last was VHS) as it seems it's been out of print for over a decade now. Tokyo Babylon was kept short in animation and I don't think we would have ever needed anything better than that. I'm okay with Clamp just fading away. Retro anime that had a great impact doesn't need a comeback. The world it would seem cannot produce great film in any form anymore. Digital was nice when it was used as an add-on in animation but when they scrapped hand drawn animation; that did it. I'm not sure how modern anime animators can look at the work post-production and say "wow, that looks great just like the stuff I saw growing up." Why did they stop cel shading? I mean, American cartoons never had that for the most part. It was something almost unique to retro anime.

I don't care very much for RG Veda, but a blu-ray release of Tokyo Babylon is something I would like to see. There was a limited bonus video with a couple of animated musics songs included with the first copies of the original Japanese release of the first OVA that AFAIK never made it into any western release of TB, and I like these songs. Too bad they are still copyright striked on youtube to this day



I think modern anime *does* looks good, for a large part (even if I prefer the kind of aesthetics of older anime). It's more the camera work/the storyboard and the kind of stories told that are a little banal.
Out of curiosity, what did you think about Redline ?

 

[Happosai]

I don't care very much for RG Veda, but a blu-ray release of Tokyo Babylon is something I would like to see. There was a limited bonus video with a couple of animated musics songs included with the first copies of the original Japanese release of the first OVA that AFAIK never made it into any western release of TB, and I like these songs. Too bad they are still copyright striked on youtube to this day



I think modern anime *does* looks good, for a large part (even if I prefer the kind of aesthetics of older anime). It's more the camera work/the storyboard and the kind of stories told that are a little banal.
Out of curiosity, what did you think about Redline ?

Seems quite a few titles far off still on blu-ray releases.

I like the artwork in Redline about the same way I like A Woman Called Fujiko Mine (the art style). I know where we're going with that and don't want to derail the OP. But I'll say this, in the early - late 2000's every once in awhile a good movie would come out. When I pulled Redline out the first time , I initially thought it was a retro title. However, I spent my late-teens working in media arts and with an animation school. So, I catch digital photography very quickly. I like that there are fans who visit this thread that watch modern anime and like both. The main discussion I like going on here is the fact that you either can detail the production of an older series, discussion about VHS release & modern releases of retro titles and those who are sharing their memories watching anime more than 21-25 years ago (or longer). It was a different environment and it wasn't a commercialized item for Westerns. What did Americans watch of anime in the early 1990's? DBZ? Ghibli films? There was only that underground group of fan subbers and those collecting because it was of particular story and animated interest. Right now, it's a thing. It's a fandom to say you watch anime. I don't collect figurines (I have like 3 that I purchased some 10-years ago or so), I don't own merchandising (music albums, clothing, etc), I never went to an anime convention, I don't have a life goal to learn how to speak Japanese. I just love and appreciate classic film and for anime...it's what was done before digital really took over everything, the studios became weak and the stories just started to suck.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Watched Perfect Blue last night. I couldn't get into it. There were definitely good things about it, but by the end it was too disoriented to the point ai disengaged. The twist was kind of dumb

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Watched Perfect Blue last night. I couldn't get into it. There were definitely good things about it, but by the end it was too disoriented to the point ai disengaged. The twist was kind of dumb

I didn't like it either. I watched it once back when it first came out and didn't get the hype.

 

[Happosai]

I didn't like it either. I watched it once back when it first came out and didn't get the hype.

I would agree that when Manga Entertainment was promoting this in the early 2000's ; they made it seem like it was something bigger than it was. To me it's a movie like Akira, impressive animation but the story just didn't seem that great at the time. I've rewatched and appreciate the story a bit more as it really has a classic Hitchcock thriller vibe. To me, it was one of Satoshi Kon's greatest works (R.I.P.)

 

[OmegaSupreme]

I would agree that when Manga Entertainment was promoting this in the early 2000's ; they made it seem like it was something bigger than it was. To me it's a movie like Akira, impressive animation but the story just didn't seem that great at the time. I've rewatched and appreciate the story a bit more as it really has a classic Hitchcock thriller vibe. To me, it was one of Satoshi Kon's greatest works (R.I.P.)

It's quite possible I'd like it more now. I really dug Paprika.

 

[Ladioss]

Never really liked Perfect Blue. The Hitchcockian thriller hommage I get it, but I don't care very much for the idol industry thing.
His best movie is still Millenium Actress for me, fantastic movie. And even Paprika is good too, Inception but with a less linear structure.

I like the artwork in Redline about the same way I like A Woman Called Fujiko Mine (the art style). I know where we're going with that and don't want to derail the OP. But I'll say this, in the early - late 2000's every once in awhile a good movie would come out. When I pulled Redline out the first time , I initially thought it was a retro title. However, I spent my late-teens working in media arts and with an animation school. So, I catch digital photography very quickly. I like that there are fans who visit this thread that watch modern anime and like both. The main discussion I like going on here is the fact that you either can detail the production of an older series, discussion about VHS release & modern releases of retro titles and those who are sharing their memories watching anime more than 21-25 years ago (or longer). It was a different environment and it wasn't a commercialized item for Westerns. What did Americans watch of anime in the early 1990's? DBZ? Ghibli films? There was only that underground group of fan subbers and those collecting because it was of particular story and animated interest. Right now, it's a thing. It's a fandom to say you watch anime. I don't collect figurines (I have like 3 that I purchased some 10-years ago or so), I don't own merchandising (music albums, clothing, etc), I never went to an anime convention, I don't have a life goal to learn how to speak Japanese. I just love and appreciate classic film and for anime...it's what was done before digital really took over everything, the studios became weak and the stories just started to suck.

I tend to agreed with you on that - and not only for the anime industry but also for the movie industry, tabletop RPGs, videogames... ie what is called "Geek culture" nowadays, which is the totally commoditized and corporate version of the older geek culture.

 

[Happosai]

It's quite possible I'd like it more now. I really dug Paprika.

I believe you would too. If you're able to pick up the blu-ray release from a couple years back, it'd be worth it for any collection.

Never really liked Perfect Blue. The Hitchcockian thriller hommage I get it, but I don't care very much for the idol industry thing.
His best movie is still Millenium Actress for me, fantastic movie. And even Paprika is good too, Inception but with a less linear structure.



I tend to agreed with you on that - and not only for the anime industry but also for the movie industry, tabletop RPGs, videogames... ie what is called "Geek culture" nowadays, which is the totally commoditized and corporate version of the older geek culture.

Everyone's going to have their preference when it comes to Kon movies. That's like with me and Akira. I love the works of Katsuhiro Otomo but have never been an Akira fan. I've found that the short "Construction Cancellation Order" was much more interesting than Akira. What did stand out to me was not there being so much an homage to Hitchcock with Perfect Blue but the fact that they even though to put something like that into production. That was not the direction mainstream terror writers were going for film in the late-90's. The pop star/movie star bit seems fitting as they'd likely be a target for something like what happened in the film (there are certain noticeable similarities to the real life murder of late singer Selena in the film...whether that was written in purposely or coincidentally).

Well, it was never a geek culture thing for me. I started off creating comics when I was 5-years old and still make them. Before studying economics and working in business marketing management, I was originally going to be an animator. In animation school...boy do the professors there (especially ex Warner Brothers animators) hate anime. I get their reasoning but if you really love it as a film medium; you have to appreciate how Japan was animating some 25 + years back. It really was something only of that time and now it really doesn't seem like any country has great animation.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Amazon.com: MEGAZONE 23 : Various, Noboru Ishiguro, Ichiro Itano, Shinji Aramaki, Ken'Ichi Yatagai: Movies & TV

Amazon.com: MEGAZONE 23 : Various, Noboru Ishiguro, Ichiro Itano, Shinji Aramaki, Ken'Ichi Yatagai: Movies & TV

www.amazon.com

Megazone 23 is getting a blu ray.

 

[Happosai]

Amazon.com: MEGAZONE 23 : Various, Noboru Ishiguro, Ichiro Itano, Shinji Aramaki, Ken'Ichi Yatagai: Movies & TV

Amazon.com: MEGAZONE 23 : Various, Noboru Ishiguro, Ichiro Itano, Shinji Aramaki, Ken'Ichi Yatagai: Movies & TV

www.amazon.com

Megazone 23 is getting a blu ray.

It's about time! The ADV release has been oop for time now and I know many who've wanted to own the OVA but didn't want to pay for an expensive oop copy. I owned both ADV releases (if I recall the only difference was the cover art). Sometime back Space Runaway posted notes (I'd need to check to see which post it was) about the production history of Megazone 23. Bottom line, Japan would have axed anything that couldn't be completed within less than a year or two if that were today. I hope many take advantage and buy this as soon as it becomes available May 10th!

 

[Space Runaway]

American fast food references in retro anime Space Runaway . I was talking about this with my wife and the top two we've seen across different anime titles. I'd say McDonald's references are something which are probably popping up in anime until today. In the 80's, I noticed that several anime titles would show certain statue cameos of Colonel Sanders or KFC in general. Not sure which anime it was but I did see in a background city painting (possibly in K.O.R. TV of Carl's Jr.). One that I started seeing pop up moreso in the 90's were references to Denny's. I recall reading a manga which had the restaraunt listed as "Dennis." What are some you've seen and what was the fascination with American franchise fast food in retro anime?

That's one of those deals where I know I've seen tons but only a scant few come to mind. KFC and McDonalds (Or "not" versions) are seemingly the most common.

Even after the Earth has been destroyed, McDonalds lives on within the Macross

Kei and Yuri stopping at a McDonalds in this promo art

TWD Express: Rolling Takeoff had the cast stopping to eat at a not-McDonalds

And while not food, in The Professional we see Golgo 13 is a Parliament guy =P

There also seems to be an endless amount of Coca Cola appearances. There's too many to mention so I'll just go with MegaZone 23 as that was just recently brought up(Some Sprite and Fanta in there too).

Has anyone of you watched Baxinger?

Teeechnically I've seen the whole series but that was raw. Though I've seen the first 16 episodes subbed as that was all that was available until last month (I did finally pick up the bluray a few days back). I don't know your tastes but like Braiger it's one of those early 80s shows that still has one foot in the 70s. Though also like Braiger, it's not the usual giant mech show where they fight a monster or robot of the week at the end of each episode. It's usually just them dealing with the plot of the week, 2-4 episode mini arc or episodes based around a particular character. Then at the end of the ep they will bring out the giant robot as a quick wrap up where they just smash the enemy forces in like a minute or two. The show also didn't appear to have any main villain though it may be like Braiger where one doesn't appear until about 75% into the show. I can't remember if Baxinger did this too.

The charm of the series is generally the characters, which are always a little quirky or unusual in an interesting way and it's fun to watch them deal with stuff and you grow to like them. And while having a lead character, it still mostly functions as an ensemble cast with characters generally getting shared screentime. Also has a solid soundtrack if you're into that early 80s guitar,bass, drum sound all the mech shows had back then. I will say though, halfway through the series the cast gets a costume change and it's a total downgrade. =P It's very much B-tier but has a nice sincere and fun aspect to it. And being early 80s it's randomly violent at times. =P

(Sorry if that's rambly, I'm trying to do this quick)

-----------------------------

And this is old news now but might as well post it. Discotek has shown their upcoming releases and there's some good stuff coming. For this thread these are the notable ones:

Devilman'72 coming to bluray.

For anyone who hasn't seen this version, despite being Devilman it's very much a 70s giant robot style show, just occasionally violent and dealing with demons. It's an enjoyable show, just know it has a non-ending.

Violence Jack coming to bluray

Claims completely uncensored, so now you can watch all those crusty rape scenes without mosaic... =P Though some of these were featured as an extra feature on the dvd and they appeared to be drawn with the censorship in mind. Whatever though, I'm just here for the gore and the incredibly sick twisted nature of Evil Town.


Project A-Ko 2 coming to bluray

I'm in the camp that believes this to be the only sequel that's anywhere close to the original, though still a notable downgrade. I'll pick this up but if they do 3 and 4 that's gonna make picking those up on their own a difficult decision.

Sasuraiger coming to sd-bluray

I've mentioned in the past how poor the JP blurays looked so it makes sense to release these as sd-bd. Definitely picking this one up as I've been waiting forever for a subbed version.

Dorvack getting an sd-bluray release

This one has been fansubbed for a good while but I'm happy to be able to buy an official copy. Fans of the Transformers toyline might recognize two of the mechs featured in it.


Aaaand of course even more Lupin.

 

[Modrot]

I think all the American brands appearing in Japanese fiction might be there as a wordless statement of postwar Japan.

Some might intend that statement to be positive, others might have a more harsh intent.

But this is a gaijiin trying to find meaning.

 

[Ladioss]

(love your avatar)

It depends also on who directed or draw it, and when. When someone like Oshii, or mangakas like Eiji Otsuka use some specific imagery, you know it carries a very specific meaning (usually connected to a critic of postwar Japan and American Imperialism). When a 80s animator draw a can of budweiser in the Macross movie (or any other pop-culture references you can find in spades in 80s anime, from the Daicon clips to visual jokes in comedic anime like Urusei Yatsura), it's usually nothing more than a simple celebration of Americanized/consumerist Japan of the 80s economic bubble era.

 

[Modrot]

Hey thanks.

Nagumo's a great character in a series full of them.

And I agree. It's fascinating how such simple visual references can mean different things depending on the context and subtext (sexiest words in the english vocabulary).

 

[Ladioss]

(well, she is the heroine of one of the greatest anime movie of the 90s, after all - as well as the best Oshii movie with Beautiful Dreamer)

Wait, I made a mistake. I'm not sure that coke panel in Gosenzosama Banbanzai carry any real meaning :

IIRC the series if full of billboard adverts, usually in the background. Maybe it means something, maybe not, I'm not so sure anymore.

 

[mortal]

One of my favorite YouTube channels covering one of my favorite anime

 

[OmegaSupreme]

It's not super retro but I've been thinking about Ergo Proxy lately. I can't think of another show that had a clear "A" team "B" team and even "c" team animators. Some of the episodes look absolutely amazing then the next might look like Naruto filler. Really crazy.

EDIT: One of my favorite OP's ever too

 

[Space Runaway]

Follow-up on Baxingar after having finished it. It was a good show...until it wasn't. =P


It was an interesting and more serious (Or as serious as a show with flying space motorcycles can be) follow-up to Braiger. Same continuity though a several hundred year time jump, so major events from Braiger are referenced but it's generally a fresh start.

The format is changed up a bit. Where the first 75% of Braiger was an episode of the week format before it started having more direct continuity, Baxingar adopts a more direct continuity from the start and has three distinct sections to the series. The first being our characters assmebling and establshing the "Cosmo rangers", the second has them dealing with a major schism that causes tons of factions to vie for power and the third being them trying to back an underdog that has true claim.

Moreso than Braiger, this one has greater influence from Gundam (They even have the Baxin Bird, their own White Base that is in Gundam colors too) and the disposable mecha trend from that period. Although the Baxingar is a quasi invincible combiner robot, it never takes on monsters or equally powered mecha. All the mecha are fodder like the generic space fighters that are always destoyed en mass amid space battles with flagships and such. By the halfway point there's also greater emphasis on planning and the political landscape. Though it's all basic surface level stuff and you won't find the depth of something like Dougram but it's decent enough.

This also creates a problem where the cast only gets developed to a point, then they start taking a backseat to story and situation at hand. Even the poster boy character "Billy" becomes a borderline background character for a dozen episodes. This is a shame as the show has a good cast and one of the best parts of Braiger was it's focus on the cast. Even though Braiger's story wasn't amazing, it had fun characters and a certain endearing quality to it, whereas Baxingar is more detached in that regard.

This would be much easier to overlook if it wasn't for the ending. I won't spoil anything (The final episode title already does that... =P) but it comes to a very quick ending, not only giving a "That's it? Just like that?" feeling but leaving some plot threads either unfinished or feeling like they were a waste of time. It feels like they were rushed or things were cut short at the finish line but then it has the same episode count as Braiger and the sequel came the year after so it doesn't appear it was a planning or early cancellation issue.

Too bad because it was an enjoyable watch getting to that point. And as a quickie rehash of my older post on Baxingar, visually it's still partially stuck in 70s design and you're not going to find great art or animation but it does maintain an acceptable (For the time) level of quality and it has a cool early 80s score with the rock guitar and slap bass and all that. =P

I can recommend this show to those who enjoys robot shows from this era but there's plenty of other shows I would watch before getting to this one.

(Sorry for the overlong rambly stream of consciousness post)

 

[kunonabi]

My rightstuf haul came in with a couple of oldies in it:

 

[NahaNago]

I went to MTAC our local anime convention last week-ish and ended up buying the blue ray versions of Arion and Cyber City ODEO 808 plus a dvd version of Goku Midnight Eye.

 

[Labolas]

Watched the first episode of Genocyber. Don't watch Genocyber. It's straight up bad and incomprehensible. I haven't been this baffled by an anime since Violence Jack.

 

[Space Runaway]

Watched the first episode of Genocyber. Don't watch Genocyber. It's straight up bad and incomprehensible. I haven't been this baffled by an anime since Violence Jack.

Admittedly I kinda like Genocyber 2 (ep 2+3) as a guilty pleasure...well, in a tasteless trash b-movie way. It has something of a more traditional story, at least compared to the first and 4+5, though it's still ridiculous. They're all junk though. =P


And speaking of Violence Jack, Discotek put out some screenshots from the upcoming bluray. They're not interesting shots but at least one can scope out the quality, which is looking pretty good.

 

[Ladioss]

Not exactly retro, but any people here watching Ya Boy Kongming ? OP is a banger, and the manga is surpringly good-hearted for something that looked like a gag manga at first glance; it kinda remind me a lot of Harold Sakuishi's Beck.

On the retro side, I'm busy rewatching Urusei Yatsura yet again; it will be fun to see what the 2022 series will do differently.

 

[NahaNago]

Not exactly retro, but any people here watching Ya Boy Kongming ? OP is a banger, and the manga is surpringly good-hearted for something tthat looked like a gag manga at first glance; it kinda remind me a lot of Harold Sakuishi's Beck.

On the retro side, I'm busy rewatching Urusei Yatsura yet again; it will be fun to see what the 2022 series will do differently.

Never even heard of Ya Boy Kongming. The anime looks kinda interesting.

For Urusei Yatsura it's something I keep telling myself I'll watch it eventually but never do.

 

[Ladioss]

I don't even know a lot of Japanese mainstream pop musicians and/or groups, yet I love how pop music is treated as a theme in mangas like Beck and Nodame Cantabile and Me & the Devil Blues. Funny that.

For Urusei Yatsura it's something I keep telling myself I'll watch it eventually but never do.

Regular people nowadays just watch the movies anyway, I guess. I completely understand that age and available free time can make watching a 200 episodes series a daunting task - hell, even I have been putting off watching
Majokko Meg-chan, Popolocrois and Ashita no Nadja for years now because reasons

 

[NahaNago]

I don't even know a lot of Japanese mainstream pop musicians and/or groups, yet I love how pop music is treated as a theme in mangas like Beck and Nodame Cantabile and Me & the Devil Blues. Funny that.

Regular people nowadays just watch the movies anyway, I guess. I completely understand that age and available free time can make watching a 200 episodes series a daunting task - hell, even I have been putting off watching
Majokko Meg-chan, Popolocrois and Ashita no Nadja for years now because reasons

I can barely get myself to even watch anime movies outside of the stuff that releases in theaters. Manga is just so easy to consume and quick compared to having to watch a 20-ish minute episode. Just put that 1.5 or 2x speed that youtube has on everything that streams video so I can get through these shows fast if I haven't completely fallen in love with it.

 

[Happosai]

Hey friends! Especially looking at kunonabi Space Runaway Ladioss and DGrayson whom have contributed a lot to this thread since I created back in Summer of 2020. I just wanted you all to know I'm not dead yet. I was promoted to a double management position at work in February and have been reading but seldom posting on GAF since early March.

Still the best site and I'll try to contribute more often. A huge thank you to everyone for keeping Retro Anime alive in GAF. I'm going to start gaming again soon -- so, I'll likely jump to the Gaming threads again in the coming weeks.

Peace all!

-Happi

 

[kunonabi]

Hey friends! Especially looking at kunonabi Space Runaway Ladioss and DGrayson whom have contributed a lot to this thread since I created back in Summer of 2020. I just wanted you all to know I'm not dead yet. I was promoted to a double management position at work in February and have been reading but seldom posting on GAF since early March.

Still the best site and I'll try to contribute more often. A huge thank you to everyone for keeping Retro Anime alive in GAF. I'm going to start gaming again soon -- so, I'll likely jump to the Gaming threads again in the coming weeks.

Peace all!

-Happi

Congrats on the promotion.

 

[Ladioss]

Congrats too Happosai !
I admire people who take on new responsabilities at their job and I should do the same, but I love coding too much ahah

 

[Space Runaway]

Gave 1986's "Grey: Digital Target" a rewatch. I watched many years back and remember not thinking it was great but then I really couldn't remember much beyond the emotion so I gave it refresh viewing and...it's still not great. =P

I'll keep it vague but it's one of those quasi-post apocalyptic futures of perpetual war and with a Starship Troopers-ish thing where you have to join the military and survive enough battles to "rank up" to eventually become a citizen. You have the Mad Max burnout lead character who deep down is still good, the talky female love interest who partially exists to give audience exposition or ask questions and it goes down the usual path where the characters get caught up in events and find their society is not exactly what it seemed.

It's a manga adaption and not having read the comic, I can only judge the movie itself. Starts out well enough and sort of speeds along in a way that feels like it's (probably) hitting important parts from the comic yet not spending enough time for characters or the story to have the intended depth. Unfortunately the action is never great either so you can't fall back on mindless entertainment. It also has a total non-ending, which may be a "read the comic to find out what happens!" thing or perhaps the comic itself had such an ending. =/

"Grey" was directed by Satoshi Dezaki, the older brother of the late great Osamu Dezaki, though his output has never compared. This was a movie with a theatrical release but the art and coloring never rises above "typical" OVA quality and the animation is never better than a decent budget tv episode. The staff contains a lot of journeymen who are skilled but haven't really done anything standout and that comes across throughout the entire production. There's a very "good yet average" quality to the whole thing.

I don't mean to sound like I'm shitting on it as it's never boring, the concept is cool to where I'd like to give the comic a look and I didn't regret taking the time to watch it. I just can't recommend it unless you're a "watch everything from back then" type or have specific interests.

It does have a pretty snazzy synth-pop ending theme though =P

 

[Labolas]

Watched OVA of Angel Densetsu. Pretty good and still holds up. I just surprised that this didn't get an actual tv series. Sucks for these older OVAs were only there get people vested in the manga. I'll eventually check the manga, but damn this another series that needs a reboot/new adaptation.

 

[Happosai]

Gave 1986's "Grey: Digital Target" a rewatch. I watched many years back and remember not thinking it was great but then I really couldn't remember much beyond the emotion so I gave it refresh viewing and...it's still not great. =P

I'll keep it vague but it's one of those quasi-post apocalyptic futures of perpetual war and with a Starship Troopers-ish thing where you have to join the military and survive enough battles to "rank up" to eventually become a citizen. You have the Mad Max burnout lead character who deep down is still good, the talky female love interest who partially exists to give audience exposition or ask questions and it goes down the usual path where the characters get caught up in events and find their society is not exactly what it seemed.

It's a manga adaption and not having read the comic, I can only judge the movie itself. Starts out well enough and sort of speeds along in a way that feels like it's (probably) hitting important parts from the comic yet not spending enough time for characters or the story to have the intended depth. Unfortunately the action is never great either so you can't fall back on mindless entertainment. It also has a total non-ending, which may be a "read the comic to find out what happens!" thing or perhaps the comic itself had such an ending. =/

"Grey" was directed by Satoshi Dezaki, the older brother of the late great Osamu Dezaki, though his output has never compared. This was a movie with a theatrical release but the art and coloring never rises above "typical" OVA quality and the animation is never better than a decent budget tv episode. The staff contains a lot of journeymen who are skilled but haven't really done anything standout and that comes across throughout the entire production. There's a very "good yet average" quality to the whole thing.

I don't mean to sound like I'm shitting on it as it's never boring, the concept is cool to where I'd like to give the comic a look and I didn't regret taking the time to watch it. I just can't recommend it unless you're a "watch everything from back then" type or have specific interests.

It does have a pretty snazzy synth-pop ending theme though =P

Welcome back. Stopping by again (first time in about a month...super busy at work). Cool stuff as usual. I'm thinking we'd probably cover a myriad of great lost titles by simply posting on LaserDisc anime OVAs alone. Just rewatched Moldiver and it follows the theme of much of the sci-fi Pioneer/Victor produced anime of 1993 but enjoyable. It's one of few cases where I can say that the OVA covered pretty much everything that needed to be said in it's 6 episodes. Whereas, I still feel things like Gunsmith Cats and Dragon Half were cut way too short on screen time after seeing how far the mangas went.

Excursions into alien territory: Two things before posting. I finally got around to watching Lily C.A.T. and just like everyone had stated -- the cropped "Alien" and "The Thing" down to scenes almost precisely and yet there was still a slightly original story there. As far as this Summer...I've finally decided after 22-years to watch the complete Yu Yu Hakusho series after complaining about it so much in previous posts. My wife bought me all 4 blu-ray sets and I'm going to give it a go soon.

 

[kunonabi]

Welcome back. Stopping by again (first time in about a month...super busy at work). Cool stuff as usual. I'm thinking we'd probably cover a myriad of great lost titles by simply posting on LaserDisc anime OVAs alone. Just rewatched Moldiver and it follows the theme of much of the sci-fi Pioneer/Victor produced anime of 1993 but enjoyable. It's one of few cases where I can say that the OVA covered pretty much everything that needed to be said in it's 6 episodes. Whereas, I still feel things like Gunsmith Cats and Dragon Half were cut way too short on screen time after seeing how far the mangas went.

Excursions into alien territory: Two things before posting. I finally got around to watching Lily C.A.T. and just like everyone had stated -- the cropped "Alien" and "The Thing" down to scenes almost precisely and yet there was still a slightly original story there. As far as this Summer...I've finally decided after 22-years to watch the complete Yu Yu Hakusho series after complaining about it so much in previous posts. My wife bought me all 4 blu-ray sets and I'm going to give it a go soon.

Nice to see you give Hakusho another shot. The final arc is pretty terrible but hopefully the show can redeem itself a little in your eyes elsewhere.

 

[Labolas]

Nice to see you give Hakusho another shot. The final arc is pretty terrible but hopefully the show can redeem itself a little in your eyes elsewhere.

YYH is one of the battle shonen series that I still hold fond memories and has some best villains for its time. Definitely beats DBZ as a series for me.

 

[kunonabi]

YYH is one of the battle shonen series that I still hold fond memories and has some best villains for its time. Definitely beats DBZ as a series for me.

Yeah, I definitely take it over DBZ. I don't watch much battle Shonen so Hakusho still stands near the top of the ones I've seen even if I wish it leaned more into the spirit detective stuff personally.

 

[Labolas]

Yeah, I definitely take it over DBZ. I don't watch much battle Shonen so Hakusho still stands near the top of the ones I've seen even if I wish it leaned more into the spirit detective stuff personally.

Yeah that would have been nice if we got the spirit detective stuff and got more of the Japanese folklore and mythos of different spirits.

Btw, shoutout to OmegaSupreme for dropping this in the anime/manga thread:


Since this is an older property, I wanted know the retro anime fans' thoughts on this?

 

[DGrayson]

I didn't like it either. I watched it once back when it first came out and didn't get the hype.

I actually watched it recently for the first time and I enjoyed it. What I liked about it mainly was that it was a good thriller/psychological horror movie. It was a cool anime but it could have just been a live action movie as well.

 

[Durask]

Got my copy of Madox-01 (was kickstartered by AnimEigo). Haven’t watched it yet maybe this weekend.

One show I would like to see is Combistible Campus Guardress - right now all we have is hideous unwatchable fansubs in VHS quality.

 

[Happosai]

Nice to see you give Hakusho another shot. The final arc is pretty terrible but hopefully the show can redeem itself a little in your eyes elsewhere.

You know, I was watching it back in the year 2000 and made it to about episode 33 and then for whichever reason (could have been something going on in my life at that time)...I never finished it. Yet, I've been highly critical about it for years. Then recently, I started thinking that I never really watched it from beginning to end and I felt my wife would really enjoy this. She's more into a fighting anime than something shoujo. She bought me the four blu-ray boxsets (as a surprisea couple ended up being the collector's steel books too). I've done some reading ahead -- I prefer not to know everything that happens but I read they messed up the final arc quite a bit. It seems like that had not only to do with the animation staff working from the manga but they were also fed up with making episodes by that time. However, I imagine it's better than the Berserk TV 97' ending or I'd even go as far to say that the ending of the original Dragon Ball to me sucked. I always felt Dragon Ball should have just ended with Goku as the younger version and that whole Piccolo Jr. fight have never happened. I felt the entire final arc of DBZ (original) was not needed.

YYH is one of the battle shonen series that I still hold fond memories and has some best villains for its time. Definitely beats DBZ as a series for me.

My memories were that I really enjoyed how it all started out before stopping on the 33rd-ish episode. I was actually 14-years old at that time and it just seemed to work when I saw it first back in 2000. Now that I've seen both (not a great deal of DBZ...just two seasons of the...nine?) and I felt YYH was going to be better had I watched everything a little over 2 decades ago.

Yeah that would have been nice if we got the spirit detective stuff and got more of the Japanese folklore and mythos of different spirits.

Btw, shoutout to OmegaSupreme for dropping this in the anime/manga thread:


Since this is an older property, I wanted know the retro anime fans' thoughts on this?

What I thought is that Bastard! was a great OVA from the early 90's. I watched it last Spring and felt...that's just awesome a great how it is. Not unlike Hollywood movies or classic TV shows...it's a remake or reboot. I'm never going to be on board with that for anything but especially anime. I've tried to watch a few modern reboots but the stories, digital animation and amount of fan service they use to try to compensate for how lackluster they are just doesn't work for me. You really want an amazing ride -- rewatch the original OVA and you'll be glad you did.

 

[Happosai]

Hey Retro Anime fans! I'm back again from the dead with good news. How did someone miss posting this? I'll re share Discotek's news about Cat's Eye in text (removing the Rightstuf link as you can easily pre-order with Amazon too). But...Cat's Eye finally coming back and on blu-ray! That's big news that we needed! Space Runaway Ladioss kunonabi D Durask DGrayson

Coming April 26th 2022! Cat's Eye Season 1 Blu Ray collection!

Japanese language, English subtitles. All 36 episodes of the first season in 1080p high definition. Region A discs.

"WHEN NIGHT FALLS, THE CLAWS COME OUT!
Cat’s Eye is the most notorious group of art thieves in Japan.No one knows their identities, but for most of Tokyo, the mystery only heightens their allure. To bumbling detective Utsumi Toshio, Cat’s Eye is a colossal pain in the neck. They outwit him and the rest of the police at every turn, making them look ridiculous.

He would never dream of being in love with someone in Cat’s Eye. Except he already is. Toshio has no idea that Cat’s Eye is actually his girlfriend, Hitomi Kisugi, and her sisters Rui and Ai. Running the Cat’s Eye Cafe next door to the police station, they bring “hiding in plain sight’’ to a whole new level.

But thievery and romance are difficult to balance. Hitomi will need all the help she can get to stop Toshio from discovering her identity - especially when he starts having feelings for her alter-ego! This collection includes all 36 episodes of season 1 in high definition! Including the original Japanese language with English subtitles!" --- Discotek Media

 

[kunonabi]

Hey Retro Anime fans! I'm back again from the dead with good news. How did someone miss posting this? I'll re share Discotek's news about Cat's Eye in text (removing the Rightstuf link as you can easily pre-order with Amazon too). But...Cat's Eye finally coming back and on blu-ray! That's big news that we needed! Space Runaway Ladioss kunonabi D Durask DGrayson

Coming April 26th 2022! Cat's Eye Season 1 Blu Ray collection!

Japanese language, English subtitles. All 36 episodes of the first season in 1080p high definition. Region A discs.

"WHEN NIGHT FALLS, THE CLAWS COME OUT!
Cat’s Eye is the most notorious group of art thieves in Japan.No one knows their identities, but for most of Tokyo, the mystery only heightens their allure. To bumbling detective Utsumi Toshio, Cat’s Eye is a colossal pain in the neck. They outwit him and the rest of the police at every turn, making them look ridiculous.

He would never dream of being in love with someone in Cat’s Eye. Except he already is. Toshio has no idea that Cat’s Eye is actually his girlfriend, Hitomi Kisugi, and her sisters Rui and Ai. Running the Cat’s Eye Cafe next door to the police station, they bring “hiding in plain sight’’ to a whole new level.

But thievery and romance are difficult to balance. Hitomi will need all the help she can get to stop Toshio from discovering her identity - especially when he starts having feelings for her alter-ego! This collection includes all 36 episodes of season 1 in high definition! Including the original Japanese language with English subtitles!" --- Discotek Media

Yeah got my copy a couple weeks ago but I'm in the middle of moving so I haven't been able to watch it.

 

[Space Runaway]

And speaking of new blurays, received the Violence Jack bluray (Along with Dorvack).

Took a quick glance at the other OVAs but only fully checked out Evil Town. Really nice looking transfer. Almost feels wrong to have something so vile in such nice quality.

Some pics (No spoilers or content that might get me in trouble =P ). Open in their own tab/window for full quality.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

And speaking of new blurays, received the Violence Jack bluray (Along with Dorvack).

Took a quick glance at the other OVAs but only fully checked out Evil Town. Really nice looking transfer. Almost feels wrong to have something so vile in such nice quality.

Some pics (No spoilers or content that might get me in trouble =P ). Open in their own tab/window for full quality.

That looks great. I've never seen this. Good?

 

[Space Runaway]

That looks great. I've never seen this. Good?

Hmmm...technically no but if you like 80s anime and serious gore you may find yourself enjoying it. If you like Devilman, it may hold some additional merit due to being a sequel of sorts.

As a quick overview there's 3 OVAs in the collection. The first is Harlem Bomber and is kinda whatever. The following two are Evil Town and Hell's Wind, which are adaptions from some of the Go Nagai manga. Evil Town is the most infamous as director Ichiro Itano used it to indulge his love of gore which left the story and characters lost amidst the rape and violence (Which also includes graphic child killing and cannibalism). The production values for Evil Town are pretty decent but know it's notoriety is almost entirely due to the macabre elements.

 

[Happosai]

Yeah got my copy a couple weeks ago but I'm in the middle of moving so I haven't been able to watch it.

I think if Rightstuf's handling it they typically still take about 3-weeks shipping standard ground in the U.S., right? I'd take that time to pick out a few more titles. If you have the previous DVD releases of it -- why not let us know what changes you see. Well, improvements rather than changes.

And speaking of new blurays, received the Violence Jack bluray (Along with Dorvack).

Took a quick glance at the other OVAs but only fully checked out Evil Town. Really nice looking transfer. Almost feels wrong to have something so vile in such nice quality.

Some pics (No spoilers or content that might get me in trouble =P ). Open in their own tab/window for full quality.

Of all the Go Nagai anime adapted OVAs -- seems that Violence Jack one of those which Discotek really put a lot of effort into and money. You know, about 9 or 10-years back when Discotek/Eastern Star was much newer on the scene, I recall they had a small forum where fans could suggest titles they should pick up for release. Hundreds (if not more) including myself signed one for Violence Jack. Then, a few month later the DVD came out. I don't know if we had an impact on that or if Discotek had already been working on it. I recall the first DVD I ever bought from them being Crying Freeman (which shows as sold out on their site).

 

[Space Runaway]

I think if Rightstuf's handling it they typically still take about 3-weeks shipping standard ground in the U.S., right? I'd take that time to pick out a few more titles. If you have the previous DVD releases of it -- why not let us know what changes you see. Well, improvements rather than changes.

Of all the Go Nagai anime adapted OVAs -- seems that Violence Jack one of those which Discotek really put a lot of effort into and money. You know, about 9 or 10-years back when Discotek/Eastern Star was much newer on the scene, I recall they had a small forum where fans could suggest titles they should pick up for release. Hundreds (if not more) including myself signed one for Violence Jack. Then, a few month later the DVD came out. I don't know if we had an impact on that or if Discotek had already been working on it. I recall the first DVD I ever bought from them being Crying Freeman (which shows as sold out on their site).

With Violence Jack they were lucky enough to find the original masters so we got a nice fresh scan. Would love for the same to happen to so many older titles. I do wonder how much a title like this sells. It has to be a pretty small audience.

 

[kunonabi]

I'd say my purchases from rightstuff tend arrive closer to a week and a half to two weeks but that could just be luck on my part.

Can't compare cat's eye since I never owned it before but I could do one for the El hazard TV series which arrived a couple days ago.

 

[Happosai]

With Violence Jack they were lucky enough to find the original masters so we got a nice fresh scan. Would love for the same to happen to so many older titles. I do wonder how much a title like this sells. It has to be a pretty small audience.

Well...a fresh scan was needed. The DVD if I remember still looked like a grainy VHS transfer. Although I'll say my Discotek DVD version was waves better than the (possibly Manga Entertainment) release I had which was grainy and appeared to have a lot of cropping going on. That first U.S. DVD release was horrible. I hope we get more great blu-ray masters like that.

Now, if I could see at minimum some of those old Nagai anime/OVA adaptations like The Abashiri Family make it to DVD...that'd be great. When DVD started becoming more widespread with anime releases in about 2001/2002...I waited. But unfortunately that OVA was abandoned in the VHS/LaserDisc era. Unless Japan did something with it I wasn't aware of.

I'd say my purchases from rightstuff tend arrive closer to a week and a half to two weeks but that could just be luck on my part.

Can't compare cat's eye since I never owned it before but I could do one for the El hazard TV series which arrived a couple days ago.

I guess it's because you probably don't live in the middle of a corn field. Before moving a to 5 + million population city in Mexico in 2016; I lived on a farm in Illinois. That could be why RightStuf releases always took 3-weeks to arrive when I was in the States. However, standard releases typically took 4-6 days...

Anyway, you brought up something interesting that's worth noting and that's the recent release that Discotek has for the El Hazard TV series (which I recall being called "the Wanderers"). The El Hazard Magnificent World OVAs are okay but I felt the series was fun. It was actually the last VHS dual boxset I purchased of a series (sold in two 4 VHS boxed sets in the U.S.). I bought it aftermarket and I believe I paid a grand total of $15 for both sets as this was about 2007 and VHS prices were dropping fast.

 

[kunonabi]

Well...a fresh scan was needed. The DVD if I remember still looked like a grainy VHS transfer. Although I'll say my Discotek DVD version was waves better than the (possibly Manga Entertainment) release I had which was grainy and appeared to have a lot of cropping going on. That first U.S. DVD release was horrible. I hope we get more great blu-ray masters like that.

Now, if I could see at minimum some of those old Nagai anime/OVA adaptations like The Abashiri Family make it to DVD...that'd be great. When DVD started becoming more widespread with anime releases in about 2001/2002...I waited. But unfortunately that OVA was abandoned in the VHS/LaserDisc era. Unless Japan did something with it I wasn't aware of.

I guess it's because you probably don't live in the middle of a corn field. Before moving a to 5 + million population city in Mexico in 2016; I lived on a farm in Illinois. That could be why RightStuf releases always took 3-weeks to arrive when I was in the States. However, standard releases typically took 4-6 days...

Anyway, you brought up something interesting that's worth noting and that's the recent release that Discotek has for the El Hazard TV series (which I recall being called "the Wanderers"). The El Hazard Magnificent World OVAs are okay but I felt the series was fun. It was actually the last VHS dual boxset I purchased of a series (sold in two 4 VHS boxed sets in the U.S.). I bought it aftermarket and I believe I paid a grand total of $15 for both sets as this was about 2007 and VHS prices were dropping fast.

Lots of people rag on the TV series but I love it even if I still prefer the first OAV series. The TV series gives a lot more time to some of the characters and dynamics and the romance is better fleshed out and more believable. I also adore the opening theme in all its cheesy goodness.