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[kunonabi]

I always wanted to get into Macross but so far I only saw 1 movie but it was pretty awesome.
Now I remember we also had the grimms fairy tales, pretty good stuff.

Macross was always a weird one for me. I love the Robotech adaptation, Macross Plus, and Do You Remember Love is pretty to look at but I've hated everything else.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

I don't even know if this is a hot-take or not, but DBZA and Hellsing Ultimate Abridged from Team Four Star are far more entertaining than the source material.

Those guys deserve all the legitimate dub work they're getting, and I wish gaming developers would hire them as well.

 

[Happosai]

I don't even know if this is a hot-take or not, but DBZA and Hellsing Ultimate Abridged from Team Four Star are far more entertaining than the source material.

Those guys deserve all the legitimate dub work they're getting, and I wish gaming developers would hire them as well.

In reference to the posts from earlier about dubs -- like I said, both generations have good dubs. The thing is, fans of classic and modern anime who have been watching for decades...seem to be moving into the direction of subs. I like both but the older me likes hearing Japanese dialogue more.

 

[kunonabi]

In reference to the posts from earlier about dubs -- like I said, both generations have good dubs. The thing is, fans of classic and modern anime who have been watching for decades...seem to be moving into the direction of subs. I like both but the older me likes hearing Japanese dialogue more.

I always preferred subs but there are handful of dubs I prefer from the old days to the original Japanese even now.

 

[Happosai]

I always preferred subs but there are handful of dubs I prefer from the old days to the original Japanese even now.

Likewise kunonabi ! Although subs fair better with me these days, some notable dubs of retro anime were in:
-Ranma 1/2
-The Slayers (I felt they were really into it)
-Photon (insane how the English VAs pulled off some of those characters)
-Tenchi OVA
-Gunsmith Cats

and a few others. List some dubs you've watched that you liked.

 

[kunonabi]

Likewise kunonabi ! Although subs fair better with me these days, some notable dubs of retro anime were in:
-Ranma 1/2
-The Slayers (I felt they were really into it)
-Photon (insane how the English VAs pulled off some of those characters)
-Tenchi OVA
-Gunsmith Cats

and a few others. List some dubs you've watched that you liked.

Ranma 1/2 - English dub pre-Cox is the only thing that makes the TV adaptation worthwhile to me. Well Sasuke is pretty cool too.

El-Hazard

Lupin III: The main crew from the Red Jacket series is perfection to me. I've come to like the Japanese casts more over time but I still consider that group to be at the top of the mountain.

Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture - Way too dry in Japanese especially Joe.

Sailor Moon - While the localization wasnt at all faithful the voice cast captured what my internal image of the characters was better than the Japanese did. It also did a better job of making certain characters more distinct. Sailor Venus wasnt just Usagi light.
DBZ Ocean Dub - again not the greatest localization obviously but those voices just fit my image of the characters better than the rest. Ian Corlett is still Goku to me and always will be. Of course I actively dislike the Japanese and Funi casts, aside from Funi Cell that is, so maybe it isnt that high a bar.

Tenchi/Slayers/YuYu Hakusho -Now I cant actually say they're better than the Japanese casts but I always liked them so much that I just never bothered to watch the Japanese versions. In the case of Tenchi much of what I liked about it was Ryoko and I just couldnt get behind any of her voices aside from her original English dub.

 

[lachesis]

I always wanted to get into Macross but so far I only saw 1 movie but it was pretty awesome.
Now I remember we also had the grimms fairy tales, pretty good stuff.

Macross TV is actually pretty good - but there are a lot of soap opera type of melodrama going on. At that time, a lot of adults, especially housewives watched Macross and talked about who's Ichijo going to be with - whether he'll choose Hayase Misa, or Minmay.

Unfortunately I didn't watched Macross original TV series till much much later, and novel version, followed by excellent movie adaptation was my first experience.

Perhaps due to that, and me being in my early puberty years - I was squarely into Minmay camp.... but after watching the TV series, I realized how much of a b**** Minmay really was, I was quite shocked - and opened up to Misa quite a bit. (I always hated Kaiphoon to begin with, so seeing him becoming abusive drunken bastard towards the end of the TV series, I literally went "ha-ha!" like Simpsons Nelson.

Highly recommended - at least "Do You Remember Love" version for that sheer production value and battle scenes. Thru and thru, it's still 70-80's old school melodrama and boy-girl story (and some questionable slapping of female character by main leads, which is rather ironic how much things have changed over the 4 decades), but if you can muster that type of stuff - it's peppered with Mari Iijima's super catchy 80's songs, charming, likeable characters and interesting storyline even for the 80s standard too.

 

[Labolas]

A Certain Scientific Railgun -

Could not really stand the lesbian character and how close to the line it is on perviness. Maybe it will get better but 2 episodes made me uncomfortable.

Knights of Sidonia -

Loved Season 1 but 2 isn't really grabbing me.

Tokyo Ghoul - Got bored with it. Felt it is overhyped.

Yeah I really didn't like a Certain Scientific Railgun. I regretted that I bought it as well without having any prior knowledge of the show. Never going to do that again.

 

[gela94]

Macross TV is actually pretty good - but there are a lot of soap opera type of melodrama going on. At that time, a lot of adults, especially housewives watched Macross and talked about who's Ichijo going to be with - whether he'll choose Hayase Misa, or Minmay.

Unfortunately I didn't watched Macross original TV series till much much later, and novel version, followed by excellent movie adaptation was my first experience.

Perhaps due to that, and me being in my early puberty years - I was squarely into Minmay camp.... but after watching the TV series, I realized how much of a b**** Minmay really was, I was quite shocked - and opened up to Misa quite a bit. (I always hated Kaiphoon to begin with, so seeing him becoming abusive drunken bastard towards the end of the TV series, I literally went "ha-ha!" like Simpsons Nelson.

Highly recommended - at least "Do You Remember Love" version for that sheer production value and battle scenes. Thru and thru, it's still 70-80's old school melodrama and boy-girl story (and some questionable slapping of female character by main leads, which is rather ironic how much things have changed over the 4 decades), but if you can muster that type of stuff - it's peppered with Mari Iijima's super catchy 80's songs, charming, likeable characters and interesting storyline even for the 80s standard too.

I actually watched the Do you remember love movie some 20 years ago and I still remember the catchy music and the high quality of the animation.

 

[manfestival]

Restarted watching Gundam Wing. It is one of the Gundam shows I have never completed. I just get bored around 20 episodes since it seems so vapid. On the otherhand I always want to finish watching Visions of Escaflowne but I always get to about 13 episodes and get distracted by something. The remastered Escaflowne is just a gorgeous show to watch.

I get bummed out watching many of these shows nowadays that feature heavy 3d animation. Makes me long for the retro days. Granted I will never forget being a little kid watching Robotech and seeing the same fight scene copy pasted into many of the battles. I thought it was funny but it didn't really bother me.

 

[Cannibalistic]

Watched Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie (1982) last night. I wasn't familiar with this movie or the series, just bought the UHD on a whim, and damn happy I did. Visually, it's fantastic. There's some not great animation in there as well but overall it's gorgeous. There's a shot where the screen is covered in red and black that looks incredible in 4k.

The story wasn't great, half baked narrative and all that, pure style over substance. But the style was well worth the purchase. This was the first anime I've grabbed on UHD and I really hope they release more.

Can't wait for the upcoming Ghost in the Shell (1995) UHD release.

 

[Space Runaway]

Watched Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie (1982) last night. I wasn't familiar with this movie or the series, just bought the UHD on a whim, and damn happy I did. Visually, it's fantastic. There's some not great animation in there as well but overall it's gorgeous. There's a shot where the screen is covered in red and black that looks incredible in 4k.

The story wasn't great, half baked narrative and all that, pure style over substance. But the style was well worth the purchase. This was the first anime I've grabbed on UHD and I really hope they release more.

Can't wait for the upcoming Ghost in the Shell (1995) UHD release.

Yeah the movie is one of those mash-ups where they took the first couple story arcs and rearranged and/or rewrote it and many characters to try and fit it all together. Although entertaining the visuals are definitely the main reason to watch the movie. Definitely give the TV series a watch if you're interested. Even in the show the visuals are top notch and you get the same directing and photography style.

Also if you want more of that visual style, animation and direction I recommend checking out Golgo 13: The Professional.

 

[Space Runaway]

More intros from the past or just video junk food

 

[Happosai]

Yeah the movie is one of those mash-ups where they took the first couple story arcs and rearranged and/or rewrote it and many characters to try and fit it all together. Although entertaining the visuals are definitely the main reason to watch the movie. Definitely give the TV series a watch if you're interested. Even in the show the visuals are top notch and you get the same directing and photography style.

Also if you want more of that visual style, animation and direction I recommend checking out Golgo 13: The Professional.

I keep pushing Golgo 13: The Professional in this thread. I've already referenced it 3 times. We do have some trending classics in this thread.

 

[Happosai]

Macross TV is actually pretty good - but there are a lot of soap opera type of melodrama going on. At that time, a lot of adults, especially housewives watched Macross and talked about who's Ichijo going to be with - whether he'll choose Hayase Misa, or Minmay.

Unfortunately I didn't watched Macross original TV series till much much later, and novel version, followed by excellent movie adaptation was my first experience.

Perhaps due to that, and me being in my early puberty years - I was squarely into Minmay camp.... but after watching the TV series, I realized how much of a b**** Minmay really was, I was quite shocked - and opened up to Misa quite a bit. (I always hated Kaiphoon to begin with, so seeing him becoming abusive drunken bastard towards the end of the TV series, I literally went "ha-ha!" like Simpsons Nelson.

Highly recommended - at least "Do You Remember Love" version for that sheer production value and battle scenes. Thru and thru, it's still 70-80's old school melodrama and boy-girl story (and some questionable slapping of female character by main leads, which is rather ironic how much things have changed over the 4 decades), but if you can muster that type of stuff - it's peppered with Mari Iijima's super catchy 80's songs, charming, likeable characters and interesting storyline even for the 80s standard too.

If the soap opery junk is quality; I usually buy into it. As much as I like blood and guts, I'm also a softie for classic rom-coms. If it gets too cheap though...I back off. I thought DNA -squared and Video Girl Ai were decent...but if it gets more melodramatic than that, it goes off.

Yes, Macross TV needs to be seen. Granted, with any longer series you'll have some duds for episodes.

 

[Happosai]

Ranma 1/2 - English dub pre-Cox is the only thing that makes the TV adaptation worthwhile to me. Well Sasuke is pretty cool too.

El-Hazard

Lupin III: The main crew from the Red Jacket series is perfection to me. I've come to like the Japanese casts more over time but I still consider that group to be at the top of the mountain.

Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture - Way too dry in Japanese especially Joe.

Sailor Moon - While the localization wasnt at all faithful the voice cast captured what my internal image of the characters was better than the Japanese did. It also did a better job of making certain characters more distinct. Sailor Venus wasnt just Usagi light.
DBZ Ocean Dub - again not the greatest localization obviously but those voices just fit my image of the characters better than the rest. Ian Corlett is still Goku to me and always will be. Of course I actively dislike the Japanese and Funi casts, aside from Funi Cell that is, so maybe it isnt that high a bar.

Tenchi/Slayers/YuYu Hakusho -Now I cant actually say they're better than the Japanese casts but I always liked them so much that I just never bothered to watch the Japanese versions. In the case of Tenchi much of what I liked about it was Ryoko and I just couldnt get behind any of her voices aside from her original English dub.

I can't say I have any disagreements with this list. A lot of these were actually getting their English dubs around 2000 and 2001 (sometimes 10-15 years after the release of the anime in Japan). Manga Entertainment and Ocean Group dubs were always fun for me. Western audiences aren't used to hearing Japanese Lupin lll, so the dubs usually tend to be more popular. Interesting story about when they tried to air the dubbed second series of Lupin the Third. English cast recorded somewhere around 79 episodes and I believe it was adult swim that cut them after airing only 26 episodes. I remember watching the Lupin movies in High School and people kept saying to me that they'd seen the actual series on cartoon network. I checked my satellite listings but was too late, I guess. Now, I got the whole lot on DVD from Discotek. I do like the manga untranslated and the fact that series 1 was never dubbed always makes me feel like Green jacket Lupin was more from the mind of Monkey Punch.

How far did you get with the Ranma 1/2 series? kunonabi Did you keep watching after the episode 64 voice switch? Did you watch the movies or OVAs? Yes, Sasuke's dub was great...except...the Canadian VAs kept pronouncing his name incorrectly (pronunciation: Sasookei = no | Saskei = ). They did well with most of the name pronunciations but they would sometimes call Happosai "Happo-sai"
Genma had a great voice as Tatewaki Kuno. I wrote a fan fiction to spin-off where the series dropped and ended up writing 6-pages just to introduce the character of Tatewaki Kuno.

I got to chat with the English cast from Tenchi years ago. They were mostly stage actors and were friends. The Tenchi English VAs can also be heard (in part) in the English dubs for: BioHunter, Twilight of the Dark Master, and Dragon Slayer OVA.

 

[kunonabi]

I can't say I have any disagreements with this list. A lot of these were actually getting their English dubs around 2000 and 2001 (sometimes 10-15 years after the release of the anime in Japan). Manga Entertainment and Ocean Group dubs were always fun for me. Western audiences aren't used to hearing Japanese Lupin lll, so the dubs usually tend to be more popular. Interesting story about when they tried to air the dubbed second series of Lupin the Third. English cast recorded somewhere around 79 episodes and I believe it was adult swim that cut them after airing only 26 episodes. I remember watching the Lupin movies in High School and people kept saying to me that they'd seen the actual series on cartoon network. I checked my satellite listings but was too late, I guess. Now, I got the whole lot on DVD from Discotek. I do like the manga untranslated and the fact that series 1 was never dubbed always makes me feel like Green jacket Lupin was more from the mind of Monkey Punch.

How far did you get with the Ranma 1/2 series? kunonabi Did you keep watching after the episode 64 voice switch? Did you watch the movies or OVAs? Yes, Sasuke's dub was great...except...the Canadian VAs kept pronouncing his name incorrectly (pronunciation: Sasookei = no | Saskei = ). They did well with most of the name pronunciations but they would sometimes call Happosai "Happo-sai"
Genma had a great voice as Tatewaki Kuno. I wrote a fan fiction to spin-off where the series dropped and ended up writing 6-pages just to introduce the character of Tatewaki Kuno.

I got to chat with the English cast from Tenchi years ago. They were mostly stage actors and were friends. The Tenchi English VAs can also be heard (in part) in the English dubs for: BioHunter, Twilight of the Dark Master, and Dragon Slayer OVA.

I don't think I got much farther than 64th episode. My whole groups just stopped watching right there. The worse voicework and taking the principal out of the Kunou family was just too much for me.

Love the movies and OVAs. One Grew Over the Kunou's Nest was like one of the first couple anime tapes I rented from the video store and it turned me into an instant fan.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Nope. Scrapped Princess probably doesn't even touch on being too retro. I think the sub-topic was misinterpreted or that this shows that retro anime fans also (are currently) watching mostly modern anime. Attack on Titan, One Punch Man, Dragon Ball Super...the oldest is barely 8-years old of those. You made a great point. I read the original post and I mentioned anime I had watched over the past 10-years (85% of what I watch any given year is something from at least 20 + years ago) and I wasn't considering that could be misinterpreted as anime made in the past 10-years. Thanks for pointing this out!

Sorry guys, I just edited this small paragraph. This is probably where the confusion was. Like the lists but you can submit one on retro anime that you've discontinued or dropped, too.

Have at it Space Runaway C Cannibalistic kunonabi Starlight Lotice OmegaSupreme @Merzbear @Tschumi

Can't say I've watched anything truly retro for sometime. I did rewatch a good chunk of Bebop last year. Still amazing. Wolfs rain I also watched a bit of... not to much else really. Elfien lied? Not retro enough probably lol.

 

[Happosai]

I don't think I got much farther than 64th episode. My whole groups just stopped watching right there. The worse voicework and taking the principal out of the Kunou family was just too much for me.

Love the movies and OVAs. One Grew Over the Kunou's Nest was like one of the first couple anime tapes I rented from the video store and it turned me into an instant fan.

I've been trying to find that long lost special. I couldn't remember the name, though. I'm pretty sure One Grew Over the Kunou's Nest was the name. I've only read about it. I knew I didn't own everything Ranma yet. I can't find the music videos either. Any idea where to find that?

 

[Happosai]

Can't say I've watched anything truly retro for sometime. I did rewatch a good chunk of Bebop last year. Still amazing. Wolfs rain I also watched a bit of... not to much else really. Elfien lied? Not retro enough probably lol.

I can point you in the right direction for anime like Elfen Lied, but better that are retro (Elfen Lied is about 18-years old and is pretty much retro, too). Baoh is a great violent type anime which kinda goes where Elfen Lied wanted too without going into as much detail. DVD copies are rare but the full movie should be up on YouTube. It has a better ending the E.L., too...in my ancient opinion.
I'll admit that I own three really popular titles that I've never watched...yet...and Cowboy Bebop is one of them. I have the Remix release. I read the manga and then never pushed myself to watch the anime. Same with Trigun and Berserk 1997. I've seen some episodes of the latter. It's on my "to watch" list and they're sitting in my collection.

 

[kunonabi]

I've been trying to find that long lost special. I couldn't remember the name, though. I'm pretty sure One Grew Over the Kunou's Nest was the name. I've only read about it. I knew I didn't own everything Ranma yet. I can't find the music videos either. Any idea where to find that?

I think that was just the name of the viz vhs release that included Team Ranma vs the Legendary Phoenix movie and the cursed tunnel of love OAV. No idea where the music videos are these days. My guess would be that they're on some old Japanese laser disc. At the moment I only own the US OAV/Movie Blu-ray set and an old vhs tape or two so I dont know if they got collected in something more recent. The OAV set has clean versions of the DoCo OPs/ED's but thats about it.

 

[Cybrwzrd]

Did anyone mention Nadia? Jules Verne by Gainax.

 

[lachesis]

Did anyone mention Nadia? Jules Verne by Gainax.

So I thought originally - and ended up becoming space ship Nautilus. Towards mid-end, especially during that deserted island part - it was one of pre-Evangelion "huh?" anime moment for me.

Love the opening song "Blue Water" by Miho Morikawa - unlike most "girl idol" she is a really good singer. Gives me chills every time I listen to this opening song!

 

[JonnyMP3]

I know I'm late to this one but the worst dub in my existence is when I discovered that this dub existed for Transformers. I remember an old DVD with the original series dubbed this horribly.

 

[Happosai]

I think that was just the name of the viz vhs release that included Team Ranma vs the Legendary Phoenix movie and the cursed tunnel of love OAV. No idea where the music videos are these days. My guess would be that they're on some old Japanese laser disc. At the moment I only own the US OAV/Movie Blu-ray set and an old vhs tape or two so I dont know if they got collected in something more recent. The OAV set has clean versions of the DoCo OPs/ED's but thats about it.

Team Ranma vs. The Legendary Phoenix is the one I was referring to. I just bought the 2017 release of the movies / ovas boxset. They list the two common Ranma movies and just say the Third movie is the 'coz special. ' Now, I need to find out if movie three is not the one you mentioned. Did the music videos ever make it to NA as VHS extras or were those exclusively JP only?

 

[Happosai]

I know I'm late to this one but the worst dub in my existence is when I discovered that this dub existed for Transformers. I remember an old DVD with the original series dubbed this horribly.

The Dark Cat OVA dub can beat that. Although, Transformers did have a bad rep for their dubs.

Want to say thanks to Cybrwzrd for joining in. You were all over the classic anime threads from like 8 or more years ago.

 

[Space Runaway]

I know I'm late to this one but the worst dub in my existence is when I discovered that this dub existed for Transformers. I remember an old DVD with the original series dubbed this horribly.

Yeah Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory all have that exact same kung fu movie dub. That was the only way to see them in English for a good while and good lord was it awful. It also doesn't help they fucked up a lot of the names so you got stuff like Blurr being "Wally", the matrix as the "power pack" and other stupid shit. Double extra doesn't help that Headmasters show kinda still sucks even in Japanese and they throw out almost all of the remaining G1 cast within 9 episodes for the wackest reason. Some even gone with zero explanation despite being important characters. Triple extra bad as the show has a shitty non-ending too. =P

 

[kunonabi]

Team Ranma vs. The Legendary Phoenix is the one I was referring to. I just bought the 2017 release of the movies / ovas boxset. They list the two common Ranma movies and just say the Third movie is the 'coz special. ' Now, I need to find out if movie three is not the one you mentioned. Did the music videos ever make it to NA as VHS extras or were those exclusively JP only?

Yeah, my blu-ray set lists the phoenix story as movie 3. I always just thought it a regular OAV since it was so short.
I don't recall ever seeing them on anything but I only had a handful of them. The OAV vhs tapes listed music videos on the box but I think it was still just the DoCo OPs/EDs. At least from the ones I saw anyway.

 

[lachesis]

Here's another one of my childhood anime - well, at least this one aired before my own birth, but while growing up in 70s and 80s - Pro Wrestling was quite the thing. As a child of 70s - I grew up that believing it was "real" fight - and used to get all riled up. Also was reading about this "Tiger Mask" manga off and on. It's been so long, that I don't quite remember that well - but the fight scenes are quite brutal, well beyond anything G rated.



I am more familiar with it's sequel Tiger Mask II - sequel of the original 1969. Original Tiger Mask and Tiger Mask II were written by Ikki Kajiwara - who also wrote the story for Tomorrow's Joe, as well as Star of Giants. Quite possibly, the biggest name in early Japanese Anime/Manga scene in Sports genre. (The whole spirit/guts storytelling - that's also seen in many following traditional Japanese sports mangas/anime - which became the mainstream)

The final episode of original Tiger Mask, was so brutal it's quite hard to watch even to this day - long story short, Tiger Mask character gets revenge by killing/executing(!) the enemy boss on national TV on the ring and fled off the country. Manga's ending was quite different though, that on the day of his world title match, he was saving a kid and hit by a car, and died while throwing away his mask... so that nobody could ever find out who the real Tiger Mask was.

While the animation itself is pretty choppy - but as you can see in the opening, as far as I know it's the first time they directly used pencil line on cells. Actually what they did was that they used original pencil drawings and photocopied onto clear cell, then painted, to reduce the cost. The style, however is very unique and became quite popular - that it's a staple mark of older Anime series. Also the opening's 3 dimensional camera work turned out to be quite influential in later anime to follow. Even the fight scenes - the camera angle of the action scenes are something to behold, even though it's quite violent and bloody too.

I'm sure some of you may have watched Tiger Mask W a few years back - the opening song is the remake of this original song. Also of course, it became the motif for the video game Tekken's King - even though later they added the real-life Lucha Libre person's story, who took care of orphanage in the daytime, and did Lucha Libre by night in disguise.

 

[Happosai]

Yeah, my blu-ray set lists the phoenix story as movie 3. I always just thought it a regular OAV since it was so short.
I don't recall ever seeing them on anything but I only had a handful of them. The OAV vhs tapes listed music videos on the box but I think it was still just the DoCo OPs/EDs. At least from the ones I saw anyway.

That's a relief. It just says "Special" for the Third disc, so I wasn't sure. I hope the music videos surface on YouTube someday. A lot of Ranma content is heavily copyrighted, so not much gets into YouTube other than promos.
I read somewhere that they did record an English version of the music videos but it wasn't Ocean Group. Sarah Strong can sing, though (too bad she didn't stick around to sing).

 

[kunonabi]

That's a relief. It just says "Special" for the Third disc, so I wasn't sure. I hope the music videos surface on YouTube someday. A lot of Ranma content is heavily copyrighted, so not much gets into YouTube other than promos.
I read somewhere that they did record an English version of the music videos but it wasn't Ocean Group. Sarah Strong can sing, though (too bad she didn't stick around to sing).

This playlist has some music videos mixed in with the OAV OP/EDs.

Not sure if those are the ones you're looking for though.

I always had a soft spot for the dubbed OAV OP/EDs. Not as good as the Japanese versions but still charming.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

These are retro?

Shit Scrapped Princess is early 00s and I don't even consider that retro.

Happosai 20 years is considered retro? Am I old?

He asked what you dropped recently, regardless of age, so I mentioned those.

The only one that I would class as "Retro" is anything after 10 years because most NEETS were in their teens to early 20s when they aired and likely are Salarymen now.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

Nope. Scrapped Princess probably doesn't even touch on being too retro. I think the sub-topic was misinterpreted or that this shows that retro anime fans also (are currently) watching mostly modern anime. Attack on Titan, One Punch Man, Dragon Ball Super...the oldest is barely 8-years old of those. You made a great point. I read the original post and I mentioned anime I had watched over the past 10-years (85% of what I watch any given year is something from at least 20 + years ago) and I wasn't considering that could be misinterpreted as anime made in the past 10-years. Thanks for pointing this out!

Sorry guys, I just edited this small paragraph. This is probably where the confusion was. Like the lists but you can submit one on retro anime that you've discontinued or dropped, too.

Have at it Space Runaway C Cannibalistic kunonabi Starlight Lotice OmegaSupreme @Merzbear @Tschumi

Not much really other than Slayers Season 2 and Nadia because I was too busy at the time to watch.

Sorry double post.

 

[Happosai]

This playlist has some music videos mixed in with the OAV OP/EDs.

Not sure if those are the ones you're looking for though.

I always had a soft spot for the dubbed OAV OP/EDs. Not as good as the Japanese versions but still charming.

This looks like it. I don't think Viz ever tried to license them for NA. I've a bone to pick to pick with Viz Video. They still hold the N.A. license for Maison Ikkoku and it's been like 17-years since the DVDs were released, went out-of-print, and where's the blu-ray release? Madison Ikkoku was long the rival in popularity to Ranma 1/2 of Rumiko's works and yet Ranma had a VHS, two DVD releases, and a blu-ray release.

In your opinion, was Rumiko putting out better material during the Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku years...or...is she just as good with the Inuyasha, One Pound Gospel, everything feudal years? Basically, was the best of her talents that which came from the 80's-early 90's or her output from 1998-present?

 

[Happosai]

Not much really other than Slayers Season 2 and Nadia because I was too busy at the time to watch.

Sorry double post.

Nadia is quite spectacular and something enjoyable to watch (especially during a quarantine). I watched the first three seasons of Slayers with my wife in late May. Slayers TV and NEXT were the best, in my opinion. Try has it's moments but the Dark Star right scene got tiring and seemed like a repeat monster like Shabrinigdo.

 

[kunonabi]

This looks like it. I don't think Viz ever tried to license them for NA. I've a bone to pick to pick with Viz Video. They still hold the N.A. license for Maison Ikkoku and it's been like 17-years since the DVDs were released, went out-of-print, and where's the blu-ray release? Madison Ikkoku was long the rival in popularity to Ranma 1/2 of Rumiko's works and yet Ranma had a VHS, two DVD releases, and a blu-ray release.

In your opinion, was Rumiko putting out better material during the Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku years...or...is she just as good with the Inuyasha, One Pound Gospel, everything feudal years? Basically, was the best of her talents that which came from the 80's-early 90's or her output from 1998-present?

I think she's been pretty consistent although I don't really like Inuyasha at all myself. That said it's kind of hard to beat the run that is Urusei Yatsura, Ranma, and Maison.

Looking into the music videos I had forgotten that the old VIZ VHS releases used the same OP and ED for all the OAVs and used the others as the "music videos" at the end of the tape. Very crafty of them.

 

[Happosai]

Here's another one of my childhood anime - well, at least this one aired before my own birth, but while growing up in 70s and 80s - Pro Wrestling was quite the thing. As a child of 70s - I grew up that believing it was "real" fight - and used to get all riled up. Also was reading about this "Tiger Mask" manga off and on. It's been so long, that I don't quite remember that well - but the fight scenes are quite brutal, well beyond anything G rated.



I am more familiar with it's sequel Tiger Mask II - sequel of the original 1969. Original Tiger Mask and Tiger Mask II were written by Ikki Kajiwara - who also wrote the story for Tomorrow's Joe, as well as Star of Giants. Quite possibly, the biggest name in early Japanese Anime/Manga scene in Sports genre. (The whole spirit/guts storytelling - that's also seen in many following traditional Japanese sports mangas/anime - which became the mainstream)

The final episode of original Tiger Mask, was so brutal it's quite hard to watch even to this day - long story short, Tiger Mask character gets revenge by killing/executing(!) the enemy boss on national TV on the ring and fled off the country. Manga's ending was quite different though, that on the day of his world title match, he was saving a kid and hit by a car, and died while throwing away his mask... so that nobody could ever find out who the real Tiger Mask was.

While the animation itself is pretty choppy - but as you can see in the opening, as far as I know it's the first time they directly used pencil line on cells. Actually what they did was that they used original pencil drawings and photocopied onto clear cell, then painted, to reduce the cost. The style, however is very unique and became quite popular - that it's a staple mark of older Anime series. Also the opening's 3 dimensional camera work turned out to be quite influential in later anime to follow. Even the fight scenes - the camera angle of the action scenes are something to behold, even though it's quite violent and bloody too.

I'm sure some of you may have watched Tiger Mask W a few years back - the opening song is the remake of this original song. Also of course, it became the motif for the video game Tekken's King - even though later they added the real-life Lucha Libre person's story, who took care of orphanage in the daytime, and did Lucha Libre by night in disguise.

Sounds like they took the storyboard and probably lightboarded it over for the delay from what you're saying. I'm not sure why they didn't run a pencil test during post-production. However, it's artistry in animation and something we'll probably never see again in anime. The Japanese are becoming like The Americans with using digital ink, flash, and CGI for animating. They don't want to use traditional methods to animate and the decline in quality is the result.

 

[Happosai]

I think she's been pretty consistent although I don't really like Inuyasha at all myself. That said it's kind of hard to beat the run that is Urusei Yatsura, Ranma, and Maison.

I told my wife that Rumiko lost her touch. She was really good at rom-com anime and when she shifted years toward serious historical anime, it seemed like she lost her signature style and doesn't appear to be going back to that. I guess I can understand, I mean she was writing Rom-Coms from 1978-1996. Her early years were her best. Inuyasha started off okay but where it ends up mid-way through seems totally unlike Rumiko. It's the first time I actually got bored with her. Same thing with One Pound Gospel. She's currently in writing her third feudal Japan based manga and...Feudal Japan outside Ninja Scroll gets kinda boring for me in an anime or manga. There are some exceptions, though.

 

[lachesis]

Sounds like they took the storyboard and probably lightboarded it over for the delay from what you're saying. I'm not sure why they didn't run a pencil test during post-production. However, it's artistry in animation and something we'll probably never see again in anime. The Japanese are becoming like The Americans with using digital ink, flash, and CGI for animating. They don't want to use traditional methods to animate and the decline in quality is the result.

I am a fan of that croquis drawing feel. Of course I appreciate some of the new animation's super highly glossed over anime style, but at the same time - the old "hand-drawn" and "roughness of the line" really appeals to to my analogue self - and also defines that period of late 60s & 70s.

In the case of Tiger Mask - I think it was due to the fact that the "wrestling" has so much movement using entire body, typical approach would have been very expensive. It's the era where 6-8 frames per second was quite common - but is also understandable when you see the angle/movement of entire scene and camera movements in the era of no 3D technology - there had to be some sort of shorcut they had to take. It almost looks like storyboard prototype animation, or some artsy 1-person french animation done over many years. Difference is, that Tiger Mask was like over 100 episodes IIRC.

The result was something of super dynamic scenes, while choppy & wobbly - with rough pencil lines, exaggerated postures at the expense of the look of character - enhancing the action. I think Norio Matsuoto, one of my favorite action animator's style, heavily derives from this type of approach - although of course, he's using much more modern technique.

I do, however think modern 3D enhanced animation has really come a long way. Things move on and change... so I'm looking forward what would future ones look like. I just want this whole "isekai" phase is done and over with. LOL...

 

[Happosai]

I am a fan of that croquis drawing feel. Of course I appreciate some of the new animation's super highly glossed over anime style, but at the same time - the old "hand-drawn" and "roughness of the line" really appeals to to my analogue self - and also defines that period of late 60s & 70s.

In the case of Tiger Mask - I think it was due to the fact that the "wrestling" has so much movement using entire body, typical approach would have been very expensive. It's the era where 6-8 frames per second was quite common - but is also understandable when you see the angle/movement of entire scene and camera movements in the era of no 3D technology - there had to be some sort of shorcut they had to take. It almost looks like storyboard prototype animation, or some artsy 1-person french animation done over many years. Difference is, that Tiger Mask was like over 100 episodes IIRC.

The result was something of super dynamic scenes, while choppy & wobbly - with rough pencil lines, exaggerated postures at the expense of the look of character - enhancing the action. I think Norio Matsuoto, one of my favorite action animator's style, heavily derives from this type of approach - although of course, he's using much more modern technique.

I do, however think modern 3D enhanced animation has really come a long way. Things move on and change... so I'm looking forward what would future ones look like. I just want this whole "isekai" phase is done and over with. LOL...

I respect that opinion on 3D animation is the future. When I took 3D rendering courses in film school, it fit out the soul and human element of the animation. Artists want to see messy, gritty, pencil lines in their animation. That's how we (humans) draw; you don't have to know anything about art to copy textures to isometric planes (which is essentially what you end up doing when you add computer aid to media arts and animation). CG artists tend to treat everything like it's a video game and it reflects in cartoons or in live-action film. That's why I made this thread...so we can discuss and appreciate the amount of talent out into the forgotten past. You shared animation here that others would have probably never even bothered to look up. Your post is well-written and gives readers interest to watch that show or at least to read about it. Keep it up, mate!

 

[Happosai]

Yeah Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory all have that exact same kung fu movie dub. That was the only way to see them in English for a good while and good lord was it awful. It also doesn't help they fucked up a lot of the names so you got stuff like Blurr being "Wally", the matrix as the "power pack" and other stupid shit. Double extra doesn't help that Headmasters show kinda still sucks even in Japanese and they throw out almost all of the remaining G1 cast within 9 episodes for the wackest reason. Some even gone with zero explanation despite being important characters. Triple extra bad as the show has a shitty non-ending too. =P

That noise at :38-seconds still has me chuckling. I just re-watched this and noticed they were trying to rush the dialogue and still couldn't match the mouth animation. They way the VAs are acting sounds like the intro to the "Justice Friends." Like someone sarcastically narrating an action-recap without any prior experience. The only thing is, "Justice Friends" was a parody...and the dialogue was deliberately rushed. And...it wasn't Japanese anime

 

[Space Runaway]

That noise at :38-seconds still has me chuckling. I just re-watched this and noticed they were trying to rush the dialogue and still couldn't match the mouth animation. They way the VAs are acting sounds like the intro to the "Justice Friends." Like someone sarcastically narrating an action-recap without any prior experience. The only thing is, "Justice Friends" was a parody...and the dialogue was deliberately rushed. And...it wasn't Japanese anime

Speaking of silly dubs. I rewatched Demon City Shinjuku on a whim due to it being on prime video. I hadn't seen it since renting it on vhs a million years ago (I'm still ambivalent toward the movie though can appreciate certain aspects more now) and man I forgot about that dub. Nearly every character has some extreme cartoon accent that is always anything but Japanese. It kinda turns the movie into a farce at times.

 

[Happosai]

Speaking of silly dubs. I rewatched Demon City Shinjuku on a whim due to it being on prime video. I hadn't seen it since renting it on vhs a million years ago (I'm still ambivalent toward the movie though can appreciate certain aspects more now) and man I forgot about that dub. Nearly every character has some extreme cartoon accent that is always anything but Japanese. It kinda turns the movie into a farce at times.

I had it on a rental VHS year ago and it was subbed. I have a digital download of the movie on my PS3...I believe it is the Manga Entertainment UK dub. Now, you've got me thinking about it. Going to have to watch that now. I don't remember the dub and sometimes I enjoy had dubs (for laughs or thought). Other times, I hear had dubs and get pissed and this is the third time (in this thread)...Dark Cat had the potential to gain a positive rating for a 90's OVA. The American VAs were complete jerks about having to voice for Japanese anime. They purposely botched it and as a result...there are idiots on YouTube who trash talk it as "the worst anime" because the dub was bad.

Worst anime I can remember watching was a weird furry anime from the early 80's called Bagi...something or the other. Back then, the weirdos (furries) didn't exist. For sure they found that movie. It's bad.

Back to Demon City Shinjuku...was that re-dubbed or there's just that one dub for it from the early 90's. Too bad they couldn't try harder for a Kawajiri project.

 

[Space Runaway]

I had it on a rental VHS year ago and it was subbed. I have a digital download of the movie on my PS3...I believe it is the Manga Entertainment UK dub. Now, you've got me thinking about it. Going to have to watch that now. I don't remember the dub and sometimes I enjoy had dubs (for laughs or thought). Other times, I hear had dubs and get pissed and this is the third time (in this thread)...Dark Cat had the potential to gain a positive rating for a 90's OVA. The American VAs were complete jerks about having to voice for Japanese anime. They purposely botched it and as a result...there are idiots on YouTube who trash talk it as "the worst anime" because the dub was bad.

Back to Demon City Shinjuku...was that re-dubbed or there's just that one dub for it from the early 90's. Too bad they couldn't try harder for a Kawajiri project.

Not aware of any redub. The one on amazon was definitely an old 90s dub though. I can't say they didn't try but the choices made were very questionable. Also I didn't have the JP audio to compare but the music and sound seemed somewhat muted as well.

Worst anime I can remember watching was a weird furry anime from the early 80's called Bagi...something or the other. Back then, the weirdos (furries) didn't exist. For sure they found that movie. It's bad.

Ah the Tezuka OVA. I know of it but I've never watched it.

I wouldn't know which is the worst anime of the old school era I've seen (and finished). Probably something not worth remembering or junk along the lines of Techno Police 21C.

One I do specifically remember is Condition Green, an OVA series that didn't seem to have the budget to even be a series. Terrible everything, from animation, to story to the basic direction. That said I can never forget it due to a particular scene. I won't spoil it (Although I should) but it's like...it's a blink and you miss it scene (Which I did miss the first time and had to rewind once I realized something had happened) and it's a mega important scene and also a "I cannot believe they did that" scene. It might have been a shock in a real show but when it happens in this it's pretty much "Of course that would happen and of course it would be so ineptly executed as to become hilarious." But other that scene it was truly awful. I'll watch shit like Bavi Stock over that any day. =P

Also this is not counting super infamous stuff like Nora.

 

[Shouta]

I told my wife that Rumiko lost her touch. She was really good at rom-com anime and when she shifted years toward serious historical anime, it seemed like she lost her signature style and doesn't appear to be going back to that. I guess I can understand, I mean she was writing Rom-Coms from 1978-1996. Her early years were her best. Inuyasha started off okay but where it ends up mid-way through seems totally unlike Rumiko. It's the first time I actually got bored with her. Same thing with One Pound Gospel. She's currently in writing her third feudal Japan based manga and...Feudal Japan outside Ninja Scroll gets kinda boring for me in an anime or manga. There are some exceptions, though.

Honestly, I'd almost argue that she never really had the touch. She always manages to veer off in every direction after a series runs for a certain amount of time that really drags it down as it goes on. The lone exception being Maison Ikkoku which was, her best work by far IMO. Interestingly, it's around 15 manga volumes is about where I think most of her other works start to really falter in the end. Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, and Inuyasha are all pretty decent until around that mark then it just loses steam after that.

I say almost though because there's really no doubt she's had a big influence on the industry, particularly with Urusei Yatsura. However, it's just too hard for me to enjoy the latter half of her works since it feels too long in the tooth. It's not even the style either because my favorite fantasy comedy manga is Those Who Hunt Elves and that had the same running gag for 32 volumes. Granted, there's been quite a long time between series for it but still, Yu Yagami manages to keep the gag fresh despite the length of the series.

 

[Happosai]

Honestly, I'd almost argue that she never really had the touch. She always manages to veer off in every direction after a series runs for a certain amount of time that really drags it down as it goes on. The lone exception being Maison Ikkoku which was, her best work by far IMO. Interestingly, it's around 15 manga volumes is about where I think most of her other works start to really falter in the end. Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, and Inuyasha are all pretty decent until around that mark then it just loses steam after that.

I say almost though because there's really no doubt she's had a big influence on the industry, particularly with Urusei Yatsura. However, it's just too hard for me to enjoy the latter half of her works since it feels too long in the tooth. It's not even the style either because my favorite fantasy comedy manga is Those Who Hunt Elves and that had the same running gag for 32 volumes. Granted, there's been quite a long time between series for it but still, Yu Yagami manages to keep the gag fresh despite the length of the series.

Finally, someone agrees with me on this. I love the first really big Rumiko works...but moreso in anime form due to sentimentalism. I can't praise the anime series nor the manga for creative direction. I'll admit that I would get so frustrated with her mangas that I would jump them to the end. For example -- I could be reading Ranma 1/2 and get sick of the lack of continuity by volume 10 and skip everything between and just go straight to volume 38. She had nearly a decade to work on Ranma 1/2 and all the while fans were all thinking the same thing (she's going to make that romantic ending which she set the stage for in volume 1); then...it never happened. She'll chuckle in interviews that the "readers" need to decide. That sucks, because we're supposed to be following the writer. Maison Ikkoku I went all the way through every manga but dropped the TV series after the 3rd season / volume. I will also agree with you that Maison Ikkoku is probably her best work. I can understand the more mature character setting and I was reading it while I was in college. So, I drew parallels to my own (at the time) pathetic late-teen lifestyle to Godai's. On a reader's note, many feel the same about Stephen King. He can write an amazing book about 75% of the way through and then just lose context toward the ending completely. Maybe Takahashi and King should team up...I mean, they're nearly the same age and King could probably give a darker treatment to Mermaid's Scar and Laughing Target.

I enjoyed Those Who Hunt Elves likewise. I like writers who can keep the comedy consistent and still get the characters where they need to be by the end of the story. They do deviate at times in TWHE, but it doesn't detract much from the overall fun in the manga. The first anime was great for me; the second (which came out around the same time) didn't have quite the same impact. I recall an episode where buff guy (I forgot his name) needs to take a crap and finds animals that either poop toilet paper or are made of toilet paper. I also remember an episode where they all had OBE's at a round table and an Inn Keeper decided to burn their bodies thinking they entered a suicide pact. Fun stuff!

 

[Happosai]

Not aware of any redub. The one on amazon was definitely an old 90s dub though. I can't say they didn't try but the choices made were very questionable. Also I didn't have the JP audio to compare but the music and sound seemed somewhat muted as well.



Ah the Tezuka OVA. I know of it but I've never watched it.

I wouldn't know which is the worst anime of the old school era I've seen (and finished). Probably something not worth remembering or junk along the lines of Techno Police 21C.

One I do specifically remember is Condition Green, an OVA series that didn't seem to have the budget to even be a series. Terrible everything, from animation, to story to the basic direction. That said I can never forget it due to a particular scene. I won't spoil it (Although I should) but it's like...it's a blink and you miss it scene (Which I did miss the first time and had to rewind once I realized something had happened) and it's a mega important scene and also a "I cannot believe they did that" scene. It might have been a shock in a real show but when it happens in this it's pretty much "Of course that would happen and of course it would be so ineptly executed as to become hilarious." But other that scene it was truly awful. I'll watch shit like Bavi Stock over that any day. =P

Also this is not counting super infamous stuff like Nora.

I'm going to come back to this in a weekly thread sub-topic...possibly later this week. I like to tag regulars in this thread (different every time) to participate in the topics. When we're talking on worst anime of all-time; many will have a different opinion. I want them to at least to be well-reviewed before that call is made. And by "well-reviewed" I mean...they watched whatever it was in complete. I already did a topic on dropped anime and I'll try not to cross into the same sub-topic. Still thinking of sub-topics...give me ideas!

Condition Green sounds like the physical phenomena associated with watching that OVA. I think I covered most of mine in the dropped section. Although, I given some pretty low-ratings on M.A.L. for some mainstream titles, too. Evangelion, Magical Knights RayEarth, and some others. I remember during my college years I bought Doomed Megalopolis thinking it would be something cool and dark like Wicked City or X the movie. That turned out to be a turd in my book. Yes, I completed the whole thing.

 

[Radical Dreamer]

Why School Rumble is so good? I've just started watching it again after some time and man it has to be one of the best comedies (if not THE best) out there. It's hillarious as fuck.
-
I still don't know if I should post about sr in retro anime thread but D:

 

[Space Runaway]

Condition Green sounds like the physical phenomena associated with watching that OVA. I think I covered most of mine in the dropped section. Although, I given some pretty low-ratings on M.A.L. for some mainstream titles, too. Evangelion, Magical Knights RayEarth, and some others. I remember during my college years I bought Doomed Megalopolis thinking it would be something cool and dark like Wicked City or X the movie. That turned out to be a turd in my book. Yes, I completed the whole thing.

I never thought much of Doomed Megalopolis but not to extent where I could call it a turd. Definitely not in the realm of stuff like Dark Warrior, MD Geist II or Crystania. =P

On the subject of "worsts" - is there a worse intro than God Mazinger? Even the ending credits are more exciting than this intro:




I'm also not a fan of Galient's intro. Cool song and occasionaly some decent imagery but it seems like they designed the intro so they could get around animating large parts of it.

 

[Happosai]

I never thought much of Doomed Megalopolis but not to extent where I could call it a turd. Definitely not in the realm of stuff like Dark Warrior, MD Geist II or Crystania. =P

On the subject of "worsts" - is there a worse intro than God Mazinger? Even the ending credits are more exciting than this intro:




I'm also not a fan of Galient's intro. Cool song and occasionaly some decent imagery but it seems like they designed the intro so they could get around animating large parts of it.

Wow, that was a trip. Go Nagai franchises or originals are interesting because his work to me is half and half. Half of his work is excellent and then there's that half which is...ftw? Tell me God Mazinger wasn't his work.