kiunchbb
www.dictionary.com
Yuri?
No yuri in that show from what I remembered.
Yuri?
Is YYH still being hyped? I remember when Funimation obtained rights to it and they were commercializing everything on it around 2002. They had the boxsets (those bulky DVD sets with like 8 individual snap cases), they had a game on PS2 (which is total B.S. -- I had it and they wanted you to memorize 10-16 part combo moves...who memorizes large combo moves?), they had a contract with Cartoon Network. We've all had or still have that one friend who insists that one anime is better than them all. We had a quaint anime club in 2004 and the leader was obsessed with YYH. So, as you can imagine...we weren't watching much other than YYH. I liked the episodes from the first season though (right before they kidnapped Hiei's sister and all that).I meant YYH!
But no I actually prefer the 1999 version.
Alright mine would be no surprise really. Dragon Ball Z and Tenchi Muyo.
Dragon Ball Z was one of the shows that got me into anime. Watching it in middleschool/highschool felt like it was the hypest thing in the universe. But as the show finished, it felt empty and shallow. It didn't have this great bombastic ending. It just ended. So years later I went rewatched with a friend and I told him straight up that I didn't like DBZ anymore. DBZ came off as a superficial show to me with no real depth. Even the fight scenes are kinda lame to me. Then I went to watch OG Dragon Ball and I like it so much better. The characters and battles were smaller scales but they worked so much better. Even I now still strongly dislike DBZ and the series after and that has jump started my disdain for shonen anime as a whole, but I have accepted its popularity as one of the most recognizable anime out there and that trumps any real criticism thrown at it.
Tenchi Muyo (include Universe, Tokyo, and various others)- Boy, THE show that started the waifu wars even though Ryoko was the one with the best characterization. The show that started the harem craze. This anime was girls, girls, girls show for me. This is funny because the series is called Tenchi Muyo and he felt like an afterthought. He didn't stand out much and felt like a gary stu in a lot of instances. The series sold itself on the idea that EVERY girl in this series wanted Tenchi and I don't know man, I didn't see what was the appeal of Tenchi. I guess he is supposed this blank slate that the audience can attach themselves to but I felt like that was a deterrent for me. The series that followed got more ridiculous, more formulaic, and got less plausible for why these female characters are after the same dude. So after I washed my hands of series as a whole.
I watched both these shows on Toonami.
btw Happosai even though NGE is one of my faves, I totally get why you're not into it. It is definitely not a series for everyone.
Tenchi Muyo was the anime that got me into anime. The thing is, I've rewatched it many times. Everytime I see it again...I don't want to see it again. I saw it when I was 12-years old for the first time and to a 12-year old...they're probably going to like that more. It's not that great and it was also hyper commercialized after Toonami started running it in 2000. By the time it stopped airing on satellite / cable networks in the U.S., no one (that I recall) ever picked it back up again. The last run I remember it having was in 2001. After that, the hype went more toward GXP and the myriad of spin-off series which focus even less on Tenchi. Final note on it, I can still say that I'm grateful it was on T.V. when it was because prior to Tenchi I hated anime as a kid. So, I'm thankful that it was the anime that got me into anime but it's no longer in my top 20 favorite anime anymore the same.Overrated anime eh? I tend not to watch things to completion if I don't care for them but I'll see what I can do.
Cowboy Bebop - Not retro but I'm taking my shot. My principal problem with it is the characters are just so flat. Ed is really the only one that brings some charm and energy to the whole thing. It looks great and all but I never really felt like it had a clear idea of what it was or where it was going unlike Space Dandy or Kids on the Slope. It was stylish and made for good gifs in the Anime vs Western cartoons flame wars of old but it left me cold and uninterested.
Rurouni Kenshin - I just found it way too repetitive. I really couldn't care less about Kenshin reverting to the Battousai or whatever and I thought the character designs were pretty boring to boot. I didn't finish the series but I gave it enough attempts to grab me.
Ah my Goddess - There was just a stiffness to it that sort of bothered me. It also felt too cramped and kind of simple to me. It sort of had that first draft kind of feeling to it. It just wasn't in the same league as the far superior You're Under Arrest! Maybe the manga or later series got better but I've just never felt the need to go back to it.
Akira - Now I'm only like half serious about this one. Growing up I didn't really get around to watching Akira. I wasn't avoiding or anything it but I just didn't get to it. This prompted constant comments about how I wasn't an anime fan, blah blah so out of spite I just never watched it. I watched all the other anime I wanted and just went on my merry way. I did end up watching it a few years ago when I got the Blu-ray and while it is an amazing piece of visual art to be sure it was just ok as a movie. I'd actually say I liked Steamboy better to be honest.
I'll second DBZ and Evangelion.
Kenshin and Bebop. These were two anime recommended to me due to their popularity and the time they started airing. My younger sister was watching Kenshin in 2001 and I watched about 6 episodes before getting a little bored. I forgot about it completely until this one guy started pushing it in his "best anime reviews" page.
I'm sold easily on classic anime. Someone just have to give me that incentive to watch. Kenshin was a long time ago for me but you're selling me on the OVA and for the blood...that usually works. The TV series was what I saw back in 2000. It was something popular as I remember enter Yahoo's anime chat and finding half the members with names from the show.Regarding Kenshin, you may want to check out the "Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal" OVA series. It's a different beast from the Kenshin tv series and has some high quality animation and great fight choreography (They went full Sanjuro with the blood too). Plus it's only 4 OVAs so it's a quick watch.
Togashi took too long to make new chapters. 10 years later and he made the chimera /election/arc. They just fuck it and just remade the whole thing. Sadly it wasn't the same studio, while they did take some artistic liberties it felt more like a true anime with superior animation and tone.Why did they remakes HxH?
Speaking of mecha anime that have trouble with endings, anybody else love Dangaioh as much as I do?
This seemed to be a common occurrence with many OVAs and series of anime in the 80's and 90's. Not just GunBuster but so many that were rushed, cancelled, or dried up during or prior to completion. One particular OVA that I thought had some potential was Sword for Truth. Now, many label as one of the worst OVAs made but I think that has to do with the sterile emotions of the lead character toward women (pretty much a Feudal Golgo 13). I liked it and then I remember it ended with absolutely no conclusion. I've never investigated why it was shutdown but it made it through 2 episodes and was nearing a bit showdown when the series ends abruptly.
That's one thing that bugs me with the demand for anime when a manga gets popular...demanding prior to completion.Togashi took too long to make new chapters. 10 years later and he made the chimera /election/arc. They just fuck it and just remade the whole thing. Sadly it wasn't the same studio, while they did take some artistic liberties it felt more like a true anime with superior animation and tone.
\
Prefectual Earth Defense Force. I recall this being a sort of holy grail of a find on LD back in the day.
I had to give this a watch once I found out an uncredited Osamu Dezaki directed this and...I can see why he took his name off it. =P It's definitely nowhere near the worst of all time or anything but the story really is disjointed and messy to where it feels like a collection of scenes at times(It's based on a series of novels and I have a feeling this is a loosely scripted "best of"). All the side plots going unresolved doesn't help. You mention the main character has few if any emotions, which is true, but he also doesn't have much of any character period. Plus he god modes his way through everything to an extreme degree. Kenshiro has to try harder than this guy. Golgo 13 is hard but he takes damage and shows surprise at time. For this guy nothing is a challenge and he doesn't seem to care while doing any of it. Still, it wasn't boring as the whole thing was just back to back action or sex scenes.
As for the production, even with Dezaki at the helm I was surprised how sloppy the whole thing was. His trademark style is apparent and some stuff looks decent but most looks really uneven or plain messy. It's pretty rare to find a Dezaki production where one can say that and it can't be budget because all his post-70s TV work looks better than this. I thought it might have something to do with him working with Magic Bus rather TMS but then he did the Burning Blood ova the same year and that looks great. So I can only assume it's due to Studio Hapii, who are just an in-between studio, doing the bulk of the animation. I bet there's a pretty interesting production woes story that led to the final result and Dezaki removing his name though who knows if that'll ever be told.
Well my blu-ray copies of the Crusher Joe OAVs and Lupin III: Dragon of Doom showed up yesterday. Should make for a good weekend.
Space Runaway That's quite a history and explains why they wouldn't make a completion for the OVA. I can even understand Dezaki removing his name from the credits. The mystery is why I found it on released by an American distributor on VHS. I was in one of my many low points when I bought that VHS and used to buy anime with no research at all. I would just be the guinea pig being tested for something that was good, okay, or sucks. I remember my depression getting worse realizing it was the first OVA I'd ever purchased where they ended it WITHOUT AN ENDING. There are some anime titles that never made it to the U.S. from back in the day which are great and others which are still untouched on VHS. Many VHS titles that I'm still waiting for to get at minimum a DVD release. However, this one didn't even deserve to be on VHS. The distributors were crafty. They bought this trash and would sell (people like me) on trailers alone. There's no warning that it doesn't end in the trailer. I guess that's my beef with it. It could have been as bland as dirt and I would still have something more to say if they had just written an ending.
I heard about Dangaizer 3 and never watched for that reason. By the late 2000's I started reading and researching anime prior to buying as I had a 15-year habit prior of buying anime because of the box art of trailer alone. You're probably right about the licensing coming as a result of the Western hype in the 90's over Ninja Scroll. I remember hearing about Ninja Scroll in the 90's but never actually saw it until purchasing it in 2007. I was a huge Kawajiri fanboy but I've never been too interested in ninja themed anime. My preference for genres in anime changes every 5-years, though. Right now, I'm into romantic comedies (only in anime)series and that is probably a result the strict quarantine in Mexico.I assume they intended to do a followup but then didn't either due to sales or something else. And while I'm assuming things I have a feeling this was only licensed in hopes of enticing the Ninja Scroll crowd.
At least it's just a one and done with no ending. I get much more bothered by stuff like Dangaizer 3, where they made 4 OVAs and then didn't make the final 5th OVA. Sure series can get killed early but they only needed to make one more. =/
Some more of the good stuff
(Crash's intro was probably the best thing about the sequel series... =P)
One of my favorite 90's music videos:
Anyone know the anime? I always wondered.
I was just thinking about the future of anime and how it would be nice to see someone go rogue and just produce something hand-drawn and hand-painted again. Imagine that, and then push it in with the next season's line-up and see how it fairs. If it's a good story, likable characters, and has a nice soundtrack...maybe we could bring animation back. But...seems more like a dream than a reality.
The 80/90s market for OVA adaptations of good shoujo manga is something I miss dearly.
As for PSME, this theme
+ some Moto Hagio, Yumi Tamura or Shimizu Reiko mangas to read and I'm in heaven ;p
I just got into it on own with my friends. We just started renting tapes from Blockbuster and things escalated from there. This was probably mid 90s or so. We had an anime store and a monthly anime club that we also made use of. Messenger was mostly for talking to girls and I never did chat rooms.
One of my favorite 90's music videos:
Anyone know the anime? I always wondered.
Well, for watching anime, that's the same way I got into it. For a short time, there was a video store called Hastings (which liquidated in 2003-ish) that I was able to buy a lot of anime from on VHS. The chats helped me try to RPG and create fan fictions for anime stories which were left incomplete by their original creators. kunonabiEven around the time AOL was first getting started, I was racking up ridiculous long distance phone bills downloading 16 color anime pictures from BBSes. I frequented a few small BBS sites and the names of them all escape me now, but I do remember a lot of the images were watermarked with a site called DokiWaku² and I ended up using that as my alias on a lot of sites later on.
Around '92 I was seeking out some way to re-watch Robotech and see other 80's/90's anime without spending $50++ a pop for clamshell VHS at the local comic shop and found out about a local anime group that was just getting started at a local library. The first visit was super awkward and I couldn't identify with how cringe level nerdy everyone was. Eventually I got to know people a little better, became fairly cringe level nerdy myself and made some of the best friends in my life. It was always really small gatherings of maybe 12~15 people max, except for one time when we showed the Street Fighter movie near release and somehow had nearly 100 people. Chun-Li shower scene fills seats I guess!
I was always into video games more than anime, and always wanting Japanese games that were not released in the states. I somehow managed to get a Japanese PS1 at launch, for way too much money. Shortly after that I went to AWA 1 with 3 friends, and the PS1 & small TV in tow. Back then if you wanted import stuff it was go to a con, or well, that was it. AWA 1 was tiny. It had like 2 video rooms playing bootlegs/fan subs, a dealers room that was like 3 tables, and no game room. I ended up setting up my TV and PS1 in one of the con areas of the hotel. While playing Tekken 1, we met 4 other peoplefrom NC who actually recognized the game, and several 10 hit combos later we became best friends too.
This led to us meeting up with them enroute from FL to Katsucon 1, Nekocon 1, and a few more AWAs. Eventually we were running a game room at most of the east coast cons in the south east. We started out running game rooms out of our hotel room at cons, and eventually running the main game room at the shows. It was a lot of work, but it was super fun, and I met some awesome folks, many who I still keep in touch with now. After a few cons, and a need to escape from a psyco ex in FL, I ened up moving to NC to live with one of my anime buds who needed a roommate.
We started out as "Games First Anime" and always joked we'd go to cons and not watch any anime at the con. This evolved into "We Don't Care" about anime, as a joke, and got shortened to Wedoca which we thought sounded more Japanese.
Around the mid point of the PS3 era I kind of got burnt out on anime cons though. Con goers all stayed the same age, and I kept getting older. Most of the Wedoca crew still does cons today, including hauling like 20 arcade cabs all over the country. It makes me tired just watching them unload them.
I can't say I would expect much more. The issue is with 2D emulation is that I got used to 25-years of seeing things done by hand from the 30s-90s. So many decades before my time (yet I grew up with) of animation being done using real tools and by real artists. It will probably never happen again -- which is mostly why I stick with retro anime, film, tv. Computer was interesting when it was first being applied as an aide or for small effects in the 80's and 90's. By the 90's, the flare of seeing the glossy new add-ons in animation were already getting boring to me. I had to opt-out of a career in animation as a result of choosing 2D over 3D; which has left me with ideas but no real career. I can't use the CG programs without getting bored or depressed.Yeah something like that would have to be some kind vanity project as companies most likely wouldn't see such a thing worthwhile commercially. If anything we're probably going to end up in a pure cg future where the 2d look is emulated rather than actually making the real thing. =/
Borders bookstore cleaned out all the Hastings in Bloomington, IL by 2003. Now, Borders is gone, too. Tough market.God I used to love Hastings. The only place to find any anime at all in the vast wastelands of the American South.
Wow. Never heard of that. Looks awesome!
Matthew Sweet did a Lum AMV too using footage from Beatiful Dreamer for I've Been Waiting. It was my 1st exposure to Lum, and then the Animego Urusei Yatsura VHSes showed up at Blockbuster shortly afterward. He has a Lum tattoo, and his later videos sport a guitar with Ren & Stimpy art.
Sadly all VHS stuff is long gone from my collections of stuff. I embrace the digital future. I am not AV entusiast enough to nitpick over stuff like different encoding, etc. I just love watching all the things!
Early cons were very very different. I'm a bit jaded about how different cons are now actually. Like there were no females at all, cosplay was much more amateur. Sausage Fest whales & rails we used to call it. Oddly though, I feel like early cons were able to land some impressive guests compared to recent east coast stuff.
Still have the OG JP PS1 with all the inputs!
I talk to many U.K. anime collectors. They say it's a tough hobby and expensive (as most anime has to be imported from the States). The Fox anime you mentioned sounds like the same Saturday round-up we had coming through our local stations in 2001 (Shaman King, Fighting Foodons, Sonic X, Kirby Right Back At Ya, Ultimate Muscle). The only one of those I found remotely entertaining was Ultimate Muscle since the predecessor anime to that one (Kinnikumon something???) from the 80's never made landfall in the States."Did anyone else here get into anime RPG's via chat / messenger, create fan fictions, or go in to just read the odd things that would pop up in chat rooms of the 90's-early 2000's?"
Had a friend on Backloggery recommend me some Anime's which were "new" at the time, such as Hetalia and Lucky Star, but this was 2010s.
Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon and YuGiOh is the only exposure I had in the late 90s/00s because the Internet back then was terrible and were on Sky 1 and Cartoon Network (which is funny as Sky 1 was more for Adults and shown all the rage stuff)....to which Pokemon was on at 7/8am at the time before CITV took over the rights.
Oh, and Digimon was called "The Pokemon Killer" but honestly couldn't get into it that much but it has its fans.
Shaman King and One Piece were shown on Fox Kids over here in the mid 00s (which changed to Jetex after that), and hosted Sonic X before CITV did the other episodes. (pretty terrible Sonic adaptation despite being the closest to the source material of the games)
YuGiOh had better exposure on CITV (since CITV is a Terrestrial Channel which didn't require watching Cable on the main TV when parents wanted to watch stuff).
I sadly couldn't watch One Piece as it kept changing hands, and Cartoon Network had a short lived Channel dedicated to Anime called CNX in the UK but...they missed about 30 episodes of Dragon Ball Z in the Buu Saga but I discovered Samurai Jack and Megas XLR on it (more Cartoons than anime but I love them both), they shown Tenchi Muyo and seemed to repeat the same fucking 2 episodes until they could get more, but by the time the Anime started showing new episodes, the Channel was cancelled and it moved to Toonami but I had finished Watching Dragon Ball Z/GT and moved onto Music at the time (which I discovered via CNX I guess as they played a lot of Rock/Metal music in the adverts).
I actually hear more of Anime now than I ever did but that is my experience of Anime in the 2000s and Late 90s without even knowing it. The more famous stuff at the time getting attention and seeing the "Adult" stuff now and again via CNX.
I would class 7th Dragon as Anime and I have a VERY weird Nostalgic feeling for it, as the game plays as though it could have been released on a PS1, with the story being as cliché as it gets but I love it! (the 3rd game)
However, I still find the charm of older Anime charming, despite not liking Akira all that much. (people state the Manga is better).
Regarding games, I only ever bought Dragon Ball Z Budokai as they were great games! I got Wild Arms for free but the game was anything but anime!
I demo'd Ghost in the Shell back in the late 90s (98???) and loved it but forgot about the demo and moved on.
Valkyria Chronicles made me appreciate what could be done with Anime in Games though, and have since played games from GUST and Senran Kagura. I think the only Anime like game I wouldn't mind playing is Policenauts.
Remembering some ad and promos from ancient times =P
Bonus:
These kind of adds in VHS were what sold me on anime my first 10-years of random VHS buying. It grew into such a big part of my memory of the nostalgic way we were sold on things that I'll still select trailers options on older anime DVD menus. However, there was no option with VHS. They could throw anything they wanted at you. It worked for me but as I mentioned earlier...this led me to watch some pretty bland titles too like ' Judge' and 'Sword for Truth.'
AnimeWorks and Urban Vision were my favorites. A limited catalogue of some obscure and interesting anime.
Fansub tables were fun. I remember some advertisements by the fansubbers used to be slipped into the videos randomly. Canada had some fan dubs of Urusei Yatsura...I'm scared to even investigate that.Yeah there was only so much information on the subject so you really had to select from what you saw in adverts or videogame mags. Luckily most of the rental places around me had either a small selection or the one or two random tapes. I was lucky to have a monthly comic convention that had a couple fansub and raw tables, so I was able to get (then) unlicensed stuff like DBZ or Macross 7 - not to mention they were a quarter of the price of retail tapes and money was scarce at that age. =P Also if you were on AOL or the like you could get some recommendations and such from the message boards or chat rooms. Or some low rent angelfire website.
Maybe bookmark the thread and that way you can always return to a particular post in the future when you do have more time. It is difficult to find time if you are working. Thanks for chiming in. Always value those who appreciate classic anime and not letting it fade into obscurity.Wow this thread is moving faster than I can keep up with. I wish I could join the discussion but I'm a bit short on time lately.
I'm a little late to writing this but here's this week's sub-topic:
What are the best classic / retro anime movies to you? What are some retro anime movies you could refer to this thread that might be lesser-known and still great?
I'm going to tag a member next to a great known or lesser-known classic anime movie to look into to encourage good viewing during the Fall portion of this pandemic. Anime movies sometimes run shorter when they were presented as OVA films -- others have the standard 1-hour 20-minute runtime of a general action film from time's past. I consider the posters in this thread some of my favorite in all of NeoGAF and will try to find a title that you will like. I'm only going to share trailers with your tag as posting full movie links in GAF is probably a violation. However, I'll point you in the right direction as to where to find the full movies if you haven't seen them.
Space Runaway (commander in chief of Retro Anime GAF). I mentioned Big Wars in an earlier post. Please do watch that on a day when you're in the mood for a great psychological sci-fi horror anime film. It's underrated greatly in my opinion and review sites haven't treated it well. I'd have to say...trust me on this. It's not gold but it never seemed to get boring. For my recommendation...GoShogun: The Time Etranger. This movie was the writer / director conclusion of the late-70's series GoShogun. However, rather than being some cool mecha-related fun space adventure. This movie took on a serious tone that really only adults could equate to. The full movie is available subbed in English on YouTube. Here's the trailer:
C Cannibalistic You recently joined the forums but show an express interest in some of the horror anime from the 80's-90's in one of your first posts. Therefore, I'm going to refer you to watch Lily C.A.T. the movie. This movie has been described by those who have seen it as a cross-over of Alien and the Thing. It's really something else and worth a watch. You can find the free English subbed version of this movie on YouTube. Here's a fan-made trailer to add a creepy vibe and promotion to it. Enjoy!
kunonabi Seeing as you're a huge Ranma 1/2 fan, I figured a good old Rumik World OVA / Movie would make for a good watch over this Labor Day weekend. I'm going to refer to you Rumiko Takahashi's "Laughing Target." This is far from the direction Rumiko went with her other 80's manga and it is more of a horror anime than anything else. Dark and filled with suspense and not too long. I used to have this on VHS and some of the scenes were comparable to some of the horror scenes in 70's / 80's B-movies. Watch it soon because the English subbed version disappears about every 6-months. There's a recent upload of the full movie with English subs on YouTube right now. If you have trouble finding it, DM me and I'll send you the link there.
JonnyMP3 I thought I'd refer you to a good creepy anime OVA movie from the past which was called "Baoh: The Visitor" in the West. This full movie is on YouTube; however, it may be an English dubbed version if you don't mind watching that. Like it or not...you won't get bored and some great animation prevails throughout the feature.
gela94 I think a good adventure anime movie would make for a great weekend anime. There are numerous Lupin the 3rd movies which were released after the commercial success of The Castle of Cagliostro. The one I'm going to refer you to is lesser-known but on-par with CoC. Please take some time to watch Lupin the lll: Farewell to Nostradamus. You won't be disappointed. The full movie can be found on YouTube.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the movies (I get that it's Thursday...almost the weekend). DM me if you are having trouble finding the titles on YouTube. I did check to make sure they're all still there.
I wasn't anticipating on Studio Ghibli films getting brought up much in this thread. Miyazaki films are over-the-top mainstream and most people know them (including people who don't even like anime). I think I mentioned the big mainstream titles in the OP, too. I appreciate you mentioning Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. You see, I have had the original Vampire Hunter D for a long time but I recently saw a red-cased DVD in my anime collection and found out that I bought Bloodlust without remembering doing so. I've never seen so much as a trailer but my wife suggested I keep it. So, I'll probably put it on now that you mention it. Blood: The Last Vampire was a good cross-over of 2D with 3D movie as well. I think it came out around the same time as Bloodlust (99 or 2000???) and I was impressed. In fact, it's the only thing in the Blood fan series that I actually got into.Thanks for the recommendation.
When it comes to overall favourite, I've been thinking about it and I don't really have one. IMO most of Studio Ghibli stuff is S-Tier. And not much reach them in terms of craft, dedication and production elsewhere, unless you're an Akira or a Ghost in the Shell. There are many classics though but if you wanted me to pick something that I loved then I'd say Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust because it was the first anime for me that blended 2D and 3D animation well stylistically without looking completely out of place like early 3D could do. Think a 20 year old film now counts as retro lol.
As for OVAs... That depended on the anime series getting popular enough to receive one, especially when compared to Bleach and Naruto.
So mostly I think the old Dragon ball OVAs stick to me more than others. The original Brolly movie was mental!
Fansub tables were fun. I remember some advertisements by the fansubbers used to be slipped into the videos randomly. Canada had some fan dubs of Urusei Yatsura...I'm scared to even investigate that.
I was a minor during those years and almost all the anime was $20 or above. I worked on my grandfather's farm and would make enough on a Saturday (in the late 90's) to buy a single VHS tape on eBay or in Sam Goody (which had inflated prices on everything to begin with). By the time I was 13, I figured that the hobby and interest in anime would just face away before I was 16. I'm almost 33 now and still keep finding great older anime which holds my interest. During my late teens I became obsessed with older cinematography (which included anime). I feel there isn't much to learn from animation anymore and it's a dying art as a whole. I give everything a chance, too. I watch modern film, I streamed modern anime, even tried with newer music. I don't see, hear, or feel anything new being done. If it were possible, I would make and maintain 5 threads on GAF dedicated to arts exclusively in their form as it was 25-70 years ago or more. It's important people remember the talent of the past. Anyone anywhere today can access modern anime and they really only want what is exclusive to now and the future. I'll try to keep momentum in this thread as retro anime threads are what got me to join GAF in the first place.
I'd have to say...trust me on this. It's not gold but it never seemed to get boring. For my recommendation...GoShogun: The Time Etranger. This movie was the writer / director conclusion of the late-70's series GoShogun. However, rather than being some cool mecha-related fun space adventure. This movie took on a serious tone that really only adults could equate to. The full movie is available subbed in English on YouTube. Here's the trailer:
What are the best classic / retro anime movies to you? What are some retro anime movies you could refer to this thread that might be lesser-known and still great?
The last newer anime that I purchased was A Woman Called Fujiko Mine on blu-ray. It wasn't bad but the mainstream drawing style of anime from 2004- present really annoys me. I can't understand why they started drawing women and little girls with the same child-like face and where are the noses going to? Some of the modern anime girls have less facial feature than Mandy (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy). I don't get the "make the digital ink glossy" or "make the outlines glow" thing. It screws with my vision. That's just me, though. The majority simply aren't going to watch something before their time or generation. It's like a gaming thread that popped up yesterday where the OP was saying how he wanted to sell all of his current gen consoles just because we're going into next gen. Sometimes I think, you gotta look at what you have and be grateful. Yeah, sounds like you too bad a hard time getting anime during the VHS years. My town sucked, too. I'd post anime posters in my locker in the public school back in 2000 and I remember people asking, "Is that Dragon Ball Z (for every non-Dragon Ball Z cartoon poster?" One that sticks out was an acquaintance of mine who walked up to me in 8 th grade study hall and asked, "You still watching that oriental an-nime." He was saying 'ann-niyme.' By the mid-2000's some anime clubs would pop up but they were almost exclusively Narutards. I remember trying to show them Ranma 1/2 (episode 1 with the T & A). They never let me show anime again. So, it's a private hobby of mine that I only share with my wife now. She grew up with 70's and 80's anime.Yeah I was just a kid earning money as well so every dollar counted. Commercial tapes were $20 for dubbed and $30 for subbed but you could get a fansub for like $10 or less if you bought bulk. I could mainly only afford like comics and toys back then but I'd save up specifically for the conventions so I could get this stuff. =P
And yeah I still follow modern anime in stalker fashion but it's practically a different product at this point. Even when I do like the current stuff it'll be something like JoJo, a slavish adaption of stories from decades ago. =P The Showa era stuff is now just something to be appreciated for what it was and having happened. Kinda like looking back at Fleischer Popeye or pre-50s Looney Tunes.
I'll for sure give it a look. Though the full GoShogun tv is streaming on prime right now. I should plow through that before watching the movie.
I think the first A-Ko movie came out in 85', too. This is amazing. I'll look into it and bookmark this. About blu-ray releases...this, GunBuster, and Maison Ikkoku are long overdue.Leda: Fantastic Adventure of Yohko
It one of the breakout OVAs following MegaZone 23 in 85(Which was a big year in anime) and was successful enough that it received a theatrical release.
The story isn't special or anything but it more than makes up for this in production. Easily one of the better works to come out of Kaname Productions and it's quite a looker. High quality animation, fanservice designs (Which were designed by a woman), cheapie comedy, very detailed art that fetishishes mecha and realistic transformations - especially in close-ups (Of which there are a LOT). You also have Shiro Sagisu (Evangelion, Nadia, MegaZone, Kimagure Orange Road,etc..) doing the music. The whole production is certainly head and shoulders above it's contemporaries like Fandora or Rem.
The animation is always good but as usual it really shows it stuff during action. Notable standout moments are a cool hoverbike chase early on and a battle with the Leda robot at the end of the second act.
It only received a VHS release here in the US and has become obscure; conversely, unlike so many other OVAs of this type, this one wasn't forgotten in Japan and has maintained some level of notoriety, even still geting merch. So much so they just released a 4k remaster bluray this year. (Looks great btw).
Hopefully the bluray gets licensed for release outside of Japan, especially since the import retails for like $100.
I don't get the "make the digital ink glossy" or "make the outlines glow" thing. It screws with my vision.
Yeah, sounds like you too bad a hard time getting anime during the VHS years. My town sucked, too.I'd post anime posters in my locker in the public school back in 2000 and I remember people asking, "Is that Dragon Ball Z (for every non-Dragon Ball Z cartoon poster?" One that sticks out was an acquaintance of mine who walked up to me in 8 th grade study hall and asked, "You still watching that oriental an-nime." He was saying 'ann-niyme.' By the mid-2000's some anime clubs would pop up but they were almost exclusively Narutards. I remember trying to show them Ranma 1/2 (episode 1 with the T & A). They never let me show anime again. So, it's a private hobby of mine that I only share with my wife now. She grew up with 70's and 80's anime.
Finish GoShogun the series but don't read ahead to find out why the movie is so unique. The movie very artistically explains why there were never spin-offs of the series. Not gonna lie...The movie is beautiful but very dramatic. It probably scared fans of the original series.