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Actually, Little_Doctor, Yu Yu Hakusho is a lot older than Rurouni Kenshin. Though it did air slightly earlier than RK on American TV.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Almost done with the Yu Yu Hakusho series, and I would sooo have Kurama's little fox-spirit babies. Love Hiei, too. The human characters are hit or miss, but I like most of them, too.
Saw all of Gankutsuou, and it is pure CRACK. Differs in major ways from the Count of Monte Cristo, in that it rejects the Christian themes of forgiveness and so forth. Plus, I don't remember 'Andrea Cavalcanti' being quite that pronounced and incestigator in the book. Aaaaanyway...
Wolf's Rain, also full of tasty crackness. Wolves passing as human and stuff, plus some bits about luna flowers and the Flower Maiden that I don't get after only four episodes, but, hey. Music by ... Yoko ... aw crap. *sigh* That same woman who did the Cowboy Bebop music who is utterly fantasic and I love her but can NEVER REMEMBER HER NAME! "Stray..."
Lurve it, so far.
Still carry a slight torch for Shido, he of the Midnight Detective. But, alas!
JaneX, what is the difference between shounen ai and shoujo ai? I'm dense.
Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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YOKO KANNO! She is so darn COOL. Gods, I wish I could MARRY her!!! She's got some of the best soundtracks ever, check out the music for Ghost in the Shell stand Alone Complex. Plus, Wolf's Rain is filled with dishy animated men.
Shounen ai= romance between boys, shoujo is girls... It's different from yaoi or yuri which is more graphic.
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I know, I just love her music! Every series she's done something for has had a different sound, a different flavor. Her music is textured and cool, or poppy or moving or whatever it needs to be. Amazing stuff.
Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Olivetta: I know, I just love her music! Every series she's done something for has had a different sound, a different flavor. Her music is textured and cool, or poppy or moving or whatever it needs to be. Amazing stuff.
Yes, that is what makes her SO COOL. And she has no sense of genre whatsoever, she just ads whatever fits like a painter or something And I SAW her in NY on several occasions, but did not get her autograph which was sad... she did not answer my synesthesia question straight, but, ah, well.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Currently watching through the original Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama, the pre-Z stories.
Man. Funny as all get-up. I know DBZ gets a bad rap, and not having seen any of it, I can't say much about it. But the original Dragon Ball is pure hilarity.
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I also have begun, on recommendation, Fruits Basket, and have in my posession Now and Then, Here and There, which also comes highly recommended.
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Series wise, In the past I have completed and enjoyed NGE very much, as well as Cowboy Bebop, Kare Kano, and Lain. FLCL I'd need to see again to judge, and Escaflowne I enjoyed, but never finished.
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My roomies and I watch an episode of Samurai Champloo every night. We don't own a TV, so I didn't even know it was on Cartoon Network, but it's a great series so far.
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I highly recommend Escaflowne. But my other favorites include Rurouni Kenshin (a series about a wandering swordsman who vows to never kill again), Fruits Basket (a simply adorable series about a family who turns into members of the Chinese Zodiac, too cute!) and Trigun. The Twelve Kingdoms is a lesser known anime, but I absolutely love it. It's about a girl who is whisked to another world via storm. The storyline and the creatures are fantastic. I also love the series Gensomaden Saiyuki. The animation isn't fantastic, but it's entertaining as hell.
I also love Card Captor Sakura. Judging by the list of anime you've seen and enjoyed, I think you'd like this one. It is CUTE-AS-HECK.
What else? I wouldn't recommend DBZ for the simple fact that watching the series from beginning to end will bore you to tears. If you're going to watch DBZ, watch it on Cartoon Network where they'll most likely air the most exciting episodes. Not that I'm not a DBZ fan, I LOVE DBZ!
Evangelion is overrated. I don't dislike the series because of Shinji, either. What I find great about anime is that you actually give a crap for these cartoon characters, but the cast of Eva did nothing for me. I also dislike the kind of animes that try too hard to have plots that are multi-layered. It's just too confusing, and it makes me lose interest.
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For a very very much darker feeling, I recommend Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (I believe that's the full title). Everything else has been mentioned Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I have a couple more to reccommend now, and some thanks:
Thanks to those who rec'ed Ghost in the Shell and Wolf's Rain (the ending to that one was kind of inscrutable to me, but I liked it).
I also really enjoyed Witch Hunter Robin, though the hubby gave up on it after four or five episodes of it's obviously flawwed morality (she's a craft user, which makes her different from the witches they hunt... how?), which it turns out is a really big part of the over-arching plot. Just took it a looong time to get there.
I have found that I love Fullmetal Alchemist but it isn't all out on dvd yet, so please, no spoilers.
We just started renting Samurai 7 because the hubby thought it looked good (he loves the Akira Kuwasawa original and sees most retellings of it). It's a Gonzo production, and they did another one that we really enjoyed, called Gankutsuou, a Japanese re-imagining of The Count of Monte Cristo (without all that pesky Christian forgiveness stuff ).
Thank you all for your cool rec's. I'm looking forward to getting Fruits Basket but the trailers looked a little, ah, fruity for me to sell the hubby on it. We'll see.
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I just got My Neighbors The Yamadas and Howl's Moving Castle . The Yamadas are the funniest thing I've seen. Picture the Simpsons as done by Miyazaki. Posts: 4569 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I loved Howl's Moving Castle, even though it made minced meat out of the original story, which I a) really liked and b) thought made more sense.
It was just sooo pretty!
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Cowboy Bebop Spirited Away Ghost in the Shell:SAC Wolf's Rain Fruits Basket Samurai Champloo Rurouni Kenshin (up to episode 50 something, then it goes downhill) Azumanga Diaoh
Evangelion is the most controversial anime from what I hear, and after watching End of Eva and despising it when everyone else loves it, I understand what people mean by the controversy.
I've heard good things about Samurai 7 and will watch that eventually. Love Hina was fun but a bit too hormonal. Same thing with Sousei no Aquarion.
Read or Die is also pretty good. The concept of paper "manipulation" was pretty cool.
I generally don't watch series that have 80+ episodes because that implies low production values and incredibly drawn out conflicts and storylines. Because of this, and the fact that I don't like the main character, Naruto doesn't make the cut. Posts: 1236 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I just bought all of Yu Yu Hakusho off of Ebay. Hope it arrives soon, I have yet to see anything past the Dark Tournament.
As for Witch Hunter Robin, I never saw all of it, but it didn't hook me like so many other animes have. I'd be willing to give it a seocnd chance if it were out on DVD (which it is), if it were cheap (I'm not sure about that) and if I had money to blow (which I don't).
Full Metal Alchemist however is fantastic. It picks up steam and never really loses it. I won't spoil the end, except to say that it's weird, but good. Though maybe not entirely satisfying. There is a movie that just recently came out that deals with what happens afterwards. Olivet, are you watching it with the Japanese audio, or the American dub?
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I found the ending of the FMA movie to be fairly satisfying. I wasn't disappointed with the ending of the series either, possibly because I knew that a movie was coming that would be the real ending.
Without spoiling anything I'd say that it's bitter-sweet, which pretty much fits with the theme of the entire series.
Overall, FMA is just excellent in my opinion Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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I'm getting the dvds from Netflix as they come out. The next one is available sometime in May. *whimpers*
The last bit I saw, I think, was the Humunculi getting Wrath -- the one with Ed's arm and leg. It amuses me that they are named for the seven deadly sins, 'cause when anime borrows Christian themes or symbols, I have this urge to quote Inigo Montoya.
I've been watching FMA with the English dub -- even though I despise dubs, generally -- because I watch with the hubby when he's half working and can't watch the screen.
I saw half of Gundam Wing (the other half wasn't available on Netflix for some time) and Yu Yu Hakusho with the English Dubs, because the kids watched with us and could not yet read. I would sometimes watch the subbed versions later by myself, but I have learned to tolerate the dubs.
It seems to me that some of the dubs are not as bad as, say, the English dub of Akira and a lot of early dubs.
The English dub of Yami no Matsuei was so horrible, I died. Of embarrassment. Because I had rec'd it based on the fansub. *wince* It was cool that the silly-looking characters had this serious voice in the Japanese (at least more serious than in English). Also, Netflix does not offer the fourth story arc, whichwas the best, I think. (You get some idea how the bad guy got that way, and you realize he has at least one friend who genuinely cares for him, who is not a bad guy.)
So what am I missing by seeing the dub of FMA?
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Naruto is another I like. Both of them are engaging, although they follow the typical anime series propensity of replaying half the previous episode to save money, ahem, I mean bring you up to speed. They are also for generally younger audience.
Off the top of my head a list of my favorites include Akira, Robotech, Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell and Mononoke.
I wish I was Vash.
I think that english subtitles are the best way to watch anime. I'd rather listen to a foreign language than most of the voice actors they get to do these films. I especially like listening to both Japanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin.
Anyone remember a series with the main character named Gutz, who carries a big sword? Like FF7 big.
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I'm watching "Basilisk", right now. Newish anime (was aired only last year, in Japan) about Ninjas (albeit for older public if you compare it to Naruto). Very, very good.
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quote:The English dub of Yami no Matsuei was so horrible, I died.
Word, word, word. I was watching the specials on the disc (a trailer, I think) and it was in the English dub instead of the Japanese voices. I was cringing and screaming "MAKE IT STOP!!!" So, so horrid. Totally RUINED Hisoka.
I haven't heard the English voices for FMA. Perhaps I will watch a bit when I get home. Just watched disc 8 last night. May can't come soon enough.
I'm pretty sure Lime likes Fruits Basket, so maybe your beloved will like it too, Olivet. It can be silly, but I really love the story. It's one that I've really taken to heart.
I'm a huge Read or Die fan. Might be time to rewatch that, actually. I just adore Anita, with all my heart. And I love that it's women-centric, and that they all have different body types. Gotta love powerful women. Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Not sure if someone mentioned Lain yet. Good stuff. Creepy.
Ninja Scroll! I've only seen the first movie though. Definite adult material in this one.
I liked the first thirty or so episodes of Naruto. The series has gone to 150+ so far. They do truly excellent combat animation occaisionally, so I keep watching, but I've lost all hope for the storyline.
You might want to try and find a place to download Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Decent plotline with the best fightscenes ever. You need flash 8 to view the website.
Air is cute, funny, and smart. I haven't finished the series, but I liked what I saw.
Golden Boy, if someone had described to me, I wouldn't have been interested in. But it's only a six-episode mini-series. So I tried it and it's awesome. Sexual themes in this one, but not gratuitously so.
I'll just add my vote for Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, and FlCl. The Cowboy Bebop movie is awesome too.
Posts: 2907 | Registered: Nov 2005
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We tried Lain and gave up before the story really even started. Say, about five or six episodes in. It made us sleepy. I've heard from reliable sources that it is good once it gets going, though. So I believe you.
Cowboy Bebop is the coolest.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Personally I think the English voice actors for FMA are ridiculous. Winry's voice makes her sound like she's in her late 20's or early 30's in the English dub.
Plus I think the English dub does nothing to capture the range of emotion shown in the Japanese version. To be honest I rarely watch anything in the original Japanese, but after watching the entire series in Japanese, and then listening to it later in English, it doesn't even compare for me. In particular, Ed's character is changed entirely with the English voice. The range of emotion in the Japanese is much better if you ask me.
The only anime I can think of off the top of my head that MUST be viewed in the English dub is Trigun, and at that, only because the voice acting done by Vash is so friggin awesome.
I think I'd almost toss Yu Yu Hakusho in, because the voice acting done by Yuske is so good, but it's offset by how ANNOYING Kuwabara is.
I really like the voice acting in both Gundam Wing and G Gundam in the english too. Heero's monotone voice I think does a good job of portraying him as cold and calculating, which makes his emotional scenes all the more poignant and surprising. Duo's glib arrogant confidence comes through nicely as well, as does Quatre's goody goody sentimentality. I also like Traise Kushrenada's cool, calm, aristocratic demeanor. I've never watched it in the Japanese, but the Japanese deliveries tend to be too rough to capture much of the emotion described there.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I totally do not think Winry's voice sounded partiicularly old at all. I usually don't like female voices in the original Japanese because of the whole ear-bleedy thing so many of them do.
But agree about Kuwabara. *shudder*
They have Mr. Stain episodes on the FMA discs as "extras". We've enjoyed them so far.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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What is the song being sang in the credits? It's catchy....might eliminate that MahnaMahna song from my mind.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Add Porco Rosso to my list. It's like everything cool about Miyazaki films with a dash of crack. The boys loved it, we loved it. Nash only saw about 20 minutes of it and swore he had to own it immediately.
We also saw Steamboy recently. It was good visually and all, but fell a little flat anyway.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:It's like everything cool about Miyazaki films with a dash of crack.
Oh my. Immediate addition to my Netflix queue is in order!
About the FMA voice actors: I've been too tired when I get home to pop in the DVD (insane hours at work past two days), but I looked up the actors online to see if they'd been in anything else. Nothing I'm aware of, but... I don't know, I'm so used to Japanese women voicing young/teenaged boys that seeing this studly guy voiced Ed in the English dub made me go o_O. I can't help imagining that the voice would be deep, and all wrong. I see Al is voiced by a kid; while that may make the voice truer to the character's age, like Lyrhawn said, I'd worry that some of the emotional quality was missing. I should be home at a decent time tonight, so hopefully I'll have a few minutes to check it out. I'm interested in hearing how it compares.
quote:The only anime I can think of off the top of my head that MUST be viewed in the English dub is Trigun, and at that, only because the voice acting done by Vash is so friggin awesome.
I am so, so glad I'm not the only one who feels this way! I loooooooove Vash's English voice actor. I'm not sure why I watched it in English in the first place (I'm guessing because it was one of the first anime titles I rented?) but I'm glad I did, because he really is superb. Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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There's a copy of Paranoia Agent at my Best Buy that tempts me everytime I walk into the store. That was such a great show. The suicide episode was comic genius.
I have to say that FMA is one of the best dubs I've heard. I liked it alittle less once I got my hands on the Japanese audio, but I can still enjoy it whenever I'm up late and catch it on tv. Now, I got really frustrated trying to download episodes of Naruto so I was excited to watch it Adult Swim, thinking they'd be continuing their streak of shows with great voice work. I'd like to say I was disappointed, but I wasn't...I was horrified. I gave it a half-dozen chances but the voices have ruined the show for me. This is one series I don't think I'll ever see. But then again, hearing how it falls apart later I don't regret it too much.
I just heard that Bleach will be coming to Adult Swim in September. I'm really nervous but I'm praying the company in charge gets the voices right. There's a couple of friends I would love to turn onto the show but they're new to anime so dubbing has been doing the best job of converting them so far (thank you Miyazaki and Disney!)
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quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: I liked the first thirty or so episodes of Naruto. The series has gone to 150+ so far. They do truly excellent combat animation occaisionally, so I keep watching, but I've lost all hope for the storyline.
Juxtapose, listen to me very carefully:
Don't lose faith in Naruto! from episode 136 to present (180) have been total crap because it is filler material. The anime was too close to catching up to the ongoing manga that it's based on, so the producers had to come up with a year's worth or boring nonsensical garbage that doesn't advance the plot at all, just so that they could stall and have enough material to adapt for the next year or so. I read the most current manga chapters, so I can tell you that once they start following the manga again the story actually goes somewhere.
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There's a new "Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society" movie that's coming out this year. Looks interesting.
Posts: 1236 | Registered: Mar 2002
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The voice of Ed doesn't sound like an old guy to me. Al does sound like a kid, but it is kind of interesting hearing this young voice come from that big suit of armor.
Voice actors... I was really fond of this guy's voice. I swear, I could listen to him speak for quite some time and be perfectly happy not even knowing what he was saying. Too bad he's dead.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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My all time favorite voice actor isn't from Anime, it's John Huston, who was the voice of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings cartoon animated movies. He's always been the voice of Gandalf in my head whenever I read LOTR.
I don't think Ed sounds older in the English version, just different. I prefer the Japanese. Both Al's are good.
On a separate note, I bought all 32 DVDs of the Yu Yu Hakusho series off of Ebay. They were used, but I got them all for $125, which is less than 25% of what they SHOULD have cost. I consider it a deal, and I'm excited to see all the stuff past the Dark Tournament that I've never seen. I also got the two Yu Yu movies.
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