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Television Media

Star Blazers Available Online 220

Amphigory writes, "Anyone who was young and geeky in the 80's remembers Star Blazers -- an anime sci-fi series. Anyway, some of the episodes are now available online in their entirety. The only problem is that most of them won't play in Xanim. " I absolutely adored this show in my younger years. Lately watching Lain, DBZ and Battle Athletes has rekindled my adoration for this stuff. Highly recommended if you're nostalgic.
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Star Blazers Available Online

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  • 33 episodes aired so far with edited showings at 5:30ET and unedited showings at midnight.

    If you like G-Force, you'll like GW. Though it is somewhat depressing, bleak, and chaotic in its portrayl of the future.

    Personally, I don't like mecha anime much (Macross is an exception). Battle Athletes, Armitage III (not the Elizabeth Berkeley version), Dirty Pair, My Dear Marie, Oh my Goddess, and Aika... ohhh... Aika... Now Hargen was a man with a plan!

  • by Anonymous Coward
    Even better:

    Episode 1 [studionext.com]
    Episode 2 [studionext.com]
    Episode 3 [studionext.com]
    Episode 4 [studionext.com]
    Episode 5 [studionext.com]
    Episode 6 [studionext.com]
    Episode 7 [studionext.com]
    Episode 8 [studionext.com]

    Now if someone can trnsalte them to something that doesn't use the Sorenson codec...

  • Anybody remember Star Blazer, the old Apple II game? Man, I loved that one. That and BCs Quest for Tires.
  • Call me a freak, but I haven't seen an action cartoon I could sit through for more than 1.2 shows. I don't know what it is, but I only watch comedy type cartoons. Come to think of it, I prefer comedy movies over other types as well. Give me Holy Grail any day over Die Hard.

    Back in college people with many similar interests would gab on and on about the latest Anime show and stuff. Meanwhile I would be shushing them because a new Animaniacs was on. But for these types, the cartoon network has some good stuff. Give me some Cow & Chicken or Powerpuff Girls anytime, and Johnny Bravo's obsession with the weird Scooby-Doo chic (Thelma?) gets me rollin every time.

    I'm rambling too .. but I enjoy it.
  • robotech (Which was a basterdization of three seasons of macross)

    Robotech was a bastardization of three completely unrelated series: SDF Macross, Southern Cross, and M.O.S.P.E.A.D.A. (or some similarly absurd acronym). The original Macross will be released as a DVD box set by AnimEigo [animeigo.com].
  • Actually, Cartoon Network has attempted to run the entire Robotech series a couple times now in the past few years.

    Actually, they ran through the series several times but only the first two parts (Macross Saga and Southern Cross). I don't know what the deal was but they never showed even an episode of The New Generation which most people liked best (they even had a clip or two in the Toonami commercials that advertised Robotech). The Macross Saga is just as awesome but I have to say that Southern Cross blows. If there were gonna leave any part out they should've left out that one.
  • as supposedly there are many veiled hints of lesbianism and homosexuality they left out or omitted.

    There aren't veiled hints of lesbianism, there is outright lesbianism/homosexuality. In the Americanized version they changed one of the bad guys into a female because he was gay and had a relationship with one of the other bad guys. In the third season two of the Outer Senshi are lesbian lovers (no attempts to hide it). The Sailor Stars of the last season are females who transform into males when in disguise. One of them always hits on Sailor Moon.

    The original Japanese series is quite good and very funny. The Americanized version is complete crap.
  • Oh yeah, before I forget: Gargoyles was also a great show! Of course, that's from Disney, so you can't like Gargoyles if you don't like Disney... :-p
    --
    Ski-U-Mah!
    Stop the MPAA [opendvd.org]
  • Yeah, my uncle used to watch Batman all of the time -- the first time that I remember seeing someone older than 15 be interested in a `cartoon'.. That show also had coolest opening animation and music that I can remember.

    Of course, I have to say that I also thoroughly enjoyed some of the other WB stuff -- Tiny Toons was a favorite of mine as a kid, and Animaniacs was even better (some of the extra characters were especially enjoyable -- Pinky and the Brain is definitely on the top of the heap). Freakazoid was a short-lived show, but the few episodes I saw were very funny.

    These days, the Simpsons is probably the king of the hill, but Family Guy is a great show that loves to play on the short attention spans of audiences these days. Futurama is pretty good, but it will probably take a while for that show to distance itself enough from the Simpsons to stand entirely on its own (although I thought the most recent episode was very good).

    Of course, those are all comedies -- but I like to laugh, what can I say? ;-)

    I have been pretty impressed with Batman Beyond, and Superman does have some pretty good stuff too. However, I don't like it when shows of any kind play too much to the ``moral of the story'' crowd..

    Okay.. I'm rambling.. sorry ;-)
    --
    Ski-U-Mah!
    Stop the MPAA [opendvd.org]
  • by Shaheen ( 313 ) on Wednesday April 12, 2000 @04:11PM (#1136530) Homepage
    Most of the time when animation buffs here the words "American Animation" they either gag, or they pretend like they have never heard the term before.

    However, I am opposing that opinion. As much as I enjoy Japanese Animation (and yes, it is better than American Animation - but I'm arguing that not all American stuff is in the gutter), I have enjoyed many purely american shows that have the same essential elements as any good anime series or movie.

    The most anime-like American animation out there is, most likely, Batman: The Animated Series. The series, IMO, is the epitome of what American animation houses - even if it is Warner Brothers - can produce when money isn't everything. The original artists for Batman were given some extra money to do the series, and it turned out to be a hit. Dark though it was, the series took into account everything a good story should have - great plots, essential character flaws (for instance, Bruce Wayne's constant struggle between living a "normal" life versus the life of Batman, or the clash between his love for Selena Kyle versus the fact that Catwoman is a criminal). The new Batman / Superman adventures, and even Batman Beyond to an extent, aren't as great as the original Batman, but they are measuring up pretty well.

    And who can forget The Simpsons? The show has definitely captured what it means to be "American" down to the most minute details (with exaggeration for laughs :)

    [shameless plug] I have started an online petition to have Batman: The Animated Series published on DVD here [123petitions.com] NOTE: *PLEASE* don't Slashdot this site. As much as I would love to have a thousand people sign my petition, I'm pretty sure it's a small server that would just cringe at the oncoming traffic. [/shameless plug] Quite surprisingly (or should I say not surprisingly?), a number of people have answered the question "how much would you pay?" with the words "Whatever it takes!"

  • Plug from an Otakon staffer: Both the creator and character designer for Lain will appear at Otakon 2000, the East Coast's biggest anime convention, located in Baltimore, MD

    Damn, I'm only about a 5 minute walk away from the Convention Center! Consider it marked on my calendar!

  • How many people out there actually like Lain? In my opinion, it was terrible.

    Hey, I liked Lain. Sure it was confusing and wierd and they didn't seem to like explaining stuff, but once you get past that it is really rather enthralling. One thing you have to remember is that Lain is not ment to be understood, it is ment to be experienced.

    As for bad dubs, I'm sure I don't have to reiterate how horrible a job some of these companies do. (cough)Streamline(cough)(cough)

    There are better Animes out there though, Cowboy Bebop, Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou[1], Card Captor Sakura :), Neon Genesis Evangelion, and many others.

    [1]: Kare Kano for short, which roughly translated means "His and Her Circumstances", just be sure you get the Pero Pero subs because they subtitle the text on the screen.

  • Fairy Princess Ren Certainly an interesting choice. It was billed at an anime convention like so: This is your anime. This is your anime on crack. Any questions?

    This could not be more appropriate.

    If you like Fairy Princess Ren, I highly recommend watching Kodomo no Omocha TV. Just as spastic and much longer (there are something like 100+ episodes of this series).

    If you're wondering what other people thought of a few series, you should want to check out the Fall 1999 VTAS ratings charts (with graphs) [vtas.org]. Beware that this chart is about a year old and severly underrates Kare Kano. ^_^

  • Just some comments on the recent wave of CGI shows:
    • Beast Wars: Transformers - worthy heir to the Transformers throne, with a suspenseful story arc and unique characterizations for kid vid (particularly the brooding samurai Dinobot)
    • Beast Machines: Transformers - the season currently airing in the US is pretty much crap, although its picked up in the season airing in Canada right now (realvideo encoded eps are available at TF Extreme [tfextreme.com])
    • Starship Troopers - excellent CGI work (best I've seen for a fully computer-animated show), although it doesn't look like it'll be picked up for another year on the Sci-Fi channel unfortunately >:/
      However, the company who animated it (Foundation Imaging), is working on a Heavy Gear show set in the same HG universe as Loki's latest port [lokigames.com], which should prove interesting...
  • Actually, the Japanese Beast * shows came after the original Canadian/US Beast Wars CGI show, and there are several:
    • Beast Wars - Japanese-dubbed version of the North American CGI first season
    • Beast Wars II - Cel-animated series with new Japanese characters
    • Beast Wars Neo - Yet another original cel-animated series with new characters that picks up the BWII story-line
    • Beast Wars: Metals - Japanese-dubbed version of the North American 2nd and 3rd seasons of Beast Wars
    Japan has now dropped the whole Beast * line (although they may import the current CGI Beast Machines show at a later date) in favor of a return to traditional automobiles in their Transformers: Car Robots series, which pits Cybertrons (Autobots) vs. Destrongers (Metallic beasts, including some from the BW line that were not previously animated). As a bonus (as the new Prime/Convoy in the series is a fire truck), they're reissuing several of the original "Generation 1" figures in Japan, including the original 1984-era Convoy/Optimus Prime.
  • "The rest.... is... silence"

    Well, he was a multi-faceted character to say the least, heh :)
  • by ry4an ( 1568 ) <ry4an-slashdotNO@SPAMry4an.org> on Wednesday April 12, 2000 @03:38PM (#1136537) Homepage
    Just last week I was trying to remember what crappy cartoon of my youth had the imagination capturing WAVE MOTION GUN. It could take out a whole fleet in a single blast -- but only infrequently and after the 'big things are happening' music had been playing for at least five minutes.
  • can't wait for Captor Nikki! NOT

    Lighten up, last I heard, it was being marketed under the name "Card Captor".
  • In some instances, they kind of "unscrewed" it a little for US audiences, as supposedly there are many veiled hints of lesbianism and homosexuality they left out or omitted. Some depictions of nudity do exist in the original (although supposedly never in the transformation scene). I get this information from people on the lists that I subscribe to, I have yet to see any Sailor Moon. I never get cable or anything like that, so I don't even have a chance of seeing it. I think it's a typical "Magical Girl" show, meaning I won't like it. There are some "shoujo" shows or shows meant for girls & women that I do like, such as Fushigi Yuugi and Revolutionary Girl Utena, but my impression of Sailor Moon is that it's waaay to far off the cliff.
  • I could have sworn the DVDs use 2.0 "surround", I didn't even play it with any special DSP mode other than just plain Pro-Logic. It really feels like I am IN the crowd, with sounds to the front, sides and rear.

    Maybe there was an oversight in not encoding the surround into the VHS. That would be unfortunate.
  • The Tenchi "Ultimate Edition" of the OVAs include 5.1, as well as Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll and Armitage III. There are a few more R1 releases that have it, but I forget what they all are.
  • IMO Lain can be understood... Check out this link for more depth:

    http://www.cjas.org/~leng/lain.htm [cjas.org]

    Lain looks AWESOME on DVD format, and when you play it back with a surround sound system it sounds fantastic, very immersive.

    Thanks for putting out the full name of "Kare Kuno". I know that the Japanese like to give things shorthand names, but it took a long time for me to find that out, as well as the full name. Personally, I think the title "translation" "His and Her Circumstances" to be extremely stilted. I found one I like better: "He said, She said", it may not be totally literal, but I think it passes on the general idea much better.
  • by Amphigory ( 2375 ) on Wednesday April 12, 2000 @05:03PM (#1136543) Homepage
    I just thought it might be interesting to note that I posted this article more than 24 hours ago. And it was "accepted" within minutes. Anyone care to take a bet that Rob delayed this article 24 hours to get first shot at the servers?

    I thought about not saying anything, but "information wants to be free!"

    (For the record, I don't see anything wrong with Rob doing that -- I just find it amusing.)

    --

  • ...you should see what they had planned for Sailor Moon sometime. Yes, you heard me right. Back in '93, Saban and DIC were in a bidding war for the U.S. rights to SM. Each made a trailer.

    Now don't get me wrong; what DIC did to SM is pretty awful. But after seeing what Saban had planned for the series, I can forgive DIC for everything they did, simply because they saved the series from Saban's Evil Clutches.

    By the way, I actually got the opportunity to see the first few episodes of Zyuranger (the series which would become the first season of Power Rangers. Loath as I am to say it, Saban actually improved that series a bit. Not much, mind you, but a bit.

    And, oh yes, "bastardizing" is a word.
  • ...but first, a few comments on your choices.

    Utena - One of The Greatest Series of All Time. I used to be the self-appointed High Priest of Utena-Sama at the anime club here, but then someone else got tapes of the ending before I did. So I've been demoted to Chu-chu no Miko.

    Evangelion - The Greatest Series of All Time. Particularly good for pissing off the Christian Right (assuming you can get them to watch, which will be a feat in and of itself).

    Escaflowne - Haven't seen it yet, but I'm going to this weekend (honest; girlfriend's coming ans she insists I see this thing). Heard lots of good stuff about it though, especially the music.

    Rayearth - I didn't much care for most of the series, but the ending to Season 1 has quite frankly the coolest plot twist I've seen in a long time.

    Kenshin - Awesome series. Good action, great characters, greater story.

    Oh! My Goddess - Sweet story. Saccharine, almost. If you want a really good laugh, check out SD Mini Goddess sometime (a continuation where the Goddesses go chibi-cute and befriend a talking rat which isn't cute in the least).

    And now, for the ones I would add to your list...

    Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou - also called "His and Her Circumstances," or "KareKano." This can be summed up in three words: Anno does shoujo. For those of you who've seen Evangelion, this description should be causing your brain to bluescreen (you shoulda seen what happened when I unloaded it on a bunch of friends). But he pulls it off so well it's unbelieveable.

    Marmalade Boy - Very long, very good. But if you don't like sappy stuff, avoid this series like the plague, 'cause it lays the warm fuzzies on thick.

    Flame of Recca - The series said to have everything but mechs. One of my favorite action series. And its opening sequence is awesome to boot. Just avoid the Shinsen Gumi translation; they screwed this one up bad (of course, I'm still mad at them over the superfluous hyphens they stuck in Kenshin at random points).

    Ranma 1/2 - The most ubiquitous anime out there. Love it or hate it, you've got to at least see some of it. Action, comedy, hyperdimensional 2-ton mallets, and relationships which skip the love-triangle and go straight for the love-polyhedra... oh, and plenty of fanservice for the ecchi out there. Not as much as some (cough... Bakuretsu Hunters... cough...) but more than enough for most of us.

    Bubblegum Crisis - The classic mecha. Short series. At least see Episodes 5 and 6 if nothing else.

    Vampire Princess Miyu - Take Sailor Moon. Vampire Princess Miyu is the opposite of that. In other words, absolutely amazing (then again, I suppose SM would be too, were it not for those $#%*#!s Usagi and Chibi-Usa...)

    Princess Army Wedding Combat - I'm not going to spoil this one for you. Suffice it to say that anything with a title like that is worth watching once.

    Kodomo no Omocha - also called "Kodocha" or "Child's Toy." I think the slogan of the fansubbers puts it best: "Cheaper than crack, and lots more fun." The second-season opening is one of the most surreal anime experiences you'll ever have. Trust me on this.

    Fairy Princess Ren - Called Elf Princess Ren in the US, this is basically a spoof on just about everything. And from what I hear, one of the few good dubs out there.

    The Slayers - Some of the best music out there. I think this series was meant to be a spoof on other anime. If so, it pulls it off brilliantly. I just hope it really was intended as a spoof.

    Those are my favorites. I generally don't care for mahou shoujo (Utena, Miyu, and Rayearth being the major exceptions). I'm more for the straight shoujo, and shounen to a lesser extent.

    Now, the major question: put Pikachu, Chu-chu, Mokona, and Ryo-Ohki in the ring together. Who wins?
  • Boku no Marie is a great little series, but it ends with the single most cruel cliffhanger I've ever seen... and then there's no more! I liked the series, but I have a lot of trouble recommending any series which left the entire anime club screaming for blood because there was no more after they showed 1-3 one day.
  • Who here remembers the following series? I'm not saying all of these were good (not all are even American), but I figured they were obscure enough to present a good challenge. Bonus points if you can point to someone or some site that has the episodes...
    • The Lost Cities of Gold
    • Spartacus
    • Wildfire
    • M.A.S.K.
    • Princess Army Wedding Combat
    • Code Name: Sailor V
    • Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

    OMAKE! One of the animated series I mentioned here never actually existed. Tell me which one that was...
  • Almost perfect score. You got the non-anime question right. I'm very impressed to see someone remembered Wildfire; no one else I've ever talked to seems to know what the hell I'm talking about.

    As for PAWC, yes, it really is an anime (two-episode OAV, subbed by Tomodachi). If you've seen Marmalade Boy then take that and add judo. That gives you PWAC.
  • Oh, you're right? I'd all but forgotten about the series (which is particularly sad since the opening theme still gets stuck in my head every once in a while). Bit unless I remember right it was Ulysses 31, not 2000.
  • I think its still being shown at some wierd middle-of-the-night time on the SciFi channel.

    I remember watching an espisode maybe two or three months ago. It might've just been a BG marathon though...
  • Yes I totally recommend Serial Experiment Lain. It's very slow and painful to watch, but it totally eats into your head. I'd say the experience is similar to watching 2001 except that it lasts 6 hours.

    Also Cowboy Bebop is high on my list as well because it has it all in action flicks except for the stupid name. It's a futuristic bounty hunter story with a marvious plot, well done animation, and blues/jazz soundtrack that can't be beat. Hell, the soundtrack is all I've been listening to for the past few weeks.
  • Star Blazers is of course very cool. I never actually saw it til I was in college. It was a bit before my time - I'm of the group that grew up with Battle of the Planets and Tranzor Z.

    Those were all fun, but the series that got me into anime were Robotech and the rare, but cool, Thunderbirds 2086. God knows only two other people that I know of ever saw the latter. Anyone else ever see it?

    Stuff I'd reccomend to anyone looking to get into anime:
    *Serial Experiments Lain
    *Macross Plus
    *Vision of Escaflowne (this is one of my favorites)
    *Neon Genesis Evangelion
    *Cowboy Bebop

    Of course many anime series have tightly scripted plots that run through the series' length. So you have to watch 'em in order. This was always the bane of the american dubbed series on tv.
  • True, true. I was trying just to list stuff that's both accessible and on DVD (the best thing to happen to anime since laserdisks ;) For whatever reason, the sf stuff makes up a large part of the population than the fantasy stuff.

    So let's add:
    *Fushigi Yuugi

    as well as some that aren't on DVD yet:
    *El-Hazard: The Mysterious World (the subtitle is actually quite important here)
    *Grave of the Fireflies
    *Kiki's Delivery Service
    *Maison Ikkoku
    *My Neighbor Totoro
    *Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight (again the subtitle distinguishes different series)
    *Wings of Honneamise

    Sadly, some of my favorites are a bit too slow, or aren't self-contained, or are just plain weird to suggest to a newbie. The last one there is cutting it close. But once you get the bug you'd be suprised at the lengths an anime otaku will go through to get videos.
  • And of course, what's so great about Escaflowne for (imho a significant portion of) the /. crowd is that your appreciation of what's going on can only be improved by a good grounding in science.

    To say more would be to give away major parts of the story - perhaps as vile a sin as spoiling B5 episodes. But me and my fellow sci geeks dropped our jaws on the floor for a pretty large part of the series.
  • If it's bird costumes, then you're likely thinking of Battle of the Planets (or some other Gatchaman-derived series, like G-Force)

    Whilst the ship in that series wasn't a gestalt ship, it did tend to grab other vehicles and store them inside, IIRC.

    But there were no costumes in TB2086, nor were any of the vehicles (aside from the flying surfboards) small by any means. While TB1-4 were the most commonly seen, just as in the old Thunderbirds series there were others. TB11 (i think it was) was a space station.
  • Give Devil Hunter Yohko a try. It's an older six-part series from A.D. Vision [advfilms.com], but it's very funny and pokes fun at the whole magical girl genre.

    One of my favourite scenes is in part three, when the star of the show, Yohko, is doing her obligatory speech before her transformation sequence. The monster she's facing attacks her during the speech, and she yells out, "Hey! I only had one more line to go!"

    Another good scene is in the first part, when she's having a swordfight with an evil vampire queen. The queen slashes her sword across Yohko's chest, tearing her dress and revealing a generous amount of cleavage. Yohko looks down, then narrows her eyes at the queen and says in a very unimpressed voice, "Don't you think that was a bit much?"
  • Gunbuster had a few geeky scenes. Those "science lessons" at the end of each episode were pretty messed up. Sort of "A Brief History of Time" meets "Babylon 5, if you can imagine such a thing. And Noriko is an otaku! Mucho excelante!

    A lot of my fellow geeks love the good giant robot shows. Gundam Wing, Evangelion, Macross Plus, etc, and some of us love the really cheesy ones. Yelling out "FORM BLAZING SWORD!!!" at the right time will reduce us to tears of laughter.
  • You remember Sabre Rider too?! My family keeps thinking that I'm making up false memories whenever I mention it. Thanks for reassuring me that I'm sane. :)
  • >4.)El Hazard - Not the most deep series, but a
    >heck of a lot of fun! C'mon - we all secretly
    >wished we could be Jinnai and conquer nations
    >with our hordes of Bugrom troops in our preppy
    >school uniforms! That and Ifurita just kicks ass!
    Tell me about. My main box is named "ifurita".

    Jinnai's great. He's my all-time favourite male character. Some fans may castrate me for this, but I think his english dub voice pulled off that laugh better than the original actor. I can actually imitate his laugh fairly well. Scares the hell out of my classmates. ^_^
  • >It felt like somebody watched Eva while stoned
    >and said, "Hey, I can do more weird than that!"
    O_o Oy vey. Seriousltyy

    >That's right, all of Bishojou Senshi Sailormoon S
    >and Bishojou Senshi Sailormoon SS, brutally
    >butchered for American television!
    Awwwwwww, FUCK. What are they going to do to Michiru and Haruka? I know for damned sure they won't have *their* dialouge accurately translated. Pricks... They should just broadcast the fansubs instead.
  • Maul dun said:

    I was actually surprised when I heard Serial Experiments Lain mentioned on Geeks in Space. Lain is a great anime, though I've heard that watching it is like being on an acid trip. ^_^

    You too, eh? (We shall turn the editors into sho'nuff otaku yet! :)

    I've not seen Serial Experiments Lain yet (friend of mine has it though)...I have a hard time believing it can be a worse mindfsck than End of Evangelion, though. (Basically, people whinged about the last two episodes...so the writer crafted something designed to be completely and utterly so much of a mindfsck that mind-altering substances are almost essential to keep one's head from hurting, much less understanding the plot. :)

    But while we're getting a lot of overexposure from Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon and even (shudders) Gundam Wing on Cartoon Network, it seems that the average geek in North America is missing out on some better anime that Japan has to offer. For example, I'm not quite sure if everyone here has heard of Cowboy Bebop. A must see series for a Japanese Animation fan, especially those into action.

    Heyyyy...I've heard of Cowboy Bebop, at least :) (Heard the soundtracks before seeing the actual anime, which (if memory serves) JUST officially came out in the States)

    Agreed, damn good story. I STILL think that Vash the Stampede from Trigun would win, though, if just out of dumb luck :)

    And if you're a hard core fan of Japanese Animation, you can't miss out on Nadesico, which is a pretty much a parody of EVERYTHING, including those cheezily animated 70's giant robot anime. Yet it has a plot to call its own. I think it was declared by some to be the "Best Anime Ever." I'd agree with this. Of course, if you are a real hard core fan, you've probably already seen this one.

    *ROTFLMAO at mention of Nadesico*

    Yes! Definitely one of the funnier anime I've ever seen (ranks right up there with Trigun and all the various Slayers series, IMHO)...one of the best pisstakes I've seen, hands down. :)

    A few other picks I'd add:

    Damn near everyone has already mentioned Rurouni Kenshin and Escaflowne and Evangelion. :) I'd REALLY recommend you get a hold of these if you can (Escaflowne and Eva should be no prob now, Kenshin's gonna be harder--most of it is only available in fansubs, most fansubbers aren't distributing it because Sony's officially announced it will be released stateside...though out west where you lucky bastards can watch anime on PBS instead of Red Dwarf can prolly catch it under the title of Samurai X (what the hell was Sony smoking when they came up with that title, anyways?)...) Same for Ah!Megumisama/"Oh! My Goddess" (you HAVE to admire any anime where the World Tree is Big Iron, there are programmer goddesses, one of the main characters is a CS major, and Fortran is mentioned :).

    Slayers in any way, shape or form it comes. :) The first two series, Slayers and Slayers Next, have been officially released Stateside; supposedly Slayers Try is either planned to be shown or is being shown on Sci-Fi Channel. Pretty much imagine Lodoss War, or a D&D game, gone horribly, HORRIBLY wrong... :)

    Lodoss War for that matter--rumour has it that this anime was based off a Japanese RPG that itself was based off AD&D :) (Maybe Slayers WAS based off a Lodoss War game gone horribly wrong... :) Good series though.

    For that matter, if you like Slayers and Nadesico, try to get a copy of Lost Universe--basically, Slayers In Space :) (And done by the same crew what brought us Slayers, yet)

    People have already mentioned Utena. :) I've not seen all of it yet but looks pretty good :)

    Nazca is good if you're into swordplay...only thing that bothers me is the Incas with katanas (sometimes being into ancient American history can be a detriment... :) but VERY interesting series involving reincarination, etc.

    Trigun, Vash The Freakin' Stampede. 'Nuff Said. :) (For those who have seen Kenshin: Imagine Sanosuke with blond hair, with the utter luck of Coyote. :)

    One anime I'm really surprised hasn't been brought up yet is Princess Mononoke--especially since it's the first anime to receive a major US theatrical release. Gaiman's job at translating and the dub isn't bad at all; then again, I've seen both the official version and a fansub. (This is also one of the few dubs I've ever seen that doesn't make me wince.)

    Bubblegum Crisis, if you've not seen it already. Stay the fucking HELL away from the dub; it sucks, sucks, SUCKS (it's possibly the best known way of inflicting torture on poor otaku other than repeatedly playing the Tenchi March :P).

    El Hazard is a must-see--both the OVA and TV series. (The TV series is screamingly funny in parts.)

    Probably Tenchi Muyo OVA; sub or dub is fine, even though Tenchi sounds amazingly like Kermit the Frog and Ryoko sounds amazingly like she's originally from Louisville, Kentucky :) The series does go downhill from there, so basically check to see if you like it first. Avoid "Tenchi Forever" like the goddamned plague. :)

    Any Microsoft-hating geek owes it to himself to at least watch Magical Girl Pretty Sammy episode 2 ("Revenge of the Giant Electronic Brain" or something like that). Possibly the FUNNIEST pisstake I have EVER seen of Microsoft. Mac fans will appreciate it more, because Washu's computer looks VERY similar to an iBook (maybe Pioneer should sue Apple for gimmick infringement... :)

    Card Captor Sakura, if you can get hold of a good fansub. (Supposedly will be officially released soon Stateside...not bad shoujo stuff, though, and I tend not to like shoujo. :)

    People have already mentioned Vampire Hunter D and Vampire Princess Miyu. Go watch. Seriously.

    If one is into more "adult" material, F-Cubed (especially "Night of the F-Cubed") and Ogenki Clinic are screamingly funny hentai. :)

    People have already mentioned Macross Plus. Go watch. Seriously.

    BGC 2040 should not be watched if one has previously seen any Bubblegum Crisis, as it's basically in an alternate universe and a failure to remember this may cause headaches and/or ranting. (Then again, Tenchi Muyo is even worse--no less than four or five SEPARATE universes with the same characters. Go fig.)

    I really wish Sony would hurry the hell up and bring Rurouni Kenshin over Stateside to video so I don't have to watch fourth-generation Hecto Abysmal (HECTO is a fansub group; if you have a choice between HECTO and anyone else go with the other guys; for those of you who whinge on about Shinsen Gumi fansubs, HECTO makes Shinsen Gumi fansubs look like Masterpiece Theatre in comparison; it helps to have a working knowledge of Cantonese to understand HECTO subs--have I gotten it across that HECTO subs really ARE abysmal? :) fansubbed copies. Me want my Kenshin, damnit :)

    I wish TV Tokyo would start an American version of Anime X (Anime X is a Japanese all-anime channel which TV Tokyo--the major broadcasters of anime in Japan--runs on the Japanese DSS service); if they did, I would WILLINGLY get digital satellite for that. Same for anyone who did an uncensored anime channel (have I ever mentioned just how MUCH I hate what the US Censorship Bored did to Sailor Moon and DBZ, and why I shudder in fear every time I read that one post that insinuates Cartoon Network might be carrying Tenchi Muyo? :P).

    I wish one of the PBS affiliates would show Britcoms and the other would show anime on Saturday nights; then I could die a happy otaku :)

    (OK, does it show I'm just a wee bit addicted? Blame it on my loving crack-pusher friends who have nearly 1000 tapes of anime between them and have formed an informal otaku society here. :)

  • I would not reccommend Evangelion, because I was very disappointed with it.

    I didn't sympathise with any of the characters, the plot of the series really went nowhere, and then it turned into an incoherent art flick at the end. None of the characters really change or grow (unless you count dying or losing their minds), and by the time it ends, you just don't care any more.

    I forgive Anno, because Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyou , his next series, is really great, but Eva just left a bad taste in my mouth.

    There are a lot better series out there: Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Irresponsible Captian Tyler, Slayers, Maison Ikkoku, Kimagure Orange Road, etc., etc.

    Jon
  • He NEVER CAME BACK! (NEVER CAME BACK! NEVER CAME BACK! NEVER CAME BACK!)

    I still remember seeing that episode, and it's probably been 20 years.

    Jon
  • I have watched every single episode, subtitled of course, and both movies. And it was easy to get the overall story, since it only advanced about a half centimeter every episode, and there might have as well have been blinking words on the screen saying "overall story arc now advancing" when it did.

    I recommend you visit Evangelion Thumbnail Theatre [simplenet.com] to see a listless, overhyped series made fun of. :)

    Of course, your mileage may vary. If you enjoyed it, I certainly don't wish to rain on your parade. But I enjoyed Patlabor about ten billion times more.

    Jon
  • I have not seen any Star Blazers episode.
    In the pre-globalization era, many things didn't went around the globe as fast as today.
    But I do remember Robotech...Oh! Yes I do!!!
    I still wonder If there's some place selling Robotech entire collection...I would pay for it...
    I know "alternative" places to get Robotech VHS's, but AFAIK, they are low quality, and I'm not that kind of person.

    Last thing...can anybody recomend me to download Star Blazers videos? Does it worth my time being a Robotech fan?
  • Looks like I have to throw in my two cents, too! (^_^) --Japanese smiley emoticon

    Personally, my favorites are:

    Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon - If you can get the original Japanese unedited episodes, you'll be pleasantly surprised how good the series is. Watch especially the first seven episodes from the first season and practically the entire third season (Sailormoon S); those first seven episodes have strong, very good storytelling, and the entire Sailormoon S season had most of its episodes with VERY good storytelling, humor and drama.

    Shoujo Kakumei Utena - One of the weirdest and most unusual anime series EVER done. I'd HIGHLY suggest you bring along a small bottle of aspirin, Tylenol or Advil because you will get a major headache trying to figure out all the numerous plot twists (many of which are major red herrings). ^_^

    Slayers, Slayers Next and Slayers Try - EXCELLENT storytelling, and yes, it is a major spoof of the whole idea of fantasy quests. You've got to love Megumi Hayashibara's great voice work on that series (she gets the bad temper voice down perfectly), and watching Xelloss and Phyria go after each other in Slayers Try is half the fun of that series.

    Tenkuu no Escaflowne - One of the best anime series I've EVER seen. Great storytelling, and some of the best animation work I've ever seen, no contest.

    Saber Marionette J - A surprisingly good anime series, especially once the subtitled edition came out from AnimeVillage.com. Watching Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry "grow up" is wonderful, as is Hanagata making an a** of himself throughout the series.

    Excel Saga - One of the most weird, demented, and FUNNY anime series I've EVER seen! The main character often goes off on absolutely weird tangents, and the ED (end credits sequence) is absolutely wickedly funny! ADV Films has gotten the US distribution rights, so hopefully we'll see it in the US market in about a year's time.

    I however, have trouble recommending Shin Seiki Evangelion. The reason is that the series is a bit too adult for many viewers, the level of violence can be a bit shocking (especially Episode 19), and Episodes 21-26 are just too strange to understand for many viewers.
  • "Lain, DBZ and Battle Athletes"

    Those are pretty good choices, except for DBZ. It's not bad, but when a battle is dragged on for more than 3 episodes, it starts getting a little bit hoohum!

    A small and rather unknown gem is Fairy Princess Ren (released as Elf Princess Rane by AnimeWorks in the US). The subtitled version will show you the true power of Feng Sui...

    <FENG SUI>
    yrT gnihctaw siht ta rouf ni eht gninrom! ll'uoY yllaicepse ekil gnidaer seltitbus nettirw siht yaw nehw amukaT sekam sih owt etunim hceeps...
    </FENG SUI>

    It's too bad the production company only made two episodes. It actually had some potential...

    GATCHABAGOOSE!

  • Anyone have captures of those freaking hilarious WB commercials mixing their different toons? You know, where Batman explains to Superman how to get girls, or Robin has to fight Pokemon characters. Some of those are classic.

  • Right on!
    Gundam Wing is awesome. I am still in awe that the show was created in 1979 it seems too well drawn for that. The plot is awefully sophisticated maybe over the head of kids. I would rather have my kid watch that then most of the garbage on TV. I wish more there were more shows like this on American TV that deal with the philosophy of war, man/machines, and space colonies. Instead we are just bomarded with garbage and cheezey pokemon rip offs more interested in selling toys than enlightening people.

    - Thats my 2 cents.
  • I think blood is the difference at 5:30PM there is no blood to satisfy parents, at 12:00 its raw.

  • "Damn, I'm only about a 5 minute walk away from the Convention Center! Consider it marked on my calendar!"

    We'll be glad to see you there! For others interested in attending Otakon 2000, the convention will be held August 4-6 (Friday through Sunday) at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD. Registration for all three days is $45 at the door ($40 if you pre-register by May 27th). Single-day memberships and groups discounts are also available, see Otakon's website for details.

    For more information, please visit Otakon's website at www.otakon.com [otakon.com], or write:

    OTAKON(TM) 2000
    PO Box 149
    Morristown, PA 19067


  • by Guppy ( 12314 ) on Wednesday April 12, 2000 @03:53PM (#1136573)
    "Lain, DBZ and Battle Athletes"

    Well, that's a pretty eclectic selection. We've got:

    Lain: Complex and surreal, at times expressionistic. A classmate of the main character, Lain, commits suicide. Shortly afterwards, members of the class start receiving e-mails claiming to be from the deceased girl. That's not what Lain is about, but to explain further would require interpretation on my part. I highly recommend you watch it and make your own interpretations. Requires patience. Also recommended for viewers of Lain: Key the Metal Idol, Angel's Egg, Neon Genesis Evangelion.
    (Plug from an Otakon staffer: Both the creator and character designer for Lain will appear at Otakon 2000 [otakon.com], the East Coast's biggest anime convention, located in Baltimore, MD.)

    DBZ: Journey to the West meets the WWF, anime style with some SF thrown in. Loosely based on the ancient Chinese tale of a monkey king who was born from a stone, and I do mean loosely. Fun, but not very cerebral. The story breaks down in later episodes as characters spend much of their time hurling chi-blasts at each other. Also recommended for DBZ fans: Er... I haven't a clue what would appeal to DBZ fans.

    Battle Athletes: Cute schoolgirls compete for the "Cosmo Beauty" prize. A little silly, takes a while for the story to kick in. Animation quality is pretty good, on par with most of Pioneer's other stuff. Also recommended for Battle Athletes fans: Sailor Moon, Gunbuster.

    Close the World. Otakunize the Next
  • True... lain is quite good cyberpunk, but by far not the best.

    It is one of the best anime to come out in a long time (and I've seen almost all of them - running reg at fanime con (the guy in the red hat) for the last three years should tell you that...), but it's not the best cyberpunk.

    By FAR the best cyberpunk put to film as of yet is Bladrunner. It DID have cyber. If you missed it, you obviously don't get the genre. I'd recomend you go read Gibson and Sterling as a refresher... to even put the Matrix in that catagory (absolutly NO punk whatsoever; just a cheep rehash of a few of the flashier points) is complete hersey.

    But Serial Experiment Lain is great stuff. Maybe it's that I first saw each episode while tripping heavily on acid... Ok; rant mode off...

  • As a kid I LOOOOOOOOOOOVED Star Blazers and you can imagine my excitement when I saw the whole series in the local video store. I of course got it out and watched it.
    Unfortunately, my 25 year old brain interpreted it somewhat differently than my ~10 year old brain and I tainted my happy memories of one of my favourite cartoons.
    So think of the happy memories before you click.
  • Oh, and as for it preceding a new Star Blazers...well, this project [corona.bc.ca] (courtesy of The Other Great Satan, Walt Disney) has been in the works for quite some time, and there's plenty here to make a dyed-in-the-wool fan of Starblazers shudder. (Even though I've never seen the show, but plan to remedy this soon...) Particularly the bit where the ship is changed to the Arizona...
  • As a long-time member of various Robotech mailing lists and general fan in touch (hey, just look at my handle there :) I can tell you that Mystery Science Thea--er, Robotech 3000 has two major strikes against it to start out.

    One: It's being written by Carl "anime antichrist" Macek, who (as the stillborn Sentinels proves) can't write a series worth a darn--the only reason Robotech was so great is that he had 80% of the storyline handed to him completely intact on a silver platter, and all he had to do was switch some names and things around.

    Two: It's set a thousand years after the original show. Which smells suspiciously like how they made the movie The Lawnmower Man--"let's use the name, because it's such a draw, but make it so we don't have to have any connection whatsoever to the original version." They'll probably end up screwing the hell out of the continuity of the original show, too.

    And let's not forget Two and a Half: It's caused the cancellation/nongranting of all existing Robotech licenses for the last couple of years...no new computer games, books, toys, and so forth. Which is a good reason to be annoyed all by itself.

    And by the way...Reba West was drunk when she recorded the songs for Robotech, because she was originally too self-conscious to sing on her own. If you listen close to a couple of the songs on the Perfect Collection CD, you can sort of tell...

  • Feh. If they wanted to do the thing right, they would get Peter Walker, whose Objective: Reflex Point tech files, while admittedly a fan-extrapolation, are the best, most detailed, most internally-consistent analysis of the TV show that I've ever seen.
  • by Robotech_Master ( 14247 ) on Wednesday April 12, 2000 @04:53PM (#1136579) Homepage Journal
    Episodes of original ("G1") Transformers, Beast Wars, and Beast Machines (including the second season, which is airing in Canada but not in the US 'til September) can be found via TF Archive [tfarchive.com], and the BM eps can also be found at TF Extreme [tfextreme.com] (hosted on Telefragged, no less).

    And don't count Robotech 3000 out yet; it's looking like production is indeed proceeding on it...

  • Gatchaman (the three(?) anime series that Sandy Frank gutted for stock-footage to make "Battle of the Planets") is actually being rereleased on DVD in Japan. It'll be Region 2 only (I suspect), but with DeCSS or an Apex player, you should be able to pick them up without a problem.

    Do a Yahoo search on gatchaman and I'm sure you'll find the info. They start coming out... later this month I think, and they're going to release like one DVD a month until its all out. I think the price was something like US$40 per disc, so its pricy, but worth it.

    D

  • They're going to be titled "Gatchaman", since its being released in Japan. Remember that the series has never existed under any other name there. :)

    As for dubbing... don't know. I doubt it. I suspect there MAY be english subtitles available (it is a DVD after all), but I doubt it would be dubbed. Again, why dub a Japanese cartoon in English, when you're releasing it in Japan?

  • by mcc ( 14761 )
    hmm, well lets see here. i'm really tired but let's see if i can still respond coherently:

    Ah!Megami-sama [Ah!MyGoddess] actually takes place at a technical college.. Keichii is a CS student and he builds racing cars in his spare time. Which SCREAMS geek. AMG has a very interesting theological system going on, in that the Godesses are actually !!!sysadmins!!! for the system running the universe, Ygdrasil, which is portrayed as more or less a huge ethereal abstract mainframe or something, with little monsters running around in it that need to be "debugged". Ygdrasil has system outages, needs maintenence, and basically is a perfect allegory of a computer system. The only way they could make the whole thing cooler is by adding Daemons.
    Skuld, besides being a Godess sysadmin in the Mother of All Sysadmin Jobs, appears to be a rather competent Electrical Engineer as well who can randomly design mecha in her spare time and, upon seeing blueprints for one of Keichii's racekart things sitting around, on the spot grabs a pencil and redesigns it to be more efficient. Just because she can.

    Ghost in the Shell is vaguely geeky in that it involves androids, computer systems, and the idea of the human mind being transferred to a digital form and thus losing its meaning as it becomes an increasingly mechanical abstract digital construct rather than a real human soul. Meanwhile while mind decays, body becomes irrelivant; just a container that can be summoned and discarded at will, letting the mind, however little of its content the mind still contains, do its work. While this isn't very geeky in itself, it certainly describes prevailing geek lifestyle. Becoming a part of the machine.. hm. i can relate to that.

    There's probably some others i can't remember at the moment. I'm _tired_.

    I think Ah!Megami-sama takes the prize for one very important reason: it actually contains FORTRAN . Keichii knows it. :)
  • Just FYI, in Lain, (I forget which episode, it was an early one,) Lain's hacking away in school on her little personal Navi, and if you go frame-by-frame you see she's programming in Lisp...
  • In fact, that Batman is a c -production between US, Japanese and Korean studios.
  • Cowboy BeBop is being aired in Italy by - you'd never guess - MTV. Prime time, even.
    Alexander, Peter Chung of Aeon Flux fame together with Studio Mad House (Night Warriors is the only title coming to mind, but there's much more) ended last Thursday (MTV, Prime time).
  • CGI

    (1) (Computer Graphics Interface) A device independent graphics language
    for display and printing that stemmed from GKS.

    (2) (Computer-Generated Image) A picture created in the computer. See
    computer animation.

    (3) See CGI script. [techweb.com]

    http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm?t erm=cgi
  • Wow! I had forgotten all of that stuff about AMG... Cool...
    BUT, I have to say, I think Ghost in the Shell really has a lot of geek potential... I jsut watched it again a few weeks ago, and literally, the geeks in the group(well, one was drunk, but otherwise:) sat there when it got done and said"Whoa" (in a good Matrixesque/Bill and Ted kind of way)

    GITS really brings up some interesting points, especially considering some of the recent things that have been going on.. Just a few months ago, researchers managed to get a visual image through a cat's eyes, and now, it seem that they are real close ot getting an image from a camera into a brain as well... Pretty scary, cause it really suggests that more computer/brain interfaces are coming, and then from there.... well... lines start to get blurry, I guess. I'd give it another 20 years or so, and I think we'll have that question... probably sooner.

    (I still want that retinal based X-server and a fast wireless connection in my head, though:)
  • I should point out that while Battle Athletes is cool, Battle Athletes Victory kicks ass! *_*

    Other animes I'd recommend:

    Revolutionary Girl Utena - this series is MESSED UP, but it's MESSED UP GOOD. I highly recommend this series; you'll hate it at first, but eventually, you'll love the twisted storylines... [eg]

    Neon Genesis Evangelion - a classic; man versus the angels, lotsa biblical stuff, really really cool mechs, etc.

    Escaflowne - girl gets tossed into a dimension of fantasy and wishes.

    Magic Knights Rayearth - Three girls get tossed into a mythical land, supposedly chosen as the magic knights. A cult favorite.

    Rurouni Kenshin - If you like swordfight-type shows, this is a goodie; it's about a swordsman back in the meiji era of Japan who's trying to get away from the killing that plagued his earlier life as one of the greatest killers of his time.

    Oh! My Goddess - Another classic about a boy who accidentally dials-a-goddess....

    Those are some of the first ones I saw when I was getting into anime. Now that I've been around for a while, I prefer the mahou shoujo shows, (magical girl shows, aimed at little girls but still watched by lotsa other age groups..) but I've also got a few shounen (boy) shows in my collection.

    Links I'd recommend people check out: Anipike [anipike.com], and EX Online [ex.org].

    I've got a few other links hidden on my own webpage, too, and a few other series mentioned there, in case anyone's interested in those shoujo shows I was talking about...


    James
  • And yes, Lost Universe IS Slayers in Space.

    Sort of... same writer, same chara designer, same animation studio, mostly the same seiyuu, and same metamythology. But not the same characters, premise, or even universe. (The Slayers world is one of four universes in their mythology. The Lost Universe universe is one of the other three.) There is a cross-over in Slayers Try involving the Gorn Nova and Dark Star, but that was not part of the novels and even the creator said that the two series use the same words (the mythology) for different things. Funny, though... characters in both series have light sabers (Kain's Psy Blade, Gourry's Kikari no Ken/Gorn Nova).

    And I avoid any and all dubs, personally. It's just ... wrong.

    Normally, I do too, but the Trigun dub is actually better than the original Japanese IMHO. (Speaking of series crossovers, Vash really reminds me of Justy Ueki Tylor in the Old West...)



    --
  • The Lost Cities of Gold

    ITYM "Mysterious Cities of Gold".

    Spartacus

    "Sparticus and the Sun Beneath the Sea"

    Wildfire

    Wasn't this about a horse... I sort remember something about it...

    M.A.S.K.

    It's all about the toys bay-bee... still got 'em, too...

    Princess Army Wedding Combat

    ... no clue.

    Code Name: Sailor V

    I take your challenge! Was never animated. Only a manga, Naoko's precursor to Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (Sailor V, Minako Aino, became Sailor Venus).

    Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

    Don't remind me... hideous animation...

    How about "Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors"? I know someone who has that on tape and knows Jayce's voice actor...

    --

  • Keiichi is an engineering student.

    Skuld is actually a lowly debugger... Urd is the sysadmin. Very typical, too... she adores alcohol and hates answering luser calls on the telephone...

    There aren't Daemons per say, but in the manga there are Demons (Hild [Urd's mother and head of Niflheim], Mara [incompetent demon "friend" of Urd's], Welsper [Belldandy's doublet demon that was turned into a cat]).

    --
  • Oh! My Goddess - Sweet story. Saccharine, almost. If you want a really good laugh, check out SD Mini Goddess sometime (a continuation where the Goddesses go chibi-cute and befriend a talking rat which isn't cute in the least).

    "Belldandy-san ga daisuki desu da!" - Gan-chan

    --

  • Right off I can remember that Madhouse also did Ninja Scroll [Jubei Ninpucho], Trigun, and the finishing work on All-Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku [Bannou Bunka Nekomusume] (which Gainax actually did some animation for as well).

    --
  • Yep, Channel 56 and Channel 25 in Boston aired Force Five, Robotech, Star Blazers, Tranzor Z, Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years, and maybe one other show when I was in High School (85-89).
    Man, that was the shit!

    Pope
  • Mmm...Lum!
    Boy, I wish we could get Urusai Yatsura on the air! Now that Maison Ikkoku comic has ended, I have no reason to go on...

    Pope
  • I love old Japanaese Anime. As fate would have it I married the daughter of Mizuki Ichirou, who sang the music for Captain Harlock and Great Mazinger, among countless others. Fortunately I get to re-live the nostalgia almost daily.
  • Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) has come back. there are several video episode made not long ago. My father in law sang on those as well, so I got them free...
  • Lain looks AWESOME on DVD format, and when you play it back with a surround sound system it sounds fantastic, very immersive.

    Actually, the VHS version is very crisp. So much so that it's my new standard for judging VHS.

    And the DVD only has left/right channels. No surround sound whatsoever. Actually, it's rather surprising how many Anime don't have surround. Tenchi movies have 5.1, which is nice, but quite a bit of anime are OVA's (movies to video, for you non-otaku) or TV series, which just use normal stereo, and don't bother placing anything in the lower audio range.

    I just got a full DTS system, so we've been playing "Let's crank that volume on *this*, and see what subtle foley we can hear". Last night, the local anime club met at my place, and we all brought nifty import DVDs. Our regularly schedualed viewing was se:Lain volume 3 (ep.8-10). It amuses me that our sister club, at a local high school, is showing Lain as well. I'm not sure how the later episodes will fly with the faculty (who also attend meetings).

    --
    Evan

  • Lain's hacking away in school on her little personal Navi, and if you go frame-by-frame you see she's programming in Lisp...

    Having frame by framed some other scenes, I know that much of the "streaming code" is the actual 3D description language for the Navi scenes and a few CG backgrounds. When I mentioned this to our Anime Club, somebody shouted out the obvious - "Hey, does that mean that Lain is Open Source?"

    -grin-

    Ghost in the Shell (commonly known as GITS, notice that there is *NO* second 'R') is a good anime, yes. The manga (comic) upon which it is based, however, is MUCH more geek. Masume Shiro[1] is a ubergeek who loves throwing detail into each mundane bit (example: explaining how the touch sensors on a cyborg are built using nanites burrowing into the skin, leaving fiber optic channels behind them, plugging into receptors) and apologizing for the glossing over of technical bits.

    The Ghost in the Shell manga definately has a deeper ending that is more fully explained than the Anime ending (or Lain or End of Eva, for that matter - but then, written word holds more bandwidth for abstract concepts).

    obRant:
    Incidently, I am a big science fiction/fantasy fan who likes quite a bit of anime. I am really getting sick, however, of otaku (anime fans, literally "geeks") who like anime just for the sake of the fact that it is japanese animation, and sneer at everything else. A closed mind, no matter how outside of mainstream, is still closed.

    [1] - Don't complain about the spelling. I did the best I could, and it kept getting farther away the more I tried :)

    --
    Evan

  • I could have sworn the DVDs use 2.0 "surround"

    Mebbie I read the display wrong, but it didn't look or sound like it, whereas Tenchi was *awesome*.

    Maybe there was an oversight in not encoding the surround into the VHS.

    I was using the DVD. I have vol. 1 and 2 on VHS and 3 and 4 on DVD. 1&2 were impulse buys at the end of AWA, a AnimeCon. Shortly thereafter, I got the rest on DVD.

    --
    Evan

  • That's right, all of Bishojou Senshi Sailormoon S and Bishojou Senshi Sailormoon SS, brutally butchered for American television! I can't wait! Actually, I'm sure this sounds sarcastic, but this is actually a good thing.

    My feelings towards Sailor Moon aside, how is butchering anime just so parents' groups can breathe easier actually a Good Thing(tm)? All you get when you cut out cultural refs and things considered bad for kids (like what's-his-name-y'know-that-evil-guy's "sex change" in Sailor Moon to not show homosexuality and DBZ's glasses of cold brown water (with a head of foam, no less) to not promote drinking) is either confusing crap or yet another American cartoon.

    DiC did make one small step in the right direction -- they did produce "uncut" episodes of DBZ for their video releases (as well as subbed versions to get over the lousy voice acting =). I wish other groups (like whoever produces Sailor Moon on tape or Viz) to produce subbed, uncut videos, but (to be honest) that would be cutting into their production budgets.

    I'm still hoping for the rumor about Cartoon Network starting up an anime channel to be true, though...... =)

    (Sorry if this doesn't make sense -- I'm sick. =)


    - HX!

  • by KH ( 28388 ) on Wednesday April 12, 2000 @04:34PM (#1136619)
    It takes some time for me to realize that Star Blazers is the anime I loved, Uchu Senkan Yamato, when I was 11 years old. It was in year 1975, and the show was the reason why I wake up before 11 on Sunday morinings. (My local station showed it on Sunday mornings.) I think that was the show that made ``anime'' mainstream in Japan.

    But I never have seen Star Blazers. According to this [the-nest.com], the show was made suited for American audience. Seems quite different.

    After growing up, I had chances to see Uchu Senkan Yamato couple of times. I realized that there were so many right-wing things going on in the show. Some points were embarassingly nationalistic. Maybe that was the Japanese mentality in those days. And modifying the show may be justifiable.

    However, the whole point of Yamato was that they used WWII battleship, which was already obsolete at the time it was born (ironically the Japanese made it clear that the time was not for battleships but for airplanes), but still the biggest and perhaps the most beautiful, as a spaceship. Many Japanese see the battleship as a tragedic ship. It was used for a Kamikaze attack. The ship being revived to save the earth naturally had quite a power to attract Japanese audience. The ship being named Yamato was a crucial point of the story.

    It also seems that Star Blazers was tamed for younger audience. The original show was not meant for kids at least, it just seems that creators of the show created what they wanted to create, not thinking of marketing or anything. In fact, IIRC, the show was cancelled or shortened by commercial pressure. (But the popularity exploded after the show was over, and they made sequels, movies, etc.) But because of this show, and people realizing that creating good story in anime can be successful, anime in Japan completely changed.

    So, if you could have a chance, I'd recommend to see the original. (Is dubbed or subtitled version available in the U.S.?)
  • they should put it on right after DBZ, although screaming "IT"S A GUNDAM!" and killing everything is really fun on Q3A. I actually wrote a paper in college comparing Japanese and American cultures using Robotech and G.I.Joe. I wonder if it still exists....

    --
  • I'm psyched to see this whole series. I'm having flashbacks about being glued to the screen as a young'un.

    I for one, am VERY happy to see stuff like this on the 'Net, it's one of the things it's really good for. Here's to more old TV on the Net! For FREE! (beer). Sit back relax, have a beer or two, and click on a banner when you leave. The Net as it should be.

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  • the cartoon network is fun, but I think the Anime Network would have better ratings ('cause I'd rather watch it)

    American animation has WAAYYY!!!!! too much Disney influence, from the style to the content, old Walt's got his grubby little fingerprints all over it. Personally I think he was a pedophile, but that's just from seeing film of him, interviews with him, and his life's work.


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  • from their "News" page.

    9/10/1999 - Animanga Community 'Star Blazers on the Internet'

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  • Just point yer browser at
    http://www.studionext.com/features/Starblazers/Wee k1/download/ [studionext.com]
    http://www.studionext.com/features/Starblazers/Wee k2/download/ [studionext.com]
    http://www.studionext.com/features/Starblazers/Wee k3/download/ [studionext.com]
    and so on and you'll be able to Save Link As... to your heart's content.
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  • Did you see the live-action version of this? It got canceled, but it was the one where the earth will be pretty much dead withing a small number of years unless our heroes leave in an alien-tech ship and find the solution. They have only their skills and a really big gun front-mounted in the nose of the ship that they can only fire in the most dire situations.

    Oh sorry, that was Crusade ;-)

    C'mon, Galen; tell them that we're looking for Trillana!

  • It takes some time for me to realize that Star Blazers is the anime I loved, Uchu Senkan Yamato, when I was 11 years old. It was in year 1975, and the show was the reason why I wake up before 11 on Sunday morinings. (My local station showed it on Sunday mornings.) I think that was the show that made ``anime'' mainstream in Japan.


    I was just thinking the same thing about "Uchuu Senkan Yamato." I was born in Japan and came over here in 1976, so the animated series (as well as the original manga books) remain in my mind. I can still hear the blaring, "UCHUU SENKAN, YA-- MA-- TOH!" part of the song. Flashbacks...



    I may have to check out the "Americanized" version on the web now...

  • I remember watching Star Blazers religiously after school when it first came on TV. I was about eight years old. Then we moved out to the sticks where cable wasn't available and I couldn't get the station in that it was on. For a couple days I sat there trying to make out what was going on through the static. I was actually pretty heart-broken.

    I eventually forgot about it until I was about 21 and met a woman that had it on video. The only problem was that when I went over to her place to see it she kept pushing her hentai collection on me--which might not have been a problem if she wasn't a nasty ex-biker chick and about 15 years older than me.

    Maybe at last I can finally see how it turned out--I'll have to remember to check it out when the site is no longer slashdotted.

    numb
  • by emufreak ( 83564 ) on Wednesday April 12, 2000 @03:36PM (#1136660) Homepage
    Yeah, Sailor Moon couldn't have been screwed up more for American audiences than it was. Congrats (sarcasm noted) to DiC[k] for totally ruining the show. :/ Urusei Yatsura r0x my s0x.
  • I was actually surprised when I heard Serial Experiments Lain mentioned on Geeks in Space. Lain is a great anime, though I've heard that watching it is like being on an acid trip. ^_^

    But while we're getting a lot of overexposure from Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon and even (shudders) Gundam Wing on Cartoon Network, it seems that the average geek in North America is missing out on some better anime that Japan has to offer.

    For example, I'm not quite sure if everyone here has heard of Cowboy Bebop. A must see series for a Japanese Animation fan, especially those into action.

    And if you're a hard core fan of Japanese Animation, you can't miss out on Nadesico, which is a pretty much a parody of EVERYTHING, including those cheezily animated 70's giant robot anime. Yet it has a plot to call its own. I think it was declared by some to be the "Best Anime Ever." I'd agree with this. Of course, if you are a real hard core fan, you've probably already seen this one.

  • Woohoo! Another Slayers fan. Unlike Lodoss, it isn't based on Someone's AD&D campaign world, it is based on the novels by the same name (available in Japan only). I wouldn't reccomend it to the average Slashdotter though.

    And yes, Lost Universe IS Slayers in Space.

    Ah, BGC. I think I'm the only person on the planet who actually likes the new version better. ^_^

    And I avoid any and all dubs, personally. It's just ... wrong.


  • The Beast Wars and Machines are produced by Mainframe Entertainment [mainframe.ca] of Vancouver. They also create 'War Planets/Shadow Raiders [mainframe.ca]', and did (and will do more) Reboot [mainframe.ca].

    *All* of their CGI is top notch. If you watch Reboot from it's first season through to it's third, which spans the real world years from the fall of 1994 to the summer of 1999, you can see the effect of increasing hardware speeds and experience in the quality of the CGI.

    Starship Troopers is the *only* other TV CGI which I've seen that approaches the quality that Mainframe turns out. You say it's done by Foundation Imaging [foundation-i.com]? Hmmm, a quick look at their website doesn't clearly indicate to me what other series they currently have under production. Can anyone familiar with the company tell us what other shows (with good CGI and storylines) they are making, other than the Starship Troopers stuff?

    Finally, are there any other CGI houses out there doing work of the quality of Mainframe and Foundation?

    -NH


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  • Let's not forget The Iron Giant, one of the best animated features in ages, American or Japanese. WB totally screwed up its marketing when it was in theaters and made it out to be a fairly lame kids movie. It actually had more acclaim from film critics than American Beauty but was entirely overlooked because of the lousy marketing and the American bias against (non-Disney) animation as a legitimate art form. For those of you that haven't seen it, Iron Giant is packed with humor, action, surprisingly good voice acting, great integration of CG with traditional cel animation, a solid plot, believable characters, a lot of heart, and (my personal favorite) NO SINGING. I'd put it in the same league with the films of Miyazaki and Takahata (and if you're not familiar with their work, there's another great place to explore). So pop down to your favorite rental place and check it out -- it's definitely well worth your $2/90 minutes.
  • If you liked robotech (Which was a basterdization of three seasons of macross) try macross plus.

    Macross plus takes place long after minmei and the robotech saga takes place, but it still specializes in the Macross subtext of music (besides the big robots.) With yoko kanno doing the music, your ears are in for a particluar treat.. Not only that, the visuals are incredible and the story line is nothing short of amazing. Not even mentioning the references to HAL.

    Goto anime on dvd [animeondvd.com]

    Oh yeah, shameless plug for the anime mag i write for, at anime [atanime.com]
  • Here are a few sites that are still keeping the love alive.

    Battle Of the Planets Universe [impacthosting.com]

    Absolute Anime/Battle of the Planets [tripod.com]

    Battle of the Planets [pearl-jam.com]

    Sadly it doesn't look like the show will ever come back. There are a few copies on sale at Amazon's Auctions [amazon.com] though. :(

  • Why do they think I should have to download 50+MB every time I want to see an episode?
    If you are giving it away free, why not just give it instead of dangling it in front of my bandwidth challenged face?
    At first I was ecstatic, now I'm just pissed...
    It's becoming more prevalent on the web. More and more sites are using Apple's Quicktime "feature" to make sure the user can't save a movie to disk for *gasp* another view.
    I should of have realized it was coming when Quicktime came out with that braindead installation, forcing you to re-download the thing every time (I got around that, though).
    And what does it give them except for excessive network traffic? They are giving it away for FREE for crying out loud.
    Talk about clueless management...
  • Lain is a great anime, though I've heard that watching it is like being on an acid trip. ^_^

    Sigh. You shouldn't talk about places you've never been to. That's what they do in Russia.

    Seriously though, in my experience, the only people who ever say stuff like this are:

    1) People who have never been on acid.
    2) People who are always on acid.

    Please don't take this as a flame, but it just kinda strikes me as the "It tastes like chicken" crap. Whenever someone said this to me, it's always been disgusting, and not in the least bit like chicken. The only thing that tastes like chicken is chicken. The only thing like a trip is a trip.

  • In the last year, new versions of many old toons from that era have shown their faces. Some have been good - I point to the decent cgi Beast Wars and its magnificent sequel Beast Machines, which take off from a distant future (cast into the past) of the classic American version of Transformers - but most have been abysmal. G.I. Joe extreme was a joke, extreme Ghostbusters was lackluster, the cgi Voltron 3D is even flatter than the original, and seems to employ the same story and dialog writers, and I'm just relieved that the Robotech 2100 project that was being floated never got off the ground.

    The only kind of cartoons that seem to be showing up these days are really crude brainchildren of Ren and Stimpy, cgi based shows, and superhero cartoons. And "generation 2" versions of classics. Of the above, some are rather good... the short bits on Cartoon Network can be rather witty, and of the cgis, the above mentioned TF derivative and the movie-and-book hybrid Starship Troopers are rather well done and, frankly, artisticly beautiful... and WB's Batman shows are actually very good... but for the most part, the "revival" category bites. I liked Star Blazers, but I have this horrifying vision of it in bad cgi with worse writing.

"I think trash is the most important manifestation of culture we have in my lifetime." - Johnny Legend

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