An Extensive History of Anime 235
Ninja Master Gara writes "While it is a bit dated, Right Stuf has a fascinating set of in depth history of anime in Japan and the west and follows the development of both cultures, including landmark series from the 60s, the 70s, the 80s and beyond, the origins of today's major anime release companies, and commentary on various aspects of the industry and culture. While it is labelled an 'Introduction to Anime', it serves as a much more interesting look back for long time anime fans. Right Stuf also has a great timeline of important releases."
Re:This just in... (Score:4, Interesting)
Why is The Jerry Springer Show so popular? Why is "Marry a Fake Millionaire" so popular? It's because the distributors decide that they can make the most money by appealing to the lowest common denominator.
Fortunately, shows like Evangelion and movies like Spirited Away come along and prove to the media Powers That Be that the "unwashed masses" actually have some appreciation for quality works.
BTW - anime fans, brace yourselves for lots of lame posts about tentacle rape and pedophilia. Articles on this topic seem to bring out lots of trolls.
Funny you should mention that... (Score:3, Interesting)
"Hey baby, why don't you come over and watch some
bebop with me"
works a lot better than the old monteray jack
chicken quesadilla gambit taco bell seems to think
you should try based on their recent commercial.
Cartoon Biography, not such a bad idea (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd like to see anime biographies, myself. My life story should be told the way it should have gone down - with ninjas, giant robots and pink haired bisexual schoolgirls.
As the production costs for cartoons continue to go down, and as the aggragate disposable income of the human race continues to rise (assuming it isn't squandered in senseless war, of course) I think you'll see real expansion of the medium. I'd like to see more educational/historical work, along the lines of the Cartoon History of the Universe and it's ilk, in animated form.
I'm a firm believer that educational material should be "targeted" at adults. Nothing then stops children from watching it. This is why the Cartoon History of the Universe is good (was good when I was a kid,) and all this supposedly-history-teaching crap they show on TV recently has been such crap (Hysteria, I think it is called, is sub-dreadful.)
It's not an inherent limitation of the form. TV is plenty childish without extra effort put in to dumb it down.
the problem (Score:4, Interesting)
with 50++ NEW anime series a year, and a dozen new
movies and OVAs, who can either afford the time or
money to watch it all. Too bad, cause half of it is
usually better than most stuff on (american) cable
tv and hollywood.
why anime is so good? Well, for me, half the fun is
to admire the animation. Granted, anime is often
choppy and no that full of motion, but even simple
drawings can amaze me, in that I think it is fantastic
that we humans can draw that well. Other thing is that
if you watch something barely decent over a period of
8-9 hours, you'll end up loving it whether it's mediocre
or not, as it really grows on you in the end (also because
in anime, there's usually a storyline). Actually, anime
are often remarkable for their storyline, IMO, and that
only seems logical. Let's face it, there's often very little
ot none motion in a typical tv anime, so the only thing that's left is a good story and good characters. So I always like to say anime is a storytelling medium.
Other aspects of anime I like is the cultural difference. Japan is far less americanized than most modern countries I know of, and has an unique mixture of old and new that makes it all that more interesting. I also like the language.. don't understand much =D, but the language often sounds sort of poetic to me. And that's not only something I'm imagining I think, as I already speak 3 different languages fluently (although they're all indo-european languages, so what would I know =D).
Re:Most important though.. (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Why is anime so great? (Score:3, Interesting)
That is preciesly why I watch it, it's not really compariable to mainstream. Nor is anime trying to be western/american mainstream (anime is mainstream in japan, so I am assuming this is written from a more western point of view), that niche is already filled well and the Japanese will most likely not fill the western mainstream niche well anyway.
I don't watch Anime for "big eyes, poor dubbing or sleep (snot?) bubbles", I watch it becuase I find the stories incredibly entertaining, different, and humorous. I enjoy a look at the different culture shown in the shows.
This is like saying "little shop of horrors" or "the rocky horror picture show" are worthless. Both are liked well (though I personally can not stand either one) because they are not mainstream stories. They still have merit if you like that type of story.
So you don't like anime, don't watch it. I don't mean that in a smart ass way, I greatly dislike most mainstream media, it's too commercial, so I don't watch it. Like any genre some will not "get" it, you don't have too - it is perfectly acceptable to simply not like that style of story telling (as I have never seen a musical that I like - I can not stand to watch one - many love them). I personally have been more emotionally/intellectually/sexually stimulated by the advertising copy on the back of a box of breakfast cereal than I have by most things in mainstream media.