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Anime

Anime Unleashed on TechTV 172

Posted by michael from the put-the-leash-back-on dept.
da3dAlus writes "Beginning December 30, the first series of a new anime block will start on TechTV's new "Anime Unleashed" program. As billed by TechTV, "Anime Unleashed focuses on the science-fiction elements of anime--titles that imagine what our near or far future will be like, investigate the relationship between humans and machines, dream of what alien civilizations could be like, and more." The block will premiere with single half-hour episodes airing Monday through Thursday at 1am EST, followed by a two-hour block of anime on Friday from 11pm to 2am EST. Some of the series slated to be shown include Crest of the Stars, Serial Experiment Lain, Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure, Betterman, and Silent Mobius. Additionally, a contest is being held until the first of January 2003 by TechTV to create a new logo for the program."
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Anime Unleashed on TechTV More

Anime Unleashed on TechTV

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  • Lain (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Andorion ( 526481 ) on Thursday December 26, 2002 @04:26AM (#4959643)
    "Serial Experiment Lain"

    One of the strangest series I've ever seen... It doesn't seem like something American audiences would like at ALL (lots of slow, moody scenes, lots of 'wtf is going on') but I'm glad TechTV is brave enough to carry it =)

    -Berj

    • Re:Lain (Score:2, Interesting)

      by spice_mauve ( 547980 )
      Yeah, the series was strange, it was slow-moving in the beginning, but it makes you think about how we are all judged by the memories ppl have about you.
  • "Anime Unleashed focuses on the science-fiction elements of anime--titles that imagine what our near or far future will be like, investigate the relationship between humans and machines, dream of what alien civilizations could be like, and more."

    Doesn't that cover a large majority of all anime out there? =)

    -Berj

    • Re:by definition... (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Actually, it doesn't. I watch about 40+ shows a year, and have no specific genre that i love, and i can guarantee you that most of anime is indeed not sci-fi.. some of the shows i'm currently watching that are NOT sci-fi:

      noir
      witch hunter robin
      hikaru no go
      demon eyes kyo
      kare kano
      naruto
      fruits basket
      rurouni kenshin
      el hazard
      chobits

      there's more but i can't be bothered to come up with all at the moment.. yeah so there's lots of fantasy there.. =p

      Of course, there's some sci-fi too that i'm currently watching, like:
      dot hack slash sign
      nadesico
      scryed
      outlaw star
      ghost in the shell standalone complex
      rahxephon
      turn a gundam

      yeah so i watch a lot of shows at once, but then again sometimes i can take months with just ONE series hehe

      • Re:by definition... (Score:2, Interesting)

        by bryanp ( 160522 )
        You don't think that Chobits and El Hazard are SF? Chobits with androids available for public purchase in streetcorner windows? El Hazard with "Priestesses" who get their powers from ancient hi-tech that has been inherited? Or a "villain" who is just powerful ancient tech herself?

        Okay, okay. So they're powerful sexy androids. :) This is anime after all.

        Now the true f'ed up thing is me. I'm watching Chobits and I'm supposed to be wanting a Chii, right? No. I want a little Sumomo. The first time I saw her I thought "Damn but she'd make pulling cable through ceilings easy." I had a mental image of Sumomo with a miners helmet and a flashlight pulling fiber through ceilings and conduits. :)

    • "cute anthropomorphic animals"

      "ninjas vs. vampires"

      "chicks with guns" (my personal fave)

  • Why? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by K8Fan ( 37875 ) on Thursday December 26, 2002 @04:31AM (#4959656) Journal

    TechTV keeps getting further and further away from it's roots. "Thunderbirds" and now anime? What's next? A TV movie? What's wrong with being the TV network about computers and technology?

    • Honestly... do you have to ask? You know as well as I do - it doesn't sell. There's a limited audience for what TechTV was originally supposed to be. It might not seem that way if you hang out with other techies, but it's true.

      -Berj

    • Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Bios_Hakr ( 68586 )
      Remember way back in the day, when Discovery and TLC used to be all about cool shit. Remember Connections? It was 'turn on the TV and learn about the mysteries of the universe'. Now it is 'turn on the TV and watch cops chase a criminal in a homemade vehicle while some lady with bad teeth gets liposuction and her house is redecorated'.

      The problem is that Connections doesn't sell anymore. And you have to be willing to put up with a weeks worth of 'On the Inside' US military propaganda in order to see the one cool show you want to see. Whatever they need to do to stay in buisness is OK with me.

      The only thing I watch on TechTV is 'The Screensavers'. Well, that's not true, I also watch 'Extended Play' and some kinda musical show. I could give two shits what else they play. If they need to play reruns of 'While you were Out', so be it. So long as I still get the shows I like.

      • I all but stopped watching The Screen Savers when Kate left. No just because she left either, it really went downhill from there...

      • Remember way back in the day, when Discovery and TLC used to be all about cool shit. Remember Connections?

        Boy howdy. You know what trumps Discovery and TLC now? George Mason University classes. No fooling. Some of the professors rock. I've had good reviews of stuff I learned in physics, calculus, and even economics. It's a little slow, but it's truly educational and along with the stuff that has "production value" like physics demos and slick charts/graphs you get real education.

        One of the other channels I randomly surf too was running a course where you learn French just by watching videos with very little English in them. I'm not interested in this enough to actually tune in, but when I've stumbled accross it I've found myself wanting maybe to brush up on my French (4 years in highschool, long enough ago to have forgotten most of it).

        Then of course there is the ARTS channel, which shows excerpts of symphonies, ballets, etc. It's almost like teasers for the classical music business, which needs all the help it can get. Honestly; orchestras really are strapped for cash. If you napster that stuff you should be shot then drawn and quartered.

        Anyhow, the point is, high culture and truly educational material really can be found on cable, just not all on one channel, and not as a hugely successful commercial business.

        Now let's go build some robots and smash them to see if the Brits or the Americans will win a contest. It's educational. :)

    • TechTV runs their own live shows over and over and over already, and fills in the rest with content from british television, like techno games, tomorrow's world, titans of tech, the tech of.., thunderbirds, etc... all these are from british television. I don't know what ties techtv has, but the content is more boring and annoying than anything else, IMHO. I can only assume techtv is getting bargain deals on rights to broadcast these shows, probably because no one else wants them.

    • Seeing as SciFi has decided to become the "schlock horror flick of the week" channel, someone has to pick up the slack. It's good to see TechTV doing something other than running the same half hour show (e.g. Extended Play) 3-4 times per day.

      Besides, how many techs are into anime? How many "regular" people are into anime? So TechTV is catering to a significant segment of their audience, while other stations would be catering to the fringes to try the same thing.

    • Have you tuned it in lately? An awful lot of crime fiction there now.

      The market for such specialized channels simply doesn't exist, even on cable, in a manner that allows them to keep the bills payed. Sad, but true.

      I'd rather they tried to save their collective butts by showing cartoons than 4 hour commercials for the Thighmaster.

      KFG
    • MTV used to show music? It got so bad that they had to launch M2 (now called MTV2) in order to show music again.

      VH1's tagline was always "Music First",pretty soon they're going to have to launch VH2...
      • And *NOW* they're running shows on MTV2, too! It's painful. And I think they just spun off a couple other channels, too. MTV and VH1 (also: VH1 Classic) are both owned by Viacom. It shows, huh.
    • TechTV is showing up on FC [fuckedcompany.com] every couple of months, laying off a few more here and there... when they were launched, they probably budgeted for the crazy dot-com advertising dollars, which would allow them to create (expensive) live programming all the time. Now that's gone, there's a clear move towards cheaper programming, only keeping in production the shows that deliver ratings or advertiser interest ("Extended Play" good, John C. Dvorak bad).

      So why would anime be cheap? There's so much of it out there, that I suspect the US companies making VHS and DVD home video releases are willing to license it pretty cheap for TV in hopes of getting enough exposure that they can cut through the clutter and sell more $25 discs. Series that have run on Cartoon Network (Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, etc.) have had pretty nice sales.

      realinvalidname

    • Its roots? Whats that, taking /. and fark links and regurgitating them, all the while making us endure bad puns and horrible graphics and a total lack of production values?

      Sorry. I can't stand TechTV, especially the Screen Savers. Max Headroom is good stuff though, there's something they can't fuck up too bad.
    • TechTV keeps getting further and further away from it's roots. "Thunderbirds" and now anime?

      I agree completely.

      I'm still waiting for the old G-Force cartoons(known as gatchamon in Japan). Noone has them on Kazaa, they are so hard to find. But they were hands down my favorite show when I was young. Really wish I could see it again...
  • I'm glad to see we're having an animeated discussion.
  • and Friday, at 2 AM EST is the Hentai hour. Featuring the best bondage, tenticles and perversion japan has to offer. ...please?

  • 2 hours? (Score:3, Funny)

    by nateb ( 59324 ) on Thursday December 26, 2002 @04:36AM (#4959668)
    two-hour block of anime on Friday from 11pm to 2am EST

    so that's 11pm cst to 2am est?

    • two-hour block of anime on Friday from 11pm to 2am EST

      so that's 11pm cst to 2am est?

      Maybe Daylight Savings Time hits in the middle?

    • I count 3 hours there, but it is a dirrect quote from TechTV. You would expect /. to make the error but TechTV?
  • I bet Tech TV Canada will stick to it's usual shit of running crappy Canadian shows and Screensavers re-runs.

    We don't even get Max Headroom up here, which is fucking stupid given I think Max Headroom was ostensibly a Canadian production...
    • Actually TechTV Canada is currently fighting to get the rights to these anime series, if you would like to help check out this [animenewsnetwork.com] ANN article.

      • It'll never happen. Anime doesn't meet Canadian Content regs. Even if it did, you'd get the Quebecois crying that there isn't a french translation.

      • Re:Yeah, Sure... (Score:4, Informative)

        by LostCluster ( 625375 ) on Thursday December 26, 2002 @12:24PM (#4960608)
        In Canada, cable networks must get a license from the CRTC in order to operate, and those licenses must be specific in describing the format of the network.

        TechTV Canada asked for a license based on the TechTV of 2001, which was entirely a news and infomation channel. Therefore, they declared that TechTV Canada would be entirely nonfiction programming, mainly drawing on the TechTV content from the USA, with a few additonal Canadian-made shows to satisfy the CanCon rules.

        Therefore, when TechTV USA realized that the all-day TechLive format wasn't going to survive, the flagship network could change directions without having to ask for permission. Canada couldn't, so they're stuck replaying what nonfiction the USA group is producing over and over again to fill their day.

        In order for Thunderbirds, Max Headroom, or Anime Unleashed to make it to Canada, they need to clear that regulartory hurdle first.
        • Are you sure about that? The CRTC also requires that a certain percentage of the content is Canadian. The time slots where the thunderbirds and max headroom are supposed to be are filled with Canadian made shows like NextTV and shiftTV. Programs like eyedrops and that robot one aren't really news like and they do get aired on techtv canada.
          • The requirement isn't "news" but "non-fiction". Any purely fictional show is straight-out no matter what its origin.

            Eye Drops always contains one profile of an artist who designs the animation that is seen in the show, therefore barely salvaging a "non-fiction" claim. TechnoGames is a made-for-TV competition, but it's not fictional at all so that works too.

            I think TechTV Canada's requirement is at 20% CanCon right now, increasing 10% each year so that in its 5th year of operation they'll need to be at 50%.
            • I guess I'll be dumping Tech TV Canada then. I thought 35% was the highest CanCon went? Fucking stupid system. Wouldn't be so bad if the CRTC mandated it had to be A) DECENT, and B) not the same show repeated 50 fucking times!
    • Uh, no. Max Headroom was originally produced for British TV, either by BBC or Channel 4. The stateside version may have done production in Canada for financial reasons, though.

  • Language (Score:3, Insightful)

    by __aafkqj3628 ( 596165 ) on Thursday December 26, 2002 @04:47AM (#4959675)
    I'm assuming that it's all English dubbed anime, bad, very bad.
    • Actually, Dual was pretty bad no matter what language you watch it in.
      • Actually, Dual was pretty bad no matter what language you watch it in.

        Actually, I didn't think it was *that* bad, if you take it as a pseudo-satire of Eva...Eva-Lite, if you will.

        Of course, the ending completely sucked, but then again, so did the ending to .hack//Sign...
    • Anything that makes anime just that more mainstream can only be good for hardcore anime fans. Anything that makes the market grow means more anime, faster, for less, whether it's subbed or dubbed. I doubt we'll see subtitled anime on TV in the near future, but developing the market can only be a good thing.

      My vision is set on the $15 Anime DVD that sell hundreds of thousands if not millions of copies. Maybe I'll even still be alive to see it.

    • I'm assuming that it's all English dubbed anime, bad, very bad.
      Yes, except that all English dubbed anime is not bad,

      Yes, there are some bad examples, but there are also examples of excellent dubbing.

      Oh damn, I just entered a sub vs. dub debate. Yech.

    • Re:Language (Score:1, Troll)

      by freeweed ( 309734 )
      If you prefer, we could always dub it in Klingon.
      • or here's a novel idea.....have it dubbed in JAPANESE!! I still prefer raw vs even subbed. Hell, they can put subs into the closed captioning.

  • It's good thing... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by acehole ( 174372 ) on Thursday December 26, 2002 @04:48AM (#4959677) Homepage
    it's good they're bringing anime to the masses that want to watch it for the artistic and entertainment vaule.

    One thing that really really really gets up my nose is the uneducated trolls (to put it nicely) that whine about how Japanese Anime is nothing more than tentacle rape and hentai with gracious panty shots and fanservice inbetween.

    Now for each example you'd be giving me of such things, I could come up with at least 20 or more mainstream anime that contains none of that.

    It's better than the unoriginal crap that disney puts out. It's also done for entertainment with a twist on artistic value, not just an excuse to churn out merchandise.

    • Does anyone really think this way anymore? Hell, look at the vast amounts of prime time anime on Cartoon Network, whose 'Adult Swim' block has done wonders for anime fandom stateside. And lets not forget to mention the seemingly endless pile of crap-anime that they market to kids. Honestly, I'm more worried about people thinking all anime is as mindless as yugi-oh or dbz...
      • I have a few friends that refise to believe anime is anything other than hentai stuff...sad, but true. Their first exposure was Urotsukidoji (aka: Overfiend), and I guess it scarred them for life.

        As for the kids-crap anime...a lot of it isn't as bad as it looks on american tv. My fiancee and I kind-of got into Yugioh, mostly laughing at the "seriousness" of it all (We used to be heavily into the Magic card game, back when it was popular - we knew people who took the game as seriously as that show...and we laughed at them too ;P ). Then we decided to order some cheap subbed versions on Ebay...HUGE difference (if you can get around the sometimes-amusing "engrish" subbing job).

        Evidently japanese children can understand such concepts as "mystery" and "that will be explained later" - whilst american kids get the "everything laid out" version, with extra "special effects" added in to fill the time cut out by removing any halfway-intelligent scene. Sure, the first season is all about selling cards. Lots of cards. The later seasons start to get rather odd, though...and some of the episodes are quite enjoyable in japanese.

        DBZ, though, is completely mindless action. I'll agree there =)
    • What are some examples of anime that don't give fanservice? (not counting kids anime, ie pokemon, etc)

      I'm just thinking of my favorite series...Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Kenshin, Love Hina ;)

      Of those the least fan service would be Kenshin (pretty rare), but all the others are full of it :)

      I have to take issue that disney is crap too.

      and if you think they don't churn out the merchandise, you'd be wise to check out sites that do japanese imports, or go to an anime store in the states even (there are a couple near me, not a big metropolis) and see the commercialized crap--it's worse in japan too from what I understand.

      • Re:It's good thing... (Score:3, Informative)

        by Golias ( 176380 )
        Fan service on Trigun??? The only two regular female characters are always wearing heavy dusters over loose clothing.

        Cowboy Bebop is also not terribly gratuitous. Yes, Fay Valentine dresses and acts kind of slutty when she is working her cons, but that's just following the "lovely pickpocket" that goes back to Lauren Bacall in "To Have or Have Not." It serves the story, not just young perverts looking for cartoon T&A.

        • Right good point, I wasn't thinking much of Trigun when I wrote my message.

          That's the thing that gets me about a lot of anime though. Yes, Cowboy Bebop has great art, good storyline (honestly, I liked it while watching it, but now don't like much at all--didn't age well for me), GREAT music, yet it's got Faye too who imho is all about the T&A. And tell all the people who have Faye wallscrolls etc that it's not about the T&A ;) (myself included)
      • Heh, Japan is even more commericalized than America is, honestly. It's almost silly how much goodies I got with a Limited Edition R2 I bought a few months ago..

        * superjaded looks at his smallish stack of anime OSTs/singles and hides his drool from a Boogiepop Phantom artbook he's been eying..

        Nope, I never fall victim to the Japanese market machine. :/

        But as far as fanservice goes, it really just depends what you consider fanservice.. or what you consider kiddy...

        Here's some stuff off the top of my head:

        Saishuuheiki Kanojo (yes.. I know it has some eh, risque scenes but they're done in such a way that I'd be afraid if anyone "got off" on these scenes :/ hardly a service to the fans)
        Grave of the Fireflies
        Princess Mononoke
        Mimi wo Sumeseba
        Azumanga Daioh
        Haibane Renmei
        NieA_7
        Serial Experiments Lain
        Boogiepop Phantom
        Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou
        Hana Yori Dango
        Juuni Kokki
        Crest of the Stars (Seikai no Senki I/II/Seikai no Danshou)
        Blue Sub 6 .hack (Sign/Liminality)
        Inuyasha
        Kaze no Yojimbo
        To Heart
        Kanon
        Comic Party
        Cardcaptor Sakura
        Full Moon wo Sagashite (these two are probably stretching it from the "kiddy" angle..)
        sCRYed
        Witch Hunter Robin (I've not seen all of it.. but I don't remember any fanservice)
        Shaman King
        Star Ocean EX
        RahXephon (that I remember)
        Sentou Yosei Yukikaze
        i - wish you were here
        Whistle!
        Initial D (atleast I hope to god there's no fanservice in here -- butt ugly character designs)
        Spiral
        Piano
        Ah! My Goddess: The Movie (don't remember if there was any in the OAV, but if there was, not much)
        Escaflowne
        Boys Be..
        Fruits Basket
        You're Under Arrest
        Laputa: Castle in the Sky
        Kaze no Tani no Naushika
        Getbackers (That I've seen)
        Kanojo to Kanojo no neko
        X (no fanservice for guys, anyway ;))
        • I haven't seen a lot of those series but one thing in my mind--I consider most of the Miyazaki works childrens. I also seem to be about the only person who didn't like Mononoke :)

          As for some of those, like Kanon, I believe it was a bit racier in manga form.

          You do a good list, though MOST of what you listed is not exactly what I would call mainstream (outside of jpn at least).

          Another thing that strikes me (on an unrelated tangent), is that a lot of people seem to think that anime like DBZ, Pokemon, etc are driven solely be American idiots. But otoh, these series (some of them at least) have 100's of episodes and afaik are in Japanese first always--so they've got to be popular in japan too, not like all the anime that shows there is pure and good. It bothers me when there are people woh claim to like anything that is anime. That's like saying I like any American cartoon. Cowboy Bebop and Kanon are nothing alike--and neither of them are like Castle of Cagliostro. A lot of the people who claim to like all anime, imho, need to get over their japanese obession and realize that they just want to be counter-culture (less so today) or in with whatever group thinks anime is cool today (not saying this is you at all).

          Another side note, what's your opinion of the artwork in Lain? I couldn't watch a single episode because I HATED the artwork. Really bothered me (I hated FLCL too).

          thanks sorry for rambling :p
          • Heh, I love Lain's artwork -- I wouldn't have a wallscroll hanging on my wall from it otherwise. :)

            yoshitoshi ABe (responsible for atleast the designs/manga for Lain, Niea Under 7, and Haibane Renmei) is probably my favorite Japanese/anime artists.. rivaled only by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.. who does the designs for GAINAX studios, responsible for such things as Neon Genesis Evangelion and FLCL..

            Although, what do you mean by "artwork," exactly? Did you not like how the characters were styled, or did you find the animation less than stellar? I would admit that from what I remember, I don't think Lain had that great animation..

            And like someone else said, Kanon was originally a dating sim turned into an anime. I'm not sure whether it's a hentai (pornographic) game, but yeah.. I'm sure its original form is a lot more racy than the anime, but that was a list of anime.. not games. ;) To Heart and Comic Party were also based on hentai games, but were made in such a way that you'd only know they were based on hentai is if you did the research yourself.
            • I don't know what it is, but the style of the people--specifically the way their faces looked in both FLCL and Lain really bothered me. I really don't know why--I do tend to like a more cartoony style I guess--Mahoromatic's style I enjoyed a lot, Love Hina of course ;) and Eva was good too. Cowboy Bebop I definitely appreciate, but it's not something I particularly like stylistically.

              cheers
          • I was kind of put off by the way Lain was drawn in the first few episodes, but I kind of grew to like it. It wasn't an anime like Noir where the art jumps out at you and shouts PRETTY! but then I didn't think it was ugly, either. There's something about the way the characters are drawn that just feels a little off if you aren't expecting it, perhaps. What was it about the art that you didn't like?

            The other thing about Lain, as one of my friends put it, is that "it tends to do something to people's brains that rhymes with sucks but starts with an F." Lain really plays with your mind... and it's entirely legal, too. =^_^=
            • I can't 100% put my finger on what I didn't like or why, but I think it was the way faces are drawn. Really bothers me. I know that bothered me in FLCL.

      • Evangelion gives fanservice? More like a donkey punch followed by a boot to the head. Sure, there's implied nudity (like when we meet Asuka), but it's always followed by something depressing or violent. Not a lot of fun.

        Now, if you want anime without excessive, or even any fan-service, it does exist:

        • Gasaraki: Military intrigue mixed with bullshit science and japanese legends.
        • Inu-Yaasha: didn't see the whole thing, but it seems more concerned with doing a coming-of-age story with a mythological backdrop.
        • Escaflowne: shoujou-mech crossover
        • Excel Saga: Depends on the episode, as each episode parodies a different subgenre of manga.
        • Kare Kano (aka his & Her Circumstance): (Each episode begins with a message about proper viewing habits) romantic comedy. more sappy than anything else.
        • (just for fun) Geobreeders: They're cats, so it doesn't count.

        and if you think they don't churn out the merchandise, you'd be wise to check out sites that do japanese imports.

        Sturgeons law: 90% of anything is crap. Yes, there's a great big pile of stuff that's utter garbage. There's also a smaller pile of stuff (like Seraphim Call) that's got a marginal audience. There's also a lot of really good stuff. About half of the stuff I like comes from Gainax.

    • broken home syndrome. Has anyone else noticed that EVERY disney movie the central character comes from a broken home? I haven't found one that doesn't. Even the latest offering, Treasure Planet, is another broken home. Family values my ass!
      • I've noticed that as well. As I was watching "Lilo and Stitch" in the theater a few months ago, I found myself asking "holy shit, is there even one Disney animation director who grew up with both of their biological parents!?"

        And these are the same people who kick gays out of their theme parks.

        (By the way, where is the logic there? I would think that Disney World could pretty much be a gay Mecca. The whole place looks like what the world would be like if it were run by gay drag queens... and furries, too, I guess.)

        I think the One Guardian rule is not so much a result of Disney's social agenda, as it is part of the formula... and Disney never strays from the formula (until they give up on a project, as with The Emporer's New Groove). The One Guardian is just another manditory tool, like the Funny Undersized Sidekick. Disney Cartoons are like Bond movies. You pretty much know what to expect. In fact, I would argue that Bond movies are slightly less predictable than Disney cartoons. Every now and again, there's a Bond movie without a ski chace.

    • ...in many stores! What sells? SEX! Especially when it's pimply-faced otaku who can't buy real porn... one day at Tower Records I saw a kid getting the Legend of the Overfiend laserdisc box set, being purchased by his mom, who had absolutely no clue what it was (other than being a "cartoon"!)

      Retailers stock tentacle rape and panty shots because real anime doesn't sell to the masses, unfortuantely.

      Where's the Ghibli library? Oh yeah, Disney is sitting on that cause their own stuff sucks and they don't want everyone else realizing that.
    • What exactly is the problem with 'gracious panty shots?'

  • Narrowing it down SO much (Score:4, Funny)

    by Robotech_Master ( 14247 ) on Thursday December 26, 2002 @04:58AM (#4959686) Homepage Journal
    "titles that imagine what our near or far future will be like, investigate the relationship between humans and machines, dream of what alien civilizations could be like, and more."
    So that's, what, most of it?

  • anime galore (Score:4, Insightful)

    by katalyst ( 618126 ) on Thursday December 26, 2002 @05:59AM (#4959747) Homepage
    I'm fond of animations, but the amount of anime out there is IMPOSSIBLE to keep track of. A question tho, how does one differentiate between conventional animation and anime? Are all japanese animations anime?? (and i aint talkin abt huntai)
    I loved stuff like Robotech, Force Five features , but then I liked stuff like the Transformers too. Stuff like Dragon Ball Z didn't grab my attention. I haven't heard of these animes which TechTV is plannin to screen...
    • > A question tho, how does one differentiate between conventional animation and anime? Are all japanese animations anime??

      I'm really really not an expert, but I *have* found that most of the "anime" I've tried watching is irritating and headache inducing. Sorry, there does often seem to be a good story there, but I can't get to it through the shocking framerate and flashing lights. Before you say I obviously haven't seen [insert favourite] note that I'm not talking about the *story*. I'm talking about the horrible display quality. Is there any good anime that is smooth and watcheable?

      "animation" seems to be a lot smoother, and lets you get far enough to see there's rarely an actual story behind it :)

      - Muggins the Mad
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Is there any good anime that is smooth and watcheable?
        Anime produced for theatrical release (Anything by Ghibli Studios, Ghost In The Shell, etc.) or for direct-to-video release (The original Bubblegum Crisis series, etc.) tend to have the production budgets required for the creation of the number of cels necessary to make the final product look good. Anime created for episodal TV (DBZ, etc.) is mainly designed to sell toys, and actual production values and budgets are very low.

    • A question tho, how does one differentiate between conventional animation and anime? Are all japanese animations anime?? (and i aint talkin abt huntai)
      'Anime' is the Japanese word for animation. Animation produced in Japan is known as anime. Pretty simple, really.

    • Are all japanese animations anime?

      Well, anime is simply the French word for animation, so yes. It's also easier to say than Japanese Animation or the incredibly hackneyed Japanimation (Ick).

  • some good anime (Score:2, Informative)

    by dav ( 5309 )
    Serial Experiment Lain is one of the best productions of any sort that I've seen in a long time. I actually have not seen the entire series yet, but I think it is a fantastic example of cutting edge animation, and so far not a single tentacle rape scene! Tivo has been sporadically grabbing Lain episodes for me for awhile now, I might have to look into getting Tech TV just for that.

    I also have come to enjoy Cowby Bebop. It's an odd mixture of sci-fi anime, westerns and late 50's jazz beat. There's a lot more to anime than what I had assumed at first. There's a lot of potential in this artistic medium that is only now surfacing in The States.
  • liked japan type animation, except speed racer. oh and Ultra man, but that wasn't really a cartoon. I was a little kid, You are grown men. I think?
    Sheesh!
  • Can I please ask what the big draw of Anime is? I mean the actual animation isn't terribly great (I think the OLD Transformers cartoons were drawn better), and from the little I've watched, the story lines aren't terribly great either. Is it just me that doesn't get it?
    • from the little I've watched

      Why do people even bother asking why, with that admission?

      Spend 15 minutes on the web looking at the opinions of others, watch a few of the good anime, and then answer the question for yourself.

    • People's taste vary, while I think a given person is more likely to like anime (if they give it ampule chance) than something from Disney simply because of the enormous variety found in animation from Japan. As should be implied though, anime isn't for everyone.. so perhaps it's not for you. That's your choice to make, not ours.

      I like anime because, for one, I've always liked animation and two, anime offers more mature storylines that most Disney preprocessed stuff out there. I won't argue that anime is any more mature than some of the American live action stuff out there, but saying that there wasn't much storyline to them just proves that you've probably only seen what Blockbuster carries. ;)

      If you have TechTV, I'd heartily recommend watching/recording Crest of the Stars (you could always buy Bandai's DVDs if you're so inclined, as well :P). While the dub doesn't do the show justice, it should be decent enough to carry along the storyline, which is one of the more engaging and interesting shows I've seen in a long while; it's just unfortunate that it's wildly underrated compared to how popular it should be. It focuses A LOT on character development with a good amount of action ..

      Also remembers that anime is a medium, not a genre. Just because you have seen one anime does NOT mean you have seen them all. It's not all humanoid robots and buffed up monkey men that take an episode in order to power up a single Ki blast..
      • Second on Crest of the Star. It does Space Opera in a scale that simply could not be done in a weekly live action show (the only that came close is Babylon5).

        The fact that it also has a very gripping and engaging story is a plus.
    • trolling?

      the old transformers are anime of sorts.
      there's bad western cartoons too.. and few good.

      but there's so much more cartoons in east, that there's more good stuff there than in western.

      it's not like all anime was drawn by 1 guy. of course theres bad stuff in it when theres so much of it. some of it is done very cheaply, for little children. you except that to be comparable to stuff done with big money for adults?
    • A few thoughts:
      1) it depends on the anime you watch. Cowboy Bebop, for example, is worshipped because the stories are well done, and the characters interesting. Yes, there's some formulaic crap out there....don't try to tell me there's no formulaic crap on normal shows as well.
      2) The stories can do things in anime that you can't do in reality...sure, you could try to do this with computer effects and real actors, but for some of the shows, it would end up almost entirely computer-generated....so why not just animate it?

      Now, it's entirely possible that you just don't like animated stuff...I know a couple folks that are like that. I'm tempted to think it's some sort of disability...it helps me feel better for them.
    • If I may continue on a theme:

      Can I please ask what the big draw of football is?
      Can I please ask what the big draw of Quake is?
      Can I please ask what the big draw of professional wrestling is?

      Different things appeal to different people. That's the way it's always been. Some people "get it", some don't.

      And as it's been pointed out in another response, you've watched "little" anime - possibly some snippets of DragonBall Z, Transformers, Pokemon, maybe some Yu-Gi-Oh! (the last two are crappy examples of anime, IMHO) - so it's possible that you might have about as much of a base to form an opinion about anime as people that haven't seen pro wrestling since the days of The Ultimate Warrior have to base an opinion about modern wrestling - another entertainment form that I frequently have to defend :p (Run-on sentence? I excel at those here... :)

      I highly recommend tuning into Cartoon Network's Adult Swim to check out shows like Cowboy Bebop (or rent something like Trigun or Lain) for some higher quality animation and writing.
    • Anime is just like any other art form out there: some people like it, most people don't. The 'big draw' you refer to is that Anime fans tend to be rather fanatic about it, so you hear a lot more about it than you normally would - and when you do hear about it, you hear it LOUD.

      The Anime community here is also composed primarily of two groups of people:

      1 - those that got into it in the 80s/early 90s, when very little was available in North America. Here you get the 'I discovered this before anyone else did' superiority complex. A decade ago, Anime was hands down the best animation being produced anywhere in the world - it was certainly a style never seen in the west. Now that it's a lot more recognized over here, these folks have the edge by being on the bandwagon first (a la 'I listened to band X years before they had a top40 hit').

      2 - those that got into it more recently, and are on the 'Anime is like cartoons for adults' trip. Because we all know a lot of violence and sex, and vaguely mature themes, make for adults-only entertainment. Again you get a bit of a superiority complex here, as to this group, anyone who doesn't like Anime 'doesn't get it'. A lot of these folks also haven't been exposed to a very broad range of entertainment, so they compare their favourite Anime to Friends and proclaim "everything made by the west sucks! look how shallow it is! in Anime, the characters question their motives.. sometimes!".

      Oh, and for the anime-loving mods who just want to mod this as a troll, let me state for the record that I am a proud memeber of group #1 :)
      • Well maybe three groups....

        I first saw Anime in the 1960's starting with Astro Boy. Things like Gigantor, Eighth man, Battle for the planets, Speed Racer, Robo-Tech I watched because even with the butchering of the US broadcasters they still were better than most cartoons on TV.

        I've always liked animation even the limited animation of anime, sure some of it sucks just don't watch the stuff that sucks. I don't care if it's Japanese, French, Spanish, German, or yes even Disney. If it appeals to you watch it, don't watch something just because someone else thinks its kewl. I watch Anime because I enjoy seeing the different styles of animation and the good stories. I don't care if it's Dubbed, Subbed, or Original.

  • aliens? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by lingqi ( 577227 ) on Thursday December 26, 2002 @07:06AM (#4959831) Journal
    I may not be *the* most avid Anime-fan out there (but I do live in Japan so maybe that should raise the credibility somewhat?), but it really does not seem to me that anime discusses much about aliens / civilizations and our relationships with them.

    I mean, I think the genre can be categorized into a few (rough) parts, but non of them are really the "explore new land meet new people" sort of (startrek like, I suppose) way.

    I mean, the only ones I can think of on top of my head that goes near the subject is:
    1) Robotech (actually a soap opera and you know it)
    2) Nadesico (which is anime talking about anime - but the aliens turned out to be human (oops did I spoil this?) who are all anime freaks)
    3) pokemon / and the like (but that's no alien civilization now, right?)
    4) sex-starved monsters (won't get into this)

    What I am trying to say is that anime to me, at least, seem to use "aliens and their civilizations" more often as a background story than as a focus. Besides most of the "alien (read: forign / non-human biological)" stuff is usually mystical (magical powers, etc) rather than factual.

    but there are a lot of human's relationship with technology / machines. Ghost in the Shell, Zoujin-Z, Lain, just to name a few "on the mark" ones.

    just my 2 yen.
    • I mean, I think the genre can be categorized into a few (rough) parts, but non of them are really the "explore new land meet new people" sort of (startrek like, I suppose) way.
      Think about the Japanese for a second; Apart from a miserably failed attempt in WWII, Japan is not much of a ground-acquisition culture. The grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence for them, and they know it. They have no inner need to fantasize about exploring new worlds. They aren't done exploring their own yet.

    • You forgot Gundam Wing. Not about aliens per se, but definitely about when cultures diverge and collide...
  • Once again, a great idea goes bad by giving it a terrible timeslot.

    Some of us actually DO have to sleep.
  • If you think Pop up windows on the internet are bad now, watch a bit of the Martian Successor Nadesko. It features pop up video windows for communication that can pop up any where. In the future advertisers could use them to advertise.

    Concidering the lastest lows the advertisers have stepped to (kick throughs), Pop up ads 'in your face' any where could come true if they stoop low enough in the future.
  • I figure the extra $25 dollars they want for it is worth me buying DVD's instead.
    • A whole season of The Simpsons (22 episodes) is $40. The complete Cowboy Bebop (26 episodes) is $100. Escaflowne (or the first season of Farscape for that matter) is $150. Okay, you win--I won't watch your goddamn show.

      Obviously, any anime/sci-fi fan is freakishly addicted and will buy a DVD at any cost. No need to price our shows low enough to be attractive to the casual buyer. We have no faith in our product. Suck them dry, dammit!
      • Since it obviously has nothing at all to do with, oh, I don't know, supply, demand, and economies of scale.
        Point being: Simpsons is wildly popular and is almost guaranteed to sell better than an import series that wouldn't have nearly the same market penetration. Also (guessing here), Simpsons probably wouldn't have to be licensed separately from an animation studio, ne? That media syndicate's big enough to do its own DVD dirty work.

  • Anime == Geek culture (Score:2, Informative)

    by MamasGun ( 602953 )
    Actually I think that this new Anime bloc on TechTV is great. I have been waiting for someone to pick up Serial Experiments: Lain, and was actually hoping that MTV would be the ones to do it. However, TechTV is a great venue for this to show up on. Lain in particular is all about the same stuff that is TechTV's stock in trade: it's all about people's place in a world of accelerating technology.

    Now if they'd pick up .hack...that would rock. Plenty of room for the kind of synergies they love there, especially when you consider that Sony is putting out a translated .hack MMRPG this coming year. Extended Play, anyone? .hack on The Screensavers' LAN Party (powered by NVidia)? It would be a suit's dream.

    I'd also like to see Excel Saga there, but I doubt it would fit the TechTV format. Actually I can't think of a cable channel off-hand where it would fit. Comedy Central? Too wild for them. Sundance? IFC? Maybe there, but I've never seen Anime on either. Oh well.

  • I see alot of whys ... why not? .. sorry to say but japan IS a leader in technology ... why not have something interesting and has a story line? ... Anime is a not just a bunch of perverted scenes in fact I know of many series that do not have any of these sort of things
  • It's a good thing someone is finally getting their act together and doing that, it needs to be done. What I worry about is them not getting the story right, or in cases like Serial Experiment Lain and Ghost in a Shell, where the answers are meant to be decyphered and interprited by the audience, they might put their own ideas and just ruin it.
  • Does anybody actually know what Serial Experiments Lain is about? Including the creators of the anime?

  • The block will premiere with single half-hour episodes airing Monday through Thursday at 1am EST, followed by a two-hour block of anime on Friday from 11pm to 2am EST.


    11pm-2am? Isn't that three hours?

  • I think maybe I'll wait for "Learn Anime in 21 Days".

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