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Anime/Manga General Discussion

Ktulu Victoria said:
I've only seen a few clips of Nichijou. I liked Azumanga Daioh, so should I watch the entirety of Nichijou?
Find out for yourself, new best friend.
 
Okay I'm definitely watching it once I'm done with Cowboy Bebop.

Denizen said:
Find out for yourself, new best friend.

Borderlands-2-Sir-Hammerlocks-Big-Game-Hunt-DLC-610x240.jpg
 
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Denizen said:
I said movies so please keep it restricted to movies. I looked at what's been said so far and none of it will do.
I need an anime movie that anyone would enjoy, not just frequent anime watchers. The most important things to consider with my sister are mood and aesthetic. It has to be 70% serious, 30% laid back, and it has to be as far away from the average anime aesthetic as possible.
I cannot stress that last point enough, if REDLINE was exactly the same but it looked like Azumanga Daioh my sister would straight up hate it. Hell, I would too.

ALSO NO FANSERVICE. Fanservice is just fuckin' unnecessary.

Eden of the East has two movies.... watched them.... that is all.
 
Zeriam said:
Eden of the East has two movies.... watched them.... that is all.
yes, but you have to watch the main series in order to understand the movies in the first place. BUT, the main series is super short and makes a great suspense thriller.

so yeah, watch Eden of the East.
 
Sanoblaze said:
yes, but you have to watch the main series in order to understand the movies in the first place. BUT, the main series is super short and makes a great suspense thriller.

so yeah, watch Eden of the East.

This is his only option. He either watches it or he doesn't cause after this I'm done recommending stuff for awhile.
 
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A comment on anime by NerdyBandit
Oh boy, now this one's a doozy. One of the reasons that we find so much importance in the distinction between anime and cartoons is because at first glance, there seems to be a huge difference in production between the two. What do you think of when you think of animation in the west? Family-friendly movies, Saturday morning toy commercials, and comedies for children, adolescents, and adults. Thus, when looking at Japanese animation, one can see a seemingly clear as day difference in style. They have things like Cowboy Bebop and Naruto, which seem completely foreign compared to say, Family Guy and Disney. That's why when western productions are influenced by Japanese animation, like Avatar or Wakfu, it becomes very tempting to use the term anime.
However, looking at it exclusively this way does not tell the whole story. What do you think of as the style of anime? Well, probably traits that fit the series of shows that Michael mentioned. However, using these examples, one omits a large amount of shows that are considered anime. Consider Cat Soup, Mind Game, The Diary of Tortov Roddle, and Kaiji. They don't fit the "anime look" at all. Consider series like Mushishi, The Tatami Galaxy, and One Outs, which don't even come close to the style you see in things like Naruto and Cowboy Bebop. Consider in particular things like Redline and Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, which are hugely influenced by western animation. Does that mean that they aren't anime? Of course, no one would think that.
Now, the biggest problem with the idea of anime as a stylistic distinction comes with a history lesson. Most people agree that the very first "true anime" was Astro Boy, first aired in 1963. It was by Osamu Tezuka, commonly called the Godfather of Manga, as he was also a part of the rise of manga in postwar Japan. The problem is, of course, that early anime and manga were, in fact, heavily influenced by western animations, and one can clearly see the Disney influence in Osamu Tezuka's early manga and anime. When looking at early Japanese anime series, it's not so easy to distinguish them from western animation. Some Japanese works were turned into highly successful English language adaptations, such as Speed Racer, Star Blazers, and Voltron. Japanese companies also very often worked on western projects, like Moomin, Maya the Bee, Alfred J. Kwak, and the Mysterious Cities of Gold. Did you know that Frosty the Snowman was animated by the same team that did Astro Boy? The term anime as distinguished from cartoons becomes particularly dangerous when one realizes that Japanese animation was itself once strongly influenced by Western animation.
Personally, as an anime fan, I use the term "anime" as a geographically determined term, rather than any specific style. At the same time, the alternative idea of anime as a geographic distinction does not work well either. If anime is from Japan, then you exclude Korean productions like Yobi the Five Tailed Fox. And if you include Korea, then why not China? Why don't we say anime comes from East Asia? Well, then we're excluding Southeast Asian productions too! An interesting example of the challenges of the semantic label of anime comes from the movie Tatsumi. It's based on a Japansese manga, and is even in Japanese. But since it's a Singaporean production, it is not considered anime. How about Japanese co-productions with western studios? How do you decide which side defines the classification? Where do we place our boundaries between anime and western animation?
In the end, it all comes down to the fact that genre classifications are inherently constrictive and exclusionary, and perhaps not entirely useful. As usual, it's an unexciting, nebulous conclusion, but if things were clear-cut, we wouldn't be having this discussion in the first place.
I would love to dive into the topic of manga (and manhwa and manhua, of course), because of how important manga is to the anime industry (95% of modern anime productions are adaptations of a manga), but then an already extremely long story becomes at least twice as long. I tried my best to be coherent and proofread my writing, so hopefully the length is the only problem. I feel like I spent an hour writing this. And if you made it to the end, thanks for reading.
 
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Going to be frank with this; for most people the distinction between cartoons and anime, as well as the distinction between comic books and manga is about being above the former. I'm entirely sure there are those that think this way because they honestly think that the two distinctions we need to make in all of animation are "japanese animation" and "everything else" and I respect those people even if I disagree with them, but judging from the people I normally see at cons there's an overwhelming majority who make the distinction because they believe that when people call anime cartoons they're trying to belittle them- like being a cartoon means that they're childish or have no depth. That's not really the discussion, though, because only a ridiculously misinformed or ignorant person is going to argue that all anime lacks depth- so their denial only becomes an insult to all animation that we label "cartoons."
Personally, I see a need to trace back to the culture that inspired certain works, and I appreciate anime fans as a culture in and of itself (to a degree), but I really don't put anime in a different schema from cartoons; it's all animation, I just divide it into genres, styles, etc.
 
I just call all of them cartoons. Isn't the west the only place that makes the distinction, anyway?
 
Ktulu Victoria said:
I just call all of them cartoons. Isn't the west the only place that makes the distinction, anyway?
Yup.
Anime translates to animation, a Japanese person would call The Simpsons anime.
There's just an entire culture built around anime that's struggling to figure out what, exactly, "anime" means.
 
if its from the americas or european areas, I call them cartoons.

asian areas, I call them anime.
 
I'm with NerdyBandit and his use of the word anime as a geographically determined term.

Honestly though, I barely use the word outside of forums and just refer to everything as a show.
 
Normally the only time I make a real distinction is when I'm discussing the difference with someone who clearly thinks that animated = for children with no adult themes, simply because it's easier than saying "these cartoons are not like the cartoons you're used to, they're a different type of cartoon". But that's more due to the term 'cartoon' becoming very loaded than with the term 'anime' itself, and I haven't seen someone who hasn't at least heard about anime for some time now. For everyone else, I'm usually a little more sly in using 'anime' for things of Japanese or at least East Asian origin (I'm not to bothered about specifics), and 'animation' for everything else.

The thing WrestlerGuile quoted has a valid point - that categories are always imperfect - but it also sounds like a philosophy/sociology undergrad dismissing an area they don't want to have to deal with because of relativism. Yes, the categories are imperfect, but that doesn't mean that they are not useful. It's just important to know that they won't be useful in every argument, and that something that is 'anime' for the purposes of one discussion might not be for another. That's not an inherently bad thing, it just is.
 
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TechPowah said:
I just call anime "The only reason I still watch Adult Swim anymore."
There's no "Anime" on Adult Swim is there?
 
Well, technically, Toonami IS still a part of AS, even if it doesn't really show. They even use the AS disclaimer bumpers in between shows/commercial breaks.
 
Where I got the comment from:
I first thought the definition of anime should be any animated production which comes from a manga, but the I thought about the difference between a western comic and a manga.
Turns out the difference are:
  1. Manga paces its story and have cinematic like scenes, while comics rushes the story in place of action.
  2. Manga gets to approach more controversial stories (which are actually controversial to westerners), while comics are mostly kid-friendly.
My sister stated that cartoons don't have a arc-like story (ending it every episode) and the characters where the same thing, while anime has variation of what most characters wear.
 
So I have to vent here.
Been watching Jojo season 1 (not stardust crusaders) and... well, spoilers:
Okay what the actual fuck is with the openings of this show. I like the show but the openings... the first one spoils Dio turning into a vampire and killing Jojo's dad, okay, I would appreciate not doing that but that's a spoiler for like the second episode, so no big deal.
But then I was watching the second part and like the second time I see the opening I notice Jojo putting Caesar's headband on and crying out and I just said "Caesar's gonna fucking die isn't he?"
And then, lo and behold
Episode 20
20 EPISODES IN
THEY SPOILED THE MOST DRAMATIC EVENT SO FAR
SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS IN EPISODE 20
DURING THE THEME SONG THEY'VE BEEN PLAYING SINCE EPISODE 10
Who the fuck even does that?!
It's like this show is making fun of me for not having read the manga
Please tell me the stardust crusaders opening doesn't spoil shit. I'll probably close my eyes when I watch it even if you reassure me it's safe, though. In fact I probably just won't look at anime openings anymore. I can't trust them anymore. Jojo scarred me.
 
Ruin said:
jojo's is 25 goddamn years old parts 1 and 2 are past the goddamn threshold for spoilers
There's no threshold for spoilers when it's the show you are currently watching. Star wars is way past the threshold for spoilers too but they don't begin the new dvds with "by the way darth vader is luke's father" because that would be fucking stupid.
But whoever made the jojo opening isn't that intelligent, apparently.
Plus seriously you don't think that anyone would be watching this anime without reading the manga? Do they need to alienate those people for being late to the series?
 
I'd also argue that only the Part 3 anime has expired its spoiler policy, since Stardust Crusaders is the only part that got an anime until now AFAIK.
 
Horseman said:
There's no threshold for spoilers when it's the show you are currently watching. Star wars is way past the threshold for spoilers too but they don't begin the new dvds with "by the way darth vader is luke's father" because that would be fucking stupid.
But whoever made the jojo opening isn't that intelligent, apparently.
Plus seriously you don't think that anyone would be watching this anime without reading the manga? Do they need to alienate those people for being late to the series?
except the anime isn't just for people new to the series
it's for new and old fans, and the openings reflect that. They showcase their respective parts well ( both in terms of capturing the jojo's spirit and animation-wise. Kamikaze Douga knows how to do they do) without explicitly letting anything go that isn't common knowledge about the series (oh no, they spoil that dio becomes a vampire, what a shocking turn of events that isn't in every summary of Phantom Blood), and the only way you'll notice the spoilery content is if you'rre looking for it.
plus caesar dying isn't even that much of spoiler and caesar is a loser who doesn't even accomplish anything. he's just a fop who throws bubbles and brings shame to the zeppeli name (luckily gyro makes up for it in spades. Best Zeppeli)
 
Ruin said:
except the anime isn't just for people new to the series
it's for new and old fans, and the openings reflect that. They showcase their respective parts well ( both in terms of capturing the jojo's spirit and animation-wise. Kamikaze Douga knows how to do they do) without explicitly letting anything go that isn't common knowledge about the series (oh no, they spoil that dio becomes a vampire, what a shocking turn of events that isn't in every summary of Phantom Blood), and the only way you'll notice the spoilery content is if you'rre looking for it.
plus caesar dying isn't even that much of spoiler and caesar is a loser who doesn't even accomplish anything. he's just a fop who throws bubbles and brings shame to the zeppeli name (luckily gyro makes up for it in spades. Best Zeppeli)
Well first of all unmarked spoilers, gee thanks. You should probably edit that considering I didn't spoil my original post so that we would talk about the exact same subject unmarked like 5 posts down. Not to mention they're the exact spoilers that got me so pissed.
And while I'm fine with an opening that appeals to both old and new jojo fans, that is literally the polar opposite of the second jojo opening. Like I said, the first one is okay; I could do without the specifics on how stuff happens but that one's not what got me so angry. Really they just should have waited an extra episode to use that opening, then it would have been fine. And no, I came into this series relatively blind since I'm pretty diligent about not looking to hard into plot information of series I haven't watched yet, so I didn't even know Jojo was about vampires. Admittedly the shape of the stone mask makes it pretty obvious what it does from the beginning, but I would still appreciate leaving the specific stuff like Dio getting shot up or Jojo's dad dying to the actual anime to cover.
But the second opening... it entirely alienates new fans to the series. There's nothing like a major spoiler (and yes it was major, the second most important character in this arc died) to make everyone who hasn't read the manga feel excluded. It's entirely fan service for the old fans, down to the inside information. And yeah, I think anyone with a brain can put two and two together to figure out that Jojo putting on Caesar's headband and screaming in agony probably means Caesar just died. Not really all that subtle. After Caesar joined as a main character it became painfully obvious what was happening there. And you know what the worst part is? I could edit the spoiler out of that opening by blacking the screen for about 5 seconds. There's no reason for it to be there. It was just thrown in there randomly as if to say "Oh you haven't read the manga? Well FUCK you, we don't want you casual piles of shit to watch our anime!" I can't imagine why anyone would think this is an okay thing to do.
Seriously, the spoiler threshold is a pretty stupid concept to begin with (I don't care if it's old, I don't want it ruined for me) but it DEFINITELY doesn't apply to the show it's made for. That's just fucking stupid. I don't care if you're adapting The Iliad, don't give major spoilers in the theme song. Even if I had read the manga I would be pissed about this.
Jojo part 2's opening is now literally the worst anime opening I have ever watched. Nothing can even compare to that bullshit.
By the way, I actually wanted someone to tell me if part 3 has a shitty spoiler opening too so that I can skip it, but you know whatever.
 
except there really aren't explicit spoilers there
YOU made the call, the opening doesn't explicate anything on caesar other than he exists and uses bubbles (much like caesar himself, but he can't really keep that first one going)
YOU made the assumption of his fate and just happened to be correct
YOU are the one that has problems with the non-explicit spoilers to a minor character death that's 24-years old, and literally the one I have seen who has an issue with the supposed alienation
But hey here's a spoiler: Dio's the villain of Stardust Crusaders! But it's not like there's anything that implies on the internet. Certainly not countless memes and road roller animations or anything of the sort
 
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Ruin said:
except there really aren't explicit spoilers there
YOU made the call, the opening doesn't explicate anything on caesar other than he exists and uses bubbles (much like caesar himself, but he can't really keep that first one going)
YOU made the assumption of his fate and just happened to be correct
YOU are the one that has problems with the non-explicit spoilers to a minor character death that's 24-years old, and literally the one I have seen who has an issue with the supposed alienation
But hey here's a spoiler: Dio's the villain of Stardust Crusaders! But it's not like there's anything that implies on the internet. Certainly not countless memes and road roller animations or anything of the sort
Well, since I guess I'm not getting you to spoiler your shit, I guess this conversation is jojo fans only. Yippee.
I honestly can't imagine someone who's paying any attention at all wouldn't notice that. It's pretty fucking obvious. You might not be able to tell because you had already read the manga, but it's an obviously different part of the opening and it barely takes any effort to figure it out. I was watching most of the series with my sister and she figured it out at the same time I did. Either way, why put a subtle spoiler in your opening? To spoil only the people perceptive and intelligent enough to notice it?
Perhaps the most important thing here is that you're putting 'YOU' in all capital leaders to emphasize that this is somehow my fault, as though I was supposed to reflexively cover my eyes at the end of the theme song or try not to think about it for some reason. Let's not forget that, no matter what you would like to argue, it is entirely the jojo opening's fault that I got spoiled. If they would have cut about 5 seconds out at the end, I would have never been spoiled.
And please don't just repeat that the manga is really old or that Caesar is a minor character, I already refuted both of those points.
 
except caesar really is a minor character
his entire existence is an excuse for Joseph and Speedwagon to go to Italy (which could have very easily just been Lisa Lisa) and then die to provide motivation for an already motivated Joseph. He doesn't win any fights, his character barely develops, and his power is lame as fuck. He makes Speedwagon look like the main star. Heck, even Speedwagon is more important than Caesar in the grand scheme of Battle Tendency. At least we got to meet the best nazis ever because of Speedwagon.
Caesar is just an asshole who exists for Joseph's sake that they prettied up with some sad music.
 
Ruin said:
except caesar really is a minor character
his entire existence is an excuse for Joseph and Speedwagon to go to Italy (which could have very easily just been Lisa Lisa) and then die to provide motivation for an already motivated Joseph. He doesn't win any fights, his character barely develops, and his power is lame as fuck. He makes Speedwagon look like the main star. Heck, even Speedwagon is more important than Caesar in the grand scheme of Battle Tendency. At least we got to meet the best nazis ever because of Speedwagon.
Caesar is just an asshole who exists for Joseph's sake that they prettied up with some sad music.
He's treated as the secondary protagonist (and the blue oni to Jojo's red oni) both by the opening and by the show. And to be fair, he helps kill Esidisi, saves Jojo at the oil pillar, and of course gets Wamuu's antidote even though Jojo doesn't use it for some stupid reason (seems like an insult to not use the medicine he died to get you until the the point where you could have taken it yourself.)
Regardless of your opinion on Caesar the show treats him like a major character, what with him being the only other good guy prominently shown in the intro besides Jojo, and being one of the three hamon users that aren't entirely useless, so yeah I'm still not happy about them showing his death in the opening credits.
 
but they don't show his death
unless he died by
jojo wearing his headband?
screaming while bubbles passed by?
Lisa Lisa's fine booty?
 
Ruin said:
but they don't show his death
unless he died by
jojo wearing his headband?
screaming while bubbles passed by?
Lisa Lisa's fine booty?
They give way too much evidence for it.
I don't see how you can think that anyone paying attention wouldn't figure that crap out by episode 14-15 at the latest.
What, do you expect people to go "oh, how nice, caesar loans jojo his headband! And then jojo screams "Thanks!" because it looks so nice on him!"
Seriously, you (assumedly) read the manga first so you didn't get to experience it for yourself, but they're not nearly subtle enough about it to put it in the opening like it's not a big deal.
 
oh hey, look what I found
Can we all agree the Rurouni Kenshin live action movie has some of the best fights scenes?

Including all of Sanosuke's someone should totally have his name as their username Kappa
 
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Sanoblaze said:
oh hey, look what I found
I was never into Rurouni Kenshin because of the art style and animation, but that movie looks fucking awesome.
 
Denizen said:
I was never into Rurouni Kenshin because of the art style and animation, but that movie looks fucking awesome.
watch the anime. there's so much badassery in this series I don't even know where to start.
 
Sanoblaze said:
watch the anime. there's so much badassery in this series I don't even know where to start.
I watched the first 2 episodes so far and I enjoyed them, but I find it so weird that Kenshin, a 28 year old man, is voiced by a woman in the JP dub. It's one thing when a pre-teen/teenage boy character gets voiced by a woman, but I still find it weird when the character is an adult man.
 
So Ping Pong: The Animation is pretty excellent. The animation is weird (most likely on a low budget) but the characters and soundtrack are fabulous. It probably won't appeal to most people who watch anime but I'd recommend checking it out if you're looking for a break from the usual stuff.
 
Vladislav_Paizis said:
I watched the first 2 episodes so far and I enjoyed them, but I find it so weird that Kenshin, a 28 year old man, is voiced by a woman in the JP dub. It's one thing when a pre-teen/teenage boy character gets voiced by a woman, but I still find it weird when the character is an adult man.
oh trust me, the first 2 episodes don't even show how badass this show gets.

theres shit like fighter for hire Sanosuke Sagara (my favorite character), the sheer badassery of Shishio Makoto, the six comrades. MMMMM!~ Rurouni Kenshin was what REALLY got me into anime.
 
you could also watch the dub
kenshin's voiced by a man (Richard Cansino) and the world's greatest Steve Blum is Makoto Shishio
 
Ruin said:
you could also watch the dub
kenshin's voiced by a man (Richard Cansino) and the world's greatest Steve Blum is Makoto Shishio
I will say Richard Cansino is Kenshin for me. Although Takeru Sato AKA Ryotaro from Den-O is a great actor for his Japanese counterpart.

I still can only imagine Lex Lang as Sanosuke's english voice.
 
Ruin said:
you could also watch the dub
kenshin's voiced by a man (Richard Cansino) and the world's greatest Steve Blum is Makoto Shishio
Very difficult choice. Both dubs (Well, JP and the Media Blasters English Dub, not the old one) are good, but I slightly like the JP dub more for the other characters and Kenshin's JP VA is still good. And the show itself is already 94 episodes long and I haven't finished an anime that's more than 26 episodes long yet.
 
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