I felt that if this forum has such rubbish in it as the story masacre of Troy, it must have a nice anime discussion.
There are so many out there, they're free and legal to download, plus they're so diverse i bet anyone can find something he really likes. Some are just simply excellent, so everyone likes them :)

They're addictive as well... what else can you want?
I'm also hoping this discussion will encourage people who havent seen any to download&watch some.

Oh, an important notice:
Any of you who's seen Pokemon, Sailormoon, Dragonball or some such similiar rubbish, Awaken!
I know quite some people who've been detered at first by such 5year old animes (including myself). However when you see some really decent ones, you'll quickly realise they're waaaay better than that.

話 (<--"talk")

Spirited Away! (Le voyage the Cicero) Best animated movie ever! Followed by Tim Burton's nightmare before Christmas.

Both nmovies have verry intressing characters, but the story of Nightmare wasn't that good. Still it was a real nice experience.

Fianlly someone else who appreciates the superior and wonderful world of Anime! However, Dragonball IS NOT RUBBISH! If you don't like because it's not your sort of thing then fine, but do not say it's rubbish...because IT'S NOT! Dragonball was one of the sole Animes responsible for awakening the west to Anime, not to mention an animation that was waaay ahead of it's time. It's a brilliant culmination of all the formula, Japanese comedy, themes and characters that reside at the soul of all Anime. So don't knock it.

But being an Otaku myself, you're right, there are such a ridiculously diverese amount of mini-masterpieces in Anime that selection becomes a very overwhelming problem sometimes and addiction becomes unavoidable.

It would be very interesting to see who else on sp is into Anime. That means people who are actually *into* it not just: "Anime? Oh yeah i saw one of those once..." Apart from Dark Goddess, and obviously yourself Gothmog, that is to my knowledge the only people here who are into it.

Velcro is slowly but surely getting me into anime but I'm far from being an otaku. I can't stand Dragonball or Yu-Gi-Oh, and I've never seen Sailor Moon and want to keep it that way. However, the ones I've enjoyed include the movies Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke and the series LastExile, Inuyasha, and Witch Hunter Robin. Vampire Hunter D wasn't bad, but I hated Akira.

:roll:

Dragon Ball as anime is not completely rubbish, but it was way better as manga, same goes for akira. My favorite anime, mainly because i haven't watch much, is neon genesis evangelion. and i was amused the first time i saw sailor moon, i actually found it so funny that i got hold of the old snes rpg sailor moon, which also was quit fun.

Little Snook is addicted to Dragonball Z and GT. I admit to enjoying them also.

I'm still trying to track down episodes of Bubblegum Crisis 2040. We both have been enjoying that one also.

@The great Snook
It took a bit of a search, but i found it at last :) boxtorrents have quite a bit of rarer complete series.
http://www.boxtorrents.com/Details/180/
Click to topright link. To download it you'll need BitTorrent client. Easy search on that, if you dont have it already. It will take a while though, since its not spread that much.


Very well, i'll give Dragonball another chance. Starting from episode 1 this time, as i should before. Its just that i've seen this episode xx from somewhere in the middle, with nothing else than a fight + i've heard people not liking it. Though that might be the same as Harry potter attitude *shrugs*
Best to make sure myself. Gehn, i hope i didnt upset you too much by bashing Dragonball :mommy: As i said, i'll be back with a newly formed opinion someday later. There are really very few animes i dont like, so it's not a big chance i wont like this one. It cant be anything too deep though, else i'd heard about it.

Let's start infecting SP people with the plague..khm..blessing of anime addiction! :rolling:

Very well, i'll give Dragonball another chance. Starting from episode 1 this time, as i should before. Its just that i've seen this episode xx from somewhere in the middle, with nothing else than a fight + i've heard people not liking it. yup that's the problem with dragon ball as an anime, the battles are to long, it works in the mange, not the anime and many people comes to hate DBZ and the whole DB world because of that. Buy the manga it's much better then the anime. PS: Buy the DB manga, not the DBZ.

Hai, yes; I know a few good movies.

Eternia 的传说- 动画是相当好的， 并且鬼魂在壳也是。Or in english: Tales of Eternia -the Animation was pretty decend, and Ghost in the Shell too. :D

Now that I can download them via BitTorrent, I should finally see some more of them. :) Recently downloaded a movie called "Interlude" and that sure was something better than 'just' overcute girls. :cool:

[ May 24, 2004, 19:05: Message edited by: Wirhe ]

@ Gothmog
Let's start infecting SP people with the plague..khm..blessing of anime addiction!Well said!

@ Equester

yup that's the problem with dragon ball as an anime, the battles are to long, it works in the mange, not the anime and many people comes to hate DBZ and the whole DB world because of that.So the battles are too long eh? Umm, no. No they're not. You see the whole point is that the battles are *supposed* to be long...very, long. That is exactly what Droagonball and DBZ are all about; Looong battles! The whole concept of it all is that of a no-tricks, good vs evil, fantastical beings, with fantastical powers kicking some serious, fantastical butt! You love it for the epic battles, the eternal struggle. So it makes very little sense to me that people who like the Manga say that battles in the Anime are too long, because all it is doing is reproducing the escence of the Manga by doing so. Sometimes when watching it i do agree it can come across as a bit excessive. For example the Goku and Frieza battle on Namek in the Anime. But if these minor blemishes are the reasons for you not liking the Anime then quite frankly you are getting hung up on petty trivialities that are infact contradictions of the reasons one would suppose you like the whole Dragonball and DBZ stories for. I mean it's like saying "I don't like the Anime because it's what i love the manga for." Now does that make sense? I don't think it does.
Being a big fan of both the Anime and Manga myself, I can safely say that any 'inconsistency' you see between them is a result of your own personal interpretation of the Dragonball creation, not in any way a 'fault' of the Anime's.
But at the risk of sounding like an overbearing, quick to condemn personality, you obviously do see this in the way you do and are 100% entitle and also correct in your thinking. As matters of liking and loathing are a very subjective thing. I just felt it my duty as an Otaku to voice my opinion on the matter, is all :p

Well, I do agree the battles are not to long in the DBZ anime. There is only one real problem that makes it seem too long, the cutting of the episodes. The way they are divided now, remembers me of simple soaps on tele, which have nothing happening in one episode at all and which you can still follow the story of when you tune in two or three weeks later.

Besides, all those people who like DBZ should really watch the original Dragonball, which is way cooler and has more variation in storyline. Besides, some things in DBZ only make sense if you saw DB.

But I'm also into anime, so that's another presence noted here.


@ Gothmog
they're free and legal to download Please explain, since I know no legal way to download them for free.

It's quite common for animes to show that in the intros (which, suprisingly in majority last about 6% of the file). "This if free fansub, not for distribution or sale. Please stop distributing if it gets licensed."
So then you have these pages, like this one (http://a.scarywater.net/akeep/). Note the lower series like Crno crusade, Full metal alchemist, Full metal panic: Fumoffu and a few others. They're not links anymore since they've been licensed = not free anymore.

AFAIK this is it.


hehe, speaking of long battles, if anyone watches Naruto (still coming out), the last battle was really streched over 10 episodes. Each episode lasts 20 minutes (without the intro&end).
Less than DB?

The only anime that I have seen are some short scenes in Kill Bill and a remixed music video with music by Rammstein and scenery from Dragonball Z....

Not that it's not enough :p

@ Gehn.

I agree with you on the point that DB is all about long battles, but a long battle in manga takes about 20min to read, which is okay with me. but to watch tv for an hour to see the same battle, well that's just not me. And i don't like DB for the battles alone, I also finds the story quit amusing. So what i don't like about the anime, is that the battles simply last to long for my taste and it is not in contradiction with what i like about the manga, since both anime and manga presents a fun and epic story.
The kind of anime i watch doesn't usually involve hour long battles, well NGE did but it was in a different way.

Has anyone seen 'Lain'? That's IMHO the best Anime I've ever seen besides 'Akira' and 'Mononoke hime'.

@ Equester

That's fair enough. But the battles are not the only reason i like it, i was just simply sticking closely to topic. I geuss for me to be able to experience the battles in, and i use the term loosely, "real time," was thoroughly enjoyable for me because those battles were a large part of my enjoyment.

Fabius, i take it you mean "Serial Experiments Lain?" Indeed, that is an extremely accomplished and wonderful Anime! Princess Mononoke is one of my all time favs too.

@Rallymama

You "hated" Akira?! What?! I'm sure there is some kind of Law you're breaking there...THAT'S BLASPHEMY! Ahem.

Samurai X, Blue Gender, and the more recent Noir are also reccomends for anyone here who hasn't seen them :)

@Gehn: I'm a bit undecided about Noir. It looks somewhat cheap and I was not really able to follow the storyline. But maybe it's the german synchro...

I forgot Cowboy Beebop.

I forgot Cowboy BebopSo did I.

But Noir, cheap? I really can't see that. The story line is also not hard to follow at all, so it must be the German synchro. It's brilliant, and If you like Cowboy Bebop, there's no way you can't like this.

Any Anime fans in the U.S (As that is the only English speaking country I know it to be out in) seen the Ghost In The Shell T.V series yet?

I've seen very little, and mostly manga. I did really enjoy the little bit of Dragonball Z I saw, and Vampire hunter was good. Film side, I enjoyed Akira, but my all time favourite is Fist of the North Star. Incidentally, I saw the live action remake of this the other day, and it confirmed to me that anime and manga should NEVER be turned into B movie live acion.

True, live action movies after animes usualy suck.
But i've watched GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) a week past and it was really good, eventhough it isnt an anime. :)
It did have the feel of it though.
It's also free and it's here (http://drama.afraid.org/japan-tv/torrent_archives.html) .

Rallymama, it is hard not to like Akira, couse it is really good. Hmmm, what did you not like about it? (so we might find another you'll like :) )

@Gehn
About that Samurai X... I presume you mean Rurouni Kenshin?
It's been called like that as well, so it could be the same. Himura kenshin 10 years past the Meiji revolution, during which he was known as battosai the hitokiri, right?

Yes correct. However, Samuari X and Rouroni Kenshin are 2 different Animes technically speaking. Rouroni Kenshin, was the T.V series of Samurai X. Samurai X is a series of 4 episodes primarily, consisting of 2 dvd's; Trust and Betrayal. But "samurai X the movie" and "Samurai X Reflections part 1 and part 2" (part 2 isn't out yet as far as i'm aware) are the finishing off of the tale of the whole Rouroni kenshin saga. Samurai X's Trust and Betrayal are basicly what happened before Rouroni Kenshin the series takes off. Reflections parts 1 and 2 are what happens after the series finsihes. A funny order i know, but if you want a comprehensive experience of kenshin's tale then you have to watch it all with that order in mind ;)

Yup, i have it all.
But i encountered the series first, so i watched that to get to know him. I got the OVAs later, and the finishing one was SO sad i couldnt help but cry. The saddest thing i've ever seen and no movie can get even close to it. I guess it had much to do with watching the whole TV serie first as well as other OVAs.
I guess i was quite lucky, since i didnt mix the order too much.

Definitely one of the best ones!
Another great thing about it is that the whole story isnt finished yet AFAIK. There's the begining, the TV series and the end. I belive there's one movie done inbetween, but there has to be quite some time left. I wonder if anything's being made :hmm:

btw... i'm quite sure its Rurouni Kenshin. As in Traveler Kenshin. traveling or some such meaning as much as i got to know out of my truly poor japanese dictionary in my head. The thing is i know what a few words mean, but i dont have an idea how they're written in normal letters.

Say, is it OVA or OAV? I've seen both and they seem to mean the same. *shrugs*

What is OVA and OAV?

OAV = Original Anime Video (or somesuch)

This means the anime came out straigth on videotape/dvd without first been broadcasted on television.

Curse you Gothmog. Now I'm addicted to using torrents. I've been getting all sorts of good anime from Anime-xtreme (http://www.anime-xtreme.com). They have some great encoders over there. Using torrents seems so much better than sitting in queue somewhere for hours hoping that no one has a power failure :)

I enjoy some good anime-style drawings. I've also enjoyed a couple of anime games. However, I'm not really a fan boy and I don't care about names, categories, differences and the like.

What I don't like in some anime scenes is unlikely body proportions, excessive sexual violence, hints at teen or even child pornography (some of the girls look damn too young) and certain anti-religious themes as well as the use of medical or military uniforms, religious outfits and the like in pictures nearing porn. That's downright disrespect.

Other than that, I like anime provided the quality is good enough.

Why are you the only one who has something bad to say about it?

Random Babble.

Some of the Best Anime I've seen over the years:

*Akazukin Chacha
*Rouroni Kenshin/Samurai X
*Gensomaden Saiyuki
*Magic Knight Rayearth
*Cooking Master Boy
*The Slayers
*BT X
*Hell Teacher Nube
*Flame of Recca
*DBZ
*GhostFighters
*Master of Mosquiton
*Power Stone
*Rave
*Super Gals
*Ranma 1/2
*Escaflowne

Where I come from any guy 23 below who doesn't like anime is unhead of.
Anime of type "Akira" or the type Chev describes the latter part of his post are not welcome here though.

@Gehn
I've started watching DBZ. LOL though!
It can be seen it's ooold. Sometimes i get a good laugh just because of that :)
It's also cute though. Very light-hearted, cheers me up everytime. I've seen the first 10 episodes and i'm sure gonna watch it whole now :thumb:

@The Great Snook
:thumb: That's the way!

@Chevy
Maybe you just came across some Hentai, hmm? :p
Other than that, sure there are scenes that seem weird if you're not accustomed to it. It's the japanese culture in whole and they transfer that style into anime, naturaly. That includes their obsession with highschool girls and particiulary showing their panties. Those short skirts are neccesary too of course (btw, they really do have such a school uniform though the shortness in animes if exaggerated). Pornography in whole is a lot less taboo topic there, so it does have an impact on animes they're making.

Body proportions. :confused:
Of course the head is always bigger than the rest of the body. The eyes too of course. But hey, that's what anime is!

@Scythesong Immortal
You mentioned quite a bit of the ones i havent watched before :) Ty!
What's wrong with Akira?

Has anyone seen 'Lain'? That's IMHO the best Anime I've ever seen So true, it's really nice and original.

Myself I liked:

Lain
Boggiepop Phantom
Gundam Wing
Evangelion
Angel Sanctuary
Escaflowne

Boggiepop phantom is kinda like Lain but with more action, it got a dark and strange ambiance. The nices thing is that each episode is the story of one character. And the story take place at a relative short time so sometimes we see character from previous episode and we undertsand better the link between all the characters.

@Gothmog
Nice one! I knew if you were a proper Otaku you'd like DBZ. It is funny, and old, but for it's time it was amazing. There are some truly epic battles in it though. Some real goosebump inducers.

Bang on target about your reply to the whole "hentai" issue brought up. The "fan service" is harmless fun and an inherrnat part of Anime. The truly "hentai" stuff is a bit over the top, but hey, if people don't like it people don't watch it.

@Ofelix
Yep, Boogie Pop Phantom is a very cool Anime.

I'm watching the veeery old CLASSIC, "Robotech: Macross Saga." Absolutley brilliant. One of those Animes that invented alot of the plot and character formats most modern Anime use. A BIG recommend that one if you haven't ever experienced it.

After watching the first, three episodes of Angel Sanctuary, I have to say it's a pretty good anime -no matter what people say of the relationship of the protagonist and his sister. ;)

Also, Inuyasha and Love Hina seem to be good too (of which the latter is a pretty typical harem-anime :D If we ignore the rather dull finishing episode, the anti-hero could had ended up with them all :shake: ). Inuyasha -series seemed quite promising, but truth to tell; it gets repetitive thanks of the 100+ filler-episodes (just quitted in part #29 due of advice). Shame -should try to find the manga.

Almost forgot to mention, that BoxTorrents is down. Check their .TK mirror to see why. :hmm:

Gonna check that Boggiepop Phantom out. I belive i'll like that story telling style. Sort of like Song of Ice&Fire if i imagine it right.

@Gehn
There seem to be a lot of these Macross animes. I know i watched one, but i came across others, which couldnt be all the same story. Do write a short summary please :)

Heh, Inuyasha. I also watched the first 34 or so episodes, before i realised the main hero is a whimp and everything else goes straight copy-paste from other animes. Not to mention lots of filler episodes as Wirhe said.

FullMetal Alchemist :roll:

Yes, there are a hell of alot of Animes with "Macross" in the title. Relatively speaking I haven't seen that many of them, but like I said,"hell of alot".
The one i'm currently watching is as mentioned in my previous post: Robotech, The Macross saga.

This Anime follows the story of Rick Hunter (and friends) a young, unlikely, talented (yet inexperienced) Robotech fighter pilot. He has to come to terms with the responsibilty thrust upon him, his sexuality, what it means to be human etc etc. Plot and narrative wise, it's basicly Martian Successor Nadesico, but without as much humour. Big bad ass space ship, the SDF-1 gets lost in space and is under constant harrassment from the evil alien threat, the "Zentradi". So Rick Hunter (and friends) go through the normal trials and tribulations appropriate to such an Anime.

The reason why this one gets the word "Macross" in the title is because the whole of Macross island gets transported inside the SDF-1 due to the whole folding of space, vortex thingy that results in the ship being lost in space.
It's brilliant. One of the Animes that was greatly instrumental in realising the West to Anime. A true classic, in every sense.

Gothmog, skip it (FMA). I watched the first and some random, later episodes and can say it has been labeled as "Kids-Only."

1) The protagonist is a boy suffering from the middle-puberty.

2) The plot is in SOME cases shallow. I particularly remember the "Blue Rose" episode where he just murders this one, mislead man, gives some philosophical BS (or *shrug*), and walks off as a hero. :nolike:

3) It's all about battles, battles, and smart-ass battles. He meets one baddie, kills him, and moves on. Even though it shouldn't be as "deep" as in the Ghost in the Shell -episodes, I think this serie is pretty shallow.

I think that the characters have been aimed for younger audiences -a bit too much. Poop, stay away after the first three episodes. :p

Trigun and Cowboy Bebop here, not really a fan of many other anime, I love those two though.

@Topdawg
If you love those two, there's absolutely no reason you wont also love others ;)
I watched both and i must say there are a lot of animes that i consider better than Trigun (eventhough it's good). Tougher to be better than Cowboy Bebop though ;)


OOO, Wirhe, i couldnt disagree more!

Edward in puberty?
He's pretty much the right age, but he's way to serious to be considered a typical teenager. It also doesnt show any of the dillemas of his, which are most commong when picturing teenagers in the hight of puberty

Plot.
I dont recall the Blue Rose episode, but whole in whole i'd say the plot isnt anything really special, but still above the typical standards. Another point is that he isnt a hero more often than he is. Just his quest alone isnt heroic, people dont go cheering him like he was on a crusade or something.

All about battles?!
In this anime especialy i dont see battles as an excuse for plot and rather the opposite. There are plenty, plenty animes which have battles as the main plot. The whole getting stronger idea. Here, though the plot is clear: Getting the Philosophers Stone. The secondary thing is how much they're willing to sacrifice for it. As we see later it comes down to Edward-sama almost sacrificing a bunch of humans to produce the stone. He doesnt do it of course, since it couldnt just end there ;)
But the battles are a consequence of the story, not that the fights ARE the story, as is more often seen. Plus there are always moral dillemas instead of the standard fillings.


But i sure as hell dont know why someone rated it for kids only!
The drawing style IS cute, little more than in others, but the story is a complete opposite!
Just how can it be for kids, when it includes so many very cruel actions in it!
The one with a military man sacrificing his own wife to produce some results of his Speaking Chimera research. And two years later he also combines his dog and his younger than 10 daughter to produce another one! The creators introduced the dog and the girl especialy well, as very friendly, kind and cute and there was no mention the father was a "bad" man. A few days later it turns out he fused them together to produce another speaking chimera!

This is the example that comes to my mind right away. It's not nearly the only one though!
Few episodes pass without mentioning some cruel act of someone. The difference between the Good and the Evil are also very blurred here. You simply cannot state for some characters whether they're evil or not. Or if they are Evil, they're nothing like the standard villians. Nothing at all.

I much doubt i'm alone in my opinion that FullMetal alchemist is a great anime. If anyone else watched it here, please, share your opinions.

@Wirhe
You sure you gave it a good shot?
I really think that if you watched it nice in order, you'd come to change your opinion. I'm quite sure, really.

I don't watch anime....well ever and I don't even know if this falls into that catagory but I extremely enjoyed watching Daft Punk's Interstellar 5555.

With absolutely no spoken dialogue whatsover save the lyrics in a few songs, I found it a thrilling ride.

The combination of movie and music blends perfectly together.

I thought some famous japanese guy made this but I can't remember his name, not so hard when it is japanese and I'm not very fluent in that particular language ;)

My two favourite anime movie-length features are Laputa (Castle in the Sky) and Nausicaa (Valley of the Wind). Saw them when I was 9 or 10 and it captured something in the imagination that many cartoons/anime nowadays just don't. Neon Genesis Evangelion was fantastic and deep enough to be enjoyable.

Favourite anime series is Magical Taluluto-kun. Obscure as hell, but stunning animation and insanely funny in some weird Japanese kind of way.

I remember watching a lot of robot (mecha) series when I was younger and those were quite good. You had everything from Transformer rip-offs to Voltron wannabes. But they would always be great as Japanese animation is always stellar.

I am in love with Rurouni Kenshin. Absolutely adore that show, and am planning on buying the OVA and OAV. But besides that, I also like Gundam Seed, and will watch the occasional episode of Inuyasha... however, that one gets a little too sexual sometimes... but is often good for laughs.

In the way of movies, Spirited Away is magnificent, as well as Castle in the Sky and Mononoke Hime.

I haven't seen Akira but most of what I hear is that its good... but I can't find it to rent it and find out for myself! Argh!