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Well, I cant say for sure without seeing the packaging, but I can give you a link to a site that has information that can help you avoid unlicensed products while still being able to import. The Bootleg Guide

Safest imports are from Region 2, but they will cost you more then domestic release stuff. Domestic, most stores never have an entire seties unless it's a box set, so mail order via the internet is most common IMO.

Anipike is a great resorce for anime information as well as links to various places that sell anime worldwide.

Ranma movies?
that's not new...

It is one thing to give the Disney spin to something that is as fun to read as Treasure Island" (even if they give it a poor treatment). I have a problem with the fact that they will probably turn around and try to sell the fact that they put so much technical merit into the film that they should recieve some kind of recognition. That is just wrong. (Recognition they will then use as, "Print Spin" on their DVD marketing.) This is why we are behind the TIMES!!! I cannot wait until they give Beyond Good and EviltheDisney spin.

Amazon lists are a good start. If you search Amazon for Bebop you'll get recommendations from similiar minded folks. As discussed in prior comments there are many different flavors. Anime Turnpike is also a good resource. Cartoon Network edits sucketh, but they do introduce people to the genre.... Personally Bebop is one of my favorites. Some 'classics' you might start out with:

Ghost in the Shell
Akira
Serial Experiments Lain
Fist of the Northstar
Princess Mononoke
My Neighbor Totoro

Well, one of my stories, anyway. I used a grand total of 6 metatags in my index header. When I submitted it to AltaVista, I found that three of them turned my page up number one on the results list. The other three put me in the top 10 results easy. That's the one and only time I've ever used a metatag. The result? Well, I can't really say that all of the nearly 100,000 hits I've gotten this past year has come from that search engine (I also had a listing on the Anime Web Turnpikefor a time), but since my other listings have been removed, I can safely say that it hasn't hurt my counter stats at all.

Pr0n mongers aren't the only ones who have used them successfully. Of course, they're targeting a 'niche' audience (a big one), and I'm targeting a smaller one. But hey, beggers can't be choosers, right? I never expected to see my counter get anywhere close to 100,000 in the short time it has, and I can partially thank metatags for that result.

Hi there,

I am living in Central Jersey as well (near New Brunswick).
I'm not sure exactly where you are in Central NJ, but here is a list of what I have found:

Knight Dreams
82 Nassau St. 2nd Floor, Princeton, NJ 08542
(609) 497-4525
Knight Dreams has an extremely huge Anime rental selection; if you name it they probably have it.
The only store which has a good selection on both VHS and DVD.
They also sell comics/manga and host gaming nights. The owner there is very nice.
I highly recommend this place.

Video Stars
1745 State Route 27, Edison NJ
(732)287-9444
Has an anime section, but it seems mostly Hentai oriented (sexually explicit). Somehow, the owners think every anime is the same. Thus, "Ranma" (mostly a kids comedy) has an "18 or over" sticker on it, and sits next to "La Blue Girl" (hentai). However, the non-hentai material includes: Bastard!, Slayers, Video Girl AI, Gundam Movies.
Another annoying thing: for some reason, they often have just one tape of a series, and it will be a tape other than volume 1.

Raritan Video
75 Raritan Ave, Highland Park NJ
(732)846-2224
This has a decent selection, has no hentai, and is located in the middle of the store. They have some Dragon Ball, Akira, Record of Lodoss War, Macross Plus.

Hollywood Video
725 Promenade Blvd, Bridgewater NJ
(732)564-0245
Chain rental stores are a hit-or-miss, when it comes to Anime. This particular store has an Anime section that includes: Cowboy Bebop, Blue Seed, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Patlabor, Vampire Princess (OVA). They rent for five days, so it might be worth taking the trip.

Blockbuster Video
7000 Hadley Rd, South Plainfield NJ
(908)561-1222
Another big-bad-boy chain. This store seems to mostly carry action-packed and shonen (boys) anime.
Some titles include: Akira, Macross II movie, Ninja Scroll (on DVD), Slayers movie.

Buying Anime
If you are looking to buy Anime, the stores in the malls often carry a huge selection.
Check out Sam Goody, SunCoast video or Saturday Matinee.
However, I usually find cheaper prices online at Amazon and Buy.com.

NYC:
Metro Anime Shopping Guide
This Metro Anime group seems to be very active, and has compiled a very handy shopping guide.

NYC-anime.com shopping guide
This guide has a good map of Manhattan, pointing out locations of Anime and Manga stores.

Conventions
Shoujocon 2002
If you are into Shoujo (girl's comics/anime) at all, you might want to check out Shoujocon. It is happening July 19-21 at the Hilton in East Brunswick. This will be my first year, so I cannot comment about it personally, but from what I have heard, it sounds like a lot of fun.

Web Resources
Anime Turnpike
This is a pretty good starting point for all things anime on the web.

AnimeFu
Yeah, yeah - I know it's under the "Quick Links" section of Slashdot,but this is a good place to learn. I like to check the new reviews daily.

Recommended Anime/Manga
Here's a list of recommended Anime and Manga. Opinions vary, of course, but this seems like a good starting point for Anime beginners. It sure helped me understand what's out there.

Hope that helps!
--
jason

someone mentioned AniPike in a previous message, but they didn't mention this specific list

Anime Web TurnPike's Online Shopping guide

other lists I know of:

Anime Web Turnpike's Shopping Guide

Anime Shopping Guide/Ratings not sure who maintains this, its also included in the above link

Manga and Anime Stores (this is an AOL link though, don't know if it will work

One thing to keep in mind, not all anime you come across on the web or in RL is legit. I've seen tons of bootlegs for sale, even after anime is becoming more available domestically. Watch out for independent stores/sites in particular. Some bootleg packaging is looking more legit than licensed stuff. I can think of a half dozen sites/stores that carry bootlegs, and I've seen several mentioned already, but I hesitate to name them for fear of being sued or something. Not only are you ripping off the creators and giving money to immoral types, but you generally get really crappy quality. The packaging is NOT representative of the product at all. You are likely to find horrible translations with unreadable grammar, poorly timed subtitles, subtitles that are a bad color or cut off at the ends and just low grade video and audio in general. Sometimes its a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of some guys VHS tape off of tv, even though its on DVD.

And finally, because I've spent around $10k on anime in the past 10 years, I'll list a few of the places the majority of money has gone to and I've never had any problems with (DVD bootlegs, bad service, etc...):

Anime Castle

Anime Plus

Nikaku

Amazon.com

and Media Play (pricey!) for those anime cravings so severe you just can't wait for the webstores to deliver

someone mentioned AniPike in a previous message, but they didn't mention this specific list

Anime Web TurnPike's Online Shopping guide

other lists I know of:

Anime Web Turnpike's Shopping Guide

Anime Shopping Guide/Ratings not sure who maintains this, its also included in the above link

Manga and Anime Stores (this is an AOL link though, don't know if it will work

One thing to keep in mind, not all anime you come across on the web or in RL is legit. I've seen tons of bootlegs for sale, even after anime is becoming more available domestically. Watch out for independent stores/sites in particular. Some bootleg packaging is looking more legit than licensed stuff. I can think of a half dozen sites/stores that carry bootlegs, and I've seen several mentioned already, but I hesitate to name them for fear of being sued or something. Not only are you ripping off the creators and giving money to immoral types, but you generally get really crappy quality. The packaging is NOT representative of the product at all. You are likely to find horrible translations with unreadable grammar, poorly timed subtitles, subtitles that are a bad color or cut off at the ends and just low grade video and audio in general. Sometimes its a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of some guys VHS tape off of tv, even though its on DVD.

And finally, because I've spent around $10k on anime in the past 10 years, I'll list a few of the places the majority of money has gone to and I've never had any problems with (DVD bootlegs, bad service, etc...):

Anime Castle

Anime Plus

Nikaku

Amazon.com

and Media Play (pricey!) for those anime cravings so severe you just can't wait for the webstores to deliver

www.anipike.com has a pretty comprehensive list of stores, both online and physical, as well as plenty of other resources.

Also, check out local comic shops. Comic stores usually carry some amount of anime/manga stuff

The best way I know of is a little backwards. The first step is to find the closest anime convention in your area. The Anime Web Turnpike is a good spot for this. There con page is here

Once you find a local con, find out who is sponsoring it. There is usually one or two anime stores in the area that are paying for ad space.
Also see if there is a MediaPlay or a Suncoast store near you. They tend have a pretty decet selection of anime.
Good luck.

The best way I know of is a little backwards. The first step is to find the closest anime convention in your area. The Anime Web Turnpike is a good spot for this. There con page is here

Once you find a local con, find out who is sponsoring it. There is usually one or two anime stores in the area that are paying for ad space.
Also see if there is a MediaPlay or a Suncoast store near you. They tend have a pretty decet selection of anime.
Good luck.

Got to love that broad brush you paint alot of people with. Sort of the same brush folks use to paint people with above-average computer skills as "nerds" and "geeks" -- you know, lower than them because of being "less normal". Whatever the fuck that means -- I've never met a normal person -- but I digress.

I take the view that the original article was nothing more than food for the bean counters. Anime fandom is a bit like most other geek-leaning fandoms: tons of anal-retentives who ignore normal things (taking baths, socializing, etc); all for the joys of super-analyzing their particular hobby down to the sub-atomic particles. What do you want? The original article is on a column about edits to anime. Of course it's going to be spacious and go into detail that's not important to the normal viewer.

But I do find it rather funny that Yet Another Idiot is pushing the "anime is kiddie p0rn" angle. From your chest-puffing boast regarding having written a "manual" that says anime cons are big circlejerks to your quickness in pointing out the obvious content of the questions that relate to sex or sexuality; I'd say you're the one with the "sex" problem here. I suppose you could just be a sexually-frustrated middle-aged pot-bellied fella who wants to feel bigger by shooting at a rather harmless fandom (and one that doesn't really roll through Slashdot in any significant numbers).

If the only significant thing you have to say is "anime is kiddie p0rn", then why the hell are you responding to this? Somehow, in some small way, you hope to find fans who will rally around your silly and unimportant assertions? Rah rah for you. If you even knew what the hell Toonami was, you might actually be capable of contributing a worthwhile response; but alas, you're simply a windbag like many a "superior" nut I've run across. Perhaps you lazily typed in a worthless source of info in your quest for truth, and decided this was anime as far as you could find it with the search tools at your disposal. Did you even bother to Google your way to a passing understanding?

Read. Watch. Learn.
Do these things BEFORE you open your mouth (or pound your keyboard); you might actually (gasp) change your view of things!

Hmmm... Maybe my distaste for anime stems from the fact that there are no hot anime guys?

No hot anime guys?? What have you been watching? You've never seen Yami no Matsuei? Weiss Kreuz? Fushigi Yuugi? There are plenty of hot anime guys, you've just gotta find them!

The ultimate link site for all anime, praise be its name, is the animation turnpike,
Anime Turnpike
where you can graze and explore for days.

If you want some comments and suggestions there's a number of good anime review pages. Here's a page with links to a couple
Anime Meta review sources page
There's a link there to Anime on DVD, which is your best source for finding out what's commercially available.

As for the article, looked like a bunch of factoids compressed into a rambling article. But at least it was relatively fair on both sides.

Progress in computer hardware has followed an amazingly steady curve in the last few decades [17]. Based largely on this trend, I believe that the creation of greater than human intelligence will occur during the next thirty years.

So we're still on track for Bubblegum Crisis then ^_^

Anyway, what attracts people is the great variety, engaging storylines and likeable characters. If you've only ever seen tentacle rape stuff, then you must have looked only at pr0n sites.

"Most of this Hollywood crap I've stumbled across the web is something along the lines of a blonde with a boob job who is supposedly a housewife being penetrated in turn in the majority of her orifices by a guy who is supposedly a postman. Can someone explain to me the attraction of Hollywood movies?"

How about starting an exploration of what Anime is really like at the Anime Turnpike?

> The typical age for people who visit my site range from 13 to 23 who run on fast connections and the newer browsers.

I have a cable modem, but I do admit I'm a little outside your target range. Do you realize that by limiting your page in this way, you are helping to ensure that the group of people who visit your site doesn't change? That is, when you turn people away when their web browser doesn't meet what you deem appropriate, you have changed things from 'people who happen to visit my page,' to 'people who I will allow to visit my page.'

> It's fine for them. In fact, if you go around and look at other sites that focus on the same genre of Japanese animation,

And that would be, what, shojo? I have to guess, since I'm not able to actually see enough of the sites to know what they're really about. The guy who does Anipike's Last Exit, found here,

http://www.anipike.com/lastexit/archive.html

has complained about this kind of thing in the past: while dedicated shojo sites are often very pretty, they drive him nuts with various javascript requirements and other problems put in the hands of your visitors.

I don't blame you, or expect you to change. They're your sites, and in the end the only one who needs to be happy with them is you. However, I won't be visiting your sites either, because you won't let me...

And an undetermined amount of words:
The ultimate geek anime. Give it time and it will blow your mind. You gotta get through the first episodes to be enlightened.
--
$HOME is where the .*rc is

I think the whole 'Goddesses war' has something to do with Washuu, and 2 other Goddesses, whose names I can't remember, one of which had it out for Washuu for some reason.

But this is probably wrong in some aspects...Try some Anipike links...Some of them might be useful.

Fansubs! Fansubs fansubs fansubs!

Go to The Anime Turnpike. Start your search there. I recommend using Kodocha Anime.
-----------

Anime conventions happen every month across the country (and world), there's many places that give notification and info on what conventions are coming up. The Animerica magazine lists them, as well as Anipike

okay...


Here is a link to an interesting Lain site, Thought Experiments Lain. It has spoilers galore, and a good explanation of the computer, literary and historical references in the anime. Don't visit the site unless youve seen Lain in its entierty and are trying to make some sense of it.

Here's a link to my little' 'ol Lain Gallery. With plenty of pretty pictures for you to look at.

I was also at otakon, but I went to the bandai panel instead of Lain. Got an interview with the guys for atanime.com too. (eep, shameless self promotion!) BTW, did anyone else who was there think that BOA's Performace at otakon was sub-par?

Anipike has plenty of links for other stuff.

Personally, I loved this anime and found it intriguing. Yes, I do think it is VERY pretencious, but that just part of the experience. When doing an anime like this, its impossible to avoid it. Eva was amazingly pretencious too. Lain is currently my favorite set of anime dvds, and if you havnt seen it yet, I honestly reccomend checking it out.

Okay, Im done..

Card Captor Sakura's been showing on WB for about a month or two. Unfortunately, they renamed the series to Cardcaptors and cut out a lot of the episodes focusing on Sakura. Check out http://www.anipike.com/lastexit/lexit2.html for more info (only good for 4 more days, it's the July issue)

http://www.redrival.com/moonbrat/c herryblossoms/ looks like a pretty good site for analysis of the American dub.

Younger audience:
Slayers (magic, comedy, adventure)

Slightly older audience:
DNA^2 (romance, comedy)
Kenshin (romance, some action, comedy)
Bubblegum crisis (action)
Lodoss War (a chronicle of an ADND game)

More Drama:
Macross 7 (available on SenshiTV (music, soul-searching stuff))

If you like this stuff, check out Anipike or Anime on DVD

It does appear now that there enough Slashdot authors interested in posting Anime news that they should make an Anime Topic. If Slashdot does decide to go for it, use Anipike, EX, and A Fan's View for useful URLs. ^_^

EX right now is running a feature on BONES, the production house that brought out fine works like ESCAFLOWNE and COWBOY BEBOP. Cover art done by Kawamoto himself! ^_^

I like the interest in Anime you guys are showing. Please keep it up!

For those who aren't as enlightened with Tenchi Muyou, you can find out information on the series and characters from The Anipike's Tenchi Muyou! Links page.

However, if you wish to be held over until this third series appears, one of the largest fan sites online happens to be a fan fiction site dedicated to Tenchi Muyou! itself. You can visit the Tenchi Muyou! Fan Fiction Archive and read several hundred pieces of works in nicely organized categories.

Many people have gotten hooked on Anime with Tenchi and would love to see it continued. This is why Slashdot figured it would be so newsworthy. It's been one of the major shows to help the explosion of anime in America.
Dragon Magic

• Ayashi-no Seles
  • Ayashi.net
• Bubblegum Crisis
  • Bubblegum Crisis page
  • Tokyo 2040: Rare and Useless Pages
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion site
• A.D.V. Films
• AnimEigo
• Anime Grapevine
• Anime Hideaway
• Anime International Company
• Anime Marriage Prospects
• Anime Nation
• Anime On DVD
• AniPike
• AniSound
• Ex
• OX-11 ("Gall Force: The Web Page")
• U.S. Manga Corps

Overwhelming diehard answer? Don't leave the video store with it.

As most of us that have been doing Anime for long know, and as some people have already been kind enough to point out, dubbing is usually bad news. About the best that I have seen (and I've seen many, many bad dubs) was the 'El Hazard' series. Makoto is to die for.. but even HE is a bit annoying.

Just a little shoot and ladder slip.. if you want to find just about anything on ANYTHING Anime, check out Anipike.com and behold the wonderment. The site itself is a little shot job, but the links.. oh gods.. the links.

Now, please pass the Record of the Lodoss Wars? I could use a little Pirotess action.

Thanks, two people called me on that one. I watched them all at the same time (about 6 years ago, except GitS), and between theme, mood and art style the FILMS look the same. I have Shirow's manga, but not Kishiro's, which is where I went wrong, apparently.

Side note for Taco: The best place to start for info on anime is The Anime Turnpike. I was able to verify your correction at Rei's, those crazy MIT kids have/did have(?) a fan club and screenings and stuff.

-jpowers

Before I get into the recommendations, there are a few things I'd like to say. I was actually a bit reluctant to post this at first. For one, judging by the 650+ posts already up, I didn't think that my suggestions would be original or insightful, and I also didn't want to overly influence anyone with my pre-determined convictions about things such as dubbing or certain series. I generally think that any good reviews anime in general gets is beneficial, because for too long it has been stigmatized as pornographic or violent cartoons, without any thought to the incredibly complex and intricate plots, beautiful artwork, and simply moving characterization some series express. I hesitate before calling it cartoons because it groups what is a work of art with production crap such as Scooby Doo. Of course, not all anime is top notch, but some, in my experience, is even better than the $140 million Hollywood movies (in fact, a lot of it is.)

It really disheartens me when people cite Dragon Ball Z (FUNimation/Cartoon Network Style) as an anime they've seen. The FUNimation english adaptation is perhaps the worst I've ever seen. I strongly suggest, if you have even the slightest liking of the English version, that you search around and find Fansubs of DBZ. (For those of you who are ill-informed, fansubs are anime, and sometimes other imports, that are subtitled by fans of the show, shows, or just anime in general. The advantage of fansubs being that they are cheaper, usually $25 for 4 tapes or so, completely uncut, and still contain the original japanese voice actors.) I also might note that fansubs of anime that has already been released in the U.S. is not wholly legal, but I don't think charging $29.95 before shipping and handling is all that legal either, or shouldn't be.

If you are interested, I'm fairly sure Planet Namek (http://www.planetnamek.com) still distributes fansubs, and if not, they do have links to other DBZ fansubbers. And not just DBZ can be gotten demi-legally through fansubs. Almost any anime you want can be found. Think of fansubbers as the open sourcers of the anime community and FUNimation as the Microsoft. Although, not all distributers are that evil, ADV, Pioneer, and others all do good jobs, but they still cost more than they should (Can anyone explain to my why Subtitles cost more than Dubbed?!? Talk about logical fallacies...)

Besides the FUNi DBZ, all the other animes written about by CmdrTaco get at least a B+ in my book. If you get the chance to watch the Cowboy Bebop intro scene -- it's just plain funny.

On to my recommendations:

• First comes Neon Genesis Evangelion (Shin Seiki Evangelion), a very intricate and complex story by Hideaki Anno about a young man named Shinji who forced to pilot an enormous biological robot under the command of his draconian father. This is possibly the best serialized anime I have ever seen (bet you haven't heard that before =P). Its plot follows 26 episodes and 2 movies, starting at what seems like a simply boy-piloting-giant-robot fighting series into a teen angst filled story about love, triumph, the meaning of life, and the existance of humanity. One of the greatest things about this series is that you can watch it a million times and pick up new foreshadowing, clues, and religious overtones every time (this series uses a lot of religious allusions, which is one of of its best features if you like that sort of thing.) NGE also features and excellent soundtrack, with some of the more catchy tunes I've heard. Beware watching large segments of this series at once: the Cicada sound gets _very_ irritating, and it will probably leave your mind lightly crispy. After you're done watching it (AND NOT BEFORE!) I strongly recommend you go read the fanfiction by those guys over at Eyrie productions (http://www.eyrie.net) called Neon Exodus Evangelion, which provides a very captivating spin on the series.
• Next on the list comes anything by the incredible manga artist Rumiko Takihashi. Her works include Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkukou, and Urusei Yatsura, all of which are quite good. Most of her stories focus on comedy between somehow afflicted lovers, friends, or those stuck in awkward situations. Her works can be quite touching at times and can make even the stiffest upper lip crack a smile.
• Of course, the obligatory Ghost in the Shell comes in here. Interesting story about an android and the computer virus she loves, or something like that. Read other people's reviews for more in-depth.
• One of the less heralded, but no less great works is Peacock King, an interesting story about demons and all sorts of cool stuff there. One of the characters in this story led me and my friends to come up with a skill called "The Ability to Look Like a Bad-Ass", rated on a scale of 1 to 50, its how bad ass you look, reguardless of your actual skill or anything like that. See the anime, and you will understand.
• One comedy series that definitely needs menion is Tenchi-Muyo, a Rumiko Takahashi-esque story about a young man named Tenchi, beautiful alien space pirates, and all sorts of damn funny hijinks.
• While we're on the subject of comedy, perhaps the funniest anime series I've seen is Slayers. It's about a young sorceress who goes around and adventures. Think: DnD. It has a giant fish with legs, 'nuff said.
• If you like guns and shooting and Matrix-style fighting, check out Gunsmith Cats. Chicks with Guns. Funny and fun.
• I almost left out one of the first anime I ever saw, Guyver which was also made into a few American movies. It's a bit old school 80s in its animation, and the plot isn't super-intense, I still like it, and think it's worth watching. Some nice DBZ-style action and evil-megacorporation type menace with the thrown in alien over power for flavor.
• While I'm remembering good anime, BubbleGun Crisis is one of the neatest 80s mechanized fighting evil corporation type anime out there. This is actually just an 8 OAV (Original Animation Video, i.e. released straight to video) set, but still quite good. It also features poofy hair and 80s J-pop music if that floats your boat. On the other side it has very neato technology that'll keep you hooked afterwards. There's also an RPG based on it.
• An excellent movie to watch is Macross 7. It has a decent Mindfuck factor (a scale of 1 to 11 of how confusing it is; Evangelion being 11, Scooby Doo being 0) and some of the _most_beautiful_animation_ I've seen, ever. A definite watch if you can find it. Good music too.

/RAMBLE

- the Pfish

My best friend is a complete otaku (obsessed anime fan), and has brought me along in many of her anime adventures. These are some of the ones I've seen, and my thoughts on each.

Sorceror Hunters - In a world where sorcery is forbidden a group of people (all named after food incidentally) are given the task of destroying those who go against the rules. A wonderful anime in my opinion, it is hilariously funny, but not for children.

Fushigi Yuugi - Another excellent anime. The main character is a ditz from our world who gets sent back to ancient China by reading a book called "Universe of the Four Gods." The people there recognize her as a priestess and she is given the mission of saving a kingdom from their neighbor. There are seven chosen people from that kingdom who she must find to help her first. This anime is one of my favorites. It has wonderful animation, and a terrific story line. A must-see.

Shinesman - This is a hilarious parody of many shows, mainly Power Rangers. I've only seen one tape of it, but I laughed very hard throughout. "You saw the bare skin of royalty! Now I either have to kill you or make you my boyfriend!" - Princess Shina

Ranma 1/2 - A fun anime involving gender-switching, people changing into cats, pandas and little black pigs, and obsessive characters. The plot is very hard to say in a little blurb, because it keeps becoming more and more complicated. A definate must-see.

Oh! My Goddess - A college student mistakenly calls the Goddess Hotline while attempting to order pizza. The Goddess says that she can answer any one wish. Keiichi, thinking it's a joke, says that he wants her to be his girlfriend, so she comes to his dorm, and becomes his girlfriend. The anime continues on their life, and things become more complicated when the goddess' sisters join her. Good anime.

Serial Experiments Lain - This is by far the weirdest anime I have seen. Extremely good, but after only seeing the first for episodes, or layers, I was a little confused. If you have access to the whole series, you should definately watch this. Good Night, Navi. - Lain

Kodomo No Omocha - I've seen about the first four fansubbed episodes which I downloaded. The animation is really good, especially the eyes. It's about a girl who is an actor in a TV show called "Child's Play" (also the name of the anime) and her trials in dealing with the class bullies. I really like this anime. I downloaded it from Lunaarts Anime, sorry, I no longer have the link, but well worth the download.

Those are some of the anime that I have seen and enjoyed, I hope it's of some use. You can find information about these anime and many others at the Anime Web Turnpike. A very good compilation of links to anime websites. Thanks for taking the time to read this! ^_^

Trigun -- A funny slapstick comedy centered around a character who hides his competence, and a cool sci-fi tinted western.

Giant Robo -- Epic drama, badass fights between espers, and retro 70s animation. One of the best of all time.

Evangelion -- A psychological study in depression, with cool living robots, though there's a little fan-service they bring up constantly as a joke.

Visions of Escaflowne -- Beautiful visuals, cool fantasy, a tale of altered fate and romance.

Cowboy Bebop -- An ultra-cool vision of the future that's neither dystopian nor utopian. Lots of great action and intriguing characters.

Serial Experiments Lain -- Wow. What more can I say? This is the penultimate work of cyberspace mergine with the real world. See it, but be prepared to be confused as most of what happens in the plot is a mystery and much of it is allegorical or left unexplained.

Slayers -- The series from Software Sculptors, not the OAVs or the movies as they feature Naga, which fits the stereotype, though you never see her once do anything sexual. The series is a hillarious swords and sorcery romp that refuses to get serious for more than a few minutes at a time (much to the dismay of Zelgadis, one of the characters).


P.S. I'm not just the president of my college anime club, I'm also a client.

This is all good stuff, most of which is on DVD, so it's accessible. There are a lot of good series that aren't commercially available in the US though which can be obtained as fansubs (fan subtitled copies) or raw (sometimes with translated scripts that you can refer to ;)

• Vision of Escaflowne
  1 part fantasy, 1 part mecha, 1 part brilliant music by Yoko Kanno (Japan's answer to John Williams), 1 part fun with physics and a dash of Bob Hope's nose. Excellent. On DVD in October.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
  Giant mecha and girls, but so much more. It gets heady with lots of religion and philosophy. Expect to watch it twice. It owes a lot to the old British Thunderbirds show, particularly in the realm of music. (sounds 50's and 60's) Excellent work by Gainax, as usual. Coming out on DVD now.
• Castle of Cagliostro
  The best of the Lupin III films, largely because it's by Miyazaki (Nausicaa, Totoro, etc.) On DVD now, very good.
• Serial Experiments Lain
  Weird and creepy. Good animation, gets hard to figure out what's happening towards the end. Which really just means that you should watch it again ;) On DVD.
• Macross Plus
  Top Gun, with mecha and computer generated idol singers. Good animation, great music (Yoko Kanno again) especially fun for fans of Macross or Robotech. On DVD now.
• Bubblegum Crisis
  Animation quality is fairly poor until halfway through, but it's actually a good series. It was done in the late 80's, it's cyberpunk and it owes more than a little to Blade Runner. Worth seeing, if only because most big anime otaku have seen it and it's still popular. Not to be confused with Bubblegum Crash (the awful sequel) or Bubblegum Crisis: 2040 (the 90's remake). On DVD now.
• Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Laputa Castle in the Sky, My Friend Totoro, everything else by Miyazaki
  Miyazaki is good. Disney got a lot of rights, but there are no DVDs yet of his Studio Ghibli stuff. Some of it is on tape. If you like Spielberg movies (good, sense of adventure, happy ending) you're going to like his films.
• Cowboy Bebop
  Bounty hunters in a well-developed solar system. Can range from hilarious to gritty. Excellent characters, animation, Yoko Kanno music. A solid winner. Coming out on DVD now. A must-see.
• Wings of Honneamise
  Rumored for DVD for some time now. Early space exploration in an alternate world where no one treats the space forces seriously. The first big thing from Gainax. Very good. You can see it on tape, at least.
• Grave of the Fireflies
  Tragic story of a brother and sister at the end of WW2. Good but really sad.
• Ghost in the Shell
  Really, the manga (comic) version is better. It's pretty deep for a cyberpunk special ops movie, but Shirow, the guy that does the manga (and another one, Appleseed) is like that. Sweet animation though. On DVD now.
• Patlabor 2
  The 2nd Patlabor movie. Since the backstory for the world relies on knowing more about Patlabor, it's a near future where labors (mecha) are used in construction of a global-warming-rising-seas-proof dam around Tokyo Bay. Naturally criminals start using the labors and so the police get a few PATrol LABORs of their own. Darker than the series, with conspiracies and terrorists. Same animation as Ghost in the Shell. Excellent movie. On DVD soon.
• Record of Lodoss War
  A 13 part series based, it's said, on the D&D campaign of the creators. Really quite good if you're into fantasy. Even has elf babes. ;) On DVD now. A sequel has come out recently on VHS, and will probably be on DVD soon.

And of course there are a zillion anime series of every genre and sub genre. There are just not so many DVDs and not enough commercial releases on disc or tape. For those of you wanting to find more, check out:

• Anipike the yahoo of anime
• Anime on DVD
• EX a good web magazine.

Between all of these, you're sure to find some good stuff, and more information.

I know everyone will have their own list, but I figured I'd contribute part of mine.

Some titles that I haven't seen much mention of here but are definately worth a look are Combustible Campus Guardress, and Dragon Half. I don't believe you can get anything but a fansub of CCG in the US, but I do believe Amazon has Dragon Half available on VHS, with a DVD imminent.

Another excellent, if somewhat confusing title is X/1999. This was in theaters recently in the US, and will be out on DVD this summer.

You can find oodles of info on these anime (and many others) at AniPike. Happy hunting!

Up until two weeks ago, all I had heard about this show was that it was good.

I was wrong. This thing *rules*.

I'll try not to give away too much of the plot, but here goes: the time is late 1860's Japan,
just after the ending of the Tokugawa dynasty and at the beginning of the Meiji. One of the
fighters for the revolution, Himura Kenshin, forsakes his old life as an assassin and goes
ronin, vowing never to take another life again and instead using a 'sakaba' sword, a katana with
the sharp and blunt sides reversed (ie he hits people with the blunt side). While he may want
to atone for his past actions, the past isn't quite through with him . . .

I love this show. Every last minute of it. It meets all the criteria for a good anime: large,
intricate plot with numerous story arcs, comedy, a bit of romance and, most
importantly, a kickass sword fight every episode.

The show in Japan ran 98 episodes, ending some time in 1998, IIRC. There is
also a manga edition that the anime is based on, which is supposed to be top-notch.

There is no official North American release, so the only way to see this is to go
the way of fansubs. I'm not sure how many different fansubs are out there, but avoid the
Hecto fansub like the plague. They smell.

For more information check out any of the info sites listed at The Anime Web Turnpike

If you are looking for some Anime resources on line, here is a short list off the top of my head:

- EX
This is a review site that reviews a ton of Anime, Anime Music, Manga(comics where a lot of Anime comes from), and other stuff(games, books, etc that are Anime related). One of the oldest and longest running online Anime e-zines.

EX is one of the best magazines out there for anime in the US. The US print mags are sorta sub-standard IMHO.

- Hitoshi Doi's Seiyuu Database
Hitoshi's exploits as a Seiyuu(a voice actor/actress) are legendary and his database shows it. If there was a piece of animation made in Japan and there was a speaking role in it, it has been cataloged here. Great for crossref-ing your favorite actress!

Still the best resource out there, but is starting to show a lot of holes recently... there's only so much Hitoshi can keep up with, and he seems to be mostly interested in shoujo or otherwise cutesy series.

Conventions(there are a bunch...to list them all would kill me ^_^)
- Anime Expo
Southern California con. Quite possibly, the "high profile Anime con" where a lot of the domestics and some of the Japanese companies make announcements.

Going this year! Woohoo! Got my Zelgadis costume ready too...

Finally....
- Anipike
An ambitious attempt to catalog all of the Anime content out there on the web. Has an interesting "Last Exit" column that showcases the best(and the worse) of Anime Online. This site is great to find anything and everything Anime.

YMMV. I can't say I always agree with Ryan in his column, but he seems to have a very moderate viewpoint, between casual and hardcore fan.

I was gonna write one, but I'll just be lazy and add to yours. ^_^

Anything by Miyazaki: thought provoking, stunning visuals, excellent story telling. Examples: Mononoke Hime, Kiki's Delivery Service, Naussica.

Amen! Add My Neighbor Totoro to this list. Also, "coming soon," Castle in the Sky (otherwise known as Laputa)

Another one by the same studio: Grave of the Fireflies. Guaranteed to make you and everyone around you cry. Stock up on the Kleenex.

Bubblegum Crisis (original and 2040): one of the most popular 80's series, a cyberpunk thriller. 2040 came out a couple of years ago and is a remodified verion.

If you see the original version, be sure and get the subtitled version. The original music rocked. The replacement band they used for the dub was lame.

AD Police is the prequel to this series, and is also good. My additions to this fine list:

Vampire Princess Miyu: Not your usual vampire thriller.

Kimagure Orange Road (aka: Whimsical Orange Road, KOR): High school kids, love triangles, a small amount of the supernatural. Sitcom-style comedy. Good scripts with well-formed characters.

Sol Bianca: Sci-fi. The best spaceship cloaking animation ever. Good story, also.

The link I haven't seen yet: Anime Turnpike
--

I'm glad someone here brought this up. ^_^

If you are looking for some Anime resources on line, here is a short list off the top of my head:

- EX
This is a review site that reviews a ton of Anime, Anime Music, Manga(comics where a lot of Anime comes from), and other stuff(games, books, etc that are Anime related). One of the oldest and longest running online Anime e-zines.

- Hitoshi Doi's Seiyuu Database
Hitoshi's exploits as a Seiyuu(a voice actor/actress) are legendary and his database shows it. If there was a piece of animation made in Japan and there was a speaking role in it, it has been cataloged here. Great for crossref-ing your favorite actress!

Conventions(there are a bunch...to list them all would kill me ^_^)
- Anime Expo
Southern California con. Quite possibly, the "high profile Anime con" where a lot of the domestics and some of the Japanese companies make announcements.

- Anime Central
Chicago area con. Great con for those of us who live in the center of the country. ^_^;

Business...
- A.D. Films
Domestic distributor of stuff shows like Evangelion.
- Anime Village
Domestic distributor of stuff shows like Cowboy Bebop.
- Pioneer Anime
Domestic distributor of shows like Tenchi.

Finally....
- Anipike
An ambitious attempt to catalog all of the Anime content out there on the web. Has an interesting "Last Exit" column that showcases the best(and the worse) of Anime Online. This site is great to find anything and everything Anime.

I'm really fond of long-running series'. I much prefer longer, more complex stories to those which can be summed up in a couple of hours. These don't always get released in the US, but they are usually available through fansubs (that's where someone who loves the show enough to subtitle it distributes it for the cost of a tape).

Some series' I recommend:

A Vision of Escaflowne -- easily my favorite series. 26 episodes which you won't be able to help watching straight through. It falls right in with El Hazard (someone mentioned this above) as other-world anime.

Fushigi Yuugi: The Mysterious Play -- Next in line, suprised no one's mentioned it. 52 eps. Really good. This one's hard to put down, but not many people have 36 hours to spend watching videos. =) The first 26 eps are available on DVD from pioneer, but the subbing isn't that great.

The Hakkenden -- Legend of the Dog Warriors. Live it, learn it, know it. It's mostly a fight anime, but it has excellent backstory. It's being produced by Pioneer, though not on DVD (to my knowledge).

Some resources for you:

Soyokaze Fansubs -- These are a group of folk what sub japanese releases and distribute them before they're released in the US. My fave place to shop. Around $4/tape.

Pioneer Entertainment -- You wanted DVDs, here you go. Lots of reasonable titles.

The Anime Web Turnpike -- Lots of useful information about most series. Reviews, links, etc.

Hope this helped.

--naught

So, lets see ... well, Serial Experiments Lain is without doubt the "essential stuff" for a computer nerd. Not only will it leave your jaw on the floor, it will also nicely overload your senses. :) Yep, no drugs required to reach that state :)
In combination with Ghost in the Shell, you clearly see what The Matrix was made of.
Then, if you are into some neat mech action, full of symbolism & stuff, with a suprising end, try Neon Genesis Evangelion, an all time classic. For some less techy stuff, try some of Miyazaki's work, like recent Mononoke Hime or a bit older (but better imho), Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa.

Sure, the Anime universe is soooo vaaaast it can'b be consumed in a year ... So dig into sites like Anipike to get the idea of the size of this universe :)
Oh yes, you mentioned DVDs ... Check daily Animeondvd to be informed of the latest DVD releases.

I have been meaning to write lain up for a long long time. After all, any anime that revolves around IPv7 needs to be mentioned.

Here is a quick list of my favorite commedy:

Excel Saga - This is about as wacky as things get. ADV has this series, so it will be a while before anyone can get it. It makes fun of Aliens, Titanic, Anime in General, Star wars etc. If you can't take large doses of suger. Don't watch this.

Slayers - Final Fantasy with a sense of humour. Very slapstick, but the second season (or series since seasons usually are not consecutive in Japan) has the best ending of any Anime I have seen.

And of course, the Usual batch: Ranma 1/2, Tenchi Muyo, Urusai Yatsura etc.

Serious Trippy Anime:
Lain - Again. Need to write up a review for Slashdot.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Rumour constantly states that MTV and Sci-Fi are trying to air this, but ADV won't let them because of the cuts they would have to make. Mix giant robots, the angst of adolecence, and a good amount of religon and philosophy. This series can be amazingly depressing, and the last two episodes need serious help, but this is literature in action.

For the more slice and dice fans, Ruroni Kenshin (also known as Samurai-X) recently was picked up. I strongly suggest the OVA series from ADV (which will be available on DVD as Samurai-X). Warning. This series is massivly gorey, and angsty, but it is the best anime I have ever seen, bar none.

Battle Athlese Victory, Tenchi Muyo, Photon, El-Hazard and Dual are the AIC "guy surrounded by many girls" anime which are very excellent as well.
Some good resources for anime:
Anime Web Turnpike This is the best Anime link site in general. Slayers Universe is a amazing Slayers Page. is a awesome store, which also covers anime news.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon Avoid the DIC American crap! You must see the original or any of the other translations, Please check the First season, Sailormoon S, Sailormoon Sailor Stars and all the three movies (and the Specials if you can)

Top wo Onerae!: Gunbuster I think this is the best ever Anime from Gainax; starts very shoujo like but it ends very hard science fiction, takes in account the properties of travelings at speeds near the light speed where time dilates...

Rurouni Kenshin Aka Samurai X, this is an *excellent* ANIMEESHON ^_^x the series is a bit shoujo like sometimes, its at the beginning of Meiji era in Japan (actually the OVAs ar just at the end of Tokugawa era) and shows a lot of samurai/kendo style martial arts :) Don't miss Rurouni Kenshin, is all available in DVD at Sony Japan, Openings and Endings feature Jpop music :)

Slayers Excellent! Its even better if you have seen some other Anime before... Its RPG like but with a little more fun. I've seen Slayers, Slayers Next and Slayers Try, and i'm waiting for Slayers Royal, there some great OVAs/movies too :)

Lodoss tou Senki aka Record of Lodoss War hehe, you love RPG? D&D like, very well done, unlike Slayers this one is seriously made.

Bubblegum Crisis So you like those mechas? Here is one series of 8 OVA classics about this team of sentai (SFX show) like girls suited with powerful exo-armor in a little futuristic world, they also perform as a popular music band :) I really like the original 8, but the after AD Police and Bubblegum Crash weren't so good...

Anime or Japanese animation (to us) has too many good titles, there are many that i'm missing but please check out for yourself. Treat Anime just like you treat movies (or non Hollywood movies anyway), don't use the word "comics", many japanese Anime are not comic at all, but there are all kinds of them, you may not like them all but some you will certainly love.

Oh yes, check out Spriggan if you like violence/action stuff, for once, the US are the evil guys on this one hehehe...

Find more at Anipike ^_^;

--

I should point out that while Battle Athletes is cool, Battle Athletes Victory kicks ass! *_*

Other animes I'd recommend:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links I'd recommend people check out: Anipike, and EX Online.

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

All geeks like anime, at least the Sci-Fi stuff. If you are a geek and don't like Sci-Fi there is something wrong with you.

Some great movies/videos are:

Battle Angel Alita
Ghost in a Shell
Bubblegum Crisis (Orig & 2040) (I recommend 2040)
Cowboy Bebop
Evangelion
Spriggen (not released in english yet)
Serial Experiments Lain (turns on all geeks, who can not like a chick who upgrades a computer until there is no room left in her room? bahwahahaha. This is a mind trip series.. all about existing on an alternate universe... the Wired (the Internet), cool eh?)

Some Mangas(comic books 17-18+) are: (please don't buy these for your young geek friends/family members)

Appleseed (very cool!)
Ghost in a Shell (cool also)
Alita (9 volumes!)

Anything by Shiro Masamune is highly recomended, not sure if girl geeks will like it, some are graphic.
Places to buy:
www.dvdexpress.com
www.reel.com
www.advfilms.com
www.animevillage.com

for more info on a series and anime go to Anipike

-Ben