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An Extensive History of Anime
Ninja Master Gara writes "While it is a bit dated, Right Stuf has a fascinating set of in depth history of anime in Japan and the west and follows the development of both cultures, including landmark series from the 60s, the 70s, the 80s and beyond, the origins of today's major anime release companies, and commentary on various aspects of the industry and culture. While it is labelled an 'Introduction to Anime', it serves as a much more interesting look back for long time anime fans. Right Stuf also has a great timeline of important releases."
Cartoon network got me hooked on cowboy bebop.
Everybody I know think's it's absolutely amazing
and has gotten some, or at least stays up to watch
the show. What some people don't get about anime
is, it's a great way to put a great idea in front
of people for a lot less money than making a live
action dealio. You get that huge screen feel with
paper and ink. I saw a copy of the non-import
japanese version of the Cowboy Bebop movie go for
500 bucks on eBay a while ago.
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
Crappy Anime is crappy! News at Eleven!
Seriously, you might as well say "All Sci-Fi movies suck!" just because of the incredible crapitude of Battlefield Earth.
If I might ask, where do you base your belief that the Japanese are adopting a more "puritanical" view of nudity?
While many shows do not feature nudity, taking a "puritanical" bent would not allow fanservice shows like Mouse or Lime-iro Senkitan to be made (rampant fanservice and lightly ecchi humor abound). Stranger yet, Lime-iro Senkitan is a non-H anime based of an H-game that was released in december. So if the anime isn't enough for your *ahem* perverted mind, you can go grab the game (and the show is strangely funny).
And what you describe (tenchi-complex) is a definite cliché, but it's one that's been shown to work well. Of course, you can always ignore them and enjoy shows like "Someday's Dreamers" and "Juuni Kokki" with the rest of us!
And to make me happy, Media Blasters licensed Juuni Kokki recently so we'll be able to get it on DVD soon enough.
I've found anime to be the best medium for story telling. Books are great, they can tell any story, but they can't show it to you. Live action stuff is limited to special effects (and going more and more to CG, which is just animation). If you can imagine it, you can animate it.
I personally didn't like Princess Mononoke or find Akira very interesting. If I were to introduce someone to anime, I'd do it through Cowboy Bebop. It's original, it's gritty, it's funny, and it looks and sounds gorgeous.
Go rent (or just buy) the first DVD of Cowboy Bebop, and watch the whole disk. It'll really open your eyes to what story telling can really be.
AND NEVER WATCH A DUB. Japanese productions like Cowboy Bebop are done by the best directors and the best voice actors in the country. When they bring it over here, it's released by a much smaller company for a niche market. They get low-talent, no-name actors and directors who try to Americanize the production, or try to put they're own creative skills into it (these are different than what the Japanese director intended, and these American directors are no-names for a reason).
Moderators should have to take a reading comprehension test.
"...more mainstream types of entertainment"?
You do realise that 'Spirited Away' had the highest box-office take of any movie in Japanese cinema history, and when broadcast on Japanese television a couple of weeks ago, had the highest rating for any movie broadcast on TV?
It is mainstream, just not in your country.
What are you smoking? The whole point of Noir was that it was supposed to be a more artistic portrayel of violence. There was no gore because the creators chose to make it that way, not because of some sort of arbitrary restriction.
Visit the
Along with the new censoring of nudity, there comes the censoring of violence. I recently watched a series called Noir, a action-spy type series, where people shot guns and got shot, but there was no blood. Anything "gruesome" was off camera and or only shown in the shadows. This make the anime feel very fake.
The lack of blood in Noir doesn't seem to me to be a censorship issue, but one of artistic decision. This has been talked about somewhat extensively on some of the Noir forums. I can't find a link to the whole discussion, but I did found a quote from it: "...that wonderful unique trademark of Noir: only the those who have humanity bleed. No one else."
The vast majority of the deaths are the bad guys. The handful of innocents (the less-guilty if you prefer) who die do bleed. Most notably the Bouquet family in the repeated flashbacks, but in the instances when Kirika or Mireille are injured they *do* bleed. Not excessively; getting nicked with a knife/bullet isn't a very bloody thing, and even a fatal knife/bullet wound doesn't bleed all that much, much less a non-fatal hit.
Blood, um, hello? Blood all over in Inuyasha, Kenshin, Wolf's Rain, even Spirited Away. Witch Hunter Robin's got people getting incinerated (occasionally). Just watched an episode of GiTS: Stand Alone Complex where people were getting their skin peeled off...it was cut away from, but jeez, like I'd want to see it (the end result was shown briefly). This is also the show that showed a guy's foot getting shot through on the first episode. Noir had probably 20+ people killed in the average episode that had Soldats in it...how bloodthirsty are you ;)
Violence and gore isn't needed for good storytelling. Neither are boobs. I for one think that conservatively dressed characters are a plus (Witch Hunter Robin) compared to wondering how the heck an outfit is practical (Victoria on Hellsing...I mean, a combat miniskirt>!?!). Perhaps casual nudity is being considered now that anime is a little more international. For instance, Ranma1/2 might be a Cartoon Network candidate if not for the occasional (non-sexually depicted) breasts...
Harem shows were a thing for a while, the U.S. is just starting to get maid shows in bulk. I'm not too into giant robots either...so the current trend's not your thing, well there's plenty more to watch. Watch what you like.
You do have a point in that anime isn't all about nudity and violence, probably less than Hollywood is in general...but watch some old stuff too, it's not new characteristic.