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."

Comments

I'll go one step better

[Raul654]

2015: Hentai beamed straight into my mind :)

A Simplified History of Anime

[Anonymous Coward]

1) Normal looking characters
2) Slightly pumpkinish characters
3) Quite pumpkinish characters
4) Very pumpkinish characters
5) Talking pumpkin heads

Re:A Simplified History of Anime

[Golias]

The link in this story isn't really much deeper than that. It kind of reminded me of Homer explaining the history of Rock to Bart.

Grand Funk Railroad paved the way for Jefferson airplane, which cleared the way for Jefferson starship. The stage was now set for the Alan Parsons project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft.

As far as I could tell, the whole story was really a promotional tool to sell some of their back-catalog items. Shows you can catch on cable, like Cowboy Bebop or Sailor Moon, were given a passing mention, but OVA's which are neither older nor more important to anime history are mentioned as shows you absolutely must see, you culturally illiterate philistines!!! Oh, surprise surprise, the site where this story appears sells those very same videos.

The "infomercial" started out as half-hour ads disguised as talk shows, but they are creeping into every part of society lately. Last night my local Public Television station showed a "documentary" about the history behind an expensive lodge in Glacier National Park, a grotesque and obvious pimping for a vacation destination. ABC did them one better two years ago, by airing a prime-time "special" during sweeps week, featuring Britney Spears at Disneyworld, which not only promoted the attractions at Disneyworld and the new Britney Spears album for an hour, but was also did pretty good in the ratings, helping ABC sell adds. (For those of you who don't know, ABC and Britney's record label are both owned by Disney, making this a massive cross-promotional tool.)

I'm not calling for regulation or alarm or anything. I'm just saying that everybody needs to keep their radars up for this kind of shit a little more, because it's everywhere these days.

Why is anime so great?

[Vidiot3k]

Isn't it just a cartoon? Ok, ok, it's not a 'toon in a traditional sense, but still...

Re:Why is anime so great?

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Isn't it just a cartoon? Ok, ok, it's not a 'toon in a traditional sense, but still..."

Ugh. Let me ask you something, if anime is only a cartoon, why would it have such a following?

Perhaps a refphrasing of your question is in order?

Re:Why is anime so great?

[Anonymous Coward]

uhhh...why wouldn't it?

That is, is there something inherent about cartoons that precludes them having a massive following?

Anyway, it beats watching little ball bearings bounce around behind a sheet of glass all day.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[DAldredge]

Slashdot has a huge following. So does NSync, B Spears, and Moby. That doesn't mean that they are GOOD. It means they have a huge following.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Isn't it just a cartoon? Ok, ok, it's not a 'toon in a traditional sense, but still..."

In an attempt to be more helpful than in my last post, here's Dictionary.com's definition of the word 'anime':

"A style of animation developed in Japan, characterized by stylized colorful art, futuristic settings, violence, and sex."

Basically, it's a type of cartoon, so you're half right. As for it being 'just a cartoon', I'd disagree. Though I myself am not a huge anime fan, it's easy to see its appeal. It's a lot more dramatic. It's also a lot more adult-oriented and rather imaginitive.

I'm surprised we don't have more serious cartoons over here. Anybody ever see the animated Spawn series on HBO? That was damn cool.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Slashdot has a huge following. So does NSync, B Spears, and Moby. That doesn't mean that they are GOOD. It means they have a huge following."

That'd be a good answer to my comment if I had said "anime is good".

All I said was that he had plenty of evidence already that it wasn't 'just a cartooon'. That's why I suggested he rephrase his question, sounds more like a troll than a question.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[dalassa]

"A style of animation developed in Japan, characterized by stylized colorful art, futuristic settings, violence, and sex."

Someone just watched Dirty Pair didn't they?

Re:Why is anime so great?

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is, the term anime suffers the same fate that the term computer does.

There's computers (think fruity toys, like iMacs), and then there's computers (Mmm. Big Iron)..

To put it another way, there's, say, DragonBall Z, all those fruity shows about Super Power Magical Ultra Girl !! where the (insert eyeroll) 'heroine's' adventures consist of saving the world while deciding like, which guy to totally go out with!

Yeah. Those are just cartoons. Hell, I'll do you one better - they don't qualify as cartoons, even, they're utter garbage.

On the other hand you have, say, Evangelion.

Watch Evangelion with subtitles on (They change dialogue far too greatly in the dubbed versions), and pay attention. It may be animated. It certainly isn't a 'cartoon'.

Anyhoo, cartoons are, by definition, light and humorous and such. As it were, plenty of what people term 'anime' falls into that category.

The 'good stuff' doesn't.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[slaker]

You misspelled "AOL users".

I've watched Anime that's supposed to be good (Princess Mononoke or whatever it's called). I saw Akira in the theater. I've tried and tried to "get" anime.

I still don't see the point."Schoolgirl-raping tentacles" really AREN'T my idea of anime, but as a genre of storytelling, it has singularly failed to move me in any way. I've been more emotionally/intellectually/sexually stimulated by the advertising copy on the back of a box of breakfast cereal than I have by anything with big eyes, poor dubbing or sleep (snot?) bubbles.

Can an enthusiast PLEASE explain why this form is in any way comparable to more mainstream types of entertainment?

Re:Why is anime so great?

[dubiousmike]

I've tried and tried to "get" anime.

apparently you weren't stoned enough...

Re:Why is anime so great?

[jwilcox154]

Let me ask you something, if anime is only a cartoon, why would it have such a following?
Hey, Squarebob Spongepants is just a cartoon "and a LOUSY one at that, imho" and it has a strong following.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[melatonin]

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).

Re:Why is anime so great?

[bm_luethke]

Can an enthusiast PLEASE explain why this form is in any way comparable to more mainstream types of entertainment?

That is preciesly why I watch it, it's not really compariable to mainstream. Nor is anime trying to be western/american mainstream (anime is mainstream in japan, so I am assuming this is written from a more western point of view), that niche is already filled well and the Japanese will most likely not fill the western mainstream niche well anyway.

I don't watch Anime for "big eyes, poor dubbing or sleep (snot?) bubbles", I watch it becuase I find the stories incredibly entertaining, different, and humorous. I enjoy a look at the different culture shown in the shows.

This is like saying "little shop of horrors" or "the rocky horror picture show" are worthless. Both are liked well (though I personally can not stand either one) because they are not mainstream stories. They still have merit if you like that type of story.

So you don't like anime, don't watch it. I don't mean that in a smart ass way, I greatly dislike most mainstream media, it's too commercial, so I don't watch it. Like any genre some will not "get" it, you don't have too - it is perfectly acceptable to simply not like that style of story telling (as I have never seen a musical that I like - I can not stand to watch one - many love them). I personally have been more emotionally/intellectually/sexually stimulated by the advertising copy on the back of a box of breakfast cereal than I have by most things in mainstream media.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[Openadvocate]

why would it have such a following?
But then again, so did Spice Girls
[Ducks and runs for cover]

Re:Why is anime so great?

[critter_hunter]

The difference is actually enormous. Cartoons are a genre. American animated features are another genre. Anime is a catch-all term for Japanese Animation, but in the end it's only a style of animation, and Animation is a medium.

'toons are always the same slapstick comedy. Disney movies and their ilk are always the same too (in fact, it's pretty much always the same story, with the ame characters) - adventure, drama and comedy put together, aimed at kid but with enough for their parents to enjoy.

There's a whole bunch of style in Anime. Drama, action, adventure, comedy, western, science-fiction, space opera - you name it, you can animate it instead of filming it live action. The difference between animation and live action is akin to the difference between black and white and color, or silent film and talkies.

Japanese Anime are not the only worthy animated features, either - The Flight Of Dragons

is a cult classic. Le Roi et l'Oiseau is a wonderful work of art. The Japanese have the difference of churning up animation industrially, and most of it is drawn the same way (which is more of a turn-off than anything, to me anyway), and so for some that makes it a discernible genre. It's not. Even apparently similar Anime such as Sailor Moon and Fushigi Yuugi are world apart. You can't possibly compare anime on the ground that they're anime - you'd have an easier time comparing the Rurouni Kenshin OVA (Samurai X in the US I believe) to a live-action Samurai movie than to, say, Cowboy Bebop.

So, please, don't lump Anime with cartoons. It's not even similar

Re:Why is anime so great?

[BJH]

"...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.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[N4DMX]

I am not really into japanimation. The eyes are weird looking.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[superjaded]

it's too commercial

That's a bit misleading. I don't know if you weren't trying to imply that anime is less commercialized, but if you were -- you're wrong.

I suppose you have somewhat of a skewed perspective because anime is indeed a niche market in America, but if anything, the Japanese anime market is MORE commericalized than Hollywood is. Granted, we have formulaic cookie cutter movies with the cute new actor the girls swoon over making a few millions in the box office when decent, albeit low budget and more experimental movies like Memento all but bomb in the box office.

But it's much the same in Japan. Anime is a business, first and foremost. If I had to make a guess, as to which animation studio has been the most successful animation studio in the last few years (aside from Sunrise, probably).. judging by "the fansub scene," it wouldn't be the ones who brought us Boogiepop Phantom or Neon Genesis Evangelion (or more recently, His & Her Circumstances and Mahoromatic.. and, gag.. Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai)..it would be the ones who brought us such formula anime such as Vandread, Full Metal Panic and RORI Grade (er, excuse me, Kiddy Grade, rather) -- where the only thing bigger than the obvious lack of imagination is the set of knockers the main female character is totin'.

Let me just say this -- it's a sad day in Japan when Chii wins NewType magazine's award for 2002 female character of 2002 -- a robot with no personality and amounts to not much more than a fuckdoll fantasy for the fanboys. And people into anime wonder why the "all anime=pr0n" stereotype still exists.. sigh.

And formulaic cookie cutter anime isn't where it ends -- if you thought the commercialization is bad here, where you can buy action figures for your favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle or Transformer.. Just take a look at places like Robert's Anime Corner or CDJapan and you'll easily probably be able to find pretty much any nick, nack or merchandise based on your favorite series. Not that I'm particularly complaining about that part, though -- being able to own the score for my favorite show is a godsend.. even if with shipping I end up paying about 3x more than you probably would for "overpriced" domestic CDs. :)

Now, don't get me wrong, as much as I seem to be flaming it, it's only my shameful nature and common sense that I don't go out roaming the streets proclaiming myself an otaku in my spare time. Anime (as could cartoons, if people could get past the mentality that their maturity is somehow threatened if they watch something WITHOUT REAL PEOPLE!) is a great medium for expression and, like you say -- does really hold more potential than live action does, if power is given to the right person. IMHO, of course.

Basically, I appreciate your appreciation for anime, but don't put it on a pedistol it doesn't belong on.

Aside from that, I pretty much agree with you -- if you don't like anime, nobody's forcing you to watch it. I don't bother asking teenie boppers why I should like N'Sync.. why should anime be any different? :/

Re:Why is anime so great?

[afree87]

Hey, I agree with you on the Chii thing. I've gone looking for anime wallpapers, and whenever I see a picture of Chii, I think "that's just wrong" and I move on to the Magical Snow Fairy Sugar (which is a real anime) section. I mean, I watch Di Gi Charat and Card Captor Sakura and all sorts of other cute junk, and I've never seen the characters posing like that.

It's just scary.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[bm_luethke]

well, I was tending to write that from a western point of view. I would assume that even pop-culture in Syria is commercial. But what I get to see of it isn't. The titles you listed as "non-commercial" are the titles that I can easily find/purchase. the other I've never seen.

Plus if I don't live there much of the commercialization goes right over my head (for instance, I watch some souju (or however it is spelled) anime, I mentally understand it's deseigned for young females but it is so different from what I associate with young females I don't really associate it there).

I also do not notice stuff such as product placement. Thye may do it but I can't reconize the writing. I also don't see the dramatic pause to show the "coke" symbol or the weird closeup just to get the At&t symbol. I still see those occasionally but they seem much more demure.

And lastly thier is no equivilent of stuff like Vandread ot Love Hina. It is easier to find "alternate" titles in anime. This to me is part of the commercialization. The complete unwillingness to "go out an a limb" so to speak. It is possible to find some western obscure stuff that does, but the parent poster explicitly said mainstream.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[TwistedSquare]

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to agree that Cowboy Bebop is one of the greatest shows to be produced, anime or otherwise. I thoroughly recommend this to anyone and agree that as long as you're not a slow reader go with the subtitles!

Re:Why is anime so great?

[Tetsujin28]

In an attempt to be more helpful than in my last post, here's Dictionary.com's definition of the word 'anime':

"A style of animation developed in Japan, characterized by stylized colorful art, futuristic settings, violence, and sex."

Man. That's got to be the stupidest, most ignorant "definition" of anything that I've read in a long time.

Remind me never to use Dictionary.com for anything important.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[TobyIRC]

I agree. My silly family says they get 'tired' reading all the subtitles. They prefer dubs. Silly! Although spike sounds more manly in the dub they play on cn...

Re:Why is anime so great?

[TobyIRC]

Did you know they play dirty pair on showtime beyond? I saw it the one night before my cableco realized they let me have free hbo. Damnit. There is a serial port on the back of the box, now if i only had a 9 to 9 pin cable ...

Re:Why is anime so great?

[TobyIRC]

dont say japanimation.

I may have to hurt you.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[N4DMX]

just kidding... don't resort to violence

Re:Why is anime so great?

[TobyIRC]

If you knew what I looked like, You probably wouldn't be scared.

I'm not kidding.

Re:Why is anime so great?

[N4DMX]

LOL :)

Good deals

[XeresRazor]

This isn't nearly as interesting as some of the bargain's they've been running recently. One of their higher-ups is a regular visitor in the animeondvd.com chatroom and usually pops up with insane new bargains to drain all our wallets every week or two. They had an insanely good deal going on almost-used cd's awhile back, a pack of 6 soundtracks that simply had marred cases, nothing wrong with the discs themselves and they were selling them for next to nothing, they clear out lots of older shows too if you missed them the first time around. Always a good thing to check right stuf's bargain a couple times a week if you're an anime fan.

I can make Anime

[ewhenn]

... just pass me a box of crayons.

Re:I can make Anime

[jwilcox154]

... just pass me a box of crayons
I Believe that would be called "Nick Toons", not anime. ;)

Most important though..

[faeryman]

..is "Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend." First tentacle rape IIRC. Right?

Re:Most important though..

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, no. There are in fact old japanese rice-paper drawings dating back to the 12th century A.D. (IIRC) of women in sexual situations with octopuses. I wish I could find the link to where I saw this, its pretty funny.

Re:Most important though..

[BJH]

That's Masami Teraoka. Seeing as how he was born in the 1930s, I find it surprising that his work would be from the 19th Century...

For early examples, Hokusai's "Pearl Diver and Two Octopuses" dates from the late 18th Century, and is probably the most famous ukiyo-e depicting bestality.

Re:Most important though..

[Gropo]

Hokusai's - "Pearl Diver and Two Octopuses"

Pardon me, but

[Raul654]

WTF is an 'almost-used' CD? It's one of those boolean things, like being pregnant, or so I have always thought.

Before I start reading..

[Anonvmous Coward]

... can somebody let me know if it covers tentacle porn? I might brave the Slashdotting...

Re:Before I start reading..

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Before I start reading.. ... can somebody let me know if it covers tentacle porn? I might brave the Slashdotting..."

Flamebait? Aww bummer. I was hoping somebody'd see the humor in my comment, not take it as a generalization about anime.

I'm surprised there is no cartoon network mention

[sawilson]

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.

This just in...

[Senjutsu]

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.

Re:This just in...

[Tuxinatorium]

Well then, why are the worst specimens the most popular?

Re:This just in...

[cyranoVR]

Well then, why are the worst specimens the most popular?

Why is The Jerry Springer Show so popular? Why is "Marry a Fake Millionaire" so popular? It's because the distributors decide that they can make the most money by appealing to the lowest common denominator.

Fortunately, shows like Evangelion and movies like Spirited Away come along and prove to the media Powers That Be that the "unwashed masses" actually have some appreciation for quality works.

BTW - anime fans, brace yourselves for lots of lame posts about tentacle rape and pedophilia. Articles on this topic seem to bring out lots of trolls.

Re:I'm surprised there is no cartoon network menti

[worst_name_ever]

Cartoon network got me hooked on cowboy bebop. Everybody I know think's it's absolutely amazing and has gotten some

Hmm... at first I read that as:

1. Watch anime
2. ???
3. Get laid!

Hey!

[Raul654]

You leave Cartman's mom alone!

Funny you should mention that...

[sawilson]

"Hey baby, why don't you come over and watch some
bebop with me"

works a lot better than the old monteray jack
chicken quesadilla gambit taco bell seems to think
you should try based on their recent commercial.

Be warned...

[cyranoVR]

The linked article, while informative (I didn't know Nadia was so popular, for example), is really just an infomercial for Right Stuf (an anime distributor).

So I'll offer a plug of my own. I like AnimeNation...they have a great news section and a Q&A column "Ask John."

Re:Be warned...

[cyranoVR]

I can't believe I'm replying to an AC...

That said, I don't follow your logic...If anime sales increase, then more anime will be offered by distributors and we won't have problems with limited releases...geez.

Wasn't Bambi an orphan?

[Smiths]

and didn't Old Yeller get shot and didn't that Old Lion die. I know its hip to be condecsending and insult Disney, but at least make sense when you do it.

Regarding

"This, as Uncle Walt had taught us, was a medium for children, and children could not be trusted with an advanced concept such as death."

Re:Wasn't Bambi an orphan?

[ewomack]

Yes he was, but Old Yeller was live action (ie. not animated) and that "Old Lion" was stolen from a previous Anime.

Re:Yawn.

[WaKall]

Sign in, and turn off the category in your filters. Problem solved.

It's sad that the people who aren't into anime always post in the anime threads about how they don't like anime; just filter it out guys.

News... its anything but

[t0ny]

While it is a bit dated,

...as if 99% of what is posted as 'news' here isnt...

Re: Anime sucks! (Asian Pride)

[Anonymous Coward]

Got Rice? (May not be safe for work.)

Cartoon Biography, not such a bad idea

[sam_handelman]

Actually, the parent is pretty funny this time. Piss him off by modding him up.

I'd like to see anime biographies, myself. My life story should be told the way it should have gone down - with ninjas, giant robots and pink haired bisexual schoolgirls.

As the production costs for cartoons continue to go down, and as the aggragate disposable income of the human race continues to rise (assuming it isn't squandered in senseless war, of course) I think you'll see real expansion of the medium. I'd like to see more educational/historical work, along the lines of the Cartoon History of the Universe and it's ilk, in animated form.

I'm a firm believer that educational material should be "targeted" at adults. Nothing then stops children from watching it. This is why the Cartoon History of the Universe is good (was good when I was a kid,) and all this supposedly-history-teaching crap they show on TV recently has been such crap (Hysteria, I think it is called, is sub-dreadful.)

It's not an inherent limitation of the form. TV is plenty childish without extra effort put in to dumb it down.

Re:Cartoon Biography, not such a bad idea

[Exiler]

Hysteria is purely a comedy, not to mention I think you're like 6 years like in mentioning it. There's a good edutainment cartoon about the revolutionary war going on PBS, don't remember the name though

the problem

[a8f11t18]

with anime is there's too much of it =) I mean,
with 50++ NEW anime series a year, and a dozen new
movies and OVAs, who can either afford the time or
money to watch it all. Too bad, cause half of it is
usually better than most stuff on (american) cable
tv and hollywood.

why anime is so good? Well, for me, half the fun is
to admire the animation. Granted, anime is often
choppy and no that full of motion, but even simple
drawings can amaze me, in that I think it is fantastic
that we humans can draw that well. Other thing is that
if you watch something barely decent over a period of
8-9 hours, you'll end up loving it whether it's mediocre
or not, as it really grows on you in the end (also because
in anime, there's usually a storyline). Actually, anime
are often remarkable for their storyline, IMO, and that
only seems logical. Let's face it, there's often very little
ot none motion in a typical tv anime, so the only thing that's left is a good story and good characters. So I always like to say anime is a storytelling medium.

Other aspects of anime I like is the cultural difference. Japan is far less americanized than most modern countries I know of, and has an unique mixture of old and new that makes it all that more interesting. I also like the language.. don't understand much =D, but the language often sounds sort of poetic to me. And that's not only something I'm imagining I think, as I already speak 3 different languages fluently (although they're all indo-european languages, so what would I know =D).

Re:the problem

[limekiller4]

a8f11t18 writes:
"I mean, with 50++ NEW anime series a year, and a dozen new movies and OVAs, who can either afford the time or money to watch it all."

Do you have the same complaint about video games, television, movies or food, for that matter? What makes you think you must consume every last bit to enjoy a bite?

Re:Ugh, I can sum Anime history into two sentences

[Anonymous Coward]

Woo! Look at me! I can make sweeping generalizations and sterotypes! Let's see.. American movies all have terrible foul language in them, all video games teach kids that killing people is fun, all Arabs are mindless killers- hmm, did I miss anything?

Someone hit this guy over the head with a clue stick or at least mod him down, eh?

Anime Online

[foxalopex]

I help run a local Anime club and in the last few years I've noticed that a great deal of "fan-subbed" anime now appears online on P2P filesharing systems. Particularily Direct Connect. It's particularility good if you're the type that claims to have seen everything you can get locally. This type of anime is sub-titled by fans and released sometimes days after it's showing in Japan. I've watched whole series that didn't make it to the North American market for years. :)

Re:Anime Online

[Microlith]

That's not necessarily a good thing, since the only way most of these companies make any money in the first place is sales to fans.

Fansubs are quite often becoming less helpful to anime companies and more a hindrance, as they DO tend to displace the legitimate releases.

And don't forget that the Anime industry is much, much smaller than the US movie industry, so piracy is all the more damaging.

Re:Anime Online

[Magila]

Another great source of new anime is via BitTorrent, AnimeSuki provides links to most new fansubs as they come out. Since a lot of fansub groups now distro with BitTorrent you can often get new releases within hour(s) of them hitting the net.

Re:Anime Online

[afree87]

NOOOOO!*10 You slashdotted Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu!! YOU B----RD!!@$!#!*%^#$!

What would be interesting

[tmark]

I'd like to see someone present the anime timeline along with a timeseries depicting the number of beatings administered by high-school bullies.

a couple of movies I'd recommend

[a8f11t18]

for people wanting to check out anime:

Movies:
- jin roh (2000/2001-something)
For anyone looking for something dark and moody. The drawing
style is realistic (no oversized eyes/breasts here), and the animation quality is really brilliant (studio IG know their stuff). The storyline is a little hard to follow sometimes because of the many different factions involved each with their own motives, but in the end, it's all very poetic and well executed. Also watch out for the soundtrack, by Mizoguchi Hajime; especially the theme melody is one of the best I've ever heard in any movie.

- sen to chihiro no kamikakushi / spirited away (2002/2003)
watching this at a cinema is truly a fabulous experience as it's like being swept away by thousands and thousands of brilliantly drawn paintings.. the visual qualities, at a cinema, are extraordinarily beautiful. Hisaishi Jo provides a great score, as usual, and all in all this is another masterpiece from the legendary writer-director-drawer Miyazaki Hayao. Probably gonna win oscar, too.

Re:a couple of movies I'd recommend

[M1FCJ]

Jin Roh was really stunning, such a dark and moody movie, such a good story. With Hoshi Ko Noe (Voices of a distant star), it is one of the two animations I really loved especially just for the sake of story. If you haven't seen this one, please do.

What's an OVA?

[MBCook]

I'm sure I'll get moderated into oblivion for this, but I'm new to anime. So just what is OVA? It's mentioned tons of times in the linked article, and I assume it's a acronym, but what for? Is it like a made for TV movie? Or a miniseries? Or am I totally off base?

Re:What's an OVA?

[moronga]

So just what is OVA?

Original Video Animation. This refers to an anime (usually a mini-series) that goes straight to video. There isn't the stigma attached to it as with American direct to video releases, and most of it is somewhere between theatrical releases and TV anime, as far as the animation is concerned.

Re:What's an OVA?

[zabieru]

It's like the opposite of a made-for-TV. OVA/OAV=Original Video Animation or the other way 'round. Think of it like Highlander and Stargate and all those movies that got made into TV shows, only the other way around. The OVAs are often either better or possessed of higher production values, though this is merely a probability--there are many exceptions. In general, the difference between a movie and an OVA is that a)movies show in theaters, and b)OVAs tend to assume that you're at least slightly familiar with the TV series, while movies are often quite different.

Re:What's an OVA?

[voodoo1man]

Same question I had, and particularly relevant since the giant infomercial (giant in number of pages vs. page length (somewhere around 5 to 1), only) promised to explain the term, but never did. It was also massively uninformative, scant of details, explanations, and relevant background information. I don't know a lot about anime, and this mess of an article didn't do anything to help that.

Maybe for the same reason cartoons do?

[zabieru]

I mean... For my part, I like anime, and I'm not a big fan of cartoons. But I know a lot of people who LOVE 'toons. So not only do I reject the notion that something that's popular must be good, but I don't think anime is really all that popular.

does anyone remember tranzor-z?

[sabinm]

that was a great show. aphrodite and her "breast rockets"... bobo-bot..

Re:does anyone remember tranzor-z?

[BJH]

That title gets even better if you know that "bobo" is a euphemism for vagina in certain Japanese dialects.

And if you're thinking about moderating me down, no, I'm not lying, joking or trolling.

Re:does anyone remember tranzor-z?

[tuffy]

that was a great show. aphrodite and her "breast rockets"... bobo-bot..

Yes, actually. It aired on a local UHF station many years ago and I'm still a sucker for cheezy hero robot shows.

Two things made anime mainstream

[MtViewGuy]

After reading the article, I think we have to emphasize two important things that made anime much more popular in the 1990's.

The first is the rapid acceptance of the DVD format. Unlike previous home video playback formats, DVD's allow you to have multiple-language soundtracks and multiple language caption/subtitling tracks on a single disc. In one fell swoop, the entire debate of subtitled versus dubbed anime has been rendered moot. :-)

The second is the success of Bandai Entertainment in bringing over a good number of anime titles created by Bandai Visual and Sunrise (Bandai I believe owns Sunrise) to the US market. This really opened the floodgates for lots of anime titles to finally be sold in US-legal editions.

Re:Two things made anime mainstream

[Microlith]

Bandai Visual of Japan simply hires Sunrise for a large percentage of their shows, especially the ones they're going to throw a large budget at.

This is less common now that Bones, a studio made of the crew behind Escaflowne, Angelic Layer, and Cowboy Bebop (among other shows), has started to produce many of the more popular shows of the past couple years (RahXephon, Witch Hunter Robin, and now Wolf's Rain).

Re:Two things made anime mainstream

[AutumnLeaf]

I'm not sure I agree with this...

I didn't really notice DVD's making an impact on the acceptance of Anime until 2000's, and long before then Sun Coast Video already had racks of Anime tapes for sale. DVDs made "collecting/purchasing" possible for people like me because of the language issue you mentioned, but it seemed to me that the conversion of VHS libraries to DVD got off to a slow start, and there's still work to be done.

"People like me" = people who started out watching Anime that were fan-subs, or sometimes not subtitled at all, and almost always the result of trading/swapping tapes.

Yeah, I can watch DVD's with subtitles, but it's not the same, because when you watch the credits, you don't get to read humorous comments from someone who is finishing the subbing at 5:30 in the morning, whacked out on sleep deprivation and caffeine. Those "end of the episode" comments were quite often hilarious, and those of us in the Purdue Animation Club watching them while taking a break from school were falling out of our chairs. :-)

I always thought with the advent with a medium like DVD, I'd start collecting. But due to the fact I can't make good backups and excercise my fair-use rights legally, I've balked. I've also balked at buying Anime DVDs because I'm feeling nickled and dimed to death by the "two or three episodes/dvd" philosophy. I loved the boxset of Record of Lodoss wars, which had 13 episodes on two DVDs. I just don't want very many DVDs laying around.

New Trends in Today's Anime

[Enonu]

Let me update this history of anime to talk a bit about some of the new trends in anime.

Forget about seeing nudity any more except for a few exceptions. The Japanese are getting closer and closer everyday to adopting the Puritain view on nudity, i.e. that it's bad and abnormal. However, fan service (underware shots, provocative poses) is still rampant, especially in anime targeted toward women (trying to get male viewers).

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. However, the censoring of violence isn't as bad yet as it is for nudity. There are some great exceptions out there, like Cowboy Bebop, Naruto, and Hellsing.

One bad trend, particularily irritating to me, is the overuse of the cliché dweeb who can't handle women, yet is surrounded by them. He'll bleed from the nose, can't say anything with confudence, be in constant fear of reprisal, and perhaps in the end, if he's lucky, get a solitary kiss. This is Japan's version of the hopless moron who's married to a hot wife on US's sitcom TV. They all need to die.

However, all is not bad in anime land. When Slam Dunk came out back in the day, it started what I call the sports anime craze. Now there's anime about soccer (Whisle), boxing (Hajime no Ippo), tennis (The Prince of Tennis), and even the board game Go (Hikaru no Go). This type of anime is great for buidling up suspense, and it'll get you addicted like a crack addict. The art of creating cliff-hangers that make you foam at the mouth has been perfected by the Japanese.

Finally, the other great trend I'm noticing is anime adapted from literature rather from manga. Two anime of this type that I can think off the top of my head are Juuni Kokki and Crest of the Stars. You won't find any other anime that can compete with the plot and character development. Let's hope Japanese anime studios don't adopt Hollywoods attitudes towards book to movie production.

Re:New Trends in Today's Anime

[Microlith]

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.

Re:New Trends in Today's Anime

[AdamHaun]

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.

Re:New Trends in Today's Anime

[Sangui5]

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.

Re:New Trends in Today's Anime

[OneInEveryCrowd]

I disagree with your comments on nudity but yes that panty stuff is really annoying. Check out the recent series Raimuriro Senkitan for some overuse that messes up an otherwise OK series. I didn't care for the pantsu kudasai episode of Chobits either although it made for some funny !triggers on irc for a while.

The good thing about anime is that although there is alot of formula stuff there is still more originality and ability to experiment than on American TV. One recent example would be Saikano (aka She, the ultimate weapon, aka Saishuheike Kanojo), about the end of the human race amoung other things. And consider Arjuna, something that pro-environmentalist would never be allowed on American TV.

Re:New Trends in Today's Anime

[truenoir]

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.

Re:New Trends in Today's Anime

[Planesdragon]

The Japanese are getting closer and closer everyday to adopting the Puritain view on nudity, i.e. that it's bad and abnormal.

Actually, they're probably just getting closer to the AMERICAN view of nudity--that it's crude and not "artistic." Heck, they might just be getting back to their own view of nudity--that it's not something that people do. (Honestly, last I heard Jappanese culture--as opposed to art--wasn't any more immodest than the American culture that set up their current government.)

And anyway, it is hard to be artistic when your work can be used as porn.

My views on anime

[messiertom]

Japanese cartoon

'Nuff said.

the main timeline is outdated

[a8f11t18]

The last question it asks is "so is it all over?"
And the answer it fails to provide is that that's
a definitive no, because it doesn't cover the last
decade! History has already shown it is far from
over.. anime survived the bad bad economy, and
is more popular than EVER.

Remember the timeline the article provides is
BEFORE the time of cowboy bebop (one of the
most popular anime series in the west ever). It's
before the time of record-breaking princess mononoke
(extreme commercial success).. and it's before the
time of spirited away (even more extreme commercial
success, and quite possible this year's winner for
the best animation oscar, which again would provide
the japanese anime industry another boost).

I just noticed all this when I finally read the
darn thing =p It mentions the impact of movies
such as naushika and akira.. well, it is far from
over, as princess mononoke and spirited away have
shown (bigger succeses than naushika and akira
even!!).

Oh yeah.. one of the last things it mentions is
that there is some good stuff on the horizon,
like escaflowne.. and indeed, escaflowne turned
out to turn out pretty big as well, although
cowboy bebop took the throne later on. Both
escaflowne and cowboy bebop also produced two
good movies.. and there were other good movies
as well, including but not limited to jin roh
and metropolis.

Furthermore, there are still lots of good series
coming out. Studio bones is worth a mentioning..
both witch hunter robin and wolfs rain might
turn out to be big hits (and rahxephon is doing
well). There's a really good new ghost in the shell
series running, done by IG. And a year ago we had
the brilliantly funny azumanga daioh, also sure to
be a huge hit. Actually, there seems to be at least
a dozen great new series each year, and that trend
is not failing any time soon I reckon.. (no I'm not
going to bother to mention all of them.. I'm looking
at lists of what has been out each of the previous
years, and there are LOTS of goodies to pick out).

so for anyone seriously thinking anime is dead..
far from it =) It's bigger than in a long time,
and even my sister and my neighbour has seen an anime
now!!!! (that warrants many exclamation marks=D)

of course, there are problems on the horizon as well..
like people downloading way too much licensed anime
from the net.

I'll be discussing anime with Netflix on monday...

[OneInEveryCrowd]

I was selected by Netflix to participate in a customer focus group. I'm going to their Los Gatos offices on monday. In return I'm getting two months of free service. Hopefully I'll be able to suggest some improvements in their service to anime fans, and I'll ask to speak with someone in management if I can't fit it into the format of the meeting.

An obvious suggestion is that there are big gaps in their offerings to anime fans. They don't carry series like Crest of the Stars and FLCL or oldies like Otaku no Video. (I go to Nikaku Animart, the anime rental place in the San Jose Japantown neighborhood for stuff like that.)

Another obvious suggestion is that they aren't following new releases closely enough. Stuff like Banner of the Stars, Chobits, .hack, etc doesn't show up in their search, even though obscure art films about eskimos and show up months in advance of release.

I might be dreaming on this one but I'm going to try to discuss the lag time between releases in Japan and releases in the US with them. It seems silly to me that the Cowboy Bebop movie (movie not the series) was out in Japan several years ago but only recently came to the US. My suggestion is going to be that they deal directly with the Japanese companies themselves and not wait for the US distributors to license and dub the titles. AFAIK the majority of fans don't need the dubbing anyway and prefer subtitles. I'm wondering if they'd be interested in hearing that many Americans (yeah europeans, asians, and middle easterners too) are watching series like Chobits, Wolfs Rain, etc within days or weeks of airing in Japan, and with subtitles too. I may bring my chinese Hoshi no Koe dvd in as a prop. I don't think that one is out in the US yet, it wasn't last fall when I bought it. It looks to me like there is a tremendous demand for recent anime here that isn't being *commercially* fullfilled. =:)
I hope they don't laugh too hard when I suggest they do something about it.

Anyway, anybody have any other suggestions for Netflix on how to improve services to anime fans ?
Series you'd like to see, etc ?

Re:Ugh, I can sum Anime history into two sentences

[yomegaman]

Geez, don't take it so personally. It's not like he insulted your mother or dissed Perl or something. GET SOME PRIORITIES! :-)

Re:I'll be discussing anime with Netflix on monday

[Microlith]

I might be dreaming on this one but I'm going to try to discuss the lag time between releases in Japan and releases in the US with them. It seems silly to me that the Cowboy Bebop movie (movie not the series) was out in Japan several years ago but only recently came to the US. My suggestion is going to be that they deal directly with the Japanese companies themselves and not wait for the US distributors to license and dub the titles. AFAIK the majority of fans don't need the dubbing anyway and prefer subtitles. I'm wondering if they'd be interested in hearing that many Americans (yeah europeans, asians, and middle easterners too) are watching series like Chobits, Wolfs Rain, etc within days or weeks of airing in Japan, and with subtitles too. I may bring my chinese Hoshi no Koe dvd in as a prop. I don't think that one is out in the US yet, it wasn't last fall when I bought it. It looks to me like there is a tremendous demand for recent anime here that isn't being *commercially* fullfilled. =:)
I hope they don't laugh too hard when I suggest they do something about it.

This is an unavoidable problem due to licensing agreements, production time tables, and market forces.

The Bebop movie quite possibly could have been over here a while ago, but fierce bidding likely held it up and in the end, Sony (who helped fund part of it) got it. Then it had to be translated, dubbed, and now it will be released in theaters.

Another problem with what you state is that yes, in fact, the FAR MAJORITY of anime fans in the US (whose market may be larger than that of Japan's in a few years) do watch and want stuff DUBBED. Therefore it is infeasable for Netflix to bypass the US companies, since they'd lose out on rentals to the majority of their audience with the lack of a dub.

The only reason many people are watching stuff like Chobits and Wolf's Rain so quickly is because fansubbers obey no laws and do what is essentially an illegal act (Copyright Violation) in the translation and distribution. The japanese companies simply chose not to prosecute (the US companies however, will).

As well, your chinese Hoshi no Koe is likely a bootleg, which was made with no compensation to the creator. Considering the guy worked on his own (that is, by himself for two years on a blue Apple G3 Tower) for the better part of two years to animate the entire damn thing, that's an insult. And ADV recently picked it up for a US release this year.

Make no mistake, releases of shows are coming sooner after their Japanese release these days than they were before, and there is a LOT more out there. They have to be careful though, the market is not gigantic like that of Hollywood's and it could easily be flooded.

Oh my

[hikousen]

They do jump over the important stuff to mention their favorites, don't they?

1990s: A whole lotta nothing going on. Uh huh. The obviously slept through 1992.

Could buy and sell Evangelion six times before corn flakes. It also deserves mention in the U.S. licensing portion of the article, since it was one of three shows that formed the basis for the current
success of anime in general.

Oh, and it did about ten figures in merchandising too.

Re:Oh my

[cenobita]

Quit whining, fanboy/girl. Regardless of whether or not you think Sailor Moon or some other wanky anime is worthy of mention, they obviously didn't. Fucking cope.

Who cares if it did ten figures in merchandising? I'm sure My Little Pony did great back in the 80's, but how many people would honestly consider that to be innovative, influential, interesting, or historically worth noting? Answer? Nobody except for a select few who obviously missed the whole goddamned point.

Re:Oh my

[hikousen]

Who cares if it did ten figures in merchandising?

LOL

I'm sure My Little Pony did great back in the 80's, but how many people would honestly consider that to be innovative, influential, interesting, or historically worth noting?

Does My Little Pony have 100 million fans worldwide? Are there 400,000 My Little Pony web pages? Was My Little Pony ever #1 on Amazon.com?

No.

That's the point.

Re:Oh my

[cenobita]

My Little Pony was off the air before the Internet really took off and everyone and their grandma had it. I'd hardly say it's an equal comparison if we're comparing direct figures like number of websites.

That said, i'm sure that My Little Pony had quite a large following back in it's day, though i'd bet that most people don't give a crap anymore. I'd expect the same to happen to something like Sailor Moon.

Don't mistake sales figures for quality, innovation, or historical impact. People will buy anything if they're exposed to it long enough.

Christ, people even bought the Pet Rock and the Chia Pet.

Anime for a better tommorow

[Mulletproof]

I can forsee anime coverage only getting better here in the US from this day forward. Seriously, look at what the kids are watching today-- Pokemon, Digimon, Sakura Card Captors, Gundam, Yu-Gi-Oh and Dragonball Z. These kids are growing up with anime and like some cartoons stayed with us, their increased exposure to it is going to stay with them. They are going to demand more of it and the market will adjust to meet that demand (hopeflly). With that adjustment, you should see more and more stuff ported over here with (hopefully) less and less editing and hire budgets. It's like gaming. these cultures are slowly imbedding themselves into society and (hopefully) it won't be long before they are acceptable mainstram phenomenoms...

Tezuka's Simba

[Kinryuu]

his epic series about a little white lion with black ears ... a series which shares many elements with a Disney film from a few years ago. The lion in the US version of the series was called Kimba ... although his original name was Simba.

The Tezuka estate should retroactively sue Disney. I'm sure there's room in the DMCA to fit something like that . . .

Re:I'll be discussing anime with Netflix on monday

[BJH]

Stop bitching about new releases not arriving immediately in the US. Your anime is priced much *lower* than the original in Japan - even though most US releases require dub/sub, new packaging, etc.

For example, Ghost in the Shell (the movie, not the new series) still costs 7800 yen here in Japan - while Right Stuf has the same thing for $US25! Evangelion, too - not only is it dub/subbed, but some of the animation was redone to use English instead of Japanese, and yet the DVD box costs less than one-third of the Japanese original (which you can't even buy any more).

Anime was HUGE in the USA before DVD was around.

[Viewsonic]

I remember Akira at the local video rental shop.. It was always out.. Then hits like Vampire Hunter D, Fist of the North Star, Appleseed, and a few others were added.. A few months later their Anime section was as large as the horror section. This was maybe 3-4 years before DVD first appeared. It was going around the schools and such, and I still have my huge VHS bootleg collection.

However, DVD did make it MUCH more accessable. I own them all on DVD now, and there is just so much. The medium is a godsend for stuff like this. But to be fair, it was very very popular on VHS long before DVD was even out.

Book recommendations?

[WG55]

I find the topic of the history of anime to be fascinating, and I want to learn more about it. Can anyone recommend a book that might cover this topic?

hmm

[nomadic]

While it is a bit dated

What's slightly dated stuff doing making slashdot's main page?! I'm outraged; it's supposed to be VERY dated before you people post it!

Re:Uh, this article is old.

[RyoShin]

Yup. They talk about Vision of Escaflowne being 'new' to the Anime scene, and are hoping for a good dubbing of Kiki's Delivery Service (which has already been played a good hundred times on the Disney channel.) So, in conclusion, this article is OLD.

Not only Bandai

[Crescens]

ADV Films and Pioneer Animation have huge chunks of the new anime coming to the states also. I think ADV alone has something like 300 discs planned for release this year alone.

dub acting

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Actually, using big-name people for dubbing has done poorly, sometimes even worse. A person that has done "live" acting for many years is said to end up being flat because they aren't used to using only their voice for acting, so they get conniptions or fall flat. The actors/actresses that get screen time because of their looks can't get by so well.

Generally a dub from original language is going to be substandard to the original anyway. Try playing the French or Spanish track on a movie that was originally done in English. I've done it several times with many movies and they just aren't the same.

Old news

[Chromal]

This article, despite bearing the date 'Feb 16, 2003,' is apparently old news. It mentions an "up and coming" series Vision of Escaflowne and how Disney may soon distribute Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro. Er... these things happened years ago.

It's still a good history, don't get me wrong. But it's probably about three years out of date.

Re:Why is anime so great? FYI - It isn't.

[yocuma]

I dare anyone to compare anime to our classic Looney Toons.
Animation - Looney Toons
Themes - Looney Toons
Voice Actors - Looney Toons
Sounds (I can here them now) - Looney Toons
Music - Looney Toons

Looney Toons - 6
Anime - 0

Honestly, anime scares me.
But to each his own in this free world.

I think I can classify Anime into two periods

[AlexMax2742]

Before Pokemon - When nobody knew what anime was
After Pokemon - When people knew what anime was and simply thought it was annoying as all get out.

Luckily, I held out my opinion until I saw Tenchi Muyo! and I've been a fan ever since.

actually we pay less than you think :)

[OneInEveryCrowd]

With my netflix account I pay $20 US per month for unlimited rentals. I can usually get about 20 dvds due to the lag involved in mailing. If I can talk them into getting current stuff from Japan it will get even better !

Let's think about this...

[OneInEveryCrowd]

If I'm able to get Netflix to consider making recent subtitled anime available to those who want it wouldn't that help the creators and hurt the bootleggers ?

Re:Why is anime so great? FYI - It isn't.

[TobyIRC]

Theres some thing i grabbed off kazaa because it said it was a lost bugs bunny ep, but it wasnt nearly bugs, and it was american hentai. Wtf.

Also, anything encoded at 240 by 180 is going to look like crap. Try a dvd.