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Must-See Films at L.A. Anime Festival
May Kasahara writes "The first annual Los Angeles Anime Festival is being held May 2-15. Among other films screening at the festival are Studio Ghibli's The Cat Returns (making its US debut), Memories, and all nine episodes of The Animatrix. However, the film I really want to see is the trippy-looking Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat In Space. More information, including a full schedule of events, is available here."
May 16-18, 2003 Rosemont
it's like 30 mins from chicago if traffic sucks
so that's your best bet, you could go see the animatrix and fly back for it!
Sweet deal!
Chicago2600.net more than a lifestyle, its a survival trait.
The list of anime to be shown makes envious...why are there never any anime festivals here in Sweden...
Is Kodocha ever shown at anime festivals. This is the funniest shoujo anime I've seen. There a a bunch of torrents over at Animesuki.
Enjoy!
Here's a bit of info about a film that will be appearing at the festival, Sacrifice Woods.
*sigh* I'll bite. First my favorite argument: liking Anime as a format is rather stupid. Liking genres of stories, not so stupid.
;))
What types of stories do you [think you would] like? There's a few typical anime genres, though there seems to be a lot of cross-genre stuff. Typical, and largest being shoujo (targeted at females), and shounen (targeted to males). But in there there's subcategories. Magical girl (sailor moon is probably the most popular/well known example in America) is a type of shoujo. There's comedy ones, serious ones, 'love get' ones, etc. It's rather hard to tell you what might be good if you don't narrow it down.
That being said, here is a list of my favorite series. While I say liking anything because it's anime is wrong, I do tend to like a lot of it because they often have good stories. Though there's enough I hate. *Shrug*.
Anyway, list:
Evangelion (A classic).
Love Hina ('love get' of sorts, with college entrance exams. Comedy.)
Azumanga Daioh (really recent, not in the states I don't think. Again, comedy).
Tokyo Underground (Not sure of classification, not a comedy per se. Basic story: there's a city under tokyo where some people have control over various powers of elements. They're trying to unleash a great evil. Must go stop them. *shrug* typical premise
Ranma 1/2. While it got repetitive, it's still pretty funny. Interesting look in to Japanese ideas of sexuality too. We actually watched this in one of my classes here in Japan.
Chobits. Agh, it's just so cute. Interesting plot too.
Spriggan. I thought it was pretty good, but it's one of the few that is good/different enough that people who don't like anime like it. ymmv.
I dunno, I tend more towards shoujo type stuff, and comedies in particular. Not too fond of serious stuff (Blood, etc.). Though psychological things (Evangelion) and things which deal with topics interesting to me (like Chobits and Ranma did) are also decent.
If you have any friends who know what type of normal movies you like to watch, ask them for recommendations. They might know what you'd like better. Just hope they aren't the type that swears everything is good.
Evangelion was a psychological anime. The 'robots' weren't really robots, though you appear to have realized that by now ^_^. I get slightly confused as to how many endings there are, and in which order they were released. The way I heard it/understand it is that there is the original ending, which is the psychological one. The last two episodes look like the animators did every single drug and mushroom in the world and then decided to write the script and draw it. It's all in Shinji's head.
:)
"Air & Heart" is the name of the other ending, which is for the people who thought that it was a robot anime, which they made after much pressure from fans and stuff who didn't like the original ending.
"Death & Rebirth" is a two hour 'recap' of the series, focusing mostly on the combat/robot aspects, for people who wanted to watch "Air & Heart".
That's basically the way I understood it, and I just confirmed it with a friend who thought the same way. So hopefully there's a little bit of factual information in there.
So, I'll give my experience.
I work at a US national lab in High Permformance Computing - plenty of geeks. In the older crowd (30+ to 35+) not really that relevant. Most know nothing about it or think "cartoon == kids" 30- tends to like cartoons in general.
The current group I am in I am the next to youngest (28) and am obsesed with it. The youngest has (24 I think) has never weighed in. The others (29, early 30's, 40's) think it is sorta wierd but have never really watched any (other than the wierd stuff I have explicitly showed them - though to be fair they don't watch much of anything, either tv or movies).
As far as students go. The first year - one against (again in the 30's), three indiferent. They thought some stories good, some bad. Treated it as any other movie.
Next year, one indifferent, one obsessed, one generally liked it.
the last group I never polled about it.
So, I would say it definatly has a large enough crowd to justify being on slashdot, that it is not just "Taco like Anime". Though it is not universal. It is almost a correlation of 1 of likes anime and likes video games. That, in and of it self, lends me to think it is valid.
Now the decision for animefu as the anime widget is more of a question...
------- Sorry about the spelling, I suffer from two problems. Dyslexia makes it difficult to spell well, lazy makes it
"End of Evangelion" is the ending you're looking for. It's really quite good and it ties the end of the TV series together in a way which makes a tad bit more sense. (Although not a hell of a lot. ;-) BTW, Air&Heart is the first part of EoE.
;-)
I always liked the idea that the last two eps are going on inside Shinji's head while the first part of EoE shows what happens in the normal world at the same time. Others seem to prefer the idea that the last two eps of the TV show happen after the "third impact".
In any case, the main thing I like about Eva is that it really rewards those who think about about it. Just imagine what someone like the guy who had written an essay on how things in The Matrix worked. If someone like that began working on Eva I'd almost pity them.
There's a bunch of fansites which analyse the series though. Most likely you'll end up learning a lot about christianity as well, since that's the basis for a lot of the things in Eva.
Depends on what you like. I'll touch on movies as well as series.
If you like action, explosions, girls in robot suits, then Bubblegum Crisis 2032 is great. Don't confuse this with Bubblegum Crisis 2040: good but not great.
If you want romantic comedy then Ah! My Goddess is great for watching with your girl. Only 2 discs in the series and a standalone movie.
If you want fluffy philosophy mixed in with a little drama then try Key: Metal Idol or Lain. Not difficult stuff (not like Kant!) but still very entertaining.
If you like guts and gore and all that's foul then Ninja Scroll is the shiznitz. Be sure to get the uncut version for maximum effect.
If you were a fan of Alice in Wonderland or the Wizard of Oz (two of my favourite books) then you'll like My Neighbour Totoro or Spirited Away.
If you prefer adventure/action films with a little comedy then Porco Rosso, Laputa or Castle Cagliostro are excellent. All 3 very much like Indiana Jones.
If you enjoyed Akira then you should watch Ghost in the Shell. This particular genre has plenty of series to choose from though I think they're mostly crap.
If you want to watch a tragedy then you can't go wrong with Samurai X: Trust+Betrayal or Grave of the Fireflies. Very sad.
Basically anime is like any other medium. There are lots of styles and lots of variation in quality. To put it in perspective, imagine if you had said "What books should I read? I read The Secret Seven when I was 5 years old!". You need to explain what you want.
Man have you opened up a can of worms. Everybody and their anime-watching cat is gonna have their top ten list up here. So, I'm trying to beat the rush. Here are my personal picks:
1) Cowoy Bebop (action/sci-fi) - adventures of several bounty hunters always a bit down on their luck including a former cop, a former mafia enforcer, a woman with no past, a young hacker, and a genetically modified Welsh Corgi. Probably one of the best series released in the last few years. Awesome music, probably some of the best integration of theme and form.
2) Escaflowne (fantasy/action) - a young girl Hitomi Kanzaki is sent to the mysterious world of Gaia. This world is poised on the brink of an expansionist war, and Hitomi's newly discovered powers will be instrumental in shaping the outcome. Giant robots/sword fighting/some magic. Alot of the people from Esca worked on CB.
3) The Gundam Universe (Mecha/Action). One of the biggest venues in anime. Started back in the 80's with Mobile Suit Gundam 0079, and has spawned 4 alternate universes and something like 6 series.
Gundam Wing is probably the most famous of the alternatives. Mobile Suit Gudam: the 8th Mobile Suit Team is one of the best from the original series. Gundam is pretty heavy on the idea of how bad war really is and what it does to children. Gundam W. is highly political, but still very cool
4) The Slayers Universe (fantasy/comedy). Your stereotypical magical world with sorcerers, fighters, priests, and world-shattering mayham and destruction as perpetrated by an insanely powerful, but super kawaii (cute) sorceress named Line Inverse.
5) Ghibli. Everything by studio Ghibli. I'm not kidding. Anything that Miyazaki Hayao has ever touch is pretty much gold. (I know, not everything from Ghibli is Miyazaki's, but these were the good ones): My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro), Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Tani no Kaze no Nausicaa), Porco Rosso (Kurenai no Buta), Kiki's Delivery Service. Also, Grave of the Fireflies and Castle of Cagliostro.
6) Studio Gainax and Anno Hideaki. They do really fascinating, but strange stuff. The movie Wings of Honneamise is phenomenal. Also, the poster series of Gainax - "Shinsaeki Evangelion" - Neon Genesis Evangelion. Love it, hate it, but you've got to see it. I also recommend Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (aka Kare Kano) - "His and Her Circumstances".
7) Some other random series I've liked:
Love Hina (romance/comedy) - modern retelling of the Tale of Genji. Story of a young man who tries to get into Tokyo University, but can't quite make it. While preparing, he becomes the manager of a girls' dorm, and the ensuing misadventures of Hinata Inn.
Full Metal Panic - (mecha/adventure) recent release by Gonzo digimation. Sagara Souske is a 16 year old soldier working for a shadowy organization called "Mithril". His next assignment is to protect a Japanese high school student Chidori Kaname, a young girl totally unware of her unique importance. This is also the story of what happens when a professional soldier has to deal with high school life.
Hellsing - (horror) Gonzo digimation. The story of the Hellsing organization, a group dedicated to destroying England's evil supernatural creatures, and it's main weapon - a cynical and ancient vampire called Alucard.
This list is not complete, is highly subjective and non-authoritative. Still, hope this helps and gives you some ideas.