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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."
Alas all of these wonderful fests seem to be in far off places like LA and Colorado or NY what about us folk in the midwest. Nothing interesting seems to happen much around here in the way of major cons or fests even though we have Chicago. What gives??
Animatrix at 9:15 pm. Running time 90 minutes. Walk a block from the Egyptian to Grauman's Chinese Theater and catch up with your buddy who's been waiting in line for you.
Plenty of time.
This sig intentionally left justified.
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!
Oh yeah, for a few minutes, it appeared that Slashdot actually got /.'ed before the links to the stories did. Guess it can happen to anyone.
-Look lively. LOOK LIVELY!!! --Mr. Shmallow
Im not trying to troll, but...
/.ers?
I was wondering, just how popular is Anime amongst
Is this really something that everyone likes?
Or is it just a category because Taco likes Anime?
Same thing with The Matrix? Is it really needed that there be a whole category just for the matrix?
There seems to be a HUGE range for these suject categories. Apple is a big category, so is Hardware. But I am confused why we have such general categories for most things, yet specific cetegories for others.
That's your loss. Anime is a style not a target audience. Boycotting all movies presented in a particular style is incredibly stupid. Learn to distinguish the quality from the drek and you'll find entertainment everywhere, even in anime.
While I admit that there's a certain truth to that, there's also a truth to the fact that it IS just a style, and therefore the people who love anime because it's anime, and not necessarily because of the content are equally as wrong.
Personally, I like a lot of anime. I find that they often have decent stories, it helps me refine my rather poor Japanese skills (Even though I've been 'studying' it for three years. ugh.), and I find the art pretty decent. However, I realize that there are a great number out there that suck.
There are some people who can't stand the art, and therefore reject it as a medium. There are some people who refuse to give it a chance due to some series being bad. To both of them, that's their loss. But to love everything just because it IS in a certain style is also rather stupid, and I feel sorry for them too.
Note, I'm not criticizing you for this, you didn't say you were like that. I'm just making a somewhat relevant comment on a pet-pieve of mine. All the while simultaneously mispelling the word pieve, I'm sure.
I'm trying to get into anime and I've watched things like Akira and TBH thats about it. Whats a good series I should try to get to help into another spending habit? :)
rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
That is a good point, even though you did misspell "peeve".
I never said I didn't like Astroboy. I thought it was great. But crap anime animation sucks in the suckiest way that can suck, and ruins a story that doesn't need neon pink colours, whiny girl voices, and flashing scenes that last a microsecond. I can get crap animation and stories from South Park, why bother with expensive foreign "art". It is all too artsy-fartsy for me.
Why slashdot? Why not?
Here's a bit of info about a film that will be appearing at the festival, Sacrifice Woods.
Yes, a great number of titles are targeted at "kids", which is people in college and younger. Other people (supposedly) do not have the time to watch anime.
But the age span of 'kids' is quite different. it goes up to about age 25, where cartoons in america plateau at about what, 9 years old?
But again, damnit.. anime is just a medium. There's nothing REQUIRING anime to be aimed mostly at college age students and younger, but the older working people here[in japan] often don't have much time to get in to a story like that, and the non-working people just seem to watch gameshows. Though my only experience is one family, from what I've read and observed, it seems to be true for a great majority.. *shrug*
"Road Trip!"
The line must be drawn here. This far. No further.
I'm going to have trouble fitting them all in, what with the Must-See Star Trek Fan Film Festival this week too.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
There's a lot of gee-whiz techno-nonsense reminiscent of early 1980s cyberpunk. Just because you have a robot, a "hacker," and a scantily-clad schoolgirl in your show doesn't mean you can skip the plot.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
The Anime festival is gonna get slashdotted!
but would SOMEBODY please web-cam / tape it and make it available online somewhere?
Some people just can't make it to LA on short notices like this (not to mention it's a week long excursion). Especially (and ironically) people that have to be in Japan during that time, like myself, actually.
Got some good and bad news for ya.
The good news is that someone has already snagged a copy of most all of these movies! Heck, you don't even have to wait in line, much less visit lovely downtown Hollywood, or the really cool Egyptian theater.
The bad news... I know this is going to be one of those WAY out there wacky ideas. This is so OUT there that you probably would have never thought of it yourself. I'm here to help. Brace yourself for a monster paradigm shift without a clutch my friend, this may sting a bit.
You could *gasp* BUY these titles on DVD! That's right, you're hard earned Dollars and/or Yen can be donated directly to the artists and distributors that make this possible in an otherwise clandestine system known as "The Free Market", and sometimes by it's often derrided name, "Capitalism".
It may seem strange at first, but by utilizing this system you could then watch these movies at any time! It's wacky that way. So go and travel to Japan and enjoy your time there. "The Free Market" will be waiting for you when you get back at a variety of web sites and corner video stores near you!
The line must be drawn here. This far. No further.
Not all anime is about huge breasts and sex. I'm a huge fan of the Trigun series because it depicts a tormented hero struggling to help a world that believes he's the worst thing to happen to it, ever. People never seem to hear about the good deeds he performs, yet, they all want to talk about any destruction that might result from those good deeds, and of course, the tall tales are often exaggerated.
Everyone has his or her own interest. Over-generalizations are just simply pathetic. Anime is a hobby, something of interest to certain people, just like basketball, horror flicks, rock bands, what have you. In fact, quite similar to your self-insecure, need to over-criticize to show off your hollow shell, bashing.
Mod parent troll
then mod this a troll for responding to his idiotic rant
Is it just me, or should this really have been called the "Los Angeles Anime Advertising Fest". A significant proportion of the program is excerpts from forthcoming DVDs from American distributors (ADV Films, Manga Ent., Pioneer).
Here's my take on the real "must-see" films of the festival:
Has an outside chance of actually being great, but at least it'll be strange and a good conversation piece.
This became "Kimba" in its Americanized form. A chance to see some of anime history in its original form that you may not get again.
Do yourself a favor and see this superior double-feature instead of the lacklustre "Cat Returns."
Worth a look for the animation, for which it won an award at the Toyko Anime Fair in 2002.
As anime films go, this one is a brilliant work of art.
I found some more PR guff about the fest at anime-tourist too.
I guess fanboys will want to see Animatrix as well (I probably would), though the three released online episodes don't seem anything to write home about.
Now, anyone want to buy me a trip to LA?
- mib
I have to agree with you! Fanboys who love all anime are as silly as people who hate all anime. There's a lot of crap anime: poor stories, badly drawn, badly voiced, or simply targetting the wrong age group. Steering clear of the junk is as relevant for anime as it is for movies and books.
If you think all anime has neon pink colors, whiny girl voices and epilepsy inducing flashing scenes, you've been missing a lot. I would recommend any of Miyazaki's works. If you're in for a rather depressing yet amazingly well-made anime, my personal recommendation would be Hotaru no Haka (Grave of Fireflies). Or if you want less artsy-fartsy, you could try Cowboy Beebop or maybe Ghost in the Shell.
I am not at all against the idea of paying money for something I like, and in fact I have watched many of the listed titles via rental - the point I am trying to put across is, though (granted, apparently didn't come through so clearly) is the fact that access control on stuff is very much a pain.
My biggest peeve is that it is darn near impossible to get English subtitled works that were produced here in Japan! That's not to mention the rediculous hoops I would jump through do circumvent the region coding - by buying another DVD player or otherwise.
That's not to mention that Animatrix is not yet released, and dispite a seemingly comprehensive effort to make it to the japanese side (the online trailers have japanese versions, methinks?), there are no possibilities of seeing them on the big screen here (none that I am aware of, anyhow) as during previews or otherwise.
THAT was my point.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Then again, you are posting on slashdot...
Shrug. I didn't care for anime myself until 3-4 years ago. I'd seen Astroboy and Transformers as a kid but I had boycotted anime from high-school onwards. I shared the popular opinion that anime was "cartoons" and "cartoons are for kids".
My opinion changed with a single anime. With a great deal of prodding from a fanboy friend I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion on SBS (an Australian TV station devoted to foreign films and shows). I'm a big sci-fi fan but stuck with the books because movies didn't and still don't do the stories any justice. Evangelion changed my opinion because it had a story on multiple levels; that's something I wouldn't expect from a Hollywood movie and definitely not from a "cartoon".
I've since realised that if you are careful in your selections then there is plenty of anime that is more than "cartoons for kids". Perfect Blue, Graveyard of the Fireflies, Princess Mononoke: these are all examples of anime that tell a great story without using the stereotypes of "neon pink colours" and "whiny girl voices".
I'm still waiting for an opportunity to see Spirited Away on the large screen. The way things are going I guess I never will :-(
I've never been able to really get into Anime since I watched Robotech as a kid. I loved that show, and still love watching it. It's not because I love Anime, but it reminds me of those cartoons.
For me, my cartoon loves are strictly American for the most part. I haven't been able to figure out why that is, since most of my friends love the Anime. I love classics like Transformers, G.I. Joe, things like that. I have quite the collection of downloaded episodes, and also have DVDs of my childhood cartoon loves.
I still watch the modern adult cartoons: South Park, KOTH, Simpsons, but don't really consider them cartoons. I have enjoyed some Anime movies, but to me, most seem watered down, or geared towards another culture and mindset. I can only watch so many cartoons with giggling girls, food jokes and the like. I enjoyed Ghost in the Shell, though I suppose that's qualified as Magna (I do not know the difference).
As for the other things, the Matrix rules, but it's just as much Sci-Fi as anything else.
Are we talking the Modern cartoons, that are mostly Anime-influenced? Or are we talking classic American cartoons from the 80s and early 90s?
And if you love robot Anime, watch Robotech. It's the father of a good 50% of the Anime out there, and chances are they though of it first (and then Gundum just ripped it off).
KYLE: We HAVE to see this movie, dude.
CARTMAN: Aw, screw it. It probably isn't all that good anyway.
KYLE: Cartman, what are you talking about? You love Terrance and^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HAnime.
CARTMAN: Yeah, but the animation's all crappy.
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
Yes, there WILL be tentacles (late night schedule).
Nothing to see here, move along, move along.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
spirited away.. isn't that the heartwarming oscar winner that ends in a VICIOUS TENTACLE RAPE
You're exactly right. Anime has earned an undeserved reputation as "animated kiddie porn" in Australia. You're better off claiming to be a leper than admitting to watching anime. Terrible junk like Overfiend is to blame. Even when Spirited Away won an Academy Award I was still hearing the same stereotypes.
If you want to see what good writing can do for anime, I suggest you get the upcoming first season of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon on UNCUT subtitled-English DVD that ADV Films will release this July on a two-box DVD set.
Don't laugh folks: the original version shown in Japan is in many ways a VASTLY different show than the DiC English-language "adaptation" that was originally shown in 1995. The original version is a much darker series, with much more serious storylines and the end of the first season caused some controversy in Japan in the way it ended. I especially recommend watching the first seven episodes, which has some of the best-written stories outside of the Sailor Moon S (third) season.
The real link should of course be kodocha.isgreat.net
Ghibli's The Cat Returns (making its US debut) What, that guy "Cats" from Zero Wing? Cool! What new words of wisdom does he have for us? :^P
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Tamala2010: Punk Cat looks a radiohead animation that you would see on MTV. I liked the animation style that drawn for some of the charecters. Tamala sorta looks like Parappa the Rapper which is cool. I think it could be somthing that could be picked up by a cable such as MTV or Cartoon Network. All in all I give the series: 4 out of 5 /.'s
If you want to get a great example of just how wide-open a genre Anime is, take a look at this series, done by ABe, one of the people who were responsible for Serial Experiments: Lain.
It's beautiful, it grabs hold of your heart and won't turn it loose until you've seen the entire series and even then...seriously, it's great. And there is not a giant robot or a tentacle in sight.
It is not an action series, but a slice of life, a slice of a life you can't experience anywhere else. Right now it's available in fansub, but it will come to video stores as early as August if some reports are reliable.
If Haibane Renmei doesn't move you, your heart is made of stone.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Over time, I've picked up a few Anime titles. Ghost in the Shell... Ninja Scroll... Akira (which bored me silly)... now Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away... Grave of the Fireflies... Maybe ten others.
I also saw the Overlord series, and some other works. Some if it was good, some of it very, very bad. Like any field, there are crap films and wonderful ones.
But I can't help but note that my enjoyment of certain pieces could have been heightened had the animation not suffered from that ridiculous stop-action style that is so prevalent. Certain scenes are wonderfully smooth, but it seems like 3/4 of each movie is animated at 5 or 10 frames per second.
I love the diversity and the treatment of animation as an adult media, but I detest the fact that within the same movie the animation quality can range from gorgeous to "saturday morning bottom of the barrel".
i dunno bout the other dude but i reckon he was saying only sexless tools like u would bother to make claims about other sexless tools. people who are getting action dont bother.
and your a fucktard for saying lol. only dorks say shit like that.
Check the art house theaters this week, it's scheduled for release on April 24.
I happened to be in Japan when this film was released, and went to see it opening night. It was ok, but not spectacular. BTW it's NOT a Miyazaki Hayao film, just a Studio Ghibli film.
I thought the most interesting part was the really strange series of short animated films (also produced by Studio Ghibli) they played before the main feature started. I hope they play those here in the US, some of them were funny.
BTW the name of the film in Japanese is "Neko no Ongaeshi" -- "The Cat Returns a Favor". Which is actually what the film is about, as opposed to a cat just returning (which makes no sense in the context of the film).
I heard him say that at the sakuracon. It's true.
"Hikaru no Go" is a great anime series that you can download for free, as high-quality MPEG4 files. They are fansubbed. The series is great! It has great character development. Don't judge the show until you watch at least the first 5 episodes.
Most people can't stop watching after they have seen the first 5 episodes. So just give it a chance.
You can download Hikaru no Go from AnimeTorrents. Make sure to install BitTorrent first... which is extremely easy.
IS it better than, or on par with, Spirited Away? I just picked that up this weekend and I think it's one of the best films I've ever seen. But then I have a soft spot for Studio Ghibli films.
Now if I could only find my copy of Zombie Deathmatch...
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
The first part of Memories is really fantastic, and I'd love to see it on a big screen, nevermind if it's a bit older. My advice to anybody luck enough to be able to attend this is to watch the first portion ("Magnetic Rose") and then don't bother with parts 2 and 3 ("Stink Bomb" and "Cannon Fodder"). But back to Magnetic Rose for a second, I wish the whole movie had been Magnetic Rose, it could have stood to be a lot longer. Some may scream blasphemy for my saying this, but I would even like to see it as a Western, live action, feature film. I think Western and Eastern audiances both would love it, so why not?
'The staff in the hand of a wizard may be more than a prop for age,' -Hamá, the doorward
"I've never been able to get into American live-action works. I mean, it's all just mindless gun fights and porn."
A foolish, clueless statement that ignores the vast wealth of American live-action works, both cinematic and television? Yup. Yet people will make similar statements about anime. It's just as silly to say, "I've never been able to get into Japanese animated works. I mean its all giggling girls, giant mecha, and tentacle porn."
Anime is just Japanese animation, it covers a huge number of genres and styles, just like American live-action. There are historical dramas, modern action movies, cyberpunk films, science fiction, epic fantasy, soap operas, and more. I expect there is at least one Anime work that someone will like.
Part of the problem is the American generalization that cartoons are for children. So most of the anime we import tends to be targetted at children. It's a shame since there is such a wealth of brilliant anime available.
So, take a look at the list below. See if one of the descriptions would have sounded interested if it was live action and filmed in the US. Give it a whirl, you might be surprised. Of the movies I list, only two have giant robots (and only one of them focuses on the robots), no magical girls, no naughty tentacles, no high school hijinks. (And feel free to get a dub. Sure, the voice acting often isn't very good, but if you're not comfortable reading subtitles you'll be needless irritated. By and large the selections I've listed have at least adequete dubs.)
Historical: While us American's obsess about a variety of wars (particularlly Vietnam and World War II), the Japanese appear to have a slight fixation on World War II. Having lost badly and gotten nuked might have that effect on people. Barefoot Gen is a brilliant film about Hiroshima written by a man who was present for it. It simultaneously addresses the foolish futility of Japan's continued war and the horror of life after the blast. Grave of the Fireflies addresses similar issues.
Science Fiction: For cyberpunk you want Akira . What else can you say. It's a story about some bike gang members who accidentally get involved in a government experiment. The story gets a bit loopy near the end, but this movie oozes style. For a bit of space faring drama, check out the series (not the movie) Cowboy Bebop . It's a series about several bounty hunters with unresolved pasts. It has its cute parts, but it's also got rocking action, a great soundtrack of varied musical styles, fascinating characters, and a dose of angst. For something a bit unusual and pretty funny (but with a darker side), try Trigun a western feeling story set in a decaying science fiction future on a desolate planet. Ghost in the Shell is a great action film about a pair of cyborg cops after a computer hacker with a touch of reflection on what being human means in an increasingly technological world. Rojin Z is a quirky movie set in the near future about an out of control high-tech hospital bed and government-corporate conspiracies. It's unusual, but fun with a fair amount of action (and features crotchety old hackers :-). Of all of these, only Rojin
Z has anything approaching the mecha so commonly associated
with anime, and in Rojin Z the mecha aren't a key story element.
Modern: Gun Smith Cats , light fluffy action, fairly entertaining. Castle of Cagliostro 's animation is
Search 2010 Gen Con events
Is how often the plot consists of a lot of ..., mixed with some ..., but what really kills me is the overabundance of ... which is followed by annoying ...! After all, it's just a bunch of cartoons anyways.
Um, mods, you may want to understand what you are moderating. A 'Troll' is an inflamatory statement, mearly stated to provoke others to "Flame". Modding some "Flame" is either a response to an obvious "Troll", or else a hostile posting.
Personally, I would have expected this to be moderated "Funny", seeing how I post it on every anime/manga article I see. However, feel free to moderate it "Redundant" for such behavior. However, "Troll" is entirely inappropriate.
In this case, anyway.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
So someone (Columbia) finally picked it up and is hopefully planning a DVD :) I saw this a few years ago and it basically sparked my interest in anime. My tastes tend towards the darker comedy side, so it's a bit obvious why I like Memories.
;) ).
Although Cannon Fodder is a bit short and slow for my tastes, I loved Magnetic Rose and Stink bomb. Magnetic Rose for its tension, heart and fatalistic end, and Stink bomb for its dark comedy. I think I loved Stink bomb a little more because of his blind idiocy and his stink bomb powers (I wish I had some way to defeat both smart and dumb munitions with my odor
I think it's great that it's finally being released for real in the US: till now people had a few choices: imports ($$$), VHS fansubs (low quality), Online or one of those HK anime pirates (bad). I'm hoping that when it does come out, it will sell decently.
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
and therefore the people who love anime because it's anime, and not necessarily because of the content are equally as wrong.
Those people are wrong, yes, because they are misstating their preferences.
Someone who claims to love all anime is most likely only aware of that anime which is good enough to be imported to the US (and marketed as "anime", which Dragonball or dub-only releases often aren't). That skews the content towards things which are scifi, action, or adult.
If you speak a little Japanese, it's easier to be aware of the overwhelming bulk of completely childish anime, that American consumers rarely see.
So true.
Mostly I'm just replying cuz I like your username. nan nen kan nihongo wo benkyoushita?
god japanese looks ugly in roman characters.
Nihongo wo zenzen wakaranai. Demo, kono peeji ga utkushi yo