If you liked Robotech, then I would highly recommend you to look for these three titles: Macross, Southern Cross and Mospaeda. These are the tree, UNRELATED titles that Harmony Gold licensed, then hacked into Robotech. Even though Robotech was impressive in the US for the time it was shown, each "Robotech war" is still nothing compared to the series where they come from. Macross is by far the most popular one, which included sequels like Macross 7 and Macross Plus.
The main problem with Anime, in my personal opinion, is that it is misunderstood. What you just mentioned is a stereotype of Anime, not a reality. Contrary to what a lot of people think, Anime is not just violence and sex. There are great titles oriented to a younger audience that have a great level of innocence. One of the first things that are needed to understand is that Anime is created for an audience with a different cultural background. Also, animation in Japan is not only targetted to a young audience, that is the reason why you see titles oriented to all ages, including what in the US could be called "adult movies". Concepts like death, nudity and homosexuality in Japan are not as tabooed as in the US. That is why it is common to have main characters that don't have a parent (Kinomoto Sakura - Cardcaptor Sakura), there is some nudity even in titles for younger audience (Sailormoon and Reiasu for example) and is rather common to find cases of homosexuality (Tenou Haruka and Kaiou Michiru - Sailormoon). What I do consider to be a problem is that is precisely the titles with gore and violence are the ones that are getting mainstream on this continent without really looking at more importants details like plot or character development (which is the most appealing part of Anime, IMHO). Personally, Ninja Scroll and DBZ are two of the worse anime titles I have seen, but are extremely popular because of the graphical content.
X the movie is an adaptation of X, a 10-volume manga by made group CLAMP, the artist being Apapa Mokona (my favorite mangaka so far), considering the amount of volumes that X has, the movie is seems to be rushed, but is still good in my opinion (saw it fansubbed before Manga got the rights). Personally, CLAMP is one of the most versatile manga creators, since they can do extremely cute stuff like Cardcaptor Sakura and CLAMP Campus Detectives as well as darker themed titles, like RGVeda and X itself, passing thru titles like Mahou Kishi Reiasu (a middle point), Tokyo Babylon and even Miyuki-chan in Wonderland (fanservice galore). I would reccomend CLAMP titles to everyone.
Re:Anime Expo 2000 WAS:the Good the Bad and the Ug
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Essential Anime
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· Score: 1
I am not going to AnimeExpo 2000 for the following reasons: 1). Anime Expo 99 was a complete disaster. It was pretty obvious that the organizers were completely unable to handle the amount of people. The masquerade, for example, was more than 3 hours late. 2). Disney Hotel. More than one Anime fan dislikes Disney, and there are already reports that Disney is planning to put restrictions in what can be shown/used inside the hotel. An Anime convention restriced by a company like Disney? No thanks. I am rather going to Otakon 2000
Re:Powerpuff Girls...the only anime worth watching
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Essential Anime
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· Score: 1
I agree on the fact that the Powerpuff Girl are above the average quality of animation shown in the United States, however, the Powerpuff Girls are NOT Anime, since they are not of a Japanese origin.
Whats the freaking problem with Sailormoon?
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Essential Anime
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· Score: 1
Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon is in my opinion (together with Mahou Kishi Reiasu, Fushigi Yuugi, Cardcaptor Sakura and Kodomo no Omocha), one of the best shoujo series out there, but is being underrated in the States because of the horrendous quality of the dub without even botering what the thing is really about. Sailormoon S, the third Sailormoon season and soon the be also destroyed on Cartoon Network, is by far one of the best, and it features an excellent plot, decent animation, and the usual humor factor that make Sailormoon a great mix. Something that I will never understand is why people underrate an anime series just for being cute, or even worse, because of the way it was destroyed, er, dubbed. Why is it that people underrate a series just because violence and gore is not it's main attraction? To all those who think that Ah Megami Sama! is bad because it is cute and/or romantic (and is more than one on these article comments), sorry to tell you this, but get out of the stupid stereotypes of Anime. Anime is good because independently of the target audience, it often combines a great plot with excellent character designs and good animation, and in terms of romantic comedy, Ah Megami Sama! is the best on its field. And yes, if you ask, I do think that the United States features one of the worse dubbing industries in the world.
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Even though the GameBoy was released 10 years ago, is still the most sold game console to day. Does 100,000,000+ units sold tell you something?
If you liked Robotech, then I would highly recommend you to look for these three titles: Macross, Southern Cross and Mospaeda. These are the tree, UNRELATED titles that Harmony Gold licensed, then hacked into Robotech. Even though Robotech was impressive in the US for the time it was shown, each "Robotech war" is still nothing compared to the series where they come from. Macross is by far the most popular one, which included sequels like Macross 7 and Macross Plus.
The main problem with Anime, in my personal opinion, is that it is misunderstood. What you just mentioned is a stereotype of Anime, not a reality. Contrary to what a lot of people think, Anime is not just violence and sex. There are great titles oriented to a younger audience that have a great level of innocence. One of the first things that are needed to understand is that Anime is created for an audience with a different cultural background. Also, animation in Japan is not only targetted to a young audience, that is the reason why you see titles oriented to all ages, including what in the US could be called "adult movies". Concepts like death, nudity and homosexuality in Japan are not as tabooed as in the US. That is why it is common to have main characters that don't have a parent (Kinomoto Sakura - Cardcaptor Sakura), there is some nudity even in titles for younger audience (Sailormoon and Reiasu for example) and is rather common to find cases of homosexuality (Tenou Haruka and Kaiou Michiru - Sailormoon). What I do consider to be a problem is that is precisely the titles with gore and violence are the ones that are getting mainstream on this continent without really looking at more importants details like plot or character development (which is the most appealing part of Anime, IMHO). Personally, Ninja Scroll and DBZ are two of the worse anime titles I have seen, but are extremely popular because of the graphical content.
X the movie is an adaptation of X, a 10-volume manga by made group CLAMP, the artist being Apapa Mokona (my favorite mangaka so far), considering the amount of volumes that X has, the movie is seems to be rushed, but is still good in my opinion (saw it fansubbed before Manga got the rights). Personally, CLAMP is one of the most versatile manga creators, since they can do extremely cute stuff like Cardcaptor Sakura and CLAMP Campus Detectives as well as darker themed titles, like RGVeda and X itself, passing thru titles like Mahou Kishi Reiasu (a middle point), Tokyo Babylon and even Miyuki-chan in Wonderland (fanservice galore). I would reccomend CLAMP titles to everyone.
I am not going to AnimeExpo 2000 for the following reasons: 1). Anime Expo 99 was a complete disaster. It was pretty obvious that the organizers were completely unable to handle the amount of people. The masquerade, for example, was more than 3 hours late. 2). Disney Hotel. More than one Anime fan dislikes Disney, and there are already reports that Disney is planning to put restrictions in what can be shown/used inside the hotel. An Anime convention restriced by a company like Disney? No thanks. I am rather going to Otakon 2000
I agree on the fact that the Powerpuff Girl are above the average quality of animation shown in the United States, however, the Powerpuff Girls are NOT Anime, since they are not of a Japanese origin.
Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon is in my opinion (together with Mahou Kishi Reiasu, Fushigi Yuugi, Cardcaptor Sakura and Kodomo no Omocha), one of the best shoujo series out there, but is being underrated in the States because of the horrendous quality of the dub without even botering what the thing is really about. Sailormoon S, the third Sailormoon season and soon the be also destroyed on Cartoon Network, is by far one of the best, and it features an excellent plot, decent animation, and the usual humor factor that make Sailormoon a great mix. Something that I will never understand is why people underrate an anime series just for being cute, or even worse, because of the way it was destroyed, er, dubbed. Why is it that people underrate a series just because violence and gore is not it's main attraction? To all those who think that Ah Megami Sama! is bad because it is cute and/or romantic (and is more than one on these article comments), sorry to tell you this, but get out of the stupid stereotypes of Anime. Anime is good because independently of the target audience, it often combines a great plot with excellent character designs and good animation, and in terms of romantic comedy, Ah Megami Sama! is the best on its field. And yes, if you ask, I do think that the United States features one of the worse dubbing industries in the world.