The "Chewer Approbed!" Anime thread (or Anime that doesnt suck, apparently)

I love me some Cowboy Bebop. Probably because of it's western influences.

I'll say right off the bat that Samurai Champloo is a must see, just a great mix of hip-hop, Samurai and all around goofiness, it's from the guy who created Cowboy Bebop and the soundtrack rocks.

I think it's also the fact that the characters are so engaging, the shows never take themselves seriously like some animes.

Masamune Shirow's Dominion Tank Police is fantastic. Because of the rising criminal prescence in the city, the police all drive tanks. I also recommend Appleseed and Appleseed: Ex Machina also based on manga by Shirow.

I dig Blood: The Last Vampire. Only about 40 minutes long, it has a story that actually adheres to causality, and some good, violent action. I've never seen the series (of which a small portion was none-too-kindly reviewed here on CHUD not too long ago), so I can't vouch for it.

I guess anime just doesn't have the never-ending soap opera storylines meets pro wrestling action vibe of 95% of superhero comic books.

PMR, Ranma 1/2 has alot of soapish elements...and it also has a huge goofy side of the main character a guy who turns into a gal when splashed with cold water. Of course every character is also a martial artist, so there are plenty of martial arts to check out as well.

Don't make me explain my sarcasm, Fleed.

PMR, Actually, I thought you were serious.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. I like season 1 more than season 2, but both are good. Better than the film, easily.

Most of the rest of the non-Miyazaki stuff I've seen has left little to no impression. But GITS is great.

Most of my recent exposure to anime has been through Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, and quite a bit of that stuff is pretty good. They've had Beepop and Ghost in the Shell on for years, and of course they played Samurai Champloo and the Blood Plus series. I didn't care for that last one so much, but I did like Paranoia Agent, Fooly Cooly, and Eureka Seven.

I was very impressed by the animation on the last 3 shows. Paranoia Agent, in particular, went out of it's way to achieve a realism I rarely see in other anime, with all of its characters drawn with distinctly different faces, and care taken with even the simplest elements, such as a steaming bowl of soup.

They ran Evangelion, and it was cool to get a chance to see that, since it's so influential, and it was also interesting to see how anime has changed visually since then. I guess now the animation is computer-aided, but I like that the newer stuff moves more fluidly and has sharper lines and bolder colors.

I even like Inu-Yasha. It's made for like 12 year-olds, but it's amazing how much they trust their younger viewers with more adult material in Japan. Here in the US that show has to be shown "after hours" on Adult Swim, but it's really for younger viewers, and I enjoy it for what it is. Even Naruto, which is made for even younger viewers, is remarkably complex for a children's show compared to American fare aimed at the same age group. Both of these shows are inventive in their character and background design. I see American anime show Avatar: The Last Airbender is trying (sometimes successfully) to keep up over here.

Since many anime series have their entire arcs planned out in advance, they can be hard to get into, and it's often frustrating how little can seemingly happen in a single episode. I've learned to appreciate some of these shows by absorbing them through osmosis, so to speak. They're on so often, sometimes in the background as I'm doing something else, that I'll suddenly find I've picked up enough of a storyline to understand what's going on, and then I'm sucked in.

Cowboy Bebop hands down. I've seen some eps of Black Lagoon and enjoyed it. Also, Death Note has been very good, very much a chess match from the episodes I've seen.

Mind you I watch my animes dubbed. I just like listening to the English voice acting.

I listen to anime dubbed too. I like Spike's voice in English. I love Bebop and Evangelion, and pretend I don't watch Ranma 1/2, Yu Yu Hakusho and Dragon Ball. This past weekend I was forced to watch the new Helsing, and it was pretty good. Really great gore.

Bebop has some of the best dubbed voice casting in my mind. I will say that the Devil May Cry anime sucked massive balls. Oh and Trinity Blood was kind of boring.

What I liked about the Death Note dvds is that it actually has some pretty good features including segments on the English voice actors and what I loved about it is really how regular looking these guys are.

Yeah, Death Note is intriguing. If they start playing it again from the begining I'd like to catch every episode.

Another really cool anime series is 'Noir' about two female assassins. I really like the music for that series.

Noir. In spanish.

Fullmetal Alchemist. Watched the entire series through in a couple of days, and the scope and tightness of the plotting just blew my shit away.

I was never a big fan of anime, but I've seen a few series' I've liked.

Blood+ is pretty damn cool if you watch enough of it at once (not just a five episode "volumn").
Evangelion cracked me up. And then there's cool giant robots.
Fullmetal Alchemist was fun.
Hellsing remains one of my favorites.

And as far as movies go, I always recommend either of the Vampire Hunter D movies, Akira, and Appleseed.

And any hentai, that shit is hilariously fucked up.

Perfect Blue continues to be one of the best suspense films of the last 10 years, full-stop.

Perfect Blue fucked my life up for about three days. Twisted ass shit right there.

Will echo the love for Bebop, the voice acting, the story, everything is great. It's a great soundtrack to have. As an aside, will say that anime is best enjoyed dubbed, because lips aren't made to match in any language when drawn. Live action, gotta go with subs.

Trigun, one of my favorite series with two of my all time favorite characters: Vash the Stampede, the nicest badass in the world and Nicholas D. Wolfwood, whose church I would attend if he were preaching.

And Neon Genesis...simply phenomenonal.

Am I the only Berserk! fan here? Love the slow build of that series and the way the series seems to spend its time telling the origin of the main characters for when the shit really hits the fan and never actually gets to the meat of the conflict, only ever suggests it. Its very homoerotic in the way that all violent fantasies are, though.

Echo for the love of Evangelion. I like the bait and switch that the series pulled, starting out as a typical goofy derivative anime and then shifting tone pretty quickly to something a great deal more serious.

Wait, what? COWBOY BEBOP gets pretty serious. Gracefully so.

Yeah, I got a little misty at the end of Bebop.

Samurai X Trust and Betrayal. Probably the only time an anime that had nothing to do with Studio Ghibli left me in tears.

Reflection is also pretty great, but only makes sense by suffering through that godawful TV series.

Who doesn't? And my personal favorite piece of music from Bebop has to be "Road to the West", god I love that saxophone.

The four disc Bebop soundtrack is fucking amazing.

In fact, I think I'm going to listen to it right now.

"....bang."

Damn, I'd forgotten how affected I was by that first time around.

"Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"Are you gonna carry that weight?"

I really don't consider myself a fan boy of the property, but I've had Bebop music on my iPod ever since I got the thing. Right next to Morricone, Goblin, and Herrman. The Egg and I never fails to bring a smile to my face. There's a rumor that John Williams adores Yoko Kanno's music just as much as the rest of us.

I do chuckle at the Yoko Kano version of Heavy Metal. But that's just me.

I just recently got my wife to watch the entire Bebop series with me. She enjoyed it tremendously (previously we also really enjoyed R.O.D.)

That show still packs quite a punch, even when you know what's coming. Each of the main characters stories wraps up in a way that leaves you satisfied without having to spell everything out for you. Also great how the relationship with Faye & Spike develops without having to resort to a formulaic sexual relationship.

This was the show that really got me interested in anime, and I have yet to find its equal (even though there are a good number of shows out there worth checking out).

The movie was pretty damn sweet, too.

Where does the movie lie in the series? Towards the end? The middle?

And can we talk about Ein? The best Disney pet sidekick outside of a Disney cartoon ever? Maybe.

I also just want to re toss my hat in for Evangelion, I think its head's up its butt a bit, but sometimes I need something like that. And I liked the End of Evangelion too, am I to believe that these new movies are shit? Should I even bother?

The movie takes place between episodes 22 & 23.

I remember Fist of the North Star being pretty cool but its been forever since I've watched it. Am I right or are my memories deluding me?

Movie was pretty good. I wasn't crazed over the fact it didn't have the shows music. Sort of a disconnect on that one.

The new movies (from what I understand, so don't lose any money over this) are just the series being redone. From what I've heard, the first movie is pretty much the same as the first few episodes with a couple minor color changes, and shots removed or added to. Supposedly, they will veer farther and farther away from the path of the series as they go on, resulting in a very different ending.

That's something they do with anime that I actually really like - they do it again. The redone Helsing (as I said earlier) is light years better then the original. I suppose I want the habit to stay with the artform (I don't usually like remakes). I'll wait for the new Eva movies to come out on US DVD then and Netflix 'em.

Has anyone had a chance to see the Ghibli version of Earth Sea? I almost bought a bootleg the other day.

EDit: Oh, and thanks Tieman, that's much more specific then I was thinking it would be.

No more manic depressive ending? Booooo. And End of Evangelion has one of the all time great giant robot fights. Ever.

And I am getting goosebumps and misty eyes just thinking of the finale of Bebop. Possibly one of the greatest marriages of camerawork, artwork and music ever. The ending on the star as it winks out of existence is the most simple, most wonderful thing.

Not to mention the best damn gun/katana fight ever.

Doc Happenin, Give me a Go Nagai super robot film over anything else in that genre. Getter Robo-Armageddon has to me the most knock down drag out fight scene ever when 2 Getter Robots battle hordes of aliens in New York City.

This is one time I will not argue with you because I have never seen any of those.

So, to reiterate, of the giant robot things I have seen, Neon Genesis is the best and has the best, most dramatic fight scenes.

As do I. The English voice acting in Bebop is all-around aces(even Ed, who can get annoying at times).

Unfortunately, I thought using the same voice actor for Mugan in Samurai Champloo was more of a hindrance than anything. It's just distracting, because in my mind I can't separate that particular voice from Spike. It didn't help matters that the character shared a lot of Spike's traits.

Was the "flashback clip show" in Samurai Champloo a joke? Or just the producers being cheap? Both, maybe?

So much of Bebop has a Western flair to it that hearing it in Japanese just sounds wrong. That said, except for Bebop, GITS (the first film or Stand ALone Complex,) and the more recent Ghibli dubs, there's no reason to watch anime in English. None.

As a nominal Anime watcher I enjoy playing 'spot the Spike' when watching English dubs. 'Spot the Jet' is another fun one, as is 'Spot the Vegeta' with any Funimation release, even that super adult show they play on IFC. I spotted the Jet and the Spike on Last Exile, a series I picked up for a worth while five dollars. Pretty good stuff actually.