So I’m back on this again, as I happen to dig deeper in the past, as far back as my binge drinking and obscure anime vhs collection can take me. When I came too, I found myself looking at some punk kid, who reminding me of what all of us seem to be at one part of our lives, that part where we don’t know what and where to go in life. Enter the world of 17 year old Akihiko Nomura, or what we’d like to call him, Bobby.
Bobby’s Girl (or “Bobby’s in deep”) is one of Madhouse early works from the 80’s, and this kind of anime just has the right heart and soul to go with it. From the quality of animation, a very simple story to understand, and very talented people all make this anime stand out for its time, only to fall into obscurity later. But, lets dive into Bobby’s world a bit and find what makes this unique.
The anime starts off with Bobby on his bike, because Bobby is all about his bike. He cleans it, tunes it and lives for it. He takes pictures of his ride one day and sends it to a motorcycle hobby magazine, which in turn gets a letter from a girl. The girl sends detailed and often romantic letters to Bobby, which he responds to answers that can be summed in one sentence, such as “My bike is blue” to answer the girls question about when she wants to see him again on the road. Bobby is just a simple guy, and answers like that are part of the binary response that guys use most of the time when answered a question. He’s not doing it to be rude or he’s shy, but I would have to say that is just his personality.
But things at home and life are different for Bobby. His grades are dropping due to the simple fact of “not-giving-a-crap” about school, and his dad is hounding him to get his act together and get his butt in gear for life, which Bobby just doesn’t seem to understand if it has nothing to do with bikes (I am sure there is some tech college in Japan where he can work on bikes, even in the 80’s). This causes him to drop outta school and get kicked out of the house to live with a friend. He then gets a job from a biker bar owner (and by coincidence the bar is named “Bobby’s”) who shares his passion for bikes too, and his past as a racer.
At one point Bobby’s “girl” stated she will call him on a specific date/time and wanted to make sure he is by the phone to talk to him, which has Bobby excited and waiting for the day. On that same day, Bobby’s boss takes him on a ride along the country side of Japan to a motocross track which it seems to give Bobby some options to his outlook on life, at least that’s how I looked at it. But then Bobby realizes that his phone call is coming soon and hops on his bike in a race against time. Can he make it back in time to talk to his mystery girl? You’ll just have to find out.
I’d have to give this OVA credit, despite its flaws. To sum up this OVA, its just a fun anime to sit back and watch, with no effort to put in any thought into trying to interpret the story or to look for anything further than what is provided. Its a simple cut and dry story about a boy who likes his bike and the events that unfold from there. What makes this OVA so special to me is the fact that it can relate to anyone. Everyone has been at a position like Bobby at one point in time, or multiple times. That is just how life is, even if it is unfair to us, and all we can do is learn and move on.
What steals the show on this is the animation by a long shot. This was Madhouse early works in the 80’s before they hit it big, and this was during the period that near infinite money was thrown into the booming OVA market where it seemed a lot of creative talent came from that we see today, both good and bad. The final scene to this anime can only be compared to breathtaking as the animation goes to stencil style as Bobby is riding on his bike to get to the phone in time with every detail to backgrounds, the bike, gear changing, you name it all. Its something out of a A-ha “Take on me” music video, minus the 80’s mullets sadly. There is also the attention to signs, logos and just American products in this show from cars to cigarettes.
I first heard about this anime from Gerald review of it on Anime World Order over a year ago along with his story on how he tracked this down, and I would recommend checking out that review. His review had me looking into this, which I’m glad I did. The anime is now online and finding a copy from those “sites” and the fansub group ToY-RC are the only accessible ways at this time. Your best bet to getting a physical copy is either by yahoo or amazon japan sites and to see if someone has it available.
All in all, if this is something you wanna look into, by all means please check it out. Its not perfect, but its definitely unique to see. But all in all, I wanna be Bobby’s Girl, because that is the most important thing to me: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xajs92_bobby-s-in-deep-ed_shortfilms
As I sit in front of my computer with a big smile on my face, I think to myself “I’m a blogger for the A.A.A Podcast.” And as such I reckon I should get cracking on writing my first blog post. However inspiration isn’t hitting me like a brick. Not that there isn’t anything to write about it’s the fact that there is a LOT to write about. Just like a fanatic who has discovered his(or her) first streaming site, I’m spoiled for choice. There is almost too much to write about. I’ve been stumbling around ANN trying to find something epic for my first post. And then. I saw it. The 2012 Berserk Film Trilogy’s main cast and staff listed.
Perfect 🙂
For those who don’t know, Berserk is the tale of Guts, an orphan mercenary, and Griffith, Leader of a mercenary group, and is set in medieval Europe. At least that’s my understanding of it anyway. Ask anyone what they think of the anime and they will tell you it’s one of the closest things to a masterpiece. The only thing in it’s way of that achievement: The ending. Although personally I can see where the creators were coming from. They pretty much followed the manga up until that point and the manga hadn’t finished so why go against canon? Although we’re not here for that. We’re here for the Berserk films.
Here’s the cast list. Original voice actors for the anime will go after in italics.
Guts – Hiroaki Iwanaga: Nobutoshi Canna.
Griffith – Takahiro Sakurai: Toshiyuki Morikawa.
Casca – Toa Yukinari: Yuko Miyamura.
Now I can already see the fanboys raging. The fanboy rage will be even worse when they see that the crew will be people who have worked on shows that are completely different to Berserk. Seriously. Some dude even complained that it looks to fresh and modern…Well we all know who’s an idiot in that case. All I’ll say is this, before you rage watch the trailer. *Link at the end of this post.*
The only thing I’m expecting from this movie is:
I expect an accurate re-telling of the manga.
I expect the characters to be more or less the same.
I expect a proper ending.
I expect “Forces” to be somewhere in one of the three movies. Even if it’s only for like 3 seconds. We need it!
What about all of you? What are you expecting from the Berserk movies? Are you for the movies? Against them? Just comment. It makes me feel popular.
Sorry this has been a short blog post as well. Can’t help it. Inspiration hasn’t been hitting me hard.
So I thought it would be appropriate for my first game review to be my namesake, none other than: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. This game is part of the long running Shin Megami Tensei series and its the first of the series that I have had the pleasure of playing. It also has the title of the first of the series to be released outside of Japan. Devil Survivor received very good reviews averaging an 8 out of 10. So let’s now take a look at the specifics of the game.
Background Story:
In Devil Survivor you are a high school student, who is referred to as Hero and who you give a name too at the beginning of the game, who is about to enter his third year of high school and the game begins with you meeting your friends to hang out in downtown Tokyo. One of your friends is late and he explains your cousin gave him three new Comps, DS looking devices that are very popular with the Japanese, and he hands you one and tells you that your cousin has modified the Comps with a new program he wrote. Then you get an email on your Comps from something called the “Laplace System” and it makes some dire predictions about the future including a lock down of Tokyo. Soon the Japanese Self Defense Force announces a lock down of a large area of downtown Tokyo. Soon Hero and his friends discover that the Comps have an intriguing ability to summon demons and battle other demons. The main characters are then attacked by demons and became aware that the modified Comps allow humans to fight demons on an equal footing and defeat the demons. They then embark on a journey to uncover the mystery surrounding the lock down and ultimately escape from this nightmare.
Game Play:
Devil Survivor is a tactical role playing game and plays much like similar games such as Final Fantasy. You have a team of three characters, but with a slight difference that human character is part of the team along with two demons. You can have up to four teams at one time on the battlefield, however you might have many other playable team leaders in your party. As for demons, you can carry up to 24 in your Comp. One of the coolest features of the game is the ability to fuse your existing demons with ones you can buy in auctions or that you acquired other ways into more powerful demons. There are two types of battles you will encounter; ones that are plot related and free battles. Free battles are pretty simple they just allow you to fight some enemies to gain experience to level up and earn some money to buy more demons in auctions. The plot related battles are more involved as the ones you choose will influence which character’s ending you will get at the conclusion of the game. These are called “paths” and every major character has one. The two times I played the game so far I got Yuzu(Hot chick in the pink with the very large boobs) ending and Gin’s ending(Gin is the badass in the tie that owns his own bar). There are other events which are non-battles that advance the story as well, you can tell them from battles because an icon appears next to them with a red exclamation mark and say “battle”, pretty easy to tell apart I know :P. The game is broken up into 7 days and each event you do moves the clock forward 3o minutes, so beware of this if you want to level up some more before moving ahead in the story.
Personal Comments:
I really enjoyed this game a lot, its exactly what I like in a role playing game. The game has a deep and richly realized story with many twists and turns, characters with good development(yuzu and mildori are annoying at certain points), and a simple and easy to learn combat interface. The replay value is high as there are many different endings depending on the path you decide to take. The game places the fate of you and your friends in your hands and its up to you who lives and who dies, it almost gave me a god complex lol (P.S. I’m not as crazy as I seem). I’m excited about the sequel that is coming in fall, and will review it when it comes out. If your looking to buy this game, I would go with the new version called Devil Survivor: Overclocked, which adds an 8th day to the story. I’m going to buy it for my 3DS(I was dumb and brought it at the high price early on, but I’m looking forward to my 20 free games from the virtual console and will get Netflixs soon on it). I give Devil Survivor 4.5 of 5 big boobed anime girls.
Ok that’s all for now. Not sure what I’ll review next, I’m I need to jump into Catherine because I know so many people on this site love that game.
Hello Anime Addicts! Welcome to my first blog for the Anime Addicts Anonymous! I am going to be introducing, or reacquainting you with a J-Pop/Rock artist every week.
For our first week, I will be introducing you to Versailles Philharmonic Quintet, my personal favorite Visual Kei band.
The band consists of: Kamijo- Vocals
Hizaki- Guitar Teru- Guitar Yuki- Drums Masashi- Bass Jasmine You- The Eternal Member
The band was conceived by Kamijo and Hizaki in 2006, and the band got together in March of 2007. The band’s concept was a formula of “absolute beauty and extreme aestheticism. The dueling guitars sound like rose vines grown riot over an agitated rhythm. Those sounds sketch the story of “The Descendant of the Roses”.” (From the band’s myspace) The band is known for their heavy guitars, and their Rococo styled costumes. When the band started out they received tons of offers for interviews and shows, but the band turned down all domestic offers they received, and only responded to media from overseas.
They released their first single, “The Revenant Choir” on June 24th of 2007, and their first album “Lyrical Sympathy” on October 31st of the same year. Versailles The Revenant Choir
They had their American debut on May 30th 2008 at A-Kon in Dallas, which had over 3000 in attendance, and the Knitting Factory in LA, California which sold out entirely.
The band’s first full album, “Noble” was released, on July 9th, 2008. This album serves to tell the band’s concept story of the Descendants of the Rose mentioned in “Revenant Choir”. Versailles Noble Album Preview
In 2009, the band decided to go major in Japan and Internationally on Warner Music Japan’s label, with the single “Ascendead Master” along with a short film of the same name.
August 3rd of that year, the band announced that their Bass player Jasmine You would be taking time off from all band activities and six days later an announcement on their official site that said. “2009.8.9 「Versailles」 Urgent Announcement: Though Jasmine You had taken time off in order to rest because of poor physical condition, we received a report that early in the morning on August 9, he died. Because of the extreme abruptness of this news, the members and staff are all dumbfounded and trying hard to accept this it. As soon as his family has been notified and updated as to the details and we receive their permission, we will further report to all of the fans. Moreover, with the current announcement, in regards to activity, please allow us to postpone it.” The cause of death has still not been released as far as I can find.
The band took a brief break to mourn their band mate, but then resumed work on their next album, “Jubilee” released January 10th 2010, adding Bass player Masashi to the band, and naming Jasmine You the “Eternal Member”. Versailles Jubilee Album Preview
The band has released a few singles and a music video since then, but as far as I can see, a new full album has not yet been released.
So that brings Versailles to the present day, and they’re still going strong. I hope you’ve enjoyed this feature, and Versailles music. You can find them on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/versaillesjp and on iTunes.
If you enjoyed this post, please let me know, and if there are any J-pop or rock artists you would like to see me feature here, please let me know!
On March 11, 2011 Japan was hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake; the fifth-largest earthquake since 1900. The death toll was projected to be over 10,000 Japanese citizens with massive amounts of damage to both buildings and people’s lives. There have been many projects and programs created in order to help the reconstruction of Japan, but VIZ Media has come up with a way to raise funds through a heart-filled media.
VIZ, along with Autodesk (one of my favorite companies), has come up with Art for Hope, an anthology of digital hope-themed art that will be available sold through the VIZ Manga App for iOS devices (see links below). The best art about this project is that all the proceeds go toward Japan. THAT’S RIGHT! 100%! The book is going to be released in Fall of 2011, but that’s not the best part; VIZ is looking for artist to contribute to the project!
If you are looking to get you art seen or just want to help Japan, you can submit your work to the project. All art needs to be created using a copy of Autodesk’s Sketchbook® software, but thanks to the boys and girls at Autodesk, you can use a 15 day free trial of Sketchbook Pro (see links below). You can find all the information you need at the Art for Hope site at www.viz.com/artforhope. Submissions are accepted until September 15, 2011, so take you time, make it good, and get it in on time with all the conditions met!
If you have the skill and imagination and want to help Japan, you should check this project out and/or purchase the app. Every penny counts in programs like these so any effort you can put forth will help make a difference in the project. With the full force of the anime community, we can make a difference.
Hello AAA community, this is Folium helping to bring your anime addiction with you on the go. So this summer I got my first IPod Touch, and being the otaku as I am I went about trying to find the best apps to help my addiction grow stronger. So here I am to bring you up to date with my favorite apps.
First of all we will start with the app I use the most, Manga Storm. You can download the app for free and then pay $2.99 U.S.D. to unlock it, but even if you don’t want to pay download this app. This is the only way I read manga now, besides the classic print versions. Manga Storm provides you with three online sources from which you can draw your manga from, Manga Fox, Manga Reader, and Manga Eden, and they will hopefully be adding more soon. Now from these three sources you can favorite manga and download manga. For the free version you can download ten chapters at a time and I believe favorite five manga. Now here is where things become beautiful. Even when online Manga Storm marks the chapters of a manga you have read and also marks the current chapter you are on along with new manga chapters added. After a manga is set to favorite you can set Manga Storm to automatically download chapters of your favorite manga so you can read them at your leisure without Wi-Fi. When downloading manga you can select certain chapters or just select download all and Manga Storm will download all of it for you in the background, and will store as much manga as you have space for on your IPod. When reading it has a portrait or landscape view, slides to next page, loads chapters completely so no breaks when reading one chapter, can be locked for screen, and when zooming in it will reset the screen size to standard on the next page. I love this app.
The next app for the modern otaku would be Netflix, and you would normally have this anyways but I might as well mention it if you like dubs, find yourself in a masochistic state of mind, or are having to review a bad anime. Don’t waste space on Crunchy Role or Anime Network unless you like to watch anime legally, instead use anime4iphone.com, a friend of aaapodcast and the best place to watch anime on your iPhone. If you want to watch dubbed for any of the above reasons though Netflix is the best way to go.
For anime music definitely go with Japan-Radio. While it offers many radio stations from Japan it also offers three of my favorite anime music radio stations, 91.8 The Fan, Armitage’s Dimension, and Kawaii Radio along with a few other J pop and anime radio stations. Also has free recording of any songs playing, and best of all, free of charge.
For anime images head over to Anime Box, a gelbooru client that allows you to search for anime images using tags and allows for favoriting, saving, and sharing online. Great quality HD for beautiful images.
And that is my app collection for my otaku lifestyle. For information I say don’t waste space and go for animenewsnetwork.com, and everything else I can find online. So fill up that ipod and get even more addicted to anime.
Sincerely,
~Folium
This is a list of all the apps I mentioned. Manga Storm (free version and $2.99 unlock), Netflix (Free as long as subscribed to actual Netflix), Japan- Radio, and Anime Box. If you have any other apps then please email their names to me at msnbliss@gmail.com and I will review them and mention them if I deem them decent to take up my limited 8 GB space (sniffle).
Today, we talk about To Aru Kagaku no Railgun and I go off on a little rant on why I don’t like anime that are about 300 episodes long. Thoughts? Want to debate it? I’m open to all of these things. Hit me up at any given point (Phil Bohn on Facebook and @lamperouge98 on Twitter).
PS, you’re all still on the hook for picking the next anime I review. Get to it.
First off, I like to thank the hosts of AAA for giving me the opportunity to write for the site and promise not to let them down. That said, Let me tell you what I’m all about and what this blog will feature. I’m a huge anime fan, my expertise is mostly with mecha shows so I will be talking about that frequently when I blog about anime, however I will being doing a feature ever so often about an anime that is very outside my comfort zone. I’m a trained political scientist so I will writing about stories in Japan where government policy decisions affect the anime industry in an negative or positive way. I will also cover how the anime industry is portrayed in the Western media, which should be fun ;). This will also be a blog that practices what has been termed ” informed hate” by Gundamn’s Austin Blake, aka General Hate. I will not bash a show without watching it first or go on a rant without researching the subject matter before hand. No one, show, group, or fanboy will be off limits, I’m actually making a hitlist right now and craving the names into the bullets. Up till now I have stayed out of discussions on the forums about whatever and usually contributed to the community by submitting questions to the mailbag, suggesting topics for the show, and being in the chat during the live ustream shows. I’m hoping this blog will help me get into a richer and more immersed experience on this site. I’m also planning to do game reviews, I just brought Catherine and Gundam Dynasties Warriors 3 as first two games I’ll review. I’ll planning to do anime and movie reviews of things that haven’t been review yet on the show. I’m going to try to review older shows that are not that well known and also other buried treasure I can find. I also I like to ask the community for their stories about dealing with trolls as I want to write about them as one of my first posts. Ok that’s all for now, I just wanted to bang this out and get the ball rolling.
The title speaks for itself, these are the shows that most fans have and I hope will continue to have as the first dips into the rich medium. I limited myself to the titles I have personally seen in this post as well, this will help me convey my opinions on the shows much clearly and hopefully the passion may just sip into your souls as well.
Ive noticed that most current fans got into the fandom through convinient access, Toonami for the Americans is the perfect example. The shows that were popular on there have become solid classics in the west and still sell well to this day. SBS and Cheese TV in Australia aired Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cardcaptor Sakura respectively, these shows have near legendary status here and finally DSTV Africa showed Dragonball Z and Pokemon in Zambia.
While all the mentioned shows are very good in their own right and served their purpose in planting the “anime wants” seed, its often the second or third show that fans see that are the deal clincher. Those are the shows that will make my list. So yes this is basically a “how to get your friend into anime” post.
The easiest way is if you know the said person is already interested in general Film, If it is difficult to get said person to watch even the biggest Hollywood blockbuster just give up. Most people interested in general film entertainment have heard of or seen a samurai,ninja or geisha in a movie or cartoon. Like most entertainment fans I knew Ninja before anime and that one Samurai show that aired late at night was pretty epic I still recall the opening to this day, boy was it badly dubbed. Anyway, most entertainment fans have already seen or heard of a part of the Japanese culture so showing something created from there would not be a bad idea.
Pick your shows wisely, Im not going to show my Jason Bourne fanboy friend Haruhi Suzumiya first no matter how awesome I/we know that show is, because believe it or not the culture shock will be really offputting. Pick a show that is as closely related to the siad freinds’ favourite genre, you know the saying “there is an anime for everyone.” So Here are my recommended picks;
Shounen
Anime aimed at young boys and teenagers.
Its no secret that I got into anime through Naruto Shippuden and I still love that show, Its difficult not to get sucked into the story of the show. It hooks you in with its good characters and finds a way to coerce you into rooting for Naruto and his dream to become Hokage. The setting is also very unique and the action scenes are really well done, the fights are not drawn out too long so it doesn’t feel like you are just being taken for a ride in fact most of the fights happen so quickly that only after going through them in the manga did I get to appreciate all the tactics and techniques. Speaking of techniques, the special abilities in Naruto are very unique and flashy. Its hard not to get them stuck in your head, im sure we have all said “Shadow Clone Jutsu” out loud at least once. The dub cast is also very very good, Maile Flanagan does a perfect Naruto and the supporting cast is just superb with voice actors like Crispin Freeman, Yuri Lowenthal, Tara Platt and Steve Blum just to mention a few.
Bleach is also very similar to Naruto great voice cast, awesome setting and brilliant fight scenes. This is the show that will most likely be easier to give to non anime fans (is there a word for those? Harry Potter has muggles why don’t we have a name yet?) The main character is your typical cool hot headed teenager and the supporting cast is so vast its more than likely you will quickly find a favourite character.
A more recent title that caught my eye would be Soul Eater, If I had to pick an anime title, any title to put on national television on the Saturday morning that isnt Pokemon or Yu Gi Oh (and I have nothing against those shows) It would have to be Soul Eater. The Character designs look similar to western style animation and so does the general outlook of the entire series. Like most successful Shounen titles this one has a great cast. They are all unique and easy to get attached to, a few moments of suggestive themes may put off a few young viewers (not really) but cutting these out wouldn’t hurt the story at all. Of all the Shounen titles to get a potential fan to watch this is the creme of the crop.
Action
Admit it, We all love to see violence in our entertainment..well most of us do otherwise Micheal Bay wouldn’t be as big as he is right now. Action is the best way to get someone into anime and the following titles prove me right.
Trigun is the perfect example of a well done action comedy, It is set in the distant future where the planet that man has settled is a desert wasteland and thugs, gangs and outlaws run rampant in this Neo Western. The main character Vash is the series comic relief because of his pacifist philosophy and is voiced by Johny Young Bosch. Trigun is a fun, silly action western that is very easy to get into and is still very dear to alot fans that saw it first.
-Recommend this to a new fan if they like Action Comedies and Westerns.
Cowboy Bebop is very similar to Trigun in that it is also described as a Western, A Space Western but a Western none the less. It is set a about a hundred years in the future and space travel is now more frequent and civil. Humans have colonised nearby planets and guess what? crime is still rampant and on the rise, so to counter this the police puts prices on wanted criminals and bounty hunters bring them to justice. The main characters are all Bounty Hunters and are members of the space ship called the bebop. The show has a little comedy, sci fi and some drama. It has a very western feel to it so it shouldn’t be too hard to get into. Cowboy bebop is still praised for its dub to this day with Steve Blum and Wendee Lee gracing the main cast.
Cowboy Bebop
-Recommend this to a new fan if they like Action or Sci Fi.
As I have mentioned in my previous posts Full Metal Alchemist is the show that made me sign that anime otaku contract. It is still one of my top 3 favourite shows of all time. The setting is unique is and so are the characters. the story is solid well written and excellently paced. It is hard to not get behind these boys quest to regain their body parts or to save the people they meet on their journey. Both iterations of this series are good so go with whichever you see fit. If I had to pick a favourite from this list it would have to be this title and this is the show I always plug to anyone even slightlty curious about anime.
Recommend this to a new fan if they like Adventure, Action, Comedy or Drama
My recent anime pick would have to be Eden of the East. Directed by Kenji Kamiyama of Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex fame. The show is set in present day Japan and some of the US, the use of social networking to save the world is also something us the “internet age” can get behind. The animation is quite fluid and the mystery surrounding Juiz, and the other “Selecao” is so gripping it will have anyone clamoring for the Movie sequels once they are done with the eleven episodes of season one. This is still a big seller for FUNimation and I can see the reason why.
Recommend this to a new fan if they like Mystery, Action,Drama, Comedy and Romantic subtext.
Movies
Series can be a bit of a chore if you are either impatient or just not used to the idea of “waiting for episode 3 before it gets good.” Anime fans have a lot of patience unfortunately not everyone is built that way and getting your friends to watch a series would be a hurdle just because of the length. Not to worry full length Movies and OVAs’ are here to save you! Its no secret that the general populous of the west was introduced to anime through Akira, while a select few had seen and enjoyed Star Blazers and Speed racer prior to this. Not everyone would have been patient enough to sit through weekly episodes of these cartoons.
To this day the most well know anime films are Studio Ghibli. Princess Mononoke, Ponyo, Grave of the Firefiles, Spirited Away are just a few examples of the classics that this studio has given us. The amount of money they have insures that the production value is top notch. The movies are qute literally art pieces in motion, add a well written plot and voices to this and you have a very powerful emotional piece of entertinment. These movies are also very easy for new fans to get into, every time Im in our local anime store I always notice someone buy a new Ghibli film or atleast talk about it. Have parents or family that would like some good family entertainment? watch some ghibli with them it will certainly nullify that bad opinion they have of you after they caught you watching that ecchi show.
Recommend this to a new fan if they like Good movies
Sword of the Stranger is quite honestly the best Samurai anime Film I have ever seen. the animation is very fluid especially in the fight sequences. The main character is not the very cliche good guy, in fact at some points in the movie his motives might actually be questioned if you can call them motives at all. This really reminded me of that one Samurai show I saw late at night when I was like 5 years old. In all seriousness its a great film for action or samurai enthusiasts. If you get the chance do watch this in Blu ray you will not regret it.
Recommend this show to a new fan if they like Samurai, Action, Blood and dogs
My recent anime pick for movies would have to be “The best family movie ever made” Summer Wars! The story centers around a boy named Kenji that is forced to go to his friends hometown and pretend to be her boyfriend for her ill Grandmother. All goes well until the virtual world of OZ which has now become the hub of all things economic, civic and social with a user base in the billions goes berserk because of a reply he sent to a spam text message (do not reply to those see what happens) It is up to kenji and his “new family” to overcome this tragedy and save the entire Human race from destruction.
Everytime I even see a screenshot of this movie i get goosebumps, i was lucky enough to see this in the Cinemas and the number of school kids that saw this was shocking. This is certainly going to be one of those classic titles everyone talks about watching for the first time 5 – 10 years from now. dont be left out or leave out your friends or family. Its a very well made movie and stories centering around the power of family or love are very universal. Watch this with someone get them to atleast appreciate good Japanese animation, you wont regret it.
Recommend this to anyone that has a soul
Other Titles you can try are Code Geass, Ghost in the Shell (movie) and Death Note.
What are some of the titles that got you hooked onto anime and what titles do you think would be good to get more newer fans into the fandom? It makes me happy everytime I see or hear of a new fan because i know my fandom is not going to die anytime soon.
Here is an interesting Poll I found on Anime News Network I think it might interest quite a few of you that would like to know the statistics and numbers of Gateway anime through the years http://www.animenewsnetwork.com.au/survey/153/result
As with much cultural media that comes from overseas, some of the content that is displayed in these works can be deemed to be offensive in other countries. A classic example of this is from the anime Space Battleship Yamato, renamed Star Blazers when it came to America due to the fact that the battleship Yamato was obviously named after the Japanese battleship used in World War Two. This whole adaptation can be seen in many other countries that participated in the war, such as Italy (part of the Axis) and France (who was the first to surrender, rather quickly I might add) titled the anime “La Corazzata Spaziale Yamato” and “Yamato, le Cuirassé de l’Espace” respectively. However Spain titled it’s anime version “Estrellas Luminosas”. So censorship in order to prevent cultural problems has appeared in times previously. Now however, with greater connection between Japan and the U.S. less is being censored from foreign releases. So now we get into the main topic. There are few anime out there that have strong Christian themes such as Neon Genesis Evangelion but there are many different anime that only use them as a base or small theme such as Hellsing or other vampire anime. The latter seems to be becoming more popular with some anime and manga having angels who are obviously based (and sometimes even named) after biblical angels, and also includes devils, but the devils can often be the good guys, only in anime. Or even the more subtle references such as having a moe nun (1/2 lbs. Gospel) or having a church be a focal point in the story, although it has become an orphanage ( Ef ~ A Tale of Melodies).
Obviously with such information exchange as we have today we aren’t going to get much if any extremist religion in anime, but it still appears readily enough in anime and manga aimed for children and young adults where it is not the focal point in itself, it is just a base to build the rest of the story upon. For example Hellsing the cross is used as a weapon against the vampires but I doubt many crosses appear in the recent vampire love novels that have been flooding the shelves. In this way people may argue that it is because Japan does not have a strong Christian base, and while this may be true as only 2.0% of Japanese are Christian, in the information age countries must be very careful about what they release knowing that other countries will see it. The Japanese do not shy away from the Shinto beliefs that their country was based upon either, featuring them much more prominently than Christianity. So Japan is relatively open to displaying religions in a not so good/pure light (moe, ecchi, hentai, bad guys, world destruction just to name a few from anime.), and how does that effect which anime move over to the U.S.? In the end not much it seems. Anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion was still a huge hit in the U.S., the anime A Certain Magical Index and Blue Exorcist was licensed and released by FUNimation, Wolfwood the gunslinging priest still captured the hearts of more fans and fangirls during the Trigun: Badlands Rumble, and other instances where anime that danced along the fine line of insulting Christianity have been accepted. And we all know that somewhere in the house we have a body pillow with a moe nun on it, right?
Sincerely,
~Folium
P.S. I am an Atheist and don’t pretend to be an expert on on Christianity or Religion in general. If there is any problems with what I have written please contact me at msnbliss@gmail.com, thanks.
