Anime & Manga

Been watchinga lot of anime recently in an attempt to get to grips with contemporary Japanese culture. Battle Fairy Yukikaze has its moments, telling the story of a secret war being fought and lost by humanity against aliens in the antarctic.



Here's a typical combat scene soundtracked by the 12-bit crunch of Boards of Canada. Anyone else interested in anime?

Yeah, my friends and I watch quite a bit. My recommendations for series would include NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, GURREN LAGANN, CODE GEASS, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD, and COWBOY BEBOP.

The thing to remember about Japanese culture, of course, is the whole nuke thing. That sorta thing really puts a different perspective on how you view life, see: AKIRA for example.

I've got Cowboy Bebop and Patlabor in the mail so will report back. Enjoyed Porco Rosso and The Sky Crawlers, but then I'm a sucker for piston engines.

Yukikaze Vol. 3

The finale is almost incomprehensible. It’s a strange amalgam of Solaris-style mysticism, the man machine concept, and the usual Japanese themes of self-sacrifice, honour and homoeroticism. I’ve no idea what got lost in translation from the novels to the anime, or from Japanese to English, but I suspect it was a great deal. By the credits I felt like I had watched something fairly interesting, I just didn’t know what. Death and night and blood indeed.

Time for a brain upgrade I think.

I'm not that much into anime but I like some of the mangas. Neon Genesis Evangelion is a guilty pleasure. And Golgo13 appeals to thriller and pulp fans. What else? For some reason I never got into Akira. And the Marvel and DC manga versions of their popular characters don't interest me at all.

EVA manga isn't that great, IMO, because it's just an extended extrapolation from the show.

Speaking of Evangelion - sound familiar?

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

EVA manga isn't that great, IMO, because it's just an extended extrapolation from the show.

Never saw the show. But I had a feeling NGE was going at a slow pace where there didn't happen a lot in some of the books. Due to the extension of the story perhaps.

Louis Armstrong wrote:

Speaking of Evangelion - sound familiar?

Xelrafin wrote:

Americans just only know to copy, just like this to evangelion, original decisive battle is a lot better than this one.

I used to watch anime a lot when I was 13, that's probably around the height of its popularity after Pokemon became a hit.

It's been a very long time since I saw it but I remember Gundam Wing being a stand out including its feature film ENDLESS WALTZ. I remember being hooked right from the first episode which ends with the protagonist telling the leading lady "I'll kill you". From then on I knew this show was not going to be like anything else I've seen. I'm sure I have a VHS recording of that very episode, including ENDLESS WALTZ, somewhere in the VHS boxes in my closet. That's a show I'd love to revisit.

Sharky wrote:

Louis Armstrong wrote:

Speaking of Evangelion - sound familiar?

Xelrafin wrote:

Americans just only know to copy, just like this to evangelion, original decisive battle is a lot better than this one.

Yeah, I always noticed that similarity.

Anime and manga usually go hand in hand with comic-books at comic conventions. I don't mind some of the cartoons but I have difficulty embracing it when it's used in japanese porn. Like those Super-Taboo comics....

Just got a copy of Jonathan Clement's Anime Encyclopedia. A bit dated, but still the best guide I've found.