72 replies to this topic

[Ratty Randnums]

Hellsing is, hands down, awesome. Well, the two episodes I've seen so far. Unfortunately, my internet is slow and ancient (a.k.a. dial-up). So if I don't see it at someone's house, I don't get to see it often.

Hellsing is my favorite manga and anime. The "so-over-the-top-you-can't-see-where-the-ceiling-was" violence walks the thin edge between badass, horrifying and hilariously ridiculous so well it's hard not to like.
And the whole "What's more evil than vampires? Nazis! What's more evil than Nazis? NAZI VAMPIRES! Owww yeah." concept is inherently charming. Plus even if it is (really) a mishmash of other interpretations, a genuinely unique and evil Dracula is refreshing.

But the 13 episode TV show is shit. Total shit. (Save for the voice acting. Which manages to overcome the misguided characterization somehow to still be good.)
Read the manga, watch the OVAs (Hellsing Ultimate) which more closely follow the manga. And that's all you need. I kinda hate that they crammed in more action in the OVAs though.

The 10 manga volumes are cut right down the middle for story and over the top action respectively. Starting with OVA 3 (1 and 2 are pretty flawless and lossless translations from page to screen) they missed that big time. So the characters come off as less interesting, and when the violence finally explodes it has less of an impact.

[Lord Exor]

I really don't like any anime whatsoever. The only one I enjoy is DBZ, mainly because of the westernization of it.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I really don't like any anime whatsoever. The only one I enjoy is DBZ, mainly because of the westernization of it.

To each their own I guess. But I do have to say that I saw DBZ when I was 8 years old, and I hated then. I ended up shunning anime for the next 10 years. Now I really like anime because I found out there was anime that wasn't DBZ.

But like I said, to each their own.

[Vlad Yvhv]

I really don't like any anime whatsoever. The only one I enjoy is DBZ, mainly because of the westernization of it.

Ah, yes... The show where you can skip 20 episodes and still be perty much where you were when you left off... Way too much symmetrical fighting and dialog.

[salamander]

It's weird, I loved the original Dragon Ball series when I was younger, back when the show was a more lighthearted comedy/adventure type show. I never watched Z, but from what I hear there was a lot of executive meddling that ended up dragging it out much longer than it was orignally going to be, and making Goku just get absurdly more powerful instead of just passing the torch onto his kids.
Samurai Pizza Cats was awesome too, in that the dub just threw out the original scripts and made it into a self-referential comedy. See also the dub for Ghost Stories.

[Lord Exor]

The show was originally supposed to end at Frieza, which would have been for the best.

[Ratty Randnums]

The show was originally supposed to end at Frieza, which would have been for the best.

I think a lot of the problems as well where that the show didn't have "creative" filler episodes when waiting for the manga to be released. They just filled up the time with powerups that took forever and talking (cheap to animate after all). So that one fight can span an entire season as I recall?

[Lord Exor]

The only fight that really lasted an entire season was Frieza. The other seasons had much shorter battles.

[Silicate]

While we are concerned with the topic of Dragon Ball: I was never a fan of the series, however, my step-brother was always involved in watching it. The only characters which I had any glimmer of respect for were Piccolo and Frieza; even in that extent, I do not possess much recollection of the two, aside from the odd nature of Frieza.

Concerning anime, I rarely watch it - on principle... But also due to a lack of time. I know there is a vast amount of creative an interesting anime which exists, but I cannot be bothered with most of it. I simply choose not to be involved. (Even then, I do not suffer for wont of knowing those creative bounds; I have many friends which gladly tell me of the philosophies or uniqueness behind the creations - and I am grateful for what they relate to me of that type of media.)

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Well, animes are just cartoons anyway. The majority of it just isn't targeted for children like most American cartoons are. So you get some anime scripts and stories that can be equally compared to a lot of American live-action films and television series.

Then that's coupled with the manipulation of the character designs to bend to the will of that script, something that's rarely explored in live-action filmmaking outside if just make-up touch-ups and blemish removal on the actors. So if your script is kind of demented or psychotic, the character design can be manipulated to mirror that element, and heightening the desired effect in storytelling.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Really like Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon (still hate 4Kids though).

That confuses me...

[Ratty Randnums]

Aha. Haahahaha you have to review this Chief

Japan Slides Ever Further Into Depravity - A Topless Robot Report

Do it

[John Roberts]

I enjoy the usual crowd of good Anime: Bebop, Evangelion, Slayers (Especially Slayers - Lina rocks!). It has to be English dubbed though. I don't get into the whole 'it must be English subtitles or nothing at all!' bullshit. I want to enjoy the show, not sit there and read it just so I can call myself a 'hardcore' Anime fan. I guess you got no choice sometimes if the show doesn't even have English dubs.

[Morgan]

Off the top of my head, Sailor Moon's my favorite. I don't really get into animes much anymore or haven't in years at least. I watched Sailor Moon many years ago, when I was 10-14 somewhere in there. Can't remember what age. I recently began rewatching the show recently, but in Japanese first. And...the last season wasn't dubbed in English at all. o_o Woulda been too much content for them to change and censor and I think it was too much of the effort for them.

[Ratty Randnums]

I enjoy the usual crowd of good Anime: Bebop, Evangelion, Slayers (Especially Slayers - Lina rocks!).

Agreed! Recently have been able to watch the first season on youtube and it's quite refreshing to see a genuinely fun and funny show.

To think Slayers and Berserk were out (/at their height of popularity) at around the same time. Two terrifically different* takes on western fantasy that are both enjoyable to this day.

*Basically highlighting polar extremes the genrea can be taken to.

Yeah I know Berserk is still coming out - though I've only read to the halfway point in the series so far, it's twisted brilliance demanding alternately long breaks and then binges of me. And I hear Slayers still sees a new light novel or manga every so often.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I enjoy the usual crowd of good Anime: Bebop, Evangelion, Slayers (Especially Slayers - Lina rocks!). It has to be English dubbed though. I don't get into the whole 'it must be English subtitles or nothing at all!' bullshit. I want to enjoy the show, not sit there and read it just so I can call myself a 'hardcore' Anime fan. I guess you got no choice sometimes if the show doesn't even have English dubs.

Yup. I've never called myself a hardcore 'anime fan'. My list of disliked anime is still longer than my list of liked anime. That will change the more I watch, I guess.

I had a whole semester in film school watching foreign films, so I can generally pick up subs faster than most. I do that just to see how the director originally handled the characters though vocal inflections, then the English dub after that if it doesn't sound stupid. Cowboy Bebop has a really good English dub, so I don't mind watching that at all. And the last half of Evangelion had a good dub, though the change in the English cast for the movies was way too much for me. (Gangster-sounding black guys voicing over nerdy white guys just didn't sit well with me, I guess. Not racist, but it just didn't fit.)

[MistressAli]

I like anime, both for the animation and the usually more 'mature' storylines then you'd find in Western animation (I guess because Japan doesn't have the overall mentality that cartoon=for kids/family friendly) I do tend to have a hard time getting emotionally attached to them, however, and there's few that I would watch over and over.
I usually watch them subtitled unless the dub is decently voice-acted (I can't stand bad voice acting... good voice acting is a key attribute in all the cartoon shows I love.) So even though I can't understand Japanese other than a handful of words, I get the emotional inflections of the original voice actors..

My fave animes are Sailor Moon and Escaflowne (mostly for Dilandau...lol). I like Slayers but haven't seen past the 1st season. (I do prefer the English voice-acting on that one...lol) Battle Angel Alita is good but only two episodes :/ Key the Metal Idol is another one I liked. There's another anime called Kite that I thought was pretty cool on first viewing.

Now that I have Netflix I've been adding lots of anime to my queue...
So far I tried out: Witch Hunter Robin (kind of slow and drab, but ok I guess. not a keeper )
Noir (thought it was really boring, watched volume 1 and that's it)
Vandread (only watched Vol 1, found it too goofy)
My next one is called 'Last Exile'... I hope it's good... lol.

[Robthe1st]

I Love anime since my high school years. Pokemon, got me into anime the first time. But now I'd watch it again, seems too decent and lame.

Here are my top 10 favorite anime:

1.) "Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal" The best anime show ever! It's based on the hit TV Anime Sereis: Rurouni Kenshin. But this show is so dawn good, you'd want to watch it again and again!

2.) "Rumbling Hearts" If some of you enjoy soap oreras, you would differently see the drama and the shocking scenes that you're never forgot!

3.) "Berserk" The show may be too violence and too mature for children under 17, but the battle scenes, the action, the adventure, and the shocking story is pretty good. You'll might enjoy it!

4.) "Trigun" Talk about a Sci-Fi Western show. It's like John Wayne meets Out of Space series.

5.) "Hunter X Hunter" If some of you like Dragonball Z, and Yu Yu Hakusho. You'll differently enjoy a great fighting show. It has more of a intelligences fighting technique that you'll never forget.

6.) "Fullmetal Alchmist" A true anime masterpiece!

7.) "Gurren Lagann" It may be sort of a wacky comedy, but the super robot battles scene is amazing.

8.) "Spirited Away" One of Hayao Miyazaki's greatest anime films of all time. If you enjoy fairy tales stories, you will watch it and really think if it as a true fairy tale story!

9.) "Bleach" It may not be the greatest top 10 anime at animenewsnetwork.com, but I enjoy the action, the humor, supernatural, ghosts/spirits, and the superhumans.

10.) "Cowboy Bebop" I know it's one of the top 10 grestest show at animenewsnetwork.com, but I do like some of the characters, the bounty hunter mission, and the sci-fi action. Pretty good show.

BTW, I have a question, what will happend if SatAM turn into a anime series? Just a thought.