What are you Watching?

[greg]

OK, I figured so. I want to get the Heroic Knight series on DVD someday. Much of the criticism on Amazon for the series is that it "rehashes the original too much," yet they obviously fail to realize that it is because it is a more faithful telling of the original tale. In the original OVA, events happen that are supposed to happen with the second group of characters (Deedlit is captured by Wagnard instead of Neece some 15 years later, who is the daughter of Slayn from the first group of characters). So they are essentially incompatible with each other, just as the Macross movie is to the TV show.

[usamimi]

The most "recent" anime that I've watched all the way through so far would be Kids on the Slope, Mawaru Penguindrum, and Working!! (aka "Wagnaria"). All 3 I actually enjoyed.

"Kids on the Slope" was done by the same people who did "Cowboy Bebop" (they even got Yoko Kanno to do the soundtrack) and is about a group of kids in the 60s who like Jazz music. There's some love triangle stuff, but it's a lot more realistic/serious than most of the teenage-love-triangle series out there now, which is probably why I got so addicted. The staff also really paid attention to the animation--the backgrounds, for example, reminded me of old-school, hand-painted cel art. It was a great watch.

"Mawaru Penguindrum" I'll admit I watched because Ikuhara (creator of Utena) was behind...and it's definitely VERY Utena-esque, so if you didn't like Utena, you probably wouldn't like it. XD; The plot is really strange and overly complicated at times, but I still enjoyed it despite all of that. I also loved that it took some of the character arch-types you see in anime lately and presented them in crazy, different ways. The soundtrack was fun because almost all the songs were covers of ARB songs from the 80s. XD

"Working!!" was sort of like if you took Azumanga Daioh and set all the characters in a Denny's-style restaurant, heh. It's basically about a group of high-school kids who work at a "family restaurant" together and the crazy stuff that happens. It's one of the better "moe"-ish shows out there, I think, because it isn't too over-the-top with the whole "omg cute girls doing cute things!!" schtick, and there's more than one male character in the mix, so it isn't all "10 girls fighting over one dude". And as someone who worked in the food service industry when they were around that age, it kinda made me feel nostalgic for all the crazy stuff me and my old staff used to pull when customers couldn't see us.

I've been watching a little of "Polar Bear Cafe", which is pretty cute & funny, and trying to make my way through "Natsume's Book of Friends" (I like it but I keep getting side-tracked whenever I sit down to watch it).

I TRIED to watch a couple of shows that friends recommended to me, but ended with unimpressed results:
-"Oreimo/My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute!": UGH this show was total garbage. I think I've mentioned it before, but I really DO NOT understand the trend of big brother/little sister "relationships" that seem to be driving a LOT of series out right now. I find it creepy and gross. This show in particular was just a mindless moe-fest and I am seriously baffled at how it's gotten so popular. I couldn't make it past the first couple of episodes.
-"Humanity Has Declined": I WANTED to like this series because the premise was interesting--it's set in a post-apocalyptic world where it's sort of turned into a fantasy landscape, complete with "fairy" creatures that seem to only eat candy...but the story doesn't seem to GO anywhere. I watched 4 episodes of it before stopping because I was just plain BORED. The main character isn't all that likable, either.

[llj]

I picked up a full set of Hades Project Zeorymer at a thrift store. This isn't seen as a classic by most fans today, but I still think it's one of the better OVAs from the 80s. I like the animation, the design work and the direction. It's definitely for mecha heads, though. But I like the sort of Nagano-esque design work and concept of the show. I remember when I first saw this on VHS waaay back, and I'm pretty sure it was the first time I saw shagging in a cartoon.

Toshihiro Hirano really was a major player in the OVA era, I'm finding. I recently also picked up a copy of Fight! Iczer One and I can really see how important his stuff was in defining an era (and influencing later ones, for better and for worse) I don't know how a guy who was so involved with the identity of 80s anime basically disappeared by the 90s. Other than Magic Knight Rayearth and a few sequels to his older OVAs, he's not done much in years.

[Heero]

usamimi: you should check out "Chihayafuru", the second season just started on Crunchyroll and it is REALLY good.

Tough to figure out where it will go but Kotoura-san is also really interesting 3 episodes in.

I'm also watching AKB0048, but I admit its because (a) I like AKB48 the band, and (b) I know people on the anime staff. It IS better than you might think, but it DOES have a pretty ridiculous premise, and if you can't get past that then it won't work for you.

I enjoy "Oreimo" (My little sister can't be this cute) ONLY for one episode (#6). It is an episode where the main character goes to his childhood friend's house. The ENTIRE episode is devoted to the RIDICULOUS antics of the childhood friend's FAMILY. The little sister is hardly in the episode and it has a LOT of fun with an angle I don't remember ever seeing on the trope. (MANY anime have the "childhood friend", but do you EVER really see much about their family? Especially a family that TOTALLY thinks the guy and girl should get together)
Even if you NEVER watch any other episodes of Oreimo (and I totally get your point on the /big brother/little sister thing), you SHOULD watch episode 6. There is actually a scene in this episode where the girl's grandfather tells the guy that he has old war trauma, and at that moment it is acting up and will kill him unless the two of them sleep together (in the same room, not specifically "have sex"). But seriously, it is just a "fun" episode IMO. I admit I watched the whole series, so my tolerance of what it was doing is higher than yours, but I really do think episode 6 is the only standout. I do think all the best "moments" in the show lack the presence of the sister.

I picked up a full set of Hades Project Zeorymer at a thrift store. This isn't seen as a classic by most fans today, but I still think it's one of the better OVAs from the 80s.

I'm not ashamed to say I LOVE Zeorhymer. I still have the VHS tapes and have considered looking for DVDs. If nothing else, I really love the soundtrack for that one and it's short enough that it's flaws don't get too glaring.

[usamimi]

I heard Chihayafuru was good, it's actually on my "to watch eventually" list!

Haha, well, since that ep doesn't have anything to do with the sister, I might be able to watch it. If I can get past the idea of watching that show again. XD;; Maybe.

[_D_]

I was going to pick up some of the English subbed versions of things like Dairugger 15 and Go Lion but I see some bad reviews saying the audio is poor or they never cleaned up the prints or there are artifacting problems. Wonder if this is related to the problems with the masters of some of the older Toei titles? Anyone have any experience with these DVDs?

[danth]

I just watched the first couple episodes of Urotsukidoji. Yes, it's hentai, but the animation is excellent, and the characters are just gorgeous to look at.

[greg]

I was going to pick up some of the English subbed versions of things like Dairugger 15 and Go Lion but I see some bad reviews saying the audio is poor or they never cleaned up the prints or there are artifacting problems. Wonder if this is related to the problems with the masters of some of the older Toei titles? Anyone have any experience with these DVDs?

I have them and I think they're great. They aren't remastered or anything. I watched all of the Dairugger 15 series and I did not think there was any audio issues. It just sounds like anime that was recorded in the early '80s. I didn't notice any artifacting, but I'm not very aware of such things most of the time. I've only watched a bit of the Go Lion DVDs. I own them all. I'd recommend getting them to support vintage anime in America. It won't be a disappointing experience like the new Galaxy Express 999 DVDs are, apparently.

[Animusubi]

I just watched the first couple episodes of Urotsukidoji. Yes, it's hentai, but the animation is excellent, and the characters are just gorgeous to look at.

Haha, I find myself collecting some of the older hentai JUST for the animation. There's a few of the Cream Lemon shorts (which many of my favorite animators/artists worked on) that I really like, such as Pop Chaser.

[greg]

I think I remember Pop Chaser. That was the very first Cream Lemon episode in which a girl was riding some SF style hoverbike to rescue her girlfriend from badguys, right? I was expecting that episode to set the tone to the rest of the series, but then the second episode was about incest.

Back in the early '90s (at least on FidoNet and the BBSes), "lemon" was the term for "hentai" before the word "hentai" became common use.