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The Great Classic Manga/Anime Appreciation Thread


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#41 Jenskott

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    Manga/anime: Ranma 1/2, Saint Seiya, Kimagure Orange Road, Fist of North Star, Touch, City Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin, Mazinger Z, Devilman, Cutey Honey, Daimos, Space Battleship Yamato, Captain Harlock, Gundam, Bubblegum Crisis, Lone wolf and Cub, Naruto...
    Cartoons: Ninja Turtles, The Transformers, Thundercats, G. I. Joe, The Real ghostbusters, He-Man, SilverHawks, Batman TAS, Avatar...
    Videogames: Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, King of Fighters, Earthbound, Golden Sun, Castlevania, Fire Emblem, Donkey Kong Country, Kirby, Kid Icarus, Final Fantasy, Sonic, Alex Kid, Golden Axe, Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Panzer Dragoon, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Crash Bandicoot, Medievil, Dragon Quest, Secret of Mana, Terranigma...
    Movies: Riders of Lost Ark, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, The Ghostbusters, Highlander, Robocop, Return to Oz, Conan the Barbarian, The Goonies...
    Books: The Lord of the Rings, The Neverending Story, The Wizard of Oz, Dracula, Treasure's Island, Journey to the Center of Earth, The Black Arrow, Alice in Wonderland...

Posted 27 October 2010 - 08:58 PM

Okay, now I have a little of time.

The first series I am going to talk about is a legendary martial arts shonen manga:

Fist of North Star/Hokuto no Ken --Click here to view--

In the near future, the world was covered with atomic fires.

The seas dried. The torn was scorched and cracked. All forms of life seemed disappearing off the face of the planet.

All but the human race.

The nuclear war incinerated the planet to a scorched wasteland, and the old society along with it. Any form, kind or shape of government, justice or civilization… has been wiped out. Money is now worthless, and only food and water are worth to fight for.

Hopeless and desperate, the survivors crowd together, struggling for surviving. Some of them try to settle down, cultivate the barren lands to grow crops and create a new society. But others of them band together and attack people are weaker than them to steal their food, water and shelter.

Survival of the fittest is the only law now.

Gangs of bandits travel over the wastelands, preying on the weak and the helpless: they assail peaceful travellers, raid unprotected settlements, pillage, loot and murder. They are unafraid of committing atrocities because they think they get away with anything –as long as they attack people is weaker than them and can’t defend themselves- since there is no law or authority can punish their actions. They are unafraid because they think nobody can stop them.

They are wrong.

One day, a gang’s leader is warned by one of his henchmen his scouting squad has been slaughtered. He is absolutely infuriated, but his fury gives way to bewilderment since his men’s wounds were… unusual. It was like if something had exploded into them. And the last survivor muttered something odd before dying. Something about… the North Star.

A while later a tall, raven-haired man, clad in tight leather clothes approaches a little town. He has been journeying across the desert for days and he is thirsty. However, he has barely walked into the borders of the town when he is arrested by a mob of grim, distrustful, armed villagers.

He is thrown into a narrow cell, where he finds a smiling blonde kid identifies himself like Bat. A little girl –who works like jailer in order to earn her daily meal- approaches, bringing water for Bat’s jail’s partner. Suddenly Bat grabs the kid’s arm through the bars and tells his partner stealing the cell keys from her.

But the man doesn’t. Instead he grabs Bat’s arm and squeezes. Bat screeches, let go the girl and protests they have lost their only chance to get out of there.

However his partner doesn’t care. He replies if they would have run away, who knows what could have happened to the little girl.

Bat laughs, wondering aloud how he has survived so far, and explains that town has been built around an oasis. The soil is fertile and crops can be cultivated on it. So the villagers have formed a militia in order to protect themselves. It is because that they are so paranoiac about strangers and foreigners.

His explanation is abruptly cut off when the jailer returns… with food and a cup of water. The man eagerly drinks the water –as Bat wolfs down the food-, identifies himself like Ken, and asks her what her name is. Instead of her, Bat answers, stating her name is Lynne but she is mute. She can’t talk since her entire family was murdered in front of her by thieves.

Ken gets serious of sudden, and stretching out his arms, touches Lynne’s head, poking on several spots. Lynne and Bat are puzzled, but he says he has made a technique to give her back her ability to speak. Lynne is bemused and Bat shows up shocked, but Ken simply states it all depends on her: the cry of her heart will give her the power to speak.

Bat doesn’t believe him, and he laughs, as acknowledging it doesn’t matter if it is true or not: it must be the first nice thing someone has said to the mute girl since her parents and siblings died.

Suddenly several soldiers came in, looking for Ken. The town’s patriarch is back in town, and he needs interrogating Ken so he can ascertain if he is member of a gang or not. During the interrogatory, he orders the guards searching if Ken wears a tattoo –which would prove he is a bandit-. They rip his shirt, revealing there are seven scars branding Ken’s upper front body. Those seven scars form the Great Bear constellation’s shape.

The patriarch gets frightened all of sudden. Hokuto, the North Star is the star of Death. It is a bad omen.

Suddenly a gang of thieves assails the town, and Ken is thrown back into the jail. Lynne is called to fight, but before leaving, cast the keys in Ken’s cell. Overjoyed, Bat grabs them and tries opening the door as he mentions she has given the keys to them because she knows she is going to get killed. That is the Zaad’s gang, and they kill everyone. Men, women, children... It doesn’t matter to them.

Ken’s exp​ression suddenly changes. So far he had displayed passivity, kindness, warmth… But now his exp​ression displays cold fury. Arctic cold fury.

Wordlessly, he grabs the bars as Bat is struggling with the keys, rips them from their sockets –proving he could walk out whenever he wished- and darts towards the exit.

He gasps. Outside the building chaos reign, and there are corpses everywhere. Zaad has caught Lynne and he is threatening with twisting her fragile neck with his huge hands unless the villagers surrender and bring all their food supplies.

Suddenly, Lynne spots Ken… and without realizing what she doing, she screams, begging him not coming near.

Ken is slightly surprised. However Bat is behind him, and he is shocked and slightly frightened, recalling his words (“a cry of her heart”) and wondering who he is.

Ignoring Lynne’s pleas, Ken advances. Several bandits surround him, ordering him stopping.

He states they are in his way and cracks his knuckles.

Enraged, they attack. However Ken kicks them, leaps above them, lands in front of Zaad and commands him let Lynne go… now.

Feeling even more furious, Zaad’s henchmen whirl around and run towards Ken… when suddenly their bodies explode.

The patriarch, who is watching the scene, exclaims that technique is the Hokuto Shinken (or Fist of the North Star): a legendary and terrible Chinese martial art consists of focusing the inner energy to hit the vital points and destroy the body from inside rather from outside.

Zaad gets furious, realizing he has met his scouts’ assassin, when Ken begins his attack. He lands dozens of punches and palm blows on Zaad’s body, apparently not harming him but hurling him backwards. Zaad accidentally releases Lynne, but Ken catches her, spins around and begins walking away.

However, Zaad rises again, laughing at the technique and stating he is going to kill him. Ken just replies: “You are already dead”. Zaad begins saying something… when his body falls apart.

Deadly afraid, his gang men flee.

The next day, Ken leaves the town. He can’t stay because where he goes, death and violence follows. However Bat –and later Lynne- decides following him.

While they follow him, they learn more things about Kenshiro, his former life and his goals (one of them killing the man kidnapped his fiancé, Yuria, a man once was his best friend but betrayed him and nearly killed him), meet his brothers, friends, enemies and rivals, and live through terrific and bloody battles as they witness the terrifying power of the Hokuto Shinken… and its counterpart, the Nanto Seiken.

That was the beginning of Fist of North Star, one of the most famous and most influential fighting shonen manga. Written by Buronson and –incredibly well- illustrated by Tetsuo Hara, it was serialized in Shonen Jump from 1983 to 1988. The manga is twenty-eight volumes long, and it spawned two anime series, a film and several OVAs.

However, although many people loved the manga and it was a hit, it won’t like everyone (but then again, NO manga likes everyone): some people opine the violence is over-the-top and the plot is too simple; however, I am a big fan, and I would argue the plot is simple but effective and engaging, some characters are pretty charismatic (Shin or Rei are some of my favourite), and the manga isn’t just full with violence. It is also full with tragic and heart-warming moments.

In other words, it is better you read and judge for yourself.

In the last years have been published several one-shots, elaborating on the stories of several secondary characters, and in 2001 Tetsuo Hara started drawing a prequel: Soten no Ken (Fist of the Blue Sky).

You can read the manga here: Manga
You can watch the anime here: Part I; Part II

Oh, and I have always thought Kishimoto got inspiration from this series (which he has admitted watching and loving when he was a kid) when he was designing Neji and Lee. The explanation of how Neji’s style hurts the body from inside and Lee’s style hurts body from outside was very similar to the explanation of how Hokuto Shinken and Nanto Seiken work (Hokuto Shinken destroys the human body from within whereas Nanto Seiken destroys it from outside).


And now a high-fantasy shonen manga:

Dragon Quest: Dai no Daiboken --Click here to view--

A long time ago, the King Demon Hadlar was defeated by the hero known as Avan. After his defeat, all monsters were released from his evil influence, and peace reigned in the world during ten years.

Dai -the main character- is a young kid lives in the island of Delmurin. He is the only human lives in that island, since it is inhabited by several monsters and demons moved in it after the Hadlar’s defeat to live in peace. Dai has been raised by the stern and grumpy but caring monster magician Brass, and he dreams with growing up and becoming a hero like Avan.

One day a man arrives to the island to meet Dai: Avan, mentor of heroes –and his disciple Pop-, who had come to Delmurin by request of Leona, a princess whom Dai had saved in an occasion.

Avan started training Dai, teaching him two of his three sword techniques (which must be learnt and combined in order to master his supreme sword technique), when someone arrives the island: Hadlar, the king demon whom all believed to be dead. Hadlar announces he has been resurrected by someone even more powerful, the Great King Demon Vearn, and he is now working for him. He is ready to dominate and command hordes of monsters to conquer the world –in his new king’s name now-, but he must fulfil one task before: kill the human being defeated him so he can’t interfere with his plans.

Avan fights him, but he is weakened and Hadlar pummels him ruthlessly. Out of options, he tries killing Hadlar with a self-sacrifice spell, but he fails and dies. Dai, Brass, Pop and Gome –a winged, slime-like monster is Dai’s best friend- face now Hadlar, but he is too powerful and he seems to ready to wipe them out.

However, a hidden power within Dai –symbolized by the appearance of an odd mark on his forehead- awakes, forcing Hadlar to flee. Dai and his new friend Pop decide leaving the island to avenge their master and defeat Hadlar and his evil king, and so bring peace back to the world.

Dragon Quest was born like a video game in the eighties, created by Yuji Horii, with monsters and characters designed by Akira Toriyama (creator of Dragon Ball, Dr. Slump…). It became a phenomenon in Japan, spawning one of the most important RPG games franchises.

Dragon Quest: Dai no Daiboken is loosely based on Dragon Quest’s fantasy world (you don’t need playing the games in order to understand the plot). The manga ran from 1989 to 1996 and it was written by Riku Sanjo and illustrated by Koji Inada, and it is thirty-seven volumes long. Its success spawned a forty-three-episodes-long anime show and a three-episodes-long OVA series.

It is a light-hearted, fantasy series, full with action and humour and a bit of romance, and it is very enjoyable.

To read the manga: Manga;
To watch the anime: Anime

Nevertheless, I must state there are more mangas and anime based on Dragon Quest, even though they are less famous.


And now a sci-fi, romance shonen manga:

Urusei Yatsura --Click here to view--

Ataru Moroboshi is a very unlucky high-school boy who is a magnet for all kind of weirdness. He is also an absolute lecher, and he is always chasing after anything is: a) female; and b) beautiful.

Obviously Shinobu Miyake -his girlfriend- doesn’t feel impressed by his pervert antics, and she often expresses her displeasure in very violent ways. The story starts right after she has left Ataru –again-, and he walks back home.

In the way back, a Buddhist monk nearly drowns him (he thought Ataru was going to throw himself in a river, tried stopping him and accidentally pushed him in the water. Don’t ask, it is as stupid as it sounds) and warns Ataru his bad luck is just going to get worse.
When Ataru returns home, he finds out an alien race known like the Oni have arrived Earth with the intention of invading it. However they are giving the humans once chance to prevent the invasion: if one human plays a game of tag with an alien and touches one of his/her horns, they will retreat. And the human player must manage it within one week.

The oni-alike aliens have chosen Ataru how Earth’s champion. And the Oni’s champion is Lum, the daughter of the invader leader.

Ataru is reluctant at the beginning, but he changes his mind when he meets Lum. She is a beautiful, bikini-clad, blue-haired girl and he is just too eager for trying touching her bod-, er, horn.

Which earns him a beating of Shinobu (she was worried about him when heard the news and had come to his home to see him).

The competition starts, and Ataru finds out one thing the invaders neglected mention: Lum can fly, and he can’t reach her. Before the last day of the competition, Shinobu encourages Ataru by pledging marrying him if he wins. Ataru decides he will win not matter what.

The last day, Ataru manages trapping Lum (using dirty tricks and methods won’t be explained here but involve Lum’s bra), and touches her horn. Thrilled, he utters he is happy to get married.

Unfortunately, Lum misunderstands, thinks it is a proposal, and she accepts.

Ataru is frightened at the beginning. He tries going on his relationship with Shinobu, but Lum doesn’t stop interfering, and she eventually moves into his house. At the beginning, Shinobu and Lum fight over Ataru, but slowly Shinobu starts getting sick of the arguments and Ataru’s flirts and starts losing interest on him. However, Ataru doesn’t stop hitting on her in spite of he is falling in love with Lum (given that he dreams with having a harem, he must not see why it is a trouble). Hence, he usually he ends up getting brutally beaten up by both girls (then again, if he is so dumb to piss off TWO tsundere girls at the same time, I think he deserves it).

Lum not only begins living with Ataru but also attending his school. Soon she develops a fanbase of fanatics and slobbering admirers, including Shutaro Mendo, heir of a large mega-corporation and immensely rich (Shinobu was in love with him for a while… until she realized he was just like Ataru).

Urusei Yatsura is a series blends romance, surreal humour and light-hearted sci-fi. That unusual mixture was the first resounding success of Rumiko Takahashi (creator of Maison Ikkoku and Ranma ½).

The manga was published from 1978 to 1987 and it is thirty-four volumes long. It spawned an anime series, an OVA series and several films (the last of them has been made this year).

It is highly recommendable.
It is also a series proved editors can force a manga writer to change his/her plot and even canon pairing: Takahashi planned on Getting Ataru and Shinobu together, but her editors forced her to change it for Ataru and Lum due to popular demand (though the change happened early on).

To read the manga: Manga
To watch the anime: Anime; Movies; OVA; Special

Edited by Jenskott, 16 November 2010 - 07:47 AM.

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#42 BlackLightning

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Posted 30 October 2010 - 11:21 PM

Hmm... thought I gonna throw in another manga.

Ai ga Tomaranai / A.I Love you:

The story centres around Hitoshi Kōbe, a guy who is neither academically gifted nor good at sports, so he does not do very well at school.
Hitoshi has only one thing going for him - his ability to program computers. In fact, he is so good at this he has created programs that can rewrite themselves - Artificial Intelligence, in other words. So far he has created thirty of these programs, and the latest - whom he names Saati ( The Japanese pronunciation of the English word "Thirty" )- is so advanced that conversation with her is indistinguishable from a normal girl and, thus, would easily pass the Turing test.
However, there is still the barrier of Hitoshi being in the physical world and Saati being a program, until one day a freak lightning strike materializes her into the real world, where she becomes the girlfriend of Hitoshi.

The series then follows their now not so ordinary lives, as well as other A.I.s of Hitoshi's creation. The basic plotline is derivative of the Kōsuke Fujishima manga Oh My Goddess!, with the AI constructs being analogous to the goddess characters of the earlier manga. The setting also bears similarities to the John Hughes film Weird Science. Both feature male protagonists creating their ideal girlfriends on computers and both girls are brought into the real world via lightning, bearing somewhat superhuman powers. Despite these obvious similarities however, Akamatsu claims not to have seen the film prior to creating the series.

Authored by Ken Akamatsu (Prob you're more familiar with his more popular mangas like Love Hina and Negima) This is one of the very first Ecchi manga and also one of the first manga that piqued my interest about Japanese culture that I ever read in my life and therefore have a special place in my heart. Like all mangas created by Akamatsu-sensei, there is a healthy dose of humour, action, serious and heart-warming (And who can complain about the liberal use of boobies?). I especially like the Ending of the series.


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#43 Jenskott

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    Manga/anime: Ranma 1/2, Saint Seiya, Kimagure Orange Road, Fist of North Star, Touch, City Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin, Mazinger Z, Devilman, Cutey Honey, Daimos, Space Battleship Yamato, Captain Harlock, Gundam, Bubblegum Crisis, Lone wolf and Cub, Naruto...
    Cartoons: Ninja Turtles, The Transformers, Thundercats, G. I. Joe, The Real ghostbusters, He-Man, SilverHawks, Batman TAS, Avatar...
    Videogames: Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, King of Fighters, Earthbound, Golden Sun, Castlevania, Fire Emblem, Donkey Kong Country, Kirby, Kid Icarus, Final Fantasy, Sonic, Alex Kid, Golden Axe, Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Panzer Dragoon, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Crash Bandicoot, Medievil, Dragon Quest, Secret of Mana, Terranigma...
    Movies: Riders of Lost Ark, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, The Ghostbusters, Highlander, Robocop, Return to Oz, Conan the Barbarian, The Goonies...
    Books: The Lord of the Rings, The Neverending Story, The Wizard of Oz, Dracula, Treasure's Island, Journey to the Center of Earth, The Black Arrow, Alice in Wonderland...

Posted 15 November 2010 - 09:47 PM

The today’s topic is… action girls from the cybernetic kind.

The first series is one of the first shonen manga where the main character was female:


Honey Kisaragi is a beautiful, feisty and a tad mischievous school girl. She has always considered herself like a regular, average teen girl, until one day her father is murderer by the mysterious organization called “The Panther Claw”. After his death she learns in reality she is an android created by her father like a replacement by his deceased daughter. As he created her, his father grafted in her a device allows her shape shifting and creating matter from thin air. That device is one of one kind, since her body contains the only prototype.

The Panther Claw organization coveted that device. And they assassinated her father when they tried stealing it.

From that moment, Honey’s life changes. She dons a secret identity, pretending being a regular girl attending high school as she seeks revenge for her father’s death, fighting the Panther Claw forces. Her body can morph into six different shapes –each one of them granting her a different set of abilities- and she can create all sorts of objects and weapons. Her most powerful shape is the red-headed, sword-wielding Honey Flash.

Using those abilities she fights endlessly the monsters and minions Sister Jill –the Panther Claw leader- sends against her.

Cutey Honey not only was one of the first females to be a protagonist of a shonen manga series but also she successfully blended the super-hero and magical girl genres, being a clear precedent of series such like Sailor Moon.

It also featured a –under the standards of the time- healthy dose of fanservice. Apparently it didn’t stop many young female fans from watching and liking the show, though.

Along with Mazinger-Z and Devilman, it is one of the most important mangas created by Go Nagai. The original shonen manga ran from 1973 to 1974, and the anime was aired the same year. Though it has spawned a ton of mangas and anime shows produced throughout the years. The last of them was a film and a three-part OVA series made by Gainax in 2004.

To read the manga: Manga
To watch the anime:Anime


The next series is more modern –the manga was produced in the nineties- and it is a simply stunning series:

Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita --Click here to view--

In a post-apocalyptic future, a sizeable chunk of the surface of the planet is ruled by a mysterious, floating and utopian city named Zalem. Underneath her spreads a city called the Scrapyard, grown up around a massive mountain of scrap constantly rains down Zalem. Ground-dwellers can’t live in Zalem, and the Scrapyard is a churning furnace of chaos, poverty, violence and crime, where the most of the inhabitants are cyborgs.

One day, a cybemedic expert named Daisuke Ido finds the head of a female cyborg as he is wandering over the scrap heap. He reanimates the girl –who was in a state of suspended animation-, gives her a body, and upon finding out she is amnesiac, he calls her Gally (after his late cat).

Shortly after they find out even though Gally doesn’t remember anything from her past, she instinctively knows the lethal and legendary martial art called Panzer Kunst. Following that only link to her past, she becomes a bounty hunter, hunting and killing criminal cyborgs in the Scrapyard. During the hardest battles, she slowly regains bits and pieces of her former life in Mars.

Gradually she becomes entangled in the machinations of Zalem. She ends up becoming one of their agents, and is used for destroying rebel gangs try bringing the floating city down, and Zalem defectors, the main of them being the mad doctor Desty Nova.

Through her quest, Gally starts learning the hidden secrets surrounding her past, the wrecked world she inhabits and the mysterious floating city of Zalem.

It is hard to explain how epically good Gunnm is. The drama is intense, the battles are bloody, the plot is engaging and the art is beautiful. It is worth of being read.

The original manga was created by Yukito Kishiro and ran from 1990 to 1995 and it was nine-volumes long. However, it was finished hurriedly since Kishiro was ill in the time, and he was afraid of he would be unable to finish the story.

However he got better, and several years later he started plotting and drawing Gunnm again, changing the end and continuing the story. That Gunnm sequel began in 2001 and it is still being published, being fifteen-volumes long so far.

A two-parts OVA was produced, adapting the first two volumes.

To read the manga: Manga

To watch the OVAs:OVA

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#44 BlackLightning

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Posted 15 November 2010 - 10:33 PM

Ah forgot about one particular classic manga that I'm currently following:

Cyber Blue: The background was a futuristic world where humanity has spread their wings to the outer-space and living on other planets. However, as several planets are completely unlivable, people on those planets are forced to rely on an artificial breathing machine which are extremely expensive and mostly monopolized by loan-sharks and rich people, especially those who were descendants of the first people who discovered the planet.

Follows the story of Blue, a human turned cyborg after he was critically injured and close to death and forced to merge with an old robot named Fatso. The result of the merge has turned him into a superhuman, capable of complicated calculations, super strength and extremely focused eyes that allow him to show accurately with a handgun even more accurate than someone with a sniper rifle. As the story unfold, he discover that the world was controlled by a dictator who was one of the crew of the first people who went to the planet and strife to destroy him with his newfound power.

The manga was one of the early manga created by Tetsuo Hara, even before Hokuto no Ken. For those familiar with his series will immediately spot the similarities and his drawing and story telling style. I don't recommend this manga to people who have issue with bloody action and mutilation though as they are the main theme of the series, however for those who enjoys that genre (Hokuto no Ken or Hellsing at least) this can be an enjoyable read.


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#45 Zero BD

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Posted 16 November 2010 - 07:21 AM

can I redo some recommendations simply because I love these shows or is that a no-go?

why yes. that is my adorable sister hugging a dakimura. got a problem?

#46 Jenskott

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    Videogames: Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, King of Fighters, Earthbound, Golden Sun, Castlevania, Fire Emblem, Donkey Kong Country, Kirby, Kid Icarus, Final Fantasy, Sonic, Alex Kid, Golden Axe, Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Panzer Dragoon, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Crash Bandicoot, Medievil, Dragon Quest, Secret of Mana, Terranigma...
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Posted 16 November 2010 - 07:43 AM

QUOTE
The manga was one of the early manga created by Tetsuo Hara, even before Hokuto no Ken. For those familiar with his series will immediately spot the similarities and his drawing and story telling style. I don't recommend this manga to people who have issue with bloody action and mutilation though as they are the main theme of the series, however for those who enjoys that genre (Hokuto no Ken or Hellsing at least) this can be an enjoyable read.


It sounds good, and if it has been created by Tetsuo Hara, it gets my attention. Thank you for the recommendation.

I take you also like Hokuto no Ken, then?

QUOTE
can I redo some recommendations simply because I love these shows or is that a no-go?


Of course you can, pal. wink.gif

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#47 Jenskott

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Posted 17 November 2010 - 08:33 PM

The post recommending Evangelion has given me an idea. Today’s topic is… Gainax.

Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water/Fushigi no Umi no Nadia --Click here to view--

Set in 1889, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water narrates the adventures of Nadia, a young black girl of unknown origins wears a pendant with a mysterious blue gem with strange powers and who is trying find out about her lost past; and Jan, a young, red-haired French inventor. At the beginning of the series they are chased by Grandis Granva and her henchmen –Sanson and Hanson- a gang of jewel thieves intend stealing Nadia’s pendant.

They are rescued by Captain Nemo and his submarine, Nautilus, and both groups –the main characters and Grandis’ group- join forces to help the Nautilus crew to fight the Neo-Atlantis army, which seeks dominating the world.
Throughout the series and intense battles, Nadia and Jean save the world, explore the mysteries revolving around Nadia’s jewel and uncover her past and her family.

Clearly inspired by Jules Verne’s novels (particularly Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea), Nadia was the first anime series Gainax created back in 1990 (formerly they had only made animated films and OVAs), and one of the first successes of Hideaki Anno. It is a very entertaining sci-fi/adventure anime and it is highly recommendable.

A film was produced in 1992, working like a –pretty unnecessary- sequel to the series.

You can watch the anime here: Anime


Long before Evangelion, FLCL or Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Gainax made another super robot anime:

Gunbuster/Aim for the Top! Gunbuster --Click here to view--

The title is a combination of the classic tennis shojo manga Ace o Nerae! (Indeed. Believe it or not, a tennis-themed shojo manga served like inspiration for a super robot anime) and the movie Top Gun!

In the near future, humanity is starting slowly exploring the universe outside of the solar system. However, a race of massive, insect-like aliens is discovered. They are travelling across the galaxy, obliterating any sign of humans they find as they slowly approach Earth.

Quickly, humanity develops battleships and giant robots in order to fight the menace. Piloted battle suits (named RX-7 Machine Weapons. Mm... The first Gundam was called RX-78-2. Maybe it is a shout-out) are created, but their true purpose is training pilots to operate Earth’s best weapon: the giant super robot Gunbuster. Several academies are opened all around the world to select and train candidates.

Year 2023. Noriko Takaya, the main character, attends one of the training schools. She is daughter of a famous admiral perished during one of the first battles against the aliens, but she is somewhat… coordination-impaired.

In other words, she is rather clumsy. She regrets it, since she wishes being so good like her idol, the beautiful and skilful Kazumi Amano, the top pilot in the school, who befriends her in turn.

However, her instructor, Kouichirou Ohta, is very supportive of her, and trains her hard in order to have her overcoming her clumsiness, fears and insecurities. Thank Ohta’s training and Kazumi advices, and in spite of the jealousy and mistrust of her schoolmates (who can’t understand why their instructor is so fixated on training someone so clumsy like Noriko) improves. Finally she beats the students mocking her, and is selected along Kazumi for the real mission in the space.

Noriko and Kazumi are sent to the space along Coach Ohta. In the Moon base, Noriko and Kazumi meet Jung Freud, a redheaded Russian pilot who rapidly becomes a friend and rival (and what you know… Noriko slightly resembles Shinji, and Jung resembles Asuka), Noriko falls in love with a boy –who dies in battle shortly after, an event caused deep grief to Noriko, since she blamed herself and her lack of experience to fight in space-, and slowly grows up (even becoming to supporting Kazumi when she was falling apart). Finally Kazumi and she earn the right to pilot the GunBuster.

Through hard battles, the three girls slowly fight back the alien threat and strengthen their bonds. However, the final battle can demand a sacrifice bigger than they had imagined…

This 1988 six-episode-long OVA series was the first Gainax smashing hit. It combined tropes of super robot and real robots series, somehow it managed both kicking the laws of the physics on the crotch AND using real astrophysics, and managed being funny, thrilling and touching at once (the final scene between Noriko, Kazumi and Jurgen was very poignant. And the scene where Noriko tries cheering up a grief-stricken Kazumi. And…)

It is highly recommendable if you like mecha series or enjoy a good sci-fi show.

In 2004, Gainax released a sequel, Die Buster, which was another six-episodes-long OVA series which reused the central theme of hard work and friendship can triumph over any obstacle and enemy… but not matter how great your power is, victory always demand sacrifices. Finally, in 2006, Gainax released a film: Gunbuster vs DieBuster (that title reminded me of seventies’ super robot movies pitted a super robot against another: Great Mazinger vs Grendizer, Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo…)

To watch the OVAs: Part 1; Part 2


Otaku no Video --Click here to view--

Ken Kubo, the main character, is a normal young man: he lives happily with his girlfriend, attends college, and is member of a tennis club.

All of it changes when he meets again one of his high school friends, Tanaka. Ken and Tanaka used to be anime geeks back when they were high school kids, but Ken eventually gave up the hobby whereas Tanaka didn’t. Tanaka brings him into his circle of friends (all of them otaku), and he became an anime-obsessed geek again.

Because that, he loses the respect of his former friends and his grades start slipping.

Enraged being an anime otaku gets no respect, he comes to a decision: if he is to be discriminated by his hobby, so be it. No longer he will hunt for jobs. He will become a total otaku. No. He will go further. He will become the otaku of otaku the ultimate and definite fan: the Otaking!

Ken breaks up with his girlfriend and, set to take over the anime industry, he starts crafting his own model kits, open shops and factories and creates his own anime show. Though old ex-friends will try and get in his way.

Created in 1991, this two-episode-long OVA was a gigantic parody of the otaku lifestyle back in the eighties, full with hundred of references to almost all anime up to the nineties. Still, in spite of the over-the-top and absurd comedy, the story can be surprisingly serious and even dramatic (and possibly it is a fictional autobiography of several Gainax members).

It isn’t a ground-breaking epic, but it is funny to watch.

To watch the OVA: OVA


Those three anime shows are Gainax main works before producing Evangelion.

I haven’t mentioned first Gainax work: Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise. It was a film released theatrically in 1987. It was critically acclaimed, but it was an utter commercial failure. I haven’t watched it so I can’t tell if I like or dislike. I have met some people hailing it like a brilliant masterpiece and other people accusing it of being boring, slow AND misogynist. Whatever it is, I won’t talk further about it.

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#48 Zero BD

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Posted 20 November 2010 - 06:28 PM

Mobile Suit Gundam --Click here to view--
Kidou Senshi Gundam (Mobile Suit Gundam) is the first anime within the overwhelming Gundam franchise. Dating back to 1979 its a story of a young boy being shaped and molded by the world around him and in turn shaping the world itself with his actions and decisions. It is the year 0079 (0079-1979 Sunrise you lazy bastards) of the Universal Century, humanity has been at war for over 8 months with half of the human population wiped out. The Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon are locked in a stalemate. However due to Zeon's possession of the weapons known as Mobile Suits they have the tactical advantage. The Federation answers back with its own series of prototype Mobile Suits, most noticeably the RX-78 Gundam. During a attack on his home of Side 7, Amuro Ray stumbles upon the Gundam and repels the attack. The following is a series of clashes not only with the antagonist and rival Char Aznable but within the close confines of Amuro's friends and coworkers. As he struggles to understand why he fights and exactly what he is fighting for. I could actually go on forever because I'm a big Gundam fan but I'll just leave it at that. The sequel of Mobile Suit Gundam is followed by the next two anime Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam. The conclusion of the Amuro-Char saga is the movie Char's Counterattack.


I'll be going at this one at a time so please bear with me. Till next time.

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#49 Jenskott

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Posted 23 November 2010 - 09:17 PM

QUOTE
I'll be going at this one at a time so please bear with me. Till next time.


Don't worry about it. Besides, you have chosen one of the best anime ever for your first recommendation wink.gif (I also am a big Gundam fan).

Although maybe I should add Z Gundam was was more dramatic and darker than Mobile Suit Gundam (and some people actually preffers Z Gundam to the first show), whereas ZZ Gundam was more lighthearted. Oops, I guess I should add them now to the List.

No new recommendations right now -I am pretty busy-, but I will update quite soon. I have several ideas for my next posts, but it must be done carefully.

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#50 Zero BD

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Posted 24 November 2010 - 10:15 PM

It's good to see another Gundam fan on this site besides myself. XD

Mobile Suit Z Gundam --Click here to view--
Kidou Senshi Z Gundam (Zeta Gundam) is the second and sequel anime to the original Mobile Suit Gundam. Set 8 years (8 months-8 years? Sunrise you lazy bastards) after the One Year war has ended, Zeta Gundam immediately introduces us to new cast and crew in the UC timeline. The plot of Zeta Gundam focuses on the AEUG, a political and military group formed from members of the Earth Federation and Zeon remnants, who are fighting against the Titans, a group comprised of the elite of the Earth Federation. Later in the story we see the eventual return of old characters and the reemergence of Zeon under the flag of Axis Zeon. Our "hero" this time is Kamille Bidan, a young man pulled into the war after witnessing the death of his family at the hands of the Titans. This series is one of the more darker anime of the Gundam franchise. A lot of elements that was originally meant for Mobile Suit Gundam was put into Zeta Gundam. It also includes a ending that leads directly into its sequel, ZZ Gundam. There's a lot of things I wanna say about this show but is better left to the imagination due to the fact that it'll spoil it. And if you intend to watch Zeta Gundam for the first time, please go in without spoiling the last 12 or some episodes. The plot is just that good. Something I didn't mention about Mobile Suit Gundam as well as Zeta Gundam is that both series had a trilogy of movies that came out, it takes some short cuts but most of the key parts are there.

I forgot to mention but if you want some back story to the Gryps Conflict please watch Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory.

Edited by Zero BD, 24 November 2010 - 10:24 PM.


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#51 BlackLightning

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Posted 24 November 2010 - 10:53 PM

QUOTE (Jenskott @ Nov 16 2010, 06:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
It sounds good, and if it has been created by Tetsuo Hara, it gets my attention. Thank you for the recommendation.

I take you also like Hokuto no Ken, then?


Hokuto no Ken was the first Seinen manga that I read and it holds a special place in my heart. the storyline and the bloody battles especially shot out to me that the world is not a nice place and never will be, moreover, it teach me that to survive you need to be strong but at the same time know that with strength comes the responsibility to protect those you love (I know I sound much more mature than I was supposed to but the fact that I was living on the street at that time gives it a special connection to myself)

O well, Today's topic: Gundam

Out of the classic gundams mentioned above (MS Gundam, Z, ZZ, Wings) there is 1 series that people seem to forget, the very series that quite literally bridge the old and new gundam series: After War Gundam X (And Double X though technically, they are the same anime)

This series presented a scenario similar to the Universal Century's One Year War and showed what would have happened had the colonists dropped dozens of colonies instead of one and destroyed the Earth's surface, destroying most of the Earth's population and leaving the survivors in a ruined post-apocalyptic world.

The series begins in AW 0015, as the Earth is just beginning to recover. The star of this series is fifteen year-old Garrod Ran, a member of Vulture, a scavenger group that patrols the wasteland for profits, which is on a mission to find and save mistreated Newtypes in the world from those who wish to take advantage of them. The first episode's main storyline started off with Garrod doing a 'hold-up' to a reckless bandit who possessed a Mobile Suit. He was discovered by an old man (who may have had an influence) and assigned him to rescue a girl named Tiffa Adill from Vulture. As he rescues Tiffa, he discovers that she is a target of an unknown party and finds out that she is a Newtype. Then as the story goes on, they find the "15 year-old nightmare", the Gundam X. Gundam X also used the space war concept featured in previous Gundam series as a backdrop, with the New United Nations Earth and the Space Revolutionary Army as the opposing factions.

The series is especially unique compared to the other Gundam Series as it portrays how a normal person (Garrod is a normal person, not a newtype or even have any specialized conditioning and training to handle a Gundam) can competes or even surpass a genius with preserverence and will to never give up. Moreover, the series also shows that it is possible for normal human and newtypes can work together or even fall in love with each other.

For those who watch the anime, you prob find that Double X Gundam extremely similar to a certain blue-winged gundam which isn't exactly surprising as Freedom WAS designed based on it, down to the shoulder-mounted cannons.

Edited by BlackLightning, 24 November 2010 - 10:54 PM.



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#52 Zero BD

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Posted 25 November 2010 - 03:59 AM

one of the small details that I liked about Gundam X was that the Gundam X had a reason behind its powerful weapon, where its predecessor Gundam Wing, didn't really have a reason why the weapons of several various mobile suits where equally as powerful.

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#53 BlackLightning

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Posted 25 November 2010 - 06:22 AM

QUOTE (Zero BD @ Nov 25 2010, 02:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
one of the small details that I liked about Gundam X was that the Gundam X had a reason behind its powerful weapon, where its predecessor Gundam Wing, didn't really have a reason why the weapons of several various mobile suits where equally as powerful.

heh, there was always a debate between me and my friend about which 1 is stronger: Wing's Buster Rifle or X's Satellite Canon. On one hand, we got one that quite literally proven capable of destroying hundreds of enemies with only 1 shot on a whim, on the other side, we got the weapon that was designed to destroy a friggin COLONY though it takes time to charge.


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#54 Ulgamoth

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Posted 26 November 2010 - 07:22 PM

I'm sure it has been said... But Death Note (manga)! First manga series I ever read. It's epic.


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#55 Jenskott

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Posted 30 November 2010 - 09:38 PM

QUOTE
Hokuto no Ken was the first Seinen manga that I read and it holds a special place in my heart.


I am glad of it meant so much to you. I am sorry hearing about your hardships back then but I am happy your situation improved.

QUOTE
heh, there was always a debate between me and my friend about which 1 is stronger: Wing's Buster Rifle or X's Satellite Canon. On one hand, we got one that quite literally proven capable of destroying hundreds of enemies with only 1 shot on a whim, on the other side, we got the weapon that was designed to destroy a friggin COLONY though it takes time to charge.


I'm sorry not having participated in the debate earlier (but I am glad of seeing activity and discussion in the thread. Thank you!). My personal opinion is each weapon was crafted with one situation in mind: if you need slaughtering a herd of enemis rapidly, then it is not a good idea using a weapon takes time to charge; on the other hand, if you need sheer power and your target is relatively motionless, then you may want choosing the most potent beam.

Hmm... so much chat about Gundam makes me thinking maybe I should considering adding G Gundam.

Moving on. Several weeks ago I had considered making a Halloween special post, recommending or mentioning supernatural/horror series. Alas, I was too busy and it can not be. Nevertheless, I am doing so now (that is because I have not posted earlier. I wanted adding the new updates):


The main character is Yakumo Fujii, a sixteen-year old, dark-haired boy lives alone since his mother is deceased and his father is a famous archaeologist is always travelling overseas. He attends school and works overnight in a nightclub.

One night Yakumo meets a beautiful, quiet but joyful girl wearing Tibetan clothes. He takes her to his work, and introduces himself. Suddenly, the girl –Pai- is overjoyed and explains she met his father in Tibet four years ago and she has been looking for him.

Pai hands a letter over to him, and Yakumo, surprised, reads his father has been investigating about a race of three-eyed, nearly immortal beings called Sanjiyan Unkara (Triclops). Usually they pass like humans until they open the third eye located on the center of their foreheads, which gives them immense mystical powers.

Along his travels over Tibet, he found Pai, the last Sanjiyan Unkara. She explained she was the last of her kind and she wishes being human. Supposedly she could become human by using an ancient artifact called the Ningen no Zou (the Statue of Humanity), and she was seeking it. The Professor befriended her and promised helping her to find the artifact. Unfortunately he fell ill and died. Before his death, though, he wrote a letter to Yakumo asking his son helping her to find the Ningen.

Understandably, Yakumo doesn’t believe one word about the Triclops race, he doesn’t feel inclined to leave his job to seek arcane relics, and his grief over his father’s death gets overshadowed by his anger at his father again asking him things without thinking about his feelings. However Pai seems saddened and he is too nice and good-natured to refuse, and he promises helping her to find the statue.

Their conversation abruptly ends up by news reporting a huge monster (a bird-like creature with one single claw and a human head) is flying over the city. Pai realizes it is her pet Takuhi (And I wonder: just WHO chooses keeping that kind of critter?). It has been accidentally released from the cane where she was keeping him hidden, and now it was looking for her.

Pai goes to meet Takuhi, with Yakumo following her. However, Yakumo gets badly hurt in the scuffle. Pai gets utterly horrified, realizing he is going to die, and opens her third eye, absorbing… something resembling a sphere of ethereal light from his body.

Yakumo’s wounds and shattered bones instantly heal, but he doesn’t understand what has happened –or why he has now a strange sign tattooed on his forehead. However he and Pai set out to find the Statue of Humanity, following a lead Yakumos’ father had found.

However, during their early travels, Yakumo finds out several things: 1- Pai IS a Triclops and she saved him by absorbing his soul and bonding it to hers, which has transformed him into a Wu (Triclops’ undead servant); 2 - since his soul is linked to Pai’s he can’t die unless she dies, but if she dies, he also dies (a Triclops can’t die from old age, but he/she can be killed. And even though a Wu can’t die, it feels hurt nonetheless), and if Pai becomes human he will also get his humanity back; 3 – Pai has a split personality due to her nature (a Triclops suffers mental degeneration as time passes due to his/her powers. First it manifests like a split personality and often old Sanjiyan became evil and ruthless), and albeit her “human” personality is nice and sweet, her “triclops” personality is colder and even more callous; and 4 – there are a legion of followers of the god-demon Kaiyanwang who wish stripping Pai from her powers in order to resurrect Kaiyanwang and/or become immortal.

3X3 Eyes by Yuzo Takada was an acclaimed shonen manga ran from 1987 to 2002, spanning forty volumes. It blended horror, bloody fights and romance, and it was quite popular, winning many awards.

Two OVA series were released in 1991 and 1995, adapting up to the volume five.

To read the manga: Manga

To watch the OVAs: OVAs


Yusuke Urameshi is a teenager delinquent who is always getting in troubles: he picks fights with his classmates and delinquents from other schools, he scorns his teachers and he skips classes. Most of his classmates are frightened from him but Keiko, his childhood friend, who cares about him and feels utterly no afraid of yelling to him or hitting whenever he is doing something stupid.

A day he sees a kid is about of being to run over by a car and in an unexpected act of altruism, he pushes the kid out of the way. He is hit by the vehicle and killed. As he is trying understanding what has just happened, his spirit is greeted by a blue-haired, sweeper-riding, kimono-clad, young-looking girl. She is Botan, the rider of the River Sanzu (the river all souls must cross over in order to reach the afterlife according Buddhist Mythology) who must guide the souls of the departed to the Afterlife where they can be judged.

Botan explains to his death has caught by surprise everybody in the Underworld since nobody expected HE was going to do that, and right now there is no place to him in Heaven or Hell. Hence, Koenma (Son of Emma, King of Underworld and Judge of the Dead), offers him a chance to live again, by passing a series of tests.

Yusuke succeeds, helped by Keiko, and in the process he becomes an Underworld Detective, tasked with the job of investigating supernatural activity in the human realm. In his first case, Yusuke defeats a gang of demon thieves, meeting two of his future partners: Hiei and Kurama. Later Kuwabara, Yusuke friend and former rival joins them. Aided by Keiko, Botan or Genkai (an old female martial artist becomes Yusuke’s sensei), the four of them form a team of Underworld Detectives will repeatedly face dangerous threats putting in peril the human world and the Underworld.

Created by Yoshihiro Togashi, Yu Yu Hakusho was a shonen manga mixed action with supernatural elements and ran from 1990 to 1994, becoming nineteen-volumes long. It was adapted in a 112-episodes long TV show and several OVA series. It became one of the most popular shonen manga in the nineties.

Personally I wasn’t too impressed when I read it. It was being constantly praised and hailed like one of the greatest classic shonen mangas, so I began reading it expecting just that. It didn’t deliver. The plot started picking up after the first volumes but it never touched me in the way other classic action shonen manga (such like Saint Seiya or Hokuto no Ken) had touched me. And in the last volumes, plot and art fall completely apart (I have heard Togashi was ill or his editors forced him to drag out the story despite his wishes to end it up. If that is true, I guess it would explain the decrease in quality).

Maybe if I would have forgotten about the hype while I read it, I would have liked it more… Oh, well. It is STILL regarded like a classic manga, so you may want checking it in case of you like it.

To read the manga: Manga

To watch the anime: Anime


The storylines of the original manga and the original anime of Devilman are pretty different. Here I shall describe the manga version’s plot (even though the anime series was made first).

Akira Fudo is a kind, shy teenager who hates fights and conflict. When the story begins, he is staying with his childhood friend –Miki Makimura- and his family, since his parents are missing on a scientific travel in the Arctic.

One day, Akira meets Ryo Asuka, his best friend. Ryo asks him following to his home, stating he needs discussing a matter with him.

That day, Akira’s life changes forever.

After arriving to the Asuka manor, Ryo explains his father has passed away because he discovered a secret eventually took his life. He found out a relic proved demons had existed in the past, and during his research on the issue he ascertained they had been frozen and emprisoned in ice during the last ice age.

Though, due to the global warming, the polar icecaps are melting, and the demons are being released from their glacial prison and beginning roaming over the world again. Due to their bloodthirsty nature and immense powers, it would be disastrous to the humankind.

Ryo’s father thought to fight a demon, you must become a demon. He merged with a demon, but the creature slowly eroded his sanity and drove him mad. After nearly murdering his own son, the Professor Asuka committed suicide so he didn’t kill anybody.

Ryo’s tale is violently cut off by several demons attacking the two teenagers. After a violent flight and fight, Akira is convinced demons exist, indeed, and they must be stopped. Thus, he decides he’ll take up Ryo’s offer and try merging his body with a demon’s.

Ryo explains to his friend demons have the ability to possess and control humans, but he thinks people with a pure heart –like he believes Akira is- can be able to gain the powers of a demon without losing his sanity and humanity. In order to draw demons, Ryo arranges a party in a nightclub with loud music and plenty alcohol (what he thinks would be a modern version of a Black Mass) in order to forfeit their human intelligence and self-control and picks up a fight to lure demons into try and taking over his and Akira’s bodies.

The plan is partially successful, and demons posses the clubbers and threaten Akira and Ryo. Utterly frightened, Akira runs away when one demon tries possessing him: Amon the Lord of the War and one of the mightiest beings of its foul brethren. Both minds struggle and finally Akira gain the upper hand and transforms into Devilman. Devilman contains the power of Amon and the heart of Akira, giving the human soul complete control.

Akira’s life changes from that moment. His personality changes, and no longer he is meek and soft-spoken but he is aggressive and blunt to the point of rudeness. And he starts battling herds of demons in increasingly violent and destructive battles.

However, as the series progresses, he starts questioning his actions. As violent as they are, not all demons he meets are utterly evil. And some humans he meets are so bad or worse than the demons…

This is the summary of the beginning of the manga and the OVA series. The anime show is somewhat different: the storyline varies, the fights are less bloody (but still more violent than was usual in the seventies), and the ending is actually happy.

Devilman’s anime and manga were created in 1972. The manga is comprised of five volumes and the anime is thirty-nine episodes-long. Along nearly four decades it has spawned many mangas, animes shows, OVA series, films and novels.

Devilman is one of the most important Go Nagai’s works and one of the most important and most influential series ever. Go Nagai liked breaking the boundaries of what was acceptable in comics, and when he was approached to create an anime show based on a previous manga of his (Demon Lord Dante), and he was told it would be aired in an adult timeslot, he decided the series would be “fierce” in order to change the general perception of anime shows should be “tame things”. Thus, Devilman’s extreme violence set it apart of other manga and anime of the time. And its success changed the perception of how much violence can –or even must- be allowed in anime shows, thus paving the way for other series.

However, Devilman is more complex than a show where demonic monsters slay each other in brutal ways. Nagai designed Devilman like an anti-war work. The fusion between humans and demons was an analogy for the draft, and the death of an important character symbolized the death of any hope of peace.

In a nutshell: if you like bloody fights, intense drama and an apocalyptic end, I recommend reading Devilman; if you don’t like either, I recommend staying away from this (or watching the anime since it is comparatively less violent and there is a happy ending).

To read the manga: Manga

To watch the anime: Anime;
OVAs

The next two manga/anime series aren’t too known out of Japan. Yet, they are worth to a mention:

Dororon Enma-kun --Click here to view--

Enma-kun (nephew of King Enma, Judge of the Dead and ruler of the Underworld according Japanese Mythology), Prince of Hell, is sent by his uncle along his friends Yukiko (a pretty but stuck-up yuki-onna –a yuki-onna was an evil spirit roamed over snowed fields and forests, freezing travellers slept out in the open- who constantly gets angry at Enma-kun. Enma-kun loves teasing her, but he loves her dearlyA) and Kapaeru (a half-kappa, half water sprite creature) to the human world. The three of them form a demon patrol whose duty is search and punish ghosts have escaped from Hell and run away to the living world.

Although this series also exploited the supernatural theme, it was more comedic and more aimed to kids than Devilman. It was quite successful in Japan, even although it not well known outside of Japan and it never was aired in America.

The manga and the anime were created in 1973. The manga is three-volumes long and the anime show is twenty-five-episodes-long.

A sequel/remake was created in 2006 (Demon Prince Enma) which was dropped the comedic elements and was more dramatic.

To read the manga: Manga

To watch the anime: Anime 1973;
Anime 2006

Gegege no Kitaro --Click here to view--

Gegege no Kitaro is basically the story of the adventures of Kitaro, a young male ghost, who fights for peace between yokai (a kind of Japanese spirit/monsters) and humans using several powers and tools, alongside several spirit friends and allies.

This series is one of the first horror/supernatural manga/anime, and it is credited by keeping alive and spreading old Japanese folktales and legends about monsters, ghosts and yokai.

Shigeru Mizuki created Gegege no Kitaro in 1959, and the first anime series was aired in 1968. A new anime show has been made every decade from then. The character has also showed up on live-action films and video games.

Usually it hasn’t showed up on the West and the likely reason is Gegege no Kitaro is… well… a weird series.

Still it is a classic horror manga and it can be worth a perusal.

To read the anime (one of the newest versions, at least): Anime

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#56 Jenskott

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Posted 01 January 2011 - 08:00 PM

Okay, I have leat this thread alone for too long. But at least I have a special post to celebrate the New Year. Today's subject is: Osamu Tezuka's works.

Osamu Tezuka, (usually nicknamed like the “god of manga”) is the reason of manga and anime are a successful entertainment phenomenon, and the origin of their distinctive visual style. He changed the style of drawing comics (he introduced most of the visual tropes manga is known for in the West. Ironically, he borrowed them from American cartoons), and the way of writing them in shape (favouring long adventures and cinematic storytelling rover short stories) and substance (introducing serious drama and dealing with real life issues), he created entire genres or he redefined them and popularized them, and he started the trend of adapting manga stories to anime. He created over 700 manga with more than 150,000 pages total, the second anime ever made and he delved into every conceivable genre (pirate stories, robots, romance, science-fiction, western, animals, historic, horror…).

We have already gone over Astroboy, his most famous character. Now we will talk about soother of his most important works:

Ribbon no Kishi/Princess Knight/Choppy and the Princess --Click here to view--

One of the first Shojo mangas ever, even if not the very first one.

The history happens in the fictional, medieval kingdom of Silverland. The action begins when in Heaven, souls are being prepared to be given to children are going to be born. However, Choppy, an inexperienced young angel accidentally gives a child who will be a girl both a female heart and a male heart. When that mess-up is found out, he gets banished to Earth in a mortal body in order to watch the child with two hearts.

Meanwhile, in Silverland the queen gives birth to a girl baby, and due to birth complications, she can’t have another child. The king is worried, since the law forbids women from governing, and he knows if his closest male relative, the sinister Duke Duralumon finds out his wife has given birth to a girl, he will instantly seize the throne. Duralumon is a ruthless, scheming man, and he’ll oppress the people if he becomes king.

Therefore, the nature of the princess Sapphire is hidden from everybody but her parents and a handful of counsellors, and she is taught both male and female activities as she grows up (although the later must be practiced in secret).

Several years later, Sapphire is a teenager and Duralumon’s attempts by proving the heir is really a woman are becoming more frequent and more dangerous. However it is then when Choppi at last finds Sapphire and becomes her ally… fortunately to her, since Duke Duralumon isn’t the only force threatening Silverland, and she will need all help she can get in order to protect her country and its people.

Ribbon no Kishi wasn’t quite the first shojo manga ever (maybe the first one was Anmitsu Hime by Shosuke Kurakane, published in 1949), but Tezuka introduced drama, action and serious themes in the story (right like he had done with comics for male teenagers), doing at the same time a romance comic and an intense adventure. It was incredibly successful, and due to that success, more comics for girls and women started being produced (even if most of the first shojo manga were created by men up to the middle sixties).

Ribbon no Kishi began being published in 1953 and the last storyline was published in 1963. The anime show was first aired in 1967, lasting fifty-two episodes.

Honestly I think women would find some moments cringe-worthy, but it still is a read-worthy manga.

To read the manga:
To read the anime:


Jungle Emperor/Kimba the White Lion --Click here to view--

The setting is Africa in the mid-20th century. Mankind is rapidly and steadily spreading as wild animals lose land and their populations decrease. However, Panja the white lion gives them a safe haven where they can settle down and live. Unfortunately he steals cattle and food of nearby villagers in order to feed the jungle carnivores.

Enraged, they hire a professional hunter to stop the Panja’s raids. The hunter manages killing Panja –planning selling his hide- and traps his mate, Eliza, which is pregnant. The lioness is put on a ship, destined for a zoo.

Leo, the main character, is born on the boat. Eliza teaches him his father’s ideals during the journey. Though, a huger storm strikes the ship, and it starts sinking. Eliza manages push her cub through the bars of the cage, and Leo manages coming to the surface of the sea. He begins to despair, but he sees the face of his mother forming in the stars in the sky, urging him to not give up. Newly encouraged, and guided by butterflies, he makes it to land.

Leo is found and cared for some people, and started learning about the human culture, and he decides when he returns, he will bring human culture to jungle and protect the peace of his kingdom.

However, when he eventually returns, still being a young cub, he discovers a black-maned, scarred lion has taken over his father’s domain in his absence. Mentored by his father’s former councilor –an old baboon- and aided by several friends, he manages defeating the usurper and regaining his throne.

From that moment, the story focuses on Leo as he grows up and learns how being a good king, narrating his struggles for keeping his kingdom together and creating a paradise where animals can live in peace among themselves and with human beings. Throughout the story he becomes an adult lion, falls in love with Lyra –a female lion cub-, and becomes a father, and he and Lyra try passing on their cubs the lesson he learn: only communication and mutual understanding will bring true peace between animals and humans.

Jungle Emperor’s manga being being published in 1950 and it lasted four years, being three-volumes-long. The anime was created in 1965, lasting fifty-two episodes, and it was the first color anime. It was aired in USA, renamed as Kimba the White Lion.

Some people can find the plot of Jungle Emperor is strikingly similar to Lion King’s one in spite of Tezuka wrote his manga thirty years earlier. It has been debated in length if Disney did or didn’t rip Tezuka off and I will not delve in that issue (and it also can be argued back Tezuka was very influenced by American cartoons, including Disney’s shows and movies. Then again, Tezuka always acknowledged that fact and praised Walt Disney, and I reckon if Disney would have acknowledged The Lon King movie had been influenced by Tezuka’s work, less people would have an issue with it). You can read more about that controversy here: Remake of Tezuka's Popular Story Turns Into Denial?

Enough funny, it was parodied in a chapter of The Simpsons, when Mufasa tells to Lisa Simpson: “You must avenge my death, Kimba… ur, I mean Simba!”

To read the manga:
To watch the anime:



The main character of this manga is Black Jack, a mysterious man with a scarred, discoloured face, and a bang of white hair on his raven-haired head, an abrupt –to the point of rude- behaviour and a dark sense of humour. He is a doctor and an awesome surgeon… without a license. Usually he charges big fees to wealthy clients, but often he helps needy people for as much as they can pay or even for free, and if he fails, he refunds the money. He lives in an isolated house at the beginning of the series, but later he takes Pinoko in, a little child whose life he saved.

The story focuses on his adventures, meeting people and using his incredible skills in a way usually delivers whatever lesson Tezuka was trying teaching, or denouncing a wrong. Tezuka had a degree in medicine, and he added medical details in order to give his series a sense of verisimilitude. However he wasn’t above of ditching verisimilitude or plausibility in order to make a scene seeming cooler.

The manga ran from 1973 to 1983 and it last seventeen volumes. Several anime adaptations have been made.

To read the manga:
To watch the anime: Anime



It is difficult describing the plot of Hi no Tori. The plot is always focused on the Phoenix, but every story is self-contained, and it can happen in the far past (usually in Ancient Japan) or in the far future. The characters and the stories are different every arc, but the common point is always the Phoenix.

The Phoenix is an immortal bird which eternally dies and rises from its ashes. People is constantly chasing after him in order to drink its blood, since it is believed it can grant eternal life. However their search is pointless, since the Phoenix can’t die, and usually they waste their lives trying gaining eternal life in a Fool’s dream instead of enjoying life.

In a nutshell, Hi no Tori is a story about human passions and dreams throughout the ages. Tezuka conceived it how his greatest work, and he started writing it in 1959, giving himself breaks when he felt he wasn’t ready to write the story, and retaking the plot when he was sure his storytelling would be up to the task. His plan was to alternate between tales of the distant past and the distant future until the two converged at the present. Unfortunately he died before completing it.

The story is twelve volumes long. Several of the stories have been adapted in anime shows and even a movie.

To read the manga: Manga



“This is the story of three men named Adolf. Each one lived a very different life, but they were bound together by a single twist of fate...”

With these lines begins Adolf, an epic story of love and war, friendship and betrayal and the evils of war and racism which spans along several decades, from the Berlin Olympics to the eighties.

The story focuses on three characters, all of them named Adolf: Adolf Kaufman, the son of a German diplomat and his Japanese wife; Adolf Kamil, the Japanese-born son of a couple of Jewish German exiled in Japan; and… some guy ruled over German in the thirties and forties.

I can’t go deeper in the plot without spoiling it, but the story is real harsh and dramatic (and sometimes a tad depressing, even though there is an underlying message of people going on living and carrying on despite their world falling apart), with a good degree of historic research (even though Tezuka got some details wrong). However, an interesting detail is it shows how the daily lives of German and Japanese folk were during the War (including how Japanese endured the frequent aerial raids).

The manga was published in 1983 –six years before Tezuka’s death- and it lasted five volumes.

To read the manga: Manga

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#57 Jenskott

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Posted 06 March 2011 - 01:18 PM

God, I intended taking less time in updating but I am real late now. I’m sorry. I wanted recommending a good chunk of anime shows in my next post, but it is taking longer than I wished. Yet I don't want delaying an update longer, so I’ll do a post about Akira Toriyama’s main mangas (yes, plural). I had to do it sooner or later, so I as well can get it out of the way now:

Long before creating DragonBall, Toriyama began writing comedic, short stories were not successful: Wonder Island, Tomato… The latter history was slightly better received, though, and since the main character was a girl, Toriyama editor advised him to create another manga with a female main character:

Doctor Slump --Click here to view--

Doctor Slump basically is a comedy with a healthy dose of slapstick.

The main character is Arale Norimaki, a robot created by Dr. Sembei Norimaki, a well-intentioned but clumsy scientist and world-class pervert. Arale looks like a little girl but is crazy strong, reckless, innocent, childish, very destructive and she is constantly engaging in whacky, bizarre antics.

The setting of the history is Penguin Village, a –supposedly- Japanese, -REAL- backwards, little town inhabited by loonies where all and anything can happen. Other than its bizarre villagers, the place is populated with talking animals, monsters (such like Godzilla or King Kong), Western and Japanese monsters and ghosts, spoofs of super-heroes, parodies of characters of Star Wars or Star Trek (a policeman dresses like a stormtrooper), aliens… and the villagers find nothing weird about it.

Other than Arale, other characters include: her creator Senbei, an utter pervert who constantly is crafting inventions cause more troubles than they are worth for (such like a time machine, a size-changing beam or a pair of see-through glasses. Guess what he wanted using them for…) are always making troubles; Midori Yamabuki, Arale's beautiful and intelligent teacher who Senbei is utterly in love with, and who he married with after accidentally and unawarely proposing to her while she was on the toilet (it makes sense on context. Sort of. No character understands how or why she got married to Senbei, but she is a Penguin Village inhabitant so she can NOT be normal); Suppaman (a short, chubby, dim-witted and incompetent spoof of Superman); Dr. Mashirito, Senbei's nemesis, an evil scientist is constantly trying taking over the world (or getting Senbei killed) with his robots named “Candymen"; King Niko-chan, an space pirate with a "peculiar" shape got stranded on Earth cause Arale and works on all kind of odd jobs in order to earn money enough to buy a space ship and go back to his homeworld...

And there are loads and loads of even weirder and crazier characters, getting in absurd, hilarious situations.

In short, Dr. Slump is a classic comedic manga, and a good reading if you need a laugh. The manga ran from 1980 to 1984 and it is eighteen-volumes long. The anime ran from 1981 to 1986 and it consists of 243 episodes and several movies. A remake was made in 1997.

To read the manga: Manga

To watch the anime: Anime


Dr. Slump was incredibly successful and launched Toriyama's career. As he was writing Doctor Slump, he crafted several short stories, often mixing comedy with adventure and action: Escape, Pola & Roid, Mad Matic, Pink… All of those series were influenced by Western movies and comic-books. Wanting breaking that trend, he wrote a story inspired by Journey to the West –one of the most important Chinese epic novels-, named Dragon Boy. The main character was a young boy lived in a mountain with his grandfather and martial art master. One day his grandfather tasked him with a mission: guarding a princess during her journey…

Later he developed that short story in his biggest success:


Son Goku –the main character- is a twelve-year old, short, immensely strong boy and martial arts practitioner. He lives happy and carefree but alone in a mountain far from any town or city, and he hasn’t seen a human being in years since his grandfather’s demise. All of it changes forever one day when he meets a girl named Bulma.

After a not quite friendly meeting, she reveals she is searching the dragon balls. They are seven golden spheres that, if reunited, allow summon Shen-Ron, the Dragon God, which is capable to grant any wish. Bloody wars were waged over the dragon balls in the past, but they had faded from the memory from the people after several centuries.

However she had gathered information about them and was gathering them. Bulma manages talks Goku into travelling with her to find the seven dragon balls, and thus they leaft Goku's mountain and began a new quest...

I think it is needles explaining further the history of one of the most popular shonen manga from the last decades. At the beginning it was a funny adventure, mixing martial arts action and comedy, but it steadily evolved in a story focused on battles between cosmic beings.

The manga began being published in 1984 and Toriyama ended it in 1995, lasting 42 volumes. The anime adaptation ran from 1987 to 1997 and it lasted 508 episodes.

To read the manga: Manga
To watch the anime:Anime


Okay, that is it for now. I'll try my next update comes sooner. But rest assured that I won't give up on this thread, even if I take a long while among updates.

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#58 Jenskott

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Posted 28 March 2011 - 12:42 PM

Okay, still another update and I am not TOO far behind this time. Hooray!

Jokes aside, this topic's subject is about one of my favorite manga genres, and several shows pushed it forward or tried making something different:

Romance Robot Trilogy: Combattler V, Voltes V, Tosho Daimos --Click here to view--

It is also named the Tadao Nagahama Trilogy. They were three independent series usually are credited with helping the genre to evolve. They were created by Saburo Yatsude (a collective name for a group of Toei animators. Later they created Voltron, another popular super robot show) and directed by Tadao Nagahama. It is also worth of mentioning Yoshiyuki Tomino, one of the creators of Gundam, worked on Voltes V.

Combattler V was the first show. It narrates how thousand years ago the inhabitants of the planet Campbell left their planet and sought new worlds to inhabit. One group led by the scientist Oreana landed on Earth but they were delayed. In the XXI century they finally awaken and begin the conquest of the Earth using their bio-mechanical creatures. The only thing can defeat them is the super-electromagnetic robot, Combattler V.

The plot was pretty simple and straight-forward, but the show was nice to watch and the characters weren’t void of inner conflicts: Hyoma Aoi (the tema’s captain) got his arms destroyed in a battle and needed getting cybernetic replacements; Chizuru Nanbara (team’s female member and granddaughter of the builder of Combattler. She eventually fell in love with Hyoma) was ill with valvula heart disease but she tried hiding it because she didn’t want leaving her teammates alone…

Voltes V was the next series in the Trilogy, and it was more serious and darker than Combattler, with superior character development, specially among the villains. The history begins in the planet Boazan, an Empire has achieved a highly advanced technological level, but with a society held in a strict caste-system. Boazans born with horns are the ruling class, whereas hornless Boazans are slaves.

An aristocratic child was born hornless, but their family fitted him with fake ones in order to prevent him from being sold in slavery. Eventually he became a great scientific genius, and he was the next in line for the imperial throne. Though, Zambojil found out the truth, exposed him and became emperor while the young genius became a slave. The ex-aristocrat led a rebellion of slaves, but they were defeated, and he had to flee to Earth.

After arriving to our planet, he took the name of Go Kentaro, got married and had three children: Kenichi, Daihiro and Hiyoshi. However, he knew sooner or later Boazan forces would strike Earth and to slave its inhabitants. In order to prevent that future, he started working alongside the Earth defense forces, including General Oka and Professor Hamaguchi to create a new weapon: the super robot Voltes V, piloted by the three sons of Kentaro, Megumi Oka –General’s daughter and expert kunoichi-, and the former rodeo star, Mine Ippei.

At last the Boazan armada strikes Earth. They deploy their beast fighters all over the world and easily beat most of the armies of the planet. However, they are defeated by the Voltes Team. Thus starts a long war, with the Boazan invaders focusing their attacks on Japan, and the Voltes V struggling for defending Earth as the Go siblings search their long-lost father and several important characters –from either sides- die.

Later in the series, the Go brothers discover their half-alien heritage and struggle to deal with it as the Voltes Team comes to a realization: in order to end the war it is not enough with defeating the invading army. They must strike Boazan and liberate the slaves from the oppression of the Emperor Zu Zambojil.

Toushou Daimos was the last series in the Trilogy (and it is worth noting Daimos was one of the first mechas fought using martial arts). This series also showed a conflict where no side was actually evil, trying giving a message about the evils of war.

After the destruction of the planet Baam, the survivors are forced to emigrate in search of a new place where live. During their journey they arrive to Earth, and their leader, Emperor Leon wishes purchasing land where his people can peacefully settle down. With that goal he meets with a delegation from Earth in order to negotiate the buyout. Unfortunately, during the negotiations, Georiya, Leon’s second in command, assassinates the Emperor and frames the delegation from Earth for the murder. In the ensuing chaos, Doctor Isamu Ryuzaki from Earth is shot and killed.

Shortly after the disastrous council, Olban (Leon’s personal counsellor. Georiya is his right hand, and assassinated the Emperor under his orders) usurps the throne and begins a campaign of conquest in order to take over Earth, led by Admiral Richter, Leon’s son. Richter is pained and furious due to his father’s death and he hates the Earth people whom he believes responsible. He wants taking revenge on them, but he also is worried about his people’s safety and need for a new homeland. Thus, he launches a brutal offensive against Earth, deploying several types of Mecha Soldiers effectively overwhelm the Earth army.

The only thing capable to prevent the annihilation of the Earthlings is Daimos, a transforming super robot and its pilot, Kazuya Ryuzaki, son of the assassinated Doctor Ryuzaki. However, he meets a beautiful girl named Erika during one battle. The mysterious girl is amnesiac and can’t remember anything, and he takes her in and falls in love with her. And she falls in love with him.

However Erika gradually regains her missing memory and it turns out she is Richter’s sister.

Oops.

And she –wrongly- believes she is guilty of the death of the Doctor Ryuzaki, and she is afraid of confessing that to Kazuya.

Double oops.

Over the course of their struggles to reunite, Kazuya and Erika each learn that the other’s people are not all evil... and that their own people are not all good.

The end also is quite bittersweet. Kazuya and Erika reunite, the conspirators are exposed and defeated and Baam makes peace with Earth. However many good people died cause a conflict neither side wanted.

The three series ran from 1976 to 1979, right before Gundam started. Combattler V consists of fifty-four episodes, Voltes V of forty episodes and Daimos of forty-four. There is at least a manga involving the three series and they have consistently showed up on Super Robot Wars video games and manga based on that franchise.

To watch Combattler V: Anime

To watch Voltes V: Anime

To watch Tosho Daimos: Anime

To read manga: Manga

This manga is actually a crossover blending the threes shows and another series named Daltanias.


I have mentioned Tomino –the father of Mobile Suit Gundam- worked on Voltes V. Before making Gundam he worked on more shows. And one of them was:


There once existed a planet named Beal, until it was wiped out by the mysterious entity known as Gaizok. The few remaining survivors escaped to Earth and split into three families, named Jin, Kamie, and Kamikita respectively. While attempting to start a new life, the collectively known "Jin Family" prepared for the inevitable Gaizok invasion on Earth and its giant mechanical beasts known as "Mecha Boosts". In order to defend their new home, they have built three vehicles which when combined form the mighty Zambot 3. The Jin Family must not only defend against Gaizok attacks, but also harsh criticisms from the very people they protect, who blame the Jin Family for the invasion in the first place.

At first glance the plot seems pretty standard. However it stood out for several things: the pilots are very young, nearly children, which did their trials and suffering more appalling (moreover, not all of them survive the war). Death and destruction counts and it isn’t shrugged off (sometimes they fought on the ruins of cities obliterated in a previous battle). The enemy is unusually blood-thirsty and doesn’t wish conquering Earth but simply wiping out humankind (and it is even worst when you learn their motives. In order to avoid spoilers, let’s tell they think Earthlings are the bad guys and a menace), levelling entire cities to ruins, and it isn’t above of using other means other than super robots (such like capturing innocent people, turning them into human bombs and letting them return to their houses and families… before making them exploding). The Zambot pilots and their families not only have to fight aliens but also face the reject of the humankind, who blames them for the Gaizok attacks. And the end is very bittersweet (I don’t want spoiling it, but somehow it managed be sad, dark, gloomy, mind-screwing… and unexpectedly heart-warming).

This was one of the shows earned Tomino the nickname “Kill’em All”. It was aired in 1977 and it is twenty-three episodes long. It is worth of being watched, even if it can be slightly depressing.

To watch the anime: Anime




Labor: The common name for robots designed for heavy industrial use. The rise of labors sparked a revolution in construction and civil engineering, but labor-related crime skyrocketed as well. To combat this new threat, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police created a patrol labor unit, the Special Vehicles Unit Second Section. This was the origin of Patlabor.

In the near future, robots called Labors, designed for heavy industrial work are mass-produced in Japan. However, some people use labors to commit crimes. In order to fight that kind of criminals, it is created a special elite police squad: the Special Vehicles Unit. That Special Unit is composed of 2 divisions: Division 1 is a squad of highly-competent and hard-working cops led by a serious, nonsensical boss; Division 2 is a band of rookies with a propensity for property damage, led by a slouch, sleepy-looking boss.

The story is focused on the cops of the Division 2 and their daily lives as they combat crime using his Patrol Labors… also as known as Patlabor.

Patlabor is a blend of cop show, political thriller, comedy, drama, slice of live series and mecha show.

Nearly all super robot anime have used Mazinger Z or Mobile Suit Gundam like templates, including parodies (Daiturn-3) or deconstructions (Evangelion). Patlabor is one of the few series entirely ditches either of those templates and associated tropes. The labours are not glorified war vehicles or battle-suits but real-looking vehicles with limitations, that may break up and need constant maintenance, and often they aren’t human-alike. They are so completely blended in the environment and in such a realistic way you have nearly forgotten about their existence till the action begins. And the battles between robots are very well animated and thrilling, but they also use to be brief. And the show isn’t focused on them but in the people working in the Division 2 and their daily troubles.

The characters are deep and charismatic: the main character is Noa Izumi, a young woman is fresh off the Academy and is a robot otaku has applied for the job only so she could pilot a giant robot (she was grief-stricken when she learnt labors are NOT built for flight). Other characters are: Asuma Shinohara, Noa’s partner who is in love with her but is unable to spit it out; Isao Ota, a (very) trigger-happy, gun-loving, impulsive, hot-headed and gruff-looking police who refuses to admit he is soft-hearted deep-down; Kiichi Gotoh, Division 1’s captain, who is apparently lazy and carefree but is incredibly observant, devilishly clever and DOWNRIGHT Machiavellian…

I absolutely love to bits this series, and it is highly recommended even if you don’t like robot shows.

To read the manga: Manga

To watch the anime: Anime


Vision of Escaflowne --Click here to view--

Hitomi is an apparently ordinary high school student who read tarot cards and belongs to her school’s track team… if it wasn’t because sometimes she has odd, unusually vivid dreams.

One say she learns her crush, Amano Susumu is leaving for studying abroad, and ask him kissing her if she can run one hundred meters in 13 seconds. Before she can finish the sprint, though, a pillar of light appears from nowhere, and a dragon emerges out from it, chased by a young, armoured warrior. The warrior –Prince Van, rescues Hitomi and her friends from the dragon, slays the beast and cuts its heart off the corpse to take something glowing form it. Suddenly, another pillar of light flares up and sends Hitomi and Van away to Van’s world, Gaea, where Earth itself hovers in the night sky.

Once there, Hitomi quickly learns that world is being torn apart by a terrible war. Fanelia –Van’s kingdom- and other many countries are at war with the Zaibach Empire. Emperor Dornkirk intends using his technology and army of giant robots –named “Guymelefs” to conquer Gaea and create a world without uncertainty. The best chance to defeat his army is the mighty Escaflowne, a guymelef guarded by Fanelia, which must be powered by an object found only in the heart of a dragon. The heir to the kingdom must slay a dragon and retrieve that object in order to be acclaimed king.

Shortly after arriving to Fanelia Van is crowned, but the Zaibach Empire abruptly attacks the capital city, decimating its army and burning it to cinders. Hitomi and Van are barely capable to power up the Escaflowne and fleeing from the mighty Zaibachian army. Since that time, their lives become a race not only for saving Gaea, but also for staying alive…

Tenku no Escaflowne (also known as Vision of Escaflowne or simply Escaflowne) was a successful twenty-six episodes long anime broadcast in 1996. It gained critical acclaim by its engaging plot, great animation and spectacular music.

To watch the anime: Anime


Ok. Done.

I hope I can update soon. I think I will try something different instead of writing reviewes about mostly action shows. Maybe I should take advantage of Madoka's current popularity and making a post about other magical girls series.

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#59 desaix

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Posted 28 March 2011 - 07:18 PM

First time on this thread. Huh. I think it's because, when I hear "classic manga\anime," I remember having had too many arguments with people that a manga produced after 1980 doesn't count as a classic, and was expecting to see mostly recommendations of 60-70s-era anime and manga (which I, for the most part, am not especially fond of, even among the big titles). Lots of good recommendations, here, though, from what I actually WOULD consider classics....

re: Patlabor, it's should be noted that there is a completely different tone to the series depending on whether you're watching the TV\OAVs, the movies, or reading the manga. The TV\OAVs are action-comedy, the manga is more straightlaced action (though does have humor, too), and the movies are almost pure suspense with little action, and don't even follow the same main characters of the TV or the manga (IIRC, Noa and Asuma, the principle main characters of the TV series and the manga, only appear in one or two background shots in the third movie. The movies focus mostly on Gotoh, their Captain, who was at best the top supporting\3rd-in-importance character in the main series; the third movie has even less focus on him)

re: Dragonball, it should be noted there are constant rumors (and have been for years) of a DB anime series revival that would replace the much-maligned (rightly, in some cases) Dragonball GT, and possibly even the end of DBZ (the whole Uub thing; it would essentially start where the Buu saga left off, and rewrite the rest of the series from there). The DBZ-Kai remastering of the original anime and a recent OAV or two (where Vegeta's previously unmentioned brother shows up and asks for help) has made it look more and more likely, in the past year. Not sure if Toriyama would be connected to this revival, however, as he was pretty disgusted with the series when he completed it (he kept trying to switch the main character from Goku to Gohan, but fan-pressure had the producers\publishers constantly demanding he change his plans, which he was never happy about).

Re: Rumiko Takahashi's series (all of them). Takahashi was also a manga author who was constantly forced to change her plans because of fan pressure. It's been said in various interviews that she originally intended for UY's ultimate pairing to be Ataru-Shinobu, and Lum was supposed to be a one-off character who would appear, be beaten, and never return; Lum was so popular a character the entire series was completely rewritten. Ranma was supposed to be her chance to "re-write this wrong," with Akane being the Shinobu-substitute, but there were several characters intended to be oneshot characters that wound up being added to the regular cast, there, as well (including both Ukyou and Shampoo). Her first major series (Maison Ikkoku) and her last (Inu Yasha) are said to be the only ones she didn't have to make serious plot changes to because of her publishers.

I know from experience that the publishing business can be pretty intrusive here in the US, but one wonders if it's just that much worse in Japan considering how many big-name manga artists are forced to make MAJOR plotline shifts like this to appease them.

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#60 Jenskott

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Posted 29 March 2011 - 07:10 AM

QUOTE
First time on this thread. Huh. I think it's because, when I hear "classic manga\anime," I remember having had too many arguments with people that a manga produced after 1980 doesn't count as a classic, and was expecting to see mostly recommendations of 60-70s-era anime and manga (which I, for the most part, am not especially fond of, even among the big titles).


Hahahaha. Welcome and thank you for posting.

I understand where you are coming from. That mindset is quite absurd because classic stories have been produced in every decade. Of course, on the other side of the spectrum you find people calls "classic" anything, or think any series produced before they were born is garbage and unworthy of their time.

It is funny because I was born in 1980 so I should favor 80's anime about earlier or later decades, but often I favor 70-80´s manga/anime, even if I try being more open-minded about it than other thirty-years old automatically label any anime produced in the last twenty years like trash.

Maybe it is because back in the early nineties, many new TV channels began broadcasting on my country. They were new channels, and anime shows were cheap to purchase and air, so they aired a ton of shows, regardless when they were produced. So I guess I got used to different kinds of animation instead of "realizing" I was "supposed" to reject several anime shows like garbage because supposedly they seemed "old".

However, in the late nineties I found few shows to my liking (although I try not trashing shows I have not watched). I guess I began being pickier when I stopped being a kid, and that was expectable (even if unfortunate).

QUOTE
re: Patlabor, it's should be noted that there is a completely different tone to the series depending on whether you're watching the TV\OAVs, the movies, or reading the manga. The TV\OAVs are action-comedy, the manga is more straightlaced action (though does have humor, too), and the movies are almost pure suspense with little action, and don't even follow the same main characters of the TV or the manga (IIRC, Noa and Asuma, the principle main characters of the TV series and the manga, only appear in one or two background shots in the third movie. The movies focus mostly on Gotoh, their Captain, who was at best the top supporting\3rd-in-importance character in the main series; the third movie has even less focus on him)


My introduction to Patlabor was through the OVAs, and later I purchased several manga volumes (but the publisher halted publication after the volume 12, right when the new arc was heating up. D'oh!). And yes, the tone and the pace are completely different. I was shocked.

Although Gotoh always seemed awesome to me, regardless the version.

QUOTE
re: Dragonball, it should be noted there are constant rumors (and have been for years) of a DB anime series revival that would replace the much-maligned (rightly, in some cases) Dragonball GT, and possibly even the end of DBZ (the whole Uub thing; it would essentially start where the Buu saga left off, and rewrite the rest of the series from there). The DBZ-Kai remastering of the original anime and a recent OAV or two (where Vegeta's previously unmentioned brother shows up and asks for help) has made it look more and more likely, in the past year. Not sure if Toriyama would be connected to this revival, however, as he was pretty disgusted with the series when he completed it (he kept trying to switch the main character from Goku to Gohan, but fan-pressure had the producers\publishers constantly demanding he change his plans, which he was never happy about).


Ugh. I hope it isn't made. Honestly, I would rather the series would have been finished after the Freezer or Cell arc, like Toriyama allegedly wanted (I know some fans think it is only an internet rumor all regard like true, but back in 1995 I read in a manga-themed magazine he wanted finishing the series after the Cell arc, so if it is not only online speculation, it).

QUOTE
Re: Rumiko Takahashi's series (all of them). Takahashi was also a manga author who was constantly forced to change her plans because of fan pressure. It's been said in various interviews that she originally intended for UY's ultimate pairing to be Ataru-Shinobu, and Lum was supposed to be a one-off character who would appear, be beaten, and never return; Lum was so popular a character the entire series was completely rewritten. Ranma was supposed to be her chance to "re-write this wrong," with Akane being the Shinobu-substitute, but there were several characters intended to be oneshot characters that wound up being added to the regular cast, there, as well (including both Ukyou and Shampoo). Her first major series (Maison Ikkoku) and her last (Inu Yasha) are said to be the only ones she didn't have to make serious plot changes to because of her publishers.


I have heard that about UY. Maybe it is because that Ataru/Lum never completely felt like the official couple to me. Even if Takahashi obviously tried making it likeable -and I am not opposed to it either- there was always something something... off about it.

Talking about Takahashi's series, have you read Rin-Ne? I have heard the initial premise is pretty similar to Bleach (then again, Bleach's initial premise is pretty similar to Yu Yu Hakusho and the series is pretty different).

QUOTE
I know from experience that the publishing business can be pretty intrusive here in the US, but one wonders if it's just that much worse in Japan considering how many big-name manga artists are forced to make MAJOR plotline shifts like this to appease them.


Well, editorial meddling may be a good or a bad thing. Some authors start believing they are above committing mistakes after becoming popular, and don't realize they may still need someone watching over their shoulders to spot flaws (unlike writers like J. R. R. Tolkien was constantly seeking and appreciating feedback). But some editors force big changes on the plot or the characters, or to drag the story out, and those changes are ill-received or ultimately damage the story and its popularity.

Regardless, thank you for taking your time to comment.

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