The Anime Thread

[jimmy olsen]

I saw this in cinema last weekend.  The stellar reputation that this movie gets is well-deserved.  Some Japanese box office figures to show what a phenomenon this has become.  A lot of my co-workers who otherwise don't have much interest in anime saw this. 

Your Name: $174m (US$)
Avatar: $172m
The Wind Rises: $120m (released by Ghibli studio and widely considered the last movie that legend Hayao Miyazaki makes)
Star Wars the Force Awakens: $98m
One Piece Film Gold: $48m (One piece is the most popular manga ever and it is considered half-mainstream)
Love Live the School Idol Movie: $21m (this is considered the highest box office figure achieved by an adaptation of a late night anime,  i.e. shows primarily watched by otakus).

To say that the animation of this movie is gorgeous is an understatement.  This is easily the most beautiful anime that I have seen.  Ghibli movies are beautiful too, but they mostly depict fantasy worlds or historical Japan.  Your Name presents 21st century Japan in stunning visuals and nobody comes remotely close in this department.  Containing diverse scenery from the Tokyo metropolis to the remote countrysides, Your Name has set new standards on how anime should look. 

The impressive artwork alone is more than enough reason to watch this movie.  Having an outstanding story is the other reason that explains the explosive popularity.  The film is a journey and an emotional roller-coaster.  It is funny in the first half and heartwarming in the second.  The plot is easy to follow, memorable and suitably dramatic.  The bodyswitch thing is well-presented and things are more complex than they seem at first glance.  The voice actors (actually real actors) did a fantastic and convincing job of "stuck in the body of the opposite gender".  The plot is very mainstream and un-anime-like.  It shouldn't be difficult to make a live-action film with the same screenplay. 

This is a masterpiece and I think we have already found a worthy successor to Miyazaki, someone who can make anime classics that appeal to a mainstream and international audience.

Legendary British curmudgeon gives it five stars

Video review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpwXATNGUsQ

Written review
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/20/your-name-review-makoto-shinkai

[Monoriu]

2016 is a pretty good year for anime fans.  My top 5 shows in 2016 are -

1. Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu (Starting Life in Another World from Zero)

2. Your Name

3. Boku dake ga Inai Machi (The Town Where Only I am Missing)

4. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (God's Blessing on this Wonderful World)

5. Assassination Classroom Second Season

[Eddie Teach]

2016 is a pretty good year for anime fans.

Proof y'all are evil.

[Agelastus]

2016 is a pretty good year for anime fans.  My top 5 shows in 2016 are -

1. Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu (Starting Life in Another World from Zero)

2. Your Name

3. Boku dake ga Inai Machi (The Town Where Only I am Missing)

4. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (God's Blessing on this Wonderful World)

5. Assassination Classroom Second Season

And yet a year that also includes the least interesting season (from my perspective) that I can remember.

This last season? I used Random Curiosity's season preview to decide what to watch as normal; shortest list ever (only 7 shows and that was a stretch.) I don't think I've actually watched an episode of any of them.

I am looking forward to the new season of Konosuba, though.

[Lettow77]

I don't want to include currently airing anime for the sake of fairness, so my top 5 will excluse Sangatsu no Raion, which is an excellent anime. as such, my take at a top five for this year would be-

5: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
4: Kuma Miko
3: Amanchu
2: Hibike! Euphonium
1: Flying Witch

[Monoriu]

2017 is promising to be a great anime year.  The long awaited season 2 of Attack on Titan will air in April.  Lots of big shows will get sequels or movies, including Naruto, Sword Art Online, One Punch Man, Seven Deadly Sins, Nanoha, Full Metal Panic etc. 

[jimmy olsen]

Full Metal Panic etc.

Oh? I'm interested.

[11B4V]

Best Anime.

[Monoriu]

Full Metal Panic etc.

Oh? I'm interested.

The tentative title is Full Metal Panic IV, so it should be a sequel.  All three main voice actors will return.  Rumour is that it will be aired in October 2017, but nothing has been confirmed. 

It is a miracle that we are getting this after like a decade.  So far we only have this key visual -

[Monoriu]

Best Anime.

Anime is cartoons produced in Japan.  If it isn't produced in Japan, it isn't anime

[Syt]

It's so weird. When the first major wave of manga/anime hit in the 90s, it was more focused on a rather different demographic. The main titles at the time were Akira, Fist of the North Star, Urotsukidoji, Ghost in the Shell, M.D. Geist, Armitage III, Bubblegum Crisis, and stuff in a similar vein - often with a cool futuristic aesthetic, often extremely graphically violent.

These days ... not so much (with some exceptions).

[Monoriu]

It's so weird. When the first major wave of manga/anime hit in the 90s, it was more focused on a rather different demographic. The main titles at the time were Akira, Fist of the North Star, Urotsukidoji, Ghost in the Shell, M.D. Geist, Armitage III, Bubblegum Crisis, and stuff in a similar vein - often with a cool futuristic aesthetic, often extremely graphically violent.

These days ... not so much (with some exceptions).

Yeah, 80s stuff are more manly, like Berserk, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Saint Seiya etc.  My personal theory is that 80s/90s titles appealed to a wider audience because they were willing to pay for this stuff.  When piracy became unstoppable in the 00s, only the most die hard otakus still buy blu-rays.  And a lot of anime produced these days have to appeal to their tastes. 

[Syt]

I think piracy may play a part, but it was also rampant in the 90s. A 60 minute anime VHS would often cost as much as 2 or 3 non-anime Hollywood movies at the time. The prices were completely silly. So most people had copied tapes, or recorded the movies from TV (one TV station in Germany had a weekend late night spot where they would show "oddities" - bad, cheaply made 80s/90s splatter movies, anime, and the like).

[Monoriu]

I think piracy may play a part, but it was also rampant in the 90s. A 60 minute anime VHS would often cost as much as 2 or 3 non-anime Hollywood movies at the time. The prices were completely silly. So most people had copied tapes, or recorded the movies from TV (one TV station in Germany had a weekend late night spot where they would show "oddities" - bad, cheaply made 80s/90s splatter movies, anime, and the like).

Piracy was certainly rampant in the 90s, but I thought it wasn't as bad as it is now.  I still paid a bit for anime back then.  I rented anime VHS tapes, and paid for DVD copies.  The anime businesses still had to get their copies from legitimate sources.  Back then, probably 5% of the people paid for anime one way or another.  Now it is like 0.01%. 

[Duque de Bragança]

It's so weird. When the first major wave of manga/anime hit in the 90s, it was more focused on a rather different demographic. The main titles at the time were Akira, Fist of the North Star, Urotsukidoji, Ghost in the Shell, M.D. Geist, Armitage III, Bubblegum Crisis, and stuff in a similar vein - often with a cool futuristic aesthetic, often extremely graphically violent.

These days ... not so much (with some exceptions).

Manga/anime arrived late in your heck of woods because here it was at the end of the '70s and it was way more mainstream with cartoons (back then anime word was not used) from UFO Robot/GrendizerGoldorak (spin-off of Mazinger Z) , Captain Future/Flam, Captain Herlock (Albator) to Candy.
Besides, anime really became mainstream in Germany with Sailor Moon and that's a '90s show, which admittedly arrived later in Germany as well.