The Anime Thread

[Monoriu]

After seeing it mentioned in the other thread I've half arsedly started watching nobunas ambition.
Tis odd. Like a mash up of a high school harem comedy with a tsunsere primary and the standard sengoku story. They make a lot of mention of the nobunagas ambition game. Is there a link between the developers of the two? Seems odd they could do this otherwise

No, KOEI, the developer of the Nobunaga's Ambition Game, is not involved.  Nobunaga's Ambition is extremely popular and well-known (I've played almost every incarnation) that it is the gold standard in Sengoku era strategy gaming.  So the anime makes a lot of lightly-veiled references to the game. 

I like the anime very much.  The harem antics aside, I like how the protagonist try to dig up the hidden softer side in Nobuna in order to change history for the better.  Good mix of serious historical events, battles and light-hearted comedy.  The animation is also pretty well done.  There seems at least an above average budget there. 

Too bad it is unlikely that we'll get a second season.  There should be 10 light novels, and the anime has only used four novels so far.  There is even a teaser at the end.  But I read somewhere that poor disc sales mean the investors are unwilling to put money on a second season. 

[Lettow77]

 To do something to raise the tone of this thread, i've decided to periodically do anime spotlights on worthier titles.

The first I'll be talking about is Saraiya Goyou/ House of Five Leaves. I'll avoid elitist terminology and try to stick to plain English.



Saraiya Goyou is a story that centers on a Ronin and his underworld connections sometime in 17th-18th century Tokyo. The art is distinctive and can be a bit offputting at first, but it is expressive and fits the tone of the story. Also unique and well utilized is the music; the soundtrack throughout the episodes has relaxed European influences that create an odd, cosmopolitan feel.

At twelve episodes, it doesn't overstay its welcome. Although plenty of story and background for the principle cast is present, the story manages to  feel very slow paced; it has a lazy atmosphere that draws you in. It is primarily a character drama. The characters circumstances, how they relate to each other, and the setting they inhabit are the principal draw. Fanservice in either the form of erotic pandering, low-hanging humor or action is more or less entirely absent.

[celedhring]

I know I'm late to the party, but I'm loving Legend of the Galactic Heroes. It does everything good serious sci-fi does.

[Monoriu]

And now for something a little different.  My anime taste is quite mainstream.  I usually stick to the popular stuff.  Scrapped Princess is less known.



I have no idea why this isn't more popular.  The story is about a princess who is abandoned by her family and hunted by the whole world.  There is a prophecy since the day she was born that she will destroy the world.  The story is about her, with the help of her adopted siblings and other allies, attempts to escape her hunters and to unearth the conspiracy behind.  Having watched the show, my impression is that no sane human being can guess the true motive for hunting her.  The plot is intriguing, the artwork puts a lot of popular shows to shame, there is an effective series of emotional punches that leave a lasting impression, and the voice work of the three leads is amazing (Fumiko Orikasa, Shin-ichiro Miki, Sayaka Ohara). 

[Admiral Yi]

Their noses have been replaced with moles.

[jimmy olsen]

I have no idea why this isn't more popular.  The story is about a princess who is abandoned by her family and hunted by the whole world.  There is a prophecy since the day she was born that she will destroy the world.  The story is about her, with the help of her adopted siblings and other allies, attempts to escape her hunters and to unearth the conspiracy behind.  Having watched the show, my impression is that no sane human being can guess the true motive for hunting her.  The plot is intriguing, the artwork puts a lot of popular shows to shame, there is an effective series of emotional punches that leave a lasting impression, and the voice work of the three leads is amazing (Fumiko Orikasa, Shin-ichiro Miki, Sayaka Ohara).

My anime club in university watched this back in the day and we all loved it.

[Monoriu]

Their noses have been replaced with moles.

I once had the same problem.  I have now gotten used to it.  I am watching Vision of Escaflowne now and *everybody* has normal noses.   I know I shouldn't be, but the normal noses (see Hitomi above) actually bother me a bit 

[Monoriu]

My anime club in university watched this back in the day and we all loved it.

Anything else that your club watched and liked? 

[jimmy olsen]

The Rurouni Kenshin OVA (original video animation - basically the anime version of a direct to dvd movie) Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal is one of the things we liked the best.

Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jyTf1ZU0vI

It was short, four half hour long episodes, basically a self contained movie. It's a prologue, much more serious, realistic and dark than the series it's setting the stage for.

It's about a young boy who is orphaned and sold into slavery. The slave caravan he's with his massacred by bandits and he is saved at the last minute by a wandering swordsman who adopts him. He grows and masters the art and abandons his master in a fit of idealistic teenage fervor to join the revolution against the shogunate. At the age of 13 he becomes an assassin for the Chōshū clan and Katsura Kogorō (later known as Kido Takayoshi) in particular.

A year passes and he becomes traumatized by the experience and eventually falls in love with a mysterious older woman. As one would expect things end rather tragically.

[Monoriu]

Yes, I've heard lots of people say good things about the Rurouni Kenshin OVA.  The OVA has been sitting in my HDD forever.  But my personal rule is that either I don't watch it, or I watch the whole thing.  I understand that there are like 100 episodes, a few OVAs and a couple of movies in the entire Rurouni Kenshin universe.  I'll get around to do it at some point in the future, but it will take years before I get there.  Just grabbing all the episodes and the subtitle files is probably a mini-project of its own. 

[jimmy olsen]

Trust and Betrayal is completely self contained, you don't have to know anything about the rest of the series to understand and enjoy it. Frankly it's much better than the anime and other OVA. If you want to know more about Kenshin after watching it, read the manga.

[Monoriu]

I am working on Naruto now.  570+ episodes, plus 9 movies and about the same number of OVAs.  I watched the 332nd episode last night, and my pace is 4 episodes per week.  Since the anime is ongoing and they broadcast 1 episode a week (usually), that means I am catching up at a pace of 3 episodes per week.  At the current rate, it'll take me 80 weeks just to catch up 

[Eddie Teach]

All the best shows nowadays do like 13 episodes a year. Because having a huge team of writers and rushing content are not a good way to maintain quality.

[jimmy olsen]

I am working on Naruto now.  570+ episodes, plus 9 movies and about the same number of OVAs.  I watched the 332nd episode last night, and my pace is 4 episodes per week.  Since the anime is ongoing and they broadcast 1 episode a week (usually), that means I am catching up at a pace of 3 episodes per week.  At the current rate, it'll take me 80 weeks just to catch up 

Why would you do that? Naruto and big series like that have so many shitty filer episodes because they keep catching up to the manga. If you like Naruto, or Bleach or One Piece read the manga.

Anyways, here's another show my club loved. The OVA for Read or Die. It is also four episodes and two hours.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI2lftWJIpw

This focuses on Yomiko Readman, AKA the Paper, an agent for the British Library Secret service. She's basically a mutant who can manipulate paper into any shape and make it stronger than steel. She and her compatriots end up fighting an evil organization that [spoiler]Clones famous geniuses from history and genetically engineers them to have super powers. Their end goal is to transmit Beethoven secret suicide symphony to the world and cause everyone to kill themselves.[/spoiler]

[Monoriu]

All the best shows nowadays do like 13 episodes a year. Because having a huge team of writers and rushing content are not a good way to maintain quality.

Yeah, 1-2 seasons is the way to go.  Lower financial committment for investors and faster pace for viewers.  Very few shows are multi-season now, and those typically suffer from snail pace (One Piece) or too much filler (Naruto). 

I've seen some shows that "cheat"* and only do 10 episodes (Fate/kaleid liner)    Well, I don't mind.  That's much better than adding filler, doing summary episodes, slowing down the pace or other tricks to drag it out to 13.   

*for those who don't know, there are supposed to be 4 anime seasons every year.  Each season supposedly has 12/13 episodes.  So 10 episodes is not enough to fill the assigned timeslot.