The Anime Thread

[Monoriu]

One thing that has always struck me as weird about anime is how, for all the often obnoxious fanservice, it is kind of bizarrely sexless. As is I don't think I have ever seen an anime in which characters actually have sex. Hell, I don't think I have ever see characters make out.

Watch ef: a fairy tale of the two.  Yeah, for all the fanservice, Japan is very conservative when it comes to actual sex.  Even a kiss is a big deal.

[jimmy olsen]

One thing that has always struck me as weird about anime is how, for all the often obnoxious fanservice, it is kind of bizarrely sexless. As is I don't think I have ever seen an anime in which characters actually have sex. Hell, I don't think I have ever see characters make out.

Watch the Rurouni Kenshin OVA: Trust & Betrayal. Very mature story about an assasin during the Meji Revolution. Graphic violence, not so graphic sex, but it is there.

Universally regarded as one of the best OVAs ever made.

[Lettow77]

Universally is a strong word. Legend of the Galactic Heroes is far and away the better OVA  while for a tasteful, adult handling of sex i'd give the nod to No Longer Human. 

Due to the heavy crust of fujoshi bait around the subject matter, Trust and Betrayal might escape with 'One of the best Bakumatsu OVA', but that's not a huge hill of beans. It just means it trumped the likes of Winter Cicada, which I am tempted to say was the more sexually mature and historically accurate OVA.

[jimmy olsen]

Universally is a strong word. Legend of the Galactic Heroes is far and away the better OVA  while for a tasteful, adult handling of sex i'd give the nod to No Longer Human. 

Due to the heavy crust of fujoshi bait around the subject matter, Trust and Betrayal might escape with 'One of the best Bakumatsu OVA', but that's not a huge hill of beans. It just means it trumped the likes of Winter Cicada, which I am tempted to say was the more sexually mature and historically accurate OVA.

What does this even mean?

It is certainly one of the most acclaimed OVA to ever be released in America, and I know for a fact that the Rurouni Kenshin manga is one of the biggest best sellers in Japanese history.

Rated 8.6 stars on IMDB by 5,054 people
Amazon - Out of 103 reviews 77 are 5 stars and 16 are 4 stars
THEM Anime Reviews - 4/4 stars
Anime.about.com - 5/5 stars
Animenewsnetwork.com - A

[Lettow77]

 Fujoshi is a term worth knowing if you want to be conversant about anime and its attendant culture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi_fandom#Fujoshi

Wikipedia lists Fujoshi here as being women who enjoy male romantic pairings; that is certainly the case, but more broadly, they are the smelly, lonely awkward otaku girls who lust after bishonen prettyboys. Fujoshi interests lean disproportionately to history; The Shinsengumi in particular looms larger in the female otaku collective consciousness than their male counterparts. A list of Bakumatsu anime would be heavily filled with tales of a audience-stand in everygirl sent back in time, or men sharing lustful and longing looks at one another, when it isn't flat-out pornography and men grabbing each others' penises.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reki-jo  this also may lead to some useful reading, if you had the gumption to read further.

To summarize, the "Crust of fujoshi bait" would be the fecal ring of series which eschew plot or examination of characters except insofar as they are a vehicle for burning gazes and lingering touches between samurai calculated to bring clammy, bespectacled japanese women to a sweat.

[jimmy olsen]

Trust & Betrayal isn't anything like that.

[Lettow77]

Nor did I say it was; I said that its subject matter was plagued with such anime. It shines by comparison, being potentially the best anime that covers the period in question.

This is however qualified and faint praise.

[Eddie Teach]

Trust & Betrayal isn't anything like that.

Heh, if Lettow sees homoeroticism there and misses it in his relationship with ex-roomie, it must be pretty strong. 

[Monoriu]

I went to a manga shop in Japan once, and I was utterly shocked to find the sheer amount of "boys' love" titles there.  Personally, I am perfectly ok with lesbians in anime, but I just can't watch boys' love.  Just a matter of personal taste. 

[Josquius]

Its funny really. The tentacle porn and schoolgirl rape and all that icky sort of thing is very  well known in the west.
The porn for girls...less so.

Apparently even gays can't stand that stuff. It is quite squarely aimed at a young girl's image of romantic love between pretty boys.

[jimmy olsen]

Trust & Betrayal isn't anything like that.

Heh, if Lettow sees homoeroticism there and misses it in his relationship with ex-roomie, it must be pretty strong. 

It "may" be typical in anime set in the time period, but there is absolutely none in the work I referenced.

[Lettow77]

 Obviously. Rurouni Kenshin escaped out of Shonen Jump.

[Monoriu]

Irregular at Magic High School.  In the future, magic is viewed as technology, and there are schools that specialise in their training.  The magic school that the protagonist attends sorts students into two classes, elites and, well, non-elites.  The only reason he is called an "irregular" is because he is sorted into the lower tier.  Otherwise, he is a serious and calm individual.  (I actually think irregular is a mistranslation.  The Japanese kanji simply means "poor performing"). 

The story is a rather typical shonen adventure with a cool-headed protagonist.  Somehow in the future, all revealing clothes are considered poor taste, so most characters are covered from neck to toe.  The protaonist is my biggest problem with the show.  Most anime protagonists are over-powered.  It isn't uncommon for protagonists to solve most problems, to defeat everybody else, etc.  But this is the most one-sided overpowerness I have seen.  The first problem is that the powers of most characters are reasonable, while the protagonist are vastly more powerful than everybody else, on all sides of the conflict.  Aside from the almost non-issue of being sorted into the wrong class, I don't recall him facing much of a challenge throughout the entire series.  He is always several steps ahead of everybody.  He can make tools that make any user powerful.  He can one-shot massive fleets.  He can fly (most can't).  And he [spoiler]can resurrect anybody, including himself[/spoiler].  There is nothing he can't do, there is no problem he can't solve, and he is massively better than anybody else.  If you like overpowered characters, this is the show.  But I don't. 

The writing is such that everything is explained.  There is always a detailed explanation about how this and that magical power works.  While this style gives a rich and detailed world, the downside is that the story tends to be slow and the dialogue too technical.  The cast is massive for a 26 episode series.  Again, while this spices up the story with a large array of characters, the problem is that I still have problem remembering who is who by the end. 

[Monoriu]

Last week was the beginning of the Fall 2014 anime season.  Fate Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works is a strong candidate for the title "most anticipated anime show" of this season. 

Much has been said about the Fate series in this thread already.  It can be incredibly confusing because there are so many different shows with similar names.  Fate Stay Night is a visual novel with 3 routes.  Each route is an independent story using more or less the same characters and setting.  Each is like a different scenario in the same computer game.  There are 3 routes in the game: Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heavens Feel. 

The 2006 Fate Stay Night adaptation was mainly on the Fate route.  This show is obviously on the Unlimited Blade Works route.  Heavens Feel has yet to be adapted, but there is a movie in the works.  Actually, there is already an Unlimited Blade Works movie produced in 2010 or so.  My verdict is that it was one of the worst anime movies produced. 

THe 2006 show was not the most popular adaptation, with subpar animation.  UFO Table, the guys behind Fate Zero, the popular prequel, will do the adaptation this time.  I have seen the 48 minute prologue.  Looks really good so far.  The reputation of UFO Table being able to produce some of the best animation in the industry is well-earned. 

[Monoriu]

Akatsuki no Yona.  Akatsuki means dawn.  Yona is the name of the title character, a princess.  This is adapted from a shojo, or young girl, manga.  The princess was exiled due to a palace coup, and she must get stronger to avenge her family and take back what was hers. 

Normally, I won't be interested in such a setup.  My opinion changed completely when I read the cast list.  Chiwa Saito, one of my favourite seiyuus, will voice the title character.  Yes, that's the only reason I am watching this.  She has one of the greatest voice ranges in the industry, and can do anything from crybabies to strong amazon warriors.  That's probably the reason she is hired, as the character goes through these stages of development.  She used to do genki girls in her youth, but has now graduated to do cool big sisters, deadpan snarkers and seductresses.