Anime Apolyton

[loinburger]

IIRC 2/3 of FLCL has been dubbed, with the final third on the way.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by loinburger
IIRC 2/3 of FLCL has been dubbed, with the final third on the way.

I pity the American viewers

[Frankychan]

Originally posted by loinburger
(Finals are in two weeks -- I hate this goddamn quarter system. Everybody I know who's still in undergrad has been out of school for two weeks already.)

wow, and I thought I had a long school session.

[Wraith]

--"I'll see if any of the anime stores here carry Noir."

I'd rent this one first. I personally didn't like it much, but it does have a very good soundtrack and high production values.
It kind of fits what you're looking for in stories, but most anime does really, especially the long ones. They don't normally do it quite the way Bebop does, but the over all story arc with some side adventures is pretty standard.

--"Are there any stand alone anime movies coming out, like metropolis or spirited away?"

More Studio Ghibli stuff will be coming out, but I don't know whether or not Disney will be pushing a theatrical release on any of them. Porco Rosso is being worked on now, and should be out around the end of the year.

Other than that, I can't think of any coming soon. The main other one would be Read or Die. It's really a three episode OVA, but US Manga has been saying they want to run it all together as a movie (about an hour and a half, so it'd work, plus it should draw in the Bond crowd).

--"Looking around for my next anime to get"

Any preferences on what style/genre/etc? There's a lot of good stuff available.
If you're still after action, Berserk just finished being released, but you'd also have to get the manga to get any good resolution. They stop at the end of a story arc, but considering the manga is at 24 volumes and counting, there's a lot of story left.

If you're waiting till July, though, it might be a good idea to get Haibane Renmei. It starts release in August ^_^

--"Will Excel Saga and FLCL be dubbed in the US ?"

Excel Saga has been dubbed by ADV, FLCL is being dubbed by SynchPoint.
ADV has also licensed Puni Puni Poemi, and I'll be surprised if they don't license Jungle wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu.

I should add that Excel Saga went through two voice actresses for Excel. The original one, Jessica Cavello, managed to hurt her voice during the dubbing and had to take a vacation.

Wraith
"Destiny is a funny thing. Once I thought I was destined to become emperor of Greenland, sole monarch over it's 52,000 inhabitants. Then I thought I was destined to build a Polynesian longship in my garage. I was wrong then, but I've got it now. I'm the destined protector of this place. I'm this City's superhero."
-- The Tick

[Harry Seldon]

I dug this out and thought I'd weigh in. I love anime but I have trouble finding the good ones here. I have to admit I usually prefer the movies over the series and it seems that most of the video stores around here carry series almost exclusively. I was reading through here and didn't see any movies listed so maybe you guys can way in with some good anime movies to check out.

I own a few: Ninja Scroll (the basis for comparison for all anime I watch. Best one I've ever seen.), Aemon Saga, and the movie version of X. I liked Spriggan enough to buy it but I haven't had the cash yet. Probably the worst I've seen is Sin; made me want to vomit.

I'm not opposed to series but they're pretty expensive and short. I do own a few volumes of Battle of the Planets (the one with the bird costumed warriors saving earth) but they aren't the ones they used to show on tv. These are really cheesy with bad dialog for the most part.v I have a few of the good versions but it's made me leery of buying any more.

So, what do you recommend, movie-wise?

[DanS]

I pity the American viewers

To be clear, there is both a dub and a sub.

[Japher]

Anime is lame

[Wraith]

This will be my last post until Monday, most likely. Going to leave for A-Kon tonight even though it doesn't start until tomorrow (the anime club I'm in gets together with the Dallas branch tonight for fun).

--"I love anime but I have trouble finding the good ones here."

Where's "here"? There's a lot of good stuff still limited by region (unless you've got a region-free player and don't mind international orders).

In any case, there really aren't a whole lot of anime movies available on DVD. All the Studio Ghibli ones come as a recommend, and the Miyazaki ones in particular are a good buy (Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away, many others).
Akira and Ghost in the Shell are probably the two biggest name anime movies out. Personally, I prefer Jin-Roh to either of them, but they're still good. You should probably also check out Metropolis.

Other than that, most of the anime movies I've seen have been based on or related to a series in some way. Ah! My Goddess, Tenchi Muyo, Evangelion, Escaflowne, that list is pretty long.

--"I'm not opposed to series but they're pretty expensive and short."

Both are depends. You can often find the entire Armored Trooper Votoms series online for around #100, and that's for four 13 episode seasons. There are plenty of long anime (Card Captor Sakura, Rurouni Kenshin, Slayers, Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, Kimagure Orange Road) but they do tend to get expensive quick. Keep an eye out for ADVs Perfect Collections, which tend to be cheap, and for things like Right Stuf's weekly specials.

Wraith
"If there was a God in this world, it would be ME!"
-- Dark Schneider ("Bastard!")

[Harry Seldon]

I've seen Evangelion Genesis but it was a little confusing and didn't really get exciting until the end. I'm in Birmingham, AL. I run across movies occasionally but I've been burned before. I posted here because I took my lunch break and went to Best Buy to see what they had and almost picked a few things up.

[raghar]

Originally posted by Frankychan
I'm still looking for a "Cowboy Bebop" like series.

My co-worker said I should check out "Pet Shop of Horrors" or something like that. She said that it's a really short series but very good and morbid.

She is creasy. Who would like to look at movie about animals? Only cute thing is owner of that shop, but it's rather... They again why spoil it to you.

[Ari Rahikkala]

Originally posted by Japher
Anime is lame

There tend to be two kinds of people on anime threads. Those who love anime and are actively seeking more of the stuff to watch, and those who think anime is in some way a bad thing - boring, lame, only for children, only for freaks, etc. What causes this difference is that people of the first kind have seen at least one anime series completely.

Seriously though... anime is hard to get into, but it's interesting. For many people. Definitely not everyone.

Escaflowne is the only anime I've seen as of late... I remember it being described flavourless by one guy, but I didn't think it was like that. Then again, I consumed the whole series in two days so I was pretty immersed most of the time. The pseudoscience was definitely the freakiest I've yet seen - the Destiny Prognostication Engine was big enough a shock already, and the blood transfusion to improve one's luck simply went over my SoD capabilities. But that wasn't where the strength of the series lied, anyway. Folken was ûber-cool no matter what side he fought on while Nariya and Eriya were a pleasure to watch. Van (those wings rocked!) and Allen were pretty cool at times, too, while Merle narrowly avoided the trap of being more of an annoyance than comic relief.

I had a look at a couple of screenshots of Haibane Renmei and will watch it if I can find it anywhere... hm... now I just need to find more mind**** stuff. I loved NGE, Serial Experiments Lain and Perfect Blue for the feeling of confusion...

[loinburger]

Boogiebop Phantom was pretty good for the whole mind**** experience.

I'll have to look into Haibane Renmei once it comes out. I won't have time to get into another series til July anyway, might as well wait another month or two.

[Wraith]

Zenryaku,

Just got back from A-Kon a while ago. No big new annoucements that I heard (although I missed a couple studio panels), but I did get some more info about the Evangelion movie release. The script is a second draft form now, and is being done by "a well-known sci-fi author". They wouldn't name names, but I'd guess Neil Gaiman from the way they were talking. It is, unfortunately, be a retelling of the series rather than a side-story or something similar. Other than that, they are still looking for backers (figures, they do not have the cash to handle this themselves, not even with Gianax and Weta), but are still too early in the process to talk about things like casting and so on.

--" I'm in Birmingham, AL. I run across movies occasionally but I've been burned before."

Ah, okay. As long as you're in the US it'll be pretty easy to get good anime, just let us know what kind of things you like. Best Buy has been increasing their anime selection lately, although their prices are still usually to high for my liking.

If you liked the last part of Evangelion the most, I'd suggest starting with movies like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Jin-Roh. For series, try Serial Experiments: Lain and Boogiepop Phantom.

Oh, and some new news, it looks like Boogiepop Phantom is going to be airing on Tech TV pretty soon. This is kind of a surprising choice, given the content of the show, but I guess violence has never been a big problem for US censors.

--"The pseudoscience was definitely the freakiest I've yet seen"

Yeah, the Enhanced Luck stuff is pretty out there, but there's worse pseudoscience around. Just watch Voyager ^_^
Definitely one of the good series out, though.

--"now I just need to find more mind**** stuff."

There's plenty, although you seem to be talking about the more intricate stuff rather than the simple acid trips. Keep your eye out for Texhnolyze (will almost certainly be licensed by Pioneer USA, since it's another Rondo Robe title) and maybe Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. I'd also recommend Boogiepop Phantom and Jin-Roh for you.

--"I'll have to look into Haibane Renmei once it comes out."

Yes. Yes you will.

One good bit of news that I picked up at the con is that the Haibane Hakusho (Haibane Whitepapers, booklets that came with the R2s) are going to be translated for the R1 release. It looks like Pioneer USA is going to be doing a good release of this.

Oh, and a little more about Read or Die. US Manga didn't do quite their usual booge job on it, but it's nowhere near as good as it could be. There's some video artifcating problems in the first epsiode, they still have the language selection issue, and the dub script is pretty heavily modified. But so far no one's complained about a disc completely failing to play, so they're one up on their End of Evangelion release...

Wraith
"Whaaat? And it's just getting interesting! Boo!"
-- Rabi-en-Rose ("Di Gi Charat")

[Kassiopeia]

Just got back from A-Kon a while ago. No big new annoucements that I heard (although I missed a couple studio panels), but I did get some more info about the Evangelion movie release. The script is a second draft form now, and is being done by "a well-known sci-fi author". They wouldn't name names, but I'd guess Neil Gaiman from the way they were talking.

Uuuh, wow. Wow wow wow wow. Wow?

It is, unfortunately, be a retelling of the series rather than a side-story or something similar.

Ack. Even Gaiman can't pull that off. -_-

Other than that, they are still looking for backers (figures, they do not have the cash to handle this themselves, not even with Gianax and Weta), but are still too early in the process to talk about things like casting and so on.

Ah, not enough money, this I was expecting. Oh well, at least they won't make a low-budget flick (or they are REALLY low currently), and, that increases the chances of it never happening.

Thanks for the info, it's golden and much appreciated.

[Zero]

hey wraith! I appreciate you giving updates like this once in awhile here in poly. Keep up the good work

But you didnt cover any mangas. (not the publisher, I mean the books) any good manga coming out in japan or being released in the states? and oh its june, new vol of berserk should be out very soon.... question is. when?