Dagger

I haven't seen anyone lambasting Samurai 7's English dub, but I ended up switching over to the Japanese track after a few volumes. The dub just didn't do very much for me; I thought it made the show seem blander. On the other hand, I was more than happy with Gunslinger Girl's dub, so your mileage might vary. ~Dagger~

*shrugs* There have been some complaints, as there always are, but the general consensus seems to be quite positive. I really like the dub, personally... and it isn't widely reviled or anything, if that's what you're asking. Give it a fair shake. ~Dagger~

I finished the fifth DVD a few days ago. The recap episode was unfortunate, but they followed up on that with some interesting developments related to Ukyo (who might be my new favorite character in the show; it's cool to hear Takehito Koyasu using a lighter, more flippant voice). I will be unhappy if [spoiler]he ends up being the main villain, and maybe it's stupid of me to suggest that, but I really can't tell whose side he's on, other than his own.[/spoiler] But in any case, I liked some of the things they did with him as a character in this set of episodes, and that kept the disc from being a total loss for me... at least compared to the one that preceded it. ~Dagger~

Congratulations! You are now surrounded by all the hottest bishounen from every anime. However, virtually all of them are either a) infuriatingly angsty, b) total drama queens, c) chased by hordes of psychopathic enemies or d) actual psychopaths. Running from an army of attractive but bloodthirsty bishounen (ranging from evil doctors to world domination-seeking megalomaniacs), you find shelter with the good-looking good guys. Tragically, they're so emo that it makes you want to gag them with a spoon. They spend most of their time brooding and using up all your good shampoo. Driven to suicide by the fact that they're much prettier than you or any other woman could ever hope to be, you drive your car off a cliff and die in a blaze of glory. Or at least gasoline. I wish I could win the lottery. (Has this been done before? If so, my apologies.) ~Dagger~

I took a fairly long break after finishing S, but I've finally started Super S. I was really impressed by the first episode (which was directed by Ikuhara himself); I think it's possibly the best opening episode of any season so far, although it's been so long since I saw the first season that it may be unfair for me to make such a judgment. Anyway, the circus scenes were fantastic. Even though the villains are already following the same pattern that was laid out in the previous season, the imagery is fresh, so I can't bring myself to care too much. The artwork and animation have continued to improve. (Does anyone else think that the way Tiger's Eye--Tiger Eye? Oh well--[spoiler]sticks his head into girls' mirrors[/spoiler] is really, [i]really[/i] sexual? One can already see Ikuhara beginning to set off down the path of having swords pulled out of RGU characters' chests.) ~Dagger~

It doesn't really matter which order you watch them in, considering that they're very short and aren't at all related to each other. I guess it would probably be best to see the "kids" OVA first. The other two are made up of chibi crack humor and action, respectively, so just pick your poison. ~Dagger~

Hm. Maybe now I can finally acquire the sexy British accent I've always wanted. :catgirl: ~Dagger~

[quote name='Nemphtis']Also can someone tell me what the code for spoiler tags are so I can ask some questions I want to know about the series which I don't fully understand.[/quote] Spoiler tags are made like so: [spoiler*]text[/spoiler*]. You have to leave out the asterisks for them to work properly. Do so, and it'll look like [spoiler]this.[/spoiler] [quote]Seeing as everyone's discussing the OVA's, maybe I'll see if I can find them anywhere and watch'em as well, even though I've still got to watch my newly finished Samurai 7.[/QUOTE] Just make sure you watch the OVAs [i]after[/i] watching the sequel movie (Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala). They spoil several aspects of the film's story. ~Dagger~

[quote name='ceath']and the shows you listed may have drawn heavily on the themes of other shows before their time like so many others these days, but the directors have added their own individual characteristic to them to make them different pieces. [/quote] Exactly. I remain unconvinced that this process suddenly stopped in 2001. Anime has always been a commercial endeavour, like any type of TV entertainment. But there are still many series today that exude the artistic passion of which you speak. :) ~Dagger~

My-HiME is [i]soooooo[/i] not shoujo. :animesmil It would also never fly on Toonami, given some of its content. I wish to the high heavens that Adult Swim would take it, but I guess AS isn't ready for a show with a female-dominant cast. Even if it's made of pure rocking coolness plus a sprinkle of awesome. I'm not madly in love with any of the series I mentioned, but the point is that I like all of them better than what's airing now (disregarding the Miyazaki movies, as they aren't a regular feature). Even more so than nostalgia--seriously!--that's just the way my tastes run. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Nomura] The main thing I was really wondering is, if it was O.K with the mods to do a project like this. And if it is, and I get a positive response out of it, then you'll see what it's like sooner or later. [/QUOTE] I don't think any of us would have leapt at the opportunity to stifle your creative impulses. [spoiler]Well, maybe Des--he gets a little gung-ho about his modrod during Happy Hour in the staff forum.[/spoiler] :animesmil By the same token, my saying "It's fine by me" is different from my saying, "THIS IS NOW THE [I]OFFICIAL[/I] OB NEWSPAPER!1!!" But I'm pretty sure that's not the response you were looking for, to begin with. ~Dagger~

[quote name='ceath']....Besided Watanaba, Ottom, Miyazaki, Kon and most Animatix directors started before 2001, therefore sorta proving what i'm saying.[/quote] I'm curious about why you chose 2001 as your cut-off date. Anime has been re-hashing the same old material since long before then. So why not 1995? Why not 1990? To me, it just seems arbitrary. Consider the fact that three of the greatest series from the mid-nineties (Evangelion, Escaflowne and Revolutionary Girl Utena) drew heavily on the similarly themed series that had preceded them. It's possible to be inspired by older shows, older directors, whatever, and still bring something exciting to the table. Also, I'm surprised that you penalize Shinkai for the fact that people compare him to Miyazaki. By doing so, they mean to pay him the highest compliment possible, not to suggest that he's unoriginal. Sheer visual beauty aside, his movies are really quite unlike Miyazaki's. Even the way in which they're beautiful is different. As for me, I'll keep my mind open to new stuff and go on enjoying shows like Mushishi.* *What, you guys thought I would stop shamelessly plugging this anime every chance I get? Heheh. Think again. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Tatsubei Yagyu][COLOR=Navy][FONT=Comic Sans MS][spoiler]AND HOW THE HELL OLD IS EDWARD THERE!?!?[/spoiler] [/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote] I didn't bother reading it closely, but the text at the end says something like [spoiler]in 2005, Edward Elric will turn 100.[/spoiler] This fits with the years given in the movie; if [spoiler]he was 18 in 1923, then he would be 100 in 2005, making him the little kids' grandfather.[/spoiler] Kind of cool, and kind of eerie, as you said--BONES totally had this planned. :p ~Dagger~

You misread me. I said "the above paragraph," which meant that I was asking if you were thinking of something similar to what I had talked about in my [i]first[/i] paragraph. I wanted to know whether I had misinterpreted your post. :) ~Dagger~

One of the columns at Anime on DVD that I really like is this thing called "The Forum Hum." Each week (and this is always in the same thread), someone makes a post highlighting notable & interesting threads from each sub-forum. In AoD's case, the same member does it each week, but I always thought that sort of feature would be even more interesting if the responsibility was rotated through a list of volunteers (much like Retri's Graphics Worm). Anyway. You'd have to be careful not to slip into [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=35704][u]The DailyOtaku's[/u][/url] territory, and I think it's probably better to start small rather than attempting to include a whole bunch of stuff at once. But it might be kind of neat to have something like the feature I described in the above paragraph. Is that similar to what you had in mind? ~Dagger~

Yu Yu Hakusho, and by several miles, except that it's no longer part of their line-up. I suppose it's cliche to say that I miss the old days of Sailor Moon, Outlaw Star, Big O, all things Tenchi, et al, but I do. :p The good side of this is that similar shows are, more often than not, shuttled over to Adult Swim and hence air with far fewer cuts. Nevertheless, I have very little interest in most of Toonami's programming (I would have kept watching Zatch Bell if you put out uncut DVDs, Viz!). At least it's doing well in the ratings. ~Dagger~

Uh... what spoiler? Shuichi's sister is there from the very first manga chapter, and she just isn't there at all in the anime series. There's nothing about her that [i]can[/i] be spoiled. Unless you were being sarcastic. :animeswea ~Dagger~

The OVAs have landed! And they are [i]excellent[/i]. One is essentially a short story with a surprise twist at the end. It's very, very sweet and virtually free of dialogue. It's also strangely heart-wrenching; I almost started crying during the final scene. The second is the much-discussed chibi OVA, which is--as expected--hilarious. I particularly like Envy's grand entrance. The third is an all-out brawl-fest between the State Alchemists (plus Al, other members of the military, etc.) and all seven Homunculi. It's both amusing and absurdly well-animated: pure, exhilarating action fanservice. ~Dagger~

Thanks for the heads-up. At least from the first few episodes, Eureka 7 doesn't strike me as being AS material in the usual sense, either, but what the hey. I haven't seen enough of it yet to really judge that, anyway. Either way, though, Bleach has a vague pop-culture awareness to it that makes it seem "older" than it really is. That quality sort of defies description, though, and chances are that I just characterized it in the worst way possible. Oh well. It also has a good amount of gushing blood, so I'm not really going to complain. Speaking of blood, I didn't care much for Blood+ once I got beyond the first episode or so. Ah well... if Sony has anything to say about it, I'm sure it'll show up on TV, too. ~Dagger~

Well, I claimed I would talk about trailers. But I'm leaving out [b][url=http://www.soul-link.com/]Soul Link[/url][/b], [b][url=http://www.girls-high.net/]Joshikosei GIRL'S-HIGH[/url][/b], [b]Demonbane[/b], [b][url=http://www.sasami-club.net/]Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club[/url][/b], [b][url=http://www.utaware.net/]Utawareru Mono[/url][/b] and [b][url=http://www.garkun.com/]Yoshinaga-sanchi no Gargoyle[/url][/b]... unless someone really wants me to describe them in detail. I just don't feel much like discussing trailers for shows that I may or may not end up watching. The last two did look promising, to be fair; Utawareru Mono has a "Twelve Kingdoms with bishoujo" vibe, and Yoshinaga-sanchi no Gargoyle appears to have excellent animation, even if the idea of a "heartful, happy comedy" (or whatever they were billing it as) strikes fear in my heart. [b][url=http://www.strawberrypanic.com/]Strawberry Panic[/url][/b]: You would assume that yuri series would attempt to avoid the seme/uke cliches so often found in boys' love anime. Well, you assumed wrong. The apparent onee-sama looks way too bishounen for my tastes, complete with the long, flowing silver hair. Hopefully the main character will have more of a spine than Maria-sama ga Miteru's Yumi. I'm not holding my breath, though. [b][url=http://www.simoun.tv/]Simoun[/url][/b]: All the trailer really does is underline the fact that the show is going to be very pretty. I'll confess that I'm content with that. [b][url=http://www.bs-i.co.jp/anime/kanon/]Kanon Remake[/url][/b]: Yeah, it's not coming out until this fall. Cut me a little slack here, because Kyoto Animation's version of Kanon is actually going to be [i]the greatest show ever[/i]. Direction by Tatsuya Ishihara? Check. Twenty-four episodes of lavish KyoAni goodness? Check. All five girls as main characters? Check. Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard. If anything has the potential to surpass AIR, this is it. ETA: I forgot .hack//Roots, because I'm stupid. [b][url=http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/hack_roots/].hack//Roots[/url][/b]: I can't say the trailer was particularly informative, but it actually does give me hope. The character designs and even the animation style seem somehow different (albeit slightly so) from your usual Bee Train stuff. I'm guessing that this is going to be more like the original .hack anime than the Twilight Bracelet one, although there were several comedic moments in the trailer. ~Dagger~

Everyone here except for _Kenshin_ and Japan_86 should consider this a warning. OB encourages good post quality, as I've said elsewhere. What does that mean? Using proper grammar, punctuation and spelling; not spamming up threads with constant one-line replies; giving reasons for your choices, especially in a favorites topic--and so forth. So please put a little more thought into your future posts. Thanks. Thread closed. ETA: Also, it wasn't totally clear whether the original poster wanted to talk about favorite DBZ characters, or favorite characters from any anime. If it was the former, this should have been posted in the official DBZ topic. ~Dagger~

A couple of things to keep in mind... 1. [i]Never[/i] post in all caps. That's a surefire way to get your post deleted and/or receive a warning. 2. We place an emphasis on post quality. This includes starting threads that are likely to generate quality discussions. We don't set impossible standards (recently, the Otaku Lounge played host to a very fine topic about socks). But it does mean that a starting post like the one seen here is likely to get your thread locked; it just makes it very difficult for the conversation to really go anywhere. 3. Moreover, we designate specific official threads for each series. Unlike general threads, they can be posted in at any time, regardless of their age. You can run a search or check the Directory sticky thread to find links to the official DBZ & Naruto topics. In the future, please post there if you want to discuss those series. If you have any questions, feel free to private message me or one of the other staff members. Thanks. Thread closed. ~Dagger~

I can sympathize, although this doesn't happen to me terribly often. It doesn't send me into a deep depression or what have you, but it does make me disinclined to watch other anime. Recently, I got hit pretty hard, between finishing Fullmetal Alchemist and finishing Mushishi's TV run. I had plans to start in on some other shows afterward, but I just couldn't get in the mood for them. The best cure? For me, it's a heavy dose of doujinshi and fanfiction, plus a little bit of re-watching (I saw The Conqueror of Shambala again last night). Right now I'm still wallowing in FMA-related fanworks. I got lucky this time, however; few other series have as many good doujin floating around as FMA. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Sting] Edit: Sorry, didn't know there was a thread already seeing that it wasn't in that anime directory thread.[/QUOTE] Don't worry about it. :) Anyway, I'm excited about E7 coming on Adult Swim. There's been a minor void in my life ever since FMA ended its first run, and having another long BONES series replacing it is just fantastic. All hail BONES! Seriously, though, you'll probably need to give it a few episodes to decide how you feel about it, but by most reports, E7 is very much worth sticking with. Especially if it's on TV and free. I wouldn't compare it to a Gundam series; the initial set-up actually has an FLCL-esque vibe (except without being... you know, insane). ~Dagger~

Reviews have been turned off until further notice. I believe that Adam is developing a different, more interactive system for them, so that a variety of opinions can be represented. However, I don't know when they'll come back. Thanks for your patience. :) ~Dagger~