Dagger

[quote name='EVA Unit 100']...A new manga title becomes a breakout hit and sells as well as a Dan Brown or Steven King novel. Everything is good.[/quote] While manga has yet to top the best-seller charts, it's already on its way there. Recently, Fruits Basket broke USA Today's weekly (?) list of the top 100 best-selling books (and I believe this has happened in the past with some other manga series as well--Rurouni Kenshin, perhaps). With Tokyopop starting to target the chick-lit segment, I would not be totally floored if we really did see that kind of breakout hit sometime in the future. Howl's Moving Castle will probably do relatively well, box office-wise. What was Spirited Away's total take? But to me Steamboy seems like more of a stretch. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Siren']Yes, one of the biggest no-no's for me is having a dumb joke played out way too long, or just repetitiveness in general. One thing I can't stand is the constant regurgitation of the anime reactions...whether it's the crying, the screaming, the sweat...anything. It's all so gimmicky, like they couldn't figure out anything more subtle--rather, anything at all, lol.[/quote] Which is why it's nice there's such a variety of stuff out there; I'd probably have given up on anime a long time ago if everything were over-exaggerated, haha. That's not to say I don't mind the occasional dose of silly SD (super-deformed) expressions every so often. It's nice being able to mix things up; it bewilders me when people stubbornly limit themselves to certain genres (i.e. refusing to watch "kiddy" stuff, which I suspect is often due more to concerns about image than anything else, but oh well). Each to his own, I guess. There are some circumstances that make a lack of subtlety somewhat forgivable, in my opinion. For example, you're not going to get too much nuance with shows whose target audience is obviously pre-adolescent girls (or boys, for that matter). A lot of fans like to over-emphasize the adult aspect of anime, ignoring the fact that stuff aimed at kids doesn't have to be stupid or dull, even if it isn't uber-sophisticated (at least not on the surface--Disney, anyone?). There are a few anime that I'd count among the best children's entertainment I've ever seen, and they certainly feel a lot more genuine than the snarky, pandering kids' shows I've run across on TV. Not to imply that all American entertainment targeting children is bad or whatever--on the animated side of things, SpongeBob and the Powerpuff Girls are real gems--but for me, [i]shoujo[/i] anime like Kaleido Star and Full Moon wo Sagashite fill an otherwise empty niche. Their intended audience may range from kids to pre-teens to young teens, but they seem earnest rather than dumbed down or made over-hip, and occasionally deal with serious, surprisingly dark material (even if, as is usually the case for children's entertainment, everything comes up roses in the end). [quote]But it's funny you mention the anime version (and then subsequently, Phillip K. Dick), because it brings up a very important point. That most anime is not original in the least, even the "first" animes. You can find those techniques and cinematography in films at the turn of the 20th century, themes and characters in the works of Phillip K. Dick, Harland Ellison--virtually the same talent list I included in a Halo 2 thread a while back, and symbolisms in pretty much every decade of cinema throughout the 20th century.[/QUOTE] I've realized lately that I tend to abuse the word "original." I use it a lot, but in most cases what I actually mean to say is that so-and-so feels or seems original, regardless of whether or not it truly is. :animeswea One quality I've come to value just as much as--if not more than--originality is the ability to synthesize. Tolkien drew heavily on folklore and mythology (among other things) to create Lord of the Rings. In a certain sense the trilogy was one of a kind, because (if I remember correctly) it was the first work to combine all of those different elements. I believe Shakespeare may have done something similar with how he recycled plot devices and so forth. As a medium, anime is at most forty years old. It was really only in the late 80s and onward, perhaps even later, that new anime started to imitate older anime. People always praise Evangelion for its originality, yet it would not have been possible without the precedent set by Space Runaway Ideon (which makes the whole Eva/RahXephon "clone" argument null & void, but that's a topic for another thread). Until recently, Utena was virtually unique, but at the same time it was inspired by earlier creations like Kaze to Ki no Uta and Rose of Versailles--more so than by live-action films, I would imagine. I doubt you'll find any radically new camera angles invented specifically by anime directors (then again, I'm not exactly a film buff). However, I've always loved seeing anime which really exploit & take full advantage of the fact that they're animated. A (good) live-action Kaleido Star series would probably be extremely expensive to create; a live-action Utena would be nigh impossible. So one can get at least that much "newness"/originality out of watching anime, even if the cinematography etc. doesn't diverge too much from that of live-action television shows and films. ~Dagger~

According to Section 7.5, Paragraph IV, mecha capable of operating without a pilot were forbidden. That ruled out Dagger's top choice, Melan Blue from Brigadoon--a mecha-esque combat android for whom external human cargo would probably be something of a liability. She rather relished the idea of directing a mecha while acting as a sort of human shield for its most vulnerable areas, but she could see why the rule had been added. Melan Blue was a rare exception; most fully independent mecha would permit their so-called pilots to cruise through the battle without having to lift so much as a finger in self-defense. She decided that this fell under the "every cloud has a silver lining" category. Though Melan Blue's unique features had always intrigued her, watching Soukyuu no Fafner was what had really driven her back to the Battlefield. She had been itching for a chance to try out a Fafner-type model, and in that regard, the [URL=http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-12/916218/faf.jpg][u]Mark Sein[/u][/URL] was the best of the best. Quickly clicking through her User CP, she selected a Mark Sein avatar and braced herself for the dizzying transition. Her field of vision rapidly flickered black and white; blinking to clear her eyes, she found herself in the cockpit of the Mark Sein. The atmosphere around her was dark, filled with tendrils of an iridescent green light that swooped and curled and sprouted long thin branches until it was just bright enough to see by. She had always thought the inside of a Fafner looked rather like Final Fantasy VII's Lifestream. She slid her hands into the wells of dark crimson gel that stood at the end of either armrest. At this, the synergetic pads clamped onto her shoulders and thighs, shredding her clothes, and everything but her seat abruptly vanished. Now it felt almost like piloting a RahXephon--from the inside, the remainder of her mecha was invisible, leaving her with a peculiar floating sensation and, more importantly, an unobstructed view of the field. "Oi, Treno!" she yelled. Her grin had turned faintly vicious; she could hear the crowd yelling. "Come on out already!"

Asking for or otherwise soliciting illegal material (a category that includes mp3s, fansubs, manga scanslations, etc.) isn't permitted here at OB. I suggest that you review the [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?][u]Rules[/u][/url] and [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/faq.php?][u]FAQ[/u][/url] to refresh your memory regarding this sort of thing. Naturally, linking to fansubs and so forth is also forbidden. If you have any concerns, feel free to private message me or one of the other staff members; I'm sure anyone you contact will be more than happy to answer questions or clarify our policies. Thanks! Thread closed. ~Dagger~

In regards to what Drix and others said, it seems like repetitiveness is a pretty common complaint. I definitely can't argue with that, heh. Sometimes repetitive comedy (i.e. running jokes) can be done well, but often it just falls flat. And obviously it's nice to have a plot with some variety and freshness to it. [quote name='Siren']Dagger, consider yourself mad skilled; you're the only one who's gotten me to post more than three times in an anime-focused thread.[/quote] I try my best. :animesmil [quote]It's not that I lean more toward visuals, necessarily, because by nature, I'm very dialogue-oriented. It's just that when the dialogue is really bad, I feel the need to committ mass homicide. But Texhnolyze sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out. It sounds very Metropolian (Fritz Lang's Metropolis).[/QUOTE] There's a fairly well-known anime movie called "Metropolis," incidentally. I think it was inspired by images from the Lang film. The character designs have this wonderful soft, retro look to them--that's all I really remember, though, as it's been years since I last watched it. On a related note, I have often seen fans compare Texhnolyze to the works of Philip K. Dick--not that I can really confirm or deny the validity of that comparison, seeing how as my public library system doesn't carry "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Maybe it's time to start putting those Borders gift cards to good use. :animesigh EDIT: EVA, I didn't say that FLCL was awful from an objective standpoint (although I might be willing to argue that, under different circumstances). I just don't like it. I don't mind having to look past the surface to find the story--I've always loved Boogiepop Phantom, for example--but FLCL didn't give me much more than eye candy. The humor failed to resonate with me, and I couldn't stand any of the characters. The "set piece" scenes made me yawn. I haven't seen it in a while, but from what I remember, there isn't that much plot underneath all the visual flash & bang. It kind of annoyed me that they went to so much trouble to obscure such a straight-forward (if nonsensical) storyline. Utena & Melody of Oblivion (the latter to a lesser extent) are two anime that do a wonderful job of presenting a highly surreal and multi-layered story; both of them make sense on a surface level, but one can also choose to dig much, much deeper. To me FLCL seemed a lot more random, and many of the visual devices felt like red herrings in the end. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Sage']Anyhow, it is easy for you people who post often to say "if we don't care, who should anybody else?", because you don't really understand how diminishing a low post count or title or whatever makes the others feel (or maybe you've just forgotten it).[/quote] It deeply saddens me that anyone would feel "diminished" by having a low post count, especially since post counts aren't even displayed (except on one's profile page). I like to think that new members are treated with the same consideration & respect as people who have been here a while; if someone is welcomed that way and still develops an inferiority complex (thanks to a post count which is for the most part invisible), I'm not really sure what more we could do. Anyway, I like the current system (custom titles are awesome!). Tiered titles are ultimately kind of worthless, as Desbreko so succinctly put it--someone with over 100 or 200 or even 500 posts will not necessarily be more plugged-in to the community (or have better post quality) than someone with 30 posts. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Siren]Apart from the (made obvious by that part of my post there) DBZ viewing, a bit of Wolf's Rain, a bit of Ghost in the Shell...Case Closed, FLCL (God, that thing sucked majorly), some other stuff, too, whose names escape me at the present time. Some pretty forgettable stuff, I guess. I think I may have caught one or two episodes of Inuyasha or...something. They really all just blend together, lol. :p I don't know how good of a smattering that line-up is, but I keep hearing how great Ghost in the Shell is, and then I watch it and I'm like, "wtf?!" So much of it sounds so forced--and by "sounds" I mean how it's written, not the lousy dubbing.[/QUOTE] Yay! Someone else who dislikes FLCL! Are you referring to the Ghost in the Shell movie(s) or Stand Alone Complex (the one that airs on Adult Swim)? I remember being pretty puzzled the first time I saw the original movie--it had great visuals, but in other regards it was [i]very[/i] different from what I had expected, and I couldn't help feeling disappointed. Preconceived notions aside, though, it does a decent job of being the film it sets out to be. As for SAC--I personally enjoy most of the episodes (although some are worthwhile solely for their visuals, and anything Tachikoma-centric drives me crazy), but there are plenty of people who think it's uninspired & bland. I'm sure AzureWolf would be happy to elaborate, haha. Case Closed, DBZ & Inuyasha are not worth your time, as I'm sure you've gathered (no offense to fans of those shows; I'm speaking to Alex's preferences). In fact, of the shows you mentioned, the only one I'd recommend (aside from SAC, with some reservations) is Wolf's Rain... but it has a ton of detractors, and I like it for subjective reasons, not because it's objectively excellent. I'm sort of glad you didn't bring up Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop; everyone and his little sister tries to convert people with those two shows, which is a flawed strategy. They always get set up as the be-all and end-all of anime (and that couldn't be more of an exaggeration), so newcomers often watch them after wading through an incredible sea of hype, and end up wondering, "What's the big deal?" [quote]So far, there's only been one anime I enjoyed: Animatrix. I figure that's because it let the visuals tell the story instead of the writing/narration. I think "Beyond" is a stunning example of how a show doesn't need to be bogged down with dialogue/narration. Of course, I'm crazy about the Powerpuff Girls, but apparently that doesn't count because it's not made in Japan, haha.[/QUOTE] I had fun watching some of the Animatrix shorts (now that you mention it, Beyond was my favorite), but not enough to run out and buy it. If you lean toward serious stuff that relies on visuals more so than on dialogue, Texhnolyze might be up your alley. It's extremely dark and dystopian (a bit too dystopian for me, actually, although I was able to appreciate it on an intellectual level). The visuals are nicely crafted, and it has just enough dialogue to stitch the disparate elements together. Very atmospheric. It's too bad that Monster isn't licensed. Some flaws aside, it's probably one of the most consistently adult anime I've seen, and would work just as well as a live-action series. Bubbles is the best, by the way. :catgirl: There are times when an excess of dialogue does bore me, particularly if it doesn't bring anything new to the table. Certain scenes in .hack//SIGN and the later episodes of Evangelion come to mind. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Siren]Wow, me posting in Anime Lounge. I'd agree with most of what's been said already regarding comedy, violence, sex, etc, but the main reason I can only watch any anime-type program for 5 seconds, tops, is the [b]writing[/b]. It's just so incredibly bad. So much of what I've seen is so overwritten, and I've yet to hear of any animes that don't suffer from the overwhelmingly pompous and formalistic yet childish dialogue. [i]It hurts my brain[/i]. EDIT: Ah, musn't forget the DBZ Complex, which is really just Deus ex Machina, when you think about it. The main character could be pinned up against a wall, gored through by a poisoned spear, have had a 9-iron shoved into his skull, and suffering from an advanced stage marrow cancer, and still find the strength/ability/power within himself to defeat his foe. Yeah, and monkeys may fly out of my butt! Psshaw![/QUOTE] That made me giggle. :animesmil As with anything else, there are more bad anime than good anime out there. And once you get to the good stuff, it becomes a matter of taste.... and unfortunately, some of the best anime are presented in such a way that most first-time viewers will inevitably be turned off. For example, the second & third seasons of Revolutionary Girl Utena provide a brilliant (not to mention brilliantly twisted) examination of gender roles, sexuality and fairy-tale archetypes. But the show is hobbled by its older animation, its heavy-handed "filler" episodes and the fact that it looks as though it's supposed to take place in the real world, yet obeys few real-world laws. Of course there's a lot of great newer stuff as well; although I'd normally mention names, I don't really know your tastes (beyond the fact that you talk about Alien & Star Wars & Terminator a lot, haha). Out of curiosity, what anime titles have you seen? Back OT, one or two really annoying characters can get me to drop a show. Heck, just the inclusion of a squeaky-cute childhood friend (which is by far the worst shounen action cliche ever, in my opinion) is enough to make me run far, far away. ~Dagger~

[quote name='boxybrown305][COLOR=DarkRed]A valid point, but when i say hentai, i'm not talking about fanservice, which is a given part of anime. Even some exposure can be ok (thinking Tenchi Muyo). But when the unique art style of anime/manga is used for the sole purpose of pornography, i disregard it as a respectable anime... it's just porn. :animesigh [/COLOR'] :o[/quote] What I'm trying to get at is that live-action porn is still a type of live-action movie. Drawn porn is still manga (or comics; pick your poison). And frankly there are plenty of television anime that come very, very close to being outright hentai (yet are never categorized as such, which begs the question of where one would draw the line. What about anime that are less explicit, but obviously attempting to pander to the lolicon crowd? What about series that are packed with excruciatingly detailed, gratuitous violence? Anyway, a show doesn't have to be outright porn in order for sexual titillation/gratification to be its primary [i]raison d'etre[/i]... *glances at Girls Bravo* I think the fact that it's animated (in Japan, if you will) is what makes it anime, along with art style (though to a lesser extent). Content is pretty much the absolute last factor I'd consider when trying to judge stuff like this, because anime is simply a subset of a larger medium, animation, not a genre (as others have pointed out). Plenty of anime are disgusting, gruesome, just plain bad and generally not worth the time of day. Anime does not have to be wholesome or profound to qualify as anime. ~Dagger~

Dragonboym2, I combined your two replies because double-posting is against the rules. Should you wish to add something to your post, or if you absolutely must bump a reasonably recent thread, please delete your reply (presumably the last in the topic) and re-post it along with whatever else you wanted to say. Obviously this oughtn't be done in excess, but at least you won't be breaking the rules. Thanks! :animesmil I'm only an hour or so (well, maybe more) away from Baltimore, so I'm actually thinking about attending Otakon this year. But at this point my summer schedule is kind of up in the air, which means I haven't yet made any definite plans. Still, it sounds like it could be fun. ~Dagger~

[quote name='boxybrown305][COLOR=DarkRed']In terms of hentai, i don't even consider that anime, just a dirty kind of porn which disgraces anime on the opposite extreme of childish cartoons. I respect Pokemon much more than hentai any day.[/COLOR][/quote] Except that once you reach this conclusion, there's nothing to stop you from deciding that any show you dislike isn't anime, simply because it doesn't fit your ideal of what anime should be. No matter how "disgraceful" hentai may be, you'd be hard-pressed to find an accepted definition of anime which excludes it. :animeswea ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Ryani]Violence: Here's one that just plain turns my stomach. Yes, I can take the bloody battles in Inuyash(and even the seen with one of Naraku's incarnations leaping right through Inuyasha, and then commenting on the taste of his insides) anything I've seen in Cowboy Bebop, or the shooting scenes in R.O.D TV. Sexual References: I have a rule. Three strikes, in one episode, and out. Anything above that I abandon. Usually it applies only in Standup Comedy, but I used it in Abenobashi..[/QUOTE] These are some great contributions. I only wish I had thought of them myself. :animesmil I can take pretty much any amount of violence as long as the story is very compelling. I didn't fully realize this until I finished watching Elfen Lied and discovered that by the time the end of the show rolled around, I had stopped thinking of the extremely violent content as a strike against it. Elfen Lied's incredible character development made up for--and to a certain extent, justified--the gore. As for sexual references/fanservice... that depends. I have zero interest in series whose main selling point is fanservice, for example. At the same time, I'm willing to accept a lot of gratuitous sexual stuff if it's handled well, or if the other aspects of the anime are superb enough to let me overlook it. Melody of Oblivion's fanservice definitely tried my patience at times, but ultimately the show was more than worth it. ~Dagger~

That depends on the series. The most popular shows (i.e. Naruto, Sailor Moon, DBZ, Pretty Cure) are usually aimed at a younger age group. At the same time, a lot of series air close to or after midnight in Japan, a strong indicator that they're meant to target the niche [i]otaku[/i] market made up primarily of older teens and adults. So really it varies from anime to anime. Similarly, one can't pigeon-hole videogames, live-action movies or Western animation as being marketed exclusively at a specific demographic. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Sepiroth']My front is similar to Mr Okida from Peacemaker kurogone (excluding his feminen side and dressing). I make people think that i am a pusho ver but when it comes down to the wire my true self comeout and I am ruthless and cunning :smirk:[/quote] Is he really a doormat, though? Okita generally gets what he wants; he knows how to push people's buttons, and he's actually rather manipulative (albeit in an endearing, harmless sort of way). In the PMK thread, I raised the question of whether or not he was fronting, and most of the respondents were pretty certain that he wasn't (they definitely convinced me, at any rate). Anyway, I wouldn't call oni-Okita ruthless and cunning. Frankly I think he's much more cunning with his regular personality than when he turns into a killing machine. :animeswea I do front, at least to a certain extent. I'm just not a very sociable person, and I tend to prefer solitude or being with my family to hanging out with friends. But when I am with a large group of people, I end up being more outgoing and acting as though I'm enjoying myself (even if I'm not). ~Dagger~

As of this past weekend, Adult Swim finally caught up with the DVD release (Saturday's episode was fantastic, by the way, and Motoko looked simply stunning). The first few episodes on the fourth disc, most of which were Tachikoma-centric, kind of bugged me. In a show like this, I can't stomach too many scenes revolving around cute, conniving (not to mention squeaky-sounding) tanks. But the boxing episode, which was shown on AS a week or two ago, renewed my faith in the series. The boxing sequences were just amazing, and I relished seeing Batou react in a more conflicted/angry manner than he usually does. More than anything, though, I'm looking forward to the next few installments in the Laughing Man arc. Although it would be nice to have some more Togusa-centric episodes, I think. ~Dagger~

I've noticed that fans tend to cite specific factors as being their main reason for liking/disliking/being totally unable to watch certain series. So I thought I'd list a couple of these and ask, as the title implies, how much of them you can stomach. Feel free to contribute your own. [b]Angst:[/b] Saikano completely overdoses on angst. At a certain point I just stopped even trying to care about the characters and started impatiently waiting for the inevitable big kill-fest. The protagonist (and pretty much everyone around him) spends too much time wallowing in self-pity to be sympathetic. In fairness, I enjoyed the series and don't regret buying it, but by spending too much time on angst and over-playing its own tragedy, it ended up undermining its message. Soukyuu no Fafner, on the other hand, manages to shovel on the angst without making its characters unlikeable or its plot twists tedious. Elfen Lied is another good example of a series that handles angst rather well. [b]Cuteness:[/b] Cardcaptor Sakura pretty much represents the maximum amount of cuteness I can swallow. A Little Snow Sugar Fairy treads even closer to the edge; while I like both series, I can't really watch more than one or two episodes of them at a time. [b]Hyper comedy:[/b] This is a little harder for me to judge. I'm not at all a fan of FLCL, and that's thanks in large part to the fact that its comedy was totally wasted on me. Same goes for Jubei-chan--the randomness of it just annoyed me. On the other hand, I rather liked the frenetic comedy in Gravitation and Fruits Basket (perhaps because both of those anime balance their comedy with a nice helping of drama and so forth). ~Dagger~

Dammit, Armstrong! Why did you have to interrupt Ed's big confession? :animeangr Now I'm going to be in horrible suspense for heaven knows how long. I hope his secret is revealed soon, because I know so little about the situation that I can't even be bothered to start speculating properly. I also hope it's as shocking/horrific as his tone of voice (and his reluctance to tell Al) seemed to imply. On a lighter note, I [i]love[/i] the female characters in this show. Lust, as I mentioned in my earlier post, is both excessively cool and very, very hot. It looks like we'll be seeing quite a bit of her in the next episode. Winry manages to be adorable, practical and rather unique--it was a real stroke of genius to make the token cute girl/childhood friend an obsessive mechanic. I really like her dub voice. And of course Hawkeye is also awesome. Another big bonus: getting to see Ed with his hair down. Very pretty. :animeshy: ~Dagger~

1. Labels are unimportant. There should be nothing stopping anyone from thinking of himself or herself as a fan. That having been said, I personally harbor a lot more respect for people who buy/rent most or all of their anime than people who order bootlegs or rely solely on torrents. 2. While openness is a great quality, no one should be forced to watch a series that she or he is not interested in. End of story. 3. I don't see why not. Different strokes for different folks, right? 4. No. And to be frank it makes me pretty nervous when I encounter someone who says he/she is taking Japanese [i]just[/i] because of anime. In my opinion there are better reasons to start learning a difficult foreign language, though I guess being an anime fan can certainly play into the decision, at least to a certain extent. 5. My answer: whatever floats your boat. That's a pretty nonsensical question, akin to asking if it's "alright" for a fan of animation to also enjoy live-action shows. Of course it's alright. 6. Why wouldn't it be? It's not as if every anime is a work of art, and people need some way to screen things. 7. Yes. In fact, I wish more of them would give shoujo a chance. Too many female fans seem to feel that watching series aimed at their demographic is uncool--never mind the fact that there are also plenty of shounen anime dripping with sparkles, sugary sap and overdone romance. It makes me want to sit in a corner and weep when it's suggested that superb titles like Kaleido Star and Princess Tutu are selling poorly because they target girls. In the R1 market, shoujo has really gotten the short end of the stick. 8. More power to them. Seems like a rather arbitrary cut-off age, but no matter. ~Dagger~

I'm going to have to disagree with the consensus here, heh. I believe that in general--that is, offline--male "otaku" (define it as you will) outnumber female fans. Online, it simply varies from site to site. For example, virtually all LiveJournal communities are female-dominated. It's easy to get a skewed impression because females of all ages tend to be more active in their respective fandoms than males (again, this is only a tendency, but I think it applies across the board). Yet there are also plenty of forums where you'd be hard-pressed to find more than a couple of women--Anime on DVD comes to mind. Of course there's been more of a balance lately, thanks in large part to the fact that manga has carved out a strong niche with female readers. In honesty, I'm much more used to seeing the opposite question ("Do any girls like anime?"), so this thread kind of surprised me. I guess that in itself is a sign of progress. ~Dagger~

In fairness, I suspect a lot of that was intentional. I think they're deliberately playing up some of the cliches--for example, the part when Kiyo finally stood up to that big DBZ reject, only to have his *** kicked. Same goes for Zatch's cluelessness and the girl with the horrible character design; she's a total cardboard cut-out, just stupid enough to be funny. Shaman King pre-dates Zatch Bell by a couple of years, but to me Zatch Bell's set-up looks like that of pretty much any other shounen action anime. Any plot-related similarities are probably analogous to the similarities between, say, Evangelion and RahXephon. Speaking of the girl, does anyone know if her name was changed? "Suzy" sure doesn't sound very Japanese. There is a character called Suzume, based on what I've read, so I guess (and hope) that it might be some kind of nickname... ~Dagger~

Everything about the first half of episode 1--from the artwork to the dub--was depressingly awkward. I was more or less ready to turn off the TV (and the frequent commercial breaks weren't helping). But by the time I had gotten used to the voices, it suddenly became really funny. Although the show is pretty rough around the edges, the comedy (some of it, anyway) is priceless. The rooftop sequence was what made me come away from the episode with a positive feeling--it shovelled on the drama, but did so quite skillfully, and I think that bodes well for the future. Of course, it was also around then that the humorous parts became a little sharper and more original. I ended up laughing my head off at certain gags. As far as mindless entertainment goes, Zatch Bell pretty much hits the spot. I like Zatch's gung-ho attitude, but I also like the main character's cynicism and intelligence. It's rare for the protagonist of this kind of show to be a friendless geek, as opposed to a friendless delinquent (a la Bleach and Yu Yu Hakusho). The anime strongly reminds me of the (slightly more refined) recent series [b]Rozen Maiden[/b]. Rozen Maiden deals with quirky dolls who must team up with a human to fight, and the lead, Jun, is incredibly similar to Zatch Bell's Kiyo. ~Dagger~

I feel sort of bad for Funi because (lately, at least) they've been trying so hard to please fans. It just makes me want to pat them on the head, haha. You're quite right in that they weren't exactly a model of good behavior in earlier years, but they've shown so much improvement, it's almost ridiculous. I can't wait for their release of Kodocha and Gunslinger Girl. :animesmil To get back on topic, I'm... uh, looking forward to tonight's episode. Yeah. :animeswea ~Dagger~

To be honest, I find it much easier to forgive total ignorance on the part of a non-fan than total ignorance on the part of a fan. I can sort of understand how people get the idea that it's all "Pokemon or porn." But few things irk me more than seeing fansub-only watchers try to justify their leeching by bashing the American industry and basically pulling false accusations out of their behinds. I've been amazed at how many self-professed die-hard fans seem to operate under the assumption that all R1 anime DVDs are edited and dub-only, for example. Gao. :animeangr My family accepts anime-collecting as just another one of my eccentricities, and it's not really something I go out of my way to advertise. My close friends are aware that I watch it, but that's about as far as it goes. For me, anime is very much a personal & private hobby. ~Dagger~

This topic is almost a year old... :animedepr Unless you plan on discussing a [i]specific[/i] game or anime series (depending on which forum you're in, of course), please refrain from reviving long-dead threads. If you see an ancient discussion that sparks your interest, feel free to create a new thread modelled after it--just don't go digging up topics that have been resting peacefully in their graves for a month or more, okay? Your post quality could also use a bit of work. As things stand, it's sort of hard to figure out what you're saying; just try to use capitalization and punctuation more liberally. Thanks! Thread closed. ~Dagger~

[url=http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/][u]CD Japan[/u][/url] is pretty similar to YesAsia in terms of product selection and pricing. I haven't used the site much, but so far it's turned out to be fairly reliable. [url=http://www.dvdpacific.com/][u]DVD Pacific[/u][/url] sells DVDs of all kinds, including anime, and their prices are excellent. They had a credit-card scare a while back; since then they've supposedly ramped up their security, and their prices are fantastic. Their customer service is also top-of-the-line. [url=http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/][u]Deep Discount DVD[/u][/url] has so-so customer service... however, they do offer superb deals, and some people may find this to be a worthwhile trade-off. If you're accepting links for stores that deal primarily in anime and anime-related merchandise, I strongly recommend [url=http://www.rightstuf.com/][u]Right Stuf[/u][/url]. Their weekly specials and studio sales are usually pretty attractive; it can take a little while to learn how to maximize your savings (i.e. by using special coupons, placing orders in large chunks for free shipping, etc.), but they have the best customer service in the business. You might want to add a warning mentioning that not all products listed on eBay or in Amazon's auction shops are legitimate. ~Dagger~