.This is the thread to discuss anime and manga.
So I stumbled onto Robotech on Netflix a few days ago. I haven’t seen it since it first aired back in the 1980s. I’ve started rewatching it and have completed the first six episodes of the Macross Saga. I haven’t seen the series in over thirty years but I remember so much like it’s yesterday. I forgot how much I hated Minmay. She was so fucking annoying! I much preferred Lisa Hayes. 😘 Looking to the rest watching all three sections.
Spirited Away at number six! An outrage.
BEASTARS on Netflix (finally in US) had a good start. Watched the first two episodes and it’s much more than Zootropolis in high school. One interesting difference between Zootropolis and Beastars though is that the Netflix anime has domesticated animals like breeds of sheep and dogs. In Zootropolis (Zootopia here in the US), since there were no humans, there were no domesticated animals as they never would have been bred. I wonder if something will be revealed later in the story to address the odd presence of animals that would only have come out through artificial selection rather than natural.
Odd note, for some reason, the news anchor in Zootropolis changed based on the region where the movie played. Supposedly, the UK version was a Corgi, but I think that was just a rumor since it would completely contradict the “civilized wild animal” concept at the heart of the movie.
They are now introducing a great deal of anime porn into the internet matrix.
Dragon Ball Z is one of the top issues here.
They are sexualizing cartoon characters to push a depraved agenda on our kids.
What’s next? Where will it end?
— KW Miller For Congress (FL-18) (@KwCongressional) July 29, 2020
Okaaaay…
This new Blade Runner series looks like it could be pretty cool.
https://www.heavymetal.com/news/films/blade-runner-black-lotus/
Sony to Buy Anime Streamer Crunchyroll for Nearly $1 Billion (Report)
https://www.thewrap.com/sony-to-buy-crunchyroll-for-1-billion/
So, in the far-flung future of the year 2000, BBC choice, later BBC3 did a Japanese culture weekend and they dubbed the first two episodes of Uresei Yatsura as part of it. Starring Matt Lucas as Ataru, Anna Friel as Lum and Lauren Laverne as Shinobu.
it’s a weird one because the dub is clearly based on the dialogue from the original stories, but there’s a bunch of ad-libs and some strong language thrown in there. And it’s all done with regional UK accents…
A First Look at YASUKE, an Anime About the First African Samurai
A First Look at YASUKE, an Anime About the First African Samurai
Youtube randomly threw this into my recommendations. It was one of the first anime series I ever saw, and I still own it on VHS… which I can’t play at all now 
Youtube randomly threw this into my recommendations. It was one of the first anime series I ever saw, and I still own it on VHS… which I can’t play at all now
I was actually watching a video about the making of BGC recently. There were some major shenanigans behind the scenes.
As a child in the 1970s, I watched Speed Racer regularly.
As a child in the 1970s, I watched Speed Racer regularly.
My first anime was Battle of the Planets
But Robotech was the first one I saw that I was aware was specifically Japanese in origin and not just another cartoon.
Speaking of Robotech, Harmony Gold, Tatsunoko and Big West have apparently come to an agreement on licensing all of Macross in the English-speaking world.
Also, it’s shocking to me that the first anime I saw was from the 70s, and apparently before David saw any anime?!
I think the actual first anime I saw was Marine Boy, I’m not sure when but I recall watching it in the house that we moved out of in 1971 
And everyone on the thread is now doing the music, right? 
And everyone on the thread is now doing the music, right?
I’ve only ever seen a few short clips of Marine Boy, on an early-90s documentary Jonathan Woss did.
Now try getting the theme out of your head.
Fifty years later and it’s still stuck in mine.
Eeeee Eeeee Eeeee Eeee Eeeee Eeee Eeeee
Eeeeee Eeeeee Eeeeee Eeeee Eeee Eeeee Eeeeeeeeeeeee
You’re welcome 
In the late 60s a local TV station in New York City had a half-hour broadcast on weekdays that consisted on four Japanese anime cartoons and one Australian live-action show (Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, which aired on Fridays). I remember three of the four anime: Gigantor, Tobor the 8th Man, and Kimba the White Lion; but I’m not sure what the fourth one was. Astro Boy, maybe? We also got a steady stream of Speed Racer on a daily basis. I knew these cartoons “felt” different from the ones we watched on Saturday morning, but I was too young to be able to understand what that difference was.
To this day I can still remember parts of the theme songs for 8th Man and Kimba…
Now try getting the theme out of your head.
Fifty years later and it’s still stuck in mine.
Eeeee Eeeee Eeeee Eeee Eeeee Eeee Eeeee
Eeeeee Eeeeee Eeeeee Eeeee Eeee Eeeee Eeeeeeeeeeeee
You’re welcome
See, after I searched for the Battle of the Planets opening I found myself looking up clips from Gatchaman Crowds, and have the “gatchaman, gatchamaaaaaaaaan” theme that played a lot in the action scenes stuck in my head. And I really want to rewatch the show now.
(the sound is low, but you can hear it all over this clip)
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
I loved that programme. So much so that I really wanted a pet kangaroo. I got a tortoise instead, but called him Skippy as an act of defiance.
A few weeks ago Harmony Gold, Big West and Studio Nue announced they’d come to an agreement to allow international distribution of the Macross sequels and tie-ins. The first movement on this was pretty quick, Flashback 2012 is streaming on YouTube for a limited time.
This is essenatially an extended music video, it’s all the Minmay songs from the original TV show and Do You Remember Love cut to clips from the show and movie, with a brand-new song (for the time) and an epilogue showing what Hikaru, Misa and Minmay leaving Earth on the Megaroad 01 at the end.
If nothing else, it shows how much better the songs are in Macross over Robotech!
First: a news, Evangelion 3.0+1.01 is coming to Amazon Prime on August 13th.
Second, I never mentioned that Netflix has the streaming rights to Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway, an animated adaptation of the novel series Hathaway’s Flash. It’s a follow up to the movie Char’s Counterattack, conveniently added to Netflix a few weeks ago. And it’s pretty decent, if a bit… I don’t want to say short, but there’s like three or four story beats and they’re stretched out over 96 minutes. It’s centred around Hathaway Noa, the son of two characters from the original series. In the aftermath of the traumatic events he suffered in Char’s Counterattack and yet another fascistic crackdown by the Federation government, he’s formed an anti-government terrorist group called Mafty, who intend to forcibly move all of Earth’s population to orbit for… reasons. Look, nobody said that Gundam protagonists or antagonists needed their plans to make sense.
The movie has basically four setpieces – Hathaway travels to earth incognito on a luxury liner hijacked by criminals posing as Mafty and aids in their defeat; he befriends the new commander of the unit tasked with destroying Mafty and a strange woman who was on the liner; Mafty raids the city to provide Hathaway a cover story, and he travels to orbit to retieve a Gundam, ending up in a battle with the unit hunting him’s Gundam in turn. Compared to most Gundam movies this is really straightforward, I’ve seen a few people complain that it’s boring or slow-paced, but I disagree, it’s setting a tone and mood and doing a good job of it, I feel. Like in the middle chunk of the movie you never get a good look at the Federation Mobile Suits – during the raid on the city they’re shrouded in darkness and outside of they they’re usually shown at a distance or so close you can’t see the whole thing. It helps to create a feeling that the Federation has descended into darkness in a wat that, say Zeta Gundam never quite managed to do with the Titans.
Overall, I’m not sure if I’d recommend it for a non-fan of Gundam. There are better intros to the franchise out there, and like the vast majority of Universal Century stories in the last 30-odd years, this one relies on at least a passing knowledge of the reset of the setting. The quickest way to get up to date for this movie is to watch seven other movies, three of which aren’t on Netflix!
First: a news, Evangelion 3.0+1.01 is coming to Amazon Prime on August 13th.
Do you know if the the first two movies will also be hitting Amazon? And will it be Amazon Prime globally or just certain regions?
All 4 movies are apparently dropping on the same day (3.0+1.01 is what they’re calling the 4th movie, because Anno), rights are worldwide except Japan
First: a news, Evangelion 3.0+1.01 is coming to Amazon Prime on August 13th.
3.0+1.01
Did they learn their series numbering from DC comics? 
The Released before the end of the Manga one suggests that a lot of the changes to the comic came after the movie, but production of the comic paused halfway through volume 5, where pretty much everything different had already been introduced. Akira was already released from the cryogenic vault, The New Tokyo Empire had risen out of the ashes of Neo-Tokyo, Miyako was well-established.
To be exact, episode 87, published on April 20th 1987 was the last part published before production began, with an epigraph that reads “I’ll be taking about two months off in order to begin preparations for the animated version of Akira. Thank you”. Episode 88 was published on November 21st, with the epigraph “I’ve started up again, so enjoy!”
Yes, I have a book with the frontispiece for every chapter of Akira and a translation of each one’s epigraph, what?
Yes, I have a book with the frontispiece for every chapter of Akira and a translation of each one’s epigraph, what?
I would expect nothing less from you.
Yes, I have a book with the frontispiece for every chapter of Akira and a translation of each one’s epigraph, what?
Is that Akira Club?
Yes, I have a book with the frontispiece for every chapter of Akira and a translation of each one’s epigraph, what?
Is that Akira Club?
It is, it was in the box set I got that came out a few years ago. I came this close to buying a Spanish copy and just translating it myself about 10 years back, but I wound up not and waiting out for an English reprint.
It’s a wonderful book. One of the best of its kind. I enjoy it just as much as the comic itself.
(I had a copy of the original English printing and then when it went OOP I sold it for almost enough to buy the boxset on its own! The boxset is really lovely, I’m glad I traded up to that.)
I sold it for almost enough to buy the boxset on its own!
To Lorcan, right?
Saw this on Twitter
Not gonna lie, I’d be there for a Black Lagoon adaptation with Danny DeVito as Revy,
I really enjoyed 3.0 + 1.0. I kinda want to do a whole series rewatch before i talk about it though.
I really enjoyed 3.0 + 1.0. I kinda want to do a whole series rewatch before i talk about it though.
It has been so long since I watched the others, I’m just going to start at the beginning and work my way through.
I, too, enjoyed 3.0+1.0. I don’t think you’ll disappoint, especially not if you’re a fan of the original series.
I really enjoyed 3.0 + 1.0. I kinda want to do a whole series rewatch before i talk about it though.
It has been so long since I watched the others, I’m just going to start at the beginning and work my way through.
I rewatched them a couple of years ago after Netflix got the TV show and End of EVA so they were slightly fresh in my mindbrain
Netflix’s ‘Tomb Raider’ Anime Series Casts Hayley Atwell as Lara Croft
I saw Akira in the cinema last night, always a good time. It was a 4K remaster but really the visuals didn’t look much different from the last time I saw it in the cinema or indeed the version on Netflix right now. But there’s definitely been some work done on the soundtrack
The Macross Plus movie edition is getting a theatrical release in the US!
The fairly new Manga series SOSO NO FRIEREN (Frieren at the Funeral) or FRIEREN: BEYOND JOURNEY’S END (English title) is very entertaining. The main set up is that a D&D style quartet of adventurers (Elf Mage, Human Hero, Human Cleric, Dwarf Warrior) have defeated the Demon King and now break up. Frieren is the mage and since she’s an elf, she is functionally immortal (and overpowered) and has been around a long, long time. So, while it seems like the last 10 years were a major part of the other characters’ lives, for her, it was really short. Like, from her perspective, it took them a couple weeks, maybe a month at most.
So, fifty years later when she meets up with them again, they’ve all gotten so old, she realizes that she wasted so much time when she really should have tried to gotten to know her comrades. So the story is basically about Frieren forming a new adventuring party (almost accidentally) and trying harder to invest in relationships with other people.
Nevertheless, Frieren’s immortality does provide some funny moments like when a misunderstanding lands her in jail after accidentally offending a king. Her friends tell her the king threatens to leave her in jail for two or three years, and she responds “oh, good, that’ll give me time to read these new grimoires.” For her, that’s nothing. She also has a no nonsense attitude to combat and is so experienced that it is impossible to catch her off guard. I also have to say that I find her attitude toward demons refreshing. Lately, manga and anime seem to have grown quite “pro-demon.”
I’ve heard it referred to as a kind of fantasy slice-of-life series, but I think it is really just slow-paced so people can get involved in the developing plot in the same way that Frieren is trying to get involved with the lives of her fellow travelers and the people she comes across. It does have a driving plot toward a definite (though uncertain in many ways) goal, and there are side-quests surrounding a developing overall antagonist, but it is not something like One Piece or Hunter X Hunter where it becomes action scene after action scene. MADE IN ABYSS might be a better comparison and I could see an Anime adaptation being more like that or TO YOUR ETERNITY. There are actually a few fantasy style anime that I’d compare it to like BANISHED FROM THE HERO’S PARTY, GRIMGAR OF FANTASY AND ASH or even THAT TIME I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SLIME though this is not an Isekai and more like GOBLIN SLAYER where the world is styled like an RPG, but the characters are not players or otaku that were inexplicably or posthumously transported into a game or fantasy world. They are the characters that the players pretend to be.
Currently it’s only Manga but I imagine it will eventually get an anime. Viz publishes it here.
Anime Insider is going to release Macross II, Plus, Frontier and Delta, and apparently Nozomi/Rightstuff are going to release 7
I just started watching that Cyberpunk Edgerunners series on Netflix, it’s very 90s (but not in a bad way) and looks pretty slick. The first episode is mostly setup but is fairly pacy and gets the story told nicely. I’ll see where it goes.
