Anime suggestions ??

[nighthawk]

Mate of mine reckons Akira is the best film to start with if i havent seen any before....what do you reckon is he right or would you suggest something else...... ?

Thanks

[BassHead]

Akira IS a classic, but for cyber punk goodness I would also recommend Ghost in the Shell and Cyber City Odeo 808.

If you prefer you animes more supernatural then and Blood: The Last Vampire is great, and, so I'm told, are the Vampire Hunter D films. My brother is always raving about them when this topic comes up, but I haven't seen them myself.

[ElfQrin]

You could see some works by the masters Hayao Miyazaki and Go Nagai.

animes by Hayao Miyazaki
Princess Mononoke
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Laputa, Castle in the Sky
Movies of the Lupin III series, especially Lupin III - The Castle of Cagliostro

TV series by Hayao Miyazaki
The great tide (Mirai no shoonen Conan)
Lupin III

classic TV series from the '70s by Go Nagai:
UFO Robot Grendizer (Goldorak)
Mazinger and Mazinger Z
Jeeg Robot (Kotetsu Jeeg)
Devilman

animes by Go Nagai:
Mazinger Z vs Devilman (forget about Grendizer vs Mazinger: it's made with parts of other movies, including Mazinger Z vs Devilman and sucks)
Devilman Vol. 1: Birth of Devilman
Devilman Vol. 2: Thief of Souls


However the true Japanese culture can be caught in TV series like Doraemon, Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Kiss me Lycia, Cat's Eye.

[Ryan]

Ghost in a Shell is fantastic, much better starter than Akira.

Check these out too, they're a different kind of Anime, but are fantastic films:

Princess Monoke
Spirited Away
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
My Neighbour Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
Whispers of the Heart
Porco Rosso

They're by Studio Ghibli (sp?), who have produced a few more fantastic films which I've yet to see..

[Junosix]

Akira is great but an absolute fucker to understand, storywise. I defy anyone to have watched it first time around and completely get what it's all about. However, as introductions to the genre go, it's spot on.

The other suggestions are well worth looking out for, I really enjoyed Cyber City Oedo and Laputa in particular. There's a Manga one called Perfect Blue which is a kind of psychological thriller which doesn't fit into the standard Manga/anime role, but it's the one I always put on if I want to mong out in front of a cartoon.

[Firefox]

I recently bought Ghost in the Shell and completely lost my rag with it due to the English soundtrack being totally out of sync with the animation (sound effects as well as dialogue).

However, the rather fluffy RageMatrix PM'ed me to say that if you start it from the beginning with the Japanese soundtrack and English subtitles selected (not just switch to them using the Audio + Subtitle buttons when its going) then the audio's pretty much in sync. After that I was able to enjoy the film, though I had to rewind it a little a couple of times when there was a lot of dialogue to read and stuff happening on the screen at the same time.

[Ryan]

I recently bought Ghost in the Shell and completely lost my rag with it due to the English soundtrack being totally out of sync with the animation (sound effects as well as dialogue).

First rule in watching films: ALWAYS use the subtitles and the orginal feature's language.

Dubs both suck and blow at the same time.

[xarph]

Mate of mine reckons Akira is the best film to start with if i havent seen any before....what do you reckon is he right or would you suggest something else...... ?

Thanks

Good god, no. Akira is an acquired taste for mindfuckery.

Start with Cowboy Bebop. Nice and straightforward action comedy. Then go Macross Plus or something else along those lines. Make sure you check out Ghost in the Shell eventually.

Akira has turned more people off of anime than it has hooked new ones, IMHO.

[Firefox]

First rule in watching films: ALWAYS use the subtitles and the orginal feature's language.

Dubs both suck and blow at the same time.

I disagree. I prefer dubbing when watching anime for two reasons.

The first is the one I mentioned above: If there's a lot of action and a lot of dialogue then there isn't really time to read all the subtitles and watch all of the action at the same time. You either have to miss something or rewind now and then, both of which spoil the film/episode somewhat.

The second is that I find the original Japanese dialogue to be very flat and emotionless. To me it sounds like they're reading from a telephone directory or something. I find I don't really give a toss about the characters when I'm watching with the original soundtrack.

Subtitles are great for arty French films where the heroine takes off her top, stares moodily into the distance for a bit, passionately declares life to be futile, and then looks moody for a bit longer. For me they're a poor second choice when watching anime, though.

[dr_memory]

Can't believe no one's yet mentioned Serial Experiments Lain. Hands-down the best anime I've ever seen, and also one of the best trippy SF movies/series/whatever of any origin.

Warning: it's not at all an action film, and in fact is paced verrrry slowly, especially at the beginning. Takes a while to figure out what's going on. It's worth the effort though.

The problem with Akira, plot-wise, is that the movie is trying to telescope the plot of a 50-issue comic book into a 2-hour feature. It ended up a little...fractured.

[moobaa]

Another vote for Cowboy Bebop - the first ep is fucking class - and I'd even get the dub, cos it's actually a lot better than the subtitled. And I saw the subtitled ep in a cinema, too

Another great bit of animation is "Perfect Blue" - again, the dub isn't distracting.

[moobaa]

Subtitles are great for arty French films where the heroine takes off her top, stares moodily into the distance for a bit, passionately declares life to be futile, and then looks moody for a bit longer.

...and then goes insane. Damn I love "Betty Blue"

[Firefox]

Subtitles are great for arty French films where the heroine takes off her top, stares moodily into the distance for a bit, passionately declares life to be futile, and then looks moody for a bit longer.

...and then goes insane. Damn I love "Betty Blue"

I was actually thinking of that Vanessa Paradis one where she plays a schoolgirl who seduces one of her teachers.

[Stone]

Akira was the first anime I watched (other than fragments of Ghost in the Shell earlier) and I absolutely fucking loved it. Other than coming very close to crapping myself in the bedroom sequence with Tetsuo...you'll know what I mean if you've seen it

I didn't get the point of much of it until the 3rd or so showing though, so I'd advise not panning it on the first viewing.

I was much chuffed however after I told a Jap friend (who was in Japan at the time...the wonders of IM ) and she pointed out that her best friend had watched it and was so traumatised she made her promise never to

I really need to get some more DVDs...people have recommended Cowboy Bebop to me before, I'll look into it, I think.

Stone

[TheForce]

my fav ares :

Ninja scroll
Akira
Vampire hunter D: blood hunt
Alita: battle angel
Wicked City
Fist of the Northstar
Spirited away
Princess mononoke
Metropolis
Ghost in the Shell
Macross++
and more..

But like with all things , it comes all down on you're tast wich movies you like