HRose
1761
I’m looking for something worthy no matter of genre. Usually I like weird stuff.
Following the links I picked some random stuff like: Mr. Brain, Rookies, Romance of Three Kingdoms, Nodame Cantabile, The Spirit of the Sword.
I’m having an hard time figuring out if they are serious or comical :)
If tokusatsu is juvenile like Power Rangers then I can do without. If there’s something more interesting and over the top then I may be interested.
I’d like to sample the best stuff in the genres they do. Like the best comedy, best humor and so on. I don’t come with expectations, I only want to see what they are doing and how.
The Spirit of the Sword and RoTK look rather awesome. RoTK seems to have some impressive battles and very bad acting, but I didn’t even know this stuff existed. The other instead seems a good sample of over the top sword fighting with people flying all over the place while striking a pose.
I just skipped through Mr. Brain and I can’t understand if it tries to be hilarious or if it pretends to be serious. Rookies I loved the manga.
So what’s the good stuff out there and why?
Sentai can be juvenile but isn’t always. It ran in an evening timeslot in the 80’s and some of the series from that period are really quite impressive. They also aren’t translated, but… if anyone ever subs Bioman or Jetman, you want to see them.
Anyway, the recs I’d give you for tokusatsu:
GARO - a gothic hero series comparable to live-action Castlevania. Directed by Kieta Amemiya, who very rarely makes bad shows in any genre
Ultraman Nexus - The Japanese superhero defined for the 21st Century. Dark, borderline gritty, major Sam Raimi influence married with big monster battles and pretty cool characters.
Kamen Rider Agito - A superhero series with a mature approach to pretty traditional material. A story about psychics, the millennial apocalypse (it was filmed in 2001) and the impending transformation of humanity into something… different. It’s a sequel to an excellent but unsubbed series called Kamen Rider Kuuga, but stands well on its own.
No, the average level on TV is pretty awful all around. Why do you think so many dramas in Japan are lead by popular idols and TV ‘celebs’ and not real actors?
Actual film buffs in Japan do know what real acting is and serious movies (ie. Okuribito) shows that.
edit : However, I do agree that most Japanese folks don’t really demand good acting from their TV stars for the most part. Most are happy to see their favorite idols playing new characters and in different outfits.
Because 90% of everything is crap, regardless of national origin? I mean, most of our TV actors and presenters are awful relative to the styles they’re attempting to work in-- but if it’s the audience’s desired style, the audience can usually get comfortable enough not to notice it or care that much.
Actual film buffs in Japan do know what real acting is and serious movies (ie. Okuribito) shows that.
Yes, and at no point did I argue that Japan had no serious movies or serious actors. Just that someone who wants to get into dorama should perhaps accept that some things are different as a matter of taste rather than just yelling “No good actors on Japanese TV!,” which is mostly a crap attitude. It’s not unheard of for a serious Japanese film actor to cut his/her teeth on TV shows in their younger days before moving on to work in different mediums.
Yes, if you want to see nothing but good acting you should go to Japanese art films and skip TV altogether, but a discussion of dorama and tokuatsu is not a discussion of serious film. There’s a reason why HRose got recommendations for goofy superhero shows out of me and not, say, Ugetsu and Throne of Blood.
However, I do agree that most Japanese folks don’t really demand good acting from their TV stars for the most part.
Good, as this was more or less the only point I was trying to make. Just staple in “acting of the sorts Americans tend to prefer,” since other nations also tend to have style preferences that are seriously unlike ours even in their serious films. It’s just that someone sitting down to watch a serious film is usually willing to accept unfamiliar styles as part of the seriousness of the film, while someone watching TV shows is more likely to decide that if it seems strange it’s clearly because the show sucks.
I picked up Cowboy BeBop complete series.
I’ve always enjoyed this show.
It’s nice I can watch all the episodes and see the whole Vicious/Julia/Spike story line. I had missed an episode or two from the story.
Always thought Ein had shown up with Ed. Ein actually shows up as a crew addition in the second episode. Makes me want to get a Corgi(sp*?) and name him Ein.
I should point out that Amazon has a pretty big sale on anime until the 27th. Lots of good stuff, mostly on 30-50% discount. Complete series include (but are by no means limited to) Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex (both series), Ergo Proxy, Black Lagoon, Samurai 7, Blue Gender, Last Exile, Solty Rei. Individual discs of series included things like Claymore and Darker Than Black. There’s also movies such as Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika, Casshern, Tekkon Kinkreet, Appleseed, etc.
Was Solty Rei any good? I never got past the first episode. And DTB is definitely not worth owning.
I couldn’t get into Solty Rei. Istead I’ll give my standard recommandation of Flag and Baccano. ;)
Solty Rei is as draggy as DTB.
HRose
1771
Anyone watched Tokyo Magnitude 8?
The first episode starts by showing a typical family and especially flashing out the relationship between a young brother and sisters. It’s done incredibly well, much better than any other anime. It opposes the standard anime exaggerations with strong realism. I thought this series was only marginally interesting but it starts as one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time.
I watched the first episode of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, and thought it showed a lot of promise.
But it’s a Bones series, and while they have made some bad ones, I had high expectations going into it already. Ironically this is the only series of the new season I have any hope for. Nothing else (except Spice and Wolf II, but that’s a continuation of an already-great series) stands out at all.
copet
1773
If you guys are interested in Japanese Dramas, HERE is where I watch all of mine, and I watch a lot. The acting is 99% of the time ridiculous, as are the scripts, but it is so over the top that I enjoy them. I primarily watch them to practice Japanese and write down new words, but I do enjoy them as well.
I hesitate to suggest my favorites, because all are pretty embarrassing for a guy like myself to watch, but if you really want, I can do that. Just ask :P
HRose
1774
I think this anime season is much better than expected.
As already said TM8 is really good. Canaan is good. Bakemonogatari so pretty and classy (my favorite for art-style and experimentation). Umi Monogatari rather pleasant. Everyone says good things about Umineko. Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei insane as usual. And even Needless has some good parts here and there. I didn’t watch Aoi Hana yet, but I read good things about this one as well if you like light comedies/romance.
On the drama side I just watched today the first episode of “Mr. Brain” and it’s just brilliant. Watch it.
I was impressed with TM8 also. They took great care to establish the characters before all hell breaks loose.
Quick preview of the new season here. Of the lot, I find Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Bakemonogatari, CANAAN, Spice and Wolf II, and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 to look the most promising, though I haven’t had a chance to actually watch any of them yet.
-Bakemonogatari seems to be a little artsy, strange and potentially good.
-Spice and wolf II is of course the anime translation of the real holy bible.
-Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom is still running, although not technically “this season” i suppose.
-Canaan also seems quite good, although i’d worry about the low episode count. I guess it is by the makers of Kara no Kyoukai, which means good chance of it being… good.
Is anyone watching the new eps of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya? The producers must have serious balls. I love it.
Canaan was interesting but took two viewings of ep1 for me to “get it.” I think I’ll still watch it though. Ep2 was quite interesting.
Bakemonogatari ep1 was way out of the park. Bizarre camera angles, weird characters, awesome intro, and in the same bizarre way the ep played out, bizarrely interesting. I’ll watch more and see how it goes.
As said earlier, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is definitely one I’ll be watching. It fulfills everything you want in an anime, from the slice-of-life aspects to the suspense, to the adventure. I can’t wait for more.
And Phantom is constant awesome. I love the show.
Spice & Wolf II. Nuff said.
Blood, tits, and panties. The name of show is such a misnomer :P. It’s ridiculous, absurd, over-the-top, and definitely a guilty pleasure that I’ll indulge myself in after the fiancee goes to bed. She watched the first ep with me and I’d have like $5 in nickels for the amount times she shook her head and laughed at me for all the bouncing tits, gratuitous violence, and panty shots I kept grinning at.
