List: Ten Anime For People Who Do Not Watch Anime

FLCL


This madcap rock n' roll OVA adventure features just about everything good about anime. It features gorgeous animation (courtesy of GAINAX and Production I.G.), first-rate humor, Inception-level surrealism, interesting characters, and a solid story to boot. The dub emulates the original japanese almost exactly, down to the last a-re. The performances suffer from this a bit at first, but about 5 minutes into the first episode, the voice actors get really into the story, leading to a faithful adaption completely equal to what came before. FLCL can be found streaming subtitled in its entirety on Funimation.


ONE PIECE

While I prefer the manga, the One Piece anime is a perfect hook for a new fan for the lack of that "IT GETS GOOD AT Vol. 9" mentality that comes with the manga, and a glorious Saturday morning cartoon feel that makes the show great for casual watching, despite the daunting 500+ episode count. The Funimation dub (avoid the 4kids version) perfectly reproduces that Loony Tunes aesthetic, and even dubs the theme song! One Piece is streaming in both formats on Funimation, with new subbed episodes weekly.


MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM (Original)

As I mentioned last week, Giant Robot anime is awesome. While not the "first" or "best" Giant Robot anime, the Gundam franchise has defined the genre for decades. The original is a little dated, but in that lies its charm, as well as a way to justify Yoshiyuki Tomino's sloppy storytelling. The show is currently only available here in dub, but the dub is good, and a subbed edition is due out on DVD later this year. The whole thing (save one mysteriously absent episode mid-series) is streaming dubbed via Crunchyroll.

SUMMER WARS

This fun new film from Mamoru Hosoda and Madhouse features a one-two punch of flashy fight scenes and involving family drama. It could be better, but it is very good. When I saw this movie, I was reminded of the recent Scott Pilgrim movie. Edgar Wright described the film as a "fightsical", like a musical, but instead of breaking into song at an important moment, the characters break into fights. Summer Wars is similar in this way, but without the strong emphasis on fight scenes that often detracted from the main plot of SP. Kids will enjoy Summer Wars, though they may not understand everything. The dub by Funimation (who, as you can tell by this article, are a big presence in R1 anime) is stellar, highly watchable, and easy to understand despite many culturally specific moments. Not streaming.

THE WORKS OF SATOSHI KON

Satoshi Kon is an amazing director. His movies can be dark, whimsical, cutting edge, sophisticated, or entertaining, and usually all of these at the same time. Perfect Blue is easily the scariest movie I've ever watched. Few movies will ever be able to the whimsical grace of Millenium Actress. Tokyo Godfathers is an incredibly fun film to watch, and makes the Christmas spirit actually seem genuine for once. And Paprika captured all those emotions and combined them into a gorgeous, elaborate love letter to cinema. Several of these movies have been dubbed, but the only professional-standard dubs (i.e. not by some office workers at Manga UK) are Paprika, and his TV series Paranoia Agent, unseen by this reviewer. Anyway, his works are very Japanese, so I strongly suggest watching them subtitled.
Not streaming.

GHOST IN THE SHELL

 
I've always found it hard to believe that Mamoru Oshii's cyberpunk masterpiece Ghost In The Shell was so successful in America. While the fact that it inspired The Matrix certainly generated a lot of attention, I can only think of one reason Ghost in the Shell could be so popular: America has a lot of hipsters. Based on the vastly inferior manga by Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell is set in a hypothetical future world where most people have had their bodies replaced with cyborg technology, and are linked in cyberspace. Motoko Kusanagi and the rest of the Section 9, a covert operations division of the Japanese Police, are tasked with finding the "Puppet Master", a mysterious entity hacking into peoples bodies. Throughout the movie, elaborate philosophical questions are raised about humanity and technology. If you have ignored anime in the past because it was not "serious" art, be sure to take a look at Ghost in the Shell. And for those who don't like Japanese voices, the dub is very good. Streaming dubbed on Netflix.

LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY


Hayao Miyazaki is the most widely recognized anime director outside of fan circles, and for a good reason: His movies are amazing! Castle in the Sky was his first feature film created as a Studio Ghibli production, and possibly his best. This is old school escapism at its best: The young hero. The mysterious girl. The dastardly villain. The lost kingdom. The epic adventure. All of this and more in this amazing movie! Castle in the Sky was adapted into english by none other than John Lasseter of Pixar fame and produced by Disney, featuring A-list actors such as Mark Hamill and Mandy Patinkin. Not streaming, obviously.

COWBOY BEBOP

Funky, jazzy, and slick, Cowboy Bebop was the first anime many people watched, and the all-time favorite of many more. In a future where space is so heavily colonized that no government can even hope to manage crime, hopeful bounty hunters dreaming of wealth pursue criminals across the stars. This is the story of the bounty hunters on the ship Bebop, and their various adventures. Though the concept sounds straightforward, Series Director Shinichiro Watanabe and Composer Yoko Kanno infuse the story with a distinctive style incorporating elements of western, film noir, jazz, and, of course, bebop. The show was dubbed, though it's much better in Japanese. Not streaming.

FULL METAL ALCHEMIST


Based on the very good manga by Hiromu Arakawa, the Full Metal Alchemist anime takes the manga's story of two brothers searching for the philosopher's stone in a wildly divergent direction. Featuring great animation from BONES and even better world building than in the manga, FMA is great for new fans and jaded mangaphiles alike. While I never liked any of the dub (except for the movie), it has been hailed by many as one of the best of its kind. Streaming in both formats on Funimation.

EDEN OF THE EAST

Eden of The East may be a non-anime fan's best option on this list, and it is only a year old. Akira Takizawa's journey to find his lost memories has more than a whiff of Bourne Identity-style thriller, but at its heart, the story is as much about Akira as it is about his friend Saki Morimi, and their relationship provides the series' emotional core.  Indeed, this show feels far less like director Kenji Kamiyama's previous series, a TV spin-off of Ghost in the Shell, and more like character designer Chika Umino's josei manga/anime, Honey and Clover. The series is heavily flawed in places, but for the most part, Kamiyama's attempts at telling a fresh story pay off big time. For the dub, Funimation turns out a solid production as always. Streams have been taken down (oh well).

Review: Mobile Police Patlabor OVA

I love big robots. Giant Robot Anime is simply the best anime for watching with friends, with its high production standards, techno-drool mecha, and plain cool robot fights. But the my favourite part of the giant robot genre will always be the characters. Many can be bland blank-slate heroguys,  but for every Amuro Ray there is a Char the Red Comet. The reasons behind piloting the big robot are interesting, with range from military obsession (Char, Moblie Suit Gundam) to serious psychological turmoil (Shinji, Neon Genesis Evangelion). In Mobile Police Patlabor, a stellar 7-episode Original Video Anime from Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Urusei Yatsura) and HEADGEAR, piloting robots is just a job, and the people take center stage.

In a near future where big robots called "Labors" are used by the government for public convenience, Labors are sometimes stolen and used for crime. To prevent such crime, a new police force armed with "Patrol" Labors (Pat-labors) is formed. However, within the show the Labors make few appearances; the focus is the new recruits: Noa Izumi, a tomboyish girl (note her character design; while not as convention killing as Motoko in Ghost in the Shell, she looks fairly un-girly) obsessed with Labors to the point that in the opening credits she sings a love song to her "Alphonse", Asuma Shinohara, who joined the group as a confused attempt to rebel against his family's Labor-producing company, the gentle giant Hiromi Yamazaki, the easily angered Isao Ohta, and the badass American chick Kanuka Clancy.
 
The show tends heavily towards humor, an not-quite-sophisticated mix of character comedy, political satire (emphasis on political- this is an Oshii production after all), and madness a la Rumiko Takahashi. And this is not to belittle the big robot action; while big fight scenes are rare, the ones that do appear are capital E epic. The mecha designs by Yutaka Izubuchi are super cool, and their movements are remarkably human. Benefiting from the lack of time constraints and spread-thin budgets of TV anime, Patlabor's animation is first rate, with fluid motion, bold camera angles, and nary a motionless sequence. This adds up to explosive humor and kinetic fight scenes unlike just about anything that predates it.

Despite this, there is a major flaw to Patlabor, though it is not the fault of the show itself. It was amateur hour at Central Park Media when they localized Patlabor, with a flat out ugly cover design, and a monotone train wreck of a dub. Were they even trying? Sources say no. The show is fine subbed though, and the DVD menu looks pretty good for the time it was released.

When Patlabor was originally released in Japan, it was popular enough to spawn two critically acclaimed movies (three, counting a side story movie), a TV series, and a two more OVA's, according to Wikipedia. However, it did not do so well here. It never really had a chance, due to the botched dub and lack of the hyper violence needed to do well here at the time. Despite this, the entire series is available on DVD, found easily online, and often seen at used and rental stores. If you see this OVA, buy it quick. You will not regret it.

Review: Brave Story

Time for a change of pace. Normally, I use this blog as a place to discuss Contemporary Japanese comics and animation. But today I will discuss something totally different. A Contemporary Japanese... BOOK! With words! Perhaps that is not all that different in reality, but in any case, let's begin breaking down Brave Story, an epic 814-page YA novel by Miyuki Miyabe.

The book centers on 5th Grader Wataru Mitani, whose parents are getting a divorce. Upset by this, Wataru wishes to change his fate, and (already 200 pages in) discovers Vision, a land "created by the imaginations of people in the real world", where he becomes a Traveler to reach the appropriately named Tower of Destiny to meet the Wonderful Wizard, er, I mean, Goddess, who will grant him one wish. Along the way, he makes new friends, such as the strong willed lizard man Kee Keema, as well as enemies, such as Mitsuru, who had been friends with our heroguy back in the real world before going to Vision. As Wataru's journey becomes more dire, he is forced to question his own beliefs, and learn to be brave. Will he reach the Tower of destiny? And if he does, what will he ask of the Goddess?

If you (like me) purchase the book because of the unique-looking cover art, just so you know, you have been duped! As you can tell from the above description, Brave Story is not titled Original Story for a reason, with obvious influences from all corners of contemporary culture, particularly ones that the YA demographic apparently like. However, lack of originality regardless, the book is very well written. Miyabe's previous novels are not YA fiction, but mostly crime and mystery novels, including the novel that served as the rough basis for Satoshi Kon's dark thriller Perfect Blue. Possibly because of this fact, the scenes in the real world are crisply realized, giving Wataru's story much more emotional resonance. In fact, a fresh take on an oft-told story is not at all unwelcome! It's a fun read for an audience that doesn't necessarily always want originality, with good emotional resonance for those who do.

However, there is one problem with the book which, unlike the whole originality thing, cannot be overlooked. You see, this book is too darn long. And when I say long, I don't refer to the page length, which at 814 pages, makes the book a genuine brick(apparently it was originally published in Japan as two volumes). By long, I mean the book MEANDERS. One could easily cut at least 100 pages from the book taking out unnecessary or even redundant descriptions and details, such as a scene early in the book, in which two whole pages are dedicated to a history of Wataru's allowance(?), and several completely pointless wrinkles to the plot, such as Vision appearing different for everyone, despite that never mattering. While I am sympathetic to the fact that the book, like everything else Kadokawa Shoten publishes, was first serialized, that is no excuse for all this excess content.

And yet, despite these flaws, Brave Story is a spectacularly involving read. I finished all 814 of those pages in just two weeks, due to the fact that I was glued to the pages at all times. It made walking around a little awkward. I would suggest it to just about anyone I know, provided they had the patience. Also, it has a moral! I like stories with morals...

Zyword of the Weeek Episode 8: Akira Goes Sparkly In Worrysome Hollywood Remake

So, Warner Brothers is making an Akira movie. That's not bad news. If it's a hit, the anime/manga industry may get a lot of good press. But, recent news has made me cringe. The choices for the teenaged Asian lead roles are all Caucasian grown-ups, such as Mr. Shiny himself, Robert Patterson, and will be set in Manhattan. I understand the need to bend the plot for US audiences, but this is ridiculous! First of all the main characters' names are KANEDA and TETSUO. I just get this feeling that the logic at hand is "It's set in the future, so they have STRAAAAAANGE NAAAAAMES", and it makes me want to puke. One cannot even argue that "they look white", because Katsuhiro Otomo's realistic artwork makes the very mistaken thought impossible. Let's take a look at previous anime/manga adaptions that played it safe in similar manners in the past:

• Dragon Ball Evolution: Ingored the source material. Nobody liked it. Box office flop.
• Astro Boy: Pretended to be WALL*E. All viewers indifferent. Box office flop.
• The Last Airbender: Not anime, but rooted in anime and asian history. M. Night Shyamalan didn't know this, and cast caucasians. Movie stunk. Box office hit.

 Note that the only one that was a hit had a big following in the Kids Who Will Like Anything department. Also note that all three are big names in anime, just like Akira, so relying on name-recognition won't work. Don't make this mistake again, Hollywood! Sometimes, you should think of the fans as human beings rather than numbers and demographics. Try it, it might work!

Racebending.com has started a virtual petition via Facebook from now till July 20 to stop Warner Bros' whitewashing of Akira. As I write this, 6897 people (UPDATE: Numbers now surpass 19 000), including myself, have joined the cause. Feel free to join as well.

Forgive me!

 
At last weeks end, I felt completely satisfied after a busy week. And yet, something was missing. Hmmm, I thought to myself, why could that be? And then I realized: I forgot to update this blog! Gomen! A lapse of this magnitude should hopefully never occur again, but until May, for my own reasons, I will only be able to post once a week rather than my preferred twice. Oh, well...

Watch Evangelion, The Cat Demon Spirits Way!

Hello. This is a surprise. I had assumed that today, dear reader, I would put up another linkblog of GAINAX related stuff. But then, dear, precious nonexistent reader, I decided I would help you! With what? Well, with watching hours of anime, of course! And obviously, since this is my blog, the anime in question would be none other than...NEON GENESIS EVANGELION! You see, Eva is a very long show, now with multiple versions. This can be daunting to a new fan, but never fear! Because N, the blogger is here, here to help you, to guide your way through the world of Evangelion!!!

N-APPROVED OPTION 1: The Ideal Way To Watch Evangelion Is:
To, at least initially, have no idea what the show is, to happen upon it randomly, like I did. Unfortunately, this is now impossible for you, unless you happened upon this article by chance, in which case STOP READING NOW. However, for you who now knows, there is still...

N-APPROVED OPTION 2:
1. Watch With a friend
Preferably, this is someone who is less/more of a geek than you. This may seem random, but trust me, you want someone to talk to about this show.

2. Subs, not Dubs
Normally, I'm a pro-dub type guy, but they messed up with this one and they messed up bad. Matt Greenfield's direction, while clearly passionate for the series, is just too over the top to convey the show's message, and Amanda Winn's dub of End of Evangelion is just insulting.

3. Episodes 21-23 are to be Watched in the Director's Cut Edition
There's over 10 minutes- half an episode- of new scenes in the DC, many of which explain previously unanswered elements of the storyline. Plus, the animation looks waaaaay better; you can tell GAINAX took the cheap route for the TV airing

4. Watch Both Endings
One must decide for himself/herself which is the better. I am personally partial to End of Evangelion.

5. You Don't Have to Watch all of Rebuild 1.11, but if you do...
Be aware that nothing will be new, and no new scenes appear until the sublime second half. Also, be sure to watch it in dub, because it is the highlight of the film!

6. Rebuild 2.22 is out Next Week; Rejoice!
Assuming you haven't hung yourself yet, you should be really happy about this. I saw this in theaters, possibly the best way to watch this; rent out a screening room if you can. Watch in sub, dub, or both, because the sub is excellent, and I have faith in Funimation. However, you probably have hung yourself. Did I mention I'm a ghost?

SIDE NOTE:
Don't be like V. Form your own opinions about the show.

Sailor Moon!!!

 Are you wondering why a picture of a perky magical girl adorns the top of the website today? Why, haven't you heard the news? Sailor Moon is BACK! Yay...
 
Now, why are we supposed to care? I'm going to write this as if you don't know, even though there's a 50/50 chance you do. Back when manga was new to the US/Canada market, Sailor Moon was THE SH*T. The anime was aired (hideously censored, but still) on TV by 4kids, and a lot of people watched it! Its publication by Tokyopop, alongside the slightly less popular CLAMP title Magical Knight Rayearth, brought large groups of female readers, to perhaps all North American comics fandom for the first time since the pre-code days of romance comics.

However, the show had slightly less staying power (and merchandise) than Pokemon, and since this is Tokyopop we're talking about, the manga has been out of print for years... UNTIL NOW! In fact, not only is the previously minor company Kodansha USA giving us Sailor Moon in a new, better (hopefully) edition, we are also getting Codename: Sailor V, a dry run of sorts, a "prequel" published a year before Sailor Moon. This will make a lovely addition to my bookshelf, perhaps to accompany my copy of the first Cardcaptor Sakura omnibus, which looms over bedroom wall, menacingly...