posted February 11, 2014 07:40 PM            

It shouldn't come as a surprise that I am a big fan of Anime . What is Anime exactly? Well Anime saw its origins from a very distinct style and genre that originated from a war torn Japan. The true anime style is actually quite specific and has a set modus upon which it tries to capture emotion more though imagery and motion rather than lingual-ism. Anime focuses more on character representation and setting impact through visual means and animes usually are more visually engaging compared to any other form of animation out there (one of the reason why most anime characters have very pronounced eyes.) Its something western animators only recently caught up on and tried to copy... And failed miserably at it. Also, unlike most western themed animations which try to focus their plotline on either absolute fantasy or absolute realism, most Anime kinda takes realistic worldly situations and compress them down to unrealistic settings. They IMO stimulate as well as entertain. That is what I like about serious themed animes; They present REAL and COMPLEX world issues in a fantastical themed settings. Characters in such settings have to deal with morally questionable situations, and have to deal with things like wars, genocides, bigotry, terrorism, political corruption, etc. etc. It makes a child question things about the REAL world.

My little nephew LOVES the Gundam 00 series (well... the fact that the main protagonist is a Muslim who is questioning his beliefs kinda got him interested in the anime.) I stay in touch with him via skype and he asks plenty of co-related questions between the anime itself and the world around us (particularly the idea of religious extremism and political corruption.) I swear he will put half this forum to shame with his insight on things.

Furthermore, most animes take the idea of gender neutrality very seriously; To the point where you will see quite a few female anime characters take on personality traits of usual male counterparts.

posted February 11, 2014 07:45 PM              

I don't care if disney is sexiest or its creator is an anti semite.

posted February 11, 2014 07:50 PM            

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Originally posted by Kerosene:

Not really into either anymore lol

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Any particular reason? I am just curious . I mean the beauty of anime is that as a style and a media avenue, it transcends age groups. There is actually a whole genre of anime geared towards adults called "seinen."

posted February 12, 2014 01:55 AM            

Its really difficult for me to pick even a favorite genre of Anime, let alone a series...

But no matter what my mood, I suppose I'm most likely to throw on a harem, or reverse harem Anime like Love Hina, or Fruits Baskets

Its just cracks me up how violent all of the girls are towards the main-male character, and yet they secretly all adore him!

Seems the only way they can handle their love/sexual frustration is by beating him senseless...

posted February 12, 2014 07:51 PM            

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Originally posted by 12muddy:
both. I think I prefer anime more, for the reason that you mentioned. My recent favourites are Wolf Children and Letter to Momo.

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Excellent choices! You have amazing taste . If you liked those then I definitely recommend that you should look into Hayao Miyazaki's works such as "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Spirited Away" .

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Originally posted by PixieJane:

I haven't really noticed gender neutrality that much in anime, however. Lots of androgyny, sometimes to the point that I can't tell what gender someone is (or if I do then it's by what they're wearing), and they can almost be as absurd as the Heavy Metal movie...not as explicit but it seems to me that panty shots and bouncing boobs in even the most absurd circumstances are common enough to be expected. Quick example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tBHEsdsqCA

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Ok, soooo I kinda jumped the gun with white washing the absurdly creepy side of anime and labeling it all as Gender Neutral .

And I agree with you; There are a lot of cruddy animes with no solid plotline or interesting characters; Whose only aim is to provide nothing but excessive fan service to horny little f**ks out there who IRL can't even talk to a girl let alone date one even if their lives depended upon it.

I actually find animes like Highschool of the Dead and Sailor Moon quite tame compared to some of the new "Harem" genre anime series out there. And that's saying something.

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH2i4JdPZs8

Definitely not my cup of tea.

The main difference between these atrocious crap of an anime series and Disney is the fact that while there are repetitive motifs and tropes in quite a few anime series (the "Tsundere," the "Yandere," etc.) there is still quite a bit of variety to choose from and I can focus on anime series that are more interesting and engaging in-terms of character development and plotline. Even within the Slice-Of-Life categories, there is plenty of soul moving titles available (Clannad would a very good example.)

Seriously I DARE Disney to try emulating as heart wrenching and moving as this scene here (WARNING: MAJOR Spoiler ahead and you will need tissues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE38SKRT4ak

With Valentine's Day coming up, I think that video should be a must-watch for all Husbands and Boyfriends out there Lol!

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Originally posted by PixieJane:
Btw, do you know what STARS are? I mean in regard to like this vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O0okV1mu4Y

And it had nothing to do with the character or the show (Gurren Lagann), so I'm curious what inspired it and why it was made (I'm especially curious about the "virtual reality" aspect of it). So far no anime fans, even those that like the show, can explain it to me.

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If I were to take the shot at it, I would say it follows the same mentality as the Vocaloid franchise; i.e. Artistic expression through a new medium. Mind you, I don't really find the video tantalizing or engaging for that matter (I find it tasteless and crass TBH,) but given the popularity of the Vocaloid franchise, I am not surprised that more and more videos are exploring different avenues for expression.

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Originally posted by Lei_Kuei:
Its really difficult for me to pick even a favorite genre of Anime, let alone a series...

But no matter what my mood, I suppose I'm most likely to throw on a harem, or reverse harem Anime like Love Hina, or Fruits Baskets

Its just cracks me up how violent all of the girls are towards the main-male character, and yet they secretly all adore him!

Seems the only way they can handle their love/sexual frustration is by beating him senseless...
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y1a5xu1lT-E/TzmAvkGfvAI/AAAAAAAAAOY/-HgUqT3DRAo/s1600/3963588keitaro1.jpg

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Lei Kui! Are you admitting that you are a Tsundere obsessed Otaku? Lol! J/K J/K! I am not particularly a fan of the Harem genre TBH because the plots are usually paper thin and the characters are predictable and boring. Though there are exceptions to the rule and you already mentioned one anime series as an example (i.e. Fruits Basket.)

Quite ingenious of them to use personified animals from the Chinese Zodiac in the an amime series. I am a Rat and I def. like the character Yuki from the series Lol!
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WxoS7VY6F94/Tn3L9-0iJSI/AAAAAAAAAGc/1YCwUBCtoFw/s1600/Yuki.jpg

If you liked Fruits Basket then I def. recommend that you watch Clannad:

This is too Funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENbGvLdmeUI

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Originally posted by CatMote:
grew up with a little anime. popular stuff like DBZ, DB, naruto and some others. DBZ hands down the most epic thing ever lol and im still into naruto as the manga hasnt finished yet.

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You are going to hate me for saying this but I personally can't stand DBZ or Naruto. Too friggin boring! But if you like the action based genre of anime then I def. recommend you look into Black Lagoon and Appleseed.

posted February 12, 2014 09:43 PM            

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Lei Kui! Are you admitting that you are a Tsundere obsessed Otaku?

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...Maybe <3

Although I find overly sexualized Harem Anime to be pretty disturbing, Love Hina is quite vanilla in that sense...

Then I saw "Love Hina Again S2".... And I was like WTF have you done to this show!!!

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If you liked Fruits Basket then I def. recommend that you watch Clannad:

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Actually I was going to mention Clannad...

I love it so much that I refuse to watch then end of it, I stopped at about episode 16/17... lol

I absolutely adore "Kotomi Ichinose", since that was basically me as a kid!

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She is in the top ten for every subject throughout the whole country in standardized exam results. She always goes to the library to read extra materials, especially books in foreign languages. Kotomi is a very quiet girl and it is quite difficult to communicate with her, as she is extremely shy. In her spare time, she plays the violin, although she is very poor at it to the point of causing pain to those who hear her play as a comedic effect

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I nearly died laughing when she started casting this spell:

I watched that clip you posted, OMG Ive never heard the English version of it... THAT WAS AWFUL! BLASPHEMER!

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I watch tons of other Anime besides Harem!

posted February 13, 2014 05:45 AM            

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Originally posted by Xodian:
Seriously I DARE Disney to try emulating as heart wrenching and moving as this scene here

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It's very late for me and I should be in bed, but off the top of my head that first part reminded me of the movie Brave, especially the ending it leads up to (though it was slower to get there and dragged out, showing the ending by itself without the character growth on both sides that led up to it just misses it).

And the second part sorta reminded me of this from Hannah Montana...not quite as heart wrenching, but still aspires to it (even if they did try to lighten it up at the beginning and end of this scene):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHAbAomu3JQ

Btw, in the series her mother also died which comes up as a sting sometimes, though not portrayed as in the clip you shared. And Disney can be amazingly depressing at times, like this. And then the death of this cub's father (which was followed with him being blamed and "what will your mother say?").

Can't forget Bridge to Terabithia. Interesting enough the advertisement showed the deep, transforming friendship and tragic death that followed in the ads for Japan to get viewers whereas in the US they lied and made it seem like it was a fun fantasy popcorn flick which resulted in a lot of angry parents over that, many crying along with their kids! Oh, YT shows them both here.

Though just to be clear, I consider Disney a business first and foremost whereas a lot of anime has some truly inspired storytellers and artists...all in all Disney is fast food that only rarely puts out actual art (but lots of people prefer that) whereas anime allows a much greater chance to find a "chef" over the standard McDonald's.

posted February 13, 2014 08:41 AM            

The only Anime shows I ever really watched were Cowboy Bebop, Pokemon, Digimon...

posted February 13, 2014 09:09 AM            

Oh Spirited away is one of my favourite too. Howl's moving castle is good but I think there's a bit too many overly sweet "moments" so I don't enjoy it that much.

Pom Poko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pom_Poko) is another good one. Origin: Spirit of the past is quite beautiful - love the opening theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xGoR23Wouk

I've watched a fair number of anime movies/series, and overall I tend to like anime about family bond, spirits, connection between human and nature. Occasionally I enjoy action/thriller ones. Sometimes funny, lighthearted shounen like Toriko.

As for gender neutrality, I can't comment on anime as a whole (there are just too many to consider). But yeah, hmm on top of my head I can think of some, such as Only Yesterday (1991), Wolf children, moments in various series... that I guess, reflect a part of the culture - female characters are associated with children, marriage, motherhood, and their choices. Some consider it to be boring and out of dated, but personally I think that the reason why I enjoy those movies is because the female characters are portrayed as vulnerable, but strong and admirable, without having to be "bad-ass" or taking on "masculine" roles and/or attitudes.

posted February 14, 2014 08:34 AM            

Some of them are downright awful, such as My Neighbors the Yamadas...

posted February 18, 2014 12:35 AM            

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Originally posted by Lei_Kuei:
I nearly died laughing when she started casting this spell

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Yeah funny stuff! Though I like the running gag with her trying to play the violin a whole lot better .

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Originally posted by 12muddy:
As for gender neutrality, I can't comment on anime as a whole (there are just too many to consider). But yeah, hmm on top of my head I can think of some, such as Only Yesterday (1991), Wolf children, moments in various series... that I guess, reflect a part of the culture - female characters are associated with children, marriage, motherhood, and their choices. Some consider it to be boring and out of dated, but personally I think that the reason why I enjoy those movies is because the female characters are portrayed as vulnerable, but strong and admirable, without having to be "bad-ass" or taking on "masculine" roles and/or attitudes.

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I actually find it quite interesting TBH; Maybe because the conceptual ideas of "masculinity" are challenged and redefined when they are abundently shown as a personality trait of a female.

I like females with a more aggressive and "go-get-em!" attitude. Maybe its because of own fire/air placements and the fact that I grew up with three brothers with abundant Fire placements in their charts but I like a character who is proactive, aggressive in their pursuit of their objective, strong both in mind and body and shows those traits clearly in their personality! If that character happens to be female, it makes her all the more interesting and quite attractive IMO .

Hence why I like strong female characters with masculine kickass personality traits!

posted February 19, 2014 11:32 PM            

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Originally posted by Lei_Kuei:
I find many of the Studio Ghibli movies to be hit or miss... SA was the first of the franchise I saw and I enjoyed it, but P Mononoke is by far their best...

Some of them are downright awful, such as My Neighbors the Yamadas...

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I am going to argue about P Mononoke being Studio Ghibli's best work and say that Grave of the Fireflies has to be the best emotional and engaging anime film that they have done to date. That movie seriously will get to anyone and everyone; Regardless of how hard their heart is.