Anime, thoughts?

Off-Topic Movies, TV and Entertainment
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Oof, a lot to unpack here, but I’ll try to address a few points without being too long-winded.

The term “weaboo” (weeb for short) is technically a derogatory term for people who are obsessed with Japanese culture, but is often used to insult people who like anime. I’m sure you’ve heard “stupid weeb game” on this forum when people disparage others who like Final Fantasy.

Frieren is animated by Madhouse (my favorite animation studio) and Attack on Titan is animated by Wit Studio and MAPPA. Different studios all have different artists working for them, which gives various shows their charm.

A lot (most?) of anime is based on manga (basically Japanese comic series). Manga authors are both the creators and artists of their manga. When a manga gets adapted into an anime, an animation studio such as the ones listed above handles the production. Different studios all have different artists and animators, so yes their styles will vary greatly.

These are just acronyms. ONA is Original Net Animation, OVA is Original Video Animation. OVAs are often one-offs or spin-offs, and typically have a bit higher production values than series with a lot of episodes. They are typically longer than a standard tv episode as well, and are a form of direct-to-video media.

Isekai means “other/different world” in Japanese. It’s a genre of manga/anime where a normal everyday schmoe gets whisked away to a different world, often a fantasy setting, to interact with that world, oftentimes becoming some kind of hero. Isekai as a genre has become extremely over-saturated in recent years, so a lot of modern anime will be isekai.

No, that’s the actual title of the series - “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.” Anime and especially the isekai genre has adopted a lot of comically long titles in recent years. Another example of a ridiculous title is “Bofuri: I Don’t Want To Get Hurt So I’ll Max Out My Defense.”

This is based on the 90s manga series Gunnm, known as Battle Angel Alita in the US. There was also a 2-part anime OVA in the 90s simply titled “Battle Angel.” The live-action movie covers the events of the first 3-ish volumes of the manga (there are 5 volumes plus some spinoffs). It’s one of my favs. I’m usually referring to the OVA or the manga when I mention this series, but the live-action film was quite good as far as adaptations go.

The live-action Ghost In The Shell movie with Scarlett Johansson is again based on a manga series from the 90s. There was also an anime tv series called GitS: Stand Alone Complex, and a newer reboot called GitS: Arise, but typically when people mention Ghost In The Shell (me included) they are referring to the 1995 anime feature film, which is a masterpiece. Highly recommend.

Perfect Blue is an anime film (if you are referring to the live-action film Perfect Blue: Yume Nara Sumete, that’s a completely different unrelated movie). Again, one of my favorites. Paprika is from the same director (Satoshi Kon). Both films are animated by Madhouse.

You can refer to my earlier post (#176ish) in this thread about Neon Genesis Evangelion. This is also a classic/masterpiece of anime and has a huge fandom. You can watch the original series and then its two followup films, or you can watch the 4-part reboot film series. All are excellent and ideally you’d want to watch everything at some point if you like it.

As I stated way up in the thread (post #27ish), anime is categorized by not only its genre (fantasy, sci-fi, romance, etc) but also its demographic that it’s marketed towards - shoujo (girl’s), shounen (boy’s), josei (women’s) and seinen (men’s). There can be a lot of overlap, but these are just generalities that can help you pick stuff out and mostly apply to manga and anime shows rather than movies. Perfect Blue for example, I would describe as a seinen/josei psychological horror thriller. Lol.

Hope this helps somewhat, and glad you’re enjoying the world of anime so far!
One of us! One of us!

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WOW!!! You landed that one perfectly! I was reading this morning and realized I missed my mark with Ghost in the Shell and will watch the one you mentioned.

We’re about to watch Paprika, (not falling for tricks when googling that show real life type movies), but saw Millennium Actress directed by Satoshi Kon (went down the rabbit hole reading about him - omg, he’s amazing) - so I’m thinking we should watch Perfect Blue first, Millennnium Actress, finish with Paprika. Idk if it matters as much as I think as to order watched. Just feels right.

I was raised on movies. My father was a union projectionist when I was a little girl. At 5 years old (this would be 1965) I remember going to work with him and sitting on a stool in the booth to see the movie thru one of this little glass windows - and then getting to push the button to open the curtains!

Us kids got into movies free for the first part of our lives. It was fun and I accidentally, at first, learned a lot.

Point is over the last 10 years it just seems like the same crap getting pumped out to theaters- with the rare gems here and there. So, right now it’s really fun to discover a new genre I’ve dismissed and find out as much as I can. I’m really excited about this adventure.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to answer my questions and help make things clearer. :butterfly:

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Such is the trend of most Video / Visual Media. No genre is immune to it, or also known as <)Insert Movie Series/Style Here Fatigue(>. So far, seems like Video Game adaptations are finally breaking the mold of can only be bad and only for kids appear to have made a decent mark and giving many that relief from being bombarded with either Star Wars or Superheroes.

A fun, yet odd thing about anime is it tries to have something for everyone. To very wholesome to unfortunately very questionable. I often find myself been watching Cells at Work. Unique slice of life series that made what many would view as a boring subject wholesomely entertaining poking fun at how the body works while parodying major animes that came before it.

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The movies don’t have any recurring characters or continuity, so you can watch them in whatever order you want, but I think chronologically as you’ve suggested is a good bet. Their budgets increase as they go along, so if you watch Paprika before Perfect Blue, some of the lower-budget scenes in the latter could be a bit jarring. As a studio, Madhouse knows where to spend the budget though, and where to use stills for background characters where it makes sense (you’ll see this in the opening concert scene). There is a scene where Mima is running through a hallway that looks fantastic. Madhouse excels at action sequences.

Conversely, Paprika has a ton of movement everywhere, even in backgrounds due to the higher budget. That whole film looks gorgeous and it’s a real head trip. As a director, Satoshi is known for blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. I would recommend watching the films at least twice, as you will definitely pick up things you missed the first time that will make things fall into place and make more sense, especially for Perfect Blue. Unfortunately I can’t elaborate without spoilers.

Perfect Blue will definitely shatter any preconceptions of anime only being silly stuff for kids. There are two scenes in particular that are a bit hard to watch, and one of extreme violence that comes out of nowhere, which made me physically recoil and shout “holy :poop:!!” the first time I saw it. You’ll know it when you see it.

I also suggest watching the other film of his you didn’t mention, Tokyo Godfathers. It’s about three homeless people who find an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve, and after much deliberation, make it their mission to return it to its mother. It has an insane plot twist at the end, which Satoshi is also known for.

This is so awesome!

Yep, remakes of remakes and banking on nostalgia. It’s the “safe” (and woefully uncreative) way of doing things when profits are the only thing on one’s mind. There are some definite gems though.

You’re very welcome, and I hope you enjoy some of the suggestions. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yes, what I was thinking as well.

Perfect Blue was interesting as my first foray into a different anime. (SPOILERS) I found the intensity and facial expressions, body language, certain colors used to convey emotion fascinating. Yes, that one scene was “holy fudge! Wth!” I have nothing to compare it to I took it for what it was. Also bearing in mind the time it was made. I was surprised at the depth of emotions conveyed.

The part that’s difficult is psychological/horror thrillers are a big thing for me. Getting away from most Hitchcock films, and other movies like Double Indemnity, Wait until Dark, and Identity - it was difficult to take the first leap of suspending disbelief to watch any film. That said I can see how Perfect Blue can be critiqued beyond its time and extreme well executed. I’ll probably re-watch it later after I have more experience with anime. Though her friend installing the internet ìn the beginning did give me pause, for a brief sec, but the directing to a joke about learning it deliberately left no time to think much more of it. Well done Perfect Blue on all of it. Scene by scene & almost frame by frame.

Edit to add: the blurring of the lines of reality was perfect.

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Just curious if you watched it in English or Japanese. I’m glad you enjoyed it, and since I won’t spoil things now that you’ve seen it, I’ll point out a couple things to look for if you decide to watch it again.

Spoilers -

Summary

Rumi is frequently yawning throughout the film. She’s tired because of her evening internet activities.

During the scene where “hallucination Mima” jumps on stage with Rei and Yukiko, you can see a brief look of shock on the faces of the audience before it turns to elation. While Mima’s conversation with her hallucination was not real, Rumi was really there on stage dressed as Mima. Rei and Yukiko also look very uncomfortable as they continue their song with this cosplaying lunatic on stage, though they don’t know who it is (Mima does not see this as she’s still inside).

In the violent murder scene of the photographer, pay attention to the murderer’s shadow on the tv - it isn’t Mima.

At the very last shot of the film with Mima sitting in her car, in the English dub the final line of the film is delivered by Mima. In Japanese, it’s delivered by Rumi. :scream:

Masterful pun :laughing:

I want to say something else, too, just in case you go back and read through this thread again looking for more suggestions. MsBombastic and I have mentioned some films that I absolutely would NOT recommend you watch, for fear of turning you off of the medium. These are Kite, Mezzo Forte, and especially Urotsukidouji.

Summary

All of these films contain extremely graphic sexual violence. Kite is banned in at least one country that I know of.

They are good films, but absolutely not for the faint of heart and I would never recommend them to anyone just getting into anime for the first time.

It was a different time in the 80s and 90s, and a lot of these movies were readily available in video stores because people just saw “cartoon” and thought it was no biggie. I vividly remember walking into our local video store on my way home from school to rent a video game. The 20-something year old girl who ran the place and was an anime fan just casually had Urotsukidouji playing on the tv while she was ordering inventory, not paying attention to what part it was at and not noticing me walk in. I looked up at the tv and was like “oh… my… god…” :grimacing: :scream: I think I was like 10 or 11 years old at the time. She promptly turned it off and asked if I saw anything, to which I replied “nope!” and proceeded to pick out a game… It wasn’t until I was in college that I saw it again, having never known the title.

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Solo Leveling is a good anime.

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Even MoonDreamers is Anime by that definition as is some episodes of the original MLP with the majority of the MLP Episodes being South Korean Cartoons.

I hear it was inspired by the DnD Anime made by Toei that was commissioned by Marvel Studios for American Audiences.

A shame Planescape wasn’t around during those days otherwise we’d be seeing Outer Planes everywhere in Anime!

The Outer and Inner Planes are the best part of DnD narratively as everywhere else is just your average Fantasy Setting.

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Well, not so much G.I. Joe, but Gen 1 Transformers specifically I’d consider anime. If you’ve ever seen Mobile Suit Gundam or anything Macross-related, there are plenty of similarities. That whole franchise was a collab by Hasbro and Japanese company Takara Tomy, so I’d say it counts.

I really enjoyed Planescape and it was definitely one of the more interesting settings. Dark Sun was my jam, though. I still have all of my 2nd ed. boxed sets, modules, and supplements for that setting. Good times

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Dark Sun sounds similar to Outland’s story from the glance I just made at it…

Magic fueled by draining life… Definitely Outland’s story…

Now as for why Planescape interests me:

Those Outer Planes are wonderous! Especially Mount Celestia, the 9 Hells, the Infinite Layers of the Abyss, the 6 Prisons of Tartarus and the 3 Elven Worlds of Arborea(2 shared with the Greeks and 1 shared with the Egyptians)!

Mount Celestia’s 7 Heavens are wonderous:

  1. The Heaven of the Moon Lunia has an Infinitely Vast Starlit Moonlit White Desert with Arabian Cities with one Japanese Realm in the Infinite White Desert called the 8 Happinesses as well as an Infinitely Vast Starlit Moonlit Sea of Holy Water with Infinitely Vast Islands including a Redwall-esque Kingdom of Holy Rats and a Land Before Time-esque Realm of Talking Dinos.
  2. The Heaven of Mercury Mercuria is an Eternally Sunset Japanese & Indian Realm.
  3. The Heaven of Venus Venya is practically the Shire.
  4. The Heaven of the Sun Solania is Chinese & Dwarven Mountains with Crystals jutting out of them.
  5. The Heaven of Mars Mertion is a European Castle Realm with a portion being a Desert resembling the Caverns of Time complete with Temporal Anomalies.
  6. The Heaven of Jupiter Jovar is an Infinitely Vast Gemstone Cavern where everything except most of the inhabitants are Gemstones including the trees. There is a Ziggurat at the center of the Cave leading into the next Layer.
  7. The Heaven of Saturn Chronias is an all consuming Light.

The 9 Infinitely Vast Hells are ominous:

  1. Avernus is a Meteor-ravaged wasteland filled with Blood.
  2. Dis is an Infinitely Vast Approach to a Small City which you walk towards only to turn around and find you are in the City(which has become Infinitely Vast) with it’s main Tower moving with your gaze and only accessible when you aren’t focusing on it upon which traversing it leads to a Greater City.
  3. Minauros is a Swamp.
  4. Phlegethos is a Volcano.
  5. Stygia is a Frozen Sea next to a Black Desert.
  6. Malboge is a Fleshy Realm.
  7. Maladomini is a Ruined Kingdom.
  8. Cania is a Glacier.
  9. Nessus is an Icy & Volcanic Wasteland 2,500 miles East to West and 1,100 miles North to South with an Infinitely Vast City at it’s Center all floating in an Infinite Fiery Whirlwind.

The 6 Prisons of Tartarus(each being an Infinite string of Planets) are wonderous as well:

  1. Othrys is Mountains and Swamps under a Red Thunderstorm.
  2. Cathrys is Crimson Jungles(Toxic) and Grasslands.
  3. Minethys is Crimson Desert.
  4. Colothys is Crimson Spires.
  5. Porphatys is Black Ice, Water and Snow.
  6. Agathys is Dark Ice with Red Streaks.

Arborea’s Elven Realms are Arvandor(Elven Forest with Mount Olympus), Aquallor(Sea Elven Sea with the Mermaids & Tritons’ Mount Ossa) and Mithardir(Sand Elven Desert with the Egyptian Mount Pelion).

The Infinitely Vast Infinite Layers of the Abyss include: The Gates of Heaven, a Jungle Layer, an Elven Forest in constant war against the Mountain of Pale Night, Shedaklah a Mushroom & Slime Swamp, a Vampire Mansion, Shendilavri the False Paradise and the Demonweb Pits which is a vast Spider Web as expected.

If we could get a Planescape TV Show shown in Japan the Writers will be inspired to create Shows focused on Inner and Outer Planes!

Edit: Just noticed something that requires my attention:

Is this somehow a reference to Chromie? Gnomes aren’t built like Children! Words like that will cause a stir in actual Midget and Dwarven Communities in real life!

If you aren’t talking about Chromie and infact about a Dragon who actively takes the form of an actual Child rather than a ridiculously short adult(like WoW Gnomes or Hanyuu from Higurashi): Why are Dragons passing themselves off as Children!? Clearly that Dragon is a degenerate!

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I feel my last post about adult-oriented anime may have been a little eyebrow raising, and I’ve mostly only suggested movies so far, so I want to throw something different into the mix.

Watch the show “Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku”

It’s still available for free on Amazon Prime if you have that (Japanese dialogue with subtitles only). It’s only a single season (11 episodes) so not a long watch.

This show is a romantic comedy about four friends, all mid-late twenties office workers who are secretly huge nerds in their private lives.

Narumi Momose is a yaoi (gay male romance manga marketed towards women) fangirl who writes/draws her own yaoi manga in her free time.

Hanako Koyanagi is a yaoi fangirl and cosplayer that cosplays as gay men.

Hirotaka Nifuji is a huge gamer nerd who can easily excel at any game he plays.

Taro Kabakura is a yuri (lesbian romance manga marketed towards men) fanboy.

Taro and Hanako have been dating since highschool, and Hirotaka and Narumi, who have been friends since they were little kids, begin dating at the start of the series.

The series deals with the trials and tribulations these friends face as they move through their daily lives as closeted nerds. They don’t always have the same interests or understand each other, but attempt to press on with their relationships regardless. It’s very funny and has a lot of heartfelt moments as well. They make plenty of references to other anime (Evangelion, Macross, etc) and video games (Monster Hunter, Mario Kart, etc), and some knowledge of Japanese stereotypes and social mores helps, but is not required. One of the later episodes involves them all playing an mmo together and is somewhat a parody of the isekai genre.

This is one of my favorite shows released in recent memory and I’ve watched it all the way through several times despite not usually watching rom-coms. Hopefully you enjoy it if anyone decides to watch.

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I don’t typically watch rom-coms, but this one sounds good. So far all your suggestions seem to be the type I enjoy.

Oh, and btw, I’ve start Frieren. Threw my back out and hubby was gone. I got to watch it all day yesterday. It’s beautiful. I’ve even teared up a couple times. Being in my early 60’s so much just pulled at the heart strings and I identified with. Love the words to the credits songs.

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Yes Frieren is great. It will be a classic anime for sure.

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One show I think was pretty polarizing (unjustly) was Vinland Saga. I never read the manga, but the first season and second season feeling so different put a lot of people off it. But, the character development is insanely good. Arguably the best I’ve seen in my 15 years of consuming this media regularly.

S1 was an awesome ride, but thankfully I learned that it was more of the prelude (while it was still airing, so S1E3 maybe?). And knowing S2 was the heart of the story made me enjoy S1 and S2 that much more. I hope S3 continues this streak of excellence.

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I don’t normally watch them either, but I really enjoyed this one. It’s a very feel-good, slice-of-life type of show, and not too heavy on drama like some of my other suggestions. It’s just fun to watch.

Ouch, feel better! I’ve not watched Frieren yet. As someone who has recently reached middle-age and is struggling to accept it, I’m very apprehensive towards watching shows with passage of time themes. I know I’ll get emotional watching it, so I’m putting it off for now.

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The first couple of episodes gave me an existential crisis but that theme gets manageable after that when it becomes a slightly more typical adventure/fantasy anime. It’s amazing though. Definitely recommend.

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I was just watching the Quintuplets and why does it seem like the second season of an anime is always worse than the first season? Is it just because I hated the ending?

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The end result of the Author(and Anime Writers) recklessly killing off the only other potential Love Interests for him before the show’s end.

If it weren’t for Kagura and Sara Asano being killed off there is a chance that Sesshōmaru would have got together with one of them instead.

The Writers of Yashahime had their hands tied and yet even with that they still had another option: New Love Interest out of nowhere and yet they didn’t take it in favor of appeasing the Shippers… Disgusting how there even were Shippers they needed to appease…