*Sigh* How woefully short of .jpeg's am I...And please note that all images are copyrighted by their respective companies.
Note and Warning: I had planned to give this page a whole new look, but am running out ot time before I leave, so imagine that it looks really different, ok? *grin* It's pretty good the way it is, I think.
Why call it a box full of anime?
I'm glad you asked me that question. Anime is God! No, wait...that's not right. Anime is Japanese animation. (And anyone who calls it "japanimation" is going to be very sorry, especially the guy on Madison Avenue who coined that phrase and thought he was being cute! *growl*) Did you watch Speed Racer when you were a little kid? Or how about Robotech? Well, those were anime series, dubbed (yuck!) into English and aired in the USA. Anime as a genre is a complex thing, hard to pin down as to one style or theme. One thing, though: manga are Japanese comics, while anime is the actual animation of those comics. The difference between Garfield on the front page of the Sunday paper and his Xmas special on TV.
Usually, the first thing that people notice when they begin to watch anime is the difference in styles between US and Japanese animation. "What's with her hair? eyes? legs? breasts? mouth?" etc. Don't panic: it's just the style, similar to the American style of drawing cartoon characters with only four fingers on their hands. Also, the standards of what is decent here and what is decent in Japan are quite different; there are tons of x-rated and violent titles availiable. (More on that later...) In Japan, it's not unusual for kids of 5 or 25 to be watching the same thing, whether it's porn or comedy.
So, when watching anime, take it with a grain of salt. I think that the drawing style and animation is a hell of a lot better than American stuff (and most of it is still done by hand, to boot). Also, remember that there is an anime series for just about everyone; whether they like martial arts, romantic comedy or sword and sorcery. And so, even though the importers are bringing a lot of the X-rated stuff in (and that's mostly what you see on the shelves today, *sigh*), there are still many wonderful visual treats awaiting the "average viewer".
Ok? See? Anime is God! ;)
Well, here are a few of my favourite series to take a look at; I think
they're a good intro. to some of the nice anime I was talking about, and
if you've never seen anime (heaven forbid!) these are all commercially
avaliable and otherwise nice places to start, plus some general anime
links:
I can't really say why this series appeals to me so much...Maybe I'm just
a sucker for romantic comedy. Anyway, the main plot is something like
this: Yusaku Godai is a penniless student (Hmmm...that sounds familiar!)
who lives in a run-down apartment house called Maison Ikkoku. He is
desperately in love with Kyoko, the beautiful manager. But she's still
in mouring for her husband and Yusaku really is too wishy-washy to stand
up for himself. In the meantime, the other tenants of Maison Ikkoku
manage to get in on the romance and sometimes make Yusaku's life
miserable. While there are a lot of jokes that don't translate well into
english, this is still a wonderful series to check out.
In the bok full of anime, there is one tape with Artic subtitles,
containing episodes 1-4.
Please visit my modest offering where I'm
slowly building an image shrine and other links to web sites.
I tell my friends who've never seen this that it's an anime version of
the old AD+D cartoon that aired so many years ago. But about 100 times
better! Beautiful animation, (especially the dragons), intriguing story
line, and I would venture to say that the last four episodes are some of the
most amazing things I've ever seen. Highly worthwhile, even if you think you
don't like fantasy or roleplaying. Also, I think that the last four
episodes from the thirteen episode series are some of the most amazing
things that I've ever seen.
I own two of the commercially released tapes, containing episodes 1-5. I
really like them, especally the "mini-documentary" at the end of the first
tape. :)
Here is a
great Lodoss page, with character descriptions and everything!
This is another wonderful series that completely took me by surprise.
Poor Keiichi! All he wants is ramen and instead he gets the "Goddess
Relief Office"! And then Belldandy misinterprets his wish and tells him
that she'll stay with him forever . So they move to an abandoned
temple and then Belldandy's _sisters_ show up... (Skuld's my favourite!)
This is another romantic comedy that does some really neat stuff that I
wasn't expecting at all...From the same guy who did, "You're Under
Arrest", a manga, which I'm not sure if I like yet or not...He
definitely has a good sense of humor, though, and the American releases
of "A!MG!" are well in step with the manga we know and love. Dark
Horse did a nice job and the five OVA's are pretty good, too...
I own three tapes, numbers 1, 4, and 5 of the American release by
Animeigo. I really like these tapes, especially the last two, even if
they are a tad melodramatic.
The
Goddess Relief Office is better than aspirin!
This Goddess page
has a lot more pictures, and...the Skuld pictures! YAY, much rejoicing...
This is another movie made by Miyazaki that's very roughly based on
Gulliver's Travels. *grin* It was the movie that made me start a
mental list of "Things I will NOT do". Anyway, this movie has some
wonderful visuals, an intriguing plot and one of the best anime "couples"
since Ranma and Akane. In fact, Pazu and Sheeta would do anything for
one another and it really shows. This is a movie that definitely falls
under the category of "Anime to Think About". A lot of themes in it
(ecological concerns, friendhsip, etc.) and discussed and explored in
other Miyazaki movies, but I think this is defintely the one that
handles them the best. The only other movie that's better is
Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa. Check out one or both, but beware of
the hideous dub of Nausicaa entitled, "Warriors of the Wind". It's
the work of Satan and I'm not kidding.
Another illegal fan-sub in my collection!
Here is a Laputa
homepage, with lots of sounds, and a whole bunch of links to image
archives. Hooray!
As you can tell from my user name
(Pretty Sammi), I am a big fan.
Besides Pretty Sammi, Washu is one of my favourite characters. She's a
scientific genius, with a big ego, lots of cool inventions, and...oh,
just read my page about her, please. The rst
of the series is a lot of sexual comedy, but what I really find
entertaining is that the main character, Tenchi, is such a nonentity. I
mean, basically, you end up watching the series to see how the other
characters interact. (Or at least, I do. I'm now sure what else other
people watch it for, although I have a feeling there's a pretty large
teenage-guy following...) ANYWAY. This is a fun series, especially if
you like character interaction and cuteness, since I think that Ryo-ohki
wins the "Cuteness Prize" hands-...I mean, paws down. It has some weird
role-reversal stuff with all the womyn involved and the few men, but it
still caputres your attention and refuses to let go.
I own the TV series, episodes 1-4, the OAV #7, and the movie, Tenchi
in love, which I adore. I think it's one of the best things I've ever
seen!
This
is a wonderful Tenchi page, but it takes a long time to load.
Kind of strange, yet fun. Girls in skimpy sailorsuits take on monsters
from the negaverse. Guys turn into girls in order to battle monsters
from the negaverse. No, I am not making this one up. That's something
you'd NEVER see in an American cartoon, defintely! As you can no doubt
tell, my fav. sailor senshi is Mercury! She is the shy, quiet one...
There is quite a storyline to this series, which is not something that I
assumed the first time I saw it. Give this series patience and it will
reward you. Quite handsomely, in fact.
Check out Jen's page for
tons of cool pictures, links and other nest stuff. And don't forget to
look at her Tuxedo Mask shrine...*drool*
This page was last modified May 31, 1998.
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