General anime thoughts/discussion thread.

Is it down to a difference in how criminals are perceived? The West tends to glorify people like Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone, etc. but is Japan just less keen on doing this, do they actually prefer that their criminals remain viewed as just that?
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In some ways you'd think it'd be the opposite, since the Yakuza are still almost allowed to exist legally in Japan and with little interference. The Yakuza video games also have a very romantic take on the Yakuza, nothing like the swaggering thugs they no doubt are in reality. Though the first Japanese Yakuza movies I saw were a few of Kinji Fukasaku's, and they were relentlessly brutal, often depicting the characters (sometimes even the protagonist) rape women.
 
If I had to hazard a guess, my impression is that the anime watching audience in Japan either isn't interested, or is perceived to be not interested enough, in a series about the yakuza for one to exist. If you think about it, the number of police procedural or detective anime that don't rely on some sort of fantasy hook is extremely small, so I can only assume that the market for 'realistic' crime anime is too niche for a cautious industry to really explore it.

Perhaps the feeling is just that creating an animated crime show wouldn't allow for anything that couldn't be covered in (more reliably bankable?) live-action. Take the barking-mad shoot-em-up Seibu Keisatsu for example. Much as I think an animated version would be a great project for Takeshi Koike, the show is about one step away from being a cartoon already.
 
Most I've seen is Nisekoi, which is getting an anime later this year. Both of the two central characters come from mafia families, but they're played as being entirely humourous in their devotion to their heirs (like making Valentine's chocolates).
 
I do like it when we get anime that features more adult main characters, you do get a bit sick of high school after a while :p I think that's one reason why I liked Jormungand so much, I found a series about professionals being professional to be very appealing.
 
One thing I always wonder is, when I'm an adult in my 30s+, how will I feel about all these high school shows? Sure, I'm in my 20s now, but school is a recent memory.

Also, AniplexUSA just posted up pictures of the import Madoka movies 1-2 release:
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So beautiful. Glad I have this baby on pre-order.
 
Lawrence said:
I think the problem with high school shows isn't the setting but the fact that most of the shows using high school as a setting also fall into the Slice of Life genre and in recent years that has been an abundance of SOL shows, especially of those set in high school.

Though I try to avoid it, I'm now watching 3(arguably 4) SOL shows this season of which 2 (arguably 3) are set in High School, out of 6 shows in total.
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They've definitely fallen into a rut so to speak with concepts, playing it safe essentially.
 
Rosencrantz said:
Lawrence said:
I think the problem with high school shows isn't the setting but the fact that most of the shows using high school as a setting also fall into the Slice of Life genre and in recent years that has been an abundance of SOL shows, especially of those set in high school.

Though I try to avoid it, I'm now watching 3(arguably 4) SOL shows this season of which 2 (arguably 3) are set in High School, out of 6 shows in total.
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They've definitely fallen into a rut so to speak with concepts, playing it safe essentially.
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It's just laziness and playing it safe, as you said. I'd love for something a bit more serious and a bit more adult/mature, for lack of a better term. But the fact is that the high school setting is seemingly what the majority of Japanese fans want to watch, and I imagine that most of the demographic are in high school. However, with their ageing population you have to wonder if that means we're going to see a difference in direction in about 10 years time? Or are we simply going to have the same high school settings and the fans will be more like overgrown children; people in their 30s but still pining for the days of high school? Maybe that's part of the problem, though. These shows are created by and for people who didn't have a an 'ideal' childhood or high school experience, and are using these shows as a way of rectifying that, to live it out again. I imagine we've all been guilty of that at one point or another (I know I have). I mean, art is often used as a form of escapism, you want to live your life vicariously through these shows, so it's not an unreasonable thing to suggest.
 
One thing about the perception of crime and criminality (Sounds like a Blackadder 3 title) in Eastern cultures that I picked up is that there's a greater need for justice to be served. That might make entertainment glorifying genuine criminals a little harder to sell than it is in the West.

I remember Police Story, where Jackie Chan plays a cop who fights corruption and organised crime, and who finds it impossible to do so from within the system. In the end he has to take the law into his own hands, and become a vigilante. The end of that film had to be specifically shot again for Hong Kong audiences, where after having taken down the villains, Jackie Chan's character is seen being taken away in handcuffs, a reminder that straying outside the law has its consequences.
 
-Danielle- said:
Those Madoka movies look purdy. I guess I'd have to see the series first though :p
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Actually, these two movies are a recap of the series. So you can just jump in and watch these.
 
However, with their ageing population you have to wonder if that means we're going to see a difference in direction in about 10 years time? Or are we simply going to have the same high school settings and the fans will be more like overgrown children; people in their 30s but still pining for the days of high school?
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I'm starting to doubt if the high school thing will ever give way. Still worth hoping though.
 
If we are prepared to accent Shounen Jump series that feature the mafia in some way, Hitman Reborn is the obvious recent starting point.

Joshawott said:
One thing I always wonder is, when I'm an adult in my 30s+, how will I feel about all these high school shows? Sure, I'm in my 20s now, but school is a recent memory.
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I'm in my 30s (just) and also have the Madoka movies on their way soon... I don't care!
 
ilmaestro said:
If we are prepared to accent Shounen Jump series that feature the mafia in some way, Hitman Reborn is the obvious recent starting point.

Joshawott said:
One thing I always wonder is, when I'm an adult in my 30s+, how will I feel about all these high school shows? Sure, I'm in my 20s now, but school is a recent memory.
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I'm in my 30s (just) and also have the Madoka movies on their way soon... I don't care!
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Fair enough.

My Madoka movies were dispatched this morning. Squee!
 
I can also confirm that being a dignified 30+ adult does not diminish the traumatic memories from those school years in the slightest. I'm sure that those who enjoyed their time in the education system have a strong (and more positive) sense of nostalgia as well, even after reaching this advanced age.

And my Madoka Magica movies have shipped today too, while we're all confessing :)

R
 
Rui said:
I can also confirm that being a dignified 30+ adult does not diminish the traumatic memories from those school years in the slightest.
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Ah feck...guess I gotta to go booze for that.

And my Madoka Magica movies have shipped today too, while we're all confessing :)

R
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I'm really torn about whether to show the movies to my Mum or not because well...she cried at the end of Skyfall and Despicable Me 2...but Madoka is just so amazing.
 
They were both emotional movies!

I actually didn't think my Madoka movies had shipped yet as I thought they were in an order with something coming out on the 27th, but I just noticed Amazon shipped most of the order on Wednesday and I might have them later today. :s
 
ok i was watching dragon ball kai on tv the other day and to be honest, it was crap, before you say anything let me explain why its crap

1 the background music is awful, yes i gathered its not thee legendary Bruce Faulconer its the original japanese background but if i was to have watched dragon ball z with the original japanese background music then i dont think id be a dragon ball z fan as much as i am today,

2 the animation looks like it was taken from the original show and looks like it had the colours filtered,

3 some of the new voices for the characters sound crap * again im getting old * freiza sounds more of a old lady then he did in the original, and gohans voice sounds like a teenager but gohans only 5-7
 
animefreak17 said:
ok i was watching dragon ball kai on tv the other day and to be honest, it was crap, before you say anything let me explain why its crap

1 the background music is awful, yes i gathered its not thee legendary Bruce Faulconer its the original japanese background but if i was to have watched dragon ball z with the original japanese background music then i dont think id be a dragon ball z fan as much as i am today,

2 the animation looks like it was taken from the original show and looks like it had the colours filtered,

3 some of the new voices for the characters sound crap * again im getting old * freiza sounds more of a old lady then he did in the original, and gohans voice sounds like a teenager but gohans only 5-7
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The problem with Kai's current music is that it originally had a brand new score composed just for it. However, evidence mounted that the composer, Kenji Yamamoto (no not this one, the other one) had plagiarised other musician's works so Toei had to remove his entire score. Since this all came out around the end of Kai's run in Japan, only the last couple of TV episodes were affected on the original broadcast run, and the first batch of Funi releases still had the Yamamoto music. Toei's solution was to crowbar in Shunsuke Kikuchi's original DBZ score, which was incredibly problematic. While it worked brilliantly in DBZ (I always thought his music gave a cool Shaw Brothers atmosphere to the series), it clashes HORRIBLY with the faster editing of Kai, and they seem to only have a limited pool of usable Kikuchi music which means the music choices can be very bad.

Also the animation in most cases WAS taken from the original show :p You'll get the occasional redrawn scene however and they are very noticeable. Honestly? The only reason I watch Kai is for the new Funimation dub, it's great hearing a more faithful rendition of the series with one of the casts I grew up watching. Speaking of which, I wonder what ever became of that oft-rumoured Ocean dub of Kai? I was expecting Kix to air that version but I guess it's up to Canada now...
 
you have to emit Bruce Faulconer is a legend, iv heard the other music for kai, i think its the one your talking about, the ginys sentai song and freizas new theme, ill say i liked them
 
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