General anime thoughts/discussion thread.

Vashdaman

Vashdaman

Za Warudo
Feel free to lock this badboy down if it is not deemed beneficial mods, but I thought there was a gap in forum for a general anime talk thread. What do I do when I have a random anime thought in my head I feel I must share; post it in the general news thread? Not unless I want to induce the ire of our beautiful mods. Post it in the General discussion thread? Possible, but that's where people go for respite from the anime mania of the rest of the forum. Post it on my Facebook page? And have my 33 friends skim past my anime insight as they trawl their timelines for inspirational Drake quotes or something, what an insult!

Anyway, the thought that is currently burning in my mind: I will not continue with Nana after all, episode 4 was the last straw! If I want a exceptionally poorly written romance with ridiculous yet dull characters, I'll stick to Channel 5 afternoon flicks.

Sorry for that blast of negativity. Let me balance it out with something positive: I really like how anime embraces grey haired characters (who are often young and heroic). I have an increasing amount of grey fleck in my hair, and feel confident that I can go to Japan and be their tanned English Richard Gere. Though I worry my Kenshiro level bush eyebrows which remain obstinately black, may ruin the vibe...

Anyway :)
 
vashdaman said:
Sorry for that blast of negativity. Let me balance it out with something positive: I really like how anime embraces grey haired characters (who are often young and heroic). I have an increasing amount of grey fleck in my hair, and feel confident that I can go to Japan and be their tanned English Richard Gere. Though I worry my Kenshiro level bush eyebrows which remain obstinately black, may ruin the vibe...
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Your facebook page, yes.

:p
 
I thinks it's a good idea. I wanted to post something last night and thought, well that doesn't really fit anywhere so I left it.

Anyway I've stopped watching Naruto Series 4. I need a break. I left it in a good spot (last ep was 96). i will return to it at some point. I've now gone back to the original DBZ Season 4 funny enough (maybe there's a pattern appearing here) :lol:
 
Having seen these sort of threads do well on other boards, I'm all for it too.

It puzzles me that we've never had any kind of sustained anime series about the yakuza. Given the rich history of popular yakuza films (and more recently, games) in Japan, you'd think we could have at least one show in which ridiculously dressed men chainsmoke their way around the wrong end of town, before kicking each others' faces off in a pachinko parlour.

I've seen both Seto no Hanayome and Gokusen, but I don't really count either of them. Both play it strictly for laughs and seem to make the yakuza out as loveable rogues, whose funding comes from sources unknown. I'm not saying it has to be exactly like a Takeshi Kitano film (although that would be nice), but surely we could get something in the mould of the old Nikkatsu pulp action films?
 
Still not seen that. I keep meaning to watch it every time it's on Film4, but I always end up missing it.

Would prefer an ongoing series as opposed to a one-off though.
 
Going by the manga (still not seen the movie)I don't think Tekkonkinkreet is at all the kind of thing prof has in mind. Gungrave comes a bit closer, as it is a gangster/zombie revenge thriller of sorts. I wouldn't consider it a Yakuza anime though, it just has some general themes of organised crime. What about Crying Freeman, doesn't that have Yakuza elements? Though, from what I can remember of the small amount of it I watched, it didn't really scratch that itch.

This is actually really interesting, I've never really thought of it before, but the dearth of proper Yakuza anime is bizarre.
 
Was forgetting about Gungrave actually. I have seen a little bit of it and it looked quite decent. Shall investigate further. Crying Freeman, I have also seen bits of and eh... it's close, but yeah, I was thinking of something more like this:


Greenmeido said:
You never know. With the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if we got a show about cute girls being in the yakuza.
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I have no doubt it's coming. Tetsuya Watari is pretty moe already.
 
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Professor Irony said:
It puzzles me that we've never had any kind of sustained anime series about the yakuza. Given the rich history of popular yakuza films (and more recently, games) in Japan, you'd think we could have at least one show in which ridiculously dressed men chainsmoke their way around the wrong end of town, before kicking each others' faces off in a pachinko parlour.
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I've always wondered this too. Considering the amount of films/tv shows we have on this side of the hemisphere that revolve around gangs/gangsters I've found it quite surprising that there's no go too cool, kick ass, in fighting, gritty dramatic Yakuza anime. 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? Or is that the demographic of people who make anime actually aren't interested in any of that? Or perhaps is it because it's not marketable in terms of merchandising/cash ins?

So I just came back from seeing Pacific Rim and it made me realise I really need to get my arse in gear and watch a Gundam. Been saying it for so long, but really need to actually do it now. So what's the best one, folks?
 
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