Rate the last anime you watched out of 10

[Sparrowsabre7]

Yes, I think people are generally aware of 1995 coming before 1999, somehow. When things come along and "borrow" from you, though, it's not entirely unreasonable to want to distance yourself from them, especially when they fall massively out of public favor as the Matrix franchise did.

Of course you could argue that the Wachowski brothers simply felt "We can just steal this because only a load of geeks will know where we stole it from" (Probably true for 1999)

As for the date, many lay people, if they watched GITS without knowing anything about the background to it, would probably say it stole from the matrix and not the other way around. Sad, but unfortunately true. :x

Mmm it is sadly. Even watching it I was thinking "Wow this is Matrixy" even though I knew GITS came first. It's odd that the Akira collection's quote is "No Akira, no Matrix it's that important" when that would much better apply to GITS. I saw almost no Matrix influences in Akira. I mean I GUESS you could say both are post apocalyptic in a way but that's not Akira's main thing.

 

[ilmaestro]

All of that 80s cyberpunk stuff influenced the Wach's, tbf (compare, say, Akira's powers with Neo's, and possible similarities between Tetsuo and Agent Smith), just that some of it shows up more obviously in the visual design of The Matrix (or, in Megazone 23 Part 1's case, in the whole idea behind it).

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

All of that 80s cyberpunk stuff influenced the Wach's, tbf (compare, say, Akira's powers with Neo's, and possible similarities between Tetsuo and Agent Smith), just that some of it shows up more obviously in the visual design of The Matrix (or, in Megazone 23 Part 1's case, in the whole idea behind it).

Perhaps, but I GITS is defintely a more direct influence. I mean you can look at it and go "oh the matrix took that from here" with Akira there are similarities in design as you say, but nothing where you can say "oh this was influenced by this specific aspect"

 

[ilmaestro]

Yes, I totally agree that the GitS influences are more obvious.

 

[AnimePicks]

Baccano! 9.5/10

One of the best anime I have ever seen, and that is saying something. HIGHLY recommended!

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

I'm not sure what it was but I felt Bacanno couldn't live up to its OP. I think they ruined the series by giving it one of the best and most catchy OPs ever =P Sets expectations too high. That said I still liked it, and the OVAs were great too with Graham Spector (spectre?). I just love anything with Keiji Fujwara playing an ***hole though =P

 

[Jaymii]

I thought the show completely lived up to the OP. I really really liked it, but I wasn't as enthralled as you seem to be with it though. I might have been if I wasn't loving DRRR's first one at the same time.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

I thought the show completely lived up to the OP. I really really liked it, but I wasn't as enthralled as you seem to be with it though. I might have been if I wasn't loving DRRR's first one at the same time.

I wouldn't say enthralled, I just thought the music was great and the style was very slickly done.

 

[Jaymii]

I wouldn't say enthralled, I just thought the music was great and the style was very slickly done.

DRRR's two openings are done in the same way. Different songs, but same "style" or whatever. Go watch.

(I can't find you on MAL, so no idea if you have seen it already. )

 

[Professor Irony]

Really, I should never have said "the next video shouldn't take so long", I just cursed it for myself...

Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society

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A review so good that youtube have blocked it in the US and Canada. :roll:

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

I wouldn't say enthralled, I just thought the music was great and the style was very slickly done.

DRRR's two openings are done in the same way. Different songs, but same "style" or whatever. Go watch.

(I can't find you on MAL, so no idea if you have seen it already. )

Very good, but I still prefer bacanno's if only because it's all so 30s (20s? whatever) and I dig the jazzyness, though DRRR's is also cool and no I haven't, I've taken to renting anime where possible rather than online watches. I assume at least SOME rental money goes to the creator and if not, I prefer to go legal unless absolutely necessary heh.

And since DRRR's not long to be out I intend to rent it then. =3 And that's odd you couldn't find me, I have the same username on there as well as on deviantart, livejournal, XBL, youtube (ex, got banned for Star Wars amvs), etc etc =P

 

[Jaymii]

Very good, but I still prefer bacanno's if only because it's all so 30s (20s? whatever) and I dig the jazzyness, though DRRR's is also cool and no I haven't, I've taken to renting anime where possible rather than online watches. I assume at least SOME rental money goes to the creator and if not, I prefer to go legal unless absolutely necessary heh

Ah, I must have been typing your name into MAL wrong, I found you now. Legality-wise, its on CR, so its legal - if you approve of that site. It's probably better to kick back and watch a DVD though, unless your able to hook your laptop up to a TV and stuff. ;p

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

Very good, but I still prefer bacanno's if only because it's all so 30s (20s? whatever) and I dig the jazzyness, though DRRR's is also cool and no I haven't, I've taken to renting anime where possible rather than online watches. I assume at least SOME rental money goes to the creator and if not, I prefer to go legal unless absolutely necessary heh

Ah, I must have been typing your name into MAL wrong, I found you now. Legality-wise, its on CR, so its legal - if you approve of that site. It's probably better to kick back and watch a DVD though, unless your able to hook your laptop up to a TV and stuff. ;p

Yeah I watched Gundam on crunchy but my god the ads were so jerky and slow and it was a hassle so it's Funi youtube or DVD now. =P

 

[ilmaestro]

You don't like the ads on CR but will watch Funi's youtube?

 

[fabio de lunatico]

School Days - wtflol/10

Anime romance is sometimes criticized for not portraying the relationships of teenagers in a particularly realistic light; they tend to be oddly chaste. Not so in School Days whose lead character, Makoto, develops an attitude towards girls that makes him easier for many people to relate to than Tenchi and his gazillion girl-phobic harem lead clones. Yet for his transgressions during the course of School Days he has become one of the most loathed characters in anime.

It starts off innocently enough, with Makoto quietly transfixed by the elegant beauty of Kotonoha, a girl with whom he rides the train to school. When a girl in his class, Sekai, offers to act as a go-between, it's not long before the two are dating. But turns out to be not quite what Makoto was expecting: Kotonoha is shy, quiet, and uncomfortable with intimacy, something Makoto discovers as he impatiently tries to push their relationship to a physical level.

Makoto confides in Sekai, who has been offering advice and bitchslapping him over his horny ways. But it's clear that she isn't helping him merely out of altruism, and when she suggests that he "practice" the art of becoming intimate with a woman on her, the warning klaxon began to sound rather loudly. From that point on it's a relentlessly uncomfortable descent into betrayal, infidelity, mental disintegration, and eyebrow-raising melodrama. It gets very messy, in more ways than one. And I couldn't take my eyes off it.

(real score - 6/10)

 

[memorium]

to be honest, i think we all know a Makoto :lol:

 

[MaxonTreik]

Really, I should never have said "the next video shouldn't take so long", I just cursed it for myself...

Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wRnHZO6wpiM?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wRnHZO6wpiM?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

A review so good that youtube have blocked it in the US and Canada. :roll:

Hmm, I thought the amount of material and the content was about right for a feature length movie. It felt like a sort of coinutation of SAC. Also, I thought the characters were adequately fleshed out in SAC, and SSS was clearly made for those that watched SAC, so I think the lack of such a thing can be forgiven.

Then again, I just came to this for the eye candy and awesome.

 

[Professor Irony]

Yeah, that's fair. I think I preferred SAC in the longer series format, but anything I can accuse SSS of just feels like nitpicking - it was a very good film.

 

[HdE]

You will not find a bigger fan of GITS: SAC than me.

However, I found SSS a little bit limp in places. I think there was a little too much in it, if you get what I mean.

That said, there are some brilliant moments in it. *That* bit with Togusa and his daughter had me all tensed up as I watched it.

I wish to God we'd get another series of GITS: SAC. But I fear that trail has gone cold. :?

 

[fabio de lunatico]

White Album (s1) - 7/10

Cut from the same cloth as School Days in the sense that both lead characters take douchebaggery to an entirely new level. Seriously, this time last week I was a much more innocent, naive anime fan than I am today.

White Album's douchebag is named Touya. His girlfriend, Yuki, has recently become an idol. Because of the demands of her job, the two of them are seeing less and less of each other. And because the show is set in 1986, a time before the internet and when mobile phones were expensive and the size of paving slabs, communication between them is also difficult.

Not only that, but Yuki's manager, Yayoi, hot in body but ice cold in personality, is determined to keep them apart for the benefit of Yuki's career--going above and beyond what could be reasonably expected. Despite the efforts of Yuki's friend and fellow idol Rina, the two drift further and further apart.

Other important cast members include Rina's brother Eiji, owner of the agency that manages Rina and Yuki and general oddball; Touya's father, with whom Touya has some serious issues; and a bunch of women who for some reason find themselves attracted to Touya.

The show is more maturely written than School Days--at least that's what it's going for--and offers some insight into the topsy-turvy world of the Japanese idol as well as the tempestuous hearts and minds of its characters. Character designs are elegant and the show's tone is subdued, like the repressed emotions of the cast.

But it's often difficult to fully understand what's going on, as characters behave strangely and speak cryptically, things happen without much explanation, and time seems to pass without much indication that time has actually passed. At times the viewer needs to fill in some gaps themselves. It's also difficult to watch characters struggle with loneliness and self-destruct the way Touya does throughout the series.

It is with trepidation, then, that I move onto the second series...