Rate the last anime you watched out of 10

Mangaman got it right. Despite it being set in the present when it was made, 1979 is now the past. So I couldn't ask if you thought that being set in the present made it dated, because the present is now 2011. I probably should just have said "1979" and avoided all references to past and present completely.
 
ayase said:
Mangaman got it right. Despite it being set in the present when it was made, 1979 is now the past. So I couldn't ask if you thought that being set in the present made it dated, because the present is now 2011. I probably should just have said "1979" and avoided all references to past and present completely.
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I think this is getting all too confusing now.
 
Ian Wolf said:
The Castle of Cagliostro

Identikit baddies, dated currencies.
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If you mean that the currencies were out of date for 1979, then I understand where you're coming from, but I don't understand why you would consider that a noteworthy issue. Beyond the fact that the Count is counterfeiting different types of money, it really has very little bearing on the plot.

I'd also go along with what mangaman said. Just because the film makes no mention of when it's set, I don't see why that necessarily makes it the present. It's not uncommon for filmmakers to avoid including elements that would tie a film to a particular period in time or, equally, include elements that are purposely anachronistic to disorientate the viewer.

/Bordwell & Thompson
 
Professor Irony said:
Ian Wolf said:
The Castle of Cagliostro

Identikit baddies, dated currencies.
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If you mean that the currencies were out of date for 1979, then I understand where you're coming from, but I don't understand why you would consider that a noteworthy issue. Beyond the fact that the Count is counterfeiting different types of money, it really has very little bearing on the plot.

I'd also go along with what mangaman said. Just because the film makes no mention of when it's set, I don't see why that necessarily makes it the present. It's not uncommon for filmmakers to avoid including elements that would tie a film to a particular period in time or, equally, include elements that are purposely anachronistic to disorientate the viewer.

/Bordwell & Thompson
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The way that Greece is going right now, the currencies will probably be back in a few months...
 
Re-watched, after who knows how many years, the "city trilogy" by Kawajiri:



Wicked City

A horror / supernatural movie, with a lot of action, blood and gore. Nothing really original, nothing unexpectable, well done for what it is.

Score: 7.5 / 10



Cyber City Oedo 808

3 criminals are offered to become part of a special police corp to get a chance to get out of prison (I've been told that one of them, Benten, is a close friend of Vashdaman, but can't swear if it's true). This OVA consists of 3 episodes, every time the main character varies (one of the 3 criminals). Stories are set in a city in the future, where crimes involve high technology. A lot of action and blood even here, and some interesting characters.

Score: 8 / 10



Demon City Shinjuku

Another horror / supernatural movie. Like Wicked City, nothing really original and nothing unexpectable. The problem, in my opinion, is the drop of tension at the end. Ok, everybody knows how it's going to end before seeing it, but the final battle is really too simplistic.

Score: 7 / 10



I must say I liked this trilogy much more when I watched it for the first time years ago. Now these works show their age, both because they fall in the cliches of those years (better put, these movies strongly contributed to create those cliches) and because I suppose they are much more enjoyable in the teen years (at least in my case).



Teo
 
Hmm, I suppose it depends what you want out of your viewing really.

Having been back through a lot of Kawajiri myself in recent times, I can understand why you would say they've dated, but if anything I found they just made me nostalgic for a time when things like that were still being made.

Some of the writing is pretty poor right enough, but I don't think I've ever been bored while watching a Kawajiri film. Cyber City also remains the only series in which you can see a heroic transvestite fight a teleporting psychic vampire, in space.
 
I managed to finish sound of the sky and baccano in between studying over the past 3-4 weeks.
Sound of the sky was great I never thought I would like it but decided to buy it to get some new genres in my collection. It was a really beautiful show on the eyes, great character development and had some really touching moments. 8.5/10
Baccano was simply incredible it combines two of my favourite things mafia and anime. Storywise it's like a constant rollercoaster just piecing bits of information all over the place, it reminded me of pulp fiction in a way. All of the characters were sensational whether it was badass, cool, hilarious or just evil it had the lot. I think it may be my favourite show now and I hope for more in the future. 10/10 The end of the series not counting the ova's was hilarious with isaac and miria not realising they were immortal.
Now that exams are over for the winter it's time to get into full metal alchemist brotherhood.
 
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Just Passing Through said:
sean morrison said:
I think it may be my favourite show now and I hope for more in the future. 10/10
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In which case you want Durarara! next. Streaming on Crunchyroll if you want to try before you buy, and hoping that Beez get a dub release out soon.
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I 2nd this! Durarara! = :thumb:
 
@sean morrison
baccano is awesome, im not sure if there are any other animes with mafia (excluding yakuza) i find italian mafia awesome to watch but with yakuza i just cant take them seriously i mean anime makes them seem like hooligans and idiots instead of gentleman mafia like baccano
 
Durarara is a definite pickup for me just waiting on the dub release from beez. I was going to pickup the sub only a while back but with the dub there is a miniscule chance my brother might watch it with me which is enough reason to wait.
 
Professor Irony said:
Hmm, I suppose it depends what you want out of your viewing really.

Having been back through a lot of Kawajiri myself in recent times, I can understand why you would say they've dated, but if anything I found they just made me nostalgic for a time when things like that were still being made.
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Yes, in this period I'm in a different mood. I suppose it's because I'm older, now I care much more about a well-thought plot than full action. I should try to rewatch Fist of the North Star (it was my favourite anime 20 years ago) and see how much I like it now, just to have an idea on how much my tastes changed. Unfortunately the Italian boxset costs about 200 euro, too much, I prefer to spend that money on shows I've never seen.
But at the end of the day it's quite hard to predict tastes. For example I watched Code Geass one year ago, and loved it. It has a lot of holes in the plot (especially R2) and is based on over the top action. Or I found Kino's Journey to be "only" good. My appreciation of these 2 shows goes against what I wrote in the previous paragraph... Trying to rationalize tastes is a difficult beast, especially because they change. So I just give my ratings basing on how much I enjoyed the show while watching, nothing more.



Professor Irony said:
Cyber City also remains the only series in which you can see a heroic transvestite fight a teleporting psychic vampire, in space.
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Hahahahha, absolutely true!!!



Teo
 
As far as the currencies thing goes, whether good or bad or accurate for the time or otherwise, I would say it is the very definition of something that feels "dated" to have incidental details that tie it to a particular time period. The inference that you take from the use of the word "dated" perhaps where you hit a sticking point.
 
Chevalier D'Eon 8/10

I have somewhat of a hard time knowing exactly how to rate this series. The visuals were sometimes very nice and really capture a stylised European feel and the 5.1 sub on the ADV release worked well enough to give me a sense of the characters and was occasionally used to nice ambient effect.

The story rather than the technical side are where I have some issues.

After getting off to a slightly laboured beginning, an interesting team assembled and we got 5 very different personalities and the plot begins to move on becoming actually quite interesting, especially throughout the Russian arc.
The English arc whilst not as strong is still worth watching however the final arc set back in France is somewhat of a mess, trying to throw a mix of perhaps one or two too many ideas into a pot and leaving somewhat of a bitter taste in the end, as it struggles to resolve itself in a satisfying manner.
 
RahXephon

A very good "mecha" show in the vein of Evangelion, with the Japanese cousin of Lieutenant Columbo thrown inside. Actually a bit much in the vein of Evangelion, the analogies are really a lot; this can prevent the overall enjoyment of the series, because it's really frequent to think stuff like "this Dolem recalls of that Angel" and so on. Besides all the connections to Evangelion, this series is really good, if not great. The story is solid and flows smoothly from start to finish (the ending is on par with the rest of the episodes). Character design, mecha design and animation are all high quality, same for the background music. If Evangelion never existed I would say this series would be a 9, but since it exists then it's a 8 for me. I suppose the Evangelion comparison is something of a curse for this show, but really can't avoid it.

Score: 8 / 10



Teo
 
I'd never seen Evangelion so I guess I was lucky to be able to enjoy it for what it was. I still remember that tragic irony of one of the sub arcs about 2/3 through the series, still makes me sad thinking of it.
 
ilmaestro said:
I had never been that interested in watching RahXephon, but then again no-one had given me this juicy piece of information. :D
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Columbo-san is totally columboesque:

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but he is not a main character. You can see him in most episodes, has an important role for the story, but the main focus is on other characters.
About RahXephon as a whole, I think it really deserves a watch. The only defects I can find are the various analogies to Evangelion. If I put them aside, I think everything is at high level: great story (consistent till the ending), great directing, great characters, great animation, great music, no dull moments.
I can see only 2 reasons why someone could not like this anime:
- hating Evangelion style stories (this does not seem your case);
- loving so much Evangelion that watching a series with a lot of references to such beloved show would lead to compulsive hate, something like "OMG they DARED to take something from MY EVA, how could they!!!" (don't know if this could be your case).
Beware of one thing: I have the R2 singles by ADV (bought on Amazon for cheap), the image quality is quite far from being the best around.



Teo
 
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