Where to start with the following series?

K

Kaede

Adventurer
A while back I randomly picked up this art book:

dermondok6.jpg


It's mainly pictures of Evangelion characters and mecha but also features some of Yoshiyuki Sadomoto's videogame artwork such as Fatal Fury. It's a great book and I love the art style, but I have to confess I've never seen any of the Evangelion films or shows. :oops:

Is there any obvious starting point for a newcomer to check this franchise out?

I'm also very interested in checking out Gundam and Patlabor, but again I've no idea where to start. I know there are a couple of Patlabor movies, but I'm not sure if any Gundam stuff is available in the west .

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

K
 
for Eva, start with the original TV series, move on to the (end and death and rebirth) movies - the rest can be a picked as you go.
 
I know there's one member on here who would help you a great deal with Patlabour.

Evangelion just start with the tv series then go onto End of Eva like Chaos said, if you want more after that you can turn to the Rebuild of Eva films but the 2nd of the four planned films hasn't been releaed in japan yet so you'll be waiting a while.

As for gundam, there's multiple start points, if you don't mind watching dated animation then go for the first three compliation movies, the ones that chronicle the Mobile Suit Gundam 43 ep series. If you want to see something newer though then i suggest starting with Gundam 00 then going back to the earlier stuff.

The gundam series for the Universal Century timeline works out like this. With the UC timeline being the first and foremost setting for the gundam franchise.

Mobile Suit Gundam (series or movies)
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (series or movies)
Mobile Suit Double Zeta Gundam (series)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (movie)
Mobile Suit F91 Gundam (movie)
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (series)

Then you can pretty much watch shows like Gundam Wing in any order you want since they are all in unconnected universes. Oh but i recommend against watching Gundam Seed Destiny...even if your bored silly.
 
Yay to more people checking out Patlabor :thumb:

If you can, start with the original 7 episode OVA series. That's the best introduction to the characters and the world they inhabit. I personally would then watch the TV series and second OVA series which finishes it off (even though some things are changed in this version of events) followed finally by the first two films - the ones which are worthy of having the word "Patlabor" in the title. Leave WXIII well alone - It's probably the most dissapointing end to a franchise in all history.

All of Patlabor was available from CPM in the States, but they've just gone bankrupt and some of the sets have been hard to get hold of for a while. Your best bet for them is probably eBay or Amazon sellers. Only the films are currently available in the UK.
 
Hey guys, really appreciate the replies! Thanks! :)

OK, so having a look round Amazon I take it this is the complete TV series of Evangelion?

But you can also buy it in seperate volumes?

Also, I'm currently limited to Region 2 UK DVD's at the moment. Are any of the Gundam movies available in the UK? I'd really like to try out the films condensed from original series as Black Wolf mentioned. I much prefer the animation and sound in the older anime films I've seen like Nausicaa and Cagliostro. :D

Ayase, I guess I'm limited to the 2 Patlabor movies until I can get a Region free DVD player? :(

Regards

K
 
You can get the early Gundam movies in the UK. They seem quite expensive at Amazon etc now but you can probably get a deal on them if you shop about.

There's a set of the first few movies from Beez which wrap up the original storyline. That's a good way to start before deciding if you want to dive in further with the follow up movies. "Gundam Movies Box" seems to be the best way to pull it up on the usual sites.

Eva is available as singles or the set(s) as you've found - just buy whichever you can get most cheaply unless you're in love with the tin bundle. The tin does occasionally turn up discounted so it might be worth, again, shopping around before you choose. Platinum after the name just connotes the rerelease with improved video/extras (the first non-Platinum American discs were a bit primitive by today's standards).

R
 
Rui is correct about the first three gundam movies, the other Gundam R2 releases set in the UC timeline is Char's Counter Attack and Gundam F91 (you can also get the movie version of Gundam 0083 but i wouldn't worry about that yet). America has got Zeta Gundam in region 1 if you are able to stretch.

Beez have released some of the other AU timeline stories, like Gundam Wing, Gundam Seed and starting in june, Gundam 00 :)
 
Kaede said:
Ayase, I guess I'm limited to the 2 Patlabor movies until I can get a Region free DVD player? :(
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That would be correct, however... You have tried unlocking it haven't you? :twisted:
 
Der Mond is brilliant! :]

As for Evangelion, it's really not that complicated (as with Gundam or Patlabor). There's the original TV series, then the sequel movie and a new re-imagining 4 movie series currently in progress. Everything else is more or less unnecessary.
 
Cheers guys, I think I will check out the first couple of volumes of the Evangelion 'platinum' TV series and see how I go and then try and pick up the first Patlabor movie.

ayase said:
That would be correct, however... You have tried unlocking it haven't you?
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My DVD player is my Xbox360 at the mo. :( :lol:
 
Kaede said:
My DVD player is my Xbox360 at the mo. :( :lol:
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Before you buy any DVD players check this site out DVD Reviewer to see if they can be region unlocked, if it does not say that it is region free when you buy it. Most of the cheap £20 DVD players from Tesco and the like are in there so unless you want up scaling and the like it is only going to cost as much as the DVDs themselves.

Just ordered the Patlabor movies from second spin on their last decent promotion.
 
Dracos said:
Just ordered the Patlabor movies from second spin on their last decent promotion.
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I just shamelessly copied you after I decided from this thread I should upgrade my VHS copies after all. Nice call :D

R
 
Rui said:
Dracos said:
Just ordered the Patlabor movies from second spin on their last decent promotion.
Click to expand...

I just shamelessly copied you after I decided from this thread I should upgrade my VHS copies after all. Nice call :D

R
Click to expand...

I have only seen the first movie and I just recently decided I ought to watch the others. Though I think getting the series will be harder.

I keep forgetting to look for DVDs for the last few things I have on VHS.
 
Did you buy the newer Bandai Visual releases? The earlier Manga Entertainment versions are letterboxed and the video quality isn't great. Probably cheaper, though.
 
So I picked up the collectors edition of the Patlabor movies on Saturday at the expo and thought I would post up my impressions...

(Brace yourself ayase!)

I watched Patlabor 1 last night and frankly I have to say I was a little disappointed with it. A very slow film in which the Patlabors themselves are criminally underused. It's not even as if the plot was that deep or even that exciting, but so much time was spent on the (hilariously stereotyped) characters repeating themselves to hammer home what was going on. Also seems the director was going for quite a serious film but kept slipping in slapstick shouty gags at the most stupid moments (perhaps to make the film fit in more with the TV series? I don't know).

My biggest gripe was the voice acting (this was the dubbed version, should have checked if the Japanese version was on here) was also quite poor and actually got really annoying in places. Some of the characters had the most dull and monotone voices I've ever heard. But to be fair I shouldn't hold this as a criticsm against the orignal film.

Having said all that, the mecha and character designs were freaking awesome. The film was a joy to look at, as I love that 80's/90's pre CGI look. It's just a shame that the star of the show was only in the film for about 20 minutes tops.

I'd still like to try the Patlabor series that ayase mentioned, as my main feeling after watching the film was that it could potentially have been awesome.

I'll try the second movie, but judging by the Amazon reviews I'm not gonna like it...

Lastly, I have to say the box sets are fantastic. Both films come with a booklet full of interviews with the staff and a seperate storyboard book, if you're a fan of the films then I can imagine you'd be very chuffed with these.

I'll still give Gundam and Evangelion a whirl as I'm new to anime and still need to find my giant robot fix...will look into picking these up in the next couple of months.

Regards

K
 
I love Patlabor so much primarily because of the characters. The Labors themselves are good for the storylines, but are peripheral to my enjoyment really. I think your confusion with the tone of the film lies in the fact (as I'll repeat until my face turns blue ;) ) that you weren't familiar with the characters. A lot of time is spent on character development elsewhere (particularly in the TV series) - I'd call them "over the top" as opposed to stereotypes, and the show is certainly aware that the SV2 team are not normal people, as is usually expressed through Shinobu (and sometimes Kanuka) the only vaguely normal characters of the main cast.

Watch the series, then definitely try it again - in Japanese though. You just can't do Goto in English, and Asuma and Shige are done by two of my favorite voice actors ever.

(Now we've really started getting stuck into Patlabor discussion, expect this topic to go on forever) :p
 
Yeah, Patlabor's characterization is definitely its strong point (although I never really warmed to Shinshi and Hiromi, both of whom were underused and somewhat pointless characters throughout most of the franchise). It's not really about giant robots but the people who pilot them.

Having said that, I watched the first movie before the TV series and loved it, so I feel perfectly justified in calling out the torch and pitchfork squad.
 
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