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what anime's have you guys been watching recently
https://forum.lddb.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=480
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Author:  gypsy [ 01 Feb 2020, 15:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

takeshi666 wrote:
gypsy wrote:
Galaxy Express 999 is quite enjoyable.

The movies? Definitely.

The TV series? That's debatable.


It's 113 episodes that were never meant to be consumed in rapid fire succession. I think that's something to keep in mind with older content. I'm enjoying the series for what it is.

I've got 4 or 5 longer old series right now where I'll watch a few episodes and then watch some of the others before going back.

I've heard like Gundam the movie is a condensed version of the show. Unfortunately RS was having some supply issues and I had to remove the first movie from an order for them to ship other items. Ironically they now have stock on their Amazon store for more. Amazon has 5 copies atm but I don't want to pay $30 for it...

Author:  tasuke [ 01 Feb 2020, 16:46 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

the English dub for the first GUNDAM film seems rather deliberately retro-hokey.

indeed, it is often pure comedy gold, that greatly enhances the overall experience,
at least for those of us that don't have a problem taking vintage Anime a little less than seriously...

Author:  gypsy [ 01 Feb 2020, 18:37 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

forper wrote:
jakeheke wrote:
Havn't watched any amine before but going to watch Initial D,
Heard it would be up my ally


You'll love it.


The best part about Initial D is the music but it's pretty fun in general.

tasuke wrote:
the English dub for the first GUNDAM film seems rather deliberately retro-hokey.

indeed, it is often pure comedy gold, that greatly enhances the overall experience,
at least for those of us that don't have a problem taking vintage Anime a little less than seriously...


Can't say that I have ever heard that dub.

With Bobobo the subs vs the dub audio are almost different shows. Lots of lines that are completely different.

Author:  takeshi666 [ 01 Feb 2020, 18:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

gypsy wrote:
takeshi666 wrote:
gypsy wrote:
Galaxy Express 999 is quite enjoyable.

The movies? Definitely.

The TV series? That's debatable.


It's 113 episodes that were never meant to be consumed in rapid fire succession. I think that's something to keep in mind with older content. I'm enjoying the series for what it is.

Watching them a week apart won't fix it's problems, namely the fact that they obviously had little to nothing in the way of a writer's bible and episodes can just blatantly contradict one another which really sucks the dramatic impact out of it. Just the first 20+ episodes revolve entirely around characters trying to steal Tetsuro's ticket, only for them to retcon increasingly ridiculous rules that eventually rule the whole ability to even steal it impossible, which just raises the question, why did any of them even try? Probably one of the biggest offenders was an episode where the railway company sends an armored car to rescue Tetsuro and Maetel, something that never happens before or after in all the dozens of other instances they're held prisoner by the villain of the week. Why? I don't know. And somehow, after over a hundred episodes, some drunk robots is apparently what it takes for Tetsuro to change his mind about the whole robot body thing.

Author:  firehorse_44 [ 01 Feb 2020, 19:38 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

Just viewed "Crystal Triangle"......

Enjoyed it.......

Author:  rein-o [ 01 Feb 2020, 19:58 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

Honestly don't know which film is not the condensed version of the series.

Seems like that is the case with GE999, Space Cobra and many others, they do have some minor plot twists but very straight forward
of the same thing.

I know there are more but I don't think I actually have any other series to film in my collection?

Author:  gypsy [ 01 Feb 2020, 19:58 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

takeshi666 wrote:
Watching them a week apart won't fix it's problems, namely the fact that they obviously had little to nothing in the way of a writer's bible and episodes can just blatantly contradict one another which really sucks the dramatic impact out of it. Just the first 20+ episodes revolve entirely around characters trying to steal Tetsuro's ticket, only for them to retcon increasingly ridiculous rules that eventually rule the whole ability to even steal it impossible, which just raises the question, why did any of them even try? Probably one of the biggest offenders was an episode where the railway company sends an armored car to rescue Tetsuro and Maetel, something that never happens before or after in all the dozens of other instances they're held prisoner by the villain of the week. Why? I don't know. And somehow, after over a hundred episodes, some drunk robots is apparently what it takes for Tetsuro to change his mind about the whole robot body thing.


I try not to worry about this stuff too much, especially since it is a children show. Maybe unfair but I view it differently than something like Perfect Blue or GitS (excellent anime films). My view with anime in general is the less time (episodes) they have to screw it up the better. I'm watching this because it has an enjoyable episodic almost Star Trek like vibe to it. I would have appreciate a lack of spoilers here however, but it's not a huge deal.

firehorse_44 wrote:
Just viewed "Crystal Triangle"......

Enjoyed it.......


I had this one on my LD list but never did pull the trigger. I should have bought the one on eBay when it dropped to $7. Now to wait again.

rein-o wrote:
Honestly don't know which film is not the condensed version of the series.

Seems like that is the case with GE999, Space Cobra and many others, they do have some minor plot twists but very straight forward
of the same thing.

I know there are more but I don't think I actually have any other series to film in my collection?


From what I understand it's the first one specifically. The second movie is a direct sequel to that and the third movie is a direct sequel to the series.

Author:  signofzeta [ 02 Feb 2020, 00:39 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

jakeheke wrote:
Havn't watched any amine before but going to watch Initial D,
Heard it would be up my ally


I’m a big fan of this show, or at least through 3rd stage, afterwards I guess I got bored.

The first US releases are severely brutal and inept “localizations” that change peoples names, replace all the music (with garbage) and add cheesy SD digital video editing to the battle scenes. It’s total barf, even by the standards of people who watch dubs. Easily one of the worse dubs of the boom years of US anime releases.

The best version is, I think, the VHS fansubs in my closet. (Sourced from LD, of course) :)

If you can get through episode 4 you’ll be hooked. It’s an extremely enjoyable show I’d recommend to almost anyone but I do recommend finding at least a fansub or a later better DVD or something. Anything other than the first dub. It might even make the show so much worse you won’t even be able to enjoy it.

The animation is so bad that SD/HD/whatever is irrelevant. :)

Author:  gypsy [ 02 Feb 2020, 00:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

The first two seasons are on LD but those are probably impossible to find outside of Japan now.

Author:  signofzeta [ 02 Feb 2020, 00:54 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

gypsy wrote:
The first two seasons are on LD but those are probably impossible to find outside of Japan now.


This show requires really good knowledge of many slang and technical Japanese terms. It’s very hard for people like me with minimal Japanese to enjoy it untranslated so I never got it. There are near-Dragonball Z levels of dialogue and action scenes slowed down to Star of the Giants levels of analysis. It’s also semi-uncommon even in Japan so I’ve never seen it for $10 or whatever.

Third Stage, which is actually a film, was DVD only, since LD was pretty much done by then, I suppose this fragmented nature damped the enthusiasm of my inner collectard and contributed to me never buying it at all. Also it sorta moved from a really underground show even in anime scenes to a huge hit outside of Japan which overexposed me to it.

Just this week I received Takumi’s Trueno as a Tomica in the mail so I guess I never really outgrew it.

Author:  forper [ 02 Feb 2020, 00:56 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

All the car guys in my town had bootleg subtitled DVD boxsets from Chinatown in the mid 2000s. I borrowed a set from a guy and it's always been one of the most enjoyable shows I've ever seen. The story and characters are great, I disagree the animation is bad, a lot of the moving cars are very well done and the character animation matches the manga. It's consistent animation as well. I lived in an area very similar to the area in the show at one point too, Tokorozawa, Saitama, a suburban area with a winding mountain road. I used to walk 5kms across the mountain each day to a job to save money on trains. I was so poor I couldn't even afford a bike let alone a GTR Skyline..

Author:  gypsy [ 02 Feb 2020, 01:17 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

The animation is pretty bad but it doesn't matter imo.

Author:  forper [ 02 Feb 2020, 06:18 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

gypsy wrote:
The animation is pretty bad but it doesn't matter imo.


It's not f***ing bad, it's consistent and appropriate. Okay, I forgot how bad the CGI car sequences are, but sometimes they're hand drawn and things like gorgeous paintings of engine internals, and well done animation of gear changes etc inside the car don't make the animation bad. Overall it's above average.

Author:  takeshi666 [ 02 Feb 2020, 13:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

gypsy wrote:
I try not to worry about this stuff too much, especially since it is a children show.

I find that to be a pretty awful excuse, since there are plenty of children's shows - even in '70s anime - that actually do care about things like consistency or continuity.

Interestingly, apparently the old Finnish VHS releases (which I've only seen two of) contain the first 13 episodes or something, and then skip right to the last three, and I can honestly say that sounds like a better way of watching the series because there's practically zero character development for any of the main cast and I doubt you'd be able to tell you just skipped nearly 100 episodes.

Author:  gypsy [ 02 Feb 2020, 14:35 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

At that point you might as well just watch the movie. Not saying everyone has to watch the show just that I'm enjoying it. I knew what I was in for.

Author:  signofzeta [ 02 Feb 2020, 18:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

When the show was on the air there was really nothing bigger, even Yamato had faded by then. Before Star Wars and Gundam and Macross and all that jazz it really is just impossible to grasp how exciting things like Yamato and 999 were. There was nothing else. Ok, Star Trek TOS, but that’s about it, and that show is very western so these shows got ALL the attention and emotion and money. Look at how many Yamato soundtracks there are...good luck getting anyone to buy even a single CD for whatever their new favorite show is now, and outside of Japan, forget it.

When the TV show was running the manga still finishing at the same time and also the movie was under production some things got kinda crazy, mainly the fact that the movie spoiled the ending by hitting the theaters before the show ended. The show I never finished myself but IIRC it was padded to wait for the manga to catch up which seems to be something that happens to a lot of otherwise great shows.

When I think of how hard these people worked on these shows and also that they disappointed almost nobody in the audiences they were intended for I find it hard to say anything bad about the work they produced.

Anyone interested in old shows like this may get quite a bit out of researching what it was like to make it. I recommend Space Battleship Yamato: The Making of an Anime Legend which was a direct to DVD documentary about the show that is like a YouTube documentary that isn’t s**t. Highly recommended. Also, there is a two part 1000 page collection of writings and interviews with Hayao Miyazaki (Vol 1 Starting Point, Vol 2 Turning Point) which gives terrific insight to the anime business from around 1970 and up. The stories of people working for so little they can’t pay into the national heath insurance scheme and working so hard they collapse at their desks and end up in the hospital for weeks from exhaustion...there was nothing forcing them to do this. They could have gone to college and whatever but the drive to make these shows was the most powerful force in the world of an animator. There was a great deal of passion put into these sloppy old things.

Author:  takeshi666 [ 02 Feb 2020, 18:24 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

GE999 is one of those odd shows where individual episodes/stories are terrific but as a whole it just falls kind of flat. I think the fact that the movie came out before the TV series was finished which forced them to change things and it clearly wasn't for the better. You could probably improve the experience a great deal if you peppered the "ticket theft" episodes across the 100+ episode span so the series doesn't blow that load right at the beginning (and make it a little less obvious) and skipped the handful of episodes that really fly in the face of established continuity (or the lack thereof).

I also recall this weird scene where Maetel flashes some old man and his reaction implies she's hiding something under her clothes but IIRC that particular mystery box plot thread never goes anywhere either.

Author:  signofzeta [ 02 Feb 2020, 18:30 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

I consider that sort of thing to be just part of the inscrutable mystique of the show.

But then, like I said, I never finished it. I’m not sure I’ve finished any anime with that many episodes. 100 is way too many, IMO. One year is a good max if there is a lot to say, honestly I prefer 26 or less. :)

I do love the movies quite a bit, the first one especially but the second one is pretty great too.

Author:  gypsy [ 02 Feb 2020, 20:10 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

signofzeta wrote:
I consider that sort of thing to be just part of the inscrutable mystique of the show.

But then, like I said, I never finished it. I’m not sure I’ve finished any anime with that many episodes. 100 is way too many, IMO. One year is a good max if there is a lot to say, honestly I prefer 26 or less. :)

I do love the movies quite a bit, the first one especially but the second one is pretty great too.


24-26 episodes is the sweet spot. Just a single season and it's a bit short, too much beyond that and you almost always have filler/episodic content.

I have finished Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin and some other way too long series. I've finished a lot more in the 48-51 range though. It does start getting difficult to finish shows that go beyond that. I've actually never finished Lupin Part 2 and I love Lupin. I've seen literally everything else Lupin that's been put out for release in the US. I do enjoy nibbling at episodes of it here and there.

Author:  rein-o [ 02 Feb 2020, 20:25 ]
Post subject:  Re: what anime's have you guys been watching recently

gypsy wrote:
signofzeta wrote:
I consider that sort of thing to be just part of the inscrutable mystique of the show.

But then, like I said, I never finished it. I’m not sure I’ve finished any anime with that many episodes. 100 is way too many, IMO. One year is a good max if there is a lot to say, honestly I prefer 26 or less. :)

I do love the movies quite a bit, the first one especially but the second one is pretty great too.


24-26 episodes is the sweet spot. Just a single season and it's a bit short, too much beyond that and you almost always have filler/episodic content.

I have finished Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin and some other way too long series. I've finished a lot more in the 48-51 range though. It does start getting difficult to finish shows that go beyond that. I've actually never finished Lupin Part 2 and I love Lupin. I've seen literally everything else Lupin that's been put out for release in the US. I do enjoy nibbling at episodes of it here and there.


I have to say GE999 and Macross are 2 series that I have finished and will watch over again.
When I get time I'll setup the GE999 to start again, possibly flip between GE999 and start Macross 7 possibly after I finish Casshan the 70s anime.

What you are saying is pretty much spot on with Godmars, after the first half they re hash the same story with a different character
for another 30 episodes.

Never felt that for GE999 but I'm also a fan of that show/series more than others, I would say GE999 is first and Macross is 2nd.

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