Essential Anime Movies
(Also excluding many Miyazaki movies such as Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, etc.)
-Byousoku 5 Centimeter
-Samurai X Trust & Berayal
-Millenium Actress
-Vampire Hunter D
-End of Evangelion (not my favorite, but that of many)
-Grave of the Fireflies
essential anime movies
Perfect Blue
Code Geass
Eric, were you able to review Code Geass? It's a very cool series from Sunrise, so also got mechas and more. Starts off with an interesting plot centered around the main character, Le Louch, who is a genius once-prince of the former independent Japan, who gains a power called a 'Geass.' He is now able to control the actions of one individual once, and forms elaborate plans to try and liberate Japan from 'Britannia.' I think the first 1 or 2 DVDs were released. Nice fluid animation & action, sound not the greatest but does a decent job and the english dubs were kinda ok. The strength is that the story appears to have good interesting development.
It's on my pile, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. The first two discs are out. I hope to get to it this week, but who knows?
Gurren Lagann
I've been waiting for this to be released. Hopefully the dub does a good job. It's really a fun and action filled show. I hear that Season 2 is also upcoming!
Youmacon
Thanks for the reminder. We were able to pre-register just in time. Look forward to going to this con in it's new location.
Anime Expo Announcements
Very happy to hear that the titles we feared were lost will be released by Funimation, like Black Lagoon, Kyo Kara Maoh! and Welcome to the NHK. If we had been there to see the rep who made the announcement we would have screamed, jumped for joy and maybe even hugged them. Hopefully, when we go to Anime Vegas on Labor day weekend we can give thjem our proper thanks. So if anyone from Funimation is reading this, Thank You Very Much!!
Emma
I did enjoy this series. Once again, a pleasant break from giant mechas and super powered teens! It has good animation that captured the Victorian image. I liked the character development (which is too often rushed or lacking in many anime), and there was a nice pace. It would be interesting to see how they eventually dub it. I am not sure if all 24 eps are out or if only the first 12.
Just the first 12 episodes have been released so far, and I don't think they plan on dubbing it.
Also, just so you know, I edited your comment to remove a spoiler. Thanks for the info, though.
Astro Boy is good but...
It is good that they are gonna resurrect a classic cartoon like Astro Boy, I used to watch the old classic anime cartoon, as well as Kimba too. But I want to know are they ever gonna resurrect another classic anime cartoon call Marine Boy? Astro Boy was about a robot who fought on earth and outerspace, but Marine Boy was an underwater adventure who had a trusty dolphine as a side kick and a mermaid name Neptina, I like to see Marine Boy resurrected.
Eric, if you never heard of Marine Boy then you should go watch Marine Boy cartoon on You tube.
Lensman
I heard that former actor turned movie director Ron Howard is interested in doing E. E. Smith's Lensman does anybody have any info on that? I remembered the 1984 Lensman cartoon and the movie, can somebody tell me is the movie out on DVD?
Woo hoo! They upgraded our software to make it easier to respond to comments.
Anyway, Samuel, thanks for writing. It doesn't appear that the anime version of "Lensman" has been released on DVD yet.
The original sounds pretty cool, though, so I hope the potential movie works out. In addition to Ron Howard, J. Michael Straczynski (of the late, lamented "Babylon 5") could be doing the screenplay. This could be an amazing team.
Eric
Hollywood 'Death Note'
Wow, didn't think they'll do this. Also I didn't know that 'The Departed' was based off a Hong Kong drama. I haven't seen the live action DN movie although a friend of mine here saw it in the theater, and liked it. Hopefully Hollywood won't mess it up too much!
Emma season
We pre-ordered this back in December and we cannot wait to see this. Will be more than happy to do a review once we receive the DVD set.
Readers share trip to Japan
Thanks for the comment. Glad you enjoyed this. We had some scheduled tours, but not the whole trip. The tours were thru JTB USA. This covered a day tour thru Tokyo, an evening tour and a tour to Kyoto. They gave some basic advise on how to navigat the subway system, but we found stuff by exploring on our own. Hope this helps answer your questions. Patty & Mike
Readers share trip to Japan
Thank you both for sharing these details of your trip and those wonderful pictures. I must say that I would also love to go on an anime-flavored trip to Japan. I did not realize that so many details in anime are real locations in Japan. Did you have to use tour guides everywhere you went, or are there english signs, for e.g. to navigate the streets, stores, subways, etc...? The pictures were beautiful, wish you could add more! I think Mike summed up the trip well with his last statement, "The best thing I think I can say about Japan is I did NOT want to leave and I WANT TO GO BACK!!!!"
Vexille
I just saw Vexille. I liked the graphics, more precisely the panoramic sceneries, and fluid scenes. I thought the facial characteristics not very well done. The plot was interesting, and I loved the sound track. Overall, it's worth a watch.
Farewell to a non-anime anime lover
Sorry to hear about your loss. Glad to hear that there was a nice service for her. Well, I wish you the best as all the memories arise.
