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About Cowboy Bebop:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Spike does indeed die at the end of the series. Personally, I think it would take away from the story if he was okay after that. There was a finality to the episode; Julia was dead, Vicious was dead, he'd parted ways with the other Bebop crew, etc. It was his time to rest in the afterlife. He was done carrying the weight of his life.

This post has been edited by Elena99 on 26th June 2006 22:13

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

I love Naruto. Sasuke and Kakashi are the coolest of coolestest.Theres even hot ninja action!

Inu-Yasha is a pretty good show.But the coolest character is Sesshomaru, I hate Inu-Yasha, probably his attitude.

.Hack//Sign was amazing. I couldn't wait for Friday's just to watch the awesome show. But i dont know if it was just season one, but i think its over l> Maybe just because im in Canada Ontario?

This post has been edited by Dragon King on 28th June 2006 15:15

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Kel'Thuzad: She is persistent. Reminds me of you, death knight.

Arthas:Shut up you damned ghost.

-Warcraft III Kel'thuzad comparing Arthas and Sylvanas Windrunner.

I just started getting into the 9p presentation of Naruto on CN. The anime
world is bewildering: what time setting does all this take place in? There will
be episodes wholly in the natural environment of lakes and forests, then a
series of scenes with machinery in the background or metal grilling (noting a
post-industrial capacity for metalwork production), then settings featuring
a quaint village without significant advancement. What gives? Is this all just
a convenient mash-up to allow the story to progress, or does Naruto actually
take place in more or less in modern times?

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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.

It's probably modeled more or less after medieval Japan. But since this is a completely make believe world, it really doesn't fit in to any certain time periods. Unlike Inuyasha, which takes place in fuedal Japan though the world seems to be mostly fantasy.

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I fear my heart and fear my soul
Life goes on, it surely will,
Without me and I wonder:
Will I ever see light again?

Life goes on...

Thanks, Sherick. It's an interesting series, but it casts confusion with no
time penalty.

This post has been edited by A11smart on 1st July 2006 03:18

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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.

I liked how they set up Naruto. It shows a world where different cities desperately hid their secrets and made certain not to share with each other. And so, you end up with cities that have advanced tech, cities that have no tech, and many places that are completed secluded from each other, like a lot of Japans.

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

No doubt, my first response is shaded by your choice of avatar, and the series
that it arrives from. There's a disconnect among tech advancement in FF cities
as well, and that puts it on a welcome spin for me.

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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.

Quote (A11smart @ 28th June 2006 20:16)

Is this all just
a convenient mash-up to allow the story to progress, or does Naruto actually
take place in more or less in modern times?

However they explain it, it's just an excuse to mix in technologically advanced settings with non-technological ones when the author is unable to properly formulate a setting and stick to it. >"<

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Many works of fiction has that, so I don't think it's a complication by the author. And many people would enjoy that type of setting, as well.

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Quote (Cloud_Strife510 @ 26th June 2006 01:16)

There are only two animes that I really like, and that is Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. Ironically they were both created by Shinichiro Watanabe, who I must say is a genius.

...

THe only thing I was ever confused about was

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

what happened to spike at the end of Bebop, I used to think he had died. But after thinking about how on several occasions he had gotten shot, or beaten badly, Spike was always fine and waking up in bandages, so I figured he lived and continued his life as a bounty hunter with the rest of the crew. And I felt this was proven when a Bebop movie was released

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Most fans interpret the ending as Spike dying. You can count me among them, for the reasons Elena listed. However, Watanabe has made a few comments recently where he says the ending is open to interpretation. He also said that he isn't planning any continuation of the series.

I agree Watanabe is a genius. He's directed two of the only three anime series I own and truly enjoy (the other one being Hellsing).

I've also found myself warming up to Paranoia Agent from the few episodes I've caught. It seems like all of these came from Geneon and, in my limited knowledge of anime, it seems like they produce the best of it, or at least the best anime making it stateside.

Edit

Actually, looks like Bebop was produced by Bandai. Oh well, so much for that theory. With that exception, though, I've noticed most of the anime I've enjoyed was produced by Geneon.

This post has been edited by MetroidMorphBall on 2nd July 2006 19:57

MetroidMorphBall, I tried to get into ParanoiaAgent but it only has my attention when
it dove-tails something else that's worthy. You seem to be getting into it: what's one
sentence that makes you want to watch it? It's quite... odd. Forking weird, really.

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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.

MetroidMorphBall, Geneon has no part in any creative process of any anime. It only localizes and distributes English versions of anime outside of Japan. Saying that Geneon produces your favorite anime is like saying that Simon and Schuster produces your favorite books.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

I love Paranoia Agent, but I only saw all of the first half, so when I saw the last few, it made even less sense than it should have. Good thing adult swim is showing it again.

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Dead Winter. A nice comic.

Yeah, Paranoia Agent is great.

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Paranoia Agent is like the :\: of FLCL. God, both of those shows confused me, for completely different reasons. PA was rediculously complex, dark, and cerebral, and FLCL was rediculously insane and random. I don't remember either of their stories, assuming that had any to begin with. I actually stuck with FLCL til (what I think was) the end. PA just freaked me out and lost my interest.

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I fear my heart and fear my soul
Life goes on, it surely will,
Without me and I wonder:
Will I ever see light again?

Life goes on...

Ooooh, FoolyCooly. I needed that eyeshot of pure meth that FLCL was; it's the only
salve to soothe the wounds to your psyche Evangelion leaves. It was clear at Gainax
that the latter series, the 'anime of the 21st century', leaves us with a clear picture
of the postprozac HideakiAnno. What a tremendous epiphany of boy living in shadow
into a young man invested in his own destiny.

Speaking of which, has everyone here browsed ToastyFrog's Thumbnail Theater?
Convenient Evangelion metanalysis presented as forumish conversation. Kickpass.

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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.

Quote (laszlow @ 2nd July 2006 23:56)

MetroidMorphBall, Geneon has no part in any creative process of any anime.  It only localizes and distributes English versions of anime outside of Japan.  Saying that Geneon produces your favorite anime is like saying that Simon and Schuster produces your favorite books.

OK, that makes sense. Like I said, I don´t know much about anime. I´m actually a bit of a noob, and I just noticed a pattern.

Quote (A11smart @ 2nd July 2006 23:21)

MetroidMorphBall, I tried to get into ParanoiaAgent but it only has my attention when
it dove-tails something else that's worthy. You seem to be getting into it: what's one
sentence that makes you want to watch it? It's quite... odd. Forking weird, really.

Seemed very psychological. I´ve only seen one or two episodes though, I´m not exactly the biggest fan.

Can't say much on FLCL, as I hear that for a lot of the jokes, you have to be Japanese to understand. PA has a story, but you have to watch for a while to get it, and you might want to see the whole series twice. I'm going to watch again as soon as they get to episodes that I haven't seen

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Dead Winter. A nice comic.

Naruto:I like haku and kakashi.They're the coolest.

Full Metal Alchemist:I like the way the elric brothers kick a** with their alchemy

Gundam Wing:I like the Mobile Suits that the heroes use.

Gundam Seed:It has a good storyline

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Can't we get a better mission than this.I HATE CATS!!!!

Quote from Naruto

I'm completely addicted to Eureka7 at this point. The world, the characters, even
the art design are just freaking great. I've read a little about Bleach of late, so I'm
dying for its release on [AdultSwim] now.

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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.

Quote (Elena99 @ 27th June 2006 00:12)

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Spike does indeed die at the end of the series. Personally, I think it would take away from the story if he was okay after that. There was a finality to the episode; Julia was dead, Vicious was dead, he'd parted ways with the other Bebop crew, etc. It was his time to rest in the afterlife. He was done carrying the weight of his life. 

I disagree...then again, I agree...or maybe not...

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

The thing is, it's not definetly stated, and I do believe that was the point. Besides, we've seen Spike take much more damage than that time and walk from it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Spike has to be alive, 'cause

Quote (fanboy)

hizza FOOGIN c00l badass

, but I'm saying there is possibility, especially since there was this "You're gonna carry that weight" instead of the regular "See you, space cowboy"....

As to a series which I'd recommend, it would definetly be "Kino no tabi"/"Kino's journey". A 13-episode series about a girl travelling the world... the series is mostly sad, I have to warn you, but very worthwhile.

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"I fell off the mountain of words at around the 10,000ft mark. Tell my family...they owe me money." -Narratorway

"If you retort against this, so help me God I'll shove any part of your anatomy I can find into some other part. Figuratively, of course." - Josh

"We have more, can deliver tuesday." - Del S

Good old CoN

I can't say I've ever heard of Kino'sJourney, but I'll save the tab for it in case it
becomes available. Does anyone have the digital/satellite anime channel? Is it worth
it? That's probably the only channel, besides NFL SundayTicket, that could tempt me
to the spatial ethers.

If anyone hasn't watched s.CRY.ed, currently on [AdultSwim], it's fantastic. It's one
of the series I pulled down, but enjoyed even more*, since I thought the voice-acting
in english wasn't half-bad. The central themes are self-realization, competitive
cooperation (improvement thru rivalry), and determination of action (versus the
paralysis of analysis and inaction). Great series, good art, and amazing characters.

[Edit] * Enjoyed even more... in broadcast, via [AdultSwim].

This post has been edited by A11smart on 30th July 2006 15:04

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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.

*Bump*

I've been posting too much in this thread, but like I said before I've been getting into anime. I haven't been into gaming lately, so I need something to fulfill the Japan void.

I have to admit, not being quite the otaku that I wanna be, I'm really relying on Adult Swim to see all the shows from the other side of the Pacific. Unfortunately, DVDs and Manga are too expensive on my student budget to purchase anything. But, having read through a few of the recommendations in this thread, I decided to branch away from the, IMHO, so far untouchable Shinichiro Watanabe, whose two shows really got me into the genre.

Some anime is quite crap, and I just can't get into it. Others have really caught my eye, and I'm planning to become a regular viewer as much as I can. As of now, AS's regular rotation has three anime I want to watch more thoroughly: Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Eureka 7. The first two are probably old hat to a lot people, but again, me=noob to this genre. Inuyasha is a really good series, but I had to rely on Wikipedia to fill me in a bit because apparently there are like a billion episodes. Fullmetal is good too. Has a lot of the "silly" in it, but it makes it work. Eureka 7 reminds me A LOT of what I remember of Evangelion, but enough of a new spin on things to keep me interested, and good characters. The problem with Eureka is that they air it Saturday nights, and that's a difficult time to watch. Luckily the Pacific Time Zone means it comes on a little earlier in the night, so seeing it is a bit more feasible than on the East Coast.

So that's it for my thread necromancy. I really wish I could branch out beyond AS, but those anime disks are really expensive and I'm afraid I don't know of cheaper methods (I gave up filesharing after some pretty bad experiences). But if anyone has any killer recommendations, I'd love to hear 'em. The otaku in me is begging not to die off.

Quote (Rangers51)

and omg be an otaku 4 reel rite

I'll be brief. Fullmetal Alchemist is anything BUT "silly". It DOES have some humor scenes, but so did Hellsing and Neon Genesis Evangelion. The deeper you go into FMA the more serious and, to be quite frank, sad it gets. So if you're going for the "silly" skim FMA.
As for Inuyasha, although I like the series very much (and am planning on cosplaying as Inuyasha on the next convention here in Warsaw), this episode of VG Cats is pretty much right about the series XD

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"I fell off the mountain of words at around the 10,000ft mark. Tell my family...they owe me money." -Narratorway

"If you retort against this, so help me God I'll shove any part of your anatomy I can find into some other part. Figuratively, of course." - Josh

"We have more, can deliver tuesday." - Del S

Good old CoN

I'm still going strong on the Naruto manga. I'm currently on Chapter 175, the begening of the Sasuke's Retreval arc. Can't wait until Naruto 2 starts (a more usefull Sakura FTW!) Sasuke's Retreval=More Shikamaru

This post has been edited by Barrylocke on 12th September 2006 16:55

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Dead Winter. A nice comic.

Quote (Barrylocke @ 12th September 2006 11:55)

I'm still going strong on the Naruto manga. I'm currently on Chapter 175, the begening of the Sasuke's Retreval arc. Can't wait until Naruto 2 starts (a more usefull Sakura FTW!) Sasuke's Retreval=More Shikamaru

The Sasuke Retrieval arc is my absolute favorite story arc. Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Rock, and Neji are all totally awesome in it, and the conclusion sets up the focus of the rest of the series. To be honest, I've continued reading Naruto scanlations, but it's getting slow again. After the first arc of part 2, it gets much less interesting. One Piece and Bleach, on the other hand, are remaining awesome the whole way.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

The more I watch of Naruto, the more and more I love it. I was just thinking that Cartoon
Network launched it at just the right time, when HarryPotter's gotten the target audience
used to seeing the school-setting. Maybe other school-oriented animes might make it to
the line-up; I was very excited when HikaruNoGo appeared for streaming video. There's
an addictive series. FullMetalPanic would be another good fit, for the AdultSwim block.
As for FullMetalAlchemist, I started out liking it and ended up respecting it. It easily could
have searched for a lighter, less-severe tone, and they don't. It belongs in AdultSwim---
it gets more and more savage and gory---but it also has themes that I think mature minds
can appreciate.

Honestly, I'm enjoying some american productions, too. The TeenTitans movie was just
fabulous, maybe because they really did a great satire of anime hard. XiaolinShowdown
has also captured my attention, because I jive Omi, completely. Bald-headed curiosity?
Clumsiness with english? Sounds mighty familiar. And advertisements for that animeish
show on Nickleodeon are starting to get my attention. Strangely enough (and a coupe
for the big N), it's toy advertisements on CN that are making me consider watching the
Nickleodeon production, their competitor.

Edit

More and more, more and more, more and more.

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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.

Naruto is also my favorite anime. I have all the subbed episodes (including filler) on DVD, and I have watched all of them at least twice, except for stupid episodes like Sakura v. Ino, and those really really dull fillers. I have watched the Chuunin exam at least twice, and the Konoha Five v. Sound Four and Kimimaro ordeal (was that the Sasuke retrieval arc or was that before?) at least three times now. Shikamaru is my favorite, and seeing him lead a group and actually fight a tough battle on his own really made my day. Neji, Kiba, Chouji, and Naruto are alright, too, especially when Naruto goes Fox all over Sasuke, and when Lee and Gaara bring the pain on Kimimaro, but Shikamaru is still the best to me. I can't wait until after the time lapse. I've been reading the manga, but I think those episodes start coming out in like 2 weeks, or so I've heard.

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Is PJ

Quote (Caesar @ 16th September 2006 11:12)

Konoha Five v. Sound Four and Kimimaro ordeal (was that the Sasuke retrieval arc or was that before?)

The Sasuke Retrieval arc starts right when Tsunade returns to Konoha and ends right where the fillers begin. It's my favorite arc in the entire anime/manga, and IMO the manga starts getting lame two arcs after the Sasuke Retrieval arc ends. In the manga there is a 2-year timeskip after the Sasuke retrieval arc, followed by one short arc and one long arc, both of which are awesome. After that long arc, though, the manga gets much slower, with one particularly annoying main character introduced, a long traveling/training period, and a significant lack of Kakashi/Jiraiya/Kiba/Chouji/all of the other characters I liked the most.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

I've only been rabidly eating up scanlations of Death Note (on Chapter 88 now...), and I've heard there was a movie made of Death Note awhile ago (or it's being made? Or something). So that would be great to watch.

I can't wait to buy all the Viz manga when it comes out as well.

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok