[thechat] Next Anime Step?

[Ben Dyer]

Hey, wow.  I topic I'm familiar with. :)

On Tuesday, Jul 8, 2003, at 15:09 US/Central, Luther, Ron wrote:
> I was thinking along the lines of Cowboy Bebop - the Movie, Ghost in 
> the Shell, and maybe Akira.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie is excellent.  It stands alone well by itself, 
but it helps to see the series, too.

I can recommend Ghost in the Shell easily.  Akira can be recommended 
purely for anime historical value.

> (Grave of the Fireflies sounded a little too depressing.)

It is *incredibly* depressing.  It's also one of the best anime movies 
ever.  I still recommend it even though I can't bring myself to rewatch 
it.

> Decent choices as a next step?  Or is there something better I should 
> be
> considering?  Evangelion? (Which the heck one?) Ninja Scroll?   ???

Evangelion is quite a jump. :)  I can't recommend the two movies 
without seeing the series though, they won't make nearly as much sense. 
  Evangelion is a great series though.  It kind of drills a hole into 
your brain, reaching in, rearranges a few things and just overall 
leaves you kinda stunned. :)

Ninja Scroll is good if you just want some violent action.

Other movies I can recommend:

Blood: the Last Vampire (Dark and Disturbing but beautiful)

Perfect Blue (Very creepy)

Macross Plus is very good (there are two versions: two discs of the OAV 
and one disc of the movie - it's the same story, buy one or the other)

Jin-Roh is excellent.  It's more realistic as far as anime goes, but it 
looks great.

Read or Die isn't a movie, but a three-episode OAV (on one disc) that's 
a delightfully funny, silly and campy story.  I highly recommend that 
one.  Also, Gunsmith Cats, which is a different three-episode OAV with 
a silly but well-done story.

Castle of Cagliostro is a Lupin III movie that is probably the best one 
out there.

1stVamp recommended Samurai X, and I can agree with that, too.  
Excellent stuff.

Also, Voices of a Distant Star is a gorgeous short (30 minutes + 
several hours of extras) film all produced by one man using off the 
shelf Macs.  It's usually pretty cheap.  I highly recommend it.

As for series, I think I can safely recommend Cowboy Bebop, Bubblegum 
Crisis (the original), Trigun, RahXephon, Blue Gender, Rune Soldier, 
Rurouni Kenshin and Big O.  Most of those are action-oriented with some 
additional story levels to make things more interesting.

> <bonus question>
> Are these Amazon 'zShop' things for real? Offering a 7 disc Cowboy 
> Bebop set
> for $35?? (The 'normal' Amazon link is 6 discs for $99 vs retail of 
> $180.)
> </bonus>

Nope.  They're all Region 0 bootlegs or fansub VCDs imported from Hong 
Kong or Taiwan or someplace where they seem to be able to get away with 
that sort of thing.  Trust me, you will get what you pay for.

--Ben
(Owner of 215 anime DVDs and counting)

--------------
Radical Bender
http://www.radicalbender.com/