I got a quick question... I'm not bashing by any means, but I am genuinely curious...

What is so appealing about anime?

I've always wondered why it grabs so many young people's interest... Again, I am not trying to bash anyone, but I am really curious...

Why not ask the question differently; what is so appealing about live action movies? about soap operas? about sports shows? about game shows? etc

It’s easy to say why you might like a particular genre, such as comedy, horror, action etc, but to say why you like a media format itself is near impossible.

I don't think there is anyone here that can give you an answer to what is so appealing about Japanese cartoons no more than someone who went to see a Hollywood movie can tell you what they see in American live-action films. I'm sure there are some people who can give a big flowery answer about art forms, cultural aspects etc but in the end it comes down to personal taste, that’s it. I love anime, I prefer it to live-action, I have no idea why, I just do.

same as Talon said, but also because you can make almost anything in anime. like flying ships - Last exile for example (though thats CGI/Anime), and they make sense and don't really drive you away. Anime is very imaginative, and because they're normally series based (unless its just a film) you can get drawn into it and the characters, same way as soap operas and action films.
But I think Anime has a lot more effort and imagination in it, than any film or soap opera.

hmm... you know what i've been thinking would make a great anime from a manga? Rebirth. it'd make such a great anime, but then again the american voice acters would really destroy it...

Thanks for the replies guys... Good responses. I guess I just never really thought about it like that... I don't know too much about it, so I just figured there was like a common denominator or something... Thanks though

Which leads to the issue that many animes don't seem to care about realism and can equally make the weirdest things seem normal e.g. I've seen tons of anime, which are based in modern times, give no indication that they're fantasy/sci-fi or anything else which could explain something which just isn't possible, and then suddenly something will happen... such as the pet cat suddenly starts talking, one of the characters is a robot or can cast magic... and I don't even register that it isn't possible Seriously, by the time I was half-way through Dragon Ball Z I honestly would have taken it in my stride if someone on the street one-day just jumped into the air and flew away... I had become that used to seeing flying humans




You should maybe give it a few series a look. I've introduced several friends to anime who've become fans, from casual to obsessive (although nobody is as obsessive as me ). I myself become a fan after stumbling onto anime by accident on Sci-fi channel when I saw an anime called Armageddon on a TV guide and mistook it for the Bruce Willis movie, my initial disappointment at the lack of asteroids hitting earth turned to curiosity, my curiosity turned to interest, and my interest turned to.... well.... I own 900 DVDs, 400 magazines, 100 mangas, and 11,536 pictures in my gallery folder… take a guess what it turned into :lol;

Since you're in the US it shouldn't be that hard to see a few different series of different genres for free onTV, unfortunately for UK viewers finding anime on TV that doesn't have the word 'pokemon' or 'sonic' in the title is near impossible.

*goes to the store and loads up on every anime item he can find*


Any recommendations? You don't know me too well, but anything come to mind?

There are so many animes out there that as much as I recommend dozens of titles, if the genre doesn't fit it might be a bad first experience with anime e.g. I got a friend who likes dark animes where lots of people die (like an anime equivalent to Mad Max) whilst I've got another who only likes Harem animes (romantic love comedies where one pretty average guy somehow gets several woman running after him fighting over him).

Before you buy anything, test the water. Watch a few episodes on anime on TV where you can find them. There should be access to several big titles like Cowboy Bebop (a massively popular sci-fi show about Bounty hunters in space), Full Metal Alchemist (a fantasy style anime) etc on channels such as Cartoon Network.

If you've got fast connections you can also check out free DLs of titles only available in Japan at http://www.animesuki.com/ (DLing titles while technically illegal, is widespread practice for titles unaviable outside of Japan, its just accepted as part of the non-Japanese anime culture. For most English-speaking westerners its the only way they will ever see those shows ADV, Funimation etc don't decide to give as North American/UK release. 98% of all animes will never be released in English-speaking areas, so fansubs are the only method of getting them as much as it unfortantly hurts the anime industry). Needless to say everything is in Japanese with English subtitles, and be sure to make use of the links to http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ you'll find by the DLs on the 'series page'. That site is probably the biggest list of titles on the web, it gives blurbs and genres for each anime. Checking this out will give you a far better idea if you might like a title or not, because a common misunderstanding many non-anime fans have is of how many genres covered by anime... it covers everything just as live action does . Which means someone who wants a comedy should stick with Azumanga Dioah and not go near something such as the post-apocalyptic Violence Jack.

If you're serious about checking out anime, post some information here about genres you like (e.g. comedy, horror, action, sci-fi, fantasy etc), and possibly you're favourite live action shows (its surprising how things you can find anime alternatives to many western shows) since some might have plots etc close to certain animes. Different people will likely recommend different things, but something we recommend might get your interest.

If you want an anime worth every penny, get Great Teacher Onizuka. If you think you'll like a school-themed anime- you'll love this. It's freaking hilarious and at the same time has it's share of serious moments. It is a neutrally balanced anime that has pretty much everything from comedy to drama. While on the other hand animes like Azumanga Daioh is made almost purely out of comedy. If you want to see some really random-humor kinda thing I'd say Excel Saga or FLCL. And for animes concerning drama and pretty much nothing else, go with Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien or Air TV.

Like talon said theres just so many out there. You could try something we recommended here or just browse around and pick something most eye-appealing to you. PErsonally, I rarely ever buy any anime except on a few occasions where I'm at a comic book store and I see my favorite series. I just find some sites that lets you download this stuff for free. You can also probably find some anime series on Youtube.com. I was able to watch a few series from here like Azumanga Daioh which was pretty convinient since you don't really have to download anything, you just wait a few minutes for it to load and click play. But they recently added a filter to prevent people from uploading videos over 10 minute length and actually removed some anime. Other options are torrents and direct downloading, like Talon also mentioned, sites liek Animesuki has some torrents of anime.

You're probably wondering what a torrent is, but I'm not really sure myself wtf it exactly is. There are torrent clients (ex: BitComet, Azures, look them up on google. I use BitComet though) which lets you download anime through torrents. The download speed varies on your net connection, seeders and leechers. (I think) But, yah, just check it out and you could probably figure it out yourself. i'm no good with explaining these kind of things. And direct download is.. well, direct downloading. There are sites which just flat out lets you download anime.

I guess that's it from me.

Cheers

You shouldn't actually do that, if it’s available in the west you should buy it or else the companies will go bust and no more subbed anime. ADV for example is on the verge of bankruptcy at the moment and it’s because everyone's DLing rather than buying their anime. Geneon and Funimation have also had to fire thousands of people because they simply can't afford a massive work force anymore. Because of people illegally Dling anime which is available in the west, the future of English-language anime is right now hanging by a thread, its quite possible in ten years barring Pokemon you simply won't be able to get any new English-language anime and its because there are only about 10,000 fans out there (like myself) willing to buy stuff in their area rather than DL it. Those ten-thousand only raise £150,000, and considering animes can cost millions to get released in the US/Canada/UK, that means for many titles western-anime companies are running on a loss. Lets also remember while some companies such as Geneon as big powerfully funded funds, others such as ADV are not, it was started by a fan who invested money into a title and has been using the profits to get more anime, lets not stab him in the back people.

DLing licensed titles has already cost people their jobs, and is killing those companies willing to invest money in getting anime over here. I know anime costs a lot of money, but people so does you’re food, electricity, gas, phone bills etc but we wouldn’t steal or refuse to pay them would we? Anime does not grow on trees, it costs millions to make, and the fact is not enough people are interested in anime to ensure large profits.

People, unless you're happy with seeing the western anime industry die, buy titles you can get on DVD, considering you can get another 10 online for free which will never be released outside Japan, that £15 per DVD is a small price to pay to keep the anime industry from dying.

I'm into hentai..?? (that was a joke... kinda)

I like a lot of different things... Sometimes I think i'll absolutely hate something because of it's genre, and end up liking it more that usual (that's what happened with Friends)...
Maybe something involving Extraterrestrials on earth..?? I like me a good realistic sci-fi...
Something that has a good storyline premise, but isn't too 'out there' if you know what I mean...

I'll check out the ones you recommended Talon, seeing as how they are on TV...


Thanks again... But, if I spend all my money on this s***, you better believe you will be taken to court, and squeezed of all your money ...

I probably won't get real into it, but I'll definately check some out...

If you like realistic sci-fi then definitely check out Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell (both the movie and the series.... but definitely the series)

As for aliens on earth.... well lots of series do that (Tenchi, Project A-ko etc) but most are comedy (e.g. in Tench 6 assorted assorted alien girls all come to live on Earth with is one really average guy who 4 of them fall in love with)... although there are some really dark ones such as Blue Gender (about a guy in cryostasis who wakes up in 2020 to find earth over-run by alien giant bugs who eat people).

I recently got a DVD of GITS SAC: 2nd Gig and It's cool. However, the voices of the tachikoma get on my nerves. I also watched the second movie, but didn't like it as much as the first.

I mainly like series that can be serious, but can also be upbeat and funny. I'm not as offended by violence and sex (nudity, not hentai) anymore, but I get tired of it if there is too much. I would recommend Outlaw Star in addition to what Talon has said. i only saw about half of it, but I liked what I saw.

Four? I didn't think anyone other than Ryoko and Ayeka really 'loved' him. Mihoshi is more of a friend than anything, Sasami thinks of him as a brother, and Washu.....well nobody knows what she is thinking. Lastly, Noike is just there to keep things in order, because of all the high-profile people living in one place.

just watched advent children, the voices weren't to bad, clouds could have been better, so could have yazoo and loz's... yazoo had a really feminine voice, not bad ass enough as you'd expect. the dialogue could have had a bit more emotion behind it to, like yazoo's "where's mother' could have done with at least some emotion, it sounded to much like a casual question...

I didn't mean Mihoshi, the subtext between her a Kiyone makes them as a couple far more likely. I was just saying 4 to include the others out of the six of them; Sasami does have a little crush on him, but obviously she's a child so.... not happening... thank god. As for Washu... well she asks to have his baby.... but she's also insane




To be fair in the Japanese version he was a bit gay, so I actually thought he suited that voice actor Now Loz should have been more bad-ass souding since he's the groups' heavy.

This actually doesn't hurt me in the least bit since I understand the language. or any other freeloaders for the matter since there'll always be the fan-subbers. You also have to take into account that I do not favor english dubs of anime.


There actually are some that I would like to see gone and forgotten. 4kids for example and their well-known skill of turning any anime into crap. Buut.. that isnt going to happen.
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=145

Putting my selfishness aside, I actually do watch out for lisenced anime when browsing through sites and avoid downloading them. Of course there are times when I accidentally download some without knowing that it is lisenced (which doesnt happen often since I know most lisenced anime titles and I could always check them) and other times when I've already watched fansubs of but was lisenced in the future via AC/Naruto/Bleach. as much as I download anime, on the contrary, these rare occasions build up over the years and you end up having an ample sum of anime dvds. Some titles that I have bought are Bastard!!, Orphen, Trigun, Bebop, and GTO box sets. I liked GTO enough to actually go out and buy the dvd set so it's possible that this may happen with other anime series that I download.

See? Casual freeloaders aren't THAT bad.

No, it doesn’t hurt you, it just hurts the anime industry. It doesn’t matter if you can get the Japanese version for free online, its about giving something back to the people who make anime for us. You think they don’t need money to make new anime, or do you think everyone should pay for anime except for you?
You’re not an anime fan, if you were you’d support you’re hobby.

Also on the issue of English dubs, you might not like them, but the majority of anime fans do, and they want to keep the dubbing companies alive (with the exception of 4kids, Nelvana, and elements of Funimation, all of whom don’t dub anime, they butcher it… so I can understand people going online to get unedited versions of their stuff). I know there is a sad little group of purists out there who hate dubs because they spread the fanbase froms hundreds into thousands, and they want it go back to the days when the only anime fans were just them sitting in the dark of their bedrooms drooling over some girl in a sailor fuku. But they should get over it now and see while being an anime-fan is no longer just a small clique and that there are benefits to there now being millions of us.
90% of western released anime is now unedited and duel audio, so there is no excuse not to buy a title you want in the US etc if you want it, you can’t hide behind reasons of editing or language. The Japanese pay for the DVDs (they actually pay a lot more for a lot less), so those millions of western anime fans should also pay for it rather than just 10,000 die hards.
You wouldn’t steal food, you wouldn’t steal clothes, so why steal you’re anime?





Dude, if you don’t like a web comic, then just don’t read it. Plus I don’t know why you’re using it as example of the ‘skill of turning any anime into crap’, since this web comic isn’t Japanese, its drawn by a westerner who posts it online for free for people to enjoy. All its got is major anime references… personally I see that as a good thing. It might be taking the piss out of the animes, but thats just called parodying, tons of animes do it to other animes (Excel Saga, Pani Poni Dash) but it isn't considered 'turning any anime into crap’. It has nothing to do with the current issue of stealing anime.






Yes, I do ‘see’, I see tons of people DLing anime online because they are to selfish to buy it on the shelves because they expect someone else to pay for it. Considering anime isn’t made for us, its made for the Japanese nothing we do will kill off the Japanese anime industry, but our actions do effect the western anime industry. However, the fact its not made for us should make us more grateful for what we have, we’re not Japanese, they don’t make it for us, its ADV and Geneon that are trying to bring anime over here. And any true anime fan would be willing to support them and do the right thing and pay for the DVD of series you want rather than kicking the anime industry while its down and stealing the title online.

i've downloaded anime that wasn't available here, such as elfen lied (i know it is now, which is why I'm planning to buy vol: 1 after I finish getting chrono crusade up to date, i have 3,4,5 but no-where seems to ever have vol 1 or 2 ) I also downloaded bleach as you can't watch it on tv over here, niether can you with last exile. but once you can buy them over here (I havent ever seen bleach available in any of the 3 anime shops I visit in nottingham) but once I get the spare money I buy an anime dvd, unless I get a few manga's instead, as I tend to perfer those (I have over 80 volumes).

Though I get that EMA as im in college, and as I'm in college 4 days out of the 5, theres not much point getting a job. plus not a lot of shops want to hire someone who can work only 2 days a week...

Try Asda, I've worked there for 2 days a week (Sat and Sun) for 5 years while I was in Uni Although for a lot of the time it really depends on individual Managers. Avoid Matalan and Morrisons, their managers are scum.

Jeez, a little too harsh? no? =p That part about me not being an anime fan really hurt. (Honestly)

Bashing me for buying anime and making asinine assumptions is rather a bit averting and doesn't really change my mind at all. Would it have been better if I did not dish out hundreds of dollars for these titles and continue to download even more anime?(Note: I dont have endless ammounts of munnies) I know that downloading anime for free hurts others even though it doesn't hurt me. I know it doesnt matter if I can get the JP version free. I know they need money to make anime. I know it just isn't about me. I've taken this all into foresight.

I think there are degrees to being an anime fan. For example, there are some people who think of anime nothing more than entertainment and watch it on TV/Computer/DVDs with some friends; they are called casual fans who don't put anime at the top of their lives (I'm around here). Then there are your intermediate fans who say they love anime; they are interested in going to anime conventions, stores, etc etc and anime becomes a favorable percentage of their lives, but they aren't crazed as otakus whereas they are anal about almost everything about anime. But what I am trying to say is that I do put you people into my thoughts when dealing with anime hence why I said that I try to avoid downloading any lisenced anime.

And uh, 'dude'. I don't know where you got all that from, but I never said anything about hating the comic. I only used that comic to portray what 4kids do to anime as an example to what I said. I'm not even gonna get into that purists stuffs or whatever you mentioned since I have not a clue what you're talking about.

Bottom line is, anime industries aren't at the top of my concerns, Sorry. I am a horrible person. But if you're that hungry for leechers to bash then I can give you tons of sites that has these people. But the fact is a lot of people started becoming anime fans by being recommended through downloading and they end up contributing to the industry by buying anime merchandise including as DVDs and mangas. Although I'm clueless on whether or not the ammount of those people defeats the ammount of still leechers. Well, atleast I know some of my friends became loyal anime fans this way.

No, not really. Anime isn't a gift, its an industry. To continue it needs fans to buy not steal the product.




I think you’ve missed the point. I’m not bashing you for buying anime (hell, I’m not bashing you at all), I’m bashing this idea that it’s okay to DL anime available on DVD and let the industry die.




Dude, what you’re saying now is a completely different story from what you said originally.
You said (and what I took issue over) was “I rarely ever buy any anime except on a few ... I just find some sites that lets you download this stuff for free”. Now you’re saying you buy hundreds of pounds worth and only DL non-licensed titles.




What did you expect someone to take the comic to mean when you posted in the same sentence as your statement about 4kids destroying anime with no explanation of why it was there?




‘Purist’ is a title given to anime fans who only watch the original Japanese version. Then there are really extreme purists who actually hate there even being dubs and talk constantly about it being a ‘rape’ of anime culture etc. Trust me, I go to a lot of anime forums, these people are bonkers and want the western anime fandom to return to just being a few thousand people.





I never said you were a horrible person, I don’t care if the anime industry is not on top of concerns, I’m not even ‘bashing’ you despite you saying I am, what I am saying that if you want a licensed title buy it don’t steal it.





It doesn’t. I’ve seen titles on animesuke being downloaded by 5000 people a day, adding up to tens of thousands in total, yet according to Animenation most anime titles only sell around 10,000 copes of each DVD. So a lot of people don’t buy what they were happy to DL when it was Japanese-only.

I’ve also seen tons of people who’s attitude when a title is recommended is “oh good, where can I DL it?” despite it already being said it was available in the UK/North America. Hell only in another thread a movie based on the Casshern anime was recommended, I was the only one there who went and bought it, stealing it never even entered my mind (I’m just not a thief, just can’t think like that, I wont even keep money I find on the ground in shops, I hand them into lost and found… even though I bet it goes straight into the till), but everyone else’s first reaction was “Cool, I’ll go DL it.”
P.S. Just so you know, Casshern is an awful movie, avoid it.

Oh on a desturbing note. See how I've mentioned before that the first Dragonball release in America was one of the movies from Harmony Gold and it was rubbish. Well aparently they also wanted to do the series as well, but luckily no TV station was interested and Funimation eventually got the license a decade later.

Now we often b*tch about the edits, voice actors and stupid dialogue in the Funimation version, but we should be thankful considering what Harmony Gold wanted to do.

They wanted to change Goku's name to Zero, Korin's to 'Whiskers the Wonder Cat' and worst of all Krillin's to Bongo.

... can you imagine the end of the Freiza saga with that casting? Goku... sorry Zero going super Saiyan whilst screaming "How dare you Frieza! You killed Bongo!"

haha, I used to love dbz, but then I started to realise that all they did, was scream as if they had the worst constipation which somehow made them grow long yellow hair and glow.

I said that because the hostility in your post wasn't needed to say everything you wanted to say. I also realize anime isn't a gift.. but correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you say you have downloaded some anime in the past? Unless you had the anime before you bought it.



Hmm.. Well, I don't think it is on the positive point of the scale to download anything that you originally have to pay for..



I didn't say hundreds of "pounds" worth but in the hundreds range, yeah. The GTO box sets cost me over $200 ($100 ea.) and the other single dvd titles I bought should add up a bit.. What I said was in response to your '90% of western released anime is now unedited and duel audio, so there is no excuse not to buy a title you want in the US etc if you want it, you can’t hide behind reasons of editing or language' I actually couldn't care less if it didn't have dual audio since I would have gotten it as long as it has English so I can watch it with friends.



I expected people to see it as an example of what I said.



Ohhh.. I've met those people too.

I don't go to anime forums enough to even know a fraction of this stuff so I'm a bit slow about things like this. And if you were implying that I am a purist, am not. I "prefer" the Japanese version over english, yes, when given the option. In the end though I'll watch anything thats available to me. If I have to go with an english dub, I'll watch it. I might be annoyed a little if the voice acting is too bad, but I can live with it.



Well, I've also heard "sweet, I'll check it out when I go to [name of store here]. But most people, if they can get it for free, they will take that route. They don't steal food, clothes, or anything you see at a store physically because their morals, the way they think especially work a bit more than when people are on the internet (That and the fear of being caught, arrested and possibly jailed. ); they are behind a screen controlling a little cursor to click & get everything they want. They aren't afraid when they're like that because it's a very very low chance that they'll ever get caught.

If at the right time I was at a store, I had the money and I see an anime I like- then sure I would probably buy it (especially now since you kinda lectured me about this. ). If I know an anime title is lisenced and available for download, I avoid it. I've been doing this ever since I learned about lisencing on anime which was around the time Naruto was announced to be lisenced. I admit I'm sometimes too lazy to check if the anime is lisenced or forget that its lisenced before downloading. But I still do look out for them and if I realize that it is lisenced, I stop watching them.. I can find other things to do or just find a non-lisenced anime to watch. Watching anime is something I do on my free time, so if someone has to say this much, then it just becomes a whatever floats your boat kinda thing for me. I have enough moral standards to compromise as long as it's explained to me.

That’s the thing about DBZ, its basic plotline is ' Good guy strong, bad guy stronger, good guy gets stronger beats bad guy... repeat to fade'. But the imagination behind it was so simple it was genius. A lot of non-otaku mark for DBZ because it’s one of the amines which most people know and often the one that started most otaku's obsession with anime. However, while it’s an enjoyable anime, it’s not a great anime, and most otaku like you and I quickly find better titles out there and move on. Its actually one of the reasons a lot of Otaku hate it, because its one of the most famous animes out there but it really isn't deserving of the hype. I however still have a fondness of DBZ since it was the fourth series I watched after Escaflowne, Tenchi and Sailor Moon, and I do recognise that if not for DBZ anime might not be as big in the west as it is.




Dude, I'm not being hostile. I think you're taking my points far too personally. As I said, I'm making an issue of the concept of DLing licensed anime, I am not making an attack on you. There are far too many DLers out there to be any point in making a personal attack on one.




Yes, I DL non-licensed titles. I've never denied that, and I've said several times when the issue of DLing is raised that I have no problem with people (including myself) DLing titles which there is simply no other way to get bar DLing. However I have never DLed a title available in the UK or the US, and those titles which I have DLed and later come to the UK I always buy. Only the week, I ordered the entire first series of Kaliodo Star from the US (which btw is fantastic, everyone needs to see this anime and as £18 from caimanzone its easily affordable), despite having seeing a torent for it on spytorent. The idea of stealing the anime never entered my head.
The issue I'm raising is about DLing licensed anime, which is theft.





Dude, I only mentioned dual audio because in a previous post you said 'I do not favor english dubs of anime' as an reason why you don't care if the western anime industry dies. My point was barring 4Kids etc most anime releases over here do also include the Japanese version also.





But it doesn't matter if their method of stealing is by hitting a few buttons rather than slipping something into their pockets, its still left. If you steal a car from a dark ally, you're less likely to be caught than if you do it in a busy street, but any normal person still wouldn't do it.


In the end dude, I don't want to debate this issue for another few pages, neither do I want to fight with you over the issue. I’m simply making an objection to you’re original post – “I rarely ever buy any anime except on a few occasions where I'm at a comic book store and I see my favorite series. I just find some sites that lets you download this stuff for free” – where you said you rarely buy anime you want in shops, you just DL it.
We’ve both now expanded our ideas on the issue and since you’re taking this issue personally and thinking I’m ‘bashing’ you and showing ‘hostility’ we should end this debate sooner rather than later before you develop any hard feelings, it is not my intention to having a falling out over this. As I’ve said I’m attacking the concept of DLing, not you.

yeah, it got me into anime and even manga (though I wasn't aware that it was manga I was buying at the time ) after DBZ I got into tenchi, and then into Evangelion and so on. I even bought dragon ball on video from amazon. but yeah, the drawings of DBZ tend to be very simple, until they start the fight scene when they get a lil bit more detail, and the plot is very basic as you said. but still, if it wasn't for DBZ I'd never have known about anime from an early age, and wouldn't have met my addiction

The things that got me into anime where the movies on Sci-fi's 'anime midnight' season back in 1999-2000 e.g. Macross Plus, Shadow Skill, RG Veda, Street Fighter, Vampire Princess Miyu, Lupin III etc. But I only really went nuts over anime when I friend recomended Escaflowne and later Tenchi on Toonami. From there I expanded onto Sailor Moon on Fox Kids. DBZ I saw early on as it was shown before Tenchi, but I must admit I hated it at first, it was 'the thing before Tenchi' to me, not DragonBall. But after a while it grew on me and for about 3 years after DBZ became my favourite anime.

I wasn't saying its a good thing to do, I was saying that people don't have their moralities with them when downloading things on a computer.




Well when you're told that you're not an anime fan while being questioned things like this "You think they don’t need money to make new anime, or do you think everyone should pay for anime except for you?" I get the impression you look at me as some dude who with a twisted sense of morals. And I didn't even know we were debating over anything, I agree with everything you said almost completely. I took this as an 'attack' because you seemed slightly ticked about what I said and lectured me about things I already know and leave me looking like some clueless ditz when all I really wanted to do was help. I think you took my second post wrong in a lot of ways though. I'm all for dropping this subject though.. the whole thing is kinda about nothing.

You think me saying you aren’t a true anime fan is the biggest way I could attack you’re moral character? Dude if that’s the case, you don’t have anything to worry about





Dude, I could give you all a lecture on the birth of DB, but it wouldn’t mean I’d be ticked off

… and just to prove I can, here it is;:P


The original 13 chapters of Dragon Ball bore more than a passing resemblance to a classic Chinese story named ‘Journey to the West’ (written by Wu Cheng’en, a thousand years ago), due in no small part to the expectations of Toriyama to create an updated version of this story, with his own humorous touches.

‘Journey to the West’ told the story of Sanzang, a Buddhist Priest who is travelling west to receive religious texts from Buddha, on this journey the Priest gathers around him and group of non-human companions. The first of these is monkey called Sun Wukong, a violent and cunning warrior wielding a giant staff of iron. In the story Sun Wukong had defied the gods and been imprisoned for half a millennia within a mountain, before finally being released to act as bodyguard for the priest and therefore atone for his heresy. The second is a shape shifting Pig, who is introduced while subjecting innocent humans to raids in monster form. Pig, although a warrior, usually flees from combat, is selfish and puts his own safety before that of the others members of the group. During their travels the group are set upon constantly by demons wishing to stop them reaching the texts.

In the final draft of Dragon Ball, the influences of ‘Journey to the West’ are multiple;

1. Firstly, Bulma’s search for the Dragon Balls is the Priest’s mission for his text. Furthermore, both Bulma and Sanzang are prone to both arrogance and constantly getting into trouble.
2. Goku is the monkey bodyguard, although his personally is more in akin with that of he innocent, pure-hearted child, Tanton in Dragon Boy, than the blood lusting Sun Wukong. However, the destructive force of the saiyan’s Oozaru form (a giant monkey set on destroying everything in site) does.
3. Oolong, other than the fact that he cannot fight, is much like Pig, both are cowardly, selfish, ‘desire female company’, and introduced while subjecting innocent humans to raids in monster form.
4. The Nimbus cloud, is used by Goku in Dragon Ball, however, flying clouds are also used at times by the Sun Wukong.
5. King Yemma, although not appearing until Dragon Ball Z, is based upon ten judges of the dead at the gates to the afterlife in Chinese mythology.

Akira Toriyama wrote several of these ‘updates’ before finally creating Dragon Ball the appeared in the form of ‘Dragon Boy’, published in Fresh Jump in 1983 and only lasted from August to October. The story featured a character called “Tanton”, who resembled Goku in personality if not in appearance, and supported a pair of dragon wings. Much like in Journey to the West, the manga contained shape shifters and magic orbs. The orbs, referred to as Ronpao bore a resemblance to dragon balls, but called forth the dragon when in the presence of Ki, rather than when all seven were brought together.

Next up came “Tonpuu’s Great Adventure”, it lasted one volume which was published by Shounen Jump issue 52 in 1983. Much like the story GT would tell, the main characters (Tonpuu and Puramo) went from one planet to the other in during their travels. Like ‘Dragon Boy’, the story featured elements which later went onto the finalised Dragon Ball, including the forerunner of the Capsule Corps.’ capsules, which could contain objects of great size, and release them when placed in boiling water.

Finally Toriyama produced a story he called Dragon Ball, which featured the travels of the monkey-tailed child Son Wuukong (later changed to Son Goku), and his companions. It told the story of Bulma, a selfish, rich girl searching for magic Dragon Balls to call forth the dragon god Shenron to grant her a wish. On her search she met Son Goku, who joined her out of his curiosity about the world and his wish to help the girl. As the story continued, they met a old hermit who gave them a flying cloud, a shape-shifting Pig and Cat, a bandit intent on stealing the dragon balls, and a giant guarding a castle of fire who promised his daughter’s hand in marriage to Goku.

The story was first published in 1984 in Shonen Jump magazine, and was planned to end after 13 chapters which would complete the retelling of the updated ‘Journey to the West’…11 years later with several hundred chapters of manga, over 300 anime episodes, and an international craze, the last volume of Dragon Ball was published.

“On days when I have to ink Dragon Ball, I get up around noon, eat breakfast, and then around 1 p.m. I begin working together with my assistant Matsuyama. I take a break from 7 to 8 p.m. to eat dinner, walk my dog, and feed my bird. Matsuyama goes home around 9 p.m. and I continue to work while watching television. I usually take a bath around 11 p.m. and then after that I relax but I continue to do a bit more work. I will the go to sleep around 4 a.m. And that is what my inking days are like.”

- Akira Toriyama, 1987 (source: Dragon Ball Vol. 8, viz graphic novel, 2002)


Akira Toriyama had only planned Dragon Ball to be a short lived project before he moved onto something else, however, before the first 13 chapters had been completed, the series slowly began gaining a cult following. On February 16th, 1986 Dragon Ball was launched as an anime, by TOEI Animation.


Eventually the story of Goku’s childhood ended, and was replaced by Dragon Ball Z, which told the story of Goku’s adult life and his forgotten lineage as an alien invader known as Kakarot, a member of a race called the Siayan. Dragon Ball Z dropped much of the humour associated with Dragon Ball and focused on action and serious plot for a more mature audience.

Originally intending to end the story after the titanic clash between Goku and Frieza on the distant planet of Namek, the shows popularity dragged Toriyama back to continue the series. However, finally, after 444 episodes, 2 specials, 16 movies, 1 live-action movie, 42 volumes of manga, and countless pieces of merchandise, Toriyama ended Dragon Ball to work on new topics.

TOEI Animation had different ideas, the company continued the story without Toriyama, and created Dragon Ball Grand Tour (DBGT), which took place 10 years after the death of Kid Buu, the final villain of DBZ. The series featured Goku (back in child form through a wish gone wrong) searching through space with his granddaughter Pan, and Trunks, son of his former enemy, now sparring partner, Vegeta. The series attempted to recreate the comedy of the original Dragon Ball, but only succeeding in driving many of the fan base away. By the time the action returned during the Bebi Saga, DBGT had lost many of its viewing audience to survive as long as Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z had, and ended after 64 episodes, 1 movie and a special featuring Pan’s grandson.

Countries outside Japan gained access to Dragon Ball at different times, countries in mainland Europe such as Spain and France, which were no strangers to Japanese anime imports, gained all three series early on.
In the English speaking nations, however, anime had long been seen as a bad thing, negative sterotypes of sex, swearing and violence dominated the image many Americans, British etc held of anime. It was therefore 1995 before the first 13 episodes of Dragon Ball (the Pilaf Saga) were dubbed by "FUNimation Studios/Productions, Inc." and placed on American television in the early hours of the morning were the show gained very few viewers and was soon dropped.

However, ‘FUNimation’ continued their attempt to start off the craze which had gripped the rest of the world by dubbing both the Saiyan and Namek Sagas of Dragon Ball Z, carried out by Ocean Group Studios in Vancouver Canada. Again the shows were shown far to early and subsequently were dropped.

Not until 1998 did DBZ resurface when Cartoon Network began collecting shows for its new block of teenage aimed cartoons called ‘Toonami’, and over night Dragon Ball became huge. Not only that, but Dragon Ball Z, a Japanese cartoon, becoming acceptable to a large audience of American viewers made way for further importing of anime on a far grander scale.

To meet the new demand for the rest of the series, FUNimation translated the Captain Ginyu, Frieza, Garlic Jr. and Trunks Sagas, only this time using their Texas Studios, and a new set of voice actors.

From the Android Saga onwards, both the Texas Studios and Ocean Group have dubbed DBZ, making two available dubs, of which, Ocean Group’s was exported to other English speaking countries such as Britain.

In 2001 dubbing began on the rest of the original Dragon Ball series, and the process of dubbing DBGT bagan in 2003, finishing in 2004. Dubbing of the movies still continues to present.

Meh, you can buy, ill download. There is hardcore then there is i will pay for my anime

No. ~~



Not sure what you mean by this..

Thanks for that lengthy summarization Talon, it was a nice read.
I like DragonBall and the Saiyan Saga better than the latter parts of DBZ and DBGT.

New anime shows called Pumpkin Scissors ( http://rikujyo3ka.com/ ) and Night Head Genesis (http://www.nighthead-genesis.jp/ ) comming soon.

http://www.animenation.net/news/index.php

shame the nighthead genesis link is japanese, thanks for the links

Well they would be Anime is made in Japan for Japanese peope

haha I know, but usually they have an english sister site. unless the anime's almost brand new

Just thought that some of you might like this.

You gotta admit that it's addictive, well at least I find it to be so.

That was cute

More new anime sites;


Kikoushi-Enma - http://www.k-enma.com/chara.html

Tekkon Kinkurito movie - http://www.tekkon.net/

Tsuyokiss - http://www.tsuyokiss.jp/


Also in the news;

A Turkish hacker group called "ayyildiz" defaced ADV's website.


"An Anime Quest for Deltora (2006-05-08 06:40:57)
Australian children's book series Deltora Quest will be adapted into an anime series, author Emily Rodda announced at Sydney's Book Council of Australia Conference. Rodda said she had received many film offers, but an unnamed anime studio was the only one that promised not to change the story. The anime will premiere in September. Thanks, James Punshon"

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/

"Gainax and Shaft will co-produce a new Negima TV series to debut this fall in Japan. "

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/

Good I want more Negima. But with any luck they'll undo the major flaw of the first season - not enough Konoka/Setsuna goodness.

http://www.animenation.net/news/index.php

Anybody get into the Rurouni Kenshin series, i personally loved it as you can see by name and avatar, i've watched cartoons all my life so, anime was a natural progression for me, dbz was the one that started it for me i think, Toonami is a must for me now a days, i just wish i had digital cable so i could see alot more of other good anime series and movies, i just buy movies and dvds of series now.

Bo-boboobobobobob whatever makes me sick, what would posses someone to make this

Awhile back i heard talk of a live action movie of DBZ, what happened to that, probali would have sucked anyway, but since i love the show i wouldn't have mind seeing it though

sorry that was a gumble

I've seen most of season 2 and 3 of Rurouni Kenshin, but only a handful of the later eps of season 1. Its not available in Scotland, so basically I'm stuck to what is cheap enough to import.

I also watched a lot of cartoons as child and early teenager (Batman, Action Force/G.I.Joe etc), hell I still watch Batman of the Future and Justice League if they’re on. So for me, anime was also a natural addiction when I found it.

The first anime I saw was the Street Fighter II animated movie though. Saw that back in 1994 or 1995. But I never paid anime much attention after that since I was 14 and didn't really know much about it, to me it was just Street Fighter I wanted to see at that time.
I also watched two Sonic cartoons as a child (waaay before Sonic X came out), so one of them might have been Japanese without me knowing it but I'm sure both were American.
It wasn't until around 1999 that I rediscovered anime on Sci-fi's Saturday anime night. It played one or two Manga releases every Saturday. Manga tends to distribute darker anime, so my first taste movie was Armageddon, followed by Lupin III: Goodbye Lady liberty, Dark Myth, VG Veda, MD Geist, Vampire Princess Miyu, Bubblegum Crash etc etc

It was only after I had bled these movies to death after 6 months, had them all on tape and was bored of the TV repeating them, that a friend recommended Sailormoon and Escaflowne on Foxkids, and Tenchi on Toonami. DBZ was on before Tenchi, so I quickly also found that and it’s evolved from there.

And now I am a self confessed Otaku, and have been branded the Mighty Anime Freak some of the others on this forum. And given how big my collection is, I'd hazard a guess I've got to be one of the biggest fans on the site... if not the biggest


As for the DBZ movie that’s unfortunately an on-again-off-again project which although 20th Century Fox has the rights too, they don't seem to be doing anything with it.

However, Weta Workshops (LOTR) is making a Evangelion live-action movie, and James Cameron (Aliens, Terminator) is making Battle Angel Attila into a movie.
That Sabrina the teenage witch girl is also making a movie of Real Bout Highschool, but if her previous movies are anything to go with its not looking good, especially when she's already stated that its not going to follow the manga or the anime, but rather something completely different.... which if is the case, then why bother getting the rights to the movie of the show in the first place if you're not going to follow it?!

I just read over in anime Newsnetwork that an American movie of Sailormoon is being made.... personally I can't see it taking off. Magic Girls is part of anime culture and so while Japanese and anime fans might see it... I just can't see the average westerner caring enough. What are they going to do, make it so childish it appeals to children?

I would have to say yes it probali would be made very childish just so they can make toyz and such, what about Thundercats you ever get into that?

That would be a decent live action movie.

Not really. I saw a few eps when I was 7, but I can't remember much about it.

It was on toonami about a year or 2 ago, if you ever get the chance you should take a look, they have movies too, if you ever saw the old He-Man it sorta looks like that, by the way another classic there too.

We get a different tonami from the US, we never get shown any of the old series. Fox Kids used to show some of the old shows last year, but not Thunder Cats.




Yes, I know what it was, it just never peeked as much interest as Action Force, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors etc


An old friend at work was obsessed with old shows like that (and Power Rangers ), he used to sing the Thunder Cats theme tune to himself if he got drink enough.

Does anyone know when Bleach will be available in shops over in the UK? I've only noticed that the mangas are out on shelves a month or something ago.

Wow, an anime thread...thats cool.

Mmm, my personal favorite anime is Gasaraki, although I've never seen that on TV...I just bought the DVDs.