Topic: Manga and Anime discussion

@Blooper987 It sounds silly but Ping Pong is more of a deep dive into the psychology of being a champion than being strictly about the sport!

So, anyone in the US have Retro Crush? It's a free anime streaming service (ad supported, but there's also a paid option to remove ads) that specializes in vintage anime (mostly from the 80's & 90's, but they have some even older & newer stuff as well).

I've started watching Bubblegum Crisis & Medabots on it, and have watched Otaku no Video (an earlier film from Gainax, the studio behind Evangelion), and it's seemed like it's worked decently so far.

Not everything they have is an absolute classic of course, but they do have a few of the Lupin the 3rd series & films, the 90's Street Fighter, Fatal Fury, & Virtua Fighter movies, a Cardcaptor Sakura movie, etc., so it might be worth checking out if you have an interest in vintage anime (and some of it is in SD, since it hasn't had any sort of HD re-release).

Yu-Gi-Oh!
InuYasha
Berserk

Did anyone check out the crunchy roll awards. I know none of y’all prolly care, but I’ve never heard of Jujutsu Kaijen. Must be pretty good tho I guess.

Chika should’ve won over Kaguya tbh.

And Love Is War won best comedy. Which it completely deserved! Amazing show.

Bubblegum Crisis (Retro Crush)

1980's sci-fi OVA series comprised of 8 episodes that follows the exploits of the Knight Sabers, a (nearly) all female vigilante group that uses advanced power suits (think a more anime take on Iron Man) to take on Genon, an overly powerful robotics corporation that is illegally developing weapons grade "Boomers" (series terminology for humanoid androids).

While the first three episodes form a sort of connected story, overall there's no narrative end point, with each episode (most of which are 40-50 minutes long) feeling like a little self contained movie of sorts, each chronicling the events of a different case the group gets involved in. It's definitely from an interesting era of sci-fi anime (definitely the kind of series that influenced the vibe of Astral Chain) with an attention to detail to the sci-fi machinery & vehicles (unfortunately it looks like it hasn't had much if any of a visual upgrade, with a VHS like quality to the image. I think it'd look phenomenal restored in HD), and the impact of Blade Runner on the medium can definitely be felt. Worth a look if you have an interest in vintage anime, which can feel VERY different to the medium in it's current form.

Content Guide:

Language - Average (Mostly PG-13 level stuff, but I wouldn't rule out an F-Bomb or two that MAY have flown by me).

Violence - High (While it can get quite bloody when it needs to, I mean there's one episode that centers around a mysterious "vampire" draining people of the stuff, it's not constantly drenched with it, and a couple episodes don't feature any as far as I recall, unless you count this yellow fluid/oil that acts as a Boomer's "blood" when it gets ripped apart. Just be aware it can get high impact when it needs to).

Nudity/Sex - Average (really just for the few scenes of bare breasts it features during the occasional shower or changing scene. Like maybe four brief scenes total. Otherwise it's not really fanservicy in any way. The female characters don't have exaggerated body proportions, I don't recall any noticeable jiggle physics, and their outfits always seem appropriate for whatever situation they're currently in. The only other thing that would go here is a bit of a running gag where the brother of one of the girls seems oddly interested in seeing her specifically in a state of undress, but it's dropped after the first few episodes).

AD Police Files (Retro Crush)

A three episode prequel to Bubblegum Crisis (which I've recently watched as well) that follows Leon (a supporting character from the original) during his rookie year within the AD Police (short for "Advanced Police"), well before the Knight Sabers first appeared.

Like the original, each episode is more or less a stand alone story within the world rather than having any sort of overarching narrative. However It's a much grittier take on the world (which makes since given that the Knight Sabers haven't started to clean things up yet), and they take the chance to tackle some deeper themes (such as the line between humanity & machine in a world where artificial body enhancement & advanced humanoid androids run rampant), and this is even reflected in the art direction, which strikes a more realistic tone (especially the first episode, the second two look a bit more like the original). The VHS video quality persists too however, as it clearly hasn't had any sort of enhanced re-release. Still, an interesting sci-fi watch, especially if you can handle the grittier content.

Content Guide:

Language (Average) - Typical PG-13 stuff.

Violence (Extreme) - People routinely get mutilated & ripped asunder with blood spraying everywhere.

Sex/Nudity (Extreme) - Nudity & Sex are pretty common as well. I mean the first episode centers around an artificial prostitute, & the second deals with the murder of prostitutes, so you can guess at the prevalence.

Should I watch Another and Higurashi or do you guys think they are a bit too extreme? I love the look of them as very disturbing shows, but it may be a bit too much for me. I've seen a couple clips of both like the principal killing himself in Another (albeit a slightly censored version) and some of the suppsoedly lighter stuff in Higurashi. I am talking about the original Higurashi and not the new one from 2020.

@Blooper987 Did you watch the Danganronpa 3 anime? If you can handle the last few episodes of that, you can handle either of those shows.

I've only seen half of Another, but it was 90% suggestion and atmosphere, so unless it changes a lot in the last few episodes, I doubt you'll have any issues with it.

Higurashi is actually interesting insofar as it goes back and forth between extremely silly slice-of-life comedy and brutally violent horror throughout the first season, due to the way it's structured. So you never really have to worry about it overloading the viewer with too much crazy violence at once, because it almost always pulls back and lightens up a bit after an episode or two. It's also worth mentioning that there's way less gruesome violence in the subsequent seasons and OVAs.

@Ralizah okay thanks. I did watch Danganronpa 3 and I didn’t find it that bad so I’ll add these to my watch list.

Medabots (Retro Crush)

Kids' anime released at the height of the original Pokemon craze, this turn of the millennium show features collecting & battling with robots called "Medabots". Of course there's something special with our main character Ikki's outdated "Metabee" model thanks to a strange medal (this acts as the brain/soul of a Metabot) he found in the river, and soon the pair are one of the hottest "Robattling" pairs in school, gaining the attention of the "Rubber Robo Gang" (goofy criminal syndicate like Team Rocket) & "the Phantom Renegade" (mysterious medal thief who rides the line between friend & foe).

It's been a long time since I've watched anything like this (I caught a couple episodes as a kid, but for whatever reason was never in a position to follow it more closely), and I had a pretty fun time with it. I really liked the smart"butt" characterization of Metabee, as well as seeing where the match referee would pop out next. You can tell it was definitely from an era with heavier localization (not 4Kids levels of bad, as it didn't generally hide the fact that it took place in Japan, & still referenced death), with the biggest notable example being when they referred to a tengu as Pinocchio (which I'll let slide as even most adults in the US wouldn't know what a tengu is). There were a few story threads left open by the end, meaning either Retro Crush doesn't have further seasons (or they were never brought to the US in the first place), but overall it was a fun show if you like Pokemon likes.

Content Guide:

Language (None) - Other than offensively bad wordplay like "Holy Metaroly", "I'm gonna' give you a Meta Be-Boppin'", & "Your Bot is mine!", Which you'll hear a lot, lol.

Violence (Mild) - low impact robot fights. Think Pokemon in terms of fighting.

Sex/Nudity (None) - Nothing to note here.

Devil is a Part Timer season 2 confirmed!!! So awesome!🥳

Only one episode of YashaHime left, and at this point I hope it gets a second season not because it's good (it's been disappointing), but as a hope that they might fix at least some of it's many issues.

Literally one episode until the end and they're still introducing new plot threads, so there's still at least 4 or 5 things left unresolved, and so far they've completely ignored the original cast (Miroku is the only one who is involved enough to barely even be considered a supporting character). In all honesty it's reminding me of the myriad of Tenchi Muyo sequels & spinoffs that give Tenchi 5 minutes of screentime if you're lucky (and at least those have the excuse of focusing on acquaintances of his, rather than his own children like YashaHime).

Is there some sort of relatively new Japanese law that forbids anime from mentioning real world locations/historical events?

I've been watching Lupin the 3rd: a Woman Called Fujiko Mine, and recently watched an episode that used the Cuban revolution as the backdrop, and while it featured geographically correct maps (including clear shots at Cuba itself, plus highlighting the US & Soviet Union), as well as other real world references & institutions (such as the Doomsday Clock & United Nations), almost everything else was, very lazily, renamed.

• Cuba itself became Carib (although just a play on Caribbean, it's probably the most subtle change).
• Havana became Navaha.
• Fidel Castro himself was Philadel Kest.
• The USA was United States of Yamerica (although the continent of South America was unscathed).
• Even the Atlantic Ocean had to assume an alternate identity as the Atlantique Ocean.

What could possibly be the point of using real world events as a backdrop if you're ultimately going to pussyfoot around it in the least subtle way imaginable, unless they're technically not allowed to?

Heck, I already feel like more modern anime are foregoing the real world altogether in comparison to the older stuff, but now it also feels like when they do seem to take place in the real world they make lazy edits such as the above.

Finished up a couple different Lupin the 3rd series recently.

First up was Lupin the 3rd: Part 3. Not much of a (if any) overarching narrative, but it was fun seeing what kinda antics the gang got into episode to episode. Not a big deal due to the "story of the week" structure, but for whatever reason Funimation doesn't have the first 3 episodes (only episodes 4-50), which is really odd as they seem to have Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, & a Woman Called Fujiko Mine in their entirety, so I'm not sure what's so special about Part 3 that would cause them not to pick up all the episodes.

Secondly was the aforementioned a Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Fujiko centric prequel that's tonally different than anything else I've experienced from the franchise. It has a singular overarching story for one, and it's much more gritty & graphic for another. It spends most of it's time hinting & building up a twisted & tragic backstory for the infamous femme fatale, though it kinda pulls the rug out from under you right at the end though. Still, a very interesting watch.

I watched Tokyo Godfathers last night not knowing what to expect and wow. what a heart warming surprise it was, also really funny too!

My first book of 2022 Is 20th Century Boys enjoying it so far, have all deluxe volumes so I'll probably fly through them as Urasawa is brilliant.

First InuYasha gets a sequel & now Urusei Yatsura is getting a remake. Wonder if Ranma will be next.

@Bentleyma where can I watch it? Never played the games but I'll give the anime a go.

Shenmue had a decent start.

I've just got into Ranking of Kings and it's way better than I expected!

@Bentleyma Ok, Thanks I'm always considering subscribing to an anime service so I might just do that at some point.