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Mononoke is great. It's not straight up horror, but it definitely touches it a bit.

 

It's actually sort of similar to Mushishi but much more stylish and, maybe, bombastic? Colors everywhere in your eyes and ears.

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Also just for the record this is one of the ones to which I was referring in my rambly paragraph. It's great and actually you know what I might just rewatch it sometime soon...

 

I think Oh! Edo Rocket is secretly one of the greatest anime of all time, but that's probably because I like comedies with very little respect for the fourth wall and the only ones that beat out Oh! Edo Rocket there are anime based on manga by Koji Kumeta.

 

If nothing else just meaning I don't remember it that well. I believe I only saw the last story (Bake Neko), which was in fact very creepy,

 

Huh, just realized that apparently Mononoke (which I think is more readily available today) was spun off that story.

 

Okay, fair enough. I confess, I don't know much about Mononoke except that one Mushishi fan I knew denigrated it as a poor man's Mushishi. I feel as though I can't trust his opinion wholly...

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Like they're basically identical in concept: traveling "medicine" man solves supernatural problems.

 

But they're so completely different in tone and style that I hesitate to compare them. I like them both. I definitely prefer Mushishi, as I just in general prefer the more understated, atmospheric style than I do the colorful and exciting style. But I still quite like Mononoke.

 

Also yeah I'm definitely gonna rewatch Oh! Edo Rocket like maybe this weekend I'll start...

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On the Mech Jesus topic, I recently watched Knights of Sidonia on Netflix. I had heard negative/middling things about it previously, so I ended up fairly impressed. It has some really slick animation and I actually enjoyed the simultaneously threadbare/complex story. I guess my primary complaint is that it's fairly dour with a muted color palette, so it doesn't have the joyous/humorous quality that some other anime in this sub-genre have (and I generally enjoy).

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On the Mech Jesus topic, I recently watched Knights of Sidonia on Netflix. I had heard negative/middling things about it previously, so I ended up fairly impressed. It has some really slick animation and I actually enjoyed the simultaneously threadbare/complex story. I guess my primary complaint is that it's fairly dour with a muted color palette, so it doesn't have the joyous/humorous quality that some other anime in this sub-genre have (and I generally enjoy).

 

Hey I liked that one pretty well too. The unexplained talking bear is just pure awesome and I like how it aired more on the side of realism with the way physics worked and everything.

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The unexplained talking bear is actually explained, just maybe not in the anime.

 

I wanted to watch the anime because the manga is great but it just looks so ugly. X:

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Hmm Crunchyroll has a podcast now. http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-891741/crunchycast-episode-1-no-matter-what

 

I'm not super optimistic as these things often end up feeling like nothing but an audio long-form shill when it's an official company thing. Hmm hmmmm. I'm listening now, at any rate. It's not long, at least, 37 minutes.

 

Aaand their first topic is Final Fantasy X/X-2 on PS4! All righty then.

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Okay, fair enough. I confess, I don't know much about Mononoke except that one Mushishi fan I knew denigrated it as a poor man's Mushishi. I feel as though I can't trust his opinion wholly...

Talked to the guy who showed me Ayakashi, and he says Mononoke isn't nearly as good. So, maybe try to check out Ayakashi first, and watch Mononoke if you really love it?

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Oh man, Space Satan

Isn't Kaworu basically space satan sent to 'test' space Jesus Shinji?

I would love to see a really scary anime. Also mushishi sounds like it's my jam.

There are a few specific episodes of Mushishi which I feel hit similar notes to some lovecraftian horror for me. Bad things happening to people powerless to stop some great incomprehensible force.

.

The only other big one is the massive Higurashi franchise, which I haven't seen and can't comment upon.

During the discussion of the Moe aesthetic a few pages back this was one of the few series that came to mind where you had character who were Moe but ended up also being threatening.

I don't remember else much from the time I watched I though which doesn't speak strongly for it though.

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4 episodes in to Kids on the Slope and I'm liking it quite a bit more than I expected! It's a pretty big departure from most of the other more fantastical anime that I've watched but I'm finding it surprisingly engaging and interesting. And once again, the music is really great. The only thing I'm not a big fan of is the whole high school romance stuff. With where I'm at in my life and have been for a long time, the whole high school crush falling in love thing is just weird and awkward and unrelatable to me. I definitely enjoy a good love story and don't usually have a problem with that (the romance stuff was one of my favorite parts about Steins;Gate) but when it's in a high school setting like this it just seems kind of cheesy. 

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I feel you with the adolescent romance, I can't stand that stuff either. I have the same problem with a lot of anime, and also with the western cartoons I watch (although to be fair, the western cartoons I watch are much more overtly for children, so I don't have much grounds for complaint). 

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Aren't almost all western cartoons overtly for children? I'm sure there are a lot of exceptions I'm not aware of but I feel like virtually any western cartoon that isn't on Adult Swim or Comedy Central is pretty much geared towards kids. (I expect to be corrected on this)

 

But yeah, I think it's the whole dynamic of a character having a crush on another character and being flirty and awkward around them and beating around the bush that just really annoys me. And anything in a high school setting is inevitably going to have that in spades. I guess cynical grown up me just gets frustrated seeing characters supposedly fall in love, but they are too nervous to tell the person so they get a friend involved, but the girl that the friend likes mistakes the situation and thinks the friend who has a crush on her really has a crush on the other girl. If they just used basic human communication all of that dumb love triangle bullshit wouldn't happen and it would feel a little more relatable to me. Despite that though, it's still a relatively small complaint and I generally really like Kids on the Slope.

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Aren't almost all western cartoons overtly for children? I'm sure there are a lot of exceptions I'm not aware of but I feel like virtually any western cartoon that isn't on Adult Swim or Comedy Central is pretty much geared towards kids. (I expect to be corrected on this)

 

But yeah, I think it's the whole dynamic of a character having a crush on another character and being flirty and awkward around them and beating around the bush that just really annoys me. And anything in a high school setting is inevitably going to have that in spades. I guess cynical grown up me just gets frustrated seeing characters supposedly fall in love, but they are too nervous to tell the person so they get a friend involved, but the girl that the friend likes mistakes the situation and thinks the friend who has a crush on her really has a crush on the other girl. If they just used basic human communication all of that dumb love triangle bullshit wouldn't happen and it would feel a little more relatable to me. Despite that though, it's still a relatively small complaint and I generally really like Kids on the Slope.

 

If that sort of thing is really detailed and well-observed it's my absolute favorite thing ever. Whisper of the Heart is a great example of that (well, not so much the friend part). But the generic version of this never ends up being interesting.

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Aren't almost all western cartoons overtly for children? I'm sure there are a lot of exceptions I'm not aware of but I feel like virtually any western cartoon that isn't on Adult Swim or Comedy Central is pretty much geared towards kids. (I expect to be corrected on this)

 

But yeah, I think it's the whole dynamic of a character having a crush on another character and being flirty and awkward around them and beating around the bush that just really annoys me. And anything in a high school setting is inevitably going to have that in spades. I guess cynical grown up me just gets frustrated seeing characters supposedly fall in love, but they are too nervous to tell the person so they get a friend involved, but the girl that the friend likes mistakes the situation and thinks the friend who has a crush on her really has a crush on the other girl. If they just used basic human communication all of that dumb love triangle bullshit wouldn't happen and it would feel a little more relatable to me. Despite that though, it's still a relatively small complaint and I generally really like Kids on the Slope.

 

Thinking back to what Patrick said about coming in as a outsider perhaps one of the notable things about Cowboy Bebop, is that it's protagonist are mostly adults with adult concerns (& therefore easier to relate to for us (supposed) adults?).

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Thinking back to what Patrick said about coming in as a outsider perhaps one of the notable things about Cowboy Bebop, is that it's protagonist are mostly adults with adult concerns (& therefore easier to relate to for us (supposed) adults?).

 

Maybe that's really what it boils down to for me then. I prefer a story that presents a situation that is applicable to and can be related to as an adult. So the stuff in Steins;Gate was great because I never felt like their age was a big factor in how that story played out. Sure they were all in the 16-18 range but they could have all been 10 years older and I think the story would have still worked pretty well. With Kids on the Slope, their age and where they are at in life is much more integral to the story. 

 

And to contradict myself a bit, as much as I'm not a fan of the high school crush stuff, I actually really like how the quiet reserved kid becomes friends with the tough 'bully-ish' kid (I haven't watched enough to learn their names yet). That stuff is great even though I don't relate to it as an adult so much. So yeah, I guess I'm not very consistent with my pet peeves.

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Aren't almost all western cartoons overtly for children? I'm sure there are a lot of exceptions I'm not aware of but I feel like virtually any western cartoon that isn't on Adult Swim or Comedy Central is pretty much geared towards kids.

 

...or on the internet, or on FX.

 

But yeah, I think you're right, they mostly are. The ones that I've watched and enjoyed seem to have adults in mind as a secondary audience, but never at the expense of their primary viewership of kids. Which is just the worst when they inevitably have a romance plot or subplot.

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Maybe that's really what it boils down to for me then. I prefer a story that presents a situation that is applicable to and can be related to as an adult. So the stuff in Steins;Gate was great because I never felt like their age was a big factor in how that story played out. Sure they were all in the 16-18 range but they could have all been 10 years older and I think the story would have still worked pretty well. With Kids on the Slope, their age and where they are at in life is much more integral to the story. 

 

And to contradict myself a bit, as much as I'm not a fan of the high school crush stuff, I actually really like how the quiet reserved kid becomes friends with the tough 'bully-ish' kid (I haven't watched enough to learn their names yet). That stuff is great even though I don't relate to it as an adult so much. So yeah, I guess I'm not very consistent with my pet peeves.

 

I remember really finding Stein Gate near intolerably contrived and unconvincing relationship wise, maybe it needs to go on the list along with Utena, as things i need to rewatch and see if i still bounce of them as hard as i did 1st time round. A lot of fairly sensible people seem to like it.

 

looking at the stuff we've collective recommended Mushishi, Planetes, Paprika (& most of Kon's stuff tbh) deal a lot with relationships in fairly adult ways

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oh i just remembered a scene in kids on the slope that really slams home how awful the romantic relationship shit is

 

when the dude straight up slaps the girl like what

 

I bet the ending wouldn't stick out to me so much if the relationships had all been platonic. Because then I would've had a much better experience leading up to the ending.

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Oh man, talking about intro to anime... great intro to both anime and with taste of mecha would be "Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket".  Hands down the best of Gundam franchise.  If you want something more cheesy but still not too 'anime' then 0083 also works wonders.

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That's why my go-to show for the latter is always going to be Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Everyone's aware of police procedurals, thanks to fucking Law & Order, but what about a police procedural that has a well-rounded female character as the lead and focuses not only on the ethics of emerging technologies but also of police jurisdiction, political corruption, domestic terrorism, and immigration? Oh yeah, it takes place in a cool cyberpunk future, too.

Yeah but why does she walk around wearing that outfit? Seems like it's still catering to the jerk off material crowd.

 

Akira doesn't feel like chosen one stuff to me (I thought Akira and Kaneda sort of stumbled into the whole situation accidentally), though I could be misremembering details as it's been 5 or so years. At any rate, "chosen one" stuff is a little more tolerable in films than it is in TV series that demand more of my time.

Yeah I think it's more like Tetsuo is unique in that he can wield psychic energy so well, but Akira still trumps him. There are multiple children and characters who can use the energy though so it's not like Tetsuo is really that chosen, he just happens to become a psychopath with it. Either way it's not typical chosen one because he's chosen to be the worst force of destruction as a parallel to the atom bomb?

 

Unless Kaneda is chosen, but there's a lot of people helping take down Tetsuo, Kaneda was just his best friend.

 

But I think you'd probably like Samurai Champloo and Michiko and Hatchin, as far as shows. Maybe Ergo Proxy might be your thing? It's a bunch of scifi with a light amount of pretentiousness. It also sort of has a chosen one thread though but I still greatly enjoyed it. I think you should also track down Mind Game, Tokyo Godfathers, and Tekkon Kinkreet in terms of movies. I kind of hate a major amount of Japanese cartoons and so have not much to say in this thread, so maybe my tastes would be similar to yours.

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Does every new page in every thread now need like three posts addressing that there is in fact a new page and spamming the hell out of it?

 

Look, see even I'm adding to it now. Never again though.

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If you'd made the post I made before I edited it you'd be addressing it too!

 

Does it really matter that much?

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oh come on first post new page

Don't worry twig those of us subscribed to the thread still got that comment in all its glory

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