Its because, Gundam wing is everything I asked for: sciencey, action packed, and the women are very modestly dressed.
This might surprise some of you...but I can't stand anime. It's hard to explain. If I see even a cover art for anime I started to feel nauseated. I was eating lunch today, and the thought of anime popped up (thanks to this forum) and I started to feel the onset of a headache, and I ultimately had to visualize a piece of dog **** (no kidding) to get the nausea inducing images of unworldly large eyes and terrible flashes out of my head so I could resume eating. I don't know what it is about the artwork, but it seriously makes me sick. Does anyone else feel this way or know others who do?
Actually, I find a great deal of it EXTREMELY annoying. My roomie used to be into anime, and he has a ton of friends who live for it. Once, about twelve years ago, a bunch of these friends were watching some anime on the big screen in our living room while I was trying to get some work done in my office, which is just off the living room. I could not stand it. Not one bit. I was getting a headache and I couldn't concentrate (I was under a lot of pressure to get some embedded systems code written damn fast), and I couldn't even see what they were watching! I can't see the TV from my desk. But I could hear it, and it was driving me out of my mind. I finally had to yell at them to turn that goddamned garbage off or I was going to have to throw them out. I don't usually have to treat my roomie's friends that way, but most anime just BUGS THE CRAP OUT OF ME!
So the voices are annoying or what? I think maybe anime has just too much going on (visually and auditory). The whole thing is like a nonstop series of miniature explosions.
To the OP: You might like Planetes. It's sci-fi, but with a fairly realistic feel. @123456789 and @minstrel I find myself mostly in agreement. Apart from Miyazaki and Metropolis, that is. I think I might like Cowboy Bebop, but haven't had the time to watch it. I also didn't utterly hate Planetes, though there were a few grinding aspects about it that an anime fan would probably not mind.
Steins;Gate is a time travel mystery - not action, and the beginning (9 episodes) are quite slow. But it really is rather excellent. Miyazaki's Nausicca: Valley of the Wind - it's a dystopian film. Not truly action, but mostly soft-sci-fi rather. No nudity. Ghost in the Shell - action film about cyborgs and what it means to be heavy. The violence isn't heavy by anime standards that's aimed for adults, but it isn't light. It does include some nudity but then again, the nude female MC is a cyborg, so whether that crosses the line for you is up to your discretion. Gundam as someone else has mentioned - it's basically a lot of robots fighting. Was rather huge. I've only seen Gundam Wing, which was entertaining but by no means great. Evangelion is notorious for being amazing, though I haven't seen it myself. It's essentially a robot-fighting sorta anime, but the themes and characters I've heard can be disturbing and apparently almost all the key characters have certain mental issues. Miyazaki's Laputa has some action, but mild. It has one element of "magic" in that this necklace had a special ability, but it's not seen as so much magic as it's just the natural quality of the stone. Think a little like how some people believe crystals have healing properties. Miyazaki is like Steven Spielberg in the east, so if you watch his stuff, you can't go far wrong, and it's - at least in the orient - seen as entirely family friendly. Definitely no nudity. Code Geass - that's another reputable anime. It has one supernatural element but the anime itself is in general more of a political chess game and about the question of whether the end justifies the means. It's known as one of the best out there. It includes some mech fights (robots). Naruto is about ninjas - not sure if you count that as supernatural or not, but definitely plenty of fights. Again, it's become a world-wide phenonmenon. I haven't seen it myself but my sister followed it for a couple hundred episodes. The problem is, anime, being Japanese, follows different cultural standards of what is acceptable violence-wise, sexuality-wise and nudity-wise. Even in Steins;Gate there're 2 nude scenes, albiet only very briefly and nothing graphic about them, they were barely sexual. Even in Doraemon, a infamous Japanese cartoon series for children - and I'm talking pre-school and primary school kids - consistently had jokes about boys walking into the bathroom while this girl was having a bath and other jokes about seeing the girl's underwear. Mostly innocent, but none of this would normally be regarded as "appropriate" by western standards for that particular age group. I *think* what you're looking for might be something called "Mech" anime - not entirely sure of the terminology. That is basically robots. Anime, by and large, even the ones aimed for tiny children, tend to have quite deep themes. Just because it might not be violent or contain nudity doesn't necessarily mean it's suitable for certain people. For example, Gundam was mostly aimmed at kids and young teens, and yet the entire theme of Gundam Wing was the meaning of war, the meaning of death, and the pointlessness of fighting when it is without human sacrifice. It was actually promoting the idea that wars must be fought with real human beings and not with simply robotic suits, because without the price of a human life, the end victory becomes meaningless because it's cost nothing. But that to die for something worthwhile is better than living. If you've never watched any anime in your life, Miyazaki is a pretty good place to start. You should also go on youtube and look for some reviews - Glass Reflections does good anime reviews so maybe check a few of them out. Anime has a very specific sense of humour, often exaggerated, and is quite different from western media. Because it's your first time, I'd encourage you to go for anime that's reputed to be excellent, just so you can judge according to the best in anime Action anime do tend to include some elements of the supernatural. Anime completely devoid of all supernatural elements tend to be dramas and romance, I think. Nudity is, I'm afraid, something you just have to forgive - in the same way as you go and see all kinds of Hollywood movies and you don't think anything of the sex scenes involved or the kissing scenes involved. You'll have to tolerate it in anime in the same way you tolerate Hollywood. Plenty of anime plays with sexuality - Steins;Gate, for example, very much plays with the idea of being transgender, as one of the characters very clearly is. Sailor Moon includes 2 gay relationships and at least 2 cross-dressers whose gender is ambiguous. Fushigi Yuigi includes one cross-dresser and another who's often mistaken for a woman but is actually a man. Ranma 1/2 includes an MC who turns into a woman when he touches cold water and back into a man when he touches hot water (naturally originally he's a man). Like, if you're going to be super conservative, then a large number of animes would not be suitable for you. Just go in with an open mind. Anime's pretty amazing stuff. But if you want the safest route - Hayao Miyazaki, you can't go wrong watching his stuff but yes, some of his films are definitely supernatural. His films are seen as classics that have lasted generations. However, not much action.
Dude: Monster: It's about a doctor who saves the life of a child at the cost of his career...and that's the deceptful part, because it's not about that, it's about the horrifically evil child who becomes an evil mastermind who you'll rarely even see for the remainder of the show. Remember the joker from 'dark knight'? Ok, imagine less stupidly wacky villain, yet is still the posterchild of chaos. Takes place in 1960's (I think) and in several places in Europe. Easily the best anime series I've seen and features no supernatural stuff, no sci-fi, blood only in medical context (like a guy with a bloody bandage for instance, no gore) and no nudity.
@Mckk That's one thing (or two things) I actually do like about anime: deep themes and non-squeamishness when it comes to sexuality... Sure, there have been wtf moments, won't deny that, but that's anime for you, I guess.
Crikey, but isn't Monster also known as easily one of the most freakishly scary shows in anime? I haven't seen it myself but a friend of mine who's into anime in a big way actually stopped watching Monster after only a few episodes because it creeped him out. But you're right, it's known to be one of the best. @KaTrian - oh yeah I totally love the deep themes! I agree re the sexuality stuff too - I think it's good that these types of sexuality are portrayed. But WTF moments, oh yeah... there're quite a few of these. I'm familiar with anime so in general I cope just fine, but oh gosh there was one scene in Steins;Gate - I literally covered my cheeks with my hands because I was just cringing so badly when something happened! (basically, the transgender character wanted to be a woman, only bodily-speaking he was male. Anyway, cus this is a time-travel anime, the past was altered and the MC stands there still thinking this character was a man, only in this time reality the transgender character was physically born as a woman - eg. she was not transgender but she was honestly just a woman. MC - a man - didn't believe this and erm... takes action to "check" the truth of this...) Actually, the fact that throughout the series they constantly emphasised this transgender character is a man while he/she clearly identifies as female... that's probably not the best portrayal ever of transgender persons. However, it's the first time I've seen anyone transgendered being portrayed. Anyway, just talking about this is confusing for me...
My experiences with anime are more or less confined to Studio Ghibli films, which I really love. What's so excellent about these films is the settings and the imagination that went into devising them. My three favourites are the three that are the least 'supernatural.' Hiyao Miyazaki's My Neighbour Totoro (the first one I watched.) Isao Takahata's stunning Grave of the Fireflies—the one about Hiroshima And Isao Takahat's Only Yesterday, the one about the young Japanese city girl who goes out to the country to live on a farm for a while. I'm quite fond of Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away as well, although they are much more supernatural in content I haven't been motivated to get into more 'hard core' anime though. Just too many movies, too little time, really! I love animation as a genre, though, and think anime has certainly earned its place in it. Whether for adults or for children. One question has always bugged me, though. What's with the huge round-eyes in characters that are obviously Japanese? It makes them look weird and out of place in some of the more realistic stories.
I think I read from somewhere it helps with making expressions more vivid and clearer? Then again, e.g. in Corto Maltese animations, all the characters have realistically drawn eyes and the way the expressions are executed are absolutely phenomenal. Another aspect is cuteness, I suppose. Big eyes are probably considered cute and appealing in a lot of cultures around the world. In any case, those typical cartoon eyes look freaky on Westerners too even though we have different type of eyelids (the eye is of the same size anyway). Have you seen Frozen? The female main characters look like aliens! Ok, maybe not the most realistic example, but still..
Sorry, thread tangent but what is with all the serious hate for Frozen? It's really mediocre film. I can get the love for it - the hate just seems a bit much.
I don't hate it -- I didn't know there was Frozen hate going around . It was entirely mediocre, apart from the funny, quite possibly Swedish dude in the shop, which totally cracked me up.
I freaking loved Starblazers. Now, not so much. The liveaction film Space Battleship Yamato was cool, but the ending really, really shit.
Yeah, I'm not saying you did - of course. I've just noticed it a lot on facebook and another forum I frequent. I find it odd.
I think it mostly has to do with the 9 gajillion times every American was forced to listen to that Let it Go song. Like, seriously, I was ready to assassinate the real life singer. She was on every show imaginable singing that damned song. I think maybe only Duck Dynasty didn't have her on.
Oh, I just had a memory float up. I never watched the show Macross, but I did get into the 4 part series Macross Plus. All Science Fiction, and as I recall, no gratuitous boobs. It's from 1994, which stylistically is still the 1980's, so get ready for a very Z Cavaricci experience.
Probably because everyone raves about it. It's a little like Twilight - because millions love it, the haters match that level of passion. I think it's got something to do with our sense of justice - like it doesn't deserve this level of praise, success and attention, so we're angry when it goes beyond what we feel it deserves. Just a theory. Oh and the song by the trolls was the most cringe-worthily embarrassing song ever. Fixer Upper. *shudders* @jannert - re the huge anime eyes, that's just part of the art style. Look at Disney and Pixar - their eyes are frigging gigantic too but nobody says anything. I think it's just sometimes people aren't used to anime art that they notice these things. Having said that, sometimes anime eyes are frigging HUMONGOUS and it can look ugly. For me though, recently, it's actually the funny noses in Frozen that got me. The girls' profile - their noses are so weird! What I find a shame about Disney is they don't take their work seriously anymore. Their films no longer have that magnificence, that genuine sincerity about them. That sense of "I believe in this fairy tale". Think Lion King, or Aladdin - the classics - they took themselves very seriously, in a superb way. There was this sense of magic that's only possible when they take themselves seriously. I think the word I'm looking for is reverence. There was a sense of reverence in their old works - esp in Lion King. And now? It's all feminism and jokes and modern thinking... as if they're terrified of people thinking it's cliche. *sigh* And yet look at anime - it's still as cliche and cheesy as ever and it works. The good ones, they make it work and it's frigging brilliant! Wish Disney would go back to what they used to do...
Well that's not true at all those aren't the only good ones. In terms of Japanese literary media and animation there is Fate/Zero Baccano Durarara FMA Brotherhood (Other version of FMA) Kara no Kyoukai aka Garden of Sinners Higurashi Half of Death Note (XD) Bakuman JoJo's Bizzare Adventure Code Geass Hunter x Hunter Yu Yu Hakusho Samurai Champloo (same creator as Bebop) Berseker Hellsing Monster And tons and tons of other stuff. Of course not everything I listed is for everyone but everything I listed ranges from deeper works with powerful themes and gripping stories works (Fate/Zero, Baccano, FMA and Monster) to more silly over the top stuff (JoJo's Bizzare Adventure and Hellsing) Only three good anime? Come onnnnn I'm sure we can find more you like XD I say go watch and read all the ones I listed some day. Hmmm though Baccano though is my fav out of them its actually based on a series of novels but the anime is a good adaptation pretty much of the first ....I think three books But still regardless of something more realistic or something silly or something thought provoking or something ridiculous. Try out JoJo to I mean given what I know about your tastes you might not like it (Really really...really over the top and makes no sense) but JoJo should be watched or read by everyone for the simple fact that the characters and their powers are all named after or based on classic rock and metal bands Sooooo got characters named AC/DC, Dio Brando (Dio+Marlon Brando), Cars, Wham, Robert EO Speedwagon, and attacks called Killer Queen, Sheer Heart Attack, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap XD But watching JoJo you must have no brain active at the time. But for the more deep and or really good story stuff try Baccano and Fate/Zero if ya like Bebop.
You've hit the nail on the head. Actually it started going bad a long time ago. I remember as a young person watching The Sword In the Stone, and that moment when Merlin appears wearing a Hawaiian shirt? Okay it was funny at the time, but I remember feeling let down afterwards. It spoiled the story and didn't sit right. Then came The Jungle Book ...another one that had its tongue in cheek the whole time. I went right off Disney after that. Compare The Jungle Book to Pinocchio, Snow White, Bambi and the other classics ...nope, no comparision. The compulsion to make contemporary wisecracks and make fun of the genre itself really ruined the effect. Instead of "Once Upon A Time" and sucking us straight into a fantastic story, these later Disneys just started out by making fun of the stories the films were based on, and spent a lot of time nudging us in the ribs throughout. I think that is one of the reasons I was so taken by the Studio Ghibli offerings. It was the serious nature of the animation and the respect for the stories and the audiences that got me. Studio Ghibli doesn't feel the need to be 'funny.' Love it.
Wow, I guessed all that about Disney, without ever once seeing any of their films in the last ~15 years!
