What Anime are you Currently Watching?/Anime Recommendations

[RyaNtheSlayA]

The Cowboy BeBop DVD they sent me is in ruins. Can't get it to play on any of the variety of DVD playing machines in the house. It's hardly a wonder with how badly it's scratched.

So reported it to Netflix but it'll be Saturday before I'm watching that.

Guess I'm starting Death Note tonight instead.

[Erik_Twice]

Dead Leaves is in my watchlist right now... is it anything like FLCL? Looks kinda wierd.

Same director, so yes

Say what?

They did not have the same director or even writer. FLCL was directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, and written by Yōji Enokido. Dead Leaves was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, and written by Takeichi Honda.

Seriously, if you go into Dead Leaves expecting something like FLCL, you will be disappointed. Dead Leaves is a totally different kind of... thing.

All right, I checked and we are both right and wrong at the same time. Imaishi did not direct FLCL as a whole, but he did direct episode 5 and some of the scenes in others.

So yeah, whatever. FLCL is worth watching, it has some great animation and the symbolism, while dumb, is very fun.

[Exhuminator]

FLCL is worth watching

To be clear I wasn't implying that it isn't. Only that it and Dead Leaves are not similar from a plot perspective. They are a little similar in artistic aesthetic, but that's because Production IG was the studio behind both works.

[Erik_Twice]

To be clear I wasn't implying that it isn't. Only that it and Dead Leaves are not similar from a plot perspective. They are a little similar in artistic aesthetic, but that's because Production IG was the studio behind both works.

Oh yeah, I don't think they are similar plot-wise, they simply scratch similar itches to me.


Talking about weird animation, I watched Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo. Man, this film is a mess, but what a fun mess it is! The animation is wacky, the characters are great and plot twists go one after the other in an excercise of creativity. There were lots of moments that had me laughing at loud and lots of surreal parts that really stick with you after finishing the film.

For example, I love this shot

lupinmamo58.png (106.5 KiB) Viewed 582 times

Its main flaw is that the film doesn't truly start until you are 30 minutes in. Sure, the plot is a mess and there are two ending fake-outs that could be ironed out but the main issue is the beginning. In fact, the director must have been keenly aware of this because the animation starts very strong and then drops in quality until the movie kicks in again. It's very noticiable because the entire third act is fully animated while the car chases at the beginning use limited animation.

Still, I'm no expert, but so far I think that it's the best Lupin III film one can watch after getting into the franchise with Castle of Cagliostro.

[Exhuminator]

Castle of Cagliostro

In the mid-90s I bought that one on VHS from Walmart for $2. I had no idea what it was back then. Ended up being an amazing blind buy. It's the BEST Lupin film, without a doubt. Unfortunately it was the first one I watched, and every Lupin film since has been a bit of a letdown (not that they aren't good).

[Nemoide]

I'm glad you liked Mystery of Mamo! I really love the movie, it's definitely nuts. I feel that even though Cagliostro might be a technically better film, Mamo is more in line with what I'm looking for in a Lupin movie.

[Erik_Twice]

I'm glad you liked Mystery of Mamo! I really love the movie, it's definitely nuts. I feel that even though Cagliostro might be a technically better film, Mamo is more in line with what I'm looking for in a Lupin movie.

I agree. For me Cagliostro is a great film, but it's a very good-natured film and I prefer the mean (and often very silly) edge present in other incarnations of Lupin III.

In a sense, Cagliostro is very conservative. Animation is well-made, but there are no shocking poses. The plot is fun and the villains funny, but not particularly monstruos or mean. Lupin is good natured, Jingen is a good friend and Zenigata is loud but, principled. My impresion is that it's great, animated caper/adventure/Bond film, the kind that is simply better made than other films.

Mamo is the opposite. Animation is off-the wall, with lots of scenes that are funny simply because of the enemy poses. The plot is weird, with lots of stuff being thrown in because it's inherently fun to do so and the characters are full of energy: Lupin is silly, Jingein is enough of a good friend to be pissed off at Lupin and Zenigata is not just loud, he's obssessive. The way he tears down his pay and runs in his battered coat to chase Lupin is a riot, you can see his determination at every step. It's not so much a matter of it being better or worse, but it being unrrelenting and uncompromising and I love that.

So yeah, for me both are worth watching for completely different reasons. I can show Cagliostro to my family, and I can show Mamo to my friends. It's one of the great things about Lupin III, really, seeing how each director interprets the characters in a completely different way.

In the mid-90s I bought that one on VHS from Walmart for $2. I had no idea what it was back then. Ended up being an amazing blind buy. It's the BEST Lupin film, without a doubt. Unfortunately it was the first one I watched, and every Lupin film since has been a bit of a letdown (not that they aren't good).

I've only seen these two but from glancing around my Lupin III folder, I can tell you are not wrong

Right now I'm checking the files I have to see which one I can watch next, I was thinking of Plot of the Fuma Clan or Island of Assassins (In Memory of Walther P-38) since they are held in good steem by the fanbase. Sadly, the copies I have seem to be VHS transfers are look awful, they are very blurry and colours are faded.

Few of this stuff is available in Spain so I'm still trying to see how can I get it. Tomorrow I go to nerdy shops to see if I can get some of the tomes of the manga, because it did make it here.

[Exhuminator]

I can show Cagliostro to my family

The reason Cagliostro turned out so professional, is because it was directed by Hayao Miyazaki (of Studio Ghibli fame).

Right now I'm checking the files I have to see which one I can watch next

If you can find it, my second favorite Lupin animation is Lupin the 3rd: Tales of the Wolf - Albatross: Wings of Death. The cover looks like this:

It's a lot of fun and stays true to the spirit of the manga.

[Erik_Twice]

I'm actually not very fond of Miyazaki, so I was a bit surprised I liked Cagliostro. That said, the episode of his you mention is very good, much better than the other Red Jacket episode he directed, which is awfully masturbatory

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Speaking of Miyazaki, The Wind Rises totally melted my heart.