What Anime are you Currently Watching?/Anime Recommendations

[Marina0403]

One-Punch Man
The feeling when I found this anime just now, though I had heard about him before.
About the anime: personally, I really enjoyed it. Looked in one breath and expect to continue. Don't know when will the second season, but very welcome.
And thanks to the authors for their work.

[digimonfreak]

X'Amd, only in 3 episodes but really love the art and high production values.

[Fragems]

Yeah One Punch Man is great I've watched it 3 times and will probably watch it again once the second season starts airing. The OVAs they've been releasing as the DVDs have come out have been pretty good as well.

Currently the rumor is that season 2 is coming in October.

[samsonlonghair]

Robotech: The Macross Saga

This one is vintage anime. Like all vintage anime, the viewer must take the good with the bad. I love the 1970s fashions in outer space. I love the strange anachronism of an anime girl talking on a corded telephone while flying in a spaceship. I love the mecha designs too. The "Veritech" mecha are closer kin to F-14 Tomcats than Gundams. It's nice to see a whole different take on mecha than the "Gigantor" design we've grown accustomed to.


And now we must speak for a moment about consistency...

At its best, Robotech strikes me as a grand spectacle of longform space epic that could have only come in the era that shortly followed the release of the original Star Wars films. At its worst, Robotech is schmaltzy vapid nonsense. Some battle scenes are meticulously animated to a higher degree than had even been produced for television during the Hanna-Barbera era. Other times the main characters are wildly off model, and fail to move their mouths at all while speaking. The line art is showing under the paint; scratches on the cells are apparent; psychedelic color palettes are imposed on scenes for no other reason than to distract from the viewer from an otherwise incomplete drawing.

Consistency is Robotech's shortcoming.

I understand that this program was re-edited from Japanese originals in order to fit into US syndication schedules. It is unclear to me how much inconsistency is due to the US translators at Harmony Gold, and how much inconsistency can be laid at the feet of the domestic producers at Tatsunoko. I'm not sure if the distinction makes much difference to this viewer.

And on a sadder note, the primary antagonist in Robotech is named Breetai. I couldn't help but think of the departed member of our forum every time his face comes on screen.

So can I recommend Robotech: The Macross Saga? Sigh... I want to, but I'm afraid not. This one is for hardcore anime fans only. There are too many quality control issues to ask the average viewer to overlook. It's a shame too, because there is a diamond buried in the rough. There's just a bit too much rough.

[marurun]

I have watched the Animeigo release, which is just Macross, with remastered video and audio. I enjoyed it quite a bit, given the age. It has weak points, but it worked for me better than the original Gundam, and the mecha designs are just fantastic. I actually enjoyed the US Robotech version of Macross decently well as well, though not quite as much. The Japanese version is recommended if you can tolerate older anime. And the end of the series is a nice bit about, effectively, racial discrimination.

[Nemoide]

Glad to see someone watching Macross! I'm a big fan of the whole series and own the ADV uncut version of the original. The series has an emotional core that really put it apart from other space/robot anime. It's generally considered a "real robot" show, the same subgenre as Gundam, but I'd take Macross over Gundam any day of the week.
Robotech has some differences but honestly the Macross saga is pretty close to the Japanese original. Characters have different names, I think Minmay's songs are different, but generally it's faithful. The inconsistency is present in the Japanese original: some episodes look amazing, others look like garbage.

Once you've finished with the Robotech Macross Saga I'd recommend tracking down a way to watch Macross: Do You Remember Love? which is the theatrical retelling that has amazingly beautiful animation and some serious emotional power. It's one of my favorite movies, I own it on imported laserdisc and Blu-Ray... the only problem is that none of the official releases have English subtitles.
That brings me to Harmony Gold, the owner of the Robotech license. They worked out a deal in the 80s with a studio technically involved with Macross but now not considered the true owners that basically gives them exclusive ownership of all Macross things in the English speaking world without an expiration. Harmony Gold isn't interested in bringing over Macross, they want people to think of ROBOTECH because that brings them more money. So they prevent the US from seeing Macross: Do You Remember Love and Macross Frontier, instead pushing forgettable-looking Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. Harmony Gold is also mostly in the real estate business and are often thought to be a front for shady international dealings. (Seriously, they're nothing like a normal anime company.)

Somehow Macross II and Macross Plus managed to get uncut US releases and are still easy to find. I'll say that Macross II is extremely skippable (and considered non-canon). Macross Plus on the other hand is excellent; most of the staff went on to make Cowboy Bebop and there's a decent amount of similarities between those shows.

[marurun]

That brings me to Harmony Gold, the owner of the Robotech license. They worked out a deal in the 80s with a studio technically involved with Macross but now not considered the true owners that basically gives them exclusive ownership of all Macross things in the English speaking world without an expiration.

This isn't entirely true. Animeigo brought out Macross without Harmony Gold's permission (I'm fairly certain, but not perfectly certain.). Macross Plus and Macross 2 were brought out without support or permission from Harmony Gold. I think it's just that there wasn't enough perceived interest for DYRL or Frontier, or Macross 7 (but who care's about that...)

[Xeogred]

I liked Macross 7. A lot.

[samsonlonghair]

Glad to see someone watching Macross! I'm a big fan of the whole series and own the ADV uncut version of the original.

Yeah, I'm watching the ADV version too.

Once you've finished with the Robotech Macross Saga I'd recommend tracking down a way to watch Macross: Do You Remember Love? which is the theatrical retelling that has amazingly beautiful animation and some serious emotional power. It's one of my favorite movies, I own it on imported laserdisc and Blu-Ray... the only problem is that none of the official releases have English subtitles.

I'll look into this one.

Somehow Macross II and Macross Plus managed to get uncut US releases and are still easy to find. I'll say that Macross II is extremely skippable (and considered non-canon). Macross Plus on the other hand is excellent; most of the staff went on to make Cowboy Bebop and there's a decent amount of similarities between those shows.

Macross Plus was actually the first Macross media I ever watched. I taped it off of Showtime Beyond some time around 2002~ish. I had this on the same VHS I taped Ghost in the Shell. I used to rewatch it all the time. This was when I fell in love with the music of Yoko Kanno.

So they prevent the US from seeing Macross: Do You Remember Love and Macross Frontier, instead pushing forgettable-looking Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.

I found Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles in a DVD discount bin at Big Lots for $3 back in 2008~ish. I still haven't managed to sit all the way through it. I fall asleep every time I try to watch.

[marurun]

Somehow Macross II and Macross Plus managed to get uncut US releases and are still easy to find. I'll say that Macross II is extremely skippable (and considered non-canon). Macross Plus on the other hand is excellent; most of the staff went on to make Cowboy Bebop and there's a decent amount of similarities between those shows.

Macross Plus was actually the first Macross media I ever watched. I taped it off of Showtime Beyond some time around 2002~ish. I had this on the same VHS I taped Ghost in the Shell. I used to rewatch it all the time. This was when I fell in love with the music of Yoko Kanno.

Shoji Kawamori, co-director of Macross Plus, was instrumental to the creation of the original Macross and has been involved as creator and in many other roles of every Macross property except Macross II. And Watanabe's co-director role on Macross Plus appears to have been his first directorial role. So yeah, Macross Plus was this bizarre thing that set a lot of creative types on the road together. Not only did Kawamori, Watanabe, and Kanno go on to make Cowboy Bebop, Kawamori and Kanno did Escaflowne together, which I thought was also fantastic.

Macross Plus was the early work that first truly showcased the depth and breadth of Kanno's musical muscle. I have all 4 soundtrack albums and most of it is pure gold. I discovered the series on video accidentally and Macross Plus remains one of my favorite anime works of all time. It's relatively straight-forward for anime, with characters who are pretty easy to understand and identify with, even for westerners, and a plot that is relatively philosophy and mysticism-free.