densuke

Now that this thread is a love feast for different anime studios I will introduce a sampling of [b]Madhouse[/b]'s works. This is a selective list; a full listing would be too long and I see no need to list titles I do not appreciate. Madhouse has been in business since 1985. [list][color=green] [*]Card Captor Sakura, CCS The Movie, CCS Movie 2 [*]CLAMP in Wonderland [*]Di Gi Charat, Di Gi Charat SS2K, Di Gi Charat Christmas Special, Di Gi Charat Movie, Di Gi Charat Nyo! [*]Gokusen [*]Mahou Shoujo Neko Taruto [*]Mahou Tsukai Tai! OAV [*]Mermaid's Scar [*]Mujin Wakusei Survive [*]Patlabor WXIII Movie [*]Sakura Taisen OAV, Sakura Taisen TV, Sakura Taisen OAV2 [*]Sekushi Commando Gaiden: Sugoiyo! Masaru-san [*]Tokyo Babylon OAV [*]X OAV, X TV [*]Yawara![/color] [/list] Quite a few of these shows make no claim to being mind-bending or heavy or dark or whatever. But Card Captor Sakura is the best mahou shoujo series ever made, Patlabor WXIII is one of the top movies and Di Gi Charat may be the best short series of all. Madhouse's works consistently contain outstanding scores, which is a big plus with me. The characterization and the visual design are always above-average. And the shows are enjoyable and even lovable, which is the most important quality of all.

So much about what makes a food unusual depends on the time and place. I found a fair amount of Japanese food to be unusual but to many Japanese people such things are common. Natto is fermented soybeans. Some sort of extremely sticky white stuff hangs in threads between the beans when you take some up to eat it. Quite smelly and rather strong-tasting, but not horrible. Konnyaku is some sort of tuber root pounded, mixed with water and formed into blocks. It has no flavor or calories - it's like gelatin but is much chewier. I went to a Korean restaurant where they served it covered with sesame seeds and sesame oil, which is marvellous. Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki are fried custards. Takoyaki is formed into small balls around a tiny bit of octopus ("tako"). Okonomiyaki is made omelet-style, with fried cabbage and maybe some meat or seafood in it ("okonomi" means roughly "as you like it"). The thing I found to be unusual about these was in trying to make them. I found that if I whipped up a batch of batter for Yorkshire pudding (milk, flour and egg) and fried that, it came out much nicer than the water, flour and egg recipe that seems to be more often used. I found curry bread, yakisoba bread, cutlet sandwich and croquet bread at a Japanese bakery in New Jersey. These sandwiches seem to be common lunchtime fare in Japanese schools but finding them in New Jersey made them seem unusual. Right next door to the bakery was a Japanese spaghetti restaurant. I had spaghetti with cod roe sauce there...

[quote name='stormy001_m1a2']The dog is ruining the anime, the manga never have the bloody dog in the first place[/quote] That makes it sound like the anime is just not worth watching, which is not true. The anime and manga have different ways of telling the story but the addition of one character never makes or breaks any adaptation.

[quote name='Queen Asuka']Is this being sold in stores? Because I think this is something that I would most definately be interested in picking up.[/quote] The first tankubon only is on sale in Japan. I am reading fanscans from ShoujoMagic. I think the first volume did a good job setting up the rest of the story. Enough happened to keep all the exposition from becoming boring. Takiko gives off a different feeling from Miaka; she is a bit tougher and warier. I mentioned before that I like the artwork.

[QUOTE=0ber0n the Neko]... Studio Gainax, in my personal opinion, is probably the best anime/manga producing studio i have ever seen! Their animes are deep and look shallow and random (*ahem* FLCL). Others seem confusing, and very unusual (Neon Genesis Evangelion), but have some of the easiest to understand themes...[/QUOTE] GAINAX used to turn everything they touched into gold. I feel that with advancing age and the loss of Anno Hideaki they have gone into a huge slump. I also thought GAINAX was the best up to 3 years ago but given their small output and declining quality it is hard for me to be excited about them anymore. [quote name='0ber0n the Neko']...FLCL was genius, Neon Genesis Evangelion was astounding, and... I plan to see more of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. All of them have HUGE underlying themes. Almost all of them directed at youth! FLCL and NGE both end in a very interesting way, considering they are very anticlimactic and confusing. Anyone have more thoughts on this?...[/quote] You are praising GAINAX' work from the crest of the wave (Evangelion) downwards. Quote from GAINAX' own website: [color=green]"If you haven't seen all of Gainax's anime productions, you're missing out. You should familiarize yourself with the whole lineup, not just FuriKuri or Evangelion."[/color] Of course they want to sell you DVDs, but they have a point. You have not mentioned the works which justly made GAINAX famous: [b]DAICON III & IV videos[/b] (1981, 1983) [b]Otaku no Video[/b] (1982/1985) [b]The Royal Space Force--Wings of Honneamise[/b] (1987) [b]Top o Nerae![/b] (GunBuster) (1988) [b]Nadia of the Seas of Wonder/The Secret of Blue Water[/b] (1990-91) Due to various circumstances GAINAX produced nothing from the end of Nadia until Evangelion in 1996. [b]Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyou[/b] (His and Her Circumstances) is the last significant work by GAINAX. Anno left the production around episode 14, plunging the project and enterprise into chaos. These older works are truly grand and display ambition and a sure hand (often Anno's) at the helm. GAINAX' storytelling never depended on state-of-the-art technique. The characterization, visual design and even the music are top-notch. I find the rest of GAINAX' work much less compelling. The thing I remember most about FLCL is GAINAX' self-congratulatory promotion - all about how "wild and crazy" it was. FLCL is hit-or-miss. Some people love it, some can't be bothered - the earlier works were always better-received. Some of GAINAX' more recent anime looks shallow and random and [i]is shallow and random[/i] ([b]Mahoromatic[/b], [b]Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai[/b], [b]Anime Ai no Awaawa[/b] with [b]Ebichu Orochuban[/b]). I have enjoyed a couple of the titles but saw nothing all that special in them. GAINAX to some extent has worn out its welcome with its hype of everything it does and its constant efforts to keep Evangelion in the public eye ([color=blue]a new Evangelion manga title with a new storyline is being serialized and published in Japan[/color]). Evangelion is no longer universally praised among fans. I do not think GAINAX is totally unworthy of your respect or devotion but I invite you to do what you can to get better acquainted with the older titles, which would give you a much stronger case for the quality of its catalog.

[b]Gokusen[/b] is a late-night comedy series which recently started airing in Japan. It is based on a josei (women's manga) by Morimoto Kozueko. The anime and manga are not licensed, but both are being translated and fanscanned/fansubbed. Kumiko is a rookie high school teacher coming into a tough all-boy's school. She has a lot to learn. Unlike the veteran teachers she seems to accept her students for who they are, but the boys may not wish to reciprocate. Kumiko is also a prominent member of a [i]yakuza[/i] (gangster) family. Her home is full of scarred, creepy-looking hoodlums. She tends to use the same slang terms they do, even in public - which confuses and scares people. She is physically tough and rather fearless. She tries rather clumsily to conceal her family background at work, but various incidents lead a few people at the school to become suspicious... This is my favorite winter-season show. It is funnier than I can make it sound without giving away large parts of the story. I have been enjoying both the anime and manga immensely. I will gladly discuss either or both with anyone who has been watching or reading. There are plenty of decent subjects to talk about including - [list] [*]The differences between the manga and the anime [*]Josei manga and anime and how they bring something a bit different to the table [*]Comparisons to other over-the-top high school shows like GTO and Sakigake! Cromartie High, or other manga like "Rookies" [*]What romantic possibilities Kumiko might pursue [/list] If you don't know anything about Gokusen I recommend you track it down and check it out, and maybe come back again to this thread... cya

[quote name='Dan Rugh']I was on an FY site yesterday and found out that there is a new manga called Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden. It follows the story of the Priestess of Genbu and her adventure inside the book around the early 1900s. From what I've read it seems like a lot of it is linked to what happens to Miaka and Yui in the future. Anyone know anything about Genbu Kaiden?[/quote] I've been reading it. It's set at the start of the Taisho era (1923). Another girl with an unhappy home life (Takiko), the beginning(?) of the Book of the Four Gods. Genbu is a different god; she is in a different kingdom (Hokkan). The beginning at least is as interesting as the beginning of Fushigi Yuugi. It's really well drawn.

[quote name='SplendorSeal']Well, I've been a member for a while now(9/13/03) and I haven't seen anyone who knows about Dragon Knights or DNAngel. There two of the best manga out there and yet no one knows talks about them. It really makes me sad that such good manga goes to waste. Please tell me someone knows about them. :( [/quote] I don't get the tone of this post. How is anything you enjoy wasted? The mangaka succeeded in entertaining you; isn't that enough? If you want to attract people to something you like it would be best to take a positive approach and be prepared to present an argument for it. All you give out with is two titles and the words "good" and "best." I looked at DNAngel and it didn't interest me in the slightest, but I doubt that hearing that I "know" of it will make you happy...

[quote name='ElrickOtaku']Well, the first anime/manga film I saw was 'Gunbuster'...[/quote] [b]GunBuster[/b] (Toppu o Nerae!) is a 6 episode OAV from GAINAX. It is an excellent and very touching SF series but I wouldn't call it a movie. [b]Wings of Honneamise[/b] is a GAINAX SF movie which has escaped the notice of many. Some consider it the best anime film ever. The story, characterization and production values are outstanding. [b]11nin Iru![/b] (They Were 11) has just been rereleased on region 1 DVD (there was a VHS release ages ago). This is a faithful adaption of a manga by Moto Hagio, an outstanding shoujo mangaka. It combines SF with shoujo themes to produce suspense and interpersonal drama. [quote name='ElrickOtaku']Another great couple of films are the Patlabor ones. They, again, have plenty of action scenes and characterisation in them. But unfortunately, they are less sci-fi, but more film-mecha.[/quote] [b]Patlabor Movie 1[/b] is weak. The computer-espionage plot is limp and somehow the movie fails to achieve the suspense it aims for. [b]Patlabor Movie 2[/b] is an outstanding political thriller. [b]Patlabor Movie 3 (WXIII)[/b] is also excellent. There is plenty of SF in this one. I have never seen [i]anything[/i] quite like the final scene. The 3 Patlabor films run more to detective/thriller than to mecha. The stories take place beyond the time frame of all the original Patlabor series. New characters carry a major share of the screen time, and some of the older characters are merely name-checked. [b]Hoshi no Koe[/b] is the original name for [b]Voices of a Distant Star[/b]. I also enjoyed this movie very much. [b]Wonderful Days[/b] just doesn't have enough of a story IMO, and wastes what little it does have by telling it poorly. The visual production is superb; it is a shame that such an ambitious project failed so utterly. A couple of Ghibli movies [i]not[/i] directed by Miyazaki: [b]Omohide Poro Poro[/b] (Only Yesterday) [b]Umi ga Kikoeru[/b] (I Can Hear the Sea/Ocean Waves) could roughly be described as romances. I enjoyed them. I recommend any of the above except Patlabor Movie 1 and Wonderful Days.

[quote name='Dagger IX1']What new series are you most interested in?[/quote] Here are most of the winter series available fansubbed: watching: [b]Gokusen[/b] - adapted from josei (women's) manga [b]Maria-sama ga Miteru[/b] - adapted from women's novel series [b]Diamond Dust Drops[/b] - adapted from shounen game [b]Futari wa Pretty Cure[/b] - original mahou shoujo [b]Jubei-chan 2: Siberia Yagyuu no Gyakushuu[/b] - new series for old title I started a thread for [b]Gokusen[/b]: I think it is the best new show this winter. saw some, gave up on: [b]Mezzo DSA[/b] - Shounen action [b]licensed[/b] [b]Cosmopolitan Prayers[/b] - Shounen action (short) [b]Daphne in the Brilliant Blue[/b] - Shounen action [b]Comic Party Revolution[/b] - Shounen game-based [b]Yumeria[/b] - Shounen action [b]Mousou Dairinin[/b] (Paranoia Agent) - mystery/weird/? [b]licensed[/b] Most of the stuff I gave up on is loaded with fanservice - I am not against fanservice, but I'd like a little story with it, thanks. Comic Party Revolution is an OAV based on a game; there is a licensed TV series which I liked but the OAV seems pointless. Mousou Dairinin is just too violent and [i]creepy[/i]. Here are some other series I am watching that are still being broadcast or fansubbed: [b]Mujin Wakusei Survive[/b] (Uninhabited Planet Survive) [b]Futatsu no Supikka[/b] (Twin Spica) - SF series [b]PLANETES[/b] - SF series [b]Sakigake! Cromartie High[/b] - short-episode comedy [b]Konjiki no Gasshu Bell!![/b] - shounen fighting series [b]Sailor Moon Live Action[/b] - mahou shoujo classic in a new format [b]Kousetsu Hyaku Monogatori[/b] - horror/gothic [b]Rumic Theater Season 2: Mermaid's Forest[/b] - horror/gothic [b]Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex[/b] - Shounen SF/action [b]licensed[/b] [b]R.O.D The TV[/b] Shounen action [b]licensed[/b]

Gee, this thread is kind of old, but it is missing some important stuff. Also, the licensed anime release is coming, so here goes... First of all, some handy facts: [b]Marmalade Boy[/b] was originally a manga by Yoshizumi Wataru (serialized in [i]Ribon[/i] magazine, 1992-95). It was collected in 8 tankubon. [b]Marmalade Boy[/b] is a shoujo high school romance. A gaggle of friends and acquaintances find and lose love against a background of tennis, shopping trips and part-time jobs. Unusually, several adults get swept up in their own love dramas. The animated adaptation aired 1994-95; it was produced by Toei and is 76 episodes long. The "movie" was released in 1995. The difference between the two presentations is mainly that the anime added a cycle of quite a few episodes in order to extend the story. New characters and situations were introduced. The "movie" is a prequel 26 minutes in length. Its style is similar to that of the anime. It would be best seen after watching the series. [b]Marmalade Boy manga and anime are both licensed by Tokypop[/b]. I am not sure if the movie is part of Tokypop's acquisitions. The manga has been published in full, but anime releases will only start a little later this year. Both the anime and manga have plenty to recommend them, but this has not been addressed in any detail in this thread. First off, most of the characters are very likable. They are all well-developed and given flaws as well as strengths. The dialogue is mostly relaxed and natural-seeming. The cast is large but each character is brought to some sort of conclusion. The plot is over-the-top but quite enjoyable. The initial plot hook is absurd but not really overplayed. Almost all the characters are either in love or want to be. There are plenty of confession scenes, love triangles, twists of fate and reversals of fortune. This creates an air of drama and urgency to what is basically a story about a bunch of kids going to school. The constant emphasis on romance is what makes this title such a treat for its fans. It is very addicting but always pays off in one way or another. I also enjoy the visual style - I think the anime is well-adapted from the manga. Almost all of the characters are cute but the look is simple and clean. There is a definite emphasis on clothing - the characters have decent wardrobes. This is a nice contrast to many titles where you see the same characters wearing the same thing every day. I am glad to see this title getting some love again. The fact that the anime and manga were translated & fansubbed/fanscanned back in the VHS days should give some idea of the impact this show has had on fans in the past. Hopefully the licensed series will be reasonably priced and find some new friends.

A Korean feature called [b]Wonderful Days[/b] (released July 2003 in Korea) is beautiful but rather empty (the Region 3 DVD has English subs). The story is so simple (and yet so confused) that it doesn't seem to justify the obviously huge budget. This is likely the movie that [b]Semjaza Azazel[/b] can't remember the name of. Animation work has been farmed out to Korea for years by US and Japanese production companies in order to [i]cut production costs[/i] and not for any artistic considerations. I don't see animation production moving out of Asia in the foreseeable future. When I think of the "future of anime" I think of distribution methods. There are plenty of untried ways to make more money out of the existing catalog. One example is going back to releasing undubbed home media. Licensing is now a vital part of the revenue stream for many anime series. Pre-production licenses provide income that can be funneled into the production of ambitious and expensive series such as "Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex." Companies acquiring pre-production licenses want to fend off any incursions into their copyrights but also expect potential customers to wait months while they produce a dub track for the series. However, undubbed anime media has been proven to be marketable as witnessed by VHS sales of subtitled anime. The potential customers for the product want to get ahold of it as soon as possible; they generate a certain amount of "buzz" over titles when they are announced or being aired in Japan, but this "buzz" is much fainter months or years later when dubbed media is finally released. Companies with pre-production licences should launch subtitled home media as soon as possible, certainly not waiting to add a dub track. This would be the best way of protecting their property and sustaining excitement for any given series.

I marathon as much as possible. It reminds me of when I used to get big bundles of fansubbed tapes ^_^ The only defect is when I am watching a show for kids where they waste 5 minutes of the beginning of every series flashing back to what happened 3 minutes ago (from my perspective). Recap episodes during a marathon are pretty hard to take, but that can be a good time to eat crunchy stuff while watching - or go wander off to see if the coffee is ready... The thing I really like about marathoning is seeing the patterns of how things are handled in the series. It is harder for the production teams and writers to conceal their techniques from someone who is eyeballing the entire work in one go. It's especially good to marathon a series when rewatching it so you can see all these techniques. I would imagine that marathoners are more 26-and-out types than long-series types... I certainly am.

[quote name='maladjusted'] ...I'm not too pleased with the scene in every episode where either Chocolate and/or Tira turn into those fighting machines wearing skimpy outfits...[/quote] Given the contrasts between Tira and Chocolate "everyday" and "working" I think the outfits are a decent gimmick. [quote name='maladjusted']...I love Carrot. ^_^. He was the first person I noticed with interest when I watched the first episode...[/quote] I could not STAND Carrot until I got to the end of the series. But the second time around I didn't mind him so much. I like Marron a lot more. He is so dignified but so understanding of his goofy brother... [QUOTE=maladjusted]I like the plot line, it's pretty solid and clear... The fighting scenes aren't that much to me, but it's better than many animes I know, so I'm not going to complain...[/QUOTE] I just rewatched this after the longest time. I had good memories of it but I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. A story which is easy to follow, nice short battle scenes and lots of characterization. Hayashibara Megumi in her prime (can't hear her in the dubs). Great OP and ED songs. It's amazing how little of it is animated - what a cheapie! Not that I mind... I hope at least a couple of people kept watching.

[quote name='Inuyasha7271']4Kids... evil... butchers... die... ruin... hate... japanese culture... all we ask for is a true anime experience...[/quote] *ahem* 1. The "cult" of mahou shoujo fans in the US has got to be a fairly small group of people, all things considered. I am referring of course to Americans who are not 12-year-old girls who want to watch these shows. I watch these shows and I am not 12 or even a girl, so count me in. 2. There are quite a few mahou shoujo series that are probably not coming over here, which should give you some idea of how profitable these shows look to licensees as far as direct-to-home media. 3. The only mahou shoujo series I ever heard of going direct to home media in the US is [b]Mahou no Stage Fancy Lala[/b]. 4. The young girls are the ones 4Kids wants to [b]translate[/b] the anime for. They have to squeeze the thing into the 10 minutes or whatever you get out of a half-hour slot anymore, and they have to come up with something that is self-explanatory as you watch it - something that 12-year-old girls can understand. And the girls have to be able to remember what is going on even with all those nutty commercials. 5. 4Kids paid money for the license. They can probably do whatever they want with it; I doubt there were a lot of conditions placed on the license. I think the show will bomb on TV, but it's not my money... I just don't see the necessary interest from the young girls. They don't read Ribon; there probably won't be a lot of Hollywood Mew Mew toys and stuff in the department stores. And I could be wrong. Seems like lots of anime fans watched "Sailor Moon" when they were young, right off TV, edited and dubbed and all... and what they came away with is that they liked anime, and they kept right on watching. Go figure. I can understand the strong feelings but I dislike rants. I don't see the obligation of the TV broadcasters to satisfy a small cult of mahou shoujo fans. The only thing to do to get a licensed sub is to demonstrate that another way for 4Kids to make their money back is to sell you subtitled DVDs.

If you don't know or can't figure out (it's not all that hard) who will wind up with who in Marmalade Boy and plan to watch or read it, seriously [i]stay away from this post[/i]. [spoiler]Ginta Suou and Suzuki Arimi from "Marmalade Boy." 1. Arimi is the cutest girl in a manga/anime chock-full of cuties. 1a. She is also the most erm, [i]forward[/i]. 2. Ginta is a noble fool. His heart is ten times the size of his brain. 3. Neither of them are destined for each other in any way - they start going out as a prank and wind up falling in love. 4. Both of them know that love is hard work and they face up to it. 5. Both of them are incurable romantics ^_^ *sigh*[/spoiler] 6. The course of their love affair plays out in [i]amazing scenes[/i] - and I love great scenes more than anything.

The American version of Shounen Jump is anomalous in several ways. Americans are used to getting each title separately a la Marvel, DC or even Archie. This is why US published manga is mostly graphic novels or sometimes monthly releases of single issues. This is not news to anyone I am sure. More importantly, the phonebook-sized Japanese digests, regardless of the target audience, are full of more-or-less filler. There are on average two or three popular titles carrying the ball for each digest of anywhere from 9 to 20 or more titles. Even veteran readers complain of this sometimes. Viz' "Shonen Jump" is a compilation of several successful shounen series which didn't all appear at the same time in Japan. This makes the digest a decent buy, but it also demonstrates that a similar number of successful and proven shoujo titles would have to be serialized in a similar shoujo digest. Despite the increasing number of shoujo titles being licensed in the US, the titles will have to be shown to be popular and be licensed by one US publisher in order for a digest to arise.

[quote name='Hells Fire']Does anyone every wonder if you are actually learning about a subject or the teachers view about a subject? I find that most people recieve a biased education[/quote] History is all about bias. All historians are biased. This is [i]not a flaw[/i], it's just part of how history gets made. Any time you read anything about history, look up the author's name. Find out when he lived and who he hung out with (in a book it should be right in there, a brief bio of the writer). That will give you some clue as to why it suited him to think the way he did. Even a simple list of schools the writer attended or taught at will tell you things if you look into it. Regardless of the lack of scale in high-school history in the US, most people can't be bothered to study and remember what little is presented, so I don't think it is any big tragedy. At college level it is possible to take courses in labor history, urban history, ethnic history, the history of other regions of the world etc. A subject called historiography teaches about how and why histories get made and how bias is introduced. Again, the writers and teachers are biased, but courses like these should broaden and deepen the understanding of those who are interested. And it is always possible to read books at any time (which many rarely do once out of college), keeping in mind the biases of the author.

[QUOTE=haruno_sakura] ...I know I'm always mentioning the Live Action version, but I actually find the Live Action a lot more fulfilling in terms of developing the characters. The fighting sequences are horrible...[/QUOTE] I think the fight scenes in Live Action series have gotten much better as the series has progressed. The actors and actresses seem a bit more accomplished and perhaps the shooting and editing has improved. A lot of the villains look terrible but I guess that is not going to change. I always felt that Sailor Moon depended on the interaction of the Senshi, especially given the formulaic villains and fight scenes and the stock transformation sequences. It is great to see the 5 Inner Senshi without all the samey also-rans and wanna-bes tagging along - it's a more intimate feeling. The Live Action actresses have done a good job getting into their roles and relating to one another. Watching Ami and Makoto stick up for Usagi all the time is really sweet. Another thing about the Live Action series that hasn't been mentioned is that it has spearheaded a Sailor Moon revival in Japan. For example, the manga is back in print for the first time in years. I am glad this series has found new life.

New series - dub of Japanese remake. Brief item in NYT TV Listing thingy couple of weeks back. Interview with American producer. All I can remember about it.

[quote name='Subversive']...how about you "intelligent" cats get out your overused cover-up manual I like to call the Thesaurus. Use "hence"...[/quote] Whaddya got against "thus," huh?

I have all 4 volumes in the Japanese tankubon. I have seen some of the examples of the confused ADV "localization" concerning Osaka's use of Kansai-ben and the mid-stream change of Yukari from what? Spanish to English teacher I think. It is nice to see high school girls in a comedy which does not depend on raging male or female hormones for all the plot drive. A new manga by Azuma Kiyohiko called Yotsuba to! is also very entertaining. I grabbed the first tankubon a few months ago. It is a comedy with young girls of varying ages.

[quote name='Dagger IX1']To tell you the truth, I have a hard time seeing any significant conceptual similarities between BGC and Evangelion.[/quote] With you so far. I think they are completely different shows, for many of the reasons you gave. [quote name='Dagger IX1']...in terms of moral alignment, everyone in BGC is portrayed as being either on the side of right.... or on the side of wrong.[/quote] I think Mason is more insane than evil (his boss is more evil than insane). I think the Boomers are morally neutral in the way a typhoon or a blizzard is. They are just tools; then they are just misused tools. They are also abused tools; they are shown to be mistreated and scorned by humans.[quote name='Dagger IX1']BGC, unlike Eva, is more about giving the viewer a fun time than provoking serious thought.[/quote] I think BGC2040 is a fairly good riff on the question "What is human?" which was asked over and over by Philip K. Dick in most of his brilliant and crazy SF novels. And I like the fact that the show doesn't have to congratulate itself over and over for asking the question... I like BGC2040 a lot. It is nice to see that people are still discovering and enjoying it. When I first watched it it was hard to get into - the first few episodes are great, but there is not much of the kind of action promised by the OP sequence. Later episodes have plenty of action though. And the fight scenes are logical. The ending was well-done. Having seen the original series and the OAV previously I prefer 2040. "Konya wa Hurricane" in the original is a neat song but it looks funny having a 4-piece band do it. The music for 2040 fits better and I prefer it; I still enjoy the "Sekiria" songs (I never checked out the attempts to change the songs). I have watched the series a couple of times and will certainly watch and enjoy it again one of these days.

[quote name='Subversive']I think we've missed one of the most overused words in all of the internet and present day adolescence- "gay". The word is taken completely out of meaning and used in a ignorant, derogatory manner...[/quote] Agreed. Another word I dislike seeing in forums is "great." "Great" is used so much as be meaningless. It is used to replace any actual discussion of particular qualities, or to praise something that is ten minutes old.

I guess this is about the TV series as opposed to the OAV which preceded it. I liked the OAV well enough, the TV series a lot less; not much story to either one.