Nothing amazing ever happens here.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

("Anime" in the 2000's actually refers to generic cartoons produced in Korea and labelled as Japanese to sell in America. It's an altogether different medium and one that I care none for.)

I have to agree. 95% of the anime series released in the 2000s, aka the "cheap, digital paint era", suck. Almost all of them are either unoriginal, or playing on things that worked in a superior series a couple of years or even a couple of decades ago. Paranoia Agent and Azumanga Daioh are one of the very few anime in the 21st century I liked, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is the most overrated series since Neon Genesis Evangelion (and just as confusing and hard to swallow, too).

I think the problem is that since anime has become more mainstream in North America in the 21st century, anime companies started producing things with more of an American-esque flair to them. Japanese animation no longer feels very Japanese, and it's lost a lot of its meaning, uniqueness, and most importantly, for someone like me who still actually watches new anime that come out each year, fun. Stuff like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Noir, and Monster could've been animated anywhere..names and language aside, there's nothing really Japanese about them. I miss the sweatdrops, demons, wacky super-deformed comedies, over-the-top battles, and overall oddball antics that made me like anime in the first place. Now it's so streamlined and by-the-numbers you can tell what a series is about nowadays just by looking at it. Practically all anime nowadays are dating sim adaptions, Tenchi / Love Hina rip-offs, mecha, "romantic comedies", shonen action, or magical girl series (becaue we know how much everyone here likes Sailor Moon, right?). And God forbid if any anime nowadays can end in a single season anymore...I would've disliked FLCL much more if Production IG decided to make another 6 episodes for no real reason a few years later like GAINAX did with Gunbuster 2. No less than 7 anime this year have been second season adapations of series from last year...it's getting to the point where even unoriginal dreck like Kanon can't just die after a single season anymore.

It's a sad, sad medium today. Anime hasn't been in this sad a state since the 1970s.

[Baba O'Reily]

It's okay. There are always badly dubbed asian kung-fu flicks to watch.

[Arcade]

It's okay. There are always badly dubbed asian kung-fu flicks to watch.

Yeah, that ruless...

I tend to watch them as a way to learn moves my characters could use, but since I can’t draw, that’s just a lame excuse.

Pucca Funny love is ok, I like that show…

[Crazy Penguin]

Azumanga Daioh [is] one of the very few anime in the 21st century I liked

Just how good is it? I like the comic a great deal, but it doesn't seem particularly suited to being adapted into a full length animated series.

Speaking of which, has anyone here read any of Kiyohiko Azuma's current work, "Yotsuba&!"? I can't recommend it enough. It's my favourite comic currently being published, with Scott Pilgrim a very very close second.

[Shadow Hog]

Just how good is it? I like the comic a great deal, but it doesn't seem particularly suited to being adapted into a full length animated series.

That's all good, because it more or less ISN'T a full-length animated series. Sure, it has 26 (roughly) 30-minute episodes, but in actuality every episode's five mini-episodes which, themselves, were sprinkled all over the airing TV channel's timeslots. They just combined those mini-episodes shown during the weekdays into one 30-minute marathon on the weekends.

And I've read <i>Yotsuba&!</i>. Good stuff.

[G.Silver]

The amazing thing actually is how well it does lend itself to a full-length episode. Although they are broken down into 5 "mini-episodes" they often play off eachother (as the comics do) and are always lumped into a particular theme. But then, the comics are generally grouped in themes too, but the anime makes them all mesh a little bit more. At times this makes it seem like a crazy spazz out anime show (the first couple episodes especially are like this), but it actually <i>works</i>, which is pretty impressive. Even though the gags are pretty much the same I think the anime is enjoyable on a slightly different level--it's worth watching even if you've read the manga.

Any love for <b>Last Exile</b>, while we're here? It's a throwback to shows like Nadia and Laputa, and I know some people have responded really bad to the end (I have noticed this is a common trend in a lot of anime generally, I don't see what the fuss is) and it probably takes itself too seriously (I got bored in the middle somewhere, actually) but I think it's pretty noteworthy, at least.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

Speaking of which, has anyone here read any of Kiyohiko Azuma's current work, "Yotsuba&!"? I can't recommend it enough. It's my favourite comic currently being published, with Scott Pilgrim a very very close second.

Yotsuba&! is great; I wish ADV released more than just the first three volumes in English. What I love about it is how it's cute without being too cute. And by condensing the stories to a small cast, they get to be fleshed out so much more than in a cast of, say, a dozen or so characters. I've tried to keep up with scanlations past the first three volumes, but I try not to, in fear I run out of new chapters to read (this happened to me before with Yokoyama Kaidashi Kikou prior to its end a few months ago, and I don't want to repeat with Yotsuba&!).

There's actually a lot of great manga out there recently in the U.S., Europe (I wish Kimagure Orange Road would come to North America soon), and Japan, which is more than I can say for anime as of late.

[jenkins]

I think they'll release more volumes eventually--bear in mind that volume five is only just out in Japan now.

DANBO!

[Crazy Penguin]

At a convention ADV announced that volume 4 would likely be out early next year. Hopefully they'll get back on track then.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

ADV's manga division floundered for a while due to too much licensing. A lot of series from them got cancelled as a result, such as Aria, which Tokyopop bought the rights of from ADV. This may or may not ave something to do with ADV's delay of Yotsuba&!

Then again, like jenkins pointed out, there's only 5 volumes released right now. This is why Fruits Basket only has a new volume released every 5 or 6 now..to avoid catching up too fast to the Japanese.

[Green Gibbon!]

aka the "cheap, digital paint era", suck.

I've determined that I hate digitally painted animation. It's ruined something critical. I think in another 20 or 30 years animation won't even be a human art at all: companies will enter a list of popular trends into a computer which uses an algorithm to produce a complete animated series ready for mass marketing.

[Opa-Opa]

I've determined that I hate digitally painted animation. It's ruined something critical. I think in another 20 or 30 years animation won't even be a human art at all: companies will enter a list of popular trends into a computer which uses an algorithm to produce a complete animated series ready for mass marketing.

That would be AWESOME! They could call it Insta-crap Vision!

[The Bad Buttons]

What are your thoughts on samurai champloo. And before you say anything! The dubbed version really sucked so if you haven't seen the original , don't say anything even if you didn't like the hiphop theme, what about the story? I find that most people that hate hiphop really don't know the difference between Rap and true hiphop

Rap= Money, Bitches, and drugs, pretty good beats little soul
Hiphop= Street poetry, politics, and insight, good beats much soul

samurai champloo=(I saw a little bit of both, Mugen most definitely was "
Rap" most of the time, though he did have his"hiphop" moments, Jin seemed to be more of a"hiphop" )

"my favorite seen is at the end of episode 14 when the battle drums start playing and u see mugen walking twoards the chick and the guy leaning on his sword like a crutch then!(dont want to spoil it)but that shit was lovely and O so smooth! A,rum! papa pum! papa pum! papa pum pum! O the drums!"

But any way what did you think about it?

[Psxphile]

I've determined that I hate digitally painted animation. It's ruined something critical. I think in another 20 or 30 years animation won't even be a human art at all: companies will deposit a collection of globes imprinted with an assortment of anime cliches and plotlines into a large aquarium housing a school of manatees who will then select several globes, at random, to produce a complete animated series ready for mass marketing.

[Zeta]

Samurai Champloo was fun, but ultimately had little to say or show. It was like gourmet chocolate - really tasy while you were eating it, but 10 minutes later you've forgotten about it and it no longer affects you.

[jenkins]

While we're at it, and since Tsuyoshi brought it up, anyone have any thoughts on Furuba? It may be the only manga I've read which I think could be given a critical analysis...but I need to finish the series first. FLCL might deserve that too, but I haven't read any.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

The Fruits Basket manga is still running, and being released in English slower now like Tokyopop's other long-running series as of late (and in general). The anime covers the first 8 or so volumes, and it does so really, really well. I forgot to mention it on my post at the top of the page of the very 21st century anime I like.

Out of curiosity, has anyone ever seen / read Keroro Gunsou / Sgt. Frog? I find it hilarious.

Samurai Champloo was fun, but ultimately had little to say or show. It was like gourmet chocolate - really tasy while you were eating it, but 10 minutes later you've forgotten about it and it no longer affects you.

Oh so true, Zeta. I watched two episodes of that before stopping. I just can't stand the horrible coloring job and lack of originality.

[Neo]

I generally don't read topics about anime, since I'm not really a fan of the whole massive heartwrenching stories that works considered notable proemminently disclose, I'm more fond of the small, comical stories demonstrated by anime such as Urusei Yatsura and the like. However, G.Silver's post sparked my attention:

Any love for <b>Last Exile</b>, while we're here?

I began watching Last Exile as a local portuguese station started airing it. I was perhaps hoping a mild action piece with plenty of dramatic events, and I probably would have gotten it too, hadn't it been for the first handfull of boring episodes in the way.

The first episode was the introduction to the series' world: it's supposed to be a little on the soft, boring side. However, as this spirit gradually progressed into the first few episodes, I found myself falling asleep while greater events started to occur. It wasn't until I was completely bored and spaced out of the show stuff actually began to happen.

Rather, I turned to more action-based and lighter anime series currently airing at the time, such as Kiddy Grade and Najica Blitz Tactics. I also watched Zaion, which is of the same spirit as Last Exile, but I only actually thoroughly sat through the entire series because it was but four episodes long.

I don't regret missing out on Last Exile, RahXephon and other more deep anime series: they are just not my type. I rather much prefer the action style portayed by the likes of Hellsing, Sunabozu and Burst Angel. I figure, if I finish watching each episode with a smile on my face, it's good enough for me.

[Esrever]

I'm not sure I follow your take on Last Exile. One of the very first things that happens is a big action battle set-piece. It starts halfway through the first episode and extends through the all of the second. Are you sure you saw it from the beginning?

I don't really like anime as a whole... even in its 80s/90s prime it still primarily consisted of boring, derivative garbage. I'm immediately alienated by how insular it is, and by how excrutiatingly limited the range of character design and art styles are. I'm even going to go out on a limb and say that, as a general rule, the average anime series might even be worse than the average American animated series, and boy is that really saying something.

That said, I absolutely adore FLCL. It's one of the greatest pieces of animation ever, and suffers from very few of the problems I usually have with anime. Other than that, the only other anime series of the last ten years that I'll really gush over are Cowboy Bebop and Last Exile, although I freely admit there is probably some good stuff that I haven't heard of yet.

[Neo]

I'm not sure I follow your take on Last Exile. One of the very first things that happens is a big action battle set-piece. It starts halfway through the first episode and extends through the all of the second. Are you sure you saw it from the beginning?

Did I watch it from the beginning? Yes. Was there a big battle at the very start? I don't know. Was that battle shallow in events and drama, causing it to be boring? Probably, since I very quickly got fed up with it (I think I watched through the first four or five episodes: I distinctly remember a certain airplane race episode as one of my last).

[Crazy Penguin]

Have you seen Boogiepop Phantom, Esrever? The atmosphere and storytelling are superb, I've never seen anything else like it. The visuals are stunning, very dark and faded with a vignetting effect, almost like watching an old film on a projector. The soundtrack is mostly a kind of subtle techno with strange distorted electric sound effects. The story itself is the best use of non-linear narrative I've ever seen in any medium. It's very dense and involved but still accessible and essentially character driven. Again, I can't recommend it enough.

[Arcade]

Have you seen Boogiepop Phantom, Esrever? The atmosphere and storytelling are superb, I've never seen anything else like it. The visuals are stunning, very dark and faded with a vignetting effect, almost like watching an old film on a projector. The soundtrack is mostly a kind of subtle techno with strange distorted electric sound effects. The story itself is the best use of non-linear narrative I've ever seen in any medium. It's very dense and involved but still accessible and essentially character driven. Again, I can't recommend it enough.

Awesome show, but you get a bit lost at first...I liked when the "fake Pater pan" died, that bastard sure deserved it...

[Crazy Penguin]

Have you read the first novel, Boogiepop and Others? Boogiepop Phantom starts up more or less where it left off. The "five years ago" scenes in Phantom are derived from the fifth book, Boogiepop at Dawn (which hasn't been licensed yet) but also alluded to in Boogiepop and Others. The Spooky Electric character who made a brief cameo in Phantom is from the second and third novels - Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator Part 1 and Part 2.

[Arcade]

Sadly, here we only got the anime when Locomotion still existed...

The good news: Animax did a uncensored dub of Super Milk Chan!

[The Bad Buttons]

What about "Cowboy Bebop"? Anybody who saw it all the way through or half or whatever, what did you think of it? Art, style, music, meaning anything about it. Just comment.