The manga thread

[Femme Stab Mode >:D]

So, I, beeing the competitive person I am, swore to become better at drawing manga than a guy in my grade that brags all the time how good he is at manga and circulates hentai around... That was yesterday. Now, I realise how many people out there are manga fans. So.. confess! Spill your guts.

[Jimi]

I am not really a fan, but the once I stumbeled across a site that sold LOADS of books on how to draw manga. I'll try and find the link for you.

[Femme Stab Mode >:D]

Yes, I know it. I already took a few tutorials and lessons and read two books in two days... It's so amazingly easy!

[SSH]

I'm a secret Hamtaro fan...  

EDIT: Despite the smiley, some people did not detect the IRONY in this post and so I'm defending myself!

[Jimi]

I still watch the disney channel!

*Jimi throws his head into his hands, and starts crying*

This thread should be called the group therapy thread

[SSH]

*SSH blinks eyes and hold sceptre in air*

Moon sceptre power!

*SSH wears skimpy sailor outfit*

I stand for love and I also stand for justice. I will triumph over evil and that means you!

*SSH has never felt so free*

[Scummbuddy]

Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and of course the DragonBall trilogy.

Why, oh why, Hamtaro?   Egad.  I wanted to kick myself in the head so I would die to make the bad Hamtaro stop.  

I, myself, am a pretty good manga drawer.  My ex is a huge cosplayer....like on the verge of freakyness.... her and all her friends.  But she is an amazing manga drawer and thats probably what she'll do for a life career.  She'll be getting picked up by a regularly published manga soon.

[Rincewind]

Well, I'm a hardcore Rouroni Kenshin/Samurai X-fan myself.
Has anyone else here seen the "Trust/Betrayal" OVA's? My god, I adore them. They are incredible.

And, to be honest, I also watched Sailor Moon from time to time when they ran it on tv...
But it was just for the demons, I tell ya! Just the demons! Nothing else...

[Helm]

I don't think Manga is easy.


Anyway, I like some stuff more than others. The amazing GUNNM then I''s, Video Girl Ai, Zetman, DNA^2, Shadow Lady (see a pattern?) BLAME, NOISE, of course, original AKIRA and other assorted works, of course loads of Macross...

Just wait until Cornjob posts in this thread.

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

I would really like to get into manga, but unfortunately with prices like 60gbp for the Akira series... well, I have other things to spend my money on.

[DGMacphee]

Late last year I joined an anime group and have seen heaps of fansubs (stuff not commercially released in Australia)

Has anyone seen this one called "The Jungle Was Fine, Then Came Guu"?

It's my fav -- I've busted my guts out.

Sasha, you're a Brisbanite -- you should come to the group.

Their called BAS (Brisbane Anime Society) and they meet every fornight on alternate Saturdays and Sundays.

We're currently watching the following: Fruits Basket, Scryed, and Jungle Was Fine Then Came Guu on Sundays, and on Saturdays we're watching Earth Girl Arjuna, She" The Ultimate Weapon, and X (which is commercially released in some shops).

Their website is http://www.anime.com.au/bas/

Oh yeah, I'm also rewatching Neon Genesis Evangenlion on subtitled DVDs -- so much better than English language (although, I still like some of the English dubbing.)

P.S. I'm so damn glad Miyazaki won the animated Oscar this year for Spirited Away -- much better than the Disney crap like Treasure Planet and Lilo and Stitch!

[Shattered Sponge]

  Is that X the movie or X the TV series, DG?  The movie is kinda meh, but I love the series almost as much as... some... other... stuff... I... like.   She, The Ultimate Weapon is quite good, too, though it does get a wee bit silly at times (missiles dropping out of her back, etc.).  Also, next time they change one of the series, try to get them to show 'Haibane Renmei' - a recent favourite of mine, I think you may like it.

BTW, I've never seen 'The jungle whatsit whatsit' - do you know  what the japanese title is?  I'll see if I can get hold of a copy.

[DGMacphee]

It's X the TV series -- I'm not all that enthused about it actually because it's hard to keep track over long periods.

I like She -- It has some decent character development. True, the missles coming out the back are a little silly, but I've heard the ending is a real tear-jerker.

And the Englush title for that anime is "Jungle wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu" -- see it cause it's a side-splitting cack!

[Trapezoid]

I'm not a big fan of manga/anime. Not very unique  

[Eggie]

Blar! Hamtaro!! I've seen about 30 seconds of that show and I could probably come up with 10 reasons why I hate it off the top of my head!
KILLITEKILLITKILLIT!

I'm not a huge fan of Manga, but this guy, Stephen Sandford does this really funny (and slightly surreal) stuff that i love. I recommend you read the Muertitoes series.

[Shattered Sponge]

Blar! Hamtaro!! I've seen about 30 seconds of that show and I could probably come up with 10 reasons why I hate it off the top of my head!
KILLITEKILLITKILLIT

In which case, see Ebichu.




Seriously, do.

[Las Naranjas]

The most fascinating thing about Neon Genesis was the great way they could seamlessly fit cleavage into any shot (hey, I didn't have cleavage like that when I was 14).

Thank god there was always a reason to bend over, or my interest would have been severely dminished.

[frobozz]

Another great sidesplitter is Azumanga Daioh.  It follows a group of friends through their three years in high school (as well as their teachers)...it's hillarious, cute, and sad at the end (they all graduate and the show ends!  *sob*)

http://www.pulpfilm.com/reviews_engine/show_review.php?review=52

-Fro.

PS--Yeah, I do want to see Ebichu--it sounds so twisted that I don't think I'll be able to resist much longer.  It's showing at my home town's Animethon this year, so I'll give it a try there.

[cornjob]

Just wait until Cornjob posts in this thread.

Well, I'm a fan. Can't say I'm a super-fan or anything, I'm not a great expert. OK, I recognized that pic from I"s that Helm had in his signature once. And at one time I had a pic in my signature of the engineer guy from Yamato (actually it came from a Suu dream sequence from a Love Hina manga). Let's see.. where is it... Yeah, remember this:

[m0ds]

I only like one type of manga, which I wont go into. The rest I don't really care about.

m0ds

[Shattered Sponge]

It's X the TV series -- I'm not all that enthused about it actually because it's hard to keep track over long periods.

Well I guess I can understand that - but either way, it still has a great soundtrack and some nice pseudo-religious imagery (except for that pentagram thing, that was just cheap).

I like She -- It has some decent character development. True, the missles coming out the back are a little silly, but I've heard the ending is a real tear-jerker.

Well, I've only watched the first three episodes so far (and I did love the first one), so I can't really judge too harshly.  I just have a long-standing grudge against GONZO (the animation studio) for making that gawd-awful Hellsing.

And the Englush title for that anime is "Jungle wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu" -- see it cause it's a side-splitting cack!

Dear Lord.  I just watched the first episode, and have come to the following conclusions:

1) You are completely mad, and I fear for my safety (yes, it took me this long).
2) 'Hee' is the best name for a bird ever.
3) I AM going to have nightmares about that opening sequence.
4) Why does this fansub translate the first line of the opening song as 'make love, boys and girls'?  I know that isn't really a conclusion, but still, I wanna know.
5) 'Hee' is the best name for a bird ever.

Thanks heaps for the reccomendation.

[remixor]

I used to be somewhat into anime (don't know if that counts since this is a manga thread), not hardcore, but I enjoyed it.  Now there are still a couple series I appreciate, but on the whole I find the genre to be sort of silly.  It seems like it's sort of a competition to give as many girls as possible the biggest breasts and biggest guns.  You could make rather similar statements about American action movies, but I don't really enjoy those either.  Again, there is good anime, but I've sort become rather cynical about the genre as a whole.  Just my two cents, though.


EDIT: I just realized I'll probably get about a dozen threads that look exactly like the following.  Ah well...

It seems like it's sort of a competition to give as many girls as possible the biggest breasts and biggest guns

whats wrong with that??  

[frobozz]

I watched the first episode of Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu.  It's okayyyyyyyyyy, but not nearly as funny as Azumanga Daioh IMO.  It's safe to say that I'm hooked on this series, though.

-Fro.

[Femme Stab Mode >:D]

P.S. I'm so damn glad Miyazaki won the animated Oscar this year for Spirited Away -- much better than the Disney crap like Treasure Planet and Lilo and Stitch!

I loved spirited away! I have about a dozen of their posters, and lilo and stich was such a dissapointment....I'm currently learning to draw manga, there is a couple of guys I know who are obsessed with it, they shock me sometimes. I walked in on them swaping hentai. Personaly, I find that Chibi is the most fun manga of all, with the oversized heads and croses instead of eyes when they are unconsious...

[Esseb]

Before you get too obsessed, learn the difference between Manga and Anime .

I suppose I'm obsessed also. Not nearly as much as Esper though.

[Shattered Sponge]

* Shattered Sponge shakes fist at Esseb

[Trapezoid]

Lilo and Stitch was Disney's best animated feature in a LONG time. Don't diss.

[Helm]

Esseb makes a good point. This reads 'the manga thread' :O

[Femme Stab Mode >:D]

Oh stuff you... Manga fans are generaly Anime fans as well and vice versa.

[frobozz]

Lilo and Stitch was Disney's best animated feature in a LONG time. Don't diss.

True, but IMO that's not saying much.

-Fro.

[Trapezoid]

I still love it.

Excuse the next couple of paragraphs, they're a rant, but there's a real question at the end:
My problem with anime/manga is most of it is either WAY too serious and melodramatic, or full of rather uncomfortable foreign humor. And by foreign I mean hard to relate to.
And also the fact that there isn't much visual diversity. With western cartoons, and comics to an extent, each one usually has its own unique style (Simpsons, for example.) In Japan they seem to only have several studios which all operate based on the same techniques and rules. Are there any independant animation studios in Japan that don't use the traditional manga look?

[DGMacphee]

The most fascinating thing about Neon Genesis was the great way they could seamlessly fit cleavage into any shot (hey, I didn't have cleavage like that when I was 14).

Thank god there was always a reason to bend over, or my interest would have been severely dminished.

I think you've just described the most fascinating thing about EVERY anime!

1) You are completely mad, and I fear for my safety (yes, it took me this long).
2) 'Hee' is the best name for a bird ever.
3) I AM going to have nightmares about that opening sequence.
4) Why does this fansub translate the first line of the opening song as 'make love, boys and girls'?  I know that isn't really a conclusion, but still, I wanna know.
5) 'Hee' is the best name for a bird ever.

Thanks heaps for the reccomendation.

Wait until you get to episode 3 with the afro chest hair!

"Yeah! Cool and hip!"

[Shattered Sponge]

Before you get too obsessed, learn the difference between Manga and Anime .

I'd just like to say, in Sasha's defence, that it wasn't actually her who started talking about anime...

[Las Naranjas]

Trap-It's all cultural to some extent too. You'd be surprised how similair all western animation looks to the Japanese (I asked some).

It is slightly more uniform than ours, but only slightly, there is alot of diversity under the broad Japanese roof, just as there's alot of diversity under the broad western roof.

It's rather like the people really, we all look the same to them

[frobozz]

Wait until you get to episode 3 with the afro chest hair!

"Yeah! Cool and hip!"

rotfl--I watched episodes 3 and 4 tonight-- this show is getting better and better.

Guu's laugh > *

-Fro.

[Femme Stab Mode >:D]

And also the fact that there isn't much visual diversity.

If you look closer, every single show has a different style. For example, my avatar is an example of an eye that comes from the show "Slayers". The more serious shows have narrower eyes, and the proportion changes. In serious anime the head generaly takes up 1/6 of the body while in chibi the head can take up to 2/5 of the body. The number of points of shine or "shinies" in the eye varies from 2 to 5 or even more when the character is extremely happy.

[DGMacphee]

Wait until you get to episode 3 with the afro chest hair!

"Yeah! Cool and hip!"

rotfl--I watched episodes 3 and 4 tonight-- this show is getting better and better.

Guu's laugh > *

-Fro.

Aye -- it surely does get better!

Guu is now a cult anime at the club I go to!

[Esseb]

Before you get too obsessed, learn the difference between Manga and Anime .

I'd just like to say, in Sasha's defence, that it wasn't actually her who started talking about anime...

I am rubber you are glue.

Lilo and Stitch was Disney's best animated feature in a LONG time. Don't diss.

That only makes it less crap, not more good. I loved the art style and basic plot, then they seemed to decide the plot development was boring and fast forwarded through the whole film in order to fit in more fast scenes. Disney needs to stop munching speed.

[DGMacphee]

It's funny how someone says Disney release their best work in ages (Lilo and Stitch), yet several months later they make their worst film to date (Treasure Planet).

Meanwhile, Miyazaki's last two films (Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke) were:

- critically successful (Currently, Spirited Away scores an average of 97% on RottenTomatoes.com, a website that collects all major newspaper and website reviews and calulates an average score -- and a 97% average is f-ing good! At the time of the US cinema release it had a 100% rating.)

- made a ton of money (Spirited Away grossed over $200 million before it hit US cinemas; Princess Mononoke grossed around $150 million before hitting the US)

- and have won a slew of awards (Besides Spirited Away winning best animated feature film at this year's Oscars, both films won BEST PICTURE at the Japanese Academy Awards; Also, Spirited Away swept the major American Animation awards, also known as the Annies).

My point is this: Disney needs to re-evaluate its work -- Their films reach nowhere near the heights of some of the other stuff out there.

Their only saving grace is Pixar (Toy Story 1 + 2, A Bugs Life, Monsters Inc, and the upcoming Finding Nemo), but I hear Pixar are looking to move out of the Mouse House.

And let us not mention Disney's rapidly declining share price since Treasure Planet, or else Michael Eisner will throw a hissy-fit.

Disney used to be on top -- but now they're a sad reflection of an animation empire that once was.

Uncle Walt must be rolling in his cryo-freeze chamber!**

As for live action movies, that's another story.  (*coughcoughMiramaxcoughcoughHarveyWeisteincoughcough*)




**Note: Apparently, Walt Disney is also a Nazi -- Ask Narangas for more details.

[Femme Stab Mode >:D]

Disney is going into the gutter... but it's already there. The reason anyone watches disney's film is because they are advertised a lot. Spirited Away wasn't advertised much. lilo and stich has a nice plot but I think they could have done better. And the little marsian could have been cuter if you ask me...

[Eggie]

Entertainment Companies at the moment really need to try and get out of their "profits over quality" phase.

All the games are clones...
All the movies are over-hyped...

And good cartoons are slowly being phased out!

What next? Even novels have started to just become clones of the latest bestseller!
It isn't right I tell ya'! IT'S JUST NOT RIGHT!!!!

*Breaks down and cries*

WHY???

[Trapezoid]

Well, the reason I liked Lilo and Stitch was because it WASN'T a huge emotional investment, it was just a fun, cute movie and yes, about 30 times better than Disney's recent films.
I would like to see Spirited Away some time, though. I guess what turns me off from most anime probably is the cultural difference. Japanese characters express emotion in a different way, and a lot of anime just strikes me as too serious, too messed up (Excel Saga), or too juvenile (Pokemon). I would like to know if there are any anime series you could recommend though, which you think I might like.

[DGMacphee]

Well, the reason I liked Lilo and Stitch was because it WASN'T a huge emotional investment, it was just a fun, cute movie and yes, about 30 times better than Disney's recent films.
I would like to see Spirited Away some time, though. I guess what turns me off from most anime probably is the cultural difference. Japanese characters express emotion in a different way, and a lot of anime just strikes me as too serious, too messed up (Excel Saga), or too juvenile (Pokemon). I would like to know if there are any anime series you could recommend though, which you think I might like.

Most Miyazaki films, especially Castle of Cagliostro, My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoko, Spirited Away, etc.

As for other stuff, try:

Berserk -- Cool fantasy anime with big-ass swords!

Bastard -- Same as above, plus with cool-assed magic that blows up lots of shit.

Cowboy Beebop -- Sci-fi action series about bounty hunters

Neon Genesis Evangelion -- Very philosphical series with big robots -- it doesn't take itself too seriously all the time -- And the characters have a lot of depth and feeling to them.

Initial D -- Series about teenager guys who race cars on highways -- character development isn't too great, but it's fun to watch.

Great Teacher Onizuka -- Very cool and funny series about a teacher who used to be part of a biker gang -- he beats up a lot of people too!


These are probably the most mature series without being too serious or too "out there".

[2ma2]

Don't read much manga, but I like really serious stuff. Almost all traces of the usual manga stylisation is annihilated, so I guess it doesn't qualify Lone Wolf And Cub is good, I recommend it.

[Shattered Sponge]

Neon Genesis Evangelion -- Very philosphical series with big robots -- it doesn't take itself too seriously all the time -- And the characters have a lot of depth and feeling to them.

You forgot to mention the extremely depressing ending(s), but otherwise I'd agree.

Also, Trap, if you want something completely different visually I suggest you try Ebichu.

[SSH]

Cowboy Beebop -- Sci-fi action series about bounty hunters

Neon Genesis Evangelion -- Very philosphical series with big robots -- it doesn't take itself too seriously all the time -- And the characters have a lot of depth and feeling to them.

Cowboy Beebop is currently showing on CNX channel on UK Sky Digital at 9pm each day. It always seems to be the episode with two cat space ship pilots, though...

As for NGE, aren't 99% of Mangas about very big robots? Gundam, Escaflowne, RoboTech, BattleTech, etc.?

[DGMacphee]

Neon Genesis Evangelion -- Very philosphical series with big robots -- it doesn't take itself too seriously all the time -- And the characters have a lot of depth and feeling to them.

You forgot to mention the extremely depressing ending(s), but otherwise I'd agree.

Also, Trap, if you want something completely different visually I suggest you try Ebichu.

I haven't seen the ending as yet -- that is actually on my list of TO DO things this week.

I even bought an as-of-yet-unwatched copy of End of Eva several months ago, but promised myself I'd watch the final episodes in the series.

Then I I decided to watch them all from the beginning in Japanese w/subtitles.

Cowboy Beebop -- Sci-fi action series about bounty hunters

Neon Genesis Evangelion -- Very philosphical series with big robots -- it doesn't take itself too seriously all the time -- And the characters have a lot of depth and feeling to them.

Cowboy Beebop is currently showing on CNX channel on UK Sky Digital at 9pm each day. It always seems to be the episode with two cat space ship pilots, though...

As for NGE, aren't 99% of Mangas about very big robots? Gundam, Escaflowne, RoboTech, BattleTech, etc.?

I've got my ticket for the Cowboy Beebop movie that's playing at our local indie cinema -- and it's a subbed version too.

And yes, most series are about giant robots, but NGE is one of the better ones.

[Eggie]

I saw Shin Chan on Fox Kids. That show is FUNNY!  

[Femme Stab Mode >:D]

I used to watch sailor moon as a kid. Saw every single episode twice a day. I like drawing manga more than looking at it however, and I dislike giant robots.

[plasticman]

I don't think Manga is easy.


Anyway, I like some stuff more than others. The amazing GUNNM then I''s, Video Girl Ai, Zetman, DNA^2, Shadow Lady (see a pattern?) BLAME, NOISE, of course, original AKIRA and other assorted works, of course loads of Macross...

Just wait until Cornjob posts in this thread.

That's some great stuff. I love Katsura's works - esp. I"s - and Akira is one of my favorites too. The anime movie is also awesome.