New to Manga

Zombrex

Hey everybody (hey dr. nick)

I am new to Manga, though known about it for ages and I have seen Akira (who hasn't..) and Ghost in the Shell and was very impressed by both.

Been looking around in HMV at the Manga films they have but the problem is is I have no idea what is actually good and recommendend as apposed to simply movies released to cash in on the whole Manga thing, or movies that are part of an series that I wouldn't have a clue whats going on.

So can anyone recommend say 5 Manga films everyone should own, or even point me to a website that rates the best Manga films ... I have heard the Ghost in the Shell tv series is supposed to be good so I suppose that would be a place to start

Laguna

What you're referring to is Anime, Manga is the book form of the art.

5 good anime titles?

Well,

1)Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex (the t.v series you mentioned)
2)Cowboy Bebop The series & movie
3)Samurai-X (Rurouni Kenshin)
4)Hellsing (not a purists choice but a good laugh none the less)
5)Neon Genesis Evangelion (dated visuals but good themes/plotlines)

There's loads more I can think of but have a look at those first!

Karl Hungus

Spirited Away
Princess Mononoke
Fullmetal Alchemist
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
Grave Of The Fireflies
Nausicaa Of The Valley Of Wind
Berserk

That's a bit more than 5, but I heartily recommend those.

cade

Ok films wise i'd say every1 should own a copy of
Spriggan - sorta indiana jonesish / metal gear solid film
Spirited Away - kinda childish but still a good flic, not 1 of my fav though
Blood The Last vampire - Cool but tis only 40 mins long so don't pay too much


Series Wise
Ghost in the shell,not as good as the 1st movie in my opinion, to comical
Cowboy Bebop - Bounty Hunters(Cowboys) in Space
Samurai Champloo - Samurai action to Hip-Hop
Fullmetal Alchemist - Alchemy in Human magic fom

series Worth taking a look into yourself, dvd review wise
Serial experiments Lain - weird slow series about internet realities
Noir - cool show bout 2 female assasins, 1 amnesiac
Chobits - human form computer love story

currently Meself looking into Mezzo, Divergence eve and Chrono Crusade see if there any worth.

enjoy
cade

Creamy Goodness

get yourself to UGC (or cineworld as it's now called) and see Ghost in the shell 2.

i saw it there on saturday and was quite good

Karl Hungus

cade wrote:

Spriggan - sorta indiana jonesish / metal gear solid film

Meh, I wouldn't recommend Spriggan at all really, it's fairly derivative of Castle In The Sky, which was a much better film.

Laguna

Spriggan's not the worst Karl Hungus, I personally wouldn't have recommended Spirited Away, it's all a bit too cheesey and twee, then again, people seem to like it on the whole so it must have *some* redeeming qualties my cynical eyes miss..

Karl Hungus

Laguna wrote:

Spriggan's not the worst Karl Hungus, I personally wouldn't have recommended Spirited Away, it's all a bit too cheesey and twee, then again, people seem to like it on the whole so it must have *some* redeeming qualties my cynical eyes miss..

Oh no, certainly not the worst by a long shot, but it's not really that great either. I'd still recommend Spirited Away to it's fullest, it's just a magical film altogether, I love it.

CuLT

Laguna wrote:

Spriggan's not the worst Karl Hungus, I personally wouldn't have recommended Spirited Away, it's all a bit too cheesey and twee, then again, people seem to like it on the whole so it must have *some* redeeming qualties my cynical eyes miss..

Yes, well Spirited Away was the highest grossing film in Japanese cinema history.

Might want to work on that cynical eye.

Laguna

Yeah you're right, it most certainly is not the worst out there, that's an accolade reserved for the majority of the Manga collection!

sharingan

Laguna wrote:

Yeah you're right, it most certainly is not the worst out there, that's an accolade reserved for the majority of the Manga collection!

The Manga Collection i.e. cynical cash-ins on the late 80's early 90's sexploitation anime. Now released in dub only form for added irritation. There are decent stuff in the Manga Collection, but there are real slim pickings. Instead get yourself aquainted with the more modern movies: The Ghibli collection and some of the Manga OVA releases that are actually quite decent (New Dominion Tank Police, Orguss 02, ROD OVA). If you can locate places that sell from other publishers like ADV & MVM, your choice improves yet further, with actual real good TV anime available.

honru

CuLT wrote:

Yes, well Spirited Away was the highest grossing film in Japanese cinema history.

Might want to work on that cynical eye.

I believe Titantic is in at number two (yeah, it's gotta be that eye :rolleyes:).

Ah but really, Spirited Away is fantastic.

It would be good to start on movies or OVAs then work up to series'. Any of Studio Ghibli's output is definetly a good starting point.

Laguna

You beat me to it Freak Scenery, I was just about to mention Titanic!. Just because something grosses an obscence amount of money doesn't automatically qualify it for greatness, look at Urotsukidoji, that continues to sell in immense volumes despite its 'plot' being an excuse for tentacle porn.

CuLT

True, doesn't mean it's necessarily fantastic, but eh, it's a pretty damn good indication o_O

Lets have a look at the checklist:

a) Famous proven director - check
b) Famous proven composer - check
c) Nominated for various prizes at home and abroad - check

... I don't think you'll find The Legend of the Overfiend has any of these

Also, I saw Chobits mentioned earlier. I'd say that's a pretty poor choice for introducing someone to anime. The story is about a paedophile trying to justify his attraction to a glorified "Real Doll". Depends who the intended audience is though I guess.

I'd say Cowboy Bebop is a bad choice simply because there's no other anime like it, and if this is the first anime someone sees and like, they're going to look for similar stuff... and it doesn't exist.

Hellsing is absolultely atrocious after episode seven, only worth it for the manga and the music.

Overall, IMO, Karl Hungus has provided the best general genre-spread to give someone a feel of what anime has to offer.

honru

CuLT wrote:

I'd say Cowboy Bebop is a bad choice simply because there's no other anime like it, and if this is the first anime someone sees and like, they're going to look for similar stuff... and it doesn't exist.

I disagree, I think it would be one if not the best anime series to begin with. The obvious Western influences are much easier to swallow than something that is heavily Eastern-based, and it's plot isn't too heavy.

Sure there's nothing quite like it, but it's always good to dispel anime stereotypes from memory from the get-go.

CuLT wrote:

Overall, IMO, Karl Hungus has provided the best general genre-spread to give someone a feel of what anime has to offer.

Add in a mecha anime and you got it.

Karl Hungus

f®eak s&#169 wrote: »

Add in a mecha anime and you got it.

No, sorry, but I just can't do it.

honru

Karl Hungus wrote:

No, sorry, but I just can't do it.

Not even this?

Karl Hungus

f®eak s&#169 wrote: »

Not even this?

Nope, sorry man.

honru

Ah well, your loss.

Check out Evangelion and RahXephon if you can stomach it.

Whether they would also be good introductions to anime is debatable.

CuLT

Well, Eva is a classic introduction I guess. If you can swallow the bull**** you'll probably be a long term anime fan (and try not to be under the delusion that it's deep; I really enjoyed Eva, but people really oversell it).

Rah-Xephon is just a rip off of eva... with a better budget :P

Laguna

Indeed Cult, I rode the Evangelion come down wave onto RahXephon in the hope it'd be as good but it so... clearly... isn't

evad_lhorg

Another good series(the only one i have looked at tbh) is Paranoia agent. excellent stuff.

Raziel

Yeah, I like to check that out.

Kur4mA

I would have to add the following to the list lists both as intro's to anime/must have's for everyones collection

Movies:
Jin-Roh

Series:
Wolf's Rain
12 Kingdoms
Samurai7
Scryed
Last Exile
Trigun

Hey Cult, maybe a sticky would be good with a 'must have' or recommended list for anime newcomers and the rest of us too?

cade

oh good call on last exile rid dude, don't know bout scryed, i don't usually go into the whole people with super powers thing yet it seems promising enough, only seen disk 1 so...

umixcer

Yeah i got some recs for ya.
It really depends what you're into eg love,comedy,action etc.But some good animes to get would be:
Ninja scroll movie from around 1990 its brilliant
akira
love hina
naruto
bleach and any of the ghost in the shell stuff thats really good.

miss_cheif

Here's a list a short list of Anima off the top of my head...
Akira (this anima inspired the Matrix)
Bubble Gum Crash
Bubble Gun Crisis: Tokyo 2040
The Evalgelion series
Ghost in the Shell
Ray Earth
Land Lock
Virus
You can find a lot of stuff these days so you shouldn't have a problem coming across most of these ones. Laser off Great Georges Street in Dublin has the biggest selection I know of.

ChrisCross

My recommendation is to rent or borrow stuff. Just don't pay for anything until you've an idea of waht it is.
There is a LOT out there, it will really depend on you.

Funny: Chobits
Deep with mecca: Evangelion
Action and/or Ninjas: Naruto, Bleach, Gundam.

Actually I suggest this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime

Go with that.
If you like Akira you might like FLCL too.