Anime/Manga - Discuss Japanese cartoons and comics here; NO CULTURE WAR DOOMPOSTING!

I'm a big fan of Osamu Dezaki's work and started watching his adaptation of Dear Brother.

It's my first time really watching a shojo show and it's a delight. Dezakis iconic character designs and those still shots he loves to do brought me to it but the incredibly psychopathic characters has me hooked. A great unintended comedy to drink to before bed.

Everyone's personalities are to such an extreme, gives me Gundam Wing vibes.
I absolutely love Dezaki anime and I need to finish watching the rest of his collection. Oniisama E is a special one for me and it was probably the fastest I binge watched a show in a while.
 
I absolutely love Dezaki anime and I need to finish watching the rest of his collection. Oniisama E is a special one for me and it was probably the fastest I binge watched a show in a while.
Have you checked out Cobra yet? Sooo much fun. Especially the Rugball arc.
 
I could definitely say that about the OP, a groovy explosion out of nowhere, especially for a show about a fair-skinned gyaru with excessive mammary gland development.
The OP is pretty damn good for what is a slice of life romance. Silver Link really put some effort into making this show pop and I'm very happy I picked it up.
 
Bravern's plot twist was amazing. I was literally jumping up and down in excitement when I watched it. Not only does this confirm certain theories, but it also means that Smith is canonically attracted to Isami, which is cool.

I've also been checking out Gravion, and guess who showed up (his name is Alex Smith):
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I also discovered this really cool manga called Sorcer Striker. It's high fantasy, but it has a lot of cool mecha and ship drawings, so you should read it if you're a fan of 80s/90s mecha manga.
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As far as I know this is the only manga by Ryukihei that's been uploaded online. He also did Stainless Steel Armadillo and Dragon Wars, both of which had official translations in the 90s, and a bunch of hentai manga for Lemon People. Sadly, some of his hentai has pretty cool art, such as this piece, which I always thought was from Makoto Kobayashi's City in Labyrinth:
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This is actually from Dragon Century, which had a mainstream AIC OVA made in 1988. I guess I'll have to watch it now.

Speaking of 80s OVAs, here's one of Hirano's most obscure: Hagane no Oni. Going into it I was expecting a super edgy gore fest, but I was pleasantly surprised, as it has very little gore and no fanservice. It has some really cool control rooms, display screens, and manmade vehicles, which I always love. The big fight at the end reminded me of Zeorymer in how the mecha are portrayed as these ultra-detailed absolute goliaths capable of causing lots of destruction. It also had an Obari punch, which was neat.

 
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Bravern's plot twist was amazing. I was literally jumping up and down in excitement when I watched it. Not only does this confirm certain theories, but it also means that Smith is canonically attracted to Isami, which is cool.

I've also been checking out Gravion, and guess who showed up (his name is Alex Smith):
View attachment 5812119

I also discovered this really cool manga called Sorcer Striker. It's high fantasy, but it has a lot of cool mecha and ship drawings, so you should read it if you're a fan of 80s/90s mecha manga.
View attachment 5812144
As far as I know this is the only manga by Ryukihei that's been uploaded and translated. He also did Stainless Steel Armadillo and Dragon Wars, both of which had official translations in the 90s, and a bunch of hentai manga for Lemon People. Sadly, some of his hentai has pretty cool art, such as this piece, which I always thought was from Makoto Kobayashi's City in Labyrinth:
View attachment 5812167
This is actually from Dragon Century, which had a mainstream AIC OVA made in 1988. I guess I'll have to watch it now.

Speaking of 80s OVAs, here's one of Hirano's most obscure: Hagane no Oni. Going into it I was expecting a super edgy gore fest, but I was pleasantly surprised, as it has very little gore and no fanservice. It has some really cool control rooms, display screens, and manmade vehicles, which I always love. The big fight at the end reminded me of Zeorymer in how the mecha are portrayed as these ultra-detailed absolute goliaths capable of causing lots of destruction. It also had an Obari punch, which was neat.

Gravion is a lot of fun. It's pretty cheap-looking at times, especially during the first season, but I think the cast is really fun and it's just Obari doing the things he does best. Namely cool robot fights, tits jiggling around and a bit of yaoibaiting. Probably some of my favorite JAM Project songs too. Rosario of Grief is especially good. Bravern has a few kinda homages to it. But, Obari likes peppering his shows with references to tons of mecha stuff and not just his own.
 
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Have you checked out Cobra yet? Sooo much fun. Especially the Rugball arc.
Nachi Nozawa is so good as Cobra that any other actor doesn't cut it for me. Even the preceding movies actor doesn't have the right voice for Cobra and that was only two years prior.

Speaking of the original movie, I really like I think it's the UK dub with the Yello soundtrack. The song Gone Given fits so well with Dezaki's James Bond like openings:
 
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I watched Elfin Lied. My reaction:
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Most of it I couldn't take seriously. The violence was beyond ridiculous and into comedy. I can't even really describe the plot other than they want to kill Lucy and this dumbass can't see she's a schizophenic psycho that killed his dad and sister, and for the sake of the plot he just... blacked it out lol.

Lucy's backstory was probably the best part, in that I actually felt bad and didn't just laugh like most of the rest of the show. Overall though, it's a mess. Basically Caps off the end of the edgy OVA era. It stumbles a lot, I won't say it's great, but it's not terrible. It reminds me of a B movie horror plot.
 
Oh I absolutely understand how disrespectful I am being, but I think his work output in the final decade of his life was more disrespectful to his audience.
How?

It's a meme you dip. It doesn't actually matter what actually was distracting him, it's a symptom not the sickness.

This feels like entitlement. I understand wanting the story to be finished, but you're taking it too far, it almost sounds like you think he owed his audience a more productive content output. That's nonsense.

Which speaks as much to trust issues as anything.
And it was warranted. GAGA may have replicated his style to an acceptable degree, but they've failed to understand Berserk. Even his best friend Mori doesn't understand it.

Like, holy shit.

Has there ever been a popular franchise like Berserk where the vast majority of the people who read it and those associated with it don't even get it?
 
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View attachment 5812859
I watched Elfin Lied. My reaction:
View attachment 5812866

Most of it I couldn't take seriously. The violence was beyond ridiculous and into comedy. I can't even really describe the plot other than they want to kill Lucy and this dumbass can't see she's a schizophenic psycho that killed his dad and sister, and for the sake of the plot he just... blacked it out lol.

Lucy's backstory was probably the best part, in that I actually felt bad and didn't just laugh like most of the rest of the show. Overall though, it's a mess. Basically Caps off the end of the edgy OVA era. It stumbles a lot, I won't say it's great, but it's not terrible. It reminds me of a B movie horror plot.
I haven't watched the show in a while, but watched it growing up. What happens to Nana turns my stomach.
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I haven't watched the show in a while, but watched it growing up. What happens to Nana turns my stomach.
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Yeah... that was actually cruel and fucked up. That was the weird thing about the show, when it tried having a serious tone, it worked, but most of the time it just didn't, and a lot of the violence made me laugh because of how crazy it was. Tone shift was a major issue.
 
View attachment 5812859
I watched Elfin Lied. My reaction:
View attachment 5812866

Most of it I couldn't take seriously. The violence was beyond ridiculous and into comedy. I can't even really describe the plot other than they want to kill Lucy and this dumbass can't see she's a schizophenic psycho that killed his dad and sister, and for the sake of the plot he just... blacked it out lol.

Lucy's backstory was probably the best part, in that I actually felt bad and didn't just laugh like most of the rest of the show. Overall though, it's a mess. Basically Caps off the end of the edgy OVA era. It stumbles a lot, I won't say it's great, but it's not terrible. It reminds me of a B movie horror plot.
One of my first gore anime (that I can remember). Good times. The child character and her story made me feel sad. Now I know it was designed to be that way, so it's kind of funny. Pedophile father, fucking bitch of a mother, fucking bitch of a bystander who will not allow her dog to be walked by the child character (I don't remember a single name), fucking bastard of a government appointed leader of a black ops kill-team, beats her and screams at her for no reason, other than being a psycho (realistic and real).
 
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View attachment 5812859
I watched Elfin Lied. My reaction:
View attachment 5812866

Most of it I couldn't take seriously. The violence was beyond ridiculous and into comedy. I can't even really describe the plot other than they want to kill Lucy and this dumbass can't see she's a schizophenic psycho that killed his dad and sister, and for the sake of the plot he just... blacked it out lol.

Lucy's backstory was probably the best part, in that I actually felt bad and didn't just laugh like most of the rest of the show. Overall though, it's a mess. Basically Caps off the end of the edgy OVA era. It stumbles a lot, I won't say it's great, but it's not terrible. It reminds me of a B movie horror plot.
I watched it with some friends recently (my first time, some others had seen it), and yeah, Elfen Lied is quite the trip. It ping pongs in tone from serious to goofy, and sometimes the serious is so bizarre it's hilarious. The plot is nonsensical, but it's not really important anyway. The fights are ridiculously bloody to the point of comedy, and I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. But just when you've been having a good time laughing your ass off at the insanity, it'll hit you with something that actually makes you feel bad (the dog).

Guilty pleasure is the best way to describe it. It only adapted about half the manga and condensed it a lot, but I don't know where the story went after that.

Also Bando is hilarious.
 
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View attachment 5812859
I watched Elfin Lied. My reaction:
View attachment 5812866

Most of it I couldn't take seriously. The violence was beyond ridiculous and into comedy. I can't even really describe the plot other than they want to kill Lucy and this dumbass can't see she's a schizophenic psycho that killed his dad and sister, and for the sake of the plot he just... blacked it out lol.

Lucy's backstory was probably the best part, in that I actually felt bad and didn't just laugh like most of the rest of the show. Overall though, it's a mess. Basically Caps off the end of the edgy OVA era. It stumbles a lot, I won't say it's great, but it's not terrible. It reminds me of a B movie horror plot.
The only thing I remember from Elfen Lied is Lillium (a good thing) and the little girl's backstory and a specific scene where the kids just brutally abuse a dog for no reason (bad thing). Apparently the manga is better but I don't know how you can improve on shit.

 
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