View Full Version : Anime: Cool or Curse?
Jared Sutton
04-14-2005, 16:18
Ok we all know what anime is. DragonBall, Sailor Moon, Trigun. Do you think it is a good promotion for the martial arts or a horrible disgrace to what the martial arts is all about.
Don't respond about SM. I know its not a MA anime. :bow:
Jared Sutton
04-14-2005, 16:25
The only anime I have watched in the past year is Dragon Ball(the original before ki was so accessible) and Rurouni Kenshin.
Dragon Ball is pretty cool because it has some cool fighting(with fists not ki) and has time for an actual storyline and some comedy.
Rurouni Kenshin because it is an accurate depiction of what life at the beginning of the Meiji was like. Granted there was no manslayer who used a reverse-blade. But the fight scenes and made up fighting techniques were awesome. :bow:
Other than that anime is terrible when it comes to representing the martial arts.
Patrick Hayes
04-14-2005, 16:44
I think Rurouni Kenshin was pretty cool too, especially after I found out that many of the characters in the series were historical figures. Sagara, Saito, and a few others whose names I've forgotten were modeled after real, historical counterparts. Kenshin, of course, is purely fictional.
I haven't seen any anime that depict realistic martial arts. Still, anime based on video games, i.e. Street Fighter and Fatal Fury, are pretty cool to watch as escapist fantasies. I know that, to varying degrees, we're all annoyed by kids who want to learn how to do Ryu's Hadouken or other super-acrobatic, pseudo-mystical energy attacks, but at the same time, at least it's got them interested in martial arts. Once they get into a real dojo/dojang and get some of their fantasies pounded out of them, they might actually learn something.
bloodymonkey117
04-14-2005, 16:45
whatever gets people interested... the weak are weeded out, and those that stay are quickly brought to harsh realities... if it's not anime it's something else.
i like naruto i think its a pretty good series.i mean they do all kinds of impossible ninja things and the like.but its a good series.theres one character who can't do anything 'magic' so he just works extremely hard on hand to hand combat and becomes amazing.that can be somewhat inspiring.but yeah its still a cartoon.
Is it cartoons? Guess I am dating myself...back to work.
Andrew Green
04-15-2005, 08:43
Yup, cartoons.
My question would be, given that they are CARTOONS, why are you looking for accurate portrayal of the martial arts?
Personally I like the romantic-comedies. Mostly Video Girl Ai and Ah! My Goddess. Sorry, no martial arts there.
gr455h0pp3r
04-16-2005, 06:41
I hear anime helps u learn japanese street-talk or "slang".
Personally I think the art is just so great, and the connection with Japan makes it even cooler - e.g Wicked City.
Bugeisha
04-16-2005, 07:32
My japanese instructor says anime teaches you to talk like a ten year old girl...
Anime is what it is, a cartoon fantasy. No different than say Walker, Texas Ranger, or other MA inspired shows. They do get some people cranked about learning MA, and that can be good, although the reality of training is often to much for some.
Peace
Dennis
JessePasley
04-16-2005, 08:43
Fist of North Star was very realistic.
gr455h0pp3r
04-16-2005, 09:24
My japanese instructor says anime teaches you to talk like a ten year old girl...
I may stand corrected..
Iron Monkey
04-16-2005, 10:05
I love anime, in matter of fact I am a huge anime fan. Some may think different about anime but I know I watch lots of it. I am watching naruto one of the best animes ever. Japanese anime is not a typical american cartoon. Japanese anime are not for little kids but think of it as your teen to adults.
AllanJGAnderson
04-17-2005, 08:51
My japanese instructor says anime teaches you to talk like a ten year old girl...
HA HA! I actually have an expierance with this. Personally I think anime is poorly drawn and over all is dumb but that's beside the point. I once knew someone who learnt Japanese and was an anime-freak ( the weird kind ) and he tried to speak to my one japanese friend using the 'slang' he learned........ My friend laughed SO hard when he heard this guy try and talk. He told me later that he talked like alittle girl. From the words he said to how he pronounced then. Such as someone saying 'My daddy' instread of 'My father'.
Fist Of The MidEast Star
04-18-2005, 15:34
Fist of North Star was very realistic
In a way, yeah I'm also a Fist Of The North Star fan (as you can tell from my username) I also like Ranma 1/2 with its crazy made up martial art techniques. There was an anime about Shaolin Kung Fu called Tekken Chinmi (Ironfist Chinmi) which was released in English as Kung Fu Boy and in the arab speaking countries as Kung Fu School (Matrasat El Kung Fu). It had 35 volumes published from 1984 to 1997 and was adapted into a 20 episode anime. What makes this anime unique is that it seemed a little bit more realistic than most martial art based animes.
http://www.mangaverse.net/images/jailu/tekken/japonais/tekken34jap.jpg http://www.mangaverse.net/images/jailu/tekken/japonais/tekken18jap.jpg
HA HA! I actually have an expierance with this. Personally I think anime is poorly drawn and over all is dumb but that's beside the point.
I know everyone is allowed to say their own opinion but you're wrong, watch animes like Fullmetal Alchemist (No relation to Full Metal Panic), Spirited Away and Grave Of the Fireflies and then tell me that anime is poorly drawn and dumb.
fifthchamber
04-19-2005, 01:38
I think that Anime is a very odd subject to address...
I understand that some Anime is well drawn and presents the viewer with new, interesting ideas and also makes a good film..What I fail to see is how the majority of Anime is even close to being considered an adult medium...It is not. This is also not my being hard-arsed and bitter...I love some western comic writers...People like Miller, Claremont, Pat Lee for art, McFarlane and also some of the more recent Batman comics...I love them because generally the material they write and draw is very suitable for an adult audience...Japanese manga and Anime, despite (I agree..) being read by everyone here is distinctly not.
Sorry....The majority of it is aimed at children and works in the same way as Scooby Doo did back in the day...You get some very good ones...But 90 plus percent of it is very, very bad....
If you read Alex Kerr's book "Dogs and Demons" you will come away with precisely my viewpoint on the Anime matter....I paraphrase but he says roughly that Japanese Anime is dumbing down, a need for the adult population to catch up on a missed childhood and pure escapism...It is not a great medium...
Despite the few excellent offerings that do actually give the audience something more than they came in with..
Regards.
I just plainly don't get it or interests me.
Ok we all know what anime is. DragonBall, Sailor Moon, Trigun. ---
Except that mentioned above is only a small example of anime -series ... among those, there are different type of series, and movies, too.. I don't personally think that anime - or manga, either - would have much to do with MA, but reducing anime like that is similar than saying: "Ok we all know what American novels are. Rabbit Redux, Witches of Eastwick, Of the Farm."
With respect,
Riku Ylönen
Here's anime
Anime-japanese cartoons (nuff said)
Features: big eyes, and other big parts (depends on the kind of show)
It its abt kids, they have big heads
If its about girls, errr... u knw
AHEM
Anime are EXAGGERRATED at times
and their expressions are "cute" like when an anime char surprised,his jaw drops to the floor
Actually,anime chars, mostly the main chars are shown to be "cute"
Still, its japanese CARTOONS, meaning kids ALSO watch it
So in short,
Anime is shown as "cute" "cute" and "cute"
Remember again, its still a CARTOON^^
Unless its PG-13 >_<
Fist of North Star was very realistic.
Is that the one where he taps their shoulder and makes their head explode?
Anyway, Anime aren'r realistic,(with a few exceptions) and I don't think they should be, Imagine Inuyasha, Naruto, or Yu Yu Hakusho if they were realistic....The characters aren't even realistic. Why o Inuyasha's friends sit around and make fun of him whenever he's about to get killed but if there's a rat pestering the villagers wherethey're at, they jump it and tear up the village in a dramatic slaughter scene. I once saw a ninja turn into a log in naruto..why would a ninja who summons monsters turn into a log. Animes are cool, but I doubt that anyone goes into marial arts thinking that they're going to do the things that are ussually seen on dragon ball. And if they do...WOW.
total-immortal
06-10-2005, 17:43
I think in a way Anime can help get people into the martial arts. I remember when I was around 10 I began to watch DBZ religiously and soon was begging my mom to sign me up for Karate lessons...
But I never tryed to fire a chi blast or anything, and im still into martial arts to this day, the discouragement of finding out chi blasts are pretty much impossible didn't stop me from continueing my learning and training. :D
Hmm but you do get the people who watch naruto and take way to much of it seriously...I mean fantasy is built on reality but it's still fantasy no matter what, if you want to look like to turn into a log then you best be slipping your opponents some LSD. :laugh:
Anyway, Anime aren'r realistic,(with a few exceptions) and I don't think they should be, Imagine Inuyasha, Naruto, or Yu Yu Hakusho if they were realistic....The characters aren't even realistic. Why o Inuyasha's friends sit around and make fun of him whenever he's about to get killed but if there's a rat pestering the villagers wherethey're at, they jump it and tear up the village in a dramatic slaughter scene. I once saw a ninja turn into a log in naruto..why would a ninja who summons monsters turn into a log. Animes are cool, but I doubt that anyone goes into marial arts thinking that they're going to do the things that are ussually seen on dragon ball. And if they do...WOW.
That's what they call, "entertainment". It doesn't have to be real.
Chrono: That was my point.
Also, Angelo just crushed my dreams by saying that shooting a ki blast is impossible :D
Chrono: That was my point.
So, then, why are you criticizing what happens on the shows?
poetic misjustice
08-22-2005, 19:17
well i do like some anime, mainly mecha anime tho i'm not so big on martial rts anime, some i suppose, like street fighter you can actually see some shito-ryu in ryu's fighting, or the bruce lee look ailke in alpha two was funky, basically the creators of street fighter has portrayed the life of a martial artist quite well, training, then travelling or startibng up dojo's. but vega's claws are obviously a fantasy MA depicpicting an over the top version of tiger claw, almost like in the xbox game jade empire, very cool game
total-immortal
08-22-2005, 21:20
Anime isn't the problume it's the people who take it to far and think their samurai because they've seen kenshin pose and swing around his sakabato (I think thats how its spelled...).
Anime is cool but its a cartoon and very unrealistic, it shouldn't be extremely realistic or it would be boring...I love watching Van in the Escaflowne movie fly down from the sky and massacre an airship full of soldiers...:) But I can also differenciate that its just fantasy.
I think anime has been dumbed down so much in recent years it's almost infuriating to go to the shop and try to pick out a quality, intelligent film.
Way too many cutesy-poo series for pre-teens. The shelves are so swamped with this crap it's almost made the whole field into a joke. It really is becoming just as bad as U.S. cartoons.
Suffice it so say I still have my taped-off-tv copies of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Eye4NEye
08-23-2005, 08:13
There is a lot of crap out there as far as anime is concerned. There are some gems though. Most of them don't represent MA in any true shape or form, but action is almost in excess. Try "Bleach", "Read or Die", "Full Metal Alchemist", "Full Metal Panic", "Kenshin" (of course!), or "Noir" and you will be entertained. Shy away from anything with "card", "ball", or "shounen ai" in the title and you will be golden.
Here is a funny list from the Shogo MAD website that I love:
Laws of Japanese Animation
#1 - Law of Metaphysical Irregularity
The normal laws of physics do not apply.
#2 - Law of Differentiated Gravitation
Whenever someone or something jumps, is thrown, or otherwise is rendered airborne, gravity is reduced by a factor of 4.
#3 - Law of Sonic Amplification, First Law of Anime Acoustics
In space, loud sounds, like explosions, are even louder because there is no air to get in the way.
#4 - Law of Constant Thrust, First Law of Anime Motion
In space, constant thrust equals constant velocity.
#5 - Law of Mechanical Mobility, Second Law of Anime Motion
The larger a mechanical device is, the faster it moves. Armored mecha are the fastest objects known to human science.
#6 - Law of Temporal Variability
Time is not a constant. Time stops for the hero whenever he does something 'cool' or 'impressive'. Time slows down when friends and lovers are being killed and speeds up whenever there is a fight.
#7 - First Law of Temporal Mortality
'Good Guys' and 'Bad Guys' both die in one of two ways. Either so quick they don't even see it coming, OR it's a long drawn out affair where the character gains much insight to the workings of society, human existence or why the toast always lands butter side down.
#8 - Second Law of Temporal Mortality
It takes some time for bad guys to die... regardless of physical damage. Even when the 'Bad Guys' are killed so quickly they didn't even see it coming, it takes them a while to realize they are dead. This is attributed to the belief that being evil damages the Reality Lobe of the brain.
#9 - Law of Dramatic Emphasis
Scenes involving extreme amounts of action are depicted with either still-frames or black screens with a slash of bright color (usually red or white).
#10 - Law of Dramatic Multiplicity
Scenes that only happen once, for instance, a 'Good Guy' kicks the 'Bad Guy' in the face, are seen at least 3 times from 3 different angles.
#11 - Law of Inherent Combustibility
Everything explodes. Everything.
* First Corollary - Anything that explodes bulges first.
* Second Corollary - Large cities are the most explosive substances known to human science. Tokyo in particular seems to be the most unstable of these cities, sometimes referred to as "The Matchstick City".
#12 - Law of Phlogistatic Emission
Nearly all things emit light from fatal wounds.
#13 - Law of Energetic Emission
There is always an energy build up (commonly referred to as an energy 'bulge') before mecha or space craft weapons fire. Because of the explosive qualities of weapons, it is believed that this is related to the Law of Inherent Combustibility.
#14 - Law of Inverse Lethal Magnitude
The destructive potential of a weapon is inversely proportional to its size.
#15 - Law of Inexhaustibility
No one *EVER* runs out of ammunition. That is of course unless they are cornered, out-numbered, out-classed, and unconscious.
#16 - Law of Inverse Accuracy
The accuracy of a 'Good Guy' when operating any form of fire-arm increases as the difficulty of the shot increases. The accuracy of the 'Bad Guys' when operating fire-arms decreases when the difficulty of the shot decreases. (Also known as the Stormtrooper Effect) Example: A 'Good Guy' in a drunken stupor being held upside down from a moving vehicle will always hit, and several battalions of 'Bad Guys' firing on a 'Good Guy' standing alone in the middle of an open field will always miss.
* First Corollary - The more 'Bad Guys' there are, the less likely they will hit anyone or do any real damage.
* Second Corollary - Whenever a 'Good Guy' is faced with insurmountable odds, the 'Bad Guys' line up in neat rows, allowing the hero to take them all out with a single burst of automatic fire and then escape.
* Third Corollary - Whenever a 'Good Guy' is actually hit by enemy fire, it is in a designated 'Good Guy Area', usually a flesh wound in the shoulder or arm, which restricts the 'Good Guy' from doing anything more strenuous than driving, firing weaponry, using melee weapons, operating heavy machinery, or doing complex martial arts maneuvers.
#17 - Law of Transient Romantic Unreliability
Minmei is a bimbo. (Note: The Minority Opposition in Ohio disagrees and thinks all men who like this stuff need to get out more.)
#18 - Law of Hemoglobin Capacity
The human body contains over 12 gallons of blood. Sometimes more.
#19 - Law of Demonic Consistency
Demons and other supernatural creatures have at least three eyes, loads of fangs, tend to be yellow-green or brown, but black is not unknown, and can only be hurt bladed weapons.
#20 - Law of Militaristic Unreliability
Huge galaxy-wide armadas, entire armies, and large war-machines full of cruel, heartless, bloodthirsty warriors can be stopped and defeated with a single insignificant example of a caring/loving emotion or a song.
#21 - Law of Tactical Unreliability
Tactical geniuses aren't....
#22 - Law of Inconsequential Undetectability
People never notice the little things.... Like missing body parts, or wounds the size of Seattle.
#23 - Law of Juvenile Intellectuality
Children are smarter than adults. And almost always twice as annoying.
#24 - Law of Antagonistic Americanthropomorphism
The really nasty 'Bad Guys' are always skinny Americans.
#25 - Law of Americanthropomorphistic Intellectual Inferiority
The stupid 'Good Guys' are always big Americans.
* First Corollary - The only people who are more stupid than the big dumb Americans are the American translators. (Sometimes referred to as the Green Line Effect)
* Second Corollary - The only people who are more stupid than the American translators are the American editors and censors.
#26 - Law of Mandibular Proportionality
(from a_hicks@lvc.edu and utmwilliams@msuvx1.memphis.edu)
The size of a person's mouth is directly proportional to the volume at which they are speaking.
#27 - Law of Feline Mutation
(from a_hicks@lvc.edu) Any half-cat/half-human mutation will invariably:
* 1) be female
* 2) will possess ears and sometimes a tail as a genetic mutation
* 3) wear as little clothing as possible, if any
#28 - Law of Conservation of Firepower
(from utmwilliams@msuvx1.memphis.edu) Any powerful weapon capable of destroying/defeating an opponent in a single shot will invariably be reserved and used only as a last resort.
#29 - Law of Technological User-Benevolence
(from utmwilliams@msuvx1.memphis.edu) The formal training required to operate a spaceship or mecha is inversely proportional to its complexity.
#30 - Law of Melee Luminescence
(from utmwilliams@msuvx1.memphis.edu) Any being displaying extremely high levels of martial arts prowess and/or violent emotions emits light in the form of a glowing aura. This aura is usually blue for 'good guys' and red for 'bad guys'. This is attributed to Good being higher in the electromagnetic spectrum than Evil.
#31 - Law of Non-anthropomorphic Antagonism
(from utmwilliams@msuvx1.memphis.edu) All ugly, non-humanoid alien races are hostile, and usually hell-bent on destroying humanity for some obscure reason.
total-immortal
08-23-2005, 11:47
Way too many cutesy-poo series for pre-teens. The shelves are so swamped with this crap it's almost made the whole field into a joke. It really is becoming just as bad as U.S. cartoons.
Very true, plus they aren't as pretty anymore the animation looks so fake? (Guess I could use that term...)
poetic misjustice
08-27-2005, 17:59
law 32: age related "good guy" mortality, if the anime is for younger children and the hero dies then he will return with no explanation
Kid I loved to watch City Hunter, Dragon Ball and another funny one I can't remember, something with a guy striking other bad guys making their heads or body blow up (funny to watch).
Then there was a downtime, then started to watch Ghost in the Shell which I found pretty well drawn and a good story. And I like it.
I love animes or cartoons, that's because it's not realistic describing the daily life (for that I can watch daily ugly French movies except "Leon" my favourite movie) that I enjoy them.
Yawara was a good anime about a girl who was a Judo prodigy who was destined to compete in the Olympics.
Grappler Baki and Tough were some semi-realistic martial arts animated series.
Iron Monkey
11-30-2005, 20:49
Is that the one where he taps their shoulder and makes their head explode?
Anyway, Anime aren'r realistic,(with a few exceptions) and I don't think they should be, Imagine Inuyasha, Naruto, or Yu Yu Hakusho if they were realistic....The characters aren't even realistic. Why o Inuyasha's friends sit around and make fun of him whenever he's about to get killed but if there's a rat pestering the villagers wherethey're at, they jump it and tear up the village in a dramatic slaughter scene. I once saw a ninja turn into a log in naruto..why would a ninja who summons monsters turn into a log. Animes are cool, but I doubt that anyone goes into marial arts thinking that they're going to do the things that are ussually seen on dragon ball. And if they do...WOW.
Hold up anime is not real we all know that but there are anime out there that is known as fighting anime. What do I mean by fighting anime? I am talking about anime that is realistic but it is an anime and I am not talking about dragon ball Z or fist of the north star, although, they are both good anime to me. Real fighting anime such as, these titles grappler baki the series not the moive, Tenjou Tenge, and Hajime No Ippo. Another one is historical settings, meaning fact based characters, the anime titles for this one would be Shura no toki, legend of condor hero and the romance of the three kingdoms. Every anime title that I have said so far you may want to look in to it and when you watch them you will see what I mean. You can go to animeyume.org go to Genres, look up these titles under martial arts and historical settings, read what they are about.
Thing people need to realize about anime is that it covers a much wider range than western civilizations are used to. There's anime for toddlers, kids, teens+, Adults only, etc. And all of that has both horrible quality anime as well as beautifully rendered artwork. (Princess Mononoke is still one of my favorite films aesthetically)
You also have a wider range of genres for anime than even we have for novels. They make some anime for pretty much everyone.
That's why I get annoyed when people say "anime is poorly animated" as well as "no it's not ever!" Not to mention stuff about plotlines etc...
Does it occur to anyone that maybe the reason that anime could teach you to talk like a 10 year old girl is because a lot of the anime exported (that people seem to like a lot for some reason... *shudder* Sailor Moon...) is FOR 10 yr old girls?
Anime is just yet another medium to get across a story.
Iron Monkey
12-01-2005, 06:44
true and I always like watching the japanese versions of anime because when it comes to the U.S alot is cut out.
Fist of North Star was very realistic.
There's a three part new series available that's also good.
I've been a big fan of anime when Streamline Pictures was out. David is right. Even though a some anime has ma, it covers a lot more topics that just ma. There are series like Ghost in the Shell, Vampire Hunter D, and Perfect Blue that go into sci-fi, horror, and suspense and that's cool with me. If you've only seen DBZ and Sailor Moon, then you're only seeing a small part of what anime is about. :bandit:
As far as japanese animation is concerned, anyone here remember Astro Boy, Tobor the Eighth Man or Speed Racer? They seem to be the earliest examples of anime'.
Peace
Dennis
Go speed racer, go speed racer, go speed racer go!
They actually remade that recently I think. :confused:
Iron Monkey
12-01-2005, 22:17
8 man was great and the second one 8 man after was just to nice.
8 Man After, Golgo 13, Lilly Cat, and Dirty Pair were some of the earlier titles released by Streamline Pictures. Astro Boy was the very first anime (i think). Were you around for that Dennis? :bandit:
As far as japanese animation is concerned, anyone here remember Astro Boy, Tobor the Eighth Man or Speed Racer? They seem to be the earliest examples of anime'.
Peace
Dennis
Yes!
I even watched them on the UHF channels! :eek:
Peace
Dennis
I think Rurouni Kenshin was pretty cool too, especially after I found out that many of the characters in the series were historical figures. Sagara, Saito, and a few others whose names I've forgotten were modeled after real, historical counterparts. Kenshin, of course, is purely fictional.
Well, not purely fictional. Kenshin creator Watsuki has stated his hero was loosely based on a real-life swordsman named Kawakami Gensai. However, Wikipedia's article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawakami_Gensai) on Gensai suggests the similarity is limited to their superior speed and their feminine appearance, as Gensai's outlook on foreigners never improved after the Restoration, and ultimately got him killed by the Imperial government. Watsuki has also written about other supporting characters in his series who represent composites of actual historical figures, for what it's worth to you.
As to the original question, I fall under the "animé is cool" column. As the question relates to the martial arts, RuroKen got me interested enough to start learning a real sword art, which I entered into with no pretenses about what I'd be learning to do, and which I've stuck with for over a year now (not long by a lot of people's standards here, but you've gotta start somewhere). Kenshin also appealed to me for its historical aspect, which I've since handed over a fair chunk of cash to authors Marius Jansen and Romulus Hillsborough to learn more about. That may make me the exception rather than the rule as fanboys go, but it also makes me wonder if animé deserves to be singled out more than other martial arts media for how many wannabes vs. "Real Deal"s it turns out. Certainly live-action films have given people some funny ideas about what martial arts can do, and they also make it harder for people to recognize what's real martial arts and what's BS.
With all that said, I can feel the Tylenol with Codeine for my strep kicking in, so this looks like a good place to shut my yap and move on for the evening.
But I never tryed to fire a chi blast or anything, and im still into martial arts to this day, the discouragement of finding out chi blasts are pretty much impossible didn't stop me from continueing my learning and training. :D
Apparently you're just not training in the right place (http://www.transbuddha.com/mediaHolder.php?id=1105). :D
David Anderson
12-04-2005, 08:02
Some anime is cool, some of it is silly and a waste of time...but the REAL problem is that some people take it so darn seriously and think it's a reliable guide to anything...whether Japanese history, culture, language, martial arts or whatever.
Iron Monkey
12-04-2005, 10:54
Some anime is cool, some of it is silly and a waste of time...but the REAL problem is that some people take it so darn seriously and think it's a reliable guide to anything...whether Japanese history, culture, language, martial arts or whatever.
If thats your opionion cool I do agree with you there are some anime shows that are a waste of time and some that are not. Truth be told people take anime seriously because one their are some who can draw it really well, some people even learned how to speak japanese from anime and as said before in many anime some characters are historical figures.
Apparently you're just not training in the right place (http://www.transbuddha.com/mediaHolder.php?id=1105). :D
What
The
Holy
#*@$
WAS
THAT?!
OK, I have now seen it all. Take me now Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Peace & Good Bye!
Dennis
What
The
Holy
#*@$
WAS
THAT?!
Yeah...you can thank/blame Bullshido.com for exposing me to that one. I couldn't watch that and not have to share my pain.
On the other hand, could that indicate chi blasts were some kind of evolutionary response to predatory dragons? :laugh:
Yaaa anime really isnt for adults at all (I would have ben really angry at anyone who said this when I was three years younger). It's target audience really is aimed at people between 10 and 18 (of course there are acouple exceptions). Im 16 and am beginning to lose interest rapidly. I dont think there is anything wrong with watching it (even if you are a 40 year old man) becouse it can be kinda fun and imaginative. however, if you take away the gore and slight sexual humor they end up being steriotyped stories with practicaly the same characters (or at least simmilar) most every time. I am not looking for an argument, but instead stating my opinion. Of course there are the exceptions, there are some really good anime out there (not as many as people believe though).
Personaly I dont enjoy martial art anime as much as anime inspired fighting games, such as king of fighters or street fighter. I sometimes play maybe 15 minutes after I do a real workout/training. I dont think there is anything wrong with martial art anime/vidgames, everyone seems to be aware that it is all fake, its just all in good fun and can offer some mild inspiration to learn the real stuff (as long as you dont get addicted to watching/playing them)
Some do have mature stories though (not many).
Out of my 50 DVD collection I have 2 Manga based Anime.
I think most things on TV or in the Movies is rubbish, this includes Anime, Manga and your Hollywood Movies, and your Soap Operas and Reality TV shows.
But there is good stuff out there, just Anime is suffered from its own popularity at the moment and people are jumping on the band wagon producing mass produced blandness.
Your pretty much right NickR.
Some do have mature stories though (not many).
The not many you tagged on the end there is unnessecary though. There is anime for all agegroups, but what gets exported is generally the stuff for the younger generations.
Add to that, there's anime for kids, for preteens, for teens. Even when grouping young adults with more mature adults who may be interested in animated goodness, that's still outnumbering.
I'll give you that there aren't as many anyways, but I don't think to the point where saying 'not many' is necessary at all.
SacredSlasher
12-19-2007, 22:11
Hello, all. I am new to this board. Interesting subject matter. I think that anime is awesome. However, the mainstream stuff that the average joe sees on American television is total crap. It is the adult-oriented underground stuff that is truely awesome. Lots of shows and movies that most westerners are not even aware of or are only vaguely aware of that are mature and touch on some deep social issues in an open, unbiased way. The kiddy stuff is the most prevalent because there is too much censorship in the states and the FCC will not allow the real stuff to be shown on public television like in other countries. The average joe is being shown the "sanitized" or "appropriate" anime and forming an opinion on the whole art form based on that. It is no wonder why there are so many people fed up with what passes as "good anime" in our country. Start airing the uncut versions of Spriggan, Wicked City, X, Ninja Scroll The Movie, Fist Of The North Star, and Berserk instead of friggin Pokemon then maybe anime will be more well recieved :wink2: . Martial arts anime are cool, but not all of them are realistic...okay, most of them are totally unrealistic, but Baki is decent. I don't mind watching the occasional 4ft tall girl jump 50 stories into the air, shoot a giant fireball out of her crotch, fall 50 stories back to the ground, and land on the ground without breaking any of her bones, but I am not going to expect a martial art to teach me how to do that :laugh: .
torbjork
12-20-2007, 02:05
I was already into MA when I saw my first anime - MD Ghost - but neither that nor Fist of the North Star really worked as motivators to make me train more.
On the other hand, Motoko Aoyama in Love Hina made me want to take up kendo :D
corsarius
06-05-2008, 22:03
Shy away from anything with "card", "ball", or "shounen ai" in the title and you will be golden.
Here is a funny list from the Shogo MAD website that I love:
Laws of Japanese Animation
#1 - Law of Metaphysical Irregularity
The normal laws of physics do not apply.
... SNIPPED
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
This post is full of win.
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