There was a formspring question a while back about what anime you would show a class, we liked it so we expanded it into a little post. Imagine you are a professor. You have students who have anime studies as a major. What titles should they be familiar with in their first year that introduces them to the major? Lists like this are never really complete especially when working in some sort of restriction like our 10 TV series and 5 movies but there is only so much time in a semester. It also becomes more difficult as the years go by and more and more shows are produced. But you can still attempt a good foundation. It is important to note that not all of these titles are necessarily the best representations of their genre. Titles were often picked because it helped show the full range of what anime has to offer more than being the pinnacle. The shows here are meant to show what anime can produce in order to help the student decide where they want to focus their studies. So here’s what we thought of, what would be on your list?
Posts Tagged ‘The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’
Ode to Broken Things
January 4, 2011
If your anything like me you have found yourself dissecting your choices in entertainment and what they mean about you. I occasionally sit back and wonder why I truly enjoy the things I truly enjoy. During these examinations I have come to one major conclusion. The artists and works I usually like the most are usually very flawed. I loved Kinoko Nasu, Rumiko Takahashi, and Yoshiyuki Tomino but they are all idiosyncratic artists with highly imperfect works under their belt. This realization lead me to another even more shocking revelation. All the most influential works in a genre are not the masterworks but flawed works. All the shows that define radical shifts are often riddled with major flaws but are inspiring despite that fact.
Flawed works are sometimes the most special of all; they are chance taking stories that don’t quite have all the details worked out. When breaking new ground it is no surprise when one gets lost along the way. This can occur in many different facets from having the amount of episodes suddenly shortened due to low-ratings or lulls in the middle of the story as they try to stretch or even extraneous characters taking up too much time. But these are also stories that surprise you with their decisions and that’s a most powerful and memorable reaction.
NY Anime Festival & Comic Con 2010: Minori Chihara
October 20, 2010While there were several Japanese industry people at NYAF most of them were only present for the what they were presenting and never appeared in any formal panel where you could ask them questions about anything outside of what they were there to present. But voice actress and singer Minori Chihara not only had a panel but she also had a concert to promote her appearance in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. I would assume almost everyone who went to see her was there because of her work as Yuki unless Sakutarou has a huge fan following I was unaware of. And a lot of fans were very thrilled to see her at the convention because of that.
Ongoing Investigations: Case #043
May 8, 2009
I finished the Contraband arc of Liar Game. It ended pretty strongly with a equal mixture of success and failure for our main characters. I really liked that it was neither a total victory nor a total loss. Nao and Shinichi are definitely in a tight spot going into the next round but they did much of what they needed to do. Liar Game stays a smart series that challengers the reader but does not pull its plot twists out of thin air. How the game works and how the characters pull off their schemes are set up before the reveals are given. A clever person could probably figure out the answers in advance. Norihiko Yokoya has obviously been set up as a reoccurring villain which is the first in the series. Nao is still oscillating between being girl-who-needs-to-be-saved and Shinichi’s partner but at least her character is growing. I am hoping by the end she will have her own unique perception and tactics. I am a little surprised that Fukunaga is staying on as an important side character.
Picked up Key to the Kingdom a while back but just started reading it. So far books one and two have impressed me, it is a wonderfully put together shojo fantasy. We start with Asta, the youngest prince, who has no desire to rule nor to hold a sword. So when the country’s rule lies in the hands of whoever can find the “key to the kingdom” it seems he will be free of such troubles. However, fate has other things in store as Badd, a retainer, drags him into looking for clues to its whereabouts. When a Dragon Man appears on their path it becomes clear that everything is not as it seems. A diverse cast emerges along the road as Asta resists but gets caught up in the complexity of the country’s history. There are many things going in this story including action, politics, mystery, and love. I was surprised that the series is only six years old because the art certainly has a late-80′s or mid-90′s feel to it. A great start to the series, highly recommended!
Ongoing Investigations: Case #025
December 26, 2008Hitohira is an really enjoyable ongoing manga series by Izumi Kirihara. I read book one and two and third comes out in February. Mugi is an ultra-shy, high school freshman who gets roped into joining the drama club which is in desperate need of new members to remain active. The drama club president sees hidden potential in Mugi and her powerful, beautiful voice despite her having no interest in acting. She is technically joining the drama research club because there is already an active rival drama club at the school. Mugi has to struggle with her self-doubt which makes her want to leave the club against verses her want to be friends with the members. There is also a blossoming romance between Mugi and Kai, the other freshman club member. The comedy, the drama, and the romance are all low-key which makes the series quite realistic. Even the wacky characters are mostly within the bounds of realistically wacky. I might have liked the series a little more simply due to the fact that I can see a good deal of myself in Mugi. I have found myself saying many of the things she says. Word for word. Either I am a flat human being or Mugi is a well-written character. This manga is proof that something good can come out of Comic High!. Luckily there are previews for the first and second books online. Oh, there is also a 12 episode anime by Xebec M2 which I have yet to see.
I finished I Shall Never Return, a short 5 book BL series. Ken is, among other things, selling his body to anyone who’ll take him at the beginning of the story which stems from his desperate longing for childhood friend Ritsuro. Ritsuro is a good student, a considerate son and brother, and a good-looking guy. Their relationship as more than friends starts off rather oddly as we find out Ken is continually stealing Ritsuro’s girlfriends just to get his attention. However, the story quickly moves to them fully exploring their feelings for each other and the many bumps in road of Ken’s bad past, Ritsuro’s insecurities, and deciding on their futures. The amount of sex is frequent, though less so in later volumes, and semi-graphic but no full-monty to be seen. The art is well done, however people will note the early 90′s style of it. It isn’t a distraction and at most gives you a chuckle from time to time about certain characters’ clothing choices. I Shall Never Return plants itself firmly in the melodramatic romance sector early on with the classic bad boy/good girl (or in this case, guy) scenario. And while we know the idea is that a good guy can change a bad boy, it isn’t left up to interpretation as Risturo boldly declares aloud he will change Ken! The first two volumes are more shallow drama to lead to sex but it becomes increasingly more engaging after that. We get to really see the hardships of growing up, letting go, and attempting to understand another person. This all does lead us to happy and hopeful for the future ending. Take a look for yourself as Aurora publishing puts of previews of each volume (1,2,3,4,5).
I had seen the Shikabane Hime anime and had found it very plain but Ask John kept saying how much more he liked the manga it was based on. I felt that the concept had potential and so I started to read the manga to see if it was different enough for me to get into it. I read the first 5 chapters and I have to say that John was quite correct. The anime and the manga are two very different animals that are only the same in premise and starting points of the characters. Makina is sort of the stereotypical action girl but an enjoyable one so far. She is obviously the protagonist in the manga with her taking down corpses with duel machine guns frequently. Keisei, the priest, shows up fairly often. Keisei’s younger brother, Ougi, so far has been nothing more than a minor character but it has been hinted he will be more important as the series goes on. The anime seems to try to make Ougi a more main character from the beginning which diminished Makina awesomeness in what I saw of the anime.
I watched Strait Jacket which reminded me greatly of 90′s OVAs. This was just fine by me since I was basically going in wanting some violence and explosions and not much else. Though it actually didn’t have enough action as I would have thought it would. They give us a brief rundown at the beginning of how tactical sorcerers came to be and the state of the current world with demons and terrorism. Leiot is a rogue tactical sorcerer on the wrong side of the law and completely infamous for it. When a dangerous situation threatens the city Tristan asks him to intervene despite his status. She then proceeds to become a thorn in his side for the rest of the show. He also has a weird side kick and a rival tactical sorcerer who of course he has to team up with at some point. The show is nothing spectacular but certainly not anything to moan over.
They have finally gotten back to putting Kara no Kyoukai on DVD. Movie number four is Void Shrine and mostly acts as a transitory piece between the past and the present of Kara no Kyoukai. It begins just a few minutes after the end of the second movie. We see how Shiki deals with the loss of her other personality and how she comes into the employ of Toko Aozaki. The movie is as well-animated and directed as the other three so far. Being a transitory piece it feels a little lighter than the others but it was still enjoyable. It continues the slow building up to the major fight scene at the end while having little action before hand. If this were not seven movies long I was be 100% sure some one would license it in the U.S. Anime companies usually like flashy theatrical movies with a philosophical bent while still containing supernatural action. Will the Type Moon price tag keep this from getting licensed in this harsh economic time?
Finished The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I liked it. It was good.
Tis the season so that is why this is the pic of the week:
