Manga & Anime THREAD

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Post by GrandpaRD » November 15th, 2010, 4:56 am

Just saw the restored version last week on TCM channel, and I must say that by todays standards it's a boring film. But back in '27 or 28, this must have been a rocking epic for sure.

I did manage to sit through the whole thing without nodding off.

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Post by Ben » November 15th, 2010, 5:15 am

Ahh, well I'm always interested in originals, and am pretty good at "forgetting" that such things have come along and ripped off the concepts in the meantime, so maybe I'll give Dirty Pair a go on those credentials.

Funny you mention Aliens, Droo. Big reveal: I've never sat and watched that all the way through in one go until about two months ago. I've seen most of it on and off, but I made a concerted effort not to get distracted...so think of that as a proper "first time" viewing. And I thought it was pretty good, and I was able to put myself back into 1986 and see it with those eyes, so the clichés didn't really jump out at me, even though I thought the story was absolutely full of holes.

I'm now also intrigued by Gunbuster... ;)

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Post by Ben » November 15th, 2010, 5:17 am

Well you can't say that about every film that comes out now, so I'd say it still holds its magic. :)

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Re:

Post by EricJ » November 15th, 2010, 12:54 pm

Ben wrote:I'm now also intrigued by Gunbuster... ;)
Well, George was kidding--Gunbuster's solid cliche', but it's good cliche'...More old than classic, though.

And out of respect to Worst Animated Films, we should get one Anime for Beginners thread spun off of the last two pages into its own Outside the Lines category (but just one for beginners, as there are plenty of websites already)--
But suffice to say that if you're looking for "art" anime with some actual genre coherence, Death Note and xxxHolic have been effective and widely mainstreamed first-time arguments, for those with a phobia of cute girls in armor. (And no, the latter is not about porn addiction... :wink: )

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Re: OMG! I can't believe they found this!

Post by Whippet Angel » November 15th, 2010, 2:50 pm

'Tis a matter of opinion. Maybe it's just because most of us here are cinephiles, but there's something about the film that continues to draw us in. For me it's many things. The scenery, the visual effects, the over-exaggerated acting (I know it's necessary for a silent film but it always amuses me :P ), and just the overall epic feel of the film. It may not be the 1920's, but as Ben said the film still manages to retain its magic for many of us today.

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Cowboy Bebop to Beautiful Loser-Raj Ramayya Releases 3rd CD

Post by prthatrocks » December 3rd, 2010, 2:56 pm

FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE

Cowboy Bebop to Beautiful Loser - Raj Ramayya Releases 3rd CD of All Original Music

December 3, 2010 – Marin County, CA - Indo-Canadian Raj Ramayya may not be a household Rock Star name to a wide swath of the American populace, but to Japanese music fans and ardent stateside aficionados of Japanese Anime, he’s an admired, revered, and respected singer and songwriter, as well as film, television and video game soundtrack composer.

Raj’s gift for composition, melody and captivating hooks, combined with a voice so alluring his fans have exclaimed, “I want to marry it and have its babies,” makes him one of the most – if not only – in-demand music composer on the Tokyo music scene who resides in Marin.

Raj is the instantly recognizable vocalist on classic Anime theme songs, “Ask DNA,” from the legendary Cowboy Bebop, “Strangers” from Wolf’s Rain, and “Heroes Never Die” from the video game Biohazard, to name only a few. Other credits attributed to his ‘pipes’ include the Japanese hit single, “Strawberry Rainbow,” one of the fastest selling download singles on iTunes Japan, from dance duo, Studio Apartment. Raj also co-wrote and sings the theme song to the hit Japanese animated program, The World of Golden Eggs – which has sold over 1 million DVD copies in Japan – and he recently co-wrote and sung three theme songs for Little Charo, a smash Japanese children’s program, in where he also appears as a voice actor, as he’s also fluent in Japanese, for the lead character, Duma.

When not composing for the next “Big Thing in Japan” animated epic, television commercial jingles for corporate clients Sony, Honda, Nissan, Sapporo, Toshiba and Ashai to name only a few, or making personal appearances at numerous Anime festivals throughout the United States, where’s he’s greeted as Rock Star Royalty, Raj is one half of The Beautiful Losers, an all original San Francisco Bay Area-based Pop/Rock outfit, with longtime songwriting partner and guitarist, Brett Boyd.

Brett, also a respected and sought-after songwriter for Japanese multi-million seller punk rock icons like Ken Yokoyama and Hi Standard, and Raj formed The Beautiful Losers in Japan in 2001, and recently released their third full-length CD release, Four Corners of a Tiny Planet.

The Beautiful Losers, who will be performing throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in November and December, have relentlessly toured and performed in support of major acts, such as Coldplay, Indigo Girls, and Matt Nathanson, and enjoy high-profile song placements in MTV reality programs including Real Life Stories, Two-A-Days, and Parental Control.

And Raj guarantees, “Count on hearing some of your classic Anime theme song favorites.”

The Beautiful Losers’ Confirmed Fall and Winter 2010 Show Dates are below.

The Beautiful Losers Live:
• December 4 – Hotel Utah, San Francisco
• December 6 - SF MusicTech Summit - Raj Ramayya speaking engagement, "Music in Film, TV & Commercials"
• December 10 – Borders Books and Music – San Mateo
• December 11 – Borders Books and Music – Alameda
• December 17 – Union Room – Independent Distribution Collective’s Holiday Showcase
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Raj Ramayya and Brett Boyd - The Beautiful Losers
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Re: Cowboy Bebop to Beautiful Loser-Raj Ramayya Releases 3rd CD

Post by GeorgeC » December 13th, 2010, 12:51 pm

I've gotta admit -- I was ANNOYED and perplexed by this post.

This new 'poster' shows up unannounced and he's just plugging a friggin' CD!

This IS advertising and SPAMMING!

People complain about some of my posts but I'm not trying to sell anything or post adware.

C'mon guys, this is happening more often on the forum boards than ever...!

Please Ben, Rand, and James -- can we get rid of this crap?

Consider it a Birthday/X-Mas present for the members who AREN'T registering to try to sell stuff here or talk about Friends, American Idol results, or The Biggest Loser?

Pretty please! I'll even make a promise to stop non-animation related Trek talk for at least 3 months! :lol:


Seriously, this wave of new Spam is really annoying!

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Post by Ben » December 14th, 2010, 7:36 am

Actually, George, this was an item that was sent into us for posting in the News column that we never got to. Not strictly animation related per se, but when they posted here (it's just a press release, and I have already removed some other information) I didn't mind so much since it did have a valid anime connection.

So we didn't take it as spam, though it has to be said: you waited eleven days before bringing this up!? And with a little too much venom for, basically, what it is? ;)

But...I'm holding you to the Trek promise!

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Re: Manga & Anime THREAD

Post by droosan » September 27th, 2017, 12:11 am

Mazinger-Z is back .. in Mazinger-Z Infinity..!



Coming to theaters in Japan in January 2018 .. and, presumably, to (japanese) Blu-ray & DVD by mid-Spring.

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Re: Manga & Anime THREAD

Post by Ben » September 27th, 2017, 2:53 am

Not really my cup of tea, but impressive visuals in there for sure. :)

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Re: Manga & Anime THREAD

Post by droosan » September 27th, 2017, 5:34 pm

Granted .. Mazinger-Z is a bit of an acquired taste; the original TV show is rather infamous for its cheap 're-used' animation, repetitive 'fight-of-the-week' stories & over-the-top cheesiness.

I saw bits & pieces of the show when I was a kid (my father was stationed in Japan while in the USAF), and none of that bothered me back then, at all; the fact that it was in japanese didn't even matter .. it was giant robots fighting each other!! :D I bought the complete TV series on DVD (the set in the linked review, above) about a year ago, though .. and found that it's a tough series to 'binge-watch', because each episode really is just the same story, over & over.

Mazinger-Z Infinity seems it will tackle that issue head-on, by going the Touchstone Dick Tracy route: having Mazinger-Z battle all the villains, in one movie..! :mrgreen:

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Re: Manga & Anime THREAD

Post by droosan » September 16th, 2021, 6:38 am

The very first anime for which I paid full import price (nearly US$100 .. in 1987 .. on VHS, in japanese -- with no subtitles) was Project A-ko -- a nutty (and slightly smutty! :twisted: ) comedy which sent-up pretty much every possible trope in 1980s anime. It was an instant favorite. :)

A few years later, I paid nearly the same price to 'upgrade' to the japanese Laserdisc release, and -- soon after -- bought Project A-ko again on VHS & Laserdisc when it was released to the North American market with subtitles, and a (rather awful, IMO) english dub.

When the DVD format came along, Project A-ko was among the earliest stateside releases .. but it was obviously simply the Laserdisc master, ported over to that format.

It was around that time that I learned that the original 35mm film of Project A-ko was considered a 'lost' film in Japan; due partly to the studio which created it no longer existing, and the film changing hands with multiple media companies over the ensuing years. The Laserdisc master was the sole remaining source for creating home video copies of the movie. :?

Interestingly, Project A-ko remains unreleased on DVD, in Japan. The entire property seems somewhat 'forgotten', there. :|

Diskotek Media stepped up (as they so often do) to create a 'remastered collector's edition' of Project A-ko -- and its three sequels (each of lesser, but still entertaining, quality) -- in 2011 .. and actually did a quite remarkable job of minimizing the softness and fuzziness seen in the earlier DVD release .. but it was apparent an 'HD' Blu-ray-quality remaster was off the table. Even so -- just last year -- Diskotek announced that they were going to attempt it, using a complex software algorithm to 'upres' the video.

But -- early this year -- an original 35mm print of Project A-ko was found in a film developer laboratory's vault, in Japan! :D



Diskotek Media immediately scrapped their 'upres' efforts, and have been hard at work on a proper mastering direct from the film source, ever since. They've now set a Blu-ray release for December 21, 2021.
.
ProjectA-koPerfectEditionBD.jpg
ProjectA-koPerfectEditionBD.jpg (176.12 KiB) Viewed 5851 times
.
Heh. 'Perfect Edition'.

That was what the deluxe japanese Laserdisc set that I'd purchased in 1990 was called. :mrgreen:

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Re: Manga & Anime THREAD

Post by Ben » September 16th, 2021, 11:32 am

That’s a neat designation, though, for those couple of reasons. I like that!

Those crazy Japanese…this looks nuts! I’m glad fans will finally get to own it in "perfect" condition! :)

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Re: Manga & Anime THREAD

Post by Daniel » September 16th, 2021, 2:51 pm

I was pretty confident I had seen this on SciFi years ago and the comments on that page confirmed it! Wow, talk about nostalgic.

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Re: Manga & Anime THREAD

Post by EricJ » September 16th, 2021, 6:21 pm

droosan wrote:
September 16th, 2021, 6:38 am
The very first anime for which I paid full import price (nearly US$100 .. in 1987 .. on VHS, in japanese -- with no subtitles) was Project A-ko -- a nutty (and slightly smutty! :twisted: ) comedy which sent-up pretty much every possible trope in 1980s anime. It was an instant favorite. :)
It took some fans a while, back in the late 80's, to find out that you DID NOT buy Japanese VHS--
You could play it, because it was NTSC, but the Japanese VHS market was tied up by the rentals, at "rental prices", while everything you wanted was on laserdisc.
And since there were less than a handful of laser stores in the US, you bought most of your discs on import catalogs, where they were affordable.

(Or, at comic-conventions, where there was always the one table of rare foreign laser-bootlegs on VHS tape, because laserdisc wasn't Macrovision anticopy-coded. :mrgreen: )
But -- early this year -- an original 35mm print of Project A-ko was found in a film developer laboratory's vault, in Japan! :D
This is MAJOR film restoration. This is the anime equivalent of reconstructing Sunset Boulevard, or discovering the lost reel of The Magnificent Ambersons.
Only sillier, with the Fist of the North Star guy in a schoolgirl uniform: :lol:


Discotek's also reportedly gotten their hands on all five fifteen-years-out-of-print Urusei Yatsura movies (of which only #2, "Beautiful Dreamer" was available to 90's Sci-Fi Channel viewers),

and should be out later on Blu, along with the complete Kodocha, dubbed and un-dubbed, on SD-Blu.

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