h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My favorite anime is one called Rurouni Kenshin. I also love the manga. No English version of the manga has been released, but there is a french version called Kenshin, le vagobond.

Kenshin is set in the Meiji era of Japan. During the late 1800's there was a civil war in Japan where the samurai government was overthrown and a modern state was created. The time after this was a time of great change in Japan. A change from a feudal state with samurai welding swords, sort of like the middle ages, to a modern age of trains and battleships.

The main character, Himura Kenshin, was a famous sword fighter and assassin. After the war, her repented killing so many people and became a wandering swordsman who helps the weak. The show now has episodes that cover his entire life.

So what is your favorite anime?

Here is a breakdown of Kenshin anime shows.

Samurai X OVA's Trust and Betrayal
-An incredibly beautiful and violent work about Kenshin's youth as an assassin and how he got his cross shaped scar.

Rurouni Kenshin TV series
- A funny and serious show about Kenshin the wanderer after he decides to move in with an orphaned Kendo instructor. The height of the show is the famous Kyoto Arc where Kenshin leaves Tokyo for Kyoto in order to fight another former assassin who is threatening the Government. He goes back to his old instructor and learns the ultimate technique so that he can keep from reverting into a cold-blooded assassin again.

Samurai X movie Requiem for the Ishin Shi Shi
- Set just after the series on a sightseeing trip, Kenshin confronts the relative of a swordsman that he killed.

Rurouni Kenshin New OVA
- Deals with Kenshin's last days and the fate of his wife and son.

Hey guys,

I just recently found the ADV UK web site. They are celebrating their tenth anniversary. They have announced that in August they will release the first of the Samurai X movies for UK release.

I can't go on enough about the quality of these OVAs. I just adore them, even though I usually don't like titles with blood. I really recommend this title to mature viewers when it comes out.

:D

Info is from
advfilms co
and they are in the UK

^o^

I've seen the title about several times, and never realised that something as crassly titled as 'Samurai X' could be RK in disguise, as I've always heard such good things about RK!

I shall have to look into it.

Yes,

A lot of fans were furious about the name change to Samurai X. Not only does it bear no relation to the story, it is also inaccurate.

Kenshin was NOT a samurai. The Samurai were the landed noble warriors of the old Tokugawa era. Kenshin was on the other side of the battle and he was a commoner, definitely NOT a samurai.

Just a sensational marketing ploy to attract people to a title that was considered too obscure for a foreign audience.

Well, such is the hazard of selling in an overseas market.
I remember when Mononke was first muted under the title 'Phantom Princess.'
You hear the otaku's howls of dismay on Pluto, I'd guess.

Oh,

I just wanted to tell you, I got to see Watsuke Nobohiro this weekend!
He was at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California.

Watsuke Nobohiro is the creator of Rurouni Kenshin. It was really cool to hear what he thought about things. There was a question session, and then he took photographs with cosplayers (People who dress up in costumes to look like anime characters), and then he signed signatures.

Sadly, I didn't get a signature, but it was still cool to see a manga artist. They usually keep them locked up in little rooms I hear. He He.

Their work schedule is such that keeping them locked up in little rooms is the only way to ensure that anything gets done.

Naoka Takeuchi's pieces in the Sailor Moon series about the life of a manga artist are quite illuminating on the subject.

I have a new title for you.

Revolutionary girl Utena

Has anyone seen this title?
This is an older work. In the US, only the first 13 episodes and the movie have been released, but the TV series lasted 39 episodes. This is a very surrealistic work with an excellent rhythm. I have just begun to get my hand on some fan subs of the later parts of this series, and it is weird!

The show is about a girl named Utena who after being orphaned by her parents met a young "prince" who told her to always keep her noble spirit. He also gave her a ring with a rose seal that he said would lead her to him one day. The girl decided that she didn't want to be a princess. She wanted to be a prince, just like the "prince" who saved her. The show starts when she starts to attend a special academy where there are others who wear the rose seal ring. Apparently having a ring makes her eligible to have sword duels for the posession of a girl called the rose bride. The rose bride is a girl named Anthy who although sweet is incredibly obedient. Utena fights and becomes the owner of the Rose Bride. She tries to get Anthy to overcome her extreme shyness and become more like a normal girl.

The show is very surrealistic. The dueling arena is a stage suspended above a forest underneath a upside down rotating castle. The owner of the bride gets the dueling sword from her by pulling it out of her chest. The duels involve cutting a rose off of the chest of the opponent. The duelists who are members of the student council get their instructions from a mysterious character called, "the end of the world". And they fight to gain the power of the Rose Bride which will one day allow them to "revolutionize the world".

There is also a movie recently released that is also extremely weird. The movie is much more sexually oriented and talks about Utena and Anthy forming a lesbian relationship and trying to come to terms with reality and escape from the fantasy world that they live in.

The show is much less obviously sexual, but as the show goes on, it gets darker and darker and betrayal and dark passions become a theme, especially when the black rose society shows up.

I certainly recommend this series for adults, as I recently chatted with a 12 year old who watched it and said that it really tramatized her because she really identified with Utena, but the ending is not a Disney ending if you know what I mean.

Anyway, if you are adventurous and can get your hands on it, I recommend this series.

I the manga of Utena, but have only been able to see dis-jointed parts of the anime at various conventions. It struck me as very pretty and like, which is no bad thing.

My personal favourite anime, not available in UK yet on dvd but it should be soon, is the wonderful Giant-Robo. I the epic feel and even the cheesy dub is perfect for it with silly accents galore.
A top notch adventure story as well as being an interesting philosophical piece on the meaning and interpretation of history, I can't wait to be able to buy it again!

Of the titles available on the UK market atm, I'd have to say Macross II and Macross Plus are probably the best of the rest, apart from the stuff like Akira and Mononoke. Ghost in the Shell is nice and cyberpunky, but I wish they'd get their fingers out with Patlabor and Honnimaese, which are still unavailable on DVD.

My fave anime is Cowboy Bebop, my second fave Petshop of Horrors.

Petshop is about a mysterious shop in Chinatown, run by an androgynous Chinese man known as Count D. The pets he sells are mythical creatures such as mermaids, kirins, and basilisks.

Claiming only to sell "love, dreams and hope", he gives people what they most desire... unfortunately, it almost always kills them. This is where Leon Orcot comes in: a young American hotshot detective, whose job it is to find out why and D's pets kill people.

But the pets, and their owners, are definitely not the most important part of this series. While the anime (4 eps) may focus on Leon and his investigations, the manga (ten volumes which I hope to buy someday) is mostly about the relationship between D and Leon.

Yup, you heard me right; there's yaoi in this! D, who pretty much embodies homosexuality, is constantly trying to seduce Leon. Our detective, however, has always believed to be straight, and is thouroughly confused when he discovers his feelings for the gorgeous Count.

To tell more would be to spoil the plot... but if you like horror, mystery and yaoi, you'll definitely love Petshop!

Kenshin is among my favourites as are the following.

Cowby Bebop, Martian Successor Nadesico, Evangelion, Trigun.

Cowboy Bebop mixes American OldWest themes with a good scifi background and a killer soundtrack

MSN is the only self aware anime that also contains an anime that the main characters either hate or love

Evangelion is the classic Mecha series that everyone should watch

Trigun also has OldWest themes with one of the funniest lines I have ever heard in all anime "Yes I am that MAN!" (must be seen in context)



Oh, and HI, just happened upon this place from Blues Shark's homespace./

Marv

I love EVA to bits (where are the movies, Manga Video? ), but I don't think I'd recommend it for general consumption, especially not to beginners. Too many sub-texts and presumptions made that you know about anime alrerady to be ideal for newbies.

For anime newbies, I'd think Macross Plus would be the best Mecha series, although Macross 7 is also pretty good, but not available in the UK.

I also Kishin Heidan, but not only is it no longer available in the UK, I don't think it's good for beginners.

ADV have just realeased End of Evangelion and Death and Rebirth here in the US on dvd. As of yet I have not bought either, but that is only a matter of time.

I wish that they would hurry up and translate the Nadesico movie so I can get a dubbed version, yes I am one of those that prefers not to read his Anime.

USManga put out the OVA's not ADV...

We were told 'by the end of september ' for 'end and 'death'.

Those who laughed knowingly at that announcement were right, I think.

I guess that End was released last Tuesday here as one of my friends has it allready. Death was out last month or so. Are the release dates so much slower in the UK?

Yup, it's a much smaller market.
The last time I heard figures mentioned, Manga Video reckoned a good seller was a tape that sold 2,000 copies over 2 years. DVD is a smaller market still. Manga are slowly releasing everything on their catalogue, ADV have most of theirs already out. Pioneer abandoned the UK market altogether about four years ago after trying really hard to break the market with mass market titles like Tenchi. Disney didn't even give us the benefit of releasing Mononoke in the cinema's here as they 'found no evidence of a market for the product'. It went straight to video.

Slowly but surely, I think the market is dying in this country as a vicious circle of 'nobody buys it' and 'we don't buy it because we can't find it' slowly pulls it it down the plug-hole.

It is a huge market in the US, at least on DVD. Lot's more places have the DVD's than ever did have the VHS tapes. If you have a region free player, I would recommend getting the US titles on disc.