in the shell

ghst.01 wrote: On an added note, anyone else tired of this cliche move where the ninjas use stances, or say " Ha " way before they even strike something?

I'm pretty sure that anyone who'd make a scene like that today would do it for camp value, alone. I, at least, would laugh at scene like that before I'd even taught about getting annoyed. Maybe it's because I've never seen an American movie involving ninjas...

Pokes off-topic people...

This is supposed to be a thread about your favorite classic anime. Can we try to keep this on track PLEASE!

marto_motoko wrote:As for evangelion, I bought it, watched it, and was left with one remark at the movie's Evangelion finalle- The end of evangelion:
".....So...what was the big fuss about?..what's so special?"

While indeed, seeming very deep, in my opinion there's only one phylosophy behind it - Shinji needs a therapist because whacking off on top of an unconcious friend is never a yes, Asuka needed a slap of reality due to her expanded personality, and Rei....needs to get the vagina off of her forehead (For those who've seen the End of Evangelion, you'd know what I'm talking about)

Series was much better than the movies, but that's simply my opinion, even though I have every evangelion disk, wether it be director's cut, or movies.

( Evangelion fans will have my neck for this, I bet)

I thought that the End of Evangelion was really cool, it's my favorite part of the Evangelion saga. Death & Rebirth is another story. Its basically just a rehash of the series followed by the first fifteen minutes of the End of Evangelion. It does help to make sense of some aspects of the series and it has some background information on the second impact, but that's about all.

What I think about Evangelion as a whole is that its not about all those pseudo relegious images, they are just the trappings. What it is really about is being true to one's self, becoming an adult, our relationships with those around us, and, most importantly, free will. Ultimatly, in the End of Evangelion, Shinji defies the predetermined events of Seele and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the agenda of his father, and chooses to allow those who wish to exist as individuals to do so.

I've been watching Evangelion lately, (up to episode 16) and I'm enjoying it a lot. (as annoying as Asuka is)

I really don't get the (well, it ended up that way) over-sexualization of Rei and Asuka. It's disturbing. The whole show has little bits of things like that laced in and I think it kind of degrades it. If you're going to put sexual content in a show, don't make it degrading...

Well the show is also about adolescents going through that part of their lives and their way of dealing with it. Personally, I don't see how you can tell a story about adolescence and not mention sexual awakening. I don't see why it's such a big deal.

Why are Rei and Asuka promoted in a sexual fashion through Eva merchandising. How can you even ask the question? Because it works. That's how the business is. Many respond to that kind of promotion. The nudity in Gits 1 is not quite sexual and remains in fact very cold. But it was used on all posters as a means of catching the public's attention. The sexual content in Eva, if my memory serves me right, was quite tame and rarely out of context, except when used as comic relief, which is common in anime. But "sexy Rei and Asuka" are inveitable by-products. Let's not mix up marketing and artwork.

I'd consider it disturbing, pervy and untoward if Rei and Asuka were real people who didn't appreciate being openly lusted after by men aged anywhere from 18 to 48. But since they're just two fictional characters who've apparently been objectified by their merchandisers I'm just happy that people get something out of them. Just like with media violence and real violence there's a world of difference between an anime teenager and a real teenager. Never watched Evangelion though. Giant robots just isn't my thing.

There are plenty of people, who've lusted after Emma Watson since she first time played a part in Harry Potter movie. I think that's much more disturbing than lust for any anime characters - that is, agreed with Gillsing.

Evangelion isn't your typical giant robot show, though - at least for now, Eva is the only one that's managed to get me interested - that's largely because the giant robots aren't central to the show - after the starting episodes, they appear only when the plot demands. Eva uses the clichés of the genre creatively and takes them to new directions.
I was fascinated by the fact, that the originally comical quirks of the characters, such as Asuka's violence or Misato's drunken behaviour would become tragic elements in the course of the series. And the main character wouldn't grow up to be a hero, but instead fall even deeper to the pit of self-loathing. The TV-series rarely manage to surprise me, but Evangelion did just that - despite of having heard a million spoilers before watching it.

When I was younger (15 and 16) I used to think that Rei looked pretty cute in her plug suit, but I have since outgrown that. I still like her as a character in that she developed from being a tool of Gendo and Nerv to being more of a real human being. In the End of Evangelion she ultimatly defies Gendo by taking Adam, with Gendo's arm still attatched, and merges with Lilith by herself (once again the theme of free will).

i just rented GUNDRESS with character designs by Masamune Shirow...but that was all that the show had going for it. GUNDRESS used various "landmates" like in Appleseed, and even had cyberization like in GitS, but the story was boring and the animation was poor. I just got really bored. Pretty much anime's version of B-movie. Released by Anime Works/ Media Blasters.

Thanks for the warning then!

I gotta say.. I LOVE Ninja Scroll. And yes, at first I was only intrigued at first by the whole Ninja part of it. And it's not even that sexually explicit to me. I was even surprised to hear someone offended by it. But that's just in comparison to hentai that I've seen which can be REALLY bad.
But after watching a bunch of times, on the bone and not, I was reminded of a Bukowski line which goes something like, "Everything is a trap. The trick is to know that it is."
And so as Jubei goes through all these Demons (who are masters of all types of techniques), you can see how one can become entrapped into your own indulgences if you are not strong willed or aware of yourself. I'm also reminded of the scenes in Akira's 7 Samurai where the head ronin is trying to find seen good samurai by putting them through a test. He'd invite one into the hut while an apprentice samurai stood by the door (out of sight) ready to ambush. The good samurais would either be able to avoid and make a counter attack, or be able to already sense the danger before he even got to the door.
So I'd always admired that type of awareness, skill, mastery etc.. One of my favorite scenes is where Tessai is about to rape Kagero only to find Jubei in the abandoned hut. So Tessai does his thing and turns into the Japanese Thing. And what's the first thing Jubei says? He says, "I've been thinking about your body. It seems that your body can't be as hard as rock all over, now can it?" And then he gives Tessai a clean shot to the left eye. I'm like damn, this dude is a straight up logician. I would have never thought to do some shit like that.
Even though there were way better fight scenes that the last one, it's still a great movie.

Well, do you know who doesn't like Ninja Scroll? Sylphi. She'll probably give you an earful once she sees your post.

lol. The post was partly for Sylphi haing read it's not Sylphi's cup of tea. I thought I'd add sime balance into the mix. But to add to my list: Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Beepop are too ill. Hiphop, Jazz, Anime. What more could you ask for?

Some stuff that moved me, at various points:

1. BATTLESHIP YAMATO, a.k.a. STAR BLAZERS: The first anime that rocked my world. I used to come home from school, as giddy as a kid on Christmas.

2. The Captain Harlock franchise, especially ARCADIA OF MY YOUTH. More Leiji Matsumoto. ARCADIA, for all its flaws, haunts me.

3. ROBOT CARNIVAL/ NEO-TOKYO. Good anthology flicks.

4. HAIBANE RENMEI. I almost wept.

5. SERIAL EXPERIMENTS: LAIN. "No matter where you go, everyone is connected."

6. THE PLACE PROMISED IN OUR EARLY DAYS. An improvement on VOICES OF A DISTANT STAR, and to me, a more powerful work.

7. A TREE OF PALME. It's like Pinnochio, only it's not...

8. ROUJIN Z. It feels good till you you realize: What you thought was a nice morphine drip of entertainment was in fact a machine dosing you with the truth about ageism. Proof that old people and nursing students kick butt, too. A fave revenge fantasy, way cooler than, say, DIRTY HARRY or I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. Sweeter than those movies, too. Give me an old man in a mech trying to get to the beach any day...

9. CAT SOUP. Two cats go to weird and bad places to recover a stolen soul. I've had nightmares like this...

10. NOW AND THEN, HERE AND THERE. One of the most underappreciated and emotionally painful series of all time.

11. NOIR. What ALIAS could've been...

12. GUNSLINGER GIRL. Like NOIR in many ways, only more depressing.