Topic: The State of TV: Drawn Edition

[MaryJane]

I couldn't fit it into the title, but to streamline this thread, I suggest that it only be about action anime and cartoons like Escaflowne and Justice League Unlimited.


I dropped out of the Anime game awhile ago after being saturated in things FullMetal Alchemist, Naruto, Inuyasha, the various Gundam, Gantz, Fate Stay Night, and many other things I cannot remember. I think I've mentioned before that my brother speaks Japanese, and to hone his skill he sometimes translates manga, and used to introduce me to a lot of anime and manga. With all that, and the fact that I liked close to 80% of the anime he offered me (and like 2% of the manga lol), I still got bored of it. Perhaps it was just too much, but perhaps I started noticing a repetition of ideas. So for the Anime part of things, this is more of an inquisitive thread; what's happening with Anime nowadays? Is there any reason I should jump back in, or is it more of the same reluctant, kind-hearted, hero with amazing super powers that has no chance of being defeated, yet is anyway, then finds some new way to win?


As for action (American) cartoons, we're still a long way from the glory days of Saturday morning cartoons with G.I Joe, Transformers, Masters of the Universe, X-Men, Spider-Man, Centurions, Thundercats, He-Man, Care Bears, and another one that for the life of me I can't remember but it was about these blue people that were created by humans to be a labor force, then they rose against the humans, beat them back to the ends of the solar system, and the humans were mounting a resistance to take their planets back and free the enslaved humans. But, in today's day, there have been some good cartoons like Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. There were some good ones not long like Justice League Unlimited and Batman Beyond. But the adult cartoon still seems to be hard for American's to grasp, and this genre is stifled by being geared toward children. There have been some good and some terrible cartoon movies recently that are released straight to DVD, but they are so hit and miss it's hard to say they're good for the genre. Is something better than nothing?


So anyway, are their any good shows I'm missing? Can American adults ever embrace cartoons made for their age group that aren't comedic like the Japanese do? What about more filler series like Star Wars: The Clone Wars for big Hollywood sequels, would that work?

[Stogi]

The last anime I watched was Death Note. Check it out if you haven't seen it. It's addictingly awesome (and hilarious absurd at times). So far, I haven't seen or heard of anything as interesting. I know I've asked this before, but if you've seen it, do you know of any shows like it? Maybe your brother would know?

I like that cat and mouse genre where the mouse is especially intelligent.

[broodwars]

There are a few new (to us, anyway) anime series worth checking out that buck the trend a little bit like Eden of the East (and I've heard good things about some shows just airing in Japan right now), but for the most part anime is still entrenched in moe and the crap you complained about.  Even Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (one of the better shows in recent years) is bogged down in the same kind of shonen jump crap that kills shows like Bleach and Naruto for me.

There is some promising stuff coming up in the coming year, such as the sequel series to Avatar: the Last Airbender; Ultimate Spider-Man; possibly another season of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Warriors; possibly the new Thundercats series; the next season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars; and possibly the new Transformers series (I haven't seen it).

[BlackNMild2k1]

How do you not mention Batman: The Animated Series?
It's only of if not the best animated cartoon of the 90's


Then there were other good ones from the Disney Afternoon Animation Block back in the early 90's like;
Chip N Dales Rescue Rangers, Tale Spin, Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck

Nickelodeon had some decent cartoons back in the late 80's

and as far as Adult cartoons, I think an honorable mention needs to be handed out for Venture Bros. & Archer

Anime is not something I've really watched over the last decade since i got bored with it, but there is a new X-Men Anime that just started in Japan last week. Only 1 episode so far, so I can't really say much on it.

[Stogi]

I noticed he didn't TMNT either, but I think those are just too obvious to list.

[BlackNMild2k1]

The State of T[dot]V[dot]: Animation Edition
can a mod make it happen please. the messed up abbreviation has been driving me nuts since the first thread.

[Dasmos]

Anybody hasn't seen it needs to watch Adventure Time, the best cartoon to come out for a long time. The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack is also highly entertaining.

[Oblivion]

On the American Animation side of things, I can offer Avatar: The Last Airbender, anything Genny Tar-whatshisface has made (Samurai Jack, Star Wars Clone Wars, Symbiotic Titan, etc), and I used to enjoy Invader Zim.

On the Anime side of things, I can only offer Cowboy Bebop. Nuff said.

And with the best of both worlds, I can offer Teen Titans. A nice mix of anime and american cartoons.

[ShyGuy]

Batman Brave and the Bold is good, and I've heard positive things about Young Justice

[MaryJane]

So, nothing good on the Anime front? At the very least it does seem that American cartoons are picking up, and that is a good sign, but I wonder if there's any serious chance of expansion or will it remain only at the superhero/Jedi level.

Also, there are a lot of cartoons I didn't mention because I got tired of trying to remember after I couldn't remember that cartoon about the blue slave human clones that take over the planets, which I obviously still can't remember and Google isn't helping.

And as for Archer, it's a comedy, I mentioned how comedies are always successful. I was thinking about doing a comedy edition to this, but comedy is always great, even though a lot of things are recycled, obvious, and generic, there's still a ton of original comedy because things based off of real life will always evolve, like Modern Family. Archer is great, even though there were a couple of completely horrible episodes.

[Stogi]

Dude, seriously. Watch Death Note. It's the only anime other than Cowboy Bebop that I've actually liked enough to watch till it's conclusion.

[oohhboy]

Anime has been pretty weak as of late. there just hasn't been any good new stuff to be had. The newest item I have is Slayers Evolution/Revolution and looking to get Evanglion 2.22. If you want to look at the back catalog, then there is lots to be had otherwise the desert that is Sci-fi extents to here.

[Morari]

The first Death Note live action film is well worth the watch as well. The sequel is only worth watching if you enjoy the first film. I'd advice that no one watch that terrible L: Saves the World spin-off however.

[MaryJane]

I'll check out Death Note, and I'll ask my brother about if there's anything similar as soon as I find my phone... I'm a little too 'animated' myself right now to go looking for it.

[ShyGuy]

Speaking of anime, my cousin turned me on to a show called Baccano. I'm not big on a lot of anime, but this one is pretty good. Disjointed story telling of gangsters, thieves, killers and highlanders crossing paths set in the 1930s.

[broodwars]

Speaking of anime, my cousin turned me on to a show called Baccano. I'm not big on a lot of anime, but this one is pretty good. Disjointed story telling of gangsters, thieves, killers and highlanders crossing paths set in the 1930s.

Yeah, I tried to get into that show, but I couldn't get past the first episode despite some genuinely funny lines ("How about him?  He looks main character-ish?").  The storytelling was just too disjointed and I really didn't find myself caring about what was going on.

[MaryJane]

@Unagi

My brother said there's nothing else quite like Death Note that he's come across, but some good ones in the genre are: Detective Conan, Nougami Neuro,
and, Crystal Blaze. He'll also be giving me his DVDs of Death Note, so I'll check that out this weekend or Monday.

[MaryJane]

In honor of Earth Day, Boomerang is having a Captain Planet marathon. Also, that show I've been trying to think of is Exo-Squad. One of my favorites.

[Morari]

HEART!