So the thinpacks they fixed (put the extras back in) so far are:
The only one I already own is Angelic Layer. And my kids (primary viewing audience) don't care about the extras. So, I won't be double dipping on that.

Oh how I hope they re-release Azumanga Daioh with extras. I will double dip on that series. (Well not really double dip as I will immediatly sell off my old collection.)

Freedom Box Set and Gunbuster vs. Diebuster Blu-ray sets worldwide in November.

More info here...
http://www.bandaivisual.co.jp/e/ir/p...pr080707-e.pdf

Until they drop their prices in half, no more than maybe a few hundred hardcore fans in the USA will pick them up. You would think they would have figured that out after having to merge Bandai Visual USA into Bandai Entertainment (due to insufficient sales I would guess).

So this was my 2nd foray into Anime having already seen and enjoyed "Appleseed: Ex Machina". that was very good. action packed, liked the characters, then last night i saw the original.

i was blown away. i got into it right from the start. the characters, the character development, the action, and boy did this look gorgeous. i actually understood everything, loved Deunan's back story, the little of Briareos (but am i mistaken and they purposely didn't let us see his face when he was full human? if so, why?).

i just loved everything about this one. i even got emotional, visibly emotional at the right scenes.

it really took me by surprised and can't believe i waited so long to see it. love that i have the SteelBook with Briareos even more now.

wow! just wow!

so with that said...what else is there? i want Anime that i can easily get that are just as good and epic as "Appleseed". same feel, easy to follow story, great characters and explosive action. i know the "Ghost in the Shell" series is popular. are they similar? i want to be blown away again, i want to be moved again...

please give me some recommendations that are similar to the incredible "Appurushîdo"!!!!!!!!!!!

The link for Anime Talk on the front page is not linking to the current article. Just thought you'd like to know.

Ghost in the Shell is an excellent series that shares a lot thematically with Appleseed (the source manga for GitS and Appleseed were written by the same author). But I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for -- the storylines in both the TV series and the movies are complex, and the movies have an extremely deliberate and plodding pace. The first season of the TV series might be worth a try, since there's a lot of good action sequences and it doesn't get too crazy political until the second season. (The movies and TV series can be watched seperately since they have independent, mutually-exclusive timelines.)

I'd give Cowboy Bebop a shot first, since it fits all of your criteria. You can pick up the movie for pretty cheap nowadays, so give that a spin and then pick up the whole TV series if you liked what you saw.

Akira is another excellent action film, though it suffers a little bit from trying to cram too much storyline into a 2-hour runtime. It's technically out-of-print in the U.S. right now, but a lot of online retailers have leftover stock.

Battle Angel could also be worth a look. It's been brought back in print for a very limited run, so if it sounds interesting you should probably grab it now.

John has fixed this now.

i am not qualified to give you any suggestions, but if you loved appleseed, im sure youd appreciate these action figures from hot toys:

Scott ... be sure to check out Vexille. The visual attributes are very similar to the Appleseed films. In my opinion the story itself is more engaging than Ex Machina, and on par with the first. The science fiction elements of the primary plot are done very well and intriguing.

Ghost in the Shell SAC and 2nd Gig are phenomenal series and both are a must see - at least as a rental. The series essentially runs as a crime/political thriller dealing with future technological themes and corruption.

thanks for the suggestions guys.

which are the "Ghost in the Shell" full-length movies? "Soild State Society"? is that any good?
and what's "Hellsing" all about?

Does anyone know anything about this new "Innocence" release? A new transfer? Extras? Does it include the "music videos" perhaps?

The Ghost in the Shell movies are called just Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, respectively.

I actually forgot about Solid State Society. It's part of the TV series continuity and takes place after the events of the second TV season -- think of it as the equivalent of what Serenity was to the TV show Firefly. If you like the TV series, you'll also like Solid State Society.

again... me no anime freak... maybe not helpful...

but check out hellsing. its about vampires and not similar to ghost in the shell or appleseed, but if you like em, your timing couldnt be better as all three oop volumes and the newest 4th volume is being released soon.

imho, watch ghost in the shell in its originally released order, starting with the movie. next would be the gits: innocence. if it interests you, you have 2 tv seasons worth of gits: standalone complex. most people really like the series, but some do not.

Ghost in the Shell (1995)
This is the original movie. Classic.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)
This is the follow-up movie. Considered inferior to the first by most.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man (2005)
Season 1 of the TV series summed up as a 140 minute movie. Very Good.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Individual Eleven (2005)
Season 2 of the TV series summed up as a 163 minute movie. Very Good.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society (2006)
Follow-up movie to the 2 TV seasons. Very Good.

I would recommend you go ahead and watch all five, preferably in order.

I don't know much about this R2J release. But Bandai Entertainment will be dubbing Innocence. It's tentatively scheduled for 12/2/08 for (DVD, DVD SE, Blu-ray). More details should come out as December creeps closer.

I've just started watching anime series/movies last year and I've been catching up lot.

One thing I have noticed there are quite few good adult (I don't mean porn) anime series/movies. I'll list my favorite adult animes:

Black Lagoon (series) - almost similar with Cowboy Bebop, but on boat.

Cowboy Bebop (series) - great bounty hunter series. Only disappointed that the series ended too quickly.

Full Metal Panic! (series) - great series with large robot. A solider was placed to protect high school girl from enemy.

Fullmetal Alchemist (series) - A must watch series. I considered it top of anime list. It's about two brothers trying to bring their mother back alive, but they paid steep price for that. They went on adventure to seek a way to get one of brother's body back.

Gunslinger Girls (series) - I enjoyed that series very much. It focus mostly on assassination and how they dealt with young girls with cyborg implants.

Death Notes (series) - I'm currently watching it, it's great series so far.

Tokyo Godfathers (movie) - I thought it's very good movie. Not mafia related as I originally thought. It focus on bums' adventures with lost child.

Egro Proxy (series) - Great series, but some eposides are dull. It has beautiful art.

Madlax (series) - I really enjoyed that series. It's about one country at war and it focus on two women (one adult and one high school girl) to discover the truth about the book (that caused war).

Scrapped Princess (series) - Nice series. It focus mostly on a young girl that they believed when she turns 16 the world will end.

Twelves Kingdoms (series) - Great series. It's about a high school girl that was supposed to be queen of one kingdom in different world. A nearby kingdom that wanted to control that land, sent to kill her.

The Last Exile (series) - great series. It focus on two young kids that set a goal to reach higher place that their dads failed to reach. I really wanted to say more, but I don't want to spoil it.

Beserek (series) - oldie, but good series. It focus on lone swordman who rather to be a wanderer than being involved with any alliance - till he met a group of mercenaries with a skillful leader and he joined them.

Chrono Crusade (series) - very good series. It's about a religion girl (nun) going on mission against monsters and search for her brother that disappeared.

Millennium Actress (movie) - Good movie. Focus on actress through her lifetime.

Kurogane Communication (series) - I'll admit that it's good series. It's about a girl on Earth - she thought she's only human on Earth. When she discovered a mysterious sound, she and her robot friends went after the sound. And discover the mystery of human people disappeared.

Chobits - one of my favorite series. A farmer guy moved into city for college and wanted to own a personal robot, but cannot afford it. He found one in trash and bought her back alive. So many comedy in there.

Samuari X (movie) - I got to say it's a good movie. I haven't seen the series "Rurouni Kenshin" which is very popular and it contains 22-fucking-discs!! I really enjoyed the movie very much and I know I should watch the series first (it's on my Netflix list).

Ghost in the Shell (series and movie) - it's good series. You will need to try to follow up what's going on. I almost got lost in first SAC and I re-watched it.

I would suggest watch Cowboy Bebop first then maybe you can go on to Fullmetal Alchemist and/or any of those above.

i don't want to get too heavily involved, was just looking to pick up maybe one or two others and then maybe go from there.

"Hellsing" intrigues me as i love vampires/zombies and well, gory fun and this looks to fit the bill. i know this is a series though and is it true that Vol. 1 is only 50 minutes? that seems rather short.

are these new re-releases on 9/16 gonna have anything different than the previously released SteelBooks? and see the only way to get the Ultimate is with the figure and that is $45. plus, i would want to crack it open and watch and not keep it around for collection value.

**edit** just looked up the specs for "Hellsing"...these volumes are non-anamorphic and have little to no extras with 3-4 eps per release? seems poor release, no?

i didn't mean i was looking for exactly "Appleseed" meaning sci-fi genre, but wanted to be blown away in the same capacity with similar feeling anime if that makes sense.

i saw the first "Ghost in the Shell" movie at FYE. it had a silver slipcase, was pretty heavy and thought it might be a SteelBook, but from the top didn't seem like it. plus, it was $29.99 and thought that maybe too costly for a tryout.

No problem. I was looking for an excuse to take everything out of my chest. Those animes I mentioned above isn't only aim at you, but to anyone who is new to anime.

thats a fantastic sum up for anime noobs like myself mchawkson!

hellsing is short - too short if you like it and even too short that if you dont like it, you may feel ripped off that it was so short!

you can prolly find the regular editions pretty cheap just for viewing. then if you like em, buy the steelbook limited editions with the cool toys. i know you like toys scott

Thanks, hindolio.

I do have more on my list, but those I mentioned above are more aim for mature viewers. I will try to add few more that are for any age.

yeah, short def. does not equate to epic. i may rent GitS and see where we are.

You are confusing the original Hellsing series with the reimaging of Hellsing Ultimate OVA. The original Hellsing series is 13 episodes spread out over 4 DVDs and is not anamorphic. The Ultimate version is a retelling of the same series with higher production values. This series is indeed anamorphic and looks great. The 9/16 releases are from Funimation. Geneon was the studio that had these titles, but they unfortunately went belly-up. Funimation has acquired Geneon's catalog and is re-releasing them this Fall. You can still find the first 3 volumes of the Ultimate series from Geneon. Amazon has Volume 1 for just $9.49. Here is the link-

http://www.amazon.com/Hellsing-Ultim...6844912&sr=1-2


Both versions of the series comes highly recommended.

Good list. I'll add the following for mature/action audiences(spoilered for length)-




Here's a list of titles that I recommend for all ages-





Here are a few websites that have in-depth reviews-

www.animenewsnetwork.com
www.animenfo.com
www.mania.com/series.php

I must say that Hand Maid May doesn't belong to all age group. Through the series contains no nudity, but the way female characters act is more like - well, pardon my french - cock teaser (bouncing boobs, suggestive sex, bend over to expose underwear).

Strawberry Marshmallow is awesome series, great for any age. I don't see much of those all-age group. When I finished this series, I was so obessive with that girl's character!

SBJ, I have only saw 4 of those mature level, rest of them are on my Netflix list.

Elfin Lied - I like that series, but gore/blood that not exactly my taste. I thought the story itself is great with good ending.

My-HiME - As some of you know that I said it's not a cup of tea for me. The major reason is it's very predictable. I already knew how it would ended when I finished with volume #2. I finished it and I was right.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - I thought it was good at beginning, but fell apart 2nd half. Too much confusing and brain-numbing ending.

Samurai Champloo - I completely forgot about that series. It's fun series. Highly recommended.

ROD the TV series, though great, also has one very obviously not-for-all-ages episode in the middle of the series.