I've heard the anime known as One Piece is also good and also available on Hulu. I've never seen it but my wife apparently rents a bunch of the DVDs when she's in Japan. I showed her they're on Hulu, so now she's learned how to work Hulu on the PS3.

I have a hard time picking out anime to watch. I have Miyazaki's works and enjoyed them and have wanted to branch out but it's hard to find ones that I think I'd enjoy. A lot of them are violent or too sexy and that's not what I want. I want the ones that tell a good story without all the extra stuff that seems to be in Japanese Anime. I've been recommended a few of them that sound good, but are either out of print or are very expensive so it's hard to just blind buy something that I haven't watched.

I just finished watching The Best of Dr. Seuss with 3 short films: Daisy-Head Mayzie, Horton Hatches the Egg and The Butter Battle Book. I really enjoyed all three, especially the one with Horton which was a Merrie Melody short. I love that even back in the forties they were making great Dr. Seuss shorts. I wish they were mandatory watching for most politicians. I know that they are very moral laddened books/shows, but they have good points! From the Butter Battle book-escalating violence and what happens when each side has the ultimate weapon; to Horton-doesn't matter who's a good parent-it's the person who puts the time and effort into it. I like these just as much as some of the others I've watched like the Sneetches.

I think I have all but a couple of the classic Seuss shorts and would love to have them all. I am glad I spotted this one in the cheap bin at Wal-Mart!

im almost done with Archer s2 and picked up JL New Frontiers at walmart tonight for 3$

Thanks for the heads up! I will check it out. I'm always on the lookout for new anime to watch, but there's a lot of lackluster stuff to sift through.

I also have that problem. It seems that the medium demands either one fight or one big boobs joke per episode. I don't really know much about anime. I started casually watching as an undergrad with a tendency to leave Adult Swim on while studying. The line-up at that time included Inuyasha and The Big O which I would tentatively recommend. Inuyasha does get bogged down in a overly expansive mythos. Though often intensionally incomprehensible at time, The Big O is a very interesting meld of science fiction and neo-noir... just with big robots. Unfortunately, the robots take center stage a bit too much... Drats, now I want to revisit those shows as well - too little time.

Let me know if you have any recommendations. I myself am not a fan of the way action and off-beat humor get in the way of the storytelling and am excited to find series that bypass this pitfall.

Okay, LJG765 doesn't want too much violence or sex or any of the "extra stuff" found in anime. MrCellophane doesn't want the "one fight or one big boobs joke per episode" anime nor does he want an "overly expansive mythos." Well, these restrictions will certainly weed out tons of anime, but it makes it extremely difficult for me to recommend stuff to you. Let me try anyway.

Look for works by Mamoru Oshii. I highly recommend PATLABOR THE MOVIE (1989) and PATLABOR 2 (1993), two sci-fi works based on a "mecha" series about young inexperienced cops in a then-future Tokyo (1999!) assigned to the "Special Vehicles Unit." Also GHOST IN THE SHELL and GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE.

Look for works by Satoshi Kon: PERFECT BLUE (1997), a psychological thriller that influenced BLACK SWAN; MILLENNIUM ACTRESS (2001), in which an aged Japanese female movie star recounts her career and its intersection with Japanese history; TOKYO GODFATHERS (2003), a comedy about a trio of homeless people in Tokyo on Christmas Eve who try to reunite an abandoned infant with its mother.

Stories about WWII: GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (1988), tragedy about an orphaned brother-and-sister trying to survive in Japan in the final days of the war; BAREFOOT GEN (1983), about a boy and his mother trying to survive in Hiroshima in the weeks and months after the A-bomb blast.

Random titles:

PHOENIX (HI NO TORI) - 2004 series based on manga stories by Osamu Tezuka about the legendary phoenix which is sought after for its powers of immortality by characters throughout history, from the distant past to the far future. Cosmic stuff, but each story is rooted in a specific time and place.
Not "overly expansive," but a simple idea that recurs over time.

TOWARD THE TERRA (2007) - epic sci-fi story about a future society based in space colonies in which humans persecute mutants, who escape in their own ship on a journey to find their ancestral home, Earth. Based on a famous manga, the first sci-fi story by a female artist.

RUROUNI KENSHIN/SAMURAI X (1995-99) - Historical tale set in the Meiji era when Japan was westernizing. Kenshin is an ex-warrior who fought on the wrong side in the civil war that preceded the Meiji era and he tries to live up to his vow never to kill again.

BUBBLEGUM CRISIS TOKYO 2040 (1998) - A serious sci-fi series that doesn't have the excesses that you guys complained about. It involves a team of female crime-fighters in mecha suits. I like this series better than the made-for-video Bubblegum Crisis episodes from the 80s.

HIS AND HER CIRCUMSTANCES (1998) - A high school comedy-drama about two high achievers, a boy and a girl, who initially compete with each other but then fall in love, much to the dismay of their parents and their teachers. Very stylized approach with lots of on-screen text, interior monologues, and symbolic cutaways.

INITIAL D (1998) - Downhill mountain road racing in rural Japan. I never knew anything about this particular sport, but it's such a good show and so rooted in character that it winds up being very compelling.

Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli: LJG765 says he's already a fan, but have you seen WHISPER OF THE HEART (1995)? It's an excellent contemporary drama about young love and the creative urge, with a very interesting use of John Denver's "Country Road." How about ONLY YESTERDAY (1991), a drama about a Tokyo career girl who goes off to a farm for a summer and finds herself. And there's always POM POKO, a comedy about mythical animals, the Tanuki (raccoon-dogs) who band together and fight off attempts by Tokyo developers to bulldoze their ancestral lands and build new suburbs. In addition to the Miyazaki masterpieces: NAUSICAA, CASTLE IN THE SKY, MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE, PORCO ROSSO, and PRINCESS MONONOKE.

That's a start, there are several more I can recommend, but let me get some feedback on those first.

Thanks.

Thanks, Ash for all the recs! Sorry, but I have a hard time watching the objectifying of women since I am one myself. Give me a good violent/sexy anime with half naked men with bulging (but not too unrealistically) muscles and brains that don't treat women poorly and I might go for it! lol! Violence is ok to a point, but I find many of the films just go way over the top. I like action but not gore and firefights every two minutes. I find in Western/Hollywood movies, this is becoming more of a problem for me to find stuff I enjoy as well as things become way to desensitized and over the top. For me, there is too much violence in the world as it is to want to watch it on purpose. Don't get me wrong, I love me a good action flick with shoot 'em ups and car chases. Do it with class, is what I'm asking for. Do we really need to see that guys head blow up with blood spurting everywhere and bone shards flying at the camera? Nope. Not for me!

I found the Girl who Leapt Through Time and enjoyed that one as well. I have all the Miyazaki's and while one or two of them are not my favorites, I've enjoyed most of them enough to own.

The Bubblegum one, His and Her Circumstances and Toward the Terra look interesting. I'll put those on my to find and watch list. I find right now that war topics are a little to depressing for me, though if well done, I'll watch. I really liked Grave of the Fireflies. It was excellent but so sad! I totally teared up through it. It is always interesting to see the other side of the story and how more poignant can you get than orphans struggling through a nuclear fallout?

Anyone here seen the new Total Recall? Just wondering how much CGI is in it and if it might count.

Oops, sorry for the gender confusion.

Another one I thought of to recommend to you and MrCellophane is SUMMER WARS, a theatrical feature which came out a couple of years ago and dealt with a family reunion in rural Japan that gets involved in a cyberwar. It's exciting, but also quite funny. It's by the same director who did THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME. Here's a description from Amazon:

Also, since you said this......you might want to check out STREET FIGHTER II-V (1995), an anime TV series based on the videogame that focuses on Ryu and Ken and the epic journey they go on, with significant participation from Chun Li. It's actually very well-written and is more character-based than you'd think. (Not to be confused with the American "Street Fighter" cartoon series that ran on USA Network.)

I have a funny feeling you'd also like some of the Gundam series. Consider: the original MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM (1979), the sequel ZETA GUNDAM (1985) and GUNDAM WING (1995).

I'll look over your sci-fi list and see if it gives me any thoughts on what you might like.

Thanks for all the recommendations! I’m going to check quite a few of these titles out, starting with Phoenix and Toward the Terra. I absolutely love Summer Wars, and Millennium Actress is one of my favorite films! It is so moving and beautiful. While I wasn’t a huge fan of Ghost in the Shell, watching it was quite an experience, and it explored some very interesting themes in an exhilarating way. Also, I'm a huge Miyazaki fan and have seen most of them multiple times.

I didn’t mean to come off as a complainer. I really do like anime, but as with any storytelling form, there are tropes that I don’t particularly care for. While not a woman, I agree with LJG765’s assertion about sexism (and the respectful half-naked men). I should also explain that I actually don’t mind an expensive mythos and am a fan of world-building. However, series like Inuyasha sometimes pit the protagonists against random obstacles that expand the world yet are ultimately superfluous to the story. Sure, a crystal shard is obtained, but what else was gained? The characters didn't grow, and all the world-building information is not really needed after the big fight.

When I watch (or read or listen to) a story, I always ask what is needed and what is not. How much of the information presented actually serves the story. In an episode of The West Wing, President Bartlett says, “I think this press conference is about we haven’t had a press conference in awhile.” Often, action sequences remind me of that, coming across as merely going through the motions instead of actually adding to the story in a meaningful way. Wackiness ensues ‘cause wackiness hasn’t ensued yet this episode. Of course, all of this is subjective.

Other anime series that I really enjoyed and would recommend are Last Exile (which stylistically and story-wise owes a lot to Miyazaki) and The Galaxy Express which has trains in space! Trains in space!

I hit 24 hours last night with an episode of Garfield and Friends.

My favorite of Kon's movies is Paprika. Christopher Nolan has acknowledged it as an influence on Inception. I had no trouble following Inception, but I still found Paprika a bit confusing during my (second time) viewing this month. Well worth the effort, though, and one that I won't hesitate to watch again.

Spirited Away is my favorite from Studio Ghibli, but Whisper of the Heart is second. Like The Secret World of Arrietty, it proves that a small character study can be as captivating as an epic adventure. The connection with The Cat Returns is fun too.

I wonder why Only Yesterday has never had a U.S. release. I've been tempted to get the Hong Kong DVD.

Continued on my Pixar watching with Wall-E tonight. What an awesome movie! Despite the positive reviews, I really wasn't too excited going into it - didn't think it would appeal to me. Far from the case.

It's all good. I've been called worse things in life than "he," sad to say!

I was able to find more titles than I expected through my library: I'll be getting the Bubblegum Crisis, Summer Wars (which caught my attention the most so far so I'm happy about this one), Gundam Wing Mobile Suit and the first Streetfighter one you recommended. I'll let you know how I like them as I get them and watch.

Well, the sci-fi list definitely has stuff that I like on there, but I watched a lot of first time things for the check list. A better list would be my DVD Profiler list here. It's more of a typical view of what I like. Just don't make fun of my chick flicks! I'd love a more rounded opinion of anime. I know they have to be out there. The problem is finding them! I don't know many people who watch the genre and those that do are usually under the age of 12 so it's restricted to what they see on tv.

Apparently, I still haven't finished the Sci-Fi Challenge, since 90% of the animation I've been watching is sci-fi. But then, these were all series I meant to watch last month.

LJG765: Another anime series I'd like to recommend is NANA (2006), which was 47 eps. long and based on a long-running manga about two 20-year-old girls in Tokyo who become roommates, each named Nana, one a sensitive but somewhat scattered former art student, the other a hardcore rocker, and the dramatic, comic and romantic entanglements they experience. It has adult elements, so it's not aimed at kids, although I think adolescents would appreciate it. It was also made into two live-action films.

Here's the Amazon link for the first box set:
http://www.amazon.com/Nana-Uncut-Box...ncut+box+set+1

I like the anime a great deal but the manga is even better.
http://www.amazon.com/Nana-1-v-Ai-Ya...rds=nana+manga

If I'm at my friends's house when their daughter goes to bed, I get to read her bedtime story. It's become a lot of fun to read Dr. Seuss as George W. Bush. I'm sure being a two-term president was satisfying and all, but the dude has missed his calling as a Dr. Seuss narrator. Just sayin'.

As for me, I just finished re-watching G.I. Joe: The Movie. It'd been a few years since I last watched it. I don't have any record of watching it in DVD Profiler, and those records go back to December 2008. It's still inferior to The Transformers: The Movie, but that opening title sequence kicks nine kinds of ass.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ok-DrfFJAgw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Just re-watched Dumbo, my first viewing on Blu-ray. Here's my Letterboxd review:

Also, I watched the making-of feature and learned that the backgrounds were done in watercolor. I found that interesting.

Been slacking on the animation challenge the last few days as I have been watching Shark Week on the DIscovery Channel and Preseason football. Want to watch some more animation today, but I can't think of what to watch as I have a lot of unwatched animation.

This is easy...

I noticed Post #2 still says the checklist is under construction. Is it safe to assume that it's been finalized?

Re-watched A Bug's Life on Blu-ray today. Here's an excerpt from my review on Letterboxd:

I re-ranked A Bug's Life on my Flickchart. I had it at #1079/1393, but it leaped all the way to #301! My Letterboxd review includes a list of the ten matches it drew in the re-ranking process, in case anyone wants to get a deeper sense of my taste in film. One opponent was another Pixar title, the short film Day and Night. I picked the short over this, because it's one of my favorites ever. As a night owl, I'm so used to being antagonized by morning people that that short really spoke to me.

Yeah, everytime I look at it I think to myself that I should just post a link to the one in this thread. Same with the rules. I end up making changes to one thread, then forget to copy something over and when next year rolls around, I copy the bad version.

So, I've been looking at my checklist. I'm almost there, though I feel like I haven't made much progress the last couple days. I'm feeling a little better, so hope to correct that the next couple days. One of the checks is for a loathed character. I don't really have a loathed character.

Just curious what some people's loathed characters are...I have a feeling I may go for more of an "eh" character over a loathed one.

Jar Jar Binks

Olive Oil

See, I've never been one that hated Jar Jar. Dislike, yes, but he doesn't bother me that much. Olive Oyl-can see that. Voice certainly grates on your ears. Popeye was never a favorite cartoon all in all, but I'd watch it.

I just finished watching Brother Bear and I think I may use it as my loathed character. First time watching and now I realize why I was putting it off for so long. Totally did not keep my attention and the cute parts certainly did not last long enough for me to enjoy it. I'll give it a 2/5 and that's stretching it. I don't know if it was the childish actions of the main character or the typical storyline of the child who has something bad happen to them then is punished so that they grow up or what. Not one of Disney's finest.