Yep and that's why I haven't seen it yet. It's only 26 episodes too. :/ ADV tried touting the lower MSRP for it, but they combined more episodes in the later releases. Still holy crap! Sadly 2 eps and the equivilant of $40 a disc is what the japanese have to put up with. How's that price control? :P

Wow, that is pretty bad. I am curious as to how the Japanese feel about watching their cartoons all with "American" looking characters.

That's how's been for ages. Osamu Tezuka is considered the god of manga and he influenced everyone that came after. He's the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, etc and was heavily influenced by Walt Disney and Walt Fleischier (Betty Boop's creator). ^^ That big eyed look as been around long time.

There are more naturalistic chara designs but for the most part it's pure fantasy. Satoshi Kon's stuff had more realistic designs in Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent, Tokyo Godfathers and Millenium Actress.

So does the movie Jin-Roh written by Mamoru Oshii. That's the director of the Ghost in the Shell movies.There's more but I can't think off the top of my head without coffee. XD

Yeah, I guess that makes sense to me. How is Ghost in the Shell? I hear great things but haven't gotten around to seeing them.

Personally, it left me cold. ^^ It's a little dated, being released in 1995, but visually interesting. Mind you, I was a huge fan of Philip K. Dick so the whole robotic conscienceness soul memory thing is a little old hat. I was 12 years old when Blade Runner first came out and still remember being giddy about the announcement of the movie. So when I see these things, I go, 'Why does everything have to look like Blade Runner?'

Well, that and my husband worked for years with a schizophrenic who thought he was robot, was afraid of the Pope and was building a rocket from spare parts.

Haha, sounds like a great job. I wouldn't mind everything looking like Blade Runner, cause it kicks ass.

So I got Elfen Lied and Hellsing today. I started watching Hellsing, got into the third episode and the DVD was scratched so now I need to return it and get a new one. But so far I am enjoying it, kind of slow at first but it started picking up in the second epsiode.

Hellsing is one of my favorite animes. You're in for a treat if you're just starting it. Just wait till you get to the episodes with the Valentine Brothers (don't worry, that doesn't spoil anything).

I picked up Elfen Lied the other day. Wow, what an opening scene. Pretty brutal stuff . I can't wait to sit down and watch it.

I've had Hellsing from way back when. I even still have the limited blood bag. I saw the steelcase set at Best Buy and it looked cool. I'll probably go for the new revisited set.... sounds nice and it has DTS

Too each their own. It's easy to undertand why Ghost would't appeal to everyone. However, I have to ask...How is Ghost dated?

Also, Blade Runner set a standard by going against the, "Perfect Sanitary Future" popular in film up to that point with it's dark gitty rundown version of future LA. That's why everything looks like Blade Runner.