Topic: Retro Animation (Japanese) Discussion

Here's everything I've gotten over the past 2 months.

• Anime 3 Series Collection (Kurozuka, Ultraviolet Code 044, Viper's Creed)
• Blue Submarine No. 6
• Crying Freeman
• Darkstalkers
• Eiken
• FLCL
• Gurren Lagann
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
• Only Yesterday
• Perfect Blue
• Rail Wars
• Ranma 1/2 set 1
• Royal Space Force: the Wings of Honnêamise
• Tenchi Muyo OVA Collection

Newest additions. Admittedly only the the titles on the left side of the pic count as retro though.

Cowboy Bebop: the Movie - Haven't seen this in ages, but it was pretty great. Don't think it quite lived up to the series, but that's a very high bar to clear & it came close. Really loved how lived in and grounded the world building felt.

Ponyo - One of the weaker Ghibli films IMO (it feels more like a "kids' film" than a "film for everyone that kids can also watch" that the better Ghibli films capture), but it still looks absolutely gorgeous (& I love aquatic themed anime) so I enjoyed it well enough.

Urusei Yatsura TV Collection 4 - The final set! It's pretty much more of the same, but I enjoy the antics. I don't even have 20 episodes left to go now & it's been quite a ride. Will start picking up the Ranma sets once I finish.

Why the hell are you here Teacher!? - Pretty cliche fanservice anime. Pretty fun if that's what you're into though, and the episode runtimes are brief so it doesn't put up much pretext & gets right to it.

Newest additions

• Dual: Parallel Trouble Adventure - Watched this eons ago on a G4TV anime block, so it feels kinda familiar yet fresh. It seems to take a lot from more famous properties, with a lot of superficial elements ripped from Evangelion (Teenage boy mech pilot ends up in a living arrangement with three women. His commanding officer, the tsundere girl who acts like he's worthless but likes him, and the stoic biologically engineered girl who opens up to him specifically. Oh, and the mech designs themselves are barely legally distinct from Evas), but also the antagonists are a knock off Red Ribbon Army (Dragon Ball). IIRC, it's revealed to be a stealth Tenchi Muyo! spinoff by the end too (like, legitimately). Obviously it's not as narratively deep & more lightheadted than Evangelion (definitely more of a standard harem feel), and it feels much more SFW with what little fanservice it's had (so far) in comparison to any other Tenchi related media I've seen, but I've been enjoying it.
• Hand Maid May - Haven't seen this before, but it looks like something I'd enjoy.
• Otaku no Video - I think I've seen this before a number of years ago, but I don't remember much about it (though I know it's loosely based on Gainax's history, with a group of otaku making their own anime studio). I've enjoyed every Gainax release I've seen though so it seemed like a safe bet. All the stuff in the second pic is all the extras it came packed with.
• Pom Poko - Haven't seen before, but Ghibli is usually a good pick. I'm not a sub purist or anything, but I may skip the dub on this because I've heard that aspect of it is really bad though.

Recent Haul.

Berserk - the '97 series. As famous as the franchise is I'm completely uninitiated. I think I'm about 9 episodes in now & am enjoying it quite a bit.

From Up on Poppy Hill - Haven't seen before, but Ghibli is always a safe bet.

Metal Skin Panic: Madox-01 - Saw this years ago on an old YouTube channel that was dumping a bunch of old 80's & 90's OVA's/Movies, but haven't seen it since. Generally like Mecha/sci-fi stuff of the era though, so It'll be nice to give it a watch.

Ranma 1/2 Set 2 - Finished this up recently. It's still as hilarious as it ever was & I can't wait to buy the next set once I'm done with Berserk.

@RR529 Man what a collection you have, great work and thanks for sharing! Some absolute classics in there.

@exit, thanks! Glad it's appreciated.

I should be getting the next Ranma set in soon (but will probably wait till I get some other new stuff to go with it before I upload my next update).

Forgot to post my most recent pickups here.

• Freedom - Absolutely fantastic stuff. The wonky mid 00's CGI character models don't really do this any favors (& may be why I'd never heard of it until now), but otherwise from the theming & other aesthetic qualities it feels like a modern take on an 80's sci-fi OVA.
• Grave of the Fireflies - Absolutely gut wrenching stuff. Great watch though.
• Lupin Zero - I wasn't sold on "Lupin in highschool" at first, but it was actually a pretty fun series & a worthy origin.
• Paprika - Haven't watched it yet, but am looking forward to it.
• Ranma 1/2 Sets 3 & 4 - Been really fun going through these, it's a great comfort watch.
• Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar - This one was actually pretty disappointing. It's not terrible, but it's probably my least favorite of the Tenchi stuff I've seen (even the Tenchi stuff that's pretty far removed & tenuously connected at best, like Dual!).

Anime I've picked up over the past couple months.

Belladonna of Sadness 4K - By far the oldest anime I've bought (an early 70's film), but also one of the more unique (stylistically it doesn't even really resemble what you'd call "anime" by today's standards). Definitely a bit of an acquired taste, but worth a look if you like horror, and something that may be worth rewatching around Halloween.

Heaven's Lost Property - Raunchy harem show centered around robot space angels. It's nothing special, but a fun time if you like the genre.

Heaven's Lost Property Forte - Sequel to the above. Pretty much the same assessment too, though it does get narratively a bit more interesting in the back half.

Heaven's Lost Property the Movie: Angeloid of Clockwork - Film that follows the events of Forte. Still a few fun moments to be had, but dampened a bit by the fact that the first half is an abridged recap of the TV series', and it feels more like a sidestep rather than an advancement narratively.

Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple: the Attack of Darkness - I remember reading through the manga on a scanlation site a number of years ago (if you go far enough back in here I probably posted about it), but I didn't know it had an anime adaptation! This little OVA series starts a few arcs in (apparently there was a preceding TV anime that started at the beginning), and it was nice to be reintroduced to this world in a new way. Can't say I'm super eager to get to the earlier seasons (partially because the anime never got a proper ending), but this was a nice watch in an of itself.

Kiss X Sis - Just no. I mean, I do enjoy raunchy comedies, but this just wasn't it man. A blind buy & not a very wise one (will definitely be tucked away in a little corner of shame, lol).

Mobile Suit Gundam: the 08th MS Team - This on the other hand was pretty fantastic. The Gundam franchise is one that was always a bit hit & miss with me growing up, but since this one was only 12 episodes long I decided to give it a shot and am glad I did. Easily up there with the best 90's anime like Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, & Outlaw Star, IMO.

Ocean Waves - Fantastic little coming of age/romance drama from Ghibli. I've really been digging their more grounded movies more than their fantastical stuff, and this was another hit with me.

Ranma 1/2 Sets 5 & 6 - Still working my way through this and wow does it have a lot more episodes than I remember (I'm starting to think I've never been through the whole thing before). At this point all the main players have been established so it's kinda getting pretty long in the tooth at points, but there's definitely still gold to be found as well. Nice comfort food anime, and I can never get enough Nabiki.

The Wind Rises - Another fantastic more grounded Ghibli film, that presents a (fictionalized) biography of the man who designed the "Zero" fighter plane. I can definitely understand feeling a bit iffy on this one since it kinda only gives lip service to Japan's role in WWII, but that out of the way it was a really engrossing drama.

@RR529 I was watching and chatting during the Discotek live stream last weekend and they announced the Kiss x Sis TV series. I had no familiarity with that one before that, but the reaction of many in the chat was similar to your description here so you're not alone there. I don't plan on looking into it any further.

I remember when Gundam 08th MS Team was first shown on TV here. I don't remember what it was, maybe the dub, but I just didn't dig it after an episode or two. I decided to give it another chance and bought the DVD set several years back. Finally watched it last year. I'm also glad I did as I found it to be fantastic. I agree that, among what I have seen, it's a highlight from the 1990s. It's so well made on a number of levels.

I'm a big fan of retro stuff, and mecha stuff is my favorite. I only have two recent pickups, but they're old TV shows that have been years in the making as far as bringing them over, Lightspeed Electroid Albegas, and Space Emperor God Sigma.

@sdelfin, yeah, I definitely like Mecha (& generally anything future sci-fi too) and will probably start focusing a bit more on those again now that I'm finishing up collecting some long running stuff.

Speaking of, here are my latest additions.

Heaven's Lost Property Final - What a load of crock. Even by anime standards of ending before being caught up with the source manga, this was terribly mismanaged and nigh incomprehensible. Starts out in the middle of the final climax with little to no context as to what is going on, goes on to have a flashback that doesn't even try to bridge the narrative gaps (said flashback is like 90% of the film, BTW), when it finally decides to return to "present events" it just abruptly ends as our protag arrives at the big bad's stronghold, nothing explained or resolved.

Ranma 1/2 Set 7 - It was a delight revisiting this series. It started to retread ground many sets ago (I think the Principal was the last recurring character introduced, and that was in like set 3 or 4), but the cast is so likeable that it never really got boring. Also, many of these episodes I'm positive I've never seen before (I must have dropped it at some point back when I was watching it ages ago), which was a nice surprise.

Ranma 1/2 OVA & Movie Set - Really looking forward to watching these, as I know I've never seen any of them before (except maybe a Christmas one). I didn't even know the series had any movies.

Urusei Yatsura OVA Collection - Currently watching through this. It's really nice watching some UY content with pretty high grade animation (some of the TV episodes could look nice, but others not so much. Definitely a product of it's time), and it's nice revisiting this world. I do like how surreal the series can be, but overall I do think I prefer Ranma as I think it definitely refined the formula a bit.

I think Ranma & Urusei Yatsura will be the last long running series I collect though (like stuff over 100 episodes) until I one day decide to invest in DBZ. I don't have unlimited space, and these long running shows just have too many sets (especially once you start figuring in movies & the like, which are sometimes sold individually).

Trying out some new mecha.

Full Metal Panic! - This has been pretty good so far. Set in a pretty contemporary Japan (for the 2000's) except that militaries have mechs. Pretty much an independent military group sends our protagonists undercover in a Japanese high school to protect a girl who is being targeted by terrorists & foreign government agencies (as she has some sort of secret ability/knowledge that hasn't been fully explained yet), and she sort of gets caught up in their world/battles.

Patlabor: the Mobile Police - 7 episode OVA series from the 80's. Wasn't really long enough for any deep narratives, but the cast grew on me, and it was cool getting a police procedural in anime form (we need more police anime!). I'll be looking up the other entries in the franchise eventually.

^Patlabor is way more involved and complicated then it should be.
All the Ova's the 3 movies and the TV series are interconnected.
The second ( or third OVA the 13 episode one) ties up the loose ends of the TV series.

Your next stop should be the 1989 movie, which is uh....interesting.
As in its not the typical GundamMazinger Z style huge mecha trying to destroy each other.

Edit: since when is Darkstalkers on blu ray ?
Should get my hands on that.

Newest Additions:

Dallos - I've always liked 80's sci-fi OVAs, and apparently this is the first OVA ever (directed by the same guy who'd go on to direct Ghost in the Shell no less), so I'm looking forward to trying it.

Kite Integral Version - This comes with all 3 different versions (most censored to completely uncensored), and is another one I'm interested in trying out.

Monster Musume - Haven't seen. Expecting it to be nothing more than a guilty pleasure.

Nadia: Secret of Blue Water - This has been largely really good. Not quite up there with Gainax's best (Gunbuster, Evangelion, Gurren Lagaan), but that's a high bar to clear so I can't hold it against it. It was getting pretty slow in the second half, but it's hit the climax and has gotten really exciting so I'm looking forward to finishing it (two episodes left).

Riding Bean - Not amazing, but a really fun homage to classic American crime/cop action flicks in the vein of Dirty Harry & Lethal Weapon, but in OTT anime fashion. A brisk 45 minute long OVA film.

Tona-Gura! - Another harem show. Again, just expecting it to be a guilty pleasure.

@RR529 Nice pick ups. Our tastes overlap a good bit as I have Riding Bean on DVD, which I think I got about a year ago, and Nadia, which I believe was a previous release before G-Kids got it. G-Kids seems to do really nice releases from what I've seen, so that's probably a good one. Dallos is one of the things I'm looking to get soon.

I thought Riding Bean was pretty good for what it is as just a 45-minute one-off video. I'm not sure how much you knew about Nadia ahead of time, but it's known for having production issues that led to the infamous "island arc" which is probably the portion you referred to as slow. Some people really hate those episodes for various reasons and I have heard some people recommend that others just skip them altogether with the exception of a couple of them. You're already past all that, but you can look up the island arc if you're interested in learning more. I have heard the rest of it is really good. I haven't gotten to see it yet as I've picked up a lot of shows in recent years. I'm down to the last episode of Votoms, as of right now.

@sdelfin, yeah, it was definitely those deserted island episodes. Apparently they're literally filler, with either NHK wanting to pad out episode count more than what was initially planned, and/or Anno was busy getting the final episodes ready but didn't want the show to go on hiatus so had more rookie staff hammer out a few episodes quickly to fill the gap. Either way the result is about what you'd expect.

Just finished up the show though, and it definitely ended on a high note. Fantastic climax.

Latest Additions:

• DevilMan Lady - Not big into supernatural horror stuff, but grabbed this for spooky season. It was okay at best. At times that 90's vibe & charm shone through, and at times an individual episode's story could be kinda interesting, but it absolutely falls apart at the seams during most action/fight scenes. I'm not sure if it's budget was hit hard by the bubble burst or what, but this has some of the worst animated action I've seen in an anime.
• Full Metal Panic! Fumoffu - I knew this was a spinoff going in, just not a completely comedic centered affair that would totally sideline the mechs. It ended up being pretty hilarious though & I'm glad I watched.
• Macross Plus - The directorial debut of the guy behind Cowboy Bebop & Samurai Champloo, and it's absolutely essential 90's sci-fi anime. Animated gorgeously with some stunning dogfights & imaginative concert sequences, and a personal story between a group of estranged friends that's really gripping. Part of the larger Macross mythos, but outside of a minor bit of lore here & there it's easily able to be followed as a stand alone. It's just a shame that the US licensor has apparently done jack all with anything beyond the original Macross (which they reworked into "Robotech"), as I had to grab this expensive UK collector's set (worth it though).
• My Neighbors the Yamadas - Haven't watched this one yet, but Ghibli is always a safe bet for at least a good movie.
• Patlabor: the Movie - Speaking of essential 90's sci-fi anime (though this one may be late 80's), here's another good watch. I don't think I'd rate it quite as high as Macross Plus, but still very much worth your time. Very interesting police investigation film set in a world where labor is being revolutionized by mechs (appropriately called Labors), following a special unit specifically tasked with solving Labor crimes, and they're out to find out why the machines are going berserk after a new software update. Can be a bit of a slow burn, but the action's fun to when it gets to it.
• the Tale of the Princess Kaguya - Absolutely gorgeously animated, and although I recognized the fable from a few other sources that referenced it (Okami, the second InuYasha movie, etc.), it just didn't really resonate with me the way I'm sure it did with those who grew up on the original fairy tale. I have a pretty odd taste in Ghibli films & this is just another case that confirms I'm more into their realistically grounded dramas (Ocean Waves, Only Yesterday, From Up on Poppy Hill, etc.) than I am their fantasy/fairy tail fair. It's still a good watch at a minimum though, and I would say the studio doesn't really put out any duds from what I've seen.

@RR529 Full Metal Panic:FUMOOFU isnt so much a spinoff as it is the other part of the manga. For some reason they split volumes of the Manga with the mech stuff being Full Metal Panic and the non mech stuff FUMOOFU. Not sure why that was.

It's been a long while, but here's everything I've picked up over the past few months.

the Boy & the Heron - Not retro, just included it because I'm posting the same picture on the NL & PS general anime threads.

Bubblegum Crash - the first & third episodes aren't updated the best (they didn't have access to the original film, so tried upscaling previous a previous SD master. They did get the film for the second episode & it looks fantastic), but at the end of the day it's more Bubblegum Crisis, and that's not a bad thing.

Cutie Honey (+ the Live) - Just started the OG series so I can't say much on it yet. As for the Live, I'm usually not big on Tokusatsu stuff, but this managed to hold my attention the way through so I'm calling it a success. It does do it's own thing with the background lore though & adds two extra transforming girls (& doesn't feature the series usual big bad, even though her organization is still the main antagonizing force).

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex ( + Second Gig) - Haven't watched this since it used to air on Adult Swim back in the day when I was in high school. I wasn't sure if I wanted to add it or not since I wasn't huge on it back then (probably a bit too "deep" for me back then, especially since I wasn't guaranteed to keep up with it every week), but I'm glad I went for it. It's absolutely fantastic (though I slightly prefer the first season), and I had more nostalgia for it than I thought.

Macross: Do You Remember Love? - When I learned that the new Japanese 4K release had English subtitles I knew I had to import it (especially given the rights shenanigans that will probably keep it from getting an official US release). Given that it's a rework of a 50 episode TV series into a single film, it moves at a brisk pace & is probably best watched if you have prior experience with the OG TV series, but it's an absolutely beautiful film & a classic.

Megazone 23 - This has all three OVAs (the third of which is split into two parts). Part of the long tradition of 80's fare of bike riding delinquents getting caught up in sci-fi shenanigans. They're not a patch on Akira or Venus Wars, but worth a look if you like the genre/era. The first two were my favorite.

Patlabor - My new retro obsession. I've managed to collect everything except set 2 of the TV series (can't find the Blu-Ray for a decent price). The TV series is equal parts cozy workplace slice of life & mecha action, and the movies (what I've seen so far) go for deep political/criminal intrigue with a completely different vibe so there's something here for any mood.

Photon: the Idiot Adventures - Watched this on Amazon Prime a number of years ago & thought it was pretty amusing (and apparently it's a loosely connected Tenchi Muyo! spinoff), so when I heard that it was getting an HD remaster I had to get it.

@RR529 killer haul there in this update. Patlabor was a franchise I was drawn to from my start with anime. I still haven't seen much of it yet, but I got very lucky and found the complete collection set by chance. For some reason, they were practically giving them away on ebay at the time. I'm surprised to see how much it's going for now.

I ended up buying the Bubblegum Crash DVD not all that long before they announced the blu ray, so I probably won't upgrade for a while. I was a bit worried about it as Crash wasn't highly regarded, probably just for the drop in production value from the original series, but I enjoyed it which was a nice surprise.

I picked up the previous retail printing of Megazone. I'm not sure if anything is different besides the packaging. Also, good to see Animeigo back in operation. I've been thinking of taking a chance on the original Cutey Honey. I may look into Stand Alone Complex after reading your take. Never saw that one. I'm leaning toward picking up Photon very soon. I'm planning to order Star Musketeer Bismark imminantly, and might tack Photon onto the order. My understanding is it's a software upscale, but the AstroRes process is supposed to be pretty good.