More Anime Than You Can Shake A Stick At

This post is for my "geek" readers. Many of my family and friends who are not into stuff like comic books, anime & video games may want to skim or skip this one. You've been warned...

I love Anime. I'm not the aficionado that some of my friends are. I've never been to a "Con." My life-long love of anime probably started with Star Blazers when I was a really little kid. As a teenager, I discovered Robotech.

Note: Robotech is a "crudely" redone American version of Macross of Japanese Anime legend. For better or for worse, I can't actually enjoy Macross. I've seen Robotech so many times that I keep finding things "wrong" with Macross. Such is life.

After Robotech came Akira. Akira isn't the first (or the best) but it's got all my favorite pieces: Great toys, a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, a young hot-head protagonist and really weird government conspiracy stuff that makes people all mutated. I've seen it just enough and my mind is Anime-attuned just enough that I'm even under the delusion that I generally understands the plot. For folks who haven't seen Akira, my claim is similar in scope to saying that I understand the plot to "The Wall" or "A Clockwork Orange." In other words, I'm hiding a lie within a truth within a lie.

My wife's short version of Akira
"AKIRA" *BOOM* "KANEDA" *BOOM* "TETSUO" *BOOM*

Over the years, I've sampled a lot of Anime. Two people in particular (Avouz & Cainam) have helped fuel my discovery. The big thing I've learned is that there's a lot of different stuff out there. In fact, they have very divergent Anime tastes. Still, together they introduced me to Lodoss Wars, Ranma 1/2, Bubblegum Crisis, Cowboy Bebop and a host of other great stuff. When I last checked, the glaring hole in both their collections is Ghost in the Shell. It's my hope that this post will correct that. I assume that they've both seen the first movie, but what about the rest? And what about you? Have you seen it?

Ghost in the Shell is arguably one of the best franchises in Anime and Manga. The Wachowski brothers actively admit that it was a major influence of the Matrix. Geeks Of Doom recently reported that Steven Spielberg is even pushing for a live-action version. Thanks to Netflix, I've become a huge fan of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series. SAC consists of two seasons episodes and one movie. SAC may also be the only Anime where I demand the English version. The English-speaking cast RULES!

The movies and SAC are a bit different, but the building blocks are the same. This is a futuristic Japan where cyberization is pervasive and people are integrated with the net. The players in these shows are a special ops police force dealing with the most unusual and deadly cybernetic crimes.

The biggest strength of the series (aside from the great anime) is also it's biggest weakness. The plotline is so complex at times that it becomes simultaneously intriguing & frustrating. There's a sequence in the 2nd movie that is such a complete mind-blower that sometimes I feel like the creators just wanted to see if they could simulate an acid trip. The same sequence of events is played over and over for 15-20 minutes, but each time it's radically different. The sequence ends leaving the viewer wondering which version was real. The message of the film seemed to be all of them and none of them. Reality is fluid.

My real problem is that I'm done. Thanks to Netflix, I've caught the entire series. There's nothing left for me to watch. So, I've been forced to move on. For my next "big" Anime project, I've queued up Avouz's favorite, Mobile Suit Gundam. There have been so many incarnations, series, movies and sequels that it's going to take over 60 rentals to get through it all. Since I won't watch it exclusively, it could take a year or more.

This also brings me to another point. Sometimes (and this is a good thing) I wonder if Netflix should change their name to Animeflix. Between the instant queue and the DvD rental selection, their selection is enormous. With that in mind, here are a couple of other things I highly recommend to fans out there.

Movies for fans of Spirited Away...
Princess Mononoke, Steamboy, Origin: Spirits of the Past, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Series for fans of Cowboy Bebop & Bubblegum Crisis:
Mezzo, Black Lagoon, Witchblade