Guaporense reviews animated series

I don't really know what would be a noir title.

-rain
-neons
-gangsters
-private detectives
-femme fatales
-crime plotline

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

12) Yuki Yuna is a Hero (2014)



This is one of the best series of 2014. Like Madoka it is one of those magical girl series that appeals to an older male demographic instead of the typical 13 year old girls demographic that Sailor Moon appeals to. Like Madoka it starts very light and cutesy, almost like a moe series but them it becomes serious and dark. However, unlike Madoka it is not as dead serious and doesn't go all the way down through the depression valley. Though some people think it's superior to Madoka (it's not!).



It also features very, very saturated colors, the type that overwhelmed my eyes with stimulating colors.



So adorable!

One of the main characters is paraplegic so she fights as a sniper and she moves though the use of tentacles attached to her head:


The paraplegic girl attempting harakiri:


The yellow girl after she lost an eye due to magical combat:

So adorable!

Some of the animation is also pretty good:


The series concludes in a very hopeful mood and represents one of the most moving stories I have watched or read in the last 12 months.

My rating is

Baccano has gangsters and is set in the US of the 1930's. But it's not quite like that, since it's a teenager anime featuring some seriously over the top fights.

Overall I don't think it's easy to find an animated series or movie quite like that.

So many anime films and series have been made yet the most brilliant ideas still haven't been touched.

Film noir is a genre of American film. It's not expected to be found in other cultures. It's like trying to find a magical girl American movie/TV series, even though it's a genre that is ultimately influenced by an American TV show, Bewitched, it's clearly a Japanese sub-genre of fantasy.

13) Baccano (2007)



Baccano is a "fantasy gangster" series set in the US if the early 1930's. It's really well made and executed series and the characters have very memorable personalities.



However, one of the problems I had while watching it is the excessive over the top nature of certain fight scenes, since it's an adaptation of a light novel (i.e. young adult novel).



Still it is very well regarded among western animation fans and for good reason. While the Japanese voice actors don't know how to pronounce American names correctly, part of the fun is hearing their broken pronunciation of English names.



Many have compared Baccano with Tarantino's movies, it's similar in some ways to Tarantino's more over the top action oriented movies like Kill Bill (which is heavily influenced by manga). Probably, Baccano is influenced by Tarantino but I didn't do any research in that regard.



It is indeed one of the most accessible anime for a western audience, like Cowboy Bebop it's a very westernized show. My rating is .

For you Mr.Minio I would recommend Saikano if you haven't already seen it.

Guap, have you seen Knights of Sidonia?

I am reading the manga. Have read the first 12 volumes. Really fun science fiction stuff.

I have a personal rule of not watching adaptations of manga I have read. As the manga is usually superior.

14) Someday's Dreamers II: Sora (2008)



Most boring animated series ever made. Look at those boring 7 minutes above! It's incredible how boring and uninspired this thing is.

A watched it until the end just because I am an animation buff. Anyway, the use of photos for backgrounds made it quite an unique animation overall. And the character designs are minimalistic manga style, too bad that the series was so boooooriiiiiiiiiiinnng!

Plot is about a girl trying to become a professional mage, but here mages are fully integrated in modern society so they use magical tricks to clean up apartments or save dolphins shipwrecked on beaches. Really boring idea, like harry potter: boring edition.

My rating is , perhaps the worst adult animated series I watched in my life.

I used to be oppossed to the idea of reading books of movies I've seen and vice versa, but I recently changed my mind about it. I am currently reading Gundam: The Origin which is a retelling of the original Gundam series which I've already seen. I'm also reading Akira. I guess it's a bit different reading something you've seen the movie for, but I would go the other way too. Of course it would depend on the quality. I liked the series for Knights of Sidonia. I have no idea how it compares with the manga.

Oh, I read A.D. Police Files and then watched the anime. That was a good experience even though the manga was way better. I felt like the two experiences complimented each other actually.

In way, Nausicaa the manga and Akira the manga are awesome and very different from the movies. I guess that a TV adaptation of a book or manga tends to follow the source material more closely because they have the time to actually adapt the whole story.

But you are essentially right that it's not a justification to not watch the adaptation.

For me at least, it feels like I've gotten over a hurdle. It's as if I was limiting myself before, but now I'm more open.

My favorite part in Knights of Sidonia was pretty early in the series, the first time they battle with the aliens. It was when that girl died. It was a really awful experience and I really appreciated how they made it painful to watch. I liked how they retroactively gave her a backstory, and then showed her death again. I am getting less and less interested in glorified violence as I get older. Violence shouldn't be a pleasant experience.

A Detective Story - The Animatrix

That's as close as it gets me thinks.

Blade Runner is regarded as noir in some way and there is a huge volume of cyber punk animation made in Japan inspired by it.

I don't really know much about noir. Most of the cyberpunk I know of is a bit more on the mature side. Oh, did you ever get around to Demon of Steel?

Yes. I watched it, I though it was all right. Though I don't particularly enjoy mecha action.

15) Samurai 7 (2004)



Animated "remake" of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, made 50 years after the film to commemorate the movie's 50th anniversary. However, the setting was changed from 17th century Japan to Steampunk post-apocalyptic Japan, including steam powered flying fortresses and giant robots, also, another very important change is that the samurai now have way more hair than in the movie:

Kambei:



Katsushiro:



Though the character that was changed the most was Mifune's character, who is now a steam powered robot (with long hair):



Other samurai changed their hair color to blonde/red as well, another becomes black now. It's the rule of the cool: realism? Forget it, it's cool and that's it!



The village is now attacked by bandits who are actually a fleet of flying fortresses and giant robots. So we have plenty of images of samurai cutting down metal robots 10 times their size. I couldn't find a gif for that so you have to be ok with this:


I put "remake" under quotations because the plot of this 26 episode series deviates from the movie in the last 10 episodes (the movie ended in episode 16, when the last bandits were defeated). The series goes on to a new plot where the bandits were being controlled by the Japanese empire and were soldiers sent by the emperor then there is a coup and civil war and crazy stuff. I think it would have been better if the series ended at episode 16. Still a very entertaining experience.

My rating

16) 100 Billion Stars, 100 Billion Lights (1998-1999)


And yes, I managed to finish watching ALL of Legend of Galactic Heroes: the 168 episodes, including the 110 episode main series, the 56 episodes of side stories divided into two collections: this and Spiral Labyrinth, plus the 3 movies. Now my NERD level has attained Legendary Galactic Heroic status!



They apparently had laptops in the year 3500 exactly like those we have today:


Are Reinhard and Kirchieis doing something more besides being extremely close friends?

Not quite, even though they are so close their relationship is a platonic one.

OMG! He lost his arm:


While not as boring as the other collection of side stories, 100 Billion Stars, 100 Billion Lights went down better with some beer:


Overall a highly "interesting" collection of side stories focused on the ascecions of Reinhard to the position of admiral at the age of 19. Remember, the younger you rise to the ranks, the smarter and greater you are.

Some of the last side stories of LOGH have sapped my will to live by boredom but this would be a bit extreme:


My rating is -

I commend you for getting through Legend of the Galactic Heroes and all it's tangents. I think I watched about 30 episodes before I got too bored to continue. I really enjoyed certain parts, but overall I just couldn't get enough enjoyment out of it to justify continuing.