Thank you for proving my point Blastron.

Here's someone who obviously hasn't seen Evangelion

Why should I? I had an ex-friend who used to force me to watch hours upon hours of anime. The only thing I got from it was pointless bloodshed, an invincible hero, thousands of dead bad guys, and cartoon sex with objectified female roles in the more mature titles.

Now American TV is filled with water downed versions like Dragonball-Z and Gundum-Wing. The local kids can tell me everything about the latest Yugioh or Pokemon card but none of them have heard of H.G. Wells or Ray Bradbury. It's almost as bad as the American pop-craze that is Britney Spears or N-Sync.

I went through a phase where I was obsessed with anime and now that I've gone back and watched the crap I spent all my money on for years, I've come to the conclusion that I must have been absolutely insane to think any of it was worth watching let alone obsessing over.

However, Evangelion is an awesome series and you should seriously consider seeing it even if you hate all other anime.

Aye, it's definately the best I've seen. If only I had $169.99 to buy the whole boxed set.

How can you think Evangelion is better than Hellsing or Cowboy Bebop? Even though they are different genres of anime, both have better storylines, better soundtracks and are more entertaining. Evangelion started out strong, but by the end it fell to pieces, and taking any anime where the lead male jerks off over the comatose body of one of the main females seriously is fairly laughable.

I've never watched but little snippets of Evangelion. I've heard so much about it that I want to, but what Asa says is kinda nasty....

Hellsing is awesome though.. I love it so much. Makes me wish I could actually pull off being all dark and evil.

I'm not sure what you've been watching, but it sure as hell wasn't Evangelion, that storyline is so brilliant and complex, I still don't understand everything of it, even after seeing the thing like five times and reading several sites that were supposed to "contain all the answers".



You are classifying all of Anime under the same line, saying that Hentai is the same as Evangelion is like comparing "last action hero" to "Dead poet's society" because both are movies that feature actors.

As for you saying "pointless bloodshed, an invincible hero, thousands of dead bad guys" it was my impression 90% of what hollywood pumps out follows *exactly* those rules, so why is that suddenly bad when it concerns Anime?

My friend got it for $40 off ebay.

Really Cron, watch Ghost in the Shell...

Or even better, Graveyard of the Fireflies (did I translate it correctly?). Don't forget to count the invincible superheroes, dead badguys and sex scenes.

I really dun like it when people see some crappy DBZ-like anime and judge all the series just by them. I know it since I used to be one of them.

Or for something not so serious, Trigun.

Yes it has its "invincible super hero", but in spite of that, its still a fricking awesome anime. Starts out being all humorous and funny, but it becomes a lot more serious and interesting as it goes on.

Yeah, apart from the Nebraska family. Damn, those guys are friggin' IDIOTIC. And the first episodes don't really have the "strength of influence" to make an anime-hater change his mind. Cool series nevertheless.

::puts on some white gloves, claps his hands together and ruins all Reality TV shows::

Maho-Shoujo hmm? You might like the non-murderized Cardcaptor Sakura. Not the one they show on tv, but the dvds that I think Pioneer releases.

Bad + Bad does not equal Good. I pointed out in the War of the Worlds thread that this bothers me in movies as well.

You also left this part out when you quoted me. By the admission of someone in this thread Evangilion contains a scene of a man masturbating on a woman. Somehow I doubt said scene involved any sort of positive reinforcement. I don't want to see that in normal cinema much less a cartoon. Now I'll admit that surely there are exceptions as there are in every genre. From what I personally have seen it very much tends to be an exception.

I feel sorry for whomever made you sit through Ninja Scroll and the like.

One more idea: Princess Mononoke. Ayup, that's the case. Everyone who wants to play a Serenwilde char should see that.

No, there aren't any masturbation scenes in.

EDIT: Blastron's post would make me start hating anime if I didn't like it first.

Mmm.. good man. Trigun was one of the first series I bought and drew me into buying more and more and more and more DVDs.

And rather than continuing to quote other people's posts and say my little word on that, I think I'll just stop and plain old post now.

The problem with a lot of popular anime in the US is that it caters to the original cultists of Anime in America. Male otaku, before it actually became popular, seems to be the majority. There have been a number of titles that actually go against the Stereotype of Big-boobed, scantily clad, big robot with invincible heros (I implore everyone reading this never to ever ever ever see Divergence Eve, as that's what you'll get). There are a number of titles that cater to all kinds of people. Hoshi No Koe (Voices of a Distant Star), Kumo No Muko Yakusoku no Basho (Beyond the Clouds), Haibane Renmei, Fruits Basket are popular (and some recent) titles that go against the stereotypes that most people face, and they're done rather well. IF you look, you'll find something everyone could like, heck, my varied collection of DVDs would probably fit everyone (Sorry, no Cowboy Bebop anymore, I actually gave my LE box set to a friend).

The original shows that were brought over and aired in the us (Sailor Moon, Technoman (Tekkaman Blade), etc) were all aimed towards a younger, male, American audience, and I think that also helps to create the stereotypes. Granted, Giant Robots, fanservice, and incredible action as well as bloodshed (Good God, Elfen Lied) take most of the spotlight, but even in those series, a number tend to deal with deep issues, and I think are done better than shows on American TV (reality shows, pointless comedies, shallow action flicks that are practically animated with the amount of post-production that go into them) as such. At the same time, Japanese Animation probably isn't for everyone. I have a friend who refuses to like/watch any non-live action series or movie and take it seriously, for example.

Oh, back on topic, wow that link is freaky

Anything in Evangelion HAS to be taken in context, or you look like an utter moron. That series is incredibly complicated and nothing in it works without the rest. Assuming you can figure out how it works even in context.

It's a great series to show what anime can be, but it could turn off beginners used to American shows. Trigun could be a good start if they like comedy and action, as it weans you onto the serious stuff gradually. Cowboy Bebop is excellent as well, as is Outlaw Star.

Grave of the Fireflies is wonderful to dissuade people from thinking of anime as something geared toward children or just full of blood and explosions.

Oh, and the absolute best thing anime has over American shows: The series all END. I used to like Power Rangers, for two seasons back when I was young. It's still going 10+ years later? WTF? There are VERY few series that aren't crap after even a fraction of that.