Yeah, CS 1.6!

I’m not sure about the master server list just yet, sorry.

Yeah, that sort of thing.

I should say that I’m finally having some luck with using wireguard, so I’m making progress. Got a few rounds of Counter-Strike in with a friend about an hour ago!

I was hoping to have servers be more public, so visible on the master server list and able to be joined by random people. (I’m a glutton for punishment I guess. lol)

To be honest, I think it’s hard to have this discussion in the abstract, because a lot of it comes down to what that “specific level of creepy” means, both on the individual level and culturally. I think to what degree sex, violence, drug use, antisocial behavior, etc., are acceptable in media depends a lot on the context.

Most of the popular manga/anime series out there are shonen shows, primarily targeting the tastes and sensibilities of adolescent boys, so I think to some degree sexual content and violence are to be expected.

What’s more, I think America is generally more sensitive to sexual content in media than Japan, while Japan is probably more sensitive to stuff like drug use… so there is a cultural aspect to it as well of course.

My daughter was getting into anime a few years ago and even going back to the classics it’s really hard to avoid the eye rolling booba jokes and upskirt shots. Maybe I’m just old now.

You are. That’s fine, I am too.

I think sometimes people forget that many of these classic manga and anime are from the shonen genre, and are primarily targeting adolescent boys.

That’s not to say that people of any age and gender can’t watch and enjoy them, but just that they aren’t necessarily made with everybody in mind. (Girls can and should enjoy shonen works, just like guys can and should enjoy shojo works.) But much like how many western cartoons were made targeting young kids and will contain jokes and stories that some adults may not always resonate with anymore, shonen manga and anime are made with literal teen boys in mind, and as a result they are mainly made to appeal to the humor, emotions and fantasies of teen boys.

Things like sex, low-brow human and power fantasies sell, in general, to many demographics. But I think that’s especially true for teen boys who are in the swing of puberty and young adulthood and generally very stupid and horny.

I think Americans tend to be much more sensitive about sex while being more ambivalent to violence, while the Japanese tend are probably the opposite, culturally speaking. While there is obviously no shortage of “problematic” stuff in various manga and anime, and some creators who take things too far or glorify toxic behavior, I can’t necessarily blame Japanese creators for knowing their audience and what will sell.

A classic like Dragon Ball comes to mind: there are plenty of sexual gags, panty shots, strange relationships, pervy dude, and so on. Sex is often played off for comedic value, but it’d be disingenuous to suggest that there isn’t a mild horniness to it too. There’s also a ton of violence and killing, and the whole thing is really one big power fantasy. We could debate whether or not any of that is a problem or whether it was all key to its success as a manga/anime, but regardless, Dragon Ball was a show that was targeting young men but has endured to the point of becoming a cultural icon, loved by people of all ages all over the world.

In other words, I think that we should expect shonen shows to be a little bit raunchy and immature at times, but some stuff manages to transcend that genre/demographic and rise above it that becoming truly iconic.

It’s easy to say “you just have to find the good anime, here’s an example” and then discounting the fact that it’s basically one out of 1,000.

Ok, sure… But like, how is this different from any other kind of media? What’s the ratio of good movies and TV shows to bad ones? What’s the ratio of good music and video games to bad ones?

I would love to tell people to skip the generic stuff and latest flavor of the season anime for masterpieces and cult classics like Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Metropolis, Ping Pong the Animation, Redline, etc., but people will still opt to watch a show about a catgirl with a nicotine addiction and use that as their north star for understanding the medium. (Not seriously judging Chainsmoker Cat, because I haven’t seen it and don’t know much about it.)

The point being that there is no shortage of good, high-quality anime spanning 50+ years for people who care to seek it out. I’ve been watching anime for decades and I’m still seeing discovering classic shows and awesome movies that I haven’t seen before. So yeah, go watch the good ones and skip the bad ones.

The evolutionary power inherent to all “spiral beings” including humans and animals, and absent in beastmen and anti-spirals.

The spiral metaphor is present in everything from animal DNA, to Simon’s drill, and all the way up to the scale of galaxies themselves. To me it represents the power of evolution, reproduction, dynamism, and the perpetual desire to be and do more.

As I understand it, the anti-spirals view spiral power as an out of control threat to the stability and order of the universe, and so it is up to Lordgenome the Spiral King and his army of basement to prevent spiral power from growing too much by limiting the population of the planet and having all other humans live underground.

Oh hell yeah! I’m in!

I only got into Galaxy Express 999 a couple of years ago, but I grew to really love it after watching most of the original 70s series as well as the 80s Rintaro films. It’s a fundamentally great story about what it means to be human in a world of technology, and I think that message is really important for modern times.

I’m glad to see that Rintaro is writing the script for this. We don’t seem to know who is directing this, but my dream director for this probably very out-of-left-field and maybe controversial, but I’d love to see Takeshi Koike take a stab at it since I know that he was a huge fan of the original film.

It’s really hard to say… I don’t think I can pick just one to be honest…

I love the romantic beauty and natural charm of Ghibli. I love the realism and details of Otomo, Satoshi Kon. I love the wild, colorful, and chaotic nature of creators like Tsurumaki, Imaishi, Koike, and Yuasa. Then you have shows like CITY, which was an incredible fusion of Arawi’s cute, simple and colorful artstyle backed by the animation prowess of Kyoto Animation. There are just too many great art styles out there to pick just one!

I will say that I mostly feel that anime peaked in the late 80s and 90s. Of course, nice looking stuff is still being made, and today colors are brighter and frames are cleaner, but there is just something textural about painted cels on top of painted backgrounds that we have lost in the transition to digital.

My prediction for the future of high-quality anime is that many creators will want to return to more physical media based pipelines, due to the perceived cheapening of digital art brought about by generative AI. Because ultimately creators want to stand out, and viewers want to be impressed.

Lupin The IIIrd (Fujiko Mine series and subsequent films)

Have you seen Redline?

If not, you really should! Takeshi Koike is a genius animator and Redline is one of my favorite anime movies. :)

The first episode of the new series is basically a panel-for-shot adaptation of the manga in both story and style. It’s definitely a lot more cartoony than the previous anime films and series.

Fair enough, I suppose.

I have my issues with it, and I basically had to watch it twice due to the very fast pacing and difficult dialogue/subtitles. But as a fan of these characters and this world, I did enjoy it and I’m glad to be seeing it.

For better or worse, the intent here seems to be to make a faithful adaptation of the iconic Shirow Masamune manga, both in terms of storytelling and stylization. Whether you think that’s a good goal or not really depends on how you feel about the manga, and whether it’s worth adapting in such a direct way. But that’s clearly what Science Saru is trying to do, and it hasn’t been done before with this manga.

As a fan of the Masamune’s manga, Oshii’s films, and Kamiyama’s SAC series (at least SAC, 2nd gig, and SSS), I see these all being threads of the tapestry that is Ghost in the Shell. Very different in style and substance, but all of them work together to create an interesting world and a set of great characters exploring interesting themes where humanity and technology coverage. I didn’t think one detracts from the others.

In that sense I disagree that this is “shitting all over something that you like”, and it’s probably more accurate to say that it’s being overly faithful to a manga that you don’t care for.

Why?

If big tech corporations (the richest companies on Earth, by far, by the way) value these works enough to use them as part of their AI training datasets, then maybe, just maybe, they should value the creators enough to pay them what they are owed for the rights to use the data.

Copyright law was made by those in power to protect the idea of intellectual property, but clearly they are willing to ignore their own rules at the first convenience.

Yeah, I really missed the boat getting in on it when it was $0.00…

Now I’d better get it at $0.0 before it shoots up to $0 next year.

The original Ghost in the Shell movie by Mamoru Oshii is iconic and gives you a great taste of what the characters and world are all about. It also looks fantastic and was extremely influential. I’d argue that’s the one to watch first.

After that you can go two ways, I think:

• If you want direct story continuity, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is a direct sequel by the same director. It’s dark and trippy (if a little slow at times), and I like it more every time I see it. It’s a good sequel to the original movie, and it’s a good movie to watch in our modern world of unethical technological exploitation of humanity for profit.

• The other option is to start watching the amazing tv series directed by Kenji Kamiyama, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, as well as the sequel series, Second Gig. These are both fantastic anime series that tell a lot of interesting episodic stories while maintaining an interesting through-line that gradually unravels a mysterious and nuanced criminal conspiracy. These series do so much to develop the world and characters beyond what they are in the films and the manga, and are a big part of why GitS is so beloved. There is also a pretty good SAC movie that you can watch after that.

And then, from that point, I think the other attempts at continuing GitS haven’t been that great and probably aren’t too worth watching unless you really want more.

This new show looks to be a radically new and fresh take on the franchise, much more cartoony and in line with the original manga style. This trailer references the Puppet Master, a charger in the original movie. I can only hope that it delivers in the complex and interesting cyberpunk dystopian storytelling that brings out the best of GitS. I’m cautiously optimistic about it.

I get it. Spike definitely comes from that lineage of manga/anime characters like Arsene Lupin III and Ryo Saeba who oscillate between 20th century coolness and total goofiness depending on the needs of the moment. Just like Lupin, things don’t usually go his way, and even when he does a good job he’ll still usually get fucked over.

Still, I think that Bebop is a must watch!

For me, it’s gotta be none other than Cowboy Bebop!

• It’s a fantastic sci-fi series that’s gritty and realistic without taking itself too seriously.
• The world-building is top notch, the cast of characters are extremely likeable, and the dialogue is memorable.
• It’s truly got something for everyone–kung fu, gunplay, ship battles, western, noir, comedic moments, drama, supernatural elements, immaculate vibes, etc.
• One of the best soundtracks of any show ever, famous for “jazz” but actually mixing a wide variety of genres and styles.
• Some of the best cel animation and painted backgrounds from the legendary studio Sunrise, with tasteful uses of early CG.
• Only 26 half-hour episodes, plus one optional film and one optional bonus episode.
• Mixes stand-alone episodes with a extremely satisfying longer story arc that will certainly leave you feeling something.
• Good performances in both the native Japanese, as well as the stellar English dub that was ahead of its time.

Cowboy Bebop seems to be the anime that transcends the genre more than almost anything else, and appeals to people even if they don’t typically gel with more tropey anime. I really think that Bebop is a triumph of the medium and one of the best television shows period, so I really can’t recommend it enough to everyone!

Agree with Eureka 7, it’s a little on the slow side, but when it hits, it hits.

Extra agree with Gunbuster as well as its follow-up Diebuster. Both fantastic shows! Two of my favorites.

Also, the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam and Char’s Counterattack are also great if you stick with them. The original show is a little slow at the start, but gets better and better until the end! Zeta is fantastic throughout! CCA is weird and edgy, but cool.

That’s amazing and inspiring, good for you! 😊