18 great animated films unavailable on Blu-ray
Vampire Hunter D (1985)
If you're unfamiliar with the name Toyoo Ashida, you may well have seen some of his work: he directed episodes of the classic Mysterious Cities Of Gold, served as animation director on another east-west TV collaboration, Ulysses 31, and directed the unfeasibly violent Fist Of The North Star movie in 1986.
One of his finest pieces of anime, however, was his 1985 adaptation of Vampire Hunter D, a series of novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi. A dark and quite strange fusion of post-apocalyptic sci-fi, horror and western, it saw its wandering hero (complete with cyborg horse) defend a young woman from a powerful vampire named Count Magnus Lee. It's a great, atmospheric and entertainingly gory movie, and deservedly earned a cult following in the west.
Vampire Hunter D was issued in restored form in 2003, which was a huge step up from the grubby print that appeared on VHS in the UK years earlier. A high-definition transfer on Blu-ray would be a treat, though. The gaudy blues, moody blacks and crimson geysers of gore in Ahida's animation would really stand out in HD.
In the late 1940s, the godfather of anime Osamu Tezuka created Metropolis, a manga loosely inspired by Fritz Lang's seminal science fiction film of the same name. Years later, animation studio Madhouse took on the task of adapting Tezuka's story about humans and robots in a distant future city. Directed by Rintaro - whose previous work included Galaxy Express 999 and the brilliantly dark Doomed Megalopolis - Metropolis was written by Akira's Katsuhiro Otomo, and on a $15m budget, looked absolutely stunning.
Despite its broad story and sumptuous visuals, Metropolis didn't perform as spectacularly overseas as something like Akira, which was an unexpected cross-over hit. On DVD, Metropolis is now becoming difficult to find - copies of its 2002 issue are increasingly scarce. A Blu-ray release could bring this magnificent film to a whole new audience's attention.
Whoa, I've seen the movie, never knew it was written in the 40s as a manga or that Otomo wrote it. Now I need to see this Doomed Megalopolis
Doomed Megalopolis is far from brilliant, but it is fun and (sometimes) very pretty shlock. It also makes very little sense without further knowledge of the source material, or Japan of that era.
Given that you're never going to get around to trying Ghost Hound, you should try The Tatami Galaxy, GG. It looks and sounds great, and the story is basically a post-modern Groundhog Day. I think you might like it.
Interesting picks, I'll see if they're on Crunchyroll etc.
I don't remember anyone suggesting Ghost Hound?
gamingeek said:Interesting picks, I'll see if they're on Crunchyroll etc.
I don't remember anyone suggesting Ghost Hound?
I did. You might like the soundtrack, everything else you may hate.
Bulat.... what's up with Akame ga Kill? Aren't they going to run out of imperial arms? I don't like the incursio armour, looks too much like a mech suit. I finished Jojo Stardust Crusaders, pretty good, waiting for the Egypt arc to commence in January.
I just finished watching seson 1 (12 episodes) of Tokyo Ghoul. It's a serious action-horror anime on Funimation. Season 2 will simulcast starting January 2015. I can't wait. Highly recommended. .
I've seen the first 5 episodes of School Rumble so far (there are 52 episodes total on Funi). It's light-hearted romantic comedy, NO ecchi/pervert stuff in this at all. It's very funny. Highly recommended.
I just watched the first four episodes of The Future Diary. OMFG! It's a psychological action-horror where a boy can see his future written on his cell phone. Very serious, and very creepy! Watch this!!
EDIT: I forgot to mention this: Be sure to watch after the end credits for more story content--it's not next episode previews!
Is that all on Crunchyroll too?
Just passed the episode where the baddies attacked Night Raid on Akame ga Kill. Shouldn't the series be called Night Raid?
Any way to trick Funimation into thinking I'm connecting via the USA?
13 episodes into Akame ga Kill. Nice series, pretty entertaining in a throwaway sort of way. Loved when Tatsumi was caught with his fly undone.
gamingeek said:Any way to trick Funimation into thinking I'm connecting via the USA?
13 episodes into Akame ga Kill. Nice series, pretty entertaining in a throwaway sort of way. Loved when Tatsumi was caught with his fly undone.
Yes, if it works like Netflix. Use the Chrome browser, and get the Hola browser extension. It will allow you to select what country you're identified in. I use it to access Netflix UK.
For Foolz
So I'm watching One Piece and on Crunchyroll Akame ga Kill and might polish off the last 2 episodes of Jojo Stardust Crusaders. So any recommendations for what to watch after? I want to watch S.A.O. but I started with dubs so I want to continue with dubs.
I posted this in the news page so will post it here cause the gifs are cool:
This is why Fist of the North Star rocks.
And this of course.
Vader vs Edge on The Witcher 2