JELEINEN

Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer is the one movie I'm certain he directed. It's easily one of the best animated films of all time, but it is a bit odd for UY. It's more of an Oshii film using the UY character designs, much in the same way that Castle of Cagliostro is a great Miyazaki film, but not really a Lupin film.

ANN lists it as an OVA. I've not seen it myself either, though. Edit: going back to the official site, it appears that Kujibiki Unbalance anime is being released as a bonus disc with the DVD release of Genshiken.

After Di Gi Charat. After Excel Saga. After just about everything ever made by Gainax. I had pretty much sworn off geek/otaku self-referential anime. The humor in spotting the reference had just gotten old and over done. Then I found Genshiken. The first episode starts with the opening for Kujibiki Unbalance (which is not only a real anime, but also an anime within Genshiken), after which we are introduced to Sasahara, a college freshmen looking to join a club. Although he looks at the manga club, the anime club, and the gaming club he decides to join the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture (Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kankyuu Kai), or Genshiken for short. Genshiken combines anime, manga, games and other aspects of geek/otaku culture into a single group. Unfortunately, in a sub-culture not known for its social adeptness, Genshiken tends to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Young Sasahara, doesn't seem to mind as he's been supressing his otaku-ness and is finally able to enjoy openly going to Akihabara and attending conventions. Other members include Kosaka, the pretty boy otaku. Madarame, the most obsessive of the bunch and most vocal. Ohno, who's into cosplay. And, Saki, who's Kosaka's girlfriend and not an otaku herself. In many ways, Genshiken is the direct inheritor of the animated parts of Otaku no Video. Unlike it's predesessor though, Genshiken is not a total celebration of otaku-dom, but tends to be a more 'warts and all' show. I think it's especially interesting to view as a foreigner as there are enough cultural differences that I can watch it somewhat unbiasedly, but as a member of my own geek sub-culture there still a lot of familiarity (sometimes disconcertingly so). I'm also happy to add the word 'otaple' to my vocabulary. The character designs range from semi-realistic (frex Sasahara) to typical anime (frex Kosaka), which makes things kind of odd looking at times. The backgrounds are highly detailed, which makes for fun spotting things in the club's room or at the convention center. The animation is typical modern television level. In all, I recommend this series for it's frank yet humorous look at the fans behind the anime and manga. US release of the anime is pending. The manga is coming out in April from Del Rey Books. *This review was posted on more than one board.

There's nothing wrong with the style of animation. The problem is that it was a TV series and so didn't have enough of a budget to use a lot of cels per episode. I'll also throw in a recomendation for the series.

My Tezuka Trivia Fu is strong. I actually won a Tezuka trivia contest a couple years ago. And since we're on that vein... In the movie loosely based on Tezuka's Metropolis, there's a character named Roc who is not in the manga. What Tezuka manga is Roc really from?

hint it was published in 1953. Yeah, that's Ribon no Kishi (Knight in Ribbons).

Huh? I'm fairly certain that that's the correct answer... err question.

What is Ribon no Kishi?

Gokusen is definitely another show where the live action trumps the anime.

Go ahead, Lord Breetai.

In Future Boy Conan, what sort of weapon was used to create the post apocolyptic world the show is set in?

I don't know about a movie, but there was a live action GTO TV series. Came out just before or just after the anime (I can't remember for sure). I thought it was actually a much better show than the animated version.

I thought the interview with the original actor was pretty funny. It was almost an SNL moment. "In my day we didn't have breathing tubes in our costumes. We suffecated, and we liked it!"

mms://demandcnn.stream.aol.com/cnn/showbiz/2004/11/29/shubert.godzilla.at.50.affl.300k.wmv

Thanks for sharing Grand Cannon. Man, this toy looks sweet. I'm definitely getting one when they come out in the US. It's freakin' huge too!

Am I right?

Tree looks to be artificial in that picture. Cool idea though. If you really wanted a geek tree, you should put a 1/48 VF-1s Strike Valk on top instead of an angel or star in that pose from the end of DYRL?

I think the Scopedog is rather cool looking. One of the few reasonably realistic robot designs out there. It's more on the 'tank with legs' side of things than your average anime robot.

I don't think the US release is coming till this Spring. Still even four or five months early isn't worth $60.00.

That one's pretty good. The ending to Pretty Cure is fun. The openings to both Bleach and Gantz are decent. Panda Z has to be my favorite of the most recent batch of shows. In fact, the whole soundtrack is awesome.

Is there any other source for this? Doesn't sound like it's very reliable without confirmation.

Thought of another cool one. The AMP logo from Silent Möbius.

Grand Prix (GP) then Giant X is what I remember.

Harmagedon: Genma Taisen Correct.

Time's up. It was Radio Taizo's Good Morning Song. What anime film's soundtrack was created by Kieth Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Nice fame?