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Dali · Apr 30, 2007

Everyone who's gone outside their WWE/Monster Truck Sunday comfort zone has seen these movies, right? My question is why haven't we seen something a little more contemporary to replace these classics? Honestly are there any adult oriented action anime movies that can become the new example of anime for non-anime fans?

The best I can think of is the Animatrix, but that isn't a single cohesive narrative. Ghost in the Shell and its sequel are okay, but they lean more toward the drama side with less emphasis on action.

Where are they? Ninja Scroll types especially have been lacking. By NS-types I mean a martial arts action movie that actually animates the fights. None of that DBZ/Naruto crap that shows super fast fights of the same three frames repeated. Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop* are also good examples, but neither are movies and in the case of SC, the fights became scarcer as the series progressed.

I've yet to see the new Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) movie. Maybe it is what I'm looking for.

*I know there is a CB movie.

Stoney Mason · Apr 30, 2007

Actually I agree with the sentiment here. There hasn't been a lot of kick ass anime of the sort I like in years. I'm pretty much in sync with your taste adding in stuff like Trigun.

If I'm missing something let me know but it better be cool and kick-ass and not wimpy.

Son of Godzilla · Apr 30, 2007

Blood: The Last Vampire is an easy answer, although I think that's pretty old by now.

Great Rumbler · Apr 30, 2007

There's always Appleseed.

It's okay if all you're looking for is some nicely animated action scenes.

Stoney Mason · Apr 30, 2007

Great Rumbler said:
There's always Appleseed.

It's okay if all you're looking for is some nicely animated action scenes.

That cover looks a little........gay.

Not that there is anything wrong with that

buckfutter · Apr 30, 2007

You want that very specific late 80's, early 90's action anime style. Unfortunately, I think it's probably gone for good. The general character of the medium changes pretty rapidly, even though that perception comes largely from a temporary focus on the various niches. The older generation of directors who ruled that era aren't making so many features any more. Fortunately, there's plenty of other great animated stuff coming out of Japan if you aren't just looking for that (admittedly awesome) pulpy action stuff.

Might want to take a look at Memories, though. 1996, I think, and you didn't mention it in your post.

Stoney Mason · Apr 30, 2007

I've never really watched Gundam. Is that any good if I like anime of the sort we are talking about?

slayn · Apr 30, 2007

how about vampire hunter d: bloodlust?

7Th · Apr 30, 2007

Don't dismiss Naruto as a whole... there are 3 episodes of mad animated action sequences, just watch for Norio Matusumoto, although then again you're looking for movies rather than single episodes. Just watch Dead Leaves and Blood The Last Vampire, anyway.

Also Stoney Mason, if you want some recent well-done badass action the recently started SkullMan(noirish super-sentai), Gurren-Lagann (classical mecha in a modern and crazy kinetic style) and Seirei no Moribito(although the fighting is secondary to the long-winded expository dialogs) may be up your alley.

Stoney Mason said:
That cover looks a little........gay.

It's a girl.

Great Rumbler · Apr 30, 2007

Stoney Mason said:
That cover looks a little........gay.

Not that there is anything wrong with that

That's a woman, by the way.

Dali · Apr 30, 2007

buckfutter said:
You want that very specific late 80's, early 90's action anime style. Unfortunately, I think it's probably gone for good. The general character of the medium changes pretty rapidly, even though that perception comes largely from a temporary focus on the various niches. The older generation of directors who ruled that era aren't making so many features any more. Fortunately, there's plenty of other great animated stuff coming out of Japan if you aren't just looking for that (admittedly awesome) pulpy action stuff.

Might want to take a look at Memories, though. 1996, I think, and you didn't mention it in your post.

I know the medium has changed from by hand to cg coloring techniques, but there has to be some creators willing to make a feature-length movie with the content I have in mind. The Ninja Scroll director did the recent Animatrix short "Program". That was one of the best of the lot IMO.

Why can't a director say "screw this pretentious psychobabble" and make a hard-core action movie, like Ninja Scroll, or at least throw copious amounts of ultra-violence in with it... like Akira.

Appleseed CG remake sucks...bad. The cut-scenes in Rogue Galaxy look better.
Blood is good, but too short. Memories is good, but so is Metropolis and Ghibli films. I'm not saying there aren't quality anime movies out there. I'm just wondering if we will ever see uber-violence again (not the cheap shit though).

Ninja Scroll was 8 demons + one opening fight to show Jubei's badassery. The movie was averaging a highly detailed fight scene like every ten minutes.

Stoney Mason · Apr 30, 2007

Great Rumbler said:
That's a woman, by the way.

That's not cool.

Dali · Apr 30, 2007

7Th said:
Don't dismiss Naruto as a whole... there are 3 episodes of mad animated action sequences, just watch for Norio Matusumoto, although then again you're looking for movies rather than single episodes. Just watch Dead Leaves and Blood The Last Vampire, anyway.

I think I know two of the three Narutos you are talking about, and they are exactly what I'm looking for (Sasuke vs Naruto/Rock Lee in the gennin tournament?). Only make it at least 5 of them loaded into one movie. Funny thing about them was reading the youtube comments, people were saying they hated the way it looked and the animation was the worse.

Dead Leaves is awesome. I forgot all about that. An hour of nearly senseless violence. The only problem I had with it is it was waayy too stylized. If there was something modern that was as cool as that, that wasn't sooo... errrrr... cartoony... then that would be it.

Deleted member 18827 · Apr 30, 2007

For movies JinRoh and Metropolis.
For a recent series similar to Ninja Scroll I've heard Basilisk is good.

LuCkymoON · Apr 30, 2007

Chief Chujo said:
For movies JinRoh and Metropolis.
For a recent series similar to Ninja Scroll I've heard Basilisk is good.

Ninja Scroll and Basilisk are based off the same original story, but Basilisk is far superior.

Ree · Apr 30, 2007

Series is where it's all at these dayses. And yeah, check out Seirei ep 3, it's awesomelishious.

teruterubozu · Apr 30, 2007

This is my kind of anime thread. You're naming all the anime I can really stomach - Akira, Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, Blood the Last Vampire, Ghibli stuff, etc. I think Macross Plus should be included here as well. I still have Dead Leaves shrink-wrapped on my shelf - I should watch it. So Basilisk is good? How about some others in this vein?

7Th · Apr 30, 2007

LuCkymoON said:
Ninja Scroll and Basilisk are based off the same original story, but Basilisk is far superior.

LOL?

Dali · Apr 30, 2007

slayn said:
how about vampire hunter d: bloodlust?

Good answer.

chief chujo said:
For movies JinRoh and Metropolis.
For a recent series similar to Ninja Scroll I've heard Basilisk is good.

Bad answer. As stated in the OP. I'm basically looking for well-done uber violence. Both JinRoh and Metropolis are good

The end of Metropolis when the Ray Charles song comes in is just awesome

, but neither are very violent. JinRoh is a drama more than anything else.

teruterubozu said:
This is my kind of anime thread. You're naming all the anime I can really stomach - Akira, Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, Blood the Last Vampire, Ghibli stuff, etc. I think Macross Plus should be included here as well. I still have Dead Leaves shrink-wrapped on my shelf - I should watch it. So Basilisk is good? How about some others in this vein?

Not a very deep movie, but if you just want frenetic action and violence, then yes.

7Th said:
LOL?

Everytime I referenced Ninja Scroll I was talking about the only one that exists in my book... the movie. The one or two episodes I've seen of the series sucked and Basillisk is indeed better in that case.

7Th · Apr 30, 2007

Dali said:
Everytime I referenced Ninja Scroll I was talking about the only one that exists in my book... the movie. The one or two episodes I've seen of the series sucked and Basillisk is indeed better in that case.

I know... but they're not based on the same story...

SUPREME1 · Apr 30, 2007

Vampire Hunter D:BloodLust
Blood: The Last Vampire
AppleSeed: The Movie
Ninja Scroll
Fist of the North Star
Ghost in the Shell
Akira
Escaflowne
Jinroh

The above films should be mandatory watching for those wanting to get into Anime..

Also,

Ghost In The Shell > Akira

teruterubozu · Apr 30, 2007

can't forget Chojin Densetsu Urotsukidoji

btrboyev · Apr 30, 2007

Akira is the most over-rated anime in history....what a boring piece of shit that movie was.

karasu · Apr 30, 2007

Jinroh bored me to tears

D2M15 · Apr 30, 2007

teruterubozu said:
can't forget Chojin Densetsu Urotsukidoji

No matter how hard I try.

Anime cultureshock, thy name is IF YOU LIKED AKIRA, YOU'LL LOVE WICKED CITY AND UROTSUKIDOJI!

MadraptorMan · Apr 30, 2007

I'd say a little movie called Princess Mononoke qualifies as an action movie. Also, as some others have already said, Vampire Hunter D fills the niche nicely. And yeah, also the Bebop movie! In fact, I would say all of these movies are equal to or better than the two from the topic.

Dali · Apr 30, 2007

MadraptorMan said:
I'd say a little movie called Princess Mononoke qualifies as an action movie. Also, as some others have already said, Vampire Hunter D fills the niche nicely. And yeah, also the Bebop movie! In fact, I would say all of these movies are equal to or better than the two from the topic.

PM is a great movie. One of my favorites. I think people are not really understanding the focus though. PM is like Lion King. I'm not looking for that. I know where to find it in abundance. Bloodlust is a better example. Something I can't really sum up as anything better than uber-violence. The CB movie was very bland. The last two episode of the series had more action and better action.

Here's what I'm looking for:

1)High Production Value
2)Adult Oriented - by this I mean an atmosphere and character designs that don't resemble the Power Puff Girls
3)Frenetic Action/Violence (copius amounts)

Good examples of this are Ninja Scroll, Akira and Vampire Hunter D:Bloodlust. Akira doesn't have "copius amounts" of action/violence, but it definitely has its fair share and bests most modern movies in that department.

MadraptorMan · Apr 30, 2007

I'd say Mononoke is a great deal more violent than any Disney movie...what with the decapitations, battlefield amputations, profuse bleedings, and whatnot. But I guess I understand your point.

shuri · Apr 30, 2007

As far as i'm concerned, you pretty much covered everything. Anime stuff outside of those movies are pure tripe for kids and early teenagers.

...and sweatpants wearing north american manchilds.

MickeyKnox · Apr 30, 2007

btrboyev said:
Akira is the most over-rated anime in history....what a boring piece of shit that movie was.

Akira is a landmark film if only for it's absolutely insane budget and animation quality. As a film it's pretty mediocre at best.

However that's because it was trying to do the impossible, basically compressing all of this:

$picture572uz9.jpg\$

into a 2 hour feature. Read the manga, its absolutely amazing.

And to the OP, look up the 13 episode long Ninja Scroll series you would like it.

rollingstart · Apr 30, 2007

slayn said:
how about vampire hunter d: bloodlust?

great answer

Bit-Bit · Apr 30, 2007

Afro Samurai?

Zeenbor · Apr 30, 2007

What the OP is looking for is:

Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal

slayn · Apr 30, 2007

Also the kenshin ova about his past.

bah, beaten (samurai x)

Triumph · Apr 30, 2007

Chief Chujo said:
For movies JinRoh and Metropolis.
For a recent series similar to Ninja Scroll I've heard Basilisk is good.

Metropolis suuuuuuucked. Typical anime cliches abounded throughout it. Still, it was pretty to look at.

buckfutter · Apr 30, 2007

shuri said:
As far as i'm concerned, you pretty much covered everything. Anime stuff outside of those movies are pure tripe for kids and early teenagers.

...and sweatpants wearing north american manchilds.

No. Just most of it.

LuCkymoON · Apr 30, 2007

7Th said:
I know... but they're not based on the same story...

I'm sorry I shouldve said, Ninja Scroll is loosely based off the original story "The Kouga Ninja Scrolls" but did not credit the author Futaro Yamada.

btw if the OP is looking for ultraviolence then look no further than Hellsing OVA

Dali · Apr 30, 2007

LuCkymoON said:
I'm sorry I shouldve said, Ninja Scroll is loosely based off the original story "The Kouga Ninja Scrolls" but did not credit the author Futaro Yamada.

btw if the OP is looking for ultraviolence then look no further than Hellsing OVA

So far, I think this is the only one listed that I haven't seen. I was looking for movies, but I guess OVA is the next best thing. From what I read of it, it has quality issues though. I'm looking for top notch stuff.

Great Rumbler · Apr 30, 2007

Dali said:
PM is a great movie. One of my favorites. I think people are not really understanding the focus though. PM is like Lion King. I'm not looking for that. I know where to find it in abundance. Bloodlust is a better example. Something I can't really sum up as anything better than uber-violence. The CB movie was very bland. The last two episode of the series had more action and better action.

Here's what I'm looking for:

1)High Production Value
2)Adult Oriented - by this I mean an atmosphere and character designs that don't resemble the Power Puff Girls
3)Frenetic Action/Violence (copius amounts)

Good examples of this are Ninja Scroll, Akira and Vampire Hunter D:Bloodlust. Akira doesn't have "copius amounts" of action/violence, but it definitely has its fair share and bests most modern movies in that department.

You might want to check out Armitage III. Just make sure you get the four episode OVA and not any of the movies.

tedtropy · Apr 30, 2007

karasu said:
Jinroh bored me to tears

Yep. Rented it based on hype, went in totally wanting to enjoy it, thought it was going along really awesome for the first 30 minutes or so....then I had to fight the urge to fall asleep.

Now Ninja Scroll, I throughly enjoyed throughout. It was completely unabashed about what it was - a badass action story with several nice "mid-boss" battles, an awesome final showdown, and tons of gore and T&A.

Also, while I still find Akira to be pretty damn visually stunning from an animation standpoint, I find the movie to be, at best, too long, confusing, and generally not that entertaining. Yet I have a poster for the movie framed and on my wall because I think it looks cool. Yep, I'm part of the problem. This version of the poster, btw, not some of the other crappier ones...

LuCkymoON · Apr 30, 2007

Dali said:
So far, I think this is the only one listed that I haven't seen. I was looking for movies, but I guess OVA is the next best thing. From what I read of it, it has quality issues though. I'm looking for top notch stuff.

I'm not sure where you heard that about the OVA, the series sure but not the OVA.

Economan · Apr 30, 2007

I would rather not leave my WWE/Monster Truck Sunday comfort zone to watch anime thank you very much.

nitewulf · May 1, 2007

MadraptorMan said:
I'd say a little movie called Princess Mononoke qualifies as an action movie. Also, as some others have already said, Vampire Hunter D fills the niche nicely. And yeah, also the Bebop movie! In fact, I would say all of these movies are equal to or better than the two from the topic.

yeah...but you still named like, how many, 3 movies in all? i have seen all of them...the number is still too few to be satisfying. the op's topic stands. i miss the swords and sorcery genre in anime.

i'll recommend the slayers series. action and comedy, awesome.

nitewulf · May 1, 2007

oh, you should just skip everything and watch "black lagoon", if violence is what you're looking for. it's just...shockingly violent.

Dali · May 1, 2007

nitewulf said:
oh, you should just skip everything and watch "black lagoon", if violence is what you're looking for. it's just...shockingly violent.

I've seen it. It is an okay series.

Jason · May 1, 2007

While not movies, the "new" Hellsing OAVs might be up your alley.

The Frankman · May 1, 2007

Great Rumbler said:
There's always Appleseed.

It's okay if all you're looking for is some nicely animated action scenes.

so hokey. I remember seeing the US premiere in Manhattan and though it looked beautiful, the characters didn't mesh well with the backgrounds. Not to mention there are some scenes in it that left me and the audience cracking up. I'll never forget Masamune Shirow and Co. puzzled expression. :lol

For a "simple" show I always liked Rurouni Kenshin (depends on the arc though) or Yu Yu Hakusho.

Evenball · May 1, 2007

I guess no one considers Read or Die to be a great movie?

....slowly backs out of thread......

cryptic · May 1, 2007

I don't believe we'll ever see an anime in the league of Akira until Otomo decides' to pursue something similar.

EDIT:

ImperialConquest said:
Ghost In The Shell > Akira

I hope we're talking about the movie, which is a compressed version of about two books in the Dark Horse Akira manga. In that case I would partially agree, as I've always preferred subtlety in delivering philosophical themes (Akira) then simply the continuous doling out of aphorisms and such (GITS) just for the sake of being considered "intellectual."
But that's just my opinion.

Dali · May 1, 2007

cryptic said:
I don't believe we'll ever see an anime in the league of Akira until Otomo decides' to pursue something similar.
EDIT:

I hope we're talking about the movie, which is a compressed version of about two books in the Dark Horse Akira manga. In that case I would partially agree, as I've always preferred subtlety in delivering philosophical themes (Akira) then simply the continuous doling out of aphorisms and such (GITS) just for the sake of being considered "intellectual."
But that's just my opinion.

Well, Steamboy could have been good if he'd have taken the images that roll at the end and made the movie about that instead.

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