Truly epic animated series... Recommendations?

JMChladek said:
The Filmation Flash Gordon movie and series are some good examples of late 1970s animation where Filmation tried to push what was possible. Here they used motion control models for some scenes and animated over the top for good clean motion as well. And the story in this was a lot more adult than Saturday morning cartoons and it was serialized, so there were consequences to actions and at least in the film, people did die. Only thing is I don't believe these ever came out on DVD. Youtube has the film in segments, but the quality isn't great.
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They did, actually, come out on DVD and they're TERRIFIC. I highly recommend these if you can handle the older style animation.

Sigma-LS said:
5. Reboot (WHO IS NUMBER ONE?
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YOU ARE NUMBER SIX.

Oh, sorry. Wrong show.

The UC Gundam stuff is great. Start with the 08th MS Team.
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Another vote for the UC Gundam stuff. Although I'd quibble with the order of it. The way I'd do it is:

Gundam 0079 (or just "First Gundam")
Midway through that -- right at Ghiren's big speech -- you cut to 08th MS Team (which starts at that point), watch it, and then go back to 0079.
Gundam 0083
Z Gundam
ZZ Gundam (although, honestly, this one was my least favorite)
Char's Counter-Attack

You can go back and watch Gundam F91 and V Gundam, but those are kind of separate from the rest.



Nwerke said:
No love for Macross...the original is dated but still watchable and DEFINITELY epic, as was DYRL. Macross Frontier was pretty good, I thought? And Macross Plus goes without saying...
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Seconded. Just remember, if you're confused when you watch 'em, DYRL is the in-universe "film" about the "actual" events of Macross. You could also do Macross 7 although...it's kinda tough to get through at points. Cool mecha, though.

SSgt Burton said:
Finally! :lol


I was going to say, "No love for 'Star Blazers'?" Am I that old? :confused :lol
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DEFINITELY Star Blazers, or better still Space Battleship Yamato!! Hell, just the opening theme song is worth it. I think that while the animation doesn't stand the test of time, the story DEFINITELY does.

But even so, old school animation is part of animation "art history," so it's worthwhile to see how designs developed.

Oh, and....ebay. Just sayin'.
 
Macross 7 is a very weird series. It kind of goes out to left field compared to the other series. I haven't watched Frontier yet. Macross II was an interesting miniseries/movie that felt more like the original.
 
Some good ones are mentioned here. Ghost in the Shell is up there at the top. The TV show (Stand Alone Complex) is closer to the manga. Start with the TV show and made for TV movie (Solid State Society) then move on to the two movies.

I'll add Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. It's one of the better Japanese to English shows. Although, I still haven't seen all of the original Japanese version yet. The American version has far better music and I usually like anime music.

I think Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets) is supposed to be really good. But I haven't seen the original show just the American version.
 
Fist of the North Star full japanese series, 160 episodes give or take great character development and stories.
Starblazers is still a favorite of mine. Im still waiting to get the new movie that came out last year on DVD.
 
Solo4114 said:
Another vote for the UC Gundam stuff. Although I'd quibble with the order of it. The way I'd do it is:

Gundam 0079 (or just "First Gundam")
Midway through that -- right at Ghiren's big speech -- you cut to 08th MS Team (which starts at that point), watch it, and then go back to 0079.
Gundam 0083
Z Gundam
ZZ Gundam (although, honestly, this one was my least favorite)
Char's Counter-Attack

You can go back and watch Gundam F91 and V Gundam, but those are kind of separate from the rest.
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The problem with that is simple: Bandai flat-out REFUSES to release all of the Universal Century GUNDAM shows available in Region 1! :angry

One of my best friends is a major fanatic for all things GUNDAM, and he occasionally emails Bandai to ask them when certain DVDs are coming out. Thanks to him, I know that Bandai has NO plans to ever release ZZ GUNDAM in Region 1, and the same is true of V GUNDAM. They're also doing a p!$$-poor job of keeping the UC GUNDAM shows available as back catalog titles offered at a reasonable price. There is NO low-cost Complete Series set of the original Mobile SUIT GUNDAM from the late '70s. But you CAN buy low-cost Complete Series sets of the much newer GUNDAM WING and GUNDAM SEED. It's as if they actually WANT the fans to turn to Hong Kong bootlegs! :rolleyes
 
turn A gundam.

just that one of the 20+ series. just turn A gundam. might be silly, voilent, and epic enough. the last cartoon made by the creator of the gundam franchise.made made/written i heard, while he was having a nervous breakdown. i dont know if it's true, but it is far different from the other "giant killer robot show for litttle zombie boys".
 
Jack,

Bandai doesn't want to go out of business over Gundam...

The series doesn't sell well in the US and the fact is while the Japanese are okay with the original show being remade every year that doesn't sell well with the animation crowd in the US.

The reason why Bandai is releasing Gundam in the first place is that they own half the series. Years ago, when other companies wanted to release the show in the US, Bandai and Sunrise asked $20million for the video rights. NONE of the anime companies in the US can afford to pay that! To wit, the more powerful Hollywood studio would pay to own Gundam outright but they want the rights at a much lower price, too. After a half-decade, Bandai realized they had to market the show on their own and tipped their toes in the water first with VHS releases of Gundam 0083 and Gundam 0080. After 1999, by which time it was obvious that DVD was replacing VHS as the media of choice for film and TV series releases, that's when Bandai got serious about Gundam releases. Unfortunately, the shows generally have not sold well in the States despite airings on Cartoon Network. CN has given up on Gundam as of Gundam Seed where the ratings were deplorable.

Fact is the adult (animation) collector crowd in the US is small and most anime fans are not long-term, hardcore fans either. They're teenagers and college-age students who are generally broke. For most, it's a fad and a thing they're into for a short period of time because it's different and not at all like Disney or WB animated shorts. A lot of them are cosplayers and superficialists that are into things because they're "neat" and they neither understand nor care to watch a bunch of these shows, either. They're just not that nerdy!

Also, bootlegs have been around forever and can be obtained at any Little Tokyo, Chinatown, or Little Saigon depending on which city you live nearby. Bootleggers start first with the official Japanese releases and then rip off the American distributor DVD releases! Bootlegs of the Japanese discs get replaced as soon as the English dubbed discs become available. Half of the bootleggers are "fans" that feel they have to share the booty and they generally don't pay for this stuff. It's distributed online the same day it gets released!

Bandai just released the original Gundam uncut on DVD through its online store this past summer. Chances are the usual online vendors will start selling the series from their stores within a year. That's what happened with all the other Bandai store exclusives after a period of time.

These things are available for less than retail and people CAN get deals at some websites or buy gently used copies of these series. They just have to look. The fact that they don't means any number of things... They don't like the shows that much, they can't afford it, or they don't want to pay for anything! The last reason is the usual explanation.
 
The thing about Batman: The Animated Series is that there is not that many overarching stories. However, If you begin with Batman go onto Superman: TAS, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Justice League/Unlimited the show gets an overarching storyline that has a much more broader picutre... Takes a while, but you'll start to notice references to the previous shows, even as far back as Batman: TAS. That's over ten years of backstory. :)

Another suggestion is Young Justice... Good show so far. (The only good one on Cartoon Network these days.) :darnkids
 
Reading some of these suggestions have been like a timewarp for me!
I remember coming home after school when "Toonami" used to still be on, they played a lot of these shows.

So i'll just add another that they used to play that hasn't been listed yet;
Ronin Warriors
The animation is a little dated but the story is solid. Man I loved that show.

I wanted to like "Eureka 7," I could even look past the surfing mechs; but I couldn't stand the whiny kid as the main character. I wanted to strangle the kid.
 
....i almost forgot a cartoon from the mid-eighties.... i thought it was trash, since voltron and gi-joe were talked about so well, and they had bad quality animation. however,

dungeons and dragons


was was told, well drawn (only a little less clean than a cartoon from 2005 and later) and had a decent framerate. demons, nazis, dragons, and a great opening scene.
 
Oh, forgot to mention Ergo Proxy. Can't believe we're on page 3 and that hasn't come up. LOVE that series.

Nihilistic as all hell, which I usually hate, but not in this case.
 
I'd like to second Beast Wars. Such an excellent series with a lot of plot and backstory. It was an awesome show and I still miss it 10 years later!
 
Macross.
Gatchaman (def NOT Battle of the Planets)
Yamato
Mysterious Cities of Gold
 
The new Evangelion is pretty nice to watch. The Avatar series is just a great series to see.

One I really enjoyed despite the oddity at times was Soul Eater. They streamed the video on line but then it went to DVD sales and its is just now on the market and off the net. THE ODD thing for marketing... They left out the final half hour of the series on dvd. I don't know if they are re-writing it to continue on which they could anyhow or if they are greedy and looking to have people pay the full price of a set for the one final episode. Either way, kind of a crappy thing to do. A great little series though.
 
Jaina_Organasolo said:
I agree on Dungeons and Dragons - One of my all time favourites; even if it had no beginning and no end.
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I think one of the DVD sets has the planned ending recorded by a good number of the show's voice actors. It's the set that goes for a lot of money now. However, the cheaper set has the correct music. I'm hopeful for a nice Blu-ray set but I might just get the cheap set since it's usually around $5 to $8.
 
Wakeem said:
I think one of the DVD sets has the planned ending recorded by a good number of the show's voice actors. It's the set that goes for a lot of money now. However, the cheaper set has the correct music. I'm hopeful for a nice Blu-ray set but I might just get the cheap set since it's usually around $5 to $8.
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what?!?!?!?!?they removed the 80's porn-like backround music?


NNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
 
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