After the anime boom in the 90s that was brought forth by,dare I say it,Pokemon,it went uphill then on until in the mid 00s,it went soaring high to crashing low to the state it is in today.I blame it on the economy,the fact that no one buys the DVDs,there aren't that many good ones to watch,or maybe the new generation made all this what it is today.What do you think?

I see some of the cartoons on TV when my kids are watching it. The stories are more complex these days. But I don't go outside of Gatchaman much since I don't have much TV... I have noticed that the characters faces tend to look all the same with very little deviation. You didn't give an 'on the fence option...

I haven't really watched much other than Gatch lately...I did love Inuyasha, but that's not a new anime...

The ones I watch nowadays were like Code Geass and reruns of Fullmetal Alchemist. That was one of Adult Swim's best.

Besides Gatch, I've watched some Inuyasha, Fullmetal, and Gundam Seed. I have no idea what the "teens" are watching these days though. As for the Kiddies Sponge Bob and Ben Ten (not sure if I have the last one right) seem to be the two big names that are always mentioned.

Some anime I've seen are Blue Seed, School Rumble, DearS, xxxHolic, Ranma 1/2 and Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. One I really liked that I thought was different was Emma: A Victorian Romance.

Originally posted by clouddancer Ben Ten (not sure if I have the last one right)

My kids are into Ben Ten (that's the older series, now there's Ben Ten Alien Force) but I would hardly call it Anime.

Never see Ben Ten, I do not know anything about it. Only that when I am teaching my media unit and ask what shows the kids are watching they give that name. I guess I had linked it to the anime type shows like Digimon and Yu-gi-oh and transformers.

Besides Gatch like everybody here.....obvisouly...... I have watched Ghost In The Shell, Gvyer, Appleseed, (all three I have got at home). I have watrched a recent Fist Of The North Star OAV, the original Gvyer OAV, Appleseed 2, Metropolis (based on Fritz Lang's black and white 1920s film, a Street Fighters ainme, Tekkan ainme. I have seen couple of episodes of Final Fantasy Unlimited series but wasn't impressed with it nor with Gundam Seed.

I have all of Fullmetal Alchemist and Neon Genesis Evangelion, but they're the only non-Gatch animes I've ever seen a lot of, and they're aren't all that new either. I wouldn't call them stale, but I haven't seen any really recent anime series.

I've basically seen every title that was mentioned.I wasn't able to see the original Speed Racer but I did see some bits of Ultraman and Super Sentai.(I know they're not anime but they seem to belong in this board somehow.)

I think to us older folks it is. I was part of that Mid 90s Anime boom thanks to Toonami. Back then Anime was that "Cult Phenomenon" The stuff that the "big kids" watched, of course a lot of the popular shows back then were dubbed Anime (Sailor Moon, DBZ, Pokemon, and obviously BotP). Now there's less Anime on American TV, and the whole Anime culture has evolved along with its new fanbase. I think part of it is we're grown up with jobs and have LESS TIME to keep up with all the hot series that fans are watching. Plus Anime isn't as simple anymore. These days it's either loads of Japanese gags, or deep philosophy, there's the cliche shonen titles too, and these shows have found a new audience. I'm not saying it's all bad there's definitely some good stuff here and there. Miyazaki's still making movies for one. I myself, am a huge fan of the Anime, One Piece (I find nothing tops it's epicness). And despite my cynicism, Gurren Lagann is THE reason I love Anime and still watch it. But I've mostly been too busy to sit at my computer and just watch oodles of Anime like I used to. I've resorted to renting Anime via RentAnime.com to catch up with the older series everyone rants and raves about. It's slow going but ONE of these days I might see what this Code Geass is that everyone rants about. XD

Ummm, Cain please be careful with that older folks expression .... to me you are just a young pup and you fit right in with Xephon both being born in the 80's. Now those of us from the 60's and 70's I would say are the older folk .....

I'm so sorry. I meant no offense. I kinda forgot. I sometimes *feel* older merely because most anime fans you see nowadays (IE the NEW crowd) are in their mid-teens and were born in the 90s.

I understand Cain, no offense taken. It is nice to see the younger generation join this fandom and I like seeing their/your POV on the series/show.

Originally posted by Cain Highwind I'm so sorry. I meant no offense. I kinda forgot. I sometimes *feel* older merely because most anime fans you see nowadays (IE the NEW crowd) are in their mid-teens and were born in the 90s.

You're forgiven by this "old phoegy" - who remembers watching first run "Astro Boy"....

The first animated show that I have any recollection of watching was, sadly, this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Robin_Hood I belong to Netflix, and I have added a bunch of animes to my "queue" but unless I rearrange the order, it will be a long time before I get to them. I'm so out of touch with what the "latest" trends are these days. It's not just anime -it always seems like new things are coming out faster than I have time to view or read them! But maybe there's an advantage to trailing 5 or 10 years behind, in that I have time to get a better idea of which DVDs and books are truly worth my time.

I wonder what was it like to be a fan of the original Speed Racer back in the day?

Originally posted by Xephon0930 I wonder what was it like to be a fan of the original Speed Racer back in the day?

You mean - when I was driving my parents crazy for wanting to watch "that terrible destructive cartoon stuff"? I made it a point to get home from school (with my homework complete) in order to see it when it came on KPLR (St. Louis) in the afternoons.... Same with BotP (although that was more a matter of getting to the community room at college in time to take over the channel)...

Being an "old phogey" myself I just remembered I used to watch Kimba the White Lion on the old UHF channel.

OMG, LB, I remember Rocket Robin Hood... scary!!!! And I can still hear that theme song!

Originally posted by Transmute Jun OMG, LB, I remember Rocket Robin Hood... scary!!!! And I can still hear that theme song!

So I'm not the only one! What I mostly remember is that they seemed to always be getting trapped in rooms where the walls would start closing in on them, and Little John would always try to brace them with his quarter staff. It really disturbs me sometimes just how much finds its way onto youtube.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MfisiGqtEM

What the......I'm glad that never came over here.

HAHA ... Flash introduced me to Rocket Robin Hood. Bloody awful... Did you know that some of the background artwork in that show was actually old stock from Spiderman? Flash likes Super Friends and Spiderman ... I just get a kick out of the music in Spiderman... Makes you just groove out... I will have to say here that, whilst I believe Japanese anime to be sliding downhill somewhat -- especially when they're dubbed -- some of the North American ones seem to really be ramping it up and doing pretty darn good. (Simpsons, et al, aside) Last night Flash decided to watch a new one called The Ultimate Avengers or something (I dunno, I was TRYING to sleep off a massive headache) ... And the animation was simply gorgeous! Ben Ten is a pretty cool show, as was the Justice League. In fact, the Justice League movie they did a couple of years back was really good! I loved that they finally got Wonderwoman right! I really don't get the chance to watch a lot these days, though. Joshie likes to watch either BotP, Gatch (he calls it Shupa), Astroboy, or any of those horrid preeschooler shows on TV. Fortunately he lets me watch Discovery Channel ... SJ

OMG! I have to say, I am thankful that I never saw Rocket Robin Hood as a kid! But I was cracking up at the intro- I especially loved his pose at the end! This seems like a Saturday Night Live skit in the making to me!

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun Flash likes Super Friends and Spiderman ... I just get a kick out of the music in Spiderman... Makes you just groove out... In fact, the Justice League movie they did a couple of years back was really good! I loved that they finally got Wonderwoman right! SJ

I can remember watching the old 60s Spiderman and Hulk as a kid. I loved the Batman The Animated Series which came out after the Tim Burton Batman films and I have watched the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited on YouTube. Thought it was brilliant. There were/are thinking of making a Justice League live action film.

LB.... you are really killing me with this! OMG... I remember watching Rocket Robin Hood at lunchtime. If we were home from school for lunch, the only 'kid shows'/cartoons on were Rocket Robin Hood and the Flintstones, on CTV. I think Rocket Robin Hood is Canadian, because Americans don't seem to know it. What about Roger Ramjet? Do you guys remember that one? and the theme song to the tune of Yankee Doodle?

I remember watching Rocket Robin Hood in Nova Scotia when I was probably 3 or 4. I think it was worked into some sort of Saturday morning children's programming -the only other thing I can remember is that there were skits of some underwater scene (done with puppets) with talking fish and an oyster who was always terrified that her pearl would get stolen. Did anyone else ever see "The Mighty Hercules"? It aired in Nova Scotia in the early 80s, both early in morning on weekdays, and at lunchtime (on the CBC, I think...) It's pretty bad too! No wonder so many of us loved BOTP so much. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAMm7XwdD_M&feature=related

Originally posted by Transmute Jun LB.... you are really killing me with this! OMG... I remember watching Rocket Robin Hood at lunchtime. If we were home from school for lunch, the only 'kid shows'/cartoons on were Rocket Robin Hood and the Flintstones, on CTV. I think Rocket Robin Hood is Canadian, because Americans don't seem to know it. What about Roger Ramjet? Do you guys remember that one? and the theme song to the tune of Yankee Doodle?

In the mid/late 80s, there was a program called No 73, which had Roger Ramjet on. I can barely remember it, so I can't comment on how good/bad it was. Roger Ramjet

Batfink

Rocket Robinhood!?! WTF!?!?!?! That makes the Korean Theme of Gaogaigar seem like a platinum hit!!!

Hey Met. How about Bananaman, voiced by the guy from the Goodies?

Originally posted by lborgia88 Did anyone else ever see "The Mighty Hercules"?

Hercules, only the good guy fear him Hercules, you are in danger when near him Fighting for his life With a rubber knife Has the strength of one Ordinary bum! Yep, see what two bored kids can do when BOTP isn't on? And FTR, when we said 'bum', we meant 'homeless person'. That's what they were called back then.

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Hercules, only the good guy fear him Hercules, you are in danger when near him Fighting for his life With a rubber knife Has the strength of one Ordinary bum! Yep, see what two bored kids can do when BOTP isn't on?

Why am I not surprised that even back then, you were composing filks!

Ohhh, yes I remember the "Might Hercules" and Newton the child-like centaur. I remember Newton playing his panpipes all the time and yelling Herc, Herc.....

Originally posted by Metaliant

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun Flash likes Super Friends and Spiderman ... I just get a kick out of the music in Spiderman... Makes you just groove out... In fact, the Justice League movie they did a couple of years back was really good! I loved that they finally got Wonderwoman right! SJ

I can remember watching the old 60s Spiderman and Hulk as a kid. I loved the Batman The Animated Series which came out after the Tim Burton Batman films and I have watched the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited on YouTube. Thought it was brilliant. There were/are thinking of making a Justice League live action film.

Speaking of Comic Book based cartoons. I've been starting to watch some of the new Marvel based cartoons lately. The recently laid to rest FF cartoon on Boomerang. I remember not being too excited from the previews, but I finally watched a few episodes and I do like it a lot. Very slick. I'm just sad that it's been canceled. I've also been watching the new Spectacular Spider Man (done by Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman) and the new Wolverine and the X-Men. Good stuff! Marvel's always been a little behind in the Animated adaptation camp. DC really beat them to the punch thanks to Timm's groundbreaking work. But now they're really catching up. I haven't seen a lot of those "special Marvel movies" only because I'd see commercials and feel underwhelmed by the art.

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun Hey Met. How about Bananaman, voiced by the guy from the Goodies?

Actually all the Goodies voiced all the charactors from Bananaman and for just for you SJ, I will find the intro on YouTube.

Originally posted by Reboekah

Originally posted by Xephon0930 I wonder what was it like to be a fan of the original Speed Racer back in the day?

You mean - when I was driving my parents crazy for wanting to watch "that terrible destructive cartoon stuff"? I made it a point to get home from school (with my homework complete) in order to see it when it came on KPLR (St. Louis) in the afternoons.... Same with BotP (although that was more a matter of getting to the community room at college in time to take over the channel)...

Oh boy, Reboekah, your mom flipped out over "horrible violent cartoons" too? Mine threw a fit over Speed Racer and BotP--good grief--I had to watch them at a friend's house! I don't know what she thinks of the stuff that's on nowadays. She probably has no idea--they got rid of their cable years ago. Nowadays they just watch movies and Mystery! series. Speaking of somewhat-sort-of-recent anime, we really, really enjoyed Chrono Crusade, both as the manga and the animated series. Lessee here, other series I liked . . . Gundam Wing, Inu-Yasha, Ranma 1/2 . . . huh, getting into older material here. It's true that a lot of the series I can think of are older: Hurricane Polymar, Tekkaman Blade, Record of Lodoss Wars, Orguss. Thunderbirds 2086 ran a close second to BotP on my wanna-see list. I also liked Robotech (please don't hit). Some other good ones are newer but definitely not current: Tenchi Muyo, Zoids (the US version), Escaflowne. Also *cough* Digimon (what can I say? They were cute). And They Were 11 is still one of my favorite anime movies ever. I mean, who could not love the cafeteria scene? IIII'm . . . an Old Phart(TM) an' I don't care . . . .

I remember watching BOTP one day and my mother commented on the flirting between Mark and Princess... I didn't know she even paid any attention to my fave cartoons.

Originally posted by Barrdwing

Originally posted by Reboekah

Originally posted by Xephon0930 I wonder what was it like to be a fan of the original Speed Racer back in the day?

You mean - when I was driving my parents crazy for wanting to watch "that terrible destructive cartoon stuff"? I made it a point to get home from school (with my homework complete) in order to see it when it came on KPLR (St. Louis) in the afternoons.... Same with BotP (although that was more a matter of getting to the community room at college in time to take over the channel)...

Oh boy, Reboekah, your mom flipped out over "horrible violent cartoons" too? Mine threw a fit over Speed Racer and BotP--good grief--I had to watch them at a friend's house! I don't know what she thinks of the stuff that's on nowadays. She probably has no idea--they got rid of their cable years ago. Nowadays they just watch movies and Mystery! series. Speaking of somewhat-sort-of-recent anime, we really, really enjoyed Chrono Crusade, both as the manga and the animated series. Lessee here, other series I liked . . . Gundam Wing, Inu-Yasha, Ranma 1/2 . . . huh, getting into older material here. It's true that a lot of the series I can think of are older: Hurricane Polymar, Tekkaman Blade, Record of Lodoss Wars, Orguss. Thunderbirds 2086 ran a close second to BotP on my wanna-see list. I also liked Robotech (please don't hit). Some other good ones are newer but definitely not current: Tenchi Muyo, Zoids (the US version), Escaflowne. Also *cough* Digimon (what can I say? They were cute). And They Were 11 is still one of my favorite anime movies ever. I mean, who could not love the cafeteria scene? IIII'm . . . an Old Phart(TM) an' I don't care . . . .

Oddly enough I remember watching the old Speed Racer when it was shown on MTV next to Beevis and Butthead, but then my mom objected (understandably) to me watching B&B so that was pretty much the end of MTV for me. And yeah, ALL RIGHT Barrdwing. Lodoss War! High Five! Oh and Digimon WAS a cool alternative to Pokemon. I was a part of the Pokecraze for a while, but the series started to lose my interest at its repetitiveness, while Digimon's story and action was engaging. The "Movie" was good too. Have you seen that? The director of that film is really starting to gain some attention for his film works.

The original Thunderbirds had puppets but 2086 looked like it was Gatchaman for a split second.

I was a huge Speed Racer fan when I was a kid. It was part of the Saturday morning line-up. Mum never had any problems with us watching anything overly destructive. Hell, she let me watch An American Werewolf in London when I was six. I was watching Halloween at eight ... I don't know that I'd allow Joshie to watch horror films, but I have no issue with him watching CSI, NCIS or even Mayday. During the last episode of Mayday, Joshie pursed his lips, looked at me and said "I'd like to fly in an airplane, Mummy." Meanwhile the plane on the TV was spiralling mid-dive with total engine flame-out and all the passengers were screaming with the pain of massive G-Forces. I flicked a brow and looked back at the TV and asked if he was sure about that. He nodded and said, "Planes are safe. That plane is just sick, but it'll be okay." He looked back at the TV with a tilted head and added. "Maybe I'll fly one, like Mark." (Incidentally, the pilots did regain control of the plane, the engines refired and they got it down safe -- Josh giggled and pointed at the TV and said "See. It's better now.") :grin: Oh I am so proud of the little monkey. Even though every week we watch a plane fall from the sky he still has no fear over it His fav show is, of course, Big Bang Theory... I'm not allowed to turn it off. He thinks Sheldon is the bomb and has become a Flash and Green Lantern fan as a result. I am so raising a comic book guy ... :grin: SJ

When I was little, I usually got more upset about bad things happening to animals on TV than to people, but there were some things that freaked me out and gave me nightmares. It didn't help that my older brother would usually tell me that the things that scared me were real and would come to get me as soon as I fell asleep! This episode of Space 1999 was, I think, the thing that terrified me the most! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tbXhu09m5s

According to Mum, the only TV show that freaked me out .... was Lassie. She said I would freak... Yet, I really enjoyed the Littlest Hobo (still do sometimes when I'm feeling nostalgic) ... So it wasn't the doggie. Freddie Kruger was high on my list of watchables, but Lassie was terrifying -- go figure.

Originally posted by Cain Highwind Oh and Digimon WAS a cool alternative to Pokemon. I was a part of the Pokecraze for a while, but the series started to lose my interest at its repetitiveness, while Digimon's story and action was engaging. The "Movie" was good too. Have you seen that? The director of that film is really starting to gain some attention for his film works.

I'd have to say I was in the whole Pokemon craze too when it was popular. Digimon had more of a story line than Pokemon from what I remember.

I think I have the Digimon movie around here somewhere--seems to me it turned up at Target, and I nabbed it. I haven't watched it yet, although I keep meaning to. It falls into the category of "treat, I should make sure I have enough time to watch the whole thing so I can enjoy it." Which of course makes it harder to find enough time. I loved Lodoss Wars! That one was the best movie rental "find" I ever made. Bought a bunch of the music CDs at Fanime Con, too. They really put a lot of effort and talent into that series, although I could never get into the sequel. And it's a dang shame the cels are so freaking expensive!

Originally posted by Xephon0930 The original Thunderbirds had puppets but 2086 looked like it was Gatchaman for a split second.

With Thunderbirds, Gerry Anderson did that first (he made Captain Scarlet my favourite Gerry Anderson puppet show), thens it was the cartoon Thunderbirds 2086 and then the awful live action film directed by Riker from Star Trek TNG. And going back to Captain Scarlet, they made a CGI verson couple of years ago which was actually quite good.

Originally posted by lborgia88 When I was little, I usually got more upset about bad things happening to animals on TV than to people, but there were some things that freaked me out and gave me nightmares. It didn't help that my older brother would usually tell me that the things that scared me were real and would come to get me as soon as I fell asleep! This episode of Space 1999 was, I think, the thing that terrified me the most! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tbXhu09m5s

Ah, Space 1999, loved it as a kid, had trading cards, brother had an Eagle, which when I had it, didn't have any engines or the module that went into the middle (never knew what happened to them). If you think that's scary, try Sapphire and Steel. One episode nearly made me change my underwear. It was about how something that looked like someone but without a face could move people into and out of photos. I watched it in the dark in my parents bedroom on their small TV. Watched last year again on YouTube but this time I watched in broad daylight.

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun According to Mum, the only TV show that freaked me out .... was Lassie. She said I would freak... Yet, I really enjoyed the Littlest Hobo (still do sometimes when I'm feeling nostalgic) ... So it wasn't the doggie. Freddie Kruger was high on my list of watchables, but Lassie was terrifying -- go figure.

I liked The Littlest Hobo. Better than Lassie and Benji put together.

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun I was a huge Speed Racer fan when I was a kid. It was part of the Saturday morning line-up.

I used to watch Speed Racer too. It's cool that the Mach 5 makes a cameo in Gatchaman.

Originally posted by Condorfan

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun I was a huge Speed Racer fan when I was a kid. It was part of the Saturday morning line-up.

I used to watch Speed Racer too. It's cool that the Mach 5 makes a cameo in Gatchaman.

It does??

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun

Originally posted by Condorfan

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun I was a huge Speed Racer fan when I was a kid. It was part of the Saturday morning line-up.

I used to watch Speed Racer too. It's cool that the Mach 5 makes a cameo in Gatchaman.

It does??

In the episode "The Plot to Assassinate Dr. Nambu" where Joe met this girl at a race track (turns out later to be a Devil Star), at the end Joe is waiting for her at the track and you can see the Mach 5 go by.

Hi all!

In the episode "The Plot to Assassinate Dr. Nambu" where Joe met this girl at a race track (turns out later to be a Devil Star), at the end Joe is waiting for her at the track and you can see the Mach 5 go by.

Actually, no, it doesn't. This is a very popular Gatchaman myth, but it isn't accurate. Here's the shot from episode #31: And here's an overhead view of the Mach 5 from the first episode of Speed Racer: As you can plainly see, while the two cars do have certain similarities, they have distinctly different body shapes. It's likely that the animator doing that particular scene in Gatchaman had intended for it to be the Mach 5, and simply got the body wrong, but it's off far enough that I'd certainly wouldn't to say that it is the Mach 5. Actually, the body of that car looks more like the GRX than the Mach 5... James

You know, James .... Why don't they have you working with the teams on the Gatch movie, eh? You know more than I think half the teams on the original series do... If they had you on board, at least we'd know they'd get it right... And I'd totally be all over it!! And I am NOT being facetious when I say that.... I think you'd do an awesome job. SJ

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun Hey Met. How about Bananaman, voiced by the guy from the Goodies?

Just for SJ, Bananaman Intro

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun You know, James .... Why don't they have you working with the teams on the Gatch movie, eh? You know more than I think half the teams on the original series do... If they had you on board, at least we'd know they'd get it right... And I'd totally be all over it!! And I am NOT being facetious when I say that.... I think you'd do an awesome job. SJ

I second that.

Originally posted by Xephon0930 After the anime boom in the 90s that was brought forth by,dare I say it,Pokemon

Pokemon certainly did not start the 90's Anime movement The early movement was started by the release of such films as Odin, Fist of the Northstar, Venus Wars and of course the much acclaimed Akira as well as the early "series" type of films such as Tank Police and 3x3 eyes. Of course there were earlier animes available such as Laputa which aired in the west during the eighties and a lot of low budget (yet classic) anime style cartoons like Dogtanian, Cities of Gold and around the world in 80 days but these did not spark the anime movement at this time. Good old days

Originally posted by SJ_SwanJun You know, James .... Why don't they have you working with the teams on the Gatch movie, eh? You know more than I think half the teams on the original series do... If they had you on board, at least we'd know they'd get it right... And I'd totally be all over it!! And I am NOT being facetious when I say that.... I think you'd do an awesome job. SJ

Cloud being smart-alecky, "Shhhh, SJ you are not meant to be letting the world know he is involved. James wants to maintain his anonymity."

Sorry about the mix up. At first glance it does look like the Mach 5. Thanks James for clearing that up.

Has anyone seen Code Geass? Johnny Yong Bosch does a good job with Lelouch.