Anime What's left?

warning: much tekst ahead

YK's really done it now.. For anyone who didn't notice, I started this thread in 2001, and YK has brought it back from the dead

If I look back at the stuff I've seen since then, a couple series spring to mind that do meet those criteria I drew up back then.

1) Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou. This show makes me laugh out loud, and does so by being true. I see my family in it, and the craziness of everyday life.

2) Azumanga Daioh. Called by some the Seinfeld of anime for its ability to find humour in the mundane, everyday events.

True, creating humour from everyday or real life occurences might not be "original," it is the kind of "original" humour I was looking for, in that they are their own works. They did not have the tired old wish-fulfillment type plot, and the laughs did not come from parodies of other works.

While these two animes answered my challenge to find anime with original humour, they go against one of the things I complained about in the very first post: they are about high schoolers. FFS after high school do we all turn into zombies, with uninteresting lives?

Original humour has been found. Now to find a good anime that focuses on adults. (hopefully someday we'll get to looking for an anime that has original humour and is focused on adults.) More in the next post
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funny stuff I've seen since that didn't quite meet my criteria:
-Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai. LOL funny, but based on parodies. Nothing there for people who haven't seen or aren't familiar with the originals.

-GTO. pervert guy that everyone ends up loving. Never seen that. At least he's an adult (physically anyway). next post

-will think of more I hope

 

Original Humour found. On to the search for anime about adults (was going to say adult oriented, but that sounded a bit H haha) Here are some shows and some random thoughts on them, grouped into some dumb categories. Please give me more suggestions.

Buckers of the Rei and Asuka (everyone loves 14 year olds) trend (ie, shows with an older heroine):

-Rah Xephon: Haruka. Babe.
-Onegai Teacher: Mizuho was pretty hot aside from her whining and perhaps overly exagerrated 'features.'

Naturally, in both cases the love interest was a high school boy. (no spoilers here please, I know I know) Hello wish fulfillment. I loved RahXephon though, I can just ignore Ayato, or his age or whatever. Haruka... Onegai Teacher on the other hand, while so many people raved about its realistic portrayal of love, to me was a show about people whining each others' names. Not to mention it smacked of fanservice and descended into a neverending blah.

candidates that come a bit closer:

-Cowboy Bebop: Adults! All but Ed! It's can even be funny in an original way (climbing stairs, frog). Downsides: Episodic. fanboy bait- Guns! Big Boobs! yawn. Stylish though and one I enjoyed.

-Ghost in the Shell, Standalone Complex: Adults, with job related problems. Job involves guns of course.. and naturally a well toned cyber body.. welcome fanboys one and all. Interesting story though, and I'm certainly not saying the Major is ugly Episodic, but like Cowboy Bebop, there is an overarching something.

-GTO: Onizuka is an adult. Show is funny, even if in an old-hat way. But damnit, though it may be about an adult, they put him in a high school. I don't effing care. Gimme more Fuyutsuki and I'll shut up

-your candidate here (please)

 

The One Anime: (a closer look at a couple series, done seperately from my search for original humour or stories about adults, and in response to a couple series YK mentioned)

YK, you mentioned FLCL. This is my One Anime. Parody humour:yes. High Schoolers and younger: yes. The fact that I still like it should therefore say something. 0n 4|\|d up \/\/!7|-| 7|-|3 p!110\/\/5!!!!1!

RahXephon is Another Anime. There can be only one, but RX is another. It has giant robots and a teenage guy hero, but I still like it. Again, this should say something. It may be a bit of an Eva knockoff, but eva bugs me in ways RX doesn't (Shinji: please shrivel up and die)

Both of these are very worthy.

Even though there are certain cliches I hate, it apparently is still possible for me to like series that use them. Perhaps I would like them more without the overused cliches.. I wonder. It seems the ultimate search will be for anime with original humour and are about adults and are non overused plot device using (no high school, no giant robots, no one guy many girls etc.). Let's wrap up the other searches first though

Mad Hamish: though it didn't fit into the previous two posts, Spirited Away was indeed good (though it gave me the arbitrary weirdness headache I got from Mystery Men, Cabin Boy and Wizard of Oz) I should see more anime movies perhaps. Memories was good too..

 

Yeah cowboy bebop and GTO are great(never seen the anime GTO though.)

I can't wait to see Stand alone complex.

However for the moment I live in a deep dark part of the world were the mojority of series available are the aformentioned anoying one about kids. With any luck not for long though.

Now all they gotta do is release RPGs where you don't play irritating teenagers.

Damn that huge teenage market it's ruining everything!!!(although I only gave up being a teenager last year)

 

Yeah, Azumanga Daioh can't be the One Anime, mostly because it's the Great King. More Azumanga Daioh would be... Return of the King.

We've seen several anime that are about adults:

1) NieA_7 is at least about a college-age girl, along with a professional woman, a 30s-ish pyromaniac guy, the old lady... NieA's age is somewhat indeterminate, so it's all good.

2) The Wings of Honneamise is definitely about adults. A world's first man in space, a strongly religious woman looking after an abandoned child, etc.

3) You're Under Arrest - Adults - with fast cars, yes, but adults with careers.

4) Silent Möbius is about grown, adult women and their relationships. Granted, Yuki and Nami might be considered on the threshold, but we're not going to complain about college-age people. Again, career people here.

Anime movies in general seem to get to be centered more often on adults, but I'd say the area where we need to see more adults most is in the TV sector, since that's the format I really like watching.

 

Hm.

Metal Fighters Miku is pretty good, Japanese All Women Pro Wrestling League. Comedy / Action / Plot

YuYuHakusho is good too...But again, its about high schoolers...

How about the FireEmblem OVA's? Anyone ever seen them?

 

Yu Yu Hakusho, eh? A Shout-the-Name-of-the-Attack anime where each fight with a Saint Beast took like at least two or three episodes, and the assault on their castle must've taken ten. I'm sorry, I can't let it qualify.

Metal Fighter Miku sounds suspect. FireEmblem I don't know, can't judge.

 

Nana

brains.... Zombie thread alert.

Just wanted to point out a series that meets the criteria I set forth in this thread: original humor (not based on harems or violent girls or parodies), and is about adults (not high schoolers): Nana.

It's a tad girly, and rampantly commercial. Every episode ends with a ludicrous product pitch, and the story has been brought to every medium possible (manga, anime, live action movies, playstation games).

It has an element of wish fulfillment to it, but not enough for me to disqualify it. It still fits the criteria, and I quite like it. UK is watching on my recommendation (after an associate of his nearly scared him off with a really creepy description), and I daresay he'd agree with the recommendation. Catch it if you haven't.

Nana thread