(no subject)

[which_chick]

I got an email from my mother. I have excerpted a problematic section here below so that all ya'll can appreciate my problem.

Linda L. tells me I need to see the entire panoply of anime, good stuff , to appreciate the genre. Now Movietime has a huge anime section right near the front of the store, closer to checkout than Disney. What should I rent? Do I have to watch Pokemon? Anything but that!

Send me a list of what I should attempt first. There is another artsy movie store in Roland Park, heavy on anime, so I have options to locate what you suggest.

Exercising my reading for meaning skillz, it would appear that my mother wants to watch anime. (Yes, she did use the word panoply in a social email. I came by the vocabulary honestly.) It appears that she is asking me for advice about what to watch.

I don't think that my mother really grasps what I'm doing watching anime. *sigh* I can't go "Hey, mom, here's stuff to deconstruct because the boys are really pretty and make great paper dolls for smut purposes." because this is the same mom who has had the Anal Sex Is Wrong talk with me. (That was about as much fun as, well, a lube shortage.) I also can't suggest supplemental readings in the wonderful world of fanfic so that she can, er, appreciate this stuff the way that I do. Making my mother think I'm a sicker fuck than she currently thinks I am is not an improvement on the status quo, so we're not going there. I am also not going to explain how incredibly hot I am for Okiayu Ryoutarou's voice. There's no way she's going to understand that.

Anyway, I need things that are good examples of the breadth/depth/spread of anime -- and we do have to go for some breadth here, not just stuff that I, personally, like. It's gotta be stuff that will play in a bought-DVD-player because Mom isn't going to watch shit on her computer or download new codecs to get stuff to play. Also, I am going to politely pretend that I don't know nothin' 'bout hentai because we are not going to watch Grandma Sees This, Grandma Dies. Some cans of tentacles worms do not need to be opened.

Suggestions? Come on, I know at least some of you out there in audience-land are familiar with the genre. Some of you staff an anime convention, for pete's sake. You should be all KINDS of up to speed on this stuff.

Comments

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

I thought the Appleseed Movie was interesting.

Castle Cagliostro, of course, and any other Miyazaki, and if she wants to deconstruct, have her watch Pon Poko, and tell her it's folklore based.

Perfect Blue - film noir and creepy

Omoide Poro Poro (Tearful memories) made by Gibli, but not a Miyazaki film.
Whispers of the Heart, which is.
Porco Rosso

Twelve Kingdoms - a depressing little series, but interesting. three Japanese children end up in another world where politics is the name of the game.
Escaflowne - the series, not the movie.

For wackiness? Brigadoon, although that gets heart wrenching at parts. It's interesting how the American astronauts are portrayed on that one.

They were Eleven, which is an old one, but I'd recommend it. We just watched it with the girls and they now want to show it to everyone.

Captain Tyler is fun.

anime

[agoucher.livejournal.com]

For comedy, try Ranma 1/2.
For spy, try Noir
For Sci-Fi, try Macross or VanDread
For cyberpunk, try Akira
For evironmental, try Nausicaa
For "just pretty good", try Mahoromatic (first season, the second season ruined the show)

While I havent seen it, Ah My Goddess gets good reviews constantly as well.

These are all more or less mainstream and should be available at the local Blockbuster.

[cassandramorgan.livejournal.com]

My mother enjoyed Vampire Hunter D. (The original...she hasn't seen Bloodlust yet but that's a good one too.)

Neon Genesis Evangelion has a plethora of religious references and it's just filled to the brim with psychological problems. That is, if she's looking for something to think about.

(And now I must fill my comment with "girls that kick ass" recommendations because I *have* to put them in: GunSmith Cats, Bubblegum Crisis, Ghost in the Shell (along with Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex), Armitage III, and Battle Angel ^_^ )

[fooliv.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I had the weird experience of listening to my dad complain at the family reunion last weekend about anime I haven't seen - namely, how he thought Full Metal Alchemist made no sense. I had to admit that I hadn't thought it was my sort of thing, and hadn't bothered to watch it.

Since your mother's big into the whole cultural thing, (assumption based on the factoid that you both go to the opera together) she'll probably like Satoshi Kon, so go with Paranoia Agent and Millenium Actress. (If she's sensitive about that sort of thing, you might want to avoid Perfect Blue due to the violent rape scene. Or maybe not, I dunno. Some of those operas you guys watch sound kind of equally freaksome. Like that Soviet-era one you were talking about last year...) Miyazaki is a safe choice.

Is she looking for anime qua anime, or is she looking for cultural/serious? I mean, serial experiments lain is good if we're being serious and intellectual, but if she's looking for cute and kid-like, then I cringe to suggest. Azumanga Daioh? There's all sorts of stupid crap that I watch that I wouldn't want to encourage an elder to watch, just on general principles of embarrassment. Boys over Flowers, for instance...

Send her to a review site, like AnimeJump (http://www.animejump.com/), to make her own decisions, I think.

[electroweak.livejournal.com]

I safely showed my mother Ah My Goddess about a decade ago. (Her only negative response: "Aren't the lyrics to the ending theme rather sexist?") The show is pretty much the opposite of Grandma Sees This, Grandma Dies.

I would also recommend Mononoke Hime, which is somewhat deep without being utterly befuddling*, and which has some action scenes that are rather remarkable. As I remember, that and Trigun were among what we used to introduce you to anime...

* The catastrophe point where anime crashes past "this has something resembling depth" and into "I have no [bleep]ing idea what the author was trying to do here" is very sharp. Many series step right off the edge of it and never return.

[ladyivy.livejournal.com]

Escaflowne is a good older series.

She might enjoy Read or Die (the OAV, NOT the series); that's a little newer.

Classic of the fantasy genre - Record of the Lodoss War

I haven't watch a great deal of anime recently, but those are what leap to mind when people ask for recommendations.

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

Grave of the Fireflies

Ghost in the Shell.

Yes, there's a rape scene in Perfect Blue. It's a creepy Noir.

Creepy creepy creepy. Note that I did not recommend Mezzo or Kite. Do NOT let your Mom watch KITE.

I loved Read or Die, but do not care for the series that came after it.

I will also warn you that Pon Poko has Japanese mythical creatures attacking people with their scrotal sacks. Apparently it's what they do.

[teflon-tim.livejournal.com]

I concur with everyone else here in that you can't go wrong with any of Miyazaki's works. I'm also partial to the original Lupin III series recently released on DVD; the eps may be 30 years old but they haven't lost any of their zing. Better yet, combine the two with Castle Cagliostro -- two great tastes that taste great together...

Maison Ikokku is also a worthwhile anime primer -- here's a series about ordinary people experiencing the same feelings of hope and love that we all have felt. A good way to break the stereotype of "it's all about big-breasted women with guns."