Regarding Rurouni Kenshin, as I said before, the manga is better than the anime, and the fact that the version Cartoon Network shows is cut makes it even worse. The anime has crappy filler episodes that weren't in the manga. Because of this, Season 1 has about three bad episodes for every good one. Once the anime gets into Season 2, which does nothing but follow the manga, then it gets good. That would be the Kyoto storyarc. You may argue that there are much better anime out there, and I'd probably agree if I saw those anime, but right now, the only anime I've cared to watch as of late is Rurouni Kenshin. I won't keep a closed mind or anything, but I've actually been more into American animation lately. (And I'm not talking about Superfriends or some crap like that, I mean things like Family Guy, South Park, Futurama, and Homestar Runner. I hate it when otakus automatically think of American cartoons as being Superfriends-esque crap. That'd be like me judging all anime based on Pokémon.)
But yeah... I've been more into comedy than serious stuff lately. The season premiere of South Park last night sucked, but there's always new episodes of Family Guy to look forward to in May.
Well, as I said before, it's the only anime I watch, so I don't know or care what animes are better. (InuYasha sucks, I'll say that now.) Give me good old school Tiny Toons and Animaniacs instead. :)
I've seen the first eight episodes Ruroni Kenshin and it's pretty good at what it's trying to be, which is an anime about samurais and similar people who do increasingly over-the-top stuff that's not very historical. It's good fun, but it doesn't really give you an accurate picture of how samurais really were. For that you can check out just about any Akira Kurosawa movies, most of those feature samurais heavily and are very good movies.
Oooh, man. I've probably mentioned this before, but it's worth mentioning again. Seven Samurai is widely regarded as the finest motion picture ever created. That and Citizen Kane.
What? How can you rate movies before having seen them?
And you know, personal tastes are always going to be different. But from a more objective point of view, which covers every aspect of a movie, Seven Samurai is basically perfect. CK, too. That's why they're so highly regarded. It's not just "OMG that movie is so cool". It's more about how flawless the pacing, editing, acting, cinematography, directing, etc. is. You analyze this sort of stuff in film classes.
Quote:What? How can you rate movies before having seen them?
I was kidding! Well, kind of. But, I've yet to see a movie that I could, in good conscience, place above 2001: A Space Odyssey. Maybe they'll be better than 2001, but I have my doubts...
Anyway, I'm going to watch the two movies when I get the chance to.
OB1 Wrote:I wasn't comparing it to anime, bubba. I'm talking about live-action movies. Classics of cinema, and general awesome stuff.
I know, I'm just sayin'... Rurouni Kenshin's the only anime I've been watching lately 'cause I haven't cared much about anime lately. I know you meant live action movies.
Great Rumbler Wrote:I've seen the first eight episodes Ruroni Kenshin and it's pretty good at what it's trying to be, which is an anime about samurais and similar people who do increasingly over-the-top stuff that's not very historical. It's good fun, but it doesn't really give you an accurate picture of how samurais really were. For that you can check out just about any Akira Kurosawa movies, most of those feature samurais heavily and are very good movies.
Yeah, Rurouni Kenshin uses bits of historical detail here and there, but it's not very accurate. And yes, the things the samurais do are superhuman and cannot be performed in real life by any stretch of the imagination, even though the anime tries to put things into context and make the stunts seem within human grasp, however difficult they may be to perform. If you want a bit of Japanese History 101, Rurouni Kenshin is not the right place to look. However, between chapters of the manga, the creator sometimes explains the real history of the meiji era in Japan and how he's twisted it around to fit with the plot of Kenshin.
