I'd start with Ranma, but I'm not sure if there are any DVDs of the TV series yet. There is an OAV DVD Box set, which I'm trying to find for a descent price right now, and there's also two movies on DVD.

I've made my own Anime song mix CD.
The songs in order are:
Songs with an next to them are personal favorites
Cha La Head Cha La (Best example of song overdose. I still try to sing it when I watch DBZ.)
Cruel Angel's Thesis (Just a very nice piece of music.)
Moonlight Legends (I have no clue why this is in here, but it is.)
Sobakasu
Tenchi Universe OT (They dubbed this song for the NA release and sounds DEAD on. For that matter, so do the character voices.)
H.T. (Captures Trigun's fun side exelently.)
Just Communication (Loved it the moment I heard it on one of my Wing tapes.)
We Used to be Angels (A good song if you're in the mood.)
We Gotta Power (I can sing some in English! Without listening to the English version!)
White Refelection (The most beautiful piece of music I've ever heard. Great for looking outside on a snowy say.)

BTW, I would be happy to burn a copy of this for anyone, maybe with some extra songs, free of charge.

Anime soundtracks fill up half of my CD collection. My friend just burnt me a CD w/ some Escaflowne music pretty good stuff. One anime that has some of the best music is Pokemon (yes pokemon!) that series has some of the best themes ever! seriously, Nyasu singing is great!

So whats everyone favorite theme or piece of back-round music?

I'd say after the Dragonball / Z saga's my other favorite anime would be

The Record of Lodoss War

Allthough it does get boring halfway through, when it comes full circle at the end it's awesome.

The DVD's are both in Japanese with english subtitles and in english dubs.

Hey, does anyone know a site where I could get an MP3 of "The Winner" the Gundam 0083 OT?

Nevermind, I found it on Napster.

Uh, guys (and gals?) can anyne think of a topic here? I don't want this to go under like my Anime Learning Tree....

How about anime terms?
This may be really stupid, but what does "otaku" mean anyway? My friend tells me it's someone who can identify the real world between the anime world, but would prefer the anime world. It just doesn't sound right to me.

Here in the West, the word otaku is used to refer to a hardcore anime fan. In Japan however, the term has a different meaning, usually negative. An otaku in the Japanese sense is one who is truly obsessed, a fanatic way beyond most Western anime fans. These are people who memorize the most trivial details of their favorite animes, never leaving the house because of their obsession. I've read that the term otaku was often used to describe killers, child molesters, and other unpleasant things, giving the term a very negative connotation. They say it's a bad idea for foreigners in Japan to describe themselves as otaku.

Opps...well guess I'll just use the term fan from now on...

Good MasterGrades?

Yeah, I have those ones, but how's Zeta? A lot people hate the kit because his parts are too loose. That's what's been holding me back.

I am 11 yr old, keepo this in mind.

I bought a MG Zeta and it was too hard for me, I got so frustrated.

------

My favorite anime scene was in DBZ, when Gohan went SSJ2 (Jap.) I cried, I have to admit. It's so sad, you should watch it. Songs?

White Reflection. This song touches my heart.

Umei No Hempaii (Spirit vs. Spirit). Touching, really touching. Makes you cry if you're farmiliar with what it's from.

Hmm, I was wondering when a useless and stupid comment would pop up...Nappa, try not to write all in caps. Is it that hard to hit the Shift key every once in a while?

Glad you joined us Char, the board just wasen't the same without you. Care to start a UC/AC debate? Please state your opening arguement.

Zajii, don't worry about those models being hard. I'm 13 and I can barely put them together right. Oh, and you mispelled the Japanese title for Gohan's SSJ2 song. No biggie, just thought you'd want to know. Good job using grammer by the way. I mean that. Some older people can't type right.

My, I'm a real hardass (pardon my French, or slang, or whatever) about grammer on my topic. It's Despotes and Kappa's board, but this topic is mine. Again, I appologize for maybe overstepping my bounds, but hey, intelligent conversations with real otaku, opps, anime fans are hard to find now a days.

Well, color me puzzled. Anywho, I just saw that the original Char is back. If you read this Char, please offer some input. For the sake of non confusion how about we call the New Char "Red Comet" and the Old Char "Char".

My, I'm honored that you all would mention me, in such a way as to state "The board isn't the same without him."

Thank you, very much.

Anyway, onto my ranting.

Where should I start? I'll just "recap" all the other things I've stated before.

Nevermind, I'll do a series by series type thing.

First off Mobile Suit Gundam:0079(AKA: First Gundam, as Bandai will call it)

As a whole MSG has a much deeper plot than Wing, it follows the story of Amuro Ray(who comes across the RX-78 by accident, when Side 7 fell under a suprise Zeon attack. I find his story much more emotional than that of any Wing character(as portrayed in the series). Heero has nothing to worry about. Heero is just a suicidal maniac, with no regard for human life what so ever. Amuro is a young man thrown into a war, who must decide what course of action to take. He doesn't like taking the lives of others, nor fighting at all. He is forced to fight, he has no choice, fight or die. Help his friends or let them die as well. Heero on the other hand is just a hardened murderer(with no emotion at all). I also found the scene where Amuro meets his mother for the first time since he was a young child, but soon guns down those Zeon soldiers in fear.(his Mother, being a "pacifist" doesn't aprove of this, and calls him a murderer, this greatly affects him emotionaly). Most of the other Wing characters are about as 2-D" as Heero. Amuro is also easier to "identify" with.(Aren't we all belligerent and bratty at moments? But Amuro has a good heart)

Mobile Suit Gundam gives a better portral of war than Wing could ever hope to give. How humans face war, the deaths of friends, family, and others close to you, and the chaos of the battlefield. In Wing there is no emotional effect on the pilots as they are forced to gun down a living soul or be killed themselves(Geeze, they must be pretty cold hearted). Wing in no way depicts a REAL war.

Now onto mecha, the MS in MSG are far more realistic than in Wing, no Wing Zero to wipe out an army of Leo's with one shot. The MS in MSG are machines of war. Not "super powered robots"(Wing is far to much like a Super robot show in that aspect) that are able to wipe out entire armies with the pull of a button(where is the suspense in that?).
Yes, MSG bordrs on the super robot show genre(only because the animation studio at that time wanted a Super Robot Show, Tomino's novels and original story are somewhat different), but it is not. It is a war story. Not a "slug fest" between over powered mecha.

What is emotional(or suspenseful) about watching a 15 year old decimate an army of tin cans(AKA: Leo's) emotionlessly?

Please forgive me, that was a pretty bad "rant" but it came of the top of my head(I didn't really give a whole lot of thought to it). Sometime tommorow, I hope to post a better one on Wing vs. 0080 War in the Pocket.

Again, forgive that "rant's" overall poor quality.

YAY! Char's back! Hey Char, I just saw the Gundam movie Trilogy last weekend, and it was awesome (better than Gundam Wing, IMO).

Anyways, the following anime series are either based upon or have their own manga series:

-Cowboy Bebop
-Trigun
-Dragonball
-The Slayers
-Gundam (UC and Alternate Timeline)
-No Need For Tenchi
-Gunsmith Cats
-Sailor Moon
-Brain Power'd
-Fushigi Yuugi
-Rurouni Kenshin
-Oh My Goddess
-3x3 Eyes
-Silent Mobius
-Video Girl AI
-Pokemon
-Cardcaptor Sakura
-El Hazard

Well, Char I've always wanted to respond to one of your rants, and this presented an exelent opportunity.

Gundam Wing is not as emotionless as you've stated. One of the main points of the series is that a souless killer is only a boy. This to me is a commentary on the fact that there are millions of hardened soldiers in third world countries under 13. This is the point of the callow Heero and why it's important that he falls in love with Relena. Suddenly the souless has a soul. The other pilots all experience some emotional trauma and become more human over time. I was near tears when Quatre, kind and gentle Quatre, went mad at his father's death. Wufei seeks justice in his own form, depraved as it is. Trowa, the nameless soldier, gains a family, Duo realizes that even though he's the God of Death, bad things still and can happen to him. Treize's mechinations are genius, usually making no sense at the time, then coming into play brilliently at a later episode. Lady Une's multible personality disorder was brought about by a single order of the man she loved. But the most complex character is Zechs Marqise. At first he seems to be just another good soldier. But when he decides to end war by showing people the horror of it, he becomes a misguided pacifist.

The mecha designs wern't supposed to be practical, they wee supposed to be cool. And they are.

While UC was a war story, showing war truly, Wing is a story of how death hardens people and how hard it is to escape a life of kill or be killed. UC is practical, and that's it's charm and appeal. Wing is supposed to present a real horror in a far out way. Both are masters of their art and that is why Gundam is one of the premire Anime today.

This also was adlibbed. And Char, I meant it when I said the board wasn't the same without you. Welcome back, you were missed.

Can someone tell me why Cartoon Network decided to show Wing first? They had 17 years of Gundam before Wing...so why'd they pick that particular series?

You bring up some good points. As far as characters go Amuro is(or seems to be to most people) easier to "identify" with. He is an average young teenager, thrown into a violent, bloody, conflict, where death abounds around him. Many of his friends are killed, people who are close to his heart are killed. He survives(sometimes in a "daze like" state for awhile) but has to keep living, and watching others die around him. He(when he first came across the Gundam) had to make the choice, to take a life(which he had never done before) Heero on the other hand is a trained killer, taking the life of someone is nothing to him. That distances him from most people.

Anyway, although debating character qualties etc. is interesting I think we need to move on(for now).

The reason I didn't like the Wing designs was because they were made to be "unrealistic" and impractical. Yes, some UC designs are flashy as well, but they do have some science behind them and aren't as insanely overpowered. Also a thing I didn't like about Wing was the fact that the designers seems to get the MS correct on their first try. There were no protoypes, no research was involved, the technology did not slowly advance, did not have prototype versions, it was just "right" the first time. Highly unlikely...

About the story...what turned me away from Wing was it seemed to present itself as a war tell(series like G Gundam don't try to pass themselves of as war tells, they come of as light hearted, and just plain wacky..) but it was not one. It tried to be serious, but I can't seem to see how it can be serious with its outrageously over powered mecha, continual plot changes(some of which are good for the story, but it seems the Gundam pilots can't seem to decide who they want to fight for...), and 15 year olds being trained soldiers(I dought that, I could see it if they were newtypes, but...)

Anyway, I guess I'm done for now.

You do present some very interesting things though(one of the best opposing debates that I've been presented with lately).

And thank you again!(I couldn't believe I was missed...)

I really would've liked to see 0083 on Toonami. It would've made little sense, but that's never stopped dubbers before, neh?

There's one very good thing about Wing in the US: it led to Gundam awareness. And for that, we should be grateful.

Char, I look foward to another debate with you. And from these debates, I REALLY look forward to seeing MSG in the US. Commercial 0079 DVDs....that might be heaven on Earth, neh?

I fixed some spelling and grammar errors in my "rant"...

Well, as long as the 0079 eps are uncut on the DVDs and handled anywhere near as well as Wing, I think we'll be in good shape.

Does anyone know if the Wing DVDs are uncut or bi lingual?

Hey does anyone know if the Wing DVDs are bi lingual?

Does anyone know if the Gundam Wing DVDs are bi lingual?

Note: Char has decided to "hold off" his 0080 vs. Wing "rant" until tommorow(so he can write a better one).

Legato thinks Char should do that. I don't even want to try to defend Wing against 0083, but I will unless someone else wants to take a shot.

The reason I asked that bilingual question three times is because I kept posting and it wouldn't show up on my computer.

This is a test to see if this will post right off the bat.

Oh good, it worked.

Char, I hvae two questions: Any clue where I can get the 0083 models? Have you seen th CCA dub? and if so, how good were the VAs.

0083 models? NO! The horror....

But seriously now, they're no good. The proportions are terrible and the colours are wayyyyyyyyyyy off. If you want 0083 models, go for the master grades.