Anime Update

I’ve been remiss in my anime watching of late. After I finished Cowboy Bebop, I immediately bumped Banner of the Stars to the top of my Netflix queue. Unfortunately, it was marked as having a “Very Long Wait.” Two months later, and it’s availablity still hadn’t changed… so I looked into it, and it turns out that by “Very Long Wait,” Netflix actually meant “unavailable.” Since the DVDs don’t appear to be out of print, I suppose there’s a possibility that Netflix will buy a new set, but for my purposes, I’ll need to move on to another series.

Looking back at my Anime recommendations post, I’ve made it through most of the strong recommendations, but there are still a few series left there that interest me, and even some that didn’t fit my original requirements, but which also interest me. Here’s the list, including series I’ve already watched

• Vandread and Vandread: Second Stage – Solid mecha action, decent characters, complex story, good ending. ***
• Read or Die (OVA): Simple dumb fun. Neat concept, mildly enjoyable, but nothing special. **1/2
• Martian Successor Nadesico – Very similar to Vandread though it seemed to be more of a parody (thus, I wasn’t sure I was getting a lot of the jokes, etc…). Enjoyable, though a little repetitive. **1/2
• Cowboy Bebop: Very enjoyable series. The ending was a bit dissapointing, but the series is overall great. ***
• Banner of the Stars: Waiting for Netflix to restock this.
• Ghost In The Shell: Stand-Alone Complex: Seems right up my alley, and Netflix has it available in their “Watch Online” feature. Looks like this will be next.
• Trigun: Sounds like fun, and it was recommended by several people.
• Samurai 7: I’m a fan of the original Kurosawa movie, and this seems like an interesting remake.
• Last Exile: Need to look into this more, but several friends seemed to enjoy this. Update: Well, maybe not. Still, gorgeous screenshots.
• Noir: Gets high marks, though not recommended much because of my “no downer” restrictions (which I’m going to say is no longer a restriction)

There are lots of other series after that, but considering how much I watched this year, the above should keep me busy for a while. In any case, unless Netflix suddently gets its act in order, it looks like Ghost In The Shell: Stand-Alone Complex is next up on my list. However, I should note that we’re approaching my end of the year movie blowout, so Anime posts may be a little scarce in January. Still, I hope to tackle more Anime in 2008 than I did this year…