Jesus motherfucking Christ! Where have you two been hiding?? Q, that Akka is absolutely fucking stunning and Som, that is a perfect imagining of the Inchoroi!

  LoL Wil, I am an avid reader of R. Scott Bakker, you would find it pretty difficult to offend me... I was just trying to say that sometimes things aren't that general... A drawn image is indeed a drawn image. Put that drawn image in motion and it is technically animation. But all animation is not the same (I don't think this is just my elitest genre ego speaking, lol), just as Game of Thrones as a television show isn't really in the same category as, say Teletubbies. There are differences in the subjects discussed, the quality/funding available to the projects, the nature of the programs goals, and target audiences.

But, yea, I can't really counter your 'a movie is a movie,' logic. I think it's just kind of over-generalizing.

For the most part, when it comes to anime, I think I'm in it for the cultural differences... I have always been fascinated by Japan and mystified by Shintoism. Even anime targeted at young children is usually full of tidbits of Japanese philosophy and religion. Another thing the Japanese seem to be particularly good at is evoking emotion-- and that is the key to anything being good (in my opinion anyway). When something can make me cry (a single manly tear, mind you... quit judging me!), I consider it exceptional. I can't even remember the last time American television or movies made me cry, or even made me laugh for that matter.

Oh, and I hope I'm not coming off as argumentative with all this and I certainly am not touting my opinion as better/more educated than anybody else's... just trying to be a little more active on the boards.

Umm, no Wil, he stated some of the differences... Anime is generally (not always) adapted from Japanese manga, and in an instance or two more recently Korean manhua: these are basically Japan/Korea's version of our comic books, there are many genres but most contain somewhat mature content. I find anime to be on a whole different level when comparing it to American animation, even when it's content is written for American adults.

As I stated earlier in the thread, I can't even watch the American dubbed versions of anime due to the scrubbing of content for no particular reason, the absolutely horrible/dull American voice-overs compared to the original Japanese versions which are all done with passion and realistic sounding emotion, etc...

Anyway, I started this thread and I never really added my reading list/rec's, so here it goes...

Ajin (Japanese Manga)
Ao No Exorcist (Japanese Manga)
Aphorism (Japanese Manga)
Attack on Titan (Japanese Manga)
Bleach (Japanese Manga)
The Breaker/The Breaker: New Waves (Korean Manhua)
Berserk (Japanese Manga) *This manga has a very Bakkerish kind of feel and I think it's from the 80's
City of Darkness (not sure, possibly Chinese)
Deadman Wonderland (Japanese Manga)
Feng Shen Ji (another one I'm not sure, possibly Chinese)
Full-Metal Alchemist (Japanese Manga)
Gamaran (Japanese Manga)
Girl the Wild (Korean Webtoon)
God of High School (Korean Webtoon)
Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru (Japanese Manga)
Magi (Japanese Manga)
Mushibugyo/Joujuu Senjin!! Mushibugyo (Japanese Manga)
Naruto (Japanese Manga)
Tower of God (Korean Webtoon)

Lol, there are probably 20 or 30 that I'm not able to recall off the top of my head... Most of these are considered 'Shounen,' or are targeted toward teenage-30ish males. For the most part I read because the humor is fucking awesome... Berserk being one of the few exceptions, although it does have parts that crack me up, it is as dark and almost as philosophical as Bakker which is really saying something considering it has been around for like 25 years...

Anybody here familiar with Jesse Bullington? I haven't really seen his works discussed and I've been fairly impressed with all three of his novels. They are a different sort of historical fantasy, nearly as dark as Bakker, but the hilarity of some of the scenes makes it feel a little lighter. Anyway I just finished his newest book The Folly of the World and thought I would mention it here as I think it is definitely worth checking out. His first book, The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart was also quite good, with his second novel The Enterprise of Death, being my least favorite of the three. They are also all stand-alone novels which is something of a rarity in fantasy these days. LoL, I'm sure Kal would have a fucking coronary should he ever read these judging from his reactions to Bakker  .

Hello all, again! 

It was definitely discouraging to attempt to navigate forumer post-meltdown so I'm actually really happy you decided to do this -- I was concerned we were scaring away potential members. Great job Madness! Here's to hoping this board develops the same sort of idea inspiring atmosphere without having to pander to haters/trollz!