For our anime fans:

http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/play/decade- ... 2165?pi=pi

Anime decade: From 'Japan Cool' to 'cooling off'
Matt Alt asks, how did Japan's national artistic treasure -- animation -- go from boom to bust during the first decade of the 21st century?

Anime?

Ehhh.

Does nothing for me.

I'd say some of the quality has decreased and it's no longer "shiny & new".

Anime needs someone like Pixar to come along and revolutionize the genre.

I can remember in the early 90's when I thought anime was cool as shit. I had the "Fist Of The North-Star" anime movie (still the most violent cartoon I've ever seen), "Wicked City" and "Neo-Tokyo." All of them on VHS and all of them from Orion Pictures' Streamline Entertainment brand.

I tried to get into Anime... I sold the stuff in my shop, got into Miyazaki through the US releases of his movies, loved Cowboy Bepop and was amazed by Paranoia Agent... but I still don't "get it".

Are the preteens getting into it today, or are we seeing an aging generation holding onto this stuff as they enter their mid-twenties?

I've never quite given anime the chance I feel like I should. I've seen Akira a number of times and adore it, but have watched little else. Record of Lodoss War (which I liked a lot, seeing as it's really just western fantasy in an anime guise). A bit of Ghost in the Shell (bailed out). And, ummm ... not much else, I guess. Thought about getting Berserk, as I liked the video game, but don't know if it's for me.

I love that the Japanese take animation seriously and produce high quality work for adults, but aspects of the whole anime aesthetic lack appeal for me. Many of the same things that turn me off from JRPG video games, actually.

Yet I still can't help but think the problem isn't anime, it's that I haven't been exposed to the right anime. If I can adore Akira and think Record of Lodoss Was was good fun, why not something else?

Anime sure isn't dying around here, to hear my cosplay models talk about it.

Yeah, but they're nuts.

I saw that Cowboy Bebop once, and there weren't any cowboys in it at all! What the hell?

Fireball.
By Disney/Pixar

That cowboy and cowgirl who broadcast the bounties are there, and she has a fantastic pair.

Ya damn right

Death Note is now running on Adult Swim, but I missed the beginning of the run. It's a good story.

In the last several years there hasn't been a lot of new anime that interests me. Afro Samurai is an exception to that, but I can't think of any others off hand.

Kind of interested in the reworking of Evangelion.

I was heavily into anime back in the day.
I got hooked in the 2nd wave. That was the tail end of the Giant Robots genre, after the shows like Astro Boy, 8-man, etc.

Space Battleship Yamato was new, Gatchaman was new, Galaxy Express was just coming out.
I stayed with it till just after Robotech came out, It was still a very small niche hobby here.
After Robotech things just kinda drifted, then Pokemon, Dragon Ball, and all that other stuff hit, and Anime became BIG!
It was mainstream. No more dark rooms with smelly guys sitting around an old tv and vcr setup watching 15th generation copies of copies.
You could get anime pretty much anywhere.
That's about the time I got out.

People have tried to get me back in, but I haven't really found much that grabs me. Though I HAVE been watching episodes of Gurren Lagann, and I've found it to be kinda clever.

I think a lot of what's happening is that things are heavily geared to the old fans. A lot of the tropes (Shower scenes, panty shots, and all the other "sexxy" stuff) are there for the fans who've not moved on, or wanted something different.

There are always going to be new fans that come into the hobby. It's just slow moving for the time being.
I can almost guarrantee something will come along and jump start the industry. It always does.

Death Notes has run several times on Adult Swim already. IIRC, I mentioned it to Brotoro last Christmas, so for over a year. I think the current showing is at least the fourth time through, and last week, instead of an episode, they play like 6 in a row instead of their normal shows.

Anyway, it was a good story.

Just hang out with the pretty girls who like it. Santa-Mamoru knows there are lots of them!

The stuff I liked:
Bubblegum Crisis & Crash - The original series, I haven't seen Bubblegum Crisis 2040.
Hellsing - An interesting vampire series.
Cowboy Bebop - This was an awesome series, I have the full run on DVD and the movie.
Samurai Champloo - The same people that did Cowboy Bebop did this, it's not as good as Bebop, but it is worth checking out.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - I actually liked the first season of this, I haven't got to see much of the second season.

The movies:
Akira - Incredible animation, so so ending.
Perfect Blue - Definitely a weird little movie.
Ghost in the Shell - The first one, the second movie is alright...
Vampire Hunter D & Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - The original is pretty good, but the sequel is good as well.

I've also enjoyed the Miziyaki films I've seen, but I only own Princess Mononoke.

Now a days there are.
I wish there had been some around when I was into anime.
Every group I ever went to consisted of either tall and gangly/short and fat, greasy, smell socially awkward high school and early college age guys, plus the obligatory 40 something wierd guy that mumbled to himself during the shows, who kept alking about the cool hentai videos he'd collected, and carried a Lum-chan figure with him.
And the one girl who weighed about 500 lbs, who'd never heard of soap (who 90% of the guys were trying to score with.)

I liked "Spirited Away".

I don't recall seeing anything else.

I like it well enough.
My favorites were probably Future Boy Conan, and Nadia: the Secret of Blue Water.