Does anyone here own the first Rurouni Kenshin DVD? It's the one titled "The Legendary Swordsman," and it contains the first four episodes. It seems there's a flaw in the disc. The English audio track plays just fine, but the Japanese track is screwy. I can hear music and sound effects, but no Japanese dialogue. Has anyone else with this DVD experienced the same problem?

I did some checking, and it seems that there is a flaw in some early copies of the disc, but it was discovered quite some time ago. I got my copy in February, and I just got a DVD player of my own earlier this month. It wasn't until then that I discovered the flaw. I think there was some kind of trade-in offer at one time, through which you could send Anime Works your flawed disc and get a corrected disc in exchange. However, I couldn't find any indication whether that's still available, and it seems that the company's website hasn't been updated in a while. You'd think that since the problem was discovered a while ago, the corrected discs would already be on store shelves, but apparently not.

Does anyone have any insight?

Man, I just realized that I started page 11 and made the 400th post to this thread. I started page 10 as well. Maybe I should make it my goal to start the subsequent pages of this topic. Page 12 anyone?

Insane, my cousin gave me the site so I could check out info on the angels after a remark on how unimpressive they were to me. I chose to look around some more for no good reason. I usually don't go looking for spoilers. It took me a week to get over finding out about ********'s death in Trigun.
Like I said before, I'm going to give it a shot. I'll pass judgement after I've seen the whole of the series.

BTW, is the Tenchi manga any good? I'm on a translated manga spree right now and was just wondering.

Side note: My Kenshin DVD worked fine.

------------------
Friendship.
Trust.
Desire.
Hatred.
You all carry too many unnecessary burdens.
Only. One. Thing:
Absolute devotion to Him,ought to be all you need.
-Legato Bluesummers, Trigun

Neat page 11! Now can we get to page 12 by next weekend?

Uh...sorry I let that slip. My bad. Guess you don't want to know who else dies, right?

Man, you GOTTA respect a thread that goes on this long...

Didn't the original Anime learning tree die out on the last attempt? So much for that ever happening, eh? I see this post being around as long as the board...

...interesting side note: My Communications teacher played unedited Ninja Scroll for the class the other day. I wonder how long she has before some kid tells their parents, and she loses her job.

*jaw drops*

as i stare at chi's long post, i thought about life, and everything that's important. as the trees sprouts its leaves and birds build nests. one question pops up in mind.

if an anime about kids with screwed up pasts, present, and future taught you that much, then does it mean one learns nothing w/o a screwed up life? dude... i am dropping out of college.

wait, no, need money to screw up life. back to college.

this post is only used to add to this 11th page, it has no specific meaning whatsoever.

In response to Legato's earlier post about Tenchi the manga:

Yesterday I was watching the Action Channel (from STARZ) and they showd a show called Grappler Baki (or somthing like that because I forget the name )anyway can anyone tell me about it? like the characters and the story

thanx

Okay folks, new topic for this conversation:

FAVORITE GUILTY-PLEASURE ANIME

Or, in other words, anime that you think is so bad, yet irresistible in one certain aspect; or, anime that you wouldn't be caught dead watching, but enjoy watching anyways. I'll get this list started.

Title: Sol Bianca: The Legacy (OVA)
Made In: 1999
Animation Company: AIC
USA Release: 2000 (Pioneer)
Why I Like It:
There are two things in life that appeal to me: beautiful women with short haircuts, and cutting-edge animation. Sol Bianca: The Legacy succeeds in both aspects. The story is basically your typical "pirate women & spaceships" storyline, nothing special. But when I saw the first two episodes on DVD (I had a bunch of coupons that got me $60 worth of free movies from Suncoast, and decided to spend half that amount on it), I kinda blew-off the plot, but I was blown away by the high-quality animation. After seeing one episode on DVD, I thought "If this is what future anime titles on DVD are going to look like, I'd better start auctioning off my DBZ SBC figures." Not only was I amazed by the characters' fluid movements, but I also enjoyed seeing April Bilkirk (voiced by Wendee Lee, who also provided the voices for Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop, Angel in The Big O, and Twilight Suzuka in Outlaw Star) lead (or, in future episodes, at least try to lead) her band of space pirates against whatever they faced. From then on, I became hopelessly addicted to a series with a mediocre plot.

Title: Plastic Little (OVA, I think)
Made in: 1994
Animation Company: Toho, LTD.
USA Release: 1998 (ADV Films)
Why I Like It:
Same deal as Sol Bianca; beautiful, short haired female captain (Captain Tita, in this instance; voiced by Amanda Winn-Lee, who played Rei Ayanami of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame), fantastic animation, and gratuitous nudity?!? Before you go assuming that I rented it for the nudity (which I did not; I rent anime for three reasons: a good storyline, nice animation, and/or excellent characters. Plastic Little succeeded in the latter two. Despite lasting only 45 minutes, it still packed enough humor, action, and fun to satisfy me.

Title: Ninja Cadets (OVA)
Made In: 1996
Animation Company: AIC
USA Release: 1999 (Anime Works)
Why I Like It:
Same reason as the last two posts, except that the main character (Sakura) doesn't have a short haircut (just the opposite; in fact, her hairdo is similar to Mai Shiranui [Fatal Fury 2, etc.]), and the plot is someone worse than the aforementioned two. The basic synopsis of the plot is that two ninjas in training, Sakura and Matsuri(voiced by Lia Sargent, who played Millie Thompson in Trigun, Dorothy in The Big O, Akari in Battle Athletes, and Melfina in Outlaw Star), compete with one another in order to find the scrolls hidden in an enemy fortress. Sure, I could've been turned away by the fact that the movie's only 60 minutes long, or that the plot leaves off in the middle at the end of the movie, or that one of the other main characters (Yume) is a real wuss, but much like Sol Bianca: The Legacy and Plastic Little, this one drew me in with it's sharp animation and character designs. And like I said earlier, I'm just a sucker for excellent animation and sharp character designs.

Title: Photon: The Idiot Adventures (OVA)
Made In: 1997
Animation Company: AIC (notice a theme yet?)
USA Release: 2000 (U.S. Manga Corps)
Why I Like It:
This one isn't so much a guilty pleasure, but more like a notice to inform others about this series. It's about a not-too-bright guy, named Photon Earth, who has to defend his sister, Aun, and an alien woman, Keyne, from the malicious Sir Papachurino (or, as his aides call him, Sir Papachan). There isn't much of a plot during the first four episodes, but episodes five and six is where everything hits the fan (even the kitchen sink, if that's possible). Lack of plot aside, there's tons of humor, lots of gratuitous nudity (all done in the sake of humor), and plenty of beatings (most of which are coming from Photon to Sir Papachan). Also, the series is directed by Masaki Kajishima (who also directed and provided character designs for the Tenchi Muyo! OVA series, and DUAL!), who also does the character designs. Furthermore, there's an inside joke in one of the last four episodes of Tenchi In Tokyo about Photon: The Idiot Adventures (see if you can spot it). Definitely worth watching.

My guilty pleasure Anime would probably be Cutey Honey... It's awesome- Made by Go Nagai (did I spell that right?) which means instant classic... Killer action.... The reason it's the guilty pleasure, is because it's been my guilty pleasure for so long... this movie dates back to one of the first anime movies I ever got... I had to hide it from my parents as a kid, because *gasp!* it was an anime with nudity! I guess that sense of me having to hide my "shameful" cartoon has carried over. I feel okay watching it now, even if my parents wanted to watch it with me... but I can't help but feel odd when I pick it up, thinking about those days when I had to hide it on my movie shelf behind my taped Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers episodes.

I'd also have to say Pokemon, as well. I watch it when it's on, but I sort of lost intertest once they started the Orange League episodes... Following that, I either couldn't watch it when it was on, became frustrated with the never changing story lines, or snapped wanting Togepi to evolve...
The first movie ruled, tho...

My "secret" anime pleasure would have to be Hello Kitty and Keroppi when I was little. I know, I know, sissy anime, but you see, I had TWO sisters. I was out numbered! They loved that kind of stuff, with the purses with Hello Kitty heads and pencil cases with Keroppi on it. Blah. At first, I was forced to watch it, cause my sisters wanted to. Then it started to become a habit at 4 pm, just wondering "what are they gonna do next?". And finally, I couldn't stop. Sad, isn't it? I still have the episodes taped in Cantonese somewhere in my basement. I must admit though, after all these years without any Hello Kitty, it's kind of refreshing now to see that places like Wal-Mart are selling the backpacks and clothing featuring the lovable, devoid of emotion, cat face.

------------------

Yup Kakalotto, hardships are the essence of life. Mere existence constitutes hardships, and it is our purpose in life to overcome all of these problems, or be swept into obscurity. Life really can't be called life without hardships.

hey chi, you forgot the 3% wide-eyes, falling flat on their faces, stupidty expressions. and yes, i guess they did stretch out the series a lot, but it was still a lot more interesting than what they did in GT.

the only regret i have would be that i would've wanted to see piccolo fight at least one more time in the buu saga. even though kaiohshin overwhelmed him in the mental battle plane during the budokai, it still would've been cool for piccolo to have at least a few attempts for an attack rather than just standing there frozen.

Woah 11 pages,Legato must be very proud.

More of my favorite guilty-pleasure anime:

Title: Galaxy Frauline Yuna (OVA)
Made In: 1995
Animation Company: Toho, Ltd.
USA Release: 1997 (ADV Films)
Why I Like It:
This one both is and isn't a guilty pleasure anime for a few reasons. It isn't in the fact that it has a hilariously lighthearted storyline, very nice (and cute) character designs, and a fair share of action. However, what makes it a guilty pleasure is the fact that some of the character voices can get annoying at times, as well as the fact that the story moves a bit too quickly, plus the fact that, in the OVA sequel (Galaxy Frauline Yuna Returns, 1997), there's a lot of bad singing (some of the singing is off key at times). I should also mention that Yuna Returns is somewhat darker in tone in compairison to the aforementioned Yuna. The sequel, despite the bad singing, has quite a few character deaths, lots of main characters getting tossed by the wayside, and a somewhat grim ending (which is why I liked it better than the first Yuna OVA). The reasons why I was drawn to this title were the cute character designs (done by Mika Akitaka, who also did the mechanical designs for Martian Successor Nadesico), the storylines (both OVAs had their fair share of humor and action), and some of the jokes (there's an Iron Chef parody at the start of the Yuna OVA). Futhermore, Yuna was voiced by Amanda Winn-Lee (who also plays Captain Tita in the previously-mentioned Plastic Little, as well as many other numerous roles). The only real guilty pleasure I can think of is the bad singing. Other than that, I recommend viewing any of the Yuna OVAs at some point.

Title: Burn-Up W (OVA)
Made In: 1995-6
Animation Company: AIC
USA Release: 1997 (ADV Films)
Why I Like It:
Take two overly-endowed women (Rio Kinezono and Maya Wangu), a computer genius (Lilica), a technical expect who never gets enough funding (Nanvel), a pathetic, spineless officer who's in love with Rio (Yuji), and a no-nonsense leader (Maki), and you have Team Warriors, Tokyo's last line of law enforcement, used for only the most dangerous of missions or desperate of situations. I enjoyed this four-episode OVA series, since it had a fair balance of humor (I enjoyed the scenes where Rio seduces the cheif, and when Yuji tried to protect Rio from an oncoming mob, but got crushed in trying to do so) and action (just watch the entire fourth episode to see why). Of course, it being an OVA series, all rules are off. What makes this series such a guilty pleasure is the excessive nudity (just watch the second half of the first episode and you'll see what I mean). Also, the series ends at a cliffhanger (nothing angers me more than seeing a show end abruptly, without a definite ending). But, fear not, ADV Films has the distribution rights to the sequel series, Burn-Up eXcess (1997, TV series), and is looking at a possible end of 2001 release date. Other things worth mentioning about this series are the facts that most of the EVA VAs show up in this series (including Amanda Winn-Lee, who plays Rio Kinezono in the series, and Rei Ayanami in EVA; as well as Spike Spencer, who plays one of the villans, and is Shinji Ikari in EVA, plus Akito in Nadesico), and the fact that Lilica looks kinda similar to Sasami from Tenchi Muyo. I recommed getting this tape, especially with Burn-Up eXcess being released at the end of next year.

Hmm...guilty pleasure anime...you know, I guess I have to say DBZ. I don't really watch it anymore (I never get around to buying the DVDs anymore), but when I do happen to, I enjoy it. Now for the guilty part: there's two accually.

1. The fact that it's become very popular and now has little kids swarming all over it. Same thing drove me out of Pokemon. I remember looking at a fanzine this kid brought in about DBZ and just reading through it saying "Fake. Fake. Fake. Fake. Fake. Fake. True. Fake." etc. I really do like DBZ, even the dub most of the time. The Ocean Group had a "professional" quality, while the FUNi cast really got into their characters around the Android-Cell sagas.

2. Let's be honest, the majority of DBZ fans are fasict, grammer challenged, easily led, mobs of assholes. I could say, "But of course, nobody on this board is one" but I'd be lying. Now granted, a good deal of you are nice, thoughtful, intelligent, well spelling anime fans. But the majority of DBZ fans are twits. Who's to blame? Some would say FUNi, some would say the webmasters, some would say the VAs. First off, the VAs are innocent, leave them alone if you can't put your words through spell checker. Now, as for the webmasters and FUNi, well, the blame is half and half. FUNi looked out for their own wallet too much and not enough to the fans. As for the fans, well, they went beserk, and turned millions of people into FUNi haters. Soon, the fans became violent and split into two factions: dubbies and purists. The webmasters had had their hate channeled and magnified into epic proprotions by their fan base. Suddenly, FUNi began to put some real effort into the dub and the webmasters began to accept FUNi slowly. They did not sell out. They simply wanted the series they had loved for so long to be handeled with loving care. So the old school and FUNi began to work together for the future of the dub. But, the fans who had been led in the "crusade" against FUNi couldn't let go after they'd been stirred. They poluted the new fans with their hate. The webmasters turned on their former followers and condemned them for their hate and ignorance. The very same hate and ignorance they had stirred up. Granted, they tried to stop the ignorance, but the hate they had sown fueled it too much. To ironicly use a few anime examples it's like this: the idiot fans are Jinai Udo from RuroKen. They are so used to hate that they cannot function without it. The webmasters are a cross between Kenshin, in that they no longer try to spread hate, but try to spread inteligentce, and the Imperialists, leading the Seki Hotai into battle before throwing them away when they displeased them by following orders. There is no other anime with fans as bitter and opiniated than DBZ, although with more and more anime being dubbed, the twisted "purists" of the anime will always find fault.

There reasons are why DBZ is my guilty pleasure anime. But looking back on this post, this wasn't really about guilty pleasure was it? No, it was about the sshame that fights the enjoyment every time I look at DBZ.

I just finished watching the first two tapes of Slayers, and I have to say I wasn't really all that impressed. The dubbed voices were pretty good though. The VA of Brock playing Gourry was a good choice, and I think the VA that voiced Deedlit in Lodoss War played Lina. Anyway, I didn't think the character designs were all that good. Gourry is just a typical long hair blonde knight and that golem guy had a boring design. Lina was the only one who had a decent design to her. The story wasn't really all that great either. Kind of typical, and boring. Not really all that revolutionary. I didn't like how they used the philosopher's stone as a magical amplifier either. It's too well known for the myth that it's supposed to turn ordinary metals into gold. The best thing about this series though is it's humour. Gourry and Lina's relationship are pretty funny, how Gourry treats Lina like a kid and such.

Ok, im totally bored and feel like adding something. So I will share my Pokemon VA. Yes, the Japanese Pokemon is full of great VA's. seems like Japan's best VA's all voice one of the main characters. OK....

Megumi Hayashibara: Musashi/Jesse
other roles she does: Female Ranma, Lime (SMJ), Lina (Slayers), Rei (EVA), I could go on forever...

Matsumoto Rica: Satoshi/Ash
other roles she does: Raishishin(Houshin Engi),The kid from BD Neon eps (Trigun), Jim (Outlaw Star) and some others.

Ueda Yuuji: Takeshi/Brock
other roles he does: Sanosuke,Akito (Nadesico), Suboshi/Amiboshi (FY) and others..

Miki Shinichirou: Koujiro/James
other roles of his: Allen (Escaflowne), Takumi (Initial D), Keisuke (FY) and others...

Seki Tomokazu: Kenji/Tracy (is that his dub name? the guy who draws Pokemon)
other roles: Van (Escaflowne), Chichiri (FY), Touya (CCS), Kamui (X) and a bunch of others.

Well I think that cover most of the main popular VA's, the girl who does Kasumi/Misty is also pretty popular her name escapes me at the moment same goes for the guy who does Nyasu/Meowths voice, Shigeru/Gary is voiced by the same lady who does Washuu (Tenchi, and the ladt who does Pikachu also does Meryl (Escaflowne). I think I covered it all.

I'd have to say Pokemon is my favorite guilty pleasure anime. its enbarrassing i know.....

They might or not be edited. It's hard to tell. They do say cuss words like @$$, Bast*** HFIL( ) and damn. They might also say cra**, but I'm not sure.

Has anyone seen Martian Successor Nadesico?
I've seen the first tape and I wasn't too impressed by it. I heard a lot of people say that it was supposed to be really good, and I am just wondering why that is. Does the series get better later on? From the episodes I've seen, the series is basically just a parody of famous mecha series, especially evangelion, mazinger and gundam. The characters also come off as really loud and annoying. There doesn't seem to be a second of silence and the whole atmosphere of the show seems really chaotic.

I'm not reading through this whole thread, just this page, but I think I've caught on enough...

Guilty-plesure anime: Ghost in the Shell
Its a classic, right? Wrong. I've NEVER met any female anime fan who hasn't bashed it all to hell for the nudity and "womanizing" and whatnot. I don't care about that, I like the way its drawn, and the story...

Anime that's most dissapointed me: I'll admit it..I don't like Akira. I've seen it, I understand it, but I just don't get what's so great about it. Its just never done anything for me.

I have to agree with you, Mistara. Ghost In The Shell didn't live up to my expectations. All the characters did for 90 minutes was talk, chase some guy without a soul, talk, go after a being born from computer data, talk, battle a Fuchikoma tank, watch Lt. Kusanagi fuse with the hacker, and talk. That's about the gist of it. It was lacking action, got quite dull at times, and left off at a cliffhanger. To this day, I still wonder why people consider it a classic (then again, I didn't like Gone With The Wind, so it all must be a matter of taste).

I challenge someone to a UC vs. AC debate. Too bad Char's not here. I think AC is a lot better. First of all, the characters were SOOOO much better. The plot went a lot deepere, what with Romefeller and OZ and the Earth Sphere all being enemies to the Gundams, and with multiple Gundams/Gundam pilots, and...

Oh! TV is on!