OK...
On a few other threads little discussions have popped up about Anime and Manga. Some of us love it, some of us hate it, some of us are somewhere in between. I figured we should leave those threads as "On Topic" as is possible in here  and try to do our Japanese (and Korean) comic book and cartoon discussions over here.

I figure it belongs on the V&V forum for a couple of reasons. First, Manga has (for better or worse) had an influence on modern American comic books. Second thanks to my meddling, it's already in V&V. Third, manga (and anime) has a huge fan base and I was hoping to bring a few new people to V&V by using Great Bridge and Centerville Incident as vehicles (or "lures" if you prefer).

While the Great Bridge books tend to pull characters from all genres of Anime, Centerville Incident was inspired by "Bubblegum Crisis" (see "Armor Dolls"), and the propensity in anime for a cute space police officer to show up and start working with an unwitting Earth dude (see "Tenchi Muyo").

The thing that makes good anime/manga (I'm just gonna use the generic "Manga") enjoyable is the story. The same as an American comic book.

So... My favorite anime?
Area 88. It's a little like Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo", but instead of swords, these guys use fighter planes. Shin Kazama is the best pilot in the mercenary air force loyal to Prince Saki (of the fictional middle eastern nation of Arslan). All Shin really wants to do is get back to Tokyo so he can get back with his lovely (pink-haired) girlfriend Ryoko. The problem is that Ryoko's dad owns the airline Shin works for. His life-long friend Kanzaki totally screw Shin over and gets him signed up with the Mercenary Airforce to get rid of him. Kanzaki plans to marry Ryoko and take over her dad's airline.
Other than having lots of cool air combat scenes, it has drama, romance, action, comedy, and tragedy. What's not to like?

Actually, some of the work (on Batman at least) was done by Sunrise, Studio Junio, and TMS (which became Spectrum). All are actually Japanese companies. Ergo... Batman the animated series was Anime (GASP!)

I used to love Naruto for the first few years. The art went down hill as did the story line. They also took it off my normal TV stations a few years back

LOL..nice anology.

Dragonball was a good and funny show... but I must admit.. a guilty pleasure.. I really liked Dragonball Z!  Not for the super powered over the top..{waaay-too-long drawn out battles}... but the actual story. 

Around about the time that Freezer is revealed as a threat and Son Gohan begins his training by his god-father Picolo {who was the MAJOR enemy in the Dragonball series}, I realized that, to me - at least, the story was not about the fights... it was about fathers and the special relationships between them and their sons.  Goku's father Bardock was never there for his son but his strength and heroic spirit were always with him in his trails.  Goku's heroic heart was his father's and even though Bardock was never there to see his son's growth and ultimate triumph - goku became that hero his father was!  That same heroic spirit of self-sacrifice and determination to never fail Goku transferred to his sons Gohan and Goten.  Even Vegeta learned to find that spirit within his own heart from Goku's example and eventually admitted to the superiority - not of fighting prowess but the spirit of innocent self-sacrifice on the behalf of others!  That spirit of Bardock through Goku changed the proud Sayian Prince... and he gifted that same spirit to his son Trunks.

That heroic spirit is what made Goku, {eventually Vegeta}, Gohan, Goten, Pan, and Trunks the powerful warriors they were that dedication and compassion to defend those weaker then oneself.. to fight the righteous fight not for glory but for the innocent is what made them strong! 

THAT was what Dragonball Z was about!!!

Superior motivation... ultimately... love and compassion.

I read so much more into Dragonball Z than what was on the surface... not any less valid than the knock down drag out battles that it was... lol... infamous for!

Where as Nurato.. I could not get into. I can't view Ninja's as anything other than assassins that unjustly take the lives of people unawares for  their own selfish intentions -  merely for pay or power.  Ninjas are not heroes to me.  I know none of that went on in the series... but it still galls me!

Goku never murdered nor killed anyone he had not given every chance to freely walk away in peace and only when he was pushed to the point that if he did not use lethal force countless innocents would die.

Goku was a true hero.. and a superior story in my opinion. 

But I'll admit.. I've not watched Nurato.. so perhaps I'm misjudging it.

Avatar always pops up in these discussions. It actually was very cool (loved every minute of it - even got misty when Mako passed away) - but it's not anime. It's American, written by Americans and animated in Burbank and Seoul - I figured it was a Japanese/US collaboration, but it turns out I was off the mark. Seriously though, it was very cool. They actually hired a martial arts group to help work out some of the moves the various benders used.

It's not highly acclaimed because it's American or "Anime-ish" or anything like that. It's highly acclaimed because it was REALLY well done. Those cats an Nickelodeon really busted their butts to make it an excellent work.

On another note - what about Tron: Uprising? Personally, I thought it totally kicked butt. I liked that Tron was kind of a jerk to Beck. Also, I wanted to see horrible things done to Pavel (which means the character was correctly portrayed).
What a V&V setting Argon City would make...

Matt, that does suck! I had most of the first "season", but my manga and comic book reader were interrupted by military service.

Find the anime and watch it. Not too far off from the Manga.

Now... two more reasons I love Anime They are from Dokkoida (which is basically hilarious with some nice fight scenes)