Hello, Hello,
I thought I'd just let you know what things I know about the current and upcoming crop of anime in Japan. Please correct me if I get any of this wrong.
The weekly manga mag Shonen Jump has always been a source for manga-to-anime series, and these days are no exception:
Ten-Ten-kun:
This is a comic by Kazumata Oguri that's very hard to describe, but it's a comedy and the basic premise has to do with a bumbling, trouble-making baby angel. It is NOT Rugrats though. Think of a mix between, uh, Crayon Shin-chan and Kodomo no Omocha. It was recently translated into anime form and has already been running in Japan for months now, and it is supposedly very good. (I hear the opening song rocks) This is definitely one to hunt down.
Hunter X Hunter:
This one's from Yoshihiro Tagashi of Yuu Yuu Hakusho fame. It's a fighting manga, and has a similar spiritual feel as Yuu Yuu dealing with power and concentration, but maybe less comedy. It deals with two boys who basically go around winding up in fights and such. I enjoy it but recently the manga has only been appearing once every few weeks in Jump. I suspect it's because they're working on the anime conversion, which was announced a while ago (Not sure if it's ova or tv or what). The manga does not skimp on violence and action, for example, in the current issue, two guys are fighting, one guy cuts the other guy's arm off...ok, so the guy who's arm gets cut off starts to eat it, and after a little bit of that he uses it as a weapon against the other guy! I was a little surprised.
One Piece
This is probably my current favorite manga, and probably the most popular manga running in Jump. It is drawn by Eichirou Oda, with an extremely unique and wonderful style. It is hard to explain, but it doesn't really look like stereotypical manga/anime style. The characters are loose and lanky with a strange fashion sense. It is an action/comedy/adventure series dealing with pirates and lots of action. How to put it...think of a mix between Kenshin and Treasure Island, but er, good, really really good. I hear there is already an OVA of sorts based on One Piece, but it didn't do justice at all. BUT, just this week in Jump it announces the conversion of One Piece into anime, and I assume to Fuji TV...this is a must have series, especially if they do it well and preserve the style of the manga. If you know someone in japan, bribe them to break out the vcr! And make some copies for me! =)
Houshin Engi
Engi's made by Ryuu Fujisaki...oh man, this one is REALLY hard to explain...to me the plot line makes Eva and Gundam seem easy to understand. I guess the only way I can explain it is through an analogy again, think of a mix between Fushigi Yuugi and Evangelion. Its anime conversion was also recently announced, probably to Fuji TV...
Kochikame
Sticking this in because in my opinion it's one of the most overlooked manga of all time (at least to the people who are usually only interested in manga that have been converted into anime), full title is Kochira Katsushikaku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo (whew!) by Osamu Akimoto. It involves the antics of a group of police officers. Just the title is probably enough to scare most people away, but it is in fact 1) One of the longest running manga of all time, 2) One of the most consistently funny strips I've ever read, 3) Had several OVA/Movie conversions, none of which I have seen fansubbed...I am not sure if you would completely understand them without reading the manga (which has been running since the 70's, and is still running to this day), but they'd most likely be very very funny anyway, and it's a shame they've been overlooked.
There's plenty of other comics running in Jump, and since there's a good chance some of them will also turn into anime someday, I'll describe the ones I think have a chance.
Yuu Gi Oh:
Currently a best selling video and card game, I think this is a no brainer, maybe it has already been announced, anyone know?
Zombie Powder:
Similar to Trigun, only a few weeks old but seems pretty good so far.
I's:
Created by Masakazu Katsura, creator of Video Girl Ai, with about the exact same art style. Video Girl Ai had some infamous 'fan service' but I's goes a step further, so I would say this might be a little too ecchi for TV but you never know.
Shaman King:
Similar to Hunter x Hunter but the characters are more involved with animality, one classic moment is when one character's animal is a tanuki and, well, if you're a miyazaki fan you know what they attack with.
Childragon:
Probably a longshot, but I find this one very funny. The main character is a teenage boy who thinks he is the reborn Bruce Lee, but tends to take his obsession to an extreme level.
I think Shonen Jump is the best of the 'thick book' weekly manga mags, Ace may have more of the 'mainstream' ones like Eva/Lodoss/Brain Power'd but IMO, if you're going to get one, get Jump...I order it through
www.sasugabooks.com it's expensive with all of the shipping, but it's the cheapest I could find after weeks of searching, and it's great for practice if you're at least an intermediate student of the language...even though it's very slangy, you'll learn a TON of kanji and vocab and probably wear out your dictionary.
John
