CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Let's have a quick recap of what we've seen so far. Also, it's not like the threads are closed or anything, so go ahead and keep postan if you have something interesting to bring up.



Now then,


Sunrise is kind of a big deal, I guess. They are probably the largest studio we'll be looking at, have a very long history, and are responsible for a ton of the most well known anime worldwide.

Their start goes all the way back to the 70s. Back then, they were doing the typical old-school super robot shows. That is, until 1979, when a Mr. Yoshiyuki Tomino sought to spawn a little show called Gundam. Since then, they've gone on to produce many a show. While early on, they focused on the robots, like Ideon, more Gundam, Dunbine, more Gundam, Xabungle, more Gundam, VOTOMS, or more Gundam, they also stretched out to produce other kinds of shows as they went into the 90s and 2000s. There are things that people really like that I haven't seen like Inuyasha, Yakitate!! Japan, My-Hime, and some show that no one likes or has seen called Cowboy Bebop.



Ah, Gundam. Probably the most ubiquitous anime thing on the planet. Yes, Sunrise is the progenitor of Gundam. I've already written like a billion words about Gundam already, so go on over to this thread if you want to read (or even talk!) about Gundam.



The brainchild of Shouji Kawamori of Macross fame, Escaflowne is an interesting show. First of all, throwing in mecha into a medieval fantasy world was pretty neat. And then there's the fact that the main character wasn't the guy who was piloting the fancy white mecha. Add to that the Yoko Kanno soundtrack and Maaya Sakamoto as the main character and we've got something special.



Code Geass is a project that has become one of Sunrise's most popular shows outside of Gundam in recent years. The basis of the show is rumoured to have been a result of the producers wondering what a show in which Char Aznable would be like. Geass basically mixes in your political intrigue, mecha, and character archetypes from Gundam and throws in high school shenanigans, magical powers, and Death Note-esque just as keikaku moments.

Remember that I only talk in depth about stuff I've seen, so I guess you can extrapolate what shows I've seen based on the things I chose to highlight! In other words, go wild if you think I missed something, just don't yell at me for not having seen it or missed it because I probably know already.



Next time:

Our journey starts, on this long, long steep slope

ITT, I do not talk about Ideon or Gundamu since I have already done that elsewhere and at great length.

Votoms was a pretty decent real robot show, except for the ending, which was a little lolwut. Actually this show is one of the ones that got me into watching old anime.

Overman King Gainer is a really unusual show, and a lot of fun, with some crazy mecha designs and nice animation. Good characters too. Also, dat opening.

Samurai Troopers, AKA Ronin Warriors is also a fun show, but definitely not perfect. It's like Saint Seiya only more Japanese, with lots of Shinto references and whatnot.

Big O is Sunrise too, and yet another example of a series that was way more popular in the US than Japan. Also Roger Smith is a total BA.

And don't forget VOLTES FIVEEEEEE. One of my favorite anime ever. It still blows my mind that a 70s super robot show could be so good. But I've talked about that at length elsewhere too, so yeah.

There's a giant pile of Sunrise shows I'm really interested in but haven't seen, including but not limited to:

All the Yuusha shows except GaoGaiGar
Aura Battler Dunbine
Sentou Mecha Xabungle
Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh
The Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru series














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Oh and I guess Cowboy Bebop was pretty alright[/SIZE]

Since you don't want any Gundam talk, I'll talk about the other ones I've seen that you didn't mention.
Gintama: THis is a hilarious show that was not at all what I expected from reading the premise. If you can handle dirty jokes and silly plots, it's a good one to watch. I like the fact that it's a nice change of pace from the action shows that never go anywhere *coughcoughBleachcough*
Big O was already discussed.
Cowboy Bebop: if you don't know this one, you should. It's way too famous and CN will never EVER stop playing it, no matter how much decay they undergo. Of course, they're too stupid to even realize they're losing more viewers now that they've changed. oh wait, I'm ranting.
You know, Escaflowne is a title I've been meaning to check out without having to buy it first. Maybe I'll recommend it to my library's budding anime club.

You can talk about Gundam, I just didn't want to write about it again after spending hours on the OP already.

Studio Sunrise has the most mixed results from me. While I like some of their shows (Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop), I have to say they've produced some really bad ones (Idolm@ster: Xenoglossia).

And a lot of anime I just don't want to watch have ben produced by Sunrise (no, I don't want to watch Gundam. I'm sorry- I just have no interest).

But they're definitely a mixed bag of quality.

Eh, Sunrise has some good stuff and some bad stuff with me. Cowboy Bebop was Cowboy Bebop, and the little I've seen of the original Mobile Suit Gundam is fun, but Code Geass is major eh and the little I've seen of Gundam00 was not something to my interest either. Haven't really seen much else from them though.

Well, when you've produced as many shows as Sunrise has, probability dictates that there'll be some terrible shows in there. This is true for any studio that's been around for long enough: Gainax, Production IG, Madhouse, JC Staff.

If your interests lie in mecha, particularly of the super robot kind, then you'll eventually come across something that Sunrise has touched.

Other then Gundam, Escaflowne is one of my fav from Sunrise.

Escaflowne was very good story and it had mecha in it, but they were not main focus of the story.

Samurai Troopers, AKA Ronin Warriors is also a fun show, but definitely not perfect. It's like Saint Seiya only more Japanese, with lots of Shinto references and whatnot.

I agree with you on that. It wasn't perfect, but it was a fun show to watch.

Big O is one that I had my heart rip out. Love the 1st season and then the 2rd season came along and I wasn't happy with where it was going. The bad thing is, the 2rd season was not it's true ending and left it like that, because a 3rd season was plan, but it never happen.

Code Geass, the most dislike anime that Sunrise has every made. I just couldn't care for it and it was like they never know which way they were going with it.

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I still haven't even seen Code Geass. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to.

Also people who don't want to see Gundam cannot be my friend.

Yeah, for anyone who isn't interested in anything Sunrise, check Escaflowne. The show really has something for everyone, and, while I'm no fan of the ending of the TV series or the terrible movie, I consider the show to be an all-time favorite.

And if you're into Bebop, Sunrise made a little show called Outlaw Star. You'd like it. It ran on CN some years ago. It's also got a broad sort of appeal...more people should watch it.

Mugen no Ryvius is a noteworthy show for me. A Lord of the Flies IN SPACE kind of thing. It captures the aspect of Golding's classic of getting more sinister as it progresses. Lots of time for character development here, which the show does well. The box set should be reasonably priced.

I'm interested in pretty much all the shows SHikari listed, including GaoGaiGar and especially Voltes V.

Well, then, I second your Outlaw Star recommendation. Oh and there's another show out there Sunrise made too. It stars a certain dog-eared demon and was based on a manga created by Rumiko Takahashi. Yep, I'm talking about Inuyasha!

blkmage (post: 1414225) wrote:The basis of the show is rumoured to have been a result of the producers wondering what a show in which Char Aznable would be like.

blkmage (post: 1414225) wrote:just as keikaku

Okay, now I know you're trolling me.

Sunrise has always felt like a very divisive studio in my opinion - when they're good, they're in top form; when they're bad, they're abysmal; only occasionally are they just okay (which, unfortunately, brings me to Big O). Still, they're definitively one of the Names To Know in mecha Anime, and I can't say that's an honor they don't deserve.

There's also that of my pending list of Top Ten Essential Anime, two of them are Sunrise shows. Make of that what you will.

I have mixed feelings about Sunrise as well. I loved Cowboy Bebop, and Witch Hunter Robin was definitely solid (outside of the 3d CGI, which was bad as usual in anime). Inu-Yasha, though, was pretty abominable. While that might have been largely the source material's fault, I remember even the animation being very lackluster.

Escaflowne, looks really solid, though. I didn't realize Yoko Kanno worked did the soundtrack for that as well. I might have to check it out when I finally make it through the current backlog of "must watch" shows.

Fish and Chips wrote:There's also that of my pending list of Top Ten Essential Anime, two of them are Sunrise shows. Make of that what you will.

I didn't know you liked Inu-Yasha!

I'd say that Inuyasha's problem was the endless filler that they decided to animate instead of the actualy storyline. I know it was for the cash cow that it was, but seriously... They could have saved money and produced better animation and a more complete series. What they churned out is decent, but not much better overall than Naruto for filler.

ich1990 (post: 1414417) wrote:I have mixed feelings about Sunrise as well. I loved Cowboy Bebop, and Witch Hunter Robin was definitely solid (outside of the 3d CGI, which was bad as usual in anime). Inu-Yasha, though, was pretty abominable. While that might have been largely the source material's fault, I remember even the animation being very lackluster.

Oh, Sunrise did Witch Hunter Robin? That's been on my to-watch list for a long time, which reminds me that I should look stuff up about it.

ich1990 wrote:Escaflowne, looks really solid, though. I didn't realize Yoko Kanno worked did the soundtrack for that as well. I might have to check it out when I finally make it through the current backlog of "must watch" shows.

You won't be disappointed. Escaflowne was an amazing series with fantastic music (well duh, it's Yoko Kanno XP). Just avoid the movie. The movie is not very good at all.

Also guys I can't hate iDOLM@STER. It gave the Katamari series a really fun song to roll to. Namely, Danketsu.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxgsgVVg4KU&feature=related

Plus Miki is totally hot. >.>

I forgot they did Witch Hunter Robin. I might get that one of these days.

Huh, I guess Mai-Hime is the only thing I've watched that they did. Or did Mai-Otome also come from them?

I guess then it's two.

Both series... eh. Great ideas, huge ambition... comes this close to pulling them off, especially in Otome, but hits a sour note near the end.

Fantastic music though.

I like Sunrise, and generally look forward to their projects. Since I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread, I'll plug Crest of the Stars as a good example of a non-mecha scifi Sunrise production.

It's worth noting that Sunrise "spawned" several other other animation studios: Studio Deen, Bones, and Manglobe.

MasterDias (post: 1414693) wrote:I like Sunrise, and generally look forward to their projects. Since I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread, I'll plug Crest of the Stars as a good example of a non-mecha scifi Sunrise production.

It's worth noting that Sunrise "spawned" several other other animation studios: Studio Deen, Bones, and Manglobe.

Completely forgot about that!

The manga of Crest/Banner of the Stars is better.

If you mean the light novel I wouldn't know, all I know is the manga I got was... not the same. The characters, especially Lafiel, just wasn't the genuinely arrogant but kindhearted person that slowly warms up to Jinto as more than just a curiosity. They turned her into this blushy-blushy tsundere cliche.