As a cartoonist, I try to claim my terrible viewing habits of equal parts kid's cartoons and stuff with stories deeper than most live-action prime time fare as "Research". If by "Research", you believe my habit of camping out on the sofa to watch 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' or preempting Monday Night Football so I could watch the first episode of 'Steven Universe' (Excellent show, by the way) is valid, then Yes! I do Tons of research. Oh, such Research I do. It's delicious!

Anyhoo! This love of cartoons extends out to the awe and wonder that is Anime. Since I'm taking this week to get some script writing done for the month (and December if I can swing it), I feel it'd neat to point folks to some old and new anime I'm watching while I try to make with the funny. = )

First, a little old:

- Vampire Hunter D (1985)

I know, I know... for those who've seen this before, they understand it's not a very funny movie. It is a great film about a vampire hunter named - oddly enough - D who finds work in a village protecting a girl from Count Mangus Lee. It's over-the-top blood and gore can be pretty funny but it's all good and worth the watch.

- Appleseed (1988)

A Masamune Shirow classic that, in it's early 2D form had a bit of a common problem. Although the tale of Deunan (A Human) and Briareos (Her cyborg friend/partner) stopping a plot to take down the utopian city of Olympus in a post-WW3 world is fantastic, it suffers from what I like to call "Anime Cursing". There are times when the characters swear. instead of the usual fare, the writers took a bunch of swears and stuffed them into the spots 'till they burst. Doesn't take away from the film but something to be aware of nonetheless.

Now, some new (With Links!)

- Gundam Build Fighters:

A neat little change to the regular Gundam fare. No big space drama (yet), no crazy future setting with mankind in space, no real signs of giant Gundam. It's about a kid who builds GunPla - the little plastic models you buy at a hobby shop - and battles them using a special system that makes the toys move/act/function like the Gundam we all know and love. It's being released via Bandai's Gundam.Info channel on YouTube and it just hit Episode Five. It's a neat little show reminiscent of properties like 'Angelic Layer' and 'Digimon Tamers'.

- Attack on Titan:

Simply put - Giant humanoid creatures called "Titans" attack mankind. They fight back using specialized 3D Maneuver Gear and swords. Craziness ensues. It's a strange story that, for what all it lacks, seems to keep me transfixed by the artwork and the sheer insanity of some of the better moments.

- Kill La Kill:

From much of the crew that brought you 'Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann'. It's Studio Trigger's crazy action revenge tale about a girl, a garment and half of a massive pair of scissors. It's... it's nuts. The action is top notch, the characters are all a bit batty and the style is a wonder to behold. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

Now, it's back to writing for me. You can probably find the older anime I mentioned on Amazon, in stores or possible on YouTube (if you want to go that route). I do recommend buying or renting over theft. Gotta' keep those anime distro companies open so they can continue to bring over good stuff!

'Til next time! = D

Now, I know not everyone can stay up late like I can to watch these old films. I also know that this is probably the longest I've gone without spoiling the only real surprise I had left for tonight's show. = P

I'll pop up the custom images I made for it up on my Art Tumblr page later in the day. For now, I'm going to grab some grub and enjoy the rest of my night breeding the living daylights out of Shuppets 'till I can finally rock a shiny Mega Banette. And for the folks I just confused with the last sentence: I'm going to go play some Pokemon.

'Till next time! = D