Byegone Daze

Yep, you've just named the two works that came first in my Anime experience. Now, I am hopelessly addicted!

I've sat through CB twice, Escaflowne, three times. I want to visit CB again one more time. BTW, Escaflowne was best after the third time.

IF you're looking for a Yoko Kanno inspired Anime, go watch Sakamichi No Appollon (Kids On The Slope) The OST is on YouTube. It's a Yoko Kanno love letter to the world of Jazz

The Batlord

The first half of Escaflowne is amazing, but after that it just goofy when the focus shifted from war and politics to sub-par soap opera bull**** (and I'm someone who loves soap opera bull****). I like to pretend the show ended after they came back from the Mystic Valley.

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Byegone Daze

I'm curious, did you watch the Escaflowne the series or did you view the movie?

The series end ticked me off the first time. It felt maudlin (yes, too soapy). The second time, I choked hard and cried from a sense of loss. The third time I realized who the wizard really was. The story really plays well in Japanese, not so well in English.

I've been very fond of Hitomi's voice actress ever since... I never watched the movie... didn't feel the need.
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I always watch in Japanese voice & English subtitles. English dubs almost always put me off. The exception are the Studio Ghibli films brought to the US by Disney. They get it right. They use top grade American actors in order not to destroy the nuances of the production.

There's a big difference in Faye Valentine's characterization in Bebop when one considers "Japanese vs English" representations. Japanese Faye was cold, American Faye was hot. The American voice actress projected herself into it in an unfaithful way.

If you change the characterization, you change the story. Most American anime voice-overs bite a big one. So call me a purist or call me a snob.

I could be wrong, no? But that's how I see it!

Nonetheless, I really do love Yoko Kanno's work!

The Batlord

Both. I was a pretty hardcore Esca fan back in the day and I own the series and the movie, but the second half still pales in comparison to the first. Even the guymelef battles, which had previously been visceral and beautifully choreographed, became lazy and boring.

Depends. As a rule of thumb, I watch subs, since American voice actors are terrible. But if I'm watching a comedy then I'll probably watch dub, so long as the voice actors are reasonably good. Reading a joke translated from another language just isn't funny, at least not when you're talking about anime localizations.

My big exception is Hellsing. Why would I want to hear Brits and Germans speak Japanese? Especially when the cast in general is actually pretty damn good as far as Americans go. And while the guy playing Alucard might sound goofy, he sometimes manages to do what he's actually trying to do and it works far better than the generic deep-voiced Japanese actor.

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Byegone Daze

Clearly, there are some Japanese jokes that don't translate into English, so I can see where that'd work out OK.

I've got Hellsing in my queue, I hope it is good! Just finished Parasyte The Maxim, I liked it very much. I've started into Tokyo Ghoul, I'm one episode in. D.Gray Man was a blast, the music helps!

Ghost In The Shell SAC 1 & SAC 2 were great, music by Yoko Kanno, of course! The 4 follow-up movies are in my queue.

The Batlord

Do yourself a favor and skip the first Hellsing series and go straight to Hellsing Ultimate. The former is... decent, but the latter is one of the best things to come out of Japan since the kamikazes. But if you absolutely have to watch them both, then watch the first series first, cause Ultimate will ruin your ability to enjoy it.

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Byegone Daze

Hellsing Ultimate is what I queued Instinct, you might say... or maybe just blind luck

moonizzle

Darker Than Black - Yin's Piano was also made by Yoko right?