Vegan Forum

Avatar - The Last Air Bender


Now that is the coolest anime series I've ever watched.
And the main hero is vegetarian.

Cool! I love anime!

Last time I had soppy girl hormones to placate, there was a Studio Ghibli season on TV and I watched 'My Neighbour Totoro.' It's only a kid's film, but it was so great to see a kid's film with strong girl leads! There was a pretty strong message in so far as "organic vegetables will make your sick mother well again."

Nice!

Have you ever seen the show "Wolf's Rain"? I believe that it is not showing anymore, but it is a very excellent anime based off of a book series.

BigBecka, I love My Neighbour Totoro
In general I love all the movies by Studio Ghibli

lunarflowermaiden, haven't seen "Wolf's Rain"... What is it about?

Regarding the "Avatar"... It was more interesting for me than many movies.. May be because I'm a martial arts fan and there are a lot of scenes with it.. but it's not the only reason.. it's fun and has a great plot! The world is beautiful done in the Studio Ghibli style..

AndyBa wrote:lunarflowermaiden, haven't seen "Wolf's Rain"... What is it about?

I will give you part of the description from Wikipedia (only because I thought that it was worded beautifully):

"Wolf's Rain takes place in a post-apocalyptic time when much of the world has been ecologically devastated in a form of fimbulwinter, and most people live in poverty. A legend is told in the 'Book of the Moon' that wolves are mystical beings who came to the world from a place called Rakuen (Paradise), at the dawn of time. It is also said that, in the future, wolves will, with the help of a mysterious woman called the 'Flower Maiden,' a being created from the essence of lunar flowers, find a way to return to paradise and in doing so, will make the world start over so it could become a Paradise again. This legend is difficult for most to believe, though, because wolves were thought to have been hunted to extinction nearly 200 years before. Some wolves have survived, though, and have been coexisting with humans right under their noses. The wolves have a way of presenting themselves as being human to other humans, thus they can blend into human society with relatively little notice. This ability is in no way shapeshifting; it is a mental trick, an illusion."

The show doesn't have any connection to vegetarianism, but I still thought that I would mention it because I love the show, and I love wolves .

By the way, as you might have guessed, I got the idea for my username (lunarflowermaiden) from this show .

Looks like I'll have to visit the video store...

Even if the film's not specifically vegan, I think it's good to show stories that promote respect for animals and nature. A lot of anime seems to have an apocalyptic theme, or lament the loss of the countryside and the 'old ways' of living amoung forest spirits and magic - it helps get things in perspective

I think that Avatar is not anime, it's quite European animation and more vivid than most anime (except Miyazaki movies)

Andy can we get this movie somewere ?

There are 2 seasons of Avatar for sale on DVD.

I think that Avatar is not anime, it's quite European animation and more vivid than most anime (except Miyazaki movies)

It looks like an anime.. indeed it is created by western company but it still is great.. and it has a lot of anime feel to it.

I wanna see it !

Volume 1's not being released until later this month in the UK - so that's why I can't see it in the shops! Got it on my Amazon wish list

Just looked up Wolf's Rain on Amazon too - the artwork really reminds me of Vampire Hunter D, and the Aeon Flux cartoons - thought you might like those too Lunarflowermaiden?

Is there still a big animation industry over there in Eastern/Central Europe? I remember we used to get really cool alternative cartoons shown over here on Saturday TV sometimes (back in the days of the USSR) I'ld love to know who some of the animators are/were, and if you can still get hold of those films!

BigBecka, I have actually never watched either of those cartoons. If they are similar to Wolf's Rain, I am sure that I would enjoy them. Thank you for telling me about them. I will look them up .

Well, I don't know if the feel / subject matter is anything like - Aeon Flux is pretty violent, but is also very thought provoking, with interesting futuristic (and some very feminist / fetishistic) themes. And Vampire Hunter D is quite dark too. There are graphic novels of both. Check them out on Wikipedia (I cannot believe how much stuff is on that site!)

I've seen only Aeon Flux the movie.
But I loved Vampire Hunter D

The Aeon Flux cartoons are much better than the movie! Charlize Theron wears far too many clothes! The movie skimped on some of the ideas too

BigBecka wrote:Volume 1's not being released until later this month in the UK - so that's why I can't see it in the shops! Got it on my Amazon wish list

Have you watched it already?

[skip]
Is there still a big animation industry over there in Eastern/Central Europe?

The only good animation I've seen recently is Russian "Knyaz Vladimir" you can read more about it here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457024/

I remember we used to get really cool alternative cartoons shown over here on Saturday TV sometimes (back in the days of the USSR) I'ld love to know who some of the animators are/were, and if you can still get hold of those films!

Can you give some examples of those animations? I have a lot of old Soviet short animations, I show them to my son, he likes cartoons.

Hurrah! My Avatar DVD arrived this week and I watched it today. I had a bad week and a tough training session this morning, so it really cheered me up Thank you for recommending it! I like the martial arts animations too, and I love the penguins

Can you give some examples of those animations?

No! I searched IMDB, and all the television websites, and google... I learned all sorts of interesting things about the industry, and discovered Cheburashka but no familiar-looking cartoons

I don't remember them very well, but they were often abstract, and probably aimed at a more adult audience. They would be things like a stick-boy cycling into a city, where the buildings turn into monsters and eat him... Or a team of workmen building a house and passing each other tools. Some of them were Hungarian (I would try to spot the word "Magyar" in the credits I was a simple child...) but some had credits in Cyrillic text. They were nearly always black-and-white, or quite earthy colour schemes (dark oranges and greens and brown), and very stylised; not very much like Knyaz Vladimir (I haven't seen any of the Soyuzmultfilm or Solnechniy Dom cartoons, but I gather they're being released with english dubbing).

Have you seen Nightwatch? It is such a cool movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403358/

The animated sequence in there was the sort of thing I was trying to describe

BigBecka wrote:Have you seen Nightwatch? It is such a cool movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403358/

The animated sequence in there was the sort of thing I was trying to describe

I have seen the NightWatch aka Nochnoy dozor!
But I read the book as well, and the book is much better imho.

Ah, I haven't read the book yet. I'm told that the English translation is not as good as the Russian language version but I'm going to read it anyway

Man, I've always wanted to watch that but just never did. When I was in elementary school, everyday I would run home and watch Tenchi.