Kanashimi No Belladonna (1973) is a masterpiece of tragic/erotic/psychedelic animation directed by Eiichi Yamamoto. Jeanne is a peasant who gets raped by a noble and becomes a witch; based on/inspired by La Sorcière by Jules Michelet, a treatise in the history of witchcraft. Noted for its experimental artstyle, bizarre visuals and its connection to Western classical art works like Klimt and the cubist movement, it's a unique piece of art with a moving narrative and breathtaking moments on screen.

I am in dire need of old generic loli cat girl animes. Would you guys help me out?

Not sure if it needs a thread but it's not like we're overflowing with discussion here ;), still I recently started watching the original HxH anime from 1999. I have never actually watched/read any of HxH and all I know of it was that it's permanently on hiatus, that cat girl (or boy?) that everyone posts a lot and the designs of the MC's. I decided to give it a shot for no real reason and so far I've been enjoying it. I've watched YYH last year and enjoyed that as well. I found Season 1 of YYH to be good, 2 to be great the first half of 3 to be fantastic and then it kinda falls off after Sensui is introduced which was a shame, but it's nice to know that Togashi hasn't lost it with HxH. I will say the first couple of episodes were...fine, I'm still not entirely sure what the plot is. Sure, Gon is trying to find his father and that's the goal but the whole idea of Hunters just seem odd. The fact Gon and that other hunter in the first episode were seen hunting animals and Gon wants to become a hunter kind of makes you think Hunter's are animal hunters, but then they add several characters who don't really fit that niche at all which makes the term "Hunter" kind of confusing. I guess it's more like a catchall term for someone who is exceptional and reliable in everything and thus the guy you go to for troubles, like an official bounty hunter or mercenary. Character wise, I enjoy them a lot.What surprises me the most about this show was that I expected Gon to be the main part of the whole show and everyone else to sort of be secondary characters who don't really interact with one another since it's about Gon and his story, but it's actually pretty cool to see Leorio and Kurapika be together a lot and see their histories and helping each other out and such. I also like how Gon and Killua have a really normal friendship. They basically act like kids their age would act if they were friends. Which is very surprising since I thought Killua would be very stoic and not want to be friends with Gon but he opened up pretty damn quickly to him. Hell their dynamic feels like the other way around. Killua should be the MC and Gon is the friend who helps him out of his shell, but it's not like that at all. I'm currently on episode 27 and the final part of the Hunter exam. I found the first section (running) to be a bit lackluster and the second section (cooking) to be worse, but it REALLY picked up by the third section (trick tower) which I wished was longer and had them dealing with more psychological aspects over just fights, plus that 50 hour wait in the room could've been a really fun filler episode. The fourth section (battleship) was also REALLY good, a tough situation and a time limit where everyone had to work together felt really engaging to watch, especially with how it ended. The fifth section (badge hunting) was also quite engaging, giving Gon the task of grabbing Hisoka's badge was great even if we spent around two episodes watching him train and stalk him. A shame Ponzu didn't stick around, I liked her. I still have no idea what this series is even going to be about, sure Gon finding his dad, Kurapika getting revenge(?), Leorio becoming a doctor and Killua having...fun? I'm sure Hisoka is going to throw multiple wrenches in their plans but otherwise it's quite refreshing to not really know where this is going (although I have been spoiled on how Gon's arc ends). Anyhow, it probably didn't need a thread but I wanted to throw my thoughts out onto the board. Will probably update it in a few days when I'm nearing the end. Watching 4 episodes a day is fun when the show is actually quite good, as opposed to trudging my way through it like I did for other longer shows.

What are the essential pre-2k hyperviolent anime?

I've been watching this 2005 VN adaptation classic. Outside of the gimmick of the three dimensions coming together, which gives us some demon and god girls, it plays the harem tropes really straight, it probably invented some of them, but it manages to land it all well enough and not feel tired. That's something I've noticed about trend setting shows, even if a ton of shows copy them later the originals still manage to feel fresh. Sometimes the female characters in these shows can come off as way too big of doormats or cute/silly to the point of being awkward to me, especially in Key adaptations, but this manages to not take things too far in that regard. Not sure who best girl is yet. The art is generally pretty to look at. This era of anime design kind of resembles some of the appeal of those simple early 80s TV designs you would see in comedy shows like Sasuga Sarutobi or Urusei Yatsura, likely incredibly fun for the animators to draw and well suited for expressive motion in their simplicity. Which isn't quite lived up to here, unfortunately. The drawings are strong, and the motion is fine, but I would have hoped for more in the way of stand out charismatic character acting or something a bit more interesting in the odd action scenes that come up. There was a really nice rotation in episode 6 that caught my eye, but I think a bit more on the animation front would have elevated the show. The storyboards are strong most of the time .Naoyuki Kuzuya impressed me the most with his boards on episode 5, he had been active since the late 80s, and the veteran touches are very visible, lots of nice deep staging and good angles. The show also has a signature style of cut ins that are color coded for specific girls, which is a touch I always love, either in a restrained manner like this or the kind of wild stuff directors like Tomino do. I don't know if there are any Shuffle fans here, but who is best girl? Is the show going to surprise me? (though don't spoil it). Any other similar mid 00 Harems at a similar level of quality that don't get spoken of enough. I know this one was popular back in the day, but it seems to have faded into obscurity since then.

Is this still the most soul crushing ending scene in anime? It is for me at least.

It's nearly easter, post bunnies.

Discuss the reboot.

So earlier today I was looking up if there was any news on Uru in Blue (hah, no), and found an article from August which mentioned that not only was Royal Space Force getting a 4K 35mm scan released on bluray soon, but that it would also have a theatrical re-release to coincide with this. I looked it up and the bluray is coming out on the 4th of November, but I can't find any more recent sources giving a date or locations for any screenings. Anyone have any more info? I'd really love to see this masterpiece on the big screen and I don't want to miss what's likely my only chance.

Cars from Urusei Yatsura. Post 'em