I think I’m qualified to answer questions on this topic… I certainly watch a hell of a lot of anime. I’ve read plenty of books and articles on anime and manga. And I’m not one of those kids who tapes the entire first season of Sailor Moon off of Cartoon Network and then thinks they’re qualified.
You can ask me broad questions (although “what’s up with the eyes?” is being dealt with in GQ right now) or very specific ones about particular series, or ask me for reccommendations or opinions.
Why is it that when they’re translated into English, the actors can’t act, and half the soundtrack is made up of gasps and grunts?
Wanna buy the first five Gasaraki DVDs off me?
Okay, okay. What’s your favorite series?
And also, do you prefer English dubs or Japanese with English subtitles?
I won’t bother to ask about the eyes.
Why are they so friggin esoteric? Someone mind telling me what APPLESEED was about?
And whats the deal with all those tentacles raping nubile women? And what’s the deal with demons raping nubile women and having such a forceful ejaculate that the women explode?
And why do characters cry buckets of fluids?
Are there any other Japanese films that combine animation with live-action ala “Twilight of the Cockroaches”?
GuanoLad-On Bad English dubs - A lot of things can kill a dub. Sometimes the translator is ham-fisted, or the writing contains puns and jokes that only make sense in Japanese, or things like that. Sometimes the voice-actor will be pulled into the project not knowing what they’re voicing over, and will be told what they’re doing and who the character is about two minutes before recording starts. And some voice-actors just… suck.
And as for the grunting, well, the only place I’ve seen half the soundtrack made up of grunts and groans is Funimation’s WWF-influenced fuckups of Dragonball Z. That pretty much explains it all.
AudreyK-No.
My favorite series is currently a tie between Cowboy Bebop and Trigun. I cannot wait for Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.
Sub vs. Dub - I used to be a diehard subtitles fan because, like I said, a lot of things can kill a dub. Also, some of the anime that were dubbed expressly for American TV have a lot of things cut from the dub that you can see by watching the subtitled version. (Get your hands on a Japanese-language episode of Sailor Moon if you really want to know what I’m talking about. I’m not saying it turns it into a good series, but it’s a whole different experience :o)
But lately I’ve seen a few cases where dubbing actually improved a series as a whole. For example, Trigun - the series is supposed to resemble a 1950’s-era western anyway, so when it was dubbed into English, the background characters and extras were given Old West accents. It was a great effect, and made watching Trigun even more enjoyable (which I doubt is possible! :))
Bossk-Weirdness - I haven’t seen APPLESEED, but I did watch Ghost in the Shell about 40 times, which was made by the same people and based on manga by the same author, Masamune Shirow. I’m going to assume you’re talking about the heavy philosophical issues Shirow works into everything he makes. For me, that’s one of the reasons I liked Ghost in the Shell so much. It was weird and heavy and esoteric and you had to watch it multiple times. For what it’s worth, I read an interview with Mamoru Oshii (the director) and he was holding up the movie as an example of how anime and movies should challenge an audience and make them think twice about their preconceptions. This is the philosophy a lot of your weirder anime works on.
Wow. Can I throw this stuff out, or what?
Tentacle hentai - I’m not even going to try to explain this. I’m wondering myself how it originated.
“demons raping nubile women and having such a forceful ejaculate that the women explode” - Whoa! Halloween parties at your place must kick ass!
No, really. Understand that HENTAI = PORN. A lot of Japanese pornography is rather violent and just plain strange. Allegedly, one of the big trends in the Japanese porn industry is schoolgirls taking it in the NOSTRIL of all places. Don’t ask me how it works.
Badtz Maru-I’m not aware of any.
When tears spout out of a character’s eyes like a fountain, it’s done as an exaggerated comic effect.
Unless we’re still talking about hentai here, and you meant to say “secrete” instead of “cry.” 
No-one I know has ever been able to answer this one: Why doesn’t Krillin, from Dragonball Z, have a nose?! Did I miss something?
Dragonblink -It’s probably just the way Krillin was designed. Puar doesn’t have a nose either. Don’t worry too much about it.
I know you people have more questions than that. C’mon.
Are blood transfusions very common in anime?
I think i can field a little more on Tentacle stuff
Japan’s censorship laws are kinda weird. The regulatory agencies and the courts of Japan have slowly relaxed the standards for what is considered “indecent” and “injurious to public morals” over the course of time. The logic being that the same material that might have been caused “panic and confusion among the public” won’t do that now because the standards of the public have changed.
In effect what this is saying is that “you can have your freedom of expression, as long as you don’t do something too offensive to people.” Apparently showing actual shots of penatration and the sexual genitals is too offensive for Japan today.
But hey, just five years ago, showing pubic hair was too offensive and now it isn’t, so things are progressing slowly but surely.
So what does that relate to tentacle rape?
Well I think some wit in his ever perverted mind figured out a loophole in Japan’s censorship by saying “since I cant do the nasty with a dick, how about something that looks like a dick?” Bango…tentacle (hell they eat them regularly). He puts it together and ships it out manga form which immediately becomes HUGE. I mean hell its got actual stuff going in chicks! (if you look at hentai with humans, they have to draw penises practically invisible to get away with it) So anyway, they make anime with tentacles, it makes dough, and the tentacle genre is born.
All I got to say is that the fans of hentai go in for some strange shit.
Why is the animation choppy and repetitious/cycled? (ie. the crying floods)
Why is it that, when the characters talk, there are three stages. 1. mouth closed. 2. mouth open. 3. mouth WIDE open. Then transition between these phases is very abrupt.
1 - Is it true that the entire anime genre was really invented by two hippies in Los Angeles who refuse to take credit for any of it, as long as they get the money?
and …
2 - Why does Sailor Moon make me want to invest in a hand lotion company?
Cool:
I love Miyazaki’s stuff (but I think I misspelled his name: Totoro, Laputa, Kiki’s Delivery Service…that guy)
I love his stuff for the storytelling, the lush animation (the flying scene that opens Kiki’s blows every other flying scene, including the flight past Big Ben in Peter Pan, out of the water), the characters, the humor and the warmth. I don’t like much of the other Anime I’ve seen (Akira, some of the Captain Harlock stuff, um…some movie about a Space Train, etc). If I like Miyazaki’s stuff, who else (or what titles) might I try?
Fenris
Hey Heath, waddya practically invisible? Never seen Magical Twilight?
A lot of repetitious stuff animation is just to save money, to the best of my knowledge, at least. Same reason you see so much stock footage in TV series and not so much in movies and OAVs.
err, waddya MEAN practically invisible
(grumblerarelybothertopostandmessupwhenIdogrumble)
As an avid Miyazaki fan (see my handle), what do you think is his best work? The lupin stuff, or maybe Nausicaa?
And, have you seen all of Cowboy Bebop? (Cuz I have, and it rocks!)
“Cowboy Bebop”? What is this “Cowboy Bebop” of which you speak?
His best? I dunno…it’s all so good.
<sigh> but if I had to pick my favorite it’d be “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, hands down. From the character design and the warmth of the people he created, to the crystaline clarity of his storytelling (I knew exactly what was going on without understanding a single word) to the Maxfield Parrish-like beauty of the world he created (neon-windmills?! Brilliant!), Kiki’s is easily my favorite. How 'bout yours? (As if I couldn’t guess from the handle! 
)
Femros
Do you know why so many male characters in anime have such spiky hair?
My personal anime recommendations;
Ghost In The Shell
Cowboy Bebop
Castle of Cagliostro
La Blue Girl (X-rated)