# Myth's Anime Thread



## Mythopoet

I love anime. I have a hard time, in general, finding fantasy books/movies that I enjoy. But the opposite seems to be true in the medium of anime. When it comes to anime I can't find enough time to consume all the great shows that I find. Over the past several years I've gone from completely ignorant about anime, to skeptical, to fan, to obsessive fan. I don't know what it is about Japanese storytelling as experienced through anime, but I love it. 

I pretty much browse for anime randomly and watch whatever seems intriguing. And I've found that I enjoy anime from a much wider variety of styles and genres than I generally do with books. (I pretty much just read fantasy with a side of sci fi). Here's a list of shows I've finished or in the case of long running shows at least watched more than one arc of:

A Certain Magical Index
Ah My Goddess!
Bamboo Blade
Black Butler
Bleach
Blue Exorcist
Campione!
Clannad
Code Geass (finished first season, working on second, no spoilers please)
Cowboy Bebop
D. Gray Man
Demon King Daimio
Fairy Tail
Fractale
Full Metal Alchemist
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Hakuoki 
InuYasha
Is This a Zombie?
Kaicho wa Maid-sama
Katanagatari
Kaze no Stigma
Level E
Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok
Negima!
Neon Genesis Evangelion
One Piece
Ouran High School Host Club
Rah Xephon
Romeo X Juliet
Special A
Tears to Tiara
The Book of Bantorra
The World God Only Knows
Toriko
Yu Yu Hakusho

Right now I'm working through several series:
Code Geass
Clannad After Story
Get Backers
Angel Beats!
Sword Art Online
Is This a Zombie of the Dead?
A Little Snow Fairy Sugar

Actually, I feel like I've watched more than this, but these are what I can remember. And there are quite a few others I've tried and didn't like or watched some of but never finished. (I've tried to watch Le Chevalier D'eon a couple of times, but I get bored.)

I watch anime both subbed and dubbed. There are shows that just sound better to me in Japanese (Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist, Maid-sama, Black Butler), shows that I thought had fantastic English voice acting (The Book of Bantorra, Is This a Zombie?, Level E), and shows that I've enjoyed in both languages (InuYasha, Ouran High School Host Club, Toriko, Fairy Tail). And I always like to find shows in English that my 10 year old daughter might also enjoy. (She's a big fan of InuYasha among others.) 

So I guess this is a thread to talk about the anime I'm watching and the story telling lessons I'm learning from it. I'd love to talk about anime with any other anime enthusiasts and I like recommendations.


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## Feo Takahari

Which FMA did you watch first? On a related note, which FMA did you like most? (I read the manga first, so I got really attached to its consistent and sensical worldbuilding--unusual in shonen, which tends to follow the Rule of Cool. The first anime started with consistent worldbuilding, but became more cool and less sensical the more it diverged from the manga, so I got kind of frustrated with it.)

It looks like you mostly watch shows targeted to young men (with a few surprising exceptions like Ouran), and my favorite shows are targeted to women or older men, so I'm not sure how much our tastes will overlap. If you are (or your child is) at all interested in trying girls' shows, Princess Tutu is a good place to start--it approaches complex ideas about fate, free will, and literary postmodernism in a simple fashion even a child can understand and enjoy. (Alternately, watch Madoka Magica, which I maintain is just Princess Tutu for people who like action and hate ballet--but don't let your kid see it, at least not after episode 3.)


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## Ophiucha

I have watched more anime and read more manga than would be reasonable to list here. It's been a hobby of mine for a decade, and for a fair few of those years, I didn't watch much American or British telly to split up my entertainment time. A few of my favourites, though, and ones of yours that I've also seen.


_Fullmetal Alchemist_, both series. I adore them both, but I prefer the 2003 series marginally. Mostly because I really adore the first 20-30 episodes or so, which are condensed into about 10 in _Brotherhood_.
_Sakamichi no Apollon_
_Real Drive_, fantastic series from Furuhashi Kazuhiro and the creator/studio of _Ghost in the Shell_. I'd really recommend it if you're a fan of that series, which I know many anime fans are.
_Kuragehime_
_Ouran High School Host Club_
_Fruits Basket_
_Fairy Tale_, I haven't started the anime yet but I do adore the manga from what I've read of it.
_Negima!?_, one of my favourites back in high school and I still adore the characters.
_Neon Genesis Evangelion_, have you seen any of the remake movies? I haven't watched them yet, but I've seen screen shots and they look fantastic. I might watch them and go see the third one in theatres, since it's playing in the city.
_Kiki's Delivery Service_, really everything by Miyazaki is at least good, but this one is my favourite both for the story and for the nostalgia. It's just a beautiful little film.
_Baccano!_, possibly my favourite non-linear narrative of all time. Highly recommended to anyone, even if you're not a fan of anime.
_Kimi ni Todoke_
_Revolutionary Girl Utena_

And a couple that are currently only manga, but are good enough to be worth mentioning.
_Uzumaki_, you'll never look at a cinnabun, snails, or your fingertips the same way again.
_Vinland Saga_, relatively historically accurate, gruesome Viking story.


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## Philip Overby

I'm not a huge anime fan even though I live in Japan I guess people would expect me to be. I actually prefer manga more and have even experimented with the medium some (me and another guy wrote 4 manga together). However, there are a select few that have intrigued me and ones I'm interested in seeing. I'm mostly a Studio Ghibli kind of guy, but I do like some old classics like Akira, Fist of the North Star, and Berserk. I'm interested to see Attack on Titan since a lot of my students have said it's very good. I guess I'm in to darker kind of anime for the most part. I do like lighter stuff like One Piece on occasion, but I wouldn't say it's the kind of stuff I typically watch.

If anyone has recommendations for the darker kind of stuff, I'm open to any thoughts.


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## Feo Takahari

@Phil: Does Monster count? It's not a fantasy series, but it certainly takes a walk on the unpleasant side of the human mind.


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## Ophiucha

Phil the Drill said:


> If anyone has recommendations for the darker kind of stuff, I'm open to any thoughts.



_Vinland Saga_ is dark, bloody historical fiction, no fantasy, but who doesn't love Vikings? It gets compared to Berserk a lot, so if you liked that, you might like this. Not an anime yet, but they've been teasing an announcement, so maybe soon...


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## teacup

I've watched a few anime shows/movies. I usually check out the first few minutes in both Japanese and English to see which I prefer.

These are my top ones (no real order) :

FMA/FMA:B - I watched FMA first, and then Brotherhood, and loved them both, but I definitely prefer Brotherhood. (I went for English.)

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - This is fantastic, and I don't see many people who've watched it here. Very fun and hilarious, with great characters, and it goes way over the top as it goes on, but it works well. This might be my favourite, I don't know. (I'd go for English on this.)

Death Note - The first anime I watched, and I loved it. (Jap/Eng, either or.)

Kara no Kyoukai - This is a series of anime films (7, I think) which are not in chronological order. They're really good, but the best is definitely #5 - Paradox Spiral. (You could watch #5 without seeing the rest, and not be confused at all. Great film.)  (Only subbed.)

Perfect Blue - As if Gurren Lagann isn't crazy enough, this movie is crazy in a whole different way. If you want something to confuse and mess with your head, go with this. It's hard to keep track of which scenes are reality and which aren't. (I've only watched it in English so can't comment.)

Berserk - This was kinda "meh" for me for the most part, but the last 10 (I think, around 10, anyway) episodes were brilliant, so much so that for me, they made up for the rest of the series entirely. (The rest wasn't bad, but without those last episodes this wouldn't have made the list.)  (I went for English, but for this I didn't give subbed too much of a try.)


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## Philip Overby

@Feo: I have heard of Monster and that it has a very bizarre villain. That may be worth checking out for me.

@Ophiuca: I've also heard of Vinland Saga. I haven't read it, but I've seen it around. It sounds like something I'd like. I've often thought of trying my hand at some kind of Viking fiction down the line. For some reason I get this one and Claymore mixed up. I don't know why. By the way, I like what I've read of Claymore so far.


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## Mythopoet

Curses. I was just writing up a long reply and lost it. Here we go again...

I probably should have mentioned that everyone in my family is a huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki and we have all his movies. The kids probably like Totoro the best. For me it's a toss up between Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky and Howl's Moving Castle. In fact, I liked Nausicaa so much that when I learned the manga goes way beyond the movie I had to read it. It's the only manga I've read. The manga format just doesn't feel comfortable to me. It's not easy for me to follow. Though I've started getting my more visually attuned daughter into it. I started her with Fruits Basket. She's read 2 volumes so far and we watched the anime together up to the point in the manga she'd reached. I just got her the 3rd volume. She loves it. (Any recommendations on manga for 10 year old girls would be great. Though she's not a girly girl or anything. Her favorite thing in the world right now is Power Rangers.) 

I usually watch anime with my husband and we don't really pay any attention to what audience it's aimed at. We just try out what sounds interesting. He actually tends to enjoy the lighter romantic comedy fare more than I do. I love the really long fantasy adventure type series like InuYasha, Bleach and Fairy Tail the best. But we both enjoy all types. I love that anime embraces long running series with multiple arcs as well as shorter, contained stories equally. We can just look for whatever we feel in the mood for with the assurance of finding something good. 

FMA was one of the earlier shows we tried. We watched the first series and then learned about Brotherhood and watched that second. I agree with Ophiucha that the first 20 or so episodes of the first series were stellar, but the ending was a disappointment. We didn't even bother to watch the movie. We LOVED Brotherhood. It was the first anime we watched that really showed me what the medium is capable of. I was a fan from that point on. 

We hated Neon Genesis Evangelion. I would nominate it for worst ending ever. (Yes, including the movie.) I would only watch the remakes if someone paid me to. 

We've got a long list of anime to watch we're slowly working through. I'll probably post here to do a short review for whatever we've just finished in the future.


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## Feo Takahari

Mythopoet said:


> (Any recommendations on manga for 10 year old girls would be great. Though she's not a girly girl or anything. Her favorite thing in the world right now is Power Rangers.)



If it's a manga you want, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne is cute and charming. It's probably the most morally centered thievery story since Robin Hood. 

I will give one caveat: works based in a particular mythos often experiment quite a bit with the details of that mythos. _Jeanne_ is very heavily Christian-influenced, so while it's quite respectful to Christian ideals, it reinterprets Genesis in a way that, to my knowledge, doesn't match any denomination's views. I'm not sure how much that sort of thing matters to you.


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## buyjupiter

I skew towards stuff that's adult in focus for the most part (FMA being the exception), and I'm kinda snobby about only watching Anime in Japanese. English-dubbed Godzilla movies, English-dubbed Chinese and Korean movies have ruined it for me. I know the dubbing has gotten better, but I'd rather listen to something in its original language and read the subtitles than be left hanging by a mismatched sound track. (This has led me to being a bit confused by why Vic Mignogna is such a big deal at conventions.)

A few recommendations:

Witch Hunter Robin. One of the best story telling animes that I've seen. Great characters, great story, the only problem is that it was too short.

Helsing. This one comes with some interesting religious overtones, and interpretations of Catholicism. Overall, I liked the story and the characters.

Vampire Hunter D. The gateway anime of my generation, if you didn't get sucked in by Miyazaki as a kid. I enjoyed both movies, but prefer the first to the second.

Chobits. _This is absolutely not suitable for kids._ I enjoyed it, overall, but there were definitely bits that had me shaking my head and laughing at the absurdity. I should have figured that the boyfriend at the time had a good reason to be laughing hard when I asked what it was about. I can't even really describe it, other than to say it's the weirdest anime I've ever watched. And anime gets pretty darned odd, sometimes.

High School of the Dead. I don't know how many seasons of this are available now, but I watched the first one and got pretty hooked. This was before the Zombie thing exploded everywhere, so that may have something to do with my enjoyment factor. It does feature scantily clad women, but that's to be expected in anime.


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## Svrtnsse

I'm not really a connoisseur of anime, but I've seen a few and I tend to like them. 

One that has not been mentioned earlier and which is a personal favourite of mine is _Noir_: 
Noir (anime) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Noir (TV) - Anime News Network
The later half of the series isn't all that, but the earlier episodes are great. On top of that the soundtrack is superb.

I also watched _Ergo Proxy_:
Ergo Proxy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ergo Proxy (TV) - Anime News Network
This one's a bit weird and I'm not entirely sure how I actually feel about it. What I do know is that it's quite beautiful - as long as you like the colour grey in all its nuances. The opening song for it is also very good:





Finally, of anime that has not been mentioned yet I'll bring up the incomparable _FLCL_:
FLCL - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FLCL (OAV) - Anime News Network
I haven't seen chobits, which was mentioned earlier, but I suspect this is in the same vein. It ranges from vaguely coherent to absolutely incomprehensible and mixes slow parts with action sequences at breakneck speed. This too, has a great soundtrack.


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## Ophiucha

Audience-wise, I think my preferences tend to fall firmly into my own demographic - my favourite is _josei_ (older women), then _seinen _(older men), then _shoujo _(teenage girls). I used to watch _shounen _when I was younger and a bit more tomboy-ish, but only through nostalgia or exceptional writing am I likely to love it these days. _Josei _is a really under-targeted audience, but what few series the demographic does have are excellent.


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## Feo Takahari

buyjupiter said:


> Chobits. _This is absolutely not suitable for kids._ I enjoyed it, overall, but there were definitely bits that had me shaking my head and laughing at the absurdity. I should have figured that the boyfriend at the time had a good reason to be laughing hard when I asked what it was about. I can't even really describe it, other than to say it's the weirdest anime I've ever watched. And anime gets pretty darned odd, sometimes.



_Chobits_ does something unusual. It starts out as a wacky romantic comedy that happens to have a robot as the female lead. It's kind of odd for the genre--the male lead is much smarter than is expected, the female lead is genuinely robotic, and there are occasional hints that their relationship might not be entirely healthy--but most of the time, the things that happen and the jokes that are made are the same ones you'd see in any romantic comedy made in Japan. The thing is, every once in a while there's reference made to an in-universe manga called _The Town With No People_, and every time it shows up, the series starts to hint at serious questions about everything from the relationship between man and machine to objectification of women. Then a few minutes later, it's back to wacky comedy. And then in the final third of the show, _The Town With No People_ starts appearing in the end credits, and the series transitions permanently to serious science fiction! 



buyjupiter said:


> High School of the Dead. I don't know how many seasons of this are available now, but I watched the first one and got pretty hooked. This was before the Zombie thing exploded everywhere, so that may have something to do with my enjoyment factor. It does feature scantily clad women, but that's to be expected in anime.



The question to determine "Will you be able to stand this show?" is "Can you stand this scene?" If you're okay with it, you'll probably find the show at least watchable.

Incidentally, I'm a big fan of the anime reviewer Jesu Otaku. She's done quite funny reviews of both the above shows, recommending them both to fans of the relevant genres. It could be worth looking into her reviews if you're interested in finding new shows.


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## Ophiucha

I didn't mind all of the fanservice when I read the _High School of the Dead_ manga, but I think seeing it animated pushed it from gratuitous to ridiculous for me. I haven't read the manga in years, but I did like seeing an anime!take on the zombie apocalypse genre despite its massive (bouncy) flaws. A manga recommendation if you're a fan of zombies, _Mouryou no Yurikago_. It's zombies on a sinking ship! Sort of like the _Poseidon Adventure_, but with the undead lurking around as well. It's got a lot of the same gratuitous fanservice, but I thought the premise was interesting and it's only six volumes, complete.


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## buyjupiter

Feo Takahari said:


> The question to determine "Will you be able to stand this show?" is "Can you stand this scene?" If you're okay with it, you'll probably find the show at least watchable.



I cut anime a lot of slack. I understand that it will be the rare case where women are respectfully written (i.e. serve functions outside of a sex appeal role). Or find one doesn't require the female leads to have an abnormally large chest to hip ratio to be included in the show. And, it's part of the fun of deconstructing it. I do the same thing in superhero movies. 

I also try to not bring a Western worldview into judging the representation of women. I may not like it, but it's not my culture, and I don't really have a right to say much about it. That said, I do avoid the worst of the bunch. Things like _High School of the Dead_ are borderline territory for me, I by far prefer things like FMA and Witch Hunter Robin.


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## Mythopoet

Is it odd that a 31 year-old married woman with 5 kids would be attracted to stories aimed at teen boys? I don't know. All I know is that I find most teen characters in anime to be about a million times less annoying than most teens in western stories. In fact, I actually find them compelling and generally awesome. 

Speaking of which, my husband and I have both fallen in love with Sword Art Online. Kirito and Asuna are our favorite anime couple since Keichi and Belldandy. 

In my opinion there's fanservice and then there's fanservice. Most of the time I don't mind it, even when it gets a bit over the top, if it's just the icing on the cake and not the actual cake. Shows like Fairy Tail have a fair amount of fan service, but it's never much dwelt on. Shows like Campione have a lot of fanservice but it works with the premise of the show and never gets to the point, IMO, of overshadowing the plot or characters. There have only been a couple shows I've tried that had too much fanservice for me. The first was Demon King Daimao, where I couldn't figure out what the stupid show was supposed to be about so the fact that it spent so much time showing girls' panties instead of developing the story bothered me. More recently was To Love-Ru which doesn't seem to have any story at all except Aliens! Boobs! Panties! This rather bland high school guy who accidentally touches more female genitalia than most of you will in your entire lives! Did we mention Naked Aliens! The whole show's premise is really just an elaborate excuse for fanservice. That's when it goes to far for me. 

I rather like how female characters are portrayed in most anime I've watched. Characters in general are so much more varied and interesting than anything in recent western media.


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## JRFLynn

> Is it odd that a 31 year-old married woman with 5 kids would be attracted to stories aimed at teen boys? I don't know. All I know is that I find most teen characters in anime to be about a million times less annoying than most teens in western stories. In fact, I actually find them compelling and generally awesome.



I feel the same way, if the story is compelling why not go along for the ride? It doesn't bother me that most animes are aimed towards teens as growing up is pretty befuddling and frustrating, and teenage angst mixes well with action. I think it would be neat to write a book that reads like an anime, heck, I'd love for it to become an anime lol! 

You're right, western characters do seem a bit annoying and cocky, like Ben 10, Kim Possible, and Dexters Lab among other things...I realize most western shows are for entertainment and not that bent on telling a complex story (unless you read the comics), but then there were some that really surprised me like Batman Beyond. I haven't watched too much stuff on superheros, but that show hooked me. There are many western cartoons I like, but japanese narrative definitely has quirk, conflict, and depth that is masterfully done. 

All-time favorites:
Naruto
One Piece
Berserk
Gantz

If you haven't heard of Berserk or Gantz, the manga is way, way, WAY better than the anime!


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## Feo Takahari

JRFLynn said:


> I feel the same way, if the story is compelling why not go along for the ride? It doesn't bother me that most animes are aimed towards teens as growing up is pretty befuddling and frustrating, and teenage angst mixes well with action. I think it would be neat to write a book that reads like an anime, heck, I'd love for it to become an anime lol!
> 
> You're right, western characters do seem a bit annoying and cocky, like Ben 10, Kim Possible, and Dexters Lab among other things...I realize most western shows are for entertainment and not that bent on telling a complex story (unless you read the comics), but then there were some that really surprised me like Batman Beyond. I haven't watched too much stuff on superheros, but that show hooked me. There are many western cartoons I like, but japanese narrative definitely has quirk, conflict, and depth that is masterfully done.
> 
> All-time favorites:
> Naruto
> One Piece
> Berserk
> Gantz
> 
> If you haven't heard of Berserk or Gantz, the manga is way, way, WAY better than the anime!



Gantz is kind of iffy. It's clear from the beginning that the author has some really, really good ideas, but for the first ninety chapters, they're constantly buried under a deluge of sex and violence. After ninety chapters, something major happens that redefines the story, new elements begin to be introduced, and the violence starts to feel like it means something--but it still swerves back and forth between brilliant and frustrating, to the point that I eventually gave up on it. (In particular, every time the author tries to write about women's sexuality, it gets really creepy and objectifying, even by Japanese standards--which is odd, because after chapter 90, he's becomes unusually good at writing likable female characters so long as they're not having or pondering sex at the moment.)

If you're at all interested in a Gantz-like manga, I think Cannon God Exaxxion is better in every way. The parts of Gantz that are good are great in Exaxxion, and the parts of Gantz that are horrible are merely bad in Exaxxion. I have no idea whether that makes Exaxxion _good_, but it's at least farther from being bad.

As for Berserk, I haven't read it, but I've read that this is what begins the series:



> In this world, is the destiny of mankind controlled by some transcendental entity or law? Is it like the hand of God hovering above? At least it is true that man has no control, even over his own will.



Courtesy of a parody series on Youtube:



> In this world, is the destiny of man truly controlled by some abstract philosophical concept? Is it like solid waste being spewed from the pen of a writer, desperate to add depth to what is otherwise meaningless violence? At least it is true that man has no control, even over his own anime.


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## Svrtnsse

I watched half of the first season of Gantz before I stopped. I guess it has its points, but it just felt really slow to me, as if everything took too long to happen and it got a bit silly.

Correction: I didn't actively decide to stop. But I couldn't be bothered to go change the disc and watch the next episode after the last I saw ended - and I still haven't worked up the energy to get back into it.


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## JRFLynn

Yeah, Gantz is actually rather annoying at the beginning with all the arguments and dysfunction going on between the characters, but I think the author was trying his best to introduce an outlandish concept and show how normal (annoying, self-absorbed, stupid) people would react to being thrust in some interdimensional game. There was probably a morality lesson hidden there behind the scenes, hoping people would pick up on it, but I agree his depictions of females were crude at times. Then again, it probably does reflect what our society has become, or at the very least what an average teen would prioritize... The Anime was a big disappointment, and some things were just plain confusing (like a vampire arch that just suddenly ends--or does it? I haven't been able to read manga for the better part of three years thanks to pesky viruses ) 

I'm not an expert on anime/manga, I don't have the resources to watch tons except what's on netflix and crunchyroll, but from what I've seen of Berserk it's absolutely brilliant. Again, the beginning is rather slow but it pays off.


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## Mythopoet

> In this world, is the destiny of mankind controlled by some transcendental entity or law? Is it like the hand of God hovering above? At least it is true that man has no control, even over his own will.





> In this world, is the destiny of man truly controlled by some abstract philosophical concept? Is it like solid waste being spewed from the pen of a writer, desperate to add depth to what is otherwise meaningless violence? At least it is true that man has no control, even over his own anime.



Well, I've never seen that anime so I don't know how it deals with those questions, but it strikes me as rather foolish to make fun of the act of asking them. These are questions mankind all over the planet has been asking since time began. They really shouldn't be taken so lightly.


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## Philip Overby

I don't find Berserk to be as shallow as some people take it to be. Yes, it has lots of extreme violence, but I don't think it handles that opening question in a disrespectful way. This theme comes up a lot as you see Guts and Griffith both follow relatively the same paths in life but end up in wildly different places. This may be connected to a higher power or fate guiding them in their directions. In any case, I don't see it as being a completely shallow anime just with a bunch of random violence.


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## JRFLynn

> I don't find Berserk to be as shallow as some people take it to be. Yes, it has lots of extreme violence, but I don't think it handles that opening question in a disrespectful way. This theme comes up a lot as you see Guts and Griffith both follow relatively the same paths in life but end up in wildly different places. This may be connected to a higher power or fate guiding them in their directions. In any case, I don't see it as being a completely shallow anime just with a bunch of random violence.



Yes! That's perfect hehe, I couldn't have said it better. Berserk has so many memorable characters, and I believe the opening theme hints to the concept of Fate and the demon-gods, so indeed it wasn't meant to be an opening bout of drivel. 

Anyway, Inuyasha is another one of my favorites but I was never able to finish the series. It's rather old and endearing for an anime, with a wonderful story. It reminds me of Fist of The North Star without the steroids...I would hop in an magic well too if I could have my own dog-boy


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## Mythopoet

InuYasha is a perennial favorite in our house. My husband and I have finished it all. I know my daughter is looking forward to being able to see the rest once we can afford more dvd sets. She's seen up to set 6. InuYasha was the first anime I watched and so it will always have a special place in my heart. Fortunately it was so good that I had to try some more and now I'm hooked. 

We've finished a few anime since I last posted. Angel Beats! was a short anime about a group of teens stuck in a sort of limbo world after dying because they couldn't accept the unfair lives they had lived and how quickly they had been cut short. The story revolves around them rebelling against "God" but then finally finding peace and being able to move on. I wasn't sure about it at first, but it won me over. It was pretty good, but not fantastic. 

I also watched A Little Snow Fairy Sugar. It's a very cute one for kids. 

The one we just finished that took us completely by surprise and became easily one of our absolute favorites was Sword Art Online. Perhaps it's because we play MMOs together and both secretly wish we could live in a fantasy game world but the premise of a near future that has made Virtual Reality MMOs that can really provide a whole body experience seemed aimed right at us. The premise is that in 2022 a brand new VRMMORPG is launched in Japan limited to 10,000 players. On release day 10,000 people rush into the virtual fantasy world of Aincrad and then discover that they can't logout. The game's creator has trapped them in that world and arranged it so that if you die in the game you die in real life. To get free of the game the players much conquer 100 dungeons and beat the game. This alone is pretty ordinary fare. It's the characters and their stories that make it such a great series. 

There's a really good mix of actions and characterization. Some of the side characters only get an episode, but they all feel very distinct and real. The villain of the first arc, the developer of Aincrad, was very well done. He's one of the few antagonists I've felt honest sympathy for. (I'm not usually a fan of so called "sympathetic villains".) And the two main characters, Kirito and Asuna, are just seriously the best. I loved them. Their relationship is beautiful. I haven't found an anime this good in a long time. 

Well, you guys have got me interested. I'm going to recommend Berserk as the next anime my husband and I try.


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## Svrtnsse

I just remembered I have to put in a good word for Hikaru no Go. It's about a guy who takes on the ghost of a famous old Go player and who learns to play the game. It's a bit of an odd premise, but it's actually really good.


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## wordwalker

My own favorite is _Blood+_. Not the "Last Vampire" movies that are different spins on it, and I hear the new _Blood-C_ series isn't as good either. But the real Plus is a odd companion for us Buffy fanatics, who always thought the one thing the classic Slayer never did justice to was what the monsters themselves were... or what could really give a girl the power to kill them. It has some sweet moments and some of the best-built-up drama I've ever seen.


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## Mythopoet

wordwalker said:


> My own favorite is _Blood+_. Not the "Last Vampire" movies that are different spins on it, and I hear the new _Blood-C_ series isn't as good either. But the real Plus is a odd companion for us Buffy fanatics, who always thought the one thing the classic Slayer never did justice to was what the monsters themselves were... or what could really give a girl the power to kill them. It has some sweet moments and some of the best-built-up drama I've ever seen.



Looks very interesting. I'll have to add that to the list.


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## Nihal

I don't watch anime as I've watched in the past, but I still like them. They're stories, after all. I'll mention 4 that weren't reviewed here yet, and some more.


*Seirei no Moribito (Guardian of the Spirit)*








It's a light tale based on a serie of novels. The MC is Balsa, a 30 years old spear wielder who claims to be a bodyguard-for-hire. She saves the prince young Chagum from an accident–which was in fact an assassination attempt–and ends becoming his protector.

I like the art, the scenarios, music and how the main character is a grown up woman. It's a nice break from the high-pitched and screaming teenagers MCs so common in anime. The fights are few, but are a pretty plus.


*Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan)*







For a hundred years what was left of the humankind has been living confined behind huge walls. That was after the Titan–impossibly huge and twisted humanoids appeared. The humans were pushed to the brink of extinction by these creatures, which are nearly impossible to kill, can go at the least a century without eating but have a liking for human flesh. For a hundred years people lived in peace, protected in their country by those huge walls, until a Titan as tall as no one had ever seen appeared out of nowhere and breached the outermost wall.

If there is something you can say about that story, is that it's bloody. A bloody and dark tale that surprised me. The effort that the author has put into his world building caught my attention, and even if I don't like where he takes his story sometimes and the focus he puts on his MCs (too much "the chosen one") he has a story going on behind it and he goes straight to the point. So far, no boring fillers. The anime stops where it reached the manga, and made me read it. This character art style isn't my cup of tea, but the OST is good.


*Baccano!*







Baccano is a serie of OVAs (13, 16 if you count the bonuses) that takes place (mainly) during the prohibition era. It features multiple points of view of different characters, from mafiosis to alchemists, with initially share no connections. Their lives are linked and their paths cross on a single aspect: Immortality.

It's a crazy, fast paced and non-linear story. I loved the opening, what is rare, the animation is also really good. The shortness is a plus for anyone who doesn't want to commit much time to follow series.


*Last Exile*







Last Exile could fit the "steampunk" genre. It takes place in the fictional world of Prester and follows the story of two young sky couriers, Claus Valca and Lavie Head. This world is divided on two quarreling countries, the pretty but dry Anatoray and the freezing Disith, separated by the Grand Stream, a virtually uncrossing storm and kept in line by the Guild, a faction that produces and control the units that make flight possible and enforces a sort of chivalric warfare code on their forever lasting war.

I love this world. I haven't seen so many retro-steampunk stories, so this one caught my attention. The male MC, Claus, is a bit too passive and underdeveloped for my taste, unlike the energetic Lavie, but it still worked well for this story. While I don't exactly like the style of the character art, the design of the vanships and such are superb. It blends 3d and animation well for a now 10 years old anime.



I don't know about the *Death Note* anime, it over explained things too much and ruined the plot twists in my opinion, but the manga is really good. It's a neatly told story with a really good artwork. I've watched the first *Fullmetal Alchemist* and it still holds a special place in my heart (haha!), it's totally worth watching. I might get around watching the new series somewhere in the future. *Cowboy Bebop* is good, so is *Ghost in the Shell*, *Samurai Champloo* is a bit crazy and anachronistic, but nice. *Witch Hunter Robin* is pretty.

*Mirai Nikki* is bloody, has a passive male MC and a insane and controlling female MC, but kinda worth watching. *Basilisk* is pure blood and tears. *Wolf's Rain* is tears. *Kemono no Sōja Erin (The Beast Player Erin)* is cute and slightly depressive, by the same author of Seirei no Moribito, but worthy too. *Honey and Clover* isn't the kind of anime I usually watch, but it moved me.

Has anyone ever watched *Record of Lodoss War*? It's old and the classic RPG-based anime, silly, typical elf-lady-damsel-in-distress and let's save the world from the evil deity clichÃ© stuff, but I'm fond of it for some reason. Go figure...

*Sword Art Online* was promising. Good theme, good OST, decent animation, and reminded me a lot of *.hack//SIGN*, an older anime that deals with MMO. But, *in my opinion*, it was a big disappointment. The chickification a character suffered made me sick. I watched the half to the end with a huge scowl, hoping for a twist that would set things right. It never happened.


P.s.: Like Ophiucha I'm reading *Vinland Saga*. I liked it more at the beginning–middle, I'm finding it a bit slow paced now, but I still read it. I've read *Uzumaki* too, interesting, but I wasn't particularly scared/disgusted by it, hah.


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## Philip Overby

You listed about a hundred things there )), but yes, I've seen Record of Lodoss War. It used to be one of my favorites. I kind of liked it because it was a blatant sort of D&D-esque story as imagined by Japanese. 

With the exception of One Piece, I'd say Attack on Titan is one of the more popular anime going in Japan at the moment. I had several students watching it and talking about how great it is. I've since heard from a friend that he really enjoys it, too.


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## Mythopoet

Nihal said:


> *Sword Art Online* was promising. Good theme, good OST, decent animation, and reminded me a lot of *.hack//SIGN*, an older anime that deals with MMO. But, *in my opinion*, it was a big disappointment. The chickification a character suffered made me sick. I watched the half to the end with a huge scowl, hoping for a twist that would set things right. It never happened.



I'm wondering what you mean by that? What exactly did you find so objectionable?


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## Nihal

Phil, those are not the half of the animes I've seen. I'm not even mentioning the worst I've seen unless someone mentions them here.

Yeah, Attack on Titan is a big hit nowadays. I'm not sure if it's justified, but I can say it's better than some things I've seen before it. I watched One Piece for a good while, but grew tired of it, those flashy  "who is the next villain?" stories, full of fillers, don't hook me. Same reason I've dropped Bleach. I've ever watched Naruto before it was a hit, but I grew tired of its fart jokes.

Lodoss is misleading, its OST has musics that never play on the story, so do some OP scenes haha.


Mythopoet, I'm getting the feeling you want to argue over it because you loved it. I can't explain without letting some spoilers slip and I don't want to this to drag, but, as I was saying _in my opinion_ (I cannot stress this enough), one thing that pisses me off is when a female MC is suddenly diminished so the male MC can shine. It gets worse when the male MC is popular (especially with women) for no good reason. It can only get lower when the big villain keeps sniffing the now helpless heroine's hair and the bad guys constantly try to molest her while the male MC runs and fights to save the poor girl. That's it.


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## Mythopoet

Nihal said:


> Mythopoet, I'm getting the feeling you want to argue over it because you loved it. I can't explain without letting some spoilers slip and I don't want to this to drag, but, as I was saying _in my opinion_ (I cannot stress this enough), one thing that pisses me off is when a female MC is suddenly diminished so the male MC can shine. It gets worse when the male MC is popular (especially with women) for no good reason. It can only get lower when the big villain keeps sniffing the now helpless heroine's hair and the bad guys constantly try to molest her while the male MC runs and fights to save the poor girl. That's it.



Keep your assumptions to yourself. I have no intention of arguing. It was an honest question because I had a feeling you were talking about Asuna and I thought she was a great strong female character. I find myself morbidly fascinated by how other people view strong characters in ways that make no sense to me, but I have no intention of arguing about it because there would be no point. I disagree on the topic of strong female characters to such an extent that many of the posters here and I could never see eye to eye. I still find the various views on the subject interesting though from a scholarly point of view.


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## Ophiucha

I had similar feelings, Nihal. Although it didn't bother me as much it did sort of diminish my enjoyment of the series after a certain point. I preferred _.hack//SIGN_, since you mentioned it, not just for the characters but for that OST. It takes a while to get used to having vocal background music, but it's so damn gorgeous that it just becomes part of the show's charm. I also adore _Baccano!_ (and recommend the novels if you can find a translation) and _Wolf's Rain_. _Attack on Titan_'s anime is a little weak compared to the manga, in my opinion, but I do enjoy the music and I enjoy the characters. Agree that the character design is a bit bleh for my tastes - I prefer shoujo art style, and this is really pointy and hard lines, y'know?


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## Philip Overby

I have also heard that Attack on Titan's manga is better than the anime, too. The same probably goes for a lot of the anime mentioned that come from manga. Berserk, for example.


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## Mythopoet

My husband wanted to try Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero and so we did. While the premise is interesting (What happens to a guy who becomes a hero in an alternate fantasy world after he comes home to the real one?) this is one of the few shows where there's too much weird sex stuff for me. From the hero nearly sleep-raping the girl from the other world he's supposed to be guardian of, to the freaky forced urination scene... I was just totally turned off by this one.


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## Nagash

Phil the Drill said:


> I have also heard that Attack on Titan's manga is better than the anime, too. The same probably goes for a lot of the anime mentioned that come from manga. Berserk, for example.



The berserker anime are indeed pretty bad. The OAV's however are good, even though too elliptic to my convenience. I guess Berserker Golden Arc I : The egg of the King, will be decent enough for any die-hard fan of the manga.


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## Ddruid

The earliest animes I remembered watching were Avatar, Inuyasha and Yugioh. I remember the last one with much more fondness and clarity than the other two, probably because I still have a huge stash of old Yugioh cards which nobody plays with anymore. Aside from that, I haven't watched many animes, at least not that I can remember (I'm not sure if pokemon and digimon will count, we've all grown up with them.) 

But a few months ago a friend of mine, a certified anime freak, directed my attention to Attack on Titan. I watched the first episode and got hooked. Now, having finished the first season, I am seriously interested in animes and have started keeping a mental list of shows which I plan to start on. So this thread provided some serious food for thought. 

I haven't read the Attack on Titan manga so I wouldn't know if the anime is stronger or weaker in comparison. Tastes do differ after all. I'm planning to rewatch Avatar and Inuyasha and I'm also reading the manga Hayate The Combat Butler.


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## Nihal

Ddruid, read Attack on Titan. I can't say if it's better or worse than the anime, but I can say: *Plot.*
The story goes on and things happen, the anime stopped just before some big revelations. 

P.s.: And try Fullmetal Alchemist. You might like it.


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## teacup

> The earliest animes I remembered watching were Avatar, Inuyasha and  Yugioh. I remember the last one with much more fondness and clarity than  the other two, probably because I still have a huge stash of old Yugioh  cards which nobody plays with anymore.



I loved the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, and I still play the card game


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## Feo Takahari

I'm wondering, has anyone else read Deadman Wonderland? It was kind of an interesting experience for me--I assumed it was seinen at first, because it was willing to go in very dark directions, but the farther I read, the more obvious the shonen tropes became. The thing was, it wasn't at all wedded to those tropes, ready to play with or even make fun of tropes that wouldn't work if used directly. (For instance, it set up one of those generic time-wasting fights with minor villains that often show up in shonen, then killed them off in a couple panels and got back to the story.) I wound up liking it more than most of the shonen I've read that played the genre straight.


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## Ddruid

teacup said:


> I loved the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, and I still play the card game



Thumbs up. 



Nihal said:


> Ddruid, read Attack on Titan. I can't say if it's better or worse than the anime, but I can say: *Plot.*
> The story goes on and things happen, the anime stopped just before some big revelations.
> 
> P.s.: And try Fullmetal Alchemist. You might like it.



Thanks for the advice, Nihal. However, I think I'll stick with the anime. It's how I got into the series and I feel comfortable with it. I love music, love the action, love the animation as well. I'll definitely start reading more mangas soon. And as for the PLOT... ugh, don't tempt me. The first season left me with so many burning questions and tantalizing hints but with such a big lack of answers, I think I might die of suspense before the next season airs.

Fullmetal Alchemist? Heard some good stuff about it. Okay, checked that on my list.


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## Mythopoet

I've watched Yu Gi Oh the Abridged Series. Does that count? 

Ddruid, if you try Fullmetal Alchemist I strongly recommend watching the second series, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. In my opinion, it was much more satisfying storywise.


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## Hainted

Ranma 1/2 was my first Anime, and the Manga was just as good.(FYI I bought the series 4 episodes at a time on VHS tapes because Anime was something only gaming stores carried in my area) Ghost in the Shell, Bio-Booster Armor Guyver, Gunsmith Cats, Akira, and Nausicca were the others that got me into Anime/Manga.


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## Feo Takahari

Mythopoet said:


> Ddruid, if you try Fullmetal Alchemist I strongly recommend watching the second series, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. In my opinion, it was much more satisfying storywise.



There's a lot of debate over versions, since the two go in really different directions. I don't think either was quite as good as the manga--the first veered too far away, and wound up not making sense, and the second stuck so close that it suffered from pacing issues (which are common when something's adapted as literally as possible into a faster-moving medium.)


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## teacup

> Fullmetal Alchemist? Heard some good stuff about it. Okay, checked that on my list.



As far as I remember it, I enjoyed Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood much more than the original, but both were great.
I would recommend watching both, if you have the time, but if not, Brotherhood. That is just my opinion, though.
FMA has a lot of fillers early on, and then gets on with the plot. The parts of FMA and FMA:B which are the same come further down the line in FMA. This can be due to the early fillers or because of the different direction of story.
FMA:B has no fillers.
If you are to watch both, then take this into account: If you have watched FMA first, the first 12 or so episodes of FMA:B will probably feel rushed, since those events take place over 25 episodes in FMA. I suppose the opposite applies too, FMA might seem to drag if you have watched FMA:B first. I can't say.

Anyone seen the FMA movies?
I loved the FMA one, and though I liked the Brotherhood one, I thought it could have been way better. I found it to be very predictable, too.


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## Mythopoet

As I understand it the first FMA series was made while the manga was still ongoing so it was close to the manga up until the point where the manga had left off and had to come up with its own ending. In my opinion, the ending they came up with was just inferior to Brotherhood, which as I understand it is faithful to the manga's story, pacing issues notwithstanding.


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## Rinzei

I absolutely love anime and I owe a lot to it. I only became seriously interested in writing and drawing because of anime and video games back when I was in middle school.

Rather than list them all, I use MyAnime List to keep track of most of them. My favourites at the moment have been Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin), Sword Art Online and "I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job." (ecchi fun comedy). 

All-time favourites have to be Attack on Titan, Sword At Online, Code Geass, Ouran High School Host Club, .hack//SIGN and Sailor Moon (ah, nostalgia!). Maybe throw Gundam Wing in there for nostalgia's sake as well.


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## wordwalker

Another quick recommendation: Full Metal Panic. A fun show with high-tech mercenaries (and a teen sergeant who may be the best stoic since Spock) trying to protect a Certain Teenage Girl. And no, it's almost camp-free-- a lot of the time, that is, and the rest does better than it sounds at balancing the two. (Then there's the comedy side-series Full Metal Panic Fumoffu, that I had the pleasure of watching with a roomful of laughing fans...)

Plus: the two best anime themes ever recorded just might be for FMP and FMP Fumoffu.


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## Rinzei

wordwalker said:


> Another quick recommendation: Full Metal Panic. A fun show with high-tech mercenaries (and a teen sergeant who may be the best stoic since Spock) trying to protect a Certain Teenage Girl. And no, it's almost camp-free-- a lot of the time, that is, and the rest does better than it sounds at balancing the two. (Then there's the comedy side-series Full Metal Panic Fumoffu, that I had the pleasure of watching with a roomful of laughing fans...)
> 
> Plus: the two best anime themes ever recorded just might be for FMP and FMP Fumoffu.



I think we have FMP around here somewhere, waiting for me to watch it, but I did love Fumoffu - so funny! I'm a sucker for comedy randomness in anime, not sure why.


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## Mythopoet

Yeah! Another Sword Art Online fan! My husband and I were so excited to hear there's going to be more of it this year. 

"I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job."

Oh, that reminds me of an anime we really liked that I forgot to put on the list: The Devil is a Part-Timer! It was very cute and funny. I hope they'll make more of that too.


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## Rinzei

Mythopoet said:


> Yeah! Another Sword Art Online fan! My husband and I were so excited to hear there's going to be more of it this year.



Husband and I both blame SAO marathon (whole series in 2-3 days!) for our die-hard purchasing of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, when we weren't that fussed before. "MUST BUY AND PLAY FANTASY MMO!"


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## Mythopoet

Haha. We recently started up a pair of characters in Guild Wars 2 named after Kirito and Asuna. I think both of us wished that we could play the Aincrad VRMMORPG.


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## Feo Takahari

Kotaku just compiled a list of all 47 anime coming out this winter.  Anyone see anything interesting? The two that have drawn positive attention so far seem to be Space Dandy (a love-it-or-hate-it deal) and Nobunagun (which is surprisingly well-liked.)


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## Steerpike

The concept of Wizard Barristers sounds interesting to me. Have to see how it is executed, I suppose.


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## Ophiucha

I liked Silver Spoon, so I'll probably watch the second season if I remember to check crunchyroll. I've seen the first episode of Noragimi and it seems promising. Nothing else is catching my eye, though.


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## Mythopoet

I saw several I found interesting. These are the ones I jotted down to remember:

Hoozuki no Reitetsu

As an aid to The Great King of Hell, a demon tries to resolve the problems in Hell while making time for his own peaceful hobbies.

The Pilot’s Love Song (Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta)

A prince who has lost everything leaves his kingdom on a quest of hatred and revenge but learns about friendship and love as he travels.

Noragami

A young god—struggling to gain followers—scrawls his number on a bathroom wall, claiming to help people for a mere five yen offering.

Nobunaga the Fool

When Jeanne Kaguya D'Arc and Leonard Da Vinci travel from the “Western planet” to the “Eastern planet,” they begin an adventure that will change the fate of both worlds.

Space Dandy

From the creators of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo comes the story of an alien hunter who is the “dandiest man in space.”

Wizard Barristers

In a world much like ours but with magic, a teenage girl becomes the country's youngest defense attorney for wizards.

Nobunagun

While on a fieldtrip, a high school girl is attacked by monsters and discovers she is able to wield a mystical weapon infused with the soul of legendary samurai general, Oda Nabunaga.

But man, my watchlist is insane right now. There's so much anime and so little time!


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## Rinzei

One thing now on that list that has recently been announced is the new Sailor Moon anime, showing in July on Niconico. Way more excited for it than I should be. Hope Crunchyroll will simulcast.


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## Mythopoet

Aw man, too bad my daughter can't read subtitles. (She's not a great reader and they're too fast for her.) It would be a lot of fun to watch it together. We'll just have to wait.

So, hubby and I have finished Dream Eater Merry. It was interesting, but a bit too short. Not much was resolved, seemingly because the manga is still ongoing. Does anyone know if they revisit anime series even years later when there's more of the manga available to adapt? 

We've been watching Is This a Zombie of the Dead? on and off. I really like this anime. Nothing has made me laugh so much in a long time. 

I've also been watching Princess Tutu myself and was surprised by how much I am enjoying it. 

And we finally watched the first episode of Berserk last night. Our main takeaway for now is: "Wow, that was disturbing."


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## teacup

Anyone ever seen Chobits here?
My girlfriend found it on Netflix. I thought it looked pretty bad, but I couldn't say no to that face 
Anyway, we got to watching it, and I'm actually enjoying it. It's just a fun, funny anime. Doesn't seem to be very serious, more comedic and cute. It's quite enjoyable, so far, a few eps in


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## Feo Takahari

teacup said:


> Anyone ever seen Chobits here?
> My girlfriend found it on Netflix. I thought it looked pretty bad, but I couldn't say no to that face
> Anyway, we got to watching it, and I'm actually enjoying it. It's just a fun, funny anime. Doesn't seem to be very serious, more comedic and cute. It's quite enjoyable, so far, a few eps in



I talked about it a few pages back. First it's a cute romantic comedy, then every time the Town With No People shows up, it's serious science fiction, then it's a cute romantic comedy a few minutes later, and then finally, in the last third, it's consistently serious science fiction. It's an interesting switch, although I liked that it went places most shows would back away from. (The subplot about the guy who married a Persocom was genuinely touching.)


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## Steerpike

Can anyone recommend good stand-alone Anime features. Most of the series have so many episodes I just can't muster up the interest to start on any of them. I'd like to find more good anime that tell a complete story in a couple of hours or so. I've seen all the Miyazaki films, and lately I've seen Summer Wars and Wolf Children. I've also seen some of the better known, older features like Akira and Ghost in the Shell.


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## Feo Takahari

What sort of movies do you like?

My favorite movie's Paprika. It revolves around a device used to control and analyze dreams--it's stolen and used maliciously to trap people in dreams, and eventually the dreams begin to overwrite reality. Imagine a Philip K. Dick novel on _even more_ drugs.

Though I haven't watched it yet, I've also heard good things about Children Who Chase Lost Voices. It's a "journey to the underworld" type story, by a director who's known for breaking the audience's collective heart.


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## Ophiucha

Since you've seen two of Mamoru Hosoda's films, he also directed _The Girl Who Leapt Through Time_, which I enjoyed. A cute romance with some slice-of-life elements and a science fiction element (time travel) to keep it interesting.

An older one that I like is _Hadashi no Gen_, which deals with Hiroshima. I actually like this one much better than _Grave of the Fireflies_, which is the really popular WWII-era anime film (and you should see it if you haven't even though it is unendingly tragic). HnG is also tragic as hell, but I liked the story and art style a bit better.

I'll second _Paprika_, as well as other films by that director: _Perfect Blue_ and _Tokyo Godfathers_. Satoshi Kon's works are really influential on anime _and_ Western film - _Inception_ and _Black Swan_ were both notably influenced by his films.

_Sword of the Stranger_, a samurai film that ranks with some of the great live action ones in Japanese film history. Very solid animation, particularly during the sword fights.


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## teacup

> Can anyone recommend good stand-alone Anime features. Most of the series  have so many episodes I just can't muster up the interest to start on  any of them. I'd like to find more good anime that tell a complete story  in a couple of hours or so. I've seen all the Miyazaki films, and  lately I've seen Summer Wars and Wolf Children. I've also seen some of  the better known, older features like Akira and Ghost in the Shell.



I probably mentioned this earlier, but _Kara No Kyoukai_ is very good. It's a series of anime films. I think there are 7, but you could probably watch any individual one and still understand. (Particularly #5, which is the best by far and a great standalone movie anyway.)

Whether you've ever watched _Cowboy Bebop _or not, there's a movie, which is basically like a big filler episode. It's very good and you can watch it without knowing anything about Bebop.

_Perfect Blue_ is great. A real mind bender at parts, trying to figure it out and keep it all making sense in your head.

_Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, _which I absolutely love, has been remade into 2 films, so you could watch those rather than the entire anime. There are some changes, as well as unnecessary parts being cut, and the end is even longer (or it's just changed a bit, I don't know.) I actually prefer the end parts of the movie than the show. 





> _Sword of the Stranger_, a samurai film that ranks with some of the  great live action ones in Japanese film history. Very solid animation,  particularly during the sword fights.


This is on my list just from seeing the last fight on youtube.


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## wordwalker

Has anyone seen the _Saint Seiya_ prequel/sequel shows? I have fond memories of the original, but I doubt that guarantees anything. (At least after all these years there's finally a translation available for the last eps of the classic storyline-- except I still hate to get it because they're only offering the 75-ep set that's almost all duplicates of what I have.)


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## Mythopoet

So we decided to try out _I Couldn't Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job_ and recently finished it. I liked it a lot. The characters were great. I think it was a much more enjoyable approach to the question "what happens to the heroes after the Big Bad is defeated?" than Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero. Though there was quite a bit of fan service in this as well. Personally, I don't mind some glorification of the female form. Let's face it, the female form is beautiful and it's natural to admire it. However, what does bother me is when all the proportions are on the improbable side and the physics of breast movement are completely unrealistic. No, boobs do _not_ move like that. Ever. Still, I couldn't help enjoying the series for the characters. I loved Fino. She was so cute. 

Now we're well into Gurren Lagann and wow! This is really one of those Great anime stories.


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## teacup

> Now we're well into Gurren Lagann and wow! This is really one of those Great anime stories.



YOURS IS THE DRILL THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS!
(I love Gurren Lagann)


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## Rinzei

Picked up another show or two:

- Nagi no Asukara (Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea) - I didn't know what to think when I started this. Definitely liking it though. I'm on episode 12 out of a released 17 - with a planned 26 episodes. It's a little funny, but for the most part, a serious dramatic series that deals with racism and prejudice through the people of the Sea and the Surface. It's an interesting way of showing it. Best of all, it's an anime first and a manga second - which means the anime WILL have resolution at some point.

- My Little Monster - Just "finished" this one. Good comedy, but so disappointed that it has the (sadly) usual "manga ran out" ending. I know some series leave vague endings to possibly continue once the manga has more content, this one left NO ending. There was no resolution whatsoever! And considering the show ended in 2012, I don't see one coming. So disappointed, because I was really getting into it. I would recommend it to people, but definitely not to anyone who needs resolution. Otherwise, it will infuriate you.

- Silver Spoon - only watched one episode so far, but my husband and I are in stitches. It is funny on its own, but it hits a bit close to home for us. My husband was raised on a farm, and his father works for an agricultural college - and the main character LOOKS like him. WHAT. So we might find it funnier than most because we see everyone we know in a character somehow. It is doing well in Japan though, enough for a second season and a live action drama, so it must be doing something right!


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## Steerpike

Thanks for the recommendations. I'm halfway through _The Girl Who Leapt Through Time_, which is quite good. _Paprika _is on my list next.

I've seen _Perfect Blue_ and I thought that one was pretty good. I've added _Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann _​to my list as well!


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## Philip Overby

wordwalker said:


> Has anyone seen the _Saint Seiya_ prequel/sequel shows? I have fond memories of the original, but I doubt that guarantees anything. (At least after all these years there's finally a translation available for the last eps of the classic storyline-- except I still hate to get it because they're only offering the 75-ep set that's almost all duplicates of what I have.)



I haven't seen these, but you'd think I would have by now. It seems like something I'd like in a nostalgic kind of sense (like Voltron or something). A slight personal story: one of my students writes manga for the original creator of _Saint Seiya._


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## Mythopoet

So, Kamina (Gurren Lagann) is definitely one of my top 5 favorite anime characters. (And we've watched up to episode 19 so yes, I know.) I am loving everything about this series.


----------



## teacup

> So, Kamina (Gurren Lagann) is definitely one of my top 5 favorite anime characters. (And we've watched up to episode 19 so yes, I know.) I am loving everything about this series.



His character and humour alone hooked me from ep 1. It definitely is one of, if not the best anime I've seen.
Are you watching english or japanese dub? I prefer the english personally, I love their voices, and Leeron's is just perfect and hilarious.


----------



## Mythopoet

We're watching Japanese. I tried out an episode of the English, but I definitely think the Japanese is superior in this case. The English voices for Simon and Kamina just sounded so thin compared to the Japanese ones.


----------



## teacup

@Mythopoet:
Do you think you'll watch the movie remakes? TTGL was remade into 2 movies, with slight changes. I've not seen the 1st movie, but the 2nd is definitely worth watching even with watching the full series. (And if you've seen the series you wouldn't have to watch movie 1, of course.) 
They're only in Japanese.


----------



## Mythopoet

Wow.

So last night we stayed up until 1 am to finish Gurren Lagann. We just couldn't stop. The story kept coming so fast and getting so big. There should be a picture of Gurren Lagann next to the definition of "over-the-top", but it was all awesome. We enjoyed every minute. 

When it was over we both just sat there in silence for several minutes. Then my husband said, "So, Gurren Lagann. Great anime or Greatest anime?" I'm not sure, but at the moment I'm leaning toward "greatest".


----------



## teacup

> There should be a picture of Gurren Lagann next to the definition of "over-the-top", but it was all awesome. We enjoyed every minute.



I'll tell you this, it gets even BIGGER in the movie remake. Yep, it is possible. It goes even more over the top. 



What I find funny about this anime is that it's so hard to describe without it sounding stupid, yet it's one of the best. "Hey, come watch this anime about drills."


----------



## Mythopoet

We will definitely have to watch the movies (and the parallel works), but probably not right away. I think cleansing the palate with some lighter fare would be in order before diving into that kind of awesome insanity again. 

But I'll say this, I think I can forgive Gainax for Evangelion now.


----------



## Rinzei

Mythopoet said:


> But I'll say this, I think I can forgive Gainax for Evangelion now.



This statement scares me. ._. Should I be worried?


----------



## Mythopoet

Rinzei said:


> This statement scares me. ._. Should I be worried?



Oh no, I just really, really disliked Neon Genesis Evangelion.


----------



## Rinzei

Mythopoet said:


> Oh no, I just really, really disliked Neon Genesis Evangelion.



I can't watch it. It's just too depressing for me. I also can't watch Elfen Lied for the same reason.


----------



## teacup

> I also can't watch Elfen Lied for the same reason.



I actually didn't find this sad at all. I saw all the times it was supposed to be sad, but it just seemed like the anime was trying too hard to be all depressive and sad. It didn't do it for me at all.

I thought the concept of Elfen Lied was quite good, but unfortunately I didn't think they went anywhere with it. I found it very disappointing.

Sorry to bash some shows so much, but on that note, what did everyone think of Sword Art Online? I loved the concept (though not too original I thought it was handled well) and it was very fun to watch. What I didn't like was the lack of plot other than a forced love story and simply completing the game. I can't comment on the fairy part, because it just bored me so much I couldn't watch it.

I wish this anime had been done differently, because I really loved the idea of people settling down in the game, opening up shops and having families and stuff.


----------



## Mythopoet

Yeah, I agree that Evangelion was depressing. And the ending was just... inexcusable. Then I watched the movie and wished I had been content with the series ending, however stupid it was. The movie was just... creepy and insane. The series had some merit and I thought it excelled most at relating the day to day of how a society that isn't really technologically advanced enough can come back from disaster and fight off an overpowered alien threat through sheer force of will and ingenuity. I liked the episode where Misato is struggling to get enough power together to fuel the Evas and fight the incoming Angel. With power lines running all over Tokyo-3 they make it by the skin of their teeth. I liked that. It was real and human. And while I wanted there to be more, I wanted all the cryptic allusions to mean something. In the end nothing meant anything. So yeah, depressing as hell. I don't recommend it to anyone even though it's somehow one of the seminal anime. 

I watched the first episode of Elfen Lied and while it didn't really bother me, I didn't find it compelling in any sense either. I got the feeling the whole opening sequence was meant to shock people into being interested, but it didn't work on me. *shrug*

As for Sword Art Online! I enthused about that upthread. Currently it's in the top ten anime for my husband and I. We absolutely loved everything about it. I thought the characterization was brilliant. It clearly took the forefront over plot, but I didn't mind that. I didn't think the love story was forced at all. I thought it was very natural and Kirito and Asuna are my favorite anime couple now (edging out Keichi and Belldandy for the top spot). And I loved the nuances of the villain of the first arc. He was a very interesting character in his own right. I could understand why he did what he did even though I don't approve of his actions. Overall, a great anime.


----------



## Rinzei

I think I made it to episode 3 of Elfen Lied - the cliffhanger-was-it-rape really turned me off... Sorry, but noooo.

Another massive fan of Sword Art Online. I had mixed feelings about season 2, the Alfheim arc. I liked the story and the new setting. But that villain...god, he gave me the heebie-jeebies. He was so messed up. It really took things in a dark direction, which I'm generally not a fan of. But the rest of the series overshadowed that for me.


----------



## Mythopoet

I've started an in depth review of Gurren Lagann on my blog if anyone is interested. It'll probably be a few posts long.

Great Anime or Greatest Anime? | Falling Toward Mythopoesis

In the meantime, we finished watching Is This a Zombie of the Dead? (The second season of Is This a Zombie? Yeah, anime often have weird titles.) I loved this series. So many laugh out loud moments. And it has a really fantastic English dub. I'll probably do a review of the series on my blog after I'm finished with the Gurren Lagann because it's inspired some interesting thoughts about how Japanese harem shows correspond to Western love triangles.

Right now we're working on finished Code Geass and have also started Log Horizon and Chobits. Because we can't watch one series at a time any more than I can read one book at a time.


----------



## teacup

Anybody seen Wolf's Rain or Monster here? I've not seen them yet, but they're on my list to watch. What did people think of these?

All I know is that I've been told by 1 person that Monster is "like Death Note but way better" and that I've seen clips of Wolf's Rain to a song, and it looked pretty cool. Yeah, all I know is that it looked cool and I like wolves, lol. So thoughts on these?


----------



## wordwalker

Wolf's Rain is odd. I made the mistake of trying to figure out if those characters are wolves with human illusions over them or wolves that turn into humans when they want, or when it changes its mind about that. It's more post-apocalypse than lupine, but it has its moments.

But Monster is one of the smarter crime stories I've ever seen. It's not supernatural _at all_, apart from how one or two killers are impossibly clever or charismatic, so its main similarity to Death Note is that it takes its time exploring different pieces of its puzzle. Sometimes it'll be a thrill ride, often it'll take a whole episode to explore one character, that you might not see too much of again. Its pace isn't for everyone, but the only real thing I'd say against it is that the ending isn't as powerful as the rest.

That and, back when I was following it, I had to do some serious searching to _get_ a copy of the last dozen eps. Sigh.


----------



## Mythopoet

Well, I am back, and I feel like I should have a significant amount of finished titles to add to my list in the month and a half I've been gone, but I don't. Hmmm. 

We did finish Chobits and I really liked it. It took a while for me to really get into, but I thought the characterization was very good and I liked the relationships. Though the ending of the show... didn't make as much sense as I expected. From what I read on wikipedia it seems the ending of the manga made a lot more sense and for some reason they made it both more complicated and more vague in the anime. But Chi was really cute and I'm just glad she had a happy ending. 

We've made some progress on Code Geass. We have to take that one super slow because my husband always needs a few days to recover after we watch and episode or two. It's just so intense. We cried after a recent tragic episode and I don't think we're quite over it yet. I expect this one will rocket into my top 10 list after we finish. 

We also watched a sweet little series called "Say I Love You". Normally neither of us are fans of romantic comedy, but we find in anime we often enjoy it. I think mostly it's about the characters. We often find ourselves caught up in the characters and develop strong attachments to them. I don't know what it is, but I find the characterization in anime to be so much more nuanced than most modern western characterization. Also, the teenagers in anime are completely stupid and annoying. 

We've gotten caught up in the series Magi, which I find to be wonderfully imaginative. We're about halfway through the second season of that and enjoying it thoroughly. It's just great epic fantasy with fantastic worldbuilding, based on the Arabian Night in part. 

More recently, we started Blast of Tempest and are completely blown away by how awesome it is. (Also predicting a top 10 spot for this one.) It takes elements of Shakespeare's Hamlet and The Tempest and mixes them up with Japanese mage clans and huge magic trees that may or may not destroy the world. We finished the first half, had to stay up way past our bedtime because we just couldn't stop before we got through the first season finale, and just wow. Hopefully the second half will be just as amazing. highly recommend.


----------



## teacup

> We've made some progress on Code Geass. We have to take that one super slow because my husband always needs a few days to recover after we watch and episode or two. It's just so intense. We cried after a recent tragic episode and I don't think we're quite over it yet. I expect this one will rocket into my top 10 list after we finish.



I can't remember too much from this anime, except for the ending, which I loved - and of course won't spoil. Maybe I'll rewatch it sometime.


----------



## Mythopoet

teacup said:


> I can't remember too much from this anime, except for the ending, which I loved - and of course won't spoil. Maybe I'll rewatch it sometime.



I imagine it would be well worth it. On a first viewing the story is full of so many twists and turns that I never know what's going to happen next and more than once I felt like it's punched me in the gut (in a good way, if you know what I mean?) with a hugely emotional turn I didn't see coming. I imagine that a second viewing would allow you to appreciate the story in a more in depth fashion. I will probably do this at some point after we're done. My husband will probably be too much of a wreck to ever watch it again. (In a good way, if you know what I mean?)

Speaking of anime that should be rewatched, I've been thinking of rewatching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It was one of the earliest shows I watched and it's been so long now that it's no longer fresh in my mind. Having the watched the first series and Brotherhood back to back now I think I sometimes confuse the two. And I have a lot more experience with anime now that I think would help me to appreciate it even more.


----------



## teacup

> I imagine it would be well worth it. On a first viewing the story is full of so many twists and turns that I never know what's going to happen next and more than once I felt like it's punched me in the gut (in a good way, if you know what I mean?) with a hugely emotional turn I didn't see coming. I imagine that a second viewing would allow you to appreciate the story in a more in depth fashion. I will probably do this at some point after we're done. My husband will probably be too much of a wreck to ever watch it again. (In a good way, if you know what I mean?)


I really do need to watch it again. I honestly don't know whether I like it or not, apart from the ending, because I don't remember it enough. I /think/ I much preferred the first half, though.






> Speaking of anime that should be rewatched, I've been thinking of rewatching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It was one of the earliest shows I watched and it's been so long now that it's no longer fresh in my mind. Having the watched the first series and Brotherhood back to back now I think I sometimes confuse the two. And I have a lot more experience with anime now that I think would help me to appreciate it even more.



I have re-watched Brotherhood so many times, I don't even know how many anymore. 5 maybe...maybe more. But I must watch it again! 
Have you seen the Brotherhood movie, Sacred Star of Milos?


----------



## Mythopoet

We finished watching Blast of Tempest. It was truly excellent. The story was a modern day fantasy, one could call it urban fantasy since it mostly takes place in and around the cities of Japan, with a really neat premise. The premise is this: the Kusaribe clan is a family of mages who serve and worship what is called the Tree of Genesis. Making offerings of modern technology to the Tree grants them magical power within certain limitations. Part of their role as servants of the Tree of Genesis is to ensure that the Tree of Exodus, Genesis's rival and opposite, never revives. Long ago there was a great battle between Genesis and Exodus wherein Genesis barely managed to defeat Exodus but was damaged and has been hibernating ever since. The Kusaribe have always believed that the Tree of Genesis is on the side of humanity, protecting it from Exodus, which will destroy everything. However, in recent times most of the clan, lead by a mage named Samon, have come to believe that this is false, that it is the Tree of Genesis that will destroy all of civilization and that Exodus is the only weapon against it. Thus they wish to revive the tree of Exodus before it is too late. The only person in the clan standing against them is the princess of the clan, the mage of Genesis who is more powerful than all of them. Thus Samon concocts a plan to get rid of the princess so they can complete the process of awakening the Tree of Exodus. The Kusaribe cannot kill with their own hands, or they will lose their power from the Tree. So she is put in a barrel and left on a deserted island surrounded by a magical barrier to die. 

However, as interesting a fantasy as this makes, it's all almost just a backdrop. For the princess Hakaze manages to find a way to contact the outside world after all, a message in a bottle that through magic allows her to communicate in real time with the one who accidentally picks it up. This is Mahiro Fuwa a Japanese teen who has recently been devastated by the senseless murder of his younger sister. He makes a deal with Hakaze that he will help her save the world if she will help him find his sister's killer through her magic and exact vengeance. Mahiro is joined by his long time friend Yoshino, who unbeknownst to him was dating his sister and is also suffering from her death. Aika Fuwa, Mahiro's sister and Yoshino's love, haunts the characters and has a surprising influence on the whole story. 

If it sounds like the story fumbles the interesting battle between magical trees in favor of teen angst, it couldn't be farther from the truth. Mahiro and Yoshino are surprisingly complex and compelling characters. And Aika's fascination with the Shakespeare's plays Hamlet and the Tempest generate the thematic threads that run through the entire story, weaving everything together seamlessly. Some parallels are easy to spot. Hakaze is a mage exiled on an island like Prospero in The Tempest. Mahiro is consumed by a desire for vengeance that threatens to be his undoing, like Hamlet. Both plays were takes of revenge, but one ends tragically and one ends happily. The story asks, which way will this end? 

My one complaint about the show was that the reality behind the Trees, their power and their purpose, is never fully explained. But at the same time, I accept that this isn't really what the story is about. It's really about Hakaze and Mahiro and Yoshino and Aika. It's a surprisingly effective mix of intense character drama and epic fantasy conflict. It blew me away. (Pun totally intended.)


----------



## Mythopoet

Well, recently I've finally finished season 4 of Fairy Tail so I could move on to season 5 currently being simulcast on Crunchyroll. Fairy Tail is one of my favorites. Great stories, great fantasy setting, great characters, great music, great everything. I love it. So excited for this season.

I also finished Magi: The Kingdom of Magic. I am amazed by this anime. The more I watch the more I love it. The setting inspired by the Arabian Nights is gorgeous and vast and so imaginative. The fantasy aspects melded with the real world inspirations are really fascinating. There are a ton of really interesting characters and plenty of eye candy as well. I think I'm developing an anime crush on Ren Kouen.


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## Mythopoet

Finished 3 great anime recently. 

Occult Academy, a short and sweet 13 episode urban fantasy series. The best part of this show, in my opinion, was the main female character. She was awesome.

Gosick an alternate history re-imagining of European history leading up to World War II featuring Victorique,  a mysterious school girl with almost supernatural abilities of deduction (she's a bit of a Sherlock Holmes type) who solves mysteries with Kujo, a young man who is an exchange student from Japan to her home country, the made-up nation of of Saubure. Though it quickly becomes clear that Victorique is unwillingly tied to some deep rooted intrigue going on in Saubure that threatens to change the whole outcome of the coming storm that is World War II. Victorique and Kujo develop a very close relationship that I found really beautiful. I think they're my second favorite anime couple now, right under Kirito and Asuna from Sword Art Online. The animation and design of this one is really outstanding as well. 

Last night we finished watching Attack on Titan. This is, of course, the anime that everyone's been talking about and given all the hype I went into it with a healthy degree of skepticism. I ended up being totally swept away in the fervor. I love the worldbuilding of this show, the conflict of a humanity trapped within a fortress/cage of its own device now once again in a fight for its survival when the walls begins to fail. The Titans are a fascinating and frightening enemy and the mystery of what exactly they are and what is going on with these new aberrant Titans is going to drive me positively crazy until more of the show is made (or I gave and start buying the manga). There's a lot of violence and blood and death in this show. It isn't afraid to kill off people and characters when it makes sense and adds to the suspense of the story. (You can't have a Titan attack on a city without a high mortality rate. Otherwise the Titans wouldn't seem very dangerous.) None of the deaths seem arbitrary. I've been pleasantly surprised as well by the brilliant characterization. The kids who undergo unspeakable trauma and dedicate themselves to the fight against the Titans, each for different reasons. The trainee who seemed like he was set up to be the main character's rival and archjerk opposite but who ends up selflessly overcoming his fear, even while his body trembles with terror, and signing up to give his life in the fight against the Titans. The veterans of the Survey Corp (the only people actively fighting the Titans) who tirelessly work to uncover the mysteries of the world and delivery humanity from the threat of the Titans once and for all. Everything about this show is awesome. I want more of it right now so badly.


----------



## Rinzei

Yes, Attack on Titan is one of those that is hyped - and it turns out, for good reason.  Very much looking forward to more. I'd say that it'd be odd if it didn't have another season because of it's popularity, but I've heard that it's not as popular in Japan as it is outside of it. So, it's anyone's guess. We can only hope.

In other news, has anyone else seen that Hulu will have uncut subbed episodes of Sailor Moon? They're remastered, uncut and uncensored - which means there's not an official release of Sailor Stars outside of Japan. I've not seen yet if it works for those outside the US - I hope so. They also have a deal with Viz for the new remake coming out this summer.

Lastly, I've gone back to roots and started watching Rurouni Kenshin, dubbed. The voices do sound silly sometimes, but it's nostalgic. Only about 10+ episodes in so far - there's 90 or so in total!


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## Mythopoet

My understanding is that Attack on Titan has been a success everywhere. We caved and bought some of the manga volumes that follow the events in the anime and it looks like there simply isn't enough manga out right now to base a second season on. I'm happy for them to wait until more story is published. 

I've watched several Rurouni Kenshin and I can't decide if I like it or not. The voice acting is pretty bad in English, but it doesn't bother me much. But thus far, it just hasn't been very interesting. 

I finished watching The Pilot's Love Song the other day as well. I've seen it reviewed badly some places, but I thought it was very good and that the reviewer's complaints were stupid.


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## wordwalker

Rurouni Kenshin is odd. Even for anime it can't make its mind if it's full drama or not; if that's what you want, the second season is a lot more centered than the first or third, and the movies can be downright grim.


----------



## Jabrosky

I haven't seen that much anime, but I'm sorry to say that the small sample I've viewed didn't endear me to the genre. Probably the only anime I've come close to enjoying was _Princess Mononoke_, and it still left me with a weird aftertaste. Surreality seems to be a common theme to the anime genre from what I've seen.

Another one I remember was _Afro Samurai_, which advertised that its leading voice actor was none other than Samuel L. Jackson. Unfortunately most of his dialogue came not from the title character but his obnoxiously stereotypical sidekick. Rarely have I seen such a blatant waste of talent in any kind of animation!


----------



## Rinzei

Jabrosky said:


> I haven't seen that much anime, but I'm sorry to say that the small sample I've viewed didn't endear me to the genre. Probably the only anime I've come close to enjoying was _Princess Mononoke_, and it still left me with a weird aftertaste. Surreality seems to be a common theme to the anime genre from what I've seen.



I had a co-worker that didn't like anime much. When a friend tried to introduce him to it, they started with Neon Genesis Evangelion. *cringe* Not the best way to start someone out, and a quick way to turn them off.


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## Mythopoet

Anime is certainly an acquired taste for anyone from the West. I was highly skeptical when my husband introduced me to it. But I got hooked on Inuyasha because of the excellent characters and fantasy aspects. (As far as Japanese vs. Western fantasy goes, Inuyasha is different without being really weird.) 

Even when I enjoyed Inuyasha I was very skeptical for a long time about other anime. But we just kept finding good series after good series. And we also got into Miyazaki's films. Princess Mononoke is one of my favorites. I've had far more success over the last several years finding fantastic storytelling in anime than I have in fantasy books published in the last couple of decades.


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## Mythopoet

DH and I just watched the anime *Another*. This one surprised us, because it's a horror story and we normally don't like horror (except for the Lovecraftian kind). But it started out more as a supernatural mystery and slowly built up the horror elements until by the time the over-the-top gory horror ending came we were completely hooked anyway. It was a really well crafted story. We finished the 12 episodes in just two days because we couldn't stop watching.  

We have also started watching *The Mystic Archives of Dantalian* which is set in a sort of turn-of-the-20th-century sort of setting and features artifacts called "Phantom Books" that are magical books filled with knowledge which is, more often than not, not meant to be in this world. The protagonists are a Lord who has inherited his uncle's mundane and mystic library and a "Biblioprincess" who has specialized knowledge and access to the Mystic Archives. It's very interesting so far. 

And we've started *The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya* which I had seen people mentioning fairly often in various places so I got curious about it. It is infinitely more insane and awesome than I anticipated.


----------



## wordwalker

*Another* is well-done, alright. It's just so good at subtly plugging you into the school and placing quiet clues around, and lurching just for a few moments over to the latest shocker.

You might try *From the New World* too. It's a quiet fantasy future of village kids training to master their powers and only slowly finding out the flaws in the world. (Plus, just that first episode will see that you never look at cats the same way again. )


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## Mythopoet

Looks like I put From the New World on my crunchyroll  queue already, but the description there is so short and vague that it wasn't a priority watch for me. But if it's anything like as compelling as Another I'll have to give it a shot sooner rather than later.


----------



## Lace

I love anime! I actually prefer to read the manga since they seem to be longer than what ever gets made into a series. Fruit's Basket was one such case. I will list the ones I can remember reading or watching thus far.

Black Buttler
Blue Exerist 
FMA/FMAB
Earl and Fariey
Fairy Tale
Fruits Basket
Ouran High Host Club
The President's a Maid
MARS
Chiobits
Death Note
Rosario and Vampire
Wolf's Rain
And I have the entire collection of the Studio Ghibli films. They are by far my favorite! His work is amazing!!

Apologizes for botching any of the titles above.


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## Mythopoet

My daughter is a big fan of Fruits Basket. She's been reading the manga (just finished volume 6) before watching the corresponding anime episodes. Of course at some point she'll finish the anime and still have tons of manga left. I've already explained to her that the anime ends differently than the manga. She's looking forward to both versions. I got her a Kyo cat plushie for her birthday recently. Though I think she might prefer Yuki. 

I'm thinking after she's done with Fruits Basket she might like Maid-sama. We loved that anime. It was fantastic and seemed all right content wise for a mature 11 year old.


----------



## Steerpike

Lace said:


> And I have the entire collection of the Studio Ghibli films. They are by far my favorite! His work is amazing!!



Hey, I'm not the only one who likes Miyazaki!


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## Mythopoet

Steerpike said:


> Hey, I'm not the only one who likes Miyazaki!



You kidding? My kids are raised on Miyazaki. We adore his movies and can't wait until we can get our hands on the newest.


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## wordwalker

Steerpike said:


> Hey, I'm not the only one who likes Miyazaki!



To steal from Spider Robinson (at least, if there's anyone on this thread it applies to):

If you haven't seen Hayao Miyazaki's films, I envy you. You've got so much to look forward to.


----------



## Steerpike

Ah so plenty of people here like him. For some reason, another anime group I interact with gets all stupid about Miyazaki, to the point I can't take their opinions seriously.

My daughter watched Kiki about a million times.


----------



## Mythopoet

I have, more than once, called Miyazaki the greatest living story teller and I stand by that. He is easily my 2nd biggest writer influence, right after Tolkien and right before Frank Herbert. 

And I'm a huge fan of Joe Hisaishi as well, the composer for all Miyazaki's movies. I just put together a playlist of music from Nausicaa, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky and Howl's Moving Castle to listen to while I write.


----------



## Mythopoet

Well, my husband and I are hooked on *From the New World*. This is the most amazing speculative story I have come across in a long time. The speculation revolves around what would happen to society if humanity began to rapidly develop telekinetic powers. It slowly builds up the questions and answers in a way that makes me think that if I watched it a second time, I'd find new layers that I didn't notice before. And the whole thing is built on some very strong yet subtle worldbuilding and truly well done characterization. This series really masters that delicate balance between exploring ad idea and telling a story about characters.


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## wordwalker

I know what you mean. That first episode was such a perfect, self-contained arc of oddness it left me gaping and almost hoping it was a one-shot story, for quitting while it was ahead. Then it kept going, and slowly working its way deeper...

Edit: Another I'd recommend is _Red Garden_. Girls fighting zombies after school is such a _small_ part of the slow characterization you'll see there.


----------



## Mythopoet

Well, I accidentally got my daughter hooked on Naruto. I was trying to get her to try Bleach since the first four seasons in English were recently added to Amazon Prime. (I prefer Bleach in Japanese, but she doesn't like reading subtitles.) Naruto was also added recently and she asked me what it was about. I've never really watched Naruto, but I told her I thought it was about a clan of ninjas. She immediately perked up. I had no idea she was interested in ninjas so much. That was two days ago and last night she was already well into season 2. Well, it's certainly better than her watching stuff like iCarly, which is what she originally asked to watch.


----------



## wordwalker

Ahh, ninjas. It's amazing what a well-connected concept can do-- I gave a lecture on how to get in the heads of characters with paranormal backgrounds, and because I put "ninjas" in the title we spent half the period debating whether they were peasants or samurai, whether they used magic or super-genetics or pure tricks or what. Great fun, and I got a lot of use of of past Scribes threads.

Naruto is odd; it's half silly, two-thirds dramatic, and three-fourths failed mathematics.  I never think how much fun that would be for actual kids, but it might be perfect.


----------



## Mythopoet

Well, I've been rewatching FMA:B and gleaning a lot from it. This second time around I'm appreciating the way the story is developing even more than the first time. The first time I was watching immediately after watching the first FMA which made it a little confusing every time things deviated because I still had images from the first series in my mind (I didn't know going into it that there were two versions or that the second one was the one that followed the manga, I was still pretty new to anime then). 

I'm also watching it in English this time because I can do other stuff while watching it if I don't have to follow the subtitles. I still prefer the Japanese voice acting, but I'm getting used to the English voices. I'm not much of a fan of Vic Mignagna's work, he's very hit or miss for me. Romi Park was such a superior Edward Elric. Overall, the English voice acting is very "meh" for me. I'm not sure why it's so highly praised.

My husband and I are also watching Tsubasa Chronicles together. I'm still not sure what I think about it. Sometimes it's interesting, sometimes it feels contrived. I'm hoping it's not 50 episodes of the same basic formula with different set dressings over and over again.


----------



## Lace

So, the hubs and I discovered Sword Art Online and went on a Netflix binge! Sweet mother of anime I'm really digging it!


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## wordwalker

Take a look at Log Horizon too. Not as dramatic, but it actually involves the politics and economy of a game setting turned real. Hmm.


----------



## Lace

Sounds cool! I'll have to check it out! Thanks!


----------



## Writeking

Mythopoet said:


> I watched the first episode of Elfen Lied and while it didn't really bother me, I didn't find it compelling in any sense either. I got the feeling the whole opening sequence was meant to shock people into being interested, but it didn't work on me. *shrug*



If you haven't seen Elfen Lied the whole way through, I envy you. It was mostly nonstop gore and bloodshed, and I couldn't get into the story. It's not an anime I can bear to sit through more than once, and I've tried multiple times to watch a second viewing. I read somewhere on the internet they wanted to bring it to Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, but with all they would have to edit there would not have been a coherent plot left. 

When it comes to Anime, there's only so much exploding limbs and decapitations I can take in one series, before I shut it off. I prefer series with a mix of humor and action. Series like Comic Party, Ninja Nonsense, and Sister Princess are short series that are easy to get into. Ranma 1/2, Dragonball , Inu-yahsa, Bleach, and The Slayers are some of my favorite longer series, I enjoy the fantasy elements they contain, and for me, they are a great source of inspiration for my writing.


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## Mythopoet

Yeah, we came across Sword Art Online first and just loved it to death. Then we came across Log Horizon and by the description on Crunchyroll it sounded just like SAO so I wasn't very interested. But it ended up having a totally different kind of story and style. I still like SAO more, but Log Horizon was very good.


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## teacup

There's a whole lot of things I dislike about SAO, but overall I enjoyed it enough for light entertainment. 
Except for the Alfeim part (I'm almost certain that's spelled wrong) - The first few eps of that bored me and I just lost interest in it altogether because of that and the general public opinion that the Alfeim part is bad


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## Lace

I do agree with you there Teacup, it took a bit to get rolling once he woke up, but over all I really enjoyed it.


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## hots_towel

If anyone is interested, a great anime I saw set in 18th century France/Russia is called le chevalier d'eon. The plot is a little rushed for the amount of episodes it has, but it's still great, and the characters are great too. Deffinetly recommend it if you love that era of europes history


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## Mythopoet

hots_towel said:


> If anyone is interested, a great anime I saw set in 18th century France/Russia is called le chevalier d'eon. The plot is a little rushed for the amount of episodes it has, but it's still great, and the characters are great too. Deffinetly recommend it if you love that era of europes history



I tried to get into Le Chevalier D'Eon twice and I just couldn't. I'm not sure if it was because I'm just not particularly interested in that era of history, and particularly French history. Or if it was because of the ridiculous fantasy elements. Now, I love a good twist on history that involves fantasy or scifi elements, in general. But even I have a limit to my willing suspension of disbelief. And in this anime in 16th century France the Psalms of the Christian Bible were apparently obscure occult spells with tremendous magical power, including the ability to create walking dead. This is just too ridiculous for me. Perhaps it's because I'm a Christian and have been hearing and memorizing Psalms my whole life. And you can't even use the time period as an excuse. In a predominantly Catholic country like France even people who couldn't afford a Bible would hear the Psalms read out on a daily basis at Mass. And here are all these characters pronouncing verses that are very familiar to me in dreadful portentous tones and talking about the Psalms as if they're a secret power. It's just laughable. 

The anime taught me a good lesson about being careful how you use another culture's religion in your story. So there's that.

By the way, I wrote up a post on my blog about Vash the Stampede from Trigun recently: https://sarahmccabemythopoet.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/character-study-vash-the-stampede/


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## hots_towel

Mythopoet said:


> I tried to get into Le Chevalier D'Eon twice and I just couldn't. I'm not sure if it was because I'm just not particularly interested in that era of history, and particularly French history. Or if it was because of the ridiculous fantasy elements. Now, I love a good twist on history that involves fantasy or scifi elements, in general. But even I have a limit to my willing suspension of disbelief. And in this anime in 16th century France the Psalms of the Christian Bible were apparently obscure occult spells with tremendous magical power, including the ability to create walking dead. This is just too ridiculous for me. Perhaps it's because I'm a Christian and have been hearing and memorizing Psalms my whole life. And you can't even use the time period as an excuse. In a predominantly Catholic country like France even people who couldn't afford a Bible would hear the Psalms read out on a daily basis at Mass. And here are all these characters pronouncing verses that are very familiar to me in dreadful portentous tones and talking about the Psalms as if they're a secret power. It's just laughable.
> 
> The anime taught me a good lesson about being careful how you use another culture's religion in your story. So there's that.
> 
> By the way, I wrote up a post on my blog about Vash the Stampede from Trigun recently: https://sarahmccabemythopoet.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/character-study-vash-the-stampede/


i might have jumped the gun a bit when i said "I definitely recommend it" because i just remembered an anime worshiping friend of mine couldn't finish it because the plot became a little too convoluted. the fantasy elements still have me scratching my head also. I don't know EVERY psalm by heart, but i was a bit under the impression that the context of a specific verse would have some relevance to what they were trying to achieve. it instead kind of just boiled down to a holier than thou "who can recite harder" type thing. 

i suppose what kept me interested was the overall plot (when I knew what was goin on) and some of the characters. im not too knowledgeable of that era, but i really like things that have that sort of feel, which is probably why I fell for Last exile after a few episodes.


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## Mythopoet

You don't have to hesitate to recommend anything you enjoyed. Everyone has different likes when it comes to fiction. This thread is just to discuss our experiences and perhaps find news things we might like. Just because I didn't like D'Eon doesn't mean it's bad or others won't.


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## Writeking

One of the weirdest anime i ever tried to watch was BOBOBO. It's a story about a martial artist who uses his nose and armpit hairs to protect people and fight evil, I stopped after the third episode because it just seemed too ridiculous, it was funny but too much absurd to suspend disbelief.


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## Mythopoet

Writeking said:


> One of the weirdest anime i ever tried to watch was BOBOBO. It's a story about a martial artist who uses his nose and armpit hairs to protect people and fight evil, I stopped after the third episode because it just seemed too ridiculous, it was funny but too much absurd to suspend disbelief.



I've wondered about that one. There's such a fine line in anime between hilarious and absurd.


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## Mythopoet

Well, I've gotten to episode 51 in my rewatch of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. At this point I can't really watch it during the day when my kids are around anymore (as I had been) because the immortal horror army has been unleashed and things are getting really disturbing. 

I am super excited that the first episode of the second season of SAO will be available on Crunchyroll in a few days. I can't help being an SAO fangirl. SQUEEE!


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## Jesse Booth

Any of you guys watch abridged animes? It's just like regular anime, but someone on Youtube does the voices over with different lines. For example:


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## teacup

> Any of you guys watch abridged animes? It's just like regular anime, but someone on Youtube does the voices over with different lines. For example:



Yugioh abridged and DBZ abridged are both brilliant. I've yet to watch Hellsing Ultimate or its abridged version (but I watched original Hellsing which suuucckkkked)


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## Rinzei

teacup said:


> Yugioh abridged and DBZ abridged are both brilliant. I've yet to watch Hellsing Ultimate or its abridged version (but I watched original Hellsing which suuucckkkked)



Hellsing Abridged by Takahata101 is hilarious - get on it. If you like DBZ abridged, you won't be disappointed.


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## Jesse Booth

teacup said:


> Yugioh abridged and DBZ abridged are both brilliant. I've yet to watch Hellsing Ultimate or its abridged version (but I watched original Hellsing which suuucckkkked)



Sadly, I haven't found any abridged episodes of Hellsing past number four. But the episodes that were made are absolutely hilarious! My favorite line is: "Get that bitch a cannon! Bitches love cannons!"


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## Rinzei

Takahata's only has 4 episodes so far - he's working in a lot of projects right now, so his time is divided between his solo stuff and TeamFourStar's.


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## Mythopoet

I've watched quite a lot of Yugioh The Abridged Series. I liked it particularly because it was hilarious even though I'd never seen any Yugioh before and didn't even know anything about it other than card games. Also, the guy who made it was a legitimately great voice actor. Any other abridged series I've looked at has sounded pathetically amateur in comparison.

I finished my rewatching of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood yesterday. Just wow. I think that show may have the best climax and resolution ever. It had been so long since I'd watched it the first time, I wasn't sure how it would stack up against all the awesome anime I'd seen since. But wow. This story is just fantastic in every way. It's definitely still in my top 10.

Meanwhile, my husband and I watched The Tower of Druaga: Aegis of Uruk and Sword of Uruk. This anime was based on an old Nintendo video game, so I wasn't expecting anything other than an enjoyable old school fantasy going in. But it totally exceeded our expectations. 

We started watching Tsubasa Chronicle a while back and then learned about the complicated relationship it has with other Clamp works. So we also started watching xxxholic, since the two manga were initially serialized at the same time and are apparently interlinked, we figured it would be easier to understand that way. Because, man, from what I've read Tsubasa is a very complicated story. I'm still confused about whether the whole story is told between the anime series and the OVAs or if I'll have to read some of the manga to get the full thing.


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## Addison

I don't have many viewer's minutes on abridged animes, I do have an anime mystery. 

My kid sister has gotten into anime, thanks to a friend who has some mangas. She got jumpy after reading about half of the manga. She tried watching the anime....I think it was called Black Butler or something like that. Only one episode, she was brave enough to watch the whole thing, she claimed that all anime are cartoon-painted horror movies. I recalled an anime I watched that I know she'd love and help her out. Problem is I can't remember the name. But I do remember the premise more or less.

It follows a group of girls brought to one kingdom to become a great/legendary queen. The main character is sort of a clumsy, spirited, big hearted young lady. She has a best friend, boy, who has magical powers. He casts a big magical diagram on the ground, throws in some coins and items come out. The first was a pair of flying shoes (he wore one, she wore the other) the shoe helped her fly to a tower where she saw a bright light. This sealed her fate as a candidate for being a queen. 

Her next friend was a shy, gray-haired young lady from the spirit realm or such. There was another girl who rode on the shoulder of a robot. Another, snobby at first then a friend, had a weird talking demon-thing servant to help her out. 

I remember that one episode dealt with the main character and her bf helping out a baker to make a grand wedding cake for his daughter (estranged I think). Even with the girls helping, he needed help so the magic boy conjured a bunch of elves to help. the snobby girl tries to sabotage the cake, but her servant instead-due to her bad choice of words-makes it better by putting fireworks in the top tier which shoot out. 

I can't remember the name. If anyone recognizes this anime please tell me. 
Any light-hearted, anime with a strong theme and use of magic (princesses a plus) would also be helpful. Seriously, she's a twelve year old sleeping in my bed for two nights. This morning I woke up with her legs locked around my neck. HELP!


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## Mythopoet

Addison said:


> Any light-hearted, anime with a strong theme and use of magic (princesses a plus) would also be helpful. Seriously, she's a twelve year old sleeping in my bed for two nights. This morning I woke up with her legs locked around my neck. HELP!



I am unfortunately not familiar with the anime you described. 

But I can recommend a couple anime:

*A Little Snow Fairy Sugar*, a story about a girl, Saga, who meets and rescues a snow fairy, Sugar, who has come to her hometown to try to find a "twinkle" which she needs to do to become a full fledged season fairy. It sounds childish, but it's really not. I deals with themes of friendship and loss and is just an adorable show.

*Princess Tutu*, is a story about stories. A girl named Duck, who is really a duck transformed into a girl, seeks to help the emotionless prince Mytho by restoring the pieces of his shattered heart to him. To accomplish this she transforms again into Princess Tutu and uses the power of ballet and her emotions to ease the suffering caused by the heart shards and fight the evil Raven and his daughter. Everything is part of a story being manipulated by Drosselmeyer. The themes and music of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake play throughout. It sounds kind of ridiculous, but it's so beautiful.

*Ah! My Goddess!* is about a lonely and inept college student who accidentally calls the Goddess Helpline and unthinkingly make a wish for a certain Goddess to stay by his side forever. Thus begins his life with the beautiful and perfect Belldandy dealing with trying to find a place to live, balancing his life as a college student with the fact that he's becoming increasingly involved in the world of goddesses and demons, and Belldandy's sisters Urd and Skold eventually crashing their cosy home as well. It's a charming and funny show.

Both I and my 11 year old daughter have loved these shows.


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## Rinzei

Mythopoet said:


> I've watched quite a lot of Yugioh The Abridged Series. I liked it particularly because it was hilarious even though I'd never seen any Yugioh before and didn't even know anything about it other than card games. Also, the guy who made it was a legitimately great voice actor. Any other abridged series I've looked at has sounded pathetically amateur in comparison.
> 
> I finished my rewatching of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood yesterday. Just wow. I think that show may have the best climax and resolution ever. It had been so long since I'd watched it the first time, I wasn't sure how it would stack up against all the awesome anime I'd seen since. But wow. This story is just fantastic in every way. It's definitely still in my top 10.
> 
> Meanwhile, my husband and I watched The Tower of Druaga: Aegis of Uruk and Sword of Uruk. This anime was based on an old Nintendo video game, so I wasn't expecting anything other than an enjoyable old school fantasy going in. But it totally exceeded our expectations.
> 
> We started watching Tsubasa Chronicle a while back and then learned about the complicated relationship it has with other Clamp works. So we also started watching xxxholic, since the two manga were initially serialized at the same time and are apparently interlinked, we figured it would be easier to understand that way. Because, man, from what I've read Tsubasa is a very complicated story. I'm still confused about whether the whole story is told between the anime series and the OVAs or if I'll have to read some of the manga to get the full thing.



Just a quick google search, I don't actually know it, but was it Angelique?


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## DaFlaminUnicorn

teacup said:


> Yugioh abridged and DBZ abridged are both brilliant. I've yet to watch Hellsing Ultimate or its abridged version (but I watched original Hellsing which suuucckkkked)



I actually kind of like the original Hellsing series even though technically I have only read the first volume of the manga. but I agree with you as far as Yu-Gi-Oh and Dragonball Z abridged. I've only seen a little of the Yu-Gi-Oh abridged but the Dragonball Z abridged by TeamFourStar on Youtube is Hilarious.
I've watched these anime (some more than others):

Tv shows:
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The legend of Korra
Big O
Black Butler
Bleach
Clannad
Death Note
D.N. Angel
Dragonball
Dragonball Z
Fairy Tail
Fruits Basket
Inuyasha
K-on
Ouran High School Host Club
Pokemon
Sonic X
Spice and Wolf
Yu-Gi-Oh!

Movies:
Howl's Moving Castle (in my opinion, best movie ever)
PokÃ©mon: the first movie (Mewtwo Strikes Back)
PokÃ©mon: 2000 (The Power of One)
PokÃ©mon Heroes: Latios and Latias
PokÃ©mon 4ever: Celebi (Voice of the Forest)
PokÃ©mon Jirachi: Wish Maker
PokÃ©mon: The Rise of Darkrai

Games:
Corpse Party
Dragonquest XI
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2
Mad Father
PokÃ©mon: Ruby, Emerald, and Saphire
PokÃ©mon: Firered and Leafgreen
PokÃ©mon: Diamond
PokÃ©mon: Soulsilver
PokÃ©mon: White
PokÃ©mon: X 
To the moon
(the) Witch's House


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## DaFlaminUnicorn

here's a nice amv from hatsune miku.


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## Mythopoet

Let's see...

Since I last updated, I've watched a short series called Code Breakers. It was ok, but not great.

Finished the first series of xxxholic which I enjoyed a lot more than I expected. The one downside to me was that the English voice acting for Watanuki was irritating. But then the English voice acting for Yuko was superb so it balanced out. Yuko is an absolutely fascinating character. I'll have to do a character study on her once we're finished with the other series and OVAs. 

Watched another short series, Black Bullet, which was pretty good. It's strength was in its characters, I think, because the premise of the series was a little too much like Attack on Titan set in modern Tokyo. 

Started watching Wolf's Rain with my daughter who likes wolves and she loves it. I'm not sure what I think. I probably won't know what I think until it's finished. It's definitely a unique story. 

We've started a few other series. Rails Wars!, Tegami Bachi and Little Busters. They all seem promising. Little Busters had us laughing more than anything since maybe Is This a Zombie?


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## DaFlaminUnicorn

The only thing I really don't like about anime is that the girls typically have huge boobs. and there are anime that revolve around the female characters' sex appeal. there's one that on the cover has a picture of a girl with huge cleavage and a revealing shirt sitting on top of a pile of naked bodies. I'm sitting here thinking, "Wtf. Why?" of course I haven't seen this anime but I know people that have. I haven't talked to anyone about it. I really don't know what it is about, however the cover alone makes me think that it is probably an ecchi or hentai, which I do not approve of. *sigh* glad I got that of of my chest.


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## Mythopoet

I'm not usually bothered by fanservice unless it's really overboard. It's those shows where the entire premise and plot seems to be dedicated to fanservice that I don't like. Other than that, I've learned to live with it. (And I am a woman, btw.) Those there are some where even when the premise isn't all about fan service, the existing fan service manages to make it too ridiculous for me to take seriously. Kill la Kill is one of those. I mean, WTF is up with that so-called "armor"?


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## Gryphos

I don't know if someone's mentioned this one yet, but I thoroughly enjoyed Fate Zero. It's full of great strategy and sick action sequences. And it's not very often you see King Arthur, Alexander the Great and Diarmuid ua dwibn team up to take down Gille de Rais in the form of a giant octopus while Gilgamesh and Sir Lancelot have a dogfight in the skies above.


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## DaFlaminUnicorn

See I don't mind fan service every so often but too much is too much. I liked The melancholy of suzumiya haruhi because the fanservices were funny and most of them had to do with haruhi trying to bribe somebody or get her way somehow. but when they're like some guy peeking in on a girl or the short skirts are too short so you see the white underwear like all of the time that is annoying to me.


----------



## Ankari

I've recently jumped on the anime band wagon. I've watched Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online I and Broken Blade. I'm currently watching Log Horizon and Sword Art Online II.


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## Mythopoet

I am absolutely loving this season of Sword Art Online. I watched the first season in a binge session so now it's torture having to wait a week between episodes, but worth it. Sinon is a great new character and the conflict with Death Gun is really good. I love how the conflict is so closely linked to characterization and character growth in this show. And every time Yui is on screen I can't help grinning. She's so cute! I want one! 

I know some people complain about Kirito always being so great at everything, but I actually really enjoy it. I enjoy how casually he excels in games, how it never goes to his head. As an MMO gamer, it's so different from most of the people you encounter in games who are good players. They tend to brag and look down on those less skilled and want everyone to acknowledge their leet skills. I love that Kirito is awesome, but humble. It's so refreshing. 

Log Horizon was great. I almost didn't watch it because I found it so soon after watching SAO and it sounded like it was exactly the same thing. But despite the similar premise, it took a very different approach and I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to season 2 this fall. Hopefully we will learn more about the nature of the world they are in and how they came to be stuck there. 

Attack on Titan really is an amazing show. There hasn't been a story I've been so interested in speculating about since Harry Potter. I even started reading the manga because I just couldn't wait for more. I need the second season now!


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## Smith

I've lost touch with my anime-loving roots as I've aged, but a conversation in chat here a while back prompted me to revisit one of my childhood favourites: Cardcaptor Sakura. I've always been aware that the dub was butchered story and character-wise, but only now I'm an adult can I see just how bad it was in other ways, too, like the American voices being just godawful, no one sounds the right age. Thankfully, I found some great subs and got to revisit my favourite obligatory long-white-haired-pretty-anime-guy and re-fall in love with the other characters too, all of whom are endearing and much more complex than I remember from the dub, and the story is fantastic. I've never been a huge fan of CLAMP, as more of a manga-reader than an anime-watcher, but this is definitely the exception. I want to live in that world a little longer.


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## Mythopoet

I tried to watch an episode of the Cardcaptor Sakura English Dub and it was truly horrible. Maybe now that Crunchyroll has added it I'll give in another try in Japanese.


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## Smith

Oh, god yes! I'm glad I loved it so much as a kid, but I really don't know _why_ (okay, so, aside from Yue), the dub is so bland and so soulless and so lacking any of the nuance and sympathy of the original, and the voices are just. so. bad. That's not even touching how they edited out the network of interesting relationships and reordered or deleted episodes and destroyed backstory and tried to refocus the story more on the male character to 'broaden its appeal to boys'. I was truly amazed at how different a picture I got from the original, it was much richer and more magical that I remember, and it totally has me in the mood to watch other anime. I hope you like it when you get a chance to watch it.


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## Feo Takahari

50 upcoming fall anime. Anything catch your fancy? 

My first reaction: OMG _Parasyte_ anime! That manga was so, so good and so, so violent.


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## Mythopoet

Fall certainly looks exciting. I've added a bunch of new shows to our Crunchyroll queue. 

Log Horizon 2- Naturally. We loved the first season. 

Wolf Girl and Black Prince- Sounds hilarious. 

Fate Stay Zero- Our first foray into the Fate stuff. 

Cross Ange Rondo of Angel and Dragon: A princess is disinherited because she can't use magic so instead she rides a giant mecha and hunts dragons? Yes! I love you Japan!

When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace- Looks like another hilarious twist on the tropes a la "I Couldn't Become a Hero So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Day Job". 

Akatsuki no Yona- Gorgeous looking adventure fantasy. 

Gugure! Kokkuri-san- I don't even know, but it has a fox spirit. 

Denki-Gai- Another fun looking comedy. 

Celestial Method- A sort of coming-of-age story with sci fi elements? 

Trinity Seven- Not sure what this one will be like, a bit of a harem thing mashed together with modern fantasy it seems.


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## Mythopoet

Finally got to try some of the new season.

Log Horizon season 2 first episode: Very promising. You wouldn't think that a storyline about getting enough money to pay property taxes in a virtual world would be that compelling, but Shiroe somehow manages to infect everything he does with delicious intrigue. Also, that teaser at the end!

Wolf Girl and Black Prince: First episode was hilarious. Erika is a perfect character for a comedy of errors. Even though her motivations are obviously shallow and her compulsive lying is sometimes cringe-enducing, I think we've all been in her shoes (not wanting to be alone, willing to do stupid things to have friends) enough to relate to her. Sata is delightfully mysterious. His motivations and the contradictions in his actions are just opaque enough to keep you wondering exactly how their relationship is going to progress. 

Gugure! Kokkuri-san: I was delightfully surprised by the first episode of this. I didn't really have any expectations for it but the interplay between Kohina and Kokkuri is great. Very funny so far.


----------



## wordwalker

I finally went and got _Blood-C_. Big mistake.

Call it an object lesson, that if you want a story built out of how completely different two styles are, it's all in how they play off each other and start to change. Okay, the two styles are "innocent schoolgirl with friends" and "demonslayer by night" which sounds like every other anime ever, but the innocence and the fighting are so _static_ all we can do is say "these have to break soon." And eventually they do, but then it's all gore and shocks and clumsiness. There's *so* much anime that does things like this better.

Oh well. At least having it out there means that, if you ask around first, you'll hear about the one that's as good as this is bad: _Blood Plus_.


----------



## Feo Takahari

I've been dropping these for a while, so:

Your Complete Winter 2015 Anime Guide

Some that really jump out to me: 

Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!: "A group of slacker boys in the “High School Earth Defense Club” find themselves charged by a magical wombat to transform and save the world." (Magical Boys is apparently a genre now. God help us all.)

Absolute Duo: "On a quest for revenge, a boy joins a school that teaches how to use your soul as a weapon—but instead of a weapon, his soul becomes a shield."

Yatterman Night: "Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the classic anime Yatterman, this anime follows the descendants of the original series’ villains in a future where it is the Yatterman who have become corrupt and only their eternal enemies have any hope of standing against them."

Assassination Classroom: "A high school class must kill their god-like, tentacled teacher within the year or he will destroy the earth." (The manga is legendarily weird, and I'm curious to see it adapted.()


----------



## Mythopoet

Well, the winter season 2015 is coming to a close. I've only been following the new anime seasons for the last few, but it's been fun and interesting. 

*Yona of the Dawn* (Akatsuki no Yona) wrapped up its 24 episode run this season. This show... just totally blew me away. I have never been so drawn into a young woman's story since Nausicaa. Yona is an amazing female character. She starts out as a typical vain, spoiled, naive 16 year old princess, and the story is all about her idyllic life being shattered and her being forced to grow into a stronger person. Her growth is slow and gradual and realistic. She has leaps forward and temporary setbacks, but she never gives up. The story never pretends that she can do it alone, that she has to be independent or reject those who would help her to be strong. From the beginning she relies heavily on the one companion from her former life that follows her into her new existence. Hak was a general and her personal bodyguard who saved her life when her cousin Soo-Won took over the castle and killed her father for the throne. Hak stays by her side for the rest of the story, but Yona also seeks out other companions because she knows that if she and Hak remain alone, it's only a matter of time before they are killed. A priest advises her to seek out the power of the Dragons who helped the legendary King Hiryuu establish their country. The blood of the dragons has been passed down through 4 human bloodlines since ancient times awaiting the time the power of the dragons would be needed once again to aid the next King Hiryuu. As Hak and Yona travel the country seeking those with the dragon blood, it soon becomes apparent that Yona is the next Hiryuu. The anime stopped after the 4 dragons were found, but I've been keeping up with the manga as well because I needed more. This story, setting, and characters are just so good. Hopefully, they will start work on a season 2! Highly recommended, if you don't mind an unfinished story. 

*The Testament of Sister New Devil* was a modern supernatural fantasy featuring an outcast hero fighting to protect the previous demon lord's daughter from the demons who would steal her father's power from her. The premise was good, the characters were interesting, but it was also an ecchi (basically, porn) show. It was heavily censored which was both a relief and kind of annoying. Either way, it was my first real ecchi anime and it's definitely not for me. If you like that sort of thing, you'll probably want to wait for the uncensored version.

*Shirobako* was a workplace slice-of-life show focused on the anime industry. (I know, totally meta.) The first half was quite enjoyable. The characters were fun and the story about an animation company trying to make a comeback with an original series by a once-up-and-coming director who ruined his reputation with one awful series was both compelling and very enlightening. The second half where the company, fresh off the success of the previous half's project, take on an adaptation of a popular manga and encounter obstacles right and left, took the show to the next level. The show features a huge cast of characters from animators to production people to voice actors and everything in between. Most characters didn't get a huge amount of screentime, but the show managed to make them seem real and unique nonetheless. At the center of the story are a group of 5 girls who were part of the animation club in high school and who make a promise to one day work together on a professional version of the club's amateur anime effort. Throughout the series the 5 of them struggle to make their way as new members of the anime industry. One is an animator, one is a CGI artist, one is going to college and hopes to be a writer, one is struggling to break into the voice acting industry, and the one who is the central POV of the whole series works at the production desk of the above mentioned animation studio. During the first half the girls are all struggling to work toward their goals, sometimes wondering if they are doing the right thing. During the second half each of them ends up contributing work to the anime adaptation of Third Aerial Girls Squad. They've got a long way to go to reach their goal, but they're clearly all on the right path. This show was SOOOOOO good. So surprisingly good. Highly recommended. 

*Death Parade* was a series expanded from a short animation called Death Billiards. There is a mysterious place called the Quindecim bar where the bartender Decim serves as an arbiter of mankind. Human souls arrive 2 at a time and are induced to play a game "as if their lives were at stake", not knowing that they are already dead and that the purpose of the game is to facilitate the judgement of their souls. The job of Decim is to draw out the darkness in people's souls by putting them through extreme situations and based on their performance determine if they are to go to "heaven" or "hell". The original short maintained a very mysterious atmosphere and left the viewer with a thousand unanswered questions. The anime series delves deeper into the world of the arbiters (we find out Decim isn't the only one) and explores some heavy themes about the so-called judgements (is it right to judge human souls this way?) and about how human lives should be lived. The world in the show is strangely inhuman and the contrast with the passions of the humans being judged is eery. But the show delivered a very thought-provoking story full of surprise feels. Part of me wants more and part of me thinks it's perfect how it is. Highly recommended. 

*The Seven Deadly Sins* is an action-adventure fantasy shonen story very reminiscent of Fairy Tail in a good way. It's based on a popular manga series (of which it only covers part) and it seems the consensus is that the manga is better. Still, I found it pretty enjoyable. It revolves around a scattered group of totally OP knights who were accused of treason 10 years ago. However, their help is needed now when the kingdom's Holy Knights have set in motion a conspiracy to start a Holy War. The princess Elizabeth sets out to find and gather them to fight against the real traitors as it is revealed that The Seven Deadly Sins (as the group is called) never tried to overthrow the kingdom. Though is it true that they all have dark sins in their past. The characters were fun and quirky in the way only anime character in a fantasy story can be. (My 7 year old son developed a crush on the giantess Diane.) The action was well done and the story compelling enough that the hints left at the end about future story material have me hoping for a second season. Recommended.

*Kamisama Kiss *season 2 aired this winter. I'd never seen season 1 before, but tried it out and got completely hooked. This is a shojo fantasy romance type series. The premise is that high schooler Nanami is suddenly homeless after her good for nothing father has run off and her home is seized by the people he owes massive debts to. She meets a strange man who tells her she can go live at his house and gives her a kiss on the forehead before leaving. She goes to the place he directed her and discovers that it is a run down shrine and that the kiss bestowed on her made her the new land god of the shrine. The former god's familiar, the fox yokai Tomoe, is not pleased but through this and that they end up developing a new master/familiar relationship. Nanami faces many trials while trying to live up to being the new land god, not the least of which are her growing feelings for Tomoe. As of the end of season 2 they both have feelings for each other, but various circumstances keep them from acting on them. This is a charming series with a great cast of characters. Also Tomoe is totally the sexiest fox yokai I've seen in an anime yet (and they're not really rare). Highly recommended. 

Still have to finish: Cross Ange and Parasyte. I'll post my reviews of them after I've finished.


----------



## Gryphos

I recently watched all of _Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works_ and, after being so impressed by Fate Zero, I was not disappointed in the least. The animation is gorgeous, the action is thrilling, and when it needs to it manages to perfectly hit the 'holy-f*cking-shit' moment. I can't decide who my favourite servant is, Berserker or Assassin. Berserker just kicks all kinds of arse, but Assassin has that sick Swallow Reversal attack. Only thing I do know is, f*ck Gilgamesh.


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## Mythopoet

Gryphos said:


> I recently watched all of _Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works_ and, after being so impressed by Fate Zero, I was not disappointed in the least. The animation is gorgeous, the action is thrilling, and when it needs to it manages to perfectly hit the 'holy-f*cking-shit' moment. I can't decide who my favourite servant is, Berserker or Assassin. Berserker just kicks all kinds of arse, but Assassin has that sick Swallow Reversal attack. Only thing I do know is, f*ck Gilgamesh.



I've watched the first half and the first episode of the second half. At first I really liked it, but as I watched more and more episodes it started to get tedious for me. I sort of get that feeling I get from a story that has a great premise and tremendous potential, but I feel the execution was fumbled. I intend to finish it, eventually, but right now I've got so many good shows to watch.


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## Mythopoet

My current Watchlist of Summer Season:

Actually, I am: A really charming harem rom-com about a guy who discovers he's going to school with a vampire, an alien and a wolf-man and his principle is an ancient demon. Great comedy. Tiny alien chick who operates an "external unit" of herself is best girl.

Castle Town Dandelion: Comedy with some supernatural elements. In the small kingdom of Sakurada, the royal Sakurada family has 9 children each with a different super power. Their father, the king, has decided that the following year there will be a general election to decide which of them will succeed him on the throne. Thus the hijinks ensue as they start campaigning against each other. MC is princess Akane, an incredibly shy girl who wants to become king so she can get rid of all of the security cameras her father has installed all over the city.

Overlord: "Stuck in an MMORPG" genre. Momonga is the last guild leader of Ainz Ooal Gown, a group of non-human players which had worked together to build the massive guild fortress of Nazarick, complete with high level items and NPCs specially made by the players. However, over time, all of the other players have drifted away from the game and now the game is scheduled to be shut down. Momonga stays in game until the last minute... and is surprised to find himself still there after the shut down time. The world has changed and the NPCs have started to act as independent beings and now Momonga, a loner with no family, decides to embrace this event and take his new world for his own.

Ore Monogatari: A wonderful shojo rom com about a giant, awkward guy who has never had any luck with girls. They always prefer his good looking friend. But then one day he saves a girl on the train from a groper and their romance begins. 

Rinne: A supernatural comedy with dashes of romance about a guy whose grandmother was a shinigami (spirit who escorts the dead onto the wheel of reincarnation) and so also has shinigami powers. For one reason and another he has a massive debt in the spirit world and so has to work as a shinigami to pay it off. He meets a girl at school who can also see things from the spirit world and starts to help him out with some of his problems.

School-Live!: This.... freaking.... show. The formula is basically cute girls + zombie apocalypse, neither genre being my personal cup of tea. But where this show succeeds (and blows your mind) is HOW it puts them together, plays them off each other and dashes your expectations against the wall to pick up the pieces and put them back together according to its own design. It's freaking brilliant.

GATE: Portal fantasy. After a portal suddenly opens in Tokyo, unleashing a fantasy army complete with dragons and orcs on the unsuspecting Japanese people, the Japanese special defense force is sent through the portal the other way, to secure it and find out more about this strange world Japan has suddenly been connected to. 

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma: A high schooler who has been trained to cook in his family diner since childhood is suddenly enrolled in an incredibly elite Japanese cooking school where he will have to compete with the best of the best and use his unique creativity to overcome food preparation obstacles he's never imagined.

Fairy Tail: The ongoing Shonen action fantasy series has reached the manga's well received Tartaros Arc. The new threat is the dark guild Tartaros, which it is revealed is full of demons in service to the famous evil wizard Zeref.

Ushio and Tora: An adaptation of an older supernatural shonen action manga. Ushio is the son of a temple priest and a powerful shaman. One day he discovers that underneath his home's storehouse there is a powerful youkai that has been kept imprisoned for hundreds of years. Having accidentally unleashed the beast's evil aura, he must team up with the tiger-like youkai to defeat the many low level demons it has attracted, even though the beast assures Ushio that he will eat him at the earliest possible opportunity.

Prison School: Ecchi HS comedy. A group of 5 boys are the only male students at their school which has just now been made co-ed. Unfortunately for them, there's a powerful group of female students, the underground student council, who had boys and all their perverted ways and are determined to make them suffer. At the first offense (trying to peek into the girl's bath) all 5 are sentenced to a month in the school's own prison compound, and the underground student council president is determined to get them kicked out of the school forever.

Working!! (Wagnaria!!): Third season of the hilariously funny restaurant workplace rom-com. Plot lines are being wrapped up this season, running gags are coming to an end and love is in the air. 

Charlotte: Supernatural/HS drama. Sometimes adolescents mysteriously gain strange super powers that just as mysteriously vanish after they grow up. Sometimes they are found by unscrupulous scientists who use them as guinea pigs until they are broken. But at a certain school there's a special girl who seeks them out to warn them and if possible bring them into the protection of the school. Still, sometimes things don't work out the way you plan.

Rokka no Yuusha: Fantasy. 6 heroes are called together by the goddess of fate to fight the Demon King every time he awakens from his ancient seal in the Land of Howling Demons. There are always 6. Except this time. When the heroes gather, they find there are 7. So one of them must be a fake and an enemy, but which one?

The Heroic Legend of Arslan: Historical fantasy. Arslan is a prince of Pars when his father's so-called invincible army is defeated and his city captured by foreign fanatics. Gathering a few loyal companions, he plans to retake his kingdom, but along the way secrets are brought to light which may change everything.

Gangsta.: Action drama series set in the imaginary town of Ergastulum, a town ruled by mafia. Worick and Nic are a couple of Handymen trying to get by taking jobs from mob bosses and dirty policemen, but there's more to them than meets the eyes. Nic is a "Twilight", a trained soldier who gains superhuman abilities from a special drug.


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## Miskatonic

I can't watch shounen anime anymore. It's just constant Deja Vu. 

Fist of the North Star, YuYu Hakusho and DBZ were enough. 

Still waiting for the next Vampire Hunter D movie. Probably will be waiting forever.


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## Mythopoet

Miskatonic said:


> I can't watch shounen anime anymore. It's just constant Deja Vu.
> 
> Fist of the North Star, YuYu Hakusho and DBZ were enough.



If you think that is the extent of shonen anime then you are truly missing out.


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## FifthView

I'm a huge fan of anime, although I find that lately I don't have as much time for it.  I go through manic periods wrt anime, where I'll watch it for a week or two or three and then I'm burned out by it and have to go a couple months or so avoiding anime.  One problem:  I always feel a commitment to finishing a series once I start it, and some are long.

Last anime I started watching:  _One Piece_. On this one, I pretty much watched almost every day for a couple months or so, made it through about 600 episodes—I absolutely love it—but _whoa_ got burned out. 

Previous to that I had watched every episode of _Hunter X Hunter_, and loved it.  I think I read somewhere that the creator had stated there would be no more episodes, which is too bad if so.  The last story arc had seemed rushed, however, and not as good as the first three story arcs.

I'm a big fan of _FullMetal Alchemist_, although years have passed since I watched it and I wonder whether it would interest me now as it did then.

_Death Note_ was an absolute shocker:  so good.  Casting for the American live action movie is proceeding, with news just yesterday of a female lead cast.  But I'm skeptical that an American treatment will reach the greatness that is the anime series.

_Kyo Kara Maoh!_ was a quirky, fun anime series.  I bought almost all the DVDs for it, years ago.  But then when I later bought a few of the later DVDs, for whatever reason I just never opened a couple.

_Gravitation_ holds a special place in my heart.

Both _Grave of the Fireflies _and _Now and Then, Here and There_ are probably the most emotionally charged animes I've ever watched.


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## Mythopoet

I refuse to watch _Grave of the Fireflies_ because I know it would make me an emotional wreck for like a straight week and every single time I thought about it for the rest of my life. _Wolf Children_ was bad enough. My motherly heart just can't take it. 

Despite being a 33 year old woman I actually love a lot of shonen anime. I don't watch _One Piece_ (tried it out for about 25 episodes, it was ok, but not my cup of tea) or _Naruto Shippuden_ (I did watch most of _Naruto_, skipped the filler, because it's my daughter's favorite and she likes to talk about it A LOT so I figured I'd get to know it a bit) but I do keep up with _Fairy Tail_ which, yes, gets repetitive but I just love the characters and the philosophy of the show. I just skipped the most recent filler arc and picked it back up when it went back to the source material. I've also watched most of _Bleach_ (stopped watching after the defeat of Aizen, but I'll pick it up again in a heart beat if the anime is picked up again) and loved it. As far as the most recent "BIG" ones go, that's the extent of my experience. Never seen any  Dragonball series and it hasn't hampered me. But there's A LOT out there beyond the BIG shonen titles. 

_Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood_ is probably the most consistently highly rated series. (I've you haven't seen Brotherhood, even if you've seen the first series, you should watch Brotherhood, because it's sooooo much better.) And it's easily one of my favorites. 

_Soul Eater_ is one I finished recently that has a crazy unique art style and features some of the better villains I've seen.

_Attack on Titan_ gets a lot of hype which makes people suspicious but, in my opinion, it totally lives up to the hype. It's a brilliant, thrilling, heart-wrenching series, but also quite dark at times. 

_Blood Blockade Battlefront_ is, in my opinion, in the top 5 best new shows of the year. It's got great action and tons of style. 

_Durarara!!_ is another uniquely brilliant series with a large cast of fascinating characters including a Dullahan who is searching for her head. 

_Food Wars!!_ was a fantastic series this year as well. It is very much shonen-actiony in style, but its battles are all between students in a extremely competitive culinary school. 

Going back to the classics, if you haven't seen _Inuyasha_ then you've missed one of the great series combining all the action and comedy and drama and romance of both shonen and shojo stories. 

_Black Butler_ is also a shonen series that takes an unexpected format with a story set in Victorian England staring a young lord who has made a pact with a demon. 

_Magi_ is a series with amazing worldbuilding and storytelling inspired by the Arabian Nights and much more. 

I could go on and on. Basically, shonen is HUGE and extremely diverse. Don't write it off so easily.


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## Miskatonic

Mythopoet said:


> If you think that is the extent of shonen anime then you are truly missing out.



I guess I should say shounen battle/powerup anime. Basically all the clones of the shows I listed.

Toriko is the only exception because it's just such a ridiculous premise. 

And no offense but Inuyasha is for chicks.


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## FifthView

I watched most of_ Attack on Titan _and liked it, but became distracted and never finished it.

Same with _Bleach_ and _Fairy Tail_.  I began watching the former when it first appeared on Netflix, years ago, but I think not every season was on it, some episodes were skipped, and I ended up simply giving up on it.

I watched a few episodes of _Black Butler_ and _Magi_, but never really got into them, for whatever reason.  A host of other series fall into this category for me.  I have all of _Cowboy Bebop_ on DVD but only got through a few episodes; I'll restart it sometime I think.  So many others I've watched and don't remember well.

I don't know much about _Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood_, but my impression was that it was a remake of the original?  That's the reason I never bothered with it, since I'd watched the complete original (and have all those on DVD.)  I didn't really want to rehash the original, but if that's not what it is, I might give it a go.

I've never watched _DBZ_ or _Naruto Shippuden_

I tend away from mecha anime, more toward straight-up fantasy or contemporary fantasy.  I subscribe to Crunchyroll and have access to so many titles–but as I said, I've not enough time to explore everything.  I'm waiting for a new manic anime mood to strike me.  

If you haven't watched _Hunter X Hunter_, I'd recommend it.  The first three story arcs are excellent, and the third, which is by far the longest, was a shocker due to its depth and quality from a world-building fantasy and storytelling perspective.


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## teacup

> I don't know much about _Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, but my impression was that it was a remake of the original? That's the reason I never bothered with it, since I'd watched the complete original (and have all those on DVD.) I didn't really want to rehash the original, but if that's not what it is, I might give it a go._



Not at all. FMA:B _is _the original, really. It follows the manga, whereas FMA was its own story with the same world and characters. Both are great but I think B is much better. The first 12 eps (I think it's that many) might just seem like FMA but rushed more because it covers stuff that happens up to like halways through FMA in just those 12 eps, but after that the story splits off and is waaayy different to FMA. 
It's definitely worth watching it all.


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## FifthView

teacup said:


> Not at all. FMA:B _is _the original, really. It follows the manga, whereas FMA was its own story with the same world and characters. Both are great but I think B is much better. The first 12 eps (I think it's that many) might just seem like FMA but rushed more because it covers stuff that happens up to like halways through FMA in just those 12 eps, but after that the story splits off and is waaayy different to FMA.
> It's definitely worth watching it all.



Ah, ok.  I'll check it out then!  I don't much like rehashing the original—meaning, the first to appear—but now I'm curious.  Thanks.


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## Miskatonic

Another issue I have with shounen is I just see the same types of characters and relationships over and over. Part of this is due to the culture that spawned this type of art/entertainment,  but I can't get into characters that are just re-hashes. 

I mean how many spiky-haired, teenage, chosen one, potentially more powerful than anyone in that universe, protagonists?

I'm not a fan of the every man, initially ordinary teenager, with the same underlying code of honor, sense of justice, always willing to fight to the death for his friends, gets more powerful when his loved ones are hurt, blah blah blah.


----------



## Miskatonic

FifthView said:


> I watched most of_ Attack on Titan _and liked it, but became distracted and never finished it.
> 
> Same with _Bleach_ and _Fairy Tail_.  I began watching the former when it first appeared on Netflix, years ago, but I think not every season was on it, some episodes were skipped, and I ended up simply giving up on it.
> 
> I watched a few episodes of _Black Butler_ and _Magi_, but never really got into them, for whatever reason.  A host of other series fall into this category for me.  I have all of _Cowboy Bebop_ on DVD but only got through a few episodes; I'll restart it sometime I think.  So many others I've watched and don't remember well.
> 
> I don't know much about _Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood_, but my impression was that it was a remake of the original?  That's the reason I never bothered with it, since I'd watched the complete original (and have all those on DVD.)  I didn't really want to rehash the original, but if that's not what it is, I might give it a go.
> 
> I've never watched _DBZ_ or _Naruto Shippuden_
> 
> I tend away from mecha anime, more toward straight-up fantasy or contemporary fantasy.  I subscribe to Crunchyroll and have access to so many titles—but as I said, I've not enough time to explore everything.  I'm waiting for a new manic anime mood to strike me.
> 
> If you haven't watched _Hunter X Hunter_, I'd recommend it.  The first three story arcs are excellent, and the third, which is by far the longest, was a shocker due to its depth and quality from a world-building fantasy and storytelling perspective.



DBZ is basically epic battles involving characters that rival some of the most powerful western comic book heroes (the Goku vs Superman argument will go on forever), with way too much dialog between the action. It's popcorn entertainment that you don't have to pay all that close attention to in order to keep up with the plot. 

I'd recommend Toriko instead. It's like DBZ but they combined it with Iron Chef. It's literally about a world where cooking and eating gourmet foods is the most important thing, and chefs are rockstars. The powerful characters are the ones that gather the rare ingredients from incredibly powerful monsters for the chefs to cook, which are like all these weird hybrid combinations of real animals.

Just the absurdity and uniqueness of the world it takes place in should keep you entertained for awhile. I mean Toriko's super moves are all based on kitchen utensils! 

It's over the top and hilarious at the same time.


----------



## Mythopoet

Miskatonic said:


> And no offense but Inuyasha is for chicks.



Um, no, no it's not. As evidenced by the fact that Inuyasha originally gained popularity by being published in a major shonen magazine. 

About Fullmetal Alchemist... The first anime was created while the manga was still being published. That gave them a few options, they could adapt up to the point the manga had reached and then wait for more material, they could create filler material until they had more source material, or they could create an anime original ending. I read somewhere that the manga author encouraged them to create their own ending because she was curious to see what they would do. Well, the anime original ending was not very good at all. (You can tell right where it went of the rails, as soon as Dante, an anime original character, was introduced.) And the manga was absolutely amazing. So after the manga was finished a second anime was made that followed the manga story to the end, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Brotherhood is a very highly regarded classic and one of the most often recommended anime by discerning viewers. It's the anime that convinced me anime could reach the same storytelling heights as a great novel.


----------



## Miskatonic

I stand by my opinion of Inuyasha. He's about as likable a protagonist as Yusuke in YuYu Hakusho.


----------



## Mythopoet

Miskatonic said:


> I stand by my opinion of Inuyasha. He's about as likable a protagonist as Yusuke in YuYu Hakusho.



Well, I don't know what the hell kind of standards you have cause both Inuyasha and Yusuke are great MCs in my opinion. I haven't finished Yu Yu Hakusho (though I enjoyed what I watched quite a bit, 66 episodes, I just have so much anime to watch) but Inuyasha is one of my favorite series and I have the whole thing on dvd. In my opinion, Inuyasha is extremely likeable because even though he's a jerk at the beginning (understandably so once you know his history) he also shows the ability to change for the better quite early on. In fact, I would say that Inuyasha is full of brilliant character development and if that sort of thing is for girls then I guess my husband has something he needs to tell me. After all, he's the one that got me hooked on it.


----------



## FifthView

Personal update:  I started watching _Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood_ last night.  I'm still early in it so the stories are what I remember from the first FMA.

_Inuyasha_ is a title I've encountered many times, almost always in a positive way, and I've always been curious about it.  I know the warning to not judge a book by its cover...but when I see the art for this anime while browsing for anime to watch, it turns me away.  I imagine I'll get over that hangup eventually and give it a whirl.


----------



## Mythopoet

Really? I mean, it is an older show now, but I still think the art holds up quite well. What is it that turns you off about it?

Anyway, I've started mostly watching new seasonal anime. Here's what I'm watching atm for the fall season:

Attack on Titan Junior High- It's a parody where all the AoT characters are chibified and put in a high school setting. Pretty funny so far. (streams on funimation)

Beautiful Bones- mystery series staring a holmes-esque woman who has an obsession with bones. The mysteries are more about emotional drama than thrills from violence. Loving it so far. (streams on crunchyroll)

STARMYU- musical show about a group of high school boys trying to improve their skills enough to survive in a prestigious music school's musical performance division. Good songs. (streams on funimation)

K: Return of Kings- sequel to K project anime of a few years ago. Set in an alternate history of Japan where a powerful artifact grants power to individuals called kings. Mostly revolves around the rivalries and conflicts between the various kings and their clans. I loved season 1 a lot so I'm happy to have it back. (streams on hulu)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blodded Orphans- my first foray into the Gundam franchise. Focuses on a group of unwanted youths and their struggle to survive in a dangerous political climate between Earth and Mars. It's a standalone series not connected to the main franchise timeline so it's a good introductory show. (streams on daisuki, funimation and crunchyroll)

Noragami Aragoto- season 2 of series about a minor japanese god with no shrine and no worshipers struggling to be remembered in the modern world. Full of interesting interactions between various gods of the japanese pantheon and the various supernatural beings that support them and defy them. This season has outdone season 1. It's tremendous so far. (streams on crunchyroll)

One Punch Man- adaptation of a web comic turned manga about a man living in a fictional Japan facing the constant threat of monsters and villains who trains to become a hero for fun. He trains so hard he loses his hair and becomes so powerful he can defeat any enemy with one punch, which he finds boring. He meets a cyborg who begs to become his student, even though he has no idea how he became so powerful and so has nothing to teach. Superb humor and action. Outstanding animation. Anime of the season, easily. (streams on daisuki)

Osomatsu-san- a revival of a really old anime based on an even older manga about a group of brothers who are sextuplets with terrible personalities. mostly gags and comedy. quite a fun, though sometimes crude, show. (streams on crunchyroll)

The Perfect Insider- a psychological mystery series about the death of a mysterious genius scientist who was locked away in a secluded lab because as a teenager she murdered her parents. Really fascinating, slow burning show. (streams on crunchyroll)

Utawarerumono- The False Faces- sequel of sorts to an anime (Utawarerumono) based on a visual novel. Focuses on a man who awakens with amnesia in a world inhabited by people with anime ears and tails and the various people he meets. So far, this has been nothing but fluff and lots of bathing scenes which is a little disappointing considering how event packed the original was. However, I can't manage to dislike it. Hopefully it picks up the pace soon. (streaming on crunchyroll)


----------



## Miskatonic

Yusuke, Inuyasha, Kenshin. Not a fan of any of them. Just my preference.


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## FifthView

Mythopoet said:


> Really? I mean, it is an older show now, but I still think the art holds up quite well. What is it that turns you off about it?



Well first, it's only the few promo images I've seen.  And it's not bad, just looked a little cartoonish, less realism.  But as I said, I know I shouldn't judge it by that.  I'll probably give it a try when I finish with FMA:Brotherhood—which, by the way, I'm greatly enjoying!


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## Mythopoet

I just finished rewatching *Black Butler* season 1. It had been one of the earliest anime I tried and I was still very skeptical about this anime thing at that point so I was able to enjoy it more this time. Though now that I know more about it the anime original arcs really stood out in a negative way. I was considering watching season 2 as well, which is entirely anime original, but now I don't think I will. I'm just going to skip over to the "season 3" material which goes back to adapting the manga arcs. I think at some point I'll have to start reading the manga as well, because the manga material is really enjoyable. Anyone who has watched season 1 and didn't like it should consider whether it was the anime only material that caused it. (All the stuff with Angela and Ashe and the creepy version of the Queen, for instance, is not at all in the manga.) If so, like me you might enjoy moving on to the Book of Circus and Book of Murder arcs.


----------



## Miskatonic

When did you start watching anime?


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## Mythopoet

Good question. I'm not sure exactly. But probably around 7 years ago? In my mid 20s.


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## Miskatonic

Mythopoet said:


> Good question. I'm not sure exactly. But probably around 7 years ago? In my mid 20s.



Ah. So somewhat recently.


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## Mythopoet

Miskatonic said:


> Ah. So somewhat recently.



Yes. I started as a more mature viewer and didn't grow up with it the way many did. (I've never seen Dragonball Z or Sailor Moon.) Though I have watched many classics just because I wanted to. 

And since then I've watched 158 anime (including movies), comprised of 4,187 episodes or 2 months 6 days 19 hours and 25 minutes of my life. I'm currently watching 14 anime on a regular basis. And there are 274 anime on my list that I want to watch.


----------



## Miskatonic

Yeah I started watching back in the late 80's. I've lost interest over time, so I only watch something every once and awhile.


----------



## Mythopoet

I don't watch any tv other than anime (and very few movies). Haven't for a few years now. Nothing else really appeals to me. Whereas anime is this huge diverse world for me to explore.


----------



## Addison

I've recently started watching Rental Magica. So far I'm liking it. 

My kid siblings are getting into it and they're asking me to ask questions on their behalf. 

My sister heard of an anime coming to Netflix in a few weeks, "Glitter Force". She likes the sound of it (the actual story) but she's worried based on the title art she saw that it might be geared toward a Grade School audience. She's in eighth grade so if Glitter Force is younger-audience then what shows are there like Glitter Force just for a more mature audience?

My brother got into anime courtesy of his buddy. Buddy sends Brother pictures and stills of an episode and sees if it looks good then my brother checks it out. He likes the look of one show but there's no name attached and his friend has the flu. He gave me the pic and is looking for a name. 

Okay I can't find where to put a picture from my computer file onto a post. I'll describe as best I can. 

The picture has someone (I'm guessing preteen-teen) with blonde hair surrounded and being grabbed by people in big ugly masks. Or a fantasy race or alien that's big and hairy and scary. The masks are majorly long white hair or fur with with cartoony eyes set in red and brown masks.
When I figure out how to get the pic in a post I'll show you.
Thanks guys! Happy Writing.


----------



## Mythopoet

Addison said:


> I've recently started watching Rental Magica. So far I'm liking it.
> 
> My kid siblings are getting into it and they're asking me to ask questions on their behalf.
> 
> My sister heard of an anime coming to Netflix in a few weeks, "Glitter Force". She likes the sound of it (the actual story) but she's worried based on the title art she saw that it might be geared toward a Grade School audience. She's in eighth grade so if Glitter Force is younger-audience then what shows are there like Glitter Force just for a more mature audience?



Is your sister a particularly mature 8th grader? I've got a daughter in 7th grade and I think that's the age group this franchise is mostly marketed toward. "Glitter Force" is apparently an English adaptation of Smile PreCure! which is an anime series from the Pretty Cure magical girl franchise, which covers 13 different series and a ton of movies. Of course like most anime, even when it's primarily marketed toward a young audience (preteens in this case, it seems, the characters are usually in 2nd year of Japanese middle school which I think would make them around 13-14) it has a lot of older fans too. 

Is it the magical girl aspect or the use of fairy tales that attracts your sister? Of course, there are a lot of magical girl series out there. A more recent one that I really liked was "Yuki Yuna is a Hero", though that's still only in Japanese. A really unique show that is sort of magical girl and also uses a fairy tale aesthetic with characters who study ballet is Princess Tutu. It has a very good English version. It looks childish and silly, but actually it's a fantastic and beautiful series and very highly regarded. 



Addison said:


> My brother got into anime courtesy of his buddy. Buddy sends Brother pictures and stills of an episode and sees if it looks good then my brother checks it out. He likes the look of one show but there's no name attached and his friend has the flu. He gave me the pic and is looking for a name.
> 
> Okay I can't find where to put a picture from my computer file onto a post. I'll describe as best I can.
> 
> The picture has someone (I'm guessing preteen-teen) with blonde hair surrounded and being grabbed by people in big ugly masks. Or a fantasy race or alien that's big and hairy and scary. The masks are majorly long white hair or fur with with cartoony eyes set in red and brown masks.
> When I figure out how to get the pic in a post I'll show you.
> Thanks guys! Happy Writing.



Yeah, I'm afraid I can't tell from that description. Masked characters are incredibly common in anime.


----------



## themomodbot

Just gonna post some recommended Anime to watch. A lot of them are old (2008 below) because older Anime tend to have amazing quality in stories, not like Anime nowadays which are (most of them) just beautiful-animation-with-suck-storyline or some cute-girls-doing-cute-things. Sorry no offense, guys, just my opinion. 
So here we go:
1. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (everyone knows this is amazing) 
2. Death Note
3. Code Geass
4. Cowboy Bebop
5. Mushishi Series
6. Evangelion (Original and the remake) 
7. Hunter X Hunter (original and the remake both amazing) 
8. Hellsing Ultimate
9. Shin Sekai Yori
10. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan
11. Gintama (you gonna love this Anime) 
12. Yu Yu Hakusho
13. Dragon Ball (of course) 
14. Slam Dunk (not as good as the Manga, though) 
15. All Ghibli movies
16. Hajime no Ippo
17. Clannad series (not include the movies because it suck) 
18. Monster
19. Great Teacher Onizuka

Why no One Piece and Naruto? Because the Anime is suck, if you want to know why these titles are one of the best in the world, read the Manga! 
That's all I remember now, I'll expand the list later.


----------



## FifthView

I was wrong when I said I hadn't tried _Inuyasha_ yet.  I started it this last week only to realize after a few episodes that I'd tried watching it before.  And like before, I just couldn't get into it.  The character of Inuyasha was interesting, but the rest wasn't so much.  Ah well, I'm probably not going to watch any anime for awhile.  I just received my copy of _One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3_ for my PS4—got a great holiday deal from Amazon and couldn't resist, so I'll be playing that during my free time.  (Also started reading something new last night and will probably end up reading the whole trilogy.)


----------



## Gryphos

I watched the first season of Black Butler recently. It was aight. I liked the relationship between Ciel and Sebastian, but a lot of things niggled at me. Things like inconsistencies in Sebastian's abilities (he could snatch a moving bullet when the gun was held to Ciel's head, but at no point in fights does he ever move that fast again, even when it would be super useful) and just a general lack of explaining things or rushing the explanations of things (I'm still not entirely sure what on earth Angela's plan was, or why she was working as a maid for that hound guy). Overall, I don't think I'll watch the other seasons.


----------



## Mythopoet

Gryphos said:


> I watched the first season of Black Butler recently. It was aight. I liked the relationship between Ciel and Sebastian, but a lot of things niggled at me. Things like inconsistencies in Sebastian's abilities (he could snatch a moving bullet when the gun was held to Ciel's head, but at no point in fights does he ever move that fast again, even when it would be super useful) and just a general lack of explaining things or rushing the explanations of things (I'm still not entirely sure what on earth Angela's plan was, or why she was working as a maid for that hound guy). Overall, I don't think I'll watch the other seasons.



Well, you have to keep in mind that Sebastian is a demon and a totally selfish being. He obeys Ciel because of their contract which he fully expects to get something worth his while out of. But he seldom expends his full power at any point unless it is necessary to fulfill the contract (making sure Ciel doesn't die until his revenge is complete is part of that) or unless Ciel gives orders which require it. If Ciel's orders aren't specific enough, Sebastian often only obeys them to the letter and no further. That's part of his demonic nature. 

The characters of Angela and Ashe were anime original characters, that is made up for the anime, as were the storylines they were part of. And yes, I think those parts of the anime were very confusing and unsatisfying. That's why I'm skipping season 2, which is all anime original. But I am going to pick up season 3 which goes back to the manga story and basically starts after the arc with Soma and Agni, which was the last really good part of the anime. 



FifthView said:


> I was wrong when I said I hadn't tried _Inuyasha_ yet.  I started it this last week only to realize after a few episodes that I'd tried watching it before.  And like before, I just couldn't get into it.  The character of Inuyasha was interesting, but the rest wasn't so much.  Ah well, I'm probably not going to watch any anime for awhile.  I just received my copy of _One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3_ for my PS4–got a great holiday deal from Amazon and couldn't resist, so I'll be playing that during my free time.  (Also started reading something new last night and will probably end up reading the whole trilogy.)



Well, not everything is for everyone.  I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Inuyasha as it was the first anime I watched and introduced me to the whole world of Japanese media. One of these days I'd like to read the manga, which has less filler and a slightly different art style.


----------



## teacup

Just finished Trigun. I liked the characters, it was cool, fun...and that's about it. I thought it would be much better than it was, so when it ended I was very disappointed. 



Spoiler: ending spoilers



Nothing was even resolved! Knives was left alive with nothing to stop him from continuing his evil plans and nothing about him had changed so we're given no reason to believe he won't continue as soon as he's recovered. Also Meryl's feelings for Vash never went anywhere, all we got was "tell him when he gets back/after the anime ends."





Spoiler: Wolfwood



And what was the point of the twist with Wolfwood working for Knives the whole time? It was never revealed to anyone but the viewer and shortly after the reveal he dies anyway, so it had absolutely no impact. If that reveal was cut the show would still be the same. The twist was useless besides making me excited to see what would happen with it, only to find out that absolutely nothing happens with it.



I enjoyed the anime but it wasn't great. I think I'd give it a 5/10.


----------



## Gryphos

I finished Arslan Senki aka The Heroic Legend of Arslan and I liked it very much. The setting is great, drawing heavy influence from the middle east, Arslan himself is a great MC to root for, and some of the fights are great.

It's a shame the finale lacked any real sense of conclusion, because at the moment so many things are still unresolved like...



Spoiler: stuff



taking back Ecbatana, defeating Hermes, whatever the hell is going on with Queen Tahemanay (is she going to marry that fat Lusitanian king?). What about whatever the hell Gieve was sent to do.



I'm hoping it gets a season 2 so these plots can be resolved, and if so, I'm eagerly anticipating it.

Also, a side thing, but I find Farangis' design slightly cringe-worthy, it's as though she was drawn by a horny 14-year-old. I mean, I've seen worse, but still. As a character she's still alright.


----------



## Mythopoet

teacup said:


> Just finished Trigun. I liked the characters, it was cool, fun...and that's about it. I thought it would be much better than it was, so when it ended I was very disappointed.
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: ending spoilers
> 
> 
> 
> Nothing was even resolved! Knives was left alive with nothing to stop him from continuing his evil plans and nothing about him had changed so we're given no reason to believe he won't continue as soon as he's recovered. Also Meryl's feelings for Vash never went anywhere, all we got was "tell him when he gets back/after the anime ends."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Wolfwood
> 
> 
> 
> And what was the point of the twist with Wolfwood working for Knives the whole time? It was never revealed to anyone but the viewer and shortly after the reveal he dies anyway, so it had absolutely no impact. If that reveal was cut the show would still be the same. The twist was useless besides making me excited to see what would happen with it, only to find out that absolutely nothing happens with it.
> 
> 
> 
> I enjoyed the anime but it wasn't great. I think I'd give it a 5/10.



I admit to having a soft spot in my heart for Trigun. It's so stylish and has great worldbuilding and, above all, Vash is one of my favorite characters of all time and all media. But I do agree that the anime storyline leaves something to be desired by it's ending. It was actually made while the manga it's based on was on hiatus due to the magazine it was published in going out of business. (So they basically did a quick anime only story wrap up.) After the anime production, the manga got picked up again and went on to have a much longer, more detailed story and resolution. I'm actually reading it now and it's very good. But it might never have been able to continue without the anime, so I'm grateful for the anime!

If you liked the style and characters of Trigun though I really strongly recommend last year's anime adaptation of the manga author's current series: Blood Blockade Battlefront. I believe it's available to watch on Funimation's website. I'm currently reading that manga too and it's just awesome. 



Gryphos said:


> I finished Arslan Senki aka The Heroic Legend of Arslan and I liked it very much. The setting is great, drawing heavy influence from the middle east, Arslan himself is a great MC to root for, and some of the fights are great.
> 
> It's a shame the finale lacked any real sense of conclusion, because at the moment so many things are still unresolved like...
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: stuff
> 
> 
> 
> taking back Ecbatana, defeating Hermes, whatever the hell is going on with Queen Tahemanay (is she going to marry that fat Lusitanian king?). What about whatever the hell Gieve was sent to do.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm hoping it gets a season 2 so these plots can be resolved, and if so, I'm eagerly anticipating it.
> 
> Also, a side thing, but I find Farangis' design slightly cringe-worthy, it's as though she was drawn by a horny 14-year-old. I mean, I've seen worse, but still. As a character she's still alright.



Season 2 has already been announced for this year, probably beginning in spring or summer season. 

FYI, the anime is based on the ongoing manga of the same name which is based on a novel series that has been going since the 80s. The manga adaptation is drawn by award winning artist Hiromu Arawkawa of Fullmetal Alchemist fame. The anime designs are based on her designs. She is, in fact, a middle aged woman.


----------



## NerdyCavegirl

I've been obsessed with Pokemon and classic Yu-Gi-Oh since they came out, long before I knew what anime was, then went through a huge anime phase from 9-13 along with all my other friends. Got really into Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho, kinda into Full Metal Alchemist, Tokyo Mew Mew, and Naruto, but I have a short attention span and only really stuck with my childhood faves, IY, and YYH. I'd also like to rewatch FMA, but my former friends drove Naruto and most others into the ground for me. They're all into cosplaying, making out in public dressed as their favorite ships, obsessing over every new anime that hits Netflix like it's their religion, using random Japanese to sound cool like when we were all 11, etc. Not knocking them for it or anything, they've made way worse choices, but I'd rather just watch a show in peace and quiet snuggled up with my mate. And find an active YYH forum to discuss Makai physics, 90s Japan teen culture, and character psychology in depth.


----------



## Mythopoet

Well, I don't know about YYH (haven't seen much of that around) but there's still a very active InuYasha fandom on tumblr. InuYasha was my first anime so I'm a huge fan of it myself and stalk the fandom a bit even though I don't have much to contribute. There are a lot of manga/anime fandoms on tumblr, in fact. And I'm part of a few that dig deep into the stories and character psychology. 

If you rewatch FMA, make sure it's FMA: Brotherhood. The first anime series has an anime original ending because it was made before the manga was completed and it's great for as long as it follows the manga, and then goes way downhill as soon as it starts the original material. FMA: Brotherhood on the other hand was made after the manga was completed and follows the manga material to the end. It is significantly superior to the first anime, and easily, in my opinion, one of the the greatest fantasy stories of any medium ever.


----------



## Gryphos

So I recently completed Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and damn, that was f*ckin sweet. People have been screaming at me to watch it and now I see why. It's just so good. The premise is intriguing, the characters are such fun (Izumi is the best!), and the story has so many great twists and turns and even some really thought-provoking themes. Easily one of the best anime I've seen.


----------



## teacup

Watched an anime movie "Tekkonkinkreet"
It was weird. Really great animation and it was interesting, and there's a big part near the end of the movie which I absolutely loved. I've rewatched that part about 3 times now just because of how weird, creepy, and awesome it is, and because of the animation.


----------



## Xitra_Blud

Gryphos said:


> So I recently completed Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and damn, that was f*ckin sweet. People have been screaming at me to watch it and now I see why. It's just so good. The premise is intriguing, the characters are such fun (Izumi is the best!), and the story has so many great twists and turns and even some really thought-provoking themes. Easily one of the best anime I've seen.



Same here. I'd been meaning to watch it for the longest and I finally got around to it. Glad I did. I absolutely loved it. Sadly, Funimation is going to stop licensing it in March which means I have to by it if I want to keep watching it. It'll be at least $40 if I buy it off Ebay, but I think it's worth it.


----------



## Xitra_Blud

Gryphos said:


> I finished Arslan Senki aka The Heroic Legend of Arslan and I liked it very much. The setting is great, drawing heavy influence from the middle east, Arslan himself is a great MC to root for, and some of the fights are great.
> 
> It's a shame the finale lacked any real sense of conclusion, because at the moment so many things are still unresolved like...
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: stuff
> 
> 
> 
> taking back Ecbatana, defeating Hermes, whatever the hell is going on with Queen Tahemanay (is she going to marry that fat Lusitanian king?). What about whatever the hell Gieve was sent to do.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm hoping it gets a season 2 so these plots can be resolved, and if so, I'm eagerly anticipating it.
> 
> Also, a side thing, but I find Farangis' design slightly cringe-worthy, it's as though she was drawn by a horny 14-year-old. I mean, I've seen worse, but still. As a character she's still alright.



I read they were having a season 2 this year.


----------



## Gryphos

So, having heard all over the place that it's one of the greatest anime series ever made, I recently decided to watch Cowboy Bebop. And I ended up being a little disappointed.

Disclaimer: I do not think that CB is a bad show; there's a lot to like, from the fantastic soundtrack to the well-written, frequently funny characters (I love Edward). However, the show fails to live up to the immense praise, IMO.

I think my problems generally boil down to the disappointing story. Now, while I understand that it is clearly an episodic series not intending to have a grand over-arching narrative, I can't help but feel this had a detrimental effect on its storytelling at an episode level. Plots were rushed, characters weren't given enough time to develop, and at the end of it, nothing seemed to be gained for the main group. And when the show tried to have a main plot, it was lacklustre. Spike's mysterious past is about as generic as it gets, and his romance with Julia is so forced, with Julia herself being unbelievably bland. And then there's the incredibly subtly named Vicious, who is totally boring with nothing interesting about him other than the fact that he had a cool outfit and a cool-looking bird. The show builds him up as Spike's ultimate rival who he ends up having a final confrontation with, but he gets like 15 minutes of screen time in the entire series, so there's nowhere near enough emotional investment when that final confrontation happens. It just ends up being anticlimactic.

And then there's just little plot inconsistencies that bug me. For instance, the Bebop crew are all super badass in their own way, and yet we're supposed to believe that they suck at their jobs enough that they're constantly poor. Like, mate, you've got a dude who can take out like a whole building of gangsters and a kid who must be one of the best hackers in the galaxy. How are you struggling to catch bounties?

To me, where the show shines is in its small-scale character interactions. The banter between the Bebop crew had me laughing regularly, and when there were heartfelt conversations, it worked. It's those moments that make this show good, but the plot flaws that stop it being amazing.


----------



## Gryphos

After being slightly disappointed by Cowboy Bebop, I ended up watching an anime I very much enjoyed: Baccano. The best way to sum this show up is if Quentin Tarentino or Guy Ritchie directed an anime. Fun fact: the title 'Baccano' is apparently an Italian word meaning 'ruckus' or 'din' or 'racket', etc. And this is perfect for the show.

The show basically has three main plot lines, set in 1930, 1931 and 1932, and the show will flit between them multiple times within  single episode. Thankfully, though, the show manages to clue the viewer as to which plot line they're going into quite well, so rarely was I confused. Except for the first episode. When I recommend this show to a friend, I basically told them to not expect to understand anything that's going on by the end of episode one. You won't, you'll be scratching your head going wtf. But that just makes the first episode so satisfying to going back to after you've finished the series, because now you get, for example, what's up with the guy on the roof of the train.

Some standout things:

Isaac & Miria. These two were comedy f*cking gold. Easily one of the best duos I've ever seen in a show.

Claire Stanfield. This dude is no joke. He's straight up the most savage guy in this show, and also the most fascinating when it comes to his philosophy, being a solipsist who sees himself as the centre of the universe and thus genuinely believes himself incapable of dying, since he cannot comprehend a world in which he does not exist. He's also the most brutal character; the way he takes people out ... ouch.

Ladd Russo. While being a horrible psychopath, this dude was hella entertaining, especially in the dub version of the show, which I watched. Whoever his English voice actor was, he did a damn good job.

The jazzy soundtrack was also on point, especially the main theme and the opening.

In all, this was an extremely satisfying watch and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone, so long as they're not too put off by extreme violence and gore (since there was actually a lot more of that than I expected).


----------



## FifthView

Gryphos said:


> So, having heard all over the place that it's one of the greatest anime series ever made, I recently decided to watch Cowboy Bebop. And I ended up being a little disappointed.



I have the entire CB on DVD and never managed to watch more than 2-3 episodes.  It didn't grab me.


----------



## Futhark

Wow this is a long thread.  Haven't read it all so I may be repeating what others have said.  I think my favourite anime movie is Ninja Scroll.  Ghost in the Machine is interesting at times.  I like Naruto (ninjas again) and a short series called Trigun.


----------



## psylenda

First post here, halloo everybody.

I've been into anime since I was in middle school, starting off with Naruto (pretty typical entry-level anime) and Inuyasha, and since then I've watched most of the stuff mentioned in this thread except for Sword Art Online.

Anime I've liked a lot:
Cowboy Bebop
Inuyasha
.Hack//Sign
FLCL
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Gurren Lagaan (Anything by Gainax really)
Death Note 
Ouran High School Host Club
FMA (I prefer the first series over brotherhood, even the ending)
Black Lagoon
Code Geass

Some maybe less well known recs
Samurai Champloo - directed by the same guy who did Cowboy Bebop, it has a similar episode structure and a stellar soundtrack by a Japanese hip hop artist, Nujabes.
Kare Kano - probably my favorite high school drama anime. In the english dub the main character (a girl) is voiced by the same voice actress that did Ash Ketchum. There's a lot of depth in the exploration of the character's emotions, but it's really dialogue heavy, and the director changed about halfway into the show. Even so I highly recommend this one.
Irresponsible Captain Tylor - I found this anime in a library one day and watched it for kicks. It's really campy but kind of endearing mecha anime--irresponsible rogue captains a space ship against an alien invasion force, saves the day. Kind of niche, I was very stoned when I was watching it 
Paranoia Agent - This series was by Satoshi Kon, who did Perfect Blue and Paprika. It's kind of like an anime version of Lost with some magical realism elements thrown into the director's critiques of modern Japanese society. Really weird, really dark.
Welcome to the NHK - The only anime I've seen about a hikikomori. Pretty depressing, but watching it is a really cathartic experience if you can relate even a little bit.

I've only read the first fourteen pages of this thread, but I get the general sense that there's a lot of love for FMA, Attack on Titan, and SAO. 

Personally, I consider NGE one of the best anime ever made (along with FLCL, which I consider the thematic "answer" to NGE). It's not for everybody though. When I was a melancholic teenage edgelord it was very therapeutic.. but it's dark. NGE is similar to Shakespeare's Hamlet, in that it's considered by a lot of people to be one of the greatest works in its medium, even though it's not a particularly enjoyable work when you actually get down to it. Similar narrative too. Young hero runs from conflict over and over until everything goes to hell. 

Gainax did the weird montage ending to NGE because they ran out of budget, but it's consistent with what was happening; Shinji's ghostly convos were a representation of everyone's identities becoming fused by instrumentality. When he finally made the decision to go out and live life, everyone got separated back into their own bodies.


----------



## FifthView

I've been watching Naruto on Netflix, my first time watching it.  I'm loving it.


----------



## Mythopoet

psylenda said:


> Personally, I consider NGE one of the best anime ever made (along with FLCL, which I consider the thematic "answer" to NGE). It's not for everybody though. When I was a melancholic teenage edgelord it was very therapeutic.. but it's dark. NGE is similar to Shakespeare's Hamlet, in that it's considered by a lot of people to be one of the greatest works in its medium, even though it's not a particularly enjoyable work when you actually get down to it. Similar narrative too. Young hero runs from conflict over and over until everything goes to hell.
> 
> Gainax did the weird montage ending to NGE because they ran out of budget, but it's consistent with what was happening; Shinji's ghostly convos were a representation of everyone's identities becoming fused by instrumentality. When he finally made the decision to go out and live life, everyone got separated back into their own bodies.



NGE is probably my least favorite anime that I've finished watching. I can understand why other people like it and I even do appreciate the quality of its production and the themes it was _trying_ to address. The first half I found moderately enjoyable. I think it was best when it was tackling the practical difficulties of fighting monsters with inadequate technology. As soon as it started getting existential it went way downhill. Mostly because it didn't have a single positive or valuable thing to say about the dark themes it was raising. 

And my feelings aren't just based on the TV ending. I watched the movie ending immediately after finishing the series and honestly the movie probably made it worse. The whole thing ended up just being creepy and negative with nothing of real substance to offer. But like I said, I do understand why other people would like it. It just didn't work on any level for me. 



FifthView said:


> I've been watching Naruto on Netflix, my first time watching it.  I'm loving it.



Naruto gets bashed a lot, but it's a very good story with an interesting world and compelling characters. I watched all of the original Naruto except for the "filler" episodes (anything not based on the manga) and enjoyed it. I mostly watched it because my daughter was super into it at the time. But now she's moved on and I don't really feel compelled to dive into Shippuden (which has legendary amounts of filler). But I think it's a good example of a story that successfully develops an ensemble cast around a main protagonist.


----------



## Twinss Risen

Ah, anime... 
Anime got me interested in drawing and then in comics (manga or western and such) and then... fanfiction stories haha! I guess anime is what got me to start writing for the first time. Anime also inspired me to create my own worlds and characters and such.

Now, when it comes to titles...
I remember the first anime I had watched were: Fullmetal Alchemist, Deathnote and Blood+
I have watched lots and lots of anime, but my standards have changed a lot, so nowadays I hardly find anything enjoyable.

The one anime that I used to love and still love, and I believe I will love for the rest of my life is Natsume Yuujinchou. There are 4 seasons out and the 5th season is on-going at this moment.
It's about a boy who has the ability to see creatures (Yuukai - Demons etc) that other people don't.
It has lots of drama, suspense but also looots of comedy. As a whole it's a very emotional anime and since I can really identify with the protagonist (Natsume) I just can not get tired of it.

Another anime (slow paced) that I really liked in the past is: Darker than Black.
Another nice anime is "Nobunaga Concerto"; although... It was a very peculiar anime, the drawings were... a bit uncomfortable to watch at the beginning, but eventually you get used to them, and you beg for a second season that never comes.

A fantasy anime that I also enjoyed is Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (only the first season ).
A thriller anime that I enjoyed is: Another.
A comedy (lots of comedy) anime that I enjoyed is: Great Teacher Onizuka. Also: Daily Lives of High School Boys. Alsooo: Trigun. If there's one thing that anime can be the best of, is comedy.
An adventure anime that I enjoyed is: Brave10 (there are lots of homosexual innuendos though; for the ones who are sensitive about it)

There are countless anime that I had really "loved" in the past, but nowadays I just find them empty. I have evolved so much and I'm looking for something far better than the childish plot with the girl with the big boobs and the guy who plays it tough to get and is always grumpy...
I am now looking for emotion, for character development, for a deep story, or at least an interesting story structure. I want something that will remain with me even months after I finish watching the anime; something that will touch me deeply emotionally, or that will re-arrange my entire way of thinking.
I guess the latter is kind of hard to find in anime (it's most often found in movies and books).


----------



## Shafa

What a nice thread! I haven't read all of the posts yet, but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions regarding newer works ('16 - ongoing).


----------



## Mythopoet

@Twinss, some good stuff in your lists. *Darker Than Black* (kinda lacking in overall plot, but fantastic atmosphere), *Magi* (desperately waiting for a season 3) and *Trigun* (Vash is one of my all time favorite characters in anything) are some of my favorites too. *Another* was also good if you like gore and horror. (I can only enjoy that kind of thing once in a while.) I've started both *Natsume* and *Brave10* (I love anything with Japanese mythology or history) but haven't been able to finish them yet. (My "to watch" list is ridiculous you have no idea.) 

Personally, I don't think there's less anime with great story nowadays. But it seems that way because there's just overall more anime being made now. If you compare the amount of new shows in the early 2000s to the amount of new shows now, you'll see there's a huge surge. Anime is more popular than ever. So by extension it can seem like good anime is harder to find simply because there's a lot more anime to wade through. A good way to find the gems is simply to keep an eye on fandom hangouts where people watch a lot of new anime and see which ones stand up to general critique. Follow the people who have similar taste to yours and you're sure to find plenty of new stuff to enjoy. 

I personally like to keep up with all the new shows coming out myself and I try a large number of new anime every season. Some I drop after one episode because I can tell it's not for me. Some I watch for 3-6 episodes and find that it's not for me. But every season I find many shows to enjoy and even new favorites fairly regularly. (And I'm a bit of a fandom junkie as a result.)


----------



## Mythopoet

Shafa said:


> What a nice thread! I haven't read all of the posts yet, but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions regarding newer works ('16 - ongoing).



Oh oh! Me, me! Of course it all depends on what kind of shows you like to watch. So I'll recommend some from several genres. 

SF/F

ERASED- Satoru Fujinuma has the ability to go back a short space in time to alter tragic events. But when his mother is mysteriously killed (and he is the only suspect) he finds that he must relive events from his childhood to stop a chain of events with far reaching consequences to save the people he cares about. At the center of things is a little girl suffering from abusive parents whom he must prevent from being kidnapped and killed. (Complete story, adapted from a manga, though truncates changes the ending quite a bit.)

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash- an interesting take on the "unexpectedly transported into a fantasy world" trope. A group of modern teens are transported to Grimgar but have no memories from before their sudden arrival. What sets this story apart is how it focuses on the everyday aspects of survival (making enough money for food and shelter and such) as well as how truly difficult it is for sheltered teens from Earth to learn to use weapons and fight living creatures for their day to day livelihood. (This is an unfinished adaptation, but the light novels have been picked up for English publication.)

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress- Anime original story about a steampunk Japan overrun with zombie-like creatures called Kabane. Humans survive in several fortified cities and travel between them is only possible via heavily armored steam trains. A story with lots of action and gore and some decent mystery. Some people didn't like the ending, but I really enjoyed the whole show. It resolves the struggle against the primary antagonist (not the Kabane) while leaving room for future stories to be told. 

Mob Psycho 100- Based on a manga written by One, the author of One Punch Man. This show is about a young teen, called Mob, who has ridiculous psychic powers, but a very reserved and insecure personality. His mentor is a con man who claims to have spiritual powers but actually relies on Mob's powers when he encounters something really psychic. The relationship between these two is the backbone of the show and is full of amazing moments and lots of surprises. This show also has a very unique art style and uses some really fantastic animation technique to make a very singular viewing experience. (Based on an ongoing manga.)

Planetarian- A short, 5 episode anime which completely adapts a Key VN about a city abandoned during a nuclear war where 30 years later a rough and tough scavenger accidentally runs into a female android left behind in the planetarium at the top of a department store. She treats the scavenger like a regular customer, insists on putting on a special planetarium show for him, cannot take no for an answer because she is a little broken, but finds she cannot do so because the projector is broken. The junker, even though he is annoyed by her, is also somehow touched by her pathetic dedication to the customers that no longer exist except in her mind. Their relationship is short and sweet and changes the junker forever. If you don't cry at the end you have no soul.

Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World- Another of the "NEET transported to a fantasy world" genre, but with surprisingly good plot and character development. Subaru finds himself suddenly transported to a fantasy world and believes his dreams of being the powerful protagonist of his own story have come true. Until he is easily killed shortly after arrival. When he wakes up again shortly before his pathetic death, only to die and come back again, he realizes he has a special ability to Return by Death until he changes the events that led to his death. Subaru soon gets swept up in a series of meetings and events full of intrigue and danger that also lead to him dying and returning over and over and over. What makes this story stand out is that it does not shy away from exploring in great depth what it would actually be like to die violently dozens of times and to live events several times over again (until he gets them right) when no one else remembers any of the time lines he "failed" (died) in. It takes a huge psychological toll and Subaru has to overcome his own lack of strength in order to help his friends in this world more than once. This show has truly amazing character development, and also A LOT of violence, tragedy and suffering. But it is really amazing if you stick with it. (Adaptation of an ongoing light novel series. Breakout hit of 2016.)

Tales of Zestiria the X- Anime adaptation of the video game. Across the world malevolence is spreading, causing the rise of dangerous creatures and natural disasters threatening the survival of the human kingdoms. But legend says that in such times a Shepherd will restore peace to the world. While Alisha Diphda, princess of the Hyland kingdom, searches for the mythical Shepherd that few now believe in, in the remote settlement of the Seraphs (beings with elemental powers) a man named Sorey has been raised since childhood after the death of his family. Sorey, the only human who can now see the Seraphs, and his best friend among the Seraph Mikleo, encounter a lost Alisha in a ruin near the Seraph home. This meeting ultimately leads to Sorey returning to the human world and taking on the mantle of the Shepherd which allows him to form pacts with Seraph and use their powers to purify Hellions while searching for the source of the malevolence. This anime has spectacular art and animation by UFOtable. It's just beautiful. (Unfinished adaptation, part 2 starts airing this January.)

Ok, that's a lot so I'll make a second post later for other genres.


----------



## Tim Reed

Hello all,

Ah, I am a big fan of anime also. Love the more arty stuff, rather than the jagged lines and excessive violence kind.

A list of some of my favourites are below (film and series):

Mushishi
Moribito
Your Name.
Anything Studio Ghibli
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Summer Wars
Ghost Hunt
Noragami
Steamboy
Persona 4
Patema Inverted

...to name a few.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

My favourite anime/anime movies:

Digimon Adventure and Tamers [in Japanese]
Clannad, Kanon, Air, Little Busters, and Angel Beats [in Japanese]
Spirited Away [in English] 
Howl's Moving Castle [in English]
Castle in the Sky [in English]
Princess Mononoke
Children Who Chase Lost Voices [in Japanese]
5 Centimeters Per Second [in Japanese]
The Last Unicorn [does that count?]


----------



## Kya Lightwing

Hey, so I haven't read through the whole thread as it's rather long, but... XD I started watching anime about three years ago, and have watched around 100 shows since then. I actually started drawing the style before I knew anime was a thing, so I kind of entered the anime world backwards. I don't watch a ton of classics because given that I started watching anime for the art, I watch shows partly for their art, not just story.

A couple of my very favorites:
Boku Dake ga Inai Machi
Re: Zero
Yuri!!! on Ice
Haikyuu!!
Bungou Stray Dogs


----------



## FifthView

So I recently finished watching Season 1 of _AJIN: Demi-Human_ on Netflix, and I'm loving it.  It's more mature than a lot of the anime I've been watching, I'd say about on the same level as _Death Note_ in that respect. The plotting is top-notch, and the way the story develops kept me glued to the screen.  Some decisions by the creators were rather wonderful.  I'm starting S2 tonight.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

I'm thinking of watching Madoka Magica soon; I've never watched it before.


----------



## Mythopoet

Kya Lightwing said:


> A couple of my very favorites:
> Boku Dake ga Inai Machi
> Re: Zero
> Yuri!!! on Ice
> Haikyuu!!
> Bungou Stray Dogs



I've watched all of those except Haikyuu. (I don't really enjoy sports anime because I hate sports in general.) I'd highly recommend them all (except Haikyuu, of course  ). 

I wanted to watch Ajin, but I don't have Netflix. 

Madoka Magica is one I have no interest in, because it basically seems like the entire premise is to troll the audience. "Here's a cute magical girls show, everyone! Isn't it sparkly and nice? MUahahahahaha! Just kidding! ANGST ANGST ANGST."

I'm not actually watching a lot this season, which is weird. My list:

Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju- S2 of SGRS. It's about the Rakugo storytelling industry in Japan, its heyday and its decline, as seen through the lives of the characters. It's a slow burning drama with a lot of emotion and a healthy side of tragedy. I adore it more than I can say. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who cares about storytelling. The animation and the voice acting are phenomenal. 

KONOSUBA (short for God's Blessing on this Wonderful World!) S2- A hilarious take on the "NEET gets transported to a fantasy world" trope. All the characters are messed up and incompetent in various ways leading to many antics and shenanigans. Absolutely perfect if you want to laugh along with your fantasy. 

Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga- S2 of Blue Exorcist which ignores all the ridiculous anime original content from S1 and goes back to the Impure King arc of the manga. Good stuff if you liked season 1. 

Masamune-kun's Revenge- RomCom. Teen who was rejected by a girl years ago because he was fat loses weight and makes himself perfect in order to exact his revenge on her by making her fall for him and then rejecting her back. Does not go as planned.

ReWrite S2- an adaptation of a Visual Novel by Key. Basically all about how humans are ruining the earth and whether or not we should be destroyed, but centered around a guy with a harem of dangerous girls. The first season followed one route of the VN and season 2 is following a different route. TBH right now I'm not sure where it's going. 

Chaos;Child- sequel to Chaos;Head Visual Novel by the company that made Steins;Gate. Chaos;Head had a lot of potential but had an unsatisfying ending. Choas;Child so far is interesting, but I've decided to put off finishing it until it's over because it's one of those shows where so much happens and it's hard to keep track from week to week. Better to binge watch it. 

I'm also planning to get around to watching Little Witch Academia (the first episode was really cute) and Tales of Zestiria the X S2 at some point. I haven't had a lot of time to watch anime lately, which is sad. 

Speaking of Steins;Gate, which is my absolute favorite time travel story ever in any medium, my daughter has been watching it lately and got hooked. Last night she got to a certain emotional twist in the story and went to bed sobbing. Haha. Her tears are delicious. But seriously, Steins;Gate is so good. Highly recommended.


----------



## Son of Eld

I haven't seen very many but the ones I have I absolutely love. Full Metal Alchemist, Death Note, Naruto/Shippuden, Avatar/Legend of Korra, Soul Eater, and my current favorite Attack on Titan (can't wait for Season 2 next month!).


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

I've recently discovered Hiiro no Kakera. For some reason it interests me immensely, though I can't actually watch it since I can't find it on Youtube, and it's $80+ for both seasons.


----------



## Mythopoet

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> I've recently discovered Hiiro no Kakera. For some reason it interests me immensely, though I can't actually watch it since I can't find it on Youtube, and it's $80+ for both seasons.



Looks like it's available on Crunchyroll. You should be able to watch it without subscribing, but there will probably be ads.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

^Oh, I didn't even see it on there.   I have ad blocker, so hopefully that will work out.


----------



## bestellen

I'd recommend is Red Garden. Girls fighting zombies after school is such a small part of the slow characterization you'll see there.


----------



## Mythopoet

Let's resurrect this thread because- holy crap, guys!- there are some seriously awesome fantasy anime this season. 

*If you don't watch anime seasonally and don't know what I mean, in Japan anime airs on TV stations in 4 seasons which pretty much correspond to the seasons of the year. These seasons are also called "cours" by anime know-it-alls like me. Most anime shows these days air for 1 cour (12-13 episodes) or 2 cours (24-25 episodes). Very rarely shows air for a full year (50-52 episodes) or indefinitely (pretty much only One Piece at this point, Boruto might fall in this category). But since most shows only air for one season, there are lots of new shows to watch every season. And there are several places where new anime can be streamed online ("simulcasted") at the same time it is airing over in Japan.*

Fall 2017 introduced some of the best anime of the year:

*The Ancient Magus' Bride*: based on a popular manga series (which can also be purchased in English) about a young girl who has experienced neglect and abuse her whole life and after almost committing suicide, she allows herself to be sold on the magical black market. There she is purchased by a mage with a skull head who takes her on as his apprentice and future bride. When she goes to live with him she is immersed into a world of magic and wonder and learns that she herself has intense natural magic which has been the root of her misfortune but also allows her to experience a unique relationship with the faerie realm. The art and animation is stunning, the music is wonderful and the story and characters are full of unexpected depths. Highly recommend.

*Land of the Lustrous*: also based on a manga about a far, far future earth where all the humans are gone and all that remains are the humanoid Gems or Lustrous (depending on the translation). They live on a small island which is the only land left on the earth where everyday they have to defend themselves from the Moon People (or Lunarians) who attack on clear days, trying to capture the Gems and take them back to the moon. The story follows Phosphophyllite, the youngest and one of the least strong of the Gems (with a hardness of only 3.5) who is not strong enough to fight off the lunarians and not competent enough for any other job. Phos is unsatisfied with the life the gems lead and seeks change and to know the truth about their world. The anime is an all CGI production which is amazingly beautiful. The gems and their world are unique and compelling. Highly recommend.

*Children of the Whale*: yep, another manga series set in a unique fantasy world where a human society lives on a giant earth island that travels a sea of moving sand called the Mud Whale. It is a peaceful, contained place with no knowledge of the world outside the sea of sand. The people are divided into the Marked and the Unmarked. The Marked are those who have the ability to utilize thymia, a type of magic that also drastically shortens their lives. One day they come into contact with another floating island where there is a lone survivor of a massacre remaining. Bringing her back to the Mud Whale is the first step in the discovery of the truth of their world, and the war that the outside world has begun to wage on them. Again, beautiful art and animation. A thrilling story with lots of secrets to discover and many endearing characters. Highly recommend. 

*Blood, Blockade, Battlefront and Beyond*: the second season of the adaptation of the manga Blood, Blockade Battlefront which I've mentioned before. The story is by the author of the well known manga/anime Trigun but is even more awesome if you can imagine it. This one takes place in "Hellsalem's Lot" which is the city that was built in place of New York City, after it disappeared in an incident that connected our world with the "Beyond" or "alterworld". Now the city is the home of dauntless humans as well as countless species of aliens and monsters from the alterworld living side by side. The survival rate of riding the subway is about 13% on a given day, but somehow people survive and thrive. Humanity is protected by the most dangerous threats by the organization known as Libra, full of humans with supernatural abilities, which strives to maintain balance between our world and the Beyond. Leonardo Watch, a young man who was given the "All-seeing Eyes of the Gods" by a mysterious creature from the Beyond, works for Libra while also trying to find out how and why he was given this ability at the expense of his sister's sight. There's nothing I can say to express the awesomeness of this anime. It is stylish and action packed and fleshes out its insane world and characters bit by bit while maintaining its thrills and mystery. Highly recommend.


----------



## Svrtnsse

Okay, so I'm intrigued and in need of distraction. What is a good source for viewing these series. I believe I may have an account on Crunchyroll I could bring to life again, but would they be available there, or should I check out some other service?


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

The only anime I like are: 
Digimon Adventure--Tri, Tamers, and Frontier, Clannad, Air, Kanon, Little Busters, and Chi’s Sweet Home.

I'm very picky.


----------



## Mythopoet

Svrtnsse said:


> Okay, so I'm intrigued and in need of distraction. What is a good source for viewing these series. I believe I may have an account on Crunchyroll I could bring to life again, but would they be available there, or should I check out some other service?



Blood Blocade Battlefront (both seasons) and The Ancient Magus' Bride are on CR. Land of the Lustrous is on Amazon's anime channel (so you have to first have prime and then pay a sub for it). Children of the Whales is actually... not on anywhere legal atm. Netflix has it but they won't air it until sometime after it's finished simulcasting. Currently I'm watching it on a site called gogoanime. Technically you could watch all of these there for free. 



TheCrystallineEntity said:


> The only anime I like are:
> Digimon Adventure--Tri, Tamers, and Frontier, Clannad, Air, Kanon, Little Busters, and Chi’s Sweet Home.
> 
> I'm very picky.



Well, I can't help thinking that you're missing out on a lot. There's such a huge variety of anime and such a lot of really good ones.


----------



## Gryphos

I have been seeing a lot of Ancient Magus' Bride around lately, and I've been intrigued by it. Perhaps I will check it out soon.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

^^It's not that haven't tried out other anime. I've tried watching many anime, and I've settled with what appeals to me most.


----------



## Gryphos

I'm like 5 episodes into Ancient Magus' Bride, and it's pretty cool. I love the worldbuilding, the use of celtic myths etc. The character designs are all great (except Titania, whose design is pretty cringe-worthy for obvious reasons).

One thing is irking me, though... 



Spoiler



The show keeps skirting around the fact that Chise is, you know, a fucking slave to Elias. A person he bought. And she's like 16, and this creepy fucking dude wants to marry her? Like, she show pays lip-service to actually addressing this major factor in their relationship, but never actually follows through with saying how truly f*cked up it is. And like, at no point so far has Chise mentioned whether or not she even wants to marry this creep. Does she have no choice in the matter? As it stands, Chise and Elias' relationship is incredibly creepy and disturbing, but the show keeps presenting it as sweet. F*ckin weird.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

^I have the same opinion, except without all of the swearing.


----------



## Mythopoet

Gryphos said:


> I'm like 5 episodes into Ancient Magus' Bride, and it's pretty cool. I love the worldbuilding, the use of celtic myths etc. The character designs are all great (except Titania, whose design is pretty cringe-worthy for obvious reasons).
> 
> One thing is irking me, though...
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> The show keeps skirting around the fact that Chise is, you know, a fucking slave to Elias. A person he bought. And she's like 16, and this creepy fucking dude wants to marry her? Like, she show pays lip-service to actually addressing this major factor in their relationship, but never actually follows through with saying how truly f*cked up it is. And like, at no point so far has Chise mentioned whether or not she even wants to marry this creep. Does she have no choice in the matter? As it stands, Chise and Elias' relationship is incredibly creepy and disturbing, but the show keeps presenting it as sweet. F*ckin weird.



Hmmm... well, I don't think the show is presenting it as sweet. The show deals with their relationship slowly and subtly. But the first episode tells you that Chise is messed up. She was going to kill herself, but instead ended up giving her consent to let herself be sold as a slave. That's important to remember. She's in this situation because she's old enough to give her consent and she did. That's obviously not normal, but she wasn't forced into it. We're not given her backstory yet, but little flashes of memory and the circumstances of her sale give us all we need to know that she's a very broken human being. Which means right off the bat that this is not a normal relationship and we shouldn't treat it as such. 

Elias is not even human. His face is a skull which betrays no hint of emotion. We don't know what he's thinking or even what type of being he is or what he truly wants from Chise. He says she's to be his apprentice and bride, but at no point so far has he forced her into anything. He's treated her very well, giving her lots of freedom and choice. And she herself has made the choice to stay with him. But at no point is the relationship treated as "normal". Everyone Chise meets questions why she is with him and if this is what she wants. Angelica questions it. Renfred warns her about his motives. As do other characters you meet after episode 5. But Chise herself continually chooses to be with Elias. 

My personal feeling is that this is a story of two people trying to become more human together. Chise, because she is broken to the point she gave up her human right to freedom, and Elias because he is an in-between being. He seems to try to act in human ways, but there are constant warnings that he is not human and not faerie either. He is a being that no one trusts. But then along comes Chise, who values her life so little that she gives him her trust freely. This is definitely a messed up relationship to begin with. And I think the point of the story is their journey together toward becoming more human in a healthy sense.


----------



## Svrtnsse

Gryphos said:


> One thing is irking me, though...
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> undefined


I've thought about this as well, and it feels like neither the story nor Chise are particularly interested in exploring that aspect of the relationship between Chise and her owner. It could be that it'll happen later, but for now it feels like the story wants to focus on other things. I try and not think too much about it and enjoy the other parts instead. 
It does seem a pretty glaring oversight not to address it further though, so hopefully we'll see something more about it later on.

There were three prequel episodes (the ones with the library) that explained a lot of Chise's backstory. It's a bit messed up and she's had a pretty tough time ever since she was little. Being sold as a slave kind of seems like a natural continuation of that.
The way I see it the story is mainly about Chise trying to find her way into a life with a purpose, which is something she hasn't had before. 
Elias feels like a pretty thin character, and I don't really feel a connection to him.


----------



## Devor

I think in Chise's view, she was ready to die, signed herself off into slavery, and is just grateful to have a home.  I don't think she cares if she's a slave or not, and she's said a couple of times something to the effect of: Even if he's lying, she's with Elias "until he's done with her."  The important thing here, she's committed, and she still doesn't trust him.  It's a strange mindset, but I get it. She wants to enjoy the fantasy of what he's saying, and not question it because she doesn't want to see the lie, even though at least part of her believes that it is a lie.

Ohh, and I'm pretty sure it is a lie.  Elias pretty much admits that he's on an arc of, "I have no emotion, and I'm saying what she wants to hear, and I'm slowly starting to feel the emotion behind the words that I'm saying."  I think we're going to find that the idea that he wants to marry her is code for something like, "absorb your magic power into me," but that he won't go through with it because he's falling for her.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

I've read the manga-ka's other series, The Girl from the Other Side. It's worth looking into; I like it a lot.


----------



## Mythopoet

Latest episode of The Ancient Magus' Bride was super good. Got some glimpses of Elias' backstory, but which manage to make him even more mysterious than before. Also a bunch of amazing scenery, which is admittedly one of my favorite things about the series. That and the wonderful worldbuilding.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

I'm looking for another anime to watch. None of the new ones really appeal to me.


----------



## Mythopoet

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> I'm looking for another anime to watch. None of the new ones really appeal to me.



What kind of show are you looking for?


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

Something fantasy/romance, not that there's many of those.

Here's a list of the anime [and anime movies] I've seen already:
Inuyasha
Digimon Adventure
Digimon Tamers
Digimon Frontier
Clannad
Kanon
AIR
Angel Beats
Little Busters
Charlotte
AnoHana
Tales of the Abyss
a few episodes of Saiunkoku Monogatari and Hiiro no Kakera
Chi's Sweet Home
Spirited Away
Howl's Moving Castle
Castle in the Sky
Whisper of the Heart
Wolf Children
Forest of the Fireflies
5 Centimetres Per Second
Children Who Chase Lost Voices
Your Name


----------



## Devor

Kamusami Kiss, and Noragami, are great romances with similar themes. Noragami is clearly for boys, and Kamusami Kiss for girls, but my wife and I loved both of them.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

^I forgot about those ones. I watched the first two episodes of Kamisama Kiss, but Tsundere characters aren't really my cup of tea, so I stopped.


----------



## Devor

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> ^I forgot about those ones. I watched the first two episodes of Kamisama Kiss, but Tsundere characters aren't really my cup of tea, so I stopped.



Tsundere is definitely Kamisami Kiss.  I wouldn't say it's Noragami.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

I'll check it out.


----------



## Mythopoet

I wouldn't say Noragami is really a romance story at all. There are hints of emotions that could turn into romance, but nothing more. It's much more a supernatural action show. 

Did you also watch Clannad After Story? And if so, did you enjoy it? Also, do you care if the story is unfinished in the anime? (Such as is very common with anime based on a manga.) 

Tentatively, since it's really hard to tell what you might like, I would recommend:

Ah! My Goddess
Beyond the Boundary
Blast of Tempest
Chobits
Princess Tutu
Spice and Wolf
Steins;Gate
Romeo x Juliet
Yona of the Dawn
Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju


----------



## Devor

Mythopoet said:


> I wouldn't say Noragami is really a romance story at all. There are hints of emotions that could turn into romance, but nothing more. It's much more a supernatural action show.



I wouldn't say you're wrong, but Funimation lists it under romance, and I still think of it one, even if it's not too overt.  But it's definitely fair to consider it otherwise.  ((edit)) Scratch that, I checked to see if I was missing any shows, and Funimation does not list Noragami as romance.  Maybe it was de-listed, but more likely I'm just wrong. Whatever, it's still pretty good.



> Ah! My Goddess
> Beyond the Boundary
> Blast of Tempest
> Chobits
> Princess Tutu
> Spice and Wolf
> Steins;Gate
> Romeo x Juliet
> Yona of the Dawn
> Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju



Of these, I've only seen Yona of the Dawn, which is top-notch.  Yona's growth as a character is steep.

I would also add:  _WorldEnd: What are you doing at the end of the world?_  A fairy child in a kingdom of floating islands falls in love with the last human.  There aren't many episodes though.

Also, there's _Gamers!_. It's not fantasy. It's a RomCom about people who play video games.  All of the characters have fallen hard for their match, but they're in so much denial that the other one really feels the same way. I highly recommend it.  Again, there aren't many episodes.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

MythPoet: Yes; Clannad and Clannad After Story are my favourite anime. Unfinished? It didn't seem that way to me. I was perfectly satisfied with the ending. The anime is actually based on a Visual Novel, which I have played. 

I've tried out Spice and Wolf, but didn't get into it, and I have the Chobits manga. I tried out Yona of the Dawn, so I might go back to it again soon. I've heard of Princess Tutu, but I've also heard that it gets really dark.


----------



## Mythopoet

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> MythPoet: Yes; Clannad and Clannad After Story are my favourite anime. Unfinished? It didn't seem that way to me. I was perfectly satisfied with the ending. The anime is actually based on a Visual Novel, which I have played.
> 
> I've tried out Spice and Wolf, but didn't get into it, and I have the Chobits manga. I tried out Yona of the Dawn, so I might go back to it again soon. I've heard of Princess Tutu, but I've also heard that it gets really dark.



Sorry, the question about unfinished series wasn't related to Clannad. Just a general question since there are a ton of anime based on romance manga that only get a season or two if lucky and then you have to go read the manga if you want to know the ending.

I didn't get into Spice and Wolf the first time I tried it either. It's one of those anime that needs a few episodes to get going. Princess Tutu does get a bit dark, or at least more deep. It's a beautiful series. And you had some darker series on your list so I wasn't sure what kind of mood you were looking for in your anime.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

Oh, I see. Yeah, I experienced that with the Claymore anime. The manga was so much better. 

I'll experiment and see which series suits me. After writing a very dark novel for Nano, I've been kind of in the mood for something light-hearted.


----------



## Writeking

I need to finish watching Bubblegum Crisis.


----------



## glutton

One of my favorite characters from recent years in anime (and all of fiction):













So kawaii, smol and bae! How could anything be more charming than a tiny pigtailed destroyer XD


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## TheCrystallineEntity

I'm now watching Haruhi Suzumiya. I really like it. I'm going to skip Endless Eight, though.

Yuki is my favourite.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

Madoka is on my list of things to watch. I don't think I'm at all ready for it. I might try Noragami first and see if I like it.


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## Mythopoet

I'm watching shows from the Spring 2018 season right now. 

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku- super funny workplace romance comedy about the relationships between 2 sets of otaku. 
Hinamatsuri- a show that really defies you to sum it up. It has girls with psychic powers, a group of homeless men, a middle school age girl bartender, a group of Yakuza who are kind of inept, and lots of comedy and heart. 
Kakyurio Bed and Breakfast for Spirits- human girl tries to open a restaurant for spirits in the spirit world.
Comic Girls- comedy about high school girls living in a dorm and drawing manga
Persona 5- adaptation of the game
Steins;Gate 0- spin off of the original set in a different timeline


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## TheCrystallineEntity

^Have you played Persona 5? I haven't, but I've played 3 PSP and 4 Golden.


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## Mythopoet

No I haven't. But I'm enjoying the anime a lot. I love stylish action.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

I recommend watching the Persona 3 movies and the Persona 4 anime, too, then. There's plenty of stylish action there. [Though I watch it because I like the characters.]


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## TheCrystallineEntity

I'm debating about whether to watch Madoka, or Princess Tutu, or both.


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## Mythopoet

Ooohh! Princess Tutu! It's so good!!! And it's not depressing and fatalistic like Madoka.


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## Mythopoet

So of the 6 shows from the Spring season I mentioned above, 3 of them (Hinamatsuri, Wotakoi and Comic Girls) have finished and were all extremely enjoyable from start to finish. The other 3 (Kakyurio, Persona 5 and Steins;Gate 0) are continuing into the Summer season and I'll be sticking with them. 

Summer season doesn't appear too exciting for me as far as new shows go. The biggest hype is of course about Attack on Titan season 3, but I haven't actually watched season 2 yet so I won't be watching it. I want to watch them both at some point, but I don't feel rushed about it since I've already read the manga. 

I have a list of other new shows to try, but nothing I'm really excited by except Cells at Work. A show about "the story of you", or rather the anthropomorphized cells inside you. I showed my kids the trailer yesterday and my youngest got really excited and says, "there are people working in my body who speak Japanese!" We'll be watching that one as a family.


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## FifthView

I've been watching My Hero Academia on Hulu, and I love it!

I have a particular love of large casts, also a love of the school/training motif, so it fits in that genre.

I'm reminded (as often happens) that anime has some great writing. Well, it may seem facile to others, I don't know, but the choices made for the personalities and interactions of these characters, as well as the structuring of some episodes, point toward great writing in my opinion. I'm only midway through the second season, so we'll see if it holds my interest as much as it already has.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

I've been on the lookout for anime that might interest me, but I haven't found anything yet. I might go back and watch Digimon Tamers all the way through.


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## Writeking

This Sunday,  I went and saw Princess Mononoke on the big screen at the AMC. It was an enjoyable film.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

My anime to watch list now includes: 
Princess Tutu
Ah My Goddess
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid


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## Mythopoet

Princess Mononoke is one of my favorites from Ghibli. Seeing it on the big screen sounds awesome. I love the music so much but the dvd copy we have has the worst sound quality.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

I tried out Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. I guess I like it well enough.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

On second thought, i like it a lot. Maybe enough to buy the whole series...one day.


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## FifthView

I've been trying out various anime series on Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix...and for the most part, not completing them. RWBY was the latest. Love the art, thought there was some brilliant humor in the character personalities and actions, but Volume One didn't have much of a complete story. It  was just an introduction to the characters, really. So I checked out reviews to see if the other volumes would be worth checking out, and the consensus (not shared by everyone, however) was...no, not really.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

Aww, that's too bad. I hope you find one that you like. What kind of anime do you like best?


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## FifthView

I did like My Hero Academia, but I caught up to present episodes, and now I'm waiting for the new episodes to collect for awhile because I'd rather marathon lots in a row than only watch one per week!



TheCrystallineEntity said:


> Aww, that's too bad. I hope you find one that you like. What kind of anime do you like best?


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## TheCrystallineEntity

May I recommend some of my favourites? I love making lists, and I recently made lists of the top ten video games, top ten manga, top ten anime, and top ten anime movies based on my preferences.


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## FifthView

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> May I recommend some of my favourites? I love making lists, and I recently made lists of the top ten video games, top ten manga, top ten anime, and top ten anime movies based on my preferences.



Sure! I think my tastes are peculiar, and such lists usually don't work for me, it seems. But who knows?

Incidentally, over this past week I've realized that I'd like to try to write an "anime-style novel" (or novella perhaps), but as I've contemplated trying my hand at that, I run into the roadblock of how difficult it would be to successfully translate between mediums.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

Clannad, Kanon, maybe AIR even though it's not as good as the other two, Anohana, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Tamers, Persona 4 the animation, Haruhi Suzumiya, and...that's about it. I'm still working on watching Ah My Goddess, Princess Tutu, Neon Gen Eva, and Kobayashi, even though I've barely been able to find any of them. [Note that I always watch anime in Japanese [except for Persona 4 anime; the dub is exceptionally good] because...I don't know, I'm picky about everything.] 
Oh, and Chi's Sweet Home is adorable, but I prefer the old, hand-drawn version to the uncanny valley ridden 2016 version.


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## Mythopoet

So... summer season. What am I watching?

Continuing from spring season:

Steins;Gate 0 - This is literally the best spinoff of anything ever. (Technically a mid-quel, if that's a thing.) You don't want to watch this unless you've seen the original Steins;Gate ( BUT EVERYONE WHO HAS EVEN THE SLIGHTEST INTEREST IN TIME TRAVEL STORIES _NEEDS_ TO WATCH Steins;Gate!!) but if you have seen the original and liked it you NEED to watch this. I wasn't expecting it to be half this good. What follow-up ever is? I'm blown away.

Persona 5- highly enjoyable. Great aesthetic. Some possible plot holes. I admit to not knowing anything about Japanese law, but I can't figure out how the police could possibly have any jurisdiction over teens supernaturally entering people's consciousness and making them renounce their evil desires. Yet a bit aspect of the conflict is the police trying to track them down and them trying to keep their identities secret. Maybe it will become clear before the end.

Kakuriyo- This seemed like a fairly typical (though still enjoyable) "human girl gets involved in the troubles of Japanese otherworld denizens and solves everything with cooking" type show. But as the drama develops I have become very invested in the relationships and also really love and admire the MC. She is no fainting lily as you get in so many shows.

New Series:

Cells at Work! - Fave new show. Absolutely wonderful. Visualizes the body as a sort of city and cells as people living in it. Focuses mostly on blood cells and uses battles against bacteria and viruses and such to educate you about how your body works. My kids love it. 

Chio's School Road- the many adventures of a girl while she walks to high school every morning. Some fanservice, weird situations and bad decision making. The characters are so real and hilarious. This show does not glamorize high school life, which is so refreshing.

Holmes of Kyoto- laid-back show about a guy who's a bit arrogant about his antique appraisal skills and is sometimes called upon to  solve people's problems when they are too dumb to do so themselves. While it sounds like it should be boring and predictable, for some reason it has a charm that makes me enjoy watching it. Maybe it's nice, slow pace and window into parts of Kyoto life.

Island- adaptation of a harem VN. Calls itself a time travel mystery. I'm pretty much only watching it because my husband likes it.

Muhyo and Roji's bureau of Supernatural Investigation- This once started really late in the season and only have a few eps. up. But so far I like it. I'm generally a sucker for Japanese supernatural phenomenon.

Planet With- This show is bizarre. There's mecha, there's aliens some of which look like cats and dogs, there's ideological mecha battles, but I have no idea where it's going. It's one of those shows you just let carry you along for the ride as long as it's entertaining.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

Ooh, Muhyo and Roji! I read the manga and enjoyed it quite a bit. I'll have to watch the anime, as apparently it's a continuation of the story rather than an adaptation of the manga.


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## FifthView

I've been watching Black Clover on Hulu, and nearing the halfway mark, I'm loving it. Just the sort of anime I like best.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

What's it about?


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## FifthView

Two infant boys are left at an church/orphanage at the very same time but obviously aren't twins. When they reach the age of 15 they, like everyone in the land reaching that age, receive an individual magic grimoire. These grimoires reinforce and strengthen their particular spell casting specialties. Magic is very important in that land, and everyone has some magical ability—except one of those two boys, who might be the only person in the entire land who doesn't possess magic. This frustrates him to no end, but he's the sort to never give up, and consequently he has focused very strongly on physical improvement and fighting abilities. There's a rivalry between the two boys although they still consider each other to be "family." They are constantly competing in almost everything. 

There's a "magic king" who is separate from the actual king of the land, and both boys aspire to be the magic king someday. To get there, they must try to join the Magic Knights first, shortly after getting their grimoires. The Magic Knights have nine different squads, each led by a captain, and each having its own sort of culture or theme. The Magic Knights protect the land and its people and have a very high status within the kingdom. But nobles and royals tend to have much stronger magic ability and fill most of the ranks in the Magic Knights. Since these two boys are commoner orphans, they face prejudice, mocking, etc., all the time. Their own rivalry spurs both on, however. The one who possesses magic is very, very strong in magic, and the one who has no magic—which is laughable, from the POV of the Magic Knights—possesses instead....well, not going to spoil it for you, hah.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

It sounds like something I might like.


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## Devor

I'm presently watching:

Attack on Titan
My Hero Academia
Black Clover
Steins Gate (a soap opera about time travel)
Magical Girls Raising Project (it pretends to be cute, but it's a horror ala Hunger Games)
Angel of Death (barely)

The first two are truly epic award-winning type of shows.  The others are all pretty strong though.

I subscribe to funimation, so it's hit or miss whether you can those free on crunchyroll.


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## Mythopoet

Hey! Steins;Gate is NOT a soap opera!  Are you watching the original series or the new spin off? I'm watching the spin off (sort of like a mid-quel) and absolutely loving it. I think so far it's the best follow up series I've ever seen.


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## Devor

Mythopoet said:


> Hey! Steins;Gate is NOT a soap opera!  Are you watching the original series or the new spin off? I'm watching the spin off (sort of like a mid-quel) and absolutely loving it. I think so far it's the best follow up series I've ever seen.



I started it because it was on Funimations roster of new shows, but I did start with the first season and am up to date with the dubbed episodes.

I called it a soap opera because this season they've done nothing but talk about time travel and haven't done any of it.  But you're right, it's not really a soap.


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## Writeking

Mythopoet said:


> Princess Mononoke is one of my favorites from Ghibli. Seeing it on the big screen sounds awesome. I love the music so much but the dvd copy we have has the worst sound quality.


I have been wanting to see an anime film on the big screen. As soon as I saw Princess Mononoke advertised on their website I had to go. AMC had been playing other Studio Ghibli films.


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## FifthView

I'm caught up on Black Clover, and I'm still waiting for a few more episodes of My Hero Academia before I catch up on it.

I tried watching something called Phi Brain last night, and it's way too boring and simply not as good as the shows I like best, so I'll not continue watching it.  This is one of the biggest drawbacks to streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime: I can quickly marathon the good stuff, but when I'm done with those I'm left trying to pick some treasure out of the vast garbage dump that remains.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

I'm almost done watching Mononoke. It's such a unique and fascinatingly surreal series. The fact that Takahiro Sakurai voiced the lead Mononoke-slaying Medicine Seller makes it even better. It's too bad it only has 12 episodes.


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## FifthView

I watched The Dragon Prince on Netflix.

I really liked it, but the biggest drawback is that it's way, way, way too short for a season. It's almost all set-up, too. I've read vague comments that the whole thing might have epic proportions by the end of the story, but I shudder to guess how long that will be.

There were problems. I'd checked out the trailer on YouTube, and the many comments relating to the herky-jerky frame rate were accurate. I mostly stopped noticing by the end of S1 however.

The only other big gripe I had centered on the fact that large parts of the writing followed a kind of rule: _Must have a ridiculous joke, from every single character, every two or three lines of spoken dialogue.
_
Related: Unearned anachronisms. That might not be quite the right word, since this is a fantasy world and who knows what kind of technology or cultural elements might exist there. For example: mentions of peanut butter—for the jokey attitude, one presumes. Then there is the all-too-obvious reference to Game of Thrones as one character says something like, "Winter is coming...eventually." There are other examples of things being mentioned that don't seem to fit the world as presented.

OH and this: A king sleeps fully clothed in the outfit he'll wear throughout? Ok, I guess.

On the whole, it seems corners were cut.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

Are Code Geass and Ayashi no Ceres worth checking out?


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## Mythopoet

I tried watching the dub of Ayashi no Ceres and couldn't get more than 2 episodes in. Undoubtedly the sub would be better, but the animation is pretty low quality and very old. 

Code Geass is a high quality anime (and actually has a good dub) but I really have no idea if you would like it or not.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

I might try it out, and see. 

I still haven't watched Ah My Goddess or Princess Tutu. *sigh*


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## MrBrightsider

Code Geas is one o' dem MASTAPIECES. It's definitely worth checking out. 

Also, for anyone who wants an analysis on how good characters can make a story about nothing exciting, check out the Bakemonogatari series. And, of course, as Mythopoet's icon so succinctly suggests: Holo is universal best girl, so watch Spice and Wolf.


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## ScaryMJDiamcreep

I can't be bothered to read through the whole thread, so it might have been suggested before, but if you liked A Certain Magical Index, you'd probably like A Certain Scientific Railgun. Same world, roughly overlaps with the first season of Index, but is following Railgun rather than Touma.

I can never remember the english version of Touma's nickname for Railgun, but I know the japanese version is Biribiri.


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## MauEvig

Since this is a large thread, I'll go ahead and list some of my favorite animes.

Dragon Ball Z/Super
Fairy Tale
Naruto (although I have to get through all those flash backs! I enjoyed the characters, especially in Shippuden)
Bleach
Rurouni Kenshin
Inuyasha
Yu Gi Oh

Basically...I tend to like shonen type animes.
I used to be into Gundam Wing as well. 

I have also enjoyed Miyazaki's work, but some of the plot seemed rather confusing. But it could be because I'm coming from a western perspective. 
But I enjoy the lore in most anime, and I think it's a great way to introduce us Americans to Japanese culture and lore. Plus they make the food look so delicious! 

I guess pokemon can be classified as an anime, since it does have an anime adaptation in addition to the games. There's also the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA if that counts. Sonic X was...meh. When it comes to my favorite blue hedgehog, I think American animation has treated him better.

This isn't an exhaustive list though! I also used to read Shonen Jump magazine. Considering I grew up in the country outside of a small town, it was exciting to see that show up at the local grocery store.


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## Mythopoet

Myth's here to resurrect her anime thread!

So, we're at the transition period between seasons. What have I been watching and what am I going to watch?

Watched last season:

Arte: charming historical fiction about a woman from a poor noble house who rejects her arranged marriage and runs off to join a workshop and become a painter in Renaissance Florence. 

Kaguya-sama: Love is War: second season of the hilarious high school romantic comedy. 

Kakushigoto: single father is desperate to hide the fact that he is a manga author who draws dirty jokes from his young daughter. 

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routs Lead to Doom!: girl gets reincarnated in the body of the child destined to be the villainess of the otome game she was playing when she died. Decides she had better change her fate before she is killed or exiled. 

Princess Connect! Re: Dive: based on a mobile game, slice-of-life fantasy about a group of adventurers bonding over food. 

Shironeko Project: Zero Chronicle: also based on a mobile game. Could have been interesting, but probably won't be satisfying if you haven't played the game since it fleshes out the game's prologue event.

Tower of God: It is said that anything you desire can be found at the top of the Tower, an immense world peopled will all kinds of beings with supernatural abilities. But Bam only wants to follow after Rachel, the girl he loves. *Based on the Tower of God manhwa that can be read on webtoons.com which is really, really incredible. The anime adapted only the first part. 

Planning to watch this season: 

Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld Part II

Re: Zero -Starting Life in Another World- season 2 (finally!)

Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation season 2

Fruits Basket season 2


Anything else will be up in the air until I hear what's good and what's not.


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## Rose Fraser

I recommend that you watch Gakuen Alice. Despite its stellar reputation, I thought Gakuen Alice to be a solid choice for cheerful, enjoyable shoujo. It's upbeat and adorable, to be sure, and if you're looking for more of that in your anime diet, Gakuen Alice is a good pick. However, don't expect it to become your new favorite series.


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## Mist Dragon

I've watched a good bit of anime.  I think I came to like it because outside of a few that run on forever, they have endings.  So many tv series start good, get popular, then they milk it till no one cares anymore, so they never really become a story, just things to watch.

Some of my favorites:
Haibane Renmei
Witch Hunter Robin
When they Cry
Gunslinger Girls (1st season, 2nd was meh)

There are a lot of others I've enjoyed, but those are the ones that most readily come to mind.


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