anime

[nathalie]

I have this feeling I'm going to clog up that other thread, lol, so here's a place to actually discuss the series, maybe give some tips to other people, what's good / what not ^^

[Nuduli]

Hmm, well I'm pretty picky about what anime I watch so here's my small list:

Fushigi Yuugi
Vampire Knight
CardCaptor Sakura
Magic Knight Rayearth
Angelic Layer
Tenchi Muyo

[Xacheraus]

I love alot of anime, and I don't have the time to list all of my personal favorites. I will however say that the series Claymore is one of my all-time favorites, and those who haven't seen it should definitely do so!

Oh yeah, I also am an avid manga fan/reader.

[Sombolia]

As I said in the other thread, I only read/watch two:

Death Note
Axis Powers Hetalia



My ex got me into Death Note. I thought the premise sounded really silly, and I wasn't into manga to begin with, but I ended up loving it.
As for Hetalia, it's just a silly bit of fun.

[Revo]

It would take a loong time for me to list all the anime features that I have enjoyed.. Partly because I watch a lot more anime movies than series, since they are a smaller time investment with usually higher production quality. But I can try to list some series that have left an impression and why they did so. All of the introductions in the list will be some of the more "popular" anime that are easier for people to get into, because if people want to watch the more obscure shows, they will have to come to like anime in general at first..

Also, I am not an affiliate or anything, but I recommend www.d2brigade.net for anyone searching for new anime series to watch. They have tons of insightful anime video reviews from 4 different reviewers (out of which I think JesuOtaku, who also works for AnimeNewsEditorial, does the best job at giving extensive and objective reviews).

Anyway, to the small feature list, not in any particular order:

Death Note - First of all may I just say that the live-action movies were horrid ... Ok now that I got that out of the way..
The show was good as long as it had the L character in it. After L goes away (I won't say how..), the show just loses a lot of the interest it had. But during the beginning saga, it is extremely clever, dramatic, mind-bending and an exciting detective story. It's like watching chess game in slow motion, except not at all that boring .

Hellsing Ultimate - This show is miles above the first Hellsing series, which was utter dung. The story is about a vampire killing organization that has tamed the world's most powerful vampire to help them in the task. The show isn't finished yet, and the format is very different from the norm. It only has 7 episodes so far, each lasting about an hour, and the episodes take at least 6 months to come out (I have been waiting for the 8th one for over 16 months now). But the time and effort taken definitely shows. Each episode is like a movie with outstanding animation quality and vividness. The storyline is epic and so are the battles. Just don't watch this if you can't take some gore in your anime .
It is still worth the watch even if they never finish it. You can finish the story by reading the manga. The ending just as epic and fitting as the story deserves.

Basilisk - A cool show about two warring ninja tribes with supernatural powers fighting for power. Supercool ninja battles are to be expected, as one would guess. But the show is not without its clever plot twists and romances aswell.

Great Teacher Onizuka - Just a really fun and humorous ride about a young guy who becomes a high school teacher even though he is really unfit for the job, but against everybody's impression he has his heart in its right place. It's just a really good comedy, with loads of adult humor.

Fullmetal Alchemist - The supernatural setting of the world this story takes place in gives way for lots of interesting ethical dilemmas and cool battle scenes. Both at the same time, perfect! The show's most prominent feature is a wide range of well developed characters, but it also has a deep and touching storyline running through it aswell.
There are two versions of the anime to choose from. The first one was started while the manga was still under production, so at one point it starts deviating from the manga storyline into its own territory. And for pulling off a stunt like that, it doesn't do a bad job at creating a decent storyline at all. Later on they redid the series (called Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) and followed the manga storyline all the way through. Both are good options. There is also a movie that followed the first series.

Wolf's Rain - At first I didn't want to get into this series because I thought all the hype it was getting was just because of all the wolf fan-girls. And I was partly right, the show is way overhyped . But that doesn't take away the fact that it actually has some substance to it aswell. This show just oozes deep symbolism (especially of the religious type) which is fun to watch unravel.
And ok, it has wolves. Who doesn't like wolves?

Neon Genesis Evangelion - This show is just a classic among anime, and thus is worth the watch for anyone interested in the "golden gems" among the genre. This show does divide its audience very sharply into haters and lovers. I won't say I belong to either camp really.. I like it but it definitely has its flaws. Usually I don't enjoy mecha (=giant robot) anime, but this one engages in very deep psychological discourse aswell as providing nice action and moral issues. And towards the end, the show does get to be pretty much a mindf***. So don't go into this show expecting to come out the other end much wiser, but atleast there will cool and exciting battle scenes inbetween.

Avatar The Last Airbender - Yes, the one the movie was based on. And yes, the movie absolutely raped the series with its terribleness. The show is way better, trust me. Actually it's not technically an anime, since it's an American production. But people seem to identify it as anime so i thought I'd include it here. This show pretty much has it all. And abundance of cool, clever and well coreographed fight scenes; fun humor; grand adventures; hard ethical dilemmas etc.. At times the show might seem to target itself a bit too much to the younger audience, but only at times. Most of the time its equally as enjoyable for the mature audience aswell.

Again, anyone of these shows has more extensive reviews on the site I linked, if anyone is interested.

[Sombolia]

I've been meaning to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion. I'm not into mecha either but the psychological/mind screw aspect of it interests me.

Oh, and I like Avatar too, but I didn't even think to include it here.

[Revo]

Two more that I ought to have included in the list that might appeal to more than just anime fans, are Cowboy Bebop and Trigun. Both of them fall into the same kind of category of fun space-western gunslinging action. Cowboy Bebop has an awesome selection of music from nearly every genre (not to mention the opening song is awesome as hell) and has a tragic love story entwined within it. Trigun goes deeper in its themes, and has probably the sickest villain that I have seen..

[Levin]

My top three anime series so far have been:

Last Exile, Wolf's Rain and Avatar the Last Airbender.

Last Exile isn't very well known but -definitely- worth checking out. It starts out a little slow but it has a very good story to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUjiXriGFbo


^ link to the opening if anyone is interested

[Sombolia]

Last Exile seems interesting.

It's weird. Before I had no interest in anime/manga at all, but now, I'm slowly getting into it...

For people that know more about Evangelion than me, where do I start? :8o: I really want to watch it.

I also start reading the manga of Ichi the Killer - I was looking for the movie, I didn't even know the manga existed until yesterday! It's... very graphic, and brutal. But very interesting. I wouldn't recommend it all unless you're into gore/horror, though.

[Revo]

For people that know more about Evangelion than me, where do I start? :8o: I really want to watch it.

I'd say start by just watching the series.
As for the movies that have been made... The End of Evangelion was made to "explain" the last 2 episodes of the series, because those two episodes are a complete detachment from the storyline and happen almost exclusively in Shinji's (the main character) head. The movie was suppsoed to show what was happening in the real world during those episodes. But, there is a reason why that movie has been dubbed a "middle finger to the fans". It is because it doesn't really explain much. It just makes everything more confusing.
The bottomline being: If you want to watch that movie, watch it after finishing the series.

The Death and Rebirth of Evangelion -movies are useless and not worth a watch. Death is just recycled animation from the the series, and Rebirth is what ended up being the first third of The End Of Evangelion.

The Revival of Evangelion is just Death + The End of Evangelion. So nothing to see there either.

Then there is the Rebuild of Evangelion movie series, which tries to retell the story of the anime, while putting some tweaks in the story. And overall it does seem a whole lot better. The only reason I would not recommend to see this before the anime, is that only 2 of the 4 movies have been released. And we'll see if they ever get to making the 3rd one.
So basically, all the movies are just trying to retell or explain what happened in the anime, because the creator Hideaki Anno can't learn to put this saga to the bed. None of the movies will make sense to you without watching the series (apart from Rebuild, but as I said, it's a bit different storyline and not finished).

I hope that helped .

Meanwhile, I recently watched a series called Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (When the Seagulls Cry). I went into it expecting mind-twisting detective cases and logical battles, but... Ugh, this series was a waste of my time. It was just bad, full of false promises, uninteresting characters, pointless plot twists and a Deus Ex Machina ending. Only afterwards did I hear it was based on a novel that is supposedly a whole lot better.

[Sombolia]

That is really helpful, thanks. I didn't know where to begin with all these movies and stuff...