Sell me an Anime!

[ReluctantDragon]

Looking into getting into a new Anime. I am not at all a cultural expert on the genre and am looking to simply be entertained.

Anime's I've watched and enjoyed:

Cowboy Bebop
Rurouni Kenshin
Akira

Dragonball Z (I consider this like candy. Its only really good in small doses)

So, any recommendations given what I've enjoyed so far?

[Haruki-kun]

Since you seem to like Shonen Animé, I'd suggest Bleach.

@V: That works, too.

[Poison_Fish]

Your action oriented it seems, so how about some Samurai Champloo?

[sun_tzu]

IT's been said that History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi is the new Ruroni Kenshin. It's certainly an anime I recommend - great fights, great characters, great humor.

[Behold_the_Void]

Soul Eater is probably one of the best shounen anime airing right now. Great setting and generally just a lot of fun.

For something actually licensed, check out FMA, it's a solid series with a lot of good plot and good action.

Both series are by studio Bones, which is just phenomenally good at animation.

[AslanCross]

-Pumpkin Scissors. Pseudo-historical, set in "Germany" after World War I.
-Shadow Skill. The rare martial arts anime where the protagonist is a musclebound female. (At least for the first part.)
-Code Geass. Great first season. The second season was pretty entertaining, though it's kinda different from the first.

The title of the thread also reminds me somewhat of those illegal anime and pr0n vendors back in a seedy mall we had here (that has since burned down and was revamped to become a higher-end mall). They'd have big beltbags full of stuff or would hide them under their shirts, tucked into their pants. (:smalleek:). Then they'd go up to you surreptitiously and whisper "Boss, X DVDs..."

[Revlid]

Sounds like you'd enjoy Bleach and/or Soul Eater.
I tentatively recommend Naruto, also (although part 2 deserves the Fan Rage it gets).

If you enjoy Manga I'd recommend Mahou Sensei Negima. If not, avoid the Anime version with all the strength not looking at something takes. And if you absolutely must watch it, avoid the dub especially (oh, British accent... even **** Van Dyke hasn't perpetrated such crimes upon you).

[Bouregard]

One Piece. Pretty good. Goes a fine line between youngster and adult anime. Actually the last few hundred episodes are pretty much adult oriented. But I ask you to start from the beginning. Oh and don't take the 4kids dub. Its stupid. Look around to find some fansubbed japanese episodes. Trust me. you don't want to see the official english released anime.
While its poretty hard to get the japanese episodes its well worth and would keep you busy the next year. currently episode 480 if I guess right, everyone 20mins. If you liked Dragonball its definitly the way to go. Its practically the Dragonball without the not so good things about Dragonball.



Noir is also pretty awesome. Especially the charackters are pretty well made.
And Hellsing, but it differs a good bit from the manga. And in my opinion to short.

[Lord of Rapture]

Bleach and FMA are great. Be careful, though, as Bleach becomes "Dragonball Z with shinigami" later on in the series, though it's still pretty cool. Code Geass Season 1 is awesome; Season 2...*sobs*

Stay away from Naruto, though.:smallyuk:

[KKL]

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Good anime that's pretty much all about giant robots and being incredibly awesome. Watch it once or twice for the arenaline rush of HELL YEAH.

Akagi: It's a great anime about the title character and his mahjong games against shady people. Very suspenseful and you don't need to know jack about Mahjong to enjoy it. I really, really recommend it. The bulk of the action is centered around the games of Mahjong, as opposed to kicking ass.

Kaiji: Depressing anime about a guy down on his luck, and by down, I mean completely, utterly down on his luck. Like I said earlier, the series is depressing, but is very mindtwisty with how it jerks you around and plays with your emotions. I love this anime a bit less than Akagi, but it's still very good.

Wolf and Spice: It's medieval economics focusing on a merchant and the wolf spirit he's managed to pick up along the way. Extremely laid back and slow. It's great fun having a protagonist who isn't a total shortbus nimrod. I thought it was interesting and fun to watch.

Kino no Tabi: Another sort of laid back story, this one focuses on the tales of a traveller named Kino who is a very good shot with a gun. Also has a talking motorcycle named Hermes.

One Piece: Someone's already mentioned it, but by god this is quite possibly the best shonen I've ever watched. It has great fight scenes, heart pulling scenes, and awesome characters. The art style is strange, but very excellent. There are no filler arcs at all, and when there are, they're masterfully inserted, Buggy sidestory aside.

Ouran High School Host Club: Fun anime about the main character's antics in a high class high school and it's lone Host Club. It's been too long since I've seen this, so I can't make additional comments, but it's a mix of drama and comedy, from what I remember.

Princess Tutu: Yes, Princess Tutu. That's the name, shut up. It's about a girl named Ahiru, transformation sequences, dancing, and a really twisted fairy tale. Very pleasent to watch.

Afro Samurai: I'm not going to mince words. This is a five episode anime and four out of those five episodes are bloody and violent. The story isn't too bad, but the focal points are the fight scenes. Fight scenes, fight scenes, fight scenes, by god the fight scenes are very well executed, and violent. Going against the automatic assumption of subtitles, I'm telling you to pick up the dub. The voices are fantastic.

Yakitate!! Japan: This anime is about baking bread. It's seriously good. I'm not kidding here. Watch it. It's great, it's funny.

Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Next to One Piece, this is THE shonen to watch. The dub is excellent. Go for it.

And I beleive that's it.

[ReluctantDragon]

Wow, awesome suggestions!

I do believe I've seen an episode of Samurai Champloo, and I do believe I liked it.

I'm hesitant about Bleach, though. I flipped through a book(comic book?) of it and it seemed...strange. I don't know. I just didn't get a good read off of it. Granted the anime could be different.

The robots and awesomeness of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann sounds extremely appealing.

I now have a Christmas wish list.

Thanks to everyone!

[Cespenar]

I would suggest Fullmetal Alchemist over Bleach. Definitely.

[The Evil Thing]

Let's see... series that haven't been mentioned...

Initial D
I recommend you give this a spin (oh I kill me) even if racing isn't your cup of tea since it's really rather well done. An added bonus is that much of the series was released before fansubbers became enamoured by the abominably low standards of translation that seem so prevalent these days. In other words, you won't need to watch the dub. (Which I don't recommend anyway, since they changed the (mostly English language) soundtrack for some reason.)

El Cazador de la Bruja
After the rather gloomy Noir and Madlax (made by the same studio), this show is much more light-hearted and thus more fun. There are no stormtroopers or faceless mooks* in this one, just a small cast of well defined characters, including perhaps the most charming character in anime ever.

*This is a slight lie but not really a problem.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
This is rather more cerebral than other series I've mentioned but in this case that's a good thing. You might like to take it as a police procedural. With robots and cyborgs. Regardless it's a very good show, just ignore Motoko's ridiculous wardrobe choices.

Last Exile
There's no shortage of people in the forum extolling LE's virtues. Personally I found the plot a little slow-paced but the art really is just that; it looks absolutely beautiful.

Slayers
A fantasy comedy unusual for the fact it's utterly blasé about killing people (at least for the first fifteen episodes or so). There's a bit of DBZing going on towards the end but it's bearable. On the flip side it has occasional very funny moments that catch you off guard.

The Twelve Kingdoms
Recap episodes ahoy! That said, it's very, very good once it finally gets going. It just takes while to do so. This is based on a novel series which I believe is in the well meaning but dodgy hands of Tokyopop.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
It's the result of watching a super robot show through a magical girl filter. The first season starts off in a typical magical girl fashion but soon brings out the big guns (literally) and we have gratuitous beam-spam'o'war all around.

Full Metal Panic
This is a mostly solid action series, although you may find the Sousuke-Gauron mutually assured destruction theme tiresome after Sousuke "kills" Gauron for the third time. If Sousuke's classroom antics irritate you, give Fumoffu a miss.

Shakugan no Shana
Unfortunately, I can't really sell SnS, I just don't know how; it's kind of like something you just watch for the hell of it. It's not bad or anything and it does the job of entertaining fairly well. It's is based on a light novel series but the licensors have thrown in the towel meaning that the anime is the best way to follow the story. Please avoid the movie which is literally a recap "episode."

Fate/stay night
The general rule is that you will love this show until you play the game it was based on, whereupon you see it as a contradiction to the natural order of the world and attack it as such. What the anime does have going for it is that you can clear it in perhaps 10-11 hours while the game takes about four or five times that. It's also much cheaper since you'll have to import the FSN game for ~$120.


If you liked RuroKen you might want to check out the Tsuiokuhen OVA.

Stay away from the Hellsing anime. If you must look, try Hellsing Ultimate instead.

On the manga front, I'll also throw my vote in for History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi (it's nothing like RuroKen though :smallconfused:) and Negima.

Unless I'm mistaken all of these shows are licensed so you shouldn't have too much trouble getting your paws on them.


Oh, and Haruki-kun, of the Hepburn, Nihon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki romanisation systems, not one uses an e acute; a typist may elect to use a circumflex in place of a macron but only to substitute for a double vowel.
(By which you should interpret that typing "e" instead of ALT-130 in anime is not only convenient but correct. :smallwink:)

[Athaniar]

I'm far from an expert, either, but I liked Last Exile.

*looks at thread title*

Soo... How much are you willing to pay?
Just kidding, you can have it for free.

[Rogue 7]

I would suggest Fullmetal Alchemist over Bleach. Definitely.

Agreed. And for Fullmetal Alchemist, you simply must read the manga. I liked the anime quite a bit...the manga's ten times more awesome. Best one out there, I think.

[Bouregard]

One Piece: Someone's already mentioned it, but by god this is quite possibly the best shonen I've ever watched. It has great fight scenes, heart pulling scenes, and awesome characters. The art style is strange, but very excellent. There are no filler arcs at all, and when there are, they're masterfully inserted, Buggy sidestory aside.


There are filler arcs. But yes most of them are good inserted. There are some pretty weak one's in the beginning but the last two where pretty awesome.

Rainbow Mist, Warship island where pretty worse in my opinion.
While G9 and the Icehunterarc are awesome and as a filler sometimes rival the original story.

[Lost Demiurge]

Man, can't believe the thread's gotten this far without mentioning Black Lagoon... Since you liked Cowboy Bebop, I think this would be right up your alley.

Black Lagoon's a violent crime series set in the 90's, in the south china sea. It revolves around the pirate crew of a refurbrished PT boat, the Black Lagoon, and their efforts to make a buck and deal with the criminal underworld without losing their heads. The main setting is the fictional Thai city of Roanapur, in its glorious corruption. The main characters are very well thought out and develop as the series goes on, the supporting characters have their own deals and motivations, and damn near everyone's fun to watch.

It's hugely violent, but no more gory than Bebop. The language is pretty foul, so I wouldn't watch it with kids around. The fight scenes have some of the best choreography that I've ever seen in an anime, and damn near everyone gets a badass moment... Some more than others, mind you. And it's SMART. The way the syndicates operate, and a few little tricks they reveal come in handy for Shadowrun, or even Thieves' guild style games. They also manage to sneak some classical philosophy in on you here and there, without overdoing it.

One thing to watch out for, is that the series deals with some pretty heavy stuff... Drugs, assassinations, power plays between syndicates, and so forth. None of it's glorified, mind you, but it's still pretty mature. And there's a few plots down the road that get pretty freakin' dark.

Just check out the first disk. The first two episodes ought to tell you whether or not it's for you. After that, it only gets better...

[AslanCross]

Ouran High School Host Club: Fun anime about the main character's antics in a high class high school and it's lone Host Club. It's been too long since I've seen this, so I can't make additional comments, but it's a mix of drama and comedy, from what I remember.


Ouran was the funniest anime I've seen in a while. It's shoujo-but-not-quite. While it's a romantic comedy and it's about a girl more or less having a male harem, I still found it enormously entertaining as a straight guy.

[Oregano]

I'd recommend (Vision of) Escaflowne, it's just awesome.

You may also like Outlaw Star but it's a bit older target audience(there's violence and nudity).

[Kuma Da]

I'm a pretty picky anime viewer, but here's a quick list of what I consider to be the best stuff out there:

For psychology/complex plots: Paranoia agent, Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, Ghost hound

For action: Gantz (horribly, horribly bloody. consider yourself warned,) Ergo Proxy, Samurai Champloo (it's by the same director as Cowboy Beebop,) Black Lagoon, Fullmetal Alchemist, Tokyo Maijin Gakuen Kenpuchou (Tokyo high schoolers fighting demons. The writing is sub-par, but it's got a fantastic director,) Hellsing OVAs

For world-building: Last Exile

For adorableness: Noein, Haibane Renmei

For humor without being spazzed-out anime humor: Genshiken (it's also a really good window into Japanese otaku culture, which is different from American otaku culture...but that's a whole can of worms that I don't feel like opening right now,)

My favorite overall has got to be Last Exile or Noein, but based on the stuff you've said you liked, I would recommend Samurai Champloo the most.

Hope this helps. :smallbiggrin:

Edit: if you're in the market for a manga recommendation, Blade of the Immortal is a beautifully drawn samurai epic. Dark Horse publishing assigned it a brilliant translation team too, so it's at least as witty as it is beautiful.

2nd edit: Totally forgot Gankutsuo, which is a serious contender for best anime art ever. It's a sci-fi retelling of "The Count of Monte Cristo".

[Edan]

Noir: It is about two female assassins for hire done in a style that resembles film noir. Not to mention the violence One of the girls manages to hang and snap a mook's neck with his own neck tie. and interesting illuminati like organization and plot. Also it has a lot of lesbian subtext and...well more towards the end of the series. It has a fairly cerebral plot with plenty of action without flowing into the absurdly over the top style of a lot of fighting anime.

I would recommend it if you were interested in a conspiracy based plot with plenty of action and one of the best soundtracks in the business. Although it is a mature series and it may not be for everyone.

[Setra]

I'm gonna second the following

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
It starts off somewhat average to me, but by the end it is probably one of the best series I have ever seen. Good characters, great action, the romance is sweet and doesn't feel forced (though I've heard some disagree), it has some great moments.

Bleach
I stopped watching the anime around the Bount Arc, but up until then it was a great action anime... If you like fighting then you'll probably love Bleach...

Mind you it might have started sucking after I stopped watching.

I haven't actually seen Kenichi, but I love the manga. If the anime is anything like it then I would certainly recommend it.

Ps. If you ever feel like watching an Anime that will make you cry, try "Air" (Not Air Gear). Guaranteed to make you cry... Unless you don't have a soul.

Edit: Oh, and has anyone mentioned Escaflowne yet?

Edit edit: Yes someone has.. Well yeah that one is pretty good too, same goes for Outlaw Star.

[Yulian]

You like action and larger casts?

Hmm...

Blue Submarine 6 is an action-packed, trippy one-shot OAV. Great villain too, surprisingly sympathetic.

If you want a series, try El Hazard for something lighter and more comedic. Escaflowne for something a bit less light but still fantastic, or for dark and nasty, try Soul Taker. That one's got some gloriously unsettling imagery.

Depending on your age, I could recommend a few hyper-violent, but still rather good ones, like Geonocyber (3 OAVs) or Bio-Booster Armor Guyver (that's the 2nd series).

- Yulian

[nothingclever]

I highly suggest watching the Fist of the North Star/Hokuto no Ken movie series Shin Kyūseishu Densetsu/True Saviour Legend. It has some of the most epic martial arts fighting and drama ever.

[UltraDude]

Shonen anime bent, though you like Akira as well which is a bit more mental (while still kicking ass).

Afro Samurai: Was mentioned already, and I can not stress enough how much this needs to be watched. Plot isn't important. It's all about the fight scenes, which make most shonen anime look like a couple of grannies trying to beat each other with the very wheelchairs they need to be mobile. Five episodes of bloody bliss, and the dub features SAMUEL L. JACKSON. AS THE MAIN CHARACTER.

Samurai Champloo: Action scenes are like toned down Afro Samurai for all intents and purposes. The overall plot is less important than how the story meanders through it, in an episodic nature much like Cowboy Bebop, with a wide range of attitude and emotion. I preferred it to Bebop actually, though results tend to vary (most prefer Bebop).

Gurren Lagann: You haven't seen any mecha yet it seems. This isn't a bad place to start, what with all the incredibly HELL YEAH action scenes, though a lot of the parody will go waaaay over your head if you haven't seen the super robot classics like Mazinger and Getter Robo. Still worth it for Kamina and manly drills.

Bleach: Action is pretty skimpy early on, and the pacing is a bit wonky. When it hits its stride, though, it's great, with loads of memorable characters and some incredible fight scenes. Try watching it in chunks of no less than 3 episodes at a time for best results (due to the pacing) and find out in advance where the filler arcs are so you can skip them entirely; the writing, animation, and action are terrible for the bulk of them.

Fullmetal Alchemist: This. A very balanced series; action, comedy, a little philosophy, tragedy, even a little romance. Lots of emotion involved, and the humor and action are both top notch. Once again, a nice sized cast of very interesting characters that you can easily be attached to.

Stuff that hasn't been mentioned.

G Gundam: First of all, not typical Gundam, so it doesn't really count as an intro to the series. However, it is an intro to some very super robot ideas, and doesn't require as much background as GL to 'get it'. A great deal of badass, with awesome action scenes and loads of hotblooded yelling. Also a very quirky sense of humor.

Fooly Cooly (FLCL): HOW HAS THIS NOT BEEN MENTIONED. You won't get even half the jokes because of how little you've watched, and unless the weirdness is too off-putting (it can be with inexperience with anime, I imagine), you'll still find it both funny and excellently badass. Guitars and Vespas make excellent weapons! Really!

And for something totally different...

Neon Genesis Evangelion: A polarizer among anime fans. Many praise it as the greatest of all time for its psychological themes and handling of its characters. Others think its just a jumbled up overrated mess. Regardless, its a classic that anyone does themselves a favor to at least give a try, and when the action is there, it can be pretty intense. Also generally considered mecha, though the 'mechs' are largely biological in nature.

So there are some ideas for you here.

[Artemician]

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
It starts off somewhat average to me, but by the end it is probably one of the best series I have ever seen. Good characters, great action, the romance is sweet and doesn't feel forced (though I've heard some disagree), it has some great moments.

Actually, TTGL was good. Then average. Then bad. Then really bad. Then good again. Then really bad. Then quite good for the last episode.

Get the idea? It's about as consistent as badly mixed concrete.


Bleach
I stopped watching the anime around the Bount Arc, but up until then it was a great action anime... If you like fighting then you'll probably love Bleach...

Mind you it might have started sucking after I stopped watching.

It did.

I would advise the OP to watch the Soul Society arc to its completion, then stop watching.


I haven't actually seen Kenichi, but I love the manga. If the anime is anything like it then I would certainly recommend it.

I found the manga pretty hilarious :P And not in a good way.


Ps. If you ever feel like watching an Anime that will make you cry, try "Air" (Not Air Gear). Guaranteed to make you cry... Unless you don't have a soul.

Air is, honestly, not super great. For something in the same vein, except done better, I'd advise OP to watch the 2006 run of Kanon.


Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
It's the result of watching a super robot show through a magical girl filter. The first season starts off in a typical magical girl fashion but soon brings out the big guns (literally) and we have gratuitous beam-spam'o'war all around.

Season One of Nanoha is .... The plot's fine, the characters are good, but the lines, oh the lines. And the pacing! It does get better in the following seasons though, which is something that puts it over some anime (coughShakuganNoShanacough)


Full Metal Panic
This is a mostly solid action series, although you may find the Sousuke-Gauron mutually assured destruction theme tiresome after Sousuke "kills" Gauron for the third time. If Sousuke's classroom antics irritate you, give Fumoffu a miss.

Agreed.


Unfortunately, I can't really sell SnS, I just don't know how; it's kind of like something you just watch for the hell of it. It's not bad or anything and it does the job of entertaining fairly well. It's is based on a light novel series but the licensors have thrown in the towel meaning that the anime is the best way to follow the story. Please avoid the movie which is literally a recap "episode."

The movie had better animation. And did more into telling us how awesome Friagne was. Shame that none of the following villians, or the entire subsequent sequel season, approached his awesome manliness. At all. It starts off at the top, and you only go downhill from there.


Fate/stay night
The general rule is that you will love this show until you play the game it was based on, whereupon you see it as a contradiction to the natural order of the world and attack it as such. What the anime does have going for it is that you can clear it in perhaps 10-11 hours while the game takes about four or five times that. It's also much cheaper since you'll have to import the FSN game for ~$120.

I watched the show, and went bleh at important moments (like the ending, or in fact, the entire last 8 episodes. What, you lost the budget? And your director's brains?) Then I read the VN, and gave up in disgust halfway through due to the sheer stupidity of the main character, which was slightly less obnoxious in a passive medium but horribly infuriating in an active one.

[Innis Cabal]

Mushi-shi

Easily one of the most visually stunning anime out there. Tackles alot of society related issues in a very deep and methodical way.

Awsome pacing, though no over arching storyline.

Did I mention the animation. The animation is beautifuly rendered, well done and will take your breath away. In that order. The Sea of Brush's was....the best animated episode of any anime i've ever seen

[Blue Warlock]

Others here have already mentioned more popular series (BTW WATCH AFRO SAMURAI IT HAS SAMUEL MOTHERF*CKING JACKSON IN IT) so allow me to introduce a more obscure title: Seto No Hanayome. Crazy, all the time. Involves YAKUZA mermaids and a shotgun wedding start off the series, and the ending is OMGWTFBBQAWESOMESAUCE. The final battle involves a made-of-iron mermaid yakuza guy in a sailor outfit SHOOTING LAZERZ OUT OF HIS EYES. And he is just one of the side characters.
Its like 24 episodes of a power thirst commercial for the action scenes, and they toss in a small amount of romance too (shotgun wedding). Great Comedy/Action/Romance mix (listed in order of importance). Watch. Now.

[Friv]

Here's one that hasn't been suggested - Read Or Die, both the OVA and the general TV series. (Unlike most anime, they aren't the same story; the series is a sequel to the OVA).

The OVA is about the British Library's super-powered secret agents, who are going toe-to-toe with genetically engineered clones of various historical geniuses granted superpowers. It actually gets pretty serious at times, despite an overall slightly goofy tone.

The TV series starts as a light-hearted romp about a friend of the main character from the OVA, plus a trio of batty magic detectives, and then shifts into a truly awesome epic story.

[Berserk Monk]

Full Metal Alchemist: best anime ever. 'nough said.

You should also check out Trigun.

Gurren Lagann is also pretty good, although I've only seen about half the episodes.

[Gavin Sage]

It is a crying shame that Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli has not been mentioned yet. Their collection of features film isn't particularly action oriented, but always excellent, and not uncommonly incredible. Any anime fan should know this body of work.

I especially recomend:
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Princess Mononoke
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Grave of the Fireflies (Warning: Saddest movie ever. By Isao Takahata)
Whisper of the Heart (Note not by Miyazaki as is often claimed)
Porco Rosso
Spirited Away

Those are my personal faves, there are are several more. Though most (not all) are rather family friendly fare, don't let that warn you off because they are that rare form of entertainment truly suitable for everyone.


Now then for series I recomend in no particular order:

Vision of Escaflowne
Outlaw Star
Black Lagoon
Trigun
Wolf's Rain
Slayers, also Slayers Next/Try/Revolution
Gundam (Most series, most higly Gundam Wing)
Code Geass
Neon Genesis Evangelion*
Nadia the Secret of Blue Water
Tenchi Muyo
RahXePhon
Ranma 1/2
Ghost in the Shell (Movie and TV series)
Samurai Champloo
Big O
Eureka Seven
Full Metal Panic

*Special Note: Evangelion is something I think every anime fan should watch even aside from its excellent merits. I say this because it is just so well known in anime, without being a thousand episode shonen series. And is more then a little responsible for every Mind Screw in anime since then. And the criticisms of it I consider to be animes strongest Seinfeld Is Unfunny (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunny)

That list is fairly heavy on mecha series but for whatever reason I think mecha series tend to come out better. Something about giant robots seems to attract awesome characters and epic cool storylines.

Also while I can really take or leave the anime (leaning towards leave) what is an absolutely awesome shonen-esque manga series is Mahou Sensei Negima. It starts as a harem comedy, but has since been evolved via writer revolt.

Speaking of shonen, I won't recomend the current big two shonen series but won't tell you to stay away. Naruto jumps the shark somewhere after the first arc of its time-skip. And it was only moderately interesting to begin with. Bleach on the other hand I found extremely interesting and still do. However it hasn't managed to actually advance its plot since the BBEG showed up. Even aside from anime filler both are rife with on TV... they don't seem to be going anywhere.

[Dispozition]

Elfen Lied...I will let this quote sum it up

You know you're in for quite a ride when the very first scene of the first episode features a severed arm whose fingers are still twitching. What follows is a tense 7½ minutes which serve up a stunning blend of fan service and extreme graphic violence in one of the most jaw-dropping opening sequences ever created for an anime series
Needless to say, crazy awesome :P

[Tengu_temp]

I found Elfen Lied to be very average. It didn't help that most characters are very hard to like, and the series tries too much to be deep and fails.

And there's all the gore and nudity. I don't mind either, but if you tell me it has any reason other than guro/fanservice, I'll laugh.

[The Evil Thing]

I watched the show, and went bleh at important moments (like the ending, or in fact, the entire last 8 episodes. What, you lost the budget? And your director's brains?) Then I read the VN, and gave up in disgust halfway through due to the sheer stupidity of the main character, which was slightly less obnoxious in a passive medium but horribly infuriating in an active one.
Halfway through UBW? Most people find Shirou's jump in maturity from Fate to UBW to be refreshing enough to carry on. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you.


I found Elfen Lied to be very average. It didn't help that most characters are very hard to like, and the series tries too much to be deep and fails.

And there's all the gore and nudity. I don't mind either, but if you tell me it has any reason other than guro/fanservice, I'll laugh.
The manga seems much better in this respect. To its credit, the anime tried to stay faithful but there's only so much you can do with thirteen episodes, presumably they just did what they could and 'filled' in the gaps.

[Neon Knight]

Elfen Lied is definitely a polarizer. Personally, I found it meh to sub-meh.

As for actual suggestions, Trigun. Has been mentioned, but deserves repeating.

[Innis Cabal]

I've always found the most popular anime, the ones with a huge cult or popular following....to be rather....average to garbage.

Eva( Garbage merely because the creator wanted to spite his fans. Also, plot "creativity".....Anyone in Phil 101 has covered it.)

Tri-gun- Average. Main character detracts from the series by the end.

Haruhi- People....admit it. You like the dance. The plot is in no way cutting edge. Anyone in Phil 101 has covered it.

Elfin Lied- As said, you either hate it or love it. I thought the manga was 100% times better.

Inu Yasha....forget it. Anything done by Takahashi: Average for their genre. Crap more or less otherwise

Full Metal Alch: Not bad for an anime. Way different then the manga, manga is again 100% better. Just...over all, better cast...better story progression...more in depth.

Naruto: The pinnicale of medicore. In a world where the side cast is fun, entertaining and thought provoking. Where the villians were shadowy and had a well laided out plan, what did he Manga-ka do? Thats right. Got out the How to book on Shounen-ai and copy/pasted it over his work. Not an awful series untill the silly filler, then it gets awful. This is one case where manga and anime fuse into one gib steaming lump of crap.

Bleach: A good action series. After the Bount Arc it gets silly. Another case of manga over anime.

One Piece: I like One Piece...for all its crazyness...don't watch 4kids version though.

Soul Eater: Good over all, can't complain much. In an FLCL meets Disgea world...there really isnt to much to dislike.

Some others that might not have been mentioned

Claymore- A good storyline, manga again better, but the series is at the very least pretty.


Nabri No Ou- Another read the manga opinion. The anime is alright. The real way to do ninja's. None of that fancy "we don't kill" b.s.

[Hyooz]

How on earth has Yu Yu Hakusho only been mentioned ONCE in this topic? It really is, quite possibly, the best shonen ever made, and easily a contender for best dub ever. Good characters, well written, little to no filler (closest it really comes is the beginning of the Chapter Black saga, but even that turns out kind of important), excellent dialogue, and the fights rock.

Some awesome villains, too. It's an anime you just can't miss.

[Tengu_temp]

Haruhi- People....admit it. You like the dance. The plot is in no way cutting edge. Anyone in Phil 101 has covered it.


No, I like it for the humour, characters and clever writing. You like the "people who don't share my point of view are just mindlessly jumping the bandwagon" stance, don't you?

[Innis Cabal]

No. I like good programs

[The Evil Thing]

Oh dear, this isn't going to end well.

[Tengu_temp]

No, because I'm not going to continue the discussion.

[The Evil Thing]

:smallfrown: And here I was going to suggest a gentlemanly duel.

[mangosta71]

Macross, Macross Plus, and Macross Frontier. For the love of all that's good and holy, avoid Macross Seven, though. *shudder* Macross Plus is good if you want to get a feel for the universe - 4 ~40 minute episodes. Beautifully animated, lots of action, good storyline. The original Macross series is quite a bit longer (nearly 40 ~20 minute episodes iirc), and is fairly old (and may be easier to find in the Americanized version, Robotech - note that only the first generation, ie 36 episodes, are from the original Macross - the second and third are additions and not canonical in the Macross universe. Also, the storyline in the second generation is godawful). Macross Frontier is very new, as in just wrapped up a month or two ago in Japan, 25 episodes at about 22 minutes each, but has not been dubbed into English yet (and may never be).

Oh, possibly the best part, and a major selling point for me - the soundtracks for Plus and Frontier were both done by Yoko Kanno, who also did the music for GitS:SCA and Cowboy Bebop. So you know the music is going to be fantastic.

[nothingclever]

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann sucked to me. I eventually stopped watching because stupid unnecessary characters kept getting added, the plot wasn't anything special, the characters were largely bland, the protagonist goes all emo and whiny for a while even though the big selling point of the show is supposed to be how hotblooded/enthusiastic/over-the-top the characters are. What was really annoying for me when I watched it was that it was still very new and ongoing so I ended up missing parts because the makers want you to buy stupid filler parts on dvd where generic characters are introduced. That's like minus a million points for me because a show shouldn't be telling me to buy dvds to watch it properly and even if you're able to find all the parts now subbed on the internet those extra parts weren't anything special anyway because at times I was glad I only watched a summary since what I missed seemed boring/largely inconsequential. Simon sucks and he's the protagonist. Kamina gets killed pretty quickly which isn't even a real spoiler anymore and serves as a warning anyway since he's the only good character. Yoko is supposed to be quite young but she's conveniently well endowed and wears little clothing for constant obvious fanservice.

Full Metal Alchemist is alright but the ending sucks unless you watch the movies.

FLCL is utter trash to me. People keep saying it's amazing but most don't even know why or state really pointless reasons like characters being "zany." "Like omg this character is so random and zany, gasp, random characters have never been done before in anime, nah, no way."
A girl riding around fighting with a guitar is not as amazing as so many people make it out to be. It's actually rather boring and dull because besides that there isn't much to the show except unfunny jokes and a robot coming out of a kid's head which is apparently the most creative thing ever. The plot, characters, animation, setting, etc are not anything special. Someone said you might not get half the stuff in the anime if you haven't seen several others but there isn't much to get at all.
The reason people like this show is the same reason many literary works are called the best ever/classics. The standards at the time something is made are relatively low compared to present day, a bunch of people say something is great and then everyone proceeds to mindlessly say it must be good because other people said it was and because old things must be good.

I recommend Janguru wa Itsumo Hare nochi Gū because it has plenty of "random" stuff in it but it's not even pretending to have a plot and I don't see so many people fawning over it for no reason. The show actually has consistent action and it's way more creative than FLCL.

One Piece is total trash to me as well. It suffers from the same "add a million stupid characters in for no reason" problem that Gurren Lagann has only it's way worse. The plot is garbage as well. All that happens is the characters mindlessly sail around fighting a new stupid looking badguy with a one sentence background story each episode. This show might be great for little kids as in 10 or under but seeing characters with ridiculously long noses or a character fighting with one sword in each hand and one sword in his mouth just gets annoying after a while. Pretty much every character is drawn totally different from the others and given freakish abnormalities such as being skinny like twigs/having huge forearms/a gigantic head/animal features/giant teeth/huge ears/etc. These characters look they should have all died prematurely in the womb because they are so deformed. The more I see of the show the more I think the artist's "unique" drawing style style is just an excuse for sucking at drawing people. If you saw a regular person in the anime you would probably freak out after becoming accustomed to the neverending freakshow of typical characters and the characters in the show would probably think the guy was a monster from the depths of hell.

The plot in One Piece sucks so much. After over 350 episodes the characters still have made barely any progress. They can still all be defeated by a single person. They still haven't found the hidden treasure that they are looking for since they're pirates and the lead protagonist originally went looking for it. The characters themselves even say they have a long way to go. It's painfully stupid because the show should've ended a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago already. To give the illusion of a plot a badguy will occasionally say something about the protagonist's mysterious father that he's never seen before. The show has actually gone over 375 episodes. When that many episodes have passed you know there isn't a plot or else it would've been concluded already.

[DomaDoma]

With regards to episodes nine through eleven of Gurren Lagann, nothingclever - you don't know the light if it doesn't cast a shadow. And that goes double for the whole Rossiu affair.

Also, it's always a spoiler to somebody. I am currently reading Harry Potter to my boyfriend, who still doesn't know what happens at the end of the sixth book.

[Drascin]

Full Metal Alchemist is alright but the ending sucks unless you watch the movies.

No, Fullmetal's ending sucks if you watch the movie.

Hey, you can go all vitriolic, I get to make at least a jab, no? :smalltongue:

Also, yes, Hale nochi Guu is great and funnily random, something I would recommend to anyone wanting a bit of random comedy. I guess I had to agree with at least one single point in your whole post, being it was so long.

[mangosta71]

The plot in One Piece sucks so much. After over 350 episodes the characters still have made barely any progress. They can still all be defeated by a single person. They still haven't found the hidden treasure that they are looking for since they're pirates and the lead protagonist originally went looking for it. The characters themselves even say they have a long way to go. It's painfully stupid because the show should've ended a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago already. To give the illusion of a plot a badguy will occasionally say something about the protagonist's mysterious father that he's never seen before. The show has actually gone over 375 episodes. When that many episodes have passed you know there isn't a plot or else it would've been concluded already.

I'll assume from this that you aren't a fan of the various Dragonball series either.

[nothingclever]

I'm not a fan of the Dragon Ball series but I actually think it is vastly better. There are fewer villains that take much longer to beat but they actually justify the amount of time they take to be beaten somewhat because they are world destroying threats.

You just reminded me of another HUGE problem with One Piece. It suffers from stupid Dragon Ball million year pauses. Instead of characters taking millions of years to charge up attacks the characters in One Piece each get a close up shot moment of their shocked faces when something happens. Since there are so many characters when the animators decide to show each face looking shocked for a few seconds by the time they get to the last one you've already grown a beard and forgotten what was supposed to be so shocking in the first place. There are tons of pointless pauses. Episode 375 is a classic example. This big badguy spends forever just staring at the characters after defeating them and the animators spend forever showing a few characters struggle to get up and say a few words.

One good guy says "Take my life and spare his." Then the badguy just stares at him for a looong time and they show him at different angles such as a front view, side view and behind him staring before finally giving an answer. I don't care if he's a robot it's still dumb.

[The Evil Thing]

Should we call this phenomenon shock footage?

[Yulian]

Oh yeah...Death Note. Liked it a bit more than I was expecting to. I look at it as more of a mystery and suspense show with a single, supernatural element. After the L arc was over I sort of lost interest, though.

Also: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex I find light years better than the movies. It's a cyberpunk police procedural show. That, to me, makes it awesome. The greater focus on the ensemble cast also appeals to me a great deal because frankly, the Major has little to no actual personality of her own. Batou and Togusa are far more fascinating characters, and Chief Aramaki is a force to be reckoned with.

I also liked Full Metal Alchemist better than I thought I was going to because I expected a typical, lame shonen-style adventure series. Then it just went off the rails and got darker and darker and more and more gut-wrenchingly awful (in a good way) as it went on. It was like a parade of atrocities. Subverting expectations like that pleases me.

- Yulian

[Gavin Sage]

Also: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex I find light years better than the movies. It's a cyberpunk police procedural show. That, to me, makes it awesome. The greater focus on the ensemble cast also appeals to me a great deal because frankly, the Major has little to no actual personality of her own. Batou and Togusa are far more fascinating characters, and Chief Aramaki is a force to be reckoned with.

I find that the personality shift the Major (and Batou in Innocence) get in the movies work fairly well given that they are focused entirely on the Mind Screw elements. The movies are not character/setting driven, but question driven. I think this works for the movies.

However I have more fun with the setting and cast as a whole and so like the tv series (and manga) because it isn't completely centered around the mind screw. You wouldn't be able to fit that into a timely movie however.

[DomaDoma]

Okay, now that someone's said it - yes, I recommend Death Note to all and sundry (even if you're more the shonen-battle type). All thirty-seven episodes, all one hundred and eight chapters. In sum, in case somebody doesn't know the premise, a prodigy high school student discovers a notebook that will kill anybody whose name is written and face is known, and begins to use it to purge evil from the world and become the god of said world. Enter completely anonymous detective of equal and rival intellect - cue mind games, convoluted schemes, questionable morals, and general epicness.

The anime is easily the superior version at the start. Once you see an episode ending with a significant text message, though, you face a choice: the manga will have more information and events - nothing critical, but a lot of it is quite nice to know. The anime, meanwhile, will have considerably more art to it, something the manga can't afford between its walls of text. I still can't make up my mind between the two, personally, but in any case, if the manga is your choice, pick up volume seven and go from the middle.

[nothingclever]

If anyone watches Death Note I'd like to warn them that there is very little mystery or mind games in it despite what you might hear. Much of what happens is a character named L constantly stating random percentages of chances that the main character is the criminal they are after or isn't. A lot of the deductive work is terrible. L believes Light, the protagonist, is highly likely to be the culprit pretty much as soon as he meets him and the only reason he doesn't expose/get rid of him is because he wants to have absolutely no doubt he is the perpetrator before doing anything drastic. Much of what he says becomes frustrating to read/watch since he contradicts himself all the time.

When Light does something that makes him look like Kira, the criminal everyone is after, L says it could be proof he is the criminal since Light probably purposely acted like he was Kira since L might never expect Kira to easily give himself away. On the other hand he says Light might be oblivious to the fact he is incriminating himself and this shows he's not guilty since he isn't trying to hide anything by changing his behaviour.

Whenever Light does something wrong it doesn't matter because L sees it as equally likely to be proof that he's guilty or that he isn't.

In two instances, one of which is just before the very end, the good guys are saved by coincidences/pure luck rather than their own creativity.

[Rettu Skcollob]

But I ask you to start from the beginning. Oh and don't take the 4kids dub. Its stupid. Look around to find some fansubbed japanese episodes. Trust me. you don't want to see the official english released anime.

Is this not true for anything 4Kids touches? I know some people who really like Anime; 4Kids is like a curse word for them. Oh and Reluctant; I'm glad to find someone else around that enjoyed Akira besides me, hehe.

[Lord of Rapture]

Damn... I actually agree with nothingclever about something: One Piece.

Fullmetal Alchemist manga is better than the anime, though to me, it's much less emotional.

And what the hell is wrong with the ending? And what movie are you talking about? There never was a movie. Ed did not certainly fight Nazis with Fritz Lang. That'd just be silly.:smallannoyed:

I liked Elfen Lied's characters a lot. At least the main cast. The researchers can go burn in hell.

I'd recommend Chrono Crusade, or at least the manga. The anime is a sin against God.

[DomaDoma]

I'd argue with nothingclever, but y'know, spoilers. In any case, he's pretty much demonstrated throughout this thread that he lives on opposite planet.

Except for the part about long-running anime having an excellent chance of going nowhere, anyway.

[Gavin Sage]

Frankly I agree with nothingclever in regards to Death Note. It isn't particularly clever. L's greatest achievement is narrowing Kira's location to Japan via statistical analysis, after that he got lucky while Light did some incredibly stupid things. Beyond a fairly early point there really isn't anything clever, just a bunch of pure plot device dominoes falling ontop of one another because that's how the story was written.

Its fairly well directed (albeit EPIC potato chips seems to be a hit or miss thing) and performed if that makes any sense, but the plot is too fragile in its construction to hold my interest.

[DomaDoma]

Okay, let's try to keep it vague.

Ah, I won't deny that there are plot devices aplenty. Chekhov seems to have stocked the entire supporting cast with his trademark guns. The scheming lies in the characters controlling which way they point. A certain character is completely OCD. Which side benefits? I assure you, both do their best to take advantage. The general strategy of Light and L to get closer to one another - obviously, there's only one way it can eventually go, but oh, does it teeter based on either's current offensive. And that dynamic between the two major supporting characters - I say it in the vaguest of terms, but rest assured I mean the really, really memorable one - if you forget the outcome of that was ever in any doubt, a quick review of earlier episodes should rectify that.

If there are dominoes, in other words, the characters are in a good tussle strategically turning those pieces to a chain that goes their way.

[Gavin Sage]

I think Death Note begins to degrade the moment Light and L meet. At least with the how and why of how they meet.

This is because ultimately I feel it reduces their interaction to mere standard anime personal drama, especially since all the cards are on the table essentially by that point. If the series had moved from there a conclusion it could have been exceptional, or it could have not played for broke so early. Yet it did and its critical interaction established, there's no where for the series to go except by introducing new elements to pad out the length in a failed attempt to complicate a dynamic that's already 80% resolved. And this isn't even including the back half of the series which I never watched from lack of interest.

This goes into but is not entirely repsonible for the plot making the characters, instead of characters making the plot.

[DomaDoma]

Certain parts, I suppose, in terms of that dynamic, were more or less dead weight, but the perspective they offered in terms of a completely different dynamic was absolutely fascinating. That chain isn't just for the fangirls. It is a powerful symbol of the road not taken.

And to say that everything after their meeting is mere padding? Er, you do realize that (to give an obvious example) the bit with the TV station falls under that category, right?

[KKL]

Death Note was the bomb diggity up until L finally kicks the bucket Then it kinda just flumps.

Also, I liked the manga better than the anime :|

[nothingclever]

The fact that Light loses only because of a coincidence is annoying. His ally suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder which made him check his security deposit box the day before he was supposed to meet with Light and everyone else and kill them. The good guys only get to switch the notebook because of his flaw.

Mellow only survives an attack by Light when he gets the president's soldiers to to attack his hideout because a weak willed death god dropped his note book and Mellow found it conveniently. Mellow would've lost if he had the Death Note and the death god wasn't around to disarm all the guards but he was conveniently there for Mellow to manipulate.

Light could've been beaten very easily many times.
If when cameras were being placed in his house an agent opened his desk drawer his Death Note would've been destroyed by his trap and he would've been powerless. If his trap went off it would also incriminate him because someone with nothing to hide shouldn't have traps in their room to destroy papers.

If someone stalked Light and stole all his stuff by pretending to mug him they could've taken his Death Note and beat him. He carried it with him many times and people didn't know about his death god defense until later on so they weren't always worried about getting killed if they approached him up front. They could've searched him randomly whenever they wanted to, to see if he had anything on him that could incriminate him. They didn't need to know about the Death Note to have a reason to search him. When searching him all they have to do is say if he nothing to hide he shouldn't care. After searching Light they have no reason to return his things. If they think his Death Note isn't important they still don't need to give it back. If Light says he wants it that means it's probably important and it really works. They could believe it might work even early on since they know all the deaths of people seem supernatural/unexplainable without a magic device like the Death Note. It's not a surprise if they believe it works so saying they'd give it back early in the series and not think about it later isn't true.

They could've locked him up in prison even longer and solved a case without his help involving a company of people Light transferred his Note Book too. If L solved the case on his own he would've had the note book to himself and Light would've never got to touch it to regain his memories.

They could've killed Light.

They could've had more than one spy watch him so if he killed one guy another one would report that his ally just died as soon as Light seemed to notice him. Instead one person at a time tails him and then when they die no one is around to say what happened and what Light did.

There are too many dumb holes.

They could've had eyes on Light all the time such as people watching him everyday over his shoulder even when he's in the washroom or pretending to do homework so he couldn't write names while concealing what he was doing from the cameras in his house.

[Stormthorn]

Hmm...when it comes to anime you need to ask yourself how many episodes you are willing to watch.

Someone would probably have to pay me to watch any of the hundred+ episode shows.


Samurai Champloo is good from what i have seen of it. Very action.

If you want a deep and involving mindf**k of a show then the classic Serial Experiments Lain works.

If you want lots of violence and sex i recommend Mnemosyne as a very good anime. It has some stuff not for the faint of heart, however.

I dont generaly watch romance type stuff so the only one i can recomend is the schoolgirl lesbians of Kashimashi. Its on the mild end of the yuri spectrum. (Yami to Boushi is near the middle. Shoujo-sect is near the top)

If you dont mind crying then one of the best anime shows as far as im concerned is Now and Then, Here and There.


I found Elfen Lied to be very average. It didn't help that most characters are very hard to like, and the series tries too much to be deep and fails.
Yea, thats not a show for everyone. I liked it ok.
On the other hand, i DONT recommend Death Note or Code Geass for the exact same reason as the above quoted person dislikes Elfen Lied. Lucy was only a horrific inhuman monster some of the time. Lelouch and Light dont take days off from being sociopaths. Although if your a big Belkar fan then Death Note might be up your alley.

[DomaDoma]

The fact that Light loses only because of a coincidence is annoying. His ally suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder which made him check his security deposit box the day before he was supposed to meet with Light and everyone else and kill them. The good guys only get to switch the notebook because of his flaw.

Mellow only survives an attack by Light when he gets the president's soldiers to to attack his hideout because a weak willed death god dropped his note book and Mellow found it conveniently. Mellow would've lost if he had the Death Note and the death god wasn't around to disarm all the guards but he was conveniently there for Mellow to manipulate.

Light could've been beaten very easily many times.
If when cameras were being placed in his house an agent opened his desk drawer his Death Note would've been destroyed by his trap and he would've been powerless. If his trap went off it would also incriminate him because someone with nothing to hide shouldn't have traps in their room to destroy papers.

If someone stalked Light and stole all his stuff by pretending to mug him they could've taken his Death Note and beat him. He carried it with him many times and people didn't know about his death god defense until later on so they weren't always worried about getting killed if they approached him up front. They could've searched him randomly whenever they wanted to, to see if he had anything on him that could incriminate him. They didn't need to know about the Death Note to have a reason to search him. When searching him all they have to do is say if he nothing to hide he shouldn't care.

They could've locked him up in prison even longer and solved a case without his help involving a company of people Light transferred his Note Book too. If L solved the case on his own he would've had the note book to himself and Light would've never got to touch it to regain his memories.

They could've killed Light.

They could've had more than one spy watch him so if he killed one guy another one would report that his ally just died as soon as Light seemed to notice him. Instead one person at a time tails him and then when they die no one is around to say what happened and what Light did.

There are too many dumb holes.

They could've had eyes on Light all the time such as people watching him everyday over his shoulder even when he's in the washroom or pretending to do homework so he couldn't write names while concealing what he was doing from the cameras in his house.

Death Note spoilers, for those of you just joining us.

Light was well aware of the OCD when he was baiting the trap, as was Near when he was falling right into it, as was Mello when he was throwing a wrench into it. There is no coincidence involved.

It is not some convenient happenstance that Mello came into possession of that Death Note. He put five years' research into its existence, and put an insane amount of energy into a foolproof recovery method. Now, Sidoh was pretty lucky all around, but then he was alluded to, starting at the very first episode, as the Death God Ryuk winkled his second Note from, so you can't say they didn't leave that opening. A Death God's got to live, you know?

Yes, indeed. Good thing it wasn't the most obvious of false bottoms. Well, I don't mean a good thing - you know my biases - but that would be a massive anticlimax, you have to admit.

At any point where he was directly under investigation, as per your last plot hole, Misa, and Mikami, he was not carrying the Note with him. Also, muggings, staged or not, are not exactly the smartest thing to do in Kira's world.

L would have done it, too, but the task force was clearly not standing for it, and that's not even counting Souichirou. He needed the manpower for this one; that's clear from episode two.

That's not L's M.O., and by extension, it's not Near's either. That's part of what makes them a cut above Kira - waiting for actual definitive proof. Mello would likely have done it if Lidner hadn't kept him up to speed on the proxies, mind.

I have no idea what you are talking about. But if it's Raye Penber, Ryuk could as easily clue him in on two tails as one; heck, the bus incident would still work out and as for the final coup, he could simply write that Penber or the other guy comes alone.

They didn't have the manpower for that since episode five, and what manpower they do have, Light (or Kitamura's daughter, for that matter) would recognize at once.
Happy?

[Reinforcements]

Well, Light being a sociopath is kinda the point. I think Lelouch is actually pretty close to the could-be-argued-either-way center, but anyone who agrees with Light's methods deserves to be gaped at.

Anyway, for sheer over-the-top awesome watch Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan, for shonen action (which you'll like if you can stomach any amount of DBZ) watch Bleach, for something like Cowboy Bebop watch Samurai Champloo, for comedy watch Ouran High School Host Club or Azumanga Daioh, for classics watch Vision of Escaflowne. Also, for based off classic French novels IN SPACE watch Gankutsuou, for Seinfeld but Japanese high school girls watch Lucky Star, and for immortals plus 1930s gangsters watch Baccano!

[Lord of Rapture]

If you dont mind crying then one of the best anime shows as far as im concerned is Now and Then, Here and There.


Yea, thats not a show for everyone. I liked it ok.
On the other hand, i DONT recommend Death Note or Code Geass for the exact same reason as the above quoted person dislikes Elfen Lied. Lucy was only a horrific inhuman monster some of the time. Lelouch and Light dont take days off from being sociopaths. Although if your a big Belkar fan then Death Note might be up your alley.

Finally, someone who has seen Now and Then, Here and There! Yay!

But huh? Light, I can agree with, but Lelouch still has his humanity. The whole point of his fight is to avenge his mother and create a better world for his sister. In R2, he states he knows he's evil, but if he is to succeed, than he has no other choice. He forms genuine relationships with other people, such as C.C., Suzaku, his sister, Kallen, and Shirley, and he (tries to) go out of his way to help them. Besides, during the finale he sacrifices his life and reputation for the greater good of the world. So he redeemed himself, or at least somewhat.

And if you think Lelouch is worse than Hamdo, then you need to stay away from me.

^@: Seconding Gankutsuou, Bleach, and TTGL, in order of quality. Though you should stay away from the anime for Bleach, and go read the manga.

[Fri]

Finally, someone who has seen Now and Then, Here and There! Yay!


I can't bring myself to watch Now and then, here and now. I just can't. Actually, already rented it once, and I already put it into my player. But vaguely knowing what will happen to the kids, made me can't watch it. I just don't like depressing stuff.

Man, bad end in movies is one thing, but depressing series is... something way more for me.

[Lord of Rapture]

I can't bring myself to watch Now and then, here and now. I just can't. Actually, already rented it once, and I already put it into my player. But vaguely knowing what will happen to the kids, made me can't watch it. I just don't like depressing stuff.

Man, bad end in movies is one thing, but depressing series is... something way more for me.

Wow, and they call me an idealist...

[Stormthorn]

And if you think Lelouch is worse than Hamdo, then you need to stay away from me.

No no. Hamdo is worse. Hamdo is unstable and thus less responsible for his actions. Hamdo is also a villain were as Lelouch is a protagonist and your supposed to want him to win even though he views humans as (literal) pawns.

Oh, and Vandread. Watch Vandread. Humor, fanservice, and over the top mecha combat in space.
For mecha combat on surfboards i suggest Eureka SeveN.

Eureka SeveN is a lot sadder and involves genocide. Vandread has planet-wide murder and characters that represent the three faces of Eve.

[nothingclever]

Death Note spoilers, for those of you just joining us.

Light was well aware of the OCD when he was baiting the trap, as was Near when he was falling right into it, as was Mello when he was throwing a wrench into it. There is no coincidence involved.

It is not some convenient happenstance that Mello came into possession of that Death Note. He put five years' research into its existence, and put an insane amount of energy into a foolproof recovery method. Now, Sidoh was pretty lucky all around, but then he was alluded to, starting at the very first episode, as the Death God Ryuk winkled his second Note from, so you can't say they didn't leave that opening. A Death God's got to live, you know?

Yes, indeed. Good thing it wasn't the most obvious of false bottoms. Well, I don't mean a good thing - you know my biases - but that would be a massive anticlimax, you have to admit.

At any point where he was directly under investigation, as per your last plot hole, Misa, and Mikami, he was not carrying the Note with him. Also, muggings, staged or not, are not exactly the smartest thing to do in Kira's world.

L would have done it, too, but the task force was clearly not standing for it, and that's not even counting Souichirou. He needed the manpower for this one; that's clear from episode two.

That's not L's M.O., and by extension, it's not Near's either. That's part of what makes them a cut above Kira - waiting for actual definitive proof. Mello would likely have done it if Lidner hadn't kept him up to speed on the proxies, mind.

I have no idea what you are talking about. But if it's Raye Penber, Ryuk could as easily clue him in on two tails as one; heck, the bus incident would still work out and as for the final coup, he could simply write that Penber or the other guy comes alone.

They didn't have the manpower for that since episode five, and what manpower they do have, Light (or Kitamura's daughter, for that matter) would recognize at once.
Happy?

They could have attempted to get additional manpower from plenty of different sources. They could've picked people in the police force outside their personal group of trusted friends simply because the chance of them picking Kira or someone Kira knew would be very low and it obviously would've been worth the risk. It could be reasoned that if they did accidentally let Kira into their investigation they would be able to keep a closer eye on him. They could've picked civilians with no police relations to act as spies or private detectives that don't have direct police info access. They could've got trained soldiers since this investigation was a matter of national security. The chance of enlisting a soldier or civilian and it being Kira would be very very low since there's millions of people in Japan. They could've picked people from organizations foreign to the area they thought Kira was most likely operating in after using the television broadcast to narrow down where he was.

Spies could work on Light because Ryuk doesn't have any known super senses. If enough plain clothes people were around he'd be caught because Ryuk wouldn't notice every single one. He notices them because they act unnatural and don't try to blend in and instead hide behind things. He also notices them because there's only one at a time making them stick out.

Your point about how mugging isn't a good thing to do in Light's world isn't true since if someone pretends to do so if Light doesn't have a name to report to the police Kira wouldn't be able to write it down and kill the mugger.

The obsessive compulsive disorder thing was 100% luck/coincidence for the sake of plot in the manga. Maybe it doesn't seem like it in the anime but I distinctly remember the people stalking Light's accomplice only knowing to get the Death Note because he checked his security box the day before the meeting. If they knew about it being there beforehand why didn't they try to take it? They didn't know it was there.

Light was not needed to track down the CEO's of the company using the Death Note. All he did was use the supercomputer to calculate which company was always steadily improving in value whenever other company leaders died. If L has half a brain he should be able to figure that out on his own. When the men using the book were found out Light wasn't the one doing the spying. Light basically did nothing special but he got to ride in the helicopter and was able to get his hands on the book anyways conveniently.

The weak willed death god was 100% coincidence too. He gets introduced out of nowhere. He serves no purpose other than saving Mellow from Light's use of the president's special middle eastern soldier squad. I don't care or remember how Mellow gets the book in the manga or anime but I'm pretty sure it basically just drops right into his hands by coincidence and then conveniently the loser death god shows up to get it back right on time to save him. The death god being weak willed is for convenience right there, it's so obvious. If he was like Ryuk he wouldn't have so readily helped Mellow. The Death God was also somewhat slow too and apparently didn't know much about his book. If you try to say he isn't a coincidence it really doesn't matter because Ryuk taking his book certainly is.

I could find more problems with the story but I'm not going to reread something I thought was bad to begin with. I only read it to see what all the hype was about. There was nothing clever besides the animation of Light eating a chip really dramatically in the anime.

Even if they aren't plot problems Near, Mellow and L all sucked. Near was a big bragger that only beat Light because of a coincidence. He tries to psychoanalyze Light while he's busy playing with little toys despite being a supposed genius.

Mellow sucks because he's just a creepy kid wearing form fitting leather that loves chocolate and is emo because Near got picked to be Light's replacement instead of him since he's too emotional.

L sucks because people idolize him despite the fact that he mostly just gives out random percentages of things and does nothing. He writes some stuff on a napkin and says there's X% chance Light is Kira and then goes "on the other hand it could be the complete opposite because I suck."

[Nerd-o-rama]

The vibe I'm getting about L from blithely reading the spoilers of a series I don't plan to watch: great detective, terrible law enforcement officer. Unless the Death Note world is like an opposite to the Phoenix Wright world, and you need Decisive Evidence to convict someone, rather than get them acquitted.

[Innis Cabal]

The vibe I'm getting about L from blithely reading the spoilers of a series I don't plan to watch: great detective, terrible law enforcement officer. Unless the Death Note world is like an opposite to the Phoenix Wright world, and you need Decisive Evidence to convict someone, rather than get them acquitted.

It never gets that far.

[nothingclever]

Real detective work is Sherlock Holmes or CSI style, Death Note has almost zero of either.

Instead of actually collecting evidence and researching people L goes "Light acting like the culprit means he is highly unlikely to be him because Kira wouldn't give himself away... ON THE OTHER HAND maybe Light is making it obvious that he's Kira since I wouldn't expect him to make my investigation so easy."

Just repeat that a million times.

"Light is acting like a totally normal student. Maybe he really is a totally normal student. ON THE OTHER HAND a suspect would naturally act normal. The more normal Light acts the more suspicious I am."

Light's father starts freaking out from the stress of his son being suspected and practically begs L to make up his mind.

Then L says "There's like a 97% chance your son is not Kira from what I have seen. ON THE OTHER HAND maybe Kira is so clever that he's made it look like he's 97% not guilty so maybe I should really think he actually is 97% likely to be guilty. I suspect your son is Kira even more now."

Then Light's father has an aneurysm.

"ON THE OTHER HAND Light and I are a a very popular yaoi pairing so maybe we should just gaze longingly into each other's eyes and then get it on like rabbits. Neither of us have any real friends so we're both awfully lonely... ;_;"

The other best scene in the anime/manga besides Light dramatically eating a chip and talking about his chip trick is the part where he pretends to be wanting to look at a porno magazine and when he flips through the pages of some model magazine and sees no naked shots of the girls he goes "Aww, fooled again." We all know the only one he really wants is L.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaoy1QKxGQs&

This is Mellow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPlpnq3o46w&NR=1

How it should've ended: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHLM27--vMs

This is what the Death Note sound track sounds like to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnAp3qprzaU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7xEv4D0Urs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7WWn_tke0Q

This parody is better than the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM40hJpJ1xg

[Z-dan]

Anime, huh?
Not much of an expert, but I've seen a few- Ouran High School Host Club is the best for comedy, and Fruits Basket is good for a blaance of comedy and drama... I haven't seen many of the 'action' animes but my partner likes a lot of Gundam and Deathnote. I also love all of the Studio Ghibli films- especially Princess Mononoke. Oh and I saw an episode of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl earlier- what happened to the classic writing? This particular episode was a gym battle, and the whole episode was explaining what various moves and abilities do, literally paraphrasing the game's pokedexes...
Anyway, recently got hold of a couple more animes (shaman king and chobits) so once I've seen them i'll let you know what they're like

[nothingclever]

This how Death Note should've been animated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2avdf289OY

[DomaDoma]

They could have attempted to get additional manpower from plenty of different sources. They could've picked people in the police force outside their personal group of trusted friends simply because the chance of them picking Kira or someone Kira knew would be very low and it obviously would've been worth the risk. It could be reasoned that if they did accidentally let Kira into their investigation they would be able to keep a closer eye on him. They could've picked civilians with no police relations to act as spies or private detectives that don't have direct police info access. They could've got trained soldiers since this investigation was a matter of national security. The chance of enlisting a soldier or civilian and it being Kira would be very very low since there's millions of people in Japan. They could've picked people from organizations foreign to the area they thought Kira was most likely operating in after using the television broadcast to narrow down where he was.

The obsessive compulsive disorder thing was 100% luck/coincidence for the sake of plot in the manga. Maybe it doesn't seem like in the anime but I distinctly remember the people stalking Light's accomplice only knowing to get the Death Note because he checked his security box the day before the meeting. If they knew about it being there beforehand why didn't they try to take it? They didn't know it was there.

Light was not needed to track down the CEO's of the company using the Death Note. All he did was use the supercomputer to calculate which company was always steadily improving in value whenever other company leaders died. If L has half a brain he should be able to figure that out on his own. When the men using the book were found out Light wasn't the one doing the spying. Light basically did nothing special but he got to ride in the helicopter and was able to get his hands on the book anyways conveniently.

The weak willed death god was 100% coincidence too. He gets introduced out of nowhere. He serves no purpose other than saving Mellow from Light's use of the president's special middle eastern soldier squad.

I could find more problems with the story but I'm not going to reread something I thought was bad to begin with. I only read it to see what all the hype was about. There was nothing clever besides the animation of Light eating a chip really dramatically in the anime.

Even if they aren't plot problems Near, Mellow and L all sucked. Near was a big bragger that only beat Light because of a coincidence. He tries to psychoanalyze Light while he's busy playing with little toys despite being a supposed genius.

Mellow sucks because he's just a creepy kid wearing form fitting leather that loves chocolate and is emo because Near got picked to be Light's replacement instead of him since he's too emotional.

L sucks because people idolize despite mostly just giving random percentages and doing nothing. He writes some stuff on a napkin and says there's X% chance Light is Kira and then goes "on the other hand it could be the complete opposite because I suck."


Still on the Death Note spoilers, tum te tum...

Their lack of manpower was mainly a function of cowardice. If the job doesn't call for a face-concealing helmet, you don't find many people up to the task after the bit with the FBI agents.

Yes - Near's people had no idea about the safe deposit box. It was Mello who suspected he was using a fake Note and forced circumstances so he needed to lead his tail to the real one.

You're forgetting the bit with Namikawa that forestalled maybe two months' worth of financially motivated murders (and man, what a perspective on Light - I mean, without the means to act on his zeal against criminals, he might have been the best of them), but in any case, it's not the first tack to take, seeing as Kira, up till now, has not shown any signs of being motivated by profit - not to mention, the pattern becomes clear only when non-heart-attack deaths are taken into account. The heart attacks for the murders outside of general Kira stuff mean Higuchi screwed up the conditions of death somehow.

As I say, they left the door wide open for that Death God. Ryuk got that second book from some fellow Death God for a certainty - and what sort of Death God would leave himself a mere five-year period of lifespan? A distinctly unmotivated sort of Death God, that's what sort. (Also, he revealed the fake rules to Mello. Who in turn kinda sorta revealed them to Near, but (MANGA-ONLY SPOILERS) only because he thought there was a good chance the task force member with him was being tracked and could thus indirectly bring about Near's downfall (END MANGA-ONLY SPOILERS). No wonder you disregard Mello, forgetting this stuff.)

Wammy kids need a quirk, it's a natural law. Personally, I have a deep abiding respect for anyone who can give a sense of life-or-death to a Lego display, even if Near is highly deficient in the areas of giving a damn and taking the offensive.

Mello, meanwhile, is highly deficient in the areas of restraint and analysis. (As compared with the rest of the mega-geniuses, on that last point.) I hope you weren't sleeping when the finger puppets of awesome came out? That's exactly what they meant. Now, he definitely has trouble getting over himself, it's his fatal flaw. If he'd done it a bit sooner, maybe a Near-Mello team might have come out of it all somehow, and that would have been awesome. Ah well.

Okay, let's catalogue what L did: by statistical analysis, narrowing Kira down to Japan. By getting a good psychological profile on the killer, baiting a trap and narrowing him down to the students of the Kantou region. Then, the dates of the FBI investigations, random minutia about the subway lines of Tokyo - basically narrowing the best-shot leads to within two families. Then, the sheer mind-screw he performs on a regular basis after they finally meet, particularly with the second Kira tapes - not to mention the excellent self-preservation techniques he's employing at the time, eventually covertly searching the houses of Light's acquaintances and just about slamming the book shut if it weren't for the whole memory-wipe thing. And he makes damn sure after that, too, task force objections aside, what with the Psycho Souichirou gambit - he only fails in being bleeding omniscient. And then we get a sense of how he usually operates throughout the Yotsuba arc. Tell me it's not badass.


Suffice to say, Great Unspoiled, the whole geniuses-don't-do-anything point, especially in the case of L, is thoroughly debunked.

[nothingclever]

I really don't care how much you think you've debunked anything because the mystery/deduction and mind games are garbage. Real deduction is Sherlock Holmes. Real deduction is when a person says "someone in this room is the killer" and then proceeds to investigate and list a million reasons why people are or are not able to commit the crime, why people are or are not motivated to commit the crime and so on. Sherlock Holmes mysteries/deductions aren't the only type of good mystery but they are good examples.

There's barely any real clue chasing or research.

Shows like Akagi, Kaiji and One Outs are mind game shows. Death Note is not. I've already explained the mind games. They don't exist. It's just "on one hand this could incriminate him on the other hand it could prove him him innocent."

The three shows I listed have real mind games because they are all about psychology and how it relates to rules in the games being played. In One Outs the main character takes into account every little minute detail during a game of baseball to predict how he and his teammates should act. He checks the weather, he reads body language, he bluffs, he creates illusions, he uses all the art of war style tactics he can to win. He looks like he's reading minds when all he's really doing is making educated guesses. He explores every possible way to win or at least break even in a game.

There's no reading of anyone or anything in Death Note.

Here's an example of basic deduction:
The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance.

I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy gray shepherd’s check trousers, a not over-clean black frockcoat, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features.

Sherlock Holmes’s quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. “Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason. that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.”

Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.

“How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Holmes?” he asked. “How did you know, for example, that I did manual labour? It’s as true as gospel, for I began as a ship’s carpenter.”

“Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more developed.”

“Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?”

“I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you use an arc-and-compass breastpin.”

“Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?”

“What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?”

“Well, but China?”

“The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes’ scales of a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter becomes even more simple.”

Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. “Well, I never!” said he. “I thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that there was nothing in it, after all.”

If you think Death Note is clever this is super clever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y2ci-EpGMo

[DomaDoma]

Thanks for not paying attention to a word I said, nothingclever! Particularly as regards the wishy-washiness you keep alleging.

I will grant nobody in Death Note does the I-see-you-have-a-clumsy-servant-and-you-were-out-in-the-rain thing, but it would be kind of derivative, you know.

[nothingclever]

The problem is there is nothing there then. What is there being deduced beyond roughly where Kira might be by influencing television broadcasting?

All that's left is figuring out the rules of the note book that are very obvious as time goes on. "Gee so many people kept in jails that no normal person should know about keep dying from unexplainable/supernatural seeming causes and they sometimes do strange things when they die. All anyone should be able to know about all these people is their names and faces. It would take way too long to find out much else about all of them. Hmmmmmm. Maybe all you need is a name and a face and maybe you can control what people do when they die."

Wow, big shocker there.

The story is basically written in a very lazy way. No real detective work can be done since the Death Note leaves no evidence conveniently.

"Oh I'm not a lazy writer, there's just no way for any real detective work to be done. Just forget that I chose the book to work this way."

Take away the Death Note and whoosh, now the owner can't even remember what he did so there's no way to get him to spill the beans with tricks or interrogation.

The fact that Light needs barely anything to do kill people sucks.

Who cares if something is derivative? Derivative in this case means not original. Nothing is truly original. It's that simple.

Would you accept an author's lazy writing when he says he doesn't want to make cliched stuff so he writes it in the worst way possible? If you want to be truly original you can't write anything at all because everything has been written to some extent already.

Writing a detective story with barely any or no detective work at all isn't unique, it's bad writing.

[Innis Cabal]

Take away the Death Note and whoosh, now the owner can't even remember what he did so there's no way to get him to spill the beans with tricks or interrogation.

The fact that Light needs barely anything to do kill people sucks.

That was the point. Absolutly and clearly the point.

[Lord of Rapture]

No no. Hamdo is worse. Hamdo is unstable and thus less responsible for his actions. Hamdo is also a villain were as Lelouch is a protagonist and your supposed to want him to win even though he views humans as (literal) pawns.

Well, he does view a lot of people around him as pawns, but when he doesn't view them as such, he goes out of his way to protect them, and suffers a lot of emotional trauma when something bad happens to them. King Hamdo's just a horrible, horrible person. Just because someone's unstable doesn't mean their less responsible for their actions. And if it is, then I can apply the same excuse to Lelouch.

For a contrast, King Hamdo treats his right-hand person like crap. Lelouch treats his like a partner, and later, like a friend and possibly lover, for those crazy shippers out there.

Light, though, I agree 100%, since there's no way in hell anyone could view him as anything other than evil without lots and lots of fan-wanking.

[nothingclever]

That was the point. Absolutly and clearly the point.

What's the point of doing that though? To be lazy or to be unique and not "derivative"?

Either way the story is bad. If the author made it bad while intending to be original I guess he at least had a good intention behind his work. Good intentions don't make things automatically good though unfortunately.

[Innis Cabal]

The point was that humans by nature do not feel remorse the easier it is to take a life. The further removed you are from your victem, the easier it is to look at it like they are numbers (Thank you Stalin), or less then that.

Clearly. Light didn't view even human life that used to be close to him in any high regard at the end. And it was only after he lost the power he wanted to repent.

[DomaDoma]

No real detective work can be done since the Death Note leaves no evidence conveniently.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the story is about - among other things! - detective work being done under exactly such a condition. If it's the CSI element you're interested in, no wonder you're disappointed. The show is named after a supernatural killing device - forensic evidence is going to be sparse indeed. It does still show up from time to time - leading up to the legendary epic chips, leading up to the cell phones - but that's with about the frequency they can get it. This convenience, considering the whole supernatural-killing-device thing? It has a surprising amount of footholds, if you have your wits about you. Of course, a lot of these footholds have been slicked with oil...

[Innis Cabal]

Unless i'm mistaken he has yet to list an anime he likes. I'm actually...rather interested.

[El_Frenchie]

Naruto has had a very mediocre rating, but let me introduce my own argument. Someone has to make a proper analysis out of it.

But first, something about Bleach and OP (Mostly Bleach really):

I cannot stand shounen anime such as Bleach for one simple reason: No-one ever introduced in the support cast of the main character is EVER killed off. If they are, they're almost systematically brought back. It's just like DBZ all over again. No-one stays dead.

Make the maths for both Bleach and OnePiece and you'll find that they are extremely lacking in an essential aspect of the fight: The risk. It's gone down to being so goddamn repetitive that I can't really decide whether I should care about the fight. I know how it's going to turn out and I don't expect anyone to actually feel scared or nervous for a loved character.

Let's take Bleach in particular:

Bleach has an enormous amount of support characters. Not only the ones that approached the hero at the beginning of the First arc, but a ****load of Captains and Vice-Captains have needed the limelight. This means that none of the characters, good or bad, ever get a decent amount of character development, and you're left hanging at the end of every chapter for something more, for something that ties the goddamn loose ends.

Even worse,

The real good part of Bleach was the Soul Society Arc (First Arc). The anime (and manga) have transformed this glorious moment into the most mediocre of plots. I mean, you go from saving Rukia to saving Orihime. I do NOT care about Ichigo's love interests, why are you making another "saving my friend" arc?! I DO care when a ****ing captain that is sworn to destroy/purify Hollows/Arrancars heals one. I mean, what the F***?! Why would you even go into explaining why the Vizards are hated by Soul Society (manga) and why the Arrancars are a threat that must be eradicated, then have a freaking CAPTAIN of Soul Society reach out and heal the enemy?! I mean, it's gone to the point where the Shinigami's are making friends with the Arrancar. (e.g. Neliel) What next? Shinigami's leniently allowing Hollows to eat humans? YAWN.

In short, the plot is screwed up, and as opposed to a number of people here, I suggest you watch the first arc of Bleach and then spare yourself the pain of watching anymore. Seriously.

Now that that's over with...

As far as Naruto is concerned, it has the decency to kill off characters from its supporting cast to allow for room for new characters and growth of others. And I'm not talking about just the anime, naturally. Manga readers of this show will also know of several other people that find the end of the line gloriously.

I find anime's where people just won't die tasteless and boring. Naruto at least provides with a sense of loss. Part I of Naruto (Pre-filler) is excellent. It's refreshing, and it's definitely -not- something you should pass on. If anything, watch the very first arc, I'm sure even the haters here can't say the first few episodes of Naruto aren't good enough to watch. They're good and you should do yourself a favor and watch it.

The story evolves well, and provided you want to skip the fillers, I can provide you with the list of them.

Part II Naruto Shippuuden, after a 3-year timeskip, is admittedly very mediocre (up till the third arc). At least from the first Arc, you're left with a very sour impression. This anime is meant to be watched very differently compared to part I. Many people had loved the style of Part I and going to Part II is something that felt weird to many viewers. Part II is somewhat darker in its style. If you want to watch part II, there's a few key episodes to watch for the first Arc, then you can watch the second Arc and third Arc in full as it picks up.

Right now Shippuuden is good (if not very good), I'd say it was saved by one particular support character.

Shikamaru ftw!!

Obviously, it's shounen, and it's not going to be Full Metal Alchemist either (Thus I strongly suggest to watch FMA first. Or maybe, save the best for last), but the story is likable and the support cast of characters are people that are -not- constantly overshadowed by the main character (Bleach: Ichigo. DBZ: Goku).

If you're looking for an anime that doesn't constantly rely on its main character, you want some variety and originality, I'd strongly suggest Naruto. It's different and fresh and the mechanics of the world are actually worked on, comprehensible and most importantly: LOGICAL.

(Not like Bleach where the main character beats a certain captain with a Shikai, then can't compete with a new enemy with a bankai, and has the defeated captain step in for him and defeat the new guy without a sweat. Weak.)

Between Bleach and Naruto, Naruto me anyday.

[Iskariot]

I would deign to highly suggest that you avoid shonen battle-anime. Like you said yourself, they're like candy. And I hate sweets. Which isn't really relevant, but it goes to show that the analogy works-- take it to the degree that you feel comfortable, which apparently is in small doses.

There is a whole world of better anime than the shonen drivel that get's shown around, and a lot of underrated stuff. One Piece, Naruto, Bleach... if you've seen one, you've seen them all. I have greater incendiary words I could be saying about these shoddy excuses for creative writing, but I will refrain.

If you want my recommendations, I will back some other people in recommending both Black Lagoon (both seasons, the second is considerably darker) and TTGL. Black Lagoon because it's like the modern day analogue to Cowboy Bebop-- a lot darker-- and TTGL because it's simply fun.

Gungrave and Berserk are two serious seinen anime that get panned very quickly and undeservedly because of their weak beginnings, but both are emotional and powerful, albeit not the greatest animated.

If you want something slower paced and cerebral, Monster is a good place to look, though it's LONG.

That's all that comes to mind for now, but again, I would steer clear of battle anime. It's really stupid.

[Lord of Rapture]

^^@: I understand why you don't like Bleach. However, in my opinion, its better to have likeable characters that don't die, rather than unlikeable characters that do. God, do I wish a meteor would just blow up Naruto's world. Every. Single. Person. Is. Annoying. There.

But yeah, Bleach kinda jumped the shark after the Soul Society arc. Aizen is just plain out of the blue, unimpressive, and boring. Not that I don't think the same of Naruto villains, though.

^@: Berserk and Monster; yes, yes very yes. If you haven't read/watched them, go do it now. You won't be disappointed.

[DomaDoma]

Thirding Monster, most definitely. Intensely creepy antagonist - you don't know how he'll get you; you just know he will get you, and it will probably involve playing on the darkest secrets of your past. The hero is genuinely heroic with equal intensity, too - if your life is in danger, particularly if it's a medical emergency, he'll put himself in massive amounts of trouble to save it. Something like a surgery-oriented Jean Valjean, except in this analogy, the epiphany-causing bishop would be the intensely creepy antagonist above. That's the core premise of the show, but let's just say about everybody gets that level of cognitive dissonance, and it is generally a bleeding scary experience.

Also, if you're a fan of watching the past fall into place, bit by bit, this is definitely the show for you.

[Berserk Monk]

Yesterday I saw this really cool anime film called Sword of the Stranger. If you're looking for a brutal, violent, bloodbath this is the movie for you.

[KKL]

One Piece, Naruto, Bleach... if you've seen one, you've seen them all. I have greater incendiary words I could be saying about these shoddy excuses for creative writing, but I will refrain.

Dear god no, have you watched One Piece? Nearly everything about One Piece is better than Naruto and Bleach. It seriously is completely better.

Also as for Monster, I prefer reading the manga, but I hear there's no actual decay from the manga to the anime.

EDIT: Hey OP, I think you'll like JoJo's Bizaare Adventure.

[Lord of Rapture]

Dear god no, have you watched One Piece? Nearly everything about One Piece is better than Naruto and Bleach. It seriously is completely better.

Also as for Monster, I prefer reading the manga, but I hear there's no actual decay from the manga to the anime.

For some reason, I just can't get into One Piece or Naruto. Characters in Bleach always stick to me somehow, like I can get a feel for their personality. In One Piece and Naruto, the characters always annoy me to heck. In Bleach, I somehow enjoy all of the main characters for some reason.

Plus, both ninjas and pirates suck. Strong Bad says so.

For Monster, there's no decay because the only thing that was changed was the medium. Everything that happened in the manga happened in the anime, no more, no less.

[Wraithy]

Noooo, everything I love has already been talked about :smallfrown:
Oh well, just make sure you watch Full Metal Alchemist (I prefer the English Dub, something quite rare for me).

[Yulian]

Hmm...when it comes to anime you need to ask yourself how many episodes you are willing to watch.

Someone would probably have to pay me to watch any of the hundred+ episode shows.


Oh how true this is. I started watching InuYasha when Adult Swim started broadcasting it. It seemed okay. Obviously a little girl-skewed, but not bad. Fun, light show.

Then the plot essentially went nowhere for like...30 episodes. Monster with jewel shard, dumb relationship dance, nemesis? Nemesis. More backstory. More jewel-monsters.

One hundred sixty-seven episodes of this? No thanks. Stopped watching. I don't know what it is, I could take 5 years of Babylon 5, no problem.

- Yulian

[kamikasei]

I don't know what it is, I could take 5 years of Babylon 5, no problem.

I would guess that part of the problem is that many of the longest-running animes are that way because they're based on manga, and are reasonably faithfully adapting it, so their pacing and structure are not suited to an episode/season structure the way that something written initially for the format - or adapting a concluded manga with some judicious editing and rewriting - can be.

[nothingclever]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the story is about - among other things! - detective work being done under exactly such a condition. If it's the CSI element you're interested in, no wonder you're disappointed. The show is named after a supernatural killing device - forensic evidence is going to be sparse indeed. It does still show up from time to time - leading up to the legendary epic chips, leading up to the cell phones - but that's with about the frequency they can get it. This convenience, considering the whole supernatural-killing-device thing? It has a surprising amount of footholds, if you have your wits about you. Of course, a lot of these footholds have been slicked with oil...
The problem is there's almost no detective work, mind games, or whatever else you said made the story good.

I've read the entire thing and I know there isn't. It's not just doing detective work in a certain situation, it's doing nearly none at all yet people such as you claiming there's plenty.

I'm not even going to bother debating this further. You say there's "surprisingly" plenty of certain things but all I find surprising is your low standards as to what constitutes plenty in this case.

Over 100 chapters of largely static story does not seem like plenty of anything good to me.

[Yulian]

Oh, and Vandread. Watch Vandread. Humor, fanservice, and over the top mecha combat in space.


That show sold me and my girlfriend at the time with the Very. First. Lines.

"Women are monsters, and men were once their playthings! They ate our forefathers' innards, sucking them dry of all life! Over the centuries, they have plundered our cities. They have cruelly oppressed our people with forced labor. And that unspeakable horror is about to strike our empire once again. This is the shape of our most bloodthirsty enemy! The symbol of our sacrifice! Even those who are fortunate enough to survive are left horribly scarred after their encounters with women! But the time has finally come to erase the memories of those unbearable years of humiliation and degradation!"

Really. You just can't beat an opener like that. So true.

- Yulian

[Iskariot]

Dear god no, have you watched One Piece? Nearly everything about One Piece is better than Naruto and Bleach. It seriously is completely better.

I'm sorry I don't like your favored series in this particular.... brand of animation, but I fail to see the truth of your statement.

[horngeek]

I must be the only person who likes Bleach after the Soul Society arc. I will acnowledge that the filler arcs are not that good, but I do like the Arrancar arcs (well, all the current ones)

The reason Kenpachi is able to beat somone that kicked Ichigo's ass is a very simple reason.
Ichigo had been wounded before the fight. Kenpachi went into the fight fresh, and in addition, had NOT been beaten by Ichigo - it was a draw

[DomaDoma]

The problem is there's almost no detective work, mind games, or whatever else you said made the story good.

I've read the entire thing and I know there isn't. It's not just doing detective work in a certain situation, it's doing nearly none at all yet people such as you claiming there's plenty.

I'm not even going to bother debating this further. You say there's "surprisingly" plenty of certain things but all I find surprising is your low standards as to what constitutes plenty in this case.

Over 100 chapters of largely static story does not seem like plenty of anything good to me.

Largely. Static.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the crown jewel of support for my "opposite planet" claim on page two.

[Closet_Skeleton]

I must be the only person who likes Bleach after the Soul Society arc. I will acnowledge that the filler arcs are not that good, but I do like the Arrancar arcs (well, all the current ones)

The reason Kenpachi is able to beat somone that kicked Ichigo's ass is a very simple reason.
Ichigo had been wounded before the fight. Kenpachi went into the fight fresh, and in addition, had NOT been beaten by Ichigo - it was a draw

I like Bleach and consider the strength of the captains in the later arcs to be more of an author's saving throw (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitlehr8d6bdwnwsk?from=Main.AuthorsSavingThrow) to curb back Ichigo's rediculous power growth.


That show sold me and my girlfriend at the time with the Very. First. Lines.

Yeah, it is pretty awesome. Pity about Dita and the 90s CGI.

[Yulian]

Yeah, it is pretty awesome. Pity about Dita and the 90s CGI.

Pity about what, exactly? Like, the fact that she's an imbecile or something? I can overlook the CG work if the show's entertaining enough. I mean, look at Beast Wars and ReBoot.

- Yulian

[turkishproverb]

Beast wars CG is STILL the best any transformers series got.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Pity about what, exactly? Like, the fact that she's an imbecile or something?

Pretty much.


I can overlook the CG work if the show's entertaining enough. I mean, look at Beast Wars and ReBoot.

The thing about Vandread's CGI is that its there because at the time CGI was new and cool and therefore no attempt was made to make the CGI and non-CGI mesh together, making the show dated or at least "of its time".

I'm no transformers watcher but wasn't Beast Wars entirely CGI?

[Stormthorn]

Pretty much.

Considering her young age and upbringing amongst a strange and sometimes emotionaly unstable band of all-female space pirates....


Oh, and I cant recomend Full Metal Alchemist as i never finished it, but wha i did what was good. After my favorite anti-villain (Greed) died i didnt see a reason to keep watching. That said, this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZilQGXiDG84&feature=channel_page) is 97% post consumer awesome with a heavy dozing of funny.

[Lord of Rapture]

I must be the only person who likes Bleach after the Soul Society arc. I will acnowledge that the filler arcs are not that good, but I do like the Arrancar arcs (well, all the current ones)

The reason Kenpachi is able to beat somone that kicked Ichigo's ass is a very simple reason.
Ichigo had been wounded before the fight. Kenpachi went into the fight fresh, and in addition, had NOT been beaten by Ichigo - it was a draw

No, you have me here, agreeing 100% with you, if that makes you happy.:smallwink:

[KKL]

I'm sorry I don't like your favored series in this particular.... brand of animation, but I fail to see the truth of your statement.

You clearly have no taste in good anime.

--This post has been brought to you by an indignant One Piece fanboy. A lazy one, albeit.

[Innis Cabal]

You clearly have no taste in good anime.

--This post has been brought to you by an indignant One Piece fanboy. A lazy one, albeit.

Be careful. Around these parts thats a sure fire way to get nasty comments :smallwink:

I for one second the One Piece vote. The manga at the very least is wonderful save for the current bloody arc.

[Iskariot]

Ah yes! Of course, the familiar 'you-have-no-taste' play. I already apologized, let it drop. I simply have little interest in trite, juvenile animation with neither flair nor originality. I will be happy to admit that my taste is poor if One Piece and its cahoots constitute the better end of the spectrum.

[KnightDisciple]

I like Bleach and consider the strength of the captains in the later arcs to be more of an author's saving throw (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitlehr8d6bdwnwsk?from=Main.AuthorsSavingThrow) to curb back Ichigo's rediculous power growth.

I'd say it's a mix, though likely leaning towards your reasoning here.
Bleach I also still enjoy watching the anime as well as reading the manga. It's a series I love seeing the more fluid animation help flesh out the action (which is the main thing I like about the series, I'll admit).

[Lord of Rapture]

I'd say it's a mix, though likely leaning towards your reasoning here.
Bleach I also still enjoy watching the anime as well as reading the manga. It's a series I love seeing the more fluid animation help flesh out the action (which is the main thing I like about the series, I'll admit).

...Wait, so you like the animation?

:smallconfused:

That's what makes the anime worse than the manga (other than the filler, of course:smallyuk:)

[KKL]

Ah yes! Of course, the familiar 'you-have-no-taste' play. I already apologized, let it drop. I simply have little interest in trite, juvenile animation with neither flair nor originality. I will be happy to admit that my taste is poor if One Piece and its cahoots constitute the better end of the spectrum.

You do know I was being completely sarcastic.

[KnightDisciple]

...Wait, so you like the animation?

:smallconfused:

That's what makes the anime worse than the manga (other than the filler, of course:smallyuk:)

Not quite what I meant.
What I meant was that I, personally like seeing the characters a.) colored in, and b.) actually moving.
I'm all for imagination and comic books and such, but sometimes I like to see actual moving pictures.

[Rogue 7]

Oh, and I cant recomend Full Metal Alchemist as i never finished it, but wha i did what was good. After my favorite anti-villain (Greed) died i didnt see a reason to keep watching. That said, this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZilQGXiDG84&feature=channel_page) is 97% post consumer awesome with a heavy dozing of funny.

That was awesome.

I can't recommend Fullmetal Alchemist highly enough, particularly the Manga. Awesome story, fantastic characters, and probably the single most intelligent plot I've ever seen in Shonen. And it's all together and looks to be wrapping up to a big conclusion. Go read it. Now.

I'm a Naruto and Bleach fan, though I must say that 4Kids has irrevocably tainted my view of One Piece- I'm sure it's good, but I really don't care, and it's another series to watch/read. I'll admit that the first two are heavily flawed, though they do have great characters and fights. I reserve my praise for Fullmetal Alchemist and Mahou Sensei Negima.

[Iskariot]

You do know I was being completely sarcastic.

Forgive me, I lack the capability to sense the inflections in your tone through text.

[KKL]

Forgive me, I lack the capability to sense the inflections in your tone through text.

You have been forgiven.

Oh hey, I have another recomendation: Overman King Gainer, specifically the dub. It's a good mecha series, nice to watch. Gets ridiculously silly sometimes, but it's fun to watch.

[Nerd-o-rama]

If Overman King Gainer's opening sequence (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97j86qH91Nk) doesn't convince you to watch it, you are a far less curious person than I. And far less capable of being fired up by music.

[UltraDude]

If Overman King Gainer's opening sequence (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97j86qH91Nk) doesn't convince you to watch it, you are a far less curious person than I. And far less capable of being fired up by music.

Ki~ing!
Ki~ing!
Ki~ing Gainer!!!

Really tempted to go on a mecha recommendation spree. For now, I'll leave this little nugget of Hotbloodedness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w9UX_ZxAmA

[Setra]

For some reason, I just can't get into One Piece or Naruto. Characters in Bleach always stick to me somehow, like I can get a feel for their personality. In One Piece and Naruto, the characters always annoy me to heck. In Bleach, I somehow enjoy all of the main characters for some reason.

Plus, both ninjas and pirates suck. Strong Bad says so.

For Monster, there's no decay because the only thing that was changed was the medium. Everything that happened in the manga happened in the anime, no more, no less.
At first I hated the characters in One Piece as well (partially because I watched the 4kids anime).. even when I switched to the manga it took me a while to like them because I realized at some point the series was more lighthearted then I generally read... I started to really enjoy it around the Arlong Arc.

When it comes to a comparison of characters...

Bleach: I found most of the characters uninteresting, but the fights are enough to continue for me.

Naruto: I found myself disliking the main cast (Naruto and Sasuke specifically), however I love the rest of the characters (Shikamaru especially).

One Piece: Aside from a couple I really enjoy the cast, they're not as serious as other casts and the contrast when things do get serious makes for a good read to me.

--

On another note...

I third or whatnot Monster... or I suppose it's more like I vouch for a friend who shares similar tastes and adores the series.

Ps. What about Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni?

[Stormthorn]

Ps. What about Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni?

Well, i have been told its a great example of gorn and that it has lots of insanity.
I was never inspired to watch.

[The Evil Thing]

With Higurashi the writers intended for you to s**t bricks, sadly most of us don't get beyond small rocks.

If you want a mind screw, go play Ever 17.

[KKL]

If you want a mind screw, go play Ever 17.

Only applies to Coco's route. Gotta go through three routes, and a hologram woman.


Well, i have been told its a great example of gorn and that it has lots of insanity.
I was never inspired to watch.

Gorn? Gore? No, not really.

[Stormthorn]

Yes. Gorn. Really. Violence to an uneeded extent till it becomes fetishistic. Shooting them once in the head is violence. Emptying your entire clip one round at a time into the bleeding mass of their head while the camera lingers on the bloody mess is gorn. Saw is gorn. Hostel is gorn. All things featuring dismemberment probably count. Games like Manhunt and God of War enjoy it. I myself have used written examples to describe a few events on an RP site.


I even found a wiki to second Higurashi as an example of it. Its TVtropes as opposed to wikipedia but it kinda works. Hell, TVtropes page for it even mentions The Town from this very site.

Anyways, for anime I got enough of that stuff with Hellsing and Elfen Lied. I need no more. I will accept it in small dozes but i need to be in the right mood for large amounts.

[Lord of Rapture]

Bleach: I found most of the characters uninteresting, but the fights are enough to continue for me.

Naruto: I found myself disliking the main cast (Naruto and Sasuke specifically), however I love the rest of the characters (Shikamaru especially).

One Piece: Aside from a couple I really enjoy the cast, they're not as serious as other casts and the contrast when things do get serious makes for a good read to me.

--

On another note...

I third or whatnot Monster... or I suppose it's more like I vouch for a friend who shares similar tastes and adores the series.

Ps. What about Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni?

Really? Wow. I hate the characters on Naruto and One Piece because they annoy me so much I want to punch the screen, yet I really like the characters in Bleach. Go figure.

Monster is great, and nothingclever is forever on my enemy list for hating it and not saying otherwise.

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni - It's rather meh to me. Violence can be great and and to the atmosphere of a setting (see Berserk), but it just feels so "ick". The characters really aren't compelling, the plot is one big pretentious mind screw, and overall, it's not really anything special other than really confusing.

[Artemician]

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni - It's rather meh to me. Violence can be great and and to the atmosphere of a setting (see Berserk), but it just feels so "ick". The characters really aren't compelling, the plot is one big pretentious mind screw, and overall, it's not really anything special other than really confusing.

I think I enjoyed Higurashi the most out of any anime I've seen so far short of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, and in both cases the enjoyment did not come directly from the quality of the work itself (or lack of it, in Higurashi's case), but rather from the talk that went on over the work. That was enjoyable.

No seriously.

[Lizard]

Yes. Gorn. Really. Violence to an uneeded extent till it becomes fetishistic. Shooting them once in the head is violence. Emptying your entire clip one round at a time into the bleeding mass of their head while the camera lingers on the bloody mess is gorn. Saw is gorn. Hostel is gorn. All things featuring dismemberment probably count. Games like Manhunt and God of War enjoy it. I myself have used written examples to describe a few events on an RP site.


I even found a wiki to second Higurashi as an example of it. Its TVtropes as opposed to wikipedia but it kinda works. Hell, TVtropes page for it even mentions The Town from this very site.

Anyways, for anime I got enough of that stuff with Hellsing and Elfen Lied. I need no more. I will accept it in small dozes but i need to be in the right mood for large amounts.

I definetly wouldnt classify Higuarshi as gorn. Yea it has several bloody parts and few scenes with implied offscreen torture, but compared to something like Hellsing it is quite tame. Stuff that I would classify as gorn like Elfen Lied, Berserk or Gantz are on wholy different level.

In my opinion Higurashi is enjoyabale above-average series that suffered from massive hype backlash. The first season had its moments and was able to hold its atmosphere quite well. Second season was... worse but at least explained wtf happened in first season.

[horngeek]

In addition to my previous post- There is another reason that I like bleach (more than, say DBZ). The reason is that how the characters work is a lot more induvidual in DBZ.
Let me explain. Dragonball Z has a set path of powerups, that is quite similar across all the characters (at least the Sayans) and is... a bit repeditive. In essence it goes: Super Sayan, Super Sayan 2 etc.
In Bleach, the powerup sequence is different for each character (or at least the form it takes is). In the case of bleach, the sequence is: Shikai, Bankai.
BUT
These powerups are different for different Shinigami. For example, Captain Byakuya has the sequence as: Shikai; "Scatter, Senbonzakura" Bankai; "Scatter, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi"
However, Captain Hitsugaya has his sequence as: Shikai; "Reign over the frozen sky, Hyorinmaru" Bankai; "Daiguren Hyorinmaru"
Both of these sequances give their respective owners different powers.

[Stormthorn]

I definetly wouldnt classify Higuarshi as gorn. Yea it has several bloody parts and few scenes with implied offscreen torture, but compared to something like Hellsing it is quite tame. Stuff that I would classify as gorn like Elfen Lied, Berserk or Gantz are on wholy different level.

I would put Elfen Lied on just about the same level as Higurashi, probably slightly below.
More blood in Elfen Lied but its highly justified. For instance, if i shot buzzsaws from my hand (or had razor sharp mentla projections) you would expect my to sever limbs any time i fight someone. But if im a normal person with a butcher knife i would need to stab someone dozens of times to get the same, which would make it more gorny, and also much more sadistic. Which is admitidly the point.

Higurashi takes it one step further by having the person with the knife then move on to the other arm while a third party screams "sorry" dozens of times in a futile attempt to end the violence.

The sheer length of the scene i just mentioned also makes it more intense than any given moment of violence in Elfen Lied, in which actual torture is fairly rare.


That being said, i dont condemn the show. It just isnt for me. I typed in Most Violent Anime Scenes in youtube and got these results, btw.
1. Hellsing
2. Higurashi
3. School Days
4. Elfen Lied
5. Higurashi (again)

The rest of the page has three more Higurashi videos, Ninja Scroll, and a mix of other stuff. Of course, youtube isnt infallable. Things like Devilman and Berserk are less well known and would probably be in the top five if they wernt so niche-market.

[Lord of Rapture]

I think I enjoyed Higurashi the most out of any anime I've seen so far short of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, and in both cases the enjoyment did not come directly from the quality of the work itself (or lack of it, in Higurashi's case), but rather from the talk that went on over the work. That was enjoyable.

No seriously.

...You lost me.

[Tengu_temp]

Berserk is more niche-marketed than School Days?

[Artemician]

...You lost me.

Let me explain.

Picture a messy room. There is a lot of stuff scattered around, the most important being a grey sofa. A laptop rests on the end of the sofa. A VGA cable connects the laptop to a Plasma TV some distance away. Three chaps are sitting on the sofa, and a scene of doubtful animation standard is being played out on screen.

(Blood splatters)

#1: Man what?

#2: Yes. Really.

#1: That's... screwed up.

#2: Yep.

#3: It's like what, on the ceiling?

#1: How much blood pressure do you need to get... that?

#3: Don't ask me. I barely passed my Kinematics module.

#1: This is bull****.

#2: But such awesome bull****.

#1: ... True.

(Crunching sounds)

#3: Hey, don't hog all the chips!

[Stormthorn]

Berserk is more niche-marketed than School Days?

Good point. Im not sure how School Days got into that top five. I didnt make youtube.


(Blood splatters)

#1: Man what?

#2: Yes. Really.

#1: That's... screwed up.

#2: Yep.

#3: It's like what, on the ceiling?

#1: How much blood pressure do you need to get... that?

#3: Don't ask me. I barely passed my Kinematics module.

#1: This is bull****.

#2: But such awesome bull****.

#1: ... True.

(Crunching sounds)

#3: Hey, don't hog all the chips!

I think i had a similar conversation watching TOKKO.

[Artemician]

I think i had a similar conversation watching TOKKO.

Reading the synopsis, I can see what you mean.

[Setra]

Really? Wow. I hate the characters on Naruto and One Piece because they annoy me so much I want to punch the screen, yet I really like the characters in Bleach. Go figure.
I can certainly see where you would be coming from in terms of both Naruto and One Piece, but I really think you should give the latter another shot. Try reading the Enies Lobby Arc of One Piece, the characters get less annoying as the series progresses (at least to me).

If not that's fine too.

[Oregano]

I hate most of the characters of Naruto(I watched a bit of recently, the dub) but Kakashi, Jiraiya and Guy are fantastic. I think it suffers though because the side characters are a lot more interesting than the main ones(although Naruto seems to get less annoying throughout the series).

[Bayar]

I hate most of the characters of Naruto(I watched a bit of recently, the dub) but Kakashi, Jiraiya and Guy are fantastic. I think it suffers though because the side characters are a lot more interesting than the main ones(although Naruto seems to get less annoying throughout the series).

It sucks more if it is dubbed. I'm lucky, they replaced the crappy romanian dubbed and cut versions with original subbed versions, uncut :biggrin:

[Oregano]

It sucks more if it is dubbed. I'm lucky, they replaced the crappy romanian dubbed and cut versions with original subbed versions, uncut :biggrin:

Not all dubs are bad, I hate it when people say that. I for one think dubs can be really appropiate like Howl's Moving Castle(people can complain about Howl being welsh all they want, he was voiced by Christian Bale!).

[The Evil Thing]

Not all dubs are bad, I hate it when people say that. I for one think dubs can be really appropiate like Howl's Moving Castle(people can complain about Howl being welsh all they want, he was voiced by Christian Bale!).
Yes, the dubs done by Disney/Pixar (for the Miyazaki films) are very good: the voices don't feel "off" for me at all. Annoyingly, the other company which is good at this is 4kids. I've seen three or four of their dubs and all of them work well (if you can get past the horrific bowdlerisation they insist on).

People also talk about Afro Samurai having a great dub. The trouble is that the English is the original version; there is no dub. (In my less observant days I once spent three hours looking for a subbed version of Avatar. Oh boy did I feel like an idiot when it finally clicked that it was American.)

[Lizard]

Sure, there are good dubs out there, it is just for every good one there are three or more bad ones. This goes double for long-running shonen anime, where the only dub I can classify as good is German dub from One Piece and that only becouse the only other avaible dub at that time was 4kids version...

[Stormthorn]

Not all dubs are bad, I hate it when people say that. I for one think dubs can be really appropiate like Howl's Moving Castle(people can complain about Howl being welsh all they want, he was voiced by Christian Bale!).


FLCL- Good dub.

EurekaSeveN- bad dub. At least, the voice of the protagonist made my ears bleed.

[Tengu_temp]

Steamboy was the only anime where I liked the dub more - mostly because the plethora of national and class accents was very fitting and improved the experience a lot.

From video games, I like the dubs of Nippon Ichi games - in Disgaea 2, for example, I prefer some characters dubbed (Rosalin, Adell's mom, Yukimaru, prinnies), some are better in the original (Adell, Axel (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NobuyukiHiyama)), while some I like equally in both (Tink is purposely annoying in both, although for different reasons).

[Oregano]

Tengu, is you avatar Freddie Mercury in anime/manga form?:smallconfused:

[Tengu_temp]

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: yes, he is. I assume the image is from this anime (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SakigakeCromartieKoukou), but having never seen it I am not 100% sure.

[Oregano]

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: yes, he is. I assume the image is from this anime (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SakigakeCromartieKoukou), but having never seen it I am not 100% sure.

That's both awesome and super weird at the same time.

[Drascin]

First time I saw it I thought it was shirtless King Bradley singing.

Which given Tengu's avatar track record didn't seem that hard to believe, really :smallbiggrin:

[Rogue 7]

Not all dubs are bad, I hate it when people say that. I for one think dubs can be really appropiate like Howl's Moving Castle(people can complain about Howl being welsh all they want, he was voiced by Christian Bale!).

If I recall the original book, Howl was Welsh.

[Oregano]

If I recall the original book, Howl was Welsh.

I know and I heard(well read) people complaining about the dub because he's supposed to be welsh and Christian Bale is Welsh. Also it makes more sense than him being Japanese.:smalltongue:

[Artemician]

First time I saw it I thought it was shirtless King Bradley singing.

Which given Tengu's avatar track record didn't seem that hard to believe, really :smallbiggrin:

I recognized Freddy instantly, but damn, you have a point.