Anime

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I'll admit it, I watch Anime, though before 3 weeks ago I hadn't in almost 3 years.Well my roommate got me back into it with studio gainax, and for the last 3 weeks we've been marathoning his favorite anime from that animator. This week was FLCL...an anime I regret to say I'd never seen before. Now don't get me wrong I'm no weeaboo, but I must say, no show has left me in a better mood. Those 6 episodes were some of the best feel good entertainment I've ever seen.


Soo uhh, how bout you guys, do you watch the anime, and if so, favorites?
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I like anime, but I don't obsess over it and treat it like a way of life like some people do. Cromartie Highschool and Cowboy Beebop are my favorites. Death Note was pretty good too.
I've never watched anime, and probably never will. I'm not zealously against watching it or anything, I just can't be bothered. I know a few people who like it.
I used to be more into it than I am now.

Stand Alone Complex is pretty much the end-all be-all of anime for me. Ever since I watched it (and re-watched it to pick up what I didn't catch the first time around), no other anime can hold a candle to it. Such a pity it was only 2 seasons.

Full Metal Alchemist would probably be a very distant second.
Sure.

FLCL was indeed quite awesome,
Neon Genesis Evangelion, you probably already saw (End of Evangelion too),
Welcome to NHK was good,
Revolutionary Girl Utena I found somehow interesting (it's a shoujo anime),
Akira,
pretty much anything from Studio Ghibli,
Higurashi was sort of fun.
I must be the only person in the world who thought Evangelion sucked. Everyone raves about it, but I thought it was just sooooo boring.

FLCL was pretty good, but a little too hyper for me.


Also -- the first 4 episodes of Outlaw Star were amazing.... but the rest of the series was blech.
@ hamsertman

I actually just finished evangellion right before watching FLCL, it was pretty good, the first half was MUCH better than the second half though, of evengellion that is.
Does anyone watch/read Naruto?

Some other favorites of mine:

* Ghost in the Shell (there are two movies and several standalone episodes)
EDIT: (No, there are three movies. I've watched two.)
* Trigun
* HSD Kenichi
* Hunter X Hunter

EDIT 2: Corrected stupid spelling error...
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Ghost in the Cell (there are two movies and several standalone episodes)
EDIT: (No, there are three movies. I've watched two.)


Hehe, it's Ghost in the "Shell". And there's the two movies ("Ghost in the Shell", and "Innocence"), as well as the "Stand Alone Complex" series which is like a retelling. The 3rd movie ("Solid State Society") is part of the Stand Alone Complex series, and like the series, it doesn't really go with the other 2 movies at all.

Personally, I found Stand Alone Complex to be way better than the movies. The movies tended to focus less on the main plot and more on the philosophy of what it would be like to live in that kind of world. I didn't really care for that approach.


Trigun was pretty good too. But I never saw Naruto, HSD Kenichi, or Hunter X Hunter. Naruto strikes me as a DBZ style, "endless superpower fighting" anime. Am I wrong?



EDIT:

For whatever reason I'm really interested in this topic. XD

Some other animes I've seen and my thoughts:

Shows I'd recommend

Stand Alone Complex - Love it. See my posts above. Out of any Sci-fi show I've ever seen, Stand Alone Complex is by far the most realistic. A lot of how they vision the future is things I can see actually happening. The main plot lines are incredibly involved and interesting (I especially liked the 2nd season's last 8 episodes or so). Good cast of characters, too. The only downside is there's a lot of talk about nothing and/or them trying to make it sound more complicated than it is ("Assemble everyone with an L2 loadout"? wtf) -- and the dialogue is a bit awkward at times -- but those pitfalls are very minor when compared against the show's strengths.

... if only the Tachikomas weren't so damn annoying...

Full Metal Alchemist - I'm a sucker for multi-sided conflicts. Good vs. Bad gets old pretty quick, but when 3 or more sides are all pursuing their own goals, it gets a lot more interesting. That's something this show had in spades. One scene in particular (when Izumi and Ed were trying to re-capture Wrath from the military base) there were 5 conflicting sides involved: Ed, Izumi, the military, Kimbley, and Envy.

Throw in political/military corruption and you've got a golden recipe for a great show. Althouh they almost screwed it up at the end with the whole "other side of the gate" thing, but it worked out.

Trigun - This show has a really interesting twist. A hero gunsman who refuses to kill -- and bad guys that are trying to corrupt him, rather than kill him. A little slowmoving to start, but once Wolfwood is introduced the show gains serious momentum and keeps you clung to your seat. The showdown with Legato still sends shivers down my spine, even just thinking about it.

The ending felt a bit empty though. It felt like they didn't really conclude anything.


Cowboy Bebop - Really the only "episodic" anime I liked, and another interesting look at a perhaps not-so-distant future. I also get the impression that Firefly took a lot of influence from it. Privateers in outer space struggling to make ends meet. Lack of a main focal plot (Spike's backstory doesn't really count -- as it's not really the focal point of the show) does kind of make it a little drab -- but I guess that's what makes it episodic.

Although this show did have the worst villain name ever. "Vicious"? Give me a break.

Now and Then, Here and There - Not for the faint of heart. A little on the slow side compared to shows I tend to like -- and the whole idea of him getting sucked into another world is kind of stupid -- but if you ignore that, it's an amazing drama. Kind of like how Pleasantville was a good movie if you ignore the "sucked into the TV" part -- only N&T,H&T is like 1000x deeper, 1000x more sad, and 1000x more gripping.

Samurai 7 - A pretty decent rendition of the famous "Seven Samurai" story. The whole "giant robot" thing was kind of dumb, but it was easily ignored.

Shows I have mixed feelings about

Love Hina - Somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine. I wouldn't call the show "good", but it certainly is entertaining. The whole scenario is contrived and unbelievable -- but it's a comedy so I guess that doesn't matter.

Gundam Wing - Not bad, but I get the impression it's a wanna-be of other, more renounded Gundam series (unfortunately, this is the only one I've seen so I can't adequately compare them).

Dragon Ball Z - A lot of people make fun of this show, and for good reason. On the other hand, if you trimmed the drawn-out fight scenes and focused more on the plot development and characters, it's surprisingly good. Really imaginative.

Outlaw Star - This show was like a rollercoaster. The first 4 episodes were downright amazing. They put you in this cool world and take you on a ride full of twists and turns --- then once it ends the show deteriorates into episodic drivel.

Then at the end it picks up (the whole thing with the Galactic Leyline was a really awesome idea) -- but then the final episode makes no freaking sense. I wanted to punch out my TV.

But really -- if you watch the first 4 eps and then put it down -- it's freaking amazing.

Big O - Batman-esque millionaire solving mysteries in a city stricken with amnesia... and for some reason GIANT ROBOTS. A little confusing, but overall the show is pretty entertaining. The whole giant robot thing seems like an afterthought though. Really the show would be way better if they cut out all the giant robot crap.

Shows I'd avoid

Lain - snoozefest. Some people put it in the same genre as Stand Alone Complex ("cyberpunk" or whatever it's called), but I found it to be incredibly drab. Scene after scene with no on-screen movement, no talking, and not even any BGM. I spent the whole time waiting for something, anything to happen -- but it never did.

Elfin Lied - I really liked the idea of this one, but it was executed poorly. I also think it got cut short (like it was cancelled or something and they had to wrap it up faster than they expected)... which would explain why a lot of things it was hinting at / building up towards fizzled out. It could've been a little lighter on the nudity, too. Some of it belonged there, but I get the felling a lot of it was put in just because they could.

Gunslinger Girl - Again -- the idea was there, but they went with the whole Ghost in the Shell style philosophy instead of making what could have been a really awesome police/special forces show. Also REALLY slowmoving. Not as slow as Lain, but still really slow.
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Naruto is like DBZ, except it has a much better plot and the characters are not shallow at all.
It's definitely worth a look.
Naruto suffers from the DBZ complex though.

it goes through three stages:
First and foremost, it doesnt end when it should.
Next they go through "the GET STRONG GET STRONGER GET STRONGEST, AND THEN REPEAT" phase well after they should have ended.
And then they give up on ideas and BS the series for another 200 episodes, milking the money for all it's worth.
I finally finished my massive post. XD

Naruto is like DBZ, except it has a much better plot and the characters are not shallow at all.


I didn't find DBZ's plot/characters to be that bad/shallow. Maybe I should give Naruto a try?
I dunno, I liked DBZ when I was 13 (4 years ago), I even learned the japanese lyrics to the opening.
I like Gunslinger Girl, it's not really about the action, it's more about the relationships and the dichotomy of the cute little girl and the killing machine.
Other anime I like include Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha (a magical girl show that takes a lot of influence from gundam etc.), Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan (giant robots) and ARIA.
I also like comedies like Azumanga Daioh, Pani Poni Dash! and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
I'm a big fan of Miyazaki Hayao, especially Kaze no Tani no Naushika.
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I dunno, I liked DBZ when I was 13 (4 years ago)


Way to make me feel old =(
hmm my room mate STRONGLY recommends Serial Experiments Lain, not because its a good anime, or because it's fast paced, but for the story and message. I dont know what he's talking about yet, but the last 4 anime he's introduced me to have been fantastic.

Also I really liked Love Hina, it was kinda a fantasy escape for me when i was a young teen.
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hmm my room mate STRONGLY recommends Serial Experiments Lain,


A lot of people swear up and down it's one of the best shows they ever saw.

Personally I just don't get it. I made it through like the first 3/4ths and just couldn't bring myself to watch it anymore. It was like watching paint dry.

But yeah some people think I have weird tastes... so whatever.

On a somewhat related note I was trying to find good trailers of SAC on YouTube. It was surprisingly difficult. These are the best I could find:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY6PNTzQb1A <-- season 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_bJqu4I7Qo <--- season 2

Neither one really touches on what the plot is, they just show various actions scenes. If nothing else it'll give you a good idea of the animation quality.

EDIT: also fwiw, SAC has probably the best original soundtrack of any tv show/movie I've ever heard.
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Disch wrote:
I must be the only person in the world who thought Evangelion sucked. Everyone raves about it, but I thought it was just sooooo boring.
Well, you apparently like action, and even though nge has the 'gundam' stuff, it really isn't about it.

Seraphimsan wrote:
I actually just finished evangellion right before watching FLCL, it was pretty good, the first half was MUCH better than the second half though, of evengellion that is.
I don't really understand that, since only the second part starts explaining things. Anyway, do watch End of Evangelion if you haven't yet. I'd say it's a fine combination of the two.
Well, you apparently like action, and even though nge has the 'gundam' stuff, it really isn't about it.


There doesn't have to be action, there just has to be something interesting going on.

I guess I'm just impatient. I find a lot of anime to be way too slow moving. Maybe if NGE was paced better I might have liked it more.

EDIT:

apparently SAC is available online for free. If you just want a taste of what it's like, this is one of my fav episodes:

http://www.animefreak.tv/watch/ghost-shell-sac-2nd-gig-episode-21-english-dubbed-online-free

EDIT: but I guess it kind of has spoilers since it's near the end of the season XD

(Note I'm specifically recommending this to Seraphimsan -- since I'm trying to push him to watch this show XD)
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Lain was definitely an interesting show. I'd recommend it, but I'd also recommend you get a good video player. The one I had liked to loop over random sections of the video, and was a pain to get out of the loops. I probably missed like a third of it.

Full Metal Alchemist was one of my favorite animes. I watched tye brotherhood series, which is supposed to follow the manga more closely

Hmmm.... What else? Vampire Knight is decent, if you're into that stuff. I think they were thinking about making a third season, but it's not official yet.

If I think about any more, I'll post them here.
Ghost in the shell is my all time FAVORITE anime movie, SAC was my 2nd favorite series, I wasnt AS fond of 2nd gig.
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