Official Anime Recommendation Thread
By
Aether_Crash,
Posted on: 2009-10-04 18:33 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
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No, you won't need to. It's like what they did with Macross: They had a great story, finished it, then found they had to make 10 more episodes.
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Originally Posted by Lord Mayhem
I would need to, because I have this bizarre overriding need to find out what happens at the end of stories. I really wish I didn't - it would have saved me so much of the time I've spent watching Lost or reading The Wheel of Time - but there you go. So I think I'll spare myself the bad latter half of the story, no matter how good the (incomplete) first half is.
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Consistent drop off.|
Originally Posted by Dark_One_NA
Do you mean a consistent drop off or just a 'bad' episode or two?
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I can handle the occasional bad episode - there are very few series of any TV show that don't have weak episodes.
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Originally Posted by Dark_One_NA
Code Geass has some WTF and eyebrow raising moments, but it is quite masterful, IMO. Oh, be aware. There is a touch of nudity in it (just a couple of scenes iirc, nothing too bad as it was still aired on [as], but blurred).
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Originally Posted by Dark_One_NA
NGE...watch it while drunk. To me, it's drunk logic. It'll make more sense.
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Originally Posted by Dark_One_NA
Edit - Oh, you may want to pick up Trigun sooner rather than later. I think but am not sure though, that it's now out of print. I'm having a hella time finding discs of Kimagure Orange Road (not the same series, I know, but it too is OOP). One has been going for $80!
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Originally Posted by ketch
I like NGE and many people consider it one of the essentials in anyone's collection. It's heavily steeped in the mythos of Christianity with some existential overtones. Due to time and money restraints and a lack of direction they final two episodes veer off into a very strange limited animation. It left a lot of unanswered questions, which many find unsatisfying. To me, the unanswered questions are what made the series so thought provoking.
It may also be of interest to know that Evangelion is currently being recreated. However, the rebuild will differ from the original and is said to have a different ending. Evangelion 1.0, which covers the events of the first few episodes of the series, is currently available in the U.S. Evangelion 2.0 has been released in Japan, but hasn't made it stateside as of yet. |
Oh and MrQ, I'm a hopelessly obsessive completist - I even watched the Highlander sequels
- so I really wouldn't be able to resist watching all of it if I started in on it.
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I'm not sure exactly what it falls under in this situation. I can only remember two instances, one of Kallen in the shower and another with Voletta waking up. Though there is a cheesecake/silly episode later on in the series that has Voletta in an extremely unlikely bikini.|
Nudity doesn't bother me, though I prefer it when it's necessary for the story rather than just thrown in for adolescent titillation - probably because I don't find animated nudity titillating. With live action it's a different matter - I thoroughly enjoy True Blood, and Rome before it, and both have plenty of "nudity-for-the-sake-of-having-nudity" moments
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As long as they don't obsess over technology explanations too much (like Star Trek with its horrid technobabble) I'll be fine - I can handwave the dubious explanations - heck, as a Star Wars and Dr Who fan, I'm used to it - I like science-fantasy - and I can always fall back on Clarke's Third Law. Oh and sorry for costing you a few hours with those TV Tropes links
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| Thanks for the heads up - Amazon here still has it in stock. I still wasn't sure if I'd like it - another poster did tell me it had quite a lot of silliness at certain moments, but that they did contrast with darker moments - I liked Trinity Blood and Full Metal Alchemist grew on me over time, and they mixed silliness with serious themes, so if it's similar to them in tempo then I'm sure I'll get some enjoyment from it. It has been recommended a lot so I'll probably give it a try. |
In looking at Amazon, they all pretty much say 'Discontinued by the manufactuer', so take that for what you will.
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Different Amazons, I suspect - I'm guessing you use Amazon.com, whereas I use Amazon.co.uk - linky - where Trigun is in stock and only became available recently (ditto for a lot of region 2 anime box sets - 6 months ago hardly anything was available).|
Originally Posted by Dark_One_NA
In looking at Amazon, they all pretty much say 'Discontinued by the manufactuer', so take that for what you will.
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I guess I'll grab Trigun next, once I finish watching Cowboy Bebop - probably sometime in the next 2 weeks as I'm trying to watch a couple of episodes per day on average, and I just saw "#11. Toys in the Attic" (which amused me greatly).
That'll do it I guess.
Oh, and for Bebop? Episode #18 is my favorite...Mushroom Samba.
You might also try looking at Right Stuf (no, not a typo, rightstuf.com). They're an anime store. I've gotten a LOT of anime from them, particularly their bargain bin stuff. It's region 1 stuff though.
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The series' end is pretty sketchy and it doesn't sound like it would satisfy you. However, there was a good bit of material added afterward with Death and Rebirth and the End of Evangelion and then revised into the Revival of Evangelion. It seems like Anno has really struggled to bring his vision to fulfillment, but I think he may succeed with Rebuild.|
Originally Posted by Lord Mayhem
Thanks for the info. Although I don't like a lack of closure/resolution, I can handle it if the ending is done well (e.g. Angel's TV ending I was happy with, but The Sopranos left me feeling empty even though I knew why the writer ended it that way - sorry I don't have anime examples). Having an ending forced by budget constraints doesn't sound hopeful though, especially if it involved a change in the visuals in any way (it always bugs me when comics change artists mid-arc) - I may wait for the remake.
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Also, I've got to add that I disagree with Dark One's assessment of Shinji. I found him to be a deeply flawed character whose flaws prevented him from beginning to right himself.
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I very much doubt they'll deliver here. I live on a small island between the UK and France that even UK websites refuse to deliver to - I can't get comics delivered here, I can only get certain items from Amazon (most Amazon Marketplace sellers won't deliver here - fortunately Amazon do have a warehouse in our sister island for VAT-free DVDs/CDs though, so I get those quickly), and when I've tried to order stuff from the US in the past it has proved a hassle. Plus I only have a Region 2 DVD player at the moment |
Originally Posted by Dark_One_NA
You might also try looking at Right Stuf (no, not a typo, rightstuf.com). They're an anime store. I've gotten a LOT of anime from them, particularly their bargain bin stuff. It's region 1 stuff though.
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Living here can suck, but then I remember that I barely have to pay any taxes and nothing seems so bad
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Originally Posted by ketch
The series' end is pretty sketchy and it doesn't sound like it would satisfy you. However, there was a good bit of material added afterward with Death and Rebirth and the End of Evangelion and then revised into the Revival of Evangelion. It seems like Anno has really struggled to bring his vision to fulfillment, but I think he may succeed with Rebuild.
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Rebuild is going very well so far, I must say. There is, so far, less moping going on. Also, Ramiel is all kinds of awesome.
The original series end was very abstract. Fans didn't like it since nobody could understand what actually happened (the last episode happened inside a character's mind). Anno said he'd redo it (after much complaining and even some death threats), but that we weren't going to like it. It then went from abstract to outright weird and left us with an ambiguous ending to argue about. Seriously, YOU try and make sense of this (spoilers, not that you'd understand what's happening). Yes, that song actually plays during the ending.
I don't expect that Rebuild will end in any less of an ambiguous fashion, but I am hoping it'll make a bit more sense on the whole.
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It's Villetta. I didn't include that picture of her in her name links, which may have caused her eventually lose in the Animated Babe playoffs, but I did include it in the nomination.|
Originally Posted by Dark_One_NA
Though there is a cheesecake/silly episode later on in the series that has Voletta in an extremely unlikely bikini.
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Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
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I'll definitely wait for Rebuild then. I was vaguely aware of the death threats and the dissatisfaction over the finale of the original - I had researched it and read some reviews, but that can be hard to do without running into spoilers - that's why I find this thread so useful.|
Originally Posted by MrQuizzles
Rebuild is going very well so far, I must say. There is, so far, less moping going on. Also, Ramiel is all kinds of awesome.
The original series end was very abstract. Fans didn't like it since nobody could understand what actually happened (the last episode happened inside a character's mind). Anno said he'd redo it (after much complaining and even some death threats), but that we weren't going to like it. It then went from abstract to outright weird and left us with an ambiguous ending to argue about. Seriously, YOU try and make sense of this (spoilers, not that you'd understand what's happening). Yes, that song actually plays during the ending. I don't expect that Rebuild will end in any less of an ambiguous fashion, but I am hoping it'll make a bit more sense on the whole. |
Usually reading of widespread dissatisfaction like that is enough to put me off buying an anime (or movie, or game, for that matter), but NGE just gets recommended so much that I've been trying to discern if it was being recommended because it still stands up as a very good story, or if it was purely because of its historical importance to the genre.
The story/characters are all I care about because I'm not in love with anime as a format. I like anime mainly because I can experience storytelling that has different sources/touchstones and themes than our Western mainstream entertainment does, so it seems very fresh to me - especially with Western TV drama, movies, comics and even videogames being in such a creative slump lately, with so many remakes/sequels/clones.
Plus I'm fairly fussy because there are things in anime that irk me, such as face faults, cross popping veins, sweat drops, etc. - I understand these are conventions from manga, but it just seems like a lazy animation style to me when emotion can be portrayed better by more realistic animation plus the voice actor's performance. Not being an anime/manga afficionado I just find such things distracting. They were a major reason I really struggled to get into Full Metal Alchemist, though I persisted (due to it being recommended so much - I had borrowed it from a friend rather than bought it) and eventually the story and characters won me over.
+1 Divergence Eve (Season 1) & Divergence Eve: The Misaki Chronicles (Season 2)
Just got done watching the series. Actually had been wanting to check it out since I read about it in New Type...long long ago.
From other reviews I've read...I got mixed reviews...liked it (to varing degrees) or wrote it off as fan service.
Does it have fan service. Yes. It's rated 14 and Up. However, no full nudity.
I loved it.
The CGI animations of it where lacking, but they were very few. The drawn animation was great!
Definently need to watch the second season after watching the 1st. Which is why I think DE gets some bad reviews. It just gets more intense in the second season, but you need to watch the 1st season (which I enjoyed), to get the 2nd season.
2nd season also does less of the fanservice.
Well, this is probably a poor review...but for me, for sure...+1.
Oh, and I'd classify it as SciFi/Thriller/Drama...so where ever you'd put it on the list.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
Well...there are a lot of boobs in it, at least the first season.
To me, it's sorta the DOAX2 of anime. Kinda. If you squint.
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Yeah. But I wouldn't say that's all DE has going for it.|
Originally Posted by Dark_One_NA
Well...there are a lot of boobs in it, at least the first season.
To me, it's sorta the DOAX2 of anime. Kinda. If you squint. |
To me it's more like...hey we have this great story, great characters...now...let's draw them with big boobs!
You know...like some comicbooks out there.
But like I said, season 2 only improves on season 1, but you can't really watch season 2 without watching season 1.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
Right now watching and digging Baccano!! on Hulu.. such and odd cast but still enjoyable.... Issac and Miria are BEYOND ridiculous.. lol
Hmm, recommendations....
My Hime - pretty good deconstruction of the whole "Magical Girls" thing. (ie., what would happen if the girls with powers were a regular cross-section of messed up schoolgirls. And the world wasn't all happy-flower-time.)
FLCL - crazy trippy bizarre. A blast. 
Serial Experiments Lain - crazy trippy bizarre..... but serious, unlike FLCL. Cyberpunk pondering and philiosophizing
Read Or Die (the movie/OVA one) - wacky Alias/James Bond-esque spy action.
Grave of the Fireflies - deadly serious and depressing. But one of the best anti-war movies ever made, IMHO. Saw it in a roomful of folks in college - even the guys were tearing up by the end.
Ghost in the Shell - cyberpunk/action. Although the TV series (Stand Alone Complex) tends to alot more talking/thinking and a good bit less action.
------------- end rec's
Won't list Elfen Lied (since even though it's a "regular" series, it's more of a splatter and nudity fest than some H stuff. Really dark.)
Divergence Eve...... that's an odd series. Looking at the pictures you'd think it was a fanservice series - but it's *just* the character designs. The story itself is a pretty serious sci-fi/war thing. The disconnect between the story and "hey, they jacked the chest slider over to 150%!" is kind of strange.
What? No love for ....
Grenadier?
I'm very surprised the Bounce Reloading hasn't yet made this list!
Like a Runaway Train!
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Liberty League: Leave the Justice to Us!
Since it's getting to be that time of year again, there's all kinds of holiday specials.
Well, for the anime crowd, there's Right Stuf's holiday sale. I can't speak highly enough of this company. Might be a chance to fill in some of your collection gaps. I'm looking at the Haruhi vol. 4 LE right now...
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Very nice find. I generally detest the high cost of anime, but the entire first season of Haruhi for $60 isn't bad at all. I've already got it, but that might make a nice present for a friend.|
Originally Posted by Dark_One_NA
Since it's getting to be that time of year again, there's all kinds of holiday specials.
Well, for the anime crowd, there's Right Stuf's holiday sale. I can't speak highly enough of this company. Might be a chance to fill in some of your collection gaps. I'm looking at the Haruhi vol. 4 LE right now... |
And ooh... Azumanga Daioh for less than $30 bucks. Definitely worth it.
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Ya, I've extolled the virtues of that company for a while now. They are one of my first stops when I go shopping. The store can also be found on Amazon under the name 'shawnek' if I remember rightly. I've gotten a ton of stuff from the Bargain Bin on the website.
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Originally Posted by ketch
Very nice find. I generally detest the high cost of anime, but the entire first season of Haruhi for $60 isn't bad at all. I've already got it, but that might make a nice present for a friend.
And ooh... Azumanga Daioh for less than $30 bucks. Definitely worth it. |
As I popped through the bargain bin I saw a familar title: Popotan. So here's my mini-review.
At the heart of Popotan there's an interesting story about three sisters finding their place while traveling through time. However, there are so many elements that fail to mesh or even make sense that the story falls short. There is a good deal of fan-service and unneccesary nudity that also distracts from the better elements. (I learned later, much to my surprise, that it was based on an ero-game.)
So what's good about it? It does occasionally hit a strong note with the story. One arc in particular in which the middle sister meets an old friend's daughter was quite touching. Other than that it doesn't do anything exceptionally well, but does manage to be adequate. Animation? Consistent, but not stunning. Character Designs? Cute, but not overly original. Music? Poppy, you'll either like it or want to drill your ears.
Overall, it's just ok. If you have a few hours to kill and dollars to spend it might entertain you. Otherwise, don't bother.
I just recently watched a one-shot anime called Dead Leaves. I would describe it as "Mangaverse Domino vs. Lady Deathstrike as viewed through a FLCL lens" and a friend of mine described it as "Heavy Metal meets anime." I would simultaneously highly recommend it and -1 it. It's awesome, seizure-inducing, and bizarre.
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
Well I've finished watching the Cowboy Bebop series, and I watched the movie today, and I enjoyed both immensely. This is the closest an anime has come to matching Ghost in the Shell: SAC in my estimation - it doesn't quite topple it as my favourite anime, but then I like both series for different things: GitS:SAC intrigued and fascinated me, while Bebop just straight entertained me (and quite often made me laugh). Both had fantastic characters that will live long in the memory. So:
Cowboy Bebop +1
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie +1
Next up, Trigun, which fortuitously arrived from Amazon yesterday.
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That's what I liked about SAC, but then I do enjoy mystery/intrigue and good characterisation. Action junkies might prefer to look elsewhere, but SAC had enough action to keep me happy. Admittedly I feel that action should be the pay-off at the dramatic moments in a story and not the main content. If I want continuous combat then I'll play an MMO instead of watching an anime |
Originally Posted by Kiralyn
Ghost in the Shell - cyberpunk/action. Although the TV series (Stand Alone Complex) tends to alot more talking/thinking and a good bit less action.
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Now you need to watch Samurai Champloo (Think Samurai Bebop).
Fu is no Fay.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Going back to the remaining titles on my wishlist - Trigun, Code Geass, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Mobile Suit Gundam 00 - and I do like mecha so I'm leaning towards one of the latter 3 as my next purchase - are there any of those I should be wary of where the quality drops off suddenly at some point during their run? I've heard that NGE has a slightly... odd... ending, but I've been wary of trying to nail down if that's personal opinion from some reviewers or a commonly held qualitative judgement (mainly because I didn't want to hear any spoilers). And it probably bears repeating that my own personal benchmark for anime excellence is Ghost in the Shell: SAC - not expecting anything to surpass that tbh, but getting close in quality of storytelling/characterisation and themes would be nice.
It may also be of interest to know that Evangelion is currently being recreated. However, the rebuild will differ from the original and is said to have a different ending. Evangelion 1.0, which covers the events of the first few episodes of the series, is currently available in the U.S. Evangelion 2.0 has been released in Japan, but hasn't made it stateside as of yet.