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Funny to see this thread....my wife has done voices for characters on several of these shows.
No Space Dandy fans? I thought that one had a good following?

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I think I made it through about half of the first season of Space Dandy. It was alright, but I couldn't really get into it. I watched the preview for it, read some reviews, and then bought the season off Amazon. I may go back and finish the season so I can give a full opinion on it. I think the bummer for me is that I was expecting something to be on par with Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo (Shinichiro Watanabe directed both of those as well). I have heard the Terror in Resonance was pretty good though, I figure I may give that a shot.

I really liked Space Dandy, but the bar was set so high by Cowboy Bebop and Samurai, that a silly space farce was almost jarring.

It comes together at the end though.

DBZ
Full Metal Alchemist
Black Butler (Roomed with brother of a guy that produced it/does tons of funimation voices)

watched Elfen Lied yesterday(only 13 episodes), I don't even know what to think about that one... The pacing on that was insane. It was either laid back dialogue/drama or flat out Bat-Sh**-Crazy.

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watched Elfen Lied yesterday(only 13 episodes), I don't even know what to think about that one... The pacing on that was insane. It was either laid back dialogue/drama or flat out Bat-Sh**-Crazy.

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I encourage you to wait a few weeks and rewatch the series again. It is one of my favorite short anime series.

I have seen a good bit of anime. Just finished watching Steins;Gate and it was so incredible it just ruined me for anime. Bebop, Steins;Gate, and Black Lagoon are my current favorites and every time it was the characters that made it great for me.

I haven't seen Darker than Black yet. I have heard great things though and may start it soon.

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I have seen a good bit of anime. Just finished watching Steins;Gate and it was so incredible it just ruined me for anime. Bebop, Steins;Gate, and Black Lagoon are my current favorites and every time it was the characters that made it great for me.

I haven't seen Darker than Black yet. I have heard great things though and may start it soon.

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Watch Samurai Champloo, it's right there with Cowboy Bebop (almost) IMO.

Glad to see FLCL listed.

No love for great teacher onizuka?

Just finished Death Parade, it was pretty dang good. It's only 12 episodes...

It's interesting because you can critique the character's judgements in the show, I found it extremely interesting. Another show with alot of moving parts.

Watched Evangelion..... And, what the **** was that?


Spoilers for a 20 year old cartoon below, although I assure you not much is possible to spoil.








I get that they ran out of cash for the last two episodes. I get that they remade them as a movie that maybe Ill watch some day, but maybe not since I'm pretty sure it wont answer any of the questions here.

I'm a sucker for the standard teenage boy overcomes demons and saves the day anime trope, but if the writers want a non-happy ending then so be it. I also get that some of the charm of anime is that they don't bother to always explain everything, still....

What were the Angels?
What was second impact?
What caused it?
I guess there must have been a first impact, because you know, numbering and all?
That last Angel? Sweet plot twist, but that makes no ****ing sense.
What was Adam?
What was that weird thing in the suitcase that the crazy navel battle was fought over?
How did Shinjis mom die?

The biggest thing though is that as far as I can tell, the human instrumentality project, and the quest to kill all of humanity and force them into some giant hive mind (apparently successful I guess) , doesn't seem to have much of anything to do with giant robots killing crazy ass aliens--which is kind of what the first 24 episodes of the show were about....


Wiki and the interwebs do have answers to most of this, but they are a little sketchy, and in any case while one or two unexplained things at the end of a show make for cool discussion, having to hunt down basically the entire plot online later is kind of a mess.



Cool show though

It has been a long, long time since I watched Evangelion but I do remember I had to watch it twice. First time my mind was exploding over everything going on saying "The **** is this? The **** is that?" Second time I think I caught more things that made it make sense. It also has been made into like three anime films, with another on the way IIRC. I also understand that the recent films are better than the series.

Rurouni Kenshin anyone?

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Rurouni Kenshin anyone?

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Loved that show.

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Watched Evangelion..... And, what the **** was that?


Spoilers for a 20 year old cartoon below, although I assure you not much is possible to spoil.








I get that they ran out of cash for the last two episodes. I get that they remade them as a movie that maybe Ill watch some day, but maybe not since I'm pretty sure it wont answer any of the questions here.

I'm a sucker for the standard teenage boy overcomes demons and saves the day anime trope, but if the writers want a non-happy ending then so be it. I also get that some of the charm of anime is that they don't bother to always explain everything, still....

What were the Angels?
What was second impact?
What caused it?
I guess there must have been a first impact, because you know, numbering and all?
That last Angel? Sweet plot twist, but that makes no ****ing sense.
What was Adam?
What was that weird thing in the suitcase that the crazy navel battle was fought over?
How did Shinjis mom die?

The biggest thing though is that as far as I can tell, the human instrumentality project, and the quest to kill all of humanity and force them into some giant hive mind (apparently successful I guess) , doesn't seem to have much of anything to do with giant robots killing crazy ass aliens--which is kind of what the first 24 episodes of the show were about....


Wiki and the interwebs do have answers to most of this, but they are a little sketchy, and in any case while one or two unexplained things at the end of a show make for cool discussion, having to hunt down basically the entire plot online later is kind of a mess.



Cool show though

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Haven't seen the most recent 2(or 3), but I can confirm that the movies are super high quality in terms of animation. Definitely some of the best ever made in terms of production value...

Yes I need to finish the movies, but it's hard finding them on bluray(which they should be seen in) without buying.

Serious question: what is the appeal of anime?

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Serious question: what is the appeal of anime?

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It's fun.

The Japanese turned cartoons into an art form and you can do things in animation that just don't work in live action. I think it comes done to the fact that suspension of disbelief is just much easier to obtain when you are watching animation. So something that would look totally stupid in live action can instead be seen as pretty awesome. Add in the quirks of Japanese culture, the fact that they take this **** seriously, and the high quality of the artwork and you can end up with a medium for telling really cool stories.

Of course none of this really applies if you think cartoons are just dumb, but even most people who would find anime series unwatchably stupid can appreciate the craft work in something like Spirited Away or The Secret World of Arriarty.

The creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion has recreated the series if you're interested in watching it again. He's still working on the fourth (of four) feature films that retell the original series as he'd like it to be now without budget constraints. The first three are pretty cheap on Amazon.

Rebuild of Evangelion

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Serious question: what is the appeal of anime?

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It's fun.

The Japanese turned cartoons into an art form and you can do things in animation that just don't work in live action.

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This is the main appeal, any live action film is constrained by set or props. The use of CGI has closed the gap but it is still extremely expensive to make. So the best way to tackle an "out there" story is through animation.

Just finished Death Parade and I don't know what to think. It seems like after a season they've only revealed a tip of the iceberg. I love the world setup, the arbiters, and the games but I'm left wanting more. I'd be interest to see if anyone else has seen it.

It's time to revive this thread. There is a new Ghost in the Shell movie coming apparently, and it picks up after the Ghost in the Shell: Arise series.

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It's time to revive this thread. There is a new Ghost in the Shell movie coming apparently, and it picks up after the Ghost in the Shell: Arise series.

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Looks interesting, but I haven't seen anything from this series. Would I need to start from the 90's series, or is there a modern reboot of some sort?

Arise is like 4 episodes long, about an hour each. Previous knowledge isn't required since Arise is in a new continuity separate from the standalone complex.

One Punch Man is a great satire.

So I've been curious about the newer version of DBZ and I'm somewhat ashamed to admit I am watching the DBZ Kai for fun. It is still slow at parts but definitely better than the original.

I just can't resist moments like Goku turning super saiyan from my childhood. Still love that show.

For anyone that grew up with Gundam Wing, check out Aldnoah Zero. It's a new mech series with the modern animation style. Season 1 is on Netflix.

Also Steins;Gate might be one of the best animes ever. Any anime or sci-fi fan should also check it out. It starts slow but there's a reason for it, stick with it to episode 6, by the end of episode 12 I swear you'll be hooked. Just be prepared for the withdrawals you get after finishing the show.

Also has anyone seen Monster? I've heard it's worth seeing.

Former roommates brother is Ian Sinclair of Funimation. Watched a lot of his stuff that he produced into english (Black Butler/Space Dandy) and of course DBZ (where he voices Wiz in the movies)

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For anyone that grew up with Gundam Wing, check out Aldnoah Zero. It's a new mech series with the modern animation style. Season 1 is on Netflix.

Also Steins;Gate might be one of the best animes ever. Any anime or sci-fi fan should also check it out. It starts slow but there's a reason for it, stick with it to episode 6, by the end of episode 12 I swear you'll be hooked. Just be prepared for the withdrawals you get after finishing the show.

Also has anyone seen Monster? I've heard it's worth seeing.

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FWIW, Aldnoah the first season was good and I really enjoyed it (I actually made some posts about it earlier in the thread IIRC). The second season was alright, but I think the main reason I kept with it was just to finish the story. It's kind of hard to follow up the ending of season 1 and not be disappointed in season 2 IMO.

Steins;Gate is still on my list of things to finish. I think I've started it several times and just never actually finished out watching the entire series.

Monster is also on my list of things to watch eventually, albeit further down the list.

Personally, also on Netflix I think I've started season two of Knights of Sidonia several times but still haven't finished it yet either..... I don't even remember season 1 so that may be a problem...

In regards to other anime on Netflix, if none of you have seen Psycho-Pass you should. Only season 1 is on Netflix. Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit is also a decent fantasy anime. Sword Art Online season 1 is pretty good, the second series is kinda meh.

Agreed on your thoughts regarding Aldnoah. With the way season 1 ended... well let's just say I can't wait for them to dub season 2.

Also I saw psycho pass and thought it was pretty good, I would recommend it too. In a similar vein check out darker than black it's an interesting one.

I also saw the second season of Sword Art Online, and while it's obviously building it doesn't have the feel of the first season. Though I really liked the Gun Gale Arc.

I've actually seen both Darker than Black seasons. I had to rewatch the second series because I had a tough time figuring out initially how it fit into the story from the first season.

I had hoped that the Gun Gale arc was going to be longer in the second season dealing with Kirito being more of a detective style character at that point, but that didn't happen. However, the feels in the Sleeping Knights arc in season two....

Oh the feels over the Sleeping Knights. You are right though that Gun Gale had a ton of potential.

If I have 1 gripe for SAO its that each arc is a completely different anime style.

Also I forgot to mention but Baccano! is also an amazing anime, on par with FMA:B in terms of plot complexity.

That appears to be the consensus. I especially hate where the final movie of the original series left the characters. The way I see it the first series only serves to help develop the characters so there can be all the action in Brotherhood.

I'm a little torn on FMA. Brotherhood is clearly a superior series, and yet there were things I did like more about the first one. For one thing the pacing for the first half of the run allowed for a lot more character development. Episode 10 of Brotherhood hit the major plot point that is in episode 26 of the original. This was out of necessity I guess since the original show was made before the manga was done. Still I kind of missed all the side adventures and interesting characters. After episode 26, the original goes off the rails a bit because they were out of source material, but I still kind of liked how the homunculus were developed. The movie was just bad.


Moving on, since the last thread bump I have watched:

Soul Eater. It's pretty dumb. It kind of redeems itself at the end, but if I had it to do over I would probably skip it.

Knights of Sidonia. I thought this was awesome. Really well done. I would have liked the second season to do more backstory and maybe less love triangle, but overall a really cool anime. I hope they do a third season.

Durarara. I liked it although it got a little close to the YA novel territory. I'm an old guy watching Japanese cartoons, I don't need to feel extra creepy about it.

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Moving on, since the last thread bump I have watched:

Soul Eater. It's pretty dumb. It kind of redeems itself at the end, but if I had it to do over I would probably skip it.

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I enjoyed it when I watched it initially (it's been a bit since I did). It's not something that I would typically recommend or go out of my way to watch.

Been an anime n manga nerd since around 6th grade. The handsdown best ive come across is One Piece. The art is alittle unusual at first but the story and characters are SO good lol. If your more into the fighting and action its action is great as well.
Gotta say i love Naruto Shippuden as well. The ninja war arc has been crazy.
This next one is wayyyyyy darker than most anime but that only adds to how awesome it is. Berserk has easily the craziest ending ive ever seen.
Other recommendations:
Yu Yu Hakusho
Gundam 08th ms team
G Gundam
Shingetsutantsukimi(been hard for me to find it again though)
Air Gear
Wolfs Rain
FLCL
Fma Brotherhood
Tengen Toppa Guren Lagan
Scrapped princess
Honey and Clover