The General Manga/Anime Topic

[Parabox]

Yeah, this one wasn't around, surprisingly. Especially if you know how many people on here read manga and/or watch anime. So discuss your favourite mangaka/anime here, list them, recommend them, discuss genres, whatever.

I have watched: Fullmetal Alchemist, Dragon Ball/Z/GT, Gundam Wing, Guyver OVA
and am watching: Gintama, One Piece, Hellsing Ultimate and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Really fond of the length of the Hellsing Ultimate OVAs.

[interdpth]

Watched: Gundam, Gundam Wing, DB/Z/GT, Pokemon, Digimon, Yu Yu Hakusho, Tenchi Muyo, and so many more.
Reading: Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach.


My favorite Anime of all time is Digimon. Hands down, Digimon.

[Quietus]

I haven't watched that many, but I loved the cleverness of Death Note.  I like some of the movies too, such as Violence Jack, Fist of the North Star, and Ninja Scroll.  Also, one of the best things I recall seeing was an episode of Ghost Hunt, involving a lost boy.  The show was average at best, and even annoying at times, but this episode really stands out.

[zephyrtronium]

I loved the cleverness of Death Note.

See, I watched Death Note right after watching Code Geass, and all I saw were mediocre attempts at being clever. Code Geass, for the most part, was able to retain a good degree of plausibility in the schemes, but Death Note didn't even seem to try.

[personitis]

Well... can't say I watch anime, but I sure as hell have a good anime girl folder. Does that count? xD I dunno, I never really got into watching animes. All I ever watched while I was younger was DBZ, Gundam (don't remember anything x.x), and .hack (not a lot). =\

[Digital_Mantra]

To name a few:

Serial Experiments Lain:
Suicides, the Internet (The Wired), ghosts, and a story that will fuck your brain.
One of the best soundtracks ever too. 13 episodes.
[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaFayr9zI-8[/spoiler]

Boogiepop Phantom:
A puzzle anime, each 13 episodes revolves around a different character in the same city dealing with the same anomaly.
You have to piece it all together. Loads of gore and weird shit. Very deep and twisted storylines.
[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKpB6NHXXPg[/spoiler]

Key The Metal Idol:
A little robot girl has to make 30,000 friends to become human. But that's not saying much.
This is a very dark story loaded with gore and nudity.
[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnVadiEeQWk[/spoiler]

Berserk:
I don't usually watch medieval anime but watching this is more addictive than crack.
There is so much depth to the characters. Also one of the most climactic endings ever to grace an anime.
About 1 tonne of blood was spilt during this series.
[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VWlkJkklaU[/spoiler]

Cat Soup:
A 30 minute short about a cat trying to save his sisters soul. Warped concepts and crazy visuals.
[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWJPXQGYmhI&feature=related[/spoiler]


Anything by Satoshi Kon. Anything.

Perfect Blue:
A total mindfuck revolving around neurosis, psychosis, and the loss of identity. Great music too.
[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0Rj7nn0ZVs&feature=related[/spoiler]

Paprika:
A dream device for psycho-therapy involving the therapist and the patient. Like 'The Cell' but much different.
[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJzEW_eE1G0&feature=related[/spoiler]

Paranoia Agent:
13 episodes of pure awesome. Right when you're thinking 'I figured it out', a new element comes into play.
[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoFzOylI8s0&feature=related[/spoiler]

Other good ones:
[spoiler]Nausicaa
Texhnolyze
Cowboy Bebop
3x3 eyes
Samurai Champloo
Jin-Roh
Last Exile
Akira
Kurogane Communications
Princess Mononoke
Haibane Renmei
Ghost in the Shell (both films and series)
Ergo Proxy
Those who hunt Elves
Kino's Journey
Macross Plus
Trigun
DBZ (at times)[/spoiler]

Probably missing some gems but all my anime is packed in boxes behind boxes behind boxes.

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

ugh.. this place is turning into the tasteless preference dome known as m2k2.
i'll post some good anime when i feel like enlightening you noobs.

Let me see what you got then.

Edit: I haven't watched any in a couple of months. Primarily because I started to get the hang of Super Metroid hacking and using OpenMPT.

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Hmmm.. not sure whether or not to avoid this thread like the plague... I'll just post some stuff I read/watch and then forgot to check here again later, hopefully.

Ranma 1/2 - I always loved the show as a teenager in high school, thought it was a lot of fun. Little perversity here and there but never taken to the awful extreme I see far too many animes go. I know the later seasons got a bit funny and kinda disappointed fans, but thankfully I only ever got to see up to Season 4 or 5 cause in ye olde days of VHS tapes that's as far as they'd gotten. Excellent English dubbing, good music. Never read the manga, I get the feeling that it'd lose something though. It's one thing to see a picture of a funny little pan with a pair of panties, and another to wattch him put them on his head and act like he's in heaven, only to be clobbered into a distant star. Don't really get that feeling in mangas, I notice...

Tenchi Muyo - Musta had about 3-4 shows now. Can't say I liked them all. I enjoyed the original 12 (or 13) episodes of the OVA series that were on VHS as well as the Tenchi Universe TV series. Excellent stuff, wonderful dubbing.. shame what they did later on with the show, felt it lost something during the transition. Then again I also felt that Pioneer Animation was changing around that time. I mean look what happened to El Hazard's second OVA season (or was it the third?) where they ended it by caving into the fan service with a revist to the baths... always dislike unnecessary fan service, especially when everything up until that episode was pretty good at keeping it from going tasteless.

El Hazard - Another good series, loved the OVA and TV series, even if they were as different as night and day.

Honestly don't read a lot of Manga, as I don't like having a ton of books piling up. Already have that problem with Dragon Ball, Mega Man Battle Network, and Zelda. But eh... Mind you all those anime were the staple of my youth. Don't know if I can really recommend anime TODAY...

Fruits Basket was kinda nice, but I ain't finished watching it just yet. I don't think I'd enjoy the manga..

I could go into non-anime but still Japanese shows, though... been watching Ultraman, some good stuff. Pity it took so long for them to get the rights back, hoping to see more of the series get out here soon...

Oh, I could go on about the ol' Gigantor and Astroboy anime. Some pretty damn good stuff, them. I dunno how many of the younger generation would sit down to watch 'em though, seeing as how they're in black and white and all that... with goofy animation and sometimes little continuity, if any at all. But all in all, they were some good shows. Speed Racer too. I can't say the same for the newer versions, especially those movies... but the originals were pretty good. I DID genuinely like New Gigantor/Shin Tetsujin-28.

That isn't to mistake it for Giant Robo, however. I watched that and it was pretty good, but I think it totally lost something and left me exceedingly depressed after I watched it. Not a feel good series, unlike how Astro Boy and Gigantor normally are. Even the remake of Astro Boy that was from 2000 or so was pretty dark at times, but managed to be light-hearted for the most part. Poor Ginrei...

[Zhs2]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

I personally like Gin Tama and Bo-bobo, but have read neither in a long long while. I'm also watching quite a few eroge anime at the moment...

ugh.. this place is turning into the tasteless preference dome known as m2k2.
i'll post some good anime when i feel like enlightening you noobs.

I've never been able to understand why opinions are like assholes when everybody likes to share opinions and not so much of the other. At least we don't have moderators who preach "cool points or gtfo!"... wait a minute...

[Digital_Mantra]

Sorry for my initial post, I was just having a traumatic flashback of m2k2.
I was actually afraid since an anime thread opened here, some might migrate here.
I'll prep up a list of decent ones and add it to my first post.

[Quietus]

The best way to get over the 'm2k2' thing would be to probably not mention it at all.

[Crashtour99]

I've never read manga, but probably seen way to much anime to ever list here.
Currently downloading tv rips of Requiem From the Darkness.  It's pretty dark and macabre, but a pretty good storyline.
Probably going to start watching Gasaraki again pretty soon.  It starts out slow but picks up pace pretty quickly and keeps going.  By the end you're thinking "how the hell are they going to wrap this up in 3 episodes!?".  LOL

I've always liked anime that incorporates myths/legends/religion/occult stuffs.  I mean hell, how many people realize that the chant Katsumi Liqueur uses in Silent Möbius is a modified version of the Golden Dawn's Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram?

[Hiroshi Mishima]

So I lied, I'm posting one more thing. In reference to Zeke's pic in the Spoiler Tag.. that's exactly how I felt about anime when I was buying tons of VHS tapes back in my high school/junior high years. I must have 100 VHS tapes of Doctor Who (not an anime) and probably almost as many of Dragon Ball Z, Tenchi, Ranma, Slayers, and so forth. I actually own all of the Tenchi OVA and TV series, most of Season 1-4 of Ranma, DBZ up through the beginning of the Cell Saga, all of the El Hazard, first season of Slayers, and a few other shows... Including a couple of Sailor Moon tapes. I really liked the show in junior high.

[Chozunsda]

Anime is.. meh. I like Manga!

I currently follow The Big 3, Mahou Sensei Negima, and Fairy Tale.

I have fully read Elfen Leid(sp?), Gash Bell, Ruroni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakisho, Rave Master, Death Note, Love Hina, FMA, Azumanga Daioh(lol..), and some of the Kingdom Hearts/Zelda mini mangas. Im sure there are a ton more im forgetting. Most of these are great series and I would recommend mostly all of them. 

[squishy_ichigo]

bump

yeah, so I don't know why I didn't post in this topic before.... maybe it was DMan's original post....

Easily my favorite anime is Fruits Basket, with Baccano! in a close second.  I've seen my share of good and shitty anime alike, and really don't see any point in naming all of them. :P

Funny how some of the best anime are obscure ones no one talks about.

[Silver Skree]

>good
>shitty
>best

All depends on your taste, remember. And yes, there are many people that have terrible taste.  :heheh:

[Big Gay Cell]

Perfect Blue

Holy crap, I love that movie...!  I officially have a new found respect for you, DMan.

[Digital_Mantra]

Umm, thanks for the new found respect? ...or was my reference very nostalgic for you.

Just realized that I forgot to mention FLCL. I liked that one too.

Been watching dragonball since that whole shows been given the 'royal, affordable, boxset treatment'.
Also, I only bought them cause hell.. it's got nostalgic value.

I see pokemon and naruto fans, they were just born 5-10 years after me.
Nostalgia when it comes to televised anime really narrows down to your age.
Some people 5-10 years older than me would be saying orig gundam or whatever.
I love the generation gap. It fits us somewhere nostalgically.

I wouldn't say it determines our taste in anime though. I've strayed into the esoteric and I was a major db/dbz/sailor moon fan around 92-95'.

[interdpth]

I just finished watching Digimon all movies and anime except for the latest xross wars.
I must say the entire series has a really deep dark aspect to it and deals with a ton of death, and there's obvious but no obvious innuendo.

But you still really connect with the characters and grow to love them. It may look kiddie, but it's amazing. And the dub is actually good.

Can't wait to start xross wars :)

[Crashtour99]

I actually thought Digimon Tamers (3rd season?) seemed exceptionally dark for a kids show.  Was pretty good too.

[interdpth]

Yeah, Tamers was awesome, especially with the actual death of Jeri's Leomon instead of it coming back as a Digi-Egg I was watching the Revenge of Diaboromon, and later in the movie, Omnimons arm just fall the hell off and he drops almost dead. It was so great.

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Something I've always wanted to see and I don't know if I'll ever get that chance.. I always wanted to watch the original 2 seasons of Digimon Adventure in their subbed form, but it was too hard to find, so I just ended up downloading the various series in English cause it was right there in a massive torrent, except the movies were in Japanese which was good.

I have fond memories of growing up and watching Digimon as a teenager. Loved the show to death. I did like Tamers, but I also felt it was mishandled over here in them still thinking it was a kids show. I'm surprised they didn't pull it midway through like they did with Astro Boy and some of the other shows that got started and later made them nervous. By the time Tamers had come out, I'd already played Digimon World 1 and 2 and was familiar with Digimon we'd never see for years and had longed to see more of what we didn't get until later. But after Tamers it became hard to find Digimon on TV or it came on at weird times. I didn't even KNOW about Frontier until I caught an episode one day, and I only found out about Data Squad like 3 years ago.

When I get my other computer set up I can store some of the shows on it so I can finally sit down and watch/enjoy Tamers, Frontier and Data Squad instead of having to go it 2 or 3 episodes at a time. I DO genuinely feel like something left Digimon when it went from Adventure to Tamers, but at the same time, it still had an appeal, I just need to find that again.


To CHANGE the subject, however... another anime I got into recently was Aria. I actually haven't watched hardly any of it but I got my hands on boxed sets of Season 1 and Season 2 Part 1. Look forwards to watching them later on when I remember. May go looking around for Dirty Pair or Saber Marionette J later, too.

[Silver Skree]

For the 3 months that I've been up at my Grandmother's, I've also been able to frequently visit my brother, since he now lives in an apartment in the next city over. I told him about this anime that I found during some Random-ing on BakaBT.
Aria the Animation. Over the past 3 months, we watched the 13 episodes that constitute it together, and finished it tonight.

Really good. I don't know if I'd recommend it if you're the kind of person that doesn't care for slow paced or calm anime, but if that's your cup of tea, you'll definitely want to check this out. As I've implied, very good watch with other people present (though that may depend on the tact and taste of your guest, so whatever). Every episode starts you off with this brief little setup and segues into the opening song, which is so... ahh, it makes me melt away into the heartwarming atmosphere everytime. The characters' personalities are balanced perfectly, too, and--

Look, you'll just have to check this out for yourself. Highly recommended.

[Lunaria]

Something I've always wanted to see and I don't know if I'll ever get that chance.. I always wanted to watch the original 2 seasons of Digimon Adventure in their subbed form, but it was too hard to find, so I just ended up downloading the various series in English cause it was right there in a massive torrent, except the movies were in Japanese which was good.

Actually, I watched all of season one and 02 on youtube, subbed of course. :p

Anyhow, if you want to see the latest, now running, series subbed, then you can find it here: [Link]
Season six, Xros wars. <3

It's quite good, 15 episodes have been subbed so far, check in once a week for update. :p

[Parabox]

So I've finished Great Teacher Onizuka a week ago and need something new.

Now, so far you've recommended me a lot of seinen (maturer-aimed anime), while I am currently somewhere between more serious shonen (kids-aimed anime) and less serious seinen, such as Fullmetal Alchemist.

Now as I've liked a lot of similarities between GTO and Gintama, I'd like to see you try recommend me something along the lines of that, which is either serious shonen or less serious seinen.

tl;dr MOAR ANIME, MOAR I SAY!