Anime/Manga thread

[Igoy]

I've recently been watching the Ranma 1/2 anime. It's one of those series' I've always wanted to watch but never got round to it. Currently on Season 3, and whilst some of the story lines drag out a bit, it's pretty good. I love the relationship between Ranma and Akane.

Not really a huge fan of anime though, all the ones I've seen are the generic ones; Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Tenchy Muyo!, Dragonball Z, Naruto etc.

 

[Sjosz]

Latest finished series I've watched is Soul Eater. Very pretty animation from the guys who did Full Metal Alchemist. (also highly recommended)
Deathnote is probably still one of my favourites.

Then there's all the Ghibli stuff; I'm surprised to only see a single mention of one of their films in here. Howl's Moving Castle, Nausicaa, Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, all great animation flicks.

 

[FuLLBLeeD]

Latest finished series I've watched is Soul Eater. Very pretty animation from the guys who did Full Metal Alchemist. (also highly recommended)
Deathnote is probably still one of my favourites.

Then there's all the Ghibli stuff; I'm surprised to only see a single mention of one of their films in here. Howl's Moving Castle, Nausicaa, Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, all great animation flicks.

Soul Eater is by the same studio that did Fullmetal Alchemist correct? In that case I would probably enjoy it.

 

[Zarniwoop]

I watched Akira for the first time yesterday, awesome stuff.

 

[Capt.Toilet]

Though I hate to admit it I was a fan of DBZ.

Snuck in a bit of Tenchi Muyo, Big-O, and Outlaw Star as well.

Don't own very many DVD's, apart from Golden Boy, Vampire Hunter D, Berserk, and 2 Lupin the 3rd movies.

Goddamn why am I admitting this

 

[Sjosz]

Soul Eater is by the same studio that did Fullmetal Alchemist correct? In that case I would probably enjoy it.

Yes, and yes you would. And the show's completed so no waiting for new episodes.


On a side note, Great Teacher Onizuka deserves mention, it's a really awesome show.

 

[NeoNite]

homer vs vegeta

 

[anaemic]

Anime, serious art

 

[FuLLBLeeD]

Has anyone here seen Claymore? Yay or nay? Has it gotten a dub yet?

 

[Sjosz]

Has anyone here seen Claymore? Yay or nay? Has it gotten a dub yet?

Yes, yay-ish, and I don't know, I watch subs.

 

[FuLLBLeeD]

Yes, yay-ish, and I don't know, I watch subs.

I'll have to check it out then. Over winter break I will be bored out of my mind at a relative's house so its prime anime watching time. I showed my cousin some YouTube clips of Cowboy Bebop and she said she really wanted to watch it so I'll probably watch that too.

 

[Defeat]

99% of mangas and anime are derivative garbage.

Your 99% for derivative garbage anime (I don't read manga) is way too high brah :{ maybe 65% and just for yourself. There is a decent ammount of good stuff out there. Maybe you just got exposed to the bad stuff. A good amount of animes have deeper meanings and are much better than most movies or shows I've watched. With anime a person can do much more than one can with real people and CGI.

Anyway I really haven't watch any anime in a year+ besides Claymore (subbed, I do both but I really don't mind which as long as I like the anime) which I liked but the ending left me hanging. Anyone know if they are planning on making more?

Main ones that I've seen and liked and remember as of right now:
-Bleach- I loved this series up to the ending of the soul society then it got dumb for me so I stopped watching
-Naruto- Was cool until the filler hit. I can't remember what episode I stopped on
-Hellsing- Awesome anime
-Cowboy Bebop- A classic anime, I've even seen the movie
-DBZ-What kid didn't watch this. I tried getting back into it but it's just not the same as when I was younger
-Neon Genesis Evangeline- Oh shi son, one of the more interesting animes, still hoping for a live action of it
-Elfen Lied- An interesting anime
-Death Note- I watched the first season but not the second since it changed the mood too much which was one of the main things I liked about the first season
-Full Metal Alchemist- I'd put this up by Cowboy Bebop as one of the better animes out there.

I've watched a good amount more, I'll post the rest of my list when I get back my collection. A friend has it right now D:

 

[FuLLBLeeD]

Live action EVA would be really hard to pull off, but apparently it is in the works. How can you possibly condense that many episodes and two movies into one movie? And what would you do about the ending?

I'm more concerned about the Cowboy Bebop live action movie. If they use Nickelback or some **** instead of the show's soundtrack I swear to God I am going to find Keanu Reeves and **** down his neck.

 

[Jacks:Revenge]

I'm one of those typical American white kids who was introduced to anime through the original Ghost in the Shell and Akira due to the cult popularity they gained in the US. it wasn't until I actually sat down and watched these movies as a serious critic that I realized they aren't just great anime, they represent great film making in general.

but so often, as soon as I say this, some anime fanboy nerd will appear like clockwork and try to claim that Ghost and Akira are terrible anime because they are so popular with Western audiences. I never understood this logic, but whatever.

I still think they're both great movies.
and in the end, I don't know why some anime fans would get so upset by it. as long as people are being introduced to the genre, it shouldn't matter how.

since then I've obviously branched out.
I'm still not really into manga, I mean if I'm going to read a comic book I favor American-style comics. but as anime goes, I've become a big fan of standalone movies. and what I mean is, movies that are made out of individual stories and not connected to some TV series or whatever.

but to be fair, a buddy of mine did make me watch the Cowboy Beebop feature length film a couple years ago and I ended up really enjoying it. it held up really well on its own and didn't require the viewer to be an expert with the Beebop world as it exists from the TV show.

someone should give me some recommendations for other good, standalone anime movies.
they're hard to find and I don't know of any anime clubs on my campus

 

[drakon]

Paprika, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle are some enjoyable films. At least to me they are.

 

[Defeat]

OK time to continue my list of anime I've seen and liked D:

-Akira- Was one of the original big ones iirc
-Appleseed- Standalone movie
-Berserk- I absolutely loved this anime, it's in with my grouping of CB and FMA
-Black Lagoon- Boats and stuff!
-Blood- I haven't gotten around to finishing it but I need to but I saw the movie first
-Desert Punk- WOW I hated and liked this anime at the same time. It went against nearly every standard set for main characters for bad/good. It was an interesting watch
-Fooly Cooly- :3 This is an interesting anime, only 6 episodes D:
-Full Metal Panic- Watched pretty much every episode they put out in the little sets or whatever
-Ghost in the Shell- I'll get around to watching the anime episodes someday but I loved the original movie and the second one. Pretty sure there is a third one out.
-Grenadier- Girls and Guns
-Gungrave- I need to watch the rest of this
-Love Hina- Yes I watched this
-Mahou Sensei Negima- And I watched this too
-Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya- A very interesting anime D:
-One Piece- I need more episodes of this, I actually like it. MONKEY D LUFFY >:}
-Rurouni Kenshin- I really need to finish this, I've watched maybe half of it so far and liked it
-Samurai 7- One of the ones I was recommended and liked
-Samurai Champloo- Up there with CB, FMA, Berserk; maybe not as high though
-Trigun- Oh shi son, one of my first real animes that my friend was addicted to. This one is up there with CB, FMA, Berserk
-Wolf's Rain- I need to finish this, it was ok when I stopped
-Perfect Blue- Interesting anime movie

 

[SleepyHe4d]

but so often, as soon as I say this, some anime fanboy nerd will appear like clockwork and try to claim that Ghost and Akira are terrible anime because they are so popular with Western audiences.

Gits did suck, but not because of popularity or anything, it was just a bad movie in general. I mean come on, the pacing was bad and the story was all over the place and felt meaningless. Not the overall story, just specific things and parts of the movie. Don't get me wrong, it was entertaining and worth a watch, but meh.

Akira was also entertaining and had it's moments. Good ones. In other places it wasn't that great though. Still better than Gits.

someone should give me some recommendations for other good, standalone anime movies.
they're hard to find and I don't know of any anime clubs on my campus

I know there will be people that disagree with this, but to me a very good all around anime movie (besides some Ghibli movies of course) is Ninja Scroll. That to me is just a good movie, even when compared to live action classics.

Also, I can't believe I almost forgot, Samurai X. Another very good anime movie, but the style/genre might not be for everyone. Kinda melodramatic, like The Notebook, but with killing.

Crap another edit. Sword of the Stranger is another very good stand alone movie imo. I enjoyed that quite a bit.

Screw it, just look at this: http://myanimelist.net/animelist/SleepyHe4d
and sort by rating, or type (if you wanna see movies only). Be warned though, some of the ratings I gave are pretty inaccurate of what I think, I need to fix that. Was in a rush to rate everything at one point.

 

[Freon]

I go to a Japanese Language School. You wouldn't believe how many people are there from abroad to learn Japanese just because of 13 year old girls in mangas.

Don't worry, it gets better when as you progress. When I was in school, in the first and second levels, the age average was around 20 and it was chock-full with anime fanboys and fangirls. In the higher level, the average age jumped to 30 and nobody seemed to care about anime.

Now that I live in Japan, my view of anime and aanga has changed a lot. There are some very respected anime and manga out there, but it's never what's popular in Europe or in the USA. Kids show like Doraemon or Gegege no Kitaro, manga like Sazae-san. Everybody knows that in Japan because it's been around for 40 or 50 years.

My (japanese) girlfriend is definitely not an otaku, but while she was pregnant she read a lot of manga about pregnancy and raising kids. These manga are most often written in a diary format, with the author being the main character. There are hundreds of manga like this, about food, love, sex and so on, most of the time they are aimed at women. All these manga will probably never be released outside of Japan.

 

[Bi()ha2arD]

but so often, as soon as I say this, some anime fanboy nerd will appear like clockwork and try to claim that Ghost and Akira are terrible anime because they are so popular with Western audiences. I never understood this logic, but whatever.

BUT IT CANNOT BE GOOD AND MAINSTREAM AT THE SAME TIEM!!1!!!!11

 

[Mister_Prophet]

I'd always advise reading Mangas of popular Animes as well, since they are usually better, and dubbing can often be a terrible bane for English crossovers. I would have to agree that a great majority of the anime I've seen is convoluted in its storytelling (although this tends to be a Japanese thing in general, I've noticed) and juvenile in its content, but some of it is quite good.

I don't need to mirror what's been said about Akira, since my experience was similar to people like Jack's. I was a kid when I watched it, and it totally blew me away. Not just because it was so hard and violent in a way I hadn't seen in a cartoon, but because there was actually a story and world that was so unique to me. Consequently, I haven't seen one since that really resonated with me on that level as far as "film animes" are concerned, and while I enjoy movies like Ninja Scroll and Ghost In The Shell, they are far less sophisticated than Akira. Since Akira, the only other "anime" films I'd put on the same tier as Akira, or close to it, would be the films by Miyazaki, which are remarkable for their animation. But I should say, I consider all these films, the same way I consider anything Pixar does, a film. I don't believe that there is a difference between such things as a movie or an animated movie. Movies are movies to me.

As for anime shows, the only one I would put as high as any film variations is the miniseries Berserk. Berserk is just exceptional, even if the animation has more in common with standard anime (in terms of technical stuff) and lacks the streamlined, fully dynamic touch seen in Akira or Miyazaki movies. The story and characters are what this one does well, and characters like Guts, Casca, Griffith, and the others are as memorable to me, or more so, than the ones in Akira.

Pretty much all the ones you guys mentioned in this thread besides those, I've seen. Not really for me. I've also seen quite a bit of Inuyasha, since my girlfriend has an obsession with it. I understand how they can be fun to watch, but they aren't very compelling.