General anime discussion thread

TTCleveland said:

I loved FLCL, but... every episode just left me thinking "what the f..."

Years later, I still don't understand it. It seems like either a) it has some deeper meaning that I have been missing all these years. or b) it was made to seem like it had a deeper meaning. or perhaps c) it's just meant to be wacky and make no sense.

If I had to guess I'd say... eh... something about maturity and growing up?

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According to all the random reviews of it I've read, it's basically a coming-of-age story. Though, I have yet to see it. (But I kind of want to...)

I finally watched the first episode of Ore no Imouto, and it was... huh. Not... bad. I somewhat liked the interactions of the characters? But the actual... game... things... kind of creeped me out. ...but I might at least try another few episodes. Just in case. But I don't know yet.

Also started watching Axis Powers Hetalia, which was HUGE among my "otaku" friends in high school. I love it. It's soooo cute! Adorableness overload! And I actually like that each episode is only like 5 minutes long. And the characters are awesome. (I still fail to see how it could offend someone, but sometimes people take parodies too seriously to see the humor, and anyway not everyone is as disarmed by cuteness as I am, so... eh.) But, yeah.

I'm behind on every new show I started watching this and last season. Probably has to do with this thing called "school" that randomly started up again... >.<

I never really got FLCL; that's probably why I didn't watch it as much as everyone else. I just didn't get what was going on. Haha.

TTCleveland said:

If I had to guess I'd say... eh... something about maturity and growing up?

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LilliCray said:

According to all the random reviews of it I've read, it's basically a coming-of-age story. Though, I have yet to see it. (But I kind of want to...)

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Basically.

I finally watched the first episode of Ore no Imouto, and it was... huh. Not... bad. I somewhat liked the interactions of the characters? But the actual... game... things... kind of creeped me out. ...but I might at least try another few episodes. Just in case. But I don't know yet.

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Got something against eroge?

Silver-Midnight said:

I never really got FLCL; that's probably why I didn't watch it as much as everyone else. I just didn't get what was going on. Haha.

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As everything has mentioned, the basic story is about maturity and growing up.

If anyone's confused about the literal plot that's going on with Haruko, Canti, Nauta's head, Medical Mechanica, Atomsk, and Amaroa's organization, I can post a brief (spoilering) synopsis of what's actually going on. It's pretty straightforward (but quirky) sci-fi; it's just mostly implied rather than told directly.

The plot is basically Eva lite.

kuwisdelu said:

Got something against eroge?

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Well, yeah. I'm just not into anything with explicit sexual themes or other stuff involved. Not my cup of tea.

Which occasionally makes it hard to enjoy a show of any language if there are many many sexual jokes/references/whatever. But usually I can just ignore it...

I think I'm starting into more of a horror phase again. Not straight up despair horror, but horrific elements... which reminds me I need to catch up on Another.

And all the other series I've started.

...I hate school sometimes.

If you're getting into horror, then you may like Ghost Hunter and Hellsing, if you haven't seen them yet. Well, Hellsing tends to be more action oriented, but there is a decent amount of horror elements to it also. Particularly in the second episode, Club M.

Horror?

I'm assuming you've already watched Higurashi?

Hmm.

I recommend Shiki.

And currently-airing Mirai Nikki isn't exactly horror, but some parts sure play like it.

kuwisdelu said:

I *finally* started Revolutionary Girl Utena. Yes, despite my love of Evangelion, I didn't manage to get to Utena until after Star Driver and Penguindrum. Amazing, no?

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That's great! First impressions? I've been nervous for a long time that you won't like it.

I just finished Bakemonogatari today, since you said you like it. It was cool. The art was similar to the art in Madoka Magica, which was explained when I read that the animation studio SHAFT made them both.

But what's with Japanese vampires? In both Rosario+Vampire and in Bakemonogatari they are stated to be the most powerful spirit. Is there a cultural background to this?

About horror:

Kara no Kyoukai has paranormal elements, but I was thinking today that it is not a true horror since the protagonist is too competent.

The only horror experience I remember from anime is the shock I got from you know what scene in Another. I have seen half of Higurashi and I will try Shiki.

If you read manga I would recommend the weird horror series Uzumaki by Junji Ito. They made a live-action movie too.

I haven't seen Higurashi, though I have been meaning to watch it--along with seventy-five-bajillion other shows >.<. Have been a little leery of it since it seems fairly dark and it's been awhile since I've been in the mood for really dark stuff.

Uzumaki? Hm, not much one for manga... but I have been reading Claymore lately, and haven't been having much of a problem with it. Largely because the art style is such that I can actually make out what's happening in an action/battle sequence instead of my brain going "Gah! Lines! Can only see lines, not what lines are depicting!", but... I may give it a try.

Thanks for the suggestions. Will definitely be keeping them in mind.

Camilla Delvalle said:

If you read manga I would recommend the weird horror series Uzumaki by Junji Ito. They made a live-action movie too.

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Is that the one where a town gets "possessed" by spirals? (If so, I've seen the live action movie. Loved the weirdness.)

@vampires: as far as I know, vampires are "import monsters", though there might be some related stuff in the native mythology (I'm not an expert).

Camilla Delvalle said:

That's great! First impressions? I've been nervous for a long time that you won't like it.

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I'm loving it, of course. How could I not enjoy the shoujo-counterpart of Eva? I'm enjoying all of the liner notes that came with the remastered version, too.

I just finished Bakemonogatari today, since you said you like it. It was cool. The art was similar to the art in Madoka Magica, which was explained when I read that the animation studio SHAFT made them both.

But what's with Japanese vampires? In both Rosario+Vampire and in Bakemonogatari they are stated to be the most powerful spirit. Is there a cultural background to this?

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I don't know of any. I think like in Western fiction, it's just one of those author-decides things.

LilliCray said:

I haven't seen Higurashi, though I have been meaning to watch it--along with seventy-five-bajillion other shows >.<. Have been a little leery of it since it seems fairly dark and it's been awhile since I've been in the mood for really dark stuff.

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>in the mood for horror
>not in the mood for dark stuff

*is really confused*

Higurashi isn't a really all that dark, just gruesome in its spirals. It certainly has its dark parts, but overall I wouldn't call it dark. But then I may be biased. I like End of Eva, after all.

Just re-watched a few episodes of Eva to get in the writing mood.

Yeah. I still think its one of the greatest, most genius, and most genuine works of fiction of all time. Not just anime, but all fiction, ever.

kuwisdelu said:

>in the mood for horror
>not in the mood for dark stuff

*is really confused*

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Yeah, I confuse myself, too. It's hard to describe what I mean. It's a despair thing, I think. Some shows are horrific without having that all-encompassing feeling of despair... some shows are horrific and leave the watcher feeling like life will never be happy again.

I honestly can't think of any examples of the first. Maybe I'm just making arbitrary distinctions that don't really exist. Maybe I'm just weird like that. >.<

Anyway. I think I'm off to watch something gritty. Rawr.

LilliCray said:

some shows are horrific and leave the watcher feeling like life will never be happy again.

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All of the anime I can think of that I would classify under that aren't horror to begin with.

LilliCray said:

Yeah, I confuse myself, too. It's hard to describe what I mean. It's a despair thing, I think. Some shows are horrific without having that all-encompassing feeling of despair... some shows are horrific and leave the watcher feeling like life will never be happy again.

I honestly can't think of any examples of the first. Maybe I'm just making arbitrary distinctions that don't really exist. Maybe I'm just weird like that. >.<

Anyway. I think I'm off to watch something gritty. Rawr.

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For a gritty, kinda depressing anime, I'd suggest Death Note. Elfen Lied is another really good, sad anime.

Shadow Dragon said:

For a gritty, kinda depressing anime, I'd suggest Death Note. Elfen Lied is another really good, sad anime.

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I agree about Elfen Lied. Death Note...hmm....maybe. It's kind of yes, kind of no type of thing with me. That could just be me though.

Holy crap, stuff finally happened in Mouretsu Pirates.

Also, I can't get enough of Nise.

Yes, that was an exciting space battle. This series has got great sf. They are even weightless inside the ship, most of the time at least. The art is beautiful too, in my opinion.

Camilla Delvalle said:

Yes, that was an exciting space battle. This series has got great sf. They are even weightless inside the ship, most of the time at least. The art is beautiful too, in my opinion.

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I just wish they had some freakin' windows. I get claustrophobic watching it.

Heh, got caught up on Another.

...holy crap.

And discovered, apparently I really am in the mood for bleak stuff. (There's the word... bleak.) Bleak horror. Or something. Y'know what? Ignore me. My brain doesn't work right. >.<

And I so totally want to check out Mouretsu Pirates now.　I'd love to see a good sf anime...

I'm just watching a mix of stuff right now. Haha. I really can't focus on one genre or type.

Dawnstorm said:

Also: I'm now watching Princess Tutu. Ballet based magical girl show with a metafictional fairytale setting. Very odd. It's been recommended to me many times, but I was hesitant as it's pretty long (38 episodes). I'm up to ep7 now, and it seems worth it.

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Princess Tutu is one of my favorites. It's actually not as long as it sounds because while the first season had regular episodes, the second season had half-episodes. I'm not sure why they split the episodes in half but they rejoin them normally on the DVD so it comes out like a regular 26-episode anime TV series. (Although I realize 26 episodes isn't so much the norm anymore.)

alessahinlo said:

Princess Tutu is one of my favorites. It's actually not as long as it sounds because while the first season had regular episodes, the second season had half-episodes. I'm not sure why they split the episodes in half but they rejoin them normally on the DVD so it comes out like a regular 26-episode anime TV series. (Although I realize 26 episodes isn't so much the norm anymore.)

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I realised that when continuing watching. If I had known that earlier...

The show is great. I felt it lost its breath near the beginning of the second season, but then it came back with a vengeance, and all the thing I feared they had just dropped resolved beautifully.

On your recommendation I've seen the first episodes of Shiki. It seems to be a classical mystery horror. People dying of anemia? Survey says: vampire. With the large number of POV:s it reminds of 'salems Lot or Dracula. It just has to have been inspired by 'salems Lot.

Camilla Delvalle said:

On your recommendation I've seen the first episodes of Shiki. It seems to be a classical mystery horror. People dying of anemia? Survey says: vampire. With the large number of POV:s it reminds of 'salems Lot or Dracula. It just has to have been inspired by 'salems Lot.

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Yeah, it's very classic in its approach (except for the hair styles and character designs), and it works very well, IMO, if that's what you're looking fir. In much the same way Kimi ni Todoke is great shoujo for its use of classic tropes.