General anime discussion thread

[Dreity]

Originally Posted by Silver-Midnight

Has anyone seen Tengyo(?) Tenge?

Yep! It was pretty decent. Incredibly generic IMO, but at least it was done well. My favorite part was the intro song. Only anime where I watched the intro for every single episode. :P

[Dreity]

We just finished Ben-To a few nights ago. Overall, I loved it, but I kind of got annoyed with it at the end. I didn't care for the twins when they were first introduced - well, I didn't mind the short-haired one, but I couldn't stand the long-haired one - so it bummed me out that they took up so much air time towards the end.

Oshiroi was easily my favorite character. Just so weird and adorable, and the evil look in her eyes whenever she got inspired for her erotic novels cracked me up every time.

We're making our way through the first few episodes of Fairy Tail now. I guess we're on something of a comedy binge after all the doom and gloom stuff we're usually into. We're liking it so far, but we'll definitely need to take a break and watch something a little more adult-oriented somewhere in between the 120 episodes.

[Dawnstorm]

Originally Posted by Dreity

We just finished Ben-To a few nights ago. Overall, I loved it, but I kind of got annoyed with it at the end. I didn't care for the twins when they were first introduced - well, I didn't mind the short-haired one, but I couldn't stand the long-haired one - so it bummed me out that they took up so much air time towards the end.

Oshiroi was easily my favorite character. Just so weird and adorable, and the evil look in her eyes whenever she got inspired for her erotic novels cracked me up every time.

Pretty much my reaction, too. One of the things that annoyed me about the ending was that they dropped Oshiroi into her own cliché and left her there. Sad. She was such an interesting character early on.

And, although she's pretty one-dimensional and pointless, I adore Asebi.

[Camilla Delvalle]

Originally Posted by kuwisdelu

Why do you like anime?

What sets it apart from other mediums for you?

These are some reasons why I like certain anime works, and some western works by e.g. Joss Whedon:

1. A story that moves forward. As you say, one reason may be that most anime are limited to a certain number of episodes. At the same time a series can have more contents than a movie.

2. A stronger feeling of suspense about how the ending will turn out. In anime I often feel like anything can happen. Not only when it comes to the old will the good or bad guys win, but the entire narrative structure seems more open.

3. All characters are at risk. Not in every work, but I feel the danger more often than in western works.

4. More weird or fantastic things. I like things that feel strange and foreign. The cultural distance contributes to this.

5. More emotional attachment. I often feel more attached to characters in anime, and I cry more often. I haven't thought so much about why.

6. I love the language and I love learning it, more then I like some other languages that I have studied.

7. The hairstyles.

There are also things that I dislike in anime, but I'll save that for another time.

[Shika Senbei]

Originally Posted by Dawnstorm

K-On! I actively dislike. It's a combination of very popular and not for me; like people constantly dropping by to scratch off the crust on a healing wound. I'm doing it to myself now.

Gosh, that show is so ridiculously popular that it almost defies belief. Luckily I quite like it, so I wasn't annoyed to hear about it all the time when I was in Japan. I even went to Toyosato to visit the real-life school they used as a basis for the school in the anime--a rather surreal experience. It's just too bad I heard about the show when I was halfway my first novel--which incidentally is also about high school girls who play music. How discouraging.

Originally Posted by Dawnstorm

Azumanga Daioh I loved almost all the way through, although creepy professor was mostly an eyerolling experience. Osaka is an instant classic, and Tomo rules supreme among the trouble makers.

Professor? What professor? The thing takes place at a high school. If you liked the anime, I can recommend the manga. And if you like the manga, I can also recommend another slice-of-life manga by the same author: Yotsuba&!.

Originally Posted by Dawnstorm

Nichijou is brilliant when it is, although it very often annoyed me by being too... loud. Also, some jokes that are initially funny overstay their welcome. But when it's good, it's brilliant.

When I was in Japan, I actually met a few of the people who worked on that show. I think the "like love" segments are often sheer genius.

Originally Posted by Dawnstorm

I have a soft spot for A Channel, which I think I said before. Also Minami Ke, but only the first season.

If you like A Channel, you might also like Yuru Yuri, which is generally quite a bit zanier. Minami Ke's second season is indeed a bit disappointing, but the third is rather good.

Originally Posted by kuwisdelu

Oh, yeah, in addition to Nichibros this season, there's also Kill Me Baby.

Kill Me Baby is good, but I think a lot of the jokes work better in their original manga format.

Of course, these are all comedies, but there are also a few good non-comical slice-of-life series (or at least with the comedy toned down). A few favorites of mine are Aria, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou and Ikoku Meiro no Croisée.

I also love-love-LOVE Tamayura, which was the sole reason I visited the town of Takehara. It's a rather slow and sweet series--just as I like 'em

[Dawnstorm]

Originally Posted by Shika Senbei

Professor? What professor? The thing takes place at a high school.

Don't know why I said "professor". I suspect a mix of German native speaker influence and childhood memory interference. I'm Austrian, and as a kid we'd call every teacher "Herr/Frau Professor", no matter their actual title. I suppose that could be the source of my mistake.

If you liked the anime, I can recommend the manga. And if you like the manga, I can also recommend another slice-of-life manga by the same author: Yotsuba&!.

Thanks. I may look it up one day.

When I was in Japan, I actually met a few of the people who worked on that show. I think the "like love" segments are often sheer genius.

The "like love" were brilliant. A lot of the quieter moments were genuinely touching.

If you like A Channel, you might also like Yuru Yuri, which is generally quite a bit zanier. Minami Ke's second season is indeed a bit disappointing, but the third is rather good.

Yuru Yuri was surprisingly fun (I hear there's a second season in the works already). Maybe I'll give the third season of Minami Ke another chance.

Of course, these are all comedies, but there are also a few good non-comical slice-of-life series (or at least with the comedy toned down). A few favorites of mine are Aria, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou and Ikoku Meiro no Croisée.

Haven't seen Aria yet, but it's on my list.

Don't know anything about Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou; I'm going to look it up.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée was pretty good; they really did well with the French in this one, both culturally and language-wise. I liked it quite a bit.

I also love-love-LOVE Tamayura, which was the sole reason I visited the town of Takehara. It's a rather slow and sweet series--just as I like 'em

Ooh! Tamayura! I'd seen the orignal OVA and was excited to see it get a TV series. And they actually improved on the characterisation in that one. I'm glad to find someone who actually loves it. I bring it up and people say it's boring. It gets a tad frustrating.

I also liked Kimi to Boku, which returns next season.

(And how could I forget Ichigo Marshmallow?)

[LOG]

Can anyone recommend an anime with a lead (male or female) that is capable of thinking intelligently, but is not cold and calculating?
Really, I'm just trying to avoid either idiots or characters who fly off at the handle at the slightest provocation.

[Silver-Midnight]

Originally Posted by Dreity

Yep! It was pretty decent. Incredibly generic IMO, but at least it was done well. My favorite part was the intro song. Only anime where I watched the intro for every single episode. :P

It looked pretty funny, and I did like it.



Has anyone seen NANA? I kind of started watching that with some friends; it's also one that I liked. It's really good.

[kuwisdelu]

Originally Posted by SomethingOrOther

I've been lurking this thread for a bit, and I decided to watch Evangelion because I've seen kuwi praise Infinite Jest and Murakami, both of which I love. I'm about five episodes in and I love it. Shinji Ikari is so much like me. Thus I'd like him and Misato Katsuragi to have sex, but I'm sure that won't happen*. Oops I didn't mean to say that aloud.

*edit: If I had waited until the sixth episode to comment, I'd have said him and Rei Ayanami.

Mission accomplished! ^_^

ETA: And Asuka hasn't even shown up yet.

ETA2: And you're just beginning the "action" arc. Episodes 15 and 16 are where everything really starts to get good and then the "descent" arc begins with episode 18 and, if you're anything like me, your life will never be the same after End of Evangelion.

Originally Posted by LOG

Can anyone recommend an anime with a lead (male or female) that is capable of thinking intelligently, but is not cold and calculating?
Really, I'm just trying to avoid either idiots or characters who fly off at the handle at the slightest provocation.

What genre?

ETA: And it sounds like you don't mind if the plot isn't mind games or anything like that so long as it never forces the characters to carry an idiot ball?

[Dommo]

Does anyone know if they're going to be making more in the ghost in the shell series?

[kuwisdelu]

Originally Posted by Dommo

Does anyone know if they're going to be making more in the ghost in the shell series?

No one knows.

[LOG]

Originally Posted by kuwisdelu

What genre?

ETA: And it sounds like you don't mind if the plot isn't mind games or anything like that so long as it never forces the characters to carry an idiot ball?

I prefer fiction and fantasy. Ecchi is nice too, but far from necessary.

Originally Posted by Dommo

Does anyone know if they're going to be making more in the ghost in the shell series?

I would probably only look forward to another GitS series if it had a different cast and focus than the first two--they were great, but I think we've spent enough time with them.

[Shadow Dragon]

Originally Posted by LOG

Can anyone recommend an anime with a lead (male or female) that is capable of thinking intelligently, but is not cold and calculating?
Really, I'm just trying to avoid either idiots or characters who fly off at the handle at the slightest provocation.

The only ones I can think of that aren't already insanely popular are Ergo Proxy and Hellsing.

[Camilla Delvalle]

Originally Posted by LOG

Can anyone recommend an anime with a lead (male or female) that is capable of thinking intelligently, but is not cold and calculating?
Really, I'm just trying to avoid either idiots or characters who fly off at the handle at the slightest provocation.

If medium intelligence is enough, I'm thinking e.g. Clannad, Chihaya furu, Spice & Wolf, Steins;Gate, Bakemonogatari, and Twelve Kingdoms, though I guess you have seen all of them.

[Dommo]

I would like to see a ghost in the shell series take place in the american empire.

[Silver-Midnight]

Does anyone have any suggestions for Josei(I think I spelled that right) anime? Something similar to NANA maybe, but definitely in the Josei genre.

[kuwisdelu]

Originally Posted by Silver-Midnight

Does anyone have any suggestions for Josei(I think I spelled that right) anime? Something similar to NANA maybe, but definitely in the Josei genre.

I haven't seen Nana, but I might now. Looks interesting.

Have you seen Honey and Clover? Nodame Cantabile? Usagi Drop?

I haven't seen it yet, but also Kuragahime.

[Silver-Midnight]

Originally Posted by kuwisdelu

Have you seen Honey and Clover? Nodame Cantabile? Usagi Drop?

I haven't seen it yet, but also Kuragahime.

I haven't seen those. I think I'm going to watch them though. Were they good?

[Dawnstorm]

Originally Posted by Silver-Midnight

I haven't seen those. I think I'm going to watch them though. Were they good?

I've seen about half an episode of Honey and Clover; wasn't in the mood. I saw too little of it to judge it, but it's pretty popular among people whose taste I trust. It's still on my watchlist, as is Nodame Cantabile (which has the added advantage to be about music).

Usagi Drop is a feelgood show about a thirty-something guy who takes in and raises his six year old aunt (his grandfather was apparently active with the maid). It's brilliant.

Kuragehime is a sweet show about a couple of female otaku leaving together, and how their lives are shaken up when a politician's far too energic cross-dressing son helps the titular character save the life of a jelly fish. It sort of fizzles out, but it's great before the finale.

I'm not sure how any of them compare to Nana, since I haven't seen it yet (it's also on my list).

I'm always sort of confused about these categories, since they tend to assume a traget audience rather than content. According to the categories I should be watching seinen (but I really watch everything; and I'm often surprised at the categorisation. For example, I've seen Eden of the East referred to as josei. Why?)

[LOG]

Originally Posted by Camilla Delvalle

If medium intelligence is enough, I'm thinking e.g. Clannad, Chihaya furu, Spice & Wolf, Steins;Gate, Bakemonogatari, and Twelve Kingdoms, though I guess you have seen all of them.

Of all those, only Twelve Kingdoms.

[Silver-Midnight]

No idea. Some of the genres still kind of confuse me. I just found out NANA was josei; I thought it was Shoujo. So, I was wrong.

What genre is Seinen?

[Dawnstorm]

Originally Posted by Silver-Midnight

No idea. Some of the genres still kind of confuse me. I just found out NANA was josei; I thought it was Shoujo. So, I was wrong.

What genre is Seinen?

Seinen = the male equivalent of Josei:

Shounen = boys
Seinen = young men
Shoujo = girls
Josei = young women

It's not a content-genre, it's a target audience category. I tend to ignore those, mostly.

Maybe you'd like Kimi ni Todoke? There are two seasons; the first one is brilliant, and the second one is decent. (It's probably shoujo, I think...)

[neilkant]

I enjoyed the loyalty between the brothers in Fullmetal Alchemist, the tragedy of the Rurouni Kenshin OAV, everything about Cowboy Bebop and I'm currently halfway through the labyrinth that is Death Note.

[Camilla Delvalle]

Will Chihaya furu never end? It seems like they will really run 100 episodes, like I've been imagining. Not that I'm complaining. While my interest in Another is fading, many episodes of Chihaya have rewatching potential. I'm only disappointed that she didn't cut off her hair, because that would show that the writers are prepared to take an idea to its consequence.

[Dawnstorm]

Originally Posted by Camilla Delvalle

Will Chihaya furu never end? It seems like they will really run 100 episodes, like I've been imagining.

25 episodes, which means one more. It's based on an ongoing manga, so I suppose we couldn't expect a conclusion in the first place. It's not unusual for anime to end midstory. (Maybe there'll be a second season some time; depends on whether the anime sells stuff such as the dvds/bluerays, or gives the manga a significant sales boost. Don't know; didn't check.)

I'm only disappointed that she didn't cut off her hair, because that would show that the writers are prepared to take an idea to its consequence.

Agreed. I thought they might give her back her childhood hairdo (after the hair grows back) - which would have been an interesting situation.

Chihayafuru is probably my second favourite show this season (after the Mouretsu Pirates).