HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII (1 Viewer)

[Alanna]

Tops:

(could potentially change after Ceres, Celestial Legend, Kiddy Grade and Wolf's Rain have been watched to completion)

1. Chobits
2. Fruits Basket
3. Revolutionary Girl Utena
4. Slayers, Next, Try
5. Escaflowne
6. Nightwalker
7. Those Who Hunt Elves Season One
8. Pretear
9. Armitage III OVA
10. Sorcerer Hunters
11. Outlaw Star - had to mention it!

On the Bottom:
1. Puni Puni Poemi
2. Excel Saga
3. I'll See You In My Dreams OVA (ew)
4. Sentimental Journey
5. Elf Princess Raine
6. R.O.D. The OVA (yah I didn't like it..)
7. Steel Angel Kurumi Season Deus

I have weird and warped tastes, hooray!
There's lots of stuff I haven't seen that I wanna though.

 

[Alanna]

Stacey: YAY! I'm glad someone here has seen Ceres. I wasn't expecting the gory turn it takes either, in quite I was shocked at just how graphic it was (or was it? Did they pull a Tarantino and show you just enough to make you think you saw more? I'll have to go back and see cos I was hiding my eyes a bit...lol)

I loved the first Fushigi Yugi collection (Suzaku) but Sieryuu kinda fell of the mark in some places for me, and became just a bit too much like filler in spots... plus Miaka was super annoying at times. I like the characters in Ceres much better and Toya is a total hottie. (yeah! its true!)

Chrono Crusade is on my "future must get list". Right now the only thing I'm really collecting actively is Scrapped Princess and Wolf's Rain.. and Scrapped is my replacement for Wolf since there's only one disc left of it to be released.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

Another one for my "don't like" list:
Golden Boy
I only have Episode 1, but it's a real turnoff.

 

[Woo Jae]

Top ten lists? Hmm.. requires some thought - and don't have time to think on it right now, but I'll post a few

1. Nausicaa - My favorite Ghibli Flick, and my introduction to Ghibli. Close to this are Tonari no Totoro, and Grave of the Fireflies....

2. Gunbuster! Topo wo Nerae - Old school Gainax, never gets old. Not to mention the origin of the "Gainax Bounce"

3. Tenchi Muyo! Ryo Oh Ki OVA 1 Consistent high quality and a benchmark of the Harem Genre....

4. Twelve Kingdoms - I've only watched the first 4 discs but this is high quality fantasy, with no fanservice and a serious story.

5. Nadia: Fushigi no Blue Water - Another Gainax series with an awesome cast and even more awesome ending. Sure it's got filler but it also has a lot of charm.

6. Hajime No Ippo (AKA Fighting Spirit) - consistent comedy, drama, and kickass fights with no resorting to anime dbz style powerups. Has been consistently good for the past 25 episodes, with around 50+ more to go.

7. Rurouni Kenshin Trust/Betrayal and TV series - This series was one of my first truly LONG series I collected as stuff came out, and dammit it is good. A blend of great action, drama, and comedy (yes, it has superdeformed chars. ) with the OVAs that just redefine action and romance....

8. Revolutary Girl Utena - This series is weird, in both terms of its animation and plot. Yet the way the stuff gets resolved towards the end makes for an immensely satisfying conclusion (with some things left in the air)

9. Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy - Old UC Gundam manages to satisfy my mecha needs, and does it with attention to the human aspect of war and politics (and proves that war is the result of politics failing to produce a peaceful outcome to a conflict.) Amuro Ray and Char Aznable set the stage for the Gundam craze, and the movies are a extremely good condensation of what makes UC Gundam so good: focus on the humans and their issues rather than the mecha....

10. Rahxephon - an extremely interesting blend of action, mecha design, and story. Well plotted and advanced, and not a EVA rip off as some would put it...

Noteables: Bleach/Yakitate! Japan/Samurai 7/Gankutsuo = these are hilarious and fun shows with compelling action, drama and comedy. Try to see them when you can.

 

[JohnAD]

Todd:

Blasphemy! There are no filler episodes in Cowboy Bebop!

Max:

Unfortunately, Kare Kano really doesn't live up to the hype. Honestly, you're better off reading the manga, since there are very few differences between the manga and the anime up until the end of the anime.

Woo:

What would be a good series to start with if one wanted to check out Gundam? I would've liked to start out with the first series, but since it's dub only, that's not happening.

John.

 

[Todd McF]

Yeah, its hard to criticize Bebop and come out unscathed.

 

[Todd McF]

Woo,

Can you give a little more description of The Twelve Kingdoms? I'm interested in the title but info is rediculously scarce on this one. Any links?

I dig serious anime - the more the better.

 

[Woo Jae]

JohnAD:

Gundam Movie Trilogy is the way to go, as that summarizes the whole of the original Mobile Suit Gundam and is subbed. Then watch Char's Counter Attack as well. Or you could watch 0080: War in the Pocket, Miller's Report, and Zeta Gundam as they cover the time period in between the third Gundam Movie and Char's Counter Attack.

*Each movie in the trilogy is like 2~2.5 hrs long.

I myself have only seen Mobile Suit Gundam and Char's Counter Attack, and those were quite fun. Unlike AC or CE (AC is the continuity where Gundam Wing belongs, and CE (sp?) is the continuity for Gundam Seed)), UC Gundams cover drama (mostly tragedy) and politics and aren't focused on Uber overpowered robots per se the way Gundam Wing did.

Todd:

on Twelve Kingdoms...
I'd normally advise some one to look at Anime on DVD or some such site for info. So here are the relevant links, at least for volume 1....

AnimeonDVD:
http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/d...views/2239.php

ANN:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/revi...lay.php?id=650

AnimeInfo:
http://www.animenfo.com/animetitle,8...12_kokuki.html

DaveGTP has seen more of this, so he should be able to chime in with some advice/commentary.

Basically, it has similarities to Fushigi Yugi and/or Escaflowne in that the girl is transported to a fantasy world, but what happens afterwards is pretty intense/unique in that it's all treated seriously - not much humour, and pretty serious. The world created is pretty complex, and there is lots of terminology floating around - take a few notes, and try to remember what was said by the characters.

Edited: to respond to the Sith-lord...

 

[TheLongshot]

The best

1. Crest Of The Stars
2. Porco Rosso
3. Fushigi Yugi
4. El-Hazard
5. Trigun
6. Millenium Actress
7. Cowboy Bebop
8. Vandread
9. Serial Experiments Lain
10.Irresponsible Captain Tylor

The worst

1. Urotsukidoji: Legend Of The Overfiend (teaches me to rent blindly..)
2. Super Milk-chan
3. Ebichu

Jason

 

[Todd McF]

I tried to watch Gundam *Wing* and I just didnt like it - way too many mecha "posing" shots making the whole thing feel like a giant series of mecha fan service. To be fair, that's only based on the first episode though.

Gundam *Seed* did grab me however. Great concepts and likable characters - and no Gundam prerequisites. It really is a cool show - great setup and concepts in the first 3 episodes.

So - from a non-Gundam fan's perspective - try Seed. The DVD's are wrapping up with the release of volume 10 as we speak.

 

[Woo Jae]

Other notable series for me that I didn't include in my list are as follows:

Rumiko Takahashi series
Maison Ikkoku - It ends - unlike the following series that has come over to TV from her manga...
Urusei Yatsura
Ranma 1/2
Inu Yasha

CLAMP Series
Angelic Layer
Chobits
Magic Knights Rayearth, season 1 and 2
X TV (have yet to see this - did see the OVA ages ago, and of course was confused as heck).

Berserk - Dark and violent, and fits the show well... too bad it only lasted 25 eps...

Hellsing - Stylish adaption of the few beginning volumes of the manga, then degenerates into anime filler... Still highly recommended as you won't get a character like Alucard that often in anime...


Sports Type anime
Kaleido Star - season 1 - this was a highly entertaing series with comedy ( I don't remember them being superdeformed) and action and drama. It's the story of a girl who learns to do the Ultimate Maneuver, and is well paced and plotted.

Princess Nine - Chicks! Baseball! Going to Koshien as the only female Baseball team! Awesome and entertaining show...

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Top 10 (in no particular order)

1. Cowboy Bebop
2. FLCL
3. Samurai Champloo
4. Neon Genesis: Evangelion
5. Ranma 1/2
6. Paranoia Agent
7. Kiki's Delivery Service (and other Miyazaki films)
8. Akira
9. Tokyo Godfathers (also Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress)
10. Lain

Honorable mention: DEAD LEAVES and CAT SOUP -- check these out if you are interested in heavily "sylized" anime, that differs greatly from the semi-realistic look of virtually all other anime.

Least favorites:

1. Gasaraki
2. Madlax
3. Midori Days
4. Oh My Goddess
5. Pokemon (US dubbed & edited version) (although I'm interested to see the Japanese original "Pocket Monsters", which I understand is their equivalent to The Simpsons)

(I've only seen 1 disc of the above titles, because I stop buying at that point if I don't like the first disc.)

 

[Todd McF]

Gasaraki is a tough one. I sort of liked it - thankfully only paid about 30 bucks for the box set.

 

[JohnAD]

Todd:

Thanks for the info.

John.

 

[Kong Chang]

Having watched over thousands and thousands of anime shows, here is my list of my top 20 favorites (in no particular order):

01) fushigi no umi no Nadia // Nadia of the Mysterious Seas // Nadia // The Secret of Blue Water
02) kareshi kanojo no jijou // His and Her Circumstances // Karekano
03) kimi ga nozomu eien // The Eternity You Wish For // Kiminozo
04) tenkuu no esukafuro-ne // Escaflowne of the Sky // Escaflowne // The Vision of Escaflowne
05) saishuu heiki kanojo // She, The Ultimate Weapon // Saikano
06) Rahxephon
07) Gankutsuou // King of the (Underworld) Caverns // The Count of Monte Cristo (Geneon title)
08) Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 1st and 2nd GIG
09) Azumanga Daioh // Azudai
10) Samurai 7
11) Scrapped Princess
12) X TV
13) Last Exile
14) jidoukeisatsu patoreiba- TV // Mobile Police Patlabor // Patlabor
15) City Hunter (all 4 series)
16) Princess Tutu
17) Marmalade Boy
18) ima, soko ni iru boku // Now I Am Over There // Now and Then, Here and There
19) hagane no renkinjutsushi // Fullmetal Alchemist
20) ro-dosutou senki (OVA) // Record of Lodoss Wars

There are a whole slew more of what I love to honorably mention, but it would need like 10 pages. hehehe

These don't include movies. I can list those separately, if anybody wants.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I'll bite, but I'll only include completed series:

Cowboy Bebop
Love Hina
Fuushigi Yuugi
Azumanga Daioh
Robotech
Witch Hunter Robin

 

[Kong Chang]

Todd:

Gundam Seed storyline is actually based off of the original series. More or less, it is very similar to the original series but more updated. Even though it is considered one of the "alternative universe" Gundam (i.e. Gundam X, W, Y, G), it is so rooted to the original series which makes it very intriguing.

Those of you not in the know...Gundam is not a mecha show. It is a space-opera political drama show with mecha in it. Zeta continued this tradition. Double Zeta is iffy to say what it is. 0080 concentrates on the lives of the pilots. 0083 expounds on the political backstory of the original series and Zeta series. MS 08th team is another drama based set in the original series timeline.

The ones that people get tired of are the alternative universe Gundams that are mostly made, not by Tomino Toshiyuki, by Bandai so that the toy company can make more toys to profit more money. So most of them suck, except for Gundam X, I hear.

 

[Max Leung]

I realized that I only listed anime TV shows. Well, on that note, if I include movies:

Grave of the Fireflies

 

[Max Leung]

BTW, I agree that Gundam Seed is a great Gundam starter - I never saw Gundam before, and I am really impressed with the series. It does suffer from flashbackitis though.

But I'm a sucker for good space opera! On that note, if you read science fiction I recommend Peter Hamilton's Neutronium Alchemist and his subsequent books in the series.

I will give Kare Kano a try - maybe I'll finish off the story by reading the remaining manga books.

 

[Woo Jae]

Hmm once I am done with getting most of UC gundam (at least those available with JPN audio track) I'll work on Gundam SEED and Destiny.

Kareshi no Kanojou no Jijou (His and Her Circumstances) is a great show, but that also has lots of... you guessed it - flashbacks. That said, it's a great show full of energy and humour and drama and romance and... well you get the picture. The first 10~13 episodes IMHO has some of the best drama/action/comedy of all the anime I've seen. (And that number though not as extensive as Kong Chang's numbers is still up in the hundreds category). Although it's not as great or manic as the first two discs, Kare Kano is an A-/A show...

Although seeing Uber-powerful and pretty mecha is cool, having 40+ episodes of such mecha w/o a threat of a equal magnitude just makes teh show boring or at least very very mediocre. I mean even with the old SuperRobot shows, the threat to earth was imminent and aliens or whatever they fought were just as commensurate in terms of power...