Favorite Anime

Eldorion wrote:It's all good man. You'd be surprised how many people go to Otakon for stuff other than anime. Never having seen ANY anime though? You should rectify that.

I've probably seen some not knowing it was anime. Though perhaps I should. Would you like to recommend something?

Bluebottle wrote:I've probably seen some not knowing it was anime. Though perhaps I should. Would you like to recommend something?

Well, what I recommend really depends on what people's tastes are.  Since you like fantasy, I'd say that the movie Princess Mononoke is probably a good place to start.  It was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who is one of the few anime directors to achieve recognition and acclaim in the west, and it tells a historical fantasy story in a setting based on medieval Japan.  Spirited Away from the same director is also good, and is frequently compared to Alice in Wonderland, being more of a fairy tale sort of movie.  On the sci-fi front, Akira and Ghost in the Shell are both cyberpunk classics (the latter in particular was one of the main influences on The Matrix), though I think both are a tad bit overrated.  I might suggest Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, an alternate history sci-fi action film, if you don't mind grimdark too much.  On the other end of the SF/F spectrum, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a really good teen movie about growing up that also has a time travel element.  If you're interested in TV series, then Cowboy Bebop is a modern sci-fi classic (an important influence on Firefly, and bearer of the Petty Tyrant seal of approval), while Fullmetal Alchemist and Moribito are both good fantasy series (especially the former).

Stepping away from sci-fi and fantasy for a moment, there are a number of movies I highly recommend. Whisper of the Heart is about a young girl who wants to be a writer and is probably my favorite anime movie ever.  Tokyo Godfathers is a Christmas-themed movie about a group of homeless people in Tokyo who discover an abandoned baby and is also really good.  Nasu: Summer in Andalusia has a much lower profile than any of the other anime I've mentioned here but is one of my favorite sports anime (about cycling, to be specific).  The Castle of Cagliostro is a period adventure film somewhat reminiscent of Indiana Jones and is supposedly loved by Steven Spielberg.  Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal is one of the most prominent samurai-themed anime (and also doesn't have any of the over-the-top demon and monsters that often creep in to the genre).  It's a miniseries that's about four episodes long.  Samurai Champloo is a full TV series (26 episodes) that takes a cheerfully anachronistic look at the samurai genre and has a largely hip hop soundtrack.   Halfy liked this one despite his well-known opinions on hip hop.

Anime comedies are often harder to get into because they depend on culturally specific humor and a lot of them play with stereotypes about anime, so I don't generally recommend them as a starting point, but if you're in the mood for that, then Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu? a short TV series) is a pretty great parody of military sci-fi.  Detroit Metal City is a parody of death metal (and also the Japanese visual kei scene) and is pretty accessible to Western audiences.  Some of the humor gets kinda inappropriate, though it's entirely based on poking fun at the bands and their over-inflated view of themselves, and nobody does anything too offensive in the show (they just say stuff).

That's probably way more than you were asking for, but I don't like recommending just one or two things because a person might not like or be in the mood for a particular genre. Most of these can be found online if you're interested.

Ah, thanks. I'll look that over properly later, when I'm not trying to avoid doing school stuff.

Haha, I understand.  If you do in fact watch any of them, lemme know what you think!

I'll do that.

Anyone seen Gurren Lagann? I watched that and Kill La Kill not too long ago. Great shows.

I think I might like Gurren Lagann a bit more because I found Simone more relate-able as a protagonist. I like the arc he went through. Plus giant robots...

Gurren Lagann is one of my favorite anime shows ever. Not because "zomg it's so over the top manly" -- although that is fun -- but because of Simon's arc that he goes through. The penultimate episode in particular ... man. It's a great show.

I had trouble getting into Kill la Kill. I watched about halfway through during its original airing before I fell behind on the week-to-week thing. I do plan on finishing it eventually. It took the zany energy thing a little too far for me though. :/

For those who've seen Gurren Lagann

Spoiler:

But, to defend Kill La Kill a bit they had this.

Edit: Watch all three parts. This stuff is hilarious.

bungobaggins wrote:

Edit: Watch all three parts. This stuff is hilarious.

The Ghost Stories dub is legendary.  Great stuff.

That's so awesome!

That's hilarious.

Though I'm not sure I can watch the original now, as I'm not sure it could ever liive up to that.

Eldorion wrote:

Bluebottle wrote:I've probably seen some not knowing it was anime. Though perhaps I should. Would you like to recommend something?

Well, what I recommend really depends on what people's tastes are.  Since you like fantasy, I'd say that the movie Princess Mononoke is probably a good place to start.  It was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who is one of the few anime directors to achieve recognition and acclaim in the west, and it tells a historical fantasy story in a setting based on medieval Japan.  Spirited Away from the same director is also good, and is frequently compared to Alice in Wonderland, being more of a fairy tale sort of movie.  On the sci-fi front, Akira and Ghost in the Shell are both cyberpunk classics (the latter in particular was one of the main influences on The Matrix), though I think both are a tad bit overrated.  I might suggest Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, an alternate history sci-fi action film, if you don't mind grimdark too much.  On the other end of the SF/F spectrum, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a really good teen movie about growing up that also has a time travel element.  If you're interested in TV series, then Cowboy Bebop is a modern sci-fi classic (an important influence on Firefly, and bearer of the Petty Tyrant seal of approval), while Fullmetal Alchemist and Moribito are both good fantasy series (especially the former).

Stepping away from sci-fi and fantasy for a moment, there are a number of movies I highly recommend. Whisper of the Heart is about a young girl who wants to be a writer and is probably my favorite anime movie ever.  Tokyo Godfathers is a Christmas-themed movie about a group of homeless people in Tokyo who discover an abandoned baby and is also really good.  Nasu: Summer in Andalusia has a much lower profile than any of the other anime I've mentioned here but is one of my favorite sports anime (about cycling, to be specific).  The Castle of Cagliostro is a period adventure film somewhat reminiscent of Indiana Jones and is supposedly loved by Steven Spielberg.  Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal is one of the most prominent samurai-themed anime (and also doesn't have any of the over-the-top demon and monsters that often creep in to the genre).  It's a miniseries that's about four episodes long.  Samurai Champloo is a full TV series (26 episodes) that takes a cheerfully anachronistic look at the samurai genre and has a largely hip hop soundtrack.   Halfy liked this one despite his well-known opinions on hip hop.

Anime comedies are often harder to get into because they depend on culturally specific humor and a lot of them play with stereotypes about anime, so I don't generally recommend them as a starting point, but if you're in the mood for that, then Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu? a short TV series) is a pretty great parody of military sci-fi.  Detroit Metal City is a parody of death metal (and also the Japanese visual kei scene) and is pretty accessible to Western audiences.  Some of the humor gets kinda inappropriate, though it's entirely based on poking fun at the bands and their over-inflated view of themselves, and nobody does anything too offensive in the show (they just say stuff).

That's probably way more than you were asking for, but I don't like recommending just one or two things because a person might not like or be in the mood for a particular genre. Most of these can be found online if you're interested.

Well, I (finally! ) got around to looking this over. Thanks for the comprehensive run through. I'll see what I can get around to. Those fantasy ones sound really interesting though, I'll definitely try to give them a go. Can't promsie when though, but I will.

I'm glad you were able to get through all my rambling in that post. Lemme know what you think if you're able to find the time and interest. NB I have to ask, since you posted that GIF, have you ever seen Avatar: The Last Airbender? It's well-known for having a major anime influence but I think it's also one of the best high fantasy stories ever told through television.

Yeah, I read your post. I think I saw some of it before and someone was posting some gifsets from it and all of that kind of combined to make me want to give watching the whole thing a go. So, I've been watching it over the last couple of weeks. And I kind of rushed through the last season over easter as I was in bed with a cold for a fair bit of it.

And I have to say that on the whole.. I'm completely with you. I think it's great.

As you say, it tells a compelling and engrossing fantasy story in a coherent fashion. Which considering how modern epic fantasy series tend to drag out is no small feat.

I don't really mind it being, austensibly, a "kids" show. That's seems more a question of genre and packaging than quality to me. There are some episodes that gets a bit silly, but on the whole I don't feel it detracts anything. And to be honest, its humour is one of the things I love about it. Like in that gif. That and the characterization and character interactions, which are wonderful. I think that really lifts the series and makes it something out of the ordinary.

I think I might have turned into a bit of a fan.

A short term avatar ( ) change.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Blue!  And that someone read that post I made about it. I know Tin used to watch it because she tried to warn me about the live-action movie adaptation, but I dunno if anyone else here has seen it before now. I adore Avatar, in part because it was one of the first TV series I ever got passionate about, but also because it's just that good.  And I agree that the comedy is an important part of its identity.

I've been rewatching the show gradually with people I know on another forum recently and it's a blast.  There's some episodes that I hadn't seen in a really long time and it was interesting to revisit that.  Book 2 is the bomb though; such as incredibly consistent run of strong episodes.

I KNEW I knew Blue's new face! Snuck in here to see if there were some chatting about it, and to get it confirmed.

I noticed Avatar and Legend of Korra(?) is on Viaplay. Or was it Netflix. Might just sneak a peak at Legend to um... quality check if for the kids when they get older.

Just thought of something... I don't think there will be many votes for Blue/Amarië for best couple if Blue's running around looking like THAT. Somehow I don't think that explaining how he is actually over 100 years old will help much.

I didn't know you had seen Avatar, Amarie! I'm glad you found your way to this thread. The Legend of Korra is a pretty good show in its own right, though there were a number of things about that I wasn't a huge fan of. The art, music, and (at times) animation quality are all a notch above ATLA technically, which isn't a knock against the original show, but the crew had just refined their skills that much more. I think it aims at a slightly older audience than ATLA, though obviously both shows have large viewership among older teens and adults who were never the "intended" audience.

Amarië wrote:Just thought of something... I don't think there will be many votes for Blue/Amarië for best couple if Blue's running around looking like THAT. Somehow I don't think that explaining how he is actually over 100 years old will help much.

"Flameo, my good hotman."

Yeah.



Meh, idk.

(Me and Eldo might get some votes though. )

Eldorion wrote:I adore Avatar, in part because it was one of the first TV series I ever got passionate about, but also because it's just that good.  And I agree that the comedy is an important part of its identity.

Nostagia can certaily be a potent addition to your enjoyment of anything, but I agree with you on the quality of the show. It's really something out of the ordinary. It's hard to put your finger on exactly why though. It just seems like things came together in a way where it just clicked. And the planning and intent behind it doesn't explain it entirely.  Everything worked, and it's qualities worked together. In way creating a quality larger than it's respective parts should combined. People talk about the stars aligning..

Ah, how many ways is there to say it's special. But, yeah, it definitely made that impression on me too.

I guess I began thinking about it when I watched about half of the first episode of The Legend of Korra. Which to my mind didn't really manage to recapture of the magic of the original series. And not only that, in the first 15 minutes, with the introduction of the Republic City thing, they basically do away with three series worth of worldbuilding. Exchanging it for a 20th century like city location, complete with mafia groups, a modern police force and cars. It kind of hits home that even with the same team, making a story in the same world recapturing the magic of something out of the ordinary isn't necessarily possible.

And it's certainly not the only example of that in popular culture, look at the first PoCs film, or (let's hope Petty doesn't read this thread) the LotRs movies. Even the same team working together on a story in the same world with the same constituent parts struggle to recapture the magic of something that was special.

I don't know. It's interesting to think about why it is that way. I remember Michael Palin asking Spike Milligan what made the Goon Show was so good. To which Spike responded 'It was like one good summer.' One good summer. Something fleeting, something you can't recapture. I thought that a rather nice way to put it.

Oh, and did I say I like this show.

There are so many reasons it's hard not to love this show.