Anime

Inspired by the energy and cordial discussion in the Horror Movie thread I thought an anime thread might be a cool place for us fans of anime to discuss series and recommend some stuff...

Personally I'm a fan of Shonen-Jump style anime, meaning I like anime that has a mix of action and humor but not too silly. I also like great fight scenes but nothing outlandishly violent or gory. And I really don't like super-sexual anime (not hentai or anything like La Blue Girl). I like the stuff that could be considered "kiddie" but its fun.

Some of my current favorites are One Piece, Naruto, Fairy Tail, and Beezlebub.

I also like some of the more serious anime, that has more complex story telling but still maintains a level of restraint from being too bloody or sexual.

Im currently rewatching Ghost in the Shell series and Witch-Hunter Robin.

Edited by Blackcyclops - 24-Jun-2012 at 3:04pm

First up the topic title is redundant. If it's not Japanese it's not properly billed as "Anime". We in America invented the word to refer to Japanese Animation.

That said I am a major Otaku as the name suggests lol.

Naruto has a good world but horrible I can't get into the main character. Hinata is a gem and I LOVE the filler eps that focus on her.

Bleach is solid but it's never struck me as a series that had a solid long-term direction. He just goes "Okay here's a big arc. Crap now I need another one. Um...."

My tops are DB/Z/GT (still the Shonen Standard whose influences can be seen today),
Rurouni Kenshin, Shaman King, GITS: SAC was fun. The movies are nice too but you get a better sense of the characters in the show.

Love Hina and Negima. Yes there is plenty of PG-13 fan service but it's always done very comedic so it doesn't feel awkward.

Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha. Hell I'll watch anything by Lady Takahashi. Lot of the short anime series are nice. KiddyGrade as an example. MyHime was fun, working on the AltReality might be a sequel even the writer isn't sure MyOtome.

Big O is one of my favorite dubbed animes, voice acting is fantastic. Of course my two favorite Dubs are Cowboy Bebop (probably my favorite all-tine anime) and Sanurai Champloo. Outlaw Star is another good English dub.

Kikaide is a good anime. Very solid and has some interesting themes. Paranoia Agent is beautifully done and although i'm not too keen on the ending I like it.

Im a Gundam Junkie...the original series is personally a favorite. With 8th MS team like the Uncanny X-Force of Gundam series for me. Im currently watching Gundam AGE. Its pretty cool because its covering entire generations.

I like Bleach the anime but im sad its done already and ended with an arc that was less than stellar.

They're making a Samurai X movie and it looks AMAZING!!!

Always like Trigun manga far more than the anime.

Originally posted by RingOtaku Trigun is another good one that I have the whole set for. The new movie was fun. I also forgot FullMetal Panic and it's spinoffs and both versions of Full Metal Alchemist make me mark out so hard. Roy Mustang/Riza Hawkeye may be my favorite secondary couple. Especially in Brotherhood where they get more development.

How the hell did i forget FMA...i actually own that manga and i love both the sub and dub for that...easily one of my favorite powers in an anime and i heart Riza...Scar is Wolverine Cool before he became an a-hole

As a child of the 90's, alot of my personal faves come from the Toonami Golden Era. Stuff like DBZ, Sailor Moon, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, the Tenchi series - yeah, I even liked Tenchi in Tokyo - and since then I've been working my way through the Gundams as well as newer shows.

Cowboy Bebop is probably my personal favorite series ever. I really enjoyed Samurai Champloo, but Bebop's got the nostalgia factor going for it. I haven't figured out if it's the same 'Shinichiro Watanabe' or not, but he did the score for a show called Michiko Y Hatchin that I LOVED. It's the closest thing to Bebop that I've seen since Bebop.

Out of the Gundams, 08th MS Team is the BEST. Period. Everything else in the UC is WAY to moody, dramatic, and bitchy. I cannot STAND Mobile Suit Gundam. >.< I got through Zeta Gundam, despite my dislike of Kamille, but I tend to like the alternate versions best. I grew up on Wing, so I have a deep love for that, but G Gundam takes My Favorite Best Dumb Show award. It's everything I love about shonen anime, with Gundams!

My-Hime was really neat, I liked how that went down. Big O had GREAT atmosphere - I still love the soundtrack for that one. I watched the original FMA and loved that - I remember watching subs for that show. I tried to get into Brotherhood, but I just never could. Something about keeping the manga's story in the manga means something to me. I liked Wolf's Rain too, along with a bunch of more obscure stuff.

I do a lot of fansubs - I've been watching something like five of the currently airing shows in Japan - but my faves for this season are probably Accel World and Sankarea. I've always had a liking for the ecchi shows, which Sankarea definately is, but there's an underlying sense of realism to it.
For fans of Bebop and Champloo, director Watanabe and composer Yoko Kanno are teamed back up for the show Sakamichi no Apollon. It's a very realistic show, all drama, but it's REALLY well done drama.

Bebop has the better soundtrack...and im a big hiphop fan as Cable can probably attest to from twitter. But Bebop's folk blues is amazing...

Blue Gender is another interesting series.

Sailor Moon is one show i cant watch dubs for AT ALL...same for Naruto and One Piece.

I never watched Michiko y tenchi..,inma check it out.

G Gunsam is what Transformers the movies wish they could be. Its so outrageous with the best yelling-power ups since DBZ.

I'll be honest I like DRagonball more than Z and i dislike Z after the Frieza saga. The one exception is Future Trunks, who's as "emo" as a DBZ character could get lol

Never seen Blue Gender dubbed. But hearing the same voices do 't bother me if they're good. Cowboy Bebop and Champloo use the sane voices and no bother at all.

Bleach is in its final manga arc and im excited since so many questions are to be answered and i want to see the Spirit King.

I don't bother with DBZ Kai. It's like reading the entire history of Uncanny X-Men except for one-shot issues and those involving crossovers with other books.

Bebop requires a certain mindset. It's not supposed to be one huge arc like your DBZ/Naruto/Bleach things. It's more like a dark-comedy sitcom. Each Episode can be viewed as it's own little piece but all add up to the story of the life of Spike.

Ninja Scroll

I haven't seen Rebuild. I have seen the first NGE series and the movies. I enjoy them but my best friend is the major NGE fan. He's got the rebuilds and enjoys them.

Originally posted by Cable I watched Cowboy Bebop and didnt understand the hype. It was a solid show but nothing amazing. I found there to be little to no overarching storyline across the series.

And THAT is why Bebop is such an amazing show. You can come back to in it 10 years and still enjoy it. The characters are realistic, believable, and entertaining; their (mis)adventures run the gamut from ridiculous to personal, from questing to mob fights, and even the contents of every episode are different. It's consistently well-written and handles it's subject matter with a realistic air of whimsy.

I love DBZ, but I know why it's dumb. I love Gundam Wing, but I know why it's dumb. I love Cowboy Bebop - and there's nothing dumb about it.

For anime, that's amazing.

No one's mentioned CLAMP related stuff yet? I know it's more shojo but I have the same nostalgic feeling for Card Captor Sakura and Magic Knight Rayearth that I do for DBZ, Kenshi and Evangelion. I'm also still nostalgic for the great Toonami anime age too, so many good series I got into from that/expanded me into the world of anime wayyy before the anime over-saturation hit the U.S.

I do love Blood+ as well, has anyone seen the entire series? I never got to the 4th season though. Some more favorites include Claymore, pretty violent I think but had an interesting twist on the femme fatale/demon/assassin. And re-watching Vision of Escaflowne as well, which I think is a great stand out when mixing giant mecha, fantasy and both shoujo and shounen genres.

I have a love-hate relationship with CLAMP's manga, but I've never actually watched anything animated that's based on their books. Out of ALL the anime I watched, never one of theirs. I think I'm just cool with the mangas.

I couldn't get into Claymore at all. It was like DBZ, but without any of the fun, the main character had no personality, and her sidekick was an annoying wuss. One of my co-workers was REALLY into the show, but it just never clicked for me.

Escaflowne is pretty fantastic - even the animated movie adaptation is well-done. GORGEOUS animation on that, man.

I'm definitely a Ghibli fan too. I think Nausicaa's a bit slow for my tastes, but I love Kiki's Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky, and Mononoke. I haven't seen Arietty yet, but I'm really looking forward to it.