Anime and manga appreciation and discussion thread
 

Like it says, kids - this thread is for discussion of any and all topics related to manga and anime. If you like anime or manga, or want to connect with other fans of your favorite series - this is the thread for you!

And let's try to keep it friendly and non-bashy. :) :) :)

This thread exists.

Sure does.

http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=35581

Yeah, but it's kind of old... like, 2013 old. I didn't know whether it would be more annoying to start a new thread, or necro-post the old one. I thought maybe a new thread would be a good jumping-off point for recent members to join in.

Sorry guys, dunno if it was the right decision but I made the call. *shrugs*

I still think it's the most gar anime series. Sure, the animation shows it's age, and it has some slumps here and there along the way in the story. Yet, it's the grandfather of the shounen genre, and badasses are proper badasses. It's cheesy and over the top and gory and violent and filled with testosterone. But there's no flying monkeys or brightly dressed ninjas or pirates that can't swim. It's completely unapologetic about what it is, and what it is is a man on a mission of vengeance traveling the wasteland exploding the heads of those that get in his way with punches. It's Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star), and you don't want to **** with Kenshiro.

So what do you feel was the best age for anime? I'm getting the feeling you're an 80's man...

Also, what does everyone here think of Neon Genesis Evangelion? I know it was a gateway anime for a lot of people starting out (myself included)... but I kind of feel like I've outgrown it, or maybe I'm just having trouble connecting with it in the same way that I used to.

I heard that Hideaki Anno (the director of the anime) used his own experiences with clinical depression as inspiration for a lot of the more psychological moments. That was one of the things I enjoyed most about the show, but by the same token, these days I have a lot of trouble tolerating Shinji as a character for those same reasons - I find him overly emo.

Anyone else got any thoughts or opinions?

I prefer the 80's and 90's era of anime, but I know the 00's had some of the best anime bar none. I mean,
I honestly feel that Cowboy Bebop is the best anime ever currently. It's not my favorite, but I recognize it's quality.

As for NGE, ugh, not a fan. It did do some revolutionary things for the mecha genre, but the characters kill it for me. I could really get into it but rather not since people's opinion of NGE tends he strong on both sides.

Hey, by all means, get into it - that's what the thread's for! :) Also, what do you feel are the best mecha anime?

Hunter x Hunter is my favorite :) Been watching religiously, it's so good. I'm talking about the 2011 series of course. I've only watched bits of the 1999 series, and I'm mostly confident that this version is better (for me)

I'm all caught up on the manga, too. Including the new chapters that just started up again this year after a very long hiatus.

Hoping it goes on for a long, long time to come.

It's on crunchyroll so check it out!

I'm a complete anime / manga noob. My last roomate laughed hard when I picked up his copy of Claymore and attempted to read it from the front cover.
His anime advice for me was to start off with Ghost in a Shell and Akira so I'm guessing these are two of the better known ones in the western world?

I'm not much for franchises that resemble robotech, zelda, pokeman, sailor moon. Excuse my ignorance, but did I just eliminate everything or is there a lot more manga/anime that someone could recommend ? :)

My favorite mecha is Patlabor. The OVA and TV series are more comedy oriented, but the movies (1 & 2) are more serious. I really like that it's about as realistic as a mecha could probably be (aside from a few gags). Basically, it centers around Division 2 of the labor (what mechs are called in Patlabor) police, which is like the B team, sort of, lead by a wise Captain. It's sort of a McHale's Navy kind of show. But like I said, the 1st 2 movies are serious, very serious really. They are incredibly dialogue heavy and slow paced, but quite intellectual.

The best is likely Gundam 0079. I keep meaning to watch Gundam Unicorn as I've heard a lot of good about it. Oh, well SDF Macross is a strong contender for best. Oddly enough the best mecha series are the ones were the mecha are just a means to an end, they're just the tools that get the job done. While the people are really what matters.

TTGL is likely the most entertaining. It's basically youR typical Super Robot show but on a mix of steroids, PCP, and LSD. It as if it's not only trying to out do all other mecha series before or after, but itself as well.

As for NGE, the biggest problem is Shinji. No wonder they can't get their **** together when their so called ace pilot whines about every damn thing. And then there's the emotionless stone that is Rei. Not to forget one of the biggest ****s in all of anime, Asuka. Argue that they all have mental illness to some degree, but it doesn't completely absolve them of their actions, or inaction. There not a single character on the show that isn't ****ed in the head some how or another. Eventually you find out each one of them has some sort of hang up. Yet, these are the people put in charge and expected to save humanity? There had to be one hell of a curve on the psych evaluation tests.

Then there's the religious overtones people say NGE has. To some degree, yeah, but not every cross in NGE has meaning. It just seems like more shock and awe put there to grab your attention. And the way they "built" the mechs is so ****ing nuts you'd think it was the Russian government that made the decisions at Nerv. Which, considering how Gendo acts and runs things he might as well be a crooked Russian polititician.

People take NGE way too seriously too. I mean really, those skin tight plug suits are the uniforms for piloting the units? They even had Shinji wear the girls' plug suit before his was made. There's no grey area with the two leading young ladies either. It's either a raging, dominating **** or a soulless, submissive doll.

It's been a long while since I've watched NGE. Every time I've tried going back to watch it again I end up dropping it from annoyance. I first watched it on VHS as each tape came out from the now defunct ADV. That's some 15 or so years ago. I did watch it a few time on tape just to make sure I saw what I saw. Then again when it was released on DVD. But it has been some time since I watched it. Yet Shinji's moaning and crying like a little bitch can't be forgotten, unfortunately.

My 1st suggestion is to check out the Studio Ghibli movies. They are sort of kid/family focused but easily enjoyable for adults. If you ever wondered just how emotional and depressing anime can be, watch Grave of the Fireflies.

One thing I want to say about the Akira movie. It's not bad, just a bit messy as it was created and released while the manga was only half way through, yet at the height of it's popularity. At the very least Akira is worth watching as a visual and audible treat. It's a proper testament of hand drawn animation quality.

If you watch the movie, read the manga of Akira. Far more detailed and much more story and plot than could ever fit into 90-120 minutes of film.

Does it ever get...I dunno...more interesting, or faster paced? I probably watched 20 or more episodes before giving up. The last thing I remember watching, and I may have actually watched further but I'm not sure, is something with Gon and Killua (?) training with some old guy on a boat or something?

Big fan of Anime, I love the action / comedy type the best with bits of romance. Right now I'm really into the Gintama Anime, the action and drama are really good when that happens and the comedy is pure gold, not to mention love all the characters even the villains :D

Hey, nothing wrong with being a noob; we all start out as noobs at some point! There's definitely a lot out there; particularly when you're first starting, as you don't know at that stage which genres you're into - so it's basically a process of trying some of the more well-known stuff and going from there.

If you think there's any chance at all that you'd like horror anime, I can't recommend Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust enough. There are two VHD flicks, but I feel that Bloodlust is the best film.

For more recent stuff, you could check out the Cowboy Bebop movie - you don't need to know anything about the series to enjoy it and if you do like it, you can could get into the Cowboy Bebop series from there.

Yeah look, Shinji was a watchable character when I was 16 and in love with my own angst, but as an adult I just want to slap him. Asuka I don't mind - I've actually got a fair bit of time for her since she at least gives Shinji a serve every now and then, but I don't see the appeal of Rei at all. Then you add in the scene with Shinji over the hospital bed, and the movie that they did for the ending... nygh.

Despite all that, I feel like maybe I should give Rebuild Of Evangelion a chance... if for no other reason than the idea of Asuka with an eye-patch intrigues me!

Oh and hey, I should clarify, when I said keep it non-bashy, I just meant non-bashy of anime culture (as we already have a thread for that, haha j/k). It's totes ok to talk about what we don't like about certain series. :)

I really like anime, but if I had to pick one thing I wish they'd do less of, it'd be that so many series have such completely soul-crushingly depressing endings. It's kind of a love/hate thing with me; they do such a great job with emotionally dark scenes, but at the same time there's some series where I deliberately avoid watching the endings because of it being such a downer.

Watch Grave of the Fireflies. All other sad ending anime will seem like a walk in the park.

Thanks PennyDreadful ! Vampire Hunter D looks like something I'd enjoy. I'll definitely check that one out. I tried to educate myself a bit and was blown away by just how much anime is out there and how varied the themes. Every movie genre imaginable. Since I love sci-fi and cyberpunk related themes and not much for gratuitous fan service (just learned the term), I'm guessing that Seinen would be the category I should look into more. I made the following list as a starting point based on your recommendations and net reviewers.
- Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust - many have said the story and art style is prefered over the original.
- Ghost in a Shell - on everyones' starter list
- Psycho-Pass - cyberfuture crime procedural
- Steins;Gate - time travel drama
- Cowboy Bebop - this seems to be highly recommended by everyone and I'm guessing it has a bit of a Firefly feel to it?
- Mardok Scramble - has a cool cyberpunk look to it and something about a prostitute left for dead that gets revenge on the bad guys in a bladerunner-esq setting. A little fanservice is fine as long as it isn't over the top like hentai / harem? Looking for dark, gritty, engrossing sci-fi with a flavor for cyberpunks high tech and low society, but not cartoon porn. :)

JamieH- is Grave of the Fireflies as sad as Watership Down? I was quite young when I watched it but the vision of hurt bunnies still haunts me. :( Poor f'n bunnies.. What's wrong with people !! (starts bawling..)

I don't really watch anime anymore but I caught the first three episodes of the new JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Good stuff.

Grave of the Fireflies is about two young siblings who are on their own trying to survive in Japan in the final days of WWII.

Hurt bunnies have nothing on the soul crushing story of these 2 children.

I'm watching One Piece. I'm 16 episodes in.

I finally broke into the New World (episode 517+) stuff in One Piece after hearing they delayed the English dub of Thriller Bark until the fall and regret nothing. Absolutely in love with the entire thing. Now I can finally play through the last few chapters of Pirate Warriors without skipping all the cut scenes and play Unlimited World Red tomorrow without fear of spoiling all the late "rookie era" stuff.

I do believe that the website quicksummary summed it up nicely:

(spoiler'd for content and well, spoiler)

Does anyone here like Sword Art Online? I think it is an awesome anime and would recommend to anyone.... Just make sure that you watch the 1st episode 1st or you will be totally lost!
It is basically about a young boy and several other people who get stuck in a virtual reality game and if the die in game there brains get fried in the "real World".

Pretty much. And the fact that it's based on a bit of one man's life experience that lived through Japan during that time only cements the brutality of it.

On a lighter note, there's every single other film that Miyazaki has been involved in.

As a pallet cleanser, here's the OP to possibly my favorite romance anime, Victorian Romance Emma.

I guess I need to try this, since I've seen it mentioned a million times before. I just absolutely hate when anime does video game related stuff, because it's almost always 100% unbearably awful.

I myself do find much joy out of anime, here is a short list of what i have finished/am currently watching

Sword Art Online - Finished
Trigun - Finished
Dragon Ball + Dragon Ball Z ~300 episodes in (have not watched in a while)
Naruto - 216 Episodes in
One Piece - Caught up
Bleach Manga - Caught up
Full Metal Alchemist/Brotherhood - Finished
Fairy Tail - Caught up
Neon Genesis - Done
"X" - Done

I cant think of anymore at the moment

Oh definitely - there's something out there for everyone; it's really only once you start getting into it that you realize how much there actually is. It can be a little overwhelming! :lol: Magical girls, cyberpunk, mecha, cars, sports, horror... actually, you may also enjoy Samurai Champloo; I don't really know how else to describe it except to say it's like a zany version of ancient Japan with hip-hop influences. It's directed by the same guy who directed Cowboy Bebop.

Oh dude, Watership Down was grim watching... but I still reread the book every couple of years!

I'm watching it subbed beacue I heard that Funimation and 4kids don't capture the feel of the show. Is that true? I can see it going for 4kids, but Funimation does some pretty good stuff.

4Kids is a joke. Funimation dub is 100% spot on. The only reason I moved on to subbed recently was because the next set of dubbed episodes got pushed back to fall and I was dying from the wait. I'm still gonna get and watch all the dub sets, because I vastly prefer it, to be honest.

The entirety of Samurai Pizza Cats is available on DVD from Dicotek under their Easter Star label.

http://www.rightstuf.com/rssite/acti...ItemName=es054

And if you're interested in the original show, Kyatto-Ninden Teyandee (Legendary Ninja Cats), they have that too.

http://www.rightstuf.com/rssite/acti...ItemName=es048

I'm currently on Arabasta, right when Ace leaves the crew. It's dragging hard. I just want to see Luffy fight Crocodile already.

I tried reading the One Piece manga, back when I used to buy Shounen Jump, but I couldn't quite get into it.

My girlfriend hates the general manga/anime art style, so it's hard trying to convince her to watch any shows with me. With us both being Dungeons & Dragons nerds I tried Record of Lodoss War since it is based off an actual D&D setting. But, she hates the Elf's voice.

Then we stumbled upon Queen's Blade, and she loves just zany and over the top the fan service is in it...

Maybe try Rune Soldier or Those Who Hunt Elves. Oh, I know, try out Slayers. They're all comedies set in a medieval like time.

For something on the more serious side there's Berserk (either the TV series or movie trilogy), Claymore, or Spice & Wolf. I will say that when I watched Spice & Wolf I went into it thinking what's the big deal about it? Once I got into it, I saw why it had such the enamored fan base.

Yeah, Alabasta has a few too many filler episodes around the middle, but stick with it. Luffy vs Crocodile has an incredible payoff. Also, considering you were 16 episodes in last week and you're already in Alabasta I'm going to suggest you slow down a bit. Easiest way to burn out on stuff is to consume it non-stop like that.

I've never watched any anime before. Well, unless anyone counts pokemon as a proper anime. What would be the best anime to watch to get into it?

Some of my favorite anime that I'd highly recommend watching:

Gurren Lagann
Cowboy Bebop
Dragon Ball+Dragon Ball Z
Naruto
Astro Boy (2003 series)
Kill la Kill
Attack on Titan

Ghibli films.

So,

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Castle in the Sky
Grave of the Fireflies
My Neighbor Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
Only Yesterday
Porco Rosso
Pom Poko
Whisper of the Heart
Princess Mononoke
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Spirited Away
The Cat Returns
Howl's Moving Castle
Tales from Earthsea
Ponyo
Arrietty
From Up on Poppy Hill
The Wind Rises
The Tale of Princess Kaguya

That list is in chronological order. If there's anything that can get someone to like and enjoy anime, it's Ghibli films. After you watch a few of those I'd recommend some TV series.

I have very good things about Attack on Titan, so I might give that a go sometime.

So are all of those Films?

All Fantastic and memorable movies.