Anime / Manga

[Ryan]

^ ill watch it but gdam are they EVER milking the crap out of that series..

[swapmeat]

Can anyone recommend a good movie. I'm not too into the series, because I don't like commiting to watching them since they go no where.

I've seen pretty much every movie by Studio Ghibli

and I've seen Paprika, Spriggan, but not too many ADV Films.

What else is great?

[cersepn]

one piece, bleach, elfen lied, eyeshield 21, hunter x hunter

samurai champloo has fantastic style

[Contingency Plan]

Cowboy Bebop, Death Note, Full Metal Alchemist and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

[swapmeat]

Thanks for recommending more series!

[hawthorne]

I don't know if anyone have recommended this earlier in the thread, I looked for the english title "Steamboy" but I couldn't find it, it's possible someone recommended it under the japanese title, in that case, I'm sorry for repeating this suggestion. But the movie "Steamboy" seems to be realy good, I saw parts of it today, the animation is good, borderline great and the story seems quite intersting (only saw part of it). So I realy recommend it. Here's the imdb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348121/

Also, I'm quite surprised it took three pages to someone to recommend Akira, what's up with that?

[ktothe]

Im watching Black Lagoon right now. it looks promising.

[AstroWolf]

Battle Angel is pretty darn cool... James Camron has been talking about adapting it in to a live action movie for a while.

[sushijerk]

Oooo someone here saw Paprika already? How was it? I think it releases in NYC this month. If you enjoyed it I highly recommend stuff by the same director like Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers.

I'm going to recommend a 13 ep series called "Kemonodzume." It came out last year and flew under almost everyone's radar because the animation style and storytelling was so unorthodox. Coming from a huge anime geek this is one of the top 10 series of the last decade in terms of storytelling, innovation, and ambition. You can find a batch torrent of all the eps at http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D%20Kemonodzume.torrent.

It's a pretty big download but if you have a client like uTorrent you can choose to download just the first couple of episodes and see if it suits your taste.

[Tiranis]

Hrm... FLCL, School Rumble and Speedgrapher.

Other than that I prefer manga for the most part -- Bleach, Naruto, Eyeshield 21, Beck (probably the one I like the most), and Trinity Blood (actually novels, not manga).

Meh, I don't pay attention to Bleach and Naruto much these days, I catch up once every several months when I'm bored, but I hate never-ending stories. Beck comes out every 3 months and Eyeshield is the only one I follow a bit more regularly. But animes for all of these are just way too childish for my tastes (plus the monologing of bad guys is always much more dragged out when you watch it, just annoying), although I still do watch Eyeshield for unexplainable reasons...

[Fuuma]

Thanks to whoever suggested Honey & Clover, it is quite enjoyable so far. I’ve finished watching Habane Renmei (I tend not to watch a lot of animation so at 3 episodes/month it took me about 4 months) and the thoughts I posted about it in the paranoia agent (?) thread are still valid, great piece of storytelling.

So considering I like stuff like Nana, Kimagure Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku, Here is greenwood and Honey & Clover etc a lot, what would you recommend?

A couple of great series for boys:

Slam Dunk (books are better): Very funny basketball story, made better by the unusually wacky and flawed protagonist. The more typical “hero†(aloof, good looking, quiet, focused, formidably talented *yawn*) is actually not the central character, which makes it all the more interesting. Follows the pattern of stories aimed at boys with progressively scarier “enemies†that need to be defeated, rapid growth of skill sandwiched between “fights†and exaltation of male competitive values coupled with some team work stuff. The author of this one is a truly remarkable illustrator, with a special eye for movement that is particularly impressive in his latest work on the topic of Miyamoto Musashi (basically an extended version of the Yoshikawa Eiji book).

YuYuHakusho: Supernatural martial arts stuff (you know the drill, think Dragonball and its ilk) but quite engaging and with a real skewed sense of humour. I tend to like this sort of thing in comic form better as they’re more subway/summery park reading material than things I want to watch 300 episodes of night after night. He’s now making/was making HunterXHunter but I gave up on reading this one as it was dragging on and on, too videogame inspired for me + he was re-using the same characters with only slight changes and I liked the original better.

Tenshi Ni Narumon: This one is really weird and somewhat childish (bad guy every episode, squealing and childish female protagonist, pastel colours everywhere) but is crazy enough to make it fun. I’m really wondering where this is all going as there seems to be some sort of darker, barely sketched for now, story going on in the background.

[sushijerk]

T

So considering I like stuff like Nana, Kimagure Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku, Here is greenwood and Honey & Clover etc a lot, what would you recommend?

So something that might be a bit more leisurely and dramatic? Check out Mushishi. I also highly recommend Azumanga Diaoh. Kind of kiddy but very quirky and charming. I loved Honey and Clover too. Wish there was more than 2 seasons. Did you ever see Kareshi Kanojo No Jijuu (His and Hers Circumstances)?

Also want to mention Basilisk, which is the closest to a Ninja Scroll tv series they've ever been able to come up with.

For those into darker drama I highly recommend Monster.

[Guest jmatsu]

blackjack original series just got re-released!

[DJ2xTech]

Oooo someone here saw Paprika already? How was it? I think it releases in NYC this month. If you enjoyed it I highly recommend stuff by the same director like Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers.

I'm going to recommend a 13 ep series called "Kemonodzume." It came out last year and flew under almost everyone's radar because the animation style and storytelling was so unorthodox. Coming from a huge anime geek this is one of the top 10 series of the last decade in terms of storytelling, innovation, and ambition. You can find a batch torrent of all the eps at http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D%20Kemonodzume.torrent.

It's a pretty big download but if you have a client like uTorrent you can choose to download just the first couple of episodes and see if it suits your taste.

Love these two anime movies and definitely recommend them.

Perfect Blue - Psychological

Millenium Actress - Way it was told was amazing, great story about never giving up on your first love. haha

[drapygo]

Mmmm, I really recommend all the classic animes. Such as... Trigun, Rurouni Kenshin, Evangelion, GTO, and a gang load others.

Current season, is really good, so far, Code Geass has finished, and is awaiting the last 2 episodes before second season starts, shit is fucking epic.

NANA, is also good, but it's more of a girl anime, I suppose, it's about punk rock band.

Seto no Hanayome, mad funny anime, about mermaid and a kids life.

Lucky Star, super cute anime, seems to be the new favorite anime.

Haruhi, also a great anime, love the artwork, second season coming along soon.

Shakugan no SHANA, I havn't watched it myself, but I collect the anime after first glance at it, I started fansubbing it, then dropped it and picked it up again later on and currently have 1 more episode to go, and we are like 1 year behind, lol, quality > speed.

[swapmeat]

Stop listing the same overrated shit over and over.

[thinctank]

1. tekkonkinkreet. saw it at the MOMA. absolutely amazing. i think it's the first anime directed by a american.(?) more info: http://pingmag.jp/2006/11/22/making-taiyo-matsumoto-tekkon-kinkreet-into-anime/

2. if you like paranoia agent, you'll like paprika opening friday in nyc.

3. japan society is showing death note and it's sequel in july (nyc)

[Guest jmatsu]

i just watched "afro samurai" and it was pretty good. samuel l. jackson as "ninja x2" was kind of irritating, but the story and art were fun.

the music by rza was pretty good too. 8/10.

[jeepster]

Awesome anime. Just rediscovered my DVD of it. Fucking amazing soundtrack provided by the Pillows.

discuss.

[sushijerk]

This title alone has kept Gainax relevant as an anime studio in the last 10 years. Saw Pillows at Pianos in NYC 2 years ago. Awesome live band. They're playing Knitting Factory later this year.

But yea, the style and art is incredible. Storytelling broke down at the end in typical Gainax fashion, but damn what a ride.

[toufu]

my avatar...

[jeepster]

my avatar...

thats what actually got me to dig out my DVD

you're right, the story does sorta fall apart. but you can't always put out Evangelion can you? FLCL was a good, if not short, series.

[-questionmark-]

ive watched it like 4 times and still don't get it. i still love it though. made me want a vespa.

[seemeugly]

Wait, are you saying you can put NGE on as an alternative to watching a story fall apart?

[jeepster]

Wait, are you saying you can put NGE on as an alternative to watching a story fall apart?

evangelion never falls apart. it just takes a number of times watching it to figure out whats going on. its actually very linear, you just need to know the manga very well considering it puts in plan terms the storyline (despite being written after), and know what was going on with Hideki Anno at the time.

[Ryan]

i said it in the anime thread but if you like FLCL, you might like Aim for the Top 2: Die Buster, same director..

[seemeugly]

I'm not really inclined to enter a long, drawn out argument about the merits of NGE's storytelling, but I will say that I can not consider any series that requires deep knowledge of a subsequently produced work well plotted.

[munkyballz]

Agree. Very good series, and not ass-numbingly long either.

[jeepster]

I'm not really inclined to enter a long, drawn out argument about the merits of NGE's storytelling, but I will say that I can not consider any series that requires deep knowledge of a subsequently produced work well plotted.

you don't have too. the whole thing is a huge huge puzzle. luckily, i had my older brother to explain it to me before i saw it, also, i was already thoroughly depressed, so it came off as more of a linear telling.

[passant]

best ending song ever.

GRUNGE NO HAMSTER