Anime

[Brycepops]

I'm just going to throw this out there.

http://www.heartofmadness.com/

These guys recently finished subbing all of Hokuto No Ken/Fist of the North Star.

Enjoy :3

[I-n-j-i-n]

I just finished watching Gurren Lagann and now I don't know what to watch. Anybody wanna recommend me some animes that will make me laugh?

Soul Eater is very good and has really good animation. I just watched the first episode of Hyakko and it made me laugh more than most new anime premiers. That one could be good too.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

And so season 2 of the best Gundam series ever is begun.

YAY!

[OverCoat]

They're making another season of Zeta Gundam? I don't see how that's possible

[Bleck]

They're making another season of Superior Defender Gundam Force? I don't see how that's possible

fixed that for you overcoat

[Avatar of Justice]

You guys are wrong, it is Gundam SEED.

OH MY GOD. Gundam 00 is so badass. I don't think any other anime's ever get my heart racing like a Gundam does. They have the best intros ever.

[H. Guderian]

The first new episode of 00 season 2 was indeed bliss, though there's a lot of great new stuff out this season. I found this picture over the vast internet detailing the shows out this fall:

http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fall2008seasonpreviewfidr5.jpg

But yes, Gundam 00 has got to have some of the better fights in Gundam history...next to Gundam Zeta! I love Zeta with a passion.

[Gafgarion]

Genshiken went to a 2nd season, then stopped. They made a 9th volume of the manga, leading me to think they were going to make a 3rd season, but to my disappointment, it said end of Genshiken on the last page. :(

[OverCoat]

http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fall2008seasonpreviewfidr5.jpg

I'm looking forward to the Nodame Cantabile there :D

also: new hokuto no ken series? goddam

There's SO MUCH NEW ANIME OUT and I'm still stuck in the 80s basically, haha

[H. Guderian]

Aye, I've watched so much anime recently, and I'm behind again. I never even finished the first season of Nodame yet.

I basically spent the summer catching up on really old anime. Its just amazing how much stuff comes out.

[Gollgagh]

http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fall2008seasonpreviewfidr5.jpg

ooh Hell's Angels OVA


I really liked the manga, maybe I should look into this one

[OverCoat]

Well, on the plus side, most of it is total shit, so we don't need to watch EVERYTHING

It's just seeing a huge image like that makes it seem a bit... overwhelming.

[H. Guderian]

Yeah, the list includes everything. Like, all audiences. I maybe only 'attempt' 5-8 shows and stick with like...whatever's good.

but its nice to see whats coming out like this, sometimes things can air, you may like it, but never even know it existed. This helps...somewhat. I only seem to find these for Fall and winter seasons. I guess I'm too busy in Spring//Summer to look.

[I-n-j-i-n]

This seasons so far has unexpectedly been very good.

Hyakko (Azumanga-lite), Clannad, ef, Shugo Chara, Bounen no Xam, Casshern, Tales of the Abyss, etc etc. I don't need to introduce Gundam 00 or Nodame Cantabile to anyone. And there's even other really good watches. Kannagi looks like it'll be a lot of fun too.

I think the funniest and potentially the most unique one is One Outs, which basically combines serious gambling with baseball. Really weird but really fun. Also has that old Akagi/Kaiji feel.

And speaking of comedy series, I think Detroit Metal City is easily one of the funniest anime running right now. Basically a much more digestible version of Metalocalpyse. Also its two-episodes-per format makes it seem like oldschool cartoons.

[DarkeSword]

Kannagi.

When she eats the taiyaki.

Adorable.

[H. Guderian]

I enjoyed Toradora so far. As to how it pans out later I dunno.

[DarkeSword]

I enjoyed Toradora so far. As to how it pans out later I dunno.
I've read a bit of the manga, it's a very fun series. The anime is shaping up to be great.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Toradora proved to be really good show from the second episode. The first ep was all introductions and nothing much. Ep2 had way more comedy and relevant drama. Also Casshern is turning out into a classic from the looks of episode 2.

Also, what's with anime openings and endings having chiptune music? It's all the rage nowadays.

[H. Guderian]

aye, got around to Casshern yesterday. Its certainly picking up a unique award from me. I wanna see more of whats going on there.

[Brushfire]

Also, what's with anime openings and endings having chiptune music? It's all the rage nowadays.

It's not that chiptunes are all the rage with anime. It is more that budget cuts are all the rage with anime nowadays.

I mean would it kill some of them to have more than the choppy 2/fps that most have.

[Brycepops]

aye, got around to Casshern yesterday. Its certainly picking up a unique award from me. I wanna see more of whats going on there.

I saw the live-action movie sometime last year I think. It was pretty awesome. I might look into the anime soon :3

[H. Guderian]

Well the new Casshern has this...feeling to it. I don't know anything of the franchise. I'd recommend it to people just to experience its different-ness.

[I-n-j-i-n]

It's not that chiptunes are all the rage with anime. It is more that budget cuts are all the rage with anime nowadays.

I mean would it kill some of them to have more than the choppy 2/fps that most have.

It's not just that either. Most shows can't be bothered for the normal 13 eps and most have 12 episodes or even only 10. In the 90's, most anime were at least the standard 26 episodes long. But now, they barely sputter to episode 24 or 25.

But I still do think chiptunes is all the range with anime openings and endings though.

It's awesome, but it's like they caught onto a trend and aren't letting go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxtg7KEuuSw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nsPhy5jY58

As for Casshern, the study on the extinction of robots is sort of like looking into what humans will devolve down to (ZOMBIES!) when faced with the prospect of certain death. It's quite ironic really. And easily one of the best anime running right now.

[Brycepops]

Bump with some news :o

Dragon Ball Kai
---------------------------------

From Wikipedia:

"In February 2009, Toei announced that they would begin rebroadcasting Dragon Ball Z as part of the series' 20th anniversary celebrations. The series premiered on April 5, 2009, under the name Dragon Ball Kai, with the episodes remastered for HDTV, featuring updated opening and ending sequences, and a rerecording of the vocal tracks by the original cast.[38][39] They were also re-edited to more closely follow the manga, resulting in a faster moving story, and damaged frames removed.[40] As such, it is a "new" series created from the original Dragon Ball Z footage."

And the new OP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnvupMV9su4

I'm pretty excited about this. The first episode has already been subbed, and it's pretty spiffy so far.

[OverCoat]

I'll probably watch the radditz arc and then stop watching forever

series went downhill after that

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

New Full Metal Alchemist began airing recently with the first episode out this week.

I don't wanna dash any hopes of an actual sequel, but from the way thing looks it's a reboot, which is no problem to me because it's still FMA and they're still calling Ed short.

I dunno if I'll want to watch it now or if I'll just wait 'til Funimation gets the dub out. This was one of the animes that I really preferred the dub over the sub.

[Nyuura]

I don't wanna dash any hopes of an actual sequel, but from the way thing looks it's a reboot, which is no problem to me because it's still FMA and they're still calling Ed short.

From what everybody's tellin' me, the new FMA's hopefully going to actually follow through with Arakawa's manga storyline and completely ignore the trainwreck that was the old series. If truth, then I'm totally stoked.

Have you seen the FMA movie? I guess you can pass that off as a trippy sequel that makes no sense.

[DarkeSword]

It makes perfect sense. The anime was just fine on its own.

That said, I'm very excited about seeing some of the new manga stuff in the new series. I just hope some of the old music (like Bratja) carries over to the new show. One of the best songs ever.

[Bleck]

for everyone who gets all pissy because the original series differed from the manga: the story actually differed at arakawa's request, and while she didn't do any actual writing, the alternate story did have her direct input

[LuketheXjesse]

for everyone who gets all pissy because the original series differed from the manga: the story actually differed at arakawa's request, and while she didn't do any actual writing, the alternate story did have her direct input

It makes perfect sense. The anime was just fine on its own.

That said, I'm very excited about seeing some of the new manga stuff in the new series. I just hope some of the old music (like Bratja) carries over to the new show. One of the best songs ever.

What they said.

[Thin Crust]

Just subscribing.

[DarkeSword]

Just subscribing.
http://www.darkesword.com/forumpics/2009-04-08_2313.png

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Well I had no idea that FMA1 wasn't faithful to the manga. I also know I don't really care, since it was still a great series.

Also, Valkyria Chronicles just started it's run as well. I don't know if I wanna watch it just yet, or wait for the inevitable 360 port of the game...

[Native Jovian]

Can someone tell me what the attraction of FMA was? Seriously, I didn't see it. They set up all these rules of alchemy only to ignore them continually, the only characters that weren't obnoxious they killed off (here's looking at you, Hughes!), the villains were protected by plotshield of epic proportions, and they reused the exact same plot twist no less than three times. (The philosopher's stone? Made of people. Homunculi? Made of people!! All of alchemy?! Made of peeeeeople! From another dimension! And oh, wait, those talking chimera? Made of people. Twice. So that's four times.)

The best episode in the series was the one that focused on Mustang's minions and the haunted warehouse thing. When the most entertaining thing that happens in the series is when they completely ignore the main characters for a while, you've done something dreadfully wrong.

[Thin Crust]

Umm, guys? My jaw just dropped through the floor. I don't know how popular this is, but I just saw it a minute ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk1J_OhGaI0

Somebody animated final fantasy vi characters into the full metal alchemist theme song.

[Brushfire]

Still couldn't save FMA from being terrible.

Also shitty audio quality.

[DarkeSword]

That's been around for quite a while.

And, hey, I liked FMA. :\

[Gollgagh]

Also shitty audio quality.

it's a youtube transcribed from nicovideo. of course the quality is going to be shit, you dunce

[Thin Crust]

Who is that guy in place of Scar at 1:02?

[TheSnowStorm]

Umm, guys? My jaw just dropped through the floor. I don't know how popular this is, but I just saw it a minute ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk1J_OhGaI0

Somebody animated final fantasy vi characters into the full metal alchemist theme song.

Old. Actually, it came out recently and it's pretty damn well done for a fan work.

FMA is like one of the very few anime of this decade that I actually enjoyed watching but I have missed out on a lot of it so whatever.

I've been itching to see "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suyzawhatsherface" for a while. Is it really a good series or is it just bullshit hype?

[DarkeSword]

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. It's very good, but very odd. Forget about the hype; just watch it for what it is.

[Brycepops]

Who is that guy in place of Scar at 1:02?

Looks like General Leo.

[Meteo Xavier]

This is a godblessed big topic.

Nevertheless, I want to throw Ichigo Mashimaro in there. I can't figure out what it is, but I cannot stop watching it. It speaks to me and fills a void in my life that will forever be present until one of those pussy assassins actually luck out.

Its not an easy to appreciate series/manga. Its cute, slice-of-life that doesn't have a single thing standing out for it other than a spotless series of soundtracks, but anyone who appreciates Charlie Brown and, dare I say, the artistic aspects of David Lynch will appreciate this series.

OVA Encore brought tears to my eyes. I can die happy now.

I don't know if I'm supposed to provide links or something, but episodes exist on Youtube always. I'd start there to see if its your thing or not.

[Gollgagh]

or if you're lolicon




I liked it

[Brushfire]

I really did like Appleseed: Ex Machina. That was pretty cool.

Also Haruhi is only good for the music.

Don't know what everyone else sees in that show.

I kinda like the angle for the Anime Karin, about a vampire who injects blood, rather than sucks it, with hilarious results.

[LuketheXjesse]

And, hey, I liked FMA. :\

I seriously think me and you are the only people on OCR who did...

[Brushfire]

So I found a Manga that I like. Check out Monster Hunter Orage. It doesn't suck.

[Ferret]

I'm sure more people than you and DarkeSword liked FMA, but they unlike you don't have to trumpet their opinion every five seconds.

Excuse me if that sounds like a flame, Luke, because it is. :nicework:

I simply think most of us feel that it's absolutely unnecessary to list everything we like down to the episode number, name, and timestamp.

A lot of us enjoy watching stuff a lot more than we enjoy talking about watching stuff, yes?

[Meteo Xavier]

or if you're lolicon


I'm not. IM really walks a fine line, yes, but I trump that up to Japanese culture, not perverted source material.

[Avatar of Justice]

I don't know about you guys but I'm not watching anything this season. Nothing has really caught my eye. I sort of forgot about the new FMA, I guess since it isn't really new I didn't get pumped about it.

Man, Gundam 00 seemed promising at the end of its first season but ended up a piece of shit. Hey, let's stop developing the characters and make them totally unrelatable and solve all the world's problems with magic mind particle BS. Lame!

[Brycepops]

I don't know about you guys but I'm not watching anything this season. Nothing has really caught my eye. I sort of forgot about the new FMA, I guess since it isn't really new I didn't get pumped about it.



I started watching Guin Saga yesterday. I had no idea wtf it was about so I wiki'd it, and when I found out that the music was being done by Nobuo Uematsu, I was all over it.

[Meteo Xavier]

That actually sounds awesome.

Has anyone seen Dokuro-Chan?

I mostly just want to confirm that I'm not ritualistically insane and that someone has actually created something like it. :(

[Brycepops]

That actually sounds awesome.

Has anyone seen Dokuro-Chan?

I mostly just want to confirm that I'm not ritualistically insane and that someone has actually created something like it. :(

Hahaha. What got me was the epic faces they would sometimes make.

[Meteo Xavier]

The first thing I thought when I saw the first episode was "Fuck, and I thought that Fritz the Cat movie was the last thing I'd see before I die."

Still, its different, and I love different.

[H. Guderian]

Man, Gundam 00 seemed promising at the end of its first season but ended up a piece of shit. Hey, let's stop developing the characters and make them totally unrelatable and solve all the world's problems with magic mind particle BS. Lame!

Yeah, but I squealed like a fan to have Amuro back in the RX-78 in the last episode. I for the most part enjoyed the tail end of 00, but I'm about as angry at the show as I like it. Unlike SEED/Destiny which my hate for it can probably melt through steel. I mean, the end had a lot of plotholes, useless equipment, and characters fading into obscurity doing nothing, but it did an overall nice job.

This season has slim pickings, so I'm staying with FMA, Mazinger Z, and Spice and Wolf II slated for the end of April, S&W2 is likely gonna be my favorite from the season.

[OverCoat]

I never made it to the 2nd season of Gundam 00, it was such a fucking disappointment. Lots of "oh shit!" nice twists at the end of the first season but I didn't like a single one of the characters except for Sergei and his little loli supersoldier. And they probably die in season 2. Trans-am? Are you fucking serious? I haven't seen a good non-UC Gundam except for maybe Wing, and that's with my teenage nostalgia goggles on.

Then I watched Macross Frontier and got the bad taste out of my mouth :3 I've enjoyed almost all Macross series ever, especially 7, and Frontier was just executed so goddamn well.

[Avatar of Justice]

Unlike SEED/Destiny which my hate for it can probably melt through steel. I mean, the end had a lot of plotholes, useless equipment, and characters fading into obscurity doing nothing, but it did an overall nice job

Alrighty so you are a UC fan. I am SEED fan (it's one of my favorite pieces of fiction ever). I'm not trying to start a flame war I just wanna see if I'm right about something. I know a lot of you UC fans hate SEED (Destiny has problems I'll admit). But do you like UC Gundam primarily for the fights and the mechs, or is it the drama or both? I love SEED because it so dramatic and emotional, but when I watched Zeta I realized that UC's fights were way more tactical and interesting. However, I found the character development severely lacking. And I primarily consume fiction for the emotional drama not the action. I'm just trying to see the other side of things that's all, not antagonize you.

Also yeah, I might watch Spice & Wolf 2, although I'll have to catch up on the first season first. Not sure whether to wait for the DVD's to come out and Netflix it or what.

[Knives]

NODAME CANTABILE!

Features a shitload of classical music, I loved it.

[Brushfire]

Shiro Sagisu, the guy who did Evangelion's score, also did the score for Bleach.

And while I don't particular care for either of those anymore, they are both really great scores.

[Avatar of Justice]

Shiro Sagisu, the guy who did Evangelion's score, also did the score for Bleach.

And while I don't particular care for either of those anymore, they are both really great scores.

He also did the music for the Casshern movie. There's actually a song in Casshern that comes straight out of Bleach.

[Soma]

Yeah, but I squealed like a fan to have Amuro back in the RX-78 in the last episode. I for the most part enjoyed the tail end of 00, but I'm about as angry at the show as I like it. Unlike SEED/Destiny which my hate for it can probably melt through steel. I mean, the end had a lot of plotholes, useless equipment, and characters fading into obscurity doing nothing, but it did an overall nice job.

This season has slim pickings, so I'm staying with FMA, Mazinger Z, and Spice and Wolf II slated for the end of April, S&W2 is likely gonna be my favorite from the season.

Was Amuro actually in 00? I must have missed that. I just rewatched the end or do you mean that Setsuna is like Amuro? I'm a little confused is all.

FMA seems awesome, and I'm about to watch Guin Saga. I never finished watching Spice & Wolf, should I continue?

[Native Jovian]

Amuro wasn't in 00; it's an alternate universe. But the Japanese voice actor for Ribbons was also the Japanese VA for Amuro. The "Amuro back in the RX-78" comment refers to the fact the Ribbons (ie Amuro's VA) was piloting the 0 Gundam (which was in RX-78 colors) for the final battle between Ribbons and Setsuna.

On the subject of Gundam 00 as a whole, my general opinion on it is "it was alright, but there was a ridiculous amount of wasted potential". Season one was great, I had very few complaints about it (mostly the occasionally-gratuitous fanservice and the way they had Saji completely puss out toward the end). Season two was a lot less interesting; it's like they felt like they had to make up for the lack of Gundam cliches in the first season by kicking them down your throat in the second. Elite military force supposedly working for the good of all that's actually evil and trying to take over the world? Check. Angsty masked rival for the main character? Check. Threat of massive damage to Earth due to falling objects? Check. Giant space laser? Check and double check. Main character plothax that makes him sixteen times more awesome than everyone else by default? Check, double check, and triple check.

Overall, Gundam 00's main problem was the same as Destiny's (though admittedly not nearly to the same degree) -- too many characters, too much wasted time. I was looking forward to the return of the Al/Hal mind-meld for pretty much the entire second season, and perhaps a similar merging for Soma and Marie. What do we get instead? Endless repetitions of Marnia singing that damn song with those damn orphans. Andrei has two subplots (his relationship with Louise and implied rivalry with Saji, and his conflict with Soma vis-a-vis his father) that never went anywhere. The relationship between Kati and Sumeragi never went much past "old college buddies turned rival commanders". I could go on -- the point is that they laid the groundwork for all this cool stuff and then never followed through on it.

However, Patrick is still awesome. And many props to the creators for sparing Evil Haro, who was also awesome.

[I-n-j-i-n]

IMO 00 held up better overall than many Gundam shows, but the movie sequel IS coming out. I think they could've done more with the drama on Earth rather than go all Star Wars on us all the time. At least it didn't get long in the tooth like the original series did at around Zeta.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Amuro wasn't in 00; it's an alternate universe. But the Japanese voice actor for Ribbons was also the Japanese VA for Amuro. The "Amuro back in the RX-78" comment refers to the fact the Ribbons (ie Amuro's VA) was piloting the 0 Gundam (which was in RX-78 colors) for the final battle between Ribbons and Setsuna.

On the subject of Gundam 00 as a whole, my general opinion on it is "it was alright, but there was a ridiculous amount of wasted potential". Season one was great, I had very few complaints about it (mostly the occasionally-gratuitous fanservice and the way they had Saji completely puss out toward the end). Season two was a lot less interesting; it's like they felt like they had to make up for the lack of Gundam cliches in the first season by kicking them down your throat in the second. Elite military force supposedly working for the good of all that's actually evil and trying to take over the world? Check. Angsty masked rival for the main character? Check. Threat of massive damage to Earth due to falling objects? Check. Giant space laser? Check and double check. Main character plothax that makes him sixteen times more awesome than everyone else by default? Check, double check, and triple check.

Overall, Gundam 00's main problem was the same as Destiny's (though admittedly not nearly to the same degree) -- too many characters, too much wasted time. I was looking forward to the return of the Al/Hal mind-meld for pretty much the entire second season, and perhaps a similar merging for Soma and Marie. What do we get instead? Endless repetitions of Marnia singing that damn song with those damn orphans. Andrei has two subplots (his relationship with Louise and implied rivalry with Saji, and his conflict with Soma vis-a-vis his father) that never went anywhere. The relationship between Kati and Sumeragi never went much past "old college buddies turned rival commanders". I could go on -- the point is that they laid the groundwork for all this cool stuff and then never followed through on it.

However, Patrick is still awesome. And many props to the creators for sparing Evil Haro, who was also awesome.

The biggest problem they had with 00 is that they made that four year jump. There were new characters, conflicts, organizations and all that jazz, but they only had 25 goddamn episodes to cram it all in. Of course it's not as bad as Desitny(dammit I liked Luna and Stellar) that had a full 50 episodes and still turned out to be a shitty redo of Seed, but it was still pretty bad.

Fanboys: "Waaaah!! You killed off our favorite character!!"

Director: "OK OK Don't hurt me! We'll bring him back and say this guy's his twin!"

Surprising that the director of FMA himself didn't have the balls to leave Lockon as a dead guy. Shit, they didn't even know what to do with Soma/Marie and just left her there to simmer until about the 20th episode when they just said "fuck it, bring back crazy Soma."

I think towards the middle of the season, I was just watching it to say that I saw it. So much wasted potential.

[Native Jovian]

I don't think that the four-year jump was a problem -- it was just the executive decisions made between seasons that was the big issue. 25 episodes is a lot of airtime -- a lot of the really classic anime (Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, for example) are only 26 total. The problem is that they wasted it -- they spent way too much time on nonsense like Marina (ANYTHING with Marina counts as "wasted time" in my book), Saji and Setsuna having the same conversation over again ("We will fight to get Louise back!" "Yeah... okay..."), the Mr. Bushido nonsense (seriously, they spent like half an episode right at the very end doing nothing but fapping to how awesomely samurai he was by being as wapanese as possible!), etc etc. They could have done awesome things with the time they had, but they didn't. Like you said, wasted potential.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

They pretty much established Marina as the "waste of a character" character. I'm willing to bet if they wouldn't have tried to turn her into some kind of Relena Peacecraft-type character and left her out from the series entirely, it would have been a good move.

And it was interesting to see Graham as the Char in the series, but all they did was have him go "I have a permit" this or "I'll win with this custom flag" that.

They should never have resolved the Alleluja/Marie thing so soon(if at all), 'cause all she ended up being was dead weight to both the characters and the writing staff.

Ugh... So damned frustrating. I think I'll actually make a full write up about it when I'm bored enough.

[Dr.Flintlock]

Speaking on the topic of anime that's only around 26 episodes long, I finally got around to seeing The Vision of Escaflowne after having it recommended a few times by various people. I have to say that for only having said number of episodes, this one managed to craft a pretty compelling story with nice character development and a nice amount of quasi-knight mech action. The fact that Yoko Kanno collaborated on the music was another plus to this series.

I'm mostly into classics like this and was curious if anyone could recommend any others along these lines.

As an aside: If anyone's seen this series, is it just me or do the mechs in Escaflowne share a startling resemblence to the ones from an RPG on the PS One called "Vanguard Bandits"? I find the likeness between the two pretty uncanny.

[H. Guderian]

I actually like most of the non-UC shows, X, TurnA were fun for me.

To be fair though, Lyle showed up long Niel died in Season 1. He's at the graveyard one time in the background. It was a planned kill-and-revive, and I feel Lock-on's end-of-series story was one of the better ones, actually dealing with loss, revenge, and pulling some neat things outta his hat.

I agree with the -massive- wasted potential among most of the cast though, Marina features prominently in every opening as a love interest for Setsuna back to the first opening of season 1 though there's less chemistry there than between... ...Something with low chemistry.

Anyways, still enjoying Mazinger for this season, despite a...boring 3rd episode, I have hope. FMA remake is cruising along nicely. I'm busy so a slow season isn't a bad thing.
as for Escaflowne? I keep getting interupted when I watch that show, but if that is only 26 episodes I almsot keep finishing it, haven't ever gotten past 19 episodes. I'll have to borrow the DVDs off my sister.

[Gollgagh]

ah escaflowne there's another one that I still need to watch

I'll do that after I finish GTO

[Dr.Flintlock]

Recently (as in a couple hours ago) I checked out the first two episodes of Black Lagoon with a buddy of mine through netflix. Three words to summarize this sucker.

Hyrdoplaning PT Boat (eh, technically four words)

It kinda reminds me of Outlaw Star, only with the aformentioned boat instead of a space ship. Neat.

[Gollgagh]

Yeah, Black Lagoon is one of my favorites.

[Native Jovian]

I actually like most of the non-UC shows, X, TurnA were fun for me.
UC is vastly overrated. It's good (for the most part -- I still loathe Zeta as much as most people love it, and Gundam 0083 would be a complete waste of time if not for the mecha porn) but not the be-all end-all of mecha anime. The only AU I really dislike is Gundam Wing (yeah, I managed to scrap a certain amount of enjoyment even out of Destiny, though it was the omg-it's-so-bad-it's-good type), though I'm only about halfway through Gundam X and I haven't seen Turn A at all yet.

I feel Lock-on's end-of-series story was one of the better ones
I thought the "I'm too goodie-two-shoes to take cold-blooded revenge but I get to kill you anyway because you totally tried to out-draw me!" thing was retarded, but given Al's or Tieria's ending, it still comes out as one of the better ones, which is somewhat sad...

It kinda reminds me of Outlaw Star, only with the aformentioned boat instead of a space ship. Neat.
Black Lagoon has been on my "I totally need to get around to watching this" list for a while, but this description bumped it up to the top. Outlaw Star is awesome.

[I-n-j-i-n]

I'm still surprised people can actually stomach the inane dialog in Zeta and the worst teenage angst I've ever seen in any medium in my lifetime. It's seriously that bad.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Yeah, but said teenagers WERE getting slapped around quite a bit. And if that's not entertaining, I don't know what is.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Or getting a full fist of oldschool 'discipline' going their way. And girls all being treated like house-wives-to-be.

[Native Jovian]

I'm still surprised people can actually stomach the inane dialog in Zeta and the worst teenage angst I've ever seen in any medium in my lifetime. It's seriously that bad.
Yes.

I seriously don't know why Zeta is treated as the Holy Grail of Gundam. It's literally painful to watch. Best part of the series was the very end when everyone died and Kamille got Newtype mindraped into a rambling man-child.

Then they had to go and fix him in ZZ. *grumble grumble*

[OverCoat]

I thought ZZ was pretty ace though

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Gundam's been going downhill for awhile. I liked a few characters in SEED Destiny, but it was pretty mediocre.

Ok that's just being nice. It was pretty much bloody terrible.

Gundam 00 S2 was the final nail in the coffin for me. So damned lame. I'm pretty sure the only Gundam series that I've thoroughly enjoyed was Gundam 08th MS Team, and it was pretty much due to the lack of anyone younger than 18 save one character.

Anyway, so is there any new anime currently airing that any of you would recommend? No strange combination of school/loli stuff please.

[I-n-j-i-n]

At least 00 season 2 had some incredible action. Otherwise, it tried to copy too much from the overtly angsty Zeta, so the end result is more dead-end angst. The movie can redeem things because it'll probably move forward in the overall story and maybe even try something new.

As for the best shows right now... K-On is pretty good, but maybe a bit cliche with all the girls-having-fun-at-school theme. But Phantom- Requiem for the Phantom is seriously good. Though that title sounds redundant..

[DarkeSword]

K-On's got an actual continuing storyline though, unlike your typical Slice-of-Azulucky-DaiStarOh-Life. The whole "we're trying to make this music club successful" focuses the series a little more so you don't end up with a lengthy dissertation on how to eat a chocolate coronet.

I like K-On a lot, especially the ending credits animation. Hot.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Yeah, it has a story, though it feels a lot more like Manabi Straight with the overall goal in place and the slice of life drama taking place.

Watching the more recent episodes, Kyoto Animation did a really great job of it. The feel of the comedy just feels so natural. And yeah, the ED is excellent girls-band video.

[Dunther]

Right now I'm watching Naruto Shippuden and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya :)

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Read the manga for Naruto and saw Haruhi twice. When the hell do they plan on making season 2?

[Avatar of Justice]

Read the manga for Naruto and saw Haruhi twice. When the hell do they plan on making season 2?

I think it is in development hell. The original creator of Haruhi is apparently pissed off about whatever little amount of money he made from the show and licenses spawned off the show to the point where the book series has been held up as well.

[Thin Crust]

Am I the only one who finds this funny?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ihEQlIJOIA

[I-n-j-i-n]

^

Wow. Never realized 2007 was so long ago.

Pretty good parody though.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Wow, this is ironic. After everybody thinking the Haruhi season 2 project was in jeopardy, they just released a first episode of the season 2...

Pretty decent episode and maybe a bit too Haruhi-esque. It didn't come with an opening animation/song.

[DarkeSword]

How can an episode of Haruhi be too Haruhi-esque!?

"I dunno about that Star Wars movie man. There were too many LIGHTSABERS."

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Wow, this is ironic. After everybody thinking the Haruhi season 2 project was in jeopardy, they just released a first episode of the season 2...

Pretty decent episode and maybe a bit too Haruhi-esque. It didn't come with an opening animation/song.

I saw it on animesuki, but I thought it was that dumb-looking chibi version.

Is it?

[I-n-j-i-n]

They might have rushed the release just to shock everyone. Most anime that doesn't come with an opening song tends to add them on later on.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

I frickin' love it. I love the fact that they don't even waste time to recap, they just fly straight into the new stuff. So great.

[Binjovi]

They might have rushed the release just to shock everyone. Most anime that doesn't come with an opening song tends to add them on later on.

Considering they've had three years to work on the thing, I somehow doubt it. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya part 6 didn't have the opening theme either, and it was (according to the original broadcast order) the last episode. At any rate, I loved the episode and am looking forward to Disappearance, Snow Mountain Syndrome, Melancholy of Mikuru, as well as a handful of others.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Well, they DID have to wait for the novel to continue, so I don't think they exactly worked on it straight. Also they were pretty busy with Clannad, K-ON and other shows before it. They are not exactly a heavy duty animation studio. They usually only do about 2 shows simultaneously, max.

[doodledoddle]

The only really good dub is the dub for Mad Bull 34 (http://www.animeremix.org/animix_forums/viewtopic.php?id=1963)

anyone who hasn't seen that yet REALLY SHOULD

it is major lulz

Why are people saying that, "lulz"? It's a stupid overused word, it also sounds stupid. Today it's now even more used! STOP IT, YOU SUCK BALLS! Won't come back here, all insults will never reach me. Anime sucks, and I have the best avatar.

[Gollgagh]

Why are people saying that, "lulz"? It's a stupid overused word, it also sounds stupid. Today it's now even more used! STOP IT, YOU SUCK BALLS! Won't come back here, all insults will never reach me. Anime sucks, and I have the best avatar.

lolnoobomgwtfbbq

fyi

[relyanCe]

Why are people saying that, "lulz"? It's a stupid overused word, it also sounds stupid. Today it's now even more used! STOP IT, YOU SUCK BALLS! Won't come back here, all insults will never reach me. Anime sucks, and I have the best avatar.


alt detected

[TheSnowStorm]

Why are people saying that, "lulz"? It's a stupid overused word, it also sounds stupid. Today it's now even more used! STOP IT, YOU SUCK BALLS! Won't come back here, all insults will never reach me. Anime sucks, and I have the best avatar.

And this is why we shouldn't give the special needs equal treatment like other disabled groups.

That or some other bored child have nothing better to do with his life.

Or my third theory: He just got his remix rejected and created an alternate account for the lulz.

[Gollgagh]

alt detected

I still say it's more likely a noob than an alt

or it could be a brazillian

[Thin Crust]

We were all n00bs one time. Just let him ease into it.

[2Radical]

I have always wondered wether GITS: Stand alone complex was as good as the original Ghost in the Shell. can anyone confirm?

[OverCoat]

In my opinion, Standalone Complex is better than the Mamoru Oshii interpretations of the manga, it's also a more accurate translation from Shirow's manga to TV [and the one SAC movie, Solid State Society, which is amazing]. However, they're both so different that they might as well be different stories and characters entirely. The Major, for example, has an entirely different personality in the Oshii films, which in general are much more slowly paced and philosophical, and require that the viewer has some sort of brain with an actual attention span used while watching [typical Oshii]. However, the TV adaptation, directed by Kenji Kamiyama, is much more focused on being sexy cool action, which it does extremely well. You're doing yourself a disservice by not watching both, really. You should probably also read the manga, which is probably available in the Netherlands for you to buy [or whatever else]

[Triad Orion]

That said, the Stand Alone Complex series remains reasonably philosophical and intellectually intense. Perhaps not as much as its movie counterpart, but SAC's dialogue is some of the more cerebral, intelligent discourse I've seen in anime. Complex sociological theories, literature, philosophy, and political maneuvering are brought up and discussed on a fairly regular basis.

Even if you don't consider SAC as good as its movie or manga adaptions, you really owe it to yourself to give it a shot if you haven't seen it yet, Radical. Definitely one of the best animes I've had the pleasure of watching.

[I-n-j-i-n]

I tried so hard to be a GiTS fan like all the cool anime viewers, then I realized that anime that have very little actual dialog but are filled with atmospherics do just the same job than a static-screen with moving-mouths being insanely overtly philosophical like in GiTS shows.

Some cases in the shows/movies gets ridiculous when they literally over-think the simple mechanics of kidnapping. I mean, seriously? World economics and cyber terrorism to kidnapping? Okay....

[Petara]

Baccano was great! I need a new fix.

http://myanimelist.net/animelist/petara

[Thin Crust]

Ok guys, if you haven't seen Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, I will track you down, tie you to a chair and force you to watch it. I am in so much shock after watching the latest episode and lamenting that I can't fast forward to next week. It is without a doubt, superior in every way to the first series. When I started watching the series, I didn't know what to expect in terms of what would change. I honestly thought it would be along the same lines as Dragon Ball Kai. I couldn't be more wrong.

Go check it out. You won't be disappointed.

[LuketheXjesse]

Being a huge fan of the original series, I've been wanting to check out brotherhood, but I just can't bring myself to watch tv these days.

I'll wait until box sets come 'round.

[relyanCe]

Xam'd was kinda cool, if not a bit hazy.

I highly recommend it.

[Native Jovian]

I finally got around to watching a half dozen or so episodes of Gurren Lagann on Youtube today. I saw one random episode on TV a while ago, decided it sucked, and didn't look back until mecha fans across the internet wouldn't shut the fuck up about it.

My thoughts: about what I expect from Gainax, fairly entertaining as long as your threshhold for fanservice is high. However, I find myself wanting to stab Simon just so he'll stop taking screen time from Kamina, and I'm aware of certain spoilers that make this sadly impossible. And yet, people keep telling me that the series gets BETTER after episode eight-or-so. Wat.

I distinctly remember wanting to stab Simon really really super extra hard just from the one random episode (which was around the middle of the series, IIRC) that I saw. Someone please explain this discrepancy to me.

[Kenogu Labz]

Xam'd was kinda cool, if not a bit hazy.

I highly recommend it.
Xam'd was my first anime, so I'm rather biased towards it. Not fantastic, really, but certainly a fun one, with fairly good character development., and some very pretty animation. And the OP pretty much rocks.

[Dunther]

I'm watching Planetes in these days, great anime, certanly my style of story :)

[DarkeSword]

I'm watching Planetes in these days, great anime, certanly my style of story :)
Excellent show. Check out the manga, the story is different and goes further in developing the characters.

[Dunther]

Excellent show. Check out the manga, the story is different and goes further in developing the characters.
Ahn I don't think I will, I'm not good at reading, I bought 20th Century Boys and never got to the end.
I would enjoy mangas, but it's stronger than me...

[Native Jovian]

Planetes had a brilliant setting, memorable characters, high quality animation, and gets massive bonus points for respecting Newtonian physics. Which it why it was so soul-crushingly disappointing that the plot was absolutely garbage. Not only was the pacing terrible in general, but the ultimate conflict and resolution both were supremely unsatisfying.

It made me sad.

[OverCoat]

I read the Planetes manga, I thought it was superb. I didn't think the plot was garb.... oh wait I see what you did there.

but no the story was enjoyable to me

[KYOOBIKLEEZ]

The one and only great anime:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7Pxqcbe7J4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGNyQDMgWMg

You're welcome :wink:

[relyanCe]

Xam'd was my first anime, so I'm rather biased towards it. Not fantastic, really, but certainly a fun one, with fairly good character development., and some very pretty animation. And the OP pretty much rocks.
yeah the OP was probably the best part of the anime. Boom Boom Satellites are awesome.

[OverCoat]

The one and only great anime:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7Pxqcbe7J4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGNyQDMgWMg

You're welcome :wink:

Karas? Really? Well, it was OK.

speaking of anime with masked protagonists who have superpowers and have little white haired loli backup partners, I finished Darker than Black this week and was sorely disappointed, both in the ending and in Yoko Kanno's work on the forgettable soundtrack. I'm trying to think of what I should watch next. Maybe that anime about lolis in the military :3

[Native Jovian]

I didn't think the plot was garb.... oh wait I see what you did there.
Holy shit, I stealth-punned myself. Damn. But yeah, I hear the manga is a lot better than the anime for most of the issues I had with Plantes, but I'm not a big manga fan in general so... yeah.

Yoko Kanno ... forgettable soundtrack
I wouldn't even believe this was possible if I hadn't watched Turn A Gundam.

[OverCoat]

Turn A Gundam actually has some really solid material, and some of her best work EVER, as shown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79dzykYUzEg

[Schwaltzvald]

Maybe that anime about lolis in the military :3

Not the one you're talking about but I guess you've already seen Gunslinger Girl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunslinger_Girls)?

[DarkeSword]

It's called Sora no Woto.

[Native Jovian]

Turn A Gundam actually has some really solid material, and some of her best work EVER, as shown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79dzykYUzEg
Well sure, pick one of the best songs on the soundtrack. :< There were certainly some bright spots here and there, but overall I found Turn A's OST to be pretty generic. I never really noticed the music while I was watching it, which, while not necessarily a bad thing, isn't quite what one expects of Yoko Kanno.

[OverCoat]

I ended up watching K-On! for some reason

it is SUPA KAWAII

[Mirby]

I'm wrapping up Digimon Adventure 02 (don't judge me!) and gonna get started on Rockman.EXE. Not the shitty MEGAMAN NT WARRIOR that was released over here with massive edits and cuts; this is the Japanese version with English subs. Should be cool!

[OverCoat]

PLEASE DONT SAY YOU ARE LAZY

DATTE HONTOU WA CRAZY

jesus christ I can't stop watching it

[Mirby]

Literally finished Digimon Adventure 02, movies included, about 30 minutes ago. Starting on Rockman.EXE in about 17 minutes.

[Zombie]

Well i can't say I am too well-versed in anime but i have been craving some lately, so... Can anyone here who knows there stuff give me any recommendations of anything that has lots of swords?

I have a thing for swords.

[Brandon Strader]

Well i can't say I am too well-versed in anime but i have been craving some lately, so... Can anyone here who knows there stuff give me any recommendations of anything that has lots of swords?

I have a thing for swords.
Inuyasha? Bleach? Yu Yu Hakusho? I don't know if there's an anime purely based on swords, but these ones have prominent characters using various types of swords. x_x
<-- also not TOO well versed in anime

[Kenogu Labz]

Hahaha. Bleach is probably a safe bet if you want swords. :3

[DarkeSword]

Bleach is terrible.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Bleach is terrible.

This right here.

[Schwaltzvald]

Well i can't say I am too well-versed in anime but i have been craving some lately, so... Can anyone here who knows there stuff give me any recommendations of anything that has lots of swords?

I have a thing for swords.

If you haven't seen it, Samurai Champloo is always good.

[Brycepops]

Well i can't say I am too well-versed in anime but i have been craving some lately, so... Can anyone here who knows there stuff give me any recommendations of anything that has lots of swords?

I have a thing for swords.

Afro Samurai.

[Gollgagh]

If you haven't seen it, Samurai Champloo is always good.

seconded

I watched it over spring break (a three day period)

[Swann]

Agreed, watch Samurai Champloo. Still my personal favorite after all these years.

[OverCoat]

samurai champloo is good

also there's Berserk, but god damn the TV series needed to keep going after that last episode FFFFFFFFFFFFF

the manga is amazing though [and very very long]

[Bleck]

Bleach is terrible.

not true

bleach is awesome if you're like me and like anything that is similar to dragon ball z

this also extends to naruto and one piece

that's right everyone I'm saying that all three of those series are good

[Mirby]

I'm enjoying Rockman.EXE. The characters' personalities from the games are intact here. Netto's dense, Dekao's stupid, Higure's obsessed with battle chips... it's great!

And Masa? He's just... weird...

[Gollgagh]

I've been meaning to watch that one for a while seeing as I'm a huge fan of the original game

just haven't gotten around to it yet

[Mirby]

Make sure to get the Japanese version with English subs (if you can't understand Japanese of course). The official English dub butchered it. Rockman.EXE good. Megaman NT Warrior BAD!

[Brycepops]

not true

bleach is awesome if you're like me and like anything that is similar to dragon ball z

this also extends to naruto and one piece

that's right everyone I'm saying that all three of those series are good

One Piece got 9000x better once Funimation got their hands on it.

[Mirby]

one piece got 9000x better once funimation got their hands on it.
one piece got 9000x better once funimation
9000x...funimation

i see what you did there

[Linkjing Donuts]

not true

bleach is awesome if you're like me and like anything that is similar to dragon ball z
this, but manga doesn't result in flashbacks (if the anime had any, I forgot)


also watch gurren lagann. was someone asking for recommendations? I just saw a bunch of "samurai champloo is awesome" so I'm just assuming. If there's one thing in the world that can defeat goku, it's gurren lagann

[Linkjing Donuts]

simon should be a green lantern

[Native Jovian]

I actually just finished watching Gurren Lagann (free on Youtube? YES PLZ). It was alright, but not great. Simon was a pretty weak protagonist until about episode 20 or so, and while the secondary characters generally made up for it, there were a bunch of episodes (9/10 and about 16-20) that just made me want to stab things. Gainax needs to learn that mecha protagonists should go from awesome in the beginning to AWESOME!!! at the end, not from sorta lame in the beginning to awesome by the end.

Gurren Lagann was entertaining overall, but I'd still recommend G Gundam for your hotblooded beyond-the-impossible awesome incarnate. (Zoids New Century Zero is also a good choice for that purpose, though it can't compete with either G Gundam or Gurren Lagann for sheer ridiculousness.)

Plus, Gurren Lagann's epilogue was just sorta weird. Kinda made the entire thing feel a little pointless.

[relyanCe]

simon should be a green lantern

y'know Kyle Rayner (green lantern) actually used the ring to own somebody with Gurren Lagann once.

also Gurren Lagann is the only anime i've ever watched through twice.

[Zombie]

If you haven't seen it, Samurai Champloo is always good.

I love champloo! I have all the DVD's except the last one.

But yeah... what I've seen Bleach was okay but kind of "meh" i thought but hey maybe I'll give it another shot.

I was going to devote my evening to some games but hey maybe I'll go ahead and watch some stuff.

[The Damned]

A Certain Scientific Railgun (or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun if you want to be all Japanesey) was a decent show. The finale was too cliché, but what do you expect from a show that has a girl that can fire object from her fingertips at twenty times the speed of sound?

There's some unabashed fan service in a few episodes, but it's mostly contained to one episode where the various female characters do a swimming suit photo spread for no reason.

One of the better highlights of the series is the episode where Kuroko shows why she's not to be fucked with. Seriously. She's a fucking force.

[DarkeSword]

not true

bleach is awesome if you're like me and like anything that is similar to dragon ball z

this also extends to naruto and one piece

that's right everyone I'm saying that all three of those series are good
You don't understand. I love shounen fighting manga/anime.

Bleach is terrible.

[Bleck]

naw man naw

then again are you watching the anime because yeah I heard that is kind of the worst

I read mangos

[Kenogu Labz]

Note: never said Bleach was good, just that it has swords.

[The Damned]

naw man naw

then again are you watching the anime because yeah I heard that is kind of the worst

I read mangos
Well, in all fairness, the manga doesn't have three unrelated (and pointless) filler seasons, so that's a big difference right there.

I stopped watching the anime when I found a reliable source for the manga, and that the anime was following it word for word, scene for scene. I just saved myself tons of bandwidth and time by reading it instead of watching it.

Same with Naruto. No filler, less effort.

[Gollgagh]

Note: never said Bleach was good, just that it has swords.

which is beyond the point now that bleck has endorsed it

[Mirby]

One more thing I like about this Rockman.EXE anime: it's made me like the character Hinoken (AKA Mr. Match) even more! ^_^

[DarkeSword]

No I'm not talking about the anime, I'm talking about the manga.

Bleach is terrible.

[The Damned]

Care to explain why it's so terrible? Or are you just going to hate it for no reason?

[relyanCe]

yeah I just finished watching Midori Days

if you can get over the initial squick factor of the premise, it's actually a pretty good story with some genuinely hilarious moments.

i don't know why bleach is terrible, I just hate it because it's a long runner

[Mirby]

Does it really matter what DS thinks about something? It's an opinion, not a fact. You're obviously not going to change his mind on this, so just stop.

[Native Jovian]

Care to explain why it's so terrible? Or are you just going to hate it for no reason?
Have you seen it? I enjoyed it when it looked like a Yu Yu Hakusho clone (middle/high school students protecting humanity from evil spirits!), but as soon as they started the actual plotline, it dove headfirst into all the worst parts of shonen anime. People spending more time talking about their relative power levels and/or secret techniques than actually fighting. Having zillions and zillions of enemies who naturally attack the heroes in ascending order by power level so that each battle increases their strength just enough for them to win the next battle. New enemies emerging from nowhere with no warning just as the previous enemies were destroyed. Etc etc etc.

Nothing about it is unique or original, or even particularly well executed.

[Bleck]

You're obviously not going to change his mind on this

I don't really want to change his mind but I do want to know his reasoning

Nothing about it is unique or original

I don't know the whole Spanish influence is not something I have personally seen before, and it is one of my favorite parts

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

The fact that it has Spanish terminology(which I guess from a pride standpoint is interesting to me) and music(ok the music is fucking great for the most part) doesn't change the fact that it has every shounen anime cliche ever used before.

Of course if you like it, more power to you. I like the art(outside of the anime, like all that G-SEED/GSD art) and music myself, but that's about it.

Point is, if you've seen DBZ, you've seen every other shounen anime.

[Bleck]

every shounen anime cliche ever used before.

you know what else uses every shounen anime cliche

EVERY SHOUNEN ANIME

THAT IS WHY THEY ARE SHOUNEN ANIME CLICHES

FOR FUCK'S SAKE, YOU GUYS

[DarkeSword]

I loved Bleach when it was about Ichigo and Rukia going around town hunting hollows. Those were really interesting stories about life and death and unfinished business; it was a wonderful premise.

As soon as they left the world and went to Soul Society, the series took a dramatic dive in quality. It degenerated into a very standard people-with-special-powers, battles-of-oneupsmanship, train-harder-to-gain-a-new-form series, which normally I do not mind because hey, I read Naruto. My issues are that the pacing of the manga is very slow and it takes way too long for things to happen; a lot of characters wear the same exact thing, which makes it difficult to differentiate; and that Tite Kubo's art, particularly during battles, ends up looking a lot like black smudges than anything more dynamic and detailed. What's worse is that I know he can do much better; I've read Zombie Powder.

I don't mind shounen anime cliches, but Bleach doesn't particularly do them very well.

[Thin Crust]

You know, I thought they had it right when soul society (terrible name) was a place where you go when you die. But then it evolved into a different dimension entirely. People are born and die there. Even of old age. It has its laws and ruling classes, and has stopped being what it was before.

[Bleck]

You know, I thought they had it right when soul society (terrible name) was a place where you go when you die.

guys look at me I don't pay attention!!!

when you die, you go to soul society

when you die in soul society, you go back to earth

people are able to reproduce in soul society because if they couldn't then where would new souls come from?

[slug3k]

Point is, if you've seen DBZ, you've seen every other shounen anime.

Sorry but this is wrong. Shounen merely means that it is targeted to a young male audience. It says nothing about the content of the anime. You wouldn't say that Hikaru no Go is anything like DBZ.

[Petara]

So, uhhhh... Third season of Black Lagoon... when the fuck?

[Emperor Charlemagne]

You know they are making a Black Lagoon OVA now, right?

Which basically puts the entire next story arc into 3-episode form (I believe?), or if not that, movie form (which is basically 3-ep form)?


Expect to see the return of crazy psycho maid. "Roberta's Blood Trail" is what I believe it's called.
I will say though, that Black Lagoon is one of my all-time-favorite anime.



Also, I'm watching Kino's Journey.
It's pretty nice to have a well-written, believable, down-to-earth, and likable lead in an anime for a change. And I don't mean I haven't watched anime with those elements before, I'm just saying that Kino in Kino's Journey has ALL of them and more.

It's a pretty damn good series.

[Mirby]

I've been hooked on Rockman EXE Axess lately. I love everything about it, especially the theme song (Futatsu no Mirai).

[Ferret]

I haven't seen Rockman.EXE in a long time. I used to get the subs from WolfPackProductions but they stopped when .EXE got licensed as NT Warrior (goddamn it, 4kids!).

Also on the subject of Bleach...

Captain Ass-pull does it again!

[Mirby]

Actually, they finished subbing it, Ferret. They're working on Axess now.

I guess once they saw how 4kids murdered the original, they broke their vow and finished it.

Axess is the second series. Stream is the third, Beast is the fourth, and Beast+ is the last. Beast and Beast+ are the size of a normal season (51 eps) combined. Then again, each ep is 10 minutes long soo...

Stream, Beast, and Beast+ were never licensed by 4Kids, btw.

[Cyril the Wolf]

mmm Rockman.EXE. :)

[The Mutericator]

Just finished Hajime no Ippo last night. All I can say is... wow. Just... wow. Amazing, AMAZING show. I was never a fan of sports, or serious anime, but this was a well-balanced show of good length (76 episodes), GREAT character development, some skill-based fights (the whole COURAGE bit isn't nearly as prevalent as learning proper counters, training the right parts of the body, and hard work overall paying off), and some great reaction faces.

Highly recommended, especially if you liked shows like Gurren Lagann. GL's kind of an instant-gratification thing compared to HnI's slow payoff, but those fights are so worth it.

[Emperor Charlemagne]

I think a cartoon about the regular mega man series would be far more entertaini-

Oh wait, it was.

[relyanCe]

I think a cartoon about the regular mega man series would be far more entertaini-

Oh wait, it was.
i have it on dvd.

[chthonic]

just watched the first episode of rockman exe axess; was awesome

is the first series just called rockman exe? I want to watch the shit with dr. wily

[Mirby]

Yeah, the first series is just Rockman EXE.

You can get it off of BakaBT, if you don't mind registering.

[Emperor Charlemagne]

I just sure wish the .EXE series didn't change all the designs of the RMs into something really gay.

[DMaster]

I just sure wish the .EXE series didn't change all the designs of the RMs into something really gay.

Actually, blame CAPCOM. They were responsible for the character designs.

[Schwaltzvald]

I think a cartoon about the regular mega man series would be far more entertaini-

Oh wait, it was.

Which one..?

I know supposedly there was two series?

One was a short OVA set while another was the Ruby-Spears version

Ruby-Spears:
Sample episode: Clip 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmrLB79cs2c), Clip 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSDNEZUrlU4), Clip 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CI57efghB0)

Rockman OVA:
Clip 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXnpY_swV5Q), Clip 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5UPUHTMemI), Clip 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuQjdkwhuDw)

[Emperor Charlemagne]

DMaster, I WAS blaming CAPCOM. I guess I should have said EXE game series. Neat concept, way to gay up the Robot Masters, d00ds.


And Schwaltzvald:
I mean the Ruby-Spears cartoon.

All things told, the cartoon succeeds in two ways:

1) It's so horribly cheesy and inconsistent as to be hilarious in every episode (gosh, what new cutting-related joke can they give to Cutman????).

2) The voices, ALL of them, are spot-on perfect.



As for the anime, I think we can all agree no matter how exciting the anime may seem, it will never top the masterpiece that is Mega Man X4's gripping scenes, like Double's betrayal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h53_NGLyErE).

[Schwaltzvald]

I mean the Ruby-Spears cartoon.

All things told, the cartoon succeeds in two ways:

1) It's so horribly cheesy and inconsistent as to be hilarious in every episode (gosh, what new cutting-related joke can they give to Cutman????).

2) The voices, ALL of them, are spot-on perfect.

I just wished, even back then when it was new, that they kept the art quality high as they had with their intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ufVQIUEiYc)

I actually have the entire series stored on a hard drive somewhere. Both "digitally remastered" and some that had to be recorded from old vhs tapes transferred to PC

Also

Megaman you patriotic doofus (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI8RPO87vSc)

OH GOD THE CHEESE BUT PHAROAHMAN WAS AWESOME (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7dSJN5LgsE)

[Flash Strife]

Satoshi Kon passed away today.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-08-24/award-winning-director-satoshi-kon-passes-away

[The Damned]

Damn, he had some good movies. Paprika, Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers were personal favorites.

A current show I'm enjoying is Highschool of the Dead. The manga is slow as hell, so I suspect the show will quickly overtake it (barring any bullshit filler crap), though.

It has a nice opening credits theme, and the pacing is pretty decent. Fan service is just a bit too high for my tastes, but the zombies make it tolerable.

But for fuck's sake, they need to cut the jiggle-vision down. They did slow-mo tits flopping around because of rifle recoil for twenty seconds.

[DMaster]

DMaster, I WAS blaming CAPCOM. I guess I should have said EXE game series. Neat concept, way to gay up the Robot Masters, d00ds.

As for the anime, I think we can all agree no matter how exciting the anime may seem, it will never top the masterpiece that is Mega Man X4's gripping scenes, like Double's betrayal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h53_NGLyErE).

Ok, My apologies. As for X4, I loved that game, especially the cutscene between Zero and Sigma.

[Emperor Charlemagne]

Oh it's a great game.

But how can you not love

COLONEL
I'M DISAPPOINTED IN YOU

...WHAT?

[Schwaltzvald]

A current show I'm enjoying is Highschool of the Dead. Fan service is just a bit too high for my tastes, but the zombies make it tolerable.

But for fuck's sake, they need to cut the jiggle-vision down. They did slow-mo tits flopping around because of rifle recoil for twenty seconds.

Oh please it's not that bad, or at least not as bad as Seikon no Qwaser (The Qwaser of Stigmata). :lol:

Also remember when Queen's Blade (http://www.gamesradar.com/ps3/playstation-3/news/queens-blade-too-hot-for-sony-pulled-from-psn/a-20100712191030662021/g-20060314115917309058) was on the US PSN video section before being pulled..? :lol:

[Darklink42]

I'm not generally a big anime watcher, but I just discovered and finally finished watching Haibane Renmei over the course of the last week.

Wow. Just wow.

There are very few things I've watched, animated or otherwise, that have played my emotions so well. Compelling setting, great characters, AMAZING music, and an interesting art style. I cannot believe that this never got finished. It ends on a good point though, which I guess I can't complain about, but it also left me curious about all the other questions that never got answered, and may never be.

[The Damned]

I'm not generally a big anime watcher, but I just discovered and finally finished watching Haibane Renmei over the course of the last week.

Wow. Just wow.

There are very few things I've watched, animated or otherwise, that have played my emotions so well. Compelling setting, great characters, AMAZING music, and an interesting art style. I cannot believe that this never got finished. It ends on a good point though, which I guess I can't complain about, but it also left me curious about all the other questions that never got answered, and may never be.
Didn't it get finished? I remember the ending quite well. Unless you mean the manga it was based upon, but then it was still finished, as the creator ended the manga.

But yes,it's one of those shows that will stomp on your heart at the end. Fucking Haibane Renmei... you made me cry at the end. I hate you for it. :puppyeyes:

[ArmadonRK]

I just recently got through my first rewatch of Cowboy Bebop sinced it first aired here a few years back and realized how much better it is than I remembered (and I remembered it being pretty damn good). And I found this great (and currently incomplete) set of articles that I think fans of Bebop would find interesting.
Cowboy Bebop - Overthinking It (http://www.overthinkingit.com/tag/cowboy-bebop/)

[chthonic]

does anyone else absolutely fucking love fooly cooly

seriously it's so good

[Ajax]

So good may be an overstatement, but it certainly is some kind of good... maybe crazy good with an emphasis on crazy.

[relyanCe]

So good may be an overstatement, but it certainly is some kind of good... maybe crazy good with an emphasis on crazy.
no

to put it in the immortal words of ZeroPunctuation, it is DAMN GOOD. DAMN DAMN GOOD GOOD DAMN good DAMN damn.




...



good.

[anosou]

Go watch Kemonozume. Is super sexy, twisted and utterly brilliant. Then re-watch Genshiken (because you've already watched all of it, haven't you?).