Recent Anime

[Wp]

I think we already had a thread about what inspired people. We're not about to go discussing 15 y/o anime when there's so many new shows around.

[Brockway]

Anyone here watching the Death Note anime? I've got it downloaded to 30 right now, but have only watched a few. I really loved the manga, and the openings look sweet.

[Wp]

I'm up to ep 12, and I've only read a couple of chapters of the manga. If you've read the whole manga, I hear the anime pretty much follows it exactly. You probably won't be getting very much out of the anime if that is the case. It is well-done, however, if sometimes ridiculous. Man, the drama they put into that episode where he hides a portable TV in a potato-chip bag... you'd think it was the potato-chip bag of doom.

[Brockway]

I'm watching Vampire Princess Miyu now. Holy crap, every episode is a downer. It's almost Lain like in its somberness. Heck, it may be the same voice actress as Lain. Its Sailor Moon, except EVERYONE dies in each episode.

[Brigid]

Well, it *is* about vampires. Those tend to be downers.

I've seen a few episodes of Blood +. Boy, and I thought FMA was depressing.

[Brockway]

I thought Blood+ was a happy, uplifting story myself.

[Brigid]

Compared to what?

[Brockway]

Compared to Vampire Princess Miyu

[KODAMA]

Here are some shows for those of you who want a good story:

Twin Spica - A story about a motherless younger girl who's dream is to become an astronaut, even though it was because of a space craft accident that she lost her mother. Great emotional story.

Pretty Precess Yucci (puchipuri yuushi) - A story about Yucci, a girl who has stopped growing since her early teens, and her life as she meets four other princess candidates for the princess crown. While the story sounds simple and maybe even childish, it also has a dark twist to it. Overall a very fun show to watch that teaches old fashioned values of anime through a newly animated series.

Niea Under 7 - A story about Mayu, a girl making it on her own through college by working part time, who shares a room with an alien named Niea. Niea is constantly trying to win free food off of Mayu and causes Mayu a lot of trouble. This is probably because Niea is somewhat of an outcast from her own alien community. If you like this, you might want to check out other works that Abe Yoshitoshi has contributed to, namely, serial experiements lain and haibane renmei.

Death Note Comics (not the animated series. Those are really terrible. lol 100% gothified) - One day, example student Raito picks up a black notebook titled the "Death Note". Once Raito realizes the power of this death note is real, he becomes determined to change the face of this world through it.

Last Exile - A science fiction anime about airships and war. Full of plenty of appealing characters (of course, it is Range Murata's characters, after all.) If you haven't seen it, watch it :p

Princess Tutu - a contemporary merge of old time fairy tales and the anime medium. If you're a sucker for fairy tales, tutu is for you.


-- a just shows that I've seen recently:

Jigoku Shoujo (1st season, 2nd season [futakomori]) - :s I dunno. I really liked it. It's a super slow paced anime. If you didn't like NHK ni youkoso, Niea under 7, or Paranoia Agent, then steer clear of this entire series. oh, and see NHK ni youkoso and Paranoia agent, if you haven't yet.
Paranoia Agent is sort of like Lain, but a lot more weirder and none of the zomg internet identity crisis theme)

Rozen Maiden (1st season, träumend (second season), ouvertüre OVA) - A story about an inward boy named Jun and his doll Shinku (or maybe I should have said this is a story about Shinku, and her slave human Jun -__-). Do you like cute anime dolls running around playing and fighting each other? OK. here's an anime for you.

.hack//ROOTS - I've only seen a part of the series, but the music is awesome. Perhaps it's because I follow ALI PROJECT like a cultist.

Lucky Star - The most popular series atm. It's a story about 4 high school girls. Cute School/comedy anime.

Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! - What was popular before lucky star. It is also a cute school/comedy anime.

suzumiya haruhi - What was popular before manabi. A conspiracy anime involving a telepath, an alien, and a person from the future.

Ichigo Mashimaro - What was popular before haruhi. A cute comedy anime about four elementary school girls and one [s]high schooler[/s] college age student.

Gurren Lagan - GAINAX (makers of evangelion, nadia, flcl, gunbuster, diebuster; animators of re:cutey honey, karekano, mahoromatic, etc) latest work.

[Brigid]

I read Princess Tutu. It was really cool.

Paranoia Agent was weird, but I kinda liked it. Really creepy, too. I still don't get what was going on, though.

Some of those other series sound really cool, too. I must say, I've liked what I've seen of the .//hack franchise. Now if I could just get a hold of the video games. (And a PS2 to play them on...)

[Brockway]

I'm watching Gantz right now. Its weird as hell how they changed it from the manga. There's no reason for them too, and the stuff they change makes even less sense. Noone knows about the bombs, yet they still act as if they do, without giving a reason. They stretched a fight that took like 2 pages and made it last an episode and a half. The manga's slow already dammit, they don't need to stretch the anime out too. I think I'm gonna be pissed when episode 26 rolls around. The music is pretty cool, and I watch the opening every time due to coolness.

[Retrotales]

A rather spiffy series snuck under most people's radar recently and onto DVD called Mushishi.

Basically, it's a very low-key series about a travelling doctor around 1900 or so, dealing with ailments caused by coming into contact with weird supernatural creatures. Has the same sort of vibe as a collection of fables overall.

[Brigid]

Cool. I'll have to keep my eye out for that. Sounds rather refreshing after all the big, bold, explosive anime I've been watching.

[Brockway]

Just to add some recent ones I'm watching:

Dennou Coil: Ureshii is releasing these in 1280x768 or whatever HD. Its freakin beautiul. Also like 350mb. Basically about augmented reality and kids. Its really looking good so far, reminds me of Haibane Renmei.

Lucky Star: I haven't actually watched any of the show itself yet, I just download it every week to watch the "Lucky Channel" short that's at the end of every episode. The show itself may be good too, I dunno.

Gurren Lagann: I love this show so so much. Scrapped Princess meets Gun x Sword meets FLCL. There are releases of this in HD also. LOVE.

[Smashy]

I was introduced to "Zombie Loan" over the weekend. I only saw one episode but it seems promising.

[K-Dawg]

I have to say that Gurren Lagann is a fantastic series, well worth the time I've put into it. It's been non stop awesome from episode 11 all to way to the latest one episode 21.

[Brigid]

Only since episode 11? What were the first 10 like?

[KODAMA]

I finished nodame cantabile and saiunkoku monogatari lately, and the both of them were incredibly funny and captivating, in that order. Also, as the summer comes to a close, the remake of Evangelion for movie theatres should be out soon D:

[K-Dawg]

Only since episode 11? What were the first 10 like?

Awesome as well, but things were kicked into high gear since episode 11.

The first 8 were mostly action, then 9 and 10 did some character development. Just 1-21 have been great.

[Brigid]

Ahh. I see. Neat.