Anime recommendations

[Hoax]

Deathnote, which is currently being released via fansubs comes highly recommended from every source I know.  If your looking for something this should be at or near the top of your list.

[schild]

One of my friends won't shut the fuck up about the live action movie.

He will die, and so will his little friend Mr. Burgers.

[rk47]

One of my friends won't shut the fuck up about the live action movie.

He will die, and so will his little friend Mr. Burgers.

Haha, hated the movie. Really an overrated piece of J-Stuff.
Like how the main chars just twist the plot device as he wanted and expect the audience to swallow it.

[angry.bob]

Deathnote is really good. See it if you can.

Also, my baby loves the hell out of the opening song to Paranoia Agent.

[Raph]

So I bought the box set of Texhnolyze purely on the basis of the fact that I have liked the other Yoshitoshi aBe series. Is it good?

[Furiously]

Noir boxed set is like $57.99 at best buy, seems like a good entertainment value.

[Yoru]

Noir boxed set is like $57.99 at best buy, seems like a good entertainment value.

!!!

* Yoru bolts for the door.

[Kageru]

Just finished watching Texhnolyze myself, and Noir about 3 months ago. Both of them are truely ghastly I'm afraid. Tex has a great setting, opening (my introduction to Juno Reactor) and a real touch for dramatic tension... but story wise there just wasn't a payoff for such a bleak and slow moving experience. Noir just becomes tedious beyond words.

I'm watching D-Grayman, which basically looks like a combination of bleach and FMA. Death note is unusual and looks like it can spin a decent story. Also watching Red Garden and Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge which has awful character art but the goth female can be amusing. Still not sure how those are going to develop.

[Yoru]

Just finished watching Texhnolyze myself, and Noir about 3 months ago. Both of them are truely ghastly I'm afraid.

You are dead to me.

I've been recently rewatching my old Noir fansubs and it remains one of my favorite series, anime or otherwise. Conspiracy stories are right up my alley.

The current crop of anime is quite disappointing, coming off of Haruhi and Higurashi. I await the spring season.

[schild]

I picked up Noir a disc at a time solely for the soundtrack back when it first came out. Also got the two soundtracks. About five episodes were really amazing, the rest was slow moving drama. Really slow moving drama - that I didn't give a shit about. But man, that last episode. What an anime.

I did not like Technolyze. I'll be goddamned if I'm putting an X in that word also.

[Hoax]

Technolyze was too slow for me, the art and setting are spot-on awesome but really nobody ever talks and it is damn hard to give a fuck about a single character.  I watched the first 6 eps and decided I had other shows I would rather watch.

Noir was awesome, but it always seems to bring out strong love/hate feelings in people.  I own it on dvd and watched it about 6 months ago, the animation is dated but when the story reaches its peak towards the end it is pretty cool in my book.  The music, as Schild pointed out, is kickass as well.  Both stories advance at a snail's pace, if that isn't your style I wouldn't bother with either of them.

[Yoru]

I picked up Noir a disc at a time solely for the soundtrack back when it first came out. Also got the two soundtracks. About five episodes were really amazing, the rest was slow moving drama. Really slow moving drama - that I didn't give a shit about. But man, that last episode. What an anime.

I just want to point out that there's four soundtracks, not two. OST 1, OST 2, Blanc Dans 1, Blanc Dans 2.

</fanboy>

:)

[schild]

The Blanc Dans CDs are not soundtracks.

Many anime series gets shit like this, .hack which had amazing music only had 3 actual soundtracks for its original release, but there's 7 cds. They're all worth getting. BUT, much like Noir, you can get the actual OSTs and get every song from the series on them.

[Furiously]

I picked up Noir a disc at a time solely for the soundtrack back when it first came out. Also got the two soundtracks. About five episodes were really amazing, the rest was slow moving drama. Really slow moving drama - that I didn't give a shit about. But man, that last episode. What an anime.

I just want to point out that there's four soundtracks, not two. OST 1, OST 2, Blanc Dans 1, Blanc Dans 2.

</fanboy>

:)

I just love how each character has their own theme. It's like Peter and the wolf.

[Stormwaltz]

Many anime series gets shit like this, .hack which had amazing music only had 3 actual soundtracks for its original release, but there's 7 cds.

In the unlikely event no one knew this, the same composer did Noir and .hack. She also did Xenosaga II and III, My-Hime, and an assload of other stuff.

[Yoru]

Many anime series gets shit like this, .hack which had amazing music only had 3 actual soundtracks for its original release, but there's 7 cds.

In the unlikely event no one knew this, the same composer did Noir and .hack. She also did Xenosaga II and III, My-Hime, and an assload of other stuff.

The animation studio is also the same between Noir and .hack, which I find a bit disappointing.

[Chenghiz]

Noir grew on me, but Technolyze didn't. I just finished watching Eureka Seven, which I really enjoyed and recommend heartily. Also watched the first episode of Death Note; looks interesting but I'll reserve my judgement until I've seen more. I hear the plot is a bit rushed, compared to the manga.

[Hoax]

On that note there are like 8 volumes of the manga available at every major book store...  I can't stand the format myself but thought that might be useful info for someone.

[Scadente]

Probably mentioned earlier, but I missed it on the pages I scrolled through:

I'm not big on anime by any means. But a series called Samurai Champloo really caught my eye. It's from the team/guy (?) behind Cowboy Bebop. Fusing Samurais and hip-hop, sound weird? But they pull it off, it's not overly cheezy, overly Japanese funny/embarrassing, it's actually cool. The characters are pretty solid aswell (albiet being huge archetypes). The show is just full of energy and fun, touching in on the Anime conventions, but not really killing itself in them (mind you, I'm not much for the "super-sized eyes"-and all that). It has some of it, but often comes across as a graphic novel, rather then Anime.

And it's fun, from most of the other shows I've seen the humor has been so childish/embarrassing/abstract that I've simply lost track of what's happening in the story. Or the story is so convoluted that it hurt, the stories are fun, semi-mature and mix of the serious and fun (wacko japanese stuff). Very well animated and the characters feel somewhat real.

Ace ace, from me.

[Yoru]

Samurai Champloo was one of the better things to come out of the 2004 anime season. I also enjoyed ROD The TV from that season, but it goes batshit insane-o on the bizarrometer towards the end. The original Read or Die OVAs were pretty boss, too.

[Strazos]

I've never seen the TV series, but as Yoru said the Read or Die OVAs are nice.

Finished Elfen Lied the other day, I thought it was very good, especially how I thought it struck a nice balance between comedy and serious/horror content.

I'm still picking away at 4 or 5 other series.

[Stormwaltz]

Without making a plan to, we're watching older series now. Armored Trooper Votoms for me, Ranma 1/2 for Jamie.

We tried the first volume of Master Keaton recently, which had pinged my radar years ago. It's not must-see, but it is better than the premise implies (ex-SAS insurance investigator).

[Strazos]

Scrapped Princess is finished. Though it was very cool, really liked the style, even though all the females were freakishly well-endowed.

[Simond]

http://www.asosbrigade.com/

[Strazos]

Yeah, lolz.

Also, cats.

[Yoru]

I've been picking up new stuff since I don't have a whole lot better to do this week.

One of the little gems I've found is Bartender. It's a sedate, unassuming anime completely devoid of the usual plot devices and wacky superpowers. It's about this young bartender at a little everybody-knows-your-name bar. Each episode follows some character as a problem is presented and he goes to the bar to enjoy a drink. The bartender, in the closest thing to supernaturality as you'll find in this show, knows exactly what drink to make them, and generally also either listens to or tells a story about the cocktail(s) he's making that's relevant to the person's problem. They drink and, through some character transformation or epiphany, come to a solution that improves their life. Credits roll.

It doesn't sound particularly exciting, but it's more of an emotional drama show than anything else. The pace is languid and contemplative, which fits the voice of the narrator (most soothing narrative voice ever, seriously) and the presentation of the series perfectly. Interestingly, they bookend the episodes with a "liquor fact" at the beginning and a drink recipe (generally of one of the featured cocktails) at the end.

It's also being presented in HD, which is kind of odd - the series is beautifully rendered, but the pacing doesn't really show off the quality of the animation except in subtle ways. Which I suppose suits Bartender just fine.

I'm doubting this will ever come out in the States though; it's very unlike a standard harem/giant-robot/freaky-girls/superhero anime, and I find the change very refreshing. Tracker link.

[Hoax]

CLAMP's new mecha show, Code Geass isn't that bad really, might wanna check it out if you are looking for something.

[Yoru]

CLAMP's new mecha show, Code Geass isn't that bad really, might wanna check it out if you are looking for something.

Funny you should say that. Ep 04 just started downloading. 

I've got a list of a half-dozen series, and I'm kind of interleaving them so I don't get all screwed up in the head from watching an entire series from start to finish.





Moreso than presently, at least. My current queue is Bartender (watched 1-6, which is all that's fansubbed), Black Lagoon (1-13 downloaded, 1 watched), Code Geass (funny name, 1-4 downloaded/ing), Death Note and Welcome to NHK.

[Strazos]

Is that the first or second set of Black Lagoon, Yoru?

[Yoru]

Is that the first or second set of Black Lagoon, Yoru?

The first. I think. The ep I watched seemed very first eppish, at least.

[Yoru]

Okay, little report on what I've got so far.

Bartender, as reported earlier, is all kinds of classy-awesome.

Code Geass is a pretty typical CLAMP series. Schoolkids trying to save/change the world, a bizarre superpower, giant robots. Has some good combat mixed in with really bad J-drama.

Black Lagoon (first season) is a decent action series; great animation and characterization, but the rest is mostly average. Picked up the second season, and that's in the queue to watch.

Welcome to the NHK is also okay; of the four series mentioned, it grabs me the least. It's very much a slice-of-life series with some Bizarro!- and Awkward-style humor tossed in. The little blue things are going to haunt me in the wee hours. Only up to ep8 or so, though, so my opinion of this may improve.

[Hoax]

Flag still being aired in Japan, pretty interesting concept and stylistic execution from the first few eps I previewed.  I consider it worth watching just to see if they can make it work.

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto also made it onto my watch-this-once-its-out-list by way of having a fairly confusing and interesting take on the typical japanese sword-and-socery fare.  I wish I knew much about Japanese History or the fansubbers had done a better job with notes  but the fighting, large cast and odd twists made it seem like it could be solid.

Also if you haven't at least given Black Lagoon a shot you really should.  The second season was even better imo and I cant wait for a third, if there isn't a third I will be really really pissed.

[Strazos]

I could definitely go for a third Black Lagoon season.

Also, I am really digging KyoAni's Kanon remake. Besides the usual exemplary animation, and besides the fact that they have a larger number of episodes in which to properly go through the stories, they have Sugita Tomokazu (RE: Kyon from Haruhi, Hideki from Chobits). He's got to be just about the best male VA out there right now.

EDIT: I also haveChevalier and Yoake Mae yori Ruriiro na Crescent Love just sitting around. Chevalier seemed alright, though I've only watched about 4 episodes so far. I haven't touched Crescent Love, so I have no idea how good or bad it is.

[Yoru]

Eh, guess I never posted after I finished.

Black Lagoon season two was indeed quite the awesome.

Welcome to the NHK gets really really disturbing and weird after ... well, when you look back on it, it's all creepy and weird, but the notion didn't hit me until halfway through the series. It's well-told, but it's a rather emotionally abusive series to watch.

Death Note is pretty good, with some parts that are amazingly gripping and then some parts that just feel tired. They introduced a new gimmick as of around ep12, which might've made the series positively awesome, but now Viz has licensed it, so I'll probably never find out.

Aside from Bartender, I'm not really actively following anything else any more, although the World Masterpiece Theater adaptation of Les Miserables is set to start soon. Might try that out...

[Strazos]

You forgot to mention the upcoming new season of Higurashi.

I have no idea what possible direction they could be taking the series...I thought they were finished with the source material.