Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Steamflogger Boss]

Damnit, Kyoto Animation arsonist.

33 dead. 36 injured. So far.

Edit: kitten I love you. Not everything has to have a happy ending.

[Ajora]

If you look up the upload on Youtube, about 80% of the comments are people echoing my exact sentiments, in that it was an amazing ride up until the shit ending. I'm astonished that anyone could like it.

Spoiler

i'm not sure youtube comments by anime fans are particularly the ring you want to throw your hat into, but i have a frankly difficult time imagining any other ending. area 88 is very melancholic and drives home a lot of points about the futility of conflict, the depressing state of our world, and the nature of loyalty & duty. it feels deeply loathing of wanton capitalism, predatory industry, and war profiteering - and i feel like shin's choice at the end to throw himself back in the fray to his obvious death, favoring his brothers-in-arms over a life he feels he's been too exposed to the poisons of the world to return to, perfectly punctuates the story. to choose not to depict the death and leave it on the somber, soft ending that they went with jives pretty well with the OVA's slow pace and its depictions of the constant traumatic grind of war.

i'm guessing most youtubers wanted shin to go out in a total blaze of spectacular glory or even get back to his girl, but i feel like that would deeply betray the intentions of the rest of the OVA. maybe that's more tonally fitting for the manga, but the OVA was never going to be something with a happy or explosive ending

Spoiler

I read into the ending as being more ambiguous than anything else. The thought of Shin going down in combat at that point seemed unfathomable to me, even though the odds were stacked against him and the war was already lost. The anime did such a good job of getting me to care about Shin and his motivations, that I didn't want it to end any way other than him returning to his lover. The entirety of Shin's existence was characterized by his sole motivation of escaping the war and going home, so when he finally has everything that he worked for and wanted more than anything, for him to pull a complete 180 like that felt like a huge betrayal. That is some Game of Thrones Season 8 shit right there.

[Mischief Maker]

Well I finally got around to watching Neon Genesis Evangelion/End of Evangelion on Netflix

I knew from general nerd culture that this had a disappointing ending and thought I was prepared, but this was some bull-shit!

I guess now I can now see there was some precedent behind Knights of Sidonia's absurd tonal shifts.

The only symbolism that stood out for me was unintentional: giant robots killing monsters with box cutters as seen through post-9/11 eyes.

Such a shame because the second and third quarters of the show really were fascinating to me as a refutation of the giant robot genre's tropes.

[Xyga]

Well iirc the movie The End of Evangelion is the real last two episodes and conclusion.

What was on the TV show as eps 25-26 is indeed bullshit.

EDIT: tbh the film is bat shit nonsense as well, but at the very least it's got actual animation and kinda unprecedented visual WTFkery.

[Mischief Maker]

I've read some explanations this morning and my response has somewhat softened.

Partial blame is on Netflix for chickening out with the translation and changing Kaworu's dialog with Shinji from "I love you" to "I like you" which makes Shinji's total mental collapse after subsequent events make no goddamn sense at all. (Fucking anti-SJWs ruining popular culture)

Then I found out the show's main writer created this show during a massive depression attack and that answers a lot of questions about character motivations I didn't think the show adequately gave at the time.

[Steamflogger Boss]

That was a total bitch move from netflix. Teaches you for not pirating.

[Randorama]

Re: EVA.

They finished any budget movie by episode 25, but then the revenue coming from merchandise, tv rights etc came in, and so Gainax had enough to produce the intended final episodes, EOE. This movie tried to incorporate as many ideas as possible from Devilman (the manga) and its ending, since the anime adaptation of Go Nagai's series did not even try to follow the original ending. The other source of inspiration was Ideon: be invoked, which was also heavy on the body count and the extremely apocalyptic ending.

I don't think that I will ever try to watch this...stuff a second time. If there is something that makes me want to invoke eugenics, then this series would be it (aside posts by wannabe "white" supremacists in another thread).

I once punched in the mouth a comics journalist and acquaintance of mine at a comic-con, because he was celebrating this series as the highest philosophical achievement in the last 20 years or so.

In my defense: I always resort to violence with people who mention the word "philosophy" when they have read at most Nietzche, Heidegger and some other loser from centuries ago. I must defend the respectability of my BA degree

[GaijinPunch]

In my defense: I always resort to violence with people who mention the word "philosophy" when they have read at most Nietzche, Heidegger and some other loser from centuries ago. I must defend the respectability of my BA degree

We really gotta get you and icycalm in a corner at the next Tokyo Game Show.

[GaijinPunch]

In all seriousness: I've never watched more than 10 minutes of Eva. It started as I was bailing from the hobby. Should I bother? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Xyga]

Like a lot of what the 90's did best, it was good quality in the 90's...but didn't age as well as the 80's stuff.
Somewhat novelty sci-fi in that particular branch, the mystery-conspiracy without much explanation and heavy emo drama hitting the spot for teenagers.
Today I'd say it might smells quite obsolete and annoying for adult audiences.
Still stylish though, will always be.

[Steamflogger Boss]

It really depends on what your aim is GP. I think it's one of the most overrated anime around but I would also say it's worth watching once especially if you are an anime historian. Like Bebop and DBZ it's simply a very important anime in various ways. Of those three I would only ever rewatch Bebop. He'll idt I ever finished DBZ if that means watching every episode.

Still stylish though, will always be.

Yup. I don't love the show but the designs are awesome so it's easy to want and buy figures and other merch of it.

[Randorama]

We really gotta get you and icycalm in a corner at the next Tokyo Game Show.

...one day I will reveal details regarding how the actual event unfolded. This is all I can say at this stage

I must say that these days I wouldn't have problems in dealing with this kind of situation, probably. Earlier in Sweden and now in China I have Literature colleagues who usually have a poor inkling of some philosophers. Making sweeping, very vague philosophical claims is a requirement to get published, in literature. Over the last few years, I found myself in situations in which some colleague was vehemently defending, say, Nietzche or Heidegger or some other moron and then admitting that they actually know 4-5 other philosophers.

Now, Eva feels like something written by a deeply depressed Anno and co., who decided to mix Sartre and other existentialists, plus tinfoil hat-conspiracy theories and otaku references to the other two series I mentioned before. Watching it in my late 20's (I refused to do so when it was new!) made me feel like I was spending 20+ minutes spells of conversation with this kind of person. I admit that I also never ever liked the mecha design and *that* '90s style. The whole decade "visual look" put me off anime and manga from 1993/1994 to 2003/2004, really.

With colleagues, I have learnt to just cut the conversation when it gets to those undertones. If at some point you feel corageous and opt to watch Eva...it does have historical importance, I guess!

[Mischief Maker]

I definitely saw the influence it had on the Battlestar Galactica remake. And holy shit is Attack on Titan the same kind of "frustration porn" turned to 11.

Empty religious references and pop-psychology aside, the main redeeming quality of the show is its exploration of the experience of depression, represented in its different manifestations by every character on the show. More so than the mechs, the angels were the manifestation of depression's various roadblocks. "This is just a ring of light? How the fuck am I supposed to take THAT down with a gun and a box cutter? Is this only going to get harder and harder?!"

Yeah, it's not a show I would recommend unless you want to walk away angered by the ending if you don't get it, or feeling awful if you do get it.

[Randorama]

Eh, AoT is Eva plus Kirkman's The walking dead (the comic; I do not really know if the tv show follows the comic) plus Watchmen here and there. All influences are akcnowledged by the AoT author, who is one of the few mangakas who admits being a kleptomaniac. Then again, everybody steals a lot from everybody else, in these media and times.

Personally I recall watching End of Eva twice, the second time with my wife (then simply a woman I was dating), who did not even know of its existence. She was definitely disturbed by how much Anno and co. were really going ballistic with ideas here and there, so we spent a very surreal date with me tracing all the references and trying to make sense of the overall mess of ideas for her.

When she asked me what I would make of the whole...ordeal, I simply said that Anno and co, nevermind the fans, should be slapped until they would grow into respectable, tax-paying adults (joke: Gainax were apparently evading taxes by the end of the series, so much they were deep in the red; their financial problems started in 1989 or so with Honneamise, to give a perspective).

...OK, I acknowledge that this series rubs me off in all kind of bad ways

[BryanM]

End of Evangelion

I knew from general nerd culture that this had a disappointing ending and thought I was prepared, but this was some bull-shit!

Let's be realistic here - endings are hard. They're almost without fail a depressing wet fart if they even bother to try to be something special at all - everyone expects for them to climatic and amazing for all the investment they put into something. But, just like death in real life, all it means is that the show is now dead and gone.

End of Evangelion, is something you're unable to forget until the day you die. Whether you want to or not.

If you truly want to flagellate yourself, go watch Endless Eight start to finish. Kyoto Animation's punishment of us sinful humans.

[drauch]

In all seriousness: I've never watched more than 10 minutes of Eva. It started as I was bailing from the hobby. Should I bother? Inquiring minds want to know.

I think it's worth watching, although it's sad to see the Gainax beginning of the end and weird teenaged characters sexualized which now dominates the market. Sure, you had kiddos piloting Gundams, but I guess at this point it wasn't as tropey. Still, the good outweighs the bad, and the direction is tight up until the infamous last few episodes. And the bio-mechs/whatever-they-are (it's been a few years) action is particularly nasty at times, if that's your bag.

[FinalBaton]

Like a lot of what the 90's did best, it was good quality in the 90's...but didn't age as well as the 80's stuff.
Somewhat novelty sci-fi in that particular branch, the mystery-conspiracy without much explanation and heavy emo drama hitting the spot for teenagers.
Today I'd say it might smells quite obsolete and annoying for adult audiences.
Still stylish though, will always be.

Pretty much this. And what Boss said can apply too(def watch it if you're an anime historian).

Love the Mecha and angels designs, but can't say I'm particularly fond of the character designs. They're fine, but they don't have me going "Wow!". To me, this is when character designs started going downhill in animu/mango

[Steamflogger Boss]

To me, this is when character designs started going downhill in animu/mango

Hmm, interesting.

I do love myself some old designs. I'm so stoked for Discotek getting City Hunter, I can finally have CH 3 and 91. The revival of it with the new movie has led to a couple of Ryo Saeba figures which I can honestly say is something I never expected. I have a couple of really awesome anime thingers coming soon, I will be sure to share pictures when I have them. Very excited about both. One is shipping out EMS tomorrow so I should have it relatively quickly.

[FinalBaton]

Hmm, interesting.

I do love myself some old designs. I'm so stoked for Discotek getting City Hunter, I can finally have CH 3 and 91. The revival of it with the new movie has led to a couple of Ryo Saeba figures which I can honestly say is something I never expected. I have a couple of really awesome anime thingers coming soon, I will be sure to share pictures when I have them. Very excited about both. One is shipping out EMS tomorrow so I should have it relatively quickly.

Pretty neat stuff, City Hunter is on my watchlist, gotta get around to see that soon. seems pretty cool

Def post some pics in here when you get that mail

[Steamflogger Boss]

I already watched all the OAVs, movie etc... and some number of episodes of the series. But I'm probably going to wait before continuing. I have basically no doubt that whether DVD or BD the new release will be a big step up from these ancient ADV DVDs. In anycase it's a lot of fun imo, very 80s ofc.

It will be pretty soon from the looks of it. Remarkably one was sent out today within 5 hours of the deal materializing, already have EMS tracking. Kind of a crazy situation where I was asking if he would help me with a medium size lot on YAJ for just one of the LDs as it so infrequently comes up for sale I was willing to eat the loss of buying the entire lot. He being a fellow LD enthusiast had it twice over due to having it separately and in a box set.

[soprano1]

Violet Evergarden. Very good series with some great animation. Episode 10 hit me like a brick.

[ryu]

Violet Evergarden. Very good series with some great animation. Episode 10 hit me like a brick.

I dropped it after 2 episodes. does it really get interesting?

[RiderKick]

The Mermaid Princess's Guilty Meal.

It's kinda a weird manga?

Imagine The Little Mermaid, if Ariel went to the surface to pay her respects to a friend that got fished and ended up eating him without meaning to, and finding out she really really enjoyed eating her friend, with each visit ending up with her eating someone she knows and loving it, she even eats someone she had a crush on.

And as she eats more and more seafood, the weirder and more guilty she feels to a point where her connections to her Kingdom start to waver, basically...unless you're a fish that needs to eat other fish, it's really very heavily frowned upon to eat another life, much less royalty, and she is pratically their equivalent of a cannibal as she goes down on a dark spiral.

And yes, all the fish are indeed very much like normal people, with personalities and dreams of their own, leading to some really damn dark comedy moments, this is basically Little Mermaid if Ariel slowly started to become more and more interested in eating her friends, it's kinda a fun manga, but sometimes it gets deceptively dark?

Like i said, it's a weird manga to describe.

[Vludi]

I dropped it after 2 episodes. does it really get interesting?

I guess it depends on the person, honestly I found it an underwhelming post-war drama, Kyoani isn't good handling settings like these imo.

[Xyga]

Uchuu Senkan Yamato (1974)

Sure it's old, but works surprising well. I understand why it's considered the 'father' of a good chunk of Japanese space opera anime now, all the codes and clichés are here, in a good sense.

To categorize in 'old sci fi stuff that aged well' I guess.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Uchuu Senkan Yamato (1974)

Sure it's old, but works surprising well. I understand why it's considered the 'father' of a good chunk of Japanese space opera anime now, all the codes and clichés are here, in a good sense.

To categorize in 'old sci fi stuff that aged well' I guess.

Older anime is the best anyway.

[GaijinPunch]

Uchuu Senkan Yamato (1974)

Sure it's old, but works surprising well. I understand why it's considered the 'father' of a good chunk of Japanese space opera anime now, all the codes and clichés are here, in a good sense.

To categorize in 'old sci fi stuff that aged well' I guess.

You watch the film or the TV series? Either way, make sure to watch the amazing, alternate universe Saraba, Uchu Senkan Yamato - that franchise's' Empire Strikes Back / Wrath of Khan.

Wondering why the original show got the 1080p rescan treatment, but the dope 2nd series has yet to. I doubt they'll ever do the 3rd.

Older anime is the best anyway.

This is correct.

[Xyga]

You watch the film or the TV series?

TV 26ep.
Subbed but doesn't look much like a HD remaster, you can actually see the damaged parts, dust on film etc.

Either way, make sure to watch the amazing, alternate universe Saraba, Uchu Senkan Yamato - that franchise's' Empire Strikes Back / Wrath of Khan.

Noted!

the dope 2nd series

In what orde to watch this? I originally planned to watch only the first series.

I
Saraba
II
III as well ?


PS: I see now where that tilted bridge scene in Nadia came from lol.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Uchuu Senkan Yamato (1974)

Sure it's old, but works surprising well. I understand why it's considered the 'father' of a good chunk of Japanese space opera anime now, all the codes and clichés are here, in a good sense.

To categorize in 'old sci fi stuff that aged well' I guess.

You watch the film or the TV series? Either way, make sure to watch the amazing, alternate universe Saraba, Uchu Senkan Yamato - that franchise's' Empire Strikes Back / Wrath of Khan.

Wondering why the original show got the 1080p rescan treatment, but the dope 2nd series has yet to. I doubt they'll ever do the 3rd.

Noted. I haven't seen much Yamato myself.

Older anime is the best anyway.

This is correct.

It's so true and I swear I'm not just being a curmudgeon. I like lots of newer tv series as well as music. I get personal preferences and blablabla but so much new anime is total throwaway trash. Every era had it but I feel like it has ramped up now. IDK.

[drauch]

I miss adults in things and the glossy look of most modern anime turns me off faster than scat.