Recommended Anime/Manga?

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Twiddle
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Post by Twiddle »

Icarus wrote:
Twiddle wrote:Noizi Ito is a man.
Are you sure? ^_-
Oh, I thought the author and artist were the same for Haruhi Suzumiya. D: There's been a lot of confusion on that subject.
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

Twiddle wrote:Oh, I thought the author and artist were the same for Haruhi Suzumiya. D: There's been a lot of confusion on that subject.
Thats quite understandable. From what I know, she is the illustrator and original character designer for the original novels (as well as Shana and other things). You can see her character designs and illustrations at the Wiki that holds the translated novels. I don't think she has much input in the writing of the novels, however.
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Post by dai jou bu »

Noizi Ito also did character illustrations for some GBA game, I think.
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Post by greg »

I recently picked up a Ai Yori Aoshi manga on a whim (it was at a used bookstore) and I've collected up to volulme 4, currently reading number 3. It's a cute love story, but while the first volume was a true love story, after that it became convoluted with the two main characters having to balance their friendships with their own relationship and having to keep it a secret because the girl is the heir to a big company and trying to avoid any "scandal." It's not succumbing to the lame "harem anime" formula, at least.

Also recently picked up the Galaxy Angel manga. Cute girls with space ships. Also got Gundam: Ecole du Ciel. It's a UC Gundam manga by Mikimoto of Macross fame.
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Post by NTSC-J »

dai jou bu wrote:
Icarus wrote: Unfortunately you're not likely to get it from Comiket Service now since its sold out. ^_-
I know this as well, and it still hurts. You know of any middlemen that'll be able to help me get these items in question?
:wink:

Seriously, manga is so dirt cheap here that it makes you cry. I bought the entire 23 volume series of Bastard!! for less than 20 bucks. Berserk is like 3 a volume, Maruo books I buy for 20 and sell on ebay for 120...it's a wonderful, manga-filled dream.

Some new recommendations:

I got the first volume of a comic called 吾ファイブ ("Five") and it's awesome so far. I'm going to check out the rest of the series, I'll let you know if it turns out to be top shelf.

Also 淳也井上 aka Joker JUN's おとぎ祭り (Otogi Matsuri) is pretty good. Watch for the kid playing Progear in the background...also nice to see the Guwange cat-spider and the ESPrade crew (sort of) play a big role.
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SAM
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Post by SAM »

greg wrote:I recently picked up a Ai Yori Aoshi manga on a whim (it was at a used bookstore) and I've collected up to volulme 4, currently reading number 3. It's a cute love story, but while the first volume was a true love story, after that it became convoluted with the two main characters having to balance their friendships with their own relationship and having to keep it a secret because the girl is the heir to a big company and trying to avoid any "scandal." It's not succumbing to the lame "harem anime" formula, at least.
Ai Yori Aoshi is one of my sister's fav. She got all the Vol. (1 to 17). The Anime is also wonderful, got 2 seasons released. Total I think 26 eps.

The Opening Song for the First Seasons is also great, try to find the single of it.
greg wrote:Also recently picked up the Galaxy Angel manga. Cute girls with space ships.
Galaxy Angel is fun, it got Computer games, and 4 anime series as well. My sister keep watching them recently.
greg wrote:Also got Gundam: Ecole du Ciel. It's a UC Gundam manga by Mikimoto of Macross fame.
This is the second time he did a Gundam story, he also did the character design for Gundam: 0080, War in the Pocket.
NTSC-J wrote:Seriously, manga is so dirt cheap here that it makes you cry. I bought the entire 23 volume series of Bastard!! for less than 20 bucks. Berserk is like 3 a volume, Maruo books I buy for 20 and sell on ebay for 120...it's a wonderful, manga-filled dream.
Wow, that's really cheap. :shock: Where are you? In Japan?

A single manga over here costs around 5 bugs. Unless you bought then second hand.

Some new recommendations:
NTSC-J wrote:I got the first volume of a comic called 吾ファイブ ("Five") and it's awesome so far. I'm going to check out the rest of the series, I'll let you know if it turns out to be top shelf.
Haven't heard of it, could you tell us more about it? Is that another 淳也井上 aka Joker JUN's story?
NTSC-J wrote:Also 淳也井上 aka Joker JUN's おとぎ祭り (Otogi Matsuri) is pretty good. Watch for the kid playing Progear in the background...also nice to see the Guwange cat-spider and the ESPrade crew (sort of) play a big role.
Definately a must have, if you love those Cave shooters. BTW, the Batsugun's Pig actually appear on one of those girls T-Shirt within the book. :wink:

I got vol. 1 to 7, still waiting for the rest to be publish over here...
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dai jou bu
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Post by dai jou bu »

NTSC-J wrote: :wink:

Seriously, manga is so dirt cheap here that it makes you cry.
Yes, I know manga is cheap over in Japan, as they were meant to be easily recyclable. However, I also know it's a REAL PAIN to get doujinshi (not the hentai stuff :P) unless it's picked up by a commercial publisher (since sometimes artists that have already made it big still release stuff at doujin conventions and can't be found almost anywhere else), and those prices always seem to increase exponentially immedately once they land in the second-hand market. :cry:

Oh yeah, Galaxy Angel is fun. The anime series is random comedy that has almost no ties to the manga/videogame series which emulate Sakura Taisen in a Homeworld setting.

SAM, did you get the Ai Yori Aoshi visual novel as well?
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Post by Icarus »

Just started watching (and reading) Ichigo Mashimaro (Strawberry Marshmallow over here in the West), and enjoying it at the moment. Quite slow paced but really funny, likeable characters, lots of subtle jokes. Kind of like Azumanga Daioh. Definitely one to get.
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Post by greg »

Abhnation.com has started a petition for Bandai to release Banner of the Stars III on region 1 DVD. Bandai currently has no plans to release this on DVD domestically.

The petition is located here.

Please help in bringing more of this fantastic space opera series domestically.
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Post by SAM »

dai jou bu wrote:SAM, did you get the Ai Yori Aoshi visual novel as well?
No, I didn't got that. :o I can't read Japanese anyway. :roll:

BTW, my sister want to sold her "Ai Yori Aoshi" comics (Vol. 1 to 17 Complete Set @$1 each total $17, text in Chinese), anyone interested? :o
(Postage would be huge... :roll: )
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Post by doctorx0079 »

I really like Seraphic Feather and Cannon God Exaxxion. I hope we see more volumes of them. Grenadier also looks very promising. I got volume one of Battle Vixens but I didn't like it so much.
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Post by greg »

Today I used up my store credit at a local game store that specializes in import and retro gaming. I never went there very often because I usually buy my import games when I go on my annual trip to Japan, or off the Net. Anyhow, the store is going out of business soon, so I wanted to use up my store credit. I got the Ai Yori Aoshi digital comic for the Playstation 2. I figured it would make for good Japanese language practice. I'm happy to find out that I can understand 80-90% of the dialogue in the game so far, with the occasional help of my dictionary. It's perfect for intermediate-level Japanese. I've never played a digital comic before. It's like reading a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. There's very minimal animation, so it's mainly focused on dialogue. (Playing Sakura Taisen had spoiled me on the perfectly lip-synched dialogue...) And since all the lines are spoken, it's good practice to learn kanji for words I never new before. I haven't studied Japanese for nearly a year, so this is a good motivation to get into the habit of studying again. Playing the game itself is a way of studying. For example, I've always seen the word "oishii" written in hiragana before. I didn't know that the kanji for this word were "beautiful" and "taste" together.

The game so far is about the gang going to a resort on a island, and their boat is caught in a storm and stranded on a beach somewhere. It has a character I'm unfamiliar with, Chika, since I'm only up to volume 5 in the manga so far. I'm having a difficult time understanding Tina and Mayu's constant exchange of verbal abuse. Kaoru sees Ai-chan wearing Western clothes for the first time. It's a cute game.

I also recently got the Galaxy Angel game for the Xbox. TWE's review for it on Gamefaqs really sold me on getting this game. It's pretty cool so far. I've gotten up to the first battle so far, and I'm trying to get the hang of the play commands. The Japanese language level in that game is a bit more than the everyday conversational Ai Yori Aoshi.

I've never played the game "Homeworld" before, which everyone seems to compare this game to. What platform is it on? PC?
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Post by AWJ »

greg wrote:I also recently got the Galaxy Angel game for the Xbox. TWE's review for it on Gamefaqs really sold me on getting this game. It's pretty cool so far. I've gotten up to the first battle so far, and I'm trying to get the hang of the play commands. The Japanese language level in that game is a bit more than the everyday conversational Ai Yori Aoshi.

I've never played the game "Homeworld" before, which everyone seems to compare this game to. What platform is it on? PC?
Yeah, Homeworld is a PC game from quite a few years back. There was a sequel to it as well.
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Post by AWJ »

Icarus wrote:Just started watching (and reading) Ichigo Mashimaro
So, has it made you paedo yet? :D
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Post by Sly Cherry Chunks »

Just finished watching Aim For The Top 2: DieBuster. Excellent stuff and every bit as good as the original Gunbuster.
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Post by Strider77 »

Just finished watching Aim For The Top 2: DieBuster. Excellent stuff and every bit as good as the original Gunbuster.
Is it really?! Visually it looked horrid....

I really hate the new trend in anime designs now... granted a few are ok but alot of it turns my stomach
Damn Tim, you know there are quite a few Americans out there who still lives in tents due to this shitty economy, and you're dropping loads on a single game which only last 20 min. Do you think it's fair? How much did you spend this time?
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Post by SAM »

Strider77 wrote:
Just finished watching Aim For The Top 2: DieBuster. Excellent stuff and every bit as good as the original Gunbuster.
Is it really?! Visually it looked horrid....

I really hate the new trend in anime designs now... granted a few are ok but alot of it turns my stomach
I love Gunbuster, but never got the chance to watch DieBuster... :o

I would bought its DVDs when I got the money.

P.S. - Gunbuster/DieBuster is produced by Gainex, Gainex of Eva.
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Submarine 707 Revolution anime series ?...

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

I recently checked out the USA dubbed version of the futuristic naval warfare series titled, Submarine 707 Revolution, an awesome one.

How many episodes were actually produced of this Submarine 707R anime series?

I noticed that the Submarine 707R movie version has been released on the PSP UMD format for the USA market. And is it any good as the anime series?

I've also noticed that the phrase of: "God's All Right in His Heaven..." presented in Submarine 707R series. Wasn't that a subtle reference to Gainax's sci-fi masterpiece known as "Neon Genesis Evangelion" anime series? ^_~

Isn't Gainax working on a "Evangelion 2" sequel?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
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Re: Submarine 707 Revolution anime series ?...

Post by Sly Cherry Chunks »

PC Engine Fan X! wrote:Isn't Gainax working on a "Evangelion 2"
I'm lead to believe that its not a sequel, but more of a remake/reinterpretation. Same characters and themes but perhaps a different story.
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Re: Submarine 707 Revolution anime series ?...

Post by greg »

Sly Cherry Chunks wrote:
PC Engine Fan X! wrote:Isn't Gainax working on a "Evangelion 2"
I'm lead to believe that its not a sequel, but more of a remake/reinterpretation. Same characters and themes but perhaps a different story.
Good, maybe it will be an Evangelion I'd like. Purists will hate it, for sure, but I only liked the original up until halfway through the show. Then the show's creator stopped taking his meds and it took a turn for the psychotic. The characters are extremely popular, and every time I go to Japan I can be guaranteed that there will be new Evangelion PVC figures of Rei and Asuka in the UFO Catcher machines at the game centers. They'e even came out with a manga called "Angelic Days" that makes the characters more pleasant and ignores the bizarre/depraved plot of the show, and this was even after they did something similar with a recent Playstation game. Similar to the original ending of the Eva TV show that shows Seiji and Asuka as good friends.
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Post by Strider77 »

I'm sick of Evangelion and DBZ... both these can disapear anytime they are ready. ESPECIALLY DBZ.... I HATE that show.

Macross Zero is worth a watch and another one called Karas was just released over here with really high production values..

LOL or you could watch this..

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I have that one on laser disc still, I'd like to find the other two also.
Damn Tim, you know there are quite a few Americans out there who still lives in tents due to this shitty economy, and you're dropping loads on a single game which only last 20 min. Do you think it's fair? How much did you spend this time?
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Post by AWJ »

dai jou bu wrote:The [Shakugan no Shana] anime series had me up until episode 17 (18? 19? Don't remember). Then they started to not follow the manga, which 99% of the time, is always a bad thing. And last-minute fanservice for the final episode just made me dislike the series even more from that point on. Movie is supposed to be in the works, and I hope it won't suck as much as the last story arc.
I just finished watching this series myself. I haven't read the manga or novels, but I definitely did notice a sharp drop in quality in the last story arc (beginning after the three flashback episodes about Shana's origin) A shame because the series was really, really good up to that point. I'm still looking forward to the movie, though. Favorite character: Alastor (I loved the part where he talks to Yuji's mom on the phone)

A series I recently watched that hasn't been brought up in this thread yet is Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha. It starts out as a rather obvious deconstruction of the magical girl formula (CCS, etc.) much as Evangelion deconstructed the Go Nagai super robot formula. However, after a weak and predictable first few episodes it starts to get interesting. Very interesting. And the second season, ...A's, is pure gold from start to finish. Favorite character: VITACHAN.
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Post by FMK »

Haibane Renmei. That's the best show I've seen. The characters are delightful. The plot starts slow, but soon progresses into a crescendo of melancholy and to a great finish.

Recently I finished Gundam Seed. It's fun, but anything particular. The finish is slithly rushed. I'll check Seed Destiny, anyway.
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Post by greg »

I really cannot stand non-UC Gundam. X Gundam looks pretty cool and seems faithful to the original. Wing was terrible to watch. Seed looks pretty dumb, but I've only seen Seed Destiny. Undamned and I caught a couple of episodes on our trip to Japan in April on Kids Station. While the beginning credits were rolling, I said, "This has a lot of female characters for a Gundam series." Then as we started watching it, I then realized and said, "Oh my, those aren't female characters afterall."

But with pretty much any other stupid Gundam show, at least the robots look cool.

The Salamander/Gradius anime is great fun. It's 80's anime with character designs by Mikimoto, the same designer for Macross. I just wish they would have featured the options and maybe the ripple laser.
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Post by Icarus »

AWJ wrote:
Icarus wrote:Just started watching (and reading) Ichigo Mashimaro
So, has it made you paedo yet? :D
Not yet, but I have contemplated kidnapping/adopting one of my younger female cousins as a little sister. Being the eldest in a generation and the only child of the family sucks, no siblings to torment. ^_-

Very funny series though, definitely recommended.
AWJ wrote:A series I recently watched that hasn't been brought up in this thread yet is Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha... And the second season, ...A's, is pure gold from start to finish. Favorite character: VITACHAN.
Awesome isn't it? It starts off quite generic and then turns into a SUPERHERO BEAMSPAMMING DEMON anime, about as far removed from typical mahou shoujo as you can get, and all the better for it. Gets pretty brutal towards the end of the first season, and Nanoha A's is absolute class from start to finish.

I take it you'll be watching Nanoha: StrikerS when it hits? ^_-
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Post by AWJ »

Icarus wrote:Not yet, but I have contemplated kidnapping/adopting one of my younger female cousins as a little sister.
Careful, there. If your only knowledge of little sisters comes from manga... well, as they say in so many advertisements, "Actual product may not be exactly as shown".
Icarus wrote:I take it you'll be watching Nanoha: StrikerS when it hits?
Actually, I'm a bit leery of the upcoming series. I think they caught lightning in a bottle with A's, and I'm bracing myself for keen disappointment in the followup. The series that comes to my mind is Slayers, where the first season was good, the second one-upped it in every way and was amazing, and then the third, which took the series in a slightly different direction, was garbage.

With Nanoha, I'm particularly afraid that with the time jump having aged the main characters to highschool age, the series will degenerate into obnoxious anime teen romance (the kind that teases and teases and never goes anywhere--see Shana, InuYasha, Ranma 1/2, etc...)

Something about Nanoha just occurred to me the other day as I started to rewatch the first series... Nanoha is Son Goku. Like the Earth-raised Saiyan, she's utterly pure-hearted and able to see the good in everyone she meets, even if they are her enemies at first. But there's another Goku-like aspect of her that the show doesn't rub in your face, but which is pretty clear if you pay attention: Nanoha genuinely enjoys fighting. Not the hurting-people aspect, but the aspect of testing her abilities to the limit against a strong opponent, and of struggling to surpass herself. Note that Nanoha never backs down from a challenge; unlike many heroines in anime, it's never "Can we talk instead of fighting?" with her. It's always "If I beat you, then can we talk afterwards?" To Nanoha, a fight isn't an unfortunate necessity when words fail; rather, it's what she lives for.

Nanoha's extremely unusual (for a female anime character) characterization--the Son Goku-like combination of a pure heart with an honest love of good clean all-out combat--is really what makes the entire show what it is, I think.
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Post by Icarus »

You forgot to add constant beam-weapon-spamming. Nanoha only needs to accidentally scream KAME-HAME-HA! during a battle and your observations will be completely correct. ^_-

Got the urge to watch Nanoha A's again now.
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Post by Icarus »

Not really a huge anime update, but something of a novelty which I've only just discovered. Just got back from the Baltic Art Gallery viewing an urban design exhibition with my class, where I came across this being displayed on a projector, on loop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C84FLwm3DA

Titled "Superflat Monogram", its a short five minute promotional clip done by famous Japanese designer Murakami Takashi for designer brand Louis Vuitton. Sort of a modern take on "Alice in Wonderland", pretty cute stuff.
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Re: Submarine 707 Revolution anime series ?...

Post by shinsage »

PC Engine Fan X! wrote: I've also noticed that the phrase of: "God's All Right in His Heaven..." presented in Submarine 707R series. Wasn't that a subtle reference to Gainax's sci-fi masterpiece known as "Neon Genesis Evangelion" anime series? ^_~
"God's In His Heaven, All's Right With The World" are lines from a poem by Robert Browning.
I'm certain that it is a reference to Eva, tho.

I saw RahXephon a few months ago, horrible, horrible show. Blatantly ripped off Eva, mostly during the first half.

Personally the only anime I'm looking forward to now is Ninja Scroll 2 (I guess it would be called Jubei: Wind Ninja Chronicles 2 in Japan), and that was announced back in 2003.
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Post by Strider77 »

"Neon Genesis Evangelion"

Sick of that show... :roll:
Damn Tim, you know there are quite a few Americans out there who still lives in tents due to this shitty economy, and you're dropping loads on a single game which only last 20 min. Do you think it's fair? How much did you spend this time?
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