Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Obiwanshinobi]

I recall being intrigued by that Big O thing. I've got sort of Haßliebe story with Sunrise (watched the entire Zeta fucking GUNDAM series for the good old graphics, because I am sick like that).
P.S. Cripes, The Big O is animated shockingly badly for a Sunrise show. Reminds me of Akira (no, it's not as bad as Akira, but sometimes Japanese try "something different" in the animation department and it turns out pretty poor). Reminds me of Witch Hunter Robin too, which is nearly as bad an association.
P.P.S. Maybe I'm just being low on endorphins right now, but even the car animations rub me the wrong way. I like the settings and overall premise, but the only moving thing that doesn't annoy me in this show is the "girl" (just like the robot chicks - and the dog - in Persona 3 FES were the only likeable 3D character models in that game, shadows excluded).
P.P.P.S. Last (?) but not least, the mecha design... Bloody hell, difficult to believe it's from the makers of the original Escaflowne (as full of silly holes as it was, the steamupnk knights looked business). This has to be the ugliest mecha design I've seen since the original Psyvariar (some of Psyvariar's bosses and AXIONs look cool alright).

[xris]

I just watched the first episode of Gainax's new series Panty & Stocking With Garter Belt. Yeah, I have no idea what to think of this. Seems like such a strange show for them to make. It's raunchy and kinda funny. I really love how Panty's undies transform into her gun. It's no Dead Leaves though.
edit: I've been reading Crows, about half way through the series right now. Pretty good, about a highschool that is completely over run by gangs, and their continuing fighting. Yeah, it's mostly just fighting, but it's right up my alley. Once I finish this Imma gonna read Fist of the North Star Gaiden Rei's story. Stoked, this is gonna rule. Oh, also started BR II: Blitz Royale, only the first volume so far. Yay! So, much manga to read!!!

[Obiwanshinobi]

Gintama is back on the TV.

[GaijinPunch]

I have decided to do something I attempted 12 years ago and gave up about 10 pages in: read the original Akira. Anyone wanna gimme a congratulatory hand doogie?

[BryanM]

One of my favorite parts of Berserk Abridged is when they burn down the enemy's fort while playing Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire.

However, it appears as though there is a great likelihood that they did, in fact, start the fire.

[Siren2011]

I just watched the first episode of Gainax's new series Panty & Stocking With Garter Belt.

That art style is leagues below Sadamoto's work. I wonder why they're doing the cheaper stuff. At least it might be worth watching if the scenario is interesting. Abenobashi left such a bad taste in my mouth I'm not so sure I even LIKE Gainax anymore. There is a fine line between entertaining surrealist humor and "they weren't even trying". FLCL was great enough to pull it off, but MSA was all over the place.

[EinhanderZwei]

Bit old, but you can't go wrong with Cyber City Odeo 808, only 3 episodes, but amazing!

It's my all-time favorite anime... A rock solid cyberpunk action masterpiece with beautiful art style and interesting technological ideas

I'd also recomment Weiss Kreuz. It's like 90s Watchmen, and maybe even more edgy

Teehee, my 500th post

[Slump]

I have decided to do something I attempted 12 years ago and gave up about 10 pages in: read the original Akira. Anyone wanna gimme a congratulatory hand doogie?

Doogie granted.

I'm in the same boat. It's been sitting on my shelf for at least three years and I've yet to get past the first few pages. Perhaps you've inspired me to finally finish it as well. Also, I know it's been said before but the soundtrack to Elfen Lied is fantastic...

[eatingbadly]

Just started watching Soul Eater and it's awesome.

I have never read a manga. I hate reading. But when I do it will be Berserk or Akira.

[moozooh]

Many, many series adapted from manga can't hold a candle to the original. Berserk is one of the better examples, but still far from ideal with how compressed it is (although there's a reboot in the works which is supposed to be better), and that's beside the fact that it ends on the most abrupt spot possible without ever being continued. Golden Boy is way too short. Gantz just omits the overarching storyline completely and ends on an arbitrary spot. Blood of the Immortal botches everything up horribly from the start for no apparent reason. Hellsing (the TV series) takes the storyline, throws it out of the window, and substitutes with something completely inane; the ongoing OVA series remedies that by animating pretty much every page of the manga starting with episode V, which takes its toll on the release schedule (with the astounding pace of 1½ episodes per year on average). Trigun attempts to piece together the main storyline, its earlier version, and a custom ending, and ends up with a result that doesn't make much sense at all. There is also a good deal of great manga that never received any kind of anime adaptation, such as Battle Angel Alita and Yotsuba&!.

That's from my experience alone; I'm sure there's a lot more examples such as this.

[austere]

Akumetsu.



Most people won't understand it but this is the only manga I can recommend.

[GaijinPunch]

I'm in the same boat. It's been sitting on my shelf for at least three years and I've yet to get past the first few pages. Perhaps you've inspired me to finally finish it as well. Also, I know it's been said before but the soundtrack to Elfen Lied is fantastic...

Is yours the Japanese or the English? I'm going nihongo... when I tried before, I just wasn't ready. I blinked, and now I'm 36 w/ a kid.

[chempop]

I bought the boxset of Monster going off nothing but a recommendation... It is incredible... But sadly it was only the first 15 episodes!! (out of 75+?!?!). Damn, and they aren't going to release any more in the states
I guess I'll have to find a fansub.

I'm watching Phantom Memory Kurau which is sorta crap but easy to fall asleep to which has value on it's own. Pumpkin Scissors was another I'd put in that category of [enjoyable to doze off too because when I wake up I'm not like "shit! what did I miss?!?!"]

So yeah, Monster is fantastic, I need to see the rest asap.

[NTSC-J]

I have decided to do something I attempted 12 years ago and gave up about 10 pages in: read the original Akira. Anyone wanna gimme a congratulatory hand doogie?

Good move. I've read both the American translation and the nihongo versions in their entirety, and it's no small feat. While I enjoy the story and the characters, the art is the real star. In my opinion, Otomo is the best comic artist ever, with no equal in terms of perspective and architecture.

I've been buying a lot of random manga at Book Off lately in the hopes of finding some buried treasures on par with Berserk and it's become clear that this is an impossible task.

[dcharlie]

I am really interested in the concept of Pluto, but i never read the original - so not sure whether it's worth it or not. The wife seems to like it a lot and her manga collection is "intimidating"

[Zeether]

Monster didn't do well so it didn't get past the first boxset. The only way to watch the rest legit is by buying the episodes off iTunes and they're dubbed only.

FLCL is an awesome show. I finished it in one sitting and loved every minute of it. There's a Blu-ray of it but I hear mixed opinions on the video quality. Whatever way you watch it, it's still a very fun show with a really well done English dub. Somehow the way they manage to work in honorifics and verbal tics in the dub works for it, and that's something you rarely hear.

I wish I had a robot that would come out of my head.

[dcharlie]

Also, i'll probably regret this as it's long passed but, the Detroit Metal City anime is still the funniest thing i've seen anime wise.

Yeah yeah, i know - hardly original thinking here but JUST IN CASE anyone missed it. Please do not watch the dogshit live action version which is castrated beyond belief.

[Icarus]

I was just watching Fate: Unlimited Blade Works. Takes all the good stuff from the original anime and cuts out all the crap - just wall-to-wall combat throughout. Love it.

Anything new out that's particularly good? I saw some mixed reviews of Redline, but might indulge in it since the artstyle looks really neat.

[moozooh]

I've heard that Redline is somehow connected with Trava's story. I liked Trava but the way it cut off left me puzzled.

Redline hasn't been released outside Japanese theaters or something, though, has it? I see no information about DVDs or BDs or even HDTV broadcasts.

[greg]

For manga, I am completely addicted to Gundam: Ecole du Ciel. It bridges the UC timeline gap between the events of 0083: Stardust Memories and Zeta Gundam (which begins in 0087). Unfortunately, it does not look like Tokyo Pop will continue releasing this manga past volume 9. I've bought the Japanese volumes 10 and 11 and will try tackling the rest of the series in its original language. The writer/artist is Haruhiko Mikimoto, which is awesome if you're into Macross.

[Zeether]

Redline's getting a DVD/Bluray release here sometime soon. They've screened it at a con or two over here I think.

Tokyopop has a track record of not finishing series, which is why I quit buying from them. I might look into stuff from Seven Seas or Yen Press. Also, Kodansha USA (which is basically Del Rey Manga renamed) announced Sailor Moon is being reprinted, unflipped and with a new translation plus extras.

And more exciting than that (for me at least) is that Love Hina will be getting released with a new translation in omnibus form. It's one of my favorite works by Akamatsu besides Negima and I hope we get the extra chapter that was published last year in Japan for Negima's 300th chapter.

Speaking of Negima, those OVAs that were made that are based on the manga look fantabulous, but I'm waiting for them to get licensed. I just know they will get picked up sometime even though they were released with limited edition copies of the manga. There's going to be a movie too.

[Icarus]

And more exciting than that (for me at least) is that Love Hina will be getting released with a new translation in omnibus form.

Oh, nice! Love Hina is one of favorite manga, hopefully the re-release will do it justice. Any news on when?

Speaking of Negima, those OVAs that were made that are based on the manga look fantabulous, but I'm waiting for them to get licensed. I just know they will get picked up sometime even though they were released with limited edition copies of the manga. There's going to be a movie too.

Is that Negima: Mou Hitotsu no Sekai you're talking about, by any chance?

[Blackbird]

Tokyopop has a track record of not finishing series, which is why I quit buying from them.

Yeah, I got burned pretty bad. They got up to volume 12 of Beck before they quit it. I gave up and read a scanlation eventually.

Negima is a series that I have mixed opinions about. Or rather, I feel it is a series with a lot of really good qualities, but also some significant flaws/drawbacks. Without going into tl;dr, I feel that it's a really interesting and fresh take on a fantasy/magical adventure story with likeable characters. However, it also veers uncomfortably close to pedo-porn at times.

I wonder if the anime is any good, to be honest, I have no idea where I would even start. There are like 5 different anime adaptations, lol.

Anyway, to get on topic, here is a list of manga I would recommend. And yes, now comes the tl;dr.

Battle Angel Alita/Gunnm: Hyper Future Vision - Arguably the best work of sequential art ever penned - the US, Japan, and everywhere else included. Highly recommended to everyone over the age of 16 who is vaguely interested in comics. The story centers around a female cyborg who struggles with identity issues in an oppressive, post-apocalyptic ghetto.

Battle Angel Alita: Last Order - A continuation of the series. I would say it isn't quite as deep regarding literary merit, however, it is also a lot more action packed. This makes it a bit more accessible and enjoyable to read casually. It's still extremely good, though.

Bakuman - A manga about characters that want to become mangaka. I found this series fascinating, personally, because it gives the reader a bit of an inside look at how manga are actually made and published. It usually serious and dramatic, but occasionally very funny. I can't help but feel it is significantly autobiographical, lol.

Beach Stars - Surprisingly entertaining sports manga about female beach volleyball. Actually takes the topic somewhat seriously. Some ecchi, of course, but it's usually not obtrusive. I would recommend it to everyone, actually, if it weren't for some bizarrely out of place nudity that occurs once or twice - I can't help but feel the author made a bad decision there, because it holds the series back from being a mainstream sports series.

Double Arts - A shonen series with an interesting premise centering around a seemingly incurable plague. Handles romance and balances gender roles with surprising grace for a shonen series. Unfortunately, it was cancelled early, but still worth a look if you want a shorter read.

Emma - A classic, suspense-driven romance set in the Victorian era. The art is, in a word, sumptuous. A little bit dry for those of you used to action manga, though. Teens and up, there is some partial nudity.

Franken Fran - A horror manga about a mad scientist and her experiments. She tries to help people with her scientific knowledge, but it invariably goes horribly wrong. Hilariously offensive humor of a very black variety. The series plays with morality, often subverting it. Fresh and funny, but not for a younger audience or for those who are easily offended.

GE - Good Ending - A great shonen-oriented romance that balances gender roles pretty well. The protagonist and his potential romantic interests are all well rounded, dimensional characters. The art is pretty good, particularly for a newcomer. Worth a shot if you like romance.

Battle Angel Alita - Read this. By this point, you should be on your second loop of this series.

Hellsing - The last troop remnants of the Third Reich, the Last Battalion, have been hiding for 50 years. Now, in the near future, they have perfected technologies to vampirize their troops, creating a legion of 1000 Nazi supersoldiers. Their army in place, they come out of hiding and declare war on the entire world when they bomb London. The only counter to the Nazi supersoldiers is the elite counter-supernatural organization, Hellsing. The trump card of this organization, of course, being an ancient vampire in service to the British crown. This vampire is none other than Alucard, aka. Dracula. So yeah, it's Nazi Vampire Supersoldiers vs Dracula in an amazing display of hilarious ultraviolence. If that premise doesn't sell you, I don't know what will. Oh, and the mangaka has a fairly unique style with really bold shadows. Very cool.

Higurashi/When The Cicadas Cry - I'm not sure about the manga, but the anime is quite good. An interesting psychological mystery/horror centering around a series of mysterious murders in the village of Hinamizawa. Various theories abound - disgruntled townsfolk taking revenge for an unpopular dam project, a mysterious disease, and the curse of the town's guardian deity, among others. Part of the appeal of this series, for me, is that it balances supernatural horror with explainable horror, and you are never quite sure what the real cause is until the very end. Don't be put off by the wonky art - it gets better in the second season, and the plot is worth it. Oh, and it's got the best yandere action to be found anywhere, if you like that kind of thing.

Love Hina - The archetypical harem manga. It's funny, touching, and perverted in equal measure.

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer/Hoshi no Samidare - Once you get over the extremely wonky title, an extremely good shonen series. This one really surprised me. Basically, it's a doomsday scenario where the heroes have a certain amount of time to organize and thwart an evil mage before he drops a big, floating hammer on the world and destroys it. The heroes are called "beast knights" and have animal familiars which grant them spiritual powers similar to ESP. The story is told in a surprisingly mature manner, with an unusually diverse cast of characters for a shonen. A lot of the usual, boring archetypes are avoided, too. Quite fresh.

Negima!/Mahou Sensei Negima! - A fantasy/action/romance/harem/comedy that throws in everything but the kitchen sink and comes out with something pretty good, but flawed. Basically, a child prodigy moves to Japan to teach English in a Japanese school, which will somehow advance his magical training(?). However, as a mage among mundanes, he must of course conceal the existence of magic, and hilarity, wacky hijinks, and adventure ensue. This manga has an extremely large cast and several sub-plots, so it gets somewhat complex, but that's the starting point of the series. The good part is that the magical fantasy elements are interesting and relatively unique, the action scenes are fairly exciting, and the characters are likeable. The bad part is that, with so many characters, you might not get to see as much emphasis placed on your favorite characters as you might like. Additionally, the idea of having a romance with a 10-year old protagonist is somewhat ill-conceived. The series veers perilously close to pedophilia at points, but I feel it never quite crosses the line. So, at this point, I think the good outweighs the bad.

[Blackbird]

Nurarihyon no Mago - A shonen action series with a strongly supernatural premise. A young boy is struggling with his role as the inheritor of a demon clan. Being 1/4 demon himself, he has difficulty reconciling his youkai side with his human side. A cast of interesting youkai/supernatural characters makes for an interesting twist on the usual battle manga formula.

Battle Angel Alita - Read this. Third loop.

One Piece - In my opinion, the best of the "Big Three" mainstream shonen series. One Piece canon is by this point gargantuan and hard to get into, but I feel it's worth it. At it's core, it's a nautical adventure story about pirates that explore a vast world, filled with fascinating locations, strange people, and dangerous hazards. Along the way, they battle rival pirates, weather phenomena, and other threats. Essentially, it's the classic story of naval exploration uniquely married with a shonen battle manga. It also encompasses other significant themes, like friendship and a young man's coming of age(?). The art style is fairly unique (although the artist has his share of imitators by now) and charmingly weird. A lot of people have a bit of trouble getting over how weird it is at first, though, lol. I would recommend this series to pretty much everyone. Even my mom likes it.

Otoyomegatari/Young Bride's Story - By the same mangaka as Emma. This is another historical drama/romance, this time centered in 18th century central asia (if my memory is correct). The mangaka's intense dedication to historical detail and stunning artwork makes this story worth reading. Fans of action series might find it slow paced and dull, though. Some partial nudity, so it's probably teen and up.

Painting Warriors - A story concerning an alternate history where the Crusades reached China in their quest to recover the Holy Grail. The story revolves around War Painters, scribes who record the battles with ink paintings. It seems like an interesting premise, although the pacing is somewhat slow. It hasn't really gotten to the meat of the story yet.

Vinland Saga - A historical drama set in England during the early 1000's. Vikings under the employ of Denmark incessantly raid England, leading to a full scale war. This story examines the role of several personalities involved in this war, and how they affect it's outcome. The characters in this manga are extremely interesting, with some of the most memorable and dimensional villains of any manga I could name. I actually like the villains more than the protagonist, lol. The artwork of this series is absolutely exceptional - the mangaka's portrayal of the setting is presented in amazing detail. The characters are also quite a bit more influenced by realism than the usual moeblob fare, lol. I feel that the topic will appeal to those who don't necessarily like manga, because the story deals with western events and has a more familiar, western feel than most manga. Besides, Vikings are totally badass! Highly recommended, but for older readers because there is some pretty serious violence in there. Pillaging and all that.

The World God Only Knows/Kami Nomi no Shiru Sekai - An interesting twist on the harem genre. Hell has reformed itself into a more progressive state by sealing away the old regime of malicious demons (Old Hell) and becoming New Hell. However, the seal has weakened and the disembodied spirits from Old Hell have invaded Earth. They seek to reside in the hearts of young maidens, where resentment festers until the demon can manifest it's physical form once more. The best way to get the possessing spirits out is by eliminating the source of the resentment, particularly with love. Enter the protagonist, the "Capturing God" who is the master of seducing girls... in dating sims. Roped into servitude by New Hell, he must make as many girls fall in love with him as possible. Hilarity ensues as he tries to apply the logic of videogames to real life.

[Zeether]

And more exciting than that (for me at least) is that Love Hina will be getting released with a new translation in omnibus form.

Oh, nice! Love Hina is one of favorite manga, hopefully the re-release will do it justice. Any news on when?

I think September.

Speaking of Negima, those OVAs that were made that are based on the manga look fantabulous, but I'm waiting for them to get licensed. I just know they will get picked up sometime even though they were released with limited edition copies of the manga. There's going to be a movie too.

Is that Negima: Mou Hitotsu no Sekai you're talking about, by any chance?

Both Ala Alba and Mou Hitatsu no Sekai. And the Yue special (which my avatar is from).

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is awesome. I read it scanlated, but I will gladly buy it legit if it gets licensed here.

I've heard Hayate X Blade is good but Seven Seas (the publisher) has said that it's hard for them to commit to releasing volumes 7 and 8 because of the Borders situation and not much sales. I might look into getting the omnibus releases so that they could possibly get more. It sounds like a good series and frankly I don't want a manga canned for low sales.

[RNGmaster]

I'm starting on Serial Experiments Lain. Anyone else tried this one out?

[Blackbird]

One more for the pile. Bear with me, as it is impossible to describe without it sounding really lame, but it's actually really awesome. Just trust me on this.

The series is entitled Dorohedoro and it's about a man named Caiman. The story is set in "The Hole", a terrible ghetto in which sorcerers come and go as the please, using the populace as subjects for their horrifying magical experiments. Caiman's head has been transmuted into a lizard's head by one such sorcerer, and now Caiman scours the city in hopes that the sorcerer that did it will reappear. If Caiman can kill the sorcerer that did it, the curse will be undone. Accompanying Caiman is his friend Nikaido, a butt kicking chef girl =D.

Meanwhile, the sorcerers are trying to hunt down and eliminate the mysterious person who keeps killing them (i.e. Caiman). The sorcerer En stands as the boss of a sort of sorcerer's mafia, if you will, along with his extremely entertaining henchmen Noi and Shin. The sorcerer's world is extremely strange, and it appears that most of the sorcerer's magical power comes from demonic pacts.

As you might imagine, the series is quite violent at points (surprise, it's a Seinen!), but this is balanced be extremely interesting, dimensional characters and hilariously black humor. I find myself repulsed and laughing out loud equally often in this manga.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Texhnolyze an 22 part TV anime from 2003 its a dark cyberpunk anime thats an old favorite of mine that no one knows about or at least mentions

Maybe ive got a bad taste of humour but I found Inukami and Girls Bravo to be very funny, most comedy harem is shit but those two shows just do it right for me.

Basilisk is a good historical ninja / samari anime

Ergo Proxy another good dark cyberpunk and Last Exile is a decent sci-fi and Time of Eve is a well worth checking out

Gurren Lagann, Ive never really been a fan of JRPGs which have over the top spell cutscenes that go on for 10 minutes, however this anime TV show really suprised me by just how fucking over the top it managed to get that even I was impressed . The show is about 24 eps long but is more like 2 animes because the 2nd half is set 10 or so years in the future

[Siren2011]

I'm starting on Serial Experiments Lain. Anyone else tried this one out?

I've only seen the first three episodes, but I recall enjoying them. I really need to finish that series.

There is supposedly a SEL videogame for PSX. Never looked into it, though. It's something like a choose your own adventure game with still backgrounds, like in Neon Genesis Evangelion Iron Maiden.

Just started Trinity Blood the other day. I love the animation, but I'm not buying the alter ego of the meek priest, which is like a bad ass vampire form. How the two of them exist as one person is a bit silly. Not to mention the fact that I've seen the first five battles he's in, and not ONE of his adversaries proved to be remotely challenging to him; he wiped the floor with all of them. Part of what makes anime great is the tension between the "bad" guy and the main (not "good guy", because I tend to root for "evil" characters, because they're so much fun. Most of them are, anyways) characters. Dragon Ball Z was successful in making the protagonist (Goku) work his ass off to destroy a few of the more powerful villains (Frieza to name one)-- and their display of strength seemingly surpassing the protagonist makes the show more interesting to watch. I enjoyed Chrono Crusade's Aeon as a "bad" guy, because he was a legitimate threat to mankind and he damn knew it; a complete egomaniac, starving with a lust to rule. Now THAT is a good guy!

Another thing that bothers me is the whole pacifist bullshit the priest pulls. "Stop killing, because it is bad", all the while looking like a hypocrite because he MAIMS and SLAUGHTERS his enemies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEw7LoDjuLA

[moozooh]

I'm starting on Serial Experiments Lain. Anyone else tried this one out?

SE Lain is a tough cookie to digest. Very slow-paced and brooding, very surreal (there will be certain scenes, especially in the first few episodes, at which you won't be able to understand what's going on), and the animation is deliberately bland with lots of static scenes, minimum coloring, and no vividness whatsoever. The main plot is not revealed until about halfway into the series. However, there are many fine details scattered around, so you must do your best to pay attention to everything that happens and keep yourself in context. Once I realized I had failed to do that, I decided to stop watching it (I was at the 6th or 7th episode at the time) and restart at a later time. I kinda forgot about it since then, but I should really do it because things have gotten pretty interesting where I left off.