Recommended Anime/Manga?

[KAI]

Finished reading all 37 volumes of Gantz this weekend. Liked every part except the last arc, which I think it's kind of stupid and kills the entire mood of the series.

Now I'm gonna start reading Berserk.

[BryanM]

Berserk particularly becomes flanderized over time. Gantz has nothing on it when it comes to getting away from the point.

It becomes a plucky shonen.

[drauch]

Wasn't familiar with the definition of flanderization. Good god, yeah, just stop reading Berserk after the 2nd arc. Hell, you should really just end after the first one, just like the original anime series. I've read about a 1/4 of Gantz and have enjoyed it. He definitely draws asshole punk kids better than anyone I've ever seen. The moral ambiguity at times of the protagonist is actually quite good, and while I love them more than anything, I kinda wish every chick ever didn't have J-cup boobies.

[M.Knight]

I saw a few recommendations for REDLINE in this thread so I decided to watch it, and you were right : it's awesome!
It is fast-paced with cool music and has a ton of personnality thanks to its distinctive art-style that clashes with the majority of modern Japanese animation. The feeling of speed during the races is fantastic and I personally have a soft spot for the spasmodic movements of the cars before activating a nitro.
The plot is not the most fascinating ever but it does a great job of providing crazy events and relentless action. There's also very little, if any, filler, so the movie's not oustaying its welcome.
I don't mind watching it again, it is so exciting.

In a completely different genre, I just finished watching Serial Experiments : Lain and I am left a bit confused, with a few questions not being answered. I appreciated the strangeness of the plot as well as the way it conveys a lot of ideas about our current Internet-based society. The "post-modern" storytelling makes your brain try to put the pieces together on its own, which isn't bad at all. But, uh, yeah, I don't really know what to say about it given its very vague and open-ended nature. I think I enjoyed it. Oh, and I know where cj_iwakura's pseudonym comes from, now.

[hecheff]

Wasn't familiar with the definition of flanderization. Good god, yeah, just stop reading Berserk after the 2nd arc.

Not really a wonder why the Berserk Films only focused on the Golden Age Arc, now that you mention it.

Loved the movies personally, despite what a lot of people seem to think about it.

[lilmanjs]

Finished off Last Exile last night and goodness sakes, I'm glad I guessed wrong about the ending. Great series through and through. Now I've got Bartender to watch. Has anyone here seen that?

[BryanM]

I have not seen that.

I have seen Time of Eve, which is the one where everyone sits around and drinks coffee and talks about robots and their feelings. Is that close enough?

[lilmanjs]

I have not seen that.

I have seen Time of Eve, which is the one where everyone sits around and drinks coffee and talks about robots and their feelings. Is that close enough?

Robots, coffee and feelings? What kind of show is this Time of Eve?

[BryanM]

A mini-series where humans and robots go to a cafe to drink coffee and talk about their feelings. I thought I was pretty thorough about that in my description.

It was kind of an internet darling. The good part of the internet. Not the bad part that's in love with Shiki. We pretend that part doesn't exist.

[Softdrink 117]

Finally started watching anime again. Finished Speed Grapher, after a break of several weeks.

Honestly not sure what to think of the show. I found the premise entertaining, and towards the end the story picked up and got to be legitimately interesting. But after the start it takes a while to build up any momentum. I did like the ending, and the "villain's" backstory actually feels like it was planned into the show instead of forced in at a late point as an excuse plot (villain backstories have trended towards being awful in many of the shows I've watched recently). The animation quality is a bit odd... there are noticeable inconsistencies, especially in faces, in some of the later episodes. Someone suggested that I try the dub, so I switched from sub to dub halfway through. I have to say that although the voicework is much less consistently decent in the English dub, the dialogue is so much less awkward that it really adds a lot to the characters.

Overall I enjoyed it a fair bit, but I don't think I can really recommend it without reservations. A shame, because I feel like the show had a lot of potential to be something really cool and unique.

[chempop]

Speed Grapher was appalling lol.
Try F.L.A.G. for a good one about a photographer.

[Softdrink 117]

Heh.

I could never be a proper critic. I always read too much into "what could have been" vs. "what actually was." Probably because I'm not willing to outright admit that it was not worth my time to watch something. Or maybe because I have too much personal experience with good concepts going horribly, horribly wrong.

I will openly admit that it was not in and of itself a good show. At all. But I enjoyed watching it. A good analogy would be 47 Ronin, which was an absolutely awful movie that I enjoyed watching anyways; it had a huge amount of potential to be something legitimately good (there was clearly a lot of care put into the costumes, set design, etc.), all of which was wasted.

But you have a good point, I should really be much more critical.

[KAI]

After watching these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfM3WjyCt8s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEn6-vLYvFQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sATCoI7Ozk4
I'm thinking about rewatching Eva Renewal.

God, Sakamichi no Apollon is AWESOME, wasn't expecting that.
GITS Arise 2 was way much better than the first episode. I hope the GITS love never stops, that series has infinite potential.

Manga recommendation: Black Museum Springald by Fujita Kazuhiro, just 1 volume, read it.

[Raytrace]

Try F.L.A.G. for a good one about a photographer.

Yeah that was very, very good I thought, though I wasn't massively into the art.

[gbaplayer]

Jojos Bizarre Adventure

anybody ever tried this series? it is totally awesome and one of the longest manga series ever.

[drauch]

I've read the first three arcs and have absolutely loved those. Quit after that for unknown reasons. His characters keep getting more and more flamboyant and silly for me, but I imagine I'll pick it up again at some point.

[nasty_wolverine]

Jojos Bizarre Adventure

anybody ever tried this series? it is totally awesome and one of the longest manga series ever.

i watched the OVA's first, then read through the entire thing, currently reading jojolion... its the best.

[Ixmucane2]

What kind of show is this Time of Eve?

Somewhat cyberpunk near future SF, with many highly human-like androids, treated as non-citizens.
The main characters are humans (mostly robosexual hipsters, of course) who socialize with androids at the titular non-discriminatory bar (where it's forbidden to ask people if they are humans or robots). The main theme is, of course, dignity of robots as persons. Little plot beyond the protagonist more or less falling in love with his robot maid.
Well drawn, and slow-paced enough to make it look even shorter.

[gbaplayer]

Jojos Bizarre Adventure

anybody ever tried this series? it is totally awesome and one of the longest manga series ever.

i watched the OVA's first, then read through the entire thing, currently reading jojolion... its the best.

is the current anime series uncut?
i have read somewhere on the internet that wounds are covered by a black shadow and that only the bluray releases are uncut.
iam curious what will happen to the stardust crusaders episodes...there is a lot of violence.

[BIL]

Jojos Bizarre Adventure

anybody ever tried this series? it is totally awesome and one of the longest manga series ever.

Was quite into JoJo's some years back. First manga series is good horror/martial arts, second is better with more of the same and a world-class arrogant prick protagonist, third is absolutely excellent (winning combo of wildly creative battles and a straightforward seek+destroy premise, with a killer archnemesis). The fourth felt too eccentric and rambling for me at the time, but I've grown to appreciate that more in hindsight, particularly as the fifth felt like a weaker retread of part 3 in some regards. Drifted away after that, still want to finish Stone Ocean at least sometime.

[nasty_wolverine]

is the current anime series uncut?
i have read somewhere on the internet that wounds are covered by a black shadow and that only the bluray releases are uncut.
iam curious what will happen to the stardust crusaders episodes...there is a lot of violence.

the new series only covers the first two volumes, they stopped after that. the ova covers the third. the ova's are a bit weird in that the second half(1993-94) was made before the first half(2000-02). I saw the uncensored ones somewhere online a longtime ago.
but yeah, part 4 and 5 are weak in comparison to the rest, but it does pick up with stone ocean and steel ball run.

[gbaplayer]

stardust crusaders will be on air from april 4th this year in japan.

[nasty_wolverine]

stardust crusaders will be on air from april 4th this year in japan.

what really? thats awesome news!!!

[gbaplayer]

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

[Raytrace]

watched Tiger & Bunny - The Beginning - unfortunately didn't enjoy it that much (and I loved the series), however I think it would be great for someone watching the series for the first time to replace episode 1 and 2 (and maybe 0/'Pilot') with it.

At episode 20 of Utena, it keeps on getting better and better IMO, and the art is so perfect:

[KAI]

The Akio saga is beautiful, Ikuhara is a genius. I hope he's doing something this year.

Kyokai no Kanata wasn't so bad after all
Rewatching Mushishi, hyped about the 2nd season coming this year.

[Frenetic]

I've been rereading Bambino! and it's one of the best cooking manga--no best manga out there. You can practically smell the food and feel the heat of the kitchen!

[Raytrace]

finished Vifam - glad I stuck with it, definitely one of the least mecha mecha animes I've ever seen.

They hardly even say the names of the mecha for most of it - it is really a journey story and by the end of it, especially the heart-wrenching last episode, you really feel
for the poor kids.

[KAI]

JOJOJOJOJOJOJOJOJOJOJOJOJOJOJO!!!
Reading Jojolion and Steel Ball Run right now. I love them. I'm gonna read all 109 volumes.

[Wyrmnus]

Ive been reading Gintama. Katzura is the funniest character Ive ever seen in a Manga.