Recommended Anime/Manga?

[manatworks]

Just finished watching Usagi Drop. A really great and mature show, I recommend watching it even if you don't like kids. It gives you a small glimpse of what's it like to be a father and to take care of someone young.

one of the cleanest slice of life stuffs i have watched in last 2 years.
the later part in manga is great as well even it seems that many readers don't like how it ends. For me , i'm ok with that ending, we all have different meaning for "happiness" after all.

[Skykid]

Okay, went through many of the recommendations yesterday, probably should have asked for some synopsis.

Read the first three chapters of Azumi. Interesting, but a little flat in the storytelling. You are a woman/you have breasts/indiscriminately kill your friends/indiscriminately kill this village/sure no problem!

Read the first two chapters of Tenjo Tenge, but really, this doesn't qualify as thought-provoking to me. Nice art, superb tits and ass, but not a lot else. Think I'll skip it.

Read the only chapter available of Beageruta, and why is Samura's art so god like? And why does he also have to be such a sick misogynist? I really like the fact he managed to abstain from graphic nudity entirely for the whole of BOTI, so I suppose he should be allowed to get his kicks now - and to his credit, I've never seen sadomasochistic misogynistic sex abuse so wonderfully rendered, both here and in Brute - although I hope it's not meant to carry the story in some way. But otherwise, it's as masterful as everything else he does, looking forward to coming back to it when there's more to read.

Freesia grabbed me from the moment I read the Wiki synopsis. This is the first thing I've read by Jiro, and it's dark, and I like it. This one is my winner, thanks KAI, looking forward to reading!

[KAI]

Glad you like it.
Please don't forget to check Historie too.

[Skykid]

Glad you like it.
Please don't forget to check Historie too.

I might just, in good time!

Freesia has got me gripped already. Great art style, unique and gritty, I really like its sketchy unrefined quality. It's almost surrealist. The premise itself is totally wild - it's everything I really dig about manga - and it's raw too. I'm beginning to think Jiro is possibly even more of a misogynist than Samura, but I'll be damned if there isn't something incredibly hot about his sexual themes. I mean, it's pure smut for the most part, but eye opening.

[Raytrace]

I shall definitely check out these Hellenistic manga - I love Greek and Byzantine history

[cj iwakura]

Fate Kaleid/Prisma is pure guilty pleasure. I love the send-ups of magical girl tropes, right down to the troublesome transformation.
(Protip: don't transform in the bath.)

[Raytrace]

has anybody read any Samurai Of The Meiji Restoration?

[BryanM]

Shakugan no Shana constantly shocks and amazes me. It feels like it should have all the lego bricks to assemble itself into something non-terrible, but the writers smugly refuse to do so for some mysterious reason. Morbidly fascinated by the two-parter "here's a flash back of a wiener kid you don't know or like fighting some battle over some made up bullshit that doesn't matter. He dies in the fight because we can't kill a real character. Isn't this great?!"

You know that old concept that a good character can be described without having to resort to what they look like or the things they do (shining a light on that thing called motivation)? It's a bit humiliating to be ~50 episodes in and able to only think up of about 4 things that the lead female does, let alone being able to identify a caricature of an actual person in there.

Denpa Teki na Kanojo only got two episodes, this got over 50. When They Cry got a dub only for the first season of the first series, this got localized in full. And of course, Michael Bay gets to keep on making movies. There is no god.

(Who, if you remember from reading Exodus, would be a giant grey-man eldritch medusa abomination that shoots death lasers out of its face. If he were real. Which we established he isn't. Excepting that he's a sadistic blood thirsty sociopath. Which is a feasibility. And would explain things.)

(More usefully, if you're looking for an average/mediocre mindless shonen to pass the time with, Blue Exorcist is of higher quality than Shana. More on level with the typical Magical Index thing. Maybe I'm too harsh on the things that have so many strictly-better-than's...)

[BIL]

All caught up. See you again in another couple years Guts + co!

[Frenetic]

Anyone else reading All You Need is Kill?

[Bananamatic]

watched first 9 episodes of Turn A Gundam

really interesting so far but very little mecha action

[Lord Satori]

It gets a bit better later on.

I just finished the Disgaea anime. It was awesome.

[BryanM]

Is Narutaru/Shadow Star the animoo really old/terrible or something? I'd literally not know that it exists if not for TV Tropes. Be it poison?

[KAI]

Nope, it's kinda good, but read the manga, the anime it's ultra censored.

[Raytrace]

just read the manga of Venus Wars -I liked it quite a lot, though it could be quite confusing military and political wise. Art was good, I thought it was quite 'western' actually it reminded me of 70s and early 80s British war comics, heavy brushes that fade to grey.

I'm now In the middle of rewatching the Venus Wars movie; utterly beautiful backgrounds, mecha and characters. The characters are so well done - they are usually quite realistic, but when needs be they have that elastic over the top movement with a real flow, reminiscent of Cobra TV and indeed |Crusher Joe, whose characters I think were done by the same guy.

I've seen people say the movie is boring and 'average' seriously I don't get it, I think it's a masterpiece, I don't know why it isn't a LOT more well known.



http://www.colonydrop.com/index.php/201 ... ars?blog=1

I've also started watching Giant Gorg - I'm really liking it, for some reason it kinda reminds me of Scooby Doo in a good way...

[DaneSaga]

just read the manga of Venus Wars -I liked it quite a lot, though it could be quite confusing military and political wise. Art was good, I thought it was quite 'western' actually it reminded me of 70s and early 80s British war comics, heavy brushes that fade to grey.

I'm now In the middle of rewatching the Venus Wars movie; utterly beautiful backgrounds, mecha and characters. The characters are so well done - they are usually quite realistic, but when needs be they have that elastic over the top movement with a real flow, reminiscent of Cobra TV and indeed |Crusher Joe, whose characters I think were done by the same guy.

I've seen people say the movie is boring and 'average' seriously I don't get it, I think it's a masterpiece, I don't know why it isn't a LOT more well known.

Venus Wars loses a little of its steam toward the end and I could certainly do without the brief live action scenes (I’m always reminded of Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards when I see this, a film I really hate), but aside from that I too really dig it. Absolutely superbly animated and full of chase sequences, unibikes, cute girls, masculinity and everything else that makes life worth living for a hetero male

[Raytrace]

Venus Wars loses a little of its steam toward the end and I could certainly do without the brief live action scenes (I’m always reminded of Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards when I see this, a film I really hate), but aside from that I too really dig it. Absolutely superbly animated and full of chase sequences, unibikes, cute girls, masculinity and everything else that makes life worth living for a hetero male

Yes admittedly it flops a little (!) towards the end, but when the imagery is so consistently beautiful I can forgive it. After just reading the manga I realise it is quite a bit different, the manga is far more a story of people 'in the war' i.e. actually serving etc. whereas in the movie it's only really like that towards the end.

And yes the chase sequences are incredible and in every motorised vehicle animation scene, the film always takes the 'hardest to draw' route (i.e. front on or back views etc.).

There's a really amazing scene where one of the Octopus tanks is rolling through the town and it approaches head on towards the camera, with a really detailed soldier atop it, in front of one beautiful cel/layer of that handpainted background style it has, and then behind that a layer of a giant building collapsing, which also has a really nice OTT depth of field effect on it. Just breathtaking.

[Raytrace]

It really is amazing how Sunrise Giant Gorg is, for a start one of the main characters is blatantly the same as Captain Zinnerman in Unicorn, then there is of course Char's voice in there, then there is a character who looks like Jamitov from Zeta and also another Titan who's name I cannot remember. There is also a guy who really looks like that prick from Zeta and ZZ who flies under Scirocco, wears his shirts open and looks like Sting - this git:



seriously though they do all REALLY look similar.

[drauch]

Venus Wars loses a little of its steam toward the end and I could certainly do without the brief live action scenes (I’m always reminded of Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards when I see this, a film I really hate), but aside from that I too really dig it. Absolutely superbly animated and full of chase sequences, unibikes, cute girls, masculinity and everything else that makes life worth living for a hetero male

I completely agree, all the way down to the Bakshi bit. Goddamn, I hate Wizards.

Regardless, I love Venus Wars, but the ending just sort of putters off into nothing, and before you know it it's over. Very anti-climactic, especially with how amazing the first 2/3 of the film are. Everything else though: perfect.

[DaneSaga]

Venus Wars loses a little of its steam toward the end and I could certainly do without the brief live action scenes (I’m always reminded of Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards when I see this, a film I really hate), but aside from that I too really dig it. Absolutely superbly animated and full of chase sequences, unibikes, cute girls, masculinity and everything else that makes life worth living for a hetero male

I completely agree, all the way down to the Bakshi bit. Goddamn, I hate Wizards.

Regardless, I love Venus Wars, but the ending just sort of putters off into nothing, and before you know it it's over. Very anti-climactic, especially with how amazing the first 2/3 of the film are. Everything else though: perfect.

Have you seen Fire & Ice drauch?
I’m not much a fan of Bakshi (his LotR adaptation in particular is god awful) or rotoscoping, but I found Fire & Ice to be quite tolerable and not too bad for what really just equates to an endless chase sequence.
Plus anything Frank Frazetta has some involvement in has at least something good going for it.

[drauch]

Yeah, I actually love Fire & Ice! Like you said, any Frazetta involvement is golden. I'm such a glutton for anything (serious) sword & sorcery, so I eat it up. Thank god Bakshi didn't mess it up with his wacky rotoscoping or incongruous trippy background against celwork. I absolutely despise his LotR adaptation as well for the aforementioned reasons. I'm kinda ambivalent to Bakshi's work. He gets too "funky" and tries to incorporate too many different visuals into his films, which usually just turn into a giant mess, as seen in Wizards.

[Raytrace]

finished Venus Wars rewatch, yeah the end does kinda just well drift off - still it does with proper style (ok what I mean is nice pictures and a great ED song :p).

The manga is WAY MORE depress end, I shall not spoil it if anyone is going to read. Also the bit with the gay guy and the AIDS joke, while I'm used to bad taste in anime, it was just really jarring with the whole rest of the story at that point, which was trying to be very hard hitting war story and then, that scene just really stuck out, like someone edited in some of Mad Bull 34's script by accident...

[KAI]

Just finished watching Kara no Kyokai: Mirai Fukuin. I'm not a huge fan of Type-Moon (Fate has the most overrated plot of the century IMO), but the Kara no Kyokai movie series it's brilliant, a must watch for both haters and lovers of modern animation.

[Frenetic]

I really love the soundtrack by Joe Hishashi, especially the ending song. So GOOD!

Venus Wars loses a little of its steam toward the end and I could certainly do without the brief live action scenes (I’m always reminded of Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards when I see this, a film I really hate), but aside from that I too really dig it. Absolutely superbly animated and full of chase sequences, unibikes, cute girls, masculinity and everything else that makes life worth living for a hetero male

Yes admittedly it flops a little (!) towards the end, but when the imagery is so consistently beautiful I can forgive it. After just reading the manga I realise it is quite a bit different, the manga is far more a story of people 'in the war' i.e. actually serving etc. whereas in the movie it's only really like that towards the end.

And yes the chase sequences are incredible and in every motorised vehicle animation scene, the film always takes the 'hardest to draw' route (i.e. front on or back views etc.).

There's a really amazing scene where one of the Octopus tanks is rolling through the town and it approaches head on towards the camera, with a really detailed soldier atop it, in front of one beautiful cel/layer of that handpainted background style it has, and then behind that a layer of a giant building collapsing, which also has a really nice OTT depth of field effect on it. Just breathtaking.

[Skykid]

KAI, finished Freesia tonight, was an awesome recommendation. Although I trust you on Historie, I'm not quite sure I'm quite ready for another period piece just yet. But since you seem to have a handle on my tastes, any other completed manga you'd suggest? Something thought provoking; violence, sex, violent sex, intrigue, dark themes and enlightening ideas all welcome.

[KAI]

If you liked Fressia that much, then read more from Matsumoto. Becchin & Mandara, Uncivilized Planted and City of Honests and Heretics are as good as Fressia.
You may also like Memories of Emanon and Wandering Emanon from Kenji Tsuruta.
As CIT suggested, Homunculus is good reading. I'm at Vol.3 right now and I'm liking it so far .

[Raytrace]

I'm finally on the final arc of Nadia - I have to say, usually in series there are bits or parts which people are say are crap or fillers, and overall usually my love for the universe in general of said series, can make me come out still having enjoyed these notorious sections for the most part, HOWEVER in the case of Nadia, I genuinely do think they are actually detrimental to the story as a whole, like badly detrimental. One of the Africa arc episodes was so obviously not drawn by any of the main staff it was embarassing, apart from the story of the episode itself being dreadful. I have tried and failed to find any fan edits based on Anno's 'Nautilus Story' edition, does anyone know if any were ever made?

And I'll tell you one thing, much as I didn't hate the Rebuilds, I really think he should spend time, say for example releasing said 'Nautilus Story' edition remastered/Blu-Ray etc. (then again it's probably not possible).

Anyway - I loved episode 36; so much blatant Matsumoto/Yamato/Harlock love in it too.

[Raytrace]

on second last episode Nadia- more and more amaze IMO, really really blowing me away, I've forgotten all filler episodes already.

[Raytrace]

finished Nadia - I have to say I would highly recommend it, but I would strongly urge anyone watching to avoid the notorious filler and Africa episodes, though they should probably read synopsis of them as there are about 2 or 3 important to the main story bits within them.

Spoiler

The ending of Nadia was incredible, I was completely not expecting it to go so Gunbuster/TTGL at the end.
I really am amazed at how well the collective internet has managed to keep it all so unspoilered.

btw so is the 'Excellion' name for the ship in Nadia supposed to imply that it takes place before Gunbuster ?

[Raytrace]

ok so I've know watched the main scifi-ish Gainax things: Nadia, Evangelion, TTGL and Wings Of Honneamise.
I've also watched Otaku No Video and the Daicon anims.

What other stuff should I watch? - I was considering watching His And Her Circumstances...

Is there any sci fi in any other Gainax stuff?