Recommended Anime/Manga?

[GaijinPunch]

If you haven't seen G Gundam, here's why you should:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_au7Jc4JbY

Looks like the "sold out" Gundam, which started w/ Wing and never looked back, AFAIK (although admittedly I gave up on anime about this time).

I bought appleseed Exmachina yesterday. I have no idea what to expect lol.

Looks like TAT CG. Still going to give it a shot one day.

[LtC]

Legend of Galactic Heroes
Not very much mecha action but holy shit it's fleets of tens and hundreds of thousands of spaceships fighting each other with great plot and characters. It's a very long OVA series and has great movies as well.

I'll be checking this out - I love anime and manga with large-scale space battles of the sort Taito and more recently Siter Skain are clearly so fond of.

Yeah this is pretty much my own all time favorite. I suggest by starting the series with the movie 'My Conquest is the Sea of Stars' and 'Overture to a New War' before moving to the main OVA series. The second movie overlaps with the first two OVAs a little but starts a bit earlier than the main series.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Some one can recommend me a cool Mech anime. I want action and explotions.

Eureka Seven.

I love anime and manga with large-scale space battles of the sort Taito and more recently Siter Skain are clearly so fond of.

Seikai no... metaseries (Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars and whatnot) is the most badass space opera out there. The battles are fucking enormous, the characters and depicted world - properly fleshed out, the design of spacecrafts - gorgeous.

[Ghegs]

Seikai no... metaseries (Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars and whatnot) is the most badass space opera out there. The battles are fucking enormous, the characters and depicted world - properly fleshed out, the design of spacecrafts - gorgeous.

I'd say Legend of Galactic Heroes is far superior over * of the Stars in every regard. I've watched through LOGH twice and will do so again in the future. Watching Seikai just once almost put me to sleep.

If you want to go chronologically, you also want to watch the two Side Stories OVAs before the main series. I'd still recommend just starting with the main series, it's the best of the bunch. Watching the prequel movies and OVAs afterwards doesn't spoil anything, if anything it's fun to see certain characters before certain events happen in the main series.

[greg]

If you haven't seen G Gundam, here's why you should:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_au7Jc4JbY

Ugh, not G(ay) Gundam! If you want real badass Gundam action, you can't go wrong with 0083: Stardust Memories or the 08th MS Team. Very gritty and realistic.

Seikai no... metaseries (Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars and whatnot) is the most badass space opera out there. The battles are fucking enormous, the characters and depicted world - properly fleshed out, the design of spacecrafts - gorgeous.

I really like your tastes for stuff 'n things. My favorite series was Banner of the Stars I. One of the best episodes was when they were holding their ground to blockade that one planet and guard the sord (space gate). Then the League of Free Humans or whatever they're called launch countless numbers of mines through the gate, and Lafiel's ship and the other smaller support ships have to shoot them all down and try to protect the capital ships. This takes up the entire episode, and the true battle hadn't even begun with ship-to-ship engagement at that point. The series really gives a depiction of the sick beauty and absolute horror of space warfare. It's also an interesting perspective because it's about a human boy and others who side with the "alien invaders" to put an end to the humans' war efforts.

Banner of the Stars II was interesting, but it revolved around that one conquered planet of prisoners and that's all it was. Did you know that there's a Banner of the Stars III? It was only a one-hour episode, taking place after the war with the humans and is an epilogue to the series. Plus it points more towards the love between Jinto and Lafiel.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes has some beautiful space battles as well. I remember that one scene where the countless rows of ships were mere silhouettes against the bright blue planet, and the fleets were battling each other through the ring of planetoids surrounding the planet. What adds to the suspense is that not one single main character in the series is spared from the possibility of death. It's all fair game.

[Domino]

Seikai no... metaseries (Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars and whatnot) is the most badass space opera out there. The battles are fucking enormous, the characters and depicted world - properly fleshed out, the design of spacecrafts - gorgeous.

I'd say Legend of Galactic Heroes is far superior over * of the Stars in every regard. I've watched through LOGH twice and will do so again in the future. Watching Seikai just once almost put me to sleep.

Oh yes! Seikai is so boring! LOGH all the way! Only problem is that LOGH story was so good no other anime will have the same epicness or character background as LOGH IMO.




And about G Gundam:




BEST GUNDAM EVER, SO SCREW YOU HATERS.

[greg]

Seikai no... metaseries (Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars and whatnot) is the most badass space opera out there. The battles are fucking enormous, the characters and depicted world - properly fleshed out, the design of spacecrafts - gorgeous.

I'd say Legend of Galactic Heroes is far superior over * of the Stars in every regard. I've watched through LOGH twice and will do so again in the future. Watching Seikai just once almost put me to sleep.

Oh yes! Seikai is so boring! LOGH all the way! Only problem is that LOGH story was so good no other anime will have the same epicness or character background as LOGH IMO.

Well, Seikai and LOGH are on two different scales. I love both shows, but for different reasons. LOGH is about the war between the Alliance and the Empire, and is is more of a record of history, similar to war movies like Tora Tora Tora. On the other hand, Seikai is about Jinto's decision to commit his life to an alien princess and to be with her forever. They just happen to be caught up in a war when they meet each other, thus it is the backdrop to their story. The war with the humans is, for the most part, mostly shown from the perspective of Lafiel and Jinto. Yang and Reinhard are in command of their respective fleets in LOGH, while Jinto and Lafiel just serve their part in the war on a small gunship. The compelling part of Seikai is that it's not a cliche'd story about humans fighting alien invaders, but about aliens uniting humans and keeping them in line by mantaining a monopoly on space travel. That and the unique culture and language of the Abh---a l ot of thought was put into the Seikai series. What's also interesting is that though Lafiel is a princess, her crown is not guaranteed, as the nobility must all enlist in the army and it's a race to the crown from there.

[ryu]

I don't know shit about gundam (have only tried getting into gundam seed - it was bad), but have enjoyed gundam unicorn a lot so far. it's going to take about another 1 1/2 years until all of its ova's will have been released though.

[greg]

I don't know shit about gundam (have only tried getting into gundam seed - it was bad), but have enjoyed gundam unicorn a lot so far. it's going to take about another 1 1/2 years until all of its ova's will have been released though.

I havne't seen Unicorn myself yet, but I'm pretty sure it is good. All UC Timeline Gundam is great (the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, The 08th MS Team, 0080, 0083, Zeta Gundam, ZZ Gundam, Char's Counterattack, Gundam F91, and Victory Gundam). Unicorn occurs some time after V Gundam, if I'm not mistaken. Unless you have some aversion to 70's quality animation, I highly recommend picking up the original Gundam trilogy of movies (these were movies made from animation collected from the TV show, removed some dorky stuff, and polished up some animation). The 08th MS Team is a series that came out in the '90s that takes place elsewhere during the One Year War (0079). Then it's 0080: War in the Pocket, 0083: Stardust Memories, Zeta Gundam (in 0087) and ZZ Gundam takes up right after Z ends. F91 and V happen much later. Unfortunately, ZZ and V haven't been released on domestic DVDs. ZZ is a great series, although the first 16 episodes or so are comical, dumb and silly (along the lines of the idiotic G Gundam). But once you get past those first several episodes, the show really picks up pace and becomes solid.

[GaijinPunch]

Oh yes! Seikai is so boring! LOGH all the way! Only problem is that LOGH story was so good no other anime will have the same epicness or character background as LOGH IMO.

104 episodes, right? I think I watched the first 26, which were the only ones subtitled at the time. This was the 90's, when you had to actually trade VHS tapes, not leech a torrent. From what I remember though, it was very good (sans the German names).

[BIL]

Just finished LOGH / "My Conquest is the Sea of Stars." Absolutely excellent... will definitely be sticking with this series.

[Moleculoman]

As old as this topic is, some of my recommendations may already be listed. I don't read much manga. There are some series like Bastard where they only animate a small portion and you're forced to continue by reading it. In no particular order..

Anime:

1.Vision of Escaflowne
2.Neon Genesis Evangelion - mentioned to death
3.Hokuto no Ken aka Fist of the North Star
4. Revolutionary Girl Utena
5. Read or Die - both OVA and tv series
6. Bastard
7. Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex
8. Wolf's Rain
9. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan
10. Eureka 7
11. Vandread
12. Gungrave
13. Trigun
14. Soul Eater
15. Death Note
16. Ranma 1/2
17.Berserk
18. Beck
19. Haibane Renmei
20. Rurouni Kenshin

Manga:

Bastard
Berserk
Ranma 1/2
Bleach
Gantz

[Domino]

104 episodes, right? I think I watched the first 26, which were the only ones subtitled at the time. This was the 90's, when you had to actually trade VHS tapes, not leech a torrent. From what I remember though, it was very good (sans the German names).

110 episodes. This is the anime that I would personally recommend to people who don't even watch anime.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Even not knowing the manga, I enjoyed the animated Bastard!! a lot. Best served with beer.

The compelling part of Seikai is that it's not a cliche'd story about humans fighting alien invaders, but about aliens uniting humans and keeping them in line by mantaining a monopoly on space travel. That and the unique culture and language of the Abh---a l ot of thought was put into the Seikai series.

There's something quite nasty about how the starting point resembles the situation before World War I, as all major powers take the necessity of total conflict for granted. Abh are too powerful for the "original" humanity to not be afraid of them, and the humanity is too, well, human for Abh to just sit on their hands and wait for the attack. The incident triggering the war is also fairly marginal (a tragedy of individuals rather than, say, Vader blowing up Alderaan, or terrorists blowing up a space colony). The story's told in a non-melodramatic manner, which is refreshing after like 90% anime shows out there.

[ryu]

gundam

are 0079, 0080, 0083 and 0087 supposed to be single episodes from the original animation?

i've been interested in the origins of gundam for a while and will definitely check the stuff out someday.

[StarCreator]

I love the Seikai series to death, though it has definite pacing issues - partly due to how the anime producers converted it from the source novels. The Monshou (Crest) anime actually covers three complete novels (thus the ridiculously fast pacing of the series), while Senki (Banner) I and II cover a single novel each (and being much, much slower as a result). I still think the anime is great, though the novels are definitely worth looking into - I believe some of them were translated and released in the US a few years back.

[greg]

are 0079, 0080, 0083 and 0087 supposed to be single episodes from the original animation?

Those are the years of the Universal Century.The first Gundam series covers the last half of the One Year War, in 0079. This involves the famous conflict between Amuro from the Federation and Char from Zeon. Char's true purpose in fighting is to depose the Zabi family which murdered his parents to gain power. The MS 08th Team anime occurs in the same year, revolving around a team of mass-produced ground-based Gundams in a campaign against Zeon forces in the jungles of South America. 0080 happens right at the end of 0079, involving a Zeon terrorist plot on a supposedly neutral colony, and a little boy who gets caught up in it. It's very dramatic as it shows a young kid going from playing war with his friends to being caught up in a real battle and how it traumatizes him. 0083 involves a Zeon remnant faction hijacking of a Gundam prototype that can launch nuclear warheads, and reviving the conflict between the Federation and Zeon. The end of the show results in the formation of the Titans, a faction of the Federation Army created as an anti-Zeon unit to keep the colonies in line. Later, Z Gundam covers the events of 0087, revealing a new faction called the Anti Earth Unification Group (AEUG), comprised of both former Federation and Zeon soldiers working together, to expose the atrocities committed by the Titans. The star is a boy named Kamille who joins Char who has adopted a new identity called Quattro. Amuro even reluctantly teams up with Char as they fight together. Towards the end it also introduces the surviving Zeon empire that has returned with the sole surviving heir to the Zabi throne. ZZ Gundam picks up right after tragic ending of Z, and involves a fight of what's left of the tattered AEUG against Zeon. Then later, Amuro and Char are once again fighting in Char's Counterattack when Char has resurrected a new "Neo Zeon," and his attempts at punishing the Earth government for what their crimes.

The UC Gundam Timeline, in my opinion, is the only series of Gundam worth watching. I have heard that Gundam X may be decent, so I'll give that a try sometime. But Gundam Seed and Seed Destiny are basically lame rehashes of the original Gundam series and Zeta Gundam, respectively. Dumb. The UC Gundam universe is very vast, and you really get a feel for that while watching Z Gundam.

So, the original Gundam series was compiled into three movies and those are the way to go. Much of the original Gundam show was still caught in the "'70s anime" style and each episode was just a "monster of the week" kind of thing. They cleaned up the show, cut out the dumb parts, and the movies present a rather polished storyline. Plus, the animation quality really gets awesome by the third movie. Recently they compiled all of Zeta Gundam into a three movie compilation, removing the tragic fate of Kamille by changing it to a happier ending, thereby negating ZZ Gundam. I wouldn't bother with those movies, assuming that they've been released domestically by now.

There's something quite nasty about how the starting point resembles the situation before World War I, as all major powers take the necessity of total conflict for granted. Abh are too powerful for the "original" humanity to not be afraid of them, and the humanity is too, well, human for Abh to just sit on their hands and wait for the attack. The incident triggering the war is also fairly marginal (a tragedy of individuals rather than, say, Vader blowing up Alderaan, or terrorists blowing up a space colony). The story's told in a non-melodramatic manner, which is refreshing after like 90% anime shows out there.

Well, the humans attacking the Abh ship was an act of war, and the rest of the show is about the two kids' struggle to make it back to the Abh with the ship's log that proves that it was the humans who acted first in the war. The humans were already going to spin the event as the Abh acting out of aggression and the humans having to destroy the Abh ship out of self-defense---assuming there were no other surviving witnesses. The kids' escape with the ship's log served to put a hole in their propaganda plans.

Tokyo Pop released the novels translated for Crest of the Stars. Unfortunately, they never proceeded to translate the Banner of the Stars novels. Somebody earlier in this thread said that anime based directly off of books instead of just manga does very well, and that is the case here. Both Seikai and LOGH were SF novel series before they were made into an anime.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I was under the impression that initially Abh's conquest of human planets was all about threatening the authorities with military overkill (as a nomadic civilisation, they have mastered moving huge armadas around like no other military power in known universe) rather than straightforward aggression. This surely could work only so much times in a row. What reminds me of World War I is the utter lack of political will to avoid a full scale conflict on both sides. Quite unlike the mood of the nations these days, when we still remember how the last war to end all wars turned out.

[Ghegs]

Both Seikai and LOGH were SF novel series before they were made into an anime.

I've been wanting to read the original LOGH novels since I discovered the anime. Sadly, mid-eighties japanese sci-fi novels aren't likely to get picked up for translation and publishing...

[Randorama]

I'd like to update to some suggestions.

Gin Tama: Very quirky series that mixes the Bakumatsu with sci-fi with deeply non-sensical humour. I would say that the best aspect of the series are the characters, most of them are well fleshed out. I am very partial to Sadaharu, too. I didn't believe it was a Jump series at the beginning.

Arakawa under the Bridge: adorable series about a bunch of Denpasan. There should be more anime based on Seinen manga.

Honey & Clover: beautiful series on a group of arts uni students. Anyone who was a broke uni student should shed a tear while watching these episodes.

Uchu no stellvia: hard sci-fi meets coming of age of a young girl.

Twin Spica: beautiful story on a group of students trying to become space cadets.

Kobato: a young girls needs to fullfill people desires for her own desire to come true. Clamp on song.

Classic stuff I'd like to recommend again:

The wings of Honnemaise: as much as I think that Akira and Evangelion are works of genius and classics of sci-fi (etc. etc. etc...), I think that this movie is simply better. Better characters, better plot, better atmosphere, brilliant parody of so many aspects of Japan's culture (or any other western country), Sakamoto's "out to space" while the main character flies in orbit. Note: the "first flight" scene inspired Metal Black's final battle background/stile.

... and now for some serious mainstream comments.

Naruto: shippunden is ok. Plot is decently complex, and characters are bearable, except Sasuke of course. Sadly Tokisada Mutō will not work anymore as Jiraiya.

Bleach: it was good until they decided to copy Saint Seiyia, i.e. the first 20 episodes or so. But one has to compromise because of family reasons. I admit that I like Kenpachi, but only because his seiyu is Fumihiko Tachiki.

One Piece: very enjoyable in its semplicity. When it is a story about a bunch of mates exploring the vast sea, it can be lyric. "We are!" has to be the best opening song in a while.


I still demand a sports anime on Rugby, anyway.

[Randorama]

If you already have a set of figurines and posters for Shinji, Asuka, and Rei, how to make you consume more? Correct, introduce another character.

Speaking of Mari Illustrious Makinami, are the first two parts of Rebuild of Evangelion any good? Need something to pass the time, and current anime seasons aren't doing it for me at the moment. ;p

Not really. the first movie cuts parts of the first six episodes that make the plot unclear for newbies. The second movie mixes parts of the old plot and new parts in a rather confusing way. It feels a lot like Anno had some new visual ideas that he wanted to put on screen, but not much else.

Makinami makes me want to kill people, it would have been a much more legitimate intellectual effort to just cut and paste some tokyo topless starlet scenes, if they wanted to do some fanservice. I think that both are nevertheless good for an evening, though.

[greg]

I've been wanting to read the original LOGH novels since I discovered the anime. Sadly, mid-eighties japanese sci-fi novels aren't likely to get picked up for translation and publishing...

There are fan translations of the Seikai books, so it's possible that there are similar translations of the LOGH books. We did get the Dirty Pair novels released in English at least, as well as some others like Yukikaze. It's somewhat possible that the LOGH books could be released here, but without the anime being commercially available in English, then it won't happen.

I read that there was a LOGH panel at the Anime Expo close to ten years ago (back when it was worth going to) and they had a test dub of the first episode or so that was shown. I can care less about dubs and it'll be cheaper just to release it subbed. The problem is that most cattle are satisfied watching insipid shows like Naruto or One Piece and they think that Gundam Seed is superior to the original Gundam because "the animation is better." LOGH is fairly dated and doesn't have computer-assisted graphics and all that. It's a niche title as it is in Japan now that anime's become a clusterf*** for the moronic Japanese otaku (there aren't even any panty shots or an obligatory trip to the onsen!), so trying to sell it to the cattle in North America or the UK is an uphill battle. More recently, there was an official petition by the company (Tokuma Shoten?) to find out if there was much of a demand for LOGH from English viewers. The problem is that they were insisting on selling them all as one huge box set and selling it at a typical outrageous Japanese price for a DVD. The demand was there, but people weren't willing to to pay thousands of dollars for a stack of DVDs.

[StarCreator]

Twin Spica: beautiful story on a group of students trying to become space cadets.

Wow, I'm glad I'm not the only one that remembers this series. Are you collecting the manga?

[Obiwanshinobi]

Gin Tama: Very quirky series that mixes the Bakumatsu with sci-fi with deeply non-sensical humour. I would say that the best aspect of the series are the characters, most of them are well fleshed out. I am very partial to Sadaharu, too. I didn't believe it was a Jump series at the beginning.

You didn't? It's got a very strong shounen manga vibe to it. Who else than Jump readers would be the core target demographic? I mean, really.

The wings of Honnemaise: as much as I think that Akira and Evangelion are works of genius and classics of sci-fi (etc. etc. etc...), I think that this movie is simply better. Better characters, better plot, better atmosphere, brilliant parody of so many aspects of Japan's culture (or any other western country), Sakamoto's "out to space" while the main character flies in orbit. Note: the "first flight" scene inspired Metal Black's final battle background/stile.

It's über-epic and worth watching, but two things bothered me about it. The protagonist was dumb as fuck in a way I can barely stomach (Gundam way). I know in some people's book such stupidity of a character stands for compelling character development, but I don't swing that way. Moreover, although I respect the attempt to pull the fashion and appliances design out of thin air, without reference to any style known to me, it didn't quite worked here. It's neither as pretty as Wolf's Rain, RahXephon or Last Exile (catalogues of fine design if you ask me), nor as intentionally ugly as The Big O (Art Deco, that sort of stuff). The visual flavour of The Wings... just doesn't appeal to me. Come on, Japan, aren't you supposed to be "the country of design"?

[Icarus]

A wild Randorama appears! -> Use Pokeball (-o-)

Speaking of Mari Illustrious Makinami, are the first two parts of Rebuild of Evangelion any good? Need something to pass the time, and current anime seasons aren't doing it for me at the moment. ;p

Not really. the first movie cuts parts of the first six episodes that make the plot unclear for newbies. The second movie mixes parts of the old plot and new parts in a rather confusing way. It feels a lot like Anno had some new visual ideas that he wanted to put on screen, but not much else.

Makinami makes me want to kill people, it would have been a much more legitimate intellectual effort to just cut and paste some tokyo topless starlet scenes, if they wanted to do some fanservice. I think that both are nevertheless good for an evening, though.

I just got done watching both 1.11 and 2.22, and I agree, the shorter format makes the story feel even more disjointed than usual. There's a lot not really well explained for newcomers, and the introduction of Makinami didn't really do much except jumble the events. Even her whereabouts between intro and the hijacking of Unit 02 wasn't touched upon - she just kind of vanished from the radar until the end. If she gets more screen time and character development in part3 though, that should be okay.
Love the animation though. At least the films do the original art and design some justice.

Honey & Clover: beautiful series on a group of arts uni students. Anyone who was a broke uni student should shed a tear while watching these episodes.
Uchu no stellvia: hard sci-fi meets coming of age of a young girl.
Twin Spica: beautiful story on a group of students trying to become space cadets.

Excellent taste you have. These are brilliant, and I should revisit them sometime soon.

[ryu]

does anyone know a good place to buy new manga in their japanese original releases?

ordering at local bookstores doesn't seem to work. a friend recently made a call to one and they told him they lacked connections to those publishers and couldn't really help.

[greg]

It's über-epic and worth watching, but two things bothered me about it. The protagonist was dumb as fuck in a way I can barely stomach (Gundam way).

Well, not to defend Gundam protagonists too much, but they are more immature than dumb. 0083 was annoying in that the protagonist Kou was an enlisted soldier as opposed to a conscripted teenager like Amuro or Kamille, yet he still acted like a spoiled brat. At least Amuro was mature in Zeta and Char's Counterattack.

As for Honneamise, that is one incredibly beautiful movie. Too bad it was a flop in the Japanese theaters. The soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto is fantastic and worth a buy. My wife bought the soundtrack to Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence because she was impressed with his music too. I still haven't seen that movie yet...

As for Stellvia, I have the entire series on DVD, but I still haven't watched it yet. I read the two volumes of the manga though, which was like the first few episodes of the show.

does anyone know a good place to buy new manga in their japanese original releases?

ordering at local bookstores doesn't seem to work. a friend recently made a call to one and they told him they lacked connections to those publishers and couldn't really help.

Have you tried Amazon? Or at least you can order them from Amazon.co.jp. I buy J-manga there and have it shipped to my mom-in-law's place in Japan, but they will ship internationally too. The give you the price in your currency too once you check out and confirm the order. Or depending on what you are looking for, you can try ordering stuff from kinokuniya.com.

[ryu]

seems like i should consider getting a credit card. i doubt there's any real alternative to amazon.co.jp?

[greg]

seems like i should consider getting a credit card. i doubt there's any real alternative to amazon.co.jp?

Other than a road trip to Los Angeles, San Jose, Portland, New York, or other places where you can find a Mitsuwa or Kinokuniya bookstore? Maybe not. If you have a visa debit card at least, you can order with that.

Ah, you're in Germany. Yeah, I don't know about Germany. Unless there is some large Japanese population hub in a big city that would warrant a Japanese bookstore that you can drive and visit (it's a relatively small country anyway), then Amazon.co.jp is your best bet.

[ryu]

>>Unless there is some large Japanese population hub in a big city that would warrant a Japanese bookstore that you can drive and visit

actually .. coincidentally there's such a city close to where i live, thanks for the hint.

at second sight, amazon.co.jp doesn't really have everything either anyways.