Recommended Anime/Manga?

[PuToTyra]

symphogear is great
though GX was apparently the worst, didn't feel bad to me, just the music was less memorable
G was the best by far

I like playing Symphogear songs in Beat Hazard!

[KAI]

Lesbonium 2 was beautiful as expected.
Drifters was cool as fuck.
Sangatsu no Lion's adaptation was surprisingly good (thank god Shaft decided not to include all their usual shit on it)

Great animu season so far, can't wait to watch Fune wo Amu and Patlabor Reboot.

[GaijinPunch]

urgh all these sissy demasculated children's cartoons



argh disgusting so beta so moe

The 80's had masculine without violence.

[M.Knight]

The original MS Gundam TV series. So far... one episode in. It's a manageable 43... and while I hear it gets boring, the target audience means I don't have to go hunt down subtitle files.

I watched the movie compilations so I can't say if the TV episodes of Gundam 0079 have tons of boring filler, but the movies were pretty fine in any case, with events moving at a decent pace.
The actual really boring old-school Gundam anime is Zeta's latter half. (after around episode 30)

[Durandal]

The original MS Gundam TV series. So far... one episode in. It's a manageable 43... and while I hear it gets boring, the target audience means I don't have to go hunt down subtitle files.

I watched the movie compilations so I can't say if the TV episodes of Gundam 0079 have tons of boring filler, but the movies were pretty fine in any case, with events moving at a decent pace.
The actual really boring old-school Gundam anime is Zeta's latter half. (after around episode 30)

0079 does have some filler episodes (salt episode, MS martial arts) and briefly devolves into a MS-of-the-week anime later on, but that phase isn't nearly as long compared to Zeta's latter half
I'd say a lot of problems in terms of pacing and character development in many Gundam series can be attributed to the forced 50-episode format (while at the same time the movies tend to cut out a lot of the more interesting arcs).

[Xyga]

Oh ? Took them long-enough but it seems like DB Super finally managed a decent episode, 61 was more than just okay (which means a lot for that crap!)

It's kind of the new bad guy that saves that disaster of a franchise revival, his story arc takes about 14 episodes to warm up, until that ep61.
Not saying it's worth wasting your time watching all, iirc only about two or three of those have dialogue and events actually meaningful to the plot, but I've already forgot which ones exactly. :p

[Skykid]

urgh all these sissy demasculated children's cartoons



argh disgusting so beta so moe

The 80's had masculine without violence.

True dat.

Apart from the single slide animation of the guy leaving the smoke, BryanM's gif does look interesting. What's the anime?

[Durandal]

urgh all these sissy demasculated children's cartoons



argh disgusting so beta so moe

The 80's had masculine without violence.

True dat.

Apart from the single slide animation of the guy leaving the smoke, BryanM's gif does look interesting. What's the anime?

Drifters: historical Japanese figures are teleported into an alternate dimension where ??? happens
Featuring wide grins and VIOLENCE by the same guy who did the Hellsing manga

[M.Knight]

0079 does have some filler episodes (salt episode, MS martial arts) and briefly devolves into a MS-of-the-week anime later on, but that phase isn't nearly as long compared to Zeta's latter half
I'd say a lot of problems in terms of pacing and character development in many Gundam series can be attributed to the forced 50-episode format (while at the same time the movies tend to cut out a lot of the more interesting arcs).

Agreed on the effects of the 50-episode format. It is no surprise to me that my favorite Gundam series (Thunderbolt, War in the Pocket, 08th MS team) out of those I have watched are much shorter and do not have such constraints.
I think another issue is that each episode has to feature mobile suits and battles to sell toys and model kits to kids (or grown-ups such as me... ) so plots and events are often slowed down by those ultimately forgettable battles. Remove them and you suddenly have like, half of your airing time available again.

[GaijinPunch]

I watched Zeta years ago... over 20 years ago to be precise. No subtitles, and no real Japanese knowledge. As this is something I can watch an episode here and there, I might give that one another go. The purpose is to kinda keep the J-blood cells going... the 80's grit is just a bonus.

[BryanM]

Oh ? Took them long-enough but it seems like DB Super finally managed a decent episode, 61 was more than just okay (which means a lot for that crap!)

It's kind of the new bad guy that saves that disaster of a franchise revival, his story arc takes about 14 episodes to warm up, until that ep61.
Not saying it's worth wasting your time watching all, iirc only about two or three of those have dialogue and events actually meaningful to the plot, but I've already forgot which ones exactly. :p

I've honestly gotten to the point where even a 12 episode series is exhausting.

Anime would be better if every series was just half an episode long.

[Leandro]

Oh ? Took them long-enough but it seems like DB Super finally managed a decent episode, 61 was more than just okay (which means a lot for that crap!)

It's kind of the new bad guy that saves that disaster of a franchise revival, his story arc takes about 14 episodes to warm up, until that ep61.
Not saying it's worth wasting your time watching all, iirc only about two or three of those have dialogue and events actually meaningful to the plot, but I've already forgot which ones exactly. :p

Luckily I've started watching DB Super right when they were airing the first episode of this new Future Trunks arc... I'm enjoying it a lot, feeling like a kid again, waiting for every Sunday morning subtitled episode

[Lord Satori]

I'm thinking of picking it up, too. Is it worth watching the anime version of what's basically the two movies stretched out, or should I skip ahead as well?

[Xyga]

^ Don't bother it's shite. And even though this completely new and fresh story arc is better, it's still DB you know, slow. It'd be great if someone could write a list of only the essential episodes to watch. I think there's about 70~80% of disposable material.

[Lord Satori]

If you want slow, fuckin watch One Piece, Naruto, Detective Conan, or any of the other anime that should've ended a long time ago. (though Naruto only has two episodes left, to be fair) Or even Bleach, which I enjoyed, but always hated it when they shove a massive filler arc in the middle of the story.

Barring the Great Saiyaman mini-arc, I've always been able to tolerate most of DBs low points.

[BryanM]

lol, it's like how Prison School hasn't had a sequence advancement in about three years now. Children have been conceived, grown up, and graduated college in those five minutes Frieza spent destroying Namek.

Something like Madoka gives you these pretty and very varied battle sequences, each one like a piece of art; the kids struggle and reach resolutions or failures of their goals (mostly failures, as those are more interesting), the world goes apeshit mental - all accomplished in 12 episodes.

Contrast: Has or has not that fucker Luffy become king of the pirates yet?

[ZacharyB]

Serialized anime just cannot be compared to OVAs and short series. One's a business, the other's... still a business, but it has more measure and passion behind it.

[FinalBaton]

Serialized anime just cannot be compared to OVAs and short series. One's a business, the other's... still a business, but it has more measure and passion behind it.

I agree, that's why I love the OVA format. No need to artificially lenghten the story with filler, like it's the case with TV series. Just release one or a couple of dense episodes, whatever's needed to cover a good, well paced eventful story.

[Leandro]

I'm thinking of picking it up, too. Is it worth watching the anime version of what's basically the two movies stretched out, or should I skip ahead as well?

I think you should skip ahead. I've seen the two recent movies back when they came out (Battle of Gods and Freeza Ressurrection), and still remember Future Trunks' backstory from the Android saga... Started DB Super at ep 47 and it didn't feel like I was missing anything. This arc is worth the watch, don't listen to the haters

[Lord Satori]

lol, it's like how Prison School hasn't had a sequence advancement in about three years now. Children have been conceived, grown up, and graduated college in those five minutes Frieza spent destroying Namek.

Something like Madoka gives you these pretty and very varied battle sequences, each one like a piece of art; the kids struggle and reach resolutions or failures of their goals (mostly failures, as those are more interesting), the world goes apeshit mental - all accomplished in 12 episodes.

Contrast: Has or has not that fucker Luffy become king of the pirates yet?

To be fair, an actual five minute fight would've been boring as shit. It was cool to see the planet gradually crumble as they desperately fight. Their only error was in not taking creative liberties and having him saying 20 minutes or something like that. I'm assuming that bit was in the manga, or something.

As far as One Piece goes, no I'm pretty sure he hasn't. I don't think either that or Detective Conan will attempt to end their series until after they break 1000.

[BryanM]

The fight took ~9 weeks in the manga, and since the animoo was done in sync with the comic, it took that long in the animoo too (over two months). The entire sequence without padding could be animated in fifteen minutes or less.

Dragon Ball Kai trims it down to five episodes (only over a month!). I still feel like they coulda got it down to two or three.

In retrospect this is still much better than the 15 seconds it took to read a Bleach chapter and the year+ Prison School has been doing.... whatever the hell it is that it's doing.

And I thought it was a little weird when a shonen adventure comic suddenly morphed into a shonen battle porn comic.

[PuToTyra]

If you want slow, fuckin watch One Piece, Naruto, Detective Conan, or any of the other anime that should've ended a long time ago. (though Naruto only has two episodes left, to be fair) Or even Bleach, which I enjoyed, but always hated it when they shove a massive filler arc in the middle of the story.

Barring the Great Saiyaman mini-arc, I've always been able to tolerate most of DBs low points.

I think detective conan has always been about solving episode long cases, with overall plot being pretty much irrelevant....
As for shounens, I couldn't agree more. I always watch them with filler list prepared beforehand so I know which episodes to skip.
Dragonball Z had horrible fillers, unlike Dragonball, which was tolerable.

[Xyga]

I don't remember when Dorohedoro lost me, that was probably years ago, it's just pointless to read now even though it's nearing conclusion (I think).

[KAI]

Just finished watching Makoto Shinkai's Kimi no na wa. Even if I still think most this guy's works are terribly overrated, this movie was completely beautiful and made me cry like a teenage girl. 11/10
Don't even think about reading reviews or summaries, trust me, you don't want to spoil this thing.

[soprano1]

I've been laughing like hell with the manga "Karakai Jouzo no Takagi-san". This girl is the ultimate teaser/troll to this poor guy who sits next to her. In one chapter, which appears to take place a few years down the story, she even breaks the fourth wall to troll the reader.

[soprano1]

Just finished watching Makoto Shinkai's Kimi no na wa. Even if I still think most this guy's works are terribly overrated, this movie was completely beautiful and made me cry like a teenage girl. 11/10
Don't even think about reading reviews or summaries, trust me, you don't want to spoil this thing.

I saw a trailer on Youtube, seems like an interesting movie with gorgeous animation.

[GaijinPunch]

Serialized anime just cannot be compared to OVAs and short series. One's a business, the other's... still a business, but it has more measure and passion behind it.

Some are meant to be episodic, and work. See: Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, etc.

Just finished watching Makoto Shinkai's Kimi no na wa. Even if I still think most this guy's works are terribly overrated, this movie was completely beautiful and made me cry like a teenage girl. 11/10
Don't even think about reading reviews or summaries, trust me, you don't want to spoil this thing.

Sounds like we're on the same page. Overrated, but still good. Just not something I'd wank to. This one is on the list.

[Xyga]

Still enjoying Kingdom, it's such a page-turner !

(one little criticism; another mangaka who can't draw horses for shit)

[BIL]

Binged through JoJo's Part 7 - Steel Ball Run over the last week. I don't think I've ever not binge-read this series... I've a weakness for its compulsive episodic pacing. Dunno how I'd handle reading this stuff in real-time, it's why I always wait until a Part is finished and the next is underway before starting. :3

Loved it, generally speaking. If anything, I wish it'd not ended up quite so conventionally post-Stardust JoJo. The thunderous racing sequences in the early to middle volumes are thrilling; the Stand duels taking precedence later have Araki's customarily inventive brutality, but can't help feeling familiar in comparison. That said, the climactic duels encompassing the last couple volumes are JoJo at its riveting, desperate turnaround-driven best.

Good stuff overall, if ultimately not the departure its setting or early volumes suggest. The scans I found were of the official Jump colourised volumes - at first I was ambivalent but, maybe due to the more pastoral scenery, a few volumes in I was absolutely hooked. Following the most intense action sequences is a lot comfier in colour too, I find. I'll probably re-read at least Parts 4 and 5 now.

[Ji-L87]

I recently picked up and watched My Neighbors the Yamadas. I wasn't sure what to expect, Ghibli connection and all, but it's a 4-koma slice of life theatrical animu basically. I know there are people out there who are big fans of this one and frequently point to it being underrated, and I can totally see why it's not something I've heard about prior to listening to Anncast and the like.

It was really well done and harmless in the best of ways. Me and a friend had a good time with it but I can't say it was as spectacular in the way of some of the more conventional and famous titles in the Ghibli catalogue are, which is unfair critique since this isn't at all that kind of work. I guess I can't help but to compare given the Ghibli badge.

Oh well. If you are the kind of person that would enjoy a low key and a bit more "realistic", perhaps classic is a better word, depiction of Japanese family life, well - this is probably the thing for you.

Now, changing the subject, have anyone here checked out Yuri!!! on ice?
I was shown the first episode last week and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Loved the drawing style. Figure skating is something I never have been able to work up any sort of interest for due to a variety of reasons, despite my mom's enthusiasm for it. Anyway, since figure skating in anime is pretty rare, at least as the main focus and not just some one-off episode where the cast goes ice skating, and no doubt must be a right pain the butt to animate, I was still a little bit interested.

I don't know right now if it will be able to keep my interest but the first episode was really good. I'm planning to show it to a couple of friends, and I hope that it holds up for a second viewing.