More Anime Prease!

[Jason Tandro]

My anime resume is limited, because I only grew up with one Anime Hut (a rental store) growing up and don't watch most mainstream anime. But here's a list and baby reviews of the anime that I have watched.


Ronin Warriors

The first anime I was ever introduced to... yes even before Sailor Moon. I watched this at 7:00 in the morning every day before going to school (Sailor Moon came on at 7:30 and our bus left at 8:10). I don't remember much about the show except being thrilled by it. It seemed somehow more grown up than Power Rangers and mind you I was like 8 years old at the time, so was starting to grow out of the Power Rangers, but still loved watching dudes in colorful suits beat the crap out of each other.... that doesn't sound right.

Sailor Moon

Yes, yes, not a boys anime under any mindset, except during the transformation scenes, of course cleaned up in the American version. And what can you say, given that it's target audience is girls, it's actually a pretty decent show with some good action and storyline... even if the characters can be obnoxious. The only people I really liked were Mercury, since she seemed to be the only genuinely nice Sailor Scout (not to mention she became the template against which I would subconciously judge all other girls with blue hair), Sailor Venus because my 8 year old self had the hots for her, and everybody loved those damn cats!

Dragonball Z

When I was 12, we got cable, and the wonders of Toonami were revealed to me. Funnily enough, two of my favorite shows growing up, Ronin Warriors and Sailor Moon were on it as well as two others I'd never heard of. Dragonball Z... well what can you say about it? It wasn't meant to tell a good story or have believable characters. It was meant to make you laugh and have some awesome action. I actually prefer the TeamFourStar abridgment a great deal more than the actual show, but it was still fun to watch when you were a kid.

Gundam Wing

My first introduction to JPop as there were several lyrical scores in the show, not to mention the rest of the music was beautiful. Don't let the fact that I'm talking about the music to start with lighten the show in your mind. It's giant robots beating each other up, yes, but this was the first anime I'd ever seen where I was more interested in the story and the characters. I feel like this anime is really aimed at all ages. There's involving characters and storylines for the adult crowd, and giant rock'em sock'em robots for the kiddies. And Milliardo Peacecraft was my first introduction to the classic trope: "Well-spoken villain with long white hair" a few years before I played Final Fantasy 7 (I got it in like 2002).

Love Hina

When the Anime Hut opened up in our mall, we started renting anime. The first thing I rented was actually the 2nd disk of this series which I then gobbled up the rest of. Since this is the first, non-mainstream show, I'll go into the plot briefly. A young man becomes the super for a women's dormitory and bathhouse, essentially serving the 6 girls who live within. As you can imagine there is quite a bit of raunchy stuff and while I'll not deny that played a part in my pubescent self liking it, honestly I'd still watch it today for the storylines because they're so... weird. Let me take a few things that happen in that show out of context:

- A girl has a dream where she is transported into a video game.
- A giant mechanized turtle tries to destroy the bath-house.
- The dorm room occupants perform a play on top of a volcano.

And the main love story is actually pretty sweet, if somewhat cliche. Its got a nice blend of action, but was my first truly comedic anime and gave me a sense for what the Japenese find funny: Random shit.


Ruruoni Kenshin

This is the story of redemption of a warrior who was once a feared manslayer, who wanders under the name Kenshin Himura. He uses a sword with a reversed-blade (incapable of killing unless the blade is flipped) to try and protect as many lives as he's killed. It's a fairly deep concept for an anime and there is an incredible storyline behind it, and yet it is primarily an action comedy. Season 2 gets a bit darker, but then Season 3 raps it up with light-hearted adventure. The Samurai X movies are depressing as hell, though. And again, this is another anime with great music. They've got beautiful classically Japanese pieces, pieces with Western music theory that just "sound Japanese" and modern JPop for the action sequences. This one is definitely worth a watch!

Final tidbit about this show. I sub-consciously transplanted elements of Kenshin into my own Jason Tandro character.

Kenshin has a cross shaped scar on his left cheek. Jason Tandro has a 5-diamond scar on his left cheek.

Kenshin is primarily light-hearted, but in battle becomes cold and merciless. Jason Tandro is a wise-cracking funnyman, but becomes cold and merciless in battle.



Azumanga Daioh

Where to begin with this one? This is the funniest anime I have ever seen, bar none. It is kind of a girly anime, yes, but at the same time it's universally funny. It focuses on six female students, their two female teachers and the occasional support characters such as everybody's favorite creep Mr. Kimura. The humor in this one really does come from the random and sometimes you'll get more nervous laughter than genuine laughter, but at the same time it still tells a complete story in 6 DVDs that most anime can't tell in 10 seasons!!!!! Yes, this gets bonus points for being brief. It loses those points for having the most annoying opening and closing music of all time, bar none. No joke when I recorded the DVDs onto VHS tapes back in the day, I skipped every intro and outro. The rest of the music is actually really good though. It's quirky and random just like the show.

Star Ocean EX

When I heard this was coming out I flipped my shit. I bought each DVD pretty much the day it came out and watched everyone that night. It's the story of the Playstation game Star Ocean: The Second Story. You know, one of the many games that I just won't shut up about. And I mean, what's there to say. The animation is beautiful, the characters are faithful, the storyline is... almost faithful. They add random episodes that had nothing to do with the main story (albeit the only one that's truly off the deep end is the Ghost Ship episode). And they commit a cardinal sin by ENDING the series where Disk 1 stops. No Chisato, No Noel and only a mention of the Ten Wise Men... GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! Opening music kicks ass though.

Final Fantasy Unlimited

Another video game based anime, albeit this doesn't follow any particular Final Fantasy. I have to be honest, I enjoyed this show, but only superficially. I liked what it was trying to be, but it ended too soon offering little closure and really the whole show felt kinda forced.

Whew. Anyways, that's enough of my ranting for right now. So talk about the anime you all have seen.

[psychokind]

I think I watched many dozens of anime, so my list would be too long. just this much:

Legend of the galactic Heroes

best evar

[Blade]

Willibald Joachim von Merkatz

Oddly, I talked about it yesterday, and one of my absolute favourite Animes is "Blue Submarine No 6". Check it out, on Youtube at least!

And I'd sooo like to watch Gundam Wing & Inuyasha in proper quality somewhere, but most streamingsites I know of have gone to sh*t.

[Fazermint]

I mostly watch the mainstream ones
- Naruto
- One Piece
- Bleach
- Fairy Tail

But also an old-schooler: Shaman King Also watched Samurai Champloo, 'twas aight.

[inferiare]

Had FF:U been completed, I think you would have liked it more. I know there's transcripts of the drama CDs that they released to finish the story on the FF wiki.

buuuut if you want some decent anime, I can't recommend Higurashi no naku koro ni enough. The first season was released in the states under When They Cry, and the second season to wrap up the story is available in fansubs.

I'll also recommend Neon Genesis Evangelion. The original series you can probably get off Amazon for cheap, or you can get Death and Rebirth (the abridged version of the series in movie form) and End of Evangelion. The new movies aren't in a complete form yet, and they deviate from the series for its own story.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is a mindfuck and it's fantastic. The movie is more of a mindfuck.

A Certain Magical Index (Toaru Majutsu no Index) is really good too. Action and definitely a shounen manga base. I've enjoyed what I've seen.

Iiiiiiiif you want one that will make you upset on every episode ever, check out Aishiteruze Baby. It's fansub only and it was a shoujo manga, but its got a really sweet storyline. Quick lowdown: super popular guy gets told by his mom and sister that he's going to learn responsibility by taking care of his 5 year old cousin who was kinda-sorta abandoned by her mother. It actually won awards in Japan for how realistic it was, too.

Obligatory Chobits recommendation.

If you like the magical girl genre, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne was good (fansub only) though I prefer the manga to the anime.

[tay120n64]

Actually, I made this list for a friend a few months back when we were discussing what Anime we had seen. I used to download a lot of Anime, preferring to only buy a series if I really liked it. Recently, I got a subscription to Netrflix and have, like, ten series in my queue. :p Here is a list of what I have seen, with a [*] next to Anime I haven't finished, and a next to Anime that you should totally watch.

Anime Films:
5 Centimeters Per Second
Afro Samurai: Resurrection
Akira
The Animatrix
Appleseed
Appleseed: Ex Machina
Barefoot Gen
Batman: Gotham Knight
Castle in the Sky
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
DragonBall Z Movies [Dead Zone, The History of Trunks, Fusion Reborn, & The Wrath of the Dragon]
Evangelion 1.11: You Are NOT Alone
Evangelion 2.22: You Can NOT Advance
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell 2.0
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Howl's Moving Castle
InuYasha Movies [Affections Touching Across Time, Castle Beyond the Looking Glass, Swords of an Honorable Ruler, & Fire on the Mystic Island]
Kite
Lupin III Movies [Castle of Cagliostro , Episode Zero, The Secret of Mamo, The Fuma Conspiracy, Voyage to Danger, Dragon of Doom, The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure, The Secret of the Twilight Gemini, Dead or Alive, Farewell to Nostradamus, Island of Assassins, Crisis in Tokyo, The Columbus Files, & Missed by a Dollar]
Mezzo: Forte
My Neighbor Totoro
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
Ninja Scroll
One Piece Movies [One Piece, The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta, & Strong World]
Origin
Perfect Blue
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
Pokemon Movies [Mewtwo Strikes Back, The Power of One, Spell of the Unown, Mewtwo Returns, Celebi: Voice of the Forest]
Porco Rosso
Princess Mononoke
Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva
Read or Die
Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie
The Secret World of Arietty
The Sky Crawlers
Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie
Spirited Away
Tokyo Godfathers
Trigun: Badlands Rumble
Vampire Hunter D
Voices of a Distant Star
Whisper of the Heart
Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie
Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie: Pyramid of Light

Anime Series & OVAs:
[*] 3x3 Eyes
Afro Samurai
[*] Amagami
Angel Beats
Azumanga Daioh
Azumanga Daioh OVA
Basilisk
Berserk
The Big O
The Big O II
Birdy the Mighty: Decode
Birdy the Mighty: Decode 2
[*] Black Butler
Boogiepop Phantom
Boys Be...
Ceres, Celestial Legend
[*] Chobits
Clannad
Clannad: After Story
Comic Party
Cowboy Bebop
[*] Cromartie High School
Death Note
Desert Punk
Devilman
[*] Digimon
[*] DragonBall
[*] DragonBall GT
[*] DragonBall Z
[*] DragonBall Z: Kai
Eiken
Elfen Lied
[*] Eureka Seven
[*] Excel Saga
[*] Fairy Tail
FLCL
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist OVAs
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood OVAs
Gankutsuo: The Count of Monte Cristo
Genshiken
Genshiken 2
Genshiken OVAs
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd Gig
Girl's High
Girls Bravo
Golden Boy
[*] Hamtaro
Hell Girl
Hellsing
[*] Initial D
InuYasha
InuYasha: The Final Act
[*] Iria: Zeiram the Animation
K-On!
Karas
[*] Kashimashi
[*] Kimba the Lion
[*] Kirby: Right Back At 'Ya!
Kujibiki Unbalance
Kujibiki Unbalance OVAs
Last Exile
[*] Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing
Love Hina
Lucky Star
Lucky Star OVAs
[*] Lupin III: Part II
Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine
Magical Shopping Arcade: Abenobashi
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Mezzo DSA
Midori Days
[*] Mushi-Shi
Nana
[*] Naruto
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Ninja Nonsense
Noein
One Piece
One Piece OVAs
Ouran High School Host Club
Outlaw Star
Paranoia Agent
Photon
[*] Pokemon
[*] Pokemon: Advanced Generation
[*] Pokemon: Chronicles
[*] Pokemon: Diamond & Pearl
[*] Pokemon: Best Wishes!
Revolutionary Girl Utena
[*] s-CRY-ed
Samurai 7
Samurai Champloo
Samurai Harem
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings
Serial Experiments Lain
[*] Shakugan no Shana
[*] Shamanic Princess
[*] Shin-Chan
[*] Sonic X
Soul Eater
[*] The Super Milk-Chan Show
Suzuka
Trigun
Trinity Blood
Witchblade
Wolf's Rain
Working!!
[*] Yu-Gi-Oh!
[*] Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

[SoulBlazerFan]

My viewing is also limited... mostly to Netflix now or if a friend lends me something.

Obviously my favorite series, even now, is Gundam Wing. Other favorites in no particular order:

Blue Gender
Rosario Vampire
Excel Saga
Gundam: 08th MS Team
DNA2
Dirty Pair Flash (Seen bits and pieces)
MSG: Stardust Memory
Cowboy Bebop
G Gundam

Tay: As much as I love Batman, I wasn't really feeling Gotham Knight... other than the Deadshot segment. In fact, the other segment where those kids talk about what they think the Batman is and what he looks like, is essentially taken from a much better story from Batman: The Animated Series called "Legends of the Dark Knight..." which is, incidentally, a special feature on the Gotham Knight 2 disc DVD.

[EverPhoenix]

Late to the party!

I was a great fan of:

Pokemon (first season or 2)
Digimon (first 2 seasons)
Dragon Ball Z (ALL OF IT)
YuGiOh (first one)
Sailor Moon (back when there were only 5 of them)

...so, basically the first wave of subbed anime (afaik, correct me if i'm wrong)

...And after that, the current mainstream ones:

Naruto
Bleach
Fullmetal Alchemist

...and to a lesser extent, Claymore. But I only read Claymore, and I only read the above few now for the sake of completing them (FMA is finished, so that's done)

some manga i've read that I would recommend (assuming the anime follows the same story) would be Chrono Crusade. There's an english dub for that one as well, not sure which you prefer. Just stick with one the whole way...

[tay120n64]

"Deadshot" really was the highlight of the feature, though I didn't care for how Bruce and Alfred looked in that one. As odd as it seems, I really liked "Field Test". Something about Bruce Wayne as a bishonen just felt... right? I blame Michael Keaton for that.

[psychokind]

Willibald Joachim von Merkatz

I just LOVE those names, especially when they pronounce TSCHIGHFRIED KIRCHAIHSSS Paul von Oberstein is the best fictional character I've ever seen anywhere, even Light from Death Note looks like a little child compared to this badass

[SoulBlazerFan]

"Deadshot" really was the highlight of the feature, though I didn't care for how Bruce and Alfred looked in that one. As odd as it seems, I really liked "Field Test". Something about Bruce Wayne as a bishonen just felt... right? I blame Michael Keaton for that.

That one felt odd to me. I liked the concept- I was a big fan of the Animatrix, even though the two films it proceeded weren't that great. I liked the different animation styles in pretty much all the shorts- although, at times, as much as I love Kevin Conroy's performance as Batman, it felt a little wooden in most of the shorts- there didn't seem to be the same sort of emotional and powerful performance I remembered from Batman: The Animated Series or even Batman Beyond.

I'm going to rewatch Gotham Knight again sometime this week in preparation for Friday- I plan on going to see TDKR in the AM. I wanted to go to my theater at 6 tomorrow- they're screening all 3 Nolan Batman films, first Batman Begins, followed by The Dark Knight, and, at midnight, Rises. Price? 20 bucks. I got "potentially" called in for my other job tomorrow, so we'll see on that.

Another Anime I forgot to mention: Supernatural: The Anime Series (AKA Supernatural: The Animation). I've been a fan of the live action series from the get-go, so it was a no-brainer to move onto this. It's a really good starting point if you're interested in getting into the show at some point- it condenses the first two seasons of the series pretty well.

My only problem is, the American voice acting gets a little hammy at times- the only good performances are from the actual actors from the live action show (One actor did the voice for all 26 episodes of the anime; the other, for some reason, only did the last two). There's some interesting episodes that are original, and others that expand upon characters that were only briefly on the show. Definitely worth a watch.

[Manibrandr System]

What, no Hokuto no Ken? What a ripoff!

[tay120n64]

What, no Hokuto no Ken? What a ripoff!

I have not heard of that. Should I have?

[inferiare]

I saw the first episodes back when I was 12. I know it's ridiculous, and that the guy goes and beats the shit out of the bad guys... they when they go "LOL THAT DIDN'T HURT A BIT YOU'RE SO WEAK" the main protag goes "WELL HOW DO YOU KNOW? YOU'RE ALREADY DEAD" and then they blow up.

It's commonly known in the 'Murricas as Fist of the North Star.

[tay120n64]

It's commonly known in the 'Murricas as Fist of the North Star.

Ah. Got it.