Anime & Manga Chat Options

[Weapon]

I also liked Wolf's Rain

Wolf's Rain is up there with my favorites; not quite on par with anime like Cowboy Bebop or Death Note, but it has very likable characters, an interesting setting, and an enjoyable, if rather linear, storyline. Which character did you like the most?

I'm watching Monster right now, and while it's unlike pretty much any other anime I've seen(ie, not having a supernatural or scifi/fantasy element in it), I find myself wanting to know what happens next. I like the characters, although there are only a handful of main ones so far, and the story is pretty messed, which is never a bad thing in my book. Considering the series lasted 74 episodes, I'm allowing myself some high expectations. Riddled with a bit of skepticism, mind you, I know there are a few long running animes that were rather horrible.

After that, I really want to rewatch Death Note, and finish up the second season of GitS...I need more free time...

[Xenofreak]

I'm up to 26 or so in monster, and I can see it honestly not going stale at 74 simply because there is a lot going on in it. It really is much more like a novel (a rather large one, or series of them) in it's depth. Just following the actions of Kenzou, Lunge, Nina (That was the name of Knezou's ex-fiance, right?), and Johan is enough to fill up more than the usual anime. Especially since it isn't the typical straightforward anime where almost all the problems and conflicts are straightforward.

I started watching an absolutely terrible anime, called Kampfer, and can't stop. Simply because it's so terrible. It's like they took the idea for a 'plot' from a hentai, and took out the actual hentai. Like it's some sick experiment in "Just what kind of absolute shit are the otaku willing watch and like?", and for me it's turned into "Just how horrible can this be and still get a timeslot?".

I've been watching Railgun (spin-off of To aru no majutsu index or something like that) and the beginning was just kind of annoying, it's finally getting somewhat decent though. Since I have a feeling the worst is behind me I'll probably keep watching it.

This season has made me watch more mediocrity than I ever really wanted to. The good news is, I found Gurren Lagann on Hulu, so I've started it. I don't think as highly of it as most people I've heard talking about it, but it's better than the vast majority of what this season offers. I was kind of hoping for more though, but I guess after seeing this much anime a lot of it starts blending together and feeling like "been there done that".

[Weapon]

I'm up to 26 or so in monster, and I can see it honestly not going stale at 74 simply because there is a lot going on in it. It really is much more like a novel (a rather large one, or series of them) in it's depth. Just following the actions of Kenzou, Lunge, Nina (That was the name of Knezou's ex-fiance, right?), and Johan is enough to fill up more than the usual anime. Especially since it isn't the typical straightforward anime where almost all the problems and conflicts are straightforward.

Oh, fantastic! I'm only about a third of the way to where you are, but I can already tell there's much that can be done with it. And the fact, from what you say, that that is actually done with it...yeah, that's awesome; I'm going to have to watch more tonight!

I'm not sure what the ex-fiance's name was, but Nina was Anna's adopted name. Maybe both were Nina? That sounds kinda right.

Hmm...okay, upon looking it up, her name was actually Eva. Heck, I would've gotten them confused had I not just seen Anna as Nina. ...I think that makes sense.

[Kenji]

but I guess after seeing this much anime a lot of it starts blending together and feeling like "been there done that".

This is probably the biggest problem of the anime industry, which is where we get the sometimes vocal frustrations of Hideaki Anno or Mamoru Oshii coming out in magazine interviews. A lot of anime, these days, is a simple mix-and-match of whatever has proved most popular, so it's rather difficult to find something that's unique or interesting.

This is one of the reasons I got so into Gundam 00, because the first season was quite different compared to what came before it (unlike, say, Gundam SEED, which spends about two-thirds of its run as a remake of the 1979 series). The second season wasn't bad, but it's clear that there was a fair amount of meddling to rack up the ratings, given the traditionalist Japanese viewing public (which, btw, loved SEED Destiny... go figure). Somehow, we went from a rather bleak situation in S1 (Celestial Being had and applied power, but it was hard to see them getting anywhere with it) to the Newtype dreams of S2. Oh, and a spy-vs-spy battle between Lyle and Anew became a badly conceived romance... ugh...

Anyway, I find my anime-watching time has cut down significantly since 00 S2 ended. Just haven't drummed up the interest, though I've been considering checking out K-ON! and maybe the "revised season" of Haruhi (though I am excited about the theatrical Disappearance... 'bout damn time!). Waiting for Gundam Unicorn's release on March to see what a professional author can do with the Universal Century.

Other than that, I haven't seen much on the air(net)waves that interests me that much.

[Xenofreak]

This is probably the biggest problem of the anime industry, which is where we get the sometimes vocal frustrations of Hideaki Anno or Mamoru Oshii coming out in magazine interviews. A lot of anime, these days, is a simple mix-and-match of whatever has proved most popular, so it's rather difficult to find something that's unique or interesting.

Yeah, that's probably why I jump all over something that's different. Bakemonogatari and Eden of the East being good recent examples of that. It's also why I liked Death Note so much (holy crap, conflict created by a battle of wits rather than a lack of wits!?) though it's probably going to quickly become a cliche of it's own.

Watched some more gurren lagann, and the second half makes it official I'll probably still finish it though, just because I have too much free time on my hands again, and I'm somewhat obsessive at finishing series.

[Vyse of Arcadia]

Alrighty ladies and gentlemen. I need a recommendation for a mecha. I want to watch robots exploding, but more than that, I'd like an excellent story with good characters. Something in the vein of Zone of the Enders.

Any suggestions?

[Xenofreak]

Sadly Vyse, I don't watch much mecha.

Darker Than Black is sadly only 12 episodes it looks like, which means this is going to be some random story that in the end adds more questions without answering any of the previous ones.

Railgun finally got a bit gritty indeed, which is what I've been hoping for this entire time. Hopefully it can keep this up the rest of the season and not go back to ridiculous shtick crap.

Tatakau Shisho (battle librarians or something like that) is a new series I've picked up. It's not bad, but not great. The characters are pretty fantastic, though the development does feel a bit rushed, they still end up being better than in most series I've watched. It has silly people with super powers and battles between them. This time around though, people actually die. Which I think is great. One of my biggest pet peeves about a lot of anime is how there's little to no actual suspense or intrigue because you know the creators have no intention of killing anyone off. It's over reaching story seams like it's just kind of, there. I'm pretty sure it'll never be resolved, and they won't really try to resolve it much even. The little stories that are a few episodes long however are usually pretty good. There is a long list of shows I'd recommend before this one, but if you're ever bored and have nothing else to watch that might be good it's worth a shot.

[genesis]

I watched the xenosaga anime and was horribly dissapointed. The animation was weak. one of those where a shootout is a panned out view of thousands of lightbeams for bullets fly past a barely animated character to represent them dodging and it messed up the story with where virgil was killed by a mile. I didnt like it much. if more work had gone into the animation to where fight scenes werent the boring part you wanted to get past itd have been good. i also recently bought shigurai the anime about 2 samurai. It was good and well animated but they HAD to have a sex scene in every episode and the story was very bouncy and NEVER got back to explaining what was happening in the first episode or how all that stuff happend to the 2 characters. i hope there is a second part to fill in the blanks.

[Vyse of Arcadia]

Xenosaga the Animation is utter rubbish.

It's not bad enough that the animation quality was terrible. The overall art quality was terrible, even in stills. It's like they gave it to the cheapest studio they could find, and said studio just drew quick sketches and slapped on just enough filters in photoshop so that it looks kinda ok. And then the characters! In the game, Shion had a couple of redeeming qualities. She wasn't a complete moron. She could more or less take care of herself. She didn't go to pieces in a crisis. She had something resembling a personality. But in the anime, all of that is gone. Shion's entire role is to cook, scream, giggle, and gush about feelings to KOS-MOS. And be the token anime girl with glasses. And excepting the title theme, the music sucked too. And the dialogue and pacing were terrible. It's like they weren't even trying.

[Kishin]

Well, since they tossed Xenosaga the game series into the rubbish heap, it's no wonder the anime is also utter crap. The games that make lots of money have a shot at getting a good anime spinoff, the ones that get deemed a failure get a cheapo sell-out version that just panders to the remaining fans in order to make a quick buck. On the other hand, the FF VII movie got the big bucks treatment, but still was kind of iffy...Hmm.
That brings me to a good question:

What is the best anime series based on a popular video game?

[Joaq]

Well, since they tossed Xenosaga the game series into the rubbish heap, it's no wonder the anime is also utter crap. The games that make lots of money have a shot at getting a good anime spinoff, the ones that get deemed a failure get a cheapo sell-out version that just panders to the remaining fans in order to make a quick buck. On the other hand, the FF VII movie got the big bucks treatment, but still was kind of iffy...Hmm.

I'm glad I did not spend a dime on the Xenosaga anime. It was, essentially, what the Episode I would have been like if the Episode II team had taken over it. Disjointed, confused, horrifically paced and exceptionally shallow, having weeded out all of the story's subtleties and character development. I watched the fan subs up until a certain point, then gave up, and skipped to the ending. It was really a pointless project, and I think it only further serves (like Episode II, and III, to some extent,) to sully the vision Episode I put out.

That brings me to a good question:

What is the best anime series based on a popular video game?

I'm going to say Gungrave. Though I haven't finished it yet, what I have seen of it has been rather interesting, and it's gotten pretty good reviews overall. Thanks to Yashiro Nightow's and Tsuneo Imahori's involvement in it, I was actually under the impression that the game was based on this first, until I discovered that it was the other way around.

[Vyse of Arcadia]

I'm tempted to say Valkyria Chronicles since the game was so awesome, but then again, I've never seen the anime.

So I'm going to go with Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie. It was a pair of mid-90s OVAs that they spliced together for release in the English-speaking world. It's silly, it's fast, it's funny, and it has robots. It's pre-angst (dammit Shadow I hate you so hard) Sonic at his best.

Though I haven't seen the Disgaea anime, which I've been led to believe is quite good. I may change my mind after viewing that. And if you were to allow American animation, I rather enjoyed the Saturday morning Megaman and Sonic shows as a child.

Relevant.

[Kenji]

Ultimately, I'd say what sucks the most about the Xenosaga anime is that we got it instead of the Xenosaga I·II for the DS. In other words, rather than get the one product that may have made Episode II the least bit bearable, if not enjoyable, we got the product that dragged Episode I down to the bottom of the barrel. It feels somewhat insulting that the cards would play out for us, like that. As if it happened on purpose.

Anyway, I've yet to watch an anime based on a video game that I thought was particularly good. The only standout was Persona: Trinity Soul, which isn't really what I'd call "good" (it can be very boring and its action scenes are confusing, but the soundtrack is great and the content is largely watchable). It's just better than the majority of its ilk, much like how the Silent Hill movie is one of the best video game movies, even if it can't really stand on its own cinematic merits.

But, hey, there's always Queen's Blade!! Just kidding, stay far away from that one... I'm no stranger to porn, but this show makes me feel dirty inside. I don't know how it does it, I only know that it does.

This post has been edited by Kenji: Jan 18 2010, 08:33 AM

[Xenofreak]

I actually just started watching Trinity soul, and I have to agree with the battle scenes part. The personas are mostly transparent, and it's rather to follow any of the action.

As for Queen's Blade, I'm now morbidly curious about this show. I think I'll have to look into it, and quite possibly regret it.

I've been neglecting Monster for a long time, and I don't even know why. It seems like a really interesting and well written anime so far, I just can't seem to get myself to watch it all.

Edit: Not much talk going on in here, wow.

Tatakau Shisho, a show I didn't expect much from (as you can tell if you read my post a few posts up). I was pleasantly surprised with the mini-arcs though. I retract my statement on it never taking on the back story though, because it seems like it's actually getting to it, and shaping up to be pretty good. Good enough that if it delivers on the potential it's showing now it might take over a spot in my top 5 list. The 'mini-arcs' are actually being melded together pretty well (not that it would be hard) and the back story looks a lot more interesting than I was expecting. I can't wait to see if it delivers or not.

This post has been edited by Xenofreak: Feb 5 2010, 06:05 PM

[Vyse of Arcadia]

My spring break started last weekend, so I caught up on anime.

I saw Haibane Renmei, and subsequently ordered it at great expense because it's out of print. Totally worth it though. It is now my favorite anime. I think I posted about it at great length earlier, so I'll just say it defies description. Go watch it. Now.

I saw The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which is now one of my favorite movies. It's a different sort of take on time travel that I hadn't seen before, and I love the art style and characters. It reminds me of something that I can't quite place my finger on.

I also saw Spice and Wolf (both seasons), just so I could see what all the fuss was about. Basically, it's a love story about Renaissance economics. I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far, but I think one more season is about all I have patience for. It's got this setting and atmosphere that's just in the perfect place between fantastic and realistic. And the ending theme WILL be in your head for weeks. I highly recommend it if you like or at least don't mind a relatively slow-moving and dialogue-heavy series. Also, the first episode is the worst and quite misleading, so if you do give it a shot, watch two.

I've been watching the fansubs of Sora no Woto (Sound of the Skies.) It's a lot better than I expected it to be. I watched the first couple of episodes out of curiosity and for the music (trumpet ftw!). And, amazingly, it's gone from being cutesy and kinda annoying to beautiful and of surprising depth. I highly recommend it, but you've got to have the patience to get past the cutesy episodes.

Finally, I watched Death Note, but I talked about that in its own thread.

[Xenofreak]

I can't wait to see if it delivers or not.

Aaaaand, it didn't. It face planted at the end. Not a terribly brutal face plant, but still a face plant. It was all going well up until the last 2 episodes. I pretty much completely forgave some of the completely stereotypical naive as hell 'defender of justice' type characters because they used them in an atypical way. Namely, they mostly failed. They weren't somehow infallible as if protected by some benevolent deity. Then the ending came. The horribly painful typical 'feel good' ending. It's not so much bad, but after setting itself apart from other series of the same vein (at least to me) it was disappointing to see it hop on the bandwagon with the enthusiasm of a 14 year old girl that dreams of being popular. I'd still say it's probably worth a watch. But no enthusiastic endorsements here.


This season of anime seems like it'll be lacking. There's only one (the one from Shaft, I forget its name) that I hold much hope for. The rest seem, well, bland? Repetitive? Too much senseless 'Moe'? Yeah, I think that about sums it up. Even JC Staff seems to be letting me down, which is rare. There is some hope though, as it turns out that Durarara is going to continue airing. I was expecting a 12-13 episode series out of it. I was downright giddy at the end of episode 12 when I found out it was going to keep going. This one, at least until it disappoints me (which I really hope it doesn't) does get an enthusiastic endorsement from me.

This post has been edited by Xenofreak: Apr 5 2010, 04:01 PM

[Kishin]

I've been watching "Tears for Tiara" on anime network, and I've been enjoying it so far. Kind of reworking a lot of elements drawn from Celtic and Arthurian mythologies. Not exactly retelling the old myths, but using a lot of familiar names of characters, places and plot elements. The evil empire in the story resembles Rome and the heroes resemble famous characters from British, Welsh and Irish heroic cycles. The characters are good, the voice acting (in Japanese, with subtitles) is good, and the storylines are interesting. Lots of twists and turns - the good guys are fallible, and some of the bad guys are pretty likeable and cool. So far, so good. Worth a try.

[Oathkeeper]

I just watched the second Evangelion movie.
It wasn't as bad as I was hearing it was going to be when it was first released in Japanese theaters. Yes, some of my favorite scenes were cut out or changed to the point of no return, but most of them were actually left intact (including my signature quote). As a whole, I find myself enjoying the changes more than disliking them. For example, Asuka is no longer Asuka. Her name changed, her personality changed, and her role in the plot changed. I kind of wonder if she was still included only for the sake of fanservice. On the other hand, we get to see Kawaru for a couple frames (instead of not seeing him at all until the end-game) and I'm sure we'll be seeing him plenty in the last two films. I, for one, see this as a fair trade. Especially considering the old TV series isn't going anywhere.
Speaking of Kawaru... He calls Gendo his "Father" and declares to Shinji in the last moments of the film that he "Will make you happy this time". So, Kawaru, are these movies rebuilds or some sort of sequel? What, you'll have to tell us next time? Damn you and your angelic ways!

Since last time, I've watched a slew of other anime as well, including but not limited to...

Slayers Evolution-R: The fact that Naga the Serpent finally makes any kind of appearance in the cannon TV series had me giddy as a schoolgirl. The rest of the show was great too, especially the final showdown after the weak one presented in Slayers Revolution.
Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood: I'm still at the point where the series hasn't diverged very much from the original anime. Still, I'm enjoying the show a lot and the few changes it makes are mostly for the better. I don't know what it is with anime "rebuilds" these days, but if they keep me entertained I guess they're a necessary evil.
Tales of Vesperia - First Strike: It's an excellent prologue to an excellent RPG. Most every other Tales animated production has been complete rubbish, so this was a breath of fresh air.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - The Lights In The Sky Are Stars: The sheer volume of epicness and GAR portrayed in this movie could easily make Chuck Norris cry manly tears.