best anime

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best anime

Post by ribot »

i always like to find some new good anime for watching..so if you havent seen these i recommend:
1. hikaru no go
2. death note
3. the girl who leapt through time (movie)
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Re: best anime

Post by Igge »

Death note is indeed awesome.
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Re: best anime

Post by Grace »

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya :P
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Re: best anime

Post by Lee »

only anime i ever watched was:
pokemon
dragonball z
yugioh

all started off great but i lost interest as the series progressed

edit: and cardcaptors
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Re: best anime

Post by Bjenn »

Naruto! the only anime i've evar watched.. and followed
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Re: best anime

Post by insane guy »

Pretty much any film from Studio Gibli is at least extremely well done. But I am far from being anime expert, I think most anime lovers dont like it because its "mainstream".

Ninja Scroll and Fist of the North Star are also cool.
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Re: best anime

Post by Bismuth »

Björn wrote:Naruto! the only anime i've evar watched.. and followed
I can't understand at all how people can like Naruto. I watched two episodes and I couldn't stand the nab yelling all the time.
THEY ARE YELLING ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

You see, it's annoying. They yell, they yell, they yell... When I hear a commercial without seeing the image and I hear only yells and shit, I know it's Naruto. And surprise, 10 secs after: "Don't miss Naruto, blah blah".
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Re: best anime

Post by Ecchi »

Attempt at list which in my opinion goes from best to worst ( just a few animes I recommend) probably not in order:P
As I said, theese are series i recommend watching. They are definately worth it in my opinion!

1. One Piece (definately the best)

Rest in random order

Blood+
Soul Eater
Claymore
Elfen Lied (Though the manga pwns it by far)
Kurogane no Linebarrels / Linebarrels of steel (depending on where the titles at more or less) :P

Out of the recent series, I started watching Shangri-la And 07-ghost, which both look very appealing up to this moment.

And if anyone likes randomness, schoolgirls, semi-ecchi and nerdy humour you gotta watch Lucky Star (its awsum)
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Re: best anime

Post by 8-ball »

The only one I really enjoyed thoroughly was Death Note.
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Re: best anime

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Re: best anime

Post by wjelo »

i like Initial D
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Re: best anime

Post by ribot »

kanon
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Re: best anime

Post by Xiphias »

I can't say I've watched many animes.. but I saw a series called Green Green a few years ago. it wasn't bad.

princess mononoke was max
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Re: best anime

Post by Bismuth »

My friend made some format of my laptop and installed XP last month and he left that movie on it. I still have it, but didn't watch as I don't like animes.
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Re: best anime

Post by Lee »

i saw princess mononoke in japanese class back in 2004.
it was good
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Re: best anime

Post by jonsterion »

Any Hayao Miyazaki movie is great.
Dragon Ball. When I was a kid everyone was addicted to it.
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Re: best anime

Post by ribot »

so not many anime fans here?

when i wrote this topic i hadn't seen so many good ones...
here's a list of some of my now favorites:

shinsekai yori
shangri-la
soranowoto
stein:s gate
saki

nausicaä and the valley of the wind (movie)
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Re: best anime

Post by Hosp »

I used to watch a lot of anime but not at all since maybe 1 year, only a few naruto episodes but since the war started it have become so much damn worse.

List of what I've watched that I can recall right now (definitely more than this list.):

Death Note (more than 3 times)
Naruto (more than 5 times)
Naruto Shippuuden (once except latest 20-30 episodes)
One Piece (like 170-200 episodes)
Bleach (150-160 episodes)
Elfen Lied
Air
Clannad (2 or 3 times)
Clannad Afterlife (2 times)
Asobi ni Iku yo
Highschool of the dead
Highschool DxD
All Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden movies
Some One Piece movie
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
and at least 10 more but can't remember all now and many I have watched like 2-10 episodes then quitted.
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Re: best anime

Post by Grace »

Haruhi wrote:The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya :P
I think this is still relevant.

Nausicaa is beast.

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Re: best anime

Post by Tigro »

I found Death Note the best, Bleach looked fun, but it gets too similar from one episode to another. Watched whole Claymore anime, its shit indeed. They just fight and fight and fight.
So, Death Note for sure.
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Re: best anime

Post by Tm »

Mushi-shi.
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Re: best anime

Post by Lousku »

Muumilaakson tarinoita.
then again i don't know anything
maybe easier not to think abouut alöl things thought than not things thought ... or something..=?
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Re: best anime

Post by Kazan »

my favorite is Code Geass and Nodame Cantabile
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Re: best anime

Post by Bludek »

I liked and I have seen every season of (or at least most of it):
Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto, Naruto Shippuuden, Death note, Melancholy of Haruhi, Hellsing

I started watching, but stopped after few episodes of:
Bleach, One Piece, Samurai Champloo
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Re: best anime

Post by Bjenn »

Bjenn wrote:Naruto! the only anime i've evar watched.. and followed
Shingeki no Kyojin !!
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Re: best anime

Post by roope »

Started watching anime a lot this past summer after adi had talked about it for a while already. I saw some series years ago, mostly from TV, like ~50% of Dragonball Z which I loved as a kid, ~80% of Fullmetal Alchemist which I really liked too, and some episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion of which I had no idea what was going on. I also watched Death Note some 5 years ago over a internet friendgirl's recommendation, great too.

This summer I started my anime watching with these nostalgic series that I hadn't seen completely. Neon Genesis Evangelion blew my mind away with it's epicness and psychological stuff (which I can relate to almost too well). I guess it's safe to say it's my favorite anime. I gave it a 10 on MyAnimelist. The only other series with a 10 is Welcome to the NHK!, which too is very relatable for me. I watched the whole 24-episode series at one sitting (~9,5 hours).

http://myanimelist.net/animelist/ryyb
Here's all of my watched anime so far. Feel free to ask about these series / give recommendations / any gak. Also post your own MAL accounts if you have pls :>
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Re: best anime

Post by adi »

http://myanimelist.net/animelist/adi_MiE

Nice post roope! I started watching anime about 2 years ago. I would highly recommend using myanimelist (or any other site) for collecting all anime stuff. For me it has been very motivating. It's also cool to follow how friends are progressing with their series.

About my favourite series: I've so far given score 10 only for 2 series. Both series are very special to me.

Hikaru no Go (my all time favourite anime)
Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor

Then other favourites:

Welcome to the N.H.K. (I really woud like to rewatch this anime, there is potential to score 10)
Nodame Cantabile (about classical music)
Chihayafuru (I think many wouldn't pick up this anime based on synopsis)
Great Teacher Onizuka
Monster
Death Note

Maybe could also meantion Azumanga Daioh, Golden Boy and Genshiken.
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Re: best anime

Post by kuchitsu »

Here is my, I started watching in March 2008 so I have quite a long list) - http://myanimelist.net/animelist/kuchitsu

I don't have ratings there anymore because of this:
  • 1 look at my list
    2 notice that series A has higher rating than series B, however I liked B more
    3 change B's score to a higher one
    4 notice that now B has higher rating than C, however I liked C more
    ...
It was impossible to solve all these dependencies so I just removed the scores and started writing small texts about each anime I watch instead - http://myanimelist.net/blog.php?eid=706589 (almost all in Russian but there is a couple of English texts at bottom)

At my "level" it becomes a bit challenging to stay an active anime fan because by now I've seen so much that it's pretty much impossible to find something radically new. For almost anything I watch I can name a bunch of similar series. Unfortunately, anime isn't such an immense world as you may think at first: actually in its essence it's very very samey, with hundreds of stories and characters being based on same ideas. However, I still feel strong passion for anime, I can still appreciate a lot of stuff in it (even the cliches) and I try to watch at least a few episodes every day.

Out of recently watched anime my favorite is Gilgamesh, a very atmospheric post-apocalyptic series full of free floating anxiety and a strange feeling of emptiness. It's such a mesmerizing story, beautiful in its own weird way, very stylish and with some excellent classical music. Totally loved the ending too, it was something else. I guess if you can relate to Evangelion so well you might like this one too, I think it has some similar undertones.

Other favorites include:
- Onii-sama e... - A very strong drama dealing with controversial topics such as drug abuse, suicidal thoughts, incest, etc. Made me cry several times.
- Michiko to Hatchin and Ergo Proxy - Both are of the "road movie" type, both made by the same company and both feature extremely well done characters. Michiko to Hatchin is an inspiring and colorful romantic adventure, while Ergo Proxy is dark and thoughtful, with hidden meanings behind everything. It's very different from usual anime so I think pretty much anyone could get into it.
- Red Garden - This one is a bit hard to explain, it might seem stupid and overly girlish at first, but it's very unique in a lot of ways and the character growth is one of the best I've ever seen. The theme of learning to stay true to yourself even in the most unthinkable circumstances is very strong.

I have a lot more to talk about, maybe another day if someone is interested.)
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Re: best anime

Post by roope »

Nice kuch! I kind of understand your point about not rating anything. I might do something similar when I get further in my anime watching, but for now ratings are an easy way to tell othes what shows I like. I really would like to do some little write-ups about what I've watched, but I've been too lazy to do so. For example, some of my 7's are just all-around oke norm anime, while some are really great and intriguing BUT have some certain things that bug me so much I gotta lower the rating.

I've already noticed that so many shows seem similar to what I've already watched; but I'm glad I know there's still lots of interesting and "new" stuff for me to see.

Your favorites seem good, I'll definitely take them into consideration when deciding what new serie to start)
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Re: best anime

Post by adi »

Yeah nice post kuchi! I think I also understand your point. I had similar problem with rating music albums in RYM...just one day I decided to delete all ratings and started all over again. However with anime it has been more like fun to tune ratings all the time. At least one problem is that I tend to give too high ratings in overall.

I find kuchi's favourites list interesting. I haven't actually heard about any of those series before. Of course it's hard to know if I will like them or not but definately worth trying.
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Re: best anime

Post by kuchitsu »

I can definitely recommend writing short summaries of your impressions. I think it's fun to do, and often it can help you understand your own feelings better. I mean, it's easy to just say "awesome show!", but when you try to actually explain why it's awesome in some detail, you can come up with some interesting and surprising thoughts you didn't have before.
adi wrote:At least one problem is that I tend to give too high ratings in overall.
Haha, that seems to be everyone's problem on MAL, for some reason it's very rare to find a person who uses ratings 1-5 often.

Out of these I mentioned I suggest watching Ergo Proxy first of all, the other shows are more peculiar I guess. It's a really high quality and artistic series. And the opening sequence is one of the best ever imo... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAXrRWLKzko
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Re: best anime

Post by roope »

kuchitsu wrote:
adi wrote:At least one problem is that I tend to give too high ratings in overall.
Haha, that seems to be everyone's problem on MAL, for some reason it's very rare to find a person who uses ratings 1-5 often.
I think one explanation for that (at least in my case) is that I tend to be extremely picky when choosing what anime to watch. This already filters most of the bad stuff. For example, the worst rated (rating 3) thing in my list is an early OVA from one of my favorite anime directors, Makoto Shinkai. I only chose to watch it because it's made by Sinkai; it did seem uninteresting to me beforehand and I probably wouldn't have watched it if it wasn't by Shinaki.
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Re: best anime

Post by danitah »

When I first saw Eureka Seven some years ago it was my best anime watching experience ever. When I saw it again few months ago it wasn't quite as good but still one of my favorites, so I can recommend to most anime fans I think.
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Re: best anime

Post by Boomer »

http://myanimelist.net/animelist/Corneliz

My list.

Watched quite a lot of anime 2004 - 2008. Since then mostly some Lupin III TV specials, and some Ghibli movies.

Last year of studying atm, will for sure see some more afterwards :)
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Re: best anime

Post by Ecchi »

Bakemonogatari
Nisemonogatari
Nekomonogatari black
Monogatari series: second season
Hanamonogatari

Just throwing this in here, if anyone didnt watch this series of anime I recommend it to the fullest:)

Also looking at the previous list I made here I'm pretty ashamed:D
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Re: best anime

Post by bene »

Ecchi what is the best ecchi?
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Re: best anime

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Re: best anime

Post by kuchitsu »

Watched 52 episodes of Tanoshii Muumin Ikka, that Moomin series that are so popular in Finland. Awesome stuff made with so much love and care. Even at 23 years old I find myself enchanted by that amazing world with many wonders and mysteries, these adorable characters and sometimes really fun and creative stories. I especially loved the multi-episode stories, like the jungle one or when the whole valley was flooded and they were looking for each other, there are some very cool and cute plot devices that you just don't see in more adult-oriented works. Oh, and I was even able to watch it without translation since the Japanese used is simple enough for me. Definitely will watch more after a break.

You guys were lucky to have watched these as kids. :D
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Re: best anime

Post by Sunshine »

futurama all the way! and season one of rick and morty is best but unfortunately the tone of the second season was completely different and it flipped the comedy/seriousness totally and thus i cant say its the best anime out there, this happened with futurama also somewhat though
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Re: best anime

Post by Ruben »

Vermin Supreme wrote:futurama all the way! and season one of rick and morty is best but unfortunately the tone of the second season was completely different and it flipped the comedy/seriousness totally and thus i cant say its the best anime out there, this happened with futurama also somewhat though
What? Season two of Rick and Morty is, if anything, way more absurd than season one... Never noticed a change, all I noticed was the lack of more episodes, shortly followed by an existential crisis and a few weeks of "now what do I do with my life?"
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Re: best anime

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Been watching anime and reading manga without translation for a few months now. So far I'm mostly choosing kids stuff but, for example, recently I also managed to watch "Uta no Prince-sama" and "Free!", which are more adult, and there were only a few lines that gave me serious trouble. With manga I choose adult stuff more often because reading is easier imo. Occasionally, I have to alt+tab to the dictionary but it's not annoying most of the time. Learning new words is usually fun because of kanji logic, like how 詩人 (poet) is made of "poem" and "human/person working with something": makes sense, doesn't it?

So yeah, I gotta say that understanding the language really enhances the experience... The most mundane scenes become a lot more interesting and colorful due to all these nuances that are often lost in translation. A thought that keeps popping up in my mind all the time: "wow, it would be impossible to translate this phrase correctly and make it sound natural at the same time". A lot of typical phrases and dialogues that seemed awkward in the past make perfect sense now. Not having to wait for years hoping that someone will translate an old series you wanna watch is awesome too. So if you're a really big fan of anime and you considered learning the language at least once, I think you should do it. Even with very slow and lazy pace like mine you will see great results in less than a year.
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Re: best anime

Post by kuchitsu »

I made a little recommendation list. Tried to mostly include stuff that isn't highly popular. Sorry if you pick something and end up feeling like you wasted your time.



Romeo no Aoi Sora - a boy sells himself so that he can pay for his father's surgery. He has to work as a chimney sweep (which can be very bad for a young body and ruined many children's lives in the old times) in Milan, he lives in terrible conditions, he is treated lower than a human, and then there are the street gangs... Gradually he makes some allies and fights for himself and others. Very impressive story, made me cry several times, sometimes out of happiness.

Oniisama e... - very strong school drama with a beautiful art style. Touches on lesbianism, incest, drugs, suicidal thoughts, incurable diseases, and other controversial topics.

IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix - very nice mecha racing series that talks quite a lot about psychology in sports. Surprisingly high production values for anime with tons of cool electronic songs, great writing, spectacular 3D animation, and so on.

Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra - nice mature fantasy series.

Yomigaeru Sora: Rescue Wings - a realistic look at the work of rescue pilots.

Kachou Ouji - a bunch of aging loser farts team up to play rock "just like in the good old times" so they can save Earth from an alien attack. There are tons of silliness and you'll probably get very sick of hearing the same song again and again, but it's also a good and rare dose of salaryman lifestyle.

Gokiburi-tachi no Tasogare - a philosophical look at life through the eyes of cockroaches. First they are living in peace with a man who just doesn't care, then something happens in his life and a crisis begins. Also it's interesting how the people are real actors, while cockroaches are animated (and don't worry, they are cute and not repulsive at all). Very strange and surreal, I don't know anything similar to it.

Crayon Shin-chan Movie 09 - all adults are infected with something that makes them act very childish, so it's up to their children to save them. Wacky, funny, adventurous and a little sentimental. You don't need to be familiar with the original series at all to watch this.

Cyber City OEDO 808 - it's a classic, a three part scifi action story about criminals working for the government so that they can make their 100+ year prison sentences a little bit smaller with every completed job. Back then studio Madhouse was at its peak of creativity, innovation, production values, everything.

Roujin Z - noone wants to take care of the elderly, so why don't we make a robot that will do all the boring work instead? Oh shit, we forgot that it's Japan...

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun - a slow yet fast romance story that deviates from the norm quite a bit. I was confused by that at first, then realized how cool it is.

Chikyuu Shoujo Arjuna - umm. It's a bit like watching a YouTube rant of some conservative conspiracy theorist talking about how you should be one with nature, how abortion is bad, etc... Except it is done by a team of excellent visual artists along with one of the best Japanese composers and a writer that perhaps simply wants to tell you a good story. If you're very "anti-bullshit" you might not be able to handle it, otherwise give it a try.

Zegapain - great dramatic mecha series that might remind you of Matrix a bit. Don't want to spoil anything, just see for yourself if you want.

Hyper Police - future furry police, what more do you need to know? Tons of 90's fun and quite memorable portrayal of animal love among other things.

Super GALS! - daily lives of young girls in Shibuya, kind of a fashion capital of Tokyo. An attractive unique setting, hilarious humor, tons of silly fun... Which makes the dramatic parts all the better. I think it didn't need 52 episodes but I'm still a fan.

TAMALA 2010: A Punk Cat in Space - a "fuck the world\society" kind of movie. Very artsy, mostly black & white, quite surreal and with excellent music. It gets especially weird toward the end, see if you can understand at least the general idea. But even if you don't, you'll probably enjoy watching it anyway.

Zettai Shounen - this is one of these stories where it's kinda hard to tell what it's really about. There is a small town with a bunch of kids lazily spending their summer, then some mysterious stuff starts happening that doesn't affect their lives that much but yet it's there. Love the overall weirdness, love the calm slow pace, love the music.

Chikyuu Bouei Kigyou Dai-Guard - along with Patlabor, this has to be one of the most anti-romantic outlooks on the mecha genre. This time the robot requires three pilots, and even that way it's quite difficult to use. It's very clumsy and limited in capabilities, so if there is a big obstacle on the way it needs to be dismantled, transported by helicopters, and then combined again, which takes hours. Actually even getting to operate it at all is a struggle because you have to get all sorts of permissions first since using it costs so much. And when our heroes finally win and come back to the base, they don't get applause and have to go through a bunch of boring official documents instead. The plot itself is not so interesting perhaps, but this "salaryman mecha" style is something else, and the human side here is good too.

Space Adventure Cobra (TV) - I give anime a lot of flak for boring pointless action scenes. Cobra is one of the best exceptions from that. Fantastic dose of 80's silliness with space adventures (duh), hot women, and an extremely likeable main character that was probably based on Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 - the most exciting Gundam series that I watched. Very thrilling, plot twists and cliffhangers everywhere. If you've seen Code Geass, it's kind of like it but less about mind games and more about politics and stuff.

Kaleido Star - inspirational shoujo-like series about circus and everything related to it. This is from back when Studio GONZO was making these awesome shows taking place in foreign countries that sort of transcended anime and became something more accessible for the rest of the world. Good times.

Shoujo Kakumei Utena - a masterpiece of surrealism.

Gallery Fake - about an owner of an art gallery, who is an expert on all sorts of stuff like determining forgeries for example. At times it's almost like watching Viasat History or something, other times it can be romantic, thrilling, anything. A good example of an episodic series that is consistently entertaining, or so I thought. I remember only one wtf episode where it became too Indiana Jones-like.

Joshikousei: Girl's High - a dirty ecchi series about airhead schoolgirls that somehow manages to be weirdly sentimental at the same time. The ending sequence is one of the best ever made.

Choujikuu Kidan Southern Cross - another non-typical mecha series. Focuses on the human side just as much as on the war side, which I thought was really nice as it made me care about the characters so much more. Apparently it was originally supposed to be a comedy with a very different focus, and I guess some of that style remained in the final product. Requires a certain level of tolerance for 80's silliness.

Muumindani no Suisei - the Moomin series were fantastic but maybe you don't want to watch like 100 episodes of that, in which case this movie should be more than enough to feel that amazing atmosphere of wonder and chill.

Shinreigari: Ghost Hound - somewhat similar to Zettai Shounen but with much more focus on pseudoscience, creepy paranormal stuff, etc. Kinda genius I think.

Platonic Chain - in the future someone hacks the internet and creates a web service where you can look up any street cam recording and a whole bunch of stuff about almost any person. However, it's not some thriller with FBI running around. Instead you get to look at high school girls having fun with that service. And it's all in lovely outdated 3D. :D I adore it because it feels like a perfect embodiment of early computer animation, and most stories are quick, fun, and witty.

Kuuchuu Buranko - eleven stories about an eccentric psychiatrist and his weird patients. Almost every episode will make you think like "omg, I might have this disorder too". Experimental animation style and music that fucks with your brain are used to portray the absurdity of human mind really well. Watching this felt a bit like rediscovering anime all over again, that's how fresh it seemed to me.

Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula - mecha again. UN organizes a robot duel contest that is supposed to unite the crumbling world. Several countries participate and the winner will basically take control of everything. Of course no one is going to play fair... I really liked the drama and suspense, even though at times it drags somewhat.

Black Blood Brothers - very solid series about vampires, their gang conflicts, their struggle to survive in the modern world, etc. Good constant pace, well developed setting, oldschool-ish character designs. Didn't find anything to complain about.

Paranoia Agent - crazy, incomprehensible, amazing.

Brigadoon: Marin to Melan - very unique and varied. I don't want to ruin anything so no further comment, just watch it maybe.

Master Keaton - somewhat similar to Gallery Fake in that it also reminded me of documentary television at times. This time the focus is more on general survival tips and historical knowledge rather than art.

Stop!! Hibari-kun! - also kinda genius, this is where my current avatar comes from btw. It's not fully translated anyway so I'll be lazy and won't describe it.

Red Garden - a few American girls get killed but get a chance to continue living, except they now also have to fight zombies or some stupid shit. So it's sort of like Gantz, except this time the focus is mainly on how this mystical weirdness affects their everyday lives. I like how outright girly it is, and the art style feels is fresh and attractive. I really wish studio Gonzo made more stuff in this "non-anime" style.

Takarajima - an excellent adaptation of Treasure Island.
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milagros
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Re: best anime

Post by milagros »

i've just finished watching Monster (old manga from 80ties or so)
was kinda ok, the main evil character was from Czechoslovakia, so I could relate to him
nab ending
[carebox]
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Ruben
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Re: best anime

Post by Ruben »

Most anime is... shit to be honest. Sure there is some good stuff out there, but I mean look at Myiazaki's movies, they're beautifully animated, every frame a painting, rich detailed worlds depicting bizarre and wonderful stories. You can tell that so much care is put into his movies. It's amazing. Then on the other hand there's the mass-produced trash that goes for "anime" these days, often with no regard for aestethics, cutting as many corners as possible to save time and money, with characters whose defining trait is the colour of their hair and the pitch of their voice. Anime was indeed a mistake.

Now based on that, what anime would you recommend to me?
<veezay> antti also gonna get stabbed later this month
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My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
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kuchitsu
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Re: best anime

Post by kuchitsu »

Well, if you're going to compare movies made by one of the richest companies to TV shows made on a small budget then obviously it will be very easy to get disappointed. Most anime companies are struggling quite a lot financially, and piracy arguably plays the biggest role in that nowadays. So the creators are somewhat forced to cater to the segment of audience which still actually buys stuff. And that segment can be kinda pathetic (e.g. fat sweaty otakus who are interested in buying figures of the female characters where you can look what's under their skirts), so naturally anime made for these people won't be the best. Well, of course this won't suddenly make you love everything but maybe it's good to know.

Curiously, the most successful years of anime are tied quite close to the way technologies were developing. I.e. in 90s there was a bit of a VHS boom, everyone was buying/renting these, and so some of the most expensively made stuff (e.g. the OVAs by Madhouse) was exactly on these direct-to-video releases. 2004-2009 or so were also highly successful because that's when DVDs became really big while the download speeds were still low for many people, and so piracy wasn't as ridiculously comfortable as it is today. During that time Japanese companies also had very nice cooperation with the west: several titles were released in USA and other countries and received quite well. Some shows back then were quite clearly made more for the west, they were noticeably different from the typical stories about Japanese schools and samurais, it was very refreshing to see. But then the pirates took over and now we have what we have. Most companies are struggling nowadays. Currently paid streaming is on the rise and maybe it will change something, but I'm not familiar enough with current anime to comment on it. I see that HD video and the development of new tools allows the artists to use more colors and put more detail in the picture, but I'm not sure about the overall quality yet (sparkly and colorful HD video can be deceptive, sometimes it's only a goofy attempt to hide the lack of real artistic skills). One interesting recent trend is the rise of female-oriented fanservice (e.g. sexy boys, hints at homo relationships, etc), which I welcome.

So yeah, if you're looking for high production values it might be a good idea to choose stuff from these "golden" years. Mononoke has excellent artsy visuals and surprisingly nice use of 3D, but the stories in it are highly tied to Japanese mythology which can make them less accessible for an "outsider". Casshern Sins is a very emotional philosophical apocalyptic journey with one of the most unique art styles in anime. Beck is a catchy teen story about a boy in a rock band, his love, and everything. Planetes is a nicely mature series about garbage collectors in space, I think this one is the most likely to impress you actually, maybe try it?
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Ruben
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Re: best anime

Post by Ruben »

Wow, okay thanks Kuchi, I'll check them out =D
<veezay> antti also gonna get stabbed later this month
<nick-o-matic> niec

My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
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