The all things Anime related thread.

[memyselfandi]

If you haven't got them on order try and get the overtures (theres 2 which are like 2 episodes) too, they supposedly fit in after episode 6 (looks about the right place to me too) and give an insight into some of the past etc, not necessarily needed for the series but good for the series as a whole to fill in some gaps etc.

Well hopefully if the first season boxset sells ok hopefully Funimation will release a boxset of the second series as that was also a Geneon property. You never they might even license the Overture OVA ....

On an unrelated note ..... Yay! my Marmite has shipped! ... should be here tomorrow or Thursday

May be interesting the end of next week as there's another conference in the US and there's hints that ADV may be announcing a new backer and new licenses to replace the ones they lost with the breakup of the Solitz(sp) partnership. But on the other hand with the number of ADV rumours flying around ... who knows ...

 

[Werewolf]

Search for 737-25747 on the ATI site, you may need a different player software?

lsg1r, I'm glad to see Rozen Maidens good ... I have the boxset which is coming out in September on pre-order currently, (I um'ed and ah-ed about getting it for ages until the point when the single volume became difficult to source). Not having seen it yet though it difficult for me to comment on series which are like it.

Thanks i'll try some more players (ZLC, zoom, classic and wmp11 tried), it'll be a shame if none of the current players will do it under vista

I didn't realise Rozen Maiden was coming out in a box set, I might get that ordered soon as it's one of the titles that caught my eye before Geonon disappeared but i never got round to trying.

 

[loopstah]

So, I've nearly sold all my anime now. Got about 350 discs left out of 3500.

I really want to keep some of the best of the best though so I'm looking for suggestions of the flashiest, most impressive, best storyline, best looking anime series to keep.

Stuff I've already decided on keeping:

The Ghibli Collection
Last Exile
Ghost in the Shell 1+2
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society
Hellsing: Ultimate
She, the Ultimate Weapon
RahXephon + the Movie
Escaflowne + the Movie (because I love it even if it is old)
Appleseed
Appleseed: Ex-Machina
Final Fantasy: Advent Children
Chrono Crusade (because I love it as well)
Samurai 7 (I actually sold this but want to buy it again).

So what are the mind-blowingly best of the best anime I should keep (or buy)?

It's got to have excellent animation, an excellent story and just be kickass (eg. like Stand Alone Complex and Last Exile.)

Please don't say EVA, I don't rate it, the animation is old anyway.

 

[SkeeterUK]

Desertpunk is a keeper for the comedy and adult themes.
Deathnote
Devilman
Urotsukidoji
Steam boy
3x3 eyes
guyver
full metal alchemist

Things like this i would consider keepers.

 

[memyselfandi]

So, I've nearly sold all my anime now. Got about 350 discs left out of 3500.

I really want to keep some of the best of the best though so I'm looking for suggestions of the flashiest, most impressive, best storyline, best looking anime series to keep.

Stuff I've already decided on keeping:

The Ghibli Collection
Last Exile
Ghost in the Shell 1+2
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society
Hellsing: Ultimate
She, the Ultimate Weapon
RahXephon + the Movie
Escaflowne + the Movie (because I love it even if it is old)
Appleseed
Appleseed: Ex-Machina
Final Fantasy: Advent Children
Chrono Crusade (because I love it as well)
Samurai 7 (I actually sold this but want to buy it again).

So what are the mind-blowingly best of the best anime I should keep (or buy)?

It's got to have excellent animation, an excellent story and just be kickass (eg. like Stand Alone Complex and Last Exile.)

Please don't say EVA, I don't rate it, the animation is old anyway.

hmmmmm ..... (have to admit I agree with you on EVA )

Difficult to know what to suggest ... could easily reel off several dozen series which are "good" but that's not what you want to know (and you'll know them already ). I'm going to have to go with what I consider to be the best all round series in different genres.

Initial thought's are as follows:

- Placed Promised in Our Early Days and 5cm/s .... basically for the visuals. Both of these look very good on a big screen, (although Blu-ray releases would probably be even better if they are released at some point in the future). 5cm/s is a bit light on plot in my opinion though.

- Shakugan no Shana ... volumes #1 and #2 are out on R2 but there's a R1 boxset coming in September which will work out cheaper. I've seen this on *cough* and it's a good supernatural style series with some good battles and really nice visuals.

- Kanon .... if vol #6 is ever released properly be Funimation. It is one of the best series in its genre that I've ever seen and the visuals from Kyoto Animation are excellent. It has a gripping story which will have you crying at times. In my opinion it is quite a bit better than their previous offering, Air ... their next offering Clannad is extremely good too, but not yet licensed, but looses some of Kanon's intensity for a touch more humour.

- Azumanga Daioh ... for the simple humour and the way it shows that you can have funny, character based school series without having to resort to fan service.

- Genshiken ... again for best in genre for slice of life. It's not big and flashy but look at the corridors when they go to the club room, with it's old, dirty, torn posters and bits of furniture it's more realistic than many other series you can see. It also will serve as a reminder of some of the reasons why people like Anime.

- Kiddygrade ... Sci-Fi with some action. Good visuals and plot, (as in after the first few episodes you'd never gues where the plot would be half way through and from there you'd not guess what it'd be at the end).

- Samurai Champaloo ... an excellent example of how you can have a ninja series which is funny, but with a more adult style of humour and without stooping to a Naruto type kiddy show level. Looks good, nice plot, good fight scenes.

I'm trying very hard not to say Marmite, I haven't seen how good the sub tracks are on the new release yet compared with *cough* but it's an excellent character drama with good visuals. I am not going to say get it as I am highly biased as it's one of my favourite series, but I suggest you read the review over at AoD and then consider it if you want to.

I may come back with other suggestions after I've seen what others think I also agree with most of your suggestions. [must hit submit ... I've already added two more series than I was going too]

edit: Unrelated, I saw Chrono Crusade for the first time the other day and enjoyed it a lot more than I initially expected I was going to. I have to admit to tearing up a bit near the end too. Currently have the OST on the way

edit2: need to learn how to spell, punctuate, grammer etc etc etc ....

edit3: I see you are currently selling two of my suggestions at the moment ... slaps forehead

 

[lsg1r]

SNIP

So what are the mind-blowingly best of the best anime I should keep (or buy)?

It's got to have excellent animation, an excellent story and just be kickass (eg. like Stand Alone Complex and Last Exile.)

Right off the top of my head (mostly used english naming too) and what I rate highly (4 or 5 stars) so may not be your cup of tea

• Karas 1 and 2 - you need both to get the full story - flashy animation
• Vexille - similar animation quality to appleseed ex machina (I think this is quality by the way) although the story isn't quite as good.
• Eureka 7 - fantastic storyline, probably in top 5 favourite anime
• Rozen Maiden (series 1) + Traumend (series 2) and OVA's - again as I mentioned earlier, its very endearing and again I would say top 5 anime.
• Bubblegum Crisis 2040 - its just fun mindless entertainment really, hell the plots thin enough .
• Heroic Age - its got a generic mecha story but the 'mecha' are different (think super strong warrior race been merged with 5 other races and can be formed on demand, the enemies are sufficiently different too) enough to make it interesting.
• Yumeria - it actually made me laugh and thats quite hard to do, but don't expect any serious plot/story to it.
• Simoun - bit of a weird story this but once you get past some of the unecessary parts (if you ever watch it you will figure it out) in the first few episodes the story actually is pretty good.
• Burst Angel - I thought the animation was pretty good as a whole.
• Glass Fleet - The Legend of the Wind of the Universe - its different enough to be interesting
• Sky Girls - don't ask me why I like it as I haven't a clue but I enjoyed it.
• Full Metal Panic - enjoyed the idea and the squirming of a hardcore merc around women and of course there was tessa
• Macross Saga (ie the box set with the 3 series in)
• Rahxephon as you mentioned
• Zoids take you pick on the series but I like genesis (the latest japanese only iirc one) the most I think it seems to have a better overall story - I grew up with zoid toys.
• Final Fantasy, the spirits within and advent children (I like this a lot too) would also have been suggested.
• Mobile Suit Gundam 00 - not as keen on the older ones (not saying they're bad) but this one seems to be the best one for me, definately the best animation thats for sure.
• Soukyuu No Fafner - take rahxephon and mix it with gundam, not too bad overall

If I mentioned anything above I have watched all of the episodes and didn't switch off which I have done on several anime (Godannar, Generator Gawl for example) meaning theres atleast something there to capture my attnetion and I'm a fickle so and so.

Also going to suggest ergo proxy and gilgamesh, mainly due to the different style of animations used but can't comment much more than that as I've seen a bit here and there on them.
As you said she, the ultimate weapon - what about elfen lied, haven't got round to watching it yet but its a similar vein to she.

I wouldn't have said eva (assuming you mean evangelion here) as one I haven't seen all of them and 2 I started with rahxephon which everyone was saying was an eva rip even though it clearly has its own style and enough of a difference to make it its own series if you get what I mean. And from what I've seen I prefered rahxephon.

Also suprised by the lack of things like metropolis, akira and tokyo godfathers etc being that they are generally acknowledged as quality anime for their time. Not saying they're perfect, having watched akira recently and found it dull compared with my memories from the first watch (I thought it was brilliant when I first saw it) it is one of those anime that can easily be used to introduce people to the genre.

 

[memyselfandi]

I find it quite amusing that three people have made suggestions so far with no overlap in what's being suggested ... at this rate you'll be back at 3500

 

[memyselfandi]

Werewolf, once you have your new HTPC working properly with your TV try and get hold of the Sugardansen AMV by Boomi ... there's a 848x480 res mp4 version out there (instead of a rubbish youtube version).

Unlike most of these is not based on one series and looks absolutely amazing on a big screen, (wish I new what anime was used at 2:02-2:13 though).

 

[memyselfandi]

Yay!

My Marmite Season 1 boxset is sitting on my desk in front of me

 

[loopstah]

full metal alchemist

I sold Steamboy, it wasn't a re-watch for me. The rest are old or not epic enough.

- Placed Promised in Our Early Days
- Kiddygrade

I love Azumanga but it isn't really something I would watch again. It's a great show but I've seen it once.

Place Promised was beautiful but a bit light on story.

I'll probably be picking up Kiddy Grade again at some point, it is quite good, and looks flash as well.

• Vexille
• Eureka 7
• Simoun
• Burst Angel
• Glass Fleet
• Full Metal Panic

Good picks, I've got FMP! already and my Burst Angel discs all arrived scratched to hell so I can't sell them anyway. The others seem along the right lines, flashy and impressive.

• Heroic Age
• Sky Girls

Have to check these out, not heard of them.

Also going to suggest ergo proxy and gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is definitely a watch once anime, after you've seen the end there isn't much point keeping it.
I like the look of Ergo Proxy though and I'll probably re-buy Elfen Lied.


My main problem is I have a fantastic memory when it comes to books and anime, once I've seen something, I can remember pretty much the whole show so only the really amazing stuff is actually worth watching more than once. I have to leave 3 years between reading my favourite books so I don't always know what's coming next.

 

[SkeeterUK]

They really should invent a amnesia pill so ppl can re-enjoy films, music and of couse ANIME!

 

[memyselfandi]

I don't know ... I can quite happily read or watching things that i like again and again despite having seen them before and knowing how they go.

Quite often find that you pick up on things which you have missed the first time

 

[loopstah]

I don't know ... I can quite happily read or watching things that i like again and again despite having seen them before and knowing how they go.

Quite often find that you pick up on things which you have missed the first time

I'm not going to have much spare time though, so if I am watching something again I want it to be incredible, like Ghost in the Shell (which I could watch for the music alone) or Last Exile (for flying ships and gorgeous art). I could happily watch both on repeat.

Other stuff while still great shows, don't really give me that watch again feeling.

 

[lsg1r]

I find it quite amusing that three people have made suggestions so far with no overlap in what's being suggested ... at this rate you'll be back at 3500

Why everyone has different tastes and everyone will watch anime in a different order, I've probably watched anime that some of the others haven't seen and vice versa so we're going to have different favourites.

My main problem is I have a fantastic memory when it comes to books and anime, once I've seen something, I can remember pretty much the whole show so only the really amazing stuff is actually worth watching more than once. I have to leave 3 years between reading my favourite books so I don't always know what's coming next.

I'm a bit like this, I can normally watch an anime/film a couple of times and get the sequence of events down and know when something is happening etc. But I also can leave something for a few years/months and come back to it and enjoy it again (I've done this with Babylon 5 for example)

Quite often find that you pick up on things which you have missed the first time

Definately agree on this one, some anime even require you to watch more than once.

 

[ANDARIAL]

My Marmite Season 1 boxset is sitting on my desk in front of me

Lucky bugger i am still waiting for mine to arrive
What are the subs like?How true to the`Cough`versions we have are they?Any glaring irritatations in the translations?

 

[memyselfandi]

Lucky bugger i am still waiting for mine to arrive
What are the subs like?How true to the`Cough`versions we have are they?Any glaring irritatations in the translations?

Well I've watched the first six episodes, (i.e. the first two disks), including the first three omake episodes and end of episode trailers for the next episode. This takes me up to just before the Valentine Day arc which was a good break point.

My general impression is .... I'm using the second subtitle track which has the Japanese honorifics which is a definite improvement over the usual type of thing in that you get Sei-sama instead of Lady Sei etc.

There are some minor variences with previous versions but nothing significant has been changed that I noticed, just a few minor details and choices of words, the meanings are normally the same. The word sister is used more than I think we have seen previously but listening to what is being set that actually seems more accurate most of the time, (they are not actually saying soeur). There are a couple of times that they use Big Sister when I would have preferred onee-sama but it's ok. One irritent is that the normal greeting is sometimes translated as Good Morning or Good Afternoon instead of Good Day, but thats relatively minor.

The trailers at the end of episodes have been translated well and are actually worth watching instead of skipping over. The omake episodes have ok translation but they do suffer a bit from having normal translations instead of the honorifics being maintained.

All in all I'd say I'm very happy.

 

[ANDARIAL]

Just got home from work to find my Maria-Sama boxset has arrived
Will be having a Anime fest this weekend me thinks

 

[memyselfandi]

Oh yes .... if it's sunny then it's to hot to do anything other than watch anime and if it's raining then there's no point doing anything but anime .... it's win/win

And in other news apparently Funimation are supposedly releasing Kanon Vol 6 on 14th October (yay!)

 

[memyselfandi]

Finished watching Maria-sama earlier ... had a few translation points which I'd have worded differently but nothing major ... overall very happy with it and looking forward to season 2 which I think is being released near the end of the year.

Also watched Gurren Lagann vol 1 (SE) ... the "SE" gets you a CD with the DVDs. I didn't really know what to expect from this, I read and heard things which said it was good but I didn't really know much about the series. Overall I thought that it was pretty good with plenty of humour and action.

ALso watched disk 1 of Tweeny Witches ... which was ok but wasn't really holding my attention so I'll probably start it again at some other time. The art box for this series is very nice though, looks like a book and even has the cover overhang around the edges that you get with a hardback book.

Also finished Moonphase ... cute and funny but with vampires mixed in .... last episode was a bit surreal though ...

Have started watching Beck ... half way through disk 2 so far and it's looking quite good ...

 

[Werewolf]

I think i'm going to wait for a thinpack release of Kanon, despite having got the first disk (still unwatched ), as i've realised i'm still going to have a space problem in here for disks

Gurren Lagann is one of the series I really do want to watch, but i'll be waiting for an English dub release, and possibly to see if Beez announce it for here (they've been surprising me fairly consistently).

I watched Patlabor Wasted XIII last night, which looks superb, even just the nomal DVD on my new TV*, I think i'm going to watch the Mini Pato episodes in the next couple of days.

Moonphases is cute/funny, but as you say a bit odd at the end.

*So far i've been extremely impressed with how the TV deals with SD material, i'm using RGB for my DVD player at the moment