Any decent anime?

[eri]

I've been meaning to ask this and wasn't sure if we could make a new thread about it.  But, we do have this BBS-wide double love for Sailor Moon with some casual anime-watching. Plus, this happened:
<div>
[quote="showraniy"]
I got bored and made this, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn2HweifDFA">Massara Blue Jeans featuring Mew Mew Strawberry</a>.
[/quote]
 
I liked it.
 
I also don't think I've mentioned it to you before when you've talked about it, but Tokyo Mew Mew is one of my favorite guilty pleasures, so yay a Mew fan~
 
</blockquote>
 
SO anyway, maybe we can have an anime thread?
 
 
 
 
TO START OFF, my question is: are there any decent magical girl animes?  Or any good "girl" shows in general?  
I grew up obsessing over Sailor Moon and even as an adult, I can't really shake my love for it.  But also as an adult, anime stopped being interesting.  Shows are a little too fan-service tacky or too commercially oriented and childish (ie designed to sell toys to 7 year olds). We casually watch a few shows (Attack on Titan) but I feel like I'm always searching for a nostalgic and relaxing Sailor Moon replacement.
 
So far, these are the non-Sailor Moon shows that I liked enough to watch through to the end.
"Magical Girl"
 
1. Shojo Kakumei Utena -- interesting art and "artistic" soundtrack with a completely bizarre and pretty dark story blessed by Kunihiko Ikuhara all wrapped up in a faux fairy tale framework. A deconstructed "magical girl" show that predates Madoka by like 15 years. 
 
2. Princess Tutu -- beautiful art, beautiful music, exceptional story based on various classical ballets. It felt incredibly satisfying. 
 
3. Maho Shojo Madoka Magica -- reminded me of Utena with less tongue in cheek humor and more straightforward angsty "wtf?!"
 
4. Card Captor Sakura  -- ultra sweet drawings and story; it feels like a brainless goodnight story where I can see CLAMP characters flouncing around in frilly dresses.  Not strong enough to keep my attention but it is nice over breakfast or while folding laundry.  
 
5. Shugo Chara -- sweet with cute designs and a feel good story -- very similar to Card Captor.   
 
Never saw Ojamajo, Tokyo Mew Mew, or Nanoha.  Sugar Sugar Rune was very cute but I never really watched the episodes consistently and can't remember much about it.  
</div>
 
 
Here are the shows that I couldn't sit through.
 
1. Pretty Cure -- this show is very clearly designed to sell products to very young girls.  This means lower quality designs (so everything can be made into a cheap plastic toy) and hugely formulaic story lines.  The annoying side kick mascots made Pretty Cure unwatchable (though I did score some cool transformation lockets in Tokyo through McDonalds).  I know there are 1098109283108 iterations of Pretty Cure and maybe I should give them another shot.
 
2. Fantasista Doll (currently on crunchy roll) -- incredibly creepy fan service for guys.  I can't believe they listed this as a shojo genre. 
 
3. Rayearth -- loved the manga but the anime felt...I don't know.  The art work did not translate well, imo. 
 
4. Full Moon wo Sagashite -- BARRRRFFFFF.  I sat through the entire show because so many people promised it was good. What is this cheesy sentimental cliche crap? 
 

[showraniy]

I'm not entirely sure I would recommend Tokyo Mew Mew just because it's not everyone's cup of tea. In my opinion, it has some of the most obnoxious shoujo cliches that Sailor Moon also suffers from (everyone and everything is in love with the main heroine, by god if the other Mews/Senshi get any attention from villain of the week), and there's a guy who is obsessed with main heroine to the point of being downright batshit and scary, BUUUT... for me it pushes my fangirl buttons in some weird way.
 
Steer clear of that thing they call Mew Mew Power though; it's exactly what people hate dubs for.
 
[quote="eri"]4. Full Moon wo Sagashite -- BARRRRFFFFF.  I sat through the entire show because so many people promised it was good. What is this cheesy sentimental cliche crap? [/quote]
 
Full Moon wo Sagashite is ABSOLUTELY a manga-only series. The TV show was aimed at a younger audience and ended well in advance of the manga, so the middle and most of the stuff leading up to the end is TV show only. Tanemura had a good say in what happened in the anime if I remember correctly, so all the key points are there, but the manga ending had the same key points happen pretty differently with a whole new set of characters involved.
 
It's been a lot of years since I last read and watched any of it, but I remember the anime being the laundry-watching experience you had with Card Captor Sakura, but the manga held my attention much more.
 
That's not to say it's a great series by any means. Tanemura's kind of a crappy storyteller, but Full Moon is definitely her magnum opus so she somehow pulled all the stops for that one. IMO, the main character is much more likeable than most shoujo leads and the supporting cast is just as good with very interesting and dark back stories. That makes the series good for me even if the overarching story can sometimes be a little lame.
 
Edit: LOL MOVE ALONG NO ONE SAW ME SAY "OPUS MAGNUM" INSTEAD OF "MAGNUM OPUS."

[Vikitty]

I loved Ah! Megami-sama (Oh! My Goddess) even though it's not really magical girls, more like girls who have magical powers because they're goddesses.

[star]

Tokyo Mew Mew appeals to a very narrow fan base. Its not for everyone. I'd say give it a try if you don't mind the pushy "Save the whales!" message, Ichigo hogging the spotlight, or some very cliche moments. Although 95% of it is girly and cutesy, there are a few darker episodes that tie the story together. I don't really know any other "magical girl" shows to suggest.
 

[Anderei]

[quote="Valerie"]
I loved Ah! Megami-sama (Oh! My Goddess) even though it's not really magical girls, more like girls who have magical powers because they're goddesses.
[/quote]
 
I love it too, but I'm also not sure it's really aimed at girls. It might still be worth a shot, though.

[Shoujo Q]

I don't watch much anime, but when I do. I loves it SO MUCH! I really can't answer you question since I never really exposed myself to a lot of anime.
 
 
<div>
There is one series that I don't see listed. I have it in a box set, got it from a trade actually. I've watched bits of it, but never sat down and watched it in full yet.


Mahō Tsukai Tai! Reason I got it was for the opening. It's like, one of my favorite opening songs. I really should sit down and watch it some day. xD
<a href="http://youtu.be/1UBLrC2uPCc">Best OPing song Ever~</a> (It reminds me of Kiki's Delivery Service.)
</div>
<div> </div>
 
 
Now I'll just go on a rant about series I've watched in the past that I've liked. 
 
Macross Frontier - Idols and Mecha, what more could you love? I also adore the original Macross series as well, but I think that has something to do with Robotech being the first anime I ever really got introduced to.
Martian Successor Nadesico - I'm not sure what it was about this anime I liked, but it's one of the few I still own today in box set. 
Card Captor Sakura - The replacement for my lack of Sailormoon. I liked when CLAMP started to use this style in their artwork instead of the style from X and Magic Knight Rayearth. I think that's what also drew me to Clover, but that manga never got a proper anime series. Though it would have been epic if it did. I didn't like the spin off Tsubasa/XXHolic alternate reality whatever the hell that was show though. 
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - This anime series brought me back into the anime fold. The animation was great, the ending sequence is still a classic and the story made you think because when it originally aired, they purposefully did it out of order so it made you think. It made me a fan of Kyoto Animation and I still am a fan of them today. Which brings me to.
K-ON!! - A moe anime with some great music. <3 I have nothing really to add to that other then I wish they would make another season. xD
Ouran Host Club - It's an anime aimed at girls for sure. To be honest I only watched it because I wanted to see how Maaya Sakamoto did as a tomboyish character. At the time it wasn't something she was known for doing. I still love this series too. 
 
Shugo Chara was great until they jumped the shark and cut the series in half.. Though I shouldn't fault them since one of the manga writers from Peach Pit got sick and they put the manga on hold. Thus screwing with everything. 
 
After a very long drought, I've started to watch a bit of anime again.
 
Free! being one and the other being Gin no Saji.
 
I adore Gin for it's true slice of life feel. It's about a city kid who goes to agricultural high school in rural Hokkaido. It exposes the viewers to the real life behind the scenes action of where our food comes from and just what goes into how it all gets there. It's not PETA level stuff, it's more just like, opening your eyes and making you not so naive about it, and I think it's probably going to be one of my favorite series ever if it continues to go as it is. I know it's been green lighted for a 2nd season and they have a live action movie in the works. Considering the author is the same one who did Full Metal Alchemist, I expected it to be good, but I don't know. I've just fallen in love with the characters. It's a good show to wind down my week with. I have NO idea who it would be marketed to. I'm going to say, girls? But then I guess it could be guys. Or probably the general public? Maybe teen girls? I'm bad at this. xD
 
Series I want to watch.
 
Sugar Sugar Rune, Sasami: Magical Girls Club (Only because Ogawa Mana played Sasami) You have no idea how many times I replayed <a href="http://youtu.be/Ux-NDo4ukeQ">Magical Sweets.</a> And then to find out Ogawa Mana was part of Canary Club. I literally had a fangasm.
 
Speaking of which Magical Girl Pretty Sammy was another series I never watched. Though I did watch a bit of Tenchi back in the day, It just wasn't available to me.
 

[Melon]

OH GOD GUYS STOP WITH THE SHORT RESPONSES I'M ABOUT TO SOUND LIKE A GODDAMN FUJOSHI AGAIN.
 
You named all of the series I was going to say, magical girl wise. D: Shoujo manga is my guilty pleasure! I know you know Japanese, but I went ahead and put the Japanese names and the English names they were released under/on crunchy. Also, I added some quick notes of shows that are on crunchy that you should stay away from. I've seen several of the anime adaptations, but some I've only read the manga. I'll note which ones those are though.
 
The FM anime was adapted when the manga was only three chapters in. Tanemura had a talk in the first volume where she was all "Wut!?" when they told her. I like her no holds barred pure shoujo art so I'll put up with her less than stellar storytelling (though I think she's a notch above other typical shoujo artists because she usually puts at least one twist on a typical trope into her stories)
 
She also had a series called "Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne", which was loosely inspired by Kaitou Saint Tail (which is an old series, but I also enjoyed it for what it was). I'm not sure I remember the anime of Jeanne too  much, but I did enjoy the manga. It's a nice read for a rainy afternoon. Not to say it doesn't indulge in the usual shoujo tropes, but I enjoyed when the twist occurred and the fact that she touched on virginity not being the be-all and end-all of pureness.
 
More recently, there is "Kimi ni Todoke/From me to You". It's a slow paced anime, but I enjoyed the development of the lead. The manga may be more tolerable since many things are read faster than animated, but it's about a shy girl coming out of her shell. Since the romantic interest is also shy about his feelings (despite being an outgoing person), their romance is on the tepid scale, but what I enjoy about him is that he puts her personal growth over his feelings for her.
 
There is also "Tonari no Kaibutsukun/My Little Monster", which is an adorable series about the loner girl who wouldn't take a guy's shit and now he won't leave her alone and she matures and has friends and the like. Errr...kind of like Kimi ni Todoke, the lead isn't as passive/shy as Sawako is. In the same vein (I think after Kimi ni Todoke was popular they adapted a bunch of similar works) is "Suki tte ii na yo/Say I love you". I think if I ranked them, I enjoyed Tonari a tad more than Kimi*, and Suki is more of a "I'm in the mood for this" sort of show. *Kimi is the most popular of the three
 
If you can handle Otome, Diabolik Lovers is an adaptation of a popular otome game series. I haven't seen it yet, but the games are rather... let's just say they star a weak heroine that is abused/mindbroken by the male leads. I'm not sure how they'll handle it in the anime, but I'm not sure I could handle watching a girl being mindbroken when reading summaries of the games turned me off. I might watch it sometime and give it a try.
 
There's a magical girl show airing right now that's some sort of AU Fate/Stay Night spinoff. STAY AWAY from that fanservice POS.
 
Chihayafuru is an adaptation of a josei title. It's an amazing show. I love it. It's slow paced, and give it past the flashback, but you will grow to love the characters and they grow realistically, particularly the lead, Chihaya. As another note - it's about Karuta, and they manage to make the "battles" more intense than an action show.
 
AMNESIA was another adaptation of an otome game. The lead doesn't have a name. That should be your first clue to stay away. IT IS SHIT. The game was shit, the show is even shittier. The lead spends her time being all "HURR DURR? HUUUURRRRR? HUR?" and in general being a boring husk.
 
And yet another game, Uta no Prince-sama, more of the same generic harem basic boring bland BS.
 
There is a modern adaptation of "The Glass Mask" along with the first/old adaptation. It's soooo classic shoujo, but hey! Also check out Rose of Versailles! It's the inspiration for Utena! :D
 
You might find it streaming on funimation's site because it was licensed by them, but Princess Jellyfish is good. (It's also a josei manga adapation) The only downside is the manga wasn't finished so we don't really resolve a lot of character arcs/relationships, but it is a great 12 episode ride that gives enough closure to be satisfied. (Please give us a second season someday ;_;)
 
Usagi Drop (I believe it was another josei manga) was okay. The ending really soured me on it. I'm not sure if the anime ended like the manga though. It was a cute story in the guy taking care of a little girl genre. I think there was also a show, Aishiteruze Baby! that was also in the same vein. Difference being AB was a shoujo adapation, so the male lead is in high school while UD is a businessman. I liked AB, but I also last read/saw it in high school so I have no clue if it would stand up as an adult.
 
Otome Yokai Zakuro - Not the best of series, not the worst. Just a middling show in general. What I did enjoy was the time period it was set in along with the fantasy elements.
Hakuoki is another adaptation of an otome game. It's not that bad, it's not that great, just middling (okay, so the guy I hated most in the game is the "true route" here). I did enjoy the time period though. The game released for the PSP was a good ride though.
 
AH! Megami-sama is a seinen title iirc, not shoujo. It's a harem show. I didn't really like it.
 
In general not shoujo anime, DURARARA!!! was a good show! I also liked East of Eden. Natsume Yujin-cho is another great show.
 
....
 
this makes it seem like I watch a lot of anime, and I really don't. I haven't even kept up with FREE! this season.
 
But yes, I do adore shoujo for all its stupid tropes and melodramatic bullshit.

[showraniy]

Oh! I don't know how I forgot this one, but I really enjoyed the much more ethereal, kind of high-end anime-ish feel of Earth Maiden Arjuna. This ain't your mother's magical girl anime.
 
Be warned that it is on the heavy-handed side of very heavy-handed environmentalism agenda, but if you can get past that, it's a very enjoyable dark magical girl show. Yoko Kanno did the soundtrack and it's one of my favorites from her even if many of her other works get much more attention.

[al kusanagi]

<a href="http://www.crunchyroll.com/watamote-no- ... ">WataMote is pretty much the best thing going right now.</a>

[Melon]

Watamote is kind of a hard watch though.
 
I had trouble reading through the manga. It's so...cringe-worthy. It doesn't have much character development either. It's more like, "Look at what embarrassing thing is happening this week!" D:

[Melon]

OOPS forgot to mention -
 
<a href="http://www.crunchyroll.com/little-witch ... ia">Little Witch Academia</a>
 
It's a short animation and is pure bliss.

[Melon]

hell i'm procrastinating let's livestreamthought diabolik lovers episode 1!
"lines in quotation marks are direct from the show" be prepared
 
oh look at this thoughtful piano theme
 
oooo nice house
 
oh no ominous fountain gargoyle soooo scary
 
OMG sudden rainfall!
 
....
 
after the ground is soaked and thus the heroine, she gives us the mindful insight of "It's raining!"
 
She is still standing in the rain after this revelation. Oh god it's going to be one of those girls.
 
She is staring up at the sky like it is the first time she has ever seen rain.
 
Thunder! Lightening! SO SCARY
 
OH NOW SHE RUNS OUT OF THE RAIN
 
(WE ARE ONLY ONE MINUTE AND THIRTY SECONDS INTO THE SHOW BTW)
 
Knock knock OH SHIT THE DOOR OPENED BY ITSELF AND IT'S STORMING GUYS
 
Well, at least it's a killer mansion inside. LOOK at that chandelier! So classy!
 
Ah yes, the sleeping bishounen in a suit with his shirt unbuttoned, belt laying across the bottom of the untucked shirt not in the loops, one pant leg rolled up and his tie laying across his glistening pectorals and abs  oh he's so edgy and dangerous!
 
Hold on.
 
Hold on hold on hold on. Stop the train.
 
This girl, this clever girl, thinks being asleep is some sort of severe illness. "Are you okay???????" panicpanicpanic he didn't respond omg!!
 
She then touches his hand with the tips of her fingers because I dunno when I wake someone up I touch their hand. "IT'S COLD!!" gasp!!! You don't mean.... HE MUST BE DEAD!!!!????
 
So she places her head against HIS STOMACH (look, it's supposed to be his chest, but the shot leading up to it is clearly his stomach) and remarks "He has no pulse! This is bad!!! I need to call an ambulance!"
 
I'm not sure if I can handle the entire episode. I don't think I can do this.
 
So as she's calling, the guy wakes up, of course, and tells her to stfu. Oh no he has the "cat" slant eyes, this must mean he's the one that's going to try and kiss her or some shit before their scene ends.
 
She protests about her expert diagnosis of death and he grabs her and throws her onto the couch. "EH NANI?"
 
"You know the answer to that." He straddles her, leans down, and slobbers all over her neck. "I'm about to take you."
(I CALLED IT!.gif)
 
He grins evilly and little fangs appear. That means he must be..... a vampire!
 
Oh here comes the savior. Rapist is upset Savior interrupted rape time. Savior tells Rapist to "rape in the comfort of his own room because they're in the front of the mansion, and the front of the mansion is used to greet guests" oh god what a classless buffoon how embarrassing to be caught raping in the front of the house! What will the neighbors say?
 
Rapist is all fuck you killjoy and gets off the heroine, who runs to the Savior and asks him to help her. I see our heroine taking ten times as long to realize simple things is going to be a theme here. Savior asks who she is in a tone of no fucks given about her vagina. Our heroine is named Yui. Yeah, whatever, let's call her Bakajo as a nod to the great Bakajo special of MM lore. Her dad said to go live in the mansion.
 
Why do I feel like that is going to be the only explanation about why she's there?
 
Savior doesn't know about it. He asks Rapist if she's supposed to be his rape fodder and he's all ~I dunno, I just saw an opportunity to rape her pancake ass so rape!~ Bakajo is not happy about this. She says "That's because you attacked me out of nowhere!" in her defense. Good job girl! That'll show him!
 
After Bakajo argues about the potential intrusion into her vagina, she realizes that he called her a pancake and is naturally upset that he would insult her bust size after trying to rape her. I would be too. If I'm going to be raped, the guy should at least say I'm pretty!!!
 
I just noticed Savior has one glove on and one glove off. I hope that was an animation mistake and not an official character design. Anyway, blahblah i don't know anything about you being here blah blah creepy old butler taking her things blah blah Bakajo runs off in fear
 
Scene change and all three are in a living room. This makes no sense. The Savior said he was going to look into things. Bakajo was...going somewhere. Rapist is seated and not raping. Okay, anyway, they are all in the same room right after the last scene for some reason. Savior tells Bakajo to explain why she's here whennnnnn
 
Here comes another bishounen on the balcony overlooking the living room (there are no stairs leading to this balcony. There is an indoor balcony and this is not a theater. Shut up this is bothering me!) He laughs, calls Bakajo a human girl (omg that means he must not be human!!!!!) and teleports down and licks her cheek. "MMMMM you smell so nice and sweet!" He has a hat on and a fur lined coat. Ladies and gents, the playboy of the harem.
 
Somewhere another bishounen appeared out of nowhere holding a teddy bear (one of those edgy ones with the weird asymmetrical eyes and body!!) . He wants a piece of her too, so he leans down and licks the heroine's ear. Naturally all she does about this is just gasp in shock. Savior reprimands them for wanting to rape seduce a girl before taking her out to dinner. Playboy protests "But doesn't everyone want to taste something that looks so yummy?" I foresee an underworld gangbang with this dude.
 
Rapist interjects that he saw her first therefore he gets to rape her first. Some new dude that sounds like the other dudes starts talking about how he's tired of hearing Rapist's shit. blahblah argue blahblah oh this guy realizes there is a human in the room and he is not happy.
 
Bakajo, oh Bakajo. Anyway, her only remark to all of this is "How did you get into the room?"
 
New dude is upset that she dares question him. "Answer my question first!" He hits the wall. The wall has a huge crater and is crumbling to dust. Bakajo tears up. At least we didn't get a stupid line from her.
 
Savior is having none of their boring arguments and steers the conversation back to why Bakajo is in their mansion. In response, Bakajo actually does something smart and says ya'll scary I'm out. As she's walking out though, Savior says "I'm only trying to find the truth." and of course she stops because she's Bakajo. "Isn't it impolite to leave?" Bakajo then responds "B-but" because god forbid she say ya'll bitches are psycho get me out of here.
 
A new bishounen interjects with "Is she the one he was talking about?". This new bishounen is laying on a couch. The heroine, Savior, and Rapist were seated on the only couch/chairs in the room at the start of the scene. Where did this couch come from? Why do we have another character being introduced by sleeping on a couch? Oh, he has headphones in his ears so he wasn't really listening up to this point. Anyway, some mysterious him called and said he was sending a virgin from the church to be their prospective bride. I wish I was making this up.
 
The other men acknowledge this. Headphones adds that they can't kill her. Playboy makes the ominous remark, "So we'll be with her for a verrrrrrrrrry long time." Savior is okay with this and introduces everyone properly oh he is so classy. Apparently these dudes are all brothers. I predict an incest subplot.
 
..... I would like to add a note about Playboy's introduction. "Yoroshiku ne, BITCH-CHAN."
 
I need a moment; this is hilarious. Okay, Bakajo is waaaay inferior to BITCH-CHAN. Back to the episode.
 
Bitch-chan is like, whoa I never agreed to be a bride to anyone. "And besides, all of you....are.....kinda weird." Well, I guess I could give her points for attempting humor by understatement. She stares at them for a bit because you know, it takes awhile for those gears to get moving, and decides that she needs to call Daddy.
 
But Rapist took her phone! And she tries to get it back, but then Wallhole grabs the phone and destroys it oh he is so strong!!
 
Bitch-chan is upset, so Playboy decides to comfort her. "There, there, Bitch-chan. You're about to become very good friends with us so you don't need your silly little cellphone. Ne?" Teddyfreak comes up behind her and both men romantically whisper their future intentions of a DP. "You smell so delicious, Little Bitch."
 
Bitch-chan finally realizes she is going to have every orifice violated violently, so she tries to run away. Because she is shoujo heroine, she takes about three steps before falling flat on her face. Because she is a shoujo heroine, she shreds her knee like she fell onto a mixture of broken glass, sandpaper, and gravel. Now all the men are at full attention.
 
Those little gears in her head? One turned! She figured out they are vampires! She pulls out her cross and shouts THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!
 
Nothing happens, of course. blah blah stupid mortal fairytales blah blah
 
Bitch-chan turns and runs away. As she's running down this football field of a mansion, the camera pans across trays and trays and trays of sweets. She runs away from the sweets and down another hall, and around a corner, and to the phone. But the phone line is cut! She runs around some more doing that stupid high pitched breathing crap until she gets to the front door. Oh, there aren't any handles on the inside. She can't get them open, naturally.
 
Here comes Mr. Rape!
 
She runs away from Mr. Rape up stairs, more nonsensical architecture, until some room that was bound under lock and key magically breaks and she goes inside. Everything is covered in sheets. There are some pieces of jewelry laid out on a dresser though. Bitch-chan forgets about running away and looks at the shiny jewels.
 
She tears herself away from the jewels and goes to the balcony, where another female is outside. This causes some sort of magical chemical reaction that gives Bitch-chan a stroke. She stumbles backwards into a bookshelf, where a book falls and a photo tumbles out. It is a photo of her and her Priest Daddy and the book is his diary. Bitch-chan learns that Daddy is not her real Daddy. Unfortunately, Maury does not do house calls so we'll never find out her real parentage. 
 
The harem magically teleports inside and makes some sort of stupid remark of her choosing this special room of sealed locks that need new locks and Bitch-chan is all uwaaaa i scared and so Mr. Rape gleefully says, "Yes, that's the face that gets my juices going." Playboy and Teddyfreak see an opportunity for a gangbang, so they jump on it. Savior and Wallhole spout something about death if she leaves while Playboy and Rapist slobber all over her neck and grope her.
 
Headphones knocks over a picture and the glass shattering stops them for a moment. Rapist holds his hand over her eyes, screen goes black, fades back to Bitch-chan being on the floor with Rapist's hand around her neck. He asks, "Are you ready?"
 
"Please, God!"
 
End of episode.
Goddamn what a piece of shit show.

[Anderei]

lol omg all dem words

[Melon]

I should've MST'd it.

[showraniy]

That was glorious. SO RANDOM but so perfect.

[eri]

I am so glad I started this thread


Now I have to watch Diabolik Lovers just to appreciate the play by play.


On phone now so cant reply to things specifically but i did love Tonari no Kaibutsu and K-on. They reminded me soo muvh of Kare Kano (when it was still good) and Azumangah respectively.


Now I feel like finding Sugar Sugar Rune again. It was childish and sweet and simple but sooooo cuuuttteee - like Card Captor in Halloweenland. Also thanks for the tip about Funimation streaming.

[Ap2000]

I don't like this genre at all, but I can tell you a few anime that have a "girly side" to them that are pretty good:

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (it's a movie, it made me teary-eyed)
Haibane Renmei
Nodame Cantabile (first season)
Read or die (this actually is magical girl, I guess)

However, I could tell you some good anime, but if you categorically exclude them from watching, just because they're not girly...

[eri]

[quote name="Ap2000" post="163738" timestamp="However, I could tell you some good anime, but if you categorically exclude them from watching, just because they're not girly...[/quote]


I dislike most anime geared towards otaku because they tend to be outrageously sexist. This doesn't mean I automatically ignore actually good shows if they aren't "shojo." I just said I liked Attack on Titan among others. But the good shows are rare.

[Madara]

[quote="Ap2000"]
I don't like this genre at all, but I can tell you a few anime that have a "girly side" to them that are pretty good:


The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (it's a movie, it made me teary-eyed)

Haibane Renmei

Nodame Cantabile (first season)

Read or die (this actually is magical girl, I guess)


However, I could tell you some good anime, but if you categorically exclude them from watching, just because they're not girly...
[/quote]
R.O.D. (as Read or Die is known in the U.S.) started out as a 3-part OAV and then became a TV series. I've only watched a few eps. of the TV series, but the OAV is excellent. I reviewed it on Amazon when it first came out. It's a sci-fi/spy/supernatural/historical adventure (Beethoven plays a big role in it somehow) but the female protagonist, aka "the Paper," is a book-lover who has this really cool power where she can turn paper into anything she needs to get her out of a jam.
 
I have Nodame Cantabile both as a live-action series and anime series and I have 16 volumes of the manga. The plan has always been to read the manga, see the anime and then the live-action, but I still haven't gotten very far into any of them. Whenever I've started, I've gotten distracted by other projects. I even bought the soundtrack album recently, only to learn it was for the live-action series and not the anime series, so I wound up going to the Japanese video store and buying the live-action series. (I had enough points accumulated there so that the series cost me absolutely nothing!)
 
While I like Sailor Moon a lot, I've never been into the magical girl genre per se, but usually prefer sci-fi, horror or historical variations on it, e.g. Gall Force and Vampire Princess Miyu. Or head-trippers like Serial Experiments Lain and Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (which was cited in an earlier post).

[pandapanda]

Okay, I want a new romance anime.  I loved (crap what is the name, the one with the magical violin that never finished because of that video game, it was a competition, you feel me bro?)  La Corda Oro and Uta no Prince Sama, I want another one like it.  It has to be on Crunchy Roll though...
 
Basically I like animes where all the guys are hot and they all like the same girl.
 
Yup.

[Ap2000]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="eri" data-cid="163740" data-time="1380102941">
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Ap2000" data-cid="163738">
However, I could tell you some good anime, but if you categorically exclude them from watching, just because they're not girly...
</blockquote>
I dislike most anime geared towards otaku because they tend to be outrageously sexist. This doesn't mean I automatically ignore actually good shows if they aren't "shojo." I just said I liked Attack on Titan among others. But the good shows are rare.
 
</blockquote>
 
I think you mean the typical anime that are geared towards teenage boys/young adults, right ? Yeah, those suck. But imo not because of pandering to the dick, but because they're all same-same and generic out the ass. I really liked Love Hina and found it very charming and funny, but all the anime that came after it were just more or less rip-offs or uninspired boring, so I never bothered watching more than an episode.
In general I can't stand endless anime (dragonball, naruto etc.) and prefer 1~2 season anime that have an interesting story arc and setup, so I'm just going to mention stuff that might not be that well known (nowadays):
 
Mushishi is THE anime you need to watch, it's an absolute masterpiece of episodic storytelling.
Only Kino's Journey comes close.
Hare+Guu is probably the funniest anime of all time.
You're like me and hate kids in anime, shows and movies ? Cyber Coil is one of the few times they're not annoying.
 
As for movies:
My Neighbors the Yamadas - it's my favourite Ghibli movie and very underappreciated.
Kappa no Coo to Natsuyasumi - so endearing, you'll also want to have a Kappa !
Metropolis - Going to link it, so you don't have to google it (the Fritz Lang movie of course always comes up first): <a href="http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?sh ... &aid=78</a> Don't let yourself be fooled by the weird 60s artstyle, the movie has a lot of heart.
If you liked Perfect Blue, you probably will like Millennium Actress even more.
 
 
Madara mentioned S.E. Lain. With Boogiepop Phantom, it's one of the weirdest anime you'll ever see. Unlike those "lol so random" try-hard weirdo anime nowadays, these are well done and will genuinly unsettle you. BP's OP and ED are also really good songs.

[star]

[quote="pandapanda"]
Okay, I want a new romance anime.  I loved (crap what is the name, the one with the magical violin that never finished because of that video game, it was a competition, you feel me bro?)  La Corda Oro and Uta no Prince Sama, I want another one like it.  It has to be on Crunchy Roll though...
 
Basically I like animes where all the guys are hot and they all like the same girl.
 
Yup.
[/quote]
I would suggest Vampire Knight, but after keeping up with the manga, something about the anime just turns me away. Probably because the manga is on going and the anime ended a long time ago. Its not the best example I can give since its more of just a love triangle, but yeah. If you don't mind the fact that they made Yuki look like a little girl, then knock yourself out if you already haven't watched it.

[yuzuriha]

I think the most recent anime I watched was Cowboy Bebop.  I am also realizing that outside of Sailor Moon I don't really like magical girl anime (I agree with you eri, about Rayearth, LOVE the manga but the anime was meh).
 
Panda, my favorite romance anime/manga is KareKano.  But it is old, I have no idea if you have seen it or not.
 
I am such a tool, Ranma 1/2 is seriously my favorite anime/manga of all time.  Followed by Sailor Moon, Cowboy Bebop, Eva, X (Should be obvious....I liked the manga better on this one too but the anime wasn't horrible).  OH and Bakuretsu Hunter, Pokemon (DUH) and Fruits Basket.
 
 
durrrrr I am so boring.
 
/edit Oh Christ I just remembered AIR. THAT is the most recent anime I watched and I loved it but it was so depressing I didn't even make it through the whole thing my first time watching it. Then I watched it with Ryan about a year ago and it was still super depressing but at least he was there.  After a few episodes I started crying just when I heard the theme song though.

[Madara]

[quote="pandapanda"]
 
 
Basically I like animes where all the guys are hot and they all like the same girl.
 
Yup.
[/quote]
 
I'm so used to the reverse in anime (all the girls are hot and like the same, nerdy guy, e.g. "Tenchi Muyo") that I can't think of any examples of what you describe. Can you name some?
 
 
Also, re: Pokemon. I watch each week's new episode every Saturday morning on Cartoon Network. There've been quite a few good episodes this past year. I've been meaning to do a blog entry on it.
 

[neshcom]

Q mentioned Free! above and, if you follow our dedicated thread, you'll note the handful of us left watching are rather tuned out at this point. It's a cute show with nice characters who literally don't do much beyond slowly unraveling a single childhood memory. Still, if you buy into the universe (and the characters are all pretty interesting themselves), there's a lot to find in the drama CDs and extras they've been churning out. It's a lot of shojou-bait, but it's kind of cute. 
 
WataMote has been a stand-out show this year for having a uniquely realistic shy protagonist. I'm not caught up anymore, but it's a real highlight.
 
If you're into skits or less arc-focused shows, Nichijou is really good. Lots of great animation with unexpected comedy.

[star]

Madara, please don't take this personally, but please stop watching the English dub. 

[Madara]

[quote="Star"]
Madara, please don't take this personally, but please stop watching the English dub. 
[/quote]
 
"Pokemon" is the only show I watch dubbed. I got to meet the original dub cast in the late '90s and my daughter and I did a joint interview with the actress who did Ash's voice (Veronica Taylor). Of the current cast, the narrator was once a friend of mine and is even in a video documentary I made that's on my YouTube channel. (He and I were on the Native American Heritage Committee together.) If you watch the documentary you'll figure out right away which one he is. I haven't been in touch with him in 20 years, though.
 
Still, it's easy for me to turn on the Cartoon Network-HD every Saturday morning and watch each new episode. I don't know how to access subtitled Japanese-language episodes and if I did, they wouldn't look anywhere near as good as they do on CN-HD.

[showraniy]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Madara" data-cid="163881" data-time="1380209773">
I don't know how to access subtitled Japanese-language episodes and if I did, they wouldn't look anywhere near as good as they do on CN-HD.</blockquote>


I don't watch much of it, but the anime I download is all HD these days. I got a new computer two years back because everything I'd stream or download was always HD and my old Dell couldn't handle it.

[Anderei]

The dub of Pokemon isn't bad at all, imo.

[yuzuriha]

WHY BACK IN MY DAY STAR, THE DUB WAS THE ONLY CHOICE>
 
It is pretty bad though.  Not as bad as Sailor Moon, but not awesome like Cowboy Bebop or something.