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simmeh





PostPosted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 10:43 am Reply with quote
EDIT: Spent some time thinking, fixed a few things, fleshed out ideas more.

Now, I haven't watched a ton of anime, so this list will probably be a wee bit generic, but...

Favourites

This won't reach 10, but here we go, in some semblance of an order...

Baccano! - Brilliant storytelling, huge cast of likable characters, plenty of action, some real heart-warming moments, and a dub that actually makes the show better. What's not to like? This was the first anime I truly loved, and probably the show that really made me want to watch anime as a hobby instead of as a way to kill time. Truly a masterpiece, and I'm sad that the series is so short.

Black Lagoon - I love good (cheesy) action movies like Die Hard and The Transporter. Since Black Lagoon is better than 95% of all action movies, logic dictates that I love this show. And come on, a show that has a boat ramping off the wreckage of another boat to shoot down a helicopter with a torpedo simply cannot be criticized.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 1 - I'm sorry to those of you who don't like this show, but I just love the ridiculousness of the cast. Yeah, Haruhi can be annoying at times, but her interactions with everyone else made the show far more than bearable. My favourite aspect of the show is how it's still a slice-of-life comedy about high schoolers, despite all the... stuff that goes on.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - Simply put, I think it embodies 'epic' in the truest sense of the word. It has a large cast, a sprawling story, a huge number of locales, and it moves with purpose from point to point. While I didn't really like any of the characters as individuals, the web of relationships as a whole was extremely pleasing. To date, this is still the only show I've kept up with as episodes were released. In fact, I like this show so much that I actually refuse to watch the original. Sue me.

Crest & Banner of the Stars - The Abh are just intriguing, and I'd say that the relationship between Jinto and Lafiel is one of the most well characterized that I've ever seen. To call it a romance is to cheapen it, and is a discredit to the writers, because it is so much more than that. The supporting characters were no slouch either - I especially liked Admiral Spoor and her first officer. And then, there was it's whole perspective on space and battles therein. Space is big, people, and battles in space should be fought as such.

Welcome to the NHK - This show just resonated with me, considering I very nearly turned into a Western version of these 'hikikomori' types. It's one of those shows that manages to thrive despite it's absurd premise, and I have a soft spot for those. Speaking of which...

Spice and Wolf - How the writers managed to make this one work is completely beyond me. A show about medieval economics, what? But really, much like Jinto/Lafiel, the Lawrence/Holo relationship is just very well thought out and characterized. Having a rudimentary knowledge of economics helps as well, but I think this show can be enjoyed simply from the dialogue alone.

Okay, I got to 7. Not so bad.

Least Favourites

Now, I generally only watch anime that has been strongly recommended, so it's rare that I watch a bad show. There are times that I disagree with the recommendation, though...

Dragonaut: The Resonance - One of the two shows I've watched that I can call uniformly bad, this show is just a disaster. Awful characters, inane story, and blatant fanservice made this a joke. Yeah, it got about 300% better in the second half, but that still didn't make it good.

Kaze no Stigma - The other show I've seen that I consider awful, I don't think anyone working on this show had a clear idea of what they were supposed to be doing. Is it a serious action series? Is it a goofy rom-com? Is it a heartbreaking drama? And why are all the characters so annoying?

Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2 - Endless Eight was a terrible time, I'm sure we all agree. I also didn't particularly enjoy the extended arc where they make the movie, so that leaves exactly 1 episode in this series that I can place with the rest of the show. Fun times.

Death Note post-YouKnowWhat - Yeah, the wheels just kinda fell off this show after... that.

Cowboy Bebop - Before anyone bans me from the site, let me say this: I don't think this is a bad show, I was just bored out of my skull trying to watch it. I really didn't like any of the characters, and there was no motivation to watch the next episode. Definitely ranks as the most disappointing anime I've ever watched, seeing as how it is so highly regarded by every other organic lifeform on the planet. Sometimes I wonder if what I watched was actually a cheap knockoff called Bowboy Cebop, staring Jike, Spet, Eaye, and Fed, and I just failed to notice. Either way, I just did not enjoy this show, despite its vaunted credentials.
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ThePoliced



Joined: 11 Jul 2010
Posts: 130
PostPosted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 10:51 pm Reply with quote
You liked baccano and disliked cowboy bebop?
Boi, u mad? but meh, who am i judge anyway

ok so, I've posted here before but i feel like doing it again, since this is the internet.

Top Ten:
1-Evangelion
2- Cowboy Bebop-> Sorry if u find my first 2 choices unoriginal, but its just the simple truth, at least for me.
3- M.S Nadesico
4- Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040
5- Mushi-shi -> doesnt get much deeper than this, honestly.
6- Saber Marionette J
7- Highschool of the Dead-> No finesse at all, but boy it was a fun show, and it had some plot behind all the T and A
8- AKIRA.
Worst:
1- K-on -> Girls singing? really? Might as well listen to Fleetwood Mac or some of that early 90s british girl groups
2- Star Ocean EX-> OK this show is still frames with sounds, for real.
3- Death Note-> good animation but it was the begining of the worst trend since gay pilot boys: overtly smart teenagers with gay looks.(i.e watch Durarara)
4- Naruto, One Piece-> Bleach at least was cool for 20 eps
5- All of the shows that new bill passed in japan is trying to ban.
If u like little boys and girls getting naked or killing each other, man your like a lumberjack in a gay bar.

P.s Sorry if ur a lumberjack, or in a gay bar.
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simmeh





PostPosted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 10:27 pm Reply with quote
ThePoliced wrote:
You liked baccano and disliked cowboy bebop?
Boi, u mad? ...


Aye, that I did. But frankly, besides the jazz openings and being able to label both with the big rubber 'Action' stamp, what did the two series have in common? Baccano! has a huge, diverse, interconnected cast of characters, linking together several different plot threads sprawled over several times and locations. Cowboy Bebop has a small, confined cast telling a bunch of virtually one-shot stories. A better question would probably be, "you liked Black Lagoon and disliked Cowboy Bebop?" to which I'd still answer, "aye, that I did."

But maybe I am just completely mad. Even people who hate anime love Cowboy Bebop, and if I had to place money on one series that would appear on every page of a topic like this, I'd bet on Bebop. Yet here I am being a huge buzzkill about the whole thing.

Actually, part of the reason I dislike Cowboy Bebop is actually because it's so widely regarded, as shallow and childish as that may sound. It's more than a bit irritating to have a show endlessly recommended, and then finally watch and be unable to figure out what all the fuss was about. As I've said, I didn't think the series was bad, I just wasn't entertained by it at all.
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Errinundra
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Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6584
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:03 am Reply with quote
Now that I’ve reached 150 viewed anime and 300 posts it’s time to hop on my soapbox and declare my top ten anime.

1. Paprika

This Satoshi Kon film is not simply a milestone in anime but a milestone in post-modernism.

The singular quality of animation is that, more than any other visual medium, it encourages the viewer to suspend belief. Only in animation will the viewer accept someone jumping into a television screen and coming out of a camera lens. Even with cgi we still place limitations on what we will accept in live action film. This makes animation potentially the most productive medium for tearing apart story telling structures, something understood long ago with Warner Brothers' amazing Duck Amok. Sadly, this potential has rarely been realised. Paprika is its apotheosis, a game being played at the expense of normal story telling conventions.

If you can’t tell what’s going on by two thirds way through… well, that’s the point. Don’t worry, though. The film is so entertaining, you only need to relax and let it play with your brain. As one critic put it, this is a film to be experienced, rather than understood. Above all, however, the film is fun. In the opening sequence, Paprika jumps onto a toy jet aeroplane painted onto the side of a truck and scoots across the Tokyo skyline; she clicks her fingers to stop the traffic so she can cross the road; and pops out of a computer to cover the shoulders of a sleeping animator. If you don’t see that something special is happening before your eyes, then you and I are on a totally different wavelength. Perhaps you haven’t leapt through a television screen yet?

(Coincidence? The other post-modern anime masterpiece also has a heroine in a tutu. See below.)

2. Millennium Actress

Although not as adventurous as Paprika, this film is still a marvel. Like Picasso with his cubist paintings, Satoshi Kon utilises his trademark fractured subjectivity and astonishing mastery of match cuts to examine the character of Chiyoko Fujiwara from several angles. This is surely one of the most penetrating, and joyful, character studies in anime.

Amazingly, we also get an overview of the Japanese film industry in the twentieth century along with a precis of Japanese history over the last four hundred years.

Millennium Actress has one of my favourite musical interludes – the running segment that starts with Chiyoko's rejection of a heartfelt apology from her nemesis and ends on the moon as the love of her life vanishes from a painting. Susumu Hirasawa provides a moving soundtrack to the images.

3. Noir

As Paprika kindled my love of anime film, Noir did the same for anime TV. Unlike the instant passion for Paprika, this has become a slow burning love affair. Since being introduced three years ago I have returned to it again and again: marathoning it, watching favourite episodes or savouring favourite scenes.

A large part of my love for this series is my appreciation of the central character, Mireille Bouquet. In “My Anime” I describe her as both hold me soft and psychopath hard, but she is much more than that. Even though she is the archetypal ice queen who is utterly broken over the course of events, she emerges as a liberator for both herself and the hapless, yet brutal, Kirika. Knowing she is way out of her depth does not stop Mireille searching, like a modern day Oedipus Rex, for the truth behind the catastrophe of her life. And like Oedipus Rex, the more she discovers the more the horror of her and Kirika’s role in that catastrophe is revealed.

The pacing and mood of the series are sublime. Each episode is carefully constructed so that the short bursts of violence have maximum impact. Noir is also the greatest achievement of anime’s greatest composer, Yuki Kajiura.

Sure, Noir sometimes shows it was made on a limited budget but this is a case of making the most of limited means. The subsequent Madlax, with its much higher production values, is flaccid in comparison.

4. Koi Kaze

An exquisite script and two very appealing protagonists elevate this series from the ever-present threats of squickiness or sentimentality. This is a serious anime about a potentially alienating topic, incest. Thankfully, although there is a lot of humour, the incest is not played for laughs.

The genius of the script is apparent on several levels: the beautifully constructed characters of Nanoka and Koshiro; the psychological insights into their behaviours; and the slow development of the affair that never strains credibility yet inexorably leads to its final outcome.

Its most amazing ability, however, is to make the viewer complicit in the transgression of the protagonists. Even though we readily condemn the perv Odagiri for lusting after underage girls, he never actually does what Koshiro does, and yet we are willing to forgive the latter. Similarly, when the wonderful Kaname (who really should be Koshiro’s partner) desperately tries to prevent him from taking a step too far, aren’t we secretly hoping she loses the argument? Finally, Nanoka so successfully wins our sympathy that, I for one, would rather she achieve her heart's desire than conform to society’s norms.

Like Noir, the animation reveals the limitations of its budget but Koi Kaze more than makes up for it with an inspired use of music (except the awful end theme) and, importantly, silence. This is an anime made by people utterly in command of their art. (Prominent people in the making of this anime went on to make the completely different, but also beautifully scripted, Baccano!)

5. Princess Tutu

Starts off as a delightful magical girl anime with potential and ends up not only living up to its promise but also delivering much, much more. It doesn’t just go beyond the magical girl genre, it completely blows it out of the water. And it doesn’t do this by undermining the genre, or satirising it, or becoming an otaku moe-fest. It follows the simple route of completely transcending it. Easier said than done, of course.

It doesn’t hurt that the main character is both lovable and interesting, whatever her transformation – duck, ballet student or Princess Tutu. It also doesn’t hurt that our understanding and appreciation of the other three protagonists (Mytho, Fakir and Rue) end up in completely different places from where they started. Or what starts as a children’s story ends up going to some dark places indeed. Or that it plays some very adult post-modern games with our expectations. Or that who ends up with who defies normal fairy tale conventions. Or that some wonderfully surreal things keep popping up before our eyes. Or that the fate of the main character is satisfyingly apt, if bittersweet. There’s no gilded happy ending here.

Above all, Princess Tutu is a celebration of the joy and wonder of anime. Classical music (ballet scores for the most part along with large doses of Pictures at an Exhibition) is an integral part of the story and accompanies all the climactic scenes that are inevitably resolved through dance. The sheer beauty of it creates an intensely emotional response.

6. Time of Eve (ONA and film)

Limited to some extent by the episodic nature of the story, this anime is almost a match for Koi Kaze in the brilliance of its writing and easily exceeds the other’s artwork and animation. If I rate it lower, it’s because of that episodic structure and that it covers well-tilled ground, ie can androids be human?

The charm of Time of Eve is the wonder the viewer shares with the protagonists, Rikuo and Masaki, in the small but important revelations that they experience through the course of story. A good example begins in episode one where family android, Sammy, is making coffee for Rikuo in their kitchen. A drop of water falls from a lock of hair in front of her face. It would be so easy to miss. Without drawing attention to itself, and not making any explicit connection to the earlier event, in episode five we learn how Sammy’s hair got wet. The viewer suddenly understands what Rikuo learned about himself and it explains so much of his subsequent behaviour.

Time of Eve is peppered with revelations of this nature. Pay attention and there is much to reward you.

7. Mushi-Shi

The background art, the historical milieu, the very concept of the Mushi-Shi, the episodic tales and the character of Ginko himself all share two qualities – they are simultaneously simple and extraordinary. These are not the show’s only good points, of course. It combines artwork, plot, sound, music and myth into a glorious whole that goes way beyond the sum of its individual parts. Consider the music: it has a slow tempo and it’s crystal clear yet it can be alternately chilling and warming, dramatic and calming.

This is the most Japanese of anime yet, at the same time, it is like no other. Mushi-Shi moves at a gentle pace, eschews violence and demands the viewer appreciate it on its own terms. The dilemmas of the people that Ginko meets are never grandiose but, being so personal, they are acutely interesting to the viewer. Ginko is the only ongoing character in the series and it is a testament to his qualities that the show remains engaging to the very end.

8. Gunslinger Girl

This series is my shameful secret: the transgressive masterpiece that somehow turns a sow’s ear into a silk purse. Abused pubescent girls as psychotic killers. Oh dear. Forget fan service. Forget insatiable vampires and zombies. Nothing I’ve seen in anime this side of hentai pushes the envelope the way this series does.

The marvel is that the series works. It is beautifully written and the girls are sympathetically portrayed. That the girls understand their situations (only somewhat, admittedly), are grateful for their second chances and cheerfully make the most of their circumstances gives Gunslinger Girl an emotional power you would not have imagined was possible at first. By concentrating on the intense relationship between each girl and her handler, rather than their roles as assassins the writers are able to avoid many potential pitfalls. They also use irony and sentiment to lighten an otherwise heavy mixture. Amazingly, there are even sublime moments of beauty. Perhaps it’s the pervasive sense of fragile beauty that lifts Gunslinger Girl from the morass in which it could have found itself.

9. Episodes 17 to 19, Clannad After Story

It may seem an unusual move to nominate three episodes of a series but this arc of Clannad After Story is so extraordinary that it completely eclipses the many shortcomings of the mostly trivial earlier episodes and the wayward later episodes. If I rated the series as a whole it would struggle to make my top fifty.

Tomoya’s and Ushio’s reconciliation amongst the flowers can reduce me to tears in a way that no movie, book, TV series, painting or play have ever been able to do. Only music and real life can match it. I’ve watched that scene perhaps thirty times and it remains as powerful as ever. Too often the Clannad franchise can seem contrived and overwrought. In these episodes, it rises above its own limitations.

10. Spirited Away / Porco Rosso

This list began with a brace of Satoshi Kon movies and ends with a brace from Hayao Miyazaki. Yeah, I know I’m cheating by having two number tens but it’s hard to separate these two.

One doesn’t watch Miyazaki films for the complexity or depth of the protagonists. One does so because he is a master artist and storyteller. Spirited Away and Porco Rosso stand out because they combine his many talents with protagonists that display qualities absent in his other works. Normally, his stand-out characters are, at best, ambiguous (Dola, Lady Eboshi, Yubaba) but in these two films we see Chihiro and Porco grow as individuals through the ordeals they suffer, the other characters they meet and the decisions they make.

Chiriho begins the Spirited Away as an unappealing brat yet, by the end, we are getting glimpses of the fine young woman she will become. Porco is a cynical has-been (“All middle-aged men are pigs,” he says and I can vouch for that) whose generous, but suppressed, heart is redeemed by two remarkable women – Fio and Gina – along with his own efforts to prove himself to himself against the dastardly Curtis.

Both films have all the Ghibli trademarks – beautiful backgrounds, brilliant animation and bucketloads of wit. Perhaps Spirited Away is the better of the two even if I do watch Porco Rosso more often. Sometimes the latter isn’t sure whether it’s telling a kid’s story or a midlife crisis story. Then again, the Milan sequence in Porco Rosso is my favourite bit of Miyazaki ever.

Worst 5 anime with a ranking higher than Paprika's in ANN’s bayesian estimate

Now, I go out of my way to avoid watching bad anime. It can’t always be avoided but my straight-out worst five would probably come nowhere near the actual worst five I could see if I tried to trawl the depths. Therefore, there is nothing to be gained by simply describing my five worst anime.

Clearly, also, Paprika is the ant’s pants, the bee’s knees and the cat’s pyjamas when it comes to anime. I simply cannot understand why it isn’t at the very top of the bayesian estimate here at ANN.

Herewith is my list of the five anime that are where they are on ANN's bayesian rankings through some terrible misunderstanding or, perhaps even, rorting of the system. It is my sincere belief that they ought to be rated well below Paprika.

Warning: exaggeration and numerous examples of tongue in cheek coming up, possibly even amounting to mild trolling. Please accept my apologies in advance – I am merely trying to be entertaining. Well, that’s what I say, anyway.

1. Redline
(Where it would be ranked if I had my way: 3,515th)

You know the experience. You are trying to keep alert, so you sit as straight-backed as possible and you desperately try to avoid yawning. Every now and then, though, you jerk as your neck muscles relax and your head flops to one side, bringing you back to your senses. Well, that’s what was happening to me when I watched this film at the cinema. It wasn’t just me. The guy next to me spent parts of the film snoring. After the ordeal was over, the woman behind me admitted to her partner that she too had fallen asleep.

It’s hard to believe that a movie with so much kinetic activity, so much colour and so much noise could be so effectively soporific. The daily life of my indoor confined cat is far more interesting than the plot of this silly movie. Don’t ask me about the characters. What passes for characters degrades the term.

2. La Maison en Petits Cubes
(Where it would be ranked if I had my way: 3,384th)

I know it won an Academy Award but, for goodness’ sakes, it’s only twelve minutes long. Are you telling me it’s as good as ten hours of Mushi-Shi? It has one cute idea and a distinctive style. That shouldn’t put it in the top 100.

3. Hellsing Ultimate
(Where it would be ranked if I had my way: 3,256th)

Just because an anime tries its level best to be over the top, doesn’t mean that it is good. It doesn’t even mean it succeeds at being over the top. Hellsing Ultimate isn't either. If it doesn't manage to be excessive, what else has it got going for it? Not much, I reckon.

4. When they Cry – Higurashi
(Where it would be ranked if I had my way: 3,128th)

I can imagine this thought going through someone’s mind in Japan: “Moe. Meat cleavers. Yes!” Inspiration ended at that point. Shame about that particular thought going through that particular mind. A meat cleaver would have been preferable. I have to admit I didn’t get through many episodes (four or five) before I decided it was a pointless undertaking. This is supposed to be scary? Those girls are supposed to be cute? Please, someone, convince me I should persevere.

5. Evangelion: 1.0 You are [Not] Alone
(Where it would be ranked if I had my way: 3,000th)

First: If you were the angels would you send your troops in one-at-a-time to be cleaned up by NERV? A basic military premise is to apply overwhelming force on an enemy’s weak point. Clearly the angels aren’t dumb, so what on earth are they trying to achieve? If it were me I’d wait until all sixteen (or was it seventeen?) were ready and give Tokyo a real good shellacking.

Second: I have a theory that the only people who think Evangelion is brilliant are or were about 15 years of age when they first saw it. Sadly for me, I lucked out and didn’t have the privilege until much older. The teenage pilots may well be justified in feeling set upon but do we have to be trawled through all their wretchedness. And then some. I get the picture. More finesse with the exposition, please.

Third: Evangelion suffers severely from rabbit-out-of-the-hat syndrome. It goes like this. Heroes must fight monster. To be exciting the monster must push the heroes to the very limit of their capabilities. To continue the excitement the next monster must be stronger than the previous one. Warning. Warning. This will exceed the abilities of the heroes. Heroes pull a rabbit out of the hat to win. Problem escalates. Credibility suffers. Evangelion is the worst example of this I have ever seen.

Fourth: They had the nerve to go and saturate all the water in red. It's not as if the franchise wasn't already pretentiously overblown.

Oh, and did I mention the infantile fanservice?

It all rapidly becomes very tiresome.

April 2012 edit to add links

Five worst anime

Top ten short anime films

August 2012 edit to add link

Updated top ten and five worst

January 2015 edit to add link

Top ten directors


Last edited by Errinundra on Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:47 pm; edited 4 times in total
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ThePoliced



Joined: 11 Jul 2010
Posts: 130
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 1:05 am Reply with quote
I have a theory.

Your dissing Evangelion coz its one of the most popular animes in history.

What's your take on that? Wink
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Errinundra
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Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6584
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 1:43 am Reply with quote
Here’s another theory. Wink

Giant robot anime was immensely popular with boys in Japan in the 1980s. This market had grown into teenagers by the 1990s. The guys at Gainax thought to themselves, “How to we ensnare this demographic?” The answer was easy. Give them some more giant robots, have them piloted by teenagers with issues, add in an evil parent figure, some hot babes and lots of cryptic symbolism.

Bingo!

To me it never reaches beyond being a child’s robot show with a teenage veneer on top. I’m older than that, which perhaps is my misfortune.

Anyway, I did rate the movie as "so-so" and its follow-up as "decent". I've seen a lot of much worse anime. As I warned in the post above, I was trying to make an amusing case that the franchise is overrated.

Another way to answer your question is that Spirited Away is possibly even more popular, and that made it into my top ten.
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bravetailor



Joined: 30 May 2009
Posts: 817
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 2:06 am Reply with quote
Anything that is wildly popular is inherently overrated, even if it is actually good. It's something you just come to accept and move on. At some point it becomes redundant to state that something as big as Eva is overrated.

It's like saying, "McDonald's sucks. Why do you guys keep putting down money for their highly artificial food? This franchise is overrated!"

Look, deep down, everyone knows McDonald's is overrated, but at this point it's pointless to say it because it's so big it can't help but be inherently overrated (someone should have said it *before* they expanded around the world!) and you can't deny their impact on the industry anyway. Laughing

(Their coffee is underrated though!)

Anyway Errinundra, that's a "favourites" list that I like, though. Though I'm a bit on the fence about Millennium Actress, I can see why it is a Kon fave with many fans. I like Perfect Blue better, even if its a little more rough and uneven. No major problems with Paprika, though. In my mind, that's a great summation of all the themes you would find in Kon's career.
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arugail



Joined: 09 Jan 2011
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 2:24 pm Reply with quote
Naruto is wildly popular and it is frequently despised by anime fandom even.

The shame being that Naruto is a great show.

McDonald's at least deserves every bit of the bad fame it gets.
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asami0414



Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Posts: 13
Location: Twilight Zone
PostPosted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:15 pm Reply with quote
Naruto is like an ancient old man that refuses to die, and instead belabours everything around it as it draws in each racketing, hallowing breath.
It is wildly popular, but its popularity is only deserved in the first few hundred episodes. If even then.

McDonalds symbolizes the mass of apathy today in how people don't care how the food is created, what is inside it; the fact that it could be made of cardboard saturated in fat for all they know. That's not something to be upheld.

....
Do di do....
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Aoi_Sakaraba



Joined: 12 Aug 2003
Posts: 312
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
PostPosted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 8:13 pm Reply with quote
What is your top ten favorite anime, and or what are your favorites of a specific genre.
(Hentai doesn't count, as well as OAV, with a few exceptions)

1. Welcome to the NHK: This show is Dark, Hilarious, and Original. A nice Satire of the problems in the word: NEETS, Hikikemori's, Otakus, Those who help those who are worst than themselves for selfish reasons. You name it Very Happy

2. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni 1&2: I knew I was hooked to this series after I watched the first arc of the first season of Higurashi. The first season will have you asking "wtf is going on?", and the second season will simply blow your mind.

3. Aquarion: This Mecca series was somewhat corny about half way through with a couple of weird fan-service episodes. But overall the fun flowed well, with satire of other Mecca series, inserting weird jokes, like Climaxing, and sex addiction with "Merging". my favorite episode was when all the food in the world disapeared when a few femake pilots decided to go on a diet when they thought they were to fat.


4. Full Moon Wo Sagashite: Is a sad tragic story about a little girl who has a year left to live because of throat. One day while sitting in her room, two shinigami came out of a wall poster. Somehow she was able to see them, and they blurted out about her soon to be tragic death. So she convinces them to turn her into a 16 year old girl, so she can fulfil her dream of becoming a great singer, to reach her long lost first love.

5. Shakugan No Shana 1&2 : it was mainly the originality which drew me to shakugan no shana. Imagine everything you know about life being wrong. Imagine best friends, not only disappearing physically, but from existence itself to the point where you would no longer remember them. Not only you, but everyone.

6. Air : a man goes town to town showing off his little telekinetic puppet show to live, while off on a journey in search for the angel who flew into the sky 1000 summers ago. This man helps a few girls free themselves from their social problems. Then soars to straight to the sky to save the angel.

7. Birdy The Mighty Decode 1 & 2: Enjoy every last second of this series epic sound track, while watching a series about a guy on a journey to save a friend from an alien has taken over their body. One other thing though, a space alien kills you as well, forcing you to be stuck in their body while off on your quest.

8. Tora Dora: A guy makes a deal with his new next door neighbor, to help each other out with going out with each others crushes. As the series goes on, You run into a good slice of life, about friendship in high school, followed by a climax that will have you say YES!

9. Skip Beat - a guy tricks his girlfriend into moving to Tokyo with him while he tries to make it big, forcing her to work 3 jobs to help pay for his living expenses. When he cheats on her and gets caught, the girl dedicates her life to becoming more famous than him, to overshadow him in order to obtain revenge. Overall a well scripted story
10. Valkyria Chronicles - This story quite well tells a story about a girl and a guy joining the militia to fight against enemy military. As this story goes deeper, we find out secrets about the girl's past, and the past of a species known as Valkries.

the S**t list:
1. My Bride is a Mermaid - The show sure was a laugh fest for the first couple episodes. Then laughs stopped, and started being nothing but an annoying headaches when they tried to pull it off in every episode. A complete waste of 9 hours of my life. Maybe I'd enjoy this if I was drunk and really high at the same time.

2. To Love Ru - I rate this about the same as My bride is a mermaid: The only plot in this series happens in the first couple episodes, and the last few episodes. the rest was just pointless pervy filler. -I have never seen an anime series with tentacle rape jokes in more than one episode?

3. Tsuyokiss CoolxSweet - have you ever seen a series so avg that you were sick of it? This is one of them. There is nothing appealing to this series on any level. Everything is same old same old, girl transfers to a high school to start a drama club, and she finds love, and has to fight the student council to get her drama club

4. Maria + Holic - This series really grinded my gears in all the wrong ways. A girl is allgeric to guys so she becomes a lesbian. There is also a guy posing as a female student blackmailing this girl into not exposing his secret. The rest is blah blah blah.

5.Excel Saga - Welcome to level 666 of Anime a Hell: This series has no plot at all. The only thing that somewhat helps you continue to watch this is what will happen to gomez next.

6. Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Purezza (Secret of Nogizaka Haruka second 2) - the second season of this series not on raped the franchise, but locked it in a cellar and raped it again and a again. They actually had child molestation in this series done by the main characters sister and friend. They also dirtied the innocence of a few of the characters.

7.Mission-E - this was a series so boring that the fan subber who was subbing it dropped it. It took about a year for someone to sub the last 2 episodes.

8. Momoiro Sisters: two sisters run into weird, usually sexual incounters. The younger one is an unattractive girl, and eventually she gets desperate and finds a relatively creepy guy to go out with her. The older sisters works somewhere (I dont remember), and goes through the miseries of getting older and watching her co-workers get married, so eventually she decides to have a guy marry her too. Both sisters must exercise a lot or else they fear they will gain too much weight.

9. Ah My Buddha! 1&2: an ecchi series about a guy and a bunch of nuns. Each Nun represents one of the Buddhist realms. The main characters goal is to reach ultimate enlightenment, however he can only reach it while sexually aroused. The second season introduces a nun from a different shrine who actually tries to come on to him.

10. Azumanga Daioh: This Anime became too random and repetitive by the 3rd episode. I watched the whole thing, and I'm still confused over how this became a legendary title in the Otaku Fanbase.

I have seen 176 animes and I didn't include OAV's or Hentais when I compiled my list together.
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ThePoliced



Joined: 11 Jul 2010
Posts: 130
PostPosted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:10 pm Reply with quote
errinundra wrote:
Here’s another theory. Wink

Giant robot anime was immensely popular with boys in Japan in the 1980s. This market had grown into teenagers by the 1990s. The guys at Gainax thought to themselves, “How to we ensnare this demographic?” The answer was easy. Give them some more giant robots, have them piloted by teenagers with issues, add in an evil parent figure, some hot babes and lots of cryptic symbolism.

Bingo!

To me it never reaches beyond being a child’s robot show with a teenage veneer on top. I’m older than that, which perhaps is my misfortune.


The guy had a freaking nervious breakdown, i doubt he had that by thinking how to get kids to watch his show.
I could just say that Paprika was just a fat dude getting lucky, but i wont. And since the freaking creator is dead, id just get flamed alot.

And also, whats wrong with babes? some eye candy never hurts, and its hardly relevant in the show.
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28076004505531



Joined: 25 Oct 2008
Posts: 124
Location: Ohio, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 12:04 am Reply with quote
My top ten best include:

1. Kino's Journey - For the most part, I like how thought-provoking the stories are.

2. Great Teacher Onizuka - It seems very real. GTO is very inspirational, daring, funny, and downright awesome.

3. Hikaru No Go - I like how the competition between the two main characters evolves.

4. One Piece - It's all about friendship, adventure, imagination and humanity.

5. Twelve Kingdoms - This is how you become a respectable leader. (The human spirit really shines in alternate world.)

6. Fruits Basket - Somehow this anime provoked my human emotions.

7. The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye - This is philosophical like Kino's Journey.

8. Bleach - It's comedy with an infuriating antagonist and intriguing plot.

9. Death Note - How could you rule the world with a notebook? hmmph...

10.5 Haibane Renmei - What do other people say about this?

10.5 Welcome to the NHK - Why do I see myself in him?...If you could relate, then it's good, right?

My top 5 worst anime (based on what I've watched so far)....

1. Lain - This is just confusing. I know what's going on but I just cannot connect....(Hey Lain, you're disconnected.) For the most part, I did not enjoy watching this.

2. Green Green - Funny but weak plot.

3. When They Cry - Several arcs that seem independent of each other. Confusing, in one word.

4. His and Her Circumstances (The Second Part- if you've watched this, you know what I'm talking about)- The creators should have stopped working on the first part. The first part epitomizes how a love story should evolve. Very real. Ha, slice of life! (Despite this rank, it's my best romantic/love story/anime I've watched.)

5. Cowboy Bebop - I don't know why I don't like this. Maybe because, again, I feel disconnected with the whole thing. For the most part, it's boring. I wish it's thought-provoking like Kino's Journey and The Third.

I might come back to this to make some modifications.
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Aoi_Sakaraba



Joined: 12 Aug 2003
Posts: 312
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:45 am Reply with quote
28076004505531 wrote:
My top ten best include:

1. Kino's Journey - For the most part, I like how thought-provoking the stories are.

2. Great Teacher Onizuka - It seems very real. GTO is very inspirational, daring, funny, and downright awesome.

3. Hikaru No Go - I like how the competition between the two main characters evolves.

4. One Piece - It's all about friendship, adventure, imagination and humanity.

5. Twelve Kingdoms - This is how you become a respectable leader. (The human spirit really shines in alternate world.)

6. Fruits Basket - Somehow this anime provoked my human emotions.

7. The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye - This is philosophical like Kino's Journey.

8. Bleach - It's comedy with an infuriating antagonist and intriguing plot.

9. Death Note - How could you rule the world with a notebook? hmmph...

10.5 Haibane Renmei - What do other people say about this?

10.5 Welcome to the NHK - Why do I see myself in him?...If you could relate, then it's good, right?

My top 5 worst anime (based on what I've watched so far)....

1. Lain - This is just confusing. I know what's going on but I just cannot connect....(Hey Lain, you're disconnected.) For the most part, I did not enjoy watching this.

2. Green Green - Funny but weak plot.

3. When They Cry - Several arcs that seem independent of each other. Confusing, in one word.

4. His and Her Circumstances (The Second Part- if you've watched this, you know what I'm talking about)- The creators should have stopped working on the first part. The first part epitomizes how a love story should evolve. Very real. Ha, slice of life! (Despite this rank, it's my best romantic/love story/anime I've watched.)

5. Cowboy Bebop - I don't know why I don't like this. Maybe because, again, I feel disconnected with the whole thing. For the most part, it's boring. I wish it's thought-provoking like Kino's Journey and The Third.

I might come back to this to make some modifications.


You didn't watch the second season of When they Cry then 0_0
They all do go together.
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28076004505531



Joined: 25 Oct 2008
Posts: 124
Location: Ohio, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 12:54 pm Reply with quote
Aoi_Sakaraba wrote:
28076004505531 wrote:
My top ten best include:

1. Kino's Journey - For the most part, I like how thought-provoking the stories are.

2. Great Teacher Onizuka - It seems very real. GTO is very inspirational, daring, funny, and downright awesome.

3. Hikaru No Go - I like how the competition between the two main characters evolves.

4. One Piece - It's all about friendship, adventure, imagination and humanity.

5. Twelve Kingdoms - This is how you become a respectable leader. (The human spirit really shines in alternate world.)

6. Fruits Basket - Somehow this anime provoked my human emotions.

7. The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye - This is philosophical like Kino's Journey.

8. Bleach - It's comedy with an infuriating antagonist and intriguing plot.

9. Death Note - How could you rule the world with a notebook? hmmph...

10.5 Haibane Renmei - What do other people say about this?

10.5 Welcome to the NHK - Why do I see myself in him?...If you could relate, then it's good, right?

My top 5 worst anime (based on what I've watched so far)....

1. Lain - This is just confusing. I know what's going on but I just cannot connect....(Hey Lain, you're disconnected.) For the most part, I did not enjoy watching this.

2. Green Green - Funny but weak plot.

3. When They Cry - Several arcs that seem independent of each other. Confusing, in one word.

4. His and Her Circumstances (The Second Part- if you've watched this, you know what I'm talking about)- The creators should have stopped working on the first part. The first part epitomizes how a love story should evolve. Very real. Ha, slice of life! (Despite this rank, it's my best romantic/love story/anime I've watched.)

5. Cowboy Bebop - I don't know why I don't like this. Maybe because, again, I feel disconnected with the whole thing. For the most part, it's boring. I wish it's thought-provoking like Kino's Journey and The Third.

I might come back to this to make some modifications.


You didn't watch the second season of When they Cry then 0_0
They all do go together.


i haven't watched it yet...maybe that's why
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Mai Yukino



Joined: 26 Aug 2009
Posts: 217
PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:01 pm Reply with quote
After watching a few other anime titles, I wanted to make a new list, so here is my top 10 best anime, some from my old list will be in the new and many of my favorites are character driven series.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes-After I watched this series, I thought that this was the best space opera anime I ever seen and surpassed Crest/Banner of the Stars, with LOGH the series goes into detail of the conflicts concerning all sides and offers a rich cast of characters and a splendid cast of seiyuu to voice the roles. The series shows the story of the Galactic Empire's Reinhard von Lohengramm and his allies and the Free Planets Alliance's Yang Wenli and his allies as well as both individuals rise to power. I was truly impressed on how the series was presented and I see LOGH as a character driven series considering how diverse the cast is. The space battles were a splendid sight to see as well. All in all, LOGH is truly an epic series.
Kanon 2006-This is my favorite title of the trilogy between Air and Clannad. I enjoy Kanon the best due to the heartwarming tale of the lead, Yuuichi Aizawa's relationships with those around him as well as the stories between the lead female cast, I could connect to all five of the girls, and their stories were filled with emotions that made me cry in some places and made me smile in others.
Bubblegum Crisis-One great piece of 80's-early 90's nostalgia, I fell in love with this series after listening to the awesome songs and drove me to watch the series and after I have, my love of the series doubled. With seiyuu like Yoshiko Sakakibara and Toshio Furkawa among the cast along with the talents of Kinuko Ohmori and Maiko Hashimoto made the series even more enjoyable.
Neon Genesis Evangelion-I love Evangelion due to it being a very character driven series with the cast. Sure some of the character personalities can be a turn-off, but after learning of the tragic pasts of these characters, I can understand why they act the way they do.
Blue Seed-Loved this series as it awesome action, a well told story, endearing romance, and a likeable cast. As it began with monster of the week fare, it delved out of that to bring a dramatic story of two sisters in conflict with each other, one wanting to save Japan from destruction(Momji) and the other(Kaede) wanting to destroy Japan to revert it back to the way it was during ancient times. Momiji turned out to be a strong heroine, seeking to become stronger in her own right and not always relying on Kusanagi as most heroines do and I connected to Kaede's pain and why she became the way she did.
Macross Plus-This was my favorite of the Macross franchise as it dealt with a love triangle between adult characters, a rarity in anime, and a complex story between man vs. machine and the leads dealing with their own inner demons. Sharon Apple was quite the interesting character too as most of the Macross idols were those that brought love and harmony through songs, but Sharon was quite unique as she could bring out the darkest desires within the hearts of her listeners with her siren song. It was quite the mature series and a rich character drama.
Cowboy Bebop-I love Bebop as like Macross Plus, a rich character drama and having Yoko Kanno doing the music of the series. Between this and Black Lagoon, a series smilar to Bebop and also a series I like, I liked Bebop more as it went into detail of all the lead characters and their pasts and the kinds of people they were and made them more well rounded and I could connect to them. I was deeply touched by Spike and Faye's backstories. Bebop had moments that made me laugh, smile, and cry.
Kimagure Orange Road-One of the romance comedies I enjoyed the most because of two things, one the character of Madoka Ayukawa, a likable tsundere and two, an interesting twist on a love triangle, two best friends, Madoka and Hikaru Hiyama both in love with Kyosuke Kasuga, the male lead, and executed rather well where the TV series and the OVA keep the triangle light hearted and the first movie taking the love triangle into a dramatic turn where Kyosuke finally is decisive. I was rather pleased with how the series/films played out.
Tekkaman Blade-I loved this series as it goes beyond the run of the mill mecha/sentai series, but adds character drama dealing with the story of Takaya "D-Boy" Aiba and his conflict with the alien threat that had taken his family and friends and turned them against him, except for his younger sister who wasn't fully taken control of . D-Boy is not alone in his struggle as his new comrades stay loyally by his side, throughout the good times and bad. This series is more enjoyable in the original Japanese language version instead of the heavily edited Teknoman version of the series.
Full Metal Panic!/Fumoffu/TSR-With this series, I enjoyed the many elements brought together to make it as a whole, with the comedic high school hijinks, with the mecha action and the dramatic political intrigue, made FMP another unique kind of series.

Worst...those I have seen and don't like
Gundam SEED/Destiny-As a Gundam fan, I didn't like the SEED universe as most of the cast was unlikeable and couldn't connect with either of them and I didn't care for the romance. It also lacked a solid, well told story and the sequel repeated the same themes as the first series.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya-I tried to like it, but I found myself not caring too much for it, I was irritated with the lead character herself as well as most of the other characters(although I could tolerate Yuki). Like with most people, the Endless Eight arc drove me nuts.
Inuyasha-I didn't like Inuyasha due in part to most of the series having stereotypical elements in it and most of the gags in the series got old, like Miroku's constant groping of Sango and other females, Kagome's relentless "Sit!" commands, and Naraku's hide and seek act. The series would've been solid if it were shorter.
Naruto/Bleach-These two series tie because of both series storylines being dragged out way too far combined with useless filler arcs.
Ninja Ressurrection/Tekken:the Motion Picture-These were on my old list as being horrible titles to begin with and me asking myself why ADV bothered licensing them to begin with.
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