Forum - View topicWhat is Your Favourite Noitamina Show?
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Noitamina - "animation" spelled backwards - is a timeslot whose stated goal is to promote shows that appeal to a wider audience than just the typical young male demographic. Though it has not always followed that goal, the timeslot is still highly regarded among fans of all ages and genders who consider it a wellspring of interesting programming. Including the still-ongoing Samurai Flamenco but discounting the live-action version of Moyashimon, forty-two shows have aired in the timeslot since it began in 2005. Last month alone I finished three of them, and that got me thinking as to which noitamina show is my favourite. I also thought it would be interesting to hear what ones other people like.
Tl;dr - what is your favourite noitamina show and why do you like it? ---------- For me my favourite was undoubtedly Bunny Drop. It is a very sweet tale of a workaholic man called Daisuke who - despite being single - courageously volunteers to look after a fragile young girl called Rin who happens to be related to him in an unusual way. He must deal with the trials and tribulations of parenthood while making sacrifices for Rin. Along the way he learns that there is more to life than work, and he also realises that parenthood can bring great joy and be very fulfilling. Rin is very cute and she grows emotionally as she finds in Daisuke a safe and loving home. He saves and heals her, but in a way she saves him too. The show has strong themes of the importance of family, and it is mega-heartwarming to say the least. But the reason I say that Bunny Drop was my clear favourite is because I just finished Hataraki Man and it is really good. Actually it isn't just good, it's amazing. Sometimes brutal, sometimes funny, always engaging, Hataraki Man is a sincere and spot-on depiction of what work can be like for modern Japanese women. The show primarily follows Hiroko, an ambitious editor at a weekly tabloid. She's a proud workaholic who outshines most of the men in her dedication to her job, and her male colleagues treat her as a fellow man rather than as a woman. She's fine with this most of the time, and doesn't even mind the fact that her boss goes easy on other women in the office but not her. However, Hiroko struggles to reconcile her ambition and career with her desire to have a good relationship with fellow workaholic Shinji, her long-time boyfriend whom she barely sees. Superb characterisation and realism plus excellent writing quality are what makes Hataraki Man such a great show. Hiroko may be the cause of many of her own problems but she's a likeable and intelligent character that it's impossible not to admire her. So which is my favourite, Bunny Drop or Hataraki Man? Well, I really can't choose, so I'll do a cop-out and say that I like both equally. They are incredible shows and I can't recommend them enough. ---------- So anyway, there's my thoughts. Look forward to hearing your own. Last edited by dtm42 on Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:31 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Bango
 Posts: 1122 |
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Thanks for reminding me of this. I was recently accused of being incorrect in the purpose of the time slot. I thought it was to give a chance to original works. There was no internet connection where I was so the argument ended in a stalemate. Now I can admit to the person. Looking at the list I see many come from existing sources and I didn't even know they were in the Noitamina slot.
As for my favourites... I'm going to say a 3-way tie between Black Rock Shooter (TV), Katanagatari and Psycho-Pass. While they no doubt have better shows, all three of these had parts that put me on the edge of my seat and, while details of shows fade from my memory over a short period of time, I still remember most scenes from these in detail. That means they left a better impression on me than I might initially think. |
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13246 |
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I suppose I should first establish that I've never put much stock behind the noitaminA brand. I know some treat it as the final bastion for people who like 'good' anime but I don't buy into that. To me it's just another random timeslot.
And since I'm already spouting unpopular opinions, I'll throw out that my favourite noitaminA title is Guilty Crown. Outside of everything looking absolutely goregeous (the animation, the environments, and of course the ladies), I did dig the story and the characters. It got pretty hard hitting in the second half and I anticipated each episode wondering how it was going to one-up the last. But even removing that on a rewatch, it was still a wild ride and worth every penny I spent on the limited edition Blu Ray box. Haters gonna hate, but I'm proud to display it on my shelf. The runner up would probably be Robotics;Notes. |
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4640 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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There was a project whose stated goal was to produce original works, Anime no Chikara (The Power of Anime), but it only produced three shows in 2010 before unfortunately going on indefinite hiatus and never returning (Sound of the Sky, Occult Academy, and Night Raid 1931).
I've seen, or evaluated all of Noitamina since 2010 but haven't seen any of ten of the shows before that, including Hataraki Man and some other critical faves like Mononoke and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. My faves would be Eden of the East, Moyashimon, Princess Jellyfish, Nodame Cantabile, Honey and Clover and House of Five Leaves. I guess I love the honest character interactions of these shows the most. Out of that list the one I've come back to the most is actually Moyashimon. it's a show that so wonderfully merges absurdity with realism and finely tuned characterization... The first season much more than the second... and let's just forget the Live Action ever happened. Unfortunately realism doesn't pay terribly well, so they've had to up the percentage of action shows that barely differentiate themselves from the pack. Nice to have SIlver Spoon back this winter though, the first half of that proved a top five show of my year. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Thank you for your responses.
That's an eclectic mix. It makes me realise that both the shows I mentioned are about workaholics; I wonder what that says about me as a person LOL.
Good on you. And I sincerely mean that. The reason I asked about "favourite" shows rather than "best" shows is so that people could talk about the more unpopular shows without others jumping down their throats. No-one has the right to tell you what you can or can not like. So yeah, don't worry that your opinion might be unpopular, because we are just talking about our personal favourites. If anyone ridicules you for liking Guilty Crown I'll report them myself.
There are actually seventeen noitamina shows that aired before 2010, fourteen if you don't count second seasons. Thank you for mentioning Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. Despite being one of the only disaster survival shows in anime it's a wonderful story that focuses on the human dimension of a disaster. Mirai's character development was a treat, although she sure went through a lot to earn it. I almost like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 as much as Hataraki Man and Bunny Drop; it is a close thing. |
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 4640 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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I'm a victim of trying to not end a sentence in a preposition. I mean there are ten shows from before 2010 that I haven't seen any of (I'm using wiki's list to determine). I've seen some of them (three are on my list) |
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Gewürtztraminer
 Posts: 1028 Location: Texas - Its like whole other country. |
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Looking at the list, I was surprised it went so far back...
I am limited to physical discs or legal streams, but regardless, there are quite a few I really lliked. Like you, my favorite is Bunny Drop. I thought the series did such a wonderful job of conveying emotions/story/feeling with direction, small gestures, camera work. Especially in the first episode, but all through the series. The characters never did really have to tell you how they felt, or how important certain events were, it was clear from the excellent presentation. I really have not seen another anime that did that as well. Katanagiri is in a strong second place due to an overly entertaining story, even with a fairly straightforward setup of sword per episode, I was never bored. House of Five Leaves: certainly the art took a little while to get used to, but in a way, it made me focus more on the story (in an odd twist). A little slow, but wonderfully developed in my opinion. Certainly seemed to break the typical anime mold. I notice these are all NISA releases which I own, probably bias... Silver Spoon is ongoing, but I really enjoyed the first run. One of the early shows I REALLY disliked. Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales I recall had some extremely poor horse riding animation in the early episodes. It looked like the horses were ice skating down the side of a hill. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Oh goodness, it's hard to pick just one! I actually plan to at least check out every show from the Noitamina block, because of how many of my favourites have been there.
Looking at the top 20 anime list I have been working on for awhile and a few Noitamina shows are there. The top one is Honey and Clover, which is currently at the number 6 slot for anime overall. I just identify with this show a lot and it was the first slice-of-life that I really enjoyed. I will admit, it's beginning is really slow, probably too slow given that I watched the first episode once, dropped the show, and then didn't give it a second chance until after I'd read some of the manga. But I'm very glad I did give it another look. Next is Bunny Drop, which is my overall #10. This one is just adorable beyond words. But it isn't just cute for the sake of being cute and there's some really interesting complexity to this one. Princess Jellyfish is currently my #12 and I just adore this one as well, particularly due to its excellent dub. It's nice to see female geek culture get represented a bit more. Paradise Kiss is right behind it at #13. This show is strange and beautiful and I love that it has the courage to end with spoiler[the "couple" breaking up]. Finally, the last Noitamina show in my top 20 is Eden of the East, sitting at #17. I love that this show did things a little differently as it created a very compelling plot. So yes, Noitamina has been a very good block for me, with a quarter of my top 20 airing as part of it, and I plan to check out many more shows, especially now that I can start getting around to stuff on my to-watch list rather than just sitting back and watching it grow. |
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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Now this is a tough question.
I've seen: AnoHana - I didn't watch this as it aired. I came to it afterwards and nearly dropped it after the first episode because Menma was so whiny and annoying. I stuck with it though, knowing the high praise it had and I'm glad I did. It didn't make me cry, but it did certainly tug at the heartstrings, even though it felt like it was trying too hard to do so sometimes. I'd watch it again. My MAL rating: 8/10 Antique Bakery - I'm a big fan of Fumi Yoshinaga, and I read the manga years ago. I discovered a while back that Nozomi were putting the entire series on YouTube for a limited time. I watched it then and really enjoyed it as well. It was like watching it fresh as it'd been so long since I read the manga. I really enjoyed it and I'd watch it again, but it's not my favourite thing ever. My MAL rating: 8/10 Bunny Drop - This one made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and if it doesn't make you feel the same, you obviously have no soul  Watching Rin and Daikiichi become a family was the highlight of my week while the show was airing, and I hate kids. It even has an ending which doesn't leave you hanging.
My MAL rating: 10/10 [C] - I enjoyed this one quite a lot and I really liked the idea behind it, but it did feel rushed and convoluted in places. Like a lot of noitaminA shows, it suffered from only having 11 episodes to work with and would've been better for having more episodes to work with. My MAL rating: 8/10 Gallilei Donna - Again, suffered from an interesting premise and lack of episodes to work with.They didn't help themselves by having the story be all over the place though, and I didn't really care about the characters either. It did look pretty good visually though. My MAL rating: 6/10 Guilty Crown Well, the visuals and the music were spectacular. I watched this with my other half, and we both agreed that the plot was a bit of a trainwreck towards the end. But, we both enjoyed it and found the initial premise interesting. My MAL rating: 6/10. Would be 6.5 if MAL did half ratings, as I enjoyed it more that Galilei Donna but don't feel it's worth 7/10 Hataraki Man - Oh my gosh I love this show. I watched it all in one day whilst I was travelling. It's brutal, it's funny, I love the characters and it's so ridiculously wonderfully over the top. My MAL rating: 9/10. Would be 10 if it had ended more conclusively, but that's the manga's fault. Honey and Clover I - As it was 2011 when I watched this and I've still not got around to the second season yet, clearly I'm not massively enamoured by it. I've read all the manga and enjoyed that very much, but there's always been other things to watch which seem to jump ahead in the priority list. Plus Hagu could be extremely annoying and too much of a crybaby. My MAL rating: 8/10 Kids on the Slope I really liked the music in this show. I could really empathise with the characters and their story as well, although the girl sometimes felt like she was there to try and stop people thinking the boys were gay. Nonetheless, it's still one of my favourite shows of recent years. My MAL score: 10/10 Library Wars - I'd read some of the manga for this series before I started watching it, and really enjoyed that. I really like the premise, the characters and the storytelling. Some of the romantic stuff is a little trite, and that's all that holds it back from scoring higher. My MAL rating: 9/10. Natsuyuki Rendezvous Two words sum this show up for me: Wasted potential. I really liked the initial idea and the first few episodes, but the dreamworld nonsense just killed it. My MAL score: 6/10 No. 6 Another show which suffered from only having 11 episodes. I don't know how they managed to mess the ending up, considering the novel series was nearly finished when they made the show. I love the story, the setting and the characters though. Were it not for the mess at the end, it would've scored higher. My MAL score: 8/10 Nodame Cantabile (all seasons) I loved the manga of this before I started watching it, and being able to actually hear the music only improves it. The pacing is a little off in the 2nd and 3rd seasons, but other than that, it's one of my favourite shows of all time. I love the music, the characters and the development. My MAL score: 10/10 Paradise Kiss. - Again, I love the manga. Reading it always makes me want to draw. I really relate to Caroline and I love how unromantic the romance is and I especially love spoiler[that she doesn't end up with George]. I do slightly prefer the manga though. My MAL rating: 9/10 Psycho-Pass (still watching) I really like this show, but I've only seen 3 episodes because I'm watching it with a friend, so I don't feel it's fair to rate it yet. Samurai Flamenco (still watching) I'm really enjoying this show, and I really like the idea behind it, but I thought Tiger and Bunny did a similiar thing better. My MAL rating: 9/10 Silver Spoon I had high expectations for this one going in, having enjoyed FMA so much, and I wasn't disappointed. Anyone who can make a series about farming funny and charming must be doing something right, especially since I grew up surrounded by farmers. My MAL score: 8/10 Tsuritama This show made me smile a lot. It was so sweet and innocent seeming, but kinda dark at the same time. I really enjoyed it and it reminded me of watching cartoons as a kind. My MAL score: 9/10 Un-Go I watched this with my other half, and we both really enjoyed it. I would've preferred it if it had more of an overarching story, and it didn't feel like it just petered out. My MAL rating: 8/10. So by the scores, my favourite noitaminA shows are Nodame, Bunny Drop and Kids on the Slope, as they are the 3 I gave 10/10 to. I'd like to also mention Hataraki Man, Library Wars and No. 6. though. They all got 9/10 and I enjoyed them equally as much as the 3 shows which got 10, but they had enough flaws to stop them getting a top score. I've seen half of Katanagatari (because it takes so much concentration to follow) but I'm not counting it since it wasn't originally a Noitamina show. I plan to see Eden of the East Fractale Honey and Clover II House of 5 Leaves Jyu-Oh-Sei Princess Jellyfish Moyashimon (both seasons) Shiki The Tatami Galaxy Thermae Romae Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 Wandering Son I'm not familiar with the rest, but I'll probably watch them at some point. Last edited by st_owly on Thu Jan 02, 2014 5:25 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Wrathful
 Posts: 372 |
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Hataraki Man and Tatami Galaxy are my favourite Noitamina show for various reasons. Number one being slice of life is major factor, the other was that they are unique. What seiyuu are playing is also a huge factor.
I also like Un-Go but I admit that it was hard to get into it first. Maybe it was little too odd because of Inga's presence. By the end I was pretty impressed. Shiki was sort of boring on the first half but when it picks up, it was such a thrill. The ending was quite disappointing by the lack of closure but overall it was well-done horror. Dare I say, I like it better than the other vampire series Hellsing Ultimate. Last edited by Wrathful on Wed Jan 01, 2014 5:46 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6607 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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That's a furphy, Vaisaga. "Good" has nothing to do with it. The noitaminA timeslot is avowedly aiming for a female and / or older audience, (though there has been the odd exception). That you may prefer anime aiming outside those demographics is a matter of taste. There is good and bad josei media just as there is good and bad shonen. noitaminA provides an alternative to an otherwise well catered for demographic. My favourites have been Bunny Drop, House of Five Leaves and The Tatami Galaxy. |
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Bango
Posts: 1122 |
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Of the ones I've seen, I've *counting* loved 12, generally enjoyed 4 and seriously wished I had my time back for 12. Of the 3 anime show I re-watch every year, one is a Noitamina show but they also have a show I actively dissuade others from watching at every given opportunity. So IMO they're all over the place quality-wise. LOL
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rosebrook11
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I'm personally a big fan of a lot of the noitamina shows because a lot of them involve genres that I don't get a lot of in other shows that I watch.
If I had to pick a some favorites I would pick: Shiki, Princess Jellyfish, Kids on the Slope, Eden of the East and Tsuritama. I really liked how Shiki was (to me) a realistic look into how people would react to supernatural phenomena. And for the rest of them, I'm a huge fan of josei and josei-slice of life shows. |
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Vaisaga
Posts: 13246 |
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*Had to look that up* I have seen posts slamming "stupid fanservice otaku harem shows" praise noitaminA as their personal savior since the timeslot (usually) doesn't air shows like that. I do believe one of the reasons people were upset about Guilty Crown initially is that it was seen as the type of show noitaminA was supposed to 'save' them from. Even before that I had seen reactions of "It's noitaminA so it's going to be great!" So yeah, I just meant that I never held the timeslot to any kind of lofty standards that I had seen some others doing. Of course it's undeniable that it has given us great shows and it's definitely a good thing it aims for a different demographic, but that's not exclusive to noitaminA stuff. ... Looking over the list of shows, I've actually only seen 5 of them entirely (Eden of the East, Anohana, Un-Go, GC, R;N), so perhaps I'm not to best person to weigh in 
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Noitamina to me has always been strong for josei manga adaptations. As such, it should be no surprise that my favorite Noitamina shows are Honey and Clover, Nodame Cantabile, and Jellyfish Princess.
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