Anime

[Rumarumo]

[quote name='Satin' post='1699242' date='Feb 25 2009, 13.38']I would highly recommend Monster. It's a few years old by now and has absolutely no cute-factor to it, but it's really good.

Gankutsuo is also a really unique take on the Count of Monte Cristo. It's also the most visually stunning thing I've seen.

FYI to those who liked Full Metal Alchemist. There's apparently going to be a second season starting sometime this year in Japan.[/quote]



....................is this for real? :drool:

[Rooster]

The second season of Full Metal Alchemist is less a second season than a re-telling. As far as I know, it's supposed to follow the manga exact, while the original TV series deviated from it somewhere (can't remember where).

[jousha]

[quote name='Rooster' post='1699490' date='Feb 25 2009, 11.39']As far as I know, it's supposed to follow the manga exact[/quote]

How good is that storyline? I don't doubt it is as good or better than the series, but is it complete enough to be followed exactly? I thought that's why they deviated from the material in the first series. Are they planning on doing this FMA the same as, say, Naruto et al. and basically create filler episodes/arcs/etc. while waiting for the next manga to come out? I'm not sure I like that method much. With Naruto, they seemed to rehash his character development through the filler; I remember watching a filler episode and thinking, "but you already [i]learned[/i] from that mistake, why are you doing it again?!" I admit, I just read the Naruto manga now.


---

Anyone see Sword of the Stranger? I had the pleasure of seeing it in theater a few weeks ago ... well, a bit of pleasure. It was nice to see an anime on the big screen, but too bad they were just playing a [i]DVD[/i] on there for this Fathom Events one night playing. The screen seemed too dark; dark enough to seem out of place, even though you could still see what was going on. When they first started playing the movie, we only heard the audio so they had to get someone to work on it. I was too frustrated about the $12 Fathom Event ticket I spent on such cheap display to enjoy the movie completely. But that's less a criticism on the film itself and more Fathom Events. The film itself was a decent samurai anime. Interesting how the Chinese are introduced in it and the main badasses are foreigners (i.e. Europeans raised in Asia).

Though I will say one thing about seeing anime on the big screen. You can really notice the lack of frames used (What is it, 15 fps instead of 30 fps? I forget.) when it's magnified.

[VorianGR]

I also want to recomend this site: onemanga.com for free online manga and if you visit then you MUST ABSOLUTELY read the following manga

a)Historie, where the main hero is Eumenes a real historical person and secretary of Alexander the Great

b)Vinland Saga. Contains Vikings and many historical figures appear as well.

GRRMartin fans will love those imo.

[sio]

[quote name='The Pita Enigma' post='1699414' date='Feb 26 2009, 02.01']20 mins per episode, the show is 37 episodes.
20*37=740 minutes, /60= 12 1/3 hours.
You're insane.[/quote]

I'm planning to do it over the weekend, with a screen of code in front of me. 12.3 hours is nothing.

[Darkostar]

I've been devouring Hajime no Ippo and Eyeshield 21. I love anime portrayals of sports. It makes me wish I could play like that. I've gone over some Last Exile again, but most importantly, it's all about Detroit Metal City.

[Ocean of Notions]

[quote name='R'hllor Coaster' post='1699788' date='Feb 25 2009, 16.08']I've been devouring Hajime no Ippo and Eyeshield 21. I love anime portrayals of sports. It makes me wish I could play like that. I've gone over some Last Exile again, but most importantly, it's all about Detroit Metal City.[/quote]


I haven't been doing much watching of ('though I should since it's already on my hard drive), but for a period of time I was avidly reading Eyesheild 21. I should pick it up again. I learned most things I know about football (however little that is) from that comic. Sad, I know.

And I must tell you, your screen name made me laugh out loud. 'How clever. :)

[Tobin]

I've been tempted to pick up a copy of [i]Ergo Proxy[/i] - has anyone seen it? The local BBuy only has it as a full box set and I'd rather not spend that much money on something I don't know anything about.

[Lady Nymeria]

[quote name='Rooster' post='1699490' date='Feb 25 2009, 12.39']The second season of Full Metal Alchemist is less a second season than a re-telling. As far as I know, it's supposed to follow the manga exact, while the original TV series deviated from it somewhere (can't remember where).[/quote]

That would make sense. They were smart no to drag on a good series through the use of low-quality filler (why Naruto? why?), but by now they should have a lot more material to tell the story. I don't know much about it, but I'm hoping it'll be worth watching.

[Lady Nymeria]

[quote name='Rooster' post='1699476' date='Feb 25 2009, 12.30']Speaking of visuals, Satin, have you watched Mononoke? Here's a pretty funky [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMVw-bad1Nc"]MAD[/url] that might sell you to it. Note though, that I'd actually recommend watching the last three episodes of Ayakashi horror tales first, as it's a much better introduction to the Medicine Seller - who stars in both - than Mononoke's first arc.[/quote]

Thanks for the recommendation. I haven't seen it, but the video has me curious. I'll look into it.

[siyrean]

i'm a huge Deathnote fan. i just got the prequal so i'm looking forward to reading that. i also heard that they plan to make a hollywood live action version which has me really scared. i admit though, i tend not to rewatch episodes beyond 25.

and the girl in me really gets a kick out of Ouran highschool host club. the first half of the series at least i find very funny, especially if your used to dealing with fangirls.

[Fatuous]

[quote name='siyrean' post='1699925' date='Feb 25 2009, 17.39']i'm a huge Deathnote fan. i just got the prequal so i'm looking forward to reading that. i also heard that they plan to make a hollywood live action version which has me really scared. i admit though, i tend not to rewatch episodes beyond 25.[/quote]

Come to think on it, that probably would have been a good idea. I don't know the exact point of the series as a whole but I loved the relationship between Light, L and Misa and the related story about that business corporation, which I gather is suppose to be filler to the main story. I thought the series was at its best when Misa's impulsive exuberance trumped both Light and L's genius and the goofiest, craziest idea that could possibly happen happened and it worked. The whole story was ruined by turning over the plot with its "5 years later" thing. It just did not make any sense, the creators must have seen that. My first thought was "Wait, what? Five years? Isn't that just kind of dumb for detectives to be in a holding pattern for five years?"

I've been noticing some other shows have the "some time passed" plot device, some ok, some really not ok {And if you don't see why I'm mentioning such a thing on a Martin fansite then you don't know Song}.

Gurren Lagaan was ok, if just barely. Each third of the series was based on Simon and someone else, with the title of each episode as a quote from Simon's partner {"Who the hell do you think I am?" should go down as one of the greats, both character and quote}. The question is if the whole time skip period was sensible. The tough as nails fighters were made part of Government largess for 7 years and they and the Government just sort of hanged in there? Really? At least Yoko and Viral's stories made sense.

Shikabane Hime: 6 months. That was fine, actually. Everything that happened over those six months made sense to the story. It also helped that this break happened right in the middle and it was reasonably short span of time. It was also the same plot device used in Moonphase for all the same reasons: Main hero guy needs to get trained as a priest which he tries to accomplish in 6 months, secluded away from the main cast. Both series focused on the word "tries", Moonphase was a lot more interesting about why main hero guy didn't get properly trained in the first place while Shikabane Hime just keep putting up excuses to the point that made me wonder if the rest of the cast knew who the main character was or rather what he was into.

Mahoramatic season 2's special epilogue of "20 Years Later". I guess I'm one in the minority who not only think it worked but that it was also necessary to complete the story. Still, it's just the last episode epilogue so it probably doesn't count.

So. Have there been any that were good? I'm sure there must be others.

[TheLoneliestMonk]

if you didnt like berserk you may at least like the bloopers. hilarious.

[Paxter]

[quote name='Tobin' post='1699842' date='Feb 26 2009, 06.50']I've been tempted to pick up a copy of [i]Ergo Proxy[/i] - has anyone seen it? The local BBuy only has it as a full box set and I'd rather not spend that much money on something I don't know anything about.[/quote]

The animation is fantastic in this series, but the storyline is extremely difficult to follow. It's definitely not the kind of anime that you can just switch on and mindlessly enjoy. In fact, I must admit that the conclusion to the series made no sense to me whatsoever. Overall, I wouldn't recommend Ergo Proxy unless high-quality animation is all you're after.

[Galactus]

[quote name='Satin' post='1699242' date='Feb 25 2009, 14.38']I would highly recommend Monster. It's a few years old by now and has absolutely no cute-factor to it, but it's really good.

Gankutsuo is also a really unique take on the Count of Monte Cristo. It's also the most visually stunning thing I've seen.

FYI to those who liked Full Metal Alchemist. There's apparently going to be a second season starting sometime this year in Japan.[/quote]

I think they really dropped the ball with the ending of Gankutsuo

SPOILER: spoiler

The entire "alien possession" thing really ruined the entire thing for me

[ithanos]

Full Metal Alchemist:

Watched the anime first and loved it, especially the first season. Still enjoyed the second season though the story had a 'veered off the track' feel about it. Didn't really like the movie at all.

Caught up with the Manga last week. Got Volumes 1-16 (chapters 1-65) out through my library and then read up to the most recent chapter 92 on Onemanga - as my web histoy can attest :)

The great thing about the volumes are the extras at the end. In one of them Arakawa notes how she outlined to the animators how the anime was to end. In retrospect it was a very smart move. She got them to drive her baby down a different track in that second season without crashing it and thus gave herself time to flesh out the Manga storyline at her pace as she intended.

As to the Manga storyline? Its vastly superior and still very dark. Arakawa challeges the two protagonists enough so that they don't seem so annoying and there's plenty of screen time for other characters who are often more intriguing. There are panels used in some of the early chapters which are seamlessly expanded upon dozens of chapters (and in publishing terms - years) later. The story arcs are all coming together now and I reckon she could finish it up within a couple dozen chapters if she wanted to. Overall its great stuff.

[Papirolle]

I recommend Hikaru No Go. 75 episodes I think and one of my favorite animes. It's about a schoolboy learning to play Go while being possessed by the ghost of the greatest Go-player in history.
An interest or knowledge of the game Go is not required but is certainly a plus.
And if this series doesn't make you wanna play Go, nothing will.

[Daeric]

[quote]The animation is fantastic in this series, but the storyline is extremely difficult to follow. It's definitely not the kind of anime that you can just switch on and mindlessly enjoy. In fact, I must admit that the conclusion to the series made no sense to me whatsoever. Overall, I wouldn't recommend Ergo Proxy unless high-quality animation is all you're after.[/quote]

I definitly agree with the animation part, but the twist and turns throughout it is what made is so enjoyable to watch for me but I would recommend it on the basis of the wtf oh that now makes sense moments that start to happen. The ending does make sense, it just requires abit of twisting around of what the show was shown you so far.

I haven't being watching all that much anime recently through I am reading a manga called The Ravages of Time which is a fairly decent read. Its taken the Three Kingdoms period of China, taken the timeline and added their own twists and plots to the main events.

[sio]

I never liked FMA much myself.

Being a go player, I should probably watch Hikaru no Go at some point, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

[AverageGuy]

[quote name='sio' post='1699159' date='Feb 25 2009, 05.24']Really looking forward to Deathnote. A friend's going to lend me the series soon, and I plan to watch it all in one go.[/quote]
[url="http://www.hulu.com/death-note"]hulu.com/death-note[/url]

You don't need no stinkin' friends.

I still haven't watched it. Everyone (who doesn't hate anime) tells me how good it is, but how good could it really be? I mean, it's about a guy killing people by writing in a book.