Anime reviews

[Dr_Avalanche]

Beside Panther and me, is there anyone with even a remote interest in anime?
If they're of use to anyone I'm happy to write short reviews of the anime I watch, but if there's no audience there's not much point in it.

[Northcott]

Yes and no. :) I'm always interested in checking out what's been done with animation, but there's very few places around here that rent anime titles, so that leaves me up the creek in terms of exploring new stories.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Youtube? :)

A bit sparse on the resolution perhaps.

[Xavier Lang]

Beside Panther and me, is there anyone with even a remote interest in anime?
If they're of use to anyone I'm happy to write short reviews of the anime I watch, but if there's no audience there's not much point in it.

I enjoy watching anime, but I don't know it very well and haven't watched very much. I am interested in people's reviews on them, but I can't say I will go out and watch/download/buy anything reviewed, ever. :)

[Varaj]

I'm interested in stories I really don't care what the media is.

[Dinkeldog]

You could try Netflix, I guess.

I've spent the last two months watching "Howl's Moving Castle" on cable on demand. Same guy that did "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away", and a pretty nice story. It's a magic reality in the Victorian-ish era. The main character becomes cursed and has to figure out how to uncurse herself. It comes out a lot more like high fantasy, Western style, rather than concentrating on Eastern motifs.

[Steampunk]

Big anime fan here. Just finished watching Samurai 7.

[Xavier Lang]

You could try Netflix, I guess.

I've spent the last two months watching "Howl's Moving Castle" on cable on demand. Same guy that did "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away", and a pretty nice story. It's a magic reality in the Victorian-ish era. The main character becomes cursed and has to figure out how to uncurse herself. It comes out a lot more like high fantasy, Western style, rather than concentrating on Eastern motifs.

I've seen all 3 of those and enjoyed them.

[Droid101]

Watched the entire series of the following:

Hellsing, Cowboy Bebop. Liked them both.

Movies... watched Totoro, Princess Mononoke, that one where the kid turns into a dragon near the end (can't remember what it's called), Blood the Last Vampire, Vampire Hunter D part 1 and 2, Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll.

Started to watch Berserk, but didn't follow through. I want to try again one of these days. Didn't really like Vampire Hunter D part 1, animation was... dated. Part 2 is probably my favorite anime. Blood is pretty cool but very short.

Anyway, cheers. Give suggestions based on the above, and I'd probably try them out.

[Black Angel]

I'm happy to read anime reviews, although I can't say I'll be able to watch them at any time.

Favourites: Beserk (you really should watch it all the way through Droid, although it does get kinda wierd), Excel Saga, RahXephon, and a few others I can't recall in my current tipsy state. Maybe Coops can remember for me...

[Dr_Avalanche]

Started to watch Berserk, but didn't follow through. I want to try again one of these days. Didn't really like Vampire Hunter D part 1, animation was... dated. Part 2 is probably my favorite anime. Blood is pretty cool but very short.


You know they turned Blood into a tv show, called Blood+? It's far from short, at 50 episodes. Some like the movie better, just because it's concise and to the point, while the tv series drags out. The animation is beautiful though, and there are some awesome action moments.

Full Metal Alchemist is an excellent mix of the cruel and gritty on one hand and comic relief on the other. Plus an excellent plot, good voice acting and animation. Really, everyone should see it.

[Droid101]

Full Metal Alchemist is an excellent mix of the cruel and gritty on one hand and comic relief on the other. Plus an excellent plot, good voice acting and animation. Really, everyone should see it.

I'm always wary of the animes that try to mix in 'comic relief.' Cowboy Bebop pulled it off to a point where I didn't mind it, and sometimes found it pretty entertaining, like the Mushrooms Episode, which was basically all comedy.

The reason I'm so wary is because I tried to watch Trigun. I swear it was the stupidest thing I ever watched, didn't make it past the first episode.

[Steampunk]

Samurai 7 brings in comic relief only through the course of events, like Kuzo killing anyone who wants to hurt Kanbe because he wants to be the one that kills him, or another samurai talks smack to another through their normal friendly discourse.

Check it out, man. I think you would like it.

[Dr_Avalanche]

I'm always wary of the animes that try to mix in 'comic relief.' Cowboy Bebop pulled it off to a point where I didn't mind it, and sometimes found it pretty entertaining, like the Mushrooms Episode, which was basically all comedy.

The reason I'm so wary is because I tried to watch Trigun. I swear it was the stupidest thing I ever watched, didn't make it past the first episode.

Oh, it's nothing like that. Trigun is not a serious show with some comedy thrown in, it's just wackiness from start to end. Full Metal Alchemist is gritty and dark like fuck, but just to make sure you don't kill yourself between episodes, they'll make you laugh from time to time.

[Northcott]

I'll second Full Metal Alchemist. It's a cut above.

Right now I'm trying to keep up with Eureka 7, and so far I'm really liking it.

[Droid101]

Samurai 7

Full Metal Alchemist

Beserk

Okay guys, I have a life I have to fit in somewhere, you know. :D

[Steampunk]

Okay guys, I have a life I have to fit in somewhere, you know. :D

Yes, but without having seen those shows, what kind of life is it? :D

[there_is_no_bob]

I was kind of enjoying Bleach.


And throw in another vote for FMA. Awesomeness.

[Droid101]

Yes, but without having seen those shows, what kind of life is it? :D

Severely degraded, apparently.

[Scarbonac]

I am a total slut for anime. Bring 'em on!


Hey, anyone know where a fella can get a good copy of Marine Boy?

[Dr_Avalanche]

Hey, anyone know where a fella can get a good copy of Marine Boy?

I'm stumped. Couldn't even find it through, er, irregular channels.

[Dr_Avalanche]

For something serious, one could do worse than to check out a show called Claymore. It's a brand new fantasy show about half-demon bred women who make out some kind of order that travel the world eliminating their demon-kin for money. The protagonists is one of these Claymores and an orphaned boy. It's a bit drama, a bit horror. I've not seen much of it (just the first episode, actually) but it looks really good, the art and story telling reminds just a little bit of Witch Hunter Robin.

This show is still being broadcast in Japan, so it's going to be a while before it shows up on DVD in USA or Europe, but fansubs are all over the place (probably even on Youtube).

There is also a manga which has gotten just as good reviews as the anime.

[Northcott]

I was kind of enjoying Bleach.

I was digging Bleach. Serious enough to keep interest, but with lots of humour -- most of it based on mockery of teenage angst/self-importance. I was getting iffy about the series when it did that big location shift, but as YTV hasn't played any episodes past the initial foray into the other realm, I don't know how things turned out.

[Dr_Avalanche]

I was digging Bleach. Serious enough to keep interest, but with lots of humour -- most of it based on mockery of teenage angst/self-importance. I was getting iffy about the series when it did that big location shift, but as YTV hasn't played any episodes past the initial foray into the other realm, I don't know how things turned out.

I think it lost a lot of pace. I'm still watching it now and then, but there was a point when I realized that the story doesn't have a direction beyond "go anywhere as long as it's not a final conclusion". I'm up to episode 110, and there is no indication this show is about to stop. It's still good for slapstick humour, and it's rather stylish both in art (though the animation is crap) and music, but that's it.

[Northcott]

I think it lost a lot of pace. I'm still watching it now and then, but there was a point when I realized that the story doesn't have a direction beyond "go anywhere as long as it's not a final conclusion".

That's a damned shame. Inu Yasha made the same mistake: lots of potential for an interesting closed story, but falls flat when they refuse to at least close it out in story arcs with definitive endings.

[Steampunk]

That's a damned shame. Inu Yasha made the same mistake: lots of potential for an interesting closed story, but falls flat when they refuse to at least close it out in story arcs with definitive endings.

I was super pissed at the end of the run of Inuyasha, too. No resolution of the entire Neraku arc, which was a serious mistake.

[Northcott]

I was super pissed at the end of the run of Inuyasha, too. No resolution of the entire Neraku arc, which was a serious mistake.

Hell, there was no resolution for anything. None of the plots, none of the sub-plots. From a design and story perspective, that series started out about as strong as one could. The ball was fumbled horribly.

Full Metal Alchemist, on the other hand, went from a strong beginning to develop a stellar story, and ended it brilliantly. They've got plenty of room to continue it via another series or movie if they wish, but they tied up all the plot ends beautifully. Magnificent stuff.

[Steampunk]

Hell, there was no resolution for anything. None of the plots, none of the sub-plots. From a design and story perspective, that series started out about as strong as one could. The ball was fumbled horribly.

Full Metal Alchemist, on the other hand, went from a strong beginning to develop a stellar story, and ended it brilliantly. They've got plenty of room to continue it via another series or movie if they wish, but they tied up all the plot ends beautifully. Magnificent stuff.

Inuyasha only half tied up a few things, like Miroku/Sango, collecting the shards of the jewel (Koga still had some, so did Kohaku), and a myriad of other things. I sincerely hoped it would come to some sort of satisfying conclusion, even a half-assed one. All I got was nothing. I cannot even watch the regular episodes anymore.

FMA was pure awesome from start to finish. The series ended well, but still left some stuff hanging. However, the movie wrapped that all up nicely. I have to say the movie was one of the finer pieces of anime I have seen in a long time.

[Scarbonac]

I still watch Inuyasha, but Jesus did the non-ending suck. I had gotten so sick of Naraku, filler episodes and false endings but cheered up immensely when it looked like iot was going to come to a conclusion...then Shazam! Naraku escapes his just desserts yet again.

167 episodes and four movies with no fucking resolution.

God-dammit.

[Droid101]

Anyone know of a good place to buy a package that has all the episodes + movie for Fullmetal Alchemist? Amazon's is leaving something to be desired.

Thanks!

[Northcott]

FMA was pure awesome from start to finish. The series ended well, but still left some stuff hanging. However, the movie wrapped that all up nicely. I have to say the movie was one of the finer pieces of anime I have seen in a long time.

Perhaps I'm confusing which is which, as I don't recall having seen a movie but YTV might well have split it up over three or four episodes. So...

Did the series end with the revelation that it's a parallel world to earth during WWI, Edward dead/on our earth planning his return, and Alphonse returned to his childhood state? Or was that the end of the movie?

[Steampunk]

Perhaps I'm confusing which is which, as I don't recall having seen a movie but YTV might well have split it up over three or four episodes. So...

Did the series end with the revelation that it's a parallel world to earth during WWI, Edward dead/on our earth planning his return, and Alphonse returned to his childhood state? Or was that the end of the movie?

Wiki (http://www.kaytastrophe.com/vb/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2 Fwiki%2FFullmetal_Alchemist_the_Movie%3A_Conqueror _of_Shamballa)

The movie was called "The Conqueror of Shamballa," and given how new it is, I doubt YTV would have split it up, and probably would have shown it with great fanfare. I think you are describing the end of the series, but it is fuzzy to me at the moment.

[Steampunk]

Anyone know of a good place to buy a package that has all the episodes + movie for Fullmetal Alchemist? Amazon's is leaving something to be desired.

Thanks!

Try www.animenation.com (http://www.kaytastrophe.com/vb/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.animenation.co m).

EDIT: Though, after looking around some, it looks like the box sets will not be out until September.

[Droid101]

Try www.animenation.com (http://www.kaytastrophe.com/vb/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.animenation.co m).

EDIT: Though, after looking around some, it looks like the box sets will not be out until September.

With Christmas right around the corner, September release is fine and dandy. :cool:

[Dr_Avalanche]

Wiki (http://www.kaytastrophe.com/vb/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2 Fwiki%2FFullmetal_Alchemist_the_Movie%3A_Conqueror _of_Shamballa)

The movie was called "The Conqueror of Shamballa," and given how new it is, I doubt YTV would have split it up, and probably would have shown it with great fanfare. I think you are describing the end of the series, but it is fuzzy to me at the moment.

The movie takes place after the ending Northcott describes.

[Northcott]

I'm going to have to see if I can find this movie somewhere. I really liked the series ending -- it fit the series to a T. Bittersweet. I hope the movie lives up to it.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Right now I'm trying to keep up with Eureka 7, and so far I'm really liking it.

I watched the first episode of Eureka 7 yesterday and really liked it. There's something about it that reminds me of FLCL - a little bit the art style, but also the storytelling perspective with the "boy coming of age telling his story". There ends the similarities I guess, but anyway, it looks really promising.

[Steampunk]

I really like Eureka 7 as a whole. However, sometimes the show seemed to drag a bit, and it could get annoying with Holland being so harsh to Renton. Once I was finished with the series, though, I was very happy I had watched it all, because it was quite good.

[Kastil]

I'll throw ina few that haven't been mentioned.

Samurai Champloo- Same guy who did Cowboy Bebop. It's a 7 disc collection and I really likd the stroy from front to end.

Outlaw Star- The first episode was a great setup. I've got that in a box set.

Naruto- I know some hate it and honestly, the best way to watch this show is on YouTube with English subtitles. It's more gritter.

Basilisk- I've caught this a couple of times of IFC and the animation is well done. I wish I could say more about the storyline but it's hit or miss when I see it. I did like what I have been able to catch.

Not sure if anyone mentioned Ninja Scroll but that was a very good movie. I heard they did a TV series as well.

[Lucita]

I was digging Bleach. Serious enough to keep interest, but with lots of humour -- most of it based on mockery of teenage angst/self-importance. I was getting iffy about the series when it did that big location shift, but as YTV hasn't played any episodes past the initial foray into the other realm, I don't know how things turned out.

I actually lost interest in Bleach. It just seemed like it became the new DBZ...rapid power inflation, the protagonist always managing to be come juuuuuuuusssssstttt strong enough to beat his latest foe (usually immediately after getting his ass whupped by some weird time-stop training montage) and his character never seemed to go anywhere. About the only thing you could say about it over DBZ is that the fights typically only go for two episodes, max.

That's a damned shame. Inu Yasha made the same mistake: lots of potential for an interesting closed story, but falls flat when they refuse to at least close it out in story arcs with definitive endings.

The same happens with Ranma, both the anime and the manga. Rumiko Takahashi seems to hate having a conclusive ending.


Full Metal Alchemist, on the other hand, went from a strong beginning to develop a stellar story, and ended it brilliantly. They've got plenty of room to continue it via another series or movie if they wish, but they tied up all the plot ends beautifully. Magnificent stuff.

I love FMA, as my avatar probably attests. :D I thought some of the early episodes were weak (most notably part of the extended flashback that made up the first four or five episodes), but after that...pure rawk. Some great voice acting, too...Scar, for example, has some gawd damn cheesy as hell lines, but the guy voicing him has such vocal intensity that you don't realize they're cheesy until you stop and think about them. :)

The anime is, I think, much better than the manga. The manga seems very unfocused, while everything in the anime works towards the story, even if it isn't immediately obvious. F'ristance, Lust dies in a completely awesome way in the anime, but in the manga it's pretty much just random...Mustang just flames her until "you stop regenerating" and the whole thing takes like three panels and everyone reacts like the weather just changed or something. Total yawn.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Naruto- I know some hate it and honestly, the best way to watch this show is on YouTube with English subtitles. It's more gritter.


My Naruto viewing suggestion is to watch it until Sasuke go on his journey, then skip to the new Naruto show, Naruto Shippuuden. Between those two points, there is essentially nothing but filler for...100 episodes? Maybe more...it's too painful to think of all the time I wasted watching it... :o
Shippuuden is much tighter story wise, at least so far.

[Steampunk]

I really liked the first season of Rurouni Kenshin. I felt it was a good story, the action was enough but not over the top or drawn out, and the characters were fun and interesting. However, when the second season kicked up and they went on the Kyoto arc, I lost interest in it very fast. When a show turns to dragging out a fight for two or more episodes, with 90% of each episode being trash talk and posturing, it gets old. DBZ, Yu Yu, and countless others suffer from this crap.

[Kastil]

I really liked the first season of Rurouni Kenshin. I felt it was a good story, the action was enough but not over the top or drawn out, and the characters were fun and interesting. However, when the second season kicked up and they went on the Kyoto arc, I lost interest in it very fast. When a show turns to dragging out a fight for two or more episodes, with 90% of each episode being trash talk and posturing, it gets old. DBZ, Yu Yu, and countless others suffer from this crap.
I forgot about that one. I have that boxed set. It's seen so long since I've actually watched it, though. There again sometimes the 'goofy' element makes it too comical to watch. I like a good clean story.

[King Vyper]

Another Anime fan here also.

I actually rent and buy a good amount of Anime.

My Collection:
Last Exile (CS)
Ghost in the Shell TV[S1/S2]
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society
Bleach [S1]
Captain Harlock OVAs
Full Metal Alchemst (CS)
Berserk (CS)
RaXephon (CS)
Jing, Bandit King (CS)
Gunslinger Girls (CS)
Blue Seed (CS)
Macross Zero (CS)
Saiyuki (S1)
Plus assorted others stuff;)

Currently I am watching Baslilisk and Blood Trinity.

[Steampunk]

Last Exile (CS)

Oh man, that show was damn awesome. It really fueled my Steampunk obsession, too.

[Scarbonac]

I'll watch nearly any anime, but some that I have really liked since the Adult Swim era began are Yu-Yu Hakusho (although the Ultimate Dragonball-style Fighting Arena arc annoyed me), Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, FLCL, Witch Hunter Robin, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, Inuyasha (but see my previous commentary), Wolf's Rain, GitS:SC and, er, um...Naruto.

I really hated Naruto at first, but I got a chance to see several story arcs with the 100-episode marathon on CN last weekend, and aside from the "arena" arc, I enjoyed it immensely.


I was on-again off-again with Eureka 7.

I wish to hell that they'd replay the original Mobile Suit Gundam series again.

Sci-Fi has taken to running anime on Monday night, starting at 11:00 pm; it's kind of hit-or-miss, but one series that I'm liking is Tokko, which chronicles a secret organization within the police force which fights demons.

With swords.

All the members of this task force are survivors of a demon attack which left most of the inhabitants of their apartment building dead or missing.


There are also several that I've been watching on Movieplex:


Gokusen: A high school series about a young teacher Kimiko "Yankumi" Yamaguchi and her ne'er do well students...and she's also the heir to a Yakuza clan. She tries to keep this a secret while constantly dropping into "gangsta" mode to resolve crises. Wackiness ensues.


Samurai Deeper Kyo: He's a legendary killer of 1000 men, which makes him something of a demon...and he's stuck inside the body of his enemy. He wants his own back.

Wackiness ensues.

Mirage of Blaze: Reincarnations of feudal Japanese sorcerers/priests/samurai do battle in the present. Very gay vibe to the whole thing, with sexual tension between two of the male protagonists, Kagetora and Naoe. Lots of magic thrown around, restless spirits and melodrama.


Wackiness ensues. :D

[Steampunk]

Tokko is good, I tape it while I sleep and watch it sometime during the week. They were showing Macross Plus, which I found interesting, but I would not call it good. Noein was just awful, so I stopped watching it.

I am currently watching My Hime from Netflix. Fun show, though it is obvious it was aimed at males, what with all the fan service mixed into every episode. ;)

[Kastil]

Some old school stuff I used to watch as a kid was Star Blazers. I've got the first season on DVD. Not the best animation but it told a good story.

[King Vyper]

Some old school stuff I used to watch as a kid was Star Blazers. I've got the first season on DVD. Not the best animation but it told a good story.


Do you have the US version or the original japanese version? The US version was heavily editted due to the strong Japanese Nationalism in the original.

[Freedom Canadian]

I'm interested in stories I really don't care what the media is.

Same here.

I'm stumped. Couldn't even find it through, er, irregular channels.

You gotta love an industry where it's much easier to acquire something illegally than legally. :D

I have a friend who frequently goes "They have X ! I've been looking for a legal copy for sale for years !" when shopping in obscure anime shops.


Did the series end with the revelation that it's a parallel world to earth during WWI, Edward dead/on our earth planning his return, and Alphonse returned to his childhood state? Or was that the end of the movie?

That was the end of the series.

Regarding the Alphonse thing, my understanding was that it was not so much that Al was returned to his childhood state, but rather that he really died before the story began and his soul made it to earth and that the thing we think is Al in the series is actually some kind of pale imitation of Ed's little brother's mind. A copy if you will, but one that thinks it's the original. And that's awesome storytelling, man. :D

FMA is my favorite anime ever. I also liked Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell (the series more than the movies) and Tenjho Tenge.

I hated FLCL, though.

[King Vyper]

OK Here is my list of Anime Movies that any fan of anime shold have seen at least once.

1) Akira - Wither you loved it or hated it. It set a new standard in animation. Cyberpunk at it's finest

2) Steamboy - What Akira was to Cyberpunk, Steamboy is to Steampunk

3) Grave of the Fireflies - If you don't cry at least once during this movie you are not fucking human.

4) Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise - Japanese version of The Right Stuff

5) Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind - Post-Apocolptic Goodness. Nausicaä is ranked as one of the 50 greatest science fiction films by the Internet Movie Database.

6) Princess Mononoke - Ninja, Monsters, and One Bad Ass Chick

7) Laputa: Castle in the Sky - Sky Pirates and Giant Robots, Same guy created who created this also did Nausicaä.

8) Ninja Scroll - Naruto wished he was this fucking bad Ass

9) Ghost In the Shell - CYBBBBER-PUNKKKKKKK with boobies!

10) Spriggan - Hard Core Ass Kicking - Some of the best fight scenes in Anime.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Anyone liking Rurouni Kenshin should take a look at the mini series called Samurai X - it's a more mature telling of Kenshin's past. Six episodes I think, fantastic storytelling and very nice art.

[Kastil]

Anyone liking Rurouni Kenshin should take a look at the mini series called Samurai X - it's a more mature telling of Kenshin's past. Six episodes I think, fantastic storytelling and very nice art.I've got a couple of those as well. I still have one to watch.

[panther.jd]

Let's see, I have some of the mentioned anime here are some other titles I like:

Lucky Star
Motan (I really shouldn't though)
Brigadoon
Angelic Layer
Crest of the Stars
His and Her Circumstances
Super Gals!
Nadesico
Nadia
Niea under seven
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
Princess Nine
Risky Safety
Rune Soldier
Cardcaptor Sakura
Kashimashi
Moon Phase
Kino's Journey
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Tusbasa
The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye
Outlaw Star
Hidamari Sketch
Asstte no Hoekou

And that's not everything. There is also my manga collection.

One notable in my manga is Chobits, I really liked the manga, but not the anime ver.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Let's see, I have some of the mentioned anime here are some other titles I like:

Lucky Star

I love Lucky Star. It's the closest I've come to a substitute for Azumanga Daioh. So funny.

His and Her Circumstances

Very good.

Princess Nine

One of the better sports anime I've seen.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

One of the best shows I've ever seen. There's rumour of a second season...

[Northcott]

Spirited Away
I doubt many of you have missed this, but I loved it. It had a fantastic faery tale vibe -- the genuine thing, with all the nasty implications and lovely dreamlike sentiment rolled into one. Not some homogenized Disney-esque thing. Suitable for kids, but entertaining for adults who still have a sense of wonder.


Re: Eureka 7
You hit the nail on the head, Dr. A -- it's a coming of age tale, and brilliantly done so far. I'm amazed that, no matter what over-the-top world-shaking developments occur, they never lose that feel. The real story is in all the quaint, sometimes even sweet, little moment of innocence and growth. The rest is just lovely eye-candy and effective distraction. Though the series does end up asking much bigger questions as well, dealing with our place in the world, where our responsibilities lay in the grand scheme of things, etc. But of course, all of this is filtered through the lens of Renton's coming into manhood.


Re: Naruto
I can't even say I overly liked the show, but their teacher -- the one with the spikey white hair and the eyepatch, amused the Hell out of me! Everytime he's a key figure in an episode I end up laughing my ass off.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Massive post ahead.

I got in a discussion on another board about anime about sports, and the mention of Princess Nine above spurred me to make a summary of the shows I've seen (and hasn't forgotten). It's something of a favorite genre for me, maybe because the themes often hit close to home - I pretty much grew up in locker rooms, team sports in particular was an integral part of of my childhood (and later too).

Princess Nine
It was so long ago I saw it I can hardly describe it - in short, it's about a girl who grows up wanting to play baseball, which seems impossible as she enters high school, but against the odds, they manage to put together an all female team, and a good one too. There's also a healthy love triangle going on, with predictable outcome. It's an enjoyable show, I'm afraid I can't say much more than that... FINISHED

Hajime no Ippo
Maybe the best show in this genre - Hajime no Ippo make the main character very three-dimensional and believable, though his talent is unusual. The show is about a kid who picks up boxing as a way to get away from the bullies in school, and find himself to be quite good at it. I love this show. From the crude locker room jokes to the every day situations, it feels real. And Ippo is such a human protagonist. FINISHED

Major
This one is new to me, just seen five episodes but has the potential to be a new favorite. It tells the story of a family where everything circles around baseball - the five year old Goro dreams of becoming a pro when he grows up - just like his father is, even if he is a marginal pro level pitcher on the verge of retiring. The intro and outro foreshadows that they'll fast forward the story at some point (probably four years, to Goro's little league debut if I'd have to guess). Again, what make this show special is that it seems to be very little about special moves and the opponent of the week, it's about the lives of the people in this family. ONGOING (I think)

Hikaru no Go
Go is hardly a sport, but everything about this show screams "sports anime". It has the tournament format, practice sessions and a fantastic rivalry. The story is rather unusually (for a sports anime) supernatural - Hikaru awakens (and is possessed by) the ghost of a legendary Go master from ages past. Hikaru is to begin with not interested in Go at all, but develops a relationship with this ghost who insists on playing. It becomes really interesting when Hikaru decides he want to play on his own strength rather than piggy-back on the power of the undead Go master. It's instructive and inspiring - Hikaru no Go lead me to learn how to play Go. FINISHED

Slam Dunk
As the title suggests, this is about basketball. The main character is a delinquent whose one big interest is basketball. This show has been a big success among female anime fans - lots of handsome, muscular men acting cool. Even if that doesn't particularly interest me, this is a good story, with good game imagery. FINISHED

Dear Boys
It's been a long time since I saw Dear Boys, but I think pretty much everything I wrote about Slam Dunk also can be said about Dear Boys... FINISHED

Prince of Tennis
Just like the two shows above, this show is almost homo-erotic in it's depiction of the close relation between the young men on the school tennis team. The prince of Tennis himself is a freshman player, the son of Japan's most successful pro player, himself a super talent. Prince of Tennis could just as well be a martial arts show - it's all about mano a mano duels, full of special moves that the audience gasping give new names - names like Eye of the Storm Returns, Soaring Eagle Smash and the like. There's really not much plot to the show, other than putting up some short term goals - some tournament that the school team need to win. The charm is in the comedy, and the petty rivalries between players and between different school teams. It's well written if you accept that it's all character driven - no plot as far as the eye can see. FINISHED

Eyeshield 21
The only show about American football I can think of. It's rather wacky, the quarter back keeping his players in line with a machine gun, super sized linebackers and running backs with special moves that seem to take place partially in another dimension. Still, there are occasional insights that make you go "hey, that's really how football is played". The story is about Sena, a wimp who is made to run errands for the big kids in school. The unpopular school football team recruits him, and to avoid having his protective female friend Momoru stop him from participating, they invent a secret identity - Eyeshield 21. There are some serious themes - like Hajime no Ippo, the sport is a way to grow strong, get friends etc. Turning into an independent adult. Most of Eyeshield 21 takes place on the pitch, which actually can be the least exciting segments - 90% of the time you know Sena is going to come through, the other times the defeat is necessary for the story to develop. It's a pretty good show, but can also be infuriating. Momoru is soooo overprotective, and Sena is soooo cowardly, and the masquerade goes on for so long. Still, I crammed 80 episodes in less than a week, which says something about how addictive the show is... ONGOING

Whistle!
Captain Tsubasa
Wild Striker
Three shows about soccer. Captain Tsubasa is a classic - it's been around in Japanese culture for about as long as anime has, in various incarnations, the most recent was made for the World Cup in 2002 (I think...), which was pretty good, but short. All these are about much the same things - camaraderie, team spirit, relying on your friends etc, and in between about that dream every young sportsman have of becoming a *star* - that guy who scores the deciding goal in the very last minute of the game.
Of the three, I think Whistle! is the best, good animation, nice characters etc. The most recent Tsubasa was pretty good, but the older ones feel pretty dated now. The play sequences really doesn't feel much like soccer.
Wild Striker is really not all that good, but has some feelgood atmosphere going for it - the main character is funny, and the awkward interaction between him and the female lead character is kind of amusing. All FINISHED

Dan Doh!
Not sure if I can recommend Dan Doh! but I figure I should at least mention it, if there are any golf nuts around... It's a rather childish take on three kids that give up baseball in order to play golf with a retired champion as their teacher. Almost every hole they play, Dan Doh come up with a new way of playing golf, and I get rather tired of it. Plus, does so many golf players really cheat as his opponents does? It feels like rather tired storytelling. FINISHED

Other than these, I'm sure there are many sports shows I haven't seen, but these I would say are the most talked about. I saw a few episodes of a baseball show called "Play Ball", but frankly it wasn't very good.

[Dr_Avalanche]

For fans of Gunslinger Girls, a second season has just been confirmed. :)

[Steampunk]

For fans of Gunslinger Girls, a second season has just been confirmed. :)

The first run was excellent, albeit depressing.

[Droid101]

I just watched the first four episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist. I must say, I like it so far. I like the little kid in the armor, it makes me smile any time he talks. :)

[Xavier Lang]

I just watched the first four episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist. I must say, I like it so far. I like the little kid in the armor, it makes me smile any time he talks. :)

Keep watching. It gets better....and less light hearted.

[Northcott]

I just watched the first four episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist. I must say, I like it so far. I like the little kid in the armor, it makes me smile any time he talks. :)

Isn't he awesome? :) That character just becomes more loveable as the series goes on. Makes you wish you had a kid brother like him.

The show's got some chops. The strong characterization does a fantastic job of driving the whole thing forward.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Add that it's a show that really have no filler episodes, and it's quite fantastic. Certainly, some episodes are slower than others, but they're still driving it all forward.

I think it's great that you can say about a show that starts off with a black magic ritual, that it's gonna get much much darker as the story goes on... :D

[Northcott]

Yeah, not often a show manages to make my jaw drop with the raw nastiness of it. The cutsey images of the characters helped drive that home, I think.

The alchemist who experimented on his own family, and the subsequent fate of the daughter, broke my freakin' heart.

[Scarbonac]

Yeah, not often a show manages to make my jaw drop with the raw nastiness of it. The cutsey images of the characters helped drive that home, I think.

The alchemist who experimented on his own family, and the subsequent fate of the daughter, broke my freakin' heart.

Christ yes. I absolutely couldn't believe that they did that. I couldn't watch the show for several episodes after (I did tape them, though, so I was able to view them once the shock and horror subsided).


Fuck.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Alright, an update on my anime viewing is well overdue, most importantly because I have an announcement:

You HAVE to watch the show called Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. HAVE to.

If you grew up with mecha shows like Robotech, Transformers etc, you will love Tengen Toppa. If you think mecha shows are kinda silly you will still love Tengen Toppa, because it has just the right amount of distance to the topic - they will do big over the top mecha fights, but all the while stage whispering "yeah, we know it's kinda stupid, but it's fun, ok?". Add to that a great script, where you think they're going full throttle right from the start, only to see the story accelerate - again, and again, and again. It starts out kinda like the Fallout games - mankind has been living in underground shelters for god knows how long, until the main characters decide they want to see what's above ground. In short though, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is about the best anime I've ever seen. You'll miss out if you don't watch it. Picture below, Simon in the middle is the main protagonist. 27 episodes.

Other stuff I've been watching lately:

Hayate no Gotoku, or Hayate the Combat Butler. It's a silly comedy about a notoriously unfortunate young boy whose parents are complete screwups which has forced him to take on so much odd jobs to survive that he has developed an unusual arsenal of skills. When he rescues a young girl from kidnapping, he's hired as her butler - which more or less means body guard in this case. It is completely wacky, only slightly more attached to reality than for example Excel Saga, and very funny. Well worth seeing. Two seasons, 26 episodes in each.

Lucky Star
I think it was Panther who posted a youtube video of the Lucky Star intro. I didn't really catch on to it then, but it has grown on me since then, in a big way. Lucky Star is a bit like Seinfeld in that there's no plot, nothing really happens, it's all about small every day phenomenas. Only difference is that it's set in a Japanese high school. A lot of it circles about geek culture - the main character is a female otaku and plays mmorpgs - with the teacher - in the same guild. Of course, one of them have home work to do and the other one doesn't. I think it's very funny, but compared to Hayate above, it's very down to earth humour. All very well done though. 25 episodes.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6zJXi-FU7sA

Sky Girls
I've only watched one episode of this, but I figured I should mention it anyway, because it looked so promising. It's a very traditional mix of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Macross style military/mecha show, with a distinctly female perspective. Most able bodied men died during the previous war, so mechas were developed for women to operate, and for some reason that has persisted even after the alien machines (WORMS) were defeated. Now, a new team of test pilots is assembled, and the first episode was pretty much about that - showing the characters who I assume will be the protagonists of the show. It's far from original, but it all just looks very well made. The animation is pleasant, kind of soft art style that reminds a bit of shows like Last Exile. No idea how many episodes it'll be, it's still ongoing as far as I know.

[panther.jd]

I've started watching Air. No not Air Gear with the powered skates, Air.

Air is a slow paced show that I'm really getting into.

It's about Yukito, a traveling performer who can make a his puppet, a stuffed animal really, move without touching it. (Really, no strings or anything, how does he do it?!)

Yukito is looking for a girl who lives in the sky, all he knows about her is a story his mother passed down to him.

He comes to a seaside town where he meets Misuzu, a strange girl who invites him to live in her house. Her mother is king of strange too, after all, she does allow Yukito to stay.

On top of that, Yukito meets some other girls in town, and to call these girls strange is like calling water wet.

The characters and story really draw me in, and it's really beautiful animated!

As I said, it's slow paced, so if you don't like that kind of thing, you won't like this. For the rest of you, this one comes highly recommended!!

[Dr_Avalanche]

I've seen it too. It's quite good, but as you say, slow. I seem to recall it's based on a computer game, which could be a knock against it, but I think it works well.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Adding to my post about Toppa Tengen Gurren Lagann, here's what one review said after the last episode just the other day:

Just because it finished in a coherent way and actually seems thought out beforehand, I’m going to say that Gurren Lagann is Gainax’s masterpiece, surpassing Evangelion. As for any other anime recent and past… well… it’s tough, but very few series match up. Kenshin’s Kyoto arc? Cowboy Bebop? Haruhi Suzumiya? They all seem not so glittering next to Gurren Lagann.

[Black Angel]

Gee that's pretty high praise...might have to check it out!

[Northcott]

Re-watched some FMA tonight. Damn, but that show rocks. It would make a Hell of a fertile RPG setting, too! It's not like the continuity of the world was entirely dependant upon the main characters; the fictional history had legs beyond that.

[Kastil]

Re-watched some FMA tonight. Damn, but that show rocks. It would make a Hell of a fertile RPG setting, too! It's not like the continuity of the world was entirely dependant upon the main characters; the fictional history had legs beyond that.I popped in the first DVD last Saturday to watch with my son. They actaully have an anime club in school and he never told us he joined last year. I guess some parents got wind that they were watching videos and put a stop to it. I know some anime can be harsh but I seriously wonder how many parents sit down and watch it with their kids like me.

I just picked up Saiyuki Reloaded over the weekend and plan on watching that maybe Thursday with my kid. I bought it at Suncoast because it was on sale for a decent price and came in a box I could put the rest of the collection (eventually) in. The bitch that rung me up got all pissy when I said I didn't want to pay for a discount card. I rarely buy my anime in there. They're overpriced and I'm not paying to get a tiny 10% off. I probably won't go back to Suncoast period after this.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Alright, time for an update. Lots of new anime since my last post. Most of this is pretty new, so it's probably not licensed outside Japan yet, but fansubs can be found for those so inclined.

Minami-ke (ongoing, 5 episodes released in English so far)
Slice-of-life comedy about three sisters living together - the older, gentle and responsible Haruki, Kana, the crazy and irresponsible high-school student and the younger, cynical and matter-of-fact Chiaki. Not surprisingly, the chaotic Kana is the major source of comedy, while Chiaki acts as the "straight man" to her hi-jinx. Picture below, from the first episode. I think this is an excellent show, one of the best of the fall season without doubt. Possible downside is that there's really not much plot to talk about, it's just not that kind of show. The episodes are about small every day events, and almost no continuity to speak of.

Clannad (ongoing, 5 episodes released in English so far)
Clannad can also be considered a comedy (I've been watching a lot of that variety lately...), but here there is a real story, and I must say I'm quite intrigued by it. The main character Tomoya is a guy who's a bit of an outsider in school, by coincidence becomes friend with a girl who wants to start up the shut down theatre club in school, and their meeting with a girl who seems to be a ghost of a girl who was hit by a car, or is she? Honestly, that mystery isn't resolved yet, so I don't know... It's a good thing that Tomoya is there with his sometimes mean sense of humour or this show would be diabetes inducing, it's so sweet and sappy.

Kamichu! (16 episodes, complete, aired in 2005)
A blogger I read called this the best show of 2005, and so far (I've only watched half a dozen episodes so far) I can see why he liked it. The very first line of the first episode, Yurie says to her middle-school classmate "so, last night I became a god", and that is it. First, neither her friends or we the audience know for sure if it's true or if she's imagining things, but it's no big spoiler to say that soon enough any doubts are removed. She really is a god, and a fairly powerful one too. She just don't know what her powers *are*, if she is the god of anything in particular, or if she's supposed to do something with her powers. In the meantime, she still has to attend middle-school, and work up the courage to confess her love to Kenji.
Style wise, it looks like Miyazaki had gone from doing Spirited Away and made Kamichu! as the spiritual sequel. On and off we get to see the world through Yurie's eyes, and it's full of spirits and gods of every day things which ordinary people can't see. It's colorful and fantastic. Personally, I think that the more down to earth episodes are the best - I liked the episode about what it's like when a god catches a cold better than the episode when she gets to handle a martian "invasion".

Umisho (13 episodes, complete, aired spring 2007)
Again a comedy, this time of the harem variant, and an obscene amount of fan service. One could get offended, if it wasn't so funny. They have cleverly focused the show around a high school swim team, so the fan service is sort of there to begin with. That a lot of the comedy is about sex doesn't help. It's easy to miss that this is actually a sports anime deep down somewhere, and the team's journey to the inter high is easy to forget amidst all the T&A. Amuro (picture below, can't really be confused with the picture from Minami-Ke) is the major source of comedy in the show. She's *insane*, grown up on a raft, and swims like a dolphin (or is it a seal?).

Magical Pokan
I will be brief. This show sucks... It's about four girls (was that princesses? I forget) who is transported from other dimensions to ours. One is a robot, one a vampire, one a werewolf and the last a witch. It's supposed to be funny because they're not familiar with human society, but the plot holes are so big (the kind you can drive a truck through) it's impossible to buy into the scenario in the first place. It's too stupid.

Bamboo Blade (ongoing, 4 episodes translated so far)
I can't quite classify this show yet - it sort of fits into the comedy genre, it has the potential to be a harem type show except the male candidate is definitely not the main character. It's also definitely a sports anime. The poverty-stricken Ishida who is a teacher assigned to be advisor to the school kendo club agrees to a wager with an old kendo club friend - to pit his girls kendo team against Ishidas, and if Ishida wins, he'll get free meals at the friend's restaurant for the rest of the year. Only problem, Ishida has just one member in the kendo club. So they set out to recruit members for their team.
Just four episodes in, I really like the chemistry between the characters, and Miya-Miya (who Ishida labels "Pink" in his insane idea to mimic the Power Rangers for the kendo team) is wonderfully psychotic - sweet and cheerful one moment, eyes of a killer the next.

Kaze no Stigma (26 episodes)
Aside of Magical Pokan above the shows I've mentioned are really good, well worth watching. Kaze no Stigma is somewhere between - not bad, but hardly worth going out of your way for. It's about a Japan where families of magic wielders control society much like the mafia. One family wields fire magic, another earth magic, and so on. The main character grows up unable to continue the family's tradition as fire users, and is thrown out. He comes back years later with vengeance in his mind, and with the powers of air in his hands.
The animation is fairly poor, or at least uneven. The plot is sketchy at times. But at least there are magical battles, and they're good lot more interesting than the formulaic DBZ, Bleach et all.

Let's see, what else is there... Bokurano, I've just watched two episodes, but it looks interesting: A group of youths are tricked into becoming the defenders of the earth, given control of a huge mechanical...thing. If I called it a mecha, it would give the wrong associations. The show reminds of things like Blood Royale in that it's the students on their own, and people *die*. No other comparisons... Animation is great, and the atmosphere is creepy.

Sumomo Momomo, not worth the effort, I'd say. Looks pretty crappy, martial arts centered comedy.

Rozen Maiden Ouverture - a must see if you've seen the original Rozen Maiden and Rozen Maiden Träumend, hardly anything to see otherwise. Two episodes about Suigintou's origin. Good stuff for the fans.

I've watched single episodes of Black Jack, Kanon, Girls Bravo, but I don't have a lot to say about them. Kanon gets consistently good reviews, so is probably worth checking out. Black Jack and Girls Bravo didn't make that much of an impression.

Also still watching (or waiting for new episodes of, rather) Naruto Shippuuden, Detective Conan, Eyeshield 21, Ookiku Furikubutte, Hayate no Gotoku and waiting for the 4th season of Major (which will start with the winter season, around Jan/Feb).

Ready to start watching Magikano, Doujin Works and keep going with Kanon, I imagine.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Anime News Network user ratings:

Top 10 Best Rated (bayesian estimate) (Top 50)
# title rating nb. votes
1 Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal (OAV) 9.04 3086
2 Death Note (TV) 8.99 3087
3 Mushi-Shi (TV) 8.90 1423
4 Cowboy Bebop (TV) 8.89 5182
5 Spirited Away (movie) 8.88 3869
6 A Girl Who Runs Through Time (movie) 8.85 739
7 Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann (TV) 8.83 671
8 Fullmetal Alchemist (TV) 8.83 5816
9 Monster (TV) 8.83 1242
10 Princess Mononoke (movie) 8.83 3996
Bayesian uses a formula that adjusts the extremes that a low sample count tend to come with, so the fewer votes, the more the score is adjusted towards the mean, in this case 7.46.

Top 10 Most Popular (Top 50)
# title rating nb. votes
1 Fullmetal Alchemist (TV) 8.92 5816
2 Cowboy Bebop (TV) 8.91 5182
3 Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV) 8.38 4671
4 Princess Mononoke (movie) 8.91 3996
5 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TV) 8.78 3948
6 Spirited Away (movie) 8.92 3869
7 Bleach (TV) 8.51 3933
8 FLCL (OAV) 8.24 3924
9 Trigun (TV) 8.40 3767
10 Naruto (TV) 7.72 3972
Popularity is calculated simply by multiplying the mean score to the number of votes.

[Xavier Lang]

Thanks for the reviews. I enjoy reading them even though I never watch any of the shows mentioned.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann never goes away. :D

Union Flagann (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/11/nflag111.xml)

So some Welsh politician suggest that the Union Jack should be modified to include the Welsh dragon, and the Telegraph asked the readers for ideas what the new Union Jack should look like, then held a vote which suggestion was best. Someone made the flag below, combining the Union Jack with the Kamina flag from Tengen Toppa, which won the poll by a wide margin. The article is great too. :D

The Norwegian designer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he intended the flag to represent the union of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in a modern, cool light.

The dragon itself was inspired by a Japanese anime television series.

"It represents shouting "UNION!" and joining together; kicking reason to the curb and doing the impossible; fighting the power, and piercing the heavens," he said

And what impact does he think the new flag would have on foreigners like himself?

"That the UK is awesome. I just hope they don't think it's a pirate flag.

"Actually, if this design is rejected as a common flag perhaps the Crown might file it for future use as a privateer ensign on the high seas or in outer space."

[Dr_Avalanche]

THIS is the next anime I take on - Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM8ODecbuhA

[Ancalagon]

no one mentioned ninja scroll?

Anyway, I've recently discovered that every song of one of Daft Punk's albums has been made into a music video - and if those videos are watched in a row, it makes an anime movie called interstella 5555. It's pretty neat:

http://uk.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=7F6EEC0DBA5CFC57

just click "play all videos" and you're good to go!

[Creamsteak]

Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan was pretty awesome. What really makes it appealing is that it has a little bit of everything. It is appealing in the DBZ super over the top action sense, funny in a way that works, and there's actually a little bit of philosophical material there too.

I would also like to mention that I thought Death Note was great. The whole series I didn't have anyone to talk with about it so I was stuck keeping my thoughts on it to myself, but I really think there are layers and layers of content to look at with that series.

Also, I think it hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet: Ergo Proxy. It's an excellent story that I loved to death (haha). The problem with it is that the show gears you up for one story at first, then changes directions. It's somewhat long, but tasty. The only problem I have with the show is that two of the episodes (at least) could have been cut out of the series to keep the pacing more consistent. The episodes contain REALLY IMPORTANT information... that won't make any sense until much later in the series. Honestly, if I wanted to show this series to someone else, I'd omit them till the end.

The really great thing about Ergo Proxy is that the story works in a rather cyclic manner... after watching the last episode, watching the first episode is completely new. This is still without actually having a cyclic plot, that is, the story still has a distinct beginning and end.

I don't want to spoil anything, but at the same time I can't help but praise it. Most people seem to lose interest when they realize they've been "tricked" by the story, but if you watch it all the way through it will make more sense. If anyone does watch it, avoid the black-and-white episode and the game-show episode. I think they make for better viewing after the whole show is over.

[Creamsteak]

A new one I finished: Welcome to the NHK. It's a tragedy about a Hikikimori if you're familiar with the terms. Great stuff.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Welcome to the NHK is on my list of shows to watch sometime when I'm in the mood. I've seen one episode, enough to get the impression of something well made.

I just watched the third Ghost in the Shell movie, Solid State Society. Probably the best of the movies to be honest. The minor flaws were easy to ignore given how good the rest is. I still prefer the two tv series where there is more time to expand on both complex plot and complex philosophical issues. Sometimes I wonder if Ghost in the Shell suffer from The Matrix-syndrome, in other words, throwing deep shit on the wall hoping something will stick (with the viewer), but after some consideration, I don't think that's it. Yeah, sometimes the characters embroider on the subject in a direction that you just go "huh?", but it's always relevant in some manner.

I'm way out in the middle of Nowhere over Christmas and on the laptop is only that film above, Studio Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea translated to *Italian*, and the complete Doujin Works, a little show that reminds a bit about Genshiken in that it's about anime and manga fans, except this one has a more traditional comedy format - like the anime version of the American sit-com. It's alright, especially fun if you have some kind of relation to geek culture, otaku in particular.

[Utrecht]

I just watched the third Ghost in the Shell movie, Solid State Society. Probably the best of the movies to be honest. The minor flaws were easy to ignore given how good the rest is. I still prefer the two tv series where there is more time to expand on both complex plot and complex philosophical issues. Sometimes I wonder if Ghost in the Shell suffer from The Matrix-syndrome, in other words, throwing deep shit on the wall hoping something will stick (with the viewer), but after some consideration, I don't think that's it. Yeah, sometimes the characters embroider on the subject in a direction that you just go "huh?", but it's always relevant in some manner.



I have always wrote most of that stuff off to "lost in the Translation" the words translate, but the meaning is completely gone - but I do get the idea that they are trying to hard on the philosophy front.

I actually prefer the one off type of episodes - definatley a good Cyberpunk feel to them - crime fighting in the hypertech world.

The meta-plot episodes are enjoyable, but end up ultimately being to much mumbo jumbo for their own good.


I just got Witchblade Disk one from Netflix and it is running 3/5 for me - the first disk is about character introduction so the overall plot has not moved much - with there being hints of something more going on The characters are alright - with potential. Additionally, there is a large T&A component, which is humerous. Oh, and it is completely different from the TV show and comic.

[Creamsteak]

I couldn't finish Witchblade. There just wasn't anything that made me want to go past episode 8 or 9.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Finished Doujin Work, and while I liked it a fair bit, it's not an accurate description to compare it to Genshiken - the only real similarity is that both deal with otaku culture. Doujin Work is much more focused on a narrow sub-culture - amateur comic book artists, and specifically hentai comic books. It's very funny, a lot of puerile jokes and plenty of embarrassment all around.

I was thinking I should compile a list of my favorite anime of 2007 now when the year comes to an end, but my memory is failing me, I can't remember what I was watching in particular the first quarter of this year.

1. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Outstanding epic adventure and character growth, playful animation.
2. Minami-Ke - I really love Minami-Ke, and almost wanted to put it as #1, but there really was no way to justify it. It's gut-wrenchingly funny though.
3. Ookiku Furikubutte - This is how sports anime should be done. No super humans, just a feel good story about a team acting like a team. The main character can be annoying in all his insecurities, but seeing him grow out of that has its own value.
4. Lucky Star - There seem to be a trend toward these Seinfeld-esque shows this year (see Minami-Ke) where there is absolutely no plot what so ever. Lucky Star opens the first episode with a five minute sequence where two of the main characters discuss the proper way to eat a chocolate cornet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYqe_VLVl9Y). That sets the tone.
5. Clannad - Based on a computer game, I was surprised how much I liked Clannad. It has a really pleasant art style, the characters are funny, and the small stories work surprisingly well (given the origin as "paths" in an story/adventure/romance game).
6. Hayate no Gotoku (aka Hayate the Combat Butler) - I guess I'm only waiting for Hayate to jump the shark, but so far the show holds up surprisingly well given that it's up to 36 episodes, no plot to speak of and still really funny and original. I think it's "unique" touch is its casual relationship to the viewer - they break the fourth wall all the time. The only crime is that the maid Maria-san really should have her own show instead of Hayate. :o Bonus points also for the constant references to other anime shows. The Utena spoof was superb, just like the ones of Detective Conan, Naruto and countless others.
7. Kanon - A lot of people compare Kanon and Clannad (above), saying that Clannad is just a rip-off. They're both based on computer games, they both have the same basic setup - male in high school surrounds himself with a "harem" of girls who each has her own story, and if we had been playing the computer game, we had been choosing which girl we wanted to interact with and whose story would be revealed first. Other than that (and that both shows involve some level of supernatural elements), they're really not *that* similar. It's like saying that Conan and Lord of the Rings is really just the same story, because they're both fantasy. Unlike most people who saw Kanon first, then Clannad, I've been watching Kanon and Clannad at the same time (Kanon was an early 2007 release, Clannad is a fall release) and my view of them isn't tainted by which came first. I feel they're both excellent, Kanon perhaps a bit darker, tragic, but also not quite the same level of animation, not quite as funny as Clannad can be. Still, they're both well worth watching. English dub of first episode can be seen here: 500kbs (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/streaming/kanon-episode1-500kbs) or 300kbs (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/streaming/kanon-episode1-300kbs)
8. Bamboo Blade - It's funny, well-made, somewhere in between the pure comedy and the sports anime. I like it a lot, but there's really not a lot of meat to Bamboo Blade.
9. Umisho - Well described in earlier posts. Harem-comedy with tons of fan service and juvenile (but funny) humour.
10. Sketchbook - Spaced out, pleasant, odd. It's so hard to describe Sketchbook. It's about a quiet girl who joins the art club in school. It's about art, about nature, about friends, about cats. Her seniors in the club and the teacher are my favorites, wonderfully crazy all of them. Sketchbook (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_4DFMhWYxw)

The shows of 2007 that everybody but me seemed to be watching: Code Geass, ef, Darker than Black, Death Note (was that this year?), Potemayo, Gundam 00, Welcome to the NHK, to mention a few.

[Dr_Avalanche]

I understand that the link to the streamed episode one of Kanon in the post above expires sometime on Sunday. Just a heads up if someone wanted to check it out.

[Dr. Paragon]

I just watched the first four episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist. I must say, I like it so far. I like the little kid in the armor, it makes me smile any time he talks. :)

Funny you say that. I was exactly the opposite. Every time he'd speak
after watching the "origin" episode I'd kind of get this unease. When it's
all said and done FMA is in my opinion what anime series can and need
to be more often than not.

BTW: I had this in my pocket at my wedding:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v241/Devora/41rAv3cldLL__SS400_.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v241/Devora/41TJFC4cWyL__SS400_.jpg

[Creamsteak]

I'm just now starting on the series Monster. They say it's a great villain, and I've been studying the hell out of villains lately. What sucks though is it's 74-76 episodes, and I really need someone else to watch it with (so I can do an episode breakdown after each, without having to get out the pen and paper).

[panther.jd]

Here's some of the new awesome out lately you may have missed:

Ghost Hound-- Very good animation, it's about some kids who can have out of body experiences and see all the spirits and stuff. It's pretty tripy.

Spice and Wolf-- Horo is the wolf god of a village, but the humans are starting not to need her, so she goes on a journey with the merchant Lawrence.

Rosario Vampire-- Harem show, boy gets into a monster school by mistake and becomes friends with a vampire who isn't too shy about snacking on him. Oh yea, a succubus for ep2 need I go on?

H20-- Damn, I should really remember more names, withing this would be easier!!! Blind boy ( who gets sight at the end of ep 1, but it's probably not permanent.) transfers to a middle school in the country. On of the girls is bullied but he befriends her. But why do people hate her?

ef a tale of memories-- This one just finished up, you should still be able to get the fansub, as far as I know it's not licensed yet. This one has three stories in it, very artfully done, and the stories are good too! One of the stories is about a girl who had an accident at age twelve, and can now only remember the past thirteen hours. To remember things farther back than that, she must rely on her diary.

[Dr_Avalanche]

I've got Spice and Wolf in the pipes, my blogs speak well of it even if they hate the sparse animation. ef was a big talky during this past season but I had my hands full with other shows. I might pick it up later.

Right now, I'm watching Dennou Coil and waiting for things like Minami-Ke Okawari to get past the lazy fansubbers. Still not sure what else is good this season (besides Spice and Wolf, apparently). Dennou Coil is pretty good - the animation reminds me a little bit of Kamichu and a little bit of My Neighbor Tottoro, while the story is like cyberpunk without the acid rains. Kids run around with virtual reality gear fighting each other with various disposable software, very much like the rpg version of netrunning.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Ok, I just watched the first episode of Spice and Wolf, and it was just as I had been told - it looks quite promising, despite the art and animation. It seems like it could be a good story, and I really liked the voice acting, especially Horo's. The chemistry between Horo and Lawrence sounds like it could be fodder for some funny dialogue down the stretch.

But damn, the art... :grey:

[Alpha Ralpha]

Full Metal Panic-The Second Raid was fun and intelligent for military/giant robot shows. Also whats' not to like in a show that has a lesbian shower scene (between SISTERS!!) in the first episode.

I love the Initial D complete season sets that have been coming out. I used to own an American AE85 Toyota so I get a lot of flashbacks when I see the taillights on "the lonely racer's" Trueno go by. The blend of computer/hand drawn anime is awkward at times and the production quality of the series is low.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Full Metal Panic-The Second Raid was fun and intelligent for military/giant robot shows. Also whats' not to like in a show that has a lesbian shower scene (between SISTERS!!) in the first episode.

Ayup. FMP is one of my favorite shows ever, and The Second Raid (which is third season) is probably my favorite season so far. Second season (Fumoffu) was also great fun, but more comedy and less story.

Right now I'm pissed off that nobody is fansubbing Minami-Ke Okawari. Minami-Ke was one of the best shows of 2007, Okawari switches focus (and animation team), but those who have seen it (and understand Japanese) say it's still good, so why are no fansubbers getting into it? Aaargh. Need. My. Fix.

[Creamsteak]

During the viewing process, I decided to quit Monster and Code Gaess. I thought monster was good, but I could feel the plot hooks and changes coming from a mile away. As such, it felt dreadfully slow. Unless I find out that at some point halfway through the hero becomes the bad guy, I'm not going back to it.

Code gaess (sp?) seemed like it had some good characters... surrounded by lame anime cliche characters. I couldn't enjoy it.

[Dr_Avalanche]

I just watched episode 12 of Dennou Coil, which might be the single best episode of an anime *ever*. If only they hadn't ended it so abruptly, but until then... Overall, I rate the show as good to very good, but this episode was epic. Short synopsis: In a world where augmented reality (think virtual reality, a layer of virtualization and information on top of the "real" stuff) is everywhere, a particular virus manifests as facial hair. Yes, as beards. It only gets real good when the virus is put under microscope and the protagonists realize that not only is the virus intelligent, it has a language, and is very rapidly developing civilization and advanced technology...

[Dr_Avalanche]

I just finished the above mentioned Dennou Coil, and wow... It starts out as light comedy, kids running around solving small mysteries, chasing artifacts, playing kids games essentially. Then gradually, the story turns, twists, and the comedy isn't so prevalent anymore, the mystery becomes sinister, and things become serious.
I have two quibbles with the show - one that it's full of technobabble - some blogger made the reference to Startrek, and I think it was very apt. Second, how technology is used as a deus ex machina - whenever the story needs to progress in some direction, a new technological quirk is introduced. However, the story itself is some of the strongest I've seen in a while, so I'm willing to excuse the way they move the story forward to large extent.

Well worth seeing. 8/10

[Dr_Avalanche]

When it rains, it pours. After complaining that no group was picking up the fansubbing duties of Minami-ke Okawari, *four* groups decided independently of each other to do it. So now there is stiff competition, in a market where there is nothing to gain but some kind of "fame". Amazing.

Otherwise, there isn't much this season I'm interested in. Shigofumi seems to be the big thing, but I'm sick and tired of death gods and depressing stories about loss and death. I hear it's quality, so by all means, pick it up. It's just not for me.

Meanwhile, I'm still catching up on the 2007 shows, most recently Seirei no Moribito. It's not everyday you get a good fantasy show, but this one delivers, and more. It's the same team that is behind Ghost in the Shell, and if you want to complain about something it's that there's a certain resemblance between the main characters in the two shows. The story in short: Something has happened to the young prince that make people say that he is possessed by a demon, and legend has it that unless the demon is destroyed, drought will plague the land. So the emperor, the prince's own father, sends assassins after him. The empress meanwhile hires Balsa, a female bodyguard, to take the prince away and protect his life. And so she does, and that's what the show is about. Good animation, good voice acting, a nice story, if at times perhaps a bit slow. The fantasy could be described as *fairly* low level shamanistic - all magic I can recall was about interacting with this parallell dimension.
One of the best shows of the year, no doubt, and great to see that this fantastic animation team isn't a one trick pony - they can clearly do other things well than Ghost in the Shell. 9/10.

I'm also nearing the end of Ookiku Furikubutte, which I've mentioned in the past. It's really a nice baseball themed show, even if it spans less time than I would have liked, and thus we didn't get to see very much development of the leading character - he's pretty much the wimp he was when it started. At least he's learned that in the right environment (i.e his current team) he's not worthless, can contribute something. It's just his lapses when he thinks he has screwed up that drives me batty. There is nothing that bothers me more than whiny main characters *that doesn't grow out of it*. Still, it's a very good show which eloquently shows that it's teamwork that elevates the mediocre to good, and the good to great. Not like the other baseball show Major (whose 4th season has just started), which is all about showcasing what a great pitcher Goro is and how one player indeed can win on his own. :rolleyes:

[Dr_Avalanche]

Alright, time for a little update, because there's nothing to do at work... :o
I might add pictures later.

Here's a link (http://myanimelist.net/profile/calaveth)my profile page at a site called myanimelist, where I'm listing *nearly* all the anime I have watched or am watching. It's also just a very nice resource about anime and manga overall.

Now to the shows I've been watching lately, and a rant. Why is paid professional script writers allowed to use such poor writing just because it is for an animated story? Buzzer Beater (I don't know if I've mentioned it before) is an anime about a future where mankind has spread across the galaxy, met other intelligent species, and in particular one race called the gorans. They are like your typical Star Trek race - very much looking like humans, just a bit taller than average, with devil horns and unusual skin colors. And they dominate the intergalactic basketball league. A rich human decides to put together an all human team to challenge the goran hegemony. That far, all is well.
Now my issues. How is it possible that professional managers and coaches can't see that their best player is that guy on the bench who doesn't get to play until the end of the games when the team is losing, and every time destroys the opponents? Why is it that a team with luxurious facilities and team doctors don't take any particular action when said diamond in the rough starts having these violent migraine-like attacks, instead just asking "are you alright? are you alright?" until the attack passes, then discussing if it might be serious, but not actually *do* something about it?
God, the first season was dumb, but the second season was painful. The episodes must have been dipped in crack or something as I can't understand why I didn't put this down before the end.
Summary: Buzzer Beater dumb. Don't watch it.

Something better now. Ghost Hunt is a show about a group of people investigating supernatural phenomenas in an alternative real world where ghosts of different kind seem to be real. The main characters are taking the scientific approach, using heat cameras, microphones etc to determine the nature of phenomenas attributed to ghosts, or spirits. It's like CSI with supernaturals. Then there are a slew of monks, priests, mediums and shrine maidens who do their attempts to exorcise the spirits. The show is a good mix of mystery solving, horror and comedy. The leader of the ghost hunters is this handsome, smart guy with an incredibly high self-image, which leads the narrator of the story, a high school girl who becomes his assistant, to give him the nickname Naru-san, naru apparently being a japanese abbreviation of Narcissist, thus Narcissist-san... The show is divided into case files, the first spanning three episodes which is as far as I've watched so far, and I'm completely sold. The dialogue is gold, the voice actors are good and the animation is at the very least solid. There is really nothing grating at all.

Another show I watched from start to finish the other week in a couple of marathon sessions was Capeta. 52 episodes about a boy whose father builds a go-cart for him, and his rise to elite racing. It follows the characters from age 11 to adult age, and the progress is nice to follow. The show's a couple years old, but just new enough that they had started using 3D effects, and they do to great effect here. The art style is a bit of a throwback to older times, quite different from most shows these days, but it works well. If there is something to complain about, it's how the show, especially the second half, completely tries to overwhelm the viewer with tear-jerking moments, and they don't just try to make you cry, they cry too. All-the-freakin'-time. Despite that, it's good entertainment. There's good comedy at times, and the races are genuinely exciting. While you can expect a good climactic ending, you can't always expect a win for the good guys. Just most of the time.

Mini-reviews:

Oh! Edo Rocket: This looks just brilliant. The art is absolutely gorgeous, the humour is off-the-wall, and the story seem wonderful, even if I've only seen one episode yet. It's about a fireworks maker, in Edo at a time when the emperor/shogun had outlawed fireworks. A girl (who we know is a shape shifter) come to the fireworks maker, asking him to make a rocket that can go really far - to the moon, preferably. The show looks like a can't miss. Watch it. It was broadcast last year, 26 episodes in all if I recall correctly.

Kamichu!: I mentioned this before, didn't I? Anyway, I wrapped it up last night. Not wanting to devour the show too fast, I have deliberately only allowed myself to watch an episode or two per week, but now it is finally over. It's just a wonderful feelgood story that it is easy to imagine could have been done by Studio Ghibli. Just 15 episodes (which is an odd number in anime, but still), it left me wanting more, but the end was still satisfying.

Clannad: I'm up to episode 18 of this ongoing show (is supposed to be 25/26 episodes), but I wonder if I haven't seen all I need to see of it. It's a classic harem show - Tomoya is surrounded by a group of attractive ladies, each of which has a mini-story that needs to be resolved (can you tell this is based on a computer game...) and the assumption was, by the end of the show he'd decide which of the girls he likes. Now he has already made that decision, leaving the question what the remaining 7 episodes should be about. Otherwise, it's a pretty good show - the girls' short stories are pretty good, and the comedy of the show is at times off the scale. Tomoya plays practical jokes with the best straight face I've ever seen.

Did I ever say something about Sketchbook? I just finished it, 13 episodes. It's about Sora, a quiet girl who joins the high school art club. It's very slow, no real plot, just getting to know the eccentric club members. It's warm, and at times fantastically funny.

Hm...can't think of any more at the moment. Follow that link above and you can find a list of the anime I'm watching at the moment.

[Kastil]

I finally saw Hellsing. I really liked that one.

My husband also DVRd one called Fist of the North Star. Everytime the main character starts wailing on someone, however, it sounds like Jan Lee from the DOA video game which just make me not take it too seriously. Still, the animation is good.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Fist of the North Star is one of those classics I've been meaning to watch but never gotten to. I will, one day.

[Kastil]

Fist of the North Star is one of those classics I've been meaning to watch but never gotten to. I will, one day.I can't remember what channel it was on but I'm sure it was one of my movies channels I get. I'll try to check tonight because I know I have a few more episodes DVRd.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Well, I don't get American television, so don't worry about it for my sake at least. I'm sure I'll find it somewhere...

I forgot about a couple of really good shows I've picked up recently but not gotten very far on:

Baccano: All that stuff I said about Buzzer Beater's novice script writers? That does not apply to Baccano. Quite the opposite. Here we're talking about people who graduated Advanced Storytelling with honors. It starts with two journalists (or something like journalists - call them writers, perhaps), discussing a story they've come upon, debating when the story really started, and whose perspective it should be told from. And as they do this, the anime shows those perspectives, in small bits as the dialogue wanders. I've only seen the beginning of this, but if the rest keep the same standard, this is going to be fantastic. It feels somewhat like Full Metal Alchemist in 1930 Chicago - supernatural gangster wars seems to be the theme, at least to begin with - on the other hand, they've hinted at parts of the story taking place in the 18th century, so we might get some interesting flashbacks.

Beck: This one is old (by my measures - that means prolly...five years? Something like that), but still good. It's a coming of age story about a kid who hangs around with rock musicians, and eventually of the forming of a band that they tour around with. Again, I haven't seen a lot of it, but it feels good. If FLCL wasn't wacky at all, had no robots, and that chick actually *played* that bass guitar instead of whacking the main character in the head with it, it might have been something like Beck. If that would have been a good thing or not I don't know, but hey...
Anyway, the animation is alright, not fantastic, but doesn't look dated either. The music is very good, not a surprise given how rock music is *the* thing in the show.
My only concern is that so far, it's been pretty gloomy, and I don't know how much of that I can take. The main character is the typical hang-around, his female friend (who he'd desperately like to be his girlfriend) seem to only have eyes for the rock guitarrist, the other girl he runs into think he's a jerk, and he just generally seem to be a spectator in his own life. I have a feeling that will change, but if it doesn't, this could get both dull and depressing fast.

[Kastil]

Bummer. It was Showtime if anyone else was interested.

[Kastil]

My hubbie recorded another anime program on Showtime for me called Black Lagoon. It's pretty good. I'm also noticing he's starting to get into watching this stuff with me. Heck, he even asks questions when my son and I sit down to watch Naruto. :D

[Dr_Avalanche]

Oh yeah, I also just started watching Black Lagoon, and it's truly awesome. So much ass kicking going on in that show. :D

[Dr_Avalanche]

Ok, it's been a while since I updated this, I've had the time to watch a couple of episodes of the spring season shows, so I'll give a brief review of them. In alphabetical order:

Amatsuki: Boy enters holographic exhibition showing Edo Japan, is suddenly thrown back in time, and has to adapt to a fantasy version of old Japan. Not overly impressed, but I've only seen one episode.

Crystal Blaze: The trailer and the advertising had the trappings of a hard boiled pulp fiction story, a bit more adult than the average anime story, but so far that has been limited to a detective who sleeps around with curvy ladies. The voice acting is sub-par, while the story seems somewhat interesting - a corporation/institute of some kind is doing funky experiments on young women, and in the opening sequence we see one of these girls trying to escape, when she suddenly spontaneously combust, and turn to glass. It's pretty weird. Two episodes in, I can't say I know where this story is going. I wish the production values were better, because the story is kinda interesting.

Himitsu - Top Secret: Interesting concept here. In the near future, police forensics can "uncode" human brains, which can reveal immense volumes of information about who killed them, as well as memories of the past which can give clues to their deaths. At the same time, there are conflicts with matters such as personal integrity. There are hints of a rather philosophical show, if they keep it up from the first episode. Kinda old school art and animation, but that feels like secondary to the story here.

Kamen no Maid Guy: The concept is too weird, but somehow it works - a girl and her brother are the heirs to a vast family fortune. Their grandfather think their lives are at risk, so he hires two maid/body-guards. And to raise the chances that the kids will accept these people into their lives, one of the maids is a beefy guy of samurai/special-ops stock, with an MIT background to boot. It's utterly wacky, lots of fan service, lots of off the wall humour, and not at all serious. If it's good is a matter for debate, but I think it's funny.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6hUAaoEPifM

Kanokon: Lots of ecchi comedys this season. In this one, there are animal spirits disguised as ordinary people among us, and one boy in a japanese high school seems to have the pheromones to be highly attractive to these spirits - at least the female ones. So he's blatantly jumped first by a lady fox-spirit, then a lady wolf-spirit, and they start fighting it out for his attention. It's a seriously lame premise for a show, but they do it well enough that it's both rather funny and a bit sexy.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=f0jz2rxL-o8

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Officially the most bizarre show this season. A goddess and a regular Joe are tasked with forming a "family" as parents of a group of odd-ball people, creatures and...things. It's hyper, surrealistic, you name it. Some people praise it, but I'm not sure if I can/want to keep up with this. One episode didn't convince me, at least.

Nabari no Ou: Some labelled this the "new Naruto", since it's a story about ninjas, and a main character who is destined for greatness. It's really different though, not the same tone at all. There is some humour, but this is a much grittier story than Naruto ever was. The animation is decent, the voice acting is pretty good. I don't feel strongly about the story though - so far it's pretty generic dramatic action fair. The combat scenes are good though.

Soul Eater: I want to call this the big thing this season. While it basically is a shounen action show, the production values are incredible, the character gallery is great, just like the voice acting (though I've heard some complain about the voice of Maka, but I like it). The story and art is like a mix of Bleach, a Gorillaz music video and Nightmare before Christmas. Shinigamis, death gods, are being trained in pairs with their weapons (who have two forms - a human form, and a weapon form) by destroying demons and witches and stuff. There isn't much more than that. The plot isn't very complex. But it's oh so much fun. This show *also* has a fair amount of fan service. It's also being shown in two different versions, one early in the evening, and one late-night. From what I understand, there really isn't much difference between the two, but I think they might have cut out a little bit of the fan service in the earlier version.
This clip features Death the Guy and his double weapons Liz and Patty who I think are turning into my favorites in this show. Kid's OCD is glorious. No matter the stupid way he's holding his guns.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bLzXAPZi18Q

The Daughter of Twenty Faces: This show has a real retro feel to it, but only in themes and art - the animation is of high quality, like many shows this season. Aya Hirano who voiced Haruhi in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya as well as Konata in Lucky Star is doing the voice of the main character, Chiko, a girl who is adopted by the master thief, Twenty Faces. It's a bit of a young girl's romantic adventure over the whole thing - from a dreary life with two step parents being whisked away by a dashing adventurer to live an exciting life in exotic parts of the world. Anyway, it's well done, and the first three episodes have been very promising. It's not quite clear where the story is going however, early on it's been fairly episodical, I hope and believe that will change.

The Tower of Druaga: Finally some old-fashioned fantasy! This story could have had Monte Cook as script writer. Towering over a large city is Druaga, an absolutely huge tower that reach into the clouds. Adventuring parties enter the tower every season, some just hoping to score some loot, while others aim for the very top. It's based on an old console game by the same name. The main character Jil is some kind of shield defender who is kicked out of his brother's party after a first venture into the tower where he proved useless. Later he manages to put together his own band of adventurers - a warrior, a priestess, a mage (with henchman, er, -girl). Aside of the female warrior, they're like a party of level 1 characters entering the Temple of Elemental Evil. It's bound to get ugly. Episode 1 was very light hearted, almost a parody (I think the anime term is omake) of the show itself, rather confusing since it's the first we see of the show, but it was pretty funny. Not very typical of what it's like later, to be honest.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qwPW8D13H6k

ToLoveRu: Similar concept as Kanokon - "poor" guy is assaulted by a very forward girl (an alien this time instead of a spirit...), while trying to keep up appearances in front of the very normal girl in school that he really likes. It's alright, but doesn't really stick out among several other similar shows this season.

Vampire Knight: Vampire romance ahoy. Anne Rice would be proud. :) There's a school where vampires and humans live side by side - the vampires are the night class, the humans the day class. The main character, Yuuki has the role of guardian, tasked with keeping the order, keeping the classes apart etc. It's a romantic triangle between her, the most powerful of the vampires Kaname, and Zero, the other guardian who is soon revealed to be a vampire as well. This is a bit of a guilty pleasure - it's pretty bad, the premise is dumb, the story is Anne Rice'ish, it's all just about Yuuki fawning for Zero or Kaname and not being able to make up her mind.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Spring season is over, time to summarize.

Amatsuki: I'm still following this, quite alright, just a bit distracted by how pretty much every character except the protagonist has such volatile personalities - one moment they're happy and cheerful, the next it's skull-bashing time. Scripting could be better. Still, not a waste of time. The fansubs are lagging a bit behind here, so I haven't gotten very far.

Crystal Blaze: Dropped. I couldn't stand the voice acting. Too horrible.

Himitsu: Still watching, the concept is interesting enough even if the quality is so so. Like Amatsuki, the fansubbing is going slow.

Kamen no Maid Guy: This has been a positive surprise. It looked *really* cheezy, but has really pulled it off with off the wall humour and absurdity all the way. *Also* behind with the fansubs.

Kanokon: Completed. It turned out to be a pretty charming, nice comedy, very predictable (boob jokes, and the multi-tool of japanese rom-coms - true love conquering all). I wouldn't exactly recommend it, and I'm not sure if it was five well invested hours I used to watch it, but it sort of amused and entertained.

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: I'm a bit behind on this one, which is only half done - I think it continues over the summer season as well. It has turned out to be quite alright, even if it's hard to feel any relation to the utterly surreal world the anime depicts. It's simply so silly that "not taking it seriously" isn't good enough. I feel I'd need another level of detachment from reality to connect fully with the show.

Nabari no Ou: Kinda slow moving plot, and not a very distinct plot either. I'm still following it, but it is kind of meh. Lots less cool ninja action as the show has gone on. It started off promising, but hasn't shown much since.

Soul Eater: Very pretty, kinda simple plot. I think this is geared towards a younger audience. Aimed to steal Naruto's fans, perhaps? Still, the graphics are so neat that I can't help enjoying it. Plus, there are some utterly adorable characters.

The Daughter of Twenty Faces: Probably the best show of the spring season. Strong story, characters with rational emotions, nice animation, voice acting...it has everything. It's not finished yet, but it's going to be one of those top tier animes of all time in my opinion.

The Tower of Druaga: Finished, though there is almost certainly going to be a continuation, either in the Fall or Winter season. It didn't turn out to be *that* good, but there are few really good classic fantasy animes out there, and this lands among the best. One of its strong points is how well it moves between drama and comedy - there is a serious plot, serious character relations, but then it allows itself some outrageous comedy in between. Like the video clip in the previous post...

ToLoveRu: I dropped it after two episodes. Like Kanokon, but worse.

Vampire Knight: I just finished watching it. It's like I wrote in the post above, plus the occasional piece of humour in between. It's not particularly good, but it's vaguely reminiscent of Vampire - The Masquerade in how it deals with human-vampire relations, and as such it's at least kind of interesting. Otherwise it's just indulgence in girly gothic. Which of course is why I'm watching. There's a continuation planned, I don't know when.

Shows I ended up watching that I didn't preview:

Genshiken 2: Actually, I think this is from the winter season, but no matter. The first Genshiken was epic, one of the best anime I've ever seen, and I heard mixed reviews of this sequel, so I ended up putting it on the backburner, but now I'm catching up, and the concerns were unfounded. It's still a sharp observation of japanese otaku culture which I think can be applied to countless other obsessive hobbies. Their ambitions to produce a doujinshi to sell at the gigantic Comiket convention could well be translated to rpg's and GenCon, for example.

Toshokan Sensou: "Library Wars". The silly concept of the show was that parliament gave one department the job of censoring, confiscating and/or destroying information and art "dangerous to society". In a "left hand doesn't know what the right hand does" it also assigned another department the job to defend the citizen's rights to free expression and right to take part of information. This escalates to near civil war level, with both departments setting up military units to enforce their tasks. See how silly this show is yet? And still it really takes itself seriously, which is tricky, to say the least. It seems they wanted to tell a war story, but they didn't want a real war, for whatever reason. It's kind of a shame, because if you really let go of all reason, there's a nice little love story going on, and the frequent message that freedom of expression is something worth fighting for is a nice one (because obviously the protagonists are on that side).

Zoku Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei: I hold the original Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei as one of the smartest anime comedys ever, small brilliant observations about society and human behaviour (even if it dropped off in quality towards the end), but Zoku (which I think means "Extreme") simply didn't hold the same standard, or the concept was simply overdone.

I think that's it... I'll be back with a look at the summer's shows when I know a bit more. So far, I can tell that Hidimari Sketch x365 is probably going to be the best show of the summer...and there's a new SLAYERS! It's called Slayers Revolution, and everything is like it used to be with Lina Inverse, Gourry, Amelia and the others. :)

[Kastil]

Now that my son is 14, I can start letting him watch some of the more PG-13 stuff I have. I DVR'd Akira for us to watch when he gets back from Boy Scouts camp.

[Dr_Avalanche]

Out of the above, I highly recommend The Daughter of Twenty Faces. It is awesome, and suitable for a younger audience.

[Black Angel]

Looks like you've been busy, Dr A!

We've just started watching Tenjou Tenge (various spellings around), which has been very amusing for the fanservice so far! Also the fight scenes are quite amazing (we are up to episode 8, and there has been a fight going over the last 4 episodes!). Overall, it's pretty easy to watch & light hearted (despite the fight scenes), so I'm enjoying it, even though I probably wouldn't rate it in my best anime of all time. Really it's a pretty classic 'high school drama/fight club' anime (if such a genre exists!).

[Dr_Avalanche]

If I can identify three shows that fit the description (and I think I can, with little problem), it's a genre. :)

I missed Tenjou Tenge when it came out, and for the last year or two, I've almost only been watching the new shows. It's one of the things I think I want to change, at least a little. There are still so many good older shows to see.