Anime appreciation thread~!

Skalla-Grim wrote: My favourite animes: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (also known as When They Cry) - my favourite anime and my personal favourite story ever written. Though the visual novel is still better. It is a mystical horror drama with some humour, which tells about the dark secrets of a Japanese village in the 1980s. Baccano! - also a very good story about 1930s gangsters and alchemists, I think you have to watch it at least twice to piece everything together Claymore - beautiful landscapes, frightening creatures and cold-eyed warrior beauties Red Garden - a mysterious story about four very different girls being confronted with the death of one of their friends and a secret battle, which will also decide if they will survive Clannad - about the life of a frustrated student who gets to know a few girls, helps them with their problems and starts to enjoy life, but has to face new hardship. A slice of life story with supernatural elements Elfen Lied - a melancholic and gory story about krypto-scientific research which turns girls into killing machines

Higurashi is awesome, but people really need to watch both series to figure out the story.

Baccano! is pure genius.

I really like Claymore but I'm not a fan of the way they ended the anime. I know why they did it, because there was never any plans to do a second season so it ties up the story nicely, but the rcently finished manga was much better.

Red Garden sounds interesting, will have to try that, and I hear a lot about Clannad, may try that at some point as well.

Personally I find Elfin Lied to be overrated, it's great the first time you watch it but the weak plot become ever more apparent with repeat watching.

Currently going through the Bakuman series, about two young people trying to become mangaka's. The characters are excellent.

sleeper wrote: Currently going through the Bakuman series, about two young people trying to become mangaka's. The characters are excellent.

I like the self-aware shonen tropes in Bakuman.

the latest in the now HUGELY growing roster of anime is Arpeggio of Blue Steel; this may be too a "Kid A" type of series (so left-field i mean in terms of animation). it also revolves around battleships. I personally found it very entertaining as well thx to the Black Critic Guy's recommendation of the series (from this morning actually!!; it was 12 episodes long, so...), i'd highly check him out too if you are a fan of anime AND movies.

MAL is great. I'd suggest signing up asap.

Or.... you make your own new email address.. 

I have realized just recently that I have completed my 50th anime with Cowboy Bebop. Which is kind of disappointing because it feels like more.

Michael678 wrote: also forgot to mention, but i finished the original Fullmetal Alchemist series a couple of days ago (THANK GOD I FINALLY DID IT!!!) which was great. i plan to watch the whole franchise for that matter, with my order as follows: 1. 2003 Series 2. Conqueror of Shamballa 3. Brotherhood Series 4. The Sacred Star of Milos after watching all of this, next up is Cowboy Bebop (which i actually own the complete series from my birthday money!)

sleeper wrote: Michael678 wrote: Michael678 wrote: also forgot to mention, but i finished the original Fullmetal Alchemist series a couple of days ago (THANK GOD I FINALLY DID IT!!!) which was great. i plan to watch the whole franchise for that matter, with my order as follows: 1. 2003 Series 2. Conqueror of Shamballa 3. Brotherhood Series 4. The Sacred Star of Milos after watching all of this, next up is Cowboy Bebop (which i actually own the complete series from my birthday money!) got done with the last movie today, and i really enjoyed it. i wished they would have more time for the fights with the villains and/or exposition regarding a few things, but overall i prefer that one to the Shamballa film. Nah, Milos feels superfluous, shoe horned in somewhere along the main story of Brotherhood without any real attempt to make it fit in, and since that story very much had a resolution it kind of feels weird going back to Ed with both automail limbs and Al stuck in the armour suit again. Shamballa was pretty good, though not great, but served as a strong finish to the original series which I felt had a rather weak ending, particualrly compared to the manga and Brotherhood.

Skalla-Grim wrote: Michael678 wrote: *breathes in* *breathes out* okay............. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood..... its hype is well deserved.... pretty much near-perfection in storytelling... 99.99% probably.... all the characters are fantastic, the foreshadowing and executions are solid all around, and the f**king animation... damn that was awesome.... if you call yourself an anime fan no matter if you're a veteran or not and you've not watched this damn series.... WAIT THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE AND GO WATCH THE  FUING THING ALREADY!!!!!!!!! Sounds good. I have bought the DVDs already, but haven't watched it yet. I'm watching Bakemonogatari at the moment. Lots of great visuals (reminds me a bit of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika, which I recommend strongly). I don't know yet what to think of the story.

I'm revisiting the first anime I ever saw when I was a kid in the mid 90's, Armitage III.  I recently saw the complete OVA and movie collection on Amazon for $15, so I couldn't say no.  We'll see how it's held up over the years.

Serial Experiments Lain and GitS: Arise will be up after that.