Does anyone here watch anime?

[bolekb]

"Will make you feel old" alert! One of the series that (I dare to say) defined anime as we know it will celebrate 20 years this week - Azumanga Daioh.
Among my other top recommendations - R.O.D, Great Teacher Onizuka, Princess Tutu

[BenFenner]

Azumanga Daioh.

I thought I would really like this one, but it was so boring. I realized I don't like slice-of-life (even bizzaro slice-of-life) after watching this one.

For a minute there I thought you were talking about Kodomo no Omocha. AKA hyper Marmalade Boy.

I really enjoyed them both actually.

And someone else mentioned Card Captor Sakura. I wish I'd finished that one.

[hujan86]

In the last year, I focused on Comedy/Slice of Life/Ecchi genre, as a way to cope with stress due to my job.

• 100% Pascal-sensei

• Magical Sempai

• Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!

• BLEND-S

• My Senpai is Annoying

• How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno.

[Nigaikaze]

Do Speed Racer and Prince Planet count?

[athenian200]

Do Speed Racer and Prince Planet count?

I think it does count, since I did enjoy Speed Racer when I was younger. I didn't realize it was anime at the time, though.

[Nigaikaze]

I didn't realize it was anime at the time, though.

Me neither. I really adored Prince Planet. I finally picked up the complete Speed Racer when it came out on blu-ray a few years ago. I would kill for a high-quality US release of Prince Planet.

[jangdonggun1234]

I do, but I watch every 1 or 2 years, I watch a bunch of them in a short period of time then stop.

[jobbautista9]

I used to be an anime fan back in junior high school, but I just stopped becoming interested in anime after that. Idk why, maybe there just isn't any anime that piqued my interest.

Well until now it seems. Spy x Family brought me back. The last anime where I avidly anticipated each episode release was Charlotte (which is a great anime too, I recommend watching it). It's not the "best" anime yet (I mean we only have 9 episodes right now), but it's definitely wholesome. Whether one's an anime fan or not, I think everyone could enjoy it. Even better is that it's officially available for free in YouTube via Muse Asia, at least for Southeast Asia. So no need to pirate it.

Another anime I've been watching currently is The Ascendance of a Bookworm (also available in Muse Asia's YouTube). Though right now I'm kinda starting to get bored each episode. The anime is not bad; the premise is intriguing. It's not like your average isekai where the protagonist gets reincarnated to another world and immediately get powers or become a town's hero. Here the protagonist is at a disadvantage: books are only available to nobility, and illiteracy among the masses is high. Unfortunately she got reincarnated into a child of a poor family. It also doesn't help that her new self has asthma. I'm not sure why it's getting boring to me; maybe I just ain't conditioned to watch lots of slice-of-life episodes like many weebs do...

[jangdonggun1234]

I used to be an anime fan back in junior high school, but I just stopped becoming interested in anime after that. Idk why, maybe there just isn't any anime that piqued my interest.

Well until now it seems. Spy x Family brought me back. The last anime where I avidly anticipated each episode release was Charlotte (which is a great anime too, I recommend watching it). It's not the "best" anime yet (I mean we only have 9 episodes right now), but it's definitely wholesome. Whether one's an anime fan or not, I think everyone could enjoy it. Even better is that it's officially available for free in YouTube via Muse Asia, at least for Southeast Asia. So no need to pirate it.

Another anime I've been watching currently is The Ascendance of a Bookworm (also available in Muse Asia's YouTube). Though right now I'm kinda starting to get bored each episode. The anime is not bad; the premise is intriguing. It's not like your average isekai where the protagonist gets reincarnated to another world and immediately get powers or become a town's hero. Here the protagonist is at a disadvantage: books are only available to nobility, and illiteracy among the masses is high. Unfortunately she got reincarnated into a child of a poor family. It also doesn't help that her new self has asthma. I'm not sure why it's getting boring to me; maybe I just ain't conditioned to watch lots of slice-of-life episodes like many weebs do...

You should try My Dress-Up Darling, it's hardcarrying both manga and anime market in Japan nowadays.

[sblanco]

I used to watch anime up until some few years ago; albeit, just like in general gaming, later I began feeling like, kind of, "disappointed" or less eager towards recent stuff being released...
Currently I just search comics and manga.

Back in the anime days, I did follow the Studio Ghibli works -the good times...-.
I did watch the Neon Genesis Evangelion original series. Back then, I actually preferred the "alternate" ending, the alternate final 2 released episodes. But when Rebuild of Evangelion was announced, I must say I had high expectations for it.
But in the end, and at least for me, *ouch*. Years and *years* of delaying is never good. Putting aside COVID, new interests arise in the big meanwhile -director was busy with *other* projects-, and he himself *changes his own mind*. Please correct me if wrong, but it seems that real life happenings directly made him no longer like Asuka as main heroine; thus she was totally replaced in the end. Plus many other details which deviated from original series.

Also, I didn't know Sailor Moon was inspired by Saint Seiya...
Speaking of which, another pity; Saint Seiya, another unfinished story, seemingly replaced by milking...

Anyway, I'd like to share anime and manga I have watched/read, more or less in ascending order of which ones I liked more -top ones-.

Anime:
Tasogare Otome x Amnesia (manga as well)
Mirai Nikki (manga as well)
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Ergo Proxy
Serial Experiments Lain
Sci Fi Harry
Accel World
Mushishi
Brave Story
Another
Night on the Galactic Railroad (what big bittersweet piece)
Jormungand
Paprika
Noein
Paranoia Agent
Summer Wars
Monster (as interesting, but as *slow*)
Tsukihime
Kara no Kyoukai
The Twelve Kingdoms
Perfect Blue
Tokyo Godfathers
Toki o Kakeru Shoujo
Wolf Children
Death Note
FLCL
Akira (manga as well)
Cowboy Bebop

Manga:
Oyasumi Punpun [1]
20th Century Boys (same author as Monster)
Ane Freaks
Bokurano
Narutaru
Deadman Wonderland
Uzumaki
Aku no Hana
Midori the Camellia Girl
Abstraction (author Shintaro Kago)
Rozen Maiden (anime as well... *both disappointing*)

[1] I think this is the one I've liked the most until now regarding manga

And of course other ones which are considered more popular.

From Type-Moon (Tsukihime, Kara no Kyoukai), Fate/Stay Night was "more or less" to begin with, but now they have turned it into a milking franchise
And as far as I understand, similar case with Sword Art Online, same author of Accel World. For me Accel World was *far* more interesting; pity author has been delaying the light novel more and more...

Finally, as mentioned at the beginning, I currently search for comics and manga/manhwa.

One I -kind of ended up- following is Korean manhwa Tower of God.
......despite indeed feeling "Bleach-esque" almost from the beginning, it was promising back when it started.
Later, and still currently, very little to no dice: the "overarching plot" around protagonist remains indeed interesting for now, but in exchange author goes stretching, stretching, filler and filler with the plot. It's not rare for an actual single arc to "finish" after one year...

Well, these were my sharing attempts. Thanks.

Off-topic:
@athenian200:
Greetings again, I'm the guy who lurked in the IRC channel months ago, and we used to discuss miscellaneous topics once in a while. Thanks.

[WiseWolf]

If so, what series have you enjoyed?
The first anime I really got into (if you don't count the Pokémon anime I grew up with) was Neon Genesis Evangelion.

I was going to say the same, but actually, as odd as this might sound to some, sailor moon was my first, then pokemon, I think?
Only seen Neon Genesis once, didn't really care for it. Ghost In the Shell, I had a lot of trouble following that... not against it, just yeah... not sure what the whole plot is.

My favorites:
8 times...
Naruto Shippuden
This anime is the darkest one I have ever seen, that I actually like and in fact love. As I have told others though, I skip as many of those fillers as possible...
I don't see any point in that stuff. Music is so creepy and badass/dark, it gave me chills to the point, I almost didn't want to finish it the first time I saw it
Hurricane Suite is a beyond crazy creepy dark soundtrack...
It really does sum up most of Naruto Shippuden to not just a good level, but a near perfect level.

It has so much emotion and they actually do anti-heroes right and don't have them all end up dying with evil in their hearts. I just absolutey dislike the other type of anti-heroes, aka, the ones that die in their sins.
They tackle some intense stuff, from ending wars, to revenge and many things in between, which are wrong, how to deal with some, what the price of them is, aka what it does to you, etc...
Spoilers below:

Favorite characters:
Pain:
He was a very interesting anti-hero, his ideas on finding world peace, though were beyond insane... but yeah, thats what extremism does to you.
I also love the way he died, he repented and turned against the fake Madara to use his lifespan instead of reviving the real Madara, to instead revive the people who died.
Obito is very similar, in the sense of him repenting, ironically, he had manipulated pain but later he finds out he was also manipulated...
In his case, Madara set him up to cause him to lose hi marbles to the unstable insane level and embrace Madara's dream.
prior to him becoming aware why Pain betrayed him, his idea was to make a dream world and for everyone to be at peace that way... very cuckoo, but interesting.

As odd as this sounds, Zetsu was also a favorite of mine, I felt no pity for him, when he died, I only wish that the person he revived, was someone who had always been evil, maybe from another planet, etc?
Also, I wish that the one Zetsu revived, Kaguya, had been more of a menace than even Madara with the ten tails in him... I just think the battle should have last way longer...
Also, I think given this, Naruto and Sasuke would have needed a much bigger power boost to handle her and Zetsu. Btw, I am referring of course to Black Zetsu, in this case.

Sasuke:
He was the most unpredictable character, even beyond Orochimaru and Kabuto combined,

First he wanted to kill Itachi not knowing the whole truth, then he leaves the village to seek more power from Orochimaru, then he kills Orochimaru, which he was only able to do because Naruto stalled him long enough for Orochimaru to have to snatch a different body or die.
Then down the road, when he kills Itachi, Obito tells him what actually happened and he seeks the death of Danzo and the Village itself...
Btw, I disliked Danzo a lot... this is one moment, where I am glad he got rid of someone.
The part where Kabuto revives Sasuke's brother, causes at one point Sasuke to follow Itachi and they both end up more or less putting an end to Kabuto's plans.

After this, Sasuke's new personality from this event, causes Orochimaru to become this weird character who doesn't really care about war anymore... he has a somewhat similar thought process to Colress from pokemon when it comes to what he wants to see, only not nearly as insane..
The moment where the four kages who had died were revived by Orochimaru and their response to Orochimaru's new ideals was just like, lol.

Then finally the moment of black zetsu's movements, Kaguya being revived, etc, being dealt with.
Sasuke does something I wouldn't have expected earlier in the story, although I began to suspect it might be that after he says something before Obito's defeat...
But yeah, he now has ideals similar to Madara after that meeting with the dead kage asking them questions, etc...
The soundtrack that first plays, when he declares this insane goal of his, pretty much sums up, how much he loses his marbles... he was a pretty messed up kid, throughout the series:
I sum it up this way:

dark gray
almost pure evil
somewhat dark gray
repentant

He made quite a few shifts in that story, as to his alignment... it was intense...

Oh did I ever love that one, its possible somewhere down the road, I will watch it maybe as much as the one I have directly below

I also loved the ending for Naruto/Hinata...

Particularly, because she actually cared about him to the level where I wanted her to have him.

Sakura I can forgive for the first episode despite her and those other girls beating up Naruto early on, in the original Naruto. I mean, Sasuke really made her suffer... probably to a level ten thousand times more than is reasonable... in any sense.

seasons with openings 8, 9 and 10, were mostly sad though.

Loved the ones after that especially though.

I could go on and on, but I will leave it here for now. Or this will be neverending...


That being said, this show proves a point about, villians give heroes their flavor...

Aka, how the heroes respond to them...

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood (watched it from start to finish, way way too much!)
Like Naruto Shippuden, this one has alot of dark plots and creepiness to it which I usually enjoy with one exception which I will mention at the bottom



Bleach
Absolutely loved this, once I learned to skip those fillers, the music gave me this otherworldly feel and the main villian, was mega badass but also pure evil. I hate feeling sorry for the villians who lose their way and end up doomed but were genuinely good or had very few issues prior and especially, if they were completely innocent for a long time but they make the character out to be a monster when in reality they got manipulated...
Eureka Seven
Not super great, to the point I watched it again, but I do remember liking it when it was on that abomination called Adult Swim on cartoon network at night... I say abomination because their animes were the only thing I could enjoy and even some of them I disliked with a passion some even bordering on hate.
Rurouni Kenshin, Zoids Chaotic Century Zoids Guardian Force, Pokemon season 1 because after that, it started to lose its edgy flavor, I liked it when it was creepy and had some form of realism with regard to pokemon almost dying, etc... after season 1 I wish I had stopped watching...

However, as some know, there can only be one graveyard anime that tops all others, which in my case, as I have told a few people, its the one I mention below:

Death Note:
I have many reasons, I will hide it because, it does have some spoilers and I usually feel like I need to get off my chest, why it is so detestable to me:
Feel free to look if you have seen the whole thing, or if you are curious in general
The reasons I hate it so much:

I hate unhappy endings
As a rule of thumb, I hate antiheroes who don't repent
I hate when the good guys have absolutely no mercy regarding their emotional state
He actually wasn't even the most evil character in that story
Ironically, the most evil character, got away with cursing an otherwise innocent human life.
Btw, don't give me that "he was just bored" nonsense,
Thats kind of a hellishly disturbing way to deal with boredom, basically giving Light Yagami, a power he knew would warp him and cause his utter destruction, etc...
Also, Ryuk admits in the first episode that this power usually ends up causing misfortune to the user...
Btw, I have no doubt that if anyone else used that power without knowing what it did, boom same thing is Light Yagami, would happen.
Especially Near...
Also, there is zero reason someone evil like Ryuk shouldn't be given a much worse judgment that Light Yagami and other people he cursed.
Yes, there is a choice, but its still warped man... I honestly don't care what their religious beliefs are in this situation, also Ryuk should not be immortal for this reason and others.
If Light deserves to be judged, then Ryuk definitely does for damn sure. My point being, most people seem to ignore the evil of Ryuk, for whatever reason, especially the author, its just kind of weird man. Besides, Light Yagami at least had good intentions at one point, Ryuk doesn't show any...
Btw, the fanbase creeps the hell out of me...
I actually spoiled myself after getting into season 2, because I began to have some doubts as to if it would end right... I wasn't wrong and yeah, it was rage inducing not to mention, the fanbase made me even angrier... their views on Ryuk were inconsistent with how they felt about Light Yagami...
One word:

Hypocrites!

I would mention more details on the other ones, but, I would be for another hour, so nah...

Anywho, peace yall for now!

[sblanco]

@WiseWolf:
Regarding Death Note, the way I see it:

In my case, I also dislike unhappy endings in general, *with few exceptions*: specifically, in a story/plot where a "happy" ending is *unfitting*.
Death Note was a slightly "different" story in the sense that the protagonist was a villain (not antihero) and the antagonists heroes.
In most stories the "good guy" role is assigned to the protagonist(s), and the "bad guy" role to the antagonist(s). In this case, like in several other ones recently, the roles were reversed.
So, from the author's perspective, it depends on what kind of message you want to convey to the audience, whether a positive or negative one.
Fortunately -at least for me-, author went for the first one; thus in this case, the "antagonists" had to win.
Regarding the evil shinigami, well... the way I see it, both he and all his companions are kind of the Eastern equivalent of Western devils/demons/Lucifer.
Yes, I know there are many stories where they're actually destroyed. But, in a more "realistic" way, can the be defeated? Yes, most likely in many cases, and temporarily. Can they be slain, or defeated *for good*? Most logically, of course *not*.
It's the old concept of the forces of good and evil, both of them must exist. One evil one, or a couple of them, get a defeat. They'll recover and try it again in some other way. The loop continues.
Well, perhaps this is why I didn't disliked it. But of course it's subjective.

[fatboy]

I am a big fan of Anime. I think it is one of the best forms of entertainment and story telling. The Japenese just know how to write amazing stories.

I have watched a LOT of anime when I was a student:
Death Note, Full Metal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Van Hellsing, One Piece from 1-650, Naruto from start to finish, Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, The Way of the House Husband, Saiki K, Demon Slayer, Hunter X Hunter, Kenichi - World Strongest Desciple, Attack on Titan, etc

Demon Slayer has been one of the most impressive animes I have seen recently. Really enjoyed the story and animations.

[WiseWolf]

I am a big fan of Anime. I think it is one of the best forms of entertainment and story telling. The Japenese just know how to write amazing stories.

I have watched a LOT of anime when I was a student:
Death Note, Full Metal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Van Hellsing, One Piece from 1-650, Naruto from start to finish, Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, The Way of the House Husband, Saiki K, Demon Slayer, Hunter X Hunter, Kenichi - World Strongest Desciple, Attack on Titan, etc

Demon Slayer has been one of the most impressive animes I have seen recently. Really enjoyed the story and animations.

What about Naruto Shippuden and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood?

Or did you include naruto shippuden in naruto?

Curious is all.

[mtosev]

Nope not really. The only anime that I can say that I watched was Yu-Gi-Oh duel monsters. Watched all the episode of it.
I did watch a shit load of western/American cartoons. I will name some of them: Dexter's labaratory, Cow and chicken, I am weasel, Godzilla the 1970s cartoon and the 1998 version, numerous Scooby-Doo cartoons, Swat Kats, Pinky and the brain, The Real adventures of Jonny Quest, Tabaluga, the magic school bus, batman the animated series from 1992, Tom and Jerry, Samurai Jack, The Mask, Space ghost, Blue falcon, courage the cowardly dog, Animaniacs, Freakazoid, Bugs bunny, that cartoon with Wile E coyote and the road runner, Gobots, Fat dog Mendoza, Tiny Toons, Taz-Mania, Ed, Edd and Eddy, The Powerpuff girls, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Captain Planet... I could go on and on because I remember a lot more cartoons but I'm too lazy to think of more.
I do think that I have seen my fair share of western cartoons. Those were great cartoons I have to say.

[Mæstro]

There is another graphic novel and animation tradition in the occident beside the Yankee: the French. I have fond memories of such childhood series; I had got my username from one. Part of why I use the word azayaka for the recent anime aesthetic is as most XX^th century anime, in its style, is close to the French tradition.

What anime do you lot plan to watch next? I am watching Sing a Bit of Harmony later tonight, if all goes well, and will then watch Bofuri. A friend had helped me today to halve my anime watchlist and split it into two classes, from which I may select series by my mood.

[Marcus]

There is another graphic novel and animation tradition in the occident beside the Yankee: the French.

I presume you're referring to the Franco-Belgian bande dessinée.
It always surprised me how the Anglo world is almost totally ignorant about what's done just across the English channel (animation and other things).
I was brought up with BD franco-belge and consider it superior to English/American or Asian production.

[WiseWolf]

@WiseWolf:
Regarding Death Note, the way I see it:

In my case, I also dislike unhappy endings in general, *with few exceptions*: specifically, in a story/plot where a "happy" ending is *unfitting*.
Death Note was a slightly "different" story in the sense that the protagonist was a villain (not antihero) and the antagonists heroes.
In most stories the "good guy" role is assigned to the protagonist(s), and the "bad guy" role to the antagonist(s). In this case, like in several other ones recently, the roles were reversed.
So, from the author's perspective, it depends on what kind of message you want to convey to the audience, whether a positive or negative one.
Fortunately -at least for me-, author went for the first one; thus in this case, the "antagonists" had to win.
Regarding the evil shinigami, well... the way I see it, both he and all his companions are kind of the Eastern equivalent of Western devils/demons/Lucifer.
Yes, I know there are many stories where they're actually destroyed. But, in a more "realistic" way, can the be defeated? Yes, most likely in many cases, and temporarily. Can they be slain, or defeated *for good*? Most logically, of course *not*.
It's the old concept of the forces of good and evil, both of them must exist. One evil one, or a couple of them, get a defeat. They'll recover and try it again in some other way. The loop continues.
Well, perhaps this is why I didn't disliked it. But of course it's subjective.

A few more thoughts, if you want, up to you...

Hmm, perhaps, I don't think however that during the time where he gave up control of that power, that he was at all evil, until of course, he saw the book L had seen.
He had more than one personality it almost seemed...

Also, perhaps they did deserve to win, the antagonists I mean... but yeah, I very much think the Shinigami should have lost the ability to return by the book being burned or something and having that happen or losing the ability to use the death note and being put through actual hell, etc... even if Ryuk had this happen to him, we both know, that there were others in that story...

so whether or not Light needed to be defeated is not the thing that annoys me. is the way he went down, aka... unrepentant to the point where he refuses to surrender,

I don't like anti-heroes who go down that way... aka, refusing to repent to the bitter end... also, demons can suffer... the fact that he kills Light Yagami is by far the most cruel part of the show itself...

To be honest, I think of it this way:

Who is more evil the merchant of death who helps people kill each other or the people who use his power to kill people.

The answer of course is the first.

My main problem though goes beyond the story itself, the fact that most people who watch it, COMPLETELY... excuse Ryuk's behavior as being okay. They say "Oh he is just bored"

That sounds like a bunch of horseshit, to me...

The ways I just listed, are pretty much why I dislike the creator and a good portion of the fanbase.

The author did at one point excuse Ryuk's behavior and act like the people on Light's side were evil within the show.

You could argue that while he was under the influence of that power, sure... but even still, Ryuk and those like him in the Shinigami Realm, were actually pure evil... with the exception of a few like Rem, who actually had some light in them still, which isn't how demons are.

Some would disagree, of course, but if you could feel certain negative thoughts coming out of nowhere, that constantly had the feeling of, you will die if you do this, etc... being forced on you all the time... people would think otherwise. I should also add, its taken a few decades or more to even be able to know how to deal with those thoughts most of the time.

That all being said, if:

>Ryuk treated like innocent by fans and author and not being put in his place even by being put through torment, in a place like hell or w/e
>Light Yagami treated like he was evil by fans and author despite the fact that when he gave up the ownership, he acted way different, until he regained the power
>Light Yagami refusing to repent in any form and him trying to lie by saying it wasn't him when he confessed as well, he wouldn't have done that if you looked at his past self, he would have done everything else maybe, but that one thing was not realistic in light of who he was before. He would have known that was pointless... again, this is the new personality that he gained which basically wiped out the old one...
>Near surviving in spite of the fact, that if he had used the same power without knowing what it did, which he likely would have, if he found it instead... people said he was arrogant, which is the ONLY thing the fanbase was correct about... well the part of Near being arrogant I mean... not the other stuff.

Those reasons, are perhaps my main gripes, but I suppose it doesn't matter, as long as people don't get poisoned by this crap.

Sad thing is, I had gotten intoxicated by this stuff in the past, ragefully so I might add... didn't know how anti-protagonist storylines worked or what anti-heroes were due to my hiding ways regarding how I sometimes hid under a rock, etc... with regard to life aka...

But that is neither here nor there. I hope this show hasn't poisoned the majority of people watching it.

To sum it up, the execution was pretty horrible imo. Too much crap hit the fan that could have made it worth something.

Anywho, this would also be the reason I preferred the naruto part 1 and part 2 way of anti-heroes.

Btw, as a side note, having a pure evil character is no issue, as long as he gets his fitting end...

Otherwise, the fiction I have been trying to write, wouldn't have certain characters...

So yeah, the show didn't have to be something I would hate, its just, it ended in ways, I just couldn't accept on multiple levels.

Anywho, later...