The Anime Thread

[IAceI]

From what I heard the trailers to Mirai Nikki were a bit uninspiring but since everyone thinks so highly of the manga it's essentially on everyone's 'to watch' lists.

I finally got through Gurren Lagann last night, watched about ten episodes of it in a row. I have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed during the middle of the series as I just thought it was being far too 'comic' for no reason and not going anywhere. I was genuinely wondering why we were so excited about it first time around but then after the time-skip, the part with the Anti-Spirals, kicks it up a notch. It becomes a bit more serious and is a better series for it. The fact Rossiu becomes a bit of a dick, and Kitan actually gains some character depth - as he was the chief offender for 'comedy but no substance' - I suppose all the team members being given heroic deaths, too, made it a bit more serious.

So now that I'm fully caught up on Code Geass R1 and Gurren Lagann I can get back to watching Steins;Gate - I watched a couple more episodes last night and that is still getting more and more awesome with each passing day. The way the characters are built up is just great and everything about it is just getting really serious, but there's still some comic elements left in it to balance it out a bit more.

I have the first series of Gundam 00 on box-set to get through too, and then see which of the autumn anime I'm interested in. Will check out Murai Nikki, Un-Go and there are a few others I'd probably like to watch too so will have to see.

[Mick]

From what I heard the trailers to Mirai Nikki were a bit uninspiring but since everyone thinks so highly of the manga it's essentially on everyone's 'to watch' lists.

The Pilot episode was only 8 minutes long .

Though, this should be interesting; this is the first time I've done manga before anime, so we'll just see how it stacks up.

Finished the second season of Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei today, going to knock out the third tomorrow, and then watch Samurai Champloo. After that, I believe I'm cau---fuck, FMA: Brotherhood :\ . Oh well, I do need to watch Trigun as well.

Maybe I'll do what I did with Gurren Lagann, and promise not to watch any new shows until Samurai Champloo is done, since I have both Fate/zero and Mirai Nikki. Then, the week after this one, I'll do FMA: Brotherhood, finally getting rid of all the stuff that's been on the back-burner.

[IAceI]

That was the thing bundled with the latest manga wasn't it? The 8-minute pilot? Think the first actual episode is tonight so we should start to see thoughts on it from the blogosphere appearing in the next few days.

There's gonna be so much to try and keep on top of this autumn. No idea how I'll cope.

EDIT: PS Will Fate/stay night be required watching before Fate/Zero? I know F/Z is a prequel so will I be able to watch it and not be lost?

Edited October 10, 2011 by IAceI

[Mick]

That was the thing bundled with the latest manga wasn't it? The 8-minute pilot? Think the first actual episode is tonight so we should start to see thoughts on it from the blogosphere appearing in the next few days.

There's gonna be so much to try and keep on top of this autumn. No idea how I'll cope.

EDIT: PS Will Fate/stay night be required watching before Fate/Zero? I know F/Z is a prequel so will I be able to watch it and not be lost?

Well...

I'd say if you want more twists, don't watch Fate/stay night. There are characters that show up in both series, and given the whole context behind it, watching Fate/stay night could potentially spoil certain things in Fate/zero; they don't outright say certain things, but it'd be in the vein of the Star Wars prequels, like "Oh hey, Anakin's really Darth Vader. Who saw that coming?"

I wouldn't worry about it; it depends on how you want to go about it. If you're fine with the knowledge of knowing some people will have to live since they show up in Fate/stay night, then watch Fate/stay night. If not, just put it off for a few months and watch (or read) Fate/zero.

Now that I think about it, watch Fate/stay night first. It won't make much of a difference. Even though some things are foregone conclusions, it really won't matter much, considering Fate/zero wouldn't even be much of a thought if it weren't for the fans. I mean, people love them some fate. They got an eroge turned into a proper, non-eroge franchise. They weren't concerned about it being spoiled, neither should you

[Liam]

Been wanting to get into more anime recently. Not so sure about checking out TV series though, more interested in films. Can anyone recommend me any classic anime stuff that I should check out?

[Mick]

Akira

Ninja Scroll

[Liam]

Yeah, was aware of Akira, since it seemed to have been released on Blu-Ray now.

[Mick]

Well, there's the two Death Note anime movies that did a pretty good job condensing 13 and a half hours into 4 hours...

[=BK=]

Whoever wrote the After Story to Clannad is evil. Just plain evil.

[IAceI]

If I'd been wearing socks last night when I watched Steins;Gate then they'd have been suitably knocked off. It's just phenomenal. Everything is coming together with about 4-5 episodes to go but similarly there seems to be so much left to resolve and so many twists in the offing.

Some of the issues and unsolved areas of the program have me generally racking my brain to work it out in almost NCIS fashion. I'm determined to work out where this is going and how it will play out but I feel no matter how many scenarios I play out, there are probably more unforseen turns to come and that is what has me eagerly anticipating the next chance I get to watch.

Edited October 11, 2011 by IAceI

[StevenRichardsRules]

Really loving Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei right now. I'm about seven episodes deep at the moment and anxious to watch more. Any anime with a suicidal (or at least eccentric) porotagonist is a win for me.

[Mick]

Really loving Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei right now. I'm about seven episodes deep at the moment and anxious to watch more. Any anime with a suicidal (or at least eccentric) porotagonist is a win for me.

I AM IN DESPAIR! THE FACT THAT YOU LOVE A SHOW WITH A SUICIDAL OR AT LEAST ECCENTRIC PROTAGONIST HAVE LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!

[Ruki]

Ok....some anime I am looking at watching next:

AirMaster

11 Eyes

Angel Beats

Baka To Test (short...I am leaning towards this one)

Demon King Daimao

Durarara

Fairy Tail (Apparently awesome, and recommended by Norro)

Galaxy Angel

GunGrave

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (can't find a wiki....murder mystery!!)

Ichigo Mashimaro (apparently Azumanga Daioh...but with younger kids?)

Kaiji

Karin (apparently called Chibi Vampire?)

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

Occult Academy

Panty And Stocking (Maybe willing to give this another try)

School Days (Something makes me think this was once a hentai PC game or something :/)

The World God Only Knows

Toradora

Zombie Loan

....oh god that's a lot :/ And that is leaving 4-5 series off.

So, anyone think I should watch one over the other?

[Mick]

chool Days (スクールデイズ Sukūru Deizu?) is a Japanese adult visual novel

That's not to say that the anime can't be good! Fate was an eroge! Though, the sex kind of served a purpose other than fan-service One link says it has ecchi, which isn't exactly hentai. I say roll the dice with this one, Ruki.

[Eel Cezno]

Baka to test is good, the second season just ended not long ago. It's a good comedy, some odd jokes at times and a cast of very odd characters. Some of the episodes range from outright stupid comedy to very cute and sweet.

Angel Beats is very good. Quite dramatic and heart wrenching at times but still has quite a few funny moments.

School Days if remember correctly seems to start off as a normal romantic show then takes a messed up turn somewhere and gets pretty dark.

I would definitely recommend Angel beats, but Baka to test is good too ..... .

[Robsturgh]

Baka to test I found hilarious, I didn't realise a second season was out, I must find it.

[stokeriño]

My friend started watching School Days (which I'd downloaded but not watched) when he was staying round my house. I joined him around episode 4 of 12, which just so happened to be roughly the point where the cringe-worthy fan service BS/tedious paint-by-numbers teen romance nonsense trailed off and the darkness begins to build.

To summarise: In some Japanese romance/porn games, the player is punished for not pursuing a single girl and instead acting like a man-whore with every female that pops up on his screen. The game upon which School Days is based is such a game. In the anime adaptation, the main character (male protagonist, aka the gamer) has no ability to say "no" to anything and thus is drawn inexorably towards the Bad Ending. AND IT IS A VERY BAD ENDING.

I should rewatch that series, I think. I may need alcohol to get me through the earlier eps though.

Otherwise, I made my 3rd attempt to watch Eureka 7 at the weekend and made it a record 17 episodes in. It's not that the series is bad - it's good - but my attention span is awful these days. Will I ever finish all 50 episodes? I wouldn't bet on it.

[Ruki]

Just tried to find Mirai Nikki to no luck? Booo

[StevenRichardsRules]

School Days is crazy. Crazy in a hilarious way, but crazy none the less. Stokerino basically summed it up. Fan service + Teen romance + Oh My God, What the Fuck? (Well, not that good, but still fun)

If I had to recommend from your list (which AnoHana is absent from ), I'd say Toradora should be first. Sweet romancey thing which most people on the board seem to love. It's one of my favourites too, so watch it. Then I'd say The World Only Knows, which is fun in a Welcome to the NHK meets romance anime sort of way. After that, I'd say Durarara, which is fun (similar to Baccano!, since it was made by the same people).

But you seem like you're favouring the action shows, so bah.

Really loving Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei right now. I'm about seven episodes deep at the moment and anxious to watch more. Any anime with a suicidal (or at least eccentric) porotagonist is a win for me.

I AM IN DESPAIR! THE FACT THAT YOU LOVE A SHOW WITH A SUICIDAL OR AT LEAST ECCENTRIC PROTAGONIST HAVE LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!

I am so stealing that for my signature at some point.

[Ruki]

I do generally prefer action to romance

Just watched the first episode of Baka To Test.....it's cute, it's comical, and the battles are interesting (if a little hard to follow right now)