Let's talk Anime

[TheLastRunaway]

I am a anime nerd, I admit! But I am in a bit of a stump trying to get back in to watching it. I am the type of person who will watch half a season and not finish it, so I need some inspiration to watch some. And I thought it'd be best if everyone could see, so maybe they could get some ideas too. (:

So what are your favorite?

What do you like about Anime?

Who are your favorite characters?

If you had to recommend one anime to the world, which would it be?

[Miraboreasu]

I've enjoyed anime since I was a kid. Of course there was Digimon and Pokemon. But now I find I have a really varied taste in it.

[Gwynbleidd]

Tough questions, lol. So many good anime and so many great characters.

Hmm…

My favorites are Rurouni Kenshin, some parts of Naruto, Gundam Wing, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Hakuoki was fun mainly because I am fascinated by the history of the Bakumatsu and the Shinsengumi. Yu Yu Hakusho and DBZ are favorites since I grew up with them. Code Geass (I consider it to be the most finely constructed anime of all time, but perhaps that's because I haven't seen the full series of Death Note or Monster which many consider to be a masterpiece).

What I like about anime is the art. I also enjoy the silliness in its certain aspects. And, I like the political undertones and philosophical discussions that take place within the text. They can really make you think.

Favorite characters, oh boy. Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton. The entire Gundam Wing cast if you must, lol. Kenshin Himura is probably my favorite anime hero (personal favorite). The next would be Lelouch if you can even consider him a "hero" per se. Hajime Saito is a great anti-hero and his life in actual history is fascinating. Spike Spiegel, Makoto Shishio, the list goes on and on.

If I had to recommend one anime to the world it would be Code Geass.

[TheLastRunaway]

Jett Ryu said
I've enjoyed anime since I was a kid. Of course there was Digimon and Pokemon. But now I find I have a really varied taste in it.

I grew up watching those too, along with Sailor Moon being my absolute favorite. I have a lot of different types of animes I've watched.

[TheLastRunaway]

Dark Wind said
Tough questions, lol. So many good anime and so many great characters.Hmm…My favorites are Rurouni Kenshin, some parts of Naruto, Gundam Wing, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Hakuoki was fun mainly because I am fascinated by the history of the Bakumatsu and the Shinsengumi. Yu Yu Hakusho and DBZ are favorites since I grew up with them. Code Geass (I consider it to be the most finely constructed anime of all time, but perhaps that's because I haven't seen the full series of Death Note or Monster which many consider to be a masterpiece).What I like about anime is the art. I also enjoy the silliness in its certain aspects. And, I like the political undertones and philosophical discussions that take place within the text. They can really make you think. Favorite characters, oh boy. Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton. The entire Gundam Wing cast if you must, lol. Kenshin Himura is probably my favorite anime hero (personal favorite). The next would be Lelouch if you can even consider him a "hero" per se. Hajime Saito is a great anti-hero and his life in actual history is fascinating. Spike Spiegel, Makoto Shishio, the list goes on and on.If I had to recommend one anime to the world it would be Code Geass.

I could agree with death note, but that's the only anime I've watched like that. So I don't really have anything to compare with it, but I enjoyed it completely. Thank you for your input. I am going to look at Code Geass.

[Jorick]

I have a lot of things that could fit into the favorites category if I took the time to think it through. The ones that spring immediately to mind are Monster, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Code Geass, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Bakemonogatari. I'm also thinking that Kill la Kill will be up there in the favorites list, but I like to reserve final judgment until I watch the entirety of a series and that one is still airing. There are definitely a ton more I could list that I like as much as the ones I've already mentioned, but this will suffice.

What do I like about anime? Eh, I dunno, same things I like about other kinds of entertainment media. I see a lot of people talk about anime like it's some alien form of media that has only the slimmest of commonalities with other forms of fiction, but I've never seen it that way myself. They're all vehicles to tell stories, whether it's animated or live action or a book or spoken word or whatever. The thing I like about animated things (anime included) over other forms of fiction is that they can show all sorts of crazy things without breaking internal consistency and thus immersion. A lot of special effects things in movies just look fake as hell and the clash between the two levels of fiction, the fiction of the people doing the things you're watching and then the fiction of the monsters or explosions or whatever that don't look real, forcibly jars the mind and reminds you that it's all fake. In the realm of animation all you have to do is maintain a consistent art style and anything you throw in will look like it belongs, so even though you're seeing something patently absurd that could never exist in reality you can still be immersed in the fictional world being presented to you without ever being like "wow, that looks so dumb and fake." Movies are getting better about that as technology advances, but animation just has a huge leg up on it due to the nature of the medium. I suppose this internal consistency also allows anime makers to do things farther outside the box than live action media could ever even attempt, and I do enjoy crazy bullshit going on in things I watch (just take a look at the favorites I listed, Monster is the only one that doesn't have over the top things going on), so I guess that's another reason why I like anime.

Favorite characters, hmmm... Wolfgang Grimmer from Monster. Roy Mustang, Lin Yao, Scar, and King Bradley from Fullmetal Alchemist. Lelouch Lamperouge and Jeremiah Gottwald (the hammiest son of a bitch ever, gotta love him) from Code Geass. Kamina and Simon (more so in the second half of the show than the first) from Gurren Lagann. Hitagi Senjogahara from Bakemonogatari. Pretty much all of the major characters from Kill la Kill are great for various reasons. I could go on listing more, but I figure just listing my favorites from the anime I listed as favorites is good enough.

If I were only allowed one recommendation and it was to the world at large, no qualifications or whatever based on preferences or past experience with anime, I'd have to go with Monster. It's not crazy action stuff, the art style isn't very stereotypically anime, and it's an amazing story, so all that combined makes it the best recommendation I can think of for general use. Even for people who are well versed in anime and are fine with nonsense and anime art styles, the story is so damned good that it's worth the recommendation. It's easily the most solidly crafted story I've ever seen in anime, and it competes with live action TV there too; if I were to liken it to live action TV shows, I'd rank it up there with things like Breaking Bad and The Wire for pure quality storytelling, and those two are ones I list up in my favorite shows of all time. I'm probably over-hyping Monster at this point, so I'll just stop now.

[Grey]

I guess I'm in the same batch as Jett, what with having watched anime since I was pretty young and ended up developing a varied interest. I'd probably blame that on my dad, who held - and maybe still holds - an interest in the mecha and shounen anime genres. Got me hooked on one of the Gundam series when I was in kindergarten, which eventually snowballed and got me into anime in general. Unfortunately I never did get back into Gundam since I'm too lazy to watch a bazillion episodes and whatnot. But never mind that business, time to answer some questions.

In terms of favorite anime, I should probably mention I have different categories of favorites. For example, I might have an anime whose world is one of my favorites but I hate the story/characters, and vice versa. Though taking into account performance in every parameter, the first few that come to mind are A Certain Scientific Railgun, Fate/Zero, Bakuman, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, and Yu Yu Hakusho in no particular order. Honorable mentions go to Code Geass, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Durarara, Dragon Ball Z, and Death Note - all of which I've watched so long ago I'm not sure whether or not they'd be in the list. Although I'm fairly confident that 2-4/5 would manage to get in. There's likely a few more I'm missing that I like, but since I can't remember them I guess they aren't really favorites

As for characters, a few stand out. Rider and Kariya Matou from Fate/Zero, Kamina from Gurren Lagann, Shizuo Heiwajima and Shinra Kishitani from Durarara, Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho, Armin Arlert from Attack on Titan, and Tsunayoshi Sawada from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Honorable mentions are Accelerator from A Certain Scientific Railgun (for his performance in the light novels and the second season of the sister series), Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi from Bakuman (for their character dynamic), and Keima Katsuragi from The World God Only Knows.

I can't really say much about what I like about anime since Jorick's got a pretty good handle on basically everything I would probably say on the subject. Though what I will say is that I notice that anime tends to have better music - soundtracks, openings, endings, what have you - than most of the live-action or cartoon series I've watched. I will admit that's not a whole lot of series, however.

I don't think I could confidently recommend an anime to the world, what with everyone having their own personal tastes. But if I absolutely have to, I'd definitely suggest people take a gander at Fate/Zero. Unfortunately, there's a few glaring flaws I should point out. The first episode is basically an hour of infodumping, there's one or two filler episodes that seem to barely serve a purpose, and, due to it being a prequel, has to deal with (what I think is) a rather anticlimactic ending to set up Fate/stay night. But apart from those flaws, I'd call it a pretty balanced out anime. It's only 25 episodes, which you don't have to use a few days worth of time to watch it like Naruto or something; the writing of both story and characters is spectacular; and the fight scenes are impressive as hell, especially since the animation budget makes some parts look nearly cinematic in quality.

[Chibisuke]

Favorite Anime...
I'm an overall horrible person to talk to about favorites but I'll split it into two lists
My Current Favorites;
Kids on the Slope, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Psycho Pass, Nagi no Asukara, Natsuyuki Rendezvous, and Noragami.

My "Will-Never-Be-Forgotten" List;
Samurai Champloo, Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, Flowers of Evil, Wolf's Rain, Natsume Yuujinchou, Psychic Detective Yakumo, and Gundam Wing (how could I forget Endless Waltz?) A mix of a new and old in there.

What do I like about Anime...
Hm. That's a harder question to answer. I love rewatching certain anime as I get older because I always capture something new and what appeared to be so light hearted and simply "good vs evil" was, in reality, philosophical and more "gray". And more often than not I'm going, "HOW DID I MISS THAT" while shaking my head at myself and to me, that's the best part. It is a constant process of rediscovery with most anime having a great balance of lighthearted fun and more serious undertones.

Favorite Characters...
Yoko Kurama & Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho. Shinya Kogami from Psycho Pass. Shizuo Heiwajima and Izaya Orihara from Durarara. Yato from Noragami. Duo Maxwell from Gundam Wing...

The bottom line is this: 90% of the time if a character has a pretentious, confident, borderline arrogant personality and if you might want to punch him/her in the face, that's my favorite. It's something that actually disappoints me and yet I can't shake it off. Or as a friend of mine said, "95% assholes, 5% nice guys who are actually just pretending to be nice but are actually assholes."

Recommendations...
I CAN'T. PICK ONE. I'm sorry, I can't. I can probably recommend an anime once a day for a month and still have some left over.

[_99bottles_]

Top Five!

1. Gungrave
2. Baccano
3. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
4. Uterwaranumo (or something like that)
5. Black Lagoon

Honourable mentions go to: Street Fighter 2 Movie, Dragon Ball Z and Berserk!

I like anime because it sacrifices acting quality for limitless direction and screenplay possiblities. Also, it's corny as a field in Kansas, and I love corn.

Recommendation... hmmm... Elfen Lied :covers snigger: No matter how you feel about this anime, once it's over, your reaction to the sheer shock value will probably teach you something about yourself. And self discovery is priceless ;)

[Bad Wolf]

Favorite Anime Series

Let's see... I have quite a few that I enjoy. Kuroshitsuji has been one of my favorites, though I enjoy the manga far more than the anime. Other favorites include Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Code Geass, Rurouni Kenshin, Pokemon, Trigun, Death Note, and Kyou Kara Maou.

Why I Like Anime

Many, many reasons. I love the art style, for one. Most of the shows I watch have no small amount of eye candy in terms of the artwork and how the characters in particular are drawn. I like the range of appeal they have to viewers, especially since "cartoons" are usually seen as being something children would watch. I'm very happy with the mature themes, difficult concepts, and general brilliance that makes anime series appealing to adults. I also love the fans. Anime conventions are a lot of fun to attend, and if you haven't gone to one, I suggest going at some point. There are some incredibly talented and otherwise amazing fans of these shows.

Recommendation

The best anime that I've encountered is probably Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I'd always recommend that one to someone who is new to anime. But recently, I've been recommending Code Geass to those who haven't yet seen it. That show has me by the heart and soul right now, since I only started watching it a couple days ago.

[Gowi]

I wrote this up a few weeks ago, actually, lol:

What was your first anime?

Most people in my friends group would say Pokemon, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, or Sailor Moon but my actual first anime was either Speed Racer or the sort of amalgamation-thing called Voltron. I’m not even sure where I caught my first glimpses, but as a kid my older brother was a pretty big comic book and trading card game sort of guy and I’d accompany him to these nerd outlets that played anime in the background—though I think I first caught Speed Racer on television.

When did it first resonate with you?

The first Toonami “power hour” that featured Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (known as Ronin Warriors in the states) and Dragon Ball Z. Over time this whole sort of anime boom got me fascinated with this highly stylized sort of imported media and my dad actually bought me boxsets of Ronin Warriors and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

What have you recently finished?

Mikakunin De Shinkoukei (2014)

An energetic slice of comedy that gives me what I call the "K-ON complex" in that I never expected to like this anime and I ended up loving it. I don't think it's characterization or narrative but simply that the bubbly comedy works too damn well. Also it happens to have the best op this season so that helps a lot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLC3VBrldw4

Subtitles, Dubs, or Both?

Definitely both. This is because I really like to see a well done english voiceover and I think we have succeeded more often than we have failed. I prefer my native tongue but I'm not so self-obsessed to acknowledge that sometimes it's just better as it was. But sometimes stuff just doesn't get translated and I have to deal with that of which I'm completely fine with.

Favorite Voice Actors?

Steven Blum and Wendee Lee are pretty much the staples of good voiceover work and I really appreciate both of them for that; I also fancy Brina Palencia, Derek Stephen Prince, Michelle Ruff, Hilary Haag, and Shelley Calene-Black.

Biggest disappointment?

Sonic the Hedgehog (1996)

Why?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOOPJ8qP5I

Well for one it's one of the worst dubbing in the history of anime, oh and the story/pacing/narrative is horrid in all shapes and forms.

Biggest surprising enjoyment?

K-ON!, as it was described as a "generic, cliche, slice-of-life with a music club that goes nowhere" to me. I found the high energy lightheartedness to resonate with me for some reason and much like dance music it instills a sort of bubblegum candy feeling in me that makes me realize I'm not taking myself completely serious all the time.

What do you currently look for in anime?

Honestly, I think I’m all over the place – but if there’s one thing I can say firmly is I think there’s no shonen that can appeal to me anymore. Shingeki no Kyojin resonated poorly with me and that was probably one of the darkest and most well-crafted anime of the genre of shonen anime. This is weird to me because I still hold the martial arts variant of shonen very close to me, but perhaps its nostalgia or something else that makes me not toss those aside. That said I feel I’ve been more critical of childhood favorites in this media then in any other. But to answer this a little better: I’ve been into slice-of-life comedies (K-ON!), romantic dramas (Nana), thriller (Monster), horror (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai), adventure (Nadia), space opera (Galactic Heroes), slice-of-life drama (Beck), and so forth.

If you could list your favorites, what would they be?

Cowboy Bebop, Beck, Samurai Champloo, Serial Experiments Lain, Allison to Lillia, Last Exile, Ghost in the Shell, Black Lagoon, Baccano!, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Azumanga Daioh, Madlax, Fushigi no Umi no Nadia. – I could probably go on but those are what are exactly coming to mind right now.

MAL?

http://myanimelist.net/animelist/Gowienczyk[

[Noel]

So what are your favorite?

Favorites... Thats always a hard one. Really love too many, so time for a list!
.hack//SIGN, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Madoka Magica, Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, Eureka 7, Katanagatari, Baccano!, Mardock Scramble(Though more so the novels), Steins;Gate, Monster... well, thats some. Heh, could go on for a while on stuff she really loved.

What do you like about Anime?

That ones tricky too. Well, a nice amount of varying art styles. While theres a lot of stuff with the basic anime look theres plenty of stuff with unique aesthetics too. Anime has quite a few very good stories as well. A lot of it being stuff you couldn't really do as well in live action or something. Thats definitely one of the reasons she likes animation in general. You can go really over the top, you can do stuff which is just plain weird, its just way more flexible.

Also love being able to rewatch things like Evangelion or Lain or plenty of others and always notice something she didn't in previous viewing. Always love spotting new little things that get you thinking.

Oh, also, music! Theres a lot of great soundtracks from anime. .hack//SIGN, Baccano!,Eureka 7, Madoka Magica, the list goes on. Seeing a pattern here with her favorites up there

Who are your favorite characters?

Favorite characters, thats probably even harder than favorite anime in general. Rei from Evangelion has been a favorite for a while, and she could definitely list Shinji and Asuka as well. Lain from Serial Experiments Lain is up there too. Homura from Madoka Magica most definitely, and Kyouko too. Tsukasa from .hack//SIGN is one of her favorite main characters. The whole god damn cast of Bakemonogatari/Monogatari series. Balot from Mardock Scramble. This list could end up even longer than favorite anime list so just gonna stop here.

If you had to recommend one anime to the world, which would it be?

One, well... thats hard too. Since if shes gonna recommend stuff she'd rather ask what a person liked in particular and recommend based off that... Soo, guess thats her answer!

[ClosetMonster]

Hmmm... I've actually moved away from anime lately, but now and again, one will come up and prove itself different enough from the usual to capture my interest. That's always a delight.

So what are your favorite? Tekkonkinkreet and Paprika are both surprisingly fun. But definite favorites are Summer Wars, The Cat Returns, Wonderful Days, Haibane Renmei, and ANYTHING directed and written (has to be both) by Makoto Shinkai (5 Centimeters Per Second, Voices of a Distant Star, She and her Cat, Children Who Chase Lost Voices) simply because the little things make an anime just fabulous.

What do you like about Anime? The artwork is my first. Second is the slow burn you get in a well told story - things just take a while to set into place and its that final culmination of all of the information from the story I really love.

Who are your favorite characters? Dio from Last Exile. Wolfwood from Trigun, Onizuka (nuff said), Tennar from Tales from Earthsea

If you had to recommend one anime to the world, which would it be? FLCL!!!!!
Oh - wait - you meant for reals? Heh. Summer Wars: good starter for someone entering anime and solid for those of us who have been in the realm for a long time.