Ongoing Anime Discussion (now with October 2004)

[Doom]

Reposted from S7, basically, with updated numbers (and a few ranking changes)! This will prevent the pub thread from getting too huge... though I think a new thread will be due in a few weeks for the new season... I'll propose using the end of FMA as a benchmark.

---------------------------------

In any case, I'll rank each category with the ones I like better at the top. A number of shows fit into more than one. Number of episodes available in parentheses. Remember that it's my opinion that ALL of these may appeal to you (you meaning ANYONE, actually), so feel free to look up any and/or all of them... I'm sure most of the people here can give or have already given info on most of these. I'll make notes where necessary. These are all ongoing shows and started no later than April, which means I'll be leaving out such series as FMA, Kaleido Star, and Midori no Hibi.

Genre rankings are basically extracted from overall rankings (for example, Kurau being a better action show than Fafner does not mean that it necessarily has better action).

= Best overall = (no notes here, see following sections)
t-1. Melody of Oblivion (14)
t-1. Re: Cutie Honey (1)
3. Monster (22)
t-4. Samurai 7 (12)
t-4. Samurai Champloo (14)
6. Interlude (2)
7. Mahou Shoujotai (12)
8. Kenran Butoh Sai: The Mars Daybreak (18)
9. Kyou Kara Maou (17)
10. Otogizoushi (9)
11. Maria-sama ga Miteru: Spring (7)
12. Elfen Lied (7)
13. Kurau: Phantom Memory (9)
14. Soukyuu no Fafner (9)
15. Aishiteruze Baby (21)

= Action =
1. Melody of Oblivion (14)
t-2. Samurai 7 (12)
t-2. Samurai Champloo (14)
4. Kenran Butoh Sai: The Mars Daybreak (18)
5. Otogizoushi (9)
6. Elfen Lied (7) -- VERY violent
7. Kurau: Phantom Memory (9)
8. Soukyuu no Fafner (9) -- think Eva with Gundam Seed character designs, minus the introspective angle, plus better action and music, starts off slow but has picked up majorly with ep 6
9. Tenjou Tenge (18)
10. Shura no Toki (16)

= Drama =
1. Monster (22)
2. Interlude (2)
3. Maria-sama ga Miteru: Spring (7) -- yuri undertones AND sequel to Maria-sama ga Miteru
4. Elfen Lied (7)
5. Kurau: Phantom Memory (9)
6. Aishiteruze Baby (21)

= Comedy =
1. Re: Cutie Honey (1)
2. Samurai Champloo (14)
3. Kyou Kara Maou (17) -- yaoi undertones
4. Sensei no Ojikan (7)
5. 2x2 Shinobuden (8)

= Romance = (the weakest category with the obligatory harems, but I'll put it up anyway)
1. Interlude (2)
2. Maria-sama ga Miteru: Spring (7) -- I told you, the yuri!
3. Elfen Lied (7)
4. Aishiteruze Baby (21)

= Science Fiction =
1. Melody of Oblivion (14)
2. Samurai 7 (12)
3. Interlude (2)
4. Kenran Butoh Sai: The Mars Daybreak (18)
5. Kurau: Phantom Memory (9)
6. Elfen Lied (7)
7. Soukyuu no Fafner (9)

= Highest fun factor =
1. Re: Cutie Honey (1)
2. Samurai Champloo (11)
3. Mahou Shoujotai (11)
4. Kyou Kara Maou (15)

= Best animation =
1. Samurai Champloo (14)
2. Re: Cutie Honey (1)
3. Otogizoushi (9)
4. Melody of Oblivion (14)
5. Kenran Butoh Sai: The Mars Daybreak (18)
6. Kurau: Phantom Memory (9)
7. Samurai 7 (12)
8. Elfen Lied (7)
9. Soukyuu no Fafner (9)

= Best art =
t-1. Melody of Oblivion (14)
t-1. Samurai 7 (12)
t-1. Samurai Champloo (14)
4. Mahou Shoujotai (12)
5. Otogizoushi (9)
6. Elfen Lied (4)

= Best music =
1. Melody of Oblivion (14)
2. Re: Cutie Honey (1)
3. Elfen Lied (7)
4. Maria-sama ga Miteru: Spring (7)
5. Samurai Champloo (14)
6. Samurai 7 (12)
7. Soukyuu no Fafner (9)
8. Kurau: Phantom Memory (9)
9. Monster (22)

= Best story =
1. Monster (22)
2. Melody of Oblivion (14)
3. Elfen Lied (7)
4. Samurai 7 (12)
5. Interlude (2)
6. Otogizoushi (9)

= Crap that you might inexplicably enjoy =
1. Ragnarok the Animation (23)
2. Madlax (23)
3. Bakuretsu Tenshi (19)

= Special category =
- Initial D 4th Stage -- if you're into Initial D

My ratings on the technical categories (animation/art/music) shouldn't be taken too strictly though, since I'm approximating.

[j0hn Ayanami]

Tenjou Tenge should be much higher on the action list, in my opinion. It has far too good and interesting of a story to be held so low. They are up to episode 18 now too, where Bunishichi starts to re-tell the story, and where it gets really, really, really good.

[TheDarkOne]

Bunshichi > everyone... except maybe Bob... he's rad.. cuz he's black

[Killey]

My interest in the Tenjou Tenge anime has decreased greatly from the first time it aired. I don't mind the fact that they've messed around with the chronological order of the flashbacks (how is Bunshichi suppose to know what happened between Mitsuomi and Maya if he wasn't there?) but the fight scenes lately seem to be a recreation of the manga pages by which I mean that they are pretty much colored stills of the manga. I like the fight scenes a lot more when they elaborate from the manga, which they seem to do when they have no clue what the artist was trying to do with the fight.

[Doom]

That, and dice tells me that it's supposed to be 24 eps... though there is strong evidence of a season 2 on the way (and had there not been, that would've been pretty bad, because there would've been no way to wrap things up satisfactorily).

My opinion of Tenten has always been diminished by the fact that the main character is quite boring.

[j0hn Ayanami]

DO> I don't know how far you have read, but apparently...

Bob is the strongest character in the entire manga.

My interest in the Tenjou Tenge anime has decreased greatly from the first time it aired. I don't mind the fact that they've messed around with the chronological order of the flashbacks (how is Bunshichi suppose to know what happened between Mitsuomi and Maya if he wasn't there?) but the fight scenes lately seem to be a recreation of the manga pages by which I mean that they are pretty much colored stills of the manga. I like the fight scenes a lot more when they elaborate from the manga, which they seem to do when they have no clue what the artist was trying to do with the fight.

Bunishichi basically is the "eyes and ears" of the entire school, mind you. You see he has information on everyone, and being the strongest at the school and unchallenged generally gives you a lot of time to explore other options. And he WAS there with them, not specifically for the intimite moments, but I'm sure he learned of them.

[Doom]

Oh! Great slobbers over-the-top fighting manga with racial stereotypes~

[j0hn Ayanami]

Oh! Great slobbers over-the-top fighting manga with racial stereotypes~

It actually makes sense though...

[Garbo]

Bunshichi is the best character, and I love that they got gave him the best VA of the entire cast as well :D

[j0hn Ayanami]

Bunshichi is the best character, and I love that they got gave him the best VA of the entire cast as well

Hahaha~ Like 4 people are from Initial D, and Bunishichi had to have been Iketani

[Doom]

wtf... Maya's and Takayanagi's VAs are both better (and Bob's, if I remember correctly)

That doesn't mean that Bunshichi's isn't the most fitting, though.

[j0hn Ayanami]

Have you been watching lately? His voice is absolutely PERFECT. He speaks in such a rude, slangly manner too, which fits his character - a guy who fought all his life from the streets. It's amazing.

Maya's is OK, and I will say both Takayanagi and Bob (played by, get this... Keisuke and TAKUMI, yes, airheaded Takumi is now a BLACK GUY) are damn good too.

But Bunishichi is perfect.

[Doom]

Hence what I said.

I meant the VAs themselves overall, obviously.

[TheDarkOne]

i've read up to Ch 75

[Garbo]

Have you been watching lately? His voice is absolutely PERFECT. He speaks in such a rude, slangly manner too, which fits his character - a guy who fought all his life from the streets. It's amazing.

Maya's is OK, and I will say both Takayanagi and Bob (played by, get this... Keisuke and TAKUMI, yes, airheaded Takumi is now a BLACK GUY) are damn good too.

But Bunishichi is perfect.

rofl nigger Takumi

I don't really like Maya's voice. Or maybe I just don't like the way her character is drawn in most eps. She annoys me just as much as Aya does usually.

That last ep was drawn pretty consistently though.

[Doom]

Maya's adult voice is a little iffy, I agree.

[Garbo]

Funnily enough, when I said inconsistently, I meant their breasts are too strange to be oggled at.

[Seta]

What got me in to Tenjou Tenge was the Maya transformation scene (I actually thought it was cool, ignoring the tits and ass) and when Takayanagi twirls his chopsticks and blocks Souchiro's punch in one of the cheesiest scenes in recent memory.

[j0hn Ayanami]

I guess I could say that I got hooked on it during the "past" sequence with Shin. I really liked those characters, Shin and Bunishichi and young Mitsuomi.

[Doom]

More people seriously need to watch Kyou Kara Maou (if you don't mind the yaoi) and Uninhabited Planet Survive. Talk about underexposed.

[j0hn Ayanami]

More people seriously need to watch Kyou Kara Maou (if you don't mind the yaoi) and Uninhabited Planet Survive. Talk about underexposed.

I tried to get UPS but it wasn't being seeded. If you have them I'll gladly come over and borrow the CDs

Kyou Kara Maou was the only anime this past season I actually didn't watch the first episode of, I think, because I ran out of time and had to leave Vancouver.

[Killey]

John:
Bunshichi was already aware of Maya and Mitsuomi but it just seems odd with the way the flashback is presented with him being able to describe what happened exactly (obviously there is some embelishment here and there but still...). The manga had the dual parallel story telling of the past, which was better handled for the readers and was a lot better than how the anime is doing it. It doesn't bother me too much since the events that happen are still the same but in a different chrnological order.
I also like the characters in the flashback as Shin, Mitsuomi, and Bunshichi are all very interesting characters but I, personally, think that Shin was miscast as the voice actor doesn't match up. Granted, he is a good voice actor (Hiko Seijirou in Ruruoni Kenshin) but it just doesn't fit. Overall, I'm very pleased with the choices of voice actors as they've incorporated a good portion of my favorites.
Bob=Shinichirou Miki
Takayanagi=Tomokazu Seki
Nagi Souichiro=Souichiro Hoshi
Maya=Aya Hisakawa
Mitsuomi=Alex Rowe from Last Exile

More people seriously need to watch Kyou Kara Maou (if you don't mind the yaoi) and Uninhabited Planet Survive. Talk about underexposed.

I've been wanting to watch UPS for a long time now but I just can't find a good group who is doing it, I can't find a consistent raw source, and I don't have the harddrive. I think I will give in and just download We Suck anime fansubs.

[j0hn Ayanami]

John:
Bunshichi was already aware of Maya and Mitsuomi but it just seems odd with the way the flashback is presented with him being able to describe what happened exactly (obviously there is some embelishment here and there but still...). The manga had the dual parallel story telling of the past, which was better handled for the readers and was a lot better than how the anime is doing it. It doesn't bother me too much since the events that happen are still the same but in a different chrnological order.
I also like the characters in the flashback as Shin, Mitsuomi, and Bunshichi are all very interesting characters but I, personally, think that Shin was miscast as the voice actor doesn't match up. Granted, he is a good voice actor (Hiko Seijirou in Ruruoni Kenshin) but it just doesn't fit. Overall, I'm very pleased with the choices of voice actors as they've incorporated a good portion of my favorites.
Bob=Shinichirou Miki
Takayanagi=Tomokazu Seki
Nagi Souichiro=Souichiro Hoshi
Maya=Aya Hisakawa
Mitsuomi=Alex Rowe from Last Exile

Shin's voice actor defenitely is dissapointing to me.

I haven't watched the raws yet because I like laughing at the translation, but I suppose I should download them to see how Bunishichi retells the story. He retells it differently than he does in the manga?

[Doom]

Killey, AC is plenty good for the first 17 eps. I have 18+ from Suck on the FTP.

[Doom]

Hrm, okay...

For any Production IG fans in the building, they have a new show, and it's called Windy Tales. DeathSquad subbed the first ep... DS isn't particularly good, but toss that aside for now.

Basically, I can describe Windy Tales as a slice of life show. The basic premise after about 2 minutes is that Nao is a girl who likes to take pictures and one day catches a glimpse of what appears to be a flying cat. I won't describe it beyond that, but it's definitely not an action vehicle or anything.

The interesting about this show is the unconventional art style, which Production IG seems to like doing nowadays... except it's likely to turn many people off. The characters and backgrounds are downright crude. The animation is decent enough, except for character movements, which are rather sloppy. Of course, this is all obviously an intentional artistic device on IG's part, but... think Samurai 7 episode 7, for those of you who have seen it. The characters often resemble paper dolls. It's really quite interesting. A couple of times, they portrayed the sun in an intriguing way that I chuckled at.

As far as the content goes, it's nothing that'll seize your attention. So far, I'd say that if you want to see some deviant art (hohoho!), try it out.

[j0hn Ayanami]

I like those "slice of life" shows. I might give this a try! Thanks, Anime Filter Bot 3000!

Any word on who is producing this at all? If they have done anything before? It just sounds like something AbE (Lain, Niea_7) would do, and I haven't heard of him working on anything new.

[Gray]

ooo new from IG =D
downloading

[Plaztik]

I guess i should be checking out MoO then

[Gray]

oki watched it and i found it pretty interesting
i like the unusal artstyle, very nice
and i would like to know, once and for all, what is making that noice? is it a cricket? some kind of bird? what? its in like 70% of all anime that deals with outdoors during summer

[thirdchildren]

It's called a Cicada or someting, they piss me off

[kairo]

its a big, fly-like bug thing. I originally thought they were birds too until I saw the Yotsubato manga where Yotsubo was trying to catch one. Hilarious.

[j0hn Ayanami]

They are called "semi," or we know them as cicadas, yes. They are really plentiful in Japan, especially around temples and areas with a lot of trees and such.

Actually, they come to Maryland every 13 years, which is really weird. They were here this year and I went around catching a bunch of them

[Doom]

Erm... why?

[j0hn Ayanami]

Erm... why?

"In contrast, the cicadas in a periodical cicada population are synchronized, so that almost all of them mature into adults in the same year. The fact that periodical cicadas remain locked together in time is made even more amazing by their extremely long life-cycles of 13 or 17 years."

So basically, every 13 years all of the adults lay eggs and die, then the new ones dig themselves deep underground and wait 13 years until they come back up to lay eggs and have fully matured.

[Doom]

I was clearly inquiring as to why you were catching them.

[j0hn Ayanami]

I was clearly inquiring as to why you were catching them.

NO YOU WERE NOT Be clear!!

I was catching them for fun It was something to do on one of my very very few days off of work.

[Gray]

I wish to have one in my home for that special *pull your hair out after a couple hours* feeling

[j0hn Ayanami]

I have a cricket living in my basement right now that sounds like he has a strange accent. He's talking to the other crickets, probably telling them how many crumbs I drop on the floor

They really aren't that annoying.

[Doom]

People are still following Kenran right? I want ep 20.

[Doom]

rofl @ Initial D

4th Stage should be renamed "Keisuke Gets Shafted"

[Seta]

I'm still following Kenran. I'm liking the series more now.

[j0hn Ayanami]

rofl @ Initial D

4th Stage should be renamed "Keisuke Gets Shafted"

I don't even want to talk about it, I'm so fucking upset they didn't animate that shit. The race with Sakai is 100x better than his race with Daiki or even Tomoyuki, as far as development of racing skills is concerned.

Mother fuckers.

I'm assuming they are going to put that crap into another "Battle Stage" BS.

[Doom]

Well I wouldn't know... but just from watching the anime it's ridiculous how they just cut away when it's Keisuke's turn.

[j0hn Ayanami]

Well I wouldn't know... but just from watching the anime it's ridiculous how they just cut away when it's Keisuke's turn.

It is. The first race I can see because Keisuke just blows by him (this also re-establishes Keisuke's hatred of the Skyline cars ), but the race against Sakai was really important. Sakai had a lot of important techniques that made beating him hard; his car was faster than Keisuke's FD in the straight away sections, and he had "fake" brake lights installed so that Keisuke couldn't just follow his braking patterns. It was really important for Keisuke's technique..

Actually, the matches on Enna and Happogahara were equally important for both.

Now racing against the Northwest Saitama All-stars, Keisuke's match is 100x more important than Takumi's because he learns a completely new braking and acceleration technique against Kyoko's single-turbo FD Spirit R Type A. Takumi just beats the shit out of Nobu and his Lexus.

[Doom]

Mars 20 was badass.

[Killey]

Mars 20 was badass.

The later half of Mars is really good and more than makes up for the first half of the series.

[Henchman #2]

I'd keep up with KBS if someone has 15 and 17 to share. ?

[Doom]

Whenever DO decides to let his HD breathe again.

[Seta]

Mars 20 was badass.

:check and where is Kaleido Star 39? :(

[Doom]

Out!