What Anime do you like?

[Kaylo Mizuri]

Yeah all the urotsukidoji (overfiend) movies are just plain sick really.

Anime I like: Trigun
Gungrave
X
Rurouni Kenshin
Ninja Scroll
Full metal Alchemist
Digi Carat

 

[Paige Turner]

Okay. (rubs hands together, preparing to alienate Chronicles subscribers) I can't stand anime. I have a friend who is a complete disciple, and she's been trying to win me over for years. She even—and I'm not making this up—called her dog Annie Mae. I can appreciate that some of the animation may have technical merit, but I can't get past the fact that the characters all have the same shiny-eyed schoolgirl look. Is there an actual reason that the styling of the characters has been the same for decades? Maybe it's a rule, or an obstruction that I'm unaware of.

 

[Thadlerian]

Is there an actual reason that the styling of the characters has been the same for decades? Maybe it's a rule, or an obstruction that I'm unaware of.

I can think of two reasons, though I'm not sure which one is the main:

1. One of the forefathers of animé and manga, Osamu Tezuka, based his style on early American cartoons. Later artists, inspired by the iconic Tezuka, seem to have developed this style, but maintained the basics.

2. Animé and manga have traditionally been low-budget projects, thus the need to minimize drawing time. This has been achieved in a number of ways, but the most genre-defining is to create minimalist faces. To compensate for the rather limited array of expressions a minimalist face can make, the eyes have been enlarged, to allow for more emotional variation.

 

[Jason_Taverner]

try ghost in the shell it is a bit different that the little girl look but there is some nudity I still sure why but hell its only nudy

 

[GrownUp]

This is going to be very typical of me, because I recommend the same film to anyone, even if they are just asking me the way to the bus stop.

But here it is:
Princess Mononoke.

Yes, demons and weapons are featured. Yes, the boys have those very slight figures and look a little feminine as they do in anime. Yes, the woman, as well as having sharp upward points for noses have those enormous chocolate-box eyes.

But the animals and trees look great.

If you cannot bear it and must have something to ease you in that looks more like a proper cartoon, like Disney, then you could try another film by the same studio.
Spirited Away.

 

[Animaiden]

Anime Series I like:
Wolf's Rain
Saiyuki
Generator Gawl
Inuyasha
Outlaw Star
Trigun
Fullmetal Alchemist
.hack//sign
Escaflowne
Bleach
Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex
Rurouni Kenshin
Cowboy Bebop
Silent Mobius
Fruits Basket
Digimon
Pokemon
Spiral

Anime Movies I Like:
Castle in the Sky
Spirited Away
Fullmetal Alchemist Movie
Inuyasha movies 1-3
Escaflowne
Princess Mononoke

Hmm, I know there's more, but that's good enough for now

NOTE: I have not seen all of some of the series'

 

[Lissa]

I loved Howl's Moving Castle!

 

[GrownUp]

I did like the first 2/3ds of it.

 

[Elyssandrel]

Just started watching Noein.
It's absolutely brilliant.
Not available in UK, but a friend of mine downloaded it and leant it to me.
One to watch.

Plot Summary: 'Fifteen years in the future, by high-level scientific power, a violent battle takes place between La’cryma, that protects humanity, and Shangri-La, that plans the annihilation of all space-time. The key to stopping Shangri-La’s invasion is a mysterious object known as “the Dragon’s Torque.” A group known as the Dragon Calvary is being sent through space and time to find it. In the present, twelve-year old Haruka and her friend Yuu are contemplating running away from home when they meet a member of the Dragon Calvary named Karasu (Crow). He believes that Haruka has the Dragon's Torque and claims to be Yuu from fifteen years in the future.'

 

[Jen526]

*waves* New here, but I'm a big anime fan so thought I'd chime in.

My highest recommendation would be for "Kino's Journey". One of the most thoughtful, unique genre series out there, whether animated or otherwise.

Some other big favorites in no particular order: Gunbuster, Fullmetal Alchemist, Saiyuki, Infinite Ryvius, Figure 17, Beck, Fruits Basket, and the complete works of Studio Ghibli.

 

[Thadlerian]

Just started watching Noein.
It's absolutely brilliant.
Not available in UK, but a friend of mine downloaded it and leant it to me.
One to watch.

Checking it out

 

[Thadlerian]

I've watched 4 episodes of Noein this far. I've got mixed feelings with it, although most are positive

The blend of 2d drawings and 3d rendering is flawless; it's the best I've seen in any cartoon, be it Western or anime. The whole style of the series feels very radical and dynamic; the drawn animation in some scenes is very thorough. The story seems fair enough as well.

But what bothers me is the character visual design. Or, more precisely, the main character design. It is horrendous. She looks like a very poor anime parody, or perhaps Disney's take at the style; large eyes completely devoid of expression.

And the strangest thing is that in session 2, her design improves by tenfold; it does no longer hurt your eyes to watch. But then, by session 3, it's back to ordinary again

 

[BookStop]

I'm not really an anime fan, but even I am sucked in to the charm and brilliance of Cowboy Bebop - The episode Toys in the Attic is hilarious!

 

[Carolyn Hill]

I am a recovering otaku, so I don't watch much anime anymore. But I used to be an enormous fan of Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura--space aliens meet high-school soap opera meet Japanese folklore. Funny stuff!

I also liked Kimagure Orange Road a lot, because I'm a sucker for unrequited romance.

 

[Thadlerian]

Watched through Haibane Renmei. It's top-notch, on the Miyazaki/Takahata level. Existential and metaphysical, relaxed and tender. More than a slight touch of Ursula Le Guin.

Now I'm watching Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water. It's a rather loose adaption of 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Black heroine, yay. That's an extreme rarity, bot in anime and Western SF/F. And no bothersome racial stereotypes either. Pretty freaking unique.
Apart from that, it's pretty standard-fare anime. Geeky hero has to save girl in various situations. There's been some controversy over whether Disney ripped off Nadia when they made that absymal Atlantis cartoon, but it doesn't seem very likely to me.

 

[scalem X]

mmm:

Ghost in the shell
yakitate japan
Vampire hunter D
Love Hina
Blood, the last vampire
elfenlied
Princess Mononoke
Nausicaä from the valley of wind
peach girl
vampire princess miyu

 

[The DeadMan]

• Ghost In The Shell
• Cowboy Bebop
• Outlaw Star
• Big O
• Mouse
• Samurai Jack
• Aeon Flux
• X - The Movie
• Parasite Dolls
• Lady Death
• Bio Hunter
• Gungrave
• Trigun
• Vandread

 

[genisis2]

Spirited Away
Princess Mononoke
Howls moving Castle

 

[orionsixwings]

Berserk. However, I like the Mangga version better than the animated one

 

[SFAM]

For anime movies, my top 10 would go like this:

1. Ghost in the Shell
2. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
3. Ghost in the Shell: Innocence
4. Wonderful Days
5. Fragile Machine
6. Howl’s Moving Castle
7. Battle Angel
8. Ninja Scroll
9. Naussica
10. Cowboy Bepop: The Movie

For anime series I like:
1. Ergo Proxy
2. Armitage III
3. Record of Lodoss War
4. Serial Exprriments Lain
5. Texhnolyze
6. GITS SAC
7. Hellsing
8. Slayers
9. Dragon Half
10. Berserk