Anime Anyone?

[Mr. Hamrick]

Haven't really paid much attention to the genre in years other than Satoshi Kon's death, which I noted on another thread.

However, I am a huge fan of Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Beebop, and a few others.  I will recommend Satoshi Kon's "Perfect Blue" to anyone as a film that strikes me as Hitchcock done as an anime.  And of course, Hayao Miyazaki as well usually gets recommended.  Also loved Serial Experiments Lain, Armitage The Third, and what I saw of Trigun.

I am not that up to date on a lot of it, though.  My cousins are huge into anime and are on the staff of the Anime Weekend Atlanta convention.  So, my knowledge is more just due to lack of interest these days.

[lugaru]

I usually avoid stuff with too much fanservice these days but I'm huge on anything that Satoishi Kon made (such as perfect blue mentioned previosly or Paranoia Agent). I also watch all the Miyazaki movies and any horror series or movie with some decent buzz. I tried Highschool of the Dead but it was way too much jiggly fanservice for my tastes.

[BWPS]

POKEMON!

[Tawodi Osdi]

There wasn't a whole lot of anime around when I was a kid, and I never really got into it as an adult.  Two I remember are The Battle of the Planets and Starblazers.

I've seen episodes in passing that seemed interesting but not enough to make me a regular imbiber.

[kkhohoho]

There wasn't a whole lot of anime around when I was a kid, and I never really got into it as an adult.  Two I remember are The Battle of the Planets and Starblazers.

I've seen episodes in passing that seemed interesting but not enough to make me a regular imbiber.

Two words: Cowboy Bebop. Seriously, if you're not even the slightest bit into Anime, this is the show to watch. Even if you won't watch anything else afterwards, Bebop is an anime well worth watching at least once.

[Tawodi Osdi]

I think I have seen an episode of Cowboy Bebop.  I did seem interesting.  I will have to see if it available on Netflix or online somewhere.

[lugaru]

I think I have seen an episode of Cowboy Bebop.  I did seem interesting.  I will have to see if it available on Netflix or online somewhere.

I grew up on anime because it was common on Mexican Tv (with very little censurship btw) and I stopped caring for a while once I 'grew up' but yeah, there are some great shows that I highly suggest.

I dont know where your tastes lean but here are my favorite series in recent history (all available from netflix, at least on DVD but some streaming too).

Samurai Champloo (they are all on HULU). It is a samurai series with some battles and fanservice but mostly it is slow, melancholic and visually challenging. It is full of little anarchronisms like hip hop music and graffiti but mostly it prides itself in historical acuracy.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: starts out as a bunch of kids in giant robot suits saving the world and ends in psychological and mystical explorations of gender, love, hate, family and coping with death. CRAZY. Especially the "end of evangelion" movie.

Paranoia Agent: kind of like a japanese Twilight Zone with some major Twin Peaks influences (it continues from episode to episode). I love all the characters and the dreamlike aspects are a huge draw to fans of Satoishi Kohn.

Cowboy Bebop: some of the best music on TV coupled with slick animation, plenty of action and some cool plots.

[bat1987]

Paranoia Agent: kind of like a japanese Twilight Zone with some major Twin Peaks influences (it continues from episode to episode). I love all the characters and the dreamlike aspects are a huge draw to fans of Satoishi Kohn.

Recently watched this, it's really trippy, I liked it a lot. Has a really haunting opening song too (now that I think of it, anime openings would make a cool thread ).
One of the more recent ones I watched was FMA: Brotherhood and I absolutely loved it! Its much more epic and bigger in scale than the first one (great anime too) and it follows manga accurately.

[Ares_God_of_War]

Berserk is good but it leaves alot out of the original story (Get the manga if you can- Adults only)
Trigun is good and interesting - Same with Cowboy Bebop.
I prefer Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood over the original since it follows the manga but the original is interesting as well.
I like Naruto alot but it does start off slow and doesn't quite pick up till the Chunin arc.

[kkhohoho]

One of the more recent ones I watched was FMA: Brotherhood and I absolutely loved it! Its much more epic and bigger in scale than the first one (great anime too) and it follows manga accurately.

Never read the manga, but I did see both anime's, and I have to say, Brotherhood is the better series; not as much emotion, but it has a better plotline, and the characters are still good, better in fact, since there's some characters that aren't in the first anime.

[Outcast]

I've watched the first few scenes of Paranoia Agent. And i'm drawn to the story already. The anime art style is different from the ones i regularly watch, but i feel the style has this richness and quality to it maybe because it's so different? I dunno.. ..

There are a lot of nice recommendations here, it will probably take some time to get to all of them..

[Stephy Grayson]

I suggest "Wolf's Rain", "Mononoke" and "Gintama".
Wolf's Rain is poetic,  Mononoke have a very original style, and mature and Gintama is very funny, in a nonsensical way.

[lugaru]

I've watched the first few scenes of Paranoia Agent. And i'm drawn to the story already. The anime art style is different from the ones i regularly watch, but i feel the style has this richness and quality to it maybe because it's so different? I dunno.. ..

There are a lot of nice recommendations here, it will probably take some time to get to all of them..

Yeah, the characters are heavily caricatured but you can tell the quality is there (madhouse!). It actually makes for very expressive faces and since nervous breakdowns (!) are a theme of the series well seeing expressions is pretty important.

[cmdrkoenig67]

I have enjoyed some "recent" Anime (like Inuyasha, Cowboy Bebop, I even watched some Dragonball and DBZ), but most of the Anime I'm a fan of is ancient...Like Tranzor Z, Star Vengers, Danguard Ace, Gaiking, etc...

Dana

[Ajax]

This is a few years old, but the twelve or so episode series Bartender was really great as a sort of low key series. The title says it all, it's about a Bartender who is super good at being a Bartender and helps solves peoples problems through the meaning behind the cocktails he serves them. My description isn't very good since it makes it sound shonen, but it isn't.

Welcome to the NHK is an absolute blast for anyone who has any familiarity with the weirder side of Japanese pop culture.

Tower of Druaga and it's sequel are two of the best fantasy series created in the last decade possibly further. There is no reason a series based off an old video game should be so funny and so well written. Yet it is and the animation is gorgeous.

Black Lagoon is greatness. This is one of the few series I've seen that make me question whether it is actually an anime. It has the feel and pacing of a western action movie. Even the characters feel more western. My Dad whose only interest in anime consisted of what he saw growing up Kimba the White Lion, Battle of the Planets, Gigantor, Astro Boy. Absolutely loved Black Lagoon when I showed it to him one day. I put on one disc and he was on the coach and by the time it was on episode 4 and I took the disc out he was like "is there more?" After we finished the first season in one weekend he asked me is there more again and was upset that season 2 was in the mail and having to wait the few days for it to arrive. lol

Kurenai: This is a strange series. Well written and the animation is beautiful with a unique story. A high school boy (keep reading it isn't cliched) has the job as a mediator and is one day given the responsibility of taking care of an elementary school girl (keep reading it isn't perverted) who happens to be the daughter of a very rich and influential family. His job is to keep her from said family. It's action packed and full of touching moments.

[AncientSion]

Im gonna be scolded but...BLEACH.

[kkhohoho]

Im gonna be scolded but...BLEACH.

I'd scold you, but I don't feel like it.

[GhostMachine]

I wish they'd do an anime of Yotsuba&!

Its a manga series by the creator of Azumanga Daioh. Unfortunately, due to financial problems, I'm about 2 volumes behind.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yotsuba%26!

[Tawodi Osdi]

I finally watched the first five episodes of Cowboy Bebop.  It was pretty good.  When I think of anime, I usually think of lame dialog and unnecessary speed lines, but this was excellent both in story writing and execution.  I'm definitely going to have to put other installments in by Netflix queue.

[Kommando]

I'll just make it easy and link to My List at MyAnimeList.

[daglob]

Jeeze, and here I used to watch Gigantor and Astro Boy...

Gigantor, Gigantor, GigaaaaAAAAAaaantor.

Gigantor the space aged robot,
He is at your command.
Gigantor the space aged robot,
His power is in your hand.

Bigger than big, taller than tall,
Quicker than quick, stronger than strong.
Ready to fight for right, against wrong.

Gigantor, Gigantor, Gigantor.

[clownprince]

starting watching code geass its cool. mostly what everyone has seen i like also cyborg 009 is also i show i like. and Gigantor i would watch this show with my older brother brings back good memory's.

[Kommando]

starting watching code geass its cool. mostly what everyone has seen i like also cyborg 009 is also i show i like. and Gigantor i would watch this show with my older brother brings back good memory's.

I loved Code Geass.  Though you kind of have to watch both seasons to get the whole story.  There is a third season in the works which is a side story, I'm looking forward to that.  And I have The Nightmare of Nunnally on my manga reading list, which is a story set in an alternate reality where Nunnally and not Lelouch, gets the Geass power.

[GhostMachine]

I've got a bunch of anime DVDs I got at FYE (during two or three trips) a few months back that I still haven't watched yet:

Blade of the Phantom Master movie
Ai Yori Aoshi vols 1 & 2
School Rumble vol 1

The only thing I've watched from those FYE visits is Infinite Ryvius vol 1. And that was practically a steal. I got the collector's box which included the first DVD and some other goodies for $2.99 new. (I'm guessing it was supposed to be $12.99 and they mis-priced it, as the vol 1 DVD by itself was about $9.99)

I'm still kicking myself for not picking up the Black Lagoon season 1 complete set back when I could afford it.

[Mystik]

so wat anime are u guys watchin these days?

[Silver Shocker]

I recently watched Darker than Black. I really liked that series. Someone on youtube described the main character as "Chinese Electric Batman" which amused me.

Since other people have mentioned it in this thread, I'll mention that I watched Paranoia Agent a while back after hearing some intriguing things about it. That was pretty good. Monster was another series I really enjoyed.

Gundam Unicorn is great but it comes out so sporadically I tend to forget where it left off by the time I see the new installment.

[Kommando]

I just finished a marathon of the first two seasons of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, with Puella Magi Madoka Magica in the middle. That was certainly surreal. As for currently airing stuff: Shakugan no Shana final, Shinryaku? Ika Musume 2nd season, as well as the second season of Working! I did watch the Toradora OVA last night, and next week I'll see about finishing Ghost Hunt.

[Mr. Hamrick]

Its interesting... I was in Best Buy the other night and decided to wander back to the movie section and inevitably found myself in the anime section.  (Was looking for foreign films actually which Best Buy seems to no longer have a section for) 

I was amazed at how "out of touch" I am with anime nowadays.  Especially since two of my cousins are anime "freaks" and are on the staff for Anime Weekend Atlanta.  The few titles that I recognized or vaguely recognized were stuff that I would never willingly watched unless coerced into it by a combination of alcohol and a hot girl sitting beside me.  (And what are the odds of that, right?)

The stuff I use to like (and still do for the most part) are stuff like "Perfect Blue", the "Ghost in the Shell" franchise, Cowboy Bebop, Noir, and Serial Experiments Lain.  There are probably a few others in there but you get the idea.

Anyways, is there anything new out there that I should try to dig up and check out?

[Kommando]

Of the more recent titles based on what you mentioned, I would recommend Steins;Gate, Durarara!! and Canaan. Oh add Higashi no Eden to that list (Eden of the East). And I haven't finished it yet, but Ergo Proxy is pretty good Sci Fi as well.

[lugaru]

Wow... I dont think I have tried much since I last posted... my main problem is that two of the things that turn me off are total staples of anime and have been for a while now. The first is the endless battle animes (with fights that go on for 20 episodes) and jiggly, giggly fanservice. For me Highschool of the Dead would be great if it was not for all the constant shaking of giant jello boobs and dumb fanservice jokes.

I guess my problem is when I was growing up anime was "cartoons for grownups" and now that I'm a grownup most of it is super immature.