Anime/Manga discussion and recommendations

DUDE DUDE DUDED RAVEN I ADORE PRINCESS TUTU! Gah! I just love it so much! (I can also tell what AMV you're talking about without even clicking on it. I love that AMV too, it's just so epic and well-made. Song is catchy too.)

Princess Tutu isn't an anime, its a half ballet half fairy tail. It's just so whimsical and awe-inspiring! It's really touching and sweet, and Drosselmyer is so evil but so funny and lovable. All of the characters are really well-developed and the main character is really different. The ending isn't totally happy, either! The entirety of it ends up being so dark and unexpected, the music is beautiful, and animation is well-done and and and...GOD! It's in my top 10 favorite anime list, that's for sure. The only Magical Girl that I like more is Cardcaptor Sakura. XD

Kazaazz wrote:And FLWR...I may check out 'The Slayers' actually because I've never heard of it. And also because it has a female protagonist. All the anime I watch seem to have male protangonists lol. It'll be something I can spend my weekend doing XD.

Ok! Just warning you in advance though; series one is simply called 'The Slayers', whereas season two is 'The Slayers NEXT' and the third 'The Slayers TRY', etc. It's pretty easy to get a hold of the wrong ones just because of how old it is now (and because they just made a new season (called Slayers REVOLUTION) and a lot of people think it's a new show ^^; )
.......
Anyway... More random recomendations! (There's no limit, right? XD)

One I'm recomending for old-times sake rather than thinking many of you will like it, is 'The Vision of Escaflowne'. Essentually it's about a girl named Hitomi, who is dragged into the ancient and magical world of Gaia where Earth is seen as the 'Mystic moon' in the sky. For inadvertantly saving the local prince, Van, she is soon taken in by his kingdom less than two days b efore it is completely destroyed by war and due to her somehow seeing the 'unseen', the only (known) surviviors are herself and the prince.
It's an old Shojo one so the style is...horrible and the romance gaggy, but the music for that series is still some of my favourite and deffinetly worth a listen to~ X3
The storyline is also pretty good and many of the characters well developed, but warning you all in advance: You will hate the name Allen before this series is over, and Hitomi... she's not the brightest spell in the book. ^^; (Again... I've only seen the anime.)

And I have to recomend 'The Twelve Kindoms', a fairly unknown seires based off a series of novels by the same name.
The begining of the story is about a girl named Yoko, an average Japanese schoolgirl, who is wisked off to the world of the Twelve Kindoms by a mysterious man named Keiki, who just shows up at her school out of nowhere and pledges his loyalty to her (and says that if she doesn't accept it she and all the other people in the room will be killed). She is soon left stranded, Keiki nowhere in sight and all the local people in the area want her executed for being a kaikyaku, a person from the other world.
Let me say this right up front: This is a NOT a magical girl story and the battles in it are fast, violent and bloody. It'll be confusing at first and probably a bit depressing, but the story is definitely worth it. Just be aware of the more chinese-sounding words; they aren't chinese and most of them will keep coming back into the story as major plot points so remember them and their meanings, otherwise a lot of the story will go right over the top of your head.
Ps: Read the novels if you can. They explain things in a lot more detail, and Yoko is a lot less whiny and a lot more awesome in them~
PPs: A link to the Opening music and animation. I give them bonus points for not using the usual anime opening~ XD

Kazaazz wrote:
o_O First, I'm a girl. Look at the Nidoran, come on ----->>>>

Sorry, the Lucario in your avatar threw me off... lol

Anyway, if you're going to be open-minded about it, then I'll be glad to make civil conversation concerning the matter.

To begin, let's take a look at an overview for the manga and anime reception:

Elfen Lied is a very, very bloody manga, which has been likened to a combination of X-Men, Carrie, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Love Hina. In other words, it's a twisted mixture of pseudo-harem antics, mutant battles, cute girls, split personalities, and of course, lots and lots of gore - and it's more than happy to swing between comedy and horror at the drop of a hat. It has also been compared to I Dream Of Jeannie as done by David Lynch and Wes Craven. There is also a short anime series of the same name that follows the first couple of chapters but ends with an alternative ending before the real plot kicks off.

The series has become something of a Cult Classic: given the heavy amounts of bloody violence and nudity, not to mention the dark tone overall (which are even worse in the manga), even in Japan the series only aired on satellite TV, as a glorified commercial for the DVD release. In North America, ADV didn't seriously think the show would gain widespread popularity, if only for the pragmatic reason that it was limited to mature audiences (they could never market it to 14 years olds). There was actually supposed to be a second season, but the show had to end after only one season largely due to lack of exposure in Japan from its limited TV run. Then purely by word of mouth it spread from one anime club to the next, and reviewers started noticing it, to the point that it ultimately became one of ADV's top selling North American DVDs of 2005.

Now with that out of the way, the anime does have writing flaws that do not exist in the manga, such as, pacing and characterization. Just something worth mentioning.
Also, the voice acting does tend to annoy some viewers, and I do agree that the english dub sounds pretty unprofessional, but I still don't really care that much, because overall it's the plot and the characters that matter the most.

Now, look at this opening and tell me, just what exactly would be perverted about it?

Sure there's nudity, but it's not pornography. Anybody who would watch/read this for their own perverted fantasies would have to be pretty sick and twisted individuals, and the series isn't even aimed at such an audience. A series with fanservice is much more perverted, and most manga and anime with fanservice are marketed towards teenage boys. However, this is absolutely not for children, it was written to be appreciated by a mature adult audience, an audience that can recognize this as art and enjoy it. Needless to say, a true enthusiast of art is not only looking for entertainment that will make him/her feel good, then shows/novels like this would have no reason to exist, because, this is obviously one of the saddest stories that a person can come across, if you can keep yourself from crying even by the end of the anime, then you've accomplished a marvelous feat, and that's only 13 episodes.

After watching the first two episodes all the way through after reading your post, I'm afraid I have to say I'll give it a miss. It's a bit too gory for my tastes really and being a girl, I'm not really flattered seeing all the nudity (understatement). Even if it isn't pornography as you claim, it's pretty much gorn to say the least. I may be missing out on a good plot, but this stuff just doesn't float my boat. Maybe I just haven't grown into the adult stuff as quickly as you have. Ah well.

Kazaazz wrote:After watching the first two episodes all the way through after reading your post, I'm afraid I have to say I'll give it a miss. It's a bit too gory for my tastes really and being a girl, I'm not really flattered seeing all the nudity (understatement). Even if it isn't pornography as you claim, it's pretty much gorn to say the least. I may be missing out on a good plot, but this stuff just doesn't float my boat. Maybe I just haven't grown into the adult stuff as quickly as you have. Ah well.

That's exactly the answer I was hoping to receive from you. Now we are at an understanding.

Great! So to mark our understanding, I will introduce a manga/anime called...K-On!!

Seinen of the purest kind, this follows Yui Hirasawa in her first year of an allgirls high school, who is deperate to join a club. Meanwhile Ritsu Tainaka a drummist, Mio Akiyama a bassist and Tsumugi Kotobuki a pianist need anoher member or the light music club will be shut down. Yui accidentently joins the club hoping she could just play clastanets, but in order to revive the club she starts to learn guitar.
With hilarious and well-built characters, the lack of an involving plot doesn't cease the entertainment as the girls go through high school, creating music as they go about their school life. The soundtrack predictably is great and so far there are two seasons, the first with 12 episodes and the second with 20 something (forgot sorry) I haven't read the manga extensively, but since it's a music manga, the anime is automatically better.

One episode always manages to cheer me up

Kazaazz wrote:I will introduce a manga/anime called...K-On!!

My best friend has been watching that show, he said it's pretty good.

I would assume it's very similar to Lucky Star in some ways? I don't know, but I plan to watch it, it looks pretty funny.

It's like a mix between lucky star and azumanga daioh, but it's about a girl band in highschool. XD It is WAY UBER KAWAII-WIERDNESS DESU. (Said slightly sarcastically).

I happen to think it's adorable and funny, and the music is cute, and the animation is great. What I find interesting is that the opening song is always really up-beat J-Pop sung by Yui (high-pitched J-pop kawaii singing), and the endings are always epic rock/light metal songs sung by Mio (alto rock singing). I always loved the ending music. XD

It's not an AMAZING or GROUND-BREAKING show, but it is really very good. ;3

Joyfulldreams wrote:It's like a mix between lucky star and azumanga daioh, but it's about a girl band in highschool. XD It is WAY UBER KAWAII-WIERDNESS DESU. (Said slightly sarcastically).

I happen to think it's adorable and funny, and the music is cute, and the animation is great. What I find interesting is that the opening song is always really up-beat J-Pop sung by Yui (high-pitched J-pop kawaii singing), and the endings are always epic rock/light metal songs sung by Mio (alto rock singing). I always loved the ending music. XD

It's not an AMAZING or GROUND-BREAKING show, but it is really very good. ;3

Well I'm not typically the sort to judge something before I try it.
And it is a slice of life, just like Lucky Star and Azumanga Daioh.

Hm, pretty much yeah. ;3 Yui is sorta like Osaka and Tsukasa mixed, Ritsu is sorta like Tomo and Misao, Mio is like Kagami, and Mugi is REALLY like Minami. XD

Definitely Slice-of-life.

Yeah, it's pretty much Comedy, Music, School Life, Seinen and Slice of Life. I think those are the genres K-On's in.

Kazaazz wrote:Yeah, it's pretty much Comedy, Music, School Life, Seinen and Slice of Life. I think those are the genres K-On's in.

Well I tend to be impressed by Seinen more often than not.

my fave anime is Shakugan no Shana>-<
you should try it ^-^

Ooh, I've heard of that. It's about that girl called Shana with a talking pendant or beats up monsters and stuff using fire powers as her hair turns red right? Watched a couple of episodes in anime club and thought it was really just a rip-off of Bleach though >_> Care to defend your favourite anime and say what's great about it?

Pikahu37PikaPika wrote:my fave anime is Shakugan no Shana>-<
you should try it ^-^

No thank you...
Looks exactly the same as Bleach and Soul Eater.

currently looking forward to watching bakuman anime! (loves the manga, because it provides so much insight to how shonen jump works, as well as what being a mangaka is like.) Not particularly fond of the romances, but the story wise, especially pcp, the current story arc... it has such a nice conceptXDD

as for recommendations, for people who don't mind filtering through ecchi stuff for a good story, high school of the dead is definitely recommended for this year. Granted, the fanservice can be a little too much at times... but the story has very real emotions like how the society broke down, the changes in ways and beliefs of people in a possible zombie apocalypse kinda environment. I just discussed this a few days ago with my friend so I don't feel like rewriting, but watch it for yourself to see if it's good.

Animation by madhouse so it's really good, if you can desensitize yourself to fanservice/or if you enjoy it watch it lol. It's actually targeted towards guys, though there are girls like me who likes it too.

Kazaazz wrote:Ooh, I've heard of that. It's about that girl called Shana with a talking pendant or beats up monsters and stuff using fire powers as her hair turns red right? Watched a couple of episodes in anime club and thought it was really just a rip-off of Bleach though >_> Care to defend your favourite anime and say what's great about it?

Actually, Shakugan No Shana isn't that bad a series~ Though honestly speaking, I haven't past vol.10 of Bleach and Soul Reaper I only know of through adds... but really, lots of anime have similar premasses when you get around to it (Damn you TvTropes for making me aware of this!).

I think a major part of the story that is probably important to consider is the fact that when the monsters in Shakugan No Shana kill you, people forget you ever existed!!! Which, considering the main character Yuji is merely a flame (a temporary replacment-copy) and only has a life, will and personality because he's a mistess (a box holding a teasure) is really quite creepy. Oh, and that the Flamehazes themselves (the hunters of said monsters) don't care about saving or obtaining anything; all they want is revenge against a certain someone. And the villians who they hunt? Creepy, in-human yet somehow, when they're dying, you can't help pitying them just a little.
...Honestly, one of the major problems in this series is, rather than into more depth about how horrorfing it is that people could just disappear and no-one notices or cares, it turns more into a school love drama... *sighs* That said, it's still fun to watch/read and a lot of good humor comes from Shana's lack of understanding about normal human behaviour, and the mad explots of some of the side characters. All in all, it's not a revolutionary, super-amazing uber series, but its fun to watch and some of the concepts are really worth thinking into~

Aki: On Noes! Not ZOMBIES! *screams* On another note, what's Bakugan? I'm curious~

I recommend Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Basquash!, Fairy Tale, Red Garden, Toaru Majutsu no Index and maybe 11eyes (the only anime where I've managed to totally hate a main character lol).

no not bakugan hahaXDD (can't really be bothered with that series... even if it's by the same designer who did season 3 of beyblade... not interested in metal fusion either<A<*hardcore beyblade 1-3 fan lol, but mostly due to nostalgia*)

what I'm referring to is bakuman, a story about 2 teenagers, working to be the best mangaka in shounen jump. The story and art is by the author and illustrator of death note. Though this one remains truly as a slice of life piece. But I loved it because it provides so much insight to the mangaka industry*w* I have a feeling this story is loosely based off the author and illustrator themselves, because the 2 teenagers of the story, saiko and takagi, are also an artist and a writer respectively. The first episode of the anime just came out yesterday, though it's focusing more on the romance for now. (but what saiko says in his monologue will hold a lot of empathy for many of us, me thinks.)

Aki11 wrote:what I'm referring to is bakuman, a story about 2 teenagers, working to be the best mangaka in shounen jump.

Wait, wait, wait...
They didn't bother even coming up with a fictional magazine? I can only see something like that working if it was written by Naoki Urasawa, but he would never be writing anything that's for children...

But this just comes out looking cheap and conceited.

Aki11 wrote:The story and art is by the author and illustrator of death note. Though this one remains truly as a slice of life piece. But I loved it because it provides so much insight to the mangaka industry*w* I have a feeling this story is loosely based off the author and illustrator themselves, because the 2 teenagers of the story, saiko and takagi, are also an artist and a writer respectively. The first episode of the anime just came out yesterday, though it's focusing more on the romance for now. (but what saiko says in his monologue will hold a lot of empathy for many of us, me thinks.)

I'm becoming increasingly less interested...

If you want to know what it's like to be a mangaka, just watch these videos.

well, everyone is free to choose whichever medium they want to find information. That includes me as wellC: What that got me into bakuman in the first place was that they really placed the characters into the true environment. And really showed you what it is like being in jump. Down to even the way you will be referred and such. Rather than being uncreative, I think the author here is trying to strive for accuracy and precision in the environment so that we can empathize how it is to be a mangaka. Also, I think kids nowadays would very much rather read a manga to learn about manga than to watch an interview (I'll watch it later after work), in the same way how kids like learning history through hetalia than through history books, its just a more interesting medium (tho I'm not interested in hetalia, sorry to sayXD;; *all her friends are into it tho, watched it like waaay back but didn't like it*)

I'll see what I can update after I come back after work, lol.

Also, quoting from the series itself, which in my opinion is the author's own mindset(not a direct quote tho); The most challenging thing is not to make a fantasy/battle manga interesting, it is to make even the most mundane daily life seem interesting that is the most difficult. Bakuman itself is the example the author wants to execute, though for me pcp (a story within bakuman) has a nicer concept in which it is (at least to me) very interesting but at the same time totally realistic.

Aki11 wrote:Also, quoting from the series itself, which in my opinion is the author's own mindset(not a direct quote tho); The most challenging thing is not to make a fantasy/battle manga interesting, it is to make even the most mundane daily life seem interesting that is the most difficult. Bakuman itself is the example the author wants to execute, though for me pcp (a story within bakuman) has a nicer concept in which it is (at least to me) very interesting but at the same time totally realistic.

No that's not a matter of opinion, that's actually a fact. It takes a lot more skill to write something interesting if it's realistic, but most of the time you would only see works like that aimed towards adults.

*coughnaokiurasawacough*

You changed your avatar to Kai from Beyblade, Aki! Yaaaay! XD *really retro hardcore Beyblade fan speaking*
Still loved the first ever season out of all of them, since it kept to the manga style the most out of all of them and followed the story for it a little closer too. *Has collected every Beyblade volume*
It may seem childish, but back in the early 2000s this was all rage in my primary school! Spinning tops, weird monsters come out of them and do battle, with friendship and the wish to rise to the top underlying it all! Classic shonen.

Kazaazz wrote:You changed your avatar to Kai from Beyblade, Aki! Yaaaay! XD *really retro hardcore Beyblade fan speaking*
Still loved the first ever season out of all of them, since it kept to the manga style the most out of all of them and followed the story for it a little closer too. *Has collected every Beyblade volume*
It may seem childish, but back in the early 2000s this was all rage in my primary school! Spinning tops, weird monsters come out of them and do battle, with friendship and the wish to rise to the top underlying it all! Classic shonen.

That show sucked. It was completely merchandise-driven, and I don't condone entertainment like that, it was also as formulaic as a show can get, if I recall there was absolutely no character development, or when there was it made no sense...
Needless to say, I loved the toys, I had a very large collection of beyblades, but never anybody to play with. I also used to modify them as a hobby. It was pretty fun.

haha, as I previously mentioned before, I love beyblade. Even up till now, but mostly due to nostalgia's sake. Because I can't deny myself what I grew up with, so even if the whole world says they hate it. I'll still stand by it.

But I've been a hardcore kai fan for like, I think 6-7 years now?XDD I've been a fan since season 1 as well, and I collect the comics too>W< But I really dig the art style that g revolution had, so yea>W<

tho hamster, I'd disagree with the character development part. Well, at least 1/3 had character development, especially for kai in season 1;w; how he realized that friendship was more important than power, and how he walked out from being solitary to someone who chose to stand by his friends. Season 2 and 3 are just for eye candy, story wise is nowhere as strong but still, as a kid I loved itXD

That being said, though I dig grev's art style the most, season 1's kai was the one that got me all fangirly in the first place 7 years agoXDD

Though, it's hard to stay in the fandom when most of the people nowadays either ship gay stuff or are charactersXoc... Why do so many fangirls see friendship between men as yaoi==;; Though I don't have a ship for kai so I hardly draw fanart of him nowadays, but in the past he was one of my biggest drawing subjectsXDD (if anyone looked at those old works I had in my deviantart you'll see just how big of a fangirl I am... And there are always people who asks me "why does every one of your sketchbook have kai?" and all that jazz. Yes He's that much of a fave character for meX3)

But lol, instead of dranzers I collected drigers, and always lost to my bro's modified dranzer... (I almost collected all the drigers tho) Since my battle record was always on a losing streak when vsing my bro, my favorite pastime when it comes to beyblades would be the time when I bought those spark discs and keep shooting beyblades against the wall to get the sparks... I'm pretty sure that wall still had burn marks there, lolXD