What anime are you watching?

[TheSubtleDoctor]

I was never too interested in this anime because there's an undescribable component to old shoujo character design that turns me off something fierce

If given the chance, I think the story and strong characters will overcome any prejudice against the art style.

I wanna see Rose of Versailles so bad.

I cannot wait for you to see it.
---
Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Case Irvine

So this one is a mixed bag that I can't quite wholeheartedly recommend. Like Finder, CI has wonderful mecha combat. It's fast, furious, very well animated, and the use of the camera really adds to the intensity of the battles. It's, at worst, on par with Finder in this department. Where this OAV fails, and where Finder did itself no harm, is with communicating its themes. Both Finder and CI have a pretty simple schitck, but CI tells us directly, over the top of the battles, rather than simply showing us or telling us indirectly. I find that this kind of thing can detract from the combat rather than intensifying it. Still and all, I like CI and will rewatch it, but, for my money, Finder is the better of the two recent, standalone VOTOMS side story OAVs.

[the_wolfs_howl]

I've put my other animes on hold while starting D. Gray-man I've only seen the first episode, so I'm not sure what I think of it yet, but I can already see the similarities to FMA, so I'm happy XD

[firestorm]

I'm just starting to watch "Reborn!" and with over 200 episodes I think I'll be here for a while XD

[SSJ3Goku]

I've spent my night watching One Piece (Japanese, I hate the 4Kids dub) episodes 91-95 from Hulu. Ace just showed up, he seems interesting!

[christianfriend]

This week I started and finished the Anime "Jyu-Oh Sei: Planet of the Beast King"! It was really good, and I got sucked into it immediately. I loved characters, and all the plot twists. I Only hate how short the series was! I wasn't aware it only had 11 Episodes...made me sad.

[ShiroiHikari]

Yay, someone else here watches One Piece. Ace is pretty awesome. I need to get back to watching it...

Watched more V Gundam. I really like Usso. Also A WHOLE TEAM OF FEMALE MOBILE SUIT PILOTS. And they're awesome and not lame. V Gundam, you are winning so many points already.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

This week I started and finished the Anime "Jyu-Oh Sei: Planet of the Beast King"! It was really good, and I got sucked into it immediately. I loved characters, and all the plot twists. I Only hate how short the series was! I wasn't aware it only had 11 Episodes...made me sad.

I cry many single tears every time I see someone like Jyu Oh Sei.

Fish : Last Exile :: Hats: Jyu Oh Sei

Watched more V Gundam. I really like Usso. Also A WHOLE TEAM OF FEMALE MOBILE SUIT PILOTS. And they're awesome and not lame. V Gundam, you are winning so many points already.

Out of curiosity, how much do you know about V Gundam? I haven't seen it but I'm curious how blind you are going into it.

Honey and Clover

Honey and Clover is something I figured I'd have a hard time writing about. The first half is okay, and the second half is amazing. That's the short version that you'll probably hear quite a bit.

But it's -how- it takes a lackluster first half and makes it something wonderful that is really impressive. It's as if when the opening changed they decided to put all their effort into making it good. The first half has a very aggravating tendency of throwing in jarring comedy(aside from the hilarious Twister joke) when it had some pretty impressive drama that you wanted more of and less of the bad comedy. The characters were all kind of aggravating and nothing really seemed to progress. You could tell that there was a good show somewhere in there, but it definitely needed some polish.

Then the second half kicks in and it's suddenly much better. Some stuff happens that was what I originally thought made the show better, such as having an annoying character leave and taking the focus of two of the other kind of annoying characters. I thought the show was better because the focus shifted from Morita, Yuta, and Hagu to Mayama and Ayumi, who I thought were much more interesting. It stayed that way for about six episodes, at which point the focus went back to the other three, however, they were all suddenly interesting characters I grew to like in those final six episodes. You'd seen shades of Morita not just being a manchild in the first half, but it's here that you finally get to see something out of him besides dumb jokes. Yuta is probably about as interesting as Mayama by the end, and his arc at the end was pretty incredible.

I thought Honey and Clover was going to be about friendship with some romance, while it actually turned out to be about romance with some friendship. It takes it's concept of everyone having unrequited love and uses it so well that it is worth your time, even if the first half is a chore.

[FllMtl Novelist]

I finished Durarara. :<

I've also watched FMA: Brotherhood episodes 49 and 50 since I last posted.

And because it's on right after and I'm lazy, InuYasha 48.

[Agloval]

This week I started and finished the Anime "Jyu-Oh Sei: Planet of the Beast King"! It was really good, and I got sucked into it immediately.

I don't think I've heard of Jyo-Oh Sei, but its description on MAL makes it sound rather good -- like it might scratch the same itch as Infinite Ryvius does -- must look into it.

I really like Usso. Also A WHOLE TEAM OF FEMALE MOBILE SUIT PILOTS. And they're awesome and not lame. V Gundam, you are winning so many points already.

I like Usso too, espeically his wacky mid-battle improvisations.

--

The first eleven episodes of the second Kaiji series have been reliably good fun. The show's entered its second arc, which revolves around a monstrous (and monstrously expensive to play) pachinko machine, the 'Man-Eating Bog'. I didn't know much about pachinko, so I had to go and wiki up some info (it sounds like real-life pachinko parlours are pretty depressing places).

According to one blogger the pachinko story takes up ten volumes, so possibly the rest of the twenty-six episodes will all cover the evening that the story's depicting right now...

[ShiroiHikari]

I went into V Gundam almost totally blind. Also I'm on like episode 12 or 13 now, huzzah.

[KougaHane]

I'm watching a new anime that came out this year called Deadman Wonderland, and I love it. The best way I could describe it would be a mix between Darker Than black and Jyuu-Oh-Sei!. But that description can't really do it justice. Just a warning though: it is pretty graphic with blood.

[christianfriend]

I'm watching a new anime that came out this year called Deadman Wonderland, and I love it. The best way I could describe it would be a mix between Darker Than black and Jyuu-Oh-Sei!. But that description can't really do it justice. Just a warning though: it is pretty graphic with blood.

Oo! That sounds good. If it really is anything like Jyuu-Oh-Sei I will have to look into it!

[AngelicTotoro]

I finished Seirei No Moribito a few days ago and I liked it quite a bit.
(The ending made me tear up a little though. 3=)

I'm now watching Planetes episode 1 - 5
It's caused me to literally lol a few times, didn't think it would. xD

[Princess Kairi]

I'm on episode 27 of Kekkaishi. So far, I love it!

[Nanao]

Gosick episodes 11-14 and started Aria the Scarlet Ammo. I spent the weekend with my dad watching movies which was great ^____^ But it also significantly cut in to my anime watching time.

[SSJ3Goku]

I finished up the Devil May Cry Anime today. Watched 6-10 earlier today before School, and the final 2 once I got home.

It could've been a little longer, but beggars can't be choosers.

[MightiMidget]

Watching Slayers with a friend. Episodes 3-4 tonight. So much fun!

[TheSubtleDoctor]

beggars can't be choosers.

What are you talking about? This is anime fandom, of course we can! We do it all the time.

Such blasphemy...

EDIT: + XD

[Mouse2010]

Let's see . . . just watched episodes 10 and 11 of Casshern Sins. I liked both of these episodes more than some of the previous ones, but I think on the whole this is still a series where what I like most is the art and the atmosphere, rather than the story or the dialog.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

I watched Bungaku Shoujo Memoire, which I should have done before watching the movie. It's good, definitely watch it before watching the movie.

It is a very jarring experience to go from the story which ends with the focus character attempting suicide to the next OVA which focuses on school comedy.

[Cadence]

As of now, I have finished one-hundred and five episodes of Gintama.

Part of me is sighing and thinking that I seriously need to reevaluate my life.

The other part is screaming: "I REGRET NOTHING!"

[Kaori]

Space Battleship Yamato episodes 1-5

The WWII battleship Yamato is dredged up from the bottom of the ocean, refurbished, and made into a spacecraft that is sent out in a last-ditch effort to go to a distant galaxy to retrieve a substance that can save Earth from the radiation bombing of an alien race. If you know the history of the Yamato and what it symbolizes for Japan, that changes the resurrection of the battleship from just another of those weird things that happens in anime into something that is very fitting and logical.

Despite this anime's status as a classic space opera (1974), I’m not sure whether I can put up with this level of cheesiness for a whole TV season. It was amusing for the first few episodes, but “so cheesy it’s funnyâ€

[SSJ3Goku]

Just finished episode 1 of this "Eden of the East" series.

Thought I'd give it a chance before writing it off as "boring".

[the_wolfs_howl]

D. Gray-man episode 2! I just realized that it's been a long time since I watched an anime where I had to slowly learn how the world works and become accustomed to different terminology and things. Watching Monster and re-watching FMA has gotten me used to knowing the story ahead of time, and the two new shows I watched before that were Lovely Complex and Saint Tail, which are both set in the real world. So it's kind of nice to not know how everything works, to slowly figure out who the Exorcists are and what Innocence is. It's fairly interesting so far, and my only complaint is that the humor doesn't seem to fit. It feels kinda like the beginning of FMA: Brotherhood :/ I'm also not too fond of Allen's seiyuu's voice. It's not varied enough between normal talking and freaking out. (But then, I might just be spoiled after characters like Edward Elric and Vash the Stampede )

[Gojira]

I'm currently watching Fruits Basket. Compared to what I usually watch, this anime is innocent.

[MightiMidget]

D. Gray-man episode 2! I just realized that it's been a long time since I watched an anime where I had to slowly learn how the world works and become accustomed to different terminology and things. Watching Monster and re-watching FMA has gotten me used to knowing the story ahead of time, and the two new shows I watched before that were Lovely Complex and Saint Tail, which are both set in the real world. So it's kind of nice to not know how everything works, to slowly figure out who the Exorcists are and what Innocence is. It's fairly interesting so far, and my only complaint is that the humor doesn't seem to fit. It feels kinda like the beginning of FMA: Brotherhood :/ I'm also not too fond of Allen's seiyuu's voice. It's not varied enough between normal talking and freaking out. (But then, I might just be spoiled after characters like Edward Elric and Vash the Stampede )

*coughwatchD.Gray-ManinEnglishcoughcough* *ducks anti-dub crowd*

EDIT: though only the first half of the series is in English...I'm still trying to tolerate the sub enough to finish it. ops:

[Atria35]

*coughwatchD.Gray-ManinEnglishcoughcough* *ducks anti-dub crowd*

EDIT: though only the first half of the series is in English...I'm still trying to tolerate the sub enough to finish it. ops:

I seriously hated Kanda's voice in the dub. Everyone else was just fine, but Kanda sounded like Mr. T.

Kimi ni Todoke 9-12 (complete)- I see a third season on the horizon. That was not a solid (enough) ending. Besides, they haven't even kissed yet. And since the manga is still ongoing, and it's incredibly popular, I think this will be getting on.

Ano Hana 1-5- Kids don't know how to deal with grief. It's interesting to see them having to come to terms with it and the turmoil it threw their lives in. Great anime, IMO.

[blkmage]

Kimi ni Todoke 9-12 (complete)- I see a third season on the horizon. That was not a solid (enough) ending. Besides, they haven't even kissed yet. And since the manga is still ongoing, and it's incredibly popular, I think this will be getting on.

I wouldn't expect a third season for a while, given how far the manga's been going along. I also would not expect to have kiss for at least another few months.

[Atria35]

I wouldn't expect a third season for a while, given how far the manga's been going along. I also would not expect to have kiss for at least another few months.

It was just a saying >.> I'm sure there will be a third season, but because they haven't kissed yet in the manga, I know it will be a while.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Macross Plus is a really excellent OVA series directed by Shinichiro Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop fame, and is completely stand-alone(though it does shed some interesting ideas on what happens in Frontier). Despite only being four forty-minute episodes, it has an incredibly involved plot and some of the most beautiful animation I've seen, though that itself seems like a staple of Macross. The characters start out pretty unlikable and end up being totally awesome, and the flight sequences remain some of the most breathtaking I've seen.

This is a really nice gem you should go watch right now, barring those completely incapable of listening to dubs. I don't listen to dubs ever now but by the end of the show I was fine with it not being in Japanese. It is a really incredible show and probably the best introduction one could have to Macross.

Between this, Do You Remember Love?, and Frontier I am completely sold on Macross as a franchise. I hope to see some more Macross love because it is such a great body of works, even if Seven and Zero end up sucking. Seriously, though. This is some really incredible stuff.