What anime are you watching?

[Kaori]

So, I finally got around to getting a rental card at the local media store.

Castle of Cagliostro: spies, secret passageways, ninjas, escapades. Definitely fun, although the characters’ super-corrupted Japanese was awfully hard to understand.

雲のむこう、約束の場所 (The Place Promised in Our Early Days): It’s very reminiscent of the only other Makoto Shinkai film I’ve seen so far, which is Voices of a Distant Star. Shinkai’s style is very distinctive, but I like that style and feel fairly well, so I enjoyed this. However, although it’s certainly polished, it doesn’t move me nearly as much as Hoshi no Koe.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: Makoto’s personality is particularly delightful, the story is good, and the animation is beautiful.

Coincidentally, like everyone else in the world, I am watching Durarara!! (ep. 1-2), but for completely different reasons:



The image on the top left there is of a street that is extremely familiar to me because I’ve walked down it many times, and I have a lot of fond memories of the place, like watching Summer Wars in the movie theater on this very street. When I saw this image, I thought to myself, “I must see this anime!â€

[Atria35]

Bunny Drop 1- Excuse me for a moment- I'm going to go nurse my warm fuzzies in a corner somewhere.

[Riggidig]

Unfortunately due to Animax closing down on South Africa's satelite feed (due to the same shows being repeated over and over and over and over and over and nothing new being aired) all I'm left to watch on TV is, uhm, Dragonball Z (which is being rerun for the umpteenth time on TV atm). Other than that there aren't any series' I can watch (too expensive to buy episodes and I don't illegally download them either). All I'm left with is renting anime movies from the DVD store. Recently I watched both Paprika and Ghost in the Shell 2. The first I felt was rather overhyped, while I really liked GITS 2 (thought it was more entertaining than the first film).

[Falx]

Unfortunately due to Animax closing down on South Africa's satelite feed (due to the same shows being repeated over and over and over and over and over and nothing new being aired) all I'm left to watch on TV is, uhm, Dragonball Z (which is being rerun for the umpteenth time on TV atm). Other than that there aren't any series' I can watch (too expensive to buy episodes and I don't illegally download them either). All I'm left with is renting anime movies from the DVD store. Recently I watched both Paprika and Ghost in the Shell 2. The first I felt was rather overhyped, while I really liked GITS 2 (thought it was more entertaining than the first film).

Crunchyroll has a surprising number of series available for South Africa. There is also Nico Nico English, which doesn't seem to have geographical restrictions.

[blkmage]

Unfortunately, it does. There are a handful of shows on niconico are US only, but those ones appear to also be on CR.

[Juliannesan]

watching GunXSword ep 3.
I've tried to watch this awhile ago, lets see how well it goes from the first ep.

Finished watching Earl & Fairy. Kawaiii! I really hope this anime gets another season, guess we'll see.

[airichan623]

I'm officially addicted to Pandora Hearts. It's EPIC.
Though I will say part of my addiction comes from just WATCHING this guy...

*fangirl squeeeeeee*

not to mention awesome plot. tho i m quite disappointed that it will never b dubbed...it would've been very popular on adult swim or something

[Mouse2010]

watching GunXSword ep 3.
I've tried to watch this awhile ago, lets see how well it goes from the first ep.

For what it's worth, if your problem with it is that it seems too goofy or too episodic, it gets much more serious around episode 5 (though there are still comic episodes and comic moments), and it gets much less episodic after episode 10 or so.

[Wallachia]

while I really liked GITS 2 (thought it was more entertaining than the first film).

Agreed. I watched the first movie with a friend and we thought it was fine, but then (a couple of months later) I watched the second movie by myself and I found myself enjoying it more.

The animation was incredible and the scenery was a blast to look at. It felt pretty slow at times—calm, really—but still provoked thought and made the viewer feel intrigued at the universe it showcases.

Then I moved on to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG. Absolutely wonderful series.

[Katana]

Just finished: Gunslinger Girl

Moved onto: School Rumble

[Tsukuyomi]

Meep, I have yet to pick back up on School Rumble xD

I'll be on episode 12 of Clannad After Story <3

[FllMtl Novelist]

You're in for quite a ride. I just finished the series the other day, and it's another one that I wouldn't have watched if not for people's recommendations on this site. Again I'm glad I listened to the recommendation.

Yep. I finished it the other day, and really enjoyed it. ^^

[MightiMidget]

I'm officially addicted to Pandora Hearts. It's EPIC.
Though I will say part of my addiction comes from just WATCHING this guy...

*fangirl squeeeeeee*

not to mention awesome plot. tho i m quite disappointed that it will never b dubbed...it would've been very popular on adult swim or something

LOL! I had Xerxes Break up as my wallpaper for like...a month. (this is long for me) But Gil is pretty awesome too. xD (this made me grin)

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Been watchin' some stuh-uff
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Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid

This was a mixed bag for me that, while it certainly had its moments, ended up ultimately disappointing my expectations. You can tell right off that people with a sense of focus and direction have taken the reigns of this series. It knows where it wants to go, which is a good/rare quality for an anime to have these days. The tone is much heavier than the original, and this worked for me for the most part, since I'm one of those guys that has his limits for high-school hijinx. The first half of the show was very solid. Lots of interesting, well-directed action, and the characters were just fun to watch. The cast has enough credit built up from series one that I can enjoy just watching them be themselves. Well...I thought so...at least, in the first part of the show this was true...

Now for the negative. Spoiler time:[spoiler]I absolutely hated what they did with Sasuke the second half of the series. Am I really supposed to believe that he turns into Shinji Ikari because he thinks Chidori died? Because of who he is and what he's been through, that whole turn just felt wrong and irritating. Watching him mope around was pretty torturous. And what was that scene with the prostitute all about? He acted like he had some epiphany, but then, after he left her building, he still moped around, directionless until Chidori shows up.

Speaking of her just showing up: a really bad deus ex machina, there. Oh, wait, she's here. Now everything's OK and Sasuke can be all cool and use the Lambda Drive. I learned nothing about said Lambda Drive either, which seemed like a waste.

Also, Ruri, er, Tessa, annoyed the crap out of me. That tantrum she threw totally killed any feelings of like that I had for her character. I know she's young, but as someone who has served as captain of a vessel for a while, you'd think she would know how not to act thoroughly childish. Was she just given the post last week as a favor to someone?

Also, also: did not care at all about the villain. He ended up just being some disgusting, crazy dude. I know he employed twins that were raised by the villain from the first show (whose cameo was only sort of interesting), but I didn't really care much about them either.[/spoiler]

Heartcatch Precure

Another big win for the magical girl genre. I can encapsulate this show in one line: Gaogaigar for the ladies. Heartcatch has the same kinetic energy, sense of fun, overall structure and uplifting spirit that HP has. Sure the genres are different, but the series remind me a lot of each other. Also, recent shows have demonstrated that mecha and magical girl are not as far removed from one another as some may think.

This show is blessed with so much, well, heart. The characters are all interesting, if not the deepest or most complex girls of anime. I found myself caring about each of them and truly enjoying and feeling warmly good for each of them. Though we have pretty much all seen the tried and true magical girl tropes, the execution of the stories is usually very fun and at times unexpectedly poignant.

And dem fight scenes. They were absolutely wonderful. The animation is so gorgeous and fluid. The overall look of the show takes the elements I like most in modern character design digital animation and combines them into a pretty appealing whole. Heartcatch is a rare blend of both outer and inner beauty with great production values and a lot of soul. I would recommend this show as a first magical girl show or a 50th one; newbies and genre vets alike are strongly encouraged to check this show out.

[Tenchi]

Meep, I have yet to pick back up on School Rumble xD

I'll be on episode 12 of Clannad After Story <3

Again, are you watching that for the first time, or is it a rewatch? I can't help but ask, I absolutely love that anime.

[Juliannesan]

For what it's worth, if your problem with it is that it seems too goofy or too episodic, it gets much more serious around episode 5 (though there are still comic episodes and comic moments), and it gets much less episodic after episode 10 or so.

Yeah, it just seemed too much like other animes I've seen at the first ep. But it is getting better, I'm onto episode 5 now.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

So I guess I should take this time to talk about my new favorite slice of life series and creator of my avatar, Hidamari Sketch.

Hidamari Sketch is delightful. It's hard to go on and on about it with just one post because it's kind of hard to describe how good it is, except how natural it feels. A lot of slice of life comedies don't feel this normal. I mean, I love Azumanga Daioh but it doesn't feel like slice of life to me now, rather, just a comedy with a touching message. I love Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, but it doesn't feel as natural as this.

Hidamari Sketch is probably the best representation of normal life that I've seen in anime. Each day involves some experience the girls have, but the experiences they have feel very possible and normal. Yeah, there's some Shaft weirdness in it but it certainly isn't as bizarre as some of their other stuff. The way the conversations these girls have go feels like conversations I've had.

It's really great.

[That Dude]

Watched FMP again, going through Coyote Ragtime Show...Watched a few anime movies that I've seen before...And am currently checking out Steins;Gate.

[FllMtl Novelist]

Just picked up Princess Jellyfish and Trigun. Watched episodes 1-3 of the former, 1-2 of the latter.

[Atria35]

FINALLY finished Planetes. Did it get a little schmaltzy in some places? Yes. Was is a fantastic anime? Yes. Was it anything like the manga? No. Is that okay? Yes. Dang. Just... Great anime.

[Tenchi]

Just finished episode 7 of EF: A tale of memories. A well done anime, it is, although it takes a few episodes to get interesting. The overall mood is kind of depressing, so that probably contributes to this postponed excitement over the series.

So far, I think it's very well done, especially artistically. Although some might find it confusing, I think that the emotions are described very well by the characters.

[Agloval]

Heartcatch is a rare blend of both outer and inner beauty with great production values and a lot of soul.

As I may have had a small bit of responsibility for shunting Heartcatch up your list of priority titles, I'm relieved to hear you thought well of it!

--

I finished Jyu Oh Sei today. I thought it was a bit incoherent but not terrible -- better than, say, Divergence Eve or Odin: Starlight Mutiny (which I haven't seen, but I hear from several trusted authorities is truly worthless). The low-birthrate premise was interesting from a products-of-early-twenty-first-century-Japan angle. I rather enjoyed it, and gave it 4/10 on MAL.

I've picked up the '05 Guyver adaption, which so far has been disposable but fun. The latest episode I watched, in particular, had a decent cliffhanger ending.

And I watched the first episode of Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo, which appears to be about violent people piloting giant robots in a war against giant robot dinosaurs piloted by dinosaurs.

[ShiroiHikari]

Shin vs. Neo is worth watching for Jack King, but that's about it.

Getter Robo OAVs are generally pretty messed up. Thank you Go Nagai.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Yeah, loved Heartcatch a lot. I will definitely check out other series in the near future.
---
Heyheyhey

Shin Getter vs Neo Getter is great, as are GR OAVs in general!

Or...perhaps I am just becoming warped from too much robot anime?
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Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Overture to a New War

aghagahagahagaha (see my blurbs about the TV series and My Conquest)

This can be viewed directly after My Conquest, but I think there are a couple of tidbits that people who have viewed the series already will enjoy more. Everyone should watch LOGH, sans Golden Wings (which isn't actually LOGh =))

[Agloval]

Yeah, loved Heartcatch a lot. I will definitely check out other series in the near future.

I'm not sure any of the other series have the same flair, but I'll be interested to hear what you think. Also don't forget to watch the Heartcatch movie sometime -- it's like a special extended standalone episode, with a bigger budget. And set in Paris.

too much robot anime

This phrase is in English but I'm not sure I know what it means.

[Tenchi]

Just finished watching EF: A tale of memories. I think it was pretty awesome and definitely very emotional, but I didn't really cry or feel as emotional like I did in Clannad: After Story. No really big plot twist, either. Also, it was much darker, no comic relief, although I guess that really increased the intensity, too.

That being said, I guess I'll watch A tale of Melodies, now, and see how that is.

[That Dude]

Watched "Kara No Kyokai, Garden Of Sinners" recently...

I'm currently watching through Steins;Gate and am up to ep 5. This is shaping up to be a new favorite of mine.

[Sheol777]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Completed. Where to begin? This is a very excellent series, a major deconstruction of the 'magical girl' genre. I compare it to Azumanga Daioh in the sense that it is not what it appears to be from stills or intro.

Things I am reminded of for various reasons while watching this anime:

Watchmen
Salvatore Dali
Andy Warhol
Faust
Azumanga Daioh
Sailor Moon


Cassern Sins - Just starting this, not bad, hope it stops being repetitive.

[Wallachia]

Cassern Sins - Just starting this, not bad, hope it stops being repetitive.

If you're hoping it'll stop being repetitive, let me just put it out there that Casshern Sins is a series that paces itself very slowly. Don't expect it to break free from the mold it starts with any time soon.

I personally think the end of the series is worth finishing it for, though I won't say why.

[That Dude]

Cassern Sins - Just starting this, not bad, hope it stops being repetitive.

Yeah, that's not going to happen. It's a good series, but very repetitive.