Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

Don't tell Erza Scarlet that lol! xD

Watched the first 5 episodes of Aldnoah.Zero. It's pretty gripping stuff. Gen Urobuchi really knows how to build suspense. Also it's actually clever and well thought out, unlike most mecha these days, especially in the battles. It's not often the super-advanced mechs are the enemies while the hero's just in this show's equivelant to a GM.

Toonami Saturday night!

Dragon Ball Z Kai - Goku has finally arrived on the scene! What's this!? His power level... it's over 8,000!

Kill la Kill - Okay, this has officially became a guilty pleasure. Definitely looking forward to next week.

Naruto Shippuden - A new training session begins, and boy is Naruto one dense character.

InuYasha: The Final Act - The final hurrah for Kanna. While an enemy for most of the series, she decides to give the gang a clue to defeating Naraku, as he forces her into a kamikaze attack.

Gurren Lagann - Getting ready for the final battle, and snapping Rosseau out of his depressed funk.

One Piece - An end to the crazy Franky fight. Also, looks like Zoro has a solution of sorts for his & Usopp's predicament.

Also, they had a trippy music video.

Block Blockade Battlefront looks like a show to look out for. It's from the guy who made Trigun. If that doesn't get you excited, maybe this trailer will:

Episode 12 of Aldnoah.Zero:

Should I jump into Neon Genesis Evangelion?
I'm a big fan of Gainax's other shows like Gurren Lagann and FLCL.

I know Evangelion is considered a staple, I just wanted to see everyone's personal opinions on it ;-;

As for the original, it is a good series, but story wise it gets pretty out there later on. I should also note it's darker & more serious than the two series you mentioned, but that doesn't make it worse, just different.

Personally, I'd go for the film series, which is a reboot/retelling of the series (Though I've only seen Evangelion 1.11 & Evangelion 2.22, out of the three).

DBZ Abridged is the only answer.

Yeah, DBZ Abridged is fantastic, though I also like a couple of the Robot Chicken skits, especially the DBZ Christmas skit, and the skit where the dad becomes obsessed with InuYasha, after catching his daughter watching it.

I was 17 or 18 when I watched it. Maybe it was because of my age at the time and because of inexperience with the medium, but there's just been no experience I've had with anime like it since. The series drew me in from start to finish and the ending left me scarred. If I were to watch it for the first time now, after everything else I've seen, I'm just not sure that it would be the same at all.

I would recommend it. Chronologically, the End of Evangelion movie replaces the last two episodes of the series. For maximum impact, you should watch episodes 1-24 and then End of Evangelion. The final two episodes are still worth watching later, but the other movie, Death & Rebirth, you should just ignore. It's just a recap of the series and then the first half of EoE.

I honestly think the last two episodes were better than End of Evangelion. Then again, I honestly think getting my eyeballs ripped from sockets would be more pleasurable than watching End of Evangelion.

I do recommend giving the series a watch, I've seen it about 4 times through and generally change my opinion on it every time, but I've yet to find a series where I wanted to watch it that many times. Of course, the Rebuild movies (1.11, 2.22, and 3.0 because 3.33 will probably release a year after Ragnarok) are far superior in every way, so you could always just watch those...

Somehow this doesn't sound like a good thing ??? ;___;

I think what was great about shows like Gurren Lagann for instance, is it balanced a serious story but also most of the time didn't take itself seriously.

Oh yeah, I read the newest chapter of Bleach earlier.

Evangelion is not one of those shows. Outside of some lighthearted bits near the beginning, it takes itself very seriously. If you don't want super-cereal, then you probably wouldn't enjoy Evangelion. Keep in mind, though, that most of the situations do call for the serious tone. In retrospect, the lighthearted bits feel very out of place when they're used.

Well yeah, but that could mean a couple of different things. I definitely got no satisfaction from EoE, but that's sort of the point, no? You may come out of it hating the show, yourself, sunsets, and life in general, but I think that was the creator's intention.

Which is I consider it the absolute worst movie I've ever seen, and likely will for many years to come. It's one giant trololo, a middle finger to the audience, and even his own creation. And that's not what a movie should ever be, or any piece of entertainment - they're supposed to entertain, after all.

I don't disagree, but if someone wants to watch Evangelion for the first time, I really must recommend the full experience. You don't recommend Evangelion for the entertainment value. You recommend it so that others will suffer as you have.

Otherwise, yeah, just watch the Rebuild series instead.

Ironically though, the movie was made in response to horrible fan backlash to the original ending. The director even put screens of actual death threats he received into the movie.

I honestly enjoyed the series, and I think the original ending was fairly fitting. The only reason people got upset was because they missed the point of the story. It was Shinji's story, and everything was meant to play into it. Asuka was not the point. The angels were not the point. They were visual representations. The ending basically being a therapy session/case study was the ending the series deserved for the story they were going for. No one should have to suffer through End of Evangelion just to get the "full experience", because it wasn't the full experience. The full experience was the series, and all EoE did was ruin that experience and everything it stood for. Obviously the Rebuild movies are better - better written, better paced, better directed, and had an altered central theme that more people can relate to. But since the final movie isn't out yet, I do recommend giving the series a look.

I personally loved Evangelion, it's still one of my favorites. That said, I can see why the ending would have pissed off some people.

On an unrelated note...

Ever since I began watching One Piece in early 2013, I remember getting a weird "Pokémon" vibe from it. I know this sounds strange, but I absolutely adored the Pokémon anime at different points in my life, early childhood and all that. Like, the atmosphere, music, etc made me think of Pokémon. Well, while searching through both show's OSTs, I think I've nailed the two tracks that I felt sounded similar.

The part where the main chorus/theme/whatever kicks in sounds kinda similar, doesn't it?

Not to mention both are shows that I've been more than a little obsessed with a various points in my life ^_^

The same instruments are used, but that's about all that's familiar, at least to my ears. The Pokemon song is more intense, while the One Piece one is more uplifting, giving a sense that you've just accomplished something great. I will say that both are used in adventure-oriented anime, so the music in both tend to have a sense of grandure to them.