Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

I would say Angel Beats and Clannad, but both of those are filled with moments of levity, hope, and happiness alongside the sad. Best dad confirmed though, as nacho_chicken said.

Check out Monster. It's a fantastic psychological thriller that takes a hell of a lot more than it gives. Moments of triumph are few and far between.

If you're looking for something more along the lines of a sappy, mellow drama, try Ano Hana.

And yeah, only watch Grave of the Fireflies if you feel like throwing yourself off a bridge some time soon.

"but not a bad one"

How about Mermaid Saga? Granted, I've only read the manga (just finished up last night), so I don't know if the anime does anything differently.

It's about a couple of regular humans turned immortal (one really 500 years old), and their quest to find a way to reverse their condition. Along the way you uncover their heartwrenching pasts as everyone they once known has died, and they come across others whose lives have been ruined by the effect of the mermaid's flesh (their tales even more sad and twisted than our main characters').

I want to qualify this a bit. Angel Beats was one of the first anime I watched subbed. It has funny parts. It has sad parts. It's just unfortunately nowhere near as good as it could've been, and nowhere near as good as most make it out to be.

The pacing was way too fast, the direction feels unfocused, and some characters are not fleshed out at all. It felt like they tried to pack a 24-episode series into 12 episodes — which is exactly what happened, and it really suffers from it. I enjoyed it, but it's nowhere near as good as Clannad, or Kanon, or Little Busters, or any other KEY VN-anime adaption, in either humor or drama. And I just can't recommend it when those exist.

P.S.
@CaviarMeths
"Mellow drama" is pretty much the exact opposite of "melodrama".

Yes, it sure is.

o.o?

....Where's the best place to get anime DVDs? I've always used Amazon, but I can't find what I'm looking for at all, looked everywhere. Even eBay...>.>

Mellow: pleasantly agreeable; free from tension, discord, etc.
Drama: any situation or series of events having vivid, emotional, conflicting, or striking interest or results
Melodrama: a dramatic form that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization.

...Where's the best place to get anime DVDs? I've always used Amazon, but I can't find what I'm looking for at all, looked everywhere. Even eBay...>.>

If you can't find it, try flea markets or pawn shops. Of course, you probably won't find it. On the other hand, I've seen some crazy things go for ridiculously cheap prices.

Goodness, man, do you want him to have the feels or do you want him to slit his wrists in a bathtub?

Haven't been to flea markets in ages...the pawn shops near me rarely have anime in general. But yeah for whatever reason the anime I'm looking for is being severely overpriced ($200) or for different regions. :c

I know what you're looking for, and feel your pain. I really want Lucky Star and Nichijou on DVD, but until Funimation gets off their butt, only the OoP Bandai Lucky Star DVDs are available. Series boxed set for like $200. Nichijou was about to be licensed for NA, but got lost due to Bandai Entertainment going under. It was never picked up. The only English copies are the Australian boxed sets from Madman Entertainment. Whole series for AUS $60/ US ~45$ (actually, that's not bad. May have to import that and rip them to make them region-free). Japanese Blu-Ray Series boxed set goes for ~$200.

Figures...TwT
Guess I just gotta keep an eye on Amazon then, but if anyone manages to find the whole season 1 of Squid Girl for a decent price (I think it was SUPPOSED to be like $40-ish), lemme know. Also, yes I'm in US. xD

Drama does not need to be vivid or striking at all. It's just a narrative structure. All it really means is that it's more serious than a comedy. Mellow may not have been the best adjective to use (somber would have been better, in retrospect), but melodrama is definitely not what I meant to say.

Sorry. Seen way too many idiots use "Mellow drama" when they mean "melodrama" and assumed you did the same.

Now if only we can get them to stop saying "Awe" when they mean "Aww"...

Time for quite a bit of a manga update!

I read the newest Bleach chapter!

Also read Dragon Ball Super! Seemingly more of an advertisement for the show which begins next Sunday, it was still pretty cool. Seems like they might already be trying to reboot the Beerus/Bills storyline, as the chapter ends with the "god of Destruction" destroying a planet of caterpillar people, before recalling a prophetic dream he had, about a strange being called "Super Sayian god", that would rise to defeat him (also, earlier in the chapter, Goku comments on how Buu was still the strongest foe he's battled). Of course, this could just be their way of telling readers to watch Battle of Gods & Resurrection F before the new show, but still, this was way different than how Beerus/Bills revealed the dream in the movie.

Also read the third and final one shot by the guy behind HSDK, called DEMIII. It's about a nerdy high schooler who has no friends, who befriends an advanced humanoid robot who randomly shows up at his house, because he's interested in the kid's web stories. Pretty much, the robot (Deus Ex Machina III) was created after humans created DEMI, who (out of their control) built DEMII on it's own, which in turn created our DEMIII. He starts to learn human emotions from the kid, and even starts going to his high school, where it's revealed that all three of these one shots take place in the same universe, as DEMIII notices both Kanata (the ninja from the first one shot) sneaking into the room, and the sorcerer (from the second one shot) messing with his wire man sorcery. And yes, his next long running series is indeed a crossover of all three of these "one shots".

Also, after Mermaid Saga provided a nice break, I'm now delving into Gunsmith Cats Burst. It's more or less a direct continuation of the last series, though his art (which was already good) has been refined even further, and while there's still lot's of fanservice, the content of that fanservice has been toned down. The action is still has hectic as ever though, and is making this a fun ride (I'm only shortly passed chapter 20).

soooo, I've just watched what seems to be the last episode of Mikagura Gakuen, it was a pretty funny anime and the ending was a plus to me(especially that final fight)
and Texhnolyze was too much for me, 5 episodes in and I've already got to my limit of depressing stuff....
now I feel like watching something ultra light hearted and happy! kinda like Kyoukai no Rinne but preferably something that's already over so I can watch it all in one go! XD

For the U.S I guess it would be like the E3 of anime in a way ^^ (E3 is a industry-only event, anyone can get into Anime Expo)

Finished The Seven Deadly Sins, really liked it a lot and hope there is more to come! Love how the smallest character is the leader and strongest one by a long shot. I can't remember watching any other anime set up like that.

makes another attempt to search for anime stores
Ugh, I give up. TwT

I haven't had much of a look at their selection, but I ordered from here last month: http://www.rightstufanime.com/

Price was considerably lower than eBay/Amazon.

Yeah, I've been there already, they don't have the anime I'm looking for. They either don't have it, or have it for different regions. (which is even more annoying)
EDIT: Yeah, just checked again, they only have part 2. (ebay has a bunch of UK DVDs, Amazon just has this weird "used"/rental DVD or something....that's missing a disc I think. >.>)

I finally ploughed through the prologue of Fate/Stay Night, episode 0, which was the biggest barrier to entry I had keeping me from watching the series and Fate/Zero....and I can see why - it was a terrible prologue. It was long, mostly dull until the last 15 minutes (out of 47 minutes total), and if I hadn't already read the prologue in the actual VN years before, as well as read some thorough synopsi, I would have no idea what's actually happening. They don't really establish the characters much, nor do they really explain anything. Admittedly that's partly the VN's fault - I was so bored to tears and annoyed by the characters during that portion in the VN that I swore off the franchise until about an hour ago. They really tried their best to adapt it while cutting it down to a reasonable length, but there was no saving it in the end.

However, it did show me what I needed to see: which were the characters, backrounds, and animation, especially during the battles. The characters weren't that annoying, and everything in this show is gorgeous. I had seen gifs before, but watching the Lancer vs. Archer scene in 720p was a sight to behold. That said, I have to watch Fate/Zero first, but I'm making that a higher priority now.

Until then, I've resumed my rewatch of Fang of the Sun Dougram. I'm almost through the Prologue now (the first 8 episodes make up just the prologue in this series, yet still it's still a much better one than FS/N ep.0 :V), and it's still as enjoyable and somber as I remember. It's stuff like this that reminds me why I watch anime.

Well, don't get too comfortable, because there's a lot more talking than fighting. It's always like that, a lot of buildup to blow an entire month's budget on a 10 minute fight every few episodes.

Also, I watched F/Z first, but the more I think about it, the more I think it would be more interesting to watch it last.