Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

Hahah, yeah, I would've loved to see that.

Also got the sudden urge to go back to Naruto. I feel like I didn't give it a fair shake the first time through, since now I realize I was expecting it to just be a lighthearted affair when in truth all the evidence was there at the start that it was gonna turn pretty serious. Like Bleach, it was the light-hearted moments that drew me to it in the first place. With that said, I think once again it may have been the voice acting that ultimately killed this show for me. Seriously, Naruto himself is 1000 times less annoying in japanese than he is in english. In fact, I think his english voice will haunt me for the rest of my living days...

@GundamMac Don't bother watching anything beyond the third or fourth season.

Not that it's exactly bad after that but because it rarely lives up to any greatness from the early seasons. Naruto would be in my top 10 anime if it ended then.

Also, Naruto is like the only non-Conan anime soundtrack I've listened to more than once. The music's so fun and the OPs are great. And then...Shippuden had new music that sucks and the most worthless generic openings.

Honestly never liked the japanese version that much. I mean yeah, Naruto and that character I don't care about (Neiji) are better and the tv dub had issues for all of 10 seconds but I just love the voice acting for the rest and Sasuke doesn't sound like he's in his mid 30s and it has Stephen Blum in multiple major roles. I mostly found the japanese voice acting to be way too uninteresting and generic or I found out that the english dub went out of their way to make the voices as close as humanly possible anyway (Hinata, Rock Lee). Also, I probably would have hated Sakura until season 5 or Shippuden if Sasuke didn't call her out for her annoying fangirlyness. That was glorious.

I actually intend to finish Naruto, but I'll be pretending Shippudden doesn't exist, unless I somehow get really into it...

And I completely forgot to point out the music. It is really good. Definitely more my style than One Piece's music, though I think Bleach still has the best OPs and Endings.

list of my fav animes:
Oran Host Club
Death Note
Sgt. Frog
Squid Girl
Shugo Chara (watched it 3 times lol)
xxxHolic
Chobits
Tegami Bachi
Milky Holmes (can't remember the full name)
Chi's new Address (so friggn cute)
Elfin Lied
Spice and Wolf (i think thats what it was called)
Shuffle
Black Butler (so friggn cool)
can't quite remember what else i've watched can any of you recamend anything?
also heres a list of moives i've watched:
Professor Layton:and the Eternal Diva
Howl's Moving Castle
Ponyo
my Neighbor Totoro
Nasucca
Castle in the Sky
pretty much all of the Miazaki moives lol

oh yea and bleach :3

Yay, another Sgt. Frog fan! Anyways, judging from what I see here:

• Soul Eater - It's like Bleach but better. More style, better characters, less filler, loads of humor that sort of reminds me of Sgt. Frog
• Sailor Moon - Because you like Shugo Chara and Shuffle. I recommend watching subbed and uncut if you can.
• Card Captor Sakura - Because you liked Clamp's other stuff.
• D. Gray Man - Because you liked Black Butler
• Pandora Hearts - Same as above
• Code Geass - Because You Liked Death Note
• Monster - Same as above, this time for the detective angle
• Fruits Basket - Because you liked Ouran Highschool Host Club
• Special A - Same as above
• Higurashi - Because you liked Elfen Lied
• Gantz - Same as above
• Azumanga Daioh - Because you liked Squid Girl

Glad you liked it! Definitely one of my favorites from the past few years!

outside of like two scenes that last only a few minutes, everything after 135 is filler anyway. Just in case you didn't know.

Here's a good one: Anybody have any series they consider underrated?

Personally, the best I can think of that fits this category is Kaiba. It's called a Sci-fi romance story, but it's more of a psychological sci-fi adventure. It's about a world where memories are stored in capsules and bodies that die are replaced with new ones. A world where the rich and priveliged live above the clouds, wearing and trading bodies like fashionable clothing, while the poor live in barren lands, barely getting by and under constant threat of having their bodies taken away. It's also about a boy who has woken up in one of these barren lands with his memories locked away, the only thing left to guide him being a pendant containing the image of an unknown woman, and his journey through this crazy, decaying world.

BTW, don't be fooled by the artstyle, it's actually pretty freakin' dark if you haven't figured that out already. It's not exactly violent, but it uses a lot of mature themes.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you told me that before. I'll try to pull through regardless.

I was actually trying to think of one I've seen that I like a lot more than critics did (only examples I can think of are Bobobo and Megaman Starforce) but I assume you mean anime that should be a lot more well known than they are.

...crap I can't think of one. Everything I've seen was either on American television or is an internet darling or at least something close to one. I mean I've complained Detective Conan should be more popular in America even all things considered but it's not that bad. I guess Baccano? I'm not sure, has that gotten more popular after Durarara became semi-popular?

Oh wait! While the manga is better, I love School Rumble and I have a feeling it's nowhere near as popular as it should be or even as expected.

Nanari is a good anime I just finished on Netflix. It had a good sense of humor, and has enough action to keep you interested.

I completely agree, I could not stand to watch Naruto dubbed.

Yeah, if it weren't for Kaiba, I'd have had trouble coming up with anything, too. Only other ones I got are Idol Project (which I only found out about through an obscure blog), This Ugly Yet Beautiful World (which is hated by many, but I don't get why), and Maybe Giant Robo (it got into a SRW game though).

Also, at the very least School Rumble seems to be highly regarded. But than again, so was Kaiba.

@GundamMac On this page, in a response to a question I asked him, KKslider listed the Naruto fillers after episode 135 that are worth watching. I've got that page bookmarked so I don't have to go through loads of pages to check back on it when I need to.

oh yeah I remember that. I'm just pleasently surprised anyone else used that. I WAS HELPFUL!

lol most of the shows you listed i've already watched lol such as:
D. Gray Man
Fruits Basket
and Soul Eater....o wait i guess i haven't watched half of d shows u listed lol

Got Soul Eater today. I hop eit's as good as everyone says

Soul Eater? It's absolutley amazing! While they cut the series off just as the manga starts getting good, the balance of story, action and well defined (if slightly cliché) characters is just right. Plus the Japanese voice cast are superb. Though anyone question why Blackstars US dub was given the voice of a 4 year old girl considering he's such a macho character?. Hope they do the spin-off series "NOT Soul Eater" next, I'm only a little way in but loving it already.

One of the series that I've watched which is very underrated is Katanagatari , a short series by White Fox based on a light novel - the story is quite basic but follows a swordless swordsman and an eager young female strategist hunting for 12 master swords before they're used for nefarious purposes and the possible on/off relationship between them. The animation and art style is beautiful and can only be described as Clamp on acid (similar character design but with gorgeous visual flourishes and splashes of colours & very unique eye designs)... while the story blisters along fast enough to fill out it's 12 episodes to the brim with twists and turns. My only real regret is with the ending, though I won't spoil it JUST in case.

Oh, I also think Princess Tutu is far too underrated - but I think Gundamac may agree with my on that!

Uhm, sorry if I've not been on that much... too much work & not enough free time makes Danté a dull boy.

I've got Fist of the North Star & Fist of the North Star 2 on my harddrive, I might be willing to share (though not entirely sure how). FotNS is one of the great series which is oft overlooked as an "ultraviolence" animé, which is suprising as there is very little gore/blood actually shown and the hero, Ken, is made out to be a kind man forced into fighting. My best advice is start at the very beginning and ignore New Fist of the Northstar altogether until you've seen the first season as the story is actually quite important & the OAVs seem ludicrously shallow in comparison.

That basically reads like a list of my favourite animé over the last few years, you have exquisite taste ma'dame! I used to use "I'm Alive", the ending song from Black Butler on my PC alarm clock. Could I suggest Kannagi & Kobato? Kannagi is a "magical girlfriend" series that takes a novel approach the the genre which manages to mix cute, intelligent and funny altogether at the same time, while Kobato is made by Clamp (of xxxHolic, Chobits & CC Sakura fame) and revolves around a mysterious girls quest to fix the pain in people hearts under the tutorage of her stuffed dog mentor Anubis.

If you like those series I could make some more suggestions, add me & we can S/N chat.

I've been watching Azumanga Daioh, Kiss x Sis and Papa no Iukoto lately. All great shows...

Azumanga Daioh is a great series, I advise reading the manga too... it's even better! Oh and I love the ending theme Raspberry Heaven, next to the Dragon Half ending in my all time favourites.

@Gundamac.... just started watching Gaogaigar for the first time. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Wouldn't have found the series if you hadn't have mentioned it.