Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

Just finished all of the volumes of Bakuman I currently have (up to vol. 6) and it is great It seems they are only up to volume 12 out of 20 that are officially translated in America. Seems USA is weaksauce when it comes to having translated manga. I've been wanting to read Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles too, but my library for some reason only have vol. 24, 25 and 26. I hate reading manga online...
@Mickeymac I remember coming into this thread a long time ago and everyone was flipping out about Elfen Lied. I just went and started watching it to. It was pretty shocking because I had no idea what to expect Had to finish it while the family was out.
Also any recommendations for any anime movies that are out in the USA? I've watched all of Miyazaki's stuff and seen Summer Wars, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Akira and, although I hate to include this because it is really, really bad, Skycrawlers. My friend likes to get movies and occasionally we like to watch anime movies together. (Also, Ghost in the Shell is next on the list).

@Smexi - Redline, Voices of a Distant Star, 5 Centimeters Per Second, and The Place Promised in Our Early Days are some of my faves. I also heard good things about everything directed by Satoshi Kon. Vintage could probably come up with more. There's also a bunch of good movies related to existing series I could recommend if you're interested.

Just finished Haruhi Suzumiya it was cool (especially the movie) but I REALLY hated the endless 8 episodes (felt like hell and the solution to it was so simple and I had thought about the solution early on). Also one of those rare times the english voice acting is better than the jap voices.

@mamp As much as I love that series, I agree on Endless eight, if the ending was better, it might not have been so bad. In the manga (which came after the anime) it was a lot shorter as it was only two chapters. I heard that it was similarly short in the light novels (they came first, before the anime). It still had the same name though so maybe it was because August wouldn't end and that's the eighth month or it could be because the infinity sign looks like an 8 on its side. I also agree on the voice acting, aside from God knows, the song Haruhi sings, I much prefer the English voice acting. I still like the English version of God knows but I prefer the Japanese version.

Now that you've finished that, why not watch The melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya. Its a spin-off series and is a comedy with short episodes that are around 5 minutes each and has short comedic, crazy skits with the characters. Its mostly in a chibi style but sometimes the characters will switch to a more realistic style. This youtube channel has all 25 episodes.

I saw Meancholy of Haruhi-chan before I saw the actual anime. It's what got me into it in the first place. lol

Deadman wonderland is my new anime I watch, I actually kinda like it

Yes, I love watching it every Saturday night on Toonami

Also, I just learned the Blood series is still ongoing in Japan. I enjoyed Blood: the Last Vampire, and Blood +, so I hope this new stuff comes over eventually.

@SMEXIZELDAMAN - I would highly recommend any and all of Satoshi Kon's films. Fair warning though, Tokyo Godfathers is the only movie of his that I'd say is "conventionally" structured (and that one's about three homeless Tokyoites trying to deliver an abandoned child to its mother in the dead of winter...); his other films (Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress and Paprika) are, in many ways quite literally, mind-trips. I've watched both Sword of the Stranger and Redline in the past couple of months, and I can say they were both excellent. And I remember both Origin: Spirits of the Past and Ninja Scroll being pretty good as well.

For movies based on existing series: Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, Eden of the East: King of Eden and Eden of the East: Paradise Lost are all great, but you definitely should watch their respective series in order to fully appreciate them (especially in the cases of FMA and EotE, since they're essentially the finales of their TV series). Bebop's movie is probably the easiest to drop into without any prior knowledge though, since, like most episodes from the show itself, its story is largely self-contained, with it's own interesting one-off characters.

And since you seem to like Hayao Miyazaki, have you checked out any of the Ghibli movies that were helmed by Isao Takahata (like Grave of the Fireflies and Pom Poko) or that Miyazaki wrote but didn't direct (Whisper of the Heart, The Secret World of Arrietty)? Or Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro?

@mamp - You're preaching to the choir with Endless Eight. It was the only part of Haruhi (be it season one, season two, the movie or the ONAs) I didn't love, and, boy, did it feel like a real chore to sit through.

@RevolverLink I loved most of Haruhi Suzumiya but Endless eight wasn't the only part that I didn't like. I also didn't like Someday in the rain, it was such a boring episode.

I'm almost done with Trigun now, and man is it getting heavy. Episode 23 was just...beautiful. Almost brought me to tears.

@Mickeymac: No, no, if you want heavy, read the manga (Trigun Maximum), then you'll see heavy...

I don't think I want it any heavier than it was. I don't go out of my way to see sad stuff. It's better when its a nice surprise. This was just right.

Anyways, I finished it today. To put it simply, it was great. A little rough around the edges at times, but otherwise it was a lot of fun to watch with fantastic and memorable comedy throughout. When it got serious, though, it got dead serious, and while I didn't always enjoy it, when it pulled it off, it was beautiful. The action was intense, and I loved that Vash always tried to minimize the casualties. I can't stand to see people die. Music was great, the look could've been better but otherwise it worked well enough. Nothing bad to say really, except the ending was a tad anti-climactic.

So I started reading Mahou shoujo Oriko Magica and it was awesome. I'm gonna start reading Kazumi Magica, anyone know if it's any good since it's kinda different?
@Mickeymac
I don't like seeing people die either but I still like to watch those kinds of anime that are dark and violent. I usually watch some romance/comedy/slice of life anime to balance out the violence and depression I just witnessed.

Again, another area where the manga outdoes the anime. I wasn't seriously suggesting you read the manga, by the way, since you'd spend half of the time it takes the read it depressed, one-fourth amused and the last fourth disappointed.

One of the things that the manga does do right, though, is not making Wolfwood look like a lightweight...

Just got into this song recently:

Finished Watching Vandread,Rosario + Vampire, and Demon King Daimao.

For all the Sailor Moon Fans out there...I never thought I'd see the day.

Why did you never think you'd see the day where something popular from the 80s or 90s was remade? That happens probably literally every week.

Oh my gosh. ... I don't even like Sailor Moon and this is just. Wow. Geez, now that I think about it a lot of old animes have been getting new series over the past 2 years.

They already announced it for worldwide release. I never thought I'd see the day that Sailor Moon would be in the US again.