Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

The first 14 episodes of Sword Art Online were surprisingly poignant. They missed a boatload of details from the original light novel, but still very good. Every episode after that drops off a cliff and never returns the show to greatness.

@GreenDream - Oh yeah, I remember you posting that in the top anime/manga thread. I forgot to reply to that, since I know I've watched quite a few of what you've seen.

Maison Ikkoku - I'm surprised to find someone else who saw this. I've yet to see it the whole way through, but I've quite enjoyed what I've seen. Have you seen Touch, by any chance?

The Last Exile - I love the setting and aesthetics, but the plot takes a nose dive very quickly. The sequel/remake/reimagining being even worse in that regard. Really, really wanted to enjoy it, but could not.

Now and Then, Here and There - I liked this one. Not as much as others have, but it was still pretty good. I can't remember what I disliked, though. Maybe it was a little too brutal at times?

Eiken - Too late! Already saw the anime. And I can't unsee it!!!

Fullmetal Panic - Only saw the anime. First season was boring as hell, and I didn't find it all that funny. The second half was much better, though. More plot, less stupid. I have a feeling that the Manga is more like in the middle of these two extremes?

The Law of Ueki - Only saw, like, two episodes of it. It came off as being very generic, so I stopped watching in favor of better shounen shows like Shaman King and Soul Eater (and of course One Piece). Still better than Fairy Tail or Bleach, though. Maybe someday I'll go back to it.

Princess Monoke - I know it's a fan favorite, but I just hated it. It's themes were too heavy-handed, and they're messages people have been trying to hammer into my head since I was a child, but I just don't give a damn about what they're trying to say. I also didn't find it to be that interesting a story, regardless of the themes. One of the few anime I really do still hate, even after a fairly recent rewatch.

The rest I'm greatly interested in seeing, especially Metropolis, despite my extremely mixed reactions to your personal favorites. Almost all of those are very obscure anime, and regardless of my opinions of them, it does my heart good to see someone else watching such interesting, forgotten classics.

I give a shameless plug to psgels.net. He does a ton of anime reviews and previews; all very in-depth.

I just browse through Anime News Network and Wikipedia, plus I would go to various anime anime forums, to find out about anime. It's getting to the point where I can just go with my gut and watch whatever I feel like watching.

Which reminds me: How does everyone else choose what anime to watch?
Often I'll agonize over a bunch of different shows until I finally end up giving up and stumbling upon or think of a show unrelated to the others I was thinking of, and just watch that. I should probably simplify my system soon. Of course, sometimes I'll actually plan out what I watch (I'll watch This first, then this next, etc.), and that can be very successful. Not sure why I don't do that more often. I may not know how to do that anymore, though...

some people say an anime is cool and then I decide to watch it. I have to have heard something about it very recently or I'll probably forget unless I added it to my "To Watch Later" list on My Anime List.

I decided to watch Tokyo Mew Mew and Air to watch genres I haven't seen much of before. I regret those decisions. Not because either are awful but because Air's first half is awful and Tokyo Mew Mew is 52 episodes of mediocrity while teasing an interesting story that isn't developed well enough to elevate the series to being better (though at times it does really work, even when it probably shouldn't). I mean, it is kinda lame, especially from the perspective of a 22 year old guy, but the pacing's really good, it doesn't have episodes without any point (even if the attempts at character development episodes are usually really weak) and the overall story and mysteries at least have kept my interest. Also bonus points for having an environmental message that's not just "YOU HUMANS SUCK, THE END".

I thought you already hated Air? And yeah, Tokyo Mew Mew is pretty bad in my opinion. There are much better choices in the Magical girl category than that.

@CanisWolfred I have a list of anime to watch and it was getting so big that I made a word document so that I could remember what order they were in. I find manga/anime that interest me in a variety of ways; from this forum, browsing TVtropes, manga being advertised at the back/front of manga books I read etc. Sometimes, I'll just be watching random youtube clips and decide to add anime onto the list after seeing funny or interesting clips and sometimes I'll get recommendations from friends and sometimes I'll see some that interest me on other websites. After finding out about an manga/anime that intrigues me, I'll normally find out more about it on Wikipedia and TVtropes.

I was recommended Tokyo Mew Mew as a good magical girl anime so I just assumed the genre kinda sucked.

I hated the first half of Air and it's awful side characters and vague, pretentious without any justification metaphor nonsense. It gets good with episode 7 when it has focus and characters I care about in any way. Episode 11 in particular is dare I say, brilliant, despite the series' reliance on "BECAUSE MAGIC!" for everything.

@kkslider Who ever recommended you Tokyo Mew Mew as a good Magical Girl anime does not have any experience with the genre. I'm just gonna assume you haven't seen Card Captor Sakura, because that is a great Magical Girl anime and where I would recommended someone to start.

Says it's licensed and therefore not available there.

@CanisWolfred Oh yeah, now I remember doing that too... this was kind of an old list, but I stand by Maison Ikkoku as my personal favorite; watched start to finish. The others were really just recommendations. I agree with your sentiments on most everything.

The manga of Full Metal Panic was definitely middle of the line, bouncing back and forth between plot and slapstick. Didn't drag itself on, it was pretty short (9 volumes for the original). Much more emphasis was put on the storytelling and character interactions than espionage and mecha action. Some of the events, like the one involving using a microwave to short an electrical device, was handled more naturally.

I first watched Princess Mononoke about 12 years ago on VHS, so there's some nostalgia there. It's definitely a bit too ham-fisted compared to other Miyazaki works like Spirited Away. Except for Porco Rosso, which was... you know... HAM fisted?

Law of Ueki actually moves pretty slowly for a shonen. It's not as exciting as most others, though that's probably intentional. I haven't seen much of One Piece yet, but one of my friends recommends it highly. (The subbed version, of course!) I've heard that Bleach starts out good, then goes way downhill after the first Soul Society infiltration arc.

I only saw the first Last Exile, and there were definitely some very cliched elements, especially for character development (or lack thereof for the villains). The hanging plot threads annoyed me, too. I just really enjoyed the imaginative world design.

I have not yet seen Touch, but I've read good things about it. I've also read about a new romance called Natsuyuki Rendezvous. I still haven't seen a whole lot of shows.

As for Eiken... well... at least it's not one of those wacky onii-chan stepsibiling incest shows... though it's just as offensive...

Well tbh, I did it just to get a taste of the genre and to help understand over-the-top girly anime fans for a parody fanfic and not something I wanted to watch too regularly.

the apparently horrible dub, Card Captors, is like the 2nd anime I ever saw (after Pokemon) so I probably should have watched it instead.

[quote=FonistofCruxis]@kkslider Who ever recommended you Tokyo Mew Mew as a good Magical Girl anime does not have any experience with the genre. I'm just gonna assume you haven't seen Card Captor Sakura, because that is a great Magical Girl anime and where I would recommended someone to start.

Try here.

CCS was my third anime right after Digimon and my first one, Pokemon. The dub is most definitely awful. On top of a range of passible to bad voice acting the editing and cutting out of episodes was just dumb to the point of being kind of offensive. "Hey guys! This is too girly! Girls don't watch cartoons, and guys sure as heck won't appreciate a love able set of characters and interesting story progression! Lets try to change this into the complete opposite of what it is!" The result was bad.
Obviously watch the original Japanese version subbed. If you can understand the language I recommended watching it in Spanish. The Spanish dub is amazing. Every voice is perfect IMO and the opening and ending songs are exactly the same just translated. It also follows the original story instead of editing the crud out of it.

@Fonis - I usually find TVTropes can color one's opinion about a show, myself. I don't really like that.

@kkslider - Yeah, Tokyo Mew Mew has its fans, but not a lot of them. I was recommended it, too, and it kinda put me off the genre for a while. I've only seen 6 other Magical shows besides it (Shugo Chara, Sailor Moon, Pretear, Petite Princess Yucie, Princess Tutu, and Pretty Cure), and found them all to be more enjoyable, though I'll admit some of them are pretty similar to it. Out of those I'd say Futari wa Pretty Cure is the best, but Ironically that's mostly because it's relatively tame (the boys they're interested are actually about their ages...) and not overly cutesy (Outside of a few select episodes, like episode 14, it never really made me groan), though I still think overall it had a decent plot that kept you going after a while, as well as likeable characters that I could actually relate to, which isn't easy for me. Plus, the action can be really nice, too. The pacing was still too slow for the payoff, though, but I didn't mind since I just liked the characters so much. Your mileage may vary, though. I suggest keeping the bar low if you ever give another Magical girl show a chance. While chances are good you'll be surprised, it's better to be surprised than disappointed.

@Retro - I unfortunately only saw CCS dubbed, and yeah, it was unbearable. I'll watch it subbed someday, but unfortunately, my to-watch list has grown rather tall, if you know what I mean.

[quote=FonistofCruxis]

Thanks! I really wasn't that far from the end. Appreciate the help.

EDIT: Oh, Haganai is on Funi's YouTube channel! I keep getting recommended this so I think I'll watch it before they take it down. It's some sort of comedy about two kids who have no friends so they make the "I have no friends club" for lonely people to make new friends. ...
EDIT after watching 5 minutes: Oh it's a harem.

Check out first episode of high recommendations, then power through the rest (unless it drops like a rock). Although it's also fun to check out shows that are "so bad they're..."

Also... about the closest thing to Magical Girl genre I really enjoy is Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena...

So yeah Haganai doesn't seem appealing from the first episode. Cute plot I guess. I'm going to watch the second episode and call it quits there if I don't like it. I'll go back to finishing Panty & Stockings. Man that anime is wonderfully messed up.

EDIT: Episode 2 was much more entertaining. 3's preview shows a Pokemon parody. I guess this anime has a running gag of parodying video games. Episode 2 had a parody of Monster Hunter. I think I'll stop after one more episode depending how good it is.

Almost missed this:

Yeah, I'll definitely have to see more of Maison Ikkoku someday, I just had other priorities since I last watched it. It was certainly great from what I saw.

Also have to read the Manga of Fullmetal Panic someday then.

Well, at least you understand the flaws while still enjoying it. (referring to Mononoke)

No offense, but you aren't making a good case for The Law of Ueki. Not that slow is bad, but I've yet to see one that could be slower without losing my interest. Also, I liked the dub for One Piece (Funimation's) about as much, if not more than the sub. The voice actors do an excellent job. I can't wait to see who they choose to be Franky's voice. I could see them going in some interesting directions for him. And Bleach I thought went downhill after the first arc, though I kinda liked the Bount Arc more than the Soul Society Arc, and the Gotei 13 Invading Army arc was pretty good, IMO.

Yeah, the world of The Last Exile and the visuals were fantastic! But that wasn't enough to keep me interested, unfortunately. Glad you managed to, though.

Yeah, Touch is good, and I've heard great things about Natsuyuki Rendezvous as well, though I've yet to see it myself.

I think the less said about Eiken, the better.

Oh yeah, Rose of Versailles is on Viki, right? And I could never get into Revolutionary Girl Utena. It's just too damn weird...

Decided to start reading the Bleach manga again (originally stopped after the whole Arrancar/Aizen plot ended).

The new group of characters they're bringing in (the Fullbringers) seem really out of place for the series, though, IMO. It seems like Kubo liked the Bounts (anime filler) for some reason, & decided to introduce similar characters into the manga (their powers are different than the Bounts', but they seem almost as out of place).

I'll give it some more time, but it's feeling like post-Aizen Bleach might be the series' "GT" (as in totally unnecessary, and there just to keep the series going just because it sells).