Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

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I'll post this here as well, as it is very relevent:

10. Gaiking: The Legend of Daiku Maryu

Not really the best show out there, but I figure it at least deserved to do well enough to finish its run instead of ending on a lousy cliffhanger. It's not like it was particularly bad in any area. It had an interesting world it actually bothered to flesh out, good characters including a respectable lead, a story with a decent amount of surprises, and some pretty well-done action scenes. It's certainly one of the better Super Robot shows I've seen, yet for some reason it was stopped just short of it's final arc. We never got to see the Gaiking go into space. ;_;

9. Blue Comet SPT Layzner

Okay, I'll admit that half the reason I listed this one was for the killer opening theme. I just love that song...anyways, it's still a pretty good show it its own right, but it seems to be an unknown, thanks to how it's never been fully subbed. Still, more than half of it is out now, and what I've seen so far has been pretty awesome. This is one of the oldest shows to do the whole "pacifist soldier" thing, and it plays it up pretty well, making for some intense action and character conflict. The story and world (Alternative history where the Berlin Wall never fell, and now aliens are trying to start a World War III) are also pretty interesting, and I look forward to seeing how it finally ends.

8. After War Gundam X

I couldn't find a good title image or a good opening, that's how obscure this is. And it's freakin' Gundam. For whatever reason, this entry in the metaseries gets overlooked, even back in it's day. It's another case where it was doing so bad, it had to get cancelled before it's planned end, so the ending was rushed and while not terrible, screwed up a key element it was building up to the entire show. Seriously, the story was going really good up until the last two episodes where they suddenly had to explain "Newtypism" - an enigmatic theme present in nearly every Gundam show since the beginning, and had ended with this show until UC brought it back - and it completely copped out, or at least it felt like they did because they didn't build up to it enough, nor excecuted it well enough for it to seem big and important. Instead it was underwhelming, and it's a crying shame, since this show had everything else working for it - fantastic and memorable characters, an intriguing plot, an interesting post-apocalyptic setting, good music and art, and some of the best action I've seen in a Gundam anime set outside the U.C. universe, bar none. It really deserved to do better, at least enough to finish it's original run as intended.

7. Getter Robo Armageddon

I've gone on about this one in the Anime thread enough, so I'll just say this - this is easily one of the best Getter Robo iterations out there, animated or not. I'd say it's only problem is that it's confusing at first if you're not familiar with the franchise, though it does become clearer as it goes. But ultimately the show is just supposed to be pure, unadulterated fun, and there just aren't enough shows like that in my opinion. Not ones that I know of, at least.

6. Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still

Gotta love openings that sum up the entire show for you. This is one amazing OVA, and I'm surprised I never see it talked about anywhere. It's got an extremely well-done plot, one that's full of twists and turns so you never quite know where it's gonna get, yet make sense enough so that you never feel cheated. The characters are mostly pretty cool, and I liked their interactions and development, though I always feel like you're supposed to be already familiar with them, despite none of them being really famous at all - yeah, they're all from other works, believe it or not. The action here is pretty good, too (there's more person-versus-person than Giant Robo battling, though, despite the name ), though what I think really seals it for me is the orchestral score. Seriously, it's great music, and fits the retro-sci-fi feel really well. Again, this one never did all that well, and I just wish more people would give it a chance.

5. The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar/GaoGaiGar Final

I'd put this higher if it didn't already have a sizeable cult following, especially on 4Chan. Still, this is one that I feel should be more popular, simply because it epitomizes the Super Robot genre. While every other Super Robot show at the time was trying to reinvent the genre, GaoGaiGar proved that there was still more to bo done with the original tropes and mechanics, and honestly, I think I enjoyed this much more than nearly any of those reinvented Super Robot anime. It excecuted nearly everything flawlessly. The story was light, yet intriguing and occasionally intense, especially later on, and is filled with a surprising amount of...well, suprises - The genre really had been considered stale, so the fact that it wasn't completely predictable made it a varitable feat for its time. The battles were always fun to watch and were very well thought out. The music and art were incredible, adding to the sense of intensity and awe the show inspires. The best part was the steady sense of escalation. By the time it the power levels become extremely absurd, it actually feels natural, since things were building up to it. This is especially true in the Final OVAs, where, thanks in part to its brevity, things become really intense really fast, and the whole show just comes together for an absolutely brilliant Final Battle. Really, the only negative I have with it is how slow it is, and how minimal the story feels for a while. It's also still formulaic for at least the first half of the series, which not everybody will be comfortable with. Still, if you can stick with it, you'll be in for one helluva ride.

4. Kaiba

This is pretty much the definition of obscure - It's difficult to get ahold of episodes, even on the internet, at least last I checked, and it's rare you'll find anybody who has heard of it, let alone watched it. It's also the biggest fake-outs in anime prior to Madoka Magica. What looks like a cutsy kids anime is actually a very deep, dark, mature sci-fi/fantasy anime that focuses on the power of memories. I don't want to go too deep into this one, but it's easily one of the most complex shows I've ever seen, with a lot of deep elements strewn throughout. It's one of the few anime I honestly enjoyed deconstructing, and I wish more people got to watch it so I could discuss it with others.

3. Legend of the Galactic Heroes

This is probably the single most mature anime series I've ever encountered. Not once did it feel like it was underestimating the intelligence of its audience, not in its story, nor its characters, nor its action scenes. It really felt like it was aimed squarely at the full-grown thinking man, and I really think it helped it immensely. It's not exactly perfect, but it's well done enough in nearly every area, and builds upon its strengths, especially its story and characters - nearly all of which are important in some way. I should warn that it's really long (110 episodes is very long for an OVA at least), though its pace felt perfect in my eyes, but maybe not everyone's. Honestly, this would be higher if it weren't for the fact that it does have a cult following already, though I still feel it could be bigger. More people, especially adults, need to watch this.

2. Armored Trooper VOTOMS

I was hesitant to list this one, since it's actually a very big franchise (albeit one that consists almost entirely of OVAs after the original full series), but still, I don't see it talked about much, so I'm assuming it could at least stand to be more popular in the west. I'm mostly talking about the original Armored Trooper VOTOMS series, since that's the one I've seen the most of, but it's to my understanding that the whole franchise is pretty great. Anyways, it's a really gritty mecha show with quite possibly one of the best protagonists in a mecha show I've ever seen, Chirico, and quite interestingly, no real main mech for most of the show. Chirico mainly just uses massed produced units that's not too different from what his opponents are using. It's interesting because now he's on a completely level playing field with his opponents, many of which are quite skilled - Despite Chirico being a former top-class soldier, he's still given a run for his money quite often. All this helps to make the battles very intense. Mix all this with a very intriguing plot involving conspiracies and cults, and you have a recipe for success, which it apparently was, in Japan at least. It was released in America, though it was released by a dying company that I guess wasn't able to do much for it, or even get out a good print run (the last volume in particular is very rare), which may help explain why it's so unknown outside of Japan, besides being old. (I should also mention that the animation has aged quite gracefully)

1. Fang of the Sun Dougram

This is quite possibly the most realistic and interesting mecha anime series I've ever seen. There's a lot of thought and detail throughout, and while I doubt want to spoil anything, the story really works like no other in the genre. Even without the intense realism, the story itself is also incredible. There's tons of good character conflict and development, political intrigue, symbolism, and tact throughout. The characters are also very likeable and interesting. The only problem with it is that the animation is dated, and I recall noticing a lot of animation errors when I watched it. Also, I should note that it's not exactly a happy story - it's not exactly depressing, and there's lots of humor throughout. Just don't be too surprised when good people die...

Really, this is a great show that I don't think deserved to be so forgotten. It's a classic show, one of the earliest example of Mecha, much like Gundam and Macross, but while those shows have prospered even to this day, Dougram faded into obscurity. A shame, since quality-wise, it is easily up there with those shows, if not better.

Honorable Mention: Mobile Suit Gundam - because Gundam could never be popular enough, in my mind.

I don't know if any of you guys care, but I really think all of these shows are worth a shot. I'm sure there's at least one here that you guys could like.