Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

Summer Wars was pretty great, but like the other movie I saw from the same creator, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, I couldn't get that invested in the characters. Maybe that's because it's a movie instead of a series (in fact that's probably the main reason) but I get this sense that there's almost too much put into making the characters believable and normal instead of making them good characters who are also believable and normal, if that makes any sense. Granted, it was better than The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in that regard and I get why people love it by I think I just prefer the wacky and ridiculous characters (heck, even the tragically believable characters I tend to connect with are also ridiculous).

lol yeah i remember now that usually the ones you hate are usually the ones i end up liking xD but ugh Nyarko-San W <--- worst thing ever even by just the first episode i tried to watch e.O but anohana was amazing thanks again!

Nyarko-San only gets worse. I watched 3 episodes thinking maybe it would get better, but it...really, really didn't. It's probably one of the worst shows I've seen in a long time. I mean, X and Original Life were just confusing, Apocalypse Zero was overly-perverse, and K-On and Henneko were mind-numbingly boring, but Nyarko-san was creepy, weird, confusing, overly-perverse, AND boring, all in one package. Yuck.

Oh yeah, and I think I saw some of the Rock-Lee spinoff this year. It was pretty good.

Is Naruto worth watching at all? I've heard so many negative things about it, and I don't want to watch more than a few long anime.

I like Naruto, but it is still a huge downgrade from One Piece or Conan or whatever. Even in terms of 100+ episode action anime I'd put Reborn! and Hunter X Hunter over it too.

Yeah its is worth watching, more so the first half then shippuden (Hope I spelled that right) which goes a bit down hill but is still entertaining.

Plus, if you skip the filler it's only a little over 100 episodes long, IIRC...at least before you hit Shippuden.

I'd still recommend Hunter X Hunter and Reborn! over it as combined those 2 shows are still shorter than both Naruto shows combined.

There is a whole list of stuff I would recommend over Naruto.
-Cowboy Bebop
-Hajime no Ippo (Manga's best for this one)
-Samurai Champloo
-gurren lagann
-Toriko
-sergeant frog
Edit: Reborn! is good just the ending for me was disappointing.
Edit 2: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure as well

None of those shows are Tournament anime except Toriko, so I don't really see the comparison...

Hajime no Ippo not a tournament anime thats the first time I've heard someone say that.
Edit: also by format I meant same type of action orientated series that have comedy elements.

It's a sports anime, certainly different from what Naruto goes for.

And I'd argue that your definition you're using to compare things to is too broad. I just don't think it's a good idea to compare apples to acorns just because they both come from a tree, if you catch my drift. Cowboy Bebop, for instance...I don't think there's even a single common element between the two. They both have action, but it's very different types of action, for very different reasons, in very different amounts. If I was going to compare Naruto to anything, I'd personally stick to shows like Dragon Ball or Hunter X Hunter, shows that are well within the same genre and going with these elements in sort-of similar directions.

Edited my original comment so its more clear but I just want to added that Hajime No Ippo has tournaments ergo its a tournament anime.

The first few episodes do a great job of introducing the leads and supporting characters, so you might want to check out those and see if you like the show's dynamic. The first arc really isn't indicative of the rest of the show's style though.

Other than One Piece, the only long anime that really interest me are Toriko, HunterXHunter, Yu Yu Hakusho, and maybe Jojo's Bizarre Adventure & Fist of the North Star. (Classic Shonen after all) I'm also considering DBZ Kai, if anything, if I were ever to try any sort of DBZ, it'd be Kai. And it'd be nice if they ever did the same thing with DB, but since it wasn't as popular as DBZ, I'm guessing not.

Recently several shows are really piquing my interest, Madoka Magica, Gurren Lagann, Cowboy Bebop, and Code Geass.

@Rocko52 Imo, Dragon Ball didn't need the abridging treatment nearly as much as DBZ did. And maybe it's just the nostalgia talking but there's just so much campy goodness in the original DBZ that Kai doesn't quite do it for me. Sure, it's fine if you want to watch it for the plot, but people don't usually watch something like DBZ for the plot XD

Also, those four shows are all going to be awesome. Was it you who watched something like Outlaw Star or Trigun before? I remember recommending Cowboy Bebop some time ago to you, I think. Go watch it! It's awesome!

I did watch Trigun and loved it dearly. Still haven't seen Badlands Rumble though.

Also, I'm very interested in watching Azumanga Diaoh, since I loved Lucky Star so much.

I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't recommend Azumanga Daioh.

I've never heard of Azumanga Diaoh.

As for Puella Magi Madoka Magica Rocko52, it is one of those rare anime series in which you'll love and possibly hate at the same time. The story is very dark and profound and the OP and second ED music are great. One thing I should mention before you watch it is that the anime uses a lot of surrealism and psychedelic visuals whenever the enemies are present. Right now you can watch it at DAISUKI's YouTube channel and it features all of the episodes in English subs.

I didn't think Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W was that bad. The first season was a lot worse in my opinion. Grant it, I would not recommend it to anyone unless I knew it would fall into someone's particular interests. Nyaruko-san is not a series to be taken seriously as it does nothing more than make references to various Japanese media.

One of the worst anime I've seen thus far would have to be Fate/Kaleid liner Prisma Illya. Only the sixth episode may be worth watching but everything else was awful. And it's getting a second season? I don't see the point.

Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond The Boundary) is getting really good and it is possibly one of the best anime airing this season. The tenth episode was a little confusing, but everything gets cleared up near the end and then some in the eleventh. I wonder how they are going to resolve everything in the last episode.

The best anime I've seen from this season (not including those with 24+ episodes) is Noucome (My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy). I was laughing very hard through most of the episodes. I didn't think it was going to be worth watching after the first few minutes of the first episodes but I immediately changed my mind later on. Sadly, it was set to only air ten episodes but maybe it was for the best. Hopefully, it'll get a second season is a couple of years.