Any anime series that you've been enjoying?

[HiGHFLYiN9]

I remember the last thread was great. I found a lot of new stuff to watch that I really enjoyed, so I figured why not start a new one and find out what people are watching lately.

Some that I recently finished and really enjoyed were: (and rated out of 5)

Onegai Teacher (Please Teacher): I first caught this series a couple of years ago at Otakon. I picked up the DVDs and finally got around to sitting through the whole series. I had a bit of trouble relating to the main character however once adjusting it became like an emotional soap opera with teenagers with a little bit of sci-fi thrown in, which isn't bad at all in my book. The series also features really excellent animation. I look forward to catching the sequel "Onegai Twins" in the near future. ****

Chobits: About a guy that falls in love with a robot of sorts, the series moved along and the persocon Chi seemed to remind me a little of pokemon when constantly repeating the same word over and over. The main character seemed overly innocent most of the time and would get wild nosebleeds whenever he saw Chi (the robot girl) in revealing attire, which got pretty old. But was funny at times like when he would try and purchase womens underwear. The story also unfolded pretty unformly so it became more and more engrossing over time and I found myself glued to the TV for the last few episodes. ****

Ai Yori Ioshi: Reminded me a lot of Tenchi Muyo, a guy with a ton of girls magnetized to him and fighting over him all in one house. He also is to marry one of the girls who is just a little too idealistic, which makes Ai Yori seem like a cookie-cutter Love comedy. Not quite as enjoyable as Chobits but it's easy to get lost in the atmosphere and very well illustrated. I'm interested to find out what happens to the characters in the sequel Enishi. *** 1/2

Haibane Renmai: Much more dramatic than the three above with a very unique setting. The Haibane are people who are magically transported to a city where no one knows who originally created it. Once they are transported they come out of a cocoon and could be any age, they then proceed to grow wings and later on disappear into the sky just as strangely as they arrive. The way the series progressed reminded me a lot of serial experiments lain, and I later found out that it's made by the same people. Found it a bit slow moving at times (to the point where you are dying for something to happen) but very interesting subject matter and became much more enthralling as it went. Unfortunently it seemed to end to soon (at a measly 13 episodes). *** 1/2

Just started Fruits Basket. Will post about how I like it latah

[ooheadsoo]

Beck. If you like coming of age stories. If you like indie rock bands. If you like a nice romance. If you like bad english. You must watch Beck.

I think it's Ai Yori Aoshi but then again, I haven't really watched it.

Berserk. Look at my avatar. How can you not want to watch it? Well, if you're a red meat kinda guy. The end is very moving. Not moving to tears, but flex your muscles and want to do something moving.

Haibane Renmei. I like it and I didn't have problems with the pacing.

Try Yakitate Japan if you have a good sense of humor. It's a self aware comedy about a bread bakery. Helps if you know Japanese or have read the manga translations since they use puns galore. The manga is better than the anime in this case. The artwork is incredible. Easily comparable to any fighting style manga for young guys artwork out there.

Haven't really watched much lately. Beck is overall on par with the manga. That's pretty damn good.

[CMacDaddy]

Naruto and Bleach here, but Whenever I get more HDD I'll start in on Berserk

[XxATOLxX]

Initial D. Once I watched the first 2 episodes, I ended up watching Stages 1, 2, 3, and currently on Stage 4. This show is so addicting :allteeth:

[Sduibek]

FLCL.

Lain.

Spriggan.

Cowboy Bebop of course.

Love Hina.

[romesaz]

My favourite is Ghost In The Shell: Stand alone complex 1st Gig, and 2nd Gig. I'm on ep 21 of 2nd Gig. Love the show. definitely worth checking out.
You can find bittorrent torrents for all of'em at:

http://gits.no-jutsu.com/gits/

though thats only for 2nd Gig. 1st you'd have to track down on your own.

[IstariAsuka]

Kare Kano -- I just started to have the time to actually sit down and watch the series. Finished the first DVD the other day, when I get back from a short trip on Sunday I'll finish watching the rest. I quite like it. :allteeth:

Battle Athletes Victory... just don't watch the last DVD.

[RnB180]

Naruto

[mulveling]

It's been a little over year since I watched Chobits (I'd also rate this ****) and Onegai Teacher (*** 1/4); I also enjoyed the heck out of em. You should check out the Chobits manga, I liked it even better (**** 3/4, maybe even *****) due in part to the amazing artwork. Haven't seen the other two you listed, I'll need to check them out some time. As for Fruits Basket, I've had the first disc for quite a while, but I only got through 2 eps and it didn't hook me. I'll have to give it a fair 2nd shot sometime.

The last year I've had a harder time finding new anime that hooks me. I only do R1 stuff, though.

Currently enjoying:

Ghost In The Shell, Stand Alone Complex: (****) The first thing to hook me was the reference quality audio (5.1) and video (anamorphic), but the writing is actually quite good, with many individual episodes at first that trasition into an overall main mystery. This is one of those shows that oozes cool, it's got a great style and the Yoko Kanno soundtrack is wonderful. The lead female is hot (an important requirement ), many great supporting characters, and a comic relief (the Tachikoma mini-tank AI's) that doesn't rub me the wrong way - actually they're pretty cute. Can't wait for the next disc.

Koi Kaze (**** so far)
About a brother (26) and sister (14) who don't know each other until they are suddenly renunited under the same roof (father's house). They had just met on a pseudo "date" before they learned they were siblings. The older guy is a loser-ish 20-something who can't hold on to a girlfriend very long (and doesn't really care) and as a result was starting to develop a very apathetic and jaded view of life. The brother-sister-will there be forbidden romance tension is interesting and different. Plus I can identify a lot with the lead male (other than the sister bit). The comic relief burden is on the guy's coworkers, featuring a 20-something male coworker pervert-type who is very vocal about his affections for young teenage girls (eh, it could be worse). Really looking forward to disc 2 of 3, but the keep pushing back the release date
Anamorphic! With a nice soundtrack that I need to pick up...

Scrapped Princess (*** so far)
A fantasy setting; about a young fallen princess who everyone is try to kill. She only has a couple of friends and a sister to defend her against the religious cult that's demonized her - fortunately her small group is very powerful. This show is not gonna challenge 12 Kingdoms, Berserk, Lodoss War and Slayers as one my favorite anime fantasy series, but it looks like an enjoyable show. Only the first disc is out yet.

Berserk (manga): (**** 3/4 or *****)
Not the anime, but I recently read up to volume 28 of the Berserk manga (scanlations) and it was freakin AMAZING. I enjoyed the anime a long time ago, that incarnation gets about ****

Recently finished & enjoyed:

Cosmo Warrior Zero: (*** 3/4)
Looked like a cheesy sci-fi anime, but caught me off gaurd as I really liked it. The style & character designs are old school, and that really gelled with me. Very clean and crisp looking video, though obviously NOT cel based.

Captain Herlock: (*** 3/4)
This was done by the same Leji Matsumoto who did Cosmo Warrior Zero (and a whole bunch of other stuff set in this universe). Event and timeline wise there's not too much correlation between these two series other than some of the characters, but the Matsumoto-verse is the same. This one focuses on the famous badass space priate Herlock. His female officer Kei is REALLY hot. I love this guy's female character designs.Deomns vs pirates here. The plot wasn't that great, but the style and characters really carries the series for me. I love the dark, slightly grainy, almost film-like look of this series; the video looks great, and has 5.1 sound.

Kaleido Star: (*** 1/2)
About a young Japanese female performer/acrobat who moves to America to follow her dream. Avoids being too motivational/inspirational/Mary-Lou-Retton-"You can DO ANYTHING IF YOU SET YOU MIND TO IT little girl" annoying by having surprises and failures along the way. The show looks kinda girly but I liked it. Comic relief could get a bit annoying though. Very colorful, obviously CG shaded; very nice eyecandy. Great video & sound quality.

A little less recently finished & enjoyed:

Angelic Layer: (****)
Been a while since I watched this, but the other thread was a long time ago too. Like Kaleido Star, kinda girly, but it surprised me how much I got into it - at first I was like, "battle dolls??!? WTF??". But it's written by CLAMP (Chobits, Cardcaptor Sakura, X) and animated by Bones (Cowboy Bebop, others), and you can't underestimate their talent.

The Twelve Kingdoms: (**** 3/4)
Finished this a few months ago. One of my top-3 favorite animes (along with Irresponsible Captain Tylor, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Crest of the Stars...wait, that's 4). Set in an incredible, lush, richly detailed fantasy world - probably the best I've seen in that regard. Youko, the female lead character for most of the anime, develops from a whimp to one the stongest characters I've seen in an anime. Just awesome. Took me 5 episodes before I got hooked, though.

Wow, I had more to say about anime than I thought

[pne]

second for beck and second for bleach. Both very good, beck the manga is an amazing read. Great for any music lover, teenager, musician.