[BobSaysHi]

 
Quote:

Hmmm, I watched it all in one go with breaks only to go to the toilet. That might have had an effect, although I still loved it.
And yeah, in many cases, especially with series of an episodic nature it is better not to watch it all in one go. For example I watched the major part of American Dad in a marathon, and I found it fairly 'meh'. However whenever new episodes come out I love to watch them, and I find them substantially more funny. And that can't be entirely caused by the show suddenly improving.

But my main point is more about my personal preferences. I prefer stories with a strong plot that really drag you in and make you share the emotions of the characters. I found this was especially well done in Clannad After Story, but this also might have been largely influenced by circumstances.
With these kind of things mood is also very important. For example when I watch a new episode of a show I love a lot, I can find the episode to be a whole less good if I happen to be in a bad mood. Same goes for movies and music, heck even food.

In short, there are a lot of things that can affect the perceived quality of a series. And I guess the same goes for music, especially if you listen to something different for the first time without an open-mind. In that case your prejudices and biases about the artist/genre take over and make you perceive the album as an abomination.

We discussed this last year in Psychology, and there's a lot of research done on the subject. Basically, you view everything in this way. You associate things with how you feel, your brain links emotions with physical objects.
 
Anyway, I didn't enjoy clannad. I felt it tried way to hard to make me feel, instead of laying out the emotions in a thoughtful way. It came across to me as "FEEL SAD DAMMIT!" Artificial, if you will. Most anime is like this, though. I don't care for it. 

 

[Tilpo]

Anyway, I didn't enjoy clannad. I felt it tried way to hard to make me feel, instead of laying out the emotions in a thoughtful way. It came across to me as "FEEL SAD DAMMIT!" Artificial, if you will. Most anime is like this, though. I don't care for it. 

I understand what you mean, however I did not feel that way at all.
Anyway, to each their own I guess.

 

[pshhyeahh]

I just read a few pages of this thread so I'm sure the ones I mention have already been talked about. Anywho, my top three favorites have to be Elfen Lied, Samurai Champloo, and Darker than Black. 
 
Other anime shows that I enjoyed watching include:
Rurouni Kenshin
Trigun
Gantz
Cowboy Bepop
Hellsing
Soul Eater
Death Note
Fullmetal Alchemist / Brotherhood
Grandchild of Nurarihyon
D. Gray Man
Blood+
Chrome Shelled Regios
Hajime no Ippo
Prince of Tennis
FLCL
 
The ones I'm currently watching are:
Ao no Exorcist
Gintama
Bleach (never ends)
One Piece (also never ends lol)
 
I heard Ghost in the Shell was really good. I'm gonna start watching that soon. I also noticed that a new series from Grandchild of Nurarihyon came out recently.

 

[Tilpo]

Now I have watched Toradora! as well.
Since I have now watched the three similar animes Toradora!, Clannad and Kanon, I can maybe compare them.

Out of those three I found Kanon to be the least. It has an excellent plot, but I somehow feel that it wasn't done right. Could have been more dramatic, and maybe have less characters, as I felt too much happened. Whereas I also felt that in some episodes nothing happened at all. I did love the ending, but I still feel that the entire series lacked something as a whole.

Then comes Clannad; Clannad itself was quite good, but the After Story is something I would call a masterpiece. It brings you happiness, then the fear of losing that happiness, and then the despair of having lost that happiness. The second time this happens (with Ushio) you are at the moment of complete despair when you're convinced shes gonna die, and right at that moment, right at that moment where you can burst into tears, the most beautiful ending yet is set into place. I think it was beautifully constructed.
However, the plot could have used more complexity. The plot is really quite simple, and at times predictable. Despite this, I would still call it the best anime I have watched yet.
As far as Clannad itself goes (not the After Story), the thing I didn't like was his ability to choose virtually any girl in the group. Even though I did like how the relationships between each of them developed, I would have liked to see a bit more dramatic parts. Broken hearts, and all that stuff could have made it better.

Then finally Toradora! I personally would rate it behind Clannad After Story, but above Clannad. The thing I liked the most about this anime was the complexity of the relationships between Ryuji and the three girls. Especially the weird thing between Minori and Taiga, and the scene where Ami says to Ryuji: "...the only one you don't understand is yourself".
However I think that the ending ruined it a bit for me. At episode 24 I thought 'Wow what a beautiful ending', but then at 25 it changed to a nodding agreement. I still don't get why she went back to her parents, and I would prefer to see some violent outburst ending in mutual love between Taiga and her parents. But maybe that's just me.

 

[Kukuk]

Bump with best pairing on Yuru Yuri.
 

 

[mibutenma]

Quote:

>outrageous prices???
 
you must be young, and not remember how outrageous the prices used to be for anime. Spending 45 dollars to get an entire season on Blu Ray is like a dream come true. Back in the day i used to pay 30-40 dollars a dvd and that only had 3 episodes on it..
 
 
no i will never complain about prices
 
 
also...see prices in japan...then try complaining
 
 

 
Anime is insanely cheap now compared to what it once was.
If they had prices like that years ago some companies would still be around I think.
It's pretty easy to get anime now free and now there is streaming etc...
But there was once a time you had to pay that's right pay for fansubs.
You would pay $5-$6 a tape.
1. It was a persons time
2. VCRs wore out.
3. Have quite a few VCRs running all the time to record from tape to tape for all the requests
4. They would use money to pay for translations
5. Buy Laserdiscs of the show for the best video quality.
etc... although some shows weren't released onto video in Japan.
 
And sometimes the video quality wasn't very good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnBFQkWVSl4
 
My interest in anime isn't at all like it once was.
And the stuff that is licensed is only new mostly so it's like ehhhh.
But at times I still do goto a site like www.rightstuf.com and buy some things as they always have great deals and sales.
And now I can't believe how cheap it is. $20 for a whole series. You once paid about that or more for just the first 3-4 episodes.
 
Although I did think years ago eventually this going to backfire on them all they do is license new stuff.
Some stuff it's like ugh did you even watch what you licensed?
The cost is going to kill them one day it's not vhs days anymore they should really think about $30-$40 series sets.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[miceblue]

Recently I've been watching Stein's Gate. I'm loving it so far!

 

[fenixdown110]

Ghost in the Shell SAC 1 is being released on bluray finally. Just an FYI.

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Eden of the East
 
Samurai Champloo
 
Re watching Spice and Wolf
 
Beelzebub
 
Ao no Exorcist
 
That is my current list.

 

[Hawaiiancerveza]

Eden of the East
Samurai Champloo
Cow Boy bebop
Trigun
Dragon Ball/Z/GT
Bleach (recently watched the 4th movie)
Naruto
Soul Eater
Full Metal Alchemist 
Hajime no ippo
Baki The Grappler
Blood+
Tiger and Bunny
Ghost in the Shell
Evangelion
Death Note
Spirited Away
Hals Moving Castle
Princess Mononoke
Berserk
Detroit Metal City
Rahzephan
Gundam 00
Samurai 7
Tokyo Godfather
Iron Man
Wolverine
Skryd
Tenjou Tenge
Out law star
Street fighter/alpha etc
Sheesh to many to name...

 

[wind016]

I just watched Ergo Proxy. The creator really needs to explain things in the story. Seemed a bit lazy on his part. However, I really liked it. =) Anybody know anything else like that and Serial Experiments Lain/.hack kind of stuff that's good quality?

 

[BobSaysHi]

Quote:

I just watched Ergo Proxy. The creator really needs to explain things in the story. Seemed a bit lazy on his part. However, I really liked it. =) Anybody know anything else like that and Serial Experiments Lain/.hack kind of stuff that's good quality?

Paranoia Agent.
 

 

[Equus]

Quote:

Ghost in the Shell SAC 1 is being released on bluray finally. Just an FYI.

Ooo...really?  I haven't seen anything about SAC blu-ray except the paired down story arc releases.

 

[wind016]

 
Quote:

Paranoia Agent.
 

Ohhhh I watched that last year. =) Anything else?
 

 

[Tilpo]

Just watched:

ef: a tale of memories/melodies
Lucky Star
The melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
K-ON

I must say that Lucky Star was a lot better than I expected