[Anarchy965]

I just watched Perfect Blue...

Uh... Wait; What? Seriously. What?! I'm pretty sure I could watch that movie 100 times and I still wouldn't know what happened. It was pretty cool I guess and it did come close to making sense at a couple points. The ending was good. I'd say 6/10. Excuse me now, I just noticed my brain is still dripping out my ears.

edit: I stopped the drippage. While I'm here I should mention I'm also currently watching Boogiepop Phantom. Another mind***** of an anime. It reminds me a lot of Paranoia Agent (which is on my plan to watch list (I have seen a few random episodes before though)) and to a lesser extent, Lain. I've only watched the first six eps but so far it's awesome. If I had to rate it now I'd give it a 7.5/10. I definitely recommend checking it out (especially if you're a fan of Paranoia Agent).

P.S. Does anyone know if it's bad to get brain on/in my er6i's?

 

[synaesthetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elliot42 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I finished watching Chrno Crusade the other day. It was really good. It has plenty of comedy and some slapstick as well, but the underlying story progresses and and all the characters develop as the story progresses, delving more and more into their history and how they're all linked. It got progressively more serious and gritty as it neared the end, but it was good to see the humour poke through now and then still. By the end it was enthralling and I couldn't stop watching (I ended up watching the last 6 episodes back to back). The story got pretty tragic by the end, but I really liked it and thought it ended well, and I would recommend it as well.

The Chrono Crusade anime is not bad, one of Studio Gonzo's better productions, but it suffered from severe adaptation decay.

Rosette was a far more capable, self-possessed and likable character in the comic, while she's just frustrating in the anime. Satella was pretty much reduced from sheer awesome and badass in the comic to blatant fanservice with the occasional moment of badass for most of the TV series.

Almost all of Aion's moral ambiguity was removed, reducing him to a card-carrying "bad guy" instead of a patriot gone tragically astray. Entire plot segments were carved away, including the entire subplot surrounding Chrono and Aion's relationship (they are brothers in the manga), the floating island Eden and the true nature of the demons themselves. Most of Remington's backstory was removed. He's part demon himself, and Aion and Chrono are half-demon, half-human, making them... something like tieflings or cambions rather than true demons.

The entire "Holy Woman" subplot was seemingly arbitrarily added (Aion could have cared less about Rosette in the comic and in fact tried to kill her on several occasions).

Ending was also bad. It's not quite a Gainax ending, but it's pretty bad. Gonzo seems to have a problem with inexplicably bad endings (Solty Rei suffers this problem as well), that seemed shoved in at the last moment with the only purpose being to get the tears flowing.

The "Everybody Dies" ending the anime really did annoy me. Satella and Fiore both did not die; you just were made to think they did. Neither did Shader, and Chrono never died either. Rosette didn't die until eight years after the events surrounding the Sinners. Joshua also recovered completely from his insanity after having Chrono's horns removed instead of being stricken with autism.

Spoilers all in white in case someone might be reading the comic for the first time. =p

 

[appophylite]

Quote:

Originally Posted by synaesthetic /img/forum/go_quote.gif (Chrono Crusade) Ending was also bad. It's not quite a Gainax ending, but it's pretty bad. Gonzo seems to have a problem with inexplicably bad endings

I quite agree with this, as I too have had my share of series that were poorly ended by Gonzo.

Well, I got bored so I scoured YouTube for hosted anime and came across one called Otoma Wa Boku Ni Koi****eru. The basic premise is about a guy named Mizuho Miyanokouji who loses his grandfather early in the first episode of the series. Apparently, the grandfather's dying wish is to see the boy attend the same private school that his mother attended before him. The only problem with this is that it was a private all-girls school. With the help of a childhood friend who does go to the school, Mizuho undergoes the disguise of a female and transfers to the school. Nothing particularly special is blatantly present in this anime. The main characters are typical archetypes, the story and jokes present nothing particularly new or fresh, and the series only covers 12 episodes. It is, however, a more or less acceptable way to waste a few extra hours. The only thing that really bothered me about the series is just how easily Mizuho was able to undergo the disguise of a girl and just how easily he was able to keep it up. Other anime that follow similar premises seemed to be more realistic about it. There were characters who saw through Haruhi in Ouran High School Host Club, and keeping the secret was all part of the hijinx in Ranma 1/2, but here, the entire school falls for the disguise and the only people who know about it are those in the know (the principal, home-room teacher and friend) and three others: one who is shown, one who finds out at the end and a third who is the only person to see through the disguise. Oh well.... (2.75/5)

Currently, I'm streaming Blue Gender off of YouTube. This is turning out to be a highly entertaining series (7 episodes in so far) and I do have to thank Fitz for bringing it up earlier in this thread.

 

[appophylite]

Streamed Blue Gender off of YouTube over the last couple of days. Dang that was a good series. I was almost ready to pan it over the first couple of episodes but I stuck with it and it worked rather well. The story takes place in the near future when the the main character, Yuuji wakes from cryostasis only to find a world in ruins that is overrun by large bugs called 'The Blue'. A few million people have managed to survive the attacks of The Blue by banding together and retreating into space to a space station called Second Earth. From there they deploy Armor Shrike Mechas on the ground to try to combat The Blue and take the Earth back. The main character (Yuuji) starts out very similar to Shinji from NGE but grows stronger and more confident quickly into the series....in fact a bit too confident by the end. The main female character (Marlene) surprised me the most. I expected her to be my least favorite character, but by the end of the series, I found she had grown on me. One must be careful about which characters they become endeared to in this series because characters die left and right and in a few cases, unexpectedly. Probably the only major problem I had with it was the, IMO, weak ending. Fitz, once again, I must thank you for bringing this series up a few pages back! (4/5)

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anarchy965 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just watched Perfect Blue... Uh... Wait; What? Seriously. What?! I'm pretty sure I could watch that movie 100 times and I still wouldn't know what happened. It was pretty cool I guess and it did come close to making sense at a couple points. The ending was good. I'd say 6/10. Excuse me now, I just noticed my brain is still dripping out my ears.

That's my favorite anime film of all time. You should definitely watch it a second or third time if you have a chance. The shock of confusion during the first viewing likely rivals a David Lynch film.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anarchy965 /img/forum/go_quote.gif For now, I finally got around to finishing Gunslinger Girl. I enjoyed it I guess, but I think "meh" sums up my opinion of it pretty well. The animation quality was certainly good and it's a pretty original series as far as I can tell. Most of the fights were pretty great.

There is a second series (Il Teatrino) that's finished airing in Japan and will likely be released on DVD in the U.S. by Funimation in the next few months that may be worth checking out. I'm not sure if they received the licensing for the 14th and 15th episodes though.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Also just watched the first part of Moribito, which falls into the dramatic samurai-era anime, something like Dog Warriors Hakkenden, or to a lesser extent, Samurai 7.

From the Wikipedia plot summary: "Balsa the spearwoman is a wandering warrior, who takes on the task of saving lives in atonement for a past sin. On her journey, she happens to save a prince and is tasked with becoming his bodyguard. And he is going to need one, for his own father, the emperor, wants him dead."

I really enjoyed what I saw of this series. When you think of Samurai, rarely do you think of a strong, cunning woman wielding a spear. Like Ruroni Kenshin, the spearwoman Balsa has decided to end her ways of violence and strives not to kill, and she usually ends up causing herself more trouble because of it. Still, it's interesting to see how things play out because of her decisions, and how the people around her act in her stead when she is unable.

The Adult Swim set comes with the first 10 eps. I'm hoping they will release a new set with the remaining 16 at some point soon.

So far 4/5

 

[D-EJ915]

I started watching Gintama the other day and I have to ask where has this series been my whole life lol. It's awesome, some stuff is stupid but other times it's downright hilarious. Great stuff.

 

[MikoLayer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by D-EJ915 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I started watching Gintama the other day and I have to ask where has this series been my whole life lol. It's awesome, some stuff is stupid but other times it's downright hilarious. Great stuff.

It's one of those series like Keroro I have always wanted to get into, but couldn't seeing how there are sooooo many episodes I need to catch up with

Just one of these days, you know..

So far I like Maria Holic, Sword of Druaga and Minamike Okaeri among January shows. Okaeri in particular, seemed to have bounced back from the lackluster second season. Could be just placebo though, the same studio except the drawing style went back to that of the first series. Akikan is quite hillarious, a barely non-adult anime it appears. I get a feeling some of you guys may like Sora Kake Girl, though I for one found it more annoying that entertaining. Yet to try Munto and Viper's Creed, thats what I am going to be doing over the weekend I hope.

Still eagerly waiting for my weekly fix of Clannad AS and Tentai Senshi Sunred.

 

[Anarchy965]

So Bounen no Xamdou is finished. I felt like I wasn't quite sure what was going on through most of the series, but I think the last three or so episodes tied everything up really well. 7/10

Also, I finished watching FLAG a while ago. This was a really great anime about a civilian photojournalist who gets stationed on a secret military base centered around secretly developed mechs to document their actions for the future. I almost thought to compare it to Area 88 since the premise is somewhat simliar, but I haven't seen Area 88 in years and I'm not really sure the two series are actually very simliar at all. Anyway the production values were great and the story was touching and action-packed at the same time. 9/10

Also, right now I'm kind of desperate for recommendations. So here's MyAnimeList. Recommendations in any genre are good.

 

[Khanate]

The only series I'm really looking forward to every week right now are Hajime no Hippo, Toradora and Maria Sama.

Is it worth it to pick up Minamike without having watched the other seasons or should I spend a few hours doing that?

 

[MaZa]

Been watching Elfen Lied for now, couple of episodes so far. God, this seems very interesting anime. Incredibly dark! Perhaps bit unnecessary attention given to "nudity" stuff, but the story seems sooo good.

 

[RockCity]

Finished Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. It satires the Japanese media industry and comments on its own (un)popularity quite frequently. The show gets downright hard to follow for us Westerners after a few episodes. There's also not an ounce of plot or sincere character development. On the flip-side, the creator can spin that yarn for a while since every episode is like a reset. Still, I'd recommend it if you want a comedy that completely alienates those pesky romance and action genres.

 

[marvin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anarchy965 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Also, I finished watching FLAG a while ago. This was a really great anime about a civilian photojournalist who gets stationed on a secret military base centered around secretly developed mechs to document their actions for the future. I almost thought to compare it to Area 88 since the premise is somewhat simliar, but I haven't seen Area 88 in years and I'm not really sure the two series are actually very simliar at all. Anyway the production values were great and the story was touching and action-packed at the same time. 9/10

If you liked FLAG, try Zipang. Basic premise is that a Japanese AEGIS missile cruiser gets stranded back in time around the Battle of Midway and the crew must decide on their course of action regarding WWII era Japan. Easily one of the best alternate history/time travel stories around.

It's been difficult to acquire on DVD since Geneon went kaput, but shouldn't be difficult to find in the usual fansub sources.

 

[Brian_the_King]

I'm not that big into anime, I only have seen maybe 3 or 4 series all the way through.

However I last watched Code Geass and it absolutely blew my ****in mind. Like I almost cried.

 

[Nicolas2305]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian_the_King /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm not that big into anime, I only have seen maybe 3 or 4 series all the way through. However I last watched Code Geass and it absolutely blew my ****in mind. Like I almost cried.

Don't forget there are 2 seasons of this one. Also, you WANT to see Death Note.

Also for those who have seen Death Note, there are 2 live action movies that are really great. The first movie's plot is somewhat the same with some variations and an "alternate" ending and the second movie takes place after the end of the anime serie. I won't describe any of those to avoid spoilers.