Anime Discussion Thread

As a lad growing up I loved the likes of Astroboy, Teknoman, Battle of the Planets, Mysterious Cities of Gold. I've wonderful memories getting up for school and watching them before leaving home.

For a romantically warm-hearted and sincere series I can't go past Miyazaki's brilliant Futureboy Conan. I loved it so much I had to get my friend who recommended it, rip the soundtrack as well for me. That particular era in style (late 70s-80s) remains my preference if I'm looking for any Anime to watch.

However, Arhu backed a complete winner with Hajime No Ippo. That show is highly motivating and thoroughly entertaining; my younger brother and I would watch it after competing in local sports and laugh ourselves silly yet also go through the highs and low's of Ippo's epic encounters.

Recently finished Grisaia no Rakuen(The Eden of Grisaia). I really liked the first two series( well, the second was OVA) and the first half of this series. But the final episodes- it was more like a parody on spy movies than the serious drama with comedian elements. Disappointed, very disappointed.

Started to watch ERASED, so far it's great. I hope that final won't be disappointing.

Erased wasn't disappointing to me but some people on myanimelist didn't like it for whatever silly reasons. Some hated the whole series. I guess some people just aren't prepared to deal with their prejudices, but it's okay, I'm not either - when it comes for example to phones. You can read reviews there, many are dissecting the show as just a genreentry and some judge it based only on style_over_substance presence completely missing what the show actually is about.

The current state of anime series is that they spam and spam all the samey stuff which makes pretty hard to pinpoint something totally different and still good.
Another thing to know is that with anime authors are trying to address society problems in some ways. Usually it's ecology and I hate that fact because I live in a country where pollution is almost no existant, I'm sick and tired of patronizing coming from Japan. But in the case of Erased, instead of chewed to boredom ecology, the major point is alienation which is definetly present worldwide where neighbors became distant thanks to damned phones and misuse of those. Erased uses crime/sci-fi drama to suggest a "cure" for the problem and IMO does it in a great way. Not the greatest possible as instead of whodunnit thriller that'd wait for the finale you get many hints and learn who's the culprit basically halfway through where the show from mystery switches into drama, but it's still good.

While certainly not a masterpiece, Erased should be on everyone's mustwatch list. Next time say hi to your neighbor as you never know what awaits you (and them) in not that distant future.

For that other show I haven't heard. Sorry.

My problem with modern anime that there is too much harem and ecchi types of anime nowadays. Some of them are funny, but some are just... well, I suggest you to watch Grisaia no Kajitsu( the first part of the series I mentioned), it's the pure example of how awesome story can be ruined with those ecchi elements. Well, to be honest, Kajitsu wasn't ruined completely, I still liked it, but the Rakuen...

joxer said:

Erased wasn't disappointing to me but some people on myanimelist didn't like it for whatever silly reasons. Some hated the whole series.

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Yes. I was scratching my bold head reading a lot of negative reviews on the series,wandering why is that the case.

I started to watch it, 4 episodes for now and I really like it.
Thanks for the recommendation joxer!

joxer said:

Usually it's ecology and I hate that fact because I live in a country where pollution is almost no existant, I'm sick and tired of patronizing coming from Japan.

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Cold that be that you live in Bhutan?

joxer said:

While certainly not a masterpiece, Erased should be on everyone's mustwatch list. Next time say hi to your neighbor as you never know what awaits you (and them) in not that distant future.

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As I said, I like the show so far.
I am satisfied when the Anime series has some good build up, interesting story, a mystery surrounding it, thrills and chills, interesting characters, and a narrative on character interactions and behaviors or reaction between each other so that can really make a series live and immersive. Also capturing the moment, happy or sad, expressions can really add to it. Not to mention good music in it. And along the way, to leave a good message and some questions left to ponder, to make me wonder.

Erased has some good qualities from my list, so it is alright.

Certainly not against a good action scene for example...but entertainment is not only flashing colors on the screen followed by noise...oh wait, that is actually entertainment of today.

Black Rune said:

Yes. I was scratching my bold head reading a lot of negative reviews on the series,wandering why is that the case.

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I know lots of people are pissed that they didn't follow the manga at 100%. The story is mostly the same, but the show spent way too much time focusing on a specific character and not on the other characters compared to the manga.

azarhal said:

I know lots of people are pissed that they didn't follow the manga at 100%. The story is mostly the same, but the show spent way too much time focusing on a specific character and not on the other characters compared to the manga.

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Oh, yes, I can see why are some people displeased.

However, I like it. Finished it today. And it was satisfying for me, as a whole.
And I guess in 12 episodes,for a series like this, they couldn't compress it all.
And yes that would be great if we could have to know some other characters better.
I think that there is room for another season. One can only hope.

Dunno about possible anime second season, but manga spinoff is in works:
http://myanimelist.net/manga/97130/Boku_dake_ga_Inai_Machi_Gaiden

There is no material for a second season, they adapted the entire thing. Also, such adaptions (except a few exceptions like Naruto and One Piece) rarely get more than one season even if there is material left. The anime is mostly used to drive sales for the manga/novel/game.

So, I finally finished Erased... and still don't understand all negative reviews. Maybe they expect this anime to be more detective variation of Butterfly Effect or Steins Gate. At first I also thought this way, but after watching 7 episodes, I understand that this series is more drama, even social drama, than detective with mystique elements. And I liked it. Yes, it was easy to predict who's the killer, but as I already mentioned, this show was drama with detective elemets, so easy-predictable killer is fine. For me, this is probably the best series in the last few seasons. And those, who didn't like it, because it didn't follow manga at 100%, just watch Tokyo Ghoul, especially 2nd season- pure example of "excellent manga-awful anime".

I dodged Tokyo Ghoul because I've heard that in adaptation to anime, violence got censored too much unlike for example Parasyte.

But you're right. Too often in their minireviews users base their score only on comparing story differences between the comics source and animated material. And IMO it's rediculous. Anime should be judged on it's own content, not in differences from the source.
There is a perfect example of this that proves it right. It's Fullmetal Alchemist. Two versions, both starting the same way, but one version moves to totally different direction and gives completely new stories not present in manga, another version sticks to manga as much as it can. And both are - brilliant!
That gives what? With anime based on manga, it's not differences that matter, it's the product quality itself. IMO.

Now you can say that I have double standards because I'm one of those who hate Peter Jackson's LotR trilogy and his Tom Bombadil denial which instaremoved the most important weapon background and led to halfplothole later, etc.
But Jackson got millions to make his "thing" while anime studios work with basically irrelevant sums. And with those millions, okay, sure, feel free to remove what you believe is a "filler" in books, but then retell it in a different way it works without a question. Did Jackson do it? No! He made an eyecandy rubbish with wasting so much casted talent. What makes it even worse, it was a movie trilogy, not EA games trilogy.

I'll also add another example, mainstream. Game of Thrones TV show based on books. HBO did not stick to the original source blindly, yet the show works. Even if you've read all existing books, the show doesn't break apart anywhere. Let's leave aside the CJB uproar idiocy over the rape scene in a certain episode, it was supposed to shock everyone, and it did, the show made some more sales, IMO a job well done.

Lemme return to the post start.
I'm sure I posted before about Parasyte: The Maxim. IMO it's another mustwatch show.
http://myanimelist.net/anime/22535/Kiseijuu__Sei_no_Kakuritsu
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3358020/
I haven't read manga, apparently the show stays true to it. It's a mix of black comedy and serious sci-fi/horror.
The best advertisment it got from The Chinese Ministry of Culture, they blacklisted Parasyte on the same list with many great titles (Death Note being one of those):
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...n-titan-death-note-36-more-anime-manga/.89055
I never moved to India where my plan was to pirate banned DA:I and earn millions, but if I ever move to China, I'll still be able to earn millions, just not on games. When will companies understand that the actual source of piracy is not thievery but inability to legally buy a product?
Final question, is Parasyte anime great just because it's true to the source material? Of course not. It's great because it's anime authors knew their job starting by not censoring anything just because.

I think a found a Spring season anime for joxer: Mayoiga (Lost Village). It's supposed to be 12 ep so you should be able to watch that this summer. It looks somewhat similar to Another...and you can already smell the bloodbath. Doesn't mean it's going to be good, but the first episode was a good start.

The hippopotamus version of Solomon Grundy's song was awesome too (the wiki is already updated with a reference lol).

This?
http://www.crunchyroll.com/the-lost-village

Initial impressions there say basically: "It could be good, it could be bad. Episode 1 wasn't a good hook".
But I never base my opinion on just one episode so let's see how it unfolds.

Yup, but I disagree the first episode wasn't a good hook. Might be because I like the creepiness and crazy characters.

If it stays creepy and crazy I'm definetly watching it!

Hey! Why only for joxer?
I bookmarked Mayoiga as well.
If it is similar to Another, then it fine by me. Another is great.

But I'll wait till all the episodes are out.
And now, after watching Erased and Mushishi before that I simply can't find another anime worthy to watch. Sigh…

And, while Parasyte was good, but it did not deliver nothing special. IMHO.
Although, it is worth to watch.

Looking forward to Koutetsujou no Kabaneri
http://myanimelist.net/anime/28623/Koutetsujou_no_Kabaneri

Black Rune said:

Hey! Why only for joxer?

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Because he mentioned liking this type of anime earlier.

azarhal said:

Because he mentioned liking this type of anime earlier.

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Fair enough.
But, I thank you anyway for suggesting it.

I just finished watching Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. It's a classic from 1984.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausicaä_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(film)

I'm not a big fan of Anime, but I enjoyed this movie a lot when I was younger. The memory of it would pop into my head every once in awhile, but I couldn't remember the name of it for a very long time.

Oddly enough, what made me remember the name was an article I read this week about the recently released RPG Hyper Light Drifter. One of the devs cited Nausicaä as the inspiration for the game world.

joxer said:

I dodged Tokyo Ghoul because I've heard that in adaptation to anime, violence got censored too much unlike for example Parasyte.

But you're right. Too often in their minireviews users base their score only on comparing story differences between the comics source and animated material. And IMO it's rediculous. Anime should be judged on it's own content, not in differences from the source.
There is a perfect example of this that proves it right. It's Fullmetal Alchemist. Two versions, both starting the same way, but one version moves to totally different direction and gives completely new stories not present in manga, another version sticks to manga as much as it can. And both are - brilliant!
That gives what? With anime based on manga, it's not differences that matter, it's the product quality itself. IMO.

Now you can say that I have double standards because I'm one of those who hate Peter Jackson's LotR trilogy and his Tom Bombadil denial which instaremoved the most important weapon background and led to halfplothole later, etc.
But Jackson got millions to make his "thing" while anime studios work with basically irrelevant sums. And with those millions, okay, sure, feel free to remove what you believe is a "filler" in books, but then retell it in a different way it works without a question. Did Jackson do it? No! He made an eyecandy rubbish with wasting so much casted talent. What makes it even worse, it was a movie trilogy, not EA games trilogy.

I'll also add another example, mainstream. Game of Thrones TV show based on books. HBO did not stick to the original source blindly, yet the show works. Even if you've read all existing books, the show doesn't break apart anywhere. Let's leave aside the CJB uproar idiocy over the rape scene in a certain episode, it was supposed to shock everyone, and it did, the show made some more sales, IMO a job well done.

Lemme return to the post start.
I'm sure I posted before about Parasyte: The Maxim. IMO it's another mustwatch show.
http://myanimelist.net/anime/22535/Kiseijuu__Sei_no_Kakuritsu
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3358020/
I haven't read manga, apparently the show stays true to it. It's a mix of black comedy and serious sci-fi/horror.

Final question, is Parasyte anime great just because it's true to the source material? Of course not. It's great because it's anime authors knew their job starting by not censoring anything just because.

Click to expand...

I didn't watch Parasite, but I'm planning to do it in the nearest future. Just need to finish few series.

About Tokyo Ghoul... if the censorship was the only bad thing in this series....
I watched few series where all the blood scenes were mostly censored, but still I liked them. Latest example,as for me, Akame ga Kill. It also based manga, near the end of the series they change the storyline completely, but still it was pretty good.

Completely agree with you about FMA. And I remembered another series, which has two adaptations- Hellsing. But that's more the case, when changing the events of manga wasn't the right choice. Because I didn't like all that Incognito stuff near the end of the first series.

And, I think many people hate PJ because of what he did to the Middle-Earth, but I think that now they hate him even more for what he did with the Hobbit. But I liked those movies. Yes, I understand, that as the book adaptation it's not...good...at all( BTW I read all the books, even Silmarillion), but still it's one of the best fantasy movies nowadays, as for me. But I think that there should've been only two Hobbit movies.