What anime are you watching?

[neo-geo-mvs]

Just finished watching Aquarion - great series! Good mecha action.

Started watching Gundam Seed and then will move onto Gundam Seed Destiny!

There are quite a few bargains on offer at the moment if you are in the UK - check out Play.com or Zavvi. A lot of cool anime box sets going for £15 or less: Wolf's Rain, Claymore, Darker than Black, Ghost in the Shell: SAC, Devil May Cry, Escaflowne, Gundam Wing/Seed/Destiny, Noein...

Plently to keep you busy

 

[Setsuna1982]

Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann

It puts me in a good mood

 

[Magician]

A large selection has been added to Netflix instant over the past few months.

Recently I've watched Claymore, Trigun, Sekirei, Full Metal Alchemist and The Sacred Blacksmith.

 

[SouthtownKid]

I'd put off watching Seed and Destiny for years, due to the unbelievable amount of shit talked about them, especially Destiny. But when I finally said fuck it and watched them for myself, I found Seed was decent for the most part, and I actually liked Destiny a lot.

Anyhow, I just got done watching Casshern Sins, and I loved it. I'm a fan of all the 1970s Tatsunoko superhero series, but this wasn't a sequel or even an adaptation. They took everything in a completely different direction and actually might as well have called it something else. But it was very good. And unusual for a cartoon. The entire series was about the characters (and the viewers) coming to terms with the idea of their own death.

 

[ki_atsushi]

I haven't watched anything newer than 2005, because I've been under the impression that everything since has sucked. Am I missing anything?

Samurai Champloo and Speed Grapher were probably the last ones I watched.

 

[Magician]

I haven't watched anything newer than 2005, because I've been under the impression that everything since has sucked. Am I missing anything?

Samurai Champloo and Speed Grapher were probably the last ones I watched.

You're not missing much, the bulk of what's out there these days is lighthearted stuff. I haven't seen anything close to Ninja Scroll, Wicked City or Fist of the North Star "awesomeness" in years.

 

[Azra113]

Deadmans wonderland came out recently, The first five minutes is pretty damn violent.

 

[Scuz39]

Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann

It puts me in a good mood

seconded

 

[Taiso]

A large selection has been added to Netflix instant over the past few months.

Recently I've watched Claymore, Trigun, Sekirei, Full Metal Alchemist and The Sacred Blacksmith.

How were Sacred Blacksmith and Claymore? Sacred Blacksmith looked interesting, and I love the Claymore manga but never got around to the anime.

Recently, I've watched the Tower of Druaga anime. Entirely what you'd expect, but I was really in the mood for a typical anime fantasy series. On that level, I enjoyed it.

On my plate to watch:

Zeta Gundam movie trilogy (despite all its flaws)
Irresponsible Captain Tylor (haven't watched it in AGES)
Twelve Kingdoms
Magic Knight Rayearth (need to give it another look-I first watched it when I was in a very 'Anti-CLAMP mood' many years ago)
Basilisk (LOVE the manga)

 

[fake]

I'm at the end of Zeta Gundam. Then I'm going to get the in-between movies. After that, I'll see if I can find Ergo Proxy streamed for free somewhere. I have the first 3 disks but buying current anime is way too expensive and I want to keep my collection to just the classics.

Did you guys hear that one of they key animators of the original Macross died in the quake?

 

[Yue]

Steins Gate
Hanasaku Iroha
Deadman Wonderland
Tiger & Bunny
C The Money of Soul and Possible Control
Ao no Exorcist

Will probably watch Bakemonogatari sometime soon....

 

[Magician]

How were Sacred Blacksmith and Claymore? Sacred Blacksmith looked interesting, and I love the Claymore manga but never got around to the anime.

Sacred Blacksmith was alright, I didn't care enough about the characters to view the entire series. I watch the first few episodes and the last few episodes.

Claymore was a better experience. It's certainly a darker, more violent tone than Sacred Blacksmith. Rocky and Claire's relationship is typical, and Claire's power-ups are Jump-esq. I enjoyed Claymore more than say...Bleach. My only problem with Claymore is that the anime series (26 episodes) ends with a thud.

Does the manga talk about the history of "the creatures of the abyss" in detail?

Anyway, Basilisk and Phantom are next in my queue.

 

[Taiso]

It's not that surprising that Claire's power-ups are 'Jump-esque', as you put it. It's a Jump manga

As for the origins of the monsters, they go into pretty excessive detail about it in the second half of the series.

Regarding the end of the Claymore anime, I'd heard that the anime series' ending was highly unsatisfactory, even for people that had never read the manga before.

As for Sacred Blacksmith, isn't it kind of odd that many anime series follow that formula these days? First two episodes are promising, then it's a ton of filler and then things start to matter again near the end. What happened to the days when every episode of an anime was a can't miss? Why did the studios think making the episodes less interesting was the way to go?

/issadpanda

 

[Poison Sama]

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex, and FLCL. All via Adult Swim.

I don't have the focus and willpower to download anime 99% of the time, and I get easily distracted by other things when I'm on the PC, so I usually only watch something if it's being shown on TV.

The last "new" anime I managed to actually download, sit down and watch all the way through was Hourou Musuko, and it was fantastic. It's not for everyone though.

 

[Mike Shagohod]

ain't watched much anime lately, but I did watch the following over the last week...


LIKE A BOSS!


Kei & Yuri 4 LYFE NIGGA!



yhap. That's how I fucking roll.

 

[Kristian Meller]

Started watching Gundam Seed and then will move onto Gundam Seed Destiny!

I finished Destiny recently. Great Gundam series, and this kicked off my new Gundam and Haro craze, which you can see the evidence of on my YouTube channel I found that I probably liked Destiny more than the first SEED, in spite of Shinn being a little biatch.

Since finishing Destiny I've purchased all the Gundam I didn't have, save for that SD crap and Wing (had it, watched it and sold it years ago). Couldn't find Igloo either, but I did get 08th MS Team and War in the Pocket. I've been watching the latter today, and will finish it very soon, since it's very short. Aside from Wing, SD and the compilation movies, I plan to own any and all Gundam series and films out there, released with English subtitles.

I always watch a handful of series at the same time, and right now it's Kämpfer, Taisho Baseball Girls, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Xam'd. Some are light and fluffy filler, while others represent the pinnacle of the media, like FMA: Brotherhood does, in my opinion.

 

[SouthtownKid]

I finished Destiny recently. Great Gundam series, and this kicked off my new Gundam and Haro craze, which you can see the evidence off on my YouTube page I found that I probably liked Destiny more than the first SEED, in spite of Shinn being a little biatch.

Yeah, me too. What's funny is that a lot of the harshest critics of Destiny are the same people who will defend Wing to the death due to the nostalgia factor of Wing being the series that introduced them to the franchise. But Wing is about the biggest steaming pile of nonsensical donkey crap in Gundam's entire history.

I bought all the Wing dvds as they came out here (and still have them), just from being so excited we were actually getting domestic releases and even television broadcast of a Gundam show, but I tried rewatching Wing recently, and it's brutal. Pretty much any complaint I've heard made about SEED or Destiny is more than equally applicable to Wing. Much more than.

 

[fake]

Yeah, me too. What's funny is that a lot of the harshest critics of Destiny are the same people who will defend Wing to the death due to the nostalgia factor of Wing being the series that introduced them to the franchise. But Wing is about the biggest steaming pile of nonsensical donkey crap in Gundam's entire history.

I bought all the Wing dvds as they came out here (and still have them), just from being so excited we were actually getting domestic releases and even television broadcast of a Gundam show, but I tried rewatching Wing recently, and it's brutal. Pretty much any complaint I've heard made about SEED or Destiny is more than equally applicable to Wing. Much more than.

I was going to say... I loved Wing in early high school because of the mech designs. And I watched G because it was on TV. But looking back, Wing made no fucking sense, and G was way too freak of the week. Until I read this thread, I assumed any 90's / 2000's Gundam was shitty. Am I way off?

 

[Mike Shagohod]

For me 0083: Stardust Memory will always be my fave for GUNDAM stuff.

 

[Kristian Meller]

I've heard a lot of crap spoken about 0083, but I quite liked it when I watched it a few years ago. War in the Pocket and 08th MS Team are better, though. In spite of a total lack of Haro in all the mentioned series

 

[Mike Shagohod]

I've heard a lot of crap spoken about 0083, but I quite liked it when I watched it a few years ago. War in the Pocket and 08th MS Team are better, though. In spite of a total lack of Haro in all the mentioned series

8th MS TEAM is my second favorite. I dunno. *Something* about 0083 just resonated with me is all. I liked the story, loved the character designs, and the Gundams themselves hadn't gone into "gundam of the week" mode yet and looked like war machines and less like a toy. Then of course I loved both Cima Garahau as a character and her Gerbera Tetra Mobile Suit. Fucking thing was awesome.

 

[Kristian Meller]

Yeah, me too. What's funny is that a lot of the harshest critics of Destiny are the same people who will defend Wing to the death due to the nostalgia factor of Wing being the series that introduced them to the franchise. But Wing is about the biggest steaming pile of nonsensical donkey crap in Gundam's entire history.

I bought all the Wing dvds as they came out here (and still have them), just from being so excited we were actually getting domestic releases and even television broadcast of a Gundam show, but I tried rewatching Wing recently, and it's brutal. Pretty much any complaint I've heard made about SEED or Destiny is more than equally applicable to Wing. Much more than.

Wing was probably the hardest Gundam for me to get through. I admit I found the 0079 compilation movies a bit long and old-ish to get through (I'm not watching anything that's dubbed, so I've never seen the episodes), but Wing was, as you say, brutal. Mobile Fighter wasn't great either, and if it wasn't for Slerch talking it up so much, I might never have finished it But I have the DVDs and I'm happy I do.

Zeta, SEED, Destiny, 00 and the shorter series are all great. 00 is probably the best Gundam series from an objective viewpoint, but most of it is rather good, even though it's all just glorified commercials for the plastic model figures. I really wish they'd release ZZ in the US before any of the later series. They've recently confirmed that Turn A is coming out in 2011.

Has anyone watched Unicorn? It's being released simultaneously with Japan, with a similar price point and old-style OVA release schedule, but it's also really good, if you can follow the rather complicated story It's just beautiful on Blu-ray, and since it's just six episodes, I figure can afford the high price.

 

[SouthtownKid]

I was going to say... I loved Wing in early high school because of the mech designs. And I watched G because it was on TV. But looking back, Wing made no fucking sense, and G was way too freak of the week. Until I read this thread, I assumed any 90's / 2000's Gundam was shitty. Am I way off?

None of it lives up to the original or Zeta. As long as you keep that in mind and don't get your hopes up too high, there is stuff to enjoy.

Turn-A is great if you've never watched that. Victory is also excellent if you haven't seen it. That one, I would rank among the top, near original and Z. But both Turn-A and Victory are Tomino shows, which helps a lot.

SEED is a re-imagining of the original series with all new characters. The plus side is that the animation tends to be nice, and some of the mecha and ship designs are cool. The downside is that none of the characters are anywhere near as cool as the originals, and most are whiny as hell (typical modern anime characters). And there is too much recycled animation. There are a few new concepts that are very interesting and separate it from the original timeline, but unfortunately they are not explored in any real (or consistent) way. Still miles above Wing, though. If you don't go online and read other people's whining about imagined issues with the shows, you'll probably enjoy them. A lot of the "problems" are either explainable or are actually explained within the show, and are just fans looking for something to complain about.

But again, just to be clear, the original series/movie trilogy and Zeta series fucking destroy SEED/Destiny.

Also, Gundam 00 is very good. Both seasons. Very good. That one, you should definitely watch.

And the first two episodes of Unicorn are excellent.

 

[Kristian Meller]

Until I read this thread, I assumed any 90's / 2000's Gundam was shitty. Am I way off?

Yes, you are.



Of course it comes down to personal taste, but I think the SEEDs catch much more flack than they deserve, and Gundam 00 is probably the best one yet. There are many shorter series and films that a great too.

 

[SNKNostalgia]

I've been watching Desert Punk on Netflix for some strange reason. It has its moments once in a while, but over all just a little too silly and eye rolling.

When the hell is Golgo 13 collection 3 coming here? That's what I want to see. I miss quality "look forward to" anime. The last series I really enjoyed other than that and own is Kenshin Wandering Samurai. I did enjoy Moribito and Seven Samurai quite a bit though.