Anime sucking lately
 

Is it just me or has there really not been any real quality anime show's in the past few years. There are a few exceptions of course (Fulmetal Alchemist, Paranoia Agent, Texhnolyze - but those are 3 years old still)

When asked to recommend anime to newcomers, I find myself always referring people mostly to 90's/pre-90's anime (Cowboy Bebop, Kenshin, Escaflowne, Berserk, Lain, Kimagure Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku, Now and Then Here and There are some of my personal favs).

Most anime of late has gone down the drain in terms of originality, and involving storylines and it seems the only saving grace for anime can come from directors like Watanabe (Bebop, Champloo), Miyazaki, Satoshi Kon or the odd cool show - Death Note. However, it seems like in the past couple of years, Watanabe's taken some time off and hasn't produced anything outside of S.Champloo (I hear he's working on Genius Party, but he's only contributing one segment to that film).

What are your thoughts? Does anyone beg to differ - maybe i've just been out of the anime loop too long and don't know any better? Can anyone recommend some good post 2004 anime that can hold a candle to some of the 90's stuff i listed?

I kind of feel the same way, or maybe it's cause I'm starting to realize I waste too much money and don't want to start a new series. Either way, I've been taking more interest in DVD releases of American cartoons lately.

I hardly feel like an anime fan anymore cause it feels like if I mention Slayers, Record of Lodoss War, or any of my other favorites people will just have no idea what I'm talking about.

Y'know, there probably was a lot of crap back then, too. People just tend to remember the good anime and forget the mediocre stuff.

You could try watching Honey & Clover, Monster or Nodame Cantabile - those are examples of anime made post 2004 that I enjoyed.

It's all a matter of taste. Every season has at least one or two series that I enjoy watching, but that may not hold true for other people. Nothing quite like saying "the quailty of _____ is worse now" to make you seem like an elitist whatever, though. ;(

Production quality may not always be as superb or plots as epic as older series, but in the end the most important aspect of a series is whether or not it's enjoyable, right?

Here's a list of series that have been released since 2000. There are definitely many gems in there that are worth checking out. You surely must recognize a few titles in there at least.

Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Watch it somehow, I don't care how you do it, but you must watch it. I think it pretty much is the defining show of current anime and I know it will be remembered as one of the classics later on.

Watch Gurren Lagann, it is incredible.

On another note, does anyone know when Heibane Remnei came out? I don't think it's that old and it's another really great series.

Edit: I also enjoyed the Death Note anime, but I'm pretty sure the manga is pretty old now. If you've never heard of the show or the manga though I would say check it out, the anime is just as good as the manga, well, at least until the second arc, but I won't spoil anything.

Now those were the days of real quality animes. From Argento Soma to Rah-Xephon.. I can recall being a big anime freak during that time period cause I was only 13 or 14 years old. I mean it was the time of mechs and big explosions and all that drama that caught my eye. Animes in the early 90's finally coming out on dvds (like Escaflowne and Evangelion).

I think War-mecha animes died right after the FMP series. Sure there's Gundam00 but I'm not sure if it'll hold that trophy like the classics have. It's there but not all the way. As far as Gurren Lagann goes, I couldn't get into that shit after the first episode. Many of my friends were telling me its annoying and Taku Iwasaki (one of my big time favorite composers responsible for Kenshin, Read or Die ) changed his shit up a bit. I didn't even notice his work at all in the first episode which turned me off so I didn't bother wasting time in it. Then someone else points out to me that there's an annoying song in that anime so I won't bother talking about it. But on a real note, I can't really enjoy mech animes like before and with that type of genre, it requires great music. After 2k4, there was only too little gems that were less annoying to look at but interesting nonetheless.


The only anime saving me from not watching anything is really Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn. It grasps that old feel the other classic animes had. I heard a rumor that they will stop production after the current arc that's airing right now. Really sad since the current arc in the manga has turned the story from comedic-action to drama,action and less funny. So if you want to check out an anime. Check hitman reborn but when the recent anime arc finishes, get to the manga and start from beginning to the ongoing chapters. It's very popular in japan but I only started watching the anime because of playability advantages in a certain game. After watching the first episodes, it was more than that :p. The OST's (Toshihiko Sahaashi - known for his great work in the BigO) are very good but they tend to get a little boring in the later episodes cause they were used constantly. That is probably another reason why production of the anime might shut down afterwards. Give it a try

Part of the reason anime has sucked SO hardcore recently is because of the Fansubbing issue. Company's cant make money, and if they cant make money they cant make product, so to stay in business they make crappy product that the TV station will buy so they hope the can break even. the whole supply and demand market has been broken in this area, because there is no real demand for it, because there is an infinite supply of it from one copy that made its way online. its the same with movies and music.
its explained better here :Editorial: An Open Letter to the Industry - Anime News Network
Thanks and Gig'em fansubs
But besides that, Eureka Seven, Ergo Proxy, El Chevalier D'Eon, Kurau Phantom Memories, Ghost in the Shell, Claymore, Full Metal Panic, Code Geass, Darker Than Black, Seirei no Moribito, Mushi-shi, Gurren Lagann, RahXephon, Wolf's Rain, Elfen Lied, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya...list goes on, these are all animes i have bought or plan on buying I liked them so much.

The only thing that article states is that companies have shifted to making series for niche target audiences, not that they're making inferior products on purpose. If you think "so to stay in business they make crappy product that the TV station will buy so they hope the can break even" is a good business model that animation companies follow, well, I dunno.

After Eureka seveN, I gave up on the anime scene. I watched a bit of NHK ni Youkoso! but decided that was better in manga form. All of my long running series I find I like more in manga form as well, like Bleach, but somehow I think that if I had the time to watch One Piece, it would still be amazing (duh)

People keep telling me to watch Gurren Lagann, but I dunno, I don't have time.

People seem to be forgetting something here -- there's prime time anime and there's late night anime. Don't like Naruto, Bleach, Detective Conan or Pretty Cure? Then you're left with all the post-midnight shows, which have always been for niche audiences. Let's stop kidding ourselves here. Did you like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya? If so, you can already consider yourself as part of that niche. You can sputter on how "moe" and the dating sim genre are destroying anime, but you're not fooling anyone.

Another thing: do you seriously believe the Japanese animation industry depends on revenue from overseas audiences to stay afloat? They have their problems, yes, but what fansubbing impacts is the American licensing companies, and it's partially their own fault for taking on series that simply won't sell (i.e. anything that isn't Naruto).

Think the quality or originality of series has fallen lately? Look, list out all your favorite series and look at the years. Are they seriously that concentrated around a short period? There's 30-50 new shows every season now. Good shows are naturally hard to come by, and just because the volume of mediocrity has increased (or rather, appears to be increasing due to the proliferation of bored college students who are willing to sub crap) doesn't mean they're going extinct. Have you watched Planetes (Ghodbane, if you haven't, you're in luck!)? That's one of my all-time favorites and it came out late 2003. And yes, I bought the DVDs. Thanks, fansubbing!

Nothing in recent memory can hold a candle to that good ol' 80s/90s stuff. I absolutely love Kimagure Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Rose of Versailles, etc.

Right now, there isn't much that I am watching. I enjoyed Lucky Star, and I am watching Myself; Yourself, which is pretty odd, but it's slim pickings right now.

Well, I'd like to offer a different point of view here, since I just started watching anime about a year ago, and I got hooked.

Yes, I live in America and I do download fansubbed anime. I'm actually a part of two fansub groups: Live-eviL and Anime-Keep. The latter of which isn't exactly moving anytime soon and the former does a lot of classic shows (e.g. Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 (both 1978)) Having just started watching, I tend to stick with the more recent anime shows. This may be attributed to the difference in video quality, as while I don't like to consider myself overly emphatic on how an anime "looks", I just don't think a lot of the anime pre-2000 have aged well, personally. The majority I watch was released after 2000.

That being said, I don't think the quality of anime has degraded significantly since 2000. I'm keeping up with the new season shows, and a lot of them look promising and interesting enough for me to download. I try to go back to some classics, but usually, that doesn't go very well and it takes me forever to finish the series because I often lose interest.

I've watched two series released before 2000: The Vision of Escaflowne, and Serial Experiments Lain. Late 90s, but nevertheless, before 2000. As I recall, I didn't like either one much. I didn't like the protagonist in Escaflowne (Hitomi I think her name was) and the second (Van Fanel) wasn't much better, albeit the best of the bunch. I didn't like the ending that much either. Serial Experiments Lain, I just didn't get. It's a weird series, to say the least and I was never quite sure what was going on. I'm not sure about Serial Experiments Lain, but I feel that I'm going to get a lot of heat for Escaflowne.

Well, now we fast forward to the present time. It seems like the quality of anime shows, IMO, hasn't degraded, but just that the shows themselves have changed direction with relation to genre. There seems to be a shift to the Moe/Romance/Comedy/School Life kind of anime shows, which doesn't bother me one bit, because I love these shows (see Lucky Star) But I know, to some people, these shows, especially Moe, are like poison. I think it's just a matter of taste. I'm not a bit fan of mecha or horror, so I don't mind the lack of action and battle-heavy series that are in the recent line ups.

I don't know, just my thoughts.

Seriously. This is the best anime that Gainax has ever done. And I'm not even a Gainax fan but you basically need to have seen this show to talk about anime at all. It's that awesome.

Aside from that, I've actually started getting back into anime recently cause there are more shows that appeal to me. There's the new Genshiken season, there's Clannad and pretty much anything that KyoAni does (with some of the best quality animation I've ever seen, and really good choices in voice acting and pacing/writing). Lovely Complex was one of the most enjoyable love comedies I've ever seen, and that's a genre that anime usually doesn't handle very well, but this one really pulled it off gloriously.

As far as more serious shows go, Death Note just finished which is one of the best "serious" anime I've seen. Darker than Black recently finished, and although I haven't seen it, it's supposed to be really good as well. I haven't even mentioned School Days either.

It's definitely up to personal taste--I understand that Lucky Star and Kanon 2006 really aren't for everybody. But for me, anime is actually going through a revival after being really shitty in the late 90s/early 2000s with shows with poor art and grainy/muted colouring, series that go on for too long and have no pacing, and a lack of funny shows that are really funny.

Funny enough, I got into anime in late 2001 when the subs of Vandread: the Second Stage were just being released, and the Elite-fansub releases of Vandread were floating around. That was the first show I watched, and I still fondly remember it for the characters, the story and humour, and the soundtrack by Yasunori Iwasaki.

And heck, Fruits Basket was released in 2001 as well. Those years can't be that bad :(

Yeah true, no matter how bad it gets there's always something to watch. I was just thinking after I posted that Azumanga Daioh was 2002, and that's probably my all time favourite anime ever. :D

Fruits Basket would be one of those shows that I couldn't get into due to pacing and art though. It does have its moments (and beautiful OP/ED songs), but I can't say I'd recommend it to anybody.

That's about it.

And I don't know if it matters, but back in the day anime was quite rare, basically we were in starvation: every single anime was enjoyed, watched and rewatched until we got a chance to watch another series.

Now it's so darn easy to get it!, it's like if we were stuffed with it! "Meh, Didn't like/understand the first episodes, I'll watch something else... besides I have like 1648564 series waiting" - I blame fansubs for this.

And I dont know what you guys are talking about, animation standards are way superior than they used to be pre 2000.

Also Azumanga came 2002-2004 (Can't remember the exact year). I wouldn't trade any of your freaking 90's series for this one.


Edit: Some horrors

Coming from the Wikipedia page on RahXephon (so take it for what it's worth) - "One of Evangelion's producers was similarly frustrated with anime as a whole, stating that much of what was released in the "post-Eva era" was "mass-produced junk".

Like OmniSlash24 said, the trend for anime of late has been a shift towards producing countless numbers of school life/shonen shows. If you're into that, then you probably won't see where I'm coming from. Tafer, I don't agree with your argument that we were starved for anime at all. Sure, the animation quality has improved a great deal since the 90's - (that's a natural consequence of better technology over time etc), but the overall originality and appeal of anime has been lost because of these "mass produced" shows that are veering more to please crowds with cheap thrills (ecchi, male bachelor in all female setting type shows) than new storylines. In the past at least, characterization and plot development were SOMEWHAT important, even to shows with ecchi. (Great Teacher Onizuka, Golden Boy).

Who knows - maybe I'm just bashing anime of today because of my nostalgic memories of watching old greats. I certainly think it's more than fond memories though. Great storylines, music, and heart went into these shows (when are we going to get another show like Kenshin!) I used to be able to call myself an anime fan - that's not the case anymore.

Take whatever the Gainax lads say with a grain of salt. I am no fan.

To me, Evangelion is for a large part responsible for the decline in anime in the 90s, since it's such a terrible show in every possible way, as is everything they made after it (don't get me started on Mahoromatic and FLCL). Gurren Lagann is the first show they made that's worth watching since, like, Blazing Transfer Student.

And we were relatively starved for anime in the 90s in the sense that only the best of the best got subbed (there are actually some super good shows that never got subbed at all, or not until way later--have you SEEN Blazing Transfer Student? ;) ).

I also don't agree that better technology = better art. During the 80s and early 90s, the artwork and animation was (IMHO, of course) super beautiful, and vastly superior to late 90s/early 2000s, where it seemed they were just scrounging on the animation and it all looked really cheap and photoshoppy for lack of a better word.

However, nowadays it's way better I think. There are definitely still shows that use the cheapest possible studio in the world (One Piece comes to mind), but there are studios nowadays that put pride into their work, and the difference is palpable. I don't like Kenshin, so I don't think our tastes are really compatible, but I agree that a certain amount of heart needs to be put into any production. And recently, I think KyoAni has put more love into their productions than I've ever seen in any show. It's really amazing, and it's why I'm such a big fan of them.

(To Ghodbhane) Solution: stop watching crappy shows!
You're talking as if the amount of bad shows that are brought to your attention nowadays somehow cancel out the existence of "new" greats. Or did you seriously not enjoy any show in the last 7 years?

Name some series you really disliked from the 80's/90's. Chances are you can't, because you didn't know they even existed.

I think you're totally missing out on some really good anime series. Of course, all these cliché crappy anime series will always be made more of and many of the old great series may seem unparalleled, but among the crap there is always gems to be found, and they're not that very few I have to say.

I'll post some examples of great and original anime that you might enjoy from post 2004
Code Geass (one of my favourites of all time)
Claymore
GunGrave (Ok, I just checked and this is from late 2003, but you might have missed it, so I'll put it up anyways as it's in my eyes one of the best anime out there)
Beck
NANA(If you like shoujo this is a great anime)
Basilisk
Monster
Kaiji
Darker Than Black
Higurashi no naku koro ni
Ghost Hound

Hmm that's all I could come up with at the moment that I think you might like. I was nice to even post links, so you could check out the links and see if it's anything for you.

Ahh, another LoGH fan <3 There are good fansubs finally up on the internet if you're interested. Central Anime is the group name, I think, and they're doing the movies, then the OAVs. VERY nice fansubs. Clear and easy to follow, unlike the chinese bootlegs :mad:

Touch is one of the best series ever, as well. But it's under most folks' radar...

I'm noticing that my anime tastes differ a lot from the norm. Lucky Star was okay, but I never found myself laughing out loud terribly much. It gave me a smirk from time to time but I deleted it from my External HD without much hesitation (my External HD houses all my keepers. FMP series, LoGH, Touch, Maison Ikkoku, You're Under Arrest, etc).

Also, I strongly agree with Gungrave. The gunfights are pretty lame, but it is such a wonderfully done series. The drama, characters, and their development is just beautiful. Its ending is probably one of the more watery-eyed moments I've had in anime. And I've seen Grave of the Fireflies :mad:

I am somewhat having the same problem, but it only happened after Gurren Lagann.

I think i will call it 'Post Gattai stress disorder'

The most recently released anime that I watched from start to finish was Blood+.
But I have the same problem in that most anime doesn't appeal to me these days or I'll start out liking a series and grow bored of it (Inuyasha, FMA). There's plenty of anime that I'll just watch an episode or two of and get bored.

There's good anime out there if you take the time to wade thru the crap, that part has never changed in the anime world. There's always been plenty of stuff not worth investing time in and a few gems that you really enjoy. But the animation style of old cel animation still does hold a special charm to me and I have found memories of those days.

Gurren Lagann seems to be highly recommended, I haven't watched it yet, but it looks interesting enough.

Black Lagoon came out last year, it was fun to watch and had some great sequences. Also Seirei no Moribito came out sometime this year, it was both entertaining and compelling. That's what I have watched of any quality in the last few months as far as current stuff goes.

Well, I can't really say Ghodbhane is entirely wrong.

Some of late animes are good indeed. Some even make you fly and dying to wait the next episodes or seasin to air (Suzumiya Haruhi is one good example).

But lately shounen-theme, school-dating, and date-sim animes have ruined most of it. Discovering new different anime with a good first expression has been difficult since then.

Don't know why people in Japan like anime with that kind of genre. Once seen, you've seen most of all.

So Ghodbhane, I agree with Bigblah: stop watching crappy shows. Sometimes a good show (TV shows, anime, etc.) doesn't have to be the popular ones. For instance, I find that I don't actually like Code Geass despite my friends said that it was awesome. It's a matter of taste.

Well, I can say that Fall 2007 hasn't exactly been a stellar one in terms of series to watch, but I have enjoyed the ones that have come out during this period. Clannad and ef: A Tale of Memories have remained solid shows so far and Kaiji (as nanafan mentioned) is still serving up good doses of drama. Same can be said for Kimikiss and even some dubious ones like Shugo Chara which has somehow caught my attention. Certainly not the best I've seen, but definitely not the worst either.

If you ask me, anime has been on a steady upward trend in overall quality. Sure, you do have some disappointments here and there like Nanoha StrikerS or yet another Naruto or Bleach clone, but when you have esoteric-minded shows like Zetsubo Sensei, strange, but charming setups like Dennou Coil, and epic, beautiful pieces of work like Seirei no Moribito, you'd almost have to be purposely digging in trenches full of offal to be unearthing only crap. There's just so much variety out there that complaining about a lack of good shows just means you might not be trying hard enough.

It basically boils down to knowing your tastes and figuring out what shows cater to that taste. Then, it's putting in the energy to talk to people and research shows that you think are what you're looking for in a good series. Sure you may stumble across a few that just miss the mark completely, but that just comes with exploring various series. It's certainly probable to find at least one watchable show in a given season.

For the time being, I can say that 2007 has been pretty good to anime fans.

OH THOSE WACKY JAPANESE

(Dude, it's really not hard to figure out. Target audience, etc)


Can't agree with this more. ARIA was one of those unassuming sleeper hits. And almost nobody watched Mushishi, yet I've heard nothing but praise for it from every single person who did. I'll definitely have to check that out.

Another thing about Animes sucking lately is most fans grow out of it . You watch too many in the past , you get bored. Luckily, shows like clannad are still fun to watch.

Btw, ghodbane, you should check out Nighthead Genesis and Jigoku Shouji S1+S2. Nighthead won't confuse you like Lain (though that anime rocked around that time when BoogiePop was also around.) but if you seen Sci-fi Harry, it won't mindfuck you til the end. Jigoku Shoujo is another decent anime if you like people making deals with the devil to get revenge XD.

Blah --
Mushishi is fucking AWESOME <3 Every episode feels and ends like something done by Miyazaki. The music is gorgeous (I have both soundtracks on my Hard Drive), and the scenery artwork is top-notch. Some folks will gripe about how Ginko and the other characters look, but it is damn nice. Definitely in my top 10.

Every episode (just about) is detached and not much of a particular order can be determined (most of the time). Season 1 ends much like the usual episode. I hope there is a Season 2, but I won't be holding my breath ;(

Two things are pissing me off in modern anime -- the "Mindfuck" and the "Emo-tastic" main character. It probably started before Evangelion, but Shinji was the first glaring emo-character. Someone will MOPE and WHINE and fucking throw a world-class hissy-fit for ten god damn episodes, seems to get better but no! Next episode? BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW. I've seen countless newer anime spin off in to this, regardless of the genre. This also spans in to the "I don't want to kill anyone" thing. Rurouni Kenshin? Well, a reversed blade is believable. But Trigun? "I WANNA USE A GUN BUT I WON'T SHOOT ANYONE =(" Gundam Seed? "ZOMG I KILLED SOMEONE ;__;"

Mindfucks don't need any explanation... It's basically the writers getting lazy and they decide to leave out plot elements in hope of looking "clever" and "innovative". Things are coated in flamboyant colors, the viewer is blind-folded, spun in a circle, and told to decipher things. Once again, Eva is a prime example of this bullshit.

Eva is pretty much the epitome of everything I hate in an anime, really :(

Seconded! In fact I totally agree with everything you said in that post!

I have to say though that it seems (to me) that the high tide for that type of shows is passing.

But I loved Eva :mad:

I'll just go and, uh, sulk in this corner here

Go sulk with Shinji :mad: And fap off to Asuka when she's in a coma (did that really happen? :( My brother mentioned that it did, but I didn't want to touch the series after the main-series ended).

Shinji was always every anime fan's problem. He never did man-up in the show. But I'm with blah. I loved the series too XD. *pats* s'all good slugger.

@ gech

Watch the first 5 mins of EoE and yall have your answer. But my problem with people hating Eva so much, then loving FF7 when Cloud is just as bitchy moaning. but lets get back on topic. Why anime sucks so much.
Well, yeah, part of the reason is that everything seems to be trying to copy and blend every good thing from every thing else and failing.

Saved for future generations.

Gechmir:

The way I see it, when anime studios go for the pointless mindfuck, it's like pushing the viewer's face into a bowl of soup and saying OBSERVE, ISN'T THIS BOWL OF SOUP SO DEEP.

Mushishi is so good. Every time I finish watching an episode, I feel like I'm waking up from a dream.

Oh lord, not again. "I'm above all this pseudo-philosophy / pacifism bullshit!"

:3530 props:

It's like some alcoholics anonymous meeting.

Yeah, guys, high-five Gechmir all you want, but don't forget this is the guy who also hates perfectly good series like Kaleido Star. I still can't wrap my head around that one.

What?

I am at a loss for words here. How do you hate Kaleido Star?

I can't wrap my head around why people even tolerate it. It's a lame, vanilla anime with cut-out character types and ZERO development. The overly cheerful main character pissed me off and it climaxed, like, halfway through the series :(

"ZERO development"? I think you just completely destroyed your own credibility there. I mean, it's not even a subjective issue.


So there you have it, guys. The critic equivalent of throwing puppies into boiling water.

Right. God forbid someone has a different taste in anime :V

Right, god forbid writers and directors take some liberties with their ideas.


totally fishing for props here (AND NOT GETTING THEM, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL)

I don't personally follow anime nowadays. I just watch Dual! on and off. Sure, a series may interest, but it doesn't last that long. Probably some complexity in the storyline, not too certain.

Did you even watch the series in its entirety (both season) because come on, the Angel's Act was amazing.

(also OVAs)

Next you'll say something like Yotsuba& is bland, boring and unfulfilling. :(

Yeah, a lot of disappointments. I can only name a handful off the top of my head in the past few years.
Haruhi
Nana
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (dazzling creatures)
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Who the hell do you think I am!?)

That's not the past few years, that's the past few seasons (all of those are only around a year old). You're effectively stating the opposite of the thread title.

By having no soul. Also, agreeing wholeheartedly with Bigblah's post above this Styphon's.

I think it's very much subjective, like music tastes. Sure, you may hate hip-hop and emo/pop-punk, but those are the genres that are in vogue. I may say that the best music climaxed at 1969, some others may say the best music is now.

I haven't ventured much into modern anime simply because nothing has caught my eye, unlike when I was extremely interested in anime more than half a decade ago. After a while, it seems like genres are repeating themselves, like Hollywood movies, and you yearn for more - but you're not getting any. It's like hearing that song on the radio, you're constantly searching for that new high.

Perhaps you should try testing some modern series out. You might find something surprising. I also find a connection between teenage years and anime. Maybe that's when anime made the most impact on us, and maybe that's why when we watch anime back in the day it is more memorable and nothing now can hold up to that image or feeling we got then. I sure can say that my interests have changed completely and anime is just a long stage of my teenage life, so that's why when I see modern anime today I feel that I cannot get that good feeling back. Instead I rely on nostalgia of older series that I highly enjoyed.

Maybe this is also psychobabble. I could be one of the few in many feeling this way about anime.

You are not longer my hero, mister.

"Climaxed halfway through the series" suddenly takes on a different meaning :gonk:

Wahaha gech hating Kaleido Star, what's to expect. The man says Eva is everything he hates about anime. So character designs, production values (minus few dodgy eps), music, genre mixing, difficult issues and :gendopose: are also wrong with animu :(


Anyway, I've been very much out of anime for months now and the starvation theory of early years works. Back then everything was new and exciting, you even managed to tolerate AD Police and Doomed Megalopolis on your shelf because you foolishly bought that shit on VHS and by god you were going to keep it. Nowadays I nearly always limit myself to a few series per season, depending on what catches my interest, judging by character designs and basic setup. So comparing the amount of good series I watch, things haven't changed all that much. All I see is bigger production values (now everything pretty has that sunbleached evening effect to them!), more choice and easier, much easier access to it all.

From an actual anime lover's point of view, things seriously couldn't be better. My issues only come from how many of the older, wonderful series easily get overlooked in favor of the more known (and more readily available) titles but ah well.

Sure, I doubt we'll ever have anything of the magnitude of Mobile Police Patlabor in terms of charm, talent or influence, much like I doubt any romantic comedy will ever be able to top Maison Ikkoku (manga), but recent times have given us completely wonderful miracles like Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (which still stands as my favorite animated motion picture of this century), Millennium Actress, Haruhi, Victorian Romance Emma, Haibane Renmei, Stand-Alone Complex and Pani Poni Dash, and you simply can't complain about those (unless of course you somehow despise comedy or cyberpunk).

Then again, after Yotsuba anime hits, there will be no need to make any more.................................

Haha, my cousins still have Genocyber and Lensman.

I'm pretty much in agreement that really good anime comes pretty rarely these days. Every now and then something like Gungrave and Death Note will come out, but a lot of it is bullshit series like Blood+ or .hack series #53645. Before I watched Death Note, there was one show I saw that was hilarious, but I can't remember what it's called. It was about some sort of princess/magical girl who fights with grappling moves and is always twisting and breaking the shit out of people. Last I saw, it was only a few episodes in. Haven't checked it out recently.

I've been hearing a lot about this Tengen Toppa show lately, so I might give that one a shot sometime soon.

Tengen Toppa is one of those animes that make you yell at your screen because of the amount of MAN it eminates, and thus the amount of MAN you receive.

Just watch the first couple of episodes, pay attention to Kamina and you'll know what I mean. It's like the guy is pure testosterone or something it's amazing, like you (or at least I) didn't know how to react aside from just yelling at the screen. I don't know why i yelled at the screen and i felt silly for doing so but it just felt right.

Yeah, definately an awesome anime. Filled with twists and turns and testosterone.

EDIT: Yeah, Shinji really does fap to Asuka. What happens is she's in a coma, he tries to wake her up and somehow pulls open her patient outfit or something. The screen focuses on the IVs and you hear generic masturbating grunts. He creams all over his hand and and says "I'm so fucked up".

The movie starts with a bunch of live action scenes that are really weird, and most people skip it. But if you watch through it, right at the end is where Shinji plays with himself.

One of the main covers of the S2 compilation works (a CD set with all of Evangelion's music) is a close-up of Shinji's jizz-covered hand. Classy!

Thanks for the recommendations folks. I've taken a look at the first few episodes of Toppa Tengen and it's definitely grabbed my interest enough to make me keep watching, unlike some of the other shows that've been recommended to me of late (Darker Than Black, Lucky Star). The show's got a killer intro (good hook), a great man's man of a character in Kamina, and an interesting overall story arc. Other anime I'm looking at: Mushishi - seems like just the original anime i was looking for, and Planetes - heard this one picks up later on.

What's wrong with Lucky Star -_-

I thought parts of it were funny albeit altogether silly. Guess it really isn't something you try to recommend to people.

Eh, Lucky Star's moe was poison. Seto no Hanayome was superior humor.

Why do I always fall in love with those twisted chaos animes that nobody likes to sub (Negima!?, PPD, Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei) or are so completely deliciously twisted in premise that everyone ignores it or runs away (Blue Drop, I'm looking at YOU)?

Wasn't PPD licensed by ADV not too long ago? I think a few volumes are available on amazon right now. I was especially interested in seeing Zetsubo Sensei - the premise seems really interesting to me, and I agree it is a darn shame that no one's taken upon themselves to sub it.

What? Is that in the works? =o

Negima!?, PPD and Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei are all produced by SHAFT, and SHAFT series are notorious for being a pain in the ass to sub. They love their blackboard graffiti.

Also, Sin Ansem, isn't San the very definition of moe?

Fortunately, SHAFT keeps the blackboard graffiti and other pause-button requiring gags to an absolute minimum in ef, concentrating on the other weird animation tricks they like.

And the one graffiti/pause-to-see gag they've limited themselves to so far was epic.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...1784966470.jpg

Aren't most SHAFT-isms more of Akiyuki Shinbo's doing? The camera tricks that were so prevalent in Shinbo-directed shows like Hidamari Sketch on top of everything else mentioned in the above indicates that this isn't SHAFT so much as Shinbo.

It should be noted that Shinbo is credited with supervising ef, which explains some the (excellent) use of the camera. That, and ef's director has worked alongside Shinbo on a few projects (notably PPD and Negima).

That explains the SHAFT Line (which explains my love for those crazy comedy series), and btw I've long since had the PPD sub and want the dub soon.

That doesn't solve everyone ignoring Blue Drop though. The drama in that show is brilliant.

Let's be for real, Anime has always been crap.

Of course as far as crap goes, the past half decade has been pretty great. Planetes has been my favorite television show period. You'd have to be watching a series of stinkers to come to any concrete conclusions about relative quality. Just because somebody has screenshots in their av/sig isn't indicative of quality.

Also taking this opportunity to plug Voices of a Distant Star.

I've got Voices of a Distant Star here, but still have yet to watch it....I'll get around to it soon.

My interest in anime has generally been limited to whether I can be bothered downloading the entire series (if it has already finished) or whether I can dedicate myself every week to get it when a new ep comes out.

As far as Bleach and Naruto are concerned, I'm only watching them more out of habit now than anything, since I've come this far already.

I haven't watch a whole load of post-2000 anime, but the ones I have watched I really liked (even if they kinda fizzle out toward the end, or are so popular that they get old and annoying fast because of stupid fans milking it for all it's worth).
- Honey and Clover I & II
- Genshiken I & II
- Yakitate!! Japan
- Ouran High School Host Club
- Death Note
- Samurai 7 (I loooove this. Thought it was a great alternate take on Seven Samurai)
- Full Metal Panic (all 3 seasons)
- Azumanga Daioh (SO LOOKING FORWARD TO YOTSUBA ANIME!)
- Ichigo Mashimaro
- Cromartie High

Anime I really want to watch are Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, Claymore, Samurai Champloo, Afro Samurai.....I forget the others.....

I tried to get into Lucky Star, but just preferred Ichigo Mashimaro a lot more. It seemed to me that Lucky Star was trying a bit too hard to be cute and over-the-top slice of life thing, while Mashimaro has a really laid back charm I like.
I'm trying to get into Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya as well, but I just keep thinking back to the thousands of otaku fans who only love it because Haruhi's a cutesy bizzarre chick and thats the reason why they 'identify' with her. Plus I've been to a couple of conventions where literally hundreds of people are participating in the Hare Hare Yukai 'Dance Off' comps.....UGH.

If all you can think about is creepy fanboys when watching something, I'd say you should probably give up trying to get into it. :tpg:

Does anyone know the reason why they stopped abruptly with the Berserk anime series? I'm sure this has long been discussed, but I only recently got into reading the manga and I feel like it's a great tragedy that this series never got continued past volume 12. It's one of the greatest anime and most detailed manga's out there and for no production company to snap it up is shocking to me.

Well the fact that it's still being developed presents some problems, plus the show sort of wrote itself into a hole without any real good way to resolve the conflict.

It was probably just a vehicle for the comic anyways.

I haven't been watching anime all that much lately, but I'll watch a few series every now and again. I don't think anime as a whole is completely sucky these days. It's just that there are tons of titles and a lot to choose from, so sometimes it's hard to find shows you consider good.

Edit: I totally forgot to recommend something to watch. Like I said, I haven't been keeping up with stuff in the past few years, but I really loved Toward the Terra and Mushishi.

I don't keep up with nearly the same amount of anime I used to watch a few years ago, but there have been a few good titles from 2006-present that I've enjoyed. I won't list the popular ones, but an anime that I haven't seen much discussion about is Seirei no Moribito. The animation and overall atmosphere reminded me a lot of an older title I've always liked called Juuni Kokki (The Twelve Kingdoms). I'm only 6 episodes into Seirei no Moribito, but it seems like one that I'm going to finish since it's only 26 episodes long.

Hmmmm. Sounds like I'm not alone in keeping track of fewer and fewer shows. In fact the only show at the moment that I've really bothered to keep track of is Gundam00 perhaps only because its Gundam. I was watching a few other series this season and last and I found most of them to be tediously boring and dropped them shortly into the season. Everything seems so similar, must be from all those years of watching practically every series that rolled around.

Still waiting on that next season of Full Metal Panic, that and the Gurren Lagann OVAs they said they were making (they still are, right?).

I just finished watching tengen toppa and I must say that it is definitely one of the better animes out there. The massive amount of 'man' it enamates truly sets it apart from all the other mech series.

... however, I kinda hated the ending. :(

As for naruto, the manga is showing some promise lately with all these fights and events but the anime is crappy lately.
-animation sucks compared to DBZ which is older.
-some episodes are spent on meaningless talk and plot reminders in the heat of battle.
The manga surely looks better, at least it lets you imagine battles.

http://www.gamingforce.org/forums/at...1&d=1198947965

(Btw this is the akatsuki new leader)

That's Itachi's pose... and he isn't the leader :gonk:.

Itachi liked the pose so he copied it, lol.
And of course he is not the leader because he's weak compared to him (i won't spoil you but you know the last events i think).

I agree with some folks here and say Code Geass is THE BEST anime in 07.