[Anime] Simulwatch Brainstorm/Vote Thread: GLORIOUS NIPPON Edition

So glorious. Well folks, as I stated in the other thread, the idea here is to find something that's accessible. Basically ask yourself "would I show this to someone who has never watched anime before" before you throw out a suggestion. All the standard tropes (fanservice, moe, UGUU and all that) don't really mean a lot to people who've been watching a while but it's likely to turn people off here. To give you an idea of what we're looking for I'll throw out a few suggestions (also assume everyone has seen all the old Toonami/AS stuff like Bebop, Outlaw Star, FLCL):

(After enough people chip in on this I'll throw up a poll)

THE LINEUP:



Baccano!
Themes: Action, Adventure, Crime, Comedy, 1930's Accents Rule

Quote:

Each of the stories in the series involves several unrelated plots intersecting and crossing each other as events spiral farther and farther out of control. Immortal alchemists, mafia operated speakeasies, and many other elements of pulp fiction mashed together for a world straight out of the movies.

Holy balls that description sucks. Anyway Baccano is taken from a very amazing set of Light Novels by Ryohgo Narita. It's set in the US in 1930's (the prohibition era, specifically) and involves the happenings of a bunch of immortals, gangsters and thugs as their interests and involvement intersects. Everyone that has ever watched this show loved it. It's short (13 episodes with 3 OVA eps set after the series conclusion) and a little confusing at first, but when it all comes together it is literally the most amazing thing ever.




Trapeze
Themes: Comedy, Psychological, Is That A Fucking Bear

Quote:

Eleven people, each of them suffering from apparently groundless physical symptoms, land at psychiatrist Dr. Ichirō Irabu's consulting room, in the hope of finding there a sympathetic doctor, who listens to their troubles, gives them some pills, and with this, solves their problems once and for all. Instead, they find that Irabu is an eccentric person, with childish features and with little or no sympathy. He employs drastic and unheard-of treatments, and instead of counselling, he prefers to look at his patients' background personally. Despite his strange behavior and methods, he can always help his patients find the real causes behind their symptoms, while being amused at the awkward situations, which the patients get into by following his advice.

I made a thread about it!



Black Lagoon
Themes: Guns, Mercenaries, Terrorists, Action, Gratuitous usage of the word Fuck

Quote:

Okajima Rokuro is a Japanese businessman…in a town full of Japanese businessmen. His normal day consists of social drinking with clients and being kicked around by his bosses. He finally gets a break though, as he’s sent by his company to the tropical seas of Eastern China to deliver a disc…only his boat gets hijacked by a band of mercenaries that were hired to steal it. “Rock” (as he is newly dubbed by his captors) catches the interest of the only female merc “Revy” as she thinks he’s worth a ransom, taking him hostage. However, the disc turns out to be more trouble than its worth, and complicates things both for Rock, and the mercenaries known as Black Lagoon.

Now this is a story all about how Rock’s life got flip turned upside down and I’d like to take a minute just sit right there and tell you how he became a member of the Lagoon Company. Doesn’t sound interesting? Well it is. Imagine everything that ruled about 90’s Hollywood action flicks and you’ve got this show. Explosions, Pirates, the Triad, the Russian Mafia, and Killer Maids. Hell, one of the main characters is based on Chow Yun Fat. It’s ridiculous.



Casshern Sins
Themes: Post-apocalyptic, Robots, Drama, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Now You Fucked Up

Quote:

A revamp of the classic anime series, the world is plagued by a decay of all life both natural and robotic. The light of the world, it's sun called the moon, Luna, was kill by the cyborg Casshern; bringing with him the end of the world called the Ruin. Now Casshern wanders in the wasting lands he created in an immortal body and no memories of his past; searching for clues to who he was, meaning to his life, and redemption. Casshern continues to fight against bandits and those who do wrong, as well as himself and those who desperately cling to life; driven by the legend that one can gain new life by consuming Casshern.

After the murder of Luna, the robot society that rules the planet starts to rust and decay. Death and despair spread through the land like wildfire. The only one unaffected by the affliction that becomes known as "The Ruin" is Luna's assassin, Casshern. Unable to remember if he really triggered this capital sin against the entire mechanized civilization, Casshern embarks on a journey to unravel the mystery that connects him, Luna, and the plague.

Arguably one of the best shows to come out of 2008, Sins is an amazingly beautiful (arthouse as fuck) retake on a very old series. It's slow in some respects, but it takes plenty of time to flesh out Casshern and the horrors of the decaying world he inhabits. Plus who doesn't like seeing robots beat each other up?



Ghost in the Shell: SAC
Themes: Cyberpunk Mecha, Military, Police, Electronic Brain Pancake Crystal Elderly

Quote:

Stand Alone Complex takes place in the year 2030, in the fictional Japanese city of New Port. The series follows the exploits of Public Security Section 9, a special operations task-force made up of former military officers and police detectives. The series is a "police action drama" that comprises individual cases and the underlying mystery of the Laughing Man.

Ghost in the Shell is pretty much the cyberpunk show. There's the movies as well, and while I love Oshii the TV series' are better and if you disagree you are a faggot. I'm really not sure what to say about this one other than it rules.



One Outs
Themes: Baseball, Psychological, Just As Planned

Quote:

Hiromichi Kojima, the star batter of the Lycaons, heads to Okinawa to train and bring himself out of a slump. There, he meets Toua Tokuchi, a 134-kmph/83 mph pitcher and the undisputed king of a gambling form of baseball called "One Out." At Kojima's urging, Tokuchi signs up with the Lycaons. His contract differs form the usual, though, in that he gets 5,000,000 yen for every out he pitches, but loses 50,000,000 yen for every point he gives up.

Baseball. The great American pastime. Shit is boring. But you know what’s not boring? Baseball with tons of money on the line. Toua, the world’s most fabulous pitcher ever joins up with quite possibly the worst team in Japan, and somehow hopes to come out of it with a fuckhuge wad of money. Basically imagine Death Note, but with Baseball and a whole lot less gay. That’s One Outs. It's by the same team that did Akagi and Kaiji. Soundtrack is extremely FUNK.



Kino no Tabi (Kino's Journey)
Themes: Fantasy, Adventure, Sci-Fi, What the fuck talking motorcycle

Quote:

In Kino's Journey, the protagonist, Kino, accompanied by a talking motorcycle, a Brough Superior motorcycle named Hermes, travels through a mystical world of many different countries and forests, each unique in its customs and people. Kino only spends three days and two nights in every town, without exception, on the principle that three days is enough time to learn almost everything important about a place, while leaving time to explore new lands. Kino says in The Land of Visible Pain that this principle is probably a lie, specifically noting "if I stay any longer, I'm afraid I will settle down." A phrase repeated in the anime and novels is "The world is not beautiful, therefore it is." Kino's Journey explores what the anime director Ryutaro Nakamura described as "a radical sense of 'beauty," and brutality, loneliness, nonsense, oppression and tragedy are often juxtaposed against compassion and a fairy-tale atmosphere.

This one's actually new to me! But I hear plenty of people say it's good so why the fuck not.



Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Themes: Drama, Adventure, Earthquake Ruining Your Fucking Day

Quote:

After a massive earthquake in Tokyo 25 km under the sea at a magnitude of 8.0, siblings Mirai and Yūki, who were visiting a robot exhibition in Odaiba at the beginning of their summer vacation, struggle to reach their parents in their house in Setagaya assisted by a female motorcycle courier named Mari, who is striving to reach her own daughter and mother in Sangenjaya. While taking the journey home they encounter many problems caused by the earthquake, and meet others who have lost beloved ones due to the catastrophe.

An unlikely strong candidate from the '09 selections, TM8.0 had a very down-to-earth presentation and an ending that had many of the watchers fooled (we never saw it coming). It's kind of a tearjerker, but in a good way.



Welcome to the N.H.K.!
Themes: Black Comedy, Romance, Conspiracies, Pururin

Quote:

Welcome to the N.H.K. revolves around the lives of several young-adults all living in or around the city of Tokyo. Many different lifestyles are shown though most of the time the story focuses on the concepts of being a hikikomori, anime otaku, and having most of the characters experience intense feelings of depression and loneliness.

The main protagonist is Tatsuhiro Satō, a university dropout entering his fourth year of unemployment. He leads a reclusive life as a hikikomori, ultimately coming to the conclusion that this happened due to some sort of conspiracy. One day just when his life seems entirely unchanging, he meets Misaki Nakahara, a mysterious girl who claims to be able to cure Tatsuhiro of his hikikomori ways.

At times surreal, at times disturbing, and at others downright hilarious, N.H.K. is a sort of introspective look at the world of hikikomori/NEETs and what causes them to be. Think Genshiken, only much much darker and nowhere near as light-hearted. Also the wackiest ED I have ever seen.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Casshern and Darker Than Black are both good suggestions. I've been roughly halfway through both for a very long time and really need to finish watching them anyway. Gonna go look for Baccano torrents now too. I'd never heard of it, and the description sounds pretty neat.

As for other options, I remember Scrapped Princess being both a great show and friendly towards people unfamiliar with anime. I'd say Welcome to the NHK too despite its general craziness, but two out of the three people I've recommended it to hated it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Tritoch

I'd say Welcome to the NHK too despite its general craziness, but two out of the three people I've recommended it to hated it.

Well fuck those guys because NHK is great. Literally "this is what's wrong with everyone that posts on /a/" the anime. Also the first ED is the craziest god damn thing.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Whenever I saw people doing streams on /a/ it was always NHK or Foxenomics or One Piece. Not sure if I'd want to stream NHK or not because of it being overdone. However it's not like I'm inviting /a/ to our party so whatever I guess.

Most amazing jew boots

Nothing wrong with a bit of Foxenomics either. Then we could all be collectively sad when it's over and we don't have a third season to watch yet.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Here to scrap Tails' suggestions!

Ghost in the Shell: SAC
- Pretty good suggestion, but those mofos talk like 500 word per screen, I don't think anyone trying to watch it simultaniously could talk at the same time.

Casshern Sins
- I don't want to be depressed again......

Black Lagoon
- Yeah good suggestion, too bad 2nd season never happened!

One Outs
- Imokaywiththis.jpg

Darker than Black
- Another pretty good suggestion, too bad yet another show with no 2nd season.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
- Dropped before.... that....

Trapeze
- Honestly this would be too trippy for most.

Baccano
- Anyone against this will have their tickets inspected, unexpectedly.




My own suggestions might be something like:

Kino no Tabi - adventure, drama, psychological.

Cromartie High - pure awesome.

Hanada Shounen Shi (lmao it has backstreet boys OP & ED, but it's still a fantastic series) - comedy, slice of life, supernatural.

Also perhaps some OVAs, like Bastard!/AIKa(s)/Photon/El Hazard.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Baccano's seems like a good candidate.

I usually find stuff that's set in Western themes easier to introduce to someone who's never been exposed to anime before (how that's fucking possible, I don't even wanna know). So by your criteria, Tails, I find this one most interesting out of your list.

FELIPE NO

Casshern & Baccano have been on my list for ages =o One Outs was fun for a bit, but I get bored of animu where the protagonist god modes non-stop. JUST AS PLANNED sorta stuff gets old =(

I'll give my vote to Baccano as well.

One Outs was fun, but grated on me after a bit. I just don't enjoy god-moding main characters in my anime. Then again, I watched Big Wind-up just prior to this Was expecting something different. Anyhow, One Outs definitely has Akagi vibes (which would be 100x more awesome if I knew how the fuck to play mahjong).

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Trapeze is anime for people who don't like anime. I wholly support it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Boo-kun

Ghost in the Shell: SAC
- Pretty good suggestion, but those mofos talk like 500 word per screen, I don't think anyone trying to watch it simultaniously could talk at the same time.

You are literally a dumbass. Oh no there's a lot of words so people wouldn't be able to keep up! This one actually fared pretty well over at ADTRW thus it's inclusion here. Stop insulting everyone's intelligence.

It's simultaneously, by the way.

Quote:

Casshern Sins
- I don't want to be depressed again......

Quit being a baby. CAN'T WATCH IT BECAUSE THERE ARE SAD PARTS IN IT hope you never try and watch Grave of the Fireflies.

Quote:

Black Lagoon
- Yeah good suggestion, too bad 2nd season never happened!

Again, you are a dumbass. Black Lagoon ruled in it's entirety even if the second half wasn't quite up to the standards of the first.

Quote:

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
- Dropped before.... that....

Not my fault you can't watch things that are good all the way through!

Quote:

Trapeze
- Honestly this would be too trippy for most.

I'd argue this one really. It worked for lurker and she's about as non-anime as you could get. It's trippy but in a good way.

As for the rest, Kino maybe. Cromartie is nice but slapstick isn't really what we're going for here and looking for little more than OVAs.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Knowing my luck, watching won't work, but on the off chance that it does, Baccano looks interesting.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Tails

You are literally a dumbass. Oh no there's a lot of words so people wouldn't be able to keep up! This one actually fared pretty well over at ADTRW thus it's inclusion here. Stop insulting everyone's intelligence.

It's simultaneously, by the way.

I'm not insulting everyone's intelligence, I'm just insulting yours.
Just saying, that while GitS: SAC is indeed a great series, it might be quite heavy watching even for a anime nerd. I recall it being plot heavy and tough to follow due to tons of dialogue crammed in most scenes.

Oh and I resent this name calling, so no u dullatron.

Quote:

Quit being a baby. CAN'T WATCH IT BECAUSE THERE ARE SAD PARTS IN IT hope you never try and watch Grave of the Fireflies.

Bitch please, I saw Grave of the Fireflies back when you were still learning alphabets. I might or might not have been able to rewatch it since, but that's besides the point!
Casshern Sins was all sorts of artsy and dramatic, but I wouldn't revere it so highly. Opinions opinions.

Quote:

Again, you are a dumbass. Black Lagoon ruled in it's entirety even if the second half wasn't quite up to the standards of the first.

No it didn't. The second season was godawful plotwise.
U-u-u mad?




Oh well, at least Baccano can't go wrong.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Boo-kun

I'm not insulting everyone's intelligence, I'm just insulting yours.
Just saying, that while GitS: SAC is indeed a great series, it might be quite heavy watching even for a anime nerd. I recall it being plot heavy and tough to follow due to tons of dialogue crammed in most scenes.

Oh and I resent this name calling, so no u dullatron.

The only thing GitS is heavy on is Salinger references (there's literally a million of them). The plot is only easy to get lost on if you're somehow magically not paying any attention at all. If anything Baccano! would be harder to pick up, what with all the jumping between different time periods.

Quote:

Bitch please, I saw Grave of the Fireflies back when you were still learning alphabets. I might or might not have been able to rewatch it since, but that's besides the point!
Casshern Sins was all sorts of artsy and dramatic, but I wouldn't revere it so highly. Opinions opinions.

Casshern Sins was pretty much one of the best shows to come out of 2008 and if you disagree you are a million different kinds of gay. Show owns.

Quote:

No it didn't. The second season was godawful plotwise.
U-u-u mad?

[05:54] <+Lord_Styphon> lol whining about Black Lagoon season 2
[05:55] <+Lord_Styphon> It had Sawyer. His argument is invalid.

Quote:

Oh well, at least Baccano can't go wrong.

holy shit the one time in your life you are right about animes

I was speaking idiomatically.

Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano Baccano

Spoiler:

Dubbed

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Tails

Casshern Sins was pretty much one of the best shows to come out of 2008 and if you disagree you are a million different kinds of gay. Show owns.

[05:54] <+Lord_Styphon> lol whining about Black Lagoon season 2
[05:55] <+Lord_Styphon> It had Sawyer. His argument is invalid.

holy shit the one time in your life you are right about animes

I'm always r-

Spoiler:

But moving past the trolling, Baccano is pretty universally accepted, so how about we roll with that and see what happens.

Now that you've succesfully edited my post, I am beaten, well done lad :]

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Boo-kun

I'm always right. Make a note of it.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

says you're wrong.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

AW aren't you a real sweetie Tails. <3<3<3

Count my vote for Baccano. I'll be sure to send it back to you safe and sound.

I'm curious about when.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Tails

I'd argue this one really. It worked for lurker and she's about as non-anime as you could get. It's trippy but in a good way.

Here's the thing that Boo's not getting. Trippy is good if it's done well. Normal people can appreciate weirdness in their weird cartoon viewing. Or at least, that's what I'm usually looking for in my weird cartoons.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

POLLS. ALL. OVER THE PLACE.

This one is actually simple! Just pick and choose, OP's been updated as well. The number in parentheses represents the number of episodes. To the best of my knowledge all shows listed run between 22-25 minutes per episode.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Sooo... is this happening or did everyone just forget about it?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Sooo... is this happening or did everyone just forget about it?

Gimme a couple of days to get some things in order and there'll be a main thread.

I was speaking idiomatically.