Who loves anime here?

[MrSylvester]

10. Full Metal Panic!
Sosuke Sagara is a 16 year old mercenary for a non-governmental organization called Mithril whose job it is to halt regional conflicts. One day, he is assigned a task by them to protect an ordinary, if a bit short tempered high school student Kaname Chidori by posing as her classmate and defending her agaisnt any threat. the thing is, Sosuke, having spent literally all his life as a soldier doesn’t have any notion of what social skills are and hilarity ensues. FMP! makes this list because what might have been an otherwise average action series turns out to be very good by its gut bustingly funny comedy which mostly stems from Sosuke’s personality and if you want a very good laugh, this series is highly recommended.

9. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Before I continue, yes, Haruhi Suzumiya the main series does have its flaws. The endless eight arc which was a whole arc of eight episodes with the same plot and scenario with only little differences to differentiate them from each other was utterly unnecessary, uncreative and if probably the main reason why a third season isn’t on its way and some of the jokes involving Haruhi’s harassment of Mikuru were downright unfunny. However, before seeing thee series itself, I saw the theatrical movie and it truly was an amazing experience. With a great plot which is rather sad if you think about, the disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya made this list just for being a great movie although those new to Haruhi Suzumiya would do well to see the original series in order to understand many of the plot points in the film.

8. Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
The most recent entry on this list, Madoka Magica is a deconstruction of the magical girl genre. It can best be described as Sailor Moon meets Neon Genesis Evangelion and those that have seen it (like me) know where the similarities come from. Unlike most magical girl shows, Madoka Magica doesn’t focus much on the monsters or the villains the magical girls fight but rather on the way they handle the trouble of being one. In fact, the titular main character doesn’t even become a magical girl until towards the end of the series. It is very dark and the ending made me feel very depressed even though it was more bittersweet than sad but ultimately, I think this series is highly recommended if you’re a magical girl fan. You’ll never see the same genre the same way ever again.

7. Elfen Lied.

Despite their flaws, with the manga going way over the top with the capabilities of the diclonius especially towards the end and the anime ending on a huge cliffhanger, Elfen Lied is a very good story dealing with topics like the evil humans can stoop to, emotional trauma and being loved. What makes it so great is the deep characterization and, especially that of the main character, Lucy who, despite doing some horrible things is still sympathetic and essentially a good person on the inside, maybe even better individually than most of humanity. Elfen Lied is very unfairly remembered as very gory anime but compared to most other anime, its rather tame and most of the horror isn’t drawn from the gore itself but from the situations it is put in and that is what makes most people unnerved. It is highly recommended if you like sad, emotional stories that yet still have a tinge of hope in them.

 

[MrSylvester]

6. Hayate the Combat Butler.
Hayate the Combat Butler is the story of 16 year old Hayate Ayasaki who gets taken in by a Nagi Sanzenin as her butler after they both save each other from danger and his experience with her friends and environment. While it may sound like your typical romantic comedy, it isn’t. It parodies all types of shonen tropes with characters constantly referencing the fact that they are in a fictional world and shout outs to other anime and manga pop up all the time, sometimes even with character cameos. But with all the parody, Hayate focuses more on the relationships between the characters themselves who are rather well developed and interesting; all of them play off each other’s flaws and virtues to give us plenty of sweet, heartwarming moments that never seem melodramatic. In fact, for a parody, the characterization in Hayate the Combat Butler is very well done and this series is highly recommended if you’re feeling depressed and want to perk up.

5. Clannad.
Let’s face it, most romantic comedies from America are rather bad; they almost always contain crude toilet humor and the characters are normally bland and have little to no reason to fall in love. Clannad is one of those rare romances where there is no crude humor and where the romance is very, very well developed. It follows the story of Tomoya Okazaki, an ordinary high school student who never does well at school at all and and who hates the town where he lives because of all the suffering he had to go through it. However, when Tomoya meets the shy Nagisa Furukawa, he starts to connect more and more with her and the other girls at his school and both he and Nagisa change drastically from what they used to be. Its been described time and again as the only anime that can make you laugh and cry all in the span of one episode. I disagree but if you want real romance, this is one anime for everybody, even for the guys.

4. Higurashi no naku koro ni.
While mostly famous for its horror and admittedly, it is the most memorable part of the anime, personally Higurashi left me more sad than scared seeing all the tragedies come and pass. It concerns the story of a small village which has a lot of mystery and a dark past behind it, with demons or ogres possessing the villagers and a mysterious string of murders that had been plaguing the town for some 3 years. A certain Keiichi Maebara learns of these things and finds out there is more to his female friends than meets the eye. Though characters die left and right, after each arc is over, the story restarts again as if nothing happened although the back story never changes. Higurashi has great characters and though it is very depressing, it’s worth watching all of it just to experience its ultimate message: the power of friendship.

 

[MrSylvester]

3. Rurouni Kenshin.
Rurouni Kenshin follows the story of the titular Kenshin Himura, a ex-assassin (and no, Kenshin is NOT a Samurai. Happy now?) who takes up travelling throughout Japan in order to help those who are still in need during the times which came after the Meiji restoration. The series was very, very popular in the 90’s and is well loved even today. Its in my opinion the perfect shonen series as it takes away a lot of the superficial elements found in shonen and defies many of its tropes; the main character isn’t someone who loves fighting or adventure and is in fact tired of it and themes which are rarely seen in shonen like politics and serious romantic relationships pop up a lot as well. And while it isn’t recommended for smaller kids as Rurouni Kenshin can be rather violent, it is recommended for teenagers as it would definitely teach them a lot about the meaning of life. Kenshin himself is undoubtedly the best thing about the anime. In my opinion, he is to anime and manga what Superman is to American comic books; he is the perfect role model.

2. 20th Century Boys.
I chose 20th Century Boys over Naoki Urasawa’s other work, Monster which itself is arguably more well known because, I haven’t seen it yet. Naoki Urasawa is in my opinion criminally underrated in the West as his work truly is brilliant and many consider 20th Century Boys to be his greatest. And going against people who look down upon anime which are more fantastic and lets say, unique just because they aren’t realistic like Monster, 20th Century Boys goes against that as it is a huge tribute and love letter to said anime and manga. It deconstructs and subverts many shonen tropes and yet it still bears its idealistic message, and this is especially noticable towards the end. It is both a deconstruction and reconstruction of shonen manga and in my opinion, one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. It would have landed the number one spot if it weren’t for…

1. Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood.
Note: Yes, the previous entry did include Full Metal Alchemist but that list was made in 2008 before Brotherhood came out and so it referred to the 2003 anime which is very, very different than Brotherhood which is much closer to the manga. This entry is about Brotherhood and the manga.

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood is in my opinion, the greatest anime ever made, if not the greatest work of fiction of the decade. I have never seen anything this good since ever. After Edward and Alphonse Elric lose their limbs and their body respectively, they unite together to search for the philosopher’s stone in order tog et their bodies back.
What is so great about Brotherhood? Literally everything as it gets everything right, is utterly flawless and it is what distinguishes it from all the other entries; The characters are all deep and very well developed with the heroes being very likable and the villains being truly horrible people; it has the perfect mix of comedy, sad moments and downright horrifying moments; the story is of a truly huge scope and can really be described as nothing but epic with a very well developed world and intelligent plot that never insults our intelligence; not to mention the great animation and the brisk pace and the fact that it never stops being great or drops in quality. It is in other words, the story I always wanted to read as a kid and this is that story plus more. I finished this series in exactly three days and I still craved for more because Brotherhood was just that great. It is highly, highly recommended as it has something for everyone and being one of the most well written works of fiction ever, it easily lands the number one spot.

Honorable mentions: Death Note, Berserk, Mazinger Z, Rose of Versailles, Monster, Trigun.

 

[AB_Juney]

Sorry my friend…the only series I have any interest in are Code Geass, CountCain/Godchild, and sometimes a hint of Cardcaptors…

 

[akka]

The only anime I follow-up is Hayate the Combat Butler.
Too much studies to “follow up”, have to “follow up” less on anime.

 

[Paul1Up]

Let me be honest. Creating a short manga, or the attempt thereof, is ruining my life now. That, or I need to take a break from CAF.

I know professional manga artists have quite a number of assistants. Hiro Mashima has 6 manga.about.com/od/mangaartistinterviews/a/HiroMashima_2.htm I read 9 volumes from those “How to Draw Manga” series of books and it sure sounds like it can be stressful.
So is this a hobby, or are you considering making this into a career? I love to draw and would love to make a living out of it, but I’m pretty bad at it .

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Guys, I’m feeling lonely. Doesn’t anyone have anything interesting to say? I’ve posted some videos on my you tube channel, maybe you shoudl check them out. In the meanwhile, it’s been a month since I sent my lsit to listverse and it looks like they’re enver going to post my lsit so, I’m posting it here in the next post or two.

Big fan of RK, IY, DBZ, FMA (orig anime only), SM, Hikaru no Go, Aa! Megami-sama, and lately, Prince of Tennis.

Biggest fan of YYH. Even write fanfic for it. Not sure how ‘interesting’ any of this is.

Typing on a tablet…

 

[MrSylvester]

I’m skipping episodes 21 to 23 of Bebop as they are nothing but filler and I certainly will find them boring. I’m going straight to the last 3 episodes which have an actual plot. You know, compared to Bleach, I think Bebop has the worse case for filler because whereas Bleach had the excuse that it had to follow up with the manga, Bebop not only is anime first, it’s only 26 episodes. I won’t say anything more until I see these three episodes and have Bebop over with once and for all. I’m not even going to see the movie, no, just no.

 

[sidetrack]

There’s something I got to get out of my system.It’s why I dont like animes like Trigun,Lupin III,Cowboy Bebop or Hitman reborn.I am not very fond of and sick of the hero type worship that merceneries,bounty hunters and theives get in that kind of stuff! .

It’s also the same reason why I dont like the bucket load of ho-hum shooter action movies out there that are about such kinds of ppl:yawn:.Maybe if such ppl’s were of the Robin Hood style variety were they do apparently bad things to bad ppl for a noble cause that helps the common ppl instead of glamourous and pretentiously presented self-interests then yeah just maybe I’d be into those kinds of anime.

I mean really:ehh: the IRL versions of merceneries,bounty hunters and theives aren’t likely very likeable a/o pleasant ppl to be around.Also the stuff they do sure isn’t as bad as ye old super powerful only in fiction megalomaniac but what they do sometimes isn’t very good and it’s done ordinarily in real life.I also know that ppl can kind of find stories about those on the other side of the law in such conflicts involving againest such antagonists kind of dull.

That’s why (if this forum will allow me to bring up American comics please) one of my most favourite Marvel series after the ensamble X-men crew and Spider-man who I’ve loved ever since I was a toddler is Daredevil with whom I was fascinated by ever since watching the 2k3 Ben Affleck movie but who I like as a character more recently after having read almost every DareD comic that my library has to offer that isn’t from before the late 90’s. esp.the AWESOME Michael Bendis written run with Alex Maleev on the art that ended with last years Shadowland arc.Even though the gymastic feats and radar sense are similar to Spidey’s powers with Matt Murdock things are different b/c he’s a
a technically blind lawyer who has to deal with legal drama,grim street crime like mafiosos and occasionely fantastical stuff like ninjas but he always has personal tragedy not to far from him unfortunately.Even though things are brightening up for him ever since Mark Waid started writing and Paolo Rivera’s on the art those elements will always more or less be with him.

Oh yeah and also he’s Catholic …though how much of that is an influence on him and the franchise always sort of varies but AFAIK his Catholicism hasn’t ever been displayed inaccurately or mistreated.

All that has made me think are there any mangas or animes similar to this?.Any dark legal thriller mangas or animes out there?.I mean I’ve found the “Phoenix Wright:Ace attorney” but that doesn’t quite fill the niche for me.

 

[Paul1Up]

There’s something I got to get out of my system.It’s why I dont like animes like Trigun,Lupin III,Cowboy Bebop or Hitman reborn.I am not very fond of and sick of the hero type worship that merceneries,bounty hunters and theives get in that kind of stuff! .

It’s also the same reason why I dont like the bucket load of ho-hum shooter action movies out there that are about such kinds of ppl:yawn:.Maybe if such ppl’s were of the Robin Hood style variety were they do apparently bad things to bad ppl for a noble cause that helps the common ppl instead of glamourous and pretentiously presented self-interests then yeah just maybe I’d be into those kinds of anime.

You should really give Trigun a chance. I have no idea what you are imagining it to be, but Vash is one of the most sympathetic, peace-loving characters in anime. He is not a mercenary, thief, or bounty hunter, he is the one being hunted. To quote his wiki page:
“He has super speed, perfect accuracy, and the will to do anything for anyone no matter if they are good or evil, even if it costs him his body or his dignity. He is the greatest cowboy to ever live on another planet and he has the greatest goal in life ever to be thought up: LOVE AND PEACE.”

 

[MrSylvester]

'Well guys, I FINALLY finished Cowboy Bebop even though I skipped episodes 21, 22 and 23 because they were nothing but filler. My final verdict? It’s not that bad. In fact, it is good but it could have been one of the great things I have ever seen in my entire life if it weren’t for it’s flaws.

Lets start with he good stuff. For one thing, the music is BEAUTIFUL. Bebop has one of the greatest soundtracks I have ever heard. Not even the soundtracks of Evangelion, Rurouni Kenshin and Death Note hold a candle to this masterpiece of music. Second thing, the characters were great. Morally gray yes, but still likable. I loved the character development they got and their quirks and thought processes, plus the subtle character interaction. Third, the animation is also very, very great. Strangely, I saw episode 20 with Mad Pierrot as the most well animated of the whole series and that episode didn’t contribute much to the story.

Now, the bad stuff. I have one main gripe with Cowboy Bebop and it is the FILLER. Oh my gosh, compared to Bleach, Bebop has more filler because at least Bleach had the excuse that it could not overtake the manga but Bebop didn’t have this excuse. A lot of episodes like the one where Spike visits an old friend in order to fix his space shuttle or the episode where they stop a crazy eco-terrorist didn’t contribute anything to character development or story and were just empty: you could remove them and you wouldn’t lose the Bebop experience. Now, I don’t mind filler if it’s actually good. The first episode of Bebop was an introduction to the characters and made us see why they were called Cowboys. I also liked the mushroom samba and the fridge monster episodes because they were rather funny even though they were useless and the Mad Pierrot episode has some very great action scenes and a decent villain with a tragic story.

Yet as I said, these episodes were just so bland. You could literally take half of them away and you;d still have a story. Speaking about the story, I found that when the shows actually focuses on the characters, it got really, really good. If the rest of the series was more like episodes 1, 2, 3, 5. 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 24, 25 and 26, I think I would have fallen in love with Bebop but the empty and bland filler just forces me to give it a lower score.

Also, the ending. The ending is one of the GREATEST endings ever. Of all time. It was just perfect, even though it was depressing as hell. It’s worth passing through all the episodes just to see it although personally, I suggest just seeing the ones I listed above. It’s ending is so well done, so genius, so emotional, sad and all around good it’s indescribable. Other endings that give off the same feeling in me are the endings of Monster, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood and most of all, Death Note.

My final score for Bebop is a 7 out of ten. It could have been so much better if they avoided all that awful filler but when it does something well, it does it very, very well. In fact, lets pretend the episodes I hate don’t exist: I’d give it something like 8 out of ten.

 

[exoflare]

MrSylvester, just how much anime are you currently watching every day? Being a fan of anime is one thing but seeing the consistent borderline-obsessive tone and the frequency of your posts here lately, to say nothing of the sheer speed which you seem to be tearing through whole series, I’m starting to get genuinely concerned.

 

[RemRam]

I love Anime! I LOVE SAMURAI X and Im happy a live action movie is coming up! You can look for the trailer in youtube. Also, I love MARVEL Comics and have been collecting action figures of them flickr.com/photos/54609173@N05/7093298273/

 

[AB_Juney]

The creator of Trigun is devoutly Catholic, actually.

 

[MrSylvester]

MrSylvester, just how much anime are you currently watching every day? Being a fan of anime is one thing but seeing the consistent borderline-obsessive tone and the frequency of your posts here lately, to say nothing of the sheer speed which you seem to be tearing through whole series, I’m starting to get genuinely concerned.

You really think so? Thing is, I haven’t watched anime in the past few days much except for Bebop and even then I only saw something like 2 to 3 episodes a day. I’m actually just bored and thats why I post so much on this thread. To be honest, I’ve been having a lot of insomnia and depression lately and before you ask, I’ve always had depression, way before I got involved in anime. I’m bipolar tbh. I think I am a bit obsessed with anime in the sense I’m always analyzing it’s themes and thinking hard about them, trying to follow them and reconciling them with Christian morals. Thing is, anime has actually helped me in having a greater will to do stuff whereas before I didn’t have such a strong will. The will to live is stronger than anything else, stay alive, unbreakable resolve, life is just a dream, forget the past and look to the future, repent and change, you’re still human, life is just a dream etc… it helps me actually try to beleive in myself because nobody ever takes me seriously and if they do, it’s quickly forgotten. I feel that if I were to become more like the character I love, people would be forced to acknowledge my wants and my desires.

Another thing is that anime sort of develops my imagination and makes me go crazy thinking about what type of person I could be. I don’t want to be a samurai like Kenshin or a gunslinger like Vash but seeing them, I want to be a nice guy, always willing to help others, never having a harsh word to say, having a very strong heroic resolve, etc… it’s the same with the Blessed Virgin, I always wanted to be like her. In fact, I always wanted to be a good person simply so that she would love me and acknowledge my love for her. It’s just that I’m scared that because I used to be such a rotten kid when I was a teenager, because I used to sin allot in regards pornography and because I’m always losing my confidence, even if she forgives me she would not look at me as a great son; I’m scared that she’d always have in font of her eyes my past sins and would not love me as she loves other saints. Because of that, I’m very envious of people like Doctor Tenma, Kenshin Himura, the Elric brothers, Kouta, Simon from TTGL, Hayate Ayasaki, etc… instead, I always end up punishing myself for not being as good as them. I also envy them for having so many friends and having the confidence they would never intentionally upset them; me, I don’t have any friends except online. Something always tells me that they would find me unpleasant and boring because my life is rather boring. I’m always talking about how to write books, how this or that work of fiction is the greatest, on cooking, etc…

I just don’t have confidence and watch anime mostly to escape from reality and become a better person. I don’t escape from reality in order to ignore it, I escape from it just to be able to face it as lets face it, the world is a horrible place to live. It’s just that it’s going to take a lot of work in order to fix it and bring the triumph of the immaculate Heart.

What do you guys think? My biggest gripe is my business with Mary. I’m scared that even if I do my best and more, she will still adore the other saints more than me because I’m not innocent by any means. Sorry for the whole rant, I just needed someone to talk to. I know she’s supposed to look at us not how we were but what we are today but still, God even after he forgives us still punishes us. I used to think that the Blessed Virgin was diffirent from God because unlike God, she forgives us without demanding punishment and never abandons sinners. At the same time, I’m really scared that I just come off as whiny. I don’t think I am whiny. If I were whiny, I wouldn’t be attempting to fix my problems; I just need friends and encouragement to preserve my will to live. If I did everything all alone, if I had no morality chain, who knows what type of person I’d become.

 

[Tenofovir]

Big fan of RK, IY, DBZ, FMA (orig anime only), SM, Hikaru no Go, Aa! Megami-sama, and lately, Prince of Tennis.

Biggest fan of YYH. Even write fanfic for it. Not sure how ‘interesting’ any of this is.

Typing on a tablet…

Hey what’s up with this “Catholic… on the edge” thing? Come on…

And stop typing on tablets. They’re supposed to be for content consumption and not creation.

 

[Tenofovir]

I’ll throw in my opinion. Of course this is only my opinion.

10. Full Metal Panic!

This anime rocks because it has gorgeous designs for the two main heroines in the series. The one is a tsundere too which makes this anime one of the best. The rest of the story is quite intriguing but ultimately irrelevant.

9. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Before I continue, yes, Haruhi Suzumiya the main series does have its flaws.

This anime is great as a comedy series. It also features very attractive character design. The female characters are very cute. And that’s the main reason most anime fans would watch this. There is not much fan service in this series which is a bonus too.

8. Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

I’ll be honest and say that this is an exploitation show. Instead of having adults (and men) fight, we have little girls. Most of them die. It’s an unrealistic series. It has no redeeming value in my mind. For some reason it’s a big hit with otaku in Japan which hasn’t stopped a large amount of hentai and other disgusting things being produced based on this series. It has not enough redeeming value in my mind.

7. Elfen Lied.

Little kids get torn apart in this anime. Nuff said I think. It’s easy to shock people by having the protagonist kill her school friends. It’s not a series worth seeing.

 

[Tenofovir]

6. Hayate the Combat Butler.

Nagi is very cute. She is also tsundere. There is no other reason to watch this series except to see her get angry at whats-his-name the spineless male protagonist whose name is not worth remembering.

5. Clannad.

Gorgeous character designs but ultimately too sentimentalist. Key/Visual Art’s other shows are better. IMHO Kanon is a much better series, at least it has an uplifting end.
Air, I could not finish. I could not finish Clannad either.
Kanon gives us Ayu Tsukimiya with her “Uguu” and Air gives us “Gao” which is the roar of a dinosaur, Misuzu Kamio likes to use. If that’s not cute, I don’t know what is.

4. Higurashi no naku koro ni.

Little kids get killed. Nuff said. There are variations of this anime. There is an anime variation where a whole group of people on an island including a little girl get killed - she actually gets strangled by a demon woman. Not worth watching.

Corpse Party is a variation of this theme. Here more little kids get killed. Again I’d give this a miss.

 

[Tenofovir]

For people wanting some good anime recommendations I would recommend the following:

Ghost in the Shell SAC I and SAC II. Solid State Society Movie.
These two series involve issues of transhumanism but besides that they involve intrigue, action and suspense. The stories are convoluted in typical Japanese fashion - you should watch the original THE RING TV series from Fuji TV to see how convoluted Japanese show plot line can get - but these two series are redeeming at the end. Definitely worth watching. Some minor nudity appears occasionally.

Key The Metal Idol:
And oldie but a goody. It’s a take on the Pinocchio story. A girl believes she is a robot, her father being a robotics scientist who died under mysterious circumstances. Her best friend helps her out. She can become human if she wins over 40,000 friends and to top it all off a bad guy doll collector multimillionaire is creating combat robots and has a vested interest in idol singers. The story is convoluted but makes sense in the end. One may even end up shedding a tear.

Serial Experiments Lain:
Complex story line, wonderful character designs which haven’t aged at all and beautiful opening sequence with music in English by the British band BOA. Story deals with what it means to be human, to belong to someone and issues of self sacrifice.

Armitage III:
Old show. Deals with what it means to be human. Action is set on Mars and involves a human bionics augmented cop from Earth whose wife was killed by a robot and a young woman who discovers she is a prototype robot. Meanwhile a psychopath is killing off her robot sisters.

Moldiver:
Old take on the superhero. Loser science uni student creates a new way of making a bionic armour which allows one to have super strength, be invincible and even fly. Of course his sister finds the device and uses it for her own needs, redesigning the look into a super cute outfit. A bad guy, called Professor Machinegal is the nemesis, and the company DIC appears in the series as a parody of AIC - the company which produced the show. Pioneer LDC is the sponsor of the show too and this show made me go out and buy a region free Pioneer DVD player and later a region free Pioneer bluray player.

Tenchi Muyo TV, OVAs, Movies and Pretty Samy TV/OVAs:
This series is an intro series for most anime fans. It has a great storyline with a hapless hero caught between a woman space pirate and a tsundere princess. There is an adorable cat-rabbit (cabbit) in the series which can also turn into a space ship. The princess’ younger sister stars in the Magical Girl Pretty Samy spin-off which is great because the second OAV episode spoofs Microsoft and Bill Gates. Biff Standard of Standardsoft decides to standardise the world with his software operating system. Only Pretty Samy and her brother’s PineApple operating system stand in his way. These shows have virtually no fanservice. This is also an AIC/Pioneer LDC (Laser Disk Company) series. Pioneer even pushed a “I’m a Pioneer” opening song for the second OAV series. Tenchi Muyo is probably one of the best anime series ever. It features the right mix of humour, action and drama without being too dark or funny. The characters truly are likeable and unlike later stereotypes.

Sakura Wars TV, OVA and Movie:
What can I say. For fans of pre-WW2 Japan and steam punk this is a must watch show. Sakura Shinguji VA’d by the golden voiced Chisa Yokoyama together with several other women from across the globe, sing by day in musicals while fighting evil spirits by night in their spirit armour. This show has no fanservice. There is a live action musical of the series as well. Anime is based on a series of games. Some of these have been translated and can be bought on the NIS America Website.

 

[MrSylvester]

Nagi is very cute. She is also tsundere. There is no other reason to watch this series except to see her get angry at whats-his-name the spineless male protagonist whose name is not worth remembering.

Gorgeous character designs but ultimately too sentimentalist. Key/Visual Art’s other shows are better. IMHO Kanon is a much better series, at least it has an uplifting end.
Air, I could not finish. I could not finish Clannad either.
Kanon gives us Ayu Tsukimiya with her “Uguu” and Air gives us “Gao” which is the roar of a dinosaur, Misuzu Kamio likes to use. If that’s not cute, I don’t know what is.

Little kids get killed. Nuff said. There are variations of this anime. There is an anime variation where a whole group of people on an island including a little girl get killed - she actually gets strangled by a demon woman. Not worth watching.

Corpse Party is a variation of this theme. Here more little kids get killed. Again I’d give this a miss.

Sir, I’m sorry if my post sounds heated or angry but for crying out loud, why would you call a show bad just because it has children killing each other? There is a diffirence between children killing each other just for the hell of it and children killing each other in order to show psychological drama. In fact, since children killing each other because of conflict is not ok, why is adults doing the same thing OK? Wait, because murder most of the time isn’t shown as something attractive. None of the kids in Higurashi kill because they want to. In fact, the whole bloody point of the show was so that they could overcome the curse that forced them to become murderers. This isn’t Saw or Hostel, it’s pure psychological horror and the fact that the characters are teenagers makes it more horrifying. Besides, it’s not like the west didn’t feature child killers before '‘cough’'Halloween"cough"Bad Seed"cough"Lord of the Flies"cough"Ä clockwork orange"cough".

Elfen Lied is MUUUUUUCH more than gore; it is so unfairly labeled as nothing but a gore fest it’s disgusting. Elfen Lied has a lot of subtlety in it’s characters and if you think twice about them, you’ll see a lot of the decisions the characters make are based around emotion. I also love how it is left to the viewer to determine whether Lucy is evil or just broken. When I watched a video about an anime called Genocyber, I felt sick disgusted and depraved; when I watched Elfen Lied and Higurashi, I always felt a sense of terror and sadness and they were the two anime that made me cry the most. So I’m sorry but you don’t have the right to say that these two anime are not worth to watch because you clearly don’t have any idea what they are about. I don’t want every series I watch to be about an investigator searching for a murderer. What about the effects murder or rape has on the victim? How do they react to everything around them? That’s not exploitation, that’s analyzing deep themes. Hell, why not call Rurouni Kenshin an exploitation anime because Sojiro killed his brothers and sisters who abused him and became an utter stepford smiler? His eventual breakdown was a work of art, not filth.

While we’re at it, why not label films like Grave of the Fireflies as exploitation as they focus on the suffering of two children because of war? Why not label Schindlers list the same way? Why not label Fight Club the same way, or Watchmen especially regarding Rorschach’s backstory or the whole of real life? If we didn’t deal with intense themes from fiction, we wouldn’t learn. Most authors who have written intensely sad works suffered themselves from the themes they wrote about. Is it wrong to use said themes as a plot device?

Clannad was a bit sentimental sometimes, but far from excessively so. There was no needless crying or melodrama (as in, making a big deal of little things). The narmiest scene was the scene where Nagisa cries on stage and Akio comes in shouting to encourage her but that was it. The rest was pure excellence and the greatest romance I have ever seen. You’ll never see such a realistic loving relationship like this in fiction. EVER. Clannad’s romance and characters were too perfect.

Sorry if my post was heated but I can’t stand having a masterpiece like Elfen Lied called bad for such a flimsy reason. Lucy in the timeline the story takes place in only kills people who are actually threatening her. The violence served only to show the intensity of the situation. It’s not supposed to be fun; it’s suppsoed to be intense, sad and scary and that’s what makes Elfen Lied so great.