Anime and Manga: Beware of Spoilers!

[kd24]

I'm an anime and manga novice but with the help of some friends there are some really quality animes and manga that I've watched and read, respectively, in the last year. And we never had a discussion thread for Anime/Manga on Smogon which is really weird, since I know how many of you love Anime/Manga. This'll be a recommendation thread, a discussion thread, a "what I'm currently watching" thread, etc for everyone, all at once.

Useful sites:
myanimelist - great site, basically allows you to record shows you've watched, read reviews, and plan ahead. Use this if you plan to get into watching lots of anime.

mangahere - some people like mangareader and maybe I just had bad luck but mangahere was much much better for reading manga. no annoying +larger image shit.

manga reader 1.3.13 - a chrome app which keeps track of your manga

animefreak.tv - has almost every anime, subbed or dubbed

Monster - All of Monster in good quality

Anime on Youtube - has a lot of different shit

Anime downloader - anime downloading site, no torrenting according to dotteh. almost always free and HQ - Dotteh Note: You need to DL an all purpose media player of a VLC Player

If you guys are discussing any spoilers, please use Hide Tags and mark your spoilers!

And yes, you One Piece nerds are allowed in..

 

[Dotteh]

Since KD refuses to edit this into his post on account of his Nigerian decent; for Minitheatre you're going to need this VLC Media Player to play the episodes. All purpose media players work too so long as they can play .mkv media files.

 

[His Eminence Lord Poppington II]

Also do yourselves a favour and get mkvs, oh, and get CCCP as well, personally I use media player classic home cinema to play mkvs, vlc plays anything else. VLCs UI is ugly as fuck so that's why I prefer not to use it if I can avoid it.

I have a MAL as well feel free to add me - http://myanimelist.net/profile/Splendiferous it's a tad outdated, as I watched most of my anime when I was like 15.

Stuff I enjoy

Baccano - the director watched too many mafia films and pulp fiction, but yeah it's great; the story is told well, some characters are colourful (miria pisses me a off though), some dark, all entertaining.

Mind Game - really rad movie that focuses much more on the visual aspect of film, having an almost dissociative plot line and the most dynamic art style you will likely see in an animated piece.

Tekkon Kinkreet - same studio as the film before, two street rats (they're like 11 year old kids) and local mafia clash when the mafia want to replace the town with a theme park. the plot is dark as shit and the visuals are as amazing as mind game.

Bakemonogatari - this show almost tried too hard, and it had a shit ending, but the first 12 episodes are some good shit. most people know about this show for SHAFT on the art, dialogue, eccentric characters (SHAFT does tend to whore itself out with the ART and eccentricities from time to time though...). with all that being said it's still a really entertaining show, and the blend of mystery, action, school, and romance is a good light watch with some semblance of depth.

Detroit Metal City - this show kicks ass, i could somewhat accurately some it up with 12 episodes of dick jokes, but it's hilarious and each episode is only like 10 minutes long anyway. this show is like a less lazy oruchuban ebichu.

i could blab on for longer but i'll just leave a list of other shit i dig

akira, arakawa under the bridge (s1), dead leaves (fuck flcl), gankutsuou, hajime no ippo (ALL MEN LOVE BOXING), welcome to the NHK, yojouhan shinwa taikei (oh fuck i actually wanted to talk about this, one of my favourites).

i read a bit of manga too, after seeing all the OP nerds blab on about it endlessly i decided to pick it up again (i read 100 chapts or so 3 years ago but dropped it) and found i enjoyed it immensely.

other manga i like -

holyland - darker hajime no ippo, you could pretend it's more realistic, but it's fucking manga so no way. the character is a fucking dork but fighting is always cool, and it's ever-so-rare to see it depicted like this in japanese media.

hajime no ippo - yeah i read the manga too, i've stopped now but at like 800 something chapters. it's probably one of my favourite shounen reads next to

eyeshield 21 - sports anime are pretty great, as long as they get carried away in the right fashion. there's just something lovely about seeing people power up and use abilities lol.

liar game - it's convoluted and melodramatic until it hurts but it's still really clever (or maybe it just seems that way?) and entertaining.

mirai nikki - ever wondered what it would be like to be stalked by a girl instead o- this is the anime for you.

onani master kurosawa - yeah it is basically holden caulfield in japan and they focus on him wanking as much as his coming of age (heh). it's really sweet to see him grow up despite being one of the most deviant characters.

lucifer and the biscuit hammer - i'm a sucker for this kind of thing i guess? i like this because it doesn't drag on for ages though, it has iirc less than 70 chapters. the protaganist leaves a fair amount to be desired, but i was intrigued enough by the story to finish this with a smile on my face.

i'm not a fan of death note, naruto, elfen lied, school days, and man i have a lot of trouble getting through stuff nowadays since it's fairly trite...

don't think there are any spoilers in this post as most of it is just synoptic

 

[smashlloyd20]

poppy just a note about hajime no ippo-i'd pick it up again, the itagaki fights in the 800s and 900s are really boring but the plot is finally starting to move again!!

 

[Acklow]

So recent stuff that I will have to say that is really good and worth looking into is the show Hyouka. It simple and the pacing is slow, not that that's a bad thing. It has that Bakemonogatari feel, except with a lot more mystery in it rather than random conversations between characters. Hotaro Oreki is amazing as a character and I really am looking forward to seeing more character growth out of him as his life is changed by the existence of Eru Chitanda, the girl that he somewhat has taken an interest in.

Another show that has particularly captured my attention is Accel World. It isn't too bad a show, but boy is there a large amount of fanservice, which sometimes turns me off from the plot...and I'd rather watch the show for the plot than some watch how the main character get's jumped on by an 8 or 9 year old girl in nothing but a bath towel. But that's just me of course.

Other shows I have followed or am sort of following atm:

Mawaru Penguindrum: This is like a literary masterpiece in how it was presented. The amount of awesomeness in this show is one that you cannot miss. However, I will warn those who haven't touched this series yet that there is a TON, and I really mean, a TON of symbolism and hidden meanings in the show. You really have to watch it twice to understand what's going on...and even then you might miss things.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai: This is one of those slice of life shows, but the ending is so touching, it made me weep man tears. I almost wept as hard as in Clannad, but not nearly as much because the show is only around 12 episodes long, so you don't get hit by nearly as much drama and sad stuff.

Fairy Tail: An ongoing show that has been going on for a while now. I usually don't watch these kind of shows unless they really show promise. I guess the one reason why I keep watching it is so that I can see an episode where Lucy kicks all the bad guys' asses (and not Natsu, even though every time he does, it is pretty badass).

Steins;Gate: I've mentioned this show a TON of times in past Anime threads on this forum. This show just cannot go wrong in almost any sense and the characters are lovable. There's a reason I have all 24 episodes saved on my computer.

I really look for good anime, so kd24, hit me up if you want to talk anime because I've got a whole list of some of the good ones out there (that don't have sucky parts or drag on and are just plain perfect overall).

 

[Z-rex]

you guys should check kaiji , that's some manly show that every anime fan should watch .

 

[Flashstorm1]

Watch Code Geass! If you've watched Death Note and liked the series, then you're bound to like this series as well.

 

[cyndaquillex]

Mangaupdates.com is a pretty good site to find scanlated manga to read. People post reviews, mangas are rated, and every manga is tagged and sorted by genre so you can find what you like. For manga, there's so many but I'd recommend Shin Angyo Onshi off the top of my head. Pretty epic seinen.

 

[Raikage]

If you care about reading on the online reader the scanlators support then use www.batoto.net, but I mainly use it because it doesn't suffer from watermarks and has all the best quality scans.

 

[NatGeo]

Posting to say that Code Geass is a fantastic anime series, really no filler episodes to speak of so you are kept going every single episode.

 

[aamto]

if you care about watching quality, don't listen to raikage about anything anime related.

 

[ParaChomp]

you guys should check kaiji , that's some manly show that every anime fan should watch .

Second favourite! Listen to this guy, he's not lying! It's very underrated but lacks in character and plot.

What anime sums up anime in general?

 

[zenzen~]

here's what you should probably be using for animu and mango needs

anime:
combined community codec pack - universal, unbloated codec pack so you can watch .mkv files and the like. comes with MPC-HC as the media player but you can use mplayer2, or even like WMP + quicktime if you're weirdhttp://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...O344jiE1lMzPxbrJA&sig2=J3Itxgr1UzJvtq6uwZRPhw
bakabt and tokyo toshokan (can we even link torrent sites?) - torrents sites. bakabt only archives completed series (no funimation licensed series though) and tokyotosho is mainly used for running series, although there are full series batch torrents available there too
streaming from chinese sites full of ads - don't do it.
streaming from crunchyroll/hulu/etc - not a terrible option. there are actually a few series better viewed from these sites (gaiking: the legend of daiku maryu comes to mind), but mainly done if you want to stay out of a legal gray area

optionally you can use an IRC client and download stuff off of #news on rizon if you can't use torrents. dunno what the DDL site is, would someone here know?

manga:
batoto - probably the best online reader out there, and the only one you should ever use. it's like the new age manga toshokan
cdisplay (whatever variant you want to use) - the preferred reader for downloaded manga. there are other readers out there, but this is what i personally use
bakabt - has (mainly) complete manga series for download.
mangatraders - ddl manga site, gives you links to the scanlator's site to download.
#lurk on irchighway - RIP ;_;

other:
anime discussion sites - all of them suck quite frankly
myanimelist - very very good site for keeping track of what you watch and read, community sux doe
animenewsnetwork - a decent site for getting news about anime and manga. there's better out there, but they generally compile up the important stuff

-

re: code geass - don't take that shit seriously. it's a really fun show to watch but the plot is ass

 

[soul_survivor]

I have read plenty of mangas, and watched a lot of anime these past few years.


Im currently watching fate/zero season 2. Its extremely good and one od my favorites this season.

As Acklow said Steins;Gate is truly a amazing anime. Its starts off nice but once you get to episode 10(I believe) the story takes a 180º turn.


Other manga/anime I recommend are:


Madoka Magica-One of my favorites alongside Steins;gate in 2011. I was expecting a light hearted magical girl series, but I was in for a surprising treat.

code geass: Another great series

fairytail:Its nice to have a shounen manga that can make me laugh a bit. I stuck with this manga since the beginning and currently its gotten pretty good.


One anime I really can't wait for is Robotic;Notes. Made by the people who made steins;gate which I loved, and Chaos;head which was pretty decent. I have high expectations for this one.

Of course I still hope that Gainax will actually make a season 2 of Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. The ending just came unexpected. I was expecting a trollish ending but not like the way psg did it.

 

[His Eminence Lord Poppington II]

hey, mzenken knows what the fuck he's talking about; listen to this man

 

[Acklow]

Yeah Robotic;Notes should be fantastic. Chaos;head was a bit of a trainwreck though.

Puella Magia Madoka Magica was amazing. MAMI <3333333

Can't forget the amazingness of Gurren Lagann as well. Forgot to mention one of this anime - which is the manliest anime ever.

 

[Darkaxis]

I recently finshed Mirai Nikki. I cried like a little bitch. I am not fan of emo, sad anime, but I'm going to watch Angel Beats, and possibly Death Note, and Code Greass.

UP TO THIS DAY I STILL GET AN EYE-GASM WHENEVER I WATCH THIS SCENE!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poxdMpzQ78Y

 

[Eraddd]

Fuck I had a huge ass essay that I lost so just watch: Kara No Kyoukai 5 and 7 because fuck writing another review for this.

Also Madoka was mediocre, not sure what the hype was about. The animation was great, the characters were kind of mediocre in my opinion, and the whole plot wasn't as mindblowing as everyone hyped it to be and was kind of a downer. The only character close to interesting was Sayaka and she wasn't that great either.

@Acklow How the hell do you like Mami she

Hide

lasts 3 episodes with some showings at the end where she goes fucking berserk

Also I'm losing interest in Fate/Zero pretty fast, since they decided to kill off all the good characters. Kiritsugu doesn't appeal to me with his whole: save everyone while minimizing losses, and then goes through that whole break in the end at the last episode. Kotomine is okay but the whole "I'm empty need something to find" again didn't interest me that much. It was great at first, but I'm rapidly losing interest in this series.

I'm "watching" steins;gate but too bad poppy never is available </3

 

[Acklow]

@Eraddd

[youtube]FQDEx47I9xw[/youtube]

Because of this amazing part. Not to mention she fucking drinks tea right after defeating the witch...

The reason why there was so much hype was because it was totally unlike any other anime in the Magic Girl genre. Unlike other anime which usually portray the usual happy-go-lucky main heroine, this anime portrayed something uglier.

 

[JabbaTheGriffin]

Also I'm losing interest in Fate/Zero pretty fast, since they decided to kill off all the good characters. Kiritsugu doesn't appeal to me with his whole: save everyone while minimizing losses, and then goes through that whole break in the end at the last episode. Kotomine is okay but the whole "I'm empty need something to find" again didn't interest me that much. It was great at first, but I'm rapidly losing interest in this series.

Same. It was amazing to start and then just slowed down to a snail's crawl. It's not even that there weren't any fights. Everyone's motivations and plans were so interesting and then everything got a bit muddled and now a scene with just 2 characters talking for 3 minutes is nowhere near as good as it was in the first 15 episodes.

I could make up a huge post right now but I won't so I'll just make a few recommendations.

Death Note and Code Geass if for some reason you decide to get into the anime scene today. I'm sure almost everyone in this topic has watched them though.

Hitman Reborn! is a surprisingly deep anime. Fights are great and the plot actually becomes very interesting by the last arc. If you teach yourself to how to properly fast forward through all the filler episodes/scenes, it's actually not that bad in length.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (and Kai) is fantastic. Really crazy plot that doesn't make sense for a while but has tons of bloodshed.

Blue Exorcist is pretty solid. Squandered some of its potential but I'm hoping there are future seasons (though not sure if the stakes can be upped)

As other people have mentioned, Kaiji is absolutely fantastic. I didn't get around to watching the most recent season though (which I should). The pace was just too unsufferable for a few episodes there.

History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi is good+. I prefer it when it starts to take itself more seriously though because some of the "jokes" really really don't land at all and they definitely overuse a lot of them

I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Prince of Tennis. It's an interesting watch, to say the least. Especially for a tennis player.

That's all I have off the top of my head.

 

[Lemonade]

For all your slice of life needs, see fatecrashers

This season I'm just watching Fate/Zero which is finally almost done and Area no Kishi, which is about soccer. There's a bit of handwaving but it's a good shonen sports anime (but more realistic than Prince of Tennis lol). I always have a problem with the age stuff though, but w/e.

Steins;Gate was absolutely amazing but I had trouble getting into Chaos;Head, even though it's in the same universe.

OH Lupin III. The first three seasons from back in the day are great episodic funny misadventure episodes, this new season is much darker and a bit more trippy, but definitely worth it.

Ghost in the Shell is hard to get but very interesting, I just know SAC is first.

Let me finish this quick list with Serei no Moribito, which definitely seems underappreciated. It's a bit fantasy with a Water god and stuff, but basically there is the badass female spear wielding bodyguard named Balsa and she alone is worth watching. It's got a bit of everything and IMO one of the best of this time.


And if any of you haven't watched the Akira movie, DO IT. You show people this when they say anime is only for kids.

 

[Bass]

@Eraddd
The reason why there was so much hype was because it was totally unlike any other anime in the Magic Girl genre. Unlike other anime which usually portray the usual happy-go-lucky main heroine, this anime portrayed something uglier.

How many magical girl shows have you watched? This is not necessarily true. My roomate, who is well versed in this genre, was able to predict what would happen without actually watching it. I watched it myself and obviously it is all subjective. I found it entertaining, if not a bit dark. But I did not find it groundbreaking by any stretch.

Anyone that is a fan of Death Note or Code Geass should set an entire week or two aside and watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes. If you thought the former two shows were good, then LotGH just blows them out of the water.

 

[Fishin]

As far as current stuff goes Fate Zero is awesome and I'm sad to see it ending, easily the best show in 2012 so far. Summer has some decent looking stuff too; most promising ones look to be Moyashimon s2, Sword Art Online, and Jinrui wa Suitai. Muv Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse is also somewhat noteworthy as the parent story is absolutely fantastic, but the anime is based on a side story so I'm not sure if TE will really live up to the name.

Steins;Gate was absolutely amazing but I had trouble getting into Chaos;Head, even though it's in the same universe.

Chaos Head is pretty much universally considered a bad show; the source material isn't very good but the anime version is extremely condensed and suffers some serious budget problems on top of that.

 

[Acklow]

How many magical girl shows have you watched? This is not necessarily true. My roomate, who is well versed in this genre, was able to predict what would happen without actually watching it. I watched it myself and obviously it is all subjective. I found it entertaining, if not a bit dark. But I did not find it groundbreaking by any stretch.

To answer the first question quite a few, but I'm mainly basing what I said on a few opinions of others. Regardless, I never said it was groundbreaking, I was just pointing out what people who hyped it up were talking about.

 

[Da Letter El]

Hadn't watched much for the past couple of years (I think the only anime I've seen in the past 2 years was Madoka and Bebop. Bebop was incredible. Madoka was solid as well).

But then I decided to watch Monster because kd24 mentioned it in his first post and I was bored. It was ok. Had some (very) good moments, but there comes a point in time where you're like "ok, I can kind of guess what's going to happen to this person" an episode or more before it happens. Pacing is ok; could have been condensed but the length (74 episodes) honestly didn't bother me so much. On the other hand, it's the kind of show you do want to watch the next episode after you watch the previous one. I marathoned that show many times. Its tone is consistent and interesting, and most of the characters are likeable. Isn't a whole lot of "filler" per se, but some stuff feels like it's a bit slow. Beginning is very cheesy, but the show does get better after the first couple episodes. Stuff leading up to the ending was pretty good; last two episodes in the ending itself were meh. The main bad guy is pulled off well (but I wish he had more screen time) and there are a few plot twists that are pretty incredibly pulled off (Prague especially comes to mind). All in all a good show but not something I'm going to say is a favorite of mine. People who are more into drama might enjoy this more than I did, but it was still enjoyable to me.

Now off to find something else to watch.