The Anime / Manga Thread (MK2) | Beware Spoilers

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I never cared for anime in my young years, but I was introduced to Attack on Titan, which I loved and got me looking into more stuff and Hunter x Hunter may be my overall favorite show (animated or not animated) now, even if I still can't get into all that much other stuff. Recently, Ajin and ERASED blew my mind. Definitely 4 shows I would recommend to anyone!

I'm also amazed at just how much better anime has gotten over the years mainly due to better technology.
 
RBYer said:
I never cared for anime in my young years, but I was introduced to Attack on Titan, which I loved and got me looking into more stuff and Hunter x Hunter may be my overall favorite show (animated or not animated) now, even if I still can't get into all that much other stuff. Recently, Ajin and ERASED blew my mind. Definitely 4 shows I would recommend to anyone!

I'm also amazed at just how much better anime has gotten over the years mainly due to better technology.
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agreed. Now animation quality has basically become a non-issue for all but the lowest budget or most shoddily done shows

at the same time though, I feel a lot of things from the old days have been lost--namely a desire to experiment visually, and the advent of fanservice/pandering are some of the cons of the modern anime industry
 
We spoke about anime aesthetics on irc about a week ago. I think althought anime could be said to be visually more crisp and clean in modern times, a lot of us (myself included) find the older styles of anime more visually pleasing. Heres a quick pic that we used for reference
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I'm deffo a 90's kid (lol!). But really though some of my favorite anime visually come from the 90's. I think that cowboy bebop, akira and Evangelion have some of the most stunning animation I've ever seen, and going onto 20 years after they were finished they still stand out to me as hallmarks of animation. Battles in iconic shows like DBZ and Yu Yu Hakusho honestly looked better imo than some of the current CGI fight scenes we see. I think that whilst the limitations of the genre are slowly being removed, I strongly dislike CGI in anime and it seems to be everywhere in modern shows. When it comes to modern anime I'm still more inclined to enjoy shows that have an 'experimental' art style so to speak. Madoka and Tatami galaxy are 2 'classic's where the abstract style really adds to the overall mood and enjoyability of the show. For some stuff thats aired recently, Boku No hero academia , Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru, Jojos and finally No Game No Life (no comment on the show itself, just the aesthetic!) are recently aired / currently airing shows where the animation was unique and refreshing, and I personally love it when studios take risks like that.

But on the other hand you can just have a rediculous budget and pull a ufotable lol.

EDIT: bonus animation seqeunce from eva that i just found on this laptop that is awesome.

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speaking of ufotable, i hate when people say f/z had good animation. it had a lot of pretty colors, but the actual animation was mostly shit. that entire show was like the anime version of lens flare
 
Asek technically speaking that is a meme, because meme just means something someone decides to share (which is the case here, as they have taken a character, shown them in four art styles and shared it). Its just that the internet has warped the meaning to the point where the term isn't assumed to be broad enough to cover everything that is a meme.

Anyway two shows which recieve art-based flack which I definitely think the abstract art did wonders for are Ping Pong and Shinsekai Yori. I honestly don't understand why it happens with Shinsekai Yori 'cause it has what is probably one of my favorite art styles from any of the anime which I've seen, and it does a good job of adding to the feel of the show imho with its very simple mostly unshaded colouring which just made it stand out to me as really good looking. Wolf Children also did this with it's characters and it worked incredibly well, which shows that it works beyond just that genre too (and honestly I wish more studios would go down this route). As for Ping Pong, it was just really jarring in the first two episodes and then it really grew on me as I started getting used to it, and given what the show was about it just really felt like the only way to do it by the end of the series. More recently, Kiznaiver looks really good with its experimental art style, as does Luluco, and with there also being shows with very untraditional art styles (namely Panty and Stocking's very American art style) it is fun to see the different ways animators and/or mangakas can experiment with the show's setting through its art style.

What I think part of the issue with art a lot of the time (at least in anime; less so for manga) is that lots of studios tend to take a safe route and use the "A1 look" for their shows (pointed chin as opposed to a rounded shape, little break in the mouth line slightly favoring one side etc.) which just gets very bland when you start seeing it in 80% of the shows that air. I like a lot of older styles; things like Akira and Grave of the Fireflies really stick out as good looking movies, and generally speaking a lot of the sort of pre-2010-ish shows look good or unique relative to other shows (I'll pretend that Kanon (2002) doesn't exist for the sake of this point, as that shows where "different" really doesn't work out). This isn't to say that A1 style is bad (actually in the great scheme of things its pretty decent in terms of appearance), but I feel like I can get a better picture of what the animators want the characters to be with a lot of older or more experimental art styles (esp. in the case if 80s/90s styles).
 
Asek said:
We spoke about anime aesthetics on irc about a week ago. I think althought anime could be said to be visually more crisp and clean in modern times, a lot of us (myself included) find the older styles of anime more visually pleasing. Heres a quick pic that we used for reference
tumblr_nk5li1iiaO1qf7yhjo1_500.png
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Meh, all 4 of those pictures have different expressions with different meanings to me. It's hard to say one looks "better" but I actually find the 80s one the most interesting of the lot. However, I don't feel like the actual anime that I've seen from the 80s (I'll admit it's only Legend of the Galactic Heroes and a few Ghibli movies, the latter of which are good but not as good as later Ghibli movies) has appealing animation, even if their facial designs may be interesting. LotGH in particular was fairly unstimulating visually, which is why I'm not surprised they are coming out with a remake of it
I'm deffo a 90's kid (lol!). But really though some of my favorite anime visually come from the 90's. I think that cowboy bebop, akira and Evangelion have some of the most stunning animation I've ever seen, and going onto 20 years after they were finished they still stand out to me as hallmarks of animation. Battles in iconic shows like DBZ and Yu Yu Hakusho honestly looked better imo than some of the current CGI fight scenes we see.
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Are you sure it's not nostalgia kicking in? I love myself some Pokemon RBY and find it more appealing visually than later games but it's really just cause it's tied into good memories. I watched Bebop, Evangelion, and YYH after having watched some of the newer stuff, and it just didn't seem very special. The Evangelion GIF you posted reminds me of the infamous Tokyo Ghoul adaptation in particular.
I think that whilst the limitations of the genre are slowly being removed, I strongly dislike CGI in anime and it seems to be everywhere in modern shows.
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Why do you dislike CGI? I think it adds a welcome diversity to animation, especially when done in a stylized way like Polygon Pictures did with Ajin and Knights of Sidonia. I love the feel of the jerky camera in this for example from Ajin:
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When it comes to modern anime I'm still more inclined to enjoy shows that have an 'experimental' art style so to speak. Madoka and Tatami galaxy are 2 'classic's where the abstract style really adds to the overall mood and enjoyability of the show.
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I can agree with those two, especially Madoka. Good diversity, wish there was more stuff like that out there. If you haven't you should check out Kaiba if you want something unconventional.
For some stuff thats aired recently, Boku No hero academia , Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru, Jojos and finally No Game No Life (no comment on the show itself, just the aesthetic!) are recently aired / currently airing shows where the animation was unique and refreshing, and I personally love it when studios take risks like that.
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Definitely the aesthetic for NGNL was nice, haven't seen the rest.
But on the other hand you can just have a rediculous budget and pull a ufotable lol.
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Unlimited Budget Works had fancy explosions but the animation itself didn't really excite me. The character art especially seemed a bit "lifeless". I don't really know how else to explain it.

I preferred Kara no Kyokai as far as ufotable things go.
 
wow that ajin gif looks sick, would you recommend the anime?

i think old anime can look really damn good—but because it cost so much more to animate it the quality was typically less consistent, whereas nowadays you tend to get more consistent visual quality throughout. You say Evangelion didn't look too good to you but I disagree; actually what got me to watch the show was the sick visuals in the OP, particularly from right where the chorus cuts in at 65 seconds:


On the other hand, Neon Genesis Evangelion can look fantastic for 10 seconds at a time but the rest of the time it's pretty uninteresting, because of budget constraints (particularly in the later episodes LOL but we already knew that and im talking about normal budget not last-7-episodes-of-eva budget). Similarly with Bebop. Fast forward fifteen years and you have madoka looking fucking amazing for basically 24 minutes every episode. So I definitely think that it's fair to say that animation quality has increased throughout the years, not necessarily because people have gotten better at animating but simply because it's no longer prohibitively expensive.

i'll want more time to gather my thoughts before i talk about art styles but right now i'll just say i love both thick-lined art style of the 90s (never seen any 80s anime) and current art but am not a big fan of 00's "kanon eyes".

half of the fight scenes in fate are *person A runs at person B* *person B runs at person A* *tons of flashy lights and shit even though theyre like, punching each other or using swords, or something, because we don't actually know how to fucking animate.* My gold standard of fight choreography and animation is FMA:B because you can actually visually follow the fight and like, point out where everyone was at any point in time, say what order events occurred and where and when punches were thrown, etc. Fate has the laziest fucking fight animation, theyre like, lol to hell with actually animating that shit we'll just cover it in some pretty lights and everyone will call us fucking geniuses
 
I definitely would recommend Ajin, as my favorite anime of the last few years, and could end up being a top 2 all time once it's done. Don't expect too many action sequences because it is more of a thriller than straight up action. But it is gripping with its presentation and aesthetic and just doesn't let go, or at least from my perspective. There is a very polarizing opinion about it due to production style, but us fans think it is pretty much the best anime ever). It's sort of like Tokyo Ghoul (MANGA verison), with its intricately built world, characters, and storyline. The main character, while he may not be "likable", is extremely believable and well-developed, and each character has their own little story which makes sense in its world. The 2nd season isn't out yet, but the development through backstories in Ajin really works well, and I say that as someone who usually cringes at your typical flashback stuff. Watch the first episode and you can probably figure out whether or not you would like it.

I agree with the Madoka/NGE thing too. You can look back at the older animes from a historical perspective and use qualifiers like "for its time", "for its budget", etc., but I think once you've been spoiled with the good modern stuff, your eyes don't look as kindly on the much less intricate and fluid older stuff. I've gotta say though - Ghibli, with its budgets, was able to transcend the time constraints for the most part. It's hard to believe when some of Miyazaki's stuff, in particular, came out. And somehow the minimalist low-budget production of Serial Experiments Lain led to a product that doesn't feel dated.
 
It's almost refreshing to see someone saying bad things about F/Z, but it's not an action show. All you need to know about Servants is that they wreck shit like fuck, and that isn't going to be conveyed in whatever standardized tv format you're saying the fight scenes should have taken. Servants are metaphors and incomprehensible forces, they lose part of that if you make it "a better action show". The good news is that Fate is more about the themes, the intrigues, the character drama etc.
 
read a lot of shit this weekend, all of it good

-sankarea - fetish manga but alright fetish manga, about zombie girl\
e: lots of fanservice but it's tasteful enough, the plot is solid but not anything amazing

-onanie master kurosawa - quite good. it deals with some dark shit (not dark as in gore, but dark as in depressing, adolescent ennui etc) but also leads to ultimate redemption for all parties, very nice (and its by the same dude who drew molester man so if you know of that amazing romcom this one won't disappoint (although it's not a romcom)))

-uzumaki - trademark junji ito. some stories were fucking blood curdling, but the horro begins to let off towards the end as sporadically just ridiculous ass things start happening (tornado riders...lol). But the first half at least is just one wild ride of crescendoing horror and discomfort. definitely a staple for horror fans

-Densha Otoko: Net Hatsu, Kakueki Teisha no Love Story - a love story based off of a 2ch thread, similar to molester man. The plot is VERY simple, but it's made up for in spades by charm and heart. A short read, and I recommend it--one thing the artist/writer did quite well was giving every anonymous 2ch poster a little mini-character, some with their one subplots

also have been watching up to ep 4 of kiznaiver with friends in call, the op sequence is a trip and it's quite lovely, the characters are turning out quite nicely so far -- with the exception of blue haired girl who has remained thoroughly unlikeable. Nico is fucking hilarious
 
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the latest episode of kiznaiver hit me insanely hard emotionally, haven't welled up this much since the hamburger episode of kekkai sensen. Theres a reason why Mari Okada keeps getting jobs writing melodrama. And paired with the absolutely fucking superb direction of this show, i can honestly say if it keeps up this pace it may go down as one of my favourites ever.

No Hyperbole
 
Cause all the cool kids are doing it (movies aren't included)
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From top left to right: Death Parade, Kino's Journey, Full Metal Alchemist brotherhood, Sound of the sky, Gurren Lagann, Ping Pong, Gunbuster (Diebuster as well), Tatami Galaxy, Assasination Classroom.
Explanations:
Death Parade: This show handles a topic so grim that I was expecting nothing but edginess but it manages to splice grim observations of human nature with heartwarming tales and cool imagery together just right. Its also one of the only shows where Im willing to argue that the opening significantly improves the quality of the overall watch.

Kino's Journey: "The world isn't beautiful and therfore it is" Similar reasons to Death Parade. The calm slice of lifey feel it takes while analyzing what humans do in different situations is fantastic. Kino themselves though being portrayed as a quiet observer gets enough development that you don't feel they've been shoehorned in.

FMA brotherhood: You've watched this

Sound of the Sky: What starts off and finishes as a slice of life in a nice little platoon in the middle of nowhere is a great mix of zen "healing" and a brilliant story hiding in the shadows that gets your mind running as the show gives hints of the dark nature of the world and the characters. Fillicia best girl

Gurren Lagann: You've watched this. Such an awesome colourful idealistic anime. Sometimes you need a show to just throw common sense out of the window and do the impossible and nobody does it as well as TTGL

Ping Pong: disturbing art style aside a show that takes the idea of "What it means to win and play" and rolls with it in the field of Ping Pong. Cant really say why I like it without a full paragraph but this show is well-liked so just watch it for yourself.

Gunbuster/Diebuster: I dont care what anyone says about EVA these two are the gods of existensial mech anime. Gunbusters ending might be my favourite of any show ever.

Tatami Galaxy: You've watched this

AssClass: Even though its not done yet I've fully read through the manga and I'm prepared to say that this is my favourite shonen ever. It encapsulates the absurdity of the shonen genre. Taking itself just seriously enough that I stay invested while being silly enough that I can marvel at the ridiculousness of it all. Despite its huge cast of characters everyone is unique and likable. Throw in some weird Great Teacher Onizuka on LSD on top of it all and you make this show.
 
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Good to see some Kino's Journey appreciation.

This somewhat resembles my favorites (middle is best, no real order aside from that but top is generally preferred):
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Attack on Titan, Ajin, From the New World
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Hunter x Hunter (2011), Kino's Journey
Code Geass, ERASED, Parasyte
 
Hero Academia has been great lately, I'm pretty disappointed it's only scheduled for 13 episodes. Granted, I really doubt it'll end there for good because there hasn't been a Shonen Jump anime with only one cour in ages but I could really go for it being a longrunner.

RBYer said:
Why do you dislike CGI? I think it adds a welcome diversity to animation, especially when done in a stylized way like Polygon Pictures did with Ajin and Knights of Sidonia.
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CGI in anime has been slowly improving and I'm usually fine with it in stuff like mecha, but for awhile it was pretty bad, Knights of Sidonia is a show that sounded interesting but I ended up dropping because all the characters moved like robots.
 
One of the games I have had a lot of fun playing is finding super entertaining is finding anime tropes and character archetypes etc in just normal media. Two that come to mind is in the avengers 2 the conveniently falling with hand touching the girls booby. The second one is zootopia, Judy hops is super moe (that one one might be pushing it).
 
ok I found my slice of life in a fantasy world wiht good world building in the form of a manga called Centaur no Nayami
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plot tl;dr the first terrestrial animals had six legs instead of four and evolution went batshit leading to a huge variety of human subspecies. Antarctica became populated by sentient snake people and advanced the aztecs into the modern day and we follow a centaur an imp and a whatever the blonde one is in their daily lives.

Undoubetdly the biggest WJT series I've ever found. The first chapters feel like hentai and some of the later ones have such a cute innocence to them that they remind me of yotsuba with chapters inbetween that develop the world and show how major human events like the holocaust played out in this universe. The contrast between chapters and stories is unreal with most of it being a slice of life some being hentai and some being alternate history canon wank(not hentai wank). Splice in some monster musume and you get this.

If you have a high tolerance for weird stuff and artistic liscenes in biology then I reccomend giving this a read. Its not the best slice of life out there and its honestly not even that good with the authors centaur fixation obviously getting in the way of actual writing every now and then. But its so strange and so well thought out that I can't help but enjoy it.
 
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I AM BACK AFTER A THREE-WEEK VACATION IN EUROPE AND I AM BEHIND ON EVERYTHING

I'm fully caught up on BnHA and Dragon Ball Super since they're the only ones I was watching on a weekly basis before I left. I've heard BnHA described as "an intravenous dose of shounen delivered directly to the bloodstream" and that sounds pretty accurate. It's super generic but fun as hell to watch, though it's pretty damn slow and a lot of the middle episodes rely on flashbacks too much. DBS is actually getting quite good now, with the darkest and most unpredictable arc of the show by far just now starting.

Also have been stopped at episode 14 of Hyouka for over a month now so I need to finish that

Things that I will almost certainly watch all of - Re:Zero, Kiznaiver, Flying Witch
Things that I plan to watch at least 3 episodes of - Sakamoto, Tanaka-Kun
Things I have heard mixed things about - Mayoiga, Lucolo
Things I'm watching next season - Shokugeki S2, Mob Psycho 100

Nickie said:
Hiya!

What are everyone's opinions on Death Parade?
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One of the better episodic shows out there, great OP, and some very strong individual episodes (6 and 9 are both very strong imo) at the cost of its poorly fleshed-out characters and environment.
 
Jebus McAzn you plan to watch Flying Witch. I've not been watching it so what is it that you think makes it worth watching? I've not talked to anyone else watching it so I'm kinda interested to know.
 
Martin. said:
Jebus McAzn you plan to watch Flying Witch. I've not been watching it so what is it that you think makes it worth watching? I've not talked to anyone else watching it so I'm kinda interested to know.
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It seems pretty relaxing to watch and got a decent amount of hype for whatever reason, so I was interested in it from the get-go.

Kiki's Delivery Service is also probably my favorite Ghibli film (I don't really have a good reason why) and Flying Witch reminded me of it
 
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