*sees avatar*

 

*directs to this thread*

Haha I've just started watching "Erased" and really like it, I'm not super into anime, at least not yet.

 

I've watched parts of "Fairytail" which was sort of ok but only worth it for the cute cats and most of "Parasyte" which was great.

Edited September 18, 20168 yr by Jacob Alan

OH yeah and anime movies: I've watched the obvious ones- Spirited Away and Grave Of The Fireflies ( :cry: ).

Erased is a fantastic series, very dark in places but rather brilliant, and Parasyte is absolutely brutal. Spirited Away was the film that first got me into anime, so it'll always have a special place in my heart, even if I wouldn't call it my favourite anime film now, and Grave of The Fireflies is absolutely made of tears.

 

There's plenty of great anime recommendations in this thread if you were interested in delving deeper into anime, and if you're looking for something in a particular genre I'm sure between all of the regular contributors in this thread we can find something we think you'll like.

I'm fairly sure Jacob will like Your Lie In April because of the musical themes, that's the one I've told him to go for next at least. I recommended him Erased to start with.

 

(I would say I'm responsible for pushing him in this direction but he found 3/4 of the other series he mentioned on his own :kink: )

Really exciting news about anime for those of us that love to see it gaining mainstream recognition. Makoto Shinkai has been one of the highest regarded directors of anime both in Japan and further afield, through films such as Voices From a Distant Star (notable for the fact that he animated the entire thing single handed, and it still looks ruddy impressive), 5 Centimeters Per Second, and Children Who Chase Lost Voices. A few weeks ago, he released his latest feature film, "Your Name", which is about a country girl and a city boy who switch places in their dreams. I'd say that it's gone down well in Japan, but that would be an understatement.

 

It has already grossed $90 million in Japan alone, making it the highest grossing anime in Japan that wasn't produced by Studio Ghibli. It's selling just as many tickets in its 4th week in the cinemas as it did in its 1st week, and looks like by the end of the run it could find itself as one of the highest grossing films EVER in Japan, which is beyond phenomenal.

 

Even more exciting is that the film is getting a release in the UK. Even more exciting still is that that release date is pretty soon, as it is due to premier in the UK on Thursday November 24th. And just in case it couldn't get any more exciting, it's getting a pretty wide release on that day, looking like at least 50 screens across the country will be showing it. It only appears to be scheduled for one day, but I have a strong feeling that it will end up being extended based on its current hype. I honestly think this'll be the biggest anime film in the west since Spirited Away in 2003, and I also think it could stand a chance at being nominated for the Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards next year. It's going to be big.

I've just finished watching "Erased"... I have no words, the animation was beautiful, the story was engaging and the soundtracks were brilliant. That series made me so emotional, it was so perfect. :wub:

Edited September 23, 20168 yr by Jacob Alan

It has already grossed $90 million in Japan alone, making it the highest grossing anime in Japan that wasn't produced by Studio Ghibli. It's selling just as many tickets in its 4th week in the cinemas as it did in its 1st week, and looks like by the end of the run it could find itself as one of the highest grossing films EVER in Japan, which is beyond phenomenal.

 

Even more exciting is that the film is getting a release in the UK. Even more exciting still is that that release date is pretty soon, as it is due to premier in the UK on Thursday November 24th. And just in case it couldn't get any more exciting, it's getting a pretty wide release on that day, looking like at least 50 screens across the country will be showing it. It only appears to be scheduled for one day, but I have a strong feeling that it will end up being extended based on its current hype. I honestly think this'll be the biggest anime film in the west since Spirited Away in 2003, and I also think it could stand a chance at being nominated for the Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards next year. It's going to be big.

 

Just read a bit more about this, that does sound pretty phenomenal that it's doing so well, it sounds completely unprecedented, I've sort of heard of a couple of his works but I've never seen any. Will be very interesting to see how it does in the west, I always enjoy anime becoming more popular.

 

Speaking of that, I just finished what's probably been the most popular anime over the last two cours and definitely my favourite of the shows I've seen that started airing in 2016, Re:Zero. I'm not sure what to say, it turned out to be a very risky anime given what seemed like a fairly run-of-the-mill premise, the way it treated its characters at points during the show (in particular to make some of the strongest points against entitled behaviour I've ever seen in a show) but that just makes the characters much stronger, and there were a couple of brilliant episodes that I shall have to rewatch at some point.

And what's most satisfying is: although the story is definitely not done and it looks like it could easily go the same way as Attack On Titan in that a second season might be hard to materialise, they gave us enough to be going on with with the ending, I loved it and while I definitely want more, I would be okay if they stopped right here too.

 

Today was Anime Film Day for me apparently, I ended up watching the 3rd Digimon Tri. film (a great improvement on the previous two and very emotional, I kept tearing up. Next one's in February and I can't wait!), Kimi no na wa that's been mentioned above, a must watch, it was brilliant and has astonishingly knocked FMAB off the top on MyAnimeList with a current score of 9.39. I also watched Kokoro ga sakebitagatterunda, not as good but I enjoyed it. I just noticed on MAL that I've now seen 91 anime movies, not counting a few that are listed under OVAs or Specials. Only a few more to get to 100 :lol: .

 

Re:Zero is on my to-watch list, along with Seven Deadly Sins that was just announced to be getting another season soon. I think I'll save Bakemonogatari for later.

How did you manage to get to see Kimi no na wa (Your Name)? Did you find it online, or have they released it earlier where you live? I'm going to be patient and wait until it's out in the cinema here (which isn't too much longer by the look of it!).

 

It's success in Japan has been picked up elsewhere - The BBC did a feature on it today, which makes me think they'll give it a wider release on these shores, although they'll have to hurry up with a dubbed version.

There's a screener rip out there, it's been up on Kissanime for a while now and I only noticed yesterday. It's in decent quality, though not in full HD. I think that even if you end up watching it now, you'll still want to see it in the cinema. I already want to re-watch it.

Watched 3 episodes of Bakemonogatari the other night. One of the worst anime I have ever seen. Can even get myself to give it another go. I can't believe it ranks so high on various anime sites.

Aww. It took me a few episodes to 'get it', I basically enjoyed each episode more and more as I got to know the characters more, but I don't think it is for everyone. The minimal art style and the lack of much happening except for talking did make the episodes a bit harder to get through before I began caring about the characters - and I do now, Senjougahara and Hanekawa especially are very enjoyable. I should continue the series with Nise- when I feel more like it.

 

I don't know how valid it is as a comparison but I kind of think of it as similar to the position that Sigur Rós or Aphex Twin or Bjork have in music, experimental/artsy, do things differently, get hailed for doing something different but very easy to find off-putting or boring if you're not into that sort of stuff.

We're halfway into the current anime season, so here's what I've been watching during this cour -

 

WWW.Wagnaria!! - this is a spin-off/spiritual successor to the original Working!!!/Wagnaria!!! series, which is set in a different restaurant, focusing on the antics of a completely different set of eccentrics and oddballs working there. It's got a slightly different tone to the original series, but it is just as fun.

 

Magical Girls Raising Project - Koyuki is an avid playing the online game Magical Girls Raising Project, where you are able to take control of a magical girl. One day, she is offered the opportunity to become a real life magical girl by the avatar representing the game, and becomes Snow White, and helps to make her town a better place, under the wing of another magical girl, La Pucelle. However, they later learn that there are too many magical girls in their town, and their number must be reduced by half. You can probably guess where this is going.

 

So far, this is a decent take on the recent "magical girls gone dark" genre, and there's some genuinely surprising twists within in, such as the reveal of the real-life identity of La Pucelle in the 1st episode.

 

Poco's Udon World - having worked in Tokyo for 10 years, Souta returns to his home in Kagawa after the death of his father, who owned a famous udon restaurant there. He discovers a small boy there, who he soon learns is a shape-shifting tanuki. He decides to look after the "boy", whilst deciding whether to return to Tokyo, or stay in Kagawa to reopen the restaurant. It's similar in tone to last season's Sweetness & Lightning with a slightly supernatural bent, and it's wistfulness makes a rather nice change of pace in an anime series.

 

Haikyu! Season 3 - the 3rd season of the volleyball anime. It seems as if the entire 12 episode series is going to focus around just 1 match, meaning the series is going to be longer than most actual volleyball matches.

In addition, one of the classic anime series, Cowboy Bebop, has just been added to Netflix in the UK, so I am working through that for the 1st time. If the opening episode is anything to go by, it's going to be an uneasy, yet enjoyable, watch.

I liked Cowboy Bebop but I didn't love it. I think it was the episodic nature, the influences, that noir feel on some episodes for example, and characters are all very accomplished and certain episodes really stood out to me but the story as a whole didn't grab me because I didn't have any urgency to go to the next episode so it took me quite a while.

 

I haven't started watching anything from this cour as nothing stands out like I need to watch it this minute rather than at the end, I am eyeing up a couple of series (Izetta: The Last Witch, because it apparently involves alternate history, and March Comes In Like A Lion because it involves a chess player) for marathoning maybe at the end.

 

What I've been watching lately, I've been going through Death Note (slowly, with someone else or I'm sure I'd have finished it by now), have recently seen Psycho Pass and loved it, and on the lighter side of things have just started and gotten into Toradora! which seems to be a pleasant return to the slice-of-life things that I started out watching anime with.

Just back from seeing "Your Name" at a screening in Islington. All I can say is - wow, I was absolutely blown away. A really beautiful, magical, poignant film, with quite a few laughs as well. I'm calling it as my film of the year. If you get the chance to see it in the cinema, please do, I believe it's showing in quite a few across the UK this week.

Well, we're halfway through the current anime season, so time to fill you in on what I've been watching so far this season -

 

Konosuba Season 2 - I know I'm not the only one watching this (Iz passim), the continuing adventures of 4 individuals in an alternate fantasy dimension whose goal is to defeat the Demon King, but end up spending more time fighting against each other. The individual characters have become more fleshed out by now, and there's several running gags that still get me going every single time - who'd though being swallowed continuously by a toad would be so hilarious?

 

Interviews With Monster Girls - my favourite series of this cour so far, and another entry in the burgeoning sub-genre of monster girls, although in this version the subject is treated in a more blasé fashion. A science teacher who has studied demi-humans for many years is excited to learn that several of his students (and a fellow teacher) are "demis", humans with traits in common with mythical characters. He gets to know a vampire girl, a dullahan (whose head and body are separate from each other) and a snow-girl, as well as a fellow teacher who is a succubus, as he learns more about demis. A really great show.

 

ACCA: 13 Territory Inspection Department - Now I never thought I'd come across an anime series about an auditor, but ACCA is just that. The show takes place in a kingdom which contains 13 semi-autonomous states which are overseen by ACCA. The show focuses on Jean, an inspector who regularly visits each state to ensure that nothing untoward is going on. Whilst all this is going on, in the background an attempted coup against the government, as well the possibility of the current elderly king being disposed, rears its head. An interesting show, which one feels is heading towards a cataclysmic finale.

 

The Saga of Tanya The Evil - Now I'm not normally drawn to shows about war, but the premise of Tanya the Evil was enough to drag me in, and so far I've been impressed. A salaryman whose driven by following the rules in modern day Japan dies & is reincarnated as a girl in a country resembling Germany in the 1920s had World War 1 never happened and some individuals are blessed with magic powers. Having been discovered to have such powers, Tanya rises to lead a magic battalion despite only being 11 years old, as she ruthlessly drives towards more power. It's surprisingly funny in parts, as well as tackling very existential themes. An unexpected delight.

 

I also watched Mob Psycho 100 & Re:Zero over Christmas. The former was decent (although whether you like it or not would depend on whether One Punch Man was your thing), and Re:Zero was brilliant, albeit one that got very difficult to watch as it got darker and darker - probably a bad idea to marathon that series.

Konosuba S2 is definitely the highlight of the season so far *.* Although that's by default as as usual I've been quite conservative in what I've been picking up as far as the new seasons go and it's the only 'new' show I'm watching right now - I prefer to wait till the end unless there's something I'm desperate to see. And Konosuba certainly qualifies for that, I can't get enough of all four of the main characters and if anything it's just getting funnier with a whole host of running gags - my favourite is the simple one that I've put in my member title, the way Kazuma says that line is always so deadpan I crack.

 

I'll probably pick up a couple of things once the cour finishes, Interviews With Monster Girls is something I've been hearing good things about and Gabriel Dropout is intriguing me even if it probably is just another cute girl show.

 

On what I've been watching lately, the first of the ones I picked up from the fall cour was Izetta: The Last Witch, which as a WW2 anime with magical powers and witches, ended up being okay and had a few really nice moments and a good title character but wasn't the most amazing. I did get however get a load of alternate history imaginings from it as alternate history always has something interesting about it.

 

The second one... which I'm watching through now and can scarcely believe I'm enjoying it as much as I am, is Keijo!!!!! (exclamation marks both part of the title and my feelings about liking it) As its premise is a sport where girls fight with their boobs and ass to knock each other off a floating platform, I thought it'd be so filled with dumb fanservice I'd watch the first episode and have to put it down but I got sucked in. Like, because it knows exactly what it is and makes no pretensions about it - and there's not that much fanservice all told, certainly in comparison to some others, it's a really fun ride and a good deconstruction of sports/battle anime because it's just completely ridiculous and over-the-top. And the characters and music are both memorable and likeable so it has that going for it.

 

On catalogue stuff I've been filling in on (taking up most of my anime watching time), I raced through No Game No Life and loved every minute of it because of the whole psychoanalyzing over strategy games that it indulged in - plus again, a load of really great characters that I wanted to spend more time with - I hear there's a movie soon which is something.

 

I started making inroads into Gintama to have some regular anime comedy and I'm just going to work away at that whenever I feel like it - for what is basically the anime Futurama it has the potential to be incredibly funny from what I've watched so far. I've also started the next Monogatari, Nise-. And finally, I've taken the plunge and started an anime I felt like I knew I'd love and wanted to save it for quite a while, Steins;Gate. Slightly slow going so far, I've only watched a few episodes, of all things, Keijo is distracting me, but it's very interesting and clever and I feel I'm about to really get into it, it reminds me of things like Fringe.

 

Great to hear you enjoyed Re:Zero, I still have great memories of rushing through that. It's way too soon to rewatch but I am missing the intensity it had. I've heard good things about both Mob Psycho 100 and One Punch Man but never watched either (even though the latter seems to be a modern classic already), something for the future.

I undersold Steins;Gate in my last post so let me just rectify that, I'm halfway through and I'm getting so sold on everything - what an incredible anime.

I undersold Steins;Gate in my last post so let me just rectify that, I'm halfway through and I'm getting so sold on everything - what an incredible anime.

 

I absolutely loved Steins;Gate , and if you're only halfway through it, then you're in for a treat, as it's only going to get better from that point. I'll need to rewatch it again at some point - I first watched it when it was released so there's things about it I've most likely forgotten.