General Anime/Manga Thread

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:46 am

I was talking with SammyP on Skype, and he suggested I do this, since I'd been thinking about it for a while. So why not.

It'd be best to try and keep this topic PG-13 (though, saying that, I know most of the anime I've watched is probably more like PG-16, so), but provided things don't get too "off-limits", I wouldn't stress out over it.

So uh, yeah. Go for it.

Personally, my favourite anime of the moment is Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan, which is why I say "PG-16" for my tastes. If you've watched even the first episode, you will understand why I say that. It's pretty brutal.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:16 am

Why did this not get a 2nd season, now that there's enough source material for it.

Anyway, I love Ghost Hunt's opening music, very Elfman-esque in a way.

As far as Attack on Titan, I know I used to like NGE, but I don't know if I would like it now and a certain friend of mine tells me that "everything in Attack on Titan is good, but it has a humanity of Shinjis, essentially", I don't know if that's true or not... so I don't know if I want to watch it.

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:24 am

I still haven't watched/read NGE, so I can't say for sure, but based on what I know about Shinji, I wouldn't say that's accurate. Again, though, haven't watched NGE.

Having said that, AoT is really good - The anime adaptation is notable, in my opinion, because other than one bit near the end of the first season, I haven't seen it getting any flak over being an unfaithful adaptation (which is to say it follows the manga quite closely, other than rearranging the order of some scenes, which I think was done for the best).

Contrast Higurashi/Umineko (very much not PG-13 because violence, let's leave it at that), which are criticized for cutting out scenes - the AoT anime has filler, but it has a purpose beyond "waste time until next event" (fleshing out characters/the world and such).

samuelthx · Post by **samuelthx** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:06 pm

Um.
Why has Fairy Tail not been mentioned yet?

llarson · Post by **llarson** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:40 pm

The Animes I've Watched:

- Avatar: The Last Airbender (Don't remember much though)
- Rozen Maiden
- Fairy Tail (One of my Favorites)
- One Piece (One of my Favorites)
- Soul Eater (Beautiful, also another favorite)
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (However I only watched two episodes, I'm going to have to watch more...)

I remember One Piece had certain things censored by 4kids or whatever.I'm starting to wonder what would've happened if soul eater was censored by 4kids XD.

samuelthx · Post by **samuelthx** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:55 pm

llarson wrote:The Animes I've Watched:

- Avatar: The Last Airbender (Don't remember much though)

I don't think that's a legit anime though. It's like a Western version/spin-off of the real deal.

jdl · Post by **jdl** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:56 pm

I don't think this is an anime per se, but according to wikipedia it's anime-influenced.

I have probably mentioned this show a lot in the past on here, but I absolutely love Code Lyoko.

llarson · Post by **llarson** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:56 pm

samuelthx wrote:
llarson wrote:The Animes I've Watched:

- Avatar: The Last Airbender (Don't remember much though)
I don't think that's a legit anime though. It's like a Western version/spin-off of the real deal.

Like I said however, I don't remember much though.I only remember a few scenes.

Koopson44 · Post by **Koopson44** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:59 pm

jdl wrote:I don't think this is an anime per se, but according to wikipedia it's anime-influenced.

I have probably mentioned this show a lot in the past on here, but I absolutely love Code Lyoko.

Yeah i love code lyoko a lot too. Considering my avatar and whatnot.

Jutomi · Post by **Jutomi** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:06 pm

I am pretty sure I watched Code Lyoko and Avatar: The Last Air Bender in the past, but I don't recall much from the first one; I didn't even recognize the name until I noticed what Koopson said about his avatar on the new avatars thread page.

Nobody · Post by **Nobody** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:19 pm

Jutomi wrote:I am pretty sure I watched Code Lyoko and Avatar: The Last Air Bender in the past, but I don't recall much from the first one; I didn't even recognize the name until I noticed what Koopson said about his avatar on the new avatars thread page.

A French series and an American series. Yep.

MyNameIsKooky · Post by **MyNameIsKooky** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:40 pm

What animes have I watched? Well, a lot. Here are my favorites in no particular order.

- Kill la Kill: This totally isn't PG-13 at all, but it's my all-time favorite anime.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: This isn't PG-13 either, but it's one of my favorites. There's nothing quite like turning your brain off and watching over-the-top action.
- Attack on Titan: This isn't PG-13. Lots and lots of death.
- Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt: Uh, this isn't PG-13, if the title didn't make it obvious. It's a very raunchy show, but ridiculously fun to watch.
- Darker than Black: Yet another show that isn't PG-13. I enjoyed this one, but the second season was just plain terrible. I would've liked it a lot more otherwise.
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: Uh, probably not PG-13? This one's definitely in my top 3.

So like, all the animes that I enjoyed the most weren't PG-13. I guess that means something.

Muzozavr wrote:As far as Attack on Titan, I know I used to like NGE, but I don't know if I would like it now and a certain friend of mine tells me that "everything in Attack on Titan is good, but it has a humanity of Shinjis, essentially", I don't know if that's true or not... so I don't know if I want to watch it.

Ha! It's physically impossible to be as wimpy as Shinji. Attack on Titan's characters are all "human" though, meaning they actually experience emotions like fear unlike your typical macho anime hero.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:10 pm

So has anyone seen Serial Experiments Lain? It's really weird and creepy... it's very slow, but the style is undeniable. The end of episode 2 got me hooked and made me watch the whole thing.

Also, Gankutsuou is one of the most ridiculously awesome things in existence: an anime verison of The Count of Monte Cristo with a visual sci-fi makeover. It's actually really good and even the plot deviations keep the main themes of the novel, making it a rather excellent "alternative" adaptation, actually.

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:11 pm

MyNameIsKooky wrote:Attack on Titan's characters are all "human" though, meaning they actually experience emotions like fear unlike your typical macho anime hero.

Yeah, pretty much. There are definitely moments where some characters get absolutely terrified, but it's completely justified in context (i.e. Armin in episode 4).

IMO the series does a pretty good job with characterization - none of the characters feel "flat", even when there's not much known about them.

(of course part of the characterization is just to destroy emotions even more when people start dying, which is an unfortunate and completely intentional side-effect)

DEEMAN223344 · Post by **DEEMAN223344** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:31 pm

-Kill la Kill: This is just amazing. It's not finished yet though, so I'm hesitant to call it my favorite yet.

-NGE: NGE is NGE. At the moment, it's pretty high up in my list of favorites, although it looks like KLK might change that soon.
-Attack on Titan: THIS SHOW. I can't recommend it enough. I never finished it though, but I've been meaning to.
-Death Note: meh.......
-Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Basically what MNIK said.
-Soul Eater: This was great, but I also never finished that either.

Emerald141 · Post by **Emerald141** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 9:10 pm

peegman · Post by **peegman** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 2:38 am

I have to agree with MNIK about Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Soul Eater was also one of my favourites, until to last 10 or so episodes. I'm also looking into watching Kill La Kill and Fairy Tail

Nobody · Post by **Nobody** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 2:54 am

peegman wrote:I'm also looking into watching Kill La Kill

Do it

peegman wrote:and Fairy Tail

Don't do it

StinkerSquad01 · Post by **StinkerSquad01** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 3:29 am

I've seen:

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Very good anime, although I don't remember it as it was the first actual one I've seen.
NGE/Rebuild - NGE was scary, and Rebuild is okay.
Attack on Titan - AMAZING! I recommend it to everybody ever. Also, it's kind of bloody.
Kill la Kill - OH MY GOD WATCH IT also it's not exactly pg-13 so maybe watch it alone BUT NOT IN THAT WAY
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - I liked this one a lot, I basically agree with Emerald's views.
Soul Eater - Was pretty good and funny at first but the ending was somewhat disappointing as others have said.
Death Note - Ew..

Basically the same as most people.

For those of you who've seen AOT and have heard of/seen the kids' show Arthur, you might find this funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1sFPDXEYT4

samuelthx · Post by **samuelthx** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:11 am

Nobody wrote:
peegman wrote:I'm also looking into watching Kill La Kill
Do it
peegman wrote:and Fairy Tail
Don't do it

y u do dis

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:35 am

StinkerSquad01 wrote:For those of you who've seen AOT and have heard of/seen the kids' show Arthur, you might find this funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1sFPDXEYT4

Oh man, these videos are one of my favourite things.

Here's a good one - Shingeki no Anon.

StinkerSquad01 · Post by **StinkerSquad01** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:37 am

HAHAHA, THAT'S GREAT

peegman · Post by **peegman** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 5:57 am

Nobody wrote:
peegman wrote:I'm also looking into watching Kill La Kill
Do it
peegman wrote:and Fairy Tail
Don't do it

Why Dont' do it?

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:25 am

I have no idea whether Fairy Tail is any good but I do know it's one of those loooooooooong shows. Instead of watching one show of such length you could watch several shorter and better shows.

So, has anyone seen Serial Experiments Lain?

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 8:20 am

Muzozavr wrote:So, has anyone seen Serial Experiments Lain?

I can't say I've heard of it, what's it about?

On another note, @ everyone in this thread who's seen Attack on Titan - Anyone else played the Tribute Game? It's crazy difficult to master, but it's a lot of fun.

Just managed to clear out City on Hard as Armin in about 3 and a half minutes. I feel like I'm on top of the world.

EDIT: On that note, if you've watched the anime but haven't finished it, don't scroll through the multiplayer level list - There's a pretty big unmarked spoiler in there for the end of the season.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 9:30 am

I can't say I've heard of it, what's it about?

I think I might have problems answering that question.

Lain starts off with a suicide of a girl. A few days later, all of her classmates start to receive e-mails from her, even though she's dead. (Note that the anime was made in 1998, when e-mails were a bit harder to fake, so this is more dramatic than it seems nowadays)

Most of them dismiss it as some sort of a cruel prank, though it does bring someone to tears.

Enter main protagonist Lain Iwakura, a shy loner. "Not in the "I play World of Warcraft all day and I have no friends" way" (quote from GRArkada's review), no. Just a fairly normal shy loner who isn't that good with computers, either... but, since this anime is big on cyberpunk, it doesn't stay that way for long.

So this whole situation intrigues Lain and she starts actually using her e-mail, specifically, to communicate with this... person, whoever he or she maybe. So, Lain gets told by that girl that she only abandoned her body and in The Wired (=their Internet) she has found God.

After that, I can't describe much because it gets weirder and weirder. The whole way through, it's dramatic, intriguing, stylized, cool and creepy. Lain gets to find out about several personalities of her that act independently, one of them has apparently always existed in the Wired, and things just go stranger from there. "Due to problems with the space-time continuum you may receive this message tomorrow, or even yesterday". How awesome is that?

Mind you, the first two episodes are a bit slow dramatically, but the end of episode 2 is, IMO, when the series absolutely explodes into EPIC.

TL;DR: Basically, Serial Experiments Lain = ALL OF MY WHAT

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 9:55 am

Muzozavr wrote:<description>

Ooh, I like the sounds of that. Sounds intriguing, going to put that on my "need to watch" list.

On that note, though...

Muzozavr wrote:Lain starts off with a suicide of a girl.

I... feel the need to ask, is this justified in the story? If it's a spoiler in some way, don't worry about details, just a yes/no answer, if you wouldn't mind. It's a bit of a sensitive topic for me, so I'm just wondering.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:13 am

It's "justified", but only in Serial Experiment Lain's special way. We don't really get to know much about Chisa herself, but the event gets tied into all the weird things surrounding The Wired, Lain herself... basically, Chisa's suicide is a small part of a much larger enigma. The thing that should clue you in that this is not your usual suicide is Chisa's incredibly happy smile right before. Combine that with the whole "in the Wired, there is a God" thing and you'll know that there's something strange going on.

Oh, and because Serial Experiments Lain is just that crazy and weird, there's a scene later on where Lain may or may not have seen Chisa in person. In the Wired, yes. But in person. The event may or may not have been real and may or may not have happened.

I'd need to rewatch the series to answer the "did that actually happen" question, even then I might not be able to.

I think that's not really a spoiler, it's very hard to spoil anything in Serial Experiments Lain aside from a few spectacular/awesome moments (end of episode 2, "FULFILL THE PROPHECY" in episode 5, etc) that have more impact if you don't see them coming. Anyway, none of the events feel like they're there just for the sake of being there and/or forwarding the plot. It's a very strange plot, but it feels natural when you watch it.

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:42 am

Ahh, okay. Thanks.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Sun Mar 23, 2014 7:47 pm

Finally found out that there's a trailer out there that, despite the English dub (which actually sounds quite OK, but I do like the Japanese one a bit more) gives a mostly perfect impression of what the series is like: SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN