Grave of the Fireflies...ANIME/MANGA

maaoouud said:
Sci-fi-ish as requested:
Jin-Roh, The Wolf Brigade
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Movie and TV-series Ghost in the Shell - Stand alone complex 2nd season


Mixed stuff that you should not miss, higher is sort of better:
Berserk Action Fantasy
Trigun Action Comedy
Cowboy Bebop TV-series and then the movie Bountyhunter
Hellsing TV-series OVA Action
Fullmetal Alchemist TV-series and then then movie Action Adventure
Initial D Streetracing
Rurouni Kenshin TV-Series (Action Comedy) and absolutely don't miss the OVAs and movie which is awesome (Action Samurai)
Ninja Scroll and the Ninja Scroll TV-series Ninja
Neon Genesis Evangelion Action
Blood: The Last Vampire Action
Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien Drama Romance (sad/emotional)
Chrno Crusade Action
Elfen Lied Action Horror
Crest of the Stars Season2 Season3 Drama War Space (very slow but in a good way)
Hajime no Ippo Boxing
GunGrave Action
Vision of Escaflowne TV-series and movie Fantasy Drama
Lupin III The movies are good don't know the TV-series Thief Comedy
Noir Drama Assassin (slow pace)
Monster Drama (too disturbing for my taste, only seen 30-ish eps)

Note that this was a quick & dirty list, I may well have forgotten a few good ones. I also left out a few that are unique/wierd and may demand that you can stick to a series that sucks in the beginning.

And finally all the studio Ghibli :p productions are great but I'd recommend you don't miss these in addition to the ones you've seen:
Howl's Moving Castle Drama
Porco Rosso Comedy
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Adventure


Oh, almost forgot, there's a live action ("real" movie) version of Grave of the fireflies now. Still an active torrent with it.
Excellent recommendations:

Evangelion(especially the movie, End of Eva, which should be watched after the series), Crest of the Stars/Banner of the Stars I-III are two of my fav series. Berserk is just trascendental, through the years it stands as probably the best overall series in my book.

I'll add LAIN, though it's quite unique and some may not enjoy it, it's another of my fav.s.

While not anime I might add these following games are pretty much in the same vein in terms of the overall anime'ish stories and feel:

Valkyrie Profile, psx(UBER story, action'ish rpg.)
XENOGEARS, psx(some've said it was inspired in part by evangelion, but it goes way beyond it. For one who's into the science presented, it is just marvelous to see how much of its potential is showcased, though with a few exaggerations here and there.)
FF4-7(snes/psx)
Chrono Cross(psx)
Chrono Trigger(snes)
Tales of destiny 1(psx)
Star Ocean 3(psx)
Final Fantasy Tactics(psx)
Symphony of the Night(psx)

digitalwanderer said:
Nope, screw powerful and poignant....I need guns and "fan service" with some robots & magic thrown in for good measure. ;)














(GET APPLESEED, you'll like it. )

The non-cg original I might add.
 
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Nice list, maaoouud, but you missed a couple good series (I think, anyway :) ):
Outlaw Star
Blue Gender

Both aired on cartoon network a couple of years back, and I quite enjoyed 'em. Another one that aired more recently was Paranoid Agent, but I can't find a direct link to the series.
 
That no one mentioned Rahxephon makes me sad, however. :( Does a better job at being NGE than NGE does, IMHO. Hehe...
 
The second episode of Hellsing OVA has already been released...

No, there's been a 'digest' version and the full episode released. The first being a butchered preview of the real episode.
 
digitalwanderer said:
Oh man, I just watched the first OVA of Hellsing the other and it was just freaking killer! Blows the anime away!
Oh come on ... yes the action comes in more healthy doses, and the fact that police girl isn't just completely useless anymore is nice. But between the deformed facial expressions of the police girl, the incessant mention of "draculinas", and the completely schizo ms. Hellsing I think there are plenty of downsides to it too ... it's much more cartoony and inconsistent in mood than the original. The pacing of the story is also completely off (which doesn't matter if you watched the series, since you are just waiting for the next action scene ... but still).
I heard the second one is out, I must find it! :D
Doubt it.

I think ROUJIN-Z is one of the best anime movies ever.

IMO good anime movies are far and wide between, they only very rarely provide a decent plot and a satisfactory conclusion in a movie setting ... on second thought they are just like normal movies in that respect I guess.

That anime suffers a little too much from exposition about philosophy and platitudes about human relationships doesn't help either (guess that it's still mainly aimed at teenagers who can be impressed by that crap is partly to blame).
 
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I'd add a few that are a tad more obscure but worth looking at --
Kodomo no Omocha -- comedy/drama... I should note that there are moments in this series that make Grave of the Fireflies look happy-go-lucky. Though there are also moments where something otherwise touching has the tension broken by something utterly wacky. Warning : it's long.

Full Moon wo Sagashite -- romantic comedy/drama... This one is sort of a slow starter, begins on a low note, then starts to look like a sappy puppy-love story, but after several episodes, it suddenly switches gears to a much more depressing line.

Karakuri Zoushi Ayatsuri Sakon -- mystery... To put it in a nutshell, this is like Columbo in the way things are presented and solved... only in a much much darker and more foreboding setting. Episodes are very hard to find, though. Sometimes the title is also shortened to simply "Ayatsuri Sakon."

Jungle Ha Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu -- comedy... This is just flat out hilarious. Wacky humor being presented in the eyes of the straight man. Basically, the antagonist is a girl with magical powers who uses her abilities to torture people in a prankish nature. You know damn well that if you had magical powers, you'd do just the same. Has 3 series -- the TV series, and the two OVA series with the subheadings 'Deluxe' and 'Final.'

Azumanga Daioh -- comedy... This is essentially the anime equivalent to Seinfeld. It is literally taking a collection of unique characters and making humor out of the minutia of their everyday lives. Each episode actually contains a bunch of smaller stories that are often a few minutes long each. There's also a movie, and yes, it was shown in theaters as part of a larger triple feature -- the movie was a whopping 5 and a half minutes long.

Hikaru no Go -- ummm... sports? I don't know how you classifty it, but it's basically about a ghost who had a strong love for playing Go, and possesses some kid and effectively brings out his latent talent for the game. Hell, any show that can put excitement into a board game is something.

Among more recent series, I also recommend --
Bleach, Naruto, Shingetsutan Tsukihime. Bleach and Naruto are both hitting a long series of fillers because they nearly caught up with the manga, so if you haven't seen it, might as well watch it now.

Also the one manga I recommend above all others at this point (it has yet to be made into an anime) is Deathnote. The writing is just beyond comparison and just devilishly clever.
 
I only watched Grave of the Fireflies once because I'm too afraid to watch it again.
 
Chalnoth said:
Nice list, maaoouud, but you missed a couple good series (I think, anyway :) ):
Outlaw Star
Blue Gender

Both aired on cartoon network a couple of years back, and I quite enjoyed 'em. Another one that aired more recently was Paranoid Agent, but I can't find a direct link to the series.

Haven't seen blue gender but Outlaw was good(ah, the galactic leyline, such a wonderful thing...).

PS

A list of anime series many would consider b class, but still interesting:
Scry'ed(bad ending, but otherwise good)
kiddy grade(scifi futuristic anime)
dna^2(scifi present day comedy short series)
aquarion(comedic relief of mecha series, bad ending)

PPS

ROUJIN-Z? I've not watched this one, is it scifi?Edit: Just googled it, after seeing the cover it seems I saw it, was quite good too, just forgot the name.
 
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ShootMyMonkey said:
Jungle Ha Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu -- comedy... This is just flat out hilarious. Wacky humor being presented in the eyes of the straight man. Basically, the antagonist is a girl with magical powers who uses her abilities to torture people in a prankish nature. You know damn well that if you had magical powers, you'd do just the same. Has 3 series -- the TV series, and the two OVA series with the subheadings 'Deluxe' and 'Final.'
Thanks, I never heard of this...I'll check it out. :)

That's one thing I love about anime, there is just sooo bloody much of it to pick and choose from...you're bound to be able to find something good.

Big props for Bleach to watch, the best manga-to-anime conversion ever and it's based off of a killer manga. Yeah it is filler lately, but the Bleach filler doesn't seem nearly as bad as the Naruto filler...which is so bad I haven't watched the last 12 episodes or so. :???: (But not to worry, it's almost over and the next story arc in Naruto is going to kick some serious ass....I read ahead in the manga to check. ;) )

I'd also recomend the series Gunslinger Girls and Gungrave. Both are sort of mafia themed, and both are very dark and disturbing. Gungrave is sort of like a Sopranos in Japan with a sci fi flavor that is very well done, and Gunslinger Girls is about gangsters who create their own personal kill units....who happen to look like/sort of be 12 year old girls.

Very good stuff, but dark in the Serial Experiment Lain type of way.

EDITED BITS: OH!!! Battle Programmer Shirase is a must for the geek type, only 5 episodes but I think it's just funny as hell. Satire on both geeks and anime.
 
cthellis42 said:
OVA's ARE anime, you know... ;)
Yeah, but I always refer to series anime as "anime" and OVA anime as "OVA"...it's how they talk on the anime board I belong too. :oops:

The anime of Hellsing was more realistic, but I thought the OVA was truer to the manga...does that make sense?

Oh, and Witch Hunter Robin ain't bad either.

index.jpg


Sorry, I just remember the good ones as they come up...I've seen an awful lot of anime.

RaXephon is good and I think Evangelion is really a must see in the whole genre, but make sure you look up a guide on which to watch in what order first.
 
Hehe... What to you call anime movies then? "Anime movies" at all times? Your system seems complex. ;)


I haven't kept up as much of late, sadly... But Blockbuster seems to have a bigger selection now, so I figure I'll abuse it as I can. I'm much more of an anime classicist... though it seems pretty odd to think of 15 years ago as "classic." ;) I don't really count my 5-year-old experiences with Star Blazers, G-Force, and Speed Racer, though I DO count my 10-year-old experiences with Robotech. (Robotech rocks. Suck it. :p )

'twasn't until high school that I got into anything much, though.

-----------------------

Rental update: It seems Blockbuster has about 300, and little in the way of series anime. Netflix has more (1200, though some of it isn't "anime" animation) but at lot more series. Just for reference for those considering. ^_^
 
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Akira it was, and i liked it.. Were tired in the end cause its pretty long around 2hours i think, compared with GITS witch was around 1,20 something.
Bikergangs and stuff, so 2 out of 4 movies shows cartonn boobies. Guess in some movies(love/drama) there are sex screens and stuff, would be a first for me in cartoon. :)
 
pcchen said:
I only watched Grave of the Fireflies once because I'm too afraid to watch it again.

:LOL: This applies to me too. Tears finally overflowed my eyes when the little girl gave her "stone collection" to her brother.

I picked "patsu" as my nick after the little boy in Laputa. ;)
I love his persistence and virtually indestructible skull (Can't remember how many times he got knocked over by stuff).

I like anime, but sometimes the original manga far surpasses the animation. My all-time favorite is Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. The anime is an extremely poor adaption of the manga and IMHO is Miyazaki's poorest/most disappointing production (If you have read original manga).

If I can only read 1 manga series in my whole life, Nausicaa (Book 1 to 7) would be the one. I bought the first 2 books a day before my finals, I couldn't study until I finished the rest of the series. I had to run back to the bookstore to get them.

EDIT:
Because it's a movie, the Nausicaa team had to extract all 7 books into 1+ hours. So they reused many characters and mixed up the actions to form a compact story: Some of the good guys in the books became the villians in the movie. The real bad guys didn't even show up in the anime :( and of course they didn't do the weapons justice. The "God Warrior" is weak sauce in the anime. etc. etc. Go read the manga ! :p
 
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overclocked said:
Guess in some movies(love/drama) there are sex screens and stuff, would be a first for me in cartoon. :)
Haha, there's a whole anime porn industry :) Google up some "hentai"
 
digitalwanderer said:
Nope, screw powerful and poignant....I need guns and "fan service" with some robots & magic thrown in for good measure. ;)

(GET APPLESEED, you'll like it. )

Did you try GANTZ (the manga) ? I have not watched the anime yet.
 
Chalnoth said:
Haha, there's a whole anime porn industry :) Google up some "hentai"

Hehe, when you mentioned it i think ive seen it, but i prefere real porn :)

But too be more serious cause i was refering to movies with "normal" lovescenes the director must be really good to capture the emotion from regular films so to say.

PS

Regarding the apparent porn industry in manga/anime as you said i cant in my mind even imagine someone sitting and jerking of watching cartoon porn, i mean wtf!?
 
Btw thanks for ALL replys guys, this thread growed huge in short time so its a little overwhelming :)

But first two movies that seems interesting esp one
is "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" with many has recommend.
Then i thin i just for the sake of it watch "Ghost in the shell-innocent"(same english voices as the first?), hope i got the names right now.

Too summarize my anime virginity ive seen in order and small judgement
1. Grave of the fireflies /strong 4 of 5=Liked the attention to the details ie material things with emotional connections and because it was realistic. War is terrible esp for kids losing their parents. Had it all.
2.Spirited Away /3 out of 5=good magical/fairytail story
3. Ghost in the Shell /4 out of 5= I liked this one very much, dont think it had anything to do with it being english voice cause i like the jp speech of expression. Great music also, there was some theme in there that was great.
4.Akira /3 or 4 out of 5= Liked everything about it, was really nothing i can think of that i didnt like. Maybe little to long but could be i was tired before starting watching it also. But "too much of science fiction compared to GITS" for my taste.

So thats the Summary so far guys!
 
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