Grave of the Fireflies...ANIME/MANGA

[Hanners]

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.

I just wanted to pick out and second both of these shows - It's pretty hard to find genuinely laugh out loud funny anime (Beyond slapstick kinda stuff) as a lot tends to get lost in the translation, but these two are real gems - Azumanga Daioh in particular can be absolutely hilarious. Jungle Wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu is a real classic too, although I haven't seen the 'Final' OVA yet.

Has anyone mentioned Full Metal Alchemist yet? I've been dipping in and out of it for ages now (I keep getting distracted by other shows), but it's really top-drawer stuff from every episode I've seen thus far.

 

[patsu]

Actually... I don't recommend Nausiccaa the anime. I highly recommend the manga/comics instead.

Full Metal Alchemist is interesting and funny. Just to be sure... is that the one about 2 brothers: 1 with a metal arm, and the other a hollow armor ?

 

[Hanners]

Full Metal Alchemist is interesting and funny. Just to be sure... is that the one about 2 brothers: 1 with a metal arm, and the other a hollow armor ?

Yep, that's the one.

 

[MfA]

As far as funny is concerned, Mahou Tsukai Tai had it's moments ... the funny of gay innuendo and the embarrased straight guy carries over well.

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

although I haven't seen the 'Final' OVA yet.

http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/310.html

 

[<nu>faust]

Haibane-Renmei : My wife's all time favorite anime series.This series is not logical in any way, shape or form but there is a beauty to this series they will evoke strong feelings and the music is soul-stirring(i bought the soundtrack for my wife). Many questions are raised and we receive only a few answers to them.From the team who also did Lain and Technolyze.

Series Experiment Lain: one of the most unique, well done, well thought out, interesting animes i have ever seen.The theories behind it all are very interesting but what drives this movie are the stunning visuals and stylistic story telling.

FLCL :FLCL is pure genius. It is by far the most experimental anime series ever produced.It's also absolutely insane and impossible to describe: robots popping out of people's heads, alien housekeepers with an obsession for curry, a medical building in the center of town that's shaped like a giant laundry iron and periodically spews out clouds of white steam across town...

Texhnolyze : Texhnolyze has the full artistic breadth and scope of film: a film meant for adults in terms of maturing plot line, a unique view of future society as well as excellent animation.

 

[cthellis42]

FLCL :FLCL is pure genius. It is by far the most experimental anime series ever produced.

Watched any of this? It and Excel Saga are amazing at delivering such out-of-nowhere, steam-of-consciousness, UTTER randomness and hilarity. (What else can you say about a series that kills its' creator in the first episode?)

Recommended++

 

[<nu>faust]

Watched any of this? It and Excel Saga are amazing at delivering such out-of-nowhere, steam-of-consciousness, UTTER randomness and hilarity. (What else can you say about a series that kills its' creator in the first episode?)

Recommended++

both them are added to my netflix queue, thanks for the suggestions!! .Plus reading your post made me realize that maybe i shouldn't have used the term "most experimental anime series ever produced" in my earler post reagrding flcl. I might have a relatively vast library of anime titles but still i'm far from being an expert or an "otaku" of japanese animation

 

[cthellis42]

Plus reading your post made me realize that maybe i shouldn't have used the term "most experimental anime series ever produced" in my earler post reagrding flcl.

It comes close. I rarely ever use definitives anyway, though, as I'm almost always proved wrong at some point.

FLCL is decidedly whack-job, however. Thankfully they kept it constrained in a short OVA, as I don't think they could have possibly extended that into a full series.

Acid trips only last so long.

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

FLCL is decidedly whack-job, however. Thankfully they kept it constrained in a short OVA, as I don't think they could have possibly extended that into a full series.

What I found even stranger with FLCL is that in spite of all that, so much of it makes perfect sense. I mean, the steam surrounding the city and the brother playing baseball in the US and Naota being all bored with the town and so on.

But Gainax in general does weird stuff or makes the normal thing in a weird way. Granted, there are exceptions like Mahoromatic, which is basically fanservice galore. But you look at FLCL, NGE, Ebichu, and KareKano... at the same time, that makes it memorable. There are people who loved Mahoro and KonoMini, but many tend to forget that they're Gainax productions.

 

[akira888]

Some not mentioned (or I missed them):

Boogiepop Phantom - a series of 13 vignettes that all (more or less) revolve around a common event. Less abstract than SE: Lain, to which the series is often compared.

Monster - a thriller about a doctor who's life falls apart after choosing to save the life of a little boy instead of the town mayor's.

SDF Macross - This is the series (actually one of three) that was brutally chopped into tiny little pieces to make the first third of "Robotech." Worth watching, even if you've seen RT.

 

[KBeee]

There is also a live action version of GOTF

 

[Hellbinder]

If you would like to see the best anime series ever imho . Go rent RahXephon. It is a total of 26 episodes and comes on i believe 6 DVD's. You can get them from Netflix for sure. Which is where i got them when i watched the series a little over a year ago.

This is a Fantastic series. Great deep story and characters. Totally drew me in and actually affected me. I could not get the thing out of my mind for days after watching each volume. The end of the series left me practically in a haze of thought for over a week. I cant really explain it. It is simply a great story.

 

[Squeak]

A lot of Gainax stuff is definitely worth checking out.
I would recommend starting with their earliest work, especially Gunbuster and a lot of the Nadia series (read reviews of the DVDs first though, as some of the series sees a sharp decline in quality because of production difficulties).

And again, as mentioned by the other posters almost anything by Studio Gibli.

Miyazakis earlier work, before SG, though technically simpler (but not shoddy in the slightest) is also of very very high quality. I can personally recommend Future Boy Conan as one of the most emotionally involving animated TV series I have ever seen.

Finally Osamu Tezukas (if you don’t know who he is, you really really need to read up on you manga and anime history!) Hi no Tori aka Phoenix has recently been animated with excellent results.
I’ve only seen three episodes but it seems like it really honors and captures the essence of the source.
I’m not sure it’s been released subbed on DVD yet, but it’s definitely worth seeking out a fan sub for this.