Anime Thread

[gunnar hendershow]

Ranking of Kings is just so great.

So, so, so, sooooo great

Pictured: Me watching Ranking of Kings

[Monkey D. Lars]

The latest Demon Slayer was another epic one. So beautifully animated.

[Ruki]

I think I got 3-4 episodes into Demon Slayer before I unfortunately fell off. But I am gonna pick it up again after my Bojack rewatch. I've fallen off the anime wagon the past year or two for some reason  

[Ruki]

I've just heard that there is a Summer Wars spiritual sequel called Belle?! Why did nobody tell me this?!

[gunnar hendershow]

It screened at Cannes and Hosoda got a really long standing ovation.

That is not of course any indicator of quality but the people I know who have seen Belle have said good things. I won't be seeing it in theaters though.

[Ruki]

On 12/01/2022 at 14:45, Ruki Returns said:

I've just heard that there is a Summer Wars spiritual sequel called Belle?! Why did nobody tell me this?!

40 minutes in, and it doesn't feel like Summer Wars at all outside of the massive online world. The animation is great, but the story is a bit meh to me thus far. 

[Monkey D. Lars]

The latest Demon Slayer episode just smashed it out of the park again. If they can keep this animation quality up. I can't wait for the rest.

[gunnar hendershow]

Oh no

 

[Ruki]

Rising of the Shield Hero season 2 is finally out (well the first episode). It has been almost 3 years!

[Ruki]

I tried to get into Demon Slayer a second time, about 5-6 episodes in each time... and I just stopped caring. Maybe I'll try getting back into MHA or Shield Hero.

 

But I've not really watched anything in 2 years, maybe I am over anime!? 😥

[Your Mom]

I was going to start my own thread for this but I just saw this one so I'll go here. I would like to get into Anime. Is there a good place to start? Like what is a classic that everyone loves? Or maybe a really good recent one that is accessible for the "casual fan"

[Ruki]

Classics that everyone loves: Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (two brothers going on an adventure trying to get the body back for one of the brothers due to an alchemy mishap) or Cowboy Bebop (bounty hunters... in space!!!) are the first two that come to mind. Bebop is also much shorter, I think only 20-25 episodes + a movie?

Recent ones that everyone loves: Attack on Titan (giants attack a walled in city, and the main character enlists in the army to help. Gory) and My Hero Academia (everyone in the world, except a few, have super powers... let's see how one of the powerless becomes powerful!)

[gunnar hendershow]

FMA: Brotherhood always comes in high on lists for a first anime to check out. So does the previous adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist done in 2003, but that's not legally available anywhere anymore. Cowboy Bebop helped create a generation of anime fans, in a similar vein to Bebop there's also Trigun. A smaller hit than Bebop it too helped create a generation of fans thanks to its run on Adult Swim 20 years ago.

There are of course other staples that are often looked at as more accessible like Sailor Moon, the Ghost in Shell franchise, and of course everything Dragon Ball.

But it's a pretty vast medium. You might enjoy one type of anime but not another. Best advice I always give is to sample a few very different kinds of shows and see if any click. You might love a rom-com like Toradora but hate an action series like Attack on Titan.

[Ruki]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLpPr2m5/

 

This person agreed with me!

[Your Mom]

I just watched the first 2 episodes of Bebop. The first one made me a little sad so I wasn't sure if it was for me but the second one introduced the dog!  I hope he sticks around

[JasonM]

19 hours ago, Your Mom said:

I was going to start my own thread for this but I just saw this one so I'll go here. I would like to get into Anime. Is there a good place to start? Like what is a classic that everyone loves? Or maybe a really good recent one that is accessible for the "casual fan"

Since Dam and Ruki already suggested quite a few good ones. I second what they have already suggested, especially Fullmetal Brotherhood and Ghost in the Shell.

Here's a few more modern options:
Psycho-Pass - Heavily inspired by Minority Report (among other Cyberpunk-dystopic classics), it's set in a future where predictive policing will enforce you for being a potential criminal. Compared to most mainstream anime, this one deals with much darker subjects and is made for an adult demographic. My personal favourite from the past decade.
MEGALOBOX - A love-letter to Ashita no Joe (legendary Boxing anime), it's a modern classic that is very simple in premise yet also manages to build strong emotions. A nobody tries to become a boxing champion.
One Punch Man - A straight faced parody of the entire superhero/fighting genre of anime. The protagonist has become so powerful that he can beat anybody with a singular punch, and is now depressed because he can't find a challenge anymore. It's goofy, it's ridiculous, it pokes fun at most fighting anime tropes without becoming a parody of itself.
Haikyu!! - Sports anime is not for everybody, so it's a definite 'maybe', but it's among the best ones that have been made. This Volleyball story is amazingly feel-good yet also tense and exciting. This is also a sports anime without insane power ups or superpowers.
If Volleyball isn't your thing. There's Ace of Diamond for Baseball (also grounded in style). Or Giant Killing for Footie (or Inazuma Eleven/Captain Tsubasa if you don't mind football without physics). And Kuroko's Basketball for... Well Basketball (has physics defying shenanigans)

Advanced viewing: (Watch these when you're ready for high concept or just general craziness)
Akira - The legendary 80s anime film. It's a brilliantly made anime, but it's also very VERY up there in terms of high concept. But this anime basically sold the world on the idea that anime can be high production and philosophical. But by god, I watched it multiple times and still don't understand half of what happened.
Neon Genesis Evangelion - Some call it brilliant, some call it overrated. I firmly lean towards the latter, but it's one of those classics that people should watch to get an opinion of. But it should not be something you watch until you watched a good few animes. It's a confusing mess of philosophy, but it's one of those "Everyone has to at least seen it once" types of messes.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - In many ways a bit like marmite of anime. It's utterly insane and off-the-wall, it makes little sense even in context, but it unabashedly goes all in. The first nine episodes are a good indicator whether or not you'll like this, it just gets crazier from that point onwards. (Definitely not something to start with!)

[stokeriño]

Who knew that anime series that I enjoyed 15 years ago are still as unavailable/expensive on DVD (and often only Region 1, if at all), and all that's changed is my own willingness to watch the kind of downloads I originally enjoyed them as in the first place.

Suffice to say, I have played myself.

(Current series that I'm thinking of are School Rumble and Mai-Otome, but no doubt there are others.)

[JasonM]

I have started watching Spy x Family, only heard of it yesterday. And my lord, it's so wholesome, it's so fun. Within the first ten minutes the anime had me completely hooked.

This is probably gonna be the Romcom gateway drug for years to come.

[Your Mom]

@Daddy Magic JasonMI actually saw Akira like maybe 10 years ago and I knew it looked cool but had no idea what was going on. Turned me off of Anime for a really long time. I bet it's good though. I will give it another watch after I've eased myself into this whole world a little more  

Also I'm guessing by the reaction at the time that the Scarjo movie is no indication of Ghost in the Shell's actual quality because that was pretty rough

[JasonM]

19 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

@Daddy Magic JasonMI actually saw Akira like maybe 10 years ago and I knew it looked cool but had no idea what was going on. Turned me off of Anime for a really long time. I bet it's good though. I will give it another watch after I've eased myself into this whole world a little more  

Also I'm guessing by the reaction at the time that the Scarjo movie is no indication of Ghost in the Shell's actual quality because that was pretty rough

We don't speak of that film.

I'd also add that the original Ghost in the Shell is also (imo) something to watch when you've watched a few other things. But that film is absolutely brilliant, as is the sequel anime Stand Alone Complex.