Ronin needs Anime

[Ronin Storm]

I watch quite a lot of anime. Probably not a shocking quantity, but still more than you'd expect; I tend to chew through a 25 episode series in two weeks if I like it. Unfortunately, I feel like I'm starting to struggle to find series that I feel inspired to watch. Perhaps I should start with the tried-and-failed list?

Anime That I Didn't Get On With

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

This comes highly rated but features the same basic premise as Death Note: guy acquires power to absolutely control others in some fashion, and everyone knows that absolute power corrupts... However, unlike Death Note, I made it one episode in and decided that I thought the main character was a cock before he started down whatever path he'd go down. Gave up. I'd actually like to sympathise with a major character in the first episode, please.


Darker Than Black

Sci-fi premise that some people have weird and devastating powers, but these powers come with a price tag. Follows one particular guy with these powers who ends up being sent on missions to take out the others. I liked the dark atmosphere, but it didn't really seem to be going anywhere and the powers just seemed to be an excuse to be weird. In the end, felt like the title said it all: trying to be ultra-cool, but lacking substance.


Fate/Stay Night

Modern fantasy setup with mages engaging in a sort of ritual battle for possession of a wish-fulfilling artifact. Novel concepts, mysterious setup, bit of good tension building up... but the main character is a mysogenistic git. Get this: he summons a legendary female knight who wields an invisible sword, wears magical armour, and is a veteran of countless battles (including, as it happens, a previous run of this very ritual battle) and she heals wounds magically. What does he do? Complain at her for fighting and not being very girl like. What a dick. Hated him so much, I dropped an otherwise promising series.


Guilty Crown

If you took some of the setting and premise of Code Geass, strapped it onto a world with some Darker Than Black sympathies, and had a slightly less annoying very of the main character from Fate/Stay Night then you might get Guilty Crown. Again, lots of things I should like, and indeed I made it probably 80% of the way through, but the main character became more and more dislikeable and eventually I couldn't stand to watch him any more. I kept trying to give him another episode to see that he was being a total dick... but he just got worse.


Fairy Tail

A fantasy story following a particularly powerful but erratic guild of wizards. The lead character has some affinity to a dragon having been brought up by one, and has a magical, blue, flying pet cat called Happy. Given that I enjoyed Naruto, I felt I ought to enjoy this, but after a dozen or so episodes it never really clicked. Never quite got on with the "hey, I'm using power X now" cut scenes; sure, they do the same thing in Naruto, but it blended better there. Just not sufficiently captivating, especially as I'd be digging in for over 150 episodes...


Mobile Suit Gundam Seed

I enjoyed Mobile Suit Gundam 00, pretty unreservedly. People seemed to rate Gundam Seed at that level, and the whole concept of multi-mode robots works okay with me when I don't really poke it hard. Unfortunately, between the wet pilot (who I could probably have given more time) and the screaming, whining girl who somehow isn't shot when they storm the bridge during a combat operation, I couldn't watch any more. It was the girl who did it in for me. One more episode of her whinging and screaming and I'd have happily throttled her through the screen.


Hunter X Hunter (2011)

Another in the vein of Naruto and Fairy Tail. In theory, I should like this. However, it just felt like it was meandering without any real purpose except for the main character to maybe one day find their father. In Naruto, at least, you were left with the "what the hell is this demon fox business?" through the first 20 or so episodes. Hunter X Hunter never offers that sort of question: it's just a climb to the top for the hell of it, it seems. Not enough to make me want to keep watching.


Gurren Lagann

A slightly odd premise in that humans are all living underground because the surface is over run by beastmen in giant robots with oversized heads. Yes, pretty odd, but surprisingly engaging thanks to the never ending optimism of one of the lead characters. This guy keeps the mood up and righteous despite the other lead male character being a weak, wet and whinging. Still, you think, maybe there's hope for that weaker kid yet...

Spoiler

and then they kill the optimistic guy and we're just left with the whining one, whining even more because his optimistic friend is dead... you bastards.

Anyway, that thing in the spoiler broke it for me.


Other also-rans include: D.Gray-man, Eureka Seven, The Future Diary, Mushi-Shi, One Piece, Planetes, Samurai 7, Witch Hunter Robin, Corpse Princess, Full Metal Panic, RahXephon, Shakugan no Shana, The Twelve Kingdoms, and Wolf's Rain.

... so yeah, that's just some of the series I've abandoned at various points, but all of them, in theory, had promise at the beginning. Now, a few that have worked.


Anime That I Liked

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Shocker, right, what with my avatar an' all? Cyperpunk setting, small but interesting cast, excellent action and animation, mysterious schemes, vying powers, etc. Occasionally up its own arse with the literary references, but all in all great.


Fate/Zero

A prequel to Fate/Stay Night and all the more superior for both focusing on adults not children, and not having that whining cock of a boy in. Pretty good, with some strong action and decent exposition. Not perfect, by a long shot, and a couple of things rankled here and there, but pretty good fun none-the-less.


Clannad

Long way out of my usual viewing, being a Japanese slice-of-life, school-life story. Some benign supernatural elements add a little spice and unexpected elements, but it was simply bright and engaging throughout. Very moe, but then I knew that going in, but decent characterisation helped balance the saccharin.


Ergo Proxy

More Cyberpunk / sci-fi following a sort of special investigator and her android partner as they investigate crimes and, as it turns out, the fabric of their society. Then it throws in some technology-come-magic as its main plot. It tries for a Bladerunner feel and only partly succeeds, but even through the story's weirder turns I was interested to see more and get to the heart of the question(s) the series asked of itself. Not a straight-forward win, but enjoyable.


Steins;gate

Unreservedly my favourite anime series. Ever. The male lead is bright and more than a little eccentric, but in a way that is engaging rather than just wacky. The female lead isn't wet and useless; more, she's pivotal and interesting. Sure, it has its moe elements, but they work (especially as it's set in modern day Japan). I don't even want to say anything more. If I could find a way of deleting this from my brain and just leaving myself a note saying "look, I know you don't understand, but stop everything and watch this now"... oh yes, I would.


And just to throw in some more obvious things I've watched and liked (some of which are ongoing): Afro Samurai, Bleach, Bunny Drop, Cowboy Bebop, Death Note, Denno Coil, Eden of the East, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Hellsing & Hellsing Ultimate, High School of the Dead, K-ON, Macross Frontier, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Naruto & Naruto Shippuden, Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai Champloo, Soul Eater, Sword Art Online


So that's quite some list.

So, I need help. I want to watch something engaging, where I don't hate the main character, but I can be quite flexible on theme (though if things blow up in it then that's always good). Heroic is ideal, even if not classically heroic (I'm thinking of you, Okabe Rintaro).

Suggestions?

 

[Ki!ler-Mk1]

Yes, its quite a list. I also like anime and have bought a few more than I have time to watch. Your mini descriptions are good, but it does sadden me that you didn't enjoy Darker than Black. I'll query you in person regarding some(Steins;gate, Fate/Zero), K-ON, Naruto) of the above anime I do not own that I am interested in though.

The wiki on Steins;gate states that it is preceded by Chaos;Head and succeeded by Robotics;Notes have you anything to add re those?

I have an extensive(400-450 cm long*) DVD** collection of Anime, and one sad fact of that is the hit and miss nature of anime, some bad some good, mostly good, I have only abandoned 3 anime series all for the same reason, Fan Service. Generally speaking I not enjoy the shows with more fan service/gravity defying bounce than GITS SAC1+2 - My tolerance is higher in comedies, but no serious action anime can be taken seriously with disproportionate FS for the genre.

Obviously you have not given a comprehensive list above, so I am sure you will have seen some of these shows I enjoyed below, some are just comedies wish subject matter not normally addressed in the west

In no particular order than I read them off the shelf and excluding(about half) yours mentioned above:
As I said they are a little hit and miss so i've left out many that I enjoyed but I do not know if you would like them, most of these have some kind of (not comedic) action.

Remembering what you said with Looper i've flagged the violent ones.

Claymore(V), Trinity Blood, Trigun, Last Exile, Shakugan no Shana, Elfen Lied(V), Freedom, Rin(V), Tokko, Escaflowne (still viewing), Gyver, Gunslinger girl, Love Hina, Evangelion(?), Sekirei, Queens Blade***.

Movies:
Vexille, Appleseed 1,2,3, Origin Spirits of the Past, Steamboy, Blue Gender,Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust

This is 24 of the best(as far as I recall there are some others I remember as being exellent but do not recall enough for a recommendation) off my shelf containing 75 anime shows/movies I own and about 15 I have seen on TV or downloaded/streamed before I had a DVD player/debit card. I also own in part or completely 10-20 shows I have not watched.

Unfortunately due to poor buying habits before I started college (ive watched two anime this year, both repeats, I think, trinity blood and something else), and made no progress on the 120+ hours I have stockpiled unwatched, non of the above.

*I was speculating building a dvd rack last year, I do not have a record on number of shows just how many cases there are.

**Yes you read correct, I do buy stuff.

***Best example I've seen of continuous anime nudity without going OTT (2 characters out of 10 made me cringe ^^)

I tried to be modest in terms of sticking to factual data, I do not even slightly believe quantity make me knowledgeable. Staying up to date with anime releases really sucks.

 

[Ronin Storm]

Thanks for that Mk1.

The wiki on Steins;gate states that it is preceded by Chaos;Head and succeeded by Robotics;Notes have you anything to add re those?

I think that you're looking at a wiki entry for Steins;gate the visual novel/game. I mean Steins;gate the series. In any case, I'm not aware of either and neither are likely to have any impact on Steins;gate itself.

Remembering what you said with Looper i've flagged the violent ones.

In anime I worry less, though it was the particular class of highly visual, sadistic mutilation that made me unhappy with that scene in Looper. Still, thanks for the heads-up!

Claymore(V), Trinity Blood, Trigun, Last Exile, Shakugan no Shana, Elfen Lied(V), Freedom, Rin(V), Tokko, Escaflowne (still viewing), Gyver, Gunslinger girl, Love Hina, Evangelion(?), Sekirei, Queens Blade***.

Particularly looking for series, so thanks for those. Think I'll find some possible plays in Trinity Blood, Last Exile and Freedom to start with.

Still happy for more suggestions. Always need more anime.

 

[Panda with issues...]

Did you check out that Paprika film I caught some of when I was in Scotland?

 

[Ronin Storm]

Did you check out that Paprika film I caught some of when I was in Scotland?

Yep. Very colourful, zany even. I liked it, but it didn't make my top ten.

 

[Ki!ler-Mk1]

Based on wikipedia, it says that Steins;Gate is chronologically after Chaos;Head, the article on that says it also has a anime series which was released first. Given you mentioned it's awesomeness, after a little research I wondered if there was more too it that you implied a lack of awareness of

It looks like they are same universe different storyline/characters. But i'll not read too deeply as I think I will try it.

I mistakenly listed Blue Gender as a movie, its a series Also, I think I will watch trigun again, i've reached that lovely point where I know its awesome, i remember the characters but the plot of the last 8 episodes escapes me.

I don't really understand why or how these are on youtube, but whatever.

[mod]Removed YouTube links. They're in the grey area that is fansubs. Erring on the side of caution. --RS[/mod]

 

[Ronin Storm]

Based on wikipedia, it says that Steins;Gate is chronologically after Chaos;Head, the article on that says it also has a anime series which was released first. Given you mentioned it's awesomeness, after a little research I wondered if there was more too it that you implied a lack of awareness of

It looks like they are same universe different storyline/characters. But i'll not read too deeply as I think I will try it.

Yeah, a quick scan of the ANN pages for them leads me to believe there's no fundamental link between them. Sharing the same universe in this case involves sharing modern day Japan.

That said, they sound interesting and as the latter two share storyboard and script writing people I'm thinking there's a good watch in there.

 

[Ki!ler-Mk1]

Fair enough not sure how they survived on youtube for 2 years anyway. I think i'll get higher quality from my dvds. Figured they'd give a taster of Trigun and Trinity Blood. Without spoiling them, they have similar main character origin storys (the trigun one is most original, but trinity blood's more spectacular), the animation is more recent in trinity blood and the fights are much higher quality, but trigun is significantly more humerus, and easier to get into from the first episode. I hope you enjoy them both.

That first episode does not really do trinity blood justice, but the trigun one says it all.


EDIT: Well I think I've figured out why the anime on you tube are tolerated, I just watched 10 minutes of episode 1 of something and then spent £18 on 12 episodes instead of watching episode 2

EDIT2: Bought the next 12 too.

 

[SwampFae]

A few I can recommend:

• AKIRA
• Elfen Lied (This one really hit home. Good story. Will admit to almost having shed a tear at one point.)
• Gunsmith Cats
• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
• Grave of the Fireflies (Gripping story. Very sad, but also makes you think.)

These are just off the top of my head.

 

[Ronin Storm]

Grave of the Fireflies (Gripping story. Very sad, but also makes you think.)

A friend of mine once compared Grave of the Fireflies to Kiko's Delivery Service. In Kiko's Delivery Service, she's running, it's important, she looks like she might slip, but you know everything's going to be okay. In Grave of the Fireflies, it's really not going to be okay... It's one of the very few Ghibli productions I've not seen yet. I'm saving it for a day when I'm feeling particularly hardy.

Akira didn't work for me, I think in part because I feel it represents anime so badly. It was one of the late 80's exports, along with things like Fist of the North Star, that you could easily access in the UK and it made anime out to be ultra violent, ultra gory, rape-friendly... I don't think I ever quite got over that sense that this wasn't what anime was really about. Y'know, in a big way I think I scapegoat it and yet I tolerate some of the same themes in other anime just fine, but I guess that's just how it is.

 

[SwampFae]

A friend of mine once compared Grave of the Fireflies to Kiko's Delivery Service. In Kiko's Delivery Service, she's running, it's important, she looks like she might slip, but you know everything's going to be okay. In Grave of the Fireflies, it's really not going to be okay... It's one of the very few Ghibli productions I've not seen yet. I'm saving it for a day when I'm feeling particularly hardy.

Aye, this one will definatly take a lot out of you when watching. I still remember all of the five times I've watched, just ending up at the end going: "damn.. That's harsh." Though wouldn't really compare it to Kiki's Delivery Service, tbh

Akira didn't work for me, I think in part because I feel it represents anime so badly. It was one of the late 80's exports, along with things like Fist of the North Star, that you could easily access in the UK and it made anime out to be ultra violent, ultra gory, rape-friendly... I don't think I ever quite got over that sense that this wasn't what anime was really about. Y'know, in a big way I think I scapegoat it and yet I tolerate some of the same themes in other anime just fine, but I guess that's just how it is.

The whole point of AKIRA however, was to push things a little further. Alas, they didn't manage to get the -full- story in. It ended up stupidly long as-is, so . They did manage to set some new standards with shading und such, though. Will however admit that it is a bit on the gory side. More than just a little, now that I think of it
Sadly, there were more than just a few animé in the same batch of exports that were far too much on some of these points, which kinda spoiled it und had people just starting to think most, if not all of them were like that. That sucks big time, imho. Fist of The North Star was a drama/action. Sure it had some aspects that people would not perhaps apreciate in a drawn manner. Though will admit that they had some very good ideas behind it all.

But I will say this: I have yet to see an animé (not counting certain...questionable genres within it here) that can show exactly what you just said, more than the Violence Jack films. Evil Town being the most noticable one. When I first began reading the mangas, I thought: "Well. Seen worse.". Watched the animated versions und thought afterwards "What...did I just watch? They really had to go THAT much into detail? What happened to the storyline?"

 

[Ki!ler-Mk1]

"What...did I just watch? They really had to go THAT much into detail? What happened to the storyline?"

I've felt the same way due to fan service on a few occasions, I hated Divergence Eve(stopped watching it in the end) for it, yet I really enjoyed Battle Vixens and Queen's Blade. But I think that is because when the FS is in an anime that is not an 18 they never go to full nudity so they overcompensate for the fact that they cant do that.

A few I can recommend:

Got The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in shrink waiting to be watched, and Elfen Lied is out of production here, and I loaned my DVD out and never got it back. Will give the others a look.


On the subject of Ghibli Ronin, I bet you just loved Howls Moving Castle? I watched on BBC 2 christmases ago, brilliant.

 

[Ronin Storm]

On the subject of Ghibli Ronin, I bet you just loved Howls Moving Castle? I watched on BBC 2 christmases ago, brilliant.

I enjoyed Howl's Moving Castle, but some of the others I enjoyed more.

Very top of my list is My Neighbour Totoro. A modern folk-lore story that makes me smile just thinking of it. Close behind is Whisper of the Heart, which is probably where I get to liking things like Clannad or K-ON. Found it really moving, bright, yet calm. Fairly shortly after that would be The Cat Returns (a sort of spiritual successor to Whisper), and then perhaps Spirited Away. But I've watched most of their stuff, including odd balls such as My Neighbours The Yamadas and Porco Rosso.

 

[Iron_fist]

After a quick skim through, I'd 2nd Last Exile and Steamboy, both fantastic Steampunky anime.

There are a few more I'd recommend, but i can't remember the names off hand, I'll try have a quick dig through some stuff later and see if I can find the other few I'm thinking of.

 

[Haven]

Just found out about Texhnolyze and will be giving it a look. There's a very favourable review here.

 

[Zooggy]

Hoy,

We had a TV channel that would recurringly fetch some anime series or other to show, and there are a few I quite liked, but I'll be damned if I can remember their names.

The one that does come to mind is Cowboy Bebop. Space opera setting about a duo of bounty hunters that get in all sorts of trouble. Quite enjoyable.

I'll pull my hair for some more, see if I can get you the names.

Cheers,
J.

Edit: +1 for Trigun, was one of the ones that ran here and I liked it as well.

 

[Ronin Storm]

So, a quick check back on how the ol' anime business is going...

Since last I posted, I have watched at least some of:

Trigun - this didn't catch me. I guess I just didn't get on with Vash. I suppose part of what I'm finding here is that I'm generally not enjoying anime that are more like cartoons than stories that happen to be animated. I don't think it was terrible or anything, but it didn't jive for me.

Trinity Blood - did better than Trigun (in that I made it past episode one) but I think broke down for the same reasons. There's more to like, here, but the theme wasn't catching me and I hadn't really attached to any of the characters. I might return to this later but it's on indefinite hold for now.

Chaos;head - enjoyably peculiar, heavily rooted in Japanese culture -- if you don't know what an eroge or doujinshi, or why people are referred to with the honorific "-tan" then you may have a few too many moments of confusion -- but not really on the same level as Steins;gate. Also, totally unrelated to Steins;gate, except from a certain skewed point of view. Lead male character is pretty wet and that bugs me some, but he just about held it together enough. All in all, pleased I watched it but not one of the greats.

Robotics;notes - same storyboard and writers as for Steins;gate and it really shows in the characterisation and dialogue. Again, though, unrelated to Steins;gate except with a nod to it (and to Chaos;head too) on an occasion for the fans who notice. Closer to Steins;gate level, though again not quite reaching it, but the cast are interesting (and sometimes very odd, but that's cool too) and the excuse for giant robots actually almost works (really, it does, as it riffs properly on Japanese culture again). I think I could recommend this, actually.

Accel World - watched just a couple of episodes of this and I may well come back to it. The lead male character (what, no, him again? ) is a bit wet, but understandably so and in a more agreeable sort of way. An almost Matrix-esque tilt to its heavily cyberspaced world is pretty interesting but just coming out of Robotics;notes didn't do this one any favours as Robotics;notes deals with technology in a less "see, it's magic" sort of way.

Blue Gender - didn't mention it for Trigun or Trinity Blood, but the lack of widescreen in older anime seems to do something odd to my brain and anime get downrated as a result. Still, I'm most of the way through Blue Gender's alien infested Earth despite me spending the first four or five episodes wishing the lead male character would stop whinging and just deal with it. He did recover from that initial wetness, though, and the story remained engaging, but now I'm getting towards the end I feel that the story's conclusion is semi-straight forward so they're needing to create their drama through odd role reversals and schisms and that's not working very well for me. I've maybe four episodes to go, so I'll battle through, but I think I may already have seen the best of this one.

A Certain Scientific Railgun - schoolgirls at a school for people with powers such as telekinesis or telepathy (ESPers), I think I was rightly dubious about it before trying but AnimeNewsNetwork rated it pretty well. I think I've given up on this one in one episode on the grounds that it tries to do what K-ON or Clannad does with schoolgirls, but with superpowers too, and then falls somewhere between the two tropes and succeeds at neither. Maybe it'd get better, but it lacks the charm of K-ON and Clannad, and has a sigh-worthy set of superpowers.

Claymore - just watched a couple of episodes while I was trying to recover from Blue Gender's early wetness and I'll probably return to it. We're back to the girls-with-powers thing again, but Claymore handles it moderately well and, thus far, seems to be steering clear of the terribly obvious monsters-overpowering-warrior-women trope (thank goodness). Suffice to say, a couple of episodes gave me enough strength to give Blue Gender another try, which is why I'm now most of the way through that one. I'll come back to Claymore a bit later.

So, yeah, plenty of anime.

I'll try to finish Blue Gender, despite my sense that I know how it's going to end. It's been interesting enough, if a bit rough around the edges.

After that, I think I'll try the series that Haven posted: Texhnolyze. I like the cyberpunk theme and while I'm now getting snobbish enough that blurb that tells me of powerful factions with cyberware in opposition and then somehow includes "oh, and then the guys you're supposed to sympathise with are these mysanthropes who also happen to have cyberware too, somehow" ... well, I'll give it a whirl on the belief that if it had handled that badly then it'd not have reviewed well.

For some reason, I'm saving Last Exile. It looks really good, but I'd like to know that I have at least one really good anime in reserve. There's some other potentially good stuff airing at the moment (e.g. Attack on Titan) but given the speed at which I watch I'd rather there was a good backlog before I start. Maybe once that's come along, I'll go for Last Exile.

There's a couple of movies for Eden of the East (which I've watched the series for) should also be seen as the story that doesn't really resolve in the series is apparently resolved in the films. They can be on my list, but that won't account for much watching time.

Others I might try include: Library War, Freedom, and probably back to Claymore again.

Still (always?) looking for more though.

 

[Ki!ler-Mk1]

I've got the DVDs for Texhnolyze, I got bored of it though

Really sad that Trigun didn't do it for you, but its one of those anime where if you dont like the individual episodes, the main arc or theme just takes too long to materialise, sometimes for this reason 13 episode anime seasons are better. I'd love to present an argument, but i'd rather not use spoilers to support it. Same for Trinity Blood, though, oddly i think if Trinity blood had the animation quality of Trigun, it might not stand up in the way that Trigun does - that is to say Trinity Blood's animation holds it up somewhat, something that should not really count unless it exceptional.


One of the major things i like about anime is the way they address or present issues that mainstream live action television shows either cannot* or will not** address.

*That includes limitation on animation budgets, eg appleseed/steamboy/vexile, where live action would be too expensive.

**Audience size and 18 stamps

 

[Zooggy]

Hey,

Some other shows I remember:

Excel Saga - I found this annoying in the extreme, but my wife says, once you get past the annoyance, there's a story there, and it's somewhat interesting

Outlaw Star - This one was alright. Space Opera thing, grand adventure and all that, and the characters are half-decent, if I remember correctly

Basilisk - I never actually saw any of this, but I think it's drawn from the same source material as the movie Ninja Scroll, which is my second favorite Anime film (right behind Ghost in the Shell)

Golden Boy - A slice of life show about a brilliant dude who drops out of university to go see the world on a bicycle and manages to pull beautiful girls left and right. Possibly just a tad on the NSFW side, but perfectly safe living room material.

Escaflowne - Mk1 already mentioned this one, so this is just a +1. Mecha and dragons in a fantasy world. Nuff said.

InuYasha - High fantasy and time travel about a modern day school girl and a white-haired half-demon in ages past. The story is ok, and I liked the characters.

I know there's others, but either you already listed them, like Samurai Champloo or Neon Genesis Evangelion, or they didn't leave a mark. There's also the stuff targeted at younger audiences, like Sailor Moon and Beyblade, which I gather are beyond the scope of your search.

It's been a number of years since I watched this stuff, btw, so I turned to http://www.absoluteanime.com/ for help with spellings and whatnots. I recommend the site. You may find some more stuff there...

Cheers,
J.

 

[Ki!ler-Mk1]

Avatar: the Last Airbender is good too. Though you can either watch "shows originally for children" or you cant.