The Animation Appreciation Thread

[CiG]

I wish Jin-Roh had more acclaim though. It's one of the best works of alternate history/science fiction I've seen and the fact that it isn't talked about more is disappointing, to say the least.

Well said!

Maybe tomorrow, I'll show how big of a nerd I am and take pictures of my anime collection. But I have a lot mentioned on Cassette's list two posts above me.

I just recently finished Steins;Gate and absolutely loved it. Apparently it was originally a video game, which is interesting because the story does make sense for it to be a video game too. I'm actually looking for a new series to start. I'm going to watch the OVAs of Steins;Gate, but I need another series. Also, I 'm very much forgiving of anime's sometimes weird storytelling. The ultra cute/childlike characters that simply don't exist in real life and then you'll have this supreme idealist who's super brave and wants to save the world. Like anime archetypes is totally a thing, and I'm not sure if it seems outlandish to us because culturally we're different or what.

Clearly I need to check out Steins;Gate. It seems pretty much universally praised.

Since you're only now watching Death Note I'll assume nothing is too obvious;

JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE
Kaiji (recommended this before. Gambling anime, very intense)
Shinsekai Yori (sci-fi fantasy romance horror coming-of-age dystopia mystery ww2 allegory philosophical treatise best thing ever)
Shiki (slow-burning horror story, like an anime adaptation of Salem's Lot if that means anything to you)
Attack on Titan (overhyped but pretty damn watchable, hyperdramatic action spectacle with lots of crazy plot twists)
One Outs (like Death Note if Death Note was a baseball anime. also involves gambling)
Akagi (completes the holy trinity of gambling anime with Kaiji and One Outs, hard to follow unless you know the rules of mahjong though)
Erased (29-year-old man sends his consciousness back in time to his childhood to prevent a classmate from being murdered. Very sentimental drama with strong themes of friendship, I liked this a lot and it's one of the most acclaimed anime of the last couple years for good reason)

Can elaborate further on any of these if you wish.

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is definitely one I've been recommended a billion times so I should probably get on that. Only thing is, over here it seems weirdly overpriced even for anime.

Kaiji is on my list, it's seemingly hard to find over here. Attack on Titan I actually have already seen, own on DVD etc. Pretty proud of myself for at least having seen that considering how modern it is.

The rest I'll write down and keep an eye out for, I regularly check a few websites as well as Ebay for cheap anime, deals etc.

What is it with you and gambling anyway? Coincidence?

@CASSETTEISGOD

It isn't specifically recommended based on those shows (actually really not at all), but two shows I really think you should check out are Sakamichi no Apollon (English title is Kids on the Slope) and Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica.

Something tells me you'd get enjoyment out of them in some fashion.

Thanks for these too man, by complete luck Puella Magi Madoka Magica is actually on sale down at my local JB Hifi store so I know what my inevitable gift-card Christmas presents from my vanilla ass family will be going towards.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the same as Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica right? Just a different title or something.

Kids on the Slope is actually one I've known and been kinda flirting with buying for awhile now, that's also at the same local store except it's full price right now. What makes you think these two modern anime shows will be for me btw?

 

[Vegard Pompey]

What is it with you and gambling anyway? Coincidence?

Coincidence, it just so happens that those three gambling anime I mentioned are all very good. It is an interesting subject matter though.

I still reminisce from time to time about how amazing Death Note is (and decided recently to bump it up to a 10/10 on my criticker profile) and it frustrates me how even though it aired over a decade ago, and was massively successful, there's still basically nothing like it. I mean in terms of tone and narrative style. It's so damn hard to find good anime thrillers. The closest things I can think of, I suppose, are:

• Monster, which has a similar tone and gravitas, but story-wise it's nothing like it and far too meandering (deliberately) to keep you on the edge of your seat like Death Note does. Should've maybe included this in my list of recommendations but I don't remember it all that well. It's also older than Death Note by a couple years so idk if it counts as "recent".
• Kaiji, which has a similar intensity sometimes and a soundtrack by the same composer which helps, but the mind games are a lot more rudimentary and nowhere near as gripping. Even though Kaiji is literally about games DN feels much more game-oriented. Kaiji is more about the emotional state of the main character than the games themselves.
• Code Geass, which borrows liberally from Death Note, and from Legend of Galactic Heroes, and from mecha anime, and from high school romance comedy, and from every other anime genre under the sun in a scatterbrained attempt to appeal to literally every demographic at the same time. It's pretty goofy and dumb and nothing at all like Death Note tonally. Fun though.

 

[Mort Divine]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the same as Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica right? Just a different title or something.

Kids on the Slope is actually one I've known and been kinda flirting with buying for awhile now, that's also at the same local store except it's full price right now. What makes you think these two modern anime shows will be for me btw?

Yep, same show just different name.

With Madoka without giving too much away, it takes everything about the magical girl genre and turns it on its head. The characters are well written and feel much more real than the one dimensional tropes you usually get with something like the Precure franchise. The despair the characters go through feels very much real.

With Kids on the Slope, I'm not 100% sure. Maybe its because it was done by Watanabe - same guy behind Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. Its a really cool show that puts jazz front and center in just about everything in the show. It also portrays the friendship of the two male lead characters really well too despite them being opposite types of people.

EDIT:

And yeah, Steins;Gate is amazing.

 

[no country for old wainds]

"Fun fact: I received actual death threats for negatively reviewing Steins;Gate on MAL. That was how I learned that the anime fandom largely sucks, which is the only way I can explain the acclaim for this shit." - @Vegard Pompey, 2016

 

[Manic Ferocity]

I’m not really picky about anime being dubbed. I can’t stand it in live action films though.

Also, Brian Drummond (voice of Vegeta in the DBZ Ocean dub) voices Ryuk. Worth watching the dub just for that.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

"Fun fact: I received actual death threats for negatively reviewing Steins;Gate on MAL. That was how I learned that the anime fandom largely sucks, which is the only way I can explain the acclaim for this shit." - @Vegard Pompey, 2016

I did in fact write a negative review of Steins;Gate and I did in fact receive death threats for it. Here's one of the comments the MAL staff didn't see fit to remove:



This was five years ago, and it wasn't a very good review, but I stand by my dislike of the series. To me it's emblematic of what's wrong with modern anime; it's the sort of thing I just can't see how it has any applicability to anyone who lives in the real world. It's literally about a goofball science fetishist and a harem of quirky teenage girls accidentally creating a time machine by experimenting on a microwave oven. And while that setup's inoffensive enough while it is a comedy, it really falls apart when it tries to play it as a thriller. As far as I'm concerned it's the exact sort of thing Miyazaki talks about when he complains about the degeneracy of anime because the anime industry today is full of otaku that don't understand real people.

Maybe I'm being overly harsh. It was five years ago since I saw the show and maybe it has strengths I'm overlooking. Clearly I'm missing something since everyone loves it.

 

[Mort Divine]

You're very likely missing something because it is far from the degenerate harem nonsense that plagues anime.

Sure, it's roots as a VN show in that there are different arcs for different characters, but they're rarely to show potential romantic interest with Okabe. They all build the world and the characters and do progress the plot as a whole (especially the Shiina related plot elements.)

It isn't shallow "best girl" nonsense at all. Each character in the show stands on their own and not simply to prop up Okabe.

I am certain it is the type of show Miyazaki would praise.

What applicability to real life do shows like JoJo or DBZ or any other battle shounen have?

 

[CiG]

DBZ is like a giant "bootstraps" analogy.

 

[Mort Divine]

Which has no application in real life ldo

 

[CiG]

I think tales of struggle, achievement through hardship and friendship are always applicable to real life. What seems to have happened is anime has taken the path of the Master Roshi filler stuff rather than the lessons of Goku's story.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Can't speak for DBZ because I haven't seen much of it but I do consider Jojo to be unutterably profound. That series has the most elemental stories of camaraderie and good/evil conflict I've ever seen.

 

[Mort Divine]

I think tales of struggle, achievement through hardship and friendship are always applicable to real life. What seems to have happened is anime has taken the path of the Master Roshi filler stuff rather than the lessons of Goku's story.

I'd say Steins;Gate is much more of the former than the latter.

 

[CiG]

I don't mind if an anime is utterly frivolous and disconnected from real life. There is more to appreciate about anime beyond its potential underlying philosophy.

 

[Manic Ferocity]

DB/DBZ is mostly nostalgia for me. I only really like DBZ up through the Frieza Saga and I think that was when it was originally supposed to end.

 

[CiG]

Dragon Ball I genuinely love it's so fun.
DBZ is more a nostalgia thing for me, though I plan to put that to the test soon by buying the box set. I haven't seen it in probably a decade at this point.

 

[CiG]

Ryan Reynolds lands starring role of Detective Pikachu for upcoming movie.

Wtf.

 

[CiG]

I was really enjoying Death Note with little complaint until disc 5 where, aside from the new crappy opening theme, the show seems to have incorporated that thing when the standard animation style randomly and suddenly becomes goofy and distorted which is something currently saturating modern anime and one of the main things I don't really like. This Misa character is fucked, hopefully it doesn't get any more prominent than this.

From:



To:



I probably sound like a complaining nitpicking douche but it just really takes me out of the world and atmosphere the show has created.

 

[Krow]

Dragon Ball I genuinely love it's so fun.
DBZ is more a nostalgia thing for me, though I plan to put that to the test soon by buying the box set. I haven't seen it in probably a decade at this point.

I haven’t watched DBZ for a long time myself. I’m 120 episodes deep into Super though and I’m having a lot of fun with it.

The show suffered from power creep really bad but to offset it they’ve kinda done away with power levels being all that important. I’m hoping the universe tournament has a bit of a happier ending than it looks like, a lot of cool characters erased from existence... Roshi casting away his own problems and becoming a certified bad ass in the tournament was really cool. Thought he was going to be a liability there.

 

[CiG]

Finished off Death Note.

First 16 episodes = 8/10.
The rest = roughly between 6 and 6.5/10.

The ending was okay I suppose, though I don't think it had the kind of emotional pay-off I wanted or felt as if I wanted, which was basically for Light to get completely fucking annihilated. The writers did a good job of creating a main character as a vessel for the audience's hatred.

Overall I'd give the whole show a weak 7/10.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

For me it's more like;

First 25 episodes = 10/10
The rest = 8/10
Overall = 10/10

I'm not going to argue that it's perfect even during the good parts, but the direction is so great I forgive any of the writing faults. Though I've seen the series something like three times and I don't remember a drop in animation quality though it clearly happened as evidenced by your gif above.