Anime / Japanese series

[simgin]

Thank you Slartie :)

[kexolino]

In hese last few days I watched two shorter series.

The first one is iDDOLM@STER Xenoglossia. In short, it's a mecha anime... but the mechs are piloted by teenage girls. Hence, I'm a little confused about the target audience of this one. It gets weird at times (teenage girl falling in love with a big-ass mech?), but then there are clones of little girls wielding battle axes. It was a fun watch.
iDOLM@STER is otherwise a video game series about Japanese pop idols, so that explains some things.



The other one was Hyouka. It is about a middle school dude, whose motto is "If I don't have to do it, I won't; If I have to do it, make it quick." (I can relate to that).
His sister asks him to join Classics Club in his school where they start solving different mysteries with 3 friends... It turns out that he has a talent for that sort of thing, yet he'd still rather just conserve his energy - but that changes over time, slowly but surely. It is IMO beautifully animated, good voice actors, great colors, good story, lovable characters. Not the intense type, but very much enjoyable. Highly recommended.



I'm really not good at summarizing these things (and I don't really want to that either), just want to share the titles and the basics, maybe it will interest someone. :) If you want to read good reviews, I suggest checking out myanimelist.net.

[Dr_Chroot]

Shall I set the scene? It is just after 4:00 pm in Wyoming and a lad is in his bedroom working on a Business Communication assignment. Of course, a soundtrack is needed. This is served by a quick

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~/Music/Anime_OST $ mpv *

Time wears on and his wonderful mother brings him a cup of coffee. But wait! The boy is in the bathroom! So of course she sets it on my desk next to my computer where I was reading and answering the study questions; but then ill fate struck. Somehow I put a random .webm from 4chan in music folder that began playing. Life is cruel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O8mAPlCNBE

I have Nisemonogatari (the second installment of the Monogatari series) to thank for this tragedy, although I was luckily able to chalk it up to a youtube-dl mistake. Name cleared, life goes on, and I still actually like Nisemonogatari. Of course, the fan service perhaps makes it less than SFW, but other than that it is a solid series. Wikipedia summarizes for me (am I allowed to do that?):

The Monogatari series revolves around Koyomi Araragi, a third-year high school student who is almost human again after briefly becoming a vampire. One day, a classmate of his, the reclusive Hitagi Senjōgahara, falls down the stairs into Koyomi's arms. He discovers that Hitagi weighs nothing, in defiance of physics. Despite being threatened by her to keep away, Koyomi offers his help and introduces her to Meme Oshino, a strange middle-aged man living in an abandoned building, who cured him of being a vampire. Once Koyomi helps solve Hitagi's problem, she agrees to become his friend.

Although I am not a big vampire fan (perhaps in definance of the goth/Twilight craze sweeping the local teens) this has actually kept my attention. I am watching it in airing order, which puts me in episode 3 of Nekomonogatari (Kuro). You could watch it in chronological order, but I don't think that was what the writer's original intent was.

[wuxmedia]

although I was luckily able to chalk it up to a youtube-dl mistake.

That doesn't wash when you're married, just a heads up...

[bones]

I've always had kind of a mellow interest in anime, but haven't really seen enough. I had both Ghost in the Shell and Akira on VHS tape until we purged VHS, and haven't really watched enough, otherwise. I will check out some recommendations here. Love Studio Ghibli, my favorite is Princess Mononoke.

Has anyone watched this yet? I have it on my Netflix queue, but haven't viewed yet:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3204392/

[GekkoP]

^ Good doc, if you are a Ghibli fan. :)

[kexolino]

Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (Parasite, Parasyte, etc)

This one I watched while not reading Tokyo Ghoul. Instead of babbling crap, here's an actually comprehensible summary:

Based on Iwaaki Hitoshi's science-fiction horror manga by the same name.

The 17-year-old Izumi Shinichi lives with his mother and father in a quiet neighborhood in Tokyo. One night, worm-like aliens called Parasytes invade Earth, taking over the brains of human hosts by entering through their ears or noses. One Parasyte attempts to crawl into Shinichi's ear while he sleeps, but fails since he is wearing headphones, and enters his body by burrowing into his arm instead, taking over his right hand and is named Migi.

Because Shinichi was able to prevent Migi from traveling further up into his brain, both beings retain their separate intellect and personality. As the duo encounter other Parasytes, they capitalize on their strange situation and gradually form a strong bond, working together to survive. This gives them an edge in battling other Parasytes, who frequently attack the pair upon realization that Shinichi's human brain is still intact. Shinichi feels compelled to fight other Parasytes, who devour humans as food, while enlisting Migi's help.

Again, highly recommended, probably one of those must watch animes. Haven't read the manga yet, but it should be equally good.

[rhowaldt]

hahaha wtf

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One Parasyte attempts to crawl into Shinichi's ear while he sleeps, but fails since he is wearing headphones, and enters his body by burrowing into his arm instead, taking over his right hand and is named Migi.

that sounds fucking awesome! will the Parasyte, being in his right arm and all, jerk him off against his will though? ;)

[kexolino]

^ No, but it will grab a boob :D

[Dr_Chroot]

^ this will be an interesting watch :D

[rwbx]

You might wanna also check out Steins;Gate , Ergo proxy , Psycho Pass , Zankyou no Terror, Claymore, FLCL , Devil's a part-timer, Baccano!! , Gurren Langaan.......

[Dr_Chroot]

A friend (who was mortified I hadn't watched any mecha yet) introduced me to the Gundam universe... liking it so far. He started me on some Gundam Wing episodes; very different than what I have been watching lately but enjoyable nonetheless! I decided to personally start with Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 as it looks like the beginning of the franchise.

[ivanovnegro]

This is absolutely new territory for me.
I started with my first ever Japanese anime, Attack on Titan. I watched four episodes for now. No idea what I am getting into and what to expect. I was not very impressed but it is still too early to judge. My better half is crazy about Japanese animes.

[gutterslob]

^ Its just a kids show with some blood and gore thrown in. I dropped it after about 4 or 5 eps. The thing that put me off the most was protagonist. Probably the most irritating doofus since that Evangelion idiot.

[rhowaldt]

do the Studio Ghibli films count? i like those :)

[franksinistra]

^ I remember Grave of The Fireflies and hmmmm what's the name of that movie where the protagonist's parents transformed into hogs? those are great movies.

[ivanovnegro]

^ Its just a kids show with some blood and gore thrown in. I dropped it after about 4 or 5 eps. The thing that put me off the most was protagonist. Probably the most irritating doofus since that Evangelion idiot.

Thanks for the info. I already thought wtf because some friends that are not into animes or even TV shows found it great.
Yeah, the main character is irritating and the awful music at the beginning.

[gutterslob]

^ I remember Grave of The Fireflies and hmmmm what's the name of that movie where the protagonist's parents transformed into hogs? those are great movies.

Spirited Away.

Yeah, Ivan should catch those two for sure, though Grave of the Fireflies can be brutal on your heart. If there's one flick that would sit at the very top of my "loved it but will never watch it again" list, it's that one. Spirited Away is probably my favourite Studio Ghibli work, along with Ocean Waves. Just do yourself a favour and watch them both in Japanese with subs.

On topic;
If Ivan's the same Ivan I know, the I gather you'll prefer more weird/mature stuff. Try searching from Kemonozume. Youtube should have some really bad quality versions. If you like what you've sampled, then try searching for torrents. It was never licensed outside Japan anyway, so some place like http://www.nyaa.eu is probably your best best for higher quality subbed versions.

[GekkoP]

I'd say pick anything did by Satoshi Kon.

[gutterslob]

^ Christmas is coming, so I suppose Tokyo Godfathers would be good. The thread title mentions series though, which is why, past the Grave of the Fireflies and Spirited Away mentions which I was just following up on from the preceding post by franky, I stuck to TV series type stuff.