Anime: Whatcha watching?

[the_matrix_guy]

Any good anime recommendations? Now that Crunchyroll Absorbed Funimation I was thinking of getting the service. Keep in mind I’m not a huge anime guy, not like some guys I know anyway — that know hundreds upons hundreds of titles. I’m an 80’s and 90’s child so I like the Toei classics, namely: Dragon Ball/DBZ, Berserk, Ghost in the Shell, Saint Seiya, One Piece, Hunter X Hunter (original), Captain Tsubasa, Death Note, & Cowboy Bebop, etc. Not that into mecha or ninjas, although I do appreciate and see why animes like Naruto and Bleach were also worldwide mega hits in the early 2000’s I was just never that into samurai or ninja animes for some reason. Same thing goes for Gundam and Eungelion. I can see the appeal but I was never into em personally. .

I have seen some of the newer animes that’ve gotten raving reviews like Goblin Slayer, Tokyo Ghoul, Attack On Titan, Food Wars, Kakegurui, Demon Slayer, Blue Exorcist, Black Clover and I thought they were all mediocre at best. And the last three are basically cookie cutter animes, they all follow the same formula basically and are awfully similar to each other. I’ve also seen Seven Deadly Sins, B The Beginning, A Jin, the Godzilla movies, and some of the fighting amines on Netflix which were all OK, I guess. Two modern animes that actually did catch me by surprise were Project K (power fantasy, clans) and the slice-of-life volleyball sports anime: Haikyu! —I found them both enjoyable. If you havent seen K yet, I recommend it. Goblin Slayer isnt half bad but no where near as good as Berserk in terms of sword & magic fantasy. And the Hunter X Hunter remake is pretty good, but otherwise everything newish I’ve seen from 2009 onward has been pretty lackluster, IMO

What are you guys watching? Any recommendations based on my highly complicated criteria? Rofl 😂

Source: https://www.gameinformer.com/gamer-c...moving-forward

[Tarsun2]

i wasnt really into manga stuff until i watched DoroHeDoro(?). INSANITY.
and most recently Attack on Titan. HOOKED.

dont know if thats the stuff your looking for or not.

[Jonnydread]

I'm slowly working my way through AOT and I'm really enjoying it.

[the_matrix_guy]

I did see DoroHeDoro, actually. I thought it was good but at the same time unremarkable. I say this because after seeing it a year+ ago I cant recall much of anything lol 😂

I mean I have good memory but if it doesnt make an impression on me then I probably wont remember much of it. I guess I could rewatch it 🤔

AOT to me is a mystery. I still don’t understand how or why its so popular. I hate almost everything about it

[glaman5266]

I'm iffy on AoT. On one hand there's a compelling plot that runs deeper than what is even hinted at in the first couple seasons. On the other, the character actions & reactions kinda turn me off & the CGI isn't done very well IMO.

It hooked me for a while, but I stalled on it after season 3. S4 does nothing for me, and I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

[Brandon]

AOT, Jujutsu Kaisen, Sabikui Bisco, Demon Slayer, My Hero and a couple others. I've been reading a lot of manga though, currently Tokyo Manji (Tokyo Revengers).

Naruto was the anime that got me hooked in deep, lots of filler episodes.

I cant stand Crunchyroll I have a subscription until the end of the year but I find my self using Zoro.to or WCOstream.com a lot more

[SignOfZeta]

I think the newest things I have are Hathaway’s Flash Part 1 (JP BR, excellent) and Future Boy Conan (US BR, beyond excellent).

I more or less lost interest in new anime after it went digital but there are some 21st Century things I like, Mazinger Impact (2009) and the Gundam OVAs of the last decade or so, Unicorn and Origin, all great. However the majority of the industry has been eating its own tail since the mid 90s. It’s %99 ota trash by ota trash for ota trash now. I have an extensive collection of the classics on Laserdisc, Macross, Dirty Pair, Rascal, Giant Robo, Famous Detective Holmes, Tezuka, Ghibli, etc that I never get sick of. Last year I finally got a copy of To-y (1987) which I’ve wanted for decades but couldn’t find a seller.

[the_matrix_guy]

Thanks for the recommendations. Whats “ota” — otaku? You must have an impressive physical collection

[SignOfZeta]

“Ota” is the short form of otaku, usable as an adjective. Ex: “What is that ota stink?”

[glaman5266]

I'm currently in season 3 of Overlord. Losing some steam IMO.

Next I might watch the final season of Fruits Basket (the newer one). I'm not typically into slice-of-life stuff, but this one is good.

Any good anime recommendations? Now that Crunchyroll Absorbed Funimation

This is news to me, and I have a Funimation sub. Am I blind or was this done quietly? My premium is going to go up then, if I want new titles, since I was grandfathered in before Funimation's last premium increase. I also wonder how this will impact English dubbing going forward.

As for suggestions, the_matrix_guy , you said you weren't into Gundam. Iron-Blooded Orphans is a newer Gundam title with a much different feel to it. The combat is more physical & visceral, feeling almost medieval at times. There's some space combat, but much more hand-to-hand. Definitely more on the mature end of the Gundam franchise.

I am a fan of late 90's/early 2000's anime. One of my favorite titles is Bubblegum Crisis. Basically girls in power suits stopping a bio-Skynet type of thing. Not a particularly excellent title, but it checks all my boxes and is one of my favorites.

Possibly my favorite anime of all time is the Slayers trilogy (Slayers, Slayers Next, Slayers Try). I have the boxed collection & I can't even tell you how many times I've seen it. Basically a swords/magic RPG-style fantasy with a boatload of comedy & super memorable characters.

For newer stuff (meaning the last 10-12 years, lol) I like Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and Kill La Kill the best. FMA:B is basically the original manga in anime form. Sticks to the manga much more than the first FMA anime. It's like Lord of the Rings in that once you go to the LotR extended editions you don't go back. Not that the first FMA anime was bad (still good, actually), but once you go Brotherhood you don't really go back. Very good, and one of the few animes my wife really enjoyed.

Kill La Kill is an action-comedy series loaded with fan service, but not in a bad way. It actually makes sense given the context & setting of the series. I hardly even notice it TBH. It's like Star Wars- totally not real, but it's integration into the context/setting/story is damn near flawless. I was turned off by the art style at first, but after seeing a few episodes I saw that it worked very well in it's favor. My favorite title in the last 10 years. If you watch it consider watching it in Japanese. The Japanese VA is excellent IMO and the inflection and tones are much more fitting for the series than the English dub.

EDIT: One thing to add- I'm not into anime movies. I'm almost series-only. I like watching stuff over the longer term. Though, the one movie that I REALLY enjoyed was Metropolis, from Osamu Tezuka of Astro Boy fame. Basically, it's about sentient technology, internal politics & power struggles. The animation is great & it has the absolute most bangin' jazz soundtrack I've ever heard in an anime.

[Jonnydread]

I agree with your opinion on Fullmetal SO HARD

[the_matrix_guy]

Thanks for the recs. Looks like I have to check out FMA:B. I do remember catching the original anime on Adult Swim 10+ years ago but never hooked me. I will definitely check it out first then move my way through some of the other recommendations. It’s interesting that FMA: B is the superior version. It’s like the three Berserk OVAs which re-tell the original manga and original 1997 anime with greater accuracy plus the added bonus of modernized animation (without god awful cgi) which btw, I highly recommend to everyone if you havent seen it. I believe the three OVAs are still on Netflix and they are one of the few rare cases in which the remake is superior to the cult classic ‘97 anime in both animation and story.

[the_matrix_guy]

Also downloading Slayers, thanks

[Jonnydread]

I cut my teeth on Fullmetal Alchemist and will always love it to death, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. Brotherhood trumps the original.

I tend to like the more bizarre or unique shows. If you're into stuff that's a bit different here's a short list of ones I have enjoyed: Stein's Gate, Monster, Mushishi, Paranoia Agent, and Elfenlied

[the_matrix_guy]

Sweet, sounds like FMA: B is a must watch

[Jonnydread]

the_matrix_guy It absolutely is. It's a bit shonen-y, but has such a great story and characters that it just sticks with you. It resonated enough with me I got a half-sleeve tattoo of all sorts of FMA shit fully cementing my nerd level.

[lhamilton1807]

I’m waiting for RWBY volume 9 to come out. Vol1-8 are on YouTube or RoosterTeeth.com. Really enjoy the world building in this series.

[the_matrix_guy]

RWBY? 🤔 Have to look it up, no idea what that even stands for

[lhamilton1807]

Red White Black Yellow, or Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang. Either one. They’re the names of the main characters and correlate to colors somewhat. Worth a watch - it’s an American Anime that actually successfully exported to Japan.

[the_matrix_guy]

Another Netflix anime, or two actually, that I forgot to mention that I liked was Gokudols and The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. Both are hilarious. The main character in the latter is not very likeable, the sum is better than its parts though, it takes a satirical approach to anime, in a similar vein to One Punch Man. Overall very watchable

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

I found a great one recently. Its a Slice of life family comedy that takes place in texas.

[the_matrix_guy]

Rofl. KoH rocks

[GanonsGrin]

Seven Deadly Sins
Blue Exorcist
Magi
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
Gurren Lagann
Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (this one is short but phenomenal)
Trigun (if you want a classic)

[glaman5266]

I feel like Gargantia is very underrated. Very good show. I especially liked the art style.

[the_matrix_guy]

I’ll definitely have to check out Gargantia then, thanks

[the_matrix_guy]

I have seen Trigun, love it

[Headshotted]

The only answer to this should be Ghost Stories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM1OlSLO-sc

[Tarsun2]

i have fond memories of Samurai Jack when i was younger. i think that got me into the idea of it all.
never got into the pokemon or yugioh stuff
even dragon ball z i never got into.

i really enjoyed "love, death + robots" on netflix.

and then i came across dorohedoro and i was hooked.
ive head a lot of people talking about Attack on Titan and figured id give that a try and i was hooked, right off the bat.

im not a pure-ist with this stuff and the stuff i watch is probably like the California roll of sushi...

i also have fond memories of MTV oddities when i would sneak out of my room and watch them late at night. (ahh memories)
the Maxx was my favorite.

i remember being into the Spawn animated series as well.

as i got older, i got into futurama / disenchantment, Archer and Rick and Morty.

now im getting into this stuff.

on a side note, i tried Killer B(?) or B the beginning... but couldn't connect with it.

[the_matrix_guy]

I’m not sure if the Castlevania or The Witcher animated series on Netflix are considered anime or just adult cartoons given their american animation style — but theyre both really good. Especially Castlevania, it’s pretty dark, reminiscent of Berserk at times.

[glaman5266]

Castlevania is a rather gray area. At least with the folks on the anime forum I participate in. Castlevania is a co-op effort between both US & Japanese studios.
Doesn’t matter to me as long as it’s good.

[Jonnydread]

As a huge Symphony of the Night fan I enjoyed the shit out of the Castlevania anime

[Seajay]

I started watching shows here and there.

Finished BERSERK... that's a good one.

[the_matrix_guy]

Nice +1 did you watch the original 97 anime or the three Ova remake? Theres a new-ish one from 2017 but it’s pretty terrible compared to the original story (to the 97 original, and OVA remake both)

[Seajay]

I think it was the 97 version, was in subtitles and brutal.

[the_matrix_guy]

Sweet. If it was the og ‘97 anime, you should still give the three OVA’s a go. They’re on Netflix last time I checked. That is the ultimate, supreme Berserk experience now

[the_matrix_guy]

We saw the second Ghost In The Shell movie: Innocence (2004) from Studio Ghibli, highly recommend it. It does have some CGI especially towards the end that I think it could do without, but the movie is really good.

I also tried getting into two other animes that seem to be really popular, My Hero Academy and JoJo. I guess I’m just not into modern anime. My friend says there’s “a correct way” or order to watching JoJo and that I shouldn’t start with the first arc from the first generation of Joestars — so I started watching season 2 — and still, couldn’t get into it. 🤷♂️

[glaman5266]

Jojo is… something else. I started from the very beginning. I have no idea why your friend is saying to skip the first arc. It doesn’t play into the other seasons real well, but if anything it’s backstory. And Speedwagon is in it, so it should be watched anyway. There’s no “correct” way to watch Jojo IMO.

But I stalled on that in S4. Haven’t watched any of it in some time.

[the_matrix_guy]

Yeah, I tried. Just not for me lol