Any anime fans?

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Something from 2004 does not quite show what is happening here in 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0XssHL6ka4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAAnUqhKWZI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwNI0mwXI8g

I was a huge fan of Beast Wars here in the States and fortunately Japanese were too so much so that they did their own spin off never released here in the US. I spent 600 dollars buying and shipping the entire season of Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo on VHS because they haven't created DVD copies (at the time when I bought them). However NOW they just made a DVD box set of Beast Wars II (still expensive as hell) and they probably are going to make a DVD box set of Beast Wars Neo as well in the future. Now if they could only make a DVD box set of the TMNT Original with Japanese dubs!

Absolutely true lol. I didn't realise it was that old, and I've been away from new anime for a while. However I wasn't saying all of it is like that. Was just making a point about them cutting corners wherever possible. And while yes that clip was an old one, it wasn't exactly caused by any technical limitation... they were literally just cutting corners -> that's all there is to it.

Nonetheless, your clips demonstrate the same thing. The beach at 0:12 in vividred for example, birds-eye view of a beach, the only animation being the waves on a gentle loop while an ant-size character walks over to a 'still' character on the other side of the beach. They have indeed put a little bit more effort into animating the hair and clothes flapping away in the breeze but this is just an illusion. The characters are still standing there near-motionless with their mouths opening and closing O -> | -> O -> | (etc. lol)

Though on the other hand it's still an improvement - and they certainly redeem themselves during fight scenes. I can't deny it.

The irony that the clip was not even a proper fight from the series, as it really is a mix of magical girl with mecha elements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj8TkuTReXQ What I really like is how they took the effort to make sure that there was always things moving even if characters were in place just taking everything in.

Although cutting corners in anime does happen in current anime, I am especially frustrated with a current anime called Attack on Titan, which while it has been good, it has had an increasing amount of still frames, diversion shots (cutting away to the environment when people are talking), this is despite some of theirs being amazing. Word is that they are heavily understaffed. I still refuse to watch the Evangelion TV series as I get frustrated at the amount of still shots in the trailer, I rewatched the remake first movie yesterday, and I still got annoyed at the amount lazy like scenes that felt like unnecessary homages to the original.

And to go off a post I wrote a while ago, I did watch the first episode of WataMote, and the main character, Kuroki Tomoko, is so lovably awkward, I can really relate with her social issues. She is kind of like last season's Hikigya Hachiman. Can't wait for more.

I agree regarding Attack on Titan - yes, the word is that they're trying to recruit as many new animators as possible. I'm wondering if they're planning on a mid-series hiatus Magi-style if the issue can't be addressed...?

And yes, Evangelion did go through a significant amount of budget restraints as the series went on - it also didn't help that Anno himself ended up too depressed to finish the project he started. The Rebuild series seems to overcompensate for this (including the infamous Asuka and Rei in a lift scene).

Still, whatever works for people.

I've been a fan of anime ever since I was around 7 or 8 years old. Although I'm not nearly as obsessive about it as I once was, I still enjoy it and keep an eye out for new ones that might catch my eye. I tend to gravitate towards series that are big on horror and psychological drama, like Evangelion, Madoka Magica, Black Rock Shooter, Steins;Gate, Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, and Elfen Lied. In fact, I actually feel cheated if a series doesn't deliver on big-time drama bombs, like Blue Exorcist, which started out promising but became more typically shonen as the episodes progressed, rather than becoming increasingly horrific/dramatic like the other series I listed. Can anyone else recommend series like the ones I listed? I've heard of Mohiro Kitoh's stuff (Bokurano and NaruTaru) as well as Kaiji. I've seen the first couple of episodes of each of them and plan to finish them one day.

Big drama events are great. I might ask if you have seen Kokoro Connect, It is not world ending drama, but great drama no one the less, one of my favourites in that regard.

And liking what was done in Madoka, I can recommend other original shows that the writer, Gen Urobuchi. There is Psycho-Pass, that is a sci-fi cop show. And Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, which is kind of dvanced military society mecha fighter meets post apocalypse society.

I think I have seen like 1 episode of Kokoro Connect and 2 episodes of Psycho-Pass. I guess after being disappointed with Blue Exorcist, and not hearing any hype about Kokoro or Psycho-Pass, I passed judgment on them too quickly by not giving enough time for the real drama to kick in. I will have to rectify that by giving them another shot.

I have also seen like the first 2 episodes of Mirai Nikki (AKA the anime where the infamous "yandere face" meme came from). It started out really good (though not perfect) and I am wondering if it's worth it to watch the whole thing. Same thing with Attack on Titan (which I have only seen like half of the first episode of).

I love anime but I am definitely picky about it. I love the Hayao Miyazaki films. I don't much care for anything dealing with robots or martial arts, etc. I love stuff dealing with yaoi/yuri, I even enjoy hentai. I would read more manga if I could afford it but with my other interests, its definitely a very pricey hobby on its own. I have a lot of anime stashed away on one of my external hard drives. My 2 fave series is Ah! My Goddess (OVA) and Kimagure Orange Road (OVA).

I prefer subs but if I can't find a sub, I will take dub. Same with my asian horror or foreign cinema. I prefer subs, all the way!

I'd be extremely careful when judging Pscyho-Pass - the first episode does not denote how the rest of the series goes; it's far more of a thinking man's anime than the "lure-them-in-with-violence" angle the first episode goes for. Maybe that's why Psycho-Pass didn't get as much hype as Deadman Wonderland and Future Diary; the gratuitousness isn't maintained through the series? I speak not as a fan of Pscyho-Pass -- but from how far I got into it, it was shaping nicely as more of a psychological thriller with a lot of philosophical deconstruction behind it; far more interesting than nothing-is-explained Deadman Wonderland and no-character-development Future Diary (in my own humble opinion that is).

Blue Exorcist suffered the common problem most anime adapted from popular manga has -- overshooting the manga far too quickly and therefore coming up with its own ending to keep it on the air. At least Ao no Excorcist did well enough to warrant a movie version. Such a shame as it started out so promisingly too.

I tried When the Cicadas Cry a few months ago but found the series structure way too disjointed and confusing (seriously, where the heck did Xion come from?!) - maybe it had the benefit of being the first of its kind in the US or something?

That said, I am looking forward to getting Steins;Gate on DVD this week - excellent, excellent series I thoroughly recommend. Am also looking forward to Another, something high-quality-art anime studio P.A. Works actually did very well in terms of coherent psychological horror too (based on the novel by Yukito Ayatsuji) Try it out and see what you think.

As much as I like the concept and characters (cute anime girls with psychotic personalities) I actually found Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni to be pretty disjointed too. The first handful of episodes really drew me in - but I have always thought that it would have worked better if it had been a more straightforward story instead of a time loop repeating itself with different outcomes each time. It especially frustrated me that the amount of screen time that my favorite characters got in each story arc varied wildly. If I were to have adapted it into an anime, i would have picked one storyline - for me, the very first one that played out over the first handful of episodes - and would have stretched it out into a 12 episode anime, and then ended it there. I think it's worth noting that Higurashi wasn't the first anime of its kind to come to the US - Elfen Lied was pretty similar and it preceded Higurashi by several years. I think maybe they brought Higurashi to the US because Elfen Lied did so well.

I have seen Steins;Gate. It's up there as one of the best anime I have seen in the past couple of years, along with Madoka Magica.

As with Psycho-Pass, I have avoided Another based on the fact that I have not heard very much about it. But you seem to know what you are talking about when it comes to well-done psychological horror, so I will definitely give it a shot.

I probably should have added that Psycho-Pass was also one of the sickest anime I have ever seen, multiple of the episodes made me feel physically ill from how psycho it can get. Not many cop shows can do that.

Wait, did I mention Another? It is a very good anime, with some awesome horror vibes. The best way for me to express the horror is by its Opening song, I just love the visuals of dolls, they are so creepy that it is the perfect expression of what the series name means. Interestingly the same singer does the Rozen Maiden songs which included a rather creepy array of dolls in the recent series opening. Anyway I recommend not looking at any spoilers, the misdirection is something to follow the flow, and the foreshadowing is pretty good so it is pretty good to see if you can figure it out while watching.

And if it is horror you like, have you seen Ghost Hunt, it is one of the few scares I have gotten in anime, best watched in the dark. The trailer gets me every time.

And although I can not quite recommend it yet, there is the current airing Day Break Illusion (il sole penetra le illusioni ) / (Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou), it seems to be following in Madoka's footsteps, although with only two episodes out so far it can be hard to judge. Here is the opening if you want, don't be fooled by the cutesy designs, it is purposely meant to contrast with other elements of the show, very well too.

My bad regarding Another - it just slipped in because I'm ordering that on DVD along with Steins;Gate this week. I couldn't stand the opening song myself, I felt P.A.Works' choice there seriously mis-sold the series - then again, I didn't much like their choice of opening for Hanasaku Iroha or Red Data Girl either so maybe that's more my own personal music tastes coming through there.

I'm waiting a while to see how Daybreak Illusion plays out before judging it - I learnt since Madoka not to judge anything based on the art-style alone anymore, though I make a point of avoiding most projects based on Japan-only video games/visual novels - I had a terrible time with Persona the Animation and the Tales Of~ OAVs (Steins;Gate being the rare exception where no knowledge of the game it was based on was required to enjoy it).

Still, thanks for the heads up about Ghost Hunt - I might try that. Not so sure on Kokoro Connect... could they carry off the Freaky Friday cliché for thirteen episodes?

Oh and a slight correction @ Bradleigh - Gen Urobochi did not direct nor wholly write Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet -- he was merely an editor and senior writing consultant - hence why the tone of the series is significantly more light-hearted than Madoka. Unfortunately, the ratings in Japan don't look too good so it may only be a one-off project. Shame.... whilst muddled, I could see some interesting concepts at play, though don't be put off by the first episode - it veers as far away as possible from the space wars thing after that (thankfully).

Red Data Girl had a few problems other than just its poor miss fitting opening.

And what makes you think the body switching is the only thing that happens. If anything that only reveals the top layer of what is far more complicated than you might think. I was not entirely sold when I thought that it would just be body swapping bits, but there is more, I won't reveal those surprises though. Cliché is not a word I would use to describe it. I heavily recommend Kokoro Connect for fans of psychological anime. Lots of clues to character if you pay attention, I was blown away by one of the voice actress who became one of my favourites from it.

Actually I might mention another anime with surprisingly good psychological aspects, and that is Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo. The thing is that it looks like the standard J.C. Staff harem anime, and you expect a bunch of pervy scenes and such, but is actually surprisingly emotional, there is no harem beyond a messy triangle, and there are some very deep moments.

I agree with you on Red Data Girl --- I was absolutely astounded to learn that Funimation are wanting to license and dub it in the US; I seriously would not recommend RDG to anyone unfamiliar with the history and fairly complex nature of Shinto religion or the style of narrative of what is actually a very deep theological novel; I think P.A. Works took on more than they could handle with that series and it shows... we'll see what happens, at any rate, with the dub reception (surprised Sentai Filmworks didn't go for it... they went for Nurarihyon no Mago)

And I concede I was wrong to prejudge Kokoro Connect - I've been subject to a lot of rubbish recommendations lately (mostly the sort of thing aimed at very straight men like the recent Dog and Scissors, urgh) and I'm quite the shallow individual - if the art doesn't wow me, I don't pay it any heed. Not the best way to explore new material, especially as moe is extremely popular right now, and well, school-centric sagas have always been a safe choice. Anyway, I'll give 'em a try. Thank you. And heh, I have hopes for J.C. Staff - they've shown to be capable of producing some decent non-harem anime before.

I have not really been much of a fan of Dog and Scissors either, I can't really get past the depressing story parts, and there is little places that can redeem it.

Also J.C. Staff do have their failures too, Kill me Baby is one that had trouble staying entertaining, and Little Busters was also a big disappointment, especially since most Key anime like Kanon, Clannad, and Angel Beats have been very good. Their recent Henneko was also pretty decent, although a little too harem like in places, it did do a very good job of adding emotions to a character who had lost the outward appearance of her emotions (she appeared emotionless with unchanging expression and voice, kudos to the voice actress).