Anime!! and YOU!

Tachi

Tachi

Mushi-shi
Hey all.

To get this forum back to a forum about Anime I'd like to ask a few questions each week. its a sort of game in a sense....and I'm considering giving prizes to those who accumulate a series of "correct" answers to the latter questions over a period of time.

SO first things first:

What's your favourite anime and why,
What's your favourite character and why?

*Edit so that there's no spelling errors, for Aion*
 
Moved to General Anime so people don't freak out if someone doesn't directly recommend things etc.

Will answer the questions in an edit because I type so darn slow and wanted to explain why it moved in the meantime ;)

Edit: Ok, finally finished answering. Apologies for the drivel that follows.

Favourite anime: Shoujo Kakumei Utena/Revolutionary Girl Utena.
I loved this series and watched every DVD dozens of times as they came out. It's extremely girly and deliberately uses abstract concepts everywhere it can to seem artistic and complicated. It's not really though, and is at heart more a story of friendship and finding out what's most important to you as you grow up. There is a plot running right through the series with some smaller arcs along the way, with a handful of sillier episodes from time to time to lighten the tone. These are also presented in a rather surreal way rather than sticking to the usual tropes of hot springs episode/culture festival/school trip you see in so many school anime. Despite being set entirely in a school you won't find much familiar ground in Utena.

The character designs are unusual but extremely beautiful if you appreciate the art style. And the music is magnificent; like nothing else in anime with lots of theatre influence and eerie choral refrains. You still find the CDs and artbooks are sought after in Japan despite it being fairly old. There was even a recent Utena CD boxset release to gather up the harder to find music with a prominent advertising campaign proving there's still an active fanbase out there.

A short manga for the series exists but it wasn't close to the same level as the anime. Utena made me laugh and cry, horrified me and thrilled me. Excellent stuff.

There was also an alternate reality movie produced after the series which is unsurprisingly one of my favourite movies of all time as well. I watched it many times the week I got it and never hesitate to get it out to show friends if they want to take a look at something different so that I can have my heart twisted and broken again by it. The movie loses a lot of its impact and clarity if you aren't familiar with the TV version, however.

Despite my obvious passion for the show I'd probably not recommend it to other fans unless they had built up a tolerance for shoujo and/or pretentious artsy films first. All of the pink, spinning roses, brides, relationships and billowing dresses seem to repulse quite a few people.

Whew.

Favourite character: Xellos (Slayers TV).
This is more simple. I love the mysterious, playful yet extremely sinister type of character and Xellos manages to perfectly hit every note. He's got more layers to peel off than an onion and figuring out what he's thinking is almost impossible (if he was thinking anything to begin with, that is). He also looks awesome and is one of the very few decent cleric-style characters in anime. He's even voiced by my favourite Japanese voice actor!

R
 
Although your grammar hasn't improved, I'm glad you at least took what I said about you not posting about anime seriously. There's hope for you yet.

Anime: Gankutsuou

It's an odd name if you don't know what it translates into. It translates to 'King of the Cave', which was the title of 'The Count of Monte Cristo' when it was first released in Japan.

I went into the anime with no expectations. I thought It'd be boring, it being based on a French novel from the 1800's and all, but I ended up loving it. Unless you read the novel first and expect it to be an accurate adaptation of the 1250 novel, it has no faults whatsoever - it's as close to perfection as anime can get.

It has the most artistic visuals I've seen, with various patterns moving on the characters clothes and hair. It has some of the best TV CG I've seen in an anime. It has one of the best pieces of music I've heard, complete with old and remixed classical music also being on the soundtrack. And, most importantly of all, the story follows the best ever revenge story created; the story of Edmond Dantes being reborn from after he was betrayed by those around him.

I read the 1250 novel after finishing the anime. It's better than the anime, but it's unfair to put them against each other when there was no way even half of the story could've been fit into 24 episodes. With the small amount of time the series had, Gankutsuou told the story in a new way, which made for some excellent discussion material if you look into how Edmond's character was a man of God in the novel and a man who sold his soul to the devil in the anime.

Character: Spike Spiegel

Simply out, Cowboy Bebop would've failed without him. He injected something into the series that no other main character would've been able to - he was perfect. The story of the series was a dream for Spike; an escape from reality, and the end was him being awakened from his slumber.

His speech about cats will always be memorable. I never thought a few lines of dialogue about cats could be so powerful, but there you go.
 
Whats your favourite anime and why?

Full Metal Panic. (I'm just going to Ctrl+C, then Ctrl+V from my blog for why I like it)

"Recently I tried to figure out out what genre Full Metal Panic would fall into. However, this has proven rather difficult. Full Metal Panic is an action, romance, comedy, mecha, science fiction, high school and drama anime. I can then go on to make many combinations. It's an action comedy, romantic comedy, high school comedy, action drama, romantic drama, mecha comedy, action mecha, action science fiction, high school action, romantic science fiction...I think you get the picture, and I could go on for a while if I tried to make combinations of 3 genres too. Now it may sound like it's a watered down anime in each genre it encompasses because it doesn't have a lot of focus on one particular aspect. However, this is what it does right. What it does is make each aspect good, but not spectacular. What this does is allows for more artistic/creative freedom so that the creators can play around a bit without making any changes seem out of place or insignificant.

It's hilarious. It's dramatic. Full Metal Panic will go from one extreme to the other. However, it never does this at such a speed that the viewer can only feel left behind. What makes the humour so great? Well, a lot of the humour is rooted in Sousuke's inability to adapt to civilian life. He's always causing a ruckus because he gets overly protective of Kaname and is always on alert. It happens on a regular basis and it never gets dull. What tickles me is that everyone who knows him in the school he attends is used to having explosions and devices going off because of Sousuke, but they still get pissed off when something happens and he's to blame. It's almost as if they're resigned to letting him do whatever he wants so that they can just keep the stress away until he actually does something outrageous. Kaname's responses to his various bumblings are priceless. Smacking Sousuke with a giant fan is almost a pastime for Kaname. I haven't checked myself, but in Fumoffu, Kaname apparently hits Sousuke with her fan almost one hundred times. However, my favourite reaction to date is when Sousuke tells Kaname he forgot her homework...

However, the comedy is quite dark because it stems from Sousuke's experiences as a child. Personally, I think he has a mild case of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). While this serves as good material for the comedy, it also serves as a basis for the drama. Sousuke's perspective of the world is that it's dark and dangerous. Unless someone is a friend or well known by him, they can't be fully trusted. Because of this, his very few relationships are very tight-knit. His only friends at Mithril are Melissa, Kurz and Tessa, and his only real friend outside of Mithril is Kaname. Also, a lot of the suspense and drama are centred on the relationship between Sousuke and Kaname, and I've always found the chemistry and emotions exhibited by them fascinating.

What I like about Full Metal Panic's relationships (platonic or otherwise) is that they're deeper than they look. Like I said, the relationships tend to be very tight-knit/close. What I see between Sousuke and Tessa is respect. Now, even though there is respect going back and forth (Tessa being the Captain and Sousuke being the Sergeant), Tessa is in love with him, which leads to much confusion on Sousuke's part. He just can't understand her motives sometimes! The best part is the relationship between Sousuke and Kaname. Before meeting each other, they kind of had their own independance. They thought they were fine on their own. However, as their sense of mutual trust grew into friendship (and "more than just friends" friendship), they realise how much they need each other. Sousuke needed someone in his corner. He needed someone to cheer him on and confide in him because he has never experienced that before. Kaname needed someone to be close to. She needed someone to share a bond with that was beyond the formalities that she shows to others and fill the gap in her heart that has been left by her absent family.

Perhaps, most important of all, they both need someone to love."

Who is your favourite character and why?

Batou from Gits: SAC because he's teh awesomesauce. But seriously, I like him because despite how cool and collected he usually is, he can sometimes lose himself in the heat of the moment. He has flaws, and I love flawed characters. Don't get me wrong. I like The Major, but she's perfect at everything, and that's not as interesting as a character like Batou.
 
Detective Conan But that's not much of a surprise.

As a kid i genuinely loved watching Agatha Christie, Miss Marple and Poirot, i just get a huge enjoyment out of watching whodunnit's. So to have a show, that has all that and the complications of a teenager turned kid, who is the biggest magnet of death in anime, have a mysterious and dangerous syndicate with an obsession with alcohol for code names and of course, mysterious characters showing up every now and again means hands down win.
You can guess and try to work it out all you like, all of the murders are so incredibly obscure you'll never get it yourself. But the fun is in the speculating and watching Conan unravel it all.

Plus, you get some neato ways to kill people.

Favourite character: Kaitou Kid. That's the one in my picture. I'd say top hat and cape and just leave it at that, but he's also incredibly charming, sweet and well, a cunning thief. He's also really quite cool. Lol
 
Favourite: One Piece.

Adapted by Toei Animation, which obviously means better production, consistency and end result than Studio Pierott. One Piece's plot isn't much out of the way of a regular shonen story, yet it's the way Eiichiro Oda [The mangaka] works on the story first and foremost. It seems like every single occurrence that happens, somehow will come back into the story with something much bigger. The later additions to the current stories, and on-going life outside of the main characters gives the funky world a sense of realism, sort of.

The character's is where this work shines, The Pirate Era features many, many, many oddity's of human nature throughout, but Monkey D. Luffy picks some of the of the best for his ever progressing StrawHat crew. Whether it's the cartoonish performance by the seiyuu's of them, or the designs or even the occasional running gags or special attacks spoken in a foreign language that lets the character burn brightly - It's never short of one character putting their life on the line for another.

Music plays a large part in One Piece, also. Each intro last's an abnormally long time, a year and for the last few, have gone on for two and a half minutes; instead of having an ending. There is none of that Asian Kung-Fu Generation/FLOW J-Rock going on here. I love it. The score within the anime has more or less, stayed the same throughout with occasional add ons. Feelings of excitement, sadness and/or general comic laughter is displayed amazingly. The insert songs, like Family, sung by all the seiyuu's are goes without saying, amazing, as well.

Of course, it has it's downfall because it's a long-running shonen show, although it doesn't have several years of fillers, it goes on the occasional breaks instead. It has to be said, that the DON's and expressions, as with every long-running can amount to be slow and some episodes get more done than others. One Piece's fillers sparse as they are even enjoyable.

Fantastic. I think I've wrote far too much. <3

Favourite character: Err... Conan Edogawa [From Case Closed/Detective Conan, lol] or Sonic The Hedgehog, For obvious reasons. It would be impossible for me to choose a character from One Piece; so I'm not that bothered.
 
Favourite anime: Aim for the Top! GunBuster

Why? Because blowing **** up in style has never been so awesome.

Favourite character? Too many characters I like to even consider it.
 
Very very hard to choose. But if there was only one anime could take with me on the last evacuation shuttle from earth, it would have to be Patlabor.

Aside from the odd naff episode (mainly ones that centre on anything supernatural) Patlabor is consistantly brilliant. The team behind it, HEADGEAR, read like a who's who of the best writers, directors and designers of 80's anime - possibly of all time. Oshii, Ito, Takada, Izubuchi. So the direction is top notch, the characters real and likeable because of both the excellent scripts and seiyuus (several of whom come straight out of doing Urusei Yatsura, also with Oshii) and unique designs, some being based off real actors.

It's a comedy, but a very character driven one, and you soon learn to love the SV2's team of misfits. From perpetually sandal wearing Commander Gotoh, who always keeps his cards close to his chest until the very last moment and has an (at times you feel almost mutal) unrequited love for his Section 1 counterpart Shinobu Nagumo, who simply despairs at his teams antics. To ideallistic new recruit Noa Izumi who, despite being seemingly girly, giving her Labor a name and treating it as though it were a person - is probably the member of the team who most believes in the aims and reasons the Labor division has to exist.

Patlabor just has so many wonderful moments. One that leaps to mind is when Noa and Kanuka are in a bar, Kanuka drunk and Noa entirely sober thanks to resistance built up as her family own a pub. Noa asks Kanuka if there is anything she misses about America. Looking down at the table, and visibly sad, Kanuka says in English "Grandma." Noa looks very puzzled. "Ranma?" she replies. "Grandma." Kanuka clarifies somewhat angrily, though without moving an inch. "Ah! Oba-chan!" Noa exclaims, happy simply to anderstand. Far from spoiling a poignant moment with comedy however, it just serves to reinforce the characters - Noa's optimism and plow-ahead-whatever-the-odds attitude, and Kanuka's more reserved nature and frustration at the unprofessionalism with the other members of the SV2.

As for characters, Reki from Haibane Renmei. I've long believed that the characters you can identify with are the best, and there's a lot in Reki that reminds me of myself. I've been down some of the dark avenues she has, but never quite lost myself in them, and her story is a wonderful one of hope and coming back from the brink.
 
My favourite anime is One piece. The reason why is because its got so much life in it and has a good story. Also it has some quality action in it

My favourite anime character is Sanji. Because no other anime character fights only with kicks. he is cool! lol
 
Afraid I'll have to keep this short.

My fave anime is Full Metal Panic: The second Raid if we're being specific. To put it down to a simple reason why: the characters. The plot is often flawed but since the characters are always interesting and likeable for me it doesn't really matter. Sousuke, is a distinctive and often hilarious character who is more than what he seems. His unemotive, efficient exterior makes it all the more interesting when a glimpse of his underlying feelings shine through for a moment.

Kaname's personality is brilliantly juxtaposed, being rash and highly strung with a mean temper, however like Sousuke there is clearly a front being put up. I love the way they both put up these strong fronts but are emotionally fragile under the surface.

Favourite character? Alucard from Hellsing, because he's got style attitude and some unexpected motives.
 
My favourite anime? Well, this changes evey week lol, but right now it's Aria.
I don't have the eloquence to do justice to this wonderful series, so instead I will just direct you to the reason I started watching it in the first place - http://www.concretebadger.net/blog/...e-animation-part-1-make-a-wish-build-a-world/
(If you're reading this Martin I hope you don't mind :), big fan of your blog!)

As to why I like it so much, well, I guess I'm not in a very good place right now, and Neo-Venezia, with it's peace and tranquility, is my "happy place", somewhere I can go and be reminded of all the wonderful things day-to-day life has to offer. It's a place of hope and happiness, and, well, who doesn't need a place like that to escape to every now and then?

And my favourite character? That would be either Akari Mizunashi of Aria or Tohru Honda of Fruits Basket. Both are very similar characters and I like them both for their relentless optimism and positivity, and for their ability to face every day with a smile on their face. Their kind deeds and good hearts should be an example to us all, and I only wish that I could half be as nice a person as either one of them!
 
Hmm, toughy, well here goes:

Favourite Anime: Full Metal Panic!(All series)

Why?: - I guess there is many reasons behind that actually. Way back when i started with anime, this was really the first series i had seen fully and bought, it was what got me into anime really, outwith Dragonball Z on CNX, and of course, Cowboy Bebop. When it comes down to it, yeah you could say the first series wasn't up to scratch compared to its sequels, thats true, but the characters are great in my opinion. Sousuke for example is both interesting and humorous, what with him attempting to lead as close a normal life as he can, of course failing all the time. Kaname as well, great character, she is fairly easy to read though, but still an interesting character as well. Both of which go through some nice development throughout all three series, and even more so further into the light novels. Of course the storyline added to my interest, it starts off looking fairly straight forward, but as you go on, you notice there is a lot more going on in the background than you originally thought, and of course it does have some nice battles. To be honest, i want the last 5-6 main story light novels animated sooner rather than later, and even the side story ones =/.

Favourite Character: Guts
Why?: - Actually i wasn't sure who to put down, as much as i adore Sousuke and Kaname, the characters from Berserk do have a lot more going for them, so if i was to be honest its a tie really between Casca and Guts. Guts is a brilliant character overall, your tragic hero who's life has always been a struggle, he decides to basically fight for the sake of fighting at first, but he changes a lot as the story progresses, and its that development plus his general character that makes him a favourite. Again with Casca, she has a hell of a lot of development as well, she also has had a tough life throughout, which only strengthend her resolve to help the band of the hawk alongside Guts. I'd say its her strong will that really gives her character that push, she's not like a lot of female characters you find nowadays who are always needing saved and so on, she fends for herself and she does it well too.
Admittedly i have yet to progress beyond volume 12 of the manga, but i expect the development for the characters only to strengthen as it goes on.
 
Kendarr said:
skikes said:
Anime: Evangelion
reason: It's evangelion

Character: Asuka
Reason: She's from evangelion
Click to expand...

same here!
Click to expand...

Are all Evangelion fans this detailed? Surely there has to be one Evangelion fan who will explain to everyone (in great detail) how pathetic they are for not rating Evangelion.

/drum roll for The Geek
 
Favourite anime: It's so hard for me to choose a favourite anime but I will go with Azumanga Daioh since when I first saw the series, it really made me laugh and when I got the boxset, I watched it quite a few times and whenever I feel upset I put it on and it helps me to cheer up. And I don't think I will ever get bored of the series. I also liked the soundtrack along with the opening and ending songs. The characters are also another reason why I enjoyed Azumanga Daioh because they have very different personalities

Favourite character : Teresa (Teresa of the faint smile) from Claymore
Another hard decision to choose my favourite character but I went with Teresa in the end out of my other favourites: Galatea,Clare,Miria,Tsuruya-San and Konata Izumi. The reason I chose Teresa because I liked the way her personality changed from having no human emotion since she had nobody but when she meets Clare her human emotions come out and makes a close bond with Clare. And my other reason while I liked Teresa is because she is brilliant at fighting Yoma
 
Favourite anime is fer sure, still, 5 Centimeters Per Second. I'm an art man. I love art. And this film has simply got awesome art. Such beautiful background and scenery. Wonderful.

Favourite character is...hard to say. Anime wise it would probably be The Major. She's just awesome. Comming a close second would probably be any of the cast from the Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou OVAs. I think they translated well from the manga; and they are one of the things that makes that series for me.
 
Maltos said:
Favourite anime is fer sure, still, 5 Centimeters Per Second. I'm an art man. I love art. And this film has simply got awesome art. Such beautiful background and scenery. Wonderful.
Click to expand...

Shame about everything aside from the visuals, though.

When watching romance, I expect my penis to harden or a fuzzy warmth to come over me and make me think like a woman. Neither happened whilst I watched this sleep inducing 60 minute...err, thing.

Shinkai is a bit over-rated as a director. He's nowhere near as over-rated as Hayao Miyazaki, whose only brilliant work seems to be Princess Mononoke, but he's up there. Voices of a Distant Star was good because it was short and a bit different, the first half of the The Place Promised in Our Early Days presented a very good school love triangle in the first half...but it went downhill fast with the sci-fi crap in the last half, and 5cm was simply dull and disappointing. In my eyes, Shinkai has produced the goods half the time and failed the other half.
 
Agree about Shinkai, Aion. The art direction is great but I always find his characters lack any real... character. In stories like he does that's important. I think the fact that his work looks good and he usually throws some sort of sci fi element in distracts people from how lifeless his characters are.
 
Favorite Anime: Dragonball Z

Why: Because without it, I doubt that I would be here...and the fact that it is THAT great...


Favorite Character: Kazuma Kuwabara (Yu Yu Hakusho)

Why: Lets just say that bit at the end of the Dark Tournament was freakin' priceless!!
 
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