Help me pick out my next anime boxset!

C

CitizenGeek

Guild Member
I've just finished watching Evangelion, and now I'm trying to decide which series I should go for next. So far, the only series I've watched have been Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Macross Plus, Heat Guy J and Evangelion - so that leaves a lot of series that I haven't seen! I want the next series I buy to be a boxset, that's available in the UK on R2.

So, I'm thinking of maybe She, the Ultimate Weapon, Paranoia Agent, Fruits Basket or Cowboy Bebop. Those are only the ones that come to my head right now, but more reccomedations would be great!

So please, Anime UK masses, help me out!
 
Go for Paranoia Agent or Cowboy Bebop out of the ones you chose. Both excellent series.

I'm gonna say what I always say to those who haven't seen it though and check out Haibane Renmei. You might be surprised. Hear me rant about it here.
 
Wolf's Rain is worth a look into as well. It's a wonderful fantasty drama with a good slice of action and a decent Englsih dub but I say go for Haibane Renmei. The setting, music and characters are what makes the show so special. Raka competes with Shinji as one of the best and real characters in an anime series.
 
Some of my favourites ( in no particlar order )

Boxsets -
Tenchi Muyo
Hellsing
Planetes
Martian Sucessor Nadesico
Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex 1st Gig
Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig
Excel Saga


Not boxsets, but well worth checking out -
Full Metal Panic!
Full Metal Panic? FUMOFFU
Azumanga Daioh
Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi


There are others that I could recommend, ( obviously, you may or may not like what I like. :D ), but the rest i'm not sure if you can still get.
 
First off, I'll go along with WTFDM and say get the Haibane Renmei boxset. He sums it up pretty well in the article he linked to earlier, so I'll leave it at that.

Out of the ones you mentioned, I'd say Paranoia Agent. Satoshi Kon is one of the best anime directors in the world, and while it could be said that this series is less polished than some of his movies, it's still excellent. The series is a good example of Kons almost trademark style of mixing fantasy and reality, something which is perfectly suited to an anime medium.
 
I'd say Cowboy Bebop followed by Paranoia Agent out of the ones you chose. And outside of that, I've been enjoying Escaflowne (boxset available) and Rumbling Hearts (boxset coming soon) - add them to a future wishlist if you want!
 
The Tokyo Underground Boxset, its an OK series and by now it should be rightly down in price

Also:
Chobits
Trigun
FMA
ninja scroll
ikkitousen [if u like pantie shots :p]
 
Thanks for the tips, everyone!

Haibane Renmei's basic premise really just hasn't gripped me :( I know it's probably a very good series, but I just can't get excited by it from what I've heard.

Is the Ninja Scroll TV series as good as the movie?

Not interested in Ikki Tousen, to be honest. Fanservice isn't really something I'd be interested in, and series that feature it prominentely don't interest me either :)

What's Excel Saga like?

I'd love to watch from Full Metal Panic, but it's very, very expensive per volume. Too expensive, I think.

I've heard Cowboy Bebop is a little too episodic - is this true?

I'm looking for something that has a robust, running storyline with characters that you end up caring about. Basically, something that's like FMA or Evangelion.

Sorry for so many questions! XD
 
"something that has a robust, running storyline with characters that you end caring about" - Excel Saga, that is not! But that's the whole point of it really, it's so madcap and bouncing off the walls that you don't really care, because it's so wacky and hilarious.
 
CitizenGeek said:
Yeah, Cowboy Bebop seems very good.

What's Fruits Basket or She, the Ultimate Weapon like?
Click to expand...

Cowboy Beebop is mainly just stand alone episodes. I don't like it that much but I think every Otaku should see it because it is quite a land mark series.

Haven't seen Fruits Basket. Saikano is about a high school girl with robot wings who flies around destroying things for no reason. She cries quite a lot as well.
 
But is SaiKano any good?

I know Cowboy Bebop is very episodic, but so was Heat Guy J and I really enjoyed that! How exaclty was Cowboy Bebop so groundbreaking, though?
 
CitizenGeek said:
But is SaiKano any good?
Click to expand...

Well most people seem to like it. I thought it was garbage. Even the title is stupid. How exactly is she the ultimate weapon? She has wings and her arm turns into a Gatling gun. Sounds kind of like a fighter jet.
 
CitizenGeek said:
Yeah, Cowboy Bebop seems very good.

What's Fruits Basket or She, the Ultimate Weapon like?
Click to expand...
Cowboy Bebop is ok I guess, very episodic, and the lack of any decent plot kinda turned me off. Not bad if you just want some easy watching though. The only special thing about it is the way it was so unexpectedly popular in the western world - Japan didn't like it much.

I noticed no-one recommended Fruits Basket to you... the series is a good shoujo anime, devoting most of it's time to comedy or angst, but unlike the other 3 series you mentioned it comes off as a little flawed. As the manga source material was still ongoing when the anime was made, the anime creators had to make up their own ending. And unlike when the same thing happened with FMA, they didn't do it especially well. While I think the manga is made of awesome, I wasn't so impressed with the series.

Saikano (or She, the Ultimate Weapon) is a series I haven't watched, although I have read the manga and I think they're very similar. It's a romantic tragedy, most people agree a fairly powerful one, but ultimately it depends how you feel about such shows. If drama doesn't click with you, then it's to be avoided. Also, if you're looking for a happy series, this isn't it - the notorious Uber-depressing video is made from Saikano footage, which should say something in itself.

EDIT: - VIDEO CONTAINS SPOILERS, oops...
 
CitizenGeek said:
Haibane Renmei's basic premise really just hasn't gripped me :( I know it's probably a very good series, but I just can't get excited by it from what I've heard.
Click to expand...
Honestly from what I'd heard I felt the same but when I saw the whole thing I was totally blown away. Really surpassed my expectations.
 
Back
Top