Help me pick out my next anime boxset!

Just noticed Dia Guard on sale for about £18 on play, while very dumb also very good clean mecha fun, and difficult to argue with the price. Not a masterpiece, but worth watching as a change from emo pilots
 
hopeful_monster said:
Just noticed Dia Guard on sale for about £18 on play, while very dumb also very good clean mecha fun, and difficult to argue with the price. Not a masterpiece, but worth watching as a change from emo pilots
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Hehe, they've put it back down again. :D When the box set was first released they cocked up and sold it for £18 ( which is when I bought my copy :D ), they realised after a few months then put it up to £50.

I'd certainly get it while it's £18, and as hopeful_monster says, it's dumb clean fun and it makes a change. I won't give plot points away, but the only thing I personally didn't like about this series was the way it ended plotwise, however that really is a minor gripe. ( Oh, the theme tune is totally annoying too. :shock: )
 
CitizenGeek, i'd be careful with Mecha series. I loved Evangelion but I can't say i've liked many other series under that genre.
 
WTFDaveMustaine said:
CitizenGeek, i'd be careful with Mecha series. I loved Evangelion but I can't say i've liked many other series under that genre.
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With mecha series there it depends on what you are looking at them for. If you are after them for action and excitement you won't have much trouble finding decent series (Gundams, Escaflowne, Dia Guard, FMP, Macross, Macross Plus etc). However if you liked mecha series such as Eva for reasons other than the action, for things like a look at the meaning of life, death and school, pizza kinda things it is a LOT more difficult to find good series or series you'll like. Mainly because what people see in the series and what they like is often very personal and difficult to explain.
 
Wow, you're all so helpful! Thanks! ^_^

WTFDaveMustaine said:
CitizenGeek, i'd be careful with Mecha series. I loved Evangelion but I can't say i've liked many other series under that genre.
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To be honest, I don't really regard Evangelion as a mecha series o_O
For some reason, giving the show that label just doesn't sit right with me. So, my understanding of 'mecha' isn't defined by Eva at all, really. In fact, I haven't really seen any mecha series aside from Macross Plus which I loved! I think I just like the idea of the mecha genre more than anything - lots of cool fighting, the politics of said fighting and personal stories all in one! If a series was just purely mech fighting I don't think I'd really like it!

Thanks for the heads up on Dai Guard! Is it a 'serious' kind of series, it looks a bit like it's aimed at children from first impression.

RahXephon is definately something I want to check out. I think I'll watch some trailers and maybe the first episode online before deciding wether to get it or not!

Would anyone recomend any Gundam?
 
CitizenGeek said:
Thanks for the heads up on Dai Guard! Is it a 'serious' kind of series, it looks a bit like it's aimed at children from first impression.
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Instead of saying it was aimed at children i'd say it was 'tame'.

If Evangelion was 'Itchi and Scratchi', then Dai Guard would be 'Tom and Jerry'. ( Sorry, that was a really, really bad example ( as Tom and Jerry 'is' for kids, but i'm trying to use references you'll have seen. )


CitizenGeek said:
RahXephon is definately something I want to check out. I think I'll watch some trailers and maybe the first episode online before deciding wether to get it or not!
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Please bare in mind if you do this, that it is a slower paced series than Evangelion, and watching it one episode at a time may or may not be the right way of watching it for you. For me, I think this is one of the things I did wrong the first time I tried to watch it, it was only when I had the mini-marathon of the first two disks that I realised what i'd nearly missed out on. :shock:

Of course you may find that you don't like the series no matter what, and that's fair enough, everyone not liking the same stuff is one of the things that makes life interesting. :D


WTFDaveMustaine said:
CitizenGeek said:
To be honest, I don't really regard Evangelion as a mecha series
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Same here because the mecha isn't the reason why I enjoy it.
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Ahh, but if you permit me to be a little pedantic for a second. ( In spoiler form for those that havn't watched it. ) :p

Evangelion can't be classed as a mecha series as the Eva arn't really mecha now are they :p :wink: .
 
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CitizenGeek said:
Thanks for the heads up on Dai Guard! Is it a 'serious' kind of series, it looks a bit like it's aimed at children from first impression.

Would anyone reccomend any Gundam?
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My review of Dai Guard can be found here.
As for Gundams, you can get the first series as a movie boxset, which will give you a lot to watch for your money. While a little retro it isn't too bad for a cut and paste of a series. Gundam Wing is while not awful isn't the best of the series, but has lots for bishi fans. Seed starts as almost a retelling of the orginal series with slicker graphic graphics and more emo. Good though. Still working through Seed Desinty, but it's kinda dull with occasional moments of genius.
There are also Gundam series that have not been licensed and availble by other means. Watching Gundam X which has a nice Mad Max style world with mecha running round haven't finished it yet though. Turn A Gundam i have finished and is good if a little off beat from the other series. Steam punk setting, but with good characters and nice plot.
 
Thanks again! Gah, there's just too much anime I need to watch! I looked at some RahXephon and I was just thinking "how did they get away with this?" - it's a lot more similiar to Evangelion that I thought - but I'm guessing RahXephon only copied Eva in certain design aspects and not in the plot department, yes?

Dai Guard seems cool, and it's cheap! Will get that, I think. What's Robotech like? THe complete Robotech: Macross Saga series is very cheap on Play.com and I loved Macross Plus - so is this series worth it?
 
Heh, I've found a way to get the first volume of RahXephon, Dai Guard and Full Metal Panic for only €20! It's all in this special set from ADV called "Mecha Robots". Is it worth it?
 
The first disk of RahXephon and Dai-Guard I think currently sell for £8-ish each and Full Metal Panic! still sells for about £15-ish, ( and is worth every penny in my opinion ), So, yep, i'd say it was certainly worth it if you're interested in seeing what these series are like.
 
Tasker said:
The first disk of RahXephon and Dai-Guard I think currently sell for £8-ish each and Full Metal Panic! still sells for about £15-ish, ( and is worth every penny in my opinion ), So, yep, i'd say it was certainly worth it if you're interested in seeing what these series are like.
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Awesome, thanks Tasker! ^_^
 
Okay so, this thread has been absolutely AWESOME for me! Thank you all so much! ^_^

But now, I need some more help! Thanks to this thread I've gotten Cowboy Bebop and Fruits Basket - but I'll finished watching these series soon enough!

So, I'm thinking of getting the first series of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - it's cheap and I liked the first 4 episodes alot. However, I'm worried that the series will turn out like the first movie - i.e. being frustratingly incomprehendable. So, is this the case with the series?
 
The series is nothing like the movie really. It 's focused more on detective work rather than mind bending philosophy. Although it still has elements of that philosophy, mainly centred around Motoko's character, it doesn't overwhelm like the first movie tends to. Innocence, the second movie, is like a mix between Stand Alone Complex and the first movie and has a pretty equal balance of philosphy and detective story which I think makes it a better film than the first.
 
There are quite a lot of memorable scenes i must say. I loved both series, though i must admit i preferred the plot to the first rather than the second, there was something so appealing about the Laughing Man character with the "guess who" game they had going. Mind you i cant place one above the other, they're both classics which approach different subjects.

I've gotta say though that i think i'm in the minority in that i found SAC more confusing than the movies. I can get my head round the philosophy in both movies pretty easily (covered practically all of the subject matter in class) but the way SAC moves so quickly and fires off the names "Secretary of X" and organisations CIS, GSDM pretty regularly meant that it was sometimes hard for me to keep up with who was who.

Don't get me wrong though, echoing Sy its a cracking series, my top anime of all time (for this week at least hehe) with a great balance between action and plot. WATCH IT!
 
Thanks for the help, but I'm still having a hard time picking a series :[ I had my mind set on SAC, but now I'm starting to yearn for Paranoia Agent.

/sigh

Paranoia Agent vs. GitS: SAC - what's the better show?
 
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