Rate the last anime you watched out of 10

[Vashdaman]

I'm definitely interested in Nana now. From Fabricated's post it sounds like it has similarities with Solanin which is actually one of my favourite manga.

 

[fabio de lunatico]

I love Solanin too, and it does share some similarities with NANA. But where Solanin's focus is the transition between education and the "real" world, NANA is more of a soap opera with a ton of romantic entanglements and whatnot. Don't let that put you off though.

 

[Rui]

Has it still not been resumed? At the moment I just want more of the story, but no doubt it'll be just as frustrating to find myself in the same position when I reach the "end" of the manga.

I'm afraid we're still hanging

I checked the manga against Wikipedia's episode list for the anime and it looks as though you'll be fine to start at volume 12, which gives you almost twice as much spiralling drama to enjoy again before running out if you decide to have more. Though you're probably in a better position to stop now than if you keep going. I love it though despite the abrupt unintentional ending we have at the moment.

The manga also contains standalone bonus chapters occasionally and it should be noted that volume 9 had one of these, focusing on Naoki from Trapnest. It doesn't look as though his story is included in the anime at all, so it might be worth checking that out too if you decide to go ahead.

I'd have said more of the anime was a certainty a couple of years ago, but with the manga artist's situation the hype surrounding the series seems to have faded quite a bit. It's one of the reasons I didn't buy it on DVD (that and the song replacement, and the fact that I hate and distrust Viz's anime side).

I may have to install iTunes just to get the theme songs because the album hasn't appeared on Amazon. Unfortunately the brilliant first ending theme is missing from both Viz's DVDs and the album due to rights issues or something. Yay for Youtube!

I believe the song was removed due to a plagiarism issue ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3vF9fdYYWQ ) and Viz were afraid to get involved. Or so internet conspiracy theories go. The Olivia song is a million times better :/

I have the physical version of the iTunes album which comes highly recommended (the physical version has the missing song, too). The first press with the sexy DVD is long gone but if Japanese music prices don't make you cry the regular edition should still be around. Recorded Butterflies is gorgeous too.

Oh, and I definitely like Nana Osaki more. She's a great character. It's just that I'm able to empathise with Hachiko's experience and some aspects of her personality (but definitely not all of them!).

This runs into my next comment

From Fabricated's post it sounds like it has similarities with Solanin which is actually one of my favourite manga.

I agree that they are similar as well, but I'll add that I would have described NANA as a more character-centric story whereas Solanin is all about the mood during a very specific time in its characters' lives. I didn't find myself liking the characters in Solanin at all; part of this was that it was so short there was barely any time to get to know them, and part of it was that the underlying themes of Solanin didn't really resonate with me. For all that the lead was as cute as a button, I found her personality annoying and difficult to sympathise with.

That's not to say I didn't like Solanin - I did - but it set out to achieve something quite different to NANA and with its narrower focus I wasn't sucked in as much. I imagine that if I'd identified a little better with the leads it would have worked a lot better in my case.

This leads into NANA in that my own personality is definitely much closer to Nana's than Hachi's, for better and worse, and there's a huge cast of characters that I ended up becoming quite close to. I love most of the NANA characters dearly, even the ones I also want to strangle at times for being stupid. It's impressive that Yazawa made me care about so many messed up characters so much. I could never imagine being anything like Hachi or going through the things she does, but well-written fiction such as NANA helps me understand and make a connection to the kind of person she is from a distance.

Perhaps I just prefer series with large casts in general as there's a higher chance of my wonky personality type being included

R (Ramble over! Though I don't know why I'm even talking to someone who hates Blue Seed *huff*)

 

[ayase]

A conversation! An interesting conversation! With multi-paragraph posts! About anime! I remember those!

I've nothing to say about the shows discussed above as they aren't familiar to me, but reading Fabio and Rui's views above makes me realise how much more satisfying it is to hear people's proper personal views than those of a dispassionate critic attempting to remain impartial. Props to Ryu for his Soranowoto post too. Your early thoughts on the series mirror my own, but I might be inclined to give it a chance now. Thank you, more articulate members of AUKN. I go away from this page inspired to watch not one but two new series (and, of course, trying to guess who Fabio's idol was...)

 

[Tachi]

Finished off the 3rd (of 8 i think) discs of Soul Eater.

Enjoying the storyline atm, Currently in the middle of about 4-5 battles. Not entirely sure who's my favourite character of the show so far. All of them are likeable characters.

At this moment in time Soul and Maka have accepted black blood from the little devil and are currently crazy. Ragnarok is getting his ass handed to him and medusa is fighting stein. Death the kid and black star are chasing down the frog witch and the werewolf (that werewolf is so crap its funny) Death and the rest of the WDMA/DWMA/Cannot remember, are trapped in a green box and i spent a episode just laughing at the geek trying to stand excalibur's random storytelling, rules and "FOOL!" lol

 

[Animefreak17]

season 3 of naruto - the story just keeps getting better in season 3 jariya teaching naruto, the fights with neji, garra, shikamaru, tamari, sasuke, and my favourite fight in season 3 orochimaru vs the 3rd hokage it was a wild ride, and the creepest part of season 3 was garras speech in the hospital, it sent chills down my spin.
il give this season a 9.5/10

 

[fabio de lunatico]

The manga also contains standalone bonus chapters occasionally and it should be noted that volume 9 had one of these, focusing on Naoki from Trapnest. It doesn't look as though his story is included in the anime at all, so it might be worth checking that out too if you decide to go ahead.

Naoki (thanks for reminding me of his name) is completely overlooked in the anime, though he did shine during a visit to Takumi and Hachi's apartment. Even the anime staff thought it was amusing; the recap episodes were introduced by Junko and Kyosuke, and a running joke was that any characters who appeared with them in those segments has basically been cast aside. Naoki found his way there in the last recap, much to his despair.

I had a quick glance over the character section on Wiki, and blimey, you're not wrong about the spiralling drama. Seems the romantic entanglements only get more entangled.

I believe the song was removed due to a plagiarism issue ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3vF9fdYYWQ ) and Viz were afraid to get involved. Or so internet conspiracy theories go. The Olivia song is a million times better :/

Kelly Clarkson? As if I needed another reason to loathe those glorified talent contests...

I have the physical version of the iTunes album which comes highly recommended (the physical version has the missing song, too). The first press with the sexy DVD is long gone but if Japanese music prices don't make you cry the regular edition should still be around. Recorded Butterflies is gorgeous too.

Japanese CD prices do make me cry, but I would shed a few tears for that. But do YesAsia not do their "no VAT" thing any more? No tax or fees would lessen the pain.

I love most of the NANA characters dearly, even the ones I also want to strangle at times for being stupid.

This is what I found as well. At various points I hated Takumi, Shin, Hachi, and even occasionally Nana, but they were all able to redeem themselves either through their actions or the warmth of their personality. And importantly, it never felt contrived, as if I was being manipulated into liking them. Having said that, I'm still having trouble working Takumi out. Is he a selfish, calculating, arrogant bastard or does he really care? I've heard a few people say they hate this show because they hate some of the characters, but for me it's those flaws that make them so compelling.

@ ayase
You should read Carl's NANA reviews at ANN. He's obviously a HUGE fan(boy) and he waxes lyrical like you wouldn't believe. There's no impartiality in his writing. Also, the singer with whom I was infatuated wasn't and never has been famous. I was drawing a parallel between that relationship at that of NANA's two main characters in the show's early stages, when Nana O (the singer) is still unknown. Their relationship, while intense, is platonic of course, but I understood the attraction that Nana K felt for Nana O as someone who had the confidence and passion to want to get up there on stage.

Lastly, what's with all these Blue Seed fans crawling out of the woodwork? I'm scared, Mummy /o\

 

[Vashdaman]

Have to echo Ayases views! Thanks for the great posts Fabby and Rui.

From Fabricated's post it sounds like it has similarities with Solanin which is actually one of my favourite manga.

I agree that they are similar as well, but I'll add that I would have described NANA as a more character-centric story whereas Solanin is all about the mood during a very specific time in its characters' lives. I didn't find myself liking the characters in Solanin at all; part of this was that it was so short there was barely any time to get to know them, and part of it was that the underlying themes of Solanin didn't really resonate with me. For all that the lead was as cute as a button, I found her personality annoying and difficult to sympathise with.

That's not to say I didn't like Solanin - I did - but it set out to achieve something quite different to NANA and with its narrower focus I wasn't sucked in as much. I imagine that if I'd identified a little better with the leads it would have worked a lot better in my case.

This leads into NANA in that my own personality is definitely much closer to Nana's than Hachi's, for better and worse, and there's a huge cast of characters that I ended up becoming quite close to. I love most of the NANA characters dearly, even the ones I also want to strangle at times for being stupid. It's impressive that Yazawa made me care about so many messed up characters so much. I could never imagine being anything like Hachi or going through the things she does, but well-written fiction such as NANA helps me understand and make a connection to the kind of person she is from a distance.

Perhaps I just prefer series with large casts in general as there's a higher chance of my wonky personality type being included

R (Ramble over! Though I don't know why I'm even talking to someone who hates Blue Seed *huff*)

Well Nana being a character focused show sounds good to me! I'm defo gonna try it out. I would have never thought to try it if it weren't for this thread

As for Solanin, well yeah I've gotta say a large part of does come down to how much you relate to the characters. Personally, I instantly found the characters very relatable. I orginally read Solanin during a time in my life when I myself was struggling to make the transition into the "real world" and find my place in it... ah who am kidding I still am going through that (and pretty much concluded the conventional idea of an "ordinary life" isn't for me), so for me it was no doubt more poignant than it otherwise could have been.

Although personally I would say that I did rather like the characters, but again maybe it just because I could relate, still personally I actually quite like a smaller close knit cast, it feels more realistic and memorable to me. Yeah Meiko can sometimes be a lil impulsive and too easily influenced by that muggish friend of hers. But thats people can be like during such times and everyone goes a little mental during such long and intense relationships, I also liked and could relate to the friend who fancied her. If anything I had a problem with two characters, one of them was Taneda, he kind of pissed me off when his worrying and whining at times, but on the whole I liked him. The only one I didn't like was that short haired female friend (the short hair was the first warning sign) she was just a flat out bitch in every regard, that chubby guy should have kicked her to the curb :evil: .

So err yeah in conclusion it just comes down to how much you can identify. Sorry I'll use any excuse to discuss Solanin

 

[fabio de lunatico]

Yesterday after chucking my Nuku Nuku DVD onto the funeral pyre I scanned my shelves for something else I hadn't watched that wasn't too lengthy. I found Howl's Moving Castle, a disc I must have owned for a good four years but had never watched past the first ten minutes or so. I think it's because I just wasn't prepared for a pensioner as the lead character... for shame.

Howl's Moving Castle - 7/10

This is probably the first Ghibli film that I had to consult a plot synopsis to completely understand. Perhaps my mind isn't in tune with this fantasy dream logic bollocks, or perhaps 20 years of playing video games has gradually eroded my mental faculties - I dunno. But really, the plot is all over the place, and at times Howl's seems to indulge in whimsy for whimsy's sake. Not that there's not necessarily anything wrong with that; indeed some of my favourite moments in the film were the most whimsical. What kept me watching was the beautiful art and animation, which helped create just enough of that enchanting Ghibli magic, and the charming, endearing characters.

Calcifer totally stole the show btw.

 

[Rui]

Naoki (thanks for reminding me of his name) is completely overlooked in the anime

He doesn't fare much better in the manga but the chapter all about him did help

Japanese CD prices do make me cry, but I would shed a few tears for that. But do YesAsia not do their "no VAT" thing any more? No tax or fees would lessen the pain.

They don't advertise it any more (perhaps they were rapped on the knuckles?) and don't seem to re-ship within the UK nowdays like they used to, but I will say that I have never been charged extra taxes on a Yesasia order to date. Including orders for PS2s, a PS3 slim, blu-ray box sets, special editions of games - and a steady flow of hundreds of pounds of CDs every month. Everything mysteriously glides in safely.

And if you buy two CDs, you get a terrible cheap capsule toy as a present! Who can resist?

This is what I found as well. At various points I hated Takumi, Shin, Hachi, and even occasionally Nana, but they were all able to redeem themselves either through their actions or the warmth of their personality. And importantly, it never felt contrived, as if I was being manipulated into liking them. Having said that, I'm still having trouble working Takumi out. Is he a selfish, calculating, arrogant bastard or does he really care? I've heard a few people say they hate this show because they hate some of the characters, but for me it's those flaws that make them so compelling.

Even Shin?!

Takumi was probably the character I was slowest of all to warm to, but I did come to gradually respect him. He also benefits from having his own side story chapter in the manga which helped me understand him a bit better. If I'd been told a few years ago that I'd end up not hating him, I wouldn't have believed it...

Lastly, what's with all these Blue Seed fans crawling out of the woodwork? I'm scared, Mummy /o\

You should be! If I hadn't been importing it back in the old days I'd probably be less than impressed now, as its flashy animation for the time will seem weaker now and the story format has been done to death better. But at the time I really enjoyed watching it and it still has that nostalgic buzz, even if Sakura was rather annoying. Though I like to pretend the OAVs never happened.

And Kusanagi is cool, right? Even if he is a bit weird ;_;

As for Solanin, well yeah I've gotta say a large part of does come down to how much you relate to the characters. Personally, I instantly found the characters very relatable. I orginally read Solanin during a time in my life when I myself was struggling to make the transition into the "real world" and find my place in it... ah who am kidding I still am going through that (and pretty much concluded the conventional idea of an "ordinary life" isn't for me), so for me it was no doubt more poignant than it otherwise could have been.

That makes sense; in my case I never went to college at all, and had a very strange life at times, so the culture clash the characters were going through felt alien and unconvincing. I'm glad I was right about it being a lot more meaningful to people who could relate

Meiko really was sweet though. Such a lovely, expressive face.

R

 

[Animefreak17]

naruto protect the water fall village - this short movie is more of a long episode i saw it the first time and it was average.
6/10

 

[fabio de lunatico]

I will say that I have never been charged extra taxes on a Yesasia order to date. Including orders for PS2s, a PS3 slim, blu-ray box sets, special editions of games - and a steady flow of hundreds of pounds of CDs every month. Everything mysteriously glides in safely.

While that sounds very reassuring, I've never had the best of luck with customs. So were YesAsia previously not actually paying the VAT but just marking packages down? It's been a while since I ordered from them, and the only thing I can remember is that the packages were reshipped from Middlesex or west London or somewhere.

Even Shin?!

Well, he's such a shameless manwhore! Although, not that I care much to admit it, my dislike could be rooted in jealousy; when I was his age I couldn't get older women to shag me for free, let alone for money. I found it a little hard to swallow but perhaps it isn't just Japanese men who "value" youth a little too much... Overall, though, he's a cool guy.

I don't remember too much about Blue Seed other than that I wanted the "good guys" to lose and/or die. That's never a good sign. As for the animation I thought it was pretty standard 90s TV fare; that is, not very good. It sort of made me glad that 3x3 Eyes, short changed as it was, never made the jump from decently-budgeted OVA to television.

 

[Rui]

While that sounds very reassuring, I've never had the best of luck with customs. So were YesAsia previously not actually paying the VAT but just marking packages down? It's been a while since I ordered from them, and the only thing I can remember is that the packages were reshipped from Middlesex or west London or somewhere.

Yes, they now come in directly from their Asian warehouses rather than from their dodgy UK base. Usually they are marked down, but I cannot imagine my PS3 didn't have its VAT prepaid as it was delivered by DHL in a huge Sony box, and correctly declared as a PS3. Since customs officials are unlikely to realistically believe a standard CD can cost over £30, marking down the smaller packages is probably all they do. I try not to question their methods too deeply and just enjoy the results *>_>*.

Well, he's such a shameless manwhore! Although, not that I care much to admit it, my dislike could be rooted in jealousy; when I was his age I couldn't get older women to shag me for free, let alone for money. I found it a little hard to swallow but perhaps it isn't just Japanese men who "value" youth a little too much... Overall, though, he's a cool guy.

Haha, fair enough! I suppose as a perverted old lady myself that was more endearing than annoying... Shin and Yasu are probably my favourite NANA guys.

I don't remember too much about Blue Seed other than that I wanted the "good guys" to lose and/or die. That's never a good sign.

I've had that feeling before about things and it does tend to be fatal, so I won't push. My other half watched my copy of Blue Seed for the first time relatively recently and thought it was great (and he does like 3x3 Eyes a great deal) so I can't really explain why it clicked for us and not you

R

 

[fabio de lunatico]

Thanks for the YesAsia advice. Now I just need something to order with it so I can get free shipping... I might wait for a month or so and order it with a calendar, which is useful because they'll have to send the items separately.

I've had that feeling before about things and it does tend to be fatal, so I won't push. My other half watched my copy of Blue Seed for the first time relatively recently and thought it was great (and he does like 3x3 Eyes a great deal) so I can't really explain why it clicked for us and not you

The most obvious difference is that Blue Seed is mostly an episodic monster-of-the-week show, while 3x3 Eyes has more of a serial plot. I don't know where the Blue Seed manga was serialised but to me it feels much like a shounen action show, whereas 3x3 Eyes has a darker tone.

I can't deny that my love for 3x3 Eyes has a lot to do with nostalgia, but I've always been captivated by Yakumo's epic journey to help Pai become human and regain his own humanity, their sweet romance, the dark occult themes, the high quality art and animation, Kaoru Wada's chilling score, and so on. The OVA format means the violence is pleasingly visceral too =)

 

[SciFiBoy]

Summer Wars - 10/10 - excellent film, well worth watching

(also hello as I have not been on this site for ages!)

 

[Animefreak17]

naruto movie 1 ninja in the land of snow- first time i saw naruto in his first movie i was so existed to watch it, the graphics was good and the shadowing in the movie was awesome, the story was good too. i know this movies a filler and has nothing to do with the main series but hey it should of been.
8/10

 

[Ian Wolf]

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor: The TV Series

I really enjoyed this. It was funny, the characters are likeable (especially Tylor himself), I really liked the music, and there are also good dramatic moments such as when Tylor is given the responsibility of been given control of the whole fleet during the attack against the Raalgon and Dom in episode 23.

My only down point would be that there is quite a lot of flashing light effects which make it not exactly viewer friendly (see Pokemon Shock).

As to the question of whether or not Tylor is a lucky idiot or actually a genius, I'm still unsure about it. Hopefully the OVA may sort this out, but I doubt it.

Score: 9/10

 

[fabio de lunatico]

I'm convinced Tylor is just a lucky idiot, but that's okay because it just makes him that much more loveable. Such a great show, a genuine classic.

Coincidentally, I resumed watching the OVAs yesterday, starting from the second disc. I don't think they're as good as the TV series, and we're definitely not going to get any closure, but more Tylor can't be bad.

 

[Ian Wolf]

I'm convinced Tylor is just a lucky idiot, but that's okay because it just makes him that much more loveable. Such a great show, a genuine classic.

He probably is an idiot, but looking at the character bio on the DVD extras, it says that he is a university graduate, so he can't be entirely stupid.

 

[fabio de lunatico]

They must get that from the novels, as I don't recall Tylor's past being touched upon at all in the anime itself. I reckon there are plenty of stupid university graduates, though