Shounen action anime?

Miaka-chan

Stand User
Me again :lol: Thought it best to start a new thread for this, as it's different to the other one ^__^

Anyway, here is the question: I want to know if I've overlooked any shounen based action anime, as I need a new one to watch.
Here's a list of what I've seen:

Hunter x Hunter
Yu Yu Hakusho
Inuyasha
DBZ (hated GT)
Dragon Ball
Full Metal Alchemist (does this count?)
Bleach (stopped at ep. 36, got bored)
Shaman King (stopped at ep. 36, got bored)
Groove Adventure Rave (gave up after 26 eps)
Prince of Tennis (not really action, but kind of)
One Piece
Saint Seiya (sorta shounen action!)

Naruto isn't even up for debate, as I really don't want to even start on it, unless someone out there can give me a totally objective view of it, without even a hint of fanboy-ism :wink:

The only MUST is a minimum of 40 episodes: doesn't matter how old, as long as the characters aren't all ugly (must be at least 1 good looking character :wink: ).

I know it's a hard one, but I just can't seem to find anything that fits the bill and was hoping you lovely people here might be able to help me out ^__^

Thanks!
 
Star Ocean Ex is a good fighting one
Orphan is magic based fighting with a good story
For gunfights check out Gun Grave

How could you get bored of bleach trust me you have to watch the Ichigo Renji and Ichigo Kenpachi and of course the Ichigo Byakuya fights there awesome
 
It's sad that I feel such a heavy burden in recommending Naruto. It's a good series, but for some reason people get it into their heads that it either has be amazing or rubbish. It's neither; just a good solid action anime with a lot of fighting and angst. If you enjoyed One Piece, Hunter x Hunter and Yu Yu Hakusho then you should have fun with Naruto. It's a lot more interesting than Bleach too. Check out some clips on YouTube or something. It's the gaping hole on your list there! ;)

Haijime no Ippo (Fighting Spirit) is a shounen action anime about a young boxer working his way up from rank amatuer. Again, it follows the formula of the "underdog" tightly, but is filled with likable personalities and tense, emotion action based in the real world. I'm not sure if it covers your bishounen minimum requirement, but its worth your time regardless.
IPPO OP 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap0zJeeqB6k

I've heard good things about Hikaru no Go and Yakitate Japan! but their bizarre premises have thus far scared me away. (Hikaru no Go is based around the board game 'Go' and Yakitate Japan is the DBZ of bread making -- yes, bread making)

Also - remember the Death Note anime will be appearing soon (IIRC airs in Japan tomorrow).
 
D.Gray-Man, Death Note, Buso Renkin and Hitman Reborn! come out tomorrow, be sure to long amongst them and pick one, though I doubt you'd like any, but they are new Shounen anime adaptations.
 
McIcy said:
Star Ocean Ex is a good fighting one
Orphan is magic based fighting with a good story
For gunfights check out Gun Grave

How could you get bored of bleach trust me you have to watch the Ichigo Renji and Ichigo Kenpachi and of course the Ichigo Byakuya fights there awesome
40 episodes minimum :wink: They don't come into play, but Gungrave is something I've been thinking about and I've seen Orphen (it's not a shounen based fight anime. By that I mean it has to follow a formula of weak characters getting stronger throughout the series - which is why there's a minimum episode requirement - plenty of fisty-cuffs, or super powers build up etc etc).

Rukario said:
D.Gray-Man, Death Note, Buso Renkin and Hitman Reborn! come out tomorrow, be sure to long amongst them and pick one, though I doubt you'd like any, but they are new Shounen anime adaptations.
D. Gray-man is one I'm waiting for, along with Death Note, but I don't think they fill the criteria!

Paul said:
It's sad that I feel such a heavy burden in recommending Naruto. It's a good series, but for some reason people get it into their heads that it either has be amazing or rubbish. It's neither; just a good solid action anime with a lot of fighting and angst. If you enjoyed One Piece, Hunter x Hunter and Yu Yu Hakusho then you should have fun with Naruto. It's a lot more interesting than Bleach too. Check out some clips on YouTube or something. It's the gaping hole on your list there! ;)

Haijime no Ippo (Fighting Spirit) is a shounen action anime about a young boxer working his way up from rank amatuer. Again, it follows the formula of the "underdog" tightly, but is filled with likable personalities and tense, emotion action based in the real world. I'm not sure if it covers your bishounen minimum requirement, but its worth your time regardless.
IPPO OP 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap0zJeeqB6k

I've heard good things about Hikaru no Go and Yakitate Japan! but their bizarre premises have thus far scared me away. (Hikaru no Go is based around the board game 'Go' and Yakitate Japan is the DBZ of bread making -- yes, bread making)

Also - remember the Death Note anime will be appearing soon (IIRC airs in Japan tomorrow).

I'm collecting Hikaru no Go on official region 1 DVD (volume 4 is on it's way ^__^).
I don't fancy Haijime no Ippo, don't like the look of the characters, but if I get too desperate who knows :lol:

Thanks for being the one to talk about Naruto. Is the boxset just released value for money? I think I might take a peek on YouTube just incase. I just never liked the look of the main character - are there any "cute" guys in it? (you should know my tastes by now :wink: ).


Finally: Beet the Vandel Buster: anyone seen it? It fits the bill of 40 episodes and sounds about right, but I don't know if it's worth £15 a volume (being released on region 1 DVD soon).

Thanks everyone ^__^
 
Miaka-chan said:
Anyway, here is the question: I want to know if I've overlooked any shounen based action anime, as I need a new one to watch.
Here's a list of what I've seen:

<snip>

Naruto isn't even up for debate, as I really don't want to even start on it, unless someone out there can give me a totally objective view of it, without even a hint of fanboy-ism :wink:

Positives: Naruto is a good anime. When I watched it i enjoyed it. Its fights are exciting, the setting is interesting and its got a brilliant cast of characters. When it surprises you it is sublime.
Negatives: Naruto has some of the worst excesses of highly-commercial, manga-derived, anime. The core issue is that Naruto is miserly about rationing out its charms. 5 minute recaps at the start of every episode, stretched out fights. Rationed animation quality. And the worst of it- really bad filler.

I can't honestly say that I have truly enjoyed much Naruto past episode 80. There was a stretch when Naruto did a lot of filler or dull material from around 81 -> 110. It was Okay, but Naruto from about episode 30-80 was outstanding. It got back on its footing from around 110 -> 135 but it wasn't as captivating as befire. But Naruto went on hiatus from about ep 135 to date. Yes thats a year of filler that has nothing to do with the manga. (think Dragonball GT). I haven't bothered to watch any of the filler arc, I will wait until I start seeing OMFG!!!! Naruto Fillers Over!!!! threads around the net.

The Verdict: Naruto might be best enjoyed as manga. The core story, characters and setting are good. When the anime drifts from it, it is remarkably weak. Its annoying because Naruto ropes you in quickly, by about ep 20 it is starting to show what it is capable of. But I haven't watched much in a long time.

Its especially annoying, because this seems to be the future of these lengthy anime adaptions. We are not going to get much Hunter X Hunter or One Piece stick-to-the-story stuff anymore.

Miaka-chan said:
I know it's a hard one, but I just can't seem to find anything that fits the bill and was hoping you lovely people here might be able to help me out ^__^

I am just going to enumerate some titles, to be complete. I haven't seen a lot of Shounen anime except the basics. I will restrict myself in general from mentioning sports anime or mecha anime or toy/card-pimping anime (whatever-mon, gheyblade, B-Dammit). There is often a significant overlap between conventional shounen action anime and these titles. There are also superpopular family friendly anime like Lupin III & Blackjack that I wont include.

Okay other titles you have missed:
- Beet the Vandel Buster & Beet Excelleion (sp?)
- Black Cat (I think)
- Konjiki no Gash Bell (Zatch Bell)
- Kekkaishi (due to air soon - I only mention it because it's manga is meant to be a particularly good execution of the shounen action formula)
- Flame of Recca
- Marchen Awakens Romance
- Get Backers
- Does Initial D count? (good luck finding an attractive character though, even the 'hot' chicks looked like something I would chew an arm off for)
- Theres also B'T X, but I watched 5 minutes before I broke out laughing (theres a saint seiya connection here)

And just because, I will mention Yakitate Japan and Hikaru no Go. Yakitate is a bit nuts, Naruto with bread-no-jutsu, but Hikaru no Go is Go sports anime. The verdict on Yakitate Japan seems to be that it was not as good as it could have been, but Hikaru no Go is sublime - it never puts a foot wrong. I should also probably mention some of the other great sports anime just in passing: Slam Dunk, and Touch, though that is wandering off topic.

As recommendations go, I would be most interested in Kekkaishi when it airs, and Gash Bell which seems to have had early licensing & TV edit only, spoil what could have been a very popular anime. It is rarely mentioned on fan sites, but the few people speak positively about it.

BTW Gungrave isn't shounen anime by any stretch, though it is excellent. Fantastic cast and pacing, possibly the best treatment of backstory that I have ever seen (other noteworthy backstory anime is Fantastic Children a title that is close to shounen adventure anime, but is short of your episode count)
 
@Laughing Manji: Thanks ^__^
Have you seen Beet the Vandel Buster? as it's being released on region 1 DVD in January (or December or something!) and I quite liked the sound of it, but it's a big investment; 10 DVDs @ £15 each and wanted to know if it would be worth while.

I've seen Flame of Recca and Get Backers (the former fits the bill the latter doesn't, but loved them both) and Initial D is something I'm 50/50 about, as sometimes I feel like buying it and sometimes I think Nah!
Black Cat is also being released in the next couple of months or so, so it's another one I'd have to be sure about before investing and I've heard a few bad things about it?!

The rest I'll look into, but I've never fancied the bread making one :?
Hikaru no Go is, as I mentioned, something I'm buying on region 1 (volume 4 is on it's way as I type!) and Naruto is something you've almost put me right off!
Are the fillers in Naruto obvious to people who haven't read the manga? or is it so off track (story wise) that it's blatantly obvious to everyone?
 
Don't touch sports series, they plague you with things you can do IRL.

Marchen Awakens Romance is fun, you should really try that.
 
Miaka-chan said:
@Laughing Manji: Thanks ^__^
Have you seen Beet the Vandel Buster? as it's being released on region 1 DVD in January (or December or something!) and I quite liked the sound of it, but it's a big investment; 10 DVDs @ £15 each and wanted to know if it would be worth while.

The word on Beet the Vandel Buster is that it is fairly standard Shonen fare but fun. Given a choice between say Kenshin, Bleach, Inu Yasha, Hunter X Hunter or Beet, Beet would probably be your last choice but its fun all the same. Its probably truer to its manga roots than say Naruto. Its fans are a bit apologetic about it in the company of Hunter X Hunter or One Piece fans, but they enjoy it all the same. You don't see Beet recommended a lot, but it is enjoyed, and you dont see many negative comments. A good source of info might be the forums of the fansubber who did it - its probably the biggest community of Beet fans.

I haven't seen it myself, but Beet the Vandel Buster is a title that exists only to offer more choices for fans of Shounen action anime. It seems to succeed and execute well on the formula.

One caveat: Illumitoon are a new company, formed from some ex-FUNimation staff. Generally new companies can have significant teething problems early on. Wait for disc reviews on AnimeOnDVD first - they tend to smoke out early disc issues very well.

Miaka-chan said:
I've seen Flame of Recca and Get Backers (the former fits the bill the latter doesn't, but loved them both) and Initial D is something I'm 50/50 about, as sometimes I feel like buying it and sometimes I think Nah!

MAR and Flame of Recca are related.

The fanbase for Initial D is massive, but I get the impression that while other shounen anime recycle each other, Initial D recycles itself. There is at its heart, some kind of fundamental addictive quality that resonates with the too-young-to-drive, old-enough-to-dream-about-it PS3 generation

Miaka-chan said:
Black Cat is also being released in the next couple of months or so, so it's another one I'd have to be sure about before investing and I've heard a few bad things about it?!

I have heard that it is kind of stunningly generic shounen action anime. At its heart, the Shounen Action anime has an elegant commercial beauty to it: every 2 years you can repackage the same format to a totally new audience of 8 year olds. The japanese aren't dumb, they have been doing this a long time so they at least try to make these shows entertaining, so that they can retain the manga fans or whatever or maximise the audience outside the core demographic. In Black Cat, I think they forgot to give the show its own identity. Or at least thats the report of the few people who have seen it or the manga. I have never seen a good report about it.

Miaka-chan said:
The rest I'll look into, but I've never fancied the bread making one :?

Some people find it a riot. Its at least unique.

Miaka-chan said:
Hikaru no Go is, as I mentioned, something I'm buying on region 1 (volume 4 is on it's way as I type!)

Hikaru no Go, just owns so much. You find yourself getting drawn into the Go aspect very easily, the characters themselves are really interesting and the whole Hikaru/Sai thing is an excellent innovation.

Miaka-chan said:
and Naruto is something you've almost put me right off!
Are the fillers in Naruto obvious to people who haven't read the manga? or is it so off track (story wise) that it's blatantly obvious to everyone?

To your questions: Yes and Yes. The fillers are very obvious. Naruto has a continuous story that is more obvious than many other shows of its type (even One Piece has distinct open&closed arcs). Then suddenly they went straight into lots of (65 so far?) episodic 'missions' that don't advance the story, and they may have even put in some embellishments that mess with the story just to try and retain some ratings (secondary characters have been 'powered up' far in advance of where they will be when the manga resumes).

The thing with Naruto was that while it was following the manga it was doing it very very closely - they probably used the manga directly for storyboards - camera angles between the anime & manga are the same, and many fans were able to work out a 'chapter consumption rate'. The fillers also started off precisely after the main confrontation that the show had been building up to. The fillers are often just bad. You can tell you are watching filler because the quality is crap. In the absence of manga they have almost no good storywriters, or people good at improvising original episodes. Probably because all of those people are doing the movies (where they absolutely need the creativity).

Basically they are committing all the 'filler' sins: mediocre original writing, breaking the manga canon (which will screw continuity when they resume) and making a massive narrative discontinuity with the whole plot directly after the moment that the fans had been waiting for or expecting for nearly 3 years. Naruto is a fine show, when it bothers to be Naruto. But I wouldn't buy that filler, I plan to not even watch it.

Don't let it put you off Naruto being proper Naruto. Be happy to watch it up to the point it goes south. Then stop. Even average naruto when its on form is better than the good episodes of many other shows. Oh yeah, the Naruto box set is indeed good value, but wait until you have a second one - episode 13 is right in the middle of a fight.

Oh yeah, I scratched my head and thought of a few other shounen shows, I think these qualify. Both are fansub only though:

Onmyou Taisenki - this is a toy commercial. An anime series designed to sell action figures or something. The fact that many fans know this but still watch it is a good hallmark of shounen action anime.

Lord of Lords Ryu Knight - the TV series. There were a few OVAs but they were acknowledged to be pretty weak. This is a fantasy mecha show with odd fantasy-like mecha designs. The guys have nearly finished it, and I am tempted to get into it fairl soon.

I am not sure if this technically counts as Shounen anime in the same sense as the others, but Eureka 7 is excellent. It doesn't recycle the formula, but its an excellent show (in fact its starring point is how fresh it feels). Better than everything else mentioned so far.
 
I would highly recomend Get Backers, well at least this is shounen according to my knowledge.
it has a total of 49 episodes, has cool fight scenes, comedy and cast of great characters!

also Miaka-Chan there are what ''others'' state, that this show is full of ''cute guys''. -_- i felt un-comfortable typing that lmao.
but its a great anime, i'm waiting for my Getbackers-Season 1 DVD thinpack boxset to be released
 
Ninja Boy! said:
I would highly recomend Get Backers, well at least this is shounen according to my knowledge.
it has a total of 49 episodes, has cool fight scenes, comedy and cast of great characters!

also Miaka-Chan there are what ''others'' state, that this show is full of ''cute guys''. -_- i felt un-comfortable typing that lmao.
but its a great anime, i'm waiting for my Getbackers-Season 1 DVD thinpack boxset to be released
I've seen Getbackers and it's not what I class as a typical shounen fight/action anime, as the average age of the main characters is over 16 and they don't have to go through the building up of powers scenario the average shounen show has the characters do!
I love Getbackers for very shallow reason (cute guys :wink: ).

***

I watched 8 episodes of Naruto today (let's leave out my method of viewing shall we :lol: ) and so far it's pretty snores-ville! Everyone is unappealing and I can't gel with anyone. The only thing that will keep me watching anymore is Naruto's seiyuu in the hopes she does as fine a job with Naruto, as she did with Gon Freecs!

@ Laughing Manji: Thanks again for all your help. I may try out Beet if I'm completely stuck, as I really don't think Naruto is for me. I need to be ale to "gel" almost instantly with at least one character in a long running show, or I just can't enjoy myself!
Is Lord of Lords Ryu Knight similar to Saint Seiya?
 
Miaka-chan said:
@ Laughing Manji: Thanks again for all your help. I may try out Beet if I'm completely stuck, as I really don't think Naruto is for me. I need to be ale to "gel" almost instantly with at least one character in a long running show, or I just can't enjoy myself!

And in Naruto, that character has to be Naruto. The cast is freakin' huge, and Naruto is the only one you see consistently enough of. There are some excellent side characters and some brilliant enemies (fan favourites Rock Lee & Gaara), but Naruto is the only one that you see enough of to continuously relate to.

You will notice over time that most of the other characters are jutsu-superspecialists. Naruto doesn't really have an in-built super-specialty (modifications by the 4th hokage notwithstanding - but they are more trouble than they are worth) and he is not smart, but its his prankster morals that actually make him a canny fighter. Much of the sheer pleasure in the show is when he pulls of an uncharacteristically good move just by reflex thinking. Basically all of his abilities are learned.

Miaka-chan said:
Is Lord of Lords Ryu Knight similar to Saint Seiya?

I really can't say. Its just that Triad don't translate crap anime, and I have heard some good reviews from some pretty hardcore anime reviewers. I also haven't seen any Saint Seiya, and the 2 shows aired chronologically far enough apart for there to not have been a direct influence.

My guess is that it is closer to RPG game-anime. It may not have been a direct license (they may have made a game afterward though), but its a high fantasy setting, the hero characters can be conveniently pigeon-holed into readily identifiable classes and they got some wierd-isms. This fantasy land has one bloody big sword sticking out of the ground (several miles high) which marks where a great evil has been sealed (not killed). The weapon of choice in this land is some very odd-anachronistic looking mecha, the mecha themselves seem to have 'class-style' designs even.

In fact, the word on the series is that its the mecha designs that will make or break the show for you. Some people find them too odd, or stupid looking. Mecha fans in particular seem to be quite vulnerable. Its a show I want to get into at some stage.
 
I don't think i can recommend anything different to what everyone else has however hard i think.
But i will say that i don't think Yakitate Japan is quite DBZ with bread. I think it's a fairly decent series, the storyline isn't nonexistent, the humour can be a bit slapstick but it has it's own style. It actually also kids you into learning quite a few things about bread, lol. Bishie wise it doesn't do too bad either, it has a fair mix of characters, and it really made me want to be a baker for a while, lol.

I'm not sure if you've watched much more Naruto, but to answer your question about what it is like for it's bishies i would say there arn't any real hotties. There are a few that may grow on you if you watch more of the series though, but i think that also depends upon how much you get into their personal stories. I think thats also the key to enjoying the series as a whole, because it's very character driven.
With the filler i think it does get pretty obvious it's filler as it goes on (and on and on), but it does have some good points and i probably wouldn't have known it was filler for a while if i hadn't been told, but also i don't think you would miss much if you did just end up skipping the whole thing
 
McIcy said:
How about Fighting Beauty Woolan, about the female ultimate fighting championchips
Isn't that about women though? Not quite what I had in mind :wink: Cute guys is what I need, which is why I still can't "gel" with Naruto :lol:
 
Miaka-chan said:
McIcy said:
How about Fighting Beauty Woolan, about the female ultimate fighting championchips
Isn't that about women though? Not quite what I had in mind :wink: Cute guys is what I need, which is why I still can't "gel" with Naruto :lol:

That series has an awful reputation. Really ugly, bad animation, and a mediocre plot. Its the kind of show that is designed to cheaply fill a timeslot and get hated by anime fans. On japanese forums for instance this gets horribly trashed, and it escalated when they made a second series.

Basically the fighting is pants, the drama is pants, the sport is pants. The girls are ugly, the animation is worse. It aired at a time slot when tired commuters got home from work and sat down with a Pot Noodle meaning that they couldn't get the remote.
 
Rurouni Kenshin. As good shonen action as there is, really. Samurai action and stuff, bit of comedy, bit of romance, cool characters. Just don't watch after ep62. The fillers begin, and the series ends before it gets back to the manga storyline.
 
Sir Haggis said:
Rurouni Kenshin. As good shonen action as there is, really. Samurai action and stuff, bit of comedy, bit of romance, cool characters. Just don't watch after ep62. The fillers begin, and the series ends before it gets back to the manga storyline.
Kenshin isn't something I class as a typical shounen action anime, which is why it isn't on my list of what I've seen already!
 
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