Inuyasha:
If you follow me on Twitter, you've heard plenty of me mooning over this show. It's everything I love about anime—action + romance (leaning more to action, though), demons and ultimate evil, humor, and feudal Japan. It's also pretty clean, and the translators opted to use tamer words for the "swearing."
Bleach:
I'm a huge fan of action-based anime, and Bleach hits all the right notes. I've enjoyed it immensely, though Season 3 (or there abouts) is, uh, not my favorite. I haven't read the manga, but I have a feeling it's filler. Some people may not be a fan of the bloodiness, but from the anime I've seen it's about middle-of-the-road gory.
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood:
I saw maybe half of Full Metal Alchemist, the first series, and decided I'd like to see what Brotherhood has to offer. Brotherhood is faithful to the story from the manga, whereas the first series followed its own story. I really enjoyed the first one, and I'm interested to see the differences.
Ah! My Goddess!:
I wanted to watch this series when I was a teen, but moved to Utah RIGHT BEFORE my friends were about to start it. So I missed it, which was very traumatic for 14-year-old me. I bought the first season, and it's totally adorable. It's about a shy, short college boy who can't get a date. He accidentally calls the Goddess hotline and ends up getting wish. He wishes for a Goddess to stay with him.
Vampire Knight:
I just started watching this, and holy crap it made me like vampires again! Anime is a brilliant medium for vampires, since that "otherwordly perfection" can really be achieved. Let's face it, putting white make-up on a human just doesn't quite cut it.
So far, Vampire Knight is juicy, gothic, and creepy. It's alluring and dangerous. It's everything vampires should be.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya:
I bought the first three manga, and I kinda wish I had them all now. Okay, I hate that I don't have more to read RIGHT NOW. It's narrated by a boy named Kyon, but the story is really about this crazy girl named Haruhi, who wants the world to be much more spectacular than it is. I love it.
So...yeah. It might look I'm on a crazy anime binge about now, which would be entirely true. I won't deny it. I'm far too used to people calling me crazy to be swayed by those looks you're giving me. Now, off to start reading Fruits Basket, you know, since I can't edit until my kids are in bed anyway. Wee!
I heard Fruits Basket was fantastic. Have you read/watched Utena at all? That was one I always wanted to check out, but as you've said many-a-time, anime just wasn't as widely available when we were young as it is now.
ReplyDeleteI read a few of Fruits Basket a while ago, and Marmalade Boy, and a handful of others, but I really got into ChoBits and never got to finish it. :(
ReplyDeleteI also have the pilot of Inuyasha on iTunes because I read a few of those back in jr. high, too. There's just something about anime and manga...
And they're nothing to be ashamed of, even in such high doses. LOL. At least you aren't admitting to being a huge fan of something like, oh I don't know, Digimon. *whispers* I LOVED Digimon when it was on and haven't been able to find all of it online yet.
Have a great Monday!
I could never get into manga but I'm so happy it's finally acceptable in most geek circles to be out and proud about watching anime in truck loads. Domestic shows have been going downhill since Avatar The Last Airbender finished.
ReplyDeleteA shame Fruits Basket only has one season in the anime! They barely scratched the surface of the manga I found out.
Kristan, I have seen some of Utena! Man, it was very weird and SUPER funny. I wish I had the rest of it. I think I saw maybe the first 15-20 episodes.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, I never saw Digimon, but I did like Pokemon, heh. It was just so cute.
SM Schmidt, it is so weird to me how much more people know about anime now! Everyone teased me when I was younger, and there was maybe three other people who even knew what I was talking about.
ReplyDeleteI think the teasing comes from not hanging around other people who actually watch it. They don't really understand it so they think its stupid or childish.
ReplyDeleteAnd it helps in college at least to be in a major where it's unacceptable to not watch it.
I haven't really gotten into anime yet but not many were watching it back when I was in high school. First movie was on a drama club trip to State Drama competition where one person decided we would watch Princess Mononoke (however it's spelled).
ReplyDeleteBut my BF loves anime. He goes to anime conventions and to parties where they act out anime couples. He says I remind him of "Oh My Goddess" and the main female character. I'm probably going to get to watch it some day in the future. Will have to watch some since he loves them so much.
I don't watch a whole bunch of anime. Recently my little sister got hooked on Naruto (OMG!). I've watched a little bit. Not really a fan.
ReplyDeleteBut you are right about the anime used to create a GOOD vampire. R-Patz isn't really cutting it! :)
Fruits Basket = Definition of AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteI only wish the anime went as far as the manga did. Oh well--the manga is great in itself.
BTW, have you ever seen Scrapped Princess? That's another awesome series. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. I think you'd really enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteYou HAVE been busy! Some of those ones I haven't seen ~ gonna have to check 'em out!
ReplyDeleteI must admit I know nothing about anime! Is it similar to Manga?(Pardon my ignorance!)
ReplyDelete"It's no secret I'm a fan of anime," you say. My question: is it helps you in a creative way...?
ReplyDeleteI love Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It is way better than the original Full Metal. I can't believe there's only 1 episode left, makes me a sad panda.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Bleach until about episode 108 or so...I've been thinking of starting over and rewatching it through so I can maybe continue watching.
Others I've loved and would watch again: Trinity Blood, Elfin Lied, Witchblade, Fate/Stay Night just to name a few.
Talli, anime is animated TV and movies from Japan. Manga is the graphic novels.
ReplyDeleteWebmaster, I think writers pull inspiration from everywhere, so I'm sure it influences me in some ways. I don't specifically sit down and watch anime to help myself get in a creative mood or something like that. I watch it for fun! I genuinely love the medium.
But it is a medium of storytelling, and as a storytelling myself I feel like I learn things from it.
I remember when I was absolutely in love with Inuyasha a while ago -- in fact, I still have a crush on human!Inuyasha. However, I never did finish the anime. I'm interested to know about the ending.
ReplyDeleteAnd Bleach: the drawing is gorgeous, especially for a shounen manga/anime. But I also stopped sometime after Soul Society and haven't picked it up again.
Full Metal Alchemist! I haven't watched the first one, but I've read some of the manga, and I'm interested in the Brotherhood version, because the graphics are so, so gorgeous. :)
"We're sorry, currently Hulu's video library can only be streamed within the United States."
ReplyDeleteSigh.
Anyway. I still need to watch Full Metal Alchemist (need to get my hands on it is the problem). And you, I believe, still haven't seen Cowboy Bebop have you? At this point, I think I'm hyping it so much you'll hate it, but YOU STILL HAVE TO SEE IT!
I DO want to see Cowboy Bebop, Adam! I'm just having a little trouble finding it legally, as I'm sure you can understand. And I'm not quite ready to buy the DVDs, heh.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand, Natalie. There's a standalone movie of Cowboy Bebop that you could maybe rent, to see if you like the characters. I saw it first, and it doesn't ruin anything of the series (except maybe telling you which characters are destined to be major ones, but then the DVD box would spoil that too).
ReplyDeleteI couldn't get into Inuyasha. Will probably give it another try some day. I love Bleach. It was the show that started me on anime. I loved the first series of Full Metal Alchemist, and tried to watch Brotherhood, but the first episode was awful. I'm reliably informed that it gets better after that.
ReplyDeleteI loved Haruhi! Partly because I love interesting concepts and the anime is shown out of chronological order. There's a Haruhi movie out in Japan now. I think I'm going ot watch it on SUnday. Not sure if it's available in the West yet.
I also like One Piece, Naruto and Fairy Tail, which are all ongoing. In completed series I really like Code Geass, Claymore, Death Note and Full Metal Panic. But my fave is Blood+! Ooooh, Haji! (I have so many anime crushes it's embarassing!)
You can try animefreak.tv, but I'm not sure if that works in the West. Also there's always megavideo, if you don't mind the 72 minute limit.
have you seen Laputa? the anime film? its really good. I watch loads like The Girl who leapt through time, Howls moving castle,Whisper of the Heart and loads more!
ReplyDeleteGolden Owl, funny you ask. I am watching Laputa RIGHT NOW with my kids! (Or Castle In The Sky, if we're going English.) No joke. And Howl is one of my favorites:)
ReplyDeleteI've only recently started to get into Anime, I don't know whether I was just a bit slow about it, but it took ages to take hold over here. So I've just treated myself to The Girl who Stepped/Jumped (I forget) through time & Millennium Actress because I thought they looked pretty cool. So I'm not looking for the time to sit down and watch them.
ReplyDeleteMy first introduction was, as may have been the case for a lot of people was Spirited Away, which I thought was okay then made myself watch again, then really enjoyed it!
yey! mine too, I love Sheeta in Laputa. U have really inspired me with all of your fab anime pics! i borrowed a how to draw manga book from our school library and I love drawing my book characters and things.
ReplyDeleteI think i'm getting better at it...
sort of
Fruits Basket and Inuyasha are amazing.
ReplyDeleteAnd I swear to God, you'll love Ouran High School Host Club. No, really.
If you like heart-pounding animes that make you go OMG and gibber like an idiot to everyone, you must see/read Death Note. It's a requirement. And if you liked DN, you'll love Code Geass.
Also, if you like Inuyasha, you'll like Soul Eater. Probably.
No, see, this is what happens when an anime nerd hears anime being discussed.
Izzy, I've seen Ouran and LOVED it! Thank you thank you for the other recs, I love adding to my list:)
ReplyDeleteI actually despise The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and like its chibified version called The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya. Have you seen Soul Eater. It's more humor then action but there is a lot of action too since there are loud non-sneaky ninjas, scythe wielding girls, shinigami, afreet eggs, Crona who no one's sure whether it's a boy or girl, and a moon with blood in its mouth. Maybe you should read the manga first since everyone's saying it's so much better then the anime.
ReplyDelete