Anime?

[Vinea]

There was one show I watched a long time ago, called Canaan. It's....insanely dark. I wouldn't be able to watch it again, and I don't remember if it was even actually entertaining. There's Black Butler, the ending of which left me in a similar state as the one you described with Pandora Hearts. The Eden of the East show and sequel movies are very good, and have a good mix of darkness and fun. This is the anime I'm actually going to recommend. I really liked it, and it was really pretty deep.

I'll go and give Canaan a try some time. I'm really attracted to dark-themed shows mainly because of Jigoku Shoujo so yes. All the yes for this. I'm not really sure about what I feel towards the Black Butler though. I've been following the Black Butler manga closely so watching the anime somehow disappointed me. Still, it's probably one of my favorite animes up to date. A friend of mine told me about Eden of the East too, but wasn't able to watch it because... yeah, books. I'll definitely add this in my list though, thanks!

The manga has 15x better plot than the anime, seriously, and really is on par with FMA manga, which, in my opininion, is the greatest manga ever.  Pandora Hearts manga is in my top 3 (2nd or 3rd, can't decide) currently. But the Pandora Hearts anime... well, it's a little meh, and it completely fades in comparison. The most guilty are last 3 episodes, which were the ones to destroy the plot, and were also completely rushed... Read the manga, people, seriously.  Actually... skip watching the anime, it's not that great. Just read the manga. 

The thing is, I've watched the anime first before the manga so I found it enjoyable. But yeah, I found the manga way better than the anime. It was confusing for most of the time, and with the never-ending twists, plus the constant action, I never found the time to rest and take a breath. It's just that good. And the characters are beyond admirable. Even the villain is just too good for his role. I'll most likely reread it again soon.

This is amaaaazing. I actually rewatched today the second season, because I really love this anime, even though the main character is just a kid, and usually that's not the type of anime that I would watch. Also it has really nice plot, which made me continue with Magi manga, even though the manga's art is not that good, and usually I don't watch anime or read manga with art that I don't enjoy. But the plot, the plot is really something in this series. I do enjoy it a lot.

Honestly, I never got to finish the second season because another close friend of mine kept telling me I might just break my laptop in two if I continued it. According to her, there were a lot of character development stuff the anime skipped over, and knowing myself, character development is one of the most important points I want to find in both anime and manga so... I think I'll stick to the manga with this. But the series itself: the plot, the characters, the history, the magic, is deliciously good. Magi is one hell of an adventure.

[Pestis the Spider]

Honestly, I never got to finish the second season because another close friend of mine kept telling me I might just break my laptop in two if I continued it. According to her, there were a lot of character development stuff the anime skipped over, and knowing myself, character development is one of the most important points I want to find in both anime and manga so... I think I'll stick to the manga with this. But the series itself: the plot, the characters, the history, the magic, is deliciously good. Magi is one hell of an adventure.

To be honest, I've never actually read the chapters that were covered by the anime. I rarely do that, to speak the truth, unless I do a reread, as I am more of the anime-watcher than manga-reader. And I just can't stand knowing what's going to happen, when I read manga, because I watched the anime. So I usually just skip the adapted part, and very, very few mangas were an exception. Well, Magi wasn't, because the art is really not nice, and if I had to read through known plot in addition, I would just drop it.

 

And as far as I know Magi adaptation is pretty good and pretty close to the original, and so when I continued with the manga I didn't have any issues like "oh, but according to anime character development, this character shouldn't do that!" or something, so even if they omitted some character development in the anime, I think it probably wasn't anything dramatic. Well, obviously I am not sure, since I haven't read it, but I just feel this way. 

 

And I actually think that season 2 was better than season 1.

 

EDIT: I hope they'll make season 3. Would be awesome. But we're need to wait a while, since they adapt about 100 chapters per one season, and so far there are only about 80 not adapted chapters available. But hopefully, hopefully...

Edited September 11, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[swablueme]

Has anyone mentioned Pandora Hearts, though? The animation is a bit rusty compared to the current shows but the twists and turns and the characterization really brings this anime to my most beloved along with FMA:B. Not to mention the Alice in Wonderland-inspired chains and the manga's bittersweet ending had me feeling conflicted and restless for a week. It's a really good one, I swear it to the chasmfiend prowling somewhere.

 

Manga is amazing and anime is mediocre at best. By the way, Jun is working on a new manga so hopefully chapters of it will be out soon. Crimson shell is also worth a read if you haven't already.

 

Uuugh. The animation for Owari no Seraph. It was actually really nice in the first episode but then suddenly went into a steep downhill after that. That battle scene with the Guren Squad vs Ferid's Group? Horrible. Thank god the soundtracks really nice.

Lol I think we expected it to be SNK tier but it turned out to be full of quality. Manga art is top notch though.

----------------------------------

Currently reading Tokyo Ghoul:Re

Currently watching: MSG Zeta

[nicocoberru]

Pfft. The old Manga vs Anime thing? Hahahahaha. Yeah, I can relate to that. It's annoying when the anime completely veers of course from the manga. Yes, Ao no Exorcist, I'm talking to you. No anime, I still haven't forgiven you.

Has anyone mentioned Pandora Hearts, though? The animation is a bit rusty compared to the current shows but the twists and turns and the characterization really brings this anime to my most beloved along with FMA:B.

I swear, everytime I ask for reccomendations FMA Brotherhood would always appear. One day, I swear, one day I'll watch it.

But yeah, other than those, other favorites of mine include Hajime no Ippo, Chihayafuru, Hunter X Hunter, Gangsta, Saiyuki, Daiya no Ace, Fate/Zero, Bakuman (THIS IS DEFINITELY A MUST WATCH), D. Gray Man, Kuroshitsuji, Death Parade, Wolf's Rain, Tsubasa Chronicles, Digimon, and a lot more, I believe. I might start Berserk and Trigun some time soon since people keep on recommending it to me. Can I ask for more recommendations? Preferably something dark, since I like it dark and gloomy.

I totally agree with Bakuman. What I love most about it is the insight they give to the manga industry. Death Parade is just *sniffs* Bring tissues I swear. A whole box.

Oh and did someone already said Code Geass? I don't care how old this anime is, it is still the most favorite anime of all times. I love the characters, the art, the story, everything. And the ending? Man, its been seven years and I'm still not over that ending. I doubt I ever will.

Oh and I'm actually starting to watch Clannad. If everyone's revoew of this anime is spot on, then I'd probably cry. I'm cry way too easily. Still though, the first episode is a meeh for me. Hope it picks up soon.

Lol I think we expected it to be SNK tier but it turned out to be full of quality. Manga art is top notch though.

Yup, the art is really pretty. Edited September 17, 2015 by nicocoberru

[PeterAhlstrom]

Baby Steps's season 2 finale was yesterday and I already miss it so much. It was the one show that we really looked forward to every week. Arrrgh.

 

Sigh.

 

51 episodes of the anime covered 181 chapters of the manga. The manga is now beyond 310 chapters. So I'm optimistic that we'll get a third season starting in April!

 

I've said before in this thread that the first season had a low production budget. That problem is gone in the second season.

[ThirdGen]

Gangsta seems to be a bunch of good characters and visuals in search of a solid story.  Bleak bleeds into bland.

[mallamp]

I don't watch much anime and only anime I've watched this year just ended.. Ore Monogatari. My Love Story. Are there any other feelgood romantic comedies like it (that don't have perverted things)?

[PeterAhlstrom]

I've just watched 3 episodes of My Love Story and am really liking it.

 

I don't have anything to compare to it really.

 

Your Lie in April is really great but it's a romantic tragedy rather than a romantic comedy.

[Voidus]

Now that Q3 is wrapping up I'm rewatching all the shows that are getting another series in Q4 so Aria, Noragami, Owari no Seraph and because I enjoyed it so much rewatching Overlord before the last episode releases and finishing the LN for it too.

[Pestis the Spider]

I've just started watching Shokugeki no Souma. It is extremely enjoyable. I didn't expect it to be so much fun, however I still need to skip the "way-too-ecchi" parts, because I am definitely not a fan of ecchi, and these are just too much. But I still love it so far. Great comedy.

[nicocoberru]

The Fall Anime Season has officially started! Did anyone watched the new anime/episodes?

[Voidus]

The Fall Anime Season has officially started! Did anyone watched the new anime/episodes?

First episode of Noragami was good and I might enjoy Heavy Object, depends how it develops in the next episode or two.

[Pestis the Spider]

I did. I'm just checking things out, so I watched quite a lot of things already. For some of this stuff I didn't even finish one ep, some I finished, but wasn't impressed a lot, so I'm not going to write about. And some things like Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is just so plain, general and predictable fantasy/romance/ecchi that everyone has seen so many times, that there is no point to write about it. I guessed the plot of the whole season of this anime from description alone, and first episode only confirmed it. Meh. Really meh. 

 

So, first episode of Noragami was all right. However for me it seems like the plot is going to move forward really fast. Almost rushed. I kind of expectwed it, because by the look of PV and OP they planning to animate not only Bishamonten arc but also Ebisu arc and that is a lot for 12 episodes. I would really prefer that they did 24 episodes with maybe 3 arcs animated, or even just these 2. I just have to add that because they made the OP and ED sequences so similar to the one in season 1 it's easy to compare them. Well, I liked the previous ones better. The new OP song is quite catchy, but not enough. Well, and manga is better. PS. Was that... Hiyori fanservice that I saw in this episode? REALLY? I don't remember anything like this from the season 1. C'mon, really? Geerz. 

 

K: Return of Kings. Well, so far I'm disappointed.I had high expectations, because I'm really a fan of this franchise, so this episode was kind of a let down. There was lots of action, but I've seen ALL of it in the PVs. Nothing new really, and the overpresent CGI was bothering me a lot. There's more of it than in the previous season or movie. Also

Munakata/Suoh, and Fushimi/Yato fights

felt forced for me. There was no reason to them, except for pleasing the ship fans. That's also a type of fanservice, which was already present in the episode way too much. I mean, all these Seri's close ups in the most annoying way possible. I know that the movie already had more fanservice than season 1, but this is too much for me. I don't like fanservice, and I hope they'll tone it down in future episodes. 

Well, my problem with this episode is also that it was a lot of a "introduction episode". It is an eye-candy, it has fanservice, action, and exposition (really repetitive for someone like me, who follows the franchise and knows all this stuff) by some minor characters that no one cares about. Also my fav character has basically no screen time, and what he gets is the scene we already seen in the movie. My second fav char, also almost no screen time. Well, will see how next episodes go. From the PV I think that next ep may either give us plot or even more exposition...

 

But what I really enjoyed so far was Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen. I have no idea, what it is, so I watched it without any expectations. And I liked it. The animation is nice, the world looks nice, so in general I think it might end up as a nice anime. The pacing is a little slow, so I don't really see the plot yet, but from what I've seen it may actually be really general fantasy plot that we've seen so many times before. Also, it worries me a little that apparently it's based on the game, so it's possible that the MC character mystery may simply be never resolved, because that's just how these games are...

 

Heavy object: Well. I'll see how it goes. The first ep had lots and lots of exposition, but no actual plot. So right now it can be either another version of Aldnoah.zero (which was bad), but with ball-shaped robots, or a pretty decent sci-fi war story. We'll see.

 

Well. That's all I had to say so far. 

 

EDIT: By the way, did anyone here watch Zankyou no Terror? It's an anime from 2014. 

Edited October 4, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[nicocoberru]

Note: Spoiler and General Fangirliness in white text

 

 

So, first episode of Noragami was all right. However for me it seems like the plot is going to move forward really fast. Almost rushed. I kind of expectwed it, because by the look of PV and OP they planning to animate not only Bishamonten arc but also Ebisu arc and that is a lot for 12 episodes. I would really prefer that they did 24 episodes with maybe 3 arcs animated, or even just these 2. I just have to add that because they made the OP and ED sequences so similar to the one in season 1 it's easy to compare them. Well, I liked the previous ones better. The new OP song is quite catchy, but not enough.   Well, and manga is better. PS. Was that... Hiyori fanservice that I saw in this episode? REALLY? I don't remember anything like this from the season 1. C'mon, really? Geerz. 

 

I'm scared of this too. As much as I love seeing Ebisu animated, because I do, ohgod I really do, I don't want Bishamon's arc to be rushed. I really love her and her arc so I want it to be given the same focus as the manga. Ugh, I just hope they don't do what they did to season one. But over all, episode one is all right, after all I did see Kazuma again and hear that 'Rectangle' song XD Plus I love that the opening made it look like Ebisu is a villian

 

K: Return of Kings. Well, so far I'm disappointed.I had high expectations, because I'm really a fan of this franchise, so this episode was kind of a let down. There was lots of action, but I've seen ALL of it in the PVs. Nothing new really, and the overpresent CGI was bothering me a lot. There's more of it than in the previous season or movie. Also Munakata/Suoh, and Fushimi/Yato fights felt forced for me. There was no reason to them, except for pleasing the ship fans. That's also a type of fanservice, which was already present in the episode way too much. I mean, all these Seri's close ups in the most annoying way possible. I know that the movie already had more fanservice than season 1, but this is too much for me. I don't like fanservice, and I hope they'll tone it down in future episodes. 

 

The animation was weird, yeah. It's pretty, I guess, but the fight scenes were moving too much I literally had a headache watching it. Seri's fanservice is annoying, which is funny since I'm actually used to fanservice thanks to Shokugeki no Soma, but this is really uncomfortable to watch. There is WAY TOO MUCH gainaxing and that bead of sweat that came out of nowhere is weird.

 

I'm so glad to see Shiro alive though. My two-year question is finally answered, thank you.

 

 

Also, I'm finally watching Haikyuu!! Season 2. Man, you have no idea how satisfying it is to finally see Bokuto, Akaashi, Yachi and Saeko animated. Yes! Akaashi is so pretty and Saeko is just the best sister ever.

 

Oh and, anyone planning on watching the livestream of Owari no Seraph 2 when it airs? I want to, but I'm not so sure I can.

 

 

EDIT: Oh and I watched Clannad last week. I admit, I skipped a lot of the early episode since I'm really weak with slice-of-lifes but the ending, oh man, those few last episodes is painful. His wife and child died within a few episodes what is wrong with this anime??

Edited October 4, 2015 by nicocoberru

[DanTheSeamonster]

The Fall Anime Season has officially started! Did anyone watched the new anime/episodes?

 

 

I'm seven episode into Parasyte. I like it. I like my anime how I like my evil villains, violent and weird. Parasyte fits those categories pretty well! 

[Pestis the Spider]

 

I'm so glad to see Shiro alive though. My two-year question is finally answered, thank you.

 

 

You should watch K:Missing Kings movie. The movie is sequel to K season 1, and K: Return of Kings (K season 2) is sequel to the movie. The movie answers a lot of questions like that...

[nicocoberru]

I didn't even knew there was a movie...

[Hood]

No good anime, or better said, anime according to my taste are airing now.

 

Mushi-shi, Zoku Shou (Mushi shi Second season) was perhaps, the best one I have seen this year.

[ParadoxicalZen]

Currently watching Noragami, Shokugeki no Souma and waiting on some overdue episodes from Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou, Rokka no Yuusha and Jitsu wa Watashi wa

[Amrynn]

SAO and RWBY are sublime. Also, Rwby volume 3 HYPE!

[The Honor Spren]

I've started watching SAO . . . First part was great but, I'm not sure I like the fairy continuation of the show.

Also OHSHC is really fun

[Left]

I've started watching SAO . . . First part was great but, I'm not sure I like the fairy continuation of the show.

Also OHSHC is really fun

I thought the first half was good, yeah. The second half....Harmony, it's awful. Seriously, I can't recommend finishing it at all. I don't know what the quality of SAO II is.

[nicocoberru]

I agree with Scott. I liked the first part of SAO, but the moment Asuna and Kiroto ended up together, it just, IDK, the romance grated in me.

Though, honestly, I think that has something to do with the way they presented the anime. I didn't have that problem with the light novel and the manga of SAO. From the way the manga/LN started, I knew at once that it was going to be romantic-y. Even with all the action stuff, it was easy to see that.

The anime, meanwhile, started out as action, then suddenly shifted to romance. The transition of the genre was jarring. Honestly, I was one of those who waited weekly for the new episodes of SAO and, from what I remember, before the whole AsunaxKirito thing a lot of people love SAO. Or at least, a lot more then there are right now. They should have just started with romance, and ended with romance.

Make no mistake though. I like SAO. I mean, games where I can enter? Storm yeah, sign me up! And I have never felt such happiness from a character dying (virtually). I mean, when Kirito stabbed that Fairy King, my friends and I swear I screamed with glee.

[Retsam]

I don't inherently mind romance; even sudden romance (I mean, I read Wheel of Time), but SAO didn't really sell me on Asuna/Kirito, and definitely not Yui.  (Though Yui = UI, I have to admit that's a clever name)  

 

But, SAO II is pretty good.  At least, if you liked the first arc of SAO, you'll most likely like SAO II.  The first arc focuses on Kirito and does a good job putting some of the tension back in the show that I felt was lost in the ALO arc, there's a forgettable 3-episode mini-arc, then the second arc focuses on Asuna, which I thought was pretty well done, too.

 

Speaking of SAO, the abridged series is phenomenal (and the only other abridged series I've ever really gotten into was the first one).  Cremhole Kirito is best Kirito.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Retsam

[Pestis the Spider]

Speaking of SAO, the abridged series is phenomenal (and the only other abridged series I've ever really gotten into was the first one).  Cremhole Kirito is best Kirito.

OMG, thanks for that! I just watched 1 ep and I'm crying from laughter. That's amazing.