[quote="Orochi"][quote="Lesser_Hamster"] Crispin Freeman[/quote][/quote]

Haha, I met him at a con once, almost 10 years ago (Holy SHIT, I'm old ;-;). He signed my Wolf's Rain stuff and was really friendly, despite my being a mouth-breathing, uber-excited nerdlet. Great voice, one of my faves.

Did I mention Nichijou here yet? Watch Nichijou.

Yeah, I'm just recently finding out about Kyoto Animation gems I'd missed while I was ignoring anime for a few years.

The principle is wrestling a deer! One of the funniest scenes I've ever seen.

Or, "GOD IS DEDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

Finished Lucky Star, now I've got that oboe music or whatever it was playing in my head whenever im pondering. THANKS MOE

And Beck! Cool shit.

[quote="Jomei"]Did I mention Nichijou here yet? Watch Nichijou.

Yeah, I'm just recently finding out about Kyoto Animation gems I'd missed while I was ignoring anime for a few years.[/quote]
Nichijou is amazing. It's the rare anime comedy I've seen that's actually funny, and its type of humor is so endearingly odd. So of [i]course[/i] it wasn't successful enough to get another season or a western release.

Japan

I just binged through Kids on the Slope, Space Dandy, and Attack on Titan.

All three were absolutely top-notch. Space Dandy may be one of the most self-aware and intelligent anime I've ever seen, despite its zaniness.

Eh, not so Dandy from what ive seen. I don't like his character at all, everything feels off. I don't think its as funny or clever or the action as exciting as it wants to be. Occasionally funny but mostly nah.

You're missing the point of that show entirely. It's not about Dandy as a character, or being funny/clever, or exciting action. Tropes within tropes within tropes, every single episode is making a slew of references to some sort of aspect of cinema/tv/anime or a specific genre/show. Brilliant, I say.

Kids on the Slope is fantasfic. Stellar soundtrack. I watched an episode of Space Dandy once while under the influence. It blew my mind. I really need to watch that series.

I just don't find that to be enough in this case! It's n-not going over my head, I ju-just don't find it all that enjoyable!

I would probably have not liked it as much if I tried to follow it for its plot, but I noticed right away how many tropes it was sprinkling in from Sci-Fi sources of multiple mediums, and ended up watching the whole show looking for "what are they trying to do with this episode?"

The whole meta-4th-wall-tropes-on-tropes can be an interesting structure, but it's not a guarantee of quality content. To an extent, Cowboy Bebop occasionally went into that genre-pastiche territory. I'm thinking of crime/noir with Black Dog Serenade, or straight up "WATCHU TALM 'BOUT, DOMINO!?" blaxploitation with Mushroom Samba. But they did it with some pretty lovable characters and great action. And killer music.

Only seen one ep of Space Dandy (can anyone comment on sub vs dub?), I'll give it another shot - but just thought I'd throw that in there. Genre parody on its own isn't a strength. You still have to have the fundamentals.

It's not JUST genre play, but that's one of the best things about it, because every episode becomes its own thing.

[quote="Marekenshin"]I just binged through Kids on the Slope, Space Dandy, and Attack on Titan.

All three were absolutely top-notch. Space Dandy may be one of the most self-aware and intelligent anime I've ever seen, despite its zaniness.[/quote]

I stopped watching Dandy after the first season, not to say it's bad I just didn't get into it. Attack on titan, I just finished the dub a week or two ago, and I watched the sub at least 2 times. There's a few characters that don't feel as strong voice wise, but overall the dub has solid performances (Armin, Annie, Sasha, Hanji) even though I liked their voices Eren, Levi, and Mikasa weren't quite as good as the original, but still good. Plus the titan scream for Eren mixes in too much high pitch for me.

Eh, Space Dandy wouldn't be as so amazing for those who like it if it were something that's going to appeal to everyone. Show's kind of nerdy as fuck in its awesomeness.