[quote="ThinlineTele"]I've never been a huge anime fan (largely because I try to maintain a great deal of distance between myself and self-proclaimed 'otaku'...) but something about being an unemployed college grad with loads of free time has made me watch some stuff recently.

Welcome to the NHK, which I actually watched for the first time last summer and recently re-watched, is one of my favorite series of any media type, ever. The character development is just terrific, and the English dub is really, really nice.

I watched Gurren Lagann a few months ago when I saw it up for free on Hulu and I found it really enjoyable in a Saturday-morning-cartoon sort of way. Sure it's silly, but it sure is a lot of fun.

I've been on a humongous mecha binge lately. Plowed through several Gundam series. Thought 08th MS team was fantastic. Haven't finished Wing yet. Thought 00 was great (and oh my, it was a beautiful-looking show) though the ending was a little anticlimactic.

I just finished the main Evangelion series and was really surprised at how much I liked it. The fluid, organic mech and art design still looks great fifteen years later, and despite how weird the series can be I found it to be quite engaging. I'm looking forward to checking out the movies, especially the snazzy new remakes.[/quote]
Watched You are (not) alone recently, I really liked it. It seemed like they cut back on techno-babble and focused more on character development, making it feel more like the later part of the original series. That's probably just me though.

[quote="ThinlineTele"]I've never been a huge anime fan (largely because I try to maintain a great deal of distance between myself and self-proclaimed 'otaku'...) but something about being an unemployed college grad with loads of free time has made me watch some stuff recently.

-snip-[/quote]

Admit it, dude, you like anime. There's nothing wrong with it, but to try and preface your post about how much anime you've been watching with a disclaimer about how you're not an anime fan because you want to separate yourself from "otakus" is just silly. You could watch tons of other things, like movies or TV shows that you haven't seen before, if you weren't really into anime.

Also, Gundam Wing is good, or at least I liked it a lot when I watched it several years back.

Well, to clarify I meant that up until now I wasn't much of an anime fan. But yeah the general fandom that comes along with it was a turn-off for a long time, but eventually I figured out that just because something has a semi-crazy fandom doesn't mean the work itself isn't good on its own merits. (Radiohead is a music-related example of this; I like the band but I'd probably enjoy them more if I hadn't heard so much hype beforehand.)

Some of my recent interest comes from practical considerations, though. I tend to like serious science fiction series and there's just a lot more of it in the form of anime than live-action American shows or whatever. Given the artistic demands of this sort of thing, it makes sense that it works better in animated form.

I agree with Thiinline, I have often avoided anime or saying "I like anime" because of the stigma that entails. A lot of people equate liking anime with being an otaku. However, I still like it, regardless of the overwhelmingly obsessed fanbase. I like what I like, 'nuff said. There are just some things that anime does that is unique from live-action and regular cartoons. Sci-fi is one of them, but there's also the aesthetic appeal- everything is drawn intentionally after all, and can therefore match exactly what the director and animators had in mind to create. A lot of anime is just plain shit, but when it's done right, man, it's beautiful.

I have also been watching a good amount of anime in my free time-
I just finished the original Evangelion series, and man, it was horribly convoluted, confusing, and contrived, but I thought it was great. The final episode really hit home with me, Shinji's character reminds me of myself in some ways, and the whole internal conflict/instrumentality going on inside his head felt really relatable, it's like a coming-of-age to questioning one's purpose in life and deciding how to live, not to mention overcoming depression and self-hatred.

Going to watch End of Evangelion soon.


I'm also rewatching Welcome to the NHK, I fell in love with it last summer- it's really touching, and again, I empathize with the main character.


Edit: The soundtrack is also fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCM57cCz_SU

[quote="Utsuseru"]I agree with Thiinline, I have often avoided anime or saying "I like anime" because of the stigma that entails. A lot of people equate liking anime with being an otaku.[/quote]

Wow, really guys? You guys post on the message board of a Japanese rock band, you consume Japanese media on a seemingly daily basis, all of you are obsessed with Japan in one way or another...I'm probably the most random pillows fan here, but even I have a budding obsession with Japanese cuisine, because everything looks delicious. Furthermore, since joining this community, I've become more and more acclimated with Japanese media, like the television shows and cartoons and music and whatever you guys mention, that I otherwise wouldn't be, and it's been very rewarding. Really, just stop worrying about what people think about your interests. If you can't publicly enjoy your interests, then the only time you can enjoy life is when you are by yourself.

The "Trekkies" you see out there aren't nerds. The nerds are the ones who secretly like Star Trek but don't have anyone to share this interest with. Anyway, no one even knows what otaku even means. Not real people.

I finally got around to watching Bakemonogatari. It was.. different. I really like how most of the episodes were just long, interesting, and sometimes funny conversations between two or three of the characters. I'd like to say this leaves a lot of room for plenty of character development, but I'm not the kind of person who knows a lot about that sort of stuff. Anyway, it's SHAFT and has plenty of eye candy blah blah blah. I recommend it.

I watched the first two episodes of that show and got kinda bored by it (and turned off by the whole vampire thing). I still have episodes three and four though, so I'll check it out again since I'm watching lots of anime right now.

The vampire twist kinda turned me off as well, but it fortunately has very little to do with the actual story. If you watch on you'll find out that vampirism is just one of many sci fi elements mixed in.

Also, I just finished Haibane Renmei. It fucking sucked. For an anime filled with ambiguity and mystery the ending left a lot to be desired, in my opinion.

I really liked the two Rebuild of Evangelion movies. I think they're presenting a much stronger, coherent story than the original, though I enjoyed that too. Plus they're just gorgeous to look at.

I started watching Monster recently. Really intriguing series that's much more in line with the sort of thing I enjoy than most anime. Great art as well. I've got more stuff going on recently so I'm not sitting around watching series as often now, so it's going to take a while to get through all 74 episodes of the show.

[quote="ThinlineTele"]I started watching Monster recently. Really intriguing series that's much more in line with the sort of thing I enjoy than most anime. Great art as well. I've got more stuff going on recently so I'm not sitting around watching series as often now, so it's going to take a while to get through all 74 episodes of the show.[/quote]

Please tell me you've already read the manga. The anime just doesn't compare (though it's still very good).

I read something like a third of a it last summer but for some reason or another I never finished it. I thought that instead of reading it all over again from the beginning I'd just watch the series instead for something a little different. I'll probably go back and read it eventually though.

But isn't the anime pretty much a blow-by-blow adaptation of the comic? From what I understand it's one of the most faithful adaptations of the sort out there that's pretty much exactly the same as the original series.

They definitely got the whole story in there, but I found the manga to be much more gripping, not to mention expressive (Tenma has like three different expressions in the anime, I swear, lol).

High School of the Dead is really good so far.

Finished Monster. I ultimately enjoyed it but felt like the pacing was way too slow and that this show could have been done just as well in no more than fifty episodes or so. Overall I'm glad I went through the whole thing.

Not watching anything right now. Can't think of anything I'm itching to watch at the moment.

Monster anime is way. Less. Good. than the manga.