Good, nay, EXCELLENT Anime series I should watch

[Scramble]

I haven't watched anime or kept up with it for about 5 years now, but figured I should watch some since I've got a bit of spare time now.

So what's the general concensus on decent anime that's been made in the last 5 years?

[gzsfrk]

Wish I could help, but the last animes I really got into were Cowboy Bebop and all the Lupin III movies/TV series. :)

[Anenome]

Go see Basilisk, Highschool of the Dead looks good so far, Trinity Blood, Code Geass, Claymore, Shakugan no Shana, Last Exile, Wolf's Rain, Gankutsuo: Count of Monte Cristo, Elfen Lied, Ergo Proxy (was pretty good), Shura no Toki, Blade of the Immortal, Gantz, Naruto (of course, but a lot of it is non-canonical and blows), Death Note (my favorite!). And of course, I don't watch it, but people seem to like Bleach.

And they remade Evangelion if you liked that, worth a watch.

[Chimpbot]

Go see Basilisk, Highschool of the Dead looks good so far, Trinity Blood, Code Geass, Claymore, Shakugan no Shana, Last Exile, Wolf's Rain, Gankutsuo: Count of Monte Cristo, Elfen Lied, Ergo Proxy (was pretty good), Shura no Toki, Blade of the Immortal, Gantz, Naruto (of course, but a lot of it is non-canonical and blows), Death Note (my favorite!). And of course, I don't watch it, but people seem to like Bleach.

And they remade Evangelion if you liked that, worth a watch.

The only major critique of that list is Trinity Blood. It sucked. Hard.

Claymore and Code Geass are lots of fun, though. I'll support those recommendations.

[Scramble]

I got the melancholy of suizuru something on the reccomendation of a friend. Seems good so far. Thanks for the reccomends, there's a long torrent *uhh I mean wallet of money of which to buy many many DVDs*. thanks.

[Anenome]

The only major critique of that list is Trinity Blood. It sucked. Hard.

Claymore and Code Geass are lots of fun, though. I'll support those recommendations.
Are you talking about the Trinity Blood movie or the Series? I'm a big fan of the movie, the series wasn't stellar but I still watched it through. Actually I think the movie was called Blood+, so maybe you mean the series after all.

[Capt_Thad]

Blood+ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood%2B) is an anime series loosely tied to the movie Blood: The Last Vampire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood:_The_Last_Vampire) (I still need to look into the recent live-action adaptation). Both have nothing to do with Trinity Blood and come highly recommended by me. :D

Isn't the Trinity Blood film just made up of the first few eps of the series? I still need to get back into that at some point, felt like Trigun with vampires to me.

I guess Monster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_(anime)#Anime) started in 2004, not sure if that fits into your window or not, but I figured it was worth a mention.

[Anenome]

Ohhh, yeah, I'm mixed up. I have never seen Trinity Blood (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=2810), though I have heard of it. Thanks for clearing up the confusion.

Blood the Last Vampire is an excellent film. Blood+ was a decent series based on Blood: TLV.

Nor have I seen a Trinity Blood film.


I guess Monster started in 2004, not sure if that fits into your window or not, but I figured it was worth a mention.
Haha, checkout the plot of Monster:
The series follows Dr. Kenzō Tenma (天馬 賢三, Tenma Kenzō?) as he pursues a young psychopath/sociopath named Johan

[Capt_Thad]

Haha, checkout the plot of Monster:

heh I'd never have made that link. :cool:

Been meaning to check out Code Geass, guess I'll move that up. Had some others I 'acquired' but haven't invested much time in yet, like Real Drive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Drive) (fixed). Worth checking out if you're into Shirow's universe; it's supposed to bridge the developmental gap between Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed. Also from Shirow is Ghost Hound (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinreigari/Ghost_Hound), which I started and need to finish. Kind of a dark series though, you'd have to be into that.

Higurashi no Nako Koro ni (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higurashi_no_naku_koro_ni#Anime) (or Higurashi: When They Cry, I guess) is a solid series if you're into the murder mystery stuff like I am. Cutesy on the cover, but it gets pretty dark.

Planetes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetes) may also be out of your window, but it's a pretty solid series. Got most of the way through that... heh I like to start series but I have a little trouble getting all the way through them. Started Black Blood Brothers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Blood_Brothers) and Witchblade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchblade_(anime)) but haven't managed to finish either. I did enjoy Witchblade as far as I got though, which was most of the way through.

Pretty sure I can come up with a few more, but my watching has been pretty sparse as of late too, outside of Naruto and Bleach. Neither series provide me much serious content, but being able to always count on one showing up next week is kinda nice. heh They're always in season. Looks like we're nearing the end of the Pain arc now.

If anyone has any solid recent cyberpunk, sci-fi western, or mystery/occult horror series to recommend (as a specific subset of the OP's request), I'd appreciate it. Maybe some good fighter based series too, those are usually fun. We've just had a solid amount of solid American TV shows as of late; I find I'm watching those when I used to be watching anime.

[modeps]

Just passing through to say I can't stand anime. It's really one of my least favorite things.

[Anenome]

Naruto: ending the Pain arc? Ugh, I suggest you follow the story via manga, the anime has too much that's non-canonical to the manga for my taste, though it's gotten much better than it used to be.

In the Naruto manga, the 3rd ninja war arc is just beginning :P

& Modeps is crazy. It's like people who say they don't like sushi. You don't dislike sushi, you've just never had good sushi. I can't count the number of people I've converted into sushitarians who started out by telling me they didn't like sushi :P

You don't dislike anime, you just haven't found one to your tastes yet :P Otherwise it would be like saying, "I dislike good stories."

There's a lot of middling anime out there, but the cream of the crop is glorious.

[Anenome]

like Real Dive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Dive).

You mean: Real dRive. With an 'R'. Yes.


Worth checking out if you're into Shirow's universe;

Shirow is a bit crazy after all :P The whole GiTS:SAC episodes build against a truly metaphysical problem, the "standalone complex." It takes as much effort to understand what they're fighting against as to actually fight it :P But, still, it works in the end.


it's supposed to bridge the developmental gap between Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed. Also from Shirow is Ghost Hound (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinreigari/Ghost_Hound), which I started and need to finish. Kind of a dark series though, you'd have to be into that.
I hadn't heard of either of these, thanks for the links.

[Capt_Thad]

heh Whoops, I forgot the R. They are 'cyber divers' 'diving' into the metal though...

[Chimpbot]

Blood+ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood%2B) is an anime series loosely tied to the movie Blood: The Last Vampire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood:_The_Last_Vampire) (I still need to look into the recent live-action adaptation). Both have nothing to do with Trinity Blood and come highly recommended by me. :D

Isn't the Trinity Blood film just made up of the first few eps of the series? I still need to get back into that at some point, felt like Trigun with vampires to me.

I guess Monster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_(anime)#Anime) started in 2004, not sure if that fits into your window or not, but I figured it was worth a mention.

Blood: The Last Vampire is a decently awesome flick. Blood+ is horrible. Don't bother.
And before someone asks; yes, there are things I like.

On a side note, I never realized Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed were related, nor that there was an intermediate story. Color me intruiged.

[gzsfrk]

Just passing through to say I can't stand anime. It's really one of my least favorite things.

I don't much care for anime that you have to watch a full season of to "get". I really enjoy the ones that have pretty much self-contained stories in each episode. (Hence the reason I like Cowboy Bebop and the Lupin TV series so much.)

As for the non-sensical humor and emo drama, though--I eat that up. I just don't like having to watch 40 episodes to complete a single story arc.

[Chimpbot]

I don't much care for anime that you have to watch a full season of to "get". I really enjoy the ones that have pretty much self-contained stories in each episode. (Hence the reason I like Cowboy Bebop and the Lupin TV series so much.)

As for the non-sensical humor and emo drama, though--I eat that up. I just don't like having to watch 40 episodes to complete a single story arc.

There's a time and a place for a 26- to 40-episode story arch; it gives them plenty of room to tell a badass story...if the folks are up to is, that is.

Cowbody Beebop had the best of both worlds; it had an overarching story you'd only truely understand after all 26 episodes, but each episode(except for the multi-parters) was self-contained at the same time. You could hop around from episode to episode and still enjoy the series, but you're definitely missing out unless you watch it chronologically.

[Reverend Meta]

If you're a Gundam or mech fan at all, Gundam 00 is good. I haven't seen Gundam Unicorn but I have heard it is also good.

[Anenome]

Evangelion is the ultimate in self-contained episode that features an over-series arc as well. Frankly, that's how I prefer it. Self-contained shows with no over-arching plot end up being completely shallow and static, and is the narrative structure normally marketed at children, sorry Gzs :P

[Agnostic Pope]

The problem with most animes is that they start out good and then they spiral out of control/become a joke or go for the mindfuck to keep the viewers.

[Agnostic Pope]

http://i56.tinypic.com/2j5m4on.jpg
SON I AM DISAPOINT
The other "anime" category outside of the mindfuck is usually this.

[Sion]

Most everyone will agree that Bible Black is a modern classic these days.

http://www.toysnjoys.com/bibleblack/kaorisaeki.jpg

[Anenome]

That looks familiar... :P