Anime Recommendations Requested!

[browngirl]

So thanks to treacle_well's kindness and generosity I'm going to Anime Boston this weekend. Obviously, this is a good chance to watch some anime I might not otherwise get to see, so I thought I'd request recommendations!

Comments

[lilacs-roses.livejournal.com]

While I don't particularly care for most of the storylines that I've seen with regards to Anime (and I'm assuming that you are referring to Japan Animation), I have to agree that most of the artists are brilliantly talented.

The ones that come to mind that don't have more offensive material than most others are old, but they are still done well.

Akira
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094625/

Princess Monanokee
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119698/?ref_=sr_1

Have fun :)

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

A new edition of the long elusive Rose of Versailles just came out, so look for that?

Have a great time!

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Series: Kids on the Slope (slice of life, jazz); Maoyu (fantasy heroics with macroeconomics); The Pet Girl of Sakurasou (slice of life, talent vs hard work vs both); SAO aka Sword Art Online (cross-genre, quests and fighting); Campione! (pacifist becomes a god-slayer, harem, magical combat); Un-Go (post-apocalyptic, detective, supernatural forces)

All of the above are excellent examples of their genres and should be considered standard bearers in their way.

You might want to look at some fluffier things as well, especially since there's no way you'd have time to watch all of these shows all the way through, but I suggest giving each of them a look.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

There is in fact, a showing of some episodes of Kids on the Slope, but sadly it's the dubbed version, which I hear is horrible. If it hadn't been for that, it would definitely be on my list of things bg should sample at the con (and I'd happily sit by her side for this one.) I think the new dub of SAO is also going to be there, but I haven't closely checked the schedule, and again, based on the dub preview, I'm not convinced it's not going to be bad-saturday-morning-cartoonish schlocky in in dub form. I don't think Pet Girl is going to be there--but it's awesome.

I know that what I'm going to be looking for, aside from anything that I think bg would find especially appealing, is what I can't already get on Crunchy--which all of the above are. (And Campione!? Seriously? I dropped after the first three episodes because it seemed pretty much crap. I could be wrong.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Just how much of Anime Boston is devoted to dubs vs. subs?

I seldom pay much attention to dubs as they can seriously mess with the original emotional cues and storyline of the original acting. The various dubbed iterations of Ninja Science Team Gatchaman are proof enough of that.

Very few dubs seem to get it done right. Naruto, recent Gundam series and old Lupin the 3rd do pretty well, but things like Slayers and Yuyu Hakusho are only so-so (and things like Tenchi Muyo are basically unwatchable). Kids on the Slope timed the music to the animation perfectly. If the dub house in the US was sloppy and wasn't allowed to use the original music from the sub, that would make the show decidedly unwatchable in dub.

The first episode of Campione was definitely confusing, but the series ran more cleanly than a number of other fighting shows out there. Besides, the hero's pacifist streak is a major plot point throughout, and makes the show more distinctive. I admit I am more partial to the pacifism and mysticism in Natsume Yujin-cho, but I wasn't going to give a laundry list of shows. (And hey, it's not like I recommended Vividred Operation)

I'm quite fond of Crunchyroll--so much to see, practically everything subbed.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

For Slope they did keep the original music. This is good for the reasons you state, but apparently a little odd in some of the songs due to the Japanese-accented vocals--which they kept from the original rather than having those redubbed by English dub talent. My source is ANNCast.

I adore Crunchyroll--but I highly recommend wandering over to Funimation for the simulcast of "The Devil is a Part-Timer" which is incredibly better than any synopsis can convey.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

Tokyo Godfathers
Millenium Actress
Akira
Grave of the Fireflies
Ghost in the Shell
Spirited Away
Howls Moving Castle
Seirei No Moribito (series)
Death Note (series)
My Neighbor Totoro
The Count of Monte Cristo (series)
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (series)
Bleach (series and films)
Last Exile (series)

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Seconding My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. Oh, man, Grave of the Fireflies, though. It's really well done, but it's heartbreaking.

I also really like Whisper of the Heart.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

mushishi!

[professor_mirror]

It's an old series, but I've always liked The Slayers. It's a comedy fantasy adventure series about Lina Inverse, the world's most powerful, most temperamental and most greedy sorceress. She'd really like to spend all her time defeating bandits and stealing their treasure, but she keeps getting roped into saving the world.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Samurai Champloo. It's the series (24 eps) that made me an anime fan. Icon is one of the three main characters: a ronin, a thief and a kickass 15 year old girl who hires them.

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Ffffh, yes, I love that one too.

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Black Lagoon is a highly violent story involving criminals often doing horrible things to each. The main characters are pirates/delivery people in a boat/mercenaries for hire. Warnings for violence, language, and discussion of child prostitution/sexual abuse. On the upside, there are a pile of extremely dangerous women in it, very few of whom run around in their underwear or need to be frequently rescued from things. They are, in fact, usually the ones dealing damage. Also a plus for an African American character who is not completely stereotypical. (Anime is often bad at black people.)

For something shorter (a film rather than a series) and less dire, Tokyo Godfathers tells the story of three street people who find an abandoned baby on Christmas. There are some unhappy moments, as it's not an entirely unrealistic story, but it's sweet.

One of my favorite comedy series is Ouran High Host Club, which involves pretty boys dressing up in fancy costumes to make nice with girls, a quietly awesome female main character, and a decent discussion of sex and gender.

[strange-radio.livejournal.com]

This isn't brand new, and it's a whole series, which means you probably don't have time to fit it in beforehand, but I loved loved loved Last Exile??

The quickest way to summarize it is that, with a few tweaks and a little less shiny-ness, it could have been a story told during the (end of the) Cetagandan occupation of Barrayar. It had steampunk flying warships and evil-overlords and scrappy fighter pilots and a plucky lady!mechanic and a secret undercover princess and slashy, broody-genius ship captains, and and and.

It basically pushed every fannish button I've got, then pushed them all again :D

It lagged quite a bit in the middle, but whoooooboy the payoff in the last few episodes was so worth it for me. (It's been a while since I finished it, so there could definitely be some problematic stuff in it that I missed or have forgotten, but my impression is that it's the kind of thing you might definitely enjoy.)

Here, have an AMV somebody made with it, set to Muse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IajJEZ5xWdc

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

ZOMG. Thank you.

I Suggest

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

"Rin - Daughter of Mnemosyne"

Or, for comedy, "Ranma 1/2"

[ilthit.livejournal.com]

I haven't really read/watched any since the early '00s, but my favourite mangas/animes were Ranma 1/2, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Angel Sanctuary and Banana Fish. Not sure if they ever made an anime out of AS or BF, though; also AS gets boring towards the end and all of them are problematic. NGE is a glorious mindfuck of angst and titillation. Oh, there was also something called something Captain something which was a hilarious Star Trek parody. *googles* Irresponsible Captain Tylor!

I doubt a fresh anime con would have anything on this old stuff, though.