Good Anime

[Solstice]

@ominous said in Good Anime:

Time for everyone's favorite discussion: what is anime?

Oh no

[Carma]

This post is deleted!

[Runescryer]

@carma Humans have an inherent need to fit everything into a recognizable category. It's a default setting for our brains.

[Wizz]

All I know is that King of the Hill is the greatest anime of all time

[Carma]

This post is deleted!

[Kanye Qwest]

@carma It didn't really need course correction. You kind of commandeered it in that direction, lol

[Coin]

@kanye-qwest said in Good Anime:

That chart sucks. Sure is plenty of Shonen fluff. Conspicuously low on Shojo. weird!

Even with all that Shonen, it's missing Yu Yu Hakusho and Ronin Warriors. Pffft.

[Solstice]

I really agree with that chart, frankly! (Not as much as my list, but I'm biased by my own methods.) It's picking out more-recent anime that you can find on streaming, and that you are more likely to have a conversation with in the broader anime community (which has a median age of somewhere in the twenties, iirc.)

It's easier to get people invested with material that's current and benefits from more modern animation improvements, speaking from personal experience with gradually easing people into anime.

There are some timeless classics, but shonen trash (which I love) is one of those things that if you're not watching it as or around the time that it airs, it tends to age poorly.

Recommending older material to a new fan to go watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Robotech, or Yu Yu Hakusho is like telling a movie fan to start with Casablanca and Hitchcock Movies. It raises the barriers for entry considerably. (It's why the 'Classics' list in the OP is so truncated.)

...now, that's not to say you can't say to someone who's really loving newer material that hey, there's this classic you'll probably love, but I've found it's more successful to hook folks on the shiny new stuff first.

[Goblin]

I watch a lot of stuff on Netflix, most of it doesn't really linger on in my mind long enough for me to ever look for another season later, but I really enjoyed CannonBusters. The setting is another world, mixing fantasy and technology, and giving me Firefly vibes - space western feel to it. It has giant robots too, of course, and ninjas, and the main character is a gun-slinger that 'befriends' (I say that losely), two robots who needs his help to find a lost prince. It's crazy and humorous, and the story is pretty good. I definitely wanna see season 2. Oh, and the intro song is annoyingly catchy.

The trailer (in English): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFb3lNBV8Qs

[Ominous]

@goblin

They might want to edit this section of the trailer, before a certain someone sees it...

After watching the trailer, I get less of a Cowboy Bebop/Firefly feel and more of a Trigun feel. Hilly the Kid is definitely a Vash the Stampede archetype.

[Goblin]

@ominous After posting that I went on Youtube and watched some info about it and yep - Trigun and Cowboy Bebop are heavy influences. I had no idea when I watched it, I just put it on on a whim one day when I was bored and really liked it Apparently it's produced by LeSean Thomas and based off his mangas - a pretty cool success story. He was also involved in Boondocks.

Edited to add: That trailer is a year and a half old, so should be ok. I hope.

[Solstice]

Odd Taxi just keeps getting better and better. I was lukewarm on the first episode and let it pile up a bit, but goodness am I glad I kept going. The character writing is just incredible, and the subject matter is mature without diving into the deep end of edge.

I didn't expect the show about the walrus taxi driver to be the one that put me on the edge of my seat more than any recent thrillers I've watched. It's so grounded in the reality of the world that it crafts that the stakes feel so damn high when even the littlest wrench gets thrown in, and its scathing but empathetic ode to the self-destructive nature of a gambling addiction was a complete masterpiece.

[Currently airing on Crunchyroll.]

[Derp]

@wizz said in Good Anime:

All I know is that King of the Hill is the greatest anime of all time

I laughed entirely too hard at this.

[Ominous]

How has this one not come up yet as a classic?

Paranoia Agent
Trigger warnings on this one. Dark, surreal, and, I feel, becoming a more and more accurate representation of the world we live in. It starts as a mystery, moves into psychological thriller, then becomes a supernatural metaphor for modern society and escapism. It has a decent sized cast with interesting characters, a nice mystery, good animation, and a good pay-off at the end. Oh, and it was created by the late Satoshi Kon, who also directed Tokyo Godfathers and Paprika.

It starts off simple enough. The main character is attacked by a boy with roller skates and a golden bat. Soon other people are also getting attacked by this hoodlum. However, he only seems to attack people that are under a lot of pressure and can't cope.

Is the fast pace of society getting a little too fast for you? Are the pressures of living overwhelming you? Is the 24-hour Newscycle driving you mad? Is the other side on the political spectrum making you hate humanity? Are your personal failings weighing you down?

Do you just need to escape?

Lil Slugger wants to help.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzeddeDLouw

[Solstice]

@ominous said in Good Anime:

Paranoia Agent

I'm pissed about this one for one reason and one reason alone:

Literally the only thing stopping me is that I can never find where it's streaming. Right now it's available for purchase on Prime for 1.99 per episode, but meh for pay-for-play TV in 202X when I'm subbed to so many services already.

I've heard such good things about this one, consistently, that I'd love to sit down and watch it when it gets a friendlier distribution source.

I need my Satoshi Kon, people.

[Ominous]

@solstice

Uh oh. I am seeing a lot of annoyance at people bringing up how good this anime is, frustration in the lack of viewing options, disappointment in having to pay per episode, and regret for not watching it when it originally aired...

[Ominous]

Double post to say, the opening theme is one of the most uplifting themes out there. I love listening and watching to it, even though it's for a dark show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEsNDDwhSJ4

And, once you watch the series, I recommend Nightmare Masterclass' breakdown of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GohPZHWErWY or Super Eyepatch Wolf's "Why You Should Watch Paranoia Agent:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVagWJhvVbM

[Duntada]

@solstice said in Good Anime:

Your Lie in April

Fuck you. Fuck you with a cactus. I just got over that.

[Solstice]

@duntada

[Runescryer]

Macross Frontier. Haven't seen Delta yet, but Frontier is my favorite in the Macross franchise. Here's the end of the theatrical movie based on the TV series (think of Doy You Remember Love in relation to SDF Macross). And it illustrates everything that I love about Frontier

-Best Itano Circus sequences in all of Macross
-Fantastic callbacks to SDF Macross
-Great intercuts between music/concert and action sequences
-Not just the best Idol singer in Macross, but the best 2 Idol singer of the franchise
-Amazing Mech designs; they turned a Monster/MAC II into a Variable Bomber!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0toVvhUZcg