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Total Recommendations: 138
No, this recommendation is *NOT* because Legend of Legendary = Legend of Galactic. Going in, I was aware of the similarity between the titles and thought they ended there. They didn't.
Oberstein in Galactic and Miran in Legendary play the exact same role: convincing an initially idealistic king/commander to do evil for the sake of the greater good. Where as the rest of Reinhard & Sion's war councils wouldn't dream of using underhanded tactics and/or sacrificing innocents, Miran & Oberstein would do anything to bring about the required results. Their characters exist to bring out the darkness lingering behind idealism.
It's worth noting that in Legendary Miran ACTUALLY USES THE POWER OF DARKNESS, as well as dressing in a manner befitting of one with evil thoughts/intentions, but that's the only real difference between their characters. And, really, those sort of superficial differences just go with the SERIOUS sci fi vs. medieval fantasy genres.
...Did I mention both series deal heavily with war?
It's safe to say Berserk anime fans were left shocked & traumatised by its haunting finale. You get that feeling on a regular basis with Shingeki as characters are torn to shreds before your eyes. Not as extreme (or as sexual!) as Berserk at its most (in)famous, no, but you get the point. Images that won't leave will remain imprinted in your brain, after viewing--ye be warned!
In terms of their settings, Berserk and Shingeki are both set during medieval times. Aside from Shingeki's 'Spiderman' way of doing battle with gigantic threats, you're gonna get a STRONG taste of bleak realism from medieval/fantasy epics, here. Unless you plan on getting up-to-date with Berserk's manga (...), don't expect too much 'happy time' to be found in either of these. Lighthearted laughs ain't what you're gonna get outta these two!
If you take away Gantz's fondness of boobs/nudity/twisted humour, the death games between humans and creatures that crush men like insects - not even the respective main characters being safe - makes Gantz & Shingeki one and the same. The despair the cast convey when confronted with the terror of a threat beyond human understanding sticks the two together like glue.
There's very little out there that can make people feel the same sense of dread as its characters do, whether on page or screen. The casts of the two are forced into 'do or die' confrontations with creatures beyond human and understanding, knowing either it or themselves will die, and the bloodshed that results is a matter of inevitability.
...However, these were both aired on TV. Since the respective manga series never pandered to the faint of heart with their gory/brutal death scenes and general violence, there HAD TO BE censorship. In the case of Gantz, content from episodes had to be held back until the DVD releases and it didn't get the best of adaptations. In the case of Shingeki, so far there's been a 'cut away from death-shot' policy. Just pointing this out since the shock value is obviously drained by censorship.
'Teen Romantic Comedy Gone Wrong', or whatever typically long-winded light novel jibberish 'Yahari Ore' translates into shows all the signs of being Boku Friendship DONE RIGHT. As another user noted with their recommendation, Boku Friendship gradually turns into something of a full-on ecchi harem fest. Unlike Yahari, Boku wa started out as purely lighthearted rom-com fluff--causing later developments that expand on previously 1D comic relief characters to be awkward & its lead's turn towards a more... emo stance coming across unnaturally. Yahari one-upped this by presenting its characters as humans with relatable social difficulties from the get-go whilst still retaining sharp, witty dialogue.
Instead of, say, a blonde Japanese guy everyone assumes is a thug without talking to him & a blonde American-tit'd #1 school idol that refers to herself as a Goddess and has men kneeling before her at will, Yahari presents a dysfunctional lead trio, consisting of: a misanthrope lead pushed away from social contact by rejection, a beautiful girl well aware that her physical beauty causes others problems & an average 'TRYING TO FIT IN' girl--her attempts to climb the social ladder being illustrated nicely in ep2.
While it's true that Yahari still leans more on the side of fantasy than reality with its 1x loner guy x2 beautiful girls in an empty club premise, the set-up/presentation/illustration of social woes is executed much better than in most other similar works. Paint me impressed!
Only Himitsu springs to mind when thinking of other sci-fi 'investigation team' series involving the usage of futuristic scanning technology that reveals the truths people try to hide from others.
In Psycho-Pass technology exists that can display a number for each person, revealing if people are "latent criminals" or not. In essence, it's technology that allows for the punishment of thought crime.
In Himitsu the last memories of those murdered can be viewed in order to catch the criminals responsible. It's very similar to how in Minority Report the pieces of visions would be put together in an attempt to solve crimes... only after the crime is committed, rather than before.
Both series begin with a rookie cop just starting at their new jobs and having to balance the practical realities against the moral weight of their actions. Then, until the last stretches of the two (/end of series arcing), it's episodic psychopath hunting.
Although it's been quite some time since Penguindrum's incest love-tri x stalking love dazzled me, it's the only anime that truly reminds me of Tempest. They both have a love triangle at their cores that crosses over into obsessive love; a 'sister' being caught in the middle as the love of those closest to her pushes them to do anything to gain understanding and protect/avenge.
There's this feeling nothing else I've watched quite captures of the balance of the bond shared between two male leads being closer than anyone, yet at risk of being damaged beyond repair by how strongly the feelings for the 'sister' in the middle stretch.
Two anime fond of shaking that age-old spear that is Shakespeare. One is the loosest of adaptations (RxJ); the other takes inspiration from Shakespeare's work as it happily throws around quotes from Hamlet & The Tempest (ZnT).
It's HIGHLY DOUBTFUL Shakespeare would've envisioned flying horses, trees fighting and the like. And you aren't going to find dialogue that tries to be faithful to the source material's old English roots unless you watch RxJ dubbed. BUT, both anime are tragic love stories given an anime twist, so they're still easy to link as anime.
The studio behind Maoyuu have CLEARLY embraced the fact that the source material came to be thanks to S&W making a serialised story of economics and love economically viable. They've also taken advantage of the desperation S&W anime fans feel for a S3 that - probably - won't ever be. Why not employ the same JP voice actors, the same director and other people that worked on S&W? It makes good business sense.
As an enlightened fellow pointed out in passing, Maoyuu started out on 2chan and - more than likely - panders to the wants of its target audience as much as it does because of this. Gone is the witty banter shared between Howo and Lawrence--in their place, you get Demon Queen's tits and 'jokes' about her "useless meat" shoved down your throat 24/7. There's the intelligent dialogue that made S&W a favourite, for sure, but even that is questionable (war = good) and learning about the economical benefits of certain food ain't all its cracked up to be, to tell you the truth.
Maoyuu will probably be one of the better anime going around the block, don't get me wrong. It having S&W staff employed makes me confident of that. But that line of thought is part of the problem: Maoyuu will always - rightly - be in Howo's shadow. Will JRPG cliches/tropes being added to the S&W mix make-up for a lack of the personality/charm that made S&W such a fan favourite?... I doubt it. Very much.
For whatever reason, this didn't hit me until I watched the first episode of Tomodachi's second season but there's a SUPER OBVIOUS linking factor to be found between these two:
- Crazy bitches/galpals in a small school clubroom.
- One crazy bitch/galpal bullying the other in a "friendly" way.
- The male lead quickly becoming indifferent to the chaos surrounding himself; going with the flow due to being smart enough to know that it's pointless to either resist or intervene. (Instead, it's OBVIOUSLY better to commentate to the viewers with his internalized thoughts about what's going on.)
I suppose the whole love triangle thing is worth noting, as well... although it's only REALLY a love-tri in Tomodachi since the situation is far more competitive and up in the air compared to what's offered by Haruhi.
...oh, and the losers of the love-tri, according to the first girl rule, both have HUGE TITTIES!!!!! Fan-service. YES.
Anno of Evangelion fame hit the big time in animation by quite literally knocking on Miyazaki's door and showing him his animation skills when Nausicaa's production ran out of animators. Afterwards, Anno was inspired by Miyazaki's concept for Laputa and ended up directing his own version of the story with his own studio. This is how Nadia came to be.
If Miyazaki has one weakness visible throughout his films, it's characterisation. More often than not, his imagination for story-telling leaves little room for the nitty-gritty of making his characters into relatable humans, as opposed to plot devices. Anno, on the other hand, is most famous for the creation of Evangelion; arguably THE psychological anime. Evangelion was a series that focused almost exclusively on the exploration of its cast; story details being viewed as less important and, ultimately, making the conclusion near enough incomprehensible. And it's this plot/characterisation divide that defines two anime that begin with the same premise.
In Laputa, the hero and heroine might as well have been nameless. They had their roles and there had to be a hint of romance. There was NOTHING else. Their dull designs went along with how hollow they came across. Part of the blame for this failing lies with a restrictive film time limit and the film targeting younger viewers, but it's still hard to imagine if, say, Anno had directed Laputa that the end result would've been the same, for better or worse.
Nadia's different, of course. Rather than a happy-happy Ghibli heroine, Nadia's titular heroine is best described as bitchy--a tsundere before Asuka made tsunderes so popular in - OF COURSE - Evangelion. She gives her eccentric and nerdy romantic counterpart a hard time throughout the series as their relationship gradually evolved; even chastising him for killing for food and refusing to eat meat, among other things. Others may see Nadia's personality and find such a heroine distasteful when a Mary Sue type could've took her place. I, however, see human imperfections in a character and see a person, rather than a drawing. I see two people overcoming their differences through disagreements and see growth.
In summary: Laputa's the title for those looking for an adventure filled with magic. Nadia is also a lot of fun but contains more of the genuine human qualities that I love to see.
The other day, I was reading an article about Miyazaki. If I'm recalling correctly, it was mentioned how a member of his staff had argued with him during the production of Spirited Away about how its heroine should've acted more hesitant and fearful when confronted with monsters. I'm mentioning this because I think this disagreement touches upon my biggest gripe with Miyazaki's 'kiddy flicks': they lack a relatable human edge that would've allowed me to become involved. For example, I was re-watching Laputa a week or so back and it struck me how, in real life, a girl would be left SOMEWHAT traumatised by falling from an airship and being pursued by a group of military nasties. But, in Miyazaki's world, everyone is all happy-happy, smiley-smiley, and while that might work when viewed through children's eyes, it doesn't cut it with me.
And this brings me to Momo. If memory serves, the person that disagreed with Miyazaki during Spirited Away also worked on Momo. Maybe that's a coincidence and is entirely irrelevant but, regardless, Momo is a lot closer to my ideal take on the 'girl meets magical creatures after moving to the middle of nowhere' premise. To be human is to be troubled and troubled is an apt way to describe Momo's titular heroine. She avoids social contact, rarely displays emotion, is uptight, unhappy to find herself relocated and deeply regrets the last words she aimed at her father before his death. Her struggles with life also went hand-in-hand with her reaction to finding herself housed with monsters; first running as far away as possible before attacking them when confronted. And, for me, her realistic behaviour both better relates to modern life than Ghibli's older, more child friendly offerings and works better as a consequence.
As for Totoro and why I'm linking it to Momo: it shares the most similar premise out of Miyazaki's films.
There was a time, not too long ago, when the survival genre was almost entirely limited to the manga readers out there (or, Lost fans). As Gantz's anime highlighted with the way it was butchered by censors when it aired on TV with 5+ mins of content (going on memory) from a single ep being held back until its DVD release, the more brutal seinen titles out there would require the rarity of Hellsing Ultimate OVA treatment to avoid a CONSIDERABLE degree of censorship.
This all changed as, one by one, over the last few years more and more titles that common sense would've suggested would prove too troublesome to adapt for TV viewing slipped through the gaps. Highschool of the Dead is the most noteworthy in terms of gore/violence that's currently out and Shingeki will be making an unlikely anime debut next year; further testing the limits of what can be aired on TV.
The thing is, those type of titles aren't survival in the way I define them. For me, I picture survival to be more along the lines of Battle Royale's outline: humans forced to fight each other to the death, with plenty of psychological warfare fanning the flames. HotD and Shingeki are series about surviving post-apocalyptic battles with monsters, in the main, so they don't give me what I'm looking for.
BTOOOM! is is a tamer, FAR less gorey/sexual version of Battle Royale; aimed at a more shounen/younger audience and far more 'TVable'. And while Mirai Nikki isn't set on a deserted island and isn't well-written, it does offer the closest 'PvP' warfare experience to BTOOOM! anime has to offer. In both series, people have to kill other people until they're the only ones left, so the similarities are easy enough for anyone to spot.
...sooo, yeah: anime now has a good number of titles that could be tagged with 'survival'. Fate Zero's dialogue heavy approach can be thrown into the hat. Deadman Wonderland is, I suppose, also worth mention. And, to a lesser extent, Accel World (definitely not Sword Art and its disguised harem antics/setting shift, though). Times be good!
-- Children being kidnapped, brainwashed and turned into unfeeling assassins.
-- A male and female assassin pair bonding; their bond being shattered by their organization forcing them to kill each other.
-- The assassins having to come to terms with normal life, after previously only knowing a world of murder and death.
After an intense opening arc, AH becomes more like City Hunter: the emphasis switching to episodic, more lighthearted content. Phantom, on the other hand, is dark and serious all the way through.
There be a demon in Neuro. There be a girl from hell in Hell Girl. This is MAL--RECOMMENDATION TIME!
Neuro is your typical detective series reliant on episodic clue-gathering, followed by the big reveal at the end. Hell Girl isn't, but its episodic unravelling-reasons-for-hatred, followed by punishment being dished out at the end, does make the two rather similar. Getting something new each episode makes them highly watchable; easy to pick-up without having to remember details.
Neuro's lighthearted Shounen Jump vibe allowed for a more forgiving attitude when dealing with one-dimensional 'black & white' characters (can only do so much inside 20 minutes!), but in the case of Hell Girl it often wasn't as good as it could be due to its more moody, mature direction not meshing with its simplistic characterisation. So, while Hell Girl improved in its sequel series with lengthier two-episode arcing - allowing for a less clear divide between good & bad - Neuro was generally at its best when its silliness wasn't put under a magnifying glass with lengthy arcs.
Wolf Children is the Spice & Wolf anime continuaton/epilogue/whatever we're never gonna get. As soon as I read the description, I KNEW: Madhouse had come to the rescue of Howo. Furries across the globe can now die happy, along with me... even though I'm not into animals; Howo aside.
Without spoiling too much, let's just say Wolf Children goes in the general direction S&W EVENTUALLY does. Yes. The genders are reversed (DO NOT WANT MALE HOWO--NO!) from S&W's pairing but that matters not when the movie is about half wolf, half human children coming to terms with life. (What more could you ask for from an unofficial S&W movie, really?...well, maybe Lawrence and Howo getting it on, BUT THINK OF THE CHILDREN!)
And S&W3 is the next film of the TGWLTT / Summer Wars guy? THREE IS A GOOD NUMBER--THE OMENS ARE GOOD!
MM is built around a sadomasochistic pairing. Working isn't. So, when you first read Working's summary and note that it has a restaurant setting, you'd think it'd share few to no similarities with MM's school club shenanigans. BUT, Working may as well be about the members of a club interacting, so reliant on character gags it is--the whole at-work-not-school aspect getting overlooked... with school girls STILL being main characters. (Anime, I am disappoint...)
What makes these two super-easy to link is MM's Arashiko and Working's Inami. They have a phobia of all things male and react with EXTREME violence whenever one comes close to them. And although Working's male lead isn't a masochist (though he does come to question whether he is), he's a freak in his own right with his "minicon" fetish.
Like I typed above, Working cares little for actual working, and a GREAT degree of emphasis is placed on Inami punching the lead in S1; falling for him more with every punch. In fact, the series has more to do with the lead being punched than serving customers. The hate-to-love-via-punching 'romance' as the respective male leads get used as punching bags in order to cure their violent lady friends = THESE SO SIMILAR!
Aside from to laugh at it, the ONE reason I finished Mirai Nikki was Yuno. Never before had I encountered a character that made me love her for her single-minded devotion cuteness but also ponder whether I'd be able to deal with the whole axe-killing aspect, if she wasn't 2D. She's half lovestruck virgin, half psychotic killer, and that made me want to violate her in my mind, as well as laugh as her PATHETIC beloved cried himself to sleep over her stalking ways.
Unlike Mirai Nikki, which is first and foremost a psychological thriller, KnH is a full-on romance... or rather, a full-on tale of stalking-love that somehow develops via many tongue-tangling sessions into a romance. As you'd expect in reality, the lead was disturbed to the point of running away early on as Koharu attempted to glue their hands together and abused his flute, but his lust and her creepy-cuteness won against his fears in the end.
Koharu hasn't YET attempted to kill anyone, so she's not as lust-worthy as Yano (also: short hair = NO!)... however, she HAS sexually assaulted a love rival by forcing her down and shoving her tongue into her mouth in order to 'retrieve' the first kiss of her boyfriend, if that compares in your mind to murder.
Credit must go to NoNameNoOne's 3-4 word (deleted) recommendation, for this. Judging a man for being one of few words is harsh--Kenshiro wouldn't last long on MAL!
What was so unusually interesting about Persona 4 was its all-out-in-the-open, character breakdown style of development. Its cast each had a dungeon crafted from their inner desires - including but not limited to a homoerotic sauna - and, for the story to progress, each character had to face up to their true selves--accepting both the good and the bad, in front of their friends. Since it was first and foremost a game, the manner in which the cast got over their issues (following a boss battle) did come across a tad rushed and take some polish off, but it was a pretty unique method of characterisation, nonetheless.
Going into Kokoro, I figured it'd be this silly, perverted 'we swapped bodies; our genitals are different!' school club anime. It isn't. Like Persona 4, it's reliant on a supernatural element forcing its way into the lives of the cast and making the five lead characters confront themselves. They swap bodies, are forced to say and do what they're thinking... basically everything insecure kids going through puberty don't want to happen. Instead of this playing out individually, everyone suffers from the same problems at the same time, and this means that everyone's dirty laundry gets distributed evenly. The series is one full of soul-searching, following arguments fueled by what draws the five closer and, at the same time, pushes them apart.
...so, yeah: Persona 4 is the only other anime that springs to mind that's comparable. The best thing about this is that, with Kokoro's origin being a series of novels, its dialogue and execution are both a lot more polished than that of a JRPG.
Adaptations of ENDLESS (1000+ pages) French novels from well over 100 years ago. Typical of the anime community, Gankutsuou (The Count of Monte Cristo) has roughly as little as HALF the listing of other classics inspired by world-renowned literature, such as KissxSis, and no-one even seems to be aware of Les Mis' anime. I'm not surprised but I am pained by this blatant injustice.
In the transition from neverending walls of text to TV (which is almost an impossibility to pull off 100% faithfully), both stories had to have content removed and alterations made. Most notably, the lead characters were shifted. Naive Albert replaced Dantes in Gankutsuou in order for a mystery genre shift to be made; allowing for the first 300-400 pages to be skipped almost entirely. In Les Mis there was nothing so extreme but, as its sub-title highlights, there was a shift from Valjean to Cosette--Les Mis' anime being a World Masterpiece Theater title and WMT titles following the tragic struggles of children.
As mentioned above, Dantes (Gankutsuou) was replaced as the main character from the novel, where as Valjean (Les Mis) - to the best of my knowledge - simply had the spotlight moved away from him a little. Had the adaptations been fully accurate, Dantes would've been depicted changing from a good-natured yet simple young man into a caculating avenger. This would've linked him to Valjean more strongly, in an ironic sense; a character that started out as a sinner then did a complete 180, opting to do everything in his power for the good of the people. It's these two all-time great characters and their respective journies which make the two series so epic in scope and fascinating to follow--truly worthy of favourite character spots.
As for how these adaptations are generally regarded by fans, Gankutsuou is referred to as the best Monte Cristo adaptation ever, in spite of the changes made and content cut. It was re-worked so it'd fit into 24 episodes when it'd need 50-100 to function as a full-on adaptation and is great in a different way than the source material. Les Mis is simply regarded as a far more kid-friendly version of the novel.
Are you tired with the prepubescent ideal of love, which claims that angsting over love-love confessions and - MAYBE - a peck on the lips is all you're gonna get out of your cartoon rom-comedy? Yes? Yes.
I like B-Cupped Pervert/Slut (?) and KissxSis. It isn't JUST because there are amazingly hot (and illegal, depending on your country/state) 2D school girls forcing themselves on witless males. Nor is it JUST because I have no non-blood related sisters (or actual sisters, for that matter) and would very much like to have non-blood related sisters give me some morning kisses. No. It goes deeper than that. MUCH deeper.
Y'see, 2D school girls are put on some kind of virginal pedestal where they A) have no sex drive and B) must be pursued by males. But with B-Cupped Pervert/Slut you get Yamada trying to force herself onto an unsuspecting average virgin in order to lose her virginity, with equal levels of humiliation resulting, prior to sleeping with 100+ guys. And KissxSis? Well, you have a pair of nympho twin 'sisters'; taking every chance they get to tongue-insert and crotch-rub.
In summary: these be the two most raunchy TV cartoons I've seen. All brothers NEED to see them to be free of the chains placed on them by fictional virgin maidens. Yes.
According to MAL, Gosick ended on the very day Kamisama started airing. HMMM. There must've been some kind of loli detective craze over in Japan, at the time. (Either that or the anime people were running low on material to sell to those looking for 'daughters', at the time, and opted for the not-so-popular aging detective genre. Idk.)
These two are built on the same foundations: In both there's an all-knowing reclusive loli, solving every case with their intellect/deus ex machina powers. They recruit Mr. Plain Average to be their masochistic doormats; mostly only existing to go from A-to-B on command and have things thrown at them from time to time.
Gosick has more than in the way of romance; Kamisama only offering tsundere rage over teddy sniffing. Gosick also has its heroine display adult maturity, as well as be childish over sweets... where as Ms. Kamisama wears teddy bear attire and, outside of case-rambling, might as well be the preteen she appears to be. BUT, if you're proud of being unemployed and not receiving education, Kamisama is for you.
They both have 'Blade' in their English titles. Thus, I'm posting a recommendation. This is MAL. Yes.
For those interested, there ARE similarities between them beyond 'Blade' x2. They share the same composer, for one. Story/character-wise? A tough, roguish ADULT traveling with a much younger, much prettier female companion on a path of vengeance. There's lots of blood & death, naturally.
These introductory adaptations are gateways to the best of seinen manga. They may not impress on their incomplete lonesomes and would piss off anyone looking for a start-to-end anime-onry story, but for those willing to read manga you seriously can't get much/any better. Jaw-dropping artwork is only the beginning (not kidding: these two are contenders for best art). After a grand total of 47 volumes read between the two, I'm one happy wabbit.
Shame that BotI in particular has so few MAL readers compared to Berserk--Berserk having like 5x the MAL listing. They've both been on-going since the 90's and, unlike Berserk, BotI is still good.... and it's ACTUALLY GOING TO END SOON!
Until finishing Ano Natsu, I had thought the OBVIOUS similarities between the two were nothing more than examples of the anime industry's lack of originality. But it turns out they were written by the same person, with Ano Natsu linking into Onegai Teacher at the very end. So, it wasn't theft: it was just the writer being lazy. Glad that's clear, now.
Two alien Mary Sues come from space. They have the same basic character designs. One becomes a teacher; one becomes a student. They fall in love with scrawny, four-eyed midgets. There's drama.
B Gata is ALL about a Japanese school girl going against the anime stereotype that presents them as pure maidens. Yamada wants 100+ male conquests, and she's DETERMINED to use an inexperienced Mr. Nobody to lose her cherry with. Hilarity ensues when she turns out to be a clueless tsundere when it matters; resulting in much date-kiss-sex fail.
Seitokai is similar in the sense it presents school girls as sex-crazed nymphos, with only one train of thought. However, where as B Gata's humour comes from sexual failings, Seitokai's humour is built around two girls turning EVERYTHING - no matter how innocent - the male lead says into sexual innuendo.
Nothing that rocked my world but still much more enjoyable than pure-pure rom-coms and the like.
Younglings being guarded from pursuers by skilled fighters, whilst indulging in slice-of-life 'parent-child' bonding on the side. The settings are different, the genders are reversed AND the ages/age-gap also differ (Kurenai's bodyguard lead being but a kid himself), but the core elements of protecting a child from danger and gradual bonding between characters makes these two easy to compare.
Mermaids and squid both come from the sea. This is MAL and that's enough to justify linking the two. Yes.
...
It's also worth noting that both series consist almost entirely of gagtastic slapstick comedy. Mermaid Bride has romance and haremish humour powering a hefty chunk of its jokes, where as Squid Girl has its titular heroine and is devoid of love-love... aside from a lesbian stalker. But those minor differences aside, these two are aimed at 100% the same crowd.
Dal Young - a MASTER at taking from other popular titles - used Mirai Nikki for 'inspiration', in this instance.
We've got the play-or-die situation, a useless & naive male lead and the love-love yandere that's the only reason he's able to remain alive. And instead of thanking her, he continues to place both of them in life-threatening danger whilst spouting goody-goody nonsense. (This description works for both series, no?)
The differences? An infinite number of players (not reliant on mobile phones) and 'angels' that suck souls outta people in order to set the game of death in motion, in Re:Birth.
At first I was left perplexed: how could Dal Young have been 'inspired' to create Maian when Maoyuu Maou Yuusha seemingly came to be a good few years after Maian began?... Then, I remembered that Superior and Maoyuu have practically identical premises.
Maian, Superior and Maoyuu share one vital element that makes them the series they are: a hero (descendant in Maian) finds himself traversing the world with an 'evil', world-conquering, voluptuous woman. As they travel together, it *SHOCKINGLY* turns out that Ms. Evil is actually a good person, and romance blossoms.
Spirit of Wonder consisits of sci-fi shorts irrelevant to this recommendation, as well as the Engrish rom-comedy relevant to this rec (Aion doesn't approve of hard-to-follow sci-fi shortness).
China girls speak Engrish. China girls be very much violence. Men run fast from scary woman; they no like this. Both story be very short, yes, and no end completion. You get ONE VOLUME (x2) or go away bye-bye now. Understand?
The differences are few as they're both rom-coms reliant on violent, Engrish-speaking Chinese ladies causing much lulz. However, in Spirit of Wonder Ms. China chases a guy, while in China Girl Ms. China gets chased.
These two are so similar that the OreImo cast made a 'from behind' cameo appearance, in episode 11 of Boku.
Kirino and Sena are the same character... breasts aside. Their spoiled princess attitudes, erotic game addiction, prideful arrogance getting in the way of friendship and fangs are NEARLY IDENTICAL. What's more, Kuroneko and Yozora ALSO MIRROR EACH OTHER--sharing 'bickering love' friendships with K&S respectively. They argue CONSTANTLY when together, oblivious to the how similar their personalities are. The only difference of note in the relationships between the shows is that Yozora clearly has the upper hand against Sena--often forcing her to run away, crying. THERE'S EVEN A GUY IN THE LOVE-TRI MIDDLE, IN BOTH SHOWS!
The episodic content is VERY familiar, also: making friends is central to Boku's story but even OreImo had an episode about trying to make friends. And both shows deal heavily with otaku/gaming jokes.
Natsuyuki is how Maison Ikkoku would've been, had MI's cast been presented in a less likable manner and those same characters not taken SIX YEARS to resolve their non-starting relationship issues.
Maybe because of how fast the pace moves in NR, in comparison to MI's drawn out deceased lover rom-comedy, but NR's cast come across as inconsistent and (in mine eyes) are cheapened by their actions. NR's lead goes from a bumbling idiot lacking confidence to a dickish, I-don't-care-if-husband-watches playboy, and the wife doesn't take much to accept a new man, considering how much she's still in love with her dead hubby. (Plus, her short-haired look is lacking, when put alongside the allure of Kyoko's long-haired beauty.)
As the king of the faux-MMORPG arena (.hack started development in 2000, then released in 2002; SAO was first wrote in 2002), .hack can claim a lot of the responsibility for SAO. In the anime universe, the idea of being trapped in a fantasy virtual reality setting, via playing a MMORPG, is already 10+ years old. Even Yuki Kajiura's wonderful (though underwhelming, in SAO) music became famous as a result of her best-soundtrack-ever work on .hack//SIGN.
Both shows start in a similar way, starting in a present where monsters exist and then going into a lengthy flashback story.
The similarities don't end there: the most obvious similarity between the two is the way two best friends' relationship worsens over the course of the story, eventually leading to the best of friends becoming enemies.
While not identical (Berserk is set during medieval times, where as Gungrave is about gangsters), both shows are similar enough for most fans of one to like the other.
Dapple and Chinatsu give off a different vibe from everything else. Not only do they deal with nature (rural setting in Chinatsu; tree-talking in Dapple), the slice-of-life antics of the two get propelled onwards by prepubescent romance subplots--boy x supernatual, attention-grabbing girl lead duo pairings. What's more, both series ended inconclusively with their third volumes. How similar can you get!?
In Dapple the heroine is an unaging girl with the appearance of a pre-teen and the ability to communicate with plants. In Chinatsu the heroine can sing and give life by doing so.
It's such a shame neither was ever completed because both were an absolute joy to read. The more drama-filled bits were as touching as the lighthearted comedy was amusing. I can only assume they failed to attract attention for the same reasons, such are there similarities...
Japan IS FotNS... just drawn with Berserk's art and with a strong message about Japanese society.
(Many seem to comment on it being pro-Japanese propaganda, but I find that hard to agree with when the author goes out of his way to depict his country's men as being spineless sellouts and the women whoring themselves to the highest bidders.)
Super-large men battle it out on a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The strong conquer the weak; women are taken as possessions. And, of course, the BIG lead smacks everyone who crosses his path silly with his manliness. There are bandits, desert buggies, manly broship... everything.
The bad? It's dumb and ends without any sort of ending.
When considering going on vacation, jumping 100's of years into the past to the times when the Mongolians were invading and conquering all wouldn't be ideal. But that's what happens in these two: the respective leads finding themselves right in the middle of hellish warfare. Naturally, there are romantic subplots and duels to the death with swords... what more could you ask for?
Since King of Wolves was drawn by Berserk's author, wrote by FotNS' author and shares obvious similarities to Threads of Time, it's best described as a blend of the three. (Thankfully, only the FotNS LARGE man thing got added from that. Far more similar to Berserk.) Threads of Time is where it's at if you're looking for a well-developed story with a killer twist, rather than lots of fighting, though.
In King of Wolves you even get to learn the TRUE identity of Genghis Khan. How awesome is that? The info even made watching Kurozuka seem somehow more worthwhile.
As I read Sense, with one hand on my mouse and the other at the ready on my pet snake (Wormy, FYI), something occurred to me: I'd seen the panty-detail and arses somewhere before. The heroine also reminded me of a character from elsewhere. But I couldn't put my finger on it... until I checked out Haruki's MAL page, read that he/she'd once drawn doujins of Katsura's work and it all fell into place: Haruki has a MAJOR hard/wet(?)-on for Iori, and other girls in Katsura's manga that look like her.
In Sense, Iori returns from I''s; once again playing the role of a school girl idol (I *think* even the uniforms are very samey). The key difference between I''s and Sense is that, where as I''s never went beyond non-penetrative ecchi, in every chapter of Sense one of MANY girls around Mr. All-Girl School Teacher receives non-genital sexing--either in the mind of the delusional perverted teacher or - probably later on - in reality.
Also: in Haruki's other work, Hishoka Drop, AGAIN the heroine looks like Iori. However, in that she's a pure working woman at a company, as opposed to being a school girl idol. But if you can manage to look beyond your school girl fetish, Hishoka Drop is closer to being classified as a hentai, and contains much whited-out penis.
What links these two is what separates them from everything else I've read: three people living together under the same roof (one guy and two women) and the guy managing to have an intimate relationship with the two of them, without war breaking out. The respective trios in the two come to share a close bond, in spite of the obvious jealousy issues that come with one guy doing two girls.
There are countless harem series where multiple girls go after one guy and sod all ever happens. There are also many where the lead and his harem live together. But series with adult, 20+ characters, with relationship complexities and LOTS of wank-worthy sex?... Nah.
In Sakuranbo the girlfriend of the lead doesn't just go, "You need to snog my man to avoid aging backwards, every day?... Ok, no problem!" - she starts out incredibly hostile and jealous, as you'd expect. But once the two women get to know each other and it's clear there aren't any romantic feelings between the snog-needer and the man in the middle, they start living together and act like a happy family.
In Honeymoon Salad it's FAR weirder. The ex the lead has dreamt about for half of his life turns up on his doorstep. At the same time, he starts having sex with another woman. One thing leads to another and all three start living together. You'd expect lots of jealousy, but Ichika (the lead's girlfriend) runs away from men once they start loving her back and actually wants Youko (the ex) to stay, where as Youko gets on with Ichika - despite having the opposite personality - and doesn't mind about the other two getting it on.
Sisters showing their bodies to their brothers in order to tease/mentally torture them, knowing just how much their brothers want them, as they live together. The heroines in these two enjoy NOTHING more than seeing the male leads squirming in anguish over them.
There are a few significant differences:
#1: In Hozuki the siblings aren't actually related, and only got to know each other starting with middle school. In Oniichan the siblings are related. (Why they aren't related in Hozuki, yet everyone reacts as if they share the same blood (including the 'siblings' themselves), is beyond me...))
#2: Oniichan's sister is a manipulative yandere. Her brother doesn't know about her yandere side, or that she's as into him as he's into her. In Hozuki, only the 'brother' is shown to be 110% into his 'sister', and it ends without anything resolved.
Hard not to compare these two. In both super-intelligent heroines outsmart their respective male companions as they travel. Along the way, lessons on economics are given - in S&W through trading chatter and in Maoyuu through Demon Queen actually teaching Hero how war can be beneficial, as well as sharing with other lowly humans the wonders of potatoes.
The chemistry shared between Horo and Lawrence in S&W is mostly absent in Maoyuu; jokes instead being made about Demon Queen's large (and much-too-exposed) breasts; oft described as "useless meat". Hero intentionally being a clone of white knight JRPG leads doesn't help matters. It's still amusing to watch the two interact... just not with the same wordplay goodness in S&W.
It's strange that two on-going seinen series with practically the exact same set-up can be on-the-go at the same time, but that's the case with these two.
In both two male characters come together; one with intelligence to spare and the other with ESP. In both they end up working together to change the world. There's even romantic subplots slowly developing in both.
What separates them clearly is their differing executions; one being involving and other pushing me away.
Nanika's a far more artificial-feeling, juvenile story, where some pathetic four-eyes kills whomever a sociopath of a transfer student tells him to. No effort was put into pre-ESP characterisation, and this fact - alongside people using cell phones in cars and comedians being world-changing targets - gives the series an edge of fake absurdity.
Destroy and Revolution dealt with its lead characters first, then moved onto terrorism via gradual building destruction. The reasons for the leads doing what they do and their friendship, unlike in Nanika, allowed me to care and understand. And when the ESP-terrorism did become important, politicians - rather than random people in cars - were targeted, which give the series a much appreciated semi-realistic edge.
Let me be clear: I wouldn't describe Ashita as a yandere. At the very least, she lacks the creepy-stalking side that made me INSTANTLY link Koharu from KnH and Yuno from Mirai Nikki. HOWEVER, the alien Ashita can destroy buildings by firing a laser from her finger and becomes mentally unstable when she thinks the male lead is cheating on her; at one point, exploding inside a building when angry. So, although she's USUALLY calm, the lead has to be VERY careful not to piss her off.
...but, even if you only want a nutjob heroine that leaves you torn between fear and love, you should still read Ashita. It's a seinen rom-com with a true touch of originality, stemming from its CRAZY alien-sphere --> 2x Ashita premise. It's art is sexy-greatness and it's truly quite funny. (And, since KnH also happens to be a seinen rom-com different from the norm, I figured I'd link them up!)
With one volume of Underdog under my belt, I think of it as Mirai Nikki done right. What do I mean by that, you ask? I mean that, so far, it's been closer to reality with its lead's views on life, his reactions to others and his... hobby--what you'd expect from a seinen title. I also mean that no dogs controlled by a diary have been used, as of yet. NO SUPERNATURAL DIARY STUPIDITY = YAY!
Underdog is like some kind of holy union between Mirai Nikki (KILL EVERYONE ELSE!) and Liar Game (OUTSMART EVERYONE ELSE!). What I like A LOT about it is that face-to-face intensity gets combined with the need for thinking. Since it's against the rules in Underdog to DIRECTLY kill the other players, the aim of the game is to make the other player either kill themselves or INDIRECTLY cause someone else to kill them. It's great!
Based on the author being the creator of Shamo, there might be a fair amount of unpleasant, not-so-nice things around the corner to keep me hooked. (....LITTLE SISTER!)
There aren't many manga (or stories in general) with psychopaths as leads. Their lack of feeling and/or traces of normality makes it hard for readers to relate, and most authors probably assume MOST manga readers aren't nutjobs. But these two short series differ from the norm.
It's arguable that the biggest similarity between the two is obsessive love and murder going hard-in-hand. In Goth it's more a case of wrist-lust than love, really, but it's a fact that both of the female leads find themselves toyed with by dangerous people.
If you like your manga happy and without gruesome death (as well as a lil' rape), it might be wise to stick with shoujo instead of reading these. Du Ming starts out innocently enough but I can assure you that both series are VERY twisted.
Those familiar with Parasyte would view 7 Billion Needles as something of a rip-off, should they read it. An eccentric alien entity comes from outer space, merges with the lead and slowly-but-surely comes to be friends with its host, as they battle together against other alien enemies. If you're experienced, you've read it all before.
The first two volumes aren't bad - the characterisation being solid enough - but the last two turn it into a nonsensical mess that would most likely leave you with a desire to have re-read Parasyte instead.
In terms of the 'merging' itself, 7BN has more in-common with Birdy than Parasyte since in both the leads die and need to rely on their new companions to survive. However, since Birdy has a human form all of her own, the relationship development isn't really very similar to what 7BN has to offer.
Out of these two, I'm not sure which is the dafter: the one with a prison that's used as an amusement park or the one where a classy all-girl school has the students try to kill edge other for badges after lessons. It's a tough one.
In Deadman Wonderland a class is slaughtered, some average-but-naturally-heroic midget gets blamed and then attempts to unravel the conspiracy in prison... while playing death-games in order to earn enough credits for food and death-aversion candy.
In Tokyo Girls Destruction a girl transfers to a school built on a man-made island in order to discover the truth behind her older sister's death... because the school can keep bodies and do what they want, or something. Once there, she has to fight to keep her badge in order to be able to eat, while acting like a useless shoujo heroine (tomboys replace protective bishie love interests).
They're both dumb. Very dumb. But TGS wins because A) it has an all-girl cast B) it has pantsu and C) the art is sexy... for 2D drawings that fit into small boxes, that is. So, drop DW and start TGD if you have a penis.
Let's see...
-- An endless series of 'play or die' games, where survivors from each game must continue to work together.
-- The enemies in both are aliens... until the aliens start being dicks and make humans fight it out. There's no text-sharing black sphere in Kamisama but the aliens themselves tend to be quite chatty, with the same sort of twisted humour.
-- Almost anyone can die. Getting attached to characters is a bad idea (until Kurono appears in Kamisama with his 100-points, anyhow).
-- No attempt is made to explain why, exactly, people are finding themselves forced to go at it with weird as hell enemies (Gantz goes to shit once info is shared). And a high-schooler slaughtering people with a sword is just normal. Accept it!
Kamisama is a lil' more shounenish than Gantz with its typically average>winrar lead and a girlfriend character or two wanting his 2D dick from the get-go, but it's in the same magazine as Shingeki and there aren't any orange ninjas. I like it.
The games play out more along the lines of Liar Game than Gantz, but with aliens and its sense of humour and level of craziness...
Don't you just love it when manly battles to the death get accompained by manly narration and manly animal representations of the characters?
As far as graphic violence in Japanese graphic novels go, these two are in the top-tier. Ichi has a modern setting and far more sexual content/rape, but Shigurui's ALMOST as fun to read as Ichi when it comes to OTT violence; body parts flying everything as both fists and swords kill everything. You could describe Shigurui as Ichi's samurai equivalent since the main draw of both is seeing people get brutally murdered and, strangely, enjoying it.
Flowers & Bees is not about flowers or bees. What it is about is a young man's journey through adulthood as he's mentally abused by two sadistic sisters at a salon for men. He just can't get laid... though he does get 'raped' by a love-hole wielding sadistic sister, if that counts (?).
Haunted House is not about a haunted house. What it is about is a young man whose family intentionally scare away EVERY girl he brings home by going full-on goth; make-up, costumes and all. They miss no chance to add to the mental wounds of the lead as he fails to get laid throughout his high school and early working years.
Female authors known best for shoujo/josei/ladyworks creating something with a male lead and then drawing the lead in question be tortured always makes for an especially amusing experience. Maybe guys are just too simple, or maybe the authors in question have had too much practice in real life... or maybe creating these types of stories works as a form of sexual frustration release. I don't know. But what I do know is that they're quite amusing.
I thought I'd made this recommendation already. I hadn't. (True story...)
After reading the BR manga, I went on to read the novel. There's a world of difference between the novel and its completely over the top manga adaptation. The simplest way of explaining it is for me to tell you to imagine the author of Gantz, Oku, was allowed to insert as much graphic violence and nudity as humanly possible, while keeping the story and characterisation as is.
Remember that part in the novel where - in a flashback - the Terminator/final boss character plucked an eyeball out at school?... No? What about the part where a girl reverse-raped a boy to reward him, as he lay dying from a wound in his stomach?... Still no? Ok, then: you MUST remember the bit where, in a martial arts showdown with the series' final boss (one of the best fights ever, FYI) the good guy hit the bad guy with a mini-kamehameha?...... I give up.
If you loved Gantz for its boobs, violence and general craziness, you'd LOVE BR to bits. Seriously.
Two of the funniest anime in existence. And, perhaps coincidentally, the only two anime that spring to mind where the 'half-episode' mark often meant a different short story/chapter. You know how those other unfunny anime drag-on for the full episode run-time... despite being unfunny? These two don't. Clearly, 10-minutes is the best for animated comedy silliness.
This recommendation was a bizarre toss-up between Darker than Black and Spice & Wolf for Blood Alone's 'partner'. S&W won because I'm referring to an anime in the case of DtB, where as S&W has a manga adaptation complete with much Howo wuvliness.
Y'see, BA is a lot like DtB in the sense that a guy with supernatural powers called Kuroe beats/kills supernatural foes, relying far more on his human fighting skills than his own special powers. Kuroe even looks like Hei AND is searching for his sister. There are also plenty of episodic showdowns where Kuroe gets to do his kick-arse thing.
But BA isn't really an action epic, or anything of the short. The S&W similarity lies with the wordy bond shared between Kuroe and the vampiric loli he protects. He sees her more as a younger sister; she loves him; they develop as characters through lengthy exchanges + sleeping in the same bed together. Little Misaki is no Howo in terms of intelligence, experience, wit and tail... but they're both headstrong and both are immortals stuck in one never-aging form. And With BA's author caring MUCH more for characterisation than action, with almost random slice-of-life singles thrown around to great effect, I can only compare it to S&W in terms of its focus.
Faithful adaptations of popular PS2 JRPGs. Out of those who've played the games, only the most 'hardcore' would deny their quality as adaptations.
They can be watched in the hood on a lucerdtv. The games cannot. Why not? You don't need doovde.
It's hard not to see Guilty Crown as something of a Code Geass rip-off when they're similar to the extent the main character receives "the power of the king" from a mysterious female, before involving himself in a Japanese rebellion against foreigners discriminating against the Japanese. There are even robots on roller-skates in it!
So far, what keeps the two as separate entities is the respective leads. In Code Geass Lelouch starts the rebellion himself and is driven by both hatred and the desire to protect his disabled little sister. In Guilty Crown the lead is some kind of emo-pussy hybrid that gets himself pulled into the rebellion of another man.
If the school-mecha warfare blend continues as the series progresses, those linking the two will only increase in number. It's a good thing Guilty Crown has outstanding visuals and music, as well as fast-pacing--people would look down on it otherwise.
'Generic' is frequently used to describe Broken Blade's tale of mecha warfare, and even I - with my limited experience with mecha - must confess to being reminded of Gundam SEED on a few occasions when watching. It's so well-executed and beautiful looking & sounding that I cared not, but the similarities are worth noting.
The first SEED-BB similarity is the 'Friends becoming enemies' subplot prevalent early on in BB. Just like in SEED, the two friends went to school together; one being averse to war and the other being a pacifist. But skip a little into the future and two find themselves on opposing sides in a war, piloting robots.
The second comes in the third movie. Halfway through SEED, the series reached its peak when Kira confronted Athrun and his team on his own. The two were finally prepared to kill each other, they screamed their names at each other in their cockpits, etc etc. Guess what happened halfway through BB as Rygart imitated a rhino and fought with his old friend, Zess? You guessed right!
Until Black Lagoon starts getting released again, Jormungand is where its fans should look for their psychotic lady sexiness + guns fix. The blend of light-hearted interaction, death and serious subject matter in general, as well as the emphasis on scary-but-hot ladies, makes them easy to place together.
Both deal with the transporting of cargo as mercenary teams attempt to protect the goods until they reach their destination; shooting anything that gets in their way. Women lead the way with insane smiles/laughter in Jormungand, as well as Black Lagoon. The most deadly characters in the two are female and in Jormungand the heroine is the lead in a seinen--a rarity.
I prefer Black Lagoon because Jormungand starts out by throwing ten characters at the reader at once, instead of slowly introducing everyone--meaning it takes time to remember names and start caring. Jormungand's more global, country-to-country episodicness also gets in the way of attachment, compared to Black Lagoon's clusterfcuk setting.
Without the Revy-Rock interaction, Jormungand isn't as good as Black Lagoon, but it's still a damn good read.
Modern, 21st century re-imaginings of famous novels. One is best described as a lengthy suicide note written by the author (No Longer Human); the other is a story of murder, guilt and redemption (Crime and Punishment). Both are aimed at the seinen demographic and get inside the heads of the respective leads--clearly showing the thinking of those unable to connect with society and examining the human condition in detail. In short, they're fantastic psychological rides.
As a direct result of the edits made to the Crime and Punishment adaptation in order for those of today to better relate to its lead and the content (reclusion, prostitution, etc...), the struggles of the leads are more than likely far more similar than in the original works.
Psychological profiles of different types of killers. One is an unfeeling sociopath who feels nothing; killing purely to ease his boredom and express his disgust with humans (God's Child). The other makes himself into a killer out of desperation--his plan to earn himself money for his family and remove "vermin" from society coming together months after he became recluse due to his inability to connect and work together with others. (Crime and Punishment).
Crime and Punishment is a modern remake of the classic novel. The author connects the people of today with a story from the 1800's by inserting common social issues - such as the hikikomori phenomenon and teenage prostitution - and staying true to the original story of murder, followed by crushing guilt. It's a masterpiece--the art and dialogue being truly wonderful. The tension built at certain points is crazy.
God's Child is a surreal, style over substance stab at looking into the mind of a monster. Rather than believable events, its story goes more in the direction of a gay cult of pre-teen boys forming around a nutjob. I wasn't overly impressed by it.
Koimoku is Bakuman with less detail on the manga creation process and more boobs. In spite of being an aggressive loser, the lead quickly finds himself with a harem as busty manga editors battle it out for his talents and inspire him by getting naked/letting him touch their boobies.
My favourite aspect of Koimoku is how a career woman walks around with her tits exposed, acts like a ditz and offers the lead ANYTHING he desires for the puposes of inspiration. The hooker the lead uses for first impressions of his work is realistic, also.
The main trio's relationship (and character designs, in terms of the guys) is SOMEWHAT similar to that of NHK. A loser(ish) lead gets pulled into a plan to save himself from being a nobody (NHK = hentai game creation; Spike = exam question theft) by a glasses-wearing intelligent fella, friendship blossoming between the two and an ever-so-slightly crazy girl in the middle of all the psychological foreplay/characterisation. The plots are different but there are some definite similarities.
Btooom! is the end result of the premise of Battle Royale being combined with a fictional Xbox 360 game. Simlple as that.
Instead of a class of school kids finding themselves forced to kill each other on a deserted island for lulz purposes, in Btooom! a game company decides to let those unwanted by society test out their online game in reality by blowing each other up with bomb-grenades on a deserted island. THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE/A FEW, etc etc...
The lead just happens to be one of the top ten best players in Japan, and his online waifu JUST HAPPENS to also be along for the real-life game ride. (Even better, she's a busty 15-year-old school girl--RESULT!)
The nutty female loner of your class catches you doing naughty-naughty at school. There's only one solution: become her slave and do what she says, in the hope of avoiding the truth coming out.
Onani is one of the best character-focused psychological manga around. Aku Hana is more along the lines of a trainwreck where logic is defied--it's good to watch with popcorn.
The male leads in both are unadjusted to normal life but find themselves living around those not accustomed to times of war. They swear to protect the respective heroines from all threats and hilarity ensues as their lack of understanding/common sense creates more problems than it solves.
FMP is aimed at males and, as a result, has MUCH more comedy in its romance than shoujo series Shinobi Life does. Only the early parts of SL are comparable, though - in fairness - FMP itself does go in a darker, more drama-oriented direction itself, as its story progresses.
Yoko may not be anywhere near as intelligent as Horo from S&W, but her possessive jealousy and tail - like in the case of my beloved Horo - making me think about my Westie (Princess, FYI) differently makes it easy for my to recommend the two to fans of one for the heroines' similarities.
Lawrence would very much like Horo to be as raunchy and forward as Yoko. Witty banter/flirting is nice and all, but forced blowjobs are where it's at. Of course, Yoko having the ability to express her rage with fire and clothes removal/teleporting does make her the more fearsome of the two, so she's something of a double-edged sword...
Dragon Head was in its element when, following an earthquake, three people found themselves trapped underground after their train derailed, surrounded by corpses.
Where as DH's characters don't stay underground for more than a few volumes, Metro Survive's tale of survival starts and finishes with its character underground. The two are different, as a result, but to begin with the feelings of claustrophobia and panic expressed make it easy to link the titles.
(FYI, DH goes to shit after its early earthquake/train drama.)
Creepy stalker-girls strike fear into the hearts of men. DON'T LIE TO GIRLS, OR TALK TO GIRLS THAT ARE SITTING NEAR RUBBISH!!!!!
Ibitsu could be compared to many of Higurashi's unhappy, disturbing offerings, but the ever increasing creepiness seen in the opening Higurashi arc as its lead desperately tries to escape from a girl following him with a sharp, not-so-friendly weapon probably best matches up.
More in-line with plagiarism than a show of respect, the beginnings of The Breaker cannot but help one think of GTO/Onizuka. A new badarse teacher starts teaching at a school, bumps into a bullied kid, has to save him from jumping off the school roof and - of course - tries to get it on with a hot female teacher. If not for the art being so fantastic and GTO being equally fantastic, I'm sure this issue would be touched upon more than it has been.
Awhile after its GTO-theft introduction period, it does go off in its own martial arts / The Karate Kid direction. However, it completely goes to shit once the martial arts elite nonsense takes over completely, late on; becoming a subpar shounen fighting manga with A++++ art.
To the best of my knowledge, City Hunter was the manga that got the ball rolling as far as episodic tales of heroism + perversion go. Even though Ryo would rub most hotties up the wrong way with his perviness, to begin with, his manly actions would eventually make them fall for him as he saved their lives... repeat x200. Sadly for poor ol' Ryo, for one reason or another, he'd neither get lucky with any of the ladies he saved, and this has become something of a tradition for series that followed it.
In the case of Saru's Lock, it set itself apart by the lead using his lock-picking skills as he found himself in unlikely situations where babes needed him, time and time again. Like City Hunter, a romance subplot between the lead and a certain girl GRADUALLY advances - never getting very far because of the outrageous content, such as the lead's girl walking in on him attempting to suck himself off.
Gimmick! is the more inventive because of Hollywood special effects and make-up tricks having a lot more variety than simple lock-picking. But it isn't as crazy-perverted as Saru (not as funny, in short) and seems to lack a romance subplot.
They're both 11 volumes long.
They were both licensed by Tokyopop.
They are now both OOP.
They are both owned by Aion. (This makes Aion happy.)
Also, they're both war epics heavy on main character growth. After seeing loved ones die and - in the case of ToT - raped, the two respective leads experience the hardships of war first-hand; killing in order to survive and eventually becoming leaders.
ToT is the more realistic of the two because, where as SIII is an adaptation of a JRPG, ToT depicts the Mongolian invasion of Korea and all of the 'spoils of war' taking / raping / slaughtering that occurred in reality. I'm happy to report that younglings do get murdered in both, but ToT is definitely the more difficult to stomach.
Due to the manner in which the past-lifing issues get resolved in the two, they could be viewed as opposites, to a certain extent. Where as in PSME nothing could be done about the past in the past itself, ToT differs because its story gets told via the perspective of a time-traveling kid in need of much karmic suffering (from 1999), during the 13th century.
Reincarnations, past sins, shadow vs light love triangle woes - the two share all of the good bits. And, like the other series dealing with past-lives that I've read, the level characterisation makes it impossible to stop reading them... unless you're called Tumerking.
Two short thrillers where two men find themselves in the middle of a blizzard, find shelter and talk about their crimes. In BB it's already known the leads are criminals because of its premise, but the waters are far more murky in the case of Confession; its leads talking too much and quickly discovering that their shelter won't protect them from the dangers of the human mind.
Shin Angyo Onshi is the Korean Berserk. It's as simple as that. Few manga/manhwa can compare to Berserk in terms of art, but SAO even rivals Berserk in that area--SAO's art probably even bettering Miura's detailed work.
For the sake of spoilers, I'll avoid going into detail, but I will say this: Munsu's personality and actions mirror Guts'. His hatred and need for vengeance are also powered by what forces Guts forward (the 'betrayal' of a best friend, as well as a woman in the middle of them and a word starting with 'R'). And as for SAO's villain, not only does he look like Griffith, he has the same creepy smiling-but-evil/manipulative aura.
Ano Hana is similar to Noein executed in reverse, without the sci-fi. If you got a lot out out of the slice-of-life parts of Noein, and found yourself moved by how time changes even the best of friends, then you'd LOVE Ano Hana.
Noein focused on the bonds of a group of childhood friends before a tragic glimpse into their future showed how they'd all drifted apart. Ano starts with five childhood friends having drifted apart; the ghost of the sixth inspiring one to reunite them.
Titles sure to be appreciated by feminists. One need only glance at a certain Taisho review's beginning to learn this.
Naturally, if you're a guy, seeing lots of 2D school girls get sweaty at all-girl schools is a plus--there's no denying this. So, you could say the content is sure to please both genders, for differing reasons.
Girls want to play baseball. Men don't want women dirtying their sacred sport. The girls continue onwards regardless; building a team and edging towards a showdown with the boys' team. Expect girly manliness, lighthearted fun, and heart-strings to be tugged at as romantic subplots develop in the background; the subplots driving the baseballing onwards.
Taisho is a period piece (1925), and sexism plays a slightly more significant role in its story because of Japan only just starting to embrace Western culture at that time. But neither title is of the gloomy, depressing variety--you're meant to smile as you watch the silly antics of girls. And smile you shall... unless your blood runs icy cold.
I would say Maoh is Code Geass without robots on roller-skates... if not for Geass' manga adaptation having removed the robots on roller-skates.
Supernatural powers exist. An attempt is made to take control of the masses by a gifted individual and his equally gifted comrades and, in-turn, gain a foothold in Japan, with the intent being to become a god-like figure. Mental duels and do-or-die situations are ten a penny.
The key difference between Geass and Maoh is that Maoh's lead is the one trying to stop his nemesis from gaining complete control over his town--he's not attempting to start a rebellion himself. He has to walk the tightrope between doing nothing as a bystander and risking his life to stop a man revered by others; a man only the lead knows the ugly, manipulative side of.
An important aspect of the two is the balance between good and evil; the thin line between right and wrong. Black is very much grey.
For the leads, as well as the (male?) readers, nothing else matters other than the dazzling heroines of these two. With their worldly experience and intelligence - as well as their beauty - they draw men to them, and even conversations become exciting. Young though they may appear, they moist certainly have an adult allure.
Two stories pushed forward by lengthy exchanges that never bore, the titles' similarities are many. And you shouldn't mind this because, even with only black & white images and text, it's understandable why the 2D ladies are so fascinating, for no mere mortal could hope to resist them.
Episodic series aimed primarily at the more mature, non-cutesy humour/bishie crazy females out there.
Confidential Confessions covers a variety of subjects--suicide, rape, sexual harassment, and parental pressure, to name a few. Delivery focuses pretty much exclusively on the sex industry as it gets revealed through the eyes of different heroines how they got involved in it, how it affects their relationships with their partners, and so on.
If you like one, you'll like the other. The execution and content of the episodic shorts make this a certainty.
Psychic powers; visions of 'other selves'; experiencing the emotions of others--these three things link the two together.
What made me compare the titles was, rather oddly, a comedy element present in both: experiencing sexual pleasures through others--via recollections of past lives in PSME and a psychic connection shared by twins in Perfect Twins. In PSME it's ever-so-slightly awkward because two guys share memories of intimate moments from when one of the two was female. And in Perfect Twins the innocent, still-a-virgin heroine has to endure feeling EXACTLY how her nympho twin sister does when she's creating babies with her boyfriend.
Trying to understand why fate links the characters together is a vital component of both.
When part of your body belongs to another entity, where does the line between you and this other existence get drawn? - That is the question Heads and Parasyte ask.
In Heads, its lead gets shot in the head and is saved from his coma by becoming the first ever adult brain transplant patient. In Parasyte, the arm of its lead gets replaced by an alien. In both the once calmer, more timid personalities of the leads gradually change until they no longer can be recognized as who they once were.
Heads in particular is recommended to those looking for psychological thrills with a difference. It deals exclusively with the small but significant differences that separate individuals, and how everything can change so easily.
Since Saru Lock's story consists of its titular lead repeatedly saving well-drawn, busty ladies (and never getting laid) in the hope of sleeping with them, how can I not compare the two? Ritsuko doesn't have Kaori's hammer from City Hunter but it's already been made obvious that, despite Saru's perverted failings, he's destined to only get it on with the girl closest to him.
Saru's a virgin/midget/not hunky, unlike Ryo, but if anything that makes Saru Lock more enjoyable. It gets boring following the antics of a Superman after awhile, and Saru's room for growth makes the action exciting and his development more interesting.
Definitely recommended to those into Onizuka-esque pervy heroes.
Yotsuba follows the daily randomness and amazement with everything of its titular heroine. She's got a screw or two lose/is mentally disabled and likes smiling as she gets involved with the family next-door, after moving to a new town. It's purely slice-of-life and - in the first five volumes, at least - has no real direction.
Chinatsu, like Yotsuba, follows the life of its titular heroine after she moves to a new town. Unlike Yotsuba, Chinatsu comes across like a person, despite of her friendliness and cheerful, smiling nature, and it's easy to understand why everyone come to love her. There's a touch of romance and some moving drama in Chinatsu - the angelic heroine finding herself involved with her future boyfriend/best friend's possible parent divorce woes and, from time to time, using her 'healing' voice to help them.
Slice-of-life aside, one of the things that links the two closely is the clouded pasts of the heroines. Neither Chinatsu nor Yotsuba's parent confusion is cleared up straight away, and in the case of Chinatsu her mother's past is an important part of the story.
Chinatsu was created by one of the best artists around. Definitely the best at slice-of-life I've come across. So, in my opinion, Chinatsu is better than the far more well-known Yotsuba.
It took me by complete surprise just how similar the two are, when I read B Reaction.
To begin with, both of the hot-headed, aggressive teenage male leads find themselves at war with hot-as-hell teachers in their 20s. Misunderstandings result in the two getting thought of as perverts, and all-out verbal (UxU) and physical (B) warfare results.
As the stories progress, the relationships quickly take romantic turns after the misunderstandings are cleared up and the pairings find themselves in increasingly compromising positions. Hate turns to love, etc etc...
One of the things that links the teachers - 2D attractiveness aside - is how they're both *SOMEHOW* virgins and both *SOMEHOW* never dated. UxU had more background info on this but, whichever way you spin it, in this world it wouldn't be possible for females with those looks to evade men for so long. (Just put logic aside for romanticism, Aion...)
B Reaction has stunning, drool-worthy art, and I'd say its first volume betters UxU with its combination of exciting action and amusing/panty-flashing romance. But then the art became inconsistent and it was canceled... which means it ended without ANY ending.
Chiiko and Madoka are females not to be taken lightly, for they can easily beat foolish males senseless should they anger them. Of course, this doesn't stop the two respective spineless male leads from trying to win the hearts of ladies destined to be husband-beaters.
The characters do differ in the sense that Madoka has "the allure of an adult woman" and elegance, where as Chiiko is kinda-sorta like a female Onizuka who's happy to wear sweatpants and refuses to wear skirts, but they definitely both fit into the strong/scary 2D females category.
As for the progression of the the romances in the two, KOR's a shounen rom-com where sod all happens and Sekitou is a seinen rom-com where moving-in-together is already on the agenda in the second volume. Sekitou will appeal more to experienced, mature readers who are tired of non-progressive rom-coms aimed at younger audiences.
Hotman is a slice-of-life master's take on GTO.
Enzo is pretty much Onizuka with a daughter & four younger siblings. Where as Oni made his class his 'family', Enzo sacrifices himself for his real family as he deals with the mistakes of his past. Along the way, he finds himself becoming romantically involved with another teacher at the school he teaches at... but, of course, he never seems to get around to sealing the deal.
There are differences between the characters, such as Enzo trying to atone for his past by being a health freak and Onizuka being a complete pervert, but both kick arse... and neither ever have any bubblegum.
GTO has more direction in the sense that Onizuka's goal of winning over a class of rebellious teens is made clear near the start, where as Hotman wanders from mini-arc to mini-arc without warning. But, nonetheless, a fan of one SHOULD love the other.
Apparently, if you're a 30-something basement dweller still living with your parents, there's still some vagina out there, just waiting for you. And we're not talking about the loose, overly used variety here: we're talking about the kind you should by rights only be able to touch after paying lots of money beforehand.
Oku of Gantz fame/infamy's take on the hikikomori phenomenon was always going to have at least one sex scene with a boob-boobed, far too kind to be real woman. Not even the reclusive lead kissing a puppy was surprising after Butter Dog. But Ressentiment giving hope to every fatty in need of love (/all) out there as its lead first pops a virtual cheery and then rides his potty-mouthed boss-lady comes damn close to breaking imaginary decency laws with its 'laugh at the manga, as well as yourself, loser!' story.
Read both. Internally laugh. Internally cry. Then, resume to masturbating over 2D depictions of women/children.
The manga content covered by Beck's anime and the first three volumes of Ciguatera are incredibly similar in terms of both their content and tone. The two are coming of age stories where a nobody tries to become a somebody and overcome their insecurities, with the main driving force being romance. In both the leads suffer from daily bullying at school and just deal with it because, like in the land of the real, crying like a bitch doesn't help any.
Ciguatera has less far less drama on the romance side and - until the final chapter - is FAR less frustrating. It also has various hilarious black comedy moments.
SWWEEET is the version of Touch where the the twin complex spirals out of control. It's the version where sex/reverse raping occurs and two of the childhood love triangle trio are mentally disturbed because of events in the past.
If you found yourself reading/watching Touch and got frustrated over Tatsuya's lack of balls and him suggesting placing a picture on the wall to prevent sex, SWWEEET is the manga for you. It's insanely underrated and is in desperate need of attention.
Both deal with violence in an equally disturbing manner. Few manga can compare when it comes to making one uncomfortable by avoiding 'happy endings' as much as possible. And, maybe purely because of how the subject matter is dealt with, I found the art of the two somewhat similar.
There are parallels between the titles' leads, such as them both seeing one of their parents seriously wounded/murdered. And dealing with loss - as well as the desire for revenge - is a key factor in both.
What connects Gantz and Shingeki is their equally brutal, unflinching violence. Gantz offers 'guilty pleasure' elements (namely, huge boobies) not present in Shingeki, but in both titles characters are introduced and then, without warning, murdered in graphic detail. The intensity level of two is high enough to keep one on the edge of their seat throughout.
If the games from Gantz excited you, then the giants raiding the last home of humanity - and ripping humans apart like toys - would also excite you. The quality characterization in the two makes it impossible not to care.
These two titles share only one similarity, but it's one of significance: they're standalone movies which are, essentially, longer than average, high-budget episodes from the two series they're connected to. The movies capture perfectly what makes people love the respective main characters and there's rarely a dull moment in either film.
Those reserved, uptight Japanese folk need to learn how to insert lots of swearing, vulgarity and sex jokes into their cartoons. But until then, there's always the witty English dub rewriting teams who make it their duty to turn once dull, lifeless exchanges into laugh out loud material.
Desert Punk Example:
Junko: "...Over time, we've (women) learned to use every accessory we have as weapons."
Punk: "Including birth control?"
Junko: "Well, I've always found the best 'birth control' to be to simply point at it and laugh, little guy."
TWHE Example:
*two fisherman sit by a river*
Man #1: My rod hasn't moved all day.
Man #2: It will now!
*naked elf floats down the river, tied to a log*
(...In case you're wondering, these anime are linked by witty banter present in the English dub versions. DON'T WATCH THEM IN JAPANESE!!!)
So similar are Onizuka (GTO) and Ryo (City Hunter) that I have to assume Fujisawa was inspired by City Hunter when he created GTO.
The way the two alternate between perverted idiot mode - always making women fall for them but, for one reason or another, never getting laid - and superhero mode makes it impossible for me to think of one without thinking of the other. Nothing is impossible for them, no matter the circumstances. Boys are inspired to become men after watching their actions, and no woman can resist the duo's manliness for too long--even if they do get slapped a lot, to begin with.
...oh, and it goes without saying that banging school girls is viewed as morally wrong by them, no matter how... hard they find... it. Taking advantage is also a no-no, comedy scenes aside. Real men aim for fully-developed ladies and don't need to get the object of their affections drunk to do the deed.
It's impossible to like one without liking the other. City Hunter is entirely episodic and lacks the drama of GTO, but the feel of both series is very, very, VERY similar.
Figure 17 and Kurau are remarkably similar. As well as having a blend of slice-of-life and sci-fi, the two share one other fairly unique element: the development of a relationship between two girls; one of which being an 'alien' twin, in both shows.
In terms of characterization, Figure 17 is the better the two--the introduction of Hikaru into Tsubasa's once timid life changing her for the better. In the case of Kurau and her relationship with Christmas, neither of the two had a huge impact on the growth of the other, and the focus was always on remaining together as opposed to growing together.
What lets Figure 17 down is its repetitive, undeveloped sci-fi side and a number of its 40 minute episodes suffering from bothersome pacing issues. Kurau has issues on the sci-fi and pacing fronts also, but not to the same extent.
Be sure to watch the two of them if heartfelt family drama and character-focused stories are your cup of tea.
In spite of the descriptions and (Witchblade's, in particular) advertisement images suggesting the two are very much action series, deceptively enough the titles are actually character-focused stories of family and love. The sci-fi elements are never satisfyingly explained, and the pacing would put off those looking for non-stop flashy action/boobs/lesbianism.
The averages of the two being at around the 7.5/10 mark is probably down to them attracting the wrong crowd; those not interested in the bonds of love shared by a mother & daughter and two 'sisters'. Both are highly recommended to those who value characterization above everything else.
Two anime that deal with incest without glorifying it, or attempting to pander to those with a fetish for such things.
People are often put off Koi Kaze due to the age gap between the older brother and much younger sister. Boku wa would probably appeal more to those people because the siblings are twins.
In both stories the leads try to fight off their romantic, lustful feelings for their sisters; ultimately failing to do so. And in both it's made crystal clear how society views incest and the hardships brothers and sisters in love must face. Neither title is smutty... though, going on what I've read, the Boku wa manga does have numerous graphic sex scenes.
NG Life is how PSME would've been, had it been a comedy.
The ultimate two questions that can be asked (for males) are dealt with:
1: If the love of your live was reincarnated as a guy, would it be gay to want to do him?
2: If your best (male) friend was reincarnated as a hot girl, would you be gay for wanting to screw her - in spite of the broship memories?
NG Life is hilarious - make no mistake about it. In fact, it's probably the funniest thing I've come across. But the subject matter, if viewed seriously, could easily depress - the plot dealing with lovers tragically separated and, when re-united, being unable to be together; only the lead even remembering what happened long ago in Pompeii. Already, after only one volume, the series has made me laugh but also come close to making me cry.
The two top-tier anime for REAL MEN; those who follow the philosophy of 'treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen' a little too closely.
Makoto of School Days infamy sees it as perfectly fine to sleep around/have orgies with as many girls at his school as humanly possible over a short period of time... immediately after confessing his love to a sweet, innocent, melon-breasted girl. Why should a guy give a toss about things like feelings and impregnation - after all, they're just stupid hoebags if hey get all clingy after sexy time, and it's their fault if they get preggers.
Ryuuichi of Blue Flames infamy goes more down the Light Yagami path; not caring for the joys derived from sexy time. He's willing to enslave as many girls as it takes with his (presumably) massive penis in order to take over the world. Using and abusing hoebags is like breathing for manly man Ryuuichi. Put simply, he's like Light would be if he used vaginas instead of deadly pieces of paper to achieve his goals.
Note: those with the brains of squirrels may want to avoid these two. I'd hate to unintentionally offend anyone by recommending these titles.
The only story of any kind I recollect seeing executed like the fifth Kara movie, where the events switch between past, present and future on the fly for mindfuck purposes, is Baccano. Neither of the stories when told in order are complex, and Baccano in particular is easy enough to follow as is if you pay attention, but they can give headaches due to the mindfuckery.
Unlike Baccano, Kara 5 starts out totally linear, and stays that way for the first 40 minutes or so. Then, it proceeds to jump around like a rabbit on crack, and it left me pondering at the end whether I'd seen one of the best movies of all time or a movie executed in such a way that its flaws were well-hidden. Even without much understanding and a lot of confusion, it was totally gripping.
In Midori Days, a delinquent with a deadly right-fist wakes up to find his right-hand replaced by a noisy/cute girl who's madly in love with him... and isn't afraid to express her feelings.
In B-Shock, a crazy scientist decides to use two university students with different social standings in an experiment: joining them together with a bomb that will detonate if they stray too far from each other. This, inevitably, leads to much hilarity as the 'posh' girl refuses to use the bathroom when her new partner is near... unless he sings in order to mask the pooping noises.
Cohabitation rom-coms with a difference, FTW!
A wimpy guy gets his arse handed to him by the new girl (in Nozomi, the heroine moves in next door, as well as starting at the same school) and he promptly falls in love/lust with her. Then, for love/boobs, the wimpy guy decides to train in order become strong and, sometime along the way, get together with the girl of his dreams.
^ That's the basic premise both series are built on.
The two combine moments of comedy with fighting throughout and both are sure to be enjoyed immensely by someone who liked one of the two.
Yakumo is, in essence, a more rushed and poorly written version of Ghost Hunt. The two leads and their relationship is the same in both, though in Ghost Hunt the heroine's thoughts are expressed internally frequently, which makes her have far more depth and spunk than the hollow shell of a character that is Haruka. And the episodic stories themselves are far more involving and, at times, creepy than the average predictably on show in the first few Yakumo episodes.
In one, a delinquent winds up with an innocent (but surprisingly noisy!) girl as a replacement hand--the girl informing him she was in love with him from afar. As a result, they're forced to start out as friends as a bizarre boyxgirl-hand rom-com plays out.
In the other, on the day before a young boxer/delinquent's date with a girl he fell for at first sight, he dies. But all is not lost as an angel that resembles Buddha gives him a second chance at life... as a penguin. The penguin lead then moves in with his love and hilarity ensues.
If you're looking for rom-coms with a difference, these two are MUST reads. Gin is criminally overlooked; probably because I think only 5/15 volumes are on the net--me owning all 15 of Viz's releases.
Ignoring the obvious criminal underworld and assassin lead links between the two, there's a parallel of sorts between Brandon & Harry and Reiji & Claudia's relationships. Where as both Brandon and Reiji do the dirty work required to push their 'bosses' further up the ladder, Harry and Claudia fight their battles in the criminal political arena; trying to get ahead of their rivals.
There are VERY few anime in existence that deal with assassins killing too many people to count and their involvement with criminal organizations. So, though the directions the two go in differ, if you liked one then it's definitely worth checking out the other.
Two mature final movies to what are two mostly childish, haremish romantic comedies. Tenchi 3, in particular, isn't loved because it differed so greatly from what came before; disconnecting it from the fun-loving fanbase. KOR: Summer's Beginning probably suffered as a result of its tone being so different from the silliness that preceded it, too... though I'm sure it - a light novel adaptation - also satisfied a great many because it provided the perfect pay-off for long-time fans; also resolving the Hikari subplot.
In the previous offerings of both KOR and Tenchi, there wasn't any sex and the subject was dealt with in an immature manner - as you'd expect of typical rom-com works. But Tenchi 3 went in a totally different direction; bringing in a new female character, having her live with Tenchi and the two having sex - much to the annoyance of those with favourite Tenchi pairings. And, as for KOR: Summer's Beginning, it provided the mature writing and closure to the main relationship I wanted to see in what came before; the main two finally doing the deed and acting like adults throughout as they conversed.
Very similar in terms of the character types of the main four, as well as the 'mercenaries for hire, on a spaceship' premise.
The lead, Joe, is a little like Spike; him being a quiet, charismatic, and somewhat cool young guy. His love interest, and the second crew member, Alfin, is like Faye in the sense that she's the noisiest character, as well as the only one with sex appeal. Talos is CJ's Jet - his bulky build and wisdom gained from living longer than the others making him the most mature of the team. And, completing the list, Ricky is CJ's very own Ed - him being the required kid of the team and the the one with the know-how to fix their ship. All that's missing to make CB and CJ match-up fully is a Welsh Corgi.
If you found the struggles of the Bebop crew entertaining as they tried to make money, CJ's action-packed story is sure to please, too.
It's wrong for two short adaptations of works created by (Rumiko Takahashi - Gospel) and worked on by (Mitsuru Adachi - Witches) to have such low scores AND number of ratings. Nozomi Witches in particular deserves a hell of a lot more love.
What both titles share in common is their wonderful blend of comedy, romance, and boxing. They're both very easy to sit through and, rather than being stressful, are highly enjoyable. Romance pushing forward the boxing sides adds a sense of purpose, as well as some much appreciated humour, and I couldn't help but care about the boxing matches because of how much I liked the main characters.
I can't remember much about Gospel, in truth, but I only finished Witches yesterday and find it hard to imagine anyone being able to truly dislike it. It looks identical to Adachi's work (such as Touch) due to him handling the OVA's art, and I found it hard to believe he hadn't created a story of love & sport, complete with a fat dog, that's very much like his own work.
Honestly, the story of a wimpy guy getting dragged into the boxing ring after meeting, getting punched by, and falling for his cute new next-door neighbour should amuse most MALtards, for I am hard to please (not really, but whatever - I'm trying to be convincing.)
So far, in the all the time spent dementing myself with Japanese cartoons and comics, Junk Boy is the ONLY title similar to Golden Boy I've come across.
The basic gist of Junk Boy is this: an average, horny guy finds himself in a line of work that allows him to interact with/seduce babes. With his ability to get a boner at any time/lift tables with his boner, no woman can resist his idiotic, surprisingly seductive ways for long - not even an idol he once masturbated over being safe from his clutches.
Just like Golden Boy, it's sure to piss off those with vaginas with the way females are shown to be easy to spread. But it's the sort of thing most guys can chill and enjoy; getting a fair few chuckles out of the dialogue/maybe blowing a load over the detailed nipples.
Also, using the logic of other MAL members, both anime have 'Boy' in their titles and, because of that, are comparable.
Madonna: An OVA clocking in at not too far under two hours that's in desperate need of lovin'. Its current 6-something rating is a joke, and under 100 ratings - even though it was released in America - is puzzling. Also very frustrating is the fact I can't read the 20+ volume manga to see another possible GTO through to its conclusion...
Madonna is about a a woman fresh out of college looking for an easy life - starting teaching because of the amount of holidays she'll get. Naturally, she decides to teach at an all-male school for delinquents and finds herself needing to win over a bunch of horny thugs; dealing with constant sexual jokes, mild rape attempts (contests over what colour panties she's wearing), and other fun. At first she's scared and on the verge of running away... but, after throwing her shoe into the face of one student and - in spite of being nervous - standing on a desk and revealing herself to be wearing a leotard, then telling the students they're still boys if they're excited over such things, she becomes the idol of their school.
As well as because of the obvious teaching aspect, Madonna is similar to GTO in the sense that the teachers in both have positive impacts on the lives of their students. Madonna's almost Onizuka-esque, hones/often amusingly silly and direct lead ends up being the manger of the school's new rugby club; motivating the students to pour their energy into something productive for her.
Extra: in episode two, there's a rugby coach introduced. He has the same voice actor/methods as the famous Gunbuster coach-person. His manly voice makes me want to reveal my chest hair to the world.
Light and Ryuuichi share a lot in common: they're both sociopaths, they're both willing to use and discard women, they both view their families as expendable, and they're both more than willing to do anything to achieve their goals. They should be best friends, really.
Blue Flames is a lot more appealing to those lacking vaginas - that has to be said. Its story is about a guy sleeping with various woman, getting what he wants, and then moving on to his next target - not giving a damn about their feelings. It's captivating because so rarely does something show the true selfishness of humans, but it goes without saying that the ladies won't be best pleased seeing representations of their own gender getting deceived over and over/won over by the power of Ryuuichi's penis... Of course, it also goes without saying that they wouldn't mind so much if the story was about a woman tricking foolish men instead.
You probably won't like Ryuuichi very much, but - just like in the case of Light - you might still find yourself cheering him on order to see what nastiness he has up his sleeve next.
Considering 'Aim for the Ace!' inspired Gunbuster, it's shocking that there's NO recommendation for the original TV series or this - its movie adaptation.
If you exchanged mecha with tennis, they are so similar that you'd feel like you've watched one already when you watch the second of the two; no matter the viewing order.
There's the instructor who says very little and picks a nobody, ignoring the arguments of the elites; there's the hard-working heroine who overcomes everything by enduring and never giving up; and there's the super-elite, naturally talented rival who, initially, is dismissive of the heroine. Even teamwork between the hard-working rookie and her skilled rival plays an important role in both stories.
In short: no matter if you like sports or mecha titles, you'll like one if you like the other. It's that simple.
Fantastic Children's sci-fi side deals with reincarnation, where as Noein's deals with multiple dimensions, but in both you get to see multiple versions of the same characters. The key difference is that characters interact with their younger/older selves in Noein.
Both series alternate between serious sci-fi and lighthearted, slower paced character-focused sections. Noein's 'down time' parts have more of a slice-of-life feel, but the blend of sci-fi and everyday actions means the two give off a similar vibe.
The stories of Fantastic Children and Please Save My Earth deal with reincarnations attempting to make amends for their past sins. And love is an important aspect of both stories; the previous versions of the main two from the two series having been tragically separated in their previous lives.
Fantastic Children cannot compare to the depth of Please Save My Earth's characters, but it's still an excellent series, regardless. Just make sure you don't judge it based on its sluggish first half - its story only truly getting going in the absorbing last half of its story.
The clue here is kind of in the titles, but since I'm always willing to lend a hand to those in need:
Both stories are about fujoshis; crazy females who create ladyboyxladyboy fantasies in their depraved minds and scare me.
Rumi is a little over the top compared to Kanojo, and its titular female lead is what I imagine to be a severe/worrying case. This is because, where as Rumi is fictional, the Kanojo manga was based on the real-life experiences of a blogger who detailed what he has endured to be with the woman he loves. But both series have plenty of 'laugh out loud' moments, in any event, so it matters not in the grand scheme of things.
Read both and you'll either A) laugh a lot; internally or otherwise or B) reveal to yourself that you're too dull to ever get laid. One of the two.
FlameKissedHeart has already pretty much nailed this with the first recommendation, but just to add weight to what she said:
TOSotM is like a shorter version of Mars. The art is very similar - the male leads in particular bearing a close resemblance - and the story of troubled individuals discovering a love of life after falling in love with each other is, obviously, also reminiscent of Mars. The two main characters, like those featured in Mars, have troubled pasts, though their pasts didn't get anywhere near as much time as the Mars' leads did.
If the length of Mars scares you but the description intrigues you, then reading TOSotM first wouldn't be a bad way to go.
The artist behind both of these adaptations of much loved JRPGs has a very distinct style. If you read one of 'her' (I'm assuming she's a she due to the amount of whiteness/lack of backgrounds in her work!) works, then you would almost certainly recognize another.
Before the start of Tales of Symphonia, it was mentioned by the mangaka that her favourite game is ToS. And her being a fan of the game and, presumably, the JRPG genre as a whole shines through in her work. She's very attentive when it comes to expressing the emotions of the characters, and that part of her drawings injects life into the interactions of the characters.
As an example of how her ability to express emotions with her art improves things, I'll use the lead of Breath of Fire IV, Ryu. As BoF fans will know, Ryu is a silent character in the game. In the manga he does have some lines, and those lines do add to his character a little, but it's his eyes and the expressions he makes that make him standout, rather than his words.
I'm not really a fan of ToS, and I can only really praise the amount time spent on Colette becoming less and less human when typing about it, but I have more to say when praising BoFIV's adaptation. The best part of the BoFIV game's story is, without a shadow of a doubt, Fou-Lu's journey that follows his reawakening into a world that no longer desires his existence. And the mangaka was near enough 100% faithful when covering his sections. That said, with me already having mentioned how the mangaka's art alone adds a personality to Ryu, the BoFIV adaptation is near enough flawless. It's THE best video game adaptation I've encountered to date, and I strongly recommend it to all BoF/JRPG fans.
Short version: BoFIV's story being split between the good guy (Ryu) and the 'bad' guy (Fou-Lu) made it an interesting game, and such an execution makes it an involving story to read. (How often in a story do you get to follow both the hero and villain?) It's easy for me to recommend, and it deserves more attention.
For a Maison Ikkoku lover, the first 60 or so chapters will almost certainly make you at least a little nostalgic.
There's the loser guy (Aetera's loser is far more of a loser, though.) There's the long-haired, easily angered/cute when jealous stunner. There's the athletic, sporty guy with a nice car. There's the short-haired girl who pushes herself on the pathetic lead; getting in the way of the main relationship.
...Does that sound familiar at all, MI fans? If so, give Aetera a go. It does kind of go downhill starting somewhere around the middle - the story being dragged out far more than is good - but the early sections of the story make it a worthwhile read.
If the idea of living with a sexy young woman arouses you, and you're easily pleased by perverted humour, then both of these series will provide A+ entertainment.
Ane Doki is about a 13-year-old finding himself living with a 17-year-old... a 17-year-old who likes sleeping in the same bed as young boys, and pestering them about showering together. (She's the big sister from every guy's wet dream, basically.)
Dousei is about a college student finding himself living with his high school girlfriend, and misunderstandings resulting from shaving woes (the lead thinks her father abused her) and movement restriction (the lead misunderstands; assuming his love wants some S&M action, rather than to be prevented from moving whilst she sleeps.)
Both are hilarious, cute, and touching. If you liked one, the other won't let you down.
Suppli and Tramps start out practically identically: working women in their 20's break-up with partners they'd been together with for many years and, after dedicating so much to work, struggle to come to terms with dealing with the romantic drama that ensues.
Tramps is the more comedic of the two, and the focus is mostly on Sumire dealing with her ladyboy-pet outside of work. Suppli, however, has no ladyboy-pets, and a lot of attention is paid to Fuji's working life; gender equality issues and work-related stress getting covered in a lot more detail.
If you're just looking for a story with an adult, mature working woman, then both will do it for you. But Suppli is definitely aimed at those looking more for drama with a serious edge. If you're looking to get off over the idea of living with an obedient ladyboy, then Suppli isn't for you.
In my review of Fujoshi, I described it as a love child of High School Girls and Genshiken. Fujoshi was actually recommended to me because I liked High School Girls as much I did, and it's easy to see why a fan of it could go on to like Fujoshi, if they were to give it a chance.
From Genshiken the otaku side was given, as well as all of the main characters being in a club together. From High School Girls the semi-realistic, ever-so-slightly crazy, larger than life high school girls got transferred over. There's no discussions about the drama females go through to remove hairs from their bodies in Fujoshi, but Matsui has enough spunk to make up for that, all on her own.
Genshiken > High School Girls > Fujoshi = Happiness
Yagyu was created by the same artist that did the adaptation of Basilisk, which Gonzo went on to create a fairly popular anime adaptation of. The artwork, as well as the execution, is very reminiscent of Basilisk, and you could actually describe Yagyu as a sequel to Basilisk--its story occurring not too long after Basilisk's ending.
Where as Basilisk involved two ninja clans with a lot of hatred for one another being forced into a 10 vs. 10 battle to the death, Yagyu has a war of the sexes theme. At the start of the story, seven of Aizu's strongest warriors - warriors working for the evil lord Akinari - are forcing a rebel Aizu faction to walk many miles to their execution ground; tied up and dragged by dogs. But, instead of being taken to their place of execution, they're instead taken to the convent where their wives and daughters are hiding, following the failed rebellion. The seven Aizu men break down the gate of the convent - entering a female only sanctuary - and start killing the women in front of the men. In the end, only seven of the women survive, and that's where the Yagyu story begins proper.
The main difference between Basilisk and Yagyu is that the girls have justice on their side. In Basilisk neither side were fully in the right, and that made it easy for the numbers to decrease evenly on both sides. But, in the case of Yagyu, the girls are trained to get revenge on evil men; men lead by a man who kidnaps, rapes, and murders the women in his province for fun many times over the course of the story. The end result so far seems to be the women surviving and the men not, and that has, to a certain extent, taken away the kind of intensity that the shorter, far less predictable Basilisk had.
What Yagyu does have going for it are the strategies Jyubei comes up with that allow the seven women to get their revenge. Since Jyubei is only allowed to train and command the women and cannot kill the men himself, he has to be on the ball with his strategies in order for the women to kill vastly superior opponents, and its the variations between the mini-arcs where his plans play out that make Yagyu so gripping to read. For example, in one part of the story, Jyubei and one of the women act as husband and wife in order to get themselves kidnapped and, by doing so, infiltrate enemy territory.
Seven volumes in, out of what I believe to be eleven volumes total, Yagyu has been well worth the money paid for it. It is inferior to the faster-paced, more tragic Basilisk, and there is a bizarre amount of [i]very nice[/i] nudity present in the story, mainly as a result of one of the main villains being an evil rapist guy, but I can't knock it too much. The art is distinctive, the small bits of humour have amused me (such as when Jyubei opened his eye after acting blind during one of his plans, saw two of the girls naked, and they blushed/hid behind another, tomboyish character), and the action has been quite intense. The only downer right now is that the V8/9 release isn't due out until Feb 2011--it clearly not being a seller.
It's a shame no-one buys the series because the releases look very nice; each volume having its own colour scheme. They're a little on the expensive side but the covers and sizes of the volumes make up for the extra expense.
Here's a scan of the spines of the volumes I own:
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8423/yagyu.jpg
If you get up to date with the volumes released, you'll be taken up to chapter 60. Only 32 chapters are on the net at the moment.
This is a recommendation with a difference: rather than recommending both, I'm recommending UxU to those who read or watched Please Teacher and were left unimpressed by how fake the characters acted. Where as PT is aimed squarely at those who fantasize over big-breasted doormats, UxU is a far more realistic take on romance between a student and his teacher. A must read for those who were left wanting more from PT.
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What sells UxU to most people is the lead. Usually in these type of stories the male lead defines pathetic; having no backbone, no strength, and still somehow getting a gang of hotties after him. But UxU's lead differs from the norm. He'll argue with aggression if anyone disagrees with him, and he has a nasty side to him where he totally loses it; even hitting females. He also wants to be a movie director, and one of his early encounters with the teacher he loves involves an argument over him watching what she considers to be porn at school--him questioning whether she's inexperienced and getting slapped to death as a result.
What's so great about him is that, as a reader, I could believe he'd have girls interested in him. Strong, protective, loyal, good looking--he has a lot of qualities. And, of course, because of his horrible temper, he also has a bad boy thing going for him. There's even the typical haremish bit where a slutty character throws herself at the lead to make him blush... and he responded by turning the tables on her; pushing her down, having a feel, and leading her to believe he was going to make a move on her.
As for the teacher the lead lusts after, she's not an alien posing as a teacher; determined to marry the king of all losers--that much is certain. It's hard to believe that a 26/7-year-old hottie could be a virgin who hasn't even had a boyfriend, but her total mistrust of males following her father abandoning her as a child just about explains her past actions, and why she's so resistant to trusting the opposite sex. A big part of the story is her fighting a mental battle between her duties as a teacher and her feelings for the lead, and she's far from an easy lay--not giving into the lead's persistent advances; even going as far as to challenge him to win her over within a short period of time or risk losing her completely.
There's a fair bit of genre confusion that makes the series more interesting, also. It starts out more as a rom-com as the main two get to know each other in comical circumstances - the two ending up believing they had a night of passion whilst drunk - but it's definitely more of a... uhhhh, 'rom-dra'; drama taking over almost completely later on. And, just to fill the Korean comic book violence quota, around halfway through there's a totally random delinquent arc where the lead gets it on with some nasty guys and girls from his school; showing his true, violent colours for the first time.
Are you a lonely otaku, in need of love? Do your figurines and BL comics just not *do it* for you in anymore? Are you in need of reassurance that even you, with pretty boy rape fantasies, can find love? THEN READ THESE SERIES. RIGHT NOW... I MEAN IT!
Genshiken does, towards the end, deal with the subject of nutty yaoi fangirls, but the majority of the content is focused on anime, manga, and other more 'normal' otaku activities. Fujoshi, however, is all about the dark shadow that plagues MAL and makes me clench my anus in disgust: females who are into yaoi. After reading it, I actually started to think less nasty things about those who finger themselves over ladyboys, and that's saying a lot.
Read my review if you want to know why I like Fujoshi more than Genshiken. (You could also read my Genshiken review, too, but I doubt you'd survive until the end...)
Females are illogical at the best of times, and when in love they're impossible to understand. Young females are scary and strange creatures. So, it almost goes without saying that both of these titles focus on female characters as they're still learning about life; during their school years.
Hatsukoi focuses heavily on romance and includes a considerable amount of males. High School Girls is set at an all-girl school and focuses on the shaving woes of females/silliness in general. The two are easy to recommend because of how raunchy and, more often than not, downright hilarious they are.
An interesting point worth highlighting is that both series were created by females. And in the case of High School Girls, the mangaka actually went to an all-girl school herself and included her own experiences in the story. So, even though both titles include boobs and panties, there's a female touch to the characters.
...Basically, you should read these series if any one of the following three rings true:
1: You are a male with a disturbing interest in seeing girls wear school uniforms.
2: You like comedy that doesn't stray too far from reality and, in some instances, is based on reality.
3: The idea of reading perverted, romantic comedies (in the case of HSG, occasionally romantic; it's mostly perverted comedy) drawn by females excites you, for some inexplicable reason.
These two share a number of things in common:
#1: Both are six episode (25-29 minutes per episode) OVAs.
#2: Both are based on two different 15 volume manga series created by Katsura.
#3: Both are romantic comedies, and both share many of the same character types. (FYI, a typically pathetic/weak-willed rom-com lead, a tomboy and a reserved 'dream girl'.)
#4: Both are high quality productions; the artwork remaining faithful to Katusra's wonderful, ecchi style.
#5: Both end each episode with extras, though the I''s Pure extras are far better than Ai's--the Pure extras focusing on its lead's perverted fantasies from the manga.
#6: Both are incredibly under-rated, by MAL's shitty standards. If Giant Robo is worthy of over 8/10, these two are most certainly not worthy of close to 7/10 averages.
#7: Both have been released on DVD in the US: Ai was released years ago by Geneon, and I''s + Pure got released by Viz last year.
Also, I can't comment on how good of an adaptation Ai's OVA is, but the I''s Pure OVA is as good as you can expect a six episode adaptation of a 143 chapter manga to be. The execution (starting in the present, two years in, and then going back to certain points in the I''s story) was perfect and mostly only meaningless content got cut.
Green Legend Ran is like a far more rushed, prototype version of NaTHaT. It lacks the extreme tragedy of NaTHaT, but there are a TON of similarities between the two, such as...
-- The lead being a simple-minded young boy, who makes it his goal to protect a girl with a mysterious power; a girl an army want to capture.
-- A post-apocalyptic setting where the planet is dying and water is practically non-existent.
-- The planet the story is set on being ravaged by war between two factions.
-- People being killed without there being an attempt to tone down what's shown; there being blood when people get shot.
It's pretty safe to say that someone who likes one would like the other. NaTHaT is superior due to how messy the story of Green Legend ended up being, but both are worth watching.
Pet Shop reminded me of Mushishi because of how supernatural creatures were mixed together with everyday, normal characters; the sort you'd see in slice-of-life titles. I suppose Pet Shop is more 'horrifying', while Mushishi is more relaxing, but there are definitely similarities between the executions of the two.
Kurokami is good because, despite it plainly stealing from Naruto in the more recent chapters, it brings some new into the mix and executes everything else very, very well. I suppose the main appeal is that, rather than it having a male lead, it has a female lead do the fighting and a male support her from the sidelines. And, like with any top notch action manga, the artwork is lovely, as well as being clear during the many lengthy but fairly epic battles.
Aside from the obvious artwork and female lead plus points, the blend of comedy and drama is what makes me rate Kurokami highly. The writer knows how to time the events so that the story is never too depressing or light-hearted. With his ability, he manages to have Akane run out of the shower naked after a dog one minute and then move onto a back-story involving an Orochimaru-esque (though far more graphic' with live, naked subjects being worked on) 'experiment' scene the next. It's reminiscent of how, back in the Naruto good days, when there was a good blend of NarutoxSasuke/Jiraiya humour one minute and intense drama the next.
The Naruto links do run pretty deep; a little too deep, perhaps. First of all, Kuro is the last of her clan; her once nice (to her), elite brother wiping out the rest of her clan, mother and all. Even though Kuro is NOTHING like the ever depressive and angsty Sasuke of Naruto fame - her being simple-minded, running around without underwear and eating 24/7 - it's hard to not see the similarities between Itachi and Reishin. And, like I mentioned before, there's an Orochimaru type character from Kuro's clan who experimented/killed lots for his own amusement; the end result being him exiled and escaping from death.
...In short, I guess what I'm trying to say is that Kurokami will have a lot of appeal to Naruto fans and the like; the lack of an orange ninja, the cleavage shots and Keita being so much of an arsehole that he's great to watch be a dick to everyone and get away with it (like Haseo from .hack//G.U.) all adding to its appeal.
Bleach? Naruto? Nah; the Koreans know how's it's done. Screw the Japanese!
Human Crossing and RT's Anthology have quite a lot in common.
Both were licensed by Geneon in America; selling terribly. Both are totally episodic, slice-of-life titles. Both are underrated; Human Crossing having an average below 7/10, which is terrible by MAL's standards. Both don't stray enough from reality to appeal to most users of this site.
Human Crossing offers more hard-hitting stories, where as Takahashi's charm prevents Anthology from ever being truly depressing. That's the main and only real difference between the two.
The first episode of Human Crossing is about a boxer. It explores his reasonings for starting boxing, jumping back into his past to reveal the truth about the scar on his face and the reason for the distance between him and his mother. Like all of the stories in the series, it ends on a happy note--one of the main flaws of the series being how, often, happy endings seem forced due to the short length of each story.
The first episode of RT's Anthology is about a a family living in an apartment complex. The husband/father of the family has a pet penguin forced on him by someone, and his wife has to look after it... even though pets aren't allowed and her neighbors cause problems. It sets the tone for the rest of the series and, like much of Takahashi's more serious and shorter efforts, the series as a whole was hard for me to stop watching.
It's too late to support Geneon now, but I STRONGLY recommend trying to track the DVDs down; be it on eBay or elsewhere. They're worth a place in anyones collection and should be appreciated by most; adults in particular.
Ikigami is reminiscent of Battle Royale.
In Battle Royale, a class of teenagers were given three days to kill everyone else before a bomb went off in their heads.
In Ikigami, people unlucky enough to have been injected with something that makes their heart go bye-bye between the ages 18-24 get told - 24 hours before what was injected into them explodes - that they're going to die; they're even given their time of death.
Both manga are short series that are heavy on realism. They're very similar because both are about discovering what happened to 14/5-year-old (iirc) girls. Even the artwork of the two is quite similar; both artists being skilled at drawing adults, which gives the titles mature looks.
In Seizon, the lead is a man with cancer who, with only six months or so left to live, sets out to find the person who murdered his daughter many years before in order to atone for what he views to be his sins as a husband and father. He retraces the steps of his daughter in a desperate attempt to discover what lead her to be killed before his time runs out.
In 'The Quest for the Missing Girl' (the English title of Sousakusha), the daughter of the lead's deceased best friend goes missing and, in order to keep a promise to his friend and atone for what views as his sin, he leaves his mountain refuge in order to find her, investigating by retracing the steps she made before she went missing. He ends up searching for her by delving into the seedy world of child prostitution.
The Quest for the Missing Girl is far more straight-forward, without there being constant twists occurring in order for justice to prevail, where as Seizon has a more likeable lead. I feel The Quest for the Missing Girl could've used more 'down time' in order for increased character development and I think I would've preferred Seizon if the author had just got on with the story rather than dragging it out at times. The titles are pretty much equal in my mind.
Going on the small amount of people who've read it, you might believe that The Quest for the Missing Girl' isn't out in English. That's incorrect. It was released around a year ago, and I got my copy in the post today. I don't believe it’s on the net, though, and that's why so few have read it - because no-one pays money for anime/manga.
(I was going to try my hand at a review, but I feel too lazy, and my back is hurting after struggling to read an awkward to hold (it's big!) book under the light. This will have to do, I'm afraid.)
Are you a shut-in, scared to go out and living in isolation? If so, excellent - these two are perfect for you!
Me-Teru No Kimochi is the spiritual brother of NHK. In both the main character are recluses (although Me-Teru's lead has been one for far longer) and in both a beautiful woman enters the picture, intent on changing their lives.
NHK is more believable and has a girl with small breasts, Me-Teru has a sillier premise and a woman with big breasts. If in doubt, go with the one with the bigger boobs - that's my suggestion.
While Onani starts out purely as a Death Note parody about masturbation, complete with Light's 'Just as planned!' faces and in-depth planning, it quickly takes a turn for the serious, delving into anti-social behavior, bullying, first loves and, basically, school life in general. Think of it as a realistic school slice-of-life (with masturbation in the girls’ toilet!) about Light, without Death Notes and his popularity, and you wouldn't be far wrong.
NHK deals with many similar issues, such as not making friends out of fear of rejection and hiding away from the world. There's even a 'contract' with a weird girl in both, though what the contracts involve differ greatly. Both are very hard-hitting if you can relate to the struggles and emotions of the series’ respective leads. The only real difference is that, where as there's a good balance between comedy and drama in the case of NHK, the two often being blended together, in the case of Onani it's more along the lines of the story getting progressively darker as it goes on.
I hope Onani gets released in English at some point since I want to own it. But, until then, I recommend everybody ignores the title, as well as their initial impressions and reads it. By the end, you'll more than likely love it, and like me, add to your top manga list. I know I couldn’t stop reading it once I got into it.
The first half of TPPiOED is a lot like Ocean Waves. There's a love triangle, where two guys (one with glasses, one not) get involved with a girl. The girls in both differ greatly, Ocean Waves' being very selfish, but you'll watch both and have similar feelings.
Unlike TPPiOED, Ocean Waves doesn't turn into a sci-fi mess half-way through. That's why I rate Ocean Waves a lot higher.
In terms of other Ghibli titles, Ocean Waves is very similar in execution and 'feel' to Only Yesterday and Whisper of the Heart; two of the more mature Ghibli releases.
A quote from my review:
"The best way for me to explain the series to someone totally in the dark is to use Mushishi; a very popular, totally episodic title, with very little development for its lead and few recurring characters. Like the lead of Mushishi, Black Jack is always on the move, attempting solve mysteries in order to save the lives of his patients. Each episode focuses on a different problem, and Black Jack often finds himself in a race against time to save lives. There's isn't much in the way of greenery, the stories mostly taking place inside towns, and there isn't any relaxing music that soothes the soul, but the basic premise of both titles are very, very similar. There are even a number of supernatural cases included, meaning there's no realism/supernatural divide separating the two. Black Jack does try to stick closer to reality, with its lead using the power of science rather than information about supernatural life-forms, though."
Both are slice of life, telling the stories of two children growing up, falling in love for the first time and all the rest.
'Whisper of the Heart' focuses more on romance and deciding what direction to take life in beyond school. 'Junkers Come Here' focuses more on a young girl trying to carry on, despite not seeing her parents and them being on the verge of splitting up, also spending a lot of time advancing its lead by using her first crush.
I'd say most that like 'Whisper of the Heart' will also like 'Ocean Waves' and 'Only Yesterday', too - all the titles mentioned are mostly realism heavy titles, aimed more towards mature viewers.
The main characters of both shows are remarkably similar. The only significant differences are that Lelouch, unlike Light, has more reasoning behind his actions than simple boredom and Lelouch cares about more people than just himself. If you've watched Death Note first you'll half expect Lelouch to start screaming about becoming the God of the new world.
The series themselves are quite different. Death Note is set in our world, where as Code Geass is set in an alternate universe where Britannia rules most of the world. Code Geass has bright colours, comedy and ecchi, Death Note does not. However, there really aren't many anime with characters quite like Light and Lelouch, and the similarities they share are more than enough reason for a fan of one to like the other.
Both are set during the medieval period, both have very dark stories. Although the plots of the two differ considerably, the fact that both are dark fantasy series set during medieval times is more than enough reason for a fan of one to try the other.
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