Well, I'm here for the same reason as all of you - I'm addicted to anime, manga, and all things related to Japanese culture, and at some point hope to take Japanese language in my college career. My first ever series was Bleach - an obvious one considering it's "mainstreamity", which drew me in because it was actiony and had lots of violence. But after a year or so of watching it my friends all told me to watch some "real" anime and subjected me to Clannad. I instantly fell in love with anime after that - and from there, my passion only grew as I was exposed to different genres. Ironically, now my favorite genre has to be slice of life/romance, the exact opposite of when I started watching anime. I especially love Key and Studio Ghibli films, but I'm open to try mostly anything.
As of right now, I am watching Working! + Working!!, Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo.
When it comes to rating anime, I tend to score series on mostly a 4-10 scale. Anything below a 4 usually means that there's really no content apart from pure fan service, or the storyline went bad somewhere down the line.
4 = the anime was below average. Very mediocre - fan service, with a miniscule amount of plot involved. Mild - mid suffering while watching every episode - not enough to claw my eyes out, but slowly approaching to that level.
5 = the anime is approaching average standard, but not quite there. There's something missing in these anime that pushes it below average, but not enough to rate it as bad.
6 = Average. This is the standard, on-par anime. Nothing bad about it - satisfying for the most part, but nothing really stands out in this anime.
7 = Good. Better than average, but some flaws seriously hold back series rated a 7 from being any better. That could be due to an unsatisfying end or that it's missing an important quality, but apart from the flaws the anime is better than the average joe series.
8 = Great. The anime for the most part has characters that you can relate to and moments where you really feel for what's happening and the emotions that the characters are feeling. There aren't any flaws to anime in this category, but there are bits and pieces here and there that keep me from rating it higher.
9 = Amazing. This is where the good stuff comes out; the anime is emotionally moving. It gets you to feel with the characters, and not just empathize with them. The plot is excellent; it had twists and turns, and evolves from the straightforward, linear plot that anime ranked lower mostly seem to have. This anime makes you think about the anime long after it's over.
10 = Perfect. While in reality there is no "perfect anime", in my opinion anime that are a 10 has perfect moments that far outshines any flaws it could have. It has aspects of a 9, but improves on the good aspects while minimizing the bad.
I also love playing visual novels, and currently am attempting to play through a huge backlog on my hard drive. I've recently finished Ever 17 and Saya no Uta, both of which are now some of my favorites in the VN genre.
Apart from anime, I am a college student braving the extreme cold up here in Maine. When I'm not at the pool swimming laps or hanging out with friends I'm usually cooped up in my room, listening to godly anime soundtracks and procrastinating work as much as possible.
Additionally to our movie watch on the weekend I'd like to advertise the new movie poll in the simulwatch club. I figured we could do one more movie with as many club members as possible before the year ends. The list is extensive as always so you'll hopefully find something that you want to watch :)
First thoughts after 30 minutes:
The pace is quite slow and relaxing, but I expected that and it fits the rural atmosphere of the japanese countryside of '55 well. I thought I remembered a supernatural tag, but it seems I was wrong and this is staying on the realistic side of things, focusing on historical nostlagia and childhood memories, which is fine with me.
I liked the beginning when Shinko told us about her grandfather and the 1000 year history of this place, I'm guessing this will be relevant later.
As for the scene when Shinko visited Kiiko - it was superbly awkward, lol. And I found it hilarious that the situation resolved itself because of the whiskey chocolates xD. Definitely the funniest scene so far. This first half hour was used to introduce the setting and characters to us, so I'm guessing the plot/adventure will start from now on. Gonna sum up my thoughts again after 60 minutes and after finishing the movie.
After 60 minutes:
So the flashbacks are more than just her imagination? At least there seems to be a vague connection in Shinko's dream as that one scene indicated. I wonder in what way they will connect the past and the present here, I'm pretty sure they're building up to something but I don't know what.
I liked the scene where the kids built the dam, I used to do the same when I was little and we visited my grandparents on the countryside so it filled me with Nostalgia (and jealousy as my dams were way too amateurish compared to their elaborate construction ^^). But it was sad to see the goldfish die :(
I also enjoy the subtle historical hints, both from 1000 years ago and from 1955. Like paying 10 Yen for the awesome experience of random movie scenes from a cinema *gg*.
So far this meets my expectations. This kind of family-orientated story has been done a million times, especially in anime and especially in anime movies, but I usually enjoy them if they show some kind of creativity and don't screw up the atmosphere.
Final thoughts:
Those last 30 minutes were definitely the strongest of the movie. The suice of Tatsuyoshi's father was unexpected for me, though it's not an unusual plot device for those kind of stories. I really liked the part where they went to the red-light district to face the Yakuza after that. My favorite scene was probably them running and screaming through the streets after they left.
Not sure what to think of the weird timetravel bit with Kiiko and that girl from the past. In retrospect that whole part of the story seemed rather random, though it added some nice effects here and there (like the flower petal falling into Shinko's drink at the Yakuza bar). I also had the impression that the background art was considerably more beautiful in that last part.
Still overall this wasn't that spectacular in terms of eye-candy and animation quality, especially considering that it's a movie and very recent. It was definitely decent, but nowhere near the level of Ghibli or Makoto Shinkai. Same goes for the music, I enjoyed it but not in a 'wow' kind of way.
In the end the story and characters, that were quite slow for the first hour, were brought to a pretty good ending with a couple of strong scenes. I'm also a bit impressed how they managed to make it look so positive at the end when basically everything that happened was pretty sad. Tatsuyoshis father is dead, the teacher was dumped and had to marry another man and leave, the goldfish is dead, Shinko's grandfather is dead and she has to leave town too. They could have made it a lot more tragic and melodramatic in their execution of the story, but I'm glad they didn't. It was sad enough as it is, but doesn't leave you depressed after finishing.
Overall I'm settling for a low-ish 7 with 68% for this, because of all the pro's and cons I mentioned before. The story was good in the end, but had a slow start, the animation and background arts were nothing special compared to similar movies and the 1000 year flashbacks seemed a bit random and pointless to me. Without the strong last 30 minutes it still would have been a decent 6, because nothing about it was particularly bad, but with those 30 minutes it managed to bump itself to a fairly enjoyable 7, which was about was I expected from this.
I'm glad I watched it, hope you are too :)
Too lazy to do the timeline math right now, but I plan on watching it tomorrow in about T minus 17 hours from the time this comment is written. If you want you can watch it tonight though and leave your thoughts on my profile in a spoiler tag, I'll reply tomorrow as soon as I've finished the movie. 'Simul-watch' is a relative term after all ^^.
No problems, school stuff should be more important than anime after all ^^. And I hope the concert went well. What instrument do you play?
Regarding VN's, my current PC can't handle flashgames so I'm pretty sure I'll have to wait until I buy a proper one again before I can try out any VNs :/
It's definitely on my to-do list though, and Katawa Shoujo seems like an interesting one to start with (it being free and easily available in english and all). Thanks for the tip!
As for the movies, from those you picked I'd suggest we watch Mai Mai Miracle then. No particular reason, it's just been on my PTW the longest of those 4 ^^.
I'll plan for watching it on Wednesday or Thursday, if that's okay with you?
So, regarding movie suggestions, the following would be available on my harddrive:
http://myanimelist.net/anime/10690/Magic_Tree_House
Adaption of a children's book. I like those adventure/magic kind of movies, often they are enjoyable for 'kids of all ages' if you know that I mean. It's very new too, so probably well animated.
http://myanimelist.net/anime/10389/Momo_e_no_Tegami
This one apparently failed so much at the box office that it was record worthy. Still I've read good reviews, and I like that kind of setup (reminds me of Natsume Yuujinchou, one of my favorites).
http://myanimelist.net/anime/2848/Kappa_no_Coo_to_Natsuyasumi
Directed by Keiichi Hara, who also directed Colorful, one of my top 3 anime movies. Good revies and rating for a movie and an interesting setting. I have the highest hopes for this to be a masterpiece, but it's also quite long. But Colorful was long too, and totally worth it.
http://myanimelist.net/anime/3175/Marine_Express
This is old and until recently I didn't know it was subbed. But Osamu Dezaki directed something that came out of the pen of Osamu Tezuka - I have to watch this at some point. There will probably be cameo appaerances of other Tezuka characters too, but I haven't seen that much myself and I doubt it'll be important for the understanding of the plot.
http://myanimelist.net/anime/415/Tonari_no_Yamada-kun
A more or less recent movie by genius director Takahata Isao, with Yuaasa Masaaki involved as a key animator. This ist just simple slice-of-life comedy, but with a great staff. And I generally enjoy slice-of-life anyway ^^.
http://myanimelist.net/anime/7014/Tezuka_Osamu_no_Buddha:_Akai_Sabaku_yo!_Utsukushiku
More Osamu Tezuka goodness, this time an adaption of one of his manga, his interpretation of Buddha. It's doubtful 14 volumes will be adapted in one movie, but I still have to check this out, especially since it's very recent and the manga is from the 70's.
So, these would be my suggestions. I hope there's something among them that picked your interest, I'd be down to watch any of these sometime on the weekend or maybe next week. If you don't like any of those feel free to make your own suggestions, I'm open to pretty much anything.
Well, I'm actually kind of 'meh' regarding SAO. But episode 18 just put me closer on the hater side ^^.
As for Little Buster and the emotional breakdown, I meant in the anime not for me personally. The key drama doesn't seem to work as well for me as it did for others. There were a few touching scenes in Clannad but my top 10 anime that made me cry would look totally different. You'd find stuff like One Piece, Chihayafuru, Nodame Cantabile, Major and a couple of others on there. Possibly AnoHana (definitely if it has 26 episodes xD). Kokoro Connect is another recent show I remember that made me tear up a couple of times.
And no, I've never played a VN. I know basically nothing about them. Are they for consoles or PC? Can't say I haven't thought about giving it a try if possible, especially lately.
Lol, no nothing as bad as beach episodes or the likes. Without spoilering I can only say that while it does connect to season 1 it basically has its own story and instead of focusing on answering the remaining questions of season 1 it just makes more questions pop up, answering some of them and ending on more of a cliffhanger/open ending than season 1 did. The pacing also felt off, I was 11 episodes in and it felt like a 25 episode series when I realized only 2 more episodes would air.
It's not like they totally changed the concept, they just ended it on a more unsatisfying note with low probabilities for a third season.
As for a movie, I'll send you a couple of suggestions tomorrow. Have to leave now.
Looking forward to the simulwatch though, it's not all that complicated ^^
SAO is probably best checked out by yourself. 18 Episodes of 25 have aired so far, so you might as well until it's finished. I for one think it has it's ups and downs, but definitely more downs. Episode 18 in particular was just questionable for me ^^. But even though I see many flaws I cannot ignore the appeal it often has, it's not difficult to see why it would be that well received (Vol. 1 sold 34k in its first week).
As for girls with guns, it's not a trope I particularly look out for, but I can't say I don't like it. Noir was pretty good, but far from being one of my favorites overall and I haven't seen Madlax. Probably wouldn't count Ergo proxy, even though Rey-l is great. Black Lagoon is among my favorite girls with guns shows, though it's 'only' the secondary MC who's female. Gunslinger Girls is another great show with that theme, but more on the tragic side. Girls und Panzer is a different kind of show though, it takes a ridiculous premise, fills it with little girls AND ACTUALLY TAKES ITSELF SERIOUS. It's always fun to watch something like this being pulled off. It reminds me of Mouretsu Pirates which had the premise of a bunch of school girls taking over a space pirate ship xD. So many shows would just use those premises for cheap comedy and a harem setting with fanservice but both lack a male MC and instead focus on the details of their activities. You wouldn't believe the level of detail they put in the research of the tanks (I only glanced over the detailed discussions in the episode discussion thread myself, as I am not informed at all about the matter ^^).
Oh, and I loved AnoHana.It's not forced if it works, and for me it did. I quite enjoyed the show.
Little Busters is definitely slow and very similar as Clannad so far. The first arc has just reached it's first 'emotional breakdown' scene at the end of episode 5. They already announced a continuation after these 26 episodes too, so it's probably not a bad idea to wait a while on this. As for me, I wouldn't want to watch it at a faster pace, 1 episode a week would have worked for Clannad too probably *gg*.
Chuunibyou is really funny and adorable, it doesn't have much of a plot going on so at least until now you don't have to fear cliffhangers or anything if you decide to follow it.
Sorry for tempting you :P
I totally understand, I had to check out DTB season 2 too, even though I heard a lot of bad things. The result was that my expectations were so low that it actually surpassed them a bit, lol.
By the way, if you're already in the simulwatch club, want to watch a movie one of these days?
I hear ya when you say you prefer waiting until they've finished. I was the same until 1,5 years ago (except for the big ongoing shounen, Been watching those for years on a weekly basis).
I don't even know what made me suddenly delve into the currently airing series, it was probably a mixture of my completionism (I don't have to worry that there are any TV series left that would interest me that aired in the last 2 years or so ^^) and the fact that I found myself enjoying more and more genres, but some of them are more enoyable to watch on a weekly basis for me. There are series I'd probably never finish if I tried to watch them after they completed within a couple of days, but on a weekly basis they just increase the variaton of stuff I see each week and thereby prevent me from getting bored. Especially comedy/moe stuff falls into that category. Like Ixion Saga DT, I'm no fan of parody series and I'd never watch a similar show that has finished airing, but 1 episode a week is just a small enough dose for me to enjoy the comedy and not get bored by the repetitiveness.
I guess another reason was that the number of completed titles that really fascinated me was getting lower and lower as I watched more series and following the seasons seemed like a good substitute ^^.
The first two because they're great romance stuff and the others to give you different genres for first impressions. You wouldn't believe how much I find myself enjoying Girls und Panzer if you didn't try it yourself xD
And if you're a fan of Clannad and such, you should know that KyoAni (the studio of Clannad, Air, Kanon etc..) is doing [url=http://myanimelist.net/anime/14741/Chuunibyou_demo_Koi_ga_Shitai!]THIS[/url] in the current season. It is a lot more comedy orientated though and for that reason I personally prefer it over Clannad so far. Great characters, hilarious premise ^^.
And key (who made the VN for Clannad, Angel Beats, Air etc... that got adapted into anime later) also has another adaption going this season, [url=http://myanimelist.net/anime/13655/Little_Busters!]Little Busters[/url]. That seems quite similar like Clannad, but so far not much has happened except some character introductions. But we will get the various girl arcs and some kind of supernatural twist from what I've heard, so it does sound very similar to Clannad. This time it's not done by KyoAni though (they are busy with what I linked above) but JC.Staff instead, which makes many fans worry.
I just figured that may interest you as a Clannad/Angel Beats fan. Sorry if I didn't tell you anything new, I don't know how informed you were ^^.
And enjoy Darker Than Black, the first season is one of my favorites. I especially enjoyed some of the episodic episodes. Have Fun, it's a great show. You might think twice about watching the stuff after season 1 though. It's not horrible, but it really doesn't compare to the atmosphere of the first season.
And if you're interested to see more of the current season, on my profile I have my personal top 10 of the season so far that should give you a couple more titles to choose from, if you really decide to pick up one or two.
Hehe, I personally felt more annoyed by Kurumi at the beginning, wasn't she quite devious? And nobody disturbs one of my favorite romances ever!! *gg* After a while I warmed up to her, but still if Kazehaya had strayed even a little bit I wouldn't have forgiven him, lol. That's just how much I loved Kazehaya/Sawako. There wasn't much love left in me to give to Kurumi in Kimi ni Todoke ^^.
Well, I had a few experiences that made me open up for to older anime. Plus the fact that I just want to watch the big classics someday to know what they're about. Already watched the original Mobile Suit Gundam for example, but it was a chore sometimes. What really sold me for old shows was Legend of the Galactic Heroes though, which is widely regarded as the most epic and intellectual out there by its fans. That and Mirai Shounen Conan (a very old TV series made by Miyazaki before he directed any of the Ghibli movies he's famous for now).
I can't say that in many other cases the oldness wasn't limiting my enjoyment. Captain Harlock for example I still haven't finished. And Space Battleship Yamato also would have been a lot better with modern animation (Incidentally they're remaking it as an OVA right now ^^).
So I would say, except a few titles (like the WMT stuff) the old classics are more for people who watch it out of nostalgia or people like me who just want to watch them BECAUSE they're classics. But I can understand everyone who says they don't want to bother with that old stuff, there's enough new series coming out to never run out of them anyway and most of the older stuff is not THAT good to recommend it without hesitation to anyone.
By the way have you ever followed a series while it was airing? I started out only watching completed stuff either, but take a look at my Watching List now xD Some shows I find more enjoyable on a weekly basis (though shoujo romance I usually prefer to marathon). With Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun and Sukitte Iinayo there are two pretty good looking shoujo romance currently airing that might pick your interest. Kamisama Hajimemashita is a third one, but with a supernatural focus so I don't know if it's for you.
And don't worry, I wouldn't be spending that much time in MAL if I didn't love talking about my hobby and recommending stuff (I think I stumbled upon your profile because of your recommendation thread in the first place). No one I know in RL is nearly as enthusiastic about it as I am, so to the internet I go *gg*.
Lastly maybe you're interested in joining my club? http://myanimelist.net/clubs.php?cid=29615
It's about simul-watching series and movies together with other people so you have someone to discuss them with and not only the anonymity of the episode discussion forums. You're welcome to join and observe/participate :)
Shoujo/Josei romances are usually tagged in MAL so if there's no tag specifiying a target audience it's often an adaption from a VN or Dating Game that was mostly aimed at a male demographic.
As for some recs: http://myanimelist.net/anime/1698/Nodame_Cantabile (this one is Josei but I couldn't think of a more neutral one. Only that the female MC isn't super-hot and model-like hints at it being Josei. Also amazing OST) http://myanimelist.net/anime/6045/Kimi_ni_Todoke (This is pretty 'feminine' if you want to call it that, as in very shiny art and a shunned female MC that slowly opens up, makes friends and finds love etc... It is slow in the development of the romance, and very innocent, but that makes it a beatiful portrayal of love. I really liked it.) http://myanimelist.net/anime/4722/Skip_Beat! (This one has a strong female lead that knows what she wants, a lot of great comedy and a competitive element by making the MC enter showbusiness. It's shoujo, but has some shounen elements like rivals and competition.)
They are all rated fairly high too, so you know it's not just me loving them ^^.
And for a cruelly realistic one give Nana a try. The other one's are all lighthearted, but Nana can be rather depressing at times.
Regarding Serial Experiments Lain, I'm not sure if it's 'messed up', as far as I know it's just complicated, psychological and mindfuck-ish. Maybe that's what you meant, but 'messed up' makes me think more of something like the Manga 'Suck It', that's really messed up, lol. I haven't seen more than the first 3 episodes though, so I don't know for sure. It's supposed to be interesting at the very least.
And I don't think you really have to decide on which direction your moving with your taste, no matter what if you focus on one genre it'll quickly get boring so I think the best approach is to just not let any genre keep you from trying something that intrigues you from the synopsis or a review/recommendation.
If you really want to try some hidden gems you could look into the World Masterpiece Theater anime. I don't know if you heard about it before, but since the 60's famous works of western literature have been adapted into anime in this series. I understand if some of the really old ones are too old for you (I have only seen a couple myself), but for examples Les Miserables: Shoujo Cosette is the anime adaption of Les Miserables (aimed at children, but not losing much of it's cruelty) and came out in 2009. Only a couple of hundred people on MAL have watched it. Unfortunately it's the only one of the 2000+ series that is fully subbed. http://myanimelist.net/anime/2559/Romeo_no_Aoi_Sora http://myanimelist.net/anime/2828/Ie_Naki_Ko http://myanimelist.net/anime/1375/My_Daddy_Long_Legs
These are a couple of older ones that are subbed. I haven't seen all that many myself but from what I've heard and seen they tend not to screw up the original material.
I had to think about it because all the talk about genres made me think about those series that defy genres and are just simply enjoyable for people of all ages, like Ghibli movies.
Well, I've spent a lot of time watching anime and I'm generally interested in knowing what makes me tick, so I ended up analyzing my own taste over the years ^^. Still not sure if that's a good or a bad thing though.
As for the genre definitions, there are no real definitions. Seinen only means targeted at 18+ males. That can still be everything from a dark and violent sci-fi show like the currently airing Psycho-pass to something like Onii-sama that basically revoles around Otaku-ism and fanservice of sorts. It's basically defined by the magazine that prints the original manga. But there are a lot of shounen mangas that actually have more female readers and in the same way all those genres are guidelines at best. Shounen tend to fulfil little boys/teenagers fantasies. I like that if the show is action orientated and we see a lot of cool characters, techniques and possibly a decent plot. I don't like that in the romance genre because it means a lot of panty shots, shower scenes, unreasonable behaviour from the girls and more often than not an undeserved harem.
of course there are oddballs like Bakuman who have no action and no pandering too, nothing is absolute. For some genres it helps e to know the target audience, for others like comedy it is completely random which ones I'll enjoy ^^.
So don't worry too much about those target audience genres. Either one uses them to simplify things (like I did in the last comment) by not using them 100% correctly, or they really just tell you the kind of magazine it was printed in, but not even necessarily about which gender/age group prefers it.
As for your last question 'What would you say is the average female-targeted romance' I don't understand it exactly. Do you want some examples of typical series or some common traits that set them apart from let's say Clannad?
Common traits would be that female-targeted manga as a whole tends to be more focused on the emotions of the characters and what's going on inside their heads instead of having a continuous plot with developments and focusing on character actions. (As all generalising statements this of course has exceptions). From a plot perspective often nothing much happens in romance shows anyway, but while shounen romance series tend to fill the gaps with comedy and fanservice the shoujo one's like to focus on developing the characters, even the side characters.
Also I can/want to identify more with the 'ideal male' in shoujos than with the 'ideal male' of shounen series (Who is often dense, indecisive, weak, possibly stupid or a pervert but still gets to choose between the girls). The males in shoujo series are idealized in their own way more often than not, but in general the characters of those series are just a lot more believable. You can actually see why someone is falling for someone else and not just have to accept it.
Clannad is in the middle of those two, it has the harem setting, but doesn't act on it and the MC is actually someone I could like and understand why girls fall for him. But those more eloquent male-targeted series are kinda rare and mostly the same old Key (released Clannad Visual Novel amongst others) stuff, with supernatural aspects and whatnot.
Also shoujo series tend to be realer, with the MCs actually kissing quite soon and not only at the end like in Toradora for example. they start with the relationship and build the story from there, while shounen often start with the crush and only in the best case ever reach an actual relationship. i guess male's want to see the hunt and female's the relationship itself?
But again, these are just vague guidelines from my personal experiences and it#s probably best to focus on the main genre instead of the target audience. If you develop any preferances you'll be the first to know anyway ^^.
