Story of a Bloke
Let me tell you a story about a young bloke who started watching anime in his childhood (and how he got back to watch anime) mostly mainstream anime aired on TV. The bloke's first anime was Dragon Ball when he was around 5 years and he at the time was watching WWF and Southpark with his older brother and playing videogames with his N64 (The bloke has played a lot of videogames in his life, maybe more than 1000 from every console and more than 1000 from emulators) and at the time they weren't called ''gamers'' but Nerds (funny how things changed). He started watching Pokemon just like his friends, one day the bloke's sister made him watch Sakura Card Captor with her friends and he tought it was good (the anime not her friends) and because the bloke liked it they made him watch Sailor Moon, the bloke was horrified to be treated like one of them and he thought the anime was ok but his friends (3 years older than him) were jelly of him because he was surrounded by 15 y/o bishoujos that acted like the cast of Sailor Moon. The bloke was watching Cartoon too in CN, Jetix, Nick and Disney so he found Captain Tsubasa and Digimon Adventure in those channels after rewatching DBZ and Pokemon several times. After that his brother made him watch Aeon Flux and Cowboy Bebop with him on Locomotion, the bloke was in love with Cowboy Bebop (and with Faye Valentine) and then he knew that was his favorite anime ever. The bloke watched an anime with his sister again, it was Ranma 1/2 they were getting along because of it. The bloke started watching Monster Rancher and YuGiOh! and the bloke bought cards of YuGiOh! to play with his friends (lost the cards in school) a month later the bloke started to watch Samurai X and a year later his 2nd fav. anime YuYu Hakusho he and his friends pretended to be the characters of the anime, the bloke was 11 and months later of starting YuYu Hakusho he started Cyborg 009 the bloke never missed an ep. and he knew the anime had a dark vibe and also saw The Animatrix on Animax. In between 2 years the bloke was still watching some of the before mentioned animes and he started watching Crayon Shin-Chan on Animax with his sister and they watched more than 300 eps. in a year. The young bloke didn't watch anime for 2 years untill he started again with Death Note in 2009, (a year later the bloke saw RE: Degeneration and 2 years later RE: Damnation, still the bloke didn't considered those CGI movies anime) so after Death Note the bloke didn't watch anime for 4 years until he saw an anime movie called Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo on HBO family in february of 2013, also since 2009 he spend a lot of time on YT where he found an anime in 2013 by a click-bait called Omamori Himari which he saw in 7 hours but the bloke kept watching other anime unrelated videos on YT; 2 years later (May 20th of 2015) the bloke after being bored, downloaded 4 animes High School DxD, Shinmai Maou no Testament, Seikoku no Dragonar and Kanokon for uhhh!... research purposes ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) and the bloke was addicted to anime more than ever (That's why those 4 anime series have ''high'' score for the bloke) ( ͡ᶢ ͜ʖ ͡ᶢ) and in less than 6 months the bloke just finished his 150th anime, JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken (TV) and has seen 170 animes (Dec 29th of 2015). Yeah, that bloke, that bloke it's me and if you want to know more about this friendly bloke (music, movies, etc.) just leave a message.
Rating System
10: Outstanding
9: Excellent
8: Great
7: Good
6: Acceptable
5: Mediocre
4: Bad
3: Very Bad
2: Horrible
1: Garbage
1-Cowboy Bebop - Tank! by The Seatbelts
2-Ergo Proxy - Kiri by MONORAL
3-Wolf's Rain - Stray by Steve Conte
4-Black Lagoon - Red Fraction by MELL
5-Baccano! - Gun's & Roses by Paradise Lunch
6-Busou Renkin - Makka na Chikai by Fukuyama Yoshiki
7-Shin Hokuto no Ken - Lu:Na by Gackt
8-Hokuto no Ken - Ai wo Torimodose!! by Crystal King
9-Texhnolyze - Guardian Angel (Xavier's Edit) by Juno Reactor
10-JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken - BLOODY STREAM by Coda
11-Jyu Oh Sei - Deep In Your Heart by Koichi Domoto
12-JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken - Sono Chi no Sadame by Hiroaki TOMMY Tominaga
13-Darker Than Black - Howling by Abingdon Boys School
14-Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier - What's the Justice? by Globe
15-Last Exile - Cloud Age Symphony by Shuntaro Okino
16-GiTS: SAC - Inner Universe by Origa
17-Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin - We're Not Alone by Coldrain
18-Angel Beats! - My Soul, Your Beats! by Lia
19-Inu X Boku SS - Nirvana by MUCC
20-Noir - Coppelia no Hitsugi (Coppelia's Casket) by ALI Project
21-Trigun - H.T. by Tsuneo Imahori
22-Persona 4: TA - Sky's The Limit by Shihoko Hirata
23-Persona 4: TA - Key Plus Words by Shihoko Hirata feat. Yumi Kawamura
24-Bounen no Xamdou - Shut Up And Explode by Boom Boom Satellites
25-Maoyuu Maou Yuusha - Mukai Kaze by YOHKO
26-Witch Hunter Robin - Shell by Bana
27-HOTD - HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD by Kishida Kyodan & The Akeboshi Rockets
28-Hatenkou Yuugi - Heartbreaking Romance by Kanako Ito
29-Iria: Zeiram The Animation - Tokete Iku Yume no Hate ni by Yayoi Goto
30-Death Note - What's up, people?! by Maximum the Hormone
31-There She Is!! - Wolsick by TABU
Dragon Ball Z - Cha-La Head-Cha by Hironobu Kageyama
Dragon Ball Z - El Poder Nuestro Es by Adrián Barba
Yu Yu Hakusho - Hohoemi no Bakudan by Matsuko Mawatari
Sunabouzu - Sand Mission by ZETKI
Samurai Champloo - Battlecry by Nujabes feat. Shing02
Detroit Metal City - Satsugai by Detroit Metal City
Ao no Exorcist - CORE PRIDE by UVERworld
Ao no Exorcist - IN MY WORLD by Rookiez is PUNK'D
Dennou Coil - Prism by Ikeda Ayako
Death Parade - Flyers by BRADIO
Mnemosyne - Alsatia by Galneryus
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - Kimi no Uta by Abingdon Boys School
Deadman Wonderland - One Reason by DWB feat. fade
Cop Craft - Rakuen Toshi (楽園都市) by Masayoshi Ooishi
Kakegurui - Deal with the devil by Tia
Jujutsu Kaisen - VIVID VICE by Who-ya Extended
1-JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken - Roundabout by YES
2-Hunter x Hunter (2011) - Hunting For Your Dream by Galneryus
3-Shin Hokuto no Ken - Oasis by Gackt
4-Texhnolyze - Tsuki no Uta (Song of the Moon) by Gackt
5-Cowboy Bebop - The Real Folk Blues by The Seatbelts
6-Wolf's Rain - Gravity by Maaya Sakamoto
7-Monster - For The Love of Life by David Sylvian
8-Angel Beats! - Ichiban no Takaramono both ver. by karuta and GDM feat. LISA
9-Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier - Genesis of Next by Globe
10-Death Parade - Last Theater by NoisyCell
11-Persona 3 Movie 3: FD - Light in Starless Sky by Yumi Kawamura & Lotus Juice
12-Persona 4: TA - Beauty of Destiny by Shihoko Hirata feat. Lotus Juice
13-Bounen no Xamdou - Vacancy by Kylee
14-Panty & Stocking with G. - Fallen Angel by Mitsunori Ikeda ft. Aimee B
15-Death Note - Zetsubo Billy by Maximum the Hormone
16-Supernatural - Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas
17-Hoozuki no Reitetsu - Parallax View by Sadesper Record feat. Sumire Uesaka
18-Dragon Ball Z - Ángeles Fuimos by Adrián Barba
Yu Yu Hakusho - Homework ga Owaranai by Matsuko Mawatari
Rainbow: NRnS - A Far-Off Distance by Galneryus
Donten ni Warau - Attitude To Life by Galneryus
Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 5: Ougon no Kaze - Modern Crusaders by Enigma
Mnemosyne - Cause Disarray by Galneryus
Kakegurui - LAYon-theLINE by D-selections
I believe I have a somewhat unorthodox way of reviewing things; rather than focusing on aspects such as story, characters, art and sound, I talk predominately about themes, how they relate to the narrative, characters, and atmosphere because they're more important to me. I don't tend to write reviews for 'unimpressive' shows or manga (that don't have particularly deep themes or characters), so I end up talking at length about the themes and how they relate to the narrative without spoilers. My reviews are essentially a collection of thoughts that aim to justify why I liked or disliked a certain series with my recommendation (or lack thereof) for said series tacked onto it -- they're a way for me to reflect on any given series and feel justified in my fondness or distaste for it; it just so happens that they're very suitable for review format. It might sound bad to say this, but the public is an afterthought -- I write my reviews for me. I hope you enjoy them if you do end up reading them (they still need some editing here and there (both to update my opinions and my writing), but they're 95% perfectly readable if they aren't already fluid).
Ahh, I see. Here's hope for BBCode in the future!
Hana to Alice: Satsujin Jiken is an animated prequel to a live-action coming-of-age film that came out back in 2004, so I'm not sure if that fits your criteria. I'm a bigger fan of the anime, personally (I'm an hour through the live-action film atm, but I paused it and haven't gotten back to it for the past two months). You don't need the knowledge of the live-action film to watch the sequel, and you won't be spoiled on the prequel if you watch the sequel, so any order is fine. If that's not suitable to your criteria, then I suggest Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, an anime that came out in 2012. It's my second favourite anime ever and I have yet to find anything really like it. The synopsis:
For years, declining birth rates have forced what's left of the human race to cede more and more territory to other beings who have appeared to take advantage of the emptying ecological niche. Now, only a handful of humans remain among the remnants of civilization and Earth is dominated by faeries —tiny, ten-inch tall creatures of surprising intelligence. But humanity's importance isn't over quite yet, as young Watashi learns as she makes the decision to return to her hometown and assume her grandfather's position as an arbitrator between the races. Unfortunately, the job isn't going to be anywhere near as simple as she expected, and it's going to take a wisdom far beyond her years to achieve her most important mission.
To quote myself in the past:
Sounds a bit like a somewhat heavy drama, right? It's not. At least, not most of the time. When it wants to do drama, it does it extremely well. Jintai is chock-full of cynicism, satire, and witty humour. The protagonist, in particular, is one of the most unique, interesting, fleshed-out and well-developed characters I've seen in any form of media. And her name? Watashi. Her real name is never mentioned; this is something that remains true for most of the cast. Her grandfather is called 'grandfather'. Her assistant is called 'assistant'. The village chief? 'Village chief'.
Jintai is peculiar, but this is a good thing. Its humour breaks free from the blob of repetitive, lost-in-translation comedy seen in most anime. It's also surreal, though it's not off-putting. Jintai has a lot of depth to it, with a bunch of non-preachy social commentary. But if you don't care for social commentary, the comedy aspect is just as entertaining. There's an abundance of deadpan humour lined with a healthy amount of cynicism, and the majority of the comedy comes from one of the greatest characters in anime: Watashi. Whether it's a surreal comedy or a creative social comedy you want, each one is peppered with just the right amount of cynicism to entertain you without feeling negative or pessimistic.
Jintai is an intelligent series with plenty of creativity and enjoyment to be found. If you haven't seen Jintai yet, I strongly urge that you do so as soon as possible. I can't recommend Jintai highly enough.
I'm something of a big fan of Jintai, though I don't want to hype it up too much.
Thanks for the recommendation but it will be difficult to even start reading manga as i want to start but never end up starting with my first, the only thing i can get myself to read from time to time are Marvel/DC/StarWarsEU/TWD comics, i even have manga sites bookmarked but as i mentioned, never end up starting for some reason.
If you're into novels, then you should be fine with Kamisu Reina, because it reads, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same way. There aren't any illustrations either; just words. I'm not a particularly big fan of manga myself (I simply don't like reading stuff in comic format), though I will stick my neck out for a particularly unique series.
All Comments (66) Comments
Wishing you all the best ^_^
Bloke is an interesting guy
fr'd cuz i don't wanna forget.
Okay, I will add you on my friendlist :)
Ahh, I see. Here's hope for BBCode in the future!
Hana to Alice: Satsujin Jiken is an animated prequel to a live-action coming-of-age film that came out back in 2004, so I'm not sure if that fits your criteria. I'm a bigger fan of the anime, personally (I'm an hour through the live-action film atm, but I paused it and haven't gotten back to it for the past two months). You don't need the knowledge of the live-action film to watch the sequel, and you won't be spoiled on the prequel if you watch the sequel, so any order is fine. If that's not suitable to your criteria, then I suggest Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, an anime that came out in 2012. It's my second favourite anime ever and I have yet to find anything really like it. The synopsis:
To quote myself in the past:
Jintai is peculiar, but this is a good thing. Its humour breaks free from the blob of repetitive, lost-in-translation comedy seen in most anime. It's also surreal, though it's not off-putting. Jintai has a lot of depth to it, with a bunch of non-preachy social commentary. But if you don't care for social commentary, the comedy aspect is just as entertaining. There's an abundance of deadpan humour lined with a healthy amount of cynicism, and the majority of the comedy comes from one of the greatest characters in anime: Watashi. Whether it's a surreal comedy or a creative social comedy you want, each one is peppered with just the right amount of cynicism to entertain you without feeling negative or pessimistic.
Jintai is an intelligent series with plenty of creativity and enjoyment to be found. If you haven't seen Jintai yet, I strongly urge that you do so as soon as possible. I can't recommend Jintai highly enough.
I'm something of a big fan of Jintai, though I don't want to hype it up too much.
If you're into novels, then you should be fine with Kamisu Reina, because it reads, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same way. There aren't any illustrations either; just words. I'm not a particularly big fan of manga myself (I simply don't like reading stuff in comic format), though I will stick my neck out for a particularly unique series.