Who here's an Anime geek?

[ajmrowland]

I know I am!

[KennethE]

I'm also an anime fan! In many ways, I like it better than American animation. More depth, more dialogue, a wider variety of stories, and they're not scared to "shock" audiences.

I don't watch too much television anime, like Gundam or Chobits. I much prefer theatrical features, especially the visually-intense work by Satoshi Kon and (or course) Hayao Miyazaki.

I am also liking the style of Mamoru Hosoda, who brought us "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" in 2006. That might be my single favorite anime film. Hosoda has a new film out called "Summer Wars," which I'm eagerly awaiting a Region 1 DVD release.

[ajmrowland]

Well, I'm at least a Square-enix fan. I also like Yu-Gi-Oh and some other cartoons. I'm an animation geek in general and like good stories.

[Poody]

I am Well, I'm a big anime fan, I donno about geek.... Just because most of the shows I like are either really unheard of, or just too girly for most folks I talk to.

A few of my favs are:
Brother, Dear Brother
The Blue-Green Years
Cutey Honey (all versions)
Marmalade Boy
Slayers
Wedding Peach
Pretty Cure
Rayearth

and a few obvious ones... like Sailor Moon

[Elladorine]

I am Well, I'm a big anime fan, I donno about geek.... Just because most of the shows I like are either really unheard of, or just too girly for most folks I talk to.

A few of my favs are:
Brother, Dear Brother
The Blue-Green Years
Cutey Honey (all versions)
Marmalade Boy
Slayers
Wedding Peach
Pretty Cure
Rayearth

and a few obvious ones... like Sailor Moon

I've always wanted to see Brother, Dear Brother and especially The Blue-Green Years . . . I remember a friend of mine I used to get fansubs of Sailor Moon from wayyy back before the last of the R season was completely dubbed used to offer those series as well, plus other series like Nurse Angel Ririka, Chou Kuseninarisou, and Hime-chan's Ribbon.

I haven't finished off Marmalade Boy yet, it's been a while since I looked but the box sets were expensive, lol. I've seen some Cutey Honey (how many versions are there, three?), love Wedding Peach and Rayearth . . . and seen a handful of Pretty Cure eps. (mainly because the two main characters remind me of my own, lol) . . . oh, and I've watched some Slayers too. Seems we've got similar tastes in girly anime.

My personal favorites are probably Sailor Moon, Fushigi Yuugi, Video Girl Ai, Chobits, and Oh My Goddess (the OAV version, haven't seen enough of the TV series). My preference seems to be the older titles from the 90's or so, it doesn't seem I enjoy the more recent titles as much overall except for a handful.

[Lazario]

Well, I was a huge geek for Sailor Moon back when I was younger. I still like the show and YouTube has been great for letting me see the full versions of the original episodes in foreign language with subtitles (I love subtitles). But it's been awhile and I can only hope those episodes are still up.

[PeterPanfan]

Well, I'm at least a Square-enix fan. I also like Yu-Gi-Oh and some other cartoons. I'm an animation geek in general and like good stories.

I don't think liking a few American cartoons justifies you calling yourself an "Anime" geek...

[Super Aurora]

Yea there's some I like. I prefer quality ones though like Monster or Berserk.

I do know a lot about anime despite not looking like your typical geek. Am I obsess with it? No.

[ajmrowland]

Well, I'm at least a Square-enix fan. I also like Yu-Gi-Oh and some other cartoons. I'm an animation geek in general and like good stories.

I don't think liking a few American cartoons justifies you calling yourself an "Anime" geek...

Yeah, well, I shouldn't have said that. The thought crossed my mind, but after mulling it over, I say I'm more for sci-fi/fantasy of any kind. And japan makes some of the best.

[Cordy_Biddle]

Well, I was a huge geek for Sailor Moon back when I was younger. I still like the show and YouTube has been great for letting me see the full versions of the original episodes in foreign language with subtitles (I love subtitles). But it's been awhile and I can only hope those episodes are still up.

Yeah, I was an "out and proud" Sailor Moon geek in highschool. Still love the show to bits but must confess I haven't spun my DVDs in a while... I also loved "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040". "Sukeban Deka" is cool too.

[Margos]

I used to be a huge anime nerd until I re-discovered Disney animation.... But I still enjoy anime. My all-time favorie was definitely "Fullmetal Alchemist." I did really several other series, like "Blood+," "Eureka 7," and "FLCL."

Which reminds me.... Did anyone else watch "Eureka 7?" I loved it, but the ending really, really confused me. What the heck happened there?

[Lazario]

Well, I was a huge geek for Sailor Moon back when I was younger. I still like the show and YouTube has been great for letting me see the full versions of the original episodes in foreign language with subtitles (I love subtitles). But it's been awhile and I can only hope those episodes are still up.

Yeah, I was an "out and proud" Sailor Moon geek in highschool. Still love the show to bits but must confess I haven't spun my DVDs in a while...

I couldn't have bought the DVD's. There was that big boxset or those boxes that went out of print a while ago. People complained about the video and audio quality. Very expensive sets. So, DVD is out of the question for me. But YouTube is right up my alley, so I checked them yesterday. And I think they still have almost all the same Sailor Moon videos. But now... I think I might stick to the American versions. The subtitle translations seem too silly and even sillier than the American dubs. Except for the stuff with the Queen and her henchmen.

[Disney's Divinity]

Yeah, I grew up on Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho, Blue Submarine, Outlaw Star, Wolf's Rain, Digimon and Tenchi Muyo/Universe/in Tokyo. I have Uncut Box Sets of Sailor Moon, but they don't have English as an option--I don't think there's been a collective box set release of the dub version (only a bunch of volumes that cost way too much money).

I love anime for the most part, but I've kind of been out of the loop the past few years. I want to see Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, Bleach, and Cowboy Bebop from the beginning on Adult Swim but keep missing the restart; I don't have money to waste on buying them right now.

The only thing I dislike about a lot of anime is the huge amount of filler: Inuyasha, Dragon Ball Z, and Yu-Gi-Oh! are some of the worst examples of this, but it seems as if all animes do it. I despise wasting my time on pointless episodes. I never even tried to watch Pokemon; not only was it boring as hell, but Digimon (the first season, at least) was always a much greater version of the "talking monster friends" theme. There also seem to be a lot of "transformation montages" in a lot of anime--again, filler that gets annoying after the first hundred times you've seen them. But I'm pretty sure most of this stuff is avoided in manga versions. I also know the original versions are usually better than the dubs, but I've found most dubs enjoyable regardless and I like the English voices most of the time.

I realize I have a limited range with anime, because I don't have the money to go buy anything that looks good right now. I think the only anime I've ever got without seeing it first was Sorcerer Stabber Orphen--which was a really good show. But there are a lot of anime I would like to see once I can. Same with manga; the only manga I've forked cash over for the past few years have been yaoi/shonen ai.

And, yes, the Miyazaki films are fantastic, of course.

[Super Aurora]

The only thing I dislike about a lot of anime is the huge amount of filler: Inuyasha, Dragon Ball Z, and Yu-Gi-Oh! are some of the worst examples of this, but it seems as if all animes do it. I despise wasting my time on pointless episodes.

The reason animation teams create filler is so the anime doesn't catch up too closely to the original manga it is adapting. This is mostly on Shonan series as most of them are weekly released in their magazine run. Which shows why shonan series like DBZ, Naruto, Bleach, etc have extensive amount of filler.

[pap64]

At one point, I was a HUGE fan of anime. My first anime series were of the kiddy kind. Pokemon, Digimon, Heidi, Peter Pan etc. But in high school I was introduced to Neon Genesis Evangelion and I was blown away. It was messed up, and I loved every minute of it.

Around 2002-2003 I was introduced to fan subbed anime. In one summer I received a bunch of CDs. I saw the OAV version of Oh My Goddess, the movie (which is one of my all time faves), Chobits, .Hack//Sign, .Hack//GU and some others and became hooked, especially since I was watching anime in their raw, uncut form.

I then got to the point where I got burned out by them. I LOVED Naruto, and still do, but got tired of how the series dragged on and on with pointless storylines and cliched characters. Another problem I had was that I watched some anime that my friends recommended that I thought were slow and boring.

Gungrave, for example, had a magnificent storyline about friendship and loyalty, but was told in a very, very, VERY, slow manner, and the main character was as exciting as a piece of bread. It didn't get good till the final episodes, which I confess I thought every was connected very well. It just that the entire storyline could have been better told.

Then there was Wolf's Rain, another series with a great story ruined by slow pacing and confusing plot elements. Ergo Proxy was another series I watched to near completion with a friend of mine, and it too was yet another series with great potential, but was actually ruined by its excessive use of philosophy and psychology.

It was then that I began to get tired of anime. The storylines and characters just weren't impressing me, I couldn't keep up with whole series, and even series I really enjoyed failed to enthrall me in their worlds. So after that, I stopped downloading subbed anime and focused on animated movies as my main fandom.

As favorites go, I have a few:
Oh My Goddess (The whole series): The movie is easily my favorite incarnation of the series, with the new TV series coming in at second. The OAV series was cute but it went by too fast.

Excel Saga: This is one of the few animes my whole circle of friends enjoy. The pace is manic and its basic a parody of anime in the same vane as the Scary Movie series, but the characters are enjoyable, it is highly quotable, and it had the best character ever in the form of Pedro!

Azumanga Daioh: I admit I was hooked on this series when I first saw it. The humor is so charming yet very surreal. It was so light you could see it over and over again.

Planetes: Now THIS is how a series should be made. Easily my favorite series of all time, Planetes is able to tell a compelling story without having to sacrifice pace, the characters are a bit cliche but endearing, it deals with the dangers and beauty of outer space without getting too preachy, its ending wraps everything up nicely without being a complete downer and it has one of the best intros of not just anime but the whole medium, ever.

One Piece: One of the few shonen actions I enjoyed from beginning to end. I really liked the characters and the stories are fun.

Naruto: Now this is a series I really took a liking too. In a way I related to Naruto in that he too was an outcast, constantly mocked by the other children and being underestimated. I liked the story and characters until it reached the "Sasuke joins Orochimaru" storyline, and then it went onto a never ending stream of filler episodes that just turned me away from the series. Not even Naruto Shippuden reeled me in.

[Super Aurora]

Gungrave, for example, had a magnificent storyline about friendship and loyalty, but was told in a very, very, VERY, slow manner, and the main character was as exciting as a piece of bread. It didn't get good till the final episodes, which I confess I thought every was connected very well. It just that the entire storyline could have been better told.

While what you said is true, I do recommend playing the 2 games the anime is based on, to get a full understanding of the series. Gungrave anime is not that different from Berserk anime where the last episode connect to the first and that you need to read the original manga to fully understand the series.

As favorites go, I have a few:
Oh My Goddess (The whole series): The movie is easily my favorite incarnation of the series, with the new TV series coming in at second. The OAV series was cute but it went by too fast.

I love this series a lot. Personally I like the OVA incarnation the best. While the TV follow the manga(which I like the most lol) much better, the characters aren't emotionally connected to me as the OVA did. I also like the OVA's character design the best as it's similar to the manga's style of volume 12-16. The tv series seems to adapt the volume 23-39 look which i'm not found of and don't feel any expression from the characters.

As for the movie. It's a good movie, just doesn't feel like an OMG storyline.

So I have to rank it by this:
OVA and manga
TV series
movie

[Kossage]

Well, I've watched quite a few anime series so far although I've still got many more waiting for me. I've enjoyed watching anime, and many of the series are beautiful to look at, listen to, and think about. As for Ghibli movies, I've enjoyed the ones I've seen although there are still a few I need to check out, and I'm happy that more people are discovering anime nowadays.

Did anyone else watch "Eureka 7?" I loved it, but the ending really, really confused me. What the heck happened there?

Eureka Seven is one of those great series. It takes a lot of time to cook up, but when it does, it never lets one go until the climax. It's kind of like Monster and Last Exile in that regard. The final episodes of E7 were among the most satisfying I'd seen in a while, and I really learned to care about the characters as the story progressed. It's definitely a show worth watching if you like slow character-driven drama and adventure with a very romantic core and beautiful music.

As for the ending:

Basically Dewey's plan screwed everyone over, and the Coralians began integrating Eureka as their new Command Cluster since Dewey's killsat destroyed the previous cluster. Renton went to rescue Eureka even though she was protected by a lot of Coralians. His love for Eureka made Nirvash "evolve" into its ultimate form, and Renton managed to reach Eureka just in time. Eureka was still insecure about herself, and Renton explained that he'd cease to be a human and leave the planet behind for Eureka's sake. Eureka was touched by this act of compassion, and the two were ready to resign themselves to their fate.

It was then that Nirvash helped Eureka and Renton escape from the cluster, saying its first words in the entire show. Nirvash thanked Eureka and Renton for their time together and basically explained that the Coralians would leave the planet and take half of its souls with them and begin life anew somewhere else while humanity would remain in the planet and continue its existence as it had. If all went well, humanity might eventually evolve and it and the Coralians could seek each other out to live in perfect harmony. As Nirvash, the Coralians and some of the souls left, it turned out the old guy in the Gekko State had in fact been a Coralian spy all along, and he disappeared along with the rest of the Coralians.

Eureka and Renton returned to the planet, and the moon had a sign of their love carved in it as an everlasting reminder of a possibility of coexistence between humanity and Coralians. Some time passed, and in the epilogue during credits Renton's grandpa took care of the three kids and wished for Renton and Eureka to return home safely as they were all waiting for them. The last shot is of Eureka and Renton (with their blinking lights) spending some time together in the wilderness although it's left open when they're going to return.

Is that a satisfying answer?

I'd also suggest watching the Eureka Seven movie (I think it's called "Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers" in the US). It's sort of an alternate, condensed retelling of the entire series although there are a few twists that will make it feel very different (and which I won't spoil). If you're going to watch it, remember to pay close attention to everything or else the ending might feel really off.

Then there was Wolf's Rain, another series with a great story ruined by slow pacing and confusing plot elements.

Slow pacing? I didn't feel that way. I thought the pace was just right for such a somber depiction of the world and its tragic characters. The only things that kind of bugged me were the consecutive recap episodes which were mostly pointless. Thankfully the later OVA episodes (which showed the fates of the main characters) were very good even if they took a surprisingly dark turn (which I liked in any case). Darcia is still one of the best and most tragic villains I've seen in any anime show, and the wolf characters and various humans were just as interesting. And the music by Yoko Kanno et al. was gorgeous. "Shiro, White Tail's" is one of my favourite tracks from the OSTs.

[Margos]

I guess I understand... I don't know, there were a few concepts in the series that I just couldn't grasp in the least, but I still loved it. I thought it was a very sweet series, start to finish. It was just a little hard to understand at times.

I'll tell you, though, the more I think back on it, I think I might have liked Blood+ slightly more, in some ways. Eureka 7 was more beautiful in some ways, but I think that Blood+ was easier to follow and still a very lovely plot (depsite some very.... greusome and disturbing bits). Did you follow that one, by any chance?

[pap64]

Gungrave, for example, had a magnificent storyline about friendship and loyalty, but was told in a very, very, VERY, slow manner, and the main character was as exciting as a piece of bread. It didn't get good till the final episodes, which I confess I thought every was connected very well. It just that the entire storyline could have been better told.

While what you said is true, I do recommend playing the 2 games the anime is based on, to get a full understanding of the series. Gungrave anime is not that different from Berserk anime where the last episode connect to the first and that you need to read the original manga to fully understand the series.

As favorites go, I have a few:
Oh My Goddess (The whole series): The movie is easily my favorite incarnation of the series, with the new TV series coming in at second. The OAV series was cute but it went by too fast.

I love this series a lot. Personally I like the OVA incarnation the best. While the TV follow the manga(which I like the most lol) much better, the characters aren't emotionally connected to me as the OVA did. I also like the OVA's character design the best as it's similar to the manga's style of volume 12-16. The tv series seems to adapt the volume 23-39 look which i'm not found of and don't feel any expression from the characters.

As for the movie. It's a good movie, just doesn't feel like an OMG storyline.

So I have to rank it by this:
OVA and manga
TV series
movie

Actually, my friend and I never played the Gungrave game and managed to get into the anime just fine. In fact, my friend realized much later that the anime was actually based on a game and thought they told the story very well.

Like I said, I thought the story was a very good one. And in many ways, I see me and my best friend in Harry and Brandon. Both men were best friends who grew up together and shared a dream, but greed and ambition stood in the way of that. I loved it when after Brandon as Gungrave pretty much destroyed Harry's empire, he finally faces him and instead of an all out war, they sat down, talk and just as Brandon is about to shoot him, he says he could never kill his best friend. It tells me that sometimes friendship is far stronger than revenge.

It was just tarnished by slow pacing and a boring main character. You have to put up with a lot to get to the good stuff.

Kosage: That's one of the main reasons I thought Wolf's Rain had severe pace issues. In the middle of the story we are treated to FOUR recap episodes. My friend believes that this was done because the story was so rich and deep that it needed to be retold. But the truth is that the creators had some issues during the production of the series so while they worked it out they aired four recap issues. Hence why later on we got the OVA episodes that finish the story.

I heard, however, that all of the characters die at the end of the OVA, making the journey they take on very pointless. Is this true?

That's another thing I got kind of annoyed at about anime. The concept of death is so overused that it loses impact. It seems that every anime must have ONE major character die during the course of the series. Even the simplest children's anime have one character dying. It's a bad cliche. I understand that death is common in the storytelling medium and at times can be important, but in anime its overused.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention earlier that I saw (and I admit enjoyed) most of the animes 4kids showed on the Fox Box, mainly Ultimate Muscle (known as Kinnikuman).

[Disney's Divinity]

I agree on the pacing in Wolf's Rain, Kossage. I never found anything wrong with that series. As for the death thing, that's kind of necessary for that series' storyline. Everyone didn't just die because it's an anime-ish thing to do; it suited the mood of the series for it to happen and it was far from pointless (And, from what I remember, the story itself is circular; it just happens over and over again).

Of course, there might be some series where death is overused, though none's coming to mind right away.