What Anime are you Currently Watching?/Anime Recommendations

[Fragems]

Yeah I'm currently watching the second season of Gate as it airs. Solid show if you don't mind the occasional ecchi stuff. The idea of a modern Japanese military kicking the shit out of a fantasy empire is great . Things do get alot more political towards the end of season 1, but it doesn't get to bogged down.

Season 2 has been good so far although there was a kind of intense sexual abuse scene in the first episode that was definitely unexpected, but things went back to normalish after that. Season 2 is definitely darker in a lot of ways though.

[Xeogred]

@Xeogred

Alright, I shall procure the Patlabor series and OVAs and watch this stuff in order of release.

What do you (or anyone reading) think about Armored Trooper Votoms?

Votoms is probably my #1 favorite mecha show. This series is one of the rare exceptions where the "AT" mecha armor is nothing special in the least. There is no singular "Gundam Votom" that the main character pilots from start to finish. They blow up, he moves to different planets, they are abandoned, probably even run out of gas. The mecha is a backdrop and the approach is a lot more realistic than how most do it. They're ugly walking tanks. There is no "safe base" or invincible mecha here. The main character is a stoic Kenshiro type, but he's the best at it and so awesome to watch if you can get into the silent types. The story takes a lot of influence from Apocalypse Now with the main character, and there's some Blade Runner tropes in there too with "Perfect Soldier" characters. The story is broken up into four main arcs with different locations, which I think is really cool and gives it a unique flavor. It can be a slow burn at first, people usually love the second jungle (Apocalypse Now) arc the most. Later on it gets really weird story wise with Overman stuff, in the coolest ways to me.

If you like 80's mecha, I cannot recommend it enough. Ryosuke Takahashi is one of my favorite directors who has a more mature and realistic approach to his shows compared to Tomino. Ryosuke Takahashi also did Fang of the Sun Dougram, Panzer World Galient (medieval mecha), and Blue Comet SPT Layzner for 80's stuff.

Don't buy it though, the DVD quality is insanely bad here. I'd recommend the GP release on BakaBT or somewhere.

If you want a really funny 80's mecha series with 4th wall breaking and jokes still relevant to this day, I'd say give Xabungle a shot. Fantastic stuff. For Tomino shows, my favorites are Gundam 0079/Zeta, Ideon, Xabungle, Heavy Metal L-Gaim, and Daitarn 3.

- CAN YOU HANDLE THE 80'S!!!!!

Just about everything is subbed thesedays so that's awesome. Someone has been working on getting a BD release of Ideon subbed, can't wait for that to be done.

You know the Dragon Quest composer scored Ideon? He hasn't done much else in anime which is cool, giving Ideon a cool original sound. Koichi Sugiyama on steroids:


80's mecha and I'm your guy. lol

[Exhuminator]

my favorites are Gundam 0079/Zeta, Ideon, Xabungle, Heavy Metal L-Gaim, and Daitarn 3

I hadn't heard of any of those outside the Gundam stuff. I shall acquire.

Well I decided I'm not watching all the Patlabor stuff just to see the three movies. There's a big TV series and too many OVAs, I just don't have time, when all I want to see is the actual movies. No offense or anything, I value your opinion! Maybe if I watch the movies and love them I'll consider watching all the rest.

I already have all the Votoms stuff, I just hadn't watched it yet. I figured you'd have the knowledge and you didn't disappoint.

[Xeogred]

lol, I tried.

I can't stress enough how bad and disconnected that third movie is though. There's a reason it has virtually no ratings/reviews out there and nobody talks about it.

The first two movies are pretty different. The first being pretty traditional and easy going stuff, but it's 2 that people go bananas for and that one is full on Oshii politics and dreadfully serious. I finally love it but it took like 10 years to grow on me. This one is more comparable to the GITS movies.

[Exhuminator]

What's your verdict on Megazone 23, Xeogred?

[Xeogred]

I finally got around to that sucker last year actually, just several months ago. The weirdness about it is that you can tell a different director and team probably worked on each episode, as they're all kind of self contained. Even the character designs change dramatically. So... just a heads up there, it's not some huge epic three parter, but rather a collective OVA thing.

Overall it wasn't bad, with some high quality art/animation and cool music. The violence is randomly super high at some spots and there's the usual sexual stuff with old OVA's.

Nothing mindblowing but if you want some 80's sci-fi no-nonsense fun it should deliver.

I rewatched Armitage recently and think it holds up really well (the OVA version, not the condensed movie). This one, Cyber City Oedo, Goku Midnight Eye, Bubblegum Crisis, and Iria are some of my favorites when it comes to OVA's.

I've seen a LOT of the old OVA's and kind of have a mission to see everything I can, even though they're usually pretty trashy and the quality is low... it can be cool from a technical standpoint since they usually have really good animation at least. I see it as going through history haha.

Also despite what most claim, I actually think MD Geist is pretty good and would recommend it. It has a killer soundtrack too. People just latched on this one for being so bad because it was one that got licensed, but it's so bad it's good territory for me and there's a lot of other options that are legit bad. The hilarious thing is that the main character is basically the villain. I always get a kick out of asshole main characters with no remorse.
- DAMN seriously one of my favorite anime OST's lmao


The same director did Cybernetics Guardian and Genocyber... now THOSE are utter dooky haha. At least Cybernetics Guardian had this rocking song:

I've always been really bummed that Appleseed has never been treated well when it comes to adaptations. The 80's OVA was okay but extremely low budget, my guess is it was supposed to be a TV series but got cut really short. After that, they've just been feeding us those nasty looking 3D CGI things every few years. I can't really get into those. Seems like a fun series though, maybe a bit more lighthearted than GITS but I have no idea.

[Czernobog]

Picked up the complete series of Cowboy Bebop while grocery shopping of all things. Been around a decade since I first watched the series. Probably going to have it as the background in the apartment over the next week or so.

Other than that, haven't really watched anything lately, but read up to the latest chapter of the attack on titan manga. Still don't know what's in the damn basement.

[Exhuminator]

So... just a heads up there, it's not some huge epic three parter, but rather a collective OVA thing.

Darn, I thought it was. Well, I'll still give it a shot though. I'm a big sucker for late 80s early 90s cyberpunk/sci-fi anime. It just puts me in a comfortable nostalgia womb.

Cyber City Oedo, Goku Midnight Eye, Bubblegum Crisis, and Iria are some of my favorites when it comes to OVA's.

I've seen and enjoyed all of those except Goku, I'll have to look into it.

I see it as going through history haha.

Well, I'm not one of those guys who will say "anime sucks these days" like an old jaded man, because I think there's still plenty of great anime being made today. However, I will concede that there are styles of anime that are no longer made. And I don't just mean from an aesthetic point of view, but whole genres and certain subject matter have just been left as relics of the past. In that regard, I think it's worth mining the libraries of the past for missed gems. Hell lots of this stuff was released before my awareness-window anyway, so it's not like I would have had a chance to have seen it during its time.

I always get a kick out of asshole main characters with no remorse.

So I take it you're a big fan of Bastard!!

--

If you've never seen these (you probably have) I think you'd enjoy them:

Bio Hunter
Birdy the Mighty
Psycho Diver
Highlander: The Search for Vengeance
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

[Xeogred]

Bio Hunter and Psycho Driver I've always heard of haha, still need to see them. I haven't seen Bastard yet either but I've heard that about the main character.

Oh man, Birdy! Loved the OVA and the newer TV installments. Very cool world and character. Would love for more of that.

Midnight Eye Goku should have been a full series. It was so cool. It comes from the creator of Space Adventure Cobra, if you've ever heard of that series. Think Megaman James Bond in space. Definitely a top favorite series in my book. I don't remember the main guy in Goku being as much of a playboy, but he was kind of similar haha.

[Exhuminator]

I need to watch Cobra and you need to watch Bastard!!.



Seriously, today, watch Bastard!!. If you don't love it, feel free to never listen to me again.