What Anime are you Currently Watching?/Anime Recommendations

[ZenErik]

Depends on your tastes. I'd highly recommend Katanagatari, Bakemonogatari, and Madoka if you haven't seen them. As well as Millennium Actress, The Garden of Words, and Gunbuster.

I think that's enough for now. A few of those are rather expensive though..

Alternatively, go pay for a year of Crunchyroll, and you can watch some of them there with no ads/etc.

Samurai Champloo and Black Lagoon Blu-ray sets aren't pricey if you like Bebop. Mushi-Shi DVD set is cheap. Welcome to the NHK is also worth a look and is cheap.

I recently bought the Blu-ray/DVD set for Serial Experiments Lain, so I've got the old Pioneer Signature Series DVDs laying about if you'd like 'em.

Indeed. I do use Crunchyroll. I will say that their encode of Bakemonogatari looks horrific. Nise and Monogatari Second Season look fine, if I remember correctly. Not sure about Madoka. Though with Madoka I do recommend the films. They are better than the original TV series. Much much higher production values and some characters seem more likable.

Should also note that FUNimation finally released their new site. While it needs some work, now it is actually usable. And many of your recommendations should be on there. But series they have in SD only look pretty bad. HD series look fine. Also need to note that some series they only have in HD if you listen to the English dub.. Pretty aggravating. But overall a lot more positive experience than before.

[isiolia]

I didn't watch Bakemonogatari there (only one of those I've seen). I have downloaded fansubs >.>;

Madoka I did watch there, and it seemed good. Or good enough anyway. Considering the...questionable pricing of the NA release.

[ZenErik]

I don't blame you for using fan subs. At least sometimes. I have a bunch myself.

Used to collect DVDs/BDs, but I got rid of everything this year.

Decided to go digital only. I'll buy anime digitally when it makes sense for me as a consumer. Not many buying options currently because almost everything on Amazon and ITunes is dub only.

I'll also buy into streaming services when it makes sense. Funimation's new site is HTML5 and Flash. HTML5 runs great on Macs. So I've bought in to that. $8 a month. They've got only a handful of simulcasts but a great catalog of anime mostly from the early 2000s to a few years old. Almost all of it has subs like I prefer. Though there are a few questionable choices.. No console app at current.

Crunchyroll also has a nice selection of subbed anime and for only $60 per year. Flash only site so it stutters on my Mac, but the poorly coded PS3 app along with the iOS apps run video smoothly.

The Anime Network (Section 23) seems to be Flash only and no console apps. Stutters on my Mac. Pretty bad dot crawl on the couple episodes of anime I tried to watch on there too.

Viz anime online uses Hulu. Ads. No thanks.

There is also Aniplex and Daisuki, but practically all their stuff is available elsewhere. Daisuki has the advantage of being the only one with a Monogatari Second Season simulcast. Everyone else is delayed 4 weeks. But that's not enough to get me to use their service.

[isiolia]

I have tons of fansubs still. I've just not really been downloading new ones for the past few years. To me, it's a lot more difficult to rationalize in the face of sites like Crunchyroll and DVD/Blu-ray set releases/prices more in line with other types of shows.

Obviously, it's not all perfect, and there are still going to be shows that nobody picks up to bring over, but a lot of excuses I've seen online for still downloading everything tend to be fairly flimsy.

We wanted these kinds of options for years, finally have them, and the only thing some people seem to be able to do is find reasons not to use them (not saying you, obviously, I've just got friends and such that whine about every.last.thing...)

[brunoafh]

I buy anime DVDs/BDs when ones that interest me are released. I have zero interest in paying for a streaming service though.

My issue is that I am primarily interested in pretty old anime series from the 70s-80s, and purchasing these is often just not an option outside spending thousands of dollars on rare imports. My only feasible alternative is to turn to DVD rips. I have an ever growing collection of retro series though thanks to the likes of great companies now a days like Discotek, Nozomi, and Sentai Filmworks. I never thought I would be able to build up a physical collection of my favorite series, but Discotek alone has given me a sizable collection. Of course, many newer series are very easy to acquire, there are just less of those I'm interested in. I did buy the Funimation re-release of Texhnolyze last year though.

[ZenErik]

We wanted these kinds of options for years, finally have them, and the only thing some people seem to be able to do is find reasons not to use them (not saying you, obviously, I've just got friends and such that whine about every.last.thing...)

I know what you mean. I've heard people using the lack of karaoke or the font as excuses. I could understand if the fonts used were hard to read, but they're perfectly fine. And lack of karaoke for themes? Whatever. Look up the lyrics online.

Something I find slightly more valid is the fact that the video quality on streams most definitely are not on par with BDs. Valid point. So buy the BDs when they eventually come out here. Or import. Most people never do.

I look forward to the day when companies let me buy digital copies of my favorite series at almost BD quality and w/ subtitles. Until then, streaming and occasional fan subs will do.

As a note, I have kept DVDs for some of my favorites that have no streaming options and the fan subs I have have some issues. Or no fan subs are even available at all. Guess I could rip my own DVDs but I've had issues with the subs being too high up or off center when I've tried w/ Handbrake. Kinda weird.

[Nemoide]

I'm a physical media collector. I'm not OPPOSED to digital anime when it's the only easy option... but I just DON'T. I have The Legend of Galactic Heroes on my computer and REALLY LIKED what I saw but... just haven't watched it because I don't remember to watch things on my computer?

This is why I love collecting laserdiscs. I can find really old hyper-obscure shows and get the whole series of something for less than $100. Yeah, there are no subtitles but for me this is usually not as big a problem as one might expect!
And I'm really glad we're living in a mini-golden age of 1970s anime getting US DVD releases! I'll have enough to keep me busy for QUITE A LONG TIME.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Thanks for the link to the sites.

I'm all for digital. Sure I like physical media but, there's really no point for TV shows in my opinion. Like movies, I only ever watch them once. I'll take a cheap $8 subscription to watch all the stuff I want to over paying $30+ for a DVD set any day.

[ZenErik]

Crunchyroll is the best option for streaming at the moment, I think. Especially if you're interested in checking out currently airing series. $60 a year comes out to $5 a month. Their by the month rate might be $7? Still a little less than FUNimation at $8 per month. FUNimation is a better option if you prefer dubs but they've still got some kinks to work out in their video player.

Both offer trial periods. So you can use them for a few weeks and decide which to go with before paying anything.

[brunoafh]

Sure I like physical media but, there's really no point for TV shows in my opinion. Like movies, I only ever watch them once.

Then what you mean to say is, for you, it is not necessary/beneficial. For thousands of others, there is very much a point.