What Anime are you Currently Watching?/Anime Recommendations

[Nemoide]

Anyone know anything about those new Evangelion films (1.11, 2.22)? The titles are confusing. Are they adding more to the story or are these just a retelling of the original plot?

The first one is basically a retelling but the second one changes a lot of things in pretty significant ways. I'm really looking forward to the next one to see where things go.

And yeah, $75 for Sailor Moon is a deal that doesn't pop up very often. I remember seeing the first two seasons at a con last year just casually on sale with all the other DVDs from one dealer. I asked how much they were since there wasn't any indication of price and was told that they were $400 each. (Of course, nobody bought them during the course of the convention.)

[brunoafh]

I need to watch the Rebuild movies myself. So far as I know all four of them are going to be a general re-telling of the plot with way better animation and, as Nemoide said, some significant changes making them far more than recap movies. I've heard the 3rd movie is going to have a lot of changes. The original Evangelion series is a bit of a mess towards the end due to budget issues (loved EoE though), so I'm hoping these new movies are really great. The first two have been extremely well received.

[Dylan]

Does anyone have any opinions on .hack? I remember seeing some of it a long time ago and thinking it might be interesting, but I've never actually followed it at all. From what I can tell it's become reasonably large.

Besides that, I'm looking to try and start getting into Gundam, but it's such a monstrously huge franchise that I have no idea where to start. I remember watching Gundam Wing back in the day (not as good as I remember), and there was one other Gundam series I remember watching on Toonami and thinking it was awesome (no idea what it was). Does anyone have any suggestions for that?

[Michi]

....and there was one other Gundam series I remember watching on Toonami and thinking it was awesome (no idea what it was)....

You're options are:

G Gundam
Gundam 0080
Gundam Seed
Mobile Suit Gundam
SD Gundam Force
and possibly Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

[brunoafh]

Besides that, I'm looking to try and start getting into Gundam, but it's such a monstrously huge franchise that I have no idea where to start.

Personally I'd suggest just starting at the very beginning and either watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam (Gundam 0079) or it's movie trilogy (movie recaps of the series). I haven't seen the movies myself but most consider them to be very faithful adaptions. It's the start of the major Gundam timeline (Universal Century) and will give you an idea of what's to come. If it's to your liking, check out Zeta, and so on and so forth.

If UC Gundam doesn't turn out to be to your liking, G, Turn A, and X are generally considered the best Alternate Universe Gundam series. There are some solid OVAs as well (0080 and Unicorn in particular), but you may as well just start from the beginning really.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Does anyone have any opinions on .hack? I remember seeing some of it a long time ago and thinking it might be interesting, but I've never actually followed it at all. From what I can tell it's become reasonably large.

I've watched the four episodes that came with the PS2 games (.hack//Liminality), I enjoyed them quite a bit. I've never bothered to explore the rest of the series (either anime or games), it does seem overwhelmingly large.

I picked up Scrapped Princess Volume 1 (episodes 1-4) at a music store today. Saw the trailer a while back and it looked pretty cool, hope I like the show.

[Xeogred]

My problem with the EVA Rebuild movies is that they are taking FOREVER, years in the making and years taking up Anno's time. He's an insane director that's done so little (I hear for awhile he left anime to do some weird live action stuff). I mean heck I don't even love EVA myself or anything, but his style is amazing and a one of a kind. That said I'm excited about the Rebuild's myself... but I really hope once they're finished he does more and that doesn't end up being the only reason why he made his own studio, just to milk the franchise and get more merchandise flying.

I wanna assume you go with subs Bone? If it's your first time watching EVA... please for the sake of humanity don't watch the dub, ever. I pretty much hated it for like 10 years because of that. But I rewatched it a few years back subbed and have a new appreciation for it. It's kind of a love / hate thing... not my favorite series, but certainly a one of a kind and something you will never forget.

For something similar but arguably oh so different, I'm a way bigger fan of Rahxephon. My friend and I talked a lot about it and just decided... EVA is more about the "why" (psychological craziness), and Rahxephon is more the "what", like ridiculous mysteries/subtle things, which is more my kind of stuff I guess. That one I just rewatched last year and it stood the test of time for sure, amazing stuff in my book. That and Eureka Seven were probably the last really good mecha shows before school settings and bull crap took over...

In general a lot of Bones stuff is good though (Rahxephon, E7, etc). They did Scrapped Princess which I've heard good things about too.

Also finished the first season of Queen's Blade... wow, this show. I kind of jumped into it as a joke (I usually avoid ecchi and completely hate it, I'll just watch hentai instead if I want). But finally for once an ecchi series wasn't putting me to sleep. It's not amazing or anything, but yeah it had some fun characters, a crazy budget, and awesome fights. I hear season 2 has a lot more fights which is exciting so I'll probably keep watching more. The T&A is always a nice bonus, but finally for once a series like this doesn't feel like it relies entirely on that, but yeah there's not a whole lot to justify here or anything... but I liked it. haha.



The chick in the green, that is a live snake for her underwear. And the pink blob chick shoots at tit acid. Epic.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I watched the entire series of Neon Genesis Evangelion with the dub. I didn't mind it, haha. In general when I watch an anime I'll watch episode 1 dubbed and episode 2 subbed and then determine which I prefer. I've tried watching a few shows in Japanese with no sub (I can speak some of the language) but I can't understand the kawaii girly voices.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of my favorite series, if not my absolute favorite. I knew nothing about it when I first watched it and thought the ending was pretty mind-blowing.

So wait, there's really only two Evangelion Rebuild films out now? So 1.01 and 1.11 are "enhanced" versions of 1.0 or something? That's the way I'm reading it... I actually picked up 2.22 a little while ago. It's missing the bonus disc, but it was $1 so whatever.

I actually just read a bit about Queen's Blade in an article. It was an article about anime series with excessive fan service.

[brunoafh]

NGE isn't exactly a favorite of mine. The NGE series itself is quite flawed, but EoE for me was absolute greatness. Not one of my favorite franchises, but it produced one of my favorite anime movies and I'm looking forward to Rebuild. I agree that it's unfortunate we're kind of being robbed of some unique Anno-directed stuff, but at the same time if Rebuild can rectify the flaws of NGE, I'll be just as happy.

I watched the entire series of Neon Genesis Evangelion with the dub.

But... I thought it was next "on the deck" for you? What did you mean by that?

So wait, there's really only two Evangelion Rebuild films out now? So 1.01 and 1.11 are "enhanced" versions of 1.0 or something?

Yes. Features some "cut" content, I guess. No idea what it is with either the first of the second film. But basically, there's going to be 4 Rebuild movies, and kind of regard the .xx stuff. Rebuild 3 is supposed to come out this year, but who knows, and Rebuild 4... who knows.

[Xeogred]

I don't think redone movies can rectify characters you want dead... for me.

Might be why I don't love it, I dunno. I talked a LOT about it with a friend when I got done rewatching it, but it's one of those in the moment shows... I'd have to watch it again to dissect all my thoughts. I kind of hated it while I was watching it, but then days later it all sunk in. So I kind of gave it a good score objectively. One of the weirdest watching experiences ever to sum it up, lol.

The part in EoE where there was a weird opera song or something cheerful like that during a ton of brutal chaos completely cracked me up. It's little moments like that that I think are just too hilarious to take seriously, but I know one of my friends loves those weird moments in the series, haha.

Misato is awesome though.