Good Fantasy anime

[DonTadow]

ONe of the best fantasy anime I've ever seen is Bastard. If you like the anti-hero fantasy character, you'll love him. He's so anti-hero I don't even like to put the word hero at the end of that word.

 

[Alzrius]

I'm assuming that by 'Fantasy', you mean western Swords & Sorcery type fantasy? I've never watched it, but I hear Slayers is in that mold (although with a more comical bent). Simlarly, I've never seen Those Who Hunt Elves.

TWHE is to Slayers as Slayers is to Lodoss.

What I mean is, Slayers has a fairly consistent way of remaining moderately comedic throughout it's entire run, but the amusement it more than just blatant jokes, and it's not afraid to have things turn dramatic as necessary. TWHE, by contrast, virtually never takes itself seriously, being one gag after another, with no real dramatic moments between the humor.

Naruto is a good example of a fantasy that isn't swords and sorcery. It takes place on a different world, and has stilted technology levels (by which I mean some tech is equal to ours, such as having cranes for construction, and modern hospitals; however, guns haven't been invented, nor the internal combustion engine, etc.). The various countries there all train ninjas in various techniques (ones that'd never be possible in real life, such as breathing fire or summoning monsters).

 

[Lord Wyrm]

In the vein of Post-Apocalyptic fantasy I would recomend the Vampire Hunter D movies.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

For fantasy-themed anime, Slayers (all three series) is definitely worth the time to watch.

Escaflowne is good, but it does suffer from slow pacing at times, though as Fox learned to their sorrow, cutting out the slow pacing also massacres the story.

Vampire Hunter D has a touch more sci-fi than your standard fantasy, especially VHD: Bloodlust, which is visually awesome in the way the fight scenes are down, as are the monsters.

Another "fantasy-ish" series would be Rurouni Kenshin. It does suffer from a bit of DBZ-itis later in the series (especially the fight against the mastermind in the Kyoto story arc), but I like it. It keeps a nice balance of seriousness and comedy throughout the series, though some episodes favor one over the other.

 

[JEL]

Escaflowne is good, but it does suffer from slow pacing at times, though as Fox learned to their sorrow, cutting out the slow pacing also massacres the story.

Huh? Slow pacing where? Sorry, but the pacing is right on, and practically break-neck in the last few episodes. What Fox cut was the romance in an attempt to focus on the giant robot fighting.

 

[RangerWickett]

ONe of the best fantasy anime I've ever seen is Bastard. If you like the anti-hero fantasy character, you'll love him. He's so anti-hero I don't even like to put the word hero at the end of that word.

I watched that anime New Year's morning this year, at 8am. The English dub. Yikes. I . . . I can't say I hated it, because I've got to appreciate something that lets me so joyously and guiltlessly mock it, but man, it was terrible.

*nasal voice* "I am Dark Schneider!"

 

[cattoy]

For the love of all that's holy, don't watch ANY of the Fox desecrated Escaflowne, watch the original. (preferably subbed, not dubbed)

Also, for a break from the drama, watch Dragon Half. It's short and sweet and side splittingly funny.

For a modern take on the fantasy (MMORPG) angle, there's the various incarnations of .hack

FullMetal Alchemist? Sort of. Also Samurai 7, somewhat.

Also worth watching - anything by Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli.

 

[WizarDru]

The above poster is incorrect in saying that it got cancelled, though. It was only ever meant to cover one story arc of the much longer manga.

Well, there are several theories as to the failure of the ending of the anime: Supposedly, Studio VAP claims the series was not cancelled. But it is clear that they did NOT plan to end on the episode they did end on or in the fashion they chose to. A static shot of Gatsu walking out a door, without resolving the cliffhanger that ends volume 12 of the manga...well, that's either rank incompetence or a sign that they were either cancelled or expecting a second series. They didn't complete the Band of the Hawk story arc, so that clearly wasn't the reason they ended the way the did. The deletion of several key characters was done by the producers to make the series seem 'less fantasy'. Hence Puck and the Skull Knight disappear...which became a problem, of course, for the ending of the series. Media Blasters keeps trying to tell people every year that THIS year, there will be a sequel series. When you consider that the TV series encapsulates part of volume 1 and volumes 3-12...and that there are 29 volumes so far, it certainly wasn't from a lack of material. The show was rumored to have budget problems and it certainly skirted the edge with censors.

 

[WayneLigon]

I'd recommend 'Scrapped Princess' as a good 'westernish' fantasy show. I've seen the first disc and it seems to indicate that what we think is a western medieval setting might not be that at all.

Another is 'Orphen' aka 'Sorcerous Stabber Orphen'. Orphen is a sorcerer from the Tower of Fangs, who has broken with his teachers. He's travelling in the company of a youth he's taken as an apprentice, and a girl.

'Heroic Prince Arslan' (also might be listed as 'Arislan') is a middle-eastern-flavored fantasy, with a couple discs and then a third thing produced later.

 

[JEL]

Well, there are several theories as to the failure of the ending of the anime: Supposedly, Studio VAP claims the series was not cancelled. But it is clear that they did NOT plan to end on the episode they did end on or in the fashion they chose to. A static shot of Gatsu walking out a door, without resolving the cliffhanger that ends volume 12 of the manga...well, that's either rank incompetence or a sign that they were either cancelled or expecting a second series. They didn't complete the Band of the Hawk story arc, so that clearly wasn't the reason they ended the way the did. The deletion of several key characters was done by the producers to make the series seem 'less fantasy'. Hence Puck and the Skull Knight disappear...which became a problem, of course, for the ending of the series. Media Blasters keeps trying to tell people every year that THIS year, there will be a sequel series. When you consider that the TV series encapsulates part of volume 1 and volumes 3-12...and that there are 29 volumes so far, it certainly wasn't from a lack of material. The show was rumored to have budget problems and it certainly skirted the edge with censors.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the ending. The anime was never meant to follow the entire manga. It was only meant to tell a story from within it, and it does a stellar job of that. If you want to see what happens next, go back and watch the first episode again. The characters you mentioned were removed because they're unnecessary for the story the anime was telling. It's also why the scenes that got added were put in. The story is simply of what makes Guts (and his name is spelled G-U-T-S, by the way) who he is as we see him in the first episode through a series of flashbacks. Think of it as a character study if you want, but it is definitely not incomplete by any means.

And, having most of the manga, I can tell you that there isn't enough to go on for another TV series. Not unless you really want to have a non-ending or one made up just for the anime. Media Blasters has offered to pay for another series and have been turned down. Apparently Miura is not interested in another anime until he has more of the story done, and I don't blame him.