what anime should I start collecting?

Arken · Jun 24, 2003

Samurai X is a recommendation here too.

Or The Slayers(great fun) The most DnDish anime ever probably

Or of course anything by Hayao Miyazaki

Samnell · Jun 24, 2003

I gotta second Evangelion and RahXephon. If you like one you will like the other...unless you're one of those people who gets infuriated when they see similarities between one series and another and screams "Ripoff!"

There's some deliberate Eva homages in RahXephon (especially in the first ep, though you'd have to have seen all of Eva to catch them all) but goes a very different direction from an outwardly similar situation. Both have teenage angst, and both have protagonists with parent issues as well as sharing giant robots fighting stuff, but how they go about it is very different.

Be aware that you haven't seen Eva until you've seen the OVAs too. Death & Rebirth and End of Evangelion, in that order. They really help explain a lot of things that went unsaid or hinted at in the series because they ran out of money. If you like ambiguous endings, you may prefer the series ending but if you stick it out through the OVAs you end up with an equally ambiguous ending there.

There's some argument in Eva fandom about whether or not the OVAs are the same ending as the series or not, sort of "alternate ending" vs. "extended ending". Personally, I think they are but it doesn't become really clear until you watch them back to back or do a second viewing. There's also director's cuts of the last few episodes prior to the final two, which are less vital to understanding the series than the OVAs, but still helpful for the added fifteen minutes or so that you only get glimpses of in the OVAs.

There's supposed to be a movie coming out to expand on RahXephon's ending, but I haven't seen it and don't know if it's even out in Japan yet. The end credits for the last ep of the series include a note that production was set to begin in spring of 2003.

WizarDru · Jun 24, 2003

Arken said:
Or The Slayers(great fun) The most DnDish anime ever probably

No, that'd be Lodoss Wars, any version. Heck, the TV series even gave stats. (as opposed to Dragon Warrior, which gave stats for the characters in the video game at the end of every episode).

MarauderX · Jun 24, 2003

Gasaraki isn't too bad compared to the others mentioned here. It's got some deep plot lines that satisfied me, plus it's got some post-war giant robots to please the masses.

The Burn Up series also deserves a mention if you get bored and want something along the lines of sexy police women doing their jobs against adversity.

Arken · Jun 24, 2003

WizarDru said:
No, that'd be Lodoss Wars, any version. Heck, the TV series even gave stats. (as opposed to Dragon Warrior, which gave stats for the characters in the video game at the end of every episode).

D'oh of course, forgot about that

still the recommendation for The Slayers remains.

Chun-tzu · Jun 24, 2003

WizarDru said:
I'll have to go against the grain and say that Rurouni Kenshin left me cold. The first five episodes became very predictable to me, and I wasn't terribly interested in the story. From what I hear, the pattern continues on further on down the line, so I didn't really get into it.

I think you gave up too early

I'm not sure what pattern you're talking about, but it's not really that predictable. And it's not the early episodes that fans consider so great (I _do_ understand why those episodes didn't hook you right away), but the later stuff, especially the Kyoto story arc. Cartoon Network is already well into this arc right now, although as I stated above, I find the unedited subtitled version to be a a step up from the dubbed version.

Do I think everyone will like Kenshin? No. But since you recommended Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Nadesico, and Big O, I can't see how you wouldn't like Kenshin!

jdavis · Jun 24, 2003

Chun-tzu said:
I think you gave up too early

I'm not sure what pattern you're talking about, but it's not really that predictable. And it's not the early episodes that fans consider so great (I _do_ understand why those episodes didn't hook you right away), but the later stuff, especially the Kyoto story arc. Cartoon Network is already well into this arc right now, although as I stated above, I find the unedited subtitled version to be a a step up from the dubbed version.

Do I think everyone will like Kenshin? No. But since you recommended Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Nadesico, and Big O, I can't see how you wouldn't like Kenshin!

Rurouni Kenshin is wonderful and keeps getting better, it started getting better towards the end of the first season and so far the Kyoto arc is everything I have been told (although the dub for Cho in the last two episodes [39-40] was just horrible). Samurai X trust and betrayal was some of the best anime I have ever seen too. I haven't seen much out there any better than the Kenshin stuff.

Tarrasque Wrangler · Jun 25, 2003

TiQuinn said:
Though I've heard it's good, I just can't bring myself to watch something called "Cowboy Bebop".

Force yourself. I am by no means an anime junkie, but this show just flat-out RULES. Any show with people tripping out on mushrooms is fine by me.

Chun-tzu · Jun 25, 2003

TiQuinn said:
Though I've heard it's good, I just can't bring myself to watch something called "Cowboy Bebop".

They talk about both cowboys and bebop in a couple episodes, but they're just throwaway lines, so we never get a clear explanation of the show's title (still, that's more than many other anime shows, like Neon Genesis Evangelion).

Spike (the main character) is referred to as a cowboy at times (at least in the movie), whenever people find out he's a bounty hunter. Not sure why bounty hunters are considered "cowboys," maybe it's a Japanese thing, but the context suggests that they mean that he's the "rebel cop" kind of guy, who gets the job done, even if (especially if) it means breaking the rules.

Bebop is the name of Jet's ship, IIRC, but it's really very appropriate for the style of the show.

"BeBop: jazz form of the 1940's and 50's, characterized by fast tempo and complex chord patterns, played by small ensembles with often dizzying instrumental virtuosity."

The fast tempo and the sophisticated but not overly complex stories are very characteristic of the show. It's a great show, the dubbed version is even better than the subtitled, the music and animation are amazing, and it has a really kick ass series finale. It took me a while to get into Bebop, but it's high quality stuff.