Anime thoughts
Jul. 19th, 2006 12:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieFirst, a brief comment on Ouran. I find it interesting how all the club members really do care for Tamaki and want to protect him, from the scheming Kouya to the rowdy twins. They really do love him: his sweetness won them. They know he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer (tm ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
crumpeteer), but they respond to his goodness. I am thinking of the ep with the journalist club and its scheming head. (Of course, finding out that Tamaki likes playing those 'commoner' games because when he was younger he never got a chance to play is awwwww. And as always, he is matter of fact in saying this). My favorite ep is still the one where the guys visit Haruhi's family. Funny and adorable. And I do love that Haruhi's Dad warms up to Tamaki.
I've also realized that, with the exception of Marmalade Boy, I've been extremely lucky in my anime choices. All the rest had something to recommend them. And since I am list obsessive, I am going to rank them from most liked to least. This is purely a liking ranking. I recognize that RahXephon is objectively better than Fushigi Yuugi, but I love the former better.
1. Trigun: It was one of the earlier anime I've watched. A dozen other shows later, this still remains by far my favorite, with Vash still my favorite anime hero (and it's a tough competition). It's part a comedy, part space Western, part a dark morality play, and part a fascinating character study. Vash starts out as an adorable goof but ends up being almost a Lymondlike character (and if you know me, that's about the highest compliment I can pay a character).
2. Howl's Moving Castle: I've discovered I like anime series more than I do anime movies. More room for complexity. HMC is an exception. THE exeption. The reason for me wanting to give anime a chance. It's a fairytale, it's a love story, it's a funny tale, and it's poetic and dreamlike and hilarious and heartbreaking. It's everything that is amazing, in fact. The story of a young girl Sophie, who is transformed into an old woman under a curse and ends up being a housekeeper of a mysterious wizard Howl is one of the most unbelievable movie experiences I've ever had.
3. Fushigi Yuugi: My love for this is not rational. I marathoned 30+ episodes in a weekend. I had to stop the DVDs because I couldn't see anything because of hysterical crying. I swooned for Tamahome (and Hotohori) as if I was back to being 12. Heck, I watched music videos based on the thing. If I had to describe it in a pithy sentence, I'd say it's anime does Bollywood. It has everything: fighting, angsty love, hilarious comedy, monsters and cross-dressers. What more can you want?
4. Full Metal Panic: FMP made me fall in love. FMP:FUMOFFU made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt. FMP:TSR broke my heart. I ended up literally screaming at the TV at a few points (I am not convincing anyone of my sanity here). Mr. Mousie also loved this. The story is about an elite mercenary assigned to protect a high school student from people who are out to kidnap her, but it's not just action. It's comedy, and character exploration, and probably the most subtle, best developed OTP I've ever seen. It's probably the best starter anime I can think of.
5. Escaflowne: My gateway drug.katranna showed this to me and it was all over. It has moved down in rankings a bit with more anime I've seen, but it's still a favorite. Strong female protagonist, fascinating three-dimensional male characters (my favorite being the gorgeous, messed-up Allen Schezar, at first glance a perfect knight, but in reality something much more ambivalent and interesting), complex and intelligent story that doesn't let up. What more could you want? This is the most 'West-like' in theme anime. In fact, if some really good fantasy author wrote an amazing novel, this would be Escaflowne. I would probably rank it beneath Kenshin and Peacemaker, but for sheer gatewayness sake, I'll put it above them for now.
6. Peacemaker Kurogane: Almost no women characters? Historical anime about Shinsengumi, the famous Samurai group on the losing side of the Japanese Civil War? Chibi lead character? It all sounds like not anything I'd enjoy. Well, appearances are wrong. In addition to being some of the most beautiful animation I've ever seen, this show has some of the best developed characters I've seen so far, not to mention interesting points about grief, violence and discipline. And one of my very rare canon slash OTPs, too.
6. (tie) Rouroni Kenshin: This one is really famous. Heck, I've heard of it before I've ever watched any anime. Justly so. This story of a wanderer trying to repent for the actions he committed during the Revolution (see PMK) and the people who gather around him is something else. If you like fights, there are amazing fights here. If you like exploration of guilt and redemption, it's here. If you like strong women characters, they are here. If you like beautiful animation and subtle emotion (fireflies scene, OMG!), it's here. If you like complicated rationships, with plenty of interesting OTPs, they are here. If you like humor, I defy you not to laugh often. What I love the most are the amazingly developed and complex characters, most of all Kenshin himself. I started out liking him well enough but finding others more interesting (whoa, Aoshi!) and ended up falling for him, with his patience, uncloying nobility, laid back humor, and horrible demons, the way I seldom fall for a character.
7. Peach Girl: I got it merely because I couldn't find it (yes, it makes sense if you know me). I thought it would be fun to mock. 20+ eps, I rather had to eat my words. This is one of the rare anime on this list with no supernatural, scifi or battle scenes. It's really just an exploration of the heroine's growing up and chosing between two rather different guys, not to mention dealing with a horrific best friend. So why is it so high up? I like the heroine, Momo, who is strong and fun without being Mary Sue, true. But it's this high up because of Kairi, one of the guys in Momo's life, and one of the three main characters. He is funny, messed-up, full of common sense and basically my anime boyfriend. I want a Kairi. Anyone should have one, in fact.
8. RahXephon: probably the most grown up and visually striking anime I've ever seen, this is like no other anime on the list. Meditation on self, music, and the nature of time, this is also amazingly beautiful, with one of the most unusual yet strong love stories I've come across. I can't even give a summary of the plot except to say that it's a bit Matrix, a bit Bradbury, and a lot of its own thing.
9. GetBackers: Want adventure? GetBackers got it. Want comedy? GetBackers got it. Want angst? GetBackers got it. Want messed up backgrounds and strong friendships and complicated grown-up ships, het and slash? How about fascinating male characters and strong women? GetBackers got it. GetBackers got basically everything, including one of my all-time favorite characters, Midou Ban, snarky, cynical, good at heart and cagey, who together with Amano Ginji runs a recovery service in futuristic Tokyo.
10. Ouran High School Host Club: if it wasn't for Fumoffu, this would be the funniest anime I've ever seen. With its tongue permanently in cheek, this manages to mock anime and manga cliche, poke fun at fangirls, and create a bunch of lovable fun characters. The no-nonsense heroine, Haruhi, and the main male character, Tamaki, the sweetest anime character ever, will just win you over in this story of a girl who joins an all male host club in a Victor/Victoria set-up.
11. Ayashi No Ceres: If anime had Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, AnC would be it. It's beautifully drawn, it's dark (canon incest, a lot of deaths) and it deals with the heroine who might be a reincarnation of a raped and vengeful heavenly being, and who thus is wanted by her family for extermination, a fate she just might avoid with a help of some friends and a mysterious laconic stranger called Toya who is working for her enemies. Toya is Angel to Aya's Buffy and the highlight of this anime is, for me, their angst-filled and complicated romance. The story is a fantasy. It's dark, it's twisty, it's unusual. It would have been higher on the list except for the ending which initially made me mad enough to spit nails (just look in the archives). I've felt better about it since, after reading what the author thought happens afterwards, but still...way to give me a heart attack, Watase!
12. Hana Yori Dango: It took me almost 20 episodes to get into this anime. I still think the artwork is atrocious and I can't see the appeal of character designs. This said, I ended up marathonning the remaining 30+ episodes like crazy. This anime won my heart through sheer coolness of its characters and the interesting storyline. I would sum it up as 'Pride and Prejudice on acid' with the unpretty, strong-willed Tsukushi, the only poor student at an elite snobby school coming afoul of the F4, a gang of sons of powerful families who rule the school, but standing up to their bullying and in the process winning the heart of Doumyouji, the F4 leader. Doumyouji and Tsukushi's messed up and complicated relationship (or the lack of one) is the heart of the series and it's irresistable. Tsukushi is one of the coolest heroines on record, and Doumyouji has some of the best character arcs in anime. I started out hating his guts and appalled that Tsukushi ends up with him, and ended up rooting for him and yelling at the screen 'just reciprocate already, Tsukushi!'
13. Saiyuki: It has episodes where I just goggle at the artwork. It has unreally cool main characters and the inversion of the bad guy being the nicest person of the bunch. It has the angstiest anime character I've ever seen (and it's a tough competition) in Hakkai. And it can be both devastating and funny.crumpeteer once described it as "Kenshin, Sanosuke, Saito and Yahiko on a road trip together" and it's about the aptest description I've ever seen. I guess that makes Kougaiji their Aoshi and I can definitely see that.
14. Cowboy Beebop: Dealing with a bunch of bounty hunters in a scifi environment, it's one of the most acclaimed anime out there and justly so. I think its arc-related episodes there can be in running for some of the best anime out there. However, the stand alones (the majority) are less interesting to me and are a bit too leisurely for my taste. Still, all in all, it's impressive for a reason. It's an off-beat, off-the-wall anime that marches to its own drummer. Spike Spiegel is probably one of the coolest characters there is.
15. Generator Gawl: Involves guys from the future coming back to stop WWIII but almost running out of time. I haven't finished this one yet, as the subs gave out and I hated the dub. I am waiting for the Netflix copy to finish this. The artwork is nice, it has a cleanly done scifi story and Gawl himself is a pretty cool character.
16. Chobits: The story of a boy who finds a human-shaped girl computer who actually has feelings. The artwork on that one is amazingly pretty. But the concept goes nowhere super cool and as it progressed, it steadily lost my interest. Plus, Chi herself is so childlike she ends up irritating. I have yet to finish this one (I am about halfway through). It might regain my interest and get higher ranking when all is said and done. But for now, that's where it is.
17. Pretear: Girl needs to save world from ecological peers by...having sex with multiple partners? Take that, Captain Planet! I like the heroine of this a lot, I think Hayate (the knight she falls for) is hot, I think Sasame (another knight) is uber cool until he goes crazy stupid, but the lack of world-building loses it points, not to mention the villainess in this one makes me want to smack some sense into her. With a brick. And her stupidity is catching as it infects Sasame. Plus, ther sheer concept of sex as a way to fight evil is a bit...odd. Still, worth a rental if not a purchase.
18. Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: How cool a name is that? The protagonist of this, a young wizard named Orphen, is on a quest to free and save a friend who's been turned into a dragon. I liked the two episodes (two first ones) I've seen, but I haven't seen enough yet to rank it higher. The artwork is a bit too traditional for my taste, and his sidekick Cleo should have been drowned at birth, but I've been told they never hook up so it's OK.
19. Revolutionary Girl Utena: There is FUBAR. And there is Utena. The character design on this one is very odd, and the set-up (an academy with duelling) is bizarre. Still, points for post-modern coolness and gender approach and for having the only potentially interesting lesbian couple out there tht I've come across. Ultimately I need to see more. I don't think this one will win my heart, but the mental stuff will be interesting.
20. Last Exile: Mr. Mousie really liked this one. And the artwork and the music are gorgeous. But I got severely bored. The fact that I didn't care for any characters except for Duo, Alex Row and Mullen, all of them secondary, didn't help. The fact that it's one of the stories where it only makes sense at the end, didn't either. It's an excellent anime. But very much not my thing.
21. Marmalade Boy: The only anime I didn't care for at all. Ugh. How can you make romance between two people who at one point decide to stick together despite thinking they are half-siblings boring? I have no idea but this show managed. Waste of time.
Two shows I haven't rated because I've only seen one episode each are Samurai Champloo and Gungrave. The reason for not rating? They look like something I'll madly love, so I want to wait and see...
On my anime to-do list is to finish Chobits (it will take awhile), finish GetBackers (less than 10 eps left and should be done by this week), watch more Saiyuki, Samurai Champloo and Gungrave. I am also continuing with my rewatch of Fushigi Yuugi. I plan to try Slayers and start on Tsubasa Chronicles. Yup, anime galore.
crumpeteer), but they respond to his goodness. I am thinking of the ep with the journalist club and its scheming head. (Of course, finding out that Tamaki likes playing those 'commoner' games because when he was younger he never got a chance to play is awwwww. And as always, he is matter of fact in saying this). My favorite ep is still the one where the guys visit Haruhi's family. Funny and adorable. And I do love that Haruhi's Dad warms up to Tamaki. I've also realized that, with the exception of Marmalade Boy, I've been extremely lucky in my anime choices. All the rest had something to recommend them. And since I am list obsessive, I am going to rank them from most liked to least. This is purely a liking ranking. I recognize that RahXephon is objectively better than Fushigi Yuugi, but I love the former better.
1. Trigun: It was one of the earlier anime I've watched. A dozen other shows later, this still remains by far my favorite, with Vash still my favorite anime hero (and it's a tough competition). It's part a comedy, part space Western, part a dark morality play, and part a fascinating character study. Vash starts out as an adorable goof but ends up being almost a Lymondlike character (and if you know me, that's about the highest compliment I can pay a character).
2. Howl's Moving Castle: I've discovered I like anime series more than I do anime movies. More room for complexity. HMC is an exception. THE exeption. The reason for me wanting to give anime a chance. It's a fairytale, it's a love story, it's a funny tale, and it's poetic and dreamlike and hilarious and heartbreaking. It's everything that is amazing, in fact. The story of a young girl Sophie, who is transformed into an old woman under a curse and ends up being a housekeeper of a mysterious wizard Howl is one of the most unbelievable movie experiences I've ever had.
3. Fushigi Yuugi: My love for this is not rational. I marathoned 30+ episodes in a weekend. I had to stop the DVDs because I couldn't see anything because of hysterical crying. I swooned for Tamahome (and Hotohori) as if I was back to being 12. Heck, I watched music videos based on the thing. If I had to describe it in a pithy sentence, I'd say it's anime does Bollywood. It has everything: fighting, angsty love, hilarious comedy, monsters and cross-dressers. What more can you want?
4. Full Metal Panic: FMP made me fall in love. FMP:FUMOFFU made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt. FMP:TSR broke my heart. I ended up literally screaming at the TV at a few points (I am not convincing anyone of my sanity here). Mr. Mousie also loved this. The story is about an elite mercenary assigned to protect a high school student from people who are out to kidnap her, but it's not just action. It's comedy, and character exploration, and probably the most subtle, best developed OTP I've ever seen. It's probably the best starter anime I can think of.
5. Escaflowne: My gateway drug.
katranna showed this to me and it was all over. It has moved down in rankings a bit with more anime I've seen, but it's still a favorite. Strong female protagonist, fascinating three-dimensional male characters (my favorite being the gorgeous, messed-up Allen Schezar, at first glance a perfect knight, but in reality something much more ambivalent and interesting), complex and intelligent story that doesn't let up. What more could you want? This is the most 'West-like' in theme anime. In fact, if some really good fantasy author wrote an amazing novel, this would be Escaflowne. I would probably rank it beneath Kenshin and Peacemaker, but for sheer gatewayness sake, I'll put it above them for now. 6. Peacemaker Kurogane: Almost no women characters? Historical anime about Shinsengumi, the famous Samurai group on the losing side of the Japanese Civil War? Chibi lead character? It all sounds like not anything I'd enjoy. Well, appearances are wrong. In addition to being some of the most beautiful animation I've ever seen, this show has some of the best developed characters I've seen so far, not to mention interesting points about grief, violence and discipline. And one of my very rare canon slash OTPs, too.
6. (tie) Rouroni Kenshin: This one is really famous. Heck, I've heard of it before I've ever watched any anime. Justly so. This story of a wanderer trying to repent for the actions he committed during the Revolution (see PMK) and the people who gather around him is something else. If you like fights, there are amazing fights here. If you like exploration of guilt and redemption, it's here. If you like strong women characters, they are here. If you like beautiful animation and subtle emotion (fireflies scene, OMG!), it's here. If you like complicated rationships, with plenty of interesting OTPs, they are here. If you like humor, I defy you not to laugh often. What I love the most are the amazingly developed and complex characters, most of all Kenshin himself. I started out liking him well enough but finding others more interesting (whoa, Aoshi!) and ended up falling for him, with his patience, uncloying nobility, laid back humor, and horrible demons, the way I seldom fall for a character.
7. Peach Girl: I got it merely because I couldn't find it (yes, it makes sense if you know me). I thought it would be fun to mock. 20+ eps, I rather had to eat my words. This is one of the rare anime on this list with no supernatural, scifi or battle scenes. It's really just an exploration of the heroine's growing up and chosing between two rather different guys, not to mention dealing with a horrific best friend. So why is it so high up? I like the heroine, Momo, who is strong and fun without being Mary Sue, true. But it's this high up because of Kairi, one of the guys in Momo's life, and one of the three main characters. He is funny, messed-up, full of common sense and basically my anime boyfriend. I want a Kairi. Anyone should have one, in fact.
8. RahXephon: probably the most grown up and visually striking anime I've ever seen, this is like no other anime on the list. Meditation on self, music, and the nature of time, this is also amazingly beautiful, with one of the most unusual yet strong love stories I've come across. I can't even give a summary of the plot except to say that it's a bit Matrix, a bit Bradbury, and a lot of its own thing.
9. GetBackers: Want adventure? GetBackers got it. Want comedy? GetBackers got it. Want angst? GetBackers got it. Want messed up backgrounds and strong friendships and complicated grown-up ships, het and slash? How about fascinating male characters and strong women? GetBackers got it. GetBackers got basically everything, including one of my all-time favorite characters, Midou Ban, snarky, cynical, good at heart and cagey, who together with Amano Ginji runs a recovery service in futuristic Tokyo.
10. Ouran High School Host Club: if it wasn't for Fumoffu, this would be the funniest anime I've ever seen. With its tongue permanently in cheek, this manages to mock anime and manga cliche, poke fun at fangirls, and create a bunch of lovable fun characters. The no-nonsense heroine, Haruhi, and the main male character, Tamaki, the sweetest anime character ever, will just win you over in this story of a girl who joins an all male host club in a Victor/Victoria set-up.
11. Ayashi No Ceres: If anime had Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, AnC would be it. It's beautifully drawn, it's dark (canon incest, a lot of deaths) and it deals with the heroine who might be a reincarnation of a raped and vengeful heavenly being, and who thus is wanted by her family for extermination, a fate she just might avoid with a help of some friends and a mysterious laconic stranger called Toya who is working for her enemies. Toya is Angel to Aya's Buffy and the highlight of this anime is, for me, their angst-filled and complicated romance. The story is a fantasy. It's dark, it's twisty, it's unusual. It would have been higher on the list except for the ending which initially made me mad enough to spit nails (just look in the archives). I've felt better about it since, after reading what the author thought happens afterwards, but still...way to give me a heart attack, Watase!
12. Hana Yori Dango: It took me almost 20 episodes to get into this anime. I still think the artwork is atrocious and I can't see the appeal of character designs. This said, I ended up marathonning the remaining 30+ episodes like crazy. This anime won my heart through sheer coolness of its characters and the interesting storyline. I would sum it up as 'Pride and Prejudice on acid' with the unpretty, strong-willed Tsukushi, the only poor student at an elite snobby school coming afoul of the F4, a gang of sons of powerful families who rule the school, but standing up to their bullying and in the process winning the heart of Doumyouji, the F4 leader. Doumyouji and Tsukushi's messed up and complicated relationship (or the lack of one) is the heart of the series and it's irresistable. Tsukushi is one of the coolest heroines on record, and Doumyouji has some of the best character arcs in anime. I started out hating his guts and appalled that Tsukushi ends up with him, and ended up rooting for him and yelling at the screen 'just reciprocate already, Tsukushi!'
13. Saiyuki: It has episodes where I just goggle at the artwork. It has unreally cool main characters and the inversion of the bad guy being the nicest person of the bunch. It has the angstiest anime character I've ever seen (and it's a tough competition) in Hakkai. And it can be both devastating and funny.
crumpeteer once described it as "Kenshin, Sanosuke, Saito and Yahiko on a road trip together" and it's about the aptest description I've ever seen. I guess that makes Kougaiji their Aoshi and I can definitely see that. 14. Cowboy Beebop: Dealing with a bunch of bounty hunters in a scifi environment, it's one of the most acclaimed anime out there and justly so. I think its arc-related episodes there can be in running for some of the best anime out there. However, the stand alones (the majority) are less interesting to me and are a bit too leisurely for my taste. Still, all in all, it's impressive for a reason. It's an off-beat, off-the-wall anime that marches to its own drummer. Spike Spiegel is probably one of the coolest characters there is.
15. Generator Gawl: Involves guys from the future coming back to stop WWIII but almost running out of time. I haven't finished this one yet, as the subs gave out and I hated the dub. I am waiting for the Netflix copy to finish this. The artwork is nice, it has a cleanly done scifi story and Gawl himself is a pretty cool character.
16. Chobits: The story of a boy who finds a human-shaped girl computer who actually has feelings. The artwork on that one is amazingly pretty. But the concept goes nowhere super cool and as it progressed, it steadily lost my interest. Plus, Chi herself is so childlike she ends up irritating. I have yet to finish this one (I am about halfway through). It might regain my interest and get higher ranking when all is said and done. But for now, that's where it is.
17. Pretear: Girl needs to save world from ecological peers by...having sex with multiple partners? Take that, Captain Planet! I like the heroine of this a lot, I think Hayate (the knight she falls for) is hot, I think Sasame (another knight) is uber cool until he goes crazy stupid, but the lack of world-building loses it points, not to mention the villainess in this one makes me want to smack some sense into her. With a brick. And her stupidity is catching as it infects Sasame. Plus, ther sheer concept of sex as a way to fight evil is a bit...odd. Still, worth a rental if not a purchase.
18. Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: How cool a name is that? The protagonist of this, a young wizard named Orphen, is on a quest to free and save a friend who's been turned into a dragon. I liked the two episodes (two first ones) I've seen, but I haven't seen enough yet to rank it higher. The artwork is a bit too traditional for my taste, and his sidekick Cleo should have been drowned at birth, but I've been told they never hook up so it's OK.
19. Revolutionary Girl Utena: There is FUBAR. And there is Utena. The character design on this one is very odd, and the set-up (an academy with duelling) is bizarre. Still, points for post-modern coolness and gender approach and for having the only potentially interesting lesbian couple out there tht I've come across. Ultimately I need to see more. I don't think this one will win my heart, but the mental stuff will be interesting.
20. Last Exile: Mr. Mousie really liked this one. And the artwork and the music are gorgeous. But I got severely bored. The fact that I didn't care for any characters except for Duo, Alex Row and Mullen, all of them secondary, didn't help. The fact that it's one of the stories where it only makes sense at the end, didn't either. It's an excellent anime. But very much not my thing.
21. Marmalade Boy: The only anime I didn't care for at all. Ugh. How can you make romance between two people who at one point decide to stick together despite thinking they are half-siblings boring? I have no idea but this show managed. Waste of time.
Two shows I haven't rated because I've only seen one episode each are Samurai Champloo and Gungrave. The reason for not rating? They look like something I'll madly love, so I want to wait and see...
On my anime to-do list is to finish Chobits (it will take awhile), finish GetBackers (less than 10 eps left and should be done by this week), watch more Saiyuki, Samurai Champloo and Gungrave. I am also continuing with my rewatch of Fushigi Yuugi. I plan to try Slayers and start on Tsubasa Chronicles. Yup, anime galore.
