First, I'm surprised that a thread like this shows up after devoting several days towards marathoning Fate/Stay Night (don't watch the anime for that one since it's "Deen quality" at its worst), and I think I should make a post here.
Since I stopped playing AC as much as I used to, I picked up some other hobbies and one of them is watching Anime. Over the past year or so, I've watched around 200 series, so I have some things to contribute to this thread (my tastes > your tastes).
First, I would like to start out by saying that the idea that anime has themes superior to american or western media in general is complete bullshit. True you'll find some very though provoking series of high quality like Bakemonogatari, Mawaru Penguindrum, or Welcome to the NHK, but don't forget that most of what you find is really no better than what you can find on western networks other than potentially higher quality animation and voice acting due to more specialized studios that deal with those aspects. Don't go out and claim "GLORIOUS NIHON > AMERICANIZED WESTERN SHIT" without taking into account western shows like Game of Thrones and anime like Strike Witches, Yuru Yuri, and the random shounen shit that shows up and last forever.
Now onto stuff that I enjoy. Here's a list of a few of my personal favorites:
First is Deathnote. Up until a certain point, this was actually very good, but I just really couldn't stand that idiot they replaced with after he and even though I liked the ending, that character alone completely ruined the entire series and made it one of my most hated shows ever.
Second is Elfen Lied. For people who don't watch that much anime, I can see why people would think this series is good, but at best, it's mediocre. My problems with it are the bad voice acting, rushed pacing, and pretty bad animation in comparison to ones that I enjoyed much more (the last thing doesn't matter as much). Honestly, if this was a 24 episode series, it would have been a lot better, but it was released at a fairly weird time where the manga wasn't completed and they pretty much cut out a lot and gave it a pretty half-assed ending.
Third is NGE. I know I'm going to get hate for not liking this one since it's so widely hailed as something great, but to be honest, it was not enjoyable at all. First, I have to say that I did not like the mecha designs, which in my opinion are incredibly important when it comes to enjoying anything with mechas. I mean, even Infinite Stratos was better in terms of that. Next is the characters. Now I know that people will say that it's just breaking the stereotype and having a more human character as a protagonist, but Shinji pisses the shit out of me and none of the other characters were interesting enough to make up for that making me really not care about what is going on and the plot in general. Also, I couldn't care less about the 2deep4u religious and psychoanalysis bullshit as that alone can't possibly make something I hated watching good. If that was the case, then Guilty Crown would be the greatest modern anime masterpiece.
![[Image: zW1v]](http://puu.sh/zW1v)
@Undead: you'd really like Boku no Pico and Bible Black
Edit: also, Avatar isn't anime
Since I stopped playing AC as much as I used to, I picked up some other hobbies and one of them is watching Anime. Over the past year or so, I've watched around 200 series, so I have some things to contribute to this thread (my tastes > your tastes).
First, I would like to start out by saying that the idea that anime has themes superior to american or western media in general is complete bullshit. True you'll find some very though provoking series of high quality like Bakemonogatari, Mawaru Penguindrum, or Welcome to the NHK, but don't forget that most of what you find is really no better than what you can find on western networks other than potentially higher quality animation and voice acting due to more specialized studios that deal with those aspects. Don't go out and claim "GLORIOUS NIHON > AMERICANIZED WESTERN SHIT" without taking into account western shows like Game of Thrones and anime like Strike Witches, Yuru Yuri, and the random shounen shit that shows up and last forever.
Now onto stuff that I enjoy. Here's a list of a few of my personal favorites:
- Katangatari
- Bakemonogatari
- Steins;Gate
- Welcome to the NHK
- Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
- Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
- Saki (ok, even I have no idea why I liked this series so much)
First is Deathnote. Up until a certain point, this was actually very good, but I just really couldn't stand that idiot they replaced with after he and even though I liked the ending, that character alone completely ruined the entire series and made it one of my most hated shows ever.
![[+]](/images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
SpoilerSecond is Elfen Lied. For people who don't watch that much anime, I can see why people would think this series is good, but at best, it's mediocre. My problems with it are the bad voice acting, rushed pacing, and pretty bad animation in comparison to ones that I enjoyed much more (the last thing doesn't matter as much). Honestly, if this was a 24 episode series, it would have been a lot better, but it was released at a fairly weird time where the manga wasn't completed and they pretty much cut out a lot and gave it a pretty half-assed ending.
Third is NGE. I know I'm going to get hate for not liking this one since it's so widely hailed as something great, but to be honest, it was not enjoyable at all. First, I have to say that I did not like the mecha designs, which in my opinion are incredibly important when it comes to enjoying anything with mechas. I mean, even Infinite Stratos was better in terms of that. Next is the characters. Now I know that people will say that it's just breaking the stereotype and having a more human character as a protagonist, but Shinji pisses the shit out of me and none of the other characters were interesting enough to make up for that making me really not care about what is going on and the plot in general. Also, I couldn't care less about the 2deep4u religious and psychoanalysis bullshit as that alone can't possibly make something I hated watching good. If that was the case, then Guilty Crown would be the greatest modern anime masterpiece.
@Undead: you'd really like Boku no Pico and Bible Black
Edit: also, Avatar isn't anime