The best of anime and fandom

[Trogdor]

Yakitate! Japan is always good for a laugh, just because of how ridiculous it is. It's a whole anime about a kid in Japan who wants to become a baker and create a bread that is identified as Japanese bread. They make a huge deal out of how he has warm hands, or "solar hands" as they put it, for the first four eps or so.

The main ingredient in all his bread recipies is appartently acid, because anyone who eats it just starts hallucinating. Also, one episode poked fun at DBZ, by having eating bread turn the judge of a contest into a Super Saiyain.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Yakitate! Japan is always good for a laugh, just because of how ridiculous it is. It's a whole anime about a kid in Japan who wants to become a baker and create a bread that is identified as Japanese bread. They make a huge deal out of how he has warm hands, or "solar hands" as they put it, for the first four eps or so.

The main ingredient in all his bread recipies is appartently acid, because anyone who eats it just starts hallucinating. Also, one episode poked fun at DBZ, by having eating bread turn the judge of a contest into a Super Saiyain.

The episode after that did a rip on One Piece.

I wouldn't say that Yakitate! Japan is for everyone, though. It's a lot better than the regular "more than 26-ep based on a manga" anime, but it's just too niche to reccomend as a best-of.

[SAMAS]

Negima, like Love Hina (manga is by the same guy, isn't it?) is crap. Crap, crap, crap. Harem anime are all crap. I'll even rate most slashbait anime higher.

I'm reading scanslations about a year ahead of the current translations. Trust me. The first two volumes are very little like the following 12. It takes a while to establish itself because of the large class. But once Evangeline shows her true colors, it picks up action-wise, and the Kyoto story arc is strong on both action and character.

[BloodAngel]

Yakitate!! Japan is simply over the top, but in a very good way. SPOILERS: Azuma can make bread that can send you to Heaven, and even back in time for God's sake!

If this has been mentioned before, I'll mention it again: Genshiken. Anime about an anime club in some university. You'll never see the world of otaku in the same way again.

[Icehawk]

Macross Plus: If you only ever see one of the Macross series make it this one. Excellent art and animation, a great story, compelling characters, and an excellent musical score by Yoko Kanno. Was also co-directed by the creator of Cowboy Bebop. Their are two versions, a 4 part OVA and a movie version. I personally suggest watching the OVA's first as the characters and story are developed better due to the longer running time. However the movie version does have a better ending to it and some new scenes not shown in the OVA's. This is also one of those rare gems where I find the english dub to be a little better than the Japanese version.

08th MS Team: The best of the Universal Century Gundam series that I have seen so far. No wanked out prettyboy emo pilots here. Just an excellent solid war drama showing an interesting side to the great "one year war" not seen elswhere. Art and animation is also very nice.

Berserk: Another excellent series that I had regretfully long overlooked untill a few months ago. The storytelling is straight forward but the plot is riveting, the action is great, and its flow is perfect with not a single filler episode to be found. It mostly centers around the life of Guts, a warrior since birth who weilds a giant sword and the time he spends fighting in the rising mercenary group "The Band of the Hawk" alongside its leader Griffith.

[Icehawk]

Negima, like Love Hina (manga is by the same guy, isn't it?) is crap. Crap, crap, crap. Harem anime are all crap. I'll even rate most slashbait anime higher.

I'm reading scanslations about a year ahead of the current translations. Trust me. The first two volumes are very little like the following 12. It takes a while to establish itself because of the large class. But once Evangeline shows her true colors, it picks up action-wise, and the Kyoto story arc is strong on both action and character.

I agree. From what I saw, the anime version of Negima is indeed crap but the original manga is quite entertaining IMO. The artwork, characters and story are all done much better in manga form. Ive been following the north american manga releases.

[Cairber]

On the subject of Harem animes...

I enjoyed Ai Yori Aoshi, but I am not sure if that qualifies as harem as the love relationship was clear from the first episode. I can't really think of another "harem" that I liked....some people claim "Ah My Goddess" (which I liked) is a harem anime, but I do not agree.

[SAMAS]

It really depends on how you define the term "Harem" in relation to a Harem Anime.

Some people define it strictly along the lines of who has romantic feelings for the main character, but from what I've heard of Happy Lesson, for example, it could count as a Harem despite the fact that the feelings the women have for the male lead are generally maternal in nature.

In Negima, for example, the feelings the girls have for Negi, while all (mostly) positive, range from respect, to admiration, to sisterly affection, with most girls thinking he's just really really adorable. Only three or four of the girls(Five if you don't only count the living ones) have anything resembling romantic feelings for him.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

In Negima, for example, the feelings the girls have for Negi, while all (mostly) positive, range from respect, to admiration, to sisterly affection, with most girls thinking he's just really really adorable. Only three or four of the girls(Five if you don't only count the living ones) have anything resembling romantic feelings for him.

That certainly sounds like ti belongs to the harem genre if anything does. Loosely defined, harem anime are where an larger female cast surrounds a primary male character, regardless of how many of the girls have feelings for him.

08th MS Team: The best of the Universal Century Gundam series that I have seen so far. No wanked out prettyboy emo pilots here. Just an excellent solid war drama showing an interesting side to the great "one year war" not seen elswhere. Art and animation is also very nice.

I disagree. Zeta is clearly the very pinnacle of the Gundam saga (UC-exclusive or otherwise): never has been better, never will be. And while 08th MST was good, in my opinion 0800 was so much better.

[TheBlackCat]

...some people claim "Ah My Goddess" (which I liked) is a harem anime, but I do not agree.

Yeah, how the heck is Oh My Goddess a harem anime? There is a main male character and a main female character who are in love with each other and have no feelings for anyway else (except when being manipulated by magic). For the male character, there are at most 2 tertiary characters who may or may not be in love with him. One of them has only been hinted at have some small feelings for him, and she is so nasty even if she did she would still treat him like dirt. For the other it is unclear whether she was in love with him or just doing her job, and even if she was it is clear she has given up trying to woo him. There was also one female character who was in love with his grandfather, but she was a ghost and she passed on anyway. For the female character, although most guys seem attracted to her only 2 have made serious attempts to steal her away. One is so much of a jerk Bell barely notices him except when trying to sabatoge him, and the other is no longer a serious concern because got turned into a cat. People might claim that it is a harem anime because there are 4 women living with one guy (or technically 2 women, a girl, and a female robot), but besides Bell none of the other females have the slightest feelings for K1. In fact, they all have their own serious boyfriends. So there is no way it is a harem anime.

[SAMAS]

OMG can be considered a Harem anime by most accounts, just one in that the major romantic entanglements are pretty much straightened out from the beginning.

But yeah, it's mostly magical girlfriend.

[Rubberanvil]

Action:
Spriggan: Well animated and action heavy, while not insulting your intelligence to much.

Ugh, I hated that movie. So much of an overblown nothing. Basically to me it came off as an Akira-Lite with an Eva element thrown in.

And while it is kind of well animated, it's also rather quite ugly.

The manga is so much better then the movie in story and art.

[Vendetta]

Macross Plus: If you only ever see one of the Macross series make it this one. Excellent art and animation, a great story, compelling characters, and an excellent musical score by Yoko Kanno. Was also co-directed by the creator of Cowboy Bebop. Their are two versions, a 4 part OVA and a movie version. I personally suggest watching the OVA's first as the characters and story are developed better due to the longer running time. However the movie version does have a better ending to it and some new scenes not shown in the OVA's. This is also one of those rare gems where I find the english dub to be a little better than the Japanese version.

I'd say the opposite. Watch the movie, see it how it was originally intended to be seen, and then don't watch the OVA at all. The OVA was only created at the behest of the studio who didn't think they could get as much money out of a movie, and is basically just a castrated version of the story.

[Ghost Rider]

08th MS Team: The best of the Universal Century Gundam series that I have seen so far. No wanked out prettyboy emo pilots here. Just an excellent solid war drama showing an interesting side to the great "one year war" not seen elswhere. Art and animation is also very nice.

I disagree. Zeta is clearly the very pinnacle of the Gundam saga (UC-exclusive or otherwise): never has been better, never will be. And while 08th MST was good, in my opinion 0800 was so much better.

That I truly agree with. My only beef...is how Zeta Ends...and the fucking slog that is ZZ Gundam.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Actually, I've seen most of Gundam ZZ, and once you get past some of the introductory episodes (about ten, I'd say), the series does improve quite a bit, a lot like Zeta in some ways.

[Icehawk]

Macross Plus: If you only ever see one of the Macross series make it this one. Excellent art and animation, a great story, compelling characters, and an excellent musical score by Yoko Kanno. Was also co-directed by the creator of Cowboy Bebop. Their are two versions, a 4 part OVA and a movie version. I personally suggest watching the OVA's first as the characters and story are developed better due to the longer running time. However the movie version does have a better ending to it and some new scenes not shown in the OVA's. This is also one of those rare gems where I find the english dub to be a little better than the Japanese version.

I'd say the opposite. Watch the movie, see it how it was originally intended to be seen, and then don't watch the OVA at all. The OVA was only created at the behest of the studio who didn't think they could get as much money out of a movie, and is basically just a castrated version of the story.

It is the directors preferred vision of the story and I agree that the 4th OVA of the series does end up feeling much like a castration, however I much prefer the way OVA's 1-3 introduce and flesh things out better than the the first half of the movie does. You're given more time to get to know the characters and feel for them as well as get immersed into the universe. In the context of the time constraints placed on the movie version it does do a good job of these things as well but when I compare the two side by side I just really get a better feeling of immersion into the story and characters with the OVA's.

[Lord Zentei]

I love nearly all of Myazaki's films that I've seen. Proco Rosso's fun for being mostly unlike his other films.

It does stand on its own merits as well, IMO. As ever, Myazaki blows life and spirit into his characters making them more real than those in almost any other show.

[Ghost Rider]

Actually, I've seen most of Gundam ZZ, and once you get past some of the introductory episodes (about ten, I'd say), the series does improve quite a bit, a lot like Zeta in some ways.

But for me, that's the problem...you have to slog through a dozen or so before the writers went "Shit...comedy not doing it!....oh wait, Zeta Gundam worked!"

Seriously no series should get that leeway, yet they do. For me it ruined a large part of ZZ because before it got good it started as something that after Zeta you just sat there wondering "Who is writing this shit?"

[Erik von Nein]

I love nearly all of Myazaki's films that I've seen. Proco Rosso's fun for being mostly unlike his other films.

It does stand on its own merits as well, IMO. As ever, Myazaki blows life and spirit into his characters making them more real than those in almost any other show.

Ooh, of course. I wasn't implying that it's a good movie on it's own, but it stands out from Myazaki's other works for how different it is.

[Icehawk]

Crest/Banner of the Stars: Adapted from a series of epic novels in Japan this series is perfect for people who like epic scifi. The show is very intelligent and well thought out with a good cast of characters and highly epic space battles. The creator also crafted an entire spoken and written language for the Abh Empire much like Tolkien did with the elves in LoTR. Another intriguing aspect of the series is the unique method of FTL which is utilized and how it plays a large role in the order of battle utilized by the main powers.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Another epic science fiction series adapted from a series of novels in Japan. This one has a different and more "down to earth" style and approach so to speak then the Crest/Banner of the Stars series by not having any fantasy style elements to it and a less fantastic technology level. Also, Unlike Crest/Banner which mainly follows a specific set of characters on one side of the conflict, Galactic Heroes goes in-depth to both sides of the conflict with each side struggling with its own internal political issues and the ramifications thereof. The cast of characters is immense and the space battles are some of the most epic in scale I have seen. Typical fleet engagements number in the tens of thousands of capital ships and take place over long range.

Another intersting aspect to Galactic Heroes is the "historical" feel and style to it. The Galactic Empire is modeled similarly to old Imperial Germany and the ships and characters names are all old style Germanic. The other side, the Free Planets Alliance is modeled more like the US from WW2 being a Democratic Republic system and uniforms have a more US/British styling.

[The Yosemite Bear]

the things that even without translation of any sort had me falling out of my chair laughing:

Project Ako: is there anything in anime and fandom this doesn't make fun of?
The Dirty Pair: ok gaint cat, two crazy women with far too much weapons for anyone's good.
Dominion Tank Police: between the catgirls, the destruction, and the girl who loves the tank, the guy who loves the girl, and all the other bits.

[BloodAngel]

The Dirty Pair: ok gaint cat, two crazy women with far too much weapons for anyone's good.

Some day I'm going to have to watch that show, and find out what made the Star Trek writers so damn fascinated by it.

[The Yosemite Bear]

because it was a sci-fi series before it was a OVA/TV series. Yes that's right, it was originally a james bond in space, series of novels. Well basically the OVAs and TV series are basically a funny mindless action series, with two women arguing/fighting with each other, and in the process solving the case by causing more damage then the terrorists could ever hope to. these two have leveled a city on historic earth just trying to catch a "purse snatcher" without realizing that one of them left her purse in the bathroom......

[K. A. Pital]

Gunslinger Girl.
This one makes me wonder if anime is sometimes more than just "anime", a genre for itself. GSG is certainly an anime bigger than itself.

Some other notable things that to my mind are certainly works of art: Haibane Renmei (Greywing League), Technolyze (enjoying it, if that word can be used at all for such a dark series, right now).
Last Exile is also noteworthy, even if as a purely commercial product that somehow managed to incorporate a good deal of real art in itself. Paranoia Agent is also absolutely incredible... a work of art, and a one-of-a-king experience, certainly worthy to the world culture, not just anime itself.

I also enjoy Planetes very much, and although I can't say it's really something over-the-top, it's certainly a classic. Realistic near-future sci-fi at it's very best, comparable to Stanislaw Lem's stories about Solar System exploration (the Pirx stories and other). Also very dramatic and honest. And it does have a Russian, after all. One of my favorites. The romance, the drama, the dull work of space exploration. If there's anything calling you when you hear "12 of April, the Day of Cosmonautics" or "Venus-Express has just arrived at Venus orbit" - SEE PLANETES.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Gunslinger Girl.
This one makes me wonder if anime is sometimes more than just "anime", a genre for itself. GSG is certainly an anime bigger than itself.

Anime isn't a genre.

And I wouldn't call Last Exile purely commercial. That seems odd.

Also, it's called Planetes.