How Anime Consumed My Life in 2014: Hamst3r's Bizarre Adventure

This is a blog right? Well, let's do something bloggy...

Preamble:

I've been watching anime for pretty much my entire life, but 2014 was different. 2014 brought my anime watching to a whole new level. Seriously. I was tearing through so much anime, and with such fervor, as if I were a mad scientist trying to figure out what a lethal dose of moe would be.

Turns out, you can't kill yourself with anime.

How It All Began:

1998 is the year I watched Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll. on VHS. Those three just happened to catch my eye at the local video store, so I rented them one at a time and consumed them in rapid succession.

Guns, tits, blood, cyborgs, monsters, psychic powers...My teenage mind was blown, to say the least.

The promotional video that played at the start of those VHS tapes sums it up perfectly:

It was hands-down, the coolest shit I had ever seen. I watched that promo over and over again, which is probably what ultimately lead to me buying a copy of Ninja Scroll, and later, Ghost in the Shell.

But That Was It:

That's all I watched in 1998. Just those three. In 1999, a friend in her 20's showed me her hentai collection, and I watched End of Evangelion. The next year I watched Armitage III and a school friend gave me a CD-R with the Trigun series on it.

After that, my anime movie watching tapered off. I ended up watching more Anime Music Videos than anything:

• Macross Plus | Cake - The Distance
• Evangelion | Rammstein - Engel
• Akira | Gravity Kills - Enough

I accrued a huge collection of low-res, low-bitrate AMVs. It was a way to listen to my favorite songs AND watch the coolest anime shit, simultaneously. A good deal.

My anime watching wouldn't increase again until 2010. I watched 10 anime that year (10!), and 10 more in 2011. In 2012 I watched a mind-boggling 11 anime. Like, damn. I also bought my first Blu Ray, Redline.

By the end of 2013 I had completed 66 anime, an average of about 4 a year. Not exactly rabid anime consumption.

FOMO:

It felt like I had watched a lot of anime. I mean, I had seen Death Note, Perfect Blue, Paprika, Jin-Roh, Appleseed, Escaflowne, several of the Studio Ghibli films, and all the stuff mentioned earlier. That was a lot, right? It felt like a lot.

I kept encountering references to anime I was unfamiliar with though. Video clips, avatars, GIFs, jokes, memes. Certain titles kept popping up too, titles I hadn't seen, alongside superlatives like, "The Best" and "The Craziest" and "The Most F'ed Up".

Over the years this grew into a deepening feeling that I was missing out on something. It's just anime though, so I wasn't really missing out on anything. Or was I? It felt like I was. Like I was missing out on a lot.

They've Gone To Plaid:

A few months into 2014, I decided to do something about that, I decided to "catch up". I made a MyAnimeList account and began cataloguing every anime I had seen. I filled my Plan To Watch list with all the highest rated anime I could find. I added stuff based on it's relation to things I had already watched. I perused Top 10 lists, Reddit threads and reverse image searched anime GIFs to expand my list.

I bought a Crunchyroll subscription, a Funimation subscription, I populated my Netflix and Amazon Instant queues, I bookmarked a bunch of official Youtube playlists, and I ordered some DVDs and Blu Rays.

This led to me completing 175 anime in 2014.

175!

That's a lot. That number truly feels like a lot. It's so much anime it put my gaming habits on hold. I only played 3 games in 2014; Gunpoint, Broken Age and Goat Simulator. All at the start of the year too, because once I was in anime mode, there wasn't time for anything else. I wanted to watch anime. I wanted to catch up.

All Caught Up:

Here are some stats from my 2014 anime rampage:

• 82 TV Series.
• 28 Movies.
• 24 OVA.
• 11 ONA.
• 29 Specials.
• 1 Music.

• First of the Year: Attack on Titan
• Last of the Year: Yuru Yuri 2
• Longest series: Ranma 1/2 (161 episodes)

Most Enjoyed:

• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (2012)
• Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG

Least Enjoyed:

• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2009 (Season 2)
• Mezzo DSA
• Persona 4

Biggest Surprises / Didn't Think I'd Like That:

• Free!
• Ping Pong
• When they Cry 2

Most Disappointing / The Hype Is A Lie:

• Barakamon
• From The New World
• Serial Experiments Lain

Started but not finished in 2014:

• Beck
• Code Geass
• Ergo Proxy
• Gintama
• Hunter x Hunter (2011)
• Legend of the Galactic Heroes
• Monster

Dropped:

• Folktales from Japan
• Ghost Stories (dub)
• Polar Bear Cafe
• Terraformars

I Watched It Because I Heard It Was Bad:

• Mars of Destruction
• Skelter+Heaven
• Striking Daughter Sayuri
• Shitcom

And lastly...

Series of Particular Note / Did You Watch ____________?!:

Full list here: Hamst3r's MyAnimeList

With that, I feel pretty caught up. There's still plenty of stuff I haven't seen; Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Panic!, Texhnolyze, Rurouni Kenshin, Wolf's Rain, Clannad, Hajime No Ippo, GTO, Kino's Journey, Nana, AnoHana, Hellsing Ultimate, among hundreds of others. I'm keeping track though, so I'll eventually get through all of it.

I started off the new year with more anime, finishing Baccano!, Ouran High School Host Club, and Code Geass.

Everything Must Eventually End:

This will never last. This is just how I consume content. I'm a binge watcher. I did the same thing with music, movies, TV shows, Giant Bomb videos. I've watched thousands of movies. Hundreds of TV shows. I typically finish a 12-14 hour video game in one sitting. But the fervor never lasts, it's just a phase. At some point, probably in 2015, I'll feel truly caught up and my anime fever will end.

Until then...I think it's time to finish Ergo Proxy and watch some more Mushi-shi Zoku Shou. I...I have to go. I've spent far too much time typing this thing up already. I'M OUT!

P.S. Bonus Entry: Best American Animated TV Series 2014: Rick & Morty.

2014 was similar for me. I had watched a lot of anime in years past, but for the 5 or 6 years prior to '14, I had completely fallen off.

WIthin the past year, I've watched about 35 full seasons + several movies. I'm glad to see we have some in common (Higurashi, Madoka, Steins;Gate, Attack on Titan, Paprika, et cetera) =)

Anyways, I'll refrain from typing up a big ol' rambling "anime is rad" post, and instead say "high five, duder."

You have watched some terrible anime in 2014. Go finish up Ergo Proxy, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Monster. Gintama is maybe worth it... Hunter x Hunter feel free to stop when you get to the chimera ant arc the show basically takes a nose dive, crashes, and burns at that point. Now you will understand (some) Jojo references. This is a good thing. If you need some recommendations for Crunchyroll let me know, happy to help out.

Know you have not gone down to the dark depths of anime hell though until you watch School Days.

Mushishi is pretty much perfection. Legend Of The Galactic Heroes is the greatest show ever. I highly recommend Mononoke (no not the movie just the show) and OMG OMG OMG FINISH MONSTER!!!!!

I'm currently slowly going through Planetes. Its solid but I've gone through my

I like about 1 anime in 10 that I watch, I would say, but I saw that one on Netflix, Psycho Pass, and that really worked for me.

Gah how do you say you've watched Angel Beats and not say anything about it. It's so great, particularly as since at the time I was thinking that anime was going on this downward spiral.

Also if you want to watch some great classics, watch the original Vampire Hunter D, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

I saw that Manga promo so many times as a kid that the KMFDM song is permanently burned into my memory. Glad to see you're planning on watching Kino's Journey. It's my favorite show. It's slow and simple but thought-provoking at times. The rabbit episode (episode 2) is a perfect example of that.

@jiggajoe14: I will definitely get around to Mononoke this year. It's a beautiful looking show.

@belegorm: Unfortunately...Angel Beats didn't really do it for me:

The Vampire Hunter D films, those I totally got around to. They were pretty good. I particularly liked the look of Bloodlust.

@mechanical_ape: I'm certainly looking forward to checking it out. It's pretty short too, so I'll probably hit it up sooner than later.

--

Oh and yes, I'm totally open for any suggestions. I've got a lot to watch already, but you might know of some gems I've overlooked.

Weren't you saying you didn't like FMAB? How did that turn out? Did you like the original?

2014 was when my life in anime began.

Thank you, Attack on Titan and Persona 4 Golden. You've turned me.

@believer258: Ah yes! I finished FMA: Brotherhood. The first two seasons teetered between good and bad for me, I had a really difficult time getting into it. It was when Ed, Ling and Greed were swallowed by Ziggy, that I started to come around on the show. From that point on, the show was pretty great, with some really great stuff sprinkled throughout. Ultimately, it didn't end up being my favorite series, but I consider it a very good series overall. I haven't checked out the 2003 version yet, but I probably will.

Jojo's is the best anime ever.

Mars of Destruction is the worst non-'fanime' anime I've ever seen.

Damn son, the amount of anime you've watched is almost unlimited.

When you say When They Cry 2 do you mean that you watched Umineko or the second season of Higurashi? Cus the Umineko anime is not good at all compared to Higurashi.

Oh man, I gotta finish 2nd GIG.

@corevi: This is true.

@thunderslash: I'm talking about the second season of Higurashi. This one. I like it a lot more than the first season. I was not impressed by the first season, until the last few episodes. After those last few episodes, I was glued to my seat for the entirety of the second season.

@csl316: It's so good!

@hamst3r: ...Ziggy? You mean Gluttony? Did you watch some bastardized fansub?

@believer258: Haha, I do indeed mean Gluttony. I watched FMA:B on Netflix. His design just reminds me of Ziggy:

@jiggajoe14: Despite my similar lack of anime-watching, I too would highly recommend finishing Monster considering that's the ultimate "journey is greater than the destination" story for me. Not that the ending was bad at all, quite the contrary, but it's hard to stack up to the high points of that show, I feel.

That's a lot of anime.

I see that you dropped Berserk. I get it. Not a fantastic show. Movies aren't great either... The Dreamcast game was okay. The Japanese only PS2 game was good....

No but really the only Berserk media worth consuming is the manga...

I too had an experience making my way through a pretty big chunk of anime this past year. I saw some shows fall to the wayside and others through to the end. It's a hell of a mixed bag when it comes to this medium. In the end I know I can always find enjoyment with a One piece or whatever shonen equivalent.

2014 was also a year of anime for me too except, I reached the 100 series (not including ovas, onas, and movies) mark by the first week of August. My longest one was Fairy Tail, which was 175 episodes (I regret every episode I watched.) I almost completely stopped watching anime after September as I began grad school. I've ended the year with about 125 series and about 45 days of anime watched.

After September, without the time to watch lots of episodes of anime, I began reading manga. I've read around 100+ manga in the past four months. I'm having a tremendous amount of difficulty getting back into watching anime. It just feels so slow. I like how manga normally has more characterization and in-depth story telling. Also, manga tends to be less "safe" than most anime. I really recommend everyone who like anime get a subscription to Weekly Shonen Jump and support manga translations in the States.

I hate your list of "Most Disapointing" (aka Barakamon is my aoty) and my list "Did not Finish" is very similar, except I finished Legend of the Galactic Heroes during a long weekend this summer. LotGH is by far my favorite series ever. But yah, it eventually becomes a struggle to keep with the binge watching. The condition were just right for me, and I'll soon have to accept my position as an adult. After falling to a manga hole, I don't think I'll be able to go back. (I say that, but this winter season is looking soooo good.)

I'm so happy that Kaiji is on your most enjoyed list.

So, would you recommend watching Attack on Titan? I keep seeing it mentioned, and I have it on my netflix queue, but I haven't watched it yet.

I like some anime (favorites: Outlaw Star, Ghost in the shell, Trigun... you know stuff like that), but not all. I actually find I can get bored with anime just like anything really. I don't have an exceptional taste for all of it- not fanatical for it, but I don't dislike it either. I just like some stuff.

I don't know if that makes sense, but I'm just curious because I keep putting off watching Attack on Titan. The last anime I can remember watching because it got a lot of people talking about it was Highschool of the Dead and I didn't think it was that interesting on any level.

I tried to find a complete list of what you had seen, then gave up. Anyway, if you missed Yu Yu Hakusho, watch that. The only anime I finished, all the others I dabbled in when they were on Toonami.

Speaking of anime, here's an AMV I found on Limewire all those years ago.

I thought I was tough for burning through Attack on Titan and Kill la Kill on Netflix over the course of maybe a week and a half. But man, I'm kind of glad that all this streaming stuff WASN'T around when I was at peak otaku mode in high school.

And @cornbredx, Attack on Titan is really good. It's not a show that relies on the fact that it's anime to get by, using tropes and cliches to cover weak writing. What I know about Highschool of the Dead is that there's maybe some serious or action-y parts, but a lot of it is shlocky fanservice and "anime bullshit" (I may be completely off on this, I haven't watched it myself). If that's what turned you off about HotD, you very well might love Attack on Titan. It's got a unique, kind of fucked up premise that keeps interest up, but more importantly, it gets serious and throws dark in ways that puts most other shows to shame.

Definitely worth a watch, even if just the first episode or two to see if it catches your attention. Kill la Kill is also cool, but it's about as far in the opposite direction as possible, saying "fuck it!" and leaning ALL the way into its balls-out bonkers anime crazy. So I don't know if you'd like that as much.

Anime is an on/off thing for me, for the past few years it has been in off mode.

But I decided to watch Persona 4 just because it is Persona. Heard some middling things about it beforehand, not expecting a lot, but strangely enough I found the fan service to be pretty clever for a "from the beginning you know the end" thing, and I actually like the liberty they took with the main character especially for the ending sequences and the foreshadowing. It sort of resonates very well with me.

Yes. The manga is a masterpiece, but the anime i found was great since it covered the back story and i found myself reading the manga with Guts's and Griffith's voices in my head since they were so spot on in the anime. P.S that ending man.......

@bbalpert: My biggest problem with Highschool of the dead was how weak the characters were. They weren't well rounded in any way (you know like Trigun where Vash could be looney tunes sometimes, but other times you'd learn about him as a person so the story was more grounded and interesting because of it). The fan servicey stuff wasn't done in an interesting way (I guess that was for the teens who won't care?) and ya it was just schlock and not even good schlock. It didn't really seem to have anything going for it so I got bored of it pretty quick. I guess it just seemed uninspired to me.

But ya if the writing is at all interesting in AoT I'll check it out. It's good to hear it has some kind of depth. I'm not sure why most modern anime seems to lack that aspect. Most old anime, no matter how wacky it got, always had some layer of earnestness to it. Well, I shouldn't say all, but most I guess.

Anyway, I'll check it out eventually. I mainly just wanted to make sure I won't be wasting my time. I get worried about that with anime these days.

@cornbredx: I found Attack on Titan to be enjoyable. It has a bit of a rough start, the MC is kind of annoyingly shounen (as in, "I WILL DO THIS THING BECAUSE I HAVE TO, NOTHING CAN STOP ME, GRR!"), and some parts of the show are really drawn out ("Good job, men, it only took us 3 episodes to move this rock!")...but beyond that, once the show gets going and Titan stuff starts happening, it becomes a really cool show. And, with what occurs towards the end of season one, I'm very interested in seeing where it goes in it's second season.

Highschool of the Dead is on my list of things to watch, but MAL categorizes it as Ecchi, which puts it very low on my list. It just looks like a floppy boob show.

@ch3burashka: I have not seen Yu Yu Hakusho, but I have seen it pop up in relation to Hunter x Hunter. Same manga creator, I guess. I'll probably watch it sometime this year!

How could you not finish Polar Bear Cafe? It's Jeff's favorite! I have never watched Polar Bear Cafe.

I really like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. That is all.

Barakamon was the best anime of the past few years. No idea how that can end up on someone's bad list.

Highschool of the Dead is a weird one. It watches like a kind of bad Hollywood B-movie most of the time (and yes, boobies), but once in a while it does something that makes one think it actually has a thing or two to say about some meaningful issues. It's also fully aware of its own absurd nature and satirizes itself quite a bit, though I'm sure some wouldn't agree with this assessment and will simply call it fan-service. And they are not wrong, because, hey, it's clear that what's there is meant to titillate, but that doesn't mean it's the only that it can do.

Wow, cool to see somebody else that thinks Serial Experiments Lain is overrated.

I'd like to recommend you check out The Rose of Versailles. It's important historically, and after watching all of it last year, still damn fine viewing.

I should step my viewing up; thanks for the motivation and a nice read duder.

The second half of 2014 was probably the lowest I've ever watched anime, because of everything going on.

But I look forward to 2015 being full of great shows I can catch up on!

That's a shitload of anime. Also, fuck man, having flashbacks of being a kid and experiencing Ninja Scroll. That one blew my mind... So fucking good.

Consumed is such a harsh word. How about enhanced?

@cornbredx: Attack on Titan is one of the best there is, plain and simple. I don't really get the "it's pretty good" comments........It's absolutely amazing.

Breathtaking animation, tension, action, and character development. Don't miss it.

Holy shit 175. Isn't it awesome we live in a day and age where you can watch tons of anime at a decent price.

Fixed that for ya, but, yes, I know what you mean. Frankly, this extends to more than just anime. AND IT'S GREAT.

Huh, I have a very similar history; watched about a grand total of 15 shows from 1995-2012, and sort of had an anime explosion in the last year or two. I'm glad to see you're taking on the great journey of anime, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and I hope it leaves as much of an impression on you as it did for me. I wound up loving it, to the point that it's probably one of my favorite stories across all media. (At the very least, it's certainly the most dense! Thank god they flash a character's full name and rank nearly every episode they wind up appearing in.)

After looking at your list, the only thing I'd recommend you check out is The Big O. It's sort of like an attempt to make Noir Batman: But This Time With Mecha. You don't seem to be really into mecha, but the robots in this (besides having an awesome steampunk-like vibe to them) don't dominate it; it's much more of a mystery/character driven show then your usual heavy handed action brawler. It feels very....not meant for a Japanese audience, if that makes any sense, and the numbers back that up; it was more popular in the US than Japan by a good margin.

The characters don't fit the usual tropes, the plot feels like someone was tasked to write a simple mecha series and went off to watch Dark City instead (and probably fell asleep once or twice, causing them to fill in the blanks with madness as best as they could, but that's for you to discover), the soundtrack alternates between seedy jazz bar and prog rock album, and it desperately, desperately needs a third season.

It's not the greatest show of all time, hell I didn't rate it in my top 10. But it's my personal favorite for just how...different it is. It's nothing like any other anime I've ever seen. If you get the option, check it out. (And check out the dub; I'm purely a sub kind of guy, but I saw this on Adult Swim dubbed, and it carries a lot of fond memories.)

@dannyhibiki: D: Take those words back!!!!

Ok Serial Experiment Lain is not for everyone that is much true.

And I will say this .... Full Metal Alchemist is not good for me , never been able to withstand a full episode.

And is good to see that there is another person who do binge watching/playing etc. as I do.

I think I had the opposite experience in 2014. In previous years, I was watching like half if not more of the shows of every season. Now it's been weeks since I have touched anime. I blame my life (school, work) and fuckin' Dragon Age Inquisition for it. I feel like I've been playing that game since I was 6 years old and I'm still around half way in the main story!

And 175 is crazy, even for me. Also crazy, looking at your profile, you've completed 6 more shows than I did but my total view time is still almost doubles yours.

U CRAZY BRO HOLY SHIT. I wish I could do this as well T.T. Though I binged through Code Geass, TTGL and FMA:B at a pace of 25 episodes a day this year.. All amazing shows.

Good taste too Hamst3r! I have pretty much only agreed with what I see on your list with minor adjustments for preference.

I'm surprised you have kept up with Fate/Stay Night UBW without watching Fate/Zero first. F/SN came out first so it is generally supposed to be watched first, but since Zero and UBW are separated from the original, they somewhat created their own chronology. UBW definitely plays if off as if you've seen Zero first. Also it's an awesome show, you should watch it. I don't even like Fate that much, but Zero is just great.

This really shows you, I am similar in star yet polar opposite from then on. Between 1994 and 2004 I had seen 300 animes and I loved it, 2000 changed anime and it changed further till I dropped off in 2004 as the rise of Moe came, come 2007 I was thoroughly off as Elfen Lied, Higurashi and other titles of similar moe gore happened, I was off it for a bit consuming on off anime and hut Code Geass which became an utter binge watch and still a top anime. AMV's being a staple along with all that since 2000 for me...until that scene turned as the anime turned. Most AMV's nowadays vs ones of early 2000 are very different....and I do not mean in quality of footage...and I would say the editing has change for the worse....

Thats me in a nutshell, Anime got worse, AMV's got worse, Music got worse. I am an old anime fan....I am Oldtaku.

300 anime between 94 and 04 made me an utter anime expert, I could narrow down plenty of anime for anyone....now!? PFFFFT as shown you can witness 174 anime with in a year. I am no longer an anime expert of sorts, I am an expert of anime from 1977 to 2004, yet so much has changed weirdly.....it was Attack on Titan that got me back into watching new anime by far not the same speed as you as I am picky a hell. However Attack on Titan hut the right buttons for me to like it at accept it as it feels like an anime from the 90s. I only got to episode 19 and gave up as it is actually quite bad which for me is a very light scolding. I could easily go over just the summer selection of anime and tell you 90% of it is terrible and no human should watch it.

I gave Kill La Kill a good go yet failed after 6 episode (I came back to it as three episodes after the first three are just clunkers, I enjoyed the anime after that.)

However....of course.....there came THE ROUND ABOUT THAT WILL MAKE YOU OUT N OUT!!

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure I am in that anime for life I think, that again hits all the same feelings from 80s and 90s anime as Attack on Titan. Yet I like it alot, even if Stardust Crusaders is a bit off vs Phantom Blood and Battle Tendencies I am in it for the long haul I cannot wait for more JoJo!!

Follow this with crashing harder and harder into Gundam which I already was in hard...but Gundam Build Fighters speaks to me and watching Zeta Gundam....which was pretty delightful...until ZZ Gundam ruined it....and ruined my anime watching. Five months on the damage of how bad ZZ Gundam still rings....I am trying to cure that with Unicorn Gundam now.

Overall anime is very important to me and still is.......but I cant agree with alot of modern anime or even connect with modern anime fans. Why I revel in the old stuff and why I follow Bennett the Sage to see if I can find any extra Diamonds in the rough, I am sure this may help you also you WILL KNOW the intro already. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMw0MtHhljQ

However considering my starting point of course I was going to be weird with my anime.

I started with Cyber City Oedo 808 at the tender age of 5 year olds, my dad recorded it off late night tv and this what was I saw.

Cyber City Oedo 808 was made by Madhouse which 20 years on....made the ever wonderful Redline! Man if anything had Styyyyyyyyyyyyyyle!

Follow that up with Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita and other works by Yoshiki Tanaka who wrote Legend of Galactic Heroes" which YOU MUST FINISH! It may even be synced to be your last anime watched, as its sorta done that do me lols, I am trying to like modern anime......its not easy.)

While these anime pale vs LOGH they are still great for the Yoshiki Tanaka storytelling.

Legend of the four kings (about four brothers with dragon blood and the organisations who which to unleash their dragon side upon modern day Tokyo.)

With Heroic Legend of Arslan (Set in a fantasy medieval European/middle eastern area.....its a Yoshiki Tanaka's Game of thrones realy....Why I like Game of thrones i suppose lols just realised that.

I have also been entranced and listening to the A.D Police Files 3 OST's for the last four months. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kbUXeD3rc8

Which A.D Police files is a phenomenal 3 part OAV.

So I look at you Hamsteralliance watching all this and I cringe.....its not good....but then neither is my older stuff....its all B movies and more so if you have dubs on! I love it all.

You a bit of a music man Hamster......considering my first introduction to you was your little Indie release Hamsteralliance thing on Xbox 360 and my friends going ape shit over it and loving the hell out of it.

Why not delve into AMV making? You certainly have the anime knowledge now and AMV's gave your taste in music. Even an idiot like myself can do it. Here is my mashup of Gunnm/Battle Angle Alita with Repo the genetic opera (only a small clip I made, I only do comedy clips over at AMVhell.com, which got four clips into AMV hell 7 the anthology of comedy anime clips one of which was Legend of the Galactic heroes....in such a bad but funny way.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78iH104-U7U

That's too much anime :|

Jesus... Haven't watched any anime consistently, just bits and pieces of every different show when I was a kid. I remember in middle school, I would wake up in the middle of the night to watch Detective Conan, cause I LOVED trying to solve the mystery with the show.

Ones I want to actually watch now are: Death Note, Ghost in the Shell, Full Metal Alchemist,

I started the Trigun Series, but it just didn't keep me reeled in... iono... guess it just seemed interesting as a kid was all...

There's something about gritty anime, it's just so... in your face. When it wants to convey an emotion, it does it so well and just leaves stunned.

I'm not going to say it's a good movie (or short OVA), but you all should watch Baoh. The story is bad, the characters are 1-dimensional, the voice acting is atrocious, but I genuinely, unironically find parts of it super fucking cool. It's also on YouTube, but I figure I shouldn't put any links to that kind of thing on here. You can find it though. Unfortunately that version doesn't have translations for the occasional rad "Baoh Armed Phenomenon" attack names like "Baoh Break Dark Thunder Phenomenon" and "Baoh Shooting Bees' Stinger Phenomenon"

Baoh is my The Substitute.

Remember what Jeff said?

"Aim the rocket launcher at their feet"?