Anime & Cartoon Megathread IV: We Must Limbo To Send This Thread On Its Way

@bartok:

• I enjoyed Arise, but it's definitely the weakest of all the GitS works as far as I'm concerned. If this were almost any other show, I would say watch the first episode and decide if you like it and continue on from there, but the first episode is awesome and the series gets worse as it progresses. Again, I don't think it's bad, it's just I would recommend any other GitS animation over this one.
• As for horror stuff,
  • Kakurenbo might be worth your time. It's pretty short anyway so I would check it out just for the hell of it. Haven't seen it in god knows how long so I can't say for sure how well it holds up, but I do remember loving it.
  • Jigoku Shoujo was fantastic...in it's first season. Second season wasn't bad, but just not as good as the first. Third season was kinda actually pretty bad in comparison (like...nothing about it is even remotely scary or the least bit unsettling at this point) and possibly not worth watching at all outside of a few story bits.
  • Boogiepop Phantom...has phantom in the title so I assume it might maybe possibly could in theory have some horror elements. Honestly, I don't remember shit about this show. I think I might have to watch this again...
• Claymore is great. If you decide to watch the anime, I would suggest jumping into the manga right after as it's totally worth reading.

@bigjeffrey: I really enjoyed that episode. I was not surprised that it went to shit only because of my opinion of the junior inspector (I forgot her name). Do you think it was the gas that helped him stay clear? I wonder why the politician went silent like that.

@bigjeffrey: Ya holy crap.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso 04 ~ Damn what a episode, such a trip she prob past out to exhausting

Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu 04 ~ Perfection

Fate/Zero 02~04 ~ Real cool so far, dem fights.

Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru 04 ~ All the action left for the last seconds.

Yeah she has been pretty useless so far, the gas maybe kept him calm?? IDK

Psycho Pass continues to step up it's game. That rookie female inspector is clearly incompetent, but doesn't seem to realize it. Akane is great, but I still miss Kogami. I'm hoping that Akane tells off that rookie inspector for literally standing around and doing nothing to help the hostages.

I had a thought that it is a bit related to anime and games. Lately games strated using chromatic aberration filter. And in all games it looks awful, it just looks off and messes with my eyes and brains somehow. But anime uses this filter also but I never though about it. It was ok for a long time, but now for me it is very noticable, but not as bad as in games I think. I might even like it in anime. Anyway does Psycho pass season 1 get better? More importantly does Akane character get better in any way? I watched up to episode 6 in summer.

Psycho Pass is a great series. Akane gets plenty of character development as the season goes on.

Shigatsu wa Kimi No Uso episode 4 - what an episode. It has been a long time since I watched anime and felt suspense. It was really weird =D. The last time it was as thrilling as this was Death Note probably.

Sort of anime related I've been playing One Piece: Unlimited World Red. I think I'm nearing the end of the main story but I think that game is no good. I'm relieved that I'm only renting it. The way the levels and side content are designed feel like they're only made that way to inconvenience you and are not fun in the least. The main antagonist's ability basically breaks the few rules that exist in that universe for the sake of bringing up past moments from the show in a way that seems almost pandering. The art looks alright though I'm not a huge fan of the presentation on most of the cut scenes.

The biggest problem in my opinion is how the combat mechanics make the Straw Hats look like a bunch of chumps instead of making them feel appropriately badass. Even standard enemies turn into damage sponges fairly early on and never stop. You would think that this game would be able to provide you more moves than it's Musou counterpart but in fact the characters do LESS moves than Pirate Warriors 2. I have to say as someone who has now played both games, PW2 has a way more interesting story and the game play, while somewhat mindless lends itself to the absurdity of a shounen battle manga.

I just finished reading the Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso manga, and maaaaaaaaaaan, it's probably going to be my anime of the season. Based on the fact that the anime has been a very very close adaptation of the manga, I can easily see the anime being amazing. Some people may think it's a bit too slow, or feel that it's bringing back issues that have already been solved, but honestly those aren't major problems for me. It progresses at a fine pace, and Kousei realistically struggles with his emotions and motivations. The new characters are cool, and everything after Chapter 16 is shockingly good - Chapter 17 is beautiful and perfectly climactic. Chp. 18 and on build a fantastic tension like everything else up to then had just been a prelude to something greater (and something sadder). I feel like each chapter is giving me a punch in the gut. The art is also particularly good, and some of the pages are stunning (although a couple are just confusing). I'm tremendously excited for the rest of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso. Somehow, HorribleSubs is the fastest group doing scanlations, is such a thing even possible?

Also, it's funny that so many people are complaining about the friendzone for Kousei and Kaori - not everything in life is perfect, welcome to real life.

I enjoyed it a bit. Venture Bros. is so much better though.

@sergio: Venture Bros. is the best show there is.

What are the best Anime series to start out with on Netflix or Hulu Plus? An important note is I cannot read subtitles because I'm legally blind. I can still see, just can't focus enough to read.

@barrock: Well all of the shows on Netflix are dubbed so you should be ok there. How much anime have you seen? Like could I recommend some anime ass anime to you or are you just starting out? I would say start off with Cowboy Bebop because that is a great place to start and the dub is great but it is not on Netflix or Hulu. If you don't mind some anime ass anime I would say watch Kill la Kill or Gurren Lagann because they are great but they are very crazy and over the top. Psycho Pass is also pretty great but is much more serious and dark. Madoka Magic is a good series and I would say to just watch it without knowing too much first. Death Note is pretty great and is also serous and dark. A lot of out mastering and out thinking people and such in that. Attack on Titan is a good beginner anime I think. It looks cool and has some good action but the plot isn't the best. And lastly, while I have not seen it myself Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood is supposed to be pretty good. That is what I would start off with on Netflix at least. As for Hulu there is more there but I don't know what is dubbed and what is not.

@barrock: Davey's recommendations are pretty damn good, but I'll add some because I have a number of friends who only watch dubs. Contrary to what Davey said tho, not all of the shows on Netflix are dubbed (but the vast majority are.)

Netflix - Good entry shows:

1. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood(link) 2. Samurai Champloo (link) 3.Death Note (link) 4. Trigun (link) 5.Sword Art Online (link) 6. Princess Jellyfish (link)

Good anime, but not necessarily the best for the unaccustomed: 1. Gurren Lagann 3. Spice and Wolf 2. Kill la Kill 3. Ouran High School Host Club 4. Devil is Part-timer 5. Welcome to the NHK

Hulu Plus - Good entry shows:

1. Baccano! (link) 2. Darker than Black (link) 3. Black Lagoon (link) 4. Mushi-shi (link)

Good anime, but not necessarily the best for the unaccustomed: 1. Full Metal Panic! 2. xxxHolic 3. Soul Eater 4. D. Gray Man 5. Nana 6. School Rumble 7. Sgt. Frog 8. Strike Witches

The best shows 100% to start out with are Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Samurai Camploo, and Death Note. If you are willing to go on the high seas, the dub for Cowboy Bebop is considered the best anime dub possibly ever. The dub for the anime Ghost Stories is hilarious, because the show was so bad they let the dubbers ad-lib the script. However, all of the shows that I've put links to are AMAZING - so check them all out.

Okay, so Naruto is actually ending at chapter 700. That's good... I guess. Could not see them being able to end it with only one more. (It still ends on November 10)

My brother bought me the complete series of Eureka Seven on Blu Ray for my birthday yesterday. Looking forward to checking that out at some point.

Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete 05 ~ Foreshadowing the show, second ep in a row all foreshadowing / SAOII 17, Vanadis 05

@billymaysrip:

I'm definitely down for some anime ass anime. I've not really watched much anime at all. Never watched any series, just a movie or two here and there. I own the first volume of Soul Eater, Hellsing,, Black Lagoon, and SamuraiChampo all on blu-ray. They were on sale and I had money burning a hole in my pocket I guess. ;)

Does FMA Brotherhood occur after the original series?

No, it's a straight / faithful adaptation from the Manga to Anime form. The original series only got through perhaps 1/3rd of the Manga before it had to go its own way. Both of those series are some of the best anime.

I too would recommend Samurai Champloo. That together with Brotherhood makes up the two best animes out there (according to me).

If you want something a little different, I was pleasantly surprised by Welcome to the NHK (not sure if there's an English dub of it).

Eureka Seven is great, I highly recommend it! Astral Ocean...not so much.

EDIT: Thanks for that Ghost Stories dub @billymaysrip. I'm glad I know this exists.

So Kill la Kill isnt dubbed on Netflix because they are still releasing the dub on DVD/Blu-ray.

@barrock: I'd recommend Welcome to the NHK as well. I really liked the dub and it's what made me want to start watching anime again.

Just watched the recent episode of pyscho pass and man, did they screw up big time specifically the rookie inspector. Also when do you guys think that kogami is going to appear again, becuase it has to happen right?

Whoa, just a blatant Twin Peaks reference in episode 12 of Soul Eater. What the hell? weird.

@therookie727: I think in like the last 3 episodes probably.

@daveyo520: man I hope not but we'll see what happens I guess.

Ok double post on Soul Eater. I just finished that exam episode. First episode of season 2 I think?

WOW that was good. I've only really really liked about 3 episodes of this show so far but this one was by far the best. It's the one where they're all trying to study hard for the big exam or whatever. This episode had me laughing my ass off the entire time, and even ended on a sort of warm, touching note while still being hilarious. Completely played off the characters' strengths in the best ways and proved how enjoyable they can be. Kid spending the whole time writing his name, Patty making a giraffe, Liz worried about the bald guy's one hair, Black Star writing his own name on the wall, Soul getting caught for cheating, etc. Hilarious stuff. I'm slowly but surly really enjoying this show.

@therookie727: It seems like they are waiting to bring him out to swoop down and save the day when shit really starts to get super bad.

Bunch 'o random thoughts 'n shit:

• Finally sat down for real and started burning through Utena this weekend. It's pretty fucking awesome. They sure do love slapping the shit out of Anthy though.
• Kangoku Gakuen continues to be one hell of a brilliant manga. Didn't know (or possibly just forgot) it was getting an anime adaptation. Not entirely sure how I feel about that other than I feel like it could lose some of it's personality in the process turning it into another generic ecchi shit show in the process.
• I officially don't know what's happening in Bleach anymore. I've joked about it before, but now I'm being dead serious why I say I've just been flipping through it for the art fort he past two months or so.
• Jitsu wa Witashi wa is still infinitely charming as all fuck and I think that's owed entirely to the artwork. It's extremely basic compared to something like Kangoku Gakuen, but it just works so fucking well. I know this is like crazy specific, but this manga has the best goddamn smiles ever drawn in a manga as far as I'm concerned.
• Koe no Katachi - One day we'll get a confession. Also, dayum, Sahara.
• Girls of the Wild's - I feel like it's been forever since we've had this many chapters in a row about actual fighting
• No, seriously, what the fuck is going on in Bleach?...
• Every time I hear "The Last: Naruto the Movie," I still can't decide if that's the greatest title ever or just some plain ol' straight up broken ass english
• That Paprika bluray has been sitting on my shelf for about a week now. Should probably watch that one day.

I'M OUT.

@babychoochoo: Paprika is interesting to say the least.

Unfortunately doesn't appear to be dubbed on Netflix.

@barrock: Hmm, that's strange, I just checked on my phone and I was able to switch audio to English. Maybe it's a regional thing? Well regardless, I'm sorry for the confusion. The others have given some good recommendations though!

Oh, I didn't even know you could change the language.

Amagi Brilliant Park 05 ~ meh ep

Mawaru Penguindrum rewatching more, just cause.

as well as more fate/zero, i say damn

Also not sure if this is where Psycho Pass 2 is going but it could happen. Akane headshot also op is sick.

Watched Psycho Pass up to episode 12. Show improved quite a lot, Akane is more likable than anticipated and people say some smart and logical stuff which I like in anime. Also holy crap I was not expeting that Shogo would kill Akane's friend and that the system would not consider him a threat That is awesome. The first opening was quite good and the second is lacking something. First ending song is also awesome. So far really solid show and not many annoying anime tropes.

@babychoochoo: The fact that Koe no Katachi is ending this month is killing me. There has to be some sort of adaptation of it in the near future, right? (Also technically, there already was a confession lol)

Heading into the final 10 episodes of Zeta Gundam....man do I not enjoy how characters are thrown about. Story just falls flat to me.

@jiggajoe14: It is not an expertly crafted anime by nowaday standards. However it is far less thrown around for an anime of the time. Still your feelings are justified I was getting testy with the two kids that kept futzing around as padding to the story.

Aswell as a number of others things E.G Katz and Sarah. Still I found it pretty good and the last 10 eps are very good, however the entire anime was not what I had thought it would be from my passive absorption of Gundam and Gundam Zeta.

Things I thought were bigger deals were almost sneezed out and forgotten, characters, Mobiles suits and even Mobile armours.

I would be interested in your play by play of going through Gundam ZZ....because it is very very very diffrent, despite being a direct sequal. Like 12 hours after the last episode sequal.

@billymaysrip: Yeah, it's a bummer, but at the same time I feel like it's been consistently great since the beginning and I would much rather this than watching it potentially being needlessly dragged out like so many other things these days.

And yeah you're right haha. I had to look it up just now because I totally forgot about that "confession" lol

Cross Ange - 05 - This series is weird with moments that would make me drop it, boy falls into girl's crotch, and moments that are good developments, Ange slowly accepting the people around her.

Fate Stay Night - Unlimited Blade Works - 04 - Pretty low key this episode but it does have Saber looking cute XD

@babychoochoo: My only fear is that the ending will be rushed. I really want to know what happens with Shimada, the blond elementary school classmate who pops up here and there. He'e the only one of Ishida's group of friends that he still is unable to confront. I really hope that he doesn't get swept under the carpet.

That last chapter had ending flags all over it, even if you didn't know it was going to end soon. But yah, I'm looking forward to a quality ending for one of my favorite manga's of all time.

SeHa Girls - 4 - Chu! Chu! Chu!

I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying - 5 - What a pair. This show is great. They're short, so I rewatched them to get a friend on board with this nonsense.

Mushi-shi - 13 - Nice to finally get some backstory on Ginko. Also, basically everyone in this series looks identical. Cloneville. Also, I think I greatly prefer the episodes where the situation doesn't really get resolved, it's just sorta like, "huh, well, we tried. Better luck next time, I guess."

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig - 4 - Yaaaaaaaay! Good stuff so far, but the music is still really weird and out of place feeling. I felt the same way about the music in Psycho-Pass. "Hey, something's happening, start playing that totally out of place and goofy sounding guitar song!" There have been a few great tunes for sure, usually in the last scene of an episode, but they're surrounded by some truly bizarre music choices.

@akyho: I am quite fond of Mobile Suit Gundam despite its flaws (kinda doesn't handle death well/acid tripping newtype stuff at the end of the show) due to its quirkiness and focus on the characters. Zeta doesn't give the characters time to grow enough to justify the attempts at more serious moments and makes several of them completely off-putting....like really how do you screw up an awesome character like Char!

I shall certainly be watching ZZ sometime in the near future....I hope it isn't as bad as I've heard it is.

Akame 18 ~ No time wasted, introduce new people, most of them dead by the end of the episode.

Grisaia 05 ~ rushed but they only got 2 ep to work with.

Sora no Method 05 ~ they all friends again i think?

@babychoochoo:

Just recently found out that Bahamut is based on an iOS game, and it's my favorite anime of the season too. Oh, the times we live in...

Who would of thought that Lubbock was such a badass with his strings, this whole time i thought he was just a pervert.

Whoa whoa whoa.

So I just watched the first episode of Black Butler season 2. Holy shit, what a way to kick off a season. For some reason, I had no idea it was going to eventually focus on characters from season 1. I totally thought it was gonna be about a new character with a new butler. Eagerly looking forward to what happens next.

EDIT: Spoiler: My fucking 7 year old sister predicted Ciel was in Sebastian's case. I don't even...

I finally checked out Mike Tyson Mysteries and... I don't know what it is but that cartoon just works. The fact that Mike Tyson voices Mike Tyson makes it like 500 times funnier to me for some reason.

Also starting my Eureka Seven journey. Watched the first couple episodes and it's pretty good so far. It looks really good on Blu Ray in comparison to how I remember what little I saw of it on Adult Swim.

I don't really like Grisaia yet I still keep watching it and will probably watch the whole thing. I am weird.