As this is an anime site I ought to start with my opinions on the medium. I have watched a fair amount of shows now - nothing like the most hardcore viewers out there, but still such an amount that I feel like voicing some concern regarding the quality of output today.
While it is true that quality shows are being made with somewhat acceptable intervals I find them to be increasingly shallow and repetitive. I miss the originality of Cowboy Bebop, the themes of Revolutionary Girl Utena, the thought provocation of Ghost in the Shell and the plain grandness and epicness of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
I will use Skip Beat as an example of the direction I find the industry to be going in. Everything is pretty-pretty and the show starts off with a fairly engaging plot. Some development is made before it comes to a screeching halt. Then nothing. Arguably this is a "build-up" for a predictable ending, but to get that ending we will have to wait several years as the show hits a concrete wall. Great, so the manga is still publishing with no real end in sight. The alternative is to make an alternative ending, rarely appreciated by the fans, if ever.
By this we get to another topic which is not equally annoying, but still makes me ponder. Why is there so little original work being made? Does everything have to be based of mangas? Code Geass was original work to my knowledge and was a mega-hit. Hence, I hoped to see more companies follow that lead, but to no avail it seems. Of course I enjoy the well made manga to anime adaptions as much as any of you, but in comparison with the movie industry I find the amount of original work to be minimal.
Ok, this seems to have turned into quite the rant. However, there are still shows I look forward to, for example the Black Lagoon OVA:s and the remaining OVA:s of Hellsing Ultimate. Which leads me to the final part of my rant. Where are the shows aimed for a more mature audience? This is connected with the first part I wrote, as a show for grown-ups usually contains some of the elements mentioned earlier. A realistic take on life is also fairly underrepresented, we need more work like 5cm per second. And sometimes we just want a nice boat, so cut down on the censorship please.
Interests
My other interests consist mainly of bowling and video games. I have been bowling for over eight years now and find it a great way to break my focus off anime and video games. With time I got more interested in competitive bowling and now I have an average of ~190p/round. I hope to sometimes achieve an average score of 200p/round even though it will require hard work and lots of training.
Video games, on the other hand, is something I have grown up with from early age. With classics like Age of Empires II and GTA II I could not help but get hooked. Through the years, I have tried out most genres and experienced some great games with my favorites being Max Payne 1&2 and Mass Effect 1&2. I also immensely enjoy co-op games with my friends. Co-op is the way to go, combining time with friends and gaming usually provides some great times.
Here at the end I'll mention favorites which are not shown up to the left.
Favorite OP:s and ED:s (in alphabetical order)
5 Centimeters per Second ED: Masayoshi Yamazaki - One More Time, One More Chance
Air OP: Lia - Tori no Shi
Air ED: Lia - Farewell Song
Baccano OP: Paradise Lunch - Gun's & Roses
Beck OP: Beat Crusaders - Hit in the USA
Black Lagoon OP: Mell - Red Fraction
Chaos Head ED: Kagami Seira - Super Special
Code Geass OP 1: Flow - Colors
Code Geass OP 3: Access - Hitomi no Tsubasa
Code Geass R2 OP 2: Flow - World End
Cowboy Bebop OP: The Seatbelts - Tank
Cowboy Bebop ED: The Seatbelts - The Real Folk Blues
Ef - a Tale of Memories OP: Elisa - Euphoric Field
Ergo Proxy OP: Monoral - Kiri
Fate/Stay Night OP 1: Tainaka Sachi - Disillusion
Fate/Stay Night ED 3: Tainaka Sachi - Kimi to no Ashita
Full Metal Panic Fumoffu OP: Mikuni Shimokawa - Sore Ga, Ai Deshou
Full Metal Panic The Second Raid OP: Mikuni Shimokawa - Minamikaze
Gankutsuou ED: Jean-Jacques Burnel - You Won't See Me Coming
Gantz OP: Rip Slyme - Super Shooter
Ghost in the Shell SAC OP: Origa - Inner Universe
Ghost in the Shell SAC 2nd Gig OP: Origa - Rise
Hellsing OP: Yasushi Ishii - Logos Naki World
Hellsing ED: Mr. Big - Shine
Hikaru no Go OP 1: Dream - Get Over
Hikaru no Go OP 3: Nana Katase - Fantasy
Hikaru no Go ED 5: Dream - Music is my Thing
Initial D OP 1: M.O.V.E - Around the World
Initial D OP 2: M.O.V.E - Break in 2 the Nite
Initial D ED 1: M.O.V.E - Rage Your Dream
Lucky Star OP: Hirano Aya - Motteke Sailor Fuku
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 OP 2: The Brilliant Green - Ash Like Snow
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 S2 OP 2: Stereo Pony - Namida no Mukou
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 S2 ED 2: Yuna Itou - Trust You
Nana OP 1: Anna - Rose
Nana ED 1: Olivia - A Little Pain
Nana ED 2: Olivia - Starless Night
Neon Genesis Evangelion OP: Yoko Takahashi - Cruel Angel's Thesis
Neon Genesis Evangelion; Rebuild of Evangelion ED: Utada Hikaru - Beautiful World
Nodame Cantabile OP 1: Suemitsu & The Suemith - Allegro Cantabile
Revolutionary Girl Utena OP: Masami Okui - Rinbu Revolution
Revolutionary Girl Utena ED 1: Luca Yumi - Truth
Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo ED: Hanako Oku - Garnet
Toradora OP 1: Horie Yui - Pure Parade
Wolf's Rain OP: Steve Conte - Stray
As a conclusion to this list I can say that the quality of OP:s and ED:s do not always correlate well with the quality of the series. Especially Gundam 00 had good intros and endings despite being a terrible show in my opinion. However, high production values seem to play an important part in this area.
Honorable Mentions
Favorite Anime - Honorable Mentions
Baccano
Cowboy Bebop
Detroit Metal City
Hellsing Ultimate
Mushishi
Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo
Favorite Manga - Honorable Mentions
Hikaru no Go
Onani Master Kurosawa
Favorite Characters - Honorable Mentions
Berserk: Guts
Code Geass: Stadtfeld, Kallen
Cowboy Bebop: Valentine, Faye
Full Metal Panic: Sagara, Sousuke
Ghost in the Shell: Kusanagi, Motoko
Initial D: Fujiwara, Takumi
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Attenborough, Dusty
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: von Schenkopp, Walter
Mushishi: Ginko
Nana: Takagi, Yasushi
Your profile seems to be mostly about complaining that there's no good newer anime, so you might take a look at madoka, tatami galaxy, or fullmetal alchemist brotherhood.
Thanks.
I never understood it either... especially since I've always disliked L, I even have him in my hall of shame... but still he's probably one the most popular characters ever... at least for the moment...
Thanks for the feedback. I have gotten alot of very positive remarks on that review which frankly surprises me alot. I was expecting to be completely assaulted by the fanboys.
lol thanks. Yeah I gave it a 1 mostly for the incest, if it weren't for that, it would probably bump up like 3 points in my book. I felt like the story could go on without it, but that's just me *shrugs*
All Comments (7) Comments
I never understood it either... especially since I've always disliked L, I even have him in my hall of shame... but still he's probably one the most popular characters ever... at least for the moment...