Oh Hey:
Hi, welcome, welcome. I have been known to watch Animu on occasion, and this is where I list them for convenience. Short blurbs and/or thoughts under More. My Backlog grows exponentially, but whose doesn't? Feel free to message me if you want to talk about Animu, I actually quite like it. On Hold is actually on hold or next up, depending on progress.
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Other things I like to do include: Playing video games, coding video games, splashing around like a free, reading too little and playing catchup with sleep.
Favourites - Anime:
Series
A shortlist of the crème de la crop, full of OPINIONS and in no particular order.
Evangelion: Mindfuckery, speculation, iconic designs, great characters, in-depth discussions and speculah, heated debates, homolust. I love it all, sasuga Anno-Sensei.
FLCL: Watched it at an important time in my life, has left an enduring mark on me personally. Still has wonderful animation and some of the coolest sequences I've ever seen, plus an amazing soundtrack. Every time I watch it (11 at last count) I still notice something new, and my favourite character changes regularly. I can't word how much it means to me.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Believing in yourself and sheer hotbloodedness on a GARactic scale. Super fun and great to shout YES at.
Cowboy Bebop: Noir, glorious OST, engaging atmosphere and strong characters. A well-deserved classic, and upholds its rep finely. Nostalgic as one of my first series, as many others can attest to.
Redline: Stellar design, style and animation, impacted me very much as an artist and creator. Supremely enjoyable too. UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ.
Nichijou: Laughed all the way through, cried bittersweet tears when it was over. One of the most "complete" feeling series I've had the pleasure of indulging in, and I will forever adore it for that.
Sora No Woto: Expected Military Trumpet K-On, got Band of Sisters. Tears of sadness and some of elation, OST still makes me choke up. I'm a pansy, but fuckit, what are you going to do about it?
Diebuster: Nono is love. Tons of fun, stellar mecha designs, great nods to Gunbuster. Gunbuster x FLCL, and being that I liked and loved those two this being up here makes total sense.
Welcome To The NHK!: As a dude who can identify with Satou, and who watched it while in a somewhat similar situation, affected me pretty deeply.
Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei: Wondrous puzzlestory, great use of looping, and a finale that blew me away and seared the taste of the word WOW into my mouth. Greatness, in a word.
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: My goodness I enjoyed this so much. It's terribly unsophisticated but I'm a sucker for clever ideas, great animation and plain ol' fun, and boy does PSG deliver on all counts. S2 when?
Kaiba: I seriously 13/10'd the first half that explored the world and mechanics, but the main conflict and resolution left me a little tepid. It was nice for sure, but I enjoyed the worldbuilding more. That said the scales falls in massive favour either way so it's not really a big deal. Fantastic stuff.
Mawaru Penguindrum: I can't remember the last time I was so entranced by a series, from beginning to end without a single break. Literature, yo.
Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Well yeah, of course it's in here. What did you take me for, some kinda nerd?
Princess Tutu: This time I can remember my entrancement, and most fondly. Not as personally touching as Penguins, but still a fantastic work in it's own right.
Planetes: The best Anime in space ever made, and I will fight you for that. I haven't seen them all, but FUCK.
Yuri Kuma Arashi: Ikuni does it again, I love everything about it. Good work, Master.
Sequences
Little snippets that I love to rewatch, time and again.
Evangelion 2.22: Sahaquiel Run
The music, the urgency, the beginning of Shinji's rise. Also the CG and the hurdling and the Eva parkour and the improvements and the complete package oh gosh.
FLCL: Blues Drive Monster / Daicon V
Coolest N.O. Manifestation and enemy design, Naota's standing up for himself, Haruko and Canti teamup, Gibson EB 0, the moment when it flips and you're like "OH MY GOD THAT DESIGN IS SO FUCKING COOL IT'S ACTUALLY A FUCKING MASSIVE-"... Yeah.
Redline: Oasis Fistfight
What I wouldn't give for a hand to hand or CQC based movie or OVA with Redline's art, design, direction and sound. Though that would probably require 7 more YEARS HAND DRAWN but, I think it'd be worth it.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Leliel's defeat
Animalistic, horrifying, the moment I started to realise just what Evangelions WERE. SIN FROM GENESIS, BITCH.
End of Evangelion: Asuka's Stand
I'm certain I'm not alone in loving this, but GOD DAMN. How can anyone not love it? I mean... The first time I watched it, I was all like "THROW IT, THROW IT! GRAB IT AND FIGHT BACK! PUNCH THROUGH HIM, GET THE OTHER ONE" and guess what? SHE DID. ALL OF IT. YESSSSSSS- NO. NO NO NO NOOOOO.
Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no Tobira: Opening Credits
Rotoscopy or no, the animation, music and direction are phenomenal. Still one of my favourite things to show people.
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: Demon Sisters first fight
Ye gods, everything about this sequence from Fly Away onwards, then I Want You, then the fight, and the music and animation and all the transformations and clever mechanics fuck the first time I watched this I couldn't stop grinning like an idiot. Greatness.
Favourites - Manga:
Series
The very best, according to my OPINIONS. Probably short cause I haven't dug very far. Unordered.
Yotsuba&!: It just cheers me up. That's it. It's struck a perfect balance of the saccharine and the everyday, and it's managed to maintain that balance the entire way. Yotsuba makes me WISH I was a single father. That's how well it does it's job.
Oyasumi PunPun: Completely and utterly gray. In a good way. Morally, pictorially, narratively, everything. It depresses me, but the characters can't help but reflect parts of me. And I can't help but like... not even like it for that. I do like it, because I don't like it.
Eden: It's an Endless World!: It starts dark, gets darker, nobody is invincible, it's inexorably real and in the end they're all just humans, one way or another. Do I love it more for it's characters, it's art or it's ideas? I don't know, but it's some of the best reading I've ever done.
Aqua / Aria: When I die I want to go to Neo-Venezia. Heaven.
The Voynich Hotel: Dowman blueballs me yet again!
Gunnm: Last Order: I mean, I think maybe the original Gunnm was a better work, but the time I spent trawling through this again and again to admire the art and the fights and the sheer kakkoi of Alita/Gally puts it up here.
Sequences
Chapters or segments that I remember with vivid detail, for one reason or another.
I NEED TO FIND CHAPTER NUMBERS AND SEQUENCE NAMES BEAR WITH ME HERE.
Eden: Cessie, V8C48: I really can't describe how much this hit me. It's the hardest in the entire work, and it still makes me choke up if I think about it at the right time. So very, very, VERY undeserved. Fuck.
Eden: Disclosure's Introduction
Yotsuba&!: Balloons
PunPun: (laughs)
Aria: Final chapter
Studios:
Some production houses I like. Chances are, if it's airing and they're behind it, I'll be watching it.
Gainax: I adored everything of theirs I've watched, and have enjoyed each immensely. Dead to some, but their latest was also great so I don't know if it was a last gasp or a rebirth Actually they're in the process of nailing themselves in these days. A sad thing. Either way they've left their mark and some great series.
Trigger: Little Witch was astounding, INFERNO COPPU was enjoyable, Kill La Kill was GREAT, and I love their gung-ho. Definitely up there.
Khara: Rebuild. That's all thus far, but I mean, it's Rebuild.
Madhouse: Redline's art style, design and animation were top-notch, looking forward to more original projects. Paprika, Tatami Galaxy and Kaiba were amazing visually too. Love their art direction and style in general, it's always striking to say the least. When they get together with Satoshi Kon, magic happens.
KyoAni: Superb animators and adaptors for the most part, see: Nichijou, Clannad, Chuu2, Hyouka, Haruhi. Though they can mess it up sometimes too (Endings mostly), I still love them. Are they pushing the industry forward or holding it back? Hard to say, but I have enjoyed all of the above so I'm okay with them for now.
PA Works: I'm a big fan of their prettiness, and every time they do something I notice little evolutions in their style. Sure it's a slow improvement, but it's a constant improvement and I'm always excited to see what comes next. Sometimes they can flub the writing
Dogakobo: Having followed them since their YRYR days, they've since rapidly gained momentum and stuck in my craw. Everything they do has been good and their production still surprises me for their relative lack of pedigree. Behind them 100%, and I wish great things for them.
Genres:
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Sci-fi: Pew pew pew. Love clever tech and interesting questions regarding progress/morality/humanity.
Mecha: Specifically hot-blooded thus far, but I haven't dug too deep into realistic so it's a possibility.
Action: Is this even a genre? Shit needs to happen I guess is what I'm saying.
Psychological: Being a dude with BRAIN PROBLEMS and all, I generally find it interesting.
SoL: Sometimes you just wanna watch Cute *s * Cute *s. I like watching people go about their daily business if said business is different enough from mine.
Comedy: Sometimes you just wanna laugh.
Tragedy: Or maybe you just wanna cry.
Romance: Or maybe some of both?
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Drama: Meaning FORCED DRAMA ARE YOU SAD YET? Actual dramatics are okay.
Harem:OH LOOK I'M A MILDLY ATTRACTIVE, SELF-INSERTABLE GUY! OH NO, ALL THESE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS ARE THROWING THEMSELVES AT ME, WHATEVER WILL I DO? Yeah, fuck that noise. The best girl never wins anyways.
Ratings:
A Word Or Few On Ratings:
Yes arbitrary numbers are pointless, so I'm not going to rate Audio/Video/Animation/Character etc. separately and tot them up. My ratings tend to factor in heavily weighted enjoyment and lightly weighted technicalities. Though if the OST is amazing or the style or animation is particularly interesting it will be mentioned, generally speaking 6s, 7s, and 8s will all have been enjoyed on a similar level with at least decent technique, and 9s will have both massive enjoyment and shining technical brilliance in some aspect to back them up. 10s will have all of the above in great force and/or some sort of personal thing on top.
I don't have many low ratings because 1) I have a broad enjoyment range and I've enjoyed most everything I've watched, 2) I know how not to pick terrible stuff for the most part and 3) I'm working my way through a backlog of recommendations that are confirmably good. Once I start striking out on my own I'd imagine my average will drop like a rock.
Breakdown: 1: Horrible
The simple fact that this exists and I am aware of it has darkened my life irreparably.
2: Appalling 3: Very Bad 4: Bad
Not a thing I'm proud of. To be avoided. Regret intensifies.
5: Average
Neutrality. A surprisingly rare rating. Tends to be a case of "Yeah I thought it was okay but it's not really my thing."
6: Fine 7: Good 8: Very good
Varying levels of enjoyment. The majority fall into this bracket. Can and probably will fluctuate during watching. Satisfaction with time spent/enjoyment a definite.
9: Great
Reserved for completed series only, required me to take a step back and appreciate what I'd just witnessed. Depends heavily on the entire work, not just current impressions. Supremely memorable and technical excellence in one or several aspects are hallmarks.
10: Masterpiece
Everything a 9 has, and then turning those up to 12, layering a personal love on top of that, or even both. My favourite favourite things, I will rewatch them occasionally looking to justify this or drop them a point, and usually the justification comes out on top. Most excellent.
A Few Words More:
As always these are guidelines to how my thought processes work, and there will be exceptions, but in general this is how it goes down. Things may also be bumped up or down when considering the series as a whole over individual moments. In my opinion, your average rating should be well above 5. If it's below, you are either terrible at picking stuff you enjoy, you watch bad stuff intentionally, or rate stuff undeservedly harshly, all of which make you seem kind of dumb. I'm sure you're not, but come on, take a step back and good long look at your decisions.
Also there's probably some discrepancy between TV/OVA/Movie ratings because the former have more room to fuck up than the latter and other format differences as regards time and plot development and such, but really I'm not all that bothered implementing a massive scaling system with decimal points. It makes the review process too clinical for my liking, and I like to treat it as I'm discussing the item at hand with someone.
Anime is for nerds and losers, go out and have sex with a girl or something gosh.
All Comments (3) Comments
Read Higurashi and Chaos;Head before watching them, assuming you haven't yet.