Any anime fans?

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Hey, it's fine. I had to fight myself from snapping back at you too before taking a breath and realising what the situation actually is.

Anyway, to translate clearly - girls club for me = a group of girls who happen to do all the same things together.

Probably a mistranslation on my part since British slang/tongue-in-cheek jibes don't always translate, so the error was mine in assuming you knew what I meant.

Anyway, you can't deny that Azumanga Daioh, Sagabebu, and the like all feature a group of school-aged girls all doing things together. That's what I meant. Not specifically a girls' school club . But no worries - I'm not spoiling for a fight. Definetely not.

I just personally can't stand things like this: http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/ ... 00-281.jpg or http://i.imgur.com/TNr5NIy.png or http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2013 ... review.png or http://walls4joy.com/walls/anime-manga/ ... 7x1500.jpg or http://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire4 ... 5_full.jpg

Nothing wrong with them for their intended audience -- I just happen not to be the audience these sorts of shows are aimed at, that's all.

I couldn't care less for cutesy, or comedy -- all I really care is "what's the story here? whats the tone?" and "is it being told properly to the best of the studio's ability?" (which isn't just animation, but music, voice-acting, pacing, storyboarding -- pretty visuals can't disguise a bad story). I guess I'm more critical with my anime because I really like appreciating the human talent behind it.

That's why I recently got into Ping-Pong, which blew me away animation-wise. Not the prettiest thing to look at, but man, the level of detail with the cinematography and very ... 'raw' backgrounds (meaning they're not typical Studio GREEN work, who do backgrounds for nearly everything, hence why a lot of anime backgrounds look similar).... and its very uniqueness made me love anime again. And it attempted to tell a story about non-typical high-school boys in a non-typical sport. That's what anime is to me -- an art-form of expression and a way of story-telling you don't get in the West that often anymore.

I guess that's why the likes of Nichijou and Squid Girl annoy me... >__> Why do they get such high budgets...?

But that's just nitpicking now.

Moving on, I guess this is a lesson for me to be more diplomatic with my wording?

Anyway, I don't care for reviews either, because I'd rather watch the story on my merits too. I guess we're similar in that respect; though in my case, I like to research who the staff are, what they've done before, etc, etc, so I have some sort of expectation on what the presentation of the anime is.

That way, I've learnt to avoid unpleasant surprises (ie. anything by Studo DEEN).

That's why I only specifically comment on the presentation of an anime and try hard not to spoil the story at all. Even if I hint at the plot, I usually make it vague enough so people who have watched a certain scene know what I'm talking about. I just like posting my thoughts about anime.

I do love anime, I'm really passionate about it. Trust me, I'm not some contrarian who goes against the grain for the hell of it. I'm just not very interested in anime about school-aged girls doing... stuff; nor am I fan of high-school comedies; nor am I fan of the sort of thing that'd be advertised quite loudly on Crunchyroll or Neon Alley (not naming names).

I just like watching interesting well-presented stories.

Anyway, bygones are bygones, right? Live and let live. We both clearly like different things for different reasons, and it's cool.

Take it easy.

Oh yeah, and jrjones9933 -- thank you for trying with your descriptions before.

Sorry I didn't mention it before. You tried, and I really do appreciate that... it's just a bit too "insider-knowledge-required" for me because I don't really have the first clue what you mean by "reactions make it worthwhile", etc, etc. But that's just me and my interpretation alone, so no worries. It probably clearly translates for others.

And OPs don't sell a show for me, the content of the main anime does - I don't find myself liking very many OPs these days... T__T

Not entirely different, BlankCanvas. I really liked Natsuyuki Rendezvous. You liked Kokoro Connect, too, I think. I bet you would, anyway. It's 2-3 boy-girl, and involves a school club, but it has an exceptionally creative story and complex characters. I can't comment on other aspects of the production.

We each can't stand some things, and that's cool. I don't like gore anymore. It's like a switch flipped in my head. Maybe someday you'll suddenly love Is the Order a Rabbit?

Don't count on me jumping on the Is This Order a Rabbit thing -- I have nightmares about things like that (but that's just me).

No worries though. And thanks for understanding what I meant -- I am definetely a fan of creative stories and complex characters!

Don't think I have actually talked about it much, but I tend to dislike sports anime quite a bit, but have found myself really enjoying Haikyuu, and go figure it is about a bunch of guys playing volleyball. It is actually super well done, I hated that bike riding anime, but Haikyuu is almost constantly good, the characters are fun, a mix between drama and comedy, and it makes the sport actually rather interesting.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRxrUVYT2M0[/youtube]

And currently sporting an avatar from Nozali-kun, which is still being top notch, incredibly funny still.

I still can't move back into my house, so I have watched some DVDs that I bought previously. I finished the original Eva series again, and the ending kind of suited my mood. I almost want to buy that spinoff manga set in Shinji's fantasy world now. I did break down and order a used copy of End of Evangelion. If anyone hasn't seen it yet, go ahead. It has fewer weak points than plenty of modern shows, a big cast of well-developed characters, and some shocking battle scenes that few other giant robot shows can match. The opening and ending are pretty dated, but it has good incidental music.

ETA: Has anyone else seen The Twelve Kingdoms? It's a series from the square TV days that aired on NHK. It's an adaptation of a light novel series, which I tend to favor. It has unbelievably detailed art and one of the most original fantasy stories I've ever known, on the level of Thomas Covenant or EarthSea. The first time I watched it, I thought the plot had some holes, but the second time through, they seem more like holes in my understanding. Great music, too.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iPaj4XqAW0[/youtube]

Not heard of Twelve Kingdoms, but it's definetely on my next-to-watch list as I'm fast running out of Moribito, and I'd really like to continue watching a heavy fantasy anime. Thanks for the heads up.

I watched Ghost In The Shell around the time it came out, but all I remembered yesterday was that it had impressed me. I just finished GITS 2.0, the remastered version, and I feel like it has held up well. If you don't know it, it has a lot of cyberpunk style, action, and philosophy about the nature of identity. It has amazing music, but doesn't spend much time on character development. I hope the subsequent works in the franchise maintain or exceed the quality of the original movie.

My faith in White Fox has been restored the past two weeks with Akame ga Kill. Really enjoyed Episode 4 with a lot of world-building and character development for Akame and Tatsumi. And Episode 5 really fleshed out Shelle.

Still not quite sold on Mamiko Noto as Shelle; she sounds so hammy...

Never mind though. Still a keeper for the plot and characters.

Tokyo Ghoul and Terror in Resonance are still proving fantastic watches.

I'm dropping Sailor Moon Crystal though... after three episodes, I've far too many problems with the inconsistent animation and general production side of things to enjoy the anime. Shame... I expected better of Toei.

What do you mean? Are you going to watch Innocence and the Stand Alone Complex series? I haven't seen the former, but I did see the latter, and I'd have to say that there is some divergence between the setting and the characterisation in the two respective works. Of course, I can't draw a proper comparison because I have never read the original manga by Shirow Masamune, which all adaptations have been based off. Still, I found it to be a very compelling premise, and I much enjoyed both the film and the unrelated TV series.

the Mangaka of Akame ga kill is the one with the real talent but i have to hand it to the animators, they're really bringing the anime to life. Just thought it would be wise to suggest that you should NEVER get attached to ANY of the characters. No matter how cool they are, not even one single character is safe in this anime.

I plan to watch both of them for the first time fairly soon.

I just watched the first disc of Code Geass, and it looks interesting. I now know where Dark Flame Master got his speaking style.

That's fine. It's a two-way process; sometimes an anime can majorly flesh out things the manga briefly goes through and vice-versa. I'm rather glad White Fox have this series --- they know how to handle the screenplay so things from the manga aren't going through at breakneck speed (cough, Sailor Moon Crystal) and at least I can appreciate the characters as being characters in their own right, rather than merely existing as plot pieces (cough, Legend of Korra)

Damn shame Kana Hanazawa's Seryuu with her irritating hammy voice-acting... blast.... but never mind. I still like this series. I don't think I'll get into the manga though to be honest with you, though. I don't really like Takahiro's art-style. It's a bit too bland for my tastes and battle-manga like this really only works for me in animated form.

Stick with it. It gets even better as it goes along.

I have seen the first season, but haven't started Code Geass R2 yet.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75Wnu-FV0jk[/youtube]Neon Genesis ftw!

Nice take on 'Cruel Angel's Thesis'. Yes, Eva is also a favourite of mine, perhaps my all-time favourite anime series period. Utterly relatable characters, if you ask me.

Say you guys, did Dragon Ball Z: Battle Of The Gods only just now get its theatrical release in America? I just watched a review of it by Jake and Jillian of CinemaSnob. It's supposedly very, very good!