Griev3r wrote:Battle Royale the movie, yes. The TV show, no. And yes that is the one.

I don't think they ever turned it into a series (thus, it's probably semi-pointless to bring it up in this thread). They did make a graphic novel, but I'm really promoting the full-length novel, which was amazing if you ever have the time to read death in written form.

Also, I guess to put this post on topic, is anyone following the remake of FMA? Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I wasn't too ridiculously a fan of the original, but I'm curious to see how this one goes, and I'm also surprised to see they're changing a lot of events which only peaks my interest further.

I've been watching FMA: Brotherhood, and I'm not too terribly pleased with it so far. Everything happens so fast and is so toned down that I just don't care, I don't have any connection at all. I cried, and still cry, when Hughs dies in the original series, or even in the manga, but Brotherhood? I found myself asking if he was only in there to die in the first place.

Hopefully the pacing gets better, they are trying to stay truer to the manga, and the original series did that pretty well the first season, but now the two should start branching off and Brotherhood will really reveal if it's any good or just a quick anime summary of the manga.

Might've wanted to encapsulate that revelation in spoiler tags.

Spoiler: (click to reveal/hide)

Hughes! He was my favorite character and the bastards killed him! I know people who quit watching the series when he died because it depressed them too much. They're idiots for doing so, but still....

As for what I've seen of "new FMA", it feels totally different. More fast paced and they seem to have tried to give it more of an "action" vibe than the original anime. Not necessarily bad, but it's missing some of the character connections I had with the older anime. In fact, I haven't caught up to the current episode - I think I've only seen the first two or three. I want to, but I just haven't worked myself up to do so.

FYI guys, they're skipping as much as they can of the parts we've already seen in the first anime series in order to get to the new stuff, hence it feeling "rushed". If they had covered the first few volumes of the manga in detail, you'd probably be complaining that it feels too much like the first series I'm actually rather liking the new series, it'll be even more awesome when they finally reach that point where the original series diverted from the manga.

I really enjoyed "The Records of the Lotus Wars"

Which one?

Also, isn't the title "Record of Lodoss War"? "Lotus war" would be something else entirely.

Recommendation time children!

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Even since I read King of Thorn, I had been excited about the prospect of a "survival" anime, something along the lines of Hollywood movies like Daylight, Dante's Peak, Volcano and to some extent, Titanic. Along comes a new series with an interesting title... Tokyo Magnitude 8.0.

The basic premise is that at some point in the future, Tokyo could be hit be a magnitude 8.0 earthquake, hence the title. This anime looks at what that would be like if that actually come to pass. But this isn't some over-dramatic, explosion-packed action series, oh no! Science and human drama is the order of the day here, as a little message after the opening theme says:

"This work of fiction is based on the hypothetical situation of a giant earthquake occurring in Tokyo, and has been produced after extensive research and inspection of facts"

A message that also gives me a raging science boner. And it's done really well too, with scenes in the show (post-magnitude 8.0 earthquake), depicting things like flooding from burst water mains and rooms taking on entirely different shapes with the ever-present threat of falling debris. Visually,it reminds me a little of Bioshock actually, which is nice too. Speaking of visuals, the show looks really nice. The characters are kinda simple-looking, but the backgrounds really shine, someone on the staff clearly spent a lot of time looking at photos of ruined buildings.

Anyway, basic story is two siblings, younger brother and older sister are at a robot exhibition when the aforementioned magnitude 8.0 earthquake strikes. The series appears to (I've only seen up to the second episode) then continue on to show what it would be like to survive the sort of earthquake that brings Tokyo to it's knees.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is shaping to be an very interesting series, fans of the survival/disaster genre, as well as those who want to see a really fresh and unique anime would do well to check it out!

carriestar44 wrote:I really enjoyed "The Records of the Lotus Wars"

Parn is such a pansy. The damn priest is more macho, at least until the end of the show.

I don't think this has been brought up yet. If so, I think it deserves to be brought up again.

Time of Eve: If you enjoy Asimov at all, this show is an orgasm. The use of androids is rapidly gaining popularity but it's also faced with huge controversy (i.e. people falling in love with androids, androids aiding in agriculture).

Advertisements from the Ethics Committee:

Spoiler: (click to reveal/hide)

A commercial: A human and android, arm in arm. As they fall over, the android breaks into pieces.

Time of Eve is a cafe with only one rule, "No discrimination between humans and robots." Two friends stumble upon the place with mixed emotions unable to distinguish between who is human and who is not. The androids "act" human so as not to break the rule (if it can even really be deemed acting), and it makes for surprising new perspectives for the two friends (their opinions veering off in two radically different directions. I smell conflict.) as the distinguishing line between humans and robots gets ridiculously thin.

There's currently only five episodes translated, but I'm hooked. Even Mav, who I have to fight to find something he'll actually be interested in, approves.

Just watched Time of Eve. I'd have to say you've made a good call, Miv. This series is looking to be very fascinating.

The Record of Lodoss War was okay, but I found Chronicles of the Heroic Knight a bit more engaging. My only mistake was watching the dub, especially so soon after watching the dubs of Chobits and I, My, Me: Strawberry Eggs!. The common point? CRISPIN FRACKIN' FREEMAN! Thankfully, some time passed before I watched the voiceover of Haruhi Suzumiya--and Kyon is nowhere near as earnest as Spark, Hideki, or Hibiki.

SevTiZ wrote:the voiceover of Haruhi Suzumiya

I half-expect that to be the title of the next Haruhi Suzumiya novel


Fuggle has requested that I "proceed" with recommending some yuri (non-pornographic love between girls) anime, and being as they've just recently started putting out "proper" yuri anime (not those anime that only occasionally feature romance between girls, but the kind that makes this the central plot), now seems a good time. So OK, the Wikipedia lists a whole host of "yuri" stuff, however many of them where never animated. Of the non-manga stuff, you're looking at Aoi Hana (AKA Sweet Blue Flowers), Candy Boy, Kannazuki no Miko, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Sasameki Koto, Simoun, Steel Angel Kurumi, Strawberry Panic! and Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito. Seems like a long list, no? Let's shave off the less-yuri-focused stuff...

Kannazuki no Miko - Though one of the girls has a crush on the other, this really seems like more of an action series if you ask this forumer.

Maria-sama ga Miteru - Though I have a friend who swears up and down this is a yuri series, if you ask me the relationship between the girls seems more like admiration.

Miyuki-chan in Wonderland - Though this two episodes seires did have a few female characters who wanted to have their way with Miyuki, this series is what it says on the tin: a Japanese take on Alice in Wonderland. Strike!

Simoun - I haven't seen it, but the description of "everyone is born female, and chooses which sex they wish to become at age 17" sounds to me like girl and girl relationships is the heterosexual (yes, I know that's not the correct use of the word, but shut-up!) of this fantasy world. So... I really don't think it counts.

Steel Angel Kurumi - Though I've only seen a few episodes of this, again, it seems like the yuri elements are a side-story.

Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito - Like Kannazuki no Miko, the yuri elements in this show seems to be a side-plot IMO.

So then, let's move on to the remaining shows! First, I'll weed out the ones I don't really recommend:

Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl - Indeed, this show is about love between people who are physically girls, but considering one of them is really a guy who had his body reconstructed as a girl due to an encounter with extraterrestrials, I'm really not sure this counts. If they had of removed this element (the guy was very feminine to begin with, so I don't know why they just didn't just make the character a girl from the beginning. I kinda get the feeling they were trying to skirt the whole lesbian issue.) the show would have been loads better. It's not a bad show, but as a yuri series, much better, proper yuri stuff has come out since then.

Revolutionary Girl Utena - Only seen the movie, I guess it was a yuri story, but it didn't really grab me, personally.

Strawberry Panic! - In a perfect world where there's lots of good yuri anime, I probably wouldn't need to recommend this. Personally, I find it kinda boring, the characters shallow and overall, a little bit too cute. But it's one of the few true yuri series out there, so what are you gonna do?

On to the recommendations and reviews!

Aoi Hana (AKA Sweet Blue Flowers)
Story goes two childhood friends, Fumi and Akira meet up again on their first day of high school. They catch up and once again become good friends, despite going to different schools. Fumi, who goes to an all-girls school, is just discovering that she likes girls. The story then follows mostly Fumi, and her relationship with another girl at her school.

This is confusing, because most of the images of this show depict Fumi and Akira embracing, but at the point I'm up to in the series, Akira seems to be straight Well anyway, this is quite a sweet (and I mean that in the traditional sense of the word, not the "sweet broa!" frat-boy use of the word) series, the characters are likeable, and there's plenty of drama and heart-warming moments. The backgrounds have this watercolor thing happening, so that kinda adds to it.

Candy Boy
I've got one and a hyphenated word for ya: slice-of-life yuri. I LOVE slice-of-life shows (think Honey and Clover) and I love yuri shows. Combine the two and you get FireAza catnip. You also get Candy Boy. Before we begin, yes, the two girls in this series are blood-related, so this is technically incest. But who the hell cares? I love this show. Why? We'll get to that in a moment, first, story.

Yukino and Kanade are two sisters who live in the same dorm. They're also lovers, and the story follows their lives as they attend school, go shopping, and all that. So why is this series so good? First, the aforementioned slice-of-life yuri combination. Second, the depth to the characters, the relationship between Yukino and Kanade feels very believable, you can really feel the strong bond they share (plenty of "awwwww.." moments ). Third, the animation. Holy crap, for a series that was released on the internet, this looks stunning. Beautifully detailed drawings, really smooth animation, it's a real treat to see. When it comes to yuri, this is the one I recommend. Sadly, each episode only goes for around fifteen minutes, and there's only seven episodes

Sasameki Koto
This a little similar to Aoi Hana, but I actually like this one better. Basic story is, Sumika has been madly in love with her friend Ushio for a long time. Fortunately for Sumika, Ushio likes girls. Unfortunately, she only likes cute girls, and Sumika is very tall and masculine. This means Ushio is often chasing other girls, while completely over-looking poor Sumika. I think this is what I enjoy the most about this series, you really feel like cheering Sumika on, hoping she'll be able to get the girl I guess this also makes the series so riveting, in Candy Boy, relationships have already been established, while in Sasameki Koto you're not sure how things are going to play out. After Candy Boy, I definitely recommend Sasameki Koto as excellent yuri.

So yeah, yuri anime guys! Here's my recommendations, so get to it!

potemayo and luky star
first ones cute, bit nonsensecal but fun
second ones jus full of awesum, imagine azumanga but smaller, summat like that

I'm also going to set a couple of rules.

1. Don't just throw lists up. That doesn't help much. Pick a few favorites, or perhaps something that's not well known, and try not to pick the same ones constantly. If seventeen people have already mentioned Evangelion, it's probably going to be seen as a good recommendation.

2. Try to provide some background on it. Is it fantasy, sci-fi, modern, or a retelling of a legend? Is it a drama, comedy, or romance? What is the basic premise? Is it available in dubbed, subtitled, both, or neither? Is it directly linked to another series? Is there a particular name behind it, such as a gifted director? You don't have to answer all of these questions, and a complete critique isn't necessary, but a little background information is helpful, particularly to those who are not as familiar with anime as others.

While I tip my hat to you recommending the awesome Lucky Star, we request that you do more than throw a list up. Do a review, tell us about the show, what you liked about it, what you didn't like, all that good stuff.

soz m8 pip pip chav it up