The Rec List

I tend to get asked about anime recommendations more often than I care, so I've tended to get a pretty good system down on questions and a good core of shows to watch. My "core" list right now comes down to these shows:

Code Geass and/or Death Note (likes shows like 24)

Eden of the East (mystery lover, wants something easy to watch)

Fullmetal Alchemist (they ask for something "good")

Ghost in the Shell (they like Wachowski films)

Mushi-shi (the safe recommendation for someone that doesn't push me any way)

Outlaw Star (the "I don't know, what got you into anime?" response)

Spice and Wolf (the safe recommendation for someone that wants to see something "different", the flip being Elfen Lied)


The interesting flip to this, though, is what should someone with a sizeable knowledge base recommend for someone that is already into anime? The nice thing about someone whose already dipped their fingers into anime is that they've learned to expect there to be differences from what you expect, and to just take things as they come. Usually I base recommendations on just how dipped their fingers are into anime. If it isn't that much, I might suggest something a bit more zany like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Bakemonogatari, or FLCL. I may also push them into the more "Japanese" genres of shows and suggest shows like Madlax, Haruhi, and Clannad. (I also like giving out Tsubasa here, but that doesn't usually get a good reception)

The two main suggestions I give, though, are pretty consistent. The first is to see the classics you haven't seen; things like Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, (which I recommend despite hating it) Azumanga Daioh, and Rurouni Kenshin. But, the series that I tend to recommend for the anime enthusiast want-to-be is the When They Cry superarc of animes: Higurashi/Kai/Rei and Umineko/Chiru. It's a great overarching story that becomes more enthralling with each series, and there is a level of detail to the entire thing that engages and rewards the viewer much more if you are already familiar with anime and can look beyond just what you are watching.

The thing that sets Higurashi/Umineko apart from other anime, though, is that it is about the only anime that I will not openly recommend to someone coming into anime. Mostly because they'll stop at ep.12 of the first season of Higurashi, but also because it is the only series I have seen where there is meaning in static, and the inexperienced anime viewer most likely will not see beyond the static.

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The Current Watchlist - November

In addition to some anime changes, I have now officially considered myself back from Japan both mentally and physically. Whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, I'm no longer thinking in broken Japanese at all.


::: Finished

I don't think I've actually finished any series in the last month. I did rewatch Spirited Away (soooooo much better when you know some Japanese) and get a chance to sneak a peek at Evangelion 2.0. (one word: insane)


::: Actively Watching

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Still watching, still preferring the original.

Kara no Kyoukai
Well, nothing new has come out since last month...

Darker than Black; Welcome to the NHK; Eden of the East
The currently-running stuff in the anime club.

Bakemonogatari
I'm current and the series was pretty damn good going into the break and web episodes. I'm disappointed in 13 (after 12), but we've got two more episodes to work with...

Shakugan no Shana S
The series is back (in OVA form) and I'm watching it. And, the first episode was a gender-swap episode... Yeah, this is going to be about as good as the second season at this rate...

A Certain Kind of Railgun (To Aru Kagaku no Railgun)
Yeah... random series from this fall that I just am watching. It's just something that's simple and a laugh.

Kampfer
Same as Railgun, but everything about Railgun at double the amount.


::: Passively Watching / Stalled (nothing here has changed...)

Bleach

Naruto: Shippuuden

Ouran High School Host Club

Asura Cryin'

Top Anime - October 2009

I feel that my tastes in anime are getting much more defined, and are also changing slowly away from where they've been in the past few years. That being said, here's my top as of now...

1 > Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East)

I've gained an affinity for enjoying anime which are free-flowing, and all of my top anime follow the style of never really having any true pace to them other than the pacing of the story itself; there is never anything that feels like it's forced, or that it's extended to gain time or to just hit that right moment to break between episodes.

Eden of the East does this, but it does so much more. It's only convention is in it's core storyline, but it has a wide array of characters which are both explored and not overdone, especially in a 11-episode story. There are all sorts of "beyond belief" moments that are all realistic within the bounds of the story, and some of the best "owned" moments in anime.

2 > Kara no Kyoukai (Boundary of Emptiness: the Garden of Sinners)

This series combines variable-length episodes (which make pacing a non-issue and an enjoyment) with easily the best fight scenes of any anime I have seen, including Code Geass and excluding _the_ fight scene*. The pacing allows a complicated, powerful story to be told in a two-hour episode, and at the same time allows some good backstory episodes to occur in 45-minute episodes.

3 > FLCL

The original "pacing" series that I enjoyed, it's truly the series with no pacing whatsoever. It's also that great blend of action, comedy, and easily one of the best dubs in the business.

4 > Mushishi

The other series with very little pacing, the one thing that sets this series differently for me is how easy it's pacing is, to the point that it is a series that can be watched like Futurama: order doesn't matter, but many of the episodes are memorable and have a very loose story.

5 > Bakemonogatari (GhoStory)

The 3rd '09 anime in my top list, it feels like an evolution of the FLCL storyline brought into the modern times.


Outside the top 5: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Haibane Renmei, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Spice and Wolf, Elfen Lied


* The ending battle of Outlaw Star

The Current Watchlist - October

Even though school began, I really haven't started watching anything since. I've started getting back slowly at this point...


::: Finished

GANTZ
I waited two months to finish 5 episodes; it wasn't anything special, honestly. I liked it, but I wouldn't say anything amazing against it. The only real "against" I have on it is that it seemed to use a lot of vulgarity just for the sake of it, and not to advance a story or actually do anything.

Spice and Wolf
A good series; it's enough different that I would recommend it as something unique, though it kind-of falls into the same category as Elfen Lied on my lists of anime to recommend, as it really is something that is different, but I wouldn't feel it would be a suitable anime for someone just getting into anime. (They'd quit Elfen Lied in shock, and Spice and Wolf in boredom)

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
I liked season 1 better, but the final arcs relaying the story behind Episode 00 were surprisingly good, if not seemingly stretched. I know a lot of people are pissed that the "Dissapearance" arc got shifted to a movie.

::: Actively Watching

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Still watching - the only thing it's doing for me right now, though, is making me appreciate the original arc; it was a good deal simpler, and currently makes a good deal more overall sense than the current one. This one just feels like the beginning of Inuyasha.

Kara no Kyoukai
Holy crap. The action sequences and storytelling in this thing are insane. Now, if only the pacing was slightly better, this'd actually be better than Eden of the East. (I am to Eden of the East what Yahtzee is to Portal, and that is about as vague of a non-anime reference from me)

Darker than Black; Jing, King of Bandits; Welcome to the NHK; Eden of the East
The Fall 2009 anime list at the anime club I attend; I've seen the latter two, but the other two aren't really in my area of preferred anime, anyways.

Bakemonogatari
I'm finishing this quickly, though I don't quite understand the "extra" episodes I've been hearing about yet. The series is just about exactly the same as what I was first told about it: a slower FLCL that moves at it's own pace with good OP/ED. It's living up to that, and I'm liking it just about as much as FLCL.

::: Passively Watching / Stalled (nothing here has changed...)

Bleach (I haven't watched anything since the episodes broke from the manga, though I've heard good things about the filler arc so far)

Naruto: Shippuuden (I've taken a break from this before in the summer, but right now it's as much due to the lack of a solid, regular subbing group than impetus)

Ouran High School Host Club (I kept hearing about it and got a taste of it one evening, and I've been going through the series at a pretty slow pace. I like it to the extent a parody of a genre I don't watch warrants, and it's just a case of not getting around to watching more.)

Asura Cryin' (the only series from Spring '09 I haven't finished that I haven't either declared as dropped or finished; I liked the story initially, but it competed with K-ON and Higashi no Eden. I doubt even Evangelion could've competed with that.)

The Current Watchlist

I think I should start listing this, just for reference and random other reasons...

During the summer, my lists of what I watch generally drop considerably, just out of lack of desire as much as anything else.


::: Actively Watching - Currently Airing

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (I caught up with the series while on the train to GenCon, and plan to keep up with it right now)

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (The only series I own as individual DVDs vs. a box set, and I've been paying attention to the second season, though pretty much skipping the second half of Endless August)

::: Passively Watching - Currently Airing

Bleach (I haven't watched anything since the episodes broke from the manga, though I've heard good things about the filler arc so far)

Naruto: Shippuuden (I've taken a break from this before in the summer, but right now it's as much due to the lack of a solid, regular subbing group than impetus)

::: Actively Watching - Aired

Spice and Wolf (I just started this today; many of my top animes fall under the pacing style of this series. [namely; Serial Experiments LAIN, Mushishi, and Haibane Renmei] Odds are I'll finish this series prior to school restarting)

::: Passively Watching - Aired

GANTZ (Sometimes it's nice to watch something that is truly unairable in the States, and this is a series I don't mind watching; I just need to find a time to finish the last 5 episode arc)

Ouran High School Host Club (I kept hearing about it and got a taste of it one evening, and I've been going through the series at a pretty slow pace. I like it to the extent a parody of a genre I don't watch warrants, and it's just a case of not getting around to watching more.)

Asura Cryin' (the only series from Spring '09 I haven't finished that I haven't either declared as dropped or finished; I liked the story initially, but it competed with K-ON and Higashi no Eden. I doubt even Evangelion could've competed with that.)

Review: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai (When Cicadas Cry: Solutions)

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai （ヒぐらしのなく頃に解）

I've tended to be a fan of series that don't seem to be forced into a storyline, but instead let the flow of the series take a hold. Haibane Renmei is a good example of this idea, where the flow of the series really never makes it seem like there is a set storyline that is being followed, but the story just allows itself to be played out.

I find it very difficult to explain this series now that I've watched Kai, without giving out massive spoilers due to the nature of this season. ("Kai" can tanslate to "solutions", after all) I'll give three notes on this second series, though, as a rough synopsis:
- The series continues in an "arc" fashion, like the previous season. You'll have a single episode explaining the first season, followed by three arcs of increasing length.
- Each arc in season 1 seemed to focus around the actions of one character. The latter three arcs in this season all revolve around Rika.

Again, I'm trying not to spoil anything about this season, but the one thing that is really different about this season from the first is the sense of just how linked each arc is. It's not linked any more than previous seasons in how each arc progresses, but being in Rika's point-of-view really does change everything.

I watched this series entirely in 3 days, one arc per day. (meaning 5 episodes, then 8, then 11) I will admit that this is a good series, but a good amount of it comes in how well the series compliments an admittedly-drudgy first season. No matter how good this series is, some of it is based around getting through the school-days-like sections which, though very powerful in providing the contrast and suspense the series is best at, feels at times like an unnecessary exposition where any small tinge of something happening brings attention towards it; this is fine the first dozen times, but when maybe two of those actually come to anything, you start just wanting the series to start picking up the pace.

Watch this if...
- You've seen the first season.
- You like Lost

Don't watch this if...
- You haven't watched the first season
- You don't want to trudge through a first season that leaves plots hanging for several episodes while tangenting. (ironically, leaving further plots)

End Note: The opening to this series os one of the most fitting of any anime you'll ever see. It's the same artist as the first season, but it's much more like a normal song while holding onto the tone of the first series. Plus, listen to the opening backwards and you'll hear a familiar chant...