Where can I find better anime?

[Q99]

I've been scraping the bottom of the Netflix barrel as I've just been so busy with other shit. Over the past couple weeks, I worked my way through 7 Deadly Sins, even though it's what drove me to find better stuff.

That said, sans the pervy shit, this show was actually pretty good, but kind of falls apart with the super-villain at the end and more than a few happy endings for characters that were like "ok, yea, whatever." However, some of the Mind Horror with Gowther was pretty good and his existence as a mostly alien intelligence. Basically, Data with little morality, but also not a sadist like Lore. And even though I called it, man I loved seeing how great of a fighter King/Harlequin was without his spear. There more than a few other things, but the show can be incredibly good when it wants to be, but also incredibly bad.

Seven Deadly Sins, I gave the manga a shot but I found the style of the fight/power levels made me often unsure if someone was really supposed to be pressed hard/hurting or just waiting to pull out a winning technique/messing around/whatever. I liked some of the characters like Gowther, I just had trouble getting involved with the big battles since I didn't feel the danger.

[Mr Bean]

So never got around to posting any recommendations here despite thinking I had way back in June. Anyway for my series recently watched and recommended (Two of which were recommended way back on page two. Turns out these are mostly themed suggestions

My stand alone suggestion of My Hero Academia which I feel got a poor introduction last go around.
Imagine a world where 80% of the population (Or like 99% of those under 30) have a super power called a quirk. Imagine a world where super heroes and villains are a real everyday thing. When the position of hero is no different from any other government position. Where little boys and girls dream of becoming the next superman. And in that world Izuku Midoriya is born without a super power of his own but the drive and will to be the very best. While the series premise is see this kid reach for the top the show goes much beyond that. While the show may be called My Hero Academia a great deal of the series is outside that school. The action is top notch, the animation is clean and the character motivations are great. Crunchyroll has the sub, Funimation has the dub.

Next three are all in another world shows.

Saga of Tanya the Evil
Watch the first two episodes to get a real impression of the show but the short form is World war 1/2 with Gun Wizards as psudo-Germany takes on the world. The reveal as nearly as fun as the show itself. Trust me when I say the show is fun and fully acknowledges we are not following the good guys. Our protagonist is very much the villain in this world.

RE:Zero
Kid is transported to a world of magic mystical wonder and turns out he has a superpower! No matter how many times he is killed he can't die his day resets, he gets involved in shenanigans and world shaking events. To his friends he's the amazing hero who can't be beaten who always comes out on top. To himself he's a desperate risk taker who sometimes brute forces himself through situations taking death after horrible death with all his memories intact and getting slow impacted by crazy PTSD of dying over and over again sometimes quite horribly, other times very slowly. Remember that time in South Park Kyle has to kill Jesus so he can stop catholic ninjas from taking over Rome Yeah kind of like that?

Kono-suba
Kid dies is transported to a world of magic and wonder being threaten by a Demon King. Turns out when you die the Gods let you reincarnate in your own world or try another, problem is this world which used to be popular is emptying out as no one wants to reincarate since the Demon King looks like he's going to win/mostly already won. So people who die in other worlds are offered a power up and they get to be reincarnate in this world. You only get to pick one thing, and the kid decides to pick the Goddess in question as his one thing. The other gods amused let this go through. Thing is she's mostly useless.

RE:ZERO and Kono-suba are similar takes on the same idea except RE:ZERO is a brutal charming little show while Kono-suba is played for laughs kind of like a in another world one punch man sans more fan service and featuring more jokes that gripping plot. Most problems are caused by the protagonist and he's guilted into fixing his parties members fuck ups.

[TheFeniX]

Ah man, Ajin took it out of me. Exceptionally grim. Still a good watch. Would recommend.

My only two complaints were:
1. While I fully agree there are more than enough agencies that would have done what they did to the Ajin. You'd think they could have hit on a few people who were like "maybe we SHOULDN'T poke immortal bears like this" since, yes they can be controlled. But if they get loose, they can cause considerable damage/death and your only recourse is to..... catch them and do again what you've been doing to them.

2. The copout with the "big bad." Spoiler

The Ajin have every excuse to be as amazingly brutal as they are in retaliation for what's been done to them. Tanaka was murdered over and over in brutal ways over the course of a decade. Put in the that position, nearly any retaliatory response from him to the people who subjected him to that would be hard to find unjustified. Especially since they want him back specifically to star torturing him, and other Ajin, again. But they cop out with Sato just being "a gamer looking to play hardmode."

Seven Deadly Sins, I gave the manga a shot but I found the style of the fight/power levels made me often unsure if someone was really supposed to be pressed hard/hurting or just waiting to pull out a winning technique/messing around/whatever. I liked some of the characters like Gowther, I just had trouble getting involved with the big battles since I didn't feel the danger.

Yea, tension on the show was at an all-time minimum after the 3-4 episode when you figure out exactly what you're watching.

RE:Zero
Kid is transported to a world of magic mystical wonder and turns out he has a superpower! No matter how many times he is killed he can't die his day resets, he gets involved in shenanigans and world shaking events. To his friends he's the amazing hero who can't be beaten who always comes out on top. To himself he's a desperate risk taker who sometimes brute forces himself through situations taking death after horrible death with all his memories intact and getting slow impacted by crazy PTSD of dying over and over again sometimes quite horribly, other times very slowly. Remember that time in South Park Kyle has to kill Jesus so he can stop catholic ninjas from taking over Rome Yeah kind of like that?

That is definitely interesting to me. Like a (even more so) twisted Groundhog Day.

[Mr Bean]

That is definitely interesting to me. Like a (even more so) twisted Groundhog Day.

It can be seen as that, except more waifus some of which brutally murder him on some days. It's kind of a on again off again sometimes fun slice of life, sometimes he has to die a dozen times to save someones life.

[Q99]

Yea, tension on the show was at an all-time minimum after the 3-4 episode when you figure out exactly what you're watching.

Early on I figured it was, "Ah, so they're all already high level, and we'll gradually see enemies rise to meet them," but then as strong enemies came I still didn't feel very tense.

I mean, the nature of some of their powers being 'pretty much immortal' doesn't hurt.

[TheFeniX]

It can be seen as that, except more waifus some of which brutally murder him on some days. It's kind of a on again off again sometimes fun slice of life, sometimes he has to die a dozen times to save someones life.

It's anime, man: gotta have the waifus. You just gotta. Though this lead to a funny little quip with the wife since we've talked about visiting Japan. She wants to see Mt. Fiji. I want to see the insanity of Tokyo.

"I'm scared to go to Japan after watching all this anime."
"Why?"
"I'm worried random Japanese women will punch me."

Early on I figured it was, "Ah, so they're all already high level, and we'll gradually see enemies rise to meet them," but then as strong enemies came I still didn't feel very tense.

I think the show was strong when the fights were more for flash and comedy and the heroes had to focus on other issues for tension, rather than just "will they survive!? Find out NEXT WEEK!"

Though I gave the show a solid watch, I was annoyed how quickly it turns out they're actually the good guys (who may have done shitty things in the past). Gowther is the closest to a "bad guy" but there's nothing malign about his intent.

Contrast to another character who is undeniably evil, yet still has a code. Ajin Spoilers:Spoiler

Sato might be an ass. But it's hard to find a whole lot wrong with many of his methods and his results undeniably lead to a better life (or at least a start) for the Ajin. Yes, he murders civilians with nerve gas, but he also holds off on killing more than he feels needed. Not because he's a good guy, but because there's "no fun in killing harmless civilians."

In the world of Ajin, I would not be surprised if he's easily seen as a heroic figure by future Ajin.

I want to see "bad guy does good things" not because "not actually bad" or "they learn the error of their ways" but "they did good because the writer was smart enough to find a way to make their evil work out for the greater good." Even something as stupid as "bad guy just wanted to be left alone, but other bad guys are fucking that up."

[Dominus Atheos]

Then your enjoyment of Saga of Tanya the Evil will depend on your interpretation of Sanya.

The show I watched was more like "Saga of Tanya the ruthless and kind of an asshole."

With the exception of the first episode pilot), I didn't see Tanya do anything very evil.

[TheFeniX]

Man, I talk a big game, but I'll watch anything. It's just at certain points in time I keep thinking "these guys are pushing an interesting angle" then it just turns into another by the book Fantasy/Sci-Fi romp. And I don't even mind those, as Fairytail is great. But so many start out really out there, then just hit the cruise control after a bit.

My only real "Preparing to Fast Forward!" line in the sand (aside from the pervy shit) is the Japanese awkward romance stuff. It's just everywhere and wasting screentime IMO. Cut it. If you have to have some fanservice, handle it like the motel fight scene in Commando: "FIGHT TIME! BAM boobs! Ok, back to the haymakers."

Still, every once in a while it's worth a good laugh. Like in Irregular when Tatsuya leans seductively toward Seagusa and (just to mess with her) whispers into her ear "I would ravish you right now" when she asks what he would do if there were no camera's around.

That shit was hilarious.

I'm also a bit tired of getting emotionally invested in some shows and finding out new episodes are about is likely as a Shadowrun anime. I can't read Manga. I've never like the comic book format. Shit gives me headaches. So, at some point when I have time, I'm going to have to look into some light novels.

[Q99]

Though I gave the show a solid watch, I was annoyed how quickly it turns out they're actually the good guys (who may have done shitty things in the past). Gowther is the closest to a "bad guy" but there's nothing malign about his intent.

And even some of the bad things turned out to be much less bad than initially believed. I do get annoyed in anime we find that once someone turned out to be good-deep-down, their past stuff gets retconned to be more reasonable and they only thought it was so bad because they couldn't remember.

I want to see "bad guy does good things" not because "not actually bad" or "they learn the error of their ways" but "they did good because the writer was smart enough to find a way to make their evil work out for the greater good." Even something as stupid as "bad guy just wanted to be left alone, but other bad guys are fucking that up."

I wouldn't mind more 'bad who learned the error of their ways, but, like, actually did legit bad, didn't just do something not-that-bad but feel super guilty about it.' Like Blade of the Immortal where our main character is doing repentance for a lot of killing he really did.

[Mr Bean]

With the exception of the first episode pilot), I didn't see Tanya do anything very evil.

Did you miss the episodes where Tanya provided NotGermany with the legal reasoning needed to begin mass bombing of civilian targets to force the enemy to withdraw part of their forces to provide humanitarian relief? By the end of the series most NotGermany atrocities are able to be placed at Tanya feet as she has modern knowledge needed to provide the plausible excuse to start wiping out civilians wholesale. Arene burned because Tanya air-cav showed up made one demand for the city population to surrender then ordered the city burned to the ground without allowing time for civilians to flee declaring them enemy collaborators despite them being nominally NotGermany's own citizens.

There's a nice little bit in the show and light novel where one character realizes the military papers the high command is using to justify more and more horrific acts is written by Tanya under her own name and under various pseudonyms to justify everything from city bombing to gas attacks and the proper quick fatal treatment of enemies that fall into your hands when you don't have time to properly feed and quarter them.

[Dominus Atheos]

With the exception of the first episode pilot), I didn't see Tanya do anything very evil.

Did you miss the episodes where Tanya provided NotGermany with the legal reasoning needed to begin mass bombing of civilian targets to force the enemy to withdraw part of their forces to provide humanitarian relief? By the end of the series most NotGermany atrocities are able to be placed at Tanya feet as she has modern knowledge needed to provide the plausible excuse to start wiping out civilians wholesale. Arene burned because Tanya air-cav showed up made one demand for the city population to surrender then ordered the city burned to the ground without allowing time for civilians to flee declaring them enemy collaborators despite them being nominally NotGermany's own citizens.

You forgot to mention the part where a mob was beating a NotGermany soldier to death with shovels, taking NotGermany civilians hostage and beating them and shooting them.

Episode 8 and the battle of arene was my favorite example of the show's grey vs grey morality and message "war is hell". I'd compare it to the movie "full metal jacket."The battle of Arene was a clear sendup of the battle of Fallujah and the firebombings of Dresden and Tokyo. Anyone who can watch that episode and say that either side is in any way "better" or "worse" is a child who should go back to watching Saturday morning cartoons.

[TheFeniX]

And even some of the bad things turned out to be much less bad than initially believed. I do get annoyed in anime we find that once someone turned out to be good-deep-down, their past stuff gets retconned to be more reasonable and they only thought it was so bad because they couldn't remember.

This is kind of old-hat stuff. You can claim it was war (albeit war to stave of genocide) and that she's a valuable asset, but Miriya Parina had to have vaporized dozens, if not hundred, of pilots before she was putting cooking oil into Max's coffee maker. It stood out to me even before I was a teenager.

Western media generally does not play things this way, outside specific genres, but anime has always been big on it.

Then again, bad writing can lead to some unfortunate implications here. Like in Green Lattern when Reynolds smashed three rednecks through a brick wall. There's about a 99% chance that killed them or at least crippled them all severely. Or like how everyone in Avengers ignores that Thor would have no idea Cap was anything but some soldier in uniform and that, without Caps specific choice of "weapon," he would have been a blood smear when Thor brought the hammer down on him.

I wouldn't mind more 'bad who learned the error of their ways, but, like, actually did legit bad, didn't just do something not-that-bad but feel super guilty about it.' Like Blade of the Immortal where our main character is doing repentance for a lot of killing he really did.

I mean, it's there considering how much super special abilities exist in anime, either mental or physical.

Fairytail doesn't completely ignore the bullshit Juvia pulled. But, you know, the "power of boners" and all. But it isn't as prevalent as it should be. This is why I like DBZ:A Vegeta. The guy is just the worst, but it's played up more that people put up with him because he helps them (for all the wrong reasons) and the only one who could beat him is Goku and that guy thinks they're best friends. They even poke fun at Piccolo's 180.

And I think Vegeta is kind of a archetype for this. The whole... Shonen content seems big on making cool bad guys that become popular, then they're not big on killing them. But they can't just have the same fucking guy keep showing up after he got beat down. So, they turn him around as a good guy and sweep all the atrocities and shit under the rug.

[Q99]

This is kind of old-hat stuff. You can claim it was war (albeit war to stave of genocide) and that she's a valuable asset, but Miriya Parina had to have vaporized dozens, if not hundred, of pilots before she was putting cooking oil into Max's coffee maker. It stood out to me even before I was a teenager.

Western media generally does not play things this way, outside specific genres, but anime has always been big on it.

I'm not talking about 'and now that they're on our side, we're going to not talk about the stuff they did on the opposition,' stuff, I'm talking about how sometimes you have someone we're told has done a lot of bad, then it starts retconning them into doing a lot less bad to begin with.
Like, in Seven Deadly Sins, we're introduced to the Seven Deadly Sins who, while heroes, had each committed great sins, and they were mad at each out about them too... and then it turns out as they're revealed, each is far less than initially hinted, great sins turn out pretty minor. Where I stopped, I don't think any really had come across as doing much in the way of bad.

Fairytail doesn't completely ignore the bullshit Juvia pulled. But, you know, the "power of boners" and all.

Hey, they let freakin' *Gajeel* switch sides too.

And I think Vegeta is kind of a archetype for this. The whole... Shonen content seems big on making cool bad guys that become popular, then they're not big on killing them. But they can't just have the same fucking guy keep showing up after he got beat down. So, they turn him around as a good guy and sweep all the atrocities and shit under the rug.

I do think one can play with the concept of 'ok, this person was legit really bad, but they helped save everyone since then, so they've kiiinda earned amnesty, but they're still really uncomfortable to be around?'

All in all, I like that Japanese pop culture is really big on redemption, but I do think they don't do enough followup stuff.


Transformers comics has done some good storylines about this recently, since the war ended and they've made peace with the Decepticons and it's a matter of, "If we do something about how horrible these people were, the war's back on, and we want a peace, but..." and all kinds of moral ambiguity. Heck, they even have Megatron on a ship and it's like, it's easy to, after awhile, hang out with him and forget how much bad he's done, then something happens and it all comes crashing back, and almost everyone's conflicted.

[TheFeniX]

I'm not talking about 'and now that they're on our side, we're going to not talk about the stuff they did on the opposition,' stuff, I'm talking about how sometimes you have someone we're told has done a lot of bad, then it starts retconning them into doing a lot less bad to begin with.

Yea, fair enough. Sins was at a point for me where I'm like "this borders on false advertising." I made the joke with the wife at the end of the anime:
Wife: "So, they're still missing one sin. What do you think his bit is? He's Pride, right?"
"Probably masturbated to his own picture or something."

Hey, they let freakin' *Gajeel* switch sides too.

I laughed so hard at that. I figured it COULD happen since he's also a Dragonslayer, but the guy demolishes the Guild Hall and nearly kills... Lemi? and those other two knobs she's with. But because Locsis beat him up a bit it's all, "sup bro!"

I'm not saying the show should have started offing people left and right, but you'd think at SOME point the magic council guys would do their fucking job and "Azkaban" SOMEONE. They arrest Erza and give her a slap on the wrist to CYA, but can't be bothered to round up magicians who try to level whole cities?

I do think one can play with the concept of 'ok, this person was legit really bad, but they helped save everyone since then, so they've kiiinda earned amnesty, but they're still really uncomfortable to be around?'

Right? And it's worse for anime than something more mundane like a murder/mystery or straight action movie since a lot of the times the bad egg you're dealing with is some kind of super-person. X-Men fluff team-ups between the X-Men and the Brotherhood had WAY more tension.

All in all, I like that Japanese pop culture is really big on redemption, but I do think they don't do enough followup stuff.

Yea, I find a lot of the exposition that COULD be interesting and make me care is pushed to the wayside for more fights and exposition of "let's spend 15 minutes explaining the science behind that magic spell soandso just cast."

No one was watching Star Trek for the thrilling technobabble, but it's also possible Japanese audiences really like that stuff.

Transformers comics has done some good storylines about this recently, since the war ended and they've made peace with the Decepticons and it's a matter of, "If we do something about how horrible these people were, the war's back on, and we want a peace, but..." and all kinds of moral ambiguity. Heck, they even have Megatron on a ship and it's like, it's easy to, after awhile, hang out with him and forget how much bad he's done, then something happens and it all comes crashing back, and almost everyone's conflicted.

Speaking of Star Trek actually, one of my favorite episode of DS9 was when Kira realizes just how comfortable she's become working around Gul Fucking Dukat and the Jem'Hadar after the Dominion occupation of the station. And the way it plays out, Dukat feels betrayed in the end because "things were going so well." He thought she could forget, if not forgive, and she did for a while due to circumstance.

I think my first experience with a character like that was Trent from Spell for Chameleon. While not specifically EVIL (I guess), he's not a nice person and had to learn that betraying comrades at a moments notice lead to his defeat the first time make a play for the throne. So, he plays things incredibly straight even though he once again plans to conquer the kingdom. Bink finds himself constantly forgetting who he is dealing with because Trent is charismatic and stays true to his word, but he's also capable and willing to kill anyone who gets in his way.

And even he "gets better" a few books in. Though being crowned King kind of makes you "put up or shut up." He has no incentive to be brutal anymore, so he isn't.

[Q99]

Yea, fair enough. Sins was at a point for me where I'm like "this borders on false advertising." I made the joke with the wife at the end of the anime:
Wife: "So, they're still missing one sin. What do you think his bit is? He's Pride, right?"
"Probably masturbated to his own picture or something."

Heh.

I laughed so hard at that. I figured it COULD happen since he's also a Dragonslayer, but the guy demolishes the Guild Hall and nearly kills... Lemi? and those other two knobs she's with. But because Locsis beat him up a bit it's all, "sup bro!"

Levi. And it turns out the Master also has him act as a double agent for a guild planning to attack Fairy Tail (so he 'provides them information' inside FT, as Makarov slips to him) to earn his way in.

Flipside, Levi and him actually get in a relationship later which is , and he spends a lot of time angsting about his past actions.

I'm not saying the show should have started offing people left and right, but you'd think at SOME point the magic council guys would do their fucking job and "Azkaban" SOMEONE. They arrest Erza and give her a slap on the wrist to CYA, but can't be bothered to round up magicians who try to level whole cities?

Note Jose (guildmaster to Phantom Lord) *does* get arrested, as does Jellal, and they arrest others on occasion too. Cobra of Oracion Seis spends time in jail, but gets let out on work release a couple years later.

Heck, at one point the kingdom sends a hit squad against Natsu and crew (who're breaking and entering under the castle at the time)... buuut FT at that point is 'we are beyond your ability to arrest'.

IRight? And it's worse for anime than something more mundane like a murder/mystery or straight action movie since a lot of the times the bad egg you're dealing with is some kind of super-person. X-Men fluff team-ups between the X-Men and the Brotherhood had WAY more tension.

Quite. I have hopes that Boruto is going to use Orochimaru in an interesting way. Because he's, (1) immortal, (2) a war criminal, (3) brought the reinforcements that saved the world, and (4) seems to have a new outlook of some kind and a son now.

Working with Orochimaru should still be creepy as heck, and no-one's exactly buddy buddy with him (he's still off and living in a cave lab. Tabs are kept on him, but he's not living in the village or anything).

Yea, I find a lot of the exposition that COULD be interesting and make me care is pushed to the wayside for more fights and exposition of "let's spend 15 minutes explaining the science behind that magic spell soandso just cast."

No one was watching Star Trek for the thrilling technobabble, but it's also possible Japanese audiences really like that stuff.

Oh, half of that is budget reasons ^^

Speaking of Star Trek actually, one of my favorite episode of DS9 was when Kira realizes just how comfortable she's become working around Gul Fucking Dukat and the Jem'Hadar after the Dominion occupation of the station. And the way it plays out, Dukat feels betrayed in the end because "things were going so well." He thought she could forget, if not forgive, and she did for a while due to circumstance.

Exactly! It's like that with Megatron in IDW. He's a charismatic poet who had some noble goals before sinking to tyranny and running a genocidal war for literally millions of years- now that he's more like he was and people can see the poet doesn't mean the other stuff is *gone*.

I think my first experience with a character like that was Trent from Spell for Chameleon. While not specifically EVIL (I guess), he's not a nice person and had to learn that betraying comrades at a moments notice lead to his defeat the first time make a play for the throne. So, he plays things incredibly straight even though he once again plans to conquer the kingdom. Bink finds himself constantly forgetting who he is dealing with because Trent is charismatic and stays true to his word, but he's also capable and willing to kill anyone who gets in his way.

And even he "gets better" a few books in. Though being crowned King kind of makes you "put up or shut up." He has no incentive to be brutal anymore, so he isn't.

That's pretty cool.

And again, IDW Transformers. Starscream is ruler of Cybertron. His name is a byword for betrayal. The arc phrase when cityspeaker Windblade first meets him is "Starscream cares about no-one and nothing but himself." But, because he's self-serving and such, and he needs to be thought of as a good ruler, and a lot of his support is Autobots (because he denounced factions to get the job, a number of 'Cons view that as a betrayal, and the Autobots have more people in power), so... he ends up as a fascinatingly interesting ruler who I often find myself rooting for even against people like Optimus Prime! Starscream's still not good at heart but he's Starscream at heart, which isn't the same as bad at heart.

[LadyTevar]

I just binged ID-0. Highly recommend it. Will tell you more after I wake up.

[TheFeniX]

Yea, I binged out ID-0 last weekend. Started in on K, but then I couldn't sleep, so that got finished out.

ID-0 is what got me thinking enough about memory to push me to make a thread about it. Either way, fairly solid little story, weird as always with the Japanese, with some fairly solid animation. Falls into a few traps with some overlong and mostly unimportant exposition that also treads over itself again. Characters that could have been looked at a bit more (like Rick and his situation) were ignored to focus on other things.

One big annoyance was the long time spent dealing with the Fleet Admiral in this long drawn out plea for aid, eating up screentime during the climax. I get it's probably a Japanese authority and honor thing, but I have no basis to care since I don't know the Admiral and Grayman's past was never full fleshed out, merely alluded to. It came off to me as "they got lucky the Admiral was totally out of options."

I really liked Amanza as she came off early as a pretty solid example of Lawful Neutral. Types of which are hard to pull off since most people think that means "completely heartless." I think more screentime could have be dedicated to fleshing her out. But hey, time and budget I guess. Still a fun romp.

K was... credit for throwing me for multiple loops, though I had the broadstrokes figured out, the anime really screams "BUY THE MANGA!" I have an idea on what the Kings are, but no idea how later ones are created and/or selected. Thought Kuroh was a woman when he first appeared. Then the cat girl shows up and I'm like "5 star anime" while my wife just shakes her head.

Like ID-0, the anime starts going super-speed in the last couple of episodes. It grates because a lot of the characters are relatable and the show just ends. And I liked Saruhiko because,
Spoiler

at least in the anime, all his "shadyness" DOESN'T PAN OUT. He's just a dick. He's got no real ulterior motives. The show loves to tease you with "ruh roh raggy" and it leads to a whole lot of nothing. He's comes off to me as one of the more complicated (read: real) characters in the show. He's got multiple motivations that add up to a whole lot of nothing consequential to the plot. His attitude can changed completely when dealing with different people. And they fleshed his characterization out in such a short time. I love shit like that.

Also, why the Hell is K Series TV-MA? I've seen worse shit on an episode of Bones. Is it due to the smoking?

[biostem]

I highly recommend "Restaurant to Another World" if you want something that's a bit more easy-going with lots of great "food porn". The "Archmagus' Bride" has started its actual series, but there are 3 prequel OVAs that give a lot of backstory about the female lead. Youkai Apartment is also an interesting watch.

[LadyTevar]

Oh, in other news, New Season of Voltron next week

[TheFeniX]

Ok, so battle of the streaming services.

1. Crunchyroll: I've heard this is the place to go for new releases. Subs don't bother me, but I've heard they are really hurting for Dubs at all. Also of note, they tend to avoid more adult anime in favor of "kids/young adult." As Berserk is an extremely good anime, this worries me. Same with other anime in the vein of Vampire Hunter D. The rest of the stuff is great, but Netflix is hurting in this area too.

2. Funimation: Much better for dubs, as their Texan-all-stars are pretty good. They also have a large selection of older anime, even continuing to host some of the older stuff. I've heard they also don't shy away from adult anime.

3. Hulu: supposedly hosts a fairly large selection of anime, but their business model sounds like shit.

4. I REALLY wish I wasn't so burned out on anime back when Netflix would host just about fucking anything. Man they had some messed up stuff on there. Like, even I was saying "NOPE" 5 minutes in.

I'm going to setup some trials, but I've got to cram this old dual-core I have into a smaller form-factor. And re-run some HDMI cables. I might just hit them one by one. But anyone got a place to start? I'm thinking this TV-14 stuff is "done" for me for a bit. I can always come back to it. I want something over the top: gore, violence, cussing, nudity, whatever: think 80s action movies type.... or the kind of anime you used to find everywhere. No "pulling punches" which is getting a bit tiresome with the newer anime.

Just sans the pervy fanservice shit if possible.

Maybe someone can help with some older anime:

1. Is Elfen Lied any good? It was out during that time I was given anime a pass. Heard both good and terrible things about it.

2. There's this old anime, "witch" or "Demon" something. Maybe early to mid 90s. I can't remember much, but certain people had telekinetic and mind-reading powers. There's a scene where a woman tele-drags a guy to her and digs her fingers knuckle deep into his skull to suck information out of him. Afterward she lifts him into the air and his lower torso explodes into a shower of blood. I saw a couple episodes at a friends house when I was high on pain-killers (after elective surgery, so legit, but they had to give me the good stuff).

3. There's one in the same "witch" vein. It's about this young Investigator type woman, who has badass magic powers. She dresses in a mostly Victorian way and gets involved in some magical shenanigans. A lot of shit goes down in her apartment. I can't for the life of me remember the name. Would have been early 2000s at the latest.

I love how answers to 2 and 3 are probably going to be: "Not narrowing it down much there FeniX."

[Dominus Atheos]

3 is Witch Hunter Robin.

[TheFeniX]

3 is Witch Hunter Robin.

That's the one. I got a few episodes in. Liked the premise, liked the characters. But I couldn't get into it. Too much "Bad Guy of the Week." And nothing seemed to move forward at all. Years back, I was talking to another nerd friend of mine and he said it picks up a few more episodes in and gets into actual story development.

"So, it's like DS9."
"Exactly!"
And then I just couldn't find anywhere to watch it.

Good call, I need you around for trivia nights.

[Dominus Atheos]

That doesn't count, that was on Toonami/adult swim, any anime fan would remember it. 2 could be anyone of a dozen animes, none of which I have ever seen of have any interest in seeing... because of Elfen Leid actually.

Elfen Leid was probably the first thing I ever binged watched, it was like a trainwreck I just couldn't take my eyes off. Afterward I swore to never watch it again, or any other anime of that type.

Here's the first scene of the first episode.



It's basically that, repeated over and over again for 12 episodes. There may have been a plot in between scenes like that, but I repressed most of it. Mostly I remember that scene, a flashback where some other kids kill that girl's puppy when she's like 11 and then she slaughters all of them, and a running gag (RUNNING GAG) where another 13~ year old girl keeps getting stripped naked and has her arms and legs cut off repeatedly... like it happens several times over the series.

Why did you make me remember Elfen Lied...fuck...

[TheFeniX]

Elfen Leid was probably the first thing I ever binged watched, it was like a trainwreck I just couldn't take my eyes off. Afterward I swore to never watch it again, or any other anime of that type.

Wouldn't surprise me if Ajin took some notes from this while focusing on the psychological impact rather than just the violence exploitation. I'm not adverse to the premise, but 13-year-old girls brutally murdering each other over 12 episodes doesn't really interest me. Still, I'm always down for watching a trainwreck.... for some reason.

Actually, that was one of my few complaints with Ajin. That they subjected the horror to (while young in one instance, he's also shown as emotionally distant/stunted, so much better able to cope) men, while only alluding to it WRT women. It's a cheap trick, but you can get some mileage out of playing to our baser instincts to protect women.

Still, even with that, I did come out of Ajin rooting squarely for the titular characters. So it's a small complaint.

Why did you make me remember Elfen Lied...fuck...

Toughen up, Buttercup. I've had to sit through Riki-Oh... twice.

EDIT: Though I have to admit, your post had me in stitches.

[Q99]

Anyone else watch super-retro anime? I've watched a chunk of Mazinger Z, some of the old Japanese Transformers (of which Super God Masterforce is the best), and I'm thinking of watching Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 (endorsed by Daft Punk!)