Favourite Anime/Manga(s)?

[ApeironStella]

Title says it all people. Saw that there wasn't anything on anime/manga on forum and thought it would be a nice idea to create a topic for that. (please do delete this if there was one but search bar didn't show any) 

 

I think I will go first- My long time obsession, D.Gray-man.

 

This one is a bit duh coming from me, but it is a lovely series. It starts with the "usual shounen formula" as the usual synopsis would lead one to think:

"Losing a loved one is so painful that one may sometimes wish to be able to resurrect them—a weakness that the enigmatic Millennium Earl exploits. To make his mechanical weapons known as "Akuma," he uses the souls of the dead that are called back. Once a soul is placed in an Akuma, it is trapped forever, and the only way to save them is to exorcise them from their vessel using the Anti-Akuma weapon, "Innocence."

After spending three years as the disciple of General Cross, Allen Walker is sent to the Black Order—an organization comprised of those willing to fight Akuma and the Millennium Earl—to become an official Exorcist. With an arm as his Innocence and a cursed eye that can see the suffering souls within an Akuma, it's up to Allen and his fellow Exorcists to stop the Millennium Earl's ultimate plot: one that can lead to the destruction of the world."

It gets a lot more complicated pretty soon. Let's just say that Chapter 219 is almost universally agreed as the chapter you kind of realize you actually have no idea what is/was going on. It gets only more confusing as it goes on. Anime does kill some key details so I would suggest reading manga first. (Especially for some important, small details which does not show up on the anime- Ie. a family emblem on two characters' shoes which might and most likely has relation to another emblem we see later on and becomes an important thing. Which was not on the anime. Some fillers contradict canon as well. Also Cross' characterization there just spits on everything Hoshino Katsura -the mangaka- built him as.)

Bonus: Hoshino's art is gosh dang beautiful. Check the spoiler for that 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiKYL7-SQaw

 

One of the reasons I love it so much is because of how much Love theme is actually centered around ALL types of love. Familial love, Platonic friendship love, some Romantic love thrown in a few stories... Bonds between humans is such a major theme and I LOVE it. I also love that how they manage to pull it off without devaluing any sort of love there. As well as deliver some good mindfuck at the same time. Home/Family is a huge theme and without all the romance focus. I headcanon main character Allen Walker and possibly another main character Lenalee Lee as aros tbh. AroAce for Allen and AroPan for Lena maybe? She could be AroAce too but def somewhere on Aro spec. Both simply want a place to call home and people to call family and want to protect said home and people. Lenalee views her world as her friends, family. Allen simply wants to help everyone he can and finally, finally has a place he can call home now and people who tells him "Welcome back" and he can say "I'm home" to. Honestly I love this show you have no idea. 

 

So, what about you?

[NullVector]

I've been watching the anime mushi-shi on netflix recently and I love the slow, dreamy, meditative, melancholic feel it has to it.

[Zae]

Oh, I'll have to agree, D-Gray man was pretty good~

I don't quite have one deninitive favorite, so I'll just choose a few that I liked:

 

Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood): That was the first anime that I watched online with fansubs. I watched both versions, the newer one first, and I do actually prefer the new version, though I have to say that the older one wasn't too bad either. The newer version has a tiny bit of romance, nearly non-existent, though I have to admit it still annoyed me  The older one didn't have any romance at all, if I remember correctly, and I liked both movies as well~

 

HunterxHunter (2011): Another long shounen/action series, really good, I enjoyed the friendship between the main characters. I didn't quite like the ending, but one of the later arcs (Chimera ant arc) was awesome. Overall it was really fun to watch, with no romance at all~

 

Log Horizon: If you want to see an anime about prople trapped in an video game world, this is the way to go. Instead of taking the route of characters trying to get back to this world, it tells the tale of how they try to live in that world. It really seems to understand it's otaku characters and the "game" as well. Very well done. A little bit of romance, not too annoying though~

 

(The names are links to their mal pages with summaries etc.~)

I could go on about this forever, but I'll keep it at this for now~

[Ugh...]

Mine would be somewhere between Cowboy Bebop (classic) and Serial Experiment Lain (this thing will mess you up though...). I'd say the End of Neon Genesis Evangelion holds a special place in my heart too!

[j a c k]

YESS good idea to have a thread about this! 

Here are some of my favourites: 

 

- Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan: Season 2 is so intense man, I love it. It's full on and the characters get put through so much it's heartbreaking. If you're not a big fan of romance and you love action as much as I do I recommend it 

 

- Naruto  / Naruto Shippuden: I've been reading the manga instead of watching the anime but I'm 1000000% invested in it now. I don't think there's much point in explaining this one, I'm sure everyone's heard of it! 

 

- Akatsuki no Yona / Yona of the Dawn: Not something I usually get into, generally I prefer male leads? But Yona is such an awesome character, I feel like they developed her so well and she's not only very badass but she's cute as heck. It's a fantasy anime and there's a romatic side plot (I usually avoid romance like the plague) but I didn't mind it at all! The manga goes into way more depth and the anime barely covers the first 40 chapters (I think) so I highly recommend reading the manga. There's a fair amount of humour and angst it balances out nicely.  

 

- I have a massive love for sport animes my favourites are: Kuroko no Basket (basketball), Haikyuu!! (volleyball) Prince of Stride (running/stride) and Yuri on Ice (ice skating) 

 

- No.6: It's short and sweet, got some nice healthy action along with two main male characters who are cute as heck. My heart hurt because of ending though, lots of angst. It's an interesting watch 

 

Can't think of anymore, but I'll update this list if I do!

[SamwiseLovesLife]

Studio Ghibli, just all

[Skittles87]

I don't watch a huge amount of anime, but one I stumbled across that I really like is Sound of the Sky. It's about a group of teenage girls being slightly incompetent soldiers in a post-apocalyptic world. The characters are fantastic and it's aro-friendly with a strong emphasis on friendship/sisterhood rather than romance. It's also very picturesque and the emotional stuff is powerful - one episode actually moved me to tears.

 

I'm also a fan of Ouran High School Host Club. This one is a high school anime clearly aimed at straight girls (lots of very pretty boys and romantic fantasies) but the main female character has a strong ace/aro vibe, as well as being gender non-conforming. It's also funny, witty and plays with stereotypes in an entertaining way.

[anzu2snow]

I have a lot of faves.   I think Gintama tops it for me. It'll have you laughing hysterically one minute, and crying the next. Crying at even seemingly stupid things. The action's awesome, the story is actually complex (people who have only seen a few episodes will probably say there isn't one, but that's so wrong), every character is unique in their own way and have something to offer, the main character has a lot of flaws but for some reason seems stronger because of them (he seems more human this way), there are aliens and samurai (strange and interesting mix), and so much more. 

 

I have a lot of fave manga, too. Probably Kuroshitsuji tops them all. The art in the manga is gorgeous and detailed. The story has so many twists and turns. I usually can predict what's going to happen in many manga/anime, but this is different. It's really dark, but I like that. I don't think the anime series is nearly as good. Although, the Book of... anime versions have been exactly like those manga arcs. So, they're pretty good.

[[Deleted Account]]

I loved Fairy Tail, Full Metal Alchemist, Voltron, and am currently enjoying One Piece. I have a long list of animes to watch later in time. Also, I've watched Avatar the Last Airbender, a small amount of Pokémon, and Sword Art Online as well. Avatar was pretty good, Pokémon I didn't like very much because of the shallow characters, although I still love the concept and the pokemon themselves, and SAO I found to be interesting in the beginning and the end, but in the middle I didn't like it as much and there were some horrible scenes that branched a little into sexual assault.

[karnzter]

My first manga was Nodame Cantabile. Too bad the last-9 English translation volumes have never been published  I love the anime as well.

 

Second was Kitchen Princess after a college friend introduced it to me. I've never finished it. I was gonna buy the first and third to end volumes (I only have volume 2) when I saw them at the local secondhand bookstore, but by the time I had enough money they were all gone

 

I've seen a couple of animes as a kid and a few on my teens and YA. Pokemon, Trigun, Flame of Recca, Daimos, Voltes V, Ghost Fighter, Hunter X Hunter, Slam Dunk, Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin), Cedie (Little Lord Fauntleroy), Alice In Wonderland (Fushigi no Kuni no Alice), Fushigi Yuugi, Anne of Green Gables, Bubu Chacha, Crayon Shin-chan, Cardcaptor Sakura, Super Boink (Tonde Burin), Takoyaki Mantoman, Ranma 1/2, Digimon, Magic Knight Rayearth, Akazukin Chacha, Dragon Ball Z, Sunny Pig (Fair, then Partly Piggy), Doraemon, Mojacko, Sket Dance, Super Gals!, Lupin the Third. A lot. Those were the good ol' days.

 

Samurai X, Super Boink, Akazukin Chacha, Digimon and Pokemon were aired with the English dub. The rest were in Tagalog, especially Lupin and Shin-chan. I loved their hilarious dubs so much

 

If live action can count, the original Japanese version of Hana-Kimi. Both the Japanese and Tagalog dub.

[SamwiseLovesLife]

I'm flying through so many Manga right now it's hard to keep track. I love most Yaoi though only if it makes sense to the plot, also anything rape-y is a no for me.

I kind of like romance if it's good, but i hate it with women in manga/anime because they have super high voices and it all seems ridiculous to me (hence the Yaoi).

I like fantasy and supernatural

Art style is important too, I hate it when characters are so simplified you can't tell them appart.

One of my favourites of all time (though short) is Dia Game. Supernatural, Yaoi (and hot) with awesome characters and a stuuuuuuning art style Be still my little Ace/Aro heart </3

[Momo]

On 06/06/2017 at 6:00 PM, SamwiseLovesLife said:

Studio Ghibli, just all

I'm forced to second this. Anything put out by them is just so wholesome and lovely. I used to own virtually the whole collection but I lost it at some point... 

 

On 16/06/2017 at 10:48 PM, Skittles87 said:

I'm also a fan of Ouran High School Host Club. This one is a high school anime clearly aimed at straight girls (lots of very pretty boys and romantic fantasies) but the main female character has a strong ace/aro vibe, as well as being gender non-conforming. It's also funny, witty and plays with stereotypes in an entertaining way.

YES! I was so upset at Haruhi at the end of this show.

 

Spoiler

I wanted her to stay single forever. I actually stopped watching when my room mate spoiled this plot point and when I could see things starting to head that direction.

 

[SamwiseLovesLife]

1 hour ago, Momo said:

YES! I was so upset at Haruhi at the end of this show.

Same! I totally agree with @Skittles87 about being gender non-conforming and totally ace/aro vibes. It was so wierd that she 'suddenly' had feelings for the Club president despite never having them previously. Damn heteronormativity..

Though shoutout to the Mangaka for a drag queen father

 

10 hours ago, QuirkyGeek said:

I've watched Avatar the Last Airbender

I adore this Anime :3

[Thaa]

There is so many I like, it's gonna be difficult to pick a few ones...

My favorite animes definitely includes :

- Mushishi (I agree it's like visual, meditative poetry)

- xxxHolic (The anime rather than the manga that gets overly complicated with Tsubasa chronicle cross overs)

- Kino no Tabi (It's kind of a philosophical road trip and Kino the main character definitively has some non binary vibe going on, maybe aro/ace also)

- Seirei no moribito (Balsa, the main protagonist is a strong older female, she's so cool !)

(Yeah, between Ginko, Yuko, Kino and Balsa I think I do have a certain taste for strong mysterious characters...)

 

I also really like both the anime and manga of Demi-chan no kataritai ( a slice of life about a group of special girls in a high school and their teacher) , Detroit metal city (about a guy who is torn between his two identities : a mellow swedish pop lover and a death metal rock star ; the humor is kind of peculiar but I still like it a lot)  and Nodame Cantabile (about two music college students, really funny and the music is really good)

 

Manga wise :

- Anything by Nakamura Asumiko, her art is really gorgeous and her stories are all so good

- Otoyomegari by Kaoru Mori, maybe one of the most (if not the most) gorgeous and detailed art in manga I've ever seen; it's set in 19th century en Central Asia

- Subarashii Sekai by Asano Inio, It's a series of oneshots, I think it's a masterpiece of a certain kind of smiling melancholy

- Bannouji by Aki Eda, a really sweet slow paced slice of life romance with somewhat unconventional characters and good humor

- A whole buch of good yaoi ...

 

And cartoon wise : Steven universe, Avatar and Korra, Samuraï Jack, Gravity falls...

(I aslo have a deep love for underrated western animated movies and webcomics but that would be slightly off topic I guess)

 

[Untamed Heart]

I liked Oh! My Goddess the anime a lot, also a big fan of Studio Ghibli  especially Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Kiki's Delivery Service. Never really liked Princess Mononoke, though (apart from the massive wolves lol).

My first manga was Pet Shop Of Horrors - my friend had bought the first volume. I happened to flick through it and got hooked lol. They never officially translated the last volumes of the sequel, AFAIK  the anime (only 4 episodes based on the first volumes) was kind of unintentionally funny in places. Namely, Count D looking a bit like Michael Jackson.

Sergeant Frog is another old favourite, really funny, though I never finished it. Got up to volume 15 (though I mysteriously skipped vol. 14 for some reason)

Dramacon, about a girl who goes to an anime con with her friends over three years, with bust ups between main/secondary characters, and some genuinely bitchy/emotional/wtf moments.

Also, Pokemon of course, but prefer the older series where Team Rocket were still basically the bumbling and incompetent clowns Jessie and James  I just loved their dialogue.

Battle Royale (though very gory I found it compelling. Never finished it)

Sword Art Online (though I know Log Horizon is meant to be better - I haven't seen it though so can't compare lol).

[Skittles87]

On Thursday, July 20, 2017 at 2:44 PM, SamwiseLovesLife said:

Though shoutout to the Mangaka for a drag queen father

My headcanon is that Haruhi's attraction to Tamaki is actually platonic. She feels a strong affection for him because he reminds her so much of her Dad. Their personalities are very similar (flamboyant, outgoing, fond of getting dressed up), and if I remember rightly, they are even played by the same voice actor.

[Zae]

Back again, with an actual current favorite of mine~

 

Shirobako: The story follows a group of friends who are very passionate about anime and all pursue different jobs in anime production. It shows their struggles that come with being a young working adult in that field and how they manage improve trough those.

This anime also teaches a lot about the way anime is produced and the people behind it, and generally feels very realistic in that. The characters are all very lovable and fun to watch, making it easy to root for them.

If you haven't seen Shirobako yet, then go watch it now; I promise it won't waste your time~

[Mezzo Forte]

I'm a big fan of Naoki Urasawa's Monster. I only really read the manga, but it did a damn good job with its atmosphere, especially with the sense of suspense. It just seemed to encapsulate the "thriller" genre so masterfully. Definitely not a perfect series, but I have a soft spot for it  

 

I get nostalgic about series I discovered in my early teens, but among those, the ones that stand out are Fullmetal Alchemist and Ouran High School Host Club. (I will admit, it's trippy realizing that I first got into Bleach over 10 years ago. Guess I had to have liked the early stuff if I was willing to ride that sinking ship down to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. )

 

Funny thing about Fullmetal and Ouran is that my reactions to their lead characters were two very different signs of me being trans. I'm short and wore my blond hair long for most my life, and Ed was pretty much my justification for not seeing braids as particularly gendered. I did identify with Haruhi quite a bit, but that actually made me put off asking the questions I needed to regarding orientation/gender, go figure. (The way they wrote her made me think that I was just oblivious to the romantic attraction that I was totally experiencing. At first watch, I definitely read Haruhi as cis too, so that made me less apt to ask why I was so fascinated with the idea of AFAB people presenting as male.)

[Aliyiah]

I watched a lot of anime but he ones that stuck were: aoharu x kikanjuu, 07 ghost, yume-iro pâtissière and world trigger.

 

The anime I really liked though was gatchaman crowds, it's about a girl who gets handed a small book named NOTE by a transcendent being, which transforms her into one of the gatchaman. Their purpose is to eliminate aliens ( called MESS) that are a danger to humanity. As the name says they spread chaos.

 

The art style is quite unique, the genres are sci-fi and adventure (no romance ) and the characters are pretty different too

[pastelprincess]

I love anime so much! I love watching the Precure series. Currently watching the English dub Glitter Force on Netflix. I love how it focuses on friendships. There is ZERO romance! Yay! My favorite characters are Chloe and Lily. 

Is anyone else a Precure/Glitter Force fan? 

[techno]

On 7/20/2017 at 8:07 AM, Momo said:

YES! I was so upset at Haruhi at the end of this show.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I wanted her to stay single forever. I actually stopped watching when my room mate spoiled this plot point and when I could see things starting to head that direction.

 

Oh my gosh, same! I first watched the show maybe a year before realizing I was aroace and I just remember being really... disappointed? Like the ending bothered me and I couldn't put a finger on why for the longest time but my friends who watched it with me could not understand why I wasn't thrilled by the ending. It just felt like it came out of nowhere. I related to Haruhi so much and that was one of the reasons I loved the show, and suddenly I couldn't relate to her anymore.

[IceHurricane]

The very first anime I watched will always be my favourites for nostalgic reasons. These are the anime I grew up with.

 

Those are:

FullMetal Alchemist

Death Note

Naruto

Bleach

InuYasha

 

Some of my other favourites:

Fairy Tail

xxxHOLiC

Durarara!!

07-Ghost

Kuroshitsuji

[Apathetic Echidna]

In manga form I also liked Ouran High School Host Club, same with Skip Beat and Perfect Girl Evolution (The Wallflower), they start well then get tangled in their own little ridiculous mini-events (which with Skip Beat seem to get more and more romantic) Kyoko Mogami and Sunako Nakahara are both so anti-romance at the beginning of both stories. Oresama Teacher might end up dodgy too, but I like the first few volumes.I have read Death Note a few times, but I refuse to end the series. Same with Vampire Knight. I only really liked the beginning of Vampire Knight because I wanted to go to a boarding school with vampires, but the plot in that gets weirdly incestuous, at least the art was good.  I like Fruits Basket, but I think that is because it was a massive thing at my High School and I have nostalgia for it being a good thing back then. I haven't read it in 10 years, but all the books are still on my shelf. The Friendly Winter is a cute manhwa that made me really think. I actually have a list of all the mangas I have read/have copies of electronically or otherwise and it takes 9 pages, though most of them are oneshots. .....uh, apparently I also have all 23 volumes of Hana Kimi? when did that happen? Wolf Guy has good art but a seriously horrific storyline. My list only gets worse from there so I am going to stop now......

 

For anime, The Twelve Kingdoms is based on a novel series and the anime goes up to the 4th book so storylines are left unfinished, but it by far my favourite! Cowboy Bebop is also up there in the favourites. Both of those barely have any romance or sexual content, yet still have intriguing plots and great world building (see Western media it is possible!!). Excel Saga is divine madness, and the romantic plot continually gets stalled. I will say the English dub is better for Excel Saga because the American voice actress for Excel Excel can speak like a machine gun. Most things Studio Ghibli of course. Wolf's Rain is beautifully sad, and Yoko Kanno does a beautiful job with the music but the Steve Conte songs are grating. Gankutsuou, The Count of Monte Cristo is pretty but the music is again a let down sometimes. Like seriously Jean-Jacques Burnel's songs sound out of key half the time. At least the plot is closer to the book than the other movie adaptions I have seen. Then of course there are things like Otogi Zoshi, Erased, Orphen, Petshop of Horrors, Patema Inverted where I don't really know why I like them....I should watch them again to see. 

[techno]

@Apathetic Echidna I LOVED Erased! It had its flaws for sure, but something about the aesthetic of it and just the concept was really engaging to me.

 

I just finished Wandering Son, which is basically about trans kids dealing with middle school and puberty and it is so good and wholesome. I highly recommend it.

[aro_elise]

wow, you guys are serious.  i'm basically just a massive fujoshi.  i started with 'junjou romantica' and 'sekai ichi hatsukoi' and have seen parts of some more...18+ ones.  also 'kiss him, not me', which felt rather like a personal attack but i loved it, a bunch of 'free!', and a couple ghibli movies--my ex loved them.  i have several on my to-watch list, and i'd like some actual yaoi manga (rather than online, which i do occasionally read).