"Honey & Clover" I Highly Recommend

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Too many anime serious out there are about violence and/or slapstick humor. The general direction anime took has become less and less personal (That stays true at least among the more widely known series in the US). That's why I was pretty surprised to see something like "Honey and Clover" floating around. This series is about college life, but nothing like the non-sense we see in movies like Animal House. It's about the abstract concept of soul-searching, the drama involved when you don't know where your life is heading.

Needless to say, as a college student, I feel it. I feel it so much, in fact, I cried just a little bit here and there. The anime is not afraid to get emotional, and it has a way of making people feel just the way it wants them to. Something about the music, artstyle, or the pacing distinguishes it from the rest. I'm not sure if I can say more than this without spoiling the storyline. Best piece of drama I've come across. 24 Episodes, and not a single minute wasted. Stop reading and start downloading.

I am all over this. Lately things have gotten bad in quality wise of shows and I lack stuff to watch, but here is the quick run down.

Air wasn't to my liking.
Yakitate Japan has gotten stale (no pun intended).
Bleach is about to start a long series of fights.
Eureka Seven is being subbed way too slowly.
Full Metal Panic TSR is still just as good but one episode a week is too slow.
Girls Bravo season 2 is being subbed a glacial speeds.
Gundam Seed Destiny was entertaining but it's over.
Mahou Sensei Negima turned out too meh for me.
Monster is also being subbed really slowly.
One Piece continues to move on nicely.
Naruto really dropped off in quality after the Mist ninja fight on the bridge in episode 26. Some fights have been nice though.
Shuffle! continues to entertain me.
Speed Grapher was just ass.
Dokkoida was all kinds of awesome.
Cromartie High School is just plain insane.

On my plate to watch is Steamboy, Trava, Glass Mask, Kamichu, Mind Game, Suzuka, and now this Honey & Clover. Any others I should take a look at?

Man, I have been on an anime hiatus lately. I need to finish the third Rurouni Kenshin boxed set, and watch the last 6 episodes of Samurai Champloo with the GF. After that I want to see Scrapped Princess, Paranoia Agent, Peacemaker, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. For starters.

Scrapped Princess is really enjoyable. Add PlanetES to your list.

Edwin, I'm sure you've already seen most of the older anime available, right? Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Ranma, Escaflowne, Evangelion - the classics. 'Cause if not, stop wasting your time with Scrapped Princess and start getting some love & peace in the house.

Eons ago my dear Kat. I've seen basically everything good on this list. http://www.animeacademy.com/libgrade...

Is PlanetES the one about outer space garbage collectors? I haven't seen much about it.

That's the one.

I'll have to give Honey and Clover a shot. Sounds pretty good.

A few recommendations if you have not seen them already:

Kino's Journey
Genshinken
Here is Greenwood

I have watched them all within the last year or so and was taken by surprise at how much I enjoyed them.

I second Genshiken..mostly because it reminds me of our Media Club in high school.
Steamboy, Skip it.. bleh.
Try to pick up some copies of Elfen Leid, School Rumble, Paranoia Agent

Im totally loving my girly, fanservice-laden fighters lately:
Tenjho Tenge,Air master,Ikkitousen and Burst Angel

Though lately I've been watching Gankutsuou, Futakoi and Futakoi alternative.

A lot of good stuff got liscenced and picked up for 2006, so we are screening them for the con and other shows in the near future..and first quarter of 2006 is going to have a lot of good releases for fans of almost every genre. Heck, even "small time" studios are getting good things like Urban Vision, Media Blasters, and Manga Entertainment.

Yay for Anime!

(yay for Helsing Ultimate OVAs too)

Peacemaker

Good but the DVDs out now are mostly story and not much action (which is good )

Tenjho Tenge and Elfen Lied are good.

Gantz is not bad, Hmm there is one set where the main character is named Guts but can't think of it right now. (EDIT: I remember it is called Berserk)

X is a good series but the first 7 DVDs remind me of The Last Stand, LOTS of background and a 30 sec battle.

Steamboy was ok. Something to watch when the episode anime gets to you.

I couldn't stand Air Master. Tenjo Tenge, Gantz, Elfen Lied, Berserk, Ikkitousen, Gankutsuou i've already watched and added to my collection.

KaterinLHC wrote:

Edwin, I'm sure you've already seen most of the older anime available, right? Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Ranma, Escaflowne, Evangelion - the classics. 'Cause if not, stop wasting your time with Scrapped Princess and start getting some love & peace in the house.

Cowboy Bebop is now 'older' anime? Stop it, you're making me cry... because you're probably right.

4/3/1998 to 4/23/1999 was a long time ago my friend. Sadly not many things can compare to it since then.

Edwin understands the sadness. I keep putting off buying the last disc cause, ya know, after that there's no more.

couldn't stand Air Master. Tenjo Tenge, Gantz, Elfen Lied, Berserk, Ikkitousen,

So you don't like action and blood in your anime?

I can't tell if your being sarcastic or not but I liked all Tenjou and others listed after.

Oh, mistook the period after Air master for a comma. Sorry!

I looved Air master.. but i bought 3 Ikkitousen dvds before i realized.. it WASNT Air Master..(oopsie)
I tend to buy stuff and not watch it, or I get screeners and never crack them open.

I know from experience that behind the heart of every Berserk fan lurks a shoujo fiend. So although I know you all are going to laugh so hard when I suggest this, I still will: have you ever seen Card Captor Sakura, Edwin? It was surprisingly engaging. Definitely a kid's anime, of course, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you can't bring yourself to watch CCS, then perhaps Fushigi Yuugi (of inferior quality, but still rather enjoyable)?

Give into the shoujo. You know you want to.

I'm just gonna throw a shout out to Voices of a Distant Star so I can pretend that I'm playing, too. It might even get me some street cred. I've never watched an anime and wanted to cry before.

KaterinLHC wrote:

Give into the shoujo. You know you want to.

If you are going down that road, I highly recommend Fruits Basket.

Aw heck, I guess Pani Poni Dash won't hurt either if you want to take that route.

Thank god nobody's suggest Puni Puni Poemi here.

I've seen Card Captor Sakura and couldn't really get into the monster of the week formula. Ditto with Fushigi Yuugi. I've seen and enjoyed Voices of a Distant Star, along with Puni Puni Poemi. I LOVED Fruit Baskets enough to get the manga to see how it goes on after the show ends.

Ebichu.

What fansub group do you like?

Katerin, PPP is pretty funny!
Hey, it's only 2 episodes, and is pretty slapstick-y.. so it's good in my book.
I liked all the weird references and jokes.; then again I actually LIKED Excel Saga enough to buy the boxset. Beserk practicaly is shoujo given Gattsu's relatationship with Griffith and Casuka, and the manga goes on to explain a little further than the anime did. KareKano (his and her circumstances) and Saikano are 2 shoujo titles that made me cry.. Saikano actually was just too damn depressing for words. I hope no one made the mistake of buying it thinking it was actually KareKano.

I enjoyed Berserk all the way up until it's last two episodes.

At that point I was ready to just try and pretend I'd never watched it.

Cowboy Bebop is still the pinnacle of episodic anime for little old me.

The movie is awesome too.

Gungrave seems cool after seeing the first DVD, but it's way freakin overpriced. Like $25 per disc, with only four episodes per disc. No thanks.

I'm also interested in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, but again, not willing to pay the outrageous price for a single disc.

I'm waiting for the box sets to hit bargain prices before I bother with either of them.

As for any other anime.. I tend to not be interested if it's supposed to be funny, because I've yet to find an anime with a sense of humor I could see eye to eye with. Except for Cowboy Bebop

Also: I hated Steamboy. That came from the guy responsible for Akira? Good lord. Did he have some kind of breakdown between then and now? I like me some Akira, but Steamboy was crap. It was an excuse for them to animate as much smoke as possible for a couple of hours. When the giant steamship thingie started sprouting merry-go-rounds and carnival rides I almost pulled the disc out of the player to snap it in half. Then I remembered it wasn't mine.

I hate Gundam in general. 8th MS team is mildly entertaining, but has some terrible attempts at humor that mar the otherwise cool experience.

And Mull Metal Panic just irritates me. It doesn't take 5 minutes before I can't handle watching it anymore.

And Mull Metal Panic just irritates me. It doesn't take 5 minutes before I can't handle watching it anymore.

I like Full Metal Panic.

Rezzy wrote:

Ebichu.
:P

Did that back in 8/1/1999 to 10/1/1999.

Kare Kano is actually one of my top favorites ever. GunGrave was good after the first episode. Man what a horrible pilot. Make sure you watch GITS: SAC and GITS: 2nd Gig all in a row so you can understand it. 8th MS Team was also one of my favorites just because it was more realistic. Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu had me in tears by how funny it was. That hot spring episode was a riot with all my friends.

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